In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Ebiquity plc (LON:EBQ) by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine. We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for Ebiquity Step by step through the calculation We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 Levered FCF (, Millions) UK1.20m UK1.26m UK1.31m UK1.35m UK1.38m UK1.41m UK1.44m UK1.46m UK1.48m UK1.51m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ 6.44% Est @ 4.87% Est @ 3.78% Est @ 3.01% Est @ 2.47% Est @ 2.1% Est @ 1.83% Est @ 1.65% Est @ 1.52% Est @ 1.43% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 11% UK1.1 UK1.0 UK1.0 UK0.9 UK0.8 UK0.8 UK0.7 UK0.6 UK0.6 UK0.5 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = UK8.0m Story continues After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 1.2%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 11%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2030 (1 + g) (r g) = UK1.5m (1 + 1.2%) (11% 1.2%) = UK16m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= UK16m ( 1 + 11%)10= UK5.7m The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is UK14m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of UK0.2, the company appears slightly overvalued at the time of writing. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent. dcf The assumptions We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Ebiquity as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 11%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.380. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. Next Steps: Whilst important, the DCF calculation is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Can we work out why the company is trading at a premium to intrinsic value? For Ebiquity, there are three pertinent factors you should assess: Risks: You should be aware of the 4 warning signs for Ebiquity (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) we've uncovered before considering an investment in the company. Future Earnings: How does EBQ's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every British stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With an unprecedented number of wildfires blazing along the west coast, American manufacturing company Armbrust American has donated more than 50,000 of its FDA-registered surgical masks to victims in the affected areas. The same portion of the population that's at highest risk for COVID-19 are also most vulnerable to poor air quality caused by smoke from wildfires. However, health officials warn that anyone breathing in the microscopic dust and ash particles in the air may suffer from chest pain, arrhythmia, and bronchitis. Armbrust American's Austin-TX area medical mask production facility. Photo by Alex Smith. From Armbrust American's Austin-TX area medical mask production facility. Photo by Alex Smith. Fortunately, quality PPE can provide some protection to those with serious conditions, in addition to preventing the spread of coronavirus. Armbrust surgical masks have ASTM Level 2 certification, having passed extensive testing for breathability, fluid penetration, bacterial filtration, particle filtration, flammability, and sensitivity. "The tragedy of the wildfires polluting air quality only highlights our mission to return strategic manufacturing back to the U.S.," said Armbrust American CEO and founder Lloyd Armbrust. "Our country is still suffering from a shortage of surgical masks to fight the pandemic, which is why it's so important to make these goods domestically -- so we can provide them to those who need them." Victims of west coast wildfires in California, Oregon, and Washington can still request a supply of FDA-registered surgical masks via an online website available HERE. Additionally, anyone can purchase and donate a pack of masks through Armbrust American's website HERE. About Armbrust American Armbrust American's mission is to bring strategic manufacturing back to the U.S. Founded in 2020 by Y-Combinator alumni Lloyd Armbrust, the company currently operates a factory out of Austin, Texas utilizing proprietary mix of materials and manufacturing innovation to provide the highest quality PPE at a competitive cost. Lloyd was previously the founder and CEO of OwnLocal, a company that automates production for 3,500 newspapers worldwide. Introduction Video: About Armbrust American (2-min) For more info, visit: https://www.armbrustusa.com/ Media Contact: Tom Cheredar [email protected] Ph: (512) 831-4409 SOURCE Armbrust American Analytics Insight Top 10 Most Innovative RPA Companies of 2020 "Lean Tech made the cut! One of the most innovative RPA companies in 2020. Kudos to the R&D team for their work on the Efficiency platform and for shaping that vision, many exciting things to come out of this for sure. Just wait for 2021." said Alfonso Quijano, COO and Co-founder of Lean Tech. For Lean Tech, a nearshore service provider specialized in technology, based in South America, Colombia; it is an immense honor to be part of the Analytics Insight list. Innovation is one of Lean Tech's core company values, and creating unique, out of the box software for every one of their clients has driven their path to success during the past year. "Lean Tech made the cut! One of the most innovative RPA companies in 2020. Kudos to the R&D team for their work on the Efficiency platform and for shaping that vision, many exciting things to come out of this for sure. Just wait for 2021," said Alfonso Quijano, COO and Co-founder of Lean Tech. Even though the benefits of RPA are vast, this is just one of the ways Lean Tech's clients can leverage their services. With their extensive knowledge and flexible business model, building a team of developers to target any tech-related need becomes an easy, efficient, and cost-reducing task. The companies featured in the Analytics Insight Magazine help enterprises achieve significant operational efficiency pushing their capabilities to the edge for both, businesses and the economy, by offering cutting-edge solutions and establishing end-to-end processes. Analytics Insight Magazine leverages its team of experienced analysts, tech experts, and editors to provide its audience with real, timely, relevant information based on quantitative data on industry-related topics. In every one of their editions, Analytics Insight Magazine showcases companies that have shown great innovation and insight on technology's future. About Lean Tech Lean Tech is a nearshore service provider based out of Colombia, South America, specialized in technology services. The company recruits, trains, and builds high-performance development teams with a focus on the logistics industry. Lean tech offers a truly flexible model that allows customers to extend their development teams to satellite offices in Medellin, the Silicon Valley of Colombia. Customers can collaborate with their teams in customized, state-of-the-art facilities resembling their home base's culture. The company's other models include custom software development, business analytics through DaaS (Data as a Service), RPA, Tier 1-3 support, etc. For more information, visit us at http://www.lean-tech.io. About Lean Staffing Solutions Lean Staffing Solutions, parent company of Lean Tech, is the pioneer in nearshoring solutions. Its focus is on providing the right solutions companies need to grow. Since 2014 Lean Staffing Solutions has worked with over 100 satisfied U.S. based companies partnering with them to establish a satellite office in Colombia, South America. Its suite of products includes traditional staffing solutions, technology staffing and augmentation, sales staffing, and marketing services. For more information, visit http://www.leanstaffingsolutions.com. (ANSAmed) - NAPLES, SEPTEMBER 25 - Short films from the project "A premiere vue" will be screened Friday at 2:30 pm as part of the RAI Prix Italia at the MAXXI contemporary art museum in Rome. The screening was organised by the non-profit COPEAM as a result of cooperation from promoting the best debut work of students from film schools in the southern Mediterranean. It is sponsored by COPEAM, Uninettuno international online university, Ecole Superieure de l'Audiovisuel et du Cinema (ESAC) in Tunis, Ecole Superieure des Arts Visuels (ESAV) in Marrakech, and Academie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA) in Beirut. Five short films by young directors from Morocco, Tunisia, and Lebanon were chosen for the screening. Three short animations will be screened from the Lebanese school, two of which were created in recent months despite Covid-19 restrictions and the terrible explosion that devastated Beirut in August and made this academic year particularly complex and difficult. From Tunis and Marrakech, two young directors take viewers into a dark and disturbing atmosphere: from the oppressive passion of a photographer in "Frame", to the dystopian scenario of "TF2011", in which the protagonist tries to rebel against a regime that robbed people of their freedom and thoughts. The stories are harsh, provocative, and direct, without much space for a happy ending to please the audience. However, the lucidity, consciousness, and talent with which the short films deliver their stories are the mark of a generation of creative young men and women that asks deep questions and wants to shake people's consciences.(ANSAmed). (ANSA). Steven Anthony Thompson, 35, was found unresponsive at a business in the 5800 block of Silver Hill Road in District Heights on the afternoon of Aug. 9. Thompson was taken to the hospital and died of his injuries Sept. 4, authorities said. United Methodist regional body supports changing logo, claims its unintentionally racist Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A regional body of the United Methodist Church has voted to approve a petition recommending that the mainline denomination change its insignia, claiming it is racially insensitive. Delegates at the UMC North Texas Conference approved the petition last Saturday during their business session in a vote of 558 in favor and 176 against. Sponsored by the Rev. Elden Cowley, the legislative item called on the denomination to create a new insignia to replace the cross and flame logo that has existed since the 1960s. During the legislative session, which was mostly virtual in nature, one delegate inquired as to whether it would be better to wait until after next years general conference. At the heart of this query was the expectation many have that the UMC will approve an amicable separation proposal in 2021 to resolve their long-standing debate over LGBT issues. In response to the question sent online, Cowley said we could wait, but added that he would still feel very confident with moving along with this now. Cowley lobbied in support of changing the logo in an opinion piece published by UM News back in July, arguing that the insignia was unintentionally racially offensive. But when I saw the United Methodist Cross and Flame, I didnt think of John Wesleys heart being strangely warmed, I didnt think of the flaming tongues of fire resting on the Apostles in Acts 2, wrote Cowley. My mind went back to that burning cross I saw on the side of the freeway a symbol my mother told me was devised to cause fear in black people. The UMC insignia was created soon after the merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968, which gave birth to the modern denomination. The cross represented Jesus, while the two flames symbolized the two churches that merged to form the UMC, as well as the Holy Spirit, alluding to Acts 2 and the event known as Pentecost. Some have pushed back against Cowleys change proposal, with social media posts arguing that the conference is promoting cancel culture and going down a slippery slope. Good gracious, the cross offends many Islamic people. We gonna get rid of it? tweeted one critic in response to Cowley's column. Lying With Headlines By Moon Of Alabama September 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - 'Lying With Headlines' should be a special classification category in propaganda studies. This one, from the Washington Post, is a great example: Hong Kong police arrest activist Joshua Wong for wearing a mask as repression deepens Those 90% of the readers who only skim headlines and look at the pictures will now believe that the Hong Kong rabble rouser (and friend of the neocons ) Joshua Wong was arrested for wearing a medical protection mask during the pandemic. That is however far from the truth. As the South China Morning Post correctly headlines: Hong Kong opposition activist Joshua Wong arrested over illegal assembly and anti-mask law : Hong Kong opposition activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung was arrested on Thursday for allegedly taking part in an illegal assembly last year. ... Wong said police had also accused him of breaching the anti-mask law, which banned people from covering their faces during protests. The laws under which Wong is accused were enacted in Hong Kong before China stepped in and amended the local constitution to tighten security legislation. The arrest has thereby nothing to do with the "deepening repression" the Washington Post alleges. Manipulative headlines are usual for tabloids to increase their sensationalism. Serious papers should refrain from such annoying manipulations. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. Bengaluru, Sep 25 : Karnataka Forests, Ecological and Environment Minister, Anand Singh announced on Friday that the state government was planning to drop 6.64 lakh hectare of forest land from deemed forest category to help farmers in the state. Singh's decision was overwhelmingly welcomed by the Opposition parties including Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and others stating that the Opposition was in favour of taking such a decision as the "deemed forest" category had become a tool in the hands of bureaucrats to harass "bagair hukum" farmers in the state. Bagair Hukum is a piece of government-owned land that has been cultivated by the farmers over the years without having any formal and documented ownership rights over it and whose title deeds are yet to be approved by the competent authority. According to the minister, the entire state has more than 10 lakh hectares of deemed forest land and of which the state government wants to drop 6.64 lakh hectare from the deemed forest land category. He further argued that wrong classification of land has resulted in several anomalies, therefore, it needs to set right. "Once we get this land and handed over to the revenue department it will be easier for us to resolve Bagair Hukum farmers problems," he said. Intervening at this juncture, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and former speaker K. R. Ramesh Kumar asserted that the state government must take all necessary steps to resolve this long pending demand from Bagair Hukum farmers. "These farmers have a small land holding but they are harassed by the bureaucracy for unnecessary reasons. This must stop. If this can bring reprieve to farmers, we (the Opposition) will support it," they said. Meanwhile, the Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill, piloted by revenue minister, R. Ashoka asserted that the "freed forest land" will usher in a new era of development. "Several projects are held up across the state due to wrong classification land," he said. The minister further added that more farmers are set to get the benefit of regularisation of government lands being unauthorised cultivated, as the Legislative Assembly on Friday adopted this Bill seeking to extend the cut-off date by two years for regularisation under the bagair hukum scheme. There's no doubt Ant and Christina Anstead stunned many fans when they announced their separation on September 18 after 21 months of marriage. Now, less than a week on, and the Christina on the Coast star has taken to her Instagram page and deleted all of the former couple's wedding day photos that had been posted since they tied-the-knot on December 22, 2018. However, the Flip Or Flop co-host has decided to keep other snaps of Ant on her feed, which includes the announcement of the birth of their son Hudson last year, a number of selfies, images of dinner dates with friends, and travels photos. Moving on: Christina Anstead, 37, deleted wedding photos she posted on Instagram less than a week after announcing her split from Ant Anstead, 41 Heartbreak: The former couple's separation comes just 21 months after they tied-the-knot Other than the post announcing their separation, the last photo of Ant on her feed showed the pair enjoying a dinner with another couple on July 28. As for Ant: he made his last reference to Christina on Instagram in a September 6 post celebrating Hudson's first birthday, which was just two weeks before they went public with their split. While Christina made the choice to remove any trace of their wedding on the social media platform, Ant has not taken down his wedding photos, which included a shoot for People magazine, from his Instagram page. Not all is forgotten: The Christina on the Coast star kept other snaps of Ant on her Instagram feed, which includes the announcement of the birth of their son Hudson in September 2019 The latest reference: Other than the post announcing their separation, the last photo of Ant on her feed showed the pair enjoying a dinner with another couple on July 28, 2020 Ant's last wedding photo post came on December 22, 2019, in celebration of their one-year anniversary. 'Holy smokes!!!! A year ago! And What a year!' he captioned a series of photos taken on their big day 'We have done enough for several life times! I am blessed, I am lucky, I am loved, I am full, I am happy, I am yours. You saved me and you complete me!!!! you are PERFECT!!! My wife! x The British-born television presenter, 41, has also shared wedding photos on Instagram marking their six-month anniversary and Valentine's Day in 2019, among others. Blended family: The former couple have a one-year-old son Hudson; Christina also has a daughter Taylor, 10, and son Brayden, five, with ex-husband and Flip or Flop co-host Tarek El Moussa, while Ant shares daughter Amelie, 16, and son Archie, 14, with ex-wife Louise Herbert Emotional times: Christina Anstead announced her separation from Ant Anstead after 21 months of marriage in an Instagram post on September 18 It was Christina (born Christina Haack) who went public with the announcement of their separation on social media. 'Ant and I have made the difficult decision to separate,' she began in the caption of a silhouette image of the former couple walking on a beach. 'We are grateful for each other and as always, our children will remain our priority. We appreciate your support and ask for privacy for us and our family as we navigate the future.' Christina and Ant welcomed their son Hudson in September 2019. Christina also shares a daughter Taylor, 10, and son Brayden, five, with ex-husband and Flip or Flop co-host Tarek El Moussa. Ant also has daughter Amelie, 16, and a son Archie, 14, with his ex-wife Louise Herbert. Indeed. Now the second wave is almost behind us, it is possible to say, once again, that we are doing well enough. It is the counter-example of Europe that provides the best perspective of Australias current standing. Europe is suffering a second wave that is larger, and more persistent than its first. This week, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands were among the most prominent examples to record their highest ever daily cases. These countries had all bent their infection curves the first time around. But they didnt flatten them to the same extent as Australia. Now their second waves appear more stubborn and combine to form an elevated plateau. Australias experience, by contrast is represented by two rolling hills, separated by a comforting valley of ultra-low infections between April and June. Unfortunately, the evidence is building that the virus has a strong seasonal bias. The second wave in Europe was unleashed as summer holidaymakers returned home, schools reopened and the cooler weather kept people indoors. Now Victorian-style lockdowns are being mooted across the continent, and in the UK. Connecting these dots, our next moment of acute vulnerability will come in late February, early March next year. The nations leaders may not want to look that far ahead. But they should start thinking about the virus in the way they do the bushfire season, and use the lead-up to next autumn to prepare plans in the event of an outbreak. The Victorians will have some insights, most notably on the value of masks. Anticipating risk, and setting public expectations accordingly, is surely preferable to another last resort lockdown. Another lockdown would create the perfect storm for a double-dip recession next year. Victorias absence from the national economy over the past three months is expected to slash gross domestic product by 2 per cent in the September quarter. The other states are unlikely to make up the difference, although, as the Reserve Bank pointed out this week, some are already on track to recovery. The banks deputy governor Guy Debelle said Western Australia businesses are reporting skilled labour shortages in some areas. Ordinarily they would fill those vacancies by luring workers from other states, or overseas, but border closures make this impossible from the time being. Onion prices soar (Image: PTI) Maharashtra Horticulture Minister Sandipan Bhumre has urged the Centre to withdraw the ban on onion export. He has made this demand in a letter written to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. "The letter says that in order to avoid the loss of onion producing farmers, the central government must revoke the ban imposed on this kitchen staple," an official release said on Thursday. "In the letter, the minister urged Tomar to revoke the ban saying that the farmers are facing problems due to the government's unexpected decision," it added. The decision to ban export of onions is unjust, the release quoted the letter as saying. The Centre recently banned the export of all varieties of onions, a move aimed at increasing availability and curbing prices of the commodity in the domestic market. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Aleksander Solum (Reuters) Hong Kong Fri, September 25, 2020 09:01 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4718b9b 2 Art & Culture Hong-Kong,auction,Sothebys,yuan,China Free A 700-year-old painted scroll from the Yuan Dynasty titled "Five Drunken Princes Returning On Horseback" is expected to sell for $10-15.5 million at an upcoming Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong. Once owned by Chinese emperors and painted by Yuan dynasty master Ren Renfa (1255-1327), the two meter-long scroll will go under the hammer along with other rare artworks on Oct. 8. "This is a painting that entered the court collection in the 18th century, in the collection of the Emperor Qianlong. It will have the seals of Emperor Qianlong, his son Jiaqing and further emperors of the Qing dynasty," Sotheby's Asia chairman Nicholas Chow said at a media preview on Wednesday. The scroll shows the five princes and four attendants, who are also all on horseback in a dynamic scene. Read also: Ancient Chinese painting auctioned for almost $60 million "It was in the hands of Pu Yi, the last emperor, who took it out of the Forbidden City and after that sold it on the market. And it entered various very important collections in the West. And it's with us here today," Chow added. Among other works showcased by Sotheby's was a complete scroll from Qing dynasty artist Wang Hui's famous work, "The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour". Its twelve scrolls, which are 200 meters long in total, are scattered around the world. Sotheby's described its presentation of a complete scroll as unique. The item is not for sale. Boris Johnson has warned the public things will be tough as the chancellor unveiled a less generous replacement for the coronavirus furlough scheme that has supported jobs throughout the pandemic. As Rishi Sunak presented the governments economic plan for the winter to MPs amid a resurgences in cases of Covid-19, the prime minister also appealled to the country to work together and reduce the R rate of the virus. The new Job Support Scheme, the chancellor said, will top up employees wages who are unable to work full-time replacing the furlough policy brought in as Britain went into lockdown in March. The new programme, beginning in October, will allow staff to be paid by their employer for working at least a third of their usual hours, with the state topping up part of their salary that would have otherwise been lost due to reduced hours. Mr Sunak said the Treasury would pay a third of an employees equivalent salary, capped at 697 meaning a third will go unpaid. Acknowledging that large numbers of jobs will be lost with the withdrawal of the furlough, Mr Sunak warned: I cant save every business, I cant save every job. No chancellor could. Responding to his statement, Mr Johnson said on Thursday: The chancellor is being totally realistic with people about the prospect of the economy - things will be tough. What the Chancellor is saying today - we're continuing to do everything we can to support the work force, jobs and livelihoods throughout the crisis and again some very creative and imaginative proposals from the Chancellor. During a visit to a Northamtonshire police force, the prime minister said he was discussing the enforcement of the new restrictions by authorities, adding its absolutely vital that everyone follows the governments instructions. He said:What we are saying is people who do the right thing, who self-isolate when they are contacted by NHS Test and Trace, they will get support. Theres also a 10,000 fine potentially if you dont comply. Its absolutely vital we all work together now to get the R down, get the virus back under control and simultaneously allow education and the economy to continue. That is the best thing for jobs, for growth in this country. Addressing why people should follow the instructions of the NHS Test and Trace app, Mr Johnson said: "The crucial thing is for people to follow the guidance, and when you're contacted by NHS Test and Trace and told that you've been in the presence of somebody with coronavirus - we're going to give you support to help you through the period of self-isolation. "You should do that because that's the best way to stop the spread of the virus and just bear in mind now that there are also fines for people who don't follow the guidance and that is what I'm trying to say today. "Our police do an amazing job. I don't want to add extra burdens to them at all but as you know we're increasing the number of police officers on the streets of this country by 20,000, a lot of them being recruited here in Northamptonshire. Fall in the Lehigh Valley generally offers a variety of fun and enriching activities, and this year is no different -- deadly pandemic or not. Of course, some of this weekends goings-on are virtual, due to the coronavirus. But not all of them. Heres a rundown of seven things we found to do Saturday or Sunday: Pick your own You know that meme about Humpty Dumpty having a great fall and hes out picking apples and doing other autumn-y things? That could be you and your family at places like Grims Orchard & Family Farms in Breinigsville, Upper Macungie Township. No reservations or appointments are needed, but there are COVID-19 mitigation measures in place. Visit grimsorchard.com for full details. Get stinky, virtually (but probably also literally) Easton Garlic Fest organizers canceled this years edition due to the coronavirus. BUT, there is now a Virtual Easton Garlic Fest 2020 happening this weekend. It includes four Easton-based bartenders whipping up a Stinky Garlic Cocktail of their choice, and the how-to video with the most likes is set to be featured during the 2021 festival. Go on Broaaddwwayyyy (Centre Square-style) Next Saturday 9/26, the City of Easton is proud to welcome Easton-area native @DeeRoscioli for a free, live performance in Centre Square. This concert is open to the public. Face masks are required. Please bring a chair or blanket. (Graphic by @alexhora_) https://t.co/rckXVF5Qqk pic.twitter.com/22bpcCBwWS City of Easton PA Official (@cityofeastonpa) September 16, 2020 Easton is hosting Dee Roscioli, who grew up in the area, for a free, live performance 7 p.m. Saturday in Centre Square, Third and Northampton streets. Face coverings and social distancing are required. While youre in town, check out the outdoor seating that restaurants have set up (or the outdoor axe throwing from Skeggys Axe House.) Remember when Bethlehem made Bethlehem Steel Bethlehem Steel Corp. steelworkers are represented in an image from the "Faces of Steel" photo gallery organized by ArtsQuest to commemorate 25 years since steelmaking ceased in Bethlehem.Courtesy photo Nov. 18, 1995, marked the last cast of iron from a blast furnace in Bethlehem, and the Bethlehem plants Basic Oxygen Furnace that converted iron into steel shut down shortly afterwards. The Electric Furnace Melt Shop was the last steelmaking step to shut down, on Nov. 22, 1995. ArtsQuest has a full lineup of events to commemorate the end of an error that helped build American icons and beat back empires and fascism during World War II, including The First Cast public casting demonstration set for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the National Museum of Industrial History located on the former Bethlehem Works of the Bethlehem Steel Corp. The afternoon-long event is outdoors and weather-dependent, and is set to culminate in a molten iron pour around 3 p.m., during which commemorative Last Cast 25th Anniversary medallions will be created. Saturday also marks the start of the outdoor LED screen display of the Faces of Steel photo gallery featuring images of the men, women and machinery of the bygone era at WLVT-PBS39 Lehigh Valley Public Media headquarters adjacent to the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, right alongside the blast furnaces. Visit steelstacks.org for full details. Say hello again (instead of auf Wiedersehn) to Oktoberfest Oktoberfest is swinging a year ago, on Oct. 5, 2019. This year's edition features in-person events at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks in Bethlehem, as well as virtual highlights.lehighvalleylive.com file photo ArtsQuest on Saturday and Sunday is featuring German cuisine to go on the PNC Plaza at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way on Bethlehem, as part of in-person and virtual events for this years 10th Oktoberfest presented by Lehigh Valley International Airport. Other highlights include live music Saturday with the Schutzengiggles Oompah Band and Polkadelphia on Sunday, as well as a Dragtoberfest on Saturday night, all on the SteelStacks campus. Reservations are required. Visit steelstacks.org for more information. Bike Your Park Easton's D&L Trail following canal tow-path trails is part of the Two Rivers Trailway.lehighvalleylive.com file photo Saturday is Bike Your Park Day, from the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor in Easton, featuring an in-person, 10.5-mile ride through four area parks beginning at 9:30 a.m. Registration is required to restrict group sizes. Find all the details at delawareandlehigh.org. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting lehighvalleylive.com with a subscription. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. She's the feisty Pakistani beauty who failed to win Locky Gilbert's heart on The Bachelor. And on Thursday, Areeba Emmanuel turned heads in a bright pink outfit while out and about in Sydney's Surry Hills, ahead of the grand finale airing. The 25-year-old wowed in a neon pink boob tube top, matched with a midi length skirt that clung onto her figure. Showing Locky what he's missing! Bachelor reject Areeba Emmanuel (pictured) flaunted her sensational figure in an eye-catching pink outfit in Sydney's Surry Hills on Thursday The raven haired beauty styled her long and luscious locks in a half up pony tail, allowing the rest of her tresses to cascade down. She accessorised her look with silver rosary-style necklace and black heels, as she toted a big paper bag as she crossed the street with a gal pal. For makeup, Areeba opted for a glamorous look with false lashes and a glossy plump pout. Glam: The raven haired beauty styled her long and luscious locks in a half up pony tail, allowing the rest of her tresses to cascade down. For makeup, Areeba opted for a glamorous look with false lashes and a glossy plump pout Out and about: Areeba was joined with a gal pal in Surry Hills Last month, she spoke proudly of being the first Pakistani woman on the reality show, telling The Liverpool City Champion: 'It was an honour to be the first Pakistani girl on The Bachelor and national TV.' The beauty then explained often times Pakistani women are turned off from doing the show for a number of reasons. 'Girls from my country don't really get to do something like this, or they don't think they are good enough to do something like this,' she said. Proud: Last month, she spoke proudly of being the first Pakistani woman on the reality show, saying: 'It was an honour to be the first Pakistani girl on The Bachelor and national TV' In the grand final on Thursday, Locky chose to pursue a relationship with Irena over Bella Varelis. He told her: 'When I think about our future together, I'm, like, so excited and, like, I can't wait to just travel the world and, like, make all your dreams come true.' 'Irena, I'm so in love with you. And I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.' Photo: The Canadian Press Specimens to be tested for COVID-19 are seen at LifeLabs after being logged upon receipt at the company's lab, in Surrey, B.C., on Thursday, March 26, 2020. nbsp;Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today Canada will spend $440 million to join an international program which is trying ensure COVID-19 vaccines aren't just hoarded by rich countries. nbsp;THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Canada will spend $440 million to join an international program that is trying ensure COVID-19 vaccines aren't just hoarded by rich countries, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday. But Canada is spending more than twice that to gain its own access to millions of doses of some of the most promising vaccines in development. That includes a deal Trudeau announced at the same time with AstraZeneca for up to 20 million doses of its vaccine candidate, which is in the third and final phase of clinical trials. That agreement is the sixth of its kind the Canadian government has reached with a drug company working on a vaccine. "Canadians must have access to a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19 as quickly as possible no matter where it was developed," Trudeau said at a news conference on Parliament Hill Friday. Canada has committed more than $1 billion to buy up to 282 million doses of potential vaccines. The doses will only become available here if they successfully complete clinical trials and Health Canada approves them. Up to 15 million additional doses, under the same conditions for approval, will come from the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility, known as COVAX. The facility is one of three parts of a World Health Organization-led coalition to ensure testing, treatment and vaccines for COVID-19 are developed and distributed fairly around the world. Through COVAX, wealthy nations like Canada can pay to get guaranteed access to some vaccine doses, and also contribute to help poorer countries get vaccines. Canada's $440-million commitment includes $220 million to buy doses of vaccines for Canadians, and another $220 million to contribute to the fund to help 92 low and middle-income countries.. COVAX has negotiated deals with nine vaccine developers, three of which are among those Canada already has access to through private deals. But there are six vaccines Canada could get through COVAX that it has no access to at the moment. COVAX is a first-of-its-kind initiative that recognized ending the COVID-19 pandemic requires all countries to have access to treatments and vaccines, and that in previous pandemics, wealthy countries have been able to protect their citizens while poorer nations could not. International Development Minister Karina Gould said in an interview that Canada is not undermining COVAX's efforts by investing in it and signing side deals directly with manufacturers. She said through COVAX, Canada is securing doses for Canadians and for countries that can't afford vaccines on their own. "Thats not to say we cant make these agreements with other companies for Canadians as well," she said. "Were really trying to make sure were providing fair and equitable access right around the world." But Jason Nickerson, the humanitarian-affairs adviser at Doctors Without Borders, said there is not going to be enough vaccine supply for everyone around the world to get a vaccine right away. He said the moral and ethical question is: will the private deals being made by Canada and other rich countries mean that Canadians who are at low risk to get infected or get severely ill from COVID-19 get vaccinated before high-risk people in lower-income countries? Front-line health workers everywhere should be vaccinated before low-risk people anywhere, said Nickerson. "We're dealing with vaccines that are going to be in high demand and low supply," he said. "There are billions of people around the world who want access to this vaccine but we need to be smart about how this is distributed." Canada hasn't yet said what its strategy will be to prioritize vaccinations here. He also pointed out that Canada's side deals have potentially secured enough doses of vaccine to vaccinate each Canadian more than seven times. Not all those vaccines may be approved, but it is very likely Canada will end up with more vaccines than it needs, and Canada has not indicated what will happen if there is excess. "The slight decrease in sales volume is likely more a reflection of supply than demand," said Cindi Bulla, chairman of Texas Realtors. "These properties remain a popular and rapidly growing sector of the Texas housing market. As the Texas population continues to boom and affordability challenges increase, condominiums and townhomes provide prime options for homeowners seeking closer locales to popular attractions and essential services at all price points." Inventory for Texas condominiums increased 0.3 months to 5.3 months of inventory, while the inventory of townhomes declined 0.6 months to 4.3 months of inventory. According to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, a market balanced between supply and demand has between 6.0 and 6.5 months of inventory. In the first six months of the year, Texas condominiums spent an average of 70 days on the market, while townhomes spent an average of 64 days on the market. From July 2019 to June 2020, the total dollar volume of condominiums and townhomes sold in Texas was $5,259,859,880, with $2,997,908,303 in condominium sales and $2,261,951,577 in townhome sales. Sales price increased moderately for both condominiums and townhomes. Statewide, the year-to-date median sales price as of June 2020 was $192,000 for condominiums, an annual increase of 1.6%, and $230,000 for townhomes, an annual increase of 1.3%. The average price-per-square foot during this time frame was $200 for condominiums and $143 for townhomes. Bulla concluded, "From first time homebuyers looking to purchase a starter property to retirees looking for less upkeep, condominiums and townhomes offer an affordable price point in high-density urban areas." About the Texas Condominium Sales Report Data for the Texas Condominium Sales Report is provided by the Data Relevance Project, a partnership among Texas REALTORS and local REALTOR associations throughout the state. Data analysis is provided by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. The report analyzes condominium and townhome sales data from July 2019 through June 2020 for the Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, Houston, McAllen and San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Areas. To view the report in its entirety, visit texasrealestate.com. About Texas REALTORS With more than 135,000 members, Texas REALTORS is a professional membership organization that represents all aspects of real estate in Texas. In 2020, Texas REALTORS is celebrating a century of shaping Texas by being the advocate for private property rights, maintaining the highest standards of professionalism, and providing its members with the tools to achieve success. Visit texasrealestate.com to learn more. Contact: Morgan Moritz, [email protected] SOURCE Texas REALTORS Related Links http://www.texasrealestate.com Luan Nguyen, left, a UC San Diego freshman, and his sister, Diep Nguyen, try out new COVID-19 exposure notification app. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) Elizabeth Meckert breathed a small sigh of relief when her son, Andrew, a freshman at UC San Diego, set up his iPhone to let him know if he comes in contact with someone who later tests positive for COVID-19. This digital heads-up is made possible with smartphone-based exposure notifications. California recently gave UC San Diego the go-ahead to test the technology, and the La Jolla university launched its pilot program on Thursday. Students like Andrew were quick to try it. It makes me feel better to know that hell know right away if someone hes come in contact with tests positive. Its a little insurance policy, said Elizabeth Meckert. She traveled to the campus from Lake Oswego, Ore., to help her son move into his dorm. Its scary enough sending your freshman away to college this far away, but with COVID, it makes it even scarier. University officials hope the cellphone technology will help them avoid the type of coronavirus chaos that has left more than 933 infected at San Diego State University . Its a scene that has played out at colleges across the nation, where tens of thousands of cases have occurred. This week, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that Americans in their 20s now account for more COVID-19 cases than any other age group. The same is true in San Diego County, where the 20-29 age group accounts for 25% of cases. The UC San Diego program will be built upon Apple and Googles exposure notification system, which uses Bluetooth technology to warn an individual when theyve come in close contact with someone who later tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The latest expansion of this system, called exposure notifications express, allows health agencies to put the technology to use without developing their own cellphone application. Apple smartphone users who decide to participate can do so by enabling the exposure notifications system that was recently added to iPhone operating systems, while Android users will get a link to download the CA COVID Notify app from Google Play. Story continues If UC San Diegos program is successful, the state may decide to offer similar notifications to residents across the state. I would like to urge all UC San Diego students, faculty and staff to consider adding CA COVID Notify to your smartphone today to increase the possibility of quick detection and help keep our community safe, UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said in an email announcing the programs launch. University officials estimate about 3,500 users had enrolled in the program by Thursday. Luan Nguyen was one of those users. The public health major spotted the email Thursday morning. He said the installation took no time at all. Honestly, I think its really important to be aware of whats going on around you, the freshman said. Were relying more on technology so its advancing more ... and in this case its a good way to keep down COVID cases. Taylor Smith, another freshman, plans to enable the notifications, as well. Why not? Why not be more safe, feel more safe? she said. But some members of the UC San Diego community are undecided. I dont know, said 31-year-old Andrew Christensen, who works in the universitys recreation department. Theyve sent out some emails about it and Ive kind of gone back and forth. Christensen, who works closely with student athletes, acknowledged that app-based technology could be very helpful in the colleges efforts to control the spread of COVID-19, and he liked that it was specific to the campus community. But privacy was still a concern. When does that sort of tracking stop? Google, Apple and university officials have said often that exposure notification technology uses anonymous keys to track users without identifying individuals. Students, faculty members and staff can read more about the program on the colleges California COVID Notify web page , which explains how the technology works and how to set it up on a smartphone. Exposure notifications are part of the universitys Return to Learn program, which relies in part on the regular testing of the UC San Diego community. The plan also includes face covering requirements, increased sanitation, wastewater testing and public health interventions like case isolation and contact tracing. Across the county, COVID-19 continues to spread. On Thursday, county officials reported 171 new cases, and six more deaths. The three men and three women were in their mid-50s to their early 90s. All but one had underlying medical conditions. Officials are also investigating seven new community outbreaks: four in restaurants or bars, two in other businesses and one at a religious-affiiiated location. In the last week, the county has investigated 15 such outbreaks. So far, no outbreaks have occurred at UC San Diego. Winkley writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune The much-awaited online exams for backlogs/Allowed to Keep Term (ATKT) candidates commenced on September 25 across several city colleges and while the process was smooth sailing for several institutes, a host of institutes experienced teething troubles and some technical errors which eventually pushed them to delay the examination process by a few days. A suburban college had to suddenly postpone their ATKT exams on Friday after experiencing technical trouble just before the exams began. The format of the exam on the software was not as we had originally decided, so the papers had to be reformatted and therefore we decided to postpone the exams by a couple of days, said the vice-principal of the college on condition of anonymity. She added that the postponement of the exam was also suggested by the institute in order to avoid any form of technical glitches once the exams begin. Some colleges also chose to use more time to train teachers and students on the new concept of examinations that will be conducted online and therefore decided to start exams for ATKT students starting next week. Online exams are new for teachers as well as students so we want them to be thoroughly prepared for the same before the exams begin, said Sobhana Vasudevan, principal, R A Poddar College, Matunga. She added that the college is currently busy conducting mock tests in every subject for their students before the exams begin. A circular released by the University of Mumbai in the month of September specified that colleges will conduct the exams online and in the multiple-choice questions (MCQ) format. Another circular has also highlighted that all exams should be conducted by October 31 and results for the same should be announced by the first week of November. While all colleges affiliated to MU have been divided under cluster/lead colleges according to their geographical location, there has been no clarity on part of the university on the software that colleges should use in order to conduct online exams. This has created more confusion for colleges because, under the same cluster, all colleges have been asked to use the same software for their exams but in our case, we already are using different software which the other colleges dont want to opt for. We are still trying to work around this before we start final exams, said a senior professor from a south Mumbai college. Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Friday carried out a protest at the universitys Kalina campus, demanding better coordination and communication between the university and all affiliated colleges in order to ensure smooth functioning of online exams. Since this is the first time that an exam of this level is being held online, that too in a new format, some colleges have faced technical glitches. However we are in touch with them and have found out that most of them have managed to solve the errors and hope to conduct exams smoothly henceforth, said Vinod Patil, director, Board of Examinations and Evaluation, MU. Some colleges, however, managed to conduct the ATKT exams as per the schedule and smoothly on Friday. St Xaviers College at Dhobi Talao conducted the exams using Google Forms and also managed to ensure proctoring during the exam through another Zoom. The exam was conducted successfully and we hope to continue the rest of the exams in a similar format, said Rajendra Shinde, principal of the college. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON TOKYO, Sept 25, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - MITSUBISHI MOTORS CORPORATION (MMC) continues its plug-in hybrid initiative by launching the OUTLANDER PHEV in Puerto Rico. The electrified model offers a mobility alternative that is less harmful to the environment and answers to the growing needs of consumers in Puerto Rico who seek to be at the forefront of new technologies and energy savings."The OUTLANDER PHEV suggests new lifestyle for customers in Puerto Rico," said John Signoriello, executive officer, responsible for global marketing and sales, MMC. "It is not only environmentally friendly but can also serve as an electric power supply both in everyday life and during emergencies. We believe that the introduction of the OUTLANDER PHEV will contribute to community resilience in the time of need."Bringing together MMC's heritage of electro-mobility, 4WD expertise and all-wheel control technology, the OUTLANDER PHEV is the company's flagship model. It can be driven in all-electric mode for everyday driving, while on long journeys the car can be powered by a gasoline engine as a hybrid. In addition to offering energy efficiency and smooth driving experience, the OUTLANDER PHEV can supply up to 1,500 watts of power from the traction battery through two on-board outlets(1) to power appliances during outdoor leisure or power outage.The OUTLANDER PHEV is the world's best-selling PHEV(2) and has been Europe's best-selling PHEV for five consecutive years (2015-2019)(3). Since making its debut in 2013 as the world's first plug-in hybrid SUV, it has been rolled out to more than 60 countries across the world, with total sales volume reaching more than 260,000 units as of August 2020.(1) North American specification(2) Source: MITSUBISHI MOTORS' internal sales data from January 2013 to March 2020(3) Source: MITSUBISHI MOTORS' internal sales data from January 2015 to December 2019About Mitsubishi MotorsMITSUBISHI MOTORS CORPORATION is a global automobile company based in Tokyo, Japan, which has a competitive edge in SUVs and pickup trucks, electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Since the Mitsubishi group produced its first car more than a century ago, we have demonstrated an ambitious and often disruptive approach, developing new vehicle genres and pioneering cutting-edge technologies. Deeply rooted in MITSUBISHI MOTORS' DNA, our brand strategy will appeal to ambitious drivers, willing to challenge conventional wisdom and ready to embrace change. Consistent with this mindset, MITSUBISHI MOTORS introduced its new brand strategy in 2017, expressed in its "Drive your Ambition" tagline - a combination of personal drive and forward attitude, and a reflection of the constant dialogue between the brand and its customers. Today MITSUBISHI MOTORS is committed to continuous investment in innovative new technologies, attractive design and product development, bringing exciting and authentic new vehicles to customers around the world.Source: Mitsubishi MotorsCopyright 2020 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. A GP convicted of indecently assaulting sleeping women at a Sydney clinic has shown "no remorse" for his actions and maintains he was administering a form of energy healing, a court has heard. Ali Khorami, 50, was found guilty in July of 19 counts of indecent assault, two counts of an aggravated act of indecency and one count of administering an intoxicating substance after he faced trial in the NSW District Court accused of assaulting patients at the Woolcock Clinic in Glebe in 2018. Ali Khorami leaves court in July. Credit:Peter Rae Khorami assaulted three women and a 16-year-old girl who attended the clinic for overnight sleep studies. He drugged a fifth woman with the sleeping drug Temazepam, which he concealed in a cup of orange juice. On Friday, prosecutor Roger Kimbell said Khorami has "expressed no remorse whatsoever" for his actions and claimed to a psychologist "on more than one occasion" that two of the complainants consented. Panaji, Sep 25 : Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday thanked Union Minister for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar for sanctioning 100 electric buses, which would be added to the fleet of the state road transport corporation. "On behalf of people of Goa, I thank Shri @PrakashJavdekar Ji for sanctioning 100 electric buses for Kadamba Transport Corporation. This will mark the beginning of KTC's transformation towards greener transportation, improving operational efficiency & reducing carbon footprint," Sawant tweeted. Earlier, Javadekar had tweeted: "100 electric buses have been sanctioned for Goa's Kadamba Transport Corporation. These environment friendly e-buses for the intercity services of Goa would help protect environment as well as improve mobility. @DrPramodPSawant @goacm @PIB_Panaji @BJP4Goa @DDNewsPanaji #FAME." The buses have been sanctioned under the Central government's Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) scheme, which was initiated in 2015 to promote the manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle technology and to ensure sustainable growth of the same. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text BRIDGEPORT Police are responding to a report of a person shot in the citys East End neighborhood. Police were called to the area of Union Avenue on a preliminary report of a shooting, the Bridgeport Police Department said in a tweet at 7:59 p.m. Thursday. The avenue runs the length of the East End neighborhood north to south from the Metro-North rail yard on one end to the area near the East End Yacht Club at the waterfront. If confirmed, the shooting will mark the second in Bridgeport in less than 24 hours. Police were called to the Black Rock neighborhood about 12 hours earlier that same day for another shooting. The victim in that case, a 44-year-old man, was killed, becoming the citys 15th homicide of the year. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency on Friday in preparation for a far-right rally in Portland that's expected to draw thousands of attendees this Saturday, the Statesman Journal reports. Why it matters: Far-right protests in Portland have recently provoked counter-demonstrations, spurring clashes and violent street brawls. One man was fatally shot in August when skirmishes between the groups erupted in the city. What they're saying: The First Amendment does not give anyone license to hurt or kill someone because of opposing political views, Brown said, according to the Statesman Journal. And when free expression is fueled by hate and coupled with an intent to incite violence, then I need to do everything I can as governor to ensure the safety of Oregonians." Syracuse, N.Y. A new super PAC is targeting Democratic candidates for New York State Senate, including one in the Syracuse area, with the help of a billionaire cosmetics executive. Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune, has funneled $1.7 million to the new PAC, known as Safe Together New York, according to Spectrum News. The committee has spent $1 million on TV ads aimed at Democratic incumbents in the Senate, including Sens. Monica Martinez, Jim Gaughran, Kevin Thomas and Andrew Gounardes. According to state campaign finance reports, the group is also targeting Democrat John Mannion, a high school teacher who is running against Republican Angi Renna for an open state Senate seat in the Syracuse area. Mannion ran for the same seat, the 50th Senate District, two years ago. He lost by 2 percentage points to Republican Bob Antonacci, who has since resigned to become a judge. That 2018 race attracted nearly $3 million in donations, including about $1 million from outside groups who backed Mannion. Organizers of Safe Together say theyre trying to highlight changes in criminal justice laws Democrats have made since they have been in charge of the Legislature, according to the Buffalo News. The group believes many of those changes have contributed to increases in crime rates. The group does not appear to be trying to return Republicans to power in the Senate, the News said. Rather, Democrats believe the PAC is trying to prevent them from securing a veto-proof super majority. The group has also launched a website in addition to the ad campaign, according to Newsday. Staff Writer Teri Weaver contributed to this report Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598 At a time when it is suspected that both China and Pakistan may come together against India, the Indian Air Force on Friday said it was ready for undertaking operations simultaneously on both the fronts. IMAGE: An IAF fighter jet flies in the Ladakh region amid the prolonged India-China faceoff. Photograph: PTI Photo. The forward airbase near the PoK-China border, which from where Pakistan is around 50 kilometres and the strategic Daulat Beg Oldi is around 80 kilometres, the activity of fighter, transport aircraft and helicopters is going on during both day and night. Team ANI reached the strategically located airbase moving through the Khardungla pass along the Shyok river to witness the operations of fighter aircraft including the Su-30MKI and the transport planes including the C-130J Super Hercules, Ilyushin-76 and the Anton-32. In view of the ongoing conflict with China, the fighter aircraft are operating during both day and night, the transport aircraft are continuously flying in and out of the airbase with troops, rations and ammunition to the troops located in bases on the Line of Actual Control in DBO and other areas in Eastern Ladakh. Asked about the threat from Pakistan's Skardu airbase and the possibility of China-Pakistan coming together there, an Indian Air Force pilot of Flight Lieutenant-rank said, "Owing to the modern platform, the IAF is fully trained and is ready to undertake any operations on both the fronts. "We are fully trained and highly motivated. We live by the IAF's motto --Touch the Sky with Glory." Speaking about the IAF's capability to undertake night operations in these tough terrains, a fighter pilot said, "Today, our warfare capabilities have grown, so much so that we are able to undertake all types of missions even at nights from the forward base." Earlier, the Pakistani airbases in occupied Kashmir came under watch after a Chinese refueller aircraft landed in Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan region, in June. The strategic airbase located on the banks of the Shyok river has been upgraded for day and night operations. The Galwan river, which saw a violent face-off between India and China and the death of several soldiers from both sides, also merges into the Shyok River which flows from Eastern Ladakh to Western Ladakh before crossing over into Pakistan. Switch the Market flag Open the menu and switch the Market flag for targeted data from your country of choice. for targeted data from your country of choice. VENTURA, Calif., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cleure, the leading clean and hypoallergenic personal care brand for sensitive skin, is proud to announce the upcoming launch of its newly redesigned website at www.cleure.com . The site features a modern design, improved functionality, and streamlined information to help customers make well-informed decisions about their personal care needs. The new platform offers the ultimate user-friendly experience with improved navigation, performance, mobile optimization, and personalization. Created with the user experience in mind, the site includes many new features to help users quickly and easily navigate the site to find the personal care products they need. New features include: AfterPay "Buy Now, Pay Later" Interest-Free Payments and Express Checkout payment options, giving users more alternatives for purchasing products. Skincare Routine Finder Quiz which personalizes and recommends products that address customers' specific skincare goals. Live Chat during business hours with their team of skincare experts, allowing customer support to be more accessible. Comprehensive Ingredient Dictionary featuring simple explanations of every ingredient used in their formulas. Newly Updated Product Images, Videos, and Descriptions detailing key features and FAQs for each product. "We are excited to introduce an elevated, personalized, and informative online experience for our Cleure customers," said Dr. Flora Stay, Founder of Cleure. "Shopping for clean, cruelty-free skincare, oral care, and hair care tailored for sensitive skin has never been easier." Site visitors can also stay informed via the revamped Advice by Concern blog. The blog contains a rich library of helpful content such as skincare advice, product recommendations, routines, educational research on ingredients, and explanations of common skin, oral, and hair conditions. For more information on Cleure and to view the new site please visit www.cleure.com starting October 2020. About Cleure Cleure formulates effective personal care products that address the needs of all skin types, sensitivity concerns, and ages. Rooted in the philosophy of only using ingredients with intention, Cleure's products are carefully curated with clean, pure, and effective ingredients that are recommended by dermatologists and allergists, and are free of unnecessary additives or hidden preservatives. Cleure is committed to ingredient integrity and 100% label transparency with explicitly listed, locally sourced ingredients that are considerate of all sensitivities. Made in the USA, Cleure's hypoallergenic collection is entirely fragrance-free, gluten-free, cruelty-free, and free of parabens, salicylates, phthalates, alcohols, synthetic dyes, essential oils, phenoxyethanol, propylene glycol, mint, and other irritating ingredients. Learn more at www.cleure.com . Media Contact: Giselle Langley 805-981-7600 [email protected] SOURCE Cleure Related Links http://www.cleure.com The already strained relations between the Centre and states over the compensation mechanism under the goods and services tax (GST) may get strained further after the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on sharing and devolution of the integrated goods and services tax (IGST) collections. According to GST rules which are clear on the matter, IGST has to be shared between the Centre and states in the ratio of 50:50 and the recommendations of the then 15th finance commission bind the union government to give a further 42 per cent from its share to the ... A Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet experienced an engine fire and was forced to land at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, on Monday, less than two weeks after a nearly identical mishap at the same air station. According to the Naval Safety Center, the two-seater aircraft made a safe arrested landing at the Virginia Beach air station. Read Next: Navy Declassifies 300 Pages of Probe into 1963 USS Thresher Disaster Cmdr. Jennifer Cragg, a Naval Air Force Atlantic spokeswoman, told Military.com that the emergency landing took place around noon and involved a Super Hornet from Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 11. The incident took place while training over the Virginia Capes, she said. "The aircraft landed safely at NAS Oceana without incident. An aviation mishap investigation has been initiated to determine the cause of the incident," Cragg said in a statement. "There were no injuries." The Navy is still investigating a Sept. 10 mishap involving a different F/A-18F Super Hornet, also based at Oceana. That aircraft, attached to VFA-103, experienced an engine fire, also in the Virginia Capes region, Cragg said. The mishap took place around 5:30 p.m. Cragg confirmed that the aircraft landed safely at Oceana in that incident as well and no injuries were sustained. It's not clear yet whether there are any factors connecting the two recent Super Hornet mishaps. "At this point, it is too early to speculate the causal factors for the in-flight engine fire with both VFA-103 and VFA-11, but an investigation will determine the contributing factors," Cragg said. She added that ongoing training has so far not been affected by the incidents. In total, it's the third engine fire mishap involving Navy and Marine Corps aircraft this month. On Sept. 3, a CH-53E Super Stallion assigned to Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, made an emergency landing about 11 miles from the base following an in-flight fire that began shortly after the heavy-lift helicopter took off. All four Marines aboard at the time were safe and uninjured. Story continues That incident is also under investigation. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Related: Four Marines Safe After Super Stallion Helicopter Catches Fire Mid-Flight And if there are so many opportunities, why haven't they invested in them, asks Debashis Basu. The Securities and Exchange Board of India on September 11 came up with a fatwa. By January next year, multi-cap equity funds must invest a minimum of 75 per cent in equities, up from 65 per cent, with at least 25 per cent each in large-caps, mid-caps, and small-caps. This has sent shockwaves, not just through the fund industry and equity fund investors but the entire equity market. Here is why. Most of the multi-cap money is invested in large-caps. If multi-cap funds are forced to make a 25 per cent allocation each to large-, mid-, and small-caps, they will have to sell massive amounts of large-cap stocks and buy equally large amounts of mid- and small-cap stocks. How large is this? Assets under management of multi-cap funds are Rs 1.53 trillion. This means funds will need to have 25 per cent of that in small-cap stocks, which means putting in over Rs 38,000 crore (Rs 380 billion). Funds currently have about Rs 11,240 crore invested in small-caps. So, they need to buy around Rs 27,062 crore (Rs 270.62 billion) of small-cap stocks. Is this practical? How big is the small-cap universe? According to the Sebi classification, the top 100 companies in terms of market cap are large-caps, the 101st to 250th are mid-caps, and 251st onwards are small-caps. The market capitalisation of the 251st to 500th company is Rs 9 trillion. Most of them are not investment-worthy. Even if they were, there is no liquidity. Promoters own 50 to 75 per cent of the capital. Where will multi-cap funds find small-caps to invest such large amounts? And if there are so many opportunities, why haven't they invested in them? Here is another bit of data. While Sebi wants multi-cap funds to invest another Rs 27,000 crore (Rs 270 billion) in small-caps, the assets in small-cap funds are Rs 52,000 crore (Rs 520 billion). This means a sum that is 50 per cent greater than the current assets of small-cap funds will now have to be additionally bought by multi-cap funds from a list of small-cap stocks. Is Sebi trying to create a small-cap boom by issuing a fatwa? It certainly sounds like the Greek mythological story about Procrustes's bed. In the Greek legend, a robber called Procrustes had an iron bed, on which he compelled his victims to lie down. If a victim was shorter than the bed, he stretched him by hammering or racking the body to fit. Alternatively, if the victim was longer than the bed, he cut off the legs to make the body fit the bed's length. In either case the victim died. Sebi is attempting to fit multi-cap funds into its own version of Procrustes's bed by forcing funds to stretch their asset allocation or close them. (From this legend comes the adjective Procrustean, which is a framework of enforcing uniformity without regard to natural variation or individuality.) Why has Sebi issued a Procrustean fatwa? Because multi-cap funds are apparently multi-cap only in name. They hardly invest in small-caps. I checked the largest multi-cap fund, Kotak Standard. It had a 75 per cent allocation to large-caps at the end of August. HDFC Equity Fund, which has more than Rs 17,000 crore (Rs 170 billion) of assets, has 86 per cent invested in large-caps. The same is the story for all multi-cap funds. Hence, Sebi felt multi-cap funds must justify their names. Critics would say they are designed to give flexibility to the fund manager to move from small-caps to large-caps -- depending upon market opportunities. Well, that is only on paper. As we have repeatedly shown in Moneylife, such flexibility is bunkum. Funds are incapable of doing any timing. Dynamic funds are marketing gimmicks. They buy and hold mostly large-cap stocks. So, even small-cap funds have some large-cap stocks. Over the past two years, the Kotak multi-cap fund had over 70 per cent in large-caps in every single month, except for six months in January-June this year. It never found an occasion to invest 50 per cent in mid-caps and small-caps. Funds are ultimately prisoners of the market ecosystem. If small-caps are illiquid, how the hell are they supposed to buy them? Will multi-caps fit in? Without understanding these constraints, the media has declared that the '(b)roader market awaits Rs 40,000-crore bonanza as Sebi tweaks multi-cap fund rules' or variants of this sweeping prediction. I am afraid it is the market situation alone that will determine whether Sebi's fatwa works or not. And as I mentioned, there are very few large, floating small-cap stocks worth buying. If there were such stocks available, funds would have bought them -- they don't need Sebi to teach them that quality small stocks deliver much higher returns than quality large-caps. (Some time back, some small-cap funds had stopped taking new inflows since there weren't enough opportunities.) So assuming that multi-cap funds will not rush out and chase illiquid small-caps at higher and higher valuations, they will not fit into Procrustes's bed. So there are two possibilities: One, they will lobby and Sebi may relax the rules a bit. Two, if that does not work, they will merge their multi-cap funds with large-caps. There is also a third option. In the Greek legend, ultimately Procrustes was slain by his own method by the young hero Theseus. In the modern day, Theseus is the market. Debashis Basu is the editor of www.moneylife.in Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Darnell Christie (Reuters) London, United Kingdom Fri, September 25, 2020 16:15 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c473d988 2 People Zara-McDermott,Love-Island,Britain,revenge-porn,reality-show Free A British reality TV star who became a victim of revenge porn urged the government on Thursday to introduce a law making it a crime to threaten to share intimate images or videos. "I've been a victim of revenge porn twice... and it was one of the most horrific things that has ever happened to me," said Zara McDermott, a former parliamentary aide who shot to fame after appearing on the dating show Love Island. "In any criminal act the threat of that act is (also) important... and I really think that (the government) should take that on board and really listen to victims' voices," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Although sharing sexual images or films without consent is a crime punishable by up to two years in prison, threatening to do so is not. McDermott, who said she had heard from many women with similar stories to hers, joined a campaign outside parliament on Thursday calling for such threats to be criminalized under a long-awaited domestic abuse bill. One in seven young women - and one in 14 adults overall - has received threats to share intimate images, according to a poll by domestic abuse charity Refuge. Campaigners are calling for the law to be changed via an amendment to the Domestic Abuse Bill which is set to be debated by the upper house of parliament in the coming weeks. "This is a really insidious form of abuse which can sometimes last with victims forever," Refuge policy manager Cordelia Tucker O'Sullivan said. "The government must act now to make this a crime." Read also: 'Revenge porn' victim fights back with Mexican law to stem digital violence She said victims who reported threats to the police were often "left in limbo" after being told no action could be taken unless the images were published. "They may not even know if the intimate images exist which can have severe impacts on (their) mental health and physical safety," she added. More than one in 10 women reported feeling suicidal as a result of receiving threats, according to the survey by Refuge. The charity said most threats were a domestic abuse issue as they were predominantly made by current or former partners and often used as a means to control or manipulate the victim. McDermott, 23, has previously told how intimate photos were shared when she was at school and again during her appearance on Love Island in 2018. Several prominent British lawmakers as well as Victims Commissioner Dame Vera Baird and Domestic Abuse Commissioner Nicole Jacobs have backed calls to change the law. Refuge said threatening to share intimate images without consent was already a crime in New Zealand, Australia, and several US states. Midland County recorded eight new confirmed COVID-19 cases Friday, according to the afternoon state report, bringing the pandemic total to 499 cases, 100 probable cases and 11 deaths. Midland County recorded 46 cases, confirmed and probable, during the week of Sept. 18-24, according to the Midland County health department, which releases statistics every Thursday. Of the 46 cases, 16 were in the 20-29 age group and 13 in the 0-19 age group. Friday, Sept. 25 daily numbers Bay County: Eight cases were added; pandemic total stands at 905 cases, 95 probable, 50 deaths. Gladwin County: One case was added; pandemic total stands at 84 cases, nine probable, two deaths. Isabella County: Five cases were added; pandemic total stands at 621 cases, 72 probable, 13 deaths. Saginaw County: 16 cases were added; pandemic total stands at 2,716 cases, 205 probable, 135 deaths and four probable deaths. The state on Friday added 929 new cases and eight deaths. Overall, Michigan is at 120,526 cases and 6,700 deaths. Testing The state report shows as of Sept. 25, Midland County has performed 13,222 diagnostic tests and 1,558 serology (antibodies) tests, totaling 14,780 tests. Gladwin County is listed as having administered 5,091 diagnostic tests and 220 serology (antibodies) tests, totaling 5,311 tests. Midland Countys seven-day rolling positivity rate on Sept. 21 was listed at 3.8%, and categorized as an A risk (on a scale of low, then A-E, the highest risk). Gladwin County was listed at 0.7% and low risk. The Saginaw region, which includes 12 counties, including Midland, Gladwin, Bay and Saginaw counties, was listed at 2.5% and low risk and Michigan at 3.2%, an A risk. Recovered The state lists the total recovered at 90,216 cases, as of Sept. 18, which represents COVID-19 confirmed individuals with an onset date on or prior to Aug. 19, according to the state website, mich.gov. MidMichigan Health statistics Patient census: As of Sept. 24, MidMichigan Health is listed as have a 60.3% bed occupancy across its medical centers in Midland, Gladwin, Alpena, Clare, Gratiot and West Branch. In addition, as of Sept. 24, the health system is listed as having 10 COVID-19 patients, including two COVID-19 patients in the ICU. The 10 patients include both patients who have tested positive and patients who are suspected. PPE days on hand as of Sept. 24: The health system reported 0-6 days for N95 masks; 0-6 days for surgical masks; 7-14 days for surgical gowns; 15-21days for shields and 0-6 days for gloves. 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. 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. The oil sector is facing risks from all sides. Why it matters: Risk in the industry is nothing new. But these are especially turbulent and uncertain times. The industry's market clout has waned, the future of demand is kind of a mystery, and future U.S. policy is too, just to name three. The big picture: "Among the long-term risks facing oil and gas companies today, access to capital and divestment trends will become increasingly important to their credit quality as energy transition reduces long-term demand," according to a new Moody's Investors Service report. How companies manage energy transition, a broad term for the variable-rich global trend toward cleaner sources, "will become more important to our view on credit quality." What they're saying: Here are a couple of takeaways from the wide-ranging report... 1. Watch the banks. So far, big banks' climate policies only mean staying clear of some specific project classes, like new oil sands or Arctic projects. "[A] reduction in funding for fracking and shale development would be far more significant, affecting a large swath of the E&P sector," Moody's notes. 2. Look differently at the old metrics, like reserve life. "A long reserve life is desirable today from a credit perspective," they note. But let's say the world gets serious about putting emissions on a pathway consistent with the Paris Agreement. Then, "a long reserve life could become a credit liability, leaving the company with stranded assets unless the company could rely on non-stranded, low production-cost assets to pay down debt." Yes, but: While activist campaigns to pressure big investors to dump oil holdings have been growing in number and success, that's one area where Moody's doesn't see huge problem for the sector yet. "Divestment is not yet a significant factor for oil and gas companies," they write. They note that state, local government and university funds have generally "never represented significant sources of capital." "Meanwhile, divestment alone would not halt oil and gas financing, since companies continue to seek out large-scale investors for financing needs." The intrigue: The report also flags the litigation on climate and other topics as a long-term risk, and one that leads to an interesting conclusion: The industry should want more regulation. Social media posts have another Delaware County politician in hot water. At a meeting this week, Parkside council members called on fellow council member Anna Guy to resign after she made what other called deeply disturbing and offensive posts on Twitter and Facebook. Council President Shirley Purcival brought the matter up and read a number of the posts that fellow council members criticized, starting with a late August post from Guy, posting under the name @AnnaGuy19, said, I am most afraid of the gun-loving racists in my neighborhood. Other Twitter posts that Purcival read centered on racism including; Parkside has a serious problem with racism and racists are attracted to the GOP. An additional post that angered Purcival was a photo Guy posted of a gun-rights group in Kentucky with Guys comment, I guess white hoods are out of style. Purcival called on Guy to name which of her constituents are so-called racists and said failure to do so demeans, defames and insults all good residents of Parkside Borough. Twitter and Facebook sometimes provide an untarnished look into the true opinions and thoughts of our elected officials, Purcival said. You have made outrageous claims of bigotry and we need to clear the air here and now. Racism, racists are not to be taken lightly. By making such assertions, you have attacked the reputation and integrity of all your neighbors and the constituents of our fine community. Purcival was also critical of a number of other posts which centered on presidential politics. They included: Voters who voted for Trump are stupid and I lost respect for anyone who voted for Trump. She added, Tweets of this nature call into question your character and your fitness to serve this wonderful Borough as an elected council person. Purcival then focused on a tweet in which a man claiming he was the founder of Antifa, the political protest movement that those on the right believe are domestic terrorists. Guy replied to his tweet with, Where is my paycheck? Guy has also posted Antifa flags with the comments, The demonstrators are the ones needing protecting. Purcival, a Republican, called for Guys immediate resignation from council. When asked at the meeting, Guy, a Democrat, said the comments about Antifa were purely humor. She had no comment beyond that Wednesday evening. The fact that you were requesting a paycheck from Antifa, I dont think anyone finds it funny, said Purcival. Councilman Eric Long made a motion calling on Guy to resign saying she serves herself, not Parkside. Parkside Solicitor John J. Wills noted the vote, which passed on a 4-2 party line, was not binding and the council could not compel Guy to resign. The solicitor will send a letter to the governors office and forward it to the state Senate. State officials will form a committee to review the complaint and send their findings back to the solicitor to determine if she can be removed as an elected official. The council president is attempting to circumvent the will of the voters of Parkside. She is directing our solicitor, at the expense of the taxpayers, to pursue action that has zero chance of succeeding in a purely partisan effort to remove me from office, Guy said when reached by phone Thursday. The reason it is so difficult to remove an elected official from office is so the majority cannot overturn the results of an election. This comes two weeks after Darby Commissioner Marvin Smith was removed from his position as police commissioner for posting a meme to his personal Facebook page that featured an image of two Black men holding guns to the head of a white police officer with the text, Does it have to come to this to make them stop murdering and terrorizing us? Purcival said she learned about the comments in early September from a borough resident. It had nothing to do politically. It was a non-partisan decision. If this had been another member on council who had been of the Republican persuasion, it would have been my same responsibility to move forward, Purcival said. I took a couple days to mull this over. Do I want to bring this kind of attention to Parkside? I think the whole issue is going to bring negativity to our Borough and the publicity none of us want to our tiny borough. Council also took note of a recent Delaware County Council announcement stating elected officials are held to a higher standard and must serve as role models for the community. The 2019 elections saw Guy and two other Democrats elected to the council. She and Purcival have had issues since she took office earlier this year. In the spring Guy was censured for not following administrative rules imposed by council. There were no comments from the public at the meeting. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 22:34:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BAGHDAD, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Health Ministry on Friday reported 4,593 new COVID-19 cases during the day, bringing the total nationwide infections to 341,699. A statement by the ministry reported 4,505 recoveries from COVID-19, the highest in a single day since the outbreak of the disease, raising the tally of recoveries to 273,266. It also reported 68 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 8,867 in the country. Deputy Health Minister Hazim al-Jumaili said in a press release that "the continuous rise of coronavirus infections is so serious with no significant decrease in the daily cases." "The continuing high number of infections, despite the clear increase in recovery cases, is due to lack of compliance of the citizens with the health preventive measures," al-Jumaili said. He said the reason for the decrease in death cases is because the ministry has devoted its expertise to dealing with patients, providing medicines, as well as increasing the number of hospital beds. Iraq has taken a series of measures to contain the pandemic since February when the first coronavirus case appeared in the country. 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 Bihars assembly elections, the first to go to polls after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, will be held in three phases. The first phase of the elections will be held on 28 October, the second phase on 3 November and the third, on 7 November. The results for the 243-seat assembly will be announced on 10 November, nearly three weeks before the term of the assembly expires on 29 November. Here are the six key faces in this election. Narendra Modi He is the Prime Minister, but his influence on the Bihar election will be profound, more so because the state does not have a leader to match Nitish Kumars image despite a strong organisational footprint. His effusive praise for Nitish Kumar in Bihar ahead of the polls show the importance he attaches to the state election. The BJP has already been saying that the election will be under the prime ministers guidance, even though the state leadership will be under Nitish Kumar. Being the first election in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic and post Ram Temple and Article 370, it will also be a test for him in a state where his party suffered a setback at the peak of his popularity in 2015. Nitish Kumar He will seek his seventh term as Bihar chief minister since 2005 and is the man under focus. Though his party has not ever been able to get the numbers to form government on its own in the state, he has remained an undisputed leader who tilts the balance in favour of the alliance he chooses. That the BJP has been content playing second fiddle to JD-U in Bihar despite ruling the Hindi heartland speaks volumes of his ability and acceptability. He banks on his good governance, development initiatives and womens empowerment plank to help him deliver the state to the alliance. ALSO WATCH | EC announces Bihar poll dates: Voting in 3 phases; result on 10th November Tejashwi Prasad Yadav Coming out of the shadow of a mass leader such as Lalu Prasad is not easy for any son. Tejashwi, too, is facing the same even as he tries to give a makeover to his party to eclipse the past image of RJDs 15-year reign. Taking on a seasoned politician such as Nitish Kumar is a challenge for him. With age by his side, he is trying to carve out his own space and identity. Banking on his core votebank of Muslim and Yadav, he is working hard to mobilise youth and other sections. But he has to prove his acceptability beyond RJD in an era of coalition politics. Chirag Paswan He is young, ambitious and eager. Chirag Paswan is the president of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which his father Ram Vilas Paswan launched in 2000, but has been assiduously trying for a generational shift. He appointed his cousin Prince Raj, a first-time MP from Samastipur, the Bihar party chief. Despite being in the NDA, the two-time MP from Jamui has not hesitated to attack Nitish Kumar and praise Narendra Modi to amply demonstrate that he knows how to balance things out. Bihar assembly elections 2020 will be the first since Ram Vilas Paswan passed on the baton to him last year and his actions will be under watch. Sushil Kumar Modi The deputy CM in Bihar all through the NDA rule since 2005 in Bihar, he is viewed as the bridge between the BJP and the JD-U due to his close ties with Nitish Kumar. He is the face of the BJP in the state, though the party has seen over half-a-dozen state presidents during the period. That speaks about his stature within the party. Known for his strong homework and easy accessibility, he is the strategist the BJP banks on. Asaduddin Owaisi All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, (AIMIM) led by Asaduddin Owaisi has not been a big player in Bihar politics, but its growing ambition can create hurdles for the opposition. In Bihar, there are over 80 seats on which minorities are a major influencing factor. play The minority votes can be decisive in the Seemanchal region accounting for 30 assembly seats. For the first time, it won a seat in the bypoll in 2019. Though AIMIM failed to open its account in the 2015 elections, it plans to contest the largest number of seats ever in Bihar this time. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Close Donald Trump claims 'low-energy' Joe Biden will need injection for debate Donald Trump has been accused with flirting with treason by Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren over his refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power should he lose Novembers election to Joe Biden. The president has claimed he was the victim of a political hit on the issue, accusing the US Food and Drug Administration of deliberately making approval standards more stringent for drug companies in order to delay the release of a Covid-19 vaccine until after Election Day. Speaking to supporters at a black economic empowerment event on Friday, the president accused Black Lives Matter supporters of hurting the black community and touted his claims to improve the lives of black Americans during his term. The president is expected to announce his nominee to the high court on Saturday. The White House has signalled that he will nominate Amy Coney Barrett for the role, what will be his third appointment since taking office. Mr Biden and Jill Biden visited Washington DC on Friday to attend memorials for late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is lying in state at the US Capitol. The president and top Republicans in Congress did not attend the service. In an interview with MSNBC on Friday, Mr Biden refused to speculate on the doomsday scenarios that legal scholars and election analysts have considered following the presidents threats to the election, insisting that the president is using fear as a distraction from his administrations failures. The Democratic candidate instead suggested that the rule of law will prevail and American voters will have their voice heard at the polls. Its always about distraction with him, he said. He called the presidents attempts to undermine the results of the election irresponsible and outrageous" and he suggested that a massive voter turnout will overwhelm the presidents claims that the results will be disputed. Follow live coverage as it happened Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden pay their respects to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington on Sept. 25, 2020. (Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) Biden, Harris Pay Their Respects to Late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate on Friday paid their respects to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg was lying in state in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, held hands as they walked to Ginsburgs casket to pay their respects. Biden made the sign of the cross as he stood looking at the casket. The Bidens then departed. Biden told reporters after exiting the capitol that he first met Ginsburg when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when she was nominated for the nations highest court in 1993. I was the chairman of the committee and she was confirmed. Wonderful memories, he said. Biden was leaving the capitol about 90 minutes after arriving. He was heading back to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, while his wife went to Maine to attend campaign events. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, center, speaks with his wife Jill Biden, left, and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington on Sept. 25, 2020. (Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden pay their respects to the late Supreme Court Justice Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as her casket lies in state during a memorial service in her honor in the Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol, in Washington on Sept. 25, 2020. (Olivier Douliery/Pool via Reuters) Biden didnt campaign on Thursday, a growing trend for the 77-year-old, who is trying to unseat President Donald Trump. While in Washington, Biden spoke briefly to Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), his running mate. Harris, asked if she was concerned about Trump potentially not accepting the results of the upcoming election, told reporters: Today Im just really thinking about RBG. I really am. Its very important, I think, that in the midst of being 39 days away from the election that we honor one of the greatest Americans, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in terms of all that she inspired, all that she empowered, both legally and just in terms of the way she lived her life, she added later. Trump, 74, and first lady Melania Trump paid their respects to Ginsburg on Thursday while her casket was at the Supreme Court, also in Washington. The president said after he learned of Ginsburgs death on Sept. 18 that he was sad to hear the news. She led an amazing life, he said. Trump was participating in a Latinos for Trump roundtable in Doral, Florida, on Friday morning before departing for events in Washington, Atlanta, Georgia, and Newport News, Virginia. Kochi, Sep 25 : A Special NIA court here on Friday again sent Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case, in judicial custody till October 8. Swapna was in National Investigation Agency's custody for the past four days and was presented in court after questioning. She told the court that she would like to be shifted from Thrissur prison, following which the court directed that she be moved to a jail near here. Even as her judicial custody was extended, the NIA team informed the court that it would need to interrogate her further in the case that has caused a political storm in Kerala. On Thursday, the NIA had questioned her in the presence of now-suspended senior IAS officer M Sivasankar for over eight hours. Swapna has gone on record to say that Sivasankar, a former Principal Secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was her mentor. The case first came to light when PS Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate here, was arrested by the Customs on July 5 when he was allegedly facilitating the smuggling of 30 kg gold in a diplomatic baggage from Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram. Swapna and her associate Sandip Nair were arrested by the NIA from Bengaluru on July 11. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The UK Government has said it is surprised by the federal governments stance, that it would consider disrespectful to Nigerias sovereignty, for any outside authority to sit in judgment over the conduct of its citizens and apply punitive measures such as visa restriction, unilaterally. The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, stated this while speaking at an orientation programme for people with disability seeking Chevening scholarship opportunities in the United Kingdom. Laing made it clear the issue of visa restriction on perpetrators of electoral violence was the UKs visa policy and they determine who travels to the country. It is our visa policy, the UK, and we can determine who comes to the UK. So, that is a non-sovereign right. And all we are saying is that in line with Nigerian policy, that those who commit violence or who incite violence, there may be an implication for that person when they apply for a visa in the UK. So, I think it is actually completely consistent with the Nigerian policy. This is our visa policy, but obviously, it is for Nigeria to determine how they deal with these perpetrators in Nigeria, Laing said. The United Kingdom has threatened to ban politicians who resort to electoral violence, ahead of the Ondo and Edo governorship elections. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates As governor of Massachusetts, he sought tutoring and guidance from scientists and bioethicists when considering legislation related to stem cell research. During the impeachment, he requested transcripts of testimony, studying (and praying) late into the night. People close to him during his latest deliberations tell me he was, once more, concerned about making the right decision. The stakes seemed almost insurmountable: Not only would his decision affect the high court for decades, but also the pushback, either way, would be ferocious and unyielding. United States President Donald Trump hoped that India and China would be able to resolve their current border disputes as he reiterated his offer to help the two Asian giants. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images "I know that China now, and India, are having difficulty, and very very substantial difficulty. And hopefully, they will be able to work that out," Trump told reporters at the White House. "If we can help, we would love to help," he said. The US president's remarks in this regard come days after senior Indian and Chinese military commanders held talks aimed at resolving the months-long standoff along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh. The two countries agreed to stop sending more troops to their disputed border in the Himalayas. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that the border conflict is pushing India to look for an asymmetric response: flexing its naval might. "India is intensifying joint naval manoeuvres with the US and its allies while building new ships and setting up a network of coastal surveillance outposts that would allow New Delhi to keep an eye on the Indian Ocean's maritime traffic," the newspaper said. A "Grand Tamasha" podcast with senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, eminent American expert on India and South Asia Ashley Tellis said the Trump administration has taken a very transparent position of support for India in this crisis. "And, of course, it is motivated in part by the opportunities to confront China on a grander scale, which sort of makes it part and parcel of the US's own bilateral problems with China. But I think there is something more going on here. And the more is that I do not think the United States had the alternative of doing otherwise. "That is, Chinese aggression in this instance has been so blatant that the United States could not stand by and either ignore it or not come to India's defence," said Tellis, the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs. "What are the issues here? We all agree that those borderlands along the Himalayan territories are undefined. We all agree that they should be negotiated, delimited, demarcated through a peaceful process. We all agree that the agreements that China and India have repeatedly reached among themselves since the 1990s actually offer a good enough framework for how to resolve this dispute over the long term," he added. What China has done is that it has thrown all those understandings overboard, Tellis said. "And it is very important to recognise this that whatever the provocations may have been, the provocations created by Article 370 or whatever, I do not think they justified a reaction of this kind. Because a diplomatic provocation should have, you know, elicited a diplomatic response, rather than a quick jump to military action, which has enormous risks. "By China taking the step to move quickly to military action, which has now resulted in loss of lives, I think it has put itself on the opposite side of the United States, which is arguing more loudly than ever for a rules-based community," he added. "And so, even beyond the Trump administration's own bilateral problems with China, I think they were left in absolutely no position but to support India on this count and I think even a Democratic administration would have done the same in these circumstances," Tellis said. A debt collector who ran a Celbridge-based agency has failed in his appeal against an 18-month jail sentence after being convicted of intimidating two innocent parties by making a threat to kidnap and organising the posting of defamatory flyers at showjumping events around the country. Kevin Molloy (51), a native of Donegal with a last known address in Bunclody, Co Wexford but now living in Cavan was given a two and a half year sentence with the final 12 months suspended by Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court in May after pleading guilty to two counts of harassing a man and his daughter on dates between April and August 2015. Lawyers for Molloy, a father of two, had also appealed a ban on him from operating as a debt collector for seven years upon release, claiming it denied him means to support his family. Molloy, who ran Ar Cairde Debt Recovery based in Celbridge, Co Kildare, is due to begin serving his sentence on September 30 after he was allowed time to put his affairs in order. The Court of Appeal heard Molloy had phoned Joe Byrne, the father of the girlfriend of another man whom he was pursuing for an alleged debt and threatened Mr Byrne that he would kidnap and sort out his daughters boyfriend as well as sending him seven intimidating texts. Molloy had also arranged for flyers to be posted at several equestrian events where Mr Byrnes daughter, Aisling, a well-known showjumper and model, was competing as well as in Mullingar where she lived. They contained photos of Ms Byrne and her boyfriend together with defamatory comments. The Court of Appeal ruled on Friday that the sentencing judge, Judge Keenan Johnson, was correct in identifying Molloys offences as falling at the upper mid-range and the headline sentence of four years was correct when the maximum was seven years. Mr Justice John Edwards, presiding, with Ms Justice Una Ni Raifeartaigh and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, said the reduction of the headline sentence by 18 months was more than generous. The court said an actual prison sentence of 18 months when the headline sentence was four years more than reflected any mitigating factors and the judge might well have considered the imposition of consecutive sentences. Mr Justice Edwards said the ban on Molloy operating as a debt collector for seven years was legitimate and proportionate given the offences were conducted in the course of his work. Dismissing Molloys appeal, the judge said his past criminality including offences of dishonesty as recent as 2018 was also a factor. The Court of Appeal heard Molloy had 37 previous convictions for offences including theft, deception, burglary, forgery and the unauthorised possession of a firearm. Barra McGrory QC, for Molloy had claimed the 18-month jail sentence was unduly harsh, with the ban on operating as a debt collector described as excessive. Mr McGrory said Molloy accepted that his behaviour and conduct was reprehensible and improper. However, he claimed the sentence imposed was significantly higher than might be expected when compared to sentences imposed for similar offences in other cases. The barrister claimed Judge Johnson had also strayed into punishing Molloy because of his concerns over the lack of regulation of debt collection services in Ireland. He also argued the sentencing judge had failed to take into account Mr Molloys personal circumstances including the fact that he was now living with a new partner, who suffered serious health issues, in a rural part of Co Cavan. Opposing the appeal, Vincent Heneghan SC, for the DPP, said a headline sentence of four years in the case was wholly appropriate given the offences contained a sinister element. Mr Heneghan noted the sentencing judge had described Molloys actions as outrageous and reprehensible. Counsel said the imposition of a ban forbidding Molloy from working in debt collection for seven years did not prevent him from taking up other forms of employment and was a measure designed to protect the public. Russian Foreign Ministry: US and NATO launched toxi campaign against Moscow British Foreign Secretary to visit Moscow in February for talks with Lavrov 1,822 criminal cases launched in Kazakhstan after January riots Tatoyan: Expired drugs found in mental health centers in Armenia 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes off coast of Alaska Putin and Pashinyan discuss by phone prospects for further cooperation within CSTO First batch of military aid to Ukraine from US arrived in Kyiv 6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes off Philippine coast Armenia confirms 940 new coronavirus cases, no deaths Armenian rescuers pull out 50 stuck cars and provide necessary aid to 80 citizens Papua New Guinea parliament repeals death penalty law TikTok starts testing paid subscriptions Israeli fighter jets, refueling planes hold massive drills aimed at Tehran France announces gradual lifting of coronavirus restrictions Fountains in Athens' central square illuminated with Armenian tricolor Austria approves Europe's first mandatory COVID-19 vaccination mandate World War II aircraft crashed in India found after 77 years Armenian Parliament Deputy Speaker meets EU delegation Deputy Speaker of Armenian parliament meets Russian Ambassador to Armenia Germany won't pay compensation if Nord Stream 2 doesn't comply with German, EU laws NEWS.am digest: EU special rep. is in Armenia, Roma's Mkhitaryan turns 33 today Child injured in Artsakh car accident taken to Yerevan by Russian peacekeepers' helicopter Taiwanese woman faces death penalty for setting island's deadliest fire Turkey passes law to exempt converted lira deposits from corporate tax Blinken says he discussed Iran nuclear deal with Lavrov Erdogan says Turkey has peaceful relations with Russia like never before New German government wants to attract 400,000 skilled workers from abroad every year Israeli Attorney General orders to investigate police allegations of spyware Blinken: Any Russian invasion of Ukraine will be met with swift response Candidate: Ombudsmans institution is one of few established institutions in Armenia Lavrov summarizes the results of talks with Blinken UN agrees on definition of Holocaust denial Lavrov and Blinken talks kick off in Geneva Australian FM says issue of sending direct military aid to Ukraine is not considered Armenia PM receives EU delegation, need for full operation of Karabakh peace process is stressed Armenia National Assembly debating on new ombudspersons candidacy Katherine Tai: The world can't go back to the 2019 trading system Dollar gains value in Armenia Armenia legislature told hold secret ballot to elect TV and radio commission new members 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 Armenia FM highlights need for full resumption of Karabakh peace talks 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 Armenia Tourism Committee has new chairperson 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 Warships of Russia, Iran and China work out counteraction to maritime piracy Armenia first deputy minister of justice dismissed Israeli defense minister tests positive for COVID-19 Karabakh conflict resumption likelihood is moderate, its impact on US interests is low, report says Antonio Guterres thinks Russia will not invade Ukraine Azerbaijan ambassador to Russia hastens to sweeten the sediment of statement by US embassy in Baku IS fighters attack army barracks in mountainous area north of Baghdad, killing 11 soldiers 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 CSTO chief: Necessary to work on Armenia-Azerbaijan border delimitation, demarcation FBI search congressman's home in connection with Azerbaijan probe Newspaper: Armenia PM again goes way of black and white Newspaper: Scenario devised after war to be implemented in Artsakh EU Special Representative for South Caucasus arrives in Armenia 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 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 WHO advises countries to lift or ease international travel restrictions US sanctions against Vladimir Putin, Ruben Vardanian and members of the Russian government Armenian Foreign Ministry discusses Mirzoyan's participation in Turkey forum Thailand to resume non-quarantine travel scheme from February 1 Instagram introduces paid subscription feature NEWS.am daily digest: 20.01.22 Europe considers new strategy to combat COVID-19 Norwegian prosecutors refuse release Anders Breivik, 2011 mass murderer Erdogan urges Turks to sell foreign currency for liras Azerbaijan not yet returned about 300 sheep of Armenia villager Media: Israeli President thinks about visiting Turkey Dollar quite stable in Armenia Trade turnover between Ukraine and Armenia increases by 24% Armenia legislature speaker meets with of International Republican Institute president, and director for Eurasia Kremlin does not exclude new call between Putin and Biden EU Special Representative for South Caucasus to soon visit Armenia, Azerbaijan State Duma discusses work of biolaboratories near Russia's borders US lawmakers to parliament speaker: Armenian POWs must be returned to their homeland immediately Security Council chief: Armenia expects OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to visit region Armenia government does not approve plan to considerably raise minimum wage Turkish FM: Armenian representatives invited to diplomatic forum in Antalya Twitter suspends Mexican billionaire's account over offensive behavior Armenian PM says Omicron strain is slowly spreading Donald Trump responded to some Democrats warning they might pack the Supreme Court if they win the White House and Senate - by saying Republicans should do just that if they hold onto power in Novembers elections. "I guess we could do that too, right? We could do that too, the president said during a campaign rally in Jacksonville as he courted voters in the key swing state of Florida. The president issued the warning during a rally in which he mostly played his greatest campaign trail hits, though he did go after Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at several points as they battle over the crucial swing state. He alleged he has done more to help Americans since taking office than the former vice president and longtime Delaware senator did in 47 years in Washington. Mr Trump also garnered laughter and cheers as he dropped more racially-tinged rhetoric, and stretched the truth with his claims about a list of issues. Mr Trump criticized federal agents who were skeptical about his 2016 campaign, telling the crowd: Remember, they are coming after me because theyre really coming after you. He fired up the audience early on by touting the Pentagon budget and weapons-buying record under his watch. "We've taken out so many bad ones, Mr Trump said of older combat platforms. We've never had weapons like this," he added, saying he hopes he never has to use them. He got a big cheer when he said, despite the federal government lacking the power to make curriculum decisions, his administration is installing patriotic education in Americas schools after warning Democrats are pushing anti-American lessons on school children. The president, who has mocked reporters and even some with physical challenges at campaign rallies, openly mocked MSNBCs Ali Velshi. The reporter was hit by a canister of tear gas while covering a protest. The Jacksonville crowd laughed, like one did last week, as Mr Trump told his version of what happened. He hit the road amid the latest controversy of his presidency after Mr Trump told reporters on Wednesday night he might not ensure a peaceful transfer of power if he loses in November. The president told reporters as he left the White House, to do so, he must deem the election an honest one, warning again that unverified mail-in ballots are a whole big scam. We want to make sure that the election is honest and Im not sure that it can be, he said earlier Thursday. Were not losing Florida But his supporters in Florida, many of those standing on a riser behind him wearing red and blue masks with MAGA in large white block letters, appeared unfazed by what Democrats said is the presidents attempts to undermine the election results. They laughed and cheered when he delivered another attack line on Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, contending: I think she has hatred for our country." Last Friday at a rally in her home state, he charged Mr Biden would flood it with Somali refugees who would crash the economy; Ms Omar was born in Mogadishu, its capital. He made bold claims, like saying in a second term he would make the United States the worlds manufacturing superpower, while ignoring the fact he has failed to do so over the last four years even though it was a 2016 campaign pledge. Air Force One touched down in Florida for another airport campaign rally as he and Mr Biden jockey for its 29 Electoral College votes. Some GOP strategists say Mr Trump cannot win a second term without taking the Sunshine State. He would be unable to reach the 270 needed to defeat Mr Biden, they say. But Mr Trump, citing the crowd at the airport and other rally crowds recently, sees a win there in just over a month. Were not losing Florida, he predicted. You can just feel it. Vote him out Before landing in Jacksonville, the president made a stop ostensibly an official one in an other battleground state: North Carolina. There, he announced three executive actions he claimed will protect Americans with pre-existing conditions even if the Supreme Court shoots down Obamacare and two others. However, administration officials on Thursday acknowledged with the executive action, even if the Supreme Court strikes down Obamacare, the White House would have to work with Congress on a new health care system. Mr Trumps day began in embarrassing fashion. As he and First Lady Melania Trump stood atop the steps of the Supreme Court, he heard from his opponents. First, they booed. Then, the chanted vote him out! as he stood motionless wearing a dark blue mask. A few seconds later, the first couple returned inside the high court before returning to the White House. Always eager to, as they say at this White House, fight back, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany later fired back: Everyone has a First Amendment in this country, but I thought it was an appalling and disrespectful thing to do while the president was honouring Justice Ginsburg. Reaction from the Fauquier Education Association Lauren Brill, president of the Fauquier Education Association, responded to the school board's decision to begin offering a hybrid learning format for students beginning Nov. 9. Below is her take on the decision, made Wednesday night. "The FEA is currently processing the information from last evening's school board decision with the updated hybrid plan changes as well as reviewing the previous hybrid plan outlined earlier this fall. We will be reaching out soon to senior staff and [superintendent] Dr. [David] Jeck, and of course our members to collect feedback and responses to the decision to return Nov. 9 in an updated hybrid model. "We are actively working with many members in response to this decision change and we will continue to do so as long as they continue to bring concerns and questions to us. "While we know there is much to be worked out at this point in regards to details of protocols, policies and curriculum, the FEA is committed to its stance that safety for our members; both mentally and physically, should continue to be the number-one priority and we will continue to advocate for this." Just when the thought was that it couldnt get any worse than the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there was a turn for the worst. An old adversary, Dengue Fever, reappeared to take two lives and put additional stress on an already overworked, some say, under-supported health care system. The Ministry of Health, in a Press Release dated September 21, 2020, disclosed that, "The Surveillance Committee of the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment is currently investigating four deaths over the last three weeks, in persons who presented with symptoms suggestive of Dengue Fever, and quickly deteriorated, some with features of acute kidney failure. "One elderly female was confirmed on laboratory diagnosis to have had Dengue Fever. One young male was negative for Dengue Fever, Zika and COVID-19. Another young male died before the Dengue test could be completed. The fourth person was negative for COVID-19, but some of their other results including Dengue, are still outstanding. That Release also declared that, "the Dengue Fever Outbreak first noted in July 2020 continues with a total of 306 laboratory confirmed cases of Dengue Fever, from January 1, 2020 to September 11, 2020. New figures However, during a press conference on Tuesday, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Simone Keizer-Beache put much of this to spend, when she confirmed that as of Monday 23rd September, this country had recorded two deaths and 374 "laboratory cases of Dengue Fever. The dead, according to the CMO, were one middle age female and one 9-year-old male, both from the Calliaqua district. This figure (364) marked a significant increase of 179 cases over the 185 that were declared by Epidemiologist Tamara Bobb as of September 3, a mere 20 days prior. It also surpasses the 240 laboratory cases recorded in 2014 the year of the last major breakout. Of those 185 confirmed cases, 45% were listed as being persons between the ages of 0 5 years. As for the recent figure of 364 confirmed laboratory cases, the age group 0-15 years accounted for 53 percent of those cases. And, according to the release of September 23, while the mosquito borne disease was affecting all health districts, "Kingstown, Georgetown and Pembroke Health Districts accounted for 65.9% of the confirmed cases. At Tuesdays press conference, it was disclosed that the Kingstown district accounted for 82 cases, Georgetown 63 and Pembroke, which covers the area from Campden Park to Barrouallie, 107. Ongoing response by Health Officials And as far as hospitalization arising out of the dengue outbreak is concerned, the Ministry of Health said in its September 21 release, it " will utilize all available beds in the public system, including some of those at the Argyle Isolation Facility. One section of this facility which is designed for the management of persons with infectious diseases, will be used for patients with suspected Dengue Fever who require rehydration and observation. Another section will be reserved to accommodate any COVID-19 patients who may present in the future. In addition, the CMO assured that "we will continue increasing our response, and we have our Dengue response plan. Estimates for the cost of this plan in terms of health promotion the most important component, we have estimates to spend another $29,000 in the next few days. In relation to vector control for the mosquito borne disease, the CMO said that $210,000 will be spent in an effort to decrease the number of mosquitoes. Additionally, the ministry would employ 10 doctors and 6 nurses to give added attention to the Dengue situation. Health officials, in the face of the new outbreak and rapid increase in confirmed cases, have stepped up their appeals to the public to reduce their exposure to the mosquito which causes dengue by: reducing the breeding of the mosquito by discarding old containers and ensuring that water collecting receptacles are covered; reducing garbage/rubbish and overgrown bushes; wearing light coloured clothes with long pants and sleeves; using insect repellent; opening homes to allow effectiveness of fogging. There has also been a call by the Ministry of Health for students to be allowed to wear long sleeve shirts and long pants as a pre-cautionary measure, since it is known that the dengue-causing mosquito bites mainly in the daylight hours. The Ministry of Health advised that Dengue Fever is described mostly "as a mild febrile (feverish) illness lasting five to seven days, requiring only regular doses of acetaminophen (paracetamol) and oral fluids as treatment. However, it added, "Dengue Fever can sometimes result in serious illness with pain behind the eyes, severe vomiting, abnormal bleeding and dizziness. Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever and Acute Renal Failure are complications of Dengue Fever and can lead to death. Just one in five Britons with tell-tale symptoms of coronavirus are choosing to self-isolate, research revealed today. King's College London scientists, working alongside academics from Public Health England, quizzed 30,000 people living in the UK about how they have acted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Results showed just 18.2 per cent of respondents admitted to actually quarantining themselves for 14 days, when they had a cough, fever or lost their sense of taste or smell. And the figures were even lower for Britons who had been tracked down and asked to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace. Just 10.9 per cent of the volunteers confessed to adhering to the guidance. Experts behind the study claimed younger people, men, key workers and those from deprived backgrounds were most likely to break the rules. Their paper, which was first published last week, suggested ministers should up the financial payments given to those asked to quarantine at home. Matt Hancock has since promised 500 as an 'isolation support income' for people on benefits who are urged to self-isolate, so they don't 'worry about their finances while they're doing the right thing'. Self-isolation can be costly because statutory sick pay does not always give people enough to live on. Results showed intention to self isolate was high at 70 per cent. But of those who actually reported tell-tale signs of Covid-19 in the last seven days, only 18.2 per cent stayed at home for the duration of their symptoms Similar results were seen for those who had been asked to self isolate by NHS workers. Some 65 per cent said they would quarantine if contacted by Test and Trace but only 10.9 per cent actually did Only 11.9 per cent of those with symptoms said they had requested an antigen test. People commonly said they didn't get checked because their symptoms were only mild or because they hadn't realised they were caused by the coronavirus Government guidance says if you have Covid-19, you must self isolate for at least ten days. If have been in close contact with someone with the disease, you must remain at home for 14 days from the time of their contact. The government's advice page states: 'It can take up to 14 days for you to develop coronavirus symptoms after you catch the virus. In this time you can unknowingly pass it on to others, even if you dont have symptoms.' Failure to abide the rules in England could face fines of up to 10,000, the Government warned last week amid deepening concern at the sharp upsurge in coronavirus infections. ONE IN 16 COVID-19 PATIENTS TOLD THEY ARE NEGATIVE BY GOVERNMENT TESTS One in 16 suspected coronavirus patients are wrongly told they are negative, according to an assessment of the tests used by the Government in laboratories across the UK. The Times reported court action brought by a British firm whose technology was rejected in favour of a Belgian companies - shown to be less effective at spotting the disease. The two rival businesses competed for the 1.5million, year-long contract to handle laboratory tests in April. They were given 2,000 samples to analyse to see which were able to correctly identify all those that were negative, and all those that were positive. The Belgian company, Ugentec, which won the contract to provide testing for the Lighthouse megalabs, gave three 'false negatives', the court papers said. The British bidder Diagnostics AI, chaired by the cardiology professor and medical technology pioneer Brian Glenville, correctly identified those samples as positive. The Belgians classed 44 samples as 'negative' which Diagnostics AI labelled as 'negative/inconclusive', which may have led to a second test. The total number of samples which had a result of either positive or negative/inconclusive in the trial run is believed to have been more than 700. Ugentec missed 47 such cases, meaning that it falsely told almost one in 16 suspect coronavirus patients they were virus-free. This meant they would have carried on their daily lives, potentially spreading the coronavirus on to dozens more people. Diagnostics AI will claim in the High Court that the selection process was rigged in favour of Ugentec. They will suggest that the Lighthouse Labs were biased against the British contenders and treated them unfairly, it's reported. Advertisement Fines will initially start at 1,000 rising to 10,000 for repeat offenders and for 'the most egregious breaches' including those who stop other people from self-isolating, such an employer who requires a staff member to come into work. The new regulations will come into force in England on September 28, although ministers are in discussion with the devolved administrations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland about extending them UK-wide. Writing in the pre-print paper, which has yet to be published in a journal, the team said: 'In the absence of a vaccine, governments around the world are relying on test, trace and isolate strategies to prevent the spread of Covid-19.' But they warned the ability of the test, trace and isolate system to keep rates of the disease under control 'relies on how well people adhere to it'. When announcing a new self-isolation pay packet last week, Mr Hancock said: 'Self-isolating if you have tested positive for Covid-19, or have come into contact with someone who has, remains vital to keeping on top of local outbreaks.' It's difficult to ascertain the proportion of infected people that need to self-isolate in order to stop the chain of transmission. Studies have previously modelled around 75 per cent of symptomatic cases would need to be isolated in a world where schools and workplaces are running as normal. The researchers, which also involved experts from University College London, used data from 21 different surveys carried out since the pandemic began. All volunteers were over the age of 16 and were given the equivalent of 70p for taking part. They were asked whether they had left home in the past week, despite having one of the three NHS-recognised symptoms of Covid-19. They were also asked to imagine they developed a cough the next morning, and quizzed on whether they would leave their home. Results showed intention to self isolate was high; 70 per cent of those who had not suffered Covid-19 symptoms said they would if they fell ill. But of those who actually reported tell-tale signs of Covid-19 in the last seven days, only 18.2 per cent stayed at home for the duration of their symptoms. Similar results were seen for those who had been asked to self isolate by NHS workers. Some 65 per cent said they would quarantine if contacted by Test and Trace but only 10.9 per cent actually did. Only 11.9 per cent of those with symptoms said they had requested an antigen test. People commonly said they didn't get checked because their symptoms were only mild or because they hadn't realised they were caused by the coronavirus. The most common reasons people broke their self isolation were to go to the shops for groceries or medicine (18.2 per cent), because symptoms got better (15.6 per cent), and to go out for a medical need other than for Covid-19 (14.9 per cent). Having a dependent child in the house and working in a key sector were other factors that led people to break the rules. The researchers warned knowledge of symptoms has been poor, which explained why some people in the study did not self isolate. The symptoms - which range from a persistent cough, fever, headaches and fatigue - could be mistook for something else, and it took months before officials listed 'loss of taste and smell' as a key symptom that requires a test. In this survey, less than half (48.9 per cent) identified cough, high temperature/fever and loss of sense of smell or taste as symptoms of Covid-19 between March and August. Insufficient knowledge about the purpose of quarantine has also hindered public health efforts in previous emerging infectious disease outbreaks, the study said. There will also be a natural variation in how much people perceive Covid-19 as a true threat to others. If a person has been told they have been in close contact with a Covid-19 case, and therefore need to self isolate, they may refuse because they think they have already had it, and are therefore immune, or don't agree with a 14-day isolation period if no symptoms present. There are also financial constraints that inhibit a person's ability to stay off work for 14 days, while crowded living situations can make quarantining less appealing. Now, eligible people who test positive for the virus will receive 130 for their 10-day period of self-isolation while other members of their household, who under current rules must isolate for 14 days, will get 182. People on benefits in England will be eligible for a one off support payment of 500 if they face a loss of earnings as a result of being required to self-isolate. Sushant Singh Rajputs family feels the investigation into the Bollywood actors death in June is going in a different direction, their lawyer Vikas Singh said on Friday. Vikas Singh has also claimed that a doctor, who is a part of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) team, had told him long back that Rajputs photos sent by the lawyer indicated that it was allegedly death by strangulation and not suicide. A four-member forensic team has been appointed to examine Rajputs autopsy report after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) approached AIIMS for its medico-legal opinion. The 34-year-old actor was found dead in his apartment in Bandra on June 14 following which the Mumbai Police had lodged an Accidental Death Report (ADR). The case is now being probed by CBI. Also read | AIIMS panel chief on claims of Sushant Singh Rajputs family lawyer that actor was strangulated: Cant make opinion by seeing marks All attention is being diverted towards the drugs case. Today, we are helpless as we dont know which direction the case is going in. Till today, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not done a press briefing on what they have found out, the lawyers was quoted as saying by ANI. Im not happy with the speed at which the case is going, he added. On July 25, Rajputs father KK Singh had lodged a complaint with Patna Police against Rhea Chakraborty, her parents Indrajit and Sandhya, her brother Showik, the late actors then manager Shruti Modi and his house manager Samuel Miranda. His family accuses Chakraborty and her family of cheating and abetting his sons suicide. The FIR lodged by Patna Police was later transferred to CBI. The case is being probed by the three central agencies -- CBI, Enforcement Directorate, and Narcotics Control Bureau. All the agencies are exploring different angles related to the case. The anti-drugs agency had arrested Rhea Chakraborty on September 8 for the allegedly procuring drugs for Rajput. Her brother Showik has also been arrested along with dozens of others. (With agency inputs) The Israeli government slapped restrictions on outgoing flights on Friday as part of a slew of measures to bolster a second coronavirus lockdown imposed last week. The new measures, which came into force at 1100 GMT and affect workplaces, synagogues and demonstrations, were thrashed out after the initial new lockdown rules failed to bring down the world's highest coronavirus infection rate per capita. On the streets, movements are now restricted to within one kilometre (1,00 yards) of home. At Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis queued at check-in counters after days of uncertainty over how long air travel would remain possible under the tightened lockdown. As prices soared, tickets for a flight to London that normally costs $200 went up for sale Thursday for $1,300 and were sold out by Friday. Just before the new restrictions came into force, Transport Minister Miri Regev announced: "The skies will remain partially open. "The arrangement agreed upon enables leaving the country for whoever bought an airplane ticket prior to the beginning of the lockdown, i.e. today, the 25th, at 1400 (1100 GMT)," she said in a statement. "People who buy a ticket beyond then won't be able to use it," she said, while noting Israelis and residents would be able to return to the country. A 14-day quarantine will be imposed on people landing in Israel from "red countries" with high coronavirus rates, she added. - Prayer, protest restrictions - Israel has the world's highest coronavirus infection rate per capita, according to an AFP tally from the past fortnight / AFP The new rules -- one week into a three week lockdown -- close workplaces, shutter markets and further limit prayers and demonstrations. Synagogues are to stay closed except on Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday that begins on Sunday afternoon, during which the numbers of worshippers are to be limited. At other times, only outdoor prayers attended by a maximum of 20 people are allowed. The same restrictions apply to demonstrations. Late Thursday, Finance Minister Israel Katz said he had convinced fellow ministers to allow much of the private sector to continue working. "I've managed to change the outline for the private sector shutdown and contrary to the government's original intention, enable the continued work of many factories in high-tech, the security industry, construction, finance and services," he wrote on Facebook. - 'Total confusion' - But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a televised news conference, justifying the decision to reinforce the restrictions. "Saving lives is our priority -- we are living in a moment of national crisis," said Netanyahu. Israeli lockdown measures imposed a week ago had already closed schools and imposed restrictions on work and leisure. Despite the curbs, Israel still has the world's highest coronavirus infection rate per capita, according to an AFP tally from the past fortnight. More than 215,000 infections and 1,378 deaths have been recorded, out of a population of nine million, with more than 7,500 new cases on Thursday alone. Passengers line up for check-in at Israel's Ben Gurion airport / AFP With discord in political ranks over the tightening of measures, Dr. Hagai Levine, a member of a medical team tasked with advising the government, lamented the "total confusion" within the cabinet over how to battle the virus. Meanwhile, Alex Fishman, a columnist in Israel's biggest selling daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot, wrote "the government's zigzags, the public's defiance and lack of trust raise fears of an extended lockdown after the three weeks are up." parents-do-nothing-covid-19 Credit - Getty Images Im not sure how much grown adults should aim to do for their parents as they get older, but Im pretty confident that I have undershot. Im their only daughter, and Ive lived in the U.S. for about 28 years longer than I said I would. So, during the pandemic, with no office to report to, I moved back into my childhood home, in Australia. While in some ways this return was sparked by concerns for their health, in others it was a literal guilt trip. One of the things that is shocking about seeing aging parents after a while is that you notice how much of their lives needs fixing. There are all the issues that were beginning to get sticky before the pandemic, plus all the new measures that need to be put in place to keep them safe, plus all the stuffin some cases piled-up boxes of stuffthat worried you for years but became mission critical after COVID-19 meant they had to stay home for months. And even worse, they seem so oblivious to it all. My parents are unpersuaded that they need my help. They will allow that they are a little slower and dont hear well, but they pride themselves on being remarkably independent and fun-loving 80-somethings. For that which they cant manage, my younger brother is their stalwart. He drops by their house regularly for a chat, gently decluttering each time, and has found them just the loveliest human to come in and cook and watch out for them. Another brother is an aged-care design expert and keeps an eye on their home. But I am the frog who has just jumped into the pot and noticed the water has gotten quite murky. I am also the visitor on a deadline knowing that if I dont get improvements done fast, I wont get them done. with her parents, circa 1983. Courtesy Belinda Luscombe The author To celebrate my arrival, my mother bought a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle of New York City for us to do. Theres no way Im getting sucked into that, I said to myself. Ive got too much to do. Besides, who wants to spend any time searching for an MTA bus that is supposed to be close by if they dont have to? I planned to be there for six weeks, including two spent in Australias strict hotel quarantine. Even after I tacked a few weeks on the end, I heard the clock ticking. Story continues So I bought my mom an updated iPad with more accommodations for her hearing. I got my dad a different phone in order to more effectively shout at him from 10,000 miles away that hes using it wrong. I helped persuade them to have their skinny, cancer-ravaged dog put down. I cleaned furniture and ovens and countertops. I bought them new clothes, ones I thought fit better. I bought and installed a thingummy to extend the reach of their wi-fi. I went with them to their medical appointments and discovered that my mother is not supposed to be eating sweets or drinking alcohol, which are among her main joys in life, and my father was overdue for a hospital procedure, which is his main nightmare. With a little nudging from me, Dad got a hearing aidand those stents put in his heart. For the first few weeks, I was a whirlwind of fixing-ness. My three brothers tolerated my exertions but made it clear they did not wish to be assigned tasks. My parents tolerated my exertions but saw them as unnecessary, perhaps even disruptive. Mom misses her dog so much that it sometimes seemed like shed rather have her around than me. My dad is soldiering on with the new phone in the way youd expect of a bloke who grew up in rural Australia without electric light. He found the security questions, for example, a bit of a lift. Me: What was the name of the street you grew up on, dad? Him: Didnt have a name. Just go with Main Street. (We didnt.) My parents humored my to-do list because it meant I was around the house and I might pause for a bit while downloading Zoom for them so we could meet in real time. There were many mid-chore offers of a cup of tea. And then an hour later, of gin and tonic. They wanted to talk to the human they raised, to hear what she really thinks, to tell her some old stories: life report, not life repair. The whole time I was there I was aware that eventually, I would have to leave for my other family, and that returning to my parents will be difficult. And that eventually, they will leave the way all humans do, and returning to me will be impossible. The pandemic made the reality of these exits hard to ignore. Under those circumstances, giving more time to talk and less to tasks makes so much sense, but I still found it exasperatingly difficult. Talking is never done. Its hard to differentiate from loafing. And because my parents are a little deaf and forgetful, it often seems like you finish a conversation only to have it all over again. It feels like nothing has been achieved. I know you sometimes have to fix things more than oncefloors are always getting dirty and wi-fi goes down oftenbut usually not within the space of 45 minutes. Of course, I did help with the stupid jigsaw puzzle. It turned out to be the perfect excuse to just plonk down and chat. I thought it would be easy, since after almost 30 years living there, I should know what parts of New York City go where. But it was perplexing and took ages. Sometimes the only way to make sense of a picture, even one you think you know well, is to bring all the little bits near each other and sit with them for a while. Arise TV anchor, Reuben Abati, gave his colleagues a bellyful of laughter on live television after he took exception to a comment by a Ghanaian police commander who told his officers to reduce their sexual rounds. Ahead of Ghanas general election in December, Afful Boakye-Yiadom, the Accra Region Commander of the Ghana Police Service, on Monday advised police officers on election duty to eat well and reduce their sexual rounds in order to save energy for their assignment. Mr Abati, a former presidential spokesperson, did not take kindly to the advice. I think its phallocentric, it smacks of phallophobia and its an attack on the erection industry because there is an industry called the erection industry, he told his co-anchors during Arise TVs flagship programme, The Morning Show, during the week. And the thing is that the male organ has always been vilified. The Greeks and the Romans, they venerated it, they worshipped it. Mr Abati went on to reel out authors and books on the male organ and frowned on the assault on the erection industry. There is a book, The History of the Penis, and there is another book by Tom Hickman Gods Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis. But what has been established is the position held by David Friedman in his book A Mind Of Its Own (also on the penis). He concluded in the book The Cultural History of the Penis that the male organ has a mind of its own. So I dont know how this police chief is invading peoples privacy on the basis of just a statement that has not been tested scientifically. We can take that on a lighter note but as an assault on the erection industry, thats not part of police work. Is he going to say the same thing about female policewomen in Ghana? Are they not going to be part of the election? As funny as his presentations appeared to his three co-anchors who laughed throughout, Mr Abati remained serious and undistracted as if treating a serious intellectual matter. As the former presidential adviser concluded his remark, one co-anchor told him jokingly, Reuben Abati, God will judge you for saying all of this and keeping a straight face. Mr Abatis performance also appeared to have impressed a number of watchers of the show. Emeka Oparah, a top executive at Airtel Nigeria posted on Facebook, Walahi Reuben Abati is an all-rounder, all-weather. Take a listenand hear him talk about the Phallucentric, Phalluphobia, vilification and veneration of the Penis. Then he talks about the Erection Industry. He references three books on the subject in less than 10 seconds namely The History of the Penis, The life and times of the Penis by Tom Hickman and A mind of its own: A Cultural History of the Penis by David Friedman. All the vibration is because of a comic relief by a Ghanaian Police Chief warning his men to eat well and avoid many rounds of sex so as to stay fit to work during the upcoming General Elections (ERECTIONS) in Ghana! Chibuike Allison, who commented below Mr Oparahs post said, Very hilarious.yet very sensible. A great subject worth studying by anyone who would want to know why the erection industry is very important to men as well as women. Frank Odili added, And he said all this too with a straight face as if he was delivering a serious lecture. I am going to look for those books. WATCH VIDEO HERE Advertisement The remains of a Second World War-era Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter aircraft have been pulled from the Black Sea. The plane was hauled from the water in the Kalamita Bay, near the village of Novofyodorovka, Crimea, as part of a joint expedition of the Russian Geographical Society and the Russian Defence Ministry. The aircraft had entered service with the Black Sea Fleet in 1943 but was forced to make a water landing just one year later due to a technical malfunction during a training flight. The remains of a Second World War-era Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter aircraft have been pulled from the Black Sea near the village of Novofyodorovka, Crimea The plane was hauled from the water in the Kalamita Bay as part of a joint expedition of the Russian Geographical Society and Russian Defense Ministry The aircraft had entered service with the Black Sea Fleet in 1943 but was forced to make a water landing just one year later due to a technical malfunction during a training flight (rescuers haul a wing from the water) The plane was discovered by amateur scuba diver Alexey Kazarinov in 2017 at a depth of six metres below the water surface and 800 meters from the coastline. He told authorities the approximate coordinates of the accidental find but they could not locate the crash site for almost a year. An official study of the fighter was eventually carried out in 2019 by an expedition of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation to search for sunken objects relating to the Great Patriotic War and retrieval of the plane began earlier this month. 'The fighter was raised from the bottom of the sea. It was pulled up to the quay wall and lifted out of the water by a crane. The plane was discovered by amateur scuba diver Alexey Kazarinov in 2017 at a depth of six metres below the water surface and 800 meters from the coastline The total flight time recorded in this plane at the time of the accident was 9 hours 25 minutes (the cockpit covered in sea urchins pictured) The remains of the fighter were raised from their resting place on the bottom of the sea and pulled up to the quay wall by a crane (pictured) 'The fighter was transferred to a truck, guards were posted,' Anatoly Kalemberg, a specialist from the Expeditionary Centre of the Ministry of Defence, told TASS. It is thought the plane will now become an exhibit at one of the nearby museums. Kalemberg added: 'I am a supporter of leaving the aircraft in Crimea, because the history of this aircraft and the history of this regiment are closely related to the peninsula, for this it is necessary to preserve components and assemblies, the fuselage and wings.' The Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter entered service with the Black Sea Fleet in 1943 during the Kerch-Eltigen operation and participated in the liberation of Crimea. Pictured is a United States Air Force WWII Bell P-39 Airacobra (Brooklyn Bum) light attack fighter in flight The fighter was transferred to a truck where guards were posted and it is now thought that the jet will become an exhibit of one of the museums An official study of the fighter was eventually carried out in 2019 by an expedition of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation to search for sunken objects relating to the Great Patriotic War (rescuers at the site) This craft, which was piloted by junior lieutenant Vladimir Shishkin, was forced to make a water landing in 1944 due to a technical malfunction during a training flight Between 1944 and 1945 the regiment remained on the peninsula as they guarded the airspace during the Yalta Conference. But this craft, which was piloted by junior lieutenant Vladimir Shishkin, crashed in July 1944. 'Seeing the smoke coming from the engine, he landed on the water. The plane sank after 30 seconds, the pilot sailed to the shore, has a slight head wound. 'Cause of the accident: from the testimony of the pilot and the nature of the engine operation, presumably, the connecting rod broke,' Sergei Ivanov, a researcher at the Institute of Archeology of Crimea of the Russian Academy of Sciences, cited from the official records. The total flight time recorded in this plane at the time of the accident was 9 hours 25 minutes. The Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter entered service with the Black Sea Fleet in 1943 during the Kerch-Eltigen operation and participated in the liberation of Crimea (divers at the scene to lift the plane) More than 9500 units of the Bell P-39 Airacobra were produced and the Soviet Union used the model during World War II with 4500 units transferred to the USSR by land lease The living room area of Joonas, Wine & Tapas, located in the 3,500-square-foot space formerly occupied by the Cooking School of Aspen, is shown. Alia Joonas and Bridger Smith, owners of Bear Den, are opening the restaurant and wine bar this fall as a complement and sister concept to the bakery and cafe. PM earlier said the concept of the international "Crimea is Ukraine" platform was being finalized. Russia will be invited to participate in the international platform toward the end of Crimea occupation, according to First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Emine Dzheppar. "We will invite Russia to take part in the platform. Of course, we understand, seeing their ostrich-like position throughout these six years, how they twist things and act absolutely cynically towards Ukraine and international law, there is little hope that Russia will take part in the platform," Dzheppar has told RFE/RL's Crimea.Realities. If one of the platform's tasks is to monitor what is happening in Crimea, then the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry understands that "it's about the crimes that Russia is committing in Crimea." "We are convinced that what happened in 2014 in Crimea and Donbas is a violation of the world order that emerged after World War 2. Not only Ukraine is interested in restoring justice. This is a test for Western countries," Dzheppar said. International platform for the de-occupation of Crimea: Background At the end of July, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the concept of the international platform "Crimea is Ukraine" was being finalized, and that, first, a consultative and advisory format with a transition to a negotiation format was expected to be set up. Read alsoNSDC chief says Ukraine cannot retake occupied Crimea by military means nowOn August 24, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced that Ukraine would offer Germany to join the future international platform toward the "deoccupation" of Crimea. Russia's annexation of Crimea: Main facts Kyle Rittenhouses attorney said Friday he plans to fight the Antioch teenagers transfer to Wisconsin to face homicide charges. At a court hearing in Lake County, Ill., attorney John Pierce said Rittenhouse's legal team will fight what is normally the straight forward extradition process that would transfer Rittenhouse from the juvenile detention facility where he is being held to Kenosha County, where he is charged with killing two men and injuring a third. We intend to challenge extradition by writ of habeas corpus, Pierce said. This is going to be involving issues of some complexity, frankly they havent arisen in this country in some time. A writ of habeas corpus is a Constitutional principle that protects against unlawful imprisonment. In saying they plan to fight extradition through that means, Rittenhouses lawyers are indicating they plan to argue his arrest and detention were a violation of his rights. The 17-year-old is alleged to have come to Kenosha on Aug. 25 as a self-described militia member after two days of protests had turned destructive following the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha Police. At the hearing Friday, which was held online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Rittenhouse appeared via Zoom from a detention facility, wearing a mask. He spoke only once, saying "good morning your honor," when greeted by the judge. Rittenhouse is charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the shooting death of 26-year-old Anthony Huber of Silver Lake, first-degree reckless homicide for the shooting death of 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum of Kenosha, and attempted first-degree intentional homicide for shooting and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz of West Allis. He is also charged with first-degree recklessly endangering safety for firing the AR-15 he was carrying toward other people in the street and for possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18. At the hearing Friday, Ruth Lofthouse, an assistant states attorney with the Lake County States Attorneys office, said her office had confirmed that a warrant had been sent for the extradition. The process, outlined in the Constitution, requires action by the governors of both states. Gov. (J..B) Pritzkers warrant has been sent to the sheriffs office, Lofthouse said. We confirmed that they have received the warrant and the attorney general also confirmed it was sent. Pierce asked for time to review the paperwork and to prepare their arguments. The judge gave him 14 days. In a recent interview, Keith Findley, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, said few people fight extradition because such fights are nearly impossible to win. Its pretty rare because there are very few defenses, Findley said. Essentially, Findley said, as long as documents are in order, the identity of the defendant is assured and the person has actually been charged with a crime, a court will order extradition. According to Illinois-based criminal defense attorney Jeff Urdangen, who has handled criminal cases for nearly 40 years, the defense is unlikely to win an extradition fight. "Both under the constitution and federal statutory law, extradition from one State to another is difficult to contest. There are many presumptions that favor the requesting State, in this case Wisconsin." Urdangen said in an email. "Generally speaking, a defendant seeking to fight extradition faces a steep uphill battle." Rittenhouses attorneys have been appearing on conservative media portraying the Antioch teenager as a hero and arguing he was acting in self defense. According to a tweet by conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, Pierce and Rittenhouse's mother Wendy Rittenhouse received a standing ovation at an event in Wisconsin this week sponsored by a women's group with the Republican Party of Waukesha County. Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, appearing on the Tucker Carlson show this week, argued that charges against Rittenhouse should be dropped. Kyle Rittenhouse has been villainized here, and he's been demonized, and I think it should be just the opposite, Pirro said on the show This one kid is an innocent man. Hes looking to help, hes all-American, and hes trying to just make sure his town is safe." It is not clear what ties Rittenhouse actually has to Kenosha. In video and photos he is seen during the day in Kenosha on Aug. 25 helping clean graffiti on buildings, and during the night walking with an AR-15 rifle along with other armed militia members who gathered near a garage operated by the Car Source car lot and at a gas station on Sheridan Road. Although he is seen on one of the many videos indicating he works at the car lot, the owner of Car Source said he had not asked anyone to guard his lot, which had already been burned two days earlier. Findley said that while Rittenhouse has an argument for self defense at trial, probable cause for charges is a relatively low bar. Prosecutors have enormous discretion in charging anything, but when you have a case when someone is walking the streets with a high-powered weapon and ends up shooting three people, a prosecutor would be hard-pressed not to charge, Findley said. The only real issue in the case is going to be the issue of self defense, and that is the kind of thing we have juries decide. The extradition case is expected to be back in court in Illinois Oct. 9. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A former California sheriffs deputy who pleaded guilty to having sex with the 16-year-old son of her ex-boyfriend has been sentenced to a year in jail. Shauna Bishop, 46, was a Sacramento County sheriffs deputy in April 2019, shortly after she ended a yearlong relationship with a man who also worked for the department. The man told his ex-wife that he was uncomfortable with the way Bishop behaved around their 16-year-old son, according to The Mercury News. But the ex-wife had been on friendly terms with Bishop, who was invited to her home to speak to the boy about his drinking and marijuana use, according to court documents. On April 28, 2019, Bishop was invited to spend the night at the ex-wifes home. The age of consent in California is 18-years-old. Shauna Bishop, 46, was sentenced to a year in jail after she pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor Bishop admitted to having a sexual encounter with the 16-year-old son of a man she dated. The encounter took place in April 2019 After the mother fell asleep, Bishop went to the boys room and engaged in intercourse and oral sex with him, according to authorities. Two weeks later, the boy told his 19-year-old sister, who then told her mother. The mother then notified Folsom police. Bishop told investigators that she was under the influence of Ambien, a sedative used to treat insomnia. Both Bishop and the boys mother took Ambien before going to bed that night, according to authorities. When the investigation began in May 2019, Bishop was placed on administrative leave. Soon afterward, she resigned. Bishop resigned from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department last year In June 2019, Bishop was arrested. As part of a plea agreement, she agreed to plead guilty in July to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss four other charges. In addition to jail time, Bishop will be placed on five years probation and have to perform 180 hours of community service. She will also be required to register as a sex offender. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines Life) Its not easy being a teacher in this new era of blended learning. On top of the usual lesson plans and lecture preps, our teachers now also have to successfully make the move to online learning platforms in order to reach almost six million Filipino students who are enrolled this school year but prohibited from physically attending classes. To help our teachers cope with the herculean demands of this digital shift, several initiatives have surfaced with education channels on YouTube, complete with recorded lessons and teacher tips. 21st Century Teacher If youre a teacher or parent looking for easily-digestible lessons for your kids, then you should go check out 21st Century Teacher, a channel with videos that reach more than 18,000 views and gets positive feedback from users who value its caring teachers and crystal clear presentations. This may have something to do with the groups work in remote areas. Before 21st Century Teacher was a channel, it was first a Facebook fan page in 2015 started by Dr. Athena C. Ceniza and her Ed.D and Ph.D graduate friends from the Philippine Womens University. Their vision was to make education as free as possible, and they posted free learning materials online for other knowledge givers, whether teachers, parents or guardians, to use. We promote 'naked teaching' the method of using the barest of all resources available to both the learner and the knowledge giver, said Ceniza. So we coined the term Third World Classroom Tech, which means using whatever indigenous materials are available. This lent itself well to teaching in remote communities, using materials as simple as leaves and garbage bags or technologies as advanced as computers and the internet. The group does outreach work in calamity-stricken areas, donates part of their publication income to these communities, and also provides these materials all for free use. Used primarily for learners in Kindergarten to Grade 3, the materials, which have a familiar logo of a sitting teacher with yellow hair, were a familiar sight in schools in the countryside. 21st Century Teacher produces online kuwentuhan sessions, such as this childrens story on inclusive education. Photo from 21ST CENTURY TEACHER/YOUTUBE Today, their YouTube channel features animated storytelling sessions, dotted tracing names, and how to make DIY playdough at home. Many of their new videos also feature recordings of teachers giving actual classes, thus lessening the burden on parents guiding their children at home. When it comes to equipping fellow teachers, the channel also hosts webinars on coping with the new normal, earning 21st Century Teacher a fanbase even among educators abroad. To a great extent, we always try to align our materials to the Department of Education (DepEd) standards so that we can support government efforts better, said Ceniza. 21st Century Teacher believes that the way to overcome the new normal is to define policies and methodologies for it, and that the first step to doing so is to equip knowledge givers. Ceniza said: At the center of this new normal are the direct knowledge givers: the people at the homes and the teachers who are trying to use all kinds of learning delivery models to get the knowledge through. Philippine Business for Educations Scholar Speaks Vlogs Its one thing to take care of your students via online learning materials. But how about the need for teachers to take care of each other in these times as well? Enter the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) vlogs, which one can liken to a virtual lounge where teachers can exchange tips and techniques. Teacher Ryan Cunanan from Catanduanes talks about his secret to keeping students engaged. Photo from PBED/YOUTUBE The YouTube channel is launching a new series called Scholar Speaks Vlogs, which are bite-sized videos featuring teachers discussing topics that are relevant and timely to them, in the hopes of supporting other teachers this new school year. Many of them were actually their scholars, said Zarina San Jose, Scholarships Program Manager. Topics range from tips on teaching for the better normal, caring for oneself, or sharing a specific skill, like graphic design or multimedia work. Like content creators, the featured scholars pick their topic and write their own scripts, following general guidelines from PBEd. A teacher who has viewed these webinars, Michelle Nerona Espina, raved about the resulting webinar topics. Yes, this time talaga mabibigyan na ng kahalagahan yung relationship ng teacher, parents, students, and community pagdating sa education/learning. #PBEdScholarSpeaks, she commented on a video. For their part, the organization hopes their YouTube channel can be a place for teachers and learners to visit so they can take care of their emotional well-being while maintaining academic rigor. Not only do we want to attract the best and the brightest into teaching, but we also want to make sure that they get the best education possible, San Jose said. If we can set high standards for our doctors, engineers, and lawyers, then we must also do so for our teachers, who train our next generations who will eventually build and rebuild our economy. Bayanihan e-Skwela Well aware of the lack of stable Internet connectivity, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) launched Bayanihan e-Skwela, an initiative with three parts: a gadget donation drive, community learning hubs, and an instructional video series. The term distance learning is unfamiliar to many, and the fear springs mainly from the perception that it means learning will be done entirely online, Vice President Robredo told CNN Philippines Life. Understandably, this is a cause of concern for many households, especially those that cannot afford gadgets, computers, or even a decent internet connection. But more than this, there are many areas in the Philippines that have little or no connectivity, leaving the use of technology as a distant aspiration for students and schools there. Together with the Kaya Natin Movement, the OVP first sought to provide the assistance that was most requested of them gadgets and internet connection, which are unaffordable for many families already struggling in this pandemic. But having recognized that these would not be enough, they then set up community learning hubs, which are learning facilities set up in areas with a high concentration of learners who need assistance in terms of materials, gadgets and equipment, and tutoring. But it seems these werent enough. After consulting with public school teachers and the College of Education of the University of the Philippines-Diliman, they found one more glaring gap. From these conversations, we realized that aside from gadgets, equipment, materials, and assistance for learning, one of the most apparent fears in the transition to distance learning was how unprepared the adults felt teachers and parents alike, VP Robredo shared. She recounts how the teachers considered themselves unprepared and unskilled for the giant shift to tech, and were confused which among the whirlwind of webinars would be the easiest to understand and to juggle with preparations for school opening. For parents, it was the anxiety of having to suddenly take over the role of teacher at home. This was how the Bayanihan e-Skwela Instructional Video Series was born. Through animated videos, Bayanihan e-Skwela offers teachers and parents insights on the different modalities of learning. Photo from BAYANIHAN E-SKWELA/YOUTUBE On their YouTube channel and Facebook page, teachers and parents will find how-to videos on teaching them techniques for online learning, modular learning, and TV/radio-based instruction. Through bright animations and celebrity teachers such as Janine Gutierrez, Enchong Dee, and MacoyDubs, Bayanihan e-Skwelas episodes offer insights on why education must continue amid the pandemic, how to take advantage of teachable moments at home, and designing formative assessment through simple exercises. To make sure that these episodes are accessible to Filipinos from all walks of life, the Bayanihan e-Skwela modules were tailored to fit different learning scenarios in homes and communities. Each video also has a summary in its caption, to accommodate those using Free Facebook, and there are plans to deploy the same materials to areas without internet connectivity. I am proudest of the fact that this initiative is a fruit of bayanihan the power of collaboration. VP Robredo said. After the OVP posted a request for reinforcements, numerous creative agencies and talents volunteered to produce these episodes in partnership with subject matter experts and teachers. And as we move forward, we actually welcome partnerships with other platforms that offer online education tools, she said. The channel has raked in a lot of positive reviews since its launch, many of them focusing on the clarity of the lessons presented, or even just the voice of the teacher. Ang galing sobrang linaw magsalita mo Janine. , commented Erlinda Santos. But the Vice President said there is so much more to be done to reimagine education in the Philippines. I believe that reimagining how we educate our youth also presents an opportunity for us to reassess our education system, she said, outlining an inclusive and actionable checklist that has come to be associated with OVP: 1. Revisiting core competencies and assessing why many learners still do poorly in basic math, science, and reading; 2. Equipping our teachers to reduce their insecurity about using technology and providing them access to these materials; 3. Rethinking and customizing curriculums at local education systems to better match the jobs available per area; 4. Preparing our youth for the next generation of jobs (especially those that might be replaced by Artificial Intelligence); and 5. Making education receptive to our strengths as a country (for example, making agriculture a viable source of livelihood seeing that it was the sector least affected by COVID-19). Education, as many Filipino families believe, is the single most important gift that we can pass on to the next generation, VP Robredo said. In order to help realize this dream, we need to work together, expand our reach, listen to and address the needs of our schools and communities, so we can ensure that no student, no teacher, and no family is left behind. Now the chapter effectively closes on the Claremont Serial Killings, a victim who survived an attack comes forward on 60 Minutes. The Bogeyman Its further proof of how perverted he is, but the man Australia now knows is the Claremont serial killer used to call himself the Bogeyman to people he met online. On Thursday, Bradley Robert Edwards was found guilty of murdering two young women in the mid-1990s. The judge at his trial said it was likely that he also abducted and killed a third woman, but because her body has never been found there was not enough evidence for a conviction. Notwithstanding that setback, the verdict ends more than two decades of fear in Perth. As Liam Bartlett reports, what is less well known about Edwards is that before he started on his killing spree, he violently attacked numerous other women. On 60 Minutes, one of his victims is speaking publicly for the first time about her incredible escape from evil. And Wendy Davis is also asking a very uncomfortable question of police: If her case had been investigated more seriously, could Edwards have been stopped much sooner? Reporter: Liam Bartlett Producer: Nick Greenaway Angel Babies Sometimes it is easier to look the other way than confront a difficult subject head on. Up until now, stories about miscarriage have often fallen into that category. Its a topic few people talk about and even fewer understand. But there is a simple yet hard-to-believe fact which means it must be given more attention. One in four pregnancies ends in a miscarriage. When the unthinkable and unexpected occurs, a miscarriage is often associated with shame, blame and guilt. But as Tara Brown reports, thats just as wrong as ignoring it. Reporter: Tara Brown Producer: Laura Sparkes 8:30pm (ish) Sunday on Nine. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today held a consultation during which the draft of the concept paper on Public Investment Management was presented. Representatives of the Ministry of Economy thoroughly touched upon the goals and priorities and particularly stated that the strategy envisages introducing a system that will help generate new ideas for investments, planning of programs in the long run, as well as needs assessment and priorities for public investments. Prime Minister Pashinyan recommended taking note of the draft and assigned to continue to work on revising the strategy and finalize it by taking into consideration the results of todays discussions. The current state of land reforms was also presented during the consultation. The Rs 318-crore initial public offering (IPO) of Chemcon Speciality Chemicals has seen the 9th highest subscription in a decade, backed by response from across investors' categories. The IPO has seen a massive 149.33 times subscription during September 21-23 as the portion set aside for non-institutional investors (NIIs) was subscribed 449.14 times, the highest subscription since January 2018. The NII portion of Amber Enterprises on January 19, 2018, and Apollo Micro Systems on January 12, 2018, witnessed 519.26 times and 958.07 times subscription, respectively. The reserved portion of qualified institutional buyers was subscribed 113.54 times and retail 41.21 times. "Specialty chemical stocks are among the street's favourite in last few years. We are expecting good returns in this sector and Chemcon might also surprise," Gaurav Garg, head of research at CapitalVia Global Research, told Moneycontrol. Chemcon Speciality Chemicals is a manufacturer of specialised chemicals, such as HMDS (hexamethyldisilazane) and CMIC (chloromethyl isopropyl carbonate), which are predominantly used in the pharmaceuticals industry, and contributed around 64 percent to its total revenue in FY20. It is the only manufacturer of HMDS in India and was the third-largest manufacturer of HMDS worldwide in terms of production. The overall revenue of the company grew at a CAGR of around 29 percent over FY18-20, while EBITDA growth remained at a CAGR of around 25 percent over the same period. In fact, so far, every IPO, barring Angel Broking, has seen strong subscription. Angel Broking provides stock broking services and its IPO, which was subscribed 3.94 times, could have been impacted due to weakness in equity markets and higher pricing. Earlier in September, Happiest Minds Technologies' Rs 702-crore IPO had seen 8th highest subscription of 150.98 times in a decade. "We're seeing noticeable traction in the primary market of late, mainly on hopes of economic recovery, decent flows in the secondary market and the strong listing of recent IPOs (Rossari Biotech, Mindspace Business REIT and Happiest Minds)," Ajit Mishra, vice-president-research at Religare Broking, told Moneycontrol. In a decade, the IPO of Salasar Techno Engineering, which was closed in July 2017, had witnessed the highest subscription of 277.28 times, followed by Apollo Micro Systems at 248.5 times in January 2018, Astron Paper & Board Mill at 243.29 times in December 2017, Capacite Infraprojects at 183 times in September 2017, and CDSL at 170 times in June 2017. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank had seen a 165.68 times subscription in December 2019, while Amber Enterprises was subscribed 165.4 times in June 2018. Among others, Quess Corp Capital First (which was later merged with IDFC Bank), MAS Financial Services IRCTC and Avenue Supermarts' public offers saw subscription in the 105-144 times range. A drug that is regularly used to treat chronic pelvic pain in women has been found to be no more effective than a placebo, a new study has found. As a result, researchers recommend against routinely prescribing the drug gabapentin for women with the condition. Chronic pelvic pain affects up to 24 per cent of women worldwide to varying degrees. It is estimated that as many as one million in the UK are affected by the condition. In 55 per cent of women there is no known cause. If no underlying cause is found, the pain is much more difficult to treat. Gabapentin is used to manage many forms of chronic pain. In two separate surveys, 74 per cent of GPs and 92 per cent of gynaecologists said that they would consider prescribing the drug for chronic pelvic pain. Researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Birmingham, Oxford and Nottingham tested the drug's effectiveness in treating chronic pelvic pain through a randomised clinical trial involving 306 women with the condition and no known underlying cause. As part of the study, 153 women received gabapentin and 153 received placebo for 16 weeks. Neither group nor the prescribing clinicians knew what they were receiving. The women were asked to rate their average pain and worst pain, using a scale from zero to ten, on a weekly basis. The scores were then averaged for the drug and placebo groups. The team found that there was very little difference between the reported pain in both groups. However, the group that received gabapentin reported experiencing more side-effects - including dizziness, drowsiness and changes of mood - than the placebo group. The researchers say that gabapentin should no longer be considered in the treatment of chronic pelvic pain where no cause has been identified, and other avenues of treatment should be explored, such as different drugs, physiotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy. The research findings have been published in The Lancet. This work was funded through the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme - a Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) partnership. Professor Andrew Horne, lead researcher from the University of Edinburgh's MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, said: "We have been prescribing this drug for many years with little evidence of its effectiveness. As a result of our study, we can confidently conclude that gabapentin is not effective for chronic pelvic pain in women where no cause has been identified. More research is needed to explore if other therapies can help instead." Professor Andy Shennan, Professor of Obstetrics, and Clinical Director NIHR Clinical Research Network South London, said: "This important study was delivered in the UK across 39 sites in the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN). It is vital that large studies like this help answer these important health questions to guide management of these debilitating and common conditions. Another success from the CRN." ### A Roscommon publican who went to work displaying coronavirus symptoms while awaiting test results has said he didnt know he should have been isolating. Mr Murray, owner of An Bothar Rua pub in Elphin subsequently tested positive for coronavirus after attending his busy bar on Saturday night. Mr Murray told the Roscommon Herald: I will put my hands up and say I didnt know I had to self-isolate. If I knew I was supposed to, I would not have been at the bar on Saturday. That was never explained to me. If I knew that, there is no way I would have been in the pub on the Saturday, he said. When Gordon Murray attended his bar on Saturday night, he found a party of around 20 people gathered at three tables enjoying themselves. He has refuted rumours there were more in attendance and said he has CCTV to prove that there were a total of just 50 or 60 in the bar as a whole on the Saturday night. Read More He said: I am disappointed as to why this group of people arrived without contacting me, but they probably knew if they did ask I would refuse them anyway. When asked if he asked the party to leave, Mr Murray said he had no reason to kick them out from a legal point of view. Mr Murray said he knows there is anger in the locality after the events unfolded and said I would be angry myself. Unfortunately we are in a small, tight-knit community and they are quick to point the finger. It is a lesson. Shouting and roaring and making complaints is not going to help, he went on. I run a good pub here and it is a very well known and established premises. This behaviour is totally out of character, he said. The publican has since closed his bar and is isolating away from his family. I just hope the people who have proved positive have a speedy recovery, he added. With Congress at an impasse over a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks, billionaire Mark Cuban has his own idea. Cuban, Shark Tank investor and Dallas Maverick owner, told CNBC he is in favor of sending $1,000 stimulus checks to American households every two weeks for the next two months. The check would be distributed regardless of income. Families would then have 10 days to spend the funds to provide an immediate boost to the local economy. Once businesses start having demand, even if theyre closed and working online, then there is a reason for them to be able to bring back employees and retain those employees if demand is sustained, Cuban said. Cubans plan is just the latest one to emerge even as Congress appears to be at a stalemate on an overall relief package, let alone any direct payments. In March, Congress approved direct payments - up to $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 for married families, as well as $500 for dependent children but remain far apart on a second round. And, faced with a battle over replacing late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the November general election, it seems likely no compromise will be reached soon. Cuban, however, said the stimulus is needed as much now as it was in the early days of the pandemic, adding the U.S. has two economies. Those without (help) are struggling badly, he said. We need to get them help. The pre-trial judges decision said Gucati made available to the media confidential and non-public information and documents relating to the work of the Specialist Prosecutors Office, and made no interventions when Nasim Haradinaj mentioned by name certain (potential) witnesses and gave information regarding their place of residence and other personal details ... thus exposing these individuals to potential threats to their safety. Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday abruptly dismissed the top law enforcement official in her Cabinet, signaling a possible shift away from traditional policing tactics amid a national debate over police use-of-force issues. The first-term Democratic governor did not provide specific reasons for her decision to fire Department of Public Safety Secretary Mark Shea, a move that was effective immediately. However, the Governors Office indicated the leadership change could lead to a greater emphasis on community police work and protecting New Mexicans civil rights. Those are aspects the governor wants the states Department of Public Safety to emphasize and those are priorities of hers as well, Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett told the Journal. She also said the Governors Office does not typically go into details on personnel issues, but pointed out all Cabinet secretaries work at the pleasure of the governor and are exempt from the states classified hiring system. Shea, 66, who was appointed by the governor shortly after she took office in 2019, is a law enforcement veteran with experience at the Albuquerque Public Schools Police Department and the Valencia County Sheriffs Office, among other stops. He also previously worked in the Department of Public Safetys critical incident training bureau, where he taught officers about response techniques and dealing with hazardous materials. With Shea headed for the exits, Lujan Grisham said State Police Chief Tim Johnson would lead the Department of Public Safety as interim secretary, while Deputy State Police Chief Robert Thornton would take over as chief, also on an interim basis. The Department of Public Safety plays an essential role, Lujan Grisham said in a statement. Our employees and officers are duty-bound to equitably protect and dutifully serve New Mexicans, and I am confident they will continue to meet and exceed the expectation of communities all across the state. Shea, who had been making an annual salary of $156,000 as a cabinet secretary, had not been a highly visible member of Lujan Grishams cabinet. But his agency was in charge of overseeing efforts to combat violent crime, including sending 50 State Police officers to patrol certain areas of Albuquerque last year. The two-month Metro Surge Operation cost about $1 million. It resulted in 14,674 traffic stops and netted 738 arrests the majority of which were for felony or misdemeanor warrants. With protests over race-related issues intensifying around New Mexico and the nation this summer, Lujan Grisham said such operations would be viewed through a different lens going forward. The governor also said it was time for New Mexico to address the ugly truth of racism embedded in core institutions, and created a racial justice advisory council to recommend potential changes in state law. Meanwhile, Sheas dismissal marks the most recent departure of a Cabinet secretary in the Lujan Grisham administration, nearly two years into the governors four-year term. At least three other Cabinet secretaries have already stepped down this year due to various reasons, and Lujan Grisham last year dismissed Karen Trujillo, her initial pick to lead the Public Education Department, after just six months on the job. Sackett said the Governors Office is not concerned about the turnover, describing it as normal for a governors administration. Changes happen thats a fact of life, she said. The vast majorities of those (departures) have been due to family and personal considerations. Three years after falling in love Sara Jubran, a Palestinian and a Muslim, and Xuan Tho kissed for the first time. It was their wedding. Having a person to drive to work and share lunch and work out with has left Trinh Xuan Tho of the southern Dong Nai Province on cloud nine since his marriage. In 2011 Tho went to Australia to study in a college before entering the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He joined a program to welcome new students and befriended Sara, a Palestinian junior at his university. Sara, a conservative Muslim, kept her distance from other men and so Tho rarely got a chance to talk to her. But his feelings for her grew by the day, especially after he saw Sara attend community activities with great enthusiasm. Once her group of friends comprising mostly men, made a trip to a remote Indonesian area to do community work, and he saw her work tirelessly. Tho and Sara in Sydney. Photo courtesy of Sara. There was another time when Sara saw a homeless woman and decided to stay and talk with her until she made several phone calls and found a foster home for her. "There are not a lot of people who will spend two hours talking to a stranger forgetting their own business like Sara," Tho says. While he was slowly falling for the Palestinian woman with a beautiful heart, Tho did not know he was already the apple of her eye. She says: "Passion, ambition and determination ... These were the first traits in Trevor (Tho's alias) that attracted me. I believe a man like him will bring the best for his wife and children." In early 2018 the duo were returning homes in Sydney by train, seated one seat away from each other, when Tho decided to express his feelings to her. He looked at Sara's eyes and said those magic words. Sara kept her head down to avert his gaze, but admitted she too loved him. Tho found out soon that things like sitting next to each other or holding hands, considered normal in many cultures, was a "pipe dream" for him and Sara because of her culture. They met once every two weeks since Islam does not encourage members of the opposite sex to spend time alone together before marriage. On the train, there was always an empty seat between them. Sometimes Tho, missing his girlfriend who lived five minutes away from him, would buy bubble tea and leave it in front of her house and tell her to get it while he would watch from a distance. The Vietnamese - Palestinian couple on a Vietnamese street. Photo courtesy of Sara. Cultural differences posed numerous challenges. "Differences between the two cultures created emotional conflicts between us," Sara says. While Vietnamese only greet their parents verbally, Palestinians hug and kiss them on their foreheads. The couple knew they would face obstacles when they spoke to their families about their relationship. Tho is his parents only son and they wanted him to return to Vietnam, while Sara's parents hoped she would marry a Middle Eastern man. So they planned to take on the problem step by step. Sara told her elder brother about him and suggested they should have a meeting. After meeting Tho, her brother told her he was "polite and mature." From then on he would often take his wife and children out with the young couple so that the latter had more time together to understand each other. In Palestinian culture, men are the breadwinners, and so Tho always knew he would have a lot of responsibility after marriage. After graduating, he worked for a college at UTS but did not earn much. So he looked for other opportunities, and in May 2018 became a senior officer at the university with a decent salary. On her wedding day Sara wears an ao dai and a thobe. Photo courtesy of Sara. Having a career and stable finances gave Tho confidence when he met Sara's family for the first time. Greeting them politely as Vietnamese do, he gave them gifts and ensured he kept a distance from the women in the family. He was "relieved" to learn later her family had accepted him. She learned whatever she could about Vietnamese culture before meeting Tho's family for the first time. In Dong Nai, she quickly got used to chopsticks and local food like shrimp paste and snails. At his home, his father used to be the only fan of pickled onions, but Sara began to acquire a taste for it. In April 2019 the couple got engaged in Sydney. In February 2020 they held their wedding in Bien Hoa Town of Dong Nai in both Vietnamese and Palestinian styles. Sara wore both an ao dai and a thobe, and people sang and danced to Vietnamese and Palestinian music. "I decided to organize a wedding blending the two cultures so we can honor our differences, our families can understand the other culture and embrace the differences," Sara says. The couple has not gone on a honeymoon because of the Covid-19 outbreak. But for Tho and Sara, living under one roof and learning about each other is bliss. "No matter where we are from this world, we can become families if we respect our differences," Sara, who now calls herself a Vietnamese wife, says. The "Austria Cards and Payments Opportunities and Risks to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. 'Austria Cards Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023' report provides detailed analysis of market trends in the Austria cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including cash, cards, credit transfers, direct debits, and cheques during the review-period (2015-19e). The report also analyzes various payment card markets operating in the industry and provides detailed information on the number of cards in circulation, transaction values and volumes during the review-period and over the forecast-period (2019e-23f). It also offers information on the country's competitive landscape, including market shares of issuers and schemes. The report brings together the publisher's research, modeling, and analysis expertise to allow banks and card issuers to identify segment dynamics and competitive advantages. The report also covers detailed regulatory policies and recent changes in regulatory structure. Scope The SEPA Instant Credit Transfer payment service has been available in Austria since November 2017. The service enables individuals to transfer a maximum of 15,000 ($16,840.51) within 10 seconds. Funds can be transferred instantly 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. In November 2018, TARGET Instant Payment Settlement was launched across the EU, including Austria. The service is based on SEPA Instant Credit Transfer and is an extension of TARGET2. Available at all times, the service also supports multi-currency transfers. Contactless payments are gaining popularity in Austria, and are mainly used for low-value retail purchases. In 2019, the number of payment cards that supported contactless was estimated at 12.1 million up significantly from 9.0 million in 2015 at a strong review-period CAGR of 7.8%. To capitalize on the growing use of contactless in Austria, in October 2018 JCB International partnered with Austrian credit card issuer card complete Service Bank to offer JCB contactless cards that can be used at more than 10,000 merchants. Meanwhile, Mastercard collaborated with Erste Bank and Sparkassen to launch a new Mastercard contactless debit card in April 2019. To benefit from the growing e-commerce market, international online retailers are establishing their presence in the country. Most recently, in April 2020, Polish footwear retailer CCC Group launched its online shop CCC.eu in Austria. Growth in e-commerce will help drive electronic payments in the country. Companies Mentioned American Express BAWAG P.S.K. Erste Bank OeNB Mastercard Raiffeisen Bank UniCredit Bank Volksbank Oberbank PayLife Visa Apple Pay Klarna PayPal paysafecard Masterpass Blue Code Skrill For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/c0yjwb View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200925005206/en/ Contacts: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 LOUISVILLE, Ky. Mayor Greg Fischer extended the citywide curfew through the weekend in anticipation of more protests as demonstrators took to the streets again Thursday night leading to the arrest of at least 24 people. A day after a grand jurys decision in the deadly police shooting of Breonna Taylor sparked a new wave of national protests for racial equality and police reform, two dozen people were arrested on charges including unlawful assembly, failure to disperse and riot in the first degree as of 1 a.m. Friday, police said. Authorities alleged the protesters broke windows at a restaurant, damaged city buses, tried to set a fire and threw a flare into the street. The night of demonstrations also included a standoff between protesters and police at a church and the arrest of a high-profile state legislator. Fact checking 8 myths in Breonna Taylor case: Was she asleep when police shot her? Is there body-cam footage? Tamika Palmer made a brief appearance at her daughters memorial in Jefferson Square Park as hundreds marched through downtown Louisville chanting Taylors name. Taylors family and their attorneys spoke Friday morning at a press conference where they called on the attorney general to release the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings. By 10 p.m. EDT, an hour after Fischers curfew, Louisville police could be seen arresting protesters near the First Unitarian Church, which had offered its property as a refuge for protesters. State Rep. Attica Scott, the Democratic lawmaker sponsoring a bill to end no-knock warrants like the one used when Taylor was shot and killed in March, was among the arrests, said Tracy Dotson, a spokesman for the union representing Metro Correction officers. A woman shouts to police on Thursday night during protests following the decision not to charge three officers for murder of Breonna Taylor. Scott has been charged with first-degree rioting a felony along with failure to disperse and unlawful assembly, both misdemeanors, Dotson said. Scott was released from Louisville Metro Corrections early Friday on personal recognizance bonds, according to online court record meaning she was released without posting bail on the promise to return to court. Scott is set to be arraigned on Oct. 6. Story continues The protest reached a negotiated end around 11 p.m., with both the remaining demonstrators and police in riot gear leaving the church area. The Black Lives Matter protesters at one point confronted about a dozen armed counter-protesters, with one man dressed in a camouflage helmet and a green vest telling reporters he was a member of the Oath Keepers and had come to Louisville from North Carolina. Many of the counter-protesters wore military-style garb and carried long guns. One man told reporters that the group was there to protect the property of local businesses. While some marchers confronted the counter-protesters, others urged them to keep their distance. The Oath Keepers describe themselves as a nonpartisan association of current and formerly serving military, police and first responders whose goal is to defend the Constitution, according to their website. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes them as one of the largest radical anti-government groups in the U.S. An armed counter-protester talks with Black Lives Matter demonstrators on Thursday in Louisville, Ky. Unlike the previous night, when protests broke out in cities across the U.S., Thursday night presented only a few demonstrations. A vigil for Taylor and Dion Johnson, a Black man who was fatally shot by an Arizona state trooper on Memorial Day, brought together at least 120 people in downtown Phoenix. "It's been a long, tough week," said Itoro Elijah of the W.E. Rising Project, a local group against police violence and systemic racism that organized the vigil. "There's always the hope that we will be heard." Read more on race and identity: Sign up for USA TODAYs This Is America newsletter The somber vigil morphed into a somewhat rowdy protest later in the night, with about 100 people marching in the streets, some carrying a banner that said, "Abolish the police for Dion and Breonna" and others pulling down barricades outside the Phoenix Police Department. The protest ended by 11 p.m. A group of about 250 protesters marched in Rochester, New York, organized by a group called Free the People Roc. They called for public accountability and later sat quietly in the street outside the citys Public Safety Building. I'm tired already. I could not imagine marching for 194 days and then getting slapped in the face, said organizer Ashley Gantt. Thats what that was (for Taylor). An organized march through the streets of Hollywood came to an abrupt end when a truck drove through the group of protesters, striking at least one person, the Los Angeles Times reported. Breonna Taylor protesters urged nonviolence. Then 2 Louisville police officers were shot Protests were largely peaceful on Wednesday night, just hours after the indictment ruling rippled across the country but not without violence or strife. The shooting of two Louisville police officers further inflamed tensions in Taylors home city. The suspect, 26-year-old Larynzo Johnson, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Friday morning. Johnson is charged with two counts of first-degree assault on a police officer and 14 counts of wanton endangerment related to a police officer. Bond was set at $1 million, up from the initial amount of $750,000, said R. Zachary Meihaus, an attorney who represented Johnson for the arraignment. Portland police declared a riot in Oregons most populous city and made 13 arrests after some protesters threw Molotov cocktails at officers. Police in Atlanta and Seattle also reported multiple arrests after using chemical agents including tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters. Hundreds gathered in other major cities across the country, including Chicago, Milwaukee, New York and Washington, D.C., marching through streets and chanting for justice and police reform. Contributing: Olivia Krauth, Lucas Aulbach and Matt Mencarini, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.); Cynthia Benjamin and Sean Lahman, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle; Madeline Ackley and Kaila White, The Arizona Republic; The Associated Press. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Breonna Taylor protests: Louisville police arrests, curfew extended Taylor was fatally shot by an officer during an exchange of gunfire with her boyfriend in her apartment in March. The only indictment returned against an officer was for firing shots into an adjoining apartment. Lightfoot on Wednesday called the grand jury decision a gross miscarriage of justice. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marie Giffard (Agence France-Presse) Elorrio, Spain Fri, September 25, 2020 22:02 483 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c474bce0 2 Entertainment HBO,Spain,Basque,separatists,television,Patria Free Ten years after the separatist group ETA renounced its armed struggle, few will speak of the bloody campaign that ravaged Spain's Basque country, but a new TV series is hoping to shatter that taboo. With the conflict still an open wound, HBO's Patria -- a highly anticipated adaptation of a novel of the same name by Spanish writer Fernando Aramburu -- hits the small screen on Sunday in Spain and across the Americas. "The wound, because it is so deep, will take time to heal. The Basque Country has not forgotten ETA," says Gorka Landaburu, a Basque journalist who lost several fingers and an eye when he opened a letter bomb sent by the group. ETA's symbol -- a snake wrapped around the handle of an axe -- is no longer seen on the walls of villages in the region, but at a bend on one mountain road, a scrawl of graffiti demands the release of a Basque militant while another calls for "a full amnesty". But across the region, a conspiracy of silence enshrouds the memories with few prepared to open up about a bloody and painful era that many would prefer to forget. "There is a taboo," says Ana Aizpiri, whose brother Sebastian died two ETA bullets to the back of the head in 1988, "a blanket of silence that extends even to the dining table". "No-one mentions that empty chair," she said. But Sunday's pilot episode of Patria is hoping to shatter that silence with a televised version of a novel about the families whose lives were shattered by the violence of ETA. "It is a very sensitive subject, the wounds remain open and we still have not managed to digest" the years of terror, Aitor Gabilondo, screenwriter and executive producer of Patria, told AFP after a screening of the eight-part series at the San Sebastian film festival. Read also: Scaled-down San Sebastian film festival opens Scars that need healing For 40 years, the bloody violence engulfed the Basque Country, a region which is home to just 2.2 million people. Formed in 1959 by a group of frustrated nationalist students, ETA waged a decades-long campaign for Basque independence in northern Spain and southwestern France that killed an estimated 853 people. But its attacks were countered by violence from far-right groups and shadowy death squads such as the state-sponsored Anti-terrorist Liberation Groups (GAL) -- which emerged in the 1980s -- that between them killed dozens of ETA militants. After declaring a permanent ceasefire in 2011, ETA began surrendering weapons in 2017 before disbanding completely in May 2018. "Terrorism, violence and blackmail may have disappeared but there are still scars that need to be healed. It will be a long process before we can live together," says Landaburu. The idea of coexistence is one that sticks in the throats of many here. "In the Basque Country, we used terrorism against each other," reflects Eduardo Mateo Santamaria of the Fernando Buesa Foundation for peace. "Those who fired the gun, who placed the bombs are your neighbors living opposite, your family, your own people." Read also: Mola TV, HBO GO introduce family-friendly plan Breaking the silence Ane Muguruza, whose father Josu was a lawmaker for ETA's political wing who was murdered in 1989 by far-right militants, also wants to be recognized as a victim. "They killed my father seven days before I was born and my mother was tortured. My family has suffered state violence in its very flesh," says the 30-year-old. "How can we say we're at peace when the state continues taking revenge on ETA," she asks, pointing to Madrid's policy of keeping ETA prisoners locked up far from the Basque Country. For the past 18 years, Xochitl Karasatorre has only ever seen her father, a former ETA militant, inside the visitors' room at a prison in France. "ETA laid down its weapons and since then years have passed but the situation of the prisoners has still not been normalized," says the 26-year-old, who did not want to say why her father was jailed. "It is very complicated to talk about reconciliation when one side has not made any steps towards the other, " says Joseba Azkarraga of Sare which lobbies on behalf of the prisoners. A peace activist for nearly 25 years, Edorta Martinez is hoping the younger generation will end the unspoken oath of silence. "The young people, those 25 and under, are totally ignorant of what happened. They ask questions but these are conversations you have in private," he told AFP. "We must not make the same mistake as with the civil war (1936-1939)," said Martinez of the years in which the violence of the conflict and the ensuing dictatorship was not openly discussed for fear of provoking a spiral of score-settling. "We must not wait 70 years before looking back." Topics : HBO Spain Basque separatists television Patria This article will reflect on the compensation paid to John Arabia who has served as CEO of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) since 2015. This analysis will also evaluate the appropriateness of CEO compensation when taking into account the funds from operations and shareholder returns of the company. See our latest analysis for Sunstone Hotel Investors How Does Total Compensation For John Arabia Compare With Other Companies In The Industry? According to our data, Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. has a market capitalization of US$1.6b, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth US$5.6m over the year to December 2019. Notably, that's an increase of 8.2% over the year before. We think total compensation is more important but our data shows that the CEO salary is lower, at US$808k. For comparison, other companies in the same industry with market capitalizations ranging between US$1.0b and US$3.2b had a median total CEO compensation of US$4.6m. From this we gather that John Arabia is paid around the median for CEOs in the industry. Moreover, John Arabia also holds US$8.1m worth of Sunstone Hotel Investors stock directly under their own name, which reveals to us that they have a significant personal stake in the company. Component 2019 2018 Proportion (2019) Salary US$808k US$768k 15% Other US$4.8m US$4.4m 85% Total Compensation US$5.6m US$5.1m 100% Speaking on an industry level, nearly 15% of total compensation represents salary, while the remainder of 85% is other remuneration. Although there is a difference in how total compensation is set, Sunstone Hotel Investors more or less reflects the market in terms of setting the salary. If total compensation is slanted towards non-salary benefits, it indicates that CEO pay is linked to company performance. A Look at Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc.'s Growth Numbers Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. has reduced its funds from operations (FFO) by 48% per year over the last three years. In the last year, its revenue is down 33%. Story continues The decline in FFO is a bit concerning. This is compounded by the fact revenue is actually down on last year. These factors suggest that the business performance wouldn't really justify a high pay packet for the CEO. Moving away from current form for a second, it could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future. Has Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. Been A Good Investment? With a three year total loss of 46% for the shareholders, Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. would certainly have some dissatisfied shareholders. Therefore, it might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously. In Summary... As we touched on above, Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. 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, FFO 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 is an important area to keep your eyes on, but we've also need to pay attention to other attributes of the company. We identified 2 warning signs for Sunstone Hotel Investors (1 is significant!) that you should be aware of before investing here. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a different set of stocks. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies. 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. Some analysts expect a slowdown in sales of new equipment as a result of stagnation in the oil market, while others think countries like Saudi Arabia will continue their procurement plans at any cost, determined to ensure their security and to maintain influence. Wars in Libya, Syria and Yemen have continued, with air power still playing a pivotal role. Developments in these campaigns have included the arrival of MiG-29s and Su-24s to support Field Marshal Khalifa Haftars Libyan National Army (LNA), while the rival Government of National Accord (GNA) has been able to call on Turkish unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) and F-16s. In Yemen, the air war has hotted up and gained a new dimension, with Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) F-15s scrambling to deal with bomb-carrying UAVs dispatched by the Houthis against Saudi targets, including cities. Saudi air defences have also had to destroy dozens of incoming ballistic missiles. The Saudi-led coalition had announced a unilateral ceasefire in early April after calls from the United Nations (UN) to halt conflicts during the coronavirus pandemic. But, after Yemen resumed rocket, drone and ballistic missile attacks, Saudi Arabia launched a new military operation against Yemens Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Saudi military spokesman, Colonel Turki al-Maliki, said: Targeting civilian facilities is a red line. We wont allow this to happen. He added that the Yemeni rebels were not capable of producing their own ballistic missiles and drones and laid the blame for the new round of attacks firmly at Irans door. More constructively, a number of air forces across the MENA region have pressed military transport aircraft into service to deliver aid, medical supplies and protective equipment. Turkeys new Airbus A400Ms have been particularly busy, flying medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) to a number of European nations. Iran On June 25 the Iranian Tasnim News Agency reported the delivery of three domestically built HESA Kowsar fighters, though accompanying photos showed these to be refurbished Northrop F-5s, and not the new indigenous Kowsar 88 trainer. But any indigenous Iranian programmes may be rendered superfluous, if, as is widely expected, the current 13-year arms embargo ends in October. If this does happen, Iran is expected to go shopping for combat aircraft, air defence missiles, anti-ship missiles and even submarines, probably from Russia and China. Kuwait Kuwaits air force modernisation is continuing apace, with the Kuwaiti-standard Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Eurofighter Typhoon now flying. Kuwaits permanent parliamentary committee is reportedly looking into the price being paid for the Eurofighter Typhoon, as well as allegations of large-scale misappropriation of state funds in connection with the procurement of the two new fighter types. While the price being paid by Kuwait for its Typhoons is higher than that being paid by Qatar, the deal includes significant amounts of infrastructure, training, support and weapons integration, and thus is not directly comparable on an aircraft unit cost basis. But Kuwait is sensitive to pricing, after the controversies surrounding the countrys procurement of the Airbus Helicopters H225 Caracal, and after allegations that kickbacks were paid associated with a Kuwait Airways acquisition of 15 Airbus A320neos and 10 Airbus A350 aircraft. Morocco On June 25, Boeing confirmed that the Kingdom of Morocco has signed a US foreign military sales (FMS) contract for 24 Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, plus 12 options, with manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) 2 kits, spares, and support. A weapons package also included AGM-114L and -114R Hellfire anti-tank missiles, APKWS laser-guided rocket kits, and AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missiles, along with unguided 2.75in rockets and 30mm ammunition for an estimated cost of $4.25 billion. Qatar With its new Dassault Rafales now in service and working up to full operational capability, Qatar is preparing to induct its next two new fighter types. The Boeing F-15QA is now flying in the US, and recent US Department of Defense (DoD) notifications seem to indicate that more of these aircraft will be acquired than was originally expected. Under the deal signed in December 2017, Qatar was due to receive 36 F-15QA Advanced Eagles, but recent statements suggest that FMS contract may be for 48 aircraft. There has also been progress with the third of Qatars planned new fighter types, with a joint UK-Qatari Typhoon squadron having begun flying as an integrated unit. On June 19, the British Ministry of Defence announced that the Royal Air Force and Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) Typhoon Squadron, known as No12 Squadron had marked an important milestone by commencing flying as a joint squadron. No12 Squadron is a unique initiative between the UK and Qatar and will provide the QEAF with valuable experience operating the Typhoon as it prepares to receive its first aircraft in 2022. The announcement is understood to indicate that the first Qatari pilots are now working up to combat-ready status, having completed conversion training. No12 Squadron was stood up on July 24 2018 and is the first Joint Squadron in the RAF since World War II. UAE Following the example set by the US Air Force Thunderbirds formation aerobatic display team and the US Navys Blue Angels, the UAE Air Forces Al Fursan aerobatic display team flew a series of displays over some of the nations main hospitals. By doing this, the Al Fursan team showed their appreciation of the UAEs doctors, nurses, paramedics, and administrative and technical staff, who were saluted as the nations real first line of defence. The displays were mounted at the request of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces, who invited the public to share these moments of pride and unity in appreciation of the nations healthcare professionals working round the clock to ensure public safety in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. The displays began on Sunday June 21 in Abu Dhabi. Al Fursan flew over the Al Rahba Hospital, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Zayed Military Hospital, Emirates Humanitarian City, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, and Al Ain Hospital in Al Ain. On the second day, Al Fursan flew over Al Dhafra Hospital in Madinat Zayed and on the third day, it toured the Kuwait Hospital in Dubai, the Al Kuwait Hospital in Sharjah, the Sheikh Khalifa General Hospital in Ajman, the Field Hospital in Umm Al Quwain, the Field Hospital and Ibrahim Bin Hamad Obaidullah Hospital in Ras Al Khaimah, and the Khorfakkan Hospital, the Field Hospital and the Masafi Hospital in Fujairah. The Ministry of Health and Prevention publicly saluted the flypasts, saying that they had carried an inspirational message of thanks and gratitude to the frontline medical, nursing and administrative staff. The UAE armed forces have not been neglecting their operational training during the pandemic. The United Arab Emirates Joint Aviation Command conducted combined naval and air training operations in the southern Arabian Gulf with elements from the US Naval Forces Central Command and US Air Forces Central Command, from June 21-25. A combination of aircraft and surface assets tracked and engaged simulated fast-attack craft during the air operations in maritime surface warfare (AOMSW) training exercise. Emirati Boeing CH-47F Chinook, Northstar/Bell 407, Boeing AH-64D Apache, and Sikorsky UH-60M Blackhawk helicopters practised operating from an expeditionary sea base, the USS Lewis B Puller. UAE pilots successfully completed deck landing qualifications aboard the Puller, and conducted day and night landings and refuelling operations. The training exercise was intended to maintain and enhance interoperability and to demonstrate UAE and US resolve to respond to threats in the region, preparing forces to meet the challenges of ensuring freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce in what are some of the worlds busiest waterways. New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a 127-crore flat of Yes Bank co-promoter Rana Kapoor in London in connection with a money laundering investigation against him and others, the central agency said on Friday. The agency issued a provisional order for attaching the property -- Apartment 1, 77 South Audley Street, London -- under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). "The market value of the flat is 13.5 million pound (about 127 crore). The property was purchased by Rana Kapoor in 2017 for 9.9 million pound ( 93 crore) in the name of DOIT Creations Jersey Limited and he is the beneficial owner," the ED said in a statement. It claimed that the agency obtained "information from a reliable source that Kapoor was trying to alienate this property in London and that he has hired a reputed property consultant." "Enquiries from open sources confirmed that this property has been listed for sale on several websites," it said. The agency, as per procedure, will now approach their counterparts in the United Kingdom to execute the attachment order and will issue a proclamation that the asset cannot be sold or purchased as it has been seized under the criminal sections of the PMLA. The ED has earlier attached assets in the US, Dubai and Australia in a similar fashion as part of other investigations under the PMLA. The ED had booked Kapoor, his family members and others under the PMLA after studying a CBI FIR that alleged that dubious multi-crore loans were given by Yes Bank to various entities in contravention of the law and in lieu of purported kickbacks given to the Kapoor family. The CBI FIR had stated that during April-June, 2018, Yes Bank Limited had invested 3,700 crore in the short term debentures of DHFL. "Simultaneously, Kapil Wadhawan of DHFL paid kickback of 600 crore to Rana Kapoor and his family members in the garb of loan of 600 crore (given by DHFL) to DOIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd (Rana Kapoor group company)." "In addition to the above, Yes Bank Ltd had also sanctioned a loan of 750 crore to RKW Developers, a group company of DHFL beneficially owned by Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan and their family members," the ED alleged. This loan of 750 crore had been sanctioned to them for their Bandra Reclamation Project, Mumbai, but the entire amount was siphoned off by Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan through their shell companies, it said. Rana Kapoor, Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan have been arrested by the ED in this case and they are in judicial custody at present. The agency had also filed charge sheets before a special court in Mumbai in this case. The ED had earlier attached properties in this case and with this order, the total attachment in this probe stands at 2,011 crore. PTI NES SMN SMN This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics (Natural News) An ancient tomb belonging to a Germanic lord from about 1,500 years ago has been unearthed in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The tomb was surrounded by six women believed to be the concubines of the lord, and speculation has it that they either sacrificed themselves or were slain for the burial. Researchers have yet to locate the remains of the lord, but its posited to be inside the centerpiece of the mounded tomb, a bronze cauldron. Experts call the burial site the countrys most important archaeological discovery in the last 40 years. The exact location is kept secret to prevent looters from ransacking the finds, which also include valuable ancient possessions. Bizarre burial arrangement hints at something symbolic The discovery was made by workers who were clearing the land for a chicken farm. The tomb was found in an immaculate condition due to its location in a natural hollow, which got covered with around four feet of sediment over time that provided a protective layer and hid it from view. Initial estimates dated the site between A.D. 480 and A.D. 530, coinciding with the Great Migration, a period in European history during and after the fall of the Roman Empire. It saw many Germanic tribes invade territories that were no longer under Roman protection. Archaeologists marveled at the burial ground due to its bizarre arrangement, as well as the circumstances by which some of the bodies were laid there. The six women were buried radially around the bronze cauldron in a way that likely held great symbolic meaning. For that reason, many people suspected that they killed themselves or were slain to be with their husbands. Theres even talk of a ritualistic death cult, but archaeologists said that its too early to confirm that. Beyond this central tomb, there were about 60 more graves suspected to belong to high-ranking individuals at the time. They were likely buried there in honor of the lord, whose remains are yet to be located, according to archaeologist Susanne Friederich from the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle, Germany. But maybe his ashes are in the bronze cauldron, she added. The massive cauldron, which was 13 feet by 13 feet, was taken out of the earth in a special cast and would be further analyzed in the lab. Other discoveries in the tomb There were other finds too, including 11 animal remains and various prized possessions. The animals ranged from dogs to cattle to horses and were likely reburied in the tomb in honor of the lord. Meanwhile, the valuables included a small god statue, a glass decorated bowl, a sword, an iron shield boss, a spindle whorl and a gold coin bearing the head of the Eastern Roman emperor Zeno, who lived around A.D. 480. The Germanic god statue was likely a sacred object thats about 1,800 years old, buried there with its owner, according to archeologists. There are also several silver-gilded robe clips and pieces of textile. Upon initial analysis, these sartorial artifacts indicated that the people buried at the site could be Saxons, Thuringians and some members of the Alemanni group of tribes on the Rhine, according to the Times. These tribes played an important role in the decline of the Roman Empire. Researchers are very much interested in the artifacts as they might reveal crucial insights into life during the Great Migration, which started as early as A.D. 300 but lasted until around A.D. 568. Although its known that barbarian invasions contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire, historians have yet to figure out whether the attacks were a cause or a result of the weakening Empire. (Related: Mother Nature may have contributed to the rise of the Roman Empire: Volcanic eruptions, drought found to coincide with political events in ancient Egypt.) Artifacts.news has more on recent archaeological discoveries. Sources include: DailyMail.co.uk Ancient-Origins.net It made no sense at all: me, enrolling in a theatre studies course at uni. I couldnt act, sing, dance, direct, playwright, stage-manage, design costumes, spell proscenium, tell you what proscenium meant, and had no interest in theatre or studies or uni. No women were interested in a scrawny bespectacled 19-year-old dweeb - and even more tragically, I somehow developed an interest in theatre. Credit:Ryan Stuart But I did have an interest in women and I heard lots of women did the theatre studies course, and only a few men, and those few men were mostly interested in the other few men. So I enrolled. Tragically, things didnt pan out as Id hoped. No women were interested in a scrawny bespectacled 19-year-old dweeb, and even more tragically, I somehow developed an interest in theatre. Thats how I met Julian. He was a fellow theatre studies student, though he looked like he shouldve been a professor. He was just 25 but he had Assange-white hair, smoked a tobacco pipe and wore a corduroy jacket with leather elbow patches. The decision by Vancouver-based tech giant Hootsuite to abruptly pull out of a contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency following internal and public backlash should put corporate leaders on notice be vigilant about who you do business with, experts say. Theres no question that corporate social and environmental responsibility issues are increasingly getting more attention not only by business leaders, but company stakeholders, including employees, said Christie Stephenson, executive director of the Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics at UBC. And its clear, companies are needing to consider not only their own operations but the actions of partners and suppliers. With more attention to these issues, the stakes have been raised. Tom Keiser, CEO of Hootsuite, acknowledged Thursday that the social media management companys partnership with ICE had led to a divided company, prompting the decision to sever ties. The previous evening, a woman named Sam Anderson who identifies herself as a senior training specialist at Hootsuite, posted a Twitter thread saying many people at the company were upset. Been debating talking about this publicly because I dont want to get fired, but it seems like the cats already out of the bag so whatever: yesterday Hootsuite signed a three-year deal with ICE, the tweet began. Over 100 employees have been extremely vocal in their opposition to this deal since it first came to light in June and it went through anyway. Anderson, who declined interview requests Thursday, went on to say that ICEs repeated human rights violations were at odds with Hootsuites publicly stated values. Her post was retweeted thousands of times. In recent years, ICE, which falls under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has come under fire from critics who say the tactics it uses to detain and deport migrants undermine civil liberties. It has drawn outrage for its role in separating migrant children from their families. It has also been criticized for using inland checkpoints and roving patrols to apprehend people. Late Wednesday night, Hootsuite spokesperson Melanie Gaboriault told Business in Vancouver Hootsuite is not entering into a deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But a website that tracks U.S. government spending showed that the Department of Homeland Security had awarded a contract worth $508,832 to IT solutions provider FCN Inc., of Rockville, Md., for Hootsuite licences. The contract, said to have begun Sept. 18, was set for one year with an option to renew for two additional years. On Thursday, Keiser, the CEO, confirmed the company had, in fact, signed a contract with ICE after forming an internal committee and considering all points of view. Then the company reversed course after further discussions. Over the last 24 hours there has been a broad emotional and passionate reaction from our people and this has spurred additional dialog. We have heard the lived experiences from our people and the hurt they are feeling, he said. The decision has created a divided company, and this is not the kind of company I came to lead. I and the rest of the management team share the concerns our people have expressed. As a result, we have decided to not proceed with the deal with ICE. The company did not respond to followup questions from the Star, including why it had originally released a statement implying it had not entered into a deal with ICE. In a statement Friday, an ICE spokesperson confirmed the agency had recently awarded a contract to a third-party vendor for access to Hootsuites products to help manage the agencys social media accounts. At this time, ICE has not received formal notification from the contract awardee that the company is unable to meet the contract requirements. But if true, its disappointing that they would not support our workforce that is committed to protecting the homeland; taking gang members, drug traffickers and rapists off the streets; and protecting children from trafficking and exploitation. FCN, the third-party vendor, has not responded to requests for comment. This is not the first time a tech company has received backlash for partnering with ICE. Last year, employees of Microsoft-owned GitHub expressed anger over that companys decision to renew a contract with ICE. Employees at Amazon have similarly gone public with calls for the e-commerce giant to stop working with third-party companies that do business with ICE. I cant speak for what (caused) the executive leadership team of Hootsuite to change their mind, but Im so glad the social media, the digital platform, paved the way for it, said Lakshmi Baskaran, vice-president of engineering at SEDNA Systems. Regardless of what led to that, Im glad that the employees had a voice and that the voice was heeded and listened to and resulted in a positive outcome. Baskaran said social justice issues resonate with tech professionals as many have encountered gender and race inequality as theyve climbed the ranks in the industry. Based on history, based on what weve seen in other movements like Black Lives Matter and MeToo, we can say that organizations will be more cautious and mindful of having social responsibility as their primary agenda when they sign for partnerships. Read more about: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have paid an undisclosed amount upfront to cover the rent and refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, the property they moved into a year after their wedding in 2019. In August this year, it was reported that Meghan and Prince Harry had moved with their son, Archie, to a new permanent home in Santa Barbara, California, several months after announcing their decision to step down as senior, working members of the royal family. Amid their official departure from royal duties at the end of March, some called for the couple to pay back the 2.4m that was previously spent on renovating Frogmore Cottage. While the duke and duchess have already covered the costs for the renovation of the property, a senior palace source added that they have made a substantial contribution to cover refurbishment and rent for their UK home. "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made a substantial contribution to the Sovereign Grant that covers refurbishment and rental obligations for Frogmore Cottage, the source said. "The reporting method for this contribution has yet to be determined and will have to be agreed by the National Audit Office before appearing in next year's accounts." The Duke and Duchess of Sussex recently signed a deal with Netflix to make documentaries, docu-series, feature films, scripted shows and childrens programming. The deal is reported to be worth more than 100m. Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, an anti-monarchy organisation, said that he believes a review should be conducted regarding the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs involvement with Frogmore Cottage, which was given to them by the Queen and is owned by the Crown Estate. "They're working out their own finances, doing their own books and then reporting their own finances - there needs to be independent scrutiny, he said. Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Show all 90 1 /90 Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The Duke and Duchess of Sussex kiss on the steps of St Georges Chapel after their wedding WPA Pool/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Top gear: William and Kate had an Aston Martin with balloons and a JUST WED number plate. Harry and Meghan score extra points: this 1968 E-type Jag, which took them to the evening party at Frogmore House, has been converted to electric power. And the number plate, E190518? Its their anniversary AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle and Prince Harry leave St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle after their wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in Windsor Reuters Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand at the altar Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Kingdom Choir outside St Georges Chapel in Windsor, Berkshire, after performing at the wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The pageboy whose smile went viral Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guests toast as they attend a viewing party for the royal wedding at the Plaza Hotel in New York Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle reaches the altar in St Georges Chapel Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures John Major and his wife Norma Major attend the royal wedding ceremony EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives for the wedding ceremony to marry Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Fans attend a Royal Wedding watching party at Lillies Victorian Establishment in New York AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex emerge from the West Door of St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Well-wishers lining the streets wave and cheer as Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex pass riding in the Ascot Landau Carriage during their carriage procession AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures James Blunt and Sofia Wellesley attend the royal wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding WPA Pool/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy arrive for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex begin their carriage procession in the Ascot Landau Carriage after their wedding ceremony AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures James Corden and Julia Carey attend the royal wedding ceremony EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Harry and Meghan emerge from the West Door of St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Left to right, Lady Louise Windsor, Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Princess Anne, Princess Royal arrive for the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry looks at his bride, Meghan Markle, as she arrives accompanied by the Prince of Wales in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for their wedding in Windsor, Britain REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian arrive at St Georges Chapel Reuters Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry places the wedding ring on the finger of Meghan Markle during their wedding service, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby WPA Pool/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The royal wedding cake has been revealed AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Members of the public view a live screening of the marriage ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Winchester Cathedral Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Rex Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The Duke of Cambridge (left), the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke of York during the wedding service for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle during their wedding service PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures US actor Abigail Spencer (left) and Indian actor Priyanka Chopra (second from left) arrive with other guests for the royal wedding EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Ragland drive along the Long Walk for her wedding to Prince Harry in Windsor Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Sir Elton John leaves St Georges Chapel PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Ragland drive along the Long Walk for her wedding to Prince Harry in Windsor Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Oprah Winfrey arrives at St Georges Chapel REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry's niece and bridesmaid Princess Charlotte arrives for the wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and US actress Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for their wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Bishop Michael Curry delivered a passionate sermon during the royal wedding ceremony PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures In this frame from video, Meghan Markle walks down the aisle with Prince Charles for her wedding ceremony at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in Windsor, near London, England AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall attend the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle is driven by the Long Walk to St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for her royal wedding ceremony to Britain's Prince Harry, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle is driven down the Long Walk to St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for her royal wedding ceremony to Britain's Prince Harry, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives for the wedding ceremony to marry Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, at St George's Chapel, Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle before the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for her wedding to Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Bridesmaids and pageboys arrive for the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle (R) with her mother Doria Ragland arrive at Windsor Castle ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England. Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales marries Ms. Meghan Markle in a service at St George's Chapel inside the grounds of Windsor Castle. Among the guests were 2200 members of the public, the royal family and Ms. Markle's Mother Doria Ragland Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Princess Charlotte (right) arrives for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall arrive at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle, right, and her mother Doria Ragland leave Cliveden House Hotel in Taplow, near London, England AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for her wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Doria Ragland arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry (right) sits with his best man the Duke of Cambridge in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle ahead of his wedding to Meghan markle wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guests are pictured as they take their seats inside the Chapel ahead of the wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and US actress Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Britain's Prince Harry (R) and his brother and best man, Prince William (C), Duke of Cambridge arrive at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for his royal wedding ceremony to Meghan Markle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry (left) and the Duke of Cambridge arrive at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle leaves Cliveden House Hotel in Taplow, near London, England, Saturday, May 19, 2018 before her wedding ceremony with Prince Harry at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castl AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Britain's Prince Harry (L), Duke of Sussex, arrives with his best man Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (R), at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on May 19, 2018 for his wedding ceremony to marry US actress Meghan Markle AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures British Ministry of Defence shows around members of the Band of the Irish Guards entertaining the public ahead of the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor, Britain, EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Princess Eugenie, The Duke of York and Princess Beatrice, from left, arrive for the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Key Newss Kay Burley enjoys the moment Rex/Shutterstock Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Sarah Ferguson leaves after the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A general view of guests arriving in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor, Britain REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Amal and George Clooney arrive for the wedding ceremony AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guests arrive at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures US tennis player Serena Williams (L) and her husband American Internet entrepreneur and investor Alexis Ohanian (R) arrive for the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Irish Guards marching band parades through Windsor for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Members of the public gather ahead at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Alison Tinsley on the Long Walk ahead of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Police patrol the streets ahead of the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans wearing wedding dresses hold a sign reading When Harry met Meghan he hadnt met us first ahead of the royal wedding ceremony EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Well-wishers gather to watch the Royal Wedding of Britains Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and US actress Meghan Markle at the Pear Tree in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Members of the public gather near Windsor Castle prior to the wedding of HRH Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guardsman play for the crowd ahead of the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans wear wedding dresses near the castle before the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales marries Ms. Meghan Markle in a service at St George's Chapel inside the grounds of Windsor Castle. Among the guests were 2200 members of the public, the royal family and Ms. Markle's Mother Doria Ragland Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures War Veteran Phyllis Walker smiles during the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle at Cambridge Gate Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures David and Victoria Beckham arrive at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle Reuters Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Band of the Irish Guards perform outside the castle prior to the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A member of staff holds goodie bags ahead of of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A Royal fan waits for the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in Windsor, near London, England, Saturday, May 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein) AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans within the grounds of Windsor Castle ahead of the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans gather behind the barriers on the Long Walk, in Windsor, ahead of the wedding and carriage procession of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans soak up the atmopshere during the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle on The Long Walk Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A man sweeps the path outside St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle ahead of the wedding and carriage procession of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Two men wearing wedding dresses buy train tickets to Windsor to watch the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Waterloo train station Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Crowds gather during the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle on The Long Walk Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Well-wishers draped in a Union flag with an image of Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle walk along the Long Walk leading to Windsor Castle ahead of the wedding and carriage procession of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans line the Long Walk in Windsor ahead of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PA The release of the royal accounts has shown a potential 35m deficit due to the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has also resulted in a predicted 15m shortfall in money that goes towards the Sovereign Grant, funds from the Treasury that go towards the Queens expenses. The financial report, which covered the 12 months leading up to 31 March this year, found that the most expensive royal overseas trip was the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs tour of southern Africa, which cost approximately 246,000 for the taxpayer. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- If you remember life before the internet, you dont take its riches for granted. During the two and a half years I spent researching a forthcoming book, I frequently marveled at the cornucopia of materials available online. I could have written my book, "The Fabric of Civilization," without those resources, but it would have taken longer and certain factual questions would have gone unanswered. Nowadays, you can check the exact wording of the 1678 London statute regulating the cloth trade without leaving your house. But the coronavirus pandemic provides a sharp reminder of just how limited those internet riches are. Faced with the threat of a deadly virus, were lucky to have substitutes for in-person interactions. But in todays world of virtual everything, too much knowledge is locked down in shuttered libraries and socially distanced minds. I couldnt have written my book at all under current circumstances. The information needed is simply inaccessible something that those calling for virtual conferences and online higher education to become the post-pandemic norm fail to appreciate. Consider higher education. Even ignoring the learning that takes place in hands-on studios and labs, late-night bull sessions and mealtime conversations, virtual education has a serious problem. Much of the worlds knowledge is contained in copyrighted works that arent available electronically and can be hard to obtain even with an unlimited budget for purchases. The problem is especially acute for scholarly books, which tend to go out of print quickly and often dont come in electronic versions. Contrary to what many of todays students assume, not every important source of information is online. One reason you cant easily start a research university, even with plenty of money, is that you cant duplicate libraries that took decades, even centuries, to build. For researchers like me, the locked library is a problem. For most people, its an analogy. They dont need to check out books. They need to interact with other people. Story continues An industry trade show or scholarly conference is like a rich research library with open stacks. To get the most out of it, you make specific plans demos you want to see, talks you want to hear, contacts you want to make but you also stay alert for surprises and unexpected connections. A chance encounter or casual conversation may be the spark of a new idea. Along with the formal program, you take home the latest buzz. You discover opportunities in areas you didnt foresee when you made your plans. While researching my book, I went to plenty of conferences. Theyre a good way to get to the cutting-edge of academic research, and even far-flung events can cut down on travel. A conference called World of Looms, held at the China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou, taught me not only about Chinese draw looms but also about the technologies behind Ghanaian kente cloth and Lao brocade, both of which wound up in the book. One of that gatherings most important contributions wasnt on the program. It happened over lunch with a woman from the British Museum. So what do you study? I asked, in the academic version of small talk. Seemingly afraid of boring me, she confessed that her work has nothing to do with looms. Shes the curator of East Asian money, drawn to the conference by her interest in the use of cloth as currency on the Silk Road. Cloth as currency! I couldnt have been more intrigued. Economic institutions are among the social technologies that get a chapter in my book, and Helen Wangs work plays an important role in that discussion. You can watch videos of the conference presentations on YouTube, but you wont learn anything about textiles as money. If Id attended the conference via Zoom, Id never have had that conversation. Nor was it the only such example. At a gathering in Peru, I met a New York textile artist whose work is inspired by circuit boards and the woven core memory systems used in early computers. I extended a stay at the Centre for Textile Research in Copenhagen to catch an experimental archaeology workshop and wound up learning about the 4,000-year-old cuneiform records of long-distance trade. One of the talks that led me to explore textile history in the first place was a presentation highlighting the enormous quantities of brazil wood, a red dyestuff, exported from Spanish colonies in the Americas. I stumbled upon it because Id showed up at UCLA to hear the completely unrelated talk that followed. I wouldnt have been around for an online version. To advance, knowledge must be shared and recombined. One idea must spark others. That can happen in a Zoom presentation, but its more likely to occur during a wide-ranging conversation over a meal or in a setting that encourages chance encounters with people, products or ideas. For all their value, our virtual connections too often demand that we know in advance what we want to find out. They demand planning and articulation. And innovation needs serendipity. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Virginia Postrel is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She was the editor of Reason magazine and a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, the New York Times and Forbes. Her next book, "The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World," will be published in November. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Late Republican Senator John McCain was well-known for stepping off the party line in Congress, even providing cover for fellow GOP senators to dissent as well. Now, his widow Cindy McCain hopes she can do the same with her public endorsement of Democrat Joe Biden for president. "I think a lot of people like me and others, they're kind of suburban women, are kind of misled a little bit and kind of sad about the direction the Republican Party is going," she said on "CBS This Morning" Wednesday. "I will always be a Republican But right now, I believe that the person in the race that's the best one that represents me is Joe Biden." McCain tweeted her support for Biden, a longtime ally of her late husband during their Senate tenures, in a series of posts on Tuesday evening. She called Biden a "good and honest man" who respected the military because he "knows what it is like to send a child off to fight." My husband John lived by a code: country first. We are Republicans, yes, but Americans foremost. There's only one candidate in this race who stands up for our values as a nation, and that is @JoeBiden. Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) September 22, 2020 "Joe and I don't always agree on the issues, and I know he and John certainly had some passionate arguments, but he is a good and honest man. He will lead us with dignity," she said on Twitter. In particular, McCain hopes Republican women hear her message. "I hope they will maybe take a different look and take a harder look at the race and perhaps step over the line the way I did," she said. McCain said she herself went to Biden to offer support. "Joe did not reach out to me. I reached out to him," McCain said. While she was careful to avoid commenting on her late husband's personal opinion of President Trump, McCain said her endorsement was partially fueled by witnessing "a lack of character, integrity, a lack of values presented by the person who is in charge." Story continues The president infamously called John McCain, a POW of the Vietnam War, a loser and "not a war hero" while on the campaign trail in 2015. He responded to McCain's endorsement of Biden on Twitter Wednesday morning, saying in part, "Never a fan of John. Cindy can have Sleepy Joe!" I hardly know Cindy McCain other than having put her on a Committee at her husbands request. Joe Biden was John McCains lapdog. So many BAD decisions on Endless Wars & the V.A., which I brought from a horror show to HIGH APPROVAL. Never a fan of John. Cindy can have Sleepy Joe! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2020 Cindy McCain, who has known the Bidens for 40 years, said earlier in the interview she was not concerned with backlash from Republicans or the president and voting for Biden was a "not particularly tough" decision. "I thought it through, and I watched obviously I've been watching the campaigns, both campaigns very closely," McCain said. "And at this particular time, in this time of crises, in a country in such turmoil on every level, I just felt like it was the right thing to do." Asked if she has a message for Republicans ahead of November, McCain replied: "Come with me." "Let's vote for Joe Biden. Our country needs a new beginning," she said. "We need someone with character, integrity, and empathy, as well. And so I hope you will join me in voting for a man I think would be a marvelous president." United Kingdom imposes new restrictions as COVID-19 cases spike Special Report: Supreme Court ceremony honors the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Partisan fight escalates to fill Justice Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat as she lies in repose New York State Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro has announced the arrest of a capital region area drywall installer who allegedly failed to provide legally required workers compensation insurance to his employees. Dennis R. Hammonds, 40, owner and operator of Hammonds Drywall LLC of Schenectady, N.Y., was arrested and arraigned today in Schenectady City Court on two counts of effect of failure to secure compensation, a felony. New York State Workers Compensation Law requires all contractors to carry workers compensation insurance for their employees. Failing to carry insurance for more than five employees is a felony. An investigation by the New York State Workers Compensation Fraud Inspector General found that between February 2017 and November 2018, Hammonds worked as a drywall sub-contractor for two general contractors while failing to have required insurance. One of the projects was installing drywall and ceiling work at the Via Port Mall in Rotterdam between May and September 2017. Workers compensation insurance is an essential and required part of legally doing business in New York State, Tagliafierro said in a press release issued by the New York Offices of the Inspector General. Proper coverage protects the employee, the employer and the client in the event of an accident or injury. Neglecting to provide workers compensation insurance coverage to employees, as this individual allegedly did, is a crime. The defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law. Source: New York Offices of the Inspector General Topics Workers' Compensation New York Syracuse, N.Y. A boil water order in DeWitt was partially lifted today for a small part of the town, the Onondaga County Health Department announced. The order was issued a week ago after test results from routine sampling found the presence of E. coli bacteria in the water. The county said it has partially lifted the order after getting acceptable water testing results. The town posted a list of addresses on its website that remain under the boil water order. Most of the town remains under the order. The county said water testing will continue over the weekend and the public will be informed when the order is lifted for the remaining area. The town said it estimates water service will be restored over the weekend or in the next few days depending on how quickly it gets lab results. We are doing everything we can to resolve this crisis quickly and effectively and also to prevent events like this in the future, DeWitt Supervisor Ed Michalenko said in a prepared statement. The unusual confluence of hotter summer weather and stagnant water due to low use and low occupancy as a result of the COVID-19 virus in our town office buildings was the source of the water issue. The county said residents who live in areas where the order is lifted should take these steps before drinking any water: Run all water taps on full for at least five minutes. Replace water filters. Flush appliances with direct water connections or water tanks (such as automatic ice makers) with enough water to completely replace all the water in the lines or tanks. For more information visit the Onondaga County Health Departments website or call 315-435-6600. James T. Mulder covers health and higher education. Have a news tip? Contact him at (315) 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com Singapore's State Courts seen on 21 April 2020. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore) SINGAPORE A former head of department in a primary school sexually exploited several male students after inviting them to his house for free tuition and bringing them to swim. Before a police report could be lodged against him, the 56-year-old man absconded to Indonesia for the next 17 years. Despite being a fugitive, the man managed to enter Singapore on numerous occasions under a false identity. The Singaporean man, who cannot be named due to a gag order, was sentenced to 10 and a half years jail on Friday (25 September), after he pleaded guilty to three molest charges, one charge of carnal intercourse against the course of nature and one charge of making a false statement on 31 occasions in 2015 to obtain a visit pass. Another 19 charges involving immigration and sexual offences were considered for sentencing. When the man committed the offences in 2001 and 2002, he was between 36 and 38 years old. He was then a head of department in a primary school and in charge of two extracurricular activities. He was responsible for organising annual overnight camps. He would sexually assault students during the camps when they were asleep or alone with him. He also invited students to his flat on Sunday mornings for free tuition and to swim at a swimming complex. At his flat, he would ask students to go to his bedroom and make them perform sexual acts on him. At the swimming complex, the man would go into the same male toilet as the students to commit his indecent acts. In 2002, he targetted one of the students and asked this boy, then 12, if he wanted to be a best student. He also told him not to be shy. Around September 2002, he asked this boy for some help with work at his flat. When the boy arrived, the man took him into the bedroom and chatted with him. He asked the boy if he could do it and the boy nodded without understanding the comment. The man then stripped himself and took a shower. He became aroused and asked the boy to join him in the shower, but the latter refused, claiming that he had already showered. The boy eventually relented at the mans persistence. There, the man asked the boy to perform sexual acts on him. Story continues A few days later, the boy confided in a friend as he felt afraid and confused. He did not inform his parents or teachers for fear of being scolded. He later informed the school principal about the incident and his parents were informed. He targetted another boy, between 11 and 12, who went to his house for tuition with some other students. The group later proceeded to the swimming complex where they swam. After the swim, the man entered a cubicle and stripped naked with the door open. He instructed the boy to bring a towel and shampoo into the cubicle. When the boy entered, the man locked the door, making the boy feel afraid. The man then instructed the boy to wash his back and buttocks and later placed the boys hand on his genitals. He instructed the boy to perform a sexual act. The boy did not tell his own parents as he was afraid the man might do something to him. During a camp in 2002, the man arranged for another boy, then 12, to sleep beside him in the school gym. When he saw that the other students were sleeping, the man felt aroused and pulled down his pants to expose his penis. He placed the boys hand on his penis. He then committed a sexual act despite the boys reluctance. The boy confided in his friends a month later. The youngest boy that the man preyed on was 10. In early 2001, the man drove the boy to the swimming complex where they swam before showering in different cubicles. While still showering, the man knocked at the boys cubicle before pushing it open. The boy was shocked to see the man entering his cubicle naked. The man then asked the boy to shower with him and to search for his penis. The boy refused to but the man said that nobody said no to him. After the sexual act, the boy exited the cubicle but the man called him back. He was forced to repeat the act. Later that day, the man drove the boy back to school and told him not to tell anyone what had happened. On 12 November 2002, the victims and their friends discussed about the man in the school canteen, as they heard that he had touched a female student inappropriately. They briefly shared with each other about the sexual abuse committed by the accused against each of them, and they eventually decided to inform another teacher, said the prosecution. The school management was informed and internal investigations were conducted. On 14 November 2002, the man was informed about the investigations and told by the school principal to surrender his passport. Before the man did so, he fled Singapore. He drove his car into Johor Bahru on 15 November 2002 and became uncontactable. A police gazette was issued against him. The man took a flight to Kuala Lumpur that same day and landed in Indonesia, where he settled in a town called Cirebon. Assuming a fake identity, he got a new identity card and use it to obtain a passport. On 26 January 2013, the man returned to Singapore and was granted a visit pass. From then on, the man travelled to Singapore under his fake identity and entered 31 times between 8 January and 28 December 2015. He was finally caught last year when he went to report the loss of his NRIC card. On 21 August 2019, he made the report at a police centre, intending to obtain a replacement NRIC card to withdraw his CPF money. A screening was conducted by the police officer, and the mans wanted status was revealed. He was placed under arrest. The man was later assessed by the Institute of Mental Health and found to have paedophilic disorder. His risk of sexual reoffending was assessed to be high. Citing this factor, Deputy Public Prosecutor Chua Ying-Hong asked for a jail term of at least 12 years and three months for the man. The man had significantly abused his position of trust and displayed a high level of premeditation in his offences, the DPP said. The mans Criminal Legal Aid Scheme lawyer Sadhana Rai said that her client was married and has a child. The man told her that he had not reoffended in Indonesia and has spared the victims from the trauma of testifying in court by pleading guilty. Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore More Singapore stories: Trailer that ran over motorcyclist on SLE couldn't react in time to avert fatal accident Annual Kusu Island pilgrimage will have 500-person daily limit Extra COVID-19 testing at Toh Guan Dormitory in pilot to detect new infections earlier Execution of drug trafficker on hold after Court of Appeal orders further submissions Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. According to Eurostat data, 82% of school pupils in Luxembourg study at least two foreign languages, placing us third in the EU. For the purposes of this comparison, Eurostat considered French and German to be foreign languages in Luxembourg, despite their being official languages in the Grand Duchy. In the EU as a whole, 48% of school pupils study at least two foreign languages. Luxembourg comes in third place overall with its 82%, with Romania (98%) taking the lead, followed by Finland (94%). For the latter, either Swedish or Finnish is counted as a foreign language, depending on which of the two a pupils opts to study as their primary language. As for our neighbouring countries, France comes in 4th with 78% of pupils studying two or more foreign languages, Belgium comes in 15th with 42%, and Germany is near the bottom with its 34% placing it in 22nd place, with just Lithuanian (31%), Danish (also 31%), Spanish (21%), Portuguese (6%), and Greek (1%) pupils less likely to study 2+ foreign languages. Eurostat It's worth noting that this comparison does not take into account relative fluency or mastery of languages, just the rate at which languages are studied. What languages are they learning? English is by far the most commonly studied foreign language in the Union, with 86.8% of students at upper secondary level studying it in 2018. It's followed by French (19.4%), German (18.3%), and Spanish (17.5%). In Luxembourg, French takes the lead in this age group, as it was studied in 2018 by 87.1% of pupils, followed by German at 82.5%. English meanwhile was studied by 72.3%, and Spanish by just 1.3%. Now, out of curiosity.. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) Guineas main opposition leader called on neighboring West African states to head off a political crisis in Guinea where President Alpha Conde is running for a third term in October elections. The 15-nation West African group known as ECOWAS supports democracy in the region and has recently pressed Mali's junta, who seized power last month, to return the country to civilian rule. Guinea's opposition leader, Cellou Dalein Diallo, said Thursday that he would like to see the regional body turn its attention to his country. Diallo, 68, has denounced as unconstitutional Condes decision to run again in the Oct. 18 elections. This will be the third face-off between Conde and Diallo, who first ran against each other in the countrys 2010 election that came after more than a half-century of dictatorship. We are a little jealous of the promptness with which ECOWAS acted in Mali to help that country reconcile when it has not taken action to help Guinea which has long been in crisis," Diallo told reporters in Dakar, Senegal, where he was visiting Thursday. We deplore the lack of reaction from ECOWAS against President Condes candidacy." For months, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Guinea to oppose another term for Conde. He insists he is following the will of the people by running in the October elections, after voters in March approved a referendum that allowed for him to run again. Since then, dozens have died in anti-Conde demonstrations that have turned violent. Diallo, of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea party, said he traveled to Senegal to rally the support of the large Guinean population living in the neighboring nation. I have the strong will to win and keep the victory, he said. He warned that Guinea has an unreliable voter registry, affecting at least 3 million voters. The electoral commission has said it is unable to correct these shortcomings, he said. Story continues While the incumbent president previously defeated Diallo in both the 2010 and 2015 elections, many in Guinea say that Condes popularity has sharply fallen as a result of his decision to seek a third term. After surviving colonialism and dictatorship, many Guineans fear that Conde intends to extend his rule at the expense of the country's democracy. The country has a two-term limit for presidents, but Conde now maintains that does not apply to him because of a constitutional referendum approved earlier this year. Opponents now fear that Conde, 82, will use the new constitution to restart the clock on his term limits, potentially giving him another decade in power. __ Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal contributed. On Thursday, Japan reported 474 new cases, taking the cumulative total to 80,592, Xinhua news agency. Tokyo, Sep 25 (IANS) A group of health experts have warned that although Japan has witnessed a down trajectory in the number of new Covid-19 cases, the country could still see a resurgence of the virus. Cases in the seven days through September 22 totalled to 3,287, dropping from 3,731 recorded in the previous week. The experts on Thursday pointed out that the reproduction number in Japan (R0 or R-number), also known as the R value, which measures the average number of people that one infected person will pass on a virus to, has risen to one. They said that infections had shown a resurgence since the beginning of September in a number of prefectures, including Miyagi, Gunma and Chiba. The group added that in Kyoto and Osaka, rising cases were indicative of a resurgence of the virus. As for Tokyo, the experts said the declining trend of new cases had "bottomed out". The health experts are waiting to determine whether Japan's four-day weekend recently, which saw increased travel across prefectures and more group-oriented recreation, such as dining out, may have affected the increase in cases. They noted that while the number of patients requiring hospitalization and designated as "severely ill" has been declining since late last month, the pace of decline has been markedly slow. "We need to keep an eye on when the impact of the movement of people during the holidays will come out," Takaji Wakita, director general of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases who heads the advisory group for the health ministry, was quoted as saying. Of the new cases Thursday, the Tokyo metropolitan government reported 195 new cases with 39 of them comprising employees from a food processing plant in the city's Edogawa Ward, where a cluster has been confirmed. Tokyo's cumulative total, the highest among Japan's 47 prefectures, reached 24,648, the city reported Thursday. Nationwide, outbreaks have also been reported at construction sites, food processing factories and barbecue parks, officials have said. Osaka Prefecture, Japan's second hardest-hit region by the virus, confirmed 66 new cases Thursday, bringing its total caseload to 10,271 infections. Tokyo's neighboring prefecture of Kanagawa, meanwhile, confirmed 58 new infections, to total 6,508 cases. Japan's death toll from the virus stands at a total of 1,550 people. --IANS ksk/ CEAT Tyres, Indias leading tyre manufacturer, has signed Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador for two years. As part of an integrated marketing campaign, Aamir Khan will feature in two commercials during the course of the IPL 2020 to promote CEATs SecuraDrive range of premium car tyres. The first ad will be aired at the beginning of IPL and will also be rolled out/promoted across different media platforms both online and offline. The campaign based on the theme dont be a dummy emphasises on the usage of high quality tyres that provide complete safety in any kind of driving conditions. Created by O&M, the campaign, is based on an interesting storyline set in an advanced tyre testing facility, where test dummies are used for testing. Aamir Khans character is that of a dummy who comes to life when no ones watching and manipulates situations to save himself from the perils of tyre testing. The idea is to propagate safety and showcase how the CEAT SecuraDrive car tyres enable a safe drive in different driving situations, through superior control at high speed turns and precise braking. CEATs SecuraDrive tyres are meant for premium sedans and compact SUVs such as Honda city, Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Creta, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Honda WR-V, etc. Mr. Amit Tolani, Chief Marketing Officer, CEAT Tyres Ltd, said, We at CEAT have always believed in our vision of Making Mobility Safer and Smarter Every day. The launch of our new campaign articulates the same for our premium sedans and compact SUVs tyre range. The central idea is to highlight the importance of using credible, reliable and durable tyres as against using any dummy tyre. We are delighted to have Aamir Khan on board for this campaign as he perfectly embodies CEATs core values of integrity, passion, perfection and innovation. With one of the best actors in the industry, associating with one of the best tyres in its segment, we believe we have a winning combination at hand. IPL offers an ideal opportunity for us to connect with our customers as it is one of the most widely watched events in India with a massive viewership. Bollywood actor, Mr. Aamir Khan said, I am proud to be associated with one of the most respected brands in India. When CEAT reached out to me for this campaign, I instantly connected with the idea and completely fell in love with the script. Playing a character of a dummy was a unique experience and I thoroughly enjoyed the shoot. I am looking forward to an exciting journey with CEAT tyres. Mr. Rohit Dubey, Group Creative Director, O&M said, On a regular day CEAT tries to push the envelope of tyre advertising, so when it came to Super Bowl of India - IPL, the brand set the bar higher for itself. Disruption, with a tinge of CEATs trademark tongue-in-cheek approach, led us to collaborating with Aamir Khan. A big challenge was, what newness can we create with him. And hence the paranoid, crash test dummy. Being aware of COVID production reality, we scripted it such that it doesnt require a crowd scene and kept it contained. We hope Baat safety ki hai, Dont be a dummy, strikes a chord with consumers and stands out in the crowd of IPL spots. The CEAT SecuraDrive tyres with the wide longitudinal tread grooves and smart compounding technology help keep the vehicle within the drivers control on wet and dry road conditions. The enhanced tyre tread technology helps in lowering noise levels while commuting and delivers an extremely comfortable driving experience. Amazon has released a bevy of new products today, chief among which are the four new Echo models. The first is the new Echo, which is a combination of the previous Echo and Echo Plus models. The new Echo ditches the tower shaped design of the previous models for a new spherical shape. Most of the surface of this sphere is a grille while the plastic underside has a glowing ring of LED. The new Echo features an upgraded speaker system, with a single 3-inch woofer and dual tweeters, along with Dolby audio processing. The Echo senses acoustics of your space and automatically tunes its audio for it. The new Echo also includes a built-in smart home hub with support for Zigbee, Bluetooth Low Energy, and Amazon Sidewalk. You will be able to connect your smart home devices directly to the Echo without requiring a dedicated hub. The new Echo also runs on Amazon's new first-generation AZ1 Neural Edge processor, which is designed to speed up machine learning applications and also includes an all-neural speech recognition model that processes Alexa requests faster. Next is the new Echo Dot, which has three different versions. The new Echo Dot has a design similar to the new Echo, just smaller. Inside is a new 1.6-inch full-range speaker. There will also be a separate version of the Echo Dot that comes with an LED display that can show the time, temperature, timers, and alarms. Amazon will also sell an Echo Dot Kids Edition, which is the same as the standard Echo Dot except it comes in two color prints Panda and Tiger along with features designed for children, such as setting animal alarm sounds, getting help with homework, and calling approved family and friends. The Kids Edition also comes with 1-year Amazon Kids+ subscription that includes child friendly Audible books, interactive games, and educational skills. The device also comes with a 2-year worry-free guarantee. Alexa will also let you create a special voice profile for your child and when it detects a child's voice it will automatically switch to that profile. Finally, there's the new Echo Show 10. This device has a unique rotating display that automatically turns to face you when you speak to it and can also track your movements and keep the screen facing towards you during video calls, recipes or watching videos. The entire 10.1-inch display and triple speaker assembly is placed on a rotating body that can spin 360-degrees using a brushless motor. The device uses the 13MP camera on the front to keep track of your movement and moves the display to face your direction. This only happens when an activity that requires your attention is taking place on the screen. Also, the device will recognize the direction the voice command came from and turn the display in that direction. Like the new Echo, the new Echo Show 10 also has a built-in smart home hub for connecting your devices. Amazon has also announced that support for Netflix and Zoom is coming later this year. These services join an already extensive list including Spotify, Hulu, Apple Music, Prime Video and Music, and more based on the region. Now for the pricing. The Echo is priced at $100, the Echo Dot at $50, the Echo Dot with clock at $60, the Echo Dot Kids Edition at $60. All of these devices are up for pre-order today and will ship later this year. The new Echo Show 10 is priced at $250 and will be available in time for the holidays. President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree on the introduction of Winegrower and Winemaker's Day in Ukraine. The president stated this in a speech at the presentation of the Strategy for Development of Zakarpattia region, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. "Today I have signed a decree establishing an official holiday in Ukraine - Winegrower and Winemaker's Day. I know that it was important for people who work in this field," said the president. According to him, the decree is a symbolic step that shows respect for this profession. At the same time, Zelensky stressed that the government and the relevant ministry should represent a set of measures for the development of Ukrainian viticulture and winemaking. "We often talk about economic nationalism. Let's make sure that Zakarpattia, Odesa, Kherson and, of course, Crimean wine is not inferior in the quality and popularity to Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese [wine], said the head of state. As Ukrinform reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky is on a working trip to Zakarpattia region on Friday. iy COVID-19 has offered a glimpse into the future delivery of a broad range of digital government services. Healthcare particularly has been at the forefront of an accelerated shift to digital, with the Australian Government investing $669 million to expand Medicare-subsidised telehealth services to provide quality care for those in need at home. As an example, lets take a look at the zero-touch model now in place for COVID-19 testing. Anyone whos been worried about a sniffly nose or scratchy throat during the past few months starts by calling their medical centre. They then have a telehealth consultation with a doctor who refers them to a drive-through centre. Without leaving the car, the patient has their temperature and breathing checked, and swabs are taken. If all is well, they receive an automated SMS within 48 hours confirming that the test was negative. Many elements of this zero-touch model, which could transform access for people in regional and remote Australia as well as vulnerable members of our community, would also be suitable for use in other areas of federal, state and local government. Digital government services could transform everything from welfare and community services to business and financial support. With COVID-19 increasingly looking like it will be with us for years rather than months, the government has another important reason to prioritise the digitisation of services in these areas. However, reliable service delivery is critical. An accelerated transition to digital delivery demands application and network performance that is reliable and easy enough that people will actually want to use these digital government services. The New South Wales government acknowledged this long before COVID-19 reared its ugly head when it made a commitment that its digital transformation will be guided by six key customer commitments, including ease of engagement. This is fundamental, given that citizen expectations are increasingly defined by consumer apps with highly functional user experiences. But the reality is that new apps and infrastructure can drive increasing complexity in terms of integration, visibility and network performance that make it a challenge for government agencies to ensure a good digital experience, supported by reliable performance. Here are a few focal points for government agencies looking to ensure efficient, secure and easy-to-use digital government services in what we can expect to become an increasingly zero-touch world: Visibility for digital government services Understanding what is happening, and where, in the network, is the first step to delivering reliable, high performing and secure digital government services. Agencies need to be able to continuously monitor dynamic networks and infrastructure to ensure application performance and availability. Deep and broad visibility and analytics will enable IT teams to fully optimise hybrid IT resources, ensure service quality and network security in the zero-touch, digital government service delivery model. With this capability, IT teams can proactively identify and resolve performance issues before citizens and agency reputations are impacted. Accelerate performance without accelerating cost Efficiency in digital government service delivery will become more critical going forward in the pandemic recovery phase as agencies are called upon to do more with less. By increasing data performance on the network while reducing bandwidth utilisation, agencies can achieve faster application performance and reduce cost at the same time. Some believe that SD-WAN is the way to do this. While its true that SD-WAN is transforming the way networks are deployed and managed, SD-WAN alone cant address enterprise application performance. In fact, the overhead assigned to SD-WAN reduces the available payload of each packet. In most cases, additional performance is still required for geographically remote locations such as those in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, the Americas and South Pacific just to mention a few. WAN optimisation technology is able to make this additional improvement possible, allowing agencies to increase data transfer performance by up to 100 times while reducing bandwidth utilisation by up to 99 per cent across hybrid and software-defined networks. Users have been known to experience up to 33 times faster application performance for on-prem, SaaS and cloud-based apps while costs incurred by cloud egress are reduced by up to 99 per cent. In other words, SD-WAN and WAN optimisation solve fundamentally different problems. They are complementary when deployed together. Scalable and ready for anything As Australia battles its way through a second wave and beyond, its expected that COVID-19 will have a lasting effect on citizen expectations of public sector service delivery. The key is to be able to ensure high performance of citizen service delivery applications today while building in the ability to scale to successfully meet the demands of the futurewhich may arrive at short notice. To make this less complex and costly, IT teams must ensure that they have access to the right diagnostic and network performance management software to simplify and automate the provisioning and management of secure network resources while maintaining and optimising application performance. Armed with these capabilities, government agencies can ensure investments in digital services pay off for government and citizens alike at a time when theyve never been more needed. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 The Galaxy A72 could be Samsung's first penta-camera phone, A52 will stick with four cams A couple of years ago Samsung unveiled the worlds first quad camera phone, the Galaxy A9 (2018), now the company is working on going up to five cameras. It wont be the first that honor goes to the Nokia 9 PureView but it is on brand for the A-series, which is often the testing ground for camera experimentation (e.g. the Galaxy A80 is Samsungs first and only phone with a flip up cam). The Samsung Galaxy A72 will become the companys first penta-camera phone, reports The Elec. The selection of modules is a list of the usual suspects a 64 MP main cam, 12 MP ultra wide, 8 MP telephoto (3x zoom), 5 MP macro and a 5 MP depth sensor. Samsung could lift the 8 MP 3x zoom cam from the Galaxy S20 FE and add it to the Galaxy A71 camera setup, which already has the other four cameras. This would bring OIS, which is most useful with long focal lengths. A previous rumor already claimed that the A72 will be the first A-series phone to have optical image stabilization (OIS). As for the selfie cam, there will be just one and it will have a 32 MP sensor. The Samsung Galaxy A52 will also be part of the next-gen A-series debut. It is said that it will stick to a quad camera setup similar to the A51. Samsung has high hopes for the A72 and A52, the report claims that the combined sales are estimated at 30 million, which will be around 10% of Samsungs total volume. Source (in Korean) | Via This page requires Javascript. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Medical journal The Lancet, on Friday, said that the government is putting "too positive spin" on the COVID-19 situation in India, calling on the country's leaders not to give false optimism to people. The journal, in an editorial, raised concerns about the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) "straying from scientific evidence", and cautioned against "unrealistic claims" amid the raging coronavirus crisis in the country. The Lancet also stated that not reporting negative news about the COVID-19 pandemic situation will not only cloud the reality but will also deter people from taking the health crisis seriously and affect public health initiatives adversely. "Perpetuating unrealistic claims or failing to honestly report negative news creates uncertainty among the public and health-care professionals, discouraging people from taking preventive action or taking public health messages seriously," it said. Also Read: Who are most prone to severe cases of coronavirus? Lancet study finds answers Urging the country's leaders to pay attention to what experts say the journal enunciated, "India has the expertise in medicine, public health, research, and manufacturing to lead the nation through the COVID-19 pandemic. To capitalise on these attributes, the country's leaders must respect scientific evidence, expert commentary, and academic freedom, and not provide false optimism." Albeit the editorial lauded the Modi government's decision to impose early lockdown, the overall tone of the piece appeared to be critical, raising questions about the data quality in the country. Citing the example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had reportedly told the media not to broadcast negative news around coronavirus crisis in India, the medical journal stated, "According to news reports, hours before announcing the national lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told owners and editors from India's largest media organisations that it was important to tackle the spread of pessimism, negativity, and rumour." The Lancet added that the country's scientific organisations also felt the pressure to encourage optimism about the coronavirus crisis. It also questioned the role of ICMR, comprising its insistence on the use of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic. The editorial also referred to ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava's controversial push to fast-track all approvals for human trials of the indigenous vaccine candidate Covaxin in order to release it by August 15. "This pressure to avoid negative news, and to offer reassurance, appears to have been felt by several professional scientific organisations in India. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been singled out by experts for straying from scientific evidence, appearing at worst politically motivated and at best overly optimistic," the journal stated in its editorial. It further read, "a letter from the Director General of the ICMR, Balram Bhargava, said that the ICMR envisaged launching a coronavirus vaccine on August 15 (Indian Independence Day; a deadline considered unrealistic by most medical experts); ICMR has supported treatment with hydroxychloroquine despite insufficient evidence; and news reports claim that data on coronavirus infection were removed from a scientific paper." Also Read: Russia's COVID-19 vaccine safe, produces immune response: Lancet The Lancet also challenged the government's claim of a lower COVID-19 death rate than other nations. "Transparency of the data on COVID-19 cases and deaths, especially those underpinning the case fatality rate, has also been questioned, as detailed in a recent World Report," it said adding that the Centre reported a "cases fatality rate of 1.8 per cent, much lower than the reported rate in other countries, but it is difficult to know if the numbers are comparable." The editorial piece, however, lauded certain aspects of the government's response to coronavirus. "The country has responded well in many regards, especially for such a large and diverse nation," it said adding that "India instigated a national lockdown in March, which was praised by WHO [World Health Organisation]." The journal added, "During the lockdown period, tertiary care provision was increased, including access to specialist equipment such as ventilators. Testing numbers also increased quickly, with India being among the first to roll out innovations like pooled testing." "India has also been at the forefront of efforts to develop and manufacture a vaccine, both through domestic vaccine candidates and manufacturers such as the Serum Institute of India preparing production capacity for internationally developed vaccine candidates," it further read. Meanwhile, the journal cautioned that India's crisis is far from over as its coronavirus cases are growing at the fastest rate in the world despite the country's aggressive measures taken to stem the further spread of COVID-19 in the initial days of the outbreak. "Restrictions began to be lifted in June, and this relaxation has continued in the face of a continuing dramatic increase in case numbers nationally," The Lancet said. "The rapidly growing case numbers, alongside the continuing relaxation of restrictions, are creating an atmosphere of fatalism mingled with false optimism that undermines effective use of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as masks and physical distancing," it warned. "The epidemic in India is far from over, with a potentially huge burden of mortality and morbidity to come unless public health measures are used and adhered to," the journal read, stressing on the need for clear and honest communication with the people of India to tackle the situation effectively. Bali has seen an explosion of coronavirus cases and a disturbing spike in its death rate since the island hotspot was opened to tourists. The popular Indonesian tourist island began welcoming domestic tourists back on July 31 after its tourism industry was smashed by the pandemic. And while authorities have put restrictions in place to slow the spread of the deadly disease, the number of cases has continued to skyrocket. Bali now has the fastest-rising death rates from coronavirus in Indonesia. Bali has seen an explosion of coronavirus cases and a disturbing spike in its death rate since the island hotspot was opened to tourists (Pictured: A couple hug on a beach in Bali) Kuta near Denpasar, Bali, was empty in May after the pandemic hit, but tourists have since flooded back to the tourist hotspot A surfer walks along Canggu beach in Bali on September 1. An expert has warned the island may need to shut its borders again to domestic tourism Estimates show figures have increased by 500 per cent since the island reopened, with about 241 COVID-19 related deaths recorded. Local epidemiologist Dr I Gusti Ngurah Kade Mahardika said reopening the island to tourists was to blame. 'Bali's reopening has caused a public euphoria for local residents. They think Bali is open now so they're free to do anything and they flock to tourist destinations,' he told ABC. Each day about 4,000 tourists flood to the island, which has been fuelling the crisis, he said. He said the island needed to be closed off again even to the country's other provinces to stop the spread of the virus. 'The ideal condition to suppress the number of COVID-19 cases would be under lockdown,' virologist I Gusti Ngurah Mahardika told Coconuts. Local epidemiologist Dr I Gusti Ngurah Kade Mahardika said reopening the island to tourists was to blame (Pictured: A street food vendor and customers wear face masks in Bali, Indonesia) Balinese Hindu pilgrims held a prayers to celebrate Galungan holiday on September 18 amid Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak '[That means] close Bali temporarily, limit peoples movement - permitting leaving the house only for very important purposes, such as looking for food, medicine, and the likes.' Officials in Bali have defended the decision to re-open the province's border to domestic tourists from July 31. But deaths in the past six weeks have since doubled, with 151 people on the island having now lost their lives to the virus. Indonesia as a whole has recorded more than 197,000 COVID-19 cases and 8,000 deaths. A woman wears a protective face mask at a shopping mall in Bali. Plans to reopen the island to foreign tourists have been shelved to at least the end of the year Alarming photos last week emerged showing soldiers walking down the streets of Denpasar handing out fines of 100,000 rupiah ($9.30 AUD) to anyone without a face covering. Face masks have been mandatory in public across Indonesia since early April. Authorities previously came up with a range of punishments for those refusing to comply including performing push-ups and buying one kilogram of rice to go towards Bali locals severely affected by the pandemic. Some police officers even made offenders dance. Residents exercising with face masks in Denpasar in Bali this week. Indonesia has recorded more than 197,000 COVID-19 cases and 8,000 deaths The popular Indonesian tourist island began welcoming domestic tourists back on July 31 after its tourism industry was smashed by the pandemic (Pictured: Healthcare workers take blood sample from citizen) Bali was supposed to welcome back international tourists from September 4 but has since announced this has been pushed back until the end of the year. 'The Indonesian government couldn't reopen its doors to foreign travellers until the end of 2020 as we remain a red zone,' Mr Koster said in a statement last month. 'The situation is not conducive to allowing foreign tourists to come to Indonesia, including to Bali. 'Bali cannot fail because it could adversely impact the image of Indonesia, including Bali, in the eyes of the world, which could prove counter-productive to the recovery of travel.' The military are now a common sight on the streets of Bali. Locals are fined 100,000 rupiah if they head outside without a face mask BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend: The export of oil and gas products of Uzbekistan will rise to a higher level and national products will be introduced to new markets, Trend reports with reference to Uzbekneftegaz. At the initiative of the Chairman of the Board of Uzbekneftegaz JSC, Mehriddin Abdullayev, international cooperation has been established to expand the geography of exports of oil and gas products produced in Uzbekistan. The Embassy of Uzbekistan in Pakistan, together with representatives of the Acamar Group Pakistani Company, held a video conference on the export of certain types of oil products. The videoconference was attended by the advisor on trade and economic issues of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Pakistan, the head of the Acamar Group in Pakistan, the head of the commercial department of Uzbekneftegaz JSC, and the deputy head of the department. During the conversation, negotiations were held on the export of aviation kerosene and diesel fuel. Uzbekneftegaz JSC offered a foreign company to supply 10,000 tons of diesel fuel and 15,000 tons of Jet A-1 aviation kerosene. Foreign partners were informed about the sale of these products through exchange trading on free carrier terms of delivery (in accordance with INCOTERMS-2020) in accordance with the legislation of Uzbekistan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @romakayeva Hailey Bieber promoted voting with a statement crop top after recently calling the upcoming election the 'most important' of her lifetime. On Wednesday, the wife of Justin Bieber sported a cropped T-shirt by Richer Poorer with graphics of a voting machine and paper ballot with the powerful message: 'Shape tomorrow by voting today.' As the 23-year-old model also wore a pair of shorts that made the most of her long, toned legs. Powerful message: Hailey Bieber promoted voting with a nineties-inspired ensemble, after recently calling the upcoming election the 'most important' of her lifetime The Vogue cover girl sported a pair of light-wash Bermuda shorts, which showcased her sensational physique. She paired her effortlessly chic look ensemble with a black crocodile purse and a pristine pair of white trainers. The beauty has been actively encouraging her fans to hit the polls in November or cast a ballot ahead of Election Day by mail through multiple posts on social media and partnerships. All legs: She sported a cropped t-shirt with graphics of a voting machine and paper ballot with the powerful message: 'Shape tomorrow by voting today' In late August, she teamed up with Levi's and directer Oge Egbuonu on a new campaign aimed at millions of young eligible voters to the polls. 'This election to me is the most important in my lifetime and I'm at the age now where I truly understand the impact my generation and the next has,' Bieber said in a statement, after participating in the PSA encouraging voters to fulfill their civic duty. She continued: 'My hope with this call to action is that it would encourage, educate and inspire this next generation to vote in November and to understand why it's important.' Effortlessly chic: As the 23-year-old model flashed a hint of her gym-honed midriff on Wednesday, she appeared to be parting ways with her signature California blonde waves Earlier this week, she shared the same message that this is 'the most important' of her lifetime and hoped her 29.3 million Instagram followers 'feel the same.' 'So PLEASE register, or check your registration and make a plan to VOTE!' the model urged on National Voter Registration Day. In her picture, she can also be seen wearing a black face mask emblazoned with the word 'vote' Lahore: Two Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists, who were planning an attack on vital installations in Pakistans Punjab province, have been arrested, police said on Friday. The Daesh militants were picked up from Dera Ghazi Khan district, nearly 400 km from provincial capital Lahore, on Thursday, in an operation led by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD). The CTD team received credible information that two terrorists of a proscribed organisation ISIS were present in the limits of Police Station Darahma in DG Khan district. They had planned to attack vital installations there," officials said. The accused were identified as Usman, alias Hanzla, and Azhar. Explosives and material to make an improvised explosive device were recovered. Investigation is on to ascertain the ISIS network in Punjab district. The Pakistani government officially denies the presence of ISIS on its soil. 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 An anti-Bork rally in September 1987. Credit:Reuter-UPI Part of it was of Borks own making: by the time president Ronald Reagan nominated him in 1987, Bork had clocked up a lengthy record of controversial legal opinions that political adversaries could use against him. Among them was his opposition to a 1965 Supreme Court decision that struck down a state law banning contraceptives for married couples and an article opposing the 1964 civil rights law that required hotels and restaurants to serve people of all races. But the failed nomination provoked a partisan divide over judicial appointments for years to come, legitimising the ideological confirmation wars that have waged over the past few decades. Note, for example, the outrage from both sides of the aisle over judge Brett Kavanaugh, whose nomination last year was almost derailed due to sexual assault allegations. After the death of arch-conservative justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked Barack Obama from nominating Scalias replacement, on the basis that a presidential election was in the offing. Today, it would seem, the same rules dont apply. What makes Ginsburgs death so significant? For millions of Americans, Ginsburg, who died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 87, was a social justice icon. She blazed a trail for working mothers, devoted her life to achieving equal constitutional status for all, and led the liberal bloc of the court on such historic decisions as the 2015 ruling in favour of same-sex marriage and the 2013 dissent over the courts decision to strike down key parts of the Voter Rights Act. But while the sadness surrounding her death is a potent symbol of her incredible legacy, much of it is also filtered through the prism of what is now at stake. Even when Ginsburg was on the bench, the Supreme Court was delicately balanced, with four liberals, four hardline conservatives and Chief Justice John Roberts (who is also conservative but is not always guaranteed to vote with his bloc). The Obama White House welcomes the Supreme Court's ruling legalising same-sex marriage in 2015. Credit:AP Trump and McConnell will move to swiftly fill Ginsburgs seat with a staunchly conservative woman, giving the Right at least five out of nine votes, or six if you add Roberts. This could significantly shift the ideological balance of the court for a generation on everything from gun reform to immigration and religious freedom. Womens reproductive rights could be at risk if the court gets enough votes to overturn or weaken Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that gave women the constitutional right to have an abortion. Also at risk is the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. Its supporters fear a move to strike down the act would decrease access to health insurance at a time when Americans desperately need it. Legal disputes over ballots in the 2020 presidential election may also loom large in coming weeks, with Trump already making it clear that he may not accept the final result of voting. Could any of this have been avoided? Perhaps. As Ginsburg made her way into Americas cultural consciousness - immortalised on mugs, T-shirts and given the nickname the Notorious RBG - she appeared to revel in her ever-growing rock star status. But after surviving a number of cancer scares over the years, Ginsburg also came under growing pressure to retire so that then-president Obama could appoint a liberal successor. By 2010, when Ginsburg was 77, some Democrats had suggested she should consider standing aside rather than risk giving Republicans the chance to appoint a conservative justice to the bench should Obama lose the 2012 election. Obama ended up winning another term, but the pressure continued as Democrats became increasingly concerned they would have one last chance to fill the seat ahead of the 2014 mid-term elections when, as expected, Republicans regained control of the Senate. Ginsburg, however, shrugged off the calls, saying she planned to stay "as long as I can do the job full steam. At a time when conventional wisdom suggested Hillary Clinton would likely succeed Obama, she also noted: There will be a president after this one, and Im hopeful that that president will be a fine president. On the one hand, Ginsburg's determination to stay was a testament to her love of the law and her refusal to play power politics. On the other, it was a miscalculation about who might end up appointing her successor, and a missed opportunity for the Democrats more broadly. So what happens now? Trumps shortlist includes several women, with judges Amy Coney Barrett, from Vice-President Mike Pences home state of Indiana, and Barbara Lagoa, a Cuban-American from the battleground state of Florida, believed to be the frontrunners. Loading Democrats dont have a lot of leverage to stop the nomination, particularly given Republican Mitt Romney, a consistent critic of Trump's, has now declared hell support the Senate moving ahead before the election. However if the Democrats recapture the Senate majority in November, they could end the filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to pass most legislation. Bills could then pass by simple majority - as they do in the House - allowing the party to legislate to place more justices on the Supreme Court. Bumping up the bench from nine judges to 11 could potentially reduce conservatives influence if more liberals were to be appointed. Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Berne/Zurich, 25.09.2020 - The ETH Board has appointed two new members of the Executive Board of ETH Zurich and three new members of the Executive Board of EPFL. The appointments at ETH Zurich increase the management structure from five to seven Executive Board domains. The appointments at EPFL reflect an adjustment to the structure of the Executive Board for the second term of office of Prof. Martin Vetterli, which runs from 2021 to 2024. The Board of Directors of PSI is also being extended through the appointment of Dr Thierry Strassle. In addition, the ETH Board has defined the profile for the vacant position of Director of WSL. New appointments to the Executive Boards of ETH Zurich and EPFL By increasing the Executive Board from five to seven members, which includes introducing a new management structure, ETH Zurich and its president, Joel Mesot, are responding to tougher competition and the enormous growth of ETH Zurich in recent years. To ensure that its leadership culture and personnel development are also on a par with those of world-leading universities and to secure its long-term role as an innovation driver in Switzerland, ETH Zurich is creating two new vice presidencies: Leadership and Personnel Development, and Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations. EPFL is adjusting the structure of its Executive Board for the second term of office of its president, Martin Vetterli. The newly created Vice Presidency for Responsible Transformation will handle cross-campus issues such as diversity and sustainability. Responsibility for teaching and research is being combined in a new Vice Presidency "Academic Affairs", based on the provost model widely used at international universities. Responsibility for operations, human resources and information systems will be combined in a new Vice Presidency for Operations. New members of the Executive Board of ETH Zurich Dr Julia Dannath, Vice President for Leadership and Personnel Development, will be joining the Executive Board on 1 November 2020. She has been helping organisations in Switzerland and abroad drive forward their corporate and leadership culture for more than twelve years. Dr Dannath is a recognised HR expert with a PhD in psychology and is the author of several publications in her fields. Prof. Vanessa Wood, Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations, is currently a professor in the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich. She will continue her duties there on a reduced scale. She has been engaged in research into nanotechnology and batteries at ETH Zurich since 2011. The results of her research work have already been used in several spin-offs. In addition, she has received many awards for her contribution to knowledge transfer in industry. She will assume her new post on 1 January 2021. New members of the Executive Board of EPFL Prof. Gisou van der Goot will take up her new post as Vice President for Responsible Transformation on 1 January 2021. She initially studied engineering at Ecole Centrale Paris, before starting her research career with a PhD in molecular biophysics. She subsequently lectured at the University of Geneva, leaving in 2006 to take up a position as professor of molecular and cellular microbiology at EPFL. She is currently Dean of the School of Life Sciences at EPFL. She has received many awards for her research, including the Leenards Prize and the Marcel-Benoist Prize. Prof. Jan Hesthaven will take up his new post as Vice President of "Academic Affairs" on 1 January 2021. Prof. Hesthaven holds a PhD in mathematical modelling from the Technical University of Denmark. Having worked for nearly two decades at Brown University, he was appointed to the Chair of Computational Mathematics and Simulation Science at EPFL in 2013. He is currently Dean of the School of Basic Sciences. Dr Matthias Gaumann currently heads the Vice Presidency "Operations" on an interim basis and will assume this post on a permanent basis on 1 January 2021. He holds a PhD in material science from EPFL and an MBA from the IMD business school in Lausanne. The ETH Board appointed him as an interim member of the EPFL Executive Board on 21 July 2020. He has an excellent knowledge of EPFL's culture and organisation and many years' experience in operational management. Members leaving the Executive Board of EPFL As a result of the structural adjustment of the Executive Board for the second term of office of Prof. Martin Vetterli from 2021 to 2024, the following members will leave the Executive Board of EPFL at the end of 2020. The ETH Board would like to thank them sincerely for their work and commitment to EPFL. Prof. Pierre Vandergheynst, Vice President for Education, made innovation in education his central focus. As well as introducing computational thinking as one of the three principal areas of learning for new students, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Extension School and the success of the LEARN and MAKE initiatives. Prof. Andreas Mortensen, Vice President for Research, has negotiated many research contracts with the European Union with considerable success and tenacity. He supported the reorganisation of the internal research programmes and led the development of new research platforms. Last month, he and his team set up COVID-19 research scholarships at EPFL. Prof. Edouard Bugnion, Vice President for Information Systems, used his wealth of academic and industrial experience to restructure the information systems at EPFL. In recent months he spearheaded the EPFL's work for the SwissCovid app. Caroline Kuyper, Vice President for Finances, successfully drove forward the restructuring of the finance department and strengthened the Vice Presidency for Finances. She has been CFO and Vice President for Finances at EPFL since 2017. Before that she worked for Nestle and became CFO of the International Olympic Committee in 2012. She was also Deputy Director of the Federal Statistical Office, where she led the Resources and International Affairs divisions. Caroline Kuyper will take up a new role in the organisation as of 1 January 2021, enabling EPFL to continue benefiting from her expertise. Thierry Strassle, new member of the Board of Directors of PSI Dr Thierry Strassle, who has been in charge of Directorate Support at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) for many years, has been appointed to the Board of Directors as Deputy Director. Thierry Strassle studied physics at ETH Zurich, where he gained his PhD in 2002. As Head of Directorate Support, he has been responsible for operational management for the Board of Directors since 2012. From January 2019 until the end of March 2020 he was an interim director of PSI. Prof. Gabriel Aeppli, who is currently a member of the Board of Directors, has also been appointed Deputy Director. Vacancy for the position of director at WSL The ETH Board has decided to initiate the procedure to appoint a new director of WSL. The previous incumbent, Konrad Steffen, died on 8 August in an accident on a Greenland expedition. The ETH Board has set up an appointment committee to find a successor. In addition to the President of the ETH Board as chairman, the committee comprises two further members of the ETH Board and representatives of WSL, ETH Zurich, EPFL and the other research institutes of the ETH Domain. Further members are a representative of a federal office and an external expert in environmental sciences and sustainability. The ETH Board has also adopted the required qualifications profile. The committee is looking for an individual with an internationally recognised track record in environmental sciences, climate change and/or sustainability, experience in the management of research institutions or entities and proven integrative skills. Further, he or she should be familiar with the thematic foci of WSL, foster collaboration with other institutions both in the ETH Domain and beyond, be interested in developing a common vision in order to strengthen the Domain's ability to respond dynamically to new challenges and perform mission-driven, impact-oriented research. A good knowledge of Swiss and European political and legal processes and culture is also important. The ideal candidate will have a dynamic personality with a wide range of interests, strong leadership qualities and excellent communication skills. Until the new Director takes office, WSL will be run by the Deputy Director, Dr Christoph Hegg. Partial revision of the Personnel Ordinance for the ETH Domain (ETH PO) The amendments to the Personnel Ordinance for the ETH Domain (ETH PO) adopted by the ETH Board on 5 March 2020 were approved by the Federal Council on 19 August 2020, subject to certain provisions (further amendments for 2021). The aim of the partial revision was to align the ordinance to present conditions and, where possible and expedient, to federal regulations. The amendments come into effect on 1 October 2020. The main changes include amendments to continued salary payments in the event of illness or accident, details of the obligation of employees to collaborate when unable to work owing to illness or accident and the consequences of failure to collaborate effectively, extension of paid leave to include caring for an employee's parents, and a clearer definition of the personnel category doctoral students, postdoctoral students and project staff. Employees of the ETH Domain will be notified of the changes by the Human Resources departments at the two institutes of technology and four research institutes. Address for enquiries Gian-Andri Casutt Head of Communication of the ETH Board Haldeliweg 15, CH-8092 Zurich gian.casutt@ethrat.ch +41 44 632 20 03 Publisher Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology https://www.ethrat.ch/en Massachusetts has some of the best places to live in America, according to Money. The magazine released its yearly Best Places to Live in America list. Among the 50 cities and towns listed, there were two Massachusetts locations. Chelmsford ranked 14 on the list. Chelmsford may be the best kept secret of Middlesex County, the website states. Only 30 miles from downtown Boston and adjacent to historic Concord, Chelmsford shares the beauty and charm of its more famous neighbor, while being much more accessible. It also highlights the towns schools and farmers market. The median home price in Chelmsford is $342,000 with the median household income being $109,000. Another Massachusetts city, Braintree made the list. Its listed at number 26. Just a 15-minute drive from downtown Boston, or slightly longer if you opt to ride the T, as the subway system is known, Braintree is an ideal spot for commuters looking for an affordable place to call home, the website states. It also highlights that Braintree borders the 6,000-acre Blue Hills Reservation and its closeness to Cape Cod. Plus, John Adams, John Quincy Adams and John Hancock were all born in Braintree," Money said. "Although their homes are in a neighborhood that has since evolved into the separate town of Quincy. The median home price in Braintree is $427,000 with the median household income being $96,000. Money named Evans, Georgia as the number one place to live in America this year. Of all the U.S. towns and cities we looked at this year, Evans had the lowest cost of living of any place with similarly high income levels, Money said. A city of 36,000 perched on the Savannah River (which also forms Georgias border with South Carolina), Evans has been fast attracting new arrivals with plenty of good-paying jobs in healthcare, administration and the military nearby. Other sites have not ranked Braintree or Chelmsford as high on their lists. Niche named Brookline the best place to live in Massachusetts. And the best place to buy a house in Massachusetts is in Hopkinton, the website said. Related Content: When Catie Torres said goodbye to her boyfriend at the airport this March, she never thought she would spend the rest of the year wondering when she would see him again. A nurse raised in Livermore, Torres met her partner, Akis, while on vacation in Greece just over two years ago. The pair struck up a lively conversation on the day of her arrival, and she remembers how they instantly connected. Since then, the couple hasnt spent more than two months apart, traveling to one anothers home countries for periodic visits. Last summer, Torres even acquired a student visa to continue her education in Greece so they could try out living together. It was perfect. I never wanted to leave, she recalled. Our goal is for me to finish school, and then move to Greece so we can be together. Then, the pandemic hit. Just after Akis flight departed, the country closed its borders to noncitizens, and the United States as well as the European Union imposed a travel ban with the aim of curbing the spread of the coronavirus. Such restrictions were implemented to deter tourism, but also prevented families as well as long-distance couples who are not married from being able to see one another during an especially challenging time. Torres had previously booked a flight to see Akis again in May, and when it was canceled, she felt devastated. She recently moved to Reno, Nevada, to help take care of her grandpa while she finishes school, and is counting down the days until she can be reunited with her partner again. I know that this is the man for me, and it hurts us so much to know that there is no end in sight yet, she said. Catie Torres In the meantime, however, shes found solace in Love is not Tourism, a Facebook group with over 32,000 members who are imploring their respective governments to amend their travel restrictions, allowing unmarried couples and their family members to safely reunite. Some countries have already changed their laws as a result of the movement. Love is not Tourism has its own group of Greek couples in a group chat, and we talk all the time, said Torres, noting that many of their conversations are focused on creating petitions and lobbying the government to safely reform the ban. We just hope that they hear us. MORE: Bay Area couple stuck in Morocco as coronavirus shuts down travel: 'Not sure how we're getting back' Saskia Talvio, a member of a like-minded group called Couples Separated by Travel Bans, finds herself in a similar predicament. Originally from Finland, she met her boyfriend, Serdar Serttop, while completing an internship in Istanbul, Turkey, five years ago. The couple had always been long distance, but their relationship was put to the test when he moved to the Bay Area, founding the start-up company Smart Mimic, Inc. in Sunnyvale. Still, the couple was able to visit one another every two or three months, staying in touch over phone calls and FaceTime conversations during their time apart. A registered nurse in Finland, Talvio said her job provides her with the flexibility to work a few months in a row, then stay in the U.S. for an extended period of time. But because of the pandemic and subsequent travel ban, eight months passed before they were able to see one another again the longest amount of time theyd been apart. Talvio attempted to book the soonest flight out to the U.S that she could, but said travel restrictions made it difficult for them to reunite because they did not have a marriage certificate. Weve had such a long relationship, but apparently its not good enough on paper, she said. It doesnt take anything away from the seriousness of what we have. But there was nothing to do than just wait. Then, Talvio discovered a loophole: Though the CDC says that the risk of COVID-19 remains high in Turkey, the country was deemed safe enough to reopen its borders on June 11. She could fly there, take a COVID test and quarantine for 14 days before taking a direct flight to the San Francisco International Airport. Shes able to stay in the Bay Area for five weeks before returning home. I remember when I was grabbing my luggage and walking away from the plane, I was still thinking, Did I actually make it? I had been stressing a lot, so it was a relief, she said. Next time, he will fly to me, and we hope the world will open up a little more so it will be easier for him than it was for me. Saskia Talvio Meanwhile, San Francisco resident Adriana Roberts and her long-term partner Jupiter Gatling are still living together in Berlin after reuniting in early August. A prominent local DJ known for hosting the Bootie Mashup parties at DNA Lounge, Roberts said her work all but dissolved as a result of the shelter-in-place order. Fortunately, she was able to pivot to livestreaming her gigs on Twitch a pursuit that kept her sane while she waited nearly five months to see Gatling again. The timing was just so horrible, said Roberts. On March 10, Gatling was headed home after a three-month stay in San Francisco. By the time she landed in Berlin the following day, the E.U. had barred international travelers from visiting. There was a 36-hour time window where I could have dropped everything, packed a suitcase and flown to Berlin. At the time, we all thought the shutdown would only last for a month or two, Roberts recounted during our conversation. Within a few weeks, I realized it would not be ending any time soon. I felt so stupid. I wish I had had the foresight for what would come, but none of us have a crystal ball. The couple quickly fell into a routine, FaceTiming every day and constantly texting one another. They scoured news sites for updates on travel restrictions, throwing themselves into their creative work while they waited. Finally, they formulated a plan. By mid-July, the borders to Hungary had opened up to Americans, permitting them to enter if they had quarantined for 14 days, or if they were able to provide two negative COVID-19 tests that had been taken within 48 hours of one another at least five days before arriving in the country. Roberts took both tests, and the couple made arrangements to meet up in Budapest, where a couple of DJs she had previously booked had offered them a place to stay. But on the day before she left, everything changed. I woke up in the morning and my phone was blowing up, said Roberts. Jupiter was like, Hold everything! Germany had opened its borders to unmarried couples. The decision was confirmed by the German Minister of Interior Horst Seehofer following a fairly vocal movement spearheaded by the Love is not Tourism group using the hashtag #loveisessential. Roberts was able to change her flights and arrived at the airport three days later. Once there, she was asked to hand over an abundance of paperwork, including an invitation to visit the country from her partner, a signed declaration letter that confirmed they were together, as well as plane tickets and passport stamps that provided proof of prior travel to Germany, verifying the couple had, in fact, met there. Roberts coyly recalled that fateful moment eight years ago: I was performing at a Bootie Mashup show in Berlin, and we were both dressed like pirates. After seeking out Roberts in the crowd, Gatling complimented her performance, and later that night, they kissed. She thought theyd never see each other again. But when she was performing in Munich the following week, her eyes were immediately drawn to Gatling, who had appeared in the audience again. She Googled me after we had our hot makeout session, Roberts explained with a giggle. That started a torrid, scandalous, international love affair that continues to this day. Upon landing in Berlin last month, she walked as swiftly as she could through the exit without making a scene. The airport is really small and old, so you can see through the glass on the other side while youre waiting for your luggage. We did a thing where we stood on either side, pressing the glass with our hands, said Roberts. I exited with my luggage, walked as fast as I could and just hugged her. We were both crying, tears of joy, tears of relief. I tried to videotape it on my phone, but my thumb was over the camera lens the whole time. It was like, this should be an Instagram moment, but f it. I wanted to hug my partner so tightly. Adriana Roberts No longer separated by a screen, thousands of miles and multiple zones, the couple has settled into a new routine. Mostly, theyre homebodies. Finding a way to adapt to the lack of bars, clubs and overall nightlife, theyre still living on California time, livestreaming their DJ sets to an audience primarily based in the United States. Its a strange schedule, but Roberts says she feels normal again. Im realizing that, for five months, it felt like something was off. Part of me felt like it was missing, because part of me was missing. The love of my life was not there, she said. As an international couple, theyre accustomed to going for long periods of time without seeing one another sometimes a few weeks, or a couple of months. Still, she said, those five months of separation imposed by the travel ban encompassed the longest stretch of time theyd spent apart. Now, Roberts is in Berlin for the next three months possibly longer, if she can acquire an artist visa. She and Gatling hope to get married, though she was quick to specify they want to do so when it doesnt have to be a Zoom wedding. Id like to do it on our own terms, not the terms of a virus, she said, adding that she longs to return to the Bay Area again, too. San Francisco is my home. When nightlife starts opening up again, thats where I need to be. Several other countries throughout Europe have since lifted their travel bans for unmarried couples, including Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands. Many others have yet to adopt the same measures, though the European Commission has encouraged the E.U. to ease restrictions in all countries. A Change.org petition supporting the same cause spans over 33,000 signatures from couples around the globe, and several Facebook groups continue to advocate for the reunification of unmarried couples and families while serving as an informational resource on travel restriction updates. We will not stop until all binational couples and families are reunited, reads a message from the Couples Separated by Travel Bans group. Amanda Bartlett is an SFGATE culture reporter. Email: amanda.bartlett@sfgate.com | Twitter: @byabartlett Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images Senator Bernie Sanders has returned to the campaign trail by calling for an independent election commission to stop Donald Trump defying the will of the people and plunging the US into a constitutional crisis. The independent senator also urged social media companies to get their act together and news media to prepare the American people to understand that there is no longer a single election day. Related: Floridas attorney general requests inquiry into Mike Bloombergs voting effort Sanders, whose losing campaign against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary in 2016 left wounds on both sides, has earned praise this time for rallying his army of progressive supporters around Joe Biden, who defeated him in this years nominating contest. In Washington on Thursday, at his first in-person event since suspending his campaign in the spring, Sanders reiterated that he is strongly supporting Biden. But his focus was the unprecedented threat posed by Trump to the oldest continuous democracy in the modern world. No matter how rich and powerful you may be, no matter how arrogant and narcissistic you may be, no matter how much you think you can get anything you want, let me make this clear to Donald Trump, Sanders said. Too many people have fought and died to defend American democracy and you are not going to destroy it. The 79-year-old senator from Vermont echoed former president Barack Obamas sombre warning at the Democratic national convention that democracy is in jeopardy. Standing before four US flags and blue velvet curtains at George Washington University, Sanders said: This is not just an election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy and democracy must win. Sanders warned that the 45th president threatens a peaceful transition of power as no other president has done. He noted that Trump said at last months Republican convention: The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election. And at a White House press briefing on Wednesday night, Trump became the first president in the history of this country to refuse to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election. Story continues Sanders cited several studies and experts who have debunked Trumps obsession with voter fraud, particularly with mail-in voting. He went on: Trumps strategy to delegitimise this election and to stay in office if he loses is not complicated. Finding himself behind in many polls, he is attempting massive voter suppression. He accused Trump and his Republican colleagues of making it harder for people to vote and sowing the seeds of chaos, confusion and conspiracy theories by casting doubt on the integrity of this election and, if he loses, justifying why he should remain in office. Sanders went on: Trump has also urged his supporters to become, quote, poll watchers, but what he is really saying is that he wants his supporters, some of whom are members of armed militias, to intimidate voters. Were already seeing this in Virginia, where early voters were confronted by Trump supporters, and election officials in Fairfax county said that some voters and polling staff felt intimidated. He warned of a scenario in which, on election night, Trump is ahead in many battleground states based on the votes of those who voted in person on election day. As more and more mail-in ballots are counted, Biden moves ahead. But Trump then announces, with no proof, that there has been massive mail-in ballot fraud and that these votes should not be counted. The senator endorsed a New York Times article last week by Dan Coats, Trumps former director of national intelligence, calling for a high-level bipartisan and nonpartisan commission to oversee the election to reassure all Americans that it has been carried out fairly. I couldnt agree more, the senator said. I strongly second Director Coats call for this election commission. And he made a plea to the American people to produce the biggest voter turnout in the countrys history. As someone who is strongly supporting Joe Biden, lets be clear: a landslide victory for Biden will make it virtually impossible for Trump to deny the results and is our best means for defending democracy. With a record mail-in vote expected due to the pandemic, Sanders called for state legislatures to take immediate action to allow mail-in votes to be counted before election day. He added: Third, the news media needs to prepare the American people to understand there is no longer a single election day and that it is very possible that we may not know the results on November 3. Fourth, social media companies must finally get their act together and stop people from using their tools to spread disinformation and to threaten and harass election officials. Fifth, in the Congress and in state legislatures hearings must be held as soon as possible to explain to the public how the election day process and the days that follow will be handled. Sanders warned: As we count every vote, and prevent voter intimidation everything possible must be done to prevent chaos, disinformation, and yes, even violence. The timing of discrediting exposes of the candidates in the run-up to the US presidential elections is an essential part of the political game Politics is a shrewd and devious game, and both incumbent US President Donald Trump and Democratic Party challenger Joe Biden are playing it to the full and utilising the time factor to their advantage in the run-up to Novembers US presidential elections. As skeletons in the closet emerge daily, damaging stories are flashed across media outlets at opportune moments deemed to make the strongest impact. The stories are not only well-timed, but are also spaced out to be most potent. I am no admirer of Trump, and we have been inundated with sinister leaks that focus on how unfit he is for his job. Trumps responses and actions are capable of aggravating many people on their own, but his opponents are still after him nonetheless, and the latest chain of events has exacerbated the dislike of many Americans for him and may lead to their voting differently in November. Mary Trump, Trumps niece, timed the publication of her book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Worlds Most Dangerous Man perfectly. The title refers to Donald Trump, of course, and the book appeared early enough in the election campaign to trigger a tarnishing course that has been continuing up to now. His niece should know about Trump, shouldnt she, many Americans are saying. Mary Trump then provided the media with an audio recording of Trumps sister recorded secretly between 2018 and 2019 that only surfaced this August. In it, Maryanne Trump says that her brother cannot be trusted, that he is cruel and that he has no principles. Maryanne Trump hit the nail on the head, reinforcing many peoples suspicions of Trumps ills. Early in September the US magazine The Atlantic then reported on how Trump had called US war dead suckers and losers during a visit to France. The incident took place way back in 2018 only to be disclosed today, yet it is another add-on to a well-timed chain of exposures. The consequences have been huge, and Trump could lose the votes of many veterans and their family members as well as current US service personnel if what he said is confirmed, with it being seen as breaching the trust of many of his loyal voters. Later in September, US journalist Bob Woodwards book Rage was published in what has been another damning account of Trump. The book is complemented by audio recordings of Trump speaking to Woodward in which he plays down the threat of the Covid-19 even when he knew how dangerous and worse-than-the-flu coronavirus actually was. In other words, on the tapes Trump was once again seen to be misleading the American public. However, the recordings were made in February, and Woodward should also be reproached for not having gone public with this information sooner, even if this would have gone against the strategic build-up of cases against Trump before the election. The timing would not have been as profitable. Trumps response to questions about the coronavirus was that certainly Im not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy. We want to show confidence. We want to show strength. We want to show strength as a nation. Thats what Ive done. Even if there may be some truth in this, the strategy has backfired twice: almost seven million people have tested positive in the US for Covid-19, and 193,000 have died. The leak of Trumps remarks makes this if anything even more calamitous. Even Michael Cohen, who served as Trumps attorney from 2006 to 2018 before he was imprisoned for various violations before being released from prison in May 2020, has compiled his thoughts on Trump in his book Disloyal. The outlandish synonyms by which he describes Trump are too many to include here, but a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man are just a sample. Cohen also cites Trumps racist views of US Blacks and Latinos, saying of the latter that like the Blacks, theyre too stupid to vote for Trump. Theyre not my people. The timing of these discrediting exposes has been crucial. First, they are an opportunity like no other to make a profit. In Mary Trumps case, she sold an astronomical 950,000 copies of her book on the first day of publication. The chances are that Woodwards and Cohens books will do quite well, too. Second, they are indeed part of a successful ploy to get Trump. If these events had not been well-timed, perhaps the three books would have come out together or even earlier, but that would have defeated the consequential order of things. Trump has not been timing things as well as his opponents, or at least he has not been successful in coming up with stories that could tarnish Biden in a similar fashion. But he is also scheduling announcements that are careful to gain as much profit as possible. In May, Trump created Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership to facilitate and accelerate the development of Covid-19 vaccines. In August, Trump said that it was possible for the US to have a vaccine before the election, which would boost his campaign efforts tremendously. On 14 September, the pharmaceutical company Pfizers CEO, Albert Bourla, announced that it should have key data from a late-stage trial of a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of October and distributed before years end. The date, the end of October, was not a haphazardly chosen one: on the contrary, it was carefully thought out. However, Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, has already put a dent in such efforts, wondering whether it would be safe to receive a vaccine developed under the Trump administration. She also questioned public-health experts, saying that they would be muzzled, they will be suppressed, they will be sidelined, because hes looking at an election and hes grasping for whatever he can get to pretend that he has been a leader on the issue, when he was not. For once, Im in agreement with the Washington Post when it calls Harriss attitude erroneous. To question their safety [of the vaccines], without a shred of evidence, puts lives at risk, the newspaper said, especially when such questioning is to Harriss own advantage. There are another six weeks to go before the US presidential elections, and I am sure a few other damning exposures will come out before then. Lets watch and ponder. *The writer is the author of Cairo Rewind on the First Two Years of Egypts Revolution, 2011-2013 *A version of this article appears in print in the 24 September, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: At 25, Emma Hopp is at an age where many of her peers are getting married. But instead of donning a bridesmaids dress or sitting in the pews, shes usually behind the camera, working as one of Southern Californias most in-demand young wedding photographers. Since January, Hopp has shot 35 weddings from San Diego to Sonoma and from Las Vegas to Mexico. At a minimum $4,500 apiece, the young entrepreneur is well on her way to a $200,000 year. Shes now booking shoots into 2019. Most of Hopps clients are Millennials like herself who appreciate the value of good photos to document their lives. And almost all of her referrals come from her Instagram page, which has more than 20,000 followers. Advertisement Hopp said her age is an asset because she can easily relate to her young clients lives and interests. But shes successful thanks to her photos: fluid, unposed, romantic shots, often drenched in a warm, golden glow. A candid bridal portrait of Makenna and Derek Tsao shot by Vista wedding photographer Emma Hopp, 25. (Emma Hopp Photography) What I liked about her work was that shes really cool and she has this dreamy, moody style, said Paulina Bashirian, 27, who hired Hopp to shoot her wedding last March in Los Angeles. Hopp said clients usually choose her for the candid, spontaneous approach she takes with wedding photography. I like to catch those moments in-between poses, the ones that are almost too personal, she said. Someone will be bawling and Ill be right there shooting because I know theyre going to want that shot later. Bashirian described Hopp as a ninja who worked and shot so quickly and invisibly at the wedding that she was surprised by much Hopp had shot when the images came back. She blends in to the point that you dont even know shes capturing all these small, little sentimental moments, Bashirian said. Raised in San Jose, Hopp discovered her love for photography in grade school. Using a cheap point-and-shoot camera, shed go through 20 rolls of film at a time doing fashion shoots with her dolls. Her mom, a painter and commercial artist who designed the original Chuck E. Cheese mouse character, spent a small fortune developing the images because she saw some raw talent. Shed always say, maybe this will all lead to something someday, Hopp said. A bridal portrait of John and Kaylyn Floryan shot by Vista wedding photographer Emma Hopp, 25. (Emma Hopp Photography) In high school, she took several friends senior portraits and shot her first wedding when she was 18. Her college, California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, didnt have a photography program. So instead she majored in communications, studied the work of photographers she admired and undertook a series of photo internships. Gradually, she honed her abilities. I believe people either have the eye or they dont, she said. The technical stuff anyone can learn to do; but to have the eye is something that comes naturally. After college, the Moorpark photo studio where Hopp worked part time offered her a full-time shooting position. But she wasnt happy with the companys customer service, so she walked away from the $80,000 salary and struck out on her own. It was a struggle. Living and working, first in L.A. and then Orange County, was competitive and expensive. Things began to change when she moved to Vista 17 months ago to be closer to her boyfriend, John Leal, a fellow Cal Lutheran alumnus. San Diego is a great place to be a wedding photographer, she said. Its beautiful and there are so many wedding venues and people who work in the industry. Vista photographer Emma Hopp, 25, out shooting on location. (Emma Hopp Photography) In college, Hopp had experimented with fashion and portrait photography but ultimately she fell in love with shooting weddings, which now make up the bulk of her business. The rest is engagement and lifestyle shoots. I like that its real people on the best day of their life, she said of wedding photography. Theyll always remember it and Ill remember how I was able to contribute to their memories. The day is all about love. A typical wedding shoot takes eight to 10 hours on location. She and a backup photographer (usually Leal) arrive two hours early to shoot the bride getting dressed with hair and makeup and keeps shooting all the way through the reception. A few of her signature shots are close-ups of people laughing and crying, stolen kisses, private interactions, last-minute preparations and personal mementos like the brides bedazzled shoes or the grooms belt and wristwatch. Bashirian said she liked how Hopp was open to in the moment ideas, like some unplanned shots of the bride and groom walking through the downtown L.A. streets and shooting on the rooftop of the wedding chapel. On her website, emmahopp.photography, Hopp describes herself as a photographer who captures real, unfiltered love and often cries along with the families at the weddings. Many of her past clients have become close friends, including Bashirian. Before that, I didnt really know her that well, but now we actually hang out, Bashirian said of Hopp. Its like I got a new friend. Shes so easy to get along with. For now, Hopp is focused on building her business. Shes building her Instagram following and has an idea to branch out by selling wedding photography accessories online. Shooting a fast-paced, all-day wedding event is grueling work. Hopp said she doesnt know if shell have the energy to keep it up in 10 to 15 years. But for now, she doesnt want to hand over the photographers job to an employee because she enjoys the experience so much. The only time she will put down her camera is for her own wedding, a topic clients quiz her about every day. Shes not engaged yet, but she does have some photographers in mind for her nuptials. She also has some advice for brides, based on her experiences behind the lens over the years. The best weddings are those when the brides just let the stress go, she said. When the day arrives, theyll have so much more fun if they just say to themselves, weve done all we can, trust the professionals and have a great day. Its more fun being around people who are having fun. pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com PRAGUE, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The new Czech health minister said on Tuesday tighter restrictions on bars and public events were imminent after his predecessor resigned following a doubling of COVID-19 infections in the country over the past three weeks. The Czech Republic recorded 837 new coronavirus cases so far on Tuesday, after 1,476 on Monday, health ministry data showed, bringing the overall number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic in March to 51,637. Health Minister Roman Prymula, in a televised interview, said closing hours for bars would be moved up to 10 p.m. from midnight as of Thursday, when stricter limits on the number of participants at sporting events will also kick in. He said that limit would be set at 2,000 seated spectators, down from around 10,000. The health ministry planned to issue further details on the new curbs, to be in place for a trial period of 14 days, at 1 p.m. (1100 GMT) on Wednesday, he said. The Czech Republic acted swiftly at the outset of the pandemic, closing most retail business, borders and schools before many other countries in Europe. Its death toll was 522 as of Tuesday, a small fraction of the tens of thousands of victims in countries such as Spain, Britain and France. The government lifted most restrictions in the summer, and since then the rate of infection has soared, making it the second fastest in Europe after Spain when comparing new cases per population on a rolling two-week basis. Prime Minister Andrej Babis, speaking as he ushered Prymula to his new office earlier on Tuesday, said health services were overwhelmed and unable to trace contacts of all infected people within 48 hours in Prague and the central Czech Republic. He said the government would focus on securing enough hospital capacity for later in the year. On Monday, Babis chose Prymula, a top epidemiologist, to replace the previous health minister. (Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Robert Muller; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Florida Polytechnic University is building tutoring partnerships with high schools across the state in an effort to bridge the educational hurdles posed by COVID-19. While we worked to provide additional support for some of our students at Florida Poly, we realized high school students across Florida were also in need of some extra help. Florida Polytechnic University has taken on a new initiative to support high schools throughout the state by providing a virtual network of trained learning assistants. More than a dozen Florida Poly students are now working as virtual tutors to help high school students stay on track in their studies, specifically in calculus and other STEM disciplines. The program, recently featured in an article in Forbes, not only increases academic preparation for college and develops a pipeline of STEM talent, but also helps teachers with additional learning support during a time of great need due to educational gaps caused by COVID-19. A shift to remote education in spring 2020 due to the pandemic meant many students lost time-on-task and the learning support they had in the classroom. As classes resumed this fall, some students needed ways to catch up or get ahead. While we worked to provide additional support for some of our students at Florida Poly, we realized high school students across Florida were also in need of some extra help, said Dr. Ben Matthew Corpus, vice provost of enrollment at Florida Poly, who designed the program. The initiative started this month and currently teachers from nine schools are participating. The high schools are located in Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, Orange, Brevard, Broward, and Palm Beach. The University expects to expand the program to more schools in the spring semester. The learning assistants are high-achieving Florida Poly students with a passion for sharing their STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) knowledge and educating others. I really enjoy doing this because I love helping people and I love math, said Lillian Frometa, electrical engineering major from Miami, Florida. When I was in high school, I didnt have a university student help me understand the relevance of calculus and the impact I could make in engineering. I think more would select STEM majors if these connections are made. High school calculus, physics and other STEM teachers interested in participating in the program for the spring semester can email Dr. Corpus at bcorpus@floridapoly.edu. A highly sensitive COVID-19 test, developed by researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), relies on magnetic nanoparticles to extract viral RNA. More than 5 million NTNU COVID-19 tests have already been supplied to the Norwegian health authorities. Now India and Denmark will benefit from the technology. "Testing and infection tracking are absolutely essential to maintaining control of the infection situation. The fact that NTNU has developed a new test method for detecting the coronavirus means that more people can be tested and that patients can get answers faster. It is very positive that this technology can now also be useful internationally," says Bent Hie, Norway's Minister of Health and Care Services. We have been contacted by health ministries and private companies from countries in Asia, Africa, North and South America and Europe. We are delighted to announce that DTU and APS LABS are the first outside of Norway to benefit from the NTNU technology." Tonje Steigedal, from NTNU Technology Transfer Tonje Steigedal is part of the NTNU test team and is responsible for the commercialization of the technology Helene Larsen, Head of Development at DTU's Centre for Diagnostics, said she had just received her first shipments of test kits and was looking forward to getting the testing up and running. She said DTU is doing tests for a number of Danish hospitals and hopes to increase the lab's capacity to do as many as 10000 tests a day. "What we like about the NTNU system is that it can be used with our open robot system," she said, which means that robot systems can be used with reagents from different vendors, including NTNU's. Another big advantage is that the kits are readily available, she said. "The market is still very competitive out there, and the fact that it is possible to get a kit component so readily is sensational." Dr. Paritosh Shekhar, director of APS LABS, said his organization had evaluated the NTNU test kits and "found them extraordinary." "The performance was at par with top leading brands," he said. "Quality was the factor for why we chose NTNU. Another reason was to support a research university rather than a commercial company. We strongly feel this association will be complementary for both of us." In late March, huge international demand for the reagents used for COVID-19 testing meant that Norway, like other countries, was having a hard time getting enough tests to track the disease among its population. In response, Magnar Bjras, a medical researcher from NTNU's Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, offered colleagues from St. Olavs Hospital help with a made-in-Norway COVID-19 test. The offer of help was accepted and Bjras and his network got to work. By mid-April, the NTNU/St. Olavs Hospital team had developed a highly sensitive test. Validation results showed that the NTNU test was at least as good as conventional tests. It was then approved for use by Norwegian health authorities. Bjarne Foss, Pro-Rector for Research at NTNU, says Norwegian society has high expectations for NTNU as Norway's largest university. "We are a multi-disciplinary university with a strong profile in science and technology," he said. "Multi-disciplinary solutions provide the answer to many societal challenges, and the NTNU COVID-19 test is a perfect example of the strength of this approach. Two strong research groups at NTNU's faculties for Medicine and Health Sciences and Natural Sciences, respectively, developed this test method together, which by construction depends on a multi-disciplinary approach." "At NTNU we are proud of this contribution to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to encourage our researchers to pursue research across disciplines both within NTNU and in cooperation with research groups at other institutions," Foss said. One key aspect of the NTNU test is a specific combination of polar solvents, buffers, salts and other chemicals that do not damage the viral RNA molecule itself. The solution contains substances that crack the virus open so that its genetic material can be extracted. NTNU has also developed iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles that strongly bind RNA. Once the magnetic nanoparticles are coated with the viral RNA, they can be removed from the solution using a magnet. PCR technology can then identify the genetic code from the RNA and compare it to the coronavirus. The newly developed manufacturing process has proved to be very upscalable, which has enabled the NTNU labs to produce these high-quality and high-performance magnetic nanoparticles in very high volumes. Three laboratories at the Department of Chemical Engineering are currently manufacturing the magnetic nanoparticles, while another laboratory at the Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine is making the solvents and buffers. The process allows the production of up to 1.2 million test kits per week. "The key behind our success has been the cooperation across departments and with NTNU Technology Transfer and the hospital," Bjras said. He said increases in production capacity will allow the groups to produce up to 5 million test kits a week. At the same time, the test kits are subject to rigorous quality control and validation before shipping to customers. The magnetic nanobeads and buffers, and then the entire test kits are verified against a known COVID-19 positive patient sample. The process was developed by the teams around Bjras and Sulalit Bandyopadhyay, a postdoc at the university's Department of Chemical Engineering, along with Anuvansh Sharma from the university's Department of Materials Science and Technology and their colleagues. In the process of gearing up to produce tests for Norway, the researchers improved the efficiency of the production system to the point where the lab is able to make more than enough tests for use in Norway. Bandyopadhyay, who had previously been studying how a version of the particle can be used to study river water chemistry, has been eager to help ease the test shortages that continue to plague other countries. "The need out there is very great, and we have the kits that can help with the shortage," he said. "Our mission is to provide the NTNU COVID-19 test to health care services across the globe," Steigedal and her NTNU Technology Transfer colleague Eivind Andersen said. NTNU Technology Transfer has filed patent applications on the methods and products related to the NTNU COVID-19 test. The motivation is to secure control of the intellectual rights and provide access to the new test in an ethical and justifiable manner. At the same time, the university hopes to expand the number of countries to which the test will be exported. "We need to find the right partners in each region/country. In some cases that could be national health authorities, or it could be hospitals or other health care services, Steigedal said. "It could also be life-science companies that have a relevant position in the value chain for test equipment for virus detection." We are thrilled to be recognized by The Globe and Mails Report on Business for our continued growth, especially during such a challenging period for all entrepreneurs and business owners due to the ongoing pandemic. Rentsync is pleased to announce it placed No. 165 on the 2020 Report on Business ranking of Canadas Top Growing Companies. Canadas Top Growing Companies ranks Canadian companies on three-year revenue growth. Rentsync earned its spot with three-year growth of 283%. Rentsync celebrated its 10 year anniversary and rebrand earlier this year, and this achievement marks another important milestone for the company as they look towards a significant year of expansion. We are thrilled to be recognized by The Globe and Mails Report on Business for our continued growth, especially during such a challenging period for all entrepreneurs and business owners due to the ongoing pandemic, said Jason Leonard, Co-Founder and President of Rentsync. Our products and services are rapidly evolving to better serve the multifamily industry, and were grateful to all of our clients for their commitment to us, and for trusting us with all their multifamily marketing needs. We are also extremely thankful to our partners for being integral to our value proposition and ongoing success. Upwards and onwards. Launched in 2019, the Canadas Top Growing Companies editorial ranking aims to celebrate entrepreneurial achievement in Canada by identifying and amplifying the success of growth-minded, independent businesses in Canada. It is a voluntary program; companies had to complete an in-depth application process in order to qualify. In total, 400 companies earned a spot on this years ranking. The full list of 2020 winners, and accompanying editorial coverage, is published in the October issue of Report on Business magazineout nowand online at https://tgam.ca/TopGrowing. The stories of Canadas Top Growing Companies are worth telling at any time, but are especially relevant in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, says James Cowan, Editor of Report on Business magazine. As businesses work to rebuild the economy, their resilience and innovation make for essential reading. Any business leader seeking inspiration should look no further than the 400 businesses on this years Report on Business ranking of Canadas Top Growing Companies, says Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail. Their growth helps to make Canada a better place, and we are proud to bring their stories to our readers. About The Globe and Mail The Globe and Mail is Canadas foremost news media company, leading the national discussion and causing policy change through brave and independent journalism since 1844. With award-winning coverage of business, politics and national affairs, The Globe and Mail newspaper reaches 5.9 million readers every week in print or digital formats, and Report on Business magazine reaches 2.1 million readers in print and digital every issue. The Globe and Mails investment in innovative data science means that as the world continues to change, so does The Globe. The Globe and Mail is owned by Woodbridge, the investment arm of the Thomson family. About Rentsync Rentsync (formerly Landlord Web Solutions) provides marketing software and services for the multifamily industry in both Canada and the U.S. The company offers a leading purpose-built rental marketing platform, which includes a content management system (CMS) and ad syndication, giving clients the ability to both showcase and advertise their rental portfolio all from one place. In addition to its software offerings, Rentsync Studios offers multifamily clients a variety of marketing services, including website design, digital advertising and lease-up marketing. Visit us at https://rentsync.com. A team of Liverpool researchers has developed a novel rapid bedside tool to improve the detection of serious infections in children. The Liverpool quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score (LqSOFA) is an adaptation of the age adjusted qSOFA score, a bedside prompt to help identify patients with suspected infection at greater risk for a poor outcome outside the intensive care unit. In over 12000 febrile children presenting to the Emergency Department, retrospectively identified from the electronic patient record at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, the score was able to accurately predict children admitted to critical care within 48 hours. "Most febrile children presenting to the Emergency Department have a self-limiting or mild illness, and those with serious bacterial infections and sepsis represent the needle in the haystack," explains lead researcher Professor Enitan Carrol from the University of Liverpool. "The challenge for clinicians in the paediatric ED is to accurately and rapidly identify children with serious bacterial infection and sepsis, so that urgent treatment can be administered, and poor outcomes such as ICU admission and death, can be prevented," she adds. The score uses four vital signs, which can be easily measured at the bedside in under two minutes using only a watch. They are heart rate, respiratory rate, consciousness level (on an Alert/Voice/Pain/Unresponsive scale) and capillary refill time (a measure of perfusion). Compared to the original qSOFA, the new score does not require the measurement of blood pressure, which is omitted in about two thirds of children presenting to the Emergency Department. This makes the score ideal for pre-hospital settings such as primary care, ambulance services, urgent care services, and low income settings. The study also found that the Alder Hey Paediatric Early Warning Score (PEWS), designed to identify deterioration in hospitalised patients, had high discriminatory value in predicting critical care admission in febrile children attending the Emergency Department. PEWS scores often include several more variables, and are therefore more complicated and time-consuming to calculate. Professor Enitan Carrol said: "The thing I am most proud about with this project, is that the work was almost entirely conducted by trainee doctors, who worked tirelessly to perform the herculean task of extracting the data and calculating the scores." Dr. Sam Romaine, a Clinical Research Fellow and lead author on the study, said "Improving our detection of these serious infections is a really important area of research, so I'm very proud to have contributed to this study." Dr. Jessica Potter, whose medical student research project first derived the score, said: "When I started the project in medical school, I never imagined the impact that the research could have. Having the opportunity to be a part of a research project that has grown into an important piece of work, so early on in my medical career, has allowed me to build skills that I can use during my foundation years and beyond." To the team's knowledge, this is the largest study assessing the performance of quick assessment scores, including the qSOFA, in a paediatric Emergency Department population. The population reflects a real-world high-income Emergency Department setting, with a low prevalence of sepsis. "Overall, the findings of the study demonstrate the superior performance of the Liverpool qSOFA and question the use of the original qSOFA to identify children at risk of sepsis in the paediatric Emergency Department," concludes Professor Carrol. The other Liverpool contributors were Dr. Rachel McGalliard (NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow), Dr. Aakash Khanijau (Clinical Research Fellow) and Dr. Gemma Wright (Paediatric Registrar, Alder Hey Children's Hospital). Researchers from the Centre for Trials Research, Cardiff, and the Paediatric Intensive Care UnitQueensland Children's Hospital, Australia, also contributed to the work. The study is published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Explore further Quick SOFA score predicts in-hospital mortality risk More information: Sam T. Romaine et al. Accuracy of a Modified qSOFA Score for Predicting Critical Care Admission in Febrile Children, Pediatrics (2020). Journal information: Pediatrics Sam T. Romaine et al. Accuracy of a Modified qSOFA Score for Predicting Critical Care Admission in Febrile Children,(2020). DOI: 10.1542/peds.2020-0782 The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, has granted permission to raise additional financial resources of Rs. 9,913 crore to 5 (five) States through Open Market Borrowings (OMBs). These States are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Karnataka and Tripura. This permission has been accorded after these States successfully met the reform condition of implementation of One Nation One Ration Card System. State wise details of the additional borrowing permission granted by the Government of India are as follows: Andhra Pradesh - Rs.2,525 crore Telangana - Rs.2,508 crore Karnataka - Rs.4,509 crore Goa - Rs.223 croreTripura - Rs.148 crore In view of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic the Central Government had in May, 2020 allowed additional borrowing limit of up to 2 percent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to the States for the year 2020-21. This made an amount up to Rs. 4,27,302 crore available to the States. One percent of this is subject to implementation of following four specific State level reforms, where weightage of each reform is 0.25 percent of GSDP Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) There is a major new revenue stream available to companies that sell cybersecurity solutions. Theres just one problem vendor sales processes are out of step with the market opportunity, and some buyers are left holding their money with no one to take it. This revenue stream has been presented by the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program, a set of cybersecurity requirements developed by the Department of Defense (DoD) to reduce theft of sensitive information and ensure the integrity and security of the DoD supply chain. CMMC affects an estimated 300,000 companies who, collectively, are the beneficiaries of hundreds of billions of dollars in annual DoD spending. CMMC, which will require defense contractors to undergo third-party assessment of their cybersecurity practices and receive certification to win new DoD contracts, represents an existential threat (and competitive opportunity) for companies in the defense industrial base. Although DoD contractors have, for several years, been required to implement the cybersecurity requirements in NIST SP 800-171 to protect the governments sensitive data (Controlled Unclassified Information, or CUI) on their networks, CMMC is an enforcement mechanism: secure your information systems or become effectively locked out of working with the DoD. Cybersecurity vendors play a critical role in contractors ability to achieve CMMC certification. At CMMC Level 3 (the minimum level required for contractors who handle CUI), there are currently 130 security practices that span security domains like Access Control, Systems and Communications Protection, Incident Response, and Audit and Accountability. Almost every vendor in the cybersecurity space could find alignment between their product or service and a CMMC practice requirement. But vendors are leaving money on the table for lack of understanding a few key aspects of this market. Separating FedRAMP from Fed Sales Successful technology companies already know that the U.S. government buys a lot of cybersecurity. Federal sales teams are staffed by seasoned sales directors and channel managers who understand the unique procurement process of federal agencies. Selling to the public sector requires a detailed understanding of federal requirements and programs, including FedRAMP, the program that accredits and authorizes cloud-based services for use across the federal government. Its no easy feat for a cloud service to achieve FedRAMP authorization, but a quick look at the FedRAMP marketplace shows that many cybersecurity vendors have already succeeded in getting their cloud services authorized. But heres where it falls apart: federal sales teams, with their long sales cycles and massive opportunity values, are often managed completely separately from the commercial side of the company, where sales reps target enterprise accounts within a geographic region, and inside reps process transactional orders for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). In this setup, DoD contractors fall into a sort of no mans land, with public sector requirements but demographics and buying habits that look more like commercial SMBs. In fact, most of the 300,000 companies in the defense industrial base are small businesses (in manufacturing, technology, R&D, and a host of other verticals), who often lean on service providers like MSPs to vet, select, and implement security solutions. At some FedRAMP authorized vendors, finding a sales rep who can process an order can prove surprisingly hard. Take this recent example: one of our customers had approved budget to purchase a next-gen network security solution from a major, publicly traded company. The customer was a subsidiary of a giant global brand a logo any SaaS company would go through three enterprise sales reps to acquire. Like all companies working with the DoD, the customer is contractually obligated (under DFARS 252.204-7012 (b)(2)(ii)(D)) to only use cloud service providers that meet the FedRAMP Moderate baseline when handling the DoDs sensitive data. We helped the customer identify and select this vendors solution in large part because it had already received FedRAMP authorization. But theres a catch. Only a subset of the customers users needs to interact with CUI, so they wanted to start with a 50-user license. The initial outreach was promising the first sales rep we connected with had just gotten back from a Quarterly Business Review (QBR), where his sales director was all fired up about figuring out this CMMC thing. Yet months later, we were still being shuffled between federal reps (including one who told us that he only handled seat counts over 300,000?), inside reps who couldnt sell the FedRAMP offering, the Director of Federal Sales, and, finally, a reseller who processes large federal orders. Believe it or not, I count this as a win. The vendor was attentive, wanted to help, and was diligent in finding someone who could process the order. Many SMBs find it outright impossible to find the right vendor contact to talk about FedRAMP offerings. Ryan Bonner, a compliance consultant for defense contractors, offers a nautical metaphor to explain the disconnect. The defense industrial base [DIB] has millions of users who will need to migrate into DFARS compliant services in the next five years, he explained. However, the federal sales teams of vendors with FedRAMP and DFARS alignment wont touch the average DIB contractor with a 10-foot pole. Theyre equipped with a harpoon when they really need a net. Enabling inside sales teams to sell FedRAMP offerings is likely a move in the right direction. However, the nuanced context of compliance requirements that DoD contractors are subject to may warrant special treatment within a sales organization, with dedicated sales engineers to bridge the gap between federal requirements and SMB buying habits. Understanding the Technical Requirements With hundreds of billions of dollars in defense contract revenue at risk, DoD contractors are motivated buyers. But the realization of this market need alone does not create an effective go-to-market strategy; a deeper technical understanding is required. As vendors start to catch wind of the opportunity, CMMC-related marketing often in the form of mapping guides that show how a given security product aligns to CMMC practices is flooding the market and confusing buyers. I recently attended a webinar where a sales executive at a leading endpoint security company suggested that by simply installing their product, 80% of CMMC requirements could be satisfied. Such silver bullets do not exist, and technical marketing teams will need to go beyond a surface reading of CMMC practices to understand the underlying frameworks and practices that inform the CMMC model. Though not directly required under CMMC, the vendor who can talk about system boundaries, STIGs, and data sovereignty will have an advantage in the market over vendors who read the CMMC practices at face value and determine, yeah, our product does that. Take, for example, a multinational industry leader in networking hardware and security solutions whose CMMC marketing tells a story of integrated solutions across product lines, but whose main wireless business unit doesnt support FIPS 140-2 validated cryptography, a key requirement under CMMC for protecting the confidentiality of CUI. Requirements at even the lower maturity levels of CMMC for auditing and retaining system logs and using multi-factor authentication should prompt vendors to emphasize functionality like SIEM integration, RESTful APIs, and support for SAML authentication. The ability to self-host systems and data (to meet data sovereignty or incident response requirements) is also a strong selling point. And, with the requirement to demonstrate process maturity under CMMC, perhaps the biggest enablement tools vendors can provide to the market are robust technical documentation and sample policy statements that contractors can adopt to help assessors understand how the solution addresses CMMC practices. Building a Compliance-Driven Sales Strategy As issues of data security and privacy spur further regulation across all industries, cybersecurity vendors must develop an internal competency for understanding emerging compliance requirements and adjusting their sales tactics accordingly. Vendors like Microsoft, whose Azure Government and Office 365 GCC High offerings provide robust support for DoD contractors to address CMMC alongside the alphabet soup of other requirements they are often subject to, demonstrate a market awareness that will likely set the pace for their competitors. In addition to aligning sales to the CMMC market opportunity and making sure that marketing and product teams understand the technical details, vendors should also look to strategic channel partners for support. Expanding existing channel strategies often limited, in the federal space, to a couple niche partners to include Defense-focused MSPs and consultants could prove invaluable for cybersecurity vendors looking to accelerate outreach to the defense industrial base. For the DoD, improving the cybersecurity posture of its supply chain is an imperative. With the rollout of CMMC, each of the 300,000 companies that touch a DoD contract represents a captive audience for security vendors. All the tools for success in this market already exist, vendors will just need to trade in their harpoons for a net and a crew who knows how to bring in a big haul. F ashion brand Boden will axe the dividend this year after a material reduction in sales and rising costs since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. The Acton based company - which includes Boris Johnson and David Cameron among its two million customers - said sales were particularly badly affected in March and April but improved somewhat from May. Ranges for work, holiday, special occasion were particularly badly affected while more casual clothing did better. The company said: The global COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the groups business in many dimensions. It was founded in 1991 by entrepreneur Johnnie Boden, who said in a statement at the start of the lockdown that these were strange and scary times. The warning on profits came in the privately owned businesss accounts for the year to December 28, which were filed with Companies House this week. Parent company JP Boden (Holdings) said all its sales channels have experienced slowdowns to varying degrees and added there was a risk of a material impact on the value of its trading subsidiaries. Measures such as social distancing and delays to production and photography shoots will impact the profitability of the business in 2020. The company said it has already made a number of cost cutting moves. Last years financial performance was described as disappointing with sales growth slowing from 11% to 1% and pre-tax profits slumping 49% to 15.4 million. During the year the company closed its London call centre and its store at the Westfield London shopping mall after lower than expected footfall at a total cost of 2.1 million. It paid out a dividend of 6.49 million last year of which around half will go to Boden and his family. Seven Alabama residents or business owners, represented by former state Chief Justice Roy Moore, filed a lawsuit Thursday against Gov. Kay Ivey and public health officer Dr. Scott Harris over mitigation measures implemented to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. Specifically, the lawsuit seeks to overturn the statewide mask order put in place by Ivey and Harris as well as now-expired restrictions over capacity limitations in churches. Related: AL.coms coverage of the coronavirus Related: Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging Alabama Gov. Kay Iveys statewide mask order The lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Northern District of Alabama and asks for an injunction prohibiting Ivey and Harris from enforcing the orders as well as awarding the plaintiffs nominal and compensatory damages. The plaintiffs also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and a hearing is scheduled for Monday at 1:15 p.m. in Huntsville before U.S. District Judge Liles Burke. According to ADPH, more than 148,000 people in Alabama have contracted COVID-19 and 2,506 deaths have been attributed to the virus. In a press release announcing the lawsuit, Moore accused Ivey and Harris of a tyrannical abuse of power. The Governor and State Health Officer of this State have clearly and repeatedly exceeded their authority under both the Constitution of the United States and the Alabama Constitution over the last six months, Moore said in the press release. Unconstitutional restriction of church assembly and worship, discriminatory closing of businesses, stay at home orders, social distancing, wearing of masks, and restriction on travel are simply against our rights secured by the Constitution of the United States. Responding to an email by AL.com seeking a comment on the lawsuit, Ivey spokeswoman Gina Maiola said, To my knowledge, we have not yet been served, so, it appears this is another attempt to garner some press attention. We, on the other hand, do not use media as our first means to respond to ongoing litigation. The governor is pleased with our states progress in terms of COVID-19 and reminds everyone to keep at it. Alabama Department of Public Health said in a statement Friday morning that it cannot comment on pending litigation. The measures put in place by Ivey and Harris, such as the mask order and restricting indoor gatherings at public places, have been widely accepted by medical experts as basic defenses to the spread of the coronavirus. Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator of the Trump administrations coronavirus team, said Thursday in a visit to Auburn University, urged the extension of the statewide mask order that expires Oct. 2. Moore also represented a pastor in Louisiana over restrictions of church capacity. In addition to the mask order and the capacity restrictions for indoor events, the lawsuit objects to not less than 20 orders, proclamations, directives and mandates since the first COVID-19 case was identified in Alabama in March. Orders specified in the lawsuit include the stay-at-home order and the discriminatory closure of businesses. Our economy has been decimated; jobs have been irretrievably lost; unemployment is at record highs; schools have been disrupted; medical services have been delayed; churches, restaurants and many businesses have been closed and the morale of the public has been adversely affected, the lawsuit said. On the mask order, the lawsuit said that it is unconstitutionally vague. The lawsuit plaintiffs: Rebecca Callahan of Shelby County and Madison County Mark Liddle, pastor of Dominion Baptist Church in Birmingham. Jim Nelson, pastor of Church of the Living God in Moulton. Dr. R.S. Porter of Madison County. Scott Farr of St. Johns County in Florida and a business owner in Shelby County with another plaintiff, Bruce Ervin of St. Clair County. The lawsuit has seven counts: Violation of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment, violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause, violation of the First Amendment Free Exercise Clause, violation of the First Amendment Freedom of Assembly, violation of the Fifth Amendment Due Process/Liberty, violation of the Fifth Amendment Due Process/Property, Ultra Vires (Latin for beyond the powers). Updated today, Sept. 24, 2020, at 7:36 p.m. with a response from Ivey. Updated Sept. 25, 2020, at 10:50 a.m. with a response from Harris. The report, however, does not address other items on a widely distributed list of demands, including dropping charges against all protesters, defunding the citys police department, releasing the names of all officers under investigation for use-of-force misconduct, and reopening the case of Marcus-David Peters, a Black schoolteacher who was killed by a Richmond police officer in 2018 while having a mental health crisis. The panels use-of-force subcommittee, for example, notes that law enforcement historically has responded to non-criminal calls involving people experiencing homelessness or mental health crises, leading to situations that caused harm. Responding to non-criminal calls, which lie beyond their training, can lead to unnecessary confrontations between the police department and the community and lead to community mistrust, the report states. Similar to activists calling for the creation of a Marcus Alert, named for Peters, the panel suggested emergency calls for non-criminal matters should be handled by appropriate community members and professionals. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Bharat Book Bureau Provides the Trending Market Research Report on Global Eye Tracking Market Size study with COVID-19 Impact, by Offering (Hardware, Software and Research & Consulting Services), by Tracking Type (Remote Tracking and Mobile Tracking), by Application (Assistive Communication, Human Behavior & Market Research and Others), by Vertical (Retail & Advertisement, Consumer Electronics, Healthcare & Research Labs, Government, Defense, and Aerospace, Automotive & Transportation and Others) and Regional Forecasts 2020-2027under Medical Devices Category. The report offers a collection of superior market research, market analysis, competitive intelligence and Market reports. Global Eye Tracking Market is valued approximately USD 295.6 million in 2019 and is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 24.5 % over the forecast period 2020-2027. Eye Tracker is the device used to analyze and evaluate the position and the moment of the eye concerning using either a remote or an eye tracker that is mounted to the head and connected to the computer. It comprises of the monitoring the activities such as ignoring, blinking, looking, and the noticeable reaction of the pupil to different stimuli. The global Eye Tracking market is facing challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic as various retail stores, advertisement companies, and research labs are currently non-operational in multiple countries, which has negatively impacted the demand for eye-tracking technology-based products and services. Request a free sample copy Eye Tracking Market Report @ https://www.bharatbook.com/marketreports/sample/reportas/2166448 The growing demand for eye-tracking-based assistive communication, rising adoption of eye-tracking technology in advertisement and consumer research and increasing penetration of eye-tracking technology in automotive & transportation industry are the few factors responsible for growth of the market over the forecast period. Furthermore, the rising advancements and other strategic alliance by market key players will create a lucrative demand for this market. For instance: in June 2020, Tobbi Pro launched Tobii Pro Glasses 3, next-generation of wearable eye tracker, integrated cameras and illuminators inside the glass itself, enabling a combination of eye tracking performance in dynamic environments with an unobtrusive design. However, growth in gesture recognition market is the major factor restraining the growth of global Eye Tracking market during the forecast period. The regional analysis of global Eye Tracking market is considered for the key regions such as Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America and Rest of the World. North America is the leading/significant region across the world owing to the increasing use of advanced technology in the healthcare sector and growing research activities to understand the human behavior. Whereas, Asia-Pacific is also anticipated to exhibit highest growth rate / CAGR over the forecast period 2020-2027. Major market player included in this report are: Tobii AB Seeing Machines Ltd. SR Research Eyetech Digital Systems Smart Eye Eyetracking, Inc. Prs In Vivo Eyegaze Ergoneers GmBH Iscan The objective of the study is to define market sizes of different segments & countries in recent years and to forecast the values to the coming eight years. The report is designed to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the industry within each of the regions and countries involved in the study. Furthermore, the report also caters the detailed information about the crucial aspects such as driving factors & challenges which will define the future growth of the market. Additionally, the report shall also incorporate available opportunities in micro markets for stakeholders to invest along with the detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product offerings of key players. The detailed segments and sub-segment of the market are explained below: By Offering: Hardware Software Research & Consulting Services By Tracking Type: Remote Tracking Mobile Tracking By Application: Assistive Communication Human Behavior & Market Research Others By Vertical: Retail & Advertisement Consumer Electronics Healthcare & Research Labs Government, Defense, and Aerospace Automotive & Transportation Others By Region: North America U.S. Canada Europe UK Germany France Spain Italy ROE Asia Pacific China India Japan Australia South Korea RoAPAC Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of the World Furthermore, years considered for the study are as follows: Historical year - 2017, 2018 Base year - 2019 Forecast period - 2020 to 2027 Target Audience of the Global Eye Tracking Market in Market Study: Key Consulting Companies & Advisors Large, medium-sized, and small enterprises Venture capitalists Value-Added Resellers (VARs) Third-party knowledge providers Investment bankers Investors Browse our full report with Table of Content: https://www.bharatbook.com/marketreports/global-eye-tracking-market-size-study-with-covid-19-impact-by-offering-hardware-software-and -research-consulting-se / 2166448 About Bharat Book Bureau: Bharat Book is Your One-Stop-Shop with an exhaustive coverage of 4,80,000 reports and insights that includes latest Market Study, Market Trends & Analysis, Forecasts Customized Intelligence, Newsletters and Online Databases. Overall a comprehensive coverage of major industries with a further segmentation of 100+ subsectors. Contact us at: Bharat Book Bureau Tel: +91 22 27810772/27810773 Email: poonam@bharatbook.com Website: www.bharatbook.com Conservative civic group activists stage a rally at the Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, Aug. 15. / Yonhap The police on Friday vowed to fully exercise their authority permitted by law to completely block illegal mass rallies planned by some conservative groups on an upcoming national holiday amid fears that the rallies may trigger another resurgence of the new coronavirus in the country. At least 18 organizations have reported to the police on holding rallies across the country on Oct. 3, with one of them planning to bring together around 1,000 participants in central Seoul. In a meeting with ranking police officials, National Police Agency chief Kim Chang-yong said the police will "completely block" the scheduled rallies "using all their power permitted by law." As part of their response, Kim said the police plan to run a three-tier checkpoint system to prevent protesters from entering central Seoul and mobilize all possible forces and equipment. Around 95 checkpoints are set to be in operation at major roads connecting highways to Seoul, with police checking vehicles that carry people who may take part in the rallies, according to Kim. Regarding some organizations that announced plans to hold car parades instead of outdoor rallies, the police chief said they will also be strictly prohibited. Drivers taking part in illegal rallies will face fines and potentially have their driver's licenses suspended or stripped. The remarks come amid concerns that rallies involving thousands of participants may trigger another resurgence in new coronavirus cases in South Korea. Anti-government rallies held on Aug. 15, which was Liberation Day here, are blamed for a spike in cases that has driven the country's daily infections to three-digits in the past few weeks. Thousands of rally participants gathered in Gwanghwamun in central Seoul, with at least 627 people testing positive for the virus in relation to the mass rallies as of Friday noon, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Despite the government's repeated warnings on holding rallies on Oct. 3, conservative organizations said they have no plans to call off the scheduled gatherings. Earlier in the day, Choi In-sik, secretary-general of a conservative organization that played a central role in the Aug. 15 rallies, said the group will file a court complaint against the police's decision on banning rallies. "Not permitting the Oct. 3 rallies is not to protect the lives of the people but to protect the administration," Choi said, stressing the group will not back down from "threats." On Thursday, leaders of some other conservative groups said they plan to call off outdoor rallies but instead will hold car parades to voice their anger against the government. (Yonhap) Geneva/Zurich: The global death toll from COVID-19 could double to 2 million before a successful vaccine is widely used and could be even higher without concerted action to curb the pandemic, an official at the World Health Organisation said. "Unless we do it all, (2 million deaths) ... is not only imaginable, but sadly very likely," Mike Ryan, head of the UN agency's emergencies program, told a briefing on Friday (Saturday AEST). Healthcare workers line up for free personal protective equipment in Miami. Credit:AP The number of deaths about nine months since the novel coronavirus was discovered in China is nearing 1 million "We are not out of the woods anywhere, we are not out of the woods in Africa," said Ryan. Ive often been asked by people expecting visitors to Toronto where they should take them. Instead of listing off attractions, I usually say just go for a long walk along one of our great retail streets. Theres a bunch to pick from: Bloor, The Danforth, College, Dundas, Queen, Weston, Yonge, Eglinton and others. Its not a cop-out on giving advice few cities have the near-continuous retail streets Toronto has, and some gem strips in other North American cities are only a few blocks long, at most. In Toronto they go and go, from one neighbourhood to another, the places where small businesses could start and grow. If the visitors are the sort who are more adventurous, who dont need tourism perfectly packaged, Ill suggest streets further out of the core, where one strip mall leads to another, like Lawrence and Eglinton in Scarborough, or Wilson in North York. Theyre just as walkable and perhaps even more interesting than the ones downtown, with fewer chains and more independent mom-and-pop variety as the rents are a bit lower. We are very lucky here, but none of it should be taken for granted, as it has been under threat for a while. Even before COVID-19 resulted in what seems like near-daily announcements of the permanent closure of favourite restaurants, bars and shops, a retail apocalypse was predicted due to online shopping, which could fundamentally change how we experience cities. In an effort to staunch the bleeding, the City of Toronto and tourism marketing organization Destination Toronto have launched ShowLoveTO, a program designed to get residents to play tourists in their own city, including on self-guided walking tours called StrollTO. Get people out walking, safely, and theyll spend money in the local businesses along the way, is the thinking. Cities are machines of consumption, both good and excessive, and the absence of it on our streets in the early weeks of pandemic lockdown was one of the most noticeable and profound changes to Toronto. As the closed due to COVID signs came down, it was like life pumped back into the city. The retail strips were some of the first places to open, even before large malls, as shops with sidewalk access could easily do curbside pickup, something to keep in mind should we go back into another, tighter lockdown. Small neighbourhood shops can also better regulate traffic inside and have proven to be, in my experience, far more pleasant and safe places to shop compared to some of the big box chain stores that are chaotic free-for-alls inside. Small is good, but small can be economically precarious and COVID-19 is just the latest threat. Beyond the online shopping-inspired apocalypse, there were vacant storefronts along busy vibrant strips for years as the rents desired by landlords could not be matched by most business owners who didnt have corporate pockets behind them. This has contributed to the slow ebb of interesting, independent shops on Torontos main streets. The Ford government has moved a bill to extend the moratorium on small business evictions in Ontario until Oct. 30, but their ultimate fate remains uncertain, and unlike some residential housing, there are no commercial rent control protections. The physical spaces small businesses inhabit are also disappearing, as the recent news that a condo has been proposed for the block where Sneaky Dees, the beloved College and Bathurst dive bar, illustrates. That new buildings only rarely replicate the smaller and varied floor plates that Torontos older stock of narrow buildings provide is one aspect of the problem here. Another is that in Toronto we force nearly all new larger residential developments to the main streets while the interior of neighbourhoods, the so-called Yellow Belt, is off-limits to any real intensification. Never mind that new residential units are all shunted to busier streets with more pollution, this puts tremendous pressure on our existing retail strips. Thats policy supported by the people we elect, not just the free market or some natural phenomenon. This same pressure is going to come to Eglinton as real estate speculators have been busy along the Crosstown LRT route in anticipation of its opening. The loss of small, older buildings will be especially tough on neighbourhoods like Little Jamaica, already suffering from increased rents, years of construction that drove away customers and, now, COVID-19. One community worker I spoke to a few years ago found a bright spot by hoping that the LRT would bring new wealth into the neighbourhoods along Eglinton in the form of more customers for struggling local businesses, but prosperity brings higher rents, so its a vicious circle. The pandemic is just the latest of an interconnected web of threats to our great retail streets. No one solution will save them, but for now, go for a stroll in TO and buy something local. The reasons are twofold: witnesses are compelled to answer questions, which takes away their right to avoid self-incrimination; and the duty of a commission is to find the truth and recommend changes to stop the same mistakes being made again. Whether charges should be laid, we were told, would be a matter for the Office of Public Prosecutions - but the OPP says that while they prosecute criminal breaches, they dont investigate them. Clearly McMurdo is going to find that police should not have used Gobbo as an informer and the former barrister breached her ethical duty to her clients. But well before the commission started the High Court found Victoria Police were guilty of reprehensible conduct in knowingly encouraging [Gobbo] to do as she did and were involved in sanctioning atrocious breaches of the sworn duty of every police officer. It is a great pity the commissions brief is so narrow that it retraces the steps of the High Court without examining how Gobbo went off the rails and why her profession was unable or unwilling to deal with a rogue in their ranks. There appears, at least publicly, no sign of any legal authority looking at how Gobbo was able to act as she did. As a university student in 1993 she was arrested when a large amount of methamphetamine was found at her home. She pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing a drug of dependence and one of using a drug of dependence. No conviction was recorded and she was placed on a good behaviour bond. Such a history would disqualify her from becoming a police constable and yet she was admitted to practice law. And she is not alone. There are lawyers who have pleaded guilty to criminal offences escaping conviction after arguing they would lose their potential careers. Not that police get it right all the time. When the colourful Detective Sergeant Paul Dale produced a dubious statement to support Tommy Ivanovics bogus self-defence argument at his murder trial, the alarm bells should have been ringing like Big Ben at midday. Dale claimed that while drinking in a Brunswick pub, an unidentified man told him that Ivanovic was a dead man walking. Dales statement was dismissed in court and yet the experienced detective was allowed to stay in the high-risk drug squad. He would later be implicated in a massive drug burglary and the murder of police informer Terence Hodson and Hodson's wife Christine allegations he has always denied. One policeman found to have conspired with Hodson to rob a drug house, Malcolm Rosenes, was always considered to have an unhealthy interest in money, once offering to sell the newspaper he had just read at half-price. Years earlier when police suspected a detective was bent they took him off the road, where he was a nuisance, and put him in charge of stored evidence in the drug squad, where he could get rich. He engineered the theft of seized chemicals stored in locked containers to be sold back to drug dealers. While we should all encourage recycling, this was a step too far. Gobbo was always a loose cannon and long before she was known to be too close to the cops, she was known to be too close to the crooks. As a junior barrister she was socialising with a Mexican drug cartel boss. One lawyer who invited her to lunch in Carlton spotted her arriving in a Ferrari driven by drug boss Tony Mokbel. Tony Mokbel's Ferrari, seized in 2001 as part of Operation Kayak. Credit:Wayne Taylor While magistrates, judges and senior barristers repeatedly warned her she was breaking conventions by socialising with shady clients, no one did anything officially. She was not subject to a professional investigation and was not warned, admonished or punished. Everyone turned a blind eye. The Royal Commission (quite rightly) is examining the case of a witness known as "Mr Cooper", a drug cook who worked for the Mokbels for years. Gobbo and Cooper were close (he says it was sexual, she says it wasnt). Gobbo tipped off police he was doing a cook in Pascoe Vale and later advised him to plead guilty to get a sentence discount. As it was the third time he had been caught and this time he was in the lab (he stunk so much of drugs they ended up selling the unmarked police car), pleading guilty was the smart thing to do. He worked as a police agent gathering evidence against others evidence that will now be examined to see if it was admissible. From the age of 14 he was close to the Mokbels and manufactured drugs for them for years but when Tony tried to force him to plead guilty to previous charges to protect one of his brothers, Cooper knew he was on borrowed time. Gobbo says she did not betray professional privilege relating to passing on the drug lab information as theirs was not a client-lawyer relationship. She also says it was in Cooper's interest to plead guilty. The advice she gave Cooper was appropriate in the circumstances, her counsel submitted. Gobbos advice to Cooper to plead guilty is under the microscope yet when she stopped Coopers brother from doing exactly the same on the orders of the Mokbels it is of no interest to anyone. According to a key police informer, when Coopers brother was arrested in 2003 over a Rye drug lab he was on the verge of confessing and implicating others when Paul Dale rang Gobbo. She said that Dale must have realised that [the brother] was about to start talking about the Rye drug job and who was involved and he wanted to give up everyone. Nicola said that Dale then rang her to get her to come and talk to [the suspect]. Nicola said that on that day she convinced [the suspect] not to roll [talk]. She was coming in and out of the police station and she would come and talk to Horty [Mokbel, brother of Tony] and me around the corner. The commissions job is to deal with how police handled Gobbo, but the question remains: Does the buck stop with the cops? At the commission Gobbo used the second grader's excuse: I didnt mean it - they made me do it - dont pick on me. Loading Her lawyers argue the commission wants her head on a plate without looking at others further up the legal food chain: There was material to suggest two current Supreme Court judges, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) and DPP/OPP knew of Ms Gobbo at the very least acting in conflict. The DPP flatly denies the claim, stating police deliberately concealed Gobbos role as an informer. The Royal Commission has missile-locked on a model of a widespread conspiracy by police to use Gobbo even though they knew it was wrong. But what if they thought what they were doing was right? That if Gobbo breached her ethics that was her business? Gobbo has been portrayed as a lone black sheep yet the commission received evidence that another lawyer had laundered tainted cash for Tony Mokbel at a Queensland casino. The response was the legal equivalent of breaking wind in a crowded elevator. Everyone can smell it but no one has the slightest interest in identifying the offender. Better to stare straight ahead, hold your breath and pretend it didnt happen. The Thane Crime Branch Unit 1 have arrested Bhiwandi AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen) leader, Khalid Guddu, 47, from Bhiwandi, for allegedly extorting a businessman at gun point for 1.25 lakh. Three of his accomplices, too, have been arrested in the case. Police laid a trap and nabbed the accused red-handed. Bhiwandi city police have registered an extortion case against Guddu. According to Thane crime branch officials, the Bhiwandi-based builder is a resident of Bhiwandi. Guddu was allegedly demanding ransom to avoid any problems in his new construction projects going on in Bhiwandi. The accused allegedly kidnapped the victim in September 2019 for money for upcoming Assembly elections but he later released the victim. Guddu had allegedly taken more than Rs20 lakh from the victim. Deputy commissioner of police, Zone 2, R Shinde said, According to a complaint, we laid a trap outside Guddus house. We arrested Guddu red-handed while accepting 1.25 lakh. A case is being registered at Bhiwandi City Police Station for extortion and abduction among other sections. Further investigation is going on. On Friday, he was produced in the court. There are a total of 23 cases registered against Guddu under various police stations including cheating, forgery, attempt to murder and kidnapping amongst others. The accused Guddu was earlier a corporator and was contesting the state election from Bhiwandi (W) constituency but lost. AIMIM, general secretary, advocate Amol Kamble said, This is completely a political trap as 2022 corporator elections are ahead. In CCTV footage, it has clearly shown that complainant himself went to the Budrunisa bunglow in Bhiwandi. He can see speaking to Guddus other team members as this complainant had some issue and they wanted to solve it. This is completely fake case. New Delhi, Sep 25 : A Delhi court on Friday dismissed the bail application of Shivinder Mohan Singh, the erstwhile promoter of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), in an alleged fraud case involving an amount of Rs 2,500 crore. His first bail application in this case was dismissed in December 2019. "Considering the seriousness and gravity of allegations, particularly the magnitude of amount involved, besides the possibility of accused tampering with evidence and influencing witnesses, it is concluded that accused is not entitled to bail," Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav stated in the order. The judge said that the possibility of witnesses being influenced by the accused cannot be ruled out. "The fact that the accused managed to smuggle a phone during his ED custody speaks volume about his conduct and intention." The Additional Sessions Judge further said that if the accused can indulge in nefarious activities while being in custody, it is reasonable to conclude that if accused is released on bail, he will try to tamper with evidence and influence witnesses. In March 2019, the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing had registered an FIR against him, his brother Malvinder Mohan Singh, Sunil Godwani, Narender Ghosal and others on the complaint of Religare Finvest Ltd for offences of cheating, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy for siphoning of public money. Funds belonging to RFL were allegedly transferred to RHC Holding Private Ltd, an entity owned and controlled by the Singh brothers, clandestinely through shell entities. Advocate Sandeep Das represented RFL in the matter. Shivinder Singh had been arrested on October 10 last year. The EOW further alleged that the Singh brothers siphoned off and diverted public money in a clandestine manner for their own benefit. After the conclusion of investigation, a charge sheet was filed on January 6, 2020 in which Shivinder Singh and other accused were charge sheeted for criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy. Cognisance of offence was taken by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on January 15 this year. BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks were broadly lower on Friday as investors fretted over new coronavirus restrictions and the potential impact on economic growth. Authorities have warned of tougher times in Spain as the country's cumulative tally of confirmed coronavirus infections passed 700,000 on Thursday. The U.K. reported the highest number of new coronavirus cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic. France also reported a record number of Covid-19 cases, a day after the government announced new restrictions on bars and restaurants in major cities. The pan European Stoxx 600 was marginally lower at 355.75 after declining 1 percent in the previous session. The German DAX slipped half a percent and France's CAC 40 index shed 0.6 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was little changed in choppy trade. Travel-related stocks were falling again, with British Airways operator International Consolidated Airlines falling 5 percent, Ryanair Holdings losing 4.5 percent and easyJet declining 2.4 percent. Air France KLM shares fell over 4 percent, Accor SA declined 1.3 percent and Deutsche Lufthansa plunged 5 percent. Wizz Air Holdings lost about 2 percent. The low-cost carrier said it now expects to operate 50 percent of capacity in October compared to last year. Spanish telephone operator MasMovil edged up slightly after reports that Vodafone has begun talks to acquire the company. Shares of the latter were little changed. Real estate investment trust Shaftesbury rallied 2.2 percent after issuing a trading update for the period 1 April 2020 to 24 September 2020. Retailer Mothercare surged 26 percent after it reported a narrowed pretax loss for fiscal 2020. BMW declined 1.7 percent. The Securities and Exchange Commission said it settled charges against the German automaker and two of its U.S. subsidiaries for disclosing inaccurate information about the company's retail sales volume in the U.S. while raising approximately $18 billion from investors in several corporate bond offering. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de WAUKEGAN, Ill. The 17-year-old charged in the shooting deaths of two protesters in Wisconsin is fighting his extradition from Illinois, but his attorneys didnt outline their strategy during a brief hearing on Friday and legal experts say there isnt much the teen can do to stop it. Kyle Rittenhouse surrendered to police in his hometown of Antioch, Illinois, a day after prosecutors say he shot and killed two protesters and wounded a third on the streets of Kenosha on Aug. 25. If convicted of one of the most serious charges he faces, he would be sentenced to life in prison. Rittenhouses attorneys have said he acted in self-defense and have portrayed him as a courageous patriot who was exercising his right to bear arms during a night of unrest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who is Black. And his arrest has become a rallying point for some on the right, with a legal defense fund that has attracted millions in donations. But others see Rittenhouse as a domestic terrorist whose presence with a rifle incited the protesters. Rittenhouse appeared via video for a hearing in a Lake County, Illinois, court on Friday, where his attorney asked for more time to prepare his arguments against extradition, without detailing what they would be. Rittenhouse, wearing a face mask, said only Good morning, your honor during a hearing that lasted less than 10 minutes. One of Rittenhouses attorneys, John Pierce, made clear that he is opposing Rittenhouses return to Wisconsin to face the charges. Pierce asked for a month to prepare arguments challenging extradition that he said involve issues of some complexity, frankly that have not arisen in the country for some time. Judge Paul Novak gave the defense 14 days to review papers and file pleadings ahead of an Oct. 9 hearing the second such delay that has been granted to Rittenhouse. Whatever the judge rules can be appealed. Mike Nerheim, the Lake County states attorney, said after the hearing that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker had signed a warrant to return Rittenhouse to Wisconsin after a request from Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a fellow Democrat. Pierce asked for a chance to review the warrant, which Nerheim said he had received Friday morning. Nerheim said in his 20 years as an attorney, hes never seen anyone fight extradition after the governor signed a warrant for it. Nerheim said he didnt know on what basis Rittenhouse would challenge extradition. Were ready to proceed, he said. Extradition cases are rarely fought, but when they are the defendant has to do it through a habeas corpus proceeding, said Cecelia Klingele, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. That means Rittenhouse would have to argue that he is being illegally detained, she said. We just dont know what the basis of the legal challenge is going to be, she said. David Erickson, a former state appellate judge who teaches at Chicago Kent College of Law, said when challenges do occur, there are generally two arguments: that no crime was committed in the other state or that the defendant was not the person who committed the crime. Its going to be some unique kind of theory, thats for sure, Erickson said. Its not the standard two of it aint me or theres no crime,' he said. The judge seems to be approaching the case with caution, seeing as how he has given Rittenhouses lawyers weeks to prepare their arguments, Erickson said. Rittenhouses attorneys and fundraising team have publicly framed him as a defender of liberty, rightfully carrying a weapon amid rioting. Pierce also asked the judge to be allowed to bring a laptop into the juvenile detention facility in Vernon Hills where Rittenhouse is being held, despite a ban on electronic equipment, so they could review video evidence together from the night of the shootings. Novak said he would consider it. George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said he thinks the largest advantage of the delay for Rittenhouses defense team is more time to gather resources or new evidence. It also could force prosecutors to provide more details about their case against Rittenhouse in support of extradition, he said. This case is going to be challenging in a number of respects, Turley said. There are eyewitnesses, but forensics will also be important the angle of shots, any powder burns or residue evidence. Those are issues that require not just the retention of experts, but an opportunity for them to examine the evidence. So the defense often tries to put the brakes on these cases at every stage to give themselves enough time. Rittenhouse, who is white, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the killing of two white protesters and attempted intentional homicide in the wounding of a third. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of underage firearm possession for wielding a semi-automatic rifle. If convicted of first-degree homicide, he would face a mandatory life prison sentence. According to prosecutors and court documents, Rittenhouse shot and killed 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum, of Kenosha, after Rosenbaum threw a plastic bag at Rittenhouse, missing him, and tried to wrestle his rifle away. While trying to get away in the immediate aftermath, Rittenhouse was captured on cellphone video saying I just killed somebody. According to the complaint filed by prosecutors, someone in the crowd said, Beat him up! and another yelled, Get him! Get that dude! Video shows that Rittenhouse tripped in the street. As he was on the ground, 26-year-old Anthony Huber, of Silver Lake, hit him with a skateboard and tried to take his rifle away. Rittenhouse opened fire, killing Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, of West Allis, who was holding a handgun. Rittenhouses extradition would not be an issue if he had been arrested in Kenosha the night of the shootings. Cellphone video that captured some of the action shows that right after the shootings, Rittenhouse walked slowly toward a police vehicle with his hands up, only to be waved through by police. He returned to his Illinois home and turned himself in soon after. Police later blamed the chaotic conditions for why they didnt arrest Rittenhouse at the scene. The killings happened two days after a white Kenosha police officer shot Blake seven times in the back, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down and sparking outrage after video of the shooting was posted online. A Wisconsin Department of Justice investigation into that shooting is ongoing. The three responding officers are on administrative leave. In addition to Los Angeles-based Pierce, Rittenhouses legal team includes Lin Wood, a defamation lawyer who represented falsely accused security guard Richard Jewell in the 1996 Olympic Park bombing case in Atlanta and is a lawyer for Sean Hannity, the Fox News host with close ties to President Donald Trump. Both Pierce and Wood have ties to Trumps orbit and brand of politics, and have tapped into their social media network to raise support from conservatives for the teenage shooter. A big boost came last month when Pierce defended Rittenhouse in an interview with Fox News Tucker Carlson. On Thursday, Pierce got a taste of the support hes worked so hard to build when he attended a Waukesha County GOP function with Rittenhouses mother. At one point, women in the audience gave the two a standing ovation, according to a tweet from conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, who also attended. ___ Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin, and Foody reported from Chicago. Bernard Condon in New York also contributed. COLUMBUS, OhioState lawmakers are looking at whether to keep in place a $1.3 billion public bailout for the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear power plants along Lake Erie, a law that federal authorities say was corruptly enacted. But throughout the debate, theres still a glaring problem: the owner of the nuclear plants refuses to disclose whether they are profitable or not. And so far, theres been no attempt by state lawmakers to compel the company to release its numbers before the bailout takes effect. During last years debate over whether to pass the bailout as part of House Bill 6, Energy Harbor then known as FirstEnergy Solutions asserted it needed public subsidies or it would close the plants. But the company wouldnt open its books to lawmakers or the public to prove that it actually needed the money, leading legislators to rely on estimates, industry averages and company officials' word. At the time, FirstEnergy Solutions told cleveland.com the reason it couldnt open its books was because it was involved in bankruptcy proceedings. Those proceedings have been over for months, yet Energy Harbor still wont say whether the plants are profitable. And this time, the company is not offering a reason. We do not release financial performance figures for the plants, said Energy Harbor spokesman Jason Copsey in an email, when asked for such information. Copsey didnt reply to an email asking why the company wont publicly release the data. State lawmakers are now considering whether to repeal or revise HB6 since ex-Speaker Larry Householder and four allies were indicted in July on charges that they secured the passage of HB6 through a bribery scheme fueled by $60 million in FirstEnergy Corp./FirstEnergy Solutions money. When state Rep. Jim Hoops, a Napoleon Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on Energy Policy and Oversight, a special committee studying what to do about HB6, was asked earlier this month whether the committee would ask Energy Harbor to open its books, Hoops replied by saying lawmakers have discussed ensuring theres an audit to prove whether Energy Harbor needs the money. Im getting the language to show exactly how much do they need, if they need anything, Hoops said. But when asked whether lawmakers would seek to obtain such information before the legislature decides whether or not to move on repealing or replacing HB6, Hoops said he didnt know the timing and needed to talk with House Speaker Bob Cupp about it. Hoops told Gongwer News Service on Thursday that hes not sure whether Energy Harbor or FirstEnergy Corp. (Energy Harbors former parent company) can or will testify before his committee, given lawsuits filed against the companies by Attorney General Dave Yost, among others. Cupp spokeswoman Taylor Jach noted that HB6 requires state regulators to audit Energy Harbor every year starting in 2021, after the public starts paying for it. When asked whether the speaker felt its not important for lawmakers to know now whether the nuclear plants are profitable or not, Jach replied in a statement: The House Select Committee on Energy Policy and Oversight is continuing its work on the details of repealing and replacing House Bill 6. The question of need and its determination will be an important consideration. State Rep. David Leland, a Columbus Democrat and the ranking member on the HB6 study committee, said he hasnt asked Energy Harbor to provide numbers about the nuclear plants' profitability, and hes unsure whether any other lawmakers have done so since Householders arrest. But, Leland said, the general consensus is they (Energy Harbor) dont need the money. He noted that after HB6 became law, Energy Harbor sought to buy back hundreds of millions of dollars worth of its own stock a move that benefits company shareholders. That doesnt sound like thats a company that needs an infusion of cash to stay viable, Leland said. Leland called the study committee a show hearing held by Republicans who are trying to both keep their political reputation intact and stall on repealing HB6 until the legislative session ends in December. And even if the committee does decide to obtain Energy Harbors financial data, Leland added, its unclear whether the panel has the power to subpoena the company for that data. Energy Harbor produced less financial information for a billion-dollar bailout than the average homeowner has to present to get a loan on a mortgage for a home, Leland said. It was incredible that we were just taking everybody at their word that they needed the money, but there was absolutely no information or data to back it up. Read more Ohio politics and government stories: Rob Portman says candidates must commit to accepting election results after Donald Trump says he might not do so Many voters in Ohio and other Great Lakes states plan to vote by mail, poll says Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine still getting strong support for coronavirus response, although its softening, new poll shows Poll of Ohio voters shows toss-up race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden Ohio AG Dave Yost sues to block House Bill 6 nuclear bailout money from being paid out Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play Music | How to Listen Scott Andersons new book, The Quiet Americans, is a history of early Cold War espionage that takes its title from Graham Greenes classic novel and shares much of that books disillusionment. Anderson last visited the podcast in 2013, to discuss his Lawrence in Arabia, which also dealt extensively with espionage. So whats the appeal of the subject for Anderson? I think its the allure of having a secret life, Anderson says on this weeks podcast. I think that for an awful lot of people, this idea that you have a whole separate identity is really fascinating. What I was drawn to in both Lawrence and in The Quiet Americans, the four C.I.A. officers I follow, is that in both cases, this was at a time when individuals out in the field had a tremendous freedom of action, So it wasnt people sitting behind desks following policy, theyre actually out in the field doing crazy stuff. Image Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The Times, and Susan Glasser, a staff writer for The New Yorker, visit the podcast to discuss their new book, The Man Who Ran Washington, a comprehensive biography of the Washington insider, Republican stalwart and statesman James A. Baker III (no relation to Peter Baker). We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Cisive Named as One of the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies to Watch by CEO Views Magazine As part of our commitment to support businesses during these unprecedented times and to help ensure the safety of their people, Cisive recently launched our SAFE19 COVID-19 Clearinghouse and CONTACT19 contact tracing solutions. Cisive, a global provider of compliance-driven human capital management and risk management solutions, recently announced the company was named by CEO Views magazine in its Top 50 Most Innovative Companies to Watch 2020 list. This list highlights some of the innovative companies who offer the best in class service in the technology landscape and are disrupting the industry while driving innovation from within. It is an honor for Cisive to be recognized as one of the top 50 most innovative companies by CEO Views magazine, said James Owens, President and CEO at Cisive. This distinction is a testament to our companys innovative contributions during the coronavirus pandemic. As part of our commitment to support businesses during these unprecedented times and to help ensure the safety of their people, Cisive recently launched our SAFE19 COVID-19 Clearinghouse and CONTACT19 contact tracing solutions. More than ever, we are focused on delivering innovative technological solutions that provide the HR community with the key information to meet their hiring goals and critical business needs while focusing on the safety of their staff. In addition to being named as one of the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies to Watch 2020 by CEO Views, Cisive has also been named as Best Solution Provider of the Year by CEO Views and as a Top 10 Pre-Employment Screening Company by HR Tech Outlook. For more information about Cisives suite of solutions, visit http://www.Cisive.com. About Cisive Cisive is a global leader in compliance-driven human capital and risk management solutions, providing onboarding and pre-employment background screening solutions to address the complex challenges and needs of large enterprises with dedicated, in-country account management teams committed to customer satisfaction. Cisive is accredited by the Professional Background Screeners Association (PBSA) and was named for the third consecutive year by HRO Today to the 2019 Bakers Dozen Customer Satisfaction rankings of Top Pre-Employment Screening Providers, in addition to being named Company of the Year by CIO Review. The company and its brands serve clients in financial services, transportation, telecom/media, healthcare, utilities and the home services end-markets, among others. For additional information, please visit http://www.cisive.com. A Bucks County man suffered a suspected serious injury after a rollover crash Thursday on Route 33, police said. Police said Michael T. Hahn, 39, of Riegelsville, was headed south on Route 33 in a 2009 BMW M3 just prior to the crash. At 1:13 p.m. he was approaching the Freemansburg Avenue on-ramp when he made an incorrect turn into the shoulder and overturned, according to a press release from Pennsylvania State Police. The car stopped on its roof where the Freemansburg Avenue ramp meets with Route 33, police said. Police said Hahn was taken to St. Lukes Hospital in Fountain Hill by Bethlehem Township EMS. He was cited for careless driving, police said. He was wearing a seat belt, police said. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to Lehighvalleylive.com. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. If theres anything about this story that needs attention, please email him. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. Video and Transcript September 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, This year, the international community celebrates two, without exaggeration, historic anniversaries: the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and establishment of the United Nations. The importance of these two forever interlinked events cannot be overemphasized. In 1945, Nazism was defeated, the ideology of aggression and hatred was crushed, and the experience and spirit of alliance, as well as the awareness of the huge price that had been paid for peace and our common Victory, helped construct the post-war world order. It was built on the ultimate foundation of the UN Charter that remains the main source of international law to this day. I am convinced that this anniversary makes it incumbent upon all of us to recall the timeless principles of inter-State communication enshrined in the UN Charter and formulated by the founding fathers of our universal Organization in the clearest and most unambiguous terms. These principles include the equality of sovereign States, non-interference with their domestic affairs, the right of peoples to determine their own future, non-use of force or the threat of force, and political settlement of disputes. Looking back at the past decades, one can say that despite all difficulties of the Cold War period, major geopolitical shifts and all the intricacies of today's global politics, the UN has been ably fulfilling its mission of protecting peace, promoting sustainable development of the peoples and continents and providing assistance in mitigating local crises. This enormous potential and expertise of the UN is relevant and serves as a solid basis for moving ahead. After all, just like any other international organization or regional entity, the UN should not grow stiff, but evolve in accordance with the dynamics of the 21st century and consistently adapt to the realia of the modern world that is indeed becoming more complicated, multipolar and multidimensional. The current changes certainly have an effect on the principal UN body, the Security Council, as well as on the debate concerning the approaches to its reform. Our logic is that the Security Council should be more inclusive of the interests of all countries, as well as the diversity of their positions, base its work on the principle of the broadest possible consensus among States and, at the same time, continue to serve as the cornerstone of global governance, which cannot be achieved unless the permanent members of the Security Council retain their veto power. Such a right pertaining to the five nuclear powers, the victors of the Second World War, remains indicative of the actual military and political balance to this day. Most importantly, it is an essential and unique instrument that helps prevent unilateral actions that may result in a direct military confrontation between major States, and provides an opportunity to seek compromise or at least avoid solutions that would be completely unacceptable to others and act within the framework of international law, rather than a vague, gray area of arbitrariness and illegitimacy. As diplomatic practice shows, this instrument actually works, unlike the infamous pre-war League of Nations with its endless discussions, declarations without mechanisms for real action and with States and peoples in need not having the right to assistance and protection. Forgetting the lessons of history is short-sighted and extremely irresponsible, just like the politicized attempts to arbitrarily interpret the causes, course and outcomes of the Second World War and twist the decisions of the conferences of the Allies and the Nuremberg Tribunal that are based on speculation instead of facts. It is not just vile and offending the memory of the fighters against Nazism. It is a direct and devastating blow to the very foundation of the post-war world order, which is particularly dangerous in view of the global stability facing serious challenges, the arms control system breaking down, regional conflicts continuing unabated, and threats posed by terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking intensifying. We are also experiencing a whole new challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. This disease has directly affected millions of people and claimed the most important thing: the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Quarantines, border closures, numerous serious troubles to citizens of almost all States constitute the present-day realia. It has been especially difficult for elderly people who, due to the necessary restrictions, have not been able to hug their loved ones, children and grandchildren for weeks or even months. Experts are yet to fully assess the scale of the social and economic shock caused by the pandemic and all its long-term consequences. However, it is already evident that it will take a really, really long time to restore the global economy. Furthermore, even the proven anti-crisis measures will not always work. We will need new innovative solutions. The only way to elaborate such solutions is to work together, which is the most important task for both the UN and G20 States, as well as other leading inter-State organizations and integration associations that are also going through tough times due to the pandemic impact and need fundamentally new horizons and scope of development. This very idea of a qualitative integrative growth, the integration of integrations, is the one behind Russia's initiative to form a Greater Eurasian Partnership involving all Asian and European countries without exception. It is purely pragmatic and increasingly relevant. Besides, I would like to draw attention once again to Russia's proposal to create so-called green corridors free from trade wars and sanctions, primarily for essential goods, food, medicine and personal protective equipment needed to fight the pandemic. In general, freeing the world trade from barriers, bans, restrictions and illegitimate sanctions would be of great help in revitalizing global growth and reducing unemployment. According to experts, total or partial reduction in global employment in the second quarter of this year equals to the loss of 400 million jobs, and we have to do our utmost to prevent this unemployment from growing long-term and ensure that people return to work and can support their families instead of finding themselves imprisoned by poverty with no prospects in life. This is indeed a most acute global social problem, so the politics has a mission now to pave the way for trade, joint projects and fair competition, rather than tie the hands of business and discourage business initiative. The pandemic has also pinpointed a series of ethical, technological and humanitarian matters. For instance, advanced digital technologies helped quickly reorganize education, trade and services, as well as set up distant learning and online courses for people of different ages. Artificial intelligence has assisted doctors in making more accurate and timely diagnoses and finding the best treatment. However, just like any other innovation, digital technologies tend to spread uncontrollably and, just like conventional weapons, can fall into the hands of various radicals and extremists not only in the regional conflict zones, but also in quite prosperous countries, thus engendering enormous risks. In this regard, matters related to cybersecurity and the use of advanced digital technology also deserve a most serious deliberation within the UN. It is important to hear and appreciate the concerns of people over the protection of their rights, such as the right to privacy, property and security, in the new era. We must learn to use new technologies for the benefit of humankind, seek for a right balance between encouraging the development of artificial intelligence and justifiable restrictions to limit it, and work together towards a consensus in the field of regulation that would avert potential threats in terms of both military and technological security, as well as traditions, law, and morals of human communication. I would like to point out that during the pandemic, doctors, volunteers and citizens of various countries have been showing us examples of mutual assistance and support, and such solidarity defies borders. Many countries have also been helping each other selflessly and open-heartedly. However, there have been cases showing the deficit of humanity and, if you will, kindness in the relations at the official inter-State level. We believe that the UN prestige could strengthen and enhance the role of the humanitarian or human component in multilateral and bilateral relations, namely in people-to-people and youth exchanges, cultural ties, social and educational programs, as well as cooperation in sports, science, technology, environment and health protection. As to healthcare, just like in economy, we now need to remove, as many as possible, obstacles to partner relations. Our country has been actively contributing to global and regional counter-COVID-19 efforts, providing assistance to most affected states both bilaterally and within multilateral formats. In doing so, we first of all take into account the central coordinating role of the World Health Organization, which is part of the UN system. We believe it essential to qualitatively strengthen the WHO capability. This work has already begun, and Russia is genuinely motivated to engage in it. Building on the scientific, industrial and clinical experience of its doctors Russia has promptly developed a range of test systems and medicines to detect and treat the coronavirus, as well as registered the worlds first vaccine, Sputnik-V. I would like to reiterate that we are completely open to partner relations and willing to cooperate. In this context, we are proposing to hold an online high-level conference shortly for countries interested in cooperation in the development of anti-coronavirus vaccines. We are ready to share experience and continue cooperating with all States and international entities, including in supplying the Russian vaccine which has proved reliable, safe, and effective, to other countries. Russia is sure that all capacities of the global pharmaceutical industry need to be employed so as to provide a free access to vaccination for the population of all states in the foreseeable future. A dangerous virus can affect anyone. The coronavirus has struck the staff of the United Nations, its headquarters and regional structures just like everyone else. Russia is ready to provide the UN with all the necessary qualified assistance; in particular, we are offering to provide our vaccine, free of charge, for the voluntary vaccination of the staff of the UN and its offices. We have received requests from our UN colleagues in this respect, and we will respond to those. There are other critical items on todays agenda. The issues of both environmental protection and climate change should remain the focus of joint efforts. The specialized multilateral UN conventions, treaties and protocols have proved fully relevant. We are calling on all states to comply with them in good faith, particularly in working to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Dear colleagues! I would like to underline again, that Russia will make every effort to contribute to peaceful political and diplomatic resolution of regional crises and conflicts, as well as to ensuring strategic stability. For all the disputes and differences, at times misunderstanding and even distrust on the part of some colleagues, we will consistently advance constructive, uniting initiatives, first of all in arms control and strengthening the treaty regimes existing in this area. This includes the prohibition of chemical, biological and toxin weapons. The issue of primary importance that should and must be promptly dealt with is, of course, the extension of the Russia-US Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which will expire shortly, i.e. in February 2021. We are engaged in negotiations with our US partners on the matter. We also expect that mutual restraint would be exercised with regard to deploying new missile systems. I would like to add that as early as last year, Russia declared a moratorium on deploying ground-launched medium and short-range missiles in Europe and other regions as long as the United States of America refrains from such actions. Unfortunately, we have not received any reaction to our proposal from either our US partners or their allies. I believe that such reciprocal steps on specific issues would provide a sound basis for launching a serious, profound dialogue on the entire range of factors affecting strategic stability. It would aim at achieving comprehensive arrangements, shaping a solid foundation for the international security architecture that would build on prior experience in this field and in line with both the existing and future politico-military and technological realia. In particular, Russia is putting forward an initiative to sign a binding agreement between all the leading space powers that would provide for the prohibition of the placement of weapons in outer space, threat or use of force against outer space objects. We are well aware of the fact that security issues as well as other problems discussed by this jubilee UN General Assembly call for consolidated efforts on the basis of values that unite us, our shared memory of the lessons of history, and the spirit of alliance which guided the anti-Hitler coalition participants who found it possible to raise above differences and ideological preferences for the sake of Victory and peace for all nations on the Earth. In the current challenging environment, it is important for all countries to show political will, wisdom and foresight. The permanent members of the UN Security Council those powers that, for 75 years now, have been bearing particular responsibility for international peace and security, the preservation of the foundations of international law should take the lead here. Fully realizing this responsibility, Russia has suggested convening a G5 summit. It would aim at reaffirming the key principles of behavior in international affairs, elaborating ways to effectively address todays most burning issues. It is encouraging that our partners have supported the initiative. We expect to hold such summit in person as soon as epidemiological situation makes it possible. I would like to reiterate that in an interrelated, interdependent world, amid the whirlpool of international developments, we need to work together drawing on the principles and norms of international law enshrined in the UN Charter. This is the only way for us to carry out the paramount mission of our Organization and provide a decent life for the present and future generations. I wish all the peoples of our planet peace and well-being. Thank you. Although Trump has argued that absentee ballots, like the ones he has used, are safer from fraud than the mail-in ballots that have been expanded during the coronavirus pandemic, fact-checkers have found both forms of mailed-in voting use the same verification and certification process. 1. The name of which economic system is derived from the French for let it be? 2. Velma Dinkley is a bespectacled fictional detective in which franchise? 3. What does cadence measure in cycling? 4. Nine members of which countrys royal family were massacred in 2001? 5. Which two planets in the solar system have no moons? CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio election law requires that even after the counting is done and election results are final, county election boards in Ohio cannot discard the ballots. Ballots must instead be temporarily secured after the election in case they are needed to resolve discrepancies that might arise. And theyre not just put in a box in a storeroom. Theyre kept under lock and key. With all the misinformation and questions circulating about the November election, The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com asked Northeast Ohio elections officials to explain how and why they secure already counted ballots, as part of a myth-busting series called Election Truth. The only reason ballots would be retrieved and reexamined after an election is if lawsuits are filed challenging the results, said Brian Cleary, the manager of the ballot preparation and tabulation department for Cuyahoga Countys Board of Elections. That rarely happens, but President Donald Trump has publicly suggested he might challenge the outcome of this years vote for president, a move that could require a second look at ballots. In Cuyahoga County, retrieving the ballots would require a trip to what election workers refer to as the vault, a fenced-off area in the elections boards warehouse that is under surveillance 24-hours a day. The area is protected with a double lock system. Opening the locks requires that one Democrat and one Republican each be present, Cleary said. For elections for federal offices president, members of Congress presidential electors state law requires all ballots (used and unused) must be kept for 22 months. For other elections they must be kept for 60 days. Boards also must preserve and secure electronic tabulation materials, such as flash sticks or discs used to record results off election machines. A board may transfer data from its tabulation server or memory cards to another storage source before the expiration of the retention period as long as the board provides public notice of at least two business days of the time and place of the transfer, the Ohio Revised Code states. The ballots might be pulled out for recounts or hand counted spot-checks that counties do to check the accuracy of their counting machines. But once the final canvass is made public, they are sealed in the secured area for the retention period. Similar security protocols are in place at other boards of election in Ohio. Read more stories in our Election Truth series: Introducing Election Truth: A Plain Dealer and cleveland.com series about voting in Northeast Ohio and how the system is secure How to apply for Ohios vote-by-mail option, and why its secure: Election Truth Using a state ID to apply for an Ohio absentee ballot? You should know this: Election Truth Want to ensure you are properly registered to vote in Ohio? Heres how: Election Truth How do election drop boxes work, and how are they secure? Election Truth How does vote-by-mail work in Ohio, and why is it safe? Election Truth A new exhibition by London-based Dundalk artist Nigel Cox, which was fuelled by the isolation and loneliness he experienced during Covid-19, will run in Gormleys Fine Art in Belfast from October 3-17. The Lost: A Series of Artworks Coloured Through the Prism of the Pandemic, came from a place of huge emotional swings, uncertainty and an impending sense of loss according to Cox. The Dundalk man, who grew up on the Carrick Road in town until he was 16-years-old and then the family moved to the Blackrock Road where he lived until he went to college at the age of 18 in 1977, has had recent group and solo exhibitions in Ireland, London, Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, Mykonos, Italy, Germany and Austria. His work has many strong influences, from the Dutch Masters to the Surrealists, the landscapes of the 1979 Transglobe Expedition to modern culture, with an appreciation for a refined technique that invokes the past but with a contemporary edge. After he found the early days of the lockdown challenging, emotional and stressful, he was prompted to create the seven pieces that will appear in The Lost exhibition. Solitude and isolation are two very different states that have fascinated me for many years. I have always loved solitude and I am extremely comfortable being on my own in the studio for months on end, said Cox. But lockdown and our predicament put a different spin on things and for the first time in my life I felt isolated and somewhat lost. When the pandemic first hit, Cox found himself confined to his house in the UK and he began to sketch to put his mind at ease amidst all the worry. They were simple drawings based around life under the virus and gradually these works began to develop into ideas for paintings. The new work was born from a different emotional response to painting than that which he is used to. My oil paintings are normally painted from a place of calm confidence. It is almost a meditative process for me and one I certainly lose myself in for hours and days on end. These new pieces were coming from a very different place huge emotional swings, uncertainty and an impending sense of loss, all coloured through the prism of the pandemic. Nigel says he used to return to Dundalk for summer holidays during college and over the years since, but hasnt lived in Dundalk permanently since. The Lost is an exhibition of seven new paintings by Nigel Cox and will be shown at Gormleys Fine Art, Belfast, from October 3-17. A 16-year-old male died Thursday evening, a little more than an hour after being shot in the head inside a West Philadelphia laundromat, police said. The shooting took place just before 4:30 p.m. inside the Spin Cycle Laundry at 5601 Vine St.; the victim was pronounced dead at 5:57 at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, police said. About a half-hour earlier at the same hospital, a 27-year-old male shot in the face Thursday, also in West Philadelphia, was pronounced dead. According to police, officers found him on the 5900 block of Hazel Avenue at 5:11 p.m. and drove him to Penn Presbyterian, where he was declared dead at 5:28. Police said one male was in custody and two guns were found. The suspects name was not released Thursday. No arrest was reported in the laundromat shooting. No motive was immediately known in either case. They represented the 338th and 339th homicides this year in Philadelphia, according to Police Department data. As the speculation surrounding Judge Amy Coney Barretts possible nomination to Supreme Court has grown, so too has the medias attempts to impugn her character with ominous and dishonest references to her religious convictions. Now, it seems that the author of the book at the center of the misguided obsession is getting in on the act by giving misleading and contradictory statements about the role that Barretts religious group, People of Praise, played in the development of her best-selling novel, The Handmaids Tale. The novel, written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, is a horror story tailor-made for progressive feminists, many of whom have donned the costumes that the female characters are forced to wear in the television adaptation of the book during protests in the nations capital. The novel and its author were referenced in several recent news articles about People of Praise, the charismatic Christian group founded in 1971 that Judge Barrett and her family belong to. Atwoods work, published in 1985, paints a dystopian picture of theocratic and patriarchal society in which select men govern and exploit womens bodies. The connection between the novel and the group relies on a single common term: Until recently, female advisers in People of Praise were called handmaidens, a title they retired after Atwoods novel was popularized by a Hulu television series. With Barrett back in the news, pieces published this week in Newsweek and Reuters initially attempted to paint the organization as the inspiration for Atwoods work. But, as National Reviews Ramesh Ponnuru has pointed out, both pieces distorted the relevant facts. Newsweek was forced to append a correction noting that Atwood has never specifically mentioned the group as being the inspiration for her work, while also admitting that it confused the People of Praise for another, different charismatic Christian organization, which Atwood referenced while discussing her research process for a New Yorker profile. And Reuters changed its headline from Handmaids Tale? U.S. Supreme Court candidates religious community under scrutiny to As U.S. Supreme Court nomination looms, a religious community draws fresh interest over the course of multiple edits. Story continues But Atwood appeared to definitively put the controversy to rest in an interview published Wednesday. Speaking to fellow author Kate Schatz as part of a program with The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz, Atwood denied that the People of Praise inspired her book. It wasnt them. It was a different one but the same idea, she said. When Politico published its own deep-dive into Barretts religious background on Thursday, however, Atwood seemingly backtracked, saying she was not sure if People of Praise had inspired her work, and saying she could not say anything definitive without consulting her records which are currently locked away in a University of Toronto archive that is closed because of the pandemic. Unless I can go back into the clippings file, I hesitate to say anything specific, Atwood told Politico in a statement. Politico made no mention of Atwoods contradictory comments, which were published just one day earlier. People of Praise communications director Sean Connolly told National Review in a statement that there has never been any evidence whatsoever to suggest that the People of Praise played a role in inspiring Margaret Atwoods book. In suggesting a link between People of Praise and Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale, the burden of proof clearly lies with the news outlet making such a claim, he added. Atwood did not return a request for comment made through her publisher. A Politico spokeswoman did not return a request for comment by press-time. More from National Review Brian Woolston/Reuters LOUISVILLEJust hours after three Louisville Metro Police officers dodged charges for the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in March, protesters took to the streets across the country in outrage, and at least two cops were shot in this citys downtown. Well before a curfew went into effect in Louisville, police had declared an unlawful assembly, dispensed pepper spray and flash bangs on protesterssome of whom hurled assorted objects at copsand put out at least one fire on plywood at the Hall of Justice. Hours earlier, in a stunning decision, a grand jury indicted one of the officers who took part in the attack on Taylor, former detective Brett Hankison, with three counts of wanton endangerment. But the charges stemmed from the shots Hankison firedwhile serving a warrant at Taylors apartment in the middle of the nightthat hit or endangered people in other units. LMPD has deployed into Injustice Square and threw 2-3 flash bangs. pic.twitter.com/7w6D7whvmx Gerry Seavo James (@GerrySeavo) September 24, 2020 In other words, the shots that killed the Black emergency medical technician, an icon of Black Lives Matter protests in recent months, were not deemed criminal. The two other officers, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrovethe cop who fired the shot that killed Taylorwere not charged at all in an action that Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said was justified to protect themselves. Hankison was booked at about 4:30 p.m. at the Shelby County Detention Center after turning himself in, a spokesperson for the jail told The Daily Beast. He was released about 30 minutes later after posting a bond for $15,000. By then, the city was already consumed with grief and anger. Lisa Gillespie Beginning in Jefferson Square Park, which has served as the home base for Louisville Black Lives Matter protests over the last 118 days, residents started to march after Camerons Frankfort press conference. They called for justice for Taylor, chanting No justice, no peace and Keep going. Police cars took to trailing the activists, and in The Highlands, a gentrified, residential neighborhood of Louisville, hundreds of protesters, some throwing bottles, faced off with police before 4 p.m. Story continues Police fired a volley of pepper balls, while a man used a wooden bat to try to break a UPS storefront. Protesters sat in a side parking lot with injuries they said stemmed from the law-enforcement onslaught. Some were taken into police custody. Protesters were effectively boxed in by an aggressive early police presence, before venturing deeper into a residential neighborhood, chants of Say her name echoing in call and response. Around nightfall, protesters lit a piece of plywood on fire at the Hall of Justice while officers declared an unlawful assembly and continued to warn about dispensing chemical agentsbefore going ahead and doing so. At least one fire was subsequently put out, but blazes erupted nearby on trash cans as protesters hurled trash at cops. Shortly after 8 p.m., dozens of cops stormed Jefferson Squarerenamed Injustice Square by protestersin an apparent attempt to seize it, flash bangs piercing the air. Gerry Seavo James Around the same time, two city cops were shot downtown, though it was not immediately clear if the shootings were directly connected to the protests. In a briefing shortly after 10 p.m., LMPD Interim Chief Rob Schroeder confirmed that two officers were shot. One was alert and stable, the other in surgery and stable, and a suspect was in custody, he told reporters. Im very concerned about the safety of our officers, Schroeder said. When a curfew went into effect at 9 p.m., the square was remarkably quiet, the crowd consisting in no small part of journalists and police. Many protesters had dispersed, while some state police were sitting on the ground eating food and gulping from drinks, helmets off. Meanwhile, solidarity protests across the country started to ramp up Wednesday evening. Residents on the South Side of Chicago took to the streets after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker placed the National Guard in a state of readiness. Hundreds of demonstrators in Los Angeles also gathered in the citys downtown. In New York, protesters met in Union Square on Wednesday to begin a multi-borough demonstration against police brutality and racial injustice. Upwards of 500 residents took to the streets in Midtown Manhattan. Shut. It. Down! chant a massive procession of protestors marching away from 59th and 5th. Group now moving South on Park Ave. pic.twitter.com/FLedBwMpW5 NYC Protest Updates 2020 (@protest_nyc) September 24, 2020 By nightfall, well over 500 more were stationed listening to speakers at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which was lit up with quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. (The time is always right to do whats right) and the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you). They keep throwing fuel on the fire, A.J. Jones, 52, told The Daily Beast, adding that the grand jury decision motivated him to hit the streets for the third time this summer. It wont stop. Michelle Deme, a 23-year-old protester in New York, told The Daily Beast she has been protesting for months for Black womens livessomething she feels to be her duty as a Brown, queer woman. I was out here protesting in June, in July, in August, and Im still here, Deme said. Im tired. Tensions between protesters and police boiled over in Atlanta, where the Georgia State Patrol reportedly deployed tear gas on residents. Dozens of residents spent hours protesting from midtown to the states Capitol building, several chanting Whose streets?! Our streets! Midland and Bardstown, police have fired pepper balls. Protesters throwing bottles of water. #Louisville pic.twitter.com/vXzDQHISls Hayes Gardner (@HayesGardner) September 23, 2020 Several National Guard Humvees were seen driving into downtown Louisville, which had been largely closed down ahead of the grand jury announcement. In the same area, a militia group in tactical gear was spotted walking aroundseveral of the members armed. Police said more than 40 people were arrested in connection with the protests but gave no further details. Several dozen protesters were seen being arrested as part of a police sweep after demonstrators refused to disperse. Shortly before midnight, more than a dozen were left sitting on the ground awaiting processing outside the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections. Louisville native Jasmine Shed, 26, was carrying an AK-47 as part of the United Pharaohs Guard, a regional anti-racist militia group. She said they were expecting the unexpected. Bree-way all the motherfuckin way, she told the Daily Beast. Gerry Seavo James The citys mayor and the interim police chief had already issued state of emergency declarations in anticipation of the grand jurys decision this week. Streets and downtown parking garages were closed, some local businesses boarded up their storefronts, and the federal courthouse was shuttered for the week. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear activated the National Guard on Wednesday to quell any fallout, and the mayor implemented the curfew for at least three days. This is not the system people deserve, said Dezirae Edwards, 21, a bank teller and Louisville native. I feel like violence is inevitable. President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised Cameron over the outcome of Taylors case, arguing that the attorney generals statement was brilliant and the official himself a star. Itll all work out, Trump said. Back in Louisville, at least a dozen members of the far-right militia group The Oathkeepers had assembled near a Shell gas station and pawn shop before 10 p.m. One member said the owner of the station had received threats about the place being burned down. The men brandished long rifles and tactical gear. Im afraid of dying tonight, said a tall, thin white man with an American flag mask and a giant shotgun, who identified himself only as Angry Spongebob. They call it witching hour for a reason. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. Washington County added to quarantine list for troublesome bug The Maryland Department of Agriculture has added several areas, including Washington County, to its quarantine list regarding the spotted lanternfly. Community Hope & Recovery Center in Jacksonville is asking people to turn on their porch lights Wednesday to raise awareness about suicide, show support for those who have dealt with its trauma and those dealing with mental illness and addiction. The event, called Night to Shine, will be going on throughout west-central Illinois. This hits close to home, because a staff members son committed suicide, said Kayla Trenter, director of substance abuse and domestic violence for the center. Although not certain its directly connected to the pandemic, Trenter said she already has experienced the loss of people over the past months. This quarter, we have lost two teenagers, Trenter said. Its near and dear because weve lost so many young ones." Last year, the center had two events in which people talked about suicide, the impact it has on people and how to recognize signs, like addiction or substance abuse, that can lead to suicide. This year, however, the pandemic is preventing it from having a larger gathering. Rather, people can at least drive around and see the support through porch lights being on. We have seen the effect of isolation and the lack of community involvement, she said. What we have realized is people have down time during the quarantine and it has made them think some people can cope, some cant, and then they turn to alcohol or drugs as a coping mechanism. The key for Trenter and her staff, though, is to let those who are suffering know help is available. Its OK to reach out. Sometimes you just need one day, Trenter said, referring to breaking the stigma of asking for help. The center deals with people of any age or gender who are suffering from drug or alcohol addiction or domestic abuse all leading factors that can cause someone to go down the path of taking their own life. People can call or walk in and ask for help. The non-profit agency has locations in Jacksonville and Beardstown and both will be taking part in the Night to Shine event. Participants are also being asked to take photos of their lights and post them to social media, such as Facebook or Instagram, with the hash-tag #bethelightCHRC. The coronavirus pandemic forced China to bring industrial activity to a halt earlier this year, but the country is revving its engines again and global prices of metals are reflecting that renewed appetite for growth. China consumes roughly half of the worlds industrial metals, according to analysts. As the country emerged from the worst of the pandemic in March, the Chinese government unleashed a program of enormous fiscal stimulus aimed at building bridges, roads, utilities, broadband and railroads across the country. As a result, the prices of iron ore, nickel, copper, zinc and other metals used to build infrastructure have surged in recent months. Since late March, prices of iron ore the key ingredient in steel have risen more than 40 percent. Nickel, needed for stainless steel, and zinc, used to galvanize metal, are up more than 25 percent. Copper, which is used in wiring for power transmission, construction and car manufacturing, and has long been seen as a barometer for the worlds industrial economy, is also up, around 35 percent. China, as usual, went the investment route and is massively investing in metals-intensive infrastructure, said Caroline Bain, a commodities market analyst with Capital Economics in London. So theres been a very strong pickup in Chinas demand for metals. Poll data, including data generated by my own organization, show that Americans draw a clear distinction between demonstrating and rioting. Large majorities have no problem with demonstrations, but strongly disapprove of riots, looting and arson. The problem is how to define what is going on around us. Democrats insist that protests are mostly peaceful, even as looting is rife and buildings are going up in flames. Demonstrators shut down highways, inconveniencing thousands and potentially endangering others lives. As time goes by, more voters are being convinced that what we are witnessing belongs largely in the riot category, rather than the demonstration category. This, I think, lies behind the AP-NORC Polls finding that Americans are souring on race-related protests: The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 44% of Americans disapprove of protests in response to police violence against Black Americans, while 39% approve. In June, 54% approved. While the AP doesnt put it this way, those numbers mean that a plurality now disapproves of protests in response to police violence, whereas a majority approved of such protests in June. And this survey was conducted before the latest round of violence in Louisville and elsewhere. This shift is ominous for the Democrats: Just 35% of white Americans approve of the protests now, while 50% disapprove. In June, 53% approved, while 34% disapproved. But disapproval of the riots is growing among all ethnic groups. Note that Latinos sympathize with rioters even less than whites, which helps to explain President Trumps growing strength in that demographic: Among Latinos, 31% approve, compared with 44% in June; 63% of Black Americans support the protests, down from 81%, with more now saying they neither approve nor disapprove. Nothing about this is surprising. Riots have never been popular, and Democratic Party happy talk about mostly peaceful assault, looting and arson isnt fooling anyone. Watch for this trend to continue from now through Election Day. Speakers will discuss the challenges and solutions for C-UAS in urban environments on Wednesday, September 30, 2020, at 1:00 PM Central European Summer Time, a leader in airspace security and defense for detecting and defeating dangerous drones, will be holding a free webinar on the topic of the challenges for counter UAS and drone defense for audiences across Western Europe, The UK, and Turkey. Fortem's VP of Solutions, Gary Watson, and guest, Christopher Church, Digital Forensics Specialist for INTERPOL, will discuss current counter UAS strategies and solutions for urban environments. Watson will also share how the Fortem SkyDome System works to protect infrastructure and public safety, where other systems fail. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, September 30th, 2020, from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Central European Summer Time (CEST). "19 years ago on September 11th, the U.S. experienced a terrorist attack on the Twin Towers that changed New York City forever," said Gary Watson. "Fortem wants to ensure that the world is equipped with security systems that prevent something like this from happening again. In conversation with Christopher Church of INTERPOL, we will discuss the evolving landscape of drone threats, and will offer insights on addressing these challenges in a way that is safe and legal." Key points covered include: What's not working for C-UAS and current regulations How to detect all drones, including dark drones How to counter intruding dangerous drones legally and safely How the Fortem SkyDone System can succeed in complex, urban environments The webinar will be presented in English and will be available on-demand afterward with the slide presentation for all registrants. Please visit this link to register: https://fortemtech.zoom.us/webinar/register/2216003791066/WN_aTJeRMkLQUm0zGGY_lRxLA About the Fortem SkyDome System The SkyDome System detects, monitors, assesses, and mitigates drone threats. A proven solution, this system monitors and protects airspace day or night and in adverse weather conditions. Many counter unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) deployments fail due to multiple vendors with multiple components that lack a deep integration. Fortem owns the technology required to build the foundation of an integrated counter drone system. The SkyDome System can be configured in many ways and scales to protect any zone, corridor, building, event, border, customer infrastructure or even an entire metro region. Flexible and portable, this system can be deployed as a permanent installation or as part of a mobile solution. Integral to this system are three high-performance core products: TrueView radar, SkyDome Manager software, and DroneHunter. About Fortem Technologies, Inc. Fortem Technologies is a leader in airspace security and defense for detecting and defeating dangerous drones. Through an advanced ecosystem of distributed radar, AI at-the-edge, deep sensor integration and autonomous drone capture, Fortem monitors, protects and defends the world's corridors, venues, infrastructures, borders, and regions from dangerous or malicious drone threats. The same ecosystem is accelerating the safety of the world's airspace for urban air mobility. Based in Pleasant Grove, Utah, the company is privately held and backed by Boeing, DCVC, Mubadala Investment Company, Signia Venture Partners, and others. For more information, please visit www.fortemtech.com. ### By Trend Sooner Armenia withdraws its armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, sooner the conflict will be resolved, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Jeyhun Bayramov said, Trend reports referring to the ministry. Bayramov made the statement at an unofficial meeting in the format of a videoconference of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member states to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) held within the framework of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly. The Chatlos Foundation has awarded a grant to Lee University to provide scholarships to nursing students for the 2020-2021 school year. It is the generosity of foundations such as Chatlos that allows our nursing students to succeed in their educational journeys, said Dr. Sara Campbell, dean of Lees School of Nursing. In times like these, even more students are struggling with finances, and it is crucial to have funds to assist with the cost of attending nursing school. We are extremely appreciative of the support. The scholarships were awarded to returning junior and senior nursing students to enable them to complete their Bachelor of Science in nursing at Lee. They were recommended upon application by Campbell and confirmed by Marian Dill, director of financial aid at Lee. The recipients of the Chatlos Foundation scholarships are Micah Farr, a senior from Meadow Bridge, W.V.; Shekinah Miranda, a senior from Santa Cruz, Bolivia; and Macy Wiggins, a junior from Englewood, Tn. Ms. Farr plans to work in a hospital in the Cleveland area or in her hometown after graduation. In addition to nursing, she is pursuing a minor in intercultural studies at Lee. After graduation, Ms. Miranda plans to stay in the United States and work before joining the Mercy Ships, an international charity that operates as the largest non-governmental hospital ship in the world. At Lee, Ms. Miranda has been a part of Lees diversity club, Leetinos; played intramural sports; and served at a local church as a Sunday school teacher. Ms. Miranda is also a member of Lees Phi Eta Sigma honors society. "Receiving this award was an answer to prayer and another instance demonstrating the Lord's provision as I pursue serving Him through my nursing career, said Ms. Miranda. Ms. Wiggins is involved in the Student Nurses Association and Lees Learn Engage Achieve Program where she is a peer leader. After graduation, she plans to move back to her hometown and eventually obtain a position in labor and delivery. This award was a huge encouragement to me financially and educationally, said Ms. Wiggins. It has helped me realize that my hard work will lay the path for my success. One day, I hope to help students like myself and impact their lives like this foundation has mine. The Chatlos Foundation was founded in 1953 and funds nonprofit organizations around the globe. The foundations areas of interest are Bible colleges/seminaries, religious causes, medical concerns, liberal arts colleges and social concerns. For more information on the Chatlos Foundation, visit https://chatlos.org/. To learn more about Lee Universitys School of Nursing, email schoolofnursing@leeuniversity.edu. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Delhi Police has often used its social media presence to spread important messages regarding citizens safety. In the wake of Covid-19, these efforts also include information regarding how to restrict the spread of the virus. Their new Instagram post is no different and encourages people to embrace the new normal of social distancing while travelling in the Delhi Metro. The Delhi Polices official Instagram account shared this post on September 23. We must adapt ourselves according to the situation. Forget the old! Rule the new! reads the text shared alongside the image. The photograph, shared along with the post, has been split into two. The left side of the picture shows previous ways of commuting, when people used to sit next to each other without wearing any masks. The right side of the image depicts the way people should commute in present times - by maintaining social distance and wearing masks. Check out the post below: Since being shared on the photo and video sharing platform, this post has accumulated nearly 200 likes. This isnt the first time Delhi Police has used creative graphics to advise people to socially distance. On September 17, they shared a meme with the caption, Social Distancing is a must to protect yourself from COVID-19, which innovatively communicates the same message. What are your thoughts on this post? It is important for everyone to use the Delhi Polices recommendations when using public transport. BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 25 By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend: Azerbaijan tolerates all religions, Eli Nacht, Chairman Israel Empowerment Lobby told Trend. Currently, Israel is building relations with a number of Muslim countries, but many of them are based on mutually beneficial partnerships, which cannot be said about Israel's cooperation with Azerbaijan, noted Nacht. "Azerbaijan and Israel have built centuries-old friendly relations both between our people and in a number of economic and political spheres," he added. Nakht stressed out that the existence of such friendly relations between the two countries also affects economic indicators. In particular, there is a high volume of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Israel in agriculture, energy, and other spheres. "The high level of trade turnover between our countries has already been established and will grow," Naht added. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva WASHINGTON - Since Joe Biden ran away with the Democratic presidential nomination in March, leading progressives have accepted him sometimes grudgingly as their partys leader. But, in the final weeks of the campaign, the Supreme Court vacancy is threatening to inflame old divides. Some activists on the left are pressing Biden to endorse expanding the number of high court justices should he win the White House and Democrats take control of the Senate. But Biden, who ran a relatively centrist primary campaign, hasnt embraced those calls, worried they may intensify the nations partisan split. Theres little indication that large swaths of progressives will abandon Biden or back third-party candidates, moves that wounded Democrat Hillary Clintons 2016 bid. But activists insist they will keep pressure on Biden to pursue dramatic reforms to the Supreme Court if Republicans move forward with a plan to quickly approve President Donald Trumps pick to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The majority of Berniecrats will most likely vote for Vice-President Joe Biden, said Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator and top adviser to progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. That doesnt mean that they are not going to raise hell all the way. Biden should make it clear that he will fight back by expanding the court if he wins, said Turner, who is founding a firm to advance progressive causes, Amare Public Affairs. The Constitution doesnt mandate the number of Supreme Court justices, which has changed over time. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt promoted legislation to pack the court by expanding its number of justices, an effort that stalled once the justices began to rule in his favour on policies tied to the New Deal. Since then, the makeup of the court hasnt been a prominent issue in national politics. That began to change after Justice Brett Kavanaughs contentious 2018 nomination fight. Calls to add justices grew much louder this week in response to the GOPs rush to fill Ginsburgs seat before the election, which would leave the court with six conservatives and three liberals. The politics of this are moving very, very fast, said Aaron Belkin, director of Take Back the Court, which advocates for increasing the number of justices. And under a Biden administration, when the court has the administration handcuffed on Day One, I think the politics are going to be changing even more quickly. That puts Biden in a tough spot. As someone who spent 36 years in the Senate, he built a career revering Washingtons institutions. During the 2020 primary, he pointedly declined to join rivals such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren or California Sen. Kamala Harris, who is now his running mate, in being open to court expansion. During his first extended comments Sunday about Ginsburgs death, Biden appealed to the few remaining moderate Senate Republicans to buck their partys leadership, rather than to progressives looking for him to support a larger court. Since then, Biden has largely sought to avoid the issue as hes campaigned in battleground states, preferring instead to focus on Trumps handling of the coronavirus pandemic and high unemployment. He ducked a question about changes to the court during an interview with a Wisconsin television station, saying a response would shift all the focus. Biden has also said Democrats should concentrate on making it clear for voters why the GOP push to quickly fill Ginsburgs seat is a gigantic mistake and abuse of power. Some progressives said Ginsburgs death laid bare why theyre backing Biden. Voting for Joe Biden is not about whether you agree with him. Its a vote to let our democracy live another day, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Instagram last week. The New York congresswoman spent months expressing skepticism toward Biden but also was co-leader of a task force on climate change that top Biden supporters and advisers formed with their counterparts from Sanders unsuccessful presidential campaign to try to better reach consensus on top issues. Those groups made policy recommendations that helped shape the Democratic Party platform, which was adopted at its national convention last month and was meant to avoid the ideological clashes that Clinton endured four years ago. Sanders, who opposes Supreme Court expansion, and Warren, who has suggested shed be willing to support it, have similarly used Ginsburgs death as a rallying cry for Biden. Democracy as we know it is in danger, Warren said at a virtual event with Virginia leaders, calling Republican court efforts the last gasp of a desperate party that is overrepresented in the hall of power. During a speech Thursday, Sanders warned that Trump is openly suggesting that hell brand as illegitimate any election he loses. He cited the danger that this country faces from a president who is a pathological liar, who has strong authoritarian tendencies, who neither understands nor respects our Constitution and who is prepared to undermine American democracy in order to stay in power. The voting results may be disputed and trigger a legal fight, Sanders said, noting that Trump is attempting to push through a Supreme Court justice who may very well cast a vote in a case that will determine the outcome of this election. Rather than mentioning expanding the Supreme Court, Sanders said the way to counter that is to have the largest voter turnout in U.S. history. This is not just an election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Sanders said. This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy and democracy must win. Just getting Biden elected might not be enough for everyone, though. Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, called the coming Senate nomination fight Bidens chance to offer a first big show of force as leader of the Democratic Party. He can quickly unify Democrats in saying no confirmation until after inauguration, Green said. And promising to expand the court if Republicans do an end run around democracy. ___ Mumphrey reported from Phoenix. ___ 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/ Top economists are split over whether the federal government should intervene to bolster the nation's falling population growth rate as debate swells about policies to attract more migrants when many Australians are unemployed. Immigration has dropped sharply this year due to restrictions on international arrivals to Australia to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, leading to the biggest fall in population growth since World War I. Australia's population growth rate will sink to levels not seen wince WWI. Credit:Andrew Dyson But Market Economics managing director Stephen Koukoulas, University of Western Australia Professor Jakob Madsen and Newcastle University Professor Bill Mitchell all strongly opposed any moves to encourage population growth in The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age Budget 2020 Scope Survey. At the same time many others warned the economy would struggle to recover without efforts to increase the migration rate, including University of Melbourne Professor Neville Norman, BIS Oxford Economics' Sarah Hunter, Housing Industry Association chief economist Tim Reardon and a swathe of banking chief economists. The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced a three-phase schedule from October 28 for the Bihar assembly polls, the first major elections in the country since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted political calendars and prompted sweeping measures for social distancing in March to check its spread. The second phase of the polling will be held on November 3, and the last on November 7. The election results would be declared on November 10. Also Read: Bihar gears up to publicise postal ballot option for Covid-19 electors Chief election commissioner Sunil Arora, who announced the schedule, said elaborate sanitisation and social distancing protocols have been put in place for one of the biggest electoral exercises in the world amid the pandemic. He cited reports from Bihars chief electoral officer and added 700,000 units of hand sanitisers, 4.6 million masks, 600,000 personal protective equipment suits, 760,000 face shields, and 2.3 million gloves have been arranged for the polling staff. Arora said the EC has procured 7.2 million gloves for the voters to cast their votes. He added the polling time has also been increased by an hour in view of the pandemic. Arora said 230,000 migrant workers, who have returned to Bihar after losing their jobs because of the Covid-19 pandemic, have been added to the updated voters list in the state. As the pandemic spread across the world, the first reaction globally was to postpone elections hoping that the pandemic would lose grip and they can conduct the elections in a more conducive environment, Arora said. He said over 70 countries initially postponed their elections. However, as days and months passed and the pandemic showed no signs of abating, it became evident that some way will have to be found to balance democratic rights of citizens to choose representatives while making a systematic effort to protect the health and safety of the electors. The 2015 elections in Bihar were held in five phases and a 58% turnout was recorded then. The phases have been curtailed in view of the pandemic for effective deployment of security forces. The EC is also developing a mobile application for online submission of nomination papers as part of measures to comply with pandemic prevention protocols. Special arrangements, including voting through postal ballots, will be made available for Covid-19 patients. The model code, governing the conduct of political parties and candidates during elections, has come to effect with the announcement of the polls. The conduct remains in force from the date of announcement of the election schedule till the elections are over to ensure free, fair, and peaceful polls Arora said the EC will take stringent measures to enforce the code, especially related to the declaration of the criminal antecedents of the candidates. The Supreme Court in February made it mandatory for all political parties to make public why they pick candidates with criminal history to contest an election. Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil responded to the announcement of the schedule saying Bihar will be now be freed from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United), or JD (U), rule. The people of Bihar want freedom from the BJP and JD (U) and the EC has announced the day on which they will obtain their freedom, Gohil said. The two ideologically opposed parties stayed together only for power. Our coalition has the blessing of Bihars people and it will help us form the government. Also Read: Congress asks Nitish Kumar to quit NDA if cant protect farmers interest Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Jha said they welcome the schedule but added the polling timing should have been increased by two hours. No of voters, which has been reduced per booth from 1,500 to 1,000 should actually be 750 per booth in view of Covid-19 conditions. And finally, in order to have wholesome and free participation, the EC must go for the idea of voters insurance. In a tweet, BJP leader Bhupender Yadav said their coalition will return to power with three-fourth majority. We welcome the Election Commissions announcement regarding the elections in Bihar. The results of the Lok Sabha elections will be repeated this time in Bihar. The [BJP-led] NDA [National Democratic Alliance] is going to win this election for the Legislative Assembly with a three-fourth majority. The NDA swept the 2019 national polls in Bihar and won 39 out of 40 seats in the state. The elections in Bihar will be the first direct and mass polling exercise in the country amid the pandemic. Indirect polls to vacant Rajya Sabha and legislative council seats based on proportional representation were earlier held amid the pandemic but they involved a limited number of voters. In the run-up to the Bihar polls, the EC on August 21 put a cap on the number of people that can be involved in door-to-door campaigning as the poll watchdog issued guidelines for holding elections amid the pandemic. The guidelines allowed the submission of nomination forms online and directed voters to be provided with gloves before they use electronic voting machines. The poll watchdog said face masks, sanitisers, thermal scanners, gloves, face shields, and personal protective equipment kits shall be used during the electoral process with social distancing norms in place. Voters with high temperatures will be allowed to vote in the last one hour of the polling. The EC has also decentralised the training of officials in charge of the polling process. It effectively means that they will be either trained online or training will be conducted face-to-face in a staggered manner. The number of tables in a counting hall has been slashed by halffrom 14 to seven. A maximum of 1,000 people will be allowed to vote at a polling station. It is a significant reduction from the earlier figure of 1,500. The voters will to have stand six feet apart at polling booths, where soaps, water, and hand sanitisers will be made available at the entry points. Opposition parties have criticised the guidelines with Congress calling them not enough for the conduct of free, fair and independent elections and for ensuring the smooth elections in free, non-partisan & fair fashion. The Congress is part of the RJD-led alliance in Bihar, which won the last assembly elections in the state in 2015. The alliance lost power when the JD (U) returned to the NDA fold in 2017 and formed a new government with the BJPs help. The Bihar elections are crucial for the BJP as it has suffered electoral setbacks after retaining power at the Centre with a bigger majority in 2019. It was unable to form the government in Maharashtra despite emerging as the single largest party following disagreements with its oldest ally, Shiv Sena, over power-sharing. In Haryana, it could form the government only after Jannayak Janata Partys support. The BJP was voted out of power in Jharkhand in December 2019. The EC has held discussions with poll bodies in countries like South Korea and Taiwan, where elections have been held amid the pandemic, ahead of the announcement of the Bihar schedule. A voter turnout of 66.2%, the highest since 1992, was recorded when mask-wearing South Koreans turned out to vote amid strict precautions for parliamentary election in April. Covid-19 patients were allowed to vote by mail or at special booths as 30 million people overall cast their ballots in the first and the most-keenly watched electoral exercise since Covid-19 disrupted political calendars globally. Disinfected polling stations were set up across the country, where people voted after having their hands sanitised and temperatures checked at a safe distance from each other. A shooting outside a hotel in Fort Lee on Thursday left one man in critical condition and police searching for one or more suspects suspect, authorities said. The shooting occurred about 3:15 p.m. at the Holiday Inn in the 2300 block of Route 4 East, according to the Bergen County Prosecutors Office. The victim, who was not identified, was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center and remained there on Friday, according to police. A hotel clerk who declined to give her name said Friday the shooting occurred in the parking lot and that the victim was not staying at the hotel. Detectives with the Bergen County Prosecutors Office Major Crimes Unit are investigating. The prosecutors office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident. Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich said Friday he believed the shooting did not involve local residents, noting that the hotel is on a major thoroughfare into New York City. Police outside the Holiday Inn in Fort Lee, where one man was shot on Thursday.Boyd A. Loving Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Kabila stepped down in January 2019 after 18 years at the helm of the Democratic Republic of Congo DR Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi has held a rare meeting with his predecessor Joseph Kabila, as officials in the fragile coalition government say the former leader could return to the political stage. Tshisekedi, who took over from Kabila in January last year, governs alongside supporters of his predecessor, who have a commanding majority in parliament and hold most positions in the government. "The two high-ranking personalities discussed the progress of the coalition," the Common Front for Congo (FCC) -- a parliamentary grouping of parties loyal to Kabila -- wrote on Twitter. But the head-to-head did little to quell tension that has been rising for months, and "points of contention" remain, the two camps told AFP on Monday. With the next election due in three years, Environment Minister Claude Nyamugabo told journalists over the weekend that he was already working for the return of Kabila to office. "He is the president of my party. I can only believe in his return," he said. Kabila's PPRD party expressed the same sentiment on Saturday in a tweet that was quickly deleted: "The return of Joseph Kabila is not a slogan, it is a reality. He will return to power and we are working on it." "Our officials have the right to think aloud without involving the FCC," a party representative told AFP when asked about the tweet. Kabila, who spent 18 years as president, has kept silent and largely avoided public appearances. - New election chief - Despite fears that he would seize a third mandate by force, Kabila stepped down in January 2019 in the first peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium 60 years ago. His supporters now argue there is nothing in the constitution that would prevent him from running again. And both sides have been ratcheting up the political tension, accusing each other of abuses of power. In July, at least three people were killed in heated protests organised by Tshisekedi's UDPS party to denounce the appointment of a new election chief who has been accused of rigging votes in favour of Kabila. YEREVAN. Zhoghovurd newspaper of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: On September 28, the Standing Committee on European Integration of the National Assembly will hold a sitting, during which it will discuss the process of implementation of the RA-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. In a conversation with Zhoghovurd daily, the chairman of the Standing Committee on European Integration, Arman Yeghoyan, said that the ratification process of the agreement is nearing completion at the moment. "At the moment, there is only one [EU-member country] country left that has not yet ratified the RA-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. That country is Portugal, but the agreement is already in the parliament of that country, it is on the agenda, I believe the ratification will take place by the end of the year," Yeghoyan noted. However, in parallel to that, the issue of visa liberalization [with the EU] remains pending, whose reason is the coronavirus pandemic, too. "As of last year, we had disagreements by 1-2 partner countries, and we are working in that direction, taking into account the general change in connection with the pandemic which, I believe, will have a general impact on the policy on the management of migration flows. But I believe we will have good news once the pandemic is over," he added. Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma's much-awaited film Disha Encounter's trailer to be out tomorrow (September 26) at 9:08 am. RGV confirmed the same on his Twitter handle by stating, "Trailer of DISHA ENCOUNTER releasing tmrw morning 26th at 9.08 AM ..Film based on the 2019 gang rape and subsequent murder of a young woman in Hyderabad #DishaEncounter." With this announcement, RGV also shared a new poster of the film in which a woman can be seen standing on the highway. The new announcement poster is quite intriguing, as the film is based on 2019 Hyderabad gang rape case, in which a female veterinary doctor was brutally raped and killed by four men. The four accused were eventually killed by Telangana police in an encounter. Well, Ram Gopal Varma's decision of making a film on one of the most sensitive incidents that happened in recent times is quite a bold one. The criminals were hated by all, but the encounter left the nation divided. At that time, some people hailed the decision of the police while others called it injustice. For the unversed, before announcing the unveiling the first poster of Disha Encounter, RGV had tweeted, "DISHA gang rape and murder on NOVEMBER 26th 2019 shocked the whole country when 4 guys in a Lorry targeted a Scooty driving young woman and brutalised her, crossing the upper limits in crime history of India. 1st look poster releasing at 11 AM ..Film releasing NOVEMBER 26 th 2020." Also Read : RGV Releases First Look Poster Of His Next Film Disha Encounter Based On Hyderabad Gang Rape Case Directed by Anand Chandra, Disha Encounter is produced by Anurag Kancharla. The film will release on November 26, 2020, exactly a year after the incident happened. The makers are likely to release Disha Encounter on RGV Theatre. Also Read : Ram Gopal Varma Defends Urmila Matondkar After Kangana Ranaut Called Her 'Soft P*rn Star' BAY CITY Two Sebewaing residents recently pleaded guilty in federal court on charges related to child pornography. Dana Nicole Taggart, 24, was indicted Feb. 12 and pleaded guilty March 12, before Judge Patricia T. Morris on one count of transportation of obscene matters. Taggarts charge stems from a case involving someone she had a relationship with. Tyler Wayne Zimmerman, also of Sebewaing, was indicted on two charges. Zimmerman was charged with distribution and receipt of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and transportation of obscene matters. According to the plea agreement, between Aug. 7 and Nov. 13, 2018 while living in Sebewaing, Zimmerman used a cell phone to look at child pornography and material that contained child pornography. A search of Zimmermans Tumblr account showed he shared a video, a GIF and three photographs containing child pornography in exchange for other child pornography. In total, investigators found 79 videos and 62 images that depicted sexually explicit material involving minors. The images he received, distributed and possessed depicted children in various states of undress engaging in sexual acts, some with adults, or posing in a sexually suggestive manner, to include sadistic depictions, or penetration of infants or toddlers, such that an outsider would perceive the images as depicting the infliction of pain or humiliation on the minors, the plea agreement reads. A majority of the images depicted prepubescent children, infants and toddlers. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children identified at least 13 of the images contained an identified child. When interviewed by officials on June 20, 2019 near his residence in Sebewaing, Zimmerman admitted to looking at the child pornography on Tumblr. He said viewing the images made him feel like he was in school again. According to the plea agreement, the sentencing guidelines suggest he should be sentenced to 235-240 months in prison. Prior to this offense, Zimmerman had previously been sentenced 93 days in jail for operating while intoxicated. Zimmerman is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 20, 2020. When searching Zimmermans Facebook account, investigators located five videos that he had received around April 11, 2019 from Taggart, who was his girlfriend. The videos, which Taggart is pleaded guilty to distributing, were of herself and were obscene in nature. Prior to pleading guilty on the charge, Taggart did not have a criminal record. According to the Taggarts sentencing guidelines, it is recommended she serves a one-to three-year term, and the charges have a five year maximum penalty. Taggart had been released on a $10,000 bond on Feb. 20, before her sentencing. However, her bond was revoked July 30, 2020 after she was charged in Huron County for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. It is unclear if this will effect her sentencing. Taggart is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 19, 2020. A night of bruising dissent, chaos and looting in Louisville after the grand jury announcement Wednesday culminated with the shooting of two police officers one has been released from the hospital and the other remains there in stable condition and 127 arrests. The states Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, had announced Wednesday that two officers executing a warrant at Taylors home March 13 were justified in using force. Taylors boyfriend fired a shot at them after they broke through the door of Taylors apartment with a battering ram after midnight. A third officer was indicted on charges of wanton endangerment for blindly firing his weapon during the raid, causing the bullets to enter neighboring apartments. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) - Whether Metro Manila remains under general community quarantine or shifts to a relaxed status, the Trade Department is just hoping more businesses will be allowed to operate and curfew hours will be shorter so shops can remain open longer. Regardless of any quarantine [status], basta madagdagan sana yung mga makakapag-operate na mga negosyo. Then sa curfew hours, kung pwedeng [iklian] kaunti or tanggalin na lang all together, mas magiging pabor sa mga negosyo, said Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo in an interview with CNN Philippines on Friday. [Translation: Regardless of any quarantine status, we just want more businesses to operate. Then on the curfew hours, we are hoping if this can shorten or remove it, this will be more favorable for businesses.] Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez recently expressed support for easing the community quarantine status in Metro Manila as long everyone will practice safety protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For Secretary Lopez kasi, regardless of any restriction, kahit MGCQ or GCQ pa lang, ang importante sa amin is yung discipline. Yung personal discipline, then following the protocols strictly, said Castelo. [Translation: For Secretary Lopez, regardless of any restriction, whether its MGCQ or GCQ, what important is the discipline. You should have personal discipline, so you must also follow the protocols strictly.] If ever Metro Manila shifts to modified GCQ, Castelo said the operational capacities of establishments will also increase, but still subject to minimum safety protocols. This means those which have 30-percent capacity will be upgraded to 50-percent, while those at 50-percent capacity could accommodate 75-percent of customers. Castelo added that shorter curfew hours would also mean more customers for establishments. Then curfew hours, for example, the restaurants, magiging mataas yung turnover nila ng customers kapag [pinaikli] yung curfew hours natin, she said. [Translation: With the curfew hours, for example, restaurants would have higher customer turnover if you shorten the curfew hours.] However, the 17 city mayors are not yet confident to relax the community quarantine status in the region until the end of October. President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to announce next week the latest community quarantine status of areas across the country. Dacre Montgomery was spotted working on the set of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic in Queensland on Thursday, one week after it was announced he'd be joining the cast. The Australian actor, 25, wore a casual white T-shirt, blue jeans and brown buttoned shirt as he filmed scenes in a car park. Dacre, best known for playing Billy Hargrove in Stranger Things, completed his outfit with sunglasses and a pair of white sneakers as he worked on the set. Back to work! Dacre Montgomery (pictured) was spotted working on the set of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic in Queensland on Thursday, one week after it was announced he'd be joining the cast The musical drama details the life of legendary rockstar Elvis Presley, with American actor Austin Butler set to star as the icon. Tom Hanks will star as Elvis' notorious manager, Colonel Tom Parker, while Australian actress Olivia DeJonge will feature as Priscilla Presley. Production was forced to shut down in March after Tom, 64, and his wife of 32 years, Rita Wilson, both contracted coronavirus. Casual: The Australian actor, 25, wore a casual white T-shirt, blue jeans and brown buttoned shirt as he filmed scenes in a car park On Wednesday, filming for the new biopic resumed, six months after it was forced to close. In a statement, Baz, 57, said he was looking forward to finally getting back to work on the blockbuster. 'We're back to, as Elvis liked to say, "taking care of business!"' he began. Style: Dacre, best known for playing Billy Hargrove in Stranger Things, completed his outfit with sunglasses and a pair of white sneakers as he worked on the set 'It is a real privilege in this unprecedented global moment that Tom Hanks has been able to return to Australia to join Austin Butler and all of our extraordinary cast and crew to commence production on "Elvis". 'I cannot emphasise enough how lucky we feel in the current climate that the state of Queensland, and Queenslanders in general, have been so supportive of this film.' The director also said he hoped to 'be an example [of] how creativity and productivity can proceed safely and responsibly in a way that protects our team and the community at large'. Murder hornets could spread 'rapidly' across America if action is not taken to contain them, scientists have warned. A male Asian giant hornet was trapped by researchers in Whatcom County, Washington, earlier this year - the first ever male of the species to be found in the US. Seven others have been discovered since July 14 which has prompted fears that the country could soon be facing an invasion. 'This could be, if it were to become established, one of the most damaging invasive species that we could almost imagine,' said Washington State University entomologist David Crowder. A male Asian giant hornet (pictured) was trapped by researchers in Whatcom County, Washington, earlier this year - the first ever male of the species to be found in the US Seven others have been discovered since July 14 which has prompted fears that the country could soon be facing an invasion (the male Asian giant hornet pictured) The study carried out by the university analyzed more than 200 records from the insect's native habitats in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. It determined that due to their preferred climate they may colonize parts of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia within the next 20 years. The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WDSA) have now set-up 1,400 traps in the area to capture the hornets live in order to tag and track them back to the nest. If researchers are able to locate a nest, it will be eradicated. Asian hornets have a dark brown or black velvety body, have a yellow or orange band on the fourth segment of the abdomen and have yellow-tipped legs. They are the world's largest species of hornet and typically measure around two inches long. The Asian giant hornet are the world's largest species of hornet and typically measure around two inches long. Pictured: Asian giant hornet (bottom) pictured next to a native bald-faced hornet (top) collected in a trap Asian giant hornets are more than double the size of honeybees, and have a wingspan measuring more than three inches Asian giant hornets are more than double the size of honeybees, and have a wingspan measuring more than three inches. In December 2019, the WSDA received and verified two reports of Asian giant hornet near Blaine, Washington, close to the Canadian border. These were the first-ever sighting in the United States. Canada had also discovered Asian giant hornet in two locations in British Columbia in the fall of 2019. Asian giant hornets target honeybee hives and can kill 40 bees in under one minute. The hornets enter a 'slaughter phase' where they kill bees by decapitating them before then defending the hive as their own and taking the brood to feed their own young. The species does not tend to attack people or pets but can be fierce when threatened. Their stinger is also longer than that of a honeybee, which means it can sting though beekeeping suits. The Washington Department of Agriculture announced that officials captured their first Asian giant hornet (pictured) in a bottle trap in Watcom County It also delivers nearly seven times the amount of venom that contains neurotoxin, which is capable of causing both cardiac arrest and anaphylactic shock, the department said. It has previously been stated that multiple stings can kill humans even if they are not allergic. 'Preventing the establishment and spread of Asian giant hornets in western North America is critical for protecting bees and beekeepers,' said Crowder. The bee population has been on a concerning decline for years and their eradication could have detrimental affects on the environment. A survey by the U.S. National Agriculture Statistics Services showed that the population declined from six million hives in 1947 to 2.4 million hives in 2008, a 60 per cent reduction. MUMBAI, India, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hexaware Technologies Limited, a leading global IT consulting and digital solutions provider, today announced the availability of COCO The Unified Teams Bot for Microsoft Teams on https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-US/, an online cloud marketplace providing tailored line-of-business solutions. Hexaware, a Microsoft Gold Partner, offers differentiated offerings across the Microsoft cloud ecosystem. With an experience-focused and customer-centric business model, Hexaware helps companies across industries achieve digital leapfrogging, build touchless and immersive experiences, and engage customers and employeesanywhere, anytime. Hexaware is now more focused than ever in helping customers adapt to the new realities brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and creating sustainable roadmaps to succeed and scale in evolved markets of the future. COCO The Unified Teams Bot is a step in that direction, enabling remote workforces with improved experiences and functionalities for a smooth return to the workplace, as and when that happens. Employees can chat with COCO, straight from their Teams app on desktop or mobile devices, to access information and interact with key business functions like ERP, CRM, service desk, or any other enterprise system through a unified, simple, and conversational interface. COCO integrates with multiple backend systems to provide a single interface and improves employee productivity by reducing context switching. COCO enables intuitive user journeys on a single-window chat interface for multiple employee touchpoints, leading to vastly improved employee experience, noticeable increase in adoption of Teams in an organization, and significant time savings. "Delivering employee concierge services through a human BOT will improve satisfaction and loyalty for employees working remotely. Hexaware has launched COCO to meet this need as organizations have moved employees to work from home," said Rupesh Mithani, Senior VP, Transform Customer Experiences Practice, Hexaware. "The BOT comes with prebuilt experiences to allow organizations to reopen while keeping employee health at the center. We are very excited for this launch, which allows us to help clients serve their single largest investmentemployees." Toby Bowers, General Manager, Business Applications Group, Microsoft Corp. said, "We're excited to welcome Hexaware Technologies to Microsoft AppSource, which gives our customers access to the best solutions available from our extensive partner ecosystem. Microsoft AppSource offers partner solutions such as COCO The Unified Teams Bot from Hexaware Technologies to help customers meet their needs faster." About Hexaware Learn more at http://www.hexaware.com Safe Harbor Statement: http://hexaware.com/investors/ Contact: Sreedatri Chatterjee [email protected] SOURCE Hexaware Technologies Ltd. The Maharashtra government is planning to revamp one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country the Gateway of India. In its upgradation and renovation plan, the state is looking to give an introduction of the financial capital of the country at the site. The government has roped in conservation architect Abha Lambah, who has prepared three proposals for the revamp. The revamp will include the integration of the monuments conservation, facilities for tourists, crowd management and security upgradation. Despite being one of the most visited monuments, there is no proper infrastructure for site management or facilities for visitors at Gateway of India. The design has been made to integrate all the requirements, such as creating right facilities and infrastructure, while ensuring visual access to visitors, so that they can see the Gateway of India, the sea and will get a chance to see the imposing statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, which is currently lost in all the visual clutter. The revamp will give a kind of introduction to the city and to Maharashtra. The plan also incorporated the security and risk assessment. In all, it is an endeavour to look holistically to all the concerns, Lambah told HT. The maintenance of the site and area around it is divided among various agencies. For instance, the structure and the 100-metre area near it come under the state archaeological department, while the jetty and boating area is under the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT). The area outside it falls under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). To deal with the jurisdiction issues, the state government on Friday constituted a committee of senior officials from the BMC, the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), the state archaeological department, MbPT and the police department. The committee will be headed by Valsa Nair Singh, principal secretary, state tourism department, and finalise the model and help in executing the revamp plan. We will conduct a proper upgradation and renovation of the whole Gateway of India precinct. The committee has been formed because there are so many agencies involved in it and thus a unified approach was needed. It is more like an executive committee in which everyone has to pool in their resources. It will approve the plan and all the agencies will then execute the part that falls under their jurisdiction, said Singh. Apart from the proposed make-over plan, the tourism department has also planned to hold a sound and light show at the site. It will be the most modern sound and light show and will be based on different themes related to the history of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the Marathas, the freedom movement and many more and will keep changing every week, she added. In February, state tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray had a meeting with deputy chief minister and finance minister Ajit Pawar, in which the development and conservation of 22 tourist sites, including the Gateway of India, was discussed. The finance minister had also assured requisite funds for the development and maintenance of these sites. The state government on September 7 had approved developing a jetty and passenger terminal near Radio Club in south Mumbai to facilitate boat rides to Elephanta Island, Alibag and Mandwa. The project will help in decongesting the existing jetty and passenger terminal at the Gateway of India which sees 30-35 lakh passengers every year. The MMB has said it will be start the tendering process for the 100-crore project soon. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Rescuers say the noise is the hardest part. When whales are stranded on a beach, they keep calling to one another. Sometimes others will come in from safe water to join their dying pod. Like humans, whales and orcas move through life alongside family and friends. But instead of GPS, they navigate with sound through echolocation, even in the empty darkness of the deep. Whales have been recorded calling to each other between Britain and the Carribean. The voices of humpbacks are so powerful that one note could travel the globe, says expert Wally Franklin, who has been studying whales for 30 years up north at Hervey Bay. Our first sense is our eyes, he says. For whales, they start at their ears. But sometimes, something throws off this well-honed sonar and leads the whales astray, to where they were never made to go: land. A rescue team at Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania on September 24. Credit:Getty Images Why whales beach themselves is still largely a mystery, even after centuries of recorded strandings. Now, as humans deplete fish stocks and make noise of our own in the oceans, as water temperatures rise and ocean currents change, these events seem to be happening more and more. In September 2020, more than 500 pilot whales washed up in Tasmanias remote and treacherous Macquarie Harbour the largest stranding in Australias history. Five long days of gruelling rescue efforts sent more than 100 back out to sea. Some survived; others returned to strand again alongside their beached pod. For the whales themselves, marine biologist Olaf Meynecke describes a mass stranding like this: imagine trying to find a door in a pitch black room while hearing your loved ones screaming for help on the other side. When one whale gets into trouble, it calls, he says. Like we would, some whales will choose their relatives over their own survival; theyll try to reach them. The calls they make are very disturbing. Theyre not normal calls. You can hear it in their voice, the distress. Advertisement So how do strandings happen? What goes on during a rescue? And are we getting any better at saving whales? (And a warning: this content may be distressing) What are the likely causes of strandings? Whales can strand alone, often sick and unable to keep swimming. A sperm whale might wash up with a belly full of plastic. Or animals can strand in groups, as commonly happens with pilot whales and other orcas such as killer whales. The biggest stranding on record involved more than 1000 pilot whales in New Zealand in 1918. Marine scientist Vanessa Pirotta says there are plenty of theories, from misadventure to navigation errors. Food shortages could be to blame, forcing whales to travel into less familiar waters to chase prey closer to shore, as could a flight from predators, poor weather or changes to the nutrient-rich sea currents that whales follow around the world. Earthquakes, solar flares and noise pollution from military sonar have also been linked to strandings. Since navies began using sonar to guide their submarines in the 1960s, researchers have found 12 mass strandings of beaked whales coincided with naval exercises, while 27 others involving the species happened near a naval base or ship. Another study suggested exposure to this sonar could even explain why some stranded beaked whales had shown signs of decompression sickness, known as the bends, commonly experienced by scuba divers and astronauts. When it comes to big events, experts theorise it could simply be a case of follow the leader taking a wrong turn. Perhaps a sick or confused matriarch wanders into dangerous waters. Advertisement But Meynecke notes that a pod of hundreds is not typically led by one leader. Pilot whales do form bigger groups than a lot of other whales, but usually they have a core group, about 20 or 30, and they come together as a big pod to mate, sometimes to hunt. Its like high school, he says: there are cliques. And that means mass strandings of this scale happen in more of a chain reaction than one mad rush. They never all beach together. Some come in, and then later, hours, even days on, more come. Whales, such as this humpback calf, can communicate with each other over vast distances. But noise pollution is making it harder for them to hear one other. Credit:Shutterstock In such a case, he says, many subgroups may have come together and the leader of one, perhaps confused or starving, may have led her own companions astray. Those whales might be close to some in another subgroup, so those ones come and then others wont leave them, so they come, one after the other, until theres chaos. Pilot whales, he says, are the masters of strandings. You might have one or two humpbacks, but with pilots its often whole groups. Sometimes a sick animal will move to shallow water to try to survive. Whales are marine mammals after all they breathe air. And that makes them as afraid of drowning as we are, Franklin says. Workers cover a beached pilot whale (but not its blowhole) to keep the sun off as they attempt to rescue it after a mass stranding at Marion Bay, Tasmania, in 2005. Credit:Getty Images Advertisement How does a huge whale even get onto a beach? Whales do not normally venture into shallow water. Theres no food there, apart from the odd errant squid. But some stretches of coast can trap them in the geography, with waters shifting suddenly from deep water to sand banks and mud. In another very rare event in September 2020, three humpback whales took a wrong turn inland and ended up in a Northern Territory river filled with crocodiles. Two quickly turned back out to sea, but one whale travelled upstream more than 30 kilometres before returning safely to the open ocean more than a week later, at high tide, under the anxious gaze of rangers. Loading Their echolocation works best when theyre in the open ocean or where theres hard rocks to bounce off, Meynecke says. Sand banks absorb their sonar too fast, so they have to get very close to know it's there. By the time the whales realise they have strayed too far, they are trapped. They dont know where to go, or how to get out; they run out of water. They panic. In Hervey Bay, Franklin and his wife, Trish, have studied humpback whale mothers teaching their young to navigate the shallows without beaching. Tasmania and neighbouring New Zealand are hotspots for mass strandings the site of the September pilot whale stranding, Macquarie Harbour, is notoriously treacherous for boats, let alone whales. Nic Deka, who led the rescue there for Tasmanias Parks and Wildlife Service, said the remoteness of the inlet made it difficult to get equipment and crews into the water so he thought it unlikely that extra resources could have saved more of the animals. Advertisement The whales stranded on a sandbank at Macquarie Harbour off Strahan in September. Credit:Getty Images Why is it so hard to save them? Imagine youre on an alien planet without a spacesuit. You can breathe but gravity is crushing your lungs against your chest.Not only that but the radiation of the sun is so strong that your skin is dry and youre boiling hot. You dont know where you are or how to get home. You cant even move. Thats how whales might feel on shore. And from the moment they wash up, they are running out of time. In the case of larger whales, Meynecke says their bones can break as their own weight crushes them. The sun is always a big problem. Whales cant sweat, they cant cool themselves down, and especially these pilot whales, theyre black, they will overheat very fast. The whales can also drown on the beach if they are leaning with their blowhole underwater. They dont have hands, they cant roll themselves over, Meynecke says. When the tide comes up, sometimes people have to move them so they can breathe, and youll just see this desperate run from one animal to the next, trying to tip them over. Advertisement 11.35pm: 43, female. Cough, fever for 3 days 11.35pm: Sharing her CT scan. Can radiologist look n help in severity grading? Seems mild to mod covid. advertisement advertisement Shridhar Singh wasnt sure if the woman sitting across the table from him had covid-19. The orthopaedic surgeon at the government hospital in Jammu and Kashmirs (J&Ks) Budgam district sent his query and the CT scan on COVID CLINIC I, a WhatsApp group of over 250 doctors from J&K and Ladakh. The woman had complained of a constant headache and had a runny nose. The rapid antigen test was negative. But Dr Singh wasnt convinced. He ran a CT scan, which seemed to indicate a mild infection, but as a doctor whose speciality is the musculoskeletal system, he wasnt completely confident of his reading of the lungs. So, he consulted the WhatsApp group. The reply came within 30 seconds. advertisement advertisement 11.35pm: CT SEVERITY SCORE IS 10...MODERATE CASE A RT-PCR test confirmed the patient indeed had a moderate case of covid-19. COVID CLINIC I has become the go-to helpline for doctors in J&K, who have been without high-speed internet for more than a year and feel a heightened need for connectivity while treating a new disease. It was created by a group of doctors on 15 July as an active community of medical experts to inform, update and help each other deal with queries, doubts and the crisis brought on by the pandemic. One moment, a physician in Pulwama is asking if Favipiravir can be used for covid-19 pneumonia, the next, a Srinagar-based cardiologist is sharing an article on how covid-19 ravages the body. This is followed by a query from a Leh-based pulmonologist about whether to recommend home isolation or hospital admission for a case. Minutes into the WhatsApp group, you know you are in a war zone, fighting an invisible enemybut with lifelines of support from afar. advertisement advertisement The medical community has come to depend on such WhatsApp and Telegram groups and Zoom webinars for updates on the latest research and medical developments during the pandemic. Unlike medical experts in other regions who are able to monitor real-time global breakthroughs, and share the treatment responses of patients, front-line workers in J&K are engaged in a more complex battle. Ever since Parliament effectively revoked Article 370 of the Constitution and turned it into a Union territory last year, J&K has been living on 2G. We have broadband at home but when we are at work its all 2G. Thats why the WhatsApp solution came into being, says Nasir Shamas, one of the doctors who came up with the idea of forming COVID CLINIC I and COVID CLINIC II, another group formed to expand the network since WhatsApp doesnt allow more than 256 members on a group. advertisement advertisement Besides treating those hospitalized, the doctors also use WhatsApp to address peoples concerns through direct phone calls and WhatsApp messages. The combined effort of all doctors has helped us keep up the fight, adds Dr Shamas, a consultant physician at Srinagars Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Hospital covid-19 facility. The groups are especially useful for junior doctors or those from different fields who may not be fully equipped to diagnose whether the patient in front of them is infected with the virus. We all started preparing for the virus early March but you cant increase medical capabilities in a span of five-six months. You cant expect an anaesthesiologist to quickly shift to taking care of patients on ventilators. It takes years. For an ortho like me, sometimes it becomes very difficult to figure out if a patient has covid. This is where COVID CLINIC comes to my rescue, says Dr Singh. advertisement advertisement These groups are like a virtual classroom, explains Seema Hamid, who has been part of COVID CLINIC I from Day 1. We share whatever information we receive from fellow doctors. If I speak to a doctor in Delhi or the US, I will share it in the group so that the members know about it and they share it with people outside, adds Dr Hamid, the medical officer in charge of the urban primary health centre in Sangam, a rural cluster of 4,000 people near Srinagar. There was one occasion, for instance, when two patients tested negative for covid-19 in a rapid test. Unconvinced, Dr Hamid turned to the group for help. I had just recovered from covid myself and I wasnt sure. They suggested another test and eventually results turned out positive, she recalls. Its during these moments that you realize you are not alone despite being so far from each other and not being able to see each others faces. advertisement advertisement When you see a patient who is breathless, you try to give them oxygen. But when even that doesnt work, what do you do? You lack experience and you dont have the signal on your phone to google or video-call your senior. You feel helpless. Thats when these chats help, explains Dr Hamid. WhatsApp networking, along with government efforts and initiatives by mohalla communities to raise funds for medical supplies like ventilators and create awareness about the virus, seems to have had an impact. Despite a surge in mortalities and number of positive cases in J&K, the recovery rate in August jumped to 70%, from 60% a month earlier. Till 31 August, of the total 37,698 cases, 29,015 people had been cured and discharged. advertisement advertisement A strong community also helps in dealing with the mental stress that comes with fighting the pandemicparticularly if front-line workers cannot see the faces of friends and family even on video-call at a time when India is reporting the worlds second highest number of novel coronavirus cases, and J&K itself has been recording more than 1,000 cases daily over the past week. About 300km from Srinagar, in Jammus Doda district, a young MBBS doctor at a government hospital, who doesnt wish to be named, says he has been struggling with the influx of patients for the past few months. Hes among the six doctors at a hospital that caters to a population of about 100,000. advertisement advertisement We see so many patients every day, theres a strong possibility we might miss something, he says. Our WhatsApp group is helping us but fast and stable internet would have allowed us to stay connected with them over a video call and that would have ensured a better diagnosis. The added stress of exposing his two young children at home to the virus also keeps him awake at night. When I reach home after my shift, I see them waiting for me at the door and I cant even hug them. Its heartbreaking, he says. Its during such moments that the doctor community on the two WhatsApp groups helps bolster morale. Knowing that there are people with me all the time and they are facing similar challenges gives me strength, he says. For Dr Singh too, the nights are difficult. My family is in Delhi. Most of the time, the net connection doesnt support video calls, he says. We are fighting something we have never ever seen and its not even visible. Is it too much to ask that we at least see each others faces? Yales premier art galleries on Chapel Street announced a phased reopening the other day after more than a six-month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art both said they were opening their doors Friday, Sept. 25, for the first time since March with new safety measures and reduced visitor capacity. Following Yale University protocols, the phases of YUAGs opening include access to three special exhibitions on Fridays 3-7 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays noon to 4 only. The permanent collection galleries will remain closed for now, according to the Yale release. The British art center will also be open only weekends; new temporary hours are from noon to 7 p.m. Fridays and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Both galleries said visitors may reserve a free timed-entry ticket on the centers websites, artgallery.yale.edu or britishart.yale.edu. A limited number of walk-up tickets may be available on a first-come-first-serve basis but advance tickets are highly recommended. Masks, one-way paths and social distancing are also. Noonan in Fairfield forum Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Wall Street Journal Peggy Noonan will be the first speaker in this seasons Women and Leadership series as part of the Open Visions Forum at Fairfield University at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2. Noonans presentation, Finding the Moral High Ground/Challenges for USAs Reboot, will take place in a virtual format, with registration at $20 through quickcenter.com. A political analyst for NBC News and seen on Meet the Press, Noonan will answer questions about the upcoming presidential election and address long-term concerns for the future of our nation. How CIA Directors Shape History The Jackson Institute for Global Affairs will host an online discussion with author, journalist and Yale alum Chris Whipple about his new book, The Spymasters: How CIA Directors Shape History and the Future at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1. Asha Rangappa, Jackson senior lecturer and a former FBI agent, will moderate the discussion. Whipple is also a documentary filmmaker and multiple Peabody and Emmy Award-winning producer at CBSs 60 Minutes and ABCs Primetime: and is a frequent guest on MSNBC and CNN. His previous book was The Gatekeepers and he was executive producer and writer of Showtimes The Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs. Kids TV at 3 a.m.? New channel is 24/7 Connecticut Public has announced the launch of a new, free, childrens service - CPTV PBS Kids 24/7, available on several platforms including many cable systems and over-the-air channel 24.2. The channel will be on 24 hours a day, seven days per week, ensuring that age-appropriate, educational content is available to all children and caregivers on a platform and at a time that works for them, including prime time and other out-of-school times, according to a CPTV release. This initiative allows us to reach more than 500,000 underserved households throughout Connecticut, said Connecticut Public President and CEO Mark Contreras. Parents and students can access this rich educational material with or without Internet access. The services channel also is supplemented by online tools, games and activities designed for teachers, parents and caregivers to extend learning at home for ages 2-8. They can be found at the Connecticut Public learning portal at ctpublic.org/learn-at-home. Timberlakes Skunk & Badger Amy Timberlake, author of the new kids book Skunk and Badger, will appear in a virtual event for RJ Julia Monday, Sept. 28, at 4:30 p.m. The book is a Fall Kids Indie Next Pick. Its about peace-and-quiet-loving Badger, a ukulele-playing rock scientist, having to room with energetic Skunk. As the publisher puts it, the story is filled with Important Rock Work, mostly vegan cooking, bookstores for chickens, the New Yak Times, ukulele music and, of course, your favorite new odd couple... Which house inspired Witch? Speaking of books, parents of kids of a certain age will know the book The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Well, the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum (on Main Street in Wethersfield) will open the beloved Buttolph-Williams House (on nearby Broad Street) for public tours for the month of October, officials have announced. Author Elizabeth George Speare, a resident of Wethersfield, used the medieval-looking house (c. 1711) as the setting for her Newbery Medal-winning book, The Witch of Blackbird Pond. The book is the basis for an education programs at WDS and has been read by generations of school children, notes a WDS release. Tours are offered at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and Sundays at 1 and 3 p.m. by advance registration. Call Acting Co-Director Cynthia Riccio at 860-529-0612, ext. 12, or email criccio@webb-deane-stevens.org. Admission is $10, with face masks. Time Traveling Trash Panda It doesnt exactly roll off the tongue, but Ricky the Time Traveling Trash Panda does spur curiosity. The new, first novel comes from Kent Golden of Woodbridge, who is senior instructor of interactive media and design at Quinnipiac University, according to a QU release. The story follows Ricky the raccoon working his mission of saving the planet from the impending climate disaster with the help of another raccoon, Monique, and a young human girl named Emma. On the surface this might seem like just a fun adventure book about a bunch of animals, says Golden, but its actually very deep in terms of the moral messages related to animals and the future of our planet. My hope is that when someone reads this story, apart from simply enjoying a fun adventure, it helps them to question their own choices in daily life that impact both animals and the planet. DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The iconic Guinness and Carhartt brands are teaming up once again to release a legendary, limited-edition fall collection. The Guinness x Carhartt Heritage Collection features rare, archival Guinness logo designs that date back to the 19th and early 20th centuries, printed on premium Carhartt workwear items. Guinness x Carhartt Heritage Collection The exclusive collection is available for a limited time starting on Wednesday, September 30 at Carhartt.com and in limited quantities at select Carhartt retail stores. Items available for purchase include Carhartt men's and women's long- and short-sleeve shirts, hoodies, beanies, aprons and a beer sling. Each piece delivers on the quality consumers have come to expect from Carhartt, while encompassing the true spirit of Guinness. With a combined 392-year history, Guinness and Carhartt have bonded over their shared values of goodness, communion and hard work built over generations. This latest collection marks the third collaboration between the two companies, and honors the heritage, craftsmanship and spirit that define them both. Starting today, nine lucky prize winners will have the opportunity to win a bundle of gear from the Guinness x Carhartt Heritage Collection through giveaways* hosted on the Guinness US social channels. To enter, fans who are 21 and older can visit @GuinnessUS on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The prize bundles are comprised of a limited-edition hoodie, long-sleeve shirt, short-sleeve shirt and beanie hat. The history of the Heritage Collection logo designs traces back to the brewery's first 200 years (1759-1959), before Guinness started bottling its beers on-site at the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin. Instead of purchasing Guinness in bottles or cans, local pub owners in Ireland and Great Britain would purchase Guinness in wooden casks and bottle it on their own premises. The Guinness Brewery would issue personalized labels for those pub owners to affix to their own bottles. In overseas markets, Guinness worked with third-party bottling companies to bottle and distribute Guinness Stout around the world. The export bottlers would add their own symbol to the Guinness label to distinguish their bottles and territories. The symbols, many of which were animals, also served as simple identifiers for those who couldn't read English or pronounce the curious "Guinness" name. The Guinness Archives at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin contains thousands of examples of these personalized Guinness bottling labels. The Carhartt x Guinness Heritage Collection contains five designs from the Archives: the Guinness Porter label from Ireland; and the Rooster, Pig, Wolf and O'Brien's Dagger brand labels from overseas bottlers. About Guinness The Guinness brand was established in 1759, when Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin. Brewed using four main ingredients, water, barley (malted & roasted), hops and yeast, Guinness is the world's most popular stout. The iconic beer is brewed in 49 countries worldwide and sold in over 150 with almost 9 million glasses of Guinness enjoyed every day around the world. The most GUINNESS beer is sold in Great Britain, Ireland, USA, Nigeria and Cameroon. More information can be found at www.guinness.com. About Carhartt, Inc. Established in 1889, Carhartt is a global premium workwear brand with a rich heritage of developing rugged products for workers on and off the job. Headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, with more than 5,500 associates worldwide, Carhartt is family-owned and managed by the descendants of the company's founder, Hamilton Carhartt. For more information, visit www.carhartt.com. * NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE 21 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AND A LEGAL U.S. RESIDENT. Social media account required. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. Giveaways begin on September 23, 2020 at or after 12:00 p.m. (noon) Eastern Time (ET) and will end on September 29, 2020 at 11:59:59 a.m. ET. The giveaway on each social media platform is independent of the other (2) giveaways; (3) prizes are offered in each giveaway. Limit (1) prize per family/household/address in all giveaways. For Official Rules for each giveaway (including how to enter and prize descriptions), visit @GuinnessUS on Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter. Sponsor: Diageo Beer Company, USA. New York, NY. MEDIA CONTACTS: Stefanie Moody, TAYLOR (704) 644-6909 [email protected] Kelly Pepe, DIAGEO (908) 902-4435 [email protected] SOURCE Diageo Beer Company USA New Delhi, Sep 25 : Names of three supporters of Khalistan movement, a Sikh separatist movement, and Pakistan intelligence agency ISI have cropped up in a disclosure statement of an accused in the charge sheet filed by Delhi Police Special Cell in the riots case. Alleged involvement of Pakistan ISI and Khalistan movement supporters surfaced in the supplementary disclosure statement given by accused Athar Khan, who has been charged with the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, to the police on August 25. According to the Indian Evidence Act, such confessions recorded by police officers are inadmissible as evidence. These statements can only be used to prove the contradictions and cannot be used against the accused in the criminal cases. The 25-year-old accused said that one of his acquaintances Rizwan Siddiqui, on February 10-11, told him and others that he had met Khalistan movement supporters Bagicha Singh and Lavpreet Singh at Shaheen Bagh protest site, who used to work on the mission against India. Athar Khan went on to say, "Bagicha Singh and Lavpreet Singh claimed to have support of Pakistan ISI and said that the agency has sent a message that Khalistan supporters should also support the protests against CAA and NRC and help people in their fight against the government." "Rizwan told us that these people (Khalistan movement supporters) have promised to support us in the riots and will send one of their men to our protest site. After 8-10 days, one Jabarjang Singh came to the Chand Bagh protest site and said that he had been sent by Bagicha Singh. He also gave a speech against the government from the dias," Khan added in his statement. Athar Khan, a resident of Delhi's Chand Bagh area which also saw wide-spread riots, was arrested on July 2 in the case pertaining to conspiracy angle behind the riots. Clashes between the citizenship law supporters and protesters had spiraled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured. The statement is a part of the voluminous charge sheet filed by the police against him and 14 other accused under various sections of UAPA, Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act on September 16. Besides him, the charge sheet names Tahir Hussain, Safoora Zargar, Gulfisha Khatoon, Devangana Kalita, Shafa-ur-Rehman, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Ishrat Jahan, Meeran Haidar, Shadab Ahamd, Talsim Ahmad, Saleem Malik and Mohammed Salim Khan. Tahir Hussain has been named as a main accused in the charge sheet. The charge sheet, however, does not name Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Mohammed Pervez Ahmad, Mohammed Ilyas, Danish and Faizal Khan. Their names will be added in the supplementary charge sheet. (Aakanksha Khajuria can be contacted at aakanksha.k@ians.in) The Bombay High Court (BHC) has invited online applications from eligible and interested candidates for filling One Hundred Eleven (111) vacancies to the post of System Officers and Senior System Officers to be posted under the Bombay High Court in Maharashtra, India on a fulltime basis through direct recruitment. The registration-cum-application process towards the same started on September 24, 2020 and closes on October 8, 2020 as stated in the Bombay High Court notification. CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts System Officers and Senior System Officers Organisation Bombay High Court Educational Qualification Degree of B.E./B.Tech. in Computer Science/Engineering or Information Technology or Electronic Engineering/MCA or equivalent qualification; Network Certifications Experience One to five years in a relevant domain Job Responsibilities null Skills Required Desirable Job Location Maharashtra Salary Scale In the range Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 46,000 per month Industry Judiciary Application Start Date September 24, 2020 Application End Date October 8, 2020 Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020: Age And Fees Candidates interested in applying for System Officers posts through Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020 must not have exceeded 40 years of age (45 years for SC/ST/Backward communities) as on the date of the publication of Advertisement as mentioned in the Bombay High Court notification. For details regarding application fee for System Officers posts through Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020, refer to the official Bombay High Court notification given at the end of the article. RITES Recruitment 2020 For 30 Diesel Loco Maintenance Staff Posts, Apply Offline Before November 30 Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020: Bombay High Court Vacancy Post Name No. Of Vacancies System Officers 80 Senior System Officers 31 Total 111 Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020: Educational Eligibility And Experience Candidates interested in applying for System Officers posts through Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020 must possess a Degree of B.E./B.Tech. in Computer Science/Engineering or Information Technology or Electronic Engineering/MCA or equivalent qualification from a recognised University/Institution with one to five years' work experience in concerned area as specified in Bombay High Court notification. Candidates must also possess Network Certifications as stated in the Bombay High Court notification. Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020: Selection The selection of candidates to for System Officers posts through Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020 will be done through Shortlisting, Written Test/Exam and Interview as specified in Bombay High Court notification. Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020: Pay Scale Candidates selected to System Officers posts through Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020 will be paid emolument in the range of Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 46,000 per month as notified in Bombay High Court notification. Rajasthan High Court Recruitment 2020 For 1,760 JA, Jr. JA And Clerk Posts, Apply Online From Oct 1 Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020: How To Apply Candidates interested in applying for System Officers posts through Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020 must register online on the official Bombay High Court website and submit their applications on or before October 8, 2020 as notified in Bombay High Court notification. Download Bombay High Court Recruitment 2020 PDF Notification for System Officers 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. 2.17pm Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces that states and territories will quarantine all airport arrivals in "hotels and other accommodation facilities" from 11.59pm on Saturday, March 28. "We will be supporting them also by providing members of the Australian Defence Force to assist in the compliance with these arrangements." 3.11pm Premier Daniel Andrews announces hotel quarantine. "Police, private security all of our health team will be able to monitor compliance in a much easier way in a static location, one hotel or a series of hotels as the case may be." 4pm Victorian Secretaries Board (VSB) meeting. Ashton and Eccles present. In notes of the meeting, GA (Ashton) writes: Challenge will be static presence over a long period of time will end up with some private contractor or else ADF ideally CE [Eccles] I assume a private contractor. 4.30pm First hotel quarantine meeting. Tele-conference between Crisp, Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions executive Claire Febey, Assistant Commissioner Mick Grainger, ADF Colonel John Molnar and others. In the transcript of the recorded meeting Crisp says: "The ADF will be doing just exactly what they're doing at the moment, helping us to plan for this particular operation. So at this stage we don't see a need for boots on the ground, so to speak." 5.20pm Crisp texts Grainger: "I stepped out to speak to Graham and I let him know you're in this meeting as he's only just come out of VSB. He made it clear in VSB that private security is the first security option at hotels/hotels and not police." Transcript of tele-conference: 10.11pm WhatsApp messages between Jobs Department staff finding security firms to supply guards: "Unified had just received all of the contracts for woolies, Dan Murphys, bws and fourth in the chain in reg vic. So growing and showing capability. Plus doing a lot in inclusion pre working with us. Id add to list." Saturday, March 28 6.40am Email from Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent to Grainger and then-Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton. 9.30am - Daniel Andrews provides detailed announcement on the scheme in Victoria where he says the ADF might provide assistance. 6.15pm State Control Centre hosts a meeting between Crisp, the ADFs John Molnar and the other agencies running hotel quarantine. The transcript reads: March 29. 9am First group of returned travellers placed in quarantine. A Defence Minister media release reads: "The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has deployed teams across the country to work in partnership with state and territory law enforcement agencies to conduct COVID-19 quarantine compliance checks. The ADF will provide logistics support for the state and territory police as they enforce mandatory quarantine and isolation measures. The ADF is working with other state and territory authorities to determine their support requirements and stand ready to provide that support at short notice." 8.02pm Email from Claire Febey, Jobs Department, to deputy state controller Chris Eagles and state controller Jason Helps: "Can I please request urgent action by DHHS to resolve four issues [on the] presence of Vic Pol and DHHS at our Crown Promenade and Crown Metropole (and future properties) overnight. We request that Victoria Police is present 24/7 at each hotel, starting from this evening ... Private security contractors have no powers to exercise and have been instructed only to monitor and escalate issues to Victoria Police. Thus a permanent presence is necessary rather than patrols or an on-call presence both immediately and for the duration of quarantine. DJPR has no powers to negotiate this so request this is urgently managed by DHHS." April 8 Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Phil Gaetjens, email to Eccles: "On the question of assistance with security, I am advised the only deal with NSW was in-kind provision of ADF personnel. I am sure the Commonwealth would be willing to assist Victoria if you wanted to reconsider your operating model. Eccles replies: thanks Phil." April 9 4.54pm Deputy Public Health Commander Finn Romanes email to state controllers Andrea Spiteri and Chris Eagles. Copied in are DHHS commanders, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and then-deputy chief health officer Annaliese van Diemen: "There appears to be a lack of a unified plan for this program, and there is considerable concern that the lead roles have not had an opportunity to be satisfied there is a policy and set of processes to manage the healthcare and welfare of detainees, for whom this program is accountable. There are now a considerable complexity and considerable risk that unless governance and plan issues are addressed there will be a risk to the health and safety of detainees." 7.01pm Dozens of suspected COVID cases coming from a flight from Uruguay. Health Department Secretary Kym Peake email to van Diemen, deputy secretary Melissa Skilbeck and Sutton: "Premier has requested that we use a hotel that is close to the airport, not in the CBD. If possible could we say tonight which hotel that would be?" 7.44pm Skilbeck to Spiteri, van Diemen: "We have one contracted hotel who is ready and willing and able to accept COVID-positive guests Rydges Swanston Street. At this late stage of planning it would be risky to seek to convince another hotel to contract to take such guests. Regards, Melissa." April 11 5.30pm Authorised officer, nurse and security guard break into a room in the Pan Pacific and find a returned traveller deceased. Suspected suicide. Peake refers the death to Safer Care Victoria to undertake a review. April 13 6pm Elderly returned traveller hospitalised after ambulance cancelled by medical staff in hotel 24-hours earlier. The COVID-positive man required intubation in intensive care. April 14 Another security complaint to DJPR: "I have guest [redacted] Crown Plaza 813 that has received an inappropriate note under her door from a security guard. The note said something like Hey hun, add me on snapchat she looked up his name and looked up on Facebook and its a security guard and wants to complain." May 1 10.41am Safer Care Victorias Professor Euan Wallace investigating two incidents in quarantine. Email to Skilbeck: "Melissa We are working through reviews of some key incidents in the hotels. The reviews are throwing up a number of issues, not wholly unexpectedly, including the fundamental question regarding "overall responsibility". In essence, who is responsible for the quarantined detainees. There is not a consensus on this and lack of consensus/clarity fundamentally undermines governance and decisions May I see your advice? Euan." May 5 Infection Prevention Australia review into use of PPE across all hotels identified overuse of PPE and hand hygiene as main areas of non-compliance by workforces. May 18 Quarantine detainee (Stamford Plaza) Liliana Ratcliff lodges complaint on DHHS website. "We are more likely to catch COVID-19 by being locked in a hotel with other returned travellers than if we were allowed to quarantine at home ... I am concerned about the nurses travelling room to room with the same car, the same face masks etc ... I want my concerns to be answered by a senior health worker with experience in healthcare. These are genuine concerns as both a human being, and a health professional." May 21 9.21pm Health Department Commander Merrin Bamert responds to issues raised by Safer Care officials from April incidents."This operation was being managed out of a range of sites with no clear operational structure" May 26 First case of COVID-19 from a hotel employee at the Rydges on Swanston. Second case is a security guard, tested the same day. Minister Mikakos office is notified. May 27 Outbreak squad finds the hotel and security staffs comprehension about hand hygiene, PPE and infection prevention control was poor. June 4 Quarantined travellers are moved from Rydges, hotel is shut down until end of June. Mid-June Health Minister Jenny Mikakos requests her department find alternative workforce to security guards. June 17 Notification of first Stamford Plaza COVID-19 case, a security guard. Public health interim report finds hotel personnel and security contractors received no adequate education in hand hygiene and PPE, and records physical distancing breaches by guards. Outbreak squad finds these issues increased or didnt sufficiently guard against the risk of COVID-19 transmission. June 24 Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp requests 850 ADF personnel. June 25 Police Minister Lisa Neville and Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp exchange messages over the prospect of ADF personnel working at quarantine hotels: Concerns were also raised in correspondence between Justice Department secretary Rebecca Falkingham and Health Department secretary Kym Peake: June 27 Prominent human rights lawyer Hugh de Krester among first returned travellers to be detained in re-opened Rydges. Room is unclean. Finds plastic gloves and face mask near the bed, food crumbs on floor and stains on doonas. Rubbish left in Hugh de Kretser's room at the Rydges hotel. A discarded glove Mr de Kretser found on the floor of his dirty hotel room. Crisis Council of Cabinet decides Corrections Victoria staff will replace guards and full responsibility for hotel quarantine transferred to the Department of Justice and Community Safety. June 30 Premier announces suspension of international flights arriving in Melbourne from July 2. July 2 Premier announces inquiry into the hotel quarantine program. "It is abundantly clear that what has gone on here is completely unacceptable and we need to know exactly what has happened," Andrews said. Justice [Jennifer] Coate is one of Australias most experienced jurists every Victorian can be confident that she will oversee a thorough and independent inquiry to deliver the answers that Victorians deserve." New Delhi, Sep 25 : The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) on Friday opposed the Agriculture Bills, saying it was an attempt to break the 'mandi system and abolish MSP (Minimum Support Price). Farmers have come out on the streets on the call for a 'Bharat Bandh' by several farmers' organizations, including the BKU. Most of the farmers of Punjab and Haryana are opposing these Bills. The BKU (Haryana) state president Guram Singh addressed farmers at Pinjore in Panchkula district. Speaking to the media, he said: "Through these Bills, they (the Central government) have set up the structure to break the mandis and abolish the MSP." Giving the example of Bihar, he said that farmers in Bihar do not get the benefit of MSP and in future Punjab and Haryana will also do the same. "Farmers will be destroyed due to non-sale of food grains on MSP," he said. The BKU leader said this while referring to the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act which was abolished in 2006 by the Bihar government. Guram Singh said that Friday's 'Bharat Bandh' is getting full support from the farmers. Opposing the Agriculture Bills, he said they would affect the market's middlemen, small businessmen, farmers and labourers, and only a handful of people would benefit from them. He said that through these Bills, the central government has worked to benefit the corporates. Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, the state president of the BKU in Punjab, told IANS that if the central government thought about the interests of farmers, the Bills would have provided a guarantee of MSP for all crops. He said that the provisions of corporate formulation made in the Bill will increase the interference of corporates in farming and will benefit multinationals. Various farmers' organisations including the BKU are protesting against the Agriculture Bills across the country. Farmers' organisations, especially those associated with the opposition parties, are opposing these Bills. The Bills including the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Agricultural Services Bill 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill-2020 have been approved by Parliament. These three Bills will replace the three ordinances promulgated on June 5. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! The DNA samples of three men who were killed in an alleged fake encounter with the Army in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district in July have matched with their families from Rajouri, a senior police officer said on Friday. Asked whether the three men were indeed labourers, as claimed by their families, and not involved in terrorist activities, he said it is a matter of further investigation. On July 18, the Army had claimed three terrorists were killed in Amshipura village in the higher reaches of south Kashmir's Shopian. It initiated an inquiry after social media reports indicated that the three men were from Rajouri and had gone missing in Amshipura. The families of the three men claimed they worked as labourers in Shopian and lodged a police complaint. The police also launched an investigation and collected the DNA samples of the three families from Rajouri to match with the slain men. "The DNA report has come and matching has taken place," Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar told reporters in Srinagar. Asked if he meant that the DNA samples of the three men have matched with the families from Rajouri, he said, "There is positive matching with the families from Rajouri." On whether it had been established that the three men were labourers and not involved in any terrorist activities, Kumar said, "The police are now taking up further investigations in the case." The Army completed its inquiry into the matter in a record four weeks. On September 18, the force said it had found 'prima facie' evidence that its troops 'exceeded' powers under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) during the encounter and has initiated disciplinary proceedings. Meanwhile, after the DNA test results were announced, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Friday questioned the official version that arms and ammunition were recovered from the Shopian encounter site in July. 'According to this official version, 'incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition, were recovered from the site of encounter'. So who planted this 'incriminating material'' Omar said in a tweet. 'These young men were buried somewhere in North Kashmir. It is imperative that the bodies be exhumed & handed over to the families immediately so that a proper burial can take place near their homes in Rojouri district,' Omar, who is also the National Conference vice president, said. Sajad Lone, chairman of People's Conference, said he did not expect anything to change due to the latest developments as such cases have happened in the past as well. 'Will there be any change? Will the sanctity of human life be restored? No. nothing will change. This encounter was exposed by our media forcing initiation of investigation. As hiding it in today's digital age was not possible. My thoughts with the 3 men murdered in cold blood,' Lone wrote on Twitter. 'Had this been the first time, one could have hoped it won't happen again. It is not the first time and not the last time. There is no deterrence and in Delhi there is a lot of tolerance for HR violations in Kashmir. Justice will be ornamental unless it is divine,' he added. Kyle Richards' bizarre search for her stolen ring has hit a serious road block after a TikTok user came forward to identify the mysterious 'psychic' who was believed to be wearing the heirloom, insisting that the woman in question is her grandmother who has owned the accessory 'for decades'. Richards, 51, sparked a flurry of interest and intrigue on Thursday night when she detailed her shock at seeing what she thought was her stolen valuable on the finger of a psychic whose hands had been photographed by Oscar-winner Diane Keaton in July 2019. While the woman in question was believed to be a Santa Monica fortune teller, one young woman by the name of Maddie has now come forward to refute that suggestion, claiming that the woman photographed by Keaton is actually her pharmacist grandmother. The real story? A TikTok user has come forward to claim that the 'psychic' Kyle Richards believed was wearing her stolen ring is actually her grandmother - who works in a pharmacy The truth: Maddie explained that her grandmother has 'had the ring for decades' and shared old images of her hands to prove the bauble belongs to her; Richards' ring was stolen in 2017 Same same? The TikToker shared this photo of her grandmother's hands, which appear to feature the same ring - and the same unique black nails that appeared in the original photo Maddie, who is understood to live in California, took to TikTok late on Thursday night to share her version of the story, explaining that she came across the image of her grandmother's hands on Keaton's Instagram Stories - and was shocked to learn of the bizarre story behind it. 'I just want to clear things up,' she said, while pointing at a screengrab of Keaton's post - which Richards' believed showed a psychic wearing her mother's stolen ring. 'This ring right there, that's my grandma's ring. She has been working in a pharmacy for over 50 years [and] has had those rings for decades.' Maddie then proceeded to share other images of her grandmother's hands to prove that she is actually the woman in Keaton's photograph. 'These are my grandma's hands at my fifth-grade graduation, and there's the ring you've been talking about,' the TikTok user said. In the images, a pair of hands can be seen wearing the same chunky accessories that were pictured on the woman in Keaton's Instagram post, and the woman in Maddie's photos is also modeling the same long black nails that first prompted the actress to take her picture in the first place. Maddie tagged Richards in her video caption, and told her to get in touch if she 'wants any more info' - while also adding the hashtag #notafortuneteller for good measure. It is unclear exactly how Keaton came to believe that the woman she photographed last year was a 'fortune teller' as she wrote in her post. Maddie's video comes just hours after Richards offered what she thought was new evidence in her desperate hunt for her mother's stolen ring - an image of the bauble in her collection before it was robbed - which she used to try and prove it is the same design she spotted on the hand of the woman in Keaton's snap. The bizarre mystery prompted a slew of speculation after Richards detailed her shock at seeing what she thought was her stolen valuable in a social media snap shared by Keaton back in 2019 - two years after her ring was taken from her California mansion as part of a $1 million jewelry heist. Richards made the claim during the latest Secrets Revealed special of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and shortly after took to Instagram to shed further light on the 'crazy story' by sharing an image of the beloved heirloom in her jewelry box and comparing it to the bauble that was photographed by Keaton on the finger of a woman in Santa Monica. Mystery solved? Richards, 51, sparked interest and intrigue on Thursday when she claimed that she had spotted her stolen ring in an Instagram photo shared by Diane Keaton Miss: The RHOBH star shared these side-by-side comparison photos of the ring in Keaton's image (left) and her stolen heirloom (right) to try and prove that they are one and the same Proof? The Real Housewives star revealed that the ring had been given to her mother Kathleen by her dad, and claimed the ring in Keaton's photo had gold 'rubbed off' in the same spot 'I got a lot of questions about the Secrets Revealed episode last night and the story about my mom's ring being stolen and my seeing the stolen ring on Diane Keaton's Instagram,' Richards explained in an Instagram Stories video. 'It is such a crazy story but I will post the picture that Diane posted and a picture of my mom's ring.' Richards then shared a screengrab of the image originally posted by Keaton, 74, which captures the hands of a Santa Monica psychic who is seen wearing multiple rings and bracelets - while also showing off long black fingernails. The reality star zoomed in on the ring in question - which is on the woman's pinky finger - before posting a photo of what she believes to be the same design sitting in her jewelry drawer at home before it was stolen in the devastating robbery. 'My mom's ring in my drawer,' she captioned the personal picture. 'I took this picture the night before I was burglarized. I thought to myself, "If I ever was burglarized how would I remember exactly what I have?" 'So I took a photo in case that ever happened. Talk about manifesting.' To offer further proof that the two rings are in fact the same, Richards then posted a side-by-side comparison of the two photos, while pointing out that 'you can see the gold is rubbed off in the exact spot' and revealing that the gold-and-diamond accessory was actually given to her mother Kathleen by her father Ken. There it is! Richards shared a wider shot of her jewelry collection and pointed out the stolen ring, which was taken when her California home was burglarized in late 2017 Coincidence? The reality star was stunned to see what she thought was her mother's ring (far right) in a photo shared on Instagram by Keaton back in July 2019 On the hunt: Richards asked for information about the whereabouts of the woman she believed to be a fortune teller, although Maddie insists that is not her grandmother's profession 'Manifesting': The mother-of-three revealed that she took the picture of her jewelry store the night before she was burglarized because she wanted to 'remember exactly what she had' Richards' update on the fascinating saga came just hours after the entire story was laid bare in a teaser clip from the latest episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which aired on Bravo on Thursday night. In the Secrets Revealed special, Richards recalled her shock at spotting the ring in a random Instagram snap that was posted by Keaton - who later told the RHOBH star that she had only taken the photo because she was fascinated by the unnamed fortune teller's long black nails. Helping hand: Richards reached out to Keaton, 74, after seeing her picture, however the actress was unable to offer additional information about the woman in the image 'I was looking on Instagram and I saw Diane Keaton - she posted a picture of a psychic's hands on the Third Street Promenade and [she] had my ring on her hand,' Richards explained in the new RHOBH special The Bravo-lebrity initially reached out to Keaton through her husband's real estate company, The Agency. 'We reached out to one of our agents at The Agency who happens to represent Diane Keaton, and I said, "You need to find out what the situation is."' The agent in question spoke to Keaton, however she was unable to offer any more information. According to Richards, Keaton explained to the agent that she didn't have any specific details about the woman - revealing that she had only stopped to take the picture of the unnamed woman's hands because she thought her long black nails were 'so interesting'. The ring in question originally belonged to Richards' mother Kathleen, who left the jewel to her daughter along with several other family heirlooms after her death in 2002. It was then stolen from the $8.2 million Encino home that Richards shares with her husband Mauricio Umansky. Richards lost dozens of sentimental family pieces in the robbery, and while police were investigating the crime, none of them had been found - until the reality star saw what she believes is her missing ring in the snap shared by Keaton. Treasure hunt: Richards first shared the story during a special episode of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which aired on Thursday night Hint: One Instagram user suggested that the woman in question might be a psychic known by the name of Lady Luna After the episode of Real Housewives aired, several fans took to Instagram to share their own thoughts about who the woman might be - with one user suggesting that the woman could be a psychic known as Lady Luna, who operates in the Santa Monica area. 'The psychic that has your ring is named Lady Luna in Santa Monica...' user @hellakella3838 wrote on their account. 'I found others who went to same psychic and they verified its her nails... She doesn't have an IG though unfortunately... But maybe u can find her location with the name ...IF U want names of ppl who i found lmk [sic].' A Bravo fan account also launched an appeal for followers to help Richards track down the woman and the ring - while also urging people not to 'accuse' the fortune teller of anything untoward, noting that the woman may well have paid good money for the ring, or been given it, without knowing where it came from. 'Internet detectives, do your best!' the @bravosuperfans account wrote. 'Find the Santa Monica Fortune Teller! What are the chances that Kyle would see this random photo, with her stolen moms ring! Serendipity. 'ALSO - let's not accuse the fortune teller. Someone could have given the ring for payment.' Before launching her social media search, Richards had already spent a great deal of time and resources investigating the mystery on her own. Important: The ring in question belonged to Richards' mother, Kathleen, and was one of many heirlooms stolen in the $1 million heist. Richards is seen with her mom and sister Kim in 1983 Crime scene: The ring was stolen from the stunning Encino home that Richards shares with her husband Mauricio Umansky (pictured), which was burglarized while they were in Aspen Family: Richards and Umansky bought the property for $8.2 million just months before the robbery, and the RHOBH star admitted that she was tempted to move after it happened While Keaton was unable to offer any specific information about the woman - other than her location - Richards was determined not to let the lead go to waste, and she quickly enlisted a private investigator to try and track down the photo subject. When the private investigator failed to find the woman, Richards took matters into her own hands and teamed up with her RHOBH co-star and close friend Teddi Mellencamp to try and locate her. Their efforts proved fruitless however, with Mellencamp explaining in the RHOBH special: 'We thought we were hot on the trail but then we realized we were just being sent in circles.' At that point, Richards had to give up the search in order to focus on filming for the latest season of the hit Bravo show, however she explained in the new episode that she is determined to resume the hunt and track down her stolen heirloom. 'I want to know if she bought that from someone at a pawn shop, even if I have to buy it back from her, I'm happy to do that,' she said. Richards' reignited search for her mother's stolen ring comes three years after the bauble was first stolen from the reality star's home along with dozens of other valuables and sentimental items worth a staggering $1 million. The mother-of-four and her realtor husband were holidaying in Aspen when thieves broke into her Encino home, which the couple had purchased for $8.2 million just a few months prior. Buddies: After a failed attempt to locate the fortune-teller with a private investigator, Richards teamed up with her RHOBH co-star Teddi Mellencamp (right) to find the fortune teller Sentimental: Richards had planned to give the majority of the heirlooms that were stolen to her four daughters, Farrah, Portia, Alexia, and Sophia Speaking about the devastating robbery in January 2018, Richards revealed that many of the items stolen during the heist were priceless family heirlooms that she had hoped to one day bequeath to her daughters, Farrah, Portia, Alexia, and Sophia, who were in Aspen with their parents when their home was burglarized. The home robbery was so traumatic Richards actually considered moving out of the Encino property, she confessed to Bravo in 2018. 'There was one point after our house was burglarized that I thought, you know, I might have to sell my house - but then I look at my dogs and see how much they love this house and I think, "I could never leave,"' she explained. In her first interview after the robbery, Richards told People that 'everything my mother, who passed away, had ever collected and saved to give to me - that I had always envisioned of passing on to my four daughters - was gone'. She added: 'Even my childrens baby bracelets. Obviously, those are the things that hurt the most, things that I can't replace. They're completely invaluable.' In a different People interview she shared that despite being one of three sisters she inherited 'the majority' of her mother's keepsakes when she passed away in March 2002. As a result, when these valuables were stolen 'there was guilt attached to it. They got taken from me, from my house, on my watch'. TANZANIA, Tanzania - The Latest from the U.N. General Assembly (all times EDT): 8:15 p.m. The president of Africas most populous country, Nigeria, is calling for the uninhibited supply of safe and effective coronavirus vaccines for all. African nations have been outspoken in seeking the equitable distribution of any COVID-19 vaccine, while watching anxiously as some of the worlds richest countries strike deals with pharmaceutical companies to secure millions of doses of potential vaccines. President Muhammadu Buhari warns that if the United Nations cant marshal an inclusive response to the pandemic, then it would have failed in its core mission of giving expression, direction and solution to the yearnings of the international community. The U.N.s health agency, the World Health Organization, has said Africa should receive at least 220 million doses through an international effort to develop and distribute a vaccine known as COVAX. But Africas top public health official has said the continent needs at least 1.5 billion doses, enough to cover 60% of the population for herd immunity with the two likely required doses. ___ 6:55 p.m. Argentine President Alberto Fernandez is asking the world to think beyond creating a vaccine that will help end the coronavirus pandemic. In his prerecorded speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, he challenged leaders to use the health crisis as a moment of inflection to find solutions for other scourges as well. He says the world needs to be capable of dreaming and creating a vaccine against social injustice, environmental destruction and discrimination. The centre-left president also urged leaders to treat an eventual COVID-19 vaccine as a global public good accessible equitably to all countries. Fernandez said the planet is facing an historic opportunity to unite and that international co-operation like we once knew how to do is the only path forward. His call echoes that of other Latin American leaders pressing for more solidarity among nations that have largely faced the pandemic on their own. Argentina ranks 10th worldwide in the total number of COVID-19 cases. Some 640,000 have been diagnosed, and nearly 13,500 have died. ___ 5:40 p.m. As the worlds leaders gather remotely this year for the U.N. General Assembly, something else looks unusual: All of the speakers on the first day are men. As the schedule goes, it will take some 50 speakers before President Zuzana Caputova of Slovakia gives prerecorded remarks Wednesday afternoon. According to tradition, Brazil speaks first and the United States second at the U.N. gathering. After that, the world body says, the speaking order is based on the level of representation, preference and other criteria such as geographic balance. Just two other women are set to speak Wednesday: Bolivias interim president, Jeanine Anez, and Simonetta Sommaruga, president of the Swiss Confederation. Incidentally, the U.N. has never had a female secretary-general, though a spirited campaign pressed for one ahead of the selection of current U.N. chief Antonio Guterres. ___ 5:10 p.m. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi used his speech to the U.N. General Assembly to call for reforms at the world body, including finding new ways for countries to adhere to its resolutions and expanding the Security Council to better represent African nations. In prerecorded remarks Tuesday, the leader of the Arab worlds most populous nation also slammed the international community for continuing to turn a blind eye to countries that support terrorism. While not naming any nation specifically, he accused countries of sending foreign fighters to neighbouring Libya under the aim of colonial illusions. In the past, El-Sissi has threatened military action against Turkish-backed forces in Libya. He again threatened to intervene to protect Egypts western border, warning that any breach will be fiercely faced by Egypt in defence of its people. Libya has been plagued by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country is split west to east with its major cities controlled by rival governments. ___ 4:30 p.m. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has defended his drug crackdown and dismissed criticism from human rights advocates as he addressed the U.N.s annual gathering of world leaders for the first time. With the coronavirus taking a toll on the Philippines, the often brash Duterte struck a somewhat conciliatory tone about the organization hes often criticized and at times threatened to leave. Duterte said in a prerecorded video Tuesday for the U.N. General Assembly that the Philippines values the role that the United Nations plays in its fight against the pandemic. He welcomed the U.N.s launch of a relief fund and called on the international community to ensure potential vaccines are accessible to all. He also expressed openness to constructive engagement with the U.N. Duterte often lashes out at what he decries as international meddling in Philippine domestic affairs. Western governments and human rights groups call it justifiable alarm about an anti-drug crusade thats left over 5,700 mostly poor suspects dead. ___ 4:05 p.m. Colombian President Ivan Duque is calling on the international community to reject Venezuelas plans to hold a legislative election in December. In a prerecorded speech for the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Duque called the vote a manufactured orchestra that looks to legitimize the dictatorship. He also highlighted a recent U.N. Human Rights Council report accusing Nicolas Maduros government of committing crimes against humanity, including torture and killings blamed on security forces. U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on Venezuelans not to participate in the planned election to replace National Assembly lawmakers. Maduros government has taken over several prominent opposition parties and barred numerous anti-government leaders from running. The socialist Venezuelan leader is expected to address the U.N. gathering Wednesday. He is calling on the U.N. to send a mission to observe the vote. Though about 60 U.N. members back Guaido, the majority recognize Maduro. ___ 3:45 p.m. Frances president says the coronavirus pandemic should shock nations into working together and resisting a world order dominated by the U.S. and China. Speaking Tuesday to the annual U.N. General Assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron decried the United Nations failure to vanquish the virus. In a video recording from Paris, he said, No country will come out of this ordeal on its own. He says the pandemic should be an an electric shock to encourage more multilateral action. Otherwise the world will be collectively condemned to a pas de deux by the U.S. and China in which everyone else is reduced to being nothing but the sorry spectators of a collective impotence. Macron also warned Russia to reveal what happened to opposition leader Alexey Navalny and called for a U.N. mission to the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims have been held in camps. ___ 11:50 a.m. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is the first world leader at the United Nations annual gathering to mention the Black Lives Matter movement. As a country that has known too well the anguish of institutional racism, South Africa supports the demands for swift actions against racism whether it be perpetrated by companies, states or others, he said in his pre-recorded message to the U.N. General Assembly. South Africa last year marked a quarter-century since the end of the racist system of apartheid, and Ramaphosa worked closely with Nelson Mandela, the countrys first Black president. South Africa remains one of the most unequal countries in the world. Like many African nations, it has not escaped the problem of police brutality. ___ 10 a.m. President Donald Trump says the United Nations must hold China accountable for failing to contain the coronavirus, which has killed about 200,000 Americans and nearly 1 million around the world. Trump is accusing China of not sharing timely information with the world on the new disease in a taped address to the virtually gathered United Nations General Assembly. Trump says: The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions. Trump is also using his address to tout a pair of recent international accords he helped to broker one between Kosovo and Serbia and the other between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Israel as the United States fulfilling our destiny as peacemaker. Trump has repeatedly used his appearances at the international gathering to oppose globalization and promote his America First foreign policy. His 2020 address is not different, as he admonished other nations that only when you take care of your own citizens, will you find a true basis for co-operation. The Western Togolanders who blocked major entries to the Volta region Friday morning seized 10 Ak47 assault rifles when they broke into the armoury of the Aveyime and Mepe police stations. This was contained in the situational report filed by the Sogakope Police to the Volta Regional Police command. On 25th September 2020 at about 1:00 am, police had information that the western Togolanders had taken over the Aveyime and Mepe police station, took hostage of the personnel, released the inmate in the cells and taken away 10 Ak 47 assault rifles. On the receipt of information, the Divisional commander C/supt. Mr Denis Fiakpui inchage men proceeded to the scene. At about 2: 15 am, information received indicate that, the rebels had allegedly overpowered the police, took over the police vehicle, took the divisional commanders sidearm and severely assaulted and short him alongside L/Cpl prosper Banini, service driver and were rushed to Bathor government hospital, the report sighted by Starrfm.com.gh said. It added: The military reinforcement team from Agorta Naval base were quickly contacted who rushed to the place. The military had an encounter with the alledge rebels at Tademe and in the process gun down three of the rebels and are currently at the sogakope government hospital. Military enforcement team are currently on the ground at Aveyime and Mepe. Efforts are underway to move the injured who are in critical condition to the police hospital for further treatment. Meanwhile, the Police and Military have in a joint statement assured Ghanaians that the situation has been brought under control. ---starrfm A "long-serving" custody sergeant died after being shot by a suspect inside a police station. The victim died in hospital after the gunman, who was being detained, opened fire at Croydon custody centre in south London during the early hours of Friday. The alleged killer, 23, is believed to then have turned the firearm on himself. He was arrested and taken to hospital, where he remains in a critical condition after sustaining a gunshot wound. Paramedics were scrambled to Croydon custody centre in Windmill Road at 2.15am. Officers who witnessed the shooting, battled to save their colleagues life. Urgent questions were today being asked about how the suspect, believed to have been arrested on suspicion of possessing ammunition, was apparently able to take a gun inside the station and whether the weapon was missed in a search. The Met said no police firearm was discharged. Scotland Yard said no police firearms were fired during the incident, which took place at around 2.15am. Priti Patel led tributes to the officer, whose death has sent shockwaves and sadness through Scotland Yard. The Home Secretary said: This is a sad day for our country and another terrible reminder of how our police officers put themselves in danger each and every day to keep the rest of us safe. Prime Minister Boris Johnson sent his deepest condolences, adding: We owe a huge debt to those who risk their own lives to keep us safe. A forensics officer at the Croydon Custody Centre where a police sergeant has been shot dead / Jeremy Selwyn Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said he was a "long-serving sergeant". She added in a statement: This is a truly shocking incident in which one of our colleagues has lost his life in the most tragic circumstances. My heart goes out to his family, direct colleagues and friends. When a colleague dies in the line of duty the shockwaves and sadness reverberates throughout the Met and our communities. Policing is a family, within London and nationally, and we will all deeply mourn our colleague. A police officer at Croydon Custody Suite / Jeremy Selwyn The station was described as a state of the art secure facility with space for more than 40 prisoners when it opened in 2012. This morning, the front desk was closed as forensics teams and officers in blue crime-scene suits gathered in the car park outside. An officer at the scene / PA A bouquet was at the entrance in tribute to the officer. Carter Taylor, 19, who lives in Windmill Road, said he was woken in the early hours of the morning by a police helicopter. He said: We could see something was going on but I couldnt believe it when I heard a policeman had been shot. I feel so sorry for his family. How does something like that happen inside a police station? Loading.... Speaking from the scene, where floral tributes were left throughout the day, a friend who played rugby with the officer described him as an inspiration who was looking forward to retirement. The 27-year-old said: The man was a machine. He went from training with us last night to come to his shift work here in Croydon. He would do that week in and week out. Mohammed Islam, chairman of the Croydon North constituency Labour Party, lives by the station. He said: Its absolutely shocking something like this can happen inside the custody suite. My thoughts are with the officers family. He had paid a high price for protecting us all. The Croydon custody centre in Windmill Lane / Jeremy Selwyn The incident has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct watchdog which will lead an independent investigation. The Met continues to investigate the officers murder. Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: The murder of a colleague on duty is utterly devastating news. Officers across London are in shock and sick to their stomachs at the nature of his death. All our thoughts and that of all our members are with his family, friends and close colleagues at this time. We and all members of the police family across the country are all utterly heartbroken at this news. He added: Officers put themselves in danger every day to protect the public. Sadly, on very rare occasions officers make the ultimate sacrifice whilst fulfilling their role. When that happens we will ensure their bravery and sacrifice is never forgotten. Mayor Sadiq Khan said: Tragic incidents like this are terrible reminders of the dangers our police officers face every single day they go into work to keep Londoners safe. They are the very best of us, and I remain in close contact with the commissioner to offer her and the Met my ongoing support. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: Our police put themselves in harms way every day to keep us safe. All my thoughts are with the officers family, friends and colleagues. A London Ambulance Service spokesman said: The first of our medics was at the scene in under four minutes. We treated two people at the scene and took them both by road to a major trauma centre. Policing minister Kit Malthouse updated MPs about the officers death, adding: May justice follow this heinous crime. Croydon Custody Centre shooting - In pictures 1 /46 Croydon Custody Centre shooting - In pictures Jeremy Selwyn Forensics at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn General view of the scene at Croydon Custody Centre Sky News Flowers at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Police tape cordon inside Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer has been shot dead by a suspect being booked into custody at a south London police station today Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Nigel Howard A Forensic ServiCes van at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer stands guard at Croydon Custody Centre Getty Images Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Nigel Howard Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Forensics at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Flowers are laid down outside the custody centre where a British police officer has been shot dead in Croydon, south London REUTERS Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours of Friday morning PA The scene at Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer beside flowers left outside Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA REUTERS REUTERS AFP via Getty Images PA AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images REUTERS PA AFP via Getty Images Nigel Howard AFP via Getty Images PA Nigel Howard Nigel Howard PA PA AFP via Getty Images PA REUTERS Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick paid tribute to the "wonderful" officer known to colleagues and friends as Matt, in a ceremony at the National Police Memorial in central London on Sunday also attended by Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan PA Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan pay tribute to the "wonderful" officer known to colleagues and friends as Matt, in a ceremony at the National Police Memorial in central London PA Raising a point of order in the House of Commons, Mr Malthouse said: We ask our police officers to do an extraordinary job. The fact that one of them has fallen in the line of performing that duty is a tragedy for the entire nation. The officer is thought to be the first to be killed in a shooting in the line of duty since Pcs Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23, in September 2012. They were murdered by Dale Cregan in a gun and grenade attack while responding to a report of a burglary in Greater Manchester. The Met sergeant is the 17th from the force to be killed by a firearm since the end of the Second World War, according to the National Police Memorial roll of honour. Unarmed Pc Keith Palmer, who was stabbed in March 2017 by terrorist Khalid Masood during the Westminster Bridge attack, was the last Met officer to be killed in the line of duty. The roll of honour includes Pc Andrew Harper, who died when he was caught in a tow rope and dragged along country lanes after trying to stop quad bike thieves in Berkshire in August 2019. Loading.... The Thames Valley Police officers three teenage killers were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter after an Old Bailey trial. Ms. McQueen also wants to preserve her kids from the kind of traditional education that, she says, sapped her own self-assurance. If youre taking orders all the time, your confidence is based on what someone else says, not what you say. Thats one of the main reasons I decided I could do this. I didnt want them to turn out like me, she said. It has taken me a lot of unlearning to trust myself. Covid-19 has thrown families back on their own resources, and many parents and children have had to learn to trust themselves. The pandemic has tremendously increased my visibility, and peoples interest in self-directed education, Akilah Richards, a podcaster, author and unschooling mother of two in the Atlanta area, told me. Now youre at home, youre wanting your kid to do the thing you wanted to believe they were doing in school: being super attentive to their lessons because theyre motivated, and not because someone was lording over them. But now you cant get them to finish their packet because you have work too, so what does it look like for young people to feel a sense of connection to what theyre supposed to learn? Education reformers have been asking that question since at least the 19th century. When the German educator Friedrich Froebel invented kindergarten in the 1830s, he stressed the educational value of games and free play. Progressive reformers like Maria Montessori and John Dewey pushed for a more child centered approach to education that stressed experience and experimentation over rote memorization. African-American activists assailed mainstream schools for belittling students of color. In 1933, the historian Carter Woodson called the crusade against inferior Black schools and textbooks full of white supremacist propaganda much more important than the anti-lynching movement, because there would be no lynching if it did not start in the schoolroom. By the 1960s, progressives insights had become (and largely remain) mainstream. But a new generation of activists denounced traditional schools as prisons whose origins lay in capitalists desire for educated and obedient workers, and whose tyrannies demanded a new civil rights revolution. Local Black and Indigenous communities organized independent ethnocentric schools. Other reformers, inspired by humanistic psychologys rosy vision of every persons capacity for free will and self-actualization, called for loosely supervised free schools and even the abolition of schools altogether. (They often sidestepped the overwhelming social necessity of public schools to not only educate, but also provide child care and healthy food for millions of children.) In 1968 the Brazilian scholar Paulo Freire warned in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed that education as the exercise of domination stimulates the credulity of students, with the ideological intent (often not perceived by educators) of indoctrinating them to adapt to the world of oppression. The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana. An elementary school teacher living in Multnomah County was charged for allegedly being in possession of and duplicating child pornography, the district attorneys office announced Friday. Brett Cunningham, 40, is a licensed teacher in Oregon, most recently employed at a Hillsboro elementary school. He is charged with two counts of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse and eight counts of second-degree encouraging child sexual abuse, the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office said in a news release. Cunningham was indicted by a Multnomah County grand jury Monday. The charges do not allege Cunningham had physical contact with a minor. On Thursday, Cunningham was arraigned by phone in Multnomah County Circuit Court. The state and court agreed to allow him to remain out of custody until the trial, the district attorneys office said. Cunningham came under investigation in April when the Oregon Department of Justice received a tip from an internet company that he was possibly uploading child pornography to the internet. In May, the Oregon Department of Justice Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force obtained a search warrant and recovered electronic media that was then submitted for forensic analysis. The district attorneys office is asking for help from the public in the investigation because of Cunninghams access to children. The principal of Orenco Elementary School in Hillsboro released a statement Friday afternoon, saying Cunningham was a teacher there in various capacities from 2013 until May 5, when the school was notified of the investigation and he was placed on leave. The statement said Cunningham resigned Sept. 14 in lieu of termination. People with information are being asked to contact Tyler McCourt, a special agent with the Oregon Department of Justice, at 503-934-1107. This story has been updated. -- K. Rambo krambo@oregonian.com @k_rambo_ Congress-ruled Punjab is observing a total bandh till 4pm on Friday in response to the call given by farmer organisations against the three bills passed by the BJP-led NDA government last week. The Shiromani Akali Dal, which is still an NDA ally but draws its strength from its farmer constituency, and the Aam Aadmi Party are also backing the farmers. Farmers and farm labourers, supported by the Left, blocked state and national highways since early on Friday morning, disrupting the supply of milk and essential commodities in several areas. No vehicle was allowed to ply on the main artery of the state, the national highway from Shambu barrier in Patiala district that cuts across Punjab. Its a total shutdown and the response is overwhelming. Even people who have no concern with agriculture are out in our support. I think they have realised the bills are suicidal for the agrarian community, said BS Rajewal, who heads a faction of the Bhartiya Kisan Union. PEACEFUL PROTEST ACROSS STATE The bandh has been peaceful with all parties barring the BJP backing the farmers. Reports of a total shutdown were received from Bathinda, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Gurdaspur districts with people belonging to different social and religious organisations, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, expressing solidarity with the farmers. The railways cancelled all passenger and freight trains in the state as farmers have blocked key rail routes. PUNJAB GOVT URGED NOT TO IMPLEMENT LEGISLATION The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee has given the bandh call, supported by 31 farm organisations, including factions of the BKU. The committee wants the Centre to revoke the bills and has urged Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to pass a resolution in the state assembly that the central bills will not be implemented in the state once they become a law after Presidential assent. The committee said farmers apprehend the move will bring to an end to the system of open-ended assured procurement and minimum support price (MSP) and the entire agricultural operations will go into the hands of corporate houses. As part of the Economic Working Group for Libya, representatives of some 10 countries, the European Union, the African Union, the Arab League and the UN sat down with leadership of Libyas main electricity company amid widespread protests in the war-torn country over power blackouts and decreased quality of life. Stephanie Williams, the special representative for the UNs mission in Libya, and the head of the Economic Working Group for Libya, EU Ambassador Jose Sabadell, spoke Monday with the deputy head of the General Electricity Company of Libya, Abdul Salem al-Ansari, about proposals to reduce the blackouts, some of which last longer than 16 hours per day in some areas, the UN said in a statement. Al-Ansari said that tax revenues were not being channeled to the electricity company and that it would not be able to provide adequate power without them. The UN called the power outages unacceptable. Representatives from several countries, including Egypt, Italy, France, Turkey and the UAE, attended the meeting. US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland took part and pledged US support for the electricity companys "efforts to end the electricity crisis, according to the State Department. Germanys ambassador also offered suggestions for shoring up the countrys electricity production. Why it matters: Libyas worsening electricity crisis has helped to fuel popular protests on both sides of the countrys civil war, amid international efforts at building a sustainable peace between the two sides. The United Nations and the United States are pushing the warring Libyan parties the Tripoli-based government in the west and the Tobruk-based government in the east and their foreign backers to cooperate and restore the countrys oil production and exports upon which the vast majority of Libyas economy depends. Eastern Libyas Gen. Khalifa Hifters blockade since January of oil exports has cost the country more than $9 billion in revenue, according to the Tripoli-based National Oil Corporation. Hifter said last week he would lift the blockade for one month. Protests in Tripoli, Benghazi and other cities against Libyas declining standard of living have pushed both Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj and Tobruk-based Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani to indicate their intent to resign. Whats next: The electricity company has long been under fire for its inability to provide adequate power. The company has pointed to the security situation, including kidnappings of employees, as a main reason why foreign contractors refuse to partner with the companys operations. The Italian multinational Eni said in July that it is exploring options to develop a gas power plant in Libya with the Libyan electricity company. Last month, the Libyan company's representatives met with board members of the Turkish conglomerate Kalyon Group to discuss options for building a solar plant in Libya. Serrajs government faced pressure to raise the electricity companys funding that month after a new board was appointed, but the blackouts have only continued. Know more: Diego Cupolo examines what Serraj's proposed resignation means for the future of Turkey's influence in the conflict. Pennsylvania ex-church administrator who stole $1.2 million indicted on federal tax charges Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A former Pennsylvania church employee has been indicted on federal tax fraud charges related to the theft of more than $1 million from the congregation. David Reiter, a former administrator at Westminster Presbyterian Church of Upper St. Clair, a congregation located near Pittsburgh, was previously sentenced for stealing around $1.2 million from the church. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania announced a 16-count indictment against the 51-year-old Reiter on Tuesday. The Indictment alleges that Reiter failed to pay over employment taxes and filed false personal income tax returns relating to the embezzlement, which materially underreported his personal income, stated the Department of Justice. If found guilty, Reiter faces a possible sentence of no more than five years in prison for each of the first 11 counts and no more than three years for each of the counts 12 through 16, and a $250,000 fine or a fine not more than the greater of twice the gross pecuniary gain to any person or twice the pecuniary loss to any person other than the defendant. Assistant United States Attorney Gregory C. Melucci will prosecute the case. The Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation that led to the indictment. A resident of South Park, Reiter had worked for Westminster Presbyterian from 2001 to 2018, during which time he stole approximately $1.2 million from the church for personal use. These personal expenditures included vacations, tickets to Pittsburgh Pirates games, scrapbooking supplies, as well as paying for medical expenses and other bills. Reiter reportedly hid his criminal activities by impersonating audit firm employees and falsifying the accounting data, according to a story by Triblive.com last year. According to Westminster Presbyterians Lead Pastor Jim Gilchrist, Reiter met with him in November 2018 and confessed to the thefts, expressing remorse for his illegal actions. In February of last year, Reiter was charged with forgery, receiving stolen property, and theft; his wife, Connie, was charged with two counts of receiving stolen property. Last October, Reiter pleaded guilty before Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey A. Manning to charges including theft, receiving stolen property, forgery, and tampering with records. In January, he was sentenced to 10 to 20 years of imprisonment and was ordered by the court to make restitution to Westminster Presbyterian. Our church continues to rebuild our financial structures in the wake of Mr. Reiters actions, stated the church in January, as reported by Triblive.com. Actions have consequences, and we are grateful to Judge Manning for administering appropriate consequences for Mr. Reiters actions." It seems clear that adding widgets in iOS 14 is easily the most unexpectedly hot new feature--probably since Apple added the ability to download third-party apps via the App Store in iOS 2. For the past week, the top free app in the App Store is Widgetsmith, which allows users to create and add customized widgets to their home screens after it went viral on social media. According to data from SensorTower, Widgetsmith and similar apps were downloaded 13.7 million times in the seven days after iOS 14 was made available. It's really not a surprise that people want to be able to customize their devices. It isn't even anything new. People have long personalized their computers with desktop wallpapers and custom icons, added stickers on the back of the lid, and bought colorful cases for their iPhones. The reason is quite simple: People like fun. In iOS 14, however, Apple is allowing personalization and customization in a way the company hasn't done on the iPhone until now. iOS has had relatively few options for changing the way your home screen looked. You could rearrange apps, place them in folders, and add a wallpaper. That's pretty much it. They all still have to follow the same grid structure as always. I think it's fair to say that no one from Apple (or anyone else, for that matter) expected widgets to be such a significant cultural event--which is exactly what they are. There is clearly pent up demand for the ability to personalize your iPhone to reflect not just the apps you use, but your own sense of identity. But it isn't just about personalization. It's also about productivity. Which leads me to why widgets are almost the best thing to come to the iPhone. Because, while having widgets is better than not having them, they do leave quite a bit to be desired. My major complaint about widgets is that while they are useful for conveying information, you can't actually interact with them. They essentially either display information (like the weather widget, for example), or they serve as a shortcut to a specific feature of an app (like the Google widget). Both of those are helpful in some cases, but could be far more functional if you could interact directly with them. For example, on an Android device, the Google search bar at the top of the display allows you to enter text and see results. The iPhone's Google widget gives you the ability to place a search bar on your home screen, but when you tap on it, it simply opens the Google app. That's a very different experience, and it leaves a lot to be desired. You can't, for example, check off tasks or add calendar events directly in a widget. The Things widget will show you the next items on your to-do list, but when you tap on one, it simply takes you to that task within the app. I guess that's fine, but it seems like it would be a much better overall user experience if I could simply tap on it to mark it completed, and it would dynamically update in the app and the widget. Based on Apple's developer guidelines for widgets, it's clear that the company never considered that people might want to do more than simply view information from an app, or navigate to that app. From those guidelines: Widgets display relevant, glanceable content, letting users quickly get to your app for more details. Your app can provide multiple kinds of widgets, letting users focus on the information that's most important to them... When users want more information, like to read the full article for a headline or to see the details of a package delivery, the widget lets them get to the information in your app quickly. Okay, that's fine--this is version 1.0. However, widgets can be more than just cosmetic enhancements to your home screen that happen to tell you whether it's raining outside. If Apple is willing to let them improve, it's easy to imagine a time when widgets are the primary way you interact with your device. But reproductive rights are not limited to abortion. Last term, in Trump v. Pennsylvania, the court heard a challenge involving the ACAs mandate that insurers cover contraception, holding that the Trump administration had the legal authority to exempt employers from the mandate. The court did not determine whether the administrations regulation satisfied all of the procedural rules or whether a future administration could roll back the exemption and require insurers to provide coverage even if an employer has religious or moral objections to contraception. If either of those issues come before the court again, it will be Ginsburgs voice, as much as her vote, that will be missed: Although she was in a hospital bed when the court heard oral arguments, her displeasure at having to revisit womens access to contraception was evident. In her dissenting opinion, she chastised the court for leaving women workers to fend for themselves and casting aside countervailing rights and interests in its zeal to secure religious rights to the nth degree. Despite this, Gorsuch and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. concluded in their concurring opinion that Congress cannot require employers to provide women with insurance coverage for contraception. With Ginsburg gone, their view may prevail, throwing up a roadblock for any future administration or Congress to expand access to contraception. LONDON - A London police officer was fatally shot Friday morning inside a police station, the London Metropolitan Police said in a statement. The police officer, identified as Sgt. Matt Ratana, was killed by a handcuffed man who had been arrested and was being detained at a custody center in Croydon, a neighborhood in south London. Ratana was treated at the scene and later died at a hospital. A 23-year-old suspect, who had been arrested for possession of drugs with intent to supply and possession of ammunition, was detained at the scene. Police said that the "early indications" were that he then turned the gun on himself. He is in a hospital in critical condition. The police said no police firearms were fired during the incident, prompting questions about whether the suspect was properly searched at the time of his arrest. It is rare for a British police officer to be killed in the line of duty. The police officer in Croydon is the 17th officer from the London Metropolitan Police to be killed by a firearm since World War II, according to the BBC. The last time a police officer was killed by a firearm in the United Kingdom was 2012. Criminologists say that the lower rates of police fatalities in the U.K., compared to the United States, are in part due to the lower rates of gun ownership. "In Great Britain or Germany, the number of police deaths from civilian attack most years is either one or zero. In the United States - four or five times larger - the death toll from civilian assaults is fifty times larger," Berkeley law professor Franklin Zimring wrote in a recent journal article. He wrote that "the reason for the larger danger to police is the proliferation of concealable handguns throughout the social spectrum. When police officers die from assault in Germany or England, the cause is usually a firearm, but firearms ownership is low, and concealed firearms are rare." British Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered his condolences to the officer's family, friends and colleagues. "We owe a huge debt to those who risk their own lives to keep us safe," he said. Ratana, 54, was a custody sergeant who was originally from New Zealand. British media reports said he was married with children, had a passion for rugby, and was close to retirement. The Independent Office for Police Conduct, a police watchdog, is overseeing the investigation into the circumstances of the officer's death. The watchdog said that the suspect, who was handcuffed with his hands behind his back, opened fire at the station as the police officers were preparing to search him with a metal detector. Cressida Dick, London Metropolitan Police commissioner, called the shooting shocking. "When a colleague dies in the line of duty, the shock waves and sadness reverberates throughout the Met and our communities," Dick said. "Policing is a family, within London and nationally, and we will all deeply mourn our colleague." She said in a further update that Ratana was "long-serving sergeant" and "much loved." "Early indications are that the suspect shot himself," she said. "This has not yet of course been established as a fact. The man I can tell you remains in a critical condition in hospital." A murder investigation is underway, she said, adding that officers were working at "several crime scenes to secure evidence and establish the facts of what happened." Dal Babu, a former chief superintendent of the Metropolitan Police, told LBC Radio that officers are expected to carry out a full-body search of a suspect "at the time of the arrest." And then, "once they are in the police station, you would perhaps do a more thorough search, a custody officer may authorize a strip search and that's when you may find other weapons on individuals. But officers are required, for officer safety purposes, to carry out the search at the time of the arrest." "Tragic incidents like this are terrible reminders of the dangers our police officers face every single day they go into work to keep Londoners safe," said London Mayor Sadiq Khan. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 25, 2020 / CIBT Education Group Inc. (TSX:MBA)(OTCQX:MBAIF) ("CIBT" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it placed No. 334 on the 2020 Report on Business ranking of Canada's Top Growing Companies. Canada's Top Growing Companies ranks Canadian companies on three-year revenue growth. CIBT earned its spot with a three-year growth of 97%. "We are honored to be named one of Canada's Top Growing Companies by the Globe and Mail," commented Toby Chu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CIBT. "During the past five years, our education services offered through Sprott Shaw College (established in 1903) and Sprott Shaw Language College have been growing steadily. In addition to our education services, we provide student accommodations and related services under the Global Education City and GEC brands. GEC offers accommodation services to students coming to study in Metro Vancouver, from both domestic and international locations. Our facilities provide a safe, clean and convenient home for students and residents alike. By supplying our accommodation services to 72 schools from 77 countries, our real-estate-related incomes propelled our revenue and profits simultaneously. We thank our staff who work diligently at our education and real-estate subsidiaries for their wholehearted efforts in making our company a Canadian success story." Launched in 2019, the Canada's Top Growing Companies editorial ranking aims to celebrate entrepreneurial achievement in Canada by identifying and amplifying the success of growth-minded, independent businesses in Canada. It is a voluntary program; companies had to complete an in-depth application process in order to qualify. In total, 400 companies earned a spot on this year's ranking. The full list of 2020 winners, and accompanying editorial coverage, is published in the October issue of Report on Business magazine-out now-and online at tgam.ca/TopGrowing. "The stories of Canada's Top Growing Companies are worth telling at any time, but are especially relevant in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic," says James Cowan, Editor of Report on Business magazine. "As businesses work to rebuild the economy, their resilience and innovation make for essential reading." "Any business leader seeking inspiration should look no further than the 400 businesses on this year's Report on Business ranking of Canada's Top Growing Companies," says Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail. "Their growth helps to make Canada a better place, and we are proud to bring their stories to our readers." About The Globe and Mail The Globe and Mail is Canada's foremost news media company, leading the national discussion and causing policy change through brave and independent journalism since 1844. With award-winning coverage of business, politics and national affairs, The Globe and Mail newspaper reaches 5.9 million readers every week in print or digital formats, and Report on Business magazine reaches 2.1 million readers in print and digital every issue. The Globe and Mail's investment in innovative data science means that as the world continues to change, so does The Globe. The Globe and Mail is owned by Woodbridge, the investment arm of the Thomson family. About CIBT Education Group: CIBT Education Group Inc. is one of the largest education, and student housing investment companies in Canada focused on the domestic and the global education market since 1994. CIBT owns business and language colleges, student-centric rental apartments, recruitment centres and corporate offices at 45 locations in Canada and abroad. Its education subsidiaries include Sprott Shaw College (established in 1903), Sprott Shaw Language College, Vancouver International College and CIBT School of Business. Through these schools, CIBT offers over 150 educational programs in healthcare, business management, e-commerce, hotel management and language training. The total annual enrollment for the group exceeds 12,000 students. CIBT owns Global Education City Holdings Inc. ("Global Holdings"), an investment holding and development Company focused on education-related real estate such as student-centric rental apartments, hotels and education super-centres. Global Holdings, under the GEC brand, provides accommodation service to 72 schools in Metro Vancouver, serving 1,500 students from 77 countries. The total portfolio and development budget under the GEC brand exceeds C$1.4 billion. CIBT also owns Global Education Alliance ("GEA") and Irix Design Group ("Irix Design"). GEA recruits international students on behalf of many elite kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities in North America. Irix Design is a leading design and advertising company based in Vancouver, Canada. Visit us online and watch our corporate video at www.cibt.net. Toby Chu Chairman, President & CEO CIBT Education Group, Inc. Investor Relations Contact: 1-604-871-9909 extension 319 or | Email: info@cibt.net SOURCE: CIBT Education Group Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/607770/CIBT-Places-No-334-on-the-Globe-and-Mails-Second-Annual-Ranking-of-Canadas-Top-Growing-Companies Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Friday for an agreement between Russia and the US to guarantee not to engage in cyber-meddling in each other's elections. In a statement ahead of the US presidential election on November 3, Putin called for an agreement between the two countries to prevent incidents in cyberspace. "(I propose)... exchanging guarantees of non-interference in each other's internal affairs, including electoral processes, including using information and communication technologies and high-tech methods," he said. Poster of the program supporting Vietnamese students in Japan (Photo: VYSA) Right from the first information on the pandemic, overseas Vietnamese students in Japan had a clear awareness of the danger of the pandemic, thanks to early access to official information sources from Vietnam and groups of Vietnamese people around the world. Information on how to prevent the disease, developments of COVID-19 in Japan, and medical support for Vietnamese people in Japan via hotline is regularly updated through the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan, Consulate, Vietnamese Intellectual Association in Japan, and Vietnam Youth and Student Association in Japan (VYSA). When the pandemic broke out strongly in Japan, many overseas Vietnamese students were brought home. However, some Vietnamese students still staying in Japan face difficulties such as unemployment, losing part-time jobs, and reduced income, while the cost of rent, living, electricity and water remains unchanged. In this context, practical support programs for overseas Vietnamese students, such as the COVID-19 Season Community Housing Project co-organized by the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese Buddhist Association in Japan; and the project "Supporting free accommodation" launched by VYSA Kyoto, have helped many Vietnamese students in Japan. According to the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan, there are more than 380,000 Vietnamese people living, studying or working in Japan, 83,000 of whom are students. While COVID-19 is still developing unpredictably, the overseas Vietnamese student community needs practical support programs to continue their study abroad. Accordingly, the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan has cooperated with Japans MUFG Bank to carry out a support program for overseas Vietnamese students from specialized schools, colleges, universities and postgraduate facilities in Japan. It is hoped that through the program, overseas Vietnamese students will have more confidence to conquer their study dreams. Overseas Vietnamese students in Japan can access more official information about the program at the website of the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan and register for approval./. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marc Preel (Agence France-Presse) Stockholm, Sweden Fri, September 25, 2020 12:45 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c472e2c3 2 World EU,European-Union,coronavirus,coronavirus-restrictions,COVID-19,virus-corona,COVID-19-infection,pandemic,SARS-CoV-2,novel-coronavirus Free The European Union raised the alarm on Thursday over the coronavirus pandemic, saying it is worse now than at the March peak in several member countries, as governments in Europe and beyond reimpose drastic measures. France reported an all-time high in new daily cases of over 16,000, one day after announcing tougher infection control measures especially for hard-hit Mediterranean city Marseille. And Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned that a new lockdown could be needed in Athens unless the public can help bring down new cases by respecting distancing and mask-wearing measures. Israel, which closed schools and imposed restrictions on workplaces and leisure activities last week in a second nationwide lockdown, toughened its rules still further on Thursday. Most workplaces and markets are to be closed and prayer meetings and demonstrations will be severely restricted, as the country battles the world's worst per-capita infection rate. The strict measures imposed during the earlier phase of the epidemic, which has now infected more than 30 million and killed more than 950,000, crippled businesses and helped to plunge the world into recession. On Thursday, the IMF said the economic outlook was brighter now than it had been in June, with a spokesman suggesting that some parts of the global economy were "beginning to turn the corner". But he added that the outlook remained "very challenging". The economy in the United States, which is battling the world's worst outbreak, also had some rare good news with a 4.8 percent rise in home sales in August. 'No plan, no logic' EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in "some member states, the situation is now even worse than during the peak in March". The death rate has not returned to the levels seen earlier this year but new infections are soaring once again, prompting the bloc's disease control agency to flag seven countries of "high concern". The countries, including Spain and several of the EU's eastern states, have "an increased proportion of hospitalized and severe cases" among older people and rising death notification rates. Although France was not among those nations, it has tightened its measures -- closing some restaurants, workplaces and gyms as businesses already hammered by the earlier lockdown struggle to stay afloat. Bars in Paris and 10 other cities will be forced to close early and the southern city of Marseille will see restaurants and bars close completely. Local officials have reacted with anger and frustration. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Thursday she had lodged a formal protest, particularly over the closure of gyms. "How will the fact that we can no longer exercise help us, while sport is an important part of keeping us healthy with strong immune systems," she asked. Health experts also warned that governments risked losing the trust of the population. Hagai Levine, an epidemiologist who is part of Israel's anti-coronavirus taskforce, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rush to ease the first lockdown caused the current crisis. "When there is no plan, no logic, the public loses its trust," he said. Vaccine? No thanks For some, that lack of trust also extends to the rush to get out a vaccine, with nine candidates worldwide currently in final clinical trials. In Russia, a vaccine has already been approved even though full clinical trials have yet to be completed, raising concerns about its safety. On Thursday, Russian cosmonauts set to blast off for the International Space Station (ISS) said it was too early to get the vaccine touted by President Vladimir Putin. "I'd personally say that I would not get vaccinated because I tread very carefully on this issue," said Sergei Ryzhikov, the leader of the next expedition to the ISS in October. The rollout of a vaccine is seen as crucial in many walks of life, particularly sport, where those events that are taking place are generally behind closed doors. However, Olympic boss Thomas Bach said the postponed Tokyo Games could take place next year even without a vaccine. "A number of big sport events have been successfully organized recently," he said, pointing for instance to the success of the Tour de France. Elsewhere in the world of sport, Swedish striker and AC Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 38, has tested positive for coronavirus, his club announced on Thursday. Meanwhile South Africans took up a "dance challenge" issued by President Cyril Ramaphosa, uploading choreographed videos to the 2019 hit song "Jerusalema" by producer Master KG that has lifted spirits during the pandemic. Indias border conflict with China is pushing New Delhi to look for an asymmetric response: flexing its naval might as it deepens cooperation with other democracies that seek to counter Beijings global ambitions. India, which operates one of the worlds largest navies, sits astride shipping routes in the Indian Ocean that connect China to its main sources of oil and gas in the Middle East and to its key markets in Europe. Though growing fast, Chinas navy still has only limited ability to operate in a region far from its home shoresand has to contend with the U.S. in its own backyard. On the northern border, the best we can hope for is to achieve a stalemate. But at sea, we have an advantage over the Chinese," said retired Adm. Arun Prakash, a former head of the Indian navy. A show of force at sea can send a message to China that you are vulnerable, that we can interfere with your shipping and with Chinese energy supplies. Their economy would be shaken up." View Full Image Naval rivalry India is intensifying joint naval maneuvers with the U.S. and its allies while building new ships and setting up a network of coastal surveillance outposts that would allow New Delhi to keep an eye on the Indian Oceans maritime traffic. Indias military has historically focused on the lengthy land borders with fellow nuclear powers Pakistan and China. The countrys leaders began paying more attention to the Indian Ocean over the past decade as its foreign trade grewand as China started making inroads in smaller South Asian nations that New Delhi used to consider within its sphere of influence. We are a large maritime country and we jut right into the center of the Indian Ocean," Indias external-affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said in an interview. There has been a sense over a number of years that we havent paid enough attention to that. As we started trading more, as the economy started importing more, the relative importance of the sea has grown in Indian thinkingnot just Indian security thinking, but overall Indian geopolitical thinking." The role of the Indian Ocean in the global economy is hard to overestimate: Three-quarters of the world-wide maritime trade and half of the worlds oil supplies pass through its waters. Chokepoints such as the Malacca Strait in the east and the Hormuz and the Bab el Mandeb straits in the west make much of that shipping exposed in case of military conflict. As China has steadily penetrated the Indian Ocean, India has profoundly changed the way it views the U.S. and its allies in the region. A leading member of the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War, New Delhi used to call for all external powers to remove their military bases and presence from the area. These days, New Delhi is comfortable with the U.S. maintaining its strategic base at Diego Garcia, located about 1,100 miles southwest of the southern tip of India. It is steadily intensifying its military and diplomatic cooperation with the U.S., France, Australia and Japanall nations that share New Delhis concerns about Chinas attempts to establish itself as Asias dominant power. In July, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group, which was sailing to challenge Chinas claims in the South China Sea, held joint exercises with Indian warships near Indias Andaman and Nicobar islands, which guard the access to the strait of Malacca, the latest in a series of such bilateral ventures. The world has changed. The U.S., very honestly, was very much a source of concern, even a threat. Today, the U.S. is seen much more as a partner," Mr. Jaishankar said. What we are seeing in the Indian Ocean is the coming together of converging interests of different players who are comfortable with each other politically, who have a shared concern for the global commons." While India and some of its partners insist that this cooperation isnt specifically directed against China, Beijings increasingly nationalistic rhetoric and attempts to bully its neighbors have played a crucial role in pushing these nations closer together. Some 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops died in clashes in the mountainous Galwan Valley in June, one of several recent incidents where China pressed into what India considers its own sovereign territory. Chinas claims along much of the border between the two Asian giants include an entire Indian state, Arunachal Pradesh. Shelving its Non-Alignment-era qualms about cooperation with the U.S., India in 2016 signed a logistics agreement with Washington that made it easier for the two nations navies to visit each others port facilities and conduct joint exercises. Since then, New Delhi has followed suit with similar agreements with France, South Korea and Australia, and earlier this month sealed a deal with Japan. Its not a question of pursuing a policy of containment of China," said Alexander Downer, a former foreign minister of Australia who heads the International School for Government at Kings College London. Its just making it clear that, as a region, this isnt a region thats going to be subject to a Chinese Monroe doctrine." Indias navy operates an aircraft carrier and is building another, in addition to possessing nearly 30 other large surface warships and a fleet of strategic and tactical submarines. Chinas navy, by contrast, possesses some 90 large surface warships, including two aircraft carriers, and it is building newand more advancedships at a much faster rate. The disparity is likely to grow in coming years as Chinas economy bounces back while Indias, battered by the coronavirus pandemic, shrinks. Still, Indias ability to forge new partnerships with like-minded powers helps offset that imbalance. India has a tactical weakness but a strategic advantage" vis-a-vis China, said Minxin Pei, a scholar at the Claremont McKenna College. India has acted much more boldly than people had thought because the Indian government has the confidence that in the long run the situation with the balance of power is likely to shift in Indias favor." In March, Indias American-supplied Boeing P-8I reconnaissance and antisubmarine warfare aircraft flew sorties over the Indian Ocean from the French island of Reunion, the first such joint mission. As part of its effort to have a greater awareness of maritime traffic in the Indian Ocean, Indias navy is also setting up an information fusion center" near New Delhi that is staffed by representatives of partner nations. The center receives feeds from coastal surveillance radar systems that India has established in recent years in the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Mauritius and the Seychelles. The Indians are trying to create facts on the ground in the Indian Ocean before the Chinese create facts on the ground," said Herve Lemahieu, director of the Asian power and diplomacy program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. Indias more ambitious efforts in the region havent always gone smoothly, however. In 2018, an announcement that India would lease part of Assumption Island in the Seychelles for a military facility sparked local protests. The Seychelles Parliament, controlled by opponents of the government, voted against the plan, effectively burying it. Even in Indias stalwart ally Mauritius, plans to set up another military facility on the Agalega islands have stalled amid local opposition. Other Indian Ocean nations, such as Sri Lanka, have increasingly cozied up to Beijing, a major source of investments that India is unable to match. Chinas major partner in the Indian Ocean region is Pakistan. China is investing in the development of the port of Gwadar in southwestern Pakistan, an effort that Indian and Western officials say could lead to the establishment of a Chinese naval and air base in the area. China already operates a major military base in Djibouti, its first such overseas facility. It has taken a 99-year lease of the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka and agreed to finance and build deep-water ports in Tanzania and Myanmar. Beijing insists that all these facilities in the so-called string of pearls around India are peaceful and dont pose a threat to India. With the exception of Gwadar, on the soil of nuclear-armed Pakistan, these installations would in fact turn into liabilities for China in case of an open conflict because Beijing wont be able to protect them, said retired Vice Adm. Pradeep Chauhan, director-general of the National Maritime Foundation, Indias main naval think tank. Yet, in an environment where conflicts are becoming increasingly hybrid and the line between war and peace more and more blurry, that presence is spooking New Delhi. It is not my contention that China is seeking to surround India. It is not seeking to surround India," Adm. Chauhan said. But India is getting surrounded anyway, and China is constricting India strategically. India will seek to ensure that it has strategic freedom and strategic space." Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. FBI Director Christopher Wray, testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on "Threats to the Homeland" on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 24, 2020. (Tom Williams/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) FBI Investigating Funding, Logistics of Anarchist Extremists, Including Antifa: Wray FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a congressional hearing on Thursday that the bureau is pursuing multiple investigations into anarchist extremists, including the far-left anarcho-communist group Antifa that has been involved in rioting across the country in recent months. He also noted that the FBI is aggressively looking into activities of interstate travelers alleged to have been involved in the riots. Antifa is a real thing. It is not a fiction. Now, we have seen organized tactical activity at both the local and regional level. We have seen Antifa adherents coalescing and working together in what I would describe as small groups and nodes, Wray said at a hearing about national security and global threats before the Senate Homeland Security Committee. We have a number of predicated investigations into some anarchist violent extremists, some of whom operate through these nodes and subscribe to or self identify with anarchist extremism including Antifa, he said. And we will not hesitate, will not hesitate to aggressively investigate that kind of activity. So were going to be looking at, and we have been looking at, their funding, their tactics, their logistics, their supply chains, and were going to pursue all available charges. Wrays comments are in part a reiteration of what he told the House Homeland Security Committee last week about Antifa, where he noted that they are not an organization or a structure, and also not a group or an organization, but rather a movement, or an ideology. He noted that there are also more militia types in addition to Antifa, which the FBI are also investigating. A flag flies in front of a department of corrections building after it was set ablaze during a second night of rioting in Kenosha, Wis. on Aug. 24, 2020. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) I think trying to put all of these things into nice neat clean buckets is a bit of a challenge because one of the things that we see more and more in the counterterrorism space is people who assemble together in some kind of mishmash, a bunch of different ideologies, Wray added. What theyre really about is the violence. And were not going to stand for the violence. Attorney General William Barr in August described Antifa as a revolutionary group that wants to establish socialism or communism in the United States. Barr said the group is essentially Bolsheviksa radical, far-left, and revolutionary Marxist faction that toppled Tsarist Russia 100 years ago. Protests have flared across the United States since the end of May, and while some have been peaceful, others have turned violent, in part being hijacked by Antifa and other extremists groups. Americans across the nation have seen their businesses destroyed, looted, and set on fire. Communism expert Trevor Loudon previously told The Epoch Times that Antifa is only one part of the picture, noting that every significant communist or socialist party in the United States has been involved in these protests and riots from the beginning. The FBI has observed three broad categories of people amid the protests, Wray told the Senate committee. Youve got the peaceful protesters; thats maybe the biggest number of people. Then youve got the second category, which is what I would describe as criminal opportunists engaged in looting, low-level vandalism, etc. But then youve got a third group, he said. A window is shattered at a Timberland store along Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Ill., after it was looted on Aug. 10, 2020. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) While it might numerically be the smallest, its by far and away the most dangerous, the most serious, and the one that we might have to go after the most aggressively, he said, adding that the FBI has observed violent anarchist extremists participating in that mix of people. Related Coverage The Communist Origins of the Antifa Extremist Group He described this group as the people who are clearly violating federal lawIEDs, Molotov cocktail, the specific targeting of law enforcement, arsons of government facilities and businesses, etc. Who those people arethats our priority, thats our focus. The motivations of such people vary from day to day, city to city, Wray said. Wray said later in the hearing that interstate travelers are often some of the most serious offenders when it comes to violent protests. A protester walks past a dumpster fire early in the morning on Aug. 29, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images) In Portland, for example, there were a couple of individuals that I can think of from the top of my head, who were coming from different states, in one case threatening to blow up a building, in another case attempting to attack a building. Charges brought in both instances, Wray said. For these individuals, the FBI is aggressively looking into possible funding, supply chains, networks, and communications with others in different parts of the United States, Wray said. He said that there are federal rioting charges that the FBI has begun to use when applicable. While there are certainly a large number, even a majority of people out there who are protesting peaceful it doesnt take very many people to suddenly cause very serious harm, Wray said, noting that the FBI is focused on the most dangerous actors, which tend to be the ones that are most coordinated, and therefore are potentially able to cause the most harm and the most damage. Petr Svab and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25)- The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Friday that it has received nearly 14,000 complaints involving online transactions as of Sept. 15. For online transactions, as of Sept. 15, we have received 13,900, almost 14,000 [complaints], said Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo in an interview with CNN Philippines. Last June, DTI said that complaints against online stores are rising faster as the country is facing a pandemic. Castelo said that consumers usually complain about defective products and misleading advertisements. We have received complaints about defective products, deceptive sales ads, mga advertisement na iba yung naka-describe sa web page, pero iba yung na-receive ng consumers (advertisements which have a product description that is different from the actual product), she said. With this, DTI is reminding online sellers that they also have responsibilities to their customers just like what physical stores do. So just a reminder sa mga online sellers natin, lahat ng kailangan gawin ng mga physical stores, kailangan din sundin ng online sellers (So just a reminder to our online sellers, you also need to do everything that physical stores do)," said Castelo. "The consumer rights available to everyone is also available when they do online transactions." Warning sa online sellers, na tumataas ang complaints (Warning to online sellers that the complaints are increasing), and these complaints are not left unacted upon, she added. Valenzuela City 1st district Rep. Weslie Gatchalian has filed House Bill 6122 or the Internet Transactions Act, which seeks to establish an eCommerce Bureau that would address concerns on online transactions. 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. An unfortunate Kansas City motorist has garnered nationwide rebuke as cowtown social media anti-car activists gleefully share this bit of human misery in order to push an even more perilous "bike supremacy" agenda. Take a look: Here at The Drive, we always like a twist on the classic "man drives into a construction zone" joke. And today, folks, we got a good one. Earlier this week, the driver of this Nissan Murano apparently failed to heed barriers and signs that a construction zone was ahead and attempted to cross the currently unfinished westbound section of the Lewis and Clark Viaduct Bridge in Kansas City. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his new counterpart in Japan, Yoshihide Suga, on Friday discussed the future course of the Quad a coalition re-launched by India, Japan, Australia and the United States to counter the expansionist aspirations of China in the Indo-Pacific region. Read: India, US, Japan, Australia hold meet on hold meet on Indo-Pacific under Quad framework Modi and Suga spoke to each other over the phone even as the warships of the Indian Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) were preparing to start a joint exercise in the North Arabian Sea from Saturday. This is going to be the first joint exercise by the warships of India and Japan after the two nations inked an agreement on September 10 to open military bases in the respective countries for each others Army, Navy and Air forces signaling strategic convergence in the Indo-Pacific region. Suga, who recently succeeded Shinzo Abe as the new Prime Minister of Japan, conveyed to Modi his intention to promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of security, economy and economic cooperation and to work with New Delhi towards achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific. He also told Modi that he would like to promote cooperation in such multilateral mechanism as Japan-Australia-India-US (Quad) meetings and the United Nations. Also Read: PM Narendra Modi speaks to Japan's Yoshihide Suga; agrees to strengthen all-round partnership New Delhi and Tokyo chose the location of the joint navy drill to send out a message to Beijing, which has a base in Djibouti and has the warships of its Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) patrol the sea lanes in the region in the name of anti-piracy operation. The Quad also asserted itself on Friday with a virtual meeting of the senior officials of India, Japan, Australia and the United States to discuss ongoing and proposed practical cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development, and security matters, including counter-terrorism, cyber and maritime security, with the objective of promoting peace, security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. The officials discussed the Covid-19 outbreak and underscored the importance of enhancing the resilience of supply chains and sharing best practices on how to combat the pandemic. First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Emine Dzheppar has received Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Ukraine Manouchehr Moradi upon his request. According to the Foreign Ministrys press service, Dzheppar briefed the ambassador in details on numerous human rights violations by Russia on the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the militarization of the Azov and Black Seas region, as well as Ukraine's international efforts to de-occupy the peninsula. The Iranian ambassador expressed his understanding of the political and humanitarian situation in Crimea, reaffirming the consistent position of Iran in supporting Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The interlocutors also discussed a number of issues of cooperation between Ukraine and Iran in the fields of culture, education and ways to increase the efficiency of interaction within the UN and other international organizations. Dzheppar expressed hope that Iran would ensure prompt, transparent and objective investigation of the shooting down of the UIA plane, fair trial and punishment of those responsible, paying off compensations to the families of the victims and Ukraine, as well as guarantees that such tragedies will not recur in the future. Ambassador Moradi assured of the readiness of the Iranian side for an early and mutually acceptable solution to the issues raised during the next round of talks, scheduled for October 18-21 in Tehran. ish A man riding a motorbike was killed when a tree fell on him in Ho Chi Minh City during a downpour on Thursday afternoon. The accident occurred at around 3:30 pm on Nguyen Tri Phuong Street in District 10. It was raining heavily when the 20-meter-tall tree collapsed on the still unidentified motorcyclists. Two other motorbikes and a sign belonging to a nearby store were also damaged during the incident. A falling tree, which killed a motorcyclist, blocks a section of Nguyen Tri Phuong Street in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, September 24, 2020. Photo: Huynh Luu Duc Toan / Tuoi Tre The victim was rushed to Cho Ray Hospital, 1.4 kilometers from the scene, with one-third of his right shoulder shattered, a crushed right arm, and fractured left forearm bones. A CT scan showed that the patient had a one-centimeter thick epidural hematoma on his right temporal membrane, putaminal hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and accumulation of intracranial air, according to Cho Ray Hospitals director Nguyen Tri Thuc. A falling tree, which killed a motorcyclist, blocks a section of Nguyen Tri Phuong Street in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, September 24, 2020. Photo: Huynh Luu Duc Toan / Tuoi Tre Although the hospital urgently mobilized the entire force to give emergency treatment [to the patient], his injuries were too severe, Dr. Thuc said. The patient passed away on Friday morning, the hospital director confirmed. In June, a falling tree branch also killed a motorcyclist during a rainstorm in Ho Chi Minh Citys District 10. A falling tree, which killed a motorcyclist, blocks a section of Nguyen Tri Phuong Street in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, September 24, 2020. Photo: Huynh Luu Duc Toan / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! President Donald Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses drew swift blowback Thursday from both parties in Congress, and lawmakers turned to unprecedented steps to ensure he can't ignore the vote of the people. Amid the uproar, Trump said anew he's not sure the election will be honest." Congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, rejected Trump's assertion that he'll see what happens before agreeing to any election outcome. Many other lawmakers -- including from Trump's own Republican Party -- vowed to make sure voters' wishes are followed ahead of Inauguration Day in January. And some Democrats were taking action, including formally asking Trump's defense secretary, homeland security adviser and attorney general to declare they'll support the Nov. 3 results, whoever wins. Asked as he departed the White House for a campaign rally if the election is only legitimate if he is the winner, Trump said, We'll see. The president said he wants to make sure the election is honest, and I'm not sure that it can be. Trump's attacks on the upcoming vote -- almost without modern precedent in the U.S. -- are hitting amid the tumult of the campaign, as partisan tensions rage and more Americans than ever are planning to vote by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic. It's not the first time he has sowed doubts about the voting process. But his increased questioning before any result is setting off alarms ahead of an Election Day like no other. Even without signs of illegality, results could be delayed because of the pandemic, leaving the nation exposed to groups or foreign countries seeking to provoke discord. McConnell, the GOP Senate leader, said in a tweet, The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. He said, There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792. Said Pelosi, Calm down, Mr. President. You are in the United States of America. It is a democracy, she said, reminding Trump this is not North Korea, Russia or other countries with strongman leaders he admires. So why don't you just try for a moment to honor our oath of office to the Constitution of the United States. Trump is fanning the uncertainty as he floats theories the election may be rigged if he loses, echoing warnings he made ahead of the 2016 voting even though past elections have not shown substantial evidence of fraud from mail-in voting. During a Wednesday news conference, Trump said, We're going to have to see what happens, responding to a question about committing to the results. You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. Reaction to his comment was strong from Capitol Hill from both parties. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally and the GOP chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox & Friends on Thursday: If Republicans lose we will accept the result. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Joe Biden, I will accept that result. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a member of the House GOP leadership, tweeted: The peaceful transfer of power is enshrined in our Constitution and fundamental to the survival of our Republic. America's leaders swear an oath to the Constitution. We will uphold that oath. Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, was incredulous, What country are we in? he said late Wednesday of Trump's comment. "Look, he says the most irrational things. I don't know what to say about it. But it doesn't surprise me. On Capitol Hill, Trump's possible refusal to accept the election results has been discussed privately for weeks as lawmakers consider options. One senator said recently it was the biggest topic of private discussions. Two House Democrats, Reps. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan both members of the Armed Services Committee are formally asking members of Trump's Cabinet to go on record and commit to upholding the Constitution and peaceful transition. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded in a letter to the lawmakers last month that he sees no role for the military to intervene in a disputed election. But Defense Secretary Mark Esper declined to respond to the lawmakers' questions. Similar queries have been sent to Attorney General William Barr and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf. They have yet to respond. "The president can't successfully refuse to accept the results of the election without a number of very senior officials aiding him, said Slotkin, a former CIA analyst. Sherill, a former Navy pilot, said peaceful transition really relies a lot on the Cabinet officers turning over their departments to the next administration. She told The Associated Press recently she wants to hear from all of them. Meanwhile, Republicans are rushing to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, partly to ensure a Trump-friendly court majority to resolve any post-election lawsuits by their party or Trump himself. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is among leading Republicans pushing the importance of the court's role. And Graham suggested on Fox that the Supreme Court could end up all but declaring the winner. (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.) Press Release 25 September 2020 Sonesta International Hotels Corporation is excited to introduce two new branded and managed hotels in Dallas - Sonesta Suites Dallas Park Central and Sonesta ES Suites Dallas Park Central, expanding the company's national footprint in this key business and tourism destination. With the addition of these two hotels today, Sonesta has over 60 properties managed in the United States and over 80 operating worldwide. The two new Sonesta hotels in Dallas bring the total to six managed properties in Texas. Advertisements Sonesta Suites Dallas Park Central, formerly the Wyndham Dallas Park Central, is located in the heart of the North Dallas Park Central Business District. The hotel features spacious two- and three-bedroom guest suites, a 24-hour fitness center, outdoor swimming pool and an Italian restaurant and lobby bar. Each suite offers a fully equipped kitchenette and complimentary high-speed internet access, making the hotel ideal for business or leisure travel. The hotel also features 15 meeting rooms with over 11,000 square feet of space available for meetings and events. The hotel is located at 7800 Alpha Road, Dallas, TX 75240. Sonesta ES Suites Dallas Park Central, formerly the Hawthorn Suites Dallas Park Central, features all the comforts of home, including spacious suites with fully equipped kitchens, complimentary wireless internet, an outdoor swimming pool, 24-hour fitness center, on-site laundry, and free parking. The hotel is located at 7880 Alpha Road, Dallas, TX 75240. "We are excited to provide visitors to Dallas a choice in accommodations with Sonesta. The new Sonesta Suites Dallas Park Central and Sonesta ES Suites Dallas Park Central ensures we appeal to a wider guest audience with two offerings in this new market," said Carlos Flores, President and CEO, Sonesta International Hotels Corporation. Sonesta recently introduced Stay Safe with Sonesta, a program created to take the company's standards on safe and clean hotels to the next level in response to COVID-19. Sonesta cares deeply about the health and well-being of our guests and employees. We have developed a rigorous new health and cleanliness program, Stay Safe with Sonesta, for all of our U.S. hotels. Working with Ecolab Inc., a leading provider of cleaning and disinfecting solutions for the hospitality industry, we have designed the Stay Safe with Sonesta program to meet or exceed applicable CDC and/or governmental requirements and guidance related to the current Coronavirus pandemic. The program will continue to evolve as we revise our protocols to follow updated guidance from public health authorities and maintain the most relevant levels of protection for our guests and employees. The pledge includes: All guests and employees wear masks in interior public spaces as a Sonesta standard. Enhanced sanitizing and cleaning throughout the hotel including specific focus on high traffic/high touch areas. Guest protection and social distancing guidelines allowing guests to take advantage of the entire hotel while still adhering to social distancing guidelines. Guest room safety sealed guest rooms with drop off or on request service only, and wipes available in room. Team member safety includes training, use of personal protection equipment and health & wellness checks. The location of both hotels in the Park Central business district, near the Galleria, Meyerson Symphony Center, and Mesquite Arena makes each an ideal choice for both business and leisure travelers to the destination, with the decision simply depending on the amenities required or length of stay. Guests of Sonesta Suites Dallas Park Central and Sonesta ES Suites Dallas Park Central will be encouraged to enroll in Sonesta Travel Pass, whose members can receive 10% off the best available rate. Visitors at the hotel are eligible to earn Sonesta Travel Pass Points, as a part of Sonesta's overarching guest loyalty program. Sonesta Travel Pass is an award-winning and nationally recognized rewards program from Sonesta International Hotels Corporation that is free and takes seconds to join, and offers points, perks and exclusives for members only. Sonesta Travel Pass members accrue 10 points per qualified dollar spent on their room and can use points at participating locations in the United States, South America and St. Maarten. Sonesta will match preferred or elite status in any other hotel loyalty programs, or travelers can earn elite status with Sonesta Travel Pass in just 12 nights. The S&P BSE 500 index, which accounts for 94% market capitalisation of BSE listed companies, has gained 45% from its March 24 low. However, out of the BSE 500 index stocks, 225 have underperformed the index by gaining less than the broader index during this period. Nearly half the stocks that comprise the BSE 500 index have underperformed the market in the past six months when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the first 21-day nationwide curfew / lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19 on March 24. The announcement triggered a sharp fall in the market, which hit their almost four-year low. Six months on, the frontline indices - the S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 - have rebounded 47 per cent and 48 per cent, respectively from their 46-month low touched on March 24 in intra-day trade. The S&P BSE 500 index, which accounts for 94 per cent market capitalisation of BSE listed companies, has gained 45 per cent from its March 24 low. However, out of the BSE 500 index stocks, 225 have underperformed the index by gaining less than the broader index during this period. Indian equity markets have witnessed a remarkable rally from the March 2020 lows against all expectations on the back of a rally in global markets. "The year 2020 has so far been a tale of two halves with the first half in February and March witnessing a sharp unprecedented fall, while the second half since then witnessed a sharp recovery, says Sachin Jain, an analyst at ICICI Securities. That said, the impact of Covid-19, unlike in many other industries, has been extremely positive for companies in the digital marketing and communication sector, including information technology (IT); pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and agri-related industries like automobiles and fertilisers. The S&P BSE Healthcare, the top gainer among sectoral indices, has surged 72 per cent from March 24 low, followed by the IT index (up 67 per cent) and automobiles (63 per cent). Of the 275 stocks which outperformed the BSE500 index, the share price of 84 companies has more-than-doubled in the past six months. As many as 157 stocks have gained between 50 per cent and 98 per cent during this period. Among the lot, Cipla, Laurus Labs, Aurobindo Pharma, Hexaware, Mphasis, Coforge, Persistent Systems, Deepak Nitrite, Alkyl Amines Chemicals, Gujarat Flurochemicals have logged smart gains. Public sector banks, however, have remained laggards. Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank, for instance, have lost 28 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively from their March 24 levels. Caution ahead Going forward, analysts expect the markets to undergo a healthy consolidation and then post a sharp recovery. While headline indices may have recovered the majority of their losses, the broader markets are still far away from their peaks. Many individual stocks still offer a good accumulation opportunity if the investment horizon is more than two to three years, they say. The correction in the range of 10-15 per cent, particularly in mid-and small-caps, should not be construed as negative. "Our overall outlook on the market remains constructive with a buy on dips investment strategy, Jain of ICICI Securities said. A K Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital cautions that the liquidity tap that propelled the stocks higher over the last few months is now drying up, which in turn can trigger a fall of a bigger magnitude. The primary market, to, is flushed with offers, which can suck out liquidity from the secondary market. "Add to this the uncertainty surrounding US elections and fiscal stimulus not coming through any time soon from major global central banks. "There are chances that the Nifty50 can slip below the 10,000 mark, Prabhakar says. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters Like many of her generation, Mya-Rose Craig feels strongly that adults have failed to take the urgent action needed to tackle global warming and so she has headed to the Arctic Ocean to protest. Armed with a placard reading Youth Strike for Climate, the 18-year-old British activist is staging the most northerly protest in a series of youth strikes worldwide. The strikes, made famous by Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, are resuming after a lull caused by the global coronavirus pandemic to draw public attention back to the threat posed by climate change. Im here to... try and make a statement about how temporary this amazing landscape is and how our leaders have to make a decision now in order to save it, she told Reuters Television as she stood with her placard on the edge of the Arctic sea ice. Mya-Rose Craig has travelled hundreds of miles above the Arctic Circle aboard a Greenpeace ship, Arctic Sunrise. (REUTERS) I absolutely think that my generation has always had to think about climate change... which is why as weve got older theres been this massive wave of just this need for change, this demand for change when we realised the grown-ups arent going to solve this so we have to do it ourselves. Craig, from southwest England, is known as Birdgirl online, where her blog chronicling her bird-watching experiences has attracted thousands of followers. She has travelled hundreds of miles above the Arctic Circle aboard a Greenpeace ship, Arctic Sunrise. Climate data shows the Arctic is one of the fastest changing ecosystems on the planet, with serious consequences for wildlife from polar bears and seals to plankton and algae, while the melting sea ice contributes to rising sea levels worldwide. Warming in the Arctic shrank the ice covering the polar ocean this year to its second-lowest extent in four decades, scientists said on Monday. For Craig, getting to the ice floe involved a two-week quarantine in Germany, followed by a three-week voyage to the edge of the sea ice. Craig said those who dismiss the youth protests as just a rebellious phase by her generation are wrong, and she wants those in power to stop treating climate change as a low-priority issue, raised only to appease the lefties in the corner. Its everything now and it has to be treated like that, she said. (Reporting by Reuters Television; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Janet Lawrence) A schoolgirl was left in tears after teachers told to remove her white braided hair extensions or face being sent to isolation. Lily Rann had chosen the style while on a holiday to Cyprus because of her Jamaican heritage. Her great-grandfather is thought to have been the first black miner in her hometown of Midsomer Norton, Somerset The 12-year-old was was told she would be sent to isolation if she did not dump her new hair-do. But the school said any suggestion of descrimination or racism was 'disgusting'. Lily Rann, 12, had chosen the style while on a holiday to Cyprus and shunned bright colours for neutral white braids Lily's Jamaican great-grandfather, Wilbert Constantine Grubb, is thought to have been the first black miner in her hometown of Midsomer Norton She was told she would have to study in isolation if she kept the braids because she breached school uniform policy at Norton Hill School in Somerset So the Year 8 pupil was devastated to learn that she would have to lose the locks as they breached her secondary school's policy of no unnatural hair colours. Her father Chris said an agreement had since been reached to allow her back into lessons with the braids, providing she has the synthetic white extensions removed. But he slammed Norton Hill School for their stance on the issue - claiming 'discrimination'. He said: 'It's absolutely mad - there are people dying in this pandemic. There are more important things to be doing. 'Lily has had a really tough time with mental health over lockdown so we don't want her in isolation. Lily with her dad Chris, 38, who said: 'There are people dying in this pandemic. There are more important things to be doing' Chris said he informed the school of the new style before Lily went back on Tuesday When she went in, it was explained that she would have to go to isolation unless her hair was changed back to normal (pictured) 'People have messaged us saying 'what's her hair got to do with her learning?' It's discrimination. I think they are discriminating against her. 'I really like the hairstyle. They said it was unacceptable. I think it's more than acceptable.' Lorry driver Chris, 32, said he booked his family a holiday after a relative died and left him some money. He gave some of the cash to his son and daughter - which she used to pay for the hair extensions. Chris said he informed the school of the new style before Lily went back on Tuesday - and claims they asked to see a picture. He didn't supply one but, when she went in, it was explained that she would have to go to isolation unless her hair was changed. This stance was also reiterated to Chris' partner and Lily's mother, Lydia Grubb, 31, in a meeting with staff. He added: 'The school said they wouldn't have her in properly but in isolation because of it. 'They said the extensions need to be dyed or removed. They did say they didn't have a problem with the braids, which are essentially plaits. 'Lily's absolutely gutted. She even asked for bright colours in Cyprus and I said: 'No, the school won't let you have that'. 'It's just absolutely ridiculous - its not an eyesore. White is a natural colour. 'All that will happen is Lily's friends will say 'nice hair' on the first day and then it will be old news and forgotten about.' Head teacher Gordon Green said: 'All we've asked is that they remove the white synthetic hair, it's nothing to do with discrimination or racism or anything like that at all. A school said it was a 'shame' as Lily had already missed two weeks of school for the holiday, adding 'We have not refused entry into school for the pupil in question' 'I was disgusted at just the idea in being linked in any way to racism. 'Like all schools we have uniform policies and one of the things is the extreme hair styles where you've got multiple colours of hair, variations of length and hair dyes that are outside the national range of colours. 'We were not in any way saying anything about the braids. We would do that for anyone in the school.' The school looked into the possibility of Lily joining the classes virtually as a means of keeping her in the classroom while enforcing isolation. A spokesperson for the school said: 'Norton Hill School has a reputation for having high expectations and standards throughout all aspects of school life. 'Our policy around uniform, like many other schools, prohibits extreme hairstyles which in this case involves synthetic white hair extensions woven through the entire head of hair. 'We have not refused entry into school for the pupil in question. 'This is a great shame, as the pupil in question has already missed a great deal of schooling following a family holiday in the first 2 weeks of term. 'I am hopeful that the parents will support us in school to maintain standards and ensure that we can be focused on the education of children rather than their uniform.' Lily has been allowed back into the classroom on the agreement that the synthetic hair is removed at the weekend. Hitting out at the Opposition at its attack on his government over the farm bills issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that those who always "lied" to farmers are now "shooting from their shoulders" and misleading them for their own political benefit. Addressing BJP leaders and workers on the birth anniversary of party's ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay, Modi asked them to reach out to farmers on the ground and inform them about details and benefits of the new agriculture reforms and how these will empower them. Our ground connect will finish off the propaganda being spread about the reforms, he said. Modi said small and marginal farmers, who constitute 85 per cent of the peasant community, will benefit the most from these reforms which, he added, give them an option to sell their produce outside agriculture 'mandis' for a better price. Attacking the Congress, which has been trying to mount a nationwide protests against these bills, Modi said hollow slogans were given in favour of farmers and workers for many decades since Independence and governments at the Centre and states were formed in their name. Also read: Opposition parties' conduct in Parliament 'dark blot on Indian democracy': Amit Shah on farm bills All that farmers and labourers got was a jumbled web of promises and laws, he said. Modi said those who always lied to farmers are now "shooting from their shoulders" and misleading them. "They are spreading rumours. Saving farmers from such rumours and explaining the importance of the agriculture reforms is the responsibility and duty of all BJP workers because we have to make the future of farmers bright," Modi said. The Congress along with many other opposition parties has claimed that the bills will harm the interest of farmers and benefit corporates, a claim denied by the government. The Centre has asserted the proposed laws will be beneficial for farmers and increase their income. The prime minister also lauded the new labour laws passed by Parliament in the Monsoon session, asserting that they will ensure timely salary for over 50 crore organised and unorganised workers. In his address, Modi also said his government has been very clear that it should not excessively interfere in the lives of those who do not need the government. Also read: Bharat Bandh: Farmers gear up for nationwide protests against farm bills today "The government must use its resources more on the deprived and the marginalised," he said. "This birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal ji is even more relevant as the reformist decisions taken by the government in recent times had the imprint of the vision shown by him," he said. "Every BJP government, Central or State, is trying to ensure that every individual feels included in the growth of the nation and doesn't feel ignored," he said, adding that, "this is our motivation moving ahead". It is fitting that faceless assessment of tax filings, one of the biggest reforms in our tax system, comes into effect from today on Deendayal Upadhyay's birth anniversary, he noted "Our mantra and karma is Nation first," he asserted. Also read: 'Watershed moment' in history of Indian agriculture: PM Modi on passing of farm bills Israel put on hold its plans to annex up to a third of the occupied West Bank following the deal with the UAE, while saying it still plans to eventually go through with them. The UAE said the agreement removed an immediate threat to the two-state solution and gave the region a window of opportunity. The 150-year-old Tuyet Diem craft village has four households that make salt to this day, producing a total of around 10 tons daily. Salt harvesters work from 11 p.m. until the following morning, and so the photographer had to stay up to capture the entire process. He said: "Night photography is challenging, especially in a hot environment, with salt steam clinging to people and equipment. However, the image of people working passionately made me forget my fatigue or how slowly time passed." Hoa, who is from Gia Lai Province, is a member of the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists, and specializes in festivals, portraits of people and daily life. He has won over 50 Vietnamese and international awards for his photographs. WASHINGTON If health care wasnt already at the front of voters minds after six months of a pandemic, the vacancy on the Supreme Court may well put it there heading into November with the high court slated, a week after the election, to take up a Texas-led lawsuit that aims to end the Affordable Care Act. Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, are again promising to protect those with preexisting conditions who have benefited from the ACAs most popular measures, should the legal challenge theyre backing succeed. On the other side are the Democrats, hammering the same health care theme that helped them take control of the House in 2018. In Texas, its a battle playing out in a Senate race between U.S. Sen. John Cornyn who was instrumental in the GOPs failed bid to end the ACA in Congress and MJ Hegar, a former Air Force pilot who has remained laser-focused on reminding voters of Cornyns role in that effort since she jumped into the race more than a year ago. At the heart of the fight is polling that shows large majorities of voters, even Republicans, want the protections for preexisting conditions to stay. While Trump on Thursday signed an executive order essentially promising they wont go anywhere, his administration hasnt put forth a detailed plan to preserve them. Preexisting conditions protections The Affordable Care Act: Bars insurers from excluding those with preexisting conditions. Prohibits them from charging more for preexisting conditions or denying coverage of those conditions. Insurers cannot charge higher premiums for factors such as occupation and gender and are limited in how much higher premiums can be based on age. Bans lifetime and annual limits and sets caps on out-of-pocket costs. Requires insurers cover a comprehensive set of benefits and offers financial assistance for those with low and moderate incomes. The Senate GOP's Protect Act: Bars insurers from excluding those with preexisting conditions. Prohibits insurers from charging more for preexisting conditions or denying coverage of those conditions, if related benefits are offered under the insurance plan. See More Collapse Cornyn, meanwhile, is co-sponsoring legislation meant to do that. The real bottom line is, everybody agrees that whatever it is whether its the ACA or a substitute or some alternative it has to cover preexisting conditions. That is a universally held conviction, Cornyn said in an interview. The argument that the only way you can do that is through the ACA is just wrong. Thats where the battle has been. RELATED: Trump promotes health-care vision but gaps remain The GOP legislation would bar insurers from denying coverage to those with preexisting conditions, from charging them higher premiums and from excluding preexisting conditions from coverage. Experts on health care policy, however, say the Republican-backed bill has gaps that would allow insurers to once again impose annual or lifetime coverage limits, exclude benefits such as maternity and mental health care, and sell plans without limits on out-of-pocket costs, among other things. They say there are no current GOP proposals that would offer all of the protections and benefits of the ACA. These are Christmas balls with no Christmas tree, said Arthur Tim Garson, a professor of management, policy and community health at the University of Texas School of Public Health and a former director of the Texas Medical Center Health Policy Institute who says the ACA should be kept in place. Meanwhile, Republicans are poised to put another conservative justice on the high court clinching a 6-3 majority. Trump reportedly plans to announce on Saturday that Amy Coney Barrett, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, will be his pick for the seat. Senate GOP leaders have said theyre confident they have the votes to confirm. TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox With little to do to stop it, Democrats have sought to frame the Supreme Court fight as an election issue. Cornyn has been trying for years to dismantle the ACA, and now he finally may get his chance by rushing through a lifetime appointment in the midst of an election and effectively silencing the voice of the American people, Hegar said. Texans see who is really fighting to protect their health care and they know it isnt Senator Cornyn. Texas still leads nation in uninsured Affordable health care is an issue with added import in Texas, which leads the nation with its uninsured rate a problem only worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, which saw an estimated 1.6 million Texans lose job-based health insurance. Nearly 2 million more could lose insurance if the ACA is struck down. But Hegar has struggled to get her message across to voters, with one recent poll showing some 50 percent of voters dont know enough about her, and Cornyn has clearly taken note of how Democrats were able to wield health care against Republicans in 2018. Cornyn has touted legislation hes pushed to curb drug prices, targeting pharmaceutical companies aggressive efforts to protect patents and avoid generic competition, and to ensure people who lose their jobs during the pandemic can keep health insurance at least until the end of 2020. We know there are some elements there is consensus on, like reducing prescription drug costs, Cornyn said. The Republican senator isnt alone in working to bolster his health care credentials. Trumps new executive order declares it the policy of the United States for people with preexisting health conditions to be protected a mostly symbolic move that comes as his administration also is backing the Texas-led challenge to the ACA, which currently offers those protections. Were making that official, Trump said during a speech on health care in North Carolina this week. Were putting it down in a stamp, because our opponents, the Democrats, like to constantly talk about it. Cornyn led anti-ACA charge in Congress In the Texas-led case, the court is slated to hear arguments Nov. 10. A coalition of Republican-led states argue Trump's tax overhaul, which Congress approved in 2017, renders the health care plan's individual mandate unconstitutional because the federal government no longer imposes a tax penalty. Trump this week also declared victory, whether the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act or not. Obamacare is no longer Obamacare, as we worked on it and managed it very well, Trump said. What we have now is a much better plan. It is no longer Obamacare because we got rid of the worst part of it the individual mandate. The Supreme Court vacancy stands to alter the Senate race more than just about any other in Texas, as the chamber will decide whether to put Trumps nominee on the high court. Hegars campaign says she received more than 200,000 donations over the weekend following Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgs death. She also stands to gain as outside groups buy ads targeting Cornyn, including Protect Our Care, a Democratic advocacy group focused on defending the ACA. No one has been a stauncher advocate against the Affordable Care Act, said Anne Shoup, a spokeswoman for Protect Our Care. Really, truly, his record just goes back to the beginning. When the GOP tried in 2017 to repeal the ACA, Cornyn served as Republican whip, responsible for rounding up the votes to get it done. Politico deemed him Obamacare repeals top salesman, a title Hegar has repeated time and again throughout the race. Another swing at the Better Care Act? Cornyn then supported the Senate GOPs replacement plan, the Better Care Act, which Cornyn at the time stressed would address Obamacare's ballooning costs for consumers by lowering premiums over time and cutting taxes. The Congressional Budget Office estimated it would have saved $321 million over a decade. But the budget office also said it would have increased the number of uninsured Americans by 22 million. The Urban Institute estimated it would have grown Texas nation-leading uninsured rate by more than 21 percent by 2022. The plan struggled to gain support in the Senate, and Republicans havent put out another plan since. Cornyn said he still supports the Better Care Act, which he said would help stabilize the insurance markets. Cornyn, who gets his own health insurance through the ACA, said hes seen costs increase: Its become increasingly unaffordable, which was supposed to be one of its main selling points. But, he said, there isnt an easy fix. Door-to-door with Americans for Prosperity On the campaign trail, Cornyns backers say he is ensuring you can keep your health care. A Koch-backed political action committee spending well over $1 million to boost his re-election says health care is central to their pitch in mailers, ads and as they make phone calls and knock on doors in the suburbs. They say they hear a lot from those voters about wanting to keep the insurance they have. Folks are very protective of their private healthcare insurance if they have it through an employer or if theyve purchased it themselves, said Mack Morris, a senior adviser for the PAC, Americans For Prosperity Action. They also understand the government doesnt provide the best options. Hegar has said repeatedly she wouldnt favor any plan that strips private insurance plans. Hegar says she had the best health care when she was in the military and wants that type of government healthcare to be available to all Americans, arguing that with a Medicare-like option, private insurers will have to get better to be able to compete. ben.wermund@chron.com BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.25 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: It is necessary to create a mechanism for implementation of the UN Security Councils (UNSC) resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Domenico Letizia, Italian journalist and geopolitical analyst, told Trend. The UNSC resolutions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have no time limit. Those resolutions are in force until fulfillment and their distortion is unacceptable. It is necessary to create mechanisms for the implementation of these resolutions. Non-fulfillment of the UNSC resolutions undermines the reputation of the organization. In some cases, steps are taken against certain countries in a short time, but no actions are taken to ensure the fulfillment of the UNSC resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he said. He pointed out that Armenia's efforts are focused on maintaining the status quo. It is necessary to take real steps against Armenia. Armenias Azerbaijanophobic statements and the provocations staged by this country show that it is preparing for a new war with Azerbaijan. UN and the international community should prevent Armenia from another military aggression. Regretfully, the activity of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs hasnt brought any results. The statements about unacceptability of the status quo are not enough. There is a need for real steps, Letizia concluded. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Sam McBratney, whose bedtime story expressing the affection between a father hare and his son has sold more than 50 million copies and immortalized the breadth of their love for each other as up to the moon and back, died on Sept. 18 at his home in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He was 77. His death was announced by Candlewick Press, his publisher. No cause was specified. Mr. McBratney was a teacher and had already published 23 books when he retired in 1990, at the age of 47, and embarked on a picture-book project proposed by an editor for, he later recalled, a Big One to read to a Little One. Meticulously drafting on average two words a day over six months, Mr. McBratney produced Guess How Much I Love You, published in 1994, a 395-word colloquy in which two nut-brown hares playfully one-up each other in expressing their feelings. Composing a picture book may sound easy, he said, but every word you write is fighting for its place on the page. A Delhi court on Friday granted bail to the erstwhile promoter of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) Malvinder Mohan Singh in an alleged bank fraud case. The court allowed him bail on fulfilling certain conditions. However, he will remain in Tihar jail, where he is currently lodged, for two other cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Economic Offences Wing (EOW). Appearing on behalf of Malvinder, Advocate Manu Sharma argued that Malvinder's brother Shivinder Mohan Singh had already been given bail in the same case earlier this month. He further contended that the alleged role of Malvinder was the same as that of Shivinder. Also Read: Ranbaxy case: Malvinder Singh submits 'proof' of Rs 1,473 cr Dhillon family owes him He also debated that the court should retain judicial uniformity in such a matter. Following the advocate's contentions presented before it, the court granted bail to Malvinder but instructed the investigating officer to issue a request to the Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs to immediately open Look Out Circular (LoC) in Malvinder's name in order to keep him from leaving the country without the permission of trial court. The ED had in January this year filed a charge sheet against former Fortis Healthcare promoters Malvinder Mohan Singh, Shivinder Singh, and others in a money laundering case related to the alleged misappropriation of funds at RFL. RFL is a group firm of REL - Religare Enterprises Ltd - which was earlier promoted by Malvinder Singh and his brother Shivinder Singh. The EOW registered an FIR in March last year after it received a complaint from RFL's Manpreet Suri against Shivinder, Malvinder, Godhwani, former CEO of REL Kavi Arora and former CFO of RFL Anil Saxena and others, alleging that loans were taken by them while managing the firm but the money was invested in other companies. The ED lodged a money laundering case based on this. Gov. Greg Abbott pledged $171 million in CARES Act funding toward rental assistance and an eviction diversion program. The Friday news release gave no details about how the program would be administered or who qualified. Although Abbott also announced a new Texas Eviction Diversion Program, there were no details on how it would work. The court website promises more information to come but did not say when. Abbotts office has not responded to a request for comment on how the programs will work. The $171 million will be split between $167 million for targeted rental assistance and $4.2 million distributed through the Texas Supreme Court to help legal aid. We dont know much yet about how the rental assistance program will work, but at face value, its a much needed step in the right direction, said Christina Rosales, deputy director at Texas Housers. However, it wont be nearly enough. Rosales pointed out that the city of San Antonio alone offered $55 million in rent relief. The latest round of city of Houston rental assistance came to $20 million; Harris County provided $25 million. Ideally, she said, the program will prioritize Texans with the lowest income and compel participating landlords to waive all late fees. The Texas Supreme Court issued a new order in conjunction with Abbotts announcement, requiring all eviction citations to include information on the eviction diversion program. The new order also requires justices of the peace to discuss the eviction diversion program with landlords and tenants who come before them. If both landlord and tenant are interested, the judge will abate the eviction for 60 days. The program utilizes a special court process to provide landlords and tenants an alternative to the eviction process, Kristina Tirloni, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, said in an emailed statement. Lump-sum payments are provided to landlords for rental arrears in exchange for allowing tenants to remain in their homes and forgiving late fees. sarah.smith@chron.com This evening of poetry and the story of a life in the company of poet and playwright Inua Ellams was first seen at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017. Its urgency and impact hasn't diminished since then; it feels essential viewing, but it isn't particularly theatrical. The Bridge is a delicate space for a single performer. It takes a large presence to make it feel small. Ellams, modest and unassumingly downbeat, comes over as an engaging and attractive figure; it is a pleasure to spend time in his company, which is part of the point. But the show is almost too quiet to make its profound points. He sits on a stool throughout, accompanied by music from DJ Sid Mercutio. When he reads a poem, the lights change. It is a little too still and too predictable and perhaps needed a director to release its full impact. But it still packs a punch. Ellams' story, of his family's decision to leave Nigeria when he was 12 because their half-Muslim half-Christian home breaches the hard-line beliefs of the local imam (the area he lived has since become associated with Boco Haram, though this is not something he labours) is full of telling detail and absorbing, soaring poetry. He tells of his origins, of his middle-class boarding school where simply being a "clever little skinny bastard" made him the target of bullies, of the shock of encountering racism when he first comes to London. He talks about the family's three years in Dublin, when their English immigration status is queried thanks to a crooked lawyer and the vagaries of the Royal Mail, and of their return to a continuing legal nightmare which takes on almost Kafka-esque proportions when he is at a reception at Buckingham Palace (thanks to his success as a poet) at the same time as the Home Office are turning down his family's application for indefinite leave to remain. He paints, vividly, through the dense atmosphere of his witty and emotional poetry, his sense of loss and confusion. "Poetry saved my life," he states, unequivocally, going on to describe how the support of Fuel Theatre (co-producers of this show) helped him to forge his exceptional career as the writer of Barber Shop Chronicles and a new version of Three Sisters for the National Theatre. Such success, and his father's loving support of his family which led to him suffering a stroke, is set in the context of the hostile environment created by successive British Home Secretaries. Ellams' anger on behalf, not only of himself, but of all the 70 million displaced people (30 million of them children) looking for a home, is quiet but fierce. "Migration is our oldest human trait," he points out. And he quotes a friend who tells him that "no-one leaves home unless it is the mouth of a shark." He makes us see it from his point of view, to understand the human cost and suffering behind the statistics. The fact that he can talk about it all with such humour, warmth and gentle defiance, is a triumph of the human spirit as well as of a poetic soul. A trio of California lawmakers plans to introduce a bill to ban the controversial fossil fuel drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in an effort to expand the states fight against climate change. State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said hes working with two other legislators on the matter after Gov. Gavin Newsom embraced a plan this week to phase out new fracking. The details are not yet sorted out, but Wiener told The Chronicle he would like to introduce the bill as soon as lawmakers reconvene in December. Ideally, hed like the state to move even faster than the target set by Newsom, who said Wednesday that California should stop issuing new fracking permits by 2024. Wiener wants to ban the practice altogether, as a handful of other states, including New York and Maryland, have done. The sooner the better. Were in a climate emergency, Wiener said. Were approaching the point of no return, and were either serious about saving the planet or were not. We need to move aggressively away from fossil fuels and phase them out entirely. The proposal which Wiener is working on with Assemblyman Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, and Assemblywoman Monique Limon, D-Santa Barbara will focus only on fracking, and would not affect conventional drilling. Fracking, which involves injecting fluid at high pressure into the ground to loosen natural gas or oil deposits, has long been scrutinized by environmentalists for polluting local water sources and emitting greenhouse gases such as methane, which is far more potent than carbon dioxide, though it does not stay in the atmosphere as long. Newsom backed an eventual fracking permit ban in an executive order Wednesday that also pledged to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars in California over the next 15 years. In the order, Newsom said the state must focus on the impacts of oil extraction and stop authorizing new fracking operations within four years. But the governor said he lacked the authority to take that step himself and instead called on the state Legislature to act. Its not clear if lawmakers have the political support necessary to pass such a measure. Attempts to put a moratorium on fracking have failed in years past, as did a recent bill that would have established buffer space between homes and oil wells. Any bill restricting oil production is a hard bill, Wiener said. This is a hard issue in the Legislature, and I cant predict whats going to happen. What I do know is we have an obligation to our children and our grandchildren to preserve this planet for them. Despite Californias well-established liberal bona fides and aggressive policies about climate change, the petroleum industry remains a powerful force in the state, particularly in Kern County. Dismantling our oil and natural gas industry right now means betting everything on alternative energy resources that we dont have in place and a supporting infrastructure thats far from being at the scale we need, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, said in a statement Wednesday. Senate Republican leader Shannon Grove of Bakersfield has already come out forcefully against the governors latest climate change plans, decrying his extremist policies and urging him to keep his focus on wildfire prevention through better forest management instead. Trade unions representing oil industry jobs, such as refinery workers, have also fought recent measures that would have clamped down on fossil fuel production. They are an influential presence at the state Capitol, where organized labor is a key political ally of the Democratic majority. Limon said she and her colleagues will take the coming months to find an approach that would ensure a just transition away from fracking for consumers and workers a necessity to secure the votes of lawmakers who represent communities where there is significant oil production. Perhaps this is a wonderful environmental goal, but if those other elements arent considered, thats going to be hard for them to support, she said. If we are going to move into a world where we see less fossil fuel production, what does that look like? A 2015 state study found that fracking accounted for about 20% of oil and gas production in California. New well stimulation permits immediately dropped after the state began regulating fracking more strictly in 2016, according to Kyle Ferrar, the western program coordinator for the FracTracker Alliance, an anti-fracking group. But permit numbers climbed steadily in recent years until last summer, when the state temporarily stopped issuing new permits while it conducted an audit of its approval process. The moratorium ended in April, and fracking permits were 2% of those issued in the first half of 2020. If we dont stop this potential fracking boom, then thats going to have a detrimental impact on our climate in the long term, Rivas said. He noted that the effects are worse for poor communities of color that are closest to oil fields and refineries: This is an environmental justice issue. If you look at where these productive wells are, there is a disparity in who it impacts. Advocates of tougher climate change policies have criticized Newsom for not doing more to crack down on fracking and other forms of fossil fuel extraction sooner, pointing out that permits have actually increased on his watch. He continued to face some of that criticism after his executive order Wednesday. Alexandra Nagy, California director of the advocacy group Food & Water Watch, said in a statement that the order represented infuriatingly more of the same from Newsom: Lofty words and predictions, but no meaningful action. She said the governor must immediately stop permitting new fossil fuel drilling and fracking and implement the buffer zone that lawmakers failed to create. Only this would constitute the type of bold action required to protect Californians and our planet, Nagy said. J.D. Morris and Alexei Koseff are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com, alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris, @akoseff has offered a Line of Credit worth USD 100 million to Sri Lanka for three in the country, according to an official statement here. India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay called on Minister of Power Dullas Alahapperuma and reiterated India's commitment towards a strong and multi-faceted bilateral partnership including in the power sector, the Indian mission said in a statement. They discussed various issues of mutual interest including ways to expedite progress on bilateral power projects currently under discussion between the two sides. The Indian envoy also handed over a copy of a letter conveying an offer from to Sri Lanka for a Line of Credit (LoC) worth USD 100 million for three announced during the International Solar Alliance Founding Conference held in March, 2018 in New Delhi, the statement said. The LoC will cover financing for rooftop solar systems meant for 20,000 households and 1,000 government buildings all across the island. The combined generation capacity of these rooftop systems will be about 60 MW, it said. The LoC will also provide financing for a floating solar power plant. The implementation of the LoC will begin with the conclusion of an LoC agreement between the two sides, it said. The Indian High Commissioner conveyed that the USD 100 million LoC is in line with the priorities of and Sri Lanka to enhance the share of solar and renewable energy in overall energy generation, the statement added. (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.) London-based M&G makes its entry into the American multifamily market MIAMI, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Elandis, a real estate ownership and property management subsidiary of the Libra Group, today announced the launch of a transformative joint venture platform focusing on multifamily assets in the US between Libra Group and international asset manager, M&G Investments. M&G Investments has committed an initial $50 million of equity to the JV which will focus on acquiring and repositioning undervalued workforce multifamily communities across the Sunbelt region, particularly in high population- and job-growth markets including Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Nevada. The plan is for the JV to invest and quickly grow beyond the initial equity commitment. Having acquired 3,000 multifamily units since 2009, Elandis will leverage its proven track record and existing relationships across Sunbelt states with an addition of capital from one of the most prestigious global institutional investors. This allows for the procurement of high-yielding assets in competitive markets. "The opportunities within the multifamily housing sector have made it a preferred product type among a variety of investors, thanks to strong fundamentals across the Southeast and Southwest," said Frank Espinosa, CEO of Elandis. "Through this partnership we look forward to the success of this initiative and a future of sustained growth." "We are extremely pleased to enter this partnership with Elandis and actively engage the American market," said William Nicoll, CIO of Private & Alternative Assets M&G Investments. "This is an encouraging time for multifamily investment, and we look forward to working alongside Elandis in this endeavor." George Logothetis, Chairman and CEO of the Libra Group added: "We are very proud to partner with this highly respected investment house and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with their outstanding team as we invest in the all-important USA social housing sector." Celebrating 10 years of investment throughout the U.S., Elandis will experience a new stage of growth with the additional backing of large-scale resources and institutional capital from M&G Investments. Elandis will use its vertically integrated expertise of investment and management to maximize the value of each property through tenant retention and capital improvements programs. Raising residents' quality of life and enhancing the surrounding communities are core values to Elandis and its investment strategy. With more than 80 years of experience and headquartered in the UK, M&G invests in a variety of assets including real estate on behalf of pension funds, insurance companies, consultants and sovereign wealth funds. Based in New York and London, Libra Group is a diverse international business group active in 35 countries across six continents. Focusing on aviation, energy, hospitality, real estate, shipping, and diversified investments, Libra Group's real estate interests span over 20 countries. For more information, please visit www.elandis.com. About Elandis Founded in 2010, Elandis is a real estate investment and management firm based in Miami, Florida. Having owned and operated over 3,000 workforce housing units, the vertically integrated firm actively acquires and repositions multifamily assets across the Sunbelt region. Elandis leverages its global network of personal and professional relationships, local expertise and on-the-ground presence to identify off-market opportunities and to strategically deploy capital. Through its own management services, Elandis improves each property's operating efficiencies and creates added-value to provide superior returns for investors and high quality of life for its residents. www.elandis.com About M&G Investments Since 1931, M&G Investments has been helping its customers to prosper by putting investments to work, which in turn creates jobs, homes and vital infrastructure in the real economy. M&G's investment solutions span equities, fixed income, multi asset, cash, private debt, infrastructure and real estate. M&G Investments is part of M&G plc, a savings and investment business which was formed in 2017 through the merger of Prudential plc's UK and Europe savings and insurance operation and M&G, its wholly owned international investment manager. M&G plc listed as an independent company on the London Stock Exchange in October 2019 and has $418.5 billion of assets under management (as at 30 June 2020). M&G plc has over 5 million customers in the UK, Europe, the Americas and Asia, including individual savers and investors, life insurance policy holders and pension scheme members. M&G plc, a company incorporated in the United Kingdom, is the direct parent company of The Prudential Assurance Company. The Prudential Assurance Company is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential Financial, Inc., a company whose principal place of business is in the United States of America. For more information, please visit: https://global.mandg.com/ Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1281547/Libra_Elandis_and_M_G.jpg A Co Tyrone man accused of kidnapping a church caretaker and holding him at knifepoint said he had suffered a "bad trip", the High Court was told on Friday. Barry Collins' alleged reaction to drug-taking emerged as he sought bail on charges which include assaulting and threatening to kill the sacristan. Collins, 42, of Ackinduff Park in the Dungannon area, was arrested following the incident on September 4. A previous court heard claims the caretaker had been targeted after he arrived to open up the nearby St Joseph's Chapel. He was allegedly grabbed, taken to Collins' home and forced into the kitchen area. According to the prosecution he was subjected to threats and intimidation involving the use of a knife, an ice-cream scooper and a boiling kettle. The sacristan sustained a cut to his throat and bruising to his chest. He was then allegedly dragged back to the chapel, where lighting wires were ripped out. Collins denies charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, stealing a key belonging to the church, burglary, criminal damage, possessing an offensive weapon with intent and threats to kill. He occasionally uses cannabis for a degenerative medical condition, the High Court heard. During submissions Lord Justice Treacy commented: "He admits he was on a bad trip. "I know nothing about drugs other than what I have learned about them in court; can you have a bad trip on cannabis?" Prosecution counsel said the substance can have hallucinogenic effects, but described Collins' explanation for having the alleged weapons as "bizarre". Further details of the account he provided were not disclosed in court. Questioning why the defence wanted that material kept private, the judge said it was "quite odd, to put it mildly". "He seems to acknowledge in those submissions that he did use the kettle, the knife and the ice-cream scoop," Lord Justice Treacy added. "But he then gives what, on the face of it, seems like a very unusual explanation." Defence barrister Blaine Nugent said Collins did not want the information made public due to concerns for his safety. The court also heard he received a visit from someone with "republican connections" a day before the alleged kidnapping. Before adjourning his bail application, Lord Justice Treacy said: "The account he has given to his lawyers...has not allayed fears I have." The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which are part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, on Friday said they would try to ensure that the farm sector reform bills are not implemented in the state. IMAGE: MPCC president and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, right, with PWD Minister Ashok Chavan, left, and Congress leader H K Patil during a press conference, at Dadar in Mumbai, on Friday. Photograph: PTI Photo Speaking in Pune, Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar said farmers as well as the NCP and other parties are opposed to the new bills. "Farmers think that the laws are not beneficial for them. There was no hurry (to pass them)," he said. Asked whether they would be implemented in Maharashtra, he said, "We will try to ensure that they are not implemented, but at the same time we will have to see what new issues crop up." "We are studying what can happen if the matter goes to the court," Pawar said, adding that the government has sought opinion of the legal department too. He had held a meeting on the issue where Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil, Cooperation Minister Balasaheb Patil, leaders of Mathadi workers (head-loaders who work in APMCs) and other stake-holders were present, he added. Earlier in the day, state Congress chief and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said they will 'work together and take a decision on non-implementation of the new farm bills'. State Congress leaders will meet Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on September 28 over the issue, while on October 2, a state-wide 'dharna' agitation will be held against the new bills, he added. The Congress wanted both farm sector bills as well as the labour reform bills to be scrapped, Thorat said. "The new bills aim to scrap the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs). The government wants to demolish the APMC system and hand over the marketing system to traders. "Due to this, farmers will not get the minimum support price. Even the (old) labour protection laws are being scrapped," he alleged. PWD minister and another Congress leader Ashok Chavan said the new bills will benefit only the rich and corporates. Various farmer groups had called for a nationwide shutdown on Friday against the three farm sector bills which await presidential assent. The three bills are the Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020. Former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, who has been banned from contesting elections on October 31, should be allowed to take part, the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights said Friday. The court, established by African Union members in 2004, called on the Ivorian state to take all necessary steps to immediately remove all obstacles preventing Gbagbo from participating. Ivory Coast withdrew its recognition of the courts jurisdiction in April this year. Gbagbo, who was president from 2000 to 2010, is not on the electoral roll which was updated this year, and thus cannot vote or be a candidate. The Constitutional Council, Ivory Coasts top court, has rejected 40 of 44 applications to contest the election, which is taking place against a backdrop of extreme tension. Those barred include Gbagbo, 75, and former rebel leader Guillaume Soro, 47, both of whom played key roles in the crisis that engulfed the country after disputed elections in 2010. The Ivorian court however accepted an application by President Alassane Ouattara, 78, who is seeking a third term despite criticism that this sidesteps constitutional limits. Gbagbo was freed conditionally by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague after he was cleared in January 2019 of crimes against humanity. He is living in Brussels pending the outcome of an appeal against the ICC ruling. His candidacy was rejected by the Constitutional Council on the grounds that he was handed a 20-year jail term by an Ivorian court last November over the looting of the local branch of the Central Bank of West African States during the post-election crisis. The African Court, whose ruling is provisional, also said Gbagbos conviction should not be included on his judicial record until it had time to deliver a full judgement. On September 15, the African Court handed down a verdict in Soros favour, saying Ivory Coast should immediately remove all obstacles preventing Soro from competing in the ballot. Soro provided military help that enabled Ouattara to come to power after a civil war that erupted when Gbagbo refused to accept defeat in the 2010 election. More than 3,000 people died in the fighting. Soro, who lives today in France, was barred from contesting the election on the grounds of a 20-year sentence, also in absentia, for alleged embezzlement of public funds, handed down in April. By Alexandra Alper, Michael Erman and Steve Holland CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders on healthcare for Americans that lawyers said will carry little weight, as the president seeks to boost his flagging credibility with voters on the hot-button issue ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election. Trump signed the twin orders implementing his "America First Healthcare Plan" in an airport hangar in Charlotte, North Carolina, amid an audience that included medical professionals. "Under my plan 33 million Medicare beneficiaries will soon receive a card in the mail containing $200 that they can use to help pay for prescription drugs," Trump said in describing part of his program. The Trump administration also set out new rules allowing U.S. states and territories to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada. Trump said he expected an even deeper reduction in drug prices from an earlier executive order capping Medicare drug prices at the lowest level paid by other rich nations. Drug companies and experts have questioned whether that executive order is practical and can withstand expected legal challenges. One of Thursday's executive orders is aimed at ensuring Americans with pre-existing conditions retain healthcare coverage, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters, even as his own administration seeks to end the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which protects the same right. Azar also said Trump was directing him via the second executive order to work with Congress to pass legislation banning surprise healthcare bills by the beginning of next year, and explore executive action if the legislative bid fails. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, labeled the effort "bogus," as she called on the president to "drop his lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic." Story continues While Trump heralded his actions, some lawyers expressed skepticism that he had the authority to make the move by executive order. Nicholas Bagley, a professor at University of Michigan's law school, said: "Unless there's a law that prohibits the conduct in question, or unless the president is exercising a power that's been delegated to him by Congress, his statements have no more legal weight than a tweet." "It's as if I was walking around with a memo that was titled 'Executive Order,' and claimed that the policy of the United States is that everybody gets a cheeseburger on Tuesdays," he added. Trump lags Democratic rival and former Vice President Joe Biden in national opinion polls, especially on the question of who would better handle healthcare. The president's action, unveiled less than six weeks before Election Day on Nov. 3, also comes amid long-standing criticisms that he has failed to follow through on promises to propose an alternative to Obamacare even as he works to dismantle that program. Trump also has drawn fire for his administration's response to the deadly coronavirus, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans. In June, the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate the Obamacare law that added millions to the healthcare safety net. The Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, prohibited health insurers from denying coverage to Americans with known health conditions. Surprise bills occur when patients visit a hospital they believe is in their health insurance network but then are seen by a doctor or specialist who is out of network. Trump previously called on Congress to address the issue in 2019. "What the president is saying is that all the relevant players - hospitals, doctors, insurance companies - had better get their act together, and get legislation passed through Congress that protects patients against surprise medical bills," Azar said. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington, Michael Erman in New York and Steve Holland in Charlotte; editing by Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker) Pacific Resources Benefits Advisors LLC, a Boston, Mass.-based subsidiary of Brown & Brown Insurance and a non-medical employee benefits consulting firm, has announced Chris Judd as the companys new CEO and Ken Vaughan as the companys new president, along with several other executive promotions. Judd becomes the companys third chief executive, assuming responsibility from Paul Barden. Barden has been a leader at Pacific Resources for 20 years, spending the past ten years as CEO. With this change in leadership, Barden will continue to be an advisor to Pacific Resources in addition to his new leadership role with Brown & Brown Insurance. For the past eight years as executive vice president of Pacific Resources, Judd has been responsible for consulting service operations, delivery and strategy, and Vaughan has been overseeing client service operations and distribution as well as the companys global business. Both Judd and Vaughan have nearly 30 years of consulting and executive leadership experience in non-medical employee benefits. Source: Pacific Resources Benefits Advisors LLC The following individuals were either recently charged in Walworth County Circuit Court or recently made their initial court appearance. Mecinas V. Barrera, 36, Delavan, has been charged with bail jumping, operating under the influence-third offense, and misdemeanor bail jumping. If convicted, he faces up to seven years and nine months in prison and $22,000 in fines. Shawn M. Faust, 59, Lake Geneva, has been charged with bail jumping and disorderly conduct in Walworth. If convicted, he faces up to six years and three months in prison and $11,000 in fines. Timothy L. Gaines, 58, Elkhorn, has been charged with possession of THC-repeat offender, misdemeanor theft, and possession of drug paraphernalia. If convicted, he faces up to four years and four months in prison and $20,500 in fines. Samuel J. Gendreau, 21, Greendale, has been charged with attempting to flee or elude a police officer during a traffic stop in Lake Geneva. If convicted, he faces up to three years and six months in prison and a $10,000 fine. Jacob C. Hildebrandt, 19, Oak Creek, has been charged with attempting to flee or elude a police officer during a traffic stop in Lake Geneva. If convicted, he faces up to three years and six months in prison and a $10,000 fine. Daniel G. Myers, 28, Palos Park, Illinois, has been charged with bribery of a public official and two counts of resisting an officer, following a traffic stop in the town of Lyons. If convicted, he faces up to seven years and six months in prison and $30,000 in fines. Gabriel D. Pope, 20, Whitewater, has been charged with second-degree recklessly endangering safety, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a firearm while intoxicated and disorderly conduct. If convicted, he faces up to 11 years and nine months in prison and $46,000 in fines. Oscar U. Rodriguez, 33, Whitewater, has been charged with three counts of manufacture/delivery of cocaine. If convicted, he faces up to 37 years and six months in prison and $75,000 in fines. Travis J. Ross, 37, Williams Bay, has been charged with possession of narcotic drugs in Lake Geneva. If convicted, he faces up to three years and six months in prison and a $10,000 fine. Keriann C. Smith, 37, Genoa City, has been charged with bail jumping for allegedly having contact with an individual in violation of a court order. If convicted, she faces up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Malik L. Stewart, 21, Beloit, has been charged with bail jumping for allegedly violating a curfew in the town of Geneva in violation of a court order. If convicted, he faces up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Lok Ka Stuey, 26, Milwaukee, has been charged with attempting to flee or elude a police officer during a traffic stop in Lake Geneva. If convicted, he faces up to three years and six months in prison and a $10,000 fine. Nakisha A. Tolon, 31, Elkhorn, has been charged with bail jumping and misdemeanor retail theft at a Walmart store in Lake Geneva. If convicted, she faces up to six years and nine months in prison and $20,000 in fines. Vanessa C. Welch, 19, Delavan, has been charged with bail jumping for allegedly smoking marijuana in violation of a court order. If convicted, she faces up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A Delhi court on Friday, September 25 rejected the bail application of Shivinder Mohan Singh, erstwhile promoter of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), in an alleged fraud case entailing an amount of around Rs 2,500 crore. Religare Finvest Ltd. (RFL), a group firm of REL, which was earlier promoted by Shivinder Mohan Singh and his brother Malvinder Mohan Singh, had filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Delhi Police against the duo on charges of breach of trust, cheating, and criminal conspiracy for misappropriation of public money amounting to around Rs 2,500 crore. Also Read: RFL Scam: Delhi Court grants bail to Malvinder Singh, but ex-Fortis promoter will stay in jail; here's why It is alleged in the complaint that funds belonging to RFL were routed to RHC Holding Pvt Ltd., owned and controlled by Singh brothers, covertly via shell entities. The EOW had in March last year registered an FIR following the RFL's complaint and also filed a chargesheet after carrying out an investigation. Shivinder was apprehended on October 10, 2019, and is currently lodged in Tihar Delhi. Appearing on behalf of RFL, advocate Sandeep Das opposed Shivinder's bail, Economic Times reported. Also Read: RFL scam: Shivinder Singh gets bail in bank fraud case, but will stay in jail; here's why In another development, A Delhi court on Friday granted bail to Malvinder Singh in an alleged bank fraud case. The court allowed him bail on fulfilling certain conditions. However, he will remain in Tihar jail, where he is currently lodged, for two other cases filed by the ED and EOW. A controversial plan for a permanent viewing platform at Bells Beach is shaping as a major flashpoint at Surf Coast council elections, where a coalition of independent candidates hopes to ride a wave of concern about the rapid pace of urbanisation. The once sleepy hamlet of Torquay has become a major residential centre and council forecasts indicate population pressure will continue to grow. Maurice Cole (centre) with fellow election candidates Liz Wood (left), Rob Bullen and Mike Bodsworth. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui Renowned surfboard shaper Maurice Cole is among the candidates vying for a seat on the Surf Coast Shire council, campaigning to preserve the untouched quality of the coastline. We are already seeing the most overcrowded car parks and surf weve ever seen, Mr Cole said. (JTA) A survey of Jewish voters shows 67 percent plan to vote for Joe Biden in November and 30 percent plan to vote for Donald Trump. The numbers in the survey released Monday by the Jewish Electorate Institute broke the same way when voters were asked about President Trumps performance: 67 percent said they disapprove and 30 percent said they approve. The survey suggested gains for Trump among Jewish voters since 2016, when Hillary Clinton won 71 percent of the vote to Trumps 24 percent. Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate in 2012, won 30 percent of the Jewish vote, the highest... By Ayya Lmahamad The volume of traffic on the Belarusian Railway with Azerbaijan increased by 7.4 percent, amounting to 100,000 tons during the period of January-August 2020, Belarusian media has reported. During the reporting period, cargoes to Azerbaijan mostly included the woodworking products from Belarus. The range of cargoes also included construction materials, oil and its products, chemical, industrial raw materials and food products. Belarus is Azerbaijans third largest trade partner among CIS countries, with trade turnover amounting to $170 million out of the countrys total turnover of $16.5 billion. 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. Some 591.4 million tons of cargoes were transported by sea during the reporting period. In addition, 4.4 billion tons of cargoes were transported by railway, and 2.3 billion tons of cargoes by automobile means of transport. Some 46.7 million tons of cargoes were transported by air during the first eight months of the year. It should be noted that the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) will deliver oil worth 95,000 tons to Belarus on September 25-26. SOCAR has so far shipped two tanker batches of Azerbaijani oil to Belarus - one with the volume of 90,000 tons, and the other of 85,000 tons. Batches were delivered to the port of Odessa, from where via the Odessa-Brody pipeline to Belarusian refineries. Another batch of Azerbaijani oil was sent to Belarus in April, June, July and August. Thus, the volume of April and June batches were 85,000 tons each, for July 650,000 tons and for August 94,000 tons. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 11:06:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BRUSSELS, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- The China Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (CCCEU) expressed concern once again on Thursday that the EU document on foreign subsidies could pose legal barriers to Chinese companies operating in the bloc. On June 17, the European Commission issued the "White Paper on Leveling the Playing Field as regards Foreign Subsidies" and has since launched a public consultation. In a statement, the CCCEU called on the Commission to carefully examine the legality, rationality, and necessity of adopting new legislative tools on foreign subsidies, and urged that the white paper not be turned into legislation. "The legal framework proposed in the white paper to scrutinize foreign subsidies will directly take a toll on non-EU undertakings, including our members, and the EU legislative and business environment they operate in," CCCEU Chairwoman Zhou Lihong said in the statement. In its response to the public consultation, the CCCEU stressed that it would be "unnecessary" for the EU to formulate a new set of legal instruments. The new legal tools proposed in the white paper lack a clear legal basis under EU treaties, will overlap with a number of existing EU and member states' instruments, and produce "double standards" in their enforcement, the CCCEU noted. It added that the proposed legal tools could also potentially be incompatible with the EU's WTO obligations including principles such as national treatment, most favored nation status, and non-discrimination. The chamber believes the white paper fails to clarify key concepts such as definition and forms of "foreign subsidies," "leveraging effect" and "material influence," which will create great legal uncertainties and grant the EU more discretionary power. The EU should take into consideration businesses' solidarity efforts in crises as some Chinese companies were invited to invest in Europe after the European debt crisis -- the favorable terms they enjoyed at the time should be legitimately protected and exempted from future scrutiny, the chamber said. The CCCEU set up a task force comprising lawyers, business representatives and EU-affairs experts to prepare its response to the public consultation. On Sept. 10, the CCCEU and global strategy consulting firm Roland Berger jointly published the 2020 Recommendation Report, urging Brussels to address Chinese businesses' pressing concerns amid declining sentiment on the ease of doing business in the bloc. Based in Brussels, the CCCEU was founded in 2018 by a group of Chinese enterprises. It has 70 members and chambers in member states, representing about 1,000 Chinese companies in the EU. Enditem They only pretend to feel connected. "This is because most people want emotional bond and understanding which is not something a psychopath would naturally have unless they could pretend for a specific goal like being charming enough to get your bank details or convince someone to change their dying parent's will to benefit them," the professor said. "The lack of emotion is really part of why some psychopaths can sit emotionless through watching highly graphic violence especially when they have no real idea of what they should be feigning. "If anything, the response is arousal or excitement, which is something more than just the emotional void that they find is their baseline." American serial killer Ted Bundy appeared charming. Credit: Psychopaths, especially the serial killer types, learn how to fake emotion in order to get what they want. They simply don't feel remorse the way other people do. For years the people of Perth wondered why the Claremont killer had stopped killing. Could a murderer who took the lives of young women really just stop? There were theories. Was he dead? In jail? Had he moved away? It turns out he had just met someone, got married, and assumed the role of suburban step-dad. Many organised serial killers manage to keep up the appearance of being just like everyone else. Associate Professor Dellar said the ability to seem harmless or even charming, like Ted Bundy, could "make it difficult to spot the shark amongst the fish". They could blend in, and appear to be a nice bloke while keeping their violent fantasies secretly to themselves. Could he stop? Its not uncommon for psychopaths to stop murdering when they get a wife, or partner. Criminologist Aaron Sell says sometimes it just becomes logistically impossible to continue killing and getting away with it while living with someone. Loading In one famous case, a prolific serial killer committed his crimes only when his wife took their children on regular holidays without him. Alaskan killer Robert Hansen might be the best example of a serial killer who could stop, but only while his wife was around, Professor Sell said. While she was home he acted normally, she knew he was a little off but did not suspect he was capable of the horrific cruelty he was convicted of. He would kidnap and torture women, then turn them loose in the woods and hunt them down like wild animals when his wife took their children to visit her family. He stopped hunting when his wife was in town, he would only hunt when his wife would take their kids on vacation and then he would go out and kidnap people and bring them back to his house, have sex with them, sometimes torture them and let them go and then kill them, Professor Sell said. Professor Dellar said many serial killers stopped killing as they grew older. "The main pattern [is often] serial killers tend to act out when their own lives are most unstable marriage breakup, partner infidelity, losing a job," he said. "As they grow older, there are greater chances for stability through relationships, grandchildren, and stable incomes. This seems to impact the extreme violent acts, but not necessarily the fantasy, which may live on in their reading material, pornographic movies with violent elements etc." Record numbers of people are voting early or requesting absentee ballots in Virginia as the coronavirus pandemic and newly loosened election laws reshape voting habits here during this year's presidential election. Some 100,356 voters have cast ballots in person within days of Friday's start of early voting, while 884,032 have requested absentee ballots, state elections officials reported. Nervous voters are scrutinizing every word of the absentee voting instructions, and scolding public officials when they find something inadequate. Amid worries that the coronavirus pandemic could affect turnout and fears that absentee votes could be disqualified because of U.S. Postal Service delays, Virginia has taken steps to make voting in the state easier. The General Assembly approved measures to broaden access to absentee voting, including by allowing ballot drop boxes - which Gov. Ralph Northam, D, signed into law. Northam also signed a bill that declares Election Day a state holiday. "I am committed to making sure all Virginians have access to the ballot box," Northam said when announcing the proposal for drop boxes, more funding for postage for ballots and other changes, "and will continue to work with state and federal lawmakers to ensure safe, secure and accessible elections this fall." Below are answers to some of the more common questions Virginians may have about voting this year. Q: When is the election, and what is on the ballot in Virginia? Q: The Nov. 3 election isn't just about the presidential contest between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Virginia voters will also choose between U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D, and Republican challenger Daniel Gade, while 11 House of Representatives seats and a state House of Delegates seat in Frederick County are also on the ballot. There are also several state and local referendums, including on whether to amend Virginia's Constitution to allow for the creation of a 16-member commission tasked with redrawing election district boundaries. Q: How do I register to vote in Virginia? A: There are various ways to obtain a voter registration application, which the state Department of Elections lists here. Among them: Online, either through the state or your local elections office; in person at the local elections office, the public library, the Department of Motor Vehicles or through voter registration drives. You can also download an application at https://www.elections.virginia.gov/media/formswarehouse/veris-voter-registration/applications/VA-NVRA-1-Voter-Registration-Application-rev-4_1-(1).pdf (Spanish, Vietnamese and Korean versions are available). The completed application can be turned in to your local elections office or mailed back to the address listed at the top of the form. Q: What is the deadline for registering? A: You must register to vote or update your registration for any general and primary election in Virginia at least 22 days before the polls open. In this case, that means Oct. 13. After you've submitted your registration form, you should receive a voter registration card or other correspondence confirming your status. If you haven't, call your local elections office to make sure your application was processed. You can also confirm your status with the state Elections Department online. Q: How do I know if I'm eligible to vote in Virginia? A: You must be a U.S. citizen who permanently resides in Virginia and is at least 18 years old on Election Day. You are not eligible if you are already registered in another state and plan to vote there, or if you have been declared mentally incompetent by a court of law. If convicted of a felony, you must have your right to vote restored by the secretary of the commonwealth. Instructions for doing so are listed here. Q: Can I vote early? A: Yes. You can vote at your local elections office between Sept. 18 and Oct. 31, the Saturday before Election Day. Some jurisdictions will have satellite voting stations opened for early voting, but when they will open varies by locality. You don't need a special reason to vote early. Make sure you bring an acceptable form of ID, which could be a state-issued driver's license or identification card, a U.S. passport, a student or work ID, or even a utility bill or bank statement with your name and address on it. If you don't have an ID, you can sign an ID confirmation statement to confirm who you are and that you regularly vote. Or, you can vote by provisional ballot, which means you have to provide ID later, to confirm who you are, before your vote can be certified. As with in-person voting on Election Day, curbside voting and/or equipment for older people or those with disabilities is available upon request. Q: Where can I vote early? A: Each city or county chooses where and when early voting will happen. Check with your local registrar or do a search online for "early voting locations" and add the name of your city or county. Q: Can I vote by mail? A: Yes. You also don't need a special reason to do this. You can apply to vote by mail through the state or your local elections office, either online or by mailing an absentee ballot application. Those voting for the first time in a federal election should also send a scanned copy of their ID along with their application. If they fail to do so, they are required by federal law to show proof of ID when turning in their ballots. During its special session, Virginia's General Assembly passed Northam's proposals for drop boxes, funding for prepaid postage for mailed ballots and another change that allows absentee voters to correct errors on their ballots so they can be counted. Ballots with mistakes on them are disqualified. Northam signed the measures into law in early September. Virginia voters who are overseas or stationed outside the state while in the U.S. military and who haven't received a state ballot in time can fill out a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot and either email a scanned copy to info@elections.virginia.gov or fax it to 804-371-0194. Q: What are the deadlines to get a mail-in/absentee ballot? A: Mail-in or absentee ballots will be available Sept. 18, and local registrars will send them out to voters, usually on a first-come, first-served basis. The statewide deadline to request this ballot is 5 p.m. Oct. 23. You'll need your ballot in time to fill it out and return it by 7 p.m. on Election Day. If you are returning your ballot by mail, it must be postmarked on or before Election Day. Take into account that the elections office is probably very busy processing higher-than-usual numbers of absentee ballot applications. Q: What if I don't receive a mail-in ballot after my request? A: You can call your local elections office to request another one, although they may ask you to fill out an online form to make the request formal. You could also go to the local elections office after Sept. 18 and either fill out the form there or vote in-person there. You also have the option of showing up at the polling place and filling out a provisional ballot, which will be counted once election officials confirm you are registered and have not previously cast a ballot. Q: What if I have an emergency that forces me to miss the application or voting deadlines? A: You can request an emergency absentee ballot if you were unable to meet the application deadline because of hospitalization or illness involving you or a member of your family or another emergency that justifies receiving such a ballot. If you need an emergency ballot, you must request it from your local elections office by 2 p.m. on Nov. 2. You can get an application from that office or by downloading a copy from the state Elections Department website. If approved, that office will provide the ballot to your designated representative so it can be delivered to you. You'll need that person to witness that you filled out the ballot, which should be returned to your local elections office or local polling station before polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day. Q: Can I turn in my mail-in ballot or do I have to mail it - and what is the deadline? A: You can do either. If you are returning your ballot in person, it must be received by your local elections office - or put into a drop box, assuming that measure receives final approval from the legislature and your jurisdiction decides to install drop boxes - by 7 p.m. on Election Day. If you are sending it back by mail, it must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by your local elections office by noon Nov. 6. You can also return your mail-in ballot at your polling place on Election Day. You should NOT give your ballot to someone else to return it - that is considered ballot harvesting and is illegal in Virginia. Q: Do I need a stamp if I mail it back in? A: Some localities will include an envelope with prepaid postage, but not all of them, since it isn't mandatory. Check with your local elections office. The General Assembly also approved setting aside $2 million for prepaid postage on mail-in ballots and instructing registrars to allow voters to correct ballot errors that might keep an absentee vote from being counted. Q: Do I need a witness to sign my absentee ballot before turning it in? A: No. A federal court has approved a consent decree negotiated by the office of Attorney General Mark Herring, D, that allows elections officers to accept absentee ballots without a witness's signature. The purpose of the agreement is to accommodate voters who are worried having a witness present while filling out their ballot could put them at risk of being infected by the coronavirus. In addition, the General Assembly's bills also would remove the requirement for a witness to certify a ballot signature. Q: My signature has changed since I registered. What if it doesn't match my signature on file? A: You don't need to worry. Virginia does not compare signatures for voting. Q: Why is there so much concern about the U.S. Postal Service this year? A: While the Postal Service has coordinated vote-by-mail programs with some Western states for years, an unprecedented number of voters are eligible to cast a ballot this way in November, in part because states want to limit in-person voting to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. The Postal Service warned all but four states that they have deadlines that could leave voters disenfranchised. At the same time, operational changes implemented over the past few months have slowed delivery by as much as a week in some places, fueling widespread fears that ballots could be delivered too late to count in November. Congress intends to address the matter, and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has said he will suspend, but not necessarily reverse, the heavily criticized cost-cutting measures. It's not clear when the delivery slowdowns will end. Q: What has President Donald Trump been saying about mail-in voting, and how are local officials responding? A: Trump has predicted, without evidence, that mail-in balloting will be laden with fraud. Local officials note that there have been very few examples of fraud connected to absentee ballots in previous elections. A recent Washington Post analysis of data collected by three vote-by-mail states with help from the nonprofit organization Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) found that officials identified 372 possible cases of double voting or voting on behalf of deceased people out of about 14.6 million votes cast by mail in the 2016 and 2018 general elections, or 0.0025%. Q: Can I vote in person if I requested a mail-in ballot? A: Yes. Amid the worries surrounding the Postal Service, hundreds of Virginia voters have called the state elections office trying to cancel their mail-ballot requests, according to Chris Piper, the top elections official in the state. Piper said there is no formal way to do so, but voters who want to vote in person should bring their mail ballot with them to the polls, allowing officials there to void it. Q: Some states are cutting the number of polling stations and using larger voting centers to reduce the possibility of coronavirus infections. Is Virginia? A: No. As of now, all of the usual polling places will be open, state elections officials say. Under Virginia law, every precinct in the state must have a polling station operating on Election Day. Some precinct stations can be consolidated, but that would need special approval. Q: How do I ensure my vote gets counted? A: Make sure you are registered to vote and follow all of the state Elections Department requirements for in-person or absentee voting, including deadlines for mail-in and/or emergency voting. For in-person voting, polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. If you are in line by 7 p.m. polls will stay open until you can vote. Make sure to bring some proof of ID and check with your local elections office in advance to confirm where your precinct polling station is. For absentee voting, confirm that your application was processed and return your completed ballot in time. Q: When are mail-in ballots counted? A: Mail-in ballots may be kept by registrars within the second sealed envelope in a secure location until Election Day. But registrars also have the option to process them early, opening the second envelope and running the ballot through a voting machine. To do that, they must notify party representatives and elections officers so they can be present to observe. There is no tally of those votes before Election Day. Q: How do I volunteer at a polling station? A: State and local election officials are eager to sign up more polling station volunteers and election officers. You can do so through the state Elections Department or through your local elections office. You must be a registered voter in Virginia who doesn't hold an elected office or work for an elected official. You should be available between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Election Day, with the day broken into shifts. Election officers and volunteers undergo about three hours of training before working on Election Day, where they will help set up voting equipment, check photo IDs and names, help voters understand how to use the voting machines and tabulate the votes in their precinct when polls close. Under Virginia law, an employer cannot fire someone who was out on Election Day because they were working at a polling station, or force them to take a sick day. Election officers can be paid a modest stipend, which varies by locality. Boys Basketball: Stark, Norberg combine for 41 points in Watertown's win over Rapid City Stevens Reese Stark and Drew Norberg combined for 41 points to propel Watertown to a 61-51 high school boys basketball win over Rapid City Stevens on Friday night in the Civic Arena. Citizens of Chile are scheduled to vote Oct. 25 on a referendum that may clear the way for a rewrite of the country's constitution, a key demand stemming from a period of civil unrest in late 2019. Polls show support for a new constitution at about 70%, though the issue is provoking acrimonious debate. For those on the left, overhauling the charter drawn up during the 1973-1990 military dictatorship is the only way to hold together a nation riven by months of violent protests and secure improvements in social justice. For those on the right, change imperils the model that delivered more than 30 years of rapid economic growth, turning Chile from a backwater into one of Latin America's wealthiest nations per capita. 1. What are the arguments for a new constitution? To start with, many say the constitution, though amended several times since Chile returned to democracy, is illegitimate because of its origins during the reign of right-wing General Augusto Pinochet, whose rule featured arbitrary arrests, torture, disappearances and political executions. Beyond that, critics argue that elements of it contribute to the income inequality and weak social net that have fed mass protests. Some object to the high importance the document assigns to property rights and to the dominant role it gives the private sector in providing services such as education, health care and pensions. They dislike its requirements for large congressional majorities to change major laws, a rule that effectively grants a veto to smaller parties on the right that oppose structural reforms to the economic and social system. 2. What are the arguments against changing it? Many on the right say that the current constitution, with its pro-business emphasis and prioritization of property rights, has been key to Chile's economic growth and stability. Chile has Latin America's best-rated credit, and its economy has been one of the fastest-growing in the region for years, according to the World Bank. Conservatives are especially concerned that many Chileans want to rewrite the constitution from scratch. Some on the right argue that conditions aren't ideal for a constitutional debate given the coronavirus pandemic as well as the risk of fresh violence in the streets. 3. What's behind the turmoil? The protests began Oct. 18, triggered by an increase in the subway fare. Demonstrators quickly expanded their complaints to include low pensions and deficiencies in the health care and education systems. The unrest, which lasted through the start of this year, forced shops to close, disrupted key transportation links and stalled investment decisions. 4. What's the process for writing a new charter? Originally scheduled for last April, the referendum was delayed because of the coronavirus. In the vote, citizens will decide not only whether a new constitution will be drafted, but how. They can choose between a newly elected assembly, or a commission split between new delegates and existing members of congress. In either case, representatives will be chosen in April on the same day as municipal elections. The commission would then have one year to draft the new charter, with each article requiring the approval of a two-thirds majority. A final draft would then have to be ratified in another referendum in the first half of 2022. 5. How has the debate affected the market? When President Sebastian Pinera said Nov. 11 that he was willing to change the constitution, the currency, which had held remarkably firm in the early days of the protests, went into free-fall, depreciating by more than 13% before the central bank intervened. More recently, some investors have said the looming referendum has kept the peso weaker than it should be given recent gains in copper, which is Chile's biggest export, and the country's balance of trade. Some opponents of the rewrite argue that the length of the process will harm the economy because investors will hold back in the absence of certainty about future investment conditions. Changes to the constitution may unsettle financial markets if they entail more public spending. 6. What do Chileans want in a new constitution? In a public opinion survey in late August, 93% of respondents said they wanted health care and education rights guaranteed by law; 72% said political power should be divided more evenly between the president and congress. Power, including control of the budget, is currently concentrated in the office of the head of state. Only about half said the central bank, which has operated autonomously for over 30 years, should continue to have an independent policymaking process and governance. At the same time, 85% said that the right to property should be considered fundamental, up from 74% in a January poll. One Chicago census worker told the Tribune, for example, that he got some of his information from a door attendant at a River North condo building. An organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said she tells people its important to fill out their forms because the Census Bureau will get that information one way or another, it just may not be as accurate. Michael Zavros, 46, is a contemporary artist and former Australian national showjumper. His wife Alison Kubler, 47, a curator and art magazine editor, is on the National Gallery of Australia council. They have three children. The couple with Bono, one of their horses: "Life is certainly not boring." Credit:Paul Harris MICHAEL: I grew up in the Gold Coast hinterland, the second of five children and the only boy. Our parents were schoolteachers and werent paid much but I thought we were rich. We had horses and Dad learnt to shoe them and built stables. We had a full life. I made the national team for showjumping aged 15, as did my sisters. Mum and Dad broke up when I was the last child at home. I had to sell all their horses and couldnt get to events, so I had to let it go. There was no art in the family, it was just a skill I had: I could draw whatever was in front of me. My parents were in awe so they took me to lessons. I always thought Id make art but wasnt sure I could make an income from it. It was through art and a friend that I met Alison in 1994 at the Gold Coast City Art Gallery, where I was volunteering. I remember the first time I saw her, she was sitting in the wrong spot and our eyes crossed. Id developed a bit of a stutter and remember trying to talk to her and not being able to, but there was an instant connection, that thing where you find someone physically attractive, then the more you get to know them you really like them. Alison had just been awarded a scholarship to study for her masters in art history in the United Kingdom, so we only had three months together. It was a really intense, exciting, romantic period, and then she left. It was awful but then I decided to go over there to visit and we travelled for a couple of months in Europe. It was like a fairy tale. A WILDERNESS OF ERROR Episode 1 (Airs Friday, September 25, 8 p.m. ET/PT) -- Pictured: (l-r) Colette MacDonald, Kimberly MacDonald, Jeffrey MacDonald. CR: FX An archival photograph of (from left) Colette MacDonald, Kimberly MacDonald and Jeffrey MacDonald Credit - FX/Blumhouse Errol Morris in front of the camera? The jarring sight of the iconic documentarian sitting for an interview is the first hint that FXs A Wilderness of Error isnt typical true-crime fare. The next clue is that the series revisits the case of Jeffrey MacDonald, a former Army physician convicted in the 1970 murders of his pregnant wife and two daughters. One of the toughest homicide cases in history, it has preoccupied such A-list writers as Joe McGinniss, whose 1983 best seller Fatal Vision was adapted into a hit miniseries, and Janet Malcolmwho, in The Journalist and the Murderer, used McGinniss close relationship with MacDonald as Exhibit A in a moral indictment of journalism. Morris wrote his 2012 book, also titled A Wilderness of Error, after his obsession with the case failed to yield funding for a movie. That was before HBOs The Jinxproduced by Error director Marc Smerlingmade true crime TVs most bankable genre. Now, Smerling can justify updating Morris investigation in a five-part series that borrows the filmmakers cinematic re-enactment style and audio from his interviews, as well as incorporating his funny, profound voice. Like Malcolm, Morris mistrusts McGinniss influential reporting. What happens when a narrative takes the place of reality? he asks. And like Morris, Smerling probes a counternarrative: What if MacDonalds wild claim that his family was slaughtered by a Manson-like band of hippies were true? A teen named Helena Stoeckley did, after all, repeatedly confess to being in his home that night. Smerlings haunting film-noir visual style succeeds at reinvigorating an old story. His messy conclusion isnt necessarily a problem. Still, I wish his Error engaged in earnest with the question of why so many great minds have spent so much time on these murders. Might the polite white doctor and Princeton alum have activated their empathy to an extent that most alleged killers do not? Of course, if this case has taught us anything, its that lingering questions are bound to reappear in the inevitable next round of inquiry. A Wilderness of Error premieres Sept. 25 on FX NEW DELHI India has reported another 86,052 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, a declining trend with recoveries exceeding daily infections this week. The Health Ministry raised the nations confirmed total to more than 5.8 million on Friday. The ministry said 1,141 more people died in the past 24 hours, for a total of 92,290. India is expected to become the pandemics worst-hit country within weeks, surpassing the United States, where more than 6.9 million people have been infected. The ministry said Indias recovery rate has crossed 81.55%. This includes five worst-hit states Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, which account for more than 60% of the confirmed cases. The new daily cases have remained below the 90,000 mark for five straight days after hitting a record number of 97,894 on Sept. 16. Though there was a 12% dip in testing for five days, it picked up again to 1.1 million on Thursday, the ministry said. The total number of tests has surpassed 67 million in the country with nearly 1.4 billion people. ___ HERES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK Virus disrupting Rios Carnival for first time in a century Chinese company says coronavirus vaccine ready by early 2021 Fraud, backlogs disrupt US unemployment benefit payments Israel has moved to further tighten its second countrywide lockdown as coronavirus cases continue to soar. The Cabinet voted on Thursday to close all nonessential businesses, including open-air markets. Swiss health authorities have ordered a quarantine for 2,500 students at a prestigious hospitality school after significant outbreaks of COVID-19 that are suspected to be the byproduct of off-campus partying. Health authorities are asking Madrid residents to brace for tough weeks ahead as a sustained coronavirus spread that is hitting the Spanish capital hard brought the countrys total infections over the 700,000 mark. ___ Follow APs pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak ___ HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING: SANTA FE, N.M. -- Voters across New Mexico have submitted nearly 250,000 absentee ballot requests with especially strong demand among Democrats for alternatives to in-person voting amid the pandemic. State election regulators on Thursday also said initial vote tallies could extend beyond Election Day if voters wait until late in the cycle to mail or hand deliver ballots. Fewer than 8,000 absentee ballots were cast statewide in the 2016 presidential election. In other pandemic developments, the governor cited a slight increase in the rate of spread for COVID-19 statewide and more substantially signs of spread in areas including Albuquerque and Sandoval County. ___ PHOENIX Arizona will provide the states three public universities with $14 million in additional funding to boost their efforts to test, track and respond to the coronavirus. Gov. Doug Ducey said Thursday the money will help the universities build on their current efforts to track and contain the virus. The funding comes as Arizona hospitals continue to get a break from the influx of coronavirus cases that nearly overwhelmed their ability to care for patients early in the summer. The state reported 566 new confirmed cases Thursday, bringing the total since the pandemic hit to 215,852. The state also announced 34 new deaths, bringing that total to 5,559. ___ NEWARK, Del. Officials at the University of Delaware say they are moving to cut personnel costs because of the financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic. School President Dennis Assanis said Thursday that without cost cutting, the university would have a $250 million gap between revenues and expenses this academic year. He says the school already has eliminated most discretionary expenses for this year and plans to draw $100 million from its endowment, but personnel actions must now be taken. The new effort includes a voluntary retirement incentive program and encouragement for employees to temporarily scale back their work hours. But Assanis says planning is also underway for non-voluntary layoffs as well. ___ TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he will seek a bill of rights for college students in the wake of crackdowns on parties and other social gatherings that some people blame for a surge in coronavirus cases at campuses across the country. DeSantis said Thursday that he understands university officials are trying to curb transmission of the virus, but added that he considers it dramatically draconian that a student could get potentially expelled for going to a party. The governor also says he will move to block local governments from again closing restaurants. He says there is little evidence such closures have slowed the spread of the coronavirus. Florida reported 2,541 more confirmed cases Thursday, bringing the statewide total to more than 693,000. The state also reported 177 more deaths from COVID-19, raising the toll in Florida to at least 13,795. ___ ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was one of the few major sporting events not cancelled in March as the coronavirus began to take hold in the U.S. And now race officials now planning for every contingency possible as they make plans to hold the race again next March. Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach says getting mushers from one checkpoint to another along the 1,000-mile trail in Alaska is the easy part. He says the main focus for planners is protecting residents in Alaska villages that serve as checkpoints and the roughly 1,800 volunteers needed to stage the race. He says the goal is zero community transmission. ___ SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon officials have reported the states highest one-day number of new coronavirus cases since mid-July. The Oregon Health Authority reported 382 newly confirmed cases Thursday, raising the total for the pandemic to 31,865. The death toll is 539. Nearly 25% of the cases reported Thursday were in Multnomah County, Oregons most populous county and home to Portland. ___ LANSING, Mich. Leaders of Michigans three biggest research universities say online teaching will likely last for the entire academic year, keeping many students out of classrooms until next fall. The presidents of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University voiced that prediction Thursday. University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel says development of coronavirus vaccines will be important for any return to normal in-class instruction. Only about 20% of the universitys classes now are in-person. M. Roy Wilson of Wayne State says the winter semester will look like the current term because the pandemic is going to be with us for a while. Most classes at Michigan State have been online since March. ___ DES MOINES, Iowa Iowa school districts have sent hundreds of students home for quarantine or isolation after coronavirus outbreaks, while a high school has switched to online classes after a fourth of students were absent amid a surge in cases. State officials on Thursday reported 1,341 newly confirmed cases across the state in the previous 24 hours, along with six additional deaths. One Iowa district has quarantined the entire kindergarten through sixth grade elementary building of about 130 students after a staff member tested positive. Another district has 201 students and staff in isolation or quarantine, with 18 students and eight staff members testing positive. North Scott High School has gone to all online instruction because its absentee rate surged to 23% since school started Sept. 1. ___ SPRINGFIELD, Mo. Hospitals in Missouris third-largest city are approaching capacity due to a surge in coronavirus cases. Officials at Springfields two major hospital systems, CoxHealth and Mercy, told the city council they are running out of staff and capacity, according to a report in the Springfield News-Leader. Missouri is dealing with a surge in new coronavirus cases, with 1,580 more confirmed cases reported Wednesday. That puts the states total for the pandemic at 116,946. More than 100,000 of those cases have been reported since the state reopened for business in mid-June. Among the new cases are Gov. Mike Parson and his wife, Teresa. Their positive tests were announced Wednesday. ___ PARIS Frances health agency announced Thursday evening that the country has had 52 new reported deaths and has over 16,000 new reported cases of coronavirus in 24 hours. The number of new infections -- 16,096, up from 13,072 the day before -- is among highest recorded figures in France of coronavirus transmissions since widespread and large-scale COVID-19 tests in France began this summer, according to Public Health France. Around 10 millions tests have so far been carried out. ___ SIOUX FALLS, S.D. South Dakota reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations for the second consecutive day as the state continued to see some of the nations fastest spread of COVID-19. The Department of Health reported 463 new cases and 194 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Health officials also reported eight deaths, one of the largest single-day death tallies during the pandemic. The new records in coronavirus numbers come two days after Gov. Kristi Noem on Twitter described the spread of COVID-19 as having peaked in the state. Her administration plans to continue to rely on people making personal decisions to stop the spread. Over the last two weeks, the state has reported the nations second-highest number of new cases per capita. The rolling average number of daily new cases has increased by about 49% in that time. But the surge in cases has not stopped Noem from pitching the state as a tourism destination. In a video posted on Twitter this week, she shoots at what appears to be a pheasant and says, Less COVID, more hunting. Thats the plan for the future. NEW YORK, N.Y. -- New York City will make outdoor dining permanent and year-round, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday. As the cold winter months approach, the city will allow restaurants to incorporate heaters into their outdoor dining setups and enclose their tents set up for outdoor dining following the 25% indoor dining capacity regulations. This is a go, we want this to be something the restaurant industry can depend on and we want to see them thrive in the future, and I think this is going to help a lot, de Blasio said on WNYCs Brian Lehrer Show Friday. De Blasio said he hoped restaurants would be able to work together with nearby shop owners to use the surrounding sidewalk areas to expand their outdoor dining. He said City Hall would work with the City Council to make the regulatory changes necessary to make outdoor dining permanent. The city said electrical heaters will be allowed on sidewalks and roadways, with propane and natural gas heaters allowed on sidewalks only but remain prohibited in roadway seating. However, restaurants are prohibited from installing heaters until the city releases guidance on approved heating elements, the city said. Official guidance on approved hearing elements is expected to be released before the end of the month The city said that any use of propane will require a permit from FDNY and compliance with FDNY regulations. Restaurants will be allowed to enclose their outdoor seating areas with heaters, but the city said at least 50% of the tents side wall surface will have to remain open. If a tent is fully enclosed, seating will have to be capped at 25% capacity, following the citys indoor dining regulations. The city also said it would work with the restaurant industry and other stakeholders to develop safety features including roadway barriers. The city will require restaurant owners to comply with new safety features by Nov. 15. "I want us to go for the gold here, I want us to really take this model and take this part of the life of New York City for years and generations to come, de Blasio said. This has been I think an extraordinary positive experiment and its worked. FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER. London: A New Zealand-born police officer was shot dead inside a London police station by a suspect he was detaining, who then appears to have turned the gun on himself. Investigators said the suspect was handcuffed at the time. London's Metropolitan Police force said Sergeant Matiu Ratana, 54, was shot at the Croydon Custody Centre in the south of the city just after 2am on Friday. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The 23-year-old man being detained is in a critical condition in hospital with a gunshot wound. The case is not being treated as terrorism. No police officers opened fire during the incident, police said. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said "early indications are that the suspect shot himself". Two police officers were shot in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday night, as protesters in cities from New York to Chicago took to the streets after a grand jury decision in the Breonna Taylor case. A suspect in the officers shooting was charged with multiple counts. Photo: John G Mabanglo/Shutterstock Billionaire Mark Cuban is advocating for American families by recommending each household in America receive a $1,000 stimulus check every two weeks for the next two months, according to CNBC's Taylor Locke. "We need to get them help," Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank investor Cuban said in the CNBC Make It interview. GIFT FROM THE HEART: Neighbors show love to Houston cashier who gave her last $20 to help customer Cuban's appeal to help out American families comes amid a tumultuous time between Democrats and Republicans, who are now in a stalemate over another stimulus package. Cuban stressed that there are "two economies" operating in American right now: one for those who are able to stay afloat and another economy for those who are unable to make ends meet. "Those without [help] are struggling badly," Cuban said in the CNBC interview. In March, the CARES Act was signed to help provide families defray the financial hardship from the pandemic with economic impact payments of $1,200 per household. However, the CARES Act provisions expired in July, leaving people without an economic boost, according to CNBC. Another federal package, the HEALS Act, was also introduced to help provide families with stimulus checks, but the package did not move forward through Congress, according to Jacob Jarvis with Newsweek. According to Cuban's plan, the money would be distributed to households regardless of income. But there's one caveat: the stimulus money would need to be spent within 10 days of being received, to promote spending and economic growth. In a September poll by Financial Times-Peterson Foundation, 89 percent of Americans said that another relief package was needed. Cuban proposed a similar idea in May 2020, and firmly holds to the plan. "I still believe in doing it in the same exact way," Cuban added. Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media My decision to put a sticker on a family vehicle with the hashtag #WWG1WGA was wrong and Im deeply sorry to anyone who has been offended and to my constituents who have questioned my action. The hashtag represents the statement Where We Go One, We Go All which is associated with the QAnon movement. At the time of placing the sticker on my car I understood the movement stood for stopping corruption in politics, holding government accountable and protecting individual freedoms all of which are values I strongly believe in. My failure to look into the movement more deeply, which I take full responsibility for, led me to overlook the extreme views of the movement which I dont subscribe to and find abhorrent. It was my lack of fully understanding this movement that led me to put these words on my car for which I deeply regret. Press Release September 25, 2020 Transcript of Interview with Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon CNN Philippines' The Source hosted by Pinky Webb Q: On the proposed postponement of the 2022 election. Were you even surprised that this issue even came up? SFMD: I am not surprised. This is the continued effort at a no-el scenario. The postponement could be a prelude to the main objective of extending the terms of members of the members of Congress and the elected officials. That is not feasible. Firstly, the postponement of an election can be done by the Comelec only in political subdivisions. That is what the election code provides. You cannot postpone a nationwide election without the law being amended. I repeat, presently, the Comelec can only postpone an election in a political subdivision, meaning the provinces, cities or municipalities, and there must be a showing that there is a serious cause of postponing the election such as violence, terrorism or destruction of election paraphernalia and the cause must be so serious that such nature that the holding of a free and honest election is not possible. I emphasize, the power of the Comelec of the Comelec to postpone it is only on the local level. They have no power to postpone the national level election. Even if we postpone the election, the terms of the elected officials are set in the Constitution. Unless you amend the Constitution, you cannot extend the term of officials. The President has six years, the Vice President has six years, the senators have six years, the congressmen have three years, the local officials have three years. Only the barangay officials, whose term can be fixed by law, can extend office beyond three years. But the national officials and local officials, other than barangay officials, cannot hold office beyond the term set out in the Constitution. Even if you postpone the election on the local level, you cannot extend the term of the local officials, much less on the national level, because the law does not allow the postponement of election by the Comelec on the national level. That has already been decided by the Supreme Court that the power to postpone the election is only on the local level or political subdivision. Q: Could a pandemic not be a ground for the postponement? SFMD: There was a SC case that quoted then Comelec chair Mele, when he said that it is impossible to have a failure of an election nationwide. It cannot happen. I cannot imagine how the Comelec can justify that. As the law stands today, you cannot postpone a national election. Even if you postpone the local elections, which is allowed under certain circumstances, you cannot extend the term of officials. Q: Can Congress pass a law to postpone the 20211 election? SFMD: Yes, theoretically, we can pass a law. On a theoretical basis we can pass a law. But even if you pass that kind of a law, that will not extend the terms of office of the elected officials. I cannot see any justification on the postponement of the election. We will oppose that vigorously in the Senate. I think the senators will not be swayed by any argument to allow the postponement of a national election. The Comelec said they might hold the election two or three days. That is not a postponement. That is just extending voting hours. Extending voting hours is justified under our present system. Q: So you do not have a problem in the event that they hold the election for two to three days. It is not illegal? SFMD: No, it is not. It will just stretch the voting hours. They have that power. Assuming that the pandemic is still there in May 2022, they can extend the voting hours. Q: How do you postpone the election without having to extend the terms? SFMD: The postponement under the law on the local level can be done provided that is within 30 days from the time the cause for the postponement would cease. By the way, in my view, the pandemic was never in the contemplation of the law when it allowed the postponement of the election. Remember that law says serious causes such as violence, terrorism, destruction of election paraphernalia, or force majeure or causes analogous to such circumstances. It can be argued that pandemic is not in the contemplation of the law. It can be argued forcefully by those who are opposing the postponement of the local election by saying that pandemic is not a ground and that is an issue that must be resolved by the Comelec. That is where we are. Postponing the election is only on the local level and postponement must be justified. Q: If the elections were postponed, it cannot be later than what is supposed to be later than, for instance, June 30, 2022. SFMD: Yes. You cannot extend the term by postponing the election, because the term limit is set in the Constitution. That is completely a separate matter from the matter of postponement of the local election. I keep on repeating that, senatorial elections cannot be postponed unless provided for by law. Q: So what is the only way for the officials to extend their term? That is to amend the Constitution? SFMD: That is correct, you have to amend the Constitution. That is why there is always an effort to amend the Constitution because of the term limit, for example. You cannot postpone the election in the hope that your term can be extended. To extend the term you need an amendment to the Constitution. Q: You feel that the majority of senators would oppose any plan to postpone the election? SFMD: The national election, yes, I am confident that our colleagues in the Senate will not agree to such a proposal. Q: On the proposal in US Congress to suspend assistance to Ph. How serious is this? Is this something that should concern the country? SFMD: I do not know how serious it is... But certainly, the government should not just brush it aside. It only means that the US Congress is conscious and aware of what is happening here. Whether or now the bill will pass the Congress and sign by the President, I do not know. But certainly, we could not brush this aside. Q: On the P10-B DSWD unutilized SAP funds SFMD: It cannot be justified. This is simply an act which is contrary to the very policy of the government saying that we should provide funds so that the people can eat. This is authorized under Bayanihan 1. I am surprised and disappointed that P10-B has not been disbursed although this is made available. Some quarters may justify that it is a small amount compared to the total amount disbursed. That may be correct on a macro level. But if you talk about the 5 million Filipinos who experienced hunger or if you talk about the 7 million Filipinos who lost jobs, then every peso matters. The non-release of this fund is contrary to the very policy of the government of providing funds for the poor. This is in the Bayanihan 1. Unfortunately there is no SAP under the 2021 budget and this is one of the grounds that I would insist that the budget should be amended, because the SAP is no longer carried in the 2021 proposed national budget. It is bad enough that it is not in the budget but it is worse that whatever is available is not even distributed. This matters to the Filipinos. Q: When could this P10-B go? I am hearing that this should be returned to the treasury. SFMD: Mayroong listahan iyan. Hindi naman mahirap maghanap ng mahirap sa bansa. They are all over. They are in the streets. You see jeepney drivers holding placards asking for ayuda. Talagang kailangan natin ito. I cannot understand why this is not being distributed. The list is there. In fact the list of 4Ps beneficiaries is outdated. Today we have a new poor as we would call it because of the pandemic. There are additional Filipinos who became poor. It is inexcusable that we cannot distribute the P10-B. The DSWD should distribute it to the needy. Q: On the Ombudsman's order to stop lifestyle checks SFMD: I do not want to substitute my judgment to that of the Ombudsman. The underlying principle of our governance today is transparency. The transparency is made effective by laws such as the code of conduct for public officials. The Ombudsman is no ordinary lawyer. He was a justice of the Supreme Court. The way that I understand it, the law does not allow such release of the SALN. May I suggest the Ombudsman submit to Congress his proposed amendments to the law so that the law can achieve the purpose of principle of transparency, because the view of the Ombudsman, in effect, is that the law should be amended... Q: Is it within the mandate of the Ombudsman to limit the access of SALNs? SFMD: The Ombudsman is following the law. The SALN is required by law. In fact the SALN provides a waiver on the part of the public officials, who submit the SALNs, allowing an inspection of the SALN in an appropriate proceedings, I assume. The Ombudsman has said that the law must be amended and we are willing to listen. A long-serving female worker at Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire pudding plant has died and another remains seriously ill in hospital two weeks after a coronavirus outbreak was confirmed among staff. The woman worked at the firm's factory in Freightliner Road, Hull, where the previous cases were discovered and where she was described by colleagues as 'an important member'. Her cause of death is yet to be confirmed although it is believed Covid-19 was responsible. Bosses said at the time of the alert a fortnight ago that they have 'followed and gone beyond the guidance' set out by public health bodies when confirming the earlier cases. The factory, where half a billion 'Yorkshires' are produced every year, is believed to employ around 400 people and has been deep cleaned following the outbreak. Some of Britain's biggest food processing sites have been hit by Covid outbreaks during the pandemic, affecting giants such as Greggs and Marks and Spencer. Experts have previously warned that outbreaks are common in factories as the virus thrives in cold, damp and indoor environments, particularly on cool surfaces and a lack of breeze or ultraviolet light from the sun means the moisture remains and can't be killed off. A long-serving female worker at Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire pudding plant has died and another remains seriously ill in hospital two weeks after a coronavirus outbreak was confirmed among staff The woman worked at the firm's factory in Freightliner Road, Hull, where the previous cases were discovered and where she was described by colleagues as 'an important member' Aunt Bessie's have said the firm has put in place additional social distancing measures and the plant will operate at a 'reduced capacity' Greggs factory closed after 'small number' of workers test positive Earlier this week, a Greggs factory in Newcastle was temporarily closed after a 'small number' of workers tested positive for the virus. The company insisted the move was just a 'a precautionary measure to keep teams as safe as possible', with around 300 people employed at the site in Longbenton, which will be deep cleaned before reopening. Supplies are still expected to reach the 1,700 Greggs shops around the country, however, as a spokesman said: 'We do not foresee any stock shortages in our shops at this time.' Advertisement Confirming the news in a statement, a spokesman for Aunt Bessie's said: 'We are all saddened about the death of our colleague, and our thoughts and condolences are with her family and friends at this time. 'She was an important member of our team for 21 years and we will do everything we can to support her family. As a mark of respect, today we won't be running the shift our colleague worked on, so that friends and colleagues have time to mourn and remember her.' It is understood another employee told bosses that they were feeling unwell on Thursday, September 3 - the day before a second staff member reported also being ill. Aunt Bessie's described how they had a 'small number of coronavirus cases' and that they were following national health guidance 'very strictly'. We continue to follow the guidance of national health authorities very strictly,' a company spokesman said previously. 'Currently, our Aunt Bessie's factory has a small number of coronavirus cases, but PHE has repeatedly complimented us on our social distancing measures and our proactive approach to ensuring that our colleagues are safe and well. 'The health and welfare of our employees is our number one priority. 'We acted early and decisively in March to implement new procedures and have strict protocols at all of our sites, including our Hull Aunt Bessie's factory, to reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading amongst our employees.' Some of Britain's biggest food processing sites have been hit by Covid outbreaks during the pandemic. Earlier this week, a Greggs factory in Newcastle was temporarily closed after a 'small number' of workers tested positive for the virus. The company insisted the move was just a 'a precautionary measure to keep teams as safe as possible', with around 300 people employed at the site in Longbenton, which will be deep cleaned before reopening. Supplies are still expected to reach the 1,700 Greggs shops around the country, however, as a spokesman said: 'We do not foresee any stock shortages in our shops at this time.' A map shows some of the big factories which have experienced coronavirus outbreaks Banham Poultry in the village of Attleborough also suffered an outbreak earlier in the pandemic Last month Marks and Spencer was hit with a sandwich shortage after its supplier was forced to close its factory amid a surge in coronavirus cases among workers Chilled and damp interior with ultraviolet light: Why meat plants are a hotbed for coronavirus outbreaks The virus thrives in cold, damp and indoor environments, particularly on cool surfaces. The lack of a breeze or ultraviolet light from the sun means the moisture remains and can't be killed off inside food processing plants. Furthermore, social distancing is particularly difficult in workplaces with a busy production line meaning the virus is likely to spread more easily. Loud machinery also forces people to raise their voices and researchers say situations where people have to shout result in an increased risk of projecting the virus to others. It's not just in the UK where a trend has been seen, either, after hundreds tested positive in a Berlin slaughterhouse, while a wet market in Wuhan is believed to have been at the heart of a huge number of infections early on in the crisis. Advertisement Last month Marks and Spencer was hit with a sandwich shortage after its supplier was forced to close its factory amid a surge in coronavirus cases among workers. Greencore, which manufactures own-label sandwiches for the retailer, announced a temporary closure of its Northampton plant for at least two weeks after 292 staff tested positive for the virus. The move left refrigerated aisles empty of lunchtime favourites like prawn mayonnaise, BLT, and chicken salad for shoppers and office workers around the country. It came as the Food Standards Agency revealed even at that stage that there were at least 40 active outbreaks in factories in England alone - with more recorded in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Dr Colin Sullivan, Chief Operating Officer at the FSA, admitted at the time the figure is not comprehensive, and may be higher, but said: 'The number that I mentioned, was one we are content to make public. It is a small number of a big total.' A huge chicken factory in Norfolk was another that was forced to close after 75 workers tested positive for coronavirus. It resulted in 350 families put into Covid isolation. Banham Poultry, in the village of Attleborough, voluntarily agreed to close its cutting room following an outbreak of the virus. Other major food producers, such as Cranswick and 2 Sisters Food Group, have also closed plants following a surge in cases among staff. Experts have suggested the cold conditions inside the plants may be conducive to the spread of the virus. Although the FSA's statement only mentions factories in England, there have already been cases of plants closes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A chicken processing plant run by 2 Sisters in Coupar Angus, Scotland, has seen the number of cases among its staff pass well over 100, forcing it to close, while a facility run by Cranswick in County Antrim became the first in Northern Ireland to be shut down because of a surge in cases. Plants in Anglesey and Wrexham in Wales were among the first in the UK to register a crisis in cases among staff, forcing them to close. Dr Simon Clarke, a cellular microbiologist at the University of Reading, previously told MailOnline that it was notable that food factories seemed to have been the centre of outbreaks more than other factories where people might be close together. He said: 'There are problems in this country, in Germany, in the United States. There is something common between them - it's not happening in engineering or clothing factories where you also might expect people to be in close proximity to one another. 'One assumes - but it's just an idea - that the cold environment makes people more susceptible to the virus. 'Cold weather irritates the airways and the cells become more susceptible to viral infection.' Rich Fury/Getty Sarah McBride is taking nothing for granted. Last week, Delaware Democrats nominated her for a safe state Senate seat in Wilmington, previously occupied by soon-to-retire incumbent Harris B. McDowell III. If, as is almost certain, she is formally elected in November, McBridea close friend of Joe and Dr. Jill Bidenwill become Americas first out trans state senator. But McBridea longtime LGBTQ campaigner and national press officer with the Human Rights Campaignis not resting on the laurels of inevitability. Im going to work my heart out in the next few weeks to make sure we win in November and elect Democrats in Delaware, McBride told The Daily Beast. The 30-year-old politician hails the fair-mindedness of the voters in Delawares 1st State Senate district, and beyond that is mindful of how life-changing and life-affirming it would have been for me as a kid to see the headlines and stories about transgender people winning elections in their communities. Trumps Latest Dose of Anti-Trans Poison Is Cruel, and Utterly Predictable I hope this campaign can send a small but important message to a young kid just trying to find their place in the worldthat our democracy is big enough for them, that their voices matter, and that they can live authentically. I know how much of a difference that message would have made to someone like me growing up. I also hope that this campaign brings about the substantive change my neighbors still needaround health care and paid family leave, education, and criminal justice reform. If Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are elected, McBride is confident that they will reverse all of the Trump administrations anti-LGBTQ attacks, especially on transgender peoplelike the infamous military ban. This will be welcome, she said, but will not diminish the immediate and substantial damage done to so many by such actions. People have lost their lives because of the inaction of this administration. Their loved ones will never see them again. We cannot ignore that fact, said McBride. But she is optimistic Democrats can win, and adopt policies that mean people are treated with dignity and respect not matter who they are. Story continues A Biden presidency and Democrat-controlled Senate would, she hopes, oversee the passing of the Equality Act, which would finally enshrine anti-LGBTQ discrimination measures as the law of the land. McBride remains optimistic that we will move forward from this moment of crisis and discrimination to a brighter, more inclusive future. Im not running to be the transgender state senator, McBride told The Daily Beast. Im running to be a state senator who was born and raised in this district, a state senator who is a caregiver, a state senator who is working every single day to ensure more Delawareans get the health care they need and are supported in the challenges and crises they face with meaningful policies. McBride connects LGBTQ experiences to other communities. Some people who come out lose their families, jobs, and health care, she said. Many people during the pandemic have had to choose between their health and their jobs. Thats an impossible choice. For me, the moral measure of a society is how we treat people in their moments of vulnerability and hardship. Theres so much more we should be doing for people when they are facing the challenge of illness or the loss of job or income. Since Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgs death, McBride has been considering the grief of the justices family and friends, alongside the fear and nervousness of those concerned about the impact of a hastily installed right wing justice to replace her. For me, what it reinforced was that were in the home stretch. Theres a critical election a few weeks away. Its important for all of us to fight like hell in the next few weeks and years to make sure we have the government to represent the diverse country we havenot a government that rules for the few and a vocal minority. LGBTQ people have benefited from a few Supreme Court decisions, said McBride, but others have been harmedon issues ranging from gun violence to voting rights. LGBTQ people, people of color, religious minoritiesour dignity is on the ballot this November, and our collective fate. Quite literally, our democracy is on the ballot. The LGBTQ voting bloc is roughly the size of Michigan, and larger than the margin of victory in the last several presidential elections. It is central to supporting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and strong, progressive leaders up and down the ballot, said McBride. This is a choice between a healthier democracy where all voices matter, or to go down the path of division, discrimination, and a wholesale attempt to undermine democratic values and principles. What does McBride make of LGBTQ conservatives and Trump supporters? Being LGBTQ doesnt make you automatically immune from being wrong. What if Trump wins? What does that mean for LGBTQ people? When I say our lives, rights, and dignity are on the ballot, thats what I mean. A second term of Trump and Pence would be catastrophic for Americans of all backgrounds. I looked around and saw a world I feared would not accept me for the person I was Politics wasnt always McBrides desired career. When she was young, growing up in Wilmington, she wanted to be an architect. She made movies in middle school and high school. But even as a young child, she was passionate about making change. Government and advocacy, to her young mind, meant being able to make the most amount of change to the most number of people possible. She accepts she was lucky to be born into the family she was: two incredible older brothers (Sean and Dan) and two very socially engaged parents. Her mother Sally was an education advocate who was part of a coalition of parents who helped start the public art school she attended; her father David talked about current events at the dinner table and Sunday morning after church. More deeply, as I struggled with who I was and how I fit into this world, I looked around and saw a world I feared would not accept me for the person I was, McBride said. Politics and advocacy seemed like the best avenue to bring about change and build a world where everyone could live their lives to the fullest. As a chapter in her book, Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality (with a foreword written by Joe Biden), is titled, the personal really is political for McBride. For her, the fight for equal rights and other issues are not abstract moral principles, but fights that affect peoples lives in acute, very real ways. She claims she did not enter politics for position and platform but rather to fight for the underdog. Again, its personal. Growing up trans was tough and difficult, McBride told The Daily Beast. As much as I knew I was lucky to be born into an inclusive and loving family, I feared for my safety, I feared for my ability to find community, and I feared for my ability to find love. The idea I could run for office or serve in government or contribute to my communitythose ideas were almost impossible and incomprehensible as a kid. It is a profound reflection of how far weve come that this campaign is even possible. I was also incredibly lucky, and especially lucky when I eventually came out. So many people in our communities are facing so much worse than I ever faced. McBride grew up with few examples of people like me who were accepted, embraced, and celebrated in their communities. She recalled watching a sitcom, with the trans character known to the viewer but not the characters on the show. Every time another character expressed any kind of romantic interest in this character, who was beautiful, the laugh track would cue. When youre 10 or 11 years old, you dont know a lot, but you know you dont want be the joke. Thats what I saw of myself in pop culture. But she also saw Amanda Simpson become the first out trans woman appointee of any presidential administration in 2010, and finding hope in that progress. She was also inspired by President Barack Obamas election victory, and the power to create change and improve communities he embodied for her. She wants to do the same. McBride is grateful to have never suffered from depression, to have always been able to see the positivethis she sees as a privilege she hopes she is paying back in her own advocacy. Still, It wasnt easy not being myself growing up. I was working through it. And I was figuring out who I was and how to live authentically and how to be safe and be affirmed. I was lucky to be able to do that at a relatively young age. For me there was a level of denial up until there wasntwhich was the point at which I came out. McBride recalled staring at the mirror, saying Im transgender, and almost immediately I would say, No, Im not, rationalizing this unyielding fact that I knew deep down inside. The young McBride hoped she could compensate for the incompleteness she felt if she succeeded in life in other waysif I made a difference in the community, if I made family and friends proud; that those things would bring me the wholeness and completeness I lacked. It might be difficult for a person who is not transgender to understand what it feels like to be trans. The closest thing I could compare it to is a constant feeling of homesickness, an unwavering feeling in the pit of my stomach that would only go away when I could be seen and affirmed as myself. A key turning point came when she was student body president at American University in Washington. Making a difference in that community and gaining confidence meant McBride was finally able to come to terms with who I am and to see that the things I thought would bring me wholeness and completeness would not. The only way to address the constant pain and homesickness was to live authentically. On Christmas Eve 2011, McBride sat in her church, the Westminster Presbyterian in Wilmington, listening to the choir and looking at the stained glass windows, thinking she could not continue to miss the beauty in this world. I could no longer watch my life pass by as somebody I wasnt. That moment that evening was the tipping point for me. She wasnt planning on coming out on Christmas Day, but her parents could see McBride seemed distracted. Her mother asked her what was wrong. McBride came out. I always say it ruined Christmas, but every day has been better since. Once I got through the denial, I felt the need to come out. It wasnt a long, thought-out process. It was life. Her mothers initial response was not positive, which McBride understands. I think my mom responded as a person. She responded with love, but also fear. She responded with inclusion, but also a lack of knowledge around trans people. I never interpreted her tears or her fear as anything less than her unending love for me. I knew it would be difficult. It was 2011, before there was a lot of information out there and what Time magazine called the transgender tipping point (in 2014). It had taken me 21 years to come to terms with it, to overcome the fear and the shame, so I knew it would take some time for my parents to come to a healthier place, but I also knew from the very first moments after coming out that they loved me and would support me in this journey. And thats what theyve done. Now not only are they my biggest champions, they are also the fiercest advocates for the LGBTQ community. McBrides mother founded a support group for parents of trans people, and both her parents campaigned for the states SB 97 bill, passed in 2013, prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity. That was just over a year after I came out. I was lucky to know from the start that while there would be tears and that there may be things we would say and regret, that with grace, goodness, and patience we would get to be where we needed to be as a family. Sean, McBrides older brother, is gay, and when she came out, her mother asked: What are the chances I have a gay son and a transgender daughter? McBride hoped she would get to a place where she would ask that question not out of a place of pity but out of a sense of aweand in the diversity and strength and love within our family, she has absolutely gotten there. Both my parents have said if there was a button they could press resulting in me not being trans and our family not going on this journey they would not press that button because we have seen the goodness of community and love of our family. We have seen the potential for change. I dont think any of us would trade that for anything. Joe and Dr. Biden have both helped me re-find my hope after Andy passed, and helped me find grace in my grief. The last decade has also been professionally and personally transformative for McBride. In 2012, she became the first out trans person to work at the White House as an intern in the Obama administration. In 2016 she became the first transgender person to speak at a partys national convention, addressing Democrats in Philadelphia. Working at the White House was one of the most affirming experiences of my life, McBride said. Working there day in day out was awe-inspiring, comforting, and a demonstration of the fact my voice could matter and that we could have a seat at the table and contribute to this democracy. It also meant something to be able to welcome the publicespecially minority groupsto the White House, she said, for officials to speak to them and them to speak to officials. It really felt like the Peoples House at that moment. It made you realize you were a small part in a historic moment in this country where our democracy became a little bit truer to our ideals and values. The tragedy of the last four years is that Donald Trump and Mike Pence have sought to undermine that progress and journey towards a more inclusive and more perfect union, as Barack Obama called it, and were not going to let them succeed. Before entering LGBTQ politics, McBride worked on former Delaware Governor Jack Markells 2008 campaign and Beau Bidens 2010 campaign to become the states Attorney General. She calls the latter as good and decent a person as he was a political figure, and a mentor. It was through Beau that McBride got to know Joe and Jill Biden beyond the headlines. Joe has picked up the mantle on LGBTQ equality that Beau proudly carried, she said. While working at the White House, McBride met her future husband, the healthcare activist Andrew Cray, who was also trans. Very personal tragedy, and healing from tragedy, also links McBride and the Bidens. Both her late husband and Beau, McBride said, lived the values at home they fought for. Both their policies and personal interactions were guided by kindness. Cray died of cancer in 2014, Beau Biden the following year. Every time I see Joe Biden we talk about Beau and Andy. We talk about our loss, McBride told The Daily Beast. Joe and Dr. Biden have both helped me re-find my hope after Andy passed, and helped me find grace in my grief, and helped me heal from that hardship. One of Joe Bidens greatest gifts and strengths is that he will help this country heal and help us find purpose in our pain, and help us move forward in this crisis we face. The most formative experience in my life is not my identity, it was my relationship with Andy, said McBride. Loving Andy left me profoundly changed. He made me a better person, a kinder, more compassionate person. The experiences I had with him have left me a stronger person. There are so many things I take away from my relationship with Andy. I take away the fact I am lucky to have had the time I had with him. I still feel like my cup runneth over with love from the time we had together. Im lucky I have my health and his legacy to give me comfort. Im lucky in loving Andy I gained an extended family. Im lucky to have had health insurancedespite some surprise medical bills, it covered the care he needed. Sarah McBride and Andrew Cray on their wedding day, presided over by Bishop Gene Robinson. Courtesy Sarah McBride via Facebook Crays death also instilled in McBride the fierce urgency of now, she said, quoting Martin Luther King Jr.the determination to spend whatever time she has alive to do good. The final thing Id say I took from my relationship with Andy was the recognition that hope as an emotion and hope as a phenomenon only make sense in the face of hardship. In the final month of Crays life, McBrides brother Sean, a radiation oncologist, said life would be incredibly difficult but that she should take strength from the acts of amazing grace that would fill her life, such as the family and friends who organized their wedding in five days, and Cray surviving long enough to take part in the wedding. These examples of transforming the impossible into reality and hope McBride sees in the America of today. She recalled the famous Mr. Rogers quote of being a kid and seeing something scary on the news and his mothers advice to Look for the helpers. The same principle gives her comfort and confidence today that the American people will come through these times. McBride is presently single and not seeing anyone. I feel my cup runneth over with love from Andy. Every day I wear my wedding ring as a tribute to him. I hope at some point I will find another partner in my life. But right now I very much feel Andys presence and love, and I still feel comforted and supported even though he is no longer with us physically. I still feel comforted and supported by his memory, legacy, and love. Crays death also helped define the nature of McBrides Christian faith. She had always worshipped as a Presbyterian at the church where she had that self-revelation on Christmas Eve nearly nine years ago. She was an ordained elder there as a teenager. I think I struggled with my faith when I was growing up. It was actually Andys death to be faith-affirming and faith-confirming. In the days leading up to Crays death in his hospital room, when he was losing his ability to breathe, there were a group of around ten peoplemainly LGBTQ with the exception of Crays mother, stepfather, and McBrides mother. Every person was holding on to one anothereither holding hands, or with hands on shoulders. The love in that room was tangible. You could feel it, McBride said. Bishop Gene Robinson, who had married us, also delivered the sermon at Andys funeral. He talked about God being love, and in that tangible feeling of love in that room, that was God for me. It made me understand my faith in a way I had never really understood it before. It made me believe at a level at which I had never believed before. McBride is an active member of the church community and is one of the storytelling troupe that acts out scripture lessons at Christmas and on Palm Sunday. The church provides her with support, comfort, and family. Sarah McBride with Joe Biden. Courtesy Sarah McBride via Facebook To her, the use of religious freedom and religious liberty as an anti-LGBTQ battering ram by the Trump administration and their bedfellows in the religious right feels like both a corrupting of the faith that I have been part of for my entire life, and also a corruption of the fundamental value of religious freedom. To me, god is love. I was taught that the tent of all major religions was the notion of compassion, and the golden rule of treating others as you would be wished to be treated yourself. For McBride, religious freedom means shielding vulnerable religious minorities from government persecution. What it should never be is a sword to inflict harm on already marginalized people. McBride hopes more progressive faith voices will speak up against anti-LGBTQ religious bigotry. While she believes in the separation of church and state, she also says it is necessary to recognize how for many people the language of religion and faith is language they live and speak. We cant deny for many people their values are guided or influenced by their faith, so we have to recognize that faith plays a role in the public square. But we can never allow personal beliefs and faith to become the rationale for undermining the rights, dignity, and opportunity of other people. To trans kids, I say, You are loved. You are valued. You matter. You have a place in our community, and our country too McBride invokes again and again a stout, pragmatic optimisman awareness of obstacles and challenges alongside a determination to confront and solve them. She returned from D.C. to Delaware to live, which re-centered her and reminded her of the goodness in our communities. Campaigning for her senate seat has shown her the sacrifice and courage of her likely future constituents. If national politics can feel toxic, local politics feels to McBride like a practicable arena for change. In LGBTQ politics, she has observed change, and an increase in a diversity of voices and concerns, particularly on trans issues, and around the lives and experiences of Black trans women. We should always do more to include more voices so they have a seat at the table, and ensure that those with seats at the table are heard enough. The movement can and should always look to do more, and become more diverse. McBride is hopeful that the feminist movement in the United States will remain firm in its commitment to trans rights, when compared to the influence of trans exclusionary radical feminists in the U.K. where Boris Johnsons Conservative government just rejected proposals for people to self-identify their gender and for trans people to be able to change their birth certificates without a medical diagnosis. Here, we recognize that trans women are women, that trans women deserve equal rights, and that the fight for gender equity is inextricably linked to the fight for trans rights, McBride told The Daily Beast. I hope we remain on the right side of history. Its incredibly disheartening to see the Johnson government walk away from the trans community in the way they have. Its also disappointing to see the progressive movement in the U.K. not clearly and definitively reject the attacks from the trans exclusionary movement. I firmly believe that the public in the United Kingdom will continue to overwhelmingly favor trans rights, and in the long course of history those who stand in the way will be proven wrong. About J.K. Rowlings apparent animus towards trans people, McBride said, Its disappointing to see literary figures whose work has comforted and inspired countless LGBTQ people, including trans people, so clearly and cruelly reject the messages at the heart of that work. McBride is less interested in addressing Rowling, and more focused on talking to the kids and young people crushed by the cruel and mean-spirited comments she has made. To them, I say, You are loved. You are valued. You matter. You have a place in our community, and our country too. McBride maintains she has no long-scope political ambitionsincluding running for president herself one daybeyond working my heart out to win in November, and, if successful, representing her constituents and bringing about change... I think the one thing I have learned in the last 10 years is that life has a way of intervening when you make plans. McBride said that celebrating her 30th birthday this year felt significant in that she realized she was now older than Andy was when he passed away. I think about that quite a bit. The biggest thing on my mind when I turned 30 was just how young Andy was when he passed away. I had been older than Andy was when he died for a couple of years (at 28), but when I turned 30 it really hit me. He never reached that point. That was the biggest thing on my mind: the tragedy of that, and reinforced the sense of urgency to do what I could in the time I have on this Earth. She also looked back on her 20s, and thought, Thank god I am still alive, and remained in awe of the incredible beauty and love I have gotten to seethe incredible highs and the incredible lows. McBride has been most inspired by meeting young trans people across America, doing what once seemed impossible to me growing up, living the truth of their journey and dreams at the same time. When I think back to the young version of myself, who was so scared, so frightened, and so fearful that there wasnt a place for me in this community and democracy, I wish I could tell myself that Youre going to be OK. Its going to take lot of work and youll shed a lot of tears. But you can be yourself, you can find love, and you can find community and everything you feared would be impossible will be possible. Thinking of those young trans people who may have seen news of her political victory reinforces the sense of responsibility McBride feels to do whatever work is necessary to help build a world where no kid has to wonder whether they can make it too, or wonder whether they can be themselves and be loved; and no kid has to wonder if they have to give up their dreams in order to be themselves. Whether LGBTQ or not, we would all be better and freer in that kind of world. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. Close (Photo : Looking for Health Answers Online May Cause you More Stress) Trying to self-diagnose online is something most of us have tried at least once. But this modern reflex might not be such a good idea. Very often we find too much information relating to the symptoms we are suffering from, which is not adapted to the reality of what we have, and it only increases our stress. Dr Google A French study has indicated that 77% of French people go online to self-diagnose, whenever they have symptoms related to health problems. They look for answers to sudden dizziness, long-lasting headaches or a lump in their throat. What they usually get, at the end of this search, is a feeling of stress engulfing them. Thats because an online search engine cannot replace a medical consultation. Thankfully, the internet is good for many other things, including finding solutions to calming the anxiety you will probably feel after going through such an experience. When your heart rate is starting to rise, you need to find ways to calm down, and breathing exercises for stress are the first thing you should look into. They will enable you to regain control of yourself and lower your heartbeat back to normal, ending the anxiety episode you were going through. A Practice More Popular with Young Adults As most realities related to the internet, younger adults tend to self-diagnose online more than older ones. In fact, 16 to 34 years old are twice likely to do so than 45 to 54 years old. Those over 54 years of age only do so in 5% of cases, which is really minimal compared to the national average which is close to 80%. But one of the biggest problems of this practice might be the choice of websites that internet users go to. In fact, when asked if they first look-up the source of the article, to make sure of its credibility, only 53% say they do. That means almost half of the people who try self-diagnosing dont know if the information is reliable, but still reads it. There are even 16% of the respondents that admitted to clicking on the first link that appeared in the search engine result page. Consulting with a Doctor In the end, those who use the internet to self-diagnose tend to believe in what they read. At least, it would seem so, since only 14% of them decide to consult a doctor afterwards. They often do so when the website they visited suggests it, or if another family member strongly advises them to go. As for the ones that dont visit a specialist, 23% say they worry about what they read for at least a week. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare (Natural News) The Republican members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee have issued a new report blaming communist China and its partners at the World Health Organization (WHO) for unleashing the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) upon the world. Dubbing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the WHO as culpable in the spread of the virus, the GOP now says that the plandemic could have been avoided entirely had the two entities handled the situation differently. Rather than try to cover up information about the spread of the virus early on, the CCP and the WHO should have told the world the truth, House Republicans insist. Doing this would have greatly minimized the fallout, they claim. It is beyond doubt that the CCP actively engaged in a cover-up designed to obfuscate data, hide relevant public health information, and suppress doctors and journalists who attempted to warn the world, the 90-page report claims. Research shows the CCP could have reduced the number of cases in China by up to 95 percent had it fulfilled its obligations under international law and responded to the outbreak in a manner consistent with best practices. Citing a study published on MedRxiv, a preprint server linked to Yale University, the GOP document strongly suggests that the plandemic could have been prevented if things were handled much differently early on when the virus first started to spread outside of Wuhan. It is crystal clear that had the CCP been transparent, and had the head of the WHO cared more about global health than appeasing the CCP, lives could have been spared and widespread economic devastation could have been mitigated, said Michael McCaul (R-Tx.), the lead Republican of the committee, in a statement. Revealing the truth is just the first step, he added. We must hold both the CCP and WHO Director General Tedros accountable for the suffering they have allowed the world to endure. House Republicans call for major reforms to the WHO In their report, House Republicans make four recommendations about what should happen moving forward. First and foremost, they want to see a major change in leadership at the WHO, as well as the allowance of Taiwan to be re-admitted to it as an observer. Another recommendation involves implementing concrete reforms to the International Health Regulations (IHR), which guide global health policy. Reforming the WHO seems long overdue, as the global body of the United Nations was caught earlier in the year conspiring with communist China to develop bioweapons, and possibly even the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) itself. House Republicans want the United States to partner up with other likeminded WHO member states, as well as with Taiwan, to conduct a full-scale international investigation in both the CCPs coverup of the effects of the virus, as well as the WHOs complicity in propelling the CCPs narrative surrounding it. According to the report, the CCP had more than enough information about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) in late December of last year to know that it should have informed the WHO about how to respond. In fact, the report suggests, the CCP was legally obligated to do this, and yet failed or refused. The outbreak in Wuhan alone constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, also known as a PHEIC, and yet the CCP did not declare this, nor did it warn the WHO or anyone else about what would soon transpire as the virus spread around the world. The WHO has repeatedly parroted CCP talking points while ignoring conflicting information from reputable sources, the report further explains. To keep up with the latest news and information about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), be sure to check out Pandemic.news. Sources for this article include: TheEpochTimes.com NaturalNews.com Sydney's inner and eastern suburbs have experienced some of the biggest job losses in NSW while three regional areas have defied trends and recorded increases since the start of the pandemic, amid warnings these geographic disparities could continue for years. Payroll jobs - workers who are paid employees - have fallen by nearly 9 per cent in Sydney's inner city between March 14, the week Australia recorded its 100th case of COVID-19, and September 5, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown. Sydney's eastern suburbs, Botany, Rockdale, Auburn and Canterbury also recorded falls of between 7 and 8 per cent. Lord Howe Island and the Lower Murray regions recorded the biggest job losses in the state, with falls of 27.7 per cent and 10.4 per cent respectively. Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar on Thursday took out the time of his busy outdoor schedule in the UK, to seek blessings at a Gurudwara. Sharing a glimpse of his visit, Akshay wrote: Had a rather blessed morning spent ten minutes in this Gurudwara today and counted my blessings. I feel a sense of calm I havent in months," he wrote, tagging his post with #GratitudeIsTheBestAttitude and #IkOnkar. Akshat also posted a picture of him praying at the Gurudwara, with his head covered with a white cloth. The actor is currently shooting his upcoming film Bell Bottom in the UK. He is accompanied by his wife, Twinkle Khanna, and their children there. Bell Bottom is directed by Ranjit M. Tewari and the film also features Vaani Kapoor, Huma Qureshi and Lara Dutta Bhupathi. Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna recently celebrated their sons 18th birthday in London. While Twinkle posted a photo from the birthday party, Akshay picked a throwback picture of himself and Aarav to wish him on social media. He wrote: Cant believe this day has come. Happy 18th birthday to my Boy! Big or small, I will carry you in my arms until its time for you to carry me. Now youre taller than me, more handsome than me, with a Heart 10x the size of mine. The world can only benefit from you being in it. All my love, hugs and prayers, your loving father." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) on Sep 15, 2020 at 9:58am PDT Akshay Kumars other upcoming projects include Atrangi Re, a film on Prithviraj Chauhan, Bachchan Pandey, Laxmmi Bomb and Sooryavanshi. Laxmmi Bomb will premiere on Disney+Hotstar this Diwali. As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ - Tourism CS Najib Balala said the national park was not big enough to meet the ecological requirements of its wildlife populations - He said the additional land from ILRI, Swara Plains Conservancy and the government will be dedicated to wildlife conservation - He inaugurated a task force on wildlife corridor connectivity between the park and the Athi-Kapiti plains PAY ATTENTION: Click 'See First' under 'Follow' Tab to see Tuko.co.ke news on your FB feed The Nairobi National Park on Friday, September 25, received 32,000 acres from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Tourism Cabinet Secretary (CS) Najib Balala said the national park had also received another 15,000 acres from the Swara Plains Conservancy whose expanse goes into Machakos County. READ ALSO: Inspiration: Medic narrates how he graduated as a doctor, nurse at the age of 28 International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) declared 32,000 acres of land for wildlife conservation. Photo: Najib Balala. Source: Twitter READ ALSO: US elections: First presidential debate between Trump, Biden slated for September 29 A statement from the Ministry of Tourism further showed the government had also donated 2,000 acres of the Sheep and Goat Ranch to the park. "I wish to take this opportunity to thank the two conservancies on behalf of the government and the people of Kenya for this wonderful gift," said Balala. The Ranch lies between the park and the donated lands to act as a linking corridor for the newly expanded park. READ ALSO: Cyrus Oguna says he was unable to brush his teeth for 14 days while battling COVID-19 David Hopcraft's family declared 15,000 acres of the Swara Plains Conservancy land for wildlife conservation. Photo: Najib Balala. Source: Twitter The registration certificates were handed over to the conservatives on Thursday, September 24, in a colourful ceremony led by the cabinet secretary. Balala said the additional land will be dedicated to wildlife conservation as he inaugurated the task force on wildlife corridor connectivity between the park and the Athi-Kapiti plains. "This will ensure our unique biodiversity thrives for posterity. This will be an essential wildlife corridor, for the animal population in the Nairobi National Park," Balala stated. READ ALSO: Nyeri firm making speed governors set to locally manufacture smartphones The CS further noted the national park was not big enough to meet the ecological requirements of its wildlife populations throughout the year. "This is why wildlife corridors are important for maintaining the viability of isolated wildlife populations and for preventing habitat degradation by confined wildlife," said Balala. Help us change more lives, join TUKO.co.kes Patreon programme Source: TUKO.co.ke Aiden King-Eeson (pictured), from Birmingham, was jailed for eight years at Nottingham Crown Court for causing the death of Gurdip Singh Matharu Police have released footage of a fatal crash caused by a 'despicable' drug-driver who also used his car as a weapon to ram a lorry. Aiden King-Eeson, from Birmingham, was jailed for eight years at Nottingham Crown Court for causing the death of Gurdip Singh Matharu. Nottinghamshire Police said footage of the incident had been released to warn motorists of the devastation drug-driving can cause. King-Eeson, from Handsworth, Birmingham, collided head-on with taxi driver Mr Matharu, who had been on his way home to celebrate his son's birthday. Officers said King-Eeson drove at more than double the speed limit, ignored red lights and drove on the wrong side of the road before the crash at about 9am in Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham, on July 4. The 25-year-old had travelled to Hucknall for a house party on July 3 before taking a BMW car without permission and driving into Nottingham. The vehicle was then captured on a speed camera travelling on Nuthall Road in Aspley at 61mph in a 30mph zone, before a collision with a lorry. King-Eeson, who had cocaine in his system, then ran red lights and was driving on the wrong side of the road at around 74mph in a 30mph zone when the fatal crash occurred. Nottinghamshire Police said footage of the incident had been released to warn motorists of the devastation drug-driving can cause He pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking and driving without insurance and a licence, and was banned from driving for three years once he is released from custody. King-Eeson, originally from Zimbabwe, also faces possible deportation at the end of his sentence. Mr Matharu's daughter Sandeep Marathu issued a statement through police, saying: 'Our lives were changed forever as my dad was killed in this collision. Mr Matharu's (pictured) daughter Sandeep Marathu issued a statement through police, saying: 'Our lives were changed forever as my dad was killed in this collision' 'He was a loving husband, a father to me and my brothers and a doting, playful grandad and adored by his family. 'Since arriving in the UK in 1996, dad worked hard to provide his family with a better life, making many personal sacrifices to ensure his family did not miss out. 'At the time of the crash my dad was on his way home from work but he never made it. He fell victim to King-Eeson, whose selfish and reckless actions gave dad no chance of survival. 'Dad died on the side of the street, with no family with him, which is something that will haunt us all forever. We lost the pillar of our family that day.' Detective Sergeant Adam Cooper said: 'King-Eeson's actions go beyond words. He used a car as a weapon that day, carelessly driving into anything that came in his way, recklessly ignoring speed limits and having no regard for others' safety. 'It is my belief that he had been up all night having taken cocaine most of which had left his system by the time he was tested. 'He was relentless in his driving rampage, only stopping when he had taken the life of an innocent man who just so happened to be another object in his way. 'Mr Marathu's family remain distraught and although the sentencing today is of little comfort to their loss, we recognise that King-Eeson has now been held to account for this despicable act.' The logo of Blue Cross Blue Shield pictured in the city centre of Detroit. Blue Cross Blue Shield has reached a tentative $2.7 billion antitrust settlement to resolve claims that the insurance group's member companies conspired to limit competition and boost prices for policyholders, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The settlement has been approved by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association but still requires approval by its 36 member companies, such as Anthem and Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York. It would also require approval by U.S. District Judge David Proctor in Birmingham, Alabama, who has overseen related nationwide litigation since 2013. In a statement, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association declined to comment, while saying it remained committed to improving the health of its members and local communities. The Wall Street Journal reported the settlement earlier on Thursday. The case had been brought on behalf of more than 1 million individual and corporate policyholders, whose policies covered tens of millions of Americans. They alleged that the member companies violated the Sherman Act and other antitrust laws by, among other things, dividing up health insurance markets to avoid competing with each other. Blue Cross Blue Shield said its member companies cover more than 109 million Americans, or roughly one-third of the U.S. population, including at major employers such as General Motors, Microsoft and Walmart. The Journal said the proposed settlement would drop a rule that two-thirds of each Blue Cross Blue Shield company's national revenue from health plans and related services come from Blue-branded businesses. It said the accord would also relax rules requiring national employers seeking coverage to work through Blue insurers covering where their headquarters are located, effectively giving some smaller one-state insurers a hold on major clients. Dundalk's newest classical quartet Glas haven't just been playing behind closed doors - they have also been playing behind glass windows as they took over Cumiskey's old music shop in Clanbrassil Street as unusual rehearsal space in recent weeks. The quartet, featuring flautist Vourneen Ryan, violinist Ailbhe Kirkan, violist Annemarie McGahon and cellist Aoife Dennedy, have been delighting audiences as they perform in Clanbrasil Street on Thursdays mornings. They stepped into the spotlight for Culture Night when they joined Conor Hughes for a special performance as part of the Blackrock Buskathon outside RockSalt in Blackrock. The four musicians are getting ready for a concert series in An Tain Arts Centre which gets underway on October 30. They have all studied and performed extensively abroad before making their way back home to freelance in the Irish National Orchestras. Director Ailbhe Kirkan said: 'In March, our music world fell from under us and after a few months of survival we decided to channel all of our talents together and to grow something beautiful from such a scary and unsettling time.' Annemarie McGahon, violist in the quartet said: 'We love our open rehearsals on Clanbrassil Street. It's a great way to reverberate positive vibes in the town and to bring hope and joy to our friends and neighbours in Dundalk." As well as getting ready for their concert in An Tain, they have recorded their first album 'The Lockdown Sessions', featuring covers of popular favourites including 'Picture This' 'Take my Hand', 'You've Got A Friend in Me', 'Someone You Loved', Christina Perri's 'A Thousand Years; from the Twilight Saga Motion Pictures, and much-loved traditional Irish songs such as 'Grace'. They were joined by two very good friends on the day - the very talented Mark Cahill from Slane's MPC Productions who was the sound engineer and fellow musician Ates Kirkan who did filming and editing. The album and accompanying video footage was recorded in the beautiful orangery at Tankardstown House. Over the years, the members of Glas have, as individual musicians, worked on numerous collaborations spanning various music genre, from classical to pop. They have performed on stage and in studios across Europe, the United States, South America and North Africa. They have worked with the likes of Biffy Clyro, Ocean Colour Scene, Deacon Blue, Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat, Mercury Prize Winners Young Fathers, Frightened Rabbit, Paul Weller, Steve Pilgrim (Paul Weller Band), The Fratellis, Twin Atlantic, Camera Obscura, Francis Macdonald (Teenage Fanclub), The Coronas, Gavin James, Deacon Blue, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Twilight Sad. As well as performing on stage, they are available for weddings, funerals and corporate events, with an extensive repretoire of over 1,600 tunes at their fingertips. Catch Glas Quartet at their next rehearsal in Clanbrassil St on Thursday from 9.30am to 12pm. Their first concert for An Tain Arts Centre will be streamed on Facebook Live on Thursday October 30. SANAA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - In the Yemeni capital Sanaa, Mohammed al-Ghazaaly's kidney dialysis machine often cuts out due to an escalating fuel shortage in the country's north. When the electricity generator runs out of diesel, nurse Mohammed al-Hattamy turns the blood-filtering machines by hand to prevent clots. "We try to do our best," Hattamy said. Northern Yemen, controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement since it ousted the Saudi-backed government from power in Sanaa in late 2014, has suffered fuel shortages throughout a five-year war that has shattered Yemen's healthcare system. Imports of fuel, needed for generators, water pumps and transporting goods, have dropped sharply in the past three months, the United Nations said, deepening a humanitarian crisis that has left 80% of Yemen's population reliant on aid. The United Nations says fuel in the north's informal market is double the official price. Long queues at filling stations are common, and Ghazaaly said he paid an "exorbitant" amount for a taxi he eventually found willing to take him to hospital. Imports into Houthi-held areas have to go through stringent controls imposed by a Saudi-led military coalition battling the group. The Houthis accuse the coalition of waging economic warfare by holding U.N.-cleared commercial vessels which want to unload in the north. The coalition, which controls sea and air space, says it is preventing arms smuggling. Two weeks ago, the Houthis suspended U.N and humanitarian flights to Sanaa in an apparent act of protest, further impacting aid provision as the ill-equipped country also battles the coronavirus pandemic. Testing and reporting of coronavirus cases in Yemen is low and the United Nations says the virus is circulating undetected. Yemeni government authorities have declared 2,029 cases, including 586 deaths. Houthi authorities have not provided figures since May 16, when they reported four cases and one death. Ahead of a possible second wave of the virus, the International Committee of the Red Cross this week opened a free 60-bed COVID-19 clinic in the southern port city of Aden, the Yemeni government's temporary capital. Fatima Elkendi, a volunteer doctor with a Yemeni charity, said it was hard to treat patients due to the lack of basic supplies. "What's more, in Aden infectious diseases such as dengue fever and malaria are spreading. These diseases affect people greatly, due to the lack of proper nutrition and as most of the population is below the poverty line." (Reporting by Reuters Yemen team and Tarek Fahmy; Writing by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Mike Collett-White) Cody Bahn, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer The 21st century is giving rise to recognition of rights of Indigenous peoples highlighted by the recent US Supreme Court case of Mc Girt versus Oklahoma July 2020 and the passage of the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Rights in 2007. Beneficiaries of these events include the Cherokee and the Tainos, the latter originally of Puerto Rico. Into this milieu the weekend of Oct. 3 will be Joy Montgomery, Executive Director of the Heritage Museum of Montgomery County, located at the northwest end of Candy Cane Park off I-45 in Conroe. By special invitation, Joy will attend a prestigious conference at Ellijay, Georgia which will feature representation of both the Cherokee and the Taino at the highest levels. Among Joys credentials for the meeting is a term as secretary of the Cherokee Trail of Tears Association of Tennessee while she is also a card-carrying member of the Taino Tribe. Her hostess at Georgia will be Monika Ponton-Arrington, PhD, a Taino chief, who is married to Fulton Arrington, a leader among the Cherokee. Trial will take place at major U.S. centers and examine the cardioprotective properties of CardiolRx in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who have a prior history of, or risk factors for, cardiovascular disease (CVD) Oakville, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 25, 2020) -Cardiol Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: CRDL) (OTCQX: CRTPF) ("Cardiol" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing innovative therapies for inflammatory heart disease, is pleased to announce that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Company's Investigational New Drug (IND) application to commence a Phase II/III, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial investigating the efficacy and safety of CardiolRx, a pharmaceutically produced extra strength cannabidiol formulation, in 422 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with a prior history of, or risk factors for, cardiovascular disease (CVD). The trial will take place at major centers in the United States, where the prevalence of COVID-19 remains high. Patients with COVID-19 primarily present with respiratory symptoms which can progress to bilateral pneumonia and serious pulmonary complications. It is now recognized that the impact of COVID-19 is not limited to the pulmonary system. Individuals with pre-existing CVD or who have risk factors for CVD (such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, abnormal serum lipids, or age greater than 64) are at significantly greater risk of developing serious disease from COVID-19 and experience greater morbidity. Moreover, such COVID-19 patients are at significant risk of developing cardiovascular complications (such as acute myocardial infarction, cardiac arrhythmias, myocarditis, stroke, and heart failure) during the course of their illness, and which are frequently fatal, with an estimated 30 - 40% of patients who die from COVID-19 doing so from cardiovascular complications. A strategy to prevent or limit the number or severity of these cardiovascular complications is likely to considerably improve outcomes from this disease. Cardiol's Phase II/III trial has been designed to assess the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of CardiolRx in preventing cardiovascular complications in hospitalized patients, with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 within the previous 24 hours, and who have pre-existing CVD and/or significant risk factors for CVD. The composite primary efficacy endpoint will be the difference between the active and placebo groups in the percentage of patients who develop, during the first twenty-eight days following randomization and first dose of study medication, a composite endpoint consisting of one or more of several common outcomes in this patient population, including all-cause mortality, requirement for ICU admission and/or ventilatory support, as well as cardiovascular complications, including the development of heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, myocarditis, stroke, or new sustained or symptomatic arrhythmia. The study was designed and will be overseen by an independent Steering Committee, consisting of international thought leaders in inflammatory heart disease: Dr. Dennis McNamara (Chair), Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Pittsburgh; Dr. Leslie Cooper (Co-Chair), Chair of the Mayo Clinic Enterprise Department of Cardiovascular Medicine and Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Mayo Clinic; Dr. Arvind Bhimaraj, Medical Director, Advanced Heart Failure, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Heart Transplant Programs, Houston Methodist Hospital; Dr. Barry Trachtenberg, Director, Cardio-Oncology and Cardiac Amyloid Programs, Associate Director, Mechanical Circulatory Support Program, Houston Methodist Hospital; Dr. Wilson Tang, Director of the Center for Clinical Genomics, Research Director, and staff cardiologist in the Section of Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Medicine, Cleveland Clinic; Dr. Peter Liu, Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of Research, University of Ottawa Heart Institute; Dr. Carsten Tschope, Vice Director of the Dept. of Cardiology, Charite University Medicine Berlin, Germany; and Dr. Matthias Friedrich, Professor of Medicine and Chief, Cardiovascular Imaging, McGill University Health Centre. Dr. Dennis McNamara, Chair of the Steering Committee for the trial commented: "As a Steering Committee, we are excited about the potential for this study to contribute valuable new information about the role of anti-inflammatory agents in the management of COVID-19. Now that approval from the FDA has been granted, we are anxious to get underway so that we can investigate the impact of CardiolRx in this very important disease process." "Receiving approval from the FDA for our IND application to initiate a clinical program in COVID-19 patients represents a major milestone for Cardiol Therapeutics and provides the opportunity to significantly accelerate the commercial development of CardiolRx," said David Elsley, President and CEO of Cardiol Therapeutics. "The COVID-19 pandemic is providing our Company with a unique opportunity to rapidly study the cardioprotective properties of CardiolRx in patients who have a prior history of, or risk factors for, cardiovascular disease and are most vulnerable to the virus. Subject to study outcomes, our discussions with the FDA indicated that the design and scope of our Phase II/III trial may be used as a registration study in support of a New Drug Application." The rationale for using cannabidiol to treat patients with COVID-19 is based on extensive pre-clinical investigations by Cardiol and others in models of cardiovascular inflammation which have demonstrated that CBD has impressive anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic activity, as well as anti-ischemic, and anti-arrhythmic action, and that it improves myocardial function in models of heart failure. In pre-clinical models of cardiac injury, cannabidiol was shown to be cardio-protective by reducing cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and the production of certain re-modelling markers, such as cardiac B-type Natriuretic Peptide (BNP), which is typically elevated in patients with heart failure. These data were accepted for presentation at the American College of Cardiology's 69th Annual Scientific Session held virtually on March 28 - 30, 2020. About Cardiol Therapeutics Cardiol Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: CRDL) (OTCQX: CRTPF) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing innovative therapies for inflammatory heart disease. The Company recently received approval from the U.S. FDA for its Investigational New Drug (IND) application to commence a Phase II/III, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial investigating the efficacy and safety of its lead product, CardiolRx, in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with a prior history of, or risk factors for, cardiovascular disease (CVD). CardiolRx is an ultra-pure, high concentration cannabidiol oral formulation that is pharmaceutically produced, manufactured under cGMP, and THC free (<5 ppm). Cardiol is also planning a Phase II international trial of CardiolRx in acute myocarditis, a condition caused by inflammation in heart tissue, which remains the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in people less than 35 years of age, and developing proprietary cannabidiol formulations for the treatment of chronic heart failure. Chronic heart failure is the leading cause of death and hospitalization in North America, with associated annual healthcare costs in the U.S. alone exceeding $30 billion. For further information about Cardiol Therapeutics, please visit cardiolrx.com. For further information, please contact: David Elsley, President & CEO +1-289-910-0850 david.elsley@cardiolrx.com Trevor Burns, Investor Relations +1-289-910-0855 trevor.burns@cardiolrx.com Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking information: This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events, or developments that Cardiol Therapeutics Inc. ("Cardiol" or the "Company") believes, expects, or anticipates will, may, could or might occur in the future are "forward- looking information". Forward-looking information contained herein may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to that, subject to study outcomes, our Phase II/III study may be used as a registration study in support of a New Drug Application, the opportunity to significantly accelerate the commercial development of CardiolRx, the Company's plans for a Phase II international trial of CardiolRx in acute myocarditis, its development of a proprietary cannabidiol formulation for the treatment of chronic heart failure, the potential for this study to contribute valuable new information about the role of anti-inflammatory agents in the management of COVID-19, and the likely improvement of outcomes from COVID-19 resulting from a strategy to prevent or limit the number or severity of cardiovascular complications. Forward-looking information contained herein reflects the current expectations or beliefs of Cardiol based on information currently available to it and is subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual events or results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These risks and uncertainties and other factors include the risks and uncertainties referred to in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 30, 2020, including the risks and uncertainties associated with product commercialization and clinical studies, and uncertainties in predicting treatment outcomes. These risks, uncertainties and other factors should be considered carefully, and investors should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Cardiol disclaims any intent or obligation to update or revise such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although Cardiol believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, they do involve certain assumptions, risks, and uncertainties and are not (and should not be considered to be) guarantees of future performance. It is important that each person reviewing this news release understands the significant risks attendant to the operations of Cardiol. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/64626 Editor's Note: This story was updated Friday night with news of Miller's apprehension and charges. A Camp Lejeune Marine was apprehended and charged late Friday night after fleeing from the North Carolina base Thursday afternoon, officials said. Officials with 2nd Marine Division issued a statement early Friday evening asking the public to be on the lookout for Lance Cpl. Shawn M. Miller, a field artillery cannoneer with 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment. He had last been seen around 6 p.m. Thursday in Jacksonville, the town outside Lejeune, according to a news release from 2nd Marine Division. Just before 11 p.m. Friday, division officials announced that Miller had been caught. "[Naval Criminal Investigative Service], working jointly with the Richlands Police Department and Onslow County Sheriffs Office, apprehended Lance Cpl. Miller tonight at approximately 8 p.m. in Richlands, N.C.," officials said in the updated release. "Lance Cpl. Miller was transported to the Onslow County Detention Center and is being held on an armed robbery charge brought by the Pender County Court." Information about Miller was not immediately available in the online Pender County court system. Miller fled Lejeune after he was ordered to pretrial confinement, officials said. The initial release stated that Miller has active warrants in the state of North Carolina. -- Gina Harkins contributed. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Secretary General of Tafea Province, Mr. Joe Iautim (far left), President Tafea Provincial Council Mr. Jeffery Kaut (second from left), Representing South West Tanna Area Council of Chief Tom Kota (second from right) and the Acting VIT Principal Mr. Wade Evans (right). Photo: Vanuatu Skills Partnership Judge refuses to hold John MacArthur, Grace Community Church in contempt without trial Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A California judge has sided with California Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church in yet another hearing over the churchs decision to hold indoor public worship services amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff ruled that MacArthur and his Sun Valley-based church are entitled to a full trial on the merits of their challenge against state and local orders prohibiting indoor church gatherings before they can be held in contempt for violating the orders. For nearly three months, the county has sought to shut down the church and hold MacArthur in contempt for repeatedly violating the order. However, attorneys at the Thomas More Society have argued that the governors orders violate several provisions of the state constitution. This week, Beckloff ruled that the courts must first decide on the constitutionality of the shutdown orders before the county can pursue contempt charges. Due to the states shut-down orders, the contempt trial is not expected to take place until early 2021. The court scheduled a hearing to be held on Nov. 13 regarding the scope of the churchs challenge. A preliminary injunction was issued earlier this month by Beckloff prohibiting the church from conducting, participating in or attending any indoor worship services until the case is resolved. Lawyers for MacArthur and Grace Community applauded the judge's decision Thursday. Thomas More Society Special Counsel Charles LiMandri explained in a statement that the ruling prevents the countys attempted rush to judgment in its continued prosecution of MacArthur and Grace Community Church, who are exercising their First Amendment rights. We are pleased that Judge Beckloff indicated he agreed with the major points that we made on behalf of Pastor MacArthur and Grace Community Church and we are very gratified that the judges ruling today reflects that he appreciates the importance of the constitutionally protected rights at issue in this case," LiMandri said. Thomas More Society Special Counsel Jenna Ellis called the ruling significant, saying that no person can or should be held in contempt of a constitutionally invalid order. Los Angeles County continues to presume that its order is valid, with utter disregard for First Amendment protections, she said. Its tyranny to even suggest that a government action cannot be challenged and must be obeyed without question. This case goes to the heart of what our founders designed for the purpose of legitimate government not to be above the rule of law. Pastor MacArthur is simply holding church, which is clearly his constitutionally protected right in this country. In a statement, MacArthur, who is also an internationally syndicated radio host and former president of The Masters University, pledged Grace Community Church would continue to meet despite continued opposition. We are holding church, he said in a statement shared by Thomas More Society. The Lord Jesus requires us to meet together and we will continue to do that because we are commanded to and because it is our right. The pastor said that the church is very grateful to Beckloff for providing full due process and recognizing the importance of these constitutional protections. The reality is that the county cannot show that their order is even rational, much less necessary, he stressed. They have also applied their orders arbitrarily and discriminatorily against churches and we enjoy a heightened protection in America to hold church. Ill continue to stand firm and we will continue to fight to protect religious freedom for the church. Listen to MacArthur explain why his church is defying orders: In addition to seeking a court order to close Grace Community, Los Angeles County officials have used various methods to prevent the congregation from gathering. Last month, the county told the church it would terminate a lease for a parking lot the congregation had used for 45 years. Last week, MacArthur revealed that he recently received a letter threatening up to six months in jail if he continues holding indoor worship services. Of course, my biblical hero apart from the Lord Jesus Christ is the Apostle Paul, MacArthur said in an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham. And when he went into a town he didn't ask what the hotel was like. He asked what the jail was like because he knew that's where he was going to spend his time. So I don't mind being a little apostolic if they want to tuck me into jail, I'm open for a jail ministry, he continued. I've done a lot of other ministries and haven't had the opportunity to do that one. So bring it on. SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California has begun to see concerning upticks in coronavirus data after a sustained period of decline, the states top health official said Friday, urging people to renew efforts to prevent spread. The increases include the rate of cases per capita, hospital emergency department visits for COVID-19 and new hospitalizations for confirmed or suspected cases, California Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Mark Ghaly said. The trends appear to be attributable to gatherings and activities around the Labor Day holiday, Ghaly said. Other factors could include the recent reopening of businesses and massive wildfires that forced evacuations and millions to change their routines because of unhealthy air. A troubling short-term forecast sees an 89% increase in COVID-19-related hospitalizations from the current 2,578 the lowest figure since early April to just under 5,000 by Oct. 25, Ghaly said. An added concern is the upcoming flu season. Ghaly noted that the state was heading into another hot weekend, which could lead to more people congregating with others and providing more opportunities for transmission of the virus. I think our key message today is continue to do what helped us get to a lower risk. safer, lower transmission environment across our state, he said. Ghaly urged people to wear face coverings, maintain physical distancing, avoid mixing with others, get a flu shot and to use good judgment. All of those tools that we have in our toolkit should be used this weekend and moving forward so we can really bring these upward trends back down, and even bring them further down, he said. Ghaly also said California will conduct its own independent review of potential COVID-19 vaccines, signalling its distrust of the Trump administrations accelerated initiative. The state state will assemble a review board of leading scientists to assess the safety and effectiveness of any vaccine candidate, he said. We think it is an appropriate approach to take, especially because things are moving so quickly, he said. We want to make sure despite the urge and interest in having a useful vaccine that we do it with the utmost safety of Californians in mind. Earlier this week, more of California was cleared to reopen additional businesses, including most of the San Francisco Bay Area. The lifting of some restrictions in counties that have shown improvement comes as California tries for a second time to recover from the devastating impact COVID-19 has had on business. An earlier effort to reopen more quickly backfired with a surge in cases and hospitalizations in late spring and early summer. California has the most confirmed cases in the country with 801,000, and the fourth-most deaths with 15,461, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The statewide infection rate for the last week was 2.8%, the lowest since the start of the pandemic, But it has started rising again in parts of the state. Kent Memorial Library and House of Books will co-sponsor at book talk and virtual signing with Texas-born author Sergio Troncoso via Zoom Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. Troncoso will discuss his newest book A Peculiar Kind of Immigrants Son. The Kent resident is also the author of The Last Tortilla and Other Stories, Crossing Borders: Personal Essays and the novels Nobodys Pilgrims, The Nature of Truth and From This Wicked Patch of Dust. He edited Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican-American Literature of Families in between Worlds and Our Lost Border: Essays on Life Amid the Narco-Violence. Among the numerous awards he has won are the Kay Cattarulla Award for Best Short Story, Premio Aztlan Literary Prize, Southwest Book Award, Bronze Award for Essays from ForeWord Reviews, International Latino Book Award, and the Silver and Bronze Awards for Multicultural Fiction from ForeWord Reviews. For many years, he has taught fiction and nonfiction at the Yale Writers Workshop in New Haven. He is president of the Texas Institute of Letters. The son of Mexican immigrants, Troncoso was born in El Paso, Texas, and now lives in New York City. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received two graduate degrees in international relations and philosophy from Yale University. He won a Fulbright scholarship to Mexico, where he studied economics, politics, and literature. He was inducted into the Hispanic Scholarship Funds Alumni Hall of Fame and the Texas Institute of Letters. The El Paso City Council voted unanimously to rename the public library branch in Ysleta as the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library. He has served as a judge for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the New Letters Literary Awards in the Essay category. Troncosos stories and essays have been featured in many anthologies. For more information and RSVP, contact the library www.kentmemoriallibrary.org or www.houseofbooks.com. WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans opposed President Donald Trump's assertion that he might reject a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the November election, trying to deflect his challenge to a foundation of American democracy as bravado that will not actually occur. Republicans, with almost no direct criticism of Trump's statements, uniformly asserted that if Joe Biden wins the election, they will support a peaceful transition to the Democrat's inauguration in January. "The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., tweeted early Thursday, following the president's comments late Wednesday night. "There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792." He declined to further address the controversial statements. "Did you see my tweet? That pretty well sums it up," McConnell told reporters at the Capitol. Most Republicans tried to dodge how they would respond if the president were to refuse to accept the results if he loses and were to stoke violence among his supporters; they called it a hypothetical situation that they would not contemplate or said Trump just talks like that but does not follow through on such threats. "The president says crazy stuff," Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said. "We've always had a peaceful transition of power. It's not going to change." Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., credited the controversy to Trump's tendency to speak in "very extreme manners occasionally" and dismissed the latest controversy as part of that trend. A few Republicans, however, did pledge to stand up to Trump if Biden is the clear winner and the president refuses to accept the results. "No question that all the people sworn to support the Constitution would assure that there would be a peaceful transition of power," Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told reporters. "Well, Republicans believe in the rule of law, we believe in the Constitution, and that's what dictates what happens," Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., McConnell's deputy in the leadership team, told reporters. Trump triggered an outcry when he refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election, asserting that if he does not win, it will be because of fraudulent mail-in voting and not because more people voted against him. "Well, we're going to have to see what happens. You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster," he said. Democrats have started taking the threat seriously after months of privately worrying. Party leaders have begun preliminary talks about how to respond to a constitutional crisis in which a defeated president refuses to leave office, according to Democrats who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss these internal talks. "There is one way to conduct a fair and honest election - by respecting the will of the people," said Rep. Jamie B. Raskin, D-Md., a former constitutional law professor who has been brainstorming possible responses for weeks. "But there are multifarious ways to attack and undermine a fair election - and we are gearing up to fight on every front." Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has reached out to GOP colleagues to encourage them to hold the line for democracy. Murphy said Republicans are in denial that the president would ever ignore the results of the election. But Democrats, he said, are trying to get them to acknowledge that every absentee ballot should be counted, fearful that the president could try to head off the results by contesting mail-in ballots. "The president's made very clear that he's not going to acknowledge the results. . . . His ability to get away with that will be largely dependent on whether the Republican Party goes with him, so you know a lot of what we're doing now is just talking to our colleagues to make sure they're ready for a potential transition," Murphy said Thursday. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., offered a more critical assessment. "Usually dictators don't announce in advance what their plans are. He wants to be named a president for life, king to the contrary. That's not how our democracy works. It is up to Democrats and Republicans, and independents, it is up to all Americans to make clear that we are a democracy," she said. In interviews, along with statements and social media posts, more than two dozen Senate Republicans pledged support for a peaceful transition should Biden win, yet Romney was the only one who, again without naming Trump, took on his statements. "Any suggestion that a president might not respect this constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable," Romney tweeted late Wednesday after Trump's comments. Many Republicans tried to blame Biden for the issue after Hillary Clinton's suggestion that the 2020 nominee should not concede until all the ballots are counted. "We have a Constitution, and the Constitution says when the presidency ends. You ask me just from the standpoint of what the president said: It isn't very good advice from Hillary Clinton to advise Biden about that," said Sen. Chuck Grassley,R-Iowa. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, went further and accused Biden's transition team of conducting a "war game" in which the former vice president would contest the election in state legislatures, even though such practice scenarios are now common among legal advisers in presidential campaigns. "What I'm much more concerned about is Joe Biden's stated intention to challenge the legitimacy of the election if he doesn't win," Cruz said, adding that is why he supports quickly confirming a conservative replacement after Friday's death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "I think that's a real threat to the legitimacy of our election and it's one of the reasons it's so important that we confirm the Supreme Court nominee before the election, so we have a full court able to resolve whatever legal challenges arise," he said. Trump's statements again put vulnerable Republicans facing tough reelection fights in November on the defensive, trying to explain the outlandish statements of a president they cannot control and struggle to interpret for voters in their Democratic-leaning states. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., first elected to the House in 2010 when Republicans claimed the majority and Pelosi stepped down as speaker, said that since his first day in Congress he has appreciated the transfer of power. "It's something that I've talked about in speeches from my very first days when Nancy Pelosi peacefully handed the gavel over to John Boehner: It's a hallmark of our democracy," he told reporters. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, acknowledged that she has no insight into how Trump thinks. "I don't know what his thinking was, but we have always had a controlled transition between administrations," she said. "And I'm certain that if there's a change in administrations, that we have the calmness as well. It's fundamental to our democracy." Business & Finance, National & World News By Ls Cohen Published: September 25 2020 Portion of the proceeds will go to the ACLU. Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be immortalized by Kollectico, a Long Island company that manufactures bobbleheads, those popular statues that characterize real-life people and imaginary figures with outsized wobbly heads. Ginsburg died on Friday, September 18 at home due to complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer. She was 87-years-old. The company said that there will be limited run of the Ginsburg statues and a portion of the proceeds from every purchase will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The accomplished judge sat on the highest court in the land since 1993 when she was appointed by President Bill Clinton. She was also the director of the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in the 1970s. During that time she argued six landmark cases on gender equality before the U.S. Supreme Court, according to biography.com. he bobbleheads are described by the company as 7 tall with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her robe of justice, holding a gavel and the U.S. Constitution. The background banner highlights several legacy cases such as U.S. v. Virginia, Ledbetter v. Goodyear and Bush v. Gore. Each bobblehead is individually numbered out of 1,993, relating to the year President Clinton nominated Ginsburg to the Supreme Court. "The bobblehead is meant to honor the 2nd woman to sit on the highest bench for being a voice of reason for the citizens of the United State of America," said Andrew S. Hazen, Founder & CEO of Kollectico. (Hazen is also the owner of this publication.) Hazen, who is also an attorney, said that once Ginsburg passed away he knew he had to immortalize her image through his company. The Ruth Bader Ginsburg bobbleheads are available for pre-order at BobbleheadBoss.com, ClarkToys.com and other retailers. The collectible costs $39.95 with $5 from each sale going to the ACLU. Leading tech giant, Apple, recently unveiled yet another variety of new products and services on Tuesday, 15 September 2020, which included the new Apple Watch and two new iPad product models. While anticipation was high for the announcement of the iPhone 12, online users were in for quite a digital treat at this year's #AppleEvent. Global Social Volume (blue) vs Social Reach (green) on #AppleEvent between 1 September and 21 September 2020 Global Heat Map on Social Media Mentions for #AppleEvent between 1 September and 21 September 2020 Global Social Media Volume (blue) vs Social Reach (green) for iPhone 12 between 1 September and 21 September 2020 Global Sentiment Analysis on #AppleEvent on Social Media between 1 September and 21 September 2020 Global Social Media Sentiment on iPhone 12 between 1 September and 21 September 2020 Global media intelligence company, Meltwater, tracked and analysed social media mentions around the 2020 #AppleEvent to uncover how the company still encourages users to Think Different.Social media buzz began on Tuesday, 8 September 2020, a week before the event. Apple made the announcement that their annual #AppleEvent would be taking place and live streamed the following Tuesday. Anticipation began to rise around the possibility of Apple releasing the iPhone 12, with over 13,000 global social media mentions on #AppleEvent on 8 September 2020, and the hashtag garnering a social media reach of 147 Million people worldwide.On Tuesday, 15 September 2020, (the actual day of the #AppleEvent) the hashtag received over 74,000 social media mentions and had a social media reach of just over one billion people worldwide, indicating the global high interest in what Apple were launching among online users.With the event being live streamed, the top five countries with social media users engaging the most on the hashtag were the United States of America, India, Japan, Thailand and the United Kingdom, respectively.The data indicates that interest from India and Japan for the #AppleEvent was centered around the blue colour used to market the event, with social media users suggesting that the blue represented the new colour for the iPhone 12; while the data also shows that interest from Thailand centered around the release of the new iOS 14 software update. In the United Kingdom, the sentiment analysis on #AppleEvent highlights how social media users admired the updated look of the home screen and app widgets from the iOS 14 update as well as the new Apple Watch.Compared to the 2019 #AppleEvent , where three iPhone 11 devices were announced, it comes as no surprise that many were expecting the announcement of a new iPhone 12.However, no such announcement was actually made during this years #AppleEvent, which received a total global media exposure of 151,000 mentions - 76% less than what the hashtag received for 2019s #AppleEvent. iPhone 12 however, received 172,000 global social media mentions this month.iPhone 12 received more social media mentions on Tuesday, 8 September 2020, than the #AppleEvent hashtag.The data indicates how more people, globally, were interested in the possibility of Apple releasing an iPhone 12, with iPhone 12 having a social reach of 148 million people worldwide this month (whereas the #AppleEvent hashtag reached 147 million people worldwide in the same time period).While iPhone 12 reached less people online, globally, on the day of the event (432 million people), it did receive more social media mentions (over 99,000 compared to over 74,000 social media mentions) than #AppleEvent, indicating how the number of social media users were slightly more interested in the news of an iPhone 12 than the actual #AppleEvent.The lack of an announcement on the iPhone 12, however, is what contributed to the global negative sentiment that the #AppleEvent hashtag received on 15 September 2020.Despite there not being a new iPhone 12 for social media users to look forward to at the moment, the 84% positive sentiment that the hashtag did receive on the day of the event was around excitement for the new hardware products that were announced, including the Apple Watches and two new iPads.For social media mentions on iPhone 12, social media users were highly excited about this new phone, as it received a 91% positive response from online users, even though there was no official confirmation of the new phone.One the day of the #AppleEvent, iPhone 12 only received a 49% positive response, with the 51% negative response being attributed to the disappointment many social media users expressed about Apple not actually releasing a new iPhone, and has subsequently prompted the question Where is the iPhone 12?.While many users never received the much anticipated news on an iPhone 12, the #AppleEvent certainly got social media talking about its new hardware and software announcements and updates.Perhaps Apple will soon enough answer the question that online users really want to ask, but for now, the #AppleEvent was quite the success and we can surely expect to see more from the worlds leading tech giant.For a free demo of the Meltwater platform and ad monitoring capabilities, click here A man who was found driving at 184kph on the motorway appeared at Portlaoise district court recently. Francis Mangan, (46) of Bishopscourt, Straffan Kildare was charged with dangerous driving at the M7 Togher on June 28, 2020. This was reduced in court to a charge of careless driving. He pleaded guilty to the offence. His defence solicitor noted that Mr Mangan was co-operative at all times with the Gardai. Defence told the court that Mr Mangan was a motor haulier by trade. The business he was in had been in operation since the 1950s. Mr Mangan had been a lorry driver all his life. He had been driving since the age of 19. He had no previous convictions. On the day in question he was in Annacotty. He received a call that another lorry driver from the business had called in sick. He rushed back to Dublin in his car in order to take that drivers run for Tesco. Defence pointed out that he is a Director of the company. Judge Catherine Staines noted that he was doing 184kph which she said was 50 per cent over. She also noted that he had no previous convictions. It was an outrageous speed, she said. She fined him 300 and disqualified him for three months. Originally scheduled to open in June at the National Gallery of Art, Philip Guston Now was first pushed to next summer because of the museums pandemic-related shutdown. In a statement posted this week, the directors of the NGA, the Tate Modern in London, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, announced that the exhibition would be delayed until a time at which we think that the powerful message of social and racial justice that is at the center of Philip Gustons work can be more clearly interpreted. New Delhi, Sep 25 : Demanding powers on the pattern of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), political parties in the union territory of Ladakh have unanimously resolved to boycott elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Leh. With no candidate coming forward to file nomination papers in the 30-member LAHDC Leh on the third consecutive day on Wednesday, 23 September, a representative delegation of three top political leaders met the LG, Radha Krishna Mathur. Former Lok Sabha member of BJP Thupstan Chhewang; former Rajya Sabha member of the National Conference Kushok Thiksey; and former Minister of the PDP-BJP government in J&K Cering Dorjay comprised the delegation. They are among the senior Ladakhi politicians who resigned from BJP and NC and have not joined any party. In the meeting, also attended by LG's advisor and Chief Secretary Umang Narula and IGP Satish Khandare, the politicians made it clear to the LG that no political party would participate in the LAHDC Leh elections till the Centre grant it powers on the pattern of BTC under the 6th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. "We submitted a detailed memorandum to LG Sahab, as also a letter through him to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of the people of the UT of Ladakh, seeking powers for the Hill Council on the pattern of the BTC," Chhewang said. "We have made it clear that in case the J&K UT gets back statehood, the UT of Ladakh must also get a legislative assembly. That's our right as, before splitting the state into the two UTs, Ladakh was also its part". Created in 2003 under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution of India, BTC administers independently East Assam's four tribal districts of Kokrajhar, Udalguri, Baksa and Chirang. The Governor acts as its constitutional head. "We have politely conveyed to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister that our agitation would be completely peaceful and within the framework of the Constitution of India", Chhewang said. Under the J&K Reorganisation Act, passed by Parliament in August 2019, the erstwhile state of J&K was stripped of its special constitutional status and divided into the two UTs of J&K and Ladakh. While J&K retained the legislative assembly, the UT of Ladakh was left without any legislature. Making Ladakh a Centrally governed UT was a long time demand of the people of Buddhist-dominated Leh district. The election department of the UT of Ladakh had on 19 September announced elections for the 30-member LAHDC Leh. While the councillors are elected by universal franchise for 26 seats, LG has powers to nominate four members for the council. A similar arrangement is in place for LAHDC Kargil which has completed only two years of its five-year term. For now, elections are due in LAHDC Leh. The process of filing nomination papers of the candidates began on Monday, 21 September. No independent candidate or nominees of political parties filed nomination papers in the first three days. As per the notification, the last date for filing of nominations is 28 September. The scrutiny of papers will be held on 29 September and the last date for the withdrawal of nominations is 1 October. Elections, if necessary, will be held on 16 October. The counting will be held on 22 October and the election process will be completed on 27 October. Last week, all the religious, social and political organizations of Leh, including the BJP, resolved to boycott the elections. The Muslim community was represented by the president of Anjuman Imamia, Ashraf Ali. The participants unanimously demanded constitutional safeguards and powers for LAHDC Leh while complaining that the promises made to the people of Ladakh had not been fulfilled. Notably, a number of senior leaders had resigned from the BJP months before Ladakh got the status of an independent UT. Of late, some of the leaders have also resigned from NC. The 6th Schedule of the constitution makes separate arrangements for tribal areas. After getting the status of UT, the people in Ladakh have been expressing apprehensions that instruments like the Domicile Certificate of J&K would not safeguard land and job rights of the aboriginal and permanent residents of the region. A resolution passed by an all-party meeting last week reads: "The apex body of People's Movement for Sixth Schedule for Ladakh has unanimously resolved to boycott the ensuing Sixth LAHDC Leh election till such time the constitutional safeguard under Sixth Schedule on the lines of Bodo Territorial Council is not extended to UT Ladakh and its people". This is for the third time in the last over 30 years that all political parties, social and religious organizations in Ladakh have formed a joint platform, leaving behind all differences and party politics. In 1989, all organizations had launched collective agitation for the UT status for Ladakh. At least three persons had died during the agitation that ultimately forced the government during President's Rule to concede the demand of a semi-autonomous hill council in Leh. Later, Farooq Abdullah's NC government created an identical council in Kargil. In the year 2002 again, all political, religious and social organisations in Leh created a joint platform, titled Leh Union Territory Front (LUTF). They fielded consensus candidates in the Assembly segments of Leh and Nobra who were declared elected without the polling. (This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Ivanka Trump is President Trump's eldest daughter. And she has not been nominated by her father to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) If someone told you that President Trump planned to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat with his daughter Ivanka, would you believe it? If so, you're not alone. For Thursday's edition of "Lie Witness News" a recurring "Jimmy Kimmel Live" segment in which random people react to fabricated headlines Kimmel pranked strangers outside his Hollywood studio by telling them that the president had named Ivanka Trump as his Supreme Court nominee. "I was wondering, how far would be too far for Republicans to support Donald Trump," Kimmel said on the show. "So we went out on the street to do a socially distant survey." In real life, Trump and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have vowed to swiftly replace Ginsburg, despite the feminist heros dying wish that her successor be chosen by the next president. "A big announcement today: President Trump replacing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ... with his daughter Ivanka," one of Kimmel's producers told a passerby. "What was your reaction when you first learned about that?" "I was a little surprised," said the man on the street, without hesitation. "I think it's a good pick. ... She's a smart businesswoman. She's educated. Really good institutions. And I think she's gonna be good for the economy or excuse me, not the economy good for the country." Others were not as impressed with the fake news, which became more and more twisted as the segment went on. At one point, the interviewer claimed that Trump made the so-called announcement while his 38-year-old daughter sat on his lap and "said that Ivanka promises to overturn Row Row v. Your Boat" a play on the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade, which ruled that a woman has the right to an abortion in the U.S. (In reality, abortion rights activists have expressed concern that the Roe vs. Wade decision will come under attack should the Senate confirm a conservative justice nominated by Trump ahead of the election.) Story continues "That image of Ivanka on his lap was completely and totally inappropriate," one gullible man remarked. "It's the president of the United States, the biggest and the greatest country on Earth. That absolutely should not happen." Finally, after Kimmel's team pretended that "Trump stood on the White House lawn and said that Ivanka is just like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but f tons hotter," adding that "it's time to add some sex appeal to the court," one suspicious woman caught on to the elaborate ruse. "It's a very sexist thing to say definitely not something that the president should say about other women," the woman remarked before questioning if the details were "something you guys make up for the program." When informed that the interview was, in fact, a prank, she gasped. "So that's not true?" she said. "Oh my God, I look like an idiot now because I'd never heard of that ... but I can imagine him doing this stuff. That's the crazy part." The man is to appear at Belfast Laganside Courts on Friday afternoon. A Belfast man wanted in the United States over indecent images of children offences has been arrested by the PSNI. Detectives from the PSNI's Extradition Unit arrested the man on Friday morning after a United States Extradition warrant was issued by law enforcement in South Carolina. The 50-year-old, originally from Belfast, will appear at Belfast Magistrates Court later on Friday afternoon. | By Alex Likowski After months of staying at home, isolated, many college students were excited to get back to campus these past few weeks. For those who did, there was this reality as described by a Notre Dame student: Knowing that it COVID-19 spreads so quickly within close proximity, its a little nerve-wracking to be on a college campus. Another student, at Illinois State University, said, This is the most anxious I've ever been, I think, in my entire life. Of course, a great many students have not gone back to campus, at least not in a regular way. But their anxieties are mounting, too. Having so many online classes is a difficult adjustment for many, even a disappointment. Theyre worried about the quality of their education, their job prospects in a world with a crumbling economy, and the terrible impact that economy is already having on their lives. Student Counseling Center executive director Emilia Petrillo (top) explains a point while the centers clinical director, Jenna Silverman, and UMB President Bruce Jarrell listen. Listen to some of these student responses to a California Student Aid Commission survey: I am concerned about being unable to pay rent or for other educational expenses. This has added a lot of stress that is distracting me from my academic goals. I may not have the financial means to support myself through the upcoming fall semester. Adding to that, many others particularly the children of immigrants have taken on more family responsibilities now. Maryorie Delgado, a student at Brigham Young University, describes it like this: So a lot of just the stress from my family falls on me because basically I am the oldest and I speak the language and my parents helped me out with my tuition. The load of that plus, honestly, going to school, everything shutting down, its just like so much stress. This persistent anxiety compounds what is already a difficult time for students, particularly those pursuing graduate degrees. Susanna Harris, PhD, is a microbiologist and founder of PhD Balance, a website that provides space for mental health discussions among graduate students. Even in normal times, she told Science magazine, pursuing a PhD can be extremely isolating, and missing are those normal stress busters, like going out with friends or family or even on vacation the way you could a year ago. As a result, about 40 percent of PhD students in a survey conducted by the Student Experience in the Research University consortium reported symptoms consistent with generalized anxiety disorder, and almost that many (37 percent) with major depressive disorder. Even more troubling, in a survey by Active Minds, about half of the respondents said they dont know where to go to get help. So, as the pandemic squeezes a cohort of college students already reporting record levels of psychological distress, some universities have gotten creative in their response. Montana State University has appointed a cadre of graduate student wellness champions to provide peer-to-peer support. The University of Iowa is allowing emotional support animals in student housing. They already have 12 cats, one dog, one gecko, two hamsters, and one snake. Many other institutions reportedly are ramping up teletherapy sessions. And just in time, it seems. Kelly Davis, who leads the group Mental Health Americas Collegiate Mental Health Innovation Council, says, Around October, there tends to be a dip in mental health, and thats in students who are on campus and not during a pandemic. Joining University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, to discuss this issue and how it affects UMB students on the Sept. 24 edition of his weekly web-based program, Virtual Face to Face with Dr. Bruce Jarrell, were Emilia Petrillo, MSW, executive director of the Student Counseling Center, and Jenna Silverman, PhD, clinical director of the Student Counseling Center. You can watch the entire discussion, including questions from the UMB community, by following the link at the top of this page. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: According to the information on the results of entrance examinations to higher educational institutions of the country for the 2020/2021 academic year, provided by the State Examination Center, Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) has taken first place in the passing grade ranking among universities in Azerbaijan. The passing grades of entrance examinations to the Higher School has significantly increased compared to last year. Thus, this year, the passing grade for "Information Security" was 689.6 points for state-requisitioned places and 644.5 points for fee-paying places. Last year, these figures were 674 and 631 points, respectively. The passing grade for "Process Automation Engineering" was 672.2 points for state-related positions, and 622.2 points for fee-paying places this year. Last year, these figures were 658 and 607, respectively. The passing score for "Chemical Engineering" was 649,6 points for state-related positions, and 598.4 points for fee-paying places, while last year these figures were 635 and 583, respectively. The passing score for Petroleum Engineering has also increased compared to last year. This year, the passing score was 645.3 points for state-related positions and 592 points for fee-paying places, while last year, these figures were 639 and 589, respectively. Thus, Baku Higher Oil School has once again become the leader in the passing grade ranking among the higher educational institutions of the Republic of Azerbaijan. New Delhi : An Indian naval stealth frigate on Saturday came to the rescue of a Chinese yacht which had run out of power and essential supplies mid-sea. INS Teg, on anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden, responded to visual distress alert raised by sailing yacht, approximately 400 km South West of Salalah at 0910 hours this morning, Navy officials said. The yacht on passage from Colombo to Djibouti had two more male Chinese crew. The yacht suffered total power failure and had no backup, the officials said, adding INS Teg provided assistance by restoring power supply and provided 10 days supply (ration and water) to them. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old Illinois teen charged with shooting dead two protesters and injuring another in Kenosha, is fighting his extradition to Wisconsin. During an online court hearing in Illinois on Friday, the teenager's lawyer John Pierce told the judge he planned to fight the request by Kenosha prosecutors that Rittenhouse be transferred to Wisconsin to face charges. Prosecutors say Rittenhouse shot and killed two protesters and wounded a third on the streets of Kenosha on August 25. His attorneys have said Rittenhouse acted in self-defense and have portrayed him as a courageous patriot who was exercising his right to bear arms during unrest over the police shooting of black man Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse participated in the hearing at the Lake County Circuit Court in Illinois via video link from the detention facility where he is being held. Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, participated in a hearing on Friday at the Lake County Circuit Court in Illinois via video link from the detention facility where he is being held He was wearing a black sweatshirt and a gray mask covered his face. His only remarks in the brief hearing were to address the judge and say 'good morning, you honor'. The judge, Paul Novak, gave 14 days for the defense to review papers and file pleadings ahead of an October 9 hearing. Pierce asked for a month to prepare arguments challenging extradition that he said involve 'issues of some complexity, frankly that have not arisen in the country for some time'. 'We intend to challenge extradition by writ of habeas corpus,' Pierce said. He didn't provide further details at the hearing about the basis for the challenge. Novak granted two weeks to prepare those arguments. The delay in returning Rittenhouse to Wisconsin is the second in the case. Rittenhouse is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the killing of two white protesters and attempted intentional homicide in the wounding of a third. Prosecutors say Rittenhouse shot and killed two protesters and wounded a third on the streets of Kenosha on August 25. His attorneys have said Rittenhouse acted in self-defense and have portrayed him as a courageous patriot who was exercising his right to bear arms Rittenhouse is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the killing of two protesters: Joseph Rosenbaum (left) and Anthony Huber (right) Matt Muchowski, Vance Wyatt and Donald Blake hold signs with the names of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber outside the Lake County Courthouse during Rittenhouse's hearing Matt Muchowski and protesters hold signs with the names of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber outside the courthouse where Rittenhouse's hearing was held on Friday He also faces a misdemeanor charge of underage firearm possession for wielding a semi-automatic rifle. If convicted of first-degree homicide, Rittenhouse faces a mandatory life in prison sentence. The teenager had traveled to Kenosha on August 25 from his home in nearby Antioch, Illinois, in a self-appointed role to protect the streets of Kenosha where the police shooting of Jacob Blake had sparked unrest during protests. Cellphone videos from the night show chaotic scenes. According to prosecutors and court documents, Rittenhouse shot and killed 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum after Rosenbaum threw a plastic bag at Rittenhouse, missing him, and tried to wrestle his rifle away. While trying to get away in the immediate aftermath, Rittenhouse was captured on cellphone video saying 'I just killed somebody.' According to the complaint filed by prosecutors, someone in the crowd said, 'Beat him up!' and another yelled, 'Get him! Get that dude!' Video shows that Rittenhouse tripped in the street. Video shows that Rittenhouse tripped in the street before 26-year-old Anthony Huber hit him with a skateboard and tried to take his rifle away. Rittenhouse opened fire, killing Huber Rittenhouse then shot and injured Gaige Grosskreutz, who was holding a handgun at the time, as he approached the teenager As he was on the ground, 26-year-old Anthony Huber hit him with a skateboard and tried to take his rifle away. Rittenhouse opened fire, killing Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz who was holding a handgun at the time. Cellphone video that captured some of the action shows Rittenhouse afterward walking slowly toward a police vehicle with his hands up, only to be waved through by police. He returned to his Illinois home and turned himself in soon after. Police later blamed the chaotic conditions for not arresting Rittenhouse at the scene. Rittenhouse's lawyers have also sought to portray the case as a referendum on the right to bear arms following a summer of sometimes violent protests in major US cities. 'A 17-year-old American citizen is being sacrificed by politicians, but it's not Kyle Rittenhouse they are after,' the narrator says in a video released this week by a group tied to his legal team. 'Their end game is to strip away the constitutional right of all citizens to defend our communities.' Pierce has described Rittenhouse not as a vigilante, but as a model citizen who was cleaning graffiti from a vandalized high school before he received word from a business owner seeking help to protect what was left of his property after rioters burned two of his other buildings. Rittenhouse's defense lawyers argue that the teenager was running away (above with his gun) from a group when he started being chased by 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum (the man pictured on the right) We have heard about unexpected windfall but this way beyond the regular. A teenage girl in Uttar Pradesh became a millionaire overnight due to a banking error. The 16-year-old girl, however, was quick to delare that the money, which was a whopping Rs 9.99 crore. The incident was reported from Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh. On Monday, the girl reached her bank to check the balance in her savings account and found out that she had Rs 9.99 crore in her account. The girl has lodged a complaint at the police station stating that she did not know where the money came from. The girl, named Saroj, had opened this account with Allahabad Bank in Bansdih back in 2018. On Monday, when she reached her bank branch, which is located 16km away from her village, she was in for a big shock with such a massive amount in her account. Saroj said that two years ago, a certain Nilesh Kumar called her on the phone and asked him to send him a photo and her Aadhaar card. Saroj said the details were sought to get the funds included in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme. She said that Nileshs phone number was now switched off. To make matters worse, she is an illiterate. The manager of the Allahabad bank branch said that the Saroj had deposited sums of money between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 in the bank several times. Bansdi police station in-charge Rajesh Kumar Singh said they were investigating the alleged deposit of almost Rs 10 crore in the girls account. He promised that they will take appropriate action once the probe is completed. Meanwhile, a report in DNA claimed that there was never Rs 9.99 crore in the girls bank account. They said that only Rs 5,000 was there in the account. The report quoting bank officials said there was Rs 5,000 in her account but transactions of Rs 17 lakh have been made so far. A bank official said that she must have misheard the amount, the report added. One thing is for certain, this is clearly a bizarre story and there could be more to it than meets the eye. Ms. Aro, an investigative journalist, had identified the Russian online troll factory in St. Petersburg that was ground zero in interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. After reporting her findings on the Finnish broadcasting company YLE, she was mercilessly attacked by the same Russian trolls. The U.S. Embassy in Helsinki nominated her for the award, saying she had courageously endured death threats to bring the story to the public. The embassy examined her social media postings and concluded they fell within legitimate political speech, according to the IG report. After Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved the 10 winners, Ms. Aro was informed in January she had won, and the embassy began to make travel and visa plans. But in February, the State Department assigned interns to review social media posts of the winners. Department officials read Ms. Aros posts on Twitter and Facebook, some of them critical of Mr. Trump, such as a 2018 retweet of an NBC report about threats against the Boston Globe. Ms. Aro had added a comment that Mr. Trump constantly labels journalists as enemy and fake news. The department decided to revoke the honor. Internal communications cited by the IG show the reason was possible embarrassment to the department at the ceremony. One official worried Ms. Aros social media posts could potentially be highlighted and flashing across tv screens. Paris: French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has described a knife attack near the former editorial office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo as an "Islamist act of terrorism." There is little doubt that it is another "bloody attack" on the country, Darmanin said on French television. He had asked the police to look into whether the threat of terrorist acts being carried out on the streets of France had been underestimated and later announced that certain sites in the country are to be better protected, including synagogues around upcoming Jewish holidays. Police cordoned off the area near the attack as they searched for the attacker. Credit:AP "I have today given the order that all symbolic places where attacks have taken place, such as the [kosher supermarket] Hyper Cacher [ ... ] will now be permanently guarded," he announced. Tamar Elisheva Jonas, from the Bronx, and Elliot J. Shalom, from Brooklyn, each moved to Israel she in 2015 and he in 2017 and then met in May 2019 on a blind date in Tel Aviv. The intention from the first date was it could potentially lead to marriage, said Mr. Shalom, 25, who goes by Eliyahu, and is one of six children from an Orthodox Jewish Syrian family, while she is one of nine from an Orthodox Ashkenazi family. Phrases my mom uses are not in Yiddish, but Arabic, he said, explaining their different customs, and our food is a little spicier. Ms. Jonas, 23, did not have much to go on from his first call. He was very nervous, she recalled, but her eyes lit up when he texted her suggesting they go to Topya, her favorite frozen yogurt place in Tel Aviv. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified antibodies that, in animals, block infection by alphaviruses, which can cause chronic and debilitating joint pain and arthritis and are an increasing global health concern. The findings, published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, could lead to potential broad-based therapies or a vaccine to prevent infection by this family of primarily tropical, mosquito-transmitted viruses. "Mosquito-borne viruses are constantly causing infections around the world, and alphaviruses have proven their ability to cause major epidemics," said James Crowe Jr., MD, the paper's corresponding author and director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center (VVC). "We were excited to find antibodies that could be developed for prevention or treatment of multiple alphaviruses." Alphaviruses with exotic-sounding names like chikungunya, Mayaro, Ross River, Sagiyama, Getah and O'nyong'nyong can cause rash, fever and, most prominently, joint pain that can persist for years. From Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands to South and Central America and the Caribbean, these viruses infect thousands of people every year, yet there is no licensed treatment or vaccine to combat them. VVC researchers have developed techniques for rapidly isolating clones of white blood cells called B cells that produce antibodies targeting specific viral proteins. In the laboratory, these "monoclonal" antibodies are then comprehensively examined to identify rare antibodies with a laser-like focus for findingand neutralizinga specific virus. Using these techniques, the researchers have generated human monoclonal antibodies against a wide range of pathogenic viruses including Ebola, HIV (which causes AIDS), dengue, norovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and chikungunya, which in recent years has spread from Africa to India and Southeast Asia. Crowe and his colleagues have pioneered the rational design of neutralizing antibody treatments and vaccines. Some of them, including a potential treatment for chikungunya infection, have progressed to clinical trials. In the current study, the researchers identified cross-reactive antibodies produced by B cells isolated from the blood of people who had a prior history of infection with chikungunya or Ross River virus (RRV), which is endemic to Australia and the Pacific Islands. They found that the antibodies attack a common antigenic site shared by chikungunya, RRV and other alphaviruses. Researchers recently have discovered a receptor on certain cells in the body that binds the alphavirus antigen, enabling the virus to enter the cells and spread. One of these antibodies, RRV-12, by targeting the viral antigen, prevented attachment to the receptor, effectively neutralizing a broad range of alphaviruses. The researchers found that in alphavirus-infected mice, RRV-12 reduced the amount of virus in body tissues and prevented serious illness. These findings imply that RRV-12 may be a possible therapy against multiple alphaviruses in humans and could inform the design of a universal alphavirus vaccine, they concluded. More information: Laura A. Powell et al. Human mAbs Broadly Protect against Arthritogenic Alphaviruses by Recognizing Conserved Elements of the Mxra8 Receptor-Binding Site, Cell Host & Microbe (2020). Journal information: Cell Host & Microbe Laura A. Powell et al. Human mAbs Broadly Protect against Arthritogenic Alphaviruses by Recognizing Conserved Elements of the Mxra8 Receptor-Binding Site,(2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2020.07.008 A wealthy haulage boss is facing a long jail term after admitting drugs trafficking and money laundering, a court heard. Irishman Thomas Maher, 39, was told by Judge Brian Cummings QC he will likely be given a 'substantial' prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to a string of offences at Liverpool Crown Court today. Father-of-three Maher, appearing via video-link from HMP Liverpool, had been arrested in October last year after the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in a shipping container in Essex. His home in Warrington, Cheshire, was raided by police but he was not charged with any offences in connection with the deaths. Irishman Thomas Maher, 39, (pictured) is facing a long jail term after admitting drugs trafficking and money laundering He was re-arrested by the National Crime Agency on June 30, and charged with the other offences including two counts of conspiracy to import class A drugs and two counts of conspiracy to launder money. Earlier today, Maher pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy to commit a crime abroad, spanning March 28 and May 11 this year. They included two charges of conspiracy to import class A drugs into Ireland and two of transferring criminal property into Ireland, 300,000 euro (274,000) in April and 600,000 euro (549,000) in May. Catherine Rabaiotti, prosecuting, said the pleas entered were accepted by the prosecution and Maher will be sentenced on December 1. Remanding Maher into custody until then, Judge Cummings told the defendant: 'Plainly on the face of it, you are facing a substantial custodial sentence, but the exact nature and extent of the sentence will be decided on the next occasion on December 1.' Maher had been arrested in October last year after the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in a shipping container in Essex. Pictured: Police and forensic officers inspect the location where the 39 bodies were discovered The facts of the case were not opened during the brief hearing. Maher is believed to have been co-ordinating a transport network to facilitate drug importations into the UK via Ireland, and the transport of money from Ireland to Holland using encrypted EncroChat phones. EncroChat phones were used by major criminals across Europe as they were regarded as uncrackable by police. But the secret communication system was hacked by law enforcement in June, leading to hundreds of arrests across the country. NCA deputy director Craig Naylor said: 'Maher was the logistics man for a number of crime groups, and played a key role in an important criminal infrastructure. 'He was able to use his contacts and his business to facilitate large amounts of class A drugs to enter the UK and Ireland, with little thought to the damage they inflict on people and communities. 'Going the other way, he was able to ship large amounts of cash after taking a cut himself - which no doubt was used to fund further criminal activity. 'Put simply, organised crime groups can't function without people like Maher. 'Operation Venetic has halted thousands of criminal conspiracies and led to the arrests of hundreds of suspects. 'Thomas Maher was undoubtedly one of the most significant.' Maher was told by Judge Brian Cummings QC he will likely be given a 'substantial' prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to a string of offences at Liverpool Crown Court (pictured) Maher pleaded not guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit a crime abroad, that of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to Ronan Hughes in Ireland between April 21 and April 29 this year. The final charge will not be prosecuted, the court heard. He has been remanded in custody until his sentencing trial in December. It is believed that his case will be one of the first in the UK related to EncroChat to be sentenced. Haulier Ronan Hughes, 40, from Co Armagh in Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey in August to 39 counts of manslaughter. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration between May 1 2018 and October 24 2019. Nine months ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government laid out an ambitious agenda. In that December 2019 throne speech, it promised bold measures to combat climate change, provide a national pharmacare program and to rework Ottawas relationship with Indigenous Canadians. As it turned out, the Liberal government didnt deliver on any of these promises. In part, it was sandbagged by the COVID-19 pandemic. But in part, it had taken on more than any government could reasonably be expected to handle. Which is why it is surprising that the Liberals latest agenda, laid out in this weeks throne speech, is even more ambitious. If the 2019 throne speech was difficult to implement, this one promises to be even more so. The government hasnt narrowed its priorities. It has merely added more. It has promised to spend an unspecified amount of money on a national child care and early learning program. It has vowed to radically revamp the Employment Insurance system so that it covers contract and so-called gig economy workers. It has pledged to use any mechanism it can, including the Criminal Code, to create a more robust system of long-term care that is governed by national standards. As well, it has promised to extend at least two of the temporary emergency measures devised to deal with the pandemic including one that offers wage subsidies to employers. And almost as an afterthought, it has promised to create a million jobs, in part through an as yet unspecified retraining scheme. All this is regardless of cost. This is not the time for austerity, the throne speech read. Dont get me wrong. I favour national child care, pharmacare and a federal role in long-term care. I also think a redo of Employment Insurance is long overdue. But politically, it will be exceedingly difficult for the minority Liberal government to deliver all of these measures however useful before the next election. Indeed, the failure to assign priorities to these reforms may lead, in the end, to none of them being implemented. That is often the downside of the scattershot approach. With support from the New Democrats, the Liberals could probably get their expanded agenda through Parliament. But it would be trickier to get it past provincial and territorial premiers. The provinces are always uneasy when Ottawa acts in their areas of jurisdiction, such as health and child care. On Wednesday, Quebec Premier Francois Legault reminded us of that by immediately denouncing the throne speech as an example of federal meddling. Dont expect the premiers to give national pharmacare, national child care and national long-term care an easy ride. Any one of them is almost certain to trigger a jurisdictional battle. All of this calls into question the rationale for this weeks throne speech. The government billed it as a reset made necessary by the pandemic. But it wasnt. Rather, it was a rehash of the Liberals December 2019 throne speech, with a sprinkling of new promises thrown in. The opposition Conservatives argue that this weeks throne speech was designed to divert attention from the WE Charity affair a conflict of interest scandal that has served to embarrass Trudeau. Thats possible. Conversely, the reason for staging such an ambitious agenda may be that the Liberals arent really serious about all of their pledges. That might explain why they find it so easy to make such sweeping promises. Perhaps this is just positioning for the next election. Perhaps they dont expect to find themselves in a situation where they ever have to deliver. Karl Jordan, 26, was detained by U.S. Marshals and the Henry County Police Department on Thursday Authorities have detained a Georgia man who shot three people - including a woman he formerly had a relationship with - before later robbing a Waffle House and shooting another woman in the head. Karl Jordan, 26, was detained by U.S. Marshals and the Henry County Police Department on Thursday. He was arrested as part of a joint investigation with the agencies and the Clayton County Sheriff's Office, who had been searching for the suspect in connection to the three-person shooting. During a press conference on Thursday, the CCSO shared that they received a call about a triple shooting at a residence in Glynn Court in the Hampton/Lovejoy area in Georgia on Wednesday night at around 9pm. Once they arrived at the scene, they learned that one of the victims - a grandmother - had been sitting on the porch when she 'heard a loud sound.' The woman, who was not identified, went into the residence's bedroom and discovered her daughter lying on the floor with an apparent gunshot wound. Her daughter's four-year-old son was standing over her at the time, police shared. Authorities say that Jordan shot his ex-girlfriend at a residence in Glynn Court before shooting her mother and four-year-old son. He then fled the scene in a Silver 2009 Acura (pictured) The grandmother rushed to retrieve her grandchild and fled the scene, getting shot in the rear twice by the suspect. The four year old was shot from behind, as well. Authorities shared that the grandmother was able to eventually get to a neighbors home to alert first responders as Jordan fled the scene in a Silver 2009 Acura. The next day, authorities say that Jordan robbed Waffle House at 2045 Highway 155 in Henry County and shot a woman there in the head All three victims were taken to a local hospital, but the mother succumbed to her injuries. The grandmother and the small boy are both said to have non-life threatening injuries. During the press conference, the sheriff's office shared that Jordan and the deceased woman had previously had a relationship. It is unclear on when the relationship occurred but authorities did share that they don't believe Jordan is the father of the child. The next day, authorities say that Jordan robbed Waffle House at 2045 Highway 155 in Henry County and shot a woman there in the head. Jordan left the Acura at the scene, stealing the 2011 Dodge Avenger belonging to the woman he allegedly shot, the CCSO shared in a release. The condition of the woman is currently unknown. Police obtained a weapon at the scene of Jordan's arrest and it is believed to be the same firearm used in the triple-shooting. The CCSO shared that shell casings were recovered at the scene. Police obtained a weapon at the scene of Jordan's arrest and it is believed to be the same firearm used in the triple-shooting Jordan left the Acura at the scene, stealing the 2011 Dodge Avenger belonging to the woman he allegedly shot The Henry County Police Department plan on charging Jordan with aggravated assault and armed robbery. It is currently unknown what charges he will face in Clayton County as the shooting is still under investigation. Authorities share that Jordan has a criminal history and was recently released from prison. The shed which Ixel calls her Rainbow Elementary School was the result of months of labor by her father (helped by Ixel and her mother), who built the 8-by-12-foot structure from scratch. And John McIntire paid almost nothing: In a collaborative process that the McIntires and their neighbors said provided a lifesaving dose of community and cheer, the entire neighborhood came together to crowdsource the supplies he needed, whether spare wood, old paint or greenhouse-style windows cast aside during a neighbors renovation. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren accused President Donald Trump with 'flirting with treason' following the president's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power earlier this week. Warren, a former presidential candidate who is seen as a key advisor of former Vice President Joe Biden's when it comes to policy and personnel, made the comment on MSNBC as some Republicans sought to clean up or otherwise explain the president's comments. Trump himself said Thursday he isn't sure the election could be 'honest,' and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said he will accept the results of a 'free and fair election.' 'When Donald Trump says that he is not necessarily going to accept the will of the voters, he's flirting with treason,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren said on MSNBC 'When Donald Trump says that he is not necessarily going to accept the will of the voters, he's flirting with treason,' Warren told MSBNC's Chris Hayes. She continued: 'He's saying, peaceful transition of power doesn't matter to him. All that matters to him, once again, is Donald Trump and whatever Donald Trump wants.' she said, Yahoo News reported. She accused GOP senators of enabling Trump. Several Republicans came out Thursday to state that the nation would accept the results of the elections, although none appeared to chastise Trump for his remarks. At the same time, Trump appears to have locked up total support from within his party for the person he will nominate for the lifetime appointment to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg including from Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who criticized Trump's comments on the transition of power. ''Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power,' Romney said Wednesday evening. 'Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable,' she said. Warren made the comments on 'All in with Chris Hayes' on MSNBC President Donald Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power Warren said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has ''a spine kept in a box somewhere else, because he certainly doesn't have it to exercise for himself' Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Thursday Trump was 'attempting massive voter suppression' 'These Republicans senators, to enable him in that, to support him in that, and to start to talk about the Nov. 3 election as if this isn't about voters getting their choice, but it's about Supreme Court justices getting their choice,' she said. She said it 'means that they are a party to it,' she added. She tore into Sen. Lindsey Graham, who told people to 'use those words against me' when he said he would oppose taking up a nomination an election year the next time around, but said immediately after Ginsburg's death he is scheduling hearings days before Election Day. 'Lindsey Graham has simply said, 'Donald Trump has my proxy on this. Senate doesn't need to look at it. If the president's good, Lindsey Graham is good.' Man, there's a man with a spine,' she said. She called it 'a spine kept in a box somewhere else, because he certainly doesn't have it to exercise for himself.' Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Thursday Trump was 'attempting massive voter suppression' and was 'sowing the seeds of chaos, confusion and conspiracy theories by casting doubt on the integrity of this election.' 'This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy - and democracy must win,' sanders added, having lost the Democratic nomination to Joe Biden months ago. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted early Thursday that 'The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th.' 'There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792,' he continued. Trump set off a political storm with his comments Wednesday when he was asked at the White House: 'Win lose or draw in this election will you commit here today for a peaceful transferal of power after the election?' 'Well, we'll have to see what happens,' Trump replied entertaining the question, but also refusing to commit. 'Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer frankly, there'll be a continuation,' Trump said. Applied with a cotton nasal swab to the skin inside and around the nose, NanoBio Protect kills germs on contact and continues to kill germs for 4+ hours after application. DQE, partnering with BlueWillow Biologics, is now the healthcare and public safety distributor of the patented NanoBio Protect nasal antiseptic solution. Healthcare and public safety workers are in constant contact with unknown pathogens out in our community. Actions like frequent handwashing, wearing a protective mask, and using hand sanitizers are all important infection control practices that add layers of protection to prevent illness. The nose is a key entry point for most respiratory infections, so using a nasal antiseptic adds another layer of safety. 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Wearers include doctors, EMS professionals, firefighters, janitorial staff, nurses, retail clerks, teachers, and anyone who wants an extra layer of infection control protection. NanoBio Protect is available for purchase at https://www.dqeready.com/NanoBioProtect. About DQE Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, DQE designs and sells essential emergency preparedness products that healthcare workers, emergency responders, and workplaces depend on to enhance safety and health. Learn more about DQE and its family of products at https://www.dqeready.com. Stefano Domenicali will become the new boss of Formula 1 in 2021. The former Ferrari team boss will succeed American, Chase Carey from next year. The appointment of the 55-year-old Domenicali does not come as a surprise after the news was rumoured in various media earlier in the week. The Italian is no stranger to the Formula 1 world. He last worked in the pinnacle of motorsport in 2014. Domenicali left Ferrari in 2014 and was until now employed by another Italian car brand, Lamborghini. From 2008 to 2014, the Italian was team boss of the Scuderia, succeeding Jean Todt. Domenicali and Ferrari took the world and manufacturer's title together in 2008. These are the last titles in Formula 1 of the illustrious red brand. Domenicali also has a senior role at the FIA in the single-seater committee. It is not yet clear whether he will keep it. The Italian is seen as a charismatic man, with a strong character and an excellent manager. With the appointment of Domenicali, both the highest position in Formula 1 and in the FIA is managed by a former Ferrari team boss. Jean Todt is currently the President of the FIA and was the predecessor of Domenicali at Ferrari until 2008. "Yes it is very disappointing," he said. Ms Ellyard said other witnesses suggested the decision to use private security was not a formal decision but more a creeping assumption that formed among a group. Mr Andrews said that proposition was even more concerning. Loading "Because it meant that no one turned their mind at all whether or not private security was a good idea?" Ms Ellyard asked. "Ms Ellyard," Mr Andrews said. "That would be even more concerning to me because that's not a decision at all. That's just a series of assumptions." Asked who made the decision to engage private security, Mr Andrews' said in a statement: "I do not know who made that decision". "After National Cabinet made its decision, I expected there that there would be a mix of different personnel playing different roles in the program, including members of Victoria Police. "But the way in which that decision was to be implemented, including the mix of personnel that would be engaged and their respective roles, was an operational matter. "The decision to engage private security contractors, and many decisions like it, were of an operational nature." Loading On Friday, Mr Andrews said he didn't turn his mind to how the original mandatory quarantine system would be enforced. "That would not be a matter I would turn my mind to," he told the inquiry. Ms Ellyard then read a transcript of a March 27 press conference announcing the hotel quarantine program in which he said police and private security would be available to monitor guests in the hotels and asked him why he would say that if he had not considered enforcement. Mr Andrews replied: "I'm not certain why I mentioned police, private security and our health team. Those three groups of people and not a fourth or a fifth group ... on the specifics I can't clarify for you our outline for you why I chose those three groups. Health Department in charge Mr Andrews said there should have been no confusion about who was in charge of hotel quarantine and who was accountable. He agreed with Ms Ellyard that it was concerning that Ms Mikakos and the head of her department, Kym Peake, did not see themselves as having ultimate accountability. Loading Ms Mikakos and Ms Peake said their department was the control agency, and there were shared responsibilities between departments and agencies. "The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), as the designated control agency was primarily responsible for the program," Mr Andrews wrote in his statement. "I understood, at the start of the program, that the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR) would be responsible for aspects of procurement and logistics." The Premier wrote that at the start of the hotels initiative, he regarded Ms Mikakos and Jobs Minister Pakula as responsible for informing Cabinet about the hotels program. Soon after, the Health Department was made lead government agency in charge of the quarantine hotels. "I then regarded Minister Mikakos as accountable for the program," he wrote. "The Crisis Council of Cabinet was provided with regular reports by Minister Mikakos containing data relevant to Victorias response to the public health emergency, key insights from the data, as well as other updates, including in relation to the program." Loading The Premier then wrote that on 8 July, once problems with the hotels program had become clear, responsibility was shifted to the Justice Department. Mr Andrews wrote that, while he believed Ms Mikakos was in control of the hotel quarantine program, he ultimately took responsibility. "As Premier and chair of the Crisis Cabinet Council, I regard myself as being ultimately accountable for the Victorian government and any decisions made about the structure and operation of the program," he wrote. State responsible for risks Mr Andrews said that taking on a hotel quarantine program meant the government assumed responsibility for risks such as infection control and health and safety. He also agreed that it was a large and complicated system. Mr Andrews said he was sure the government had the sufficient stock of rooms (in hotels), but he left the risks to be mitigated by the people who ran the program. "Whilst some of those risks can be mitigated, they are very very significant issues," he said. Mr Andrews said the "cost associated in both lives, liberties and finances of widespread community transmission" would have been considerable factors in his mind as well. He said contracting out training in personal protective equipment and cleaning for the hotels was a substantial risk in the hotel quarantine program. Ms Ellyard said the government's contracts with security firms, hotels and cleaners put the responsibilities on those businesses, and not the government, for PPE and infection control. "I'm certainly aware of that now, Ms Ellyard," Mr Andrews responded. Ms Ellyard asked if that would be a substantial risk that those matters had been outsourced. Loading "Yes," Mr Andrews replied. Ms Ellyard then put to the Premier that these matters were entirely too important to be left to private contractors. "Given what's at stake, given the seriousness and the infectivity of that virus, Ms Ellyard, I think that's a fair statement, yes," Mr Andrews said. Ms Ellyard said the government assumed the risk and needed to appropriately manage the risk. She put to him it would be a matter of great concern that management of the risk wasn't properly overseen. "Absolutely," Mr Andrews responded. Mikakos under scrutiny Ms Mikakos told the inquiry on Thursday that she only made inquiries about the progress of the hotels program once outbreaks had occurred at the Rydges on Swanston hotel in late May. She said she was not aware private security guards were working in hotels until that point. Mr Andrews wrote that DHHS initially took control because the quarantine hotels were set up to counter a health threat. "When the program started, DHHS took a lead role because it was the designated control agency for the response to the public health emergency, and the program was a component of that response," he wrote. Thursday's testimony from Ms Mikakos that she only knew about security guards working in quarantine hotels in May was under intense scrutiny on Friday. Ms Mikakos was present for a press conference with Mr Pakula at the end of March where the use of security guards was discussed. A government spokeswoman said Ms Mikakos said "categorically denies" that she had misled the inquiry. Loading "[She] has sought leave to provide information to the Board to that effect," the spokeswoman said. Opposition accuses Premier of 'lies, cover ups and spin' Opposition leader Michael O'Brien blasted the Victorian Premier and the Health Minister over their role in the program, accusing them of lying and calling on for their resignation. The newly-updated statistics for Spain's GDP performance in the second quarter of this year reveal that things weren't quite as bad as some thought. According to the National Statistics Institute, the country's economy contracted by 17.8% between April and June (i.e. during the nationwide lockdown), as opposed to the 18.5% the institute estimated back in July - a difference of just 0.7%. Is this a cause for optimism, continued gloom, or neither? Coming after a 5.2% decline in the first quarter of 2020, the updated figure still means that Spain has technically entered recession - a term all-too-readily associated with the traumas of the "Great Recession" of 2007-2009 and, in Spain, of the period between 2008 and 2013. Equally technically, the Covid-induced recession will only end if Spain posts GDP growth (no matter how small) in the third quarter of this year, which we're just coming to the end of. Tentative comparisons between the current situation and the global recession that started in 2007 have already started to appear in Spanish and international media, but they're premature. The theoretical definition of a recession is a downturn in economic activity that lasts for at least two consecutive quarters (or half a year), which could cover a very slight downturn in GDP that quickly returns to expansion, a dramatic yet brief contraction, or a grinding, long-term decline in output, productivity, consumption and employment such as that seen globally between 2007 and 2009, and in Spain between 2008 and 2013. Given the broad academic definition, then, there are numerous ways in which a country can be in recession. The rate of Spain's GDP contraction during Q2 this year is alarming, not least because it hasn't hit such lows since the outbreak of civil war in the summer of 1936. But by itself, the decline of 17.8% doesn't necessarily signal the onset of the kind of recession seen a decade ago: depending on the statistics for the quarter now ending, and on how the Spanish economy performs throughout the final three months of 2020, the Covid-induced recession could prove to be intense but relatively short-lived. So, how does the rest of 2020 look? Despite the optimism of economy minister Nadia Calvino, who said at the end of August that growth in the third quarter is likely to be 10%, the Bank of Spain doesn't see the economy returning to a pre-Covid state until 2023. The government of Pedro Sanchez has stated that a huge injection of funds from the EU will help stave off a drawn-out period of economic stagnation, but that's entirely dependent on how it uses the money. All of which means that it's still unclear just what kind of recession Spain entered back in April this year. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, will be the first woman to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol on Friday. The rare distinction was announced on Monday by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Ginsburg, who died on Sept. 18 at 87, fought for our values til the end, Pelosi said on Twitter. Her death, the speaker said, was an incredible devastating loss for America. Ahead of Fridays ceremony at the Capitol, Ginsburg lay in repose outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday and Thursday, her flag-draped coffin positioned under the portico atop the buildings front steps. The practice of paying tribute to distinguished public servants by having them lie in state at the Capitol dates to 1852 and is among the rarest of posthumous tributes for government officials in the United States. As such, the language and customs of the ceremony might be unknown to many. Here are some of the basics. Lying in state, honour and repose: Theyre different The terms are often used interchangeably, but there are subtle differences. By strict definition, lying in state is reserved for those who served in the government, and it applies only to the time their coffins are displayed in the Capitol or a government building, either in Washington or at the state level. The ceremony is accompanied by a military guard. If the ceremony is outside a capitol building, it is described as lying in repose. Anyone not from government whose remains are put in public view in a government building is said to be lying in honour, accompanied by a Capitol Police guard. That said, lying in state is often used colloquially for private citizens, as when a long line of visitors paid respects to Aretha Franklin at the Wright Museum in Detroit in 2018. She was not technically lying in state in the governmental sense, but most news outlets, including The New York Times, used the phrase. Who gets the honour? Aside from the 33 people to lie in state (Ginsburg will be the 34th), four private citizens have lain in honour at the Capitol. They were the Rev. Billy Graham, the Christian evangelist, in 2018; Rosa Parks, the civil rights leader, in 2005; and two Capitol Police officers, Jacob J. Chestnut and John Gibson, who were shot in the Capitol in 1998. There are no specific criteria for who is chosen, beyond the approval of Congress and the consent of the deceaseds family. Twelve have been presidents: Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, Taft, Kennedy, Hoover, Eisenhower, Johnson, Reagan, Ford and George Bush. The list also includes House members, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Adm. George Dewey, J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI, unknown soldiers of major wars in the 20th century, and Pierre Charles LEnfant, the planner who designed the layout of Washington. In July, John Lewis, the 17-term congressman from Georgia and an icon of the civil rights movement, became the 16th U.S. representative to lie in state at the Capitol, after Rep. Elijah Cummings in October 2019. Until the early 20th century, lying-in-state ceremonies were typically reserved for presidents or members of Congress who died in office, said Betty K. Koed, a historian at the U.S. Senate. Now, it depends on what the family wants. To her knowledge, nobody has been denied the honour. Some families are more private than others, Koed said. Some are comfortable in the public eye and some are not. President Harry Truman opted not to lie in state because he hated those big ceremonies, said Steve Livengood, director for public programs and chief guide at the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. He knew his wife never wanted to be first lady and hated Washington, and she would have to live through his funeral. Concessions to the coronavirus Because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has upended life across the globe, the formal ceremony for Ginsburg at the Capitol on Friday will be open only to invited guests, Pelosis office said. While the details of how Ginsburgs ceremony will proceed arent yet known, the ceremony for Lewis at the Capitol in July may offer clues. His was by invitation only as well. Chairs for the event were set up to follow social-distancing protocols, and attendees, including the members of the military who carried his coffin from a hearse to the Capitol, wore face coverings. President Donald Trump will be touching down Sept. 26 in central Pennsylvania for a reelection rally. The event will be held at a hanger owned by AvFlight Corp at the Harrisburg International Airport in Lower Swatara Township. The private company services general aviation such as corporate aircraft and private charters flying in and out of the airport. The event, which begins at 7 p.m., is being billed as the Great American Comeback Event. Tickets are still available on a first-come, first-served basis with an allotment of two tickets per mobile number. Ticket reservations can be made at events.donaldjtrump.com. HIA is coordinating parking for the rally and will open its long term parking lot at 7 a.m., said Scott Miller, deputy director of business development and strategic marketing with the airport. The long term parking lot had been closed in May as the coronavirus pandemic had led to a decrease in demand for parking spots. Itll cost $10 (the airports normal daily fee) to park in the lot. Buses will begin shuttling attendees from the lot starting at 10 a.m., Miller said, adding the airports parking garage will be used for overflow parking. Portable bathrooms as well as food and drink options will be available. Those attending will want to travel light for the event. A list of prohibited items includes dozens of items such as laser pointers, pepper spray, coolers, chairs and selfie sticks as well as balloons, noisemakers, signs and banners. Attendees will be required to pass through a security check point and a temperature check. In addition, the campaign is providing hand sanitizer and masks. Pennsylvania is a key swing state for the presidential race. Both Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, the former vice president, have made several visits to the Keystone State in recent months. Earlier this week, Trump held a rally at Pittsburgh International Airport. Last week, Biden visited Scranton, where he grew up, for a town hall hosted by CNN. READ MORE: According to two new polls, but both surveys indicate an increasingly tight race in Pa., with Biden in the lead. A Franklin & Marshall College poll gives the Democratic presidential nominee a 6-point edge over Trump among likely voters. However, a Great Lakes Poll also found Biden with an edge of only 2.7 percentage points in Pennsylvania. In both surveys, the edge for Biden was within the margin of error. Trump won Pennsylvania by less than a percentage point in 2016, but his victory here was a key step in winning the election. Biden is aiming to move Pennsylvania back to the blue column. It looks as if Orono wont be getting the old Toronto sign from Nathan Phillips Square after all, according to Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster. The iconic Toronto sign was installed in 2015. Last year, Toronto began discussing plans to replace the sign with a new, more durable sign. Residents of Orono began posting on the community Facebook group with an idea to recycle the old Toronto sign, without the Ts and create a repurposed Orono sign. The creative idea garnered a lot of online debate and national media attention. Ive never stopped working on this quietly under the radar. I did not and do not want to make promises or get hopes up, or cause any other hurdles along the way, Mark Rutherford, an Orono resident who championed the idea, said in a recent Facebook post. Its not as simple as us saying we want it. Mayor Foster said in the end there were two things that worked against the repurposed sign for Orono. One was the City of Toronto wants to keep the letters T and O to possibly create a new T.O. sign from the old letters, and an Orono sign would need all three Os. The second issue was the letters from the iconic Toronto sign are in pretty bad shape and might be quite difficult to repair and maintain, he explained. A new Toronto sign was unveiled recently. Even with the disappointing outcome, Foster said there was an upside: Orono got nationwide attention and everybody got a smile out of it. with files from Ilya Banares jomeara@durhamregion.com Jennifer OMeara is a reporter for Metroland Media Groups Durham Region Division. She can be reached at (Natural News) Twitter has been regulating speech for years, censoring Conservative accounts and removing controversial tweets that Twitter determines to be hate speech. Twitters content regulation team enjoys intervening in the democratic process, putting a muzzle on Conservatives, and controlling the narrative, but when it comes time to crack down on actual crime and mob violence, Twitter turns a blind eye. The platform has repeatedly blocked Conservative accounts and has even stopped the President from making calls for law and order. Now the platform is openly allowing tweets that encourage arson and violent rioting. A Black Lives Matter vlogger shared a tweet calling for arson to be used in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville, KY will burn tonight tweeted Lee G News, a black vlogger who posed in a street photo with a child their fists clenched. The incitement of mob violence does not violate Twitters rules Instead of removing this violent hate speech and taking a stand for law and order on the streets of Louisville, Twitter remarked that the tweet does not violate the companys rules. I can confirm that the Tweet referenced does not violate Twitter Rules, a Twitter spokeswoman told Breitbart News. Tweets calling for law and order are not allowed, but tweets that incite mob violence are openly encouraged? (Related: Twitter caught shadowbanning Attorney L. Lin Wood while he raises funds for Kyle Rittenhouse, the young man who defended himself against mob violence.) In 2018, Twitter set new standards for improving conversational health on the platform. It turns out that improving conversational health includes the viral promotion of all racially-motivated tweets that call for large criminal networks to commit arson, rioting, destruction of property and death to law enforcement. Twitters tepid and permissive response to this insurrectionist tweet shows that they are deeply connected to the insurrection within US cities and are actively involved in sedition against the United States. With domestic terrorism now pervasive in cities across America, Twitter has become an ally to criminals, gangs and violent mob activity. This tweet isnt the only promotion of violence that is circulating Twitter. Multiple violent Black Lives Matter tweets are allowed to go viral, promoting destruction not only in Louisville but also in cities across the US. Twitter is now openly allowing some of the most vicious forms of hate speech and participating in the destruction of the United States. Burn it all down and Abolish the police are making rounds on the social media site as mob violence becomes openly promoted. One of the tweets that Twitter refuses to take down has gained trending status on the social media site: I hope they burn Louisville down tonight Burn it down, the college the precincts the whole thing gained trending status on the social media site. This open encouragement of violence and anarchy has led to the shooting of two Louisville police officers, who are currently being treated. Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter now has a moral obligation to apologize to America, to call for law and order, and to stop allowing the platform to be abused by criminals who incite terror and mob violence. To stay up to date on the current insurrection, read AntifaWatch.News. Sources include: Breitbart.com NaturalNews.com Censorship.News NaturalNews.com T he office romance is dead and its got nothing to do with the global pandemic raging around us. This week, investment giant BlackRock killed the office romance for its 16,000 staff once and for all. Employees were already expected to tell managers if they were shacking up with a fellow BlackRocker but now theyre being forced to disclose any external partners which have even the slightest connection to the firm. The reasoning passes as fair. It started in response to the #MeToo movement which highlighted the sexual harassment that was (is) present in many workplaces across the globe. The latest rules are an attempt to identify impropriety, bias, favouritism and/or abuse of authority. Seems sensible, really. But what a crying shame because, now I come to think of it, there is nothing more thrilling than a good old fashioned office romance. Ive enjoyed several covert colleague hook-ups over the years (dont judge). In my case, some were brief, some lasted for months and none blossomed into long-term, fulfilling relationships. But what they all had in common though, was fun. If youve even had so much as a drunken snog in a dark corner at the Christmas party, youll know what I mean. Mondays suddenly become the most exciting day of the week, the ping of an email notification from your ill-advised crush sets your heart pounding and secret snogs in the disabled loo (classy, I know) seem more romantic than a table at Clos Maggiore (if thats what youre into). No one, it seems, is above the allure of an illicit office romance. Barack and Michelle Obama met while working at a law firm in Chicago / Getty Images There are the problematic ones, of course (no one, for one minute, agrees that Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinskys affair was a good idea), but there are the pure ones, too. Barack and Michelle Obama met while working at a law firm in Chicago; Bill and Melinda Gates got together when she was an employee at Microsoft in the Eighties (with Bill famously asking her out in the office car park); and Brangelina went onto have a gazillion children after starring together in a movie (Jennifer Aniston was, of course, less pleased). Staff who secretly shack up are doing the rest of us a favour, too. Theyre helping to satisfy a human, life-affirming desire thats deep within all of us: the need for gossip. Did you see Jack and Sarah sneaking off to Pret again? we type furiously in Slack; I heard they got caught shagging in the lift, we whisper; I see Sophie and Jason are working late again, we email with barely concealed glee. Theyre the lifeblood of office life, or at least they were before Covid. Office romance began as soon as women were allowed into the workplace (thanks for that, patriarchy) and will continue long after weve all been replaced by robots and algorithms. It will take more than some miserly HR department rules to stop them, theyre just too much fun. The decisions parents must make faced with the realities of the pandemic have left some agonizing about whether to homeschool or keep with business as usual. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/9/2020 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us The decisions parents must make faced with the realities of the pandemic have left some agonizing about whether to homeschool or keep with business as usual. Thats no different for Metis parents, who, as of yesterday, can access a homeschooling system, including a variety of supports, offered by the Manitoba Metis Federation. "There is still a limited amount of evidence available to show how effective the return to school plans are for school divisions across the province," MMF health and wellness minister Frances Chartrand stated in a news release. "I think our concerns have been validated early in the school year as cases continue to spread at schools in various school divisions." Joan Ledoux, the federations provincial education minister, said so far 96 students are registered to take part in home-based education via a learning management system already put in place in the spring. That system was first introduced for adult students attending the Louis Riel Institute. Leah LaPlante, vice-president for the federations southwestern region, said 11 students are registered so far in her jurisdiction. "I think its really going to benefit some of our families," said LaPlante, who reports conversations with very worried parents who are hesitant to send their children to schools. "There was a lot of contemplation, a lot of discussion together as spouses." But one possible issue with a homeschooling scenario is that, often, both parents are working. "So even though they agonized over it and really stressed out over it, and are still stressed the family cant live off one salary," LaPlante said. Then theres the fear that homeschooling efforts might not be recognized by the province, especially for students set to graduate. "Its really been a tough decision for them to make," LaPlante said. But Ledoux wants to assure parents who choose the home option that the federation has thought through all the details. It has hired eight certified teachers and an equal amount of tutors, and more can be hired if necessary. All the requisite courses will be available online via the learning management system. "It was a huge endeavour for us to undertake, but the direction came from our president and cabinet that this was something that we have to look into immediately. With all the expertise that we have in our Metis government, we sat down at a table. We had every possible type of resource available at our fingertips. They were able to answer questions immediately," Ledoux said. Three backpacks were developed for younger grades, middle grades and higher grades with everything a student will need, including laptops for those students who require them. The "food for thought" backpacks will be delivered to homes, much like food hampers were during the initial days of the pandemic. The federation has qualified people to help parents fill out applications and fulfil provincial registration requirements, Ledoux said, acknowledging the process may seem overwhelming to already stressed parents. "Theres requirements that need to be completed in order for a parent or a caregiver to take the homeschooling option. Theyve got to register with the province, theyve got to send in a report to let them know the progress of the student and so forth," Ledoux said. "So were there to help and walk them every step of the way. Were not going to leave them. Well take them one step at a time." Ledoux said a main priority is ensuring students can jump back into the flow of mainstream education, whether it be after Christmas or next September. Funding for high-school students who want to take accredited courses through the independent study option is also available. "We dont want to have a gap," she said. "Thats why with the program that were using, we can communicate with the parents and with the students. We know where theyre at. We know the times that theyre looking at their programs and stuff like that." Ledoux said federation staff would likely be on call from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. "Most of the parents nowadays all work, so weve got to make sure that were available to help them and accommodate them when theyre ready," she said. A cost estimate of the homeschooling initiative is not yet available, but Ledoux said the federation is availing itself of all resources on offer from the federal government. Parents can reach out to the federation at school@mmf.mb.ca or call 1-800-665-8474, or by contacting their regional vice-presidents. "Were not saying this is what you have to do. But were here to help," Ledoux said. 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. Four major art museums said they are postponing until 2024 a much-awaited retrospective of the modernist painter Philip Guston after taking into account the surging racial justice protests in the country, adding that the work needed to be framed by additional perspectives and voices. The works that the museums appear to be grappling with include white hooded Ku Klux Klan figures, a motif in the politically-engaged artists work since the early 1930s. The four museums that organized the exhibit, called Philip Guston Now, include the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Tate Modern in London, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In a joint statement released quietly on Monday, the museum directors said that they were postponing the exhibition until a time at which we think that the powerful message of social and racial justice that is at the center of Philip Gustons work can be more clearly interpreted. The exhibition which was advertised as a selection of roughly 125 paintings and 70 drawings was supposed to begin its international tour this past summer, but the coronavirus pandemic resulted in its postponement until next year. Now, the tour wont begin until 2024. Katie Price has revealed she has a new puppy with her boyfriend Carl Woods after her French bulldog Rolo tragically suffocated to death in an electric armchair. The former glamour model, 42, took to her Instagram to announce the four-legged furry addition named Sid on Friday. The mother-of-five shared a heartwarming picture of her son Harvey, 18, planting a sweet kiss on the head of the tiny tan-and-white puppy. Sweet: Katie Price, 42, has revealed she has a new puppy with her boyfriend Carl Woods on Friday after her French bulldog Rolo tragically suffocated to death in an electric armchair Katie penned: 'So cute @officialmrharveyprice with @carljwoods dog which is my new furry edition to our family go to Harvey insta page and see his videos and drawing' Harvey looked delighted as he cradled the canine addition on the bed at her current rented 4,250 per month six-bedroom property in Surrey. Katie penned: 'So cute @officialmrharveyprice with @carljwoods dog which is my new furry edition to our family go to Harvey insta page and see his videos and drawing.' The reality TV star took to her Instagram Story to re-post the adorable snap, captioned: 'My gorgeous Harvey with Sid.' Horror: Katie recently revealed her shock after she was illegally advised to give her puppy Rolo cannabis oil before he tragically died Carl also shared footage of Katie petting Sid on her bed with the sleepy pup gradually falling asleep, captioned: 'Mugged you right off @katieprice.' Gently stroking the puppy, she said: 'Everyone loves a massage. Sid, Sid? Are you falling asleep with your massage? Where's my kiss? It comes after Katie revealed her shock after she was illegally advised to give her late puppy Rolo cannabis oil before he 'suffocated to death in an armchair'. The TV star could reportedly face a probe for giving the dog CBD oil after she was gifted the substance in a 'puppy hamper' from the dog's breeders. The late French bulldog, which was bought as a present for her daughter Princess' 13th birthday, fell asleep under an electric chair after having the non-psychoactive cannabis derivative and later 'suffocated' after the family's nanny sat on the chair. Pooch: Katie massaged their new addition Sid and gradually fell asleep on the bed Cute: The reality TV star took to her Instagram Story to re-post the adorable snap, captioned: 'My gorgeous Harvey with Sid' Katie told the Mirror that she was unaware that it is illegal to give dogs the substance without a veterinary prescription, in accordance with the The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013. The publication reported that offenders can face a fine or maximum jail term of two years. Katie has since revealed that a vet told her giving the puppy CBD oil may have encouraged him to seek out a cosy place to sleep, such as the chair. Devastated: Rolo was given to Princess (pictured together) as a gift for her 13th birthday A spokeswoman for Katie said: 'Katie was told the oil was for dogs and safe. It was endorsed by the breeder. Katie will join forces with Peta and any other groups that need her to speak out.' A source close to her added: 'As awful as it sounds, this will bring some comfort to Katie in understanding why Rolo crawled into the space. 'She feels let down too by a system that allows CBD oil to be marketed for pets despite it being illegal. Katie had backlash, hate mail, death threats and trolling over Rolo's tragic passing. As a family, they continue to mourn.' Tragic: Katie was slammed by animal rights activists after her daughter Princess' puppy Rolo 'suffocated when he got caught in an electric armchair' The dog breeders who sold Katie the pup told the news outlet that they had no idea it was breaking the law and claimed that dogs can't get sleepy from it due to the lack of THC. They added that they also advised she give the puppy a small amount and suggested they didn't know how much Katie had given Rolo. MailOnline have contacted Katie's representatives and the dog breeder for comment. Katie was criticised by animal rights activists in July after her daughter Princess' puppy Rolo tragically 'suffocated'. The French bulldog died after getting stuck in an electric armchair while the reality star was packing some bags in another room, reported The Mirror. Rolo was given to Princess as a birthday present and is the third dog of the family's to die in tragic circumstances. Penalty: The former glamour model could reportedly face a probe for giving the dog CBD oil after she was gifted the substance in a 'puppy hamper' from the dog's breeders Animal rights activists have slammed Katie online since news of her latest dogs tragic passing broke, with many even contacting the breeders. Elisa Allen, director of animal rights group PETA, told the Mirror: 'Katie must not be allowed to acquire any more animals. 'At least three dogs and one horse have died on her watch in the last few years alone... her attitude is costing wonderful animals their lives.' However the RSPCA said they couldn't comment on whether they had received complaints about the reality star's animals for legal reasons. Sad: The late French bulldog, which was bought as a present for her daughter Princess' 13th birthday, fell asleep under an electric chair after having the cannabis oil and later 'suffocated' after the family's nanny sat on the chair Dog breeders JRC Bullies took to their Instagram page after animal lovers started questioning them about why Princess was given a dog. They asked that people stopped sending 'vile hatred messages' and said they would post a video explaining why the pup had been gifted to the family on Friday. They wrote: 'The outcome of our decision has understandably upset a lot of animal lovers, and I apologise from the bottom of my heart that you have had to read of this tragedy, but we can 100 % assure you all we did everything we could for Rolo moving in with his new family. Heartbroken: JRC Bullies, who bred Rolo, wrote on their Instagram asking people to stop sending them 'hate comments' (left) and also shared Katie's message of support (right) Speaking out: The breeders also said they would be explaining why Princess was given a dog in a video planned for Friday as well as thanking their followers for support 'Yes you might say well I shouldnt have given the pup but once again I will explain the reason tomorrow for my decision, for now please lay of the text phone calls comments as there is no need. 'We are a massive family at @JRCbullies we love and devote our lives to our animals and we honestly have so much love for all the people who support us and follow us and have sent their messages in the hundreds today, thank you all so much.' JRC Bullies also told the Mirror that they were 'heartbroken' and had told Katie not to leave the puppy on its own. It is thought that she rang the company to tell them about Rolo's death, explaining that she was packing in another room at the time. It was also reported that her five-year-old daughter Bunny found the pup. New Delhi, Sep 25 : Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia was administered plasma at the Max Hospital in Saket after his health condition deteriorated on Friday, sources at the Deputy CM's office told IANS. Ashish Srivastava New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia was administered plasma at the Max Hospital in Saket after his health condition deteriorated on Friday, sources at the Deputy CM's office told IANS. A doctor at Max informed that the blood platelet count of Sisodia is meagre. However, his health is improving after the administration of plasma, the sources said. Sisodia was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Max from the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital on Thursday night after he was diagnosed with dengue. He had earlier tested positive for Covid-19 and was admitted to the LNJP on Wednesday evening after a spike in his fever and dip in oxygen saturation level. The doctors at the LNJP informed that Sisodia had slightly high blood pressure, a comorbidity known to increase the risk of severe Covid-19. The 48-year-old leader from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had tested positive for Covid-19 on September 14 and was under home isolation since he exhibited little symptoms of the viral disease. "Had got my Covid-19 test done after I had mild fever. The report has come positive. I have gone into self-isolation. As of now, I have no fever or any other issue. I am fine. By your blessings, I will recover fully and return to work soon," Sisodia had announced on Twitter after testing positive. After Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain, Sisodia became the second minister in the Delhi cabinet to test positive for Covid-19. Jain had tested positive in June and later recovered. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Reuters By Katie Paul SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Critics of Facebook Inc , including the organizers of an advertising boycott against the company, on Friday launched their own oversight board to review the company's content moderation practices. The launch comes a day after Facebook's officially-mandated Oversight Board said it would start work in mid-late October, nearly a year behind schedule. The new group, which bills itself as the "Real Facebook Oversight Board," counts among its initial members the heads of three U.S. civil rights groups, the former president of Estonia and the former head of election integrity at Facebook. The delay of the launch of the official Facebook-funded board means it is unlikely to review cases related to the Nov. 3 U.S. election, which has generated some of the most contentious issues faced by the world's biggest social network. The rival board plans to move faster, it said in a statement. It will hold its first general meeting next week, and focus squarely on election topics, including voter suppression, election security and misinformation, it said. Facebook "responds to criticism with bad faith statements and cosmetic changes," said board member Roger McNamee, an early investor in Facebook who turned critical of its leaders over their handling of misuse of the platform in the 2016 election. "The Real Oversight Board will act as a watchdog, helping policymakers and consumers defend against a renegade platform." Members of the rival board plan to broadcast their meetings in weekly shows on Facebook Live, according to the statement. A Facebook company spokesman hit back in a statement on Friday. "We ran a year-long global consultation to set up the Oversight Board as a long-lasting institution that will provide binding, independent oversight over some of our hardest content decisions," he said. "This new effort is mostly longtime critics creating a new channel for existing criticisms." The new group said it was being funded by Luminate, a philanthropy backed by The Omidyar Group, but did not disclose a funding amount. Facebook has committed $130 million to its Oversight Board project, which it said would cover operational costs for at least six years. (Reporting by Katie Paul; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Culliford; Editing by Tom Brown and Sonya Hepinstall) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The Assam government has constituted a four-member committee to include Bodo-majority villages in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) and exclude non-Bodo settlements from it, as per the Bodo Accord signed on January 27, senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday. The panel, headed by former chief secretary P P Verma, will decide after reviewing applications from villages bordering the four BTR districts for the inclusion of settlements with a majority Bodo population in the region and exclusion of those with a majority non-Bodo population from it, the minister told reporters. "It will also advise the government on increasing theexisting 40 seats in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) to60 in the BTR, besides reorganising the constituencies," hesaid. Apart from Verma, BTAD administrator Rajesh Prasad,Jayanta Basumatary of the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) and Dalim Gayan, representing the non-Bodos, are members of the committee, the minister said. Governor Jagadish Mukhi had earlier approved for constituting the committee and renaming BTC as BTR, comprisingKokrajhar, Baksa, Chirang and Udalguri districts, Sarma said. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Union home minister Amit Shah had recently held discussions on the speedy implementation of the Bodo Accord and steps are being taken to ensure all the clauses are implemented in a time-bound manner, he said. The state government will initiate steps next month to implement Bodo as the associate official language of Assam and create the Bodo-Kachari Welfare Territorial Council for Bodosliving outside the BTR, the minister said. The Assam government and the Centre have also held discussions on the implementation of other clauses of the BodoAccord and those will be announced as and when the decisions are finalised, he said. On elections to the BTC, which had to be deferred due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Sarma said the Health Department has made it clear that it is not safe to conduct the polls till November 30. The chief minister will soon call an all-party meeting to review the situation, he said. "We are following the Bihar elections and a decision will be taken based on the Bihar experience," the minister said. The elections to the 40-member BTC, earlier scheduled to be held on April 4, was kept in abeyance due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and the council is currently administered under the supervision of the governor, after its term ended on April27. The elections to the council were being held after afresh Bodo Accord was signed in New Delhi on January 27 by shah, Sonowal, the then BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary and leaders of ABSU and all the four factions of the National DemocraticFront of Boroland (NDFB). Like many other Americans, I began a racial reckoning of sorts this spring and summer as protests erupted nationwide over the police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and other unarmed Black citizens who came before and after them. In June, amid the soul searching, I read an article that brought my racial reconsiderations closer to home. Highlighting the role of the news media in perpetuating racial biases, the study found that viewers exposed to news clips about achievement gaps between Black and white students tended to underestimate the graduation rate of Black students later on. As a white journalist who long covered education research and often wrote about test-score-based achievement gaps, I had to wonder: Was I part of the problem? Over more than three decades as an education writer and editor, I wrote at least 250 articles that include the term achievement gap. Had my well-meaning efforts shed light on education disparities or deepened biases that people already harbored about the educational aspirations and intellectual abilities of African American children? The article I read involved an experiment described in Education Week by my colleague Sarah D. Sparks. She wrote how researcher David M. Quinn and his colleagues at the University of Southern Californias Rossier College of Education had asked a demographically and politically representative group of Americans to watch one of three short videos. The first was a TV network news clip on test results in Minnesota that focused heavily on gaps between Black and white students. The second clip, taken from a descriptive video on the Harlem Childrens Zone, portrayed Black students engaged in class and discussing their academic goals and what they like about school. The third, a lesson from the education platform Khan Academy, served as a control. After watching the videos, participants were told that white students on average have a graduation rate of 86 percent and were asked to estimate the graduation rate of Black students, Sparks wrote. The participants who watched the achievement gap video underestimated Black students graduation rates by 23 percentage points, and their level of implicit bias against Black people increased 30 percent from before watching the video. The effect from just one viewing lasted two weeks. No change in bias was found for the people who watched either of the other videos. Clearly, wordsand likely imageshad mattered in that experiment. To find out how my own words might have mattered over the years, I recruited three Black education scholarsone established academic who had long studied the education of African American students and two new and emerging scholarsto review 10 pieces I wrote between 1997 and 2008. The veteran in the mix was John B. Diamond, the Kellner Family Distinguished Chair in Urban Education at the University of WisconsinMadison. Kemi Anike Oyewole, a third-year doctoral student in the Stanford University Graduate School of Education, and Brittany Fox-Williams, an assistant professor of sociology at City University of New York, provided the contemporary takes. The pieces were selected for their focus on exploring reasons why Black and Latino students lagged behind white and Asian students on tests, college-going, and other measures of education success. Heres what the reviewers noticed: Too much focus on students, families, and communities versus systemic problems. All three scholars said the articles, primarily those written from 1997 to 2000, dwelled on the roles of students, their families, their peers, and communities in contributing to Black students comparatively lower achievement levels and paid less attention to how teachers, schools, broader institutions in society, and inequities in housing and income might have limited Black students opportunities to succeed. Did teachers unconscious biases deter Black students from advanced academic classes, for example? Did privileged parents hoard educational opportunities for their children? These articles did not say. Theres just a lot more focus on individual factors, what is the student doing, what is the parent doinga sort of Horatio Alger pulling-yourself-up-by-the bootstrap thing, noted Oyewole, who was in 1st grade when the first article was published. That emphasis on individual responsibility is clearest in a 1997 package of stories on the then-popular acting white idea to explain Black-white differences in educational outcomes. The theory suggested that Black students were discouraged from attaining educational excellence by peers who equated academic achievement to acting white. The article and its four sidebars profiled four high-achieving Black teenagers from Richmond, Va., who broke that mold and talked about their own paths to academic success, their interactions with peers around schooling, and their experiences at a selective public school set up specifically for low-income, high-achieving students. Some of the profiles descend into racial tropesan angry teenage girl who gets into fights, the church-going boy who avoids neighborhood kids congregating on the corner, and a boy who is called white by his Black peers on the school bus for his manner of speech. Even now, scholars are debating whether the term 'achievement gap' harms or helps racial progress." Studies since then have debunked the acting white theory, the reviewers said. In terms of peers disparaging school achievement, that was a cross-racial phenomenon, Diamond noted. It wasnt necessarily about Black students at all. My articles never circled back to set the record straight. When disputed theories about Black academic achievement are left to ferment in the public space, they reinforce long-held negative biases about Black peoples intelligence or educational aspirations, Diamond said. While a single article or paper or book cannot reverse hundreds of years of racial ideology, Diamond said, I do think the repetition of peer culture can contribute to that louder, broader chorus, and that can have negative implications. Racism is not called out. In my sample of articles, the idea that racism limits Black students opportunities does not emerge until 2007 and 2008. It appears in stories about stereotype threat , the theory that students will become anxious and underperform when they perceive a risk that they will conform to stereotypes about their social group. Black college students asked to fill in their racial category before taking a test, for instance, tend to score lower than peers taking tests where racial identity never comes up. Even in those articles, though, I dont use the word racism. Same old voices. While 32 scholars are named in the 10 articles I shared, they came from just 15 institutions. Stanford University, Harvard University, New York University, and Johns Hopkins University predominate. And Oyewole and Fox-Williams, who both attended historically Black colleges and universities as undergraduates, noted no experts from HBCUs in the bunch. Understanding is evolving. My articles eventually progressed from pinning the blame for lagging test scores on individual students and their communities to exploring the broader dynamics within and outside of schools. That evolution mirrored the academic thinking in the field over the same period, the reviewers said. Even now, scholars are debating whether the term achievement gap harms or helps racial progress. On one side of the debate, Ibram X. Kendi, the author of the best-selling books, How to Be an Antiracist and Stamped From the Beginning, argues that ideas about achievement gaps are racist because they set up a hierarchy with white and Asian racial groups at the top and Blacks and Latinos at the bottom, thus reinforcing old, discarded ideas about racial superiority. He favors measuring students educational potential in new waysby their desire to know, for example, or how knowledgeable they are about their own environment or the vocabulary of their daily lives. Other scholars would recast the gap framework as an opportunity gap or an education debt. Gloria Ladson-Billings, the former University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who coined the latter term, compares it to the national budget debt, a product of centuries of accumulated historical, economic, and sociopolitical deficits loaded on the backs of Black students. Regardless of the term, Fox-Williams said, the important thing is to understand the relationship between achievement and opportunity. If students arent performing well, it may be because theyve not been given the same opportunities, and not that they dont want to succeed educationally. Back in the 1990s, very few researchers had thought to study the effects of terms like achievement gap on peoples perceptions about race. Neither did media outlets. News organizations only recently began hiring consultants to help them analyze how Black and brown people are depicted in their own stories and imagesand how frequently. Even more recently, the profession began to re-examine what it means to be neutral in reporting the news and whether reporters should call out what they see as wrong. Did I buy into the explanations I was describing early on in those articles? I must have, and that disturbs me. But, as my reviewers pointed out, my understanding of educational disparities evolved over time and became broader and more complex. But the exercise of looking back at my work through more critical eyes did heighten my sensitivity to the ghosts of out-of-date ideas and biases that might lurk in the cobwebs of my brain. Would I have arrived at a deeper understanding of race-related educational inequities sooner if I had talked with a wider circle of experts, students, and educators from the beginning? Probably. And that may be the most valuable lesson to come out of my modest experiment: Talk to everyone. Tap into a diverse and wide range of voices. Dont over-rely on the biggest names from top-tier universities or the experts most likely to respond to phone calls or emails. Its a good reminder for any journalist, regardless of the topic they cover. Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty On the eve of the Senate Judiciary Committees vote to advance then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Ana Maria Archila had something to say to Senator Jeff Flake. Archila, a sexual assault survivor, found Flake, an Arizona Republican, and cornered him in an elevator on Capitol Hill, emotionally urging himwhat are you doing, sir?to vote against Kavanaughs confirmation. Flake listened in silence; later, he urged the committee to delay its vote, which it did. That interaction, which was captured on video and quickly went viral, was one of the defining moments of a historically bruising and painful confirmation process. It attracted some of the most aggressive and determined protests seen on Capitol Hill in recent memory: activists occupied Republican senators offices and packed the balconies of the soaring Hart Senate office building, filling it daily with deafening chants and banners. At the height of the demonstrations, nearly 300 demonstrators were arrested in one day. Two years later, the Senate is set for another monumental confirmation fight, and liberals are hoping to summon every ounce of protest to fight a Donald Trump nominee who could shift the balance of the high court. But Archila doesnt know if a moment like the one she had with Flake would be possible nowthanks to a country and capital changed by COVID-19. I cant get that thought to leave my head, Archila told The Daily Beast on Thursday, so I can start thinking about whats possible. Indeed, in the coming weeks, the marbled halls of the Senate are likely to be quiet, closed off to all but a small handful of lawmakers, staff, and reporters. The public gallery of the Judiciary Committees hearing room, where anyone who waits in line can come and observe the proceedings, will likely be empty when the nominee takes the witness stand. The office buildings usually thronged with staffers are now deserted, thanks to remote work policies. Some of the key factors behind the atmosphere of intense resistance to Kavanaugh will be absent this time aroundand those involved with the previous fights know it. We were creating an environment where the senators basically had to walk by people whose lives were directly at stakes, said Archila, who is co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, a liberal group organizing to fight Trumps nominee. I dont know that we will be able to do that inside the halls of Congress. Story continues That feeling is shared among those scrambling to organize the fight against the GOPs accelerating effort to confirm a new justice. The sentiment is also shared by some in the Senates Democratic caucus, where theres a sense that an intense public protest campaign will be crucial to their resistance efforts. It just wont be the same, one Senate Democratic aide told The Daily Beast. It clearly had an impact with Kavanaugh, cornering senators, applying pressure in personall of it was compelling stuff, especially in the press. It clearly made some difference. But theres a reason why liberals are not totally despairing: that the fundamental ingredients of protests will not be in short supply. Liberals Pressure Dems to Skip SCOTUS Hearings Entirely We lose when we dont wage the fight. The tactics are not as clear this time around, but we know people are willing to take risks, said Archila, who mentioned the massive uprisings to protest police killings of Black people this summer, despite the pandemic. That same level of energy is available to this fight. That the GOP is set to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a conservative who could usher in decisive rulings on health care, voting rights, and abortion is, alone, fuel for liberals. And then theres the abject fury stemming from Republicans official reversal from their 2016 argument for blocking President Obamas pick to the high courtthat the voters should get to decide through the presidential election. Instead of playing by the same rules, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is steaming toward a possible confirmation vote that could be just days or weeks before Election Day 2020. Several activists with liberal groups involved in the brewing court fight told The Daily Beast that they have plenty of options for vigorous protest and resistance, even under the conditions of a pandemic. You better believe the Senate is going to know where people stand on this, and no tactics are off the table to make that clear, said Kelley Robinson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the political arm of the prominent pro-choice group that was active in opposing Kavanaughs confirmation. Theres no way senators can avoid having to address people directly. In the coming weeks, Robinson predicted, the capital city will see large outdoor demonstrations and marches, but emphasized organizers desire to drive participation remotely. She mentioned in particular a campaign to flood Senate offices with an unprecedented volume of calls from constituents, even more than the deluge that came into Senate offices during the Kavanaugh fight. There are lots of ways for folks to take action remotely that allow their voices to be heard, she said. Were doing all we can to slow down this process, particularly having constituents speak directly to some of these folks, especially [GOP Sens.] Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, senators that need to step up right now. In just the week after Ginsburgs passing, there have been signals of the contentious battle to comeand the lengths to which liberal activists may go to make their case. Earlier in the week, small groups of protesters with signs and bullhorns gathered outside the homes of McConnell and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, though the crowds failed to confront either lawmaker directly. Thousands, meanwhile, showed up at the steps of the Supreme Court over the weekend to mourn Ginsburg and to rally for her dying wish that the next president select her successor. And many more opened up their wallets to support Democratic candidates: on Sunday, the fundraising platform ActBlue reported processing $91 million in donations to Democratic candidates since Friday night. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) told The Daily Beast on Monday it was a signal of one of the biggest grassroots mobilizations, politically speaking, in history. Republicans have responded by framing the dissent in the context of their key election-year message: law and order. A dramatic new video from the Senate GOPs campaign arm cast the Senate as the final bulwark against anarchy, interspersing threats from Democrats about total resistance to the Supreme Court pick with footage of fires in looting in U.S. cities over the summer and past protests over Kavanaugh. The mob was in the street, intones the narrator, now its at our door. A GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), told conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt on Thursday that he expects the committee room to be empty for the nominees hearing. But Im sure therell be protesters in the street just like they were on my street on Monday, Antifa uniforms on my street protesting me, said Tillis, raising the popular notion among conservatives that many liberal protesters are linked to that faction of hardcore left-wing activists. Thats going to be, thats the new normal for the way the Democratic Party operates. Currently, a constellation of liberal groups that mobilized for the Kavanaugh fightas well as campaigns to oppose the GOP health care and tax bills in 2017are collaborating in an attempt to plot an effort that adapts to this unusual moment. But they realize the clock is ticking: Trump is set to announce his nominee on Saturday; with the GOP eyeing a confirmation vote before Nov. 3, Graham could begin hearings as early as Oct. 6. Grahams office did not return a request for comment on their plans for the hearing setup, but the senator told Capitol Hill reporters on Thursday that he would lay it out after a nominee is named. Once that happens, some progressives predict, their broader strategy will be to shatter the image of a fait accompli that McConnell has worked to project over the vote, said Chris Kang, chief counsel at the liberal judicial activist group Demand Justice. It cant be, because theres no nominee yet, and the senators havent even begun to hear from their constituents, said Kang, who compared the situation to GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare. Theyre going to feel an avalanche of pushback. While talks are preliminary about strategy, among activists, that broad aim is clear. We have to get creative to make it possible, said Archila. Its not just Republicans who will need to hear the consequences of their actions, Democrats will need to hear it too My sense, from the last few days, is people are ready to take it to their offices, the restaurants where they eat. No ones going to be able to insulate themselves from the people and the urgency people are feeling about this. with reporting from Scott Bixby Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. A fire set Thursday night at the entrance of a boarded-up police union building sparked hours of tension between protesters and police in North Portland. The flames scorched the plywood in front of the Portland Police Association headquarters, a frequent site of nightly demonstrations calling for criminal justice reforms. Fourteen people were ultimately arrested during the protest. On Friday afternoon, the Multnomah County District Attorneys office announced that a 21-year-old, Sophia Kalsta-Watkins, had been charged with setting the fire. Kalsta-Watkins faces one charge of first-degree arson. Dozens of people marched to the building from nearby Arbor Lodge Park, arriving by 9:30 p.m. Some people appeared to spray paint the plywood covering the building, and police said someone was seen hammering the front door. Within an hour, police declared the gathering unlawful and ordered the entire crowd to leave after someone set the fire. Officers arrived and pressed protesters away from the building, live videos showed. Many people eventually returned to stand across the street from the union building, at Lombard Street and Campbell Avenue. Police repeatedly rushed toward the crowd to detain specific people. Independent journalist Justin Yau reported two of the people arrested had climbed on the roof of the one-story building. The DAs office said law enforcement officers allegedly saw a person setting fire to the wooden boards lining the buildings exterior. They arrested Kalsta-Watkins near the intersection of North Lombard Street and Campbell Avenue, and accused her of settingn the fire. Police remained on the scene past 12:30 a.m. Friday. They said they didnt use any crowd control munitions. Most of the group had dispersed by 1 a.m. The demonstration came one day after a much larger protest downtown in honor of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency room technician fatally shot by police in March after entering her Kentucky home while conducting a raid in a narcotics investigation. That protest ended after police aggressively broke up the crowds in response to a handful of people throwing rocks. Police said people threw at least three Molotov cocktails toward officers as they advanced on the crowds. Those arrested during Thursdays demonstration are accused of charges including disorderly conduct and interfering with a peace officer. One is accused of second-degree arson. Portland protests against racial injustice have been held nearly every night since late May. They were touched off by the killing of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck and ignored his pleas for air. Protests in Portland paused during a recent stretch when wildfire smoke filled the city. This story has been updated. -- The Oregonian/OregonLive TikTok transaction: unequal treaties cannot be signed by the U.S. as it wishes The review of the source code, a core trade secret and core asset of Internet enterprises, has become a focus of the "TikTok transaction" agreement. What is particularly noteworthy is that the source code of super-large social media platforms such as TikTok contains a large amount of personal information, which, if improperly used, will not only threaten personal privacy, but can also pose an immediate and real threat to public interests and national security. Photo taken on Aug. 21, 2020 shows a logo of the video-sharing social networking company TikTok's Los Angeles Office in Culver City, Los Angeles County, the United States. (Xinhua) According to CNN and other U.S. media reports, relevant statements from Oracle and Wal-Mart show that once the "agreement" is signed, U.S. enterprises and the U.S. government will obtain the full source code of TikTok under the disguise of "reviewing" the code. Due to the U.S. governments past bad record, one cannot help but suspect they will take advantage of the opportunity to directly or indirectly obtain the source code of Douyin, which is operated separately from TikTok. Artificial intelligence push algorithms, models and codes obtained from Chinese users of Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, will also be exposed to some risks. "Personalized information push service technology based on data analysis and artificial intelligence interactive interface technology" are the core assets of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. It is precisely because of these core technologies that the number of Douyin's daily active users exceeded 400 million as of January 5, 2020, maintaining an astonishing growth rate over the past three years of operation. If the information disclosed by the U.S. media is confirmed, it means that the privacy of massive Chinese users is at risk of disclosure, threatening China's national security. It is a matter of national security and there must be zero tolerance in the face of any possible threat. With sufficient reasons to question the motives of the U.S., it is perfectly normal for Chinese people to be concerned about China's national security interests and whether the legitimate overseas interests of Chinese enterprises can be effectively protected. After the United States Presidential Election of 2016, there was an investigation into the alleged use of social media by foreign governments to intervene in the election. The survey shows that there are obvious loopholes in Facebook's management of user data, allowing a company called Cambridge Analytics to obtain huge amounts of user data and accurately deliver political advertisements, which can ultimately affect the behavior of users. The U.S. own case shows that no sovereign country can allow its political security to be exposed as such. In terms of source code security, it is necessary to prevent trouble, strengthen management and avoid risks. More importantly, the reason for questioning and worrying about the security of the TikTok transaction stems from the U.S. government's bad record in related fields. As the most typical country in cyber hegemony, the U.S. government seeks to expand its sovereignty in global cyberspace in an extremely simple and brutal way, not only disrespecting the core interests of other countries, but also unscrupulously pursuing double standards. Based on people's anger with the U.S. government's acts over issues, such as the echelon surveillance program, PRISM surveillance program, and having forcible access to data stored by Microsoft servers in Ireland, along with the various intimidation of TikTok by the U.S. on the grounds of national security threats in the absence of substantive evidence, there is every reason to believe that this TikTok transaction is being conducted in a harsh environment where credibility is close to zero. The information disclosed so far has also fully shown that the agreement for the TikTok transaction is based on inequality. If the forced TikTok transaction succeeds, potential benefits of all parties in the U.S. could be as high as hundreds of billions of dollars. In face of such an "easy-to-earn" business, why does the U.S. still need to start a new business or finance new ventures? Why does it not act as a bandit instead to rob Chinese enterprises? The U.S government and American enterprises should be aware that Chinese enterprises are backed by a strong country, and the "unequal treaties" cannot be signed by the U.S. as it wishes. Risk managers can sometimes relate with the Greek mythological figure Cassandra she was blessed with the gift of prophecy, but was also cursed so that no-one would believe her. One may come armed with all the facts, research, and statistics needed, but if they are unable to convince the major decision-makers in an organisation, then their work is virtually useless. According to John McLaughlin (pictured), senior managing director of Gallaghers higher education practice, good stories will hold listeners interest, build a connection, and (hopefully) offer a satisfactory conclusion. Do you need buy-in from senior leadership to create a policy on a new and emerging risk? Do you need faculty and staff to sign on to following a new policy? Having a good story about what could go wrong if the institution doesnt have such a policy can be far more helpful than citing a regulation or statistics, he said. McLaughlin cited a report by Gallagher, which enumerated several areas where storytelling can be used to support the various efforts led by risk managers. Getting buy-in risk professionals often struggle to get buy-in from senior management and colleagues. Good and believable stories can help get the point across, while tapping into listeners emotions and stirring them into action. Get included Telling stories can build trust and relationships, as well as change perception of risk management. Instead of being all gloom-and-doom, stories can show risk management as a practical and important management tool. Improve training According to McLaughlin most institutional training is dull, sometimes deadly dull. Compliance training is filled with dos and donts that few people remember; stories can illuminate the whys and will be retained. Share knowledge and information Sharing stories can alert colleagues about risks they may not have been aware of. This will help risk managers be seen as a source of useful information and solutions, instead of a negative Ned or Nancy. We may not be able to provide all the nitty-gritty, but many risk managers can make use of real situations in their or a colleagues institution by slightly changing the details, especially the names of those involved, McLaughlin said. The most important component in developing a better risk management culture across an organization, according to McLaughlin, is credibility, which can be built on both intellectual and emotional levels. Risk managers may also want to consider their brand within the institution and how it is managed, McLaughlin said. Annual reports with metrics and stories can be powerful tools for generating financial support for the department, as well as encouraging peers and colleagues respect, while providing a solid resource for the insurance market support of the risk management program. While they may feel like it sometimes, risk managers are, thankfully, not cursed by the gods. So the next time they need to drive home an important point, whipping up a good story backed up by solid data could be the key to getting the entire organization on the same page. ROME In a cryptic late-night announcement, the Vatican on Thursday said Pope Francis had accepted the resignation of one of the churchs most powerful officials, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, a fixture of church intrigues and internal power plays who also lost his rights as a cardinal. The Vatican, in its one-sentence statement, did not explain the reason for the cardinals resignation as head of the department in charge of making saints but it comes amid his reported connection to a financial scandal involving a London real estate deal that hemorrhaged church money but enriched middlemen. Cardinal Becciu has denied any wrongdoing in the matter. The wording of the announcement suggested that Cardinal Becciu had lost his vote in the next conclave, when voting cardinals will pick the next pope from among their ranks. Cardinals ordinarily lose their right to vote in the conclave when they turn 80; Cardinal Becciu is 72. The statement did refer to him as his eminence, cardinal, however, suggesting he had retained his title. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 24) World-class destination Boracay is expected to reopen its doors to more tourists in October, but visitors will have to go through strict health checks, officials said. On Wednesday, officials said tourists from areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) will be allowed to enter the island beginning October 1 subject to health protocols, including a negative polymerase chain reaction test result two to three days before travel. The island resort is now open only to tourists from Western Visayas. The local government of Malay town, which has jurisdiction over the island, said it is still awaiting formal approval from the COVID-19 inter-agency task force, but Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat expressed confidence that her colleagues will support the proposal. Ahead of Boracays expected reopening to visitors from GCQ areas, CNN Philippines spoke to tourism officials to learn more about the islands protocols against the virus: Negative PCR test result 48 to 72 hours before travel A negative COVID-19 test result is one of the main requirements for travelers heading to the island. This will have to be done two to three days before travel time. Addressing concerns on accuracy of results, Puyat urged tourists to stay at home after getting their swab tests to minimize risk and exposure to the virus. Stay home after swabbing so that we can be assured that before you leave for Boracay, that you stay negative, Puyat said in an interview with The Source. Pre-arranged accommodations It is also required for guests to book accommodations ahead of their trip. According to the Tourism department, there are now over 200 hotels and resorts with over 4,000 rooms that can accommodate tourists. Guests will go through body temperature checks, and should fill up health declaration forms upon check-in. Establishments are also required to have santizing mats. Tourism spokesperson Undersecretary Benito Bengzon said resorts are also expected to implement guest capacity in rooms. All establishments and hotels will also have a COVID-19 hotline for coordination with health officials. Are there age restrictions? We are proposing no age restrictions because Filipinos travel as a family. As long as they are negative with the RT-PCR, of course no symptoms, follow minimum health standards we ask that no age restrictions to go also to Boracay, Puyat said. Which airport will accommodate visitors? Only the Caticlan airport will be open. Puyat said the airport will have an isolation facility, which will cater to symptomatic visitors. Do I need to undergo quarantine upon arrival? Tourists who exhibit virus symptoms will be brought to a nearby isolation facility and will again be tested for COVID-19. If the test yields a negative result, then the one can proceed to the island. Otherwise, he or she will need to leave the area. Puyat said officials are in discussions with airlines and hotels on rebooking or refunding, should a guest fail to complete the trip. Visitors are also expected to observe other minimum health protocols, including physical distancing and hand-washing. Do we need to wear masks while strolling on the beach? Yes. Kailangan naka-face mask (we need to wear a face mask). Just to be sure, Puyat said. Aside from wearing of face mask, visitors are also expected to observe other minimum health protocols, including physical distancing and hand-washing. Will foreigners be allowed to visit the island? Foreign nationals will be allowed to visit the island as long as they are in the country. Is there a maximum length of stay in the island? No cap at all. Actually, were really encouraging long-staying guests. Because you can just be there, you have strong internet, and you work from anywhere, Puyat said. Is drinking allowed in the island? Puyat, citing quarantine guidelines from the Trade department, said guests will be allowed to purchase two glasses or bottles of alcoholic drinks. NEW BRAUNFELS The scene at the Rockin R tube rental parking lot across the Guadalupe River from the Gruene historic district had the feel of a tailgate party before a big game Thursday evening a festive, flag-waving atmosphere. The similarities stopped with the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem. This was no sporting event. This was politics, conveyed by banners bearing President Donald Trumps name and image, a prayer over the public address system and a fiery speech that sketched the stakes of the upcoming election in stark terms. Now Playing: The Trump Train makes its way through downtown New Braunfels on Thursday. Video: San Antonio Express-News The man giving the speech was organizer Steve Ceh, who later estimated that around 1,000 people had shown up. They milled around booths where caps and other items were for sale, a generally middle-aged to older crowd, mostly white. Very few wore masks. Officers in two police cruisers watched the event. And then the New Braunfels Trump Train headed out, a wheeled display of partisan enthusiasm that again had assembled hundreds of vehicles, most of them pickups. Now in its third month, the weekly parade is beloved by most people in this Republican-dominated city and welcomed on its occasional forays out of town, participants say. But other New Braunfelsers have become irritated by the noise, traffic holdups and the parades ugly edge the racist taunting of Black and Hispanic residents encountered along the way. And the resulting fear, anger and pushback has some worried that Americas bitter political divide is damaging the towns self-image as a friendly, prosperous destination for those seeking the good life. Reports of Trump Train behavior early this month moved Mayor Rusty Brockman to issue a statement saying the hurt being inflicted or perceived was not the New Braunfels that I know and love. Tom Reel /Staff photographer One man was accused of harassing local African Americans by posting their photos on social media and suggesting that the rallys participants arm themselves in case of a confrontation. The approval that greeted another motorist who dragged Black Lives Matter and antifa flags on the street from his pickup and laughingly took credit for it in a Facebook post also drew outrage. It was like a dragging an African American. They wanted to drag an African American behind those of Black Lives Matter, they want to drive them, drag them behind a pickup truck, said Henry Ford, vice president of the New Braunfels MLK Association. The abuse of the flag and the hatred on display really scared a lot of us African Americans here in town to wondering if we actually were welcome, said Dr. Jessica Edwards, a family physician in New Braunfels. Are our lives in danger due to these events? Tom Reel /Staff photographer The driver of the truck, Nils Ruona of San Antonio, said he regretted dragging the Black Lives Matter flag he considers the movement Marxist, but it was not a good message to put out there, I suppose especially because the resulting brickbats on social media included a screen grab from a post he wrote three years ago that said, Im not apart of the kkk just hate black people. Ruona, 31, said he was not a racist but failed to think before he acted. Tom Reel /Staff photographer New Braunfels Police Chief Tom Wibert acknowledged that the bad civic chemistry from the parade could lead to violence thats always a concern, he said but a recent meeting with organizers was more focused on traffic safety and noise. The atmosphere of racism being stoked by a few people is not at all what the organizers said they intended, Wibert said. Ive not seen anything comparable to this in New Braunfels in the 10 years Ive been chief, he added. If someone uses the N-word, we dont condone racism, but we have to stick to what we can enforce. If it were combined with a threat, we could definitely take action. Assault by threat most likely. But stupidity is not against the law. New Braunfels City Councilman Matthew Hoyt said more than 40 residents had contacted him after a previous parade, some likely staunch Trump conservatives who have soured on the Trump Train because of the bad behavior. Theyre turned off by this because, again, one of the words that some of them are using is theyre being terrorized by this. They cant get out of their driveway, Hoyt said. God, I dont even like using the term N-word. Other terms, Go back on the boat or Take a boat back from where you came from or something to that effect these kinds of things are not welcome in this district. Terri Truitt, a local attorney, said her client, Andrae Blissett, was one of four African American men targeted in a social media post that contained their photos and advised those joining an upcoming Trump Train rally to be strapped in case of trouble. Truitt said she filed reports with the FBI and New Braunfels police. Police confirmed the report was made but were unable to provide a copy this week. Tom Reel /Staff photographer Organizer Ceh, a leader of Trump Train NB, the group putting on the rally, met with the mayor, the city manager, Wibert and police command staff this month to discuss reports that Trump Train participants had blocked intersections, stood in the beds of their pickups and didnt wear seat belts. We also asked them to work with us on their routes, Wibert said. Theyve been going through residential areas, and some are blowing actual train horns they have on their trucks. Its against the law for actual trains to use train horns in New Braunfels. The chief said that Ceh gave assurances that the negative element, displaying racism, had nothing to do with them and they would be self-policing their rally. Cehs wife, Randi, said participants had been asked to avoid disturbing residents but that she wasnt aware of anyone using racial insults and didnt think there was evidence for it. The group did put out a statement warning, Anyone that joins this organization with the purpose of spreading a message of hate is not welcome and will be identified and advertised as an impostor that is attempting to stain this organization as something it is not. Participants get a route map and a rules sheet, and my husband gets up and pumps everybody up, you know, for our country, not be crazy but, you know, gives quotes from founders, from our founding fathers or like a little message of hope, Ceh said. Before the caravans headed out Thursday this time riders were given a choice of four routes Steve Ceh made a point of admonishing those in the crowd to mind their manners. At one point in his speech, he predicted the motorists would encounter anti-Trump protesters and referred to them as evil. Tom Reel /Staff photographer We get a lot of threats, we drive around town and get a lot of middle fingers, we have a lot of people running us off the road, some have come head on at us, Ceh said in a brief interview. They cuss at us, they call us racists, so its a very evil element that comes at us. The Trump Train first met at a strip center with about 10 cars, Randi Ceh said. Wibert likened the group in its early stages to the jeep club going out for coffee. Then it started doubling every week, he said. Until the night a few weeks ago that the honking cars drew a much-publicized rebuke from a sleeping infants mother, it was a 100 percent patriotic, energetic event, Comal County Republican Party chair Sue Piner said. (The babys father told a local online news outlet that someone in the caravan called his wife a communist and someone else threatened to burn the house down.) As for dragging a Black Lives Matter flag, Piner said it was sad to see something that is controversial was brought into this. The whole movement of the Trump Train is patriotism for America, she said. Its not against black or white, gray or green, its not against race or culture or creed, its not against any of that because Americas the melting pot and were for everybody. Equal. Equal opportunity for all. Republicans hold every elective office in Comal County, where Trump took 72.6 percent of the vote in 2016. Piner said the GOP registered 26 new voters at a recent Trump Train rally and will continue that effort. Tom Reel /Staff photographer The obnoxiousness of Trumps most fervent local supporters has driven people away from the Republican Party, said Gloria Meehan, the Comal County Democratic Party chair. A steady stream of visitors have been picking up Joe Biden yard signs at the partys New Braunfels headquarters, and they are routinely heckled by Trump supporters who blare music from their vehicles and shout insults, Meehan said. We can call the police, and we have when theyre yelling obscenities at people coming into our offices, but theres nothing we can really do about it. Thats the First Amendment, Meehan said. But folks in our office are highly concerned and afraid of them. None of them have actually done anything yet. They just roll up with their flags flying. Amy Parks, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan in 2010 as a combat medic, had enough familiarity with local pro-Trump activists to dread the Trump Trains scheduled arrival on a recent Saturday in her subdivision northwest of New Braunfels. Ive been at Black Lives Matter protests in New Braunfels and watched how they came armed across the street from us, said Parks, who is white and has biracial children. They want to portray that theyre peaceful, but theyre not. News researcher Misty Harris contributed to this report. Sig Christenson covers the military and its impact in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Sig, become a subscriber. sigc@express-news.net | Twitter: @saddamscribe West Bengal Pradesh Congress committee president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Friday accused the TMC government of trying to "bribe" the Hindus by announcing doles for Durga Puja committees and Hindu Brahmins and claimed that it is desperate to project itself as a "bigger brand ofHindutva" than the BJP. Chowdhury, who is also the leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, said that instead of getting into "competitiveHinduism" with BJP, the TMC government should "focus onc reating job and industries". "Yesterday we saw Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing Rs 50,000 for Durga Puja committees and other doles after projecting TMC as the messiah of Muslims by propagating that the state government has given allowances to Imams and muezzins. "The TMC is now busy projecting itself as the mascot of brand Hindutva to counter BJP. And in doing so, it is now giving allowances to Hindu priests and grants to Durga Puja committees. She (Banerjee) is trying to bribe the Hindus,"Chowdhury said. Banerjee had on Thursday doubled the annual financial assistance to 37,000 Durga Puja committees across the state to Rs 50,000. The development came close to heels of the state governments' announcement of providing free housing and a monthly allowance to 8000 Hindu priests of the state. "The fact is the state government is not giving allowance to Imams and muezzins. It is the state Wakf board which provides those allowances. "Now the TMC is not bothered about Muslim votes. Itwants Hindu votes to compete with BJP. The TMC is now engaged in competitive Hinduism," he said. The TMC government had announced a monthly allowance for Imams and muezzins in 2012. The Calcutta High Court had in2013 dubbed the government's decision as "unconstitutional andagainst public interest". The TMC government had then created a separate fund under the Wakf Board for the upkeep of the properties that it held. The fund also took care of the emoluments of the Imams and muezzins. Chowdhury held the TMC government and its policies responsible for the rise of the BJP in Bengal and accused the ruling dispensation of "destroying the secular fabric of the state". The TMC dubbed the allegations by Chowdhury as'"baseless". "The TMC believes in secular and inclusive politics. The Congress leader before pointing his finger at us, shouldcome out clean on why that party is colluding with BJP against us in Bengal," TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the White House has billions of dollars left under the CARES Act that they plan to release. President Donald Trump and his administration have always been very vocal and supportive of the second round of stimulus payments. As the negotiations between the White House and Democrats are still going on, the Trump administration is making sure that there is enough money to be distributed whatever will happen. The White House economic adviser said Thursday that the administration has billions of dollars left under the CARES Act that could be put forward in some other relief or stimulus measures. He issued the statement while Congress and Senate are still discussing the next stimulus package. Kudlow also shared that the new stimulus package will not be affected following Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death. He noted that the White House plans will remain the same amid the vacancy of the Supreme Court Justice position. According to Fox News, Kudlow said: "Our side has an efficient targeted assistance package, stuff we think is necessary." He asserted that there is enough money left that could be "repurposed" toward those efforts. The Small Business Administration said more than $5.2 million loans were approved during the first round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) relief. The total loans were estimated to be around $525 and around $130 billion has not been used so far. Among the priorities that Kudlow cited were COVID-19 testing, masks for schools, and extending the PPP for businesses severely impacted by the global pandemic. This is part of the Trump administration measures while waiting for the Republicans and Democrats to reach their deal. Until now, lawmakers are still discussing the total amount of the next stimulus package. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that another round of PPP for businesses across the country is very essential. He said this will help regain the country's economy if businesses could go back to operate. Many well-known economists in the country also believed that PPP loans should be included in the new stimulus package. Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testified before the Congress early this week and asked Congress to make a deal with another stimulus package. Meanwhile, Mnuchin confirmed Thursday that he talked to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to revive negotiations on the CARES Act or a new stimulus package. Mnuchin said he talked to Pelosi for 15 to 20 times to make sure that the next coronavirus relief aid would still be the top priority of lawmakers. There was also a proposed bill that includes two rounds of the stimulus checks. The first one will be released after the bill's approval and the second one will be in the early months next year. Reports said the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is already preparing to send the stimulus money. Check these out! (Photo : Felix Mittermeier from Pixabay) The space industry is quite busy even amid the pandemic. The space industry has been going well for the frontrunners with several successful launches and announcements by space companies. However, people were more interested in the study published by the U.S. Air Force Air University's China Aerospace Institute, together with the CNA nonprofit research center. China's Space Narrative According to a report by SpaceNews, the study was published on Sept. 17, and it looks at how China views the U.S.-China space competition. Based on the news outlet, the study seems to confirm the widely held view that the United States sees China's anti-satellite weapons as a potential national threat and that the U.S.' bigger concern is that the Asian powerhouse might use soft power and diplomacy to gain allies and use it to dominate the space sector. "As the era of great power competition continues to evolve, we must understand the full breadth and depth of the competition, how they think, and how they are likely to act or react," writes Brendan Mulvaney, the director of the CASI, on the introduction of the study with the title China's Space Narrative. "China's space policy is one element of China's foreign policy goal of reshaping the international system to serve Chinese national interests better," the report further says. Moreover, the researchers also said that Chinese analysts see the U.S. commercial space sector, especially Elon Musk's SpaceX, as a "role model" that they hope the Chinese companies must follow. Read Also: [Close Up Video] Look at Just How Powerful the SpaceX Raptor Vacuum Actually Is Blue Origin Postpones New Shephard Rocket Launch In other space-related news, Blue Origin had to postpone the New Shephard rocket's first launch attempt, which was supposed to happen on Thursday, Sept. 24, according to a report by Ars Technica. The company is founded by Jeff Bezos and has been chosen as one of the companies that will aid the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its Artemis Project. The New Shephard rocket was supposed to launch several times to carry commercial payloads as well as some lunar landing tech for the U.S. space agency, but according to the company's statement, they have detected some potential issues with the rocket's power supply to the experiments. Nevertheless, they tried to launch this Friday, Sept. 25 but failed to launch the rocket yet again. Update: #NewShepard NS-13 launch is a no go for today. We are working to verify a fix on a technical issue and taking an extra look before we fly. New launch target forthcoming. Blue Origin (@blueorigin) September 25, 2020 The company tweeted an update and said that they are working to verify a technical issue and that new launch date will be announced in the near future. SpaceX and NASA's Tests Meanwhile, SpaceX's Starship project has finally managed to burst a test tank, known as SN 7.1, to help the company experts test new alloy steel that they believe will be better for Super Heavy and Starship vehicles. The failure, which was done on purpose, happened early Wednesday, Sept. 23. Moreover, NASA has invited the media for its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket Green Run hot fire test and that the media registration is now open for media outlets that wish to cover the said test run, which they plan to do early November, The SLS will be used for the agency's Project Artemis that will commence in 2021. Read Also: NASA's Data Sonification Reveals How 'Milky Way' May Sound Like When You're in Space This article is owned by Tech Times Written by: Nhx Tingson 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The assassin bug is a fascinating insect for many reasons, but the one that really stands out is its gruesome camouflage, which consists of the carcasses of its victims glued to its back. There are around 7,000 known species of assassin bugs in the world, ranging from 4 to 40 mm in length and sharing the same formidable weapon a sharp, curved, needle-like structure called a rostrum. Its this rostrum that they use to stab their prey usually other insects and inject them with a poisonous saliva that liquifies their innards. When the victim stops moving, the assassin bug will start slurping away at its inside, until only the shell remains. That shell is used by some assassin bug species as camouflage, and some specimens have been observed walking around with a mound of insect carcasses glued to their backs. Photo: Kurt @ Orion Mystery/Wikimedia Commons/(CC BY-SA 3.0) But in order to get close to their victims, assassin bugs need to live up to their name and catch their prey off-guard. Some species are known for mimicking the subtleties of leaves that move when the air rustles them, and making no sound when approaching unsuspecting insects. Once in range, the assassin bug pounces on its victim and impales it with its rostrum. As the digestive enzyme is pumped through the rostrum, it takes up to 15 seconds for the prey to succumb to its grim fate. Scientists cant yet explain how exactly assassin bugs are able to glue the shells of their insect prey to their backs, seeing as they dont seem able to reach their backs with their limbs. What is known is that the carcasses are glued onto its back using a sticky secretion. Apparently, this gruesome camouflage helps some species of assassin bugs to more easily approach unsuspecting victims, by blending into the surroundings more easily as well as by adopting their scents. This exoskeleton also works as armor against the bugs own predators, like geckos or jumping spiders. What happens when a gecko tries to capture one of those, is it might actually end up with a mouth full of ant carcasses rather than a juicy assassin bug, biologist Christiane Weirauch told WIRED Magazine. In an experiment designed to test the camouflage against jumping spiders, which are known for their great sense of sight and their poor smell, both naked and camouflaged assassin bugs were placed in glass cages with the spiders. results showed that the spiders attacked the naked bugs roughly ten times more often than the masked ones. The macabre disguise of assassin bugs is just one of the many types of natural camouflage we have featured on Oddity Central. This dead leaf butterfly, and this moth mimicking flies feasting on bird droppings, are among the most interesting examples. Click the video above to watch the recoded interview between Inquirer Worldview columnist Trudy Rubin and Fiona Hill, the former top Russia official at the National Security Council who was a witness in the November 2019 House impeachment hearings. Hill, author of Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, will discuss Russian meddling in U.S. politics and what to expect from Putin in November. During the live-stream, post your questions in the comment section below. Some will be selected during the Q&A portion of our presentation. Sing Street Sat 26/9 RTE2 @ 22.40 A teenage boy in 1980's Dublin struggling with both growing up and his relationship with his family, finds an escape when he forms a band with his schoolmates. The 80's were a tough time to be different though. A really lovely film, entertaining as hell and bursting with heart and energy. If you don't like this you are probably dead. A fine Irish cast lead by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo & Lucy Boynton is the icing on the cake. Thunderbolt And Lightfoot Sat 26/9 TCM @ 23.10 Thunderbolt's a bank robber. Lightfoot's a drifter. They meet and get on like a house on fire. But two men after Thunderbolt's loot are intent on ruining their day. Michael Cimino's debut film has dated quite a bit in places but it's still an amusing watch and the main duo's antics and interactions will bring a grin to your face. Clint does his usual thing but Jeff Bridge's Lightfoot is a creation you'll fall for straight away. Stanley & Iris Sun 27/9 RTE1 @ 01.05 Tragedy has made Iris decide to never love again. Stanley is a bloke who's never taken a chance with love. Can you see where this one is headed? A cliched plotline aside this is a nice, warm, gentle, intimate watch that doesn't condescend to it's audience or rely on mawkish drama. Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro are perfect as a pair of mismatching lovers tiptoeing around each other. Save this one for the long, dark nights ahead. Man Up Sun 27/9 BBC1 @ 00.20 A woman, sick & tired of love finds herself mistaken for a blind date and decides to just go along with it to see what happens. A romcom but one that is likeable and not sickly, one about people you will actually care about and not want to see go up in flames. This is all down to the lovely Lake Bell and the hilarious Simon Pegg. Throw in a few big laughs and a few scenes you'll watch through your fingers and it's a grand way to spend 90 mins. North By Northwest Sun 27/9 RTE1 @ 15.15 A man in the wrong place at the wrong time is mistaken for a government agent and goes on the run across America with a woman who helps him in his escape. Easily Alfred Hitchcock's most fun film, this is 2 hrs of pure escapism with Cary Grant at his most charming and likeable and Eva Marie Saint nails her part as a woman who may not be what she seems. Crackling chemistry between the leads make this a super watch. Snowpiercer Sun 27/9 Film4 @ 21.00 Climate change has destroyed the planet. The only people left are those living on a perpetually moving train that circles the globe. Rich and poor are onboard and tensions are rising. Bong Joon Ho's 2013 action thriller is a blistering watch. Class warfare, social commentary, brutal violence & a touch of the surreal all add up to a rather unique story. Chris Evans leads a mighty cast including Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, Jamie Bell & Alison Pill. The Water Diviner Mon 28/9 BBC1 @ 00.10 In the wake of the battle of Gallipoli a man travels to Turkey from Australia to locate his missing sons using the gift he has. This Russell Crowe led tale is an interesting and heartfelt watch about a part of World War 1 that is rarely talked about yet affected an entire continent. It's a fine history lesson too. Crowe as always is reliable and gets good back up from fellow oz actors like Jacqueline Mackenzie & Jai Courtney. Inside Man Mon 28/9 TG4 @ 21.30 When a so called perfect bank robbery goes sideways, a cop, the robber and a power broker have to negotiate a way out of the problem to save lives. Spike Lee's twisty, turny thriller is an immensely enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. Nothing is what it seems and if you haven't seen it before you won't have a clue how it will all end. Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen all hit the spot. Dark River Mon 28/9 Film4 @ 23.15 When her father dies Alice returns to Yorkshire to claim the family farm for herself but it's been a long long time since she was last home and tensions are running high with the sibling she left behind. This is a tough film to recommend because like it's title, it's a dark watch that will be triggering for some but a couple of mighty turns from Ruth Wilson and Mark Stanley will keep you going through it. It's bleak, be wary. Vacancy Tues 29/9 The Horror Channel @ 00.55 Amy & David are stranded miles from civilisation. They take a room in the nearest place they can find and soon enough realise they are in the middle of the kind of nightmare that plays on our most intimate worries and basest fears. Kate Beckinsdale and Luke Wilson are both very believable in a well made chiller that goes from zero to 100 in rapid manner. Pull the curtains, turn off the lights and scare yourself silly. Layer Cake Tues 29/9 Sony Movies @ 23.25 An upmarket London drug dealer is called upon to search for a missing woman and finds himself drawn into all matter of dodginess. Some may scoff but i think this is the best British crime film since The Long Good Friday. It's exciting, stylish stuff that never lets you up for a breath. It's the film that got Daniel Craig the role as James Bond & he's a cold and calculating lead. Great support from Colm Meaney and Sienna Miller too. Things To Come Wed 30/9 Film4 @ 01.55 What time is it? It's French film time. Nathalie is a busy lady, a philosophy teacher who flits between her job, her family and her elderly mother. Then a one-two whammy knocks her sideways. Most people wouldn't recover but Nathalie has the skills she's learned from work. The amazing Isabelle Hubert shines in this beautifully made 2016 drama. It's an upsetting but eventually powerfully uplifting piece of cinema. Wake Wood Wed 30/9 The Horror Channel @ 22.55 A small family living in rural Northern Ireland find themselves looking to the supernatural when tragedy strikes their quiet little life. A modern folk horror film that is genuinely scary and unnerving. Shades of Stephen King and Hammer horror abound. Well written, well made and well acted by Eva Birthistle, Timothy Spall and a clutch of Irish actors including Aiden Gillen, Ruth McCabe and Brian Gleeson. The Assassination Bureau Thur 1/10 Talking Pictures TV @ 22.00 The Assassination Bureau prides itself on only killing those that deserve it and it lives by that credo until the day it's all called into question by a journalist who seeks to destroy it. Mostly forgotten these days, this is a film that deserves a new audience. It's stylish, funny, action packed, suspenseful and delightfully silly. A wild Oliver Reed and the recently deceased Diana Rigg are a very enjoyable pair of leads. Life Fri 2/10 Film4 @ 01.30 On the 30th of September 1955 James Dean's life was cut short in a car crash. The world mourned. Only 2 years before he was almost unknown, until a Life magazine did a story on him photographed by Dennis Stock. An interesting, very personal portrait of two men and how relationships can change when something is up for grabs. Dane DeHaan mightn't look that much like Dean but he plays the part well. The movie though, belongs to Robert Pattinson as the man with the camera. To read more visit http:// hamsandwichcinema.blogspot. com Kamala Harris made misleading statements on coronavirus business loans during a campaign in Michigan. On Tuesday, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris made false claims about the supposed disparities in COVID-19 relief funds to Black restaurants while campaigning in Michigan, as per the report. According to The Detroit News report, Harris claimed while visiting Flint and Michigan, out of hundreds of restaurants in Michigan that had the relief funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), only one is a Black-owned restaurant. Meanwhile, the PPP has been criticized for treating minority-owned businesses, Kamala's claim does not account for the full picture. Harris told a WDIV reporter, "Joe Biden and I (Harris) feel very strongly that you have to speak the truth, you cannot deny the fact and where there are disparities, they need to be addressed." According to U.S. Small Business Administration data, in Michigan, almost 800 full-service restaurants received at least $150,000 in loans through PPP. Among those, a total of one restaurant reportedly have Black or African American owners, while more than 600 did not indicate their race or ethnicity. Meanwhile, full-service restaurants are classified other than fast food and carryout restaurants. Two carryout restaurants and fast-food restaurants are Black-owned in Michigan that received PPP loans of more than $150,000. On the other hand, twenty-sox Black-owned restaurants in Michigan received less than $150,000 of PPP loans, according to federal data. Harris' claims are on the ground, and they speak to a larger point that black and minority communities borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign justified. Ben Halle told The Detroit News, "Senator Harris is making the important point that during the coronavirus, Black communities and small businesses have been disproportionately impacted, including Black people dying at two times the rate." Fox News' source cited the Small Business Administration data indicating that about 75% of all PPP loans don't include any demographic information during the loan application. Harris' claim is based on a small portion of data and does not tell the whole story, while there is evidence of racial disparities among PPP loan recipients. Michigan has 792 full-service restaurants that received at least $150,000 in loans through PPP. However, 617 of the full-service restaurants did not answer the owner's race or ethnicity. Besides, most of the demographic information regarding owners remains unclear as 81% of the more than 6,700 restaurants in Michigan that received PPP loans did not clarify the race or ethnicity identification. In July, The National Community Reinvestment Coalition, an organization that works to promote investment in underserved communities, said that the federal government's data was "so flawed it is virtually useless to assess if there was any bias to how the money was distributed or how much money went to a particular community." While PPP loans were available to see if there were differences in their treatment, the coalition sent "matched pairs" Black and White individuals into banks. The analysis revealed that in out of 63 tests, 27 had differences in treatment, with the white tester receiving a much favorable treatment compared with the black tester. Check these out: Kamala Harris Proves Color Has Nothing to Do With Vice Presidency Nomination Stimulus Check: Kamala Harris Wants to Give $12,000 to Beneficiaries Right Away California Family Accuses Kamala Harris of Trespassing on Their Fire-Ravaged Property New York: Two former leaders of a Massachusetts veterans' home have been indicted on charges of criminal neglect in connection to a coronavirus outbreak that contributed to the deaths of at least 76 residents, the state's attorney-general said. Bennett Walsh, 50, and Dr David Clinton, 71, were indicted on Thursday, US time, by a state grand jury on charges related to their work at the aged care facility, the Holyoke Soldiers' Home in Holyoke. Walsh had been the superintendent of the facility, and Clinton its medical director. The Holyoke Soldiers Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Credit:AP "We began this investigation on behalf of the families who lost loved ones under tragic circumstances and to honour these men who bravely served our country," the state attorney-general, Maura Healey, said in a statement. "We allege that the actions of these defendants during the COVID-19 outbreak at the facility put veterans at higher risk of infection and death and warrant criminal charges." Each man was indicted on five counts for two charges; the specific charges were for caretakers who "wantonly or recklessly" permit or cause bodily injury and abuse, neglect or mistreatment of an older or disabled person. RTHK: AstraZeneca gets partial immunity in EU vaccine deal European governments will pay claims above an agreed limit against AstraZeneca over side-effects from its potential Covid-19 vaccine, under different terms to a deal struck with Sanofi, an EU official told Reuters. The deals reflect different strategies by two of the world's top drugmakers for protecting themselves as a debate rages about liabilities for vaccines aimed at ending the pandemic. AstraZeneca has secured the European Union's backing in a confidential agreement which reflects the lower price sought by the British drugmaker, the official said. "If a company asks for a higher price we don't give the same conditions," said the official, who was involved in the talks but declined to be identified as the contracts are confidential. Unexpected side-effects after a drug has regulatory approval are rare, but the speed at which a Covid-19 vaccine is being pursued increases the risks of unforeseen conditions. The deal with AstraZeneca, which shifts some of the risks involved in the roll-out of a vaccine to taxpayers, was struck in August and its liability clauses have not previously been reported. Under the deal, AstraZeneca would only pay legal costs up to a certain threshold, the official said, declining to elaborate on how the costs would be shared with individual European governments or the cap. The financial shield would cover both legal costs and potential compensation, which is rarer but potentially a much bigger outlay in the event of something going wrong. In return for the higher price paid for its vaccine, French drugmaker Sanofi, which is working with GlaxoSmithKline as a partner, did not get any liability waiver. Spokespeople for AstraZeneca, Sanofi and the European Commission declined to comment on the specifics of the deals. When asked about AstraZeneca's relatively low price, a spokesman reiterated the company's pledge to share the vaccine widely and not to turn a profit from it during the pandemic. Under the AstraZeneca deal, EU countries have agreed to pay 2.5 euros per dose, while Sanofi has negotiated a price at around 10 euros, the official said. As part of the supply deals, the only two sealed so far by Brussels, the EU has also made a non-refundable down payment of 336 million euros to AstraZeneca to secure 400 million doses, proportionately lower than the 324 million euros it paid to Sanofi to secure 300 million doses. The EU official told Reuters that the contract with AstraZeneca included a narrow definition of side-effects that could limit the possibility of claiming compensation although the company remains liable for its vaccine. (Reuters) This story has been published on: 2020-09-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Newman called the Senate proposal just a vastly superior budget to the plan the House committee adopted, but he and other senators raised concerns about language for moratoriums on evictions and utility disconnections that he and other senators said would conflict with legislation adopted by the Senate to address both issues. He also faulted the governors underlying budget for removing restrictions on state funding for Planned Parenthood and other organizations that offer abortion services. Increased spending Both budgets would increase spending beyond what Northam had proposed last month, while looking for new sources of revenue to pay for it. For example, they would rely on a new tax on electronic skill games to fill a $95.3 million shortfall in sales tax revenues for K-12 education in the first year of the budget. Northam proposed the tax in return for a one-year reprieve on a ban of skill games the assembly adopted earlier this year. The money is going into a new COVID-19 Relief Fund, but, unlike federal CARES Act money, can be used to replace lost revenue. Virginia Governor Northam, Wife Test Positive for COVID-19 Virginias governor and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19, the new disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, announced the diagnosis on Friday. As Ive been reminding Virginians throughout this crisis, COVID-19 is very real and very contagious, the governor said in a statement. The safety and health of our staff and close contacts is of utmost importance to Pam and me, and we are working closely with the Department of Health to ensure that everyone is well taken care of. We are grateful for your thoughts and support, but the best thing you can do for usand most importantly, for your fellow Virginiansis to take this seriously. Northam, 61, was told late Wednesday that a member of his staff, who works closely within the familys living quarters, had developed symptoms of the new disease before testing positive. Northam and his wife, Pamela Northam, were tested Thursday. They tested positive. Northam is experiencing no symptoms while his wife is dealing with mild symptoms, the governors office said. Both remain in good spirits, it added. The couple will isolate for 10 days but Northam will continue working. Virginias Department of Health is working with the governor to trace people who came into contact with him and his wife. In addition, the Executive Mansion and the Patrick Henry office building was closed Friday to allow for a deep cleaning. COVID-19 severely affects a small percentage of patients, and can cause death. The CCP virus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, primarily causes severe illness in the elderly and otherwise infirm. 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. (NIAID) Symptoms include chills, loss of taste and smell, and fever. The vast majority of patients recover with rest, symptom treatment, or hospital care. A significant percentage of patients experience few or no symptoms, according to health officials. The virus is believed to primarily spread when infected people cough, sneeze, or talk, emitting droplets that can land in the mouth or nose of others nearby, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only three other governors have tested positive for COVID-19. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, tested positive this week, as did his wife, Teresa. I want everybody to know that myself and the first lady are both fine, Parson said in a video posted on Facebook. Right now I feel fine. No symptoms of any kind. But right now we just have to take the quarantine procedures in place. Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tested positive initially for the new disease but later tested negative three times, illustrating the finicky nature of some COVID-19 tests. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, tested positive for COVID-19 over the summer. Half of Ireland is moving in the wrong direction as regards the outbreak of Covid-19. That's according to infectious diseases expert, Professor Sam McConkey, who said the country needed to change how it behaves to reverse that trend. Speaking on Newstalk this morning, Prof McConkey said that strict controls, like those announced for Donegal last night, were the way to get cases down. He said, repeating his comment that Covid was like living with a tiger, that it would come back to bite us as there was no living with it. The term lockdown was too binary, he added. He said: "The situation in Dublin and Donegal was not the same as it had been back in March. Professor Sam McConkey, RCSI "Schools were open, yes there were escalating restrictions, but staying at home was not a confusing piece of advice. He warned that there was no herd immunity for young people and that in Ireland young people had many interactions with the elderly and the idea of keeping them separate was not possible. However, he said he was convinced that we can definitely do this, we just need to do it together. Prof McConkey also called on the Government to consider giving modern mobile phones to the vulnerable so they can download the Covid tracker app. He said that it was clear that "the current app was not adequate," ]as only 1.9m people had downloaded it. It has since been reported that due to issues like battery consumption, thousands of people uninstalled the app. Prof McConkey: People do not have modern enough phones, give them phones that are good enough, expand it more. He said that he hoped that the app could be updated so that more people could access it. Trump's top envoy to travel to Greece, Italy, Vatican and Croatia. The US secretary of state Mike Pompeo will travel to Europe this weekend as part of a week-long trip engaging in high-level talks from 27 September until 2 October. Pompeo will begin his trip in Greece before travelling to Rome where he will meet Italian premier Giuseppe Conte and foreign minister Luigi Di Maio to discuss the "US-Italy bilateral relationship, covid-19 responses, and efforts to confront shared security threats and promote regional stability," according to a statement from the US state department. Pompeo will also deliver remarks at the US embassy to the Holy See symposium on Advancing and Defending Religious Freedom through Diplomacy on 30 September. Pompeo will attend talks in Vatican City with the Holy See's secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin and secretary for relations with states Archbishop Paul Gallagher, before travelling to Croatia on 2 October. This will be the second official trip to Italy for Pompeo, who traces his heritage to the Italian region of Abruzzo. Pompeo's visit to Rome comes after he took the unusual step of tweeting that the Vatican "endangers its moral authority" by considering an extension of its 2018 agreement with China on the nomination of bishops. Three senior Vatican officials, who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the Holy See was "surprised" by Pompeo's comments, saying that although the China deal "was not perfect" it gave the Vatican a "direct channel for dialogue with Beijing after a break of nearly 70 years." Photo credit: Ringo Chiu / Shutterstock.com. Hundreds of farmers sat on protests on the UP-Delhi border on Friday against the farm bills passed by Parliament after they were stopped by police personnel from moving towards the capital, disrupting traffic in Noida and Ghaziabad. A heavy deployment of police personnel in riot gear was made to ward off any disturbance during the protest, a part of the nationwide demonstration against the three farm bills passed during the monsoon session. Some organisations allege the bills are "anti-farmer", but the government argues that the farmers have been "misled" and the bills actually free them to sell their produce outside the APMC mandis. The farmers, who had come on foot, two-wheelers and tractor-trolleys, were stopped by police personnel at Noida Gate in Sector 14A near Chilla border by erecting barricades. Two other groups were stopped at Hapur chungi and Modinagar in Ghaziabad. The farmers, who had gathered under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Union, staged 'panchayats' to discuss their issues after being stopped from moving towards the capital. The panchayats were addressed by regional farm leaders and BKU office-bearers. "Today's protest is part of a bigger statewide and nationwide agitation by farmers against the farm-sector-related bills passed in Parliament recently. The farmers are opposed to these 'black laws'. Our demand is that a law should be made that fixes the MSP as the lowest amount for purchasing crops from farmers," BKU's Meerut Zone president Pawan Khatana told PTI in Noida. In Ghaziabad, the protestors led by BKU's state unit vice president Rajbir Singh and secretary Harendra Nehra submitted a memorandum outlining their demands to Additional District Magistrate (City) Shailendra Kumar. Some members of BKU (Ambawat) staged a protest-march and raised slogans against the bills and handed over a memorandum to Assistant Superintendent of Police Keshav Kumar near Bhopura trisection at Loni road. The gatherings disrupted traffic movement on the key roads in the two neighbouring districts adjoining Delhi. "Police personnel have been deployed at the Noida Gate to check the movement of protesters. The situation is under control. We are talking to the farmers and ensuring no law and order situation arises," Deputy Commissioner of Police, Noida, Rajesh S told PTI. Ghaziabad SP (City) Abhishek Verma said security was beefed up in view of the situation and the law and order was in control. Earlier Friday, the Delhi Police too intensified deployment of personnel along border areas in view of the nationwide protest call given by various farmer associations. Opposition parties and farmers in some states have been opposing the farm bills passed by parliament, calling it "anti-farmer", but the government has assured that the legislation would benefit crop-growers. The Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, now await presidential assent. (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.) If you really want to honour him, implement his inclusive ideology: SC Bose's grandnephew IMF terms PM Modi's 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' an important initiative International oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P Washington, Sep 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for an "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" (self-reliant India) is an important initiative, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. "The economic package under this self-reliant India initiative, which was announced in the aftermath of the coronavirus shock, has supported the Indian economy and mitigated significant downside risks, so we do see that initiative as having been important," Gerry Rice, Director, Communications Department, IMF, told reporters at his fortnightly news conference. Bihar Elections 2020: Dates to be announced at 12.30 pm today Looking ahead, as the prime minister has said, for India to play a more important part in the global economy, pursuing policies that stimulate by improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the economy is critical, he said, responding to a question on Modi's call for an "Aatmanirbhar Bharat". "To achieve the stated 'Make For The World' goal in India, the priority is to remain focused on policies that can help further integrate India in the global value chain, including through trade, investment and technology," Rice said. India hits out at Pakistan for raising Kashmir issue at CICA meet Responding to another question, he said the IMF's joint study with the NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Finance shows that to achieve a high performance in health-related sustainable development goals, India would need to gradually increase its total spending in the healthcare sector from the current 3.7 per cent of the GDP. Bihar poll dates, Sunil Gavaskar stokes controversy & more news | Oneindia News "More generally, beyond the health sector, comprehensive structural reforms are needed to achieve more inclusive and sustainable medium-term growth. "We have talked about those reforms before -- infrastructure, land reforms, product market and labour market reforms, increasing female labour force participation, access to finance and better jobs," Rice said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, September 25, 2020, 9:00 [IST] There could be 7,000 truck-long queues in Kent after the transition period, according to a worst-case scenario presented to MPs (Gareth Fuller/PA) Hauliers will need special permits to gain access to Kent as the Government confirmed controversial plans to create an internal border in an attempt to avoid post-Brexit gridlock. Cabinet minister Michael Gove said the permits could help avoid queues of up to 7,000 trucks seeking to cross the English Channel after the UK leaves the single market and customs union at the end of the year. The Kent Access Permit (KAP) system could be enforced by police or the use of cameras monitoring the number plates of vehicles entering the county at points such as the Dartford Crossing bringing freight from Essex. Expand Close Michael Gove set out the plans for a special permit for lorries to enter Kent (Aaron Chown/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Michael Gove set out the plans for a special permit for lorries to enter Kent (Aaron Chown/PA) Mr Gove, the minister responsible for preparing the UK for leaving the European Unions economic structures, set out the measure as he outlined reasonable worst-case scenarios that could emerge from January 1. A lack of preparation for the end of the transition period could result in as many as 70% of lorries being turned back from France, with thousands of goods vehicles waiting up to 48 hours to reach Dover as a result of the chaos. Mr Gove said the smart freight system was aimed at avoiding that level of congestion. That system has been developed, its being shared with business and we want to make sure that people use a relatively simple process in order to get what will become known as a Kent Access Permit, which means that they can then proceed smoothly through Kent because they do have the material required. If they do not have a permit, Mr Gove said that through policing, ANPR (automatic number-plate recognition) cameras and other means the Government would do its very best to ensure people in Kent are not inconvenienced. When the KAP system was proposed in August, trade body Logistics UK warned it would create an internal UK border by introducing Kent Access Permits, adding more red tape to the work which hauliers will be obliged to comply with. Mr Gove set out details of the Governments worst-case assessment in the House of Commons, telling MPs: The scenario builds on an estimate that only 50% to 70% of large businesses and just 20% to 40% of small and medium-size enterprises would be ready for the strict application of new EU requirements. In those circumstances that could mean between only 30% and 60% of laden HGVs would arrive at the border with the necessary formalities completed for the goods on board. Theyd therefore be turned back by the French border authorities, clogging the Dover to Calais crossing. He said the queues of up to 7,000 HGVs in Kent were likely to subside after businesses learned from seeing their cargo denied access to the continent. But it is clearly far better that everyone is aware now of what is needed to prepare rather than to face additional disruption next year, the Cabinet Office Minister said. A Government survey suggested that only a quarter of businesses are fully ready for the post-Brexit arrangements, Mr Gove said. Labour argued more could have been done to prepare for the start of the new customs arrangements. Shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Rachel Reeves said: It is incredible that ministers are only now admitting to their plans to arrest British truckers for entering Kent without new travel passports. With just over three months to go, how are businesses meant to prepare amid this Conservative carnival of incompetence? Kent Polices Assistant Chief Constable Claire Nix said: Kent Police participated in the consultation related to the Kent Access Permit and is continuing to engage with the Government and other partners within the Kent Resilience Forum on how it will be enforced. This forms part of our ongoing work to keep Kent moving in the event of traffic disruption following the end of the EU transition period. Mr Goves announcement came as the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier was in London for informal trade talks. Downing Street warned time was running out to reach a post-Brexit trade deal which could be in place by the end of the year. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said: We do still believe that it is possible to get a deal but we need to make progress because time is obviously running out. Boris Johnson has said he wants a deal done by the time of the European Council summit of the blocs leaders on October 15. A Government spokesperson said: We are prioritising the smooth movement of outbound HGVs over 7.5 tonnes through Kent to prevent unnecessary queues at the border. HGV drivers, or those acting on their behalf, will be able to follow a simple process to get a Kent Access Permit using the newly-developed Smart Freight webservice. We have been engaging with industry on this for some time and we will set out more detail on this shortly. Rita Moisson draws blood from Robin Gaven, a secretary, at the Las Virgenes Unified School District headquarters in Calabasas. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) California is expected to see an 89% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the next month amid growing signs that the spread of the coronavirus may be intensifying again, state officials announced Friday. The proportion of Californians testing positive for the virus continues to remain low at 3% over the last two weeks, and the total number of COVID-19 patients in the states hospitals continues to decline, said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the states health and human services secretary. But he said that some other metrics are prompting concern that a feared uptick in the virus' spread, which public health officials said was possible in the wake of the Labor Day holiday and more businesses reopening, may be materializing. Many regions have seen a slight increase in the rate of cases per 100,000 residents, and COVID-19-related emergency room visits have trended upward over the last week in virtually all areas of the state, Ghaly said. The number of new hospital admissions has also crept upwards, and that means that overall, were seeing more admissions than we did the day or week prior for COVID-19 in some of our hospital systems across the state, he said. Based on the current conditions, he said, the state is now forecasting that 4,864 people will be hospitalized with COVID-19 by Oct. 25, an increase of roughly 89% from Wednesday, when there were 2,578 patients. Californias hospitals can handle the patient volume at its peak in July, more than 7,100 people were hospitalized due to COVID-19. But October marks the start of the flu season, adding an additional layer of concern, Ghaly said. Weve never done COVID hospitalizations with flu hospitalizations, and ... we see things coming together that we want to make sure were very vigilant around, to ensure that even if we go up a little bit with our hospitalizations, we dont continue to have high rates and even come close to the numbers that we saw over the summer, he said. Story continues He urged people to wear face coverings, avoid gathering with people from outside their households and get flu shots. "Todays message is hopeful that all of you as reporters will help us communicate that indeed there is concern and we have the tools to reduce transmission," Ghaly said, "and by doing these simple things we can hopefully bring these early trends of increase back down and help us get back to where we were just a week or two ago." The forecast comes as coronavirus cases in California topped 800,000 on Friday, according to The Times' tracker, another milestone in a state that is leading the nation in infections. Still, Americas most populous state ranks much lower after adjusting for population. Home to 12% of the country's population, thus far California has accounted for roughly 11% of the country's coronavirus cases, according to The Times' tracker. California topped 15,000 COVID-19 deaths earlier this week, a toll comparable with that of Texas, which was reporting 15,267 fatalities as of Wednesday. But that number remains far below that of New York, which has recorded more than 33,000 deaths. New Jersey has reported more than 16,000 coronavirus-related deaths. Florida on Friday surpassed 14,000 deaths, reaching 14,083. Earlier this week, the state announced that nail salons across California could reopen. Ghaly said Tuesday that state officials have worked with business sector leaders and county officials to ensure that nail salons can operate indoors in low-risk environments. In some parts of the state, salons have been operating outdoors . It is ultimately up to individual counties to allow businesses and other sectors to reopen after being given the green light by the state. Los Angeles County , for example, has refrained from allowing operations to resume at indoor malls, despite having the states permission to do so. County health officials have said that such changes will not come until late September, at the earliest, after data that would show whether there has been a Labor Day infection surge and the effects of the states new reopenings are assessed. But overall, the decline in cases has allowed more sectors of California to slowly reopen. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said the next few weeks will be crucial if the city wants to see more reopenings. Los Angeles County is in Tier 1 , which means schools and many businesses are closed. To progress through the tier system, a county must meet certain thresholds for two consecutive weeks. The mayor urged Angelenos to try to keep numbers low so the county can move into the new tier in early October. In recent weeks, L.A. County officials have reported a decline in the number of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths. The countys daily case count is seven cases per 100,000 residents, and the seven-day average positivity rate is 3% a notable drop from a reported 8% in July. But over the last week, the number of cases has increased slightly, and the projected transmission rate has crept past 1% to 1.02%. Its possible those numbers are early indicators that there will be a spike in infections related to Labor Day weekend activity, but officials are not sure yet. And as the state numbers continue to climb, there are still concerns California could be reopening too quickly. Santa Clara County's health officer, Dr. Sara Cody, told supervisors this week that care is still needed. Remember, were still at significant amounts of COVID spread, and we dont want to make the mistake that we collectively made earlier where we went a little bit too fast and then spent the summer with quite a bit of COVID transmission, Cody said. Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report. WASHINGTON - Just before school on Tuesday, as she does every morning, 8-year-old Ixel Blandon McIntire sat down to a laminated list of seven three-word sentences. "I am kind," read the second-grader, who is a special-needs student, as her mother followed along over her shoulder. "I am good. I am smart." Then the fourth, her favorite of the "self-affirmations" Mom asked her to come up with: "I," Ixel said firmly, "like school." That was not true just a few months earlier. Throughout the spring, Ixel struggled to learn online at a tiny kitchen table inside her parents' 850-square-foot suburban Virginia home, while Mom and Dad worked nearby. The second-grader's learning disability makes it difficult to focus, so she got almost nothing done, despite the best efforts of her Arlington Public Schools teachers - and neither did her parents. But now, Ixel was sitting in a miniature green-and-white wooden schoolhouse, set on cinder blocks just to the side of the McIntires' home. Her school-provided iPad rested on a desk painted hot-pink. Her long red hair, split into two high ponytails, glimmered in the light that filtered through the rainbow-colored, semitransparent ceiling. In one corner sat a child-sized stuffed teddy bear: Ixel's reading nook. The shed - which Ixel calls her "Rainbow Elementary School" - was the result of months of labor by her father (helped by Ixel and her mother), who built the 8-by-12-foot structure from scratch. And John McIntire paid almost nothing: In a collaborative process that the McIntires and their neighbors said provided a lifesaving dose of community and cheer, the entire neighborhood came together to crowdsource the supplies he needed, whether spare wood, old paint or greenhouse-style windows cast aside during a neighbor's renovation. "You know when the Amish community gets together to build a barn? How they all show up and help and are supportive?" said Susan Thompson-Gaines, 54, who lives close by the McIntires. "It was pretty much like that." Ivanna Hardman, 38, who lives a half-mile's walk from the Rainbow Elementary School, said helping build the McIntires' schoolhouse - she contributed wood for Ixel's desk - changed how she sees her neighborhood. "Before we were just here, and we didn't know anyone," Hardman said. "But through building this school, we started interacting with each other, and bonding." Recently, Hardman said, some neighbors got together to bring food to a pregnant woman. Right after that, another group of residents donated toys to a family whose son had broken his leg. "It's become this community now," she said, "and that's our community school." McIntire said people used to stroll by their home and pause to wonder at a food truck, "Mac's Donuts," which the couple shut down last spring due to the pandemic (although they have recently revived it). Now, McIntire said, the main attraction is the schoolhouse. Passersby spot the rainbow roof and stop to ask questions: What is that? You actually built it yourself? Some, McIntire said, walk away with their own plans to construct a schoolhouse. He and his wife, Ixi Barrios Blandon, have made new friends this way. "Originally the only point of this was Ixel's learning," Blandon said. "And then it became fun." Inside, Ixel does not notice any of it. From the moment she sets foot in the Rainbow Elementary School, the 8-year-old is zeroed in on school. Blandon insisted that the inside of the building be painted pure white - and that the only windows sit six feet up - to prevent distractions. On Tuesday morning, Ixel rose with the rest of her class, identifiable only as small rectangles on a video call, to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Her mom, whose turn it was to observe online school (McIntire and Blandon trade shifts), rose, too. "One-nation-indivisible-with-liberty-and-justice-for-all," Ixel mumbled in a rush, then sat back down to continue sketching a butterfly as her teacher explained that the class would learn how to use three new iPad apps that day. Seconds too late, McIntire walked over from the house and poked his head inside to offer his daughter a small American flag, attached to a wooden stick with turquoise tape. "Gosh, we don't have any heat in here, do we," McIntire said, shrugging his shoulders as he ducked back into the chilly September air. "Gotta figure that out. That's next month." Even if it is a little cold, Rainbow Elementary feels like real school, Ixel said later. It helps that the family keeps a large trampoline adjacent to the shed. During breaks, Ixel heads straight outside to exercise away her excess energy, just as she used to do on the playground at recess. Watching her bounce, McIntire said he never expected this level of success when he first posted in a neighborhood "Buy Nothing" Facebook group over the summer. "Looking for scrap wood," he wrote in July. "The goal is [to] build a shed to use as a schoolhouse this year." McIntire knew he would not be able to buy a shed - online research revealed that would cost at least $2,500. It had hurt to lose the food truck income, and Blandon's work as a project manager for a translation company had slowed because of the pandemic. McIntire had kept his job working with the Peace Corps, but the family could not afford to spend several thousand building a schoolhouse. Then the offers began flooding in: Someone had cinder blocks. Someone else had an extra door. Still another person was looking to get rid of their spare buckets of black paint. Late in the summer, Thompson-Gaines dropped by the McIntires' house with a surprise: Four cups, decorated with a special, customized "Rainbow Elementary School" slogan. Two of them read "STAFF," for McIntire and Blandon. Two of them read "STUDENT" - for Ixel. McIntire finished building the schoolhouse just before class began on Sept. 8. By then, dozens of neighbors were tracking every update the family shared in the Facebook group. McIntire's last post, revealing the finished building, drew hundreds of likes and comments. "It's so beautiful," one person wrote. "I'm so glad you posted a picture," wrote another. "I was wondering how it was going to turn out." When the news gets too depressing, Blandon said, she and her husband return to these comments, scrolling slowly. It makes them feel better, she said. McIntire said the "Buy Nothing" Facebook group is the only reason he is still on the social media site. And he has a favorite comment: "One lady posted something like, 'If I get a husband I hope he's just like you,' " McIntire said, glancing at his wife. "I'm pretty handy, huh?" Blandon rolled her eyes and turned away, but she was smiling. She looked at her daughter, still flying through the air on the trampoline. "Two more minutes of bouncing, then back to school," she said. "OK!" Ixel called back. And she smiled. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- While their health care colleagues risked their lives on the front lines of the coronavirus fight, two medical workers on Staten Island used the pandemic to steal from the afflicted, authorities allege. Nurse Danielle Conti, 43, and EMS worker Firuz Barotov, 19, were arraigned in Criminal Court in St. George on Friday after being accused of stealing and using credit cards from COVID-19 patients in unrelated cases. Conti, of Grace Drive in Old Bridge, N.J., allegedly stole a credit card from a dying patient at Staten Island University Hospital in April, the Advance/SILive.com previously reported. One last call for alcohol could come a little later for some Michigan bars under legislation approved in the state House Thursday. Lawmakers voted 77-27 to approve House Bill 4213, which would let bars and restaurants with on-premises liquor licenses stay open until 4 a.m. if their local government body votes to allow late-night liquor sales. If 4 a.m. closing times were allowed in their community, bar owners would have to apply for a late-night permit with the Michigan Liquor Control Commission and pay an annual fee of $250 under the bill, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Berman, R-Commerce Township. In 2014, similar legislation was approved by the Michigan Senate. Related: Michigan bars could stay open until 4 a.m. under Senate-passed bill The concept isnt new although most states require bars to close at 2 a.m. or earlier, some states and major metropolitan areas allow for later last calls. During a June House Regulatory Reform Committee hearing, Berman told lawmakers the legislation would give local governments another tool to help their businesses as they cope with staying afloat amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an opt-in, local control bill, he said at the time. I think it would bring in extra revenue to these businesses. Although the idea earned bipartisan support in the House this week, some groups, including the Michigan Council on Alcohol Problems and Michigan Alcohol Policy Promoting Health and Safety are opposed to the concept. To become law, the legislation would need to be passed by the Michigan Senate and signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev lashed out at Armenia in a video speech delivered at a session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday. Aliyev called on the international community to help end Armenian occupation of Karabakh and surrounding lands. Armenia is trying to disrupt the peace process, he charged. Its aim is to preserve the status quo and annex the occupied territories. Aliyev again alleged that Armenia is preparing for a new war against Azerbaijan. He also repeated his earlier claims that the United States, Russia and France are not doing enough to resolve the conflict in their capacity as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian hit back at Aliyev on Friday. Pashinian said that Baku itself is keeping the negotiating process in deadlock by rejecting any settlement that would not restore Azerbaijani control over Karabakh. Meeting with visiting Karabakh officials in Yerevan, Pashinian again complained that Aliyev has not reciprocated his repeated calls for a compromise peace deal acceptable to the people of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Karabakh. And he stressed that Baku cannot clinch unilateral Armenian concessions with its threats to end the conflict by military force. Pashinian further dismissed allegations by a government-linked Azerbaijani media outlet that he privately promised to make such concessions shortly after coming to power in 2018. I wouldnt advise our Azerbaijani colleagues to do go down that path because if we start spreading confidential information Im afraid the internal political situation will be destabilized as a result, he warned. Meanwhile, the Armenian Foreign Ministry laughed off Aliyevs strong criticism of Yerevans human rights record and claims that Pashinian is persecuting his political opponents. The ministry spokeswoman, Anna Naghdalian, said that both Armenia and Karabakh are run by democratically elected governments that have a popular mandate to negotiate with legitimate representatives of the Azerbaijani people. Ilham Aliyev, who inherited power from his father and shares it within a single family, is not such a leader, Naghdalian said in a statement. She said that Aliyev leads a repressive regime that takes every opportunity, including the COVID-19 pandemic, to plunder and silence its own people. Aliyev similarly blamed the Armenian side late last week for the current deadlock in the peace process. He said Yerevans provocative actions and statements make further peace talks meaningless. The Armenian Foreign Ministry deplored his baseless and false claims. The U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group met in Paris and spoke by phone with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers on September 14. In a joint statement, the mediators said they invited the ministers to meet individually with the Co-Chairs in person in the coming weeks to further clarify their respective positions, with the aim of resuming serious substantive negotiations without preconditions. Aliyev already threatened to pull out of meaningless negotiations with Armenia in early July. A few days later heavy fighting broke out at a western section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. It lasted for about a week, leaving at least 17 soldiers from both sides dead. You might think if police officers who had just heard gunfire pulled you over in the early morning hours and found two handguns, ammunition, cannabis and a bundle of cash in your vehicle, you would be arrested and booked. And you almost assuredly would be right. Unless you are a juvenile roaming the streets of Albuquerque after midnight. In that case, depending on your record, its just as likely the officers who found your stash of drugs, weapons and money would be told to track down your parents and release you into their custody. And chances are pretty good the public including people who heard gunshots ringing out in their neighborhood will never know anything about your case. Welcome to the new and increasingly opaque world of juvenile justice in New Mexico, where detention of juveniles is frowned on by the states Children, Youth and Families Department and where battery has ranked as the number one juvenile offense in the past two years, knocking drug-related offenses out of the top spot. And while overall juvenile crime has declined along with the juvenile population, the incidence of violent crime hasnt. Kids have always been very resourceful about getting guns, said Diana Garcia, who oversees Bernalillo County District Attorneys Office prosecutions in Childrens Court. Our caseload is predominately felonies at this point were seeing guns all over the place. Since October, police and sheriffs officers have been required by CYFD to get juvenile probation officers to sign off in advance if they want to arrest and book a juvenile into the countys Youth Services Center. Thats what happened in the guns, drugs and cash scenario described above which played out near Louisiana and Montgomery on Aug. 15. An internal APD crime alert obtained by the Journal said the probation officer a CYFD employee turned thumbs down on booking the suspects and that without Juvenile Probations blessing to make an arrest, the juveniles were released to their parents. Booking a juvenile is typically saved for the most dangerous offenders, according to CYFD, which says the state law favors rehabilitation and detention alternatives. Detaining juveniles in a secure facility to stress the importance of a criminal action is akin to the old scared-straight mentality, that if you show them the inside of a detention center that theyre never going to do it again, said Nick Costales, deputy director of CYFDs juvenile justice field services. His boss, CYFD Cabinet Secretary Brian Blalock, told legislators last year that one of CYFDs goals is to prevent juveniles from entering the juvenile justice system. And Steve Johnson, executive director of New Day Youth & Family Services, said the deeper you get into the juvenile justice system, the more likely you are to come back. What do the officers on the street think? We make a good arrest, we get two kids with drugs and guns off the street, for a second, then were told we cant incarcerate them so were just going to let them go, said Shaun Willoughby, president of the Albuquerque police union. And what happened after the Aug. 15 incident? Who knows? APD released an incident report but redacted the names of the juveniles, saying the names were withheld because the individuals were accused but not charged with a crime, an exception allowed under the public records law. The press and public have access to proceedings in serious criminal cases in Childrens Court. But prosecutors say that since possession of a handgun and possession of narcotics with intent to distribute are misdemeanors in the juvenile context, its not likely formal charges would be filed by CYFD, which screens the cases. And even if charges are filed, the public doesnt know the names so it cant follow the process. So how accurate and effective is the assessment tool probation officers use to make these decisions over the phone? Is the strategy of keeping juvenile offenders out of the detention center making inroads on juvenile crime, or adding to it? Should a gun-wielding 17-year-old with drug dealer amounts of narcotics and cash face stiffer consequences? Should patrol officers have to track down parents once CYFD nixes detention? CYFD officials will be in front of legislative committees in the near future. Our elected representatives need answers. 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. Lillian White was approaching year two of her teaching career at Great Hearts Western Hills charter school in San Antonio, but her time was cut short. A week before students were set to return to class, White was fired for her refusal to stop wearing homemade masks that displayed phrases like "Black Lives Matter" and "Silence is Violence," according to KENS 5's Zack Briggs and Adam Pyle. It was really stressful because I have a financial obligation to help support my family. Its also kind of heartbreaking that this is the kind of this is the reason that I lost my job," she said. White told KENS 5 she started attending weekly in-person training sessions at work back in July, and at first, no one besides teachers inquiring about masks for themselves said anything about her facial coverings. On Friday, that changed. BLM CONTROVERSY: Texas teacher reinstated after BLM, LGBTQ virtual posters controversy Wed like you to stop wearing these masks anymore, parents will be coming around more and we dont discuss the current political climate, White told Briggs and Pyle, citing a text message she received from her school's assistant principal. White continued to wear the masks. In an emailed statement to KENS, Great Hearts Texas superintendent Daniel Scoggin said the district's policy requires facial coverings with no external messages. "Great Hearts was founded and exists today to serve the innate dignity and worth of every human being," the statement read, in part, as reported by Briggs and Pyles. "We stand with the Black community and all who are suffering. Great Hearts is committed to an America where racism, violence, and injustice do not happen, because such acts find no home in the hearts of a great people. Despite losing her job, White remains committed to the cause surrounding Black Lives Matter and is "still trying to get [the school] to enact some kind of anti-racism action plan." (CNN) Two people were seriously injured in a knife attack Friday near the former offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the site of a 2015 terrorist attack, the Paris police told CNN. The two victims are in a serious condition but their lives are not in danger, according to the police spokesperson. Police had previously said there were four people wounded in the attack. One person has now been arrested near Place de la Bastille, in Paris's 11th district, but the police said it was not yet clear if they were the suspected attacker. The victims are employees of French documentary production company Premieres Lignes, the firm's founder Paul Moreira told BFM TV. Moreira said it "all happened very quickly" and that "a few blows were given to the two people in front of the office." Moreira said the victims were attacked with a "sort of cleaver." French Prime Minister Jean Castex cut short an event in the Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis in the wake of the incident. "An armed attack was carried out in the 11th arrondissement of Paris in front of the old Charlie Hebdo office," he said. A perimeter has been set up around the area. The stabbing comes amid a trial of suspects alleged to have been accomplices to a series of January 2015 terrorist attacks which began with a massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices and ended with a siege at a kosher supermarket two days later. The suspects are accused of having provided logistical support to the perpetrators brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, and their accomplice Amedy Coulibaly and face charges of participating in a terrorist criminal association. A total of 17 people were killed in the 2015 attacks, which took place in the French capital over three days. Twelve of those were murdered when the Kouachi brothers forced their way into the Charlie Hebdo building and opened fire during its editorial meeting on January 7. The victims included the magazine's editor, Stephane "Charb" Charbonnier, several cartoonists and columnists, and a protection officer assigned to protect Charb, who had been the target of threats over the magazine's publication, in 2006, of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. The following day, January 8, policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe was shot dead by Coulibaly in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge. On January 9, Coulibaly took several people hostage at a kosher superrmarket in the eastern Paris suburb of Porte de Vincennes. Four hostages were killed. Coulibaly was killed by police when they moved in to end the siege and rescue 15 other hostages. The Kouachi brothers were shot dead by police in a separate operation in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, the same day. To mark the start of the trial earlier this month, Charlie Hebdo republished the controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, along with a tribute to the employees who lost their lives in 2015. In a statement, the magazine described the cartoons as "part of history, and one cannot rewrite history, neither can it be erased." Gaelle Fournier in Paris and Niamh Kennedy in London contributed to this report. This story was first published on CNN.com "Two injured in Paris knife attack near Charlie Hebdo's former office" STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Markham Intermediate School (I.S. 51) in Graniteville said that the Department of Educations allegation that approximately 50 staff members needed to quarantine because coronavirus social-distancing guidelines were not followed is completely untrue, according to a statement posted on the schools website. We followed all appropriate social distancing and meeting guidelines to make sure we are ready to do remote learning as well as accept students the first day of in person learning, the letter reads. The staff members needed to quarantine as a precaution after coming into contact with a positive coronavirus case during a meeting at the school cafeteria, the Advance/SILive.com previously reported. The school statement indicates Markham officials did not know the meeting -- due to its length -- could risk increased quarantine orders in the event of a positive test until speaking with Health Department contact tracers. There has only been one positive test reported at the school. "Our strict safety protocols immediately identified a positive case at I.S. 51 and a Test + Trace investigation quickly identified close contacts. Our social distancing protocols, which were unfortunately not followed by school staff, are designed to prevent this scenario and this will be addressed, DOE Deputy Press Secretary Nathaniel Styer said in a statement Thursday. A total of 43 staff members attended the meeting, but measures were taken to protect them, the schools letter contends. Staff were assigned seating to make sure each person was more than 6 feet apart from one another and all staff wore masks the entire time. It wasnt until I spoke with the DOE and the contact tracers from the Department of Health did I learn that any meeting lasting more than 30 minutes would require everyone in the room with the identified person with a positive test to quarantine even if all safety protocols were followed, which they were, the statement reads. The author of the statement is the schools principal Nick Mele, the Advance/SILive.com confirmed. The DOE maintains that social distancing was not reliably followed at all times. This is not new guidance we have been clear that a classroom pod would be quarantined regardless of mask wearing or social distancing, and that is what happened here via a large meeting, Styer said in a statement Friday. During the course of a Test + Trace investigation a series of questions are asked to determine the extent of exposure including questions about the length of time a space was shared, and whether or not social distancing is consistently followed based on the answers we received, it was determined social distancing was not reliably followed at all times. In the very early stages of the pandemic, Mele garnered attention when he issued a letter to parents coming forward with his own coronavirus diagnosis. As always, I want to be open and transparent, and I want to let you know that it is me, said Mele in the March announcement. I am going to get through this, as I know all of us will. I hope all of you are feeling well, but please take this seriously. A message left at the school Friday morning was not returned. Longford residents are the second least law-abiding in Ireland, and most likely to be sent to prison after Limerick residents, new statistics have revealed. Figures from the Irish Prison Service show that 7,170 people were imprisoned in 2019, an increase of 10.5% on 2018 figures. The highest rate of imprisonment occurred in Limerick, with 219 people jailed for every 100,000 of its population. Longford's rate stood at 203 per 100,000, making it the second highest rate in the country. A total of 83 people were imprisoned from Longford last year, which is an increase of 38% on the previous year. In 2019, a total of eight females and 75 males were imprisoned from Longford. The previous year, 2018, a total of 60 people from Longford were imprisoned, eight of which were female and 52 male. For more on this, see next week's Longford Leader. Candace Owens has said that black Republican Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has been 'racially attacked by the left' since announcing the grand jury decision in the Breonna Taylor case. Cameron, 34, revealed on Wednesday that no murder charges would be brought against the Louisville police officers in connection with Taylor's death. But this has now thrust him into the national spotlight and made him the target of abuse, Owens told Tucker Carlson Tonight. Republican Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (pictured) has been 'racially attacked by the left' since announcing the grand jury's decision in the Breonna Taylor shooting investigation, Candace Owens has said Watch the latest video at foxnews.com Fox News Privacy Policy 'For me, it's absolutely infuriating to watch. I've been on the receiving end of the same sort of attack,' the author and activist said. 'Here's what's so fundamentally wrong and backwards about it... if you actually look at what they are saying and what the deeper implications are here, it's there is a right way, a correct way and a wrong way to be Black. 'Ironically, that's the very definition of racism and it's coming from the liberals who like to say that they see racism everywhere but they can't recognize it when it's coming out of their own mouth.' No murder charges have been brought against the Louisville police officers in connection with the death of Breonna Taylor (pictured) She added that Cameron 'did the right thing by ignoring the various pressures coming from culture and the mainstream media and for that you are seeing him being socially lynched and stripped of his identity because he acted professionally and rationally. 'This guy should be commended by both sides and instead he's being attacked racially by the left,' she said. Cameron, who is the commonwealth's first Black attorney general, is also the first Republican to hold the position in more than 70 years. Earlier this week, a Kentucky grand jury brought charges against one of three officers involved in the raid on Taylor's apartment that saw her shot dead by police in front of her boyfriend on March 13. Officer Brett Hankison, who was fired in the aftermath of the shooting, was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, Cameron said at the news conference. Officer Brett Hankison, who was fired in the aftermath of the shooting, was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment The charges stem from Hankison's bullets travelling into a neighboring apartment when he and two other officers opened fire. They do not relate to the shooting death of Taylor. Charges of wanton endangerment are brought when a person is found to have recklessly engaged in conduct, without concern for human life, that puts a person at risk of death or serious injury. 'A person is guilty of wanton endangerment in the first degree when, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person,' state law says. Wanton endangerment in Kentucky is a class D felony and can bring up to five years in prison. Hankison, who was indicted on three counts, could potentially face up to 15 years. Earlier this year, Joe Biden spoke to the media via video chat from his home in Wilmington, Del. (CNN) President Trumps attacks on Joe Bidens mental state are cruel, unsubstantiated and detestable. But theyre also effective. With the president pounding the dementia message into voters heads steadily for months, its no surprise that many Democrats and independents are now secretly worried about what will happen when the two presidential candidates finally meet in person at Tuesdays debate in Cleveland. Perhaps the former vice president really has been in a decline! Maybe he has been hiding in his basement! Sleepy Joe doesnt know where he is or what hes doing, Trump has said repeatedly. The Democratic nominee doesnt know hes alive. Hes weak, hes tired, and if he wins in November, Trump says, theyre going to put him into a home and other people are going to be running the country. Trumps attack dogs have amplified the message. Sean Hannity says Bidens in a rapid state of decline. Tucker Carlson says he has clearly lost it. A conservative columnist in Boston called him a few fries short of a Happy Meal. These are not empty taunts or throwaway insults theyre part of a concerted campaign strategy to frighten voters about Bidens mental health. The result? According to a Rasmussen Reports poll from the end of June the latest Ive seen on the subject 38% of all voters and 20% of Democrats believe Biden has dementia. But now, its time for the real test. At Tuesdays debate, Bidens cognitive condition will be on public display for all to see. He will not be scripted or protected by handlers, as he was during the convention. Trump will undoubtedly be on the attack, unburdened by either civility or honesty. So let the show begin. Now I dont want to be naive. Biden, 77, would be the oldest president ever inaugurated, and he has no doubt slowed down in recent years, whatever that means. He still stumbles over words (which defenders often attribute to the remnants of a childhood stutter) and sometimes gets numbers wrong. Weve all seen the word flubs like the time he called himself an OBiden-Bama Democrat instead of an Obama-Biden Democrat. Story continues On the other hand, hes acquitted himself well in the race so far. His performance at the Democratic convention was strong and effective, though most of that was following a script. He performed well in his one-on-one debate with Bernie Sanders in March; that was heartening. I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man Im running against, Biden said earlier this year. Im looking forward to it too. For one thing, I want to reassure myself. But I frankly find it hard to imagine that the Biden Ive been watching will crumble under Trumps jabs, no matter how far below the belt he hits. Three additional points: First, as a matter of pure political strategy, Trump may have set the bar too low. If voters expect a candidate who doesnt know where he is and belongs in a home, all Biden will have to do is walk unassisted onto the stage wearing his underwear beneath rather than over his pants and he will have passed the test set for him. Im not saying thats what we want in a candidate. Just that the bar is low. Second, lets remember this isnt a referendum on Biden but a comparative race. Plenty of voters would vastly prefer an aging and even declining Biden to Trump operating at 100%. Biden has empathy, four decades of political experience, smart people around him and Trump, even at his intellectual zenith, would have been an abysmal president. Third, Trump is the last person who should be calling anyone old or inarticulate or out of it. Only 3 years younger than Biden, he currently holds the record for oldest president ever inaugurated. Last week, he confused herd mentality with herd immunity. In speaking, he is digressive, babbling, imprecise, solipsistic. Consider this remarkable answer to a softball from Hannity about his top priorities for a second term: Well, one of the things that will be really great, you know, the word experience is still good. I always say talent is more important than experience. Ive always said that. But the word experience is a very important word. Its a very important meaning. I never did this before I never slept over in Washington. I was in Washington I think 17 times, all of the sudden, Im president of the United States. You know the story. Im riding down Pennsylvania Avenue with our first lady and I say, This is great. But I didnt know very many people in Washington, it wasnt my thing. I was from Manhattan.... Joel Benenson, former chief pollster for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (and a former colleague of mine in both newspapers and politics), says Biden doesnt need to be on the defensive at the debate. Bidens job is to drive the message that is the foundation of his campaign, Benenson says. In 2016, Trump was the anti-establishment candidate. Now hes the owner of a pandemic thats killed more than 200,000 Americans. Bidens got to hold him accountable as uncaring, lacking in empathy and compassion, and unable to unite the country at a time when people are hungry for that. God, would I love to see that. I believe it matters a great deal to voters to see Biden take on this president clearly, cogently and forcefully on the great moral, political and economic challenges that face our country. If he can do that, Donald Trump will be defeated. Twitter: @Nick_Goldberg Autopsy backlogs are a sad symptom of Manitoba's stretched-thin system, one health-care union says. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/9/2020 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Autopsy backlogs are a sad symptom of Manitoba's stretched-thin system, one health-care union says. Bob Moroz, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, said Thursday he wasn't aware of delays in conducting autopsies in the province until families' concerns were brought to light in the Free Press this week. However, he said, there have been "whispers for quite some time. There are backlogs across the system." "In this case, it's very sad, but it's not terribly surprising," he added. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. There's been a spike in autopsies in recent months, Shared Health previously confirmed to the Free Press. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there is more of a need to conduct complex death investigations, which must all be completed in Winnipeg. That's meant delays of more than 10 days in a handful of cases. Moroz said he feels for families who have had to delay funerals as they wait for autopsies to be performed, saying it's the result of chronic understaffing across the provincial health-care system. The union doesn't represent pathologists in Manitoba, but counts more than a dozen autopsy technical assistants among its 6,600 members. "When you see a situation like this, it really, really comes to the fore," Moroz said. "That's when Manitobans are able to see just how thin our health-care system is." The union has a regularly scheduled meeting with Shared Health set for Friday. Moroz said he plans to ask the provincial health agency for answers about the autopsy delays. katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay TICKERS: RHC Source: Streetwise Reports (9/24/20) Small cap Royal Helium holds the second largest helium land position in North America. The price of helium has gone sky high over the last few years, and Royal Helium Ltd. (RHC:TSX.V), a small-cap helium pure play, is positioned to take advantage. In a July 29 report on helium, Cormark Securities analyst Michael Mueller noted that "rapidly increasing demand for helium from a variety of high-growth sectors has brought some spectacular price increases for this coveted noble gas. We see the emerging North American helium sector as an exciting opportunity for investors to gain exposure to small-cap companies that are leveraging conventional oil and gas expertise, and in some cases exploiting existing natural gas discoveries, to tap into the tremendous economics offered by helium extraction." Royal Helium is one of five companies Cormark highlighted in the report. Helium, an inert gas, is produced by the decay of uranium and thorium, and much of it is produced as a byproduct of conventional natural gas production. Saskatchewan has lots of uraniumthe Athabasca Basin in the north is one of the world's premier uranium depositsbut helium is such a small molecule it escapes from nearly everywhere and ends up in the atmosphere. "However, an area in southern Saskatchewan has a thick shale cap that traps the helium gas beneath it and prevents it from percolating up through the ground and out into the air and then into outer space. And that helium is available in economic quantities," Royal Helium CEO Andrew Davidson told Streetwise Reports. And that area in southern Saskatchewan is where Royal Helium has been acquiring land. The company is the second largest helium landholder in North America and Saskatchewan's largest home-grown holder of helium permits and leases: it has acquired 205,417 hectares and has applied for an additional 164,068. Drilling helium is the same as drilling any other natural gas well, Davidson said. "The nice thing about helium drilling in Saskatchewan is its simplicity. There's no horizontal drilling or fracking; it's just old fashioned conventional vertical wells. The only difference is that we have to go deeper: 2,500 meters is the depth of hole here." Royal Helium has conducted seismic and magnetic surveys, focusing on two areas initially, Climax and Bengough, and has identified seven drill targets at Climax and five at Bengough. Davidson said, "Now we need to actually go in there and poke some holes in the ground and see what comes out." Once a well is drilled, a purification system is installed on site. "There are mobile facilities that you can move from site to site, and there are permanent facilities. Those are both options for us, but initially, we are going to use the mobile technology. They come as a series of Sea-Can shipping containers that you plumb into the wellbore and it processes the gas. From there, you truck it to wherever you have sold it, or to further upgrading if required," Davidson explained. The gas on Royal Helium's land also contains nitrogen. "We plan to capture the nitrogen as a byproduct and concentrate it and turn it into fertilizer," Davidson said. The technology to convert nitrogen into urea for fertilizer exists and Royal believes it can be bolted on to any permanent facility that it eventually builds. This would add a second revenue stream to the company and would serve to increase cash flows from production. The company is looking to begin drilling shortly and now is in the process of raising capital. "We are out financing and expect to have that done in the next month or so," Davidson said. "That gives us October to get all of our permits, have everything lined up and start building the drill sites, and then we'd like to be in the ground by November 1." Cormark analyst Michael Mueller wrote on July 29 that the sale of Royal Helium's "raw helium gas is expected to bring in prices of ~US$250/Mcf (~$340/Mcf) while operating expenses are assumed to be ~$30/Mcf based on data from actual helium wells in the area. With wells to cost ~$1.5-2.0 MM per well and assuming rates of ~3 MMcf/d and 1% helium, a single well can be expected to payout in under one year. Also of note, using actual declines from helium wells in Saskatchewan, management expects wells drilled on its lands to have a useful life of ~10 years." Royal Helium would be entering the market at a time of exponential increases in the price of helium. Statistics are hard to come by, but the last publicly available price put out by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management noted that from 2017 to 2018, helium increased from $119 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) to $280/Mcf. "We've heard reports lately of $500 to $1,000 per Mcf in the spot market," Davidson said. What's behind helium's rise? "The primary purpose of helium is a superconductor/industrial coolant. It remains liquid at near absolute zero, the lowest melting point of anything on the planet," Davidson explained. It's largest use is in healthcare, as a coolant in MRI machines. In addition, the inert gas is used in lots of high-tech applications in growth industries, such as in the manufacture of microchips, semiconductors, LCD screens and fiber optics. Helium is also used in space travel and rocketry. Source: Edison Investment Research Helium demand is rising at a time when supply has decreased. The U.S. used to be the largest seller of helium in the world through the National Helium Reserve, but with dwindling production of natural gas through conventional wells in the U.S., the helium byproduct supply has decreased, and the U.S. government ceased selling helium in 2018. Much of U.S. natural gas production is now through shale wells, which does not contain associated helium. "Right now most of helium production is coming from Russia and Qatar, which are still producing natural gas through conventional wells," Davidson said. "There are projects in Russia and Qatar that are meant to come online in the next couple of years, which will bring helium's supply and demand closer to balance, but that doesn't do anything for companies that are looking to secure North American sources for helium." Royal Helium has about 56 million shares issued and outstanding, and around 79 million fully diluted. Approximately 35% are closely held by management and insiders. [NLINSERT] Disclosure: 1) Patrice Fusillo compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Royal Helium. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. 4) The article does not constitute investment advice. 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Furthermore, Cormark makes no undertaking whatsoever to provide subsequent commentary on these stocks. Forward-looking statements and analysis in this publication are preliminary in nature and are based on publicly available information. The information contained in this publication is drawn from sources believed to be reliable, but the accuracy or completeness of the information is not guaranteed, nor in providing it does Cormark and/or affiliated persons assume any responsibility or liability whatsoever. This publication is not to be construed as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Cormark may participate in an underwriting of, have a position in the securities mentioned herein and may, as principal or agent, buy and sell such products. Old railway tracks may now be used to restrict or divert movement of elephants in south Bengal. The West Bengal government is planning to set up fences with these old tracks along with a range of other barriers, including trenches and electric fences, to restrict the movement of these jumbos in the reserve that have been created for them. As a short term measure, we are planning to put up some barriers like fences made out of old railway tracks, electric fences and digging trenches to restrict the movements in south Bengal. The plans havent been finalised though. Discussions are being held. We are also going to dig trenches in some areas along the Bengal-Jharkhand border, said Rajib Banerjee, forest minister of West Bengal. The issue was discussed in a workshop held on September 22 for the preparation of the national elephant action plan. Top forest officials of various states of the east central elephant division, which comprises south Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, north Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh attended the meeting along with experts. One of the issues raised by West Bengal was how to check the scale of man-animal conflict in south Bengal. For that it is necessary to ensure that the elephants stay within the elephant reserve and do not stray outside in search of food and water. If necessary, some need to be translocated, said Raman Sukumar, noted elephant expert who attended the meeting. Data laid down in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday revealed that at least 433 people have been killed across West Bengal between April 2014 and September 2019. In Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattishgarh, the death toll was 447, 391 and 329, respectively, during this period. The idea of putting up barriers to restrict or divert movement of elephant herd is, however, not new to West Bengal. Local community has also been involved in the past to put up and maintain fences in the villages. The concept of rail fencing may be new to West Bengal but it has been tried out in the recent past in Karnataka. It has been found to be successful as claimed, said Mukti Roy ,another elephant expert present in the meeting. A recent booklet published by the union environment ministry suggests that rail fencing though expensive is eco-friendly and more effective than solar electric fences and elephant proof trenches which are partially successful. Railway fencing however was criticised after an elephant got stuck in the fence and died in 2018 near the Nagarhole National Park in Karnataka. But apart from these short term measures we also need to go for habitat improvement in the Mayurjharna elephant reserve without which the elephants cant stay there. For these long term planning and inter-state coordination is necessary, said Roy. While south Bengal has around 200-220 elephants, the Mayurjharna reserve is around 414 sq km. Experts, however, said the reserve has to have an area of 1000 sq km which could help it sustain a sizeable population of elephants. North Bengal has around 500 elephants. While workshops for three elephant divisions including south India, north-east and east-central have already been held, the workshop for the north-west division is likely to be held on September 30. Based on the deliberations of these workshops the draft for the national elephant action plan would be prepared, said Prajna Panda, National coordinator of the elephant cell of union environment ministry. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON By Gina Lee Investing.com Asian stocks were down on Tuesday morning, reacting to a slump in U.S. stocks overnight over the rising number of COVID-19 cases and the status of the latest U.S. stimulus measures. A fresh COVID-19 outbreak in Europe is increasing fears of more new lockdowns on the continent, with the U.K. due to announce new restrictions on bars and restaurants later in the day. Denmark and Greece implemented new restrictive measures during the previous week. South Koreas KOSPI slid 1.76% by 11:17 PM ET (3:17 AM GMT) and in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.66%. Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index was down 0.54%. Chinas Shanghai Composite edged down 0.17% and the Shenzhen Component edged down 0.18%. Fresh doubts were cast on Monday over Oracles takeover of TikTok's U.S. operations after U.S. President Donald Trump said that he would not approve the deal if parent company ByteDance remained in control at the entity TikTok Global. China responded shortly after that it also was unlikely to give the deal the green light, with Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin tweeting that Beijing would likely reject the deal because the agreement would endanger Chinas national security, interests and dignity." The deal, as it stands currently, would give ByteDance as much as an 80% share in TikTok Global, while giving U.S. investors slightly over 50% of shares. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday. Global stocks also tumbled on Monday after five global banks, including HSBC (HK:0005) and Standard Chartered (HK:2888), were named in a leak of more than 2,100 suspicious activity reports (SARs). The banks are accused of moving over $2 trillion of reportedly illicit funds, despite concerns over their origins, between 1995 and 2017. Meanwhile, a potential partisan battle to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could further hamper efforts to pass the latest round of stimulus measures. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats have released a stopgap government funding bill in the meantime, but without the support of the White House or Senate Republicans. Story continues U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also said on Monday that the U.S. economy is improving but warned that there is a long way to go before a full recovery from COVID-19. Powell will testify before the House Select Subcommittee on COVID-19 on Wednesday to discuss the Feds response to the virus. Some investors remained glum about the outlook. Valuations were getting more and more stretched and folks were looking the other way in the context of undeniable Fed support and the view that the U.S. government was going to top off the loss of income during the pandemic, Macro Risk Advisors Founder and Chief Executive Officer Dean Curnutt told Bloomberg. There is concern that this uncertainty around the election is going to stay with us for a period after the election, he added. Related Articles BlackRock, JPMorgan climate votes at odds as new rules loom Beijing unlikely to approve ByteDance's TikTok deal with Oracle: Global Times China fines Luckin Coffee, associated firms combined $9 million RPG Group company Ceat Tyres on Friday said it has roped in Bollywood actor Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador, who will feature in its various campaigns across media platforms. Khan, who is one of the most versatile and talented actors in the Indian Film industry, has signed a two-year contract with Ceat Tyres Ltd to perform the role of its ambassador, the company said in a release. As part of an integrated marketing campaign, the Bollywood star will feature in two commercials during the on-going Indian Premier League (IPL) in Dubai, with the first one set to be aired on Saturday to promote Ceat's SecuraDrive range of premium car tyres, it added. The first ad will also be rolled out across different media platforms - both online and offline, Ceat Tyres said. Ceat's SecuraDrive tyres are used in premium sedans and compact SUVs such as Honda City, Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Creta, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, among others, as per the release. "It's like looking into a crystal ball - with a little luck your prediction will be correct. Perhaps once, perhaps twice. In the long run, however, you will be wrong and that can have devastating consequences for your company," says Lars Oxelheim, professor emeritus of Business Administration at Lund University School of Economics and Management and one of the authors of the book Corporate Foreign Exchange Risk Management. Along with the book's other authors, Hakans Jankensgard, associate professor of Business Administration and corporate executive Alf Alviniussen, Lars Oxelheim wants to reach those who encounter and manage foreign exchange rates in their work. This is because there are more value-creating aspects to focus on in foreign exchange risk management than making it imperative to forecast coming fluctuations. "With this book we want to try to reach professionals at both small and medium-sized companies in Sweden and globally. It rapidly becomes complicated when working on foreign exchange and consequently a need arises for control," says Hakan Jankensgard and continues: "Just look at how it is today. We see large fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and this is turbulence which in itself shows that it's not possible to make forecasts. Who had reckoned that the new coronavirus would appear and turn everything upside down? No one. However, there are other ways to exercise control and that is what we want to show." Focus on understanding your risk exposure The book is clearly divided into ten instructional chapters, which cover the different factors in foreign exchange risk management. It begins by looking at why companies need to manage risks caused by risk exposure to foreign currencies, continues via the balance sheet, derivatives and hedge accounting to the importance of centralising foreign exchange control, integrated risk management and communication. "Risk management should primarily consist of understanding your risk exposure and what happens when different exchange rates change. What are the possible impacts on the company? How will the company's financial position be affected? Will we be able to achieve important goals? However, we know that many people don't work this way. Instead, people at companies have different tools for beating the market. It is an activity that is regarded as completely natural and it's not called into question. However, the problem is that research shows that it doesn't generate any excess profits. It's therefore a waste of the company's resources and there are often surprises, as the company's vulnerability has not been fully charted," states Hakan Jankensgard. If the authors were to send four key messages to managers, controllers and others out there, it would be these: It is not possible to successfully forecast or predict foreign exchange rates. Focus instead on understanding your risk exposure at different levels of financial performance and how these are connected. Develop foreign exchange strategies in a strategic context that helps the company to achieve important goals. Companies need to be better at communicating risk management in their accounts. Is this controversial? Yes and no, say Lars and Hakan. It depends, perhaps, on who you ask. "There is, of course, a whole sector that we are undermining with this book. Bank economists smugly predict dollar rates down to decimals, but it is pure luck the whole time. There is no evidence that you can beat the market," says Lars Oxelheim and continues: "We consider that it would be wiser to redistribute the energy, and instead direct part of the energy devoted to forecasting in an attempt to beat the market to developing in-depth knowledge about your risk exposure and constructing models for decision-making based on this knowledge. It's important to take it seriously, as there may be consequences for the company's key financial ratio and how well the company succeeds in implementing its business plan." Why do people work this way if it does not work? "It's human nature. Hubris and optimism are well documented traits. All this affects decision-making, not least in companies. In addition, it's common that people conceal failure somewhere out of sight. And so, we interpret everything in a positive light instead and believe that we will succeed next time," says Hakan Jankensgard. Use a strategic long-term approach Hakan Jankensgard and Lars Oxelheim consider that at present there is too much focus within foreign exchange risk management on imminent transactions. "It is human nature to fix attention on what is verifiable and happening around now, because it is something that you can see and almost touch. The strategic approach, however, would be to look at the longer term, such as one year ahead, and try to understand how foreign exchange impacts may disrupt the value-creation process," states Hakan Jankensgard. In addition, Lars Oxelheim and Hakan Jankensgard consider that companies overall fail to communicate via their financial reports. "Many reports are in principle totally incomprehensible and it's difficult to see how foreign exchange risk management relates to the company's operating profit or loss. Consider how the share analysts feel when they are to interpret these. They experience it as complicated and perhaps a little threatening - derivatives have, of course, been linked to many mishaps. There is a risk that people begin to query the company and its activities when there is something that is not understood," says Hakan Jankensgard. Instead, he would like to see financial reports that were not only produced according to accounting regulations, but also contain a clearer narrative, focusing on how and why foreign exchange control helps the company to achieve its goals. With this approach, the reports may actually help the company to increase trust and reduce the cost of capital. With the new book, the authors want to show there is a "golden mean" based on academic models that emphasise principles for optimal risk management, but ones that are adapted to the reality of practitioners and the need to fit foreign exchange risk management into the overall financial governance of the company. Co-author Alf Alviniussen has 42 years of practical experience from having built up and refined the finance department and risk management at Norsk Hydro. He has witnessed the benefits of integrated risk management and the improved basis for decision-making that it provides. ### Kerala has won a United Nations award for its 'outstanding contribution towards non-communicable diseases-related sustainable development goals. The WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the UN Interagency Task Force (UNIATF) award this year on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. Pleased to present awards at the Interagency Task Force to #BeatNCDs side event at #UNGA to those that have helped us save lives - thank you for joining @WHO in the fight to reduce deaths from cancer, diabetes, heart & lung diseases, & mental health conditions. https://t.co/s4Sq1B6vYp pic.twitter.com/YzJUckp8Hj Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) September 24, 2020 The award sheds light on the achievements during the year 2019 for multisectoral action in the prevention and control of NCDs, mental health, and the wider NCD-related sustainable development goals (SDGs). Kerala has bagged the UN award for its multi sectoral approach in the prevention and control of non communicable diseases. The announcement has been made by WHO. Thomas Isaac (@drthomasisaac) September 25, 2020 This is the first time when a state has been recognized for this prestigious award and Kerala is one of the seven ministries of health across the world. Health Minister KK Shailaja said, The state government has arranged facilities from the basic public health centers to hospitals at all levels to treat the lifestyle diseases. We were able to control the death rate during the COVID-19 period as we were able to focus on the NCDs." BCCL She also congratulated all the health workers for being a part of the achievement of the state. The states press release said, In addition, the state-of-the-art lung disease control program, cancer treatment program, and paralysis control program were also considered for the award. BCCL Kerala which has the best HDI in the country also has the best public healthcare systems in India. Paul Rusesabagina (R) in the pink inmate's uniform arrives from the Nyarugenge prison at the Nyarugenge Court of Justice in Kigali - SIMON WOHLFAHRT /AFP Paul Rusesabagina, the polarising hero of the "Hotel Rwanda" film, admitted to a Kigali court on Friday that he had formed an armed group but denied any role in their crimes. Mr. Rusesabagina is famed for his depiction in the movie in which he is shown to have saved hundreds of lives during the 1994 genocide, which left some 800,000 dead. After years in exile, where he has become a fierce government critic, he appeared under arrest in Rwanda last month, after apparently being lured into a private jet under false pretences. In recent years Mr Rusesabagina co-founded the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), an opposition party based abroad. While he has previously expressed support for the National Liberation Front (FLN), which has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Nyungwe, near the border with Burundi, his exact role has been unclear. "We formed the FLN (National Liberation Front) as an armed wing, not as a terrorist group as the prosecution keeps saying. I do not deny that the FLN committed crimes but my role was diplomacy," he said. "The agreement we signed to form MRCD as a political platform included the formation of an armed wing called FLN. But my work was under the political platform and I was in charge of diplomacy." This is a breaking news story. More to follow. This is the horrifying moment a mother-of-two was hogtied and carried out of her house by officers after a Child Protective Services (CPS) visit gone wrong. In June 2017, Vanessa Peoples's two-year-old son wandered off during a family picnic and, though he was quickly found, it wasn't before a stranger called 911 and reported her. One month later, a CPS worker visited her home in Aurora, Colorado, and called police when nobody answered the door because she feared the children had been left alone, according to the magazine Reason. Peoples was home but hadn't heard the knocks, which officers said was 'concerning.' When Peoples's mother and a police officer got into an altercation - and Peoples tried to intervene - they ended up pinning her on the ground and tying her hands and legs together. Although the case was eventually settled out of court, the incident ended in a dislocated arm for Peoples and ongoing nightmares for her two children. Mother-of-two Vanessa Peoples, 25, of Aurora, Colorado, was hogtied (pictured) and carried out of her home during a CPS visit gone wrong In July 2017, a CPS caseworker (right) visited Peoples (left) after she was issued a ticket for child neglect when her toddler wandered off during a family picnic a month prior When Peoples didn't answer, the caseworker called police. When officers and Peoples's mother got into an argument, and Peoples tried to intervene (pictured), that's when the situation turned violent According to Reason, Peoples, who is a nursing student, and her children - then ages two and four - were at a family picnic in a park in June 2017. When a cousin left, the younger son allegedly followed the cousin to the car. A pedestrian noticed the toddler, who appeared to be unattended, and grabbed him. That's when Peoples reportedly walked over, having noticed that her child was missing, and demanded the passerby return the child. 'I'm telling her: "Ma'am, that's my son,"' Peoples told Reason. 'She's refusing to let go of him and talking on the phone. I didn't know she was talking to the police.' When police arrived, they issued a Peoples a ticket for child neglect and told her a CPS caseworker would be following up. One month later, when a caseworker called to conduct a well-being check, no one answered her knocks at the door, Reason reported. Peoples claims she didn't hear the knocks because she was downstairs doing laundry after having given her children baths. When the caseworker saw a child inside the house, she feared the youngsters had been left alone and called police. According to the police report, viewed by Reason, officers found the door unlocked and announced that they were entering the residence, and drew their guns. 'As I was going up the stairs, the sergeant has a gun pointed at my head, saying: "This is the Aurora Police Department!"' Peoples told Reason. Bodycam footage shows Peoples pinned down (above) and restrained with hobble handcuffs, which is when the hands and legs are each individually handcuffed and then attached together She was then carried to a police car (pictured) but paramedics were called, who took her to a hospital where it was learned she dislocated her shoulder Cops asked Peoples why she didn't answer the door, to which she replied that she is hard of hearing in one ear - which police noted as a 'concern.' When Peoples's mother arrived at the house, that's when the situation escalated with the mother and an officer arguing. Bodycam footage shows Peoples walking over and, when an officer tells her to stand back repeatedly, she replies: 'No, that's my mom. I don't have to stand back' and attempted to walk past him. The incident then turns violent and the footage shows the officer putting a hand on Peoples's throat and throwing her to the ground. She is pinned down and restrained with hobble handcuffs, which is when the hands and legs are each individually handcuffed and attached together During this confrontation, the 25-year-old is yelling: 'I can't breathe!' and calling for her mother. 'You know how you tie a pig upside down and his feet are hanging from the stick? That's how they carried me,' Peoples told Reason. The police asked her if she needed medical attention and, when paramedics arrived, Peoples was transported to the hospital. This when where doctors told her that, during the incident, her shoulder had been dislocated. She was given a sling, ibuprofen and ice - and then booked. After being bailed out by her mother, she took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to charges of child endangerment. Peoples took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to charges of child endangerment and also hired an attorney to sue police for the injury, but it was settled before the paperwork was filed Reason reported that the plea allowed her to avoid jail time, but she also needed to pay a fine and take parenting classes. Peoples hired Erica Grossman, a civil rights attorney, to sue police for dislocating her shoulder while she was being arrested. The lawsuit was settled before it was even filed, for an undisclosed amount, but Grossman says this is going to leave a permanent scar with the families. 'They were using a level of military force like they're at a huge crime scene instead of a child [well-being] check,' Grossman told Reason. 'They did this in front of her two children without a hint of concern about the trauma the children would experience, in the name of making sure their mother was attentive enough.' Peoples says her children currently experience nightmares about police officers taking her or her husband away in handcuffs. 'The cops forgot we were human,' Peoples told the magazine. Timothy Ray Brown, the first person known to have been cured of HIV infection, says he is now terminally ill from a recurrence of the cancer that prompted his historic treatment 12 years ago. Brown, dubbed the Berlin patient because of where he lived at the time, had a transplant from a donor with a rare, natural resistance to the AIDS virus. For years, that was thought to have cured his leukemia and his HIV infection, and he still shows no signs of HIV. But in an interview with The Associated Press, Brown said his cancer returned last year and has spread widely. Hes receiving hospice care where he now lives in Palm Springs, California. Im still glad that I had it, Brown said of his transplant. It opened up doors that werent there before and inspired scientists to work harder to find a cure, which many had begun to think was not possible, the 54-year-old said Thursday. Timothy proved that HIV can be cured, but thats not what inspires me about him, said Dr. Steven Deeks, an AIDS specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, who has worked with Brown to further research toward a cure. We took pieces of his gut, we took pieces of his lymph nodes. Every time he was asked to do something, he showed up with amazing grace, Deeks said. Brown was an American working as a translator in Berlin in the 1990s when he learned he had HIV. In 2006, he was diagnosed with leukemia. Dr. Gero Huetter, a blood cancer expert at the University of Berlin, believed that a marrow transplant was Browns best chance of beating the leukemia. He wondered, could he also cure Browns other life-threatening disease by using a donor with a gene mutation that provides natural resistance to the AIDS virus? Donors like these are very rare and transplants are risky. Doctors have to destroy the patients diseased immune system with chemotherapy and radiation, then transplant the donors cells and hope they develop into a new immune system for the recipient. Browns first transplant in 2007 was only partly successful: His HIV seemed to be gone but his leukemia was not. He had a second transplant from the same donor in March 2008 and that one seemed to work. Since then, Brown has repeatedly tested negative for HIV and has frequently appeared at AIDS conferences where cure research is discussed. Hes been like an ambassador of hope, said Browns partner, Tim Hoeffgen. A second man, Adam Castillejo -- called the London patient until he revealed his identity earlier this year -- also is believed to have been cured by a transplant similar to Browns in 2016. But donors like these are scarce and the procedure is too risky to be widely used. Scientists have been testing gene therapy and other ways to try to get the effect of the favorable gene mutation without having to do a transplant. At an AIDS conference in July, researchers said they may have achieved a long-term remission in a Brazil man by using a powerful combination of drugs meant to flush dormant HIV from his body. Mark King, a Baltimore man who writes a blog for people with HIV, said he spoke with Brown earlier this week and is grateful for what Brown has contributed to AIDS research. It is unfathomable what value he has been to the world as a subject of science. And yet this is also a human being who is a kind, humble guy who certainly never asked for the spotlight, King said. I think the world of him. Offaly people are among the most law-abiding citizens in the country, according to new figures released by the Irish Prison Service. The figures show that 7,170 people were imprisoned nationally in 2019, an increase of 10.5% on 2018 figures. Just 64 of these prisoners in 2019 were from Offaly. The highest rate of imprisonment last year occurred in Limerick, with 219 people jailed for every 100,000 of its population. Our Midlands cousins in Longford had the second-highest rate at 203 per 100,000, while Laois also recorded a high rate above the national average of 132. Offaly's rate of imprisonment was among the lowest in the country at just over 83 per 100,000 population. The lowest rate recorded in the country in 2019 was Donegal at 51 per 100,000. A total of 64 people were imprisoned from Offaly last year; seven women and 57 men. This was a slight decrease on the 67 people from Offaly jailed in 2018; two women and 65 men. The numbers going to prison from Offaly has been falling for a number of years. 306 people from the county were jailed in 2015, 189 in 2016 with 77 in 2017, revealing a marked downward trend. This just in: Theres no wizard behind the curtain, and nobodys actually in charge. Theres no shadowy cabal of billionaires scheming to bring about one-world government. To begin with, nobody clever enough to accumulate that much money believes that such a thing is A) remotely possible, or B) even desirable. If the world seems scary and confusing, thats because its scarier and more confusing than usual of late, although nowhere near as frightening as it was to Grandpa. Heres the opening stanza of W.H. Audens great poem, September 1, 1939: I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade: Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright And darkened lands of the earth, Obsessing our private lives; The unmentionable odour of death Offends the September night. Auden wrote to commemorate that terrible day Hitler and Stalin invaded Poland, triggering World War II, the most cataclysmic struggle in human history. Some 70 to 85 million people, military and civilian, died before it was over. (The Soviet Union lost an estimated 24 million citizens. So if Russian leadership seems unduly paranoid and defensive, its worth remembering that they do have their reasons.) That said, the COVID pandemics unmentionable odour of death appears to have driven many Americans to embrace preposterous conspiracy theories that provide simple storybook explanations for otherwise incomprehensible events. Amid the devastating wildfires in Oregon last week, for example, the FBI needed to debunk rumors that the disaster was caused by left-wing arsonists. The agencys Portland office posted a statement on Twitter stating that the FBI has investigated several such reports and found them to be untrue. Finding their own operations hampered by armed crackpots eager to hunt down imaginary terrorists, one rural Oregon sheriffs department posted a Facebook notice: Rumors spread just like wildfire and now our 9-1-1 dispatchers and professional staff 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, OREGON. THIS IS NOT TRUE! Unfortunately, people are spreading this rumor and it is causing problems. Would-be vigilantes also got excited about radio transmissions about the BLM setting backfires, unaware that the initials signified the Bureau of Land Management, not Black Lives Matter. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, back home in Yamhill, Oregon, seeing after his mother, expressed his frustration with Boss Trump, who rushed to send in unwanted federal agents to deal with protests and trash fires in downtown Portland, but seems indifferent when millions of acres and thousands of homes burn across the West. Oregonians are not alone. Elsewhere, reporters have documented a wave of barely subdued hysteria sweeping the nation regarding busloads of antifa operatives rumored to be targeting towns from Idaho to New Jersey invasions that have proven totally imaginary. Trump and Attorney General William Barr have even spoken of designating antifa a terrorist organization. Alas, writes Rutgers University historian Mark Bray in The Washington Post: Trump cannot designate ANTIFA as a terrorist organization because antifa is not an organization. Rather, it is a politics of revolutionary opposition to the far right You cannot subpoena an idea or a movement. Mostly an academic movement at that: graduate students and other university-affiliated types blowing off steam. If antifas a real threat, who are its leaders? Wheres its headquarters? Whos paying those phantom arsonists? The questions answer themselves: nobody and nowhere. Then theres QAnon, the metastasizing conspiracy theory thats grown into a full-blown cult. Initiates believe that beneath his blustering exterior, Trumps actually a sort of elephantine Batman, secretly battling a deep state cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles led by Hillary Clinton and the actor Tom Hanks, along with Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates and a number of other Hollywood figures. Believers have predicted Clintons impending arrest more often than my brother Tommy has forecasted the Mets winning the World Series. Which did happen once 34 years ago. Hillarys arrest? Oh, grow up. Some dope named Jason Gelinas in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, recently got outed as the brains behind the main QAnon website possibly as the Prophet Q himself. His employer, Citigroup, put him on paid leave, and hes not talking to reporters. Historians point out that QAnon is basically a reprise of the century-old Russian forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Then it was Europes Jews who allegedly murdered Christian children to consume their blood at Passover the infamous Blood Libel. Jews also secretly ran the banks, the government and the news media. Their diabolical plan was to mongrelize the white race and conquer the world. Which leads us back to 1939 and the Holocaust. So what does Boss Trump think about this delusional nonsense? Asked about QAnon, the portly superhero said only that I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate. These are people who love their country. You gotta believe! Arkansas Times columnist Gene Lyons is a National Magazine Award winner and co-author of The Hunting of the President (St. Martins Press, 2000). You can email Lyons at eugenelyons2@yahoo.com. The rehabilitation works on the Nairobi to Nanyuki meter gauge railway line, the work done by Navy Engineers in the rehabilitation of the Kisumu Port, and the ongoing work on Nakuru to Kisumu line; are a few of such projects the Defence Forces have executed with excellence. For this reason, we are, indeed, proud of your contribution to the realization of the Vision 2030 journey, the President said. The Head of State spoke Thursday at the KDFs Recruits Training School in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County during a pass out parade. At the same time, President Kenyatta challenged Kenyans especially Government institutions to emulate the efficiency exhibited by the military in implementation of public projects. I urge all Kenyans and, indeed, all Government Agencies, to emulate this commitment of excellence from the Kenya Defence Forces, he said. The Head of State applauded the military for its contribution to national and regional security saying KDF had achieved good progress in the fight against terrorism. Beyond regional security and stability, the President said KDF continues to make the country proud by excelling at regional, continental and global levels. The continuous participation of our military in these missions reflects the confidence that the international community, through the United Nations and the Security Council, in particular, has in our Nations Defence Forces. This, indeed, is a true testimony of the high standards of our military training and professionalism, he noted. To the new soldiers, the Head of State advised them to put professionalism and patriotism ahead of any other consideration as they discharge their mandate of guarding the country. We are charging you with the duty of protecting this nation from assailants and intrudersThe training you have undergone is to empower you with the skills necessary to solve this problemI urge you to apply yourselves in the most patriotic and professional manner at all times, the President told the new service men and women. The President noted with satisfaction the growing number of women joining KDF saying his commitment as the Head of State was to ensure equal opportunities for all Kenyans. It is important for these young women, working alongside men, to find meaning and purpose in their work. When these young men and women joined the Kenya Defense Forces, from all parts of this great nation, they became one cohesive family, he said. As part of the eleborate ceremony attended by the entire top military command led by the Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces General Robert Kariuki Kibochi, the President awarded outstanding performers during the 8-month training. Gabriel Kipanga and Lawrence Mutua from Kenya Army were awarded trophies for the best and second best recruits respectively while Miriam Cherono of Kenya Navy bagged the best female award. Brian Njeru of Kenya Navy won the award for the best combat marksman. The pass out parade was attended by Defence Cabinet Secretary Dr Monica Juma, Governor Jackson Mandago (Uasin Gishu) and Governor Alex Tolgos (Elgeyo Marakwet). Also present were Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai and Rift Valley Regional Coordinator George Natembeya among other senior Government officials. India criticised Pakistan at a number of United Nations platforms this week for supporting and abetting terrorism while pushing a false narrative about Jammu and Kashmir. At a virtual meeting of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, India said it was held on a day when the Indian embassy in Kabul was attacked by a Pakistan-backed terror group 12 years ago, according to a report in the Hindustan Times on Friday. Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary (Counter-terrorism) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said it was unfortunate that a country which perpetrated terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, in Pathankot in 2016, in Uri and Pulwama was now preaching to the world community". India accused Pakistan of meddling in its internal affairs during the meeting on The Global Scourge of Terrorism: Assessment of High-risk Threats and Trends Including The Rise of Violent Extremism and Hate Speech in A Pandemic Environment. Singhvi said while the world was coming together to fight the pandemic, Pakistan continued to use each opportunity to peddle false narratives and make baseless, malicious and egregious allegations against the nation. He said Pakistans statement in the meeting, of claiming credit for eliminating al-Qaeda, was ludicrous, adding that the groups founder Osama Bin Laden was recently glorified as a martyr by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Parliament. Singhvi pointed out that Pakistans role as an epicentre of terrorism" was well-documented by various international organisations, including UN and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that has placed the country in its grey list. He said unlike its neighbour, India did not make distinctions between terrorists and condemned terror attacks anywhere in the world, including the one in Karachi, which was referred to by Pakistan in its statement. Meanwhile, at the 45th Session of the Human Rights Council on Friday, India said Pakistan should not preach to others and remember that terrorism was the worst form of human rights abuse and crime against humanity. The world doesnt need lessons on human rights from a country which has been known as nursery and epicentre of terrorism," said Senthil Kumar, First Secretary to the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva, during Indias right to reply at the session. I would like to bring to the attention of the Council, the terrible situation of ethnic and religious minorities in Pakistan: Senthil Kumar, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India, Geneva, during Indias right to reply at 45th Session of Human Rights Council pic.twitter.com/Igi4Rmo53y ANI (@ANI) September 25, 2020 Kumar said enforced disappearances, state violence and forced mass displacements, among other forms of persecution, were regular features in Balochistan. India had also hit out at Pakistan on Thursday for raising the Kashmir issues at a virtual meeting of multilateral grouping CICA, advising Islamabad to cease its overt and covert" support to cross-border terrorism. In a sharp reaction, the MEA said Pakistan has misused another the forum by continuing its spurious narrative" about India. Pakistan raised the Kashmir issue at the ministerial meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), an intergovernmental forum of 27 countries. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar represented India at the meeting. The MEA said Pakistan has no locus standi to comment on internal affairs of India, asserting that the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been and will remain an integral part of the country. Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 25 By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend: Russia increased the export of frozen vegetables to Turkmenistan by 3.4 times from January through July of 2020, Trend reports with reference to the Eurasian Economic Commission. According to statistics, during this period, Russia exported 4,500 tons of frozen vegetables to Turkmenistan, totaling $7,018, which also shows an increase in the number of frozen vegetables exported to Turkmenistan from Russia by 2.7 times compared to the amount for the same period last year. Also, 809 kilograms of dried vegetables were exported from Russia to Turkmenistan for a total of $1,978. Russia is the only exporter of frozen and dried vegetables to Turkmenistan from the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Also, such EAEU countries as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia exported 1,461 tons of dried leguminous vegetables to Turkmenistan, totaling $655,371, which is more than the export of similar products to Turkmenistan from January through July 2019. Thus, the share of Kazakhstan in the total export of dried leguminous vegetables to Turkmenistan amounted to $532,816, Kyrgyzstan $53,085, and Russia $69,469. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 19:10:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia reported 111 new COVID-19 infections, the health ministry said on Friday, bringing the national total to 10,687. Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that four of the new cases are imported and 107 are local transmissions, most from the eastern state of Sabah, where a state assembly election will take place on Saturday. Noor Hisham urged voters in Sabah to conduct the voting while observing the standard operating procedure issued by the health authorities. Health authorities also detected one new case cluster, traced to the crew of a ship docked in the southern Johor state, with two testing positive so far. Another 30 patients have been released after recovery, bringing the total cured and discharged cases to 9,696, or 90.7 percent of all cases. Of the remaining 858 active cases, four are being held in intensive care units and three of those are in need of assisted breathing. No new deaths have been reported, leaving the total deaths at 133. Enditem Ethics, morals and integrity Six years later, in April 2016 Special Operations Commander Major General Jeff Sengelman sent a remarkably prescient letter. It came in response to an earlier request to serving members of the Special Air Service Regiment to speak up truthfully about rumours of rogue behaviour in Afghanistan. The rumours, in effect, were some of these revered dogs of war had slipped the leash. "Others have expressed to me that the need to be an exceptional warrior at the pinnacle of the tradecraft and adept at finding, fixing and finishing the enemy is the premier and dominant characteristic that should define who we are and our culture," Sengelman's letter said. "While I agree this has its place, let me be absolutely clear, there is much more to being a role model for [Special Operations Forces] attributes than martial prowess. "Given a choice between this and ethical behaviour, moral outlook, or integrity of character, martial prowess will always be secondary." Weeks after that letter was sent, the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force commenced an inquiry into "rumours of possible breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict". Now, four years later we are on the eve of what many predict will be a harrowing finding, with Sengelmans words still resonating. Former Special Operations Commander Jeff Sengelman. The narrative spun about the Inspector-General's inquiry until now includes a complex maze of interwoven arguments about Australia needing to know the truth and the preservation of moral authority, versus how much do we really need to know about what occurs on the battlefield and that no good can come of second guessing our heroes. The ingrained secrecy associated with Special Operations and the subsequent clamour of public debate has made for some confusion. So let's try to peer through the fog of war at where the SAS started to go wrong. And in doing so after tracking this for some time, two incidents stand out as pivotal to us: the Stirrers parade of 2010, and one other key moment: the awarding of the Victoria Cross to Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith. Admired but unpopular Even before its conferral there was controversy. Although he was not named, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald ran a story in December 2010 stating: "A top brass proposal to award the Victoria Cross to an Australian soldier who has been investigated for bullying in Afghanistan is mired in politics and recrimination". Ben Roberts-Smith in front of his portrait at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Credit:Jay Cronan Roberts-Smith was admired for his martial prowess, but unpopular with some of peers, in particular for his alleged intimidation of and influence over junior soldiers. The VC, the supreme award in Australian soldiering, gave institutional support to his conduct. According to one in the thick of the action: "Success now looked like bullying, lying, murder allegedly, and self-promotion". There would be a withering impact on impending operations. As already reported, most of the controversy that now burdens Roberts-Smith occurred after he was awarded the VC, when some of his peers came to see the super soldier as a law unto himself. A litany of occasions have already been reported when, as a Corporal and Patrol Commander in 2012, he was complicit in alleged misconduct. The allegations range from striking a junior soldier to participating in the execution of detainees. Roberts-Smith has denied the latter. The concern which led to whistleblowing by some of his comrades was the negative influence this exemplar of a soldier had on others. Some of the men caught up in what the Inspector-General may well find to have been a rogue squad have had trouble living with what they witnessed. We understand a number of participants have given evidence to the inquiry, much of it self-incriminating. The psychological impact on soldiers who wanted to believe they were decent and honourable has been devastating. Roberts-Smith has vehemently denied the accusations, and there are witnesses who are prepared to testify to his innocence. He is suing this publication for defamation has yet to have his day in any court. The SASs Afghanistan veterans are divided. A heart-to-heart gathering of Roberts-Smiths 2 Squadron earlier this year saw some members supportive of the Inspector-General's inquiry with others still vehemently opposed. The division worries close observers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media. According to one experienced observer, who was not at the meeting but knows those who were, "an us and them' forms within Patrol Commander ranks those who agree with atrocities and those who dont". The ongoing schism helps explain why the inquiry has dragged on for so long. Witnesses have been slow to come forward for many reasons. Chief among them is a view that ratting on a mate is a sin more serious than helping cover up war crimes. The Australian Defence Force will rightly point out that seven years on from the Australian drawdown in Afghanistan the bulk of the SAS is now composed of newcomers. But there must be concern that an influential cohort still fails to grasp the seriousness of the inquiry and former commander Jeff Sengelmans entreaty to put integrity and morality first. Sengelmans stand was clearly brave. The Inspector-General will also surely attend to the question of command failure within senior Special Forces leadership those who appeared to back the pre-eminence of martial prowess. Loading As one officer told us, "Afghanistan increasingly became a tactical fight where success was seen as getting results on the battlefield". Meanwhile the ADF is preparing for the release of a report that Minister Linda Reynolds has already signalled will make for "uncomfortable reading". Among a range of initiatives Defence has already taken to put the past in the past is the cancellation of the annual Stirrers Parade. By Azernews By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijan has started accepting applications from citizens wishing to join the self-employment program implemented by the government jointly with the World Bank, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection has reported. The project aims to support the expansion of the self-employment program based on best international practices. Thus, people with disabilities registered as unemployed, members of martyrs' and IDPs' families, recipients of targeted state social assistance, women, youth and other vulnerable groups will be involved in the project. The small enterprises will be created for them with the support of the World Bank. The project covers the period of 2020-2025, and envisages to attract 22,000 unemployed. In addition, it is planned to attract 2,000 unemployed to the program this year. At the first stage, the project will cover 27 cities and regions of Azerbaijan in 2020. Earlier, in March, the World Bank approved $100 million loan to Azerbaijan to finance the project to support employment in the country. The project designed for five years, aims to help the most vulnerable people in Azerbaijan to find a job and to promote self-employment opportunities in the countrys labor markets. Additionally, Azerbaijans self-employment program under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection will cover 15,000 families in 2021. It should be noted that work is underway to help set up small businesses for 12,000 families under the self-employment program in 2020. Azerbaijan also continues opening vocational education centers that are providing training courses for those who have difficulty in choosing a suitable job due to a lack of qualifications, as well as for those who need to change their profession due to a lack of work that matches their professional skills. Citizens who have successfully completed the training are issued certificates and then provided with employment in accordance with their acquired professional qualifications. Watertown, NY (13601) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 21F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Periods of snow. Low around 15F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 90%. 1 to 3 inches of snow expected. 1 of 2 Rakul Preet Singh, Deepika Padukone`s manager Karishma Prakash reach NCB office for questioning Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik's bail plea has been deferred until September 29. The brother-sister duo was taken into custody by the Narcotics Control Bureau in connection to the drugs case related to Sushant Singh Rajput's death probe. Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Rakul Preet Singh, Sara Ali Khan and others have been summoned by the NCB in connection to drug case which came into light during the investigation of Sushant's death case. Actor Rakul Preet Singh will be questioned by the Narcotics Control Bureau on Friday morning in an alleged drugs nexus in Bollywood. The actor, who reached Mumbai on Thursday, has reached the NCB office. Deepika's manager Karishma Parakash also showed up to join the investigation. Deepika, Sara and Shraddha will face the authorities on Saturday. TV actors are also under NCB radar after some 150 names have been allegedly given away by drug peddlers to the probe agencies. Abigail Pandey and Sanam Johar's residences were also raided and searched by the NCB on Friday. Dharma Productions Director Kshitij Raviprasad's house was also raided ahead of his questioning. In the alleged chat, Deepika enquires with Karishma "K... maal you have?" To which, Karishma responds saying, "I have but at home... I am in Bandra." Karishma also sends another message saying, "I can ask Amit if you want." To which, Deepika replies, "Yes!!! Plleeeseeeeee." Karishma then again responds to Deepika's message, saying, "Amit has he is carrying it." Deepika then again allegedly enquires, "Hash na. Not weed." Karishma then allegedly responds to Deepika saying, "Yes hash." Read More... 'I'll be in touch from time to time to share what's on my mind, too' (Getty Images for EIF & XQ) Former president Barack Obama has issued a call for Americans to get in touch with their thoughts on the upcoming election, telling them: "Send me a text". "All right, let's try something new," Mr Obama, 59, said in a message posted on his social media accounts on Wednesday. "If youre in the United States, send me a text at 773-365-9687 I want to hear how you're doing, what's on your mind, and how you're planning on voting this year," he added. "I'll be in touch from time to time to share what's on my mind, too." Unfortunately for fans of Mr Obama, the mobile phone number is unlikely to be his personal contact number; it corresponds with the dialing code of his adopted hometown of Chicago. It is understood that Mr Obama has remained living in Washington D.C after leaving the White House in early 2017. The text initiative is the latest effort by Mr Obama to help with the election campaign of his former running mate and ex-vice president Joe Biden. Mr Obama has been actively trying to mobilise the vote for his long-time ally ahead of the November poll. Just over a month out from November's election, Mr Biden, 77, still commands a strong lead over president. But that lead has narrowed in recent weeks, particularly in key battleground states. Earlier this week, Mr Obama released a video on Twitter urging his followers to vote for Mr Biden to ensure America's democracy endures. He said the stakes of the 2020 election are much bigger than "Joe or the man he is running to replace". Story continues "What's at stake is whether or not our democracy endures," Mr Obama said in the video. "And the folks in power are hoping that you stay at home." Read more Obama: Ousting Donald Trump is about whether or not our democracy endures A vaccine against the novel coronavirus disease could be commercially available in the Philippines by the second quarter of 2021, officials said Friday as confirmed cases in the country were on the verge of breaking the 300,000 mark. Rolando Enrique Domingo, director general of the Philippines Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said this would be the best case scenario. Its possible that by April 2021, we will have an approved vaccine, Domingo said, emphasizing that the timetable could be achieved as long as clinical trials finished by December or January. Once completed, they can start the registration process with the FDA, he said. Several Chinese pharmaceutical firms, led by SINOVAC Biotech and Sinopharm, have received the green light for trials here. In addition, government officials recently said that Russias Sputnik V vaccine would begin testing here by October. Apart from those, 17 vaccine developers have been working with Philippine health officials, and six have signed confidentiality disclosure agreements that would allow the sharing of their trial results, the government said. Meanwhile, 12 hospitals have been chosen as Philippine sites for the World Health Organizations (WHO) Solidarity Trial to discover whether any drugs slow the coronavirus progression or improve survival. Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato dela Pena said the recruitment of trial participants could begin after the U.N.s health agency releases its protocols and list of vaccines that would be used. Patients, he said, would be selected from five to 10 villages nationwide that have a high number of COVID-19 cases. This is important because we want to test for efficacy of the vaccine and we will do it in phases where there is a high occurrence or attack rate, dela Pena said. If WHO will release the list of vaccines and protocols by October. That is the only time that we can start recruiting patients. The Philippines has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in East Asia and is second to Indonesia in the number of deaths. On Friday, the Philippine health department reported 69 new deaths, which brought the total to 5,196. There also were 2,630 new infections, pushing the nationwide total to 299,361 cases. Globally, more than 32.2 million COVID-19 infections and nearly 984,000 deaths have been recorded, according to disease experts at U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. Previously, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had said he was pinning his hopes on China and Russia developing vaccines and sharing them with the Philippines. If I were to try to answer a question of how fast it is developing, the dynamics is that we are in still waters, Duterte said, referring to a vaccine. Much of the Philippines remains under lockdown even after Duterte and his cabinet relaxed quarantine protocols. Shops, restaurants and other business have been allowed to reopen following appeals from business groups trying to survive a sharp economic downturn. Pre-pandemic, Jacks Diving Lockers five boats made half-day dive trips up to twice a day. During the initial shutdown, the trips stopped. Now, a boat goes out every couple of days. Capacity doesnt exceed 50 percent, which allows small groups, often families, to stay six feet from others. Divers typically wear masks in case they do come within six feet of others or until they don their diving mask and air supply. Masked staff maintain distancing, wipe down surfaces, sanitize rental equipment and provide coronavirus briefings in addition to usual safety briefings. Once or twice a month, a household or social bubble books a private charter. BY THE NUMBERS U.S. stock futures were pointing to a mixed Friday open, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 looking at losses and the Nasdaq tracking higher. All three squeaked out gains in Thursday's volatile session. (CNBC) With four trading days left in September, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were tracking for their first monthly losses since March, a month in which all three benchmarks hit their coronavirus lows. The end of September also brings an end to the third quarter, which actually stands to return healthy gains. (CNBC) On Friday's economic calendar, the government reported a weaker-than-expected increase of 0.4% for August durable goods orders. Economists had expected a 1.5% advance. The strong July gain was revised slightly higher to 11.7%. (CNBC) IN THE NEWS TODAY STOCKS TO WATCH Costco (COST) reported quarterly earnings of $3.04 per share, 20 cents a share above estimates. The warehouse retailer's revenue also beat Wall Street forecasts. Comparable-store sales rose 11.4% compared to the 7.8% consensus estimate of analysts polled by Refinitiv. Costco also saw digital sales jump by 91% from a year earlier. Harley-Davidson (HOG) is close to a distribution deal with India's Hero MotoCorp, according to sources who spoke to Reuters. Harley had announced Thursday that it would stop sales and shut its India manufacturing plant, but the potential deal would allow Hero to import and sell Harley motorcycles in India. The European Union will appeal a July court decision that favored Apple (AAPL) in a dispute over tax breaks Apple received in Ireland. The EU's top court will rule on whether that tax deal constituted illegal state aid and whether a nearly $15 billion tax bill for Apple should be reinstated. Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google services experienced a brief shutdown Thursday evening, with users reporting issues with services like Gmail, YouTube, Google drive and the flagship search engine. Google is investigating the cause of the disruption, but a person with knowledge of the situation told The New York Times the company has ruled out a cyberattack. Churchill Downs (CHDN) Susquehanna Financial upgraded the stock to "positive" from "neutral," following a 10% drop Thursday. The stock fell after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that certain slot-like machines that bet on old horse races were in violation of current law. However, both Churchill Downs and Susquehanna point out that Churchill Downs does not use the system specifically addressed in the court case. Boeing (BA) supplier Impresa filed for bankruptcy protection, stemming from the grounding of Boeing's 737 Max jet after two fatal plane crashes. The Max was a key source of revenue for privately held Impresa. Vail Resorts (MTN) lost $3.82 per share for its latest quarter, wider than the loss of $3.43 that analysts were anticipating, while the resort operator's revenue was below forecasts as well. Vail did say that it expects the number of season passes for this year to be roughly the same as a year ago. WATERCOOLER The Westport Public Arts Collections (WestPAC for short) are a cultural asset of our community and includes the following works: The town of Westport portrait art collection Paintings of first selectpersons and of groups involved in town activities from the history of Westport, which can mostly be seen in Town Hall. The Works Project Administration Drawings, paintings, murals and sculpture by Westport artists for the federal art programs of President Frankln Delano Roosevelts New Deal economic recovery plan. The commissioned artwork for town and school buildings helped artists survive the devastated economy. The Bicentennial Collection Assembled in 1976-78 by Westporter and arts reporter Shirley Land, who chose two sculptures and 13paintings by the following Westport artists: Diane Alexander, Ward Brackett, Bob Baxter, Ann Chernow, Walter Einsel, Peter Gish, Hardy Gramatky, Jak Kovatch, Suzanne Lemieux, Enid Munroe, Maggie Mckinnick, Ann Toulmin-Roth, Barbara Rothenberg, Lucy Sallick and Harvey Weiss. The Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection Begun in 1964 by Burt Chernow, then the art teacher at Greens Farms School. He envisioned an original art collection that would serve as a visual library for all the Westport schools. It began with a modest group of original works of art donated by renowned artists from the New York to Westport area, and over the decades has become the most important collection of over 10,000 original works in a United States public school system. Much of the art work displayed in the schools is used as teaching tools by faculty members. As an example, the Drew Friedman Community Foundation recently provided funds to Friends of Westport Public Art Collections, a 501(c)3 to develop WestPAC Learning Galleries, spaces dedicated in each schoool, for special works of art that students will study within the currucula. In the past two years, generous donations to WestPAC from individuals, artists, estates and collectors include: Steffi Friedmans life sized bronze of ballet dancers, Pas de Deux, which will be installed in the courtyard at Staples and seen from the theatre lobby; work from the estate of Jak Kovatch; a Calder lithograph from the Sheffer/Scheffler family and a sculpture donated by the Sheffer/Scheffler family titled, Rock Paper and Scissors, to be installed on Jesup Green at the Westport Library. Currently due to school security and COVID-19 restrictions, most of these artworks cannot be readily accessible to the public. Now, you can enjoy the collection through WestPACs new online exhibits at westportarts.org or via tour of Westport on the cellphone app OTOCAST. Financial gifts to Friends of WestPAC are tax deductible and will help provide annual support to present artwork, to support educational programs, and to preserve works of art for future generations of Westport students and residents. Contact: friends.westpac@gmail.com for further information. Miggs Burroughs is a lifelong Westport resident and full-time graphic artist since 1972. He is co-founder of The Artists Collective of Westport and a member of the Westport Arts Advisory Committee, among other accomplishments. Ann Chernow has been a Westport resident since 1968. Her artwork has been exhibited locally and worldwide. Chernow is an honorary member of the Artists Collective of Westport, member of the Westport Museum Committee and other arts organizations. After the devastating impacts of bushfires and COVID-19, Q&A asks what should our economic recovery plan look like? The Government has unveiled its Technology Investment Roadmap, and reaffirmed its commitment to a gas-led recovery out of the coronavirus recession. The Opposition however describes it as a Road to Nowhere and wants renewables to be the focus. So where should our priorities lie when it comes to jobs and growth post-pandemic? Our relationship with China remains in the spotlight, with tit-for-tat deportations of journalists, tariffs and bans slapped on Aussie agricultural exports and an announcement by President Xi Jinping that China will reach net zero emissions by 2060. And all as Australia braces for the next bushfire season. Theres lots to talk about! Joining Hamish Macdonald on the panel: Mike Cannon-Brookes- Co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian Darren Chester Minister for Veterans Affairs and Defence Personnel Marian Wilkinson Investigative journalist, author The Carbon Club Yun Jiang Editor, China Story blog at the Australian National University Mark Butler Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy The show will close with a live performance from young singer songwriter Alex the Astronaut. 9:35pm Monday on ABC. Anunt de selectare a participantilor si participantelor la cel de-al doilea curs de instruire din cadrul Programului educational pentru dezvoltarea competentelor lucratorilor de tineret Aminating the diplomatic arrangements signed by Israel and two states of the Persian Gulf, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, was neither the dramatic statesmanship of Egypts Anwar Sadatwhose journey to Jerusalem in 1977 would bring about an historic peacenor the anguished compromises of 1993 affected by Israels Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader. The accords signed Tuesday may hold the promise of a new Middle East, but they might also be seen as clarification of an existing configuration of power. The old Arab order from which Sadat broke ranks with his separate peace, and within which Arafat maneuvered his stateless nation, has been visited by a series of shocks from which it has not recovered, from the United States invasion of Iraq to the Arab Spring and the conversion of once strong states into arenas of civil war, problems more acute in the time of Covid-19. Amid the ruins, Sunni leaders, anxious in the face of their perception of Irans ascendency and the erosion of the U.S.s interest in the region, have found in Israel a strategic ally, perhaps even a guarantor of security. For many years tacit understandings between Israel and the Sunni powers rested upon a system of subtleties in which expressions of loyalty to the idea of Palestine as a legitimating principle of the Arab order were balanced by considerations of national interest. In this less subtle moment, the matter of Palestine, its internal divisions, search for national dignity, the settlements and territorial negotiations, could be shaped by still more direct calculation of advantage among states in the region. With its ecumenical promise, the Abraham Accords also highlight the power of domestic factors in U.S. foreign policy. President Donald J. Trump has presented his peacemaking as a populist alternative to the endless wars authored by U.S. globalists, while affirming his Christian Zionist supporters and adding a profitable account to the deal book of U.S. statecraft. These negotiations could not have been easy to conclude. And it will be the challenge for the Trump administration to convert what might seem a transaction, a hegemonic peace or military alliance against Iran, to a larger regional design, aligning arrangements of raw power with a principle of legitimacy upon which a new order might be defined. It was below the Truman Balcony at the White House that the accords were signed. Harry Truman was the president who recognized the new state of Israel in 1948. And for all of the trials associated with Israels navigation through the decades since then, formal recognition by these Persian Gulf states speak to the perseverance of Israel, about which it had been incorrectly assumed that its definition of security would preclude regional acceptance. For the Gulf states too, whose diplomatic suppleness has allowed these vulnerable countries to thrive, the accords must carry with them a measure of historical satisfaction. Additional Gulf states may recognize Israel, participating in what promise to be mutually beneficial economic ties, and countries elsewhere in the greater Middle East could follow. For a region in the half-light, with countries cascading between order and anarchy, a regional environment riven by the rival designs of its major powers and an international system in crisis, the accords could provide the merit of clarifying the landscape of power in the Middle East, itself a mechanism of stabilization. Yet without the escape clauses of a tacit system, the regions leaders, and those further afield seeking expansion of the accords, will need to take care that alliances of nuance, ones accommodating competing agendas existing within the context of a general strategic consensus, not be replaced with coalitions of rigidity, self-propelled in the name of unity toward new forms of insecurity. In either reading, Israels integration into the security architecture of the Arab world seems likely to deepen. Bradford R. McGuinn is a senior lecturer with a focus on Middle Eastern studies in the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences Department of Political Science. Namita Bajpai By Express News Service LUCKNOW: The first private mandi of Uttar Pradesh for procurement of farm produce was inaugurated in Bulandshahr on Friday amid the protest by farmers against the recently passed agrarian reform bills. The mandi was inaugurated in village Arania Khurd of the district. However, farmers of the area and local village heads protested against the private mandi. Khurja Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Lavi Tripathi inaugurated the mandi -- Agromart Pvt Ltd -- owned by a Delhi-based rice export company. The company looks forward to establishing similar mandis in Aligarh, Hapur, and Bareilly in the coming years to procure paddy and other produce from western UP farmers. Claiming that the farmers were happy with the new mandi which would provide them an alternative platform to sell their produce, the SDM said that with no additional fees for selling their produce at the mandi, the farmers would also get seeds and fertilizers at subsidized rates there in future. ALSO READ | Maharashtra Congress says MVA against farm bills, unlikely to implement in state As per the sources, over a dozen farmers sold their produce on the opening day of the Agromart mandi. The Mandi officials claimed to have procured paddy at the market rate saying they would ensure the best possible facilities and assistance to farmers in the future. Meanwhile, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Naresh Takait, joined the farmers agitation in Muzaffarnagar. BKUs state spokesperson Dharmendra Malik accused the Union government of being more interested in shielding the interest of corporates instead of farmers. He said that the governments tall claims over the farm bills were an eyewash and farmers had decided to fight a decisive battle till their issues were addressed suitably. BKU members blocked the Delhi-Noida border near Sector 14A in protest against the bills. Farmers from different villages gathered and marched to Delhi as part of a nationwide protest but they were stopped on the way by the police. Farmers, in tractors and cars, reached Noida Gate near Mayur Vihar around 11.45 am. Police personnel were deployed on the Delhi side of the border. On the Noida side of the border, farmers parked several tractors and cars at the entry gate halting vehicular movement from both sides. Similarly, farmers in other districts including Barabanki, Bahraich, Prayagraj, Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, and Gorakhpur put up a strong protest by squatting on the high ways and blocking it at various places. Farmers in Barabanki and other districts also burnt stubble to express their opposition to the farm bills. The student wings of SP and Congress joined the farmers' protest in Prayagraj. Life has pretty weird ways of working. It truly is the most unpredictable aspect of being alive. No two days are ever the same, and yet every day comes with a promise of something new - good or bad. While most of us may have experienced this one way or another, a young girl from Indore in Madhya Pradesh saw both the good and the ugly within a span of a few months. TOI Indores Shubhangi Patil was a class 12th student this summer. However, just ahead of her boards, her mother fell severely ill and since the family had no financial standing to get Shubhangis mother treated, Shubhangi and her elder sister decided to take her to their maternal grandmas house where her uncle could get their mother treated. With the decision made, Shubhangi embarked on a cumbersome, 300 km-long journey from Indore to Chopda in Maharashtra on her scooty, with her mother tucked behind her in a blanket. Not only did she successfully carry out the mission to get her mother the best care possible and another chance at life, Shubhangi also made the round trip in time to sit for her board exams. TOI The lockdown didnt make her life easier, since Shunbhangi and her sister only had Rs 500 to get them by, with no one else to rely on. However, having already lost her father in 2009 to kidney failure, Shubhangi also had to bear the news of her mothers death in June. Now, with results coming out for this years board exam, it was discovered that Shubhangi has scored an impressive 87% in her 12th boards and has also become eligible for CMs Rs 25,000 laptop scheme which is given to students who score 85% and above in their board exams. Twitter/Asianet Newsable Shubhangi now plans to utilise this amount to finance her college fees that would help her become a tehsildar one day. Shubhangis story is yet another that when one wills it, it becomes possible to achieve the unimaginable. And although Shubhangis mother is no more to witness her achievements, we are sure she is proud of the person Shubhangi has become - one who stayed true to her responsibilities until the very end. Enough is enough, said Marlene Mourier, the mayor of the French city of Bourg-les-Valence, who in a Facebook post revealed that she received threats from Azerbaijanis in August because her city has a Friendship City relationship with Shushi in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). She also said three Azerbaijani henchmen stormed city hall in late August demanding the Artsakh flag to be lowered, Asbarez reported. In Bourg-les-Valence, we have no lessons to learn from Azerbaijan, a petro-dictatorship ranked 168 out of 180 by Reporters Without Borders, Mourier asserted in her post. Mourier is the latest victim of intimidation and harassment by Azerbaijanis around the world. When it comes to threats and intimidation against me, this is not Azerbaijans first attempt, she said in her Facebook post. In a lengthy post the Mayor says when it comes to threats and intimidation against me, Azerbaijan is at its best. After putting me on a blacklist in 2014, they sent an agent to the city hall in 2016 to demand that I put an end to all friendly relations with the residents of the city of Shushi in Artsakh. It was in 2018 that I had to face a lawsuit brought by the state of Azerbaijan before the administrative court with the aim of invalidating the friendship charter that I signed on October 5, 2014 with Shushi, the historic capital of Artsakh, Mourier recounted the countless efforts of intimidation by Baku and its agents. Mourier made it abundantly clear that despite the challenges and threats by Baku, the citys friendship charter with Shushi remains in place, adding that no one can prejudice the final decision of the City Council. Today I am once again the subject of threats and intimidation to which I will not give in, let alone to the dictator in Baku or even his allies in Turkey, said Mourier. Indeed, three Azeri henchmen came to city hall on August 25 to order me to withdraw within an hour the Artsakh flag which flies alongside the flags of our twin cities with which we maintain friendship ties. She added that 15 minutes after the incident, an Azerbaijani Embassy official called her deputy and attempted to intimidate him by demanding that the Artskh flag be lowered. Azerbaijan, Aliyev and his associates must come to terms with the idea that friendship cannot be decreed or annulled and that residents of Bourg-les-Valence have high esteem and regard for the residents of Shushi and for the people of Artsakh, in general, Mourier stressed. Here in France, in Bourg-les-Valence, displaying the Artsakh flag is an act of solidarity with a people that Azerbaijan threatens daily with annihilation, demonstrating to the world that its only stated ambition is to complete the genocide of the Armenians of 1915, whose executors of yesterday are their allies today, Mourier said. Neither Bourg-les-Valence, nor its mayor, Marlene Mourier, will follow the orders of the Baku dictatorship! she concluded. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 20:23:58|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Wang Jiangang UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Under-Secretary-General (USG) Fabrizio Hochschild told Xinhua in a recent interview that China's commitment to upholding multilateralism and people's aspiration for solidarity are "encouraging." "China's commitment to working through multilateral channels, to upholding multilateralism and the growing commitment and investment we've seen in multilateralism from China is very encouraging," Hochschild said when commenting on the speech delivered by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the high-level meeting to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the UN. "I think it was also important that he acknowledged the critical role the UN has played and has to play in all three pillars of our organization, in peace and security, and of course development, which he gave particular stress to ..." said Hochschild, also special adviser to the secretary-general on the commemoration of the UN's 75th birthday. Like many other top UN officials, Hochschild said China's contributions to UN peacekeeping is important, noting that China has been "a key partner" in this regard. Hochschild reiterated the fact that China is the second largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping and China "has more people in uniform and peacekeeping outreach" than the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council put together. Turning to the "global consultation" program that the United Nations launched in January to help understand people's expectations of global cooperation and of the UN in particular, Hochschild said, "People want to see more inclusive international cooperation" with their voices being heard, noting that ordinary people were not happy with the status quo that only the voices of those in power could be heard. Hochschild said he was impressed with people's "very strong support for international cooperation." People's "high level of unity" also impressed him, he said, as their needs are similar in the struggle against the worst public health crisis since the Second World War. He underscored the particular need for major countries to "reach consensus on major issues," otherwise, it will have "very negative effect" on efforts to advance agenda like the climate action. The USG called for dialogue and negotiation to "enhance our common grounds" and manage differences. "Humanity is made up of diversity. Diversity is a gift of humanity," he said. Enditem First complete sign language Bible available after nearly 4 decades Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment After nearly four decades, the completeBible is now available in American Sign Language for the first time ever. Deaf Missions, a ministry dedicated to communicating the Gospel of Jesus with Deaf people through their heart language, culture and identity, began the project in the early 1980s. In 2016, the mission partnered with Wycliffe USA, American Bible Society, Deaf Bible Society, Deaf Harbor, DOOR International, Pioneer Bible Translators, and Seed Company to complete the project, according to Mission Network News. The final books needed Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were completed this fall. Now, the entire Bible is available to the worlds 70 million people who are deaf for free online, through social media, and on a smartphone app. The translation was led by people who themselves are deaf and trained in the biblical languages. Roughly 98% of the worldwide population of Deaf people have never encountered the real Jesus, notes the Deaf Missions website. What is the number one issue Deaf people face when it comes to knowing Jesus? The answer boils down to two words: communication barriers. Deaf Missions President Chad Entinger explained to MNN in an email that the ASL Bible has garnered a tremendous and exciting reaction from the U.S. Deaf Christian community. Doing sign language Bible translation with video drafts takes longer than text or printed drafts, according to Etinger, who added: Thanks to Gods provision through the generosity of Deaf Missions donors and funding partners, we were able to overcome funding challenges and onboard more translators to accelerate completion of the Bible, thereby finishing in 2020 instead of our original projection of 2033! The Deaf Bible Society President J.R. Bucklew previously told The Christian Post that although there are various text translations of the Bible available, some 95% of the world's deaf population is functionally illiterate. And only 20 of the world's 400 sign languages have some form of Bible content available. Additionally, because ASL has a different syntax than English, its important for those in the deaf community to own a Bible in sign language, he explained. [Even] for the deaf that learn to read, it's mostly just memorizing symbols that represent a sound that they have no way to identify with," Bucklew said. "Then they are just matching symbols with things that are tangible in front of them. The spoken language in a text form is always a second language to them. They are not able to identify with them as you would a sign language." In recent years, numerous efforts have been made to make Scripture available to the deaf, a historically underserved population. In March, Wycliffe Associates released a translation of the New Testament in a new concept-based language called SUN (Symbolic Universal Notation), a symbolic representation of the words in Scripture. Developed by Wycliffe Associates, SUN aims to provide a pathway to Christ for millions of people who are deaf and blind and have no other way of effectively communicating with the world. This is the first that I have seen or heard of anything like this in Bible translation, SUN Program Director Lori Jenkins told CP. Basically, we have taken the New Testament and broken it down into the main concepts of each of the verses and each of the chapters. For each concept, we have created a symbol. Deaf Missions and the Jesus Film Project are seeking to raise millions to create a motion picture about the life of Jesus Christ featuring actors signing in ASL. "The heart-language, it's related to a person's identity, Etinger explained to MNN. For a person to see something in their heart language that really will capture their heart, and that person will then feel like, 'Oh my goodness, they're actually communicating to me. This is my language. Monday 05 September, 2016 Reliable information reaching Biafra writers desk has it that the life of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indi... NEW YORK - Not long after her daughter Eva's school shuttered in March because of the pandemic, Angela Torres's 82-year-old mother fell ill with covid-19. Torres was told her mother's case was mild, but the disease spread to her kidneys. She died April 1, forcing Torres to juggle home-schooling duties with organizing a virtual funeral, all while grieving the sudden loss of the family matriarch. Later, the coronavirus would sicken friends, neighbors and members of her church. "Everywhere you turned," Torres said, "there was someone else to give condolences to." So when the New York City schools system asked her if she would send Eva back to the classroom in the fall, Torres, who works remotely, did not have to think twice. She could not fathom sending Eva to school, with the grief of losing her mother still so fresh. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, D, has pushed hard to reopen school buildings, to ease the burden on working parents. And yet the families of 46 percent of students in the nation's largest school district, made up overwhelmingly of children of color who come from low-income households, have chosen to keep their children home. Even some families in precarious financial situations are forgoing work to care for their children, because they are so fearful of the virus. De Blasio touted his plan to keep students and teachers safe as "the global gold standard," ordering inspections of all school buildings, supplying staff with masks and designing a testing regimen intended to keep close tabs on case numbers in schools. But the mayor had to push back the start date twice because schools were not yet ready to receive students and teachers demanded more safety precautions, threatening to strike. More than 450,000 students began remote learning last Monday, while about 90,000 preschoolers and special education students whose families chose in-person instruction arrived at school campuses. Beginning next week, the remaining students - more than a half-million of them - will begin to arrive at school buildings for classes, with many attending only two to three days a week to allow for social distancing. According to the most recent district figures, families of students of color chose remote learning at far higher rates than White families. More than half the Asian students enrolled in remote learning. For Black and Hispanic students, the number is nearly 46 percent. For their White classmates, it is just 33 percent. When their classmates begin arriving at school next week, these students will remain out of the classroom and in front of computers. But remote learning proved disastrous for many in the spring, as schools were forced to devise learning plans on the fly and struggled to connect students with devices and high-speed Internet. Experts fear it could be another factor exacerbating an achievement gap that separates Black and Latino students from their White classmates. Nearly all large urban school districts, which are disproportionately Black and Latino, have gone remote. Across the country, this story is repeating itself. A national Washington Post-Schar School Survey conducted in late July found that Black and Hispanic parents were far more hesitant to return their children to classrooms. Among White parents, 57 percent said they thought it would be safe to send their children back to classrooms. Among Black and Hispanic parents, 21 and 27 percent respectively said they thought in-person instruction was safe. Pedro Dones, a middle-school math teacher at M.S. 363 in the Bronx, said many of his students live with elderly relatives and have seen plenty of people around them fall ill. They worry that if they return to school in person they will bring the virus home. "You have quite a few kids who are like . . . 'I can't have that on my head, if I came back and someone in my family got sick,'" said Dones. Torres, an auditor who lives in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx and has organized a food pantry for needy school families, knows her daughter could be missing out if she does not return to her middle-school classroom. She said many working parents are sending their children back as an absolute last resort, only when they can find no one else to care for them. They sometimes confide in her that they feel like bad parents. "They don't feel confident that their child is going to be safe," Torres said. Tamara Rolle, 47, was among those who lined up outside Fort Schuyler Presbyterian Church, where Torres had organized food and grocery distribution. Rolle, a home health aide, is out on medical leave and decided to keep her daughter, 9-year-old Reina, home from her charter school, which is not subject to de Blasio's reopening plans but has nonetheless opened its doors for in-person instruction. She is still unsure what she will do when her leave expires. She worried about what would happen if Reina returned. What if Reina forgot about social distancing and hugged an infected classmate? What if she let her mask slip, as she sometimes does, and picked up the virus? Many say that the diverging views about the safety of in-person schooling is another sign of the pandemic's uneven impact on communities of color. The coronavirus has spread more easily and proved deadlier among Black and Latino communities, whose members are more likely to work in essential jobs that put them at risk of exposure. Long-standing injustices such as housing discrimination, and poor health-care access have also made them more likely to have underlying conditions. These trends track among the virus's youngest victims. Cases of serious illness and death among children are exceedingly rare, but Black, Latino and American Indian youths make up an outsize proportion of pediatric coronavirus fatalities, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bronx, the city's poorest borough, took the hardest hit: Nearly four out of every 100 residents contracted the virus, according to city data. Many students in the Bronx live with elderly relatives, and they have told their teachers they do not want to be responsible for bringing the virus home. In District 8, where Torres sends her daughter to school, 49 percent of students are learning remotely. Asked why Black and Latino families might be opting out of face-to-face instruction at higher rates, the mayor acknowledged that it could be linked to the pandemic's disproportionate impact on these communities. "The communities of color have been hit the hardest here, and have gone through hell," de Blasio said during a news conference Monday. "It makes sense that there would be real concern and real caution." Torres, whose daughter Eva is set to start sixth grade this year at the Urban Institute of Mathematics in the Bronx, said she could not fathom sending Eva back - and understands why other families are fearful. "Having walked that journey, I didn't want to go down that road again," she said. And the schools she's sent her children to have been on the losing end of the district, which once ranked among the most segregated in the country. An active member of the parent associations, she said they are often fundraising meager amounts to buy basics like pencils for students. Some parent associations at more affluent schools in the city have purchased tents to move class outdoors. De Blasio has talked about his hope that opening schools will jump-start the economy, giving the city's massive workforce - in which many have jobs that cannot be done remotely - a shot at returning. But many parents interviewed said they would rather stay home, endangering their financial prospects, to ensure their children are out of harm's way. It also makes things difficult when most children who will return to classrooms will do so for just part of the week to allow for social distancing. All of this translates to a massive dilemma for school districts like New York City, which in many cases are reopening school buildings for the very people who are most fearful of attending. Education advocates remain frustrated that the New York school district has not done a better job of ensuring that its neediest students, like those living in homeless shelters, have devices connected to the Internet. Christine C. Quinn, who runs a nonprofit that is one of the city's largest providers of services to homeless women and children, said the city wrongly assumed that her clients would want to send their children back to classrooms. It's not the case. "The fear is profound," Quinn said. "People will, though, do everything they can not to let their children go to the classroom." Jamaal Bowman, a former middle school principal who is running for Congress to represent a swath of the north Bronx, attributed the reluctance among Black and Latino families in his district to send children back to a lack of trust - and a process that left many parents feeling unheard. It "wasn't collaborative," he said. "It was confrontational." Bowman said he is keeping his own children home because of the uncertainty. At the middle school he founded, and led up until the start of this year, about 60 out of the 260 students have signed up for in-person instruction. With so many children staying home, he said, "that's what I wished we would have been focused on - making remote instruction as good as it can possibly be." A married St. Catharines couple has been arrested on child pornography charges following a police investigation. Niagara Regional Police said its internet child exploitation unit began a probe into the sexual exploitation of children earlier this month. Members identified two suspects with the aid of the technological crime unit, and on Thursday made two arrests. John Euclide Logan, 41, was charged with making child pornography, possession of child pornography and distributing child pornography. His wife, Dena Logan, 39, was charged with possession of child pornography. Trump has placed himself at the center of the protests, castigating demonstrators as rioters and looters and siding with police. He has threatened to turn the military on people protesting police brutality and sent federal agents to break up demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, over the summer against the wishes of local and state leaders. London based cybersecurity company, Garrison, has today appointed the outgoing head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Ciaran Martin to its Advisory Board. Ciaran will be responsible for helping Garrison to shape its future strategy, to engage effectively with national governments around the world, and to drive the broader market debate about the need for greater efficacy in cybersecurity products. Following a distinguished career as a civil servant with the UK Government, Ciaran was brought in to set up and lead the NCSC in 2016 as its first Chief Executive. During his time at the NCSC Ciaran established himself as one of the UK's most eminent experts on cyber security and how Governments, businesses and society could mitigate against the threats posed by hackers. Ciaran Martin, said, "When it came to looking at the cybersecurity companies that would be a good fit for me, Garrison was the clear choice and I'm delighted to come on board. Garrison are taking technology that was hitherto only available to protect classified UK government systems and making it available to protect commercial enterprises around the world. I look forward to helping them continue on this course and going from strength to strength over the coming years." David Garfield, CEO of Garrison, said: "At Garrison, we believe that in the face to today's threats, customers need stronger cybersecurity products than the market is offering them: a reality that has long been faced by the most sensitive government organisations. Ciaran's unique view of both the cybersecurity risks that businesses face, and the ways that the world's most sensitive systems and information can be protected, will be invaluable as we help our customers to understand that cyber breaches need not be inevitable." Following Ciaran's departure from the NCSC, his primary occupation is now in academia, he has recently been appointed Professor of Practice at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. About Garrison: Garrison was founded in 2014 by David Garfield and Henry Harrison who, with a wealth of experience, designed a product that eradicates the largest cyber risk to organisations and governments worldwide, that of web-borne threats. The company is backed by investors including Dawn Capital, IP Group, NM Capital and BGF, and has customers across nine countries, from governments (including the UK government) to commercial global enterprises. Garrison is pioneering a new technological paradigm in the field of cybersecurity a system architecture known as hardsec that has emerged from security research within the UK National Security sector. www.garrison.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200925005321/en/ Contacts: Headland Consultancy Gregor Riemann +44 7920 802 627 Griemann@headlandconsultancy.com To hold this event is not just misguided, it is dangerous, it is manipulative and it is wrong, Wolf said. I would ask Pennsylvanians to think of the health and safety of their families and their communities before attending this event or any rally put on by the Trump campaign. And I would ask the president, for once, to put the health of his constituents ahead of his own political fortunes.Wolf, a Democrat, said he sent the Trump campaign a letter on Sept. 10 asking it to abide by Pennsylvanias Covid-19 mitigation measures with social distancing, masks and crowd limits, but Trump held a rally on Tuesday near Pittsburgh with thousands of people jammed together. More than 52 per cent of people in Britain avoid discussing their sex life, a recent study has found. Brits are often thought to be quite reserved and new research conducted by Thornton and Ross ahead of World Contraception Day on Saturday 26 September has compared the nation to more broad-minded countries in neighbouring Europe - and confirmed the theory is true. A study of 24,000 people from 12 European countries found that those who live in Britain are most reluctant to talk about sex, with either their partner or friends. Meanwhile, a surprising 52 per cent confessed that they never discuss what goes on in the bedroom. Research conducted by pharmaceutical firm Thornton & Ross suggests Brits are among the least likely people to discuss their sex life (file image) How much do people talk about sex in the UK? 1 UK - 52 per cent 2 Belgium - 40 per cent 3 France - 39 per cent 4 Germany - 35 per cent 5 Italy - 31 per cent 6 Finland - 27 per cent 7 Switzerland - 26 per cent 8 Austria - 25 per cent 9 Russia - 25 per cent 10 Poland - 22 per cent 11 Serbia - 21 per cent 12 Spain - 20 per cent Advertisement Spain was revealed as the country with people who are the least shy about discussing their sex lives with others, as just 20 per cent of the participants said they're too bashful to talk about intimacy. The pharmaceutical firm asked 2,000 people from 12 countries to reveal their attitude towards chatting about their sex lives - and then put the findings together in the 2020 Health Report, Participants were asked whether they 'talked about sex' with their 'friends or their partner'. Graham Burton, 48, who lives in Harrow, north West London, said he never spoke about sex with his pals and only occasionally with his partner. Mick Cox, who is the vice-president for consumer healthcare at T&R, said the findings about Brits being reluctant to discuss sex and sexual health is worrying (file image) 'I never speak to my friends about my sex life and I hope my partner doesn't speak with her friends about it either. 'It might be our British reserve, but I just think it's really about respecting the person you are in a relationship with, rather than telling all and sundry about what you get up to in the bedroom,' he said. A spokesman commented: 'More than half of Brits refuse to talk about sex with their partner or friends, the highest figure in 12 European countries.' T&R's vice-president for consumer healthcare Mick Cox, added: 'The fact that Brits don't feel comfortable talking about sex or their sexual health is worrying.' Its pathetic, of course, but it also cant be ignored. Because this particular feckless, aspirational dictator has every member of his political party marching in goose-step behind him, a remarkable feat given none of them have spines. Those Republicans with their limp torsos and occasionally furrowed brows are helping Trump zip a new Supreme Court justice into place weeks before an election, rendering the word hypocrisy meaningless and facilitating the presidents ideal outcome of an election decided by his judges. OSLO (Reuters) - Vattenfall will focus on offshore wind power developments in Europe as the region seeks to boost green investments, instead of expanding globally, the Swedish utility said on Wednesday. State-controlled Vattenfall said the European Union's plans to decarbonise its economy by increasing offshore wind power capacity provided enough opportunities for the Nordic region's largest utility. "So, there is no need to go outside of Europe," Gunnar Groebler, Vattenfall's head of wind power, told investors during the online presentation of the company's strategy update. While Vattenfall remains focused on its European home markets, others such as Denmark's Orsted have branched out to Asia or are investigating opportunities in the United States. Groebler said Vattenfall was confident it would continue to secure projects in a competitive market, with offshore wind power also attracting interest from major oil firms, such as Equinor and BP . "Even if there is a lot of capital in the market right now, you need to know where you're able to make money long term," Vattenfall's Chief Financial Officer and incoming Chief Executive Anna Borg said. Vattenfall operates 2.1 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity and plans to build a further 6.4 GW, including the 1.5 GW Dutch Hollandse Kust South wind farm which will be built by 2023 without subsidies. Groebler said the company was currently looking to sign long-term power purchase agreements and potentially to sell some stakes in the Dutch farm to reduce the risk. Vattenfall said the EU's Green Deal economic programme meant the region would need to boost its offshore wind capacity to 450 GW by 2050 from 22-24 GW today. (Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Nerijus Adomaitis and Mark Potter) BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend: The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Laxisam, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Uzbekistan, will supply Uzbekistan with up to 35 million doses of the world's first registered Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Trend reports referring to the press service of RDIF. After receiving approval from the regulatory authorities of Uzbekistan, up to 10 million doses of the vaccine can be supplied to Uzbekistan in 2020, and up to 25 million doses are planned to be supplied in 2021. The World Health Organization and leading medical specialists in the field of epidemiology of infectious diseases indicate that vaccination is an effective way to create sustainable immunity to prevent the dangerous disease COVID-19 in humans, said Chairman of the Board of Laxisam Group Shavkat Ismailov. The delivery of the vaccine will ensure that medical specialists of Uzbekistan have an advanced tool to fight the new coronavirus infection, which allows them to form long-term immunity and protect citizens, as well as ensure the availability of a diversified portfolio of vaccines against coronavirus, said Kirill Dmitriev. On August 11, the Sputnik V vaccine produced by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia received a registration certificate from the Ministry of Health of Russia, becoming the first registered coronavirus vaccine in the world. Currently, RDIF has received requests for more than 1.2 billion doses of the Sputnik V vaccine for 2020-2021. More than 50 countries of the CIS, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America submitted applications. Earlier, RDIF announced the agreements reached with partners in Mexico for the supply of 32 million doses, and in Brazil and India (up to 50 and100 million doses, respectively) RDIF was founded in 2011 to invest in the equity capital of companies primarily in Russia, together with leading foreign financial and strategic investors. Laxisam for 26 years has been known as one of the largest suppliers and manufacturers of a wide range of medicines in the Uzbek market. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @romakayeva T he death of a police officer in south London early this morning is a shocking tragedy which will be felt not just by those closest to him but by the capital at large. He was shot by a man who was being detained at Croydon Custody Centre. The officer subsequently died in hospital. When a colleague dies in the line of duty, Dame Cressida Dick said this morning, the shockwaves and sadness reverberates throughout the Met and our communities. We mourn with them. It is not yet clear exactly how a sergeant came to be killed in a police station. Such events are thankfully rare. Even so, police in London have reason to feel less safe in their duties at present. Attacks on Met police rose sharply during the coronavirus lockdown: the forces own figures show there were some 2,027 assaults on officers between May and July a 38 per cent increase compared with the same period last year. Our brave officers do not deserve this treatment. It hardly needs to be spelled out that it is not for the police to absorb public anger or frustration. The public rely on the police to keep them safe and owe them a corresponding duty. We should not forget that every day they put themselves on the line for us. Question of leadership Our Ipsos Mori poll today shows Rishi Sunak surging ahead of the Prime Minister on a range of leadership qualities, from being good in a crisis to having sound judgment (on the latter, Sir Keir also thoroughly beat the PM). It will likely irk Johnson rather than worry him unduly, his majority means he is pretty safe. Loading.... The PM also knows his Chancellor will look less popular as will the Tories when the inevitable clawing back of the billions we are borrowing begins. It is all too easy to look like the golden saviour when doling out cash to desperate voters. To give Sunak credit, he has continually looked like the one in control of this situation, while the PM has looked like a bluffer. Grave and measured, the kind of man youd want to send out to represent this country globally, which come post-pandemic and our final EU exit will be paramount. Of course, Sunak was playing to the gallery yesterday, appealing to the core Tory constituency when he talked of learning to live with coronavirus without fear. Not for him jokes about grouse moors, or rash promises that it will be fine by Christmas, when students might not be able to return to their families from university. He doesnt talk up freedom-loving Brits as being the reason our infections have risen (rather than the failure of test-and-trace). That quite rightly earned Johnson the Italian presidents deft rebuke, that we Italians also love freedom, but we also care about seriousness. Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, has led an effective rebellion this week on ensuring the House of Commons must be allowed to vote on any further Covid actions. Loading.... It will be an easy give for the PM. But it is also a reminder that if Johnson does not take a leaf out of Sunaks book on leadership qualities, Tory MPs have a history of ruthlessly expelling those they lose faith in and anointing the leader they know will keep them in power. Togbe Kotoku IX, Paramount Chief of Kpenoe, has commended the National Peace Council for de-escalating tensions among political parties and promoting peace ahead of the December 7 elections. He also called on the Council to intensify its engagement with the relevant stakeholders to ensure peace before, during and after the elections. A statement issued and signed by Togbe Kotoku IX and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said few months ago, there were apprehension and fear of the unknown following intra and inter-party conflicts and issues concerning the creation of a new voters register and vigilantism. But the direct and indirect interventions by the Peace Council and other stakeholders are gradually reducing the tension to pave way for a peaceful, free and fair general election. Whilst applauding all and especially, the Peace Council for the efforts, I think it is necessary for the Council to hold more engagements with chiefs, the Electoral Commission, the Political Parties and the media for a good end to the political seasons, the statement . It said such engagements would also address concerns and help build confidence in the electoral system, as well as discourage people from engaging in violence. The media, especially, must be engaged regularly and trained on peace reporting so that they will stop conveying insults to the citizenry and focus on developmental issues. Conveying insults, the statement said, would only put politicians at loggerheads, saying the country needed peace to undertake its numerous developmental projects including fixing of bad roads, create jobs and build hospitals, among others. Togbe Kotoku IX urged chiefs to speak the truth to power brokers to ensure that they rose to the occasion to contribute towards addressing development issues such as sanitation, potable water and electricity. 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 Companies ready to increase investment in health insurance From:ChinaDaily | 2020-09-25 16:08 More than 20 percent of enterprises surveyed are willing to increase investment into medical security of their employees in the next one to two years despite effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on business, a report showed. The demand of healthcare is growing among the Chinese people due to the aging population, decreasing fertility rate and shrinking workforce in the country. A multilevel social security network is therefore necessary to promote people's livelihoods, experts said. Such network should be composed of national basic security, and supplements from companies and individuals. Though the security net from the government has covered most of residents, the last two still have big development space, according to a white paper released by Taikang Insurance Group and market research firm Nielsen China, on Wednesday. A total of 97 percent large and medium-sized companies surveyed have purchased supplementary insurance, besides that required by the government, for their employees, with an average premium of up to 2,123 yuan per person per year, it said. About 75 percent enterprises bought accident insurance for workers, 58 percent bought critical illness insurance, 57 percent purchased medical insurance, and 31 percent invested in life insurance, it said. About 70 percent of companies extended such services to workers' family members, with 59 percent targeting their children, according to the report. However, only 27 percent employees surveyed said security offered by the government and their employers can meet their demands, with a mismatching between what they need most and what they receive, the report showed. With the rising awareness of security in the society, 90 percent of employees are willing to buy extra insurance themselves. About 56 percent enterprises have provided "group buying" programs for workers to choose what insurance they want, it said. Suo Lingyan, a professor of Peking University, said some companies in developed countries offer three to five kinds of health management plans for selection, and employees can enjoy subsidies from companies. It's a good way to motivate workers and strengthen enterprises' competitiveness, without adding too much extra expenditure, the report showed. More than 230 million people living in coastal areas around the world could be directly impacted by a significant rise in the global sea level over the next 80 years. According to a recent study conducted by scientists from 13 countries, the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, in combination with the depletion of mountain glaciers, could result in a one metre rise of sea level. The melting of the Greenland ice sheet "can contribute up to 14 cm of sea level rise while the one on Antarctica could trigger a rise of up to 30 cm. Thermal expansion of oceans and the melting of mountain glaciers are the other two major causes of sea level rise, Nicolas Jourdain of the Geosciences and Environment institute at the University of Grenoble, who took part in the research, told RFI. The thick ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica were formed by the accumulation of snow over hundreds of thousands of years. However, as a result of global warming, melting has accelerated over the past couple of decades. By the end of the 1990s, the rate of melting of the Greenland ice was 0.46 mm per year. It has now reached 0.77 mm per year. Similarly, in Antarctica, the rate was 0.29 mm twenty years ago, now it's gone up to 0.43 mm per year, Jourdain explained. The simulations of the melting of ice sheets were carried out by running climate models and ice sheet models corresponding to different scenarios on extremely powerful supercomputers. These models were based on observations of snow accumulation in Greenland and Antarctica, along with satellite imagery. They also took into account oceanic and atmospheric parameters including the amount of release of greenhouse gases. Ice melt could delay global warming Curiously, the melting of the Antarctic ice sheets could temporarily delay the process of global warming for a few years. It would cool the surface of the southern oceans, thereby delaying the effect of global warming by 10 years. However, later on, global warming will march on, Jourdain said. And this effect could push sea levels even higher in the next century. Our projections are limited to the year 2100. At the current rate of warming, there is no doubt that the sea levels will rise even more afterwards, thereby putting even more people at risk, he said. A recent study by a different research group has shown that the Arctic could have its first ice-free summer by as early as 2035. The premiere season of the e-motorsport event under the local arm of Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota is now coming to an end with the third and final round of the GR Supra GT Cup-Philippines. This Saturday, September 26 at 8:00 pm, Filipino virtual racers are set to outpace each other across the checkered flag of this online race series for a chance to represent the countrys colors in the Asia Regional Round of the GR Supra GT Cup. The race will be seen live at the TMP's official Facebook account, www.facebook.com/toyotamotorphilippines Aside from the exciting sporting and promotional class, the upcoming online race will also be star-studded, as celebrities and social media personalities Gino Quillamor, Apple David, Reph Bangsil, John Manalo, Krissha Viaje, Nico Salva, Erika Rabara, and Angelique Manto will join the celebrity class. They will race against members of the motoring media and TMP officials including Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) own bet, President Atsuhiro Okamoto. Okamoto TMP Vice President for Marketing Services Elijah Marcial assured that the racing finale for this years e-motorsports event will be as equally exciting as the previous two legs. "The third round is crucial as racers will earn double points this time. Although we've seen some consistent racers leading in the first two rounds, it's still anybody's game at this point. We cannot wait to find out who will be showing the world that Filipinos can excel in the international e-motorsports arena," Marcial noted. Those who accumulated the most number of points after all three rounds will be declared the national GR Supra GT Cup Asia Philippines class champions. To add, the third and final member will be from the media/celebrity division. Supra GT Cup After officially declaring the three-man roster, Team TMP will race against the best-of-the-best e-drivers within the Asian Toyota distributors in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and India. TMP guaranteed that the championsincluding the winner from the Junior Classwill win prize packages from TMP. The winners from the Sporting, Promotional and Celebrity/Media class will each receive major prizes, including the highly-anticipated PlayStation 5. Story continues The GR Supra GT Cup series is being held via the Gran Turismo Sport game on the PlayStation platform. During the last round, JB Cruz led the promotional class, followed by Lance Guballa and Lance Padilla for the second and third place finishes, respectively. Both Guballa and Padilla were also podium finishers in the first round of the local arm of the Japanese automakers national e-motorsports program. Meanwhile, Luis Moreno topped the Sporting Class for the second time, along with new first time podium winners Miguel San Mateo on second place and Terence Lallave on third. Photo/s from Hiro Okamoto's Facebook Page, Toyota Motor Philippines Also read: Here are the first-round winners for the GR Supra GT Cup Asia PH Toyota to launch GR Supra GT Cup Asia-PH next month Toyota PH launches e-motorsport event With multi-ton components shipped from China and other parts of the world, workers at a dusty construction site in southern France are rushing to assemble the worlds largest and most expensive nuclear fusion experiment. The project, called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), is being built to test whether the long-sought dream of nuclear fusion the atomic reaction that powers the sun can be harnessed to generate near-limitless clean energy. The assembly milestone came belatedly in late July after multiple delays due to financing and technical divisions among its 35 partners. But the Chinese team, according to the scientists there, has never gone off schedule in providing key components and getting the job done. Their goal is not only to participate, but also learn alongside their peers to help China create its own thermonuclear fusion reactor, scientists said. Huo Yuping, a scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that China had two things in mind when it joined the ITER project in 2003. The first was the projects invaluable contribution to future power plants, and the second was Chinas hope to use the experience to cultivate its talent and eventually become one of the first countries to build its own fusion reactor. Star power Harnessing fusion has been a dream of scientists for decades. While conventional nuclear power relies on fission splitting atoms to produce energy fusion combines atoms to create an immense burst of energy. With the goal of harnessing the power of the sun on Earth, a consortium of countries launched the ITER in 2006, with the European Union taking a 45% stake in the project. The United States, China, India, Japan, Russia and South Korea each have a 9% stake. Despite slight delays due to the coronavirus, the ITER announced the start of assembly on the tokamak, the donut-shaped machine where the reaction will take place, on July 28. Once completed, the tokamak will weigh 23,000 tons more than twice the weight of the Eiffel Tower and be made up of more than 1 million components. In theory, if the ITER works, it will lay the groundwork for an abundant new type of energy that doesnt produce planet-warming emissions or the hazards of conventional nuclear power. Nuclear fusion has the potential to solve the worlds energy problems. However, it remains unfeasible as a source of power. Fusion experiments usually require superheating a soup of atoms, known as plasma, inside the tokamak. Its not difficult, but how to keep the reaction going under a high temperature and convert the heat to electricity has plagued scientists for decades. ITER has also suffered multiple delays due to component construction and design disputes. With construction initially planned to start in 2016 at a cost of around 5 billion euros ($5.8 billion), the projects price tag has roughly quadrupled, and the first test of its superheated plasma has been delayed until 2025. Full-power fusion experiments are not expected to take place before 2035. Moreover, amid ongoing antiglobalization sentiment, concerns are growing that countries would be more reluctant to cover the ballooning costs. For example, the United States has for years been cutting its contribution to the project by hundreds of millions of dollars, said Wu Songtao, a top Chinese engineer with the ITER. Chinas interest ITER was first proposed at a U.S.-Soviet summit in 1985, but China didnt sign on to participate until 2003, when other countries wavered in financing the $23 billion project. Although the ticket price 5 billion yuan at the time, was a huge amount for the developing country, China saw it as an opportunity to boost its domestic nuclear fusion industry. At that time, a backlash among experts inevitably emerged against the costly project due to the countrys then weak nuclear fusion research. In a letter to the countrys leadership, some academicians wrote: What can elementary school students learn by going to college? But Huo, who strongly advocated for Chinas participation, said the mega project amounted to a global fusion club, whose ticket price would only go up as time went on. Meanwhile, he pushed the government to fund domestic fusion research in the same amount it gave to the ITER. Wu said that the Chinese team at the ITER is now the best-funded of the seven parties. Overall, we have done a good job, achieving great progress despite a lot of money spent. If we hadnt done so, we would have failed our country and the taxpayers, he added. Wang Min, deputy director of China International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center (ITER China), told Caixin that China has made faster and better progress than its partners. A great deal of young Chinese talent has been nurtured in the ITER program China has amplified its voices and contributed more wisdom to the nuclear fusion world, Wang said. Much left to do Despite being a latecomer to the technology, Chinas development of nuclear fusion has proceeded in leaps and bounds, experts said. ITER has played an important role in that progress. Before joining ITER, Chinese voices were barely heard at international fusion conferences. But after doing so, China has gradually moved to the center of the world stage of nuclear fusion, Luo Delong, director-general of ITER China, told the state-owned Science and Technology Daily in an August interview. A milestone in Chinas development of fusion technology is the construction of the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), a nuclear fusion reactor dubbed the artificial sun. Around the globe, physicists are trying to control the nuclear fusion reaction, but none can hold it steady as long as the team in Hefei, capital of East Chinas Anhui province. In April, for the first time, the EAST team managed to run the machine at 100 million degrees Celsius for up to about 10 seconds. Chinas EAST is similar to ITER, yet smaller and more flexible. The research carried out there will provide direct experience for the construction of ITER and serve as an important experimental test bench for conducting ITER-related experiments, according to the website of the Institute of Plasma Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The next stop on Chinas roadmap for fusion-generated power is to build a test reactor in 2021 called the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR), and start to build the commercial plants by 2050. Of similar size to ITER, the reactor aims to grapple with some of the unsolved technological issues remaining with ITER. Contact editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com) A Justice Department official told ABC News Friday that Attorney General William Barr personally briefed President Donald Trump about the DOJ's investigation into a small number of ballots in Pennsylvania that were found to be discarded, prior to the information being made public by a U.S. attorney's office Thursday afternoon. President Trump went on to first reveal the investigation in an interview with Fox News Radio, where he, without evidence, argued that it bolsters his baseless claims of widespread fraud in mail-in voting. "They were Trump ballots -- eight ballots in an office yesterday in -- but in a certain state and they were -- they had Trump written on it, and they were thrown in a garbage can. This is whats going to happen," Trump said in the interview. "This is whats going to happen, and were investigating that." PHOTO: President Donald Trump talks to journalists before departing the White House, Sept. 24, 2020, in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) But a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, which announced the investigation in a press release later in the day, made no explicit mention of "fraud." The office said it "began an inquiry into reports of potential issues with a small number of mail-in ballots at the Luzerne County Board of Elections," and discovered nine ballots in a dumpster which were cast for Trump. The office later corrected that number to seven and said two others were resealed inside their proper envelope. The investigation remains ongoing, but the U.S. attorney's office in a letter to the Luzerne County Board of Elections raised the specter that the improperly opened envelopes could possibly be the result of an administrative error. MORE: US attorney in battleground Pennsylvania investigating 'small number of mail-in ballots' found in trash "Our investigation has revealed that all or nearly all envelopes received in the elections office were opened as a matter of course," U.S. attorney David Freed said. "It was explained to investigators the envelopes used for official overseas, military, absentee and mail-in ballot requests are so similar, that the staff believed that adhering to the protocol of preserving envelopes unopened would cause them to miss such ballot requests." Story continues According to the Pennsylvania Election Code, ballot envelopes cannot be opened until the canvass is under way, and it is incumbent on counties to properly store and maintain the security of returned ballots. PHOTO: President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr step off Air Force One upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Sept. 1, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images, File) The series of events raised alarm among critics of the White House who accused the Justice Department of using an ongoing investigation to politically boost President Trump. "This is an ongoing investigation where there is no public interest reason to override the usual policy of not commenting -- and especially not to say for whom the ballots were cast. An unprecedented in kind contribution to the president's campaign," Matthew Miller, the former director of the Justice Department's public affairs office, said on Twitter. A DOJ official told ABC News that the department was in touch with the White House on Thursday about the investigation as reporters were continuing to seek information on what the president was referring to in his interview with Fox News. MORE: North Carolina officials reject Trump's call for supporters to vote by mail and in person Prior to the news release from the U.S. attorneys office, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany previewed in her press briefing that more information on the investigation would be forthcoming. Barr was made aware of the investigation after a number of local media outlets in Pennsylvania began reaching out to the U.S. attorney's office for more information and they sought guidance from Main Justice over how to respond, the official said. "I can confirm for you that Trump ballots, ballots for the president were found in Pennsylvania," McEnany said. "I believe you should be getting more information on that shortly. Here in the last 24 hours, they were found cast aside." Shortly after the announcement from the U.S. attorneys office, the White House and President Trump's campaign latched onto the investigation as proof behind the susceptibility of mail-in voting to rampant fraud. "Democrats are trying to steal the election," Matt Wolking, the deputy director of communications and rapid response with the Trump campaign, tweeted falsely. Barr briefed Trump on investigation into discarded Pennsylvania ballots originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Queen Elizabeth II departs in her Bentley car after attending Sunday service at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham estate on January 12, 2020 in King's Lynn, England. The British royal family is facing a 35 million ($44.5 million) hit to its finances as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Michael Stevens, the keeper of the privy purse, who essentially manages the royal family's finances, said the coronavirus would impact the "sovereign grant" that the monarchy receives from the government, funded by taxpayers. Annual profits from the Crown Estate, essentially the royal portfolio of property and land, from the two years' previous is factored into calculating the sovereign grant. Stevens explained in a briefing, ahead of the release of the royal family's annual financial report on Friday, that the Crown Estate had forecast its net profit for this year would fall "significantly." The sovereign grant cannot fall, he added, but this does mean for 2022/23 it would be held at 86.3 million it stood at 82.4 million this year. As a result, Stevens said the refurbishing project on Buckingham Palace was forecast to receive over 20 million less in funding from the sovereign grant. The 10-year project was agreed to cost 369 million but the shortfall in funding means a total of 349 million will be spent on the work at the palace. The Royal Collection Trust, or RCT, which is the charity that maintains the monarchy's art collection and is funded by visitor admissions to occupied royal palaces, would also be affected, Stevens said. The RCT supplements the sovereign grant. A fall in visitors due to the pandemic was therefore expected to mean a "significant" drop in income for the RCT. "This forms the bulk of a projected shortfall in income which we estimate will be around 5 million per year for the next three years," said Stevens, equating to another 15 million on top of the 20 million shortfall from the sovereign grant. Stevens added: "In responding to these challenges, we have no intention of asking for extra funding but will look to manage the impact through our own efforts and efficiencies." Buckingham Palace is reportedly not planning any layoffs and will instead cover the losses using efficiency savings. Florida teachers and school leaders seek financial protection from the state Department of Education (DOE) after seeing a "disturbing" decline in their enrollment rate this year. Officials believe this decline in enrollment threatens to sink school budgets this year. The Florida Education Association (FEA) joined a panel of school officers on Friday. They asked the state to fund all Florida schools at current levels throughout the school year. FEA also pleaded the state to continue with the funding despite the decline in class enrollment, the Politico reported. Union leaders also described the shocking decline of educators in the state's schools as "chaos." All of the state's classrooms had to quit in-person teaching early into the pandemic. Now, teachers are quitting classrooms to avoid teaching in-person and online students at the same time. Educators Call for Complete Resources Dan Smith, president of the Seminole Education Association, had some doubts about the state's commitment to reopening schools. He told reporters that the state also had to "commit the resources to make it happen." He said the reopening should not just be made "superficial." For this fall, school districts and charter schools reported hundreds of fewer students compared to last year. The trend is hitting lower grades, especially kindergarteners, the most. For example, in Pinellas County, the number of enrolled students went down by 1,320 compared to the same time last year. About 700 of these students, or more than half of the group, belongs to incoming kindergarten students. Given there were over a thousand students' loss in the county, this could trigger a decrease of over 10.3 million in funding for the county's schools. Bay County school officials are also looking into the decline in enrollment. Even online schooling in this county has been affected. There were fewer students who are logging in for remote learning, the Panama City News Herald reported. There are also similar scenarios playing out all over Florida, said the Florida Finance Council. Are Florida Schools in a Crisis? Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said Florida was a "model" for the nation in reopening schools, as FOX 35 Orlando stated in a report. But not everyone agrees. Some of the reasons enrollment went down amid the pandemic could be some students started homeschooling. Officials also believe some students moved to private schools or delayed the start of school due to COVID-19. Gretchen Saunders, the finance council's president, said the school district is "aggressively" trying to have these students back. But they do not know when or if they will go back to public schools at all. Saunders expressed her concerns in a letter to the DOE on Tuesday. The lowering of enrollment could have set local budgets in disarray given a normal school year. In July, Corcoran said that schools are guaranteed to get the full amount of state funding regardless of enrollment. Taryn Fenske, a spokesperson of the DOE, wrote in a statement that Corcoran and Governor Ron DeSantis would do what's best for the students, parents, and teachers. She did not address the drop in enrollment for this school year. She also didn't comment on whether the financial relief will be extended. Check these out! Florida's First Snow Park to Open in November Biden Struggles to Keep Latino Voters as Trump Makes Strides First Presidential Debate To Focus on These Six Topics Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:25:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HANOI, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam reported no new cases of COVID-19 infection on Friday, with its total confirmed cases standing at 1,069 with 35 deaths from the disease so far, according to its Ministry of Health. As many as eight more patients have been given all-clear, raising the total cured cases in the country to 999 as of Friday, while over 21,800 people are being quarantined and monitored in the country, the ministry said. Vietnam has gone through 23 straight days without any COVID-19 cases in the community, according to the ministry. All activities in Vietnam's central city of Da Nang, once a COVID-19 epicenter in the country, returned to normal on Friday as the COVID-19 outbreak in the city has been controlled, according to a report by Vietnam News Agency. The city's last COVID-19 patient was given the all-clear from the virus on Wednesday, said the report. Enditem SIU faculty have record year winning outside funding by Tim Crosby CARBONDALE, Ill. The complex-looking machinery in Arash Komaees engineering laboratory at Southern Illinois University Carbondale may someday lead to, among other things, equipment that uses natural magnets to manipulate medical devices inside a patients body in a non-invasive manner. Komaees work, funded by a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation, is part of a broader, longtime effort by faculty at SIU to obtain funding that pays for the people and equipment needed to perform cutting-edge research, creative activities and regional service, as well as other scholarly projects. It turns out, SIU faculty pursuing these goals just finished yet another very good run. Outside funding grows at SIU SIU Carbondale faculty brought in $64.7 million in outside funding during the last fiscal year, an 18% increase over the previous fiscal year, leading to a $121,380 yield per faculty member. The amount includes money from outside agencies for all scholarly activities, including research, contract work, services and creative activities, as processed through the universitys Office of Sponsored Projects Administration, said Gary Kinsel, vice chancellor for research at SIU. The numbers show that the scholarly work conducted by SIU faculty is valued at the national and international level, as well as locally and regionally. The work that goes on at SIU is highly valued by the agencies that provide the funding, Kinsel said. This is a trend that I hope to see continue as we hire more faculty who seek support for their scholarly activities. Faculty efforts key to increase The per-faculty member yield is the highest in at least seven years, Kinsel said, another encouraging trend within the data. The faculty efforts are being recognized with larger awards, he said. In fiscal year 2018, faculty brought in $56.1 million in outside funding. It slipped a bit to $54.8 million in fiscal year 2019 before rebounding strongly in fiscal year 2020. That outside funding in fiscal year 2020 is even greater a total of $69.1 million when the $4.4 million SIU received through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act is included. This money was earmarked to address budget shortfalls that resulted from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university operations. Including the CARES Act money, outside funding grew more than 25% from fiscal year 2019 to 2020. Outside funding supports more than university The majority of the money brought into the university in this way is used to support faculty, staff and student (graduate and undergraduate) salaries, Kinsel said. That means much of it eventually finds its way into the Southern Illinois economy by way of housing, services and goods purchases. The impact of these funded, faculty-driven efforts on the regional economy is significant, Kinsel said. And faculty are hard at work on bringing that money in. In fiscal year 2020, faculty members filed 444 funding proposals with various agencies, with a total value of $145.2 million. That total value was $11 million more than fiscal year 2019 and $24.4 million more than fiscal year 2018, Kinsel said. Of the 444 proposals, agencies funded 307. The data show that, even though there were fewer proposals submitted in fiscal year 2020, the faculty had greater success in obtaining larger value grants, Kinsel said. Some examples of funded projects $2.54 million from the National Science Foundation, including two new NSF CAREER Awards (Arash Komaee, of what was formerly the College of Engineering and Pravas Deria, of what was formerly the College of Science) and one Major Research Instrumentation Award. $3.4 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health. $1.7 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to Don Caspary, pharmacology research professor in the SIU School of Medicine to study Nicotinic Receptor Pathology in Tinnitus. $3.5 million and $3.8 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, and the U.S. Department of Education to Lea Maue, director of the Head Start program at SIU. With the challenges brought on by COVID-19, the funding success is a welcome bright spot, Kinsel said. This level of success is remarkable given the various challenges posed to higher education during the last fiscal year, Kinsel said. There is much to be proud of in these numbers. Representative Jim Banks (R., Ind.) on Friday questioned why Democrats have not shown concern for a rash of anti-Catholic hate crimes that have plagued the U.S. in recent months. Banks comments came during an interview with National Review shortly after he and 15 other House Republicans sent a letter to attorney general William Barr calling on the Department of Justice to investigate why there have been 70 instances of anti-Catholic violence in North America this year with 57 crimes being reported since May alone. By contrast, in all of 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, the FBI reported 53 incidents of anti-Catholic hate crimes in the U.S. The letter details reports of horrific and brutal attacks on Catholic and Church properties across the nation since July, including churches being burnt down and statues of Catholic figures being toppled and decapitated. Banks, who is not a Catholic but an Evangelical, questioned why, when he circulated the letter to all of his colleagues in Congress, no Democrats expressed an interest in co-signing. There are a number of Democrats who are Catholics, so I would have to ask the question Why arent Democrats interested as well, in these attacks against Catholics because their faith? he said. He called the silence another example of how deeply divided the country is and said it is unfortunate that both sides cant join together in fighting these issues that should be bipartisan. There certainly hasnt been enough concern by our nations leaders, he said. Its disheartening that I have yet to hear a single Democrat leader rise up and speak out against attacks of violence directed toward anyone of their faith. The Indiana Republican said he believes the anti-Catholic attacks are entirely politically motivated because the political views of many Catholics lean to the right. He also called the rhetoric surrounding Amy Coney Barrett, the reported front-runner for President Trumps nomination to the Supreme Court, concerning. Barrett, who Banks said he hopes will be the presidents pick, has been attacked over her Catholic beliefs, with some comparing her purported membership in People of Praise which she has never confirmed to the dystopian novel The Handmaids Tale. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) attacked Barretts religious affiliation during her confirmation hearing for the 7th Circuit in 2018, telling Barrett the dogma lives loudly in you. Story continues Banks said it is concerning to see attacks on a good person who has done her job very well, and yet shes being attacked merely because of her Catholic faith. The attacks on her because of her faith that originate from the Left are concerning to me too and thats why I believe much of this is politically motivated and this Congress and this administration need to do more about it, he said. Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, on Wednesday criticized fellow Senate Democrats for their scrutiny of Barretts religious beliefs, saying religion should not enter into the conversation over who will fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Well, I guess whatever side youre on, they can pick whatever they want to pick. Im Catholic, OK? And religion should not enter into it. It sure doesnt with me, Manchin said. More from National Review FILE PHOTO: Offices in the Central Bank of Ireland are seen in the financial district in Dublin DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's central bank on Thursday fined KBC Bank Ireland 18.3 million euros ($21.3 million) for overcharging mortgage customers who should have been given the option of a cheaper "tracker" mortgage, the second bank to be fined over the issue. Ireland's main banks, including permanent tsb which was handed a record 21 million euro fine last year, have paid out almost 700 million euros to compensate 40,000 borrowers denied mortgages that follow the low European Central Bank rate. Ireland's central bank launched a probe in 2015 into the product that was widely offered by Irish banks during the country's housing boom in the mid 2000s. The country's other lenders remain under investigation. The central bank said KBC's failing had a "devastating" impact on 3,741 account holders, including the loss of 66 properties, and described KBC's engagement on the issue as "deeply unsatisfactory." The lender, the Irish unit of Belgian bank and insurance group KBC , apologised "profoundly" to customers impacted by its management of their mortgages. "The tracker mortgage issue is a hugely regrettable chapter in Irish banking and one from which we in KBC have learned significant lessons," KBC Bank Ireland chief executive Peter Roebben said in a statement. "We deeply regret these events, and recognise that they have led to a breach of trust." ($1 = 0.8586 euros) (Reporting by Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries; Editing by Toby Chopra and Mark Potter) New Delhi: Saudi Arabia has resumed some flights to India, days after it said that flight services to and from the South Asian country remains suspended due to rising number of covid-19 cases. Air India Express, the no-frills subsidiary of the national carrier Air India, on Thursday night tweeted that the airline would continue carrying passengers from Saudi Arabia to India but would not carry passengers from India to Saudi Arabia. "Air India Express Vande Bharat Mission flights would continue to carry passengers on its flights from Saudi Arabia to India," it said. "The Airline would not carry passengers from India to Saudi Arabia," the airline added. Saudi Arabia had on Wednesday barred flights from India, Brazil, and Argentina where the coronavirus pandemic is continuing to spread fast. The kingdoms civil aviation regulator General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca), however, did not say for how long the ban would continue. Gaca has said any person who has visited India, Brazil and Argentina in the last 14 days prior to arrival in Saudi will not be allowed in except for those with government invitation. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics Narendra Modi Speech at UNGA 2020 LIVE Updates: 'For how long will India be kept out of the decision-making structures of the United Nations?,' Modi asked Auto refresh feeds The sources said Modi's pre-recorded video statement is expected to be broadcast at the UN General Assembly hall in New York around 9 am local time (6.30 pm IST) and added that he is scheduled as the first speaker in the morning. The UN General Assembly this year is largely being held online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Majority of world leaders are delivering pre-recorded speeches at the summit in New York. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to deliver a virtual address at the annual UN General Assemblyon Saturday, official sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the first speaker on Day 5 of the general debate at the United Nations General Assembly. However. the prime minister will not be physically present at the UN, instead a pre-recorded statement will be played. This system has been put in place in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The general debate on the fifth day of the general debate at United Nations Genera Assembly has begun. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pre-recorded video message is being aired right now. The prime minister's speech is expected to be 21 minutes long. "On this historic occasion, I have come to this global platform to share the sentiments of 1.3 billion people of India," Modi said. Congratulating the member nations at 75 years of Unite Nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India is proud of the fact that it is one of the Founding Members of the United Nations. "If we were to make an objective assesment of the performance of UN over the last 75 years, we see several stellar achievements. But at the same time, there are also several instances that point to the need for a serious introspection of the work of the United Nations," Modi said at the United Nations General Assembly. "Reform in the responses, in the processes, and in the very character of the UN is the need of the hour. It is a fact that the faith & respect that the UN enjoys among the 1.3 billion people in India is unparalleled," Modi said. "Over the last 8 to 9 months, the whole world has been battling the pandemic of the Coronavirus. Where is the United Nations in this joint fight against the pandemic? Where is its effective response?" Modi asked during his speech at UNGA. "The people of India have been waiting for a long time for the process for the reforms of the United Nations to get completed. Today, people of India are concerned whether this reform-process will ever reach its logical conclusion. For how long will India be kept out of the decision-making structures of the United Nations?," Modi asked "When we were strong, we were never a threat to the world, when we were weak, we never become a burden on the world. How long would a country have to wait particularly when the transformational changes happening in that country affect a large part of the world. India is that country, which in the course of maintaining peace, has lost the maximum number of its brave soldiers. Today every Indian, while seeing the contribution of India in UN, aspires for Indias expanded role in the United Nations," Modi said. Using India's pandemic response as a case in point to bolster the above argument, the prime minister said that even during these very difficult times of the raging pandemic, the pharmaceutical industry of India has sent essential medicines to more than 150 countries. "From Indias Neighbourhood First Policy to our Act East Policy, as well as idea of security & growth for all in the region, or our views towards the Indo Pacific region, we have always worked for the interests of humankind & not driven by our own self-interests," Modi said. "As the largest vaccine producing country in the world, I want to give one more assurance to the global community today. Indias vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis," Modi said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the first speaker on Day 5 of the general debate at the United Nations General Assembly. However. the prime minister will not be physically present at the UN, instead a pre-recorded statement will be played. This system has been put in place in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The general debate on the fifth day of the general debate at United Nations Genera Assembly has begun. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pre-recorded video message is being aired right now. The prime minister's speech is expected to be 21 minutes long. "On this historic occasion, I have come to this global platform to share the sentiments of 1.3 billion people of India," Modi said. Congratulating the member nations at 75 years of Unite Nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India is proud of the fact that it is one of the Founding Members of the United Nations. "If we were to make an objective assesment of the performance of UN over the last 75 years, we see several stellar achievements. But at the same time, there are also several instances that point to the need for a serious introspection of the work of the United Nations," Modi said at the United Nations General Assembly. "Reform in the responses, in the processes, and in the very character of the UN is the need of the hour. It is a fact that the faith & respect that the UN enjoys among the 1.3 billion people in India is unparalleled," Modi said. "Over the last 8 to 9 months, the whole world has been battling the pandemic of the Coronavirus. Where is the United Nations in this joint fight against the pandemic? Where is its effective response?" Modi asked during his speech at UNGA. "The people of India have been waiting for a long time for the process for the reforms of the United Nations to get completed. Today, people of India are concerned whether this reform-process will ever reach its logical conclusion. For how long will India be kept out of the decision-making structures of the United Nations?," Modi asked "When we were strong, we were never a threat to the world, when we were weak, we never become a burden on the world. How long would a country have to wait particularly when the transformational changes happening in that country affect a large part of the world. India is that country, which in the course of maintaining peace, has lost the maximum number of its brave soldiers. Today every Indian, while seeing the contribution of India in UN, aspires for Indias expanded role in the United Nations," Modi said. Using India's pandemic response as a case in point to bolster the above argument, the prime minister said that even during these very difficult times of the raging pandemic, the pharmaceutical industry of India has sent essential medicines to more than 150 countries. "From Indias Neighbourhood First Policy to our Act East Policy, as well as idea of security & growth for all in the region, or our views towards the Indo Pacific region, we have always worked for the interests of humankind & not driven by our own self-interests," Modi said. "As the largest vaccine producing country in the world, I want to give one more assurance to the global community today. Indias vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis," Modi said. Narendra Modi Speech at UNGA 2020 Latest Updates: "The people of India have been waiting for a long time for the process for the reforms of the United Nations to get completed. Today, people of India are concerned whether this reform-process will ever reach its logical conclusion. For how long will India be kept out of the decision-making structures of the United Nations?," Modi asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to deliver a virtual address at the annual UN General Assembly on Saturday, official sources said. The UN General Assembly this year is largely being held online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Majority of world leaders are delivering pre-recorded speeches at the summit in New York. The sources said Modi's pre-recorded video statement is expected to be broadcast at the UN General Assembly hall in New York around 9 am local time (6.30 pm IST) and added that he is scheduled as the first speaker in the morning. A few of the issues of priority for India at the ongoing 75th session of UN General Assembly will be to push for strengthening global action against terrorism, they said. The sources said that India will pitch for more transparency in the process of listing and delisting of terror entities and individuals by the UN sanction committees. Being one of the largest troop-contributing nations to the UN, India will also seek to engage intensively in finalising of mandates for the UN peacekeeping mission, they said. The sources said that continuing with active engagement on issues relating to sustainable development and climate change will be another priority for India. India will also highlight its role as a "pharmacy to the world" while elaborating on its contribution to global cooperation against COVID-19 by aiding more than 150 countries, they said. The sources said India's role as a South-South development partner, especially in the context of the India-UN development partnership fund will also be explained at the summit. India will also reiterate its commitment to the idea of global partnership under the sustainable development goals, including on climate change. The sources said India's priorities will be to ensure inclusive and responsible solutions for international peace and security, effective response to international terrorism, new orientation for a reformed multilateral system, technology for all and streamlining of UN peacekeeping. Scrutiny of the San Francisco medical examiners office continued to heat up Thursday as Public Defender Mano Raju called for its department head to be investigated and fired, saying in a new complaint that the physician has mismanaged the office and given misleading testimony for high-stakes criminal cases. The seven-page complaint accuses acting Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Amy Hart of engaging in a pattern of bias, dishonesty, secrecy, and unprofessionalism. Much of the allegations focus on Harts role as a forensic pathologist who performs autopsies and provides testimony in trials. Hart is not a credible witness and the truth-seeking function of the court process is thwarted, Raju wrote in the complaint, which he addressed to Mayor London Breed, as well as the California Medical Board president and executives at the National Association of Medical Examiners. Victims and their families suffer as do the accused, and justice itself. The complaint is the latest development in an ongoing scandal at the office, landing two weeks after The Chronicle reported that a forensic analyst had been arrested in Utah, allegedly caught with an evidence bag of methamphetamine. On Thursday, the newspaper reported that managers led a campaign to weaken the offices standards, rewriting the job descriptions of toxicologists to reduce minimum qualifications. The complaint refers to the recent drug arrest, saying it highlights the need for urgent action to reform the office. Breed spokesman Jeff Cretan issued the following statement in response to the complaint: Since the arrest of the medical examiner employee, the city administrator has been reviewing the policies and practices in the office of the medical examiner, Cretan said. Its important that we understand where any gaps in oversight exist, and what improvements we can make to ensure the office is best serving the people of San Francisco. Hart did not respond to email and phone messages from reporters seeking comment. Bill Barnes, a spokesman for the city administrator who oversees the medical examiners office said he could not comment on the allegations against Hart. Barnes said he had not seen the complaint until a reporter told him about it. Still, he pointed to the crucial functions that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner provides outside of court testimony, such as the investigation of drug overdoses which are climbing in the city and Covid-19 deaths. In two days, the public defender has called to close down the toxicology lab and to fire Dr. Hart, Barnes said. Its sort of like there are some basic services that have to keep going. Hart has led the office in an acting capacity for 14 months, while the city has searched for a permanent replacement, according to the complaint. Barnes said it has been difficult to find qualified forensic pathologists who are willing to pay the Bay Areas notoriously high housing costs. In his letter, Raju relayed a host of grievances about Harts alleged behavior in her current post as the acting chief, and notes her failed tenure as permanent chief. Hart stepped down in March 2014 amid a critical backlog of death cases but resumed the position after former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Hunter left for a job in San Joaquin County. Among the allegations listed in his complaint, Raju said Hart consistently tailored her responses in favor of the prosecution when testifying in trials, rather than making independent judgments. For instance, he said, Hart created a false controversy when testifying at a June 2019 homicide trial. On the stand, Hart refused to acknowledge that scratches and bruising on the victims body could have been caused by medical professionals. But at an earlier hearing, Raju said, Hart testified that at least some of the contusions on the victims body were consistent with having been caused by CPR. In another case involving a death, Raju said Hart sought to deflect questioning that would show the frailty of the victim an argument that could have benefited the defendant. Hart contradicted herself on a few occasions during this trial, Raju said, at one point denying knowing the victim used blood thinners before later acknowledging the opposite. And in testimony that Raju called absurd, Hart claimed she did not know that her office had lost its accreditation from a national industry group that performs inspections, the National Association of Medical Examiners. The loss of the NAME certification troubled those who worked in the office, several former employees told The Chronicle. But according to a transcript of a 2018 trial, included in the complaint, Hart said, I cant tell you what the status is. Rajus allegations are the latest blow for the office, which was thrown into turmoil late last month when forensic lab analyst Justin Volk was allegedly caught with an evidence bag of methamphetamine and various pills. Volk was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released on $10,000 bail. Volks case has far-reaching implications in San Francisco. Officials say he has handled evidence in thousands of criminal cases during his 13 years at the medical examiners office; its unclear how many he may have tainted. District Attorney Chesa Boudins office is now conducting a sweeping review of Volks cases, and the controllers office is reviewing whether the drug evidence there is properly stored and logged. Boudin, who was copied on Rajus complaint, declined to comment for this story. Raju asked the mayor to authorize an independent investigation into Harts work, and for her to be terminated at the conclusion. Raju additionally requested she be immediately removed from her top post, and that his letter be placed in trial disclosures and her personnel file. In a statement to The Chronicle, Raju said the integrity of the medical examiner offices practices and protocols can have a dramatic impact on his clients cases. Our attorneys have encountered case-by-case issues with the medical examiners office over the years, Raju said. But the accumulation of these issues is unacceptable and speaks to deeper problems with the organization itself. Megan Cassidy and Jason Fagone are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com, jason.fagone@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy, @jfagone Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today received the delegation led by Speaker of the National Assembly of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Artur Tovmasyan, who is on an official visit to Armenia. Among the attendees were leader of the My Step faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Lilit Makunts and the factions secretary Hakob Simidyan. In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Pashinyan stated the following: I am very happy for this meeting. This is the first visit of such a representative delegation of Artsakh to Armenia following the elections held in Artsakh. I am also glad to state that a new sweep has been brought to the partnership between Armenia and Artsakh and that there is a very high level of confidence. You know that, unfortunately, the situation in the region is very tense. In essence, our objective is to make the process of negotiations effective. Recently, Azerbaijans leadership has been trying to blame us for leading the negotiations to failure, saying that Armenia has made and is making statements that make the negotiations pointless. I would like to clearly state that the position of both Armenia and Artsakh is strictly constructive. I would also like to emphasize that after I assumed the office of Prime Minister of Armenia, I made an unprecedented statement in the history of the conflict by stating that any solution to the Artsakh issue must be acceptable for the peoples of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Artsakh, and I expected that the elite of Azerbaijan would respond to this statement adequately, but Azerbaijan responded by saying that the Karabakh issue may only be solved within the scope of Azerbaijans territorial integrity. I would like to emphasize that all of our statements are our adequate response to Azerbaijans destructive statements. Once again, I would like to clearly state that Azerbaijan was trying to make the following logic underlie the negotiations: make unilateral concessions or Azerbaijan will resolve the issue by force. Right from the start, we have stated that there is no need to speak to Armenia in the language of force and threats. Many thought this was just a rhetoric, but the events in July showed that what we say is 100% accurate. Once again, our position is that the Karabakh issue has no military solution. We agree that there has to be longstanding and sustainable peace in the region, and for that we are offering any solution. This is the personal responsibility of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Artsakh, and we need to work hard to find a solution that will be acceptable for the peoples of Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, Azerbaijans leadership continues to take the old path and has added a new component. Recently, Azerbaijans leadership and media have introduced a new component, stating the so-called disclosure of confidential information. I advise my Azerbaijani colleagues to not take this path because if we enter that field and start disseminating confidential information, I fear that the domestic political situation will become desperately instable in Azerbaijan. I hope the President of Azerbaijan will eventually respond and say that he agrees that any solution to the Karabakh issue must be acceptable for the peoples of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Artsakh, and this will mean that we have an opportunity to see a breakthrough in the negotiations. Once again, I am glad to see you. If you have any questions, I will be glad to answer them. Speaker of the National Assembly of Artsakh Artur Tovmasyan expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister for the cordial reception, congratulated the Prime Minister on the 29th anniversary of Armenias independence again and highly appreciated the level of partnership between Armenia and Artsakh. He also underscored the fact that the National Assembly of Artsakh wont spare efforts to strengthen and deepen Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora relations. During the meeting, the Prime Minister answered the deputies questions related to the negotiations over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the strengthening of the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora triumvirate, the reforms underway in various sectors and the pan-national goals and objectives. The number of COVID cases in the Houston region is rising and was approaching 200,000 total cases as of Friday, according to the Houston Chronicle. Just Thursday, Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert, said at the Texas Tribune Festival Texas could see another spike in COVID-19 cases, and that a vaccine for the virus may not be available for another year, the Tribune reported. Combatting COVID: Montgomery County to install COVID-19 thermal cameras at courthouses We could have a resurgencea third peakthats potentially worse than the one we just went through, Hotez said. The Houston Chronicle reported a total of 192,864 cases throughout the Houston region as of Thursday, and a total of 3,366 people in the area who have died from COVID-19. Cy-Fair isnt unique from the rest of Houston, as they continue to see an increase in cases after more than a month of the number going down. There is a total of 736 active cases in the Cy-Fair area as of Friday afternoon, nearly 100 more cases than last week, according to data from Harris County Public Health. On HoustonChronicle.com: Hotez warns of third peak for Houston, Texas schools reporting cases Three more people in Cy-Fair died in the last week from the virus as well, raising the total number of deaths to 77. The total number of cases was compiled using ZIP codes in the Cypress Creek Mirrors coverage area: 77040, 77041, 77065, 77070, 77086, 77095, 77429 and 77433. 77040 still has the highest number of cases at 187, and the highest number of deaths at 22. Two more ZIP codes have entered the triple digits for active cases, 77070 with 102 and 77086 at 124. Testing is still being offered around Cy-Fair. Pridgeon Stadium, 11355 Falcon Road A, offers testing from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and from 7 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Walmart is providing tests at three locations: 11425 Barker Cypress Road, 8208 Barker Cypress Road and 12353 FM 1960 W. Appointments are required and can be made at www.doineedacovid19test.com. CVS Pharmacy provides tests at 6089 S. Hwy. 6 N., 11600 FM 1960 W. and 19715 Tomball Parkway. Anyone wanting to get tested must make an appointment at www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing. paul.wedding@hcnonline.com A woman displays a traditional cloth tiger at the exhibition held at Shenyang Palace Museum in Shenyang City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on September 20. [CNSPHOTO/Huang Jinkun] An exhibition of traditional and creative textiles was held at Shenyang Palace Museum in Shenyang City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on September 20. More than 30 intangible cultural and creative enterprises, colleges and universities and inheritors of intangible cultural heritage from 15 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions nationwide participated in the exhibition. Exhibited works included items made from different materials such as cotton, silk, brocade, wool and homespun cloth. Meanwhile, many traditional crafts, including batik and tie-dyed works, folk costumes and embroidery works of the ethnic groups, were also displayed at the exhibition. Built in 1625 under the order of Nurhachi (1559-1626), founder of the kingdom of Great Jin which preceded the Qing Dynasty (1616-1944), Shenyang Palace Museum was the imperial palace of two Qing emperors. Visitors enjoy the intangible cultural heritage crafts at the exhibition held at Shenyang Palace Museum in Shenyang City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on September 20. [CNSPHOTO/Huang Jinkun] Two exhibitors show an embroidery work of the Miao ethnic group at the exhibition held at Shenyang Palace Museum in Shenyang City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on September 20. [CNSPHOTO/Huang Jinkun] A visitor tries on a traditional costume at the exhibition held at Shenyang Palace Museum in Shenyang City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on September 20. [CNSPHOTO/Huang Jinkun] Some embroidery works of the Manchu ethnic group are displayed at the exhibition held at Shenyang Palace Museum in Shenyang City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on September 20. [CNSPHOTO/Huang Jinkun] A woman displays a traditional craft at the exhibition held at Shenyang Palace Museum in Shenyang City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on September 20. [CNSPHOTO/Huang Jinkun] (Source: CNSPHOTO/Translated and edited by Women of China) The White House criticized FBI director Christopher Wray after he said there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud (EPA) The White House came down on the director of the FBI on Friday after he testified there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in a major election. In the Trump administrations latest criticism of Christopher Wray, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said that the director may change his view if he got involved with the investigation of fraud allegations. With all due respect to Director Wray, he has a hard time finding emails in his own FBI let alone figuring out whether there is any kind of voter fraud, Mr Meadows said during an interview with CBS This Morning. This is a very different case, he added. The rules are being changed and so what Im suggesting is, perhaps he can drill down on the investigation that just started, others that were seeing in North Carolina and other places where multiple ballots, duplicate ballots, are being sent out. Perhaps he needs to get involved on the ground and he would change his testimony on Capitol Hill. With all due respect to Director Wray, he has a hard time finding emails in his own FBI, let alone figuring out whether there's any kind of voter fraud. White House Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows on FBI Dir. Christopher Wray saying he's seen no evidence of widespread voter fraud pic.twitter.com/W5PUfpnWCn CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) September 25, 2020 Mr Meadows comments were the second major rebuke from the White House in the past week after Donald Trump hinted he was looking at a lot of different things when asked if he was looking to replace the FBI director. I did not like his answers yesterday and Im not sure he liked them either. Im sure that he probably would agree with me, Mr Trump said after Mr Wray comments on Russian election interference. Story continues The latest criticism comes a day after Mr Wray's testimony before a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee contradicted Donald Trumps claims that widespread mail-in voting would result in widespread voter fraud. We have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether its by mail or otherwise, Mr Wray testified. Mail-in voting returned to focus this week after Mr Trump used the claim of ballot fraud when refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, saying he would only lose the election if there was ballot fraud. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany attempted to clarify the presidents comments on Thursday, saying he was responding to a question of whether he would accept a peaceful transfer of power win, lose or draw. Im not entirely sure why he would accept a transfer a power, maybe thats the deranged wish of that reporter but thats not how governing works, she said. Mr Meadows repeated that sentiment on Friday, saying the president commits to a peaceful transfer as long as its a fair election, but saying the Department of Justice has begun an investigation into military found dumped in Pennsylvania. We now know that we have a Department of Justice investigation in the ballots that were discarded from veterans in Pennsylvania. Thats very troubling. The Department of Justice and the FBI announced that investigation into nine mail-in ballots found discarded the key battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday, seven of which were for Mr Trump while two were unknown as they were sealed. The ballots were found in Luzerne County, which Trump won comfortably in 2016. Mr Trump on Thursday referenced the inquiry, saying they throw them out if they have the name Trump on it, I guess. TRUMP: The ballots -- that's a whole big scam. They found 8 ballots in a waste basket, others in a river. They throw 'em out if they have the name Trump on them. REPORTER: There were no names on them TRUMP: Well, they still found them in a river. pic.twitter.com/SdYehARk5k Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 24, 2020 Read more FBI director says no evidence of mail-in voter fraud, countering Trumps repeated false claims We want to get rid of the ballots: Trump wont commit to peaceful transfer of power, pushing voter fraud claims instead Trump rages against voter fraud after three courts rule against him Trump won't commit to peaceful transfer of power if he loses Africa Finance Corporation , the leading infrastructure solutions provider in Africa, today announces the successful issuance of its inaugural CHF150 Million Reg S senior unsecured benchmark Green Bond under the Corporations US$5 Billion Global Medium-Term Note programme , maturing 2025 . The issuance is also the Corporations third CHF-denominated bond. The Bond has a tenor of five years, carries a coupon of 1.205% and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The Bond is rated A3 by Moodys Investor Services, in line with AFCs GMTN programme. It is also the first Green CHF-denominated issuance from a supranational organisation in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) region. The issuance underscores the Corporations commitment to sustainable investing principles, and builds on past successful green financing initiatives pursued by the Corporation. This includes participation in the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance since 2015, as well as becoming the first African Development Financial Institution to secure accreditation with the Green Climate Fund. The issuance also reaffirms the Corporations commitment to championing sustainability in Africa, whilst diversifying its funding sources and broadening the suite of products and solutions available to clients. The objective is to significantly improve Africas human development, reduce poverty, increase job creation, industrialisation and climate resilience goals 1, 8, 9 and 13 of the UNs Sustainable Development Goals. The net proceeds from the issuance, will be used by the Corporation to finance, refinance or invest in Eligible Green Projects meeting the Eligibility Criteria (as defined in its Green Bond Framework), such as the Djibouti Wind Farm and Singrobo Hydro Dam in Cote dIvoire. Selected eligible green projects can be seen in the Green Bond Framework. The Framework is further aligned with the International Capital Market Associations (ICMA) Green Bond Principles and the sustainability quality of the asset pool, which have been evaluated as positive by ISS ESG. Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO of AFC, commented on the issuance: Since CO2 emissions records began in 1751, Africa has been responsible for less than 0.01% of all global emissions. Yet, despite its comparatively low contributions, it is anticipated that African economies will be significantly negatively affected in the absence of adapation measures, with climate crisis such as droughts and cyclones becoming a more frequent crisis in recent years. The successful outcome of our debut green bond is therefore another important milestone in our strategy of building a diverse coalition of investors for Africas sustainable development. Further access to climate finance should accelerate the development and financing of climate mitigation and adaptation projects required to make Africa more resilient to the impact of climate change. Banji Fehintola, Senior Director & Treasurer of AFC, also commented on the issuance: The bond will further boost AFCs already robust liquidity levels whilst ensuring the Corporations continued focus on projects that are socially and environmentally impactful. This is AFCs second successful issuance this year, amidst strenuous market conditions. We are pleased with the continued support from the Swiss investor community, which reflects sustained confidence in the Corporations Notes and is testament to the Corporations credit worthiness. The bond issuance was arranged by Credit Suisse AG and Renaissance Capital as Joint Lead-Managers and Joint Bookrunners. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires When I was young, my family used to play a game on holiday. The question for all of us was: what can you see that tells you youre in a different country? It could be the types of trees, the style of road signs, the way people gesticulate. It made you notice these little nuances. Today, you can add anti-Covid measures to that list. In Milan, I noticed, most people on the streets wear masks even if theyre nowhere near anybody. That doesnt happen in the UK. And yet, in cafes or restaurants, there is no track and trace system, no request to register your attendance. This isnt working that well in the UK, but the requests are everywhere. I was briefly in Milan this week, principally to visit the Francesco Maglia umbrella workshop (above). I find it endlessly fascinating how people relate to these local makers. Maglia is perhaps the best umbrella factory in the world, yet its in the basement of an anonymous street, and most fashion people in Milan dont even know it exists. Ill write about the company, the process, and the umbrellas later, but it was nice to see what a busy place it was: a small shop from Switzerland were there placing an order, picking silks from the rack and matching them with woods; and a local man popped in to ask about repairing an old silk umbrella of his fathers. I also took the opportunity to have a fitting with Nicoletta Caraceni the proprietor of the lesser-known Caraceni house in Milan (Ferdinando Caraceni), but my personal favourite. I had asked Nicoletta to make a navy version of the double-breasted cotton jacket I have from them, and picked a cloth from swatches sent earlier in the year. Nicoletta has a great selection of vintage cloth, and the wool/cashmere I went for had a lovely feel. Tailors all over the world are in trouble, but the large Milanese houses seem to have it particularly bad. The problem is they dont do trunk shows theyre dependent on customers coming to them. Savile Row is very reliant on the US, but at least it requires just one trip to New York to make things better; Nicoletta needs the whole world to be able to travel, including England, Brazil and Dubai. Apparently only the Swiss are coming at the moment. Ferdinando Caraceni is a small operation, with just five full-time staff, and Nicoletta has never overstretched herself by trying to grow too big or too fast. She sometimes closes orders for a few months every year, once the workshop is at capacity. But still, when 70% of customers are international, its a big blow. My last morning, yesterday, was spent visiting a few shops. I have an old shirt from Al Bazar thats been worn so much its falling apart, so I took it to the shop in the hope they would have a new one. No such luck. But still, they had enough other denims (different colours, weights, tuxedo, Western) for me to find another I liked. Al Bazar is Lino Ieluzzis taste, and in the most politest possible way, it is not mine. But the shop is so big and varied that there are always little gems to be found. Avoid the double-monk shoes and the shiny belts, and look at the knitwear (above), or the blousons. I particularly liked a raglan-sleeved sweater made in a Sea Island cotton. Like a luxury version of a vintage sweatshirt, complete with high collar and narrow waist, but a big chest. And best of all, the yarn meant the luxury was all in the feel it still had that sweatshirt look. I also popped into Bardelli, which is another great Italian menswear store the kind London has always sorely lacked. The taste level is pretty much always good, and it revels in the grey-cashmere-and-brown-suede aesthetic of the best Italian menswear. There are skinny stone-washed chinos too, but alongside some great tailoring, outerwear and accessories. I tried a really chunky fishermans knit, but the fit didnt quite work. The thing thats killing all these Italian stores is they have no e-commerce. Ive had conversations with many of them over the years about it, and like big brands theyve said they just want to focus on the in-store experience. But everyone else has slowly realised online is part of modern customer service as much as knowledgeable advice or good stock. Hermes, Loro Piana etc all resisted and were proved wrong. The sad thing is that it leaves these menswear stores very vulnerable. There wasnt time to visit the lovely Stefano Bigi, though Im told his tie workshop (above) now has a mini-store where customers can make bespoke orders. Maglia is doing that too: its probably quite an effective way to bring people closer to the production, and perhaps understand it more. I did briefly visit Bernardini, the high-end antiques dealer that specialises in mens favourites like watches and trunks. Seeing how theyve repurposed Louis Vuitton models made me wonder if I should do something similar with mine. I was also very tempted by a couple of vintage watches and an old Hermes letter opener - but stayed strong. Most Milanese people I talked to seemed surprisingly upbeat, perhaps because their anti-Covid measures are apparently working better than those in Spain, France and the UK, at least for now. Still, Im sure that will change: it may be a good while before I get to return to Italy. While I was there, that knowledge made the brief trip all the sweeter. A delegation of farmers who met chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday said that they would go ahead with their proposed statewide bandh on Monday after talks failed between the two parties. The group accused the state government of trying to preach, rather than listen to their grievances. Farmer organisations have been protesting on a clutch of bills proposed on the farm sector, including those which allow purchase of agricultural land by non-agriculturists, as well as amendments to the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act, allowing farmers to sell outside Mandis to private players. Farmer organisations claim that these acts as well as proposed changes to the electricity act in the state would be detrimental to their interests. Kodihalli Chandrashekar, President of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Kurburu Shanthkumar, President of Karnataka Sugarcane Growers Association, Badagalapura Nagendra and a host of other farmer leaders who met the CM said that Yediyurappa refused to withdraw the bills which were tabled during the monsoon session of the Karnataka assembly. He is not willing to go against (PM) Modis orders. He merely offered to tweak one of the provisions regarding ceiling of landholding as per Land Reforms Act. This was clearly not enough. So we are left with no choice but to go ahead with the protests, Chandrashekar told HT. On Friday the state also witnessed sporadic protests with traffic being blocked in some parts due to farmers agitation on the issue. Meanwhile, JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy indicated that his party is unlikely to support the no-confidence motion moved by the Congress against the government. Saturday is the last day of the ongoing monsoon session and the motion will be taken up for debate and voting. Speaking to reporters, Kumaraswamy said, I dont know how serious they (Congress) are about the motion. If they were they would have discussed with us earlier itself. The government enjoys a clear majority with 117 seats in the 224-member assembly, with Congress having 67, JDS 33, three independents and four vacant seats. Stung that their lord and master exposed himself as a selfish, nepotistic, tribal chief masquerading hypocritically as a national leader, President Muhammadu Buharis image handlers have been doing damage control. In doing so however apart from telling lies, they muddied the waters even further. Right from the minute the hapless Minister of Transportation ex-governor of Rivers State was sworn into office, he has been singing about extending the rail line from Kano in Nigeria to Maradi in Niger Republic. And that is exactly what the rubber stamp Federal Executive Council authorized at the last meeting. Now the Presidents image handlers want us to believe that the railroad is to terminate at the Nigeria-Republic of Niger border. A quick glance at the West Africa map shows that Maradi indeed lies very close to the Niger Border, approximately 48 km away in fact from the Nigerian Border. According to President Buharis spokesman Garba Shehu, and I take him at his word, Nigeria isnt building a rail line into Niger, but only to the designated Border point. In other words, until the Republic of Niger builds its roughly 48 km stretch from Maradi to the designated border-point, what Nigeria is frantically going to build is basically a railroad to nowhere. There is no indication whatsoever that Niger is approaching the matter with the same urgency as Nigeria which should ordinarily be the case since the Republic of Niger is landlocked. The truth of the matter is that no air has been cleared by Buharis image makers. Nigeria under Buharis stewardship is a heavily indebted nation. That notwithstanding even if we must borrow, it is imperative that we build (1) the Lagos-Warri-Port Harcourt -Calabar rail line as well as (2) the Calabar -Uyo-Aba -Onitsha (with spur to Enugu)-Benin City - Lagos rail line. We ought to do these two rail lines with proven economic benefits first before we put a farthing on (3) Buhari's stupidly sentimental 'railroad to nowhere,' Kano designated border-point rail line. The first two rail lines, (1) and (2) will pay for themselves, giving job opportunities to thousands of Nigerians, as well as moving hard working industrious people with their goods back and forth. Buhari's wretched (3) rail line will only move more Sahelian Fulani enslavers with their cows one way into Nigeria and run empty backwards to the Sahara desert from whence they came. Self-less service has always been an alien concept to Muhammadu Buhari. It is always about what is in it for the Fulani people be they Nigerian or non-Nigerians. Mr. Muhammadu Buhari, place the national interest first before Fulani interest, if you are truly the elected President of Nigeria. Going by your behavior in office, I sincerely doubt if you are anything else besides the Armageddon President of Nigeria. Anthony Chuka Konwea, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, MNSE, FNIStructE, MNICE. 3 1 of 3 Sydney Rueter photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Jake Sommer photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 WILTON Grief counseling is being offered to help families through the grieving process following the unexpected death of teen George DiRocco. A junior at Wilton High School, DiRocco died Monday from what is suspected to be an undetected heart condition, according to his obituary. The best in Island breeding will take the spotlight all weekend with stakes-laden programs at both Island tracks. Saturday at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park the two-year-old pacing colts battle in the Joe OBrien Memorial stake and the two-year-old pacing fillies meet in the Lady Slipper stake. The 14-dash Saturday card starts off with a 6:00 p.m. post time. The first Lady Slipper Gold division carries a $13,000 purse in the eighth race with Southfield Skye guarding the rail. Adam Merner drives for trainer Glen Mackay and owner Southfield Farms Inc., of Summerside. The Stonebridge Terror filly has three wins from five lifetime starts. Tobins Brownie is the favourite in the other $13,000 Gold split for rookie fillies in Race 11 with Post 4 for driver David Dowling and trainer Jonah Moase. A five-time winner, the Stonebridge Terror filly was bred by Wendell Williams of McNeills Mills and is owned by Alex Quinn of York, Carl Peterson of Hunter River and Amy Lakie of Greenfield. The $8,750 Lady Slipper grassroots divisions line up in the second and fifth races. Woodmere Stealdeal will look to extend his undefeated career to 10 races in his $12,000 Joe OBrien Gold division in Race 12. The Danny Romo trainee had Marc Campbell at the lines for Nova Scotia owners Kevin Dorey and Robert Sumarah. Bruce Wood of Marshfield raised the Steelhead Hanover pacer. Dustylanegoliath, a produce of Ron and Dianne Gass Dusty Lane Farms in Cornwall, is the morning line choice in the other $12,000 OBrien Gold split, carded as Race 9. Gilles Barrieau trains and drives the Steelhead Hanover colt for Daniel Ross of Belfast. The $8,100 OBrien grassroots have divisions head postward in Races 3 and 6. A 12-pack of stakes races will be unloaded Sunday afternoon at Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway. The Prince County oval will kick off its card at 1:00 p.m. featuring the Joe OBrien Memorial stake for three-year-old pacing colts, the Lady Slipper for three-year-old pacing fillies, a single division of the Atlantic Aged Pacing Mares Series and a leg of the Island Oceans Trot Classic for aged trot mares, while the two and three-year-old trotters each have lone divisions of the Lady Slipper. Red Dirt Star is favoured in the first $13,800 Lady Slipper Gold division in Race 4 from Post 4 for trainer-driver Gilles Barrieau and owner Daniel Ross of Belfast. The eight-time winning Malicious lass was bred by Lowell Balderston of North Wiltshire. Maritime Champion Woodmere Skyroller, from Bruce Woods Woodmere Farms of Marshfield, will look to add to her $72,000 in lifetime earnings in the second Lady Slipper gold division in Race 10. Barrieau gets the catch-driving call for trainer Kevin MacLean and owner Reg MacPherson of Stratford. The Lady Slipper stake has $9,100 Grassroots divisions in Races 1 and 6. Tobins Rebel will attempt to stretch his win streak to nine in his $12,500 OBrien Gold division for sophomore colts. Barrieau trains and drives the son of Camystic, who has already banked $59,000 so far in 2020, for owner Daniel Ross. Wendell Williams of McNeills Mills bred Tobins Rebel. Imalookertoo, raised by Blaine Thibeau of Kensington, is the morning line choice in his $12,500 OBrien gold division from Post 2. Marc Campbell drives the Danny Romo trainee for owner Robert Sumarah of Halifax as the colt looks for his 10th lifetime win. Races 2 and 7 will feature $8,000 splits of the OBrien grassroots. Dusty Lane Milo, raised at Ron and Dianne Gass Dusty Lane Farms of Cornwall, rides a three-race win streak into Race 3 of the program with $16,000 on the line in his Lady Slipper two-year-old trot division. Adam Merner drives the Tad The Stud colt for trainer Gass and owner Marsha Knox of Stanhope. Tequila Tuesday (To be driven by Myles Heffernan Sr.) and Go With Her (Brodie MacPhee) will face off in a compact field of five in the $16,000 Lady Slipper stake for three-year-old trotters in Race 8. Maritime Champion Hop Up will have to overcome Post 8 in the lone division of the Island Oceans Trot Classic presented by JD Marine and Diving Inc. Corey MacPherson is in the bike in the $5,100 event for owner-trainer Keith Campbell of Victoria West. Arc Light is the favourite in the $6,140 Atlantic Aged Pacing Mares Series leg presented by Standardbred Canada in Race 12. Marc Campbell trains and drives the mare for Crossroads Racing Stable of Stratford. The race is in honour of James Jimmy Smith with members of the N.B. Ex and Fredericton Horseperson Association in attendance for the race. Go to Redshores.ca for race programs and more and wager online at HPIBet.com. To view entries for the weekend cards, click one of the following links: Saturday Entries - Charlottetown Driving Park Sunday Entries - Summerside Raceway (Red Shores) The Daily Beast HandoutRosie Diven, a mother of three in rural South Carolina, had no idea her 16-year-old son had COVID-19 until a fearsome syndrome nearly killed him.Branson Diven had been vomiting and suffering a loss of appetite when Rosie brought him to an urgent care center near their home in Hartsville on Dec. 10. He did not have classic COVID symptoms such as a sore throat or a cough, and after testing negative for COVID and positive for flu, he was sent home under the assumption he would soon be better President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday inspected a new Covid-19 Isolation and Treatment Centre at Pantang in Accra. The facility, known as the Pantang Covid-19 Isolation and Treatment Centre, was started by the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration led by President J.A. Kufuor as a learning centre for the Ghana Health Service (GHS) on the premises of the Pantang Hospital. It was, however, abandoned until recently when the Covid-19 outbreak surged, compelling the government with the support of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to complete the facility and use it for an isolation and treatment centre. At a short ceremony at the site on Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo could not hide his excitement over the completion of the project. In everything that we are doing, we have to help ourselves. Nobody will come in and help us if we do not help ourselves, he indicated. To come here today to see this collaboration between public and private entities and the Government of Ghana to put up this very critical infrastructure in our fight against the Covid-19 pandemic is something which is very reassuring and dear to my heart, and I want to congratulate all the people who have been involved in this: the Ministry of Health, the leadership of the Electricity Company of Ghana, the project coordinator, the contractor and obviously the public officials of the Ministry of Health for coming together and working so effectively, he added. It is expected that once the pandemic is over, the facility will be converted into an infectious disease centre. President Akufo-Addo considered all these additions to the existing health infrastructure in the country as extremely beneficial. So, let me say once again that I'm very happy to see what has happened here today I congratulate once again all the people who are involved in making this happen, he said. He has since charged managers of the facility to take good care of it and also make sure that it is well maintained so that it can serve generations of Ghanaians to come. ---Daily Guide Sunny Hostin, as a co-host on ABCs The View, is known for being a truth teller. And in her new memoir, the former prosecutor shares personal stories of escaping poverty, battling roadblocks in her career and embracing her biracial identity. Sunny Hostin's new memoir, "I Am These Truths." Born Asuncion Cummings to teenage parents in the South Bronx, Hostin was a gifted student and avid reader who started high school at the age of 12. Her family kept her away from the crime and violence happening on the streets, but the tough environment would ultimately inspire her to pursue a career in law. What made me choose to be a prosecutor and to just enter into criminal justice is because I saw my uncle stabbed in front of me and no one was prosecuted, nothing happened, she tells Yahoo Life. She emphasizes that having more representation in prosecution is essential to balancing the scales of justice. The most powerful person in the criminal justice system is the prosecutor, she adds. The person that decides who to charge, what to charge you with, who brings the cases, what sentence you're going to be recommended, that is the prosecutor. As the only child of a Black father and Puerto Rican mother, issues of race and identity were constant themes in Hostins life. Her parents were each the first in their families to marry someone of another race, an experience that gave Hostin an early introduction to the realities of colorism. The complexion that I was, at least on my father's side was kind of coveted because of what this country does, has done to Black people. And on my mother's side, they would always call me Negrita, she said. Latinos will tell you that it's a term of endearment. I reject that, because it is just a form of colorism, right? Sunny Hostin and the Romero women (Photo courtesy Sunny Hostin) Sunnys experience with race in this country has made her a valuable voice on The View, where she consistently raises issues affecting Black and Latinx communities. Representation matters, and while she is encouraged to see more people of color in front of and behind the camera, she believes companies are still struggling to provide equity in terms of salary and titles, especially when it comes to Black women. Story continues Companies also don't want to give us equity in terms of opportunity, she says. So what I found in my career, especially in television, is that it wasn't merit based. Even so, Hostin continued to put in the work, landing gigs as a legal contributor to Fox News, CNN and ABC. In 2016, she was named an official host on The View, but the network never released a formal announcement. She remains the only host in the shows history who was not given an official weIcome. While Hostin admits that this is a minor indignity compared to the racial injustices happening in our country, she cant shake the feeling that she was treated differently, especially when viewers still question her permanence on the show. I think it's risky to talk about it, but I needed to talk about it, she tells Yahoo Life. It's not major, but for me it felt undignified and it felt insulting. Speaking honestly and living authentically is what fans have come to expect from Hostin, who hopes that her memoir will inspire others to do the same. I hope that they get some courage from it to speak their truth, she says. That's my wish in writing it. Video produced by Stacy Jackman Read more from Yahoo Life: Want daily wellness, lifestyle and parenting news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Lifes newsletter. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Eisya A. Eloksari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 Fifth-generation communication technology, also known as 5G, will add Rp 2.8 quadrillion (US$188 billion) to Indonesias economy by 2030, making up 9.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), a recent study projects. The study, conducted by the Bandung Institute of Technology's Industrial and Research Affiliation Institution (LAPI-ITB) and commissioned by telecommunications company Axiata Group and Qualcomm International, also noted that 5G could create 4.4 million jobs, and increase productivity to Rp 9.4 million GDP per capita in the next decade. However, the benefits can only be realized once the government releases spectrum for 5G from 2021 to 2023. LAPI-ITB researcher Ivan Samuels said 5G could actually contribute up to 9.5 percent to the nations 2030 GDP if the government rolled out an aggressive scenario and made 5G available by 2021. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login T he French prime minister has raised the spectre of new lockdowns as coronavirus infection rates continue to surge to record levels. Jean Castex said the government could be forced to re-confine areas if the number of Covid-19 cases did not improve in the coming weeks. Health authorities reported 16,096 more cases yesterday, the fourth record number of new daily infections in eight days. Its a race against time, Mr Castex said on France 2 television. The public must be attentive and prudent. If we dont act we could find ourselves in a situation similar to spring. He added: It could mean re-confinement. The measures we have taken are to anticipate. His words suggested that France is willing to reintroduce some of the tough restrictions that saw people unable to leave their homes without a valid reason in the spring. The soaring infection rate and renewed strain on the French hospital system prompted the government to announce extra restrictive measures on Wednesday, mainly in big cities. Cafes and restaurants in Marseille were told to shut for two weeks, and all gyms will close from tomorrow, after the city and surrounding region were placed on the maximum alert level. 16,096 Cases in France yesterday Tougher measures were also announced in Paris and 10 other cities, which included closing cafes and restaurants at 10pm. Cases of the virus in the US have now passed seven million more than 20 per cent of the worlds total according to a Reuters tally amid a new spike in infections in Midwest states, all of which, except Ohio, reported more cases in the past four weeks as compared with the previous four weeks. Many cases in most-affected South Dakota and North Dakota have been linked to the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. Israel toughened its coronavirus measures today after a second nationwide lockdown failed to cut the infection rate. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: Saving lives is our priority we are living in a moment of national crisis. All non-essential businesses were ordered to close and people must stay within 1,000 yards of their homes. The government last week imposed a lockdown that closed schools, shopping malls, hotels and restaurants. But people were still allowed to travel to work, exercise, go to prayers and public demonstrations. The new lockdown is expected to eliminate most of those loopholes. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on government to consider the inclusion of all public sector workers to enjoy the tier two of the new Pension Act. Mr. Joshua Ansah, the Deputy General Secretary of the TUC who made the call, welcomed the new Act 766, saying, its implementation would make life better for pensioners. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a meeting held in Sunyani to sensitize public sector workers on the new Pension Act, Mr. Ansah said pensioners deserved better, considering their contributions to nation building. The Union organised the meeting with support from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, a German NGO and discussed extensively issues relating to national pensions. Mr. Ansah advised public sector workers to ensure that they provided accurate and detailed information and update their personal details with the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) as and when necessary. This would facilitate the processing of pensions and help retirees to overcome the challenges they faced in accessing their pensions. Mr. Ansah called on the government to expedite action and facilitate full implementation of the new pension Act in the supreme interest of all, particularly public sector workers. 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 Waiting for an ambulance amid heavy rainfall, a 56-year-old cancer patient in need of oxygen died in the wee hours on Wednesday in Mumbai as the city was flooded. His body could be taken to the hospital 14 hours later after the deluge receded. The patient, who is from Shillong, died at a Dadar dharmashala. The deceased, Ram Avatar Baitha, arrived in Mumbai for his stage 4 cancer treatment with his son and wife in December last year. He was taking chemotherapy sessions at the Tata Memorial Centre, the Mumbai Mirror reported. He had already taken nine chemotherapy sessions successfully at the hospital and the next session was scheduled for September 30. Baitha complained of breathlessness around 2am on Wednesday. My father was gasping for breath. I called up doctors, who said that we must rush him to Tata Memorial Centre. I frantically began calling several ambulance services and pleaded with them, but not one was ready to operate in the heavy rain. My fathers condition kept worsening; it was a painful sight. I was so helpless, said the deceaseds son Vikas. After two hours of wait, Baitha passed away. When the family and the dharmashalas authorities informed the Bhoiwada police and doctors at Tata Memorial Centre, however, the police failed to arrange a vehicle to transport the body to the hospital, the manager of the shelter, Prashant Deshmukh told the publication. According to the protocol, the hospital should be informed when an inmate dies. We finally got an ambulance at 4am. I had to pay Rs 1,500 to cover the 3 km to the hospital, Vikas said. The deceaseds body was cremated after the police and hospital procedures were completed. We were hoping to leave for our hometown in Bihar next month to allow my father to recuperate after his treatment. He had responded well to the treatment. He was hopeful of beating cancer. It never occurred to any of us that he could die in this manner. My mother is still in shock," said the final-year BSc student. Meanwhile, Deshmukh added that the chemotherapy sessions scheduled for Wednesday had to be deferred due to the flooding in Dadar. Our ground floor was submerged. We had to shift 60 patients from the basement and the ground floor to the upper floors, he said. FILE PHOTO: The company logo for Johnson & Johnson is displayed on a screen to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the company's listing at the NYSE in New York By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday began a 60,000-person trial of an experimental single-shot COVID-19 vaccine that, if proven effective, could simplify distribution of millions of doses compared with leading rivals requiring two doses. The company expects results of the Phase III trial by year end or early next year, Dr. Paul Stoffels, J&J's chief scientific officer, said in a joint news conference with officials from the National Institutes of Health and the Trump administration. J&J plans to manufacture as many as 1 billion doses in 2021, and more after that, Stoffels said. Rival vaccines from Moderna Inc , Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca all require two shots separated by several weeks, which make them more difficult to administer and means twice as much vaccine is needed to inoculate the same number of people. "The benefits of a single-shot vaccine are potentially profound in terms of mass immunization campaigns and global pandemic control," Dr. Dan Barouch, a Harvard vaccine researcher who helped design J&J's COVID-19 vaccine, said in a telephone interview. The J&J vaccine also does not need to be stored at extremely cold temperatures, Barouch noted, another advantage over some rival vaccine candidates. J&J shares were up 1.2%. "Big news. Numerous great companies are seeing fantastic results. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) must move quickly," U.S. President Donald Trump said in a tweet. J&J published a detailed study protocol for its Phase III trial on Wednesday on the company's website, joining the three other vaccine makers that have made these details available in recent weeks after calls for increased transparency in the trials. PROTECTION 'FOR A LONG TIME' Stoffels said J&J started the late-stage study after seeing positive results in its combined Phase I/II trial in the United States and Belgium. The company plans to release those results imminently. Story continues Stoffels said the safety and level of protection demonstrated in the earlier trial were on par with what was seen in the company's animal studies. The results showed a single dose could offer sufficient protection "for a long time," he said. J&J's late-stage trial will be conducted at as many as 215 sites in the United States, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The trial will assess whether the vaccine can prevent moderate to severe COVID-19 after a single dose. It will also seek to detect if the vaccine can prevent serious disease requiring medical intervention and whether it can prevent milder cases of the virus. Stoffels said it likely will take six weeks to two months to fully enroll the trial. J&J plans to manufacture doses before approval, so it will be ready to start distribution soon after an FDA green light. The trial will be overseen by an independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) that will review vaccine safety and effectiveness at pre-set intervals. Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said all three vaccines being supported by the federal government's Operation Warp Speed - J&J's, Moderna's and AstraZeneca's - share a common DSMB. Pfizer is running its own trial and has a separate DSMB, Collins said. J&J's trial would be considered a success if it proves to be 60% effective, with a study protocol that could have an efficacy answer after 154 people became infected with the virus. Stoffels said the company will start counting COVID-19 infections within the study population 15 days after individuals are vaccinated. The DSMB will take its first look at the vaccine's efficacy after 20 trial participants have become infected. Collins said the DSMB does not include any government employees and is made up of "very highly experienced" scientists and statistical experts. "Until they are convinced that there's something there that looks promising, nothing is unblinded and sent to the FDA. So everybody should feel pretty reassured," Collins said. His comments follow concerns that government scientists may be pressured to rush the vaccine testing process to boost U.S. President Donald Trump's re-election bid. In August, J&J signed an agreement with the British government on a global Phase III clinical trial to study a two-dose version of its vaccine, which will run in parallel with the single-dose trial. Stoffels, in the briefing, said the single-dose version would be "very important for emergency use." The company will later test a booster dose that could produce even greater immunity to the virus, he added. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen, additional reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; editing by Peter Henderson, Tom Brown and Bill Berkrot) Megan Fox and her beau Machine Gun Kelly were spotted arriving to the Mayan Theater in Downtown Los Angeles on Thursday evening. The 34-year-old actress showed support for the 30-year-old rapper as he appeared to celebrate the release of his album Tickets To My Downfall at the historic venue. Fox cut a casual figure in a vintage band tee and a pair of black skinny jeans with an edgy raw hem as Machine Gun Kelly walked with his arm wrapped around her. Hot couple: Megan Fox and her beau Machine Gun Kelly were spotted arriving to the Mayan Theater in Downtown Los Angeles on Thursday evening Supportive: The 34-year-old actress showed support for the 30-year-old rapper as he appeared to celebrate the release of his album Tickets To My Downfall at the historic venue Her lengthy raven hair was styled in loose waves that flowed past her chest and she rocked an ultra glam makeup look. She slipped her feet into a pair of grey One Star sneakers that she decked out with neon yellow laces. Megan kept the majority of her belongings secured in a white Stella McCartney cross-body bag. Meanwhile, Brian Austin Green, the Transformers star's estranged husband and father of her three children, was seen running some errands in Malibu. The ex: Meanwhile, Brian Austin Green, the Transformers star's estranged husband and father of her three children, was seen running some errands in Malibu on Thursday Feeding his family: The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum, 47, was seen leaving a supermarket pushing a shopping cart loaded with purchases in brown paper store bags The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum, 47, stopped by a supermarket in the exclusive oceanfront community to pick up some groceries. He was seen leaving the market pushing a shopping cart loaded with purchases in brown paper store bags. He was dressed in a black t-shirt and charcoal cropped sweats along with Vans sneakers and a bandana as a face covering. Edgy: Fox cut a casual figure in a vintage band tee and a pair of black skinny jeans with an edgy raw hem as Machine Gun Kelly walked with his arm wrapped around her Hyped: Machine Gun Kelly, born Colson Baker, looked beyond hyped for the release of his fifth studio album and very first pop-punk album Tickets To My Downfall Machine Gun Kelly, born Colson Baker, looked beyond hyped for the release of his fifth studio album and very first pop-punk album Tickets To My Downfall. For the celebratory evening, he donned a blue polo-style sweater that featured a circle pattern throughout and a button-up front. Kelly paired the unique top with a pair of white trousers and some coordinating sneakers. His signature bleach blonde hair looked noticeably undone and he had what looked to be a string of pearls around his neck. Signature look: Megan's lengthy raven hair was styled in loose waves that flowed past her chest and she rocked an ultra glam makeup look Man of the hour: For the celebratory evening, Machine Gun Kelly donned a blue polo-style sweater that featured a circle pattern throughout and a button-up front As the sunset, Megan and Machine Gun Kelly parted ways so that he could get prepared for whatever festivities were in store. Fox was seen making her way around the venue with one of Kelly's team members by her side. She carried a large thing of boxed water in her hand that her beau was seen carrying earlier in the day. Parting ways: As the sunset, Megan and Machine Gun Kelly parted ways so that he could get prepared for whatever festivities were in store In good hands: Fox was seen making her way around the venue with one of Kelly's team members by her side Megan enjoyed some casual conversation with some of Kelly's friends that she recognized at Thursday night's event. Fox and Machine Gun Kelly were eventually reunited and quickly whisked away into a black SUV. Before taking off, Kelly exchanged an enthusiastic handshake with a close pal who was leaving the event in the vehicle next to his. Finishing touches: Kelly paired the unique top with a pair of white trousers and some coordinating sneakers Familiar faces: Megan enjoyed some casual conversation with some of Kelly's friends that she recognized at Thursday night's event Tickets To My Downfall drops at midnight and in a recent interview with Howard Stern, Kelly stated that with this album he wanted 'to go against what everyone else thinks.' 'I make a pop-punk record and everyone's like, "You switched genres!" To me, I just added on to the multiple things I've already done anyway, but, sure, what a narrow-minded way to look at things,' he explained. During the remote interview, Machine Gun Kelly also made sure to open up about his passionate romance with Fox. 'I didn't know what [love] was until me and her made eye contact... That's when I was like, 'Whoa!'' the hitmaker revealed. Taking off: Fox and Machine Gun Kelly were eventually reunited and quickly whisked away into a black SUV Enthusiastic: Before taking off, Kelly exchanged an enthusiastic handshake with a close pal who was leaving the event in the vehicle next to his The Houston native added: 'That was my first experience with being open to love and stuff like that. I definitely wasn't set up to believe that that's something that could ever exist.' MGK and Fox went public with their romance in May after meeting on the set of the movie Midnight In The Switchgrass. Filming on the production was taking place in Puerto Rico when it was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kelly told Stern that it had been 'love at first sight' when they met. Love at first sight: 'I didn't know what [love] was until me and her made eye contact... That's when I was like, 'Whoa!'' the hitmaker revealed to Howard Stern about Fox; Machine Gun Kelly and Megan pictured in July Megan and Kelly's romance emerged shortly after her split from husband of 10-years Brian Austin Green, 47. The estranged couple share three sons, Noah, seven, Bodhi, six, and Journey, four. Back in May, Green confirmed his split from Fox during an episode of his podcast ...With Brian Austin Green. During his confession, he maintained that infidelity did not play a role in their separation and that he will alway have love for Megan. 'I will always love her. And I know she will always love me and I know as far as a family what we have built is really cool and really special.' WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Branded food company Hormel Foods Corp. (HRL) announced Friday that its Hormel Black Label Breakfast Food Truck will hit the road with free sample event of the popular brand's new Hormel Black Label Oven-Baked Egg Bites. The samples come in three variants - with Bacon, with Chorizo and with Bacon and Sausage. The free-sample events are scheduled at retail locations on the East Coast and in the Midwest as well as for front-line workers across the United States. The tour, which rolls out September 28 in Flemington, New Jersey and wraps up October 23 in the Homewood, Illinois area, will offer the samples. The tour is designed to introduce consumers to one of the newest product lines from Hormel Black Label, a brand well-known for its premium breakfast meats. In addition, Hormel Foods has scheduled stops at hospitals and other medical facilities as a way of expressing gratitude for the efforts of healthcare workers on the front line of the pandemic. Hormel Black Label Oven-Baked Egg Bites breakfast items at an MSRP of $3.49 can be found at: Walmart, Shop Rite, Jewel, Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, Lowes Foods, military commissaries and other retailers throughout the United Sates. 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. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows criticized FBI Director Christopher Wray a day after Wray told Congress he'd never seen any evidence of widespread voter fraud. 'Well, with all due respect to Director Wray, he has a hard time finding emails in his own FBI let alone figuring out whether there's any kind of voter fraud,' Meadows said on 'CBS This Morning' Friday when asked about Wray's testimony. Meadows and his boss, President Donald Trump, have pushed that widespread mail-in balloting will be ripe for fraud, as Democrats have pushed for greater access to this kind of voting due to the coronavirus pandemic. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows criticized FBI Director Christopher Wray after he testified before Congress that there's been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States Christopher Wray was on Capitol Hill Thursday and told lawmakers he had, 'not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise' President Donald Trump has cast doubt on mail-in voting, suggesting that process was ripe for fraud. Democrats have pushed to increase mail-in voting opportunites around the United States so people don't have to go to the polls personally due to the COVID-19 pandemic 'This is a very different case. The rules are being changed,' Meadows said, arguing against Wray's observations about past election cycles. 'So what I'm suggesting is perhaps he can drill down on the investigation that just started. Others that we're seeing in North Carolina and other places where multiple ballots - duplicate ballots are being sent out - perhaps he needs to get involved on the ground and will change his testimony on Capitol Hill,' Meadows said of Wray. Wray was handpicked by Trump to lead the FBI after the president fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017. Wray testified to members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee Thursday that he had 'not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise.' This week an FBI investigation kicked off in Pennsylvania dealing with nine 'discarded' ballots - seven that had been case for Trump - from the state's primary election. They were mail-in ballots from military members. The Justice Department released details about the investigation Thursday, which was considered an unusual step and stoked fears that the DOJ under Attorney General Bill Barr has become overly politicized. For years, Trump has made unfounded claims about widespread voter fraud and has claimed he actually won the popular vote in 2016 - and that millions of fraudulent votes were cast in California, which helped Hillary Clinton win the popular vote. And for months during the coronavirus pandemic, he's cast doubt on the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, despite his own preference to vote absentee. He created controversy this week after not answering definitively when asked by a reporter: 'Win, lose or draw in this election ... will you commit here today for a peaceful transferal of power after the election?' 'We're going to have to see what happens,' Trump said at the briefing Wednesday. 'You know that. I have been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.' We're sorry, but we're unable to locate the page you requested. The page may have been removed, renamed, or deleted. You can try searching for the topic using the search button in the right hand corner above. App-based companies like GrubHub will have to sign agreements with local restaurants under a new California law. (GrubHub) Two new California laws will require app-based delivery companies to more closely work with local restaurants before advertising their menu options and drivers to ensure the safety of meals while the orders are in transit. The laws signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom are the latest effort by state lawmakers to ratchet up oversight of an industry that has resisted attempts at regulation as it grows rapidly in size and profitability. The most far-reaching of the laws, signed by Newsom on Wednesday, requires companies such as DoorDash, Grub Hub, Postmates and Uber Eats to sign formal agreements with local restaurants before advertising food delivery to their customers. Its supporters say that restaurant owners might not know their food is being advertised or delivered by the app-based company, leaving the business susceptible to surprise complaints if customers are unhappy with the experience. "When Uber Eats, DoorDash and other gig companies operate under their own rules, businesses and consumers are harmed, said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), the bill's author. Assembly Bill 2149 doesn't specify what details should be included in the written agreement, simply that an online company must work with a restaurant owner to craft a document "expressly authorizing the food delivery platform to take orders and deliver meals prepared by the food facility." Some restaurant owners have accused app-based companies of promising food deliveries from their companies without any guarantee the food wouldn't be prepared somewhere else and falsely labeled. This spring, the owner of a Los Angeles barbecue pop-up asked Grubhub to take down an unapproved listing for his menu items after he tried to place an order and never received the food. If they want you to be on their app they should at least speak with you first, instead of going behind your back, Moo's Craft Barbecue owner Andrew Munoz told The Times in March. It just becomes one more thing you have to worry about as a business owner. Story continues Others have complained of app-based fees charged to either the restaurant or the online customers that were not agreed upon in advance. A second law signed by Newsom last week, Assembly Bill 3336, requires app-based companies to ensure cleanliness and temperature controls in transporting the meals to customers. Restaurants will also have to place a seal on the food bag before handing it off to the delivery person, making any tampering clear to the customer. The bill's author, Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles), told lawmakers earlier this year that there is too little existing authority for local environmental health agencies to investigate complaints about mishandled food deliveries. Both laws were among the final proposals sent to Newsom by lawmakers before they adjourned for the year and will take effect on Jan. 1. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The prosecutors statement did not explain why six years have passed between the alleged crimes and the arrest warrants. The government has pursued a crackdown on the HDP, which promotes greater cultural rights and autonomy for Turkeys Kurds. Dozens of elected mayors from the HDP have been removed from their offices over the past few years and replaced with government-appointed trustees. DXC Technology (NYSE:DXC) today presented its latest leadership appointments further strengthening the DXC leadership team, the majority being new to DXC within the last year. This team is bringing the new DXC, which is focused on its customers and its people, to the market as it executes the companys transformation journey. DXC Customer Portfolio Leadership Over the past year, CEO Mike Salvino has recruited new IT services industry leaders who bring formidable experience delivering for customers, inspiring people, and running and growing businesses. DXC announces the following appointments and changes to the team that will run DXCs business and lead execution of the DXC transformation journey: Americas will be led by Jim Brady and David Swift. Jim joined DXC in June 2020 from Accumen, where he was the COO and previously worked at Accenture and Honeywell. David Swift joined DXC in November 2019 from Accolade where he was Chief Service Officer and previously worked at Aon Hewitt and Accenture. Asia Pacific will be led by Seelan Nayagam. Seelan has been with DXC for six years leading Australia/New Zealand (ANZ) and will now also lead Asia as one integrated business. Europe, Middle East & Africa will be led by Tom Pettit and Steve Turpie. Tom joined DXC in June 2020 from Accenture where he spent 25 years, most recently as a Senior Managing Director in Accentures Health and Public Services business. Steve joined DXC in November 2019 and previously held senior roles in strategic sourcing and procurement at QBE Insurance Group Ltd. and Zurich Insurance Company. DXC/Luxoft Analytics & Engineering will be run as a business unit under the leadership of Dmitry Loschinin, who was the CEO of Luxoft. Dmitry will now lead the combined DXC/Luxoft Analytics & Engineering business that has been a growth area for DXC. Corporate Functions DXC continues to strengthen the leadership and operations of its Corporate Functions that support the businesses with the following appointments: Marketing & Communications will be led by Shari Wenker, whowill focus on rebuilding the brand externally and internally as Chief Marketing & Communications Officer. Shari joined DXC in April 2020 from Accenture, where she spent 24 years and most recently led marketing & communications for Accenture Technology. Legal will continue to be led by DXC veteran Bill Deckelman, General Counsel and Secretary for 12 years. Bill will transition his Secretary responsibilities to Zafar Hasan, Head of Corporate Legal, who joined DXC three years ago. I am very pleased with the leadership team that we have been able to create to drive the new DXC, said Salvino. We have attracted some outstanding industry talent and combined with the existing leaders have created a leadership team that has a strong track record of delivering for customers and people. I am looking forward to personally working with this team to continue to execute on our transformation journey. About DXC Technology DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) helps global companies run their mission critical systems and operations while modernizing IT, optimizing data architectures, and ensuring security and scalability across public, private and hybrid clouds. With decades of driving innovation, the worlds largest companies trust DXC to deploy our enterprise technology stack to deliver new levels of performance, competitiveness and customer experiences. Learn more about the DXC story and our focus on people, customers and operational execution at www.dxc.technology. Forward-Looking Statement All statements in this press release that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute forward-looking statements. These statements represent DXCs intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs, and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors many of which are outside DXCs control. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements with respect to the transaction announced above, including risks relating to: the completion of the transaction on anticipated timing, including obtaining regulatory and third-party approvals; conditions in the credit markets; anticipated tax treatment for the proposed transaction; unforeseen liabilities; loss of revenues; the potential impact of announcement or consummation of the proposed transaction on relationships with third parties, including clients, employees and competitors; and the delay or business disruption caused by difficulties in separating the divested business from DXCs remaining businesses. For a written description of the factors that could cause actual results of DXCs business to differ materially from these forward-looking statements, see the section titled Risk Factors in DXCs Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020, as updated in subsequent SEC filings including the Companys Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2020, which readers are urged to review in detail, as it contains important information regarding risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ from the plans, expectations and other matters described in this press release. No assurance can be given that any goal or plan set forth in any forward-looking statement can or will be achieved, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements which speak only as of the date they are made. DXC disclaims any intention or obligation to update these forward-looking statements whether as a result of subsequent events or otherwise, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200924005584/en/ Students show support for the student-led democracy movement outside the Education Ministry in Bangkok - REUTERS The hashtag #RepublicofThailand trended on Twitter in Thailand on Friday after parliament voted to push back the question of changing the constitution as protesters have demanded. During more than two months of anti-government protests, some protest leaders have said they seek constitutional reforms to reduce the powers of King Maha Vajiralongkorn's monarchy but that they were not seeking to abolish it. The republican hashtag, in English rather than Thai, had been used in more than 730,000 Tweets and was the top trending hashtag in Thailand on Friday morning, according to Twitter. The Royal Palace did not comment and has made no response to requests for comment on the protests or the demands for royal reform. Government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said he had not seen the hashtag and declined to comment on it but said Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha was listening to all sides on the issue of the constitution. "There are those who want to amend the constitution and others who don't," he said. Parliament, dominated by supporters of the government, voted on Thursday to delay making a decision on whether it will amend the constitution. Pro-democracy protesters attend a rally to call for the ouster of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's government and reforms in the monarchy, in Bangkok, Thailand - REUTERS The decision angered protesters and opposition parliamentarians, who accused parliament of trying to buy time. Protesters seek changes to a constitution they say was drafted to ensure Prayuth, a former junta leader, kept power after an election last year. They also want his departure. Prayuth says the election was fair. The protests are the biggest challenge to the military and palace-dominated establishment since Prayuth took power in a 2014 coup. The biggest protest drew tens of thousands of people at the weekend. They cheered calls for reforms to the monarchy, which were first aired in August, breaking a longstanding taboo on not criticising an institution that the constitution says must be held "in a position of revered worship". Some protesters say the constitution also gives too much power to the king, who paid a rare visit to Thailand on Thursday for ceremonies honouring his grandfather, Prince Mahidol Adulyadej. The king has spent most of his time in Europe since taking the throne nearly four years ago. Hundreds of royalists marched to parliament on Wednesday to oppose calls from the anti-government protesters for changes to the constitution. The hashtag #LindseyGrahamIsLosing was trending on Twitter on Thursday. That doesn't mean he's losing a lot of it seems to be leftist wishful thinking but he's facing a challenging contest for the first time in a long time. Lindsey needs help, and it's up to conservatives who want to maintain a Senate majority to give it to him. Graham has held his Senate seat since 2003. Before that, he was in the House from 1995 to 2002, and before that, he was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives for a couple of years. A lawyer by trade, Lindsey seems to be a purely political animal. Or is he? Did you know that Graham also served in the Air Force as a judge advocate general, rising to the rank of colonel before he left the reserve in 2015? And did you know that he has a fast and wicked sense of humor? When he's doing a relaxed interview, he's fun. Here's something else I learned about Graham by reading his Wikipedia page: his parents died within 15 months of each other, leaving behind Lindsey, only 22, and his sister Darline, 13, whom he then helped raise. Kudos to Graham. I mention those last two things because, despite having been on the political scene for a long time, Graham still can surprise. He mostly wants to practice politics in the old-fashioned, gentlemanly way, which sees reciprocal courtesies between representatives of both parties. After all, as the medieval philosophers knew, the Wheel of Fate rolls around; first you're up, then you're down. If you've made too many enemies during the high times, you're going to find yourself without friends during the low times. In the past, Graham tended to follow Sen. John McCain's leadership. However, whatever McCain was early in his career, by the end of his career, he was an angry little man who put his ego ahead of his country. I can honor him for his service and suffering in the 1960s without ever forgiving him for his backstabbing once Trump became president. His departure from the Senate was a good thing for conservative values. For Graham, especially with McCain gone, the Kavanaugh hearings forced him to realize that the Senate's gentlemen's club is gone. There is no more camaraderie as the same faces roll in out and of committees. Instead, the new generation of Democrats engages in scorched earth warfare. Everything becomes a battle to the death, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the utterly unprincipled attacks on Justice Kavanaugh's reputation. That's when Graham had his magnificent moment: The gentlemanly Southern worm had turned. And for the most part, Graham has stayed turned. He can be wobbly at times his nature is to be nice but he's been a pretty decent Trump-supporter, which means we want him to stay in the Senate, especially because the Republican majority is so slender. Democrats desperately want Graham out. To that end, they're running Jaime Harrison against Graham. Harrison is a cookie-cutter leftist. He worked for the Podesta Group, which means he has deep Clinton ties. Once in politics, he rose quickly through the ranks and will be a reliable hard left vote for Chuckie Schumer should the Senate go Democrat. Harrison's real advantage in the race is money. He's rolling in it. This isn't because people in South Carolina are enthusiastic about him. Instead, Harrison is this year's Beto the one the left has selected to beat a powerful Republican and turn a red state blue. By the end of August, Harrison had raised $10.6 million, one of the largest Senate campaign hauls in America. The left is going hard against Graham in other ways. Leftists are raising the old standby of Russian collusion, they're letting everyone know that this is the chance to get South Carolina, and they're encouraging donations from Anywhere USA meaning the South Carolina voters are losing control over their state's election. To those of you from South Carolina, I don't care if you're not too fond of Graham. He's what we've got, and he's a pretty darn good guy most of the time (which is more than you can say for many politicians). He needs our help. America needs him in the Senate. Make sure you go to your local polling place on November 3 and vote for Trump, Graham, and whatever other Republican candidates are on your ballot. This year, even the dog-catcher matters. And no matter where you are, if you can, please donate to Graham's campaign. I've already done so and urge you to do so as well. Image: Lindsey Graham goes to war for Kavanaugh. YouTube screen grab. Padukones manager Karishma Prakash also reached the NCB office to face questions from the investigation agency. Mumbai: A day after an NCB official confirmed that actor Rakul Preet Singh had acknowledged the summons sent to her, the actress joined the probe on Friday. The actress is reported to have reached the NCB office, located in Colaba, at around 10.30 am. Padukones manager Karishma Prakash also reached the NCB office to face questions from the investigation agency. Meanwhile, the NCB on Thursday questioned fashion designer Simone Khambata and Sushant Singh Rajputs former manager Shruti Modi in connection with the probe being conducted by the agency into an alleged Bollywood-drugs nexus. Simone Khambata, who was summoned by the NCB to join the probe, reached the agency's guest house in south Mumbai around 9.30 am, an official said. Her name cropped up in the questioning of some persons during the probe in the matter, he said. Rajput's former manager Shruti Modi also appeared before the NCB probe team on Thursday, the official said. Actor Sara Ali Khan, who has also been summoned by the NCB, arrived in the city from Goa on Thursday. She reached Mumbai with her mother, actor Amrita Singh and brother, Ibrahim Ali Khan around 5pm and headed to their suburban Juhu residence. Deepika Padukune, who was shooting in Goa, also arrived in Mumbai around 10:30pm on Thursday night. She was reportedly accompanied by husband Ranveer Singh. Police personnel have been deployed outside the residence of Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone, who is expected to appear before the NCB on Saturday. Apart from these actors, the agency has also summoned Karishma Prakash, who works at KWAN talent agency, this week. KWAN CEO Dhruv Chitgopekar, film producer Madhu Mantena have already been questioned by the NCB in the case earlier. The NCB had launched the investigation in this matter after it received official communication from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in which there were various chats related to drug consumption, procurement, usage and transportation. BERLIN - German police simultaneously searched more than 60 homes and businesses in five states early Wednesday in connection with the alleged illegal trafficking of migrants for use in the meat industry. Federal police said in a statement that the focus of their investigation was on two different temporary employment companies who allegedly trafficked 82 people mostly from eastern Europe to Germany in the last six months. Nobody was arrested during the raids in eastern and northern Germany, but investigators confiscated documents and other evidence. Ten suspects are accused of having forged documents and signed up the workers as fake university students pretending to work in holiday jobs. The ten main suspects are aged between 41 and 56 years. Their identities were not given, but police said the eight men and two women stem originally from Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Kosovo. Police estimate that the suspects generated about 1.5 million euros ($1.75 million) in profits through their illegal scheme. During the raids, police detained more than 20 workers who allegedly used forged student documents. Several bigger coronavirus outbreaks at German meatpacking plants recently have revealed that many of the mostly migrant workers are often exploited and live in desolate, cramped conditions. Read more about: Sorry! This content is not available in your region BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's government said on Tuesday it disagrees with claims that a European Union-Mercosur trade deal would increase destruction in the Amazon rainforest and criticized French concerns about an agreement as "protectionist." In a joint note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Brazil took issue with a report on deforestation used by the French government last week to oppose the current version of the EU-Mercosur trade deal. The report, which Brazil said was commissioned by the French government, "reveals the real protectionist concerns of those who commissioned it when dealing with the agricultural concessions made by the EU to Mercosur," Brazil's note said. Brazil's statement came after Augusto Heleno, a national security adviser to President Jair Bolsonaro, told local radio station Bandeirantes the country could retaliate with its own trade blocks against countries that boycotted Brazilian goods on environmental grounds. A trade deal would instead, according to the Brazilian statement, reinforce multilateral commitments and best practices on the environment. The EU has been holding talks with the Mercosur group of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, the worlds fourth-largest trade bloc. One worry has been the impact of the future deal on forests and the climate. Bolsonaro has been under international scrutiny for his environmental policies. Earlier on Tuesday, he defended his environmental record at the United Nations. (Reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia; writing by Sabrina Valle; editing by Jonathan Oatis) The Ukrainian diplomat recommends that the Belarusian authorities "take a break" and "reflect" on their Ukraine statements. Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Belarus, Ihor Kyzym, believes that the rhetoric of the Belarusian authorities toward Ukraine does nothing good to bilateral relations. According to the Ukrainian diplomat, the prospect of relations between Belarus and Ukraine will depend, first of all, on the further development of the internal situation in Belarus, as well as on the processes of deepening the integration of Belarus and Russia, TUT.BY reports. "I'd like to make a reservation right away so that I'm not again accused of allegedly interfering in the internal affairs of your country. Deepening integration is the sovereign right of Belarus and the degree of integration depends only on Belarus. But we have our own understanding of the risks associated with this for Ukraine and it is our sovereign right to draw our own conclusions from this and take adequate actions," the ambassador said. "Unfortunately, the unfriendly rhetoric toward Ukraine we've been hearing lately from the Belarusian authorities is another unfortunate trend," Kyzym added. "I'm not even talking about the fact that these statements are getting more and more personal, as, for example, it was in yesterday's commentary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry." He noted that such rhetoric has been observed since the elections in Belarus. "We have agreed to the point that Ukraine has already been called an "outpost of political provocation" against Belarus, a "booster of destructive forces" toward the toppling of government in your country and almost an organizer of protests in Belarus. I'd like to repeat once again that we are interested in an independent, sovereign, and friendly Belarus. And now I would recommend that all hotheads accusing the Ukrainian leadership of anything, and even more so making things personal, take a break and reflect on what they're saying. It's obvious that such rhetoric, unfortunately, does nothing good for the development of our bilateral relations. Therefore, I would advise such talking heads to think before saying anything," said Kyzym. Belarus election: Reactions Lukashenko has repeatedly claimed "foreign interference" in the election and external efforts to foment the protests. He spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin who had promised him comprehensive assistance upon request. On August 27, Putin suggested sending Russian security forces to suppress protests in Belarus. The European Union declared non-recognition of the Belarus election results and reached an agreement to impose sanctions against Belarusian officials in response to vote rigging and the use of violence against protesters. On September 15, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a statement on Belarus. Ukrainian lawmakers said the presidential elections in that country were unfair. They condemned repression against protesters and vowed support for sanctions to be introduced by the European Union against Belarusian officials. On September 14, Putin received Lukashenko in Russia's Sochi. During the meeting, Putin promised to lend US$1.5 billion to Belarus. After the meeting, the Kremlin announced they would recognize Lukashenko as the only legitimate president of Belarus. On September 24, Ukraine's Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv does not recognize Alexandr Lukashenko a legitimate head of Belarus following the latter's inauguration. We have been in this lockdown for over 6 months. By any rational standard, by now, we ought to be able to go back to normal. When I talked to our governors office here in Idaho, I was informed that it was now up to our local health district. When I talked to our local health official to find out what was the standard they would use before we could go back to normal I was informed it would probably be some time next spring. Thus, we are told that we will just have to get used to a New Normal. Things will never be normal again. Whatever our personal discomfort we will have to learn to live with it. That may be fine for individuals, but what about businesses? Thousands of smaller businesses have gone under because they could not afford to be shut down -- and some big ones have declared bankruptcy. Among the hardest-hit are restaurants, and restaurant chains, which have a narrower margin of profit than most other businesses. Many have re-opened with fewer tables but even then they have had few customers. Our family does not eat out very often, but when we do, we like to go to a restaurant with a buffet. One such restaurant closed its doors even before the coronavirus. There is only one other in our town, but when we ate there, probably no more than fifteen folk were eating at one time. I would estimate that the food line must have cost $1,000, so how long can they survive? When I talked to the governors office about the need to re-open, to go back to normal, I was told that in our state, people pretty much do as they please. So, some churches are open but require masks and social distancing, other churches have gone back to normal. Our president has held rallies with thousands packed together. We are Americans, and we need close fellowship, especially at a time when there are forces trying to divide us. When we were first told about this virus, it was said that it was something new, and that it was highly contagious, and deadly. As many as 2.2 million would die. Later that was revised down to about 60,000, but the damage had been done. The result was to make Americans fearful, with only the government able to help. Masks seem to be the key issue. Some folk insist that masks are harmful and can cause respiratory problems. Others say they wear a mask all day with no apparent problems. So which is true? If you go online, you will find an answer to any question. Some may be true and some not. But that being the case the government, that is to say the Center For Disease Control (CDC), ought to have made suggestions and let people decide for themselves. Every year we have some sort of flu. For most people it is over in a couple of days and life goes on. For some people, however, the disease can be deadly. People die of the flu every year. So what is different about this year? Many medical professionals insist that this year is no different than any other flu year and there was no reason for an emergency lockdown. The end result of all this activity is to give the government more power. These orders by our governors have violated the First, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Some people saw that right away, but governors were not listening. What the CDC said was gospel permitting no other suggestions. Some states did not require lockdown of businesses and they have had no more cases of virus than those that did. In one state, the governor was recently sued and the court set aside those decrees, saying they were unconstitutional. Here in our town, a family had a crisis and had to hold a garage sale to get rid of a number of things to make room in storage. They were informed by the local police that they were in violation of the law. When they did not stop they were cited and arrested. The trial was held yesterday. Our local health district decided that we all needed to wear masks whenever outside. One local sheriff said he would not enforce the law because it was unconstitutional. Another said he could not enforce it as it was impractical to do so. As you can see these health professional actions pit the police against the citizens of our city, and we usually view the police as our friend and protector. It is too bad local health officials cannot see how divisive their decisions have been. This is not a case of some sort of rogue disease working on all of us. After all, no one wants to be the cause of the death of another. But this is a matter of a government operating out of bounds. We are a republic with three divisions of government: Legislative, Executive and Judicial. Our own legislature met with an effort to stop this lockdown. The anti-lockdown effort passed the House but the Senate felt it was unconstitutional. Considering our Constitution and comparing it with our statutes it becomes obvious that the action would have been very constitutional. As Americans our path is clear: We must get back to normal. There have been serious economic results from this lockdown. Many have closed their businesses. Many more have lost their jobs. Some have gone hungry. A few have taken their own lives. In California churches were told they could not meet and also could not sing. Some churches went right ahead and folk have flocked in from all over to be in a church that stood for truth. The open churches are being fined daily. One pastor says he is prepared to go to jail if necessary, and besides it would provide a great ministry. Americans are not by nature a rebellious people. We strongly believe in law and order. We want to do what the law requires. But when the law is unconstitutional we have an obligation to ignore the unjust law. History is filled with cultures that failed simply because step by step the people did what they were told to do. Now it is time to band together and stand for what is right. We need to insist that our country go back to normal now, not next year and not after the election in November. Some schools have opened but require masks, etc. Other schools say they will not re-open until after the election on Nov. 3. It is not too late to regain the freedom handed down to us by the founders of our country, and preserved in many national and world wars. If we are to remain a free people we must regain the freedom that is so precious to us. But it is rapidly becoming too late. We must reject a New Normal and reclaim the normal. It will not be easy, but it is not too late and it must be done. Jim Hollingsworth is the author of: Climate Change, A Convenient Truth and receives mail at: jimhollingsworth@frontier.com The ambitions of the NMA exhibition are encyclopaedic. We trace the Endeavours journey from its first landfall in Tasmania to Possession Island in the Torres Strait, with the most prominent spots on the map identified by both Western and Indigenous names. The entire show is framed as a dialogue between the explorers and the people on the shore as we see the same sights from contrasting perspectives. The educational emphasis is typical of a museum exhibition, as opposed to the greater licence taken by an art gallery. It can be cluttered and cumbersome, with long, explanatory labels, charts and audio-visual aids, but there is at least one significant work of art the 1776 Nathaniel Dance portrait of Cook from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Of many portraits of Cook, this is the one said to resemble him most precisely. Dance has depicted his subject looking stern, intelligent and self-confident, which seems a fair summation of the great mans personality. Other notable paintings, such as George Stubbs Kongouro from New Holland (1772) or Benjamin Wests Portrait of Banks (1773), are included in the form of large photo-reproductions, showing us what might have been had the museum been able to realise its wish list. By way of compensation there is a wealth of bric-a-brac from Cooks voyages including an original volume of his journals. Kongouro from New Holland by George Stubbs. The NMA has been highly creative in commissioning works from Indigenous artists, including The Message, an impressive short film by Alison Page and Nik Lachajczak, which takes us into the imaginative world of the people who watched Cooks arrival. Perhaps the most important feature of this show and of The Message has been the time and effort taken to interview descendants of those living in coastal settlements in 1770. In their stories, we not only get a vivid sense of what their ancestors saw and conveyed to posterity, but we find a key to understanding that has been missing for 200 years. Stills from The Message at the National Museum of Australia. Credit:Nik Lachajczak It was a huge puzzle for Cook and Banks, and indeed, for Cooks chief biographer, John Beaglehole, why the local tribes seemed to ignore the sudden appearance of a gigantic sailing ship filled with white people. As the Endeavour drifted into Botany Bay, men and women continued with their daily activities as if it were a matter of no great interest. It was only when the landing party tried to disembark that two warriors confronted them, shouting what Cook thought was Go away! Go away! In this show, we learn those warriors were actually shouting Ghosts! Ghosts!. Cook and his men had been identified as spirits of the dead, and it was believed one must not engage with such supernatural beings. They were ignored because it was dangerous to acknowledge their existence. The two warriors who sought to repel this menace must have felt they were fighting a hopeless battle. After that encounter, warnings that the spirits were on their way, were sent to northern communities by smoke signals and by runners carrying message sticks. For the people on the shore, Cooks arrival was like a zombie invasion, as the living dead came to walk among them. The sailors tried to present themselves as well-meaning representatives of a great civilisation, but for the Indigenous inhabitants they were the ghosts from the coast. Its rare that the research towards an exhibition comes up with something so enlightening. There is another startling story about Cooks men capturing too many female turtles in the place now known as Cooktown, thereby angering the local people, who felt it would upset breeding patterns. The Indigenous people emerge as natural ecologists, the sailors as naive plunderers. With our newfound awareness of the damage two centuries of rapacious development have wrought on the planet, we need to abandon the complacent belief that Cooks party represented progress, and the Indigenous people backwardness. Aboriginal people had different forms of knowledge that showed a far greater sensitivity to the environment. Each side could have learned much from the other. No Blood Will Be Shed 2019 by Wanda Gibson (Hopevale) National Museum of Australia. Endeavour Voyage imagines the dialogue Cook and his men didnt have with the Indigenous people, because of insuperable barriers of language and culture. It takes the voyage itself, and all its consequences, as a historical fact that requires no retrospective moralising, recognising that among the many navigators of that time, Cook was not only the most talented, but a man of unusual rectitude and integrity. We look at this show and think of lost opportunities and misunderstandings, but it was also a beginning. Today, if we let it happen, theres no longer anything standing in the way of those long-delayed dialogues between two worlds. The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service. Follow this story and more by signing up for national breaking news email alerts. BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / September 25, 2020 / Birchwood Credit Services is announcing the launch of a brand-new marketing department with a goal of advancing the company on a national level. Birchwood is proud to announce Amanda Methot as the new Director of Marketing & Digital Enablement. Methot, a marketing leader with over eight years of experience in the industry, will help Birchwood brand itself nationwide as a leader in credit servicing. Her strong passion for financial technology and integrating it with successful marketing campaigns is the reason she has developed a reputation that precedes her. Methot had previously established strong marketing departments as the Director of Marketing at Regency Mortgage Corp. and their former parent company LendUS, LLC. Methot comes to Birchwood after working at Poly as its latest Marketing Technology and Operations Manager. "I am glad to be back in the mortgage industry in some capacity. Birchwood has such a great reputation for their customer service level and credit reporting expertise in New England, and I can't wait to help them take their brand nationally," Methot said. Methot is enthusiastic about Birchwood's future and has already expanded the team with the addition of a new Marketing Coordinator, Kaitlin Dionne, who worked on Amanda's team at LendUS, LLC. "We have a lot in the works as far as promotions, product development and tech integrations. It's exciting and we won't stop until every mortgage broker/lender, bank and credit union knows our name," Methot explained. About Birchwood Credit Services: Birchwood Credit Services, Inc. is a nationwide Credit Reporting Agency that has been providing financial credit services to mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers, including accurate mortgage online credit reports, tax return verifications, flood reports, collateral and property reports, credit re-scoring and other related services for over 28 years. Founded in 1992, Birchwood has distinguished itself in the marketplace with its unwavering commitment to quality, compliance and customer service. Headquartered in North Conway, New Hampshire, Birchwood remains dedicated to providing its customers with personalized service by the most knowledgeable professionals in the credit reporting industry. ?Birchwood Credit Services 2617 White Mountain Highway ?North Conway, NH 03860 CONTACT: Kaitlin Dionne Marketing Coordinator kaitlin@birchwoodcreditservices.com Related Images SOURCE: Birchwood Credit Services, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/607779/Birchwood-Credit-Services-Launching-New-Marketing-Team Somehow, most of us take modern technology for granted. Amazon delivers virtually anything to your doorstep within two days. The online retailer, Walmart, and other major markets deliver groceries to your front door within hours of ordering. Answers to practically any question are at your fingertips. You can connect with peers and meet new people without leaving your home. Surely, you can think of several other recently-newfound capabilities brought to us by technology. Fintech, short for financial technology, has also improved many lives. Thanks to fintech, weve got more convenience than ever before. Although modern technology has been used for economic purposes for years, the sector is growing rapidly. While nobody can infallibly predict the future, were confident that the following trends will soon become widespread movements in fintech. Will Banking Become Exclusively Digital? For several hundred years, financial institutions and bankers have lent money, protected customers finances, and advised business owners from brick-and-mortar establishments. Even with the growth of financial technology, banks will continue operating traditional brick-and-mortar branches for decades to come. You might be surprised to learn that exclusively-digital banks already exist. Countless personal loan providers have opened up shop online in recent years. Although these operations are relatively small, theyve experienced substantial growth as a collective recently. According to TransUnion, the American personal loan market was just 5% digital in 2014. As of last year, fintech lenders make up a whopping 38% of the countrys personal loan sector. The multinational information technology company CACI International predicts that trips to brick-and-mortar banks will fall more than one-third from 2017 to 2022. According to the groups market research, Americans take just four trips to banks each year. The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged countless more financial institutions to offer services online. Even the most traditionally-minded consumers are picking up tablets, smartphones, and computers to meet their banking needs. The generational trend towards buying cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is one such example. Blockchains Arent Just for Cryptocurrencies Blockchain technology is sweeping the global financial industry in revolutionary form. The worlds first blockchain was theorized in late 2008 and brought to reality in early 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym of the still-unknown founder of Bitcoin. Blockchains, used widely by cryptocurrencies across the globe, are ledgers of transactions that can be accessed by anyone. Major financial institutions arent adopting blockchain technology to open private internal information to the public. Rather, utilizing blockchains can improve the speed of transactions, give customers the ability to reliably track their assets, prevent unauthorized employees and cybercriminals from accessing information, and verify the authenticity of goods. Keep in mind that most businesses dont have fully-functioning, top-notch blockchains yet. Overhauling their in-house computer networks is a massive undertaking. Governments Will Tighten Regulations Related to Financial Technology Cryptocurrencies, as mentioned above, have existed for over 11 years. Even the worlds most tech-savvy consumers didnt bite at Bitcoin initially, as most people thought Bitcoins only appeal was its novelty. Eventually, however, cryptocurrencies became a mainstream topic. Its no secret that governments are reactionary institutions. Now that modern technology has exponentially increased the rate at which things develop, governments are notoriously slow to respond to rapidly-growing issues that involve technology. Many politicians arent literate when it comes to smartphones, social media platforms, or the Internet. The lack of cryptocurrency-related regulations worldwide is one of many examples of government entities slow-to-react nature. Due to the numerous exit scams that new cryptocurrencies and crypto-related startups have pulled in recent years, governments have just recently started discussing crypto-related regulations. Governments around the world are sure to implement a myriad of fintech regulations over the next few years. Digital banking, cryptocurrency, and blockchain will likely be the greatest topics of concern. The views expressed by public comments are not those of this company or its affiliated companies. Please note by clicking on "Post" you acknowledge that you have read the TERMS OF USE and the comment you are posting is in compliance with such terms. Your comments may be used on air. Be polite. Inappropriate posts or posts containing offsite links, images, GIFs, inappropriate language, or memes may be removed by the moderator. Job listings and similar posts are likely automated SPAM messages from Facebook and are not placed by WFMZ-TV. GroupM and Facebook have come together to launch an industry-first media playbook for advertisers and marketers to adapt to the dramatic change in consumer behaviour as a result of COVID-19. The Turn The Tide Media Playbook offers a perspective on the evolving consumer and media landscape, and recommends media strategies that businesses can deploy to drive efficient outcomes. Also read: Facebook introduces Hashtag Challenge Feature for Groups A recent consumer behaviour study by Facebook and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) identified three key consumer shifts since the pandemic began; Reversal of past trends such as bringing outside experiences in-home through digital as well as the increasing value-consciousness amongst people; Acceleration of ongoing trends such as the significantly increased mobile and digital influence in every aspect of life; And lastly, formation of new habits such as do-it-yourself (DIY) as well as greater focus on health and hygiene. Of these, the acceleration in digital adoption will be the most structural and long-lasting. The Media Playbook is built to cater to these key consumer behaviour shifts, and calls out four pillars for businesses to deliver efficient business outcomes in the new normal: 1) Embracing the full spectrum of consumer segmentation that is pivoted to business outcomes such as hyperlocal strategies. 2) Mastering the full funnel of performance marketing especially with the increasing direct-to-consumer penetration. 3) Integrating innovations with business outcomes and building virtual experiences to simulate product touch-and-feel, for instance through Augmented Reality (AR) and interactive ads. 4) Delivering on the right media mix by realigning media mix models based on the current reality of digital acceleration. Commenting on the playbook, Tushar Vyas, President Growth and Transformation GroupM South Asia said, Over the years while working with the Facebook team we have realised the need to constantly help and educate brands and marketers on how to navigate various tricky situations when advertising. We are very proud to have partnered with Facebook and to introduce a robust playbook that will help brands and businesses rethink efficient ways to connect and strengthen the relationship with customers in the new normal. The pandemic has seen consumers switch their actions right from the way they shop, socialize and work, causing brands and businesses to repurpose their strategies. In such times, brands need to cautiously redesign their business models and with the new playbook we wish to help them take advantage of performance marketing and focus on hyper-localization to drive sales. Said Sandeep Bhushan, Director and Head, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook India, With the drastic alteration in media consumption, businesses need to understand truly incremental outcomes by platform as well as cross-platform efficiency. Irrespective of whether they operate online or offline, businesses need to bring alive digital experiences to connect with customers in their context. A significant digital acceleration has happened on the back of social media, and with 400M+ Indians connected on the Facebook family of apps in India, we play a consequential role in the consumer journey. Continuing our commitment to enabling growth for businesses both large and small, the Media Playbook outlines the opportunities that businesses need to embrace in order to deliver efficient outcomes in the new normal. Key media strategies to help businesses deliver efficient outcomes based on the four pillars: Embracing the full spectrum of consumer segmentation: The changing consumer landscape has shown that hyperlocal strategies for targeting and communication have become critical. With the evolution of smart shoppers and a value-conscious mindset, robust consumer segmentation has become crucial for business impact. There is a need for brands to identify audience segments relevant to their business. Facebook helps businesses connect with consumers where they are, and build an advanced hyperlocal journey resulting in more effective campaigns. Mastering the full funnel of performance marketing: Businesses are increasingly moving from offline to online. According to the Facebook-BCG study, e-commerce adoption has accelerated by 2-3 years and there is an urgent need to embrace performance marketing strategies to make the online adoption efficient and effective. In times of physical distancing, its essential to stay in touch with the customer and continuously eliminate friction in the path-to-purchase. Consequently, conversational marketing digital solutions driven by WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and digital CRM tools can prove to be very effective to engage the consumer with a value-driven outreach. Integrating innovations with business outcomes: As consumer experiences shift from offline to online, businesses need to also build engaging virtual experiences that are interactive, immersive, and involving, and simulate the product touch-and-feel elements. Interactive ad formats such as Playable Ads and augmented reality (AR) ads can increase favorability and conversion rates. Influencers can also play a key role in these times because of the constraints of physical, in-person, content creation. They also lend an authentic voice to the brand. With Branded content ads on Facebook and Instagram, businesses have the ability to promote creators' organic branded content posts as feed and stories ads, thereby reaching new audiences and leading to measurable impact. Realigning media mix models: The Facebook-BCG report also revealed that digital influence in urban consumers has risen significantly, up to ~70% for some categories. Irrespective of whether consumers are making the final purchase offline or online, they are now engaging with brands on their smartphones. This makes it imperative for businesses to relook at media mix models to drive growth. It underlines the immediate need for industry-leading digital measurement standards such as custom mix modelling (CMM) developed by Nielsen, as well as other cross media and brand lift studies. The GroupM-Facebook partnership will also include webinars to help scale media practitioners, enabling them to build for the new normal and turn the tide. The Egyptian and French foreign ministers called for protecting the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian called on Thursday for protecting the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and working to achieve a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue, a statement by the Egyptian side read. Shoukry arrived in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on Wednesday to participate in a quadripartite meeting on Thursday on Palestine with the foreign ministers of Jordan, Germany and France. During their meeting, Shoukry and Le Drian affirmed the need to advance peace efforts to settle the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution and in line with international legitimacy resolutions, the statement read. The two-state solution aims at establishing an independent Palestinian state along an Israeli state. Shoukry discussed with Le Drian Egypts efforts to achieve stability in Libya in terms of the political and security situation. He urged joint work to put an end to destructive foreign interference that destabilises the country. The ministers highlighted the need to provide support to Lebanon and to continue coordination efforts to help the country during its crises. A massive blast in the capital, Beirut, early in August rendered more than 200 people dead, 6,000 injured, and 300,000 homeless. The blast was caused by the detonation of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive chemical, stored at the city's port. Shoukry reviewed with Le Drian Egypts efforts to revive tourism in a number of Egyptian destinations. Egypt has resumed international flights in July, after months of suspension over the spread of coronavirus. Egypt has seen a relatively stable number of coronavirus cases over the past weeks. Shoukry said he was satisfied with the momentum of Egypt-France consultations on all fronts, with the aim of fostering cooperation on development efforts in the region. Amman FMs summit The quadripartite meeting in Amman targeted reaching a comprehensive and fair solution to the Palestinian cause and achieving the two-state solution, Shoukry said at a joint press conference with his French and Jordanian counterparts following the quadripartite meeting. We are working on finding new frameworks that attract the participation of [conflict] parties towards greater interaction to push the peace process and reach a formula to end the conflict, he said. Shoukry added there is ongoing communication with the Palestinian Authority to bolster efforts aimed at establishing a Palestinian state on the basis of international accords. He said the meeting was important because it focused on finding suitable means to push peace and open channels of communication between parties to the conflict. Egypts foreign minister stated that the peace accords Israel signed with the UAE and Bahrain are an important development that shall lead to greater interactions and support to reach comprehensive peace in the region on the basis of international legitimacy. Egypt has welcomed the recent peace agreements between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain as steps towards bringing peace to the Middle East. Cairo supports the two-state solution, with East Jerusalem the capital of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders and according to UN Security Council resolutions. Egypt has repeatedly expressed its rejection of Israels plan to annex the West Bank and called for the revival of the peace process. Search Keywords: Short link: OTTAWA COUNTY, MI Police raided a Grand Haven vape shop, Ajjs Smoke n Stuff, to investigate complaints of marijuana distributing, police said. Grand Haven Department of Public Safety and state police Marijuana & Tobacco Investigation used a search warrant Thursday, Sept. 24, at the business at 601 South Beacon Blvd. A woman who answered the phone at Ajjs disputed the allegations but declined to comment further. Grand Haven police said the investigation began after numerous complaints that black-market marijuana was being distributed to adults and minors. Police did not say what was seized during the search. Police said the investigation is ongoing. The case will be presented later to Ottawa County prosecutors for review. Read more: Man, 75, run over while chasing robbers car Woman, 29, in custody after shooting that killed woman, injured man Shots fired from vehicles 3 times over 12 days on U.S. 131 especially concerning, police say Furious Neil Woodford investors have slammed the financial watchdog over its drawn-out probe into the savings scandal. Grilling top regulators at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) yesterday, savers asked why the watchdog's investigation into the fund manager's failed empire was taking so long. But in a snub to investors who were frozen out of the Woodford Equity Income Fund more than a year ago, and who have since lost more than 1billion of their money, the FCA's director of enforcement Mark Steward said: 'I don't think it has taken too long at this stage.' Abandoned: Some Neil Woodford investors have watched helplessly as their savings have shrunk by more than 1bn over the last 15 months alone Speaking at the FCA's annual public meeting, he added: 'It's a difficult and challenging investigation.' Paul McInerney, who had more than 20,000 invested in the Equity Income Fund, said Steward's comments were 'very rude'. He added: 'It's all right for them to say it hasn't been too long, but we need that money. Some small investors are unable to access the entirety of their savings. 'I would hope the investigation would lead to some form of compensation, but whether that will happen I don't know. I'm not going to hold my breath.' Pippa Lines, who had more than 12,000 invested in the fund and is still waiting for the remnants of her money, said: 'Woodford broke the rules he had too much money in unlisted companies. What's difficult and challenging about that?' She added: 'There are no consequences for incompetence at the moment. 'I would like to know that someone is being held accountable for affecting people's lives.' Investors who had their nest eggs tied up in the Equity Income Fund were barred from withdrawing their cash last June, after a run of poor performance. Link Fund Solutions, which was supposed to be overseeing the management of the fund, made the decision in October to shutter it entirely, selling off the assets and returning the money to investors. But the assets have been sold for less than they were originally valued at, and Woodford investors have watched helplessly as their savings have shrunk by more than 1bn over the last 15 months alone. The FCA launched a formal investigation into the Woodford scandal shortly after the fund was suspended last June. And while investors are still waiting to get the remnants of their money out of the fund, no one has yet been punished. Justin Modray, of Candid Financial Advice, said: 'I imagine Woodford investors will be furious to hear of the FCA's seemingly relaxed attitude towards resolving the many important issues thrown up by the failure of the Woodford Equity Income Fund. 'It's now well over a year since the troubles began and we have yet to see the FCA take any decisive action. 'Heads need to roll, but so far the parties involved in the Woodford debacle appear to have made handsome profits while investors lose out.' The FCA's probe is thought to be focusing on Woodford himself, who breached City rules to invest too much of savers' money in risky and hard-to-sell stocks. And Link, whose job it was to keep an eye on Woodford for investors, has also admitted it is being investigated over its role. In a press conference following the FCA's annual public meeting, Steward said the Woodford investigation was a 'very high priority' for the regulator. But he added that the investigation was 'not a linear process', and that it was impossible to put a date on when it might end since the FCA was still finding out more information. Steward said: 'We are very conscious of the issues at stake, and we need to make sure we get the answers right.' The investigation was unlikely to take another 12 months, Steward said, but it would take 'a little bit longer'. Megan Butler, director of supervision at the FCA, urged investors to register a complaint about Woodford with their broker or the Financial Ombudsman if they wanted to, explaining they did not need to wait for the outcome of the probe. The FCA also faced a grilling over investment scam adverts which are rife on Google and other social media platforms. In a sign of his own frustration with the tech giants, the FCA's chairman Charles Randell searched for 'high return investments' on Google during the press conference and stated that almost all of the top results returned by the search engine were 'obviously scams'. He added: 'Whatever Google is doing [to verify these adverts], it's clearly not good enough.' Butler also raised concerns that customers of legitimate firms could be harmed by an impending wave of failures, with 'hundreds' of firms close to collapse due to the Covid-19 crisis. The bedroom romps of our nations leaders have dominated headlines for decades, dating as far back as Thomas Jeffersons affair with his slave, Sally Hemings, to porn star Stormy Daniels alleged 2006 tryst with President Donald Trump. (The White House has denied the allegations against Trump.) In her new book Sex With Presidents, Eleanor Herman explores the lesser-known sex scandals involving Americas presidents and what they suggest about male leadership in the White House. Most men who think they should be in charge of this country have a lot of ego to begin with, theyre narcissists, Herman tells PEOPLE. The danger is when you have an egotistical narcissist to begin with who, suddenly given a lot of power, will get even crazier. Related: Bill Clinton doesn't think he owes Monica Lewinsky an apology This behavior often includes illicit sex, Herman adds. There appears to be little difference between the thrills of seeking public power, with crowds of adoring fans, to seeking pubic power, with an adoring audience of one. The same compulsions that send a man hurtling toward the White House can also send him into a foolhardy tryst with a woman, she writes. Read on for some of the most unexpected, salacious revelations of our past presidents romantic lives from Hermans book: Woodrow Wilsons pet name for his lover When Woodrow Wilsons first wife, Ellen, died suddenly of Brights Disease in 1914, the then-president quickly grew lonely and craved the company of another woman. I never dreamed such loneliness and desolation of heart possible, Wilson wrote to his alleged secret girlfriend, Mary Peck, within hours of Ellens death. Wilson would remarry only a year later not to Peck, a divorced woman whom he had met during a trip to Bermuda but the young, striking, Edith Bolling Galt, a friend of Wilsons cousin, Helen Bones. Ahead of their wedding, the pair exchanged passionate love letters. Wilson wrote that Edith turns to her lover and throws the gates wide no, not quite wide yet, but wide enough to show him the sweet and holy places where her true spirit loves. He also told Edith she was his perfect playmate and began signing all of his letters with a cheeky nickname Tiger. Story continues Warren G. Hardings mistresses and wild nights out with the Secret Service Warren G. Harding, an endearing, handsome newspaper publisher from Ohio, won the presidency in 1921 on a ticket that promised a return to normalcy after the first World War, but his love life was anything but. Hardings alleged sexual dalliances with two women have been widely discussed throughout the years. Theres Carrie Fulton Phillips, the wife of the head of a department store in Ohio, and Nan Britton, a secretary who claimed she was Hardings mistress and shared a daughter, Elizabeth, with the former president in her book, The President's Daughter. According to Herman, the 29th president also had a proclivity for partying with prostitutes and getting drunk, even in the throes of Prohibition. Hed bring a few loyal Secret Service agents with him to the parties. Herman describes one particularly rowdy night out at the Love Nest, a bordello near the White House on K Street, where a prostitute was hit on the head with a bottle of champagne. As her friends tried to revive her, Harding, who was leaning against a mantle, drunk, was hustled out of the building by his Secret Service agents, Herman writes. RELATED: Warren G. Harding's Grandson Battling Family to Exhume President's Body to Prove His Relation FDRs summer wives It was common for the wealthier men of Washington D.C. to send their wives and families to colder locales during the summer to escape the city's heat while they spent time with their summer wives, Herman writes, and Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) was included in this group. Herman says Roosevelt had an affair with Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd, his wife Eleanor's secretary at the time, while Eleanor and the kids were out of town. He was frequently spotted driving and sailing with Rutherfurd during the summer of 1917. According to Herman, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Teddy Roosevelts daughter, let the pair meet up at her mansion. When asked why she supported the affair, Longworth reportedly told a family member, Franklin deserved a good time. He was married to Eleanor. The affair greatly hurt FDRs wife, Eleanor. "The bottom dropped out of my own particular world, and I faced myself, my surroundings, my world, honestly for the first time," Eleanor wrote to a friend upon discovering letters between the pair. Though the affair fizzled out, a new woman would soon enter FDR's life: Marguerite Alice "Missy" LeHand, a striking young woman who served as his personal secretary and close confidante beginning in 1920 and through his presidency. His son, Elliott, acknowledges that the pair had an affair in his 1973 book: He made no attempt to conceal his feelings about Missy. Herman adds that Missy often sat on the lap of the president, whom she affectionately called FD. Eleanor herself is speculated to have enjoyed a secret relationship with journalist Lorena Hickok. Herman quotes from steamy letters between the two women in Sex With Presidents: I cant kiss you so I kiss your picture good night & good morning . Eleanor wrote to Hickok in one 1933 letter, saying; I miss you so much and I love you so much. RELATED: Elijah Cummings' Widow Recounts Courtship and Final Days with Maryland Politician in New Book Lyndon B. Johnsons buzzer system The 36th president discovered a way to sneak women into the Oval Office without his wife, Lady Bird, finding out, Herman says. After Lady Bird walked in on Johnson having sex in the office with one of his secretaries one day, the president had a buzzer system installed. The Secret Service was to buzz him when the first lady was on her way so he could pull up his pants before she arrived, Herman writes. Johnson was a shameless flirt who also said he only wanted to hire women with good behinds so he could enjoy their rear ends as they left his office, Herman writes. Others who have spoken about Johnsons White House trysts include former Life magazine reporter Hal Wingo, who says Johnson once told him, You may see me coming in and out of a few womens bedrooms while I am in the White House, but just remember, that is none of your business, as Herman recalls in Sex with Presidents. So, should voters consider a candidate's sexual history when electing the next leader of the free world? Herman doesnt think so but it sure is fun to read about. In our hearts, were going to vote for people based on their policies: jobs, taxes, whos going to create the better future for our children, she says. And who are we to judge? Most Americans have done or two things sexually they shouldnt have, anyway its part of human nature! Domenicali reigned in 2014 following a few years of underwhelming results, heading to Audi that same year. Lamborghini hired Domenicali as chief executive officer in 2016, and now hes leaving the Italian automaker for a greater role in Formula 1. As the headline implies, Chase Carey will step down after four years as CEO, moving to the role of non-executive chairman.Chase has done a phenomenal job leading F1, said Greg Maffei, the prez and chief exec of Liberty Media . He has been a great partner and I look forward to his continued counsel. Domenicali brings a rich history of success in F1 at Ferrari and the broader auto industry at Audi and Lamborghini.Lamborghini has also confirmed the news in a statement but didnt announce who will take his role from January 2021. There are plenty of executives in the Volkswagen Group compatible with this position, but its hard to pinpoint someone whos better than his peers at the helm of the brand.Looking at the bigger picture, Domenicali will have it easy in the first year because the Concorde Agreement has been signed by all teams, providing all-around stability for the motorized sport from the 2021 to the 2025 seasons. The new CEO will have it harder in 2022 when new technical regulations will take effect. Changes include different tires, a series of standardized components, the removal of the MGU-H system, and the return of ground effects.During his tenure at the Raging Bull of SantAgata Bolognese, Domenicali has guided the company through a period of exception transformation. One of the biggest improvements to the Italian automakers fortunes is the Urus super utility vehicle, which has opened the brand to new customers. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said that the SAARC must overcome challenges like cross-border terrorism and obstruction of trade to ensure peace in the region. Speaking at an informal virtual meeting of foreign ministers of SAARC members, the EAM said, Cross-border terrorism, blocking connectivity and obstructing trade are three key challenges that SAARC must overcome. Only then will we see enduring peace, prosperity and security in our South Asia region. SAARC summits are held annually but post the Uri attack, there has been no summit since 2016. India had boycotted the summit in Islamabad in 2016 in protest against the Uri attack. Bangladesh and Bhutan had also followed suit. Saying that the grouping has made progress over the past 35 years, Jaishankar said that collective prosperity of SAARC has been obstructed by terrorism and threat to national security. Such an environment impedes our shared objective of realising the full potential of our collective endeavour. It is, therefore, crucial that we collectively resolve to defeat the scourge of terrorism, including the forces that nurture, support and encourage it. This will generate the much needed trust and confidence to collectively build a stronger and prosperous SAARC, he said. Meanwhile in a virtual address at the CICA foreign ministers meeting, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said sustainable peace in the region would remain a dream until the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir was resolved as per the Resolutions of UNSC and the aspirations of Kashmiri people. Brutal and inhuman military siege and communications blockade since Indias illegal and unilateral actions of last August, had destroyed life in J&K, he said. Reacting to statement, EAM spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, It is very typical of Pakistan to use such fora to raise bilateral and contentious issues which is inconsistent with the principles and charter of such organisations and their meetings. What else can be expected of a country that indulges in cross-border terrorism as a part of its state policy, he said. Sen. Lindsey Graham. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images Republicans on Capitol Hill were bombarded with questions on Thursday over whether they agreed with President Donald Trump's assertion that he would not necessarily accept a peaceful transition of power after the November election if he lost. Trump cited his baseless claims that mail-in voting would lead to widespread voter fraud. Senate Republicans tried to strike a balance between supporting a peaceful transfer and avoiding a full rebuke of what Trump said. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. On Capitol Hill Thursday, top Republicans tried to thread the needle between reassuring the American public that a peaceful transition of power would happen, while avoiding any appearance of undermining President Donald Trump, who refused to commit to such a power transfer on Wednesday. GOP lawmakers deployed a variety of rhetorical techniques when approached by reporters, but the common theme was that they tried to avoid rebuking Trump too strongly, while insisting one of the key tenets of democracy wouldn't be thrown out if the president refused to concede the race after November 3. But Trump appeared to double down on his comments later on Thursday. "We want to make sure the election is honest, and I'm not sure that it can be," the president said. "I don't know that it can be with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots. They're unsolicited millions being sent to everybody. And we'll see." Insider has a breakdown of why Trump's claims of rampant fraud and the potential for election interference in mail-in voting are largely baseless. Here's what the GOP brass had to say: Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Associated Press "I think there will be a peaceful transfer of power, and I think the real concern in terms of the election is that Joe Biden has been explicit that if he doesn't win on Election Day, he intends to challenge the legitimacy of the election," Cruz told reporters. Story continues He added: "Hillary Clinton told him under no circumstances said should Joe Biden concede. And I think that threat to challenge the election is one of the real reasons why it is so important that we confirm the Supreme Court nominee so that there's a full Supreme Court on the bench to resolve any election challenge." Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina Graham. Associated Press When Graham was asked by a reporter if Trump should "tone down his language," he demurred. "Well I think I don't know what it I don't know what the question was, but we will have a peaceful transfer of power," Graham said. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. Melina Mara/The Washington Post / Getty Romney was asked what would happen if Trump didn't step aside if he lost. "I don't think there's any scenario of that nature that's realistic," Romney said. "And I am absolutely confident that there will be a peaceful transition if there's a new president, or if not, why, we'll have a continuation." When he was asked if fellow Republicans should step up if Trump still insisted he wouldn't concede the office to Biden, Romney replied, "There's no question but that all the people who had sworn to support the Constitution would assure that there would be a peaceful transition of power, including the president." Sen. Rick Scott of Florida Sen. Rick Scott. Screenshot via CSPAN "I have no concern," Scott said of whether there would be a peaceful transfer of power. "Why not?" a reporter followed up. "There will be a peaceful transfer transition of power," Scott replied. "It's happened forever. It's going to happen in November, or January." "But if it's happened forever, why couldn't the president just come out and say that?" a reporter asked. "You should ask him," Scott said. "I'm very, I'm very comfortable there will be a peaceful transition of power. There'll be no way in the world that's not going to happen." Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner. NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images "That's something I've talked about in speeches from my very first days when Nancy Pelosi peacefully handed the gavel over to John Boehner," Gardner said. "It's a hallmark of our democracy. And I've spoken at length about it in the past about the continued need to use that as a symbol of democracy." Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley. Associated Press "I would have the same concern when Hillary Clinton advised Biden not to concede the election," Grassley told reporters. "We have a Constitution and the Constitution says when the presidency ends," he added. "You ask me just from the standpoint of what the president said: It isn't very good advice from Hillary Clinton to advise Biden about that." Sen. Susan Collins of Maine Sen. Susan Collins. Greg Nash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images "The peaceful transfer of power is a fundamental tenet of our democracy," Collins said. "And I am confident that we will see it occur once again. "I don't know what his thinking was, but we have always had a controlled transition between administrations. And I'm certain that if there's a change in administrations, that we have the calmness as well. It's fundamental to our democracy." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images "Did you see my tweet?" McConnell asked reporters. "That pretty well sums it up." Update: This story had an incorrect transcript of Sen. Susan Collins' quote. It has been updated. Read the original article on Business Insider PARIS - Struggling to contain resurgent virus infections, European leaders decried a collective failure to vanquish the pandemic and told the U.N. General Assembly on Friday that the time has come for countries to reinvent international co-operation. This years unusual work-from-home General Assembly with leaders communicating only in prerecorded speeches comes as COVID-19 cases escalate in many regions but especially in Europe, where some of the worlds most advanced hospitals in some of the worlds richest countries are again under strain. This emergency has, more than a thousand treaties or speeches, made us suddenly realize that we are part of one single world, said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. The pandemic has also revealed the fragility of countries that thought they were strong. It has thrown us all into the same sudden battle, against the same common enemy, EU Council President Charles Michel said. And it has exposed weaknesses within the European Union, which like the U.N. was founded on the ashes of World War II to avert new conflict and encourage co-operation co-operation that was in short supply this year. The EU has fought internally about access to equipment and vaccines, erected barriers among neighbours to keep out virus infections, and struggled to agree on collective solutions to fight COVID. Italys prime minister, whose country became a global symbol of the crisis as the first in the West to face a vast wave of infections, said the pandemic should offer world governments the opportunity for collective renewal. This tragedy has changed us, but has also offered us the opportunity for a new beginning that is up to us to seize, Giuseppe Conte said. Worldwide, the confirmed COVID-19 death toll is nearing 1 million, though experts believe the real toll is likely higher. In times of global crisis, Europes rich governments are often looked to for financial and material aid for poorer ones. But this time, theyre preoccupied with troubles of their own. As infections tick up, EU countries are again imposing quarantines on visitors from neighbouring nations. Britain and Spain are imposing local lockdowns, the French Open is curtailing access, and COVID intensive care units in the Mediterranean city of Marseille are reaching saturation. Meanwhile the pandemic has wrecked livelihoods and darkened the worlds economic outlook, and damaged the whole concept of multilateralism that European leaders have long embraced. In every corner of the world today, there is a young man, a young woman, looking at their cellphone screen. In the most secluded streets of Naples, in a fish market in Instanbul, in the Zocalo in Mexico City, in the Ecuadorian Amazon or in a market in India. These young people have seen their fathers, their mothers, work ceaselessly, Sanchez said. And maybe these young people wonder why their fathers, their mothers, work ceaselessly if nothing changes around them. Exactly when did we decide that the expression to change the world had lost all sense and meaning? I wonder if any of those millions of young people are watching us right now, on their mobile phones. I wonder what theyre thinking of us, if so. He also lamented the extra toll the virus has taken on women, who have taken on the greatest burden of care and attention. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said its time for Europe to redefine its role in the world, and took aim at the World Health Organizations management of the virus. Other leaders called for boosting the WHOs powers and its funding. Greeces prime minister appealed for more international help for its migrant crisis after feeling abandoned by fellow EU countries that closed their doors to refugees washing up on Greek shores. And EU Council President Charles Michel used the virtual U.N. pulpit to lash out at Britain for its threats to renege on parts of the Brexit treaty it signed with the EU. Such treaties are seen as a cornerstone of the international system that the U.N. represents, and Britains threats are seen as a further unraveling of that structure in a time of growing nationalism worldwide. In his speech Saturday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will call for countries to share more data on disease outbreaks and to stop slapping export controls on essential goods to help prevent future pandemics, his office said. The prime ministers 10 Downing Street office said Johnson, who in the spring was hospitalized with COVID-19, plans to tell world leaders that nine months into the pandemic the very notion of the international community looks tattered. Pope Francis said the world has a choice to make as it tries to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis and address the grave economic impact it has had on the planets most vulnerable: greater solidarity and multilateralism, or a self-retreat into greater individualism and elitism. Echoing many speakers at this weeks virtual gathering, the Dutch leader said the pandemic should be a wake-up call for the world and the U.N. itself. If were truly going to defeat this virus well have to do even more to enhance international co-operation, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. We cant tackle todays challenges with yesterdays structures. Other leaders used the U.N. virtual floor to call attention to conflicts from Kashmir to the Mideast to Georgia in the Caucasus. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called for an international conference next year to launch a genuine peace process for his region. ___ Raf Casert in Brussels, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report. Longtime Associated Press international correspondent Angela Charlton is the APs Paris bureau chief. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/acharlton Read more about: CONCORD, N.H: A federal jury began deliberating Friday in the case of a self-proclaimed white nationalist accused of threatening to rape the wife of a man who was part of a racist group he felt was harassing him. Christopher Cantwell, a New Hampshire resident and radio host who became known after participating in a deadly 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was arrested in January on federal charges of extortion, making threats and cyberstalking. Authorities say he used the Telegram messaging app to convey a threat last year to a Missouri man that he would rape the mans wife if he didnt give up information on the leader of a white supremacist group of which the man was a member, authorities said Cantwell also is accused of threatening to expose the mans identity if he didnt provide personal details on the leader. Authorities say he threatened to report the Missouri man, who has several children, to the states child division for drug use and racist views. He did call the agency, but it did not feel the complaint justified further investigation. Rather than trash talk or the constant stream of insults common on the internet, prosecutors said in closing remarks, Cantwells threat crossed a line and was aimed at scaring the Missouri man into giving up personal details. This was a serious threat that would cause a reasonable person apprehension," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Davis told the jury. Cantwells attorney, Eric Wolpin, asked the jury to find his client not guilty. He called Cantwells language obscene and over the top but said it never rose to the level of an actual threat, nor was it tied to anything of value. He portrayed Cantwell as angry over harassment and bullying from the racist group. Members disrupted his radio show for months with pranks and defaced his website with pornography and violent content, Wolpin said. Everyone at the trial wore a mask because of the coronavirus pandemic. The microphone was sanitized after each person spoke, and members of the public were limited and socially distanced. Cantwell previously pleaded guilty to assault in 2018 after he was accused of using pepper spray during a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2017. He didnt serve additional jail time but was barred from Virginia for five years. Cantwell, who has hosted self-produced radio shows, also has a history of posting threatening messages over social media. Last year, attorneys who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in connection with the Charlottesville rally asked a judge to order Cantwell to stop making unlawful threats against the plaintiffs and their lead attorney. 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 Sri Lanka: Norway funds fishery master plan for Sri Lanka September 25,2020 | Source: Island LK Norway has provided financial and technical assistance to prepare a policy document to pave the way for drawing up a fishery Master Plan for Sri Lanka, Sri Lankas Ambassador in Oslo Godfrey Cooray said in a statement to The Island recently. The statement followed Ambassador Coorays meeting a top level Norwegian delegation led by Minister of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Seafood Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen. According to the Sri Lankan mission in Norway, the Master Plan would be prepared in line with the fisheries policy developed with Norwegian assistance. The overall plan included preparation of health guidelines for the sector. Ambassador Cooray has also requested Norway to explore the possibility of deploying the research vessel RV Dr.Fridjof Nansan to conduct marine resource surveying every three years, in addition to strengthening capacities of NARA RV Samudrika vessel for conducting marine surveys. Cooray also functions as Sri Lankas Ambassador to Finland and Iceland. Cooray has briefed the Norwegian delegation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksas efforts to expand the fisheries sector in an effort to halt fish imports. The embassy statement quoted Ambassador Cooray as having said: There is a need to establish proper quality and safety certification system for fish and fisheries products. Proper fish quality and safety is important in the assure the safety of the consumers. Presently, there is no proper quality and safety certification system. Sri Lanka has to develop the proper safety and quality certification including MSC (Marine stewardship Council) certification. This should be developed for local as well as for the export market. We need Norwegian assistance in this regard Moscow: The mayor of Moscow urged businesses on Friday to get more people to work from home as Russia's daily tally of new coronavirus cases hit its highest since June 23. Officials reported 7,212 new infections, bringing the national case total to 1,136,048. In Moscow, the tally of new cases rose almost 50% overnight to 1,560 from 1,050 the previous day. Russia lifted many of its lockdown restrictions in June and many shops, businesses and public transport in the capital of more than 12.5 million people are operating largely as normal. But on Friday Mayor Sergei Sobyanin recommended that the heads of all companies in the city switch as many of their staff as possible to working from home from Monday. TsUM, Moscow's flagship luxury goods department store, was fined 1 million roubles ($13,000) for failing to make its visitors wear masks, the city's coronavirus taskforce said. It said raids to check for mandatory mask-wearing in shops were continuing and that more than 15,000 fines had been issued. Sobyanin advised anyone with chronic health problems or those older than 65 to stay at home except in urgent circumstances. Any pension-age working Muscovites should work from home or take holiday, he said. The national coronavirus taskforce said 108 people had died across Russia in the last 24 hours, pushing the official coronavirus death toll to 20,056. Russia has the world's fourth-highest case total, behind the United States, India and Brazil, and the 12th highest death toll according to the official figures. This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! FILE PHOTO: Logo of Toshiba Corp is seen behind a traffic signal at its headquarters in Tokyo By Makiko Yamazaki and Takashi Umekawa TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp's <6502.T> top investor has called for an investigation of a botched meeting in July at which it says several shareholders were deprived of their vote, a letter to the Japanese conglomerate's board seen by Reuters shows. What began as a problem at Toshiba has widened into a larger scandal for corporate Japan, with the bank hired to count the votes, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank <8309.T>, and Mizuho Trust, revealing details of counting errors at more than 1,300 firms. Singapore-based Effissimo Capital Management, which owns around 10% of Toshiba, is the latest investor to join the outcry over the meeting, which has drawn attention to concerns about governance and treatment of foreign shareholders. Effissimo and Toshiba both declined to comment on Thursday. The letter from Effissimo comes after Toshiba this month said more than 1,000 postal voting forms for its July 31 meeting went uncounted. Another Singapore-based fund, 3D Investment Partners, has already called for an investigation, saying its vote had not been fully recognised. Effissimo said in its letter, which was dated Sept. 23., that Toshiba's board should establish a committee made up exclusively of independent members to investigate whether the July meeting was conducted fairly. "We have surveyed several dozen shareholders regarding this matter, and were able to confirm that there are in fact several shareholders that were unable to vote in a manner consistent with their intentions," Effissimo said. BOTCHED MEETINGS Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, which was entrusted with counting the shareholder mail-in votes for the Toshiba meeting, said on Thursday it had found 3.4 million uncounted shareholder votes at 975 client firms. The trust banking arm of Mizuho Financial Group <8411.T> said it had found 22,848 voting forms were uncounted at 371 shareholder meetings where it had been involved in a joint venture with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust. Story continues Although both banks said the uncounted votes would not have impacted the outcome of any shareholder meetings, the scale of the miscounting is likely to concern investors. The 1,346 companies at which vote-counting problems were found were almost all listed companies, the banks said, or roughly one-third of listed companies in Japan. "We deeply apologise for the mishandling of the vote counting," said Atsushi Kaibara, a senior official at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust, as he and another executive bowed in front of reporters at a news conference. The bank attributed the miscounts to procedures during the peak season for shareholder meetings. To get more time to count the forms, it usually asks the post office to deliver them a day earlier, it has said. But it would not issue receipts until the day after forms were delivered, meaning that some were mistaken for being past the deadline even though they were delivered on time, it said. The procedure has been used for a "significantly long time," Kaibara said, adding the bank was now doing away with it. (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki and Takashi Umekawa; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Jason Neely, Shri Navaratnam and Alexander Smith) Australians being hit with unnecessary bank charges, including annual fees, ATM costs, currency conversion and late fees are being told they can hundreds of dollars every year. Money experts from the financial analysis group Finder told Daily Mail Australia that $43million was wasted on ATM fees within the last year alone. 'Aussies who aren't across the fees risk paying more than they have to when withdrawing cash,' finance expert Kate Browne said. Commonwealth Bank Australia, Westpac, ANZ and NAB axed their foreign ATM fee policy for non-customers back in 2017, saving customers about $2.50 per transaction (stock image) 'Even just a couple of withdrawals per month can set you back $48 dollars per year in fees.' Customers who are charged as little as $5 per month for keeping a bank account lose $60 each year. When combined with one ATM withdrawal charge of $2.50 per week, the amount snowballs to $130 per year. Adding foreign transaction fees and overseas ATM fees to the mix easily becomes more than $200 a year on fees alone. Financial experts have weighed in with their top tips for avoiding bank fees. Unsuspecting Australians can be hit with swaths of charges, including annual fees, ATM costs, currency conversion and late fees that add up over time (stock image) ATM Fees Commonwealth Bank Australia, Westpac, ANZ and NAB axed their foreign ATM fee policy for non-customers back in 2017, saving customers about $2.50 per transaction. While some smaller or independent banks still have these fees, Ms Browne suggested trying to make withdrawals from big four ATMs to avoid them. 'These are typically the easiest ATMs to find, so you shouldn't have an issue making a fee-free cash withdrawal from your Australian debit card. 'If you're not with the Big Four, make sure to use an ATM owned by your own bank or a partner institution to avoid withdrawal fees.' Customers who are charged as little as $5 per month for keeping a bank account lose $60 each year (stock image) Overdrawn Account Fee These fees apply when a customer writes a cheque or makes a debit card transaction when there is not enough money in the account to do so. The cost of these charges largely depends on the bank and the specific account, but most exception or 'penalty' fees range from $4 to $20. To avoid these fees, Finder money specialist Taylor Blackburn urged consumers never to assume money has entered an account without checking first. 'Regularly review your account details so that you're aware of what's going out and coming in for each account. 'This will allow you to budget accordingly and could help you avoid penalty fees as a result.' Pictured: A table showing what penalty fees Australia's major banks ANZ, CommBank, NAB, St.George and Westpac charge Late Fees Late fees, or 'penalty fees', describe the charges that banks and other providers may apply when outstanding balances are left unpaid, beyond the due date. Mr Blackburn revealed that taxpayers are most commonly slapped with extra credit card charges for failing to make repayments. To avoid the extra fees, he urged customers to schedule payments. 'Most banks let you set up automatic payments for your credit card accounts,' he said. 'You can nominate to have the minimum amount, full amount or a dollar figure regularly deducted from your transaction account before the due date.' Mr Blackburn revealed that taxpayers are most commonly slapped with extra credit card charges for failing to make repayments (stock image) Bank Account Fees Banks that charge as little as $5 per month in account keeping fees are taking $60 per year from customers. These charges can easily be avoided by changing to a fee-free bank. 'A truly fee-free account will waive the monthly fee no matter how much you deposit into the account,' said Mr Blackburn. Banks with no account fees include HSBC, ING, Citibank and NAB. Some bank accounts do not charge monthly fees if customers meet certain conditions, like depositing over a certain amount each month. The amount can range from $1,000 to $2,000, depending on the account. Mr Blackburn said: 'In most cases, your salary should be enough to have the monthly fee waived.' 'Have your employer deposit your pay into a fee free bank account so you can automatically meet the service fee waiver each month.' Some smaller or independent banks still have these fees, Ms Browne suggested trying to make withdrawals from big four ATMs to avoid them (stock image of a Commonwealth Bank ATM) Currency Conversion Fees Conversion fees can be charged when using debit cards overseas, or when buying goods from international websites. These charges can equate to about two or three per cent per transaction, which adds up over time. Mr Blackburn recommended finding credit and debit cards that waive foreign transaction and currency conversion fees, such as HSBC or Citibank. Third-level students have been ordered to remain at home for the next three weeks and conduct their studies online. The countrys 43 third-level institutions have been placed at Level 3 of the Covid-19 alert system from midnight, the Government has ordered. As a result, while college campuses will remain open, all lectures and most tutorials will take place online in a bid to contain the spread of the virus. Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris said all universities and institutes of technology will be placed in a restricted scenario for up to three weeks. He said students will be encouraged to remain at home rather than travel to their campus. Libraries and laboratories in colleges are expected to remain open. All social activities on campus have been suspended. Mr Harris said the decision was grounded on the experience in other jurisdictions where there were significant increases in coronavirus cases after third-level colleges reopened. He said: Notwithstanding all the protective measures that have been put in place by our higher-level institutions, you will appreciate there is now a growing concern about the impact the recommencement on campus of [student] activity will have on the very fragile epidemiological situation that pertains at present. You do not have to look too far from these shores to the UK in this regard, and also to the US and other European countries, Mr Harris said. He said the Level 3 status meant that for the next few weeks, higher-level colleges would provide their education largely online, although there would be scope for libraries and laboratories to remain open. Responding to the announcement, the Irish Universities Association (IUA) said: Representative image Kochi (Kerala) [India], September 25 (ANI): A special NIA court in Kochi has convicted Subahani Haja Moideen, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), for allegedly supporting the activities of the terror outfit Islamic State (ISIS). The special NIA court will pronounce the quantum of sentence in the matter on Monday. The court noted that the charges under Section 125 (waging war against Asiatic power in alliance with the Government of India), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), and several relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act exist in the case. Subahani Haja Moideen, who hails from the Idukki district of Kerala, had allegedly joined the terror organisation in 2015 and was trained in Iraq and Syria. He took part in waging war against the Government of Iraq. According to the NIA, Moideen was arrested in 2016 for allegedly supporting activities of the ISIS group. The agency also suspected that Moideen may have had detailed knowledge about the 2015 terror attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured. A French investigation team on Wednesday reached Viyyur prison in Kerala's Thrissur city to interrogate Moideen in connection with the 2015 terror attacks in Paris. (ANI) Dhaka, Sep 25 : Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will virtually address the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Saturday in Bangla and talk on a host of national and international issues, including the Rohingya crisis. She would be emulating her illustrious father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibar Rahman, who was the first Bangladeshi to deliver speech in the national language at the 29th UNGA on September 25, 1974. The Prime Minister will deliver the speech in Bangla like every year, following the footsteps of the Father of the Nation, her Personal Secretary Ihsanul Karim told the media. "She will highlight a number of issues, including the Covid-19 pandemic, Rohingya crisis and climate change," Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen earlier told a virtual press briefing in the capital on September 21. She will also talk about equal distribution of potential coronavirus vaccine across the globe as well as the pandemic impact on migrant workers and remittances, while voicing her thoughts on climate issues as the President of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF). The Foreign Minister said that Hasina will also urge the international community to continue their stand and efforts in resolving the protracted Rohingya issue in line with the four-point proposal she put forth at the 74th UNGA last year for a durable solution to the crisis. The premier will also highlight Bangladesh's successes in containing Covid-19, SDG implementation, establishing women empowerment and rights, poverty elevation, anti-terrorism and anti-drug trafficking activities, economic advancement, sustainable democracy and good governance, and maintenance of world peace, Momen confirmed to IANS. The 75th session of the UNGA started virtually from September 21 with the theme 'The future we want, the United Nations we need: Reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism'. For the first time in the UN's 75-year history, global leaders have got together in the virtual world for the annual session of the world's apex platform due to the Covid-19 pandemic. SPRINGFIELD The Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that parents involved in civil unions have the same stepparenting rights as married individuals and that those rights continue even after the death of their spouse. This is a great decision, not only for the LGBTQ community but for all couples who decided to enter into a civil union, John Knight of the ACLU of Illinois said in a statement after the ruling. The court clearly recognized that when the Illinois General Assembly passed the Civil Union Act, it intended to extend to civil union partners all the rights and responsibilities of marriage, including those of a stepparent. The case actually did not involve an LGBTQ couple. It involved a woman, Kris Fulkerson, whose partner, Matthew Sharpe, died in 2017. Sharpe had a child identified in court documents only as A.S. Sharpe with his ex-wife, Crystal Westmoreland, before their 2013 divorce. Sharpe and Westmoreland shared equal parenting time, but A.S. continued to live with Sharpe at their home in the Metro East with Fulkerson and her three children. After Sharpe died, Westmoreland took custody of A.S. and stopped allowing the child to visit Fulkerson or her other children. Fulkerson filed a petition seeking visitation rights and an allocation of parental responsibilities. Westmoreland then asked the circuit court to certify two questions for an appellate court to decide: Whether a party to a civil union has standing to request visitation with her deceased partners child as a stepparent, and whether that party has standing to request parental responsibilities. Under Illinois law, the court noted, stepparents are allowed to seek visitation rights and parental responsibilities when their spouse dies. The court also noted that only three other classes of nonparents are allowed to seek visitation rights grandparents, great-grandparents and siblings. The question before the court, however, was whether someone who is not married to the birth parent, but instead is part of a civil union, qualifies as a stepparent. In 2011, the General Assembly passed the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, known more simply as the Civil Union Act, as a way to confer most of the rights of marriage to couples who were not legally married. That was prior to the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. That law states: A party to a civil union is entitled to the same legal obligations, responsibilities, protections, and benefits as are afforded or recognized by the law of Illinois to spouses, whether they derive from statute, administrative rule, policy, common law, or any other source of civil or criminal law. An appeals court panel answered no to both of those questions, but in a unanimous opinion Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed those decisions. We find that, in enacting the Civil Union Act, the General Assembly intended to create an alternative to marriage that was equal in all respects, Justice Rita Garman wrote for the court. This intent was not limited to partners rights as to each other. I am so pleased by the courts ruling. This was not just a court case. It was about my family, Fulkerson said in a statement issued through the ACLU. When my partner and I entered into a civil union seven years ago, we understood that our civil union would give us all the same rights and responsibilities as a marriage. I became a stepparent to a child who became an important part of my life and the life of my entire family. We forged a strong relationship as a family, one that did not end legally or emotionally at the death of my partner. The case now goes back to circuit court for a judge to decide how much visitation and parental responsibility Fulkerson will have. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A facility believed to be an internment camp located north of Kashgar, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, June 2, 2019. China has built 380 internment camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region since 2017, and is still constructing facilities, despite claims by Chinese authorities that the re-education program is wrapping up and the trainees have graduated and returned to society, an Australian think tank has found. Using the latest satellite imaging, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute identified 380 detention centers established across the XUAR since 2017 -- 100 more than previous investigations have revealed. ASPI found newly constructed detention facilities and extensions to several existing ones, with at least 61 detention sites undergoing new construction and expansion work between July 2019 and July 2020 and at least 14 facilities still under construction in 2020, according to new satellite imagery. The findings of this research contradict Chinese officials claims that all trainees from so-called vocational training centres had graduated by late 2019, wrote ASPI researcher Nathan Ruser. Instead, available evidence suggests that many extrajudicial detainees in Xinjiangs vast re-education network are now being formally charged and locked up in higher security facilities, including newly built or expanded prisons, or sent to walled factory compounds for coerced labour assignments, he wrote. Authorities in the XUAR are believed to have held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a vast network of camps since April 2017. Beginning in October 2018, China acknowledged the existence of the camps, but described them as voluntary vocational centers set up to combat radical Islamic terrorism. RFAs Uyghur Service has found that detainees are mostly held against their will and forced to endure inhumane treatment and political indoctrination. As international criticism mounted, China doubled down on assertions the program was winding down. China's claims contradicted by data In a July 2019 press conference, XUAR Chairman Shohret Zakir told reporters that more than 90 percent of internees from vocational training centers had graduated from their studies and been placed into jobs. Early this month in Paris, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi repeated the claim that all those sent to the camps have been released and placed in employment. The rights of all trainees in the education and training program, though their minds have been encroached by terrorism and extremism, have been fully guaranteed, he said during a conference at the French Institute of International Relations. Now all of them have graduated, there is no one in the education and training center now. They all have found jobs. But this claim is contradicted by the new evidence in this database, writes Ruser of ASPI, which has published its findings in an online database, the Xinjiang Data Project. RFA reporting from several parts of the vast XUAR has also shown many camps still in operation, holding tens of thousands of inmates. Last week RFA found many as eight internment camps may be operating in Turpan (in Chinese, Tulufan), the ancient Silk Road city where parts of Disneys new U.S. $200 million live-action version of the popular 1998 animated film Mulan were filmed. ASPI found that Dabancheng, the XUARs largest documented camp near the regional capital Urumqi, saw new construction in 2019 run for more than a km (0.6 mil) and is now a complex of 100 buildings, while a new detention center in the Kashgar has 13 five-storey residential buildings spread over 25 hectares (60 acres), surrounded by a 14-metre-high wall and watch-towers. ASPI breaks the camps into four different tiers, reflecting levels of security and controls on inmates: lower security re-education camps, dedicated re-education camps, detention centers, and maximum security prisons. We suspect that theres an administrative difference between these levels of detention; however, the opaque nature of Xinjiangs carceral system makes it difficult to ensure that our different tiers correspond to any official classifications or types of detention facility, said Rusers report. 'Potemkin-village-style tours' The think tank notes that half of the 60 facilities which have recently been expanded are higher security, which may suggest a shift in usage from the lower-security, re-education centres toward higher-security prison-style facilities. The report has also found some 70 lower security camps that appear to have had security controls reduced, with internal fences and perimeter walls removed. ASPI said the low security camps had been opened to government arranged Potemkin-village-style tours by selected journalists to support the official line about re-education camps. There is evidence that detainees released from these camps have gone into either forced labour assignments or strictly controlled residential surveillance. Therefore, these facilities have classrooms and can support the misleading narrative that theyre designed to purely educate or train detainees, said the report. The latest findings by ASPI come amid rising international scrutiny of Beijings sprawling network of camps in the XUAR, and follow moves in Washington including sanctions on Xinjiang officials, blacklists of companies suspected of exporting goods made with Uyghur forced labor, and debate on genocide charges. On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act that would block imports from the XUAR, amid growing evidence that internment camps have increasingly transitioned from political indoctrination to forced labor, with detainees being sent to work in cotton and textile factories. From Germany, World Uyghur Congress President Dolkun Isa told RFA that the ASPI project has proven unequivocally that China continues to operate hundreds of concentration camps in spite of international condemnation of Chinas crimes against humanity. Its clear that China will not stop committing such crimes against Uyghurs until there is a robust and concerted international action. Its high time the UN and EU followed the footsteps of the U.S. to take urgent actions to prevent Chinas genocide of Uyghurs in front of the international community. With reporting and translation by Alim Seytoff for RFAs Uyghur Service. Nitish Kumar welcomes Bihar poll schedule, unveils '7 resolves-II' for next term India oi-Deepika S Patna, Sep 25: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday welcomed the Assembly poll scheduled announced by the Election Commission, and said that he would take up more developmental programmes if the people of the state give him another chance to serve them. Like his "saat nischay" (seven resolves of good governance) of the current term, his government would launch phase-II of the development initiative, Kumar told a press conference at JD(U) office here. Seven resolves, launched by the Nitish Kumar administration for its 2015-20 term, comprised seven schemes to ensure basic necessities such as supply of piped drinking water, construction of toilets and concrete drains and electricity connection to every household. Kumar, also the JD(U) president, said that Phase-II of the seven resolves would include enhancing skill of youths to brighten the prospect of their jobs, promoting entrepreneurship among women by providing them financial assistance, irrigation facility to every agriculture field and additional health facilities for people and animals. On seat-sharing among the NDA constituents, he said that now that the election schedule has been declared, the process will be fast-tracked. Is coronavirus pandemic over now?: Sanjay Raut on Bihar poll dates As per the poll panel announcement, voting for Bihar Assembly elections will be held in three phases - on October 28, November 3 and November 7 and votes will be counted on November 10. On Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Chirag Paswan taking potshots at him regularly indicating a rift within the ruling alliance, Kumar said that he does not pay much attention to "what anybody is speaking. We want that all constituents of the NDA fight the election unitedly and win handsomely." Sunil Gavaskar defends himself, says never blamed Anushka | Oneindia News "The BJP is also working for this," he said. Kumar reiterated that "15 years vs 15 years" would definitely be campaign narrative. The NDA has been highlighting the works done during the 15 years of RJD rule in Bihar from 1990 to 2005 vis a vis those under Kumar between 2005 and 2020. On campaigning during COVID crisis, he said he would ask his party and the NDA coalition members to abide by the guidelines issued by the poll panel in this regard. Bhubaneswar, Sep 25 : Odisha's Covid-19 tally breached the 2 lakh-mark with the detection of 4,208 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, said a health official on Friday. The Covid-19 tally has reached 2,01,096 in the state. The death toll due to Coronavirus rose to 767 in the state as 15 more patients succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours, said the official. Khordha district registered 4 deaths while Puri district recorded three deaths and two died in Mayurbhanj district. One each died in Angul, Balangir, Cuttack, Kandhamal, Kendrapara and Rayagada districts. Of the total fresh cases, 2,462 have been reported from different quarantine centres while 1,746 were local contacts. Khordha recorded highest 725 fresh cases followed by Cuttack (465), Jajpur (237) and Jagatsinghpur (181). With the new cases, the number of active cases in the state rose to 39,232. The state reached 3 million Covid-19 test milestone with 52,882 tests conducted in last 24 hours. So far, 30,09,183 tests have been conducted in the state. "It gives me immense pleasure to share that we have reached 3 million #COVID19 test milestone. Thank healthcare personnel and all those who are working round the clock to ramp up testing, strengthening #Odisha's fight against the pandemic," tweeted Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker very nearly made it to November without a mention by the president on Twitter. Baker, who often opts for carefully-worded policy memos over public shots in the press, has avoided the ire of the Oval Office. Until now. President Donald Trump took to Twitter Friday to criticize Baker. President Trump tweeted about Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday, Sept. 25, 2020. Calling Baker a RINO" - Republican In Name Only - the president spoke of Bakers support of mail-in voting for the 2020 election. RINO Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts is unsuccessfully trying to defend Mail In Ballots, when there is fraud being found all over the place," the tweet reads. "Just look at some of the recent races, or the Trump Ballots in Pennsylvania that were thrown into the garbage. Wrong Charlie! The tweet comes after Baker publicly spoke out against the presidents recent comments sowing distrust in the voting process ahead of the general election this November. It is appalling and outrageous that anyone would suggest for a minute that if they lose an election theyre not going to leave -- period, Baker told reporters on Thursday. I know that I speak, I am sure, for the vast majority of elected officials in the united States of America when I say that. Trump on Wednesday again declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wins in November. Were going to have to see what happens, Trump said in response to a reporter asking if he would make such a pledge to voters. You know that Ive been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. Baker expressed a strong defense of mail-in voting Thursday when speaking with reporters. Calling it absentee balloting on steroids, Baker said he voted by mail during the Sept. 1. He said it worked just fine in Massachusetts, as it did in other states across the country. A huge part of this nations allure, to the extent it exists, is the peaceful transmission of power based on the vote of people in this country, Baker said. Mail-in balloting has been with us forever, and that peaceful transfer of power is what the people of this country rely on when they go to vote." Gov. Charlie Baker at a press conference on Thursday. (Sam Doran / SHNS) Baker signed into law this summer an expansion of mail-in and early voting in Massachusetts, allowing Secretary of State William Galvin to send mail applications to the states 4.5 million registered voters ahead of the Sept. 1 primary. The law allowed for the commonwealths first early voting period during a primary. Massachusetts residents will be allowed to vote early again ahead of the general election, between Oct. 17 through Oct. 30. The Sept. 1 primary drew record turnout, with 1.7 million voters casting their ballots. Galvin said 1,427,868 votes were cast in the Democratic Primary and 272,648 ballots were cast in the Republican Primary. The Libertarian Primary drew 4,871 ballots, and the Green-Rainbow Party drew 1,605 ballots. The previous voter turnout record was set in 1990. Related Content: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is confident that the commotion that had erupted in the Rajya Sabha (RS) during the monsoon session of Parliament, which ended on Wednesday, following the Opposition parties resisting the passage of the contentious farms bills is unlikely to recur, as the partys tally is all set to increase in the Upper House in November. The RS will have 11 vacancies in November. The BJPs strength in the 245-member Upper House is not yet close to the half-way mark. Of these 11 vacancies, only three are from the BJP and the rest are from the Oppositions quota in the Upper House. While 10 of these vacancies are from Uttar Pradesh (UP), one is from Uttarakhand. The BJP is in power in both UP and Uttarakhand, which will pave the way for its candidates being elected to the RS. The government has been able to pass bills that benefit people at large. Even though the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have been opposed to many bills; other parties that are not part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) still supported the government because the bills were for greater good, said a BJP functionary, who did not wish to be quoted. The farm bills -- 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 -- were passed in the RS on Sunday through a voice vote, despite the Opposition parties digging their heels in for further scrutiny and also putting up a stiff resistance. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the BJPs ally, also opposed the bills. The SAD went to the extent of pulling out its lone member from the Union Cabinet, minister for food processing industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal, in a bid to put its criticism on record about the resistance to the passage of the farm bills. The BJP leadership has slammed the Opposition for trying to stall what they call revolutionary bills that will change the farmers economic conditions. Party leaders said there would be more ease in the passage of bills in the Upper House since its RS strength is expected to increase in November. To be sure, the BJP has been able to pass contentious bills, including Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019; Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019; and this week, the farm bills, despite being far from the half-way mark in the 245-member Upper House. The current strength of the RS is 243 because of two vacancies. The half-way mark is 122. The BJP has 86 members in the Upper House, its allies, such as the Janata Dal (United) has five members, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Republican Party of India (RPI), have one each and the SAD (2). Several single-member parties such as the National Peoples Party, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), and the Naga Peoples Front (NPF) also support the BJP. The Congress and TMC are the second and third-largest parties in the RS with 40 and 13 members, respectively. Biju Janata Dal (BJD), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), which are counted as parties friendly to the government, have nine each and six members, respectively. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) (3); the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) (7); the Shiv Sena (3); the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) (1); the Samajwadi Party (SP) (8); the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) (5) are among the parties that are in the Oppositions camp. The Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will lose two Members of Parliament (MP) each and the SP will lose four of its members because of the upcoming vacancies in the Upper House. The Oppositions strength in the RS will come down by nine seats. An increase in the BJPs RS strength will mean widening the gap between the two sides. It will offer the government a cushion when the margin of difference is slim as was the case during the passage of the farm bills. Though a division of votes was not carried out on Sunday, the BJP claimed to have 110 members on its side. Besides those absent from the Upper House, the Oppositions strength was 109, which narrowed down the difference in the votes. Political commentator Abhay Deshpande said a majority in the Upper House would give the government more elbow room, but until that happens, its floor management would be put to the test. The burden to pass bills will be greatly reduced after it has the majority in the RS. But until that happens, the government will have to rely on its floor management. It has to reach out to friendly parties outside the NDA for their support, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON With all official channels of communication with the North having been cut off since June, South Korea sent a message through a cross-border telephone hotline between North Korea and the United Nations Command, demanding that the North explain why it had killed a South Korean citizen. The text of the Norths message on Friday, which contained Mr. Kims apology, was disclosed to the news media by Suh Hoon, the director of national security at Mr. Moons presidential Blue House. Mr. Suh did not specify how the message was delivered; his original statement used wording that could mean it had been a telephone message, but presidential aides later clarified that it was not. North Korean state media had yet to report on the message as of Friday evening. In the message, North Korea denied that its soldiers had burned the body of the South Korean official, and it offered an account that differed from the Souths in other key details. When the crew of a North Korean ship found the official adrift on Tuesday, they approached and asked him to identify himself, according to the Norths account. The man said only that he was from the South, and when he refused to answer further questions, the North Korean ship moved closer, firing two warning shots, the North said. Then the man ducked in surprise and appeared to try to escape, the North said. Our soldiers fired about 10 shots at the illegal intruder, based on a decision made by our ships captain and according to operational guidelines of maritime security, the Norths message read. When the shooting took place, the ship was 44 to 55 yards from the man, it read. The North Korean crew later found a flotation device that the man had been using, which had a great deal of blood on it, but not the man himself, according to the message. Our military concluded that the illegal intruder was shot and killed, and burned his floatable device according to our epidemiological regulations, it said. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Premier Doug Ford is slamming the brakes on any snap election call even as his Progressive Conservative party is accelerating candidate nominations for incumbent MPPs. We want to get our folks prepared for the election and have said before we arent going to be calling it in the spring. Well be calling it the regular time, Ford said Friday. Asked if he could assure Ontarians there would be no provincial election before the one scheduled for June 2, 2022, the premier said, Thats correct. We have a clear mandate from the people of Ontario. As first disclosed by the Star, the Conservatives will have officially nominated the partys 72 MPPs as candidates by Saturday even though the election is 615 days away. Senior Tory insiders, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations, say they will also have standard-bearers in the 52 Ontario ridings they do not currently hold by March. That has triggered speculation at Queens Park that Ford, who took office in 2018, may call an election before 2022. Ontario law fixes election dates once every four years but the majority Tories could amend that legislation, arguing the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates a new mandate. After a summer campaign-style tour that took him 5,000 km with stops in 38 of Ontarios 124 ridings, the premier sounded like he already has his re-election pitch to voters. Theyll have a decision about leadership, what party was able to get them through this pandemic, he said. Even with Fords comments, the Tories are closely watching the British Columbia election to see how NDP Premier John Horgans gambit plays out on Oct. 24. Earlier this month, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs transformed his minority Tory government into a majority with an election called just two years into his first mandate. Ford personally likes both Horgan and Higgs and has worked with them on the premiers appeals for more health funding to Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus minority federal Liberal government, which itself may face voters soon. Despite the Ontario premiers reticence to go to the polls, some on his campaign team would like to have an election before the pandemic-induced recession gets worse. With that in mind, the Tories have launched an online fundraising blitz. The party has sent out seven separate email appeals for cash in recent weeks on Aug. 19, Aug. 26, Aug. 31, Sept. 2, Sept. 8, Sept. 15, and Wednesday. In the most recent missive, PC Ontario Fund chair Tony Miele struck an urgent tone. The premier cannot take his eye off the ball of governing. He has an incredibly important task ahead. And while we have the responsibility of governing, the other parties have been doubling down on fundraising and criticizing Premier Fords great work, said Miele. We need your help to stop the Liberal Party and the NDP from catching us in fundraising. Thanks in large part to your contributions, we are still ahead. But we must continue to prepare our party for the road ahead. The Tories hope to regain Simcoe-Grey, which is held by MPP Jim Wilson, who now sits as an Independent after being turfed from the PC caucus following a 2018 scandal. Wilson, who has represented the riding since 1990, said Thursday he would not be seeking re-election. His announcement was hastened by the fact the local Conservative riding association needs to have a candidate nominated before winters end. Rookie Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca, who took over the party helm in March, has also been criss-crossing Ontario, raising money and nominating candidates. Del Ducas team has been rallying Grits for months to gird for an unexpected election. Aside from the 72 Tories including Speaker Ted Arnott, who does not caucus with the governing party there are 40 New Democrats, eight Liberals, three Independents and one Green member in the 124-member house. Wind Creek Bethlehem announced layoffs Thursday that affect about 20% of its workforce. The decision comes six and a half months into the coronavirus pandemic in Pennsylvania that has upended myriad industries and businesses, casinos included. With recent business volumes significantly lower than we had hoped, we were forced to make this incredibly difficult decision, Wind Creek said in a statement. "The hospitality and gaming industries have been crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that our reduction in workforce will in the long term positively affect our future success. The casino also announced the permanent closure of Emerils Fish House. Wind Creeks expansion of its hotel on the Southside Bethlehem property, estimated at more than $90 million, is unaffected by the layoffs, spokeswoman Julia Corwin told lehighvalleylive.com. We continue to move forward in our process to expand our current footprint at Wind Creek Bethlehem, the statement continues. We hope to have more to share on timing in the coming weeks. The casino property voluntarily shut down March 15 as the novel coronavirus began its spread, just before Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all 12 casinos statewide to shutter March 19. Then, effective June 1, owner/operator Wind Creek Hospitality furloughed 2,100 employees -- 84% of its Bethlehem workers. Employees still furloughed as of Thursday were told they would not be asked to return to work. Additionally, there were other active positions which were eliminated, according to Wind Creeks statement. Wind Creek Bethlehem reopened June 29 and last week resumed 24/7 gambling. Casino revenue figures released last week from the state showed Wind Creeks August revenues of $33.37 million were $11.6 million below August 2019s numbers, a drop of 25.8%. Thats 36% more than the next biggest loss, at Rivers Casino Pittsburgh. Wind Creek Hospitality, affiliated with the Alabama-based Poarch Band of Creek Indians, bought the Bethlehem property from Las Vegas Sands Corp. in June 2019 for $1.4 billion and celebrated its grand opening last Oct. 10. The casino originally opened in May 2009 as Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting lehighvalleylive.com with a subscription. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. TV actor Rrahul Sudhir has tested positive for the coronavirus and the shooting of his show, Ishq Mein Marjawan 2, has been stalled.The makers of his show and Rrahul have issued statements to announce his diagnosis and ensured everyone that the required precautionary measures are being taken. Posting the makers statement, Rrahul wrote on Instagram, Our TRP is 1.7 today. I cant Thank you guys enough. This means so much to me personally and to my entire crew. Yes I am Covid19 Positive. The symptoms are mild. I am under home quarantine and have isolated myself from my family. Your love and support means so much to me Please Stay Safe and Keep Watching Ishq Mein Marjawan On Colors at 7 PM. The statement from the makers said, Actor Rrahul Sudhir, who is an integral part of our television series Ishq Mein Marjawan 2 has tested positive for Covid-19 with mild symptoms and is receiving medical attention. As soon as the symptoms were detected,he has self quarantined. As a precautionary measure, we have taken all necessary steps including temporary suspension of production for testing of the entire cast and crew, fumigation and sterilization of the studio as per the morns immediately. Concerned authorities have been informed of the same, The safety of our talent and crew members is of utmost importance, we are fully committed to safeguarding everyone and have ensured that all measures prescribed by the authorities are being adhered to. Rrahul plays the antagonist on the show but recent twists have added new dimensions to his character. The show also features Vishal Vashishtha, Helly Shah, Madhurima Tulli, Garima Rathore Also read: Ranveer Singh requests to be present at NCB office during Deepika Padukones questioning, cites her anxiety issue: report About his character on the show, Rrahul had said previously, Vansh is unlike any character I have ever played before. He is a powerful and smart businessman who lives a life of secrecy and mystery. While playing the role I got to do some amazing stunts like ride a flyboard in Goa and be a part of a high-octane car chase sequence. While there is a lot of action involved, my character also has an emotional side to him. This is a fun role and I am happy to be a part of such an interesting project. Rrahul has earlier worked in Rajaa Betaa. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ross D. Franklin It is well and good that the president didn't want us to panic when the virus hit. However, it turns out that he was the one in a state of panic. He feared the effect it would have on the stock market, which he mistakenly equates with the economic health of the country. He panicked over the thought that he might have to take responsibility for a crisis. Taking responsibility is not his strong card. Now we find him in a state of panic over the possible loss of the upcoming presidential election. So let us keep an eye on his panic-induced measures. They are ubiquitous and will continue. We need to watch out for the tiny bandages to stop the flood of holes in his record on the pandemic, race relations, pollution of the environment, incitement of violence, adoration of dictators and, most importantly, lack of concern for the health and financial welfare of hard-working Americans. U.S. Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Fort Benning Garrison Commander, Col. Matthew Scalia, were joined by public and private representatives on Friday to celebrate the proposed downlisting of the red-cockaded woodpecker from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In the Southeast, no fewer than eight Army installations, four Air Force installations and one Marine Corps installation all made commitments to recovery goals for red-cockaded woodpeckers, which is a cardinal-sized bird, 8 to 9 inches in height with a sharp beak, living on land they manage. Fort Benning performed years of crucial conservation work to recover the woodpecker. In 1998, Fort Benning reported a red-cockaded woodpecker population of 153 potential breeding groups. Their recovery goal was having 351 breeding groups, which has been exceeded with an estimated 412 breeding groups currently in population. The Armys efforts, in addition to significant commitments from public and private landowners, contributed to the best available science indicating woodpecker populations being stable and increasing with adequate protections in place for its continued recovery. Partnering for conservation has improved the condition of the red-cockaded woodpecker. It also allows us to take this important downlisting step. The Trump Administration continues to engage public and private interests in conserving our most imperiled species through efficient, commonsense regulation that facilitates cooperation and on the ground results rather than conflict, said Secretary Bernhardt. Sometimes it seems once an animal gets on the Endangered Species list, you never see them come off that is why it is so important to highlight a success story like this one, said Secretary Perdue. President Trump has made it clear through regulatory actions that our government should promote conservation but not overly burden the American people. The partnership between the USDA Forest Service, Department of the Interior, the Department of Defense, and private landowners is a good news story and is proof this strategy works. This action validates the success of Fort Bennings ongoing sustainability efforts, said Col. Matthew Scalia. It demonstrates our commitment to conserve natural resources and illustrates what we can achieve by working together with federal, state, non-profit and community partners. It is a testament that military and conservation goals are compatible. Fort Benning will continue to support the successful recovery and growth of red-cockaded woodpecker populations. President Trump and Secretary Bernhardt continue to deliver on the commitment of improved conservation, and we never could have reached this important milestone without the cooperation and dedication of the Department of Defense and other federal agencies, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Aurelia Skipwith. While recovery is the ultimate measure of success of the Endangered Species Act, thanks to innovative conservation efforts and a deep commitment by diverse partners across its range, we are one step closer to that goal today for the red-cockaded woodpecker. Once abundant from New Jersey to Florida, west to Texas and north to Missouri, the red-cockaded woodpeckers range had dwindled to just a handful of states by the 1960s, following more than a century of habitat loss. In the late 1970s, there was an all-time low of an estimated 1,470 clusters of red-cockaded woodpeckers. A breeding pair of red-cockaded woodpeckers is joined by helpers, usually the males from previous broods that assist with incubation and feeding of the next generation. Today, the Service estimates nearly 7,800 clusters are ranging across 11 states from southern Virginia to eastern Texas. Hurricanes also impact the birds habitat as in 1989, Hurricane Hugo destroyed 87 percent of the active cavity trees in South Carolinas Francis Marion National Forest, the second-largest red-cockaded woodpecker population at the time. That storm, however, kick-started the woodpeckers recovery. Two revolutionary programs developed in the storms wake are credited with saving the woodpecker. Artificial cavities were drilled into tall pines, and boxes, or inserts, were installed, providing woodpeckers with new homes. Additionally, the translocation of juvenile woodpeckers to forests with few birds began. A variety of programs, including voluntary Safe Harbor Agreements, allow landowners who guarantee a baseline population of woodpeckers to manage their land with minimal regulatory oversight. These agreements encourage activities such as prescribed fire and the restoration of longleaf pine forests with healthy understories of grasses and a mix of old and young trees. For the past decade, the U.S. Forest Service, in partnership with more than 30 public and private organizations, has focused on bringing back the woodpeckers preferred habitat, longleaf pine forests, through such projects as the Americas Longleaf Restoration Initiative and the Million Acre Challenge. More than 1.3 million acres of new longleaf pine stands have been established and many hundreds of cavity inserts have been installed in these younger longleaf landscapes to help the red-cockaded woodpeckers resurgence. Although the proposed downlisting represents a milestone for the woodpecker, conservation efforts underway may eventually warrant removing the red-cockaded woodpecker from the endangered species list altogether. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking input from the public on delisting the species. Since conducting the status assessment for the woodpecker, the Service has heard from more than two dozen partners who have been actively conserving habitat for the birds recovery. Those partners have committed to continuing their conservation activities in the future. The Service is also proposing a special rule for the woodpecker under section 4(d) of the ESA that will tailor protections needed for the birds recovery. The rule would prohibit incidental take associated with actions that would result in the further loss or degradation of woodpecker habitat. This includes impacts to cavity trees, actions that would harass red-cockaded woodpeckers during the breeding season and the use of insecticides near clusters, which are groups of cavity trees used by a group of woodpeckers for nesting and roosting. For additional details on 4(d) prohibitions and exceptions, our FAQs are posted online. The proposal to change the status of the red-cockaded woodpecker from endangered to threatened will be published in the Federal Register, opening a 60-day public comment period. The proposed rule and supporting documents, including the species status assessment report and references cited, are available online at http://www.regulations.gov under Docket No. FWSR4ES20190018. Background on Trump Administrations ESA Improvements and Accomplishments No administration in history has recovered more imperiled species in their first term than the Trump Administration. Since 2017, 13 species have fully recovered, no longer being listed under the Endangered Species Acts List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, and another six species have been downlisted from endangered to threatened. To provide context for this in looking at other administrations in their first term, the Obama Administration recovered six species; the Bush Administration recovered eight species; the Clinton Administration recovered nine species. Fish and wildlife conservation depends on federal partnerships with states, landowners, and most importantly sportsmen who directly fund to the tune of $1 billion last year alone and more than $23 billion since inception conservation efforts by purchasing hunting and fishing licenses, fishing tackle, ammunition, boating fuel and other recreational items. To support stronger on-the-ground conservation efforts, encourage private actions to benefit our most imperiled species and provide greater legal certainty for ESA determinations, the Service updated its ESA regulations in 2019 to improve the implementation of the law. The regulations hadnt been comprehensively updated since the ESA passed some 40 years ago. The Services guidepost for the multi-year, public process was President Trumps overarching effort to reduce regulatory burden without sacrificing protections for the environment and wildlife. What Partners Are Saying: Private forest owners are proud partners in this conservation milestone, and we have contributed to the long-term health of the red-cockaded woodpecker. Private forest owners are an essential part of conservation success 360 million acres of working forests across the country are privately owned. The National Alliance of Forest Owners companies have proudly worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and conservation partners to develop and implement smart management decisions and conservation agreements that support a wide range of wildlife across the country, said President and CEO of the National Alliance of Forest Owners Dave Tenny. Today, the Forest Landowners Association commends the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for moving the red-cockaded woodpecker to threatened status. This success has been decades in the making and is a direct result of imaginative, far-reaching, and heroic efforts of private landowners working with the Service to yield significant results for red-cockaded woodpecker habitat and populations. This action marks a major step toward recovery a step that never would have been possible without the commitment, investment, and partnership of private forest landowners across the Southeast. Todays action will pave the way for the new opportunities for voluntary and collaborative conservation, and we look forward to continuing to conserve the red-cockaded woodpecker and other forest-dependent species with our partners at the Service and across the wildlife conservation community, said CEO of the Forest Landowners Association Scott Jones. Weyerhaeuser, with more than 120 years of expertise in sustainable forestry, is proud to be part of the successful conservation story of the red-cockaded woodpecker. The company has a long, proven history of protecting the species, exemplified by our current red-cockaded woodpecker Safe Harbor Agreement. We congratulate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, agencies, organizations, and private forest landowners who worked together to create and conserve the habitat needed for this unique southern pine-associated woodpecker. The red-cockaded woodpecker is a notable example of how the public and private sectors can work together to conserve a challenging at-risk species. Weyerhaeuser remains committed to the conservation of wildlife habitat on working forests and looks forward to continued collaboration with the Service, said the Weyerhaeuser Company. Since 1973 the Trust for Public Land has been working to preserve land. We are pleased to have been able to work with local, state and federal partner agencies to conserve habitat that aided the recovery of the red-cockaded woodpecker, said Southern Hub Director for the The Trust for Public Land George Dusenbury. We are proud to be partners with the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and The Nature Conservancy to protect over 20,000 acres of needed habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers. The number of red-cockaded woodpeckers has more than doubled in Arkansas since their reestablishment on new Natural Areas, Wildlife Management Areas and Nature Preserves. Collaborations like these, using tools like prescribed fire, provide the awesome habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers in Arkansas, said State Forester for the Arkansas Forestry Commission Joe Fox. We have long believed that conservation is a team sport, and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is proud to have supported the red-cockaded woodpecker Safe Harbor program since its inception in 1998. Working in partnership with over 180 volunteer landowners, the South Carolina Safe Harbor program comprises over 350,000 acres containing over 400 red-cockaded woodpecker breeding groups. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources currently manages and monitors 109 active breeding groups across 11 different department properties, and we are confident that continued proactive stewardship and land management by dedicated landowners will ensure red-cockaded woodpeckers can thrive in South Carolina, said Director of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Robert Boyles. Since 1969, Texas A&M Forest Service has been monitoring red-cockaded woodpecker groups and managing cluster and foraging habitat on two of our state forests the W.G. Jones State Forest and the I.D. Fairchild State Forest. We have also partnered with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in implementing the East Texas red-cockaded woodpecker Safe Harbor program since 1999, enlisting more than 50 private landowner tracts totaling over a million acres into this voluntary program. Texas A&M Forest Service is committed to continue managing this species following U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service guidelines and the latest scientific methods, said Executive Director of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Carter Smith. Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield is gratified to have contributed to efforts leading to the downlisting of the red-cockaded woodpecker. We could not have achieved our red-cockaded woodpecker recovery goal without the local support of U.S. Army Garrison Fort Stewart leadership, the Directorate of Training, Plans, and Mobilization, the Forestry Branch, and overarching support from Army Environmental Command, Installation Management Command, and our highly effective partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Fort Stewart harbors the second-largest (and growing) population of red-cockaded woodpeckers, and we are committed to continuing our conservation efforts toward the recovery of the species across the region, along with numerous other rare species associated with Fort Stewart longleaf pine ecosystems, said Wildlife Biologist for the Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield Larry Carlile. With 579 active red-cockaded woodpecker clusters on four ranger districts, the national forests in Mississippi have had great success improving habitat for this endangered species. Populations continue to grow annually. Active forest management, with an emphasis on prescribed burning, thinning, and mid-story control, has played a key role in our success while also providing habitat for a variety of other non-game and game species. Support from private, state, and federal partners has been integral in our efforts to restore and improve habitat for the long-term sustainability of this species. said Forest Supervisor for the Mississippi U.S. Forest Service Carl Petrick. The Francis Marion and Sumter national forests worked more than 41 years with South Carolina county, state and federal partners to reintroduce the red-cockaded woodpecker. Numerous volunteers have also contributed to the overall outcome. The Francis Marion National Forest's red-cockaded woodpecker population was nearly wiped out following Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Now, there are over 512 red-cockaded woodpecker colonies after the development and installation of artificial cavities in remaining longleaf pine trees, as well as extensive management for the longleaf ecosystem over the past 30 years. The Sumter National Forest had no red-cockaded woodpecker activity for over 40 years, until a lone male was spotted in 2017. We later successfully paired that male and the Long Cane Ranger District brought in more pairs the last two years. We will continue monitoring and maintaining the red-cockaded woodpecker populations as needed. said South Carolina Forest Supervisor for the U.S. Forest Service Rick Lint. The red-cockaded woodpecker has been a keystone in our agencys threatened and endangered species efforts. Supporting its recovery and long leaf pine habitat has been a prime example of what partnerships can achieve. We are proud to continue to work with other government and private organizations to promote the conservation of this species, said the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources The Florida Forest Service has worked diligently to assist with the recovery efforts of the red-cockaded woodpecker. Weve worked to both increase the population of the species on Floridas state forests and to demonstrate that effective, multi-use forest management provides healthy forests and healthy populations of wildlife. We manage five state forests and one ranch with red-cockaded woodpecker colonies, and all have recovered to much healthier, sustainable levels than when recovery efforts first began. This includes the Blackwater River State Forest with one of the largest state-managed red-cockaded woodpecker populations in the range. I am very proud of the work our staff is doing to promote the recovery of this iconic species as we continue to manage Floridas public and private forestlands well into the future, said State Forester and Director for the Florida Forest Service Erin Albury. The public/private partnership operating at Moro Big Pine Conservation Area is a model of successful species conservation. Management practices have focused on creating and maintaining preferred open fire-maintained pine flatwoods habitat through forest thinning of over 13,000 acres and use of prescribed fire on over 50,000 acres. Over 100 cavity inserts have been installed during the last decade to create ideal roost and nesting sites. This active forest management has resulted in tremendous population growth we started with 24 adult red-cockaded woodpeckers with 9 breeding pairs and now have 64 adults with 26 breeding pairs. In addition to habitat management we have worked cooperatively with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to permit translocation of red-cockaded woodpeckers to the conservation area that were scattered in non-viable settings. Moro Big Pine Conservation Area is managed in partnership with Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Arkansas Game and Fish and The Nature Conservancy. These conservation agencies and organization jointly hold a conservation easement on the property, said the Moro Big Pine Conservation Area with the National Association of Forest Owners. SRINAGAR, Kashmir On television and in the courtroom, the young lawyer could be a force. Babar Qadri stood as a rare, pugilistic voice arguing on behalf of his native Kashmir, the rocky region long torn between India and Pakistan, on Indias combative and increasingly nationalistic talk shows. Shouted at, he would shout back. More than once, an angry host kicked him off the air. On Thursday, Mr. Qadri, 40, was shot to death in his home, making him one of the most high-profile casualties of the violence wracking Kashmir. Family members said an assailant posing as a potential client shot him in the head and chest in the courtyard of his home in the old part of Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. The identity of the assailant was not clear, the police said, according to local media. They declined to answer questions from The New York Times on Friday. Kashmiris on Friday mourned Mr. Qadri as a rare public advocate for his home in a troubled time. One year ago, India tightened its hold on the Kashmir region, and local activists say speaking out has become increasingly dangerous. Pune district guardian minister Ajit Pawar on Friday instructed the officials to speed up the multilevel flyover work at Chandani Chowk. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is executing the project even as it falls within PMC limits. NHAI project director SD Chitnis, Pune divisional commissioner Saurabh Rao, district collector Rajesh Deshmukh, Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar, defence officials and other officers were present at the meeting. According to officials, work on the flyover project is getting delayed due to land acquisition issues. Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol said, The Maharashtra government had decided to provide a funding of 184 crore for the project giving it the status of a special plan. PMC was to take up the flyover plan, but union minister Nitin Gadkari approved funds for the project. Mohol said of the 184 crore allocated by the state, PMC has received 134 crore. I have appealed to Ajit Pawar to release the remaining 50 crore as it will help in the completion of the project, the mayor said. A head teacher has told students that they should get used to being cold as the windows at the schools will be kept open to protect against coronavirus. Letting the air out Barr Beacon School in Walsall has told students that they will not be able to wear coasts in class in the winter, but they can put on a vest or t-shirt under their uniform. Head teacher Lynsey Draycott sent a letter to parents and told them about the idea to keep windows open, and the idea came from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies or SAGE, as reported by BirminghamLive. The parents at the school, which has 1,500 students, are divided on the new policy that the school wants to implement. Also Read: Doctors Warn About Catastrophic Fall Season Amid Rising COVID-19 Cases in US One local said that the new policy might come easy for those who are brought up with no central heating and unheated bedrooms. There are primary schools that had an outside toilet block in some areas. Some parents who agree on the new policy even pointed out that back in the day, many young boys wore shorts in winter, and girls wore dresses with long socks. It was a way for children to get used to snow, and since the older generation was able to survive it, they are confident the younger generation can too. But not all parents share the same sentiment, as others are concerned about the impact of their children being exposed to cold temperatures this winter. Worried parents said that it is possible for children to catch a cold or flu, and they may be sent home for COVID. They do not want children to sit inside a classroom for hours with no proper heating as it can be dangerous to their health. Wear more clothes The letter was dated September 11 and was sent to parents. It said 'The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) has warned that because school windows must be left open to fight coronavirus, pupils should start wearing more clothes and 'get used to being cold." This has been widely reported in the press. Draycott added that the government is giving grants so that schools can open doors, windows, and skylights, which means that children will have to get used to coming in wearing more clothes, as well as the staff. Draycott also said that when she was a child, she lived in Edinburgh, and they had no central heating, and they wore several jumpers in the winter. A spokesman for the school told MailOnline that Barr Beacon School's first priority is the safety and well-being of its students and staff. To make sure that the children are safe, the school has shared with parents the steps taken to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The spokesman added that the advice has been to encourage the through-flow of air to reduce COVID-19 transmission, and to prevent children from being cold, the school suggested that students could wear an extra vest or t-shirt under their school uniform. The implementation will begin this school year, and all parents were notified. Related Article: UK Hospitals Told to Clear Beds, Warned to Brace for COVID-19 Rise in Two Weeks @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The number of U.S. coronavirus cases passed 7 million on Friday, with California the hardest hit state so far in a pandemic that has crippled the country for more than six months. The United States has been averaging about 41,500 cases daily, down from the pandemic's midsummer peak, but states in the Midwest and West are seeing case numbers climb, The New York Times reported. In California, the case count has now passed 800,000, the Times reported, but the figure does not capture the state's current situation. Recently, California has been reporting a relatively low number of new cases daily, the newspaper said. It was less than a month ago that the United States reached 6 million cases, the Times reported. It took over three months for the country to record its first million cases. Despite those startling case counts, herd immunity is far from sight: The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a Senate committee on Wednesday that 90% of Americans are still at risk of contracting the virus. "The preliminary results in the first round [of a very large, ongoing CDC study] show that a majority of our nation, more than 90% of the population, remains susceptible," Dr. Robert Redfield testified. "A majority of Americans are still susceptible to this virus." At the same time, Redfield reiterated that the majority of Americans may not be able to get a coronavirus vaccine until next year. At the same committee hearing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there would likely be only 50 million doses by December, so "it is not going to be a large proportion of the population" that receives the vaccine by the end of the year. Dr. Stephen Hahn, head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, repeatedly said in his opening statement to the committee that the efficacy of a vaccine would be determined only by FDA scientists. Just this week, the agency proposed guidelines that would strengthen the vetting process of any new coronavirus vaccine. Later on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said the White House may or may not approve those new FDA guidelines, the Times reported. New study shows coronavirus mutating rapidly Also on Wednesday, a new study of more than 5,000 genetic sequences of the coronavirus reveals the virus's continual accumulation of mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious, the Washington Post reported. But researchers did not find that these mutations have made the virus deadlier. Every mutation is a roll of the dice, and with transmission so widespread in the United States that the virus has had plenty of opportunities to change, potentially with troublesome consequences, study author James Musser, of Houston Methodist Hospital, told the Post. "We have given this virus a lot of chances," Musser said. "There is a huge population size out there right now." The research was posted on the preprint server MedRxiv and has not been peer-reviewed. Earlier this month, a larger batch of sequences was published by scientists in the United Kingdom. Those scientists also concluded that a mutation that changes the structure of the "spike protein" on the surface of the virus may be driving the outsized spread of that particular strain. David Morens, a top virologist at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the finding "may have implications for our ability to control it." "Wearing masks, washing our hands, all those things are barriers to transmissibility, or contagion, but as the virus becomes more contagious it statistically is better at getting around those barriers," Morens explained. Not only that, the virus may be able dampen the durability of any vaccine, Morens added. "Although we don't know yet, it is well within the realm of possibility that this coronavirus, when our population-level immunity gets high enough, this coronavirus will find a way to get around our immunity," Morens said. "If that happened, we'd be in the same situation as with flu. We'll have to chase the virus and, as it mutates, we'll have to tinker with our vaccine." One-shot vaccine moves to larger trials In news that might help make vaccinating all Americans against COVID-19 more easy to accomplish, the first coronavirus vaccine that only requires a single shot has entered the final stages of testing in the United States, the Post reported. The international trial will eventually recruit up to 60,000 participants. The vaccine, made by Johnson & Johnson, is the fourth to enter the large, Phase 3 trials that determine effectiveness and safety, the Post reported. Paul Stoffels, the company's chief scientific officer, predicted on Tuesday there may be enough data to have results by the end of the year and the company plans to manufacture 1 billion doses next year. Three other vaccine candidates have a head start, with U.S. trials that began earlier this summer, but the vaccine being developed by Johnson & Johnson could be easier to administer and distribute if it's proven safe and effective, the Post reported. The company is initially testing a single dose, while the other vaccines require a second shot three to four weeks after the first one, the newspaper said. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine can also be stored in liquid form at refrigerator temperatures for three months, whereas two of the three other vaccines must be frozen or kept at ultra-cold temperatures for long-term storage, the Post reported. "A single-shot vaccine, if it's safe and effective, will have substantial logistic advantages for global pandemic control," said Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who partnered with Johnson & Johnson to develop the vaccine. "It is a really good thing that we have this diversity of platforms because this is a critical crisis in terms of our global circumstance," said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. "Now, here in the U.S. with 200,000 deaths, we want to do everything we can without sacrificing safety or efficacy." Cases keep mounting By Friday, the U.S. coronavirus case count passed 7 million as the death toll neared 203,000, according to a Times tally. According to the same tally, the top five states in coronavirus cases as of Friday were: California with over 800,000; Texas with more than 758,000; Florida with more than 693,000; New York with over 457,000; and Georgia with over 294,000. Curbing the spread of the coronavirus in the rest of the world remains challenging. By Friday, India's coronavirus case count had passed 5.8 million, just over one month after hitting the 3 million mark, the Times reported. More than 92,000 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. Still, 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 passed 4.6 million cases and nearly 140,000 deaths as of Friday, a Johns Hopkins tally showed. Cases are also spiking in Russia: The country's coronavirus case count has passed 1.1 million. As of Friday, the death toll in Russia was over 19,973, the Hopkins tally showed. Worldwide, the number of reported infections passed 32 million on Friday, with over 983,000 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. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sithanonxay Suvannaphakdy (The Jakarta Post) Singapore Fri, September 25, 2020 Market access is primarily conceived in terms of the removal of tariff barriers to trade, and in that sense, ASEAN has been remarkably successful in negotiating tariffs downward over the past two decades. However, free flow in agrifood trade in ASEAN has not yet been achieved, with key obstacles being nontariff measures (NTMs), including regulatory instruments such as sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measure as well as import licenses and testing and certification requirements. NTMs affect producers, importers and exporters alike by increasing information, compliance and procedural costs. ASEAN has been implementing a work program to reduce the trade-distorting effects of NTMs on agrifood trade for more than a decade under the ASEAN Framework Agreement for the Integration of Priority Sectors signed in 2004. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. One of the most influential Vatican cardinals, Angelo Becciu from Italy, resigned his position unexpectedly on Thursday, the Holy See announced without explanation. "The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the office of Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and from the rights connected to the Cardinalate, presented by His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu," a one-line statement late on Thursday said. After a career as a Vatican emissary, Becciu has worked for the last six years as the Substitute for General Affairs, a role akin as chief of staff which means he sees Pope Francis daily and is one of his most trusted aides. The 72-year-old was named as a cardinal in summer 2018 and has also had responsibility for the department that oversees beatifications and sainthoods. His surprise resignation could be a sanction. He has been linked in the past to an investigation underway within the Vatican over the last year into a property development in the exclusive Chelsea area of London which was paid for with offshore funds and companies. The process to invest in the scheme to build luxury apartments began in 2014 when Becciu was in the Vatican secretariat, the central bureaucracy of the Holy See. The Vatican's police force raided the offices of the secretariat last year to seize financial documents and computers, while five members of staff were suspended. Becciu defended the purchase at the beginning of the year during an interview. cm/adp/dl Bower charged with leading profitable outdoor growth for Winnebago flagship brand; Brian Hazelton promoted to Senior Vice President, Winnebago-brand RVs, reporting to Bower Huw Bower Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) announced that it has appointed Huw Bower as President, Winnebago Outdoors Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) announced that it has appointed Huw Bower as President, Winnebago Outdoors EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., Sept. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) today announced that it has appointed Huw Bower as President, Winnebago Outdoors, effective October 12, 2020. Mr. Bower will report to President and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Happe and will be based in the Companys Eden Prairie, Minnesota office. Winnebago Industries is a leader and growing parent company in the outdoor lifestyle products arena, with several premium brands in its recreational portfolio Winnebago, Grand Design, Newmar, and Chris-Craft. Bowers primary responsibilities will include all revenue streams associated with the flagship brand, Winnebago, namely Winnebago-branded recreational and specialty vehicles. The Company will also look to strategically expand the presence of the Winnebago brand in other outdoor lifestyle spaces. Bower joins Winnebago Industries after more than 15 years in brand leadership and executive roles at Brunswick Corporation, a global leader in the marine industry. Most recently as President, Boat Group reporting to the CEO of Brunswick, Bower was responsible for that organizations portfolio of iconic boat brands including Sea Ray, Boston Whaler and Lund, among others. During this time, he gained significant portfolio management experience, accelerated the growth of the boat business, strengthened dealer relationships, and created innovative, high performing teams. Bower was also instrumental through the years in advancing strategic planning and business development activities within Brunswick. Winnebago Industries President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Happe commented, We are extremely excited to have a high-quality leader such as Huw join our executive leadership team. Not only will he add further strength to our motivated management team, his passion for leading premium, differentiated brands will enable Huw to build on the momentum of our flagship brand and advance our leadership position in the outdoor lifestyle industry. His broad experience across the durable goods value chain, combining both operations and product development capabilities with a focus on the consumer, will be immediately accretive. While Huw will drive profitable growth within our Winnebago-branded recreational and specialty vehicles businesses, his knowledge of other outdoor markets will be welcomed as we also explore new revenue opportunities for the Winnebago brand. Story continues In addition, it was announced today that Brian Hazelton will assume an expanded role within the Winnebago-brand structure. Hazelton will be promoted to Senior Vice President, Winnebago-brand RVs (both motorhomes and towables), reporting directly to Huw Bower. He will be responsible for all customer-facing areas of the full-line Winnebago RV business - this will include product management, engineering, sales, marketing, and customer service. Under Hazeltons leadership, the Company will look to drive stronger internal efficiency and incremental value for its channel partners and end consumers by combining its currently separate Winnebago-branded motorhome and towables businesses, while retaining operations in Northern Iowa and Middlebury, Indiana. As a result of these changes, the current leader of the Winnebago-brand towables business, Scott Degnan, will be leaving the organization effective today. Happe continued, Winnebago is the most well-known brand of recreational vehicles in the world, and we believe it is time to bring both the motorhome and towables businesses under that iconic brand together. Brians work over the past four years restructuring the Winnebago-brand motorhome business, and building credibility with our important external stakeholders, make him the ideal candidate to drive one full-line business forward in the future. The leadership strengths of Bower and Hazelton are complementary, and their partnership will significantly benefit our business and our customers. We are very appreciative of the work Scott Degnan has done professionally with Winnebago Industries through the years and wish him the very best in his future endeavors. The moves announced today by Winnebago Industries do not have any impact on the leadership or operating structure of the Companys Grand Design, Newmar and Chris-Craft brands. Winnebago Industries will be releasing its Fiscal Year 2020 year-end and fourth quarter results later in October. About Winnebago Industries Winnebago Industries, Inc. is a leading North American manufacturer of outdoor lifestyle products under the Winnebago, Grand Design, Newmar and Chris-Craft brands, which are used primarily in leisure travel and outdoor recreation activities. The Company builds quality motorhomes, travel trailers, fifth wheel products and boats. Winnebago Industries has multiple facilities in Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota and Florida. The Company's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and traded under the symbol WGO. For access to Winnebago Industries' investor relations material or to add your name to an automatic email list for Company news releases, visit http://investor.wgo.net. Contact: Steve Stuber - Investor Relations - 952-828-8461 - srstuber@wgo.net Media Contact: Sam Jefson - Public Relations Specialist 641-585-6803 - sjefson@wgo.net A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7b49d025-dc22-455c-ad8a-cd3942aca000 Lack of human capital holds back Latin America's growth: IMF report Investment alone will not ensure growth in incomes as human capital is an important factor in realising the benefits of investment, and this could explain the lack of GDP growth in much of Latin America, according to a new report prepared by IMF staff. Lower levels of human capital and productivity are holding back Latin Americas growth, according to a report prepared by Bas B Bakker, Manuk Ghazanchyan, Alex Ho and Vibha Nanda of IMF Western Hemisphere Department. In 1990, Latin Americas average GDP per capita was a little over a quarter of the United States income level, while emerging and developing Asian countries GDP per capita was only 5 per cent. In 2019, Asian countries had grown fourfold, but Latin America was still at the same level. While Asia had twice the investment level of Latin America, the report says that does not fully explain the difference in GDP growth levels. They cite the GDP gains of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe that have even lower levels of investment than Asia, but have achieved faster growth than Latin America. The working paper compares the experiences of these three regions (before Covid-19) and concludes that Latin America is poorer because of lower levels of human capital and productivity, not investment. They have cited the examples of Mexico and Poland. In the last 25 years, Mexico has had more investment (as a per cent of GDP), but its growth per capita has been much slower. What explains that? Productivity of Human Capital Investment does raise income. A higher capital stock per worker increases GDP per capita. But the combination of human capital and productivity is a major contributor for the European country, while often a negative factor for the North American nation. Strong governance and good business climate matter for productivity growth. In countries where property rights are not secure and governance is poor, firms will remain small and productivity low. In well-run countries, successful firms can become large and more efficient, they point out. Cross-country Income Levels The paper says that countries with higher human capital and better governance and business climate tend to be richer than those with low scores on these variables. High human capital alone is not sufficient: our analysis shows that countries become rich only when governance also improves. Mexico has worse readings in both areas than Poland. In general, Latin America scores poorly on both dimensions, compared to advanced countries or emerging Europe, which helps explain why it is relatively poorer, they say. Of course, there are exceptions: Chiles governance ranks well against some advanced economies and is better than most of emerging Asia, they add. The paper argues that countries wont grow faster and close the income gap with richer parts of the world without improving human capital, governance, and business environment. Eastern Europes success In 1989, on the eve of the fall of the Berlin wall, countries behind the Iron Curtain were much poorer than Western Europe. Now, some of them have income levels similar to Spain and Italy. They converged rapidly because their human capital was already similar to Western Europes, while income was much lower in the early 1990s. Strengthening of institutions helped the process, and here the European Union (EU) played an important role. The prospect of EU membership led to more reforms and higher growth. Countries that joined, or worked toward that objective, saw significant improvements, the report points out. Latin America fell behind as it lacked the right combination of high human capital and investment compared to the low-income former communist countries. In fact, in the mid-1990s, GDP per capita was somewhat above what could be expected for the level of human capital. Also, the strong institutional improvement seen in Europe also didnt happen in Latin America. Governance indicators actually deteriorated in many countries. The same factors that hold back growth also make investment less attractive. According to the writers, low investment in Latin America is not the cause, but the result of low growth. Governments solely focused on boosting investment might want to look at the problem from a different perspective, they add. Yes, Id do it again, said Hollingworth, 33. Ive been to jail. Ive got a background. Im not perfect. I would rather go to jail for something like (this). That is something worth going to jail for. Hollingsworth added: And I didnt mean no harm on my horse, at all. Im a horse- (and) animal-loving person. My focus is Kids Lives Matter. And If a person cant agree with that, I dont know what to call you. Its 2020, and YouTube is running a legitimate election information campaign meant to keep American voters informed. Because after 2016, Internet giants are unsurprisingly wary of a laissez-faire approach to the U.S. democratic process. The last one didnt go so well, as some may recall. To be fair, numerous investigations already suggested YouTube wasnt exactly the crux of the issue last time around. On a scale from Pokemon GO to Facebook, it placed somewhere in the middle as far as its popularity among misinformation campaigns is concerned. But a lot has changed since then. Lessons were learned, apologies made oh, and Russia accused YouTube of election meddling. But most importantly, YouTube is no longer content with pretending criminals cant pay for advertising. And cynicism aside, it actually appears to be approaching the November presidential elections fairly prepared. Cue the aforementioned election information campaign thats already live stateside (and might also show up to American users abroad). Advertisement YouTubes election information campaign confirms no one forgot about 2016 For starters, eligible users can expect helpful prompts offering personalized, location-relevant voting information. Covering everything from how to register to vote to actual polling locations. Which covers the need-to-know basis. Well, assuming you managed to stop buying into YouTube conspiracy theories. Those were a pretty big thing last time around. We are yet to reach a number of social media bans issued to Alex Jones that would undo that sad state of affairs. Outside from a strong focus on authorative information, YouTube is also cracking down on misinformation and other potential forms of election meddling. The extent of that initiative is currently unclear, though the company will likely report back after November 3rd. Googles subsidiary is paying special attention to all misinformation efforts concerning mail-in voting. Well, all save for on-the-nose concern trolling coming from the White House. Anyway, you can also expect YouTube to act as sort of news network in the run up to the elections. In other words: there will be highlights, voting reminders, and polling reports to consume. Because YouTube is still in the business of keeping you inside its ecosystem for as long as possible, of course. All election content will be available in both English and Spanish, the company confirmed. This particular move is also not without precedent. In fact, as the likes of Facebook and Twitter already demonstrated, its pretty much the norm as far as Internet companies actively pursuing election transparency are concerned. ECOWAS has so far appeared a step or two behind the situation at each level of mediation, even going back before the coup, said Lebovich. The fact that theyve accepted this outcome without other provisions in place and without even waiting for the designation of a transitional prime minister shows a strong desire to move forward with the transition, even knowing that the (junta) will maintain a high degree of control over the process. Reliance Jio has partnered with Panasonic Avionics Corporation subsidiary, AeroMobile, to launch India's first in-flight services for JioPostpaid Plus. Users will be allowed to stay connected with voice and data services on flights while travelling abroad, Reliance Jio has partnered with Panasonic Avionics Corporation subsidiary, AeroMobile, to launch Indias first in-flight services for JioPostpaid Plus users allowing them to stay connected with voice and data services on flights while travelling abroad, a company statement said here on Friday. According to the statement, the in-flight services will be available to Indians when they travel abroad for now and will be available for all Jio customers once the services are available in the Indian airspace. As the first Indian operator to launch an in-flight roaming bundle, this proposition further cements Jios position as a market innovator and a technology leader, with a highly competitive offering for its nearly 400 million-strong user base, said Reliance Jio statement. Jio Director Akash Ambani said, JioPostpaid Plus brings with it industry-defining and highest-quality user experience, and through our partnership with AeroMobile we will now offer in-flight roaming services at an attractive price. We are delighted to bring this new service to our customers at 20,000 feet, keeping every JioPostpaid Plus user connected, always, said the Jio Director. The in-flight mobile service will be available for users at Rs 499 for 250 MB data, 100 minutes of outgoing calls and 100 messages for a day, while Rs 699 and Rs 999 packs include 500 MB data and 1 GB data respectively with 100 minutes of outgoing calls and 100 messages. Also Read: Farm bills row: Political compulsions behind opposition boycott of LS proceedings, says Speaker Om Birla Also Read: Sushant Singh Rajput death case LIVE news updates: Dharma Productions Anubhav Chopra interrogated by NCB Kevin Rogers, Sr Director Mobility Panasonic Avionics, CEO AeroMobile, said, We are pleased to partner with Jio, and broaden the reach of our connectivity services across India. With the new in-flight roaming bundle, JioPostpaid Plus customers no longer need to worry about connectivity whilst travelling. This new market-leading proposition shows continued commitment to providing the very best service to customers. (ANI) Stocks are set to break even lower before a post-election rally, Bank of America chart analyst says Published Fri, Sep 25 2020 11:54 AM EDT BEIJING, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SENSORO (Beijing SENSORO Technology Co., Ltd.,), has just been included in the 2020 APAC 25 list produced by Cleantech Group, a global provider of research, consulting and events to catalyze opportunities in sustainable innovation. The APAC 25 is a list of independent companies from the Asia Pacific region engaged in sustainable innovation that are viewed by the market as likely to have significant impact in a five-to-ten-year time frame. Cleantech Group put together the third annual list of 25 companies through a combination of APAC-related inputs from the annual Global Cleantech 100 process and detailed contributions from an APAC 25 expert panel. The companies on the list had the strongest patterns of agreement across all the input points and were scored the highest. "Based on the intelligent service system with core technology and service innovation, SENSORO embed city-level sensing communication chipset into various kinds of sensors, which get through channel of urban infrastructure data such as water, electricity, coal, gas, fire combined with real-time information such as camera video, meteorology, hydrology, etc., to construct digital files and information maps and provide information for personnel, vehicles, houses units, facilities, organizations and events. Seconds-level analysis is carried out to realize perception and urban computing overall which brings strong recognition, analysis and algorithm ability for urban governance and development, innovating from traditional governance to data-driven artificial intelligence era," SENSORO says. Members of the APAC 25 expert panel play an important role in creating the list. Each provides between three and nine nominations, no more than a third of which can be portfolio companies (in the case of investors). Expert panelists can weight their nominations, and all nominations are blind (no expert sees the other panelists' nominations). These nominations are then combined with the outcomes from the Global Cleantech 100 process, which benefits from thousands of data points. "The Asia Pacific region will dominate some of the new industries and supply chains that will emerge from global mega-trends such as alternative proteins, electrification and new mobility, to name but three," said Richard Youngman, CEO of Cleantech Group. "It will also be a leader in digitalization, given its weight of population and the size of its industrial base. Both dynamics are borne out in our third annual APAC 25 list of rising star innovation companies from around the region." About SENSORO Founded in 2014, China, SENSORO is a global intelligent service provider, mainly focusing on R&D of IoT chipset, city-level scale IoT communication network, and intelligent service systems. At present, SENSORO intelligent solution has created benchmarking cases in Beijing and applied to more than 160 cities in China, such as Yichang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Ningbo and so on. It has made rich achievements in the fields of digital administrative & intelligent governance, and people's livelihood. SENSORO AIoT mode of innovation and application are also influencing the intelligent construction and development of "One Belt and One Road" Initiative countries and cities such as Kampuchea, South Africa etc. SENSORO has established cooperative relations with more than 65 countries and regions and its international influence has been continuously improved. Website: www.sensoro.com SOURCE Beijing SENSORO Technology Co. Ltd. Laredo Sector Border Patrol said agents have intercepted more than 240 immigrants in an array of human smuggling attempts. The most recent case occurred Thursday evening when agents from the Laredo West Station observed a pickup truck pulling a horse trailer in a ranch south of the checkpoint on US 83. Agents said they approached the vehicle and discovered 25 individuals inside the horse trailer and three more inside the pickup truck. All were Mexican citizens who had crossed the border illegally. Authorities discovered that the pickup was reported stolen. The Texas Department of Public Safety took over the pickup and the trailer. This latest incident is just one of eight smuggling events intercepted by Laredo Sector agents in the last seven days, Border Patrol said. In those eight events, a total of 242 smuggled (immigrants) were taken into custody after they were encountered being smuggled in commercial tractor-trailers, box trucks, agriculture and fuel containers, a horse trailer, and a travel trailer. None of these individuals were wearing personal protective equipment at the time of their arrest, in spite of being placed in close quarters. This alarming practice not only places the smuggled (immigrants) in danger of COVID-19 infection, but also poses a definite health risk to our country. It is because of these health risk concerns that we encourage the people in our community to continue helping us stem this dangerous practice. If you see something, please say something. To report suspicious activity such as human or drug smuggling, download the USBP Laredo Sector app or contact the Laredo Sector Border Patrol toll free at 1-800-343-1994. I dont understand women. But every now and then, it doesnt hurt for me to get a reminder that neither do I understand what its like to be a woman. Especially a professional woman making her way in what is still for the most part, in 2020 a mans world. The reality checks might come from my wife or sister, and they are like sharp elbows into my ribs. I recently got a similar jab from listening to tales about the extraordinary life of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. First, Im not blind to the idea that some people have advantages. Its just that Im not used to thinking of myself as advantaged. As a Mexican American, Im sure that my life would have been easier and after 30 years in journalism, Id be further along and more successful if Id had been born a white male. Ive had some breaks, and Ive made my mark. Ive been to The Show, and Im truly blessed. But Ive had to scratch and claw for every achievement, without the starter fuel of white privilege. In my business, its not just that white men dont have to put up with bosses thinking they have an agenda on issues such as immigration or readers who think anyone with a Spanish surname wants an open border. Its also that a lot of white men in journalism today got a head start because their mother or father was in this business 50 years ago when journalism and media were even whiter than they are now. I never had that hook. My dad was a police officer, and my mom was an office clerk. My grandparents were farmworkers. Still, as Ginsburgs life story reminds me, Ive always had one edge going for me: male privilege. Through no effort on his part, my son will also have that secret sauce working in his favor. My daughters wont be so lucky; throughout their lives, theyll compete with boys and men who as the saying goes were born on third base but act like they hit a triple. My girls will have to stomach it when after striving to be better than the opposite sex they lose a job or a promotion that goes instead to a man who is mediocre at best. Ginsburg knew that feeling. As she often shared with audiences, despite graduating No. 1 in her law school class in 1959, she couldnt get a job at any law firm in New York City. The fact that she was the mother of a 4-year-old convinced the men who ran the legal profession that she wouldnt take seriously her professional duties. As a man, albeit one of a different generation, let me just say: What a bunch of morons! You can bet they never said anything like that to the men they hired who happened to be fathers. Ginsburg learned this lesson about women stepping aside in favor of mediocre men early in life. That very thing happened within her own family, she was told. Ginsburgs mother had to defer her dreams for her brother. Her mother was the brains in the family, Ginsburgs daughter, Jane Ginsburg, told CBS News Erin Moriarty recently. But her parents wanted her to go out and work, even before finishing high school, because there was a boy in the family and money had to be made so that he could go to college. The story stuck with the future Supreme Court justice. Seeing a less-qualified male preferred to a deserving woman was something that marked her from a very early age, Jane Ginsburg said of her mom. Even when Ruth Bader Ginsburg went to Cornell University, in the early 1950s, it was understood that the main reason most young women went to college was to earn a Mrs. degree. Ginsburg did meet her husband in college, but she also continued her education. She attended Harvard Law School, transferring to earn her law degree at Columbia University when her husband got a job in New York. Today, despite all the lecherous behavior by men brought to light by the #MeToo movement, Id like to think that women face less overt sexism than their mothers did. There are many more opportunities. Women can do anything men can do, and they often do it better. All without the protective cloak of male privilege. Its because they constantly put in the effort that, so often, theyre better, smarter and stronger than men. When it comes to women, that much I do understand. ruben@rubennavarrette.com But in the 2019 general election, 6.4 percent of the 3,086 absentee ballots cast in Philadelphia alone were rejected because of missing inner envelopes. That same percentage would have resulted in about 11,211 naked ballots in the 2020 primary, Deeley said, adding that the number is likely to be a low estimate because of the increase in the number of people voting absentee for the first time in that election. VATICAN CITY - Before Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, only a few other cardinals over a century had been similarly pushed out - and they had all gone away quietly. But Friday, with Vatican insiders still trying to make sense of what happened, Becciu called a news conference just beyond St. Peter's Square and offered his version of events, saying he had been accused by the pope of embezzlement and other financial wrongdoing in a "surreal" 20-minute conversation. Becciu said the pope had told him, "I no longer have trust in you." "I became white in the face," said Becciu, who had been head of the church's saint-making department. The Vatican has long tried to keep its intrigue and scandals under wraps, and the church's initial, terse announcement Thursday night about Becciu's resignation provided no explanation about what had happened. But Becciu, while still declaring loyalty to the pope, divulged details Friday of a complicated financial saga, and described the accusations against him while also strenuously denying wrongdoing. "I do not understand why I am accused," Becciu said. Becciu not only stepped down from his day-to-day position, but also renounced his rights as a cardinal. The last time the pope levied a similar punishment came in 2015, when Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien faced a series of sexual misconduct accusations. Becciu, 72, had been three years shy of the typical retirement age for cardinals, and will not be able to participate in future conclaves. He arrived at the news conference without the traditional cardinal's cassock or cap, but still wore the standard necklace with a pectoral cross. "It's a little strange, no?" Becciu said as he began. Becciu's name has surfaced in several financial scandals, including the Vatican's purchase of a London investment property that had allegedly helped to enrich the middlemen. But on Friday, Becciu described a separate case involving the donations of church money to Becciu's home diocese in Sardinia, where the cardinal's brother is the head of a charitable arm. Becciu said he was being accused of "aiding and abetting my family, my brother." "I did not make my family wealthy," Becciu said, suggesting that people visit and see their cars and houses. "They are like they used to be." The alleged activity came when Becciu served as the No. 2 official in the Holy See's powerful Secretariat of State, a position he held from 2011 to 2018, before Francis named him a cardinal. Becciu said the pope had received information about the case from Vatican prosecutors. Before his resignation, Becciu had met frequently with Francis, and was one of the most prominent eminences inside the city-state's walls. But he had also been a central figure in behind-the-scenes intrigue, reportedly standing in the way of attempted revamping of the Vatican's finances. Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican's former chief economic official, who returned to Australia to fight sexual abuses charges in court, said in a statement Friday that Francis had been elected to clean up the Vatican's finances, and suggested that removing Becciu was a way to make progress. "[The pope] plays a long game and is to be thanked and congratulated on recent developments," Pell said. The remains of a U.S. soldier in a flag-draped coffin at a repatriation ceremony in Hanoi, September 24, 2020. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. Vietnam has returned a set of remains suspected to belong to a missing American soldier from the Vietnam War to the U.S. A repatriation ceremony was held at the Military Forensic Institute in Hanoi Thursday, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The remains were found during a routine search between July and September, it added. The remains have been examined by Vietnamese forensic experts who said they could be related to U.S. soldiers. The remains will be transferred to the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency's laboratory in Hawaii for further tests. The search for missing U.S. soldiers' remains from the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975, has been an ongoing humanitarian activity by Vietnam since 1988. Scores of soldiers' remains have been repatriated since 1973. An estimated 1,200 Americans are still unaccounted for. Four companies located at Mahul --- considered to be Mumbais gas chamber -- have started complying with their pollution abatement commitments that were made under the Maharashtra environment departments action plan, state environment minister Aaditya Thackeray has said. Residents of the Mahul-Trombay industrial area have been demanding their rehabilitation for the past two years on health grounds because of severe air pollution. The air pollution is being caused by emissions from refineries and thermal power plants that operate in Mahul-Trombay industrial area. Earlier, though several court orders had directed a reduction in emissions caused due to logistic services, storing oil, gas and chemical items, and oil companies releasing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during loading, storage and unloading of hazardous chemicals, the directives were not adhered to. Also Read: Environment group challenges green clearance renewal request for Navi Mumbai International Airport Industrial firms such as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), Aegis Logistics Ltd (ALL), and SeaLord Containers Limited (SLCL), a subsidiary of ALL), had all agreed to a series of measures proposed by the state environment department during a meeting in February, where an action plan was proposed. Nitrogen blanketing -- a method of applying nitrogen gas to the vapour space or top layer of a container carrying chemicals to control its composition and reduce oxygen access to curb emission -- bottom filling of trucks to ensure liquid does not spill out, constructing a parking area to avoid congestion of vehicles, developing a green belt, and granting permission to park vehicles on the Eastern Freeway during non-peak hours for smoother vehicular movement and curbing spillage were some of the measures that the action plan had proposed. Also Read: Farm fires growing in Punjab, plumes of smoke seen over Delhi in satellite images On Thursday, the state environment department met four agencies -- the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) authorities -- to review the pollution control targets. As per the updates received, nitrogen blanketing has been completed by three of the four firms, said Thackeray. Most companies have adhered to bottom filling of trucks, except for a few truck companies. I have asked the MPCB authorities to review it within a month. A parking area will be provided by MMRDA and the process is near completion. The BMC will undertake a green belt development programme in this zone, and traffic permissions have been granted to reduce congestion of vehicular traffic, he added. The minister added that 90% of the pollution norms were being followed, and compliance for the rest is expected soon. However, we need to understand why the area is unfit for human habitation, said Thackeray. In February, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) had transferred 300 of its available flats at Gorai to rehabilitate residents from Mahul following an order from the state government. So far, 202 flats have been handed over to residents from Mahul, who have shifted to Gorai, said Bilal Khan, a social activist. In August, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had termed the Mahul-Chembur area as Mumbais gas chamber while directing the four industrial firms to pay 286.2 crore as environmental compensation due to air pollution damages. However, the companies have challenged the order and moved the Supreme Court (SC). A map of Mahul. Residents of Ambapada and Mahul Koliwada have complained to the NGT about a foul stench emanating in the area around midnight daily and the source of the noxious substance is reportedly originating at an industrial area, which is located 10 minutes away from these villages. (Sourced) As per NGTs order, a 10-member joint committee was constituted in September to prepare a separate action plan for pollution reduction over the next five years and address the health hazards of the residents of Mahulgaon, Ambapada and its surrounding areas due to severe air pollution, MPCB authorities said. The committee members met for the first time on Wednesday. The basic framework for the action plan and how it needs to be implemented was discussed during the meeting and the final plan will be drafted soon, said PK Mirashe, assistant secretary (technical), MPCB. The committee is headed by Justice VM Kanade, a former judge of the Bombay high court (HC). The other members of the panel comprise two officials from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), a representative from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), an MPCB member as the nodal agency, Maharashtra health secretary, Mumbai district collector, and representatives from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay and King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital in Parel. Residents of Ambapada and Mahul Koliwada have complained to the NGT about a foul stench emanating in the area around midnight daily and the source of the noxious substance is reportedly originating at an industrial area, which is located 10 minutes away from these villages. The stench comes from the SeaLord industrial area. We have filed several complaints with the MPCB and CPCB authorities, but they have only responded through emails. They are yet to make a site visit, said Devram Mahulkar, one of the applicants before the NGT. We have also requested Thackeray to meet the residents of Mahul and take cognisance of the grievances that we have been raising in court, he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The panel chief of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) forensic team investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput has dismissed claims by the actors family lawyer, Vikas Singh. The lawyer had claimed to have been told by a member of the AIIMS team that Sushant was strangled. Cant make an opinion by seeing marks, the AIIMS panel chief Sudhir Gupta said, according to Times Now. No conclusions have been drawn so far, and the team has asked for patience. Sushants death is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation, after the Mumbai Police in its initial probe concluded that the actor had died by suicide. Dr Gupta said, No conclusion or conclusion opinion of homicide or suicide could be made by seeing ligature marks and scene of occurrence. Its difficult for doctors and next to impossible for general people, needed solely internal link discretion and forensic interpretation. Sushants father has filed an FIR against the actors girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, accusing her of abetment to suicide and misappropriation of funds. Lawyer Vikas Singh had earlier in the day expressed frustration at the delay in the charges against Rhea to be changed from abetment to murder. Also read: Sushant Singh Rajput doubted sisters motives, felt they were only after his money: Rhea Chakraborty in bail plea Hed written in a tweet, Getting frustrated by the delay in CBI taking a decision to convert abetment to suicide to Murder of SSR. The Doctor who is part of AIIMS team had told me long back that the photos sent by me indicated 200% that its death by strangulation and not suicide. The tweet was also shared by the actors sister Shweta Singh Kirti, We have been so patient for so long! How long will it take to find the truth? We have been so patient for so long! How long will it take to find the truth? #SSRDeathCase https://t.co/Vn5R62a0SY Shweta Singh Kirti (@shwetasinghkirt) September 25, 2020 Getting frustrated by the delay in CBI taking a decision to convert abetment to suicide to Murder of SSR. The Doctor who is part of AIIMS team had told me long back that the photos sent by me indicated 200% that its death by strangulation and not suicide. Vikas Singh (@vikassinghSrAdv) September 25, 2020 Rhea is currently in judicial custody at Byculla Jail, after she was arrested for allegedly procuring drugs for Sushant. The drugs angle in the case was uncovered by the Enforcement Directorate, which found evidence tying Rhea and her brother Showik to the purchase of drugs, while investigating their financial activities. The Bombay High Court will conduct a hearing on the bail requests made by Rhea and Showik on September 29, according to news agency ANI. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON To get intel about Russian Forces in the Black Sea, Air Force bombers will draw out. Part of the operation will be five NATO spy planes to get the information needed from the Russian sortie. Last August, a flight of six U.S. B-52s that came from an American AFB in North Dakota went to the Royal Air Force Base in Fairford. They intentionally attracted the attention of the Russians located in the Black Sea that will have another intelligence trap to monitor Russian assets. Last Wednesday, one of the B-52s (Hero 31 call sign) intentionally crosses from international to airspace over the Black Sea close to Ukraine and Romanian coasts. It drew the attention of Ukrainian MiG-29s and Su-27 interceptors in a heartbeat, reported Forbes. Sources report that the bomber simulated an attack run on Odessa, then diverted to Romanian. The U.S. Strategic Command made a tweet on Wednesday, saying, "Our team from @TeamMinot has been busy!". Covering the bomber approach into the Russian zones, they were under monitor from five high-tech NATO spy planes. They were monitoring all activity that came from the commotion of interceptors, as Russian units went on red alert and scrambled. All planes dispersed over the international waters in the Black Sea. All the activities intel kept track of. But whether the Russians know they were baited is left to be seen. Spy planes that took part in the intel-gathering mission are two RC-135Ws, one from the U.S. Air Force, USAF RC-135U, U.S. Navy P-8, and a Royal Air Force Sentinel. All the reconnaissance planes were sending their coordinates with radio transponders, which can be tracked by civilian websites too. Also read: Russia and India Make a Deal to Build the MiG-35 in India and Transfer Technology These intel and recon planes offer a host of data collection capabilities with equipment just made for that purpose. Take the RC-135 their electronic sensors that monitor radar and electronic signals. Under the P-8 is one of the best onboard sensors on any plane and radar on its belly to track ships or vehicles on the surface. For the Sentinel, it is similar to the P-8, with tracking radar. All together, the five-intel gathering planes place detects Russian vehicles, seek out anti-air defenses like surface to air missiles. Lastly, is to spy on Russian radio activity. There is no indication of the Russian reaction to the bomber fight last Wednesday. Hero 31 straddled Ukraine and Romanian air space as it crossed the territory. In the mission with Fairford B-52s, Russians opened their over the horizon radars and sent fighters from Crimea with a radio-relay plane coming from Moscow. During the B-52 intercept, one Su-27s came close enough to one of the bombers. Afterburners on rocked one of the bombers that was close enough. According to Gen. Sergei Vladimirovich Surovikin, the action taken by the Russian air force is a timely reaction to the purpose of the NATO bomber in restricted air space to enact the most effective countermeasures. If the five NATO spy planes can do this, it is not farfetched the Russians will set up some similar of their own. Related article: Boeing Offering Super Hornet to the Indian Navy and Air Force @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. COLUMBIA The University of South Carolina board told accreditors the issues that led to rebukes about outside influence and lax hiring procedures in the turbulent 2019 search for a new president have been fixed. USC released its Sept. 8 monitoring report to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges late Friday afternoon. That's less than two weeks before accreditors will interview university leadership on Oct. 7-8. The commission will use the report and the interviews to decide whether USC needs continued scrutiny. Losing accreditation is a death penalty for colleges because they can no longer offer student federal financial aid or receive federal research grants. USC avoided major sanctions by accreditors, commonly known as SACS, after officials last year found problems when trustees hired retired West Point Superintendent Bob Caslen. Critics including board members as well as students and faculty who held protests felt the retired three-star general did not have enough academic experience to run a state flagship college. They also were unhappy that Gov. Henry McMaster, an ex-officio member of USC's board, called trustees to hire Caslen. Accreditors said McMaster's lobbying amounted to "undue influence." SACS also found the school needed to shore up its procedures in picking a new president to avoid outside meddling. If USC addressed those issues, SACS said it could take the university off its watch list. For their part, the USC trustee group said they know things went wrong in the search and is willing to "police itself." "The Board of Trustees acknowledges that inadequate policies and procedures, inattention to policies and procedures, and incomplete understanding among Trustees of their individual and collective fiduciary duties prompted a crisis that affected many (if not all) within the USC System community," the school's monitoring report read. It added the board "is committed to demonstrating both the will and the ability to implement change that will restore the publics trust and stabilize the Board." The board felt it "exceed the expectations" of accreditors by passing several changes to the board structure and bylaws after meeting with consultants from the Association of Governing Boards. The consultants said it found a board that was fundamentally misguided and a consistent threat to the schools reputation because of the intrusion of politics, a depiction some trustees bristled against but still led to changes. USC's board now includes formal new member orientation and continuing education as well as an oath of office. The board also has a new governance committee to oversee its rules. Trustees added a more formal and detailed code of conduct that reminds them to "keep the mission of the University System and its individual campuses as the focal point of all policy decisions and be mindful of statewide policy agendas as a framework for their actions." The board also reworked who sits on a presidential search committee. Trustees still account for the bulk of the panel but the board added more representation from other USC campuses. The search committee, however, no longer includes leaders from the school's alumni association and foundations. The board added requiring trustees reveal when someone is trying to influence them during a search. "While we have made good progress, the board recognizes there is still much that needs to be done, and we look forward to our continued work on this matter, USC Board Chairman Dorn Smith said in a statement. Caslen, who is credited with helping convince SACS officials to give the university a chance to fix its problems and received mostly positive reviews for his first year in office, said "we will work tirelessly to maintain this important accreditation. Kirk Sides / Staff Photographer As Friendswood residents reflect on effects of Tropical Storm Beta, a massive flood-control project on Clear Creek in the city is more than halfway completed. The city and Galveston County Consolidated Drainage District continue to make progress on the Imperial Estates Detention Project, which aims to add 33 acres and 1,200 acre-feet of rainwater capacity in the city. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 3, 2018. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Sen. Doug Jones Says He Will Not Support Supreme Court Nominee Before Election Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), considered one of the most vulnerable senators, said he will not support a Supreme Court nominee before the election. I regret that I will not support the confirmation of any Supreme Court justice nominee, regardless of who it might be before the outcome of the Nov. 3 election has been determined, Jones stated in a Facebook Live event. Jones previously said that he might be willing to support President Donald Trumps nominee before November. He will face off against Trump-backed GOP candidate Tommy Tuberville. Jones won the Senate seat in 2017 in a special election, filling former Sen. Jeff Sessionss (R-Ala.) seat. Jones was the first Democrat to represent Alabama in the upper chamber in decades. In that election, Jones defeated Republican Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore in December after women alleged that Moore was engaged in sexual misconduct. Tuberville took the opportunity to criticize Jones over his decision. President @realDonaldTrump previously released a list of proven conservatives he would consider for the court, Tuberville wrote on Twitter. And I can guarantee that Doug Jones opposes every one of them, including the female candidates and the two Alabamians, Bill Pryor and Kevin Newsome. Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), considered another moderate Democrat, said he also will not support nominating anyone before the November election. Among Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), both said they want to wait until after the election is over before a Supreme Court nomination is held. However, Murkowski later loosened her stance and said she would not rule out voting to confirm the presidents nominee. I know everybody wants to ask the question, Will you confirm the nominee? she told reporters near the Capitol. We dont have a nominee yet. You and I dont know who that is. And so I cant confirm whether or not I can confirm a nominee when I dont know who the nominee is. Last week, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at age 87 after a bout with cancer. Trump said he will nominate a new Supreme Court justice on Saturday at 5 p.m. Sadly, what was then a hypothetical is now our reality, but my position has not changed, Murkowski also said. I did not support taking up a nomination eight months before the 2016 election to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Justice Scalia. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) this week announced he will vote in favor of Trumps pick, giving Republicans a slight edge. President Donald Trump attacked Fox News polls Friday after they showed him trailing Joe Biden in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Ohio Of particular concern is Ohio, where the former vice president leads Trump 50-45 in Ohio It was the third September poll that has Trump down there President Donald Trump on Friday attacked new Fox News polls that have him trailing Joe Biden in battlegrounds Nevada and Pennsylvania as well as key Republican-tilting prize Ohio. The president resumed his long-running feud with the network's polling unit on Twitter. It called it 'one of the worst polls in 2016.' ADVERTISEMENT 'They were so ridiculously wrong. Fox said they were going to change pollsters, but they didnt. They totally over sample Democrats to a point that a child could see what is going on.' Then he tipped his hat to his favorite polling unit, Rasmussen. 'Rasmussen, which was accurate, at 52%,' the president wrote. The latest Rasmussen has Trump trailing Democrat Joe Biden, who leads 48 to 47. 'Democratic nominee Joe Biden is back in the lead, just barely,' John Rasmussen's polling firm wrote in its weekly memo. Of greater concern to the Trump camp are national polls that have the president trailing are developments. Trump attacked Fox News after its polls showed him down in three key states Click here to resize this module Those polls, released Thursday, had the former vice president leading Trump 50-45 in Ohio. Ohio is a must-win for Trump, particularly as he battles Biden in Florida, where polls have been tight. Trump carried both states in 2016. The Fox polls showed Biden cementing or expanding leads in both Nevada and Pennsylvania. In both states, Biden was running up big leads among younger and older voters, as well as Hispanics a key voting group in Nevada. ADVERTISEMENT A Quinnipiac University poll on Ohio also had Biden leading, by a statistically insignificant 48 to 47 per cent. Biden's lead averages 3 per cent in Ohio when looking at all three September polls including one form Rasmussen that also has him down. Election Commission of India (ECI) will announce the dates for Bihar assembly election 2020 in a press conference scheduled at 12.30pm on Friday. The polls to elect a new 243-member assembly are likely to be held in October. They will be held in more than one phase, keeping in mind the Covid-19 guidelines and social distancing norms. These elections are first to be conducted since the outbreak of Covid-19. The ECI has issued a set of strict guidelines for the polls. Hand gloves shall be provided to all the electors for signing on the voter register and pressing button of EVM for voting, it said, adding that face masks, sanitizers, thermal scanners, gloves, face shields and personal protective equipment kits shall be used during the electoral process ensuring social distancing norms. Electors will stand six feet-apart at polling booths, in line with health ministry guidelines. Soap, water and hand sanitizers will be made available at the entry point. Thermal scanning will also be conducted at all polling booths. Xtalks Life Science Webinars From concerns surrounding regulatory acceptance to defining digital endpoints and deployment plans and digital data collection, there are many factors to consider before incorporating new tools and processes into a clinical trial. Many drug development sponsors are interested in understanding how a digital biomarker strategy can improve patient-centricity their trial. However, may feel uncertain about where and sometimes even why to start. From concerns surrounding regulatory acceptance to defining digital endpoints and deployment plans and digital data collection, there are many factors to consider before incorporating new tools and processes into a clinical trial. This educational webinar is ideal for drug development sponsors that want to learn about the role of digital biomarkers in clinical trials and hear from several thought leaders as they discuss the key concerns with digital biomarker technologies, their implementation and regulatory acceptance. With a focus on strategic design and considerations for creating digital endpoints as part of an overarching deployment plan, the presenters will also cover many of the key pillars in the adoption and implementation of digital devices in a todays new normal with decentralized or hybrid clinical trial elements. Register today to be a part of this timely and highly relevant discussion that will also offer attendees a chance to pose their own questions and get real-time responses from several thought leaders. Join Jennifer Goldsack, MChem, MA, MBA, Executive Director, Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), Christian Knaus, Senior Director, Client Development, SnapIoT Inc., Cristina Green, Executive Director, Decentralized Clinical Trials, Covance and Jane Myles , Director, Decentralized Trials Implementation, Covance in a live webinar on Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 10am EDT (3pm BST/UK). For more information or to register for this event, visit Defining, Designing and Deploying Digital Biomarkers in Clinical Trials. ABOUT XTALKS Xtalks, powered by Honeycomb Worldwide Inc., is a leading provider of educational webinars to the global life science, food and medical device community. Every year thousands of industry practitioners (from life science, food and medical device companies, private & academic research institutions, healthcare centers, etc.) turn to Xtalks for access to quality content. Xtalks helps Life Science professionals stay current with industry developments, trends and regulations. Xtalks webinars also provide perspectives on key issues from top industry thought leaders and service providers. To learn more about Xtalks visit http://xtalks.com For information about hosting a webinar visit http://xtalks.com/why-host-a-webinar/ Nigerias Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has provided further details on how 1.7 million Nigerians and businesses will benefit from a recently launched N75 billion Survival Fund. Mr Osinbajo explained this on Thursday while reeling out how the funds would lift struggling businesses from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. He said this during a virtual interactive session organised by the Africa Report magazine. The details of the vice presidents speech at the event were sent to PREMIUM TIMES by his spokesperson, Laolu Akande, on Friday. Initiative The Nigerian government, on Monday, through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, launched an online platform for the nationwide implementation of two Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) initiatives. They are the MSME Survival Fund with the payroll support track as the first scheme to rollout (N60 billion); and the Guaranteed Offtake Scheme (N15 billion) to help cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government said the scheme will be implemented over three months. The scheme is part of the N2.3 trillion stimulus package of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP). Breakdown Mr Osinbajo gave a break down of how the money will be spent. The vice president said about 1.7 million individuals and small businesses will benefit from both schemes. He said the grant would include a free business name registration for about 250,000 persons, and payroll support for about 500,000 qualified beneficiaries. He also said, artisans and transporters, would be given grants to support their businesses and it will cover about 333, 000 of such artisans and transporters. Mr Osinbajo assured Nigerians of the governments commitment to effectively implement the scheme. A couple of days ago, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, launched the Survival Fund. The Fund includes payroll support for about 500, 000 beneficiaries and the plan is to take qualifying businesses who have a minimum of 10 employees and pay salaries of those staff for three months. The portal was opened about three days ago and there has been a massive response to it. Payroll support is one important way that we intend to support small scale businesses. We are also giving artisans and transporters, grants to support their businesses and it will cover about 333, 000 of such artisans and transporters. There is also a free business name registration that we are doing for 250, 000 persons who wish to register their businesses. We are looking at 1.3 million beneficiaries under the Survival Fund and under the artisans and transporters grants. Then we have a Guaranteed Off-take Scheme. Under this programme, basically, if you manufacture certain items and food products, we will buy them from you. Our target is about 300, 000 of such producers of foods. Both schemes will benefit about 1.7 million individuals and small businesses. Speaking further about the effective implementation of the schemes, the vice president said measures are being put in place to ensure that the target beneficiaries are impacted positively. He also said, We are trying to get everything going. The financing is not the immediate problem, the important thing is organising the beneficiaries and ensuring that the support gets to them. It is more the nitty-gritty of ensuring that this money gets to those for whom it is meant. On the agriculture component of the plan, the vice president said the programme is on course as 2 million farmers across the country have already been certified to benefit from the programme which aims to create jobs and guarantee food sufficiency. We are hoping that we can become a net exporter, at the moment we are the biggest producers of yam and cassava in the world. And through this mass agriculture programme, we hope to become a net exporter of some of the products that we are focused on. So, a key factor of the programme is that there is guarantee off-take for farmers, Mr Osinbajo added. CLEVELAND, Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, in a rare break with GOP President Donald Trump, pushed back on Trumps refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power in the event he loses the upcoming election. Trump, asked by reporters on Wednesday, said he would have to see what happens with election results before committing to the political norm, insinuating that the only way he could lose the election is if it wasnt legitimate. Portman on Thursday tweeted his disagreement with that stance, although as he typically does when approaching criticism of the president did not mention Trump by name. Throughout Americas history, the peaceful transition of power has been a hallmark of our democracy, Portman wrote in a series of tweets. This year, both candidates must commit to abiding by the results, no matter the outcome. Under our system, the American people decide through their votes and the political leaders follow the will of the people. The peaceful transfer of power is essential to this constitutional guarantee and must be protected. Despite Portmans framing of both candidates, Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden has never said he would not accept the results of the election. Trumps comments from the White House briefing room came as a shock to many, even for a president who routinely says shocking things. The peaceful transition of power and acceptance of the election results have endured throughout the history of the United States. Most elected officials view it as a duty to validate the will of the American people and not plunge the government into chaos. Unwillingness to accept the results could result in a constitutional crisis and further drive a wedge into the country, already divided along partisan lines. Trumps comments were met with widespread condemnation, including some Republicans who, like Portman, said a peaceful transition would happen, though avoided criticizing Trump directly. Net overseas migration, which the federal government said was slowing before the pandemic, is now expected to collapse from 154,000 last financial year to just 31,000 in 2020-21. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this week gave an insight into what this meant for the budget. He said the nation's future population would now be smaller and older than previously assumed with net migration movement out of Australia now likely to be negative both this financial year and next. "While migration will eventually return to the levels we are accustomed to, lost migrants will not be replaced," he said. "And given our migrant workers tend, on average, to be younger, this will lower labour force participation and average hours worked across the economy into the future." Migration accounts for about 60 per cent of Australia's population growth. The rest is natural increase - births minus deaths. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week showed in March the country experienced its smallest natural increase in the population in 14 years. It was caused by a combination of the smallest number of newborns since March 2009 and the largest number of deaths for the quarter on record. Deaths will continue to grow - a factor of the larger number of people in the country and the ageing population. Loading If migration is falling, then the only way to offset the increase in deaths is via more babies. The 2019-20 budget assumed the nation's fertility rate would climb from a 15-year low of 1.78 to 1.9 and remain there for decades to come. Instead, new modelling commissioned by the government forecasts fertility will drop to an all-time low of 1.59 this financial year, recover a little around 2024 but then continue its downward trend to a little over 1.6 by the end of the decade. The difference between what the budget is built upon and what the government now expects equates to 56,000 fewer births every year out to 2024. That's a city the size of NSW regional centre Wagga Wagga every year in missing bubs. Dr Allen says the drop in fertility is not necessarily something to worry about on its own. Dr Liz Allen says the pandemic is "going to cause a ripple that will be felt for years". Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "But when you look at in the broader context then there are a number of alarm bells that are really ringing," she says. "The COVID outbreak is going to cause a ripple that will be felt for years." According to Dr Allen, fertility rates were already an issue before the pandemic. Loading Substantial economic barriers confront women who might want a larger family, most clearly around childcare and the long-term impact on their careers when they take time away from work around birth. Drawing a line from Whitney Houston's 1980s anthem Greatest Love Of All, Dr Allen says if "children are our future" then the community and governments have to do far more. "Children are indeed our future. They're our future taxpayers," she says. "Policies already favour older Australians. Lower fertility [and reduced migration] means as a community we're going to get older and that will just mean more policy support for older people at the expense of younger people. Loading "The young, and women, have borne the brunt of COVID and it could get even worse." Recessions and economic dislocations always shock the creation of families. Births fell during the start of the last century as the federation drought slowed the economy. Between 1914 and 1918, when hundreds of thousands of men were out of the country because of World War I, birth numbers also fell. And then between 1928 and 1934, during the start and then depths of the Great Depression, the number of babies born crashed by more than 18 per cent. Outside of these events has been a global change towards family size. Between 1950 and 2017, the global fertility rate fell by 49 per cent. Research funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found from 4.7 live births per woman in 1950 the fertility rate had reached 2.4 live births per woman 67 years later. Every one of the 195 countries examined in the study had experienced a fall in fertility rates, although at 7.1 the rate in the African nation of Niger remains extraordinarily high. Britain's Office of National Statistics says there is a series of inter-connected reasons for the fall in fertility rates. Improved access to contraception (which in itself is connected to higher levels of education for women), a sharp drop in the mortality rate for children under 5, and women delaying having babies until an older age - especially in richer nations - are all major contributory factors to falling fertility rates. All that before the deepest global economic downturn since the 1930s. Laura Mehew and her husband can afford to look after one child but say economic circumstances mean they're not planning to have a second. Credit:Rhett Wyman The human face of that economic impact is Sydney couple Laura Mehew, and her husband Cheyne, both 30, who had their first child Tessa nine months ago. Trying to pay off a mortgage, Laura took a contract job while pregnant, but then lost it after maternity leave due to the pandemic. The couple's income halved, forcing them to dip into Laura's superannuation. They've also had financial support from Laura's parents who loaned money saved for a cancelled overseas holiday. "We try not to live week-to-week. We have a budget and put money away for bills - but baby products are expensive," she said. The Australian economy was once said to have ridden on the back of sheep to prosperity, but for 30 years the country has surfed a wave of population growth to economic success. The coronavirus pandemic may have delivered a long-lasting wipe-out. - Responding to a fan who asked her if she and Jowie were no longer together, Ella said they were still going strong - Jowie also confirmed that all was okay in his kingdom after commenting on a post by Urbannews254 saying, "Exactly" - The couple went viral after unfollowing each other and deleted photos of each other from their Instagram accounts - Days later, the mother of one took to her Instagram account and shared a hot bedroom video showing she was enjoying time with the love of her life PAY ATTENTION: Click 'See First' under 'Follow' Tab to see Tuko.co.ke news on your FB Days after speculations went around that Eleanor Musangi and Joseph Irungu alias Jowie had called it quits, the model has denied the rumours. Ella and Jowie unfollowed each other on their social media pages, something that left their loyal fans worried. READ ALSO: Kenyans puzzled after spotting Vera Sidika looking dark again READ ALSO: Actress Wilbroda says her ex-lover asked her to pack and leave while their baby was months old Ella confirmed that her divine marriage was still intact after a fan took to her comment section seeking clarification. "I Love you queen Ellah hope what I saw yesterday on blogs is not true . I love this couple wholeheartedly God intervene, please," wrote lilianksa2020gmail.com9. Responding to the comment, the beauty wrote: "We are still as strong as ever". Jowie also confirmed that all was well while commenting on an Instagram post by Urbannews254 saying: "Exactly" READ ALSO: Mario Balotelli engaged to stunning TV star Alessia Messina Ella confirmed that she and Jowie are good. Photo: Edwin Ochieng / TUKO.co.ke. Source: Original Ella also shared a short video on her Instagram savouring the moment with Jowie in their bedroom. Captioning the video, the mother of one said it was a disappointment for those who thought it was over between them. "Premium disappointments and confusion is all you will get if you continue minding OUR BUSINESSES negatively," captioned Ella. In an interview with TUKO.co.ke's Lynn Ngugi, Ella opened up on how she met Jowie. According to the lady, she met him through divine intervention, and that Jowie is her man for life because their relationship is not made from this world. "This is my man for life. I am not even telling you. I know this is my man for life for our relationship is not made from this world and that is why I speak with courage. I met Jowie through divine intervention," she said. READ ALSO: Atwoli adai DP Ruto ni tajiri mkubwa, afutilia mbali madai kwamba ni 'hustler' People were left questioning the marriage after the young couple deleted photos of each other from their various Instagram account. Ella also changed her daughter's bio omitting Jowie as the father. Jowie also cleared photos of the little girl from his account. Jowie's last photo post on his Instagram account on Tuesday, September 22, also hinted he is not in a good place. The young lad shared a photo of himself looking all stressed followed by the caption; ''Though unsteady, Lord you still Love me.'' PAY ATTENTION: Help us change more lives, join TUKO.co.kes Patreon programme - https://www.patreon.com/tuko My mother abandoned me with two holes in my heart | Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke Los Angeles, Sep 25 : A Black Panther mural featuring late actor Chadwick Boseman, who brought alive the popular superhero on screen, has been unveiled at Disneyland. The theme park unveiled the mural in its Downtown Disney shopping district, California. The artwork by Nikkolas Smith has the late star giving the famous Wakanda salute to a young fan wearing a "Black Panther" mask, reports variety.com. Smith shared photos of the artwork on Instagram. The installation is titled "King Chad". "This one is special. My King Chad tribute is now on a wall on display at Downtown Disney," he wrote. "It is a full circle moment for me: my final two projects as a Disney Imagineer last summer were working on the children's hospital project and the Avengers Campus." The child in the mural is wearing a hospital gown, to honour the late "Black Panther" star who visited cancer-stricken children at St. Jude campus. "To millions of kids, T'Challa was a legend larger than life, and there was no one more worthy to fill those shoes than Chadwick Boseman," Smith wrote. "I'm so thankful to be able to honor Chadwick's life and purpose in this way. I am grateful to the Disney family for being so supportive of my journey as an artist." Boseman was diagnosed in 2016 with stage 3 colon cancer, and over four years, it progressed to stage 4, his family had revealed. He never spoke publicly about his diagnosis. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Germany has requested the UN Security Council to discuss a confidential report by the Libya Sanctions Committee Panel of Experts on the issue of foreign mercenaries fighting in the Libyan war, Germany's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Gunter Sautter told reporters on Friday UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2020) Germany has requested the UN Security Council to discuss a confidential report by the Libya Sanctions Committee Panel of Experts on the issue of foreign mercenaries fighting in the Libyan war, Germany's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Gunter Sautter told reporters on Friday. "I would like to say a word on an AOB ["Any Other business" discussions at the UN Security Council] that we are bringing to the Council. As a chair of the Libya Sanctions Committee, I will bring an important matter... Many delegations have asked for the publication of the panel of experts' interim report. This would create much-needed transparency," Sautter said. The German diplomat said the publication of the report would allow naming those actors who violate the United Nations arms embargo on Libya and strengthen the political process that was launched at the Berlin Conference in January. Sautter noted that the delegations of Russia and China have already voiced their opposition for such a discussion at the UN Security Council. "I hope that the two delegations who have problems with this will give the green light," Sautter added. Western media outlets have reported the claims of UN experts that Russia's Wagner Group and other paramilitary organizations are present in Libya to support the Libyan National Army (LNA). Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia said citizens of Western countries were also mentioned in the media reports, but the Western diplomats keep sidestepping the issue. Libya has been torn apart between two rival governments since the US-supported overthrow and assassination of the country's long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The western part of the country, including the capital of Tripoli, is controlled by the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), while the eastern part is controlled by the Tobruk-based parliament that is supported by the LNA. Sen. Van Hollen: Christians are most under threat minorities in the Middle East Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Democrat Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen was among a handful of lawmakers who spoke out against Christian persecution on Wednesday night, saying that Christian communities are the most under threat minorities in the Middle East. Van Hollen was among several members of Congress who provided video messages played at an online global summit hosted by the prominent Washington-based human rights advocacy organization In Defense of Christians. While the conference is traditionally held in person, this year it was moved online due to COVID-19 lockdowns. Im proud to represent the great state of Maryland in the U.S. Senate. Maryland was originally founded by colonists who hoped to establish a safe haven for Roman Catholics who were fleeing religious persecution at that time in England, Van Hollen, 61, said. I am pleased today, we are home to a diverse group of faiths who are free to practice their religions. We need to make sure those same rights extend to people around the world. In the Middle East, the minority religions that are most under threat and pressure are Christian communities. As many advocates across the globe have voiced concerns about the mass displacement of Christians in Iraq after the invasion of the Islamic State terrorist group in 2014, Van Hollen said the world needs to make sure that those Christian communities have the rights that we have in the United States under the First Amendment of our Constitution and the rights set forth in the Declaration of Human Rights from 1948. I am proud to work with you on a bipartisan basis to do that, Van Hollen said. Lets continue to work together to make sure that we protect the right of religious freedom around the world. In the Middle East, that means coming together to make sure that we protect minority faith groups. And none is at greater risk and under greater pressure than Christian communities throughout the Middle East. Van Hollen, in the past, has supported efforts advocated for by In Defense of Christians, which engages in grassroots political advocacy campaigns that lobby for the protection of persecuted ancient Christian communities in the Middle East. Among the efforts, Van Hollen and IDC have supported the Global Fragility Act of 2019 and Armenian Genocide Recognition. More recently, Van Hollen teamed up with Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., to send a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback asking the State Department to seriously consider recommendations made by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The conservative and progressive lawmakers urged the State Department to consider designating certain countries where Christians and other minorities are persecuted as countries of particular concern," a designation that carries with it the possibility of sanctions. Such countries included in the letter are Syria, Russia, India and Vietnam. Earlier in Wednesdays program, Lankford praised the Trump administration for its active engagement around the world on the religious freedom front. However, Lankford warned that the U.S. should speak out against the 84 countries that have blasphemy laws on the books, specifically calling out Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Russia. Those 84 countries, a full one-third of the countries have everything from fines to the death penalty for simply not agreeing with the faith of whoever the leader is of that country, Lankford said. That is a very significant thing for us and it is one of the areas that we should try to speak out on. As countries like Pakistan have blasphemy laws that are often abused to mistreat Christians and other religious minorities, Lankford said that he has tried to push the issue of religious liberty for a long time when it comes to trade negotiations. We have to deal with the issue of religious liberty and also to be able to speak out against things like anti-Semitism, ways that other nations are isolating individuals, Lankford said. We saw as recently as this past July when an American citizen was standing in court in Pakistan being tried for blasphemy and a Pakistani citizen walked into the court and shot him dead in the middle of the court. We saw just days ago a Pakistani citizen put on trial for blasphemy and convicted for blasphemy and taken away from his wife and children because he didnt convert to Islam after he was demanded to at his workplace. In the U.S. House of Representatives, a bipartisan effort has been ongoing for years to help support the needs of persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Rep. Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat and the only Assyrian American member of Congress, has teamed up with Nebraska Republican Jeff Fortenberry to co-chair the Religious Minorities in the Middle East Caucus. Eshoo co-founded the caucus along with former Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia. In 2015, Eshoo and Fortenberry introduced a successful resolution to define the persecution of Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria as genocide. I couldnt have a better partner in Congressman Fortenberry. We are colleagues but it is our faith that has really cemented our relationship, Eshoo said. There is still much work to be done in different parts of the world, most especially in the Middle East to protect the Christians. So many have fled. Many have been left behind. Fortenberry stressed that over the last few years, the U.S. has worked very hard to continue to supply aid to the beleaguered communities of northern Iraq. We have also worked hard on a resolution that would look at integrating religious minorities into security forces of Iraq, the congressman explained. Those dialogues continue with the State Department as well as the Defense Department. The prime minister of Iraq has made encouraging statements toward the religious minority population. Id like to think that thanks to Annas longsuffering in this space and our work together, perhaps were seeing a bit of fruit of the work there in that regard. John Barsa, the acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said during the event that over the last several years, the U.S. has spent over $450 million to help with the restoration of schools, infrastructure, roads and hospitals in beleaguered northern Iraq. Weve also funded psychosocial support, capacity building for organizations, mobilization of the private sector to invest in northern Iraq and much, much more, Barsa said. These efforts are essential to support these communities and their ability to recover, return and thrive in their ancient homelands once again. USAID is committed to this important work. New York threatens a lockdown Facing a worrying surge in coronavirus cases in some Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, New York City health officials carried out emergency inspections at private religious schools on Friday. The police also stepped up enforcement of public health guidelines in several Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Queens and in Brooklyn, where residents often do not wear masks or follow social-distancing guidelines. The Health Department said that if significant progress toward following guidelines did not occur by Monday which is Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar it may issue fines, limit gatherings, or force closings of businesses or schools. Four yeshivas have already been closed because of violations of social-distancing rules. When Times reporters visited Borough Park, one of the neighborhoods that health officials are calling the Ocean Parkway Cluster, they saw hardly a face mask in sight, as if the pandemic had never happened. Officials warned of rising cases in some Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, where test positivity rates are 3 percent to 6 percent significantly more than the citys overall rate of 1 percent to 2 percent. If cases continue to rise, they could threaten the citys easing lockdown, including the opening of public schools this month, which will automatically close if citywide positivity rates reach 3 percent. BEREA, Ohio Animal attack: Wallace Drive A Berea woman, 70, was taken to Southwest General Heath Center in Middleburg Heights after a German Shepherd escaped from a backyard and bit her several times. The woman was walking on Wallace at about 2 p.m. Sept. 21 when the dog ran toward her. The dog grabbed the womans forearm with its mouth and bit down. The woman yelled for the dog to stop and pushed the dog off her arm. The dog then bit the womans left hip. The woman shouted for help as she wrestled with the dog. The dog released the womans hip and bit her right hip. The dogs owners appeared, pulled the animal away and returned it to their house. They convinced the woman to let them call 911 due to her injuries. The dogs owners said they were playing with their dogs in their backyard when the German Shepherd escaped. They said they tried to grab the dogs leash but it was too late. Police contacted the Cuyahoga County Board of Health about the incident. They said the same dog had injured another Berea resident in the past. Violation of temporary protection order: Dorland Avenue A Dorland man called police at about 7:45 p.m. Sept. 17 and said his neighbor had violated a temporary protection order by speaking to him. The incident was part of an ongoing dispute between the man and his neighbor. The man was he was installing siding on his garage when the neighbor, who was in her backyard facing him, said, Bam bam bam, youre making so much noise. Police asked the neighbor why she said that. She said she was referring to the way the man walks because he is so big. Police told the woman they would write a report about the incident and refer the matter to a prosecutor for possible criminal charges. Menacing: West Bagley Road The owner of Five Star Store It, 650 West Bagley, called police at about 12:15 p.m. Sept. 17 and said a 49-year-old Brooklyn man was threatening him. The man had previously rented a storage unit at Five Star, a storage business, but the owner had evicted him. Subsequently, the man sent emails to the business owner, saying, Watch your back, and, Dont think I wont take you and your family out. The business owner chose not to press charges. Police called the man, who denied threatening the business owner but said he would not return to the storage business. Theft: Edgewood Circle A wallet containing several credit and debit cards was stolen between 8 p.m. Sept. 22 and 7 a.m. Sept. 3 from a car parked in a driveway. The victim said he had locked the car but there were no signs of forced entry. Overdose: Pulaski Street A Berea man, 39, was taken to Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights after he reacted badly to a drug at about 6:45 a.m. Sept. 17 in his house on Pulaski. When police arrived, the man was reclined in a chair. He was unconscious and barely breathing. A foamy substance was running from his nose. Police administered three doses of Narcan, a heroin-overdose antidote, but the man did not regain consciousness. A half pill of oxycodone, a narcotic painkiller, was found on a nightstand next to the mans chair. A woman living with the man said his neck had been hurting the night before. A friend gave him two oxycodone pills. The man ingested a half pill and immediately fell asleep. Red light violation, marijuana possession: Lou Groza Boulevard Police ticketed a Middleburg Heights man, 18, at about 6:30 p.m. Sept. 20 after he drove through a red light while turning left onto Eastland Road. Police stopped the car after it turned onto Lou Groza. They smelled marijuana and found a small glass jar containing marijuana and a marijuana pipe in the car. Police confiscated the marijuana and pipe but didnt charge him for marijuana possession. Is climate change an existential threat, one that overrides all other challenges? Or does an expansionist China pose a grave and growing danger to the strategic interests of the U.S.? Two questions with only one Yes. President Trump makes no secret of his views on China. He was one of the first public figures to realize China as an economic threat. He denounces the decision to admit China to the World Trade Organization (WTO), seeing it as a disaster for America, and especially for American workers. And it is not hard to guess where Trump resides on the continuum from climate-change-as-hoax to climate-change-as-existential threat. By contrast, Joe Biden supported Chinas accession to the WTO and has placed all his chips on the opposite end of the climate spectrum from Trump. Campaigning for the Democratic nomination, Biden tweeted his belief that climate change poses an existential threat. Since then, he has committed to implementing the most draconian greenhouse-emissions cuts ever proposed by a serious candidate for the presidency. Global warming is, well, global. There is no point in cutting Americas carbon dioxide emissions unless the rest of the world follows suit. During his first year in the White House, Barack Obama attempted to get China to sign a treaty that included emissions targets. It ended in the fiasco of the Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009. The lesson Obama took away from Copenhagen was that Beijing held the keys to a new global climate compact. To justify the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan to sharply cut power generation emissions, there had to be a realistic prospect of a new UN climate treatyand that meant being friendly to Beijing. At his first meeting with Obama as Chinas new leader in June 2013, President Xi Jinping set out Chinas quid pro quo: a new model of major power relations between the two nations, with China being given preeminence as first among equals after the U.S. This led, in November 2014, to the U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change, which in turn paved the way for the Paris climate agreement a year later. According to Obama, the U.S.-China climate understanding was critical to the success of the Paris agreement. All this took place at the tail end of a period in which complacency reigned about the Chinas rise as a world power. American foreign policy grandees believed that admitting China to the WTO would wean its Communist Party away from dictatorship and repression. In the 1990s, Bill Clinton told General Secretary Jiang Zemin that he did not want to contain China. The biggest security threat China presents the United States is that you will insist on getting rich the same way we did, Clinton told Chinas leader. Who believes that today? In less than 20 years, Chinas carbon dioxide emissions increased threefoldbut the idea that the biggest threat China poses to Americas national security is from greenhouse gases died this year. Chinas abrogation of Hong Kongs one-country-two-systems settlement, guaranteed by international treaty to 2047, its brutal suppression of dissent there, and its armed clashes with India have transformed perceptions of China from friendly rival to, in the words of Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, an increasingly assertive China with growing military capabilities. America should unambiguously guarantee Taiwans security, Haass argues, as what happens in the Taiwan Straits could well decide Asias future and enable China to project power across the western Pacific. But China knows how to play the West. In his UN address this week, Xi gave Biden a helping hand in the presidential election and climate hawks the upper hand over China hawks in a Biden administration. Dressed in artful prose about green revolutions and protecting Mother Earth, Xi said China would now aim to peak it carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Chinas intentions should be judged by what it does, not its rhetoricespecially in an election year. It is not going to follow Californias example and wreck its power grid and its economy. China is building 259 gigawatts of new coal-fired power stationsalmost as much as the 266 GW capacity of the U.S. coal fleet. We should see each other as members of the same family, Xi told the UN, but not Muslim Uighurs who Xi is subjecting to a demographic genocide. China is actively involved in the fight against COVID-19, Xi claims. We should enhance solidarity and get through this together, so China bans a World Health Organization team from visiting Wuhan and investigating the source of the virus. Is China a trustworthy partner? The winner of the election has two choicestake China at its word and pursue the illusion of a cooperative China leading the fight against climate change, or stand firm against Chinese expansionism. He cannot do both. Rupert Darwall is a senior fellow of the RealClear Foundation and author of THE CLIMATE NOOSE. To whom will International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda hand the keys to her office in June 2021? Betting on her successor is not easy. The April 2003 election of the first Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo of Argentina, was intended to reassure the United States, which was brutally opposed to a court it saw as a threat to its sovereignty. The election of Gambian Fatou Bensouda in December 2011 was intended to reconnect with African states hit by nine years of investigations targeting their continent alone. After two decades marked by the successive failures of the prosecution in a number of cases, the States expect the third prosecutor to be the one to reform, capable of building a coherent criminal policy that will build their confidence and who will remain distant from any attempts to exploit them. With an office of more than 300 people and a budget of almost 50 million euros, the new Prosecutors arrival could thus push some long-standing people who share the responsibility for successive failures towards the exit. For there is a wind of degagism blowing over the Court. Betting on outsiders This exercise is like walking a tightrope. The Selection Committee, made up of ambassadors supported by experts, rendered its conclusions on June 30. It took more than two months for ICC States Parties to reject the Committees conclusions, which they themselves had wanted in order to select the best candidates, depoliticize the process and reach a consensus candidate. Of the 89 candidates, four were selected: Nigerian lawyer Morris Anyah; Ugandan judge Susan Okalany; Canadian prosecutor Richard Roy; and Irish lawyer Fergal Gaynor. They are all outsiders for the small world of international justice, which took a blow. In The Hague, New York and Geneva some are rejoicing, believing that we are finally changing course! Some say its a nightmare, a joke, or even corruption! There are calls from one country to another, between embassies and ministries, heated exchanges on Twitter. The Committees report acknowledges that all four candidates recommended to the States Parties for further consideration have areas in which their actual, recorded experience may not be as extensive as considered desirable. And former Special Court for Sierra Leone Prosecutor David Crane summed up a sentiment shared by many: The new Prosecutor of the ICC must command immediate respect and have the international stature that is lacking in these proposed candidates. Recommended reading The ICC is looking for a new prosecutor and it starts with a surprise On learning of the Committees selection, several States deplored the lack of real choice. After one Latin American and one African, capitals felt that the third prosecutor should come from the West, based on a tacit rule of geographic rotation in multilateral organizations. As such, the two African candidates were automatically rejected by many States. That left the two Westerners. However, the candidacy of Canadian Richard Roy posed a statutory problem. According to the Statute of the Court, the prosecutor cannot be of the same nationality as his deputies. James Stewart, Bensoudas assistant, is also Canadian and will not leave office until 2022. Hell just have to leave! stormed one delegate in The Hague. Stewart, himself an unsuccessful candidate for Bensoudas succession, says he intends to make a useful contribution to the transition that will have to take place at the start of the new Prosecutors term. Contacted by telephone, Canadian ambassador and Committee chair Sabine Nolke commented that States could get around the Statute as they have done in the past! The current deputy is only going to be there during the transition, she said, before recalling that years ago, two Japanese judges were on the bench for a year and two Italians for few months. Kenya ends hope of consensus As of July 13, Kenya officially ended the possibility of a consensus. The list gives the impression of placing States before a fait accompli, wrote its ambassador to The Hague in a letter addressed to the Assembly of States Parties President, South Koreas O-Gon Kwon. The Committee, according to him, favoured Fergal Gaynor, lawyer for the victims of the Kenyan post-election violence in late 2007, for which President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were prosecuted by the ICC before it dropped the case. Nairobis word would therefore have been viewed with suspicion. We can say whatever we want, but Kenya wrote black on white what a lot of other States think, commented one European diplomat. By disqualifying the big guys, we were allowing weaker candidates to get through, another diplomatic source said. As soon as the applications were submitted in autumn 2019, two favourites seemed to stand out. Belgiums Serge Brammertz, prosecutor of the residual Mechanism of the UN tribunals for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR) and former deputy to the ICCs first prosecutor Ocampo, was one. Brammertz marked a coup this spring with the arrest of Rwandan Felicien Kabuga, picked up in the Paris suburbs after more than 20 years on the run. Another strong favourite was Karim Khan of the UK. For the past two years, he has been leading the UN investigation into Daesh in Baghdad (UNITAD), has achieved successes for several ICC defendants, and has pleaded for victims in Cambodia. The Committee, which had the power to pre-select up to six candidates, rejected them both. Anti-mafia prosecutor ruled out There are plenty of contradictions. It is interesting that the States who claimed they want something new are now asking for people they know, observed Nolke during a virtual meeting with NGOs on July 28. When the Committee was created, States were hoping for profiles of national prosecutors with international experience, according to a diplomatic source in The Hague. However, top new-blood candidate Palermo prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi has been ruled out. This magistrate distinguished himself in 2018 with the arrest of the successor of Toto Riina, godfather of the Cosa Nostra mafia. Lo Voi heads a team of 120 prosecutors and was, in the past, Italys representative in Eurojust, the network of European prosecutors. NGOs divided At the end of July, while a few States supported the Committee not because they agree with it but because it emanates from their Assembly, many wanted a smooth exit, explains one diplomat. They advocated auditioning the four selected candidates to see if any of them could gather a consensus, failing which the Committees conclusions would have to be rejected and work would have to start anew. In this way, the Committee would not be totally delegitimized and the States would not be tempted to put forward wild candidates. While the States made their disagreements heard, communiques follow one another and NGOs were also divided. Thirty of them, led by the Open Society Justice Initiative, Human Rights Watch and the International Federation for Human Rights, believed that disregarding the Committees conclusions could lead to the election of a Prosecutor who is unable to provide the leadership, skills and integrity that the ICC so urgently needs. But six NGOs from Burkina Faso, Congo and the Central African Republic rejected them, calling on States to draw all possible consequences to prevent the Court from continuing on the wrong track, while ten Kenyan NGOs called on the President of the Assembly to stand on the right side of history by intervening to end the travesty. On July 29 and 30, the four shortlisted candidates were auditioned by States Parties and NGOs. Faced with competitors less familiar with the realities of the Court and with less election advantages, Irelands Fergal Gaynor came out with flying colours. At a time when some people want to believe in change, Canadian Richard Roy promised to build on the teams in place and to continue the criminal policy of his predecessors. Nigerian-American Morris Anyah drew rather unoriginally on his experience with ad hoc tribunals. Ugandan Susan Okalany faced technical problems. The Internet connection was constantly down, so she had to answer a cascade of questions whenever bandwidth permitted. Faced with a slightly annoyed candidate, the deputy president of the Assembly tried give me a smile and was immediately rewarded with the hashtag #SmileGate on Twitter. Integrity in the MeToo era Reading the report, one can see the possibility that the favourites had ethical, moral problems, said one NGO member. In April, the Committee had the States Parties validate a vetting procedure introduced at the request of civil society. The report devotes several pages to this procedure and creates confusion, suggesting that several candidates were rejected on this basis. Of the 89 applicants, several expressed anger. At the beginning of July, Nolke explained to the States. I made the statement very clearly to the States Parties, the vetting process did not disclose any disqualifying information, she said. The Canadian diplomat also asserted, not without ambiguity, that those who were removed were not removed without good reason and that we received unsolicited messages from a number of quarters, from NGOs, from Bar Associations, even from States Parties, and we disregarded them. As early as December 2019 two NGOs, Open Society Justice Initiative and Womens initiative for Gender Justice, called for a check on the high morality of the candidates. In January, the ICC staff union warned States about future elected officials, judges and prosecutors, explaining that intimidation, harassment, discrimination and abuse of power undermine the well-being and health of court staff and lead to a poor working environment. Then, during an online seminar organized by the blogs Opinio Juris and Justice in Conflict, the issue became central. The Hague was at that time rife with allegations against several candidates. Lawyer Danya Chaikel wrote that the next Prosecutor must embody integrity in the MeToo era. When the work and sexual harassment issue came in, it was a matter of great concern particularly to civil society, which is why we incorporated questions on that in the interview and we created the vetting process, Nolke explains. At the time, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, in a letter to the Committee, expressed concern that the election was turning into a whistle-blowing exercise. On September 11, as the Assembly of States Parties President continued his consultations and the prospect of consensus on one of the four candidates faded, Open Society and the Womens Initiative for Gender Justice wrote to him again. They called for an expanded vetting of all potential candidates, including verification of their independence and ties to States, consideration of testimonies from former staff members, and anything that might constitute a red flag. This time, only the two NGOs signed the appeal, notes Professor Kevin Jon Heller on his blog. Civil society organizations are playing an unprecedented role in this ICC election process, said Gunnar Ekelve-Slydal of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, urging them to take a step back and reflect carefully on the wider picture. But the few States that refused to reject the Committees selection are now clinging to the proposals of the two NGOs and are also asking for guarantees. And the modalities for the rest of the process continue to be debated. The big barter of international positions Meanwhile, the states are slowly but surely pursuing the big barter of prestigious positions in international organizations. Some are counting on the position(s) of Deputy Prosecutor(s), to be elected in 2021. Others, like the United Kingdom, are focusing on the election of their judge, Joanna Korner. The election of judges to the International Court of Justice is the focus of the Belgians and Germans this time, as for Uganda and Kenya. The location of the election of the Prosecutor is itself a matter of debate. Scheduled in New York, the Assembly could meet in The Hague because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the sanctions decided on September 2 by the US administration against the ICC Prosecutor and her chief of cooperation, to which are added visa bans whose targets are confidential. And uncertainty dominates, as never before, just months away from an eminently symbolic vote for the ICC and for the rest of the world. By Laura Sanicola NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Oil prices settled slightly higher on Tuesday ahead of weekly U.S. inventory figures, rebounding modestly from the previous day's selloff that was driven by a surge in overseas coronavirus infections. Analysts said renewed lockdown restrictions in Europe will have only a limited impact on fuel demand, which could prevent a pronounced selloff in oil markets. With major oil-producing nations still restricting supply, the market has been locked in a range for most of the summer. Brent crude rose 28 cents to settle at $41.72 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) for October, which expires Tuesday, settled up 29 cents to $39.60. "The energy complex appears immune to negative news regarding the virus while case counts dont increase enough to force renewed widespread lockdowns," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois. Fuel demand is expected to falter in countries such as Great Britain, where the government is telling people to work from home again and imposing curbs on bars and restaurants. Infections are rising in several other European countries, including France and Spain. "As any new restrictions will likely be more localized, the oil demand recovery should still continue, although at a slower pace with the easiest demand gains behind us," UBS oil analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. The easing of an oil blockade in Libya also pressured prices on Monday, but analysts said they expected Libyan exports were unlikely to quickly reach the levels seen before the conflict. Traders were acting cautious ahead of industry data from the American Petroleum Institute on U.S. oil inventories due later on Tuesday, according to Bob Yawger, director of energy futures for Mizuho in New York. Official data will follow on Wednesday. U.S. crude oil and gasoline stocks likely fell last week, while distillate inventories, including diesel, are expected to have risen, Reuters polling showed. (Reporting by Laura Sanicola in New York, Bozorgmehr Sharafed in in London, additional reporting by Sonali Paul in Melbourne and Roslan Khasawneh in Singapore; Editing by David Gregorio, Marguerita Choy and Jan Harvey) Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Now that Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) has passed on to her eternal state, there will be an intense debate over whomever President Trump nominates to replace her. Why the intensity of the coming debate? The answer is obvious: Abortion. Why did the left 30 years ago pull out all the stops and vilify through vicious lies that man who became one of the most important Black Americans in history, Clarence Thomas? Answer: Abortion Why did the left attempt to sully and drag the reputation of Brett Kavanaugh through the mud, accusing him of misogyny? Ironically, the late Justice Ginsburg even commended Justice Kavanaugh for his true reputation of lifting up women any way he could. But why was there an unending circus of past accusations of alleged sexual misconduct against him, none of which had the slightest corroboration? Answer: Abortion. Why is the left gearing up even now for World War III in the Senate? Why are some of them seemingly losing their minds over the looming battle? For example, CNN host Reza Aslan typifies the left: If they even TRY to replace RBG we burn the entire f-----g thing down. Again, the answer is obvious: Abortion. Abortion, even when not directly mentioned in the Senate judiciary hearings, is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. It is the underlying issue at the heart of the real battle. On the eve of the Kavanaugh hearings, I interviewed Wendy Wright, president of Christian Freedom International, for D. James Kennedy Ministries television. Little did we know of the extent of the fireworks against the justices confirmation that were just around the corner. I asked Wendy about abortion and such confirmation battles. She told me, Yes, abortion has become like the symbol, in a sense, of the extreme role of the Supreme Court a symbol of an atheistic view that God should have no place when it comes to the public square. Abortion has become this symbol of the extreme role of the Supreme Court to rule on our day-to-day lives and to even insert itself in places that the Supreme Court should not be inserting itself. Indeed, every human being, even in utero, is made in the image of God. The Greek New Testament uses the word brephos, meaning baby to describe both babies in the womb and out of the womb. Since RBG never met an abortion she didnt like, her replacement will likely change the makeup on the court over the issue of abortion and other issues. I maintain that if a person cannot get the issue of abortion right, then they cant get many other things right. And vice versa. True to his campaign promise, Donald J. Trump has nominated many good pro-life judges and justices to the federal bench, and they are now making a positive difference. He has promised to replace RBG with a female justice before the election (which even RBG said in 2016 is in a presidents constitutional purview). A frontrunner nominee, of course, is Amy Coney Barrett, a former professor at Notre Dame Law School. The Wall Street Journal (9/21/20) notes: Judge Barrett has written and spoken favorably of the conservative Justice [Antonin] Scalia, who died in 2016, and his close attention to the texts of statues as written and support for originalism, or interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning. Judge Barrett said, I tend to agree with those who say that a justices duty is to the Constitution and that it is thus more legitimate for her to enforce her best understanding of the Constitution rather than a precedent she thinks clearly in conflict with it. Abortion is a right the Supreme Court created not from within the pages of the text of the Constitution or its amendments. You can read the Constitution until youre blue in the face, and nowhere will you see even remotely the right for an abortion, the right to terminate ones pregnancy. Its not there. It had to be imposed onto the Constitution by activist judges. In this era of wokeness, millions of Americans look back, rightfully, with horror at slavery the evil practice that nearly torpedoed the Constitutional Convention and that tore the country in half during the Civil War. Hundreds of thousands of Americans died to make men free. I believe future generations will look back at us aghast at this horrible practice of abortion, in an age when we have a scientific window into the womb through 3D sonograms and other technology. We are sacrificing tens of millions of babies on the altar of convenience. Those who promote and sanction this barbarity will have to answer to the Almighty one day for this grave injustice. And from Him there is no higher appeal. While there has yet to be a direct confirmation that Soros is funding the group, it is all too coincidental, read a post on Mr. Hannitys website. Some of the alleged ties to Mr. Soros stem from claims that a woman identified by right-wing activists as the U-Hauls renter works for a bail organization in Kentucky, which also employs someone who previously worked as a Soros Justice Fellow, a legal grant given out by Mr. Soross philanthropic organization, Open Society Foundations. But there is no indication of Mr. Soross involvement in the Louisville protests, and the claim is implausible even on its face. (Observers quickly noted that a local U-Haul rental costs less than $100 a day hardly the kind of expense requiring a billionaires bankroll.) False conspiracy theories about Mr. Soros acting as a hidden hand behind left-wing protest movements are not new. But this baseless rumor has gotten more traction than most. Laura Silber, the chief communications officer for Open Society Foundations, said Mr. Soros had absolutely not paid for a U-Haul rental in Louisville, or funded antifa in any way. When Meesha Chang and her husband set out to get their oldest child into their first-choice New York City preschool in 2018, it was no easy task. "It was so competitive," Chang said. "We were trying to network with all of the parents around us. I was told you had to camp out 12 hours before registration opened just to get a chance to apply to the school." The establishment in question was the Greenpoint YMCA, a selective preschool in Brooklyn. After initially having been placed on the school's waitlist, Chang's daughter eventually was granted admission. "It was like winning the lottery," Chang said. "It was everything we'd hoped for." But less than a year after Chang won what she calls "the golden ticket" to the preschool, she and her husband, worried about safety issues in the age of the coronavirus and the challenges of remote learning for young children, pulled out of the school. IMAGE: A student at Reade Street Prep (Reade Street Prep) The couple are among the many parents calling it quits on New York City preschools. As more families come to terms with safety worries about their children and frustration with remote learning sessions and as a growing number of young families leave Manhattan and Brooklyn the face of once highly competitive private preschools in New York City is changing, with a growing number of schools suspending classes or closing altogether. "I've never seen anything like this," said Ilysa Winick, founder of Reade Street Prep, a private preschool in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood. Winick said her school traditionally gets far more applications than it has available seats. But this year, the school has dropped from 250 enrolled families to "around 150," she said. And many of the families currently enrolled are taking part in what Winick called a "bridge" program, meaning they are paying full tuition to hold their children's spots but are opting to keep their children out of school until later. Story continues A key reason for the drop in enrollment, Winick said: A number of families are leaving New York City. Winick said lots of families, concerned about safety issues related to the pandemic or embracing new flexibility because parents are able to work remotely, are moving out of the city. "We're working to hang in there," Winick said. Even with the loss of 100 families, Winick considers herself lucky, saying "at least four" neighboring schools in lower Manhattan have quietly folded in recent months, some after having been open for decades. This year's closings and scale-backs of top Manhattan and Brooklyn preschools is a far cry from the preschool scene depicted in the 2008 documentary "Nursery University," in which parents duked it out for coveted preschool slots. The intense competition resulted in a preschool scandal that The Wall Street Journal dubbed "kid pro quo," in which a telecom stock analyst, Jack Grubman, tried to pull strings to get his twins into the highly competitive 92nd Street YMCA preschool. And in preschools that remain open, enrollment numbers are considerably down. Robin Aranow, a New York City education consultant and founder of School Search NYC, who has worked with Manhattan preschools for more than 20 years, said preschools that once enrolled as many as 40 4-year-olds now have as few as five students. "This year's enrollment numbers are the lowest I've seen," Aranow said. Karen Quinn, a national education consultant and co-founder of The Testing Mom, an online test preparation program for parents seeking to place their children in elite schools, said: "It feels like more parents are forgoing preschool this year. More and more are asking, 'Why should I be spending this money?'" In New York City, private preschool tuition rates typically start at $10,000, and they can climb to two and three times that rate, depending upon the program. "Especially in a city like New York or other cities where preschool is very expensive, we've seen a lot of people giving up preschool and keeping their kids home, and either one parent is doing home-schooling or other family members are working with the kids," Quinn said. Frustrating for many families with preschool-age children, Quinn said, are attempts by schools to teach children through Zoom calls. While online teaching may work for older children, Quinn said, it's challenging for children ages 2 to 5. "There were tech issues, kids didn't get called on, teachers were experiencing difficulty managing a big class," Quinn said. Chang said her preschool tried some video calls in the spring, when the pandemic hit, but the sessions failed to hold her daughter's attention. "The kids just screamed and played with the keyboard," Chang said. "It was a nightmare." It's the fear that her preschool could have to rely on video learning this fall that, in part, prompted Jackie Brown to pull her daughter out of the Manhattan preschool she'd been signed up for. "These programs aren't cheap," Brown said of the preschool, which she said costs nearly $20,000 a year. "I'm not interested in sending her to school this year if, by November, the school is perhaps going to be teaching kids by Zoom. "For what I'm looking for her in a school setting, I don't think there's anything that Zoom can offer that I wouldn't be able to find already online. I think so much for her age is about being outside, learning other people's expressions," Brown said. The preschool she'd signed her daughter up for has held her daughter's spot until next year. For now, she and her daughter are sitting this school year out. Earlier this year, Amy Caron paid the deposit to send her daughter to Manhattan Country School, a competitive preschool. She was dismayed to learn that the school was offering only remote learning this fall while still charging parents pre-pandemic tuition rates. "We try to limit technology, and she doesn't do well on a computer," Caron said of her four-year-old daughter. "When you are laying that money out for tuition, you want to have stimulation and a good education, not a computer." Caron and her husband are working with the school to get their deposit back, and they are seeking out a new preschool program that better suits their daughter's needs. "I think across the board what this pandemic has done is make everyone pause and figure out what's most important for their families and their children," Caron said. Quinn said 2020-21 may be a game-changer in the world of private preschools, in New York and beyond. "A lot of parents are rethinking preschools in New York. And I've heard from parents in Indianapolis, in Atlanta, in other areas, who also are pulling their kids out of private preschools, wondering if preschool is worth it," she said. Quinn anticipates that a growing number of families may opt to home-school their children until they start pre-K or kindergarten programs and round out home-schooling with private tutor sessions. Chang said she isn't the only parent to have pulled her child out of the Greenpoint YMCA preschool program this year. "I heard from a lot of other parents they weren't going back, either," she said. The fact that so many families rethought enrollment in the once highly selective school, which had a waitlist of more than 100 families as recently as last year, has had an impact on this academic year. In a statement, Erik Opsal, a spokesperson for the YMCA, said: "We were not able to open our Greenpoint early child care service this year due to low enrollment because of Covid-19. It's too early to tell about future years." Chang said that for now, she isn't ready to send her child to any private preschool and is looking at forming an education pod with other like-minded, safety-conscious parents. By Christopher Walljasper CHICAGO, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures rose on Tuesday, resuming a month-long climb after profit-taking a day earlier, as traders focused on continued U.S. soy sales to China and strong demand for soybean meal, a feed ingredient, traders said. Wheat gained on international demand while corn futures were narrowly mixed as strong U.S. crop ratings and promising Midwest harvest weather capped rallies. The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 2-1/4 cents to $10.24-3/4 per bushel by 11:09 a.m. (1709 GMT). CBOT wheat added 7-1/4 cents to $5.62 a bushel while corn was up 1/4 cent at $3.70 per bushel. Exporters sold 266,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to China and 264,000 tonnes to unknown destinations, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, marking the 13th consecutive business day of sales to China. A slower soybean crush in Argentina is driving the U.S. soymeal market higher, according to Terry Reilly, senior analyst with Futures International. The front four CBOT soymeal futures contracts set life-of-contract highs on Tuesday. CBOT grains tumbled on Monday as a strengthening U.S. dollar and broader losses in the U.S. stock market triggered selling after recent peaks, including two-year highs for soybeans. Traders said fundamentals were guiding the grain markets Tuesday more than macroeconomic forces. "Well keep a close eye on weather and harvest progress for sure, along with global economic conditions," said Jack Scoville, market analyst at the Price Futures Group. Wheat futures rose as an international purchase tender from Egypt's main state wheat buyer served as a reminder of global demand. Results were expected later on Tuesday. "Cash (wheat) prices in the Black Sea region are up four weeks in a row," said Reilly. Corn futures were choppy as ideal Midwest harvest weather and improving crop ratings muted support from fresh export sales of U.S. corn to China and unknown destinations. The USDA on Monday rated 61% of the corn crop in "good-to-excellent" condition, up from 60% a week earlier, bucking analyst expectations for a decline. (Reporting by Christopher Walljasper; Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Richard Chang) A video doing the rounds on social media shows Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations TS Tirumurti walking out of the UN General Assembly Hall when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan began his speech on Friday. Take a look at the video here: #WATCH Indian delegate at the UN General Assembly Hall walked out when Pakistan PM Imran Khan began his speech. pic.twitter.com/LP6Si6Ry7f ANI (@ANI) September 25, 2020 The video went viral in no time. It received over 50,000 views and more than 6,500 likes at the time of publishing the report. Taking to Twitter, TS Tirumurti later said that Imran Khan's statement at the 75th United Nations General Assembly is a "new diplomatic low". He further added saying, "Another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, warmongering and obfuscation of Pakistans persecution of its own minorities and of its cross-border terrorism. Befitting Right of Reply awaits." The Pakistani PM addressed the 75th session of the UNGA virtually on 25 September. PM Modi to address UNGA General Debate on Saturday Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address the UNGA on Saturday at 6:30 pm (New York time is 9 am). PM Modi's address will be via a pre-recorded video statement broadcast at the UNGA hall in New York. Here's a list of things that we can expect from PM Modi's speech: 1) According to observers, India's focus at the UN is to promote the strengthening of global action on counter-terrorism. India will push for more transparency in the process of listing and delisting of entities and individuals in the sanction committees. 2) Being one of the largest troop-contributing countries to the peace missions, India will seek to engage intensively in finalizing mandates for the UN peacekeeping mission. 3) India will continue active engagement on issues relating to sustainable development and climate change. 4) Promoting its role as a net health service provider, India will highlight its contribution in the global cooperation against COVID-19 through aid to more than 150 countries and as a pharmacy to the world. 5) 2020 is also the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and India will reiterate its commitments and achievements in women-led development. 6) India will also refer to its role as a South-South development partner, especially in the context of the India-UN Development Partnership Fund. 7) According to analysts, India is committed to the idea of global partnership under SDG 17 including that on climate change and the International Solar Alliance has been created as a step in this direction. 8) India will also be a non-permanent member of the UNSC for two years beginning January 1 where a "5-S approach" of "Samman (Respect), Samvad (Dialogue), Sahyog (Cooperation), Shanti (Peace) and Samriddhi (Prosperity) will be followed". Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics WASHINGTON President Donald Trump was booed Thursday as he paid respects to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He plans to nominate a replacement this weekend for the liberal justice, best known for her advancement of womens rights. The president and first lady Melania Trump both wearing masks stood silently at the top of the steps of the court and looked down at Ginsburgs flag-draped coffin, which was surrounded by white flowers. Ginsburgs death has sparked a controversy over the political balance of the court just weeks before the November presidential election. Moments after Trump arrived, booing could be heard from spectators about a block away from the court building. They chanted vote him out as the president stood near the coffin. Trump walked back into the court as the chants grew louder. As his motorcade returned to the White House, there were also chants of Breonna Taylor from some spectators standing on the sidewalk. Their calls came one day after it was announced that a Kentucky grand jury had brought no charges against Louisville police for her killing during a drug raid connected to a suspect who did not live at Taylors home. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said people have First Amendment rights, but she found the jeers an appalling and disrespectful thing to do as the president honored Justice Ginsburg. The chants were appalling but certainly to be expected when youre in the heart of the swamp, McEnany said. Trump acknowledged hearing the chant but dismissed it as not very strong. We could hardly hear it from where we were, he told reporters on the South Lawn later Thursday. Trump has called Ginsburg an amazing woman. Her body will lie in state at the Capitol on Friday, the first time a woman receives that distinction, and only the second time it will be bestowed on a Supreme Court justice. William Howard Taft, who had also served as president, was also recognized in such a manner. The body of Rosa Parks, a private citizen and not a government official, previously has lain in honor at the Capitol. Ginsburg will be buried alongside her husband, Martin, in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery next week. Martin Ginsburg died in 2010. Meanwhile, the president is expected to announce his nominee to replace Ginsburg on Saturday. He has said he will select from a list of five women. Republicans are working to move quickly to a confirmation vote, possibly even before the Nov. 3 election. A steady stream of mourners stood outside the high court Thursday. They packed the streets and hundreds waited in line to pay their respects to Ginsburg. The crowd was hushed and respectful, except for when the president arrived. Attorney Laura French traveled to Washington from Athens, Georgia, to pay her respects. She said she owes her success to trailblazers like Ginsburg. She also said that GOP senators set precedence four years ago when they refused to meet with potential nominee Merrick Garland, and she questioned whether they now had the right to rush through a nominee. She said it was right for Trump to come pay respects, though she doesnt agree with him politically. He should, hes the president and she gave her life and service to this country and to these beliefs that are in our Constitution, French said. Rocky Twyman, who lives in nearby Rockville, Maryland, said Ginsburgs death was a great loss for the country. She believed in equality for all people, he said. He said it was right for Trump to come, but questioned his motives. I thought it was good, but a lot of people said it was insincere because hes going to go around and nominate someone for her seat, he said. Ginsburgs granddaughter has said it was Ginsburgs wish that a replacement justice be chosen by the winner of the November presidential election. ___ Kevin Freking of The Associated Press wrote this story. AP videographer Dan Huff contributed to this report. With the new EVFTA, more and more Vietnamese rice is being shipped to the EU. Scented rice in particular is being sold at high prices. Rice, coffee, shrimp and fruits are exported to the EU under the EVFTA, which took effect on August 1. One more consignment of scented rice departed from An Giang province to the EU on September 22. EVFTA is the key for Vietnams farm produce to approach this market with great potential, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong. The EU, with 27 member countries, 511 million consumers, and GDP per capita of $35,000, is a large market for Vietnam. Under the EVFTA, the EU has made a commitment for a quota of 80,000 tons of rice imports from Vietnam, which includes 30,000 tons of scented rice. No limit is set for broken rice exports, which allows Vietnam to export up to 100,000 tons of rice to the market each year. The EU has committed to cut tariffs on the products made of rice to zero percent after 3-5 years. In order to take full advantage of the agreement, the agricultural sector needs to restructure and organize production in accordance with chains that connect cooperatives and businesses closely with farmers, and form closed production processes, expending from the material growing areas and processing to traceability, food hygiene and labeling. According to MARD, Vietnam exports 6.4-7 million tons of rice to 30 countries and territories. In 2019, Vietnam exported 6.3 million tons worth $2.8 billion. In the first eight months of 2020, Vietnam exported 4.6 million tons, valued at $2.25 billion, an increase of 10.4 percent in value compared with the same period last year. The exports of rice varieties OM5451, OM4900, Huong Nhai 85, ST20, RVT, VD20, Nang Hoa 9 and Tai Nguyen Cho Dao enjoying the EUs preferential tariffs account for 43-46 percent of total annual rice exports with output over 3 million tons. The EU imports 2.3 million tons of rice a year worth 1.4 billion euros. Under EVFTA, the potential of increasing Vietnamese rice exports to the EU is very high. The EU market imported 15,800 tons of rice from Vietnam in the first eight months of 2020, with value of $8.5 million. From September 4 to September 17, six enterprises applied for certificates to export 4,300 tons of scented rice to the EU. Asked about the consignment of scented rice to be exported to the EU under EVFTA, Loc Troi Group said 126 tones of Jasmine 85 scented rice, in 18 kilogram packs, will leave for the EU in late September 2020. Analysts said Vietnams rice has a great competitive edge thanks to preferential tariffs, while the other big exporters to the EU Cambodia and Myanmar are bearing taxes of $150 per ton. Chau Giang Export price peaks, Vietnams rice advances towards the EU The rice price in the world market, which is at a nine-year high, helped Vietnam earn $2.2 billion from rice exports in the first eight months of the year. Amy Coney Barrett will be Donald Trumps Supreme Court nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, according to reports. Quoting multiple senior Republican sources with knowledge of the process, CNN says the White House is indicating to allies on Capitol Hill that Ms Barretts intended selection will be announced on Saturday. The machinery is in motion, one of the sources told the outlet, while cautioning that until Ms Barrett is announced the president could always make a last-minute change. Mr Trump told supporters at a campaign rally on Friday that he was moving forward with a Scotus announcement tomorrow. The Democrats dont think we should do it," he said. "Put them in our shoes They would be working over the weekend. They have been not good to deal with. Ms Barrett, a 48-year-old conservative judge on Chicagos 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals, held meetings at the White House on Monday and Tuesday, with the president calling her very respected after a private meeting. Mr Trump did not hold any in-person meetings this week with the other frontrunner, Floridas Cuban-American Justice Barbara Lagoa. A former senior administration official familiar with the process told CNN that she was the plan all along. She's the most distinguished and qualified by traditional measures. She has the strongest support among the legal conservatives who have dedicated their lives to the court. She will contribute most to the court's jurisprudence in the years and decades to come," the source said. A Catholic mother-of seven, Ms Barrett is a former professor at the Notre Dame Law School. She was a finalist to replace retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2018, a spot that ultimately went to Brett Kavanaugh. At her confirmation hearing to the appellate court, Dianne Feinstein said that her Catholic dogma lives loudly within her. And thats of concern when you come to big issues that people have fought for for years in this country, Ms Feinstein said. A former law clerk to the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, Ms Barrett has never been part of a decision that has focused on abortion rights, while she has argued in favour of the Second Amendment. The family members of the Saharanpur resident Mohammed Gulnawaz, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from a Kerala airport for his alleged terror links earlier this week, were under the impression that he had been working in Saudi Arabia for the past 12 years, said senior officials of Uttar Pradesh Anti Terror Squad (ATS) after verifying his details over the last two days. However, as per the investigation, Gulnawaz was based in Dubai and was allegedly involved in terror funding through hawala (illegal money transfer channels). His name allegedly surfaced in connection with terror funding during an NIA investigation in 2016. On the other hand, his family members said Gulnawaz had left the house at the age of 20 to work in Saudi Arabia in 2008 and did not return. His father, Qameel, was in a deep shock when informed about Gulnawazs arrest for terror links. For him, he (Gulnawaz) was the most hardworking among his three sons. His father stated that he only knew that Gulnawaz was away from the family to earn and give them a good lifestyle, said an ATS official privy to the investigation. Also read: Farm bills - Farmers protest, block Delhi-Noida road at Sector 14-A The official said the family had no clear idea about the company which employed him in Saudi Arabia. He said Gulnawazs two brothers, Shahnawaz and Ahtesham, also worked in Saudi Arabia. While Shahnawaz returned home during the Covid-19 outbreak, Ahtesham was still in Saudi Arabia, he added. Our team reached the Saharanpur address of Gulnawaz which was shared by the NIA. His family, comprising five members, including his parents and a brother, were found living there. They were not aware of Gulnawazs involvement in any terror activities, said UP ATS additional director general (ADG) of police Dhruv Kant Thakur. We are waiting for further inputs from the NIA and information extracted from Gulnawaz on the basis of which the investigation will proceed further. Earlier, Gulnawaz was arrested from Keralas Thiruvananthapuram international airport on Tuesday for his alleged links with terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al Qaeda. A senior UP ATS official said Gulnawaz was also suspected to be involved in serial blasts in Bengaluru on July 25, 2008, in which one person was killed and 20 others were seriously injured. The official said two others were arrested and sent to jail in connection with those blasts while Gulnawaz managed to sneak out of the country. He said Gulnawazs name also surfaced in connection with terror funding through hawala network in 2016. After that, the NIA had issued a lookout notice for him and was looking for him. Gulnawazs arrival at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport was revealed by three alleged Al-Qaeda operatives held by the NIA after a raid on a migrant workers settlement in Kochi in the early hours of Saturday. Wilmer Baker, a Cumberland County resident who lives near Sunoco Pipeline's Mariner East project, filed a complaint with Pennsylvania utility regulators that resulted in a $1,000 fine and a rebuke of Sunoco for its public outreach efforts. Read more Sunoco Pipeline LPs abrupt cancellation of a public pipeline safety meeting near Carlisle, Pa., two years ago was the final insult for Wilmer Baker, a retired steelworker who lives about a quarter-mile from the contentious cross-state Mariner East project. Baker filed a formal complaint with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in 2018, alleging a litany of bad behavior by Sunoco. He demanded that the PUC order the company to improve safety measures. This week, he got vindication of sorts when the PUC ordered the pipeline operator to schedule a public awareness meeting within 30 days in Cumberland County. A PUC administrative law judge, who had heard formal testimony last year in Bakers complaint, chided the company for canceling a July 10, 2018, public safety meeting in Lower Frankford Township on short notice because it suspected that the media and potentially litigious residents would be in attendance. The PUC also levied a $1,000 fine against Sunoco. For Baker, a 65-year-old retired foundry worker who represented himself during the PUCs formal legal process, the commissions decision was a sweet victory. Being a private citizen with no legal experience and going up against Sunoco they had five lawyers there at the hearing and two paralegals to be able to challenge Sunoco in court and win, Im ecstatic, Baker said Thursday. But the PUC declined to order the company to adopt the more tangible early-warning measures that Baker sought, such as a leak-detection system on the pipeline, or a requirement that the highly volatile gas liquids carried in the pipeline contain an odorant to alert nearby residents in case of a leak. He also said the PUC should order Sunoco to use only American steel pipe in its project, not imported materials. The PUC said those issues fall under the jurisdiction of federal pipeline safety regulators, not the state. We are pleased that the judge and commission ruled in our favor on nearly all of the many allegations raised by this complainant, but we disagree with the assertion that we did not conduct sufficient public outreach in Cumberland County," said Lisa Coleman, a spokeswoman for Energy Transfer LP, the Texas parent company of Sunoco Pipeline. She said the companys public education and its training programs for emergency responders comply with all appropriate federal and state regulations. Bakers case had attracted interest from other Sunoco foes who live along the 350-mile-long Mariner East project. The work involves repurposing an existing pipeline and building two new pipelines to carry fracked gas liquids such as propane and ethane from the Marcellus Shale region to a Delaware River export terminal in Marcus Hook. Opponents allege that the project is unsafe, and the companys construction methods have caused a series of harmful sinkholes and leaks of drilling fluid. In its latest rebuke, Pennsylvania two weeks ago ordered Sunoco to reroute the pipeline for about a mile in Chester County, where several construction-related spills polluted a lake in Marsh Creek State Park. Baker had increasingly become an irritant for Sunoco by 2018 over its plans to build two new pipelines near his three-acre property in Lower Frankford, just seven miles northwest of Carlisle. In his legal brief, handwritten and buttressed with hundreds of pages of documentation, Baker said Sunoco ceased sending required safety notices to his home, despite its being within a radius from the pipeline that requires periodic notice. He also said that Sunocos cancellation of a public meeting in 2018 amounted to a violation of the companys legal requirements. Bakers complaints got a sympathetic hearing from Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth H. Barnes, who has heard most PUC cases involving the Mariner East project. Sunoco argued that it complied with requirements for sending out safety notices, and that there is no legal requirement for it to be present at public meetings. But Barnes found that a public utility company owes a duty to inform and educate those members of the public residing, working, and congregating near its pipeline. Sunoco, in response to Barnes initial decision, said that the hearing officer had improperly usurped Mr. Bakers complaint and acted as his advocate in order to rewrite the law applicable to [Sunoco Pipeline] on public awareness requirements. But the PUC, whose Sept. 10 order was released to the public on Wednesday, agreed with the judge that Sunocos actions had failed to meet the legal requirement that the company act in a reasonable manner in conducting public outreach. It ordered Sunoco to schedule a public meeting in Cumberland County, though with an acknowledgment of the coronavirus pandemic, said the meeting could be held online. I hope it will bring an openness to this pipeline, which is very dangerous, and maybe put on safeguards that should be put in place, Baker said Thursday. The Sunoco spokeswoman, Coleman, said the company is evaluating our options about a response to the PUCs order. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Marseille, France Fri, September 25, 2020 21:07 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c474b10f 2 Entertainment Marseille,music,record-label,OM-Records,France,rap-music,BMG Free Marseille made a historic move into the music industry on Thursday after the announcement that the French Ligue 1 club had launched a rap record label alongside music industry titan BMG. In a statement, BMG said that OM Records was "a new label for hip-hop, rap, and R&B" and is to be based in the southern French city, which has long been one of the country's major hip-hop hubs. To celebrate the new label a jet black double decker bus with some of the city's local rap stars and DJs on board, played music around France's second-largest city. "It's good that the club is doing this," said rapper Hollis l'Infame, a lifelong Marseille fan who wears the team's white shirt in his videos. "I think I was a Marseille fan even before I was born, it's in our genes." Head of A&R Emilie Hauck told AFP that OM Records is a "50-50 joint venture" between the club and BMG and "the first time ever that a record industry major and a club like OM have come together to create a label". Read also: AirAsia's RedRecords label releases first single by Jannine Weigel Marseille president Jacques-Henri Eyraud said: "Marseille has been a cradle of French rap and hip-hop since the IAM collective and the links between OM and local artists have been strong for years." IAM have been one of France's most important rap groups since the late 1980s and have long collaborated with iconic American group Wu-Tang Clan. "The launch of OM Records strengthens this link and symbolizes the club's desire to promote the unique energy that emanates from Marseille and its people all over the world," added Eyraud. The new label will offer opportunities for artists and groups from "Marseille, the South of France and Africa", said BMG's General Manager for France Sylvain Gazaignes. The first album to be released on OM Records will a compilation called Vendredi 13 ('Friday the 13th') and will be produced by the four people behind the B18 label created in the tough northern districts of Marseille a year ago. BRIDGEPORT Having had the Christopher Columbus statue taken down in Seaside Park, Mayor Joe Ganim indicated this week he wants no role in its future. Friday marked the end of the 45-day window the Parks Commission gave Ganim to restore the likeness of the Italian explorer to its pedestal. But in a statement Wednesday to The Connecticut Post, the mayor claimed it was not his problem. It appears at this point that the statue is in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Parks Commission, Ganim said. I need to take no further action on this. It is up to the commission as to what to do, and how to do it. His office did not provide further clarification. Since the parks boards Aug. 11 vote, both sides of the issue advocates for Columbus return and those who want the monument kept out of Seaside have been publicly debating how Ganim should respond to the order to replace it. After being criticized by the Parks Commission and others for unilaterally deciding to place Columbus in storage July 6, Ganim later that month claimed that when it came to the statues ultimate fate, The most prudent response is to allow the parks board to make a decision on how to proceed. Banjed Labrador, the commissions chairman, said this week that was exactly what he and his members did Aug. 11 in directing Ganim to replace the monument without incurring any expense to the parks budget. Youd think hed take the same responsibility to put it back, Labrador said. We didnt take it down. You put it back up. Municipal parkland falls under the Department of Public Facilities. Labrador said he reached out Friday to that agency about how to go about returning Columbus to Seaside and was told nothing can be done unless the mayor signs off on it. Ganims statement to The Post left Columbus supporters and opponents dissatisfied. Former state Rep. Christopher Caruso, one of several Italian-American leaders who have been urging the statue be put back, called Ganims position ridiculous and a dereliction of duty. He sidestepped the parks board (July 6) so the board ordered or requested the mayor to put the statue back up because the mayor took it down, Caruso said. Now hes ... washing his hands of it and saying, Its not me, its the parks board. The mayor had originally claimed his sudden decision to place the statue in storage was to protect it from threats of vandalism. Similar controversial statues have been targeted in recent months around the country, and either forcibly or peacefully removed. Waterburys Columbus was beheaded July 4. City Attorney R. Christopher Meyer in an early September interview claimed Ganim could legitimately argue the monument should remain in storage for public health and safety reasons to prevent possibly violent rallies and gatherings that might spread the novel coronavirus. Remember, were in extraordinary times unusual times where the mayors balancing COVID protections of people and public safety protections of people, Meyer had said. Gemeem Davis is a leader of Bridgeport Generation Now civic group that, along with others, has argued Columbus should not be celebrated as a heroic explorer but decried as a symbol of colonialism, slavery and racism. In regard to Ganims recent statement she said, I think it means hes not going to do anything with it? Hes not going to pay for it to go back? It would be better for the community for him to just say, No, Im not putting it back. Im not spending the money to pay for security, she said. All along, Labrador has maintained that putting Columbus back up in Seaside Park was not necessarily a permanent solution, but a means of starting a dialogue over the statue and whether it should be relocated or remain where it has been since commissioned by the Italian-American community in the 1960s. And then if it has to come down again, we as a parks board will make that decision, Labrador said this week. Study of God in the brain points to a common thread among people of faith, neuroscientist says Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment In an interview with The Christian Post, neuroscientist Adam Green, senior investigator in a new Georgetown University study that found the strength of an individuals faith in God is likely linked to the brain, explained how the new data point to a common thread among people of all faiths. Green and his neuroscientist colleagues conducted the study "Implicit pattern learning predicts individual differences in belief in God in the United States and Afghanistan" published this month in the journal Nature Communications. They found that an individuals ability to unconsciously predict complex patterns, through an ability known as implicit pattern learning, had a strong correlation with the strength of their belief in a god who creates patterns of events in the universe. The study, which involved a predominantly Christian group of 199 participants from Washington, D.C., and a group of 149 Muslim participants in Kabul, Afghanistan, is the first of its kind to explore religious belief through implicit pattern learning. To measure the implicit pattern learning ability of participants in the study, researchers used a well-established cognitive test in which they had to watch a sequence of dots appear and disappear quickly on a computer screen. They pressed a button for each of the moving dots but some participants in the study the ones who registered the strongest implicit learning ability began to subconsciously learn the patterns hidden in the sequence. They pressed the button for dots before they appeared. Even the best implicit learners in the study did not know that the dots formed patterns, which demonstrated that the learning had happened at an unconscious level. Green, who is an associate professor in Georgetown University's department of psychology, explained what this could mean for those who believe. CP: What kinds of reactions have you been getting to the study so far? Green: Its been interesting. I think as a researcher, the motivation is to understand things and I think the wider world wants to fit whatever you find into a narrative and it isnt necessarily the case that the actual data supports a particular narrative one way or another. I think people have a lot of interest in sort of what the study means in terms of whatever their preconceived notions are about belief. And thats a complicated issue. It means different things to different people. I think some people have taken it as heres an indication that somehow religious people are seeing something that nonreligious people arent but sort of indicating something deeper. And other people are taking it as well. This is really just people overgeneralizing from the ways their brains interpret visual information. Really I think the point is, the data are just the data. You could be a believer or nonbeliever and these data shouldnt sway you to be one or another or justify one position or another. Its about understanding how people come to belief, not whether what they believe is real. CP: Your study reminds me of the God gene hypothesis (which proposes that human spirituality is influenced by heredity and that a specific gene, called vesicular monoamine transporter 2, predisposes humans towards spiritual or mystic experiences). Do the results from your study point towards a God gene? Green: Well, I think both genetics and belief would be undersold to think that either could be boiled down to those kind of monolithic terms. I think belief means so many different things to so many different people. Its such a rich, complex thing and so are genetics. Thirty thousand different genes interacting in so many different ways, no interesting thing that humans do comes from any one gene. Thats not how it works. I do think what were finding is that there are hardwired differences between people that influence the way that their brains process visual information and the ways that brains process visual information seems to have some influence on how likely they are to tend toward narratives that emphasize interventionist gods. And so I guess in that sense there is something innate that is biasing people toward or away from belief but it certainly wouldnt break down to just one gene. CP: The study involved participants from the U.S. and Afghanistan. Was there any consideration to include participants from places like Sweden where you dont have a lot of religious people? Green: If you look deep into the study, we actually did an online sample with Europeans and that was one of the reasons why. We werent able to collect all the same data because it was online rather than in person. Some of the tasks dont work with the online presentation. We were interested in a broad a sample as possible. CP: How would you explain why some countries are more religious than others? Green: There is always a temptation to say research found this phenomenon, in this case its the relationship of implicit learning to belief, and to try to take that and say how can we explain everything with this one phenomenon. What we are finding, and what science almost always finds is just a small piece of the puzzle. And I think the genetics here are actually a great analogy because lets say you find a gene that has some influence on height. Well it turns out, and people have studied this actually, you might find some people in Sweden who tend to be quite tall. You might find slightly more people in Sweden carrying that gene, but it turns out that theres actually tens of thousands of genes that influence height and so any one gene is just a tiny part of the story. It turns out that proper nutrition influences height and many other things can influence things as complex as belief. I think to say that it may be plausible based on what we found that a slightly higher percentage of people in more heavily believing places would show greater implicit learning, that is probably a fair interpretation. But there is so much more to the story. This is just one small piece. CP: America has always been pretty religious but we have been seeing the rise of religious nones (people with no religious affiliation). Why do you think this is happening? Green: Unless youre attributing that to some sort of demographic changes where you accept different people, within the same gene pool essentially, you wouldnt expect to see changes over time at a population level in implicit learning. Im sure there are many other reasons that people have come up with as to why there are cultural shifts in these things. CP: What do you see as the next step for the research you are doing now? Green: We have a new grant funded [study]. Most of my research is at the neural level looking at the brain. And so were going to be doing neural imaging to try to get a clear understanding of how it is that brains represent God, which is a fascinating question, and whether the representation of God in the brain differs by whether people are stronger believers or groups who are self-described nonbelievers, groups that are self-described moderate believers and groups that are self-described strong believers, and looking at whether basically everybody is representing the same thing but believing in it to a different extent or actually representing different things. CP: What was the sample of believers in Washington, D.C., like? Did you look at different types of Christians by denomination like Pentecostals and Catholics? Green: Really good question. I have to say my background is not in the cognition or neuroscience of belief. Its been a fascinating journey and Ive learnt so much about the richness of it. We didnt look at those kinds of characteristics as differentiating variables in this study but in our new study we are focusing more on that. Its one of the things thats related to how do people represent God? What is the experience? And were finding lots of different experiences and then what we have to sort of look at the best way to comparing across them and seeing what are meaningful differences and how can we explain those in terms of the way that the brain is representing God. To do that, because I dont have that expertise, were working with people who are very experienced religion researchers. Kathy Johnson and Adam Cohen at Arizona State University are a big part of the new study along with some other folks who have a fair bit of experience in that area. Ill focus more on the neuroscience side, which is more my training. But its a great opportunity to get to learn from people who know about such a fascinating topic, which really is the fun of being an academic in the first place. You want to stay in school. You want to keep learning. CP: What triggered your interest in this study? Green: What we are interested in is how belief arises in the brain and how God is represented in the brain. Those are things that are of interest to me and to my lab because we are in general very interested in how connections are made in the brain. And so we study those on reasoning based connections, we study those in terms of creativity, we study those in terms of social connections. But there is this idea of connection to something that you cant see or you cant interact with directly and so in some ways its one of the most elusive connections that there is. And so trying to understand how that happens, how that arises and how that operates in the brain, thats where our interest is focused. It isnt a search for God. CP: Any final thoughts about what this research could do for people of faith? Green: The thing that I would say is at least from my perspective, is that its very encouraging when people who are believers across different faiths who sometimes consider themselves different from each other, and in some cases opposed to each other, can identify something shared that makes them human in the same way. And to me thats what this research hopefully can say to believers. What I think it isnt and I hope people take it as this, as I said, a number of people on both sides of these divides, is justification for sort of the veracity of belief or the falsity of belief. Thats not what the data show. Thats not the question we asked and its not the answer we got. KABUL - The Taliban launched a wave of attacks on security checkpoints in southern Afghanistan overnight, killing a total of 28 Afghan policemen, officials said Wednesday. The violence comes even as Taliban leaders and Afghan government-appointed negotiators are holding historic peace talks in Qatar, a Mideast country where the Taliban set up a political office after they were toppled from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. The negotiations, which started earlier this month, are meant to end the fighting and establish a roadmap for a post-war society. According to the provincial governors spokesman Zelgay Ebadi, the attacks started late Tuesday in southern Uruzgan province. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed responsibility for the attacks and said the insurgents carried them out after the police in the area refused to surrender to the insurgents. Ebadi, meanwhile, said the policemen were killed after they had surrendered. The discrepancy in their accounts could not immediately be resolved. The remoteness of the area makes it impossible to independently verify either version of events. Reinforcements were not able to get to the outposts to save the besieged officers but Ebadi said Afghan security forces were later back in charge of the checkpoints. The Taliban seized weapons found at the scene before fleeing the checkpoints. In the negotiations in Qatar, the two sides have so far have spent more than a week deciding agendas and the manner in which the two sides will be conducting the negotiations. Both the government in Kabul and the United States have called for a reduction of violence while talks are being held in Qatar, but the Taliban have said they would not commit to a reduction of violence until the terms of a cease-fire are negotiated and resolved Deep mistrust exists on both sides of the table. Read more about: Islamabad, Sep 25 : Pakistan on Friday summoned a senior Indian diplomat to lodge a formal protest over the recent ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kashmir region, according to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry. Due to "indiscriminate and unprovoked" firing by the Indian forces in the Baroh sector of the LoC on Thursday, two civilians sustained serious injuries, the foreign ministry said in a statement, the Xinhua news agency reported. India has committed 2,340 ceasefire violations to date this year, resulting in 18 deaths and serious injuries to 187 civilians, according to the statement. A police tow truck operator works to remove a Volkswagen Jetta involved in a fatal accident on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, near 20th Street, in Philadelphia on Friday morning, Read more A 20-year-old man was killed and a woman was injured in a crash early Friday on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia police said. The pair were among four people in a black Volkswagen Jetta that investigators believe was speeding up the Parkway about 4:20 a.m. when the driver apparently lost control of the car near 20th Street, then struck a tree and a pole on the center median. An eyewitness told police the car was one of three driving fast at the same time, but Capt. Mark Overwise of the Accident Investigation District said it didnt appear to be a drag race or drag racing the way you see it in South Philly, with a start and finish line. Police did not identify the crash victims, but said the man was taken by medics to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and pronounced dead at 4:51 a.m. With him in the car were three women, ages 20, 21, and 22, Overwise said, but investigators had not determined who was driving. The Jetta was owned by the 21-year-old woman. One of the women was hospitalized in stable condition after complaining of neck and back pain and arm injuries, police said. Drag racing has been an issue in South Philadelphia. A 45-year-old woman was critically injured late last month, when a driver in an illegal street race on Third Street near Pattison Avenue just after midnight one night lost control and swerved into a crowd of people watching the race. The occupants of both cars fled the scene. Overwise said Friday that police are continuing to investigate that crash and no arrests have been made. Although police know who owns the car that hit the woman, they have been trying to determine who was driving it, he said. In another case, police on Friday also said they were seeking the driver of a Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab pickup truck believed to have killed a pedestrian in Juniata Park about 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 18. The victim, Maria Rivera, 46, who lived nearby, was crossing Erie Avenue near I Street when the westbound vehicle struck her in the crosswalk then fled, police said. The pickup is believed to be black or dark blue in color with chrome wheels and a chrome toolbox attached to the bed. The victims relatives pleaded for the publics help in finding the driver during a news conference Friday at Accident Investigation District headquarters. "They just left her there like a dog," said her daughter, Mariana Otero, 29, adding: Whoever did it, needs to come forward. They need to give us the justice we need. Its just too much pain for us. The Fraternal Order of Police has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. Police ask that anyone with information on any of these crashes call investigators at 215-685-3180. The Krewe of Oshun has become the first Mardi Gras season parading organization to announce it will not roll in 2021. Captain Henry Smith said uncertainty over the coronavirus contagion caused nervousness among members, who were reluctant to commit to parading less than five months from now. Smith said he understands their worry. In April, he was diagnosed with COVID-19 after suffering a fever and cough. Several other krewe members were stricken as well, he said. +2 Krewe of Armeinius cancels Mardi Gras ball due to coronavirus concerns, may stage virtual affair The coronavirus has cost New Orleans yet another unique cultural event. For the first time since its founding in 1968, the Krewe of Armeinius "My main concern was the members," he said. Smith encouraged riders to withhold a decision until New Orleans entered Phase 3 of the quarantine comeback, the better to assess the possibility of safely parading. But the writing was on the wall. Planning for the parade takes place months before the event, and time was running out. Smith was unsure how many riders or court members could have pledged to participate under the circumstances. It wasnt looking good enough to do a presentation, he said. Krewe of Nyx sued by float builder, accused of breaking parade contract worth hundreds of thousands A float-building company has sued the Mystic Krewe of Nyx in Civil District Court, accusing the embattled organization of breach of contract f Smith said that 2021 is the krewes 25th anniversary, and a skimpy parade was unacceptable. Instead, the krewe decided to postpone the milestone until 2022. He said Mayor LaToya Cantrell's office has been informed of the krewes decision and agreed to reserve its regular spot in 2022. Founded in 1996, the Krewe of Oshun rolled this year with 300 members and 18 floats. It is named for the Yoruba goddess of love, and historically kicks off the New Orleans parading season with its Friday night procession down St. Charles Avenue. The 2021 parade would have taken place Feb. 5. Reindeer Auto hires Hadley as Sales Director ZIONSVILLE, IN / ACCESSWIRE / September 24, 2020 / Industry leader Reindeer Auto announces a recent addition to their sales team. Andy Hadley is Reindeer's new Sales Director. Hadley comes to Reindeer Auto with over 25 years of experience in the international / domestic freight forwarding industry. Reindeer Auto Relocation provides reliable domestic and international vehicle relocation services. Since 1997, the company offers the highest quality of shipping services to corporate relocation specialists, exporters, and individuals. Their extensive network of highly reputable, licensed, bonded, and insured carriers allow them to meet customers' needs promptly regardless of the place of origin or final destination. Alan Waugh, President of Reindeer Auto, expressed confidence that Hadley is ready to handle the job, saying, "The hiring of Andy corresponds with Reindeer's business growth strategy. Andy is determined and devoted to his work and brings with him his excellent customer service record. We are excited to have his knowledge and leadership to help take Reindeer to the next level." In line with Reindeer Auto's growth plans, Andy Hadley will be instrumental in hitting/exceeding annual sales goals. Hadley comes to Reindeer Auto with 15 years of experience as a Senior Executive Manager, a self-starter with strong leadership abilities domestically and internationally. He communicates successfully with different nationalities and cultures to meet set goals. He is proficient in cost-benefit analysis, P & L analytics, and KPI identification. Hadley has a proven track record in building profitability, tonnage, and shipment count in a challenging global environment. Among the new responsibilities Andy Hadley can expect, are directing all corporate and local sales in the United States to ensure all sales processes' smooth running. Also, Hadley will oversee maintaining and expanding business relationships with existing customers and obtaining new business from new clients. He will assist in Reindeer's digital marketing approach to the Personal Moves division. Reindeer Auto has corporate offices in Zionsville, Indiana. They have office hours 6 days a week but have a 24/7 emergency line with on call staff. Customers and current employees are being invited to send their congratulations and welcome to the new Sales Director by visiting the website, reindeerauto.com. For more information about Reindeer Auto Relocation, contact the company here: Reindeer Auto Relocation Terry 1-800-428-0589 sales@reindeerauto.com 5100 Charles Ct Zionsville, IN 46077 SOURCE: Reindeer Auto Relocation View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/607775/Auto-Relocation-Industry-Leader-Reindeer-Auto-Welcomes-Andy-Hadley In February, he sent heavily armed soldiers to surround the congress to pressure lawmakers into approving a loan to fund a fight against gangs. Then in April, Bukele ignored several rulings by El Salvadors supreme court striking down strict measures that led to the detention in crowded quarantine centers of hundreds of people accused of breaking the coronavirus lockdown rules. OTTAWAMontreal immigration lawyer Meryam Haddad issued a mic-drop rebuttal after she was briefly expelled from the Green party leadership race this week for allegedly endorsing a rival provincial party in the British Columbia election. The 32-year-old wrote to the Green partys leadership contest committee to point out that almost exactly one year ago, former leader Elizabeth May had done the very same thing. I would like an explanation as to why this is a reason to expel me when just last year, Elizabeth May endorsed and encouraged people to vote for Jody Wilson-Raybould over our own Green candidate, Haddad wrote in her appeal letter. Why are the rules so different when it comes to me? Haddad was reinstated as a leadership candidate about 18 hours after sending the letter of appeal, with the Green party saying in a statement Thursday that the committee had taken into account mitigating circumstances. Last year, May spoke at a rally for Wilson-Raybould, a former Liberal cabinet minister who was running as an Independent in the 2019 federal election after a very public feud with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the SNC-Lavalin affair. May, who was Green party leader at the time, denied she was implicitly endorsing Wilson-Raybould, saying she was supporting a friend and standing up for ethics in politics. Still, the Greens had to do some damage control and issue statements insisting May still fully supported their own partys candidate in the riding of Vancouver Granville, Louise Boutin. The Green candidate ultimately finished a distant fifth, more than 13,000 votes behind Wilson-Raybould, who was re-elected. Haddads offence was retweeting an ad for the B.C. Ecosocialists party, which was critical of both the B.C. Greens and NDP for allowing pipelines and fracking subsidies. We find that you have discredited and intentionally damaged the interests of the Green Party of Canada, Haddad was told in the letter from the leadership committee tasked with ensuring candidates conduct themselves properly. Haddad said her retweet was not an endorsement, and pointed to other tweets critical of the Ecosocialists as well. This weeks events have shone an unwelcome spotlight on the partys internal battles just days before voting begins in the first leadership contest for the Greens in 14 years. Online voting starts Saturday and the winner is to be announced Oct. 3 at a small event in Ottawa. The eight leadership candidates were in the midst of an online forum Tuesday afternoon when Haddad suddenly had to rush off because she had just received a letter from the party informing her she had been expelled. Haddad posted that letter, another from interim leader Jo-Ann Roberts, and Haddads appeal, to Twitter Thursday. Haddad accused the Greens publicly of trying to keep her out because they were afraid of the change her campaign was bringing that threatened the party establishment. She was angry that May had retweeted another post by a Green supporter who said Haddad did not deserve to be the leader of anything. May said Wednesday she had retweeted that by mistake and wasnt taking a position on the leadership race but that she did think Greens should support their provincial cousins. Haddad was told in her expulsion letter that the two parties are separate but share the same values and that her actions may be resented by some Green members who might choose not to vote for the party as a result. Roberts followup letter added this was not her first violation, because the party had also received complaints about Haddad from some of her former campaign team members. Haddad said she had addressed those complaints and believed they had been withdrawn. She was breathlessly excited Thursday after hearing she was back on the ballot and thanked supporters in a video posted to social media. Her backers flooded the Green party with emails and phone calls Wednesday demanding her reinstatement. Several other candidates expressed their wish that she also be allowed back in, including Amita Kuttner and Dimitri Lascaris, as did Fredericton Green MP Jenica Atwin. Former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Glen Murray, who said he thinks Green leaders should support the Green party everywhere, said he too was glad she was allowed back in because it should be up to the members to decide. Meanwhile, the Green party acclaimed Thursday another leadership contender, Annamie Paul, as its candidate in the Toronto Centre byelection scheduled for Oct. 26. Paul ran a distant fourth in the riding in last falls general election, with just seven per cent of the vote. Bill Morneau, who as since resigned as finance minister and MP, easily held the riding for the Liberals with 57 per cent of the vote. Read more about: Ammo Grrrll has a request: PLAY IT AGAIN, NAN! She writes: Some people cannot learn. The people I am talking about are mostly in their 60s and 70s and maybe its just too late to absorb any new information. Since I am in that demographic, I dont like to think thats true. But, sometimes I get a real hard lesson and learn THAT way. The people Im talking about are insanely wealthy and privileged, so they do not learn hard lessons because they have been sheltered from all hard lessons. Let me give you an example. Since I was a very young tomboy, my Mama and I used to sling her furniture around at will, including the upright piano which weighed as much as a baby elephant. We would redecorate every few months, to Daddys great annoyance. Mama weighed between 90-110 her whole life and stood 5 feet tall, but she was strong as an ox. She played catcher on a ladies league softball team. Fielders backed up when she batted. She could break an apple in half with just her hands, a hit with neighbor kids. Come in and see what Mrs. B can do! Maybe shell give us one of her fresh caramel pecan rolls, too! Contrary to stupid feminist mythology (95 percent lies), I learned that being a strong girl and a smart girl were both good things. So back to my lesson. It is important to me still to think of myself as that strong. Which means that on occasion I will do a stupid thing. Like buying four 40-lb. bags of salt pellets at Ace and then wrestling them out of the trunk and lugging them to the water softener without waiting for the famous novelist Max Cossack to get home. Whoa, doggies! First of all, Max was very upset with me, what with my arthritis, fragile rotator cuff and spasm-prone lower back. He shook his index finger at me for an extended period of time in the manner of Bad doggie! And Doh! just a few hours later, my lower back seized up and my upper glute formed a painful knot and I couldnt walk without the walker we had borrowed for an earlier health crisis. I hate it when hes proven right and I gave some thought to pretending that I was just fine. But its tough to explain what youre doing with a walker. Nope, nuthin to see here; just taking the walker for a little spin I soaked in Epsom Salts, and rested for Day One. But the human body is, in fact, a healing machine. By the time you are reading this, I should be fine, though cards with money in them could help. Haha. I kid. But heck, George Floyds brother got $14.7 MILLION to help, you know, defray funeral expenses. Gold caskets are not cheap. The point is this: IM NOT GOING TO DO THAT AGAIN. If I have to drag an inert Max to safety in a Zombie Apocalypse, well, thats one thing. But no more showing off by lugging salt bags when several men are right here in the neighborhood some Texan, some Marines! Okay, watch what I do here now. In comedy, this is called a segue. If we are to take the ACTIONS of the Democrats as good coin, then we must admit that they BELIEVE that Americans not only love 100-day long riots and arson, but also just love to be insulted and accused of doing things they did not do and thinking thoughts that they do not think. It was one thing to learn in 2008 that Obama told secret things to a group of supporters when he thought we wouldnt hear about it. That, in itself, was disturbing, but okay. We were willing to stipulate to clinging to God and guns and wondered why everybody didnt. What the leftist loons thought was a negative was, to us, the motor force of our lives. Strike one. It is my firm belief that before the Basket of Deplorables speech and, as a writer, I will go to my grave wondering, Why a BASKET? Hillary was probably coasting, or in her case, coughing and stumbling, to victory. What, one wonders, was the point of it? Her leftie loonies were already convinced we were horrible, stupid, smelly morons with bad teeth. Who was it aimed at? It was a self-indulgent piece of red meat thrown to her slobbering worshippers, even though many of them are vocal vegans, and it made Normal America really mad. She lost. Lets all just take a minute and go to YouTube to relive that wonderful November night. And then have a cigarette. Are you back? So any halfway-smart consultant would have to say, ixnay on the insults, kids. But heck no, they doubled down! For every bleepin minute of the last four years! Hate never sleeps. Derangement never takes a holiday. A scrawny pretend comic in her 60s trots out a bloody severed head of the President and is shocked when people do not laugh. Heck, she was used to getting millions without ever once being funny, so what happened this time? Dont Americans LOVE beheading? Another humorless harridan calls the beautiful daughter of the President a feckless bad c-word and kept her job. The next day an elderly member of the Fonda clan consulted a Thesaurus and found another unseemly word for female genitalia to try to top the harridan. An old Italian gnome in lift shoes graced the Oscars with the brilliant riposte EFF Trump! And on it went. Rob Reiner alone could fill an entire course on Abnormal Psychology. And Nancy Good Morning Pelosi, in whose odd, muttering mouth butter would not melt, has had to go waaaay off the rails to come up with something worse than deplorable. And, by Jove, she found it! Trump, his GOP allies, and supporters are Domestic Enemies of the State. If theres one thing we Americans love more than gratuitous insults, its some babbling Botoxed billionaire decreeing rules for thee but not for me. Tens of thousands of people have had their businesses destroyed with the one-two punch of the riots and this endless lockdown. Cooperative Americans have tried hard to wear masks, especially during the early weeks when we were all tasked with flattening the curve. In the halcyon days before 200 MILLION of us perished before Joe Biden finished reading his Teleprompter. Sad. Then Nattering Nan gets set up by someone grabbing her mask and forcibly preventing her from wearing it in her illegal hair appointment. Even Don Lemon said, Why didnt she just apologize? Want to see how this stuff plays in America? Go into the bar at Risckys in Fort Worth and tell the first person you see that his daughter is a feckless c-word. Tell his black friend at the next table that if he doesnt vote for the doddering, corrupt, white imbecile at the top of the ticket, he aint black. Come to my Dusty Little Village and call the Pinal County Sheriff a Domestic Enemy of the State. Be sure to bring an I.D. so people know where to locate your next of kin. Its not WORKING, Democrats! You learned nothing. Youre going to lose again. The Nashville Election Commission will meet this afternoon to vote on whether to conduct a city-wide special election on Dec. 5. A grass roots group says they have enough signatures to bring a controversial 34 percent tax increase to the voters. Oh, the increase has already been approved, alright, but Nashville is the states Waterloo argue others, and if the city government goes belly up, its a cinch the rest of the state will get wet in what is believed to have become a tragic case of mismanagement. The state capital is run by Democrat Mayor John Cooper, who has come under scathing criticism for his weak leadership in the COVID pandemic and other areas in his first year in office. He is the brother of U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D), whose 5th Congressional District includes Nashville, and the citys finances are in such a terrible blight it appears there is a $322 million budget shortfall for the fiscal midterm (without the 34-percent tax increase.) Further, Coopers limp-wristed response to the summer riots incensed Nashvillians, but his latest failure came last week when he asked Tennessee Governor Bill Lee for an additional $82.6 million in COVID relief (forget the fiscal suffering in Tennessees other 94 counties). And the angered Governor Lee sent the Harvard-educated Shelbyville native reeling. "I must share my deep concern that, of the $93 million in Coronavirus Relief Fund dollars spent to date by your administration, only $5.7 million has been budgeted for relief to businesses," Lee wrote. "This concern is heightened by the ongoing challenges ahead for Nashville business owners who have already endured some of the most restrictive limitations on commercial activity, as well as a recently enacted property tax increase." But Lee was just getting wound up: "That's something that, for me to consider, I have to believe that the strategy that I'm investing in is consistent and aligned with the states strategy, and Metro Nashville is not. Short answer: Absolutely no. How bad is it? In August of 2019, the State of Tennessee's debt was about $2 billion (with a b). At the same time, Metro Nashvilles dept was $4.5 billion (with a b). Yes, it is twice as big as the entire state where over 6.7 million people live. Rumors have it the State Legislature has been greatly concerned about Nashville since the first day Cooper took office. A stern warning was issued to the Metro Council last fall but now the pressure has gotten worse, much worse. Just last week Tennessee Comptroller Justin Wilson made a personal visit to warn that if the city fails to maintain a balanced budget in light of a referendum, the state could step in to make financial decisions for Nashville very soon and very quickly. Wilson said finance decisions would be submitted by the city, reviewed, and approved based on availability of funds on a week-by-week basis, and Ill guarantee you that you wont like that. It would be like a teenager coming to their parent asking for $20 to go to the movies, Wilson said. You do not want that, and I can guarantee you that I dont, nor does anyone in my office. The December vote apparently means little to the comptroller. He demanded the Council begin making severe cuts immediately. "In order to be prepared for the possibility of this referendum becoming effective, you must begin taking action as soon as possible as soon as tonight, Wilson said. Each day you wait, the cuts become deeper. Action is urgently needed now. Believe it or not, the story gets even better. With the Democratic Party being roundly chastised for its partys stand in the $2 billion (with a b) damage to America in this summers riots, the Nashville mayor is part of the scorn wrought by leaders in this predominantly Republican state. The 5-person Nashville Election Commission includes three Republicans and two Democrats who consistently vote along party lines. If that alone is not enough to entice a favorable vote for the special December election, Glenn Funk, the Davidson County (Nashville) District Attorney, announced yesterday that, no, he will not enforce Tennessees new abortion laws. This shocker sent Governor Lee, the State Legislature, and most particularly the ragtag state Republican Party into near apoplexy. DA Funk couldnt have timed his announcement at a worst time with todays election poised to determine a Dec. 5 referendum. The State Legislature with a Senate that is 85 percent Republican and a House that is almost 75 percent Red -- is totally livid following Funks snub. The DA says the heartbeat rule the strictest anti-abortion law in all the United States -- is unconstitutional in his view. Only now Governor Lee and the states lawmakers are furious and have another collective reason to believe Nashville is a bigger problem than the pandemic. Lord have mercy, how did we ever get this far? If Im any part prognosticator, heres what I think will happen: * -- Late today the Nashville Election Commission will approve the Dec. 5 referendum. * -- Next week there will be a legal challenge by A-list lawyers that will throw the city in a very expensive twist. Since the 34 percent tax increase had already been approved, what gives the grassroots crowd the authority to spin it away from those chosen by the people? Does the Dec. 5 vote include the heads of the politicians most responsible? * -- During the month of October, state officials will wrestle away all financial duties from the city because the government is, for all practical purposes, insolvent and is therefore a burden on every state taxpayer. There is absolutely no way the Metro Council can maintain a balanced budget with a $322 million shortfall. * -- Mayor Cooper, who will soon be unable to sign a check for as much as pizza, will be forced to admit his demise by his own hand and will resign next month. Some on the Metro Council will also likely most likely bale. There will never be a statue for Mayor Cooper. The pigeons alone would dump it into the Cumberland River. * -- The outcome of the November Trump-Biden election will reverberate in Nashville, as well as all Democratic-controlled cities, but no matter the winner, the events surrounding both before and after the presidential election will greatly influence how Nashvillians approach the December referendum. * -- No matter how hard you try nor how restless you sleep, you cant make up a plot as rich as this mess. royexum@aol.com NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Garrett Motion Inc. ("Garrett" or the "Company") (OTCMKTS: GTXMQ). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Garrett and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here for information about joining the class action] On August 26, 2020, Garrett Motion issued a press release entitled "Garrett Motion Exploring Alternatives For Balance Sheet Restructuring." The press release advised investors that notwithstanding its entry, on June 12, 2020, "into an amendment into its credit agreement to obtain relief from certain financial covenants," the Company's "leverage ratio remains high" and "poses significant challenges to its overall strategic and financial flexibility and may impair its ability to gain or hold market share in the highly competitive automotive supply market, thereby putting Garrett at a meaningful disadvantage relative to its peers." On this news, Garrett Motion's stock price fell $3.04 per share, or 44%, to close at $3.84 on August 26, 2020. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com. CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP [email protected] 888-476-6529 ext. 7980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links www.pomerantzlaw.com The Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested the alleged key conspirator in riots on August 11 and searched 30 locations across the city, an official said on Thursday. "We have arrested Sayed Saddiq Ali, a key conspirator in the attack on the KG Halli police station in the city's north-eastern suburb on August 11, which resulted in heavy damage and destruction of public and state property," a official said in a statement here. The 44-year-old key accused works as a recovery agent with a bank and has been absconding since August 11 riots in which a Congress legislator's house was also set on fire and a number of public and police vehicles were torched. Three persons were killed when police opened fire on August 11 to quell the mob violence, which broke out over a derogatory post in the social media (Facebook) by Congress legislator Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy's nephew (Naveen) on that fateful night. About 400 people were arrested in connection with the riots. "We have recovered airgun, pellets, sharp weapons, iron rods, digital devices, digital voice recordings (DVRs) and many incriminating documents and materials related to the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Popular Front of India (PFI)," said the statement. Some of the accused held in the riots case are said to be members of the SDPI and PFI, which are fringe politics outfits in the southern state. The took over the probe into the two riot cases on Wednesday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other related laws. Murthy is the legislator from the Pulakeshi Nagar assembly segment (reserved). According to preliminary investigation, Muzamil Pasha and other members of the SDPI and PFI were involved in the violent attack on Murthy's house in the locality and the two police stations at DJ Halli and KG Halli in the area. --IANS fb/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.) The city of Portland has denied a permit for a Saturday rally planned by the right-wing group the Proud Boys, citing the coronavirus pandemic. Officials found the group's estimated crowd size of 10,000 people was too big under COVID-19 safety measures, according to a statement released on Wednesday by the Portland Parks & Recreation Bureau. The bureau said it had consulted with Mayor Ted Wheeler, who is also the police commissioner, and decided that those attending would not be able to comply with social distancing rules because of the large number of people. 'We must all do our part to fight the spread of COVID-19 in our community and keep ourselves and each other safe,' Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who oversees the city's parks department, said in the statement. 'Events like this are not welcome and are not allowed.' However, it is still expected that members of the Proud Boys will march, regardless of the rejected permit. Portland denied a permit for a rally on Saturday planned by the alt-right group the Proud Boys. Pictured: Proud Boys and other right wing demonstrators pursue counter-protesters at the Oregon State Capitol building in Salem, September 7 Officials say the estimated crowd size of 10,000 is too large to safely practice social distancing. Pictured: Members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing demonstrators march along the Willamette River during a rally in Portland, August 2019 The Proud Boys, deemed a hate group, described their rally as a march to 'end domestic terrorism.' Pictured: Participants in a pro-Trump vehicle rally drive southbound on Interstate 5 in Tualatin, Oregon, September 7 The Proud Boys, founded in 2016, have been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. However, the group claims they are merely spreading an 'anti-political correctness' and 'anti-white guilt' agenda. Members have rallied in Portland several times in recent years and draw large crowds who show up to oppose their presence in the liberal city. The rally planned for Saturday was moved from downtown Portland to Delta Park in north Portland to accommodate what the Proud Boys called a 'battalion of patriots' exercising their right to assemble freely. In the group's permit application, the rally was described as a march to 'end domestic terrorism'. Left-wing groups plan at least two events to oppose the Proud Boys, including one in Delta Park and another in Peninsula Park, about three miles away. Wheeler called those who planned to attend the rally 'agitators' on Twitter. 'On September 26th, agitators plan on coming to Portland to spread messages of hate and racism - values we don't welcome here in Portland,' he wrote. 'If you intend to come to our city, our home, to spread hate and provoke violence, don't.' Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio said in a statement last week that the rally would be peaceful and urged those planning violence to stay away. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio said in a statement last week that the rally would be peaceful and urged those planning violence to stay away. Pictured: Trump supporters and Proud Boys members rally with a large US flag at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem, September 7 Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler called those who planned to attend the Proud Boys rally 'agitators.' Pictured: Armed right-wing protesters in support of President Donald Trump stand in front of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem, September 7 Tarrio has said the rally is aimed at the city's political leadership, including Wheeler, and he has criticized the mayor for not doing more to stop protests that have occurred in the city for nearly four months following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The location selected by the Proud Boys has angered some in Portland because of the history of the park. The site of the park once held a World War II-era working class community called Vanport, which was home to about 6,000 Black Portlanders when it was destroyed in a flood in 1948. Vanport was originally built to house workers who flocked to Portland's shipyards during World War II. After the war, it was one of the few places where Black people could own a home because of racist zoning and real estate laws. Black families that were displaced by the flood were forced into a small area of north Portland by the same discriminatory housing policies. Oregon State Police and the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office say they will not help with crowd control due to the Portland mayor's ban on tear gas. Pictured: Police detain a right wing demonstrator in Salem, September 7 MSCO has committed to helping process anyone arrested and assist with patrol duties. Pictured: Police detain a right wing demonstrator following clashes with left wing demonstrators, September 7 Both Oregon State Police and the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office denied the Portland Police Bureau's request to help with crowd control for the different planned rallies due to a ban on tear gas from the Mayor's office, KGW reported. 'By removing this tool from officers, this forces us (you) to insert physical bodies in between potentially violent and hostile crowds, increasing the risk of serious physical injury or death of officers and community members,' OSP Superintendent Travis Hampton said in statement. The MCSO said it will also not deploy its Rapid Response Team for the same reasons. However, MCSO Sheriff Mike Reese did says deputies will help process anyone arrested and assist with patrol duties, according to KGW. Bengaluru: Former Karnataka Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader SM Krishna has resigned from the primary membership of the party, sources close to him said on Saturday. 84-year old Krishna has written to Congress President Sonia Gandhi conveying his decision, the sources told PTI in Bengaluru.Asked about it, the former Minister for External Affairs declined to react, saying, tomorrow. tomorrow. He has called a press conference on Sunday, where he is expected to give details about his decision and his future plan of action. Krishna, who was the state Chief Minister from 1999 to 2004 and a former Maharashtra Governor, is reportedly miffed at being sidelined in the party, with which he has more than five-decades-old association. He had returned to the state in 2012 but had been maintaining a low profile in the last two years. As the news broke out, apparently surprised state Congress leaders said they were not aware of the development and rushed to his residence to meet Krishna who was away at a function. I am not aware of it. If it is true, I cant even believe it. I do not want to react now, KPCC President and state Home Minister G Parameshwara told reporters. We had not sidelined him in any matter from any angle. He is one of the most likeable leaders of our party...the party had not sidelined him, he said. State Congress Working President Dinesh Gundu Rao also said he had no information. Without officially knowing I cant react. Krishna is a senior leader who has always played politics with dignity. He has always played positive politics, he said. The development has hit the Karnataka Congress at a time when a section of partymen are unhappy over the style of functioning of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is also facing an aggressive BJP which is hoping to stage a comeback to power in the 2018 Assembly polls. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Sen. Mitt Romney announced his support for a process whereby the Senate could confirm a nominee to the Supreme Court before Election Day. His statement seems to ensure that a candidate could be confirmed barring missteps by the nominee during the confirmation process. This process has become extraordinarily contentious for two reasons. One is obvious; the other is less so but even more fundamental to our nation and her future. Why the Republicans will nominate a candidate Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia were known as fierce advocates for liberal and conservative philosophies, respectively. However, Justice Ginsburg was confirmed to the Supreme Court in 1993 by a vote of 963; Republican leaders Bob Dole and Mitch McConnell voted for her. Justice Scalia was confirmed in 1986 by a vote of 980; Democrat leaders Al Gore, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, and Joe Biden voted for him. That was then; this is now. When Merrick Garland was nominated by President Barack Obama for the Supreme Court following Justice Scalias untimely death in 2016, the Republican-led Senate refused to consider his candidacy. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell explained that not since the 1880s had the US Senate considered an election-year Supreme Court candidate put forth by a president from the opposition party. When Justice Ginsburg died last Friday, Sen. McConnell quickly announced that the Senate would consider a candidate put forward by President Trump, since both the Senate and the White House are led by the same party. Nonetheless, many have condemned his decision as hypocrisy, given that this is once again an election year. Critics are also claiming that there is not enough time before the November 3 election to investigate a candidate appropriately. However, of the 163 nominations in US history to the Supreme Court, more than half were formally nominated and confirmed within forty-five days. Justice Ginsburgs process took forty-two days; Sandra Day OConnor was confirmed in thirty-three days. To this point, it might seem that I am defending Republicans against Democratic charges of hypocrisy and unfairness. In the interest of fairness, it is plausible to suggest that if the roles were reversed, many Republicans would be saying the same of Democrats that Democrats are saying of Republicans. Therein lies my second point. Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom I am reading Jonathan Sackss magisterial new book, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times. Im halfway through it and already consider it the most important book I have read this year. The author was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth in the UK for more than two decades. He is the recipient of the Templeton Prize among numerous other recognitions. A review of what I have read so far would take far longer than space permits today. However, I want to focus on one insight I find to be enormously profound and urgent. Rabbi Sacks correctly claims that morality is essential to a healthy society and its freedoms. He quotes George Washington: Human rights can only be assured among a virtuous people. And Benjamin Franklin, who noted: Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. A team cannot win if its members do what they want to the exclusion of what is best for the team. An orchestra cannot perform well if each member plays what they want rather than what the conductor directs. When a society loses its collective moral compass, it outsources moral standards to the government to legislate morality. But Rabbi Sacks warns that this cannot work: Morality cannot be outsourced because it depends on each of us. Without self-restraint, without the capacity to defer the gratification of instinct, and without the habits of heart and deed that we call virtues, we will eventually lose our freedom. Why the Court has become so divisive How is this discussion relevant to the Supreme Court? Many Americans began abandoning biblical sexual morality decades ago. Many other Americans have resisted the epidemic of sexual immorality that has resulted, along with redefinitions of marriage and gender. Our elected officials represent and reflect these deep divides and thus have been unable to enact legislation with regard to abortion, same-sex marriage, and LGBTQ rights. Those seeking such rights appealed to the courts. In my view (shared by many), the Supreme Court adopted a legislative rather than a judicial role when it then discovered rights to abortion, same-sex marriage, and LGBTQ advocacy that clearly are not articulated in the US Constitution. Now that the Supreme Court has become a means of legislating morality which advocates are unable to advance through our elected governance, fights over the courts membership and future have become more vociferous than ever before. A calling beyond compare Todays article leaves Christians with this familiar but urgent fact: You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world (Matthew 5:13, 14, my emphasis). Jesus definite articles show that the world has no other salt or light but Gods people. When we speak and obey Gods word in Gods Spirit for Gods glory, God uses us in ways he can use no one else. Members of the Supreme Court come and go, but kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations (Psalm 22:28). One day, he assures us, The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). In the meantime, we are Gods agents of moral change in an immoral world. This is a calling beyond compare and a purpose worthy of our lives. Max Lucado noted, Thanks to Christ, this earth can be the nearest you come to hell. But apart from Christ, this earth is the nearest you come to heaven. With whom will you share those facts today? Originally posted at denisonforum.org Children ride scooters across the plaza at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on March 17, 2020. (Tom Brenner/Reuters) Sen. Mike Lee: Lawmakers Have Themselves to Blame for Judicial Overreach The Supreme Court has been politicized in recent decades as it delves into social disputes usually left for other political branches of government, and Congress has themselves to blame, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told The Epoch Times. I actually think were a significant part of the problem, Lee said in an interview with American Thought Leaders broadcasted on Thursday night. Weve been under reaching. For decades, weve been delegating out our power, weve been passive in response to executive and judicial overreach, but even worse, weve enabled, we facilitated, weve even created, in many instances, that judicial and executive overreach. Lee said Congress has in many instances surrendered their legislating authority to the executive branch of government. This has led to the executive, the judiciary, and administrative agencies expanding their reach in order to fill the void left by lawmakers. The far more common type involves a delegation to the executive branch. We pass a law that says, in effect, we shall have good law in area X and we hereby delegate to commission or department or division Y the power to make and interpret and enforce rules carrying the force of generally applicable federal law in that area, Lee said. And from that moment forward, that division or department, or commission, is the lawmaker, and is also the law enforcer. This comes as President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans engage in a fierce battle to fill the vacancy in the nations top court left by liberal Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. If Trump is successful in confirming a nominee onto the bench, it could result in a conservative lean for years to come. The president and Senate Republicans have made considerable efforts to change the composition of the judiciary, by nominating and confirming younger conservative judges, in order to shape the long-term direction of the country. This move has drawn much criticism from progressives in the country. Since taking office, the Senate has confirmed 218 federal judges nominated by Trump, including 53 appellate judges, and two Supreme Court justices. The Utah senator said people have taken more interest in and have become more emotional about court decisions in recent decades because judges have taken a more prominent role in resolving certain social disputes, taking debatable matters beyond disputes, and tackling questions that are ordinarily left for the political branches of government. The federal government and states have also played a role by asking courts to resolve their political disputes. This has ultimately resulted in a public perception that the courts are politicized. Lawmakers, and even the president, have also added fuel to the flame with some of their remarks. Earlier this year, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) received widespread criticism when he appeared to threaten two of the Supreme Court justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, during a speech at a nearby pro-abortion rally, suggesting that they may face consequences unless they rule the way he wants. He made the speech on the day the court was hearing oral arguments in a case challenging Louisianas regulation of abortion providers. Trump, similarly, has referred to some federal judges as Obama judges. His remarks received pushback from Chief Justice John Roberts who defended the independence of the judiciary. The judiciary is supposed to be the least dangerous branch because it looks in the rearview mirror, Lee said. It doesnt look forward. In other words, its not there as a policymaking body. Its not there to say this is how things should be and must be and well be moving forward. Its there to look in the rearview mirror in the sense of saying, as of the date in question, the law said X. He believes judges are there to decide what the law said at a particular time and what particular words meant at the time they were passed into law, or put into the U.S. Constitution. This would make issues in dispute less controversial and less of an emotional exercise. If instead, the judiciary is out there looking for ways to radically change our culture, or to decide controversial issues of social policy. Yeah, youre gonna have a lot of emotion behind it. I think thats unfortunate. Its also unnecessary, he said. The Trump administration and Senate Republicans have decried the impact of judicial overreach or judicial activism on a number of crucial policies. This is particularly seen when a single federal judge rules beyond the scope of a particular case, in some orders known as nationwide injunctions. Nationwide injunctions are a fairly new concept that initially emerged in the 1960s. Scholars have not found an example of judges issuing nationwide injunctions in the first 175 years of the Republic, according to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The use of nationwide injunctions to block federal policies have become increasingly frequent after Trump took office in 2017. In the three years of his office, the administration has seen more than 55 nationwide injunctions issued against them. In contrast, an average of 1.5 such injunctions were issued per year against the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Meanwhile, the administration of President Barack Obama faced about 20 nationwide injunctionsor an average of 2.5 per yearduring its eight years, according to Attorney General William Barr. As part of the road to fix the perception of the court, Americans need to change the way they understand what judicial power is, Lee said. Its not there, to come up with a set of rules to govern society there. They dont come up with rules. They decide what the rules that have already been written say, Lee said. That distinction between those two things is when weve overly politicized the court, thats why weve got such a problem today. The Air Force's new HH-60W combat rescue helicopter, known as the "Jolly Green II," has begun live-fire ground testing, the service said this week. Airmen with the 413th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, recently fired the aircraft's three primary weapons: the GAU-2, a 7.62mm gatling gun with a 3,000 rounds per minute fire rate; the GAU-18, a .50 caliber machine gun with a 650 to 800 round fire rate; and the GAU-21, a newly designed .50 caliber machine gun with a 950 to 1,100 round fire rate, according to a service release. Read Next: RBGs Trainer, Army Vet Bryant Johson, Does Push-Ups in Front of Her Casket All of the ground testing was done using the unit's first "Whiskey 1" model, made by Lockheed Martin company Sikorsky. Each of the weapons is interchangeable via the helicopter's adaptable gun mount system, according to AirMed&Rescue Magazine. The Whiskey 1 "contains specialized test instrumentation that allows Sikorsky to monitor hundreds of parameters during the flights and envelope expansion testing," according to the release. "That specialized instrumentation allowed the testers to record the stress and strains in the aircraft caused by firing the weapons." The three tests -- which spanned a three-week period on Eglin's expansive test ranges -- follow other programmatic milestones such as aerial refueling and radar, weather and defensive system testing, officials said. "It was great to see all the team's planning and hard work finally pay off to get us to execution and gather this initial live-fire data," Maj. Christopher Hull, 413th FLTS chief test engineer, said in the release. Jolly Green II crews were part of the testing to see how the gunfire affected their ability to conduct a prospective mission -- specifically, whether the blasts have the potential to harm operators or inflict traumatic brain injury symptoms, the release states. The Air Force's Non-Nuclear Munitions Safety Board will evaluate the findings from the ground tests in coming weeks before deciding whether to clear the helicopter for in-flight ammunition tests, which are expected sometime before the end of the year. Last year, the service began the first tests on the HH-60W, which is based on the UH-60M Black Hawk and is meant to replace its HH-60G Pave Hawk fleet. In February, the Air Force unveiled the helicopter's official name during the opening ceremony of the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida. "Reviving the Jolly Green name honors our combat search-and-rescue [CSAR] crews past and present," Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said while standing alongside CSAR pilots from past and current conflicts. "In the hands of our airmen, the HH-60W ensures the rescue community can perform their duties better than ever." The rescue community's motto is, "These things we do that others may live." The name Jolly Green -- which the CSAR community has adopted as its trademark alongside signature green feet stamped on the aircraft -- dates back to the Vietnam War, when American pilots flew the HH-3E helicopter. While today's pilots will stamp the sides of the helicopter with green feet to commemorate their own missions, the symbol's origin is a nod to the HH-3E, also known as the Jolly Green Giant, which left fat imprints when landing in Vietnam's rice patties and grass fields, according to the service. Unlike the new HH-60W, which will officially be known as "Jolly Green II," the HH-3E, used mainly for recovering downed pilots, carried the moniker only as a nickname. Current 1980s-era HH-60G models are capable of low-altitude operations and have a retractable in-flight refueling probe and internal auxiliary fuel tanks that allow for better range and loiter time during rescue missions. The HH-60W doubles the internal fuel capacity of the HH-60G model without using auxiliary fuel tanks and increases the flight hours. The aircraft also has improved avionics, navigation and communications and an enhanced software network, plus better defensive measures and armored plating, according to Sikorsky. The new helicopter's missions include "civil search and rescue, medical evacuation, disaster response, humanitarian assistance, security cooperation/aviation advisory, NASA space flight support and CSAR command and control," per the Air Force. Through its fiscal 2019 and 2020 budgets, Congress gave the Air Force the authority to procure 22 of the Jolly Green II. The first two units to field the aircraft will be the 41st Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, and the 512th Rescue Squadron at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The service plans to purchase up to 113 of the rotary-wing aircraft. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214. Related: In Vietnam-Era Throwback, New Air Force Rescue Helo Is the 'Jolly Green II' The power of data, often an underappreciated catalyst to fixing the world's pressing problems, was recognized by Dr. Sally Hodder as a critical key in battling COVID-19 before West Virginia even reported its first case. Months later, her vision has taken to the national stage, as Hodder and a team at West Virginia University earned a $1.5 million federal grant to head a multi-state consortium for a centralized, national data resource. Such a resource could lead researchers into uncovering the best treatment options for COVID-19 patients, said Hodder, an infectious disease expert who directs the West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute headquartered at WVU. The funding, awarded by the National Institutes of Health, will allow the WVCTSI to work with Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and West Virginia in compiling a large, granular dataset that can examine associations of improved outcomes with various treatments. In the clinical and research worlds, patient registry data is utilized by scientists to assess health outcomes for a population. "The NIH is currently looking at the best treatment regimens to minimize mortality across different patient populations," said Hodder, also a professor at the WVU School of Medicine, who is leading the eight-state consortium. "What's best for a patient in New York City who's 30 might be different from someone in West Virginia who's 70 with heart issues and diabetes. We can ask very fundamental, straightforward questions that, quite frankly, we don't know the answers to with this new virus." The consortium will feed into the National COVID Cohort Collaborative, the national COVID data source being developed by the NIH. The project stems from a COVID-19 patient data registry developed by WVCTSI in early spring 2020. Updated daily, the registry includes detailed information from patients including testing method, ICU stays, ventilator use, medications, vital signs, preexisting conditions, labs, procedures and basic demographics such as age, gender and race, to name a few. That was the genesis for a suggestion to other centers for translational research. When the COVID epidemic came up, I suggested we could develop a consortium of research centers located in largely rural states for purposes of developing a patient registry through which investigators could answer important research questions relevant to patients in their geographic area." Dr. Sally Hodder What makes this particular initiative important, Hodder said, is that the eight states involved represent diverse and historically underserved and underrepresented populations. West Virginia, for example, ranks third behind Florida and Maine in having the oldest population and has a high prevalence of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes - conditions associated with an increased likelihood of COVID-19 mortality. Hodder said this funding is a win for West Virginia and other participating states. "West Virginia should not be anybody's poor brother or sister," she said. "I think federal funding should be applied here to answer the questions about folks in our state. Often, funding goes to urban centers. So this is very important and is closely aligned with the mission of the West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute to develop research infrastructure that improves health outcomes for West Virginians." In April, the WVCTSI registry contained data on about 8,000 individuals tested through the WVU Medicine system. As of Wednesday (Sept. 23), the number had ballooned to more than 60,000. Identifiable personal information, such as patient names, is not included, and researchers are provided specific datasets upon approval. WVCTSI staff Wes Kimble, Matt Armistead and Rick Santee led the charge in building the registry as the Institute partnered with WVU Medicine's Ilo Romero, vice president and assistant chief information officer, and David Rich, chief medical information officer. And as much as the world wants COVID-19 to go away, Hodder believes that, even after a vaccine, the effects of the virus will be lasting, making the national data resource a long-term valuable tool. "One of the questions raising its head is 'What are the chronic complications of having been infected with COVID?' There have been reports of individuals who, weeks after their acute symptoms have gone away, experience heart involvement or neurologic symptoms or ongoing fatigue. Establishing this cohort now will provide valuable data for future investigations of the potential long-term effects of COVID-19." Hispanic and Latino students encouraged to apply for 2020-2021 Future Leaders Scholarship Hispanic and Latino students encouraged to apply for 2020-2021 Future Leaders Scholarship Hispanic Latino Commission offering $35,000 in scholarships to higher-education students of Hispanic/Latino descent currently enrolled in Michigan-based higher education institutions Contact: Beata Kica, 517-614-9773 The Hispanic Latino Commission (HLCOM) announced they are now accepting applications for the 2020-2021 Future Leaders Scholarship program. HLCOM is offering $35,000 in scholarships to higher-education students of Hispanic/Latino descent currently enrolled in a Michigan-based college, university or other recognized higher education institutions. This is a wonderful opportunity for our Commission to support Hispanic students as they continue on their journey to complete their educational goals, said HLCOM Executive Director Felipe Lopez Sustaita. The scholarship program is a true testament to our ongoing dedication and support to help Hispanic Michiganders increase their educational attainment, achieve economic stability and promote growth for Hispanics in our communities. To be eligible for the scholarship, students must be: A current higher-education student of Hispanic/Latino descent pursuing a degree; Enrolled as a part-time student (6 credits per semester) or higher in an accredited Michigan-based college or university during Fall 2020. Graduate, Law, and Medical school students are welcome to apply; and In good academic standing with a cumulative grade point average of no less than 2.00 on a 4.00 scale. Students interested in applying will need to fill out an online form. Selection is based on the applicants academic performance, community service and demonstrated financial need. The application deadline is no later than Sunday, Oct. 4, and awardees will be notified by Saturday, Oct. 10. HLCOM strives to market the state's career development services to Michigan Hispanics, encourage initiatives to reduce the high school dropout rates of Hispanic youth, and facilitate efforts to increase the enrollment of Hispanics in postsecondary education and training programs. Learn more about the Commission and their work. Police in Mexico have launched a murder investigation into the death of an alleged hitman from Hamilton found dead on the side of a rural road this summer. Michael Cudmores body was found in an abandoned vehicle somewhere in Mexico at the end of June. He had allegedly been on the run in that country for more than three years, fleeing charges in Canada in connection with two 2017 Mob shootings. On March 14, 2017, 28-year-old Mila Barberi an innocent bystander was killed in a Vaughan shooting. The suspected true target, Barberis boyfriend Saverio Serrano, survived. Less than two months later, on May 2, 39-year-old Hamilton mobster Angelo Musitano was killed when he was shot outside his Waterdown home. Since then, a Mob war has killed multiple organized crime members and their family in Hamilton, including Angelos own brother, Mob boss Pasquale (Pat) Musitano. Michael Cudmore was alleged to be a gunman in the 2017 shooting that killed Mila Barberi. The Hamilton Spectator file photo Det. Sgt. Peter Thom, of the Hamilton police major crime unit, said he was informed by authorities this week that Cudmores death has been deemed a murder. Initially it wasnt clear whether the death was suspicious. His cause of death has not been released and details, including exactly where he was found, remain unclear. Its believed Cudmores body is still in Mexico as police there conduct a homicide investigation. Hamilton police were notified by an RCMP liaison officer who is working with authorities in Mexico. It is not yet clear if the Mexican investigation will have any bearing here. Hypothetically, if police could prove a Canadian mobster ordered the murder, there could be a case here. But Mob cases are difficult to crack. It has been a slow process for local police to access information in Mexico. Despite Cudmore being found at the end of June, Hamilton police were notified in July. Cudmores family had filed a missing-person report two years ago and they were contacted by the Canadian Embassy. Hamilton police worked to identify Cudmore through fingerprints. This took months. Barberis family, who attend every court hearing, were only notified Cudmore was dead in September, a day before a media release announcing his body had been found. Two other men also face charges of first-degree murder for the deaths of Barberi and Musitano, as well as the attempted murder of Serrano. Jabril Abdalla and Daniel Tomassetti are alleged to be parties to the offences, but not the gunman. Abdalla is the only man detained. His case remains before the courts. Tomassetti, a high school friend of Abdallas, allegedly fled to Mexico on Jan. 27, 2018. Unlike Cudmore, his family never reported him missing. He is believed to be alive but scared, Thom said. Police have urged him to turn himself in. Cudmore went to Mexico at the end of May 2017, where he joined mobster Daniele Ranieri of Bolton, Ont. Michael Cudmore's body was found in an abandoned vehicle somewhere in Mexico at the end of June. Hamilton police handout Cudmore was an associate of Ranieri a violent mobster once backed by the Montreal Rizzutos clan in Ontario. Ranieri was considered a person of interest in the Angelo Musitano and Barberi homicide investigations up until he was found bound and murdered in a ditch in Mexico in March 2018. After Ranieris death Cudmores family reported him missing and some suspected he, too, was dead. Now its clear he had been alive all this time in Mexico, until his murder this June. Less clear is what Cudmore was doing all those years in Mexico and whether anything he got up to there played a role in his death. In court, the prosecution will withdraw the charges against Cudmore. Cudmore, Abdalla and Tomassetti were never the masterminds behind the murders, Thom maintains. No one has ever been charged with ordering the hits. Nicole OReilly is a Hamilton-based reporter covering crime and justice for The Spectator. Reach her via email: noreilly@thespec.com Read more about: Amy Coney Barrett may or may not be President Trump's nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, but that hasn't stopped Republicans and conservative media outlets from cooking up a fake controversy about her potential nomination in the meantime. Barrett, a circuit judge on the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, is a devout Catholic and active in the Christian group People of Praise, a prayer organization that grew out of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement and which some have questioned due to its opacity and possible influence over its members. Although she has never ruled on a case directly concerning abortion rights, religious conservatives believe that Barrett would be a reliable vote to overturn Roe v. Wade when an abortion case comes before the high court. Given that, conservative media and Republican politicians have spent the last week stirring up the false story that "the left" is waging an all-out anti-Catholic attack on Barrett, a deliberate move to distract from the real story that Republicans outrageously plan to ramrod a Supreme Court nominee through the Senate just weeks before the election. That story should be front page news everywhere. Not only is it a hypocritical about-face on the Republicans' so-called "McConnell rule" of 2016, it is the plainest example of the GOP's absolute corruption of our democratic processes and the norms that safeguard them. Instead, Fox News has, not surprisingly, put the Barrett story into overdrive, with regular segments on Democrats' supposed anti-Catholic assaults on the judge. But even normally cooler conservative heads, like S.E. Cupp, have helped hype the hysteria. In her column for the New York Daily News, Cupp called the "anti-Catholic attacks" on Barrett "gross" and "shameful." Her evidence? One tweet from Reuters and three from individuals who hold no political office and whom most Americans have never heard of. In her piece, Cupp linked to an article from the Christian Broadcasting Network that brashly claimed the "anti-Catholic attacks" against Barrett "are already flowing." But the CBN article couldn't provide one example of that actually happening this past week. No one has shown any substantive proof that a coordinated and sustained campaign of religious bigotry against Barrett is underway. Conservatives' concocted crisis is mostly smoke and little fire. Story continues That doesn't matter to the target audience, of course, who thrive on outrage rather than evidence. And the manufactured Barrett brouhaha isn't really even about the Supreme Court itself, since whoever Trump nominates will have enough Republican votes to confirm them. Instead, it's about the symbolic meaning of the Supreme Court to Trump's base of religious conservatives and how stoking cultural resentments has become the go-to electoral strategy of the right. It's also a cynical response to an electoral reality. Among white Catholics, Trump's lead has collapsed to a slim five points, according to a recent poll a huge decline from his 23-point advantage with this group in 2016. Facing a Catholic opponent in Joe Biden, Trump needs to do everything he can to maintain his edge with Catholic voters, but his fantasies that a Biden presidency would usher in a godless, secular dystopia surely seem preposterous to anyone not already inclined toward the president. Last weekend, Trump bellowed to a North Carolina crowd that "there will be no God" should Biden win, a comment not so much anti-Catholic against the churchgoing Biden as it was just straight up blasphemous. More than Catholics, such comments are intended for Trump's strongest supporters: white evangelicals, a group primed to believe they are under persecution but one that also has their own long history of saying awful things about Catholics. Even now, some of the right-wing religious leaders closest to Trump, like Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress, have a robust record of pronouncing that Catholics aren't Christians and are headed straight to hell, so there's plenty of anti-Catholicism closer to the Oval Office, if Republicans really cared to investigate. All that said, the worries that Barrett might be subjected to unfair treatment for her religious beliefs aren't entirely unfounded. At Barrett's Senate confirmation hearing for her current court seat in 2017, Sen. Dianne Feinstein seemed to scoff to Barrett that "dogma lives loudly" within her, and Sen. Dick Durbin questioned whether she was an "orthodox Catholic," comments that conservative media have overplayed this past week in the absence of any new examples from Democrats. Those questions and comments have no place in a Senate confirmation process and should be avoided if Barrett is the nominee if there's even a confirmation hearing. Recent articles about Barrett's connection to People of Praise in the Guardian and Newsweek have, no doubt, veered into anti-religious terrain, but there's no reason to suspect Democrats would make such missteps if Barrett is the nominee, no matter how much Republicans hope they will. No matter who Trump puts forward, Democrats should keep the attention focused on McConnell's defilement of the process rather than mount an offensive against whichever nominee emerges. That's an unusual approach to a Supreme Court selection, but these are unusual and perilous times that require spotlighting the far greater crisis at hand. Instead of warning about some specific danger that one individual justice poses for the future of the court, Democrats should keep hammering away at how the Republicans' willingness to steal a Supreme Court seat represents no less than an existential threat to the very future of American democracy itself. That's the right strategy not only for winning this election, but also saving a nation. Democrats can't stop whichever justice Trump nominates. But voters can turn back Trump and his Republican enablers this November. If they don't, the outcome of this fight will hardly matter. More stories from theweek.com 5 outrageously funny cartoons about Trump's election scheming Trump apparently paid 200 times more in taxes to India and the Philippines than U.S. income tax in 2017 Report: Financial records appear to show Ivanka Trump got 'consulting fees' to reduce father's tax bill 25.09.2020 LISTEN The lions share of todays Old Bailey proceedings in Julian Assanges extradition trial was spent on battles over mental health and dire risk. The prosecution continued its attempt to minimise the dangers facing Assange were he to be extradited to the United States for 17 charges under the US Espionage Act and one under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. While the defence has its case on Assanges fragile mental health well plotted, the prosecution is hoping that witnesses such as Dr Nigel Blackwood, consultant psychiatrist with the National Health Service, will punch holes in the argument. They will certainly hope for better efforts than those made by their own witnesses, Seena Fazel, a psychiatry professor who seemed too professionally tentative to land firm blows against Assanges diagnosis for Aspergers syndrome, or dismiss the health risks facing him in the US prisons system. Blackwood and managed risk Blackwood had conducted his own psychiatric evaluation of Assanges condition via phone in July 2020. What he gave the court was a show of qualified hypotheticals. He found the publisher to be moderately depressed; there was undoubtedly some risk of suicide attempt in the event of extradition. He did not feel this risk to be a high one. It had been carefully managed in Belmarsh and the risk factors are modifiable. Assange engages with treatments to manage that risk. Reliance was placed upon the capacity for self-control in the face of such risk. If the person facing extradition could self-manage or be capable of controlling their own risk of suicide, the extradition should be made. Blackwood was excruciatingly selective, finding Assange resourceful and very resilient. He believed Assange retains the capacity to resist suicide. An unstinting faith in the prison authorities was shown by the witness. They would have sent Assange for outside treatment had he suffered from severe depression. The release of a video of Assange in prison, made public in June 2019, prompted the authorities to send him to the medical ward. Edward Fitzgerald QC for the defence was unimpressed by Blackwoods reading of this incident: confining Assange to the medical ward had been for reasons of reputational damage to prison officials. A prison document of that days incident noted that Assange had been sent to the ward for being at risk of self-harm. Why had Blackwood failed to mention it in his report? The prosecution witness was moved to admit that, while multiple factors were present in the decision to send Assange to the medical ward, Assanges considerations of self-harm was one of them. This was a fact Blackwood omitted. The defence turned on the issue of whether prison conditions Assange would face in the US would be broadly on par with those in the United Kingdom. The point is significant as previous legal authority notably the UK High Court decision in the Lauri Love case found much to be worried about in the assurances made by the US Bureau of Prisons, notably on their poor provision of mental health facilities and safeguards against suicide. Blackwood conceded that his assessment drew heavily upon US Assistant Attorney Gordon Krombergs affidavit, which claimed that there was no solitary confinement in the Alexandria Detention Center (ADC), where Assange will be initially held. I relied on Kromberg and the academic literature on what happens in US prisons. There may be stuff that isnt covered, but there is broad equivalence. An all too confident assessment, given the revelations of Eric Lewis, board president of Reprieve, who had previously testified to the court about his own clients experiences of solitary confinement and Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) deployed at ADC. They were not findings Blackwood had cared to consult. When Fitzgerald asked Lewis, in re-direct examination, whether Kromberg was more qualified than you are on prison conditions, the defence witness suggested that the assistant attorney would rarely have stepped into a prison. Lewis, in contrast, was well acquainted with a range of prison conditions ranging from Guantanamo to the United Kingdom. Blackwood was also taken to task by the defence for being green about the US prison system: he had never visited the ADC or any US federal facility. His modest haul included visits to a state prison in Connecticut, and a Newport, Rhode Island jail. The prosecution witness was duly attacked for his presumptuousness in a report marked by vital subtractions and unnecessary additions. Having failed to note the presence of solitary confinement in the ADC, he had also concluded that it would not be unjust to extradite Assange, given his mental health condition. The defence proved stormy on this point. Its not your business to decide that, whether extradition is just or unjust, that is up to the judge. This was a point Blackwood was left to accept. Crosby and very high risks Testimony for the defence was then provided by Dr Sondra Crosby of Boston University, an authority on the physical and psychological effects of torture. Crosbys expertise in the area is extensive: as of March 2019, she had evaluated a touch under 1,000 survivors of torture. She runs a clinic specialising in the care of refugees and asylum seekers, most of whom have experienced torture. She had visited Assange in the London Ecuadorean embassy in October 2017 after an American doctor (left unnamed) organised an academic evaluation of the effects of living in the embassy. Assange then described symptoms of depression, symptoms of post-traumatic disorder. While capable of conversation and not seemingly in a horrible state, his physical symptoms were worrisome. But mental decline was evident, marked by an inability to concentrate, depression, nightmares, disturbances to sleep. Thoughts of suicide were first described to Crosby in 2018. The dramatic suicide of the convicted Bosnian Croatian general Slobodan Praljak by potassium cyanide, drunk before the judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, left a deep impression. In her February 23, 2019 session with Assange, her notes evaluating his state were taken from her by embassy staff, thereby violating doctor-patient confidentiality. She noted the presence of cameras. A copy of her medical license was demanded. Her credentials had to be verified by an embassy security guard. The incident might have formed part of the defence testimony on showing the operation of a US-backed surveillance operation, but did not. She was also alarmed during that visit by Assanges marked deterioration, physically and psychologically. I was very concerned about a very advanced tooth infection that was causing him excruciating pain, requiring him to take narcotics. Visits to Assange at Belmarsh in October 2019 and January 2020 were also made. Crosbys December 2019 report was even more unequivocal. Assange had met all the criteria for major depression; he was essentially dead, tearful, pleading. He had called the anonymous suicide hotline Samaritans. She also found physical symptoms indicative of anxiety or cardiac arrest, and the possibility of chronic respiratory infection. Assange, she concluded, was at high risk of completing suicide if he were to be extradited. The risk was compounded by an incomplete picture on Assanges intentions. He had concealed the full extent of his depression and suicide plans in meetings with mental health specialists and prison doctors. He feared being subjected to more surveillance or further isolation if he confessed to the full scope of his suicidal ideations. In cross-examination, Lewis dished up some common, misguided fare. Any assessment of Assanges health would surely have to be qualified by the fact that he could leave the embassy at any time. Such a question, replied Crosby, was complex; Assange found himself in a position similar to one who is being chased with an axe or a gun and locks himself in a room for safety. What faced Assange, were he to leave the embassy environs, were the arms of the police and the prospects of extradition, made concrete by the current proceedings. Lewis also returned to what is becoming a favourite animus of his: the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, whose widely publicised views of Assanges treatment are known. You rely on your report [to the court] on Nils Melzer, he coldly observed. I think you got him involved. He also posed a rhetorical question verging on the inane: Are you aware that no one ever extradited to the US from the UK has committed suicide? A man of true venal faith. Cryptome: published and unpunished The last instalment of the day came with the reading out by the defence of a witness statement by John Young, host of cryptome.org. The role of this testimony goes to corroborating other accounts on the chronology of publication. Cryptome, which Young founded in 1996, published the entire set of unredacted US State Department cables on September 1, 2011. WikiLeaks followed suit the next day. The publication, Youngs statement reads, remains available at present. Since publication on Cryptome.org of the unredacted diplomatic cables, no US law enforcement authority has notified me that this publication of the cables is illegal, consists or contributes to a crime in any way, nor have they asked for them to be removed. Other sites, and their operators, have also been spared the stern and intrusive gaze of the US Justice Department. Assanges defence had at hand a statement from Christopher Butler of the Internet Archive. Butler confirmed that, to this day, the Internet Archive still hosts records of WikiLeaks publications. Both he and his data have been left undisturbed. Yet another instance showing this prosecution effort to be political, singular and selective. Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: [email protected] BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators will decide by Oct. 26 whether to clear French telecoms operator Iliad's 3.5-billion-euro ($4.1 billion) bid for Polish mobile group Play, a filing on the European Commission's website showed on Tuesday. The deal would make Iliad, controlled by French tycoon Xavier Niel, Europe's sixth largest mobile operator, marking its continued expansion outside France. The Commission can either clear the deal with or without concessions or it can open a four-month investigation if it has serious concerns. Iliad sought EU approval for the deal on Monday. Play is the No. 1 mobile operator in Poland with a 29% market share of users, thanks to its aggressive prices and a strategy similar to Iliad, whose low-cost mobile offers shook up the French market nearly a decade ago. ($1 = 0.8522 euros) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Mark Potter) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. Minister of education, science, culture and sport Arayik Harutyunyan received Ambassador of Lithuania to Armenia Inga Stanyte-Tolockiene, the ministry told Armenpress. The meeting was also attended by deputy minister Artur Martirosyan. The Lithuanian Ambassador thanked the minister for the meeting and stated that they have closely followed the developments in Armenia of the past two and a half years. She said the ongoing reforms finalize the processes which started during the Revolution days. The Ambassador informed that they are ready to support Armenia in its reforms path. Welcoming the Ambassador, minister Harutyunyan introduced the works done so far and the ongoing activities. He said the laws on pre-school education, general education have already changed, sectoral strategies are at the development stage. He also presented the actions aimed at introducing high technologies in general educational facilities, informing that engineering laboratories operate in almost half of Armenias schools. In turn the Ambassador said the Lithuanian side is interested in the localization of the Armenian TUMO in the field of high technologies. The sides continued discussing other issues relating to strengthening the Armenian-Lithuanian cooperation and implementing new projects. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan Djibouti is one of the few remaining countries in which the national telco, Djibouti Telecom, has a monopoly on all telecom services, including fixed lines, mobile, internet and broadband. The lack of competition has meant that the market has not lived up to its potential. While domestic infrastructure remains poor the country is one of the best connected for international fibre cables in the region. The Djibouti Internet Exchange is a meeting point for a number of cable systems passing between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. Despite this connectivity, broadband services in Djibouti remain very expensive, which continues to hold back the full growth potential of the sector. As a result, penetration in all market segments is low. Although growth in the mobile and internet markets is accelerating in line with Djibouti Telecoms investment in its mobile network, competition and foreign investment are both required for the telecoms market to show solid development in coming years. In preparation for this, Djibouti Telecom itself is forging international alliances, and has been a key investor in cables including the DARE, PEACE and AWE systems. BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries. On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth. Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report. The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions. Key developments: Djibouti Telecom contracted to manage the Australia West Cable landing; Djibouti Internet Exchange (DjIX) joins the African IXP Association; Djibouti Telecom signs an agreement to peer IP traffic through France-IXs IXPs in Paris and Marseille; Gulf Bridge International (GBI) signs MoU to land an extension of its cable to Djibouti; Report update includes the regulator's market data for 2018, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments. Get a Full Copy of this Report Developing Telecoms market report summaries are produced in partnership with BuddeCom, the worlds largest continually updated online telecommunications research service. The above article is a summary of the following BuddeCom report: Report title: Djibouti - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses Edition: 9th (August 2020) Analyst: Henry Lancaster Number of pages: 67 Companies mentioned in the report: Djibouti Telecom (Evatis, Adjib); Telecom Italia Sparkle; Saudi Telecom Company (STC); Algerie Telecom. Single User PDF Licence Price: US$750 For more information or to purchase a copy of the full report please use the following link: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Djibouti-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses/?r=83 LANSING - Classes at Michigans top research universities will likely be online for winter semester with students not returning to the classroom until next fall, officials say. The presidents of Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University spoke Thursday at an event hosted by the Lansing Economic Club. The three schools make up the University Research Corridor, which focuses on economic prosperity and connecting Michigan to the world. Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson said that the pandemic will be with us for a while, and he anticipates the winter semester will be the same as this current fall semester. UM President Mark Schlissel predicted that UM and other colleges wont return to normal until the 2021-22 academic year, but that depends on implementing a vaccination program. Now, what Im most nervous about is that well have one or several vaccines, but well botch the delivery, Schlissel said. Our country has not demonstrated a great capacity for organized, nationwide action, and thats what its going to take to deliver a vaccine to 300 million people. At UM, there has been a recent increase in COVID-19 cases with 106 between Sept. 13-19 and 43 in the last four days. Officials say the university is not seeing transmission on campus where everyone is required to wear a mask but it is happening off campus and in Ann Arbor. After update, University of Michigan coronavirus dashboard shows more than 100 positive cases in last 2 weeks MSU President Samuel Stanley said the predictions are on target, noting they are learning as in-person classes go on at colleges and some K-12 districts in the state. If theres not cases of transmission in the classroom where people are wearing masks, where theyre socially distanced, that gives me much more confidence that we can teach safely in that environment, Stanley said. MSU moved all of its classes online in August and told students to stay home. However, the campus community has seen a surge of COVID-19 cases in September that led to dozens of dozens of large houses being put under mandatory quarantine for known coronavirus exposure. During the virtual conference held by the University Research Corridor, the presidents were asked when they thought a vaccine would be available to scale, for usage. Wilson said he thinks that will happen in January 2021, while Stanley said it would be more in the middle of next year. Schlissel said that frontline workers and others with unusual risk might get vaccines early in the year, but mid-2021 is a reasonable expectation. READ MORE: 221 University of Michigan students test negative for coronavirus after cluster at South Quad Michigan State University, Ingham County work through issue in coronavirus data reporting Ann Arbor City Council passes resolution to partner with University of Michigan for emergency shelter Election 2020 Many Myanmar Migrants in Thailand To Be Denied Vote as Extra Polling Stations Ruled Out The Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok / Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy Myanmar citizens planning to vote in Thailand next month will only be able to cast early ballots at the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok and Consulate in Chiang Mai due to public health concerns amid COVID-19, despite earlier demands that more polling stations be opened in areas where many Myanmar migrants work. Early voting for the Nov. 8 general election will be held at the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok from Oct. 3-13 from 8 am to 6 pm, according to an embassy announcement on Friday. Prior to the announcement, Ambassador U Myo Myint Than also met 17 volunteers and labor rights advocates based in Bangkok on Thursday, informing them of the situation. We asked that mobile polling stations be set up in areas outside of Bangkok, as many workers wont be able to travel to Bangkok as they only get one day off per week. The ambassador told us in July that he would try, but now he says it cant happen for security reasons, citing COVID-19, said U Aung Kyaw, the director of the Mahachai-based Migrants Workers Rights Network (MWRN). But the ambassador promised us he will make sure every eligible voter on the list can exercise their right to vote early, U Aung Kyaw told The Irrawaddy on Friday. The embassy said it planned to open three polling stations inside the compounds new and old buildings in Bangkok. It will announce the list of eligible voters (who applied from 68 out of 77 provinces in Thailand) on its website and Facebook page on Monday and keep voters updated with all necessary information. According to the Myanmar Embassy, there were more than 39,000 applications for early voting at the Myanmar Embassy in Thailand. Thailand is home to 1.15 million registered Myanmar migrant workers plus a number of students, scholars and diplomats from the country. Thailand also has many unregistered Myanmar migrants, who are not eligible to vote in the November poll. In the 2015 general election, only 561 Myanmar voters in Thailand cast early votes, of whom merely a hundred or so were migrant workers. This year, many volunteers are helping migrant workers register to vote. Some of them are first-time voters. U Aung Kyaw added, The ambassador promised to extend the early voting period if needed. Ambassador U Myo Myint Than told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the embassy has to consider security and COVID-19 preventative measures and that the voting period will be flexible depending on the number of eligible voters. He also said that in case there were any applications not included in the approved early voters list by the Union Election Commission, the embassy had prepared complaint forms. However, Myanmar migrant voters based in southern Thailand said it will now be almost impossible for them to vote in the 2020 election. I have started thinking about whether I can get leave from my employer, because I can only go to the embassy in Bangkok for early voting if my employer permits me, said U Than Soe, a migrant in Ranong. U Than Soe, who is from Myeik, Tanintharyi Region, volunteered to help other migrants apply for early voting in August, hoping the embassy would set up a polling station in Ranong for migrant workers in southern Thailand. There were about 6,000 early voting applications from migrants in southern Thailands Ranong, Phang Nga, Krabi, and Surat Thani provinces. Some migrant workers whose passports are kept by their employers and cannot travel to Bangkok may lose their right to vote, he said. It is now uncertain whether I get to vote. I want to vote, but going to Bangkok is difficult for us, said U Kyaw Moe, another migrant living in Ranong. Very few migrant workers in the southern provinces will be able to vote, due to the travel costs and other difficulties involved in getting to Bangkok, including COVID-19, said U Min Oo, a migrant rights advocate from the Foundation for Education Development based in Phang Nga. I am sure the migrant voter turnout will be low. We need at least two days to go to Bangkok and some would need more time than that. It is uncertain whether they will get the days off. In addition, there is the COVID-19 situation, he told The Irrawaddy. The early voting date has not yet been set for some 1,000 Myanmar citizens who will be casting ballots early at the Myanmar Consulate Generals Office in Chiang Mai, according to U Zaw Myo Htet, consul and first secretary of the consulate. U Zaw Myo Htet told The Irrawaddy the consulate received 1,054 early voting applications from nine provinces in northern Thailand, and is still awaiting delivery of ballot papers and the eligible early voters list from the Union Election Commission (UEC). For early voters in northern Thailand, including Chiang Mai, U Zaw Myo Htet said the consulate tentatively plans to schedule three days for casting ballots. It will announce the dates next week, before the end of this month, he said. Of the 4 million Myanmar nationals living overseas, about 100,000 submitted early voting applications for the 2020 election in July and August, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said last month, up from about 30,000 in 2015. As of Sept. 24, the UEC had approved more than 64,000 early voters to cast ballots in October in Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. But the list is only from eight states/regions and a complete eligible voters list is still being processed. The early voting date for Myanmar nationals in Singapore, where more than 37,000 applied for early voting, is set for Oct. 1-18, according to the website of the Myanmar Embassy in Singapore. Early voting for Myanmar nationals in South Korea is set for Oct. 2-5 and Oct. 9-12, and in Malaysia is set for Oct. 9-11, according to the Facebook pages of the Myanmar embassies in South Korea and Malaysia. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Overtakes Thailand in COVID-19 Cases Thai Authorities Arrest 10 Illegal Migrants From Myanmar in Mae Sot A court has ordered the Ontario government to restore health insurance coverage for residents who face medical emergencies while travelling outside of the country. The Out-Of-Country Travellers Program was eliminated by Premier Doug Fords government on Jan. 1, when the province stopped paying for emergency health care coverage for those who travelled abroad. In a ruling released Wednesday, the Ontario Divisional Court said the province must reinstate the $200-to-$400-per-day coverage for emergency in-patient services and the as much to $50 per day for emergency outpatient and doctor services. The Canadian Snowbird Association is pleased with the courts decision, said Karen Huestis, president of the association that took the government to court. The advocacy group represents seniors who fly south in the winter months to avoid the cold in Canada. The ruling affirms the right of Ontario residents to out-of-country emergency insurance coverage, as required by the Canada Health Act. Under the Ontario Health Insurance Act, corresponding regulations cannot violate any of the five pillars of the federal health legislations, which include portability. The federal law stipulates that provincial and territorial health insurance plans must provide coverage for insured health services for residents who are temporarily absent from their home province or territory or from Canada. While the snowbird organization, which represents more than 50,000 Ontarians, always advises members to obtain adequate travel medical insurance prior to all trips abroad, Huestis said restoring the coverage will lower insurance premiums, making travel more affordable, particularly for seniors in the province. She said she hopes the Ontario government will respect the court decision and not seek an appeal. More to come. Follow-up on a Johnson County case wherein authorities claim self-defense whilst parents, friends and community still mourn the loss of life amid a tragic situation. Read more: KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City Federal Bureau of Investigation field office has opened a civil rights investigation into the deadly shooting of Overland Park teen John Albers in January 2018. The FBI's Civil Rights division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Kansas are joining the agency in the investigation into [...] Thank you, Mahesh. To commemorate your fathers memory is a great idea and everything said about him till now is true and valid, but let me say that above all I remember him as a very large-hearted man. I remember a person who I knew candidly that he virtually disliked, and that person happened to pester me for the admission of his son to one of the today well-known law colleges and I was hesitant that I mentioned it once to Ram and he said, Why wouldnt you tell me? The fact that I dont get along with that person doesnt matter. And he put in a word for that person. This is just one small example of his large-heartedness amongst many more. He was truly as somebody said, a friend of a friend, a yaaron ka yaar. His friendships cut across generations and many of us today are decades younger than him but that generation gap was never felt. He was truly a fearless person and also a fearsome person. When he wanted to be fearsome, he could be fearsome. A tremendous sense of humour, he was once after my life for many decades to play badminton with him and in the years when he used to play singles at 5.30 in the morning, he told me many times that he should be ashamed about not coming and playing with me. I said that I will be more humiliated and ashamed if I lost to a man two or three decades older than me so Id rather not come. But Mahesh apart from congratulating you for commemorating our friend and colleagues memory, I must also congratulate you for being a reasonably good astrologer because you informed us telephonically at least me about this topic about three and half weeks ago and few of us could have realised that at that time the direction, velocity and momentum this theme would pick up even over the last four weeks or three weeks. So today it is the most possibly the most relevant theme in our national ethos and therefore another kind of congratulations for your incipient astrological talent. Lets make no mistake about it when you claim the exalted status of the fourth pillar of democracy after all there are only three recognised constitutional pillars. So the fourth pillar is a very exalted status, and you have to be prepared to face the slings and arrows of scrutiny. Just as much and more than the other three pillars and you cannot have your cake and have it too by escaping that exalted status and even more humongous power must come with heightened accountability. I am going to inspire words even less because I believe words must be an assault to the senses for reform to occur. I also want to say at the outset that perhaps a little different from the previous speakers, I dont, I think that to see todays theme which you have chosen Pros and Cons of Trial by Media, in a narrow pedantic or semantic sense limited to the role of media in judicial proceedings would according to me be a piecemeal because you have to see the larger picture, a holistic approach starting of course from the sub-judicial role to the larger role and responsibility of the media within which that role sits because you cant bifurcate the role. And further onwards to the peculiarities of the visual and social media as opposed to the textual media if I may call it that and further onwards the role of the government and of course above all to the voyeuristic depths to which society us have sunk. So I think all of them are really at par with the same theme even though the focus may be on trial by media. Well, first the larger picture and let me preface it by saying that there is no doubt of two axioms, one the media has done fantastic works, sterling works in news gathering, investigation, etc, etc and nobody who believes even remotely in democracy wishes to curtail that. And secondly, the aberrations which I think are getting bigger and bigger are still, fortunately, an exception. So given these two, I would still say that Indian news has plummeted in the wrong direction of the equation. In the wrong direction of the equation between sense and sensationalism, between news and noise, between civility and chaos and needed I would say between balance and extremism. You know terrorism is a global scourge and we all know that but the time I fear may not be too far off when we have to invent a new offence of verbal terrorism, visual extremism and content fundamentalism. And I can derive all three from showing you actual clips of the media. Undoubtedly this has a lot to do with what I call the Toxic triangle of viewership, of the rating game and of revenue. If you add to this toxic triangle, a liberal and spicy dose of politics, of glamour, of insidious but very real government control, of premeditated and motivated stands, of ambitious anchors and of course of a public baying for blood then it becomes a heavy cocktail which I think would make the manufacturers of whiskey, vodka and rum blush, even Ram blush. The Delhi High court not too long ago rightly told us that today the best substitute for action fillers is in certain Television news programs. Now there is humour here in the Delhi high courts statements but there is also a pathos. There is a cry of anguish, but the sad part is it is astonishing how so many business houses, and it is truly sad, so many channels, so many anchors and so many journalists and I am still, I caveatted by saying there is still, fortunately, an exception not the norm. But so many have mortgaged their calling, their training and their consciences to the lure of temporary wealth, power and property. They have done this by becoming spokespersons of ideologies, of viewpoints, of persons, of authorities, of vested interest lobbies. As I said the only saving grace is it still remains an exception and by large the disease has not become the rule in the media. Before we come to the remedial framework, a minute or two on the techniques which are widespread. Nonlevel playing field debates, deliberate interruptions and unless you see the trial by media in the largest setting of our debasement devaluation, the form will not occur. Deliberate interruptions, a gleeful verbal sport I would call it, verbal blood sport, a conscious invitation of biased and malicious participants, strategic cutting off of mics, formulation of one-sided themes, unevenly numbered viewpoints, many other are standard techniques for driving TRP ratings and advertising revenues. Serious news items are presented as crime fillers. An extremist and fundamentalists viewpoint are easily spoken whether by anchors or participants without regard to their potency to democracy. I have here on my mobile phone three out of many clips of thirty seconds each which we submitted in a delegation that I led to the NBSA, The National Broadcasting Standards Authority and I am itching to show you this on the screen here to give you an idea of the depths we have plummeted in terms where we have regenerated in news programs. Some outdated notion of propriety restrains me from showing it. I ask myself the questions that it is not that we have not seen media in the UK or USA and several other democracies, very aggressive and very intrusive but why do I never see the kind of scenes captured in these types of clips which I have on those channels and in those countries. It is not that they are doing their duties any less. Also, I think we have missed out that society, in general, is exempt as a principal accused in this whole game. Viewership will not drive this engine unless society has begun treating celsius as sane and is prepared to believe the worst about everyone. Whether it has lost its moral compass or otherwise, compassion and analysis are replaced with glee at others misfortune. It is replaced with irrational and illogical reactions. So in that sense, we cant mistake it, it is we, you and me who have given this circus a great degree of legitimacy and strength. Divided we stand, so we let the dog eat dog and let the devil take the high post. As far as your narrower topic is concerned, the sub-judiciary role died long ago. Even its observes were performed and bones entered the forgotten recess of our memory. Of course, at one literal sense, your theme may not be right because I cannot think of situations where there can be pros for a trial held by the media except in the very nascent stages for a very short while, Pros of a media trial are very difficult to imagine. Was it ever intended as a supplantation of decision making by sovereign courts or of institutional mechanisms by the wisest framers of our fantastic constitution, the answer is obvious. The objective of a media trial is to create a perceptional reality which is of course an oxymoron but it is a perceptional reality. The merits and outcomes become irrelevant. They become immaterial. Demoralistaion of the investigator becomes one object. Defamation of the entire police force becomes another. The derailment of the enquiry is a third. No second thought is given to taking a side vigorously. Pronouncing the verdict and proudly, of course, playing the role of a judge, jury and a prosecutor and prosecutor all roles into one because this is the best way to whip up a frenzy. The Supreme court, of course, seems to be giving repeated warnings and summons which are being treated nowadays as mere ink on paper. Three examples I picked up, Sibels judgement in 1961, Rajender Gandhis judgement in 1997, Sales judgement in 2005. The Supreme court has been giving very strong words about trial by media and sub-judiciary roles and our fourth estate or a large section of it has seemed to have completely forgotten about it. In Gandhis judgement, the courts have said that in a trial by press, electronic media or public agitation is the very antithesis of the rule of law. One sentence sums up everything. It can very well lead to a miscarriage of justice. A judge has to guard himself against any of such pressure and he has to be guided strictly by rules of law and so on. In the same judgement which is after the advent of 247 media channels, the court said and I quote, The reach of the media in the present times of 24-hour channels is to almost every nook and corner of the world. A large number of people believe it is correct that which appears in the media, print or electronic. Of course, there is this over romanticised notion that judges are supposed to be so robust and concrete. They are not affected by all this, they are not paper persons. Lord Denning used a nice phrase. He castigated this fictional notion that no judge will be influenced by the media. He said that the claim to judicial superiority over human frailty is one which I find impossible to accept. Cardoso in a very nice piece hundred years ago, imagine there was no 247, there were no social media. He said the forces which enter into the conclusions of the judges on judicial decision making and then he commented, The great tides and currents which engulf the rest of the men do not turn aside in their curse and pass the judges by. This is the power of the press and the abuse of that power and the true meaning of the subjudiciary role. Of course, the fact that it is also additionally contempt seems far from the course of. Nobody remembers that. And possibly it is the court itself to be blamed partly at least for misplaced benevolence in the wrong cases. You have exercised contempt in the wrong cases and similarly, you have misplaced benevolence against contemptuous in the wrong cases which has given a fillip to these egregious defaulters. Obviously we all understand that judges have to be balanced and cautious, we know that judges should not tilt at windmills and new development is also kept in mind is that now at least in India, the judicial intrusion and judicial reviews has entered every known sphere of human endeavour. I dont think there is per se no go area for judicial review. So obviously the old classic subjudiciary role which anyway has entered with its bones cannot apply now to mean a gag order or a chilling in any effect given the all-pervasive availability of judicial review in every sphere. Nobody is suggesting that and judges ought to keep that in mind but it is pretty much like we cant easily define an elephant but we all know one when we see one. We all understand genuine reporting as opposed to some of the filth which blows the subjudiciary role to smithereens. Let me now end with a few suggestions on remedial measures because without that quite frankly much of this very valuable platform that you have provided goes as empty theorising and mere incantation of hope. First, it must start with awareness. Awareness of lapse, awareness of accountability and awareness of urgent necessity. Of course primarily by the press but also by every stakeholder. Second, it must start with the awareness of a paradox that external control has to be excluded. Self-regulation is again and again the key and yet peer regulation has failed. Unless you are aware of this basic truth you are living in a cloud cocoon land. The Press Council is worse than a toothless tiger because a tiger can at least roar, A toothless tiger can also roar. No less than its own chairman has called for the repeal of the Press Council Act. This is not too far off. Not too long ago. In relative terms the peer regulator for visual media, NBSA has fared better but remains hopefully inadequate given the size and degree of the mess. The real problem with both the bodies especially the first is the conspiracy of silence. The incestuous ambience of a peers exclusive club, the chalta hai attitude and this old boys cartel is too difficult for any NBSA or press council to even easily attempt to bust. Third, The existing powers of the NBSA are pretty wide. I think we are always an over legislated and under enforced country. We have to go running for legislation and rules. All the codes are there, some of them are cited, the cable television act, the Press Council court. But the real point is what? Lets take the NBSA court. It ranges from warn, admonish, censor, express disapproval, impose a fine upon the channel or a broadcaster and even recommend to the authority to suspend and revoke its license. In that delegation, I have asked the NBSA how many times they have exercised the lost power. The answer is Nil. And a lot of us are pretty happy to face the warning, the admonition and merrily go across our ways. It is now, therefore, time to name and shame especially by the peers because these bad apples will ground you. There is no point in flaunting yourself as a good apple. It is now time to name and shame without inhibition because if the medicine from the doctor has to be good, it is also bitter and urgent. As the industrys conscience keeper, the NBSA, I am talking more of the visual now, must keep getting its teeth into the issue, it must issue advisories much more and those must not only bare its teeth, it must not be followed merely by snarling but by biting and biting hard. Only a few egregious violators if they are made examples by the NBSA, a lot of this will stop and you will be getting kudos and applause from a sickened public. Then fourthly, the NBSA guidelines must be recognised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as the selfregulatory guidelines for the new genre. There is a very interesting funny catch here, it will be funny if not tragic. The NBSA guidelines must be notified under Cable TV act and regulations. Reason being without that it does not bind the non-members. Now you have heard many cases where the farcical spectacle is seen on several channels after exhibiting shocking programs when they are found with their hands in the till. They simply exit the membership of the NBSA. So this is a very nice convenient way of avoiding any of the harsh penalties. So it requires some statutory government recognition and there is some precedent provided by the advertising court, the ACI has such status already and if you are serious about this you must recognise this because otherwise, the NBSA is trying to do a good job but failing because the channels simply have to leave the membership to continue merrily their egregious actions. Fifthly, there is a most urgent need for an independent rating agency. Where does it all come from? What is the source of all this? The source of all this is the King of media, not the chairman, not the boss, not the editorial head, the king of media is TRP. We are supposed to have 30,000 measuring metres in this country, somebody said the last count is 44,000, let me take the higher figure of 44,000. I said I will give a Nobel Prize for miniaturisation because India miniatures your desire by 44,000 metres in a country of 30 crores. Surely, it requires a Nobel Prize for miniaturisation. Certainly, this sample is what runs it, if you see the clips we have, if you see the drama we see on television, it is caused by this 44,000 metres along with several slates of hand by algorithms which are supposed to determine weekly TRP ratings, decides what the content is. At the end of the day, the advertiser is what rules it and the advertiser is ruled by the TRP. Lastly, we cannot ignore the elephant in the room, the need to create Chinese walls to eliminate serious conflicts of interest in the media. A Broadcasting bill has been languishing in this country since 1997, I dont know of any bill other than the Lokpal Bill, on which the parliamentary committee under my chairmanship had the privilege to report, a Bill now languishing in more or less the same form for about 25 years. It is also not far for us to guess its non-enactment, it provides for specified percentages for ownership in media, it provides for ownership across different forms of media, platforms of media, it deals with issues of simultaneous cross-holdings of media on the one side and certain other prohibited or related sectors on the other. It creates some of the necessary regulatory divisions. Let me end by saying, many things Chinese, are now suspect, rightly but one thing we need here is Chinese walls between these kinds of conflict of interest, they are the need of the hour. Mahesh, let me say, I dont think anyone would be happier than Ram if we achieved even fractionally or even partially, what we have discussed today. We owe it not only to Ram, but we also owe it to ourselves and owe it to this country. Excerpts from Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvis speech at the Ram Jethmalani Memorial Lecture. Less-restrictive measures have also succeeded. Japan has suppressed two surges of the virus without mandatory lockdowns. Instead, in a country where social cohesion is high, extensive public awareness campaigns advised citizens to avoid situations most likely to create clusters of cases that are believed to really drive exponential growth: closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings. Because of its successful early testing, Germany experienced a relatively permissive shutdown this spring compared to many of its neighbors, which it combined with a robust contact tracing program. Thanks to some of the worlds toughest privacy laws, the countrys 375 local health authorities couldnt rely much on digital surveillance for help. Instead, they recruited teams with members ranging from medical students to firefighters, who work via email, telephone and sometimes even fax. Their efforts are considered a key reason that Germany had about a fifth of the number of coronavirus deaths per capita as the U.S. South Koreas effective response was something of a hybrid: It relied extensively on surveillance, using everything from smartphone tracking to CCTV footage, but without ever imposing a lockdown. The United States placed new, human rights-related sanctions on Iran today. Democratic senators also told State Department officials at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing the same day that US policy under President Donald Trump has enabled not deterred Iran. US special envoy for Iran Elliott Abrams informed the committee at the hearing today of additional sanctions the United States placed on the Islamic Republic. He said the sanctions designate the judge who ordered the execution of famed wrestler Navid Afkari this month. The Iranian government accused Afkari of killing an Iranian government official and sentenced him to death. The judiciary gave conflicting reports on the official he supposedly killed, and the incident may have taken place during protests in the country. The regime brutally tortured and then shamefully executed champion wrestler Navid Afkari to send to its own people an unmistakable message of intimidation, said Abrams on Afkaris death. Later in the day, the State Department issued a press release detailing the new sanctions on Iranian judges and legal entities for alleged human rights abuses. As per Abrams testimony, the department named Seyyed Mahmoud Sadati, whom US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said was involved in the appalling case of Navid Afkari. The sanctions designated other judges, courts and prisons in the country as well. Vakilabad prison, where US citizen Michael White was held until his release in March, was also listed. Judge Mohammad Soltani was likewise sanctioned for purportedly persecuting members of Irans Baha'i religious community. Soltani is responsible for sentencing Bahais in Iran on dubious charges related to their exercise of freedom of expression or belief, said Pompeo. Abrams testimony came after the United States placed additional sanctions on Iran and its allies Monday. The United States maintains various harsh sanctions on Iran, saying the country seeks to build a nuclear weapon, which Iran denies. This summer, the Trump administration failed to get the UN Security Council to renew a weapons embargo on Iran that expires in October. Last week, Pompeo announced that he was triggering a snapback mechanism on Iran sanctions at the United Nations. The feature is part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It allows parties to the agreement to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran if it fails to comply with the deals restrictions on Irans nuclear activity. Other members of the UN Security Council, including European allies of the United States who are party to the nuclear deal, said the United States lacks the authority to trigger snapback sanctions because Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018. The United States entered into the landmark nuclear agreement under the previous administration of Barack Obama. Abrams argued before the Senate that Iran is weaker as a result of the Trump administrations actions, including sanctions and withdrawing from the nuclear deal. He said US objectives are to deny Iran the money it needs to conducts its destabilizing policies and to compel Iran to return to the negotiating table. These talks would address the nuclear program, Iranian proxies in the region and other issues. By any measure, we believe the Iranian regime is weaker today than when President Trump took office, said Abrams. The regime faces unprecedented and worsening economic and political crises. Abrams pointed to the recent designations of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah as a terrorist organization by the United Kingdom, Germany and Argentina as an example of this success. He also said the administrations maximum pressure campaign denied Iran tens of billions in funds and created hardship for Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza. Hamas also has ties to Iran. Senate Democrats hammered Abrams and Undersecretary for Political Affairs David Hale on US strategy toward Iran at the hearing, however. They argued Iran is stronger as a result of the US administrations actions. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the ranking Democrat on the committee, cited recent comments from Gen. Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie that attacks on the US military by Irans proxy militias in Iraq increased from the first half of 2019 to the first half of 2020. McKenzie commands the US Central Command. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said Iran is stronger in the region than it was when Obama left office, pointing to Irans relationship with Houthi forces in Yemen and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. They have closer relations with the Houthis than they did four years ago. They have closer relations with the Qataris than they did four years ago. Their proxy in Syria is closer to command of the majority of the country than four years ago, said Murphy. The New England Democrat also said, This argument that Iran is on the run, that they have less influence in the region because of our maximum pressure campaign, just does not pass the straight face test. Regarding US-Europe relations as they relate to Iran, Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland said the Trump administration alienated European allies by pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal. France, Germany and the United Kingdom repeated Sunday that the United States lacks the legal authority to initiate the snapback sanctions. The maximum pressure campaign has been to isolate the United States, said Cardin. "They are absolutely against what the US did in pulling out of the Iran nuclear agreement, added Cardin on the three European countries. This line of thinking from Senate Democrats is not new. Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, also of Maryland, said on Al-Monitors "On the Middle East" podcast this month that Trump has isolated the United States at the UN and moved Russia and China closer to Iran with his policies. The discussions were not entirely tense. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, a Republican who has been critical of Trump, praised US support for the Lebanese military as a means of countering Hezbollah. Senators from both parties also voiced support for the United Arab Emirates-Israel normalization agreement brokered by the United States. Senators also brought up reports that China is helping Saudi Arabia develop nuclear technology. Democrat Ed Markey of Massachusetts pressed Hale on the issue, but Hale said he could only talk to the senator about it in a classified setting. Van Hollen also told Al-Monitor that the United States should prohibit support for a Saudi civilian nuclear until it meets International Atomic Energy Association commitments. At least 41 people have been infected with salmonella across 10 states as a result of recalled dried mushrooms, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said. The outbreak of salmonella has likely been caused by dried wood ear mushrooms distributed the restaurants by Wismettac Asian Foods that were recalled on Wednesday, the agency said in a release. Four hospitalisations have been recorded from the 41 salmonella infections caused in the outbreak, which began between 21 January to 26 August. No deaths have been reported. The mushrooms, which could not be bought directly by consumers, were sent to restaurants in over 30 locations across the US and Canada which are listed on the Food and Drug Administrations website. The mushrooms were distributed to restaurants in six-packs of five-pound bags labeled as Shirakiku brand Black Fungus (Kikurage), the CDC said. Consumers can ask restaurants where mushrooms are from before ordering to avoid eating recalled mushrooms, they advised. Wismettac initiated the recall of the mushrooms on Wednesday after the California Department of Public Health discovered the presence of Salmonella in the product. The manufacturer has been made aware of the issue and is conducting an investigation to determine the cause of the issue so corrections can be implemented, the FDA said. Wood ear mushrooms are also commonly referred to as Kikurage, Dried Black Fungus, Dried Fungus or Mu'er/Mu Er/Mu-Err mushrooms. Symptoms of salmonella infection include diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps and appear from six hours to six days after being exposed to the bacteria. The organism can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. India's audit watchdog has come down heavily on foreign vendors for not fulfilling their commitments to an offset policy for defence procurement, including France in its deal for the sale of 36 Rafale fighter jets. The policy includes conditions for foreign direct investment and technology transfers, which the authority says are not forthcoming. India's national auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) sharply criticised the Defence Ministry's policy for offsets, which also governs the deal with France for 36 Rafale jets made by Dassault Aviation. The French firm has so far not made good on its offset obligation to the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the national auditor said in a report. Under the offset policy, a certain percentage of the deal value with foreign firms should flow into India as foreign direct investment or FDI, which would eventually include technology transfer, local manufacturing of advanced components and creating jobs. In its report titled "CAG's Performance Audit Report on Management of Defence Offset", the auditor pointed out that French aerospace major Dassault Aviation and European missile maker MBDA, which supplied armaments for the Rafale jets, have not yet discharged their 30 percent offset obligation. The CAG made the observations in its latest report, which was tabled in parliament Wednesday. In many cases, it was found that the foreign vendors made various offset commitments to qualify for the main supply contract but later, were not earnest about fulfilling these commitments, the financial watchdog said in its report. Congress leader P Chidambaram attacked the government after the CAG called for a review. The offset obligations should have started on 23-9-2019 and the first annual commitment should have been completed by 23-9-2020, that is yesterday, said Chidambaram. Will the government say if that obligation was fulfilled? Is the CAG report the opening of a can of worms? France's Defence Minister Florence Parly flew into India on 11 September as the country inducted a first batch of five long-overdue Rafale fighter jets into its air force in a special ceremony. In September 2016, India inked a direct deal with the French government to purchase 36 new Rafale fighter jets in a nearly 8 billion euro deal. France has been one of India's steadfast material suppliers for decades. Known as the 4.5 generation aircraft, the Rafale is considered to be one of the finest fighters in the world and is described as an 'omnirole' aircraft that can take up several missions on a single flight. Officials pointed out that the second batch of Rafale fighters which could be four in number was expected to arrive in October. India is the fourth country to fly the Rafale after France, Egypt and Qatar. (Photo : Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 09: In this photo illustration, A thumbprint is displayed on a mobile phone while the Google logo is displayed on a computer monitor on August 09, 2017 in London, England. Founded in 1995 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Google now makes hundreds of products used by billions of people across the globe, from YouTube and Android to Smartbox and Google Search. (Photo : Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) HANNOVER, GERMANY - MARCH 03: The camera of a German Google Street View car looms over the car next to the Google logo at the Google stand at the CeBIT Technology Fair on March 3, 2010 in Hannover, Germany. Google's Street View project has raised controversy from people across Europe worried about infringement of their privacy. CeBIT will be open to the public from March 2 through March 6. Google Messages 6.7 may soon allow users to delete one-time passwords after 24 hours automatically. Nowadays, different services and tasks are connected to an email account or a mobile number, requiring you to authenticate your identity before proceeding. Also Read: [REVIEW] Google Pixel 4a is the New CHEAP Phone With All Features of Expensive Branded Phones Because of lots of authentications, users would receive loads of OTPs every time they log into the Google service using a new device, accessing the service in several countries, and making payments through internet banking, debit cards, and credit cards. Also Read: Google Play Store Bans Stalkerware Apps, Except "Spouseware" and Parental Control; Releases Updates on Developer Policies These one-time passwords could clog your inbox, making it difficult for you to find the important messages. Google seems to have noticed the current issue since it updated Google Messages to allowing you to remove the OTPs after one day. Google Messages 6.7 contains new "strings" The latest version of Google Messages now contains new "strings." These codes mean that the service is currently working on a feature that will automatically remove the OTPs. Here the translation of the codes. -Auto-delete OTPs after 24hrs -No thanks -Continues -This message is categorized as a one-time password One-time passwords are just temporary access, and most of them are only valid for a short period of about 10 minutes, depending on the service's needs. Once the code expires, it'll be useless. Usually, users forget deleting the old OTPs once they already used it. The new feature would help clean the inboxes from the expired one-time passwords. Other OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have also resolved the inbox-clogging issue by displaying OTPs and other promotional messages in a separate secondary inbox. However, Google's update could be the best solution right now since one-time passwords have no future utility. The new feature would be released as an option, allowing users to decide whether they'll use it or not. For more news updates about Google Messages, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes. Also Read: Gmail's Logo New Look: What Changes Made So Far? This article is owned by TechTimes, Written by: Giuliano de Leon. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Forcing British lorry drivers to obtain special permits to enter Kent is pointless and will not provide effective checks on goods coming in and out of the country at the end of the Brexit transition period, according to road haulage groups. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove announced on Wednesday that truck drivers would need a Kent Access Permit (KAP) to enter the county if they were heading on to the EU or face being turned away by police. The border plan has been widely ridiculed and has sparked outrage among the countrys top logistics bodies. The Road Haulage Association (RHA) said it was pointless and probably counterproductive. The RHAs policy director Duncan Buchanan said he was involved in a recent test of the tick box exercise, which indicated that KAPs will be issued to all lorry drivers who simply claim their paperwork is in order without any proper checks carried out. Its an honesty box system, he said. Its not an effective system to actually guarantee or ensure that someone is ready to cross the border. It is just a logging system for someone to say, I am going to the port and I promise Im ready. It doesnt really do much more than that. The haulage group Logistics UK also hit back at Mr Gove, saying it was his responsibility to give firms the details of and access to to new IT systems and describing the extra paperwork as a huge challenge. While many mocked the idea of new, de-facto border around the south-east county, Labour accused the cabinet minister of passing the blame onto business for the chaos being caused by his government. The government has claimed the Kent permits could help avoid queues of up to 7,000 trucks seeking to cross the English Channel after the UK leaves the single market and customs union at the end of the year. A lack of preparation for the end of the transition period could result in as many as 70 per cent of lorries being turned back from France, Mr Gove admitted with thousands of goods vehicles waiting up to two days/48 hours to reach Dover as a result of the chaos. Michael Gove announcing permit plan in the Commons (AFP via Getty Images) While the governments preparations for border operations have caused some disquiet among Conservative MPs, Damian Green, Tory MP for Ashford in Kent, said he welcomed the permit plan. The former de facto deputy prime minister told BBC Radio 4s Today programme he supported the idea of spreading the problem around the country so lorries did not get logjammed close to Dover and the Channel Tunnel. If you can say to these lorries there are problems it is much more sensible to sort them out before thousands of lorries descend on Kent, said Mr Green. So actually spreading the problem around the country means it is not a problem for everyone. Mr Green added: It is not a border I got all the jokes on social media and things like that, but actually it is more sensible for an individual lorry driver who doesnt have the right paperwork to sort it out while he is sitting in a service station in the Midlands somewhere than actually on the side of a motorway in Kent. Government officials told the Financial Times Mr Goves announcement was part of shock and awe campaign to get unprepared businesses ready for 1 January. A survey published on Thursday by the British Chambers of Commerce has found that more than half (51 per cent) of firms surveyed had not taken any of the steps recommended by the government to prepare for changes at the end of the transition period. This includes fundamentals such as checking on the need for customs declarations, and assessing the possible impact of changes on existing customers and suppliers. In its first year it has racked up some real if modest achievements. The officials who ran Ukraine before its revolution in 2014 are believed to have stolen billions of dollars. One crony gave Viktor Yanukovych, when he was president, a solid gold loaf of bread. So nabbing a regional forestry official for a $10,000 bribe may seem like small potatoes. But the sentencing on August 28 of Oleksandr Levkivsky, who stands to serve four years in prison for taking a kickback to let out public land, is a big deal, The Economist reported. Mr. Levkivsky is among the first officials convicted by Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC), which began work a year ago. The court was set up at the behest of the IMF, which demanded an independent anti-corruption mechanism, among other things, in exchange for the billions of dollars in credit Ukraine needs to keep its economy afloat. The HACC has handed down 17 verdicts so far (almost all of them guilty), and is hearing scores more cases. But after years of being robbed, many Ukrainians are not satisfied with small fry. They want bigger fish hooked. The HACC's 38 judges were selected in a multi-round competition, with help from international experts. Some of the cases they hear are brought by an anti-corruption prosecutor supervised by the prosecutor general, but others come from the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), an independent agency. The judges have proved willing to push back against investigators: in Mr. Levkivsky's case, they dismissed evidence that was gathered illegally. "There is no question about the professionalism of this court," says Andrii Borovyk of Transparency International Ukraine, an anti-corruption watchdog. Read alsoMP from ruling party freed on bail in corruption probe, to wear ankle monitorBut efforts to beat graft are under constant attack. In August the Constitutional Court ruled that since the constitution does not give the president the power to select NABU's head, Artem Sytnyk, the respected prosecutor picked to run the agency in 2015, had been illegally appointed. Mr. Sytnyk refuses to step down, saying the ruling is retaliation for NABU's investigations into judicial corruption, but the court has now ruled that NABU itself was established on dubious legal grounds. It is no coincidence that pressure is increasing just as the new court hits its stride, says Vadym Valko, a legal expert who closely follows NABU. The judges are hearing a number of high-profile cases, including ones involving the mayor of Odessa and a former tax chief. But collecting smaller victories, rather than focusing on big fish in order to satisfy public pressure, may be a better strategy. "Make sure that due process works," says Matthew Murray, a former official in Barack Obama's administration who helped push for the HACC. The court's chief justice, Olena Tanasevych, wrote recently that sometimes "it seems as though absolutely everyone is dissatisfied." That may mean her team is on the right track. More news reports President Donald Trump told a 'Blacks for Trump' rally in Atlanta that the BLM movement is a 'mob' that is 'destroying many black lives'. 'The stated goal of BLM organization, people, is to achieve the destruction of the nuclear family, abolish the police, abolish prisons, abolish border security, abolish capitalism, and abolish school choice - that's what their stated goals are,' Trump told the rally on Friday. In a play for black votes, Trump also vowed to designate the KKK - but also Antifa - 'terrorist organizations,' he announced at an event in Atlanta Friday. The president will also increase capital to black communities by nearly $500 billion, a figure first reported by Fox News. Trump will also push to make Juneteenth, the day slavery officially ended in the United States, a federal holiday. In Atlanta Friday, President Donald Trump promised to designate the KKK - and also Antifa - a 'terrorist' organization and make Juneteenth a federal holiday President Donald Trump (left) gives an elbow bump to one of his prominent black supporters, Herschel Walker (right) Audience members react to President Donald Trump's appearance Friday in Atlanta, Georgia as the president tried to enhance his standing with black voters Trump made the promises with less than 40 days before the November presidential election as he spent Friday trying to firm up support with communities of color, who tend to vote heavily Democratic. Earlier Friday he participated in a 'Latinos for Trump' event at his property in Miami, Florida. In Georgia, Trump said he 'will always put Americans first and that includes very, very importantly black Americans.' He spoke at an event in Atlanta, a majority-black city and the largest in Georgia, a state that could come into play in the Nov. 3 election. The speech and a fact sheet provided by Trump's campaign did not spell out how Trump would make good on his promises. Only Congress has the power to create a federal holiday, but Trump could help introduce a measure for lawmakers to pass. Calls to make Juneteenth, June 19, a federal holiday grew louder this summer as Black Lives Matter protests swept through the country and many organizations gave their workers the day off. The day is already recognized by 47 states and the District of Columbia. It marks when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and shared the news that slavery was abolished. Hawaii, North Dakota and South Dakota do not have a holiday or other official observance of Juneteenth. Earlier this year, the president had planned to hold his first rally in months on Juneteenth in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which saw some of the country's worst racial violence 99 years ago, but moved it to June 20 after an outcry. Trump is trailing Democratic opponent Joe Biden in national polling. He won Georgia in 2016, but his lead over Biden in the state has recently narrowed, with a New York Times poll this week showing the candidates in a tie. More than 85% of Black voters belong to the Democratic party or lean toward it, according to the Pew Research Center. Still, Trump told the Atlanta crowd that Biden 'doesn't know Black Americans like I do.' The plane burst into flames on landing (Emergency Situation Ministry via AP) A Ukrainian military plane carrying aviation school students has crashed and burst into flames while landing, leaving 22 people dead. Two other people on board were seriously injured and four people were missing, emergency services said. The An-26 crashed while landing at the airport in Chuhuiv, about 250 miles east of the capital Kiev. Expand Close Wreckage of an An-26 military plane will be examined (Kharkiv Regional State Administration via AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Wreckage of an An-26 military plane will be examined (Kharkiv Regional State Administration via AP) Reports said that the plane had a military crew and that most of those aboard were students at an aviation university run by the defence ministry. There were no immediate indications of what caused the crash. The University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus is delighted to announce the appointment of Ms. Cleta Handfield as the Administrative Assistant at the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) Site.In this position Ms. Handfield will be working closely with the Manager for the UWI Open Campus British Overseas Territories (BOTS), Dr. Phyllis Fleming-Banks to oversee the local operations of the University, including student support and outreach.Ms. Handfield is a motivated Administrative Professional with more than six years experience in the banking and financial sector. Recognised for assessing operational needs and developing solutions to save costs, improve revenues and drive customer satisfaction, she is also known for organisational and leadership skills.Her academic and professional certifications include: Business, Early Childhood Education and Anti-Money Laundering. She was employed as a Customer Service Representative at TD Bank in Florida before relocating to the Turks and Caicos Islands to join the team at Scotia Bank TCI.More recently, she advanced her corporate skills at F Chambers Attorney at Law, where she served as Corporate Administrative Assistant with responsibility for company management/agent services. The versatile Cleta is also the brainchild behind the popular Cleta Soul Child Podcast: Making It Millennial.Speaking on her appointment, Ms. Handfield said she is extremely excited to be joining the team at the UWI Open Campus. I welcome this opportunity as I believe not only will I learn from my colleagues, but I also believe that I have a lot to offer Team UWI Open Campus. I look forward to promoting the work of the UWI in the TCI and to working with Dr. Fleming-Banks and the rest of the team.Dr. Fleming-Banks, who is based on Anguilla said she is pleased to welcome Cleta to the BOTS Team. Cletas presence at the UWI Open Campus TCI Site is expected to increase the service to our local students, as well as facilitate access to our quality online and continuing and professional education programmes.The UWI is an accredited regional university with five Campuses and offers over 800 programme options ranging from Postgraduate and Undergraduate degrees, Diplomas and Certificates in Social Sciences, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Humanities and Education, Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Law and Sports. This august institution has produced Nobel Laureates, Rhodes Scholars, regional Prime Ministers, other top government officials and distinguished educators, medical and legal practitioners among others.The UWI Open Campus TCI and Ms. Cleta Handfield can be contacted at [email protected] Tel: (649) 946-8944/Mobile: (649) 232-8944For over 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world.The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and five campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda and an Open Campus.As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa including the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development; the Canada-Caribbean Studies Institute with Brock University; the Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES); the UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ).The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport.As the regions premier research academy, The UWIs foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy.The worlds most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education, has ranked The UWI among the top 600 universities in the world for 2019, and the 40 best universities in Latin America and the Caribbean for 2018 and 2019.The UWI has been the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists. For more, visit www.uwi.edu. A police officer has been shot dead by a suspect who then turned the gun on themselves in Croydon. The officer, who has not been identified, died after being rushed to hospital following the incident at the Croydon Custody Centre in Windmill Lane just after 2am on Friday. A 23-year-old man has been detained. Commissioner Cressida Dick and Home Secretary Priti Patel shared tributes to the officer. Ms Patel said: "I am deeply shocked and saddened to learn that a Metropolitan Police Officer has been shot and killed in the line of duty. This is a sad day for our country and another terrible reminder of how our police officers put themselves in danger each and every day to keep the rest of us safe." Follow our live updates here... When I heard the Prime Minister talking about a gas-led recovery the other week, my heart sank. As a young person living in Geraldton, an area surrounded by fracking licenses, the idea that our government will be backing gas puts my future, and that of the area I love, at risk. Lucy Murdoch at a Perth protest earlier this year. Credit:Supplies Growing up next to the beach on one of Australias most beautiful coastlines has been something Ive always felt to be a huge privilege. I love this region. And thats why I dont want to see it ruined by gas fracking, and damaged by climate change. I feel so strongly about this that several weeks ago I made the 4-hour drive down to Perth to speak at an action outside a closed business breakfast chaired by Nev Power, a gas industry executive who is heading up the governments COVID-19 advisory committee. NORRISTOWN Authorities dismantled a gun trafficking network operating in Montgomery, Bucks and Philadelphia counties, alleging nine adults and five juveniles, including some from Norristown and Cheltenham, illegally obtained and sold 44 firearms using a straw purchase scheme. This type of organizations sole purpose is to make money by putting firearms in the hands of people who cannot lawfully buy and possess guns. Illegal firearms on our streets are a significant threat to public safety and should concern every law-abiding citizen, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said during a news conference outside the county courthouse on Thursday. With the charges, authorities alleged Anthony Jamaris McCrary, 23, Demetrius Huggins Jr., 21, and Shaireese Liles, 21, all of Philadelphia, purchased multiple firearms between July and August on behalf of a gun trafficking network led by Terrence Barker, 19, of Philadelphia, Mikal Scott, 18, of the 7900 block of Rolling Green Road, Cheltenham, and a 17-year-old Norristown male. McCrary purchased 35 firearms, Huggins purchased five firearms and Liles purchased four firearms via straw purchases at federally licensed gun dealers, allegedly on behalf of the gun trafficking organization. The purchases were made at seven federally licensed firearm dealers in Montgomery, Bucks and Philadelphia counties, Steele said. A straw purchase occurs when a person with a clean background purchases firearms on behalf of another person to conceal the true ownership of the firearm. Those who are unable to legally purchase firearms include convicted felons, domestic violence offenders, juveniles and mentally ill individuals. Ashon Jared Pearson, 23, of the 1400 block of Arch Street, Norristown, Jamil Brown, 19, of Philadelphia, John McDonald, 21, of Philadelphia, and Clarence Codada, 18, of Philadelphia, also were charged with allegedly participating in the gun trafficking network. Four other juvenile males who ranged in age from 14 to 17 also face charges. Detectives are in the process of locating McDonald and Scott, officials said. Anyone with information about their whereabouts should call the Montgomery County Detective Bureau at 610-278-3368 or the Norristown Police Department at 610-270-0977. This gun trafficking organization included juveniles as active members. The juveniles were not only armed by this organization but were an integral part of the overall operation, detectives wrote in the arrest affidavit. The organization had multiple members performing a variety of roles, including purchasing and marketing or sales of the firearms. Oftentimes, some of the members of the gun trafficking organization accompanied the straw purchasers to the gun stores and helped choose the weapons, Steele said. After the straw purchasers filled out the federal and state paperwork and lied on it, vowing that this gun was for their own use, they walk out of the gun store, they hand over the gun or guns to other members of the gun trafficking organization who immediately sold it, arming the people the law says cannot have a gun, Steele added.. The charges lodged against all or some of the alleged participants include corrupt organizations, conspiracy, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities and illegal sale or transfer of firearms. Bail was set for those charged and their preliminary hearings are pending. We may never know the true extent of the damage from these 44 illegal guns since guns obtained using a straw purchaser are typically immediately resold to people who cant legally buy a gun for themselves. Then after an illegal firearm is used in a crime, its resold to other felons and the damage grows. Its a domino effect, Steele said. Steele revealed only six of the 44 firearms have been recovered, including one that was linked to a shooting incident in Cheltenham and another seized during a traffic stop of a juvenile in Abington. Thirty-eight of the guns remain on the streets. Thats the danger of a straw purchase. We may never know the true extent of the damage that these defendants and the juveniles have done and the danger that they have created in our communities, Steele said. Steele urged anyone who may have knowledge about the whereabouts of the guns to contact authorities. The investigation began on Aug. 9, when county detectives were routinely reviewing paperwork related to multiple gun purchases by individuals and noticed McCrarys alleged purchases of a large number of guns from licensed dealers, according to court papers. The following day, on Aug. 10, Norristown police responded to a shooting incident involving a 17-year-old male and a search of the residence where the shooting occurred uncovered two gun boxes that had been purchased on the day of the shooting by McCrary, who did not live at the residence. Neither gun had been reported stolen, indicating a possible straw purchase, authorities alleged. Investigators subsequently learned that McCrary sometimes visited more than one gun store in a day and bought multiple firearms at the same time, according to court documents. The investigation used surveillance, cellphone and social media analysis, search warrants and reviews of federal firearms forms to uncover the participants in the organization, according to court papers. The Electronic Record of Sale system, part of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney Generals Track and Trace Initiative, was a key tool used by investigators to track the organizations illegal firearms purchases. Attorney General Josh Shapiro joined Steele at the news conference. Our job is obviously not over. This is just one step in the process. We should keep expanding the use of electronic records and double down on this kind of targeted, data-driven and collaborative law enforcement work to prevent senseless shootings and violence here in Norristown and everywhere throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, Shapiro said. Norristown Police Chief Mark Talbot and Michael J. Driscoll, special agent in charge of FBI Philadelphia, also attended the news briefing. We know too well that gun violence is a scourge of our community. It devastates our neighborhoods and families. Shutting down these straw purchases is vital to reducing gun violence and making the streets safer and most importantly, saving lives, Driscoll said. The take down of this organization is quite simply a victory for our community. The investigation was led by the Montgomery County Detective Bureaus Violent Crime Unit and the Norristown Police Department. The Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney Generals Gun Violence Task Force, the FBIs Bucks and Montgomery County Safe Streets Task Force, U.S. Marshals, Cheltenham, Abington, Philadelphia, Warminster and Bensalem police departments, Pennsylvania State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted with the investigation. The case will be prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Kathleen McLaughlin, captain of the district attorneys firearms unit. 3 1 of 3 Midland Police Department/Facebook Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Midland Police Department/Facebook Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Two trucks carrying oversized loads hit the same Interstate 20 bridge Thursday afternoon, according to a press release from the citys spokeswoman. The first truck hit the Cotton Flat Road bridge at about 3 p.m. The driver later identified as Midlander Ray Hannahfled the scene, according to the release. He was apprehended at I-20 and Loop 250. Hannah, who works for 3S Westex Trucking and Transport, was cited for over-height and overweight-group of axles and received warnings for fail to secure heavy machinery, failure to secure load, tire load exceeds weight rating-federal violation, over-allowed gross weight, striking the bridge and over tire size limitation. The Indian delegate at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York walked out of the hall when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khans pre-recorded statement was played on Friday. The delegate, a junior diplomat named Mijito Vinito from the 2010 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, picked up his papers and left the hall as Khans speech was played on a large overhead screen. Khan raised the Kashmir issue, as he has done in recent speeches to multilateral bodies, and criticised the Indian government on several issues. After Khans speech, TS Tirumurti, Indias permanent representative to the UN, tweeted that the country would use the right of reply facility to respond to the Pakistani premiers address. PM of Pakistan statement a new diplomatic low at 75th UN General Assembly. Another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, war mongering and obfuscation of Pakistans persecution of its own minorities & of its cross-border terrorism. Befitting Right of Reply awaits, Tirumurti said in his tweet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the UN General Assembly through a video statement on Saturday. NC church honors local police officers with Visa gift cards, appreciation plaques Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment As police officers across the United States face low morale amid a wave of social unrest and calls for the defunding of police departments, a North Carolina church has taken it upon itself to express support and appreciation for its local police force. Open Door Baptist Church in the town of Hickory, North Carolina held a special service earlier this month to honor the 19 members of the Long View Police Department. Police Chief T.J. Bates spoke at the event, where officers were presented with $100 Visa gift cards and plaques of appreciation In an interview with The Christian Post, Pastor Shawn Davis explained that the decision to hold the event was made after holding a meeting with Bates. During the meeting, Bates spoke of the low morale among the officers. Davis hopes that his gestures of goodwill will provide the Long View Police Department with a much-needed morale boost. We prayed over them and asked for Gods blessing, safety, and protection, he said. We let them know we appreciated their service and courage. Davis maintained that we cant have a society and be civil without the police. If somebodys breaking into my house, I call the police department, the pastor explained. We need the police department. One bad apple dont spoil the whole bunch. Amid the ongoing debate about policing in the U.S., Davis contends that the negative voices are the loudest. He said that he hopes that his church community, over 300 of whom attended the event, can be a positive voice for local law enforcement. According to Davis, the congregation gave the officers a standing ovation during the service. Davis said hopes that many other churches will follow suit and show support for their local law enforcement. He told CP that Open Door Baptist Church plans to recognize the Long View Police Department on an annual basis. In addition to Open Door Baptist Church, many other churches, businesses and individuals have shown police officers their appreciation. Earlier this summer, Lighthouse Missionary Baptist Church in Jonesborough, Tennessee, donated $1,000 to each member of the local police department. We wanted to make a bold statement in support of law enforcement, Lighthouse Pastor Perry Cleek told CP in July. Our desire was for our action to send a symbolic message of our support to the Jonesborough Police, but to also show our support in a very practical way by recognizing and supporting each individual employee. About a month after the death of George Floyd in police custody incited national protests against police brutality, an African immigrant living in Washington, D.C. delivered food to police officers in her city in late June. She described the officers as brave men and women who took the oath to serve the community and theyre doing just that. Earlier in June, a restaurant in Port Richey, Florida, declared itself a safe haven for police. That gesture came not long after a man in Alabama walked up to four police officers dining at a Cracker Barrel and offered to pay for their meal as a gesture of appreciation, refusing to take no for an answer. Amid the anti-police rhetoric embraced by some politicians and activists, many police officers have left the force nationwide. In the month following the death of George Floyd, 272 New York City police officers filed for retirement, a noticeable increase from the 183 New York City officers who filed for retirement during the same period in 2019. In August, the San Francisco Chronicle reported an increase in the number of police force resignations in the first six months of the year. In Colorado, over 200 police officers resigned in the weeks after Gov. Jared Police signed a police reform bill into law on June 19 that holds officers personally liable for their actions, according to The Denver Post. A general view of Apple European headquarters at Hollyhill industrial estate in Co Cork. The Facility employs 6000 people manufacturing and distributing iMac computers. The Irish government said it will consider the legal grounds of the European Commissions appeal over a court decision not to order Apple to pay back 13 billion euros (11.6 billion) in taxes to Ireland. The countrys finance minister said that Ireland has always been clear that the correct amount of Irish tax was paid and that Ireland provided no State aid to Apple. The EUs General Court in Luxembourg ruled in July that the commission wrongly declared in 2016 that Apple was given illegal state aid when it struck a low tax rate agreement with Irish authorities. On Friday, the European Commission said it respectfully considers that in its judgment the General Court has made a number of errors of law. Executive vice president Margrethe Vestager said for this reason, the Commission is bringing this matter before the European Court of Justice. We have decided to appeal before the @EUCourtPress the General Court's judgment of July 2020 on the Apple State aid case in Ireland, which annulled the Commission's decision of August 2016 finding that Ireland granted illegal State aid to Apple through selective tax breaks. European Commission (@EU_Commission) September 25, 2020 An appeal to the blocs highest court must be on a point, or points, of law. The appeal process could take up to two years to complete. Irelands Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, said he notes the European Commissions decision to lodge an appeal. Mr Donohoe added: Ireland has not yet been served with formal notice of the appeal. When it is received, the Government will need to take some time to consider, in detail, the legal grounds set out in the appeal and to consult with the Governments legal advisers, in responding to this appeal. The 13.1 billion euro is being held in an escrow account, meaning the proceeds cannot be released until there has been a final determination in the European courts over the validity of the commissions decision. The EU Commission had ordered Apple to pay for gross underpayment of tax on profits across the European bloc from 2003 to 2014. The Government will need to take some time to consider the legal grounds set out in the appeal and to consult with the Governments legal advisers Paschal Donohoe The commission said Apple used two shell companies in Ireland to report its Europe-wide profits at effective rates well under 1%. Irelands open economy is based on low corporate taxation and other incentives to attract multinationals. In Apples case, it was significantly below the standard 12.5% imposed on corporations. Apple said that, from 2003 to 2014, it paid 577 million US dollars (504.6 million euro) in tax on profit generated in the country, in line with the tax laws in Ireland. Apple said the case was never about how much tax it pays but where it is required to pay. The company said: The appeal will not alter the factual conclusions of the General Court, which prove that we have always abided by the law in Ireland, as we do everywhere we operate. Warren police went door-to-door Thursday to alert residents of a $3,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a man who committed a series of racial hate crimes against a Black family. Officers knocked on doors and left fliers in mailboxes of homes in the area south of 11 Mile Road and west of Hoover, as well as Tallman Street, where the incidents took place. Three times during the week of Sept. 7 the attacker vandalized the home of Eddie and Candace Hall, who are both U.S. Army veterans. Police say the man fired gunshots into their home, threw a large rock through the window, scribbled graffiti on their vehicles and slashed the tires. The Halls have said they believe they were targeted after placing a Black Lives Matter sign in their living room window. Mayor Jim Fouts said police are making an arrest in the outrageous attack a priority. We will not rest until this dangerous person is apprehended, Fouts said in a statement. Both Police Commissioner (William) Dwyer, myself, and police officers stand by this family and none of us will rest until this criminal is apprehended ASAP. This neighborhood deserves safety and peace of mind. Investigators say the intruder is a male between 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall, about 20-30 years old with a stocky build. The incidents occurred on Sept. 7 (Labor Day), Sept. 9 and Sept. 10 between 9 p.m. and midnight. The Halls told WDIV-TV (Channel 4) that they are afraid for the safety of their family and have been staying at a hotel since the shooting. According to the WDIV report, the FBI is now investigating the incidents along with Warren police. Warren Police held a press conference Sept. 11 asking for help in finding the attacker. We know whats happening in the country today, and its is very disturbing, Dwyer said of racial unrest earlier this month. These are two veterans. They are highly respected in the community. Their children are highly respected in the community. Were going find, arrest at convict this suspect. Its only a matter of time, Dwyer added. But were going to need some help. He probably lives in the neighborhood. No. 1 priority. We have all the resources necessary to complete a thorough and complete investigation, and bring forth the person who is found to commit these crimes. Warren is a safe community. We have not experienced this type of intimidation in Warren, and we will not tolerate this type of crime. All tips will be handled confidentially and tipsters will remain anonymous. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Robert Milne at 586-574-4793 Macomb Daily Staff Writer Mitch Hotts contributed to this report Sinophobia, Lies and Hybrid War By Pepe Escobar September 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - It took one minute for President Trump to introduce a virus at the virtual 75th UN General Assembly, blasting the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world. And then it all went downhill. Even as Trump was essentially delivering a campaign speech and could not care less about the multilateral UN, at least the picture was clear enough for all the socially distant international community to see. Here is President Xis full statement. And here is President Putins full statement. And heres the geopolitical chessboard, once again; its the indispensable nation versus the Russia-China strategic partnership. As he stressed the importance of the UN, Xi could not be more explicit that no nation has the right to control the destiny of others: Even less should one be allowed to do whatever it likes and be the hegemon, bully, or boss of the world . The US ruling class obviously wont take this act of defiance lying down. The full spectrum of Hybrid War techniques will continue to be relentlessly turbo-charged against China, coupled with rampant Sinophobia, even as it dawns on many Dr. Strangelove quarters that the only way to really deter China would be Hot War. Alas, the Pentagon is overstretched Syria, Iran, Venezuela, South China Sea. And every analyst knows about Chinas cyber warfare capabilities , integrated aerial defense systems, and carrier-killer Dongfeng missiles. For perspective, its always very instructive to compare military expenditure . Last year, China spent $261 billion while the US spent $732 billion (38% of the global total). Rhetoric, at least for the moment, prevails. The key talking point, incessantly hammered, is always about China as an existential threat to the free world, even as the myriad declinations of what was once Obamas pivot to Asia not so subtly accrue the manufacture of consent for a future war. This report by the Qiao Collective neatly identifies the process: We call it Sinophobia, Inc. an information industrial complex where Western state funding, billion dollar weapons manufacturers, and right-wing think tanks coalesce and operate in sync to flood the media with messages that China is public enemy number one. Armed with state funding and weapons industry sponsors, this handful of influential think tanks are setting the terms of the New Cold War on China. The same media ecosystem that greased the wheels of perpetual war towards disastrous intervention in the Middle East is now busy manufacturing consent for conflict with China. That US military edge The demonization of China, infused with blatant racism and rabid anti-communism, is displayed across a full, multicolored palette: Hong Kong, Xinjiang (concentration camps), Tibet (forced labor), Taiwan, China virus; the Belt and Roads debt trap. The trade war runs in parallel glaring evidence of how socialism with Chinese characteristics is beating Western capitalism at its own high-tech game. Thus the sanctioning of over 150 companies that manufacture chips for Huawei and ZTE, or the attempt to ruin TikToks business in the US (But you cant rob it and turn it into a US baby, as Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin tweeted). Still, SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation), Chinas top chip company, which recently profited from a $7.5 billion IPO in Shanghai, sooner or later may jump ahead of US chip manufacturers. On the military front, maximum pressure on Chinas eastern rim proceeds unabated from the revival of the Quad to a scramble to boost the Indo-Pacific strategy . Think Tankland is essential in coordinating the whole process, via for instance the Center for Strategic & International Studies , with corporation and trade association donors featuring usual suspects such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman. So here we have what Ray McGovern brilliantly describes as MICIMATT the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex as the comptrollers of Sinophobia Inc. Assuming there would be a Dem victory in November, nothing will change. The next Pentagon head will probably be Michele Flournoy, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy (2009-2012) and co-founder of the Center for a New American Security , which is big on both the China challenge and the North Korean threat. Flournoy is all about boosting the U.S. militarys edge in Asia. So what is China doing? Chinas top foreign policy principle is to advance a community of shared future for mankind. That is written in the constitution, and implies that Cold War 2.0 is an imposition from foreign actors. Chinas top three priorities post-Covid-19 are to finally eradicate poverty; solidify the vast domestic market; and be back in full force to trade/investment across the Global South. Chinas existential threat is also symbolized by the drive to implement a non-Western trade and investment system, including everything from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road Fund to trade bypassing the US dollar. A Harvard Kennedy School report at least tried to understand how Chinese authoritarian resilience appeals domestically. The report found out that the CCP actually benefitted from increased popular support from 2003 to 2016, reaching an astonishing 93%, essentially due to social welfare programs and the battle against corruption. By contrast, when we have a MICCIMAT investing in Perpetual War or Long War (Pentagon terminology since 2001) instead of health, education and infrastructure upgrading, whats left is a classic wag the dog. Sinophobia is perfect to blame the abysmal response to Covid-19, the extinction of small businesses and the looming New Great Depression on the Chinese existential threat. The whole process has nothing to do with moral defeat and complaining that we risk losing the competition and endangering the world. The world is not endangered because at least vast swathes of the Global South are fully aware that the much-ballyhooed rules-based international order is nothing but a quite appealing euphemism for Pax Americana or Exceptionalism. What was designed by Washington for post-WWII, the Cold War and the unilateral moment does not apply anymore. Bye, bye Mackinder As President Putin has made it very clear over and over again, the US is no longer agreement capable . As for the rules-based international order, at best is a euphemism for privately controlled financial capitalism on a global scale. The Russia-China strategic partnership has made it very clear, over and over again, that against NATO and Quad expansion their project hinges on Eurasia-wide trade, development and diplomatic integration. Unlike the case from the 16th century to the last decades of the 20th century, now the initiative is not coming from the West, but from East Asia (thats the beauty of initiative incorporated to the BRI acronym). Enter continental corridors and axes of development traversing Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Indian Ocean, Southwest Asia and Russia all the way to Europe, coupled with a Maritime Silk Road across the South Asian rimland. For the very first time in its millenary history, China is able to match ultra-dynamic political and economic expansion both overland and across the seas. This reaches way beyond the short era of the Zheng He maritime expeditions during the Ming dynasty in the early 15th century. No wonder the West, and especially the Hegemon, simply cannot comprehend the geopolitical enormity of it all. And thats why we have so much Sinophobia, so many Hybrid War techniques deployed to snuff out the threat. Eurasia, in the recent past, was either a Western colony, or a Soviet domain. Now, it stands on the verge of finally getting rid of Mackinder, Mahan and Spykman scenarios, as the heartland and the rimland progressively and inexorably integrate, on their own terms, all the way to the middle of the 21st century. YEREVAN. They want to arrest me so that I do not interfere with the investigation. Gagik Tsarukyanchairman of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), MP, and business tycoon on Friday said this in a conversation with journalists while entering the court. "I have been out [in freedom] for three months, 100 investigators have been attached [to the criminal case involving me], several thousand people have been examined, there is no testimony against Tsarukyan," he added. "The [2018] revolution [in Armenia] was only empty promises. The people have been waiting for three years. There has been no disgraceful situation like today. Today Armenia has no friendly ties with any country. People [in Armenia] have been brought to poverty, to the edge of the abyss. Man is losing his house and property. The PAP leader stressed that all this was not based on personal issues and a demand for an office. "They want Tsarukyan not to speak. There is no personal issue, there is no demand for a domain and an office," he said, in particular. The Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan, presided over by Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan, on Friday is considering the National Security Services (NSS) petition to remand Gagik Tsarukyan in custody. Speaking to reporters, the defense has informed that it has motioned for Judge Martirosyans self-recusal from presiding over this court hearing. The defense attorneys have submitted a crime report on Gagik Tsarukyan's case to the Prosecutor General and the Special Investigation Service. They stated that they had evidence that, as a result of the illegal interference of some officials, it had been "decided" that the Court of Cassation shall deny the appeals as soon as possible so that the court case could be assigned to the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan as soon as possible, be considered as speedily as possible, and Tsarukyan be remanded in custody. As reported earlier, Gagik Tsarukyan has been charged with orchestrating vote buying. But he does not accept the charge and says it as illegal. AMHERST Thirteen University of Massachusetts students living off campus have tested positive for COVID-19, the school announced Friday evening. All are known to have socialized together, and a number of them attended a party together, UMass said in a statement. Students testing positive are in isolation, per standard practice, either at their off-campus residence or in a university facility, a UMass spokesman said. Others who have come in contact with the cluster of 13 students have been notified to get tested and quarantine, UMass said. The universitys flagship campus in Amherst is operating with a fraction of its normal student population and staff due to the coronavirus pandemic. Most classes are being conducted online. We want to emphasize that all students living in the Amherst area should come in for asymptomatic testing at the Mullins Center twice a week, said Jeff Hescock, executive director of environmental health and safety at UMass. Testing, while extremely important, tells us whether someone is infected, but does not protect a person from becoming infected. Good public health practices are critical to the success of preventing COVID transmission. UMass urges students and others to wear face coverings and practice social distancing in public and to avoid gatherings to help prevent spreading the virus. The school said it has conducted more than 52,000 coronavirus tests since Aug. 6, including approximately 30,000 tests of off-campus students. Amherst town officials and residents have raised concerns about students living off campus during the pandemic. In July, the university estimated about 8,500 students were living off campus. State Department of Public Health data released Wednesday said 149 cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Amherst since the pandemic began in March, including 11 in the previous two weeks. The town is in the states low-risk, gray category based on its infection rate. UMass said it is coordinating with town of Amherst health officials to address the cluster of infected students. Related Content: New Delhi: Reports claiming that central government's plan to levy a tax on school textbooks is circulating all over social media. The government issued clarification on the viral report and termed it as fake. The clarification was provided in PIB Fact Check's Twitter handle, which read, Claim: It is being claimed on social media that the central government has imposed tax on school books. This claim is fake. There is no tax on school textbooks.'' PIB Fact Check is a central government's department which counters misinformation on government-related scheme and policies. Earlier, on September 22, PIB also gave clarification on the news which stated that the central government will give an amount of Rs 11,000 to students to clear their tuition fees due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The PIB said that the government has launched no such scheme and reported it as fake news. The government has asked people to remain alert before believing any viral news as fake circulations have increased during the pandemic which can easily bluff people. Fossils of a mastodon, a giant prehistoric ancestor of the modern-day elephant, have been discovered in a gold mine in central Colombia. Miners working in a tunnel near the town of Quinchia, in the central-west province of Risaralda, discovered the remains including an intact tusk measuring more than three feet long. While mastodon fossils have been found in other parts of Colombia, these are the first found in Risaralda and could mean more discoveries are awaiting nearby. 'More [remains] could be found,' Julio Gomez, director of Risaralda's regional environmental authority, told Reuters. 'These animals lived in herds, they didn't live alone, a little like the herds of elephants we see in Africa today.' Mastodons have traditionally been thought to have gone extinct because of overhunting by early humans, but more recent analysis suggests they may have succumbed to rapid climate change. Scroll down for video Fossil remains of a mastodon found by miners inside a gold mine in Risaralda, Colombia. While mastodon fossils have been found in other parts of the country, these are the first in Risaralda and could mean more discoveries are awaiting nearby Mastodon remains have also been found in Cundinamarca and Valle del Cauca provinces, as well as along Colombia's Atlantic coast, The miners in Quinchia called in anthropologists to examine the fossils, which included an intact tusk measuring 3.5 feet in length. 'These animals attract attention due to their large size - a giant bone doesn't go unnoticed,' anthropologist Carlos Lopez told Reuters. 'It really takes us in a time machine ... to think about what they were like and how they lived, and if humans lived alongside them,' It's the latest discovery about the massive mammals in recent weeks. A complete mammoth tusk measuring 3.5 feet long was among the fossils found by the miners A miner points out mastodon fossils. 'These animals attract attention due to their large size - a giant bone doesn't go unnoticed,' anthropologist Carlos Lopez said Miners working in a tunnel near the town of Quinchia, in the central-west province of Risaralda, discovered the remains on Tuesday On August 29, a Missouri teen reported uncovering a fossilized mastodon tooth the size of a human hand. At first, 18-year-old Ira Johnson thought he had found a 'big rock' in the river near his home. Researchers analyzing the remains say it belonged to an American mastodon that lived during the Pleistocene Epoch some 10,000 years ago. A study in the September issue of the journal Nature Communications indicated Mastodons traveled north across great distances because of climate change. A mastodon tooth as large as a human hand was discovered in Missouri in late August. At first, 18-year-old Ira Johnson thought he had found a 'big rock' in the river near his home Mastodons roamed from present-day Alaska east to Nova Scotia and south to central Mexico. During the more temperate periods, mastodons headed north to feed on vegetation. But as temperatures got colder and large glaciers started to spread down from the top of the continent, the creatures retreated back down south. This was a continuous cycle during the erratic cold spells of the Pleistocene period, which spanned from 2.5 million to 11,700 years ago. Mastodons were among the largest land animals on Earth at the time, reaching lengths of 10 feet and weighing 8 tonnes or more. Artist's impression of the extinct American mastodon (right) and the first complete American mastodon skeleton found in the US, on display at the American Museum of Natural History. American mastodons migrated vast distances across North America in response to dramatic climate change The species went extinct about 11,000 years ago, around the end of the Pleistocene Era, along with other megafauna like mammoths, saber-toothed cats and giant ground sloths. While it has traditionally been thought that mastodons roamed the Arctic and Subarctic when it was covered with ice caps, scientists now believe the animals had a much wider range and only traveled north when the climate was warm and their preferred habitat - forests and wetlands - were abundant with leafy food. A 2014 study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicated mastodons suffered local extinction several tens of millennia before human colonization, the earliest estimate of which is between 13,000 and 14,000 years ago. The force of COVID-19s impact on the local economy reverberated through the city of Miamis $1 billion budget that will cut more than 100 public safety jobs, close the municipal mini-dump to the public, cancel several cultural events and transform some neighborhood administrative centers into outposts for district commissioners. After a marathon virtual commission meeting Thursday with long debates on extending the citys motorized scooter program, the process for finding the next police chief and zoning issues, the budget discussion did not begin until midnight. Around 2:30 a.m. Friday, the budget passed unanimously. Property taxes remained flat as the city grappled with dipping revenues and a grim outlook for next year. A typical Miami homeowner can still expect to see a slightly higher property tax bill because of home values that increased before the pandemic. Meanwhile, slumping revenue from sales tax and fee collections blew a hole in some local governments spending plans. The Miami budget office projected a $30 million shortfall in the coming year as the economy slowly recovers from widespread closures spurred by the coronavirus pandemic. Commissioners approved a $1 billion spending plan that includes layoffs of cops and firefighters, fewer city events and revamped NET system. Fewer police officers and firefighters Officials said they could have minimized lost jobs if the citys two largest labor unions representing police officers and firefighters had agreed to freeze their wages. City Manager Art Noriega and Mayor Francis Suarez said they appealed to Miamis Fraternal Order of Police and the Association of Fire Fighters, though they couldnt cut a deal that would avoid layoffs. Without an agreement for a large wage freeze, administrators instead approved cutting more than a dozen firefighters and 66 sworn police officers. Between filled and unfilled jobs being eliminated in multiple departments, about 175 positions have been cut from the citys 4,000-person workforce. According to a budget memo, the cuts will increase detectives workloads and curtail their time to investigate cases. Story continues These reductions will also negatively impact response to victims, lost hours on investigations (increasing the time taken to bring offenders into custody), and other community relations efforts, reads the memo. On Friday, police union president Tommy Reyes told the Miami Herald that he disagreed with officials characterization of their dealings with the FOP. Reyes said he was floored while watching the commission meeting from home and hearing the suggestion that the union wasnt willing to cooperate. He said he had positive discussions with the administration, and that they were close to bridging the budget gap before the meeting. Its disheartening, he said. Were trying to help. Administrators said Miamis general employees union, AFSCME Local 1907, agreed to forgo raises, partially lessening the budget crunch. Many departments have filled and vacant jobs being cut, and office supplies and other expenses will get trimmed. Not discussed during the budget hearing: the citys division of resilience. Several people left voicemails for the commission asking them to invest in Miamis efforts to plan for rising seas. Administrators proposed folding the small resilience staff into the public works department, a move that stirred controversy among climate activists this summer. The city has since made public works director Alan Dodd Miamis chief resiliency officer and reassured people the resilience team will still have an impactful place in the city. New NET system for some In Thursdays wee hours, some commissioners doubled their office budgets while absorbing more responsibility for responding to constituent complaints. Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla convinced commissioners and administrators to partly overhaul the citys Neighborhood Enhancement Team (NET). NETs system of mini-city halls in several neighborhoods allows people to seek certain permits, complain about litter and access other public services at administrative hubs without having to go downtown. Diaz de la Portilla argued that moving some of NETs functions into new district offices run by commissioners would make elected officials more accountable to their voters. The people that we represent can go directly to a district office and say, I want this problem solved, he said. And if that problem is not solved, guess what happens? That commissioner is not reelected. Several callers differed. Liberty City resident Samuel Lattimore echoed many people who called for their NET offices to remain as is and not be placed under the control of politicians. We feel that the NET program needs to remain under the city manager, he said. Commissioners Keon Hardemon and Ken Russell resisted the changes, choosing to keep the status quo for the NET offices in their district. Despite warnings from Noriega, the city manager, about logistical hurdles, the commission unanimously voted to leave the existing NET system in place in Hardemons and Russells districts while creating new district offices for Diaz de la Portilla, Joe Carollo and Manolo Reyes. The three commissioners will see their office budgets balloon by about $1 million, allowing them to hire staff to handle constituent issues. Those city workers would answer to commissioners, while NET workers in Districts 2 and 5 would be supervised by administrators who report to the city manager. Having a hybrid system is going to be a little cumbersome, Noriega said. Youll figure it out, Diaz de la Portilla responded. Thats why you get paid the big bucks. Closures and cancellations Under the budget that begins Oct. 1, the citys mini-dump will close to the public. It will only be open for city personnel. In summer 2021, the city plans to save $548,000 by opening Grapeland Water Park only on weekends. Commissioners also agreed to cancel much of the calendar of city-sponsored cultural events, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The New Years celebration at Bayfront Park, the Three Kings Parade and the Gay 8 Parade were all defunded. At Hardemons request, the commission agreed to steer $150,000 toward the annual vigil for Martin Luther King Jr. in April. A scaled-back event would be put on if COVID restrictions permit it. Haiti - Social : Note of sympathies from the Minister of the Economy Michel Patrick Boisvert the Minister of the Economy and Finance has learned with great sadness the news of the recent death of the former Minister of the Economy Yves Romain Bastien. "[...] the Minister Boisvert wishes to express his sympathies to the grieving family of the deceased, as well as to his friends and relatives affected by this heavy loss. The Minister bows before the remains of this great citizen who, by his masterful professional career, will forever mark all those who knew and practiced him both institutionally and socially." Recalling "[...] Emeritus and enthusiastic professor, Yves Romain Bastien left in his many students the memory of a free and open spirit. With his sense of proportion and dialogue, he has always known how to work in a team with a lot of efficiency and panache. A man of culture, all the activities of artistic creation interested him. Dynamic, never short of ideas, serious, he will be remembered as a personality of conviction who has always stood out for his commitment, his concern for a job well done and his attachment to republican values. The disappearance of the former Minister Bastien is a huge loss for his family, his friends and the Haitian Nation [...] the Minister joins all the executives and employees of the Ministry to present his most sincere condolences to the members of his family, to the economic sector as well as to relatives and friends affected by this bereavement." See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-31854-haiti-social-death-of-the-former-minister-of-the-economy-yves-romain-bastien.html HL/ HaitiLibre Trustees at Springfield Technical Community College voted Friday to open a process that would consider restoring some or all of the seven technical programs cut from the 2020-21 curriculum. The program cuts by STCC President John Cook have provoked three months of unabated controversy on campus and throughout the community. Cook said he based his decision on the severe economic impact of COVID-19, the expectation of deep state budget cuts and low attendance in the programs, at least in comparison to others that were kept. STCC is no longer offering automotive technology, biomedical engineering technology, biotechnology, civil engineering technology, cosmetology, dental assistant training, and landscape design and management technology. An estimated 95 students were already in process within the seven programs. Any incoming students in these programs were informed theyd been dropped. The trustees' Friday vote to begin reconsidering the cuts through a still-to-be-formed ad hoc committee was 9-1, with only Bill Johnson opposed. Trustee Jeff Sattler needed to leave the virtual meeting for personal reasons, and was not present for the vote. The overwhelming majority spoke to a consistent theme: They dont know if the cuts were necessary because they were not told in specific terms why they were made. Learning after the fact left them confused and frustrated, they said. Not being informed of the data that went into the decision was frustrating. We are in September, and we still dont know the analysis that went into it, said MacArthur Starks, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee. We do have money. If we have $14 million lying around, do we want to leverage some of that for at least one semester? Starks asked. The STCC controversy has exposed an apparent lack of synergy between Cook and the board. The president maintains he has fiduciary responsibility for running the college a stance the trustees, even while undertaking the curriculum review, did not flatly dispute. Whether the trustees' lack of awareness can be placed on unilateral decision-making by Cook, or on the board for not paying enough attention or perhaps, on a combination of both the program cuts have aroused such outrage that the board wants a place at the table now. It would have made more sense to have been given the information beforehand and make a transparent decision. We were robbed of our decision, which is in our purview, trustee Jynai McDonald said. The seven discontinued programs were on the minimal end of deficit cost, McDonald said. Theres no question the seven programs were losing money, but several trustees pointed out that every other program in the curriculum does, too. Restoration of any or all of the programs would come in the spring semester at the earliest. The fall 2021 semester is also possible. Its also possible they wont be restored at all. No promises came with Fridays vote. Student trustee Alessande Anderson said a review should include consideration of what programs are being impacted by the short-term crisis of COVID-19 economic losses, and which might be affected long-term. In August, the trustees heard from Renae Gorman, the STCC Professional Association union president. Johnson described Gormans presentation as hate speech, without data or factual basis, but Gorman has refuted that portrayal and says her plea to reconsider was fact-based, not personal. The three most discussed programs have been automotive technology, cosmetology and landscape design. Rather than reconsider them separately, trustees voted to review all seven. The contentious debate has drawn legislators, community leaders, students and faculty into the fray. Opponents of the cuts defend enrollment levels and claim the cost of the programs to the college is modest at most. But their argument has also been philosophical. Many of the abandoned programs are not offered anywhere else in Western Massachusetts. Course advocates say that, at a time Massachusetts employers decry a lack of qualified workers, the decision of a technical college to drop training courses disregards the very purpose of STCCs existence. Cooks defenders say the college president is entrusted to make these decisions that now involve unprecedented financial challenges. The crippling economic impact of the pandemic, the unavoidability of painful decisions and the relatively low enrollment of the affected programs, at least compared to other courses of study, cannot be ignored, they say. In July, Cook said that, without knowledge of when the state budget would be finalized and with every reason to expect deep cuts anything short of worst-case scenario planning would have been grossly irresponsible. Johnson questioned whether the board of trustees had the legal right to reverse an administrative decision. Chair Marikate Murren agreed the board did not want to begin trying to micromanage administration decisions, but that it did have the power to reallocate money to restore programs. Johnson was adamant in defending Cooks decision, especially regarding the automotive program. I own an automotive shop (Pleasant Street Auto Body and Repair). I got a call from the STCC automotive guy I forget his name. I wanted details and never got them, he said. Ten years ago, (automotive shop owners) werent willing to spend money on training. Now we do. STCC automotive department head Ramiro Soares has maintained that employees without an associates' degree are consigned to earn substantially less money, even if they are certified. Soares has been one of the most vocal opponents of the cuts. Before leaving, Sattler defended Cooks decision by saying, We are in a crisis. You look at cost and enrollment, make a decision and stand by it. Im not a guy to analyze every piece of paper for the last 10 years thats not my job as a trustee. Later in the discussion, however, Sattler did not dismiss the importance of the motion to review. Johnson remained opposed to reopening the process, but once the motion to do so was passed, he voted yes to establish the ad hoc committee. CHINA - A footage of a German shepherd forced by its owner to eat a bowl of red chilis as they live-streamed went viral online. The animal binge-eating video draw flak from people all over the world. The appalling footage circulated Chinese social media, exhibiting the hound that chomped down the spicy dish while facing the camera with tears coming down from its eyes' corner, indicating that the dog is crying. Because of the cracking down by the Chinese government regarding their national campaign in curbing food waste, the disturbing new trend gained its popularity in Chinese social media. According to Daily Star, before the launching of the 'Operation Empty Plate' campaign against food waste in August by Chinese president Xi Jinping, Chinese people enjoyed in social media watching what they called 'Chibo' videos, or popularly known as 'Mukbang' which is a famous online phenomenon that originated in South Korea. The word 'Mukbang' which can be translated as 'eating broadcast' is an internet craze wherein the person behind the camera will consume an excessive amount of food during their Livestream while also interacting with their channels' viewers. Despite the regulations imposed by the government of China and banning those kinds of contents, the Chinese pet owners found a way and took advantage of the situation by sharing videos of animals that overeaten some unusual foo or even snacks. Read also: Oldest Animal on Earth: 91-Million Years Old Shark Fossil Linked to the Great White Shark Discovered In one of the live-streamed videos, a German shepherd was forced by his owner to consume a bowl of La Zi Ji or also known as Chongqing Chili Chicken, which is a regional dish that is famous because of its extreme spiciness, Daily Mail reported. The hound can be witnessed obediently munching on the dish in the video but tears are triggered by the flavor of the food. In addition, the streamer captioned his post that the German shepherd is enjoying very much. Moreover, another video exhibited two dogs that were forced to consume 38 different kinds of snacks and drinks that are popular with humans as a 'food challenge.' One video also exhibits a pet owner forcing a husky to popped the candy down to his throat. The owner even gripped the mouth of the pet in order to keep it closed. According to reports, the disturbing content has a different effect for hundreds of thousands of likes on the Chinese online community as they attracted on it, especially on video-sharing platforms such as Kuaishou and Douyin despite the majority of animals that were featured in this genre of videos do not show any happiness contradicting to the owners claim. On the other hand, the new online trend is now facing a fierce backlash from animal lovers who were horrified by the videos. They are now urging the authorities to shut down the accounts of the streamers who shared those kinds of contents. One social media user posted that the video is just the newest way of abusing animals. The user also added that the owners do not deserve to keep those pets as they are a bunch of cold-blooded bastards. The user also emphasized that the animals are so unlucky that they trust their owners unconditionally but they are just used as cash cows. Related article: Too Much Candy: Man from Massachusetts Died After Eating Bags of Black Licorice @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in Germany recovering from what authorities there determined to be nerve agent poisoning, thanked Russian pilots and paramedics for acting quickly after he fell into a coma on a flight from Siberia. Navalny, who collapsed on a plane to Moscow on August 20 and spent nearly three weeks in a coma, said in an Instagram post on Friday that pilots quickly landed the plane in Omsk and medical workers at the airport jammed a dose of atropine" into him, immediately recognising a toxic poisoning. Thank you, unknown good-hearted friends. You are good people," the 44-year-old politician wrote under a photo of him hugging his wife Yulia. After 48 hours in a hospital in Omsk, where Russian doctors said they found no trace of any poisoning, Navalny was transferred to the Charite hospital in Berlin. German chemical weapons experts determined that he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok findings corroborated by labs in France and Sweden. Navalny, a longtime foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was discharged from the hospital earlier this week. Charite hospital said that based on Navalny's progress, physicians believe a complete recovery is possible. Russian authorities have been resisting the pressure to launch a criminal investigation, saying no trace of poisonous substances has been found in Navalny's system and demanding Germany, France and Sweden to share their findings. The Russian delegation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons sent a note to Germany on Wednesday, requesting comprehensive information on the so-called Navalny case," including test results, biological materials and other clinical samples to be provided within 10 days. German government spokeswoman Martina Fietz confirmed Friday that the Germany mission to the OPCW received the note. The mission will respond in keeping with rules that provide for a 10-day deadline, Fietz said. But let me repeat again what we have said here repeatedly in the past: already has everything necessary to be able to conduct investigations itself, Fietz added. She once again pointed out that German, Swedish and French labs have confirmed that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, and that the OPCW has taken samples. Navalny has remained in Germany to undergo rehabilitation after being released from the hospital, which may take weeks, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said Thursday. Nevertheless, he planned to return to at some point, according to his allies. Navalny's team blamed the Kremlin for the poisoning, claims which officials brushed off. In Friday's Instagram post, the politician said that a series of happy coincidences and sharp actions by pilots and medical workers sabotaged what Navalny said he thought may have been the plan of the killers. I was supposed to fall sick 20 minutes after takeoff, and in another 15 minutes lose consciousness. There was guaranteed to be no access to medical help and in another hour I would continue travelling in a black plastic bag on the last row of seats, scaring all passengers going to the bathroom," the politician wrote. Everything that happened next was very dramatic and deserves a separate story, but there would have been nothing to tell if not for these guys. (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.) BILOXI, Mississippi -- Three Jackson County residents were among four anglers who recently had catches certified as new state records by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. Heath Powell of Vancleave set the set record for Red Lionfish, using a spear to bring in the 1 pound, 15.04 ounce fish. Donald Bosarge of Gautier set a new record for Silver Perch with a 5.12 ounce catch. And 9-year-old Charlie Russell set the youth state record for Tripletail using conventional tackle to land his 19 pound, 8 ounce catch. The fourth record certified at the MDMRs monthly meeting was set by Chad Patti of Milton, Fla., who also used a spear to land a 6 pound, 15.84 ounce fish. Ocean Springs police arrest woman after chase, other charges OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- A woman is in custody facing multiple charges -- including two felonies -- after leading police on a chase when they responded to domestic assault call. According to Ocean Springs Capt. Ryan LeMaire, police responded to the 400 block of Bechtel Boulevard Thursday for a physical domestic disturbance. Officers arriving at the scene were advised one of the parties involved had left the scene in a gold car. Officers spotted the car driving north on Bechtel and attempted to initiate a stop. But the driver of the vehicle -- later identified as Andrea Nicole Donald -- fled from the patrol vehicle and continued north on Bechtel. The suspect vehicle stopped on a private driveway along U.S. 90, where Donald fled on foot. After a short foot pursuit, Donald was taken into custody. Donald is currently housed at the Jackson County Adult Detention Center under total bond of $126,290 and charged with felony domestic violence/aggravated assault, felony pursuit, providing false ID/information to police, resisting arrest and possession of paraphernalia. Man in custody after threatening Ocean Springs officers OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- A man is in custody facing multiple charges after threatening and struggling with Ocean Springs officers. Police responded to a call of a possible domestic disturbance Wednesday at the Twin Pines Motel on U.S. 90. When they arrived, they made contact with 24-year-old Ira Ikeem-Byrhion Henry, who made threats to assault the officers. After a brief struggle, a stolen firearm was found in Henrys possession, along with illicit drugs. He was taken into custody, charged with felony possession of a stolen firearm, felony possession of a controlled substance, disorderly conduct, simple possession of marijuana and resisting arrest. He remains in the Jackson County Adult Detention Center under total bond of $27,390. These are the 12 seconds of police interview footage which reveal VIP paedophile ring fantasist Carl Beech was lying to officers about being abused as a child, body language experts claim. The experts say the video footage contains key giveaways that the fantasist made up the sick claims against a group of powerful men, including MPs and top military officers. Eventually, after police launched a 2million investigation into the false claims, officers turned the table on Beech, who was not only found to be lying, but to be hoarding child abuse images himself. In May 2019, he was jailed for 18 years for perverting the course of justice, fraud and obtaining child pornography. Now, in a new documentary set to be aired tomorrow, body language experts have analysed Beech's behaviour from recordings of him making his claims to the police. They include the shocking moment Beech claimed he had witnessed another boy be killed at the hands of his so-called abusers. In the documentary, named 'Faking It: Tears of a Crime', a panel of British experts in psychology, body language and speech analyse video footage of Beech's police interviews frame-by-frame. They then pinpoint the moments Beech let the truth slip by feigning sadness, shedding crocodile tears and with a 12-second long pause of anxiety when challenged about the credibility of his story. Police launched a 2million investigation into the false claims, officers turned the table on Beech, who was not only found to be lying, but to be hoarding child abuse images himself. Pictured: Body language expert Cliff Lansley pinpoints a cluster of behaviours that strongly indicate that Beech was faking his story all along. Reviewing the footage, one of the experts, Professor of Linguistics Dawn Archer, says: 'There's long pauses throughout, and those long pauses serve to punctuate the chunks of information he gives. 'But when you look at those chunks of information, they're somewhat mysterious,' she says. The number of pauses gives him thinking time.' As Beech's story begins to crack, she says: 'We get a 12-second pause. Now, Beech has used pauses throughout, but 12-seconds is another indicator that he's disengaged. He's not playing anymore.' Meanwhile, body language expert Cliff Lansley pinpoints a cluster of behaviours that strongly indicate that Beech was faking his story all along. He says: 'We can see a slight head shake 'no,' contradicting the claim that he was taken out of school. 'We've also got a micro-gesture from the left shoulder. 'You will see a slight raising and dropping of the shoulder which contradicts the statement 'I was just taken out of school,' a very small movement, less than a centimetre, which is suggesting that he's not connected to the words he's saying.' In another video, Beech is visibly upset, with his head down and reaching for a tissue. Looking at the footage, Cliff highlights moments in Beech's (pictured) behaviour that suggest his anxieties are beginning to surface as he continues to spin his convoluted web of lies Backing Beech as a credible source, The Met Police launched Operation Midland was launched in November 2014, aiming to bring this so-called paedophile ring to justice. Pictured: Police launched an investigation at Dolphin Square following claims made by Beech But as Cliff asserts, Beech is play acting for the officers, putting on a display of crocodile tears to dupe them into believing his wild story. 'A dry sniff, no tears, he's drawn a tissue as a prop and he's not used it. In other words, if there were tears, he'd use a tissue. 'He's trying to portray a demeanor of being sad about a lost friend, but all this is faked. This is a faked story.' In other footage, Beech is pictured with his head down and stroking his leg as he explains to officers how the group operated. Looking at the footage, Cliff highlights moments in Beech's (pictured) behaviour that suggest his anxieties are beginning to surface as he continues to spin his convoluted web of lies Looking at the footage, Cliff highlights moments in Beech's behaviour that suggest his anxieties are beginning to surface as he continues to spin his convoluted web of lies. 'Here, we see another form of manipulation, where he's grooming his leg, he's self-comforting. 'His head is down, he's feeling anxious, and the anxiety will be being driven by having no detail that is reliable that he can present to the officers to try and suggest that he's being abused.' Backing Beech as a credible source, The Met Police launched Operation Midland was launched in November 2014, aiming to bring this so-called paedophile ring to justice. In 2014, hospital inspector Carl Beech approached the Metropolitan Police claiming that, as a child, he and others were sexually abused by a group of powerful men, a so-called VIP paedophile ring of MPs and Military Officers that went to the very top of the British establishment. He even claimed to have witnessed one boy's death at the hands of this group of abusers. With Beech as their key witness, known only as 'Nick' to the media, the police launched Operation Midland, a 2million widespread investigation aiming to bring this elite group of offenders to justice. As his claims were escalated, the details of Beech's allegations became more elaborate, telling police how he witnessed the death of another boy brought in and abused by the group In 2014, hospital inspector Carl Beech (pictured left) approached the Metropolitan Police claiming that, as a child, he (pictured right in a court sketch) and others were sexually abused by a group of powerful men, a so-called VIP paedophile ring of MPs and Military Officers that went to the very top of the British establishment. But the truth was more shocking than they could have anticipated, as there was no VIP paedophile ring. Instead, Beech had fabricated the story, spinning a web of lies and revelling in the attention. As the investigation rumbled on, the police struggled to corroborate the information Beech was giving them. Eventually, the tables were turned on Beech as police started digging into his personal affairs. In a shocking twist, officers discovered images of child abuse on Beech's computer as well as disturbing pictures he had drawn. With the investigation flipped on its head, Beech was now the one facing allegations of sexual abuse. Forensic Psychologist Kerry Daynes, who will speak as part of the documentary, said: 'I think that Beech really enjoyed the attention he got but it's all got just a bit too big. 'He never could have anticipated that this would have blown up in the way that it has done.' In May 2019, Beech stood trial and was found guilty of perverting the course of justice, fraud and obtaining child pornography. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison. For Daniel Janner QC, the son of former. Labour MP Greville Janner who was one of the names put forward by Beech, the verdict put to bed years of stress for him and his family. 'When I heard about these allegations about my father, I, along with other members of the family, was so upset that it did have a physical reaction, I vomited when I heard the allegation was made,' he says in the documentary. 'I told the judge the horrendous affect that these allegations had on my family, and I was pleased to do it in the presence of the jury and Carl Beech himself. He is a manipulative plainly sad but wicked man.' Faking It: Tears of a Crime airs at 10pm on Saturdays on Quest Red. Listen: An Obituary for the Land The seed for last Fridays afternoon episode was planted one month and 18 days ago, when I received an email from the writer Terry Tempest Williams, who lives in Utah. She said that she enjoyed a podcast that I had made, and her email ended: It is brutally hot here You can burn grasses with your stare. I have taken to Night Walking. Listless and lonely in our pandemic bubbles, we decided to embark on a personal project together. From our separate locations, we agreed to go on a night walk every night for 16 nights in a row, from the new moon until the full moon. After the walk, we would write each other a letter, record ourselves reading it and send it. Each morning I woke up to a new letter a gift. Terry told me about her cats (Issa and Basho), the opening of a datura flower and an ant carrying a blossom. For me, the night walks were about establishing a relationship to the natural world, and a capacity to observe it, as an adult. After the project ended, we didnt speak for a couple of weeks and I flew to Los Angeles to visit friends. When I got here, the fires began. I stopped exercising, and a few days later I woke up in a panic, wondering: What were we actually losing in the fires? What would grow back and what wouldnt? What is this anxiety I feel, and do others feel it too? BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: Some 3,100 hectares of land were sown with tobacco in Azerbaijan in 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture told Trend. According to the ministry, 6,000 tons of tobacco were produced in the country last year. Although from January through August 2020, a volume of tobacco production amounted to 3,800 tons, the harvesting of tobacco continues. In 2019, the tobacco yield reached 19.3 centners per hectare. Last year, the product's yield level increased by 1.6 percent compared to 2018. All tobacco produced in Azerbaijan is exported. In 2019, 6,400 tons of tobacco were sold abroad at the price of $13.4 million, which is 53.5 percent more than the previous year. Russia is the main export market for Azerbaijani tobacco. Tony Spell refuses to wear mask in courthouse, skips hearing for gathering ban violation Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Louisiana Pentecostal Pastor Tony Spell, who was charged for violating state orders by holding in-person worship services during the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, was prevented from entering a courthouse Tuesday because he refused to wear a mask. Spell, the pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, appeared at the 19th Judicial District Courthouse as he faced six misdemeanor charges for violating Gov. John Bel Edwards social distancing orders banning worship gatherings of more than 10 people by holding services attended by hundreds over the spring. The pastor told reporters outside the courthouse that he missed the hearing because he refused to comply with the requirements to wear a face mask in the courthouse. Through his lawyer, Spell pleaded not guilty to the charges as he was not required to appear in court. A hearing for the case has been set for January 2021. Outside the courthouse, Spell gathered with unmasked supporters. I was refused entry into the courthouse because I refuse to put a mask on, Spell said, according to WVLA. Take a look at our church, we are healthy, we are strong, we are unmasked, we are not social distancing and we are not complying. The Advocate reports that Spell also said that the court fight is over religious and civil liberties. "What is at stake? We lose our right to assemble, he said, according to Louisianas largest daily newspaper. In the spring, Spell was one of the first pastors to gain national notoriety for continuing to hold in-person worship services in defiance of Edwards order to shut down in an attempt to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. In Louisiana, there have been over 160,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 5,400 coronavirus-related deaths among a population of more than 4.64 million residents, according to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine. An elderly member of Life Tabernacle died after contracting coronavirus in April, according to a coroners report. But Spell shot down the report as a lie. Spell has faced much scrutiny for his defiance of health orders and other behaviors. In addition to the misdemeanor charges, Spell was arrested earlier this year and charged with aggravated assault after he allegedly backed up a church bus toward a man protesting his churchs defiance of the governors orders. The pastor has previously claimed that he simply approached a man who had verbally assaulted my wife and little girls and argued he was being persecuted for the faith. While the church bus matter remains pending, Spell had been ordered to remain at home as a condition for his bail. However, Spell broke house arrest by continuing to hold in-person church services. According to The Advocate, Spell was charged with two counts of being a fugitive from justice because he violated his house arrest. No future court date has been set in that matter. In May, Spell sued local and state officials. He has maintained that the states worship restrictions violated the First Amendment rights of his congregation. However, a federal judge refused his request to halt the governors stay-at-home order. In a video statement to his congregation on Sept. 3, Spell announced that he was served a day earlier with the six arraignment notices. He did not express regret over his defiance of the order. I only regret that I dont have more of these since we have 33 of these to go, meaning that is how many times we broke the governors emergency orders, Spell explained, adding that he plans to frame the court notices and add them to the collection in his trophy case of other legal and criminal documents. Spell said he had great attorneys who sit around all day praying about ways to sue these other attorneys who have charged me. He ended the video by encouraging followers to keep those masks off of your smiling faces. Dont let anybody intimidate you, bully you and make you feel less than who you are, he said. You are peculiar, royal, chosen and holy. A number of Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in schools in the Dundalk area. Stock image There have been a number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in schools in Dundalk over the past week. The principal of one of these schools, Tomas Sharkey of Colaiste Chu Chulainn confirmed on Friday that a student at the post-primary school had tested positive. 'On Monday 14th September HSE advised us of a positive test relevant to our student body.' He explained: 'We hold electronic seating and attendance record for every lesson and immediately had details of any potential contacts forwarded to the HSE. The HSE arranged tests swiftly and the results were returned directly to families.' He said that the school wants to pay tribute to the professional conduct of staff and the HSE as well as continued diligence of students and their families. "Our routines and procedures have already been proven in keeping students safe and well.' Since then, parents were notified that another student had tested positive. According to the Facebook priate group 'Alerting Parents of Outbreaks in Schools', there have been confirmed COVID-19 cases in a number of primary and post-primary schools and one pre-school in Dundalk. One primary school had two confirmed cases. The HSE has stated that nationally there are now 142 positive cases associated with school settings. Mass testing has detected an additional 43 cases of COVID-19 from a total of 2,400 students and teachers at 99 schools. Teaching unions are concerned about the situation and about delays in testing. The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) has called for tests to be arranged for students and staff on the day they first experience possible coronavirus symptoms. It is also demanding that results be provided within 24 hours to minimise absence rates. 'We are hearing that, in too many cases, teachers and other school staff are waiting days for both,' said Michael Gillespie, TUI general secretary. The Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) is to ballot its members in relation to a number of key issues which have emerged since schools re-opened. Its members have voiced serious concerns about the health and safety of school communities, highlighting a number of issues including: physical distancing in schools; provision of PPE; the definition of close contacts; comprehensive testing and testing turnaround times; provisions for high risk teachers; IT resources for students and teachers to facilitate remote teaching/ learning. 'The fact that high risk teachers have been asked to work in crowded classroom is unacceptable to us as a trade union,' ASTI President Ann Piggott said. 'The safety of students and their teachers must be the priority.' Ms Piggott said teachers are reporting that new work practices are being implemented without any consultation with school staff. 'It is unthinkable that at a time when teachers have demonstrated tremendous commitment to their students and to keeping education going, that schools would introduce work changes which have a further negative impact on teachers' working lives. This smacks of crisis opportunism and cannot go unchallenged.' The ASTI ballot will also cover the difficulties faced by returning teachers who are being forced to work precarious contracts and those enduring unequal pay. NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 25, 2020 / Strattner Financial Group also known as Strattners (OTC PINK:SCNG) announces that its UK based subsidiary Strattner Capital Management Ltd. will be launching a London presence under the regulatory hosting platform of Vantage Ventures. The London launch and associated planned FCA registration under Vantage Ventures will enable Strattner Capital Management to offer bespoke corporate finance advisory, advice and arranging services catered to the needs of professional and sophisticated clients that invest in stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds and funds. Strattner Capital Management will also provide a full-service advisory service to select clientele based in UK and Europe with exposure to liquid and illiquid alternative assets classes such as credit and the increasing convertibles market including convertible debt, bonds and notes. Chief Executive Officer Timo Strattner says: "When we speak to potential clients and fund managers, we recognize their requirements when it comes to convertibles and other alternative asset classes, especially unrated convertible bonds, debt and notes - which are often overlooked by discount and prime brokers due to the complexity of some of these transactions. Our specialist team has the expertise needed and we are excited to offer value added services in this space and working with our UK, European and global partners" Managing Director of Vantage Ventures, Noah Jamal commented "Despite the Brexit uncertainty and the inherent challenges of COVID; it is a real pleasure to be working with Timo and the Strattner team. The value of Strattners having a London presence and the deal flow that goes with it will undoubtedly be welcomed, particularly at of uncertainty where investors prefer liquidity". About Strattners Strattner Group Corp. also known as Strattners is a publicly traded small-cap conglomerate and parent company of the Strattner portfolio of brands and subsidiaries. About Vantage Ventures Headquartered on London, UK - Vantage Ventures, together with Vantage Point Capital are a specialist FCA regulatory hosting and AIFM platform working with clients globally in creating a UK regulated presence ranging from Corporate Finance Advisory, Private Equity and AIFM fund hosting services. IR Contact: Strattner Financial Group investor.Relations@strattners.com press@strattners.com +1 (917) 210-1062 Forward Looking Statements This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, to be materially different from the statements made herein. SOURCE: Strattner Financial Group View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/607800/Strattner-Capital-Management-Ltd-Signs-Agreement-with-UK-Based-FCA-Regulatory-Hosting-Provider-Vantage-Ventures-to-Launch-Full-Service-Brokerage-Business DALLAS A major provider of software services for governments and schools across the United States, Tyler Technologies, told customers Wednesday that an unknown intruder broke into its phone and information technology systems. It could not immediately be determined whether ransomware may have been involved. The Plano, Texas-based company, whose website was offline, said in an email to customers that it discovered the breach Wednesday morning, contacted law enforcement and enlisted outside cybersecurity help. Tyler software provides service to state and local governments for everything from jail and court management systems to taxing, bill collection and land records. The publicly traded company said in a June earnings report that it had 26,000 installations with local, state and federal government entities in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia and other international locations. Tyler did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails Wednesday. On Twitter, it said a network issue was affecting its phones and web site and that its working to resolve as quickly as possible. The companys website homepage said it was temporarily unavailable but provided no additional information. At this time and based on the evidence available to us to-date, all indications are that the impact of this incident is limited to our internal network and phone systems, said the email sent to customers and obtained by The Associated Press. We currently have no reason to believe that any client data, client servers or hosted systems are affected. An FBI spokeswoman in Dallas could not immediately say whether the agency is involved in any way. The Texas Department of Information Resources did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tylers customers include Des Moines, Hartford and St. Louis, County, according to a 2019 copy of its website on the Internet Archive. The archived website said its company software is the perfect fit for everything from small towns to counties serving more than 2 million people. A cybersecurity expert assisting municipalities that are customers of Tylers Munis software suite, Mike Hamilton of CI Security, said he was particularly concerned that hackers may have obtained access to the passwords of customers stored on its network and could penetrate their systems. Hamilton, a former Seattle chief information security officer, said Tyler should be notifying customers to immediately reset all their passwords as a precaution. Its completely possible that bad guys have been in there for a good amount of time, he said. Munis manages core business functions for government agencies and schools, from payroll to human resources and revenue management. In ransomware attacks, criminals are increasingly breaking into company and government networks and siphoning out data before scrambling them with encrypted programs and demanding payouts. They threaten to make the stolen data public if the victim doesnt pay up. Texas has seen a series of these attacks over the last two years. The victims have included parts of the state court system and the state transportation department this year, and more than 20 local governments last summer. Brett Callow, an analyst with the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, said Tyler may have been breached with the same ransomware that attacked the Texas Department of Transportation, based on an encrypted file uploaded to the Google-owned malware identification service VirusTotal in June that included `tylertech in the file name. Data breaches often are not discovered until months after the fact. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. New Brexit border infrastructure at Northern Irish ports has been placed on status red because it will not be ready for the 31 December deadline when the UKs transition out of the EU ends. The checking facilities for goods arriving from Great Britain is required under the terms of the withdrawal agreement reached by Boris Johnson with the EU last year, which effectively created a border down the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the British mainland. But the civil servant in charge of implementing the project told the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont that delays in procurement, planning and IT meant that not everything will be in place in time. Border staff will be forced to use old buildings and a paper-based checking system in order to meet the additional regulatory checks required from 1 January under the withdrawal agreement, said Denis McMahon, the permanent secretary of Northern Irelands Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). Mr McMahon warned that the average supermarket lorry coming from the British mainland will require 400 separate certifications to enter Northern Ireland. Unless the EU/UK Joint Committee, which meets in Brussels next week, reaches an agreement to minimise checks, we will not be able to deliver the level of frictionless trade that we have today, he told the Assemblys scrutiny committee. Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Nigel Farage has spent his political career campaigning for the UK to leave the EU. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Boris Johnson's support for Brexit took many by surprise before the EU referendum. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises The UK and EU are yet to agree on a withdrawal deal. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises This was taken from a 2012 speech delivered by Mr Davis. He does not currently support a second Brexit referendum. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Boris Johnson now supports a hard Brexit and resigned from the cabinet in 2018 over Theresa May's strategy. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises The US recently issued trade negotiation objectives for future talks with the UK. The country made clear that it expects access to the UK's agriculture industry, reviving the debate about chlorinated chicken. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Nigel Farage does not support the current campaign for a second Brexit referendum. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Despite this quote, in February 2019 Boris Johnson said a no deal Brexit "may yet be the best option for the UK". Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises The UK and EU are yet to begin negotiating a deal regarding their future relationship. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Theresa May announced that the UK would be leaving the Single Market in her Lancaster House speech in January 2017. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Theresa May triggered Article 50 on 29 March 2017. Her withdrawal deal is yet to be passed. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises A classic from the 2015 general election campaign. David Cameron resigned on 24 June 2016, following the EU referendum result. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises David Davis resigned from his post as Brexit secretary in July 2018 after disagreeing with Theresa May's negotiation strategy. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Michael Gove was one of the most influential Leave voices during the EU referendum campaign. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Jacob Rees-Mogg, a prominent backbencher, does not support a second Brexit referendum. He has called the use of this quote "fundamentally dishonest" as it was taken from a 2011 speech discussing the option of referendum before David Cameron entered negotiations with the EU. Such a vote was never held. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Mr McMahon said he and his colleagues had been left in an impossible position as they worked on a project that was openly opposed by DUP agriculture minister Edwin Poots. He told the committee: My message to you today is, despite monumental efforts by the team, not everything will be place by the 1st of January 2021. DAERA was legally obliged to introduce the new SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) checking facilities and would be acting unlawfully if they did not proceed with the work, said Mr McMahon. We are caught in an impossible position and the impossible position were caught in is that we do work to ministers, he said. I absolutely believe in the democratic principle of working to ministers, its not just something I do as a day job, I absolutely believe in that, he said. However, I am also absolutely required to comply with the law and what we found is because we have been put in an impossible situation as a result of the wider politics around this we find ourselves having to navigate our way through this process. It may not look pretty but we have been very open and very honest about where weve been. Mr McMahon said lack of clarity on what checks were required, due to the ongoing absence of agreement between the EU and UK on the issue, was severely hampering their efforts. He told committee members the project had now been given a red status, meaning it could not be delivered as planned within deadline. On Thursday, Mr McMahon said officials did not know what size of facilities were needed, as the level of checking requirements had not been agreed by the joint EU/UK Joint Committee on the operation of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Under the protocol, which is contained in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, Northern Ireland will remain in the EU Single Market for goods when the transition period ends. That will required additional regulatory checks for animal-based food products entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain. Mr McMahon said it was crucial that the committee was able to agree to minimise the checks required. He said if there was no agreement on minimisation the average supermarket lorry coming from Great Britain would require 400 separate certifications to enter Northern Ireland. In that context we can implement what we like but without help from the UK and the EU to simplify the processes involved we will not be able to deliver the level of frictionless trade we have today, he added. In response to Mr McMahons comments, a Downing Street spokesman said: We have been clear that we continue to work with the EU in terms of the Joint Committee and the next meeting of that is in Brussels next week, when the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Michael Gove) will represent the UK. We will continue to work with stakeholders and others and work through the Joint Committee. We are working closely with businesses to ensure that everyone is ready for the end of the transition period. Karen Brinson Bell, left, attends her first meeting as executive director of the State Board of Elections in June 2019. | Photo: Carolina Journal Extend the deadline for local election boards to receive mailed absentee ballots. Allow an absentee ballot to be counted if it's either a) received by the county board by 5 p.m. on election day, Nov. 3; or b) the ballot is postmarked on or before election day and received by nine days after the election. Direct the state election board to create a process to resolve errors on absentee ballots that could be fixed with an affidavit from the voter. Examples include a mailed absentee ballot lacking a voter signature or a witness signature. The affidavit must be returned by no later than 5 p.m. Nov. 12, the day before counties canvass. Allow people who return ballots in person to verbally give information to election workers instead of writing in a log. Create a process for establishing a separate absentee ballot drop-off station at each one-stop early voting location and at the county board offices. This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal . The author of this post is Lindsay Marchello A settlement in an election lawsuit strips absentee ballot protections, opening the door for election fraud, one election expert says.Parties in the North Carolina Alliance of Retired Americans v. North Carolina State Board of Elections filed a joint motion calling on a judge to approve a settlement in the case. The lawsuit, led by Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias, challenged a series of changes lawmakers made to the absentee ballot process in June.But the settlement included only Democrats and the Democrat-majority elections board, shutting out the Republican-led General Assembly, which crafted the bipartisan elections law.The election is underway. Thousands of absentee ballots have already been mailed.The settlement changes the game after it has begun, said Andy Jackson, election policy analyst at Civitas Institute , a conservative public policy organization.Here's what the settlement would do:The settlement functionally does away with the witness requirement, Jackson said, opening the door for election fraud.Getting rid of the witness requirement was on N.C. Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell's wishlist.In March, Bell sent a list of legislative requests to the General Assembly, which included reducing or removing the witness requirement to absentee ballots. The General Assembly agreed to some of the requests, wrapping them up in House Bill 1169 , but ultimately failed to remove the witness requirement.Under H.B. 1169, only one witness instead of two needs to attest to a voter's identity. Additionally, the law gives more time for county election boards to approve absentee ballot applications. It requires a barcode on those applications to track the ballot.In August, the N.C. Alliance of Retired Americans sued over the changes to the absentee ballot procedures. The lawsuit called for changes to election law much like those Bell sought earlier this year.In a closed-door meeting last week, the state elections board voted to allow Bell and her staff to negotiate settlements in election lawsuits. The vote was unanimous, with the board's two Republican members joining the three-Democrat majority. At least eight other election lawsuits are pending.Prepare to see more settlement shake-ups in the next few weeks, Jackson said.Republican leaders are livid.Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and Speaker of the House Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, are intervenor-defendants in the lawsuit, but they said they weren't consulted in the settlement negotiations.This settlement is a full-frontal assault on election integrity, Berger says in a news release Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, the House elections committee chair, accused the State Board of Elections of colluding with Elias to "wildly change election law in North Carolina."Hall said in a news release.A judge still needs to sign off on the agreement. Judge Bryan Collins, who referred to the Republican-led General Assembly as "usurpers" in a lawsuit challenging voter-approved constitutional amendments, is tasked with reviewing the motion.The court has set an Oct. 2 hearing date, WRAL reported.The General Assembly is considering next steps, Moore says in a news release. Flying Cement appoints new director 25 September 2020 Pakistans Flying Cement Co has announced the resignation of Waqar Zahid, a director of the company, effective from 10 September 2020. Following Mr Zahids departure, the company has appointed Muhammad Mubeen Khan as a new director. Published under LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Andre Calantzopoulos, CEO of Philip Morris International (PMI) (NYSE: PM), today delivered high-level remarks at the 2020 Concordia Annual Summit. Calantzopoulos discussed the impact that uncertainty, polarization, hyperpartisanship, and ideology are having on international efforts to overcome pressing global issues. He called for science to be protected from politicization and highlighted the importance of developing open dialogues based on factual scientific objectivity. Calantzopoulos shared PMIs belief that with the right regulatory encouragement and support from civil society, cigarette sales can end within 10 to 15 years in many countries. The Concordia Annual Summit, which coincides with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, convenes the worlds most prominent business, government, and nonprofit leaders to foster dialogue and enable effective partnerships for positive social impact. Excerpts of the remarks by Andre Calantzopoulos follow: Reflecting on the state of our world today and the challenges ahead, four words come to mind: Uncertainty. Polarization. Hyperpartisanship. Ideology. These words are not new, but with the COVID crisis, they have gained prominence, moving beyond traditionally contentious sectors such as ours and into the mainstream. The lockdowns that sent us into our homes earlier this year, the continued uncertainty we all feel, and the immense socioeconomic pressure caused by the pandemic have increased tensions and reinforced the polarization of both private views and the public discourse. And while these past months have revealed how much can be accomplished when people work together, the tendency of individuals to put their self-centered impulses ahead of community wellness remains on display. Divisivenessa binary choosing of sidesnot only hinders progress but threatens to thwart it. Maybe there is no silver-bullet solutionbut to focus on respect for and adherence to facts, dialogue, inclusion, and science could help immensely. It is not enough, however, to simply say follow the facts and the science and expect progress to unfold. COVID-19 is just the latest example that proves a tragic truth: Science can be, and is being, weaponized to suit narrow agendas. Science and facts are being held hostageand distortedby politics, and people are suffering as a result. As a society, we are experiencing a confluence of global existential threats. These threats require collective, multilateral discussions and cooperationand that can only be achieved through a commitment to open dialogue. Absent a commitment to factual scientific objectivityfree of agenda-driven politicswe risk the very real and terrifying prospect of vaccine nationalism, an inability to tackle climate change at scale, and a narrowed chance of delivering solutions that create a fairer and more equitable world. In a global world, in a global economic and human system, whether we like it or not, there is no solution in isolation. Individual governments or companies alone cannot bring the necessary change. If we want to make the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals a reality, if we want to protect our populations from the pandemic, including implementing a viable vaccine, we must work together. And most important, we must involve the 7.8 billion people on this planet. How do we do this? We tell them what the real problems areoffering the full facts; we propose solutions they can adopt or adapt; and we incentivize them to act in accordance with this new knowledge. We wont succeed by keeping them in the dark, by confusing them, or by misleading them. Being at the helm of the largest multinational tobacco company as it transforms to deliver a smoke-free future, I experience firsthand how detrimental polarization is to making real progressin this case, progress in eradicating smoking. And, as a reminder, this concerns more than 1 billion men and women who smoke around the world. Today, science-based, innovative products that do not involve combustion offer a better alternative for those men and women who would otherwise continue to smoke. To be clear: These products are not risk-free. And the best choice is never to start smoking or to quit tobacco and nicotine altogether. But for those adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, scientifically validated smoke-free products are a much better choice than cigarettes. A future in which cigarettes are obsolete is within reach. In fact, with the right regulatory encouragement and support from civil society, we believe cigarette sales can end within 10 to 15 years in many countries. Yes, thats right: an end to cigarettes within 10 to 15 years in many countries. Unfortunately, political agendas and ideology are slowing progress and keeping millions of people uninformed. Rather than holding an evidence-based conversation on how best to regulate these innovative products to help adult smokers leave cigarettes behind, we are often faced with an ideologically driven resistance from some public health organizations and some NGOs. These organizations allow disinformation to appear as legitimate science. They put dogma before data, and they expend more energy on attacking a company than on helping the human beings who should be at the center of the debate. Poorly executed scientific studies, skewed results shaped by bias, and misleading media headlines are now the norm. What is the result? Many adults who smoke are confused about these better alternatives and so continue to use cigarettesthe most harmful way of consuming nicotine. This is inexcusable. We must ask: Who will take responsibility for denying these adults access to and accurate information about science-backed innovations? Who will be held responsible for the real-world consequences of dogmatic thinking? The issues created by uncertainty, polarization, hyperpartisanship, and ideology are not unique to the tobacco sector. From climate change to food security, we need fact-based conversations and a collaborative, multinational, multi-stakeholder approach to deliver real change. The public has a right to decision-making and information based in science. We cannot allow politically driven, well-funded individuals to prevent the worlds citizens from learning about and accessing smart solutions. Whether we are talking about vaccines, carbon emissions, or tobacco harm reduction, we need science, not rhetoric, to inform policies and regulations. Science unites. It has the power to open borders and minds and bring progress. It can propel innovation. For Philip Morris International, science has changed our company and is transforming our industry. I am proud to come before you today to say that, already, more than 11.2 million people have switched to our main smoke-free product and stopped smoking. Many more have switched to other smoke-free alternatives that are better than continued smoking. This is a profound public health achievement. Governments across the worldin Greece, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and beyondare beginning to validate the role better alternatives to continued smoking can play. Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized our electronically heated tobacco system, IQOS, as a modified risk tobacco product. In doing so, the agency found that an exposure modification order is appropriate to promote the public health. But a smoke-free future is not yet guaranteed. Ridding the world of cigarettes will require adherence to science, objectivity, collaboration, and a commitment to accelerate information to the people most directly concerned. Many years ago, our industry was challenged to create a better alternative to cigarettes. PMI answered that call. We have transformed our entire company to devise and produce scientifically substantiated better products with the aim of delivering a smoke-free future. Science, data, and fact have led us here. People who smoke are responding to our efforts. With the right regulations and related information, they could switch out of cigarettes much faster. Lets put these peoplenot politicsat the center of policymaking. Science secures progress. It secures solutions. It brings hope at a time when global challenges are so great they threaten to overwhelm. We should not allow science to be politicized and polarized. Philip Morris International: Delivering a Smoke-Free Future Philip Morris International (PMI) is leading a transformation in the tobacco industry to create a smoke-free future and ultimately replace cigarettes with smoke-free products to the benefit of adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, society, the company, and its shareholders. PMI is a leading international tobacco company engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, as well as smoke-free products and associated electronic devices and accessories, and other nicotine-containing products in markets outside the United States. In addition, PMI ships a version of its IQOS Platform 1 device and its consumables authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to Altria Group, Inc. for sale in the U.S. under license. PMI is building a future on a new category of smoke-free products that, while not risk-free, are a much better choice than continuing to smoke. Through multidisciplinary capabilities in product development, state-of-the-art facilities, and scientific substantiation, PMI aims to ensure that its smoke-free products meet adult consumer preferences and rigorous regulatory requirements. PMIs smoke-free IQOS product portfolio includes heat-not-burn and nicotine-containing vapor products. As of June 30, 2020, PMI estimates that approximately 11.2 million adult smokers around the world have already stopped smoking and switched to PMIs heat-not-burn product, available for sale in 57 markets in key cities or nationwide under the IQOS brand. For more information, please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com. # # # View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200924005853/en/ CONTACT: Philip Morris International David Fraser T. +41 (0)79 843 8603 E. david.fraser@pmi.com KEY HIGHLIGHTS 504 workers injured in automobile cluster around Delhi that produces nearly 40% of cars and two-wheelers in India 70% of the workers suffered irreparable damage losing either hands or fingers. Just one machine-power press accounts for 59% of them For a 4-year period, numbers swell to 1,873 injured. No such data collated in other clusters in Pune and Chennai so the overall numbers for the industry are likely to be much higher 95% of the injured worked in supply chain of the three big companies in the region- Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotorCorp and Honda If you are a car or a two-wheeler user in India, there are high chances somebody lost a limb while that vehicle was being made. In what exposes the soft underbelly of one of world's largest automobile markets, a study done by not for profit organisation Safe in India (SII) says 504 workers suffered injuries with 70 percent of them losing either a limb or fingers in the last one year alone in the Gurgaon-Faridabad automotive cluster. The report, now in its second year, follows up on last year's edition which had said 1,369 workers had suffered injuries in a three year time span in the same cluster. At least 61 percent of these injuries were irreparable in nature. Together with the 2019-20 figure, the tally has swelled to 1,873 over four years. Cumulatively, the report says 2,400 workers suffered injuries including those from other industries. In 2019-20, the overall number was 587. As is evident, the automobile sector accounted for the bulk of them. On an annual basis, the number of accidents saw a drop from 451 in 2018-19 to 385 in 2019-20 but SII says the numbers are likely to inflate by at least 16 percent due to a lag in reportage-some accidents from previous fiscals are reported only in the next fiscal. Automobile sales in the country in 2019-20 had also registered a historic 18 percent decline which may have also contributed to fewer casualties. "We have still only scratched the surface and have not even covered all the factories in this cluster itself. It is a much bigger issue and because the mishaps happen mostly in tier II and III suppliers that are far away from the spotlight, it is easy to stay hidden," says Sandeep Sachdeva, co founder and CEO, Safe in India foundation. "We have not covered other clusters in Pune or Chennai but the structure of the industry, the processes and machines being used are just the same. So the situation there maybe equally bad if not worse." At a short duration pilot done by the organisation in another part of Faridabad that it has not extensively covered otherwise, underscores that. SII ended up assisting 9 workers a day on an average. But numbers are only one part of the story. The other part, perhaps the more important one, is of the individual tragedies. Thirty-seven year old Neetu Devi for example met with three separate accidents working on a power press machine in 2013, 2017 and 2019 losing one finger each time. Weighed down by the duty to feed her three children, she still works on the same machine not oblivious to the fact that it may yet cause her more damage in future. Her husband is an unemployed drunkard. Her lack of options is palpable. "I wish the companies would do something about these machines and help us more when the accidents occur," she says. A vast majority of the workers are young migrants-the same heterogenous bunch that grabbed headlines and air waves in peak summer this year when the lockdown forced them to take to the roads to meander back to their towns and villages. In May, twenty-two year old Shyam Dev Pandit too began a similar journey from Manesar to Jamui Vihar village in Bihar with his friends and just Rs 425 in the pocket. A daily wager, the lockdown meant all opportunities for employment had dried up but his journey proved futile. He was caught mid way by the cops and turned away. When he got back, he initially felt lucky to land a permanent job at an automobile parts factory that had just opened up. That is where he met his dreaded power press machine and the accident followed soon enough. Pandit lost his middle and index fingers of his left hand. Back in his village, his son was born during the lockdown but he has not been able to visit him yet. "I am just desperate now to somehow go home and organise just about enough money to set up a bangle shop there," he says. Any note of cheer in his voice is misleading. The power press machine which is used to punch, bend or shear a metal piece is a real villain in these stories accounting for 59 percent of the injuries. Omnipresent in component factories -- big and small, across the sector, it is a necessary evil. More sophisticated and safer machines are available but they are expensive and would eat into the not so modest profitability of these small companies. It is something they cannot afford. Human life or that of a finger is far cheaper. "The frustrating part is it is actually not that difficult to fix. 88 percent of the power press machines either do not have safety sensors or are malfunctioning. We believe, if only that bit is corrected it will lead to much less mishaps," Sachdeva says. A vast majority of the accidents happened in factories that supply to the three big manufacturers in the region-Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India. Yet the companies are typically bothered only in keeping their own factory shop floor squeaky clean turning a blind eye towards what happens in the factories that supply them with the nuts and bolts. "The companies have begun to interact with us and seem earnest but a lot needs to be done. This is not a priority area for them but they can really push their suppliers. If a Maruti says it will not conduct business with any company that does not give safety of its workers the due importance, the supplier will be bound to reform itself and it will trickle down to the lowest level-the tier III," Sachdeva adds. Industry bodies blame the unorganised nature of the industry where companies become more granular and harder to monitor beyond the tier I supplier base. They also blame the profit motive aspect of business. When there is money to be made, corners need to be cut and safety compromised. "There is no denying lot more should be done from the industry as well as the government in terms of regulations. There are about 800 companies that are members of ACMA but the real number of factories would be in thousands. They are so small, there is no track of them and that is where these accidents happen," says Vinnie Mehta, secretary general, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA). "We will do whatever it takes and reports like these help. It will serve as an annual scorecard for us on how far we have come and how much further we have to go. It will be a long journey no doubt but we must undertake it." Mutilated bodies and damaged nerves represent the dark side of the $120 billion industry that accounts for 7 percent of country's GDP and nearly half of its manufacturing. Ever proud of its achievements-India is tipped to become the third largest automobile producer in the world by the turn of this decade, dirty secrets like these are forever brushed under the carpet. Next time when you grab that handle of the motorcycle or grip the steering wheel of the car, imagine how you would do it if a few fingers go missing. As the nation mourned the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg this week, many tributes turned their focus to what her legacy will ultimately mean for women and the country. That legacy is no doubt far-reaching, considering Ginsburgs scholarly and judicial influence on rulings seeking equal protection under the law for all genders. Many of those decisions (and often, her dissents) centered on equal treatment for women, notably in education and workplace. From her Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company arguments to the landmark United States v. Virginia case, Justice Ginsburg sought to level the playing field, famously saying, I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks. Ginsburgs own challenges with gender discrimination in school and at work play a role in the origin story of the woman who became known as the Notorious RBG. And while she wasnt a business owner herself, she approached her lifes work with an entrepreneurial spirit that speaks to how we frame the idea of modern work. As entrepreneurs, we know that tenacity, dedication, and grit are components of our DNA, as is the ability to create community and build a brand. Heres a look at how RBGs path to the Supreme Court was an entrepreneurial journey. Related: 5 Lessons From Late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Tenacity Quitting wasnt something Ginsburg did. Having entered Harvard Law School in 1959 as one of only nine women in her class, the Brooklyn native pulled triple duty as a student and parent while also attending her husband Martys classes during his first bout with cancer. Rarely logging more than three hours of sleep a night, Ginsburg excelled in her studies while making sure Marty didnt fall behind in his. After graduating at the top of her class at Columbia, where she transferred when Marty got a job in New York, she still had a hard time finding work as a woman, but she persisted and landed a clerkship with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and later served as a law professor at Rutgers and Columbia, where she was the first woman granted tenure. Dedication Ginsburg went all in for women from the start of her career when she founded the Womens Rights Law Reporter in 1970, one of the first journals to focus on the issues of womens rights. Two years later, she co-founded the Womens Rights Project at the ACLU and ultimately won five out of the six gender-discrimination cases she argued in front of the Supreme Court, where she would later sit from 1993 until her death. Grit When we think about grit as it pertains to entrepreneurship, we often equate it with a never-give-up attitude or the ability to persevere against all odds. Ginsburgs personal history obviously points to this quality; her bona fides in the grit department speak for themselves. (If attending law school for two while parenting doesnt give you grit, I dont know what does.) But her true grit can also be found in her own words, most notably in the language of her famous dissents written while serving on the Supreme Court. Known as a meticulous researcher and writer, Ginsburgs opinions were crafted in a way that laid out a case for thoughtful yet unapologetic dissent and speaking against majority rule. In other words, she wasnt afraid to dig in and lay out firm evidence to support her stance on complex issues even when she was outnumbered. Community Entrepreneurs foster a sense of community. Businesses succeed not just because of hard work, but because of community engagement. Though she lived and worked in the often-divisive culture of Washington, Ginsburg found her community there in a most unlikely way as a patron of the arts, most notably opera. She approached her love of opera as she did her work as a student and careful researcher. In turn, the opera community loved her back, even inviting her to appear on stage as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in Donizettis La Fille du Regiment at the Washington National Opera in 2016. Brand When an entrepreneurs brand really takes off, it can rocket a business into everyday language and conversations. Often, that brand sticks in the vernacular as a shorthand reference, which is the case with Ginsburgs now-famous moniker, the Notorious RBG. Coined by law student Shana Knizhnik in her Notorious RBG Tumblr, the name bestowed Ginsburg with badass status in response to her increasingly strong dissents in the Court as the only woman sitting on the bench after Sandra Day OConners retirement in 2005. The good-humored Justice, though small in stature and a stalwart of procedure and etiquette, leaned into her newly found rock-star status with grace and humor. While Ginsburg may be gone, her brand lives on in the zeitgeist. Related: How Entrepreneurs Can Spot Subtle Bias Ginsburgs uniquely entrepreneurial journey is reflective of the collective experience of many women who are on a similar road: managing families and work, pivoting when necessary, persisting to find that yes in the face of rejection and building a community in a time when connection is sorely needed. May we all be so notorious. Related: TikTok's Fate is Uncertain. Use These 3 Trends to Own Your Audiences LinkedIn Is the Latest Social Network to Give Stories a Try These Are the Hottest 25 Cannabis Brands This Week (ending September 23, 2020) Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved An adopted son who tracked his birth mother down only to discover she had been murdered has shared his incredible story. Perth teacher Matthieu Heimel, 41, was originally born in the Phillipines and his two sons inspired him to begin looking for his birth parents in 2018. Mr Heimel connected with his biological father through a DNA search and began to contact family members in the Philippines via Facebook. But the 41-year-old soon discovered his mother Nenita Evans had moved to Melbourne in 1985 and vanished, Yahoo News reported. Perth teacher Matthieu Heimel embarked on a search to find his birth parents in 2018 and discovered his mother Nenita Evans (pictured) was murdered after she moved to Melbourne Ms Evans married a man named Greg Evans, who she had met in Manila, and got a job as a housekeeper at the Melbourne Club, a popular gentlemen's club. She worked for a man named Vicenzo Leonardi, who continued to promote Ms Evans, and would drive her home. There were rumours Mr Leonardi and Ms Evans were having an affair, and she began attending night school to become a florist after he put her in charge of floral arrangements. Ms Evans returned to the Melbourne Club to show off her portfolio on January 8 in 1987 and was never seen again. Her husband Greg Evans was initially a prime suspect in Ms Evans' murder case but Victoria Police never solved the mystery. As Mr Heimel continued to search for answers he uncovered more disturbing facts that could link to his mother's disappearance. Another woman named Milagros Dark was found murdered in 1990 and she also used to work at the Melbourne Club and drive home with Mr Leonardi. Mr Heimel then found a third woman, Anna Maria Pontarollo, who was linked to the Melbourne Club boss and vanished in 1954. Mr Heimel (pictured) discovered his mother worked as a housekeeper at the Melbourne Club and two other employees from the gentleman's club had also vanished after Ms Evans Ms Pontarollo had been living with Mr Leonardi and the pair had two children together before Mr Leonardi's wife migrated from Italy. She disappeared soon after and Mr Leonardi told the children his wife was their biological mother. Mr Leonardi attended a Coroner's Court hearing into the disappearance of Ms Evans in 1995 but did not give evidence. He died in 2009. Mr Heimel said he was continuing to seek answers but sometimes struggled with the revelations. 'I move on from one discovery to another, it's hard for me to show my emotions. 'When I started to look for my birth mother I was hoping that it wasn't too late,' he explained. Mr Heimel said finding out what happened to his mother would provide closure for his own family. 'It is a story of resilience which will inspire people by showing that while difficult times do come, they can be overcome,' he said in a Facebook post. Rome: Italian President Sergio Mattarella has rebuked Boris Johnson's claims that, unlike Italy, the UK is a freedom-loving country where it is hard to enforce anti-virus measures, as it emerged that the British Prime Minister's fiancee is holidaying on the shores of Lake Como. "We Italians also love freedom, but we also care about seriousness," Matarella said. Italy's President Sergio Mattarella. Credit:AP The Johnson's comments made in the House of Commons were poorly received by the Italian press, which said he appeared to imply that because of Italy's Fascist past and Germany's Nazi history, Italians and Germans were more used to kowtowing to authority. La Repubblica, a national daily, accused Johnson of "conceit" and said he had suggested that health measures "work better for peoples of an inferior temperament - Italians, for example". The PM had displayed "an Anglo-Saxon superiority complex", it said. Chinas insects and other invertebrates are spoilt for choice with the countrys array of deserts, rainforests, mountains and tropical coastlines. The winning photographs of the Wild China Biodiversity Photography Contest hosted by Wild China Film present the countrys sweeping lands and rare plants from unexpected perspectives. Here is a pick of the crop Jan 21, 2022 06:20 PM More than seven crore single-use gloves for voters to put on when they press the electronic voting machine button to cast their vote, over seven lakh units of hand sanitiser and about six lakh PPE kits have been arranged for the three-phase Bihar assembly polls amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said on Friday. IMAGE: Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora wears a mask at a press conference to announce the schedule for Bihar Assembly Elections 2020, in New Delhi, on Friday. Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo Announcing the schedule for Bihar polls, he said 7.2 crore single-use gloves for voters to press electronic voting machine buttons, more than seven lakh units of hand sanitiser, about 46 lakh masks, about six lakh personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, 7.6 lakh units of face shields have been arranged. Besides, 23 lakh gloves, apparently for polling and security personnel, have also been arranged. Bihar has 7.29 crore voters. In August, the Election Commission had issued broad guidelines for holding elections during the pandemic under which voters were to be provided with gloves to press EVM button and sign the register at polling stations. The EC had also said that face masks would be kept handy at polling stations for voters who turn up without wearing one. Arora said adequate quantity of soap and water would be kept at polling stations for sanitisation. A separate set of guidelines would be issued for voters who are residing in areas notified as 'containment zone', the CEC said. Thermal scanners would be placed at the entry point of every polling station. Polling or paramedical staff will conduct thermal screening of voters at the entry point of a polling station, the guidelines said. Keeping in mind distancing norms, the EC has reduced the number of voters per polling station to 1,000 instead of 1,500, resulting in an increase in the number of polling stations. While in 2015 elections, the state had 65,367 polling stations, the number now stands at 1,06,526, an increase of 62.96 per cent. According to an EC statement on Bihar polls, the average number of electors at a polling station has reduced to 684 in 2020 from 1,026 in 2015. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions "The Speaker has to abstain from active participation in all controversial topics of politics... He has not to become a partisan so as to avoid unconscious bias for or against a particular view and thus inspire confidence in all sections of the House about his integrity and impartiality." These were the remarks of GV Mavlankar, the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha, made at a conference of presiding officers in Srinagar in 1954. We do not know if Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who also officiates as Chairman, Rajya Sabha and his deputy in the House, Harivansh Narayan Singh, are acquainted with these words. Even if they are, it appears as though the spirit of the dictum has completely bypassed them. Some in the government may argue that they are not only ones to whom this applies their recent predecessors too have been accused of the same. But that noted, the events in the Upper House on September 20, especially the conduct of Harivansh, and subsequent decisions taken next day by House Chairman, Naidu, to first reject the Opposition motion expressing no-confidence in the Deputy Chairman and thereafter suspending eight Opposition members for one week have undoubtedly desecrated the shrine where Prime Minister Modi's "only holy book" was conceived and adopted. On his first visit to Parliament House after election as leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party in May 2014, Modi called the institution India's temple of democracy. If this was not enough, we witnessed the Deputy Chairmans visit to the lawns of the Parliament House complex where the suspended members sat in protest. Harivansh even carried a hamper containing tea and snacks. The result of his act was a reduction of the display of their dissent into a farce. This is the way the powers-that-be reduce an act of political protestation into a picnic. While this was coming since 2014, and has been seen in various episodes when disagreement was silenced, this was the first instance of the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman so completely abandoning the role that Mavlankar laid out for House presiding officers. But then, this is a sign of how values have altered. Harivansh after all often presides over a House that has a former Chief Justice of India as member. Not many decades ago, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, was Mohammed Hidayatullah, by virtue of being Vice President. He too had been a former Chief Justice, but accepted the position nine years after his retirement. In complete contrast, Ranjan Gogoi did not even have to wait for four months before being nominated to the Upper House. Symptoms of institutional decline Mentioning this is not a digression. These instances serve as mere symptoms of the rot that has set in within the country's institutions. What makes the handling of the Farm Bills and its aftermath worse is that the Opposition members were not even protesting in the first instance. They were merely exercising their parliamentary right to ask for division of votes in the House after the debate on the contested farm Bills and to demand that the legislations be referred to a Select Committee for further scrutiny. There are clear guidelines in the manual, Rajya Sabha at Work, first brought out in 1996, under the tutelage of V S Rama Devi, former Secretary-General of the House, which, "elaborately and comprehensively documented the procedures and practices relating to the functioning of the Rajya Sabha since its first sitting on 13 May 1952." This book specifies: "In theory the Chair judges by the loudness of the respective cries [during voice vote as was used on September 20] whether the ayes or the noes are the more in number. In practice his decision is based on his knowledge of the balance of opinion in the House." But further it notes: "If, however, the minority or any individual member challenges his decision, he directs the lobby to be cleared (for Division)." The Deputy Chairman, on basis of information available, was guided solely by the government in forming his understanding of the "balance of opinion". Furthermore, Opposition members, including the Akali Dal and Biju Janata Dal the former a coalition partner till recently and the other a frequent backer of government legislative business were categorical in demanding an electronic division of votes. The farm Bills are not routine legislations that can be forced through Parliament violating democratic processes. The laws will impact lives of India's farmers at a time when uncertainty about personal futures is at an unprecedented high due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the way it has crippled the economy. This regime has for too long publicised its narrative that the Opposition has undermined parliamentary functioning despite which the government and presiding officers succeeded in notching several records when it comes to the business transacted. But the government too must reach out to secure cooperation and for this its leaders have to stop portraying anyone disagreeing with the government agenda as an enemy of the people. Opposing government policies does not mean being anti-national or anti-people. (Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay is a Delhi-based journalist and author. His latest book is RSS: Icons Of The Indian Right. He has also written Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times (2013)) Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the authors own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH. Leadership is more than just a title and a corner office its about how you show up, demonstrate a willingness to step up, put your authentic self out there, and lean into brave action. But in order to make true change to bring the world of work to a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment, accountability has to be imprinted onto everyone. The DIAL Global Virtual Summit is support by Yahoo Finances parent company Verizon Media. The virtual conference, entitled A Call to Action & Moving the DIAL for Meaningful and Sustainable Change through Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging speaks to senior directors and C-suite executives at the largest organisations in the world to discuss how companies can foster a truly diverse and inclusive workplace. Arun Batra, partner at consultancy EY, Annie Murphy, SVP and global chief commercial officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), and Helen Webb, chief people officer at Co-op, spoke at the session entitled Rocking the Boat taking bold, brave and authentic action, hosted by Leila McKenzie Delis, founder and CEO of DIAL Global. Speaking on the panel, Batra outlined how he found a huge degree of responsibility in how to change the world for everyone else, following the path his life took. Growing up in Nottingham, England, he was the son of an immigrant family who was only one of three people of colour in his school of 800. After experiencing racism most of his life during his formative years (as the UK was seeing a rise in prominence of the National Front and extremist rightwing organisations in politics), he left school with very few qualifications. READ MORE: Black Lives Matter now is the time for organisations to prove it But he managed to get into college after taking conversion courses and ended up studying law, becoming a solicitor and then eventually ended up at EY. He says he has risen to a position where he spends his career trying to make changes for society, including being heavily involved with diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts inside and outside the organisation, including with the Parker Review. Story continues Society is moving from make, take, and waste and now we are creating metrics for broader values, he said. He said that at the heart of making change is what we can all do to drive accountability and that comes down to metrics. He outlines how weaving D&I into the fabric of organisations through metric accountability measures will make the difference. For example, making D&I efforts part of performance and annual reporting requirements, how leaders and businesses are creating broader stakeholder value, as well as how are contracts being awarded with a demonstration of diverse proficiency. It would be pretty foolish for any business to ignore the measures Ive mentioned. Talent also responds to inclusive leaders and businesses, he said. Theres often a disconnect between intention and doing the right thing, and impact impact on the ground. This [D&I] is not just an HR issue, it needs to be integrated throughout the business. Metrics and accountability is not down to HR Photo: Getty Over the last couple of years, it has become more widely pointed out that diversity, inclusion, and belonging at work is not just down to the human resources (HR) function of a business. The people who create a diverse and inclusive working environment is each and every one of us how we interact with our colleagues and how we lead a team. McKenzie Delis pointed out that it is not HRs sole responsibility its a board-wide responsibility. Its a business imperative. WBAs Murphy is a leader at the company which has about 400,000 staff worldwide. She says that it doesnt matter if youre junior or C-suite, its how you show up every day. But apart from the softer skills, she says its important that right at the heart of making change is accountability, and metrics is a vehicle for that. Performance objective is right at the heart accountability... with also continuous learning, pillars of new activity, clear governance and grounds of change, which will make sure that talk around diversity and inclusion doesnt just become a wish list and a set of aspirations. Arun Batra, partner at consultancy EY, Annie Murphy, SVP and global chief commercial officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Helen Webb, chief people officer at Co-op, spoke at the session entitled Rocking the Boat taking bold, brave and authentic action, hosted by Leila McKenzie Delis, founder and CEO of DIAL Global. Photo: Yahoo Finance/DIAL For example, over the last few months, WBA launched its own racial equality action board and put in place activities and assessment of how they also show up to consumers and hold each other to account. Co-ops Webb agrees that metrics is essential to making sure D&I efforts does not just fall into all talk and no action. Starting with leadership we launched new set of leadership capabilities for endless inclusion. Each leader is measured and has to demonstrate what they are doing to make the workplace more diverse and inclusive and for racial equality, she said. All those leaders have an objective and are provided with the tools and bespoke development and goals for each organisation by HR but its up to the leaders to create that change, added Webb. If you only focus on HR, you will fail because it wont create an inclusive environment. So, it is important to talk about people and communities and work within each unit and also be inclusive in the way we operate and allocate funds, as well as from a commercial perspective and with the suppliers we deal with around governance structure, she said. Watch: The biggest job interview mistakes House Democrats are crafting a new stimulus plan worth $2.4 trillion, hoping that Republicans would be encouraged into reopening negotiations stalled since May. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi worked under pressure from moderate Democrats to strike a deal with the White House, she laid the groundwork for action on a stimulus bill. The new economic stimulus package is worth $2.4 trillion, which is lower than the cost of their previous plan, but still too high to broker a compromise with Republicans. According to FT, Pelosi asked committee chairs in the lower chamber to prepare the scaled-back plan that includes aid to restaurants, airlines, and small businesses as a basis for new discussions with the White House on a relief package. On Thursday, Pelosi told House Democratic leaders in a meeting: "We are still striving for an agreement. If necessary, we can formalize the request by voting on it on the House floor." The move could lead to a vote as early as next week, as per Politico. The Democrats' move highlights the mounting pressure on Congress to strike a deal that adds new fiscal support into the U.S. economy before the November election, or to at least show voters that lawmakers made an effort to compromise. The Democrat's new stimulus plan will also include enhanced direct payments to Americans known as stimulus checks, unemployment insurance, and funding for the popular Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) small-business loan program. The new scaled-back legislation will serve as a basis for the recent talks with the White House. Pelosi directed the Democratic committee chairs to draft the proposal. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-MA, later confirmed the plan to put together a new bill. Neal said a vote if there will be one, will occur next week before the House leaves for recess. "I think the contours are already there," Neal said on drafting the smaller package. "I think its now about (the) time frame and things like that." From the $3.4 trillion proposed by House Democrats in the HEROES Act passed on May 15, the new bill has been a considerable comedown, the IB Times reported. However, Republicans remain opposed to the vast spending and have proposed much smaller packages from Senator Mitch McConnell's "skinny" $500 billion proposals to the $1.3 trillion proposals of a bipartisan group of legislators. In August, negotiations between Democrats and Republicans collapsed and have languished since. Pelosi's latest action will enable her to push White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to boost the administration's $1.3 trillion offer by $1 trillion closer to the new stimulus plan. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Pelosi held talks with Meadows and Mnuchin from late July to early August. The words proved worthless as both sides pushed their core demands. Check these out: Stimulus Check: Mark Cuban Suggests $1,000 Every 2 Weeks for 2 Months for Every Household Stimulus Payment: Are You at Risk of Missing Out on $1,200 Checks? Second Stimulus Check: How Quickly You May Receive It Once Approved? EDMONTON, Alberta, Sept. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Servus Credit Union released its third quarter results for the 2020 fiscal year. In a quarter marked by the continued effects of COVID-19, Servuss financial results reflect the credit unions commitment to supporting members while maintaining a strong financial position for years to come. Throughout the past several months, weve supported many of our members through some of the most trying financial times they may have ever experienced. All along, Servus has been in a strong position to be able to help them, says Garth Warner, President & CEO of Servus Credit Union. Im so proud of the way weve been able to do this. More than ever, we leaned into our noble purpose and supported our members to manage their financial fitness, while staying true to our history and values as a credit union. Though weve certainly seen a lot change from what we originally expected to see in 2020, weve maintained our strong and stable foundation established from years of careful cost management and building capital reserves above legislated requirements. This position has allowed us to support our members and identify opportunities to enhance how we serve them through the crisis and beyond, all while staying true to our founding principles. Key performance indicators (all figures compare Q3 2020 to Q3 2019): Assets grew 5.9% to $17.3 billion. Net income (after dividends, patronage and taxes) fell by 39% to $11.2 million. Deposits increased by 6.5% to $13.9 billion. Loans expanded by 1.9% to $14.7 billion. Retained earnings were boosted by 5.6% to $959.4 million and our capital is well over the legislated requirement. While net income for the quarter is down due to changes in consumer behaviour resulting from the pandemic and weak economy, deposits increased to $13.9 billion, up 6.5% from the same quarter in FY19. The biggest factor in the lower income figure is a significant increase in loan loss provisions these do not indicate actual loan defaults, but are funds set aside in anticipation of higher expected losses based on how the economy is performing. Additionally, weve also seen our members spending patterns change, resulting in a reduction in transaction volumes and associated revenues. The results reflected in our net income are not surprising we knew we would continue to see impacts from COVID-19 this quarter. That said, we have worked hard to remain profitable throughout this period and are proud weve been able to achieve that, explained Mr. Warner. Were also encouraged by how many of our members are seeing this as an opportunity to strengthen their financial fitness, which is reflected in our deposit and asset growth. The Servus Feel Good Movement In May, Servus launched the Servus Feel Good Movement to help make a positive impact for our members and Albertans overall. With the Movement, Servus expects to give $1 million to programs and initiatives that help people start to feel good again throughout the remaining of the 2020 fiscal year. So far, Servus has given more than $180,000 to a number of organizations across the province including distress centres that operate Albertas 211 helpline. In June, Servus also added a nomination program to the Movement asking Albertans to nominate deserving people, non-profits and community initiatives for the chance to receive a gift valued up to $1000. Since June, Servus has awarded $52,000 from this program. About Servus Credit Union Ltd. At Servus Credit Union we're building a better world, one member at a time. We've been shaping the financial fitness of Albertans for 80 years with a full line of secure financial services. We help members manage their money wherever they are through 101 branches in 59 communities; online, mobile and telephone banking; and 1900 no-fee ATMs across Canada. We re-invest our profits in our members and the communities we serve. For more information, call 1.877.378.8728 or visit servus.ca. For more information contact: Amanda LeNeve Manager, Media & Member Engagement T: 587-920-9158 Email: amanda.leneve@servus.ca www.facebook.com/servuscu www.twitter.com/servuscu UPDATE: B-17 trip to Portage aerospace museum canceled PORTAGE, MI The Boeing B-17G Yankee Lady is set to make a return trip to Southwest Michigan and those interested can climb aboard. One of only 10 airworthy B-17s in existence, the aircraft will touch down just south of the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport on Saturday, Oct. 3, according to a news release from Bellevilles Yankee Air Museum. View the full photo gallery of the 2019 Yankee Lady visit to Kalamazoo The plane, expected to arrive at 10 a.m., will be stationed on the tarmac at the Air Zoo the Kalamazoo areas own Smithsonian-affiliated aerospace and science museum, located at 6151 Portage Road. The Yankee Lady is the same type of aircraft, commonly called a Flying Fortress, that helped end World War II by crippling the Axis powers' ability to wage war, the release states. This particular B-17 joined the U.S. Army Air Forces on July 16, 1945, shortly after victory in Europe was declared. Related: A look at 40 years of Air Zoo history as Kalamazoo-area museum marks milestone Like the other nine airworthy B-17s in existence still today, the Yankee Lady did not see any combat action, the release states. Self-guided ground tours cost $8 for anyone 15 and older. Those under age 6 are free, and those between the ages of 6 and 14 cost $3. Thirty-minute rides are available at 11 a.m., Noon and 1 p.m. and cost $475. To order a ride, visit www.yankeeairmuseum.org and click on Fly With Us. Additional flight times may be added if demand warrants. as customer demand warrants. Also on MLive: Second round of $900 unemployment checks from Trump order being sent to Michigan workers Movie filmed at Mel Trotter to debut on World Homelessness Day, Oct. 10 Michigan Democrats push John James to clarify stance on Supreme Court vacancy The Illinois Nurses Association (INA) union and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 announced Thursday that they had reached tentative agreements with the University of Illinois, saying votes on the deals would take place next week. Simultaneous with its announcement and without releasing the details of the proposed contract, SEIU 73 shut down the 10-day strike by 4,000 service, clerical, technical and professional workers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and University of Illinois medical centers in Chicago, Peoria, and Rockford. INA had previously ended the strike of some 800 nurses at UI Hospital in Chicago Saturday, having limited the walkout in advance to just one week. UIH nurses on strike (WSWS photo) Although neither the university, SEIU or INA have disclosed the full contents of the deals, what little information that has been shared indicates that they will be austerity contracts which satisfy none of workers basic demands for substantial wage increases, adequate staffing and the necessary personal protective equipment and measures to protect workers from COVID-19. Over 200 nurses contracted COVID-19 at the University of Illinois hospital and at least 2 nurses have died so far. When the INA shut down the nurses strike last week, the union claimed the hospital would bring on an additional 200 nurses to address the dangerous staffing shortages in the midst of a pandemic. The terms of the deal announced yesterday provide that only 160 nurses will be added to a hospital staff of 1,400 nurses, a majority of whom voted to strike. UIC and UI Hospital administration lauded the contracts in a statement Thursday, writing, The tentative agreements are the result of extensive discussions and negotiations by all parties and a commitment to reaching fair and fiscally responsible contracts. In the language of the financial elite and Democratic Party operatives who run the university board of trustees, fiscally responsible means nothing more than the continuation of poverty wages and miserable working conditions. SEIU Local 73 declared UIC workers victorious in its official statement yesterday. The union also proclaimed it had won on social media with Local SEIU officials flanked by representatives of various trade unions, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), DSA-aligned aldermen and other Democratic Party politicians. In the midst of the victory rally conducted by the Democratic Party and the unions, workers questioned what had been won. One noted on the SEIUs Facebook livestream, We still have not gotten the details on what we won. She added, no disrespect but everyone could not watch live. Were currently at work. It needs to be in writing and sent to us in an email. Another worker sarcastically remarked, They are too busy celebrating to tell us Alicia, a service worker at the hospital, told the WSWS, The union should have told us something if they had a contract. I got a text close to 11 PM Wednesday night saying that the strike was over and to go to work in the morning. For me, this makes no sense because we havent even seen the contract, Alicia added. People don't know how much they are going to get paid. Every contract that we get a raise, something else goes up. The health care went up, the parking lot went up. Everything goes up. According to the highlights of the tentative agreement posted on the SEIU 73 website the union claimed it had won $15 per hour minimum wage for building services workers, along with vague assurances of pay increases for all workers, a purported PPE commitment by Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritkzer and claims to protect staff from COVID-19. The union did not indicate when exactly the $15 per hour minimum wage would be implemented in the life of the four-year contract. Whenever it goes into effect, however, the new wage would still keep university workers mired in poverty and in a day-to-day struggle to survive. Workers who spoke to the WSWS said that even an $18 an hour job was inadequate to meet the cost of living in a city like Chicago, as the SEIU starved workers out without strike pay, offering an insulting hardship fund to workers who met the criteria. If the workers' pay had kept up with the productivity levels, the average minimum wage would be at $24 an hour today, according to a study by economist Dean Baker. The stagnation of workers wages was part of a social counterrevolution led by both corporate controlled parties with the aid of the trade unions. When the nearly 5,000 health care workers and staff began their strike, they were pitted in direct conflict with the Democratic Party, including Governor Pritzker, a billionaire with $3.4 billion in wealth extracted from the exploitation of hotel workers. Pritzker heads the UIC Board of Trustees, which constitutes the nexus of the Democratic Party and corporate interests arrayed against the UIC workers. The strike by nearly 5,000 in Chicago won broad support among workers in the city and region and among students on campus, despite the efforts of the corporate press to largely black out reports of the walkouts. Both the citys Democratic Party political establishment and their trade union adjuncts viewed the strikes with growing anxiety, fearful of their potential to spark a much broader movement of workers and young people, against social inequality and exposure to the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in the midst of the explosive political crisis growing in the weeks leading up to the US elections. Both the INA and SEIU sought to limit the impact of the strikes and isolate workers, with INA limiting the strike to just seven days in advance and ending the walkout before a deal was even reached, after forcing some 500 of its members to cross the picket lines, pointing to the court injunction filed by the university to keep critical care nurses on the job. SEIU 73, for its part, kept 25,000 workers, who were also in the local, on the job at university campuses at schools throughout Chicago. Nurses and university workers must reject the attempts by INA and the SEIU to ram through a sellout agreement negotiated behind their backs. Workers should move to organize rank-and-file committees and demand a week to study the full contracts and all associated documents. For nurses and university workers to secure their needs the struggle must be broadened, and an appeal made to teachers, autoworkers, logistics workers, students and others to unite in a fight for decent working conditions and protection from the pandemic. (Sharecast News) - London stocks edged higher in early trade on Friday as investors mulled over the latest UK borrowing figures, but the FTSE 100 was still on course for heavy weekly losses amid ongoing concerns about the coronavirus and its impact on the economy. At 0850 BST, the top-flight index was up 0.3% at 5,838.28. Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "It has been a generally torrid week for markets, with Covid-19 regaining centre stage as the ongoing lack of a vaccine and further tightening rules threaten to derail what was becoming a slow recovery. "In the UK, further relief measures announced by the Chancellor were a welcome development, but the moves were never going to be a panacea for the UK's economic ills. Fiscal support looks likely to wane over the next few months with a further wave of unemployment looking inevitable, as the latest lockdown restrictions begin to bite on several affected sectors." Investors were digesting the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, which showed the government borrowed 35.9bn in August - the third highest monthly figure on record - as tax revenue fell and it spent to deal with the economic effects of the Covid-19 crisis. August's net borrowing figure was a record for the month and 30.5bn more than a year earlier. But the total was less than in March and April as the economy picked up and some workers returned to work from furlough. It was also less than the average economists' forecast of 38bn. Central government bodies spent 78.5bn on day-to-day activities in August - 19.5bn more than a year earlier. Estimated spending included 6.1bn for the Coronavirus job retention scheme and 4.7bn of support for self-employed workers. Tax receipts were an estimated 37.3bn - 7.5bn less than a year earlier as VAT, corporation tax and income tax receipts dropped sharply as the government offered relief to the hospitality sector and others. August's borrowing took public sector net debt to 2.024trn or 101.9% of economic output, the highest figure as a share of the economy since 1960-61. "The government borrowed another huge sum in August as it continued to absorb much of the cost of the Covid-19 crisis," said Capital Economics UK economist Andrew Wishart. "But while the chancellor announced some modest further support yesterday, the big picture is that fiscal support will fade over the autumn causing many more job losses to be realised. "After an impressive rebound in Q3, we think the resurgence of the virus and new restrictions will cause GDP to stagnate for the rest of this year, hurting tax revenues." In equity markets, Aviva rose following a report that a consortium of Germany's Allianz and life insurer Athora Holdings is in talks to buy the French operations of the London-listed insurer. Reuters cited sources as saying the deal could be worth between 2bn and 3bn. Vodafone rallied following a report by El Economista newspaper that it has begun talks to buy Spanish rival MasMovil with the three buyout funds that recently took it over. Pennon nudged up after saying it was on track to report first-half results in line with its own expectations and was considering the best use of funds from the sale of its waste management business. Elsewhere, Chilean copper miner Antofagasta was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Investec. On the downside, West End landlord Shaftesbury was in the red after it scrapped its final dividend and said almost half of rents due for the second half had been waived or were still due amid the Covid-19 crisis. Market Movers FTSE 100 (UKX) 5,838.28 0.27% FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,878.77 0.45% techMARK (TASX) 3,704.89 -0.03% FTSE 100 - Risers United Utilities Group (UU.) 884.60p 3.78% Melrose Industries (MRO) 112.25p 3.08% M&G (MNG) 149.65p 2.39% Pearson (PSON) 547.60p 2.05% Aviva (AV.) 284.60p 2.01% Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,033.80p 1.95% Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 996.60p 1.89% Evraz (EVR) 334.40p 1.89% Fresnillo (FRES) 1,210.00p 1.68% BP (BP.) 236.25p 1.66% FTSE 100 - Fallers International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 91.80p -3.61% Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,284.00p -1.13% Persimmon (PSN) 2,390.00p -1.12% Ocado Group (OCDO) 2,795.00p -1.06% AstraZeneca (AZN) 8,480.00p -0.92% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 148.80p -0.87% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,519.00p -0.87% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 3,936.00p -0.81% Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,775.50p -0.77% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 275.00p -0.76% FTSE 250 - Risers PZ Cussons (PZC) 238.00p 10.96% Cineworld Group (CINE) 44.68p 8.03% Airtel Africa (AAF) 58.30p 4.48% Henderson Smaller Companies Inv Trust (HSL) 749.00p 3.74% Ascential (ASCL) 278.40p 3.73% Law Debenture Corp. (LWDB) 498.50p 3.53% Frasers Group (FRAS) 344.20p 2.99% Hilton Food Group (HFG) 1,198.00p 2.92% Drax Group (DRX) 262.40p 2.90% ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 794.00p 2.85% FTSE 250 - Fallers Pets at Home Group (PETS) 367.60p -5.74% Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 73.00p -4.45% National Express Group (NEX) 135.50p -3.21% Micro Focus International (MCRO) 246.00p -3.00% SSP Group (SSPG) 188.90p -2.98% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,034.00p -2.00% Meggitt (MGGT) 247.10p -1.94% Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 220.50p -1.78% Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 177.30p -1.72% Workspace Group (WKP) 485.00p -1.70% Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Berkeley in northern California will ban the sale of junk food from supermarket checkout displaysbecoming the first US city to do so, according to local media. The city council unanimously passed a bill this week to promote healthier eating, by prohibiting products with over 5 grams of added sugar or 250mg of sodium from checkout aisles. Drinks high in sugar and artificial sweeteners will also be restricted. "The healthy checkout ordinance is essential for community health, especially in the time of COVID-19," said councilmember Kate Harrison. "What is good for Berkeley customers is also good for our businesses." The ordinance noted that cheap, unhealthy food dominates checkout displays, where "shoppers are more likely to make impulse purchases and where parents struggle with their children over demands to buy treats." The ban will affect 25 large supermarkets in the university city of around 120,000 people from next March. Progressive Berkeley, just across the Bay from San Francisco, has a track record of pioneering health initiatives. In 2014 it imposed a tax on soft drinks that was adopted by several other major US cities. According to a study last year, Berkeley residents reduced their consumption of soft drinks by half by 2017. Explore further Supermarkets claim to have our health at heart, but their marketing tactics push junk foods 2020 AFP Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday said the state government will issue circular within 24 hours to all doctors and COVID-19 hospitals for rational use of remdesivir injections in the treatment of infection. Apart from this, FDA minister Dr Rajendra Shingne said a special campaign will be launched against the black marketing of the anti-viral injection in the state. The ministers were addressing the media after a review meeting on the COVID-19 situation in East Vidarbha. Tope visited government hospitals in Bhandara, Gondia and Nagpur to take stock of the situation and steps taken by the administration. When asked about excess use and shortage of remdesivir in COVID-19 hospitals, Tope said, "Rational use of the injection is important and it should not be administered as soon as a patient is admitted." Doctors and COVID-19 hospitals will be given directions on how to use remdesivir and a circular will be issued within 24 hours, he said. Meanwhile, speaking about the supply of the drug, Shingne said, "By September 30, around 1.10 lakh remdesivir injections will be available in from five to six pharmaceutical companies that are producing the drug." The FDA along with the home department will launch a special campaign against black marketing of remdesivir across the state and the initiative has already started in Mumbai, the minister 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.) The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka. Saturday, Sept. 19 11:46 p.m. -- Officers responded to vehicle crash in the area of East Sugnet Road and Washington Street. 9:08 p.m. -- A deputy took a report of two stolen guns and identification from a Warren Township property. The incident is under investigation. 8:50 p.m. -- Deputies received a referral from Child Protective Services regarding allegations that a 36-year-old Mills Township man had assaulted his 13-year-old daughter. Deputies spoke with the father, who denied the incident. The daughter was not available and will be interviewed at a later date to complete the investigation. 7:21 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a car-deer crash in Mount Haley Township. 6:31 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the 900 block of Joe Mann Boulevard. 6:06 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a vehicle crash in Jerome Township. 5:47 p.m. -- An unknown subject failed to pay for $15.12 in gas from a Warren Township service station. A light blue truck is only description deputies were given. 4:34 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the area of Sturgeon Road and North Saginaw Road. 4:17 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to the area of North Geneva Road near West Ruhle Road in Geneva Township for the report of a single-vehicle traffic crash. 2:24 p.m. -- A 41-year-old Jerome Township resident called to report that three young men were destroying property in the area; she caught them trying to damage a sign. A deputy located one subject, an 11-year-old boy. The boy and his father spoke with the deputy. No charges were requested, and the father said he will discipline the boy. 12:21 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a Lee Township residence after a 63-year-old woman reported that her 8-year-old miniature Siberian Husky was shot in the left shoulder with with a BB pellet after it briefly ran away from her home that morning. This incident is under investigation. 11:36 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the area of Eastman Avenue and Wackerly Street. 11:02 a.m. -- A deputy spoke with a 25-year-old Jerome Township woman over the telephone, who wanted to report that her 30-year-old friend was calling and threatening to have her kids taken away. The 25-year-old said her friend is accusing her of talking about her behind her back, but she stated that she is not. The 25-year-old wanted the incident documented, but did not want the deputy to contact the 30-year-old. She said that the issue is not bad now, but wanted it documented in case the situation gets worse. 8:48 a.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to the area of North 9 Mile Road near Red Pine Drive for the report of a single-vehicle crash causing injuries. 8:46 a.m. -- Deputies responded to a single-vehicle crash causing minor injuries in Geneva Township. A 28-year-old Warren Township woman was the driver. A report was sent to the Midland County Prosecuting Attorney's Office for false police report. Sometimes the legal thing feels like the wrong thing. Sometimes monstrously so. A Black woman who had been asleep in her bed was gunned down by Louisville police in a botched raid in the wee hours of March 13 that never should have happened. Surely, thought many people following the case across the nation, the police officers who killed her should face criminal charges. There was so much wrong with the way police served their warrant that night, abruptly banging on the door after midnight as Breonna Taylor, an emergency room tech, and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, lay in bed. Moments later, she was dead on the floor in her hallway, never even knowing why police were there. Americans who have grown angry and weary over a pattern of police shootings involving unarmed Black men, women and children cannot be blamed for assuming that justice, this time, would mean something more than what the long-deliberating grand jury handed down Wednesday. The Kentucky grand jurys decision not to indict either of the officers whose shots killed Taylor, and instead charge only one officer with the obscure felony of wanton endangerment, has led to understandable heartbreak and outrage on the streets of Louisville. But the grand jurors werent impaneled to decide the case on emotion, past injustices or media attention. They were bound to the facts and the law, which apparently did not support charges of murder or other crimes. And thats the message that must get through in these days of rage and unrest. Thats the hard part about criminal law sometimes, former prosecutor and leading criminal defense attorney Brian Butler told the editorial board. What happened to Breonna Taylor is a tragedy but that doesnt necessarily mean someone committed a criminal act. That does nothing to lessen the pain of the outrageous events, nor the anger over the fact that the police should never have been ordered to conduct the raid in the first place. Walker, roused from sleep, has said he called out to ask who was there, and when he did not hear a response assumed, as many of us would, that the home was being invaded. As the plainclothes officers, all white, broke through the door, Walker fired, striking the lead officer, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, in an artery in his leg. As Mattingly fell, he fired back, as did the officer next in line, Myles Cosgrove. They missed Walker, but hit Taylor, who was standing next to him in the hallway, with six bullets. She collapsed and, according to a coroners statement to The Courier Journal, likely died within a minute. A third officer, former Detective Brett Hankison, fired 10 shots through a sliding glass door and a window, both covered by blinds. His shots went through walls into a neighbors apartment, and Louisvilles police chief fired him weeks ago for violating department policy requiring officers to have a target in sight before firing, and for displaying an extreme indifference to human life. The grand jury indicted Hankison on three felony counts of wanton endangerment, Class D felonies that each carry a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine and five years in prison. Walker was initially charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but the chief local prosecutor dismissed charges, citing his claims to self defense. Earlier this month, the city reached a $12 million settlement with Taylors family. A key factor in the grand jurys decision seems to be that Walker shot first, giving justification in the eyes of the law for the officers returning fire. The same Kentucky statutes that gave Walker the right to self defense gave the officers the right to shoot back when their own lives were in danger. MASON TRINCA, STR / NYT As the investigation into the officers dragged on for months, activists and Taylors family had grown increasingly frustrated by the slow response, by officials reluctance to release investigatory details, and by revelations of errors and misstatements by police. For instance, the public has since learned that just before the three officers burst into Taylors home, police conducting a related raid elsewhere had already arrested the alleged drug dealer being sought: an ex-boyfriend of Taylors named Jamarcus Glover. Errors in the initial police report inexplicably stated that officers had not used force to enter Taylors home and that she was not injured. Leading up to Wednesdays announcement of the grand jury decisions by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican elected last fall, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, a three-term Democrat, declared a state of emergency. Camerons announcement that only Hankison had been indicted left many protesters in Louisville in tears, and Taylors mother enraged. They had been part of Louisvilles more than 100 days of protests, which had left large swaths of downtown boarded up as large groups converged and at times, armed confrontations arose. On Wednesday evening, protests grew as marchers moved out of downtown into more prosperous, largely white areas near the citys famed system of parks. Two officers were shot overnight Wednesday. The police chief said they would recover, and officials were girding for continued protests through the weekend. The pain is understandable. But violence will do nothing to avenge Taylors death. Energy is best spent trying to outlaw, once and for all, law enforcements use of no-knock raids, especially when their intended targets are lower-level drug dealers. Louisville voted to ban no-knock warrants in June. Houston is painfully familiar with the consequences of such reckless tactics. In January 2019, Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle were shot to death in a botched drug raid at their Harding Street home when they too tried to defend themselves. Former Houston police officer Gerald Goines was charged with murder after investigators found he had falsified an affidavit to secure the warrant for the raid. In that shooting, the victims were white and Goines is Black. Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer No evidence in Taylors case has yet suggested that kind of outright fraud. An FBI investigation continues amid questions over whether Louisville police properly obtained warrants for Taylors home and other addresses the night of the shooting but the three officers who busted into Taylors apartment had nothing to do with securing the warrant. They had been just one of a handful of teams chosen to carry them out. They werent indicted because they fired their guns with a legitimate fear of death. Thats the law. So why does it feel so unjust? Because those officers should have never been authorized to storm into Taylors apartment as they did. Because it was monstrously bad judgment from their superiors to send them. Because no-knock warrants put the lives of innocent people, and officers, in needless danger. Because the sickening failure of our leaders to respond to the never-ending pattern of police violence against unarmed Black people in this country has made it hard for some of us see the justice for the tragedy. Correction: Sept. 25, 10:00 a.m. This editorial was updated to correct the spelling of Kenneth Walkers last name in two places. Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi have announced they are expecting their first child this autumn. In a post on the Royal Familys Twitter account, the couple said the Queen has been informed and that she is delighted with the news. Beatrice and Edoardo married in a small, private ceremony at The Royal Chapel of All Saints on the grounds of The Royal Lodge, Windsor, in July 2020. They were initially due to marry in May but plans were delayed by coronavirus. The baby will be the Queens 12th great-grandchild following the planned arrival of Prince Harry and Meghan Markles daughter this summer. When a royal baby is born, the line of succession to the throne changes. Here is what you need to know about the change in the order when Princess Beatrices first child is born. Where is Princess Beatrice on the line of succession? Princess Beatrice is currently ninth in line to the throne, but will become 10th in line after the birth of the Sussexes second child. First in line to the throne is Charles, the Prince of Wales, the Queens eldest son. He is followed by his eldest son, the Duke of Cambridge, and the dukes three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. After the three Cambridge children comes Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex; followed by his son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. Then comes the Duke of York, the Queens second-eldest son; who is then followed by his two children, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Anne, Princess Royal, is the Queens second-eldest child but will be 17th in line to the throne after the birth of the Sussexes second child and Princess Beatrices first child. This is because royal custom traditionally followed that the birth of a royal male baby would displace his female sibling in the line of succession, even if she was older than him. Therefore, when the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex, and their subsequent children were born, she was pushed further down the line. Where will Princess Beatrices baby be in line to the throne? Princess Beatrices baby will fall in 11th place on the line of succession, one place behind his or her mother. Together with the Sussexes new baby, this will push Queens third-eldest son, Prince Edward, from 12th to 14th place. When the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes son Archie was born in May 2019, the Duke of York moved from seventh to eighth place in the line of succession. He will move to ninth place after the birth of the Sussexes daughter. How have the laws of succession changed in recent years? In 2013, a new parliamentary act, the Succession to the Crown Act, came into effect. The passing of the act changed the rules regarding the line of succession, which previously dictated that if a male royal baby with an older sister was born, the boy could displace his female sibling on the line of succession, even if she was older than him. The rule of male primogeniture no longer applies for royal babies born after 28 October 2011. This means that Princess Charlotte will remain fourth in line to the throne, regardless of the birth of Prince Louis. As Princess Anne was born in 1950, the change does not affect her. What will the line of succession look like by the end of 2021? After the arrival of the Sussexes baby girl this summer and Beatrice and Edorados baby in the autumn, this is how the line of succession will look: 1. The Prince of Wales 2. The Duke of Cambridge 3. Prince George of Cambridge 4. Princess Charlotte of Cambridge 5. Prince Louis of Cambridge 6. The Duke of Sussex 7. Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor 8. The Sussexes' baby daughter 9. The Duke of York 10. Princess Beatrice, Mrs. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi 11. Princess Beatrice and Edoardo's son or daughter 12. Princess Eugenie, Mrs. Jack Brooksbank 13. Master August Brooksbank 14. The Earl of Wessex 15. Viscount Severn 16. The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor 17. The Princess Royal 18. Mr. Peter Phillips 19. Miss Savannah Phillips 20. Miss Isla Phillips The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says he will continue to oppose proposed legislation that would immunize Sudan from all future terror lawsuits in US courts. Let me just say, I will oppose any Sudan legislation that fails to preserve and protect the 9/11 claims to make sure that 9/11 families are not stomped upon by the administration, and I hope the State Department will reluctantly come along, Menendez told the committee during a hearing Tuesday. Why it matters: Menendez is one of the senior lawmakers opposing a bipartisan effort to insert a resolution that would immunize Sudan from future terror lawsuits in US courts into legislation that funds the US government by the end of September. More importantly, the resolution would enshrine a deal in which Sudan must pay $335 million toward a settlement to compensate families of the victims of the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and allow the money be distributed once put into escrow by officials in Khartoum. Sudan underwent a popular revolution last year that ousted longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, and has cooperated with conditions previously set out by the United States for it to be removed from the terror sponsors list. But lawyers representing 9/11 victims families have urged some lawmakers not to go along with efforts to delist Sudan, arguing that their clients must retain the right to seek damages due to the previous Sudanese government's alleged links to al-Qaeda. Complicating matters, Menendezs insistence comes as the Donald Trump administration is urgently pushing to remove Sudan from the blacklist in hope in hope of coaxing officials in Khartoum to establish formal ties with Israel ahead of President Trumps reelection bid in November. Pompeo sent a letter to senior lawmakers last week urging they advance the proposed measure by the narrow window offered by government funding legislation at the end of September. Whats next: It is unlikely Congress will make the Oct. 1 deadline, and the Trump administration has the authority to delist Sudan unilaterally, without legislation designed to ensure the embassy bombing victims families get paid. The New York Times reported today that Pompeo is willing to do just that. But Sudanese-US negotiations over a potential deal to delist Sudan and see Khartoum recognize Israel made little headway earlier this week. A delegation led by the chairman of Sudans Sovereignty Council, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, in Abu Dhabi repeated a request for billions of dollars in emergency aid amid Sudan's crippling economic crisis. It is not clear the United States or Gulf partners are prepared to find the cash, and the Sudanese delegation declined alternative offers put forth by US and United Arab Emirates' officials. Advertisement Covid-19 infections clearly started to rise after 'Super Saturday', according to an analysis of official data that has revealed the number of Britons being diagnosed each day is now 54 per cent higher than it was a week ago as the outbreak continues to grow. Hundreds of thousands flocked to pubs, restaurants and hairdressers after they were finally allowed to re-open on July 4, after months of being closed to help contain the UK's coronavirus crisis. Leading scientists warned it would cause a spike in infections - while others insisted it was time the nation 'learns to live with the virus'. MailOnline's crunching of government statistics shows Covid-19 infections started to rise within days of Brits being given freedom to enjoy the summer without being cooped up at home. Doctors say it can take patients up to two weeks to develop a cough or other tell-tale symptoms of the disease. Department of Health figures reveal the rolling seven-day average of daily cases on July 9 was 556, down 32 per cent on the week before. But the growth rate had dropped from the -39 per cent the previous day, showing that the outbreak wasn't shrinking as quickly. But it was not just a one-off. Statistics show the rate quickly started to spiral upwards, with July 13 (624) being a 6 per cent jump on the previous week (590). This was the first time the rate was positive - showing the outbreak had grown - since the start of May, when testing was massively ramped up to help officials get on top of the pandemic. Infections began to dip off in the middle of August but it is not clear why. They soon started to pick up towards the end of the month, and spiralled after the Bank Holiday and over the start of September, when millions of children went back to school and workers dashed back to the offices. Growth rates plunged around mid-September, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced the 'Rule of Six' in a desperate attempt to curb spiralling rates of coronavirus. The average number of daily infections compared to the week hit a high of 84 per cent on September 12 but fell every day until September 19, government statistics show. They have risen for six consecutive days since then, MailOnline can reveal. Health chiefs announced another 6,874 cases yesterday, meaning the seven-day rolling average (5,329) is 54 per cent higher than it was a week ago (3,466). By contrast, the rate yesterday was 48 per cent higher than it was last Thursday. Some top scientists had insisted there was not a true rise in cases because the test positivity rate - how many cases are found for every swab completed - had not changed wildly, suggesting any spike is down to swabbing capacity being ramped up. However, this appears to no longer be the case, with Government data showing around 20 out of every 1,000 people are testing positive now, up from the 15 on September 12. Yesterday saw another 6,874 Covid-19 cases recorded, meaning the seven-day rolling average is 54 per cent higher than it was a week ago. MailOnline analysis shows this is the sixth consecutive day the average compared to the week before has risen Some top scientists had insisted there was not a true rise in cases because the test positivity rate - how many cases are found for every swab completed - had not changed wildly. However, this appears to no longer be the case. NHS Test and Trace data shows almost 3.3 per cent of people tested get a positive result compared to lows of 1.1 in July Yesterday saw another 6,634 Covid-19 cases recorded, meaning the average number of daily infections is 48 per cent higher than it was a week ago The chief scientific advisors to the Government, Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, gave a stark warning this week of coronavirus cases 'doubling every week', with fears cases could reach 50,000 per day by mid-October if nothing is done Timeline of lockdown easing April 23: One full month of lockdown Around this time ministers were torn over whether to lift the lockdown at the start of May or wait until the summer. Frustration was growing in the Cabinet over a lack of debate on the issue as the damage to the economy mounted. Ministers were considering two possible strategies. The first involved extending the full lockdown well into early summer to 'push the numbers right down' although this was expected to risk further damaging the economy. The second would see restrictions lifted earlier, potentially after the three-week extension expired on May 8 even though it was expected to risk a second virus 'peak'. May 10: Government unveils 'stay alert' message The Prime Minister unveiled the new 'stay alert' message, which replaced the 'stay home' one. But the devolved powers decided to stick with the old one over fears 'stay alert' was ambiguous. May 13: People are allowed out for unlimited exercise and to meet one other person outdoors Boris Johnson called for people who could not work from home to return to their jobs. But he called for social distancing to remain in workplaces such as building sites. Britons were allowed out of their houses for exercise without limits. They were also allowed to meet up with another person outdoors but had to stay 2m away. June 1: Groups of six people can meet Six people were allowed to meet in parks and other's gardens for the first time since lockdown. The government also reopened schools for reception, year one and year six students despite protest from teaching unions. June 15: Non-essential shops re-open Non-essential shops re-opened as well as zoos, safari parks and religious centres. But people were ordered to have to wear face coverings on public transport in England. July 4: Pubs, bars and restaurants allowed to reopen Pubs, bars and restaurants reopened in England, with millions of people descending on their locals for a fresh pint. July 25: Gyms, pools and sports centres allowed to reopen Gyms, pools and sports centres were allowed to reopen for the first time since the lockdown amid social distancing rules. Also, Mr Johnson announced that holidaymakers on their way to England from Spain would have to quarantine for two weeks due to a spike in cases in the Meditterranean country. August 3: 'Eat Out To Help Out scheme is launched Chancellor Rishi Sunak's scheme saw millions return to restaurants as they helped bolster the stricken hospitality industry. August 15: Wedding receptions allowed In a boost for younger couples, wedding receptions were allowed again, but with limited capacity and maintaining social distancing rules. August 31: August Bank Holiday Crowds headed out into the hot sun and many defied government rules and threw parties over the weekend. September 1: Schools re-open Students in Northern Ireland returned to the classroom for the first time since lockdown was brought in. England and Wales headed back during the week. Oxford University started human trials for their coronavirus vaccine in the US. September 14: Rule of six is introduced Advertisement It comes as chief scientific advisors to the Government, Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, terrified the nation by their gloomy prediction that cases may reach 50,000 per day by mid-October, if nothing is done. They claimed infections were doubling every week, in line with growing outbreaks in Spain and France. But scientists shot down the claims, warning it was based on old data that relied on just a few hundred positive cases. Even Boris Johnson distanced himself from the claims, saying the outbreak could be doubling up to every 20 days. Other figures from NHS Test and Trace also suggest cases had dwindled last week. But the newest statistics - released yesterday - only go up until September 16, meaning any spike in the past week has yet to be confirmed in another government dataset. Department of Health figures show the doubling rate of cases is around two weeks. Almost 5,000 people are being diagnosed with Covid-19 every day at the moment, up from 2,500 on September 10. But this is based on lab-confirmed infections, and thousands of patients won't ever develop any symptoms. The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which tracks the size of the outbreak by carrying out thousands of random swab tests, estimates cases have risen 60 per cent in a week to 9,600 a day. While King's College London researchers, who are behind a symptom-tracking app, say it has doubled over the same time-frame to around 16,000. Matt Hancock yesterday suggested the true number of cases occurring each day was in the region of 10,000. And the Health Secretary pointed out that the spike now is nowhere near levels seen during the darkest days of the crisis in March and April, when 100,000 people were getting infected every 24 hours. Yesterday a record-high daily cases of 6,874 cases were diagnosed, a huge rise compared to last Friday, when 4,322 people were diagnosed with the disease. But millions of Brits went undiagnosed during the first wave of the pandemic due the government's lacklustre testing regime, so it is impossible to accurately compare numbers now to those in March and April. Top experts say more than 100,000 people were actually catching the virus every day during the darkest days of the first wave. Now, estimates range between 9,600 (ONS) and even 18,000. The latter estimate was suggested by Dr Julian Tang, a respiratory disease expert at the University of Leicester, who claimed the actual number of cases occurring each day in England now may be three times greater than what official figures show because of how common asymptomatic patients are. Since reporting of cases varies greatly from the start of the pandemic, and even now, day to day, it is helpful to look at a wider time span for signs of change in the outbreak. This provides a clearer picture of where the pandemic is accelerating, staying the same, or reducing because it less affected by daily variations in reporting. Data shows the rolling seven-day average currently stands at 5,329. That means, over the past seven days, that many people have been diagnosed in the UK every 24 hours, on average. The figure is 54 per cent higher than that recorded last Friday (3,466). And it has been increasing every day for the past six days. Cases have not been shrinking since the end of August, when the seven-day average was in minus figures for four days running. And from around April 17 to July 12, the average consistently fell because of lockdown. BETWEEN 9,000 AND 16,000 BRITONS ARE CATCHING COVID-19 EVERY DAY, DATA SHOWS Between 9,000 and 16,000 Britons are getting infected with coronavirus every day, according to researchers monitoring the UK's outbreak. King's College London (KCL) scientists behind the COVID Symptom Tracker mobile app estimate that there were at least 16,310 daily cases of the disease in the last week, more than double the 7,536 estimated last week. The Office for National Statistics, a Government-run agency, has made a more modest estimate yesterday, saying it thinks around 9,600 people are contracting the virus every day, a 60 per cent rise from the 6,000 a week prior. Both surveillance projects are picking up far more than the Government's official testing programme, which recorded 6,000-plus cases on Thursday and Wednesday. KCL collects its data by sending tests to people who report tell-tale symptoms of Covid-19 into the mobile app, while the ONS study sends tests to random households regardless of their health status. Data from the symptom-tracking app, which has seen millions of Brits sign up and report their symptoms, suggests there are nearly 150,000 people currently suffering symptomatic Covid-19, although many more will have no symptoms. This figure has more than doubled since last week, when there were about 70,000 symptomatic patients. The chief scientist behind the app said it was fresh evidence the crisis was 'rising at an alarming rate'. The ONS, on the other hand, estimates that about 113,000 people are currently carrying the virus, although the number-crunching body only looks at England and Wales. The ONS, on the other hand, estimates that about 113,000 people are currently carrying the virus, although the number-crunching body only looks at England and Wales Advertisement On Monday, Sir Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty made a stark forecast of 50,000 coronavirus infections per day by mid-October, which could lead to some 200 deaths a day by November. But it has since been revealed this scenario - claimed not to be a 'prediction' - was based on studies involving just hundreds of positive cases. A spokesman for Sir Vallance confirmed on Tuesday that the seven-day estimate was 'heavily' based on findings of the weekly survey of the Office for National Statistics, and the React-1 survey by Imperial College London. The studies test a random sample of 100,000 people but, as the virus is circulating at low levels, they have to base their predictions off only a few hundred positive cases. In the last React-1 study on September 7, they spotted 136 coronavirus cases out of 153,000 people sampled. The low number led them to predict that infections could double every seven days. This 'doubling every seven days' was used by the Government's top scientists to reach a scenario in which 50,000 cases a day were being diagnosed in October. The Government admitted it used these surveys as opposed to actual testing data because it was worried that the figures lagged behind the spread of the disease. Even the Prime Minister appeared to undermine the pair on Tuesday, when he admitted cases in the UK could be taking as long as 20 days to double in number. The same day the terrifying predictions were lambasted as 'implausible' by scientists, Mr Johnson stood in front of the House of Commons to unveil a wave of new measures designed to stop the spread of the disease, including making the Army available to help police enforce stringent new coronavirus rules such as a 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants. Figures based on diagnosed cases alone suggest the outbreak is doubling every 14 days, rising from an average of 2,527 infections a day on September 10 to 4,964 yesterday. Meanwhile, the growth rate suggests cases are doubling 'between every 10 to 20 days'. The size of the growth rate indicates the speed of change. Yesterday the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) reported the growth rate was growing by between four and eight per cent each day, up from the two to seven per cent they reported last week. The range they gave on September 11, two weeks ago, was from -1 to 3 per cent, meaning there was some possibility that the number of new cases might still be falling slowly. Professor Kevin McConway, a statistician at The Open University, said: 'A four per cent daily growth rate corresponds to a 32 per cent weekly growth rate. And it corresponds to a time of about 18 days for the number of infections to double. 'An eight per cent daily growth rate corresponds to a weekly growth rate of about 71 per cent, and a doubling time of about 9 days, just a bit over a week. 'So, in very broad terms, these growth rates do match the conclusions on the growth of new cases in yesterday's update on the ONS infection survey. And they are certainly big enough to be worrying.' Scientists say the more testing, the more cases are found in the community and reported by the Government. This can give the impression there are more infections in the population when there are not. Testing has been ramped up over the summer, doubling from a daily average of 112,000 on July 16 to 227,000 a day now. During this period, Government-reported cases have increased eight-fold. A useful measurement of whether cases are on the up due to testing or a genuine increase in spread is the 'test positivity rate' - the number of people who test positive out of the total number swabbed. Department of Health data shows 19.83 of every 1,000 people are testing positive for the virus under the current testing scheme, up from five in July and 13 two weeks ago. It's been rising steadily over July, August and September as a number of coronavirus restrictions were eased and people were encouraged to go back to work, Eat Out to Help Out, and children went back to school. The Office for National Statistics, a Government-run agency, has made a more modest estimate yesterday, saying it thinks around 9,600 people are contracting the virus every day, a 60 per cent rise from the 6,000 a week prior The ONS has spotted a rise in infections among all age groups in England - although the steepest increase was observed in 17 to 24-year-olds The North West is still bearing most of the brunt of the second wave, but Yorkshire, London and the North East are seeing significant outbreaks Data from the King College London's app, which has seen millions of Brits sign up and report their symptoms, suggests there are nearly 150,000 people currently suffering symptomatic Covid-19, although many more will have no symptoms Figures from NHS Test and Trace, which was launched in May, show the same pattern; test positivity rate lulled in July before picking back up again, but very slowly. In the week ending July 17, around 1.12 per cent of tests came back as positive (4,041 of 359,406). It is now at 3.28 per cent (19,278 of 587,173), according to data published yesterday. Calculations show 'positive tests' have increased by 377 per cent, or almost five-fold, in that time period, which would naturally cause alarm. But the 'test positivity' rate has increased by 187 per cent, or almost three-fold. This suggests at least some of the increase in cases is due to testing, while there is a genuine increase in how much coronavirus is spreading. Professor Anthony Brookes, an expert in genomics at the University of Leicester, said 'no one is questioning whether the positivity rate is increasing', but he says it is not clear if it is something to worry about and therefore worthy of a potentially damaging second lockdown. It's also unclear if it will level off or keep rising, as suggested by the Government's chief advisors, and if it will translate to more deaths. Professor Brookes told MailOnline: 'No-one without a functioning crystal ball can answer those questions with certainty. My own best guess, informed by empirical data and comparisons to many other countries and time periods, is that this is not something to panic about. 'The prevalence will probably rise to about five per cent, 10 per cent at the very most, before fading away, as it has done or is doing in many other EU countries. It will mainly be the young that are infected, with little to no health consequences. Consequently, there will be no dramatic stress on the NHS. 'Critically though, people must be helped to understand that this recent increase is NOT happening everywhere. The government are not making this known. Places that had a large outbreak in the spring/summer are in general now undergoing only a small or even trivial secondary wave.' The test positivity rate is increasing, according to Our World In Data. But it is no where near the rates seen in the peak of the pandemic. However, testing was focused on people who were seriously ill at that time, whereas now anyone with symptoms can apply for a test, so it is not comparable HOW COULD TESTING AFFECT CASE NUMBERS? If more people are being tested for Covid-19, this will show up in cases data, experts say. On the surface, it may look like a spike in infections. But it is more complicated than that, because it depends on who is being tested, and how many of those people are actually getting a positive rate back. Professor Kevin McConway, an emeritus professor of applied statistics, The Open University, said: 'In the early stages of the pandemic, there was far less availability of testing in most countries than there now is. So one reason there are more cases is just that people have got better at looking for and finding them.' And Dr Andrew Preston, a reader in microbial pathogenesis at University of Bath, said: 'Test more people, you will find more positives. 'Initially, testing was restricted to those reporting symptoms, but this has eased and it's now possible for a wider range of people to request tests.' Testing capacity has rapidly increased over the course of the pandemic in order to reach more people. A significantly higher number of people are being tested since July - when diagnosed cases were at their lowest, NHS Test and Trace data shows. There has also been an increase in the number of people getting a positive result, suggesting that the virus is, indeed, circulating at higher levels than before. Department of Health data shows 19.83 of every 1,000 people are testing positive for the virus under the current testing scheme, up from five in July and 13 two weeks ago. It's been rising steadily over July, August and September as a number of coronavirus restrictions were eased and people were encouraged to go back to work, Eat Out to Help Out, and children went back to school. Figures from NHS Test and Trace, which was launched in May, show the same pattern; test positivity rate lulled in July before picking back up again, but very slowly. In the week ending July 17, around 1.12 per cent of tests came back as positive (4,041 of 359,406). It is now at 3.28 per cent (19,278 of 587,173), according to data published yesterday. Calculations show 'positive tests' have increased by 377 per cent, or almost five-fold, in that time period, which would naturally cause alarm. But the 'test positivity' rate has increased by 187 per cent, or almost three-fold. This suggests at least some of the increase in cases is due to testing, while there is a genuine increase in how much coronavirus is spreading. Advertisement But the test positivity rate also depends on who is actually tested. The NHS Test and Trace data is based on people with symptoms or who believe they have Covid-19 coming forward for a test. On the other hand, the Office for National Statistics data is based on random swabbing of thousands of households in England. It seeks out Covid-19 cases both symptomatic and asymptomatic. This data, released yesterday, suggests 0.19 per cent of the population in England, or around one in 500 people, currently have the coronavirus. Professor McConway told MailOnline: 'The estimated number of new infections per day is a bit under 10,000 and 10,000 is a tiny proportion of the English population of over 56million. So you don't get that many cases. 'Also remember than in the latest week's Test and Trace data, only about three per cent of the people tested were positive bigger than the ONS figure but that's because people are tested in T&T only if they have symptoms or have some other reason that makes it relatively likely that they are infected. 'The people tested are not representative of the whole population they are tested because they have symptoms, or they are in a specific outbreak area, or they work in certain jobs, or something like that. 'I still prefer the ONS infection survey as a reliable data source on the number of infected people. There are caveats it's true that its estimates are based on rather small numbers of people being infected, but that's because the percentage of people infected in the population, at any one time, is not large and actually it never was very large even at the peak of the pandemic back in April.' There are now a number of different data-sets which confirm the coronavirus outbreak is growing once more. But depending on the data analysed, it shows a different picture. Some scientists argued that the 'doubling every seven days' theory spouted by Sir Patrick and Professor Whitty is unjustified - and should not have been used to 'scare' the public. Neither Spain nor France, whose outbreaks the UK is thought to be on a par with, have got anywhere near the dreaded 50,000 cases a day mark. Those nations have recorded a significant rise in daily infections in recent weeks, and hospitalisations and deaths have gone up alongside them. But cases are an average 11,100 per day in Spain and 10,100 in France. If the UK were to follow the trends in these two countries, then cases would be at 10,000 a day by next month. But if cases were to jump to 50,000 a day by next month, as suggested, then they would be off the scale compared with France and Spain six and three times higher, respectively. Only three countries in the world India, the US and Brazil have ever reported more than 50,000 new cases per day. One expert, Professor David Paton, said data had been presented unfairly to the public and demanded: 'If they've got an explanation [for why the data was presented like that], then let's hear it.' The University of Buckingham's Professor Karol Sikora, who has regularly been critical of the Government's coronavirus response, said: 'They're so negative. The graph for the worst case scenario, for 50,000 cases a day by next month, it's just scaring people.' Sir Patrick Vallance yesterday said he believed the epidemic was doubling every seven days, which would lead to 200 deaths a day by mid-November. But figures throw into doubt some of his calculations Some scientists argued that the 'doubling every seven days' theory spouted by Sir Patrick (left) and Professor Whitty (right) is unjustified - and should not have been used to 'scare' the public Hugh Pennington, an emeritus microbiologist at Aberdeen University said their prediction 'wasn't scientifically accurate'. 'It was almost designed to scare us,' he said. 'It didn't take into account we are doing a lot. I was annoyed because they were naughty doing that.' Professor Paul Hunter, a medical expert at the University of East Anglia, said the figures they presented were 'implausible' for mid-October. 'It's important to bear in mind that they were not making a prediction, they were presenting an illustration of what would happen if cases continued to double, which they almost certainly will not,' he said. Professor Brookes said they had presented a 'distorted, unbalanced view of reality', telling MailOnline this week: 'Nothing they said was a lie. But they selectively presented things, and did not show the full picture. 'They said it wasn't a prediction. But look up a 'prediction' if you say cases are 'doubling, doubling, doubling, and this is what you get' - it is a prediction. 'I think it was and distorted unbalanced view of reality. I can't say anything was technically wrong cases have been increasing, and if you have doubling you will get those numbers. But it is selective view of things.' 'Modelling is using guesstimates and trying to predict the future. They want to prepare for what is coming down the road. But models are not data. They should be a way to try and replicate what was happened in the past and try and go forward. 'The alternative is to try and go away form models and use real life, empirical data patterns the real, factual unquestionable data. What's happened in the past six months in the UK? And what has happened in other countries? I can't see any empirical data that suggests 50,000 cases by mid-October.' Professor Brookes said using daily diagnosed case numbers, you can argue that cases have grown. But he believes the increase in the 'positivity rate' will not continue. He said: 'There was a couple weeks it shot up, and then it's gone flat. They haven't spoken about this in their data.' 'There is an increase in percentage of [proportion of positive] tests. But it seems to have been a two-week event that has flattened now. 'Twice over the summer we have seen exactly this. You ease up on lockdown. The rate goes up and then plateaus again. This is what it looks like to me. Given all of that this recent concern about a second wave, it's just unfounded.' For example, Government data shows 14 of every 1,000 people were testing positive in mid-June. This went up to 15 per 1,000 for one week, before dipping back down and continuing to fall further. The figure no-one wants to see increase is hospitalisations, because this gives a clear signal that more people are getting seriously sick with the disease and it is not just spreading in the younger, healthier and fitter groups. The seven-day rolling average for new hospital admissions is at 224 - 46 per cent higher than a week ago. Similarly the number of people in hospital (1,257) is 50 per cent higher than a week ago. MORE towns go into lockdown - so is London next? Capital is put on watch list as Wigan, Stockport, and Blackpool are banned from mixing from MIDNIGHT and experts warn UK's Covid-19 R rate could now be as high as 1.5 with 6,874 new cases and 34 deaths Britain's coronavirus R rate could now be as high as 1.5, government scientific advisers warned yesterday after rises in all regions of the country Around 17million Britons are now living under tougher coronavirus restrictions than the rest of nation after health chiefs yesterday confirmed extra measures were to be imposed on all residents living in Wigan, Stockport, Blackpool, Leeds and parts of Wales. London was also placed on the national lockdown watchlist because of a spike in cases and hospital admissions as government advisors warned the capital's R rate may now be as high as 1.5 - the same level seen in the North West, North East and the Midlands, which have all been stung by additional Covid-19 measures. Number 10's expert panel SAGE yesterday also warned the reproductive rate of the virus may be as high as that for the UK overall. It's the advisory body's highest projection since it began tracking how quickly the disease was growing back in June and is slightly up on last week's estimate of 1.1 - 1.4. If the R rate - the number of people each infected patient passes the disease on to - remains above one, then the outbreak will continue to grow and cases will keep surging, running the risk that local Covid-19 outbreaks spiral out of control into regional and even national problems. Health chiefs yesterday announced 6,874 more Covid-19 infections and 34 more deaths. The daily case toll is a record-high and takes the total number of cases to 423,237, although millions of Brits went undiagnosed during the first wave of the pandemic due the government's lacklustre testing regime. Government figures show the number of victims succumbing to the life-threatening infection now stands at 29 - 73 per cent higher than the average of 17 last Friday. But they are still a far-cry from the 1,000 being recorded each day during the darkest weeks of the crisis in March and April. But SAGE warned that the low numbers of deaths do not reflect how quickly the outbreak is growing. Hospital admissions - another measure of how severe an outbreak is - have also risen again, with 314 newly-infected patients requiring NHS care in England on Wednesday - up from 183 the week before. Council bosses in London met yesterday to confirm that the response to the capital's crisis would be escalated. No tougher measures will be imposed yet but health chiefs have pledged to boost testing capacity to control any flare-ups. Formal confirmation is expected to be announced later by Public Health England. Official government figures show London recorded 620 more cases of Covid-19 yesterday - twice as high as the rate last week. But the capital's outbreak appears to have plateaued since spiking at the start of September, when taking into account separate data that analyses when positive samples were actually taken, not recorded. It can take suspected patients several days to get their test results back. Hospital admissions in the capital have tripled in a fortnight, with the rolling average rising from 11 on September 2 to 34.7 by September 19. But the number is still a far cry from the 700-plus at the height of the pandemic in spring and only slightly higher than they were the start of July (around 25). For comparison, 13 times as many admissions were being recorded in March (425 on March 22) before the national lockdown was imposed. Meanwhile, swathes of towns in the North of England and parts of Wales will be hit with local lockdowns tonight in a bid to curb spiralling infections. Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed Wigan and Stockport are to have local restrictions that apply to the rest of Greater Manchester reintroduced. The Manchester towns were previously removed from restrictions on meeting with people in homes and private gardens after the infection rate fell in the boroughs. The case rate in Wigan currently stands at over 106 cases per 100,000, whilst Stockport has 71 cases per 100,000. From midnight tonight, residents will be banned from mixing indoors or in gardens with people outside their immediate household. The same raft of measures have also been announced in Leeds and Blackpool - which now follows Lancashire in being placed under local lockdown restrictions, having escaped the measures last Friday. Welsh officials yesterday confirmed Cardiff and Swansea will be hit by the same measures from 6pm on Sunday, while the town of Llanelli will see the new rules come in on Saturday at 6pm. The addition of these areas would take the number of people living under local restrictions to more than 17million across the UK. Dozens of areas across England which have seen Covid-19 infection rates spiral over the past month are currently on the watchlist, which is updated every Friday. Authorities are separated into three different categories based on how quickly outbreaks are growing. Local restrictions are imposed in areas carrying the 'intervention' tag, while more testing is made available for boroughs listed as being of 'concern' and more detailed plans to control cases are made for areas under 'enhanced support'. London is thought to be on the brink of a localised lockdown. Official government data shows the capital recorded 620 more cases of Covid-19 yesterday - twice as high as the rate last week Covid-19 hospital admissions in the capital have tripled in a fortnight, with the seven-day average rising from 11 on September 2 to 33.4 by September 18. But the number of hospitalisations in the city is still a far cry from the 700-plus at the height of the pandemic in spring and only slightly higher than they were the start of July (around 25), when the country was deemed safe to reopen again Public Health England data shows only a handful of London's 32 boroughs are now seeing a sustained rise in infections - including Redbridge, Hounslow, Barking and Dagenham and Enfield. The data is set to be updated yesterday, but gives an indication of which boroughs are struggling the most King's College London (KCL) scientists behind the COVID Symptom Tracker mobile app estimate there were at least 16,310 daily cases of the disease in the last week, more than double the 7,536 estimated last week The Office for National Statistics (ONS) believes it has risen 60 per cent over the same time frame and that there are now 9,600 infections a day London Mayor Sadiq Khan pressed for more measures to be imposed to stop cases rising any more before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a nation-wide 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants and encouraged working from home again. Pictured: Soho Leeds is also expected to be hit with new restrictions from midnight, including 'more household restrictions' along the lines of those already in force across three of the West Yorkshire districts, because of a rise in cases WHAT AREAS ARE ON THE MOST RECENT WATCHLIST? The most recent watchlist, published last Friday, included: INTERVENTION (number of infections recorded up to September 15 for every 100,000 people living there) BOLTON - 212.7 BLACKBURN WITH DARWEN - 122.9 OADBY AND WIGSTON - 119.2 HYNDBURN - 117.6 PRESTON - 105.1 WARRINGTON - 105.0 TAMESIDE - 103.5 SUNDERLAND - 103.1 OLDHAM - 98.9 BIRMINGHAM - 98.0 BRADFORD - 97.5 LIVERPOOL - 95.8 WIRRAL - 95.6 BURNLEY - 93.8 KNOWSLEY - 92.9 ST HELENS - 91.6 BURY - 90.5 SALFORD - 88.8 LEICESTER - 86.7 SOUTH TYNESIDE - 86.5 ROCHDALE - 84.1 MANCHESTER - 83.6 GATESHEAD - 77.5 SOLIHULL - 77.2 SANDWELL - 72.1 NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE - 69.6 PENDLE - 61.3 HALTON - 60.7 KIRKLEES - 60.4 WOLVERHAMPTON - 60.3 CALDERDALE - 59.5 ROSSENDALE - 57.8 SOUTH RIBBLE - 52.5 SEFTON - 49.0 NORTH TYNESIDE - 48.5 WEST LANCASHIRE - 47.4 COUNTY DURHAM - 46.7 TRAFFORD - 45.7 CHORLEY - 35.1 WYRE - 34.2 FYLDE - 28.8 NORTHUMBERLAND - 24.7 LANCASTER - 22.9 RIBBLE VALLEY - 18.3 ENHANCED SUPPORT LEEDS - 75.5 BLABY - 65.7 STOCKPORT - 48.7 CONCERN SELBY - 65.1 HARTLEPOOL - 55.8 SHEFFIELD - 53.7 SPELTHORNE - 53.4 CORBY - 50.8 MIDDLESBROUGH - 47.0 NORTHAMPTON - 42.6 SCARBOROUGH - 42.3 HERTSMERE - 37.4 PETERBOROUGH - 30.3 STOKE-ON-TRENT - 27.4 Advertisement In other coronavirus developments: National debt hit another record high of more than 2trillion at the end of August as Tory MPs demand the Government urgently set out how the UK will pay for the coronavirus crisis after Rishi Sunak's latest bailout; Row over Rishi's 3bn jobs rescue: Bosses say scheme won't save jobs because there's 'little incentive' to pay wages of staff not in work while Next boss Lord Wolfson warns UK economy risks 'becoming HOOKED' on handouts; Scottish students face 'red and yellow cards' for breaking Covid rules after freshers were caught throwing illegal parties at university halls; Furious Tories nickname Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance 'Witless and Unbalanced' as 40 MPs urge Boris Johnson to be 'smart' and give Parliament a vote on all new lockdown rules; A long-served female worker at Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire pudding plant dies while another is seriously ill in hospital - two weeks after Covid outbreak. A weekly report by SAGE yesterday said that the R rate for the UK appears to be between 1.2 and 1.5, and is the same in England. These are the highest estimates the chief scientists have given since their regular updates began. The R appears to be highest in London, the Midlands, North West and the North East, where it is thought to be at the same rate as the UK. This means each infected case passes it on to 1.2 to 1.5 others, or every 10 infect 12 or 15 more. SAGE cautions, however, that its estimates of R are around three weeks out of date each time they are published, because they are calculated by watching how the numbers of positive tests and hospital cases change over time. The advisory panel also says the growth rate has increased, and the outbreak may now be increasing in size by between four and eight per cent each day. Last week it said it was slightly lower at between three and seven per cent. But it admitted outbreaks could be growing by as much as nine per cent each day in the South West. The decision to put London on the national watchlist comes as a striking MailOnline map yesterday suggested that London's Covid-19 hotspots may be linked by the city's bustling underground network. Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, and Sutton none of which have a Tube station have the lowest infection rates across the entire city. London Councils, a cross-party organisation which represents all 32 boroughs and the City of London, said the English capital was being placed on the national Covid-19 watchlist. The list is divided between 'areas of intervention' which usually have local lockdown restrictions, areas of 'enhanced support', given more testing for example, and' areas of concern' that are closely monitored. London Councils said no additional measures were being taken in the city but that 'the city's testing capacity is boosted so that Londoners have timely access to Covid-19 tests and the government must ensure that this is sustained from now on'. The organisation said London's Its entry on the list should serve as a 'stark reminder that now is time for all Londoners to pull together and take action'. The watchlist is determined by Health Secretary Matt Hancock after studying epidemiological advice from the chief medical officer, NHS Test and Trace, the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England. Sian Berry, Green Party co-leader and London Mayor candidate, said: 'We have lacked test information in London for weeks, which has caused huge worry for all of us in local and regional government,' according to The Evening Standard. 'The news that Public Health England has added London to its list of areas of concern, using estimates from other data, shows what a crucial time this is, and how all our actions can make a difference. 'The 10pm closing time for bars and restaurants has already led to crowded scenes on public transport that worry me greatly. My strong advice to Londoners is to avoid going out in the next few days unless you have to, and find other ways to see friends and family. 'Like you, I am sad, tired and weary after six months of a gruelling national crisis, but we're in a dangerous moment, lacking data and tests, and we must work together as a city amid rising signs of infection.' Meanwhile, Blackpool will have extra Covid-19 restrictions imposed for the first time from Saturday along with two other North West towns facing further clampdowns. Wigan and Stockport, which had been exempt from wider restrictions imposed on Greater Manchester, will now face the same restrictions as the rest of the region. Blackpool, which had been exempt from restrictions in the rest of Lancashire, will join the rest of the county in having to follow the same rules. The resort was controversially left out of Lancashire restrictions imposed recently but then saw a huge surge in visitors during the sunny weather last weekend. Scott Benton, Conservative MP for Blackpool South writing on his Facebook page, said the town's council and the Government had now decided to impose additional restrictions on the resort, which will bring it into line with the rest of Lancashire which had extra restrictions imposed last week. Mr Benton said when the decision was made to impose additional restrictions on the rest of Lancashire at the beginning of last week, the Blackpool infection rate was 23 cases per 100,000 people at that time and significantly below the average for the rest of Lancashire. But by Wednesday the town's infection rate had increased to 63 cases per 100,000, still below the average for the whole of Lancashire but a significant rise in cases over the last week. Mr Benton's post on Facebook said: 'The rise in cases is particularly high in areas of north Blackpool and the evidence is that this is due to transmission within the community rather than as a result of tourism (this explains why our local infection rate has remained low in comparison to other areas in the North West despite visitors coming here all summer). HOW HAS THE R RATE CHANGED FROM LAST WEEK? AREA UK England -- East London Midlands NE and Yorks North West South East South West THIS WEEK 1.2 - 1.5 1.2 - 1.5 1.1 - 1.3 1.2 - 1.5 1.2 - 1.5 1.2 - 1.5 1.2 - 1.5 1.0 - 1.3 1.1 - 1.4 LAST WEEK 1.1 - 1.4 1.2 - 1.4 1.0 - 1.3 1.1 - 1.4 1.2 - 1.5 1.2 - 1.4 1.2 - 1.5 1.1 - 1.4 0.9 - 1.6 Advertisement HOW HAS THE GROWTH RATE CHANGED FROM LAST WEEK? AREA UK England -- East London Midlands NE and Yorks North West South East South West THIS WEEK 4% to 8% 4% to 8% 1% to 4% 4% to 9% 3% to 7% 4% to 8% 3% to 9% 1% to 5% 1% to 6% LAST WEEK 3% to 7% 2% to 7% 0% to 5% 3% to 7% 4% to 8% 3% to 8% 3% to 8% 3% to 7% 0% to 9% Advertisement 'It is vital that we take sensible steps now to reduce the rate of transmission which is why these new restrictions are being applied. 'Nobody wants a second full lockdown and that idea behind these new rules is to slow the spread of Covid-19 so that we do not end up in a position where a full lockdown has to be considered.' Lisa Nandy, Labour MP for Wigan, said that additional restrictions on mixing between households are to be reimposed on the borough in line with most of Greater Manchester. She tweeted: 'The Health Minister confirmed in a call that a rise in infections in Wigan means we're subject to wider Greater Manchester restrictions again.' Restrictions were previously eased in Wigan on August 26 as infection rates were low but latest seven-day rolling figures show 106.2 positive cases per 100,000 population. Stockport is facing the same additional restrictions being re-imposed in Wigan which bans mixing between households which had been allowed since September 2. The restrictions are expected to come in from midnight. Matt Hancock said in a statement yesterday: 'The latest data shows a sharp increase in incidence rates per 100,000 population in Leeds, Blackpool, Wigan and Stockport, which are significantly above the national average. 'As a result, we are making regulations which take effect from Saturday 26 September and will impose restrictions on inter-household mixing in private dwellings and gardens in Leeds, Stockport, Wigan and Blackpool. 'This is in line with measures seen elsewhere in the country, such as Leicester and the West Midlands. People who live in these areas will not be allowed to gather in a private dwelling or garden with any other household unless in a support bubble. People from anywhere else will also not be allowed to gather with another household in a private dwelling or garden in these areas. 'We have also reviewed the position in Leicester, the Borough of Oadby and Wigston, Birmingham, Solihull, Sandwell, Wolverhampton, Bolton, Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale and the remaining local authorities in Greater Manchester and have decided to maintain their position on the watchlist as areas of intervention, as well as the current restrictions in these areas.' Leeds director of public health Victoria Eaton said the city's virus rate was 98.5 per 100,000 people with a positive testing rate of 8.4 per cent. Pictured: Students and young people out drinking in the city this week Wednesday night out in Leeds: Revellers queue up to party on the last night before the new 10pm curfew announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson SCOTLAND RECORDS 558 NEW CASES AS NICOLA STURGEON SAYS STUDENTS NOT TO BLAME FOR SPIKE Nicola Sturgeon has insisted students are not to blame for a rise in coronavirus outbreaks, as she announced a record daily total of new Covid-19 cases. Hundreds of students at universities across Scotland are self-isolating after outbreaks of the virus. All students face disciplinary action if they break strict measures imposed on them by their universities, including bans on visiting pubs over this weekend and restrictions on socialising. Speaking at the daily briefing in Edinburgh, the First Minister said 558 people tested positive for coronavirus in Scotland in the past 24 hour, bringing the total to 26,518. This is the highest daily total since the pandemic began - but it is impossible to compare numbers now to those recorded during the first wave because so few tests were carried out in March and April. There has also been a rise in the positivity rates of tests to 9.5 per cent, but no new deaths have been recorded - meaning the total number of fatalities remains at 2,510. Addressing students, Ms Sturgeon said: 'I am so sorry, so heart sorry, that this time of your lives is being made as tough as it is just now - I really feel for you, but I feel especially for those of you starting university for the first time and, of course, living alone for the first time. 'This is an exciting time in your lives but I remember from my own experience... that it's also a time of adjustment and it's also a time of home sickness as well, and that's the case for students every year without Covid-19 but it is much more difficult given the circumstances you are all facing right now.' She said some students feel they are being blamed for the spread of Covid-19 but 'that is not the case'. 'It's not your fault,' she added. Advertisement The statement continues: 'This will be difficult news for the people living in these areas, profoundly affecting their daily lives. These decisions are not taken lightly, and such measures will be kept under review and in place no longer than they are necessary. 'There are exemptions to these measures so people can still meet with those in their support bubble. There are other limited exemptions such as for work purposes or to provide care or assistance to a vulnerable person. 'Through the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Protected Areas and Linked Childcare Households) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, people may create an exclusive childcare bubble for the purposes of informal childcare for children under 14, helping ease pressure on those living under local restrictions so they can get to work.' Meanwhile the council leader of Leeds Judith Blake said she expected Leeds will be made an 'area of intervention' this Friday, up from enhanced support last week. It means 'more household restrictions along the lines of those already in force across three of the West Yorkshire districts in Bradford, Kirkless and Calderdale', she said. From Tuesday, people in those areas have been banned from socialising with anyone not part of their household or support bubble in private homes and gardens. Ms Blake told reporters: 'We expect them to come in from midnight.' The addition of Leeds' 793,000 population would take the number of people living under local restrictions to more than 17million people across the UK. Leeds director of public health Victoria Eaton said the city's virus rate was 98.5 per 100,000 people with a positive testing rate of 8.4 per cent. For comparison, Bolton's is 218.4 and the highest in England. Mr Eaton said: 'The spread of the virus is very dynamic across the city. It's clear to see we have very widespread community transmissions right across the city. 'We have high rates in some of our student areas which we have increased more recently. It's clearly not just an issue for student areas.' She said cases were rising in all age groups, not just young adults and that compliance with self-isolation rules was low in Leeds. 'We want to find ways to support local people to isolate,' she said. 'The expectation is the restrictions will be in place for a longer period of time, potentially right through the winter.' Both London and Leeds have been feared to be tinkering on the brink of a 'local lockdown' for at least a week. London Mayor Sadiq Khan pressed for more measures to be imposed to stop cases rising any more before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a nation-wide 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants and encouraged working from home again. Infections across the city has more than doubled since August, with the seven-day weekly average number of cases rising from 86 per 100,000 to 262 per 100,000. Ministers are said to be mulling a decision to place more than 9million people in the city under even tighter restrictions, if the new suite of national social distancing measures announced by the Government this week fail to curb climbing numbers. The most up-to-date statistics released by Public Health England (PHE), which cover the week ending September 18, reveal that just a single borough in the capital Redbridge ranks among the top 40 worst-hit regions of the country. But infection rates in 20 London boroughs are higher than areas of England already hit by restrictions. PHE will publish its latest batch of figures on infections yesterday afternoon which will also confirm London's spot on the watchlist. It comes as the Welsh Government announce Cardiff and Swansea will go into local lockdown from 6pm on Sunday, and the town of Llanelli on Saturday at 6pm. Under the restrictions, people will not be able to enter or leave the areas without a reasonable excuse. They will not be able to meet indoors with anyone they do not live with, with extended households suspended. People must work from home when possible, health minister Vaughan Gething told a press conference in Cardiff. Over the past seven days, Cardiff reached a test positivity rate of 3.8 per cent, exceeding the Welsh Government's 'amber' threshold of 2.5 per cent part of its 'traffic light roadmap' strategy for managing the pandemic. On Thursday, Cardiff Council leader Huw Thomas said the capital had seen 38.2 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people over the past five days. Swansea's rate is 49.8. From 6pm on Thursday, changes to coronavirus regulations mean Welsh hospitality businesses including pubs, cafes, restaurants, sports clubs and casinos must not supply alcohol between 10pm and 6am the following day. Licensed premises will only be able to provide table service for customers when consuming food or drink, and following a 20-minute period to allow customers to finish their drinks at 10pm, must close by 10.20pm. During a behind-closed-doors briefing this week, Kevin Fenton, director of Public Health England in London, told Mayor Mr Khan and the leaders of all 32 boroughs that all signs indicated the disease was making a rapid resurgence in the city. Professor Fenton argued testing infrastructure had been stripped out of the capital and reallocated to hotspots in the north, meaning many Londoners may have gone undiagnosed. He warned cases could be being massively under-reported due to Londoners struggling to get access to tests, and that increased hospital admissions and a rising number of calls to 111 were better indicators that London was in the midst of an outbreak as serious as in the northeast. Professor Fenton told The Times: 'We are seeing a rising tide of coronavirus cases in London across a broad range of ages. This is no longer limited to young people in their twenties.' He said that 'whilst the number of cases by borough varies, the general trend across the city is one of steadily increasing transmission and if that continues then the situation may escalate'. Professor Fenton revealed that about that about a fifth of testing capacity had been stripped from the capital and reallocated to hotspots in the north this month. In the middle of August there were about 90,000 tests being done every week in London, but there were just 65,000 carried out last week, according to Professor Fenton. But the latest Department of Health figures show testing in London has actually increased week-on-week. There were 85,000 tests done across the capital in the week up to September 16, up from 75,000 the previous seven days. Even the capital's hotspots are enjoying more access to swabs - Barking carried out 2,669 tests in the week ending September 16, 25 per cent more than the week before, when 2,036 swabs were done. In Redbridge, 3,370 residents were checked for the virus in the latest reporting period, compared to 3,046 the week prior, a rise of nearly 10 per cent. BETWEEN 9,000 AND 16,000 PEOPLE GETTING INFECTED EACH DAY, DATA SHOWS The North West is still bearing most of the brunt of the second wave, but Yorkshire, London and the North East are seeing significant outbreaks Between 9,000 and 16,000 Britons are getting infected with coronavirus every day, according to researchers monitoring the UK's outbreak. King's College London (KCL) scientists behind the COVID Symptom Tracker mobile app estimate there were at least 16,310 daily cases of the disease in the last week, more than double the 7,536 estimated last week. The Office for National Statistics, a Government-run agency, has made a more modest estimate yesterday, saying it thinks around 9,600 people are contracting the virus every day, a 60 per cent rise from the 6,000 a week prior. Both surveillance projects are picking up far more than the Government's official testing programme, which recorded 6,000-plus cases on Thursday and Wednesday. KCL collects its data by sending tests to people who report tell-tale symptoms of Covid-19 into the mobile app, while the ONS study sends tests to random households regardless of their health status. Data from the symptom-tracking app, which has seen millions of Brits sign up, suggests there are nearly 150,000 people currently suffering symptomatic Covid-19, although many more will have no symptoms. This figure has more than doubled since last week, when there were about 70,000 symptomatic patients. The chief scientist behind the app said it was fresh evidence the crisis was 'rising at an alarming rate'. The ONS, on the other hand, estimates that about 113,000 people are currently carrying the virus - equating to around one in 500 people - although the number-crunching body only looks at England and Wales. It comes as Matt Hancock yesterday suggested the true number of cases occurring each day was in the region of 10,000. And the Health Secretary pointed out that the spike now is nowhere near levels seen during the darkest days of the crisis in March and April, when 100,000 people were getting infected every 24 hours. Advertisement Official figures show the outbreak may finally be slowing down, despite hospital admissions for coronavirus having tripled in a fortnight and public health chiefs warning of a 'rising tide' of the virus in the capital. Only a handful of boroughs now seeing a sustained rise in infections including Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham, two of the three worst-hit parts of the capital. Redbridge, in east London, is suffering the highest number of infections of anywhere in the capital, with a weekly case rate of 34.2 per 100,000 people, according to PHE data up to September 18. The borough of 300,000 people currently has just the 40th highest infection rate in the UK but it has suffered a sustained increase in diagnoses of Covid-19 over the past month and a half. Figures show infections have tripled in Redbridge since September 4, when the rate was 11.2 per 100,000 per week, and have risen by tenfold since the start of August (3.3). And Redbridge's actual number of new infections being diagnosed each day figures which are provided by the Department of Health is one of the only borough's to still be on the up. It went from a rolling seven-day average of three cases at the end of August to almost 23 at the end of last week. The Department of Health data, published on the government's coronavirus dashboard, takes into account daily cases by specimen date, meaning they lag behind by a few days because it can take upwards of 72 hours to get a result back. The west London borough of Hounslow has been the second worst-hit region in the capital, with a weekly case rate of 32.5 per 100,000 in the week ending September 18. Like Redbridge, Hounslow has seen cases triple in the past three weeks after rising from 5.9 new infections per 100,000 people at the start of August. But Department of Health data shows cases in Hounslow, home to 290,000 people, have started to fall. Around 16 actual cases were being diagnosed each day on September 7, up from four at the end of August. But this dropped to below nine on the most recent full-day of data, September 16. Hounslow has one of the largest South Asian populations in the country - about 20 per cent, compared to the 2 per cent national average - who have been disproportionately affected the virus throughout the crisis. The weekly infection rates in both boroughs are still significantly lower than the UK average, which is about 47 per 100,000. Although this figure is being skewed upwards due to outbreaks in the likes of Bolton, Blackburn and Oldham. The east London borough of Barking and Dagenham is suffering 29.3 infections per 100,000, having more than doubled since the start of the month, when the case rate was 12.3 per 100,000, and quadrupling since August 1 (5.9 per 100,000). Department of Health figures suggest its rolling seven-day average number of daily infections is also still on the up. The borough, home to around 210,000 people, recorded an average of four cases a day at the end of August. This jumped to around nine during the start of September before levelling off. But figures for the past week, which are not yet deemed to be accurate because of the three-day lag it takes for coronavirus test samples to be analysed, suggest it may yet be hit by another spike. Rounding out the top 10 worst-hit boroughs in London for infection rates are Enfield (27.3), Newham (27), Ealing (26.9), Hackney (25.7), Tower Hamlets (25.5), Hammersmith and Fulham (24.8), Harrow (24.4) and Havering (24.4), all of which were up on the week before except Newham. Figures show infections have tripled in Redbridge since September 4, when the rate was 11.2 per 100,000 per week, and have risen by tenfold since the start of August (3.3) The east London borough of Barking and Dagenham is suffering 29.3 infections per 100,000, having more than doubled since the start of the month, when the case rate was 12.3 per 100,000, and quadrupling since August 1 (5.9 per 100,000) The west London borough of Hounslow has been the second worst-hit region in the capital, with a weekly case rate of 32.5 per 100,000 in the week ending September 18 MailOnline revealed yesterday London's Covid-19 hotspots could be linked by the city's bustling underground network, according to a striking map based on government data. The cluster of cases appear to be centered along the 11 Tube-lines used by some 2million people every day before the pandemic struck. It means areas in the north west and north east of London may be suffering from bigger outbreaks than the south, simply because they have more public transport links. Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, and Sutton none of which have a Tube station have the lowest infection rates across the entire city. The connection has previously been discovered by experts looking at other contagious respiratory diseases that spread via droplets, such as the coronavirus. British scientists have previously linked busy Tube stations to worse flu outbreaks. The more changes passengers needed to make on their journey, the more contact they were likely to have with other people. This would potentially be the case with London's three top hotspots Redbridge, Hounslow, and Barking and Dagenham all of which are only served by one Tube line. Nine of 32 boroughs which were found to have higher cases of the flu, based solely on their London underground connections, now also have higher Covid-19 infection rates. Scientists say the Tube is the 'perfect environment' for a virus to spread because of crowding, poor ventilation and dirty surfaces touched by millions. But experts say the pattern may be more complicated than that it may be more key workers, who are vulnerable to picking up the virus because they come into close contact with lots of people, choose to live near a Tube line in order to get around easier, while those able to work from home live further out in the suburban commuter belt. Infection rates may also be heavily influenced by the borough's deprivation, as Government studies have shown poorer areas have been shown to have more Covid-19 deaths, and ethnic diversity, as Black, Asian and ethnic minorities have been harder hit by the pandemic for a multitude of reasons. Millions of travellers were put off the tube during the peak of the first wave of the coronavirus because the Government ruled against any travel other than essential. But since restrictions have been lifted in response to the outbreak dwindling, hundreds of thousands more journeys are now being made. Tube capacity has risen to around 35 per cent, up from four per cent in April and May. Cases also appear to keep rising in London alongside the uptick in journeys. MailOnline analysis last week revealed that 20 boroughs in total across London have infection rates higher than areas of England already hit by restrictions, including Kensington and Chelsea (23.7), Wandsworth (23), Brent 22.7. Public Health England's most recent watchlist shows the authority in England with the lowest case rate considered an 'area of intervention' the highest degree of concern is Ribble Valley, with 18.3 cases per 100,000. Meanwhile, several boroughs in the capital have managed to keep virus cases suppressed since August, despite the upwards trend seen across the nation. The south London borough of Sutton ranks among the 25 least affected areas in England, with a current weekly case rate of 9.3 per 100,000, according to PHE data up to September 18. This actually fell from the previous week (10.3) and has just by just 45 per cent from the start of August (6.4). Bromley (11.8), Bexley (12.1), Merton (13.6), Croydon (14) and Kingston upon Thames (14.3) have the five lowest weekly infection rates after Sutton. All of those boroughs, excluding Merton, do not have an underground station, which may partly explain the low number of cases. British scientists have previously linked busy tube stations to worse flu outbreaks. Testing bosses say they've had to prioritise resources at a time when the country is struggling to ramp up capacity fast enough to deal with the looming second wave. Boris Johnson has pledged for the UK to be able to process 500,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of next month, more than double the current 242,000 capacity. But industry insiders say this target could be missed because of delays in machines and chemicals. Meanwhile, between 9,000 and 16,000 Britons are getting infected with coronavirus every day, according to researchers monitoring the UK's outbreak. King's College London (KCL) scientists behind the COVID Symptom Tracker mobile app estimate there were at least 16,310 daily cases of the disease in the last week, more than double the 7,536 estimated last week. The Office for National Statistics, a Government-run agency, has made a more modest estimate yesterday, saying it thinks around 9,600 people are contracting the virus every day, a 60 per cent rise from the 6,000 a week prior. Both surveillance projects are picking up far more than the Government's official testing programme, which recorded 6,000-plus cases on Thursday and Wednesday. KCL collects its data by sending tests to people who report tell-tale symptoms of Covid-19 into the mobile app, while the ONS study sends tests to random households regardless of their health status. Data from the symptom-tracking app, which has seen millions of Brits sign up, suggests there are nearly 150,000 people currently suffering symptomatic Covid-19, although many more will have no symptoms. This figure has more than doubled since last week, when there were about 70,000 symptomatic patients. The chief scientist behind the app said it was fresh evidence the crisis was 'rising at an alarming rate'. The ONS, on the other hand, estimates that about 113,000 people are currently carrying the virus - equating to around one in 500 people - although the number-crunching body only looks at England and Wales. It comes as Matt Hancock yesterday suggested the true number of cases occurring each day was in the region of 10,000. And the Health Secretary pointed out that the spike now is nowhere near levels seen during the darkest days of the crisis in March and April, when 100,000 people were getting infected every 24 hours. KCL has based its latest estimates on nearly 7,000 tests this week, of which 151 were positive - about three times more than the ONS. More positive tests improves the accuracy of the data but the study may have a slight bias because it only swabs people who are already ill. The ONS study sends tests to random groups of people, which may give a better indication of the true scale of the virus. But the real number of infections is likely to lie somewhere in the middle, and both data-sets are being fed into Government to help steer it through the crisis. KCL's fresh batch of data was based on 6,847 swab tests done between September 7 and September 20 from people right across the UK, during which 151 people tested positive for the virus. Researchers then extrapolate this data to the general population to make estimates about the virus's trajectory. The app estimates 147,498 people have symptomatic Covid-19 in the UK right now, with 55,201 patients in England, 14,319 in Scotland and 9,075 in Wales. They did not make estimates for Northern Ireland. Almost half of the new daily infections are occurring in the North of England (7,778) but London, Glasgow and Belfast are also seeing 'worrying' rises, according to the KCL team. Broken down, the North West of England is being battered hardest by the latest surge in infections, with estimated cases tripling in the last seven days from 12,544 to 36,316. In the North East and Yorkshire and London, infections have more than doubled from 12,916 to 27,731 and 9,291 to 18,200, respectively. The researchers now predict the reproduction 'R' rate - the average number of people each Covid-19 patient infects - is dangerously high across the UK - 1.4 in England and Wales and 1.3 in Scotland. Experts say keeping the R squashed below 1.0 is essential to prevent the outbreak from growing exponentially and spiralling out of control. Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London and the brains behind the app, said: 'The number of cases in the UK continues to rise at an alarming rate as we are seeing figures doubling weekly across the country, in particular we are worried about places like London and other major cities like Manchester, Belfast and Glasgow where cases are surging and the R value is around 1.4.' The following address was given by the Cardinal Under-secretary of the Section for Migrants and Refugees of the Holy Sees Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (smr) at an online event organized by the Jesuit Refugee Service and the International Union of Superiors General in collaboration with smr in preparation for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees to be celebrated on Sunday, 27 September. Speakers from around the world took part to discuss the causes and challenges of internally displaced persons and reflect on the Holy Fathers call to welcome, protect, promote, and integrate them. The Cardinal spoke in English. The Church has been celebrating the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) since 1914. It is always an occasion to express concern for different vulnerable people on the move; to pray for them as they face many challenges; and to increase awareness about the opportunities that migration offers. Every year the WDMR is the last Sunday of September; in 2020 it will be celebrated this coming Sunday, 27 September. As the title for his annual message, the Holy Father has chosen Forced like Jesus Christ to flee. Pope Francis urges us this year to discover the reality of internally displaced people (IDPs) more deeply. But at this challenging time for all the human family, he has chosen to broaden the scope: In the light of the tragic events that have marked 2020, I would like this Message, although concerned with internally displaced persons, to embrace all those who are experiencing situations of precariousness, abandonment, marginalization and rejection as a result of Covid-19. Displaced people offer us an opportunity to discover hidden parts of humanity and deepen our understanding of the complexities of our world. Through them, we are invited to meet the Lord, even though our eyes find it hard to recognize him: his clothing in tatters, his feet dirty, his face disfigured, his body wounded, his tongue unable to speak our language.(1) We are called to respond to this pastoral challenge with the four verbs the Holy Father designated in his Message for this Day in 2018: welcome, protect, promote and integrate. The Holy Father augments those four words this year with six pairs of verbs that deal with very practical actions. They are linked together in a challenging way: 1. You have to know in order to understand. 2. It is necessary to be close in order to serve. 3. In order to be reconciled, we need to listen. 4. In order to grow, it is necessary to share. 5. We need to be involved in order to promote. 6. It is necessary to cooperate in order to build. In each pair, the Pope presents a basic attitude or skill for achieving deeply important human objectives such as reconciliation or growth. He wishes us the courage to create spaces where everyone can recognize that they are called, and to allow new forms of hospitality, fraternity and solidarity.(2) Now I invite you to watch a video in which the Holy Father explores one of the sub-themes of his message: To share in order to grow together, without leaving anyone out. An IDP testifies how sharing makes us more human, makes us believe more in God and feel that we are His children.(3) With the encouragement of both the Holy Father and an IDP, let me share two considerations. Church actors are supposed to work together and share the same objectives in relation to IDPs. Catholic organisations like JRS and many of the religious congregations who are part of todays event are working with local churches in serving IDPs. Your closeness can promote listening that is more attentive to what IDPs need, hope and aspire to. It can also stimulate the participation of internally displaced persons of all backgrounds and capacities in decisions that affect them and in languages and formats they understand. IDPs should participate in the design and delivery of protection and assistance responses; in planning and implementing solutions that affect them; and in the development of laws, policies and strategies related to internal displacement. The Vaticans Migrants and Refugees Section has developed, with the support of JRS and others, the Pastoral Orientations on Internal Displacement, which we hope can be of support to this inspiring collaborative work. While the protection of IDPs is the primary responsibility of national authorities, it requires a system-wide approach and shared efforts. All actors, including local churches, should join efforts to raise the profile of internal displacement as a global issue. Second consideration: IDPs can be a positive force of change. They demonstrate a remarkable degree of hope, resilience and strength. The determination, skills and capacities with which they rebuild their lives can contribute substantially to enhancing the societies that have become their new homes. Local action to support the internally displaced can contribute towards the well-being of the whole community. Addressing the needs of IDPs and supporting their networks and interactions with local residents will help build community, and move towards recovery, social cohesion, peace, security and development. Because we are close to our IDP brothers and sisters, we are called to reveal the beauty and the capacities they have. This is the beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ. As the Holy Father expresses very well in his Message: In each of these people, forced to flee to safety, Jesus is present as he was at the time of Herod. In the faces of the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, strangers and prisoners, we are called to see the face of Christ who pleads with us to help (cf. Mt 25:31-46). If we can recognize him in those faces, we will be the ones to thank him for having been able to meet, love and serve him in them. Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ 1 Pope Francis, Message for the 2020 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, quoting Homily, 15 February 2019. 2 Pope Francis, Message for the 2020 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, quoting Meditation in Saint Peters Square, 27 March 2020. 3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a MKP8lhC504rpVQ-BfYo6TUBJqo Qr24KN/view (1 min. 23 sec.) Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Rose Oil Market Growth & Trends The global rose oil market size is expected to reach USD 442.0 million by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a CAGR of 6.8% over the forecast period. The market is driven by rising demand for the natural and organic ingredients in the fragrance and cosmetic industry. Moreover, various antimicrobial and anti-bacterial properties are anticipated to increase the product demand in the pharmaceutical sector over the forecast period. The market is driven by shift in the consumer preference towards the organic products used in the cosmetic industry. Moreover, proven skin benefits provided by the rose oil in curing various diseases is a key factor fueling the market growth. Rose oil also helps in curing depression and irritation, thereby maintaining a good wellness state of a body. Rose oil has also been used by the fragrance companies in the manufacturing of various products. It is believed that rose aroma provides calmness and relaxation to the mind due to its pleasing aroma. This is one of the reasons why rose oil cultivated by the conventional method has higher demand in the fragrance and perfume industry. Europe held the largest market share in 2018 due to increased awareness among consumers regarding the use of natural fragrance ingredients, along with growing product launches in the market. Europe is the largest market for the natural fragrance ingredients and is anticipated to witness significant growth over the forecast period. Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth over the forecast period. Rise in the sales of pharmaceutical products in this region is anticipated to increase the demand for rose oil over the forecast period. Growing consumer awareness in countries such as China, Japan, and India is increasing the production facilities for raw material in the country to reduce the import duty in market. Various strategic initiatives such as product launches, mergers and acquisitions, and capacity expansion are adopted by many manufacturers to retain their position in the market. Some of the key players in the market are Sigma-Aldrich, Inc.; Ernesto Ventos SA; Alteya Organics, LLC; Givaudan SA; Firmenich International SA; Symrise AG; V. MANE FILS SA; Robertet SA; International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.; and BERJE INC. Production of raw material for rose oil is highly concentrated in Bulgaria and Turkey only. Request a free sample copy or view report summary: Rose Oil Market Report Rose Oil Market Report Highlights Organic products are projected to ascend at the fastest CAGR of 8.7% over the forecast period The fragrance and cosmetics application segment dominated the global market with an overall share of 70.1% in 2018 Europe dominated the global rose oil market in 2018, accounting for 40.2% share of the global revenue. This trend is projected to continue over the next few years Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness the fastest growth in the coming years due to increasing disposable income in India, South Korea, China, and Japan. Rose Oil Market Segmentation Grand View Research has segmented the global rose oil market on the basis of product, application, and region: Rose Oil Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2025) Organic Conventional Rose Oil Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2025) Fragrance & Cosmetics Pharmaceuticals Food & Beverages Rose Oil Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2025) North America US. Europe France UK. Asia Pacific China Japan Central & South America Brazil Middle East & Africa South Africa 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. Grant Cardone, internationally-known business guru, marketer, billion-dollar real estate investor and best-selling author of The 10X Rule, recently announced his upcoming 10X Challenge. This will be a 10-day program in which Cardone and numerous celebrity guest speakers will join together every day for a live event on Facebook. The goal of the 10X Challenge is to help people around the world improve all aspects of their lives especially those who have been affected by the pandemic and other events. The 10X Challenge is named for Cardones 10X philosophy whose core principles are that massive success requires massive action and that people must be willing to do what others are not in order to attain their financial and life goals. The 10X Challenge begins September 28th and continues for 10 days until October 7th. Each episode of the challenge will begin at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Anyone interested in joining the 10X Challenge can learn more at http://www.grantcardone.com/challenge. In addition to Cardone and his wife, Elena, also a prime mover in various business ventures, the 10X Challenge will feature 14 celebrity guest speakers who have achieved remarkable success in their respective fields. The all-star roster includes Daymond John from ABCs Shark Tank, #1 New York Times bestselling author and former monk, Jay Shetty, fashion designer and international brand creator, Rebecca Minkoff, Miami hospitality entrepreneur, David Grutman, champion athlete trainer, Tim Grover and many others with additional guests being announced daily. While the approximate total cost to hire all these speakers would be in the millions, the 10X Challenge is completely free of charge to all participants. During the 10X Challenge, for one hour every day, Cardone and his guests will share their life stories, their experiences, and their expertise along with the techniques and strategies they use to gain and maintain their phenomenal success, even today while so many others are struggling. Cardone and the rest of the speakers will set daily goals for the attendees and then guide them through the process of achieving those goals. When asked about the nature of the challenge itself, Cardone replied, The challenge is just showing up every day and doing the work. No one is going to come to your house and make your dreams come true. You gotta show up and get after it. In his numerous best-selling books, Cardone espouses the pursuit of ones goals in an aggressive, persistent manner with a commit now and figure out how later mentality. Cardone refers to this as over-promising and over-delivering. The idea for the 10X Challenge came to Cardone as he observed how so many people were being adversely affected by the effects of the pandemic. He was shocked by the ensuing economic consequences ranging from business closures to job losses numbering in the millions in the United States alone, to say nothing of the number of newly unemployed people around the world. Realizing that something had to be done, Cardone, who is famous for achieving enormous success on every level after overcoming almost unimaginable personal difficulties in his life, became determined to give as many people as possible a way to help themselves in as short a time as possible. As someone who is famous for achieving his goals through his rugged individualism, Cardone sincerely believes that everyone has the capability to improve their circumstances in every aspect of their life whether its personal, professional or financial. This belief is what led Cardone to write his bestselling 10X Rule whose success was the catalyst for a 10X movement which has spread around the world. In fact, 10X has become so popular that Cardone even hosts his own annual event in Las Vegas, The 10X Growth Conference, whose attendees number in the tens of thousands. In addition to leading the global 10X movement, Cardone owns and operates several successful business ventures including Cardone Capital which manages nearly $2 billion in multifamily real estate assets. Cardone also appears at speaking engagements around the globe to share his unparalleled expertise on sales and marketing. When not running his companies or flying around the world in his signature private jet, Cardone spends a significant amount of time raising funds for several charities including his own Grant Cardone Foundation, which seeks to assist at-risk youths, particularly those without fathers, as Cardone lost his own father at the age of ten. His foundation is extremely important to him since one of, if not the main guiding principle in Cardones life is to pay it forward now that he has achieved what most would call the pinnacle of success. This is the reason behind the creation of the 10X Challenge, so that Cardone can give the maximum number of people the information and tools they need to elevate themselves and live their best lives. Cardone concluded by saying, I am living proof that someone can rise up from rock-bottom to fulfill their ambitions and realize their dreams. Anyone who knows me should know that if I could do it then anyone can. If you give me ten hours Ill prove it to you. # # # For more information about the 10X Challenge go to http://www.grantcardone.com/challenge or contact: Sheri Hamilton Cardone Enterprises 310-777-0255 pr@grantcardone.com By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijans foreign trade turnover with neightouring Iran amounted to $204.2 million during the period of January-August 2020, local media has reported. During the reporting period, Azerbaijans foreign trade turnover with the United Arab Emirates amounted to $26 million and with Saudi Arabia to $8.3 million. Thus, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were the top three counties among the Persian Gulf with which Azerbaijan conducted the most trade operations. Moreover, these countries are also three leaders among the Persian Gulf countries, in terms of Azerbaijans import. Thus, import from Iran amounted to $181.6 million, from the United Arab Emirates to $18.7 million and from Saudi Arabia to $7.1 million. As to the CIS region, the top three leaders among CIS countries with which Azerbaijan conducted the most trade operations were Russia with $1.7 billion, Ukraine with $555 million and Belarus with $170 million. It should be noted that Russia was also Azerbaijans third largest trade partner during the reporting period after Italy and Turkey. Azerbaijans top three trading partners among European Union member states were Italy, Germany with $502.5 million and Greece with $354.7 million. Spain with $268.7 million, Mexico with $38.1 million and Ecuador with $27.6 million were the top three countries with which Azerbaijan conducted the most trade transactions from among Spanish-speaking countries. 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. The trade turnover with Italy accounted for $3.3 billion out of Azerbaijans overall trade turnover of $16.5 billion, which made Italy main trading partner in the period between January and August 2020. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 23:04:47|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's Supreme People's Court on Friday issued a guideline on the legal services provided by courts to add impetus to further opening-up. With 17 articles in six parts, the document highlights the principle of equal protection, aimed at providing a market environment in which Chinese and foreign parties engage in fair and impartial competition and are equally protected by the law. The litigants' rights to choose a competent court and the applicable laws and methods to deal with the dispute are guaranteed, according to the guideline. To promote the modernization of the trial system for foreign-related commercial and maritime cases, the guideline demands that the courts precisely ascertain and apply international treaties, conventions and foreign laws to strengthen the international credibility of adjudication. The newly released guideline calls for the appropriate handling of foreign-related commercial and maritime cases concerning cross-border trade, investment and shipping, as well as the COVID-19 epidemic. It requires further integration of foreign-related trials and the building of intelligent courts. In the meantime, the document also urges the building of a litigation service platform for extraterritorial litigants and the further development of the China International Commercial Court. In terms of intellectual property rights, the 17-article document stresses the need to implement the punitive compensation mechanism for intellectual property infringement cases. Enditem Q. I have always been interested in local residential heritage buildings and 40 years ago, I bought this early architectural model house from a local auction for $325. From information provided, I learned it was made circa 1880 by a craftsman, J.S. Sauve, as a model for a house he subsequently built in Portage-du-Fort, Que. He lived there until his death in 1930. The model was stored in his sons Ottawa home until his death in 1979. The model is in good condition and has the appearance of a Victorian doll house, although the interior is unfinished. All dimensions are approximately 91 cm (36 inches) and it weighs about 18 kg (40 pounds). The front door opens and the windows have glass and shades. The roof is metal and the chimneys are wood with painted bricks. Our downsize to a condo no longer allows room for my architectural folly (as my wife calls it!). I welcome your assistance in establishing a value. Thank you. Glen, Ottawa A. You did have a folly (also defined as a costly ornamental building) when purchased. But now NOT! I have not seen a 19th century example to know it and they are rare especially with the provenance you have. Even though many dollhouses did mock real homes, practicality for use is lacking for play or adult bibelots. Similar to model ships value is dictated on the quality of workmanship and details which are superb here with the spindled wraparound porch. Barkers at auction will ask for $1,500 to start. When the gavel sounds is anyones guess. Q. This heirloom cup and saucer set of six is from my husbands great-grandfather. Born in 1847 in the Eastern Townships, he later joined the Boston police. He walked the beat and became quite popular. He returned to Quebec around 1900. He brought back the set. My mother-in-law said that they were going-away gifts. The cups are about 9 cm in diameter (3.5 inches). The porcelain is very thin and delicate with no legible marks. Im hoping you can identify these for me. Im wondering if the others should be repaired. Thank you. Cynthia, Kanata, Ont. A. Your striking hand-painted Japanese porcelain depicts their symbol of the bird of happiness which stems from crane mating dances. These might be loosely categorized as Kutani Ware. While the porcelain is thin, hand-painted and decorated with impressive lavish gold the quality is actually more of a mass-produced commercial one. Since it was most likely imported to the United States and is unmarked, as to country of origin, it should date, by law, prior to 1891. If it was bought in Japan and then brought over it might not harbour a mark and could date to even 1920. I would only have them repaired if you really like them. The repair cost will outweigh their individual value of $45. They are impressive and happy. Q. This painting hung in my parents home in Mindemoya, Manitoulin Island, for 25 years. They picked it up for very little at a yard or auction sale held on Manitoulin. I had it reframed. It now hangs in my home. Without the frame it measures 30.5 x 39 cm (12 x 15.5 inches). Thank you and I look forward to seeing what you have discovered. Janet, Winchester, Ont. A. This almost indecipherable signature belongs to Frank Charles Hennessey (1894-1941) who was born in Ottawa. Primarily self-taught he did study at Albion College in Michigan. A true Renaissance man he had varied interests and professional jobs as a naturalist, entomologist and geologist. Your habitant winter scene, dated 1940, could be the Gaspe, the Laurentians, a Gatineau area of Quebec or Ontarios Algonquin Park. This is a combination of chalk and pastel done on paper. He was a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He also illustrated for books on birds. There is much intrigue and interest in this artwork and buyers will respond with $1,750. For people like Tracy Adkison, 48, from Conyers, Ga., Election Day on Nov. 3 just wont be the same. In past years, Ms. Adkison has relished voting at her local polling place. It makes her feel like she is part of a community and critical to democracy, she said. It makes her feel like she is being heard. I love Election Day, she said, punctuating every word. But this year Ms. Adkison has requested an absentee ballot and plans to take it to a drop box as soon as she receives it. She believes this is the best chance she has for her vote to be counted in a year when polling places could be understaffed and overcrowded, and when doubts have been raised about the Postal Services handling of ballots. Ms. Adkison will miss the patriotic jolt she feels from voting in person, but she said she would never consider giving up the chance to vote. Voting, for me, that is my voice, said Ms. Adkison, who is a past president of the Georgia chapter of the League of Women Voters. I know that is cliche. But thats the only voice I have right now in my leadership and in my government. United Nation, Sep 26 : During his speech in the high-level session of the United Nations General Assembly that was met by an Indian walkout, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday requested the Security Council to intervene with a UN force in Kashmir. In a subtly worded sentence slipped into his speech on Friday, Khan introduced the new tactic, saying, "The Security Council must prevent a disaster conflict (in Kashmir) and secure the implementation of its own resolutions, as it did in the case of East Timor." In the East Timor model, the Security Council authorised an international force under Australia to keep order there in the aftermath of Indonesia's invasion to enforce the Council's resolutions and help create a transitional administration to ensure the independence of Timor in 1999 and oversee the elections. The next year, UN peacekeepers took over from the international force in what is now Timor-Leste. Again in 2006, the UN sent in peacekeepers to restore order after a failed coup and widespread unrest. How it would apply to Pakistan would not be what Khan imagines. The prime Security Council resolution -- No. 47 passed in 1948 -- demands that Pakistan first withdraw its troops and citizens from Kashmir. The plebiscite that Jawaharlal Nehru had initially agreed to could not be held because Pakistan would not comply with the pre-condition set in that resolution. Subsequently, India held elections in Kashmir, which New Delhi says affirmed its accession to India. East Timor was a Portuguese colony and the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin) was fighting for independence. When a coup overthrew the Salazar regime in Portugal, Fretilin declared independence in 1975. Indonesia immediately invaded it and held on till 1999 and later the rebels fought backed by Indonesia. After the UN-sponsored referendum, trouble arose in 2006, when UN sent peacekeepers again. If there was a parallel to Timor, it would be the removal of Pakistanis from Kashmir to comply with Security Council Resolution 47. (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 Construction on a rocket launch pad in the Whitsundays will begin next year if the LNP wins the state election in October. Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington on Friday pledged $15 million to build an orbital rocket launch site at Abbot Point in north Queensland. The Mars mission rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral in July. Credit:AP If the project goes ahead, the Whitsundays would host the state's first commercial launch site. The Labor government has spent more than a year trying to find a potential site, announcing in July it would launch a probe to determine if Abbot Point was suitable. A group of unknown persons broke into an ATM kiosk in Khalapur and stole 29.01 lakh within an hour after damaging the ATM in the early hours of Friday. The Khalapur police, investigating the case, said the men tried to break the second ATM that held 30 lakh but failed. The theft took place at Gorthan Budruk village along the Pen-Khopoli Road between 2.30 am and 3.30 am on Friday. The Khalapur police in Raigad suspected a gang notorious for breaking into ATMs in a similar manner may be behind the crime. The gang allegedly broke the ATM machine using a special tool. They also attempted to break the second ATM but failed. Before starting to cut into the machine, one person, who had completely covered his face, cut the CCTV feed to not leave any evidence behind, said Vishwajeet Kaigade, inspector at Khalapur police station. Officials said the Gorthan branch of State Bank of India has two ATMs in the kiosk. The ATM is the only one within the 30km range and the transactions at the ATM is high, said police. There was no security guard either for the day or night shift. We have registered a case of theft following the incident, added Kaigade. Officials have been looking at the CCTV footage of the vicinity to ascertain how many persons were involved in the crime. The police said it was likely that more than two persons would have committed the crime as the modus operandi matched with thefts that have occurred in the same fashion in the state. We have learnt of a few incidents where money was stolen from ATMs in the same way. We are contacting police stations in those areas to verify if the same people may be involved in this theft as well, said an officer. The theft came to light when the bank employees arrived on Friday morning and found the ATM damaged and money stolen. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON by Kenneth Corbilla The charity organisation of the Philippine Church has responded to the appeal of Caritas internationalis to help Lebanon following the blast that hit the Port of Beirut. Manila (AsiaNews) - Caritas Manila donated 242,000 Philippine pesos (US$ 5,000) as financial help for Lebanon after the deadly explosion in the Port of Beirut, which killed almost 200 people and wounded almost 6,000. In a letter to Caritas Internationalis, cited by Radio Veritas, Caritas Manila says: We, at Caritas Manila, the social welfare arm of the Archdiocese of Manila, with its Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick S. Pabillo as appointed chairman, following the reassignment of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle for Rome, and Rev. Fr. Anton C.T. Pascual as its Executive Director, heard the appeal of Caritas Lebanon for help due to the devastation of the recent port explosion that happened in Beirut last August 4, 2020. During this Covid-19 pandemic, this unfortunate disaster which caused a lot of lives, casualties, infrastructure damages and ill effects to our brothers and sisters in Lebanon, left a heavy struggle for everyone to survive. Thus, we wish to donate an amount of USD 5,000 to Caritas Lebanon to support the needs of the affected families and communities. We hope that this amount could contribute to the needs of the people. The Caritas Manila initiative is a response to Caritas Internationaliss appeal to Caritas organisations around the world to help the people of Lebanon. Reports note that ammonium nitrate stored in the Port of Beirut was responsible for the explosion that caused damage estimated at 10 to 15 billion pesos (US$ 310 million). Caritas Manila also extends its deepest sympathy and expresses its willingness to help the victims of the explosion at this time of crisis brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. A major port city in east China has scrambled to quarantine over 300 residents after two handlers working for a seafood importer tested positive for the coronavirus, sparking fears of a looming new COVID-19 outbreak in the country. Health authorities in Qingdao, a city of over 9million, reported two new asymptomatic cases on Thursday - two male workers, aged 40 and 45, who were responsible for unloading imported products at the port. The officials did not specify how the patients contracted the virus but suggested they had both been exposed to the imported frozen seafood. The new infections are the first domestic COVID-19 cases China has found in over a month after authorities had been recording only imported cases from inbound travellers. A major port city in east China has scrambled to quarantine over 300 residents after two handlers working for a seafood importer tested positive for the coronavirus. The file photo shows workers spraying disinfectant at a company in Qingdao on February 3 Health authorities in Qingdao, a city of over 9million, reported two new asymptomatic cases on Thursday - two male workers, aged 40 and 45, who were responsible for unloading frozen seafood at the port. In this photo, a barge pushes a container ship to the dockyard in Qingdao Thursday's results came during a routine test of the company's staff, the Qingdao Municipal Health Commission said in a statement. Qingdao is a port city in Shandong provine Thursday's results came during a routine test of the company's staff, the Qingdao Municipal Health Commission said in a statement. A total of 360 close contacts of the affected men have been put under quarantine and screened for the virus. 127 of them tested negative while the rest of the results are being examined by labs, the authorities said. The officials also found coronavirus contamination on some packages stored by the seafood company. The importer's products and facilities generated 51 positive test results, but no tainted products made it to market, the commission said, without identifying the items or their origins. The affected employees, Mr Dong and Mr Chen, both tested negative on September 8 during a routine screening. They both worked on the evening of September 19, unloading imported seafood products at the port. The importer's products and facilities generated 51 positive test results, but no tainted products made it to market, the commission said, without identifying the items or their origins. File photo: A staff member is seen working at a port in Qingdao, east China on July 2 The Chinese authorities did not specify how the workers contracted the virus but said they 'shared the common exposure', referring to the imported seafood products. A residential area is pictured being disinfected by volunteers of Qingdao West Coast Red Cross on January 28 On September 24, the Qingdao CDC reported both men had tested positive for the coronavirus but displayed no symptoms. The patients have been quarantined at a designated hospital while receiving treatment, according to the statement. The Chinese authorities did not specify how the workers contracted the virus but said they 'shared the common exposure', referring to the imported seafood products. All the areas where the patients had travelled to are being disinfected, according to the statement. All residents living in these neighbourhoods are also being tested for the contagion. China appeared to have largely contained the virus outbreak as the country went over a month without new cases of domestic infection. Earlier this month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping touted China's role in battling the coronavirus pandemic at a triumphant awards ceremony for medical professionals decorated with bugle calls and applause. He told the audience that China has acted in an 'open and transparent' manner over the contagion while 'passing an extraordinary and historic test'. The resurgence in Qingdao is not the first time in recent months when frozen products from overseas have been linked to the spread of coronavirus. In this file photo, a worker collects a swab from frozen fish in Guizhou on July 1 But the resurgence in Qingdao is not the first time in recent months when frozen products from overseas have been linked to the spread of coronavirus. Authorities in Beijing and Dalian have linked their local outbreaks to imported food products. China has stepped up checks on frozen food imports and banned those from some foreign meat processing plants amid the global pandemic. Chinese customs have threatened a week's suspension of imports from companies whose frozen food products test positive for the virus, with third-time offenders subject to four weeks. Heavy traces of the virus were found in the meat and seafood sections of a market in the capital Beijing that was the site of an outbreak in June. By Trend Israel believes that friendship between Azerbaijan and Israel is very important, and finds Azerbaijan a good friend of Israel, Israeli politician Oded Forer told Trend, commenting on prospects of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Israel. Regarding trade-economy issues, we find Azerbaijan as a very important market, said the politician. Forer believes that both countries can deepen the economic relationship and create a good environment for good trade cooperation. Many people born in Azerbaijan live in Israel make it easy for us to develop culture and business relationships between countries. And we hope that these relationships will only deepen. We find it very important for us, Forer noted. The politician also noted that connection between Azerbaijan and Israel can make good for both sides. Regarding prospects for the development in terms of bilateral relations, the politician said that the two countries can develop cooperation in the education sphere as well. This is also a very good opportunity for introducing innovations and new directions for cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan, Israeli politician noted. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala has dared Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to either ensure the guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) to farmers in the farm bills or quit the NDA if he cared for farmers and those engaged in the farm sector. The Narendra Modi government had resorted to political dishonesty to cheat agriculturists and labourers in the name of farm reforms, which would ultimately enslave farmers to big corporates, said Surjewala, while launching the Congress partys people mobilisation programme against the passage of the three legislations by Parliament at the state Congress office in Patna. AICC in-charge for Bihar, Shaktisinh Gohil, and Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singhdev were also present on the occasion. Congress has launched a nationwide campaign against the passage of anti-farmer and anti-poor bills during the monsoon session of Parliament and to collect signatures of more than 2 crore people against the legislations. Surjewala said the system of MSP would be abolished once the mandi system and governments procurement of produce is stopped as is mandated in the farm bills. Also Read: Marginalised in Grand Alliance in Bihar, Upendra Kushwahas RLSP preps to exit Gohil said the drive to sensitise farmers and labourers about the alleged devastating effects of the three legislations would be intensified in the state. Ruling out any confusion or erosion of trust among the Grand Alliance (GA) partners, Gohil said the alliance was firm and would contest the assembly polls together. Also Read: Punjab Bandh today: Transport services suspended, markets to remain shut in Ludhiana The Congress has also extended support to the Bharat Bandh call given by farmer organisations for Friday. Surjewala said that millions of party workers stand in solidarity with the farmers cause and will participate in their protests. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. A glamorous young mother has spoken out from her hospital bed while still hooked up to oxygen to warn young people about the reality of Covid as cases reach record levels. Tilly Thorpe, 33, thought she would only suffer flu-like symptoms if she caught coronavirus as the virus is seen to mainly affects the old. But after fighting Covid at home for 12 days, she ended up in hospital with pneumonia, hooked up to an IV drip and treated with steroids, painkillers, anti-nausea drugs and oxygen. The single mother-of-one, from Newton-Le-Willows in Cheshire, says she wants young people to realise the deadly disease can be serious for any age. Her warning came as the UK marked a record 6,634 positive cases in a single day yesterday, with 40 deaths. In an exclusive interview from her bed in Warrington Hospital, she told MailOnline: 'I had no energy, the pain was unbelievable and I just didn't know what to do. Tilly Thorpe has spoken out from her hospital bed while still hooked up to oxygen to warn young people about the reality of Covid as cases reach record levels. After fighting Covid at home for 12 days, she ended up with pneumonia, hooked up to an IV drip and steroids The single mother-of-one, from Newton-Le-Willows in Cheshire, says she wants young people to realise the deadly disease can be serious for anyone. Her warning came as the UK marked a record 6,634 positive cases in a single day yesterday, with 40 deaths In an exclusive interview from her bed in Warrington Hospital, she told MailOnline: 'I had no energy, the pain was unbelievable and I just didn't know what to do' 'I thought I was fit and healthy and I struggled at home for 12 days thinking 'I can do this' until I couldn't take it any more.' Having not seen her seven-year-old son since she fell ill, she added: 'I just think everyone gets it differently and young people need to know Covid has not gone away.' Having not seen her seven-year-old son since she fell ill, Ms Thorpe added: 'I just think everyone gets it differently and young people need to know Covid has not gone away' Ms Thorpe, a crisis manager for a travel company, said she first felt ill two weeks ago. 'I woke up the first day with a banging head ache, hot sweats and feeling like someone was sat on my chest. 'I didn't feel bad bad just felt under the weather. As the day went on I thought I should go and get a test as I have a 7-year-old son so didn't want to put him at risk.' The regular gym goer managed to get a test nearby and found she was positive. She sent her son to his father to protect him. As the days passed, she became so ill that she could not hold down fluids or food and her face became bloated. 'My breathing was getting worse and I felt like I was out of breath just walking to the toilet or getting a drink of water... by day seven I started being sick not being able to keep water down.' She rang NHS Direct and was told to keep drinking flat Lucozade to keep her blood sugars up. But by day ten, she was unable to keep even fluids down and recalled: 'I couldn't take it anymore and had to ring the out-of-hours GP. ' As the worsening symptoms began to overwhelm her last weekend, concerned medics finally called an ambulance. 'I've never been so relieved to be going into hospital. Since getting to Warrington Hospital four days ago I have been on IV drips, anti sickness drugs, pain relief, oxygen and then steroids to help with my pneumonia. Ms Thorpe, a crisis manager for a travel company, (pictured before she fell ill)said she first felt ill two weeks ago. 'I woke up the first day with a banging head ache, hot sweats and feeling like someone was sat on my chest' As the days passed, she became so ill that she could not hold down fluids or food and her face became bloated. As the worsening symptoms began to overwhelm her last weekend, concerned medics finally called an ambulance Ms Thorpe is now improving but won't be reunited with her son until her symptoms have fully cleared up and said not being able to see him while she was in hospital has been the 'worst thing of all' 'The doctors and nurses are all great they are really doing an amazing job.' Ms Thorpe said that as part of her job she had helped repatriate British citizens around the world so was acutely aware of the pandemic's global threat. She was careful to stay at home as much as possible and followed government safety guidance. But in recent months, she admits like many others, she may have let her guard down. 'At first I was very strict, but over the summer I have become relaxed when the rules changed,' she said. 'I've had a few meals out and a few drinks with friends and you kind of just want to get back to some kind of norm. 'But a fortnight ago the week I actually caught it - I realised how high the figures were in my area and I was starting to get a little worried, telling my parents and older family members to be careful and maybe stay in a little bit more and do their shopping later at night. 'But I didn't think of myself as being at risk I just thought if I got it I'd be ok as I'm healthy'. Ms Thorpe is now improving but won't be reunited with her son until her symptoms have fully cleared up and said not being able to see him while she was in hospital has been the 'worst thing of all.' 'I'm missing him like crazy,' she said. 'I try to speak to him as much as possible as he thinks I've been at home this whole time self isolating. 'I just want to make it clear to everyone that we're dealing with a real problem - this can be deadly.' New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said that the city will conduct its own review of the potential COVID-19 vaccine even if it is approved by the federal department. The Democratic leader, during a press conference on September 24, said that he does not trust the Trump administration and hence will conduct a separate review of any COVID-19 vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Read: US Senate Leader Promises 'orderly' Power Transfer After Trump's Refusal To Guarantee Cuomo said that he will consult doctors, scientists, and health experts to review the data on the FDA-approved vaccine. "Frankly, Im not going to trust the federal governments opinion, and I wouldnt recommend to New Yorkers, based on the federal governments opinion," Cuomo said on Thursday. Read: US President Trump Greeted With Boos As Crowd Chanted vote Him Out At Ginsburg's Funeral What do critics argue? Several opposition leaders, including the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running-mate Kamala Harris, have said in the past that they wouldn't trust President Donald Trump on coronavirus vaccine before the upcoming November election. Trump had earlier said that a COVID-19 vaccine for Americans will be available by the end of this year, most probably before November. Read: COVID Vaccine By Year-end Will Be Fastest Pace For Novel Pathogen In History: WH However, his critics argue that the vaccine announcement would be nothing but a poll gimmick to hide his pathetic handling of the disease that has killed more than 2,00,000 people in the country so far. The United States is currently the worst affected country in the world with over 7 million confirmed cases. Trump is accused of downplaying the threat of the disease that has spread outwards from China since early February. The COVID-19 fatalities in the US are now more than the numbers of the 9/11 attacks, Iraq and Vietnam wars death toll combined. Read: Fauci: Scientists May Know About Vaccine By December India successfully test-fires laser guided anti-tank missile India on Tuesday successfully tested a laser guided anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) fired from MBT Arjun Tank at KK Ranges, Armoured Corps Centre and School (ACC&S) Ahmednagar. The ATGM successfully defeated a target located at 3 km. Laser guided ATGMs lock and track the targets with the help of laser designation to ensure precision hit accuracy. The missile employs a tandem HEAT warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armoured vehicles. It has been developed with multiple-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from gun of MBT Arjun. Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) Pune in association with High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) Pune, and Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) Dehradun have developed the missile. Defence minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the successful test firing of the Laser Guided Anti Tank Guided Missile from MBT Arjun at KK Ranges. Secretary DDR&D and chairman DRDO congratulated DRDO personnel and industry on the successful test firing. This comes a day after DRDO successful tested a hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle using the indigenously developed scramjet propulsion. Todays development is yet another feat for indigenous defence production, a day after the DRDO achieved a milestone on Tuesday with the successful flight test of Abhyas - High Speed Expendable Aerial Target from ITR Balasore. Educators and school librarians are facing unprecedented change amid the pandemic, as a large number of students pivot to distance learning with a greater reliance on digital resources of all types. With this piece, we launch an occasional series that will feature various digital reading data for schools and libraries, providing a snapshot of which materials are most in demand by students and teachers. On September 24, OverDrive Education announced that it was teaming up with a variety of popular K12 curriculum developersEL Education, StudyForge, and Schoolwide among themto help schools provide instant access to required and recommended e-books and audiobooks for both in-classroom and distance learning. This effort comes in response to the increased need for digital materials as the supply chain for print books has been disrupted and many schools have begun the 20202021 academic year online. Angela Arnold, general manager of OverDrive Education, commented on the new partnerships in a statement, As schools reopen and students return amid great uncertainty, publishers, curriculum experts, educators, and school librarians are rallying to support them in innovative ways with digital books. One of the newer avenues of support is the On-Demand Class Set feature in the companys Sora reading app for K12 students. Schools need to maximize budgets, so we work closely with publishers to participate in cost-effective class-set pricing, Arnold said. This model is ideal for individual classes, grades, buildings, or an entire district. Sweet Summer Success Though the new school yearin all its varying formsis in full swing in most states, summer reading is not too far in the rearview mirror. OverDrive Education recently shared some stats from its summer reading program, Sora Sweet Reads. Formerly known as the OverDrive Summer Read, Sora Sweet Reads incorporates the name of OverDrive Educations digital reading platform for students, Sora. To date, more than 35,000 schools worldwide have adopted Sora. In a move designed to help students combat both summer slide and learning loss exacerbated by the spring school closures in the wake of the pandemic, Sora Sweet Reads began earlier and ran 37 days longer than last years summer reading program. From April 15July 31, participating students in the U.S. and Canada enjoyed 24/7 access to 31 childrens and YA e-books and select audiobook and read-along titles. According to OverDrive Education, the program saw a 90% increase from the number of schools that participated in 2019 (which had been a record year with a 300% increase over 2018a spike attributed to the introduction of Sora). Student participation grew more than five times from 2019, resulting in a 500% increase in circulations year-over-year. In total, more than 250,000 students took part, reading at least one of the programs 31 titles. OverDrive Education reports that in addition to the boosts for Sora Sweet Reads, overall student reading saw an impressive uptick during the same April-to-July time frame. Over those 100 days, an additional 500,000 students read a total of five million titles from their schools collection that were not part of the Sweet Reads program. The top three Sweet Reads titles in the childrens e-book category were From the Top by Lincoln Peirce; Arcade or Bust! by Amaris Glass, a chapter book tie-in to Nickelodeons The Loud House; and Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson. And the three most-read YA e-book Sweet Reads selections were The Dirt Diary by Anna Staniszewski, Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1 by G. Willow Wilson, and On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis. Library Card Sign-up Month ALA launched the first Library Card Sign-up Month in 1987 as a national campaign to emphasize the important role a library card plays in supporting a childs education and in stemming illiteracy. Since then, libraries nationwide celebrate Library Card Sign-up Month each September, and tout all that libraries have to offer. OverDrive is a sponsor of ALAs annual awareness campaign, and, in that spirit, has shared data on its Instant Digital Card program, which allows residents in a public librarys service area to instantly sign up for a library card using their cell phone number. Within roughly 30 seconds, readers who sign up are connected to their local librarys digital materials collection via OverDrives reading app, Libby. The Instant Digital Card program experienced a huge spike when libraries closed their doors in mid-March, and has seen explosive growth year-to-date. OverDrive reports that as of September 24, more than 550,000 Instant Digital Cards have been created in 2020, compared to 142,000 created in all of 2019. Additionally, the company revealed that the number of e-book and audiobook checkouts by readers using an Instant Digital Card have increased more than 400% year-over-year, to more than five million. The new stats indicate that more than 77 library systems are currently using the Instant Digital Card program, compared to 36 systems in 2019. People under quarantine due to Covid-19 will be able to cast their votes in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, chief election commissioner Sunil Arora announced on Friday. Under the supervision of health authorities, the patients can vote for their leaders on the last day of the polling at their respective constituencies, said the election commission chief. The patients also have the option of a postal facility for voting. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Bihar will hold the assembly election in three phases in October-November. The first phase of voting will take place on October 28; second to be on November 3. The third phase of voting will be held on November 7. The results will be declared on November 10. To further decongest polling stations, the Election Commission has increased the polling time by one hour. Now voters can cast their votes from 7am to 6pm. Earlier it was till 5pm only. However, this will not be applicable to Left-wing affected areas, Election Commission chief also said. Also read | Bihar Assembly election 2020: From Modi to Owaisi, 6 key faces in face-off between Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav More than 70 countries have postponed elections so far. As Covid-19 is not showing any sign of abating, some way has to be found to value the democratic rights of the citizens, said Arora during the press briefing. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will contest for a fourth term. The ruling National Democratic Alliance includes JD(U), BJP, and the Lok Janshakti Party. The Opposition alliance consists of RJD, Congress, NCP and RLSP. Babil Khan, elder son of late actor Irrfan Khan, has shared a throwback picture of his father on social media and said that he hates realising everyday that he is gone. Babil posted a picture from his childhood days on Instagram, where Irrfan is seen holding something in his hand and the father-duo son seemed intrigued looking at it. I slept for 14 hours and I didnt want to wake up cause I was dreaming about you. Waking up is the worst, I hate realising everyday that youre gone. You didnt say anything, we just laughed. (Hes playing the OG bounce)," Babil wrote as the caption. Irrfan passed away in Mumbai on April 29 this year. The actor was still under treatment when he returned to acting with Angrezi Medium, a follow-up to his 2017 hit, Hindi Medium. Irrfans final film, incidentally, has also been Bollywoods last release in the theatres for now, before the Covid-19 pandemic forced a total lockdown of the nation. In Angrezi Medium, Irrfan played a small-town father willing to go to any extent to fulfil his daughters dream of a foreign education, so much so that he lands in a hilarious mess. The American people know the U.S. Supreme Court decisions affect their everyday lives. The United States Constitution was designed to give the voters one chance to have their voice heard on who serves on the court. That moment is now and their voice should be heard, Biden said in a statement after the announcement. "The Senate should not act on this vacancy until after the American people select their next president and the next Congress. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. Abdel-Hady also forged official documents related to the case, according to the prosecution Egypts Court of Cassation upheld on Thursday a 10-year prison sentence against a police officer who killed a citizen in Maghagha city in Minya governorate in 2013. According statements by the prosecution in 2013, police officer Mahmoud Abdel-Hady was stationed at a police checkpoint in the city of Maghagha when he fired multiple shots at a driver, Biram Abdullah, who was attempting to flee the checkpoint to avoid being searched. Abdel-Hady also forged official documents related to the case, according to the prosecution. In 2018, a Minya criminal court sentenced the defendant to 10 years in prison for manslaughter. Search Keywords: Short link: PORTLAND, Ore. - Thousands of members of the far-right Proud Boys plan to mass at a park here on Saturday afternoon, setting up another clash of liberal and conservative extremes in a city that has become the public front line for combustible - and deadly - political conflict. The so-called Western chauvinist group espouses pro-Trump, police-friendly rhetoric, but its members have a reputation for sparking fights with the far left that devolve into mayhem. After four months of steady protests in this city, its choice to bring an armed, extremist crowd from all corners of the country to the Pacific Northwest again turns Portland, after four months of steady protests, into an ideological battlefield, a place where speech has crossed a dangerous line into violence. President Donald Trump has fanned the flames, saying that Portland and other Democratic cities condone lawlessness; he has ordered federal agents to take a stand against protesters and to make arrests, creating us vs. them standoffs that appear bent on pitting the right against the left and characterizing it as good against evil. Some worry another collision is unavoidable on Saturday. The rally comes at an already delicate time for the City of Roses, where on Wednesday a Breonna Taylor protest at police headquarters morphed into a rock-throwing riot that police broke up with impact weapons and pepper spray. And antifa and other far-left groups are vowing massive counter-protests Saturday. Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio said in an interview with The Washington Post that his group is making a stand for free speech in a place he believes encourages leftist riots and has sparked political violence against conservatives and law enforcement in other American cities. "It's the epicenter for all this. It goes beyond free speech right now. Portland has franchised these riots across the country," Tarrio said, saying he hopes his event spurs authorities to take more action against demonstrators. Other cities "see these things happening and they're like: 'We can do this here too.' Portland leads by example." 5 1 of 5 Photo for The Washington Post by Evelyn Hockstein Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Washington Post photo by Paula Bronstein Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Washington Post photo by Paula Bronstein Show More Show Less 5 of 5 But Portland's protesters said groups like the Proud Boys have been at the center of the summer's worst recent conflicts, which some worry could be dwarfed by whatever happens Saturday. "It just puts a very bad feeling in my stomach," said Dustin Brandon, who attended Wednesday's demonstration and has been at Black Lives Matter protests here since George Floyd was killed in May. "Everybody knows what's happening September 26th in Portland, Oregon, and it's not a good feeling. I've been here for every other time they've shown up and it's just gotten worse and worse and worse. . . . I just hope there's no more bloodshed." Portland's nightly, often emotional demonstrations and the presence of an organized antifa group have made easy foils for the Proud Boys and other right-wing activists, who often ride into the city with homemade shields, bear mace and paintball guns. After an Aug. 29 confrontation, Aaron J. "Jay" Danielson, a self-described member of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, was shot and killed on a city street during a vehicle parade in support of Trump. Five days later, members of a federal task force fatally shot a suspect in Danielson's death - Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48 - an ardent supporter of the far-left antifa who had regularly attended nightly protests and spoke of a "revolution." The Proud Boys then began planning a show of force in Portland after attending other heated events outside the city limits. Organizers expect as many as 10,000 right-leaning activists to attend Saturday, though Tarrio said he is not sure how many members of the Proud Boys, or other similar groups, will show up. Prior Proud Boys rallies have drawn hundreds of people. Portland police, who broke up a protest that devolved into a riot on Wednesday, said their main plan is to keep the ideologically opposed groups as far away from one another as possible on Saturday. Left-leaning groups have planned a counter protest a few miles from Delta Park, where the Proud Boys plan to rally. Police also have encouraged event attendees to leave their guns at home. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, who declared a state of emergency Friday, said the state police and the county sheriff's office would oversee the response to the protests Saturday and would be dispatching additional law enforcement to the area to patrol highways looking for people coming to town to "cause trouble." "People have come to Portland, time and time again, from out of town looking for a fight, and the results are always tragic," Brown said. "Let me perfectly clear, we will not tolerate any kind of violence this weekend. Left, right or center, violence is never a path toward meaningful change. Those stoking the flames of violence, those coming to Portland looking for a fight, will be held accountable." Travis Hampton, the superintendent of the Oregon State Police, said Portland residents would see a "massive influx of Oregon state troopers" beginning Saturday morning. Hampton said authorities will "do their best" to keep "hostile parties apart from one another." He said police would consider using tear gas and other irritants on crowds if lives are in danger. City officials this week denied the Proud Boys's permit request for the park gathering, citing covid-19 safety concerns at the public park. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, D, blasted the Proud Boys in a tweet on Wednesday: "Some in these groups and many who associate with them embody and empower racism, intolerance and hate. Those are not Portland values, and they are not welcome." Tarrio balked at the mayor's words and said the rally will go on as planned. "We did the right thing and asked for a permit," he wrote on the social media site Parler. "Portland parks denied our permits citing 50 person max due to COVID. Lol . . . terrorists have been rioting across the city for 4 months . . . I'm sure they followed these guidelines." At the bottom of the post he included an image of the U.S. Constitution, writing, "Here is the only permission I need." The Proud Boys are one of several predominantly white right-wing groups that have surfaced publicly since Trump's election. Vice News creator Gavin McInnes started the group in 2016, though he has since distanced himself from the organization and its increasingly violent reputation. The Proud Boys describe themselves as a "Western chauvinist" fraternal group that believes in ending welfare, closing the borders and adhering strictly to traditional gender roles. They believe that white culture - and white men, in particular - are under attack from a world consumed by political correctness. The first step of becoming a member is reciting a loyalty oath that includes the phrase "I refuse to apologize for creating the modern world." The group latches onto controversial causes that larger segments of the right embrace, like unwavering support for police, Islamophobia and opposition to the removal of Confederate statues. But the Proud Boys also use coded language and irreverent humor to mask beliefs that are more sinister. Proud Boys networks spent the past week spreading memes and videos mocking the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That nuanced stance has allowed the Proud Boys to grow even as other groups were vilified following the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, said Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. "When you mix a combination of the shrouded and overt bigotry along with their propensity for violence and showing up at the most incendiary events, it really is a significant and growing risk," Levin said. "It's especially volatile when you overlay this political season where the election is considered a battleground in a civil war." Members of the Proud Boys rise through the ranks by engaging in street violence, said Jerry Savage, a Seattle resident who started a Facebook group aimed at exposing members who commit crimes. "These are the kind of guys who watch cage fights, and MMA, and are grappling with their buddies in their backyard and looking for a time to use that," he said, referring to mixed martial arts competitions. Portland's steady protests has provided ample opportunities for the Proud Boys to spark clashes. "In their minds, long before (Danielson) got shot, we represented some kind of domestic terrorist threat to America," said Jason Britton, a demonstrator and documentarian who was hit in the eye by a paintball during a scuffle between protesters and Proud Boys. "They see it as they're fulfilling their oath to the constitution or whatever. They see BLM and antifa as that domestic enemy." Tarrio described the organization he chairs as a group of unapologetic Trump supporters who wield humor to poke at a society hobbled by political correctness. During his interview with The Post, he said he was at an Ikea in his home state of Florida, shopping for a shelf while wearing a shirt that said "Kyle Rittenhouse did nothing wrong," a nod to the white teen accused of killing two people in Kenosha, Wis., during demonstrations after police shot a black man. But Tarrio said even the most triggering speech doesn't justify violence. "When they go out on the streets and they're like 'bash the fash' and 'punch a Nazi,' I believe they truly believe they're doing good - ridding the world of this evil," Tarrio said. "Then you get a situation like the shooting of Jay. One of my guys got ran over two weeks ago. They've thrown explosives at me. "There's genuine concern about police brutality, and it's something people should protest, but [the Black Lives Matter] movements are getting co-opted and then it starts going in another direction: 'Oh well, we've got to take down the statues, we've got to take this person's name down, we've got to go protest in front of this person's house, n'" he said, referring to what some consider liberal efforts to erase America's past. Tarrio said the Proud Boys does not promote violence but does actively protect itself. He said the rally in the park is intended to be nonviolent, but he encouraged his members to bring fire extinguishers because "antifa thugs" have thrown fireworks and even molotov cocktails during conflicts. He also encouraged them to bring bear mace, the harsh irritant that witnesses said was deployed right before Reinoehl shot Danielson in Portland. People who have attended months of protests here say they hope to shed light on what they see as a great contradiction in Portland, a place that prides itself as a liberal bastion but has had systemic racism in its fabric since it was founded. When Oregon became a state in 1859, its constitution rejected slavery, but it also forbade Black people from living within its borders. Violators could be violently punished. Oregon's early settlers called the state a white utopia. "Those that voted to make Oregon a free state weren't necessarily anti slavery - they just didn't want to deal with Blacks at all," said Kerry Tymchuk, executive director of the Oregon Historical Society. "People ask, why does Portland have so few Black people compared to most large cities? You look back at the message that sent for so long . . . it was almost self-perpetuating." Fewer than 6% of Portland residents are Black. And that's nearly double the overall state percentage. Even when a Black labor force was recruited to work in Oregon's shipyards, Portland codes redlined them into certain neighborhoods. And as the nation has contended with the killing of Black people by police, Portland has had its own controversies, including a deadly attack by a white supremacist on passengers who were riding a city light rail train. In May 2017, self-described neo-Nazi Jerry Christian stabbed three people on the train, killing two of them, in a racist incident that rocked the city. The day before, Christian had harassed a Black woman named Demetria Hester on the train. But Hester told police she didn't believe police took her claims seriously because of her race. She said the attacks were a wake-up call, a sign that "white supremacy is just below the surface." On Saturday she plans to face off with men she described as racist who believe many of the same things as her attacker. She sees it as a moral obligation. "This ain't the first time they've come to our town. Or the second, or the third. The whole summer they've been here," Hester said. "We literally run them out - and we have to keep running them away. They're just out there for destruction, to see what they can cause. "We have a goal to let them know that we're not going anywhere and they're not going to intimidate us." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened the ceremony saying "it is with profound sorrow and deep sympathy to the Ginsburg family that I have the high honor to welcome Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to lie in state at the capitol of the United States." Ginsburg, a stalwart liberal on the high court since 1993, died last Friday at age 87. Known simply as RBG, she was an icon to millions of Americans - especially young girls - after a long legal career built on fighting for gender equality. Statuary Hall was adorned with black ribbons affixed to the colossal marble columns around the room's perimeter, surrounding the area where a catafalque holds Ginsburg's flag-draped coffin. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who presided over Ginsburg's confirmation hearings as a senator in 1993, is among those who attended the Capitol for Friday's ceremony. Katie Becker, a Jamesville-DeWitt high school student, sometimes slept in until noon last spring. Shed wake up and do school work when she felt like it, sometimes waiting until late at night to finish an assignment due by midnight. She was not alone. It was the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Schools had just closed the classrooms and switched on the fly to remote learning. Fast forward to this fall and Katie, now a senior, is up and signed onto her computer at 7:45 a.m. When she learns virtually two days a week, she follows a regular bell schedule. Her teachers take attendance in each class. Some classes are live, some are recorded but shes at school until 2:15 pm daily. "Its actually nice to be back on a real schedule, even when Im at home,'' she said. It feels good to work on a pace and get class work thats due at the end of that period. Its so much more structured. Tens of thousands of parents and students across Central New York and millions across the state and nation had to pivot quickly in the spring from in-school instruction to distance learning when the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to close. Many parents and kids struggled with basics such as getting computers and wi-fi access. Students had to learn a whole new way no one had ever done before in K-12 schools. Teachers and schools were left trying to reinvent how to teach kids. We were thrust into it without time to plan for who how it would work, said Fayetteville-Manlius Superintendent Craig Tice. Many kids disconnected and lost motivation because there was little accountability, not much engagement and lower expectations, said Justin Reich an educational researcher and director of the Teaching Systems Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. Grades of pass/fail left students unenthused for academics, he said. This fall, distance learning looks markedly different than it did in the spring. "It looks a lot more like school did before,' Reich said. Unlike the spring, most schools are taking attendance. So are classroom teachers. There is often new learning material. Technology staff has been hired by some districts. Kids who are learning at home have to get up and log in at a certain time. They follow a class schedule, and are expected to be at each class. Often, they finish the assignment and have to turn it in at the end of class. This fall, standard grading is returning to most schools some had switched to pass and fail grading. There is often more engagement and interaction between the teacher and student teachers are reaching out to kids, and kids can ask questions via Zoom or a chat window during class. They can often get special help during virtual office hours. They also can, in many classes, talk with other students virtually at designated times. Lisa Moore, whose son Jack Moore is a J-D senior, said theres a lot more communication from the district this fall about what virtual learning looks like. And her son is much more comfortable with the learning platforms, she said. At West Genesee, its all about structure and higher expectations this fall, said Robert Leo, the districts director of technology. In the spring, it was crisis teaching," he said. "We scrambled to put out lessons, and it was almost all asynchronous. We emphasized completion and feedback, instead of grades. Now we are back to grades. Schools have incorporated much more synchronous lessons - which means the classes or lessons are live rather recorded. The virtual learning day runs parallel to the in-school day now, Leo said. Online-only teachers School districts are teaching kids two main ways: Teachers who teach in-person and distance-learning students simultaneously, or teachers who teach kids who are not in the class remotely while other teachers handle kids in classes. At some schools, like West Genesee, Baldwinsville and the Syracuse City School District, a separate group of teachers are now designated as remote instructors. Thats about 80 teachers in the Syracuse district, Central New Yorks largest school district with about 20,000 students. At West Genesee, its face-to-face teaching for the younger kids for at least 30 minutes if they are distance learning. Older students have a blend of live instruction and independent tasks. Having dedicated remote teachers makes learning equitable for in-school and virtual learners, Leo said "Its more organized, and theres a lot more rigor to it,'' he said. We know some kids checked out in the spring. Now we connect with everyone. For example, when three students didnt attend online classes one day recently Leo called each one to determine why. He said he also helps with students who cant connect or access a lesson. Teachers doing both In the Liverpool school district, teachers instruct everyone at once for example an English teacher might be teaching eight students in the classroom, eight students who are virtual that day, and four all-remote students. The lesson might be 20 minutes of live instruction and then paper or computer assignments for the rest of the class. Kids can ask question either in person or by chat. "We are trying not to go crazy with too much screen time,'' said Liverpool Superintendent Mark Potter. Later this month, many Liverpool teachers will record lessons so kids or parents can review the lesson. Potter said his districts philosophy is having one teacher instructing everyone nurtures the critical relationship between the teacher and students, so that if school reopens in full that dynamic between instructor and kid will already be there. And that teacher will continue to instruct the same kids, he said. For teachers, its a lot of work, Potter said. Not only do they need to come up with lessons, they often have to troubleshoot for kids who have technology issues. They need to answer questions from the students in class, along with those who ask questions live or in a chat box. That relationship between teacher and student is critical to success, Potter said. Frederick Hess, director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on K-12 and higher education issues, agrees with Potter. "That connection in the beginning is highly important,'' he said. "Teachers had six months last year (before schools closed) to get to know their students, and that was so important. If the teachers only know the kids from pixels and emails, its highly difficult to establish a relationship,'' he said. Teacher challenges Jamesville-DeWitt High School teacher Donna Oppedisano in her classroom preparing for a lesson Donna Oppedisano, who teaches U.S. History and Participation in Government at J-D High School, said what shes doing this fall looks nothing like what she did in the spring. "I try really hard to create an environment where we are one class, even though were not in the same space. And everyone is encouraged to participate,'' she said, whether youre there physically or not. She takes attendance on Zoom or has a question students have to answer and turn in so she knows they are present. Oppedisano uploads all the documents shell use in class to Google classroom, and the kids cant access them until class starts. What can be hard is having your attention divided when there are questions, she said. You are bouncing back and forth between the kids in class and those on screen. Oppedisano devotes the last five minutes of each class to questions. Teaching this way is physically exhausting, she said, but does allow for some sense of normalcy. Kids and parents are adjusting Katie Becker, the J-D senior, says the structured system this fall is much better. "It was so confusing in the spring, and youd just get a random assignment,'' she said. It felt like just going through the motions. Heather Snowman, whose son Lucien is fully remote and would have attended Durgee Jr. High as an 8th grader, said her sons first class is at 7:40 a.m. and attendance is taken. In the spring, it was much different. Hed get up around 11 a.m. and find other things to do all day. Hed finish his work on the last day before it was due. "It was rough,'' Heather Snowman said. Before it felt like I was the teacher,'' she said. Now theres no intervention on my part. Most classes are live three days a week. Its very structured, and now he is learning new material. Its not all rosy. In the Syracuse schools, the start has been bumpy at times as the district started with all students learning remotely. Some students struggled to get laptops or tablets. Others reported issues with signing on or other tech problems. Jodi Mattoon, who has two children learning remotely in the Baldwinsville district, said she likes the rigor of this fall, but wishes the virtual classes werent so large. There are 38 students in her daughter Rileys fourth-grade class. Shes been told there may be breakout groups, which would help. Fourth grader Riley Mattoon, 9, of Baldwinsville, get help from her mom, Jodi, to log on for her class at Reynolds Elementary School online from her desk at home. Mattoon and her sister, Alexa, 11, who attends Reynolds Elementary, opted for full virtual school this year to not for fear of getting exposed to coronavirus and disrupting their competitive dance training. N. Scott Trimble | strimble@syracuse.comN. Scott Trimble | strimble@syra She also likes the flexibility of remotely learning - when it comes to physical education, her two girls can practice dance, which they take after school as well. West Genesee parent Kathleen White has three children who attend school on a hybrid schedule. Her sixth-grader, Jack, thrives with a schedule and the teachers explain the lessons which helps immensely, she said. White said the way the schools are now is difficult, but parents, kids, teachers and district officials have little choice.. "The teachers have to manage all the different kinds of instruction, and we as parents have to provide emotional and academic support while giving our kids a sense of normalcy,'' she said. So we as parents need patience. Elizabeth Doran covers education, suburban government and development, breaking news and more. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact her anytime at 315-470-3012 or email edoran@syracuse.com Boris Johnson has been urged to raise concerns over the freedom of the press with president Donald Trump, after The Independents chief US correspondent Andrew Buncombe was arrested while covering a Black Lives Matter protest in Seattle The experienced reporter was handcuffed, shackled and placed in a red prison uniform while being detained for more than six hours in a police cell, in an incident which was described as very concerning by the Foreign Office. He now faces a charge of failure to disperse carrying a maximum penalty of 364 days in jail and a $5,000 (4,000) fine, despite having been alone at the time of his arrest, having remained on the right side of police cordon tape and having shown his press credentials when challenged by officers. The Society of Editors has called for the prime minister to raise concerns over the treatment of journalists by American police following a series of arrests, particularly during the Black Lives Matter protests. The BBCs long-serving world affairs editor John Simpson described Buncombes account of his ordeal published in The Independent on Friday as devastating. This is no longer the US Ive loved since my first visit in 1963, said Mr Simpson. And the BBCs North America editor Jon Sopel said the incident was hair-raising, disturbing and depressing. In the abstract I cant quite believe this is happening here, in the country thats been my home these past six years, said Mr Sopel. But in reality, of course, I can. Ian Murray, executive director of the Society of Editors (SoE), called on Mr Johnson to raise the issues of press freedom and the safety of journalists directly with President Trump. He said that the Seattle case followed the arrest of UK national photojournalist Adam Gray, who was thrown to the ground by police, restrained and handcuffed as he chronicled protests in New York City earlier this year. The SoE is adamant that words are not enough. It is all well for the government to speak fine words about press freedom and the safety of journalists, but actions speak louder than words, Mr Murray said. Journalists need protection to carry out their vital work to defend democracy wherever they may be working. In the case of Andrew Buncombe, it is essential that the UK government makes plain that when a journalist is carrying out their profession within law that they are provided with the protection that any liberal democracy demands. To do else is to betray the communities and society that they serve. The Independents Andrew Buncombe faces a charge of failure to disperse and $5,000 fine after being arrested while reporting on a protest (King County) Christian Broughton, editor of The Independent, said: It is imperative that democratic leaders everywhere stand up unequivocally for truly independent journalism. The arrest and appalling treatment of Andrew Buncombe must be condemned. As a global news organisation, The Independent has correspondents based permanently in countries with poor records for press freedom, and we frequently send reporters into conflict zones and dangerous situations. So when the phone rings to tell you a journalist has been arrested, you dont imagine that the correspondent in question would be in the United States. Andy is an experienced and highly respected reporter. As he writes in his article, the job of a journalist is not to disperse. Our job is to be present. A Downing Street spokesperson made no comment on Mr Buncombes specific case, but told reporters: The prime minister has been clear on many occasions that he believes in the freedom of the press. UK consular staff gave assistance to Mr Buncombe on the day of his arrest, and it is understood that diplomats at Britains embassy in Washington have raised the issue of UK journalists being subjected to police action with the US administration. A Foreign Office spokesperson said: We provided consular assistance to a British man after he was taken into custody in Seattle and were in contact with local authorities. This arrest was very concerning. Journalists all around the world must be free to do their jobs and to hold authorities to account without fear of arrest or violence. The deputy director of research for Amnesty International USA, Justin Mazzola, said that Buncombe was one of at least 60 journalists arrested as they covered Black Lives Matter demonstrations in protest at the police killing of George Floyd this year. The media has an important role to play in protecting the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, but especially right now, when society is taking to the streets to protest the unlawful killings of black people by police while simultaneously combating a highly contagious virus, said Mr Mazzola. The media have a right to attend and report on these protests, and law enforcement officials have a responsibility not to prevent or obstruct their work. If not, human rights violations like the ones we have witnessed over the past two months will breed in the darkness. Former Labour MP Ruth Smeeth, now chief executive of Index on Censorship, said: Journalism matters. Our free press matters. This is an absolute disgrace. We stand with Andrew Buncombe. And the president of the Association of Foreign Correspondents in the United States, Thanos Dimadis, voiced his organisations solidarity with Buncombe, who he described as the victim of unjust and blind police violence Violence and intimidation against journalists here in the US have their roots in the denigration of the media by President Trump, who has adopted such a tactic as an electoral and political policy, said Mr Dimadis. When media and journalists are verbally threatened with intimidation and bullying by the leader of a country, the end result is violence and intimidation of journalists attempting to challenge that leaders decisions on the streets. Veteran newspaper columnist Peter Oborne said: A proper British foreign secretary would complain forcefully about this. But I expect Dominic Raab will kowtow to the US, as he did over the killing of Harry Dunn last August. Labours shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens said that the correspondents experience at the hands of US police meant it was time for ministers to show that the governments professions of support for a free press are more than words. The shocking arrest of Andrew Buncombe in the course of his job is part of a worrying increase in the clampdown of journalists in Trumps America, said Ms Stevens. Freedom of the press is an essential test of a properly functioning democracy. Last year the Foreign and Commonwealth Office campaign for media freedom drew criticism for lacking focus and resources concentrating instead on a high-profile conference in London. The case of Mr Buncombe is the chance for the government to show that protecting media freedom and the rights of British journalists abroad involves more than words. In late May, as spring turned to summer, Premier Doug Ford told every Ontarian who wanted a COVID-19 test to go get one even if they didnt have symptoms. Just show up, he said. This week, as summer turned to fall, that offer was revoked. Ontario will no longer test asymptomatic people who arrive at assessment centres and have no exposure to a confirmed case or outbreak, with narrow exceptions, officials said Thursday. Data from the provinces public health agency backs up the policy switch, demonstrating that this type of testing is of extremely low value, while carrying significant costs. Swabbing huge volumes of asymptomatic people burdens the system contributing to the long lineups and lagging turnaround times that have plagued Ontario and discovers few new cases. Experts praised Thursdays announcement, calling it overdue. But they warned it could be challenging to communicate the change to the public especially since Ford announced just Wednesday that 60 pharmacies would offer COVID testing, but only for asymptomatic people. Officials clarified Thursday that pharmacies would offer tests to those with confirmed exposures and other targeted groups. The province also does not collect data on how many tests are on asymptomatic people, a spokesperson for Ontario Health confirmed to the Star. Its hard to measure the exact impact of this policy if we dont actually know what proportion of people (tested) are asymptomatic, said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Torontos University Health Network. Having said that, its still probably going to have a significant positive benefit. But its not quite clear how much of a positive benefit it will be. Earlier in the pandemic, many scientists were skeptical of reports that the virus was detected in people with no symptoms whatsoever. But as the evidence for asymptomatic COVID-19 grew, so did alarm bells. The fear, buttressed by research models, was that small numbers of people who had no idea they were infected were seeding huge numbers of new cases. Over the summer, Ontario launched targeted testing campaigns in high-risk settings and groups, including long-term-care homes, health-care workers, farms and factories, to discover how much the virus was spreading undetected. Data collected by Public Health Ontario (PHO) and provided to the Star shows that these campaigns yielded few new cases. The data was presented in recent weeks to officials in government and public health by Dr. Vanessa Allen, PHOs chief of medical microbiology, a spokesperson said. Among 7,200 patients at dialysis centres, targeted testing discovered two new, unknown positives, according to the PHO data. In 2,749 hospital-based, front-line health-care workers in Peel a group with a high risk of exposure three positive, asymptomatic cases were discovered. Among 1,000 children tested in hospitals, 80 pregnant women also tested in hospitals, and 523 farm workers, zero positive asymptomatic cases were found. In these campaigns, the fraction of asymptomatic people who tested positive hovered between zero and 0.2 per cent. The targeted campaigns did, however, find significant numbers of asymptomatic positives when swabbing people connected to a known outbreak. A health unit tested 2,697 workers at 38 farms with known symptoms, and discovered 295 new cases (11 per cent); a full six per cent of asymptomatic people tested positive. In long-term-care settings, homes with a declared outbreak had much higher test positivity than homes that did not have an outbreak 2.5 versus 0.2 per cent. Ontario currently cant say how much asymptomatic testing is being conducted outside of these campaigns, in people who show up at assessment centres. The Star asked Ontario Health, the agency in charge of COVID testing, for the total number of asymptomatic tests completed in August, to provide a snapshot of how much testing is happening provincewide in people with no symptoms. A spokesperson said the agency doesnt collect this data The volume of asymptomatic testing in Ontario is likely high, however, since anyone who wanted a test was encouraged to get one until Thursday. The value of these tests in the general population is likely to be even lower than in targeted campaigns, since campaigns are directed at high-risk settings. Over the summer, when we opened up testing to anyone who wanted it, we did not find cases, Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontarios associate chief medical officer, said at Thursdays policy briefing. The PHO presentation Allen gave suggests spending limited resources on low-value asymptomatic testing also makes it more difficult to stifle transmission linked to true positive cases: the extra burden on lab capacity risks slowing lab turnaround times and delaying subsequent contact tracing and aggressive outbreak management. This data comes with a caveat, however. The targeted testing campaigns were conducted in a period of very low virus prevalence overall in the province. But even with the rapid rise in case counts in Ontario, overall disease prevalence remains low, notes Dr. Andrew Morris. We need this (policy change), especially to get our testing under control so we can reduce our turnaround time and we need to reduce how many people who need testing are dissuaded from going to testing centres because of the lineups. For those two reasons, Im quite thrilled about Thursdays announcement, said Morris, an infectious disease specialist at Sinai Health and University Health Network. People with COVID-19 symptoms are still encouraged to get tested. Anyone notified that they have been exposed to a confirmed case is also among the provinces highest priorities for testing, whether symptomatic or not. (An exposure notification may come from the local public health unit or the COVID Alert app.) Ontario will continue to conduct targeted testing campaigns in high-risk groups, officials said Thursday. Asymptomatic people involved in those campaigns may be swabbed at pharmacies instead of assessment centres. And those who want to visit loved ones in long-term-care homes also still need to show proof of a negative test. Morris noted that the LTC visitor requirement had helped give the public the impression that testing is not just for diagnosing illness but for making contact with loved ones safer. It may be difficult to explain to someone why they should get tested before visiting a long-term-care resident but not before visiting an 85-year-old relative who still lives at home. But without restrictions at assessment centres, Ontarians have also been using tests to reassure themselves before weddings and trips to the cottage with friends, lengthening wait times for people who cant send kids back to school or return to work until they test negative delays that are particularly destructive for people in low-earning and precarious jobs. The best way to keep people socializing is to ensure that our system stays intact and we get control of COVID-19. And the best way to do that is to leave testing to people who are most likely to benefit, said Morris. We need to have a clear message that the way out of our current situation is primarily through people being responsible not only behaving responsibly, but by using testing capacity responsibly. Read more about: WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poland's conservative government came under criticism Monday in the European Parliament, where some lawmakers called for it to lose European Union funding over its rule of law record and its stigmatization of LGBT people. The parliament was discussing a new report on fundamental rights in Poland prepared by Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, a Spanish lawmaker who heads the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. Aguilar told lawmakers that Poland appears to be moving away from European fundamental values and called the situation "extremely concerning." The report will face a vote on Thursday. Poland has repeatedly been scrutinized in the EU parliament since the conservative nationalist Law and Justice took power in 2015. Of greatest concern has been legislation that has given the ruling party vast new powers over Poland's court system. In recent months, LGBT rights have been a new focus as Polish politicians have been depicting the movement for greater rights for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people as a dangerous "ideology" threatening the largely Catholic nation's traditional identity. President Andrzej Duda won re-election in July after a campaign in which he called the LGBT movement an "ideology" more dangerous than communism. Poland's President Andrzej Duda speaks to parliament members after he had been sworn in for a second term, at the parliament, in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday, August 6, 2020. Many of Poland's former leaders abstained from the ceremony to show disapproval for his first term policies.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, called it "a threat to the very foundations of our civilization." Many Polish municipalities have also declared themselves to be "LGBT free," a largely symbolic move but one that has left LGBT people feeling unwanted. LGBT rights groups say they have also recorded a rising number of hate crimes against sexual minorities. "We see Poland crossing red line after red line," said Sophia in t Veld, a Dutch parliament member. She called on EU leaders to take much firmer steps to punish the governments of both Poland and Hungary, which under Prime Minister Viktor Orban has also been accused by the EU of eroding democratic norms. "I dont want to hear the word dialogue anymore. Weve been in dialogue with Mr. Orban for 10 years. And look at where we are now. It is impunity. Dialogue equals impunity," she said. Vera Jourova, vice president of the European Commission, which ensures that EU law is applied in the bloc's 27 nations, said the Commission would soon decide on its next steps towards Poland over a controversial law disciplining judges. She also said it is analyzing the topic of the "LGBT-free zones" - which have caused six Polish towns to lose some EU funding. She said she strongly supports linking funding to rule of law. "I sometimes say in a rather cynical way that who doesnt understand our values, he usually understands the money. Lets use this instrument," she said. "The taxpayers of many member states - they are fed up (with) funding the projects in countries where fundamental rights are violated." Patryk Jaki, a Polish lawmaker from the Law and Justice party, accused the European lawmakers of treating any policies that are not left-wing as an attack on the rule of law. He got support from Maximilian Krah, from Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany party, who said the criticism voiced Monday was the "usual attacks on conservative politics." One key piece was missing from the courtroom as Michael Durants first-degree murder trial resumed Friday the accused. Prisoner transportation issues delayed Durants arrival at court for the mornings proceedings. That left lawyers cooling their heels in the courtroom, while the judge waited out the delay in his chambers. Once Durant arrived his lawyer, Joe Wilkinson, told Superior Court Justice Gerald Taylor he would likely close his case Monday. All thats left is the negotiation of an agreed statement of facts on the final witnesses, who are Niagara Regional Police officers. That led Crown attorney Andrew Sabbadini to bring up the increasing rate of COVID-19 infections in the province. There is the possibility of a general court shutdown, Sabbadini said. No one knows what is going to happen. With the proceedings finishing ahead of schedule, Justice Taylor, Sabbadini and Wilkinson agreed to move the closing statements to the week Oct. 13. The trial began back in January and was adjourned last spring due to the pandemic. Taylor conducted some virtual hearings over the summer that didnt require witnesses, before in-court proceedings finally resumed Sept. 8. Wilkinson, Sabbadini and Taylor also agreed delivering the closing statements remotely was problematic should the courts close again. Durants access to the hearing is limited when he is not in court, and the Ontario correctional services department is less than helpful when it comes to the use of a computer or phone. Durant, 47, is accused of killing a 32-year-old Niagara Falls woman in August 2003. The victims body was discovered in a ditch near Darby Road and Grassybrook Road on the outskirts of Niagara Falls. Taylor is presiding over the case in Kitchener, without a jury. Wilkinson is defending Durant by maintaining that the victims boyfriend, John McNeil, was really the killer. McNeil died in 2004. In other business Friday, Taylor rejected Wilkinsons application to admit McNeils statements to police during the investigation in August 2003. Wilkinsons application promised to be an uphill struggle. Taylor had already ruled McNeils statements inadmissible on a Crown application. Wilkinson hoped to convince the judge to allow him limited use of some of McNeils statements. That statements included remarks about the last time McNeil saw the victim alive; McNeil was drunk and sleeping at the time of the murder, and that McNeil said he had never assaulted the victim. Wilkinson then intended to point to evidence by other witnesses to show McNeil was lying to the police. In my ruling on the Crowns application, McNeils statements to the police were all hearsay, Taylor said. Consistency dictates the same holds for both sets of statements. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 61 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. The Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has reacted to his suspension by some aggrieved members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. The chairperson of the Nigerias Governors Forum in a statement by his press secretary, Yinka Oyebode, on Friday afternoon, described the development as a joke taken too far. PREMIUM TIMES reported that the faction that announced Mr Fayemis suspension includes Babafemi Ojudu, the political adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari, and two others, who were among those earlier suspended by the governors faction on Thursday. They were suspended for allegedly disobeying the partys directive and the failure to withdraw cases instituted against the party in court. After rejecting their suspension on the basis that officials who suspended them had no legitimacy, the faction slammed Mr Fayemi with a counter suspension over alleged continued illegalities in the name of the party. They also claimed that Mr Fayemi is supporting the agenda of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in a bid to become presidential or vice presidential candidate in 2023. Reacting to this, the governors spokesperson, Mr Oyebode said his principals suspension is a joke taken too far. He said Mr Ojudu and his cohorts action is criminal impersonation. While one would have dismissed their claims as another failed attempt to polarise the party in the state, it is also important to put it on record that the action of the group smacks of criminal impersonation as none of those who signed the purported suspension letter were executive members of the party at ward, local government or state level. The action is but a joke taken too far as they never had such power they want to arrogate to themselves, while they were members of the party, much less now that they have been suspended. He said Mr Fayemi remains unperturbed by this antics of suspended members. Well-meaning members of the public, as well as members of APC, are urged to disregard the news of the purported suspension as it only exists in the imagination of members of the group. Dr Kayode Fayemi remains the indisputable leader of the APC in Ekiti State, his statement read. The APC headquarters has also condemned Mr Fayemis suspension, saying he remains the leader of the party in APC. SAN DIEGO, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF KANSAS KANSAS CITY YELLOWDOG PARTNERS, LP, Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated, Plaintiff, vs. CURO GROUP HOLDINGS CORP., et al., Defendants. Civil Action No. 2:18-cv-02662-JWL-KGG CLASS ACTION SUMMARY NOTICE TO: ALL PERSONS AND ENTITIES THAT PURCHASED OR ACQUIRED CURO GROUP HOLDINGS CORP. ("CURO") COMMON STOCK DURING THE PERIOD BETWEEN APRIL 27, 2018, AND OCTOBER 24, 2018, INCLUSIVE (THE "SETTLEMENT CLASS PERIOD") YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED, pursuant to an Order of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, that a hearing, which the Court may require or permit to be conducted as a telephonic hearing in light of the ongoing exigent circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, will be held on December 18, 2020, at 11:00 a.m., before the Honorable John W. Lungstrum, United States District Judge, at the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, 500 State Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas 66101 for the purpose of determining: (1) whether the proposed Settlement of the above-captioned Litigation, as set forth in the settlement agreement reached between the parties, consisting of Eight Million Nine Hundred Eighty Thousand Dollars ($8,980,000.00) in cash, should be approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate to the Members of the Settlement Class; (2) whether the release by Settlement Class Members of claims as set forth in the settlement agreement should be authorized; (3) whether the proposed plan to distribute the settlement proceeds (the "Plan of Allocation") is fair, reasonable, and adequate; (4) whether the application by Lead Plaintiff's counsel for an award of attorneys' fees, charges, and expenses and the award to Lead Plaintiff pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 78u-4(a)(4) in connection with its representation of the Settlement Class should be approved; and (5) whether the Judgment, in the form attached to the settlement agreement, should be entered. Please note that the date, time, and location of the Settlement Hearing are subject to change without further notice. In light of the ongoing exigent circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Court may require or permit attendance at the Settlement Hearing by telephone. If the Court requires or permits telephonic participation in the Settlement Hearing, the dial-in number for the Settlement Hearing will be posted on www.CuroSecuritiesSettlement.com . Settlement Class Members who intend to appear at the Settlement Hearing are advised to visit www.CuroSecuritiesSettlement.com for updates. IF YOU PURCHASED OR ACQUIRED ANY OF THE COMMON STOCK OF CURO DURING THE PERIOD BETWEEN APRIL 27, 2018, AND OCTOBER 24, 2018, INCLUSIVE, YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE AFFECTED BY THE SETTLEMENT OF THIS LITIGATION. If you have not received a detailed Notice of Pendency and Proposed Settlement of Class Action ("Notice") and a copy of the Proof of Claim and Release form ("Proof of Claim"), you may obtain copies by writing to Curo Securities Settlement, Claims Administrator, c/o A.B. Data, Ltd., P.O. Box 173109, Milwaukee, WI 53217 or on the internet at www.CuroSecuritiesSettlement.com . If you are a Settlement Class Member, in order to share in the distribution of the Net Settlement Fund, you must submit a Proof of Claim by mail (postmarked no later than December 17, 2020) or if submitted electronically no later than December 17, 2020, establishing that you are entitled to recovery. Unless the deadline is extended, your failure to submit your Proof of Claim by the above deadline will preclude you from receiving any payment from the Settlement. If you are a Settlement Class Member and you desire to be excluded from the Settlement Class, you must submit a request for exclusion such that it is received no later than November 27, 2020, in the manner and form explained in the detailed Notice, referred to above. All Members of the Settlement Class who do not timely and validly request exclusion from the Settlement Class will be bound by any judgment entered in the Litigation pursuant to the Stipulation of Settlement. Any objection to the Settlement, the Plan of Allocation, or the fee and expense application must be mailed to each of the following recipients, received no later than November 27, 2020: CLERK OF THE COURT UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF KANSAS 500 State Avenue Kansas City, KS 66101 Lead Counsel: ROBBINS GELLER RUDMAN & DOWD LLP THEODORE J. PINTAR 655 West Broadway, Suite 1900 San Diego, CA 92101 Counsel for Defendants: WILLKIE FARR & GALLAGHER LLP TODD G. COSENZA 787 Seventh Avenue New York, NY 10019 PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT, THE CLERK'S OFFICE, OR DEFENDANTS REGARDING THIS NOTICE. If you have any questions about the Settlement, you may contact Lead Counsel at the address listed above. DATED: SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 BY ORDER OF THE COURT UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF KANSAS SOURCE Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP A Massachusetts man charged with killing an Appalachian Trail hiker and attacking another with a hunting knife in Virginia plans to use an insanity defense at his trial. James Jordan of West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, is scheduled to go on trial in January in the 2019 killing of Ronald Sanchez Jr., 43, of Oklahoma City, and the wounding of a female hiker. Jordans attorneys filed a notice in federal court this week saying they intend to use an insanity defense. Jordan, 31, has a history of mental illness. He was originally declared incompetent to stand trial, but a judge in June found that he is now competent and the case against him can move forward. In heavily redacted documents filed in court Monday, Jordans lawyers do not go into detail about the insanity defense, but note that forensic psychologists at the University of Virginias Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy wrote in a July 2019 report that Jordans psychotic symptoms were severe enough to undermine his ability to participate in his legal proceedings. Jordans lawyers asked that if prosecutors want to conduct a mental evaluation of Jordan that they do it at the regional jail in Abingdon, Virginia, where hes currently being held. They asked that he not be transferred to another facility for the evaluation, noting the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and possible exposure to the virus if hes moved. Jordans lawyers and a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office declined to comment on the plan to use an insanity defense. In the weeks before Sanchez was killed in May 2019, hikers on the trail had complained to authorities in southwestern Virginia and in Tennessee about Jordan threatening them. Jordan, who used the trail nickname of Sovereign, was arrested in Tennessee in April 2019 after some hikers reported him, but he was released after pleading guilty to possession of marijuana and other minor charges. On the weekend of the killing, Jordan threatened four hikers, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit filed in court. Two of the hikers were chased by Jordan as they tried to leave their campsite, but managed to escape, authorities said. Sanchez and a female hiker also ran to get away from Jordan, but he caught Sanchez first and stabbed him until he collapsed, the FBI agent wrote. Jordan then stabbed the woman repeatedly, investigators said. She fell to the ground and played dead, and Jordan then left to find his dog, the agent wrote. Jordan was later arrested. Related Content As a science teacher, he makes sure readings and discussions include information about scientists who share students' heritage. The students also learn how science issues affect their own communities, a recent topic being the COVID-19 crisis and its disproportionate impact on Black and Latino communities. Doing so, he said, places importance on who they are as a person and where theyre coming from and what their identity is. Photo: Binny Paul, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A record demand and reduced supplies have pushed the price of 2x4s to historic highs but the B.C. forest industry is only just beginning to fully take advantage. The industry has been plagued by an acute lumber shortage, which has been a long time in the making. Lumber prices across North America have nearly tripled since 2019. Based on a weekly price report by the B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources, the price of SPF (spruce, pine, fir) 2x4 lumber as of Sept. 18 is at $1,288 per thousand board feet, up from a 2019 average annual of $499. Skyrocketing prices during the past four or five months have upped the cost of building an average single-family home by $10,000 to $20,000, said Brett Giese, president and owner of Crowne Pacific Development Corp. and Veyron Properties Ltd. We were first faced with the challenges of price increases and now, despite record high prices the situation has been compounded by a shortage of supply, said Giese. Calling the dilemma a once-in-a-lifetime phenomena Joel Neuheimer, vice-president of international trade at Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) said the high price is because of increased demand after the onset of COVID-19. Home renovation and remodelling projects that people began during lockdown coincided with construction projects that typically begin in spring. This led to increased demand for lumber across North America, including the United States, where B.C. exports 65 per cent of its lumber. But the industry was not in a position to take advantage. Baggage from previous years mill closures and curtailments, wildfires, pine beetle infestations, complex stumpage systems and regulatory policies, and a lengthy strike had limited B.C.s fibre supply. Theres also uncertainty about consistent access to fibre which creates a cost burden for the industry, said Susan Yurkovich, president and CEO of the B.C. Council of Forest Industries (COFI). We had a 70 million cubic meter annual allowable cut in the Interior in 2007, thats about 50 now and expected to go down, just under 40 by 2030, she said. There was a lot of downtime through 2019 and 2020 as prices dropped and a lot of lumber was coming off the market as mills were shutting down due to high cost structures, said Yurkovich, It took a while for production to catch up with the demand, resulting in a lumber shortage between June and August. The shortage fed a 15 per cent drop in B.C.s lumber export value, costing the industry more than $1 billion. Forest ministry statistics from July 2020 showed B.C.s export value decreased year-to-date in July 2020 ($6.1 billion) compared to July 2019 ($7.5 billion). The supply chain was further disrupted when production halted as mills in B.C.were shut for two to three weeks after the onset of the pandemic, creating a backlog on lumber orders. The price of fibre in B.C. is extremely high relative to the rest of the Canada making it a high-cost jurisdiction that typically thrives under market conditions when lumber is expensive. So, despite the lumber shortage, B.C.s sawmills welcome the price hike as it helps them sustain their overhead. The real problem is when the lumber price goes low, said Yurkovich. Come winter, lumber prices might go down, said Neuheimer, adding that construction typically slows then and picks up again during spring. Yurkovich expects the fundamentals of supply and demand to remain fairly good for a while. So we might see a high price environment for a while but it is a commodity, so prices go up and down, she said. New Delhi, Sep 25 : A Delhi court on Friday took cognisance of the supplementary charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal scam. On September 19, the agency had filed the charge sheet against 15 accused, including alleged middleman Christian Michel and accused turned approver Rajiv Saxena. Special Judge Arvind Kumar of Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court has now issued summonses to the accused and listed the matter for October 23. In the supplementary charge sheet, the CBI has named Sandeep Tyagi, Praveen Bakshi, Partap Krishan Aggarwal, the then Managing Director of IDS Infotech Limited, Narendra Kumar Jain, Rajesh Kumar Jain of Kolkata, Sunil Kothari, then Managing Director of OM Metals Infotech Private Limited, and Kunhikrishnan, a close associate of Michel. The agency has also named Saxena, then Director of Interstellar Technologies Limited; Giacomino Saponaro, then Managing Director of AgustaWestland International Limited; Deepak Goyal, an official of Gautam Khaitan; IDS Infotech Limited, Aeromatrix Info Solutions Private Limited, Neel Madhav Consultants Private Limited, Mainak Agency Private Limited, and Interstellar Technologies Limited in the case. The CBI alleged that British national Michel paid Rs 90 lakh as consultancy fee to KV Kunhikrishnan, a former GM of Westland Support Services Limited, who had received documents and information related to the proposal to buy 12 VVIP choppers. The agency asserted that during further investigation, it was found that Sanjeev Tyagi and Sandeep Tyagi (both cousins of former IAF chief SP Tyagi) through Neel Madhav Consultants Private Limited acquired Mainak Agency Private Limited at Kolkata in 2009 to launder illicit kickbacks and received approximately Rs 5 crore through banking channels in collusion with NK Jain, RK Jain and Kothari, who created shell companies and opened fake accounts in different banks for returning such kickbacks. It was further alleged that in pursuance of the conspiracy, co-accused Agarwal, Bakshi, and Saxena through their companies had facilitated in routing the kickbacks paid by AgustaWestland at the UK. Saxena was brought from Dubai in January 2019 and made an approver by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the VVIP chopper deal case but the financial probe agency later sought revocation of this status by saying that he misled the investigators. The case pertains to the purchase of 12 AW-101 helicopters built by Italian defence manufacturing giant Finmeccanica (now known as Leonardo) at an estimated cost of Rs 3,600 crore for ferrying VVIPs. In the deal, bribes were allegedly paid to middlemen and others. The purchase was cleared in 2010 by the then UPA government. On January 1, 2014, India cancelled the contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland due to alleged breach of contractual obligations and payment of kickbacks amounting to Rs 423 crore. The CBI had earlier filed a charge sheet in this case on September 1, 2017 against then Air Chief Marshal Tyagi and 11 other accused. In its first charge sheet, the CBI had established a "money trail" of 62 million euros (around Rs 415 crore) out of the suspected 67 million euros (Rs 452 crore) total bribe paid to Indians through middlemen. The second charge sheet does not name any politician or senior bureaucrat. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text 17th century skeletons of plague victims from the St. Gertrude cemetery in Riga, Latvia. From the individual marked with the number 701, scientists were able to reconstruct an entire plague genome. Credit: Guntis Gerhards How do epedemics come to a stop? Scientists consider genetic mutation of the pathogens as a possible cause. The plague killed about a quarter of the European population in the 14th century. How did it come to a stop? An international team of researchers led by Ben Krause-Kyora from the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology (IKMB) at Kiel University in Germany (CAU) has now uncovered a mechanism that, among other factors, may have contributed to the end of the second pandemic. The plague is one of the greatest scourges of humankind. The disease is caused by an infection with the bacterium Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis). Three major plague pandemics have been documented, each resulting in a devastating death toll and great human suffering. The Second Pandemic started with the Black Death (1347-1353), which killed a large proportion of the European population in only a few years. It continued for another four centuries and repeatedly hit the continent with local or regional outbreaks. When considering this longstanding presence of the plague in Europe, the easing and final disappearance of the disease at the end of the 18th century seems all the more puzzling. Scientists from Germany and Latvia have now conducted an ancient genomic study in which they investigated human remains from two cemeteries in Riga, Latvia, that were used as a burial ground for plague victims in the 17th century. DNA was extracted from the teeth of 16 skeletons and subjected to sequencing. The researchers were also able to reconstruct a complete pest genome from individual number 488. Credit: Guntis Gerhards The scientists were able to detect traces of the pathogen Y. pestis in the remains of four individuals. In two of them the DNA was so well preserved that entire genomes of the pathogen could be analyzed. It turned out that the genomes from Riga differed in one essential aspect from genomes from the time of the Black Death: they had a lower number of a specific gene, the Pla gene. Pla is a so-called virulence factor, which is crucial for the transmission of the bacterium. Julian Susat, Ph.D. candidate at the IKMB and first author of the study published in the journal Scientific Reports, reanalyzed previously examined DNA sequences of other strains that had occured after the Black Death and found the same patternthey were all depleted in pla and therefore less infectious for humans. In search of pathogens: In order to avoid contamination with modern DNA, the samples are examined in a clean room. Credit: Ben Krause-Kyora This raises the question why the bacteria reduced the number of their pla genes during the course of the second pandemic. Susat speculates: "One possibility is that the bacteria had to adapt to a new environment after the Black Death. The depletion of pla could have led to a fitness advantage when infecting rodents, the natural host of Y. pestis." For the leader of the study Ben Krause-Kyora, the results provide a possible explanation for the course of the pandemic: "The spread of the pla-depleted, and thus for humans less virulent, strains could at least partially explain the decline and ultimately the disappearance of the plague from Europe." The study highlights how the application of modern genome sequencing technologies can help to unmask adaptive processes of pathogens during a pandemic and thus explain the course of the disease. Explore further Ancient genomes provide insight into the genetic history of the second plague pandemic More information: Julian Susat et al. Yersinia pestis strains from Latvia show depletion of the pla virulence gene at the end of the second plague pandemic, Scientific Reports (2020). Journal information: Scientific Reports Julian Susat et al. Yersinia pestis strains from Latvia show depletion of the pla virulence gene at the end of the second plague pandemic,(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71530-9 Indonesias large population and complex geography pose a number of challenges for governments to develop economic growth. These challenges are mirrored in the telecom sector, which is well served by mobile infrastructure, but which has inadequate fixed-line capacity in many areas. Continued progress in developing the telecom sector requires further government action on restructuring the industry, promoting foreign investment and encouraging further competition. The Indonesian data centre market has experienced significant growth over the past two decades as the country has sought to bridge the gap with neighbours such as Singapore and Malaysia. The market is attracting investment from hyperscale cloud providers such as Google, Alibaba and Amazon. Compared to other Asian nations, Indonesia has very low fixed line and fixed broadband penetration, high mobile penetration and moderate mobile broadband penetration. Development of the fixed broadband market has been restricted due to poor infrastructure, though the number of subscribers of the two main providers, which between them command a 93% market share, increased by around 22% in 2019. The market has considerable room for growth, given that household penetration is only about 15%. The extensive reach of 3G and LTE networks provide voice and data coverage to the vast majority of the population. Although the MNOs have trialled 5G since mid-2019 the sector has been hampered by the lack of available spectrum. In recent years the market has been characterised by high growth in data services and a reduction in the use of voice and SMS. BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries. On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth. Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report. The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions. Key Developments Steady growth anticipated in mobile broadband through to 2025, supported by high smartphone penetration; Smartfren selects ZTE to help develop 5G; Report update includes Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, MoCIs 2019 market report, operator data to Q2 2020, recent market developments. Get a Full Copy of this Report Developing Telecoms market report summaries are produced in partnership with BuddeCom, the worlds largest continually updated online telecommunications research service. The above article is a summary of the following BuddeCom report: Report title: Indonesia - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses Edition: 26th (August 2020) Analyst: Sebastien De Rosbo Number of pages: 129 Companies mentioned in the report: Telkom; Indosat; Satelindo; Smart Telecom, Bakrie Telecom, Temasek, TelkomNet, Telkomsel Single User PDF Licence Price: US$1150 For more information or to purchase a copy of the full report please use the following link: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Indonesia-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses/?r=83 We are hoping that the borders will be open again next summer, there are some very good specials right now and so we are planning another trip . We will arrive early Sunday afternoon in Seattle. Usually we like to wait a day before we get the rental car. But since Sunday afternoon traffic is probably much better than Monday morning traffic, we're thinking of getting the car after arriving and then leaving Seattle towards the I 90. Not too far,maybe one hour driving and then a hotel somewhere. Could anyone give us some recommendation as to where would be a good place? Our next stop will be Idaho,so close to I 90 would be best. We'll spend some days in Seattle at the end of our trip. Thank you This 89-Year-Old Billionaire Finally Achieved His Goal of Going Broke After Years of Secre A humble man who boasted not of his own achievements, but of those he helped. Self-made billionaire Chuck Feeney had one main life goal: to die broke. Feeney comes from a working-class New Jersey family. The Irish-American grandson of immigrants amassed his fortune after co-founding the duty-free shopping empire Duty Free Shoppers. Despite his riches, he doesnt own a car, rents a small apartment, flies economy class, and owns only one pair of shoes. He even crashes in his daughter's apartment while in New York. Instead of indulging himself, Feeney set up a foundation called The Atlantic Philanthropies in secret in 1982 and transferred almost all of his wealth into it. He made countless endowments to charities and universities across the world for 38 years. atlanticphilanthropies.org Chuck Feeney Now, at the age of 89, he has finally run out of money and achieved his goal of striving for zero...to give it all away. Feeney became known as the secret billionaire because of his penchant for discretion, even while funding massive educational, medical, and philanthropic institutions throughout the U.S. and Ireland. Forbes even stated in 2012 that Feeney was the man who arguably has done more for Ireland than anyone since Saint Patrick. Although Feeney always preferred flying under the radar, he continued to keep a low profile until 2005, when the opportunity came along to do some good with publicity. His work only came to light when journalist Conor OCleary wrote his biography with the goal of promoting giving while living to other wealthy people. His selfless nature has shocked other tech billionaires today, all of whom hail him as a notable role model. Bill Gates has said that Feeney was the inspiration behind both the $30 billion-strong Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Giving While Living Pledge, which has enlisted more than 90 of the worlds richest to grant their wealth to charity. Story continues Oechsli, who has worked for Feeney for more than 30 years, told The Guardian that although his boss had once tried to live a life of luxury, it didnt really suit him. He had nice places [homes] and nice things. He tried it on and it wasnt for him, Oeschsli said. He doesnt own a place, doesnt own a car. The stories of his frugality are true: he does have a $10 Casio watch and carry his papers in a plastic bag. That is him. Thats what he felt comfortable with, and thats really who Chuck has been. A true philanthropist, Feeney has also been known to call out those with untold wealth and urge them to give back to the community. He would scratch his head at people who owned multiple yachts when you can look around and see tremendous needs elsewhere. What am I going to do with it [all the money], Feeney said. Like many of the wealthy people today they have [so much] money that they wouldnt be able to spend it. As for where the estimated $8 billion went, Feeney has given more than $3.7 billion to higher education institutions, including almost $1 billion to Cornell University, where he studied hotel administration for free under the GI bill after service as a U.S. Air Force radio operator during the Korean war. Feeney has also donated $870 million to human rights groups, including $62 million in grants to groups campaigning to end the death penalty in the U.S., and $76 million to grassroots campaigns supporting the passage of Obamacare. Feeney said he hopes more billionaires will follow his example and use their money to help address the worlds biggest problems. I have always empathised with people who have it tough in life, Feeney told Irelands RTE in 2010. And the world is full of people who dont get enough to eat. As he signed the papers to formally dissolve his (now broke) foundation, Feeney said he was very satisfied with completing this on my watch. He urged other upper-class members not to wait until after they have died to experience the joy of giving away their fortunes. Billionaire or not, everyone can take something from his wise words: Wealth brings responsibility. People must define themselves, or feel a responsibility to use some of their assets to improve the lives of their fellow humans, or else create intractable problems for future generations. Iraqi Assyrian Archbishop Who Saved Ancient Manuscripts Nominated for EU Prize Chaldean Archbishop Najib Mikhael Moussa of Mosul was among the nominees for the EU Parliament's Sakharov Prize. VATICAN CITY -- An Iraqi archbishop who helped save hundreds of ancient manuscripts from being destroyed by Islamic State militants was among the nominees for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize. In a statement released Sept. 17, the European Parliament announced that Chaldean Archbishop Najib Mikhael Moussa of Mosul was nominated for the 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which is awarded annually "to honor exceptional individuals and organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms." Archbishop Moussa, who has led the archdiocese of Mosul since 2019, "safeguarded more than 800 historic manuscripts dating from the 13th to the 19th century," the parliament said. "These manuscripts were later digitized and exhibited in France and Italy. Since 1990, he has contributed to safeguarding 8,000 more manuscripts and 35,000 documents from the Eastern church," the statement said. The parliament also recognized Archbishop Moussa's efforts to ensure "the evacuation of Christians, Syriacs and Chaldeans to Iraqi Kurdistan" after Islamic State militants attacked Mosul in August 2014. When Kurdish forces retreated from the city, then-Father Moussa and his staff, comprised of six to eight local Iraqis, managed to pack two open-bed pickup trucks full of nondescript cardboard boxes holding 1,300 extremely fragile and valuable ancient manuscripts. He then fled the city with local townspeople, walking 40 miles in the scorching August heat to Irbil, capital of the Kurdish region of Iraq. In an interview with AsiaNews Sept. 22, Archbishop Moussa said he viewed the nomination not only as a "personal recognition, but one for Iraq as whole," especially for those who "suffer or have suffered" due to war. "This nomination represents an honor" and a way to remember "the innocent victims, especially the Yazidis, a peaceful people who had to face a real tragedy and to whom I feel particularly connected." He also said that the destruction wrought by the Islamic State was a threat to Iraq's heritage which is "in danger of extinction." "A people without a heritage is a dead people," Archbishop Moussa said. "To save the manuscripts and people during the advance of Islamic State forces, many feet and many hands were needed," he said. "At that time, I called on God to have 10 feet and 10 hands to save books and people, and he replied by sending me many young people who helped me in this mission." -Both COVID-19 cases and related deaths numbers in the United States account for roughly one fifth of the global totals, while the U.S. population is equivalent to less than 5 percent of the world's population. -The White House has sought to deflect blame by engaging in wars of words with state officials and reshaping narratives of its response to the pandemic. -Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, said that a vaccine probably wouldn't be widely available to the American public until "late second quarter, third quarter 2021." WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The United States hit another grim milestone on Tuesday, becoming the first in the world to have reported more than 200,000 COVID-19 deaths. As people across the country are mourning the losses, health experts have criticized the federal government's handling of the pandemic and urged officials to reflect on the failures as new challenges are ahead in fall and winter and the timetable for a coronavirus vaccine remains unclear. RESPONSE UNDER CRITICISM There have been 200,005 coronavirus deaths as of Tuesday noon, while the number of infections has exceeded 6.8 million, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Both numbers account for roughly one fifth of the global totals, while the U.S. population is equivalent to less than 5 percent of the world's population. U.S. national flags representing the 200,000 lives lost to COVID-19 in the United States are placed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Sept. 22, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) "The idea of 200,000 deaths is really very sobering and in some respects, stunning," Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a virtual conference hosted by CNN on Tuesday. Fauci, the country's leading infectious diseases expert and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, refused to grade how the United States has handled the pandemic but said instead the numbers speak for themselves. "Take a look at the numbers and make up your own mind," he said. "We don't need a soundbite from me. Take a look at the numbers." Now the largest epicenter of the public health crisis, the United States was not the first to have an outbreak. U.S. health authorities reported the first coronavirus case on Jan. 20 and the first death in late February. However, for weeks and even months, top government officials had tried to play down the threat of the virus to the U.S. pubic and thus wasted valuable time for preparation and mobilization despite early and repeated warnings from the international community and health pundits. "This didn't have to happen. Tens of thousands of deaths could have been prevented," tweeted Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). After a wider outbreak, the U.S. federal government took a series of measures against the spread of the coronavirus but met with criticism for being late or not strong enough. Its messaging on the pandemic had largely been dominated by politicians rather than scientists whom polls have showed Americans appear to trust more. For example, the White House didn't endorse the use of masks against coronavirus until July, a measure that experts have agreed could help reduce infections and save more lives. At times, the White House had tried to sideline or undercut its officials and scientists inclined to talk bluntly about the pandemic, while putting political pressure on health agencies and even interfered with their work, creating confusion and damaging public trust. "Unfortunately we've seen scientists, public health officials and our government science agencies can be badly undermined," tweeted Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "We've witnessed scientific recommendations get changed by a political process." Meanwhile, the White House has sought to deflect blame by engaging in wars of words with state officials and reshaping narratives of its response to the pandemic. That blame-shifting game has even gone beyond the borders. In July, the United States officially notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of its withdrawal from the specialized UN agency, a roundly criticized move that has put the global fight against the pandemic in danger. People walk in Times Square during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, the United States, Sept. 13, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua) According to a new 13-nation Pew Research Center survey, a median of just 15 percent say the United States has done a good job of dealing with the outbreak. In contrast, most have positive views on the WHO's response, and in nearly all nations, people give their own country positive marks for handling the crisis, with the United States being a notable exception. NEW CHALLENGES AHEAD After peaks in summer that saw daily coronavirus cases as high as more than 70,000 in the United States, the number of new infections a day has overall been on the decline, but in the past week there were still at least 33,000 diagnoses and hundreds of deaths in a single day. Several Midwestern states have recently reported record numbers of single day infections. "We're all sick and tired of the pandemic, but unfortunately Covid is not tired of making us sick. It's still out there -- lots of people are infectious and the virus remains deadly," Frieden tweeted earlier. "We're not out of the woods. Another 100,000 people could die by the end of the year unless we improve our response." Leana Wen, visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health, urged people not to let down their guard, tweeting that "the same public health measures we've discussed all along are still our best protection." Students study online at a recreation center in Los Angeles, the United States, on Sept. 3, 2020. (Xinhua) While most students are attending classes virtually this fall, others in some parts of the United States are returning to school. News of coronavirus clusters turning up on campuses has recently broken out one after another, frustrating local efforts to flatten the curve and dampening progress on reopening the economy and communities. "The back-to-school season has brought new infections in colleges and universities nationwide. COVID-19 cases in students and children will continue to rise," Stanley Perlman, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, told Xinhua. More than 150 colleges and universities in the United States have reported at least 100 coronavirus cases over the course of the pandemic, including dozens that have seen spikes in recent weeks, according to a survey conducted by The New York Times. A total of 587,948 children in the country tested positive for the disease as of Sept. 17, the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children's Hospital Association said in a report released Monday, adding that 74,553 new child cases were reported from Sept. 3 through Sept. 17, a 15-percent increase over two weeks. Experts also noted that the overlap of the coronavirus pandemic and the flu season, which started in fall, could strain health care capacity, making upcoming months very challenging. "Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses, like flu, this fall and winter is more important than ever," the U.S. CDC said on its website. "CDC recommends getting a flu vaccination in September or October but getting vaccinated anytime during the flu season can help protect you." Ali Nouri, a molecular biologist and president of the Federation of American Scientists, a policy think tank dedicated to addressing pandemics and other global risks, tweeted that "everyone needs to have a plan and prepare for the winter months." "Without precautions, spending more time indoors, often in crowded and poorly ventilated spaces, will exacerbate the pandemic," he warned. VACCINE TIMETABLE UNCLEAR Perlman said he thinks "the numbers of cases may surge in fall and winter" in the United States but hopes that "with appropriate measures and perhaps a vaccine, the surge will be less than we fear." However, the timetable for a COVID-19 vaccine remains unclear and has been confusing. An electronic screen shows an advertisement calling for plasma donation from patients recovered from COVID-19 on Times Square in New York, the United States, Aug. 19, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) U.S. President Donald Trump, who is seeking reelection this year, has been pushing for the distribution of vaccines before the Election Day in early November, as the pandemic is a key campaign topic and criticism of his administration's response has put a drag on the prospects of the Republican's second term. Earlier this month, the U.S. CDC asked state officials to prepare for vaccine distribution for high-priority groups as early as Nov. 1. Moncef Slaoui, scientific head of Operation Warp Speed, a White House program designed to shorten the amount of time it takes to develop a coronavirus vaccine, has said that it is "possible but very unlikely" that a vaccine will be ready to distribute by then. During a hearing with a Senate subcommittee last week, Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, said that a vaccine probably wouldn't be widely available to the American public until "late second quarter, third quarter 2021." Several vaccines are currently in trials. Trump has rejected Redfield's remarks, calling them "incorrect information." "I think he made a mistake when he said that," Trump told reporters last week. "I called him and he didn't tell me that. I think he got the message maybe confused, maybe it was stated incorrectly." Fauci said on Tuesday that "people can have projections of what they think might happen" but no one really knows when a vaccine will be ready. "The system is a double-blind, placebo controlled system -- which means that there's an independent data and safety monitoring board that has nothing to do with politics or politicians, that has nothing to do essentially with the company, or the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), or the people who are doing the trial," he explained. "Nobody knows what those data are because no one has looked at them. They are blinded." 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) It is also not sure how effective a COVID-19 vaccine will ultimately be. The U.S. FDA said in June that it would authorize a vaccine if it was safe and at least 50 percent effective in preventing the disease or decreasing the severity of infections. Fauci has previously acknowledged that chances of scientists creating a highly effective vaccine are "not great." Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law and director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, tweeted that "so much can go wrong" with COVID-19 vaccines, including the FDA approval, adequate supplies, equitable distribution, and vaccine hesitancy, as well as "concerns about liability and fair compensation for vaccine injuries." A teacher helps a student close his personal hand sanitizer as he arrives for the first time since the start of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic at Hunter's Glen Junior Public School, part of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada September 15, 2020. (Reuters/Carlos Osorio/File Photo) Canada Schools Debate How to Act on Common Cold Symptoms Runny nose, stay home? OTTAWAJust four days into the new school year, Trevor Boutiliers five-year-old son was sent home from his Ottawa kindergarten with a runny nose and slight cough, and told to stay away until hed had a COVID-19 test and was symptom free. The local testing centre was overrun, so Boutilier drove his son miles out of the city to a small town for the test. They waited for four days for the result, which came back negative. By then, his son, who suffers seasonal allergies, had been symptom free for days and missed nearly a week of school. If youre going to send them home and have them get COVID tested for every runny nose and every sniffle then youre never going to have any kids in school, Boutilier said. Youre just going to have line-ups upon line-ups at the testing centres. The long checklist of symptoms that Canadian schools and daycare centres use to screen children has emerged as a major point of contention for parents. Like Boutilier, they say it is overly restrictive, especially in cold and allergy season, and will force children to miss classes and parents to miss work. This week, British Columbia removed a number of common cold symptoms from its checklist, including runny noses and sore throats, saying those symptoms in isolation should not keep kids at home. Epidemiologists supported the move, and Ontario and Manitoba are now reconsidering their stay-home checklists. Doctors were less sanguine. Im sort of surprised theyd be doing this as COVID cases are going up, said Dr Anna Banerji, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in Toronto. A lot of kids that get COVID dont have a fever or shortness of breath, she said, pointing to symptoms still on British Columbias checklist. I think youre going to miss a lot of cases. New COVID-19 infections have surged in Canada in recent days, with an average of 1,144 new cases reported daily over the past week, up sharply from a daily average of 380 in mid-August. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that the second wave had arrived. The surge, coupled with the reopening of schools for the new term, has led to long line-ups at testing centres in many major cities. Canadas official opposition leader, Erin OToole, slammed Trudeaus government last week after facing a long wait at an Ottawa testing centre and called for rapid testing. He is now in isolation after his test came back positive. Sore throats and runny nose are symptoms of COVID-19, but theyre also symptoms of other well known viruses, said Vancouver doctor Funmi Okunola, who is pushing for rapid home testing. The only way we can tell the difference between the two is through testing. But home collection kits are still being reviewed by Health Canada, leaving daily symptom checklists as the best screening option for now, though epidemiologists said the kitchen-sink approach may not be realistic. Kids get sick from a lot of stuff and its probably impossible to keep all symptomatic kids out of the system indefinitely, said Raywat Deonandan, an epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Ottawa. It makes sense to take a few symptoms off the table, he added, noting the focus should be on screening for symptoms like a fever, the most common indicator of COVID-19 in children. But physicians warned that research is still limited. The consequence of not being careful in schools is those schools may shut down and then everyone loses, said Dr Banerji. By Julie Gordon US President hoped on Thursday that India and China would be able to resolve their current border disputes as he reiterated his offer to help the two Asian giants in this regard. "I know that China now, and India, are having difficulty, and very very substantial difficulty. And hopefully, they will be able to work that out," Trump told reporters at the White House. "If we can help, we would love to help," he said. The president's remarks in this regard come days after senior Indian and Chinese military commanders held talks aimed at resolving the months-long standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in The two countries agreed to stop sending more troops to their disputed border in the Himalayas. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that the border conflict is pushing India to look for an asymmetric response: flexing its naval might. "India is intensifying joint naval maneuvers with the US and its allies while building new ships and setting up a network of coastal surveillance outposts that would allow New Delhi to keep an eye on the Indian Ocean's maritime traffic," the newspaper said. A "Grand Tamasha" podcast with senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program of Carnegie Endowment for Peace, eminent American expert on India and South Asia Ashley Tellis said the Trump administration has taken a very transparent position of support for India in this crisis. "And, of course, it is motivated in part by the opportunities to confront China on a grander scale, which sort of makes it part and parcel of the US's own bilateral problems with China. But I think there is something more going on here. And the more is that I do not think the United States had the alternative of doing otherwise. "That is, Chinese aggression in this instance has been so blatant that the United States could not stand by and either ignore it or not come to India's defence," said Tellis, the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs. "What are the issues here? We all agree that those borderlands along the Himalayan territories are undefined. We all agree that they should be negotiated, delimited, demarcated through a peaceful process. We all agree that the agreements that China and India have repeatedly reached among themselves since the 1990s actually offer a good enough framework for how to resolve this dispute over the long term," he added. What China has done is that it has thrown all those understandings overboard, Tellis said. "And it is very important to recognise this that whatever the provocations may have been, the provocations created by Article 370 or whatever, I do not think they justified a reaction of this kind. Because a diplomatic provocation should have, you know, elicited a diplomatic response, rather than a quick jump to military action, which has enormous risks. "By China taking the step to move quickly to military action, which has now resulted in loss of lives, I think it has put itself on the opposite side of the United States, which is arguing more loudly than ever for a rules-based community," he added. "And so, even beyond the Trump administration's own bilateral problems with China, I think they were left in absolutely no position but to support India on this count and I think even a Democratic administration would have done the same in these circumstances," Tellis 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.) A bank manager has discovered a 9.07-carat diamond at a state park in Arkansas after picking up the precious gem thinking it was a piece of glass. Kevin Kinard, 33, made the discovery at the Crater of Diamonds State Park - where visitors can pay to scour for diamonds - on Labor Day. It is the second-largest stone ever found at the park. While its exact value is unclear, the largest diamond found at the park - the 16-carat Amarillo Starlight - is thought to be worth $175,000 after being cut. Kevin Kinard, 33, a bank manager from Arkansas, found a 9.07-carat diamond at a state park where visitors are allowed to search for the gems, the second-largest ever discovered there Kinard said he picked up the precious stone thinking it was a piece of glass, before taking it to park officials who revealed he had made a major discovery Kinard explained that he first visited the park on a second-grade field trip, and has gone back once or twice a year since. He last visited the park in May, but went back on September 7 after Arkansas parks launched a 'passport' scheme, where a visit to each park earns a stamp. 'I went back because we wanted to get our passports stamped,' he told Good Morning America. He and his friends hauled sifting equipment out to the site, where visitors can pay $10 to search for diamonds, which has a policy of 'finder's keepers'. The park sits on top of an ancient volcanic crater, where the diamonds were formed millions of years ago. Kinard said he only used the equipment for around 10 minutes before deciding to walk up and down rows that staff plow through the soil using machines. 'Anything that looked like a crystal, I picked it up and put it in my bag,' he said. While searching in the southeast portion of the 37.5-acre diamond search area, Kinard scooped up a marble-sized crystal that had a rounded, dimpled shape. 'It kind of looked interesting and shiny, so I put it in my bag and kept searching,' Kinard said. 'I just thought it might've been glass.' Kinard has not yet had the stone (pictured) valued, and uncut diamonds are difficult to put a price on. The largest ever found at the park, at 16-carats, was worth $175,000 after cutting Several hours later, Kinard said he and his comrades stopped by the park's Diamond Discovery Center, where park workers identify visitor findings . 'I almost didn't have them check my finds, because I didnt think I had found anything,' Kinard said. 'My friend had hers checked, though, so I went ahead and had them check mine.' Upon having his finds assessed, an employee informed Kinard he had discovered a diamond. 'I honestly teared up when they told me,' Kinard said. 'I was in complete shock!' He has since taken the diamond back to his hometown of Maumelle where he has locked it in the safe of the bank where he works. He has not yet taken the diamond to be appraised, and says for now he just wants to 'savor the moment'. He added: 'I'm not sure what it's worth, but I can't do anything with a 9-carat diamond 'My boss said, "You may be a millionaire. Are you going to quit?" I said, "Absolutely not!" I'm too young for that. I'd still work.' Bah Ndaw, a retired colonel who has been designated Mali's interim president following last month's coup, made his first public appearance on Thursday, meeting a regional mediator, AFP reporters saw. Ndaw, 70, met former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, in Bamako on a mission for the 15-nation bloc ECOWAS, on the eve of his swearing-in. Ndaw's appointment was announced on Monday by Colonel Assimi Goita, who heads a junta of young military officers who seized power on August 18, ousting elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Goita himself will serve as vice president, under the announcement. The interim president will rule for a maximum of 18 months before staging nationwide elections. ECOWAS -- the Economic Community of West African States -- slapped sanctions on Mali on August 20 to push for swift restoration of civilian government, including the appointment of civilians as interim president and prime minister. The bloc may announce on Friday whether the plan meets criteria for easing sanctions, Jonathan said on Thursday. An official close to the sanctions discussion, who declined to be named, said that "there are still consultations going on". Jonathan was due to meet other Malian officials on Thursday, besides Ndaw, including prominent figures whom the military detained after last month's coup. ECOWAS has demanded the release of all detainees. Keita was released, but former prime minister Boubou Cisse, among other officials, remains in detention. Mali's neighbours have taken a hard line with the junta, fearful that the fragile nation of some 19 million people could spiral into chaos. Swathes of the vast country already lie outside of government control, due to a lethal jihadist insurgency that first emerged in 2012. It has also inflamed ethnic tensions. Current restrictions include border closures and a ban on commercial trade and financial flows but not on basic necessities, drugs, equipment to fight coronavirus, fuel or electricity. mk-ea-lal-ri/eml/ach A pickup truck ran into a protester while driving through a crowd in Buffalo, New York on September 23. The crowd was demonstrating against the indictment announcement in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. According to local news reports a protester on a bicycle was struck by the vehicle during protests at Niagara Square. This video shows the moment the pickup drives through the crowd before hitting the protester. Some members of the crowd give chase and catch up to the vehicle, where they berate the driver. The driver calls to police for help. Former Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) Officer Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree. Hankisons bond was set at $15,000. Hankison was fired from the police force on June 23 for his role in the shooting death of Taylor. Sgt Jonathan Mattingly and detective Myles Cosgrove, the two other officers who fired their weapons while trying to serve a search warrant on Taylors apartment in the early hours of March 13, were not charged. Credit: Brandan Moses-Bonner via Storyful Keir Starmer has sacked a Labour MP for voting against the government's plans to exempt UK troops from prosecution for war crimes and torture. Nadia Whittome, parliament's youngest MP, confirmed in a statement that she had been "stood down" from her role as a parliamentary private secretary after opposing the Overseas Operations Bill. Two other MPs, Beth Winter and Olivia Blake, also voluntarily stood down from similar roles to vote against the legislation, which Amnesty International says will give war criminals "a free pass". The MPs joined Jeremy Corbyn and 14 other MPs from the left of the party in opposing the bill, which critics say would effectively decriminalise torture. The Liberal Democrats and SNP also voted against the plan. The new legislation has been slammed by human rights groups and some senior armed forces figures, including General Sir Nicholas Parker Commander in Chief, Land Forces 2010-2012. He argued that the bill would risk the UK being seen as holding itself to "double standards". Ministers say the bill will protect soldiers against vexatious claims, by creating a blanket presumption against prosecution after five years. Labour's frontbench says it disagreed with parts of the bill but whipped its MPs to abstain and says it will try to improve the legislation at the committee stage. The Conservatives appeared unswayed by the opposition's triangulation, broadcasting on their social media channels that the "same old Labour just refused to back Britain's armed forces in Parliament". Ms Whittome told ITV News that she "thought the bill was a matter of conscience" and did not expect to be sacked for voting against it, describing the legislation as anti-veteran, anti-human rights, and would effectively decriminalise torture". The bill passed its second reading by votes 332 to 77. She said: "The decision to break the Labour whip is a difficult one and I understand many of my colleagues came to a different conclusion and decided to abstain on this bill in the sincere hope that the bill can be amended at later stages. I hold out no such hope given how flawed and damaging this bill is. "It is important that MPs are able to vote in line with their conscience in consideration of all the facts and in good faith - all of which I am confident that I have done." Labour MP Nadia Whittome (YouTube) Diane Abbott, the former shadow home secretary, commended the MPs who were sacked or resigned to vote against the bill, saying they had "voted absolutely in line with Labour values". Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: This Government made a promise to the nation to protect service personnel and veterans from vexatious claims and endless investigations. We have not shied away from the challenge and today are one step closer to fulfilling that commitment. "Our Armed Forces risk their lives to protect us and it is vital we continue to progress this legislation, providing certainty for the troops who find themselves on the front line in the future. Living up to its moniker of a defensive bet, the Rs 2.8 lakh crore Indian pharmaceutical sector is set to emerge more or less unscathed from the Covid-19 pandemic this fiscal, said on Thursday. The sector is well-diversified with exports and domestic formulations accounting for almost equal share. According to the rating agency, this fiscal, growth in exports at 11-12 per cent (as against 10 per cent last fiscal) will outpace growth in domestic formulations expected at 5-6 per cent (from 10 per cent in fiscal 2020), leading to 8-9 per cent overall growth, down just 150 basis points on-year. Operating profitability for 350 CRISIL-rated pharmaceutical companies, representing 70 per cent of sector revenue, would soften by 100-150 bps but remain healthy at 19 per cent despite higher input prices. Credit profiles will continue to be supported by healthy balance sheets. The export pie is divided into regulated markets such as the US and Europe (45 per cent), rest of world (ROW) markets (35 per cent) and bulk drugs (20 per cent). Exports growth is expected to remain strong at 10 per cent and above in each of the segments. The growth in the regulated markets will be supported by steady increase in new product launches from compliant plants, lower pricing pressure on existing generics, and a visible easing in scrutiny by the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) in recent months. According to Isha Chaudhary, Director, Research, "India accounted for almost half the abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA, approvals provided by the US FDA since fiscal 2019. This strong pipeline, coupled with lower import alerts and warning letters in recent months, should ensure a steady pace of new launches, which will help sustain export momentum to regulated markets." Exports to ROW markets, too, are expected to rebound to 10 per cent compared to 7 per cent in fiscal 2020, driven by opportunities in under-penetrated generic markets such as Africa and Latin America. Also, bulk drug exports will benefit from moves worldwide to reduce dependence on China. Tanvi Shah, Associate Director, Ratings, said : "Higher exports should offset some of the reduction in domestic formulation sales because of pandemic-led disruptions, especially in the acute therapies segment (60 per cent of domestic formulation sales). Lower footfalls in hospitals and fewer field visits by medical representatives have affected prescription-based sales in acute therapies, as evident from the steep moderation in the first-quarter sales of anti-infectives and gastro-intestinals." Despite the slight moderation in business performance, credit profiles of domestic is expected to remain largely steady, benefiting from healthy balance sheets and liquidity. Equity infusions from private equity funds have also helped improve credit metrics in recent times. CRISIL said that it expects prudence in capital and research and development spending, as well as efficient working capital management, will enable manage transition through the current challenging times. For instance, the median gearing for CRISIL's sample set is expected at less than 0.4 times in fiscal 2021 (0.42 times in fiscal 2020). That said, a few large pharmaceutical are facing anti-trust suits in the US. Any unanticipated litigation costs or adverse developments such as increased US FDA scrutiny impacting new product launches will be monitorables. Over the medium term, the government's production-linked incentive scheme for local bulk-drug manufacturing could support domestic growth, the agency said. Development of, and contract manufacturing opportunities in, Covid-19 vaccines could also support revenues, it added. --IANS sn/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.) Mangaluru City Police who are tracking the drug links have now sent a notice to actress cum anchor Anushree. Anushree hails from Mangaluru and is now settled in Bengaluru. Mangaluru Police had arrested actor choreographer Kishore Aman Shetty and his friend Akeel on Sep 19. Since then the police had started tracking the drug links in the city. As part of the investigation, the police have also sent notices to those who are associated with these people. Police have now sent a notice to actress Anushree. Sources said that the notice was issued as she knew Kishore Aman Shetty and also Tarun very closely. The Mangaluru police team which had been to the residence of Anushree in Bengaluru on Thursday handed over the notice. The police have not set any specific date but have asked her to come at her convenience. Meanwhile speaking to the media, Anushree agreed that she knew Tarun and Kishore but also added that she never goes to any party. She had said that she would appear before the police and give the necessary details. Shes the ABC radio host who is adept at drawing out others stories, but in a new memoir, Jacinta Parsons details her own, often harrowing, struggle with Crohns disease. Although shes long been in the public eye, Parsons says that initially she felt sick about airing such personal matters in the book, called Unseen: The Secret World of Chronic Illness. The journey to here: Radio presenter Jacinta Parsons documents her struggle with chronic illness in the memoir "Unseen". Credit:Chris Hopkins "A few close friends and writers have read it and have been kind about it, so you start to go, 'OK, itll be all right.' " The book documents Parsons rise out of a dark period of her life. Two men have been arrested on accusations of plotting a 'Netflix-worthy' series of ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks including bombings on the White House, Trump Tower and the New York Stock Exchange. Jaylyn Christopher Molina, of San Antonio, Texas, and Kristopher Sean Matthews, 34, from Eglin, South Carolina, were arrested on Monday. Molina was detained in Texas and Matthews arrested in Tennessee. The FBI claim they intercepted communications which showed the men planning an attack in the name of the Islamic State, according to court documents obtained by KSAT. Kristopher Sean Matthews, 34, from Eglin, South Carolina, was arrested on Monday Matthews allegedly suggested it would be better to attack government centers rather than places like 'malls where innocent children are'. He allegedly suggested targeting Trump Tower and the New York Stock Exchange - hoping the sites would give the pair 'rock star status, baby'. He said he thought a series attacks across the U.S. 'could be Netflix worthy.' The two men also allegedly discussed the possibility of traveling overseas to join ISIS. Molina refers to himself as 'Abdur Rahim', according to the criminal complaint, while Matthews calls himself 'Ali Jibreel'. Both men face a charge of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, Fox News reported. Matthews is accused of being the originator of the plot, having last year used an encrypted chat service to find an ISIS supporter outside the U.S. who would help him travel to Syria and recruit additional ISIS supporters. In April allegedly Molina joined the chat, and began communicating with Matthews, soon posting a manual on how to train with an AK-47. Matthews and Molina are accused of plotting to attack Trump Tower in New York City Matthews and Molina are also accused of considering an attack on the stock exchange The pair allegedly shared ISIS propaganda videos, unaware that they were being tracked online. Molina wrote on social media that America was his enemy, according to court documents, and posted an extremely graphic photo collage of an American citizen being murdered by ISIS members. In May he allegedly posted images in the encrypted chat that provided bomb-making instructions. That same month in the same encrypted chat, the two men discussed where attacks on U.S. soil would take place. Matthews allegedly said he wanted to avoid killing children, and preferred attacking sites such as government buildings, including CIA headquarters, the FBI and DEA headquarters. Molina allegedly told Matthews: 'we need to stick together, we need to defeat them, we need to take a lot of casualties.' As recently as last month, Molina and Matthews allegedly said in the encrypted chat that they could use a 'multi wave attack strategy' to carry out the attacks. If convicted, the pair face up to 20 years in prison. UPPER THUMB Despite statistics suggesting the Upper Thumb counties are less impacted by the coronavirus, Huron and Tuscola County Health Department Public Health Nurse Ann Hepfer said the statistics can be misleading. As of Sept. 22, the Upper Thumb was collectively reporting 758 confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic mid-March. When considering the Upper Thumb population is 124,864 people as of 2018, the numbers suggest that less than 1% of the population has had coronavirus. However, Hepfer said that the number of positive cases is misleading because it only represents the number of people who were tested and were confirmed positive. According to state data, as of Sept. 22 there had been 9,493 tests conducted in Huron County and 19,924 tests in Tuscola County, equaling between 30-40% of the county population. Hepfer said it would be nearly impossible to know exactly how many people in the Upper Thumb truly have or have had the coronavirus. "Right now that would be difficult, if not impossible," she said. "That would mean that every resident would need to be tested with an antibody test. The antibody tests that are on the market are not all created equally so some are more accurate than others." Hepfer said there are other factors that also play into the statistics, such as the type of test, which can impact the effectiveness, and the manufacturer of the test, which can impact the accuracy. Also, Hepfer said diagnostic tests and antibody tests could mean different things. "If they have have a diagnostic test done then it is looking for a viral load," she said. "If its positive, it means they have COVID-19. If its negative it could mean two things. One, they do not have the infection, or two, they are in the 2-14 day window of incubation and the viral load is not high enough to show up. If someone had an antibody test, that can only tell us that some time in the past they more than likely had COVID-19." Sept. 21 marked two weeks after Labor Day weekend, which Hepfer previously stated was the timeframe that was necessary to measure the holiday weekend's impact on the region's statistics. Between Sept. 7 and Sept. 22, Huron County saw an increase of 12 cases, which carries out to an increase of nearly 7%. During the same timeframe Tuscola County saw an increase of 14 cases, but when factored into the county's larger percentage of confirmed cases, that equals a rate of increase of 3.34%. "I was hoping for no more than 3%," Hepfer said. "An increase was expected." According to Hepfer, it is difficult to contribute the increase to the lack of wearing masks, but she would have liked to see more masks worn. "The increase is most likely due to people gathering for those last "dog days" of summer," she said. "Meaning there is less mask wearing, less social distancing, and most likely less hand-washing." The state's regular coronavirus reports include the total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, but do not factor in the number of recovered cases. Once a week the state updates a separate report to estimate the number of recovered cases in the state. However, Tuscola and Huron County health departments do report the number of "active" cases in their weekly report. As of Sept. 17, Huron County was reporting a total of 17 active cases and Tuscola County was reporting 76. "Active cases are those not considered recovered yet," Hepfer said. Hepfer said the active or recovered cases are an assumed calculation that is determined after comparing positive tests results to death certificates. "In other words, unless the state receives a death certificate stating otherwise, every person who tests positive is considered "recovered" 30 days after the onset of symptoms." Hepfer said determining a coronavirus death is a multi-step process. "A COVID-19 death is counted when someone is infected with COVID and then dies due to illness with 30 days, or longer if the treating physician feels COVID played a part," she said. As an example, Hepfer said if an elderly person who has previously been diagnosed with lung cancer contracts COVID-19, develops pneumonia, their respiratory system fails, they are intubated and die, their death certificate would reflect both diagnoses. "The death certificate will say 'Death due to respiratory failure, as a consequence of pneumonia, as a consequence of COVID-19. Significant condition contributing to death: lung cancer,'" Hepfer said. The Huron and Tuscola County Health Departments typically release their county-specific information on Thursdays of each week. The state updates its regular coronavirus reports on Monday-Saturday at approximately 3 p.m. The state's update to recovered cases is typically released on Friday afternoon and the school-related outbreak reporting is release on Mondays. Turkmenistan's authoritarian leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, has signed into law constitutional changes, the details of which remain largely unknown. State-controlled media reported on September 25 that Berdymukhammedov, who initiated the constitutional changes a year ago and has led a commission he established that prepared a bill of amendments, signed the legislation after the People's Council and lawmakers approved it. Turkmen citizens have yet to be informed about the exact changes to the constitution of the tightly controlled, energy-rich country, except that the single-chamber parliament, the Mejlis, will merge with the People's Council and become a two-chamber institution. The People's Council (Halk Maslahaty) was created in 2017 on the basis of the Council of Elders. Berdymukhammedov is the body's chairman. Critics have said that Berdymukhammedov plans to use the constitutional amendments to secure his lifetime presidency and its eventual succession to his son and grandchildren. Earlier this month, dozens of Turkmen citizens held rallies in Washington, as well as in the cities of Houston and Pittsburgh, protesting the plan. Government critics and human rights groups say Berdymukhammedov has suppressed dissent and made few changes in the restrictive country since he came to power after the death of autocrat Saparmurat Niyazov in 2006. Like his late predecessor, Berdymukhammedov has relied on subsidized prices for basic goods and utilities to help maintain his grip on power. Burleson County remains at 337 cases. Of those, 37 are active. Six have died. Grimes County is reporting 1,089 cases, according to the DSHS, an increase of 10. At least 492 of those cases are connected to the TDCJ. There have been 31 who have died in Grimes County, at least 21 of whom are connected to the TDCJ. There are 72 active cases, state health officials said. According to the DSHS, Leon County has three additional cases, bringing the total there to 238. Officials said 39 of those are active. Six people have died. Madison County reports 719 cases, the DSHS said. At least 539 of those are connected to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. There are 22 active cases, while six have died. The DSHS reported 488 cases in Milam County on Thursday, an increase of three. Five have died in the county. State officials said there are 13 active cases. In Robertson County, there are 304 cases an increase of three with 43 that are active. DSHS officials have adjusted the countys death toll to three. Washington County reported 633 cases, an increase of three. Of those, 57 are active. Forty-eight have died. Virginias Democraric governor Ralph Northam has tested positive for the coronoavirus, along with his wife, just hours before a controversial Donald Trump rally in the state. The governors office said in a statement on Friday that Mr Northam is showing no symptoms while those of Pam Northam are mild. Both plan on isolating for the next 10 days while working remotely, it was announced, as the US president heads to the state on Friday evening. The governor and first lady were notified on Wednesday that a member of the Executive Mansion staff also had tested positive for the virus. Taking to Twitter, Mr Northam wrote: "On Wednesday evening, @FirstLadyVA and I were notified that a member of our official residence staff had developed symptoms and tested positive for #COVID19. We both received PCR nasal swab tests yesterday and both tested positive." Explaining that he was asymptotic but isolating, he added that he was "in constant contact with my cabinet and staff, and will continue working from the Executive Mansion." "As I have been reminding Virginians throughout this crisis, #COVID19 is very real and very contagious. We are grateful for your thoughts and support, but the best thing you can do for usand most importantly, for your fellow Virginiansis to take this virus seriously," Mr Northam wrote. The Democratic leader is the countrys only governor who is also a doctor, leading to criticism from some Republicans over coronavirus measures that they argue are too stringent. President Trump will arrive in Virginia this evening, where is set to hold another campaign rally in Newport News, despite concerns from health officials around the risk from coronavirus. Houston appears to have survived the Labor Day weekend without a COVID-19 spike, according to the most recent data, a hopeful sign as the area faces looming challenges posed by children returning to school, more reopening of the economy and cooling temperatures. More than 2 weeks after the weekend concluded, the period in which new cases and hospitalizations typically appear, the data shows a continuing slow decline in the key metrics that public health officials monitor case counts, hospital admissions, positive test rates, spread of the disease. Officials had feared a deja vu of the spike in such numbers that followed Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Were at the sweet spot when you would expect to see a post-holiday bump, and were not seeing it which is great news, said Dr. Marc Boom, president of Houston Methodist. An impact could still show in the next week weve learned to never say never but so far were seeing no hint of an increase. But Boom and others warned about complacency, urging people to not abandon the social distancing behavior that brought the area back from dangerous coronavirus levels in June and July. They cited new surges of cases in Europe, where governments are scrambling to contain without resorting to spring-style lockdowns. Of course, the Houston areas numbers are still too high, still well above the levels before the summer spike. Dr. Umair Shah, executive director of Harris County Public Health, said the decline in case counts is making it easier to find hot spots in the county, but the numbers need to continue coming down before contact tracing is most effective. Contact tracing attempts to stop an outbreaks chain of transmission by identifying and isolating those who come into contact with people infected. Fall and winter will present more challenges. For one, coronaviruses transmit better in cooler, drier climates. For another, businesses will become more crowded as Gov. Greg Abbott continues to loosen restrictions on maximum occupancy. Last and probably most importantly, the resumption of in-person K-12 education will expose millions to the virus previously sequestered from it. Schools will be the No. 1 challenge, said Bill McKeon, president of the Texas Medical Center. We know children are major carriers of viruses, including this one, even if it doesnt result in severe disease. Thats why we need to get cases to a level where its safer for everyone when children return. Dr. Paul Klotman, president of Baylor College of Medicine, agreed that school safety should be the top priority. Hopefully we can reopen schools before we reopen bars, he said. Early returns from schools that have resumed classes have found no widespread outbreaks, and pediatric hospitals are reporting no increase in cases. Based on the current rate of the novel coronavirus spread, the number of cases should drop significantly by the time HISD reopens Oct. 19, according to Houston scientists. The public health target for opening schools is 200 cases a day, a rate at which contact tracing is not as easily overwhelmed. The Houston areas case count was 725 on Thursday, compared with last weeks daily average of 838. The current seven-day rolling average is 535. Other area COVID-19 metrics still trending positively despite the Labor Day weekend, according to the Texas Medical Center dashboard: The virus reproductive value (Rt), which measures whether the diseases spread is increasing or declining, was 0.70 on Thursday, down from 1.5 from June to mid-July. The figure refers to the average number of people to which each infected individual transmits the virus. More than 1 means the spread is growing; less than 1 means its declining. The number has been mostly below 1 since the beginning of August. The seven-day average COVID-19 testing positive rate is 3.4, consistent with last weeks daily average. Medical center hospitals admitted 80 new COVID-19 patients Thursday, down from last weeks daily average of 92 hospitalizations per day. It looks like Houstonians followed guidelines wore masks, maintained proper distances, said Dr. Chris Amos, a Baylor biostatistician. Now, we need to keep it up. But Jose-Miguel Yamal, a biostatistician and data scientist at the UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston, noted that although there hasnt been an uptick in cases yet, Labor Day-related cases could still emerge involving younger people infected over the holiday weekend later passing it on to older people. Now Playing: A new Houston Chronicle investigation reveals COVID-19 spread faster and farther than the public was told. Top officials were warned years ago we were unprepared for a pandemic. For months, the death toll was distorted. In the end, COVID-19 exposed a cascade of failures that let the virus spread unchecked, killing thousands of Texans. Video: Laura Duclos At Texas Childrens Hospital, a demand for testing is the only COVID-19 spike since some schools began resuming in-person classes, said Dr. Brent Kaziny, the hospitals emergency management medical director. He said thats to be expected since schools typically require such testing before a child who became sick can return to classes. Kaziny said such tests are up about 50 percent at Texas Childrens in recent weeks. He said there has been no increase in actual cases and that the hospitals positive test rate is still low. All five Houston-area hospitals that provide care to pediatric patients are reporting no change in the number of such COVID-19 admissions, said Darrell Pile, CEO of the SouthEast Texas Regional Advisory Council. Those hospitals are providing care to 29 children with the disease, including nine in intensive care. In September so far, those numbers have ranged from a low of 19 hospitalized and three in intensive care, to a high of 46 and 13, respectively. The data looks good, said Klotman of Baylor. If people can keep it up for another three to six months wearing masks, avoiding crowds then we get a vaccine, we should be OK. todd.ackerman@chron.com 14:42 | Lima, Sep. 24. According to Peru's Exports and Tourism Promotion Board (PromPeru) , shipments are expected total US$9.930 billion in the third quarter of this year a 51.84% growth compared to the April-June quarter, when these operations were the most affected by the health emergency. PromPeru foresees that in a conservative scenario exports will amount to US$10.189 billion in the last quarter of this year, which will show a positive trend. PromPeru Exports Promotion Director Mario Ocharan explained that in the third quarter of 2020 sales of non-traditional products, as well as value-added and employment-intensive products, are projected to total US$2.921 billion, while the traditional ones will amount to US$7.009 billion. "Between October and December, the placements of non-traditional products will generate US$3.196 billion, a growth of 9.08% from the third quarter of this year," he said in remarks to El Peruano official gazette. " " The suicide rate among middle-aged white women has risen. iStockphoto /Will Selarep A pair of unsettling statistics made for startling health headlines in 2008. At the beginning of the year, information gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 1999 to 2005 showed a 20 percent spike in suicide rates among adults between 45 and 54 years old [source: Cohen]. Age groups above and below, on the other hand, remained relatively static. Advertisement Later that year, a study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine outlined a similar trend in the same time frame. According to the research, middle-aged white women had experienced a 3.9 percent increase in suicide from 1999 to 2005, with white men in the same age bracket following closely behind [source: Bower]. Across the board, a growing number of older adults, including minorities, were killing themselves. Perhaps, some proposed, it resulted from the profound rise in prescription drug use or the decrease in post-menopausal women undergoing hormone replacement therapy [source: Cohen]. Other experts suggested that it simply reflected the natural ebb and flow of population statistics. The affected group of people fell squarely in the baby boomer generation. Born from 1946 to 1964, American baby boomers number around 78 million strong. Whenever a trend emerges from this group, it makes a noticeable impact because of its sheer size. But an upward shift in suicide rates implied a grim undercurrent. While we pay a lot of attention to baby boomer issues related to retirement, social security and elder care, had we been overlooking an underlying mental health problem? Baby boomers are the children of the GI generation (born from 1901 to 1924). They narrowly missed the atrocities and hardships of the Great Depression and the World Wars. Theirs was an era of prosperity, not want. They lived during a time of hope, epitomized by the Kennedy family in the White House, and a period of uncertainty during the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War. On the whole, boomers grew up with more economic security and broader futures than previous generations. Women gained more access to jobs, and children had more educational opportunities. Suburbia was born, and industrialization fattened the nation's coffers. Certainly, when the first baby boomers turned 60 in 2006, the world was a far sight different than the one their parents knew. But boomers may have paid a hidden price for the progress they achieved. Republican lawmakers were forced to defend U.S. election integrity after Donald Trump refused to say if he would peacefully transfer power if voted out of office 'We want to make sure the election is honest but I'm not sure that it can be,' Trump said on Thursday amid an uproar His son Eric said in Las Vegas Trump 'of course' will concede if the election is a 'blowout' White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump would accept the results of a 'free and fair election' Trump has said repeatedly the election will be 'rigged' 'The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th,' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted Thursday Mitt Romney weighed in, tweeting: 'Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power' Trump then said mail-in votes are a scam and he wasn't sure the election can be 'honest' Trump was asked Wednesday if he would allow for a peaceful transfer 'Well, we'll have to see what happens,' the president responded Eric Trump weighed in on his father's comments on a peaceful transfer of power, saying President Trump would relinquish control of the government if he lost to Joe Biden in a blowout. But Eric, who helps run the Trump Organization, said his father would contest the election results if there were indications of 'massive fraud.' ADVERTISEMENT 'I think my father's just saying listen, if he got blown out of the water, of course he'd concede,' Trump said on a campaign swing in Las Vegas Thursday. 'If he thought there was massive fraud, then he'd go and try and address that,' he said, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. Eric Trump says his father would concede the election 'if he got blown out of the water' He said that would apply in cases such as if there were 'tens of thousands of ballots are found in a dumpster.' He spoke a day after the president forced Republicans to issue a flurry of statements asserting the nation would honor the peaceful transfer of authority after the elections after Trump failed to do so when asked point-blank. Like some Republicans on Capitol Hill, he pointed to an August comment by Hillary Clinton that Biden shouldn't concede under any circumstances. 'I think my father's saying the same thing: I'll have to look at what happens,' Eric Trump said. Clinton's comment, to Showtime's 'The Circus' was: 'Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances, because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don't give an inch, and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is.' His son's comment about conceding in a 'blowout' came on a day when the president said he isn't sure the election could be 'honest,' just minutes after his press secretary asserted that he would accept the results of the election so long as it was 'free and fair.' ADVERTISEMENT Several top Democrats have also said their party should aim for a blowout, fearing Trump could try to exploit any situation with recounts or contested ballots to immediately claim victory and claim a rigged election. Trump's comments which once again raised unproven charges about mail-in ballots came as the White House and congressional Republicans sought to explain his refusal Wednesday to commit to a peaceful transfer of power following the elections. 'We want to make sure the election is honest but I'm not sure that it can be,' Trump said. It came after White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany provided a conditional statement to the press saying Trump 'will accept the results of a free and fair election.' Trump was asked as he left the White House on a trip to North Carolina and Florida whether the election was only legitimate if he wins. 'We want to make sure the election is honest but Im not sure that it can be,' President Donald Trump said Thursday, a day after refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. The White House said he would accept the results of a 'free and fair' election 'We have to be very careful with the ballots. The ballots that's a whole big scam. They found I understand eight ballots in a wastepaper basket in some location,' Trump said. He was likely referencing an FBI announcement about an investigation into potential irregularities at the Luzerne County Board of Elections. Investigators said they have uncovered nine discarded mail-in ballots. 'Some of those ballots can be attributed to specific voters and some cannot. All nine ballots were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump,' said U.S. Attorney David J. Freed. Trump also mentioned 'a lot of ballots in a river,' and said: 'They throw them out if they have the name trump on it, I guess. But they had ballots.' ADVERTISEMENT The stakes are high both for President Trump and for the company he spent years expanding. On Wednesday, a New York judge ruled that Eric Trump must comply with a subpoena in a probe that extends to Trump Organization statements when obtaining financing for projects. It is one of several areas where the president could face legal exposure if he is no longer in office. The president continued his attack on mail-in ballots Thursday, using the latest information from the FBI as fuel. 'The other ones had the Trump name on it and they were thrown into a waste paper basket. We want to make sure the election is honest but I'm not sure that it can be,' he said. 'I don't know that it can be with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots. They're unsolicited millions being sent to everybody. We'll see.' Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump will accept the results of a 'free and fair' election a day after the president refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. McEnany was grilled repeatedly Thursday about the president's statement which raised enough concerns that it prompted early pushback from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, and Sen. Marco Rubio. 'The president will accept the results of a free and fair election, he will accept the will of the American people,' McEnany repeated. 'The president will accept the results of a free and fair election he will accept the will of the American people,' said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Thursday Asked if Trump would accept the results even in the event that he loses, McEnany refused to engage. 'I've answered your question. He will accept the results of a free and fair election,' she said. She also sought to help dig the president out of his comments from Wednesday by taking swipes at the reporter who asked it, Brian Kerem of 'Playboy' magazine, a CNN contributor. 'You are referring to the q asked by the Playboy reporter, right?' McEnany said, quizzed by an ABC reporter Thursday. She noted that the reporter had asked Trump if he would accept a peaceful transfer 'win, lose or draw.' 'I'm not entirely sure if he won why he would accept a transfer of power,' she quipped. 'That is mainly the deranged with of that reporter,' she said. McEnany also blasted the use of mail-in ballots raising questions about what type of elections Trump considers free and fair. Her comments on the topic which she raised at the top of her briefing Thursday, came after Republicans asserted Thursday that if Joe Biden is elected president in November there will be an 'orderly transition' after Donald Trump refused to commit to 'peacefully' leaving office if he loses. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted early Thursday that 'The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th.' 'There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792,' he continued. Even amid McEnany and Trump's attacks on mail-in voting, which Trump says is filled with fraud, FBI Director Chris Wray testified Thursday: 'We have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise.' McEnany and Senate Republicans who all were forced to comment on the president's statement pointed to comments by Hillary Clinton in August where he urged Biden not to concede the election. 'Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances, because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don't give an inch, and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is,' she told her former communications director Jennifer Palmieri in an interview with Showtime's 'The Circus.' Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances, because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don't give an inch, and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is,' GOP lawmakers were forced to speak out in defense of U.S. election integrity after the president would not directly answer a question on if he intends to peacefully transition power in January should he be elected out of office after his first term. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said Thursday that 'we will peacefully swear in the President' as per the usual timeline for swearing in a new president after an election year. 'As we have done for over two centuries we will have a legitimate & fair election,' the Republican senator tweeted the morning after Trump made the questionable comments. 'It may take longer than usual to know the outcome,but it will be a valid one,' he continued, in a likely reference to mail-in ballots holding up the outcome. 'And at noon on Jan 20,2021 we will peacefully swear in the President.' Senate Republicans had to defend U.S. election after Donald Trump refused to commit Wednesday to peacefully transfer power if he loses in November Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed 'there will be an orderly transition' '[W]e will have a legitimate & fair election,' Rubio tweeted. 'It may take longer than usual to know the outcome,but it will be a valid one,' he said in reference to mail-in ballots potentially holding up the results 'Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power,' Romney said Wednesday evening. 'Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable' Mitt Romney also lashed out on Twitter Wednesday evening. 'Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus,' the Utah Republican said in reference to the European country experiencing mass protests as its president sought a sixth term and was secretly sworn in despite the opposition candidate claiming they received 60-70 per cent of the votes. 'Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable,' Romney continued in his tweet. He told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday that 'there's no question' Republicans would step up and make sure the transition followed through if Trump resisted. 'All the people who have sworn to support the Constitution would assure there would be a peaceful transition of power including the president,' he said. Romney added that he doesn't believe there is 'any scenario' where Trump would not peacefully step aside and hand power over if elected out. 'I'm absolutely confident there will be a peaceful transition if there's a new president or if not, we'll have a continuation,' he said. President Trump was asked during a press briefing Wednesday evening if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power after the November election and declined to do so. 'Well, we'll have to see what happens,' said Trump, when pressed on the matter at the White House. It was a similar comment to those he made in 2016 when asked similar questions. Romney's comments about the refusal came just days after he said he would agree to vote to confirm whomever Trump nomination to take the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Ruth Bader Ginsburg instead of waiting until after the election. Trump would not say if he would leave office peacefully if he loses. '[W]e'll have to see what happens,' he said. 'Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer frankly, there'll be a continuation,' he continued Many worried Romney's criticism of the president and the fact that he was the only Republican to indict the president on one article of impeachment would lead him to defect from the rank and file of the Party. After refusing to go along with a pledge to vacate the Oval Office if he loses the election, the president attacked Democrats Wednesday and delivered swipes that appeared to be directed at mail-in voting, the subject of his frequent attacks at the White House and at campaign rallies. Wyoming's at-large Republican Representative Liz Cheney vowed to 'uphold' her oath to the Constitution as she defended U.S. election integrity. 'The peaceful transfer of power is enshrined in our Constitution and fundamental to the survival of our Republic,' she tweeted Thursday. 'America's leaders swear an oath to the Constitution. We will uphold that oath.' 'Win lose or draw in this election will you commit here today for a peaceful transferal of power after the election?' Trump was asked at the top of his press briefing. 'Well, we'll have to see what happens,' Trump replied entertaining the question, but also refusing to commit. His questioner pointed to 'rioting' in U.S. cities, and asked if Trump would commit to making sure there is a peaceful transfer of power after the election. 'You know that. I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster,' he said, in a likely reference to mail-in ballots. Trump regularly says they are rife with fraud, although a handful of states use them for elections. Click here to resize this module Trump was asked about a peaceful transfer as police clashed with protesters marching through the streets of Louisville after a grand jury chose not to indict three officers in the death of Breonna Taylor on Wednesday afternoon 'Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer frankly, there'll be a continuation,' Trump said. He continued: 'The ballots are out of control. You know if. And you know who knows it better than anybody else, the Democrats,' he said. Trump's refusal for a straight answer came the same day The Atlantic published an article titled 'The Election that Could Break America,' which played out scenarios where Trump would refuse to accept results amid court cases and recounts, and rejects the outcome even if rival Joe Biden appears to have won or be within sight of prevailing in the Electoral College. Trump's campaign is 'discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority,' according to the piece, by author and former Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman. Biden was at a loss for words when asked how he felt about the president's comments. 'What country are we in?' the former vice president queried to reporters. 'I'm being facetious,' he clarified. 'I said, what country are we in? Look, he says the most irrational things. I don't know what to say.' 'Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer frankly, there'll be a continuation.' - President Donald Trump The president made the comment as some of his fiercest critics have accused him of making moves toward authoritarianism. Biden said this summer trump will 'try to steal' but said he is convinced the military 'will escort him from the White House with great dispatch.' The president faces the backdrop of ongoing investigations by prosecutors in New York that could implicate the president if he were to leave office. McEnany began her briefing with an attack on Democrats: 'Make no mistake. Democrat radicals want to shatter norms and disregard precedent for the sake of the very norms and precedent they claim must be safeguarded.' She brought up 'court-packing,' impeachment, and calls to abolish the Electoral College. She called them 'tactics they are using to sow chaos and discord' and said they are endorsing a 'mass mail-out ballot system' that would likely lead to a 'week long delay.' She said they are doing so because 'they cannot win on the merits.' ADVERTISEMENT The clash over a peaceful and orderly transfer comes as Biden leads Trump by 7 percentage points nationally, according to a Real Clear Politics average of multiple polls. NCB officer Sameer Wankhede condemns Malik's comments: My morale will not go down, I will work even better Nawab Malik on Sameer Wankhede moving out of Aryan case: This is just the beginning Bollywood drug nexus: Rakul Preet Singh to be grilled by NCB today India oi-Madhuri Adnal Mumbai, Sep 25: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Thursday said actor Rakul Preet Singh has acknowledged the summons sent to her to join the probe being conducted by the agency into an alleged Bollywood-drugs nexus. Earlier in the day, the actor in her official statement said she has "not received the alleged summons either at Mumbai or Hyderabad so far". NCB officials, however, said the actor was contacted through various platforms, including a phone number which is available with the agency. "She has acknowledged the summons," a senior NCB official said. She will join the probe soon, he added. The NCB, which began the probe after a drugs angle came to light in connection with actor Sushant Singh Rajput''s alleged suicide, has now widened its investigation and asked some ''A-list'' celebrities of the Mumbai film industry, to "join the probe", an official said on Wednesday. The NCB on Wednesday summoned actors Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh, among others, for questioning. Earlier, NCB sources had claimed that there was a "reference" to Rakul Preet Singh and Sara Ali Khan in the statement of Rajput''s girlfriend and actor Rhea Chakraborty, who has been arrested in the case. On Thursday morning, fashion designer Simone Khambata, who was summoned by the NCB to join the probe, reached the agency''s guest house in south Mumbai around 9.30 am, an official said. Her name cropped up in the questioning of some persons during the probe in the matter, he said. Bihar poll dates, Sunil Gavaskar stokes controversy & more news | Oneindia News Rajput''s former manager Shruti Modi also appeared before the NCB probe team on Thursday, the official said. Some WhatsApp chats of the persons who were questioned earlier by the NCB suggested discussion about drugs, he said. The agency has so far registered two cases, one pertaining to drugs angle related to Rajput''s death case and the other in connection with the alleged Bollywood-drugs nexus, a senior official said, adding that "both the cases have common linkages". Actors Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor will be questioned in connection with both the cases, he said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, September 25, 2020, 9:24 [IST] A WOODEN boat containing 124 travellers from Haiti was detected one mile from Turtle Rock on Sunday evening (September 20). The blue 38 foot vessel with twin outboard engines, which was in TCI waters illegally, was intercepted by officers of the police Marine Branch at 9.49pm after sailing 190 miles from Haiti. During the operation, several migrants jumped overboard to escape but were quickly detained, a police press release said on Monday (September 21). The Marine Branch boat Sea Guardian with the assistance of Sea Enforcer towed the vessel to the South Dock Port. The detainees were handed over to Immigration Department officials for processing and repatriation. On September 12 a small motorboat carrying 23 people was intercepted in TCI waters travelling from Haiti. Officials from the Radar Station tracked the 25 foot vessel five miles from South Dock in Providenciales at about 10.20pm. Patrolling officers of the Marine Branch Unit were then dispatched to meet the boat on motor vessel Sea Guardian with the assistance of motor vessel Sea Enforcer. They found the boat, which was white with blue stripes and had the name Loose Moose painted on the side, with 23 Haitian nationals on board. The 18 men and five women were removed from the vessel and handed over to Immigration Department officials for processing and repatriation. In a statement on June 11, Hon. Vaden Williams, Minister of Immigration, Citizenship, Labour and Employment Services, reminded it is an offence to harbour or assist illegal aliens. Anyone found guilty is liable to a fine of $20,000 or a term of imprisonment of four years, or both in accordance with the Immigration Ordinance 2018 Revised. Any suspicious movements can be reported to the police on 911 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1-800-8477. Aerrion Burnett has been named as the 27th known trans person murdered in the United States so far this year as the epidemic of violence against Black trans women continues to spiral out of control. Burnett, 37, was from Kansas City and was shot dead in Independence, Missouri, a nearby satellite town. Her body was discovered on 19 September. According to the Human Rights Campaign, Burnett is at least the 27th trans person murdered in the United States so far in 2020 although it is thought that the real number is likely higher, as many are misgendered in death. Police in the region were called to the Brookside area of the city on Saturday (19 September) at 3.40am following reports of gunshots. Shortly afterwards, authorities discovered Burnetts body in a grassy area near the roadway, according to KCTV News. Family and friends of Aerrion Burnett gathered at a vigil to remember the goddess that was everything to so many. Burnetts family and friends gathered at a vigil in Kansas City on Sunday (20 September) to remember her. At the vigil, loved ones released balloons in her honour, KITV reported. Aerrion was a Barbie, Burnetts friend Korea Kelly said. She was a goddess. When I say goddess, she was everything. If you wanted to have a good day, you need to smile, Aerrion was the person you wanted by your side. Kelly added: When is the senseless violence to Black trans women in Kansas City going to stop? The friend also revealed that Burnetts best friend Dee Dee Pearson, also a Black trans woman, was previously murdered in the area on Christmas Eve in 2011 by a man who became angry when he discovered her gender identity. As a friend, and both of those are my friends who both got killed the same way, and being a Black trans woman myself, that hurts like hell, Kelly said. When I say goddess, she was everything. If you wanted to have a good day, you need to smile, Aerrion was the person you wanted by your side. Its a pain that I cant fathom. Its a pain that I dont now how to fathom or to tell anyone how Im feeling. Story continues Burnetts cousin, who also attended the vigil, added: Enough is enough. Stop taking our lives. Lives matter. You cant get them back, and it hurts so many people. Since Burnetts death was first reported, she has been doggedly misgendered and dead named by local media outlets. The Human Rights Campaign estimates that three quarters of all known trans murder victims are misgendered by the media or by law enforcement authorities. With three months left in 2020, the number of trans people murdered so far this year currently equals the number killed in 2019. The latest developments in the Libyan crisis, from the outcome of the meeting between Libyan stakeholders in Montreux on 7-9 September to Government of National Accord (GNA) leader Fayez Al-Sarrajs sudden decision to step down at the end of October, raise many questions. Not least among them is what will happen to the military agreements Al-Sarraj signed with Ankara. In practical terms, the Turkish project in Libya has run up against a wall in several respects. Ankara has lost its wager on the GNA, and its plans, based on its belief that Al-Sarrajs government would last longer, now look redundant. Turkish reactions to Al-Sarrajs resignation testify to this. A development like this, hearing such news, has been upsetting for us, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. He had hoped Al-Sarraj would stay in office for another six months to a year, and be able to hand power over directly to a newly elected government instead of having to pass through another interim phase. This would have facilitated Ankaras plans, in accordance with existing agreements, to establish a permanent military presence in Libya and put into effect economic agreements that had already been signed or were in the process of being finalised with the GNA. The fate of such plans is now up in the air and the pro-Turkish camp in Tripoli, Khaled Al-Mishri who heads the High Council of State (HCS), and GNA Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, will have their hands tied without the third member of the Tripoli triangle, Al-Sarraj, who served as both chairman of the Presidency Council and prime minister. There are other dynamics in the Libyan crisis that Ankara failed to factor into its calculations. It failed to foresee the resolute stance Cairo has taken on the Libyan question and the red line President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi declared as a means to end military hostilities in Libya. In its precipitous effort to acquire a foothold in Libya Ankara attempted to form a coalition with Libyas neighbours, Tunisia and Algeria, but this, too, has failed to pan out. Its Tunisian partner, the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Ennahda Party, was encumbered by domestic problems while Algiers showed that though it could work with Ankara on the Libyan question it would not do everything Ankara asked it to do. Nor had Turkey reckoned on the fissuring of the GNA as a result of internal rivalries, or the ability of the Libyan National Army (LNA) to halt oil production and exports, the revenues from which had been funnelled to Turkey to pay for Ankaras military adventurism via the National Oil Company and the GNA controlled Central Bank. Direct Turkish military intervention in Libya, according to the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), began immediately after the Berlin Conference in January 2020. Ankara flagrantly violated the commitments it had just made at the Berlin Conference which explicitly rejected a military solution and called on all stakeholders to support the resumption of the political process. As efforts to pursue the three tracks of the Berlin process ground to a halt, largely due to Western governments preoccupation with the COVID-19 pandemic, Ankara took advantage of the situation to expand its military involvement in Libya, with nothing to deter it until it ran up against the red line set by Cairo this summer. In June 2020, Egypt proposed an initiative, based on the Berlin outputs, to promote Libyan national reconciliation and set the contours for a comprehensive political roadmap. Declaring support for Cairos proposals, international powers moved with renewed resolve to promote a ceasefire. Europe was galvanised into launching operation IRINI to enforce the UN arms embargo against Libya, and for the first time obstacles were placed in the way of the flow of Turkish arms and Turkish-paid mercenaries into Egypts western neighbour. Turkey then encountered another red line as European powers acted to counter Ankaras provocative behaviour in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly against Greece. As Europe threw its support behind Greece, the countries that rallied to Athens defence denounced the maritime border agreement signed between Ankara and the GNA in November 2019. The MoU on maritime boundaries was a crucial component of the architecture of Turkish-Tripoli military cooperation via which, according to US sources, Turkey intended to establish a string of bases on the Libyan coast in order to bolster its naval presence in the Mediterranean. Although the international drive to resuscitate Libyan dialogue has yet to overtly address the military dimension of the conflict, the very revival of a political process narrows the main avenue for Turkish penetration into Libya. Turkeys expansionist drive, after all, depends in large measure on perpetuating the conflict. So how will Ankara reconcile itself to recent developments, and the shrinkage in Turkish leverage in Libya that they have brought? The question is best answered by considering the nature of the military links between Ankara and the GNA. The connection always had more in common with a defence contractor-client relationship than with a contractual relation between sovereign governments. It enabled Ankara to alter the military balance of power on the ground in favour of the GNA, to seize control of Matiga and Al-Watiya military bases, and to capture the strategically located town of Tarhouna. This military momentum was brought to halt with the Egyptian declaration of the Sirte-Jufra red line, but this did not stop the continued influx of Turkish arms and Syrian and other foreign mercenaries. Since January Turkey has transferred more than 18,000 Syrian and other mercenaries into Libya, on the basis of limited contracts paid for by the GNA. The bills for the hundreds of tanks, armoured vehicles, drones and other Turkish arms have also been footed by the GNA using oil revenues. Questions of legitimacy and duration hover over the military cooperation agreements. That the deals for training, arms and use of military bases were made in the form of MoUs that were not ratified by the House of Representatives places a large question mark over their future. None of which should obscure the fact that Turkey has built up a large military infrastructure in western Libya. Although this presence is temporarily limited by the terms of the contracts Turkey has imposed a de facto reality that problematises the military/security dimension of the Libyan conflict. AFRICOM has denied that Turkey has deployed S-300 and S-400 defence systems in Libya but this does not refute the existence of other formidable defence and offence capacities. Turkish-Russian relations pose an additional challenge. While Ankara has been busy backing the GNA, Moscow has been supporting the LNA with, according to Turkish claims, Wagner Group militias. Russian and Turkish officials met in Ankara on 15 and 16 September and, according to news reports, discussed the ceasefire and the political settlement process. For the time being the two sides appear to have reached an understanding of some sort, but it is clear that both Ankara and Moscow were blindsided by the ceasefire decision taken by the Libyan parties. Indeed, reports from Libya confirmed that Al-Sarraj only notified Ankara of his decision to agree to a ceasefire at the last minute. In short, Russian and Turkish officials seem to have met in Ankara to discuss how to accommodate events that had outpaced them. It has become increasingly clear that, contrary to the common impression, Turkey and Russia were never really on a collision course in Libya, despite the fact each has a lot at stake on the ground in terms of military structures and other interests. That presence, of course, now begs the question of whether Turkish-Russian collusion will cast a shadow over the anticipated transitional process in Libya. *A version of this article appears in print in the 24 September, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the title: Ankaras losing hand Search Keywords: Short link: In a bid to promote financial inclusion and better coordination with the government, State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday relocated the financial inclusion and micro market (FI&MM) division from its Mumbai corporate office to the national capital. The FI&MM division takes care of 8,000 rural and semi-urban branches catering to bottom of the pyramid segment and 64,000 customer service points (CSPs) managed by business correspondents and 58,000 ATMs. Besides, the division is responsible for running all the government-sponsored schemes, including direct benefits trasfer like PM-KISAN, in coordination with various departments and ministries. According to Chairman Rajnish Kumar, the focus of the Delhi-based division will be community service, financial inclusion and running government-sponsored schemes. The new office of the vertical inaugurated by the chairman will be headed by Deputy Managing Director Sanjeev Nautiyal. Earlier, the vertical was part of retail overall network of the bank, he said adding that the rest of the bank will be able to perform better because of the sharper focus on respective business lines. Asserting that the decentralisation is expected to bring cost-efficiencies, Kumar said, "Nearly 40 per cent of the network of the bank was contributing to only 16 per cent of the business." He said the idea is that the size of the business should go up without increasing any extra resources. Asked about rationale for relocating office, he said there was a need for a senior official of the rank of deputy managing director in Delhi for better coordination and liaison with various department and ministries other than the administrative department. Regular interaction with ministries like agriculture, rural development, water resources and urban development for implementation of various government-sponsored schemes will take place, he said adding, "This will help us focus and improve our synergy with government agencies and functionaries." Under this division, the bank will offer loans predominantly for agriculture and allied activities, and micro and small enterprises. He further said that "for agriculture, we have kept a growth target of Rs 20,000 crore, which would be 10 per cent of our overall agriculture loan book this year". With regard to network expansion, he said, "We have kept a target to reach around 75,000 CSPs (customer service points) by March-end from 64,000 at present. Our big focus will also be on urban and metro centers for the new CSPs. (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.) Axelle/Bauer-Griffin, getty Images Turns out that Billie Lourd is just full of surprises. The Bookmart and Scream Queens star just revealed that she welcomed a new baby boy. The announcement came as a surprise because Lourd hadn't ever said she was pregnantwell, publicly to fans; we have to assume her friends and family knew, but, hey, you never know! In an Instagram post late last night, September 24th, Lourd posted the first picture of her new son. Not only is the pic of his tiny feet just so pure and adorable, but we're also getting a little emotional about her baby's name. "Introducing:Kingston Fisher Lourd Rydell," she captioned her picture. In addition to loads more blue hearts and crown emojis for Kingston, we noticed that his middle name pays tribute to Billie Lourd's late mother, Carrie Fisher, who died in December 2016. Kingston's last name is Rydell, matching Lourd's fiance Austin Rydell, who proposed in June of this year. Rydell revealed they were engaged with the cutest post, which he captioned, "She said YES!! (Actually she said Duhhh) But I guess thats even better than yes?!?" Since Lourd posted the pictures of her and Rydell's new baby, love and comments from her celebrity friends has been pouring in. Her Scream Queens co-star Emma Roberts, who is also expecting her first child, wrote, "Screaming!!! Love you guys so much ." Lily Collins posted, "Ahhhhhh congratulations!!! ," and Olivia Wilde wrote, "I love you Kingston!!!!!! ." Olivia, we also already love Kingston, just from one photo. Austin Rydell hasn't yet posted his own photo of their baby, but we're crossing our fingers. Sending our congratulations (and our sincerest wishes for some rest) to Lourd. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 20:56:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close XI'AN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A new airport opened for operation Friday in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The CZ5269 flight departing from south China's Guangzhou City early Friday landed at the new Airport, which is located in the city of Ankang, to mark the inauguration of the airport. Medium-sized aircraft types such as the Boeing 737, Airbus 320, and the home-grown C919 will be able to take off and land here, said a manager at the airport. In addition to the route to Guangzhou, flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chongqing will be available at the airport, according to the manager. Construction of the regional airport started in December 2015, and the airport certification was granted on Sept. 18 following test runs. Enditem She joined fellow demonstrators outside the Swedish Parliament on Friday to kick off a day of socially distanced global climate protests. The main hope is, as always, to try to have an impact on the level of awareness and public opinion so that people will start becoming more aware, the 17-year-old told reporters. The coronavirus outbreak has prevented the Fridays for Future movement that Ms Thunberg inspired from holding its mass rallies in recent months, lowering its public profile. Ms Thunberg started her solo protests outside Swedens parliament in Stockholm on August 20 2018. Students around the world soon began following her lead, staging regular large protests, and she was invited to speak to political and business leaders at UN conferences and the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. Ms Thunbergs blunt words to presidents and prime ministers, peppered with scientific facts about the need to urgently cut greenhouse gas emissions, have won her praise and awards, but also the occasional criticism and even death threats. Advertisement They demand that politicians stick to the 2015 landmark Paris climate deal that asks both rich and poor countries to take action to curb the rise in global temperatures that is melting glaciers, raising sea levels and shifting rainfall patterns. It requires governments to present national plans to reduce emissions in order to limit global temperature rise to well below 2C (3.6F). Thousands of primarily young protesters took to the streets of cities across Germany as part of the Friday for Future protests, demanding more be done to fight climate change. In the German capital Berlin, thousands rallied at the Brandenburg Gate in heavy rain. Many, including local activist Luisa Neubauer, wore masks printed with the words not another degree. Elsewhere in Berlin, cyclists rode past the main train station and through the city centre in a separate protest. Outside Frankfurt City Hall, demonstrators held signs with slogans like environmental protection, not capitalism and if you breathe air, you should care. One young woman held a poster of an ostrich with its head stuck in the ground and its posterior on fire. The posters slogan read: Burying your head in the sand wont help, your butt will still get hot. Thousands more took part in demonstrations in Bonn, Aachen, Cologne and elsewhere as part of some 450 registered protests across Germany. The protests started earlier in the Arctic, when British climate activist and ornithologist Mya-Rose Craig, stood on a piece of ice broken off from the ice cap. The 18-year-old bird lover and founder of the non-profit Black2Nature said she believes it is the most northerly climate strike ever. Her group encourages inner-city children from black and ethnic minority backgrounds to explore nature. Being on a tiny ice floe like this and just floating in the middle of a sea of slush has really just reminded me how delicate the Arctic is, she said on Sunday from north of the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. I think the youth strike movement is amazing because its brought so much energy to the anti-climate change movement where suddenly hundreds of thousands of young people around the world have a voice and theyre using it. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nina Loasana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 06:57 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c470fb99 1 National KPA,Agrarian-Reform-Consortium,agrarian-conflicts,agrarian-justice,agrarian-reform,house-of-representatives,DPR,Jokowi,farmers Free The coronavirus pandemic did not stop agrarian reform activists from staging a protest in front of the House of Representatives compound in Central Jakarta to mark this year's National Farmers Day, observed annually in Indonesia every Sept. 24. The protestors, from the National Committee of Agrarian Reform (KNPA) -- an alliance of dozens of civil society groups -- demanded the government realize President "Jokowi" Widodo's agrarian reform program and protested against the controversial omnibus bill on job creation. They also placed 120 scarecrows dressed as farmers in front of the House complex in Senayan as symbols of those who could not attend the protest in person. "Initially we planned to stage a rally involving 2,000 people. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jakarta Police only allowed 30 people to gather in front of the House compound," Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) secretary-general Dewi Kartika told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. Dewi explained that they also staged similar protests in 60 locations all across the archipelago. Read also: Police arrest customary leader in Central Kalimantan over land dispute Activists staged the rallies to express the disappointment of Indonesian farmers, particularly with regard to recurrent land disputes between farmers and corporations, she said. "During the pandemic alone, 39 agrarian conflicts have occurred all across the country, with many resulting in violence and intimidation of farmers," Dewi said. She claimed the government intentionally created an unconducive environment for farmers by allowing companies to enforce evictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. House members exacerbated this situation by continuing the deliberation of the controversial omnibus bill, she added. "We want to make it very clear: farmers are against the omnibus bill on job creation. All this time, people think that the bill only concerns labor, however, the bill also deals with land rights, mining, forestry and plantations," Dewi added. Read also: Concerns of transparency, inclusivity raised as One Map nears completion Farmers have long expressed opposition to the bill, which contains provisions that many believe will affect their livelihoods. For instance, the bill seeks to relax food imports as one of the main sources of domestic food supplies by revising some articles in the 2013 Farmers Protection and Empowerment Law, which stipulates that local sources of food should be prioritized and that imports should be avoided where possible. Dewi further said that the bill also aimed to amend the 1960 Basic Agrarian Law that protects farmers from unfair land procurement. The bill would authorize the establishment of a new body to act as land managers under the authority of the central government to ensure a smooth land-acquisition process for investors, which would lead to even more harm to farmers. "The bill would eradicate several prerequisites needed before converting farming land," she said. Japanese business-to-business ecommerce company MonotaRO is set to invest $15 million in a joint venture with Emtex Engineering, acquiring a majority stake in its SME ecommerce business Industrybuying.com. While Emtexs SME business will enter into the JV, the large enterprise supply business will continue to be run under Emtex, the company said in a press note on September 25. MonotaRO had first announced the deal at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on September 23. TechCircle said in a report that through the deal, MonotaRO will pick up 51.6 per cent stake in the joint venture with Industrybuying. In the press note, the Gurugram-based startup said the deal would help Industrybuying access global expertise and infrastructure. With the expertise and catalogue of more than 10 million products, the agreement can propel the Indian business into a highly profitable growth trajectory, which could eventually lead to a successful IPO in a short time. Industrybuying is backed by large VCs like Beenext, Saif Partners, Kalaari Capital and others. Founded in 2013 by Swati Gupta and Rahul Gupta, the platform sells industrial products online for large businesses operating across 40 categories. The UConn Law School Alumni Association is honoring Cramer & Anderson Partner Lisa Rivas of New Milford, a 2011 UConn Law graduate, with a Graduates of the Last Decade Impact Award. The LSAA cites her immigration law work for clients from Latin America, the Caribbean and elsewhere, as well as her pro bono efforts, including giving free talks on immigration issues. These efforts, the LSAA noted, have earned her many previous honors, including a 2016 New Leaders in the Law award from The Connecticut Law Tribune and the Above and Beyond Award from the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury. I am honored to have been selected for this award, and to join the ranks of former UConn Law graduates who strive to do more for our communities and further our profession, Attorney Rivas said. The LSAA honorees this year and in previous years share a dedication to creating change for the betterin the office and beyond. To be counted among their ranks is humbling, gratifying, and most of all inspiring. She truly goes above and beyond, has a tangible positive impact, and inspires colleagues to seek opportunities to effect positive change, Partner Dan Casagrande said in January 2020 when Attorney Rivas was elevated from associate to partner. This years award winners will be celebrated during the LSAA Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner being held online Oct. 13. In addition to her immigration law and family law work for clients, Rivas is a passionate advocate for immigrants in western Connecticut. She gives free presentations on immigration-related topics, and guides newcomers concerning their rights and obligations on the path to U.S. citizenship. As a longtime Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury volunteer, Rivas created a vital and popular citizenship course, and has been working to get people naturalized so they can vote in the 2020 election. The Hispanic Center gave her the Above and Beyond Award in 2016, the same year she received a Connecticut Law Tribune New Leaders in the Law award for her advocacy on behalf of the immigrant community. In 2017, Rivas received the Pro Bono Award during Law Day in events in Danbury for her commitment to providing pro bono assistance to clients who need it most. The award was presented by Attorney Casagrande. She is also a board member of the Latino Scholarship Fund and currently serves on the scholarship selection committee. In her practice, Rivas, who is bilingual, often works in difficult areas of immigration law that help clients who might otherwise have nowhere to turn. For example, she offers a low-fee structure to clients pursuing U visas as victims of qualifying crimes. Rivas also handles cases involving Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ) Status, the program designed to help foreign children in the U.S. who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by one or both parentsand has been successful in fighting the deportation of immigrant children in such situations. The attorneys practice areas also include personal injury law and workers compensation. Before attending UConn Law, Rivas earned a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from Georgetown University. She lives in town with her family and is based in the firms Danbury office. She may be reached by email at lrivas@crameranderson.com or by phone at 203-744-1234. As it turns out, racism is expensive, a new study shows Ongoing protests sparked by the death of George Floyd have reignited a national discussion around the systemic racial discrimination in the country. To add insult to injury, a major bank has now been able to quantify just how much money the economy has lost as a result of discrimination against Black Americans. READ MORE: Trump ready to pass stimulus bill, blames Democrats for holdup According to a new study by Citigroup, since the year 2000, the United States has lost a whopping $16 trillion in gross domestic product due to discriminatory practices in a plethora of areas from education to access to business loans. Considering the U.S. GDP totaled $19.5 trillion last year, losing almost the same figure amounts to a massive deficit for everyone. Researchers also found that failing to address these oppressive practices will only lead to continued losses. Citigroup estimates that if America made a concerted effort to reverse discrimination against Black Americans, in just five years the economy would see a $5 trillion boost. We believe we have a responsibility to address current events and to frame them with an economic lens in order to highlight the real costs of longstanding discrimination against minority groups, especially against Black people and particularly in the U.S., writes Raymond J. McGuire, a vice chairman at the bank and the chairman of its banking, capital markets, and advisory team. Discrimination has cost the US economy trillions of dollars (Photo: Stock) NPR reports that the study came up with the $16 trillion figure by examining four key racial gaps between African Americans and their white counterparts: $13 trillion lost in potential business revenue because of discriminatory lending to African American entrepreneurs, with an estimated 6.1 million jobs not generated as a result $2.7 trillion in income lost because of disparities in wages suffered by African Americans $218 billion lost over the past two decades because of discrimination in providing housing credit And $90 billion to $113 billion in lifetime income lost from discrimination in accessing higher education Story continues READ MORE: Chris Rock, Megan Thee Stallion to join forces for SNL premiere Due to these findings, Citigroup now urges key stakeholders to make it a priority to address discrimination, not just as a social issue but also as a matter of fiscal responsibility. Have you subscribed to theGrios podcast Dear Culture? Download our newest episodes now! The post Study: US economy lost $16 trillion due to discrimination against Blacks appeared first on TheGrio. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday warned of serious health problems from consuming large amounts of Benadryl following a social media challenge on TikTok which has left at least one girl dead and others hospitalized. The higher intake of the common over-the-counter allergy medicine could lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma, or even death, the agency said. The FDA said it was aware of reports of teenagers getting admitted to emergency rooms or dying after participation in the 'Benadryl Challenge' on the short-video app. In August, an Oklahoma girl died after allegedly taking part in the 'challenge' and ingesting large doses of the anti-allergy drug to hallucinate. The 'Benadryl challenge' is the latest health-threatening fad that has taken hold among youngsters on the social media app TikTok, the FDA warned Thursday Chloe Marie Phillips, 15, of Blanchard, Oklahoma, died in the early morning hours of August 21 after she overdosed on Benadryl while allegedly taking part in the TokTok challenge The FDA has also contacted contacted TikTok and asked them to remove the videos from their platform, according to Reuters. 'We are aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the Benadryl Challenge encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok,' a statement from the agency read. 'We are investigating these reports and conducting a review to determine if additional cases have been reported. We will update the public once we have completed our review or have more information to share. 'We also contacted TikTok and strongly urged them to remove the videos from their platform and to be vigilant to remove additional videos that may be posted,' it added. Johnson & Johnson's Benadryl is used to temporarily relieve symptoms of hay fever, upper respiratory allergies, or the common cold, such as runny nose and sneezing. The agency asked consumers to keep Benadryl out of children's sight to prevent misuse and accidental poisoning. The 'Benadryl Challenge' is a dangerous trend and should be stopped immediately, Johnson & Johnson said in a statement, adding that Benadryl and other diphenhydramine products should only be used as directed by the label. A spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson told DailyMail.com: 'The health and safety of people who use our products is our top priority. 'The BENADRYL TikTok trend is extremely concerning, dangerous and should be stopped immediately. 'As with any medicine, abuse or misuse can lead to serious side effects with potentially long-lasting consequences, and BENADRYL products should only be used as directed by the label. The so-called 'Benadryl challenge' is a new game in which teens on TikTok are encouraged to take as many allergy pills as needed in order to hallucinate or trip out 'It is our strong recommendation that all medications be kept out of the reach of children at all times. 'We are working with TikTok and our partners to do what we can to stop this dangerous trend, including the removal of content across social platforms that showcase this behavior.' A TikTok spokesperson told Business Insider that they had not seen it 'actively trend' on the platform but that the app 'actively [removes] content that violates our guidelines'. A search on the app returns a 'no results found' page with a note stating that the term may violate its community guidelines. "The safety and well-being of our users is TikTok's top priority. As we make clear in our Community Guidelines, we do not allow content that encourages, promotes, or glorifies dangerous challenges that might lead to injury,' the spokesperson said. 'Though we have not seen this content trend on our platform, we actively remove content that violates our guidelines and block related hashtags to further discourage participation. We encourage everyone to exercise caution in their behavior whether online or off.' On August 21, Chloe Marie Phillips, 15, of Blanchard died after allegedly taking an overdose of the drug. Janette Sissy Leasure, Chloes great aunt, posted a now-deleted message on Facebook urging families to be on alert for kids taking part in the Benadryl challenge. This needs to stop taking our kids or putting them in the hospital, she wrote on Facebook, according to The Sun. 'Don't let it take anymore kids...I don't want to see any families go through what we are going through right now, she wrote. Young Chloe is seen above with her father, Dustin Cook, of Blanchard, Oklahoma Janette Sissy Leasure, Chloes great aunt, posted a now-deleted message on Facebook urging families to be on alert for kids taking part in the Benadryl challenge after her death Don't ever say this can't happen to you. Kids are like, the other person was okay, so I'll be okay. Try to always know what your kids are doing or taking. In May, three teens from Fort Worth, Texas, were hospitalized after they swallowed excessive doses of Benadryl as part of the challenge. One of the teens, a 14-year-old named Rebekah, took large amounts of Benadryl tablets in the middle of the night on Memorial Day. 'It was scary. She had fractured sentences, hallucinations. Her resting heart rate was 199,' Katie, Rebekah's mother told Checkup. 'We rushed her to the local ER and they decided to transport her to Cook Childrens.' Rebekah was admitted to Cook Childrens Medical Center in Fort Worth and stayed overnight. Her heart rate returned to normal the next morning and she was released. What struck me was that we had three teens come in for the same thing in one week, said Amber Jewison, a nurse practitioner at Cook. None of these patients were trying to harm themselves. They all said they saw videos on TikTok and were curious to try it. Earlier this year, kids took part in the new 'skull breaker challenge' that went viral on TikTok. The practice involves three participants who jump straight up, with the two people on the side kicking inwards to knock the person in the middle off his feet and onto his head Benadryl is the brand name of the anti-allergy, over-the-counter drug known generically as diphenhydramine. A sedating antihistamine, it works to block the release of chemicals in the bodys cells that are released as part of the immune systems response to an allergy. The National Institutes of Health says antihistamines are used to treat allergies in addition to gastrointestinal conditions caused by excessive stomach acids. Benadryl is also an anticholinergic drug that impacts the cholinergic nervous system, which regulates key bodily functions like saliva and tear production, urination, heart rate, body temperature, brain function, and eye function. Taking too much Benadryl can have severe effects on ones overall health. Just as an allergic reaction can affect multiple organ systems of the body, Benadryl can affect multiple organ systems, Ashanti Woods, a pediatrician at Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center, tells Health. 'Its fine in small doses but taking large doses is a bad idea,' added Gina Posner, a board-certified pediatrician at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California. Benadryls own website recommends that children under the age of 6 avoid taking it altogether. Children between the ages of 6 and 12 are to take just 1 tablet every four-to-six hours while anyone over the age of 12 is to take no more than 2 tablets every four-to-six hours - unless directed otherwise by a doctor. Excessive doses of Benadryl can have severe health repercussions for both children and adults, who may suffer from high body temperature, confusion, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, unsteadiness, high blood pressure, and hallucinations. The National Capital Poison Center also warns of the extreme dangers of overdosing when mixing antihistamines like Benadryl with other pain medications and decongestants. In recent years, youngsters on social media have taken part in dangerous viral 'challenges,' including the 'skull breaker challenge' and the 'Tide Pod challenge,' that left a number of them hospitalized and have alarmed parents. The idea of tripping on Benadrly has been on the internet even before TikTok came into fashion. According to Insider, Tana Mongeau, who now has over 5 million YouTube subscribers, posted a video to the platform titled, 'I OVERDOSED ON BENADRYL & TRIPPED LIKE ACID: STORYTIME' in 2016. The video remains on YouTube along with other videos talking about Benadryl trip experiences. Wildfires have been burning across the state of California for weeks - some of them becoming larger complexes as different fires merge. One of those was the August Complex Fire, which reportedly began as 37 distinct fires caused by lightning strikes in northern California on Aug. 17. That fire is still burning over a month later. The August Complex Fire and others this fire season have been sending far-reaching plumes of wildfire smoke into the atmosphere that worsen air quality in California and beyond. Predicting where that smoke will travel and how bad the air will be downwind is a challenge, but Earth-observing satellites can help. Included among them are NASA's Terra and CALIPSO satellites, and the joint NASA-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Suomi NPP satellite. Together, the instruments on these satellites provide glimpses at the smoke over time, which can help improve air quality predictions. "The satellite instruments have the advantage of providing broad coverage and consistent measurement accuracy over time, as well as making their observations without any risk to the people taking the data," said Ralph Kahn, a senior research scientist with the Earth Sciences Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who studies aerosols. Kahn and other atmospheric scientists at NASA collect data about the fires from Earth-observing satellites used to improve models that predict how wildfire smoke will affect air quality downwind of the fires. MISR: Assessing the Situation from Different Angles One of the instruments on NASA's Terra satellite is the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), which has nine different cameras pointing toward Earth at different angles. As Terra passed over the August Complex Fire on Aug. 31, MISR collected snapshots of the smoke plume from different angles. Scientists look at those different perspectives to calculate the extent and height of the smoke plume downwind, as well as the height nearest the source of the fire, called the injection height. That information is essential for determining how far the smoke will travel. "Smoke tends to stay aloft longer, travel farther and have a larger environmental impact, perhaps far downwind, if it's injected higher into the atmosphere," said Kahn. On Aug. 31, the highest parts of the plume from the August Complex Fire reached approximately 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) into the air - putting it above the boundary layer of the atmosphere, which is the layer of the atmosphere nearest to the Earth's surface. The fresh smoke plume extended at least 30 miles (45 kilometers) east of the burning area near Mendocino National Forest in northern California. Over the previous few days, smoke from this fire had already traveled more than 310 miles (500 kilometers) to the west and over 460 miles (750 kilometers) east of the source, crossing into Utah and out over the Pacific Ocean. The MISR instrument also collected information about the amount, size, and brightness of the particles within the smoke plume based on how the particles scatter light at different angles and wavelengths. These data give researchers information about the characteristics of the wildfire smoke in order to predict how it will move and affect air quality. For example, the southern part of the smoke plume emitted by the August Complex Fire on Aug. 31 was made of mostly small, dark particles usually released when a fire is burning intensely. But as the plume moved downwind, the particles became larger and brighter, possibly because water or other gases emitted by the fires condensed on the smoke particles. MODIS: A Snapshot of Wildfire Hotspots Individual wildfires and large conflagrations of merged fires burning throughout the state - and the accumulated smoke they produce - make it difficult to see the actual flaming hotspots from space. But the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Terra satellite can see the longer wavelengths of nonvisible light, or infrared radiation produced by the heat coming from actively burning wildfires. In other words, MODIS can sometimes see through smoke even when our eyes can't by comparing the higher infrared radiation from hotspots to the lower radiation coming from the surrounding area. As it passes over the Western U.S., MODIS can see a swath about 1,430 miles (2,300 kilometers) wide - about the distance from central Utah to almost 70 miles into the Pacific Ocean - providing valuable context about what's going on with the fires and smoke over the Western U.S. MODIS pinpointed multiple clusters of fire hotspots in the August Complex Fire, which had consumed over 240,000 acres by Sept. 2. "The fire extent is huge in this case, and the smoke plumes can travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometers," said Kahn. "The satellites provide not only context, but also information about the relationships between different fires." During its pass overhead on Aug. 31, MODIS captured the August Complex Fire as well as several other fires and larger complexes of fires burning to the north, south, and east. Seeing the relationships between the fires offers clues to which fires are likely to merge in subsequent days. CALIPSO and Suomi NPP: Seeing the Extent of the Smoke The smoke plumes from California's wildfires have engulfed many cities and towns throughout the state, turning the sky an apocalyptic shade of burnt orange. In other areas, the sky is a hazy gray, and flecks of ash float through the air. But in some regions of the West Coast, the sky looks relatively normal - even if there are smoke particles in the air - because there are too few smoke particles for our eyes to detect. That's where NASA's CALIPSO satellite comes in. CALIPSO has a laser onboard that shoots bursts of laser light toward Earth. When that light hits something, such as particles in a wildfire smoke plume, it is reflected back to sensors on CALIPSO. Although the laser light is too weak to cause any sort of damage, the light reflected back to the satellite by smoke particles tells scientists a lot about the smoke even when the plume is too transparent for them to see with their eyes. As the plume from the August Complex Fire was carried west, CALIPSO detected smoke several days old descending from about 2.5 miles above land to within a mile of the ocean's surface as it crossed the California coastline. CALIPSO can tell the difference between clouds and smoke, which can sometimes be hard to do by looking at a satellite image. Knowing where the smoke is in relation to clouds allows researchers to see the interactions between clouds and smoke, which can affect the characteristics and spread of the smoke. For example, sometimes clouds ingest and modify smoke particles, and can even remove them from the air when it rains. Other times, dark wildfire smoke particles can absorb sunlight, becoming warm and heating the atmosphere, which can cause clouds to evaporate. NASA's CALIPSO satellite captures detailed data, but it has a narrow field of vision. The satellite observes along a two-dimensional vertical "curtain" that slices through the smoke plume as it passes overhead, collecting detailed measurements of the type and position of wildfire smoke aerosols in the atmosphere. Scientists then turn to three sensors aboard Suomi NPP, collectively called the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS), for context. Those sensors get a broader but less detailed view of what's going on with the smoke particles in Earth's atmosphere, which allows scientists to figure out what CALIPSO is homing in on and make better extrapolations based on CALIPSO's data. The instruments aboard satellites in NASA's Earth-observing fleet provide extensive data, unavailable from any other source, enabling researchers to gain a better understanding of wildfire smoke and how it affects air quality. In cases like the current wildfires across California, NASA's atmospheric scientists studying the fires collaborate with the NASA Earth Science Disasters program to share their findings with firefighters and public health officials. NASA Disasters program partners with local and regional agencies on the ground, helping get the data from NASA's satellites into the hands of those who need it most. "Our work is primarily helpful in improving the models that forecast air quality," said Kahn. "This is a team effort and when we can help, we certainly do." ### Theres been a lot of hand-wringing over who exactly Donald Trump will nominate to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgs seat. He will announce a name on Saturday. But no matter who he appoints, we can be sure of one thing: The president intends to nominate a Supreme Court justice who will help him steal the 2020 presidential election. We know this because he has told us. Over and over again, Trump has explained that he is relying on the federal judiciary to nullify a sufficient number of Democratic votes to hand him a second term. Still skeptical? Lets review the evidence. Advertisement For months, Trump has previewed his plan to reject the legitimacy of the election if he loses: He will claim that a large number of mail-in ballots are fraudulent and must be nullified. Since these ballots will be disproportionately Democratic, throwing them out may hand him an unearned victory. As my colleague Jeremy Stahl has written, there are several ways that Trumpworking in tandem with congressional Republicans, GOP state legislatures, or bothcould attempt to nullify Democratic absentee votes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Each scheme, however, would require the acquiescence of the Supreme Court. Although there are already five conservatives on SCOTUS, Chief Justice John Roberts seems less likely than his far-right colleagues to support such a brazen power grab. If the court divided 44 on Trumps heist, it would automatically affirm the lower courts ruling. That means the outcome of the election could turn on the partisan composition of the state Supreme Court or federal appeals court that hears the dispute. Advertisement Advertisement Trump would much prefer to have SCOTUS in his pocket by Nov. 3. Were counting on the federal court system to make it so that we can actually have an evening where we know who wins, Trump said on Saturday, one day after Ginsburgs death. Not where the votes are going to be counted a week later or two weeks later. In case this statement were too subtle, Trump elaborated on Monday: We need nine justices, he told reporters. You need that. With the unsolicited millions of ballots that theyre sending. Trump continued: Its a scam, its a hoax. Everybody knows that and the Democrats know it better than anybody else. So youre gonna need nine justices up there. I think its gonna be very important. Because what theyre doing is a hoax with the ballots. Theyre sending out tens of millions of ballots unsolicited. Not with them being asked, but unsolicited. And thats a hoax. And youre gonna need to have nine justices. So [confirming a justice] before the election would be a very good thing. Because what theyre doing is trying to sow confusion and everything else and when they talk about Russia, China, and all these othersthey will be able to do something here, because paper ballots are very simple, whether they counterfeit them, forge them, do whatever you want. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In reality, paper ballots are not very simple, but rather extremely secure, and cannot be counterfeited by foreign countries. Moreover, ballots are not being sent out willy-nilly, as Trump implied, but mailed to active, registered voters in some states, pursuant to a duly enacted law. But set aside the lies and consider the truths in this statement. Why is Trump gonna need nine justices? Because he claims a large number of mail-in ballots will be a scam, and hell need the Supreme Court to invalidate them. Why cant eight justices be trusted to handle election litigation? I think having a 44 situation is not a good situation, Trump clarified one day later. The president is plainly cognizant of the possibility that Roberts might side with the liberals to prevent him from stealing a second term. He knows he needs a fifth vote in his cornerand he now has the opportunity to secure one. Advertisement Advertisement It is no surprise, then, that Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power on Wednesday. Were going to have to see what happens, he told a reporter. You know that Ive been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. Trump added: Get rid of the ballots and there wont be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation. On Thursday, he once again refused to say whether he would step down if he loses in November. We want to make sure the election is honest, and Im not sure that it can be, Trump told a reporter. I dont know that it can be, with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Trump is often incoherent, it is easy to parse these two statements, particularly in light of the comments that preceded them. If he loses, he will not accept the results. Instead, he will demand that some mail-in ballotswhich, again, will skew Democratic this yearbe tossed. How many? Enough to ensure a continuation of his presidency into a second term. Advertisement There are several different ways Trump could secure the nullification of these ballots. He could urge Republican state legislatures to deny their validity and appoint electors who will vote for Trump in the Electoral College. (This idea is reportedly under active consideration.) He could initiate a Bush v. Gorelike challenge, asking the courts to halt vote-counting before mail-in ballots are tallied and preserving his early lead. Trumps campaign has already launched a lavishly funded legal battle to make voting more difficult in swing states. It seems increasingly probable that his lawyers will set aim to manipulate vote tabulation as soon as Election Day draws to a close. In the face of Trumps many admissions, Republican senators have denied that the president truly intends to remain in office if he loses. They will soon ask us to believe that the president did not choose a Supreme Court nominee on the basis of her willingness to throw him the election. Yet Trump himself has already demonstrated that he seeks a nominee who will do exactly that. It does not matter what this individual avows during her hearing. We will all know the real reason Trump rushed her onto the bench. Hadi Ahmed wearily sets up a tent in Yemen's Marib province, after fleeing fighting yet again in the government's last northern stronghold which is under intense pressure from Huthi rebels. The Iran-backed fighters have long held the capital Sanaa which lies just 120 kilometres (75 miles) away and are mounting a fierce campaign to take the oil-rich province. If they are successful, it would spell disaster for the government and also for the hundreds of thousands of displaced people sheltering in desolate camps who would have to run for their lives once again. Battles between the two sides have intensified in recent weeks and now threaten the camps, including Suweida north of Marib city where Hadi, his wife and their seven children arrived in August. They share a plot of land just one square kilometre with 700 other families, and have tried to make their metal-framed tent a home as best they can, setting up a fridge that they hope to connect to a generator. "Until this moment, we have fled five times," the 46-year-old told AFP as his children sat close to their meagre belongings while he fixed up their latest dwelling. "We arrived at this camp where there are no basic necessities for survival." Hadi said they were forced to flee their home in Nihm, north of Sanaa, as the conflict approached. "Every time we fled... I tried to reassure them that we're going to settle down," he said. "We leave a lot behind every time because we are unable to carry our things." - Once a sanctuary - Until early 2020, Marib city was spared the worst of the conflict, due to its strategic importance with its rich oil and gas reserves, and also because of its location near the border of regional power Saudi Arabia. It became a sanctuary for many in the early years of the five-year war, taking in those hoping for a new start, but that relative stability is gone and residents are in the line of fire as the two sides battle for control. Story continues Among those who fled to the city were doctors and wealthy businessmen, and soon after their arrival prices of real estate jumped. Business began to flourish as restaurants and other projects opened, until the fighting that erupted this year threatened all that had been established and put it at risk of falling into Huthi hands. Government military sources say the Huthis are inching closer to the city and tightening the noose from three sides as well as sending hundreds of fighters into battle. Maged Al-Madhaji, of the Sanaa Centre for Strategic Studies, said the conflict "constitutes the highest rate of fighting in Yemen in terms of number of battles". What is happening now is a "war of attrition", he said. As in other parts of the war-torn country, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and some 3.3 million people displaced, it is the civilians paying the highest price. If Marib falls, it would come at a time when the UN has been forced to slash its programmes in Yemen due to a funding drought as the coronavirus slowdown hits donor nations. "If the worst happens and they are forced to flee, we would do everything possible to help them but it would be a struggle," said Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Yemen. "We don't have enough capacity on the ground and we don't have enough funding." - 'Tired of life' - The number of internally displaced people in Marib is not clear. It is difficult to count people staying with host communities and relatives, and some people have fled to desert areas out of reach of humanitarian agencies. With 140 camps currently operating, some sources put the number of displaced at one million, and before the latest troubles the United Nations estimated there were some 750,000. "Nearly 80 percent of new arrivals over the past month have nowhere to go and have had to settle in already extremely crowded displacement camps," International Organization for Migration spokeswoman Olivia Headon told AFP. "This is a major concern as hygiene and physical distancing are key to combatting Covid-19." Hadi's son has married and soon the newlyweds will share their tent with the child they are expecting. "I take the situation in stride because of my faith in God, but the morale of my wife and children are low. They are tired of life," he said. "In case we flee again, it will truly be a disaster. Where will we go?" str-faw-sy/mah/dm/sls/hkb Three-dimensional images of a kidney with unprecedented quality have been obtained with the simple, cost-effective addition of sandpaper as an optical element to an X-ray imaging beamline. The results demonstrate the potential of X-ray speckle-based tomography for quantitative 3D virtual histology. Biological soft tissue and other low-density materials can be visualised quantitatively and in 3D with a higher image quality than ever before by using a recently developed X-ray imaging technique that makes use of a piece of sandpaper as an optical element. The need for 3D visualisation and characterisation of biological soft tissue has driven an increasing interest in X-ray-based virtual histology. Conventional histology, the current gold standard for tissue visualisation, struggles to deliver 3D data with isotropic resolution, as it is based on physical slicing of the sample and scanning of the slices with a light microscope. Expanding histology to the third dimension is a critical step for a more accurate analysis of the sizes, shapes and interrelationship of sample features. This will contribute to an improved assessment of tissue pathologies and a better understanding of organ function. An X-ray imaging technique known as speckle-based imaging (SBI) has been further developed to enable quantitative three-dimensional virtual histology (3DVH) of unstained, hydrated biological tissue at unprecedented image quality. Using beamline ID19, X-ray images of a mouse kidney were obtained with extremely high contrast that have been validated with conventional histology results, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. Comparison of virtual phase volume slices of a mouse kidney obtained with SBI and histological sections. (a) Short-axis cut through the phase volume, and (b) corresponding histological slice of the same specimen (H&E staining, 10 magnification). The kidney regions, cortex (COR), outer stripe of the outer medulla (OSOM), inner stripe of the outer medulla (ISOM) and inner medulla (IM), can be identified. (c and d) Enlarged regions of interest visualising fine details of the kidney tissue. SBI [1] is based on the X-ray phase-contrast signal, which exploits the refraction of X-rays in the sample as a contrast mechanism, leading to a significantly higher sensitivity to small density variations than conventional absorption X-ray imaging. SBI was first demonstrated at the ESRF [2] and simultaneously at Monash University [3] and has since seen great interest from the X-ray imaging community thanks to its extremely robust, simple and cost-effective implementation. The only required addition to a conventional X-ray imaging setup is a piece of sandpaper. Scattering and interference of X-rays from the sandpaper grains lead to the formation of a speckled intensity pattern, known as near-field speckles, in the detector plane. X-ray refraction in a sample results in a local displacement of these speckles, which can be computationally retrieved and converted to a phase-contrast signal. SBI combined with tomography, i.e. taking projections of the sample at different viewing angles, allows for the reconstruction of the 3D density distribution within the sample. Among the different data acquisition and analysis methods developed for SBI, the unified modulated pattern analysis (UMPA) used for the data presented here has shown particularly high performance and flexibility [4]. The high sensitivity of SBI makes it possible to visualise even minute density differences in soft tissue at high contrast without the use of staining agents. This enables the straightforward and accurate segmentation of features in a sample, such as the complex blood vessel network of the kidney in this study (Figure 2). Furthermore, one single renal nephron, the functional unit of the kidney, could be extracted from the SBI data, which is a critical step towards gaining a better understanding of organ function and dysfunction. The 3D information on the sample is complemented with the quantitative mass density values that SBI delivers in addition to the structural information. Figure 2. 3D visualisation and segmentation of the phase volume. (a) Renal capsule with ureter (yellow) and surrounding fatty tissue (semi-transparent grey). (b) Combined visualisation of vascular network (arteries and veins) and tissue microstructure of the kidney extracted from the same data set. A slice through the phase volume is shown in semi-transparent colours (blue: IM and ISOM, green: OSOM and COR). (c) Location of one renal nephron in the 3D phase volume and (d) segmented nephron consisting of blood vessel supply, glomerulus, and tubule. With its high sensitivity, quantitative character and simple setup, X-ray speckle-based imaging has great potential as an imaging method in fundamental biomedical research and clinical histopathology to extend and complement conventional histology. Moreover, the method is also promising for applications in other fields that rely on visualising small density differences such as materials science and palaeontology. The results of this research are illustrated by the following movie: Summary of the 3D virtual histology of the mouse kidney. Principal publication and authors X-ray phase tomography with near-field speckles for three-dimensional virtual histology, Zdora M.-C. (a,b,c), Thibault P. (a,b), Kuo W. (d,e), Fernandez V. (f), Deyhle H. (b), Vila-Comamala J. (g), Olbinado M.P. (h,i), Rack A. (i), Lackie P.M. (j), Katsamenis O.L. (k), Lawson M.J. (j), Kurtcuoglu V. (d,e,l), Rau C. (b), Pfeiffer F. (m,n), Zanette I. (a), Optica 7, 1221-1227 (2020); doi: 10.1364/OPTICA.399421. (a) School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton (United Kingdom) (b) Diamond Light Source, Didcot (United Kingdom) (c) Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London (United Kingdom) (d) The Interface Group, Institute of Physiology, University of Zurich (Switzerland) (e) National Centre of Competence in Research, Kidney.CH, Zurich (Switzerland) (f) Imaging and Analysis Centre, Natural History Museum, London (United Kingdom) (g) Institute for Biomedical Engineering, ETH Zurich (Switzerland) (h) Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI (Switzerland) (i) ESRF (j) Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton (United Kingdom) (k) -VIS X-Ray Imaging Centre, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton (United Kingdom) (l) Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich (Switzerland) (m) Chair of Biomedical Physics, Department of Physics and Munich School of BioEngineering, Technical University of Munich, Garching (Germany) (n) Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich (Germany) References [1] Zdora M.-C., J. Imaging 4, 60 (2018). [2] Berujon S. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 158102 (2012). [3] Morgan K.S. et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 124102 (2012). [4] Zdora M.-C. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 203903 (2017). She's a hugely successful model who's been wowing audiences with her appearances on the catwalk. And Joan Smalls nailed off duty chic as she stepped out in a casual ensemble amid Milan Fashion Week on Thursday. The Puerto Rican beauty, 32, stunned away from the runway in a black printed T-shirt by L'art de L'automobile and pale cropped jeans as she made her way around the Italian city. Out and about: Joan Smalls nailed off duty chic as she stepped out in a casual ensemble amid Milan Fashion Week on Thursday Joan looked at ease as she strolled along in her stylish T-shirt, with the design at the back depicting a Ferrari on fire. The beauty paired her T-shirt and jeans combo with box fresh white trainers, while she carried her essentials in a white handbag. Joan swept her brunette tresses into a high ponytail, while she stayed protected by donning a pink face mask. Work it: The Puerto Rican beauty, 32, stunned away from the runway in a black printed T-shirt by L'art de L'automobile and pale cropped jeans as she made her way around the Italian city The model turned the streets into her runway as she confidently strutted before making her way into her accommodation. Joan is currently taking part in Milan Fashion Week, after wowing during London's virtual event last week. Milan is only one of the four fashion capitals that is hosting the catwalk showcases with a few adjustments in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Runway: The beauty paired her T-shirt and jeans combo with box fresh white trainers, while she carried her essentials in a white handbag Stunner: Joan oozed confidence as she strutted down the street amid downtime from the catwalk The city is hosting 23 shows over the next five days- a move which sets them apart from New York and London, who have both held virtual fashion weeks. Paris has 20 scheduled shows planned next week but coveted guestlists have been reduced dramatically, in keeping with strict socially distancing guidelines. Milan Fashion Week is being held as a breakthrough for Italy, seven months on from when the country dealt with the devastating effects of coronavirus. Back in February, Georgia Armani cancelled his show in Milan as the virus began to sweep through the country. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The North Shore waterfront is one of New York Citys busiest remaining working waterfronts. Companies such as Howland Hook Marine Terminal; Cadell Dry Dock; Atlantic Salt; Reynolds Launch; Flagg Container Terminal; Sandy Hook Pilots; Staten Island Ferry DOT Maintenance Facility; United States Coast Guard; Clean Harbors; Mays shipyard; Moran', McAllister, Reinauer and K-Sea Towing serve the Kill Van Kull shoreline and the New York Harbor. In Stapleton, between 1921 and 1923, deep-water piers were constructed along the waterfront and during WWI and WWII, used by the United States Army. After the wars, the docks fell into disuse as the shipping industry moved to areas such as Howland Hook and New Jersey. In the 1970s, all the piers were demolished except for one which was eventually turned into the Navy Homeport Facility in 1994. Information sited from CUNY, 2012 Staten Island Waterfront class project. Since then, the pier called the Homeport Pier (aka, Sullivan Pier) is the docking location for FDNYs Marine 9 and occasional visiting naval vessels for Fleet Week events. Present-day Stapleton waterfront includes URBY, a new apartment complex with a waterfront promenade. St. George is and has always been the transportation hub for all of Staten Island. In the early 1800s, shipbuilding and fishing grew because there was little opportunity for people to leave the island. St. George was a mix of a residential community and a commercial center. The first chartered boat service between Staten Island and Manhattan was established in 1713. The first steam ferry ran on November 29, 1817, from Staten Island to Manhattan. In 1905 the City of New York took charge of the Staten Island ferry system. Today, it continues to be a central transportation hub with waterfront commerce such as the Richmond County Ball Park and the newly built Empire Outlets. Port Richmond was once a model village, with homes and businesses and beautifully paved streets. This town also held a large shipbuilding, oystering, and manufacturing industry. Numerous ferries ran from Port Richmond, such as the Riverside and Fort Lee Ferry Co., which ran from Wilmington, Delaware, to Port Richmond, the Bergen Point Ferry Co. (ended in 1941), Evans' Sunrise Ferries (some of which ran to Florida) and White Oak, which was operated by the Staten Island Whaling Company. The Bergen Point Ferry itself brought commercial and commuter traffic through Port Richmond. The last ferry in this town ran from Port Richmond to Bayonne in 1961.Many shipyards and factories sprang up in the 19th century. The Burlee Dry Dock, Starin Shipyard, and Van Cliefs Dry Dock were among the dozens of shipyards on Staten Island after 1820. Although the waterfront became a maritime graveyard in the 1940s, other businesses like the tugboat companies have come to take hold of the waterfront. The Mariners Harbor Yacht Club remains and is a reminder of the days that were. Mariners Harbor was home to large shipping and dry dock companies in the first half of the 20th century, including Bethlehem Steel, which owned a considerable portion of land in the area with headquarters along the waterfront on Richmond Terrace across from Mersereau Avenue and Brewers Dry Dock. Bethlehem Steel built United States Navy Destroyers during World War II. Currently, two tugboat companiesK-Sea and McAllisteroperate in the area as do a number of smaller dry docks, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, and Mariners Harbor Cargo Terminal. Information sited from CUNY, 2012 Staten Island Waterfront class project. According to Beryl A. Thurman, executive director/president of the North Shore Waterfront Conservancy, an urgent matter along the waterfront today is that the shoreline on the North Shore is in part privately owned and in part owned by the city, it has been allowed to erode to a dangerous point, if you are looking at it from the standpoint of Climate Changes' sea-level rise, storm surges, and flooding. High tides and storm surges are already impacting properties and homes across the street on Richmond Terrace and Bay Street in low lying areas. If you have any visuals to share, please send them to my email at jsomma@siadvance.com. Vintage photos and video clips are welcome! Please let me know if there are any places youd like to see highlighted in an upcoming installment of Flashback Staten Island. A playlist of past Staten Island flashbacks is available on YouTube. Premier Daniel Andrews said embattled Health Minister Jenny Mikakos was accountable for the states disastrous hotel quarantine program, as he offered an unreserved apology for its role in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Mr Andrews told the official inquiry into the ill-fated hotels program on Friday he had no knowledge of how private security had been put in charge of guarding people. He said it was "disappointing" that the decision appeared to have been what counsel assisting the inquiry Rachel Ellyard described as a "creeping assumption that formed amongst a group", that nobody was prepared to take responsibility for. Daniel Andrews taking the oath at the hotel quarantine inquiry. He also said he did not believe that assistance from Australian Defence Force personnel was offered early in the program and if he had known the Commonwealth had made subsequent offers of ADF help, he might have made different decisions. Mr Andrews much-anticipated appearance before the inquiry brought 25 days of public hearings to a close, but left key questions unanswered. The Premier said he was kept in the dark about a number of decisions made when the program was set up. Over the past three months, groups of concerned people have come together to help some of the area's most vulnerable residents: those who live at Joseph Floyd Manor. Revelations of bedbug infestations, rats, criminal activity and other poor living conditions rocked the Charleston County Housing and Redevelopment Authority, which owns and operates the 12-story public-housing building, since they first came to light in May. There have been improvements. Revamped pest control and other work has helped, but the large-scale change most officials agree is necessary for the aging structure to be habitable long-term will take time and more funding than is currently available. With residents still concerned, people like Courtney Hicks have stepped in to fill the gap. Since July, Hicks and three other women have been raising money and using it to buy cleaning items, toiletries, masks and other supplies to distribute them to Joseph Floyd Manor residents. She sees the work as an essential and very personal mission. "Especially in Charleston, we owe it to them," she said of the building's residents. "Me, being a young Black woman, assisting (our) elders is something that is my responsibility." Many of the building's residents are elderly African American men and women, and Hicks sees the endeavor, which she has named the Joseph Floyd Manor Care Package Project, as a way of caring for her community and as a form of activism. "I cant even imagine experiencing what a lot of these elders have experienced in their lifetime," she said. "You're supposed to look back to where you came from to propel yourself forward. We are living in a very triggering, unsure time. It mirrors very similar protests and activations that happened in their youth." Hicks originally set out to find a way to get masks to people experiencing homelessness and to others in need after city officials passed a mandatory face mask rule in late June. After Tamika Gadsden, a local radio show host and activist with the Charleston Activist Network, suggested they focus on helping Joseph Floyd Manor residents, the project recentered around that building. Hicks teamed up with Gadsden; Candace Livingston, a West Ashley teacher; and Kris Kaylin, a radio host, to launch the Joseph Floyd Manor Care Package Project. The Black women-led project raised $15,000 in 72 hours and delivered bags of supplies including toilet paper, masks, cleaning supplies, reusable grocery bags, disinfectant wipes and other items, she said. With the amount of support they received, they made sure to purchase high-quality supplies for the care packages. And their work continues. "So far, with the money we've raised, we've been able to continue the project each month," Hicks said. Her group is focused on uplifting the building's residents and on empowering marginalized communities to help themselves. "It's time that we recenter, especially in Charleston, on the Black people who paved the way," Hicks said. "We have the power. We have the ability to make changes." She and her colleagues say they aim to keep distributing care packages for as long as they have funding, and they encourage anyone who's able to donate to visit their GoFundMe page. Hicks' group isn't alone. In late July, community groups and S.C. Rep. Wendell Gilliard, D-Charleston, distributed 1,000 masks and information sheets on the novel coronavirus to manor residents. And a group called Friends of Joseph Floyd Manor has been meeting weekly over the past three months. Made up of organizations like Enough Pie, BoomTown, Charleston Promise Neighborhood and concerned residents, the group aims to advocate for the building's residents and work with public officials on finding solutions to the issues that continue to negatively impact the lives of the people living inside. The group has met with Housing Authority board members to learn more about the issues, sat in on the board's virtual meetings, attended all Charleston County Council meetings where officials planned to discuss the manor and meeting with residents to learn more about their needs, said Bianca LaPaz, a community manager with Enough Pie. "Looking ahead, we are beginning to move out of our knowledge-gathering phase, and will be focusing our efforts on specific projects coordinated by our newly formed working groups," LaPaz said. Friends of Joseph Floyd Manor also helped create in March a community buddy system for residents in response to the challenges of the pandemic. It also helped get vital cleaning supplies and groceries to residents while the statewide stay-at-home order was in effect, she said. The group continues to gather input from residents on their needs and is working on finding interns who can help reduce the burden on a staff spread thin, LaPaz said. The group also is working with the Mayor's Office on Aging to find mental health support services for residents. A number of projects are in the works, she said. A Resource Room where residents can access telehealth and workforce entry services is planned and the group continues to partner with local nonprofits to provide job training, substance abuse support and also is working to bring back Sunday church services to the manor's community room. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On September 24, a ro-ro ship loaded with 100 Xpeng G3i SUVs officially departed from Guangzhou and is expected to arrive in Norway in November, signifying the outset of Xpeng Motors' export journey. (Photo source: Xpeng Motors) The first European-spec super-long-range Xpeng G3 intelligent SUVs formally left for Norway today, which made us so proud. It indicates that Xpeng Motors has made headway in various links such as product R&D, intelligent manufacturing and market expansion, and its products started to be tested by overseas consumers, said Xia Heng, co-founder and president of Xpeng Motors. (Xpeng G3i heading for Norway; photo source: Xpeng Motors) The Xpeng G3i, an enhanced version of the Xpeng's first mass-produced modelthe G3, was launched at this year's Chengdu Motor Show. The startup revealed that it began selling the G3is with NEDC-rated range of 520km in Norway from June 2020, with prices starting at 350,000kr (250,580 yuan). Compared to the version sold in China, some adjustments are made over the exported G3is based on Norwegian market characteristics to meet local regulations and standards. The European-spec version still retains the super AVP (automated valet parking) function, which can greatly facilitate Norwegian users in parking vehicles with a pilot assist driving system composed of 20 sensors including ultrasonic radars, high-definition cameras and millimeter-wave radars. In addition, the exported G3i will offer touchless smart interaction experience to European consumers by virtue of the Xmart OS that voice recognition of English. The Guangzhou-based EV manufacturer will partner with Zero Emission Mobility AS (ZEM), a Norway's automobile dealer, to carry out marketing business and offer after-sale service to local consumers. The 28 days of zero community virus transmission Queensland insists of NSW before reopening the border is likely to be reset again on Friday as health authorities scramble to trace the source of infection in a Sydney man. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the criterion of 28 days was a "tall order". The state was on track to reach the target on October 6, but Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said it seemed the border clock would be reset back to zero. "We need for [NSW] to complete their investigation but it would appear that way." The police in Kwara State have announced the arrest of some officers after a video clip showing them harassing two young men surfaced online. In the footage shared by a twitter user, Segun Cyrus, the officers of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) unit arrested two men and hauled them into a police van in a Gestapo style. They then drove off with the men in a van. This happened in the Geri Alimi area of Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State, on September 7. An eyewitness who also filmed the event said the officers had earlier arrested a man and a woman but set the woman free after an argument in the van. The cause of the arrests was unknown but the narrative in the video suggests that the officers were picking people up at random. Confirming the incident, the spokesperson of the police in the state, Peter Okasanmi, said the officers are being detained and are undergoing departmental trial. The victims of this despicable act are encouraged to come to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Police headquarters Ilorin to give evidence to enable a diligent trial, he said on Thursday evening. He said the Commissioner of Police in the state has appealed to members of the public to always report unprofessional conduct of police officers to him through the following phone numbers: 08125275046, 08032365122. This adds to the growing cases of police harassment and brutality reported across the country. Many law enforcement agents have been caught on camera harassing citizens. Several human rights groups and activists have also urged police officers to act within the confines of the law. What are the qualities of successful business school candidates? Intelligence, flexibility, ambition, and a willingness to be exposed to new experiences among others. If the experiences of some of this years cohort are anything to go by, then extraordinary resilience and steely determination should be added to the list. As MBA and masters students arrive on Europes campuses this month, stories are emerging of plucky students who refused to let Covid-19 stop their plans. We caught up with six who have overcome adversity to get to Europe. Yara from Beirut, who does not want to give her surname, will soon start her MBA at emlyon in France, following a daunting array of challenges. She was unlucky enough to catch COVID in June which, she says, was stressful as some people refused to see her for the three months following her recovery. She was then in a shopping mall that collapsed following the port explosion in Beirut in August, receiving injuries that required treatment by the Lebanese Red Cross, as the hospitals were all full. Following this, she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. OVERCOMING HURDLES FROM BLACKOUTS TO THE PANDEMIC Added to this were financial problems. Although she has been saving for an MBA for five years, Yara was unable to access her money because of government rules limiting dollar withdrawals from Lebanese banks to $1,000 a month. Her employer began paying her into a different account, but ATM withdrawal limits meant it took up to three weeks to take her salary out. The bank refused to allow Yara to transfer money to France to pay emlyon. However, she was determined to continue her MBA. I decided I would not let the political situation, or the banking system, prevent me from pursuing my education. I could have accepted a family reason, but not this. I rejected the reason, she says. Yara had to ask a friend in France to pay her enrollment fee for her, and paid back his parents in Beirut in cash. Added to this were electricity supply problems in Beirut, which led to blackouts for up to three hours a day and made communication even more difficult. Finally, however, Yara has overcome all these hurdles and will begin her (delayed) MBA at emlyon in January. Emlyon have been very supportive, I havent joined the program yet and I already feel part of the Emlyon family, Yara says. Story continues CHINA TO THE U.S. TO AMSTERDAM TO SPAIN Tyler Berghorst Tyler Douglas Berghorst, who has just started his MBA at IESE in Barcelona, had been teaching in China for the past three years. He was all set for his video interview in February and a month before, during the Chinese New Year holiday, he went traveling through Asia. As he was away, COVID exploded and his employer advised him not to return to China. He went to Mumbai, where he had a cheap bespoke suit made, then conducted his MBA interview on his phone from a hostel in Myanmar. One thing that I really liked about IESE is that the interviewer went: Wow, what an interesting story! Tyler says. After traveling to China via Thailand one of the few places with flights to China Tyler received his offer from IESE. Then his real problems started. His residence permit was close to expiry, but embassies were closed to getting a visa for Spain proved impossible. He planned, therefore, to travel to his home state of Michigan as applying for a visa for Spain would be easier from there. Three flights were canceled before he finally made it to the U.S. From there, he gained his visa for Spain. However, days before flying he heard from a classmate that the country he was planning to fly to was refusing to let Americans enter. So he hastily re-routed his flight to Amsterdam and arrived in Barcelona at the end of August, just in time to begin his MBA. When my third flight from China had been canceled, I strongly considered deferring for a year, but after a moment of wavering I became more determined, Tyler says. I had committed to this program and was so excited that I couldnt give up. Bianca Sartori-Sigrist A BRIT IN OZ TRIES TO GET HOME Bianca Sartori-Sigrist recently arrived in London to begin her MSc in Climate Change, Management and Finance at Imperial College Business School. A British citizen living in Australia, she was applying to programs and navigating interviews with Imperial just at the time when Australia closed its borders, on March 20. Like most of us, I never thought like most of us the ban on travel would last that long. The borders are still closed now, she says. As a resident in Australia, she had to get a formal exemption from the Australian home office to leave, which took almost three months. She had to submit evidence that she was leaving for the long-term, such as proof of residence in the UK, course details, and details of her family in the UK. Just a month before she was due to fly, a spanner was thrown into the works when the UK said that arrivals would have to quarantine for two weeks, meaning that she had to change her flights, which proved a headache because of the number being canceled. I COULD HAVE DEFERRED BUT I DIDNT WANT TO WAIT A YEAR Just when things seemed to be running smoothly, two weeks before she was due to fly Biancas airline introduced a requirement that passengers have a negative COVID test in the previous 96 hours. My flight was at 9 p.m. on a Sunday, so I had to run around last minute finding a test center where I could get a results certificate in 24 hours, which no centers in Sydney could guarantee, she explains. Finally, though, she made it to London. I could have deferred but I didnt want to wait a year because climate change is such an important issue that it needs to be dealt with now, not in a years time, says Bianca. This is a unique course and Imperial is one of the best universities anywhere, so Its worth making the effort to travel across the whole world for. Beth Salas found it nearly impossible to make it to the Netherlands, and Nyenrode University (above), from Malaysia CLOSED EMBASSIES MADE IT DIFFICULT TO GET STUDENT VISAS Beth Salas Beth Salas, who has just started her MBA at Nyenrode University in the Netherlands, is from the Philippines but was working in Malaysia and had accepted her offer before the pandemic began. A four-month lockdown in Malaysia made her wonder whether she would be able to make the start, she says, especially because the worth of my savings dwindled significantly the moment the lockdown lifted because of the Ringgit losing heavily to the Euro. However, she had her heart set on a career outside Asia. I guess I was full of the belief that life will go on after the pandemic, so I still chose to be where I wanted to be when all this is over, she says. What made the situation particularly stressful, she says, was the uncertainty. Embassies were closed or functioning with a skeleton staff, so visas were not being issued. Beth had to cancel her employment pass before getting a passport. Thanks to a canceled appointment that she was able to take, she managed to secure her passport just a day before she was due to fly. There was a lot of last-minute stuff that I didnt think would work out, but somehow did, Beth says. At one point I thought that itd be impossible to make it to the Netherlands and considered Japan instead, but eventually I decided that I had a plan and I wanted to be in a place I was happy once COVID is over. A MiM BRINGS ONE STUDENT FROM TURKEY TO BERLIN Ekin Su Matkap Ekin Su Matkap, from Turkey, got an offer to study a MiM at ESMT, in Berlin, in March and applied for a visa that she expected to receive in May. However, visa centerss closed and when they re-opened were hard to contact, and prioritized tourist visas over educational ones. In mid-September, as her programs orientation week began in Berlin, she finally got an appointment, although it could still be four to six weeks until she receives her visa. I am being optimistic, and hoping I will arrive in mid-October, though it could still be later, Ekin says. She participated in orientation week virtually and says that the school has made a great effort to try to integrate those who are not yet on campus, but that her experience is very different from a normal first week of university. She will start taking classes via Zoom, which she says she can accept because even those on campus are taking 50 percent of theirs in the same way. It has been a very frustrating time, but I never considered giving up because I am concerned the currency will devalue further if I wait, and also my parents are supporting me so I do not want to be a burden on them, says Ekin. It has been a bad experience, but I dont want to wait any longer. THE LONG ROAD FROM CHINA TO FRANCE Yinou Yu Yinuo Yu, from China, only received her visa to come to France to study in INSEADs first-ever MiM in August. I waited for six weeks to get my visa, and eventually had a flight booked for September 7, she says. However, a storm that evening meant she could no longer fly from Guangzhou but had to switch to Shanghai a three-hour drive from where she was living. The new flight connecting rather than a direct one and was three hours longer. Heroically, Yinou had chosen to wear full personal protective gear while on the plane, including a mask, large goggles, and gloves. I didnt want to be responsible for spreading the virus to my classmates in Paris, she explains. All it takes is for one person to be infected, undiagnosed, and we would all have it. It was the worst flight ever. It was a nightmare, I was sweating so much that the skin on my hands went wrinkly. After her ordeal, though, Yinou arrived in Fontainebleau, where INSEAD has its French campus and has now started her MiM. Im learning a lot, she says. Its challenging, but my team members are helping me a lot. DONT MISS: UK SCHOOLS READY TO CONTEND WITH COVID THIS FALL The post The B-School Students Who Refused To Surrender To Covid-19 appeared first on Poets&Quants. VIA optronics AG ("VIA"), a leading supplier of enhanced display solutions, announced today the pricing of its initial public offering (the "Offering") of 6,250,000 American Depositary Shares ("ADSs"), representing 1,250,000 ordinary shares at a public offering price of $15.00 per ADS, for gross proceeds of $93.75 million, before underwriting discounts and commissions. All of the ADSs are being offered by VIA. In addition, certain selling shareholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 937,500 ADSs, representing 187,500 ordinary shares, to cover over-allotments, if any, at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. VIA will not receive any proceeds from the sale of ADSs by the selling shareholders. VIA ADSs are scheduled to begin trading on New York Stock Exchange on September 25, 2020 under the ticker symbol "VIAO." The Offering is expected to close on September 29, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions. Berenberg is acting as sole bookrunning manager for the Offering and Craig-Hallum Capital Group is acting as lead manager. Corning Research Development Corporation ("Corning"), one of VIA's commercial partners, has agreed to purchase 1,403,505 ADSs, representing 280,701 ordinary shares, at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $20 million in a separate concurrent private placement, which is expected to be completed after the completion of the Offering, at a price per ADS equal to 95% of the public offering price in the Offering. The sale of ADSs to Corning will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. While the closing of the concurrent private placement is conditioned on the closing of the Offering, the closing of the Offering is not conditioned upon the closing of such concurrent private placement. The Offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the final prospectus relating to the Offering may be obtained from Berenberg Capital Markets LLC, Attention: Equity Capital Markets, 1251 Avenue of the Americas, 53rd Floor, New York, NY 10020, by telephone at (646) 949-9000, or by email at ProspectusRequests@berenberg-us.com. A registration statement relating to the securities being sold in the Offering has been filed with, and declared effective by, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, the securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction. About VIA optronics: VIA is a leading provider of enhanced display solutions for multiple end-markets in which superior functionality or durability is a critical differentiating factor. Its customizable technology is well-suited for high-end markets with unique specifications as well as demanding environments that pose technical and optical challenges for displays, such as bright ambient light, vibration and shock, extreme temperatures and condensation. VIA's interactive display systems combine system design, interactive displays, software functionality, cameras and other hardware components. VIA's intellectual property portfolio, process know-how, and optical bonding and metal mesh touch sensor and camera module technologies provide enhanced display solutions that are built to meet the specific needs of its customers. Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects, as well as any other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, may constitute "forward-looking statements." These statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the expected trading commencement and closing dates. The words, without limitation, "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "will," "would" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these or similar identifying words. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties related to market conditions and the completion of the Offering on the anticipated terms of the Offering or at all, and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of the preliminary prospectus that forms a part of the effective registration statement filed with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on the current expectations of VIA's management team and speak only as of the date hereof, and VIA specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200925005122/en/ Contacts: Investor Relations: Monica Gould The Blueshirt Group Monica@blueshirtgroup.com 212-871-3927 Media Relations: Jeff Fox The Blueshirt Group Jeff@blueshirtgroup.com 415-828-8298 The former boss of Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm brought down by a scandal over how it obtained Facebook users private data, has been banned from holding company directorships for seven years. Britains Insolvency Service said Thursday that Alexander Nix is banned from running companies after he permitted Cambridge Analyticas parent firm, SCL Elections Ltd., and connected firms to market themselves as offering potentially unethical services to prospective clients. UK-based Cambridge Analytica was accused of playing a key role in the 2014 breach of 87 million Facebook users personal data. The company denied it used the data for Trumps 2016 election campaign, but some former employees have disputed that. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that it was entirely possible the social media data ended up being used in Russian propaganda efforts. Cambridge Analytica and other connected firms under Nix's leadership filed for bankruptcy in 2018. A statement from the Insolvency Service said Thursday that investigators enquiries confirmed that SCL Elections had repeatedly offered shady political services to potential clients over a number of years. The unethical services offered by the companies included bribery or honey trap stings, voter disengagement campaigns, obtaining information to discredit political opponents and spreading information anonymously in political campaigns, the statement said. Alexander Nixs actions did not meet the appropriate standard for a company director and his disqualification from managing limited companies for a significant amount of time is justified in the public interest, said chief investigator Mark Bruce. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily newsletters. To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now. What's at stake for Southern California in the 2020 Census? Billions of dollars in federal funding for programs like Medi-Cal, for public education, even disaster planning. Political representation in Sacramento and D.C. A census undercount could cut critical resources in L.A. County, home to the largest hard-to-count population in the nation. Fill out your census questionnaire online on the 2020 Census website. UPDATE: U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction Thursday night ordering that the 2020 Census count continue through Oct. 31, as had been planned before the Trump administration recently moved the deadline up by a month. The administration appealed the decision on Friday. The 2020 Census has faced unprecedented challenges. By the time U.S. households began receiving census information in the mail last March, the coronavirus pandemic was sweeping across the nation, suspending count operations and creating delays. The schedule for the census changed, then changed again -- all creating confusion as to how long the count is to continue. The once-in-a-decade population count was suddenly cut short last month by the Trump Administration, a move that dismayed Census Bureau officials, census advocates, and local leaders who agree that a shortened census would be less accurate. Hard-to-count residents, who make up about half of L.A. County's population, have the most to lose in terms of money and political power. The City of Los Angeles, along with nonprofits and other local governments, sued to force the federal government to keep the census count going through the end of October, as was planned before the Trump Administration moved it up to Sept. 30. Here's how we got here, and what it means for Los Angeles. Carolina Ortiz, a patient of AltaMed, works with Estuardo Ardon to fill out her census questionnaire on July 10, 2020. (Caitlin Hernandez/LAist) POWER Census data helps determine political representation, both in Sacramento and in Washington, D.C., so an accurate count is critical to how well Californians are politically represented. Already, California's population growth has slowed down compared to other states. Fewer people are immigrating here and more residents are moving to other states, especially from the L.A. area. Those changes mean the Golden State is poised to lose representation in Washington, D.C. for the first time in history. That grim forecast isn't even the worst-case scenario. Those projections are based on the unlikely assumption that everyone completes the census, so an undercount caused by rushed door-knocking could further cut back California's political power in Congress and presidential elections. If it comes to cutting out a district, researchers predict the L.A. area will be the most vulnerable. MONEY Over a trillion dollars in federal funding will be allocated per year based, in part, on the 2020 Census. In California, most of that money goes towards medical assistance programs like Medi-Cal. Another several billion dollars per year are spent on critical services and programs like SNAP, school lunches, highway planning, foster care, even disaster preparedness. The financial stakes of an inaccurate count are high. In the 1990 Census, for example, nearly one million Californians were missed, mostly from the Los Angeles region. Researchers estimate that undercount cost the state at least two billion dollars over the decade. So, just a reminder: for each person missed by the 2020 Census, it could cost the state $1,000 annually. DATA The Census isn't just about influence -- it's also essential for understanding our communities. When the federal government responds to disasters, officials consult census data to better serve communities in danger. After a wildfire, census numbers can help FEMA decide where to set up shelters. Or in the midst of a pandemic like COVID-19, census responses help public health officials identify and serve vulnerable populations, like elderly people or children. When it comes to political redistricting, communities with a shared background, like a shared ethnicity or similar housing status, can be kept together and have a greater voice if those similarities are represented in census data. THE PLAN The 2020 Census was set to start in March and be completed by July 31. But already before Census Day on April 1st, the COVID-19 pandemic scrambled the Census Bureau's plan for the 2020 count. Almost every phase of the count was delayed for several months. Ultimately, the agency decided on a new schedule. Under the new plan, in-person enumeration would last about three months, from August 11 to October 31. Then, the Census Bureau would take six months to do post-census data processing, like deleting duplicate responses or resolving unfinished cases. The new pandemic plan was what former Census Director John Thompson called "a good workaround." "Was it going to be perfect? No. Were there going to be challenges? Yes," said Thompson, who stepped down in 2017. "I think the Census Bureau was doing the best they could under very difficult circumstances." Then came what's known as the "replan." At the end of July, the Census Bureau drafted a new plan for the 2020 Census, which was released August 3. This cut the eight-month process for counting and processing in half. Instead of visiting non-responsive households in person until the end of October, the Trump administration abruptly announced that in-person work would wrap up Sept. 30. Post-census data processing, which was to take six months, was cut down to three. At the time of the announcement, the U.S. Census Bureau didn't explain why the decision was made. Since then, Virginia Hyer, a spokesperson for the agency, has said it was to meet the legal deadline to decide how many seats in Congress each state receives. "By law, the Census Bureau has to deliver apportionment counts by the 31st of the census year, so by December 31st 2020," Hyer told LAist. "At this time we do not have statutory relief to increase the deadline." But the decision rankled some senior census officials, according to internal correspondence released recently as part of a lawsuit over the shortened timeline. In one email, Census Associate Director Tim Olson wrote: "We need to sound the alarm to realities on the ground - people are afraid to work for us...and this means it is ludicrous to think we can complete 100% of the nation's data collection earlier than 10/31 and any thinking person who would believe we can deliver apportionment by 12/31 has either a mental deficiency or a political motivation." Census veterans like former bureau director Thompson also reacted with alarm. "The truncation in the schedule has introduced numerous risks for poorer quality data, increased undercounts, and significant computer errors," Thompson said. Self-response rates to the 2020 Census in LA County as of September 22, 2020. In orange-colored tracts, under 50% of households have completed the form on their own. (Screen shot from California Census Office) A HARD-TO-COUNT COUNTY Los Angeles County has the biggest population of hardest-to-count residents in the nation. Nearly half of all L.A. County residents -- about five million people -- live in a neighborhood that census takers have difficulty counting, for numerous reasons. According to research done by the state of California, the top barrier to reaching these L.A. residents is dense or multi-unit households. Also, according to the state, about 20% of the county's households live without broadband service, something that in this year's first primarily online census has added an extra layer of difficulty. Counting residents who are renters or not fluent in English presents other obstacles. Because of the delays caused by COVID-19, Angelenos have had extra time to complete the 2020 Census. That's the good news. Still, only about two-thirds of L.A. County households have completed the questionnaire on their own, over the internet, phone, or by mail. That's the bad news. In the city of Los Angeles, so far 57% of households have done the form on their own. And while state census officials recently announced the state overall was ahead of its self-response rate for 2010, both the city and county of L.A. are behind the last decade's response rate. Hard-to-count regions like Downtown L.A., South L.A., and Southeast L.A. are struggling the most: some census tracts haven't reached 50% self-response. Even areas considered easier to count, like the Westside, are still far behind response rates in prior censuses. Census tracts that are considered "hard-to-count" are represented in dark red. (Screen shot from California Census Office) WHAT IS NRFU? The phase we're in now is called "Non-Response Follow Up," NRFU in census-speak. It's the phase in which census enumerators go out and knock on doors. These census workers began hitting local streets the second week of August. How it works: If the Census Bureau doesn't receive a voluntary response from a household, say by mail or internet, then a census taker is sent to the door to follow up. According to census advocates, this in-person method of reaching residents is particularly effective in hard-to-count regions. It's also the phase the Trump Administration has cut short. So far, Census Bureau officials say they've made good progress counting people this way, despite the truncated timeline. They say that data out of their census offices in the San Gabriel Valley, San Fernando Valley, and West Covina regions shows this in-person work is over 95% complete. But in the South Gate region, around 10% of households still need to be contacted. "That percentage is not good at this point," former Census Director Thompson said. "It would be good if you had until the end of October." And just because a household has been contacted does not mean it's been successfully counted. CENSUS DATA WITH A GRAIN OF SALT According to an internal email sent by Census Associate Director Tim Olson, many census takers quit their jobs before going out into the field. "They're actually under their staffing projections," said Thompson, the former census director. "That's going to make them rush things." The Census Bureau is reporting general success with its in-person data collection, but we don't know exactly how those residents were counted. The numbers released can obscure shortcuts taken to meet the early deadline. Here are some of the alternative methods the Census Bureau uses to count people when there's no response at the door: PROXIES -- When census takers can't collect a response from a resident, they may ask nearby neighbors for that resident's general information instead. This isn't ideal, but according to Thompson, this is one way the Census Bureau could produce results faster. He warned, however, that in the 2010 Census, an analysis of proxy enumeration revealed errors. ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS -- Towards the end of the count period, the Census Bureau will sometimes allow information to be collected through other government agencies, like the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, or U.S. Postal Service. This type of data collection is supposed to be kept to a minimum -- a last resort -- but according to Thompson the U.S. Census Bureau planned to use these methods based on information released to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform. This type of collection is less useful in some hard-to-count communities where residents don't have these kinds of government records. AFTER THE COUNT/PROCESSING The counting phase isn't the only part of the 2020 Census that was shortened, since the Census Bureau also cut back the time spent cleaning up the data at the end of the count. Instead of spending six months going over the numbers, the government plans to finish that work in three months. If a rushed census leaves Americans uncounted, the government may have to do some guesswork afterward to fill in the missing responses. In a process that's called "imputation," census officials attempt to fill in missing information about an uncounted household, using other census data to guess if that house is vacant or not. Or, if they know it's not vacant, they may guess how many people live there. Regardless, courts have ruled the Census Bureau can't guess about the ethnicity or identity of residents. This process of filling in missing information, while necessary to a degree, produces a less accurate, less detailed count. LAWSUIT OUTCOMES The recent changes to the 2020 Census did not go unnoticed. Several cities, states, counties, and nonprofits challenged the Trump Administration's plan in court. The City of Los Angeles is part of one major lawsuit, seeking to keep the census going through Oct. 31 as had planned. Initially, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh granted those plaintiffs a temporary restraining order against the Census Bureau. That stopped the agency from winding down the 2020 count by laying off workers or closing offices. In recent weeks, some local census workers had reported receiving layoff notices. On Sept. 24, Koh issued a preliminary injunction, a longer-lasting order forcing the Census Bureau to continue counting residents through October. Lawyers from the Department of Justice promptly appealed the decision on Friday. In her order, Judge Koh said the government didn't give a good explanation for cutting the count short. "Defendants failed to explain the options before them, failed to weigh the risks and benefits of the various options, and failed to articulate why they chose the Replan," Judge Koh wrote. Census officials argued an extension would mess up the agency's timeline. Census Director Al Fontenot said in a declaration to the court that continuing the census into October would mean missing the deadline to have congressional apportionment tallies finished by the end of the year. L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer said the city intends to keep fighting, and that he's optimistic that the judge's ruling will stand. "This has been one of the more dramatic cases in which I have ever been involved, and the drama is going to continue for a while," Feuer told LAist. Census advocates Itzel Flores Castillo Wang and Roberto Bustillo, with the local nonprofit Proyector Pastoral, walk down Cesar Chavez Avenue in Boyle Heights distributing information about the 2020 count. (Caroline Champlin/LAist) NOW WHAT? According to a statement released by the U.S. Census Bureau, officials intend to comply with Judge Koh's ruling, at least for the time being. So for now at least, census takers and local census advocates will have more time to reach residents -- especially those in the hardest-to-count communities. An extension also means census takers can make more attempts at households to reach someone who has not yet responded, rather than relying on less-accurate workarounds, like collecting responses from proxies. More time also allows non-governmental census advocates like Proyecto Pastoral, one of many community groups that have partnered with the state to raise census awareness, to canvass neighborhoods and work with residents to help them feel comfortable about receiving a visit from a census taker. North Korea murdered and incinerated a South Korean official who had gone missing from a fishery patrol boat near Yeonpyeong Island on the West Sea, the Defense Ministry belatedly announced Thursday. The North Korean soldiers did not bother to rescue the exhausted man, who had been adrift overnight, but kept him in the cold water for more than six hours before summarily shooting him, dousing him in fuel and setting him ablaze. Such barbaric brutality would make even some hardened criminals blush. North Korean forces are under shoot-to kill orders for any person or animal approaching within a kilometer of the border, which means that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the murder a South Korean civilian and destruction of his body. This is the true face of the barbaric regime north of our border. The ministry informed Cheong Wa Dae of the incident on Tuesday night after observing gunshot and light emanating from the incineration of the corpse, and the presidential office held an emergency meeting late that night. But it then decided to hush up the incident until 11 a.m. on Thursday, even though there had been inquiries from reporters after the victim went missing. President Moon Jae-in's motive is not difficult to guess. He had a terribly important speech to deliver to a mostly virtual session of the UN General Assembly, where he proposed a peace treaty with North Korea and ending the Korean War. He could not let something as trivial as the senseless slaughter of a South Korean citizen by the North interfere with the festive occasion. The president videotaped his speech on Sept. 15 and sent it to the UN on Sept. 18, so of course he could not have foreseen the murder. But why did Cheong Wa Dae allow the speech to be aired even when it was fully informed a whole day before the speech was to be broadcast? Could it not have asked the UN to cancel the speech or, if that was too much to bear for the president, to switch the order of speeches and record a fresh one? How hard is that? It is clear that Moon had no intention to do anything about it. When he presided over a ceremony promoting military officers on Wednesday morning, he acted as if nothing had happened and only reiterated his calls for "peace." He clearly no longer has any grasp of reality. The military also behaved appallingly. The Defense Ministry watched from the sidelines as a South Korean citizen was brutally murdered and incinerated and then lied to the press about it. Then some minor official was wheeled out to threaten dire consequences, two days after it had watched the incident through binoculars. North Korea must be laughing at these men who pose as soldiers but refuse to do anything to protect the life of their citizens. What is the point of having a military at all? Now the government and military are claiming that the official wanted to defect to North Korea, though the public have only the word of some officers who have proven that they cannot be trusted. But even supposing the poor man had wanted to defect, that makes no difference to their duty to protect him until they can be absolutely sure. After North Korea blew up the inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Kaesong earlier this year, Moon said he felt "anger and frustration," but he soon got over it. Now Cheong Wa Dae has warned of terrible consequences for the North, but already some people in the government are saying that the slaughter did not violate an inter-Korean military agreement to reduce tensions in the border area. There is no denying that Moon is in love with the fat Barbarian on the other side. What will he do for him next? Luis Castoire, who has been fishing in New Yorks Central Park since he was 7-years old, reeled up a horrifying sight on Thursday morning: a human corpse with an apparent head wound, NBC New York reported. "I thought I was seeing a ghost," Castoire told the station. "I felt a thump, my hook had gotten stuck ... When I go to lift it, I seen the leg come up, and then I saw the rest of the body." The body, discovered in a lake called Harlem Meer in the north of the park, is believed to be in his 30s and has not been identified pending police and medical investigations. Its the third body this month discovered in Central Park, though police told Newsweek the incidents are unconnected. The first body, discovered on Labor Day, was also found in a pond in the park, and has also not been identified pending investigation, though police sources told Newsweek its believed to be a suicide. The second, discovered September 18, was a 59-year-old man found unresponsive with no obvious signs of trauma, and is still under investigation as well. "It was devastating, it was really devastating," Castoire told NBC. I dont think I could be able to come back to this park. This is like my backyard. I dont think personally I could come back to this park and be able to fish here knowing I hooked up a body. (Newser) After President Trump declined to promise he'd participate in a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election in November, his press secretary took on the question. "The president will accept the result of a free and fair election," Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Thursday. "He will accept the will of the American people." After Trump avoided committing to leave office if defeated, other Republicans stepped in, Politico reports. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeting that there will be "an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792." Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said: "We've always had a peaceful transition of power. It's not going to change." The answer Wednesday from Trump, who repeatedly has said he doesn't trust balloting by mail, was, "Well, were going to have to see what happens." The Senate passed a resolution Thursday calling for an orderly transfer of power as the Constitution mandates, per Politico. story continues below Democratic nominee Joe Biden's campaign suggested a solution. "The United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House," a spokesman said. McEnany joined Trump's attack on voting by mail, per the Hill, saying mail has been found in a ditch in Wisconsin; Director Christopher Wray told members of Congress on Thursday that the FBI knows of no coordinated fraud effort involving mail-in ballots. McEnany told reporters they should take the question to Democrats, including Rep. James Clyburn and Hillary Clinton, who have suggested Biden shouldn't be quick to concede the election to Trump. Sen. Bernie Sanders also attacked the president's answer Thursday. "Trump's strategy to delegitimize this election and to stay in office if he loses is not complicated," Sanders said in a speech, adding, "This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy, and democracy must win." (Read more Election 2020 stories.) BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: Article named "COORDINATED fake news ATTACKS ON AZERBAIJAN DEBUNKED" was published on Sept. 24 at Medium internet portal, which covered articles of disinformative nature, Trend reports with reference to the article. The article said that Armenia has always used disinformation to attack Azerbaijan and create a false narrative in the international media to achieve its political objectives. "The history of Armenias fake news campaign is old and goes back to 1918 when Dashnak newspapers actively stirred up emotions against Azerbaijanis, calling on fellow Armenians to attack their neighbours. Scotland Liddell, a British journalist based in the Caucasus, was critical of Dashnak newspapers for publishing false, wholly exaggerated articles daily, which fanned the flames of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict at that time," the article said. "Following Yerevans provocation in the Tovuz section of the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan in July this year, the old fake tactics were put into action to create a narrative against Baku. Recently Armenias Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan falsely claimed in an interview with Egyptian newspaper Al Akhbar that there are reports of recruitment of foreign terrorist fighters in Syria with aim to be transferred to Azerbaijan. He also shamelessly accused Turkey of sending Syrian fighters to Azerbaijan at his news conference with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo," the article said. "First of all, it is not surprising that he made this totally fake claim in Egypt which has strained relations with Ankara because of Turkish President Erdogans actions in Libya and the East Mediterranean as well as his harsh criticism of the Cairo government. Armenia wants to strengthen its ties with countries that are in disagreement or even conflict with Ankara. But Armenias foreign minister referred to reports, but did not substantiate or even source his claims," the article's author wrote. "Before analysing his reports, we need to go back to 2016, when military operations flared up again between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenias provocation on the contact line resulted in a four-day battle in occupied Karabakh. To inspire global condemnation of Azerbaijan Yerevan and its radical diaspora organisations and media outlets initiated a fake news campaign, accusing Baku of using ISIS fighters against the Armenia occupying army in Azerbaijan. Considering that at that time ISIS was global news and the anti-ISIS coalition was fighting against them, Armenian PR experts must have thought they could take advantage of the situation to weaken Azerbaijan. David Babayan, who is an advisor on foreign relations to the so called president of Upper Karabakh, the artificially created entity in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, said at a news conference that Karabakh has proof of ISIS involvement in April clashes, but failed to produce any evidence. The claim was published on the website of the lobbyist Armenian National Committee of America, and the Asbarez website. Both are affiliated to the ethno-nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation, known also as the Dashnak party, which is vehemently opposed to Azerbaijan. The claim is ridiculous, as Azerbaijan is a secular state with multiple confessions; the extremist ISIS followers would never fight on behalf of a secular state. Those who are familiar with ISIS ideology know very well that their followers do not consider even Saudi Arabia as an Islamic state, let alone Azerbaijan which is a secular state with a Shia majority, the staunch enemies of ISIS. This is why the Armenian 2016 propaganda stunt failed," the report said. "To return to Mnatsakanyans claims: they were taken from media reports about the recruitment of Syrian fighters in order to send them to Azerbaijan. These reports were spread by a news agency called Firat (ANF NEWS), based in Amsterdam. Firat is a pro-PKK news agency: CBC, Reuters and the BBC describe it as close to the PKK, while Deutsche Welle states that Firat and the PKK have links. In its report Firat claimed that Turkish military officers were willing to send pro-Turkey Syrian fighters to Azerbaijan in the midst of the July border clashes. Considering that Turkey is fighting the PKK and its Syrian extensions, namely the YPG, a pro-PKK news agency would not hesitate to circulate false news against its enemy. In other words, Firat news agencys unproven claims cannot be relied upon," the report said. "Firat was used by Russias Regnum news agency as a source of fake news about the Syrian fighters in Azerbaijan. Regnum is a pro-Kremlin news agency which gives a platform to an anti-Azerbaijani, ethno-nationalist separatist figure named Ismayil Shabanov. Shabanov, who is based in Russia, constantly attacks Azerbaijan in his separatist columns for Regnum where he calls for the secession of the Talish ethnic group from Azerbaijan. In one of his articles for Regnum entitled Access to Iranian borders: vital and strategic question for Russia, Mr Shabanov literally calls on Moscow to instigate the Talish regions secession and thus to control that part of Azerbaijans border with Iran. Regnums only branch in the South Caucasus operates in Yerevan and Armenian Vigen Hakobyan was its executive director until recently. The Armenian lobbys influence on Regnum is strong. Estonias Security Police (Kapo) in its 2005 yearbook said that Regnum was a tool in Russias state propaganda machine. Regnum was led at that time by Modest Kolerov, who was also head of a department within Vladimir Putins administration. In essence the Estonians said that Regnum is an umbrella for Russian secret service operations in countries of the so called near abroad and seeks to promote Russias geopolitical agenda," the articles said. "Russia is not neutral on the Karabakh conflict as can be seen from the Russian-Armenian military drills following the July Tovuz clashes and Moscows arms supplies to Yerevan during the clashes. Moscow is concerned at Bakus desire to conduct an independent foreign policy and to have closer strategic relations with Turkey, including the possibility of hosting Turkish military bases in Azerbaijan. The Kremlin is also concerned at the recent sidelining of Ramiz Mehdiyev, who was removed as head of the Azerbaijan Presidential Administration. Mehdiyev led the pro-Russia forces within the Azerbaijani political elite, dubbed the fifth column by President Ilham Aliyev. These concerns taken together are reason for the Russian media to conduct a coordinated campaign of fake news about Syrian fighters as a way of pressurising the Azerbaijani government. Another Russian media, Tsargrad published a ludicrous, unsubstantiated claim on 18th July that the killers of Russian pilots in Syria in 2015 would be among the Syrian fighters sent to Azerbaijan," the report said. The full articles can be found here Volkswagen of America, Inc. received the Pledge to Americas Workers Presidential Award in recognition of the companys industry-driven programs to train and educate American workers. Volkswagens investments in education, specifically through programs at the plant in Chattanooga, exemplify the companys commitment to on-the-job training for future technologies and upskilling for the next generation of mobility, officials said. It is an honor to receive this award in recognition of our commitment to workforce development and our commitment to growing our economic presence in the U.S., said Scott Keogh, president and CEO of Volkswagen of America. At the Volkswagen Academy, we combine academic studies with on-the-job training. The success of this program and its graduates is directly tied to our ongoing partnerships with local colleges throughout Tennessee. Our graduating apprentices are well-trained, well-prepared and have the proper skills to seize the opportunities that the transition to electric vehicle production is creating. "The Pledge underscores our dedication to the continuous education of our team members and apprentices, as well as our commitment to support public education and learning opportunities in our community," said Tom du Plessis, CEO of Volkswagen Chattanooga Operations. "Tomorrows leaders and our future employees are shaped by the educational environment today. We believe that vibrant public-private relationships are critical to a strong, sustainable economic future; therefore, we are committed to supporting students throughout their journey to reach their full potential." Officials said, "As a company, Volkswagen is making large investments in the U.S. workforce to support the technological changes needed to remain a leader in mobility and is committed to training the current and future workforce to build electric and innovative vehicles for the North American Region. Specifically, Volkswagens workforce development strategy in the U.S. focuses on engaging local talent, consistently recalibrating programs to meet future needs, and fostering a culture that encourages innovative thinking. "Much of the work is centered around the strong partnerships Volkswagen has developed with educational institutions which dramatically increase the companys training capacity, particularly for its onsite apprenticeship, technical skills, and professional skills training. Volkswagen has partnered with the state of Tennessee, Hamilton County Schools and the Public Education Foundation to establish 16 digital fabrication labs. The Volkswagen Academy also hosts the onsite high school, apprenticeship, and professional development programs, all of which enable the company to reach an audience ranging from middle school students through established professionals." On behalf of President Trump, I am honored to award the inaugural Pledge to Americas Worker Presidential Award to Volkswagen of America and eight other outstanding organizations, said advisor to the president, Ivanka Trump. Volkswagen of America has demonstrated a meaningful and substantive commitment toward re-skilling and investing in the futures of their workers, more urgent now than ever before due to the changes brought on by the pandemic. Prioritizing American workers and ensuring they are well prepared for the jobs of today and tomorrow will guarantee the continued exceptionalism of our countrys workforce for decades to come. The Pledge to Americas Workers initiative recognizes the important role companies play in training Americas workforce, challenges them to commit to providing new job training and education opportunities in the coming years, and celebrates that commitment. Since its founding in July 2018, more than 430 organizations have joined the effort. Photo: (Photo : 4 Reasons Why You Might Not Get a Line of Credit) Have you ever been denied a line of credit when you needed it most? If so, this question alone can drudge up bad memories. Rejection can make anyone feel self-conscious, but when it happens to you, it's easy to convince yourself that you're only one who can't get a line of credit. That's just embarrassment talking. In reality, 53 percent of Americans are denied credit according to a YouGov survey. The reasons why so many people face rejection vary, so let's go over some of the most common ones below. 1. Your Age Your exact age isn't important, provided you're the legal age to contract. In the U.S., that tends to be 18 years old. If you're younger than this, you may find it difficult to find approval on your own. You might find more success if you apply with someone, like a parent, as your cosigner. Cosigners pledge their financial good name to back your contract, so financial institutions have some security. 2. Your Location Some financial institutions provide line of credit loans on a national scale. Others service individual states where they hold a lending license. If you end up applying to one of these smaller financial institutions and you don't live in a state where they grant funds, you may be rejected simply because of your home address. Remember this rule even if you hit the web for an online personal line of credit. Although anyone with an Internet connection may view a financial institution's website, only those who live in the states where they offer line of credit loans can apply. 3. Your Credit Score Bad or thin credit score may be to blame for your latest rejection. Plenty of financial institutions check this score before they grant you funds to see if you'll handle their line of credit responsibly. Bad credit shows you've mishandled loans or line of credit loans in the past, and it suggests these troubles may continue in the future. Thin credit happens when you don't have an active account or recent credit history to your name. In this situation, approval is even dicier. According to CNBC, one in four Americans who don't already have a credit card are rejected because of thin credit. 4. You Don't Have a Job At a time when unemployment is on the rise, it's frustrating to note that your job situation has an impact on your application. Sometimes, the very reason you need a line of credit is that you've lost wages or your job entirely. Many financial institutions require you to have a regular, consistent form of income, as this indicates you'll repay what you use. Fortunately, other financial institutions are willing to accept alternative income in place of regular employment, so you may be able to use disability income, pension income, or alimony instead. Cosigner line of credit loans are another option that might work for you. Bottom Line There may be many reasons why you didn't get approved, but one thing is for sure: the decision isn't personal. A rejection notice simply means you don't match the black and white of a financial institution's requirements. The next time you face rejection, find out what these requirements are. If you don't meet them, keep searching until you find an option that better aligns with your financial profile. FLINT, MI Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley has denounced the grand jury decision to not charge police officers in the Breonna Taylor shooting death. A Saginaw group also released a statement after the decision was announced on Wednesday, Sept. 23. A Kentucky grand jury decided to indict one of the three Louisville Metro Police Department officers involved in the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Taylor that occurred during a botched drug raid on March 13. Officer Brett Hankison, who was terminated in June, was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment over shooting into neighboring apartments. The grand jury did not announce charges against Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, the other two officers involved. In a statement, Neeley said, I am issuing an urgent plea to U.S. Attorney General William Barr to restore the faith of the American people in our criminal justice system by fully investigating and prosecuting the failures of those involved in the death of Breonna Taylor as well as the systematic failures that allowed this tragic shooting to occur. The family of Ms. Taylor and the American people deserve swift action to deliver justice. Around three dozen protestors carried signs and raised their voices through downtown Flint Wednesday night. Taylors boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot at officers who burst into her Louisville apartment executing a no-knock search warrant, according to AP reports. Taylor was fatally shot by officers returning fire. Ms. Taylors death has weighed heavily on this nation, Neeley said. "As a predominantly black community, it also weighs heavily on the hearts of many here in Flint. It is such a deep and powerful pain we feel, in part because it feels self-evident that the shooting death of Ms. Taylor was wrong. The conscience of America is at stake. Neeley said that Flint will begin immediately reviewing our policies on no-knock warrants and continue our work to proactively institute protections for all our residents. The Saginaw Citizens United for Equity and Justice also weighed in on the decision. The Saginaw Citizens United for Equity And Justice, was dismayed by the decision revealed by the Kentucky Attorney General, in which the nation was essentially told that the murder of Breonna Taylor was justified, said Chairman Brandell Adams in a statement. We hoped along with the nation that the process would be fair and impartial, however, the verdict continues to demonstrate the concerns of social and racial injustice in America. Despite the decision, we implore the citizens of our community not to react with violence and malice but to continue to protest in a legal and judicial manner. We must focus our efforts toward working to ensure the rights of every citizen is respected in our community. RELATED: Protestors march in downtown Flint after Breonna Taylor grand jury decision Breonna Taylor killing: 1 ex-police officer charged with endangerment for shooting into apartments Grand Rapids leaders ahead of rally following Breonna Taylor ruling: We see you, we hear you Its negligence, Breonna Taylors cousin speaks in Grand Rapids after ruling Photo credit: Ralph Freso - Getty Images From Town & Country On Wednesday, Cindy McCain, the widow of the late Sen. John McCain, broke with her party and endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president over the Republican incumbent Donald J. Trump. "My husband John lived by a code: country first," McCain said. "We are Republicans, yes, but Americans foremost. There's only one candidate in this race who stands up for our values as a nation." Announced hours before her daughter Meghan McCain, a regular on ABC's The View, was set to interview on the program another Democrat in a closely-watched race, Mark Lee of Arizona, the elder McCain's decision followed her cameo at the Democratic National Convention narrating a video about her husband and Biden's friendship. More to the point, the endorsement is in keeping with the longstanding and famously maverick values of the McCain family. Photo credit: Photograph by Jonathan Becker Mothers-in-Arms When McCain was first elected to Congress, in 1982, Roberta Wright McCain, wife of a Navy hero, four-star Adm. John McCain Sr., and Cindy Hensley McCain, became mothers-in arms: Cindy stayed home in Phoenix determined to give her family a normal life. And Roberta, whod lived amid the abnormal denizens of Washington much of her life, took charge during the week throughout her sons nearly 40 years serving in the Capitol. As a military wife all her adult life, Robertas job was to move at a moments notice and entertain, which she did with the grace of Jackie Kennedy and the wit of Dorothy Parker. She had raised John in Washington, which meant seeing her son through his raucous years at Episcopal High School, before handing him off to the Naval Academy, and then waiting as he refused early release from his five years in captivity, offered only because of her husbands rank. That patrician, white-haired woman, tall and thin, at age 106, sitting beside a flag draped coffin in the Capitol rotunda in 2018? That was a mother burying her son. Photo credit: Tom Williams - Getty Images As his family in Washington, Robertas main task was to ground her son, keep him from getting homesick, and make sure he got on the plane every Thursday night, often to head to the ranch at Sedona with the family where he grilled slabs of meat so massive the half dozen guests he always brought home couldnt consume it all. Story continues His only other foray into feeding people was on the McCain campaign bus which Roberta and Cindy boarded at their own risk, crowded with as many reporters who could fit, feasting on donuts with sprinkles at an oblong table full of notebooks waiting to be filled with stories that never ended. Its true that the press was the two-time presidential candidate's base. Political Surrogates Back in Moms jurisdiction, John lived in a small condo with thin walls, a stove he never turned on and a big boat of a car he zoomed around Washington in with Robertas other son-in-the-Senate, Lindsey Graham. Roberta advanced their receptions, pre-charming those they should meet, drink in hand. In Phoenix, Cindy was busy working at her fathers company. She would come to chair as a major stockholder, managing a growing family, and running a charity she founded, American Voluntary Medical Team, that donated medicine to third world countries (the organization closed its doors in 1995 following Cindy's admission of a problem with prescription drugs, and she went on to found the Hensley Family Foundation). Cindy jetted off to such exotic countries delivering penicillin that her eldest daughter Meghan thought Mom worked with Indiana Jones. Photo credit: Jonathan Becker On one of those excursions, Cindy met a child who needed surgery for a cleft palate and who melted her heart. She and John adopted her, never imagining Bridget would be smeared during the ugly South Carolina primary of McCains presidential campaign that year. It goes to show our politics didnt become vicious yesterday. It was a military manWorld War II bombardier, Jim Hensley, who came home and borrowed $10,000 to start what would become the largest beer distributorship in Arizonawho introduced his daughter, barely out of college in California, to Captain John McCain, barely out of a Tiger Cage in Hanoi, on a family vacation in Hawaii. The two went off on a dateCindy pretending to be four years older, John four years youngerand Dad, whod survived being shot down himself, crying Thats my daughter you have there. The resttwo runs for president, six terms in the Senate, four children, hundreds of others saved by the medical miracles made possible by Cindy's foundation, and a mother at 108 still watching over allis history. Photo credit: FilmMagic - Getty Images The Endorsement McCain stayed true to his reputation as a maverick until the end. During the 2016 presidential race, he criticized candidate Trump, who fired back in personal terms: "He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." McCain's sons, of course, John IV and James, followed him into the military. In 2017, less than a month after brain surgery for a glioblastoma, McCain again broke with his party and cast a crucial vote in the Senate that killed a Republican effort to strip the Affordable Care Act. "I'm proud of the vote I cast tonight," he said then. "It's consistent with what we told the American people we'd try to accomplish in four straight election if they gave us a chance." Trump never forgot the betrayal, and continued to criticize the late senator after his death in 2018. The family took notice. He will be a commander in chief that the finest fighting force in the history of the world can depend on, because he knows what it is like to send a child off to fight. Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) September 22, 2020 In endorsing Biden, Cindy is casting a vote that puts country over party, and she is also following her husband's proud tradition of contrarianism. She pointedly singled out the vice president's honesty and dignity in her statement, a not so subtle dig at the man in the Oval Office. The statement had its intended effect, too, triggering yet another temper tantrum from the president: "Never a fan of John. Cindy can have Sleepy Joe!" If her words accomplished anything today, at least they managed to irk her late husband's last great adversary, a maneuver that no doubt would have delighted McCain. You Might Also Like European stocks closed lower on Friday amid a choppy trading session as investors continued to monitor coronavirus developments and the prospects of economic recovery. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down by over 0.2% provisionally, having bounced either side of the flatline throughout the day. Autos shed 1.5% to lead losses while travel stocks swung to almost 3% gains from a 1.8% decline earlier in the session. For the week, the Stoxx 600 lost 3.7%, its worst week since mid-June. Europe's markets received a mixed handover from Asia Pacific, where strong gains for Australia's "Big Four" banks led a rally for the S&P/ASX 200 on Friday, while the rest of the region was relatively muted. Stateside, stocks rose slightly on Friday as tech shares recovered some of their losses for the month. However, Wall Street was still headed for its fourth consecutive week of losses. The prospect of further U.S. stimulus remains a key focus, with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin telling Congress on Thursday that $380 billion left over from the country's last federal aid package could be used to help households and businesses if lawmakers sign off. House Democrats are preparing a $2.4 trillion relief package that they could vote on as soon as next week, a source familiar with the plans told CNBC. The package would include airline aid and enhanced unemployment benefits, but the price tag far exceeds that Republicans have said they would pay. Back in Europe, BMW and two of its U.S. subsidiaries have agreed to pay a fine of $18 million over allegations of inflating sales volumes to attract corporate bond investment. Mueller Team Members Joked About Wiping Phones, FBI Agent Says Agents who worked on special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation joked about wiping their cellphones, according to an FBI agent who worked for the special counsel. FBI agent William Barnett told government investigators last week that he heard other FBI agents at the special counsels office (SCO) comically talk about wiping cellular telephones, according to a summary of the interview released as part of the court proceedings in the case involving former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Barnett had a cellular telephone issued by the SCO which he did not wipe. Barnett did hear other agents comically talk about wiping cellular telephones, but was not aware of anyone wiping their issued cellular telephones, the summary (pdf) states. The FBI and the DOJ didnt immediately respond to requests for comment. SCO records released earlier in September show that at least 22 phones belonging to members of the Mueller team were wiped prior to being reviewed for records. The employees provided dubious excuses for wiping their phones, such as doing so accidentally or because they forgot their passwords. Two employees claimed their phones wiped themselves. In addition to the 22 devices that were wiped, 44 phones contained zero records when reviewed by a records officer assigned to the Mueller team. Five other SCO phones contained only one record each, and four had fewer than 10 records per device, according to the log kept by the records officer over the course of more than 20 months. The dearth of records on the cellphones is extraordinary considering the enormous scope of the investigation. The SCO interviewed approximately 500 witnesses, issued 2,800 subpoenas, and obtained 500 search warrants. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has requested that the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General look into the wiping of the devices. Barnett could be viewed as a witness in the probe if he could name the agents who joked about erasing their devices. The Mueller team used at least 92 phones over the course of its 22-month investigation of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The special counsel concluded the probe having found no evidence of collusion. In his interview last week, Barnett told investigators that the SCOs prosecution of Flynn was a means to get Trump. Barnett described his own frustration with the investigation as well as the aggressive campaign by the SCO attorneys to find evidence of wrongdoing by President Donald Trump or his associates. Barnett eventually asked to be removed from the case because he was sure it would become the target of scrutiny by the inspector general, according to the interview summary. Of the 92 unique iPhones used by the Mueller team, only 12 were recorded as containing a significant number of records when they were reviewed. Two well-known members of the Mueller team, FBI attorney Lisa Page and Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok, mentioned sending and clearing iMessages from their SCO iPhones on more than one occasion. Clear imsg Strzok wrote to Page on June 5, 2017, and again on June 8. The records officer, who isnt identified in the documents, noted that Strzoks phone contained no substantive texts, notes or reminders. Pages phone went missing under questionable circumstances after she left the Mueller team. When it was recovered more than a year later, the device was already wiped. Muellers team operated with Trump in the White House and with the looming prospect of having its work eventually scrutinized by Congress, the Justice Department, and the inspector general. Text messages released on Sept. 24 show that FBI analysts working the Russia investigation months before Mueller took over were already concerned about the incoming attorney general looking into their work upon taking office. The messages indicate that analysts at the FBI and CIA took out professional liability insurance after Trump won the election. The iPhones that had no records belonged to some of the key members of the special counsel team, including Mueller himself, deputy special counsel Aaron Zebley, FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith, and Andrew Weissmann, a prosecutor. Clinesmith pleaded guilty in August to one false statement charge in connection to an email he forged while serving as the primary FBI attorney assigned to the SCO. He manipulated the email as part of the process for preparing a secret-court application for a warrant to surveil a former Trump campaign adviser. Clinesmith, Page, and Strzok were among a group of officials who used government-issued devices to express intense bias against Trump while investigating the president and his associates. Messages from the trio offered the public an extraordinary glimpse into the nature of the investigation and now raise questions about why dozens of other phones from the Mueller team turned up wiped or devoid of records. Strzok, who maintained an extramarital affair with Page, spoke of stopping Trump from becoming president, mentioned an insurance policy in case Trump won the election, and mused about impeachment around the time he joined Muellers team. Clinesmith wrote that he was devastated after Trumps election victory and that his name is all over the legal documents investigating [Trumps] staff. TRELLEBORG, Sweden On a recent September afternoon, the director Tobias Lindholm sat with Ingrid and Joachim Wall on the couples terrace overlooking the Baltic Sea and watched as the Walls dog, Iso, edged his nose toward a plate of raspberry cake. Iso is the star of the show, Mr. Lindholm joked. Given the horrific events that brought the director and the couple together, this lighthearted tone might seem surprising. But the joke and the laughter it elicited on the terrace reflected some important truths about the television series on which the three have collaborated. That series, The Investigation, which premieres in Denmark and Sweden on Sept. 28 and will screen in Britain on the BBC later this year, focuses on the investigation into the murder of the Walls daughter, the Swedish journalist Kim Wall. Iso does indeed play himself in the series. The starring role is indicative both of the fictionalized productions fidelity to the truth and of its larger project: to focus on the human goodness in a case seemingly defined by its depravity. The Investigation may have been shot near the crossing between Denmark and Sweden that gave The Bridge its title, but its message inverts the despair typical of Nordic noir television. Alto, a ridesharing app that also offers on-demand delivery, is rolling into Houston soon. The Dallas-based company announced in September that it will begin service in the Bayou City on October 1. When it launches here, Alto will employ up to 40 salaried drivers. The full-time employees, who will receive benefits and sick leave, will be required to complete a background check and defensive driving program before getting behind the wheel of the 15 to 20 company owned and operated vehicles. All have a 5-star safety rating. Although Alto will cost you the price of the ride plus membership ($12.95 per month or $99 per year), it includes passenger perks such as control of music and air temperature, along with a do not disturb option for a non-conversational trip. OPINION: Stop driving like this, Houston, I beg you It also comes with a roster of safety measures, especially important during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The company said its vehicles are equipped with cabin air filters and plexiglass barriers between the driver and passenger compartments. Deep cleaning procedures include disinfecting high-touch areas such as door handles and headrests between every trip. As China faced rising international censure last year over its mass internment of Muslim minorities, officials asserted that the indoctrination camps in the western region of Xinjiang had shrunk as former camp inmates rejoined society as reformed citizens. Researchers at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on Thursday challenged those claims with an investigation that found that Xinjiang authorities had been expanding a variety of detention sites since last year. Rather than being released, many detainees were likely being sent to prisons and perhaps other facilities, the investigation found, citing satellite images of new and expanded incarceration sites. Nathan Ruser, a researcher who led the project at the institute, also called ASPI, said the findings undercut Chinese officials claims that inmates from the camps which the government calls vocational training centers had graduated. Evidence suggests that many extrajudicial detainees in Xinjiangs vast reeducation network are now being formally charged and locked up in higher security facilities, including newly built or expanded prisons, Ruser wrote in the report. The Chinese government has created formidable barriers to investigating conditions in Xinjiang. Officials tail and harass foreign journalists, making it impossible to safely conduct interviews. Access to camps is limited to selected visitors, who are taken on choreographed tours where inmates are shown singing and dancing. The researchers for the new report overcame those barriers with long-distance sleuthing. They pored over satellite images of Xinjiang at night to find telltale clusters of new lights, especially in barely habited areas, which often proved to be new detention sites. A closer examination of such images sometimes revealed hulking buildings, surrounded by high walls, watchtowers and barbed-wire internal fencing features that distinguished detention facilities from other large public compounds like schools or hospitals. I dont believe this timing is merely coincidental, Timothy Grose, an associate professor of China studies at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the ASPI project, said of the accumulating evidence of expanding incarceration sites. In my opinion, we are witnessing a new stage in the crisis, he said. Some detainees have been released, others have been placed in factories, while others still have been sentenced. China has repeatedly refused to disclose the number of detention sites and detainees in Xinjiang and elsewhere. ASPI researchers found and examined some 380 suspected detention sites in Xinjiang. At least 61 of them had expanded in area between July 2019 and July of this year, and of those, 14 were still growing, according to the latest available satellite images. The researchers divided the sites into four security levels, and they said that about half of the expanding sites were higher-security facilities. The researchers found signs that some reeducation camps were being rolled back, partially confirming government claims of a shift. At least 70 sites had seen the removal of security infrastructure such as internal fencing or perimeter walls, and eight camps appeared to be undergoing decommissioning, they wrote. The facilities apparently being scaled back were largely lower-security camps, they said. Under Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, authorities have carried out a sweeping crackdown in Xinjiang, with as many as 1 million or more people incarcerated in recent years, according to scholars estimates. The ASPI report was issued one day after the sixth anniversary of a key moment in the increasingly harsh campaign, the sentencing of Ilham Tohti, a prominent Uighur scholar, to life in prison. Late last year, Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the Xinjiang government, told reporters in Beijing that the reeducation sites were now housing only people who were there voluntarily, and that others who had been in the facilities had graduated. Where to, he did not say. The ASPI report builds on previous investigations that also pointed to explosive growth in the prison population in Xinjiang over recent years, even as the building of indoctrination camps appeared to peak. Last month, BuzzFeed News found 268 detention compounds in Xinjiang built since 2017. The news organization identified the compounds with the help of spots blanked out of the online mapping service from Baidu, the Chinese technology company. An investigation by The New York Times last year found that courts in Xinjiang where Uighurs and other largely Muslim minorities make up more than half of the population of 25 million sentenced 230,000 people to prison or other punishments in 2017 and 2018, far more than in any other period on record for the region. Official sentencing statistics for 2019 have not been released. But a report released by authorities in Xinjiang early this year said that prosecutors indicted 96,596 people for criminal trial in 2019, suggesting that the flow of trials which almost always lead to convictions was lower than in the previous two years, but still much higher than in the years before the crackdown took off. Even though the internment camps are obviously the most headline-grabbing aspect of whats happening, theres been a much broader effort from the beginning that has also included significant incarceration in prisons, said Sean R. Roberts, an associate professor at George Washington University and author of The War on the Uyghurs: Chinas Campaign Against Xinjiangs Muslims. The United States has begun to take a more confrontational stance toward China over the repression in Xinjiang. This year, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on officials responsible for policy in the region, as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which is both a farm conglomerate and a quasi-military security institution. It has also imposed restrictions on imports of clothing, hair products and technological goods from Xinjiang, but stopped short of banning all cotton and tomatoes, two of the regions key exports. This week, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would bar any imports from Xinjiang unless they were proven not to have been produced using forced labour. Chris Buckley and Austin Ramzy c.2020 The New York Times Company A year ago in the introduction to our Top Workplaces coverage, I wrote, these are strange times for the economy, as times were good for many companies and unemployment stood at record lows yet Connecticut wasnt growing. We couldnt know how strange, how scary, how tragic and how heroic Connecticuts workplaces could become. With the coronavirus partial shutdown and restart, companies have had to face a sort of uncertainty that no one can really prepare to handle in advance. And yet, preparation along with compassion and creativity showed themselves in abundance at the 49 employers that made the list of winners in the Hearst Connecticut Top Workplaces contest of 2020. Click here for complete coverage of the Hearst Top Workplaces including the list of all winners. While last years challenges, for many, centered on finding good people or fostering growth, this year has been about adapting in ways we could not have imagined a year ago. At Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties (1st place among large employers for the third consecutive year), that meant enduring a spring season with few sales but a lot of preparation for a comeback in the summer, with changes such as open houses bunched together and of course, new heights of virtual house tours. BHHS has 19 locations and nearly 800 employees, many of them agents, in the three counties covered by the Hearst Connecticut Top Workplaces Fairfield, New Haven and Litchfield. Several newcomers to Top Workplaces took high honors this year, including Criterion, a small but global software developer in Norwalk, (1st place, small employers with CEO Sunil Reddy winning the top leadership award in that category); Autism Behavioral Health, a Danbury company thats the only one on the list founded in the last seven years (2nd place, small employers); and HAI Group, a specialty insurer to housing authorities, based in Cheshire, which anticipated the COVID-19 crisis ahead of most of us (No. 2, midsize employers). This years No. 2 winner among large employers, Indeed, was among the first to temporarily vacate its offices, with nearly 1,000 employees in Stamford, and of course, had to cope with total upheaval in its industry, hiring and employment services. And on the other end of Fairfield County, Shelton-based Barnum Financial Group (No. 1 midsize), had to partly redefine its credos of helping customers protect whats important, and mandatory fun for employees. Click here for the complete list of winners. As I talked with some of the winners, I heard many of the same strategies every executive describes. The difference at the best workplaces comes down to consistency and execution. Theres no formula for treating employees well but there is a culture. Its about listening, respect, teamwork and offering opportunities with or without a pandemic. Maybe your employer isnt on the list and belongs here. Click on www.topworkplaces.com/nominate/hearstct/ to get a head start on 2021. Or, if your workplace isnt up to speed just yet, land a link or a hard copy of this section on your bosss inbox or desk. Dan Haar is associate editor and columnist at Hearst Connecticut Media, and editor of Top Workplaces Farmers are holding out for further breakthroughs in a waterfront dispute that threatens to hold back any post-drought boom for regional economies from increased global export markets. The National Farmers' Federation has savaged the industrial action by wharfies at Port Botany, which is holding up ships in and out of Sydney, delaying farm exports such as beef, sheepmeat, pork and grain and limiting imports such as machinery and chemicals. Farm exports are unusually reliant on shipping for perishable exports because air freight volumes are down 80 per cent with planes grounded. Credit:James Davies The Maritime Union of Australia has hit the port with stoppages, go-slows and overtime and upgrade bans in a dispute that has affected stevedores Patrick, Hutchison and DP World. A breakthrough in negotiations on Friday between the union and DP World, the nation's largest container terminal operator, has raised hopes protected industrial action still underway at the Patrick and Hutchison docks can be resolved. Days after learning that no Louisville police officers would be charged with homicide in the death of Breonna Taylor, lawyers for the womans family called on Kentuckys attorney general to release the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings. Breonna Taylors entire family is heartbroken, devastated, outraged and confused as to what Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron presented to the grand jury, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said at a Friday morning news conference in Louisville. Did he present any evidence on Breonna Taylors behalf? Or did he make a unilateral decision to put his thumb on the scales of justice to try to exonerate and justify the killing of Breonna Taylor by these police officers? Transcripts of grand jury proceedings are typically kept private, but Crump believes they may help shed light on Camerons decision to forgo homicide charges. This week a grand jury in Jefferson County, Ky., indicted former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison on charges of wanton endangerment for firing his handgun into nearby apartments on the night of the shooting in March. The other two officers involved in the case, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and detective Myles Cosgrove, were not charged for their role in Taylors death. The indictment drew outrage from those who had expected homicide charges to be brought against the officers. They murdered Breonna Taylor, activist Tamika Mallory said Friday, and until those officers are fired from this department, I promise you, I promise you, we will continue to make these streets hot. Interim Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert Schroeder terminated Hankison on June 19, alleging he blindly fired 10 rounds into Taylors apartment. The other two officers were placed on administrative leave. Cameron, who on Wednesday announced the indictment filed against Hankison, declined to provide details about the grand jury proceeding, telling reporters that the proceedings are done in secret. Story continues A spokeswoman for Camerons office told Yahoo News on Friday the attorney general understands that the outcome of the grand jury proceedings was not what Taylors family had hoped for. Regarding todays statements at the press conference, the statement said, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but prosecutors and Grand Jury members are bound by the facts and by the law. Attorney General Cameron is committed to doing everything he can to ensure the integrity of the prosecution before him and continue fulfilling his ethical obligations both as a prosecutor and as a partner in the ongoing federal investigation. Breonna Taylor. (Handout) Taylor, 26, died after police tried to enter her residence on March 13 while she and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were sleeping. Louisville officials said officers executed a no-knock warrant at the home, but claimed that they knocked anyway and announced themselves before breaking down the door, according to a statement from the city. Walker said he heard a pounding at the door but didnt hear police announce themselves, the city said. He fired and hit Mattingly in the thigh, according to Cameron. The officers all returned fire. Evidence shows that officers both knocked and announced their presence, Cameron said Wednesday, adding that after Walker fired his gun, police responded with 22 shots of their own. A ballistic analysis, Cameron said Wednesday, determined that a shot by Cosgrove killed Taylor. Hankison fired his weapon 10 times, Cameron said, sending bullets into apartments adjacent to Taylors. At the time of the incident, three residents in those apartments were home. There is no conclusive evidence that any bullets fired from Hankisons weapon struck Miss Taylor, Cameron said. The warrant that brought the officers to Taylors apartment was part of an investigation into a drug trafficking suspect, who is Taylors former boyfriend, the Associated Press reported. Cameron said that while there are six possible homicide charges under Kentucky law, those charges are not applicable in this case because Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in their return of deadly fire after having been fired upon by Kenneth Walker. Hankison was charged with wanton endangerment for allegedly endangering the individuals in one of the apartments he shot into. The offense in the first degree is a Class D felony, and applies to those who have shown extreme indifference to the value of human life. It carries up to five years in prison for each count. Protesters in Louisville, Ky., on Thursday, following the decision not to charge officers with the killing of Breonna Taylor. (John Minchillo/AP) On Friday, Taylors lawyers questioned the justification that police fired in self-defense. I know the law of self-defense in Kentucky, attorney Lonita Baker said. And I know that you don't have the right to use the defense of self-defense when you injure or kill an innocent third party. And what we know from Sergeant Mattinglys testimony to the [Louisville Metro Police Departments] Public Integrity Unit is that he saw that Breonna Taylor was unarmed. The indictment on Wednesday prompted demonstrations in Louisville and other cities across the nation. Since Taylors death, protesters, activists, athletes and celebrities worldwide have called for the officers involved to be charged criminally. There seems to be two justice systems in America: one for Black America and one for white America, Crump said Friday. Amid the unrest in Louisville, more than 20 protesters were arrested on Thursday night, including Kentucky state Rep. Attica Scott and her daughter. Scott wrote a bill called Breonnas Law, the Courier-Journal reported, which would prohibit no-knock warrants, similar to a local policy with the same title that was signed by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer in June. At Fridays press conference, Scott indicated that the charges against them were baseless. Those are some ridiculous charges that were levied against us, Scott told the crowd. I also want the rest of yall to know that we were detained at 8:58 [p.m.]. A curfew is in effect in Louisville from 9 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., until Monday morning. At a separate press conference on Friday, Schroeder said approximately 26 individuals were arrested at the protests on various charges, including unlawful assembly and first-degree rioting. Multiple burglaries and property damage were also reported. The destruction we saw last night simply cannot continue, he said. Thumbnail credit: Darron Cummings/AP _____ Read more from Yahoo News: The Phi Phi Islands. Tigers Nest Temple. Siem Reap. Ha Long Bay. Ko Pha-ngan. Whether you had visions of ringing in the new year at a full moon beach party in Thailand or whether you had hoped to escape an American or European winter by embarking on a sightseeing tour of Cambodias best temples, many northern hemisphere residents will this year have to put their dreams on hold. The Asia-Pacific travel bubbles which were talked about with such fervour in early May have now gone the way of spontaneous Friday night drinks. As CNN reports, For a number of reasons, those bubbles also called air corridors have yet to materialize in Asia. In whats been referred to as a twisted game of Whack-a-Mole, the virus continues to rear its invisible head in fresh waves, leading most governments to shy away from actually moving beyond the discussion phase, (CNN). Travel bubbles are extremely complex to implement, much greater than what people may have thought originally, Mario Hardy, CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), has said, according to CNN. Each respective destination needs to have well tested and tried protocols and the understanding that visitors from each country will respect them. They also need to ensure that they have a robust health care system to handle any potential resurgences of cases as well as good contact tracing capabilities. The upshot? A sandy Christmas in Phuket is highly unlikely (unless youre willing to sacrifice two weeks of your annual leave, and hotel quarantine for an extra two weeks first) and a Lunar New Year in Bali is still a risky endeavour to get excited about, given the country has banned tourists for the rest of this year (with the start of 2021 still up in the air). View this post on Instagram A post shared by | Luxury | Travel | Hotels | (@luxurytravelandhotels) on Sep 24, 2020 at 4:08am PDT Australians can attest to European and American holiday seekers the pain of being given Bali bubble hopes time and time again only for them to be once again withdrawn. The list of countries in the region that are off limits to most leisure travel remains long and, according to the experts, is likely to remain that way for some time yet, CNN reports. Cruelly, it is the countries with lower rates of coronavirus, that could enable tourists to visit with perhaps less of a need to quarantine on their return to Europe of America (think: Australia, New Zealand), which are least likely to allow Americans and Europeans where rates of the virus are still high in any time soon. These countries, though their economy has been hit hard by the downturn in tourism, are also less dependant on visitors than nations like the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, and thus have less incentive to let travellers in prematurely. Even in Asia, in countries where tourism is a huge source of income (in the Philippines, for instance, 83 jobs are created by every 100 tourists that visit, Forbes reports), the steps being taken to open up to tourism again are gradual. Almost daily, new headlines announce the lifting of travel restrictions in the region, as well as the resumption of international flights, CNN reports. However, if you look at the fine print, few of these changes mean much for leisure travelers, but rather apply to business travelers and foreign residents. I think the idea that were going to go back to borders being thrown open any time soon is just not going to happen, Gary Bowerman, founder of Check-in Asia, told CNN. Meanwhile, the domestic tourism challenges currently being faced in Australia, whereby the fine line between political grandstanding and conservative health management are under constant scrutiny (and whereby residents of certain states are still prohibited from flying across the country), show just how hard it will be to establish international travel bubbles or corridors. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Maldives (@maldives) on Jun 19, 2020 at 11:06am PDT The only rays of hope right now for lie in expensive locales like the Maldives, or the travel hacks allegedly letting tourists into resorts like Kandui Resort in the Mentawais. Thailand has also just announced a new long term tourist visa but there are many conditions and caveats that come with it. Suffice to say: for now destinations like Bermuda and Barbados, which have launched offers specifically to entice digital nomads and the like, may be a less risky proposition for American tourists to book this winter. Read Next The primary sub-source for the Steele dossier was suspected of being a possible Russian agent and a threat to national security, according to newly declassified FBI documents. Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) announced the revelations on Thursday after the Justice Department declassified a footnote of the DOJ Inspector General Report on FISA abuse by the FBI. That report focused on efforts by FBI agents to obtain FISA warrants to surveil Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page, and concluded that two applications to renew such warrants were not valid because of material misstatements and omission of evidence. FBI agents on the Crossfire Hurricane probe, who investigated alleged contacts between the Trump-campaign and Russian intelligence, were aware that the Primary Sub-Source was a suspected Russian spy by December 2016. However, the FBI did not share this information with the FISA court in their applications for warrants against Page. According to footnote 334 of the Inspector General Report, the Primary Sub-Source was the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation from 2009 to 2011 that assessed his/her documented contacts with suspected Russian intelligence officers. At the request of Attorney General William Barr, the FBI made available a declassified summary of that counterintelligence investigation. [T]he FBI commenced this investigation based on information by the FBI indicating that the Primary Sub-Source may be a threat to national security, the summary states. The Primary Sub-Source was an employee at a prominent U.S. think tank, and in December 2016, the FBIs Crossfire Hurricane investigation identified the employee as Christopher Steeles Primary Sub-Source. The documents are the latest disclosures in an ongoing investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Senator Graham, into the FBIs probe of the Trump-campaign. In a statement, Graham characterized the newest documents as the most stunning and damning revelation the committee has uncovered. Story continues Its stunning to be told that the single individual who provided information to Christopher Steele for the Russian dossier used by the FBI on four occasions to obtain a warrant on Carter Page, an American citizen, was a suspected Russian agent years before the preparation of the dossier, Graham said. The committee will press on and get to the bottom of what happened, and we will try to work together to make sure this never happens again. More from National Review Boeing Co.s push to return the grounded 737 Max jet to the skies by year-end got a boost from European regulators, who said they expect to sign off on their safety review by November. Test flights and a separate round of simulator sessions conducted this month went well, Patrick Ky, executive director of European Union Aviation Safety Agency, told French reporters on Friday. EASA expects to lift its grounding shortly after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Ky said. He expects Chinese authorities to take longer to allow the plane back in the air. Boeing has agreed to install a synthetic sensor on the next version of the plane, called the 737 Max 10, according to Ky, whose comments were confirmed by EASA. Existing models will be retrofitted after the jets return, he said. Boeing has worked with regulators to get the 737 Max back in the air following the crashes that killed 346 people and led to a worldwide grounding of the jet in March 2019. While the FAA is the main certification body for the plane, gaining EASAs approval is seen as a key milestone for its return outside the U.S., after other global regulators signalled they would follow the European agencys lead. The agreement on a synthetic sensor resolves a key concern of EASA that went beyond fixes that the FAA had proposed. The European regulators wanted more redundancy for so-called angle-of-attack sensors which were a factor in the two crashes. EASA has also asked for Boeing to give pilots a way to disable the so-called stick shaker alarm system, Ky said. Canadian regulators have also raised concerns about multiple alarms potentially confusing pilots in an emergency. FAA review The FAA has proposed multiple changes to the aircraft before allowing it to carry passengers again. Among them, the system that was driving the jets nose down in both accidents would no longer activate repeatedly. Boeing has taken other steps to minimize the chances it will malfunction in the future. The coming Max 10, a larger variant of the single-aisle jet, is still to be certified. Ky also said that the regulator expects to take a closer look at the certification of future aircraft models such as the Boeing 777X jet, in light of the Max debacle. Test flights The FAA completed test flights of the Max during summer. In August, it kicked off a review period that could potentially lead to a U.S. sign-off on the planes safety by October at the earliest. After some scheduling delays related to coronavirus travel restrictions, EASA conducted flight tests this month working through Canada. Subsequent simulator sessions with the Joint Operations Evaluation Board, overseen by regulators from Canada, Europe, Brazil and the U.S., will set out the training requirements for pilots. With airlines having to retrain pilots and perform maintenance on the grounded fleet, it will take a few weeks at a minimum after certification before the planes begin carrying passengers. Read more about: The name of a pedestrian struck and killed on Interstate 65 in Birmingham has been released. The Jefferson County Coroners Office on Friday identified the victim as Joseph Alan Little. He was 42 and lived in Birmingham. The crash happened at 10:10 p.m. Wednesday on I-65 at the Third Avenue North exit, according to coroners officials. Little was hit by at least one vehicle a tractor trailer - and pronounced dead on the scene at 11:34 p.m. No other details have been released. Sen. Bernie Addresses The Nation: Trump's Threat To Our Democracy Watch Senator Bernie Sanders gave a speech on Trumps Threat to Our Democracy. He outlined what he sees as the danger that this country faces from a president he says is a pathological liar, who has strong authoritarian tendencies, who neither understands nor respects our constitution, and who is prepared to undermine American democracy in order to stay in power. September 24, 2020 Let me thank all of you for being here this afternoon. This country faces an unprecedented set of crises. We are struggling with a pandemic that has already cost us over 200,000 lives. We have an economy in which we have a grotesque level of income and wealth inequality, where the middle-class today is being decimated, where millions of workers have lost their jobs, and half of our people continue to work paycheck to paycheck, many for starvation wages. We are living in the moment when climate change is ravaging. This planet leading to massive fires on the West coast, drought and unprecedented levels of extreme weather disturbances all across the globe. We are the only major country on earth, not to guarantee healthcare to all people as a human right. Over 90 million Americans are uninsured or under-insured and we pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. All of these issues and others are enormously important and should be the issues that are being debated in this campaign. Bernie Sanders: ( 06:55 ) But today I am not going to talk about any of them. What I am going to talk about is something that in my wildest dreams, I never thought I would be discussing. And that is the need to make certain that the president of the United States, if he loses this election, will abide by the will of the voters and leave office peacefully. What I will be discussing today is the danger that this country faces from a president who is a pathological liar, who has strong authoritarian tendencies, who neither understands nor respects our constitution, and who is prepared to undermine American democracy in order to stay in power. With less than six weeks left to go in this campaign, it is my fervor and hope that all Americans, Democrats, Republicans, independents, progressives moderates, conservatives, come together to defend American democracy, our constitution, and the rule of law. Bernie Sanders: ( 08:08 ) We must ensure in this unprecedented moment in American history, that this is an election that is free and fair, an election in which voters are not intimidated, an election in which all votes are counted, and an election in which the loser accepts the results. This is not just an election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, this is an election between Donald Trump and democracy, and democracy must win. The United States is the oldest continuous democracy in the modern world. We held elections in the middle of a civil war in 1864. We held free and fair elections during World War I, during the Great Depression and during World War II- Bernie Sanders: ( 09:03 ) Well, one, during the Great Depression and during World War II. After all of those elections held in extremely difficult circumstances, the loser acknowledged defeat and the winner was inaugurated and took office. That is what the United States of America is all about. That is what democracy is all about. But today onto Donald Trump, we have a president who has little respect for our constitution or the rule of law. Today, that peaceful transition of power, the bedrock of American democracy is being threatened like never before. Bernie Sanders: ( 09:46 ) I am not in the habit of quoting former president Ronald Reagan, but I think something that he said in his first inaugural address makes the point about how important, how precious is this part of our heritage, and I quote Ronald Reagan, The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stopped to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle. End of quote. Bernie Sanders: ( 10:32 ) Protecting this orderly transfer of authority as president Reagan characterized it, this miracle is absolutely essential. If we together, all of us, Republicans, Democrats, Independents want to keep faith with the American ideals we hold so dear and with the sacrifices that so many made in order to protect our democracy. In that regard, I think it is terribly important that we actually listen to and take seriously what Donald Trump is saying. Several weeks ago, speaking at the Republican National Convention, Trump said, and I quote, The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election. End of quote. Bernie Sanders: ( 11:28 ) What is remarkable about that statement is that he made it at a time when almost every national poll had him behind and when he was trailing in polls in most battleground states. Think about what that statement means. Think hard about what that statement means. What he is saying is that if he wins the election, thats great. But if he loses, its rigged, because the only way, the only way he can lose is if its rigged, and if its rigged, then he is not leaving office. Heads I win, tails you lose. In other words, in Trumps mind, there is no conceivable way that he should leave office. Bernie Sanders: ( 12:16 ) Just last night, just last night, Donald Trump went even further down the path of authoritarianism by becoming the first president in the history of this country to refuse to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election. When asked by a reporter in the White House briefing room, Win, lose or draw in this selection, will you commit here today for a peaceful transfer of power after the election? Trump responded and I quote, Were going to have to see what happens. You know that I have been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster. We want to get rid of the ballots and youll have a very peaceful There wont be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation. End of quote from Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders: ( 13:10 ) That is not his choice. Thats for the American people to determined. Let us be very clear, there is nothing in our constitution or in our laws that gives Donald Trump the privilege of deciding whether or not he will step aside if he loses. In the United States, the president does not determine who can or cannot vote and what ballots will be counted. That may be what his friend Putin does in Russia. It may be what is done in other authoritarian countries, but it is not and it will not be done in America. This is a democracy. Bernie Sanders: ( 13:54 ) Now, I do understand that Donald Trump is a billionaire or so he tells us. I do understand that he was born to a very wealthy family, and from his earliest days was able to get anything he wanted because his family was rich and his family was powerful. I do understand that when youre rich and youre powerful, you dont have to pay taxes like ordinary people and that its easy for you to avoid the military draft. I do understand that when youre rich and youre powerful, you can buy politicians and get hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare for your real estate empire. Bernie Sanders: ( 14:36 ) But this I also understand, no matter how rich or powerful you may be, no matter how arrogant and narcissistic you may be, no matter how much you think you can get anything you want, let me make this clear to Donald Trump, too many people have fought and died to defend American democracy and you are not going to destroy it. The American people will not allow that to happen. Bernie Sanders: ( 15:13 ) Despite all of the evidence, Trump continues to be obsessed with the belief that there is massive voter fraud in this country. In 2017 after he won the presidency, Trump insisted that he would have won the popular vote, which he lost by three million votes if millions of illegal votes had not been cast. There is absolutely no evidence of that being true. In fact, it is totally preposterous to believe that millions of votes or any significant number of votes at all were cast illegally. This is an assertion supported by no one, not Democratic officials, not Republican officials, no one, and yet that is what Trump said after he won. Bernie Sanders: ( 16:06 ) There have been numerous studies done on the issue of voter fraud in our country. They have all concluded essentially in the same way. Voter fraud in the United States of America is extremely rare. Our study by Dartmouth University found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 election. An article in the New York Times from December, 2016 stated and I quote, In an election in which more than 137 million Americans cast ballots, election and law enforcement officials in 26 states and the District of Columbia, Democratic leaning, Republican leaning and in between said that so far, they knew of no credible allegations of fraudulent voting. Officials in another eight states said they knew of only one allegation. In Georgia, where more than 4 million people cast ballots, officials said they had open inquiries in 25 cases into suspicious voting or election related activity. End of quote. Bernie Sanders: ( 17:17 ) But inquiries to all 50 states, every one but Kansas responded, found no states that reported indications of widespread fraud. End of quote, New York Times. A report by the Brennan Center for Justice reviewed elections that had been meticulously studied for voter fraud and found incident rates between 0.0003% and 0.0025%. The report concluded that it is more likely that an American will be struck by lightning than that he will impersonate another voter at the polls. Even the conservative Heritage Foundation, which maintains the database on election fraud could only find 140 Bernie Sanders: ( 18:03 ) the database on election fraud could only find 143 criminal convictions of mail-in voter fraud out of 250 million mail-in votes cast over the past 20 years, a rate of 0.00006%. Bernie Sanders: ( 18:20 ) But you dont have to trust me on this issue. Benjamin Ginsburg, one of the leading Republican experts on election, a man who served as National Council to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, a man who played a major role for the Republican party in the 2000 Florida recounts, and who co-chaired the bi-partisan 2013 presidential commission on election administration, recently wrote in the Washington Post, and I quote, The truth is that after decades of looking for illegal voting, there is no proof of widespread fraud. At most, there are isolated incidents by both Democrats and Republicans, elections are not rigged, end of quote. Bernie Sanders: ( 19:12 ) Let me repeat from one of the Republican parties, leading experts on elections, quote, The truth is that after decades of looking for illegal voting, theres no proof of widespread fraud. At most, there are isolated incidents by both Democrats and Republicans, elections are not rigged. Bernie Sanders: ( 19:33 ) And even if the statement of Mr. Ginsburg is not good enough for you, here is what the Trump administrations own voting integrity commission reported. According to an analysis of administration documents by the Associated Press, Trumps commission uncovered quote, No evidence to support claims of widespread voter fraud, end quote, and they disbanded in 2018. Bernie Sanders: ( 20:03 ) Even a Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, tamped down current concerns about mail-in ballots last month saying, and I quote, Many parts of our country vote by mail. Oregon, Washington and Colorado have voted by mail for years, end of quote. Bernie Sanders: ( 20:21 ) And yet, we have a president today who calls mail-in ballots a hoax and a scam. Trumps strategy to de- legitimized this election and to stay in office if he loses his not complicated. Finding himself behind in many polls, he is attempting massive voter suppression. He and his Republican colleagues are doing everything they can to make it harder and harder for people to vote. Bernie Sanders: ( 20:48 ) In addition, he is sowing the seeds of chaos, confusion and conspiracy theories by casting doubt on the integrity of this election, and if he loses, justifying why he should remain in office. In an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News, Trump refused to say that he would leave office if he lost. Asked to give a direct answer on whether he would accept the election results, Trump refused. He said, quote, I have to see. No, Im not going to just say yes. Im not going to say no. I didnt last time either, end of quote. Thats pretty much what he said yesterday. Bernie Sanders: ( 21:27 ) In the middle of a pandemic, Donald Trump made clear that he wants to defund the postal service in order to limit the use of mail-in ballots. In an interview on August 13th, discussing a possible deal for a relief package that would have funded the United States Postal Service, Trump let the cat out of the bag by admitting that, quote, If we dont make a deal, that means they dont get the money. That means they cant have universal mail- in voting. They just cant have it, end of quote. Bernie Sanders: ( 22:04 ) In other words, what Donald Trump is saying to tens of millions of Americans is that at a time when over 200,000 of our people have already died from the coronavirus, you have a choice, you can either risk your health or even your life by walking into a voting booth, or you cant vote. How outrageous, how disgraceful is that? Bernie Sanders: ( 22:35 ) Amazingly, at the very same time, Trump is making completely baseless allegations about voter fraud. Last month, he urged the supporters of North Carolina to try voting twice, which among other things is a felony. In order to advance his plan for mass voter suppression, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in Nevada, which fortunately was dismissed, challenging the states mail-in voting laws. Bernie Sanders: ( 23:04 ) In July, trump used false claims of voter fraud to propose delaying this years election, which he obviously does not have the power to do. This was so outrageous that Steven Calabresi, the Co-Founder of the Conservative Federalist Society wrote that it was, quote, Grounds for the presidents immediate impeachment, again, by the house of representatives and his removal from office by the Senate, end of quote. Bernie Sanders: ( 23:35 ) Last week, Trump told his supporters at a rally in Nevada, that he, quote, Was entitled, end quote, to serve a third term, which is obviously a violation of the constitutions 22nd amendment. Bernie Sanders: ( 23:47 ) On Saturday, Trump suggested to his supporters in North Carolina that he might sign an executive order to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president. Trump has also urged his supporters to become, quote, Poll watches. But what he is really saying is that he wants his supporters, some of whom are members of armed militias, to intimidate voters. Were already seeing this in Virginia, where early voters were confronted by Trump supporters and election officials in Fairfax County said that some voters and polling staff felt intimidated. Bernie Sanders: ( 24:26 ) On and on and on it goes. Every day, over and over again, Trump is making it harder for the American people to participate in the political process and is attempting to de legitimize the outcome of this election so that if he loses, he can remain in office. Bernie Sanders: ( 24:47 ) The concerns that I am raising today on not just mine alone, and are not just concerns shared by Progressives or Democrats. Miles Taylor, a lifelong Republican who previously served as Chief of Staff inside the Trump administrations Department of Homeland Security, on that there is nothing that Trump will not do or say to defeat Biden. This is what he said, and I quote, Put nothing past Donald Trump, Taylor told the AP, He will do anything to win. If that means climbing over other people, climbing over his own people or climbing over US law, he will do it. People are right to be concerned, end of quote. Bernie Sanders: ( 25:31 ) Well, I agree with Mr. Taylor. I am concerned and I am very concerned. Last week, my former Senate colleague, Dan Coats, Trumps own former Director of National Intelligence published a piece in the New York Times, calling for a high level bipartisan and nonpartisan commission to oversee the election, to reassure all Americans that it has been carried out fairly. Bernie Sanders: ( 25:55 ) Coats wrote, and I quote, The most urgent task American leaders face is to ensure that the election results are accepted as legitimate. Electoral legitimacy is the essential linchpin of our entire political culture. We should see the challenge clearly in advance and take immediate action to respond, end of quote. Thats Dan Coats, former Intelligence Director of Donald Trump. I couldnt agree more. I strongly second Director Coats call for this election commission. Bernie Sanders: ( 26:32 ) Last week as well, Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer and I sent a letter to Senator McConnell, urging him to hold hearings on the issue of election and post-election security. Senator Schumer and I stated, quote, We would like to hear from the most knowledgeable people in the country as to how we can do everything possible to make sure that the election and the period afterward is secure and peaceful, end quote. Majority leader McConnell, please respond to that letter Bernie Sanders: ( 27:03 ) Leader McConnell, please respond to that letter. Please establish that bi-partisan committee. And today I call on every elected official in America, whether they be Republican, Democrat or Independent to vigorously oppose voter suppression and voter intimidation to make sure that every vote is counted and that no one is declared the winner until those votes are counted. And to my Republican colleagues in the Congress, please do not continue to tell the American people how much you love America, if at this critical moment you are not prepared to stand up to defend American democracy and our way of life. Stop the hypocrisy. Bernie Sanders: ( 27:53 ) Now with or without Donald Trump this election is unique in American history because it is taking place during a pandemic and a public health crisis. As a result, states all over America are taking the appropriate steps to ensure more Americans can safely vote by mail in their own homes instead of risking their health or their lives to vote in person. The result is that this election will see by far the largest number of mail-in ballots ever. Bernie Sanders: ( 28:24 ) And lets be clear. Despite what Donald Trump says, voting by mail is not a new or dangerous idea. Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and Utah conduct their elections almost entirely by mail. California, Nevada, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, my own state of Vermont, have pledged to mail ballots to all registered voters for the upcoming election. And many other states are making it easier, obvious reasons, to vote by mail. Trump himself, as well as members of his administration, have repeatedly voted by mail. Members of the United States military have regularly voted by mail since the 1800s. Bernie Sanders: ( 29:08 ) Given the significant increase in mail-in ballots why you might ask are Trump and his allies trying to attack the integrity of our vote by mail system. And the answer is pretty simple. A number of studies have shown that for whatever reasons, Republicans are more likely to vote in person while Democrats are more likely to use mail-in ballots. In fact one poll found that only about a quarter of Biden supporters would vote in person on election day while some two-thirds of Trump voters plan to vote in person. Bernie Sanders: ( 29:47 ) In other words, if Trump can undermine peoples confidence in the validity of votes cast by mail he will be calling into questions the validity of votes that may overwhelmingly support Joe Biden. Let us consider the following scenario, a scenario which I hope very much never takes place. Bernie Sanders: ( 30:11 ) On election night Trump is ahead in many battleground states based on the votes of those who voted in person on election day. All across the television screens people see Trump ahead before they turn in for the night. But as more and more mail-in ballots are counted Trumps lead folds. Trump then announces with no proof that there has been massive mail-in ballot fraud and that these votes should not be counted and that he has won the election. In other words, Trump may well announce that he has won the election before all of the votes are counted and that large numbers of mail-in ballots should be discarded. Bernie Sanders: ( 31:02 ) Furthermore, in states where Republicans control the legislature, it is possible that the election results will be ignored because of false accusations of voter fraud, and that the legislature itself will use its power to appoint electors pledged to vote for Trump, overriding the will of the people. And in the midst of all of this with the death of Justice Ginsburg, Trump is attempting to push through a Supreme Court Justice who may very well cast a vote in a case that will determine the outcome of this election. He is doing that at a time when early voting has already begun and millions of ballots will have already been cast. Bernie Sanders: ( 31:52 ) In this unprecedented moment what can we as a people do in the struggle to preserve American democracy? First, it is absolutely imperative that we have by far, the largest voter turnout in American history, and that people vote as early as possible. As someone whos strongly supporting Joe Biden, lets be clear, a landslide victory for Biden will make it virtually impossible for Trump to deny the results and is our best means for defending democracy. Bernie Sanders: ( 32:31 ) Second, with the pandemic and a massive increase in mail-in voting state legislatures must take immediate action now, now, to allow mail-in votes to be counted before election day as they come in. In fact, 32 states allow for the counting or processing of absentee ballots, verifying signatures, for example, before election day. All states should do the same. The faster all ballots are counted the less window there is for chaos and conspiracy theories. Bernie Sanders: ( 33:03 ) Third, the news media needs to prepare the American people to understand there is no longer a single election day, and that it is very possible that we may not know the results on November 3rd. Bernie Sanders: ( 33:16 ) Fourth, social media companies must finally get their act together and stop people from using their tools to spread disinformation and to threaten and harass election officials. Bernie Sanders: ( 33:29 ) Fifth, in the Congress and in state legislatures hearings must be held as possible to explain to the public how the election day process and the days that follow will be handled. As we count every vote and prevent voter intimidation everything possible must be done to prevent chaos, disinformation, and yes, even violence. Bernie Sanders: ( 33:57 ) Lastly, and most importantly, the American people no matter what their political view, must make it clear that American democracy will not be destroyed. Our country from its inception, and through the sacrifices of millions, has been a model to the world with regard to representative government. In 1863 in the midst of the terrible Civil War, Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg stated that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. That was true then. That is true today. Regardless of what Donald Trump wants the American people will preserve democracy in our country. All cops have to be willing to put their bodies on the line in defense of the law - but it seems some are more willing than others. This is the incredible moment a bailiff at a courthouse in Hillsboro, Ohio, dived headfirst down a set of stairs as he tried to apprehend a fleeing meth addict. Video captured the bailiff leaping after 34-year-old Nicholas Garrison on Tuesday this week, just after he had been sentenced to six months in jail for meth possession. A bailiff was caught on camera diving head-first down a set of stairs at a courthouse in Ohio as he tried to stop a fleeing meth addict Nicholas Garrison, 34, had just been sentenced to six months in jail for aggravated meth possession at the courthouse in Hillsboro on Tuesday when he made a break for it While being handcuffed in the courtroom, Garrison broke free of a sheriff's deputy and bailiff who were guarding him, and ran for the exit. CCTV captured him tearing through the courtroom before heading for a set of stairs that led out on to the street. It was then that the bailiff leaped over the banister in an attempt to grab Garrison, but failed - instead landing on his back on the steps and sliding to the bottom. Garrison managed to escape and hasn't been seen since, while the bailiff had to be taken to hospital where doctors revealed he broke four of his ribs. The man also suffered a mild concussion, officials at the courthouse said. Police are now appealing for anyone who knows there whereabouts of Garrison to come forward, so the bailiff's heroics will not have been in vain. A bailiff and a sheriff's deputy gave chase, with the bailiff leaping down the stairs in an attempt to grab Garrison - which ultimately failed, with the court officer landing on his back The bailiff had to be taken to hospital after his fall, where doctors revealed that he broke four of his ribs and suffered a mild concussion Police are now hunting Garrison, who is described as being 6ft tall, weighing 180lbs, with dyed blue hair, hazel eyes, and some tattoos He is described as being 6ft tall, weighing 180lbs, has dyed blued hair, hazel eyes, and some tattoos. He was last seen wearing black jeans, a blue shirt, and Nike shoes. 'Garrison came into court for sentencing, and when they were taking him into custody, he absconded from deputies,' Highland County Sheriff Donnie Barrera said. 'One of them was a court bailiff and one was a deputy.' Anyone with information is asked to call the Highland County Sheriffs Office at 937-393-1421 or the Hillsboro Police Department at 937-393-3411 Pakistans minority Hindus rallied late on Thursday in Islamabad briefly clashing with the police, to protest the deaths of 11 members of a Hindu migrant family who died in India last month under mysterious circumstances. Since then, the dead migrants' relatives have held small rallies in Pakistans southern Sindh province but this was the first time they had taken their demonstration to the countrys capital, vowing to stage a sit-in near the Indian Embassy. The protesters accuse Indias secret service of poisoning the 11 Hindus, who were found dead at a farmhouse in Indias Jodhpur district in Rajasthan state. The demonstrators arrived in Islamabad around midnight, chanting, We want justice." They briefly skirmished with officers who prevented them from reaching the embassy site. After the Aug. 9 deaths, Indian media reports suggested the Hindu family members, originally from Pakistan had taken their own lives. Official Islamabad says New Delhi had not shared any reports of the case. Thursday's rally was an unusual move for Pakistans Hindus, who have mostly lived without conflict with the country's predominantly Muslim majority. Earlier this year under pressure from radical Muslims, Pakistani authorities halted construction of a Hindu temple in Islamabad. Ramesh Kumar, a top leader of the Hindu community who led Thursday's protest, met on Wednesday with Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, seeking his help in pressuring India to release results of the initial police probe into the case. Pakistan has also asked for access to a Hindu worker who was at the Jodhpur farm at the time of the deaths, according to government officials. In his meeting with Qureshi, Kumar said Shrimati Mukhi, the daughter of the head of the family that died, had levelled the poisoning accusations. She earlier this month told local media that India allegedly pressured the family to issue a statement denouncing Pakistan's government. There was no official comment from India on the allegations. Last week, Pakistan summoned an Indian diplomat to convey concerns over the Jodhpur incident. A subsequent ministry statement said India had failed to share any substantive details regarding the cause and circumstances of the deaths" of the Hindus and asked for a comprehensive investigation. Nuclear armed rivals Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations. Pakistans military said Wednesday that two of its soldiers were killed by Indian fire in a cease-fire violation in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. The region is split between the two countries but claimed by both in its entirety. India and Pakistan have fought two out of their three wars over Kashmir since gaining independence in 1947. Morocco has developed one of the most advanced telecommunications markets in Africa, supported by the governments Maroc Digital 2020 strategy to encourage the development of a digital economy and on the National Broadband Plan which aims to provide fixed or mobile broadband access to the entire population by 2022. The country had the fastest mobile broadband data rates in Africa as of June 2020, a testament to investments made by the MNOs over the years. The part-privatised incumbent telco Maroc Telecom remains the dominant player in the fixed-line sector though it has effective competition in the mobile sector. The fixed-line broadband market remains dominated by Maroc Telecom. In February 2020 the company was heavily fined for failing to enable competitor access to its DSL infrastructure, but despite these regulatory efforts to enforce LLU and wholesale pricing there is little in the way of access to its networks and as a result the fixed-line broadband market has not developed to its potential. The introduction and extension of mobile broadband services has gone far to improving access nationally. Mobile internet by early 2020 accounted for 93.3% of all internet connections, leaving Maroc Telecoms DSL service with most of the remainder. The dominance of mobile internet access is likely to continue given the improvements in LTE reach and capabilities, and the preference among consumers to adopt mobile solutions for both voice and data. This report analyses Moroccos fixed-line, broadband and mobile telephony sectors, including statistics, assessments of recent regulatory measures, details on licensing regimes and spectrum auctions, and profiles of the major players. The report also includes a range of subscriber forecasts to 2025. BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries. On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth. Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report. The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions. Key developments: Government progresses with several key telecom projects, sells an 8% stake in Maroc Telecom; Maroc Telecom launches a revised m-payment solution through its subsidiary MT Cash; Telecom regulator fines Maroc Telecom MAD3.3 billion for uncompetitive practice in denying other telcos access to LLU services; Orange Group extends international money transfer solution from France to include Morocco; World bank provides $500 million to fund Moroccos digital transformation; Maroc Digital 2020 strategy takes shape; Government sets up digital teaching in response to COVID-19 lockdown; National Broadband Plan to 2022 extending reach of services; Inwi and Maroc Telecom trial 5G technologies; Report updates include the regulator's market data to December 2019, telcos' operating data to Q2 2020, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments. Get a Full Copy of this Report Developing Telecoms market report summaries are produced in partnership with BuddeCom, the worlds largest continually updated online telecommunications research service. The above article is a summary of the following BuddeCom report: Report title: Morocco - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses Edition: 18th (September 2020) Analyst: Henry Lancaster Number of pages: 156 Single User PDF Licence Price: US$1,150 For more information or to purchase a copy of the full report please use the following link: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Morocco-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses/?r=83 Krispy Kreme doughnuts are now being sold at selected Woolworths stores in Australia. The US food chain, which first arrived Down Under in 2003, is usually only available at their 30 brick-and-mortar stores nationwide or 7 Eleven convenience shops. Six Woolworths Metro stores in New South Wales have agreed to trial selling the boxes of doughnuts throughout September. Six Woolworths Metro stores in New South Wales have agreed to trial the boxes of delicious doughnuts for the month of September Paddington, Potts Point, Bondi Beach, Surry Hills, Padstow and Randwick are all offering four different packs of the desserts and will rely on customer feedback in-store to decide whether they stay long-term. The options are a three-pack or a nine-pack of doughnuts available in original glazed or assorted varieties. A box of three original doughnuts costs $8 while three flavoured varieties is priced at $10. Whereas a nine-pack of original glazed is $18 and it's $23 for nine assorted. The options are a three-pack or a nine-pack of doughnuts, available in original glazed or assorted varieties The assorted doughnuts will include the stores' popular 'Choc Iced Sprinkles' and 'Kookies 'n' Kreme' The assorted doughnuts will include the stores' popular Choc Iced Sprinkles and Kookies 'n' Kreme. To celebrate the release Krispy Kreme are hosting a giveaway on its Facebook page, with customers able to win a three-month supply of doughnuts. All they need to do is tag someone they would share the doughnuts with on its latest photo, with extra points given to those who share a photo of that moment together. The competition ends on Monday September 28 at 1.30pm AEST. To celebrate the release Krispy Kreme are hosting a giveaway on its Facebook page, with customers able to win a three-month supply of doughnuts 'This is so good! I can pick up my bread, milk and a doughnut during my weekly shop,' one excited shopper said. 'Woohoo! About time! I don't live anywhere near a 7 Eleven or Krispy Kreme store... but there is a Woolworths around the corner,' said another. It's not known when the rest of Australia's Woolworths Metros will receive doughnuts or how successful the campaign has been in Sydney so far. JobSeeker is being supplemented during coronavirus as thousands lose jobs But the $550 boost has been cut to $250 and is due to end in December Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Friday said the boost may continue next year Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has given his strongest hint yet that the JobSeeker payment will continue to be boosted next year. In April the government doubled the fortnightly payment to $1,100 as thousands lost their jobs due to coronavirus restrictions. ADVERTISEMENT The $550 boost has now decreased to $250 and is due to end at the end of December. In April the government doubled the dole payment to $1,100 as thousands lost their jobs due to coronavirus restrictions But Mr Fydenberg on Friday said his government is 'leaning' towards extending the boost. 'As a government, later this year, we'll make a decision about further support for people in JobSeeker, but we're leaning in on continuing to provide support,' he told reporters. Social Services Minister Anne Ruston has said the government would not make a call until it could see the impact of the reduction. Click here to resize this module 'We will not be making announcements in budget,' she told reporters last week. 'We don't know what Australia is going to look like on the other side of this pandemic. We don't know when it's going to end.' 'So we will remain agile and we will continue to provide the support that is needed for Australia and Australians.' About 1.5 million Australians are on JobSeeker, including people on unemployed, sickness and bereavement benefits. Labor wants the base rate of JobSeeker to be increased but will not say by how much. Social Services Minister Anne Ruston has said the government would not make a call over the support payment until later this year Mr Frydenberg on Friday said the federal budget deficit hit $85.3 billion in 2019/20 as the government wrestled with the initial impact of the virus. He said Australia had approached the pandemic from a position of economic strength, having in December forecast a $5 billion surplus. 'Yes, the hole in the Australian economy is significant. Yes, the road back will be long, bumpy and hard,' Mr Frydenberg told reporters in Canberra. The figure sets the base for this year's budget to be delivered on October 6, which will focus on measures to boost aggregate demand and business investment. ADVERTISEMENT JobKeeper will face changes from Monday, when the rate will decrease to $1,200 per fortnight and be split into two-tiers for full time and part time workers. It came as Covid-19 infection rates continued to fall across Australia, prompting NSW and Queensland to further ease restrictions. Victoria had 14 new cases on Friday and eight deaths. But Premier Daniel Andrews has tempered hopes of wholesale changes to Melbourne's road map out of lockdown. Mr Andrews said Sunday would not be a day for major steps despite some easing of restrictions on gatherings, workplaces and schools. Mumbai: A day after an NCB official confirmed that actor Rakul Preet Singh had acknowledged the summons sent to her, the actress joined the probe on Friday. The actress is reported to have reached the NCB office, located in Colaba, at around 10.30 am. Padukones manager Karishma Prakash also reached the NCB office to face questions from the investigation agency. Meanwhile, the NCB on Thursday questioned fashion designer Simone Khambata and Sushant Singh Rajputs former manager Shruti Modi in connection with the probe being conducted by the agency into an alleged Bollywood-drugs nexus. Simone Khambata, who was summoned by the NCB to join the probe, reached the agency's guest house in south Mumbai around 9.30 am, an official said. Her name cropped up in the questioning of some persons during the probe in the matter, he said. Rajput's former manager Shruti Modi also appeared before the NCB probe team on Thursday, the official said. Actor Sara Ali Khan, who has also been summoned by the NCB, arrived in the city from Goa on Thursday. She reached Mumbai with her mother, actor Amrita Singh and brother, Ibrahim Ali Khan around 5pm and headed to their suburban Juhu residence. Deepika Padukune, who was shooting in Goa, also arrived in Mumbai around 10:30pm on Thursday night. She was reportedly accompanied by husband Ranveer Singh. Police personnel have been deployed outside the residence of Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone, who is expected to appear before the NCB on Saturday. Apart from these actors, the agency has also summoned Karishma Prakash, who works at KWAN talent agency, this week. KWAN CEO Dhruv Chitgopekar, film producer Madhu Mantena have already been questioned by the NCB in the case earlier. The NCB had launched the investigation in this matter after it received official communication from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in which there were various chats related to drug consumption, procurement, usage and transportation. Paul Rusesabagina, the polarising hero of the hit movie "Hotel Rwanda," admitted to a Kigali court on Friday that he had helped form an armed group but denied any role in its crimes. Rusesabagina is famed for his depiction by Don Cheadle in the 2004 film in which a moderate Hutu is shown as saving hundreds of lives at a luxury hotel during the 1994 genocide, which left some 800,000, mostly Tutsi, dead. However, a more complex image has emerged since he appeared in Kigali under arrest in mysterious circumstances last month, after years living in Belgium and the United States. He is being tried on 13 charges including terrorism, financing and founding militant groups, murder, arson and conspiracy to involve children in armed groups. Rusesabagina appeared in court Friday clad in Rwanda's pink prison outfit and accompanying pink mask, to appeal his denial of bail last week. In 2017 Rusesabagina co-founded the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), an opposition party based abroad. During the hearing he admitted to the formation of an armed wing, the National Liberation Front (FLN), which has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Nyungwe, near the border with Burundi. "We formed the FLN as an armed wing, not as a terrorist group as the prosecution keeps saying. I do not deny that the FLN committed crimes but my role was diplomacy," he said in court Friday. "The agreement we signed to form MRCD as a political platform included the formation of an armed wing called FLN. But my work was under the political platform and I was in charge of diplomacy." In April 2019, Rwandan authorities arrested the commander of the FLN, Callixte Nsabimana, who had previously claimed responsibility on social media for attacks including setting fire to a passenger bus in 2018, leaving two dead and many injured. However in court, Nsabimana tried to distance himself from the killing of civilians. "When we attacked the Nyungwe area, we had given FLN specific orders that whatever operation they launch, it should be about destroying bridges, ambush military vehicles, attack government offices as well as police and military camps. We didn't expect them to attack civilians," Nsabimana said in court last year. Nyungwe is a region popular among tourists coming to see endangered mountain gorillas and the attacks prompted many western countries such as France, Germany, Canada and Australia to advise their nationals against travel to the area. In a 2018 video supporting the FLN, Rusesabagina said: "The time has come for us to use any means possible to bring about change in Rwanda, as all political means have been tried and failed." A polarising hero Rusesabagina left Rwanda in 1996 along with other moderates who believed the space for political opposition was fast shrinking. The release of the Oscar-nominated film "Hotel Rwanda" thrust him into the global spotlight, giving him a greater platform for his criticism of Kagame's government. A file picture from June 18, 2019, showing Rusesabagina speaking at an press conference in Brussels. By NICOLAS MAETERLINCK (BELGA/AFP/File) Kagame, who has been in power since his troops flushed out the genocidal regime in 1994, is championed abroad for turning the country around. However critics such as Rusesabagina accuse his government of authoritarianism, ruling through fear and crushing the opposition. Several critics of his regime have been assassinated abroad. As Rusesabagina grew more critical, railing against Kagame's anti-Hutu sentiment -- an extremely sensitive topic in Rwanda -- so his image at home worsened as the regime attacked his character. Detractors claimed he embellished his heroics, while some survivors groups accused him of profiting from their misery. Rusesabagina's family said he would never have willingly returned to Rwanda, and the details of his arrest are still murky. In an interview with The New York Times, Rusesabagina, speaking with Rwandan officials in the room, said he boarded a private jet in Dubai which he thought was taking him to Burundi, but landed in Kigali instead. His family says Rusesabagina has not been allowed to consult with lawyers of his choosing. A ruling on his bail appeal will be made on October 2. The lower-court judge, Fred Biery, appointed by President Bill Clinton, ruled that anyone in Texas should be able to vote by mail, especially in light of the pandemic. Would-be voters should not have to choose between voting and risking exposure to the coronavirus by standing in line to vote, the judge said. He asserted that the Texas law violates the 26th Amendments prohibition against denying or abridging the voting rights of anyone 18 or older on the basis of their age. But in an opinion by Judge Leslie Southwick, who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush, the court found no violation of the 26th Amendment. This claim fails because adding a benefit to another class of voters does not deny or abridge the plaintiffs 26th Amendment right to vote, Judge Southwick wrote. Of his two Democratic colleagues, one concurred; the other dissented on the merits. Voters should not have to risk becoming infected by the coronavirus at their polling places. It is impossible to understand what interest Texas has in restricting voting by mail other than the Republican hope of depressing turnout. In the Florida decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld a state law requiring that ex-felons pay all of their outstanding fines and fees in order to vote. In 2018, Florida voters passed an initiative, Amendment 4, which provided that any disqualification from voting arising from a felony conviction shall terminate and voting rights shall be restored upon completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation. The Republican-controlled Legislature then passed a law that barred ex-felons from voting unless they paid all money owed to the state, such as fees for court costs, and any fines. Judge Robert Hinkle of the Federal District Court, another Clinton appointee, concluded that this was an unconstitutional pay-to-vote system. Over a half-century ago, the Supreme Court held that the government cannot condition the right to vote on people having to pay even a dollar. LOBAMBA Moyeni High School Head teacher Sabelo Manyatsi left the House of Assembly confused yesterday after an intense grilling by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). This was after he confessed that he had repaid money owed to the Deputy Prime Ministers Office under the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Fund using the school funds. The total amount repaid by the school with permission from the school committee, according to Manyatsi, was E16 564. According to the audit query, there was a payment of E5 850 for fictitious Form III pupils which had been made. The auditor general said this was ascertained when he inspected the class registers to establish registered Form III pupils at the school. He said their names appeared in the final payment claim, but the pupils were not in any of the class registers. The AG said when he requested for a report of those who had dropped out of school from the head teacher to verify whether the identified pupils had dropped out, he (head teacher) unfortunately failed to provide those records. Auditor Manyatsi informed the PAC that at first he did not remember any interaction with the auditor on the ground and certainly had no recollection of himself refusing to hand over the register. He said the challenge could have been that the three pupils had dropped out after March or April yet the auditors only came to the school in October 2018. Appointed MP and member of the PAC Mfanawemakhosi Dlamini said the head teacher could at least give the committee an indication of when the pupils had dropped out and the reasons behind it. Lobamba MP Allen Stewart said the head teacher should simply furnish the PAC with the class registers to prove that the pupils were once enrolled at the school. Dvokodvweni MP Mduduzi Magagula said he was even willing to volunteer to go and get the school registers from the school, something which he could do in 30 minutes. He said even last year the PAC was dealing with Moyeni High School issues where it was discovered that the school had even purchased a truck. Meanwhile, Lubombo MP Lorraine Nxumalo said Manyatsi should also provide a copy of the minutes where the school committee allowed that school funds be used to repay government instead of the head teacher paying from his own pocket. Manyatsi, in his defence, said the money had been paid into the schools account and not his personal one, which was why they agreed with the committee to repay it in that manner. He, however, said it would be impossible to get the records immediately from the school because of COVID-19 regulations which brought restrictions pertaining to movement in schools. He highlighted that presently, the school had about 760 pupils of which 430 were OVCs and in some instances the workload was overwhelming. MP Stewart said by repaying the money, the head teacher had basically made an admission of guilt. This was especially because the head teacher had also admitted to having repaid government E10 714, which was an overpayment of exams fees made to the Examinations Council of Eswatini (ECESWA). Reverse The committee was of the view that the school funds should not have been used to repay the DPMs Office because the money had been paid straight to ECESWA and that was the office that was supposed to reverse the overpayment. On the issue of fictitious pupils, the PAC said Manyatsi should go back and trace them so that there could be evidence that indeed they did exist. Manyatsi said he would have come with the required minutes had he known he was supposed to appear before the PAC, but said he had only been alerted yesterday morning yet he was in hospital when he received the call. He pleaded with the committee to give him some time to go and look for the required documents. Manyatsi further said he was in the dark about the overpayment on the examination fees because they submitted a list to the DPMs Office, which was the end of their involvement. Gege MP Musa Kunene asked the head teacher why he had rushed to repay the DPMs Office without double checking the records. He said in a letter which was written by the auditor general, he was told to repay the money within a stipulated time-frame or else face prosecution. Refund However, it was highlighted that the letter demanding the refund had been written by the DPMs Office in July 2020, but Manyatsi had no recollection of it. He was then handed a copy of the letter which the PAC said Manyatsi was too panicked and did not even remember a letter recently written to him. Making his final remarks before the PAC, Manyatsi pleaded with the committee not to give him a harsh sentence or make him pay back the money from his own finances, as all of it had gone to either the school or the exams councils account. I am doing all I can for the community and country to ensure that our children get a proper education and I am very grateful for the advice you have given me today so please be lenient, said Manyatsi. However, after the PAC had allowed him to leave the sitting, Manyatsi stayed on. He was asked by the Deputy Chairperson of the PAC why he had remained in the House, to which he responded by saying I am confused. The PAC assured him that they would be making a follow-up on the necessary documentation. A man in California was killed Tuesday after being run over by his own work van as he tried to stop it from being stolen from his driveway. Jose DeJesus Berrelleza, 33, was talking to his father as he was getting ready for work when he noticed the van being taken away from his home in Anaheim at 6.20am. He ran to stop the theft but fell to the ground and was run over by the van. Berrelleza died at the scene. He leaves behind an eight-year-old daughter. Three suspects were found in the van later in the day about 1.5 miles from Berrellezas home and arrested, according to the Los Angeles Times. Jose DeJesus Berrelleza, 33, died in California Tuesday after being run over by his own work van when he tried to stop it from being stolen from his driveway Berrelleza was a father of one who leaves behind an eight-year-old daughter Omar Sanchez, 28, and Yesenia Escareno, 21, were arrested on alleged murder and carjacking charges two hours later. Adriana Gomez, 29, was arrested for allegedly being an accessory. 'It is believed Berrelleza, the father of an 8-year-old daughter, attempted to stop the theft of the vehicle to prevent the loss of his livelihood,' Anaheim Police Department said. Omar Sanchez, 28, and Yesenia Escareno, 21, were arrested on alleged murder and carjacking charges two hours later. Adriana Gomez, 29, was arrested for allegedly being an accessory A GoFundMe set up in Berrelleza's honor has raised almost $27,000 as of Friday morning 'On the early morning of Tuesday, September 22, 2020 Jesus was outside talking with his Dad as usual before they both parted their way to work,' said a GoFundMe set up in his honor. 'It was their quality time together when these individuals took him from us. He was only 33 years old. He was a strong and hard working individual always looking out for his family, especially his daughter. He had lots of plans for them. 'The best memories she will cherish were their wild camping trips. Jesus was adventurous and was teaching his daughter to be adventurous and brave just like him,' it adds. Berrelleza was talking to his father when he realized the van was being stolen and ran out 'An 8-year old that will no longer build new memories with her Papa. Her Papa is no longer here to provide and fight for her. Jesus was hard working and dedicated to his family. 'He will forever be missed and we will forever hold him close to our hearts. We ask for your support to please share his story to help fight for justice.' As of Friday morning, the GoFundMe has raised almost $27,000. Anaheim police say the suspects, all Anaheim residents, did not know the victim prior to the incident. They were unsure who was behind the wheel when Berrelleza was hit. Eight days after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, President Trump nominated her successor Saturday Amy Coney Barrett, a federal appeals court judge for three years and a staunch opponent of abortion and called for a lightning-quick confirmation that could shift the Supreme Court sharply to the right. Barrett is one of our nations most brilliant and gifted legal minds, a person of towering intellect, sterling credentials and unyielding loyalty to the Constitution, Trump said at the White House Rose Garden, with Barrett standing alongside. This should be a straightforward and prompt confirmation. ... Its going to be very quick, Trump told an audience that included her family, a number of U.S. senators, and Attorney General William Barr and other administration officials. It is a selection with potentially profound consequences for issues such as health care, gun ownership and immigration. Barrett, 48, a former law clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, was appointed by Trump in October 2017 to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Her confirmation by the Republican-controlled Senate the same Senate that refused to consider President Barack Obamas election-year nomination of Merrick Garland in 2016 seems virtually assured and would give the court a 6-3 majority of Republican appointees. That would effectively end Chief Justice John Roberts role as the courts swing voter who has sided with more liberal justices in some major cases. The 5-4 rulings have rejected Trumps attempts to add a citizenship question to the U.S. census, to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for young undocumented immigrants, and to overturn the Affordable Care Act, which provides health insurance for more than 20 million Americans. The court is scheduled to hear a new challenge to the Affordable Care Act on Nov. 10, one week after election day. Barrett signaled her viewpoint in a 2017 law review article before her judicial appointment, saying Roberts had pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute. The prospect that Barrett could determine the fate of the health insurance law drew an alarmed reaction Saturday from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco. Every vote to confirm this nominee is a vote to dismantle health care, she said in a statement. Supporters and opponents of abortion rights also reacted strongly. Jodi Hicks, president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said Barretts confirmation wou l d put tens of millions of Americans fundamental human rights at risk, and access to sexual and reproductive health care, like birth control and abortion, under extreme and dire threat. Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, said the antiabortion group believes Barrett will fairly apply the law and Constitution as written, which includes protecting the most vulnerable in our nation: our unborn children. Historically, the impact of the nomination could be even greater. With the addition of Barrett, I think itll be the most conservative court since the 1920s and early 30s, said Rory Little, a UC Hastings law professor in San Francisco and former Supreme Court law clerk. Erwin Chemerinsky, the law school dean at UC Berkeley who has argued cases before the Supreme Court, said it would be the most conservative court since the 1930s, maybe ever. Barrett, fellow Trump appointees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are collectively as conservative on the political spectrum of their times as any who ever have been on the court, Chemerinsky said. Chemerinsky is liberal, but a similar assessment came from Josh Blackman, a conservative-leaning law professor at South Texas College of Law Houston, who said political scientists foresee the most conservative court since President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933. I think she has the potential for greatness, Blackman said of Barrett. Recalling Scalias judicial writings and public appearances promoting originalism, the conservative-backed doctrine of interpreting the Constitution according to the intentions of its drafters regardless of later developments, Blackman said, Barrett has the charisma and the personality to sell it. At Saturdays announcement ceremony, Barrett paid tribute to Ginsburg She not only broke glass ceilings, she smashed them but said of the conservative Scalia, His judicial philosophy is mine too. A judge must apply the law as written. Ginsburg, who died of cancer Sept. 18 at age 87, had persuaded the court as a lawyer in the 1970s to discard its originalist reading of the Constitutions 14th Amendment and rule that it prohibited sex discrimination. Three years after her 1993 appointment to the court by President Bill Clinton, she wrote the ruling that required the Virginia Military Institute, a public school, to admit women over the lone dissent of her close friend, Scalia, who argued that the Constitution was silent on gender bias. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., the Democratic vice presidential nominee, said Barretts selection was an insult to Ginsburg. It would be a travesty to replace her with a justice who is being selected to undo her legacy and erase everything she did for our country, Harris said. Supreme Court confirmation proceedings generally take two to three months, but Senate Republicans plan a vote on Barrett within three weeks, well before the election. Democrats are searching for procedural maneuvers that might slow the process, while contemplating potential corrective measures such as expansion of the court if they retake the White House and the Senate in November. Barrett has taught at Notre Dame University, her alma mater, since 2002, and was named by students as their Professor of the Year in the law school in 2006 and again in 2016. A devout Catholic, she belongs to the schools Faculty for Life group and to People of Praise, a secretive, self-described charismatic Christian community that has referred to its male members as heads and its females, until recently, as handmaidens. (They have been retitled women leaders.) She and her husband, attorney Jesse Barrett, have seven children, two of them adopted. In a 2013 speech, she said Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that declared a constitutional right to abortion, essentially permitted abortion on demand, and ... recognizes no state interest in the life of a fetus. Notre Dame Magazine paraphrased other remarks in her speech as saying the court had acted by judicial fiat. I have no doubt that, assuming shes confirmed, the Supreme Court will overrule Roe vs. Wade, UC Berkeleys Chemerinsky said. Some commentators arent sure the court will go that far, including Kevin Wallsten, a Cal State Long Beach political science professor and coauthor of the recent book The Politics of the Pill. But he said a more conservative court would embolden right-leaning states to enact new restrictions on access to abortion procedures and clinics. California, by contrast, has a state law protecting the right to abortion, provides Medi-Cal coverage for poor womens abortions under a 1981 state Supreme Court ruling, and probably would be unaffected by any new U.S. Supreme Court decisions on the issue. Barrett has taken part in several abortion cases as a judge. Two of them involved Indiana laws that barred abortions motivated by the race, gender or an expected disability of the unborn child, and required burial or cremation of fetal remains. When her appeals court ruled in 2018 that the laws violated womens rights, Barrett signed a dissent arguing that the laws were within the states authority, treated fetal remains with respect and did not violate anyones rights. The Supreme Court later reinstated the states restrictions on disposal of fetal remains. In October, she joined a dissent from a ruling blocking an Indiana law that required minors to notify their parents before having an abortion. The Supreme Court recently told the appeals court to reconsider the ruling based on a high court decision in June that requires opponents of such laws to show that they create a substantial obstacle to abortion rights. While she has not ruled on gay rights, Barrett was among a group of Catholic women in various professions who signed a letter to a conference of bishops in 2015, after the Supreme Courts ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, saying that the churchs teachings on marriage and family founded on the indissoluble commitment of a man and a woman provide a sure guide to the Christian life. In a gun case, Barrett dissented from her courts 2-1 ruling in 2019 that upheld a federal law banning firearms ownership by anyone convicted of a felony, whether violent or not the defendant in this case was convicted of mail fraud. Disagreeing with two colleagues who had both been appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Barrett said the court treats the Second Amendment as a second-class right. On immigration, Barrett dissented in June from a 2-1 ruling that struck down the Trump administrations public charge rule, which would deny legal status and work permits to immigrants who accept public benefits, like food stamps and Medicaid. The majority said the rule was unauthorized by law and that many migrants were forgoing health care and other necessities for fear of deportation, but Barrett said their fears were groundless and that the administration had reasonably interpreted the law. With court permission, the Trump administration reinstated the rule on Tuesday. Barrett also dissented from a 2018 ruling that overturned the first-degree murder conviction of a man who was questioned by a Wisconsin state judge in a pretrial hearing in which the defense lawyer was not allowed to speak. The judge then refused to reduce the charge to second-degree murder. Barrett said the Supreme Court has never decided whether a defendant has the right to a lawyer at such a hearing. Whatever the ideological slant of her rulings, faculty colleagues at Notre Dame say Barrett is even-handed and fair-minded. She is very good at understanding the viewpoint of a person shes disagreeing with, said Jeffrey Pojanowski, a law professor who took classes from Barrett as a student and joined the faculty in 2010. He said Barrett is probably the smartest person Ive ever met. Paolo Carozza, who directs the schools Kellogg Institute for International Studies and taught Barrett as a student before she joined the faculty, traveled with her to Ecuador in 2013 to teach a weeklong seminar for members of that nations Constitutional Court judges who were pretty far to the left, said Carozza, who described himself as a political independent. They were enraptured by her capacity to treat fair-mindedly all the different theories, he said. Sure, she has firm convictions about the way to approach constitutional law. She doesnt hide it. But it reveals to me how much she is capable of dialogue and reason and trying to meet people where they are. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Getty North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said he is "very sorry" for his country shooting dead a South Korean man. North Korean soldiers killed the man in a bid to stop the coronavirus from spreading to the North, according to South Korea's national security adviser. South Korea said the man was doused in oil and set on fire, which North Korea denies. In a letter, Kim said he was sorry for "disappointing President Moon and South Koreans." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said he is "very sorry" for his country shooting dead a South Korean man in a bid to stop the coronavirus from spreading to the north, according to South Korean officials. North Korean soldiers shot dead a 47-year-old South Korean fisheries official, then covered his body in oil and set it on fire in a bid to ensure he did not carry the coronavirus into the country, according to an official account from Seoul, South Korea's capital, which was cited by Reuters. The incident has sparked international outrage and become a highly charged domestic issue in South Korea, where President Moon Jae-in called it "unpardonable," according to Reuters. Aides to the South Korean president confirmed on Friday that North Korea had sent a formal apology to the South. "Chairman Kim Jong Un asked to convey his feeling that he is greatly sorry that an unexpected and unsavory incident occurred in our waters which hugely disappointed President Moon Jae-in and compatriots in the South," said Suh Hoon, South Korea's national security adviser, according to Reuters. In a letter, Kim said he was sorry for "disappointing President Moon and South Koreans" instead of helping them to defeat the "malicious coronavirus," according to Agence France-Presse. The letter said the man who some reports said was trying to defect to North Korea was found floating in a life jacket in North Korean waters. He had gone missing on September 21. Story continues The country acknowledged that soldiers then fired 10 shots at the man who had "illegally entered our waters" and failed to identify himself. However, North Korean officials denied setting his body on fire. They said instead that they had set his flotation device on fire to protect themselves from the risk of the coronavirus. Military officials in Seoul, citing unspecified intelligence, said the man was interrogated over several hours by North Korean navy officials in the water and expressed his desire to defect. He was then killed after instructions from a "superior authority," officials said, according to AFP. The South Korean man had two children and financial problems and had recently divorced, according to South Korean media reports cited by AFP. It comes as both Moon and Kim attempt to ease tensions between the countries. Read the original article on Business Insider BERRIEN COUNTY, MI A man told police he was shot in the leg during a struggle with robbers, Benton Township police said. The shooting happened just after 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24. The victim, a 35-year-old Benton Township man, told police he was walking on Highland Avenue near Cornelia Street when two men came from behind a bush and threatened him with a gun. During a short struggle, the gun fired and hit the victim in his right leg. The robbers then took an undisclosed amount of money and fled east. The victim went to Spectrum Health Lakeland where workers contacted police about the shooting. Read more: Man dies in Muskegon County crash You cant turn the lights on for 10 people: Banquet halls sit idle with few answers from state Police suspect woman found dead was struck by hit-and-run vehicle The army pursued the raiders and attacked them on Thursday in Barkalam, near the Nigerian border, he said, "killing 15 terrorists" and "freeing 12 civilians." Related Boko Haram militants kill nearly 100 Chadian soldiers in attack Chadian soldiers killed 20 Boko Haram jihadists and freed 12 civilians, including nine children, kidnapped in the Lake Chad area where several countries' borders meet, the government said Friday. The jihadist group, which originated in Nigeria in 2009, has established bases on islets dotting Lake Chad, a vast swampy expanse on the border between Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon. It has stepped up attacks in the area in recent months. On September 17, Boko Haram fighters raided a village in the restive zone and kidnapped the civilians, Communications Minister and government spokesman Cherif Mahamat Zene told AFP. The army pursued the raiders and attacked them on Thursday in Barkalam, near the Nigerian border, he said, "killing 15 terrorists" and "freeing 12 civilians." A little later, there was another encounter at Bilabrim in which five Boko Haram fighters were killed and two Chadian soldiers were wounded. The Chadian army launched an offensive against Boko Haram in April after the deaths of some 100 soldiers in an attack by the group on one of its bases. President Idriss Deby then claimed to have pushed the jihadists out. But attacks have continued despite the military operation. In Chad's Lake Province, more than 360,000 people have fled their homes to avoid attacks and also flooding, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The president admitted in early August that "Boko Haram would still do a lot of damage" in Chad. Boko Haram's insurgency has killed more than 36,000 people and displaced more than two million from their homes. The violence has since spread to Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Search Keywords: Short link: Uncertainty shadows the composition of the two main political alliances in Bihar with several parties still exploring their choices as the Election Commission on Friday announced the schedule for the assembly polls. IMAGE: Workers remove banner of political parties after the model code of conduct came into effect following the announcement of the schedule for the Bihar assembly election in Patna. Photograph: ANI Photo With the first of the three-phase elections to the 243-member assembly on October 28, the stand of the ruling National Democratic Alliance's Lok Janshakti Party remains unclear as it has indicated that it will fight on 143 seats, including those where another NDA member Janata Dal-United will contest, while extending support to Bharatiya Janata Party candidates. Things appear messier still in the opposition alliance of Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress as two of their smaller allies, former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and the Vikasheel Insan Party, are on the verge of quitting it. Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has already quit the opposition and joined hands with JD-U president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. Kushwaha, too, has come out against the RJD leadership with party sources saying that it is a matter of time when he will leave the opposition camp. "We did everything possible to preserve the grand alliance but we're done in by the RJD's obstinacy. We will always remain committed to the causes we have espoused but we are not left with much hope in the so-called grand alliance which has already lost former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM to the NDA," RLSP leader Madhaw Anand had said on Thursday. If the opposition camp is disjointed with serious differences among its partners on whether it should project Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate, something the RJD is pushing for, against the NDA's Nitish Kumar, the worsening equation between the JD-U and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP has made things trickier for the NDA. Top BJP leaders, including its president J P Nadda, have asserted that all three NDA parties, the JD-U and the LJP besides the BJP, will fight the polls together but Chirag Paswan has so far remained noncommittal. He has often taken swipe at Kumar's handling of a number of issues, ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to the migrant crisis, and has been pushing the BJP to take the driver's seat in the alliance and fight on more seats than the JD-U. The JD-U has on its part often snubbed the LJP and said it has never entered into any alliance with Paswan's party. It is for the BJP to address its concerns, including those over seat-sharing, it has said. Voting for Bihar assembly elections will be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7 in one of the biggest elections globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by counting of votes on November 10, the Election Commission announced on Friday. RENO, Nev. - A Russian citizen accused of offering a Tesla employee $1 million to enable a ransomware attack at the electric car companys plant in Nevada denied wrongdoing Thursday before a federal magistrate judge. Im not guilty, Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov said in response to a charge of conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer. He said earlier in the hearing that he wanted to go through the whole process as fast as possible. Kriuchkov, 26, also told U.S. Magistrate Judge Carla Baldwin that he knew the Russian government was aware of his case. Authorities have not alleged that Kriuchkov has ties to the Kremlin. Authorities initially said he was 27. The judge in Reno ordered Kriuchkov to remain in federal custody pending trial, scheduled Dec. 1 but likely to be postponed. A conviction could bring a sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, said Nicholas Trutanich, U.S. attorney in Nevada. Deportation could follow a prison term. Court documents say Kriuchkov was in the United States on a Russian passport and a tourist visa when he tried to recruit an employee of what was identified as Company A to install software enabling a computer hack. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has acknowledged his company was the target of what he termed a serious effort to collect company secrets. Tesla has a massive factory near Reno that makes batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage units. Company officials did not immediately respond Thursday to messages. Kriuchkov is accused of spending more than five weeks meeting, drinking, travelling and communicating by internet chat app with the unnamed employee, according to court documents. Some meetings were monitored and recorded by the FBI. It was not clear from the documents if money changed hands. The plot was stopped before any damage occurred, the FBI said. Kriuchkov spoke Thursday in English and had a Russian translator available. His appointed attorneys, federal public defenders Sylvia Irvin and Brandon Jaroch, did not immediately respond to messages about his court appearance, which was held by videoconference due to restrictions on in-person gatherings amid the pandemic. Kriuchkov was arrested Aug. 22 in Los Angeles, where prosecutors say he was heading to an airport to fly out of the country. Hes being held in the Washoe County Jail in Reno without bail. The hack was designed to include a distributed denial-of-service attack, using junk data to flood the Tesla computer system, while a second intrusion would obtain files that could be dumped on the open internet if the company didnt pay the ransom, according to court documents. Other suspected co-conspirators are identified in a criminal complaint by nicknames. References are made to at least one other failed effort to target another unidentified company. ____ Ritter reported from Las Vegas. Government Condemns Racism & Antisemitism The Government roundly and unhesitatingly condemns the racist and anti-Semitic comments which have been made by some in respect of Together Gibraltar MP Marlene Hassan Nahon. Based on untruths about Ms Hassan Nahon holding dual nationality with Israel, some persons on social media have suggested that Ms Hassan Nahon should somehow not be trusted. These allegations clearly seek to bring peoples estimation of Ms Hassan Nahon down by reason of her religion. The Chief Minister, as Leader of House, will refer these comments to the Royal Gibraltar Police for investigation as aggravated racism. Mr Picardo will also address the Parliament tomorrow in respect of these comments. Mr Picardo said: Challenging and robust political debate about ideas and policies is what makes our nation such a rich, diverse and respectful democracy. For that reason, we must all decry and denounce those of a small minority who fail themselves and all of us by making racist and anti-Semitic statements about a Member of our Parliament based on her religion. This is in addition to insults also apparently made about her relating to her ethnicity and which she has rightly countered in correspondences and which I am also reviewing. My Government and I disagree with Marlene on many things and agree on many others but our debate is about our differing policies and ideas on how we each think we can improve Gibraltar for all Gibraltarians and residents of Gibraltar. We have had to read similar comments recently insulting the Minister for Transport, Business and the Port arising from his ethnicity. For some to make racist and anti-Semitic remarks as part of supposed political debate is just anathema, alien, to the Gibraltar I know and love. People who say these things do so because they have lost the argument and can only attack a person's religion or ethnicity when they have no arguments of substance left. Gibraltar is let down by such people who do not have the first understanding of democracy, respect and debate. I will be saying more about this in Parliament tomorrow, when I will call for solidarity of all members with Ms Hassan Nahon in respect of these grave racist and anti-Semitic insults. As Leader of the House, I will also be referring these comments - and those making them - to the Commissioner of Police." Camper fire claims the life of two people in Marshall County In the absence of our doing the right thing, we will need to be in a lockdown-type situation as occurred in Israel, Dr. Mitchell Katz, the head of New York City Health and Hospitals, which is overseeing the citys contact tracing program said earlier this week. He was referring to the decision by the Israeli government to reinstitute restrictions because the country is facing the highest rate of new cases per capita in the world. The distrust of the authorities was on display during Fridays news conference in South Brooklyn, at Gravesend Park, which was attended by several city health officials, when one man interrupted Dr. Katz by loudly saying the city had been exaggerating the severity of the outbreak. The scene grew tense when a second man, who was not wearing a mask, approached Dr. Katz, who told him to back off or put on a mask. The man shouted that he wouldnt wear a mask and anyone who didnt like it could leave. You dont live here, he shouted. Get out of here. The man, who wouldnt give his name, soon shouted a racial slur. He also began yelling, Go to East New York, a predominately Black neighborhood in Brooklyn. Visits to Borough Park showed how the rules are often ignored. The coronavirus outbreak devastated New Yorks Orthodox Jewish community in March and April, and community leaders say hundreds have died, including influential religious leaders. But this week, there was hardly a face mask in sight, as if the pandemic had never happened. At a flower stand in Borough Park on Friday, a vendor, Boris Mushayev, tended to his merchandise as customers around him, all without masks, perused the white, red and orange blooms. You have some people here who wear masks but it is true that most people do not, said Mr. Mushayev. I think some people are just not so worried about the virus anymore. If customers want me to wear a mask I wear it, but for now I have to focus on work. (TNS) The Michigan Legislature gave final approvals Thursday to a bill that would give local clerks 10 hours extra before the election to begin processing absentee ballots, a nod to the expected uptick in absentee voting in the general election.The bill also changed protocol for signature mismatches on absentee ballots, increased security around ballot boxes, and allowed for shifts of workers on the absent voter counting board the day of the election. The legislation passed 94-11 through the House and was concurred on by the Senate 35-2. The bill is headed to Gov. Gretchen Whitmers desk next.Nearly 2.4 million voters had requested absentee ballots as of Tuesday, building toward whats expected to be record mail-in participation during the coronavirus pandemic. The bill, introduced by Sen. Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, will help clerks to better meet the unique demands of the Nov. 3 election, she said.These reforms can help reduce mistakes caused by election officials working long hours by allowing local clerks to begin preprocessing absentee ballots to prepare them to be counted more quickly on Election Day and allowing clerks to shift in fresh workers at absentee voter counting boards, said Johnson, who served as Secretary of State prior to Democrat Jocelyn Bensons election in 2018.While the bills passed by large margins in the House and Senate, Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, reiterated concerns about the ballots' storage in a secure container and the lack of provisions in the bill addressing what happens if the seal on that container is broken.I really hope those who are voting for this dont have regrets on Nov. 3 or 4, Barrett said.The legislation would allow clerks to begin opening envelopes from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. the day before Election Day, but only for the Nov. 3 election.The legislation bars workers from pulling the absentee voter ballots from the secrecy envelopes, which must be placed in a secure container after being opened and until Election Day. It also requires bipartisan election inspectors to be on hand during the opening.Communities with a population of 25,000 or more wishing to participate in the program are required to notify the Secretary of State 20 days before the election.The legislation included several provisions added Thursday, including a requirement for clerks to contact an individual whose absentee ballot signature did not match state records.The addition had been requested by Benson, who was concerned about some ballots being discarded because of an omission or handwriting change.Benson also had asked the Legislature to change the law so that ballots postmarked before election day would be counted if received in the few days after the election. Instead, Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens ruled Friday that clerks are required to count ballots postmarked by Nov. 2 and received within 14 days of the election.The Legislature is challenging the ruling and criticized it in a Senate Concurrent Resolution passed along party lines Thursday, arguing Stephens' order "delays election results and causes severe and serious problems with election administration."The legislation passed Thursday also requires communities to secure their absentee ballot drop boxes through several measures including video monitoring if located outside.Lastly, the Legislation allows for a clerk to set up shifts of workers for the absent voter counting board. The second shift would be able to begin any time on election day, but workers on the first or second shift could not leave until after the close of polls.At no time can there be a gap in shifts or absent ballots left unattended.A separate bill also passed by the House and Senate Thursday would allow active duty military members to submit their completed absentee ballots by email. FILE PHOTO: A nurse prepares Russia's "Sputnik-V" vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for inoculation in a post-registration trials stage at a clinic in Moscow MOSCOW (Reuters) - Iran and Russia's sovereign wealth fund are discussing the joint production of a vaccine against COVID-19, Russian news agencies cited the Iranian ambassador to Moscow as saying on Friday. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has said it is in talks with a number of countries about the possibility of producing the Russian 'Sputnik-V' vaccine abroad, and has signed a deal to manufacture 300 million doses in India. "We are holding talks, I spoke with the head of RDIF Kirill Dmitriev, our officials have held several rounds of consultations and we announced that we will co-operate," Iran's Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali was quoted as saying. "We announced that we will co-operate in two-three areas. That includes joint production with Russia. Iran has great potential to produce the vaccine," Jalali was quoted as saying. RDIF declined to comment on the Iran talks. RDIF has also struck several deals in recent weeks to supply the vaccine, which is currently being tested in a large-scale trial in Moscow, abroad. It has signed deals with Kazakhstan and two states in Brazil, and private pharmaceutical firms in India and Mexico. RDIF also said earlier on Friday it would supply 35 million doses to Laxisam, a pharmaceutical firm in Uzbekistan. (Reporting by Anton Kolodyazhnyy and Polina Ivanova; Editing by Toby Chopra and Angus MacSwan) Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: L Squared Capital, a California growth investor launched by a pair of Chicago Growth Partners execs, has closed its oversubscribed third fund, L Squared Capital Partners III LLC, with just over $500 million of capital. Family offices make up the vast majority of Fund III's capital commitments. With the closing of Fund III, the firm has achieved $1 billion in assets under management. The previous fund raised $325 million in 2018. The firm makes long-term investments in leading growth companies in the areas of education technology, tech-enabled services and software, and industrial technology and services. The Fund III effort, completed in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, was largely driven by the firm's existing investors, L Squared said in a statement today. However, L Squared also added several new high-quality limited partners to its investor base. "We are incredibly appreciative of the tremendous support provided to us by our existing investors during this time of uncertainty," said Jeff Farrero, a managing partner at L Squared. "This allowed us to complete the fundraising quickly so that we can keep our focus on quality investing." With its first two funds, L Squared completed 10 platform investments and has closed 26 add-on transactions, said the private equity firm. All of these investments have been made within the Firm's sectors of focus including education technology, tech-enabled services & software, and indust...................... To view our full article Click here With so much focus on voting, it's time to clarify some things about election 2020 in South Carolina. First, per action by the General Assembly, all South Carolina voters are now eligible to cast absentee ballots. The standard qualifying requirements have been waived amid the coronavirus pandemic. Then, just as in the June primaries, a federal court ordered another change in absentee voting for November: waiving the requirement that an absentee ballot have a witness signature. The decision was based on not requiring a person to be exposed to others to obtain a witness signature. BUT the S.C. Election Commission and Republican state leaders appealed and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday struck down the judge's order. Thus the S.C. Election Commission is advising all voters to comply with the requirement for a witness signature. Here are the instructions: Vote and return the ballot to your county voter registration office either by mail or personal delivery. Place the ballot in the ballot here-in envelope and place the ballot here-in envelope in the return envelope. Be sure to sign the voter's oath and have your signature witnessed. Anyone can witness your signature. A notary is not necessary. A person can vote by absentee ballot at county voter registration offices beginning Monday, Oct. 5, or request that a ballot be mailed. Applications for absentee-by-mail ballots must be received by the county voter registration office by 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 24. The application for an absentee ballot is available online at www.scVOTES.gov. You must be able to print your application. If you cannot print, call or email your county voter registration office. You will be mailed an application. Complete, sign and return the application to your county voter registration office. You can return by mail, email, fax or personal delivery. Voters are urged to return the application as soon as possible but no later than 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 24. When you receive your absentee ballot in the mail, vote and return the ballot to your county voter registration office. Return your ballot either by mail or personal delivery. (There are rules for an authorized returnee to be able to deliver your ballot. See www. scVOTES.gov.) If returning your ballot by mail, send it as soon as possible, preferably a week before Election Day, to help ensure timely delivery. Your ballot must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. You can check the status of your absentee ballot at www.scVOTES.gov. Of particular note, for those voting absentee or voting in person at the polls on Nov. 3, you must be registered to vote 30 days before the election. That means all those registered by Oct. 3 will be eligible. Register after Oct. 3 and you will have to wait until another election to participate. South Carolina has nearly 3.4 million registered voters -- but a population of more than 5 million. There are still many people not taking part in the process of choosing leadership from the national to the local level. The rules for the voting process have been altered in 2020 to make casting ballots feasible for all amid the coronavirus emergency. If you're not registered, get signed up. If you need to vote absentee, get your request for a ballot in now. And if you plan to vote in person on Nov. 3, know there will be precautions at the polls the same as in June. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Norman Harsono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 17:30 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4743cb6 1 Business nuclear-power-generation,coal-gasification,coal,renewable-energy-bill,house-of-representatives Free Green energy businesses and watchdogs are up in arms over the House of Representatives decision to add nuclear and new fossil fuel technologies into a landmark green energy bill. Industry players have issued statements and held public hearings with lawmakers over the past two weeks to protest such an addition in the long-awaited New and Renewables Energy (EBT) bill, which promises legal certainty and incentives for listed industries. Nuclear energy, liquefied coal and coal gas the latter product being pioneered by state-owned coal miner PT Bukit Asam are all categorized as new but not renewable in the draft bill, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post. Focus this bill on renewables, said Halim Kalla, deputy chairman for renewables with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), at a hearing in Jakarta on Monday with the House Commission VII overseeing energy. Read also: This company wants to build Indonesias first commercial nuclear power plant Add the new energy to their respective laws [not in the bill], Surya Darma, chairman of the Indonesian Renewable Energy Society (METI), said to lawmakers on Sept 17. The type of energy that really does not have its own law is renewables. METI, an umbrella organization for all local renewable energy associations, referred to the 2001 Oil and Gas law, 1997 Nuclear Energy Law and 2020 Mining Law, which covers coal. Kadin, METI and a slew of energy watchdogs expect the bill deliberations on which began in 2017 to focus on spurring renewable energy use in Indonesia, a country lagging well behind its green energy commitments. Regulations stipulate that Indonesia should have reached a 17.5 percent renewable energy mix by 2019, yet the country only hit 12.36 percent that year. This bill has been held back for three years, analyst Jannata Giwangkara of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) said on Wednesday. It will not immediately solve the issue but it needs to be supported by derivative regulations. WWF Indonesia climate and energy manager Indra Sari Wardhani added: The renewables industry is still very nascent. Dont give it more challenges and competition. Read also: Coal miner Bukit Asam to invest Rp 4t this year, mostly on infrastructure The business and watchdogs pleas responded to the fact that nuclear power plants and new energy technologies have made their way into the draft bill under Article 6 and Article 7, according to the copy. The latter article outlines the role of the government, private sector, state-owned enterprises (SOE) and a regulatory agency in developing nuclear and new energy facilities. We, at the Commission VII, also support the downstreaming of coal to create a cleaner fuel, said commission head Sugeng Suparwoto at Mondays hearing. The NasDem politician was referring to the governments ambitious plans to downstream Indonesias mining industry, a plan that includes domestically exploiting more of the countrys abundant coal reserves. The House passed the Mining Law to that effect. Nuclear and new energy found more support through the Indonesian Electrical Society (MKI) that urged lawmakers to expand the scope of such technologies within the bill. MKI chairman Wiluyo Kusdwiharto suggested modifying Article 7 into nuclear is to be used to develop nuclear power plants for peaceful and civilian purposes, whereby the last clause is meant to address possible nuclear weaponization concerns. Read also: Jokowi reaffirms Indonesias 'massive downstreaming of natural resources MKI, an organization dominated by state-owned electricity company PLN and its subsidiaries, also suggested that the government manage nuclear waste disposal. Nuclear energy holds a particularly divisive position in the worlds energy transition as some countries, such as Germany and France, plan to scale down while others, such as China and India, plan to scale up. Indonesias legal stance, as written in a 2014 Presidential Regulation (PP), is that nuclear is the last resort to electrify the country, a stance reiterated by Energy Minister Arifin Tasrif in January. Indonesia has three small nuclear power plants for research but no commercial-scale plant, the construction of which is an endeavor being pursued by United States-based Thorcon. Prime Minister Scott Morrison will deliver a speech to the United Nations urging world leaders to share any coronavirus vaccine with the rest of the world, saying history will be a "severe judge" of nations that seek to profit from the pandemic. In the speech, to be delivered virtually on Saturday morning, Mr Morrison will also raise the alarm on disinformation campaigns, which he says are costing lives and creating a "climate of fear and division". Prime Minister Scott Morrison will tell world leaders to share any coronavirus vaccine. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen A global arms race for a coronavirus vaccine is under way with China, Russia, the United States and United Kingdom all competing to be the first to produce a vaccine. When a vaccine is developed there is likely to be a short supply as governments try to ensure their own people are the first in line. (Natural News) Last week, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at the age of 87. Her death immediately initiated a political firestorm in Washington, D.C. one that threatens the very integrity of the republic. Thats not because, as the media and Democrats would claim, some sort of institutional norm has been violated by a Republican president selecting a replacement for Ginsburg to be voted on by a Republican Senate. Its because Democrats have declared that so long as they are unable to replace Ginsburg with an activist left-wing judge willing to use the Constitution to cram down liberal policy prescriptions, they will tear down every barrier to majoritarian tyranny. (Article by Ben Shapiro republished from NewsBusters.org) The Constitution was specifically constructed to promote gridlock. Thats because the Founding Fathers greatly feared majoritarian tyranny legalized mob rule by which simple majorities could cram down violations of rights on minorities. To that end, they balanced the House of Representatives, which was popularly elected, and the Senate, which was represented by state and selected by state legislatures. They balanced the legislative branch with the executive and judicial branches. They balanced power between a federal structure and state governments. The founders believed that the greatest protection for individual rights lay in ambition checking ambition at every level. Progressives have, since the beginning of the 20th century, objected to this philosophy of government. Instead, they have seen institutional gridlock as a danger to getting things done. Former President Woodrow Wilson infamously explained that Men as communities are supreme over men as individuals, and that, therefore, there ought to be no institutional checks against governmental necessity. Democrats have faithfully carried forward that vision, checked only by political reality Wilson unconstitutionally expanded the executive branch; Franklin Roosevelt infamously sought to pack the Supreme Court; Lyndon Johnson radically expanded the size and scope of the federal government; Barack Obama declared that the government itself is us. That meant that for the political left, all institutions of government had to be converted into instruments of power or destroyed. The left has done just that with the Supreme Court for generations, viewing it as a repository for transformational change rather than a legal body with a mandate to only interpret honestly the words of the law. With that view of the court threatened by a Republican-appointed majority, Democrats are now panicking. And they are responding with radical threats to break every check and balance. This week, Democrats openly threatened to destroy the Senate filibuster, a traditional mechanism for restraining bare majorities, most recently used by Democrats themselves to stymie COVID-19 relief funding. They also threatened to add new states to the union, specifically citing federal territories they believe will elect Democrats; and to pack the Supreme Court, reestablishing a Democratic-appointed majority by adding new seats. These actions arent merely violative of constitutional principles and the founding philosophy. They are dangerous. Imagine a 55-vote Democratic majority in a 104-seat body, cramming through a gun confiscation measure, greenlit by a 13-member court packed by Democrats. Will red states simply acquiesce to this overt seizure of power, to this absurd rewriting of the constitutional bargain? Why should they? All of which means that the 2020 presidential race has now become a referendum on the Democrats, not President Donald Trump. Democratic candidate Joe Bidens inherent campaign pledge was a return to stability, not a leap into revolution. But by threatening the institutional architecture, Bidens campaign has become just that. Now Americans will be forced to choose between the vulgarity of Donald Trump a vulgarity and boorishness, however off-putting, that has not threatened constitutional rights and a vengeful Democratic Party threatening to remold the country from the top down. Read more at: NewsBusters.org and LiberalMob.com Hong Kong police on Friday turned down an application by march organizers the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) to hold a pro-democracy march on Oct. 1, China's National Day, saying there was a risk of violence and widespread transmission of coronavirus. The organizers had planned to march from Causeway Bay to the Central business district on Thursday, a date which also coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival in the traditional lunar calendar. "We have received Letter of Objection from #HKPolice on 10.1 Rally," the CHRF said via its Twitter account on Friday, adding: "We will appeal." A copy of the letter posted by the CHRF said there had been "various violent incidents" during previous marches organized by the group, and that the proposed march passed by "high-risk buildings" including police headquarters and the High Court. "Given that the public mood is still unstable right now, police have good reason to believe that some protesters will turned aside from the planned route in order to carry out violent acts of vandalism," the letter said. CHRF convenor Jimmy Sham has called on Hongkongers to wear black instead to register their protest over the incommunicado detention of 12 Hong Kong activists in a Shenzhen detention center after they tried to flee to the democratic island of Taiwan by speedboat. None of the lawyers appointed by the families of the 12 activists, aged 16 to 33, has been allowed to meet with their clients. A lawyer instructed by the family of Yim Man Him told RFA on Friday that he had been refused permission to visit his client by authorities at Shenzhen's Yantian police department on Thursday. The lawyer then went to the municipal judicial affairs bureau, where he discovered that two government lawyers had already been appointed to act on behalf of Yim. The "request for legal aid" was dated on the same day, he said. The lawyer told RFA that the speed with which the request was made suggested that it had been triggered by his request for a meeting with Yim. Jailed for rioting The protest ban came as a court in the city handed down a four-year jail term to a 26-year-old man for "rioting" and breaking his bail conditions, after he allegedly assaulted a non-uniformed police officer during a protest outside police headquarters on June 26, 2019. Passing sentence on Shum Hiu-lun, judge Anthony Kwok said that while the officer was uninjured by the incident, the presence of a large crowd at the time justified a harsher penalty. Shum was also masked at the time, in an apparent bid to hide his identity, which the judge said he counted as an aggravating factor. Kwok said protesters had completely blocked all entrances to the police compound, severely affecting police operations and acted "in an extremely provocative and insulting manner." But he said the level of violence used by Shum was at a 'lower level' than other protest-related offenses like brick-throwing, and assault. Meanwhile, a 24-year-old office worker prosecuted for "possession of an offensive weapon" after she allegedly shone a laser pen at police officers in a nearby car last year was acquitted in West Kowloon Magistracy. Magistrate Lam Tsz-kan said the prosecution had failed to show that Wong Hoi-lam had intended to hurt anybody, and that laser pointers are a commonly used piece of office equipment, government broadcaster RTHK reported. Lam said Wong was 70 meters away from the police vehicle at the time of the incident, and her actions couldn't have harmed anyone, the report said. Thousands arrested Hong Kong police have arrested thousands of people in connection with protests that swept the city throughout most of last year, on charges that rights groups and overseas officials have said undermine the city's traditional freedoms of expression and association, guaranteed by China under the terms of the 1997 handover. Hundreds more have been arrested since July 1, when the ruling Chinese Communist Party imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong outlawing words and deeds deemed by the authorities to constitute separatism, subversion or terrorism, or collusion with a foreign power. In August, the United States announced sanctions against Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials for their role in curbing the city's promised freedoms, and in implementing the national security regime, which has seen China's feared state security police set up a headquarters in the city. This week, a Swedish company that supplies law enforcement and government agencies with technology to extract data from mobile phones said it had pulled its business from Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported. Stockholm-based Micro Systemation AB said it made the decision after the U.S. stripped Hong Kong of its special trading status on July 14. Bloomberg quoted an email from deputy executive officer Mike Dickinson as saying that the company would no longer "supply solutions" to the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong Police Force, nor any other government agencies, owing to the impact on the company's U.S. business. The company had previously supplied data extraction technology to government agencies after setting up shop in China in 2013, Bloomberg cited its website as saying. Its technology was used by Hong Kong authorities to examine the phone contents of pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong after he was arrested in October 2019, police documents showed. Cybersecurity expert Sang Young told RFA that the company's move came more from a "risk perspective" than any moral concerns, however. "For them, Hong Kong isn't that large a market, so they would rather just not bother with it," Young said. He said the company's products could extract data both from Android and Apple phones. Publicly available information accessed by RFA this week showed that the company counts law enforcement agencies, military and government intelligence agencies, and forensic laboratories among its clients. Reported by Gigi Lee, Man Hoi-tsan and Tseng Yat-yiu for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. BANGKOK Myanmar is a poor country struggling with open ethnic warfare and a coronavirus outbreak that could overload its broken hospitals. That hasnt stopped its politicians from commiserating with a country they think has lost its way. I feel sorry for Americans, said U Myint Oo, a member of parliament in Myanmar. But we cant help the U.S. because we are a very small country. The same sentiment prevails in Canada, one of the most developed countries. Two out of three Canadians live within about 60 miles of the American border. Personally, its like watching the decline of the Roman Empire, said Mike Bradley, the mayor of Sarnia, an industrial city on the border with Michigan, where locals used to venture for lunch. The required 28 days of zero community virus transmission Queensland insists NSW must achieve before reopening the border may be reset as health authorities scramble to trace the source of infection in a Sydney man. NSW recorded four new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 4028. Three of the new cases are returning overseas travellers in hotel quarantine and the fourth is a locally-acquired case - a man in his 50s from south-west Sydney, whose positive COVID-19 result was reported on Thursday. Nurses at the drive-through Castle Hill COVID-19 testing clinic. Credit:Brook Mitchell Queensland wants NSW to record 28 days of zero cases not linked to a known source before it will reopen the border. NSW was on track to reach the target on October 6 but Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said she believes the new case in Sydney may reset the border clock to zero. A British secret agent working in Poland during the Cold War was on Her Majesty's secret service in the country in the 1960s, after the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) posted about him on social media. Reuters Investigators at the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) stumbled across documents showing that the man, whose full name was James Albert Bond. He arrived in Warsaw on February 18, 1964, using the cover of secretary-archivist of the British Embassy's military attache. "We know he was in Poland, in 1964 and 1965," Marzena Kruk, director of the IPN's archive, told Reuters. Also Read: After 55 Yrs, James Bond's Iconic Aston Martin DB5 Is Back On Sale, Only 25 Being Built "He travelled a bit around Poland ... he liked women, the same as his literary namesake, but there is not even a word about Martini," she said, referring to the fictional character's favourite tipple. My name is BondJames Bond! The #IPN has the files of a certain James Bond! Was he the worlds famous agent? We can confirm that during the #ColdWar era he visited Poland! Why did he come to Poland in the mid-60s? What did he do? Read the story - https://t.co/I5Y9bGsDDt pic.twitter.com/xg34ZKVj58 Institute of National Remembrance (@ipngovpl_eng) September 23, 2020 "However, there is information that he liked Polish beer." Bond was under strict surveillance and visited the Bialystok and Olsztyn regions of northeastern Poland ,to try and "penetrate military facilities" in the Soviet satellite state, according to the files. Also Read: Next Level 007 Obsession: Delhi Man Changes His Name To James Bond, Leaves Wife Miffed However, he was found not to have made contacts with Polish citizens, which would have had serious consequences for any Poles suspected of working with agents from the other side of the Iron Curtain. The British agent 007 created by author Ian Fleming hit the silver screen in 1962, when actor Sean Connery played the character in the film Dr. No, leading some to suspect British spies may have been playing a joke on their Polish counterparts with their choice of pseudonym. Also Read: Idris Elba Fans Are Disappointed By Reports Of Tom Hardy Being Cast As The Next James Bond All Inputs Reuters Residents of the heavily militarized Indian-controlled region of Kashmir say security forces have arrested thousands of young men, raided peoples homes, inflicted beatings and electric shocks, and threatened to take away and marry their female relatives. Thousands of protesters over the past year have been wounded by shotgun pellets, including hundreds blinded in one or both eyes. For seven months, until March, the area was under a communications blackout, with social media and internet access banned. To an astrophysicist, it's our universe's little-understood but dominant energy form; to a fantasist, it's black magic; and to others it might mean a maniac in the White House. Regardless of which "dark energy" trumpeter Paul Williamson intended, his title track certainly pulses with extreme agitation, so even the restrained introduction feels like a warning shot. Bassist Hiroki Hoshino and drummer Miles Henry quickly establish a choppy undercurrent, around which Theo Carbo's guitar prowls and growls, and the hard, glinting edge of each trumpet note could cut glass. It's high-stakes, high-drama music, yet never histrionic, such is the brilliance with which the edge-of-the-seat stuff is realised, and at its gentlest the music stops needling just long enough to offer a caress. Much of the breadth of the universe of sonic options encompassed across both the compositions and collective improvisations comes from Carbo's instrument, which 53 years after Larry Coryell first dared to use distortion on a Gary Burton record remains a more interesting noise generator than most synthesisers. The bass could sit further forward in the mix, but that may have countered the prevailing spookiness. JOHN SHAND POST-PUNK A Swayze & the Ghosts PAID SALVATION (Ivy League) On their debut full-length album, Hobart four-piece A Swayze & the Ghosts channel brash, late '70s punk, hardcore and garage: the taut, surreal post-punk of Wire and the Buzzcocks; the disaffected fury of Wipers and Black Flag. It was an era when performers were often angry, loose and lewd, and the band leans into this macho punk posturing. Upfront and unremitting, the records shot with punchy, hollered choruses and guitars that slash and spark. At times, its persistent sense of righteousness risks lapsing into condescension as on Connect to Consume, Swayzes tiresome denunciation of online culture or sentimentality. But more often, from the furious Beaches to Mess of Mes peppy catharsis, the bands urgent delivery genuinely connects. The biting Suddenly executes a refreshing inversion as Swayze sings lyrics written by his wife, exploring the lingering threat of male violence from a womans perspective. The excoriating title track, a highlight, roars like a gust down a wind tunnel. Theyve got the chops, the conviction and plenty of self-assurance, whether you find that bracing or obnoxious. With a little refinement, theyll go a long way. ANNIE TOLLER POST-PUNK Idles Like the ants in Aesops fable, hundreds of area businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies have been working diligently for years to build a strong economic and workforce development system, which is serving the region well during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Guided by the powerful combo of the Chester County Economic Development Council and the Chester County Workforce Development Board, these intertwined systems have helped Southeastern Pennsylvania lead the state in economic growth and now recovery. Patrick E. Bokovitz, Executive Director of the Chester County Workforce Development Board, heads one of the 22 local workforce development boards that make up my organization, the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association. These entities serve as the honest brokers of the only base solid enough to anchor real economic stability: a good job for everyone who needs one. Among many other things, local workforce development boards are responsible for the more than 60 PACareerLinkTM centers, which serve as the critical partner to Pennsylvanians looking for work. In Chester County, when we talk economic and workforce development together, we mean it. Bokovitz said. We are a county of opportunity, collaborating to create family-sustaining jobs for our residents. What is Chester Countys secret sauce? Over the past 13 years, Bokovitz and Marybeth DiVincenzo, the Chief Human Resources and Marketing Officer at the Chester County Economic Development Council (CCEDC), have convened and carefully nurtured industry sector partnerships, most notably in manufacturing, information technology, heath care, energy, and agriculture. We believe workforce development IS economic development and that a collaborative approach to solving business solutions is key, says DiVincenzo. Led by committed and forward-thinking employers, industry partnerships are part of a national movement seeking to find collective solutions to better linking employers in similar and supply-chained sectors, connecting them with skilled and accessible talent, and leveraging regional resources that meet the industrys demand. The stats are impressive. Over the past 10 years alone, the industry partnerships, which cover the five-county Southeastern Pennsylvania region, have trained more than 16,000 workers, provided critical hands-on career exploration opportunities to more than 40,000 students, and supported more than 6,000 dislocated workers, all with the help of more than 7,000 volunteers from the private, public, and nonprofit sector. In addition to keeping the economy strong, these industry groups were able to jump directly into the fight against COVID-19 by leveraging partners in CCEDCs Global Advisory Board, who in April procured 3.5 million items of much-needed Personal Protective Equipment for Chester Countys frontline workers. This board, a regional CCEDC partnership of more than 30 international business experts that convenes regularly, has members with fluency in 17 languages and cross-industry experience in 35 countries. And because of its strong and active network of area employers, during the pandemic Chester County was able to step up quickly to serve as the clearinghouse for the states loan programs and local main street relief programs. To date it has worked closely with 98 companies to distribute $7 million and made 248 grants to smaller companies totaling over $5 million. Today, the state funding that supports these regional industry partnerships is at stake. Without these partnerships, Southeastern Pennsylvania will lose the backbone of its economic strength the vibrant and collaborative industry partnerships. Dont just look at Chester County and Southeastern Pennsylvania, Bokovitz said. We are actually the engine of the Commonwealth and we want to get back to roaring and help our families take advantage of opportunities that will come along. Industry partnerships allow us to stay apprised of whats going on in our most important sectors and keep them strong, Bokovitz said. He added that industry more than matches the states investment and the payoffs are great jobs, economic stability, competitiveness, a vibrant region, and a stronger Pennsylvania. If Chester County has been the hardworking ant of Aesops fable, today we worry that Pennsylvania will make the wrong choice to become the lazy grasshopper. We must invest in our strong, collective future in good times and in bad. Now is not the time to pull support for industry partnerships, just when we need them the most. Please reach out to your state legislators and Governor Wolf to let them know that Southeast PA voters understand the value of industry partnerships and support continued funding for them in the state budget. Carrie Anne Amann is executive director of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association, a statewide trade association that advocates for and supports local workforce development boards. Montreal's Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital has closed 36 beds due, in part, to the widespread staff shortage that is affecting medical facilities across the province. The nearby Santa Cabrini hospital has also scaled back, closing 26 beds. At least 12 out of 60 beds reserved for cancer patients will be closed at Maisonneuve-Rosemont, a hospital that offers specialized oncology care. An additional 18 beds reserved for those waiting to be moved into a long-term care facility will also be nixed. Christian Merciari, a spokesperson for the two hospitals, said the decision to cut 10 per cent of beds at the facilities was made for two reasons. The number of available beds had to be reduced to meet the standard staff-to-patient ratio, Merciari said. At the same time, the hospital had to reduce room capacities to prevent the spread of COVID-19. "Thus the conversion of certain double and even quadruple rooms into single rooms had the impact of reducing the number of beds available," Merciari said. Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press Martine Leblanc, a director with the east end public health agency, said it's not possible during the pandemic to line the hallways with overflow stretchers. "We are going through a very difficult period," Leblanc told Radio-Canada. A modular unit offering 36 single rooms for the oncology department is under construction and slated to open in January, she said. Even then, additional staff will be needed when those rooms open. Health minister says more beds may close The province can expect more bed closures in other hospitals because they are understaffed, said Health Minister Christian Dube. "Unfortunately, there will be trimming down," Dube said. Dube will soon visit Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital to see how it is being managed and to search for solutions, even if it means installing more modular units, he said on Thursday. Denis Cloutier, president of the healthcare professional union's east end chapter, said there just aren't enough workers available. Those that are on the job are increasingly working compulsory overtime, leading to exhaustion. "They are still super resilient, but we have reached a breaking point," Cloutier said. Photo: Getty Images Surprise, bitch, Lea Michele and Emma Roberts arent the only Scream Queen can have a kid. After a week filled with births and pregnancy announcements, actress Billie Lourd has joined the fray, with a surprise announcement of her own: she gave birth to a son Kingston Fisher Lourd Rydell with her fiance Austen Rydell. The news comes as quite a shock as the 28 year-old actress never publicly revealed that she was expecting. Introducing: Kingston Fisher Lourd Rydell, the Booksmart star captioned an Instagram of a photo of her newborn sons feet. Kingston joins a long line of Hollywood royalty, stretching back to his great grandmother Singing In The Rain star Debbie Reynolds, and grandmother, Carrie Fisher, who died unexpectedly at the age of 60 in 2016. Lourd paid homage to her late mother by giving their baby boy the middle name Fisher. Lourd now has a Princess for a mother and a King(ston) for a son, which feels right to us. One of Belfast's most famous historic buildings has found a buyer after going on the market a few weeks before lockdown. There have now been calls for the listed Custom House to be put to a "sustainable" use. The former HM Revenue & Customs property was placed on the market at an undisclosed sum in early March, just a few weeks before the shutdown was announced, and is now under offer. The four-storey building was designed in 1847 by architect Sir Charles Lanyon, who also designed the front of Queen's University, Belfast. It was built by D & J Fulton between 1854 and 1857 at a cost of 30,000. Custom House had been marketed for sale by agencies Frazer Kidd and Osborne King. The agents did not respond to a request for comment but the Belfast Telegraph understands the building is under offer. Donal MacRandal, the president of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects, said: "Custom House is an asset to Belfast and it would be fantastic to see it have a more public role in the city. "As we think more about sustainability the opportunity of our historic buildings becomes clear - with sensitive adaptations these buildings can serve many more generations." The property is owned by Watford-based property management company Mapeley, which did not return a request for comment yesterday. At the time of the sale, the agents said the building would be suitable for a variety of uses, subject to planning approval. Potential options include offices, apartments, a hotel, restaurant/bar, private event space or a museum. It is located at Custom House Square, which had become a regular venue for outdoor concerts and events. If successful, a sale of the Custom House would be a positive sign for the state of the commercial property market here. Neil McShane, the founder of commercial property investment consultancy InPrio, said: "It is great to see such an iconic building going under offer during these difficult times." Speaking at the time, the selling agents said: "It is rare that a property of such historic importance comes to market. Although the premises are currently being utilised as office accommodation, the building lends itself to refurbishment and alternative uses. "The site is within walking distance to many of Belfast's main attractions and we are confident it will generate a lot of interest from prospective buyers." According to website Future Belfast, which monitors buildings in the city, HMRC had entered a private finance initiative in 2001 which transferred ownership of its buildings including Custom House to Mapeley STEPS. Under the terms of the deal, Mapeley was to provide serviced accommodation to HMRC for 20 years. HMRC in Belfast relocated to the new-build venue Erskine House in January. The Secretary for Prevention and Health Promotion , Hugo Lopez-Gatell, reported at a press conference that Mexico had an increase of two percentage points in COVID-19 positivity, going from 37 to 39 percent. The official commented that this promotion was not a cause for alert, but that it was important to be aware that it occurred. Likewise, he explained that the Aztec country reached its percentage peak in week 29 when a positivity rate of 57 percent was recorded, which subsequently decreased until this last report. You may be interested: New studies show that the coronavirus is transmitted on airplanes The Secretary of Health reported that there are 715,457 positive cases of SARS-CoV-2 , 84,348 suspects and 34,223 estimated active cases and at the end of the epidemiological week 37 reported 75,439 deaths. On the other hand, in the same conference, the Dr. was questioned about the meeting that Coca-Cola executives had with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. And the official said that there is economic dependence of some countries on these industries, but that this should not lead us to assume that their products are not harmful. Related: Back To Business: What UAE Merchants Should Stop Doing Now (And Beyond) The COVID-19 Crisis Mexico presenta un incremento en positividad de COVID-19 Mexico presents an increase in positivity of COVID-19 Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Director with the Irish Fairy Door Company, Niamh Barry said that the company's move to a licensing model contributed to the firm recording a loss of 422,011 last year The company behind the Irish Fairy Door brand has confirmed a new licensing deal with Dublin-based Allied Imports. Director with the Irish Fairy Door Company, Niamh Barry said that the company's move to a licensing model contributed to the firm recording a loss of 422,011 last year. "We have transitioned to a licensing model with Allied Imports and as such we have changed our supply chain, staffing, and sales and marketing models to reflect this, all of which carried costs for 2019," she said. Allied Imports own the Tipperary Crystal and other brands and Ms Barry said: "We have been working with them over the last six months to develop lots of brand new products which are really exciting." The company's accounts refer to the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the business. "Covid-19 has had a massive impact on our bricks and mortar toy store sales," said Ms Barry. How long ago it seems now, VE Day on May 8 when, despite being in lockdown, people still celebrated in a sensible way, standing outside, waving flags and remembering the courageous men and women who died for our freedom. 2020 has been full of such proud events: the 76th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, the 75th anniversary of VJ Day on August 15, and (so recent) the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, when brave young pilots saw off the Luftwaffe. Weve thrilled at the sight and sound of historic Spitfires honouring their sacrifice in the skies, and mourned Dame Vera Lynn a woman of indomitable spirit who summed up our nation when she sang, Land of hope and glory, mother of the free Where has it gone, that spirit? This year may well go down in history as the one in which Britain faced its biggest danger since the war. How long ago it seems now, VE Day on May 8 when, despite being in lockdown, people still celebrated in a sensible way, standing outside, waving flags and remembering the courageous men and women who died for our freedom No, I am not talking about the virus. Who would have thought that Britons would become slaves to fear? Who would have thought a proud nation like ours would so willingly relinquish the freedoms for which our countrymen fought and died? But its happening. Look at the proof if you can bear it. A snooper army patrolling the streets, bending low to peer through the letter boxes of pubs and restaurants after 10pm to report on those resisting the curfew. Students locked up in their digs. Politicians encouraging us to snitch on our neighbours and tell the police if they invite more than six people round. A Prime Minister ramping up the fear, making it easier to control a population which is astonishingly (to me) actually in favour of more restrictions. Those of us who question a cure which seems far worse than the disease are attacked by the lockdown-lovers whose collective sign-off should be Cowed by Covid. Where has it gone, that spirit? This year may well go down in history as the one in which Britain faced its biggest danger since the war. Pictured: University students self-isolating in Glasgow Its as if we have joined up to a strange doomsday cult, utterly convinced that we are all going to die unless we stay home, stay safe and any other craven, shivering, pathetic and totally unrealistic exhortation you care to squeak when the bogeyman stalks your dreams. What is happening? For a start, we seem happy to destroy the lives of the next generation. You may not care much about students, you may bitterly resent the young people you called Covidiots for assembling in groups as merry young people have always done. But can you remain indifferent to the picture of Glasgow university students barricaded in their halls of residence, unable to have the normal university life that some of us enjoyed? I heard one young woman on the radio yesterday, doing her best to abide by the stringent new rules, saying she couldnt even get groceries delivered. Students have posted protest signs and messages on windows of their rooms in Parker House hall of residence at Abertay University in Dundee This, remember, was on the back of 172 of her fellow students testing positive, with not one hospitalised. Now they are being threatened with not being allowed home for Christmas. Its outrageous. Not content with taking away their freedom, we are making sure the next generation has a wretched future, too. When reading about the effects of lockdown on the economy, the figures make you reel. The national debt with 36 billion borrowed last month alone is terrifying. Our overall figure of more than 2 trillion is the biggest ever recorded, and will take at least two generations to pay off. Redundancy looms for millions. As a grandmother of four, I grieve to think of the stunted future to which this economic suicide will condemn my childrens children. Do I want them sacrificed for my generation? No, I do not. City inspectors patrol the streets of Soho in central London on the first day of the 10pm curfew Youve read all the figures. Age is by far the biggest risk factor for severe illness and death from Covid-19. Of the 52,514 virus deaths registered by the Office for National Statistics, 89 per cent have been over-65s. More than 22,000 over-85s have died, as well as some 17,000 aged between 75 and 84. But in total, only 314 people under the age of 40 have died of the disease since March. NHS England figures show that more than 95 per cent of patients who die from coronavirus in hospital have an underlying health condition, such as diabetes, heart disease or obesity. Meanwhile, a new report estimates that there will be a total of 74,000 deaths over the next five years due to the long-term financial and health impact of the pandemic. Do such statistics warrant the wholesale sacrifice of the young, disguised by the cynical emotional blackmail of Dont kill Granny? No, they do not. Grandparents like me are horrified that young people are not only being cheated out of a good education (what will be the long-term effects of the school lockdown?) but job prospects, too. A snooper army patrolling the streets, bending low to peer through the letter boxes of pubs and restaurants after 10pm to report on those resisting the curfew Yet the madness continues. The economy is shutting down once more with the whole House of Commons, it seems, bowing their heads in fear. Where is the debate? Who is listening to all the medical professionals and scientists, at home and abroad, who question the Governments strategy and suggest that the only way to deal with the virus is to learn to live with it? When Chancellor Rishi Sunak proclaims that we must live without fear, he speaks the only truth that might give back any sort of future to our children and young people. Let me assure you, back in March I agreed that lockdown seemed wise and I was as anxious about the virus as anybody. Nobody with an ounce of experience or empathy could possibly minimise the effects of Covid-19, or fail to comprehend the suffering of those who fell victim, or the grief of their loved ones left to mourn. I know this, because over the months I have answered many letters from bereaved families in my advice column, and also privately. I understand why people feel afraid and know what its like to be sleepless with anxiety. The virus made us all shudder at the thought of losing our lives or loved ones. All that is understandable. But in no way am I minimising the disease when I say that I now feel so angry at the cure we are being offered. The NHS we were supposed to save did not do its duty of saving the really sick. To cite one example, oncologists warn of an extra 30,000 deaths from cancers currently going undiagnosed. In yesterdays Mail, Dr John Lee, a welcome voice of sanity, pointed out that diabetics are not being properly monitored, and all, he wrote, to slow the advance of a virus that is currently killing fewer than 40 of the 1,600 people who die every day in the UK. As the Mail also reports today, another study has found that there were 2,000 extra deaths from strokes and heart attacks this summer all down to people being too afraid to go to hospital, so essentially dying in their homes. Have we all gone mad, and become so afraid of the virus that weve lost the ability to read, to think and to question? You could argue that the fear of Covid-19 has become so all-consuming that it has become even more of a killer than the virus itself. Surely we need to urgently examine our feelings, and distinguish between human anxiety and the abject terror which shuts down thought and action. Experts know what fear does to the human mind. When a rabbit is caught in car headlights it freezes, terror making it unable to move. Freud pointed out that if fear is too strong, it proves absolutely useless and paralyses every action and he identified a readiness to be afraid which becomes almost a purpose in life. Isnt that where we are now so compliant that a cowed populace seems to have no problem with snoopers and snitches? Once what psychologists call the fear pathways are ramped up, people are unable to think for themselves. When people live in constant fear, whether from actual physical dangers or perceived threats, they can become incapacitated, because fear interrupts thought processes in the brain that allow us to regulate our emotions and process information. Being told what to do and obeying can almost be a relief. Let me give you a chilling example of how this can work. At the beginning of World War II, a government pamphlet led to a massive cull of British pets. Just before the outbreak of war, the National Air Raid Precautions Animals Committee (NARPAC) was formed. It drafted a notice: Advice to Animal Owners. The pamphlet said: If at all possible, send or take your household animals into the country in advance of an emergency. It concluded: If you cannot place them in the care of neighbours, it really is kindest to have them destroyed. It indicated pets would not be allowed in public air-raid shelters, and featured a do-it-yourself guide to putting animals down. This advice was printed in newspapers and announced on the BBC. People panicked and obeyed in terror. Though animal charities and vets opposed the cull, as many as 750,000 British pets were killed in just one week. It was reported that some mobs became hysterical, insisting Fido and Tiddles were taken away to the slaughter. Government was instrumental in this massacre. MI5 agents were set to watch animal rights activists, an anti-dog hate campaign was sponsored and the Government sanctioned the criminal prosecutions of cat owners for giving their pets saucers of milk. What happened to the mentality of this alleged nation of animal lovers? Why did people think they were doing their patriotic duty by queuing up to hand over their pets to be killed, or dumping them in sacks? Fear happened, thats what. People were terrified of food shortages, air-raid sirens, bombs, Hitler everything. That fear deprived them of any ability to question the cruel and, historians agree, totally unnecessary policy and say, No. You may think this horrible story has nothing to do with our current situation, but you would be wrong. Both concern a nation in the grip of panic and no longer able to distinguish acceptable diktats from those which will do actual harm. Would you kill your dog if you were told it just might carry the virus? Would you condemn your very old parents to house arrest with no visitors no matter how much distress it caused them? Would you wish your daughter to endure labour alone, when there is no logical reason why a masked and scrubbed partner could not be present? Will you obey a kind of Sophies Choice and decide which of your children to banish on Christmas Day? If the answer to any of the above is Yes then I will say, not in anger but in sorrow, that we as a nation have surely never been so frit. Back in March, when lockdown was ordered, spring was ahead. We had glorious weather, the clocks went forward, we spent time outside, we pulled together, presuming it would all be over by Christmas. Now, in autumn, we face the real pandemic not Covid but mental health problems. Suicides, loneliness, depression all will become worse when the dark, cold nights hit, and we feel as if we have lost the whole way of living we knew and loved. Believe me, social distance is more than two metres it can represent incalculable miles of isolation and distress. Do you remember our Queens powerful message around Easter? She reassured us that, We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return and promised: We will meet again. How moving it was, especially to a passionate patriot like me. That echo of Vera Lynns hopeful message lifted our hearts. And we kept the faith. We endured. The better days did return at last. We did meet again. Will we allow it to be taken away again and all for the unbelievable promise that a vaccine will be found and we will beat the virus? Let us not be slaves to terror but realise risk is a part of life. Let us growl like a Spitfire and tell each other that we just have to get on with it. Let us take back control of our lives and learn to live with the virus and without fear. Enough is enough. Wake up Britain! (TNS) An app launched by Gov. Tom Wolfs administration earlier this week to notify state residents about possible exposure to COVID-19 is on track to exceed its early user projections.The COVID Alert PA app, which is intended to fight the spread of the coronavirus, has been downloaded more than 77,000 times since it was launched for smartphone users Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health said Thursday.The health department's goal is for 100,000 downloads by next week, according to Maggi Mumma, the departments deputy press secretary.The app asks users to report symptoms of COVID-19, while also providing data on daily user check-ins and a breakdown of cases statewide. The health department also asks state residents 18 and older to alert the app if they have tested positive for COVID-19 by using a random six-digit code issued by the department after a positive test. Users also get notifications if they have come within 6 feet of an infected person, who also has downloaded the app, for at least 15 minutes within the past 14 days.Similar COVID-19 tracing technology has been launched by Apple and Google internationally since the start of the pandemic. The technology is automatically installed on smartphones but users have to voluntarily activate it in their settings.While the Pennsylvania app is meeting the states user projections, it has received mixed reviews from residents. Some have praised the apps potential benefits; others have expressed concern over privacy.Im thrilled with this new COVID app and downloaded it as soon as I saw it available, Jacob Punturi, 24, of Highland Park, said in a Direct Message to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Wednesday. I think it will be a huge benefit if we have a large amount of people on it, but I doubt there will be enough cooperation from the community at large.Pittsburgh resident Morgan Roberts agreed that it will be a challenge to persuade millions of state residents to download and use the app.Having something tangible for me to be an active participant in minimizing the spread makes me feel like I am working to ensure public health and safety, Ms. Roberts said Wednesday. The trouble will be getting people en masse to download and utilize [the app].Their sentiments coincided with a tone of skepticism on social media from some who fear Pennsylvania will use the app to track personal data and obtain private information.One Twitter user called it a big brother app, while another wrote, Just say no to government tracking!The health department said it plans to buy media advertising time as early as next week to help reinforce awareness of the app and eliminate suspicions about tracking user locations.The department and its partners worked tirelessly to bring an app that does not collect a user's location information, said Ms. Mumma. It is strictly an exposure notification service that uses Bluetooth technology. Bluetooth technology is the same technology that connects your phone to wireless headphones, or even you car.John Sancenito, president of Information Network Associates Inc., a Harrisburg-based cybersecurity company, said his team plans to test the COVID Alert PA app for safety and privacy concerns in its digital forensic lab.Mr. Sancenito said Thursday that residents should always be wary when installing apps on their phones, and he recognizes that those concerns are heightened when the government is involved.The reality is that few people pay attention to the users agreements or what their apps request access to, he said. Many apps ask for access to your contact lists and location data. Most people grant authorization to apps without any consideration of the implications.Mr. Sancenito agreed, however, that the states app, if used widely, can indeed aid in the fight against the spread of the virus.The app can be helpful for contract tracing and would provide faster updates to those who may have been exposed to someone with COVID, he said. The COVID-19 tracing apps have some built-in features to help protect the privacy of the user. Most common apps on user phones do not.New York, New Jersey and other states are expected to unroll their own versions of the app in the coming weeks. NANJING, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Space-tracking ship Yuanwang-5 has departed from a port in east China's Jiangsu Province on Thursday for a maritime monitoring mission in the Pacific Ocean. This is the third voyage of the ship this year. It will spend more than 100 days at sea and is scheduled to return in early 2021. Yuanwang-5 has spent 143 days at sea in 2020 carrying out four maritime monitoring missions, providing support for China's first Mars probe and the APSTAR-6D telecommunication satellite. After docking on Aug. 10, crew members rested and examined onboard facilities, and replenished their supplies for upcoming missions. Two new air operators are in the final stages of certification by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and once thats done, they may foray in the regional airlines space. With the government putting focus on regional connectivity scheme (RCS) under its Udey Desh ka Aam Naagarik (UDAN) scheme, the two operators are also likely to fly on regional routes only. Also read: No refund on lockdown flights originating outside India, Centre clarifies Top ministry sources told HT that these two airlines are Indian airlines and are expected to be able to commence their operations soon. A senior ministry official said, Two scheduled commuter airlines, Big Charter and Aviation Connectivity, are in the final certification stage. The official also said, These airlines are eyeing the RCS routes. An Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said that except Bengaluru-based Star Air that commenced its operations in January last year, currently no airline in service has dedicated UDAN operations. Director general of DGCA, Arun Kumar, confirmed that they have given flying permissions to two airlines. When asked if DGCA had received more applications for commencement of new airlines which was pending for approvals, Kumar said, No application is pending with DGCA for starting new airlines. Industry sources confirmed to HT that, apart from other small aircraft, the airlines are to use ATR 72 aircraft for their flight operations. With an aim to make air travel affordable and connect tier II and tier III cities, UDAN was announced in October 2016 and the first flight under this scheme took off in April 2017. Since then, 271 routes have commenced their UDAN flight operations. The aviation ministry has recently sanctioned 108 crore under UDAN for upgrade of three Chhattisgarh airports. Early this week, it also identified 78 new routes and approved under the first phase of UDAN 4.0. After posting messages on Facebook that was disturbing to those who knew the deceased couple, they were more shocked at what happened. The husband shot his wife and shot himself with the same gun. Both were found dead at the woman's residence. The murder-suicide took the lives of Mikki Star, 27-years old, and Zachary, 29-years old. They were found dead in a home in Lima, Ohio. Authorities found the deceased couple on a Wednesday afternoon. Close to the mother of two was the corpse of Zachary, reported Meaww. Warnings of unbalanced behavior was evident after family members saw posted on his Facebook account that alarmed them. It prompted them to report it to the police, but it might have been too late, cited The Sun. Investigators looked over the crime scene and any evidence they could find. Detectives agreed that it was a murder-suicide, and Zachary had shot his wife and himself. A statement by the lead detective in the investigation, Detective Sergeant Jason Garlock, indicated that information reported to them by family members, who were alarmed by posts of the husband on his FB account. His state of mind in the messages was not usual for any person. Garlock surmised what was in the post is what happened to the couple, noted Daily Mail. The standard procedure in such situations is for the Lucas County Coroner's Office to autopsy victims of violence and murders. The remains of Mikki and Zachary were sent for examination, and the results are not yet released. Also read: Request of Tennessee Man Accused of Parricide To Not Reveal Crime Photos Denied by Court On social media, the pair were active before their sad demise in the home. Sources indicate that they were posting on each other's pages, expressing their love and affection. They can't seem to get enough of what they got. One question is whether their two children witnessed what happened to them. Detectives are looking for leads why the murder-suicide happened or any motive connected to that. Mikki has two children with Zachary, graduating from Elida High School in 2012, then attending Rhodes State College in 2019. She owns the house on Ford Avenue, onwards from March 2017. She was working as an endoscopy technician at Mercy Health-St. Rita's Medical Center from August 2019, mentioned Daily Echoed. Her obituary said that she was a runner, plays bowling, and an animal lover. As a mother, she loved her children and devoted to them specially. Mikki was a kind person who is inclined to help those in need. She will be missed by everyone who knew her. The couple met in May 2012 and tied the knot after five years on June 24, 2017. They have two children, Ryker, and daughter Ryah Starr. Ryker was born in July 2013 and Ryah on March 2019. Sources say they had a stillborn child in July 2016, Grayson Starr. Concern for the children is foremost after their parent's deaths. Mikki's death is shocking to those who knew her. They wrote tributes to her on the Facebook page of Tracey Anne Davis, her cousin. Many of the posts show the affection they had for the deceased. Relate article: Jealous Boyfriend Burned His Fiancee to Death Because She Exposed Her Body on the Beach @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- China's largest pet-focused platform Boqii Holding Limited (BQ.US) launched an initial public offering (IPO) in the US on September 23, 2020. With the IPO, Boqii plans to offer 7 million American depositary shares (ADSs) (each representing 0.75 of the company's Class A ordinary share) for USD $10-$12 each. Boqii will become the first US-listed company in the Chinese pet industry. According to data from US-based business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, Boqii is the largest pet-focused platform in China in terms of revenue and number of customers, the largest pet-focused online community in the country in terms of registered users, and the largest pet-focused online retailer in the country in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV). Boqii has been favored by a number of renowned investors worldwide thanks to its deep penetration in the pet industry. In particular, Goldman Sachs and CMB International have invested in Boqii prior to its public listing in the domestic market. Notably, Goldman Sachs participated in Boqii's A, B and C rounds of financing. These investments demonstrate the investors' strong confidence in the long-term growth of the pet-focused platform. 1. Consistent Spending and Resilient Performance During Economic Downturns As China has gone through comprehensive consumption upgrading in recent years, the consumption demand of pet owners has gradually grown to a higher level from one that focused merely on pet good. Pet owners are willing to trade up to high-quality pet goods to enhance the well-being of their pets. High-speed consumption growth is occurring in upper-income brackets, among the younger generation. With pet owners' increasing spending on pet, China's pet market is likely to continue to develop in foreseeable future. According to the Frost & Sullivan data, the Chinese pet market increased from RMB 70.7 billion (approx. US$10.3 billion) in 2014 to RMB 204.9 billion (approx. US$29.9 billion) in 2019. The market is expected to further grow to RMB 449.5 billion (approx. US$65.6 billion) by 2024 based on an annual compound growth rate estimated at 17.0%. According to Boqii's F-1, the pet-ownership penetration rate (percentage of pet-owning households out of all households) in China was 22.8% during 2019, compared to 68.9% in the United States, 45.0% in the United Kingdom and 26.8% in Japan. The rate in China is expected to reach 29.9% by 2024. 2. Leading pet-focused platform in China riding on market tailwind Boqii was established in Shanghai in 2008 as a community designed to provide a vertically integrated social platform for pet owners and lovers where they could share their experiences with their pets and learn how to better raise and care for them. In 2014, Boqii launched its mobile app, Boqii Pet, the largest pet-focused online community in China in terms of registered users in 2019 and average MAUs according to Frost & Sullivan, which covers all major aspects of pets' life and offers pet products, services and content. Currently, Boqii has 23 million registered users, including 3.5 million monthly active users. Boqii community has partnered with more than 860 key opinion leaders (KOLs) and boasted 334 million user interactions per month on average for the three months from April to June 2020. In 2008, Boqii established an e-commerce platform, Boqii Mall. Boqii is redefining e-commerce for pet parents by providing an accessible, personalized and enjoyable shopping experience based on a deep understanding of our users and customers and their pets by leveraging extensive user interactions and transactional behaviors we have observed over the years. As of June 30, 2020, the company had built partnerships with over 570 brands while the number of available Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) has climbed to over 17,000. In addition, Boqii launched its own brand Yoken (with around 1,300 SKUs) in 2015 and its premium brand Mocare in 2018 with compelling quality and prices. As of June 30, 2020, the company was offering customers access to 2,130 SKUs sold under its private brands, accounting for 11.9% of the total SKUs. In 2015, Boqii expanded its offline sales channels and develop business with physical pet stores, and introduced our proprietary SaaS solutions which help offline pet stores digitalize, streamline and optimize supply chain management and in-store operations. By investing in PetDog, China's largest the largest pet store franchise and the largest training center for pet service professionals, Qingdao Shuangan Bio-technology Co., Ltd, a a leading pet food manufacturer in China, as well as several companies that are mainly engaged in the R&D and manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. Boqii has built a pet-focused platform covering the entire industry chain, including pharma R&D and manufacturing, animal breeding, private label, pet store franchise and training center for pet service professional. Boqii has cooperated with over 15,000 physical pet stores and pet hospitals over 250 cities in China as of June 30, 2020, and helps brand partners significantly expand their reach in a cost-effective and coordinated manner, bringing a comprehensive catalog to pet parents across China. Boqii disrupts the traditional pet retail and services in China by fostering an ecosystem that connects and empowers various participants along the entire pet value chain, including brands, manufacturers, physical pet stores and pet hospitals. Boqii empowers them with valuable data insights into user demands, effective content-driven marketing, comprehensive inventory management and supply chain capabilities, and reliable nationwide logistics network. 3. Disruptive Business Model Empowering the Entire Pet Value Chain Boqii has posted steady growth in both income and GMV. The company's total net revenue reached RMB 804 million (approx. US$117.3 million) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019 and 770 million yuan (approx. US$109 million) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. In the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021 (from April to June 2020), net revenue was RMB 238 million (approx. US$33.7 million), an increase of 26.2% compared with RMB 189 million(approx. US$27.6 million) in the same period of the prior fiscal year. In the Q1 of the fiscal year 2021, GMV also increased 56% year on year to RMB 554 million (approx. US$80.8 million). For the fiscal year 2020, Boqii's EBITDA stood at RMB -113 million (approx. -US$16 million), with a margin of 14.7%, an improvement compared to that recorded for fiscal year 2019. During the Q1 of fiscal 2021 (from April to June 2020), the company's EBITDA was -35.43 million yuan (approx. -US$5.1 million) with the margin reduced to 14.9% from 18.6% for the same period of the prior fiscal year, reflecting the company's continuous efforts in strategic investments. The continued improvement in the EBITDA margin demonstrates the success of the business model of the pet-focused platform. Looking forward, Boqii plans to continue investing in growing content, improving user experiences, and enriching a pet-focused ecosystem. Optimizing product mix and continuing to introduce more brands to onmi channels to strengthen and diversify product offerings catering to customers' demands and drive profitability. Boqii will continue to attract more users to subscribe for membership program and deepen their engagement. Furthermore, they will also continue to identify and pursue M&A and strategic transactions along the pet industry value chain, with a goal to diversify product and service offerings, enhance ecosystem, and drive long-term development of the entire pet industry in China. With the IPO, Boqii is the largest company propelling the revolution for the pet industry to deliver compelling value propositions to their users and customers, their pets, small and medium pet businesses, and business partners. SOURCE Boqii Holding Limited Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Arshad Mohammed, Matt Spetalnick and Robin Emmott (Reuters) Washington, United States/Brussels, Belgium Fri, September 25, 2020 09:54 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4720cfd 2 World Belarus,Alexander-Lukashenko,protest Free The United States, Britain and Canada may impose sanctions on Belarus as early as Friday, four sources told Reuters, and the European Union told President Alexander Lukashenko it did not recognize him as the country's legitimate leader. Diplomatic pressure on Lukashenko mounted a day after he had himself sworn in for a sixth term at an inauguration ceremony that was kept secret until after it was completed. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that following the "fraudulent" inauguration, British, US and Canadian officials were working on sanctions against those responsible for "serious human rights violations". The four sources said the measures could come on Friday, though that might slip given the challenge of coordinating between the three countries. More than 12,000 people have been arrested, and hundreds remain in jail, since Lukashenko was declared the landslide winner of an Aug. 9 presidential election that the opposition denounced as rigged. Mass protests have left him reliant on his security forces, and backing from his ally Russia, to maintain his 26-year grip on power in the former Soviet republic. Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said: "The inauguration is as illegitimate as the elections it follows." The European Union said the abrupt swearing-in on Wednesday went directly against the will of the people. "The so-called 'inauguration' ... and the new mandate claimed by Aleksander Lukashenko lack any democratic legitimacy," the EU's 27 states said in a statement. "This 'inauguration' directly contradicts the will of large parts of the Belarusian population, as expressed in numerous, unprecedented and peaceful protests since the elections, and serves to only further deepen the political crisis in Belarus." The EU, a large financial donor to Belarus, also said it was "reviewing its relations" with the country, meaning the bloc would seek to cut off direct funding to Lukashenko's government, channeling it to aid groups and hospitals instead. Night of protests Lukashenko brushed off the condemnation. "We didn't ask anyone to recognize our elections or not recognize them, to recognize the legitimacy of the newly elected president or not," the news site Sputnik Belarus quoted him as saying. The 66-year-old leader defended the manner of his swearing-in. "You know about 2,000 people were invited to the inauguration, together with the military. And it is almost impossible to keep it secret," he said. The ceremony, a major state occasion that would normally be conducted with fanfare, took place without prior warning in an apparent attempt to prevent it being disrupted by protests. Instead, it drew thousands onto the streets of the capital Minsk on Wednesday evening, where security forces chased down protesters and fired water cannon to disperse crowds. Police detained 364 people, the Interior Ministry said. A video showing a taxi driver rescuing a protester and speeding away from baton-wielding riot police went viral on social media. Detained opposition politician Maria Kolesnikova urged protesters not to give up and mocked the security forces who arrested her, in a letter to her father that was shared by the Tut.By news portal. "You must tell them not to give up, just keep going! These people who have kidnapped me are all incredibly weak and hysterical. They don't even know how to do their job well," the 38-year-old musician wrote. Kolesnikova burnished her status as a hero to the protesters by ripping up her passport to avoid forced deportation to Ukraine earlier this month. PATNA: Political parties in Bihar on Friday welcomed the three-phase poll schedule announced by the Election Commission, with the two major electoral alliances predicting their victory in the elections. The poll panel announced that voting for the first, second and the third and final phases will be held on October 28, November 3 and 7 respectively while counting of votes will take place on November 10. We bring to you some key faces in Bihar election: Nitish Kumar: 69-year-old Nitish Kumar will seek his seventh term as Bihar Chief Minister since 2005. In the 2015 election, Nitish's JD(U), along with RJD and Congress, formed the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) to counter the BJP in Bihar. Kumar campaigned aggressively during the elections for the Grand Alliance, countering the allegations raised by Narendra Modi and the BJP. The Grand Alliance won the Assembly election by a margin of 178 over the BJP and its allies, with RJD emerging as the largest party with 80 seats and JD(U) placed second with 71. Nitish was sworn in as the Bihar CM on November 20, 2015 for a record fifth time; with RJD's Tejashwi Yadav becoming the Deputy CM of Bihar. When corruption charges were leveled against Tejashwi, the Deputy CM, Nitish asked for him to resign from the Cabinet. The RJD refused to do so, and therefore Nitish walked out of the alliance and resigned on 26 July 2017. He joined the principal opposition, the NDA, and came back to power within a few hours. Tejashwi Prasad Yadav He is the current leader of opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly and the youngest opposition leader in the country. He is all set to take on seasoned politician such as Nitish Kumar this year. In the absence of his father Lalu Yadav, who is currently serving his jail term in 4 fodder scams, Tejashwi has been trying to carve out his own niche in the politics. Tejashwi was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly from the Raghopur constituency as a member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal in 2015. He served as the Deputy Chief Minister for the state of Bihar between November 2015 and July 2017. He had to step down from the post after the then Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's JD(U) walked out of the Grand Alliance with RJD and Congress in the state. This happened after registration of corruption case by CBI and criminal case under PMLA by the Enforcement Directorate against Tejashwi in 2017. Chirag Paswan Chira Paswan, 37, is the President of Lok Janshakti Party and is son of MP and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. He contested the 2014 elections for the Lok Janashakti Party in the seat of Jamui. He won the seat, defeating the nearest rival RJD's Sudhansu Shekhar Bhaskar by over 85,000 votes. He retained his seat in the 2019 elections, securing a total of 528,771 votes and defeating nearest rival Bhudeo Choudhary. Chirag also owns a NGO named Chirag ka Rojgar, a foundation that provides jobs to the unemployed youths of his state. Ahead of the upcoming Bihar Assembly Elections 2020, Chirag Paswan launched 'Bihar First Bihari First' campaign drawing attention of the youth of Bihar. Bihar First, Bihari First campaign aims to develop the state of Bihar thoroughly. Paswan also added that there is an utmost requirement to make Bihar a 'number one' State. Sushil Kumar Modi Serving as Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar since 27 July 2017, Sushil Kumar Modi is seen as the main bridge between BJP and JD(U) and is believed to share close ties with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. In 2017, Sushil Modi was the main player behind the fall of the JDU-RJD Grand Alliance government in Bihar, with his continuous tirade against RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his family for four months over his alleged benami properties and irregular financial transactions. He is seen as the face of BJP in Bihar. Asaduddin Owaisi All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi will also try his luck in Bihar elections. Owaisi is eyeing the Muslim vote bank. The population of Muslims in Bihar is 16.9 per cent of the total population. Be it the 2014 Lok Sabha elections or the 2019 elections. On both occasions, the Muslim vote was divided between the RJD, Congress, and JDU. Muslims also expressed confidence in Ram Vilas Paswan's party LJP. By winning the by-elections in October 2019, AIMIM entered the politics of Bihar when Kamarul Hoda from Kishanganj defeated BJP's, Sweety Singh. AIMIM's entry in Bihar's politics is likely to cause major damage to RJD and Congress. Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, head of Jan Adhikar Party Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, the head of the Jan Adhikar Party, has been an MP five times. He was elected MP in 1991, 1996, 1999, 2004, and 2014. But in 2019, he had to face defeat. Earlier, in 2015 Bihar assembly elections, his party contested 40 seats. But could not win even a single seat. His party then got only 2 per cent votes. Even in this election, his party is most lilely to go solo; since Pappu Yadav is neither close to the NDA nor the Opposition parties in the state. Jiten Ram Manjhi He has been holding his turf in the assembly since 1980 by winning elections continuously. Manjhi hails from the scheduled caste. He has also been a Minister of Scheduled Castes and Tribes in the Nitish government. Manjhi first came into the limelight after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Then Nitish Kumar resigned from the post of Chief Minister after the defeat in the 2014 elections. Jitan Ram Manjhi was made the Chief Minister of Bihar. However, later when Nitish asked him to step down, he refused. In February 2015, Manjhi could not prove a majority in the floor test and had to step down. Manjhi formed the HAM Party in 2015. In 2018, he went to the Grand Alliance. The party could not win a single seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Last month, he left the Grand Alliance and joined the NDA. Draft law on fines for repeated false emergency calls presented for MPs discussion RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov 12:00 25/09/2020 MOSCOW, September 25 (RAPSI) A bill on penalties of up to 5,000 rubles ($65) for repeated false calls to emergency services has been submitted to the lower house of Russian parliament, according to the State Duma database. Amendments are proposed to the Code on Administrative Offenses. Repeated false calls to firefighters, police, ambulance and other specialized committed within a year are to be punished with fines ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 rubles ($40 - 65), an explanatory note to the bill reads. According to the draft laws sponsors, in 2019, the number of such offenses increased by 15%. They believe that current fines varying from 1,000 to 1,500 rubles ($13 - 19) are insufficient for such actions. The Nigerian government has deported 19 foreigners from the country. This was disclosed in a statement signed by the spokesperson, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Sunday James, on Friday. According to the statement, the minister of interior, Rauf Aregbesola, signed the order for the deportation. This order is in accordance with the section 45 subsection (2) and section 46 subsection (1), and section 47 subsection (1) of the Immigration Act 2015. One of the deportees, Ali Mahamat, was deported to France while another, Kasinayhan Ramasamy, was deported to India. The statement said Mr Mahamat was found to be engaged in activities capable of undermining the security of a friendly neighbouring country to Nigeria in Maiduguri, Borno State, while Mr Ramasamy was found working as a shop attendant in Kano. The statement said an additional 10 Egyptians that violated the conditions for their entry were also deported by the order of the minister. It also confirmed that seven Sri Lankans, that were jailed for petroleum product-related offences after serving their jail terms, were ordered by the courts to be deported to their country. The comptroller general of NIS, Muhammad Babandede, directed that all migrants in Nigeria should comply fully with the laws guiding their residence and entry. The public is advised to note that all special exemptions granted to migrants due to COVID-19 have elapsed, it concluded. Islamabad, Sep 25 : Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will address the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday via video link, during which he will share Islamabad's "perspective on Kashmir, region and the international issues". "The Prime Minister will one again raise the issue of Jammu and Kashmir dispute as he had been doing in the past," Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said in a statement. "He will also share Pakistan's successful handling of Covid-19, his debt relief initiative for developing countries and Islamophobia." Khan's speech will focus on the tensions along the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan, the pertaining issue of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and he will also seek an intervention from UN member countries to pressure India to come to the negotiating table. Diplomatic sources have said that the Prime Minister's speech this year will be similar to the one at the UNGA in 2019. "Pakistan will be raising the issue of strategic and planned demographic changes being done in Jammu and Kashmir by India through its domicile law, which aims to change the Muslim majority state into a Muslim minority state," said a diplomatic source. Khan's speech comes as Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has been holding sideline meetings with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the UNGA contact group. "Foreign Minister Qureshi had already addressed a high-level virtual meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the UN" the source said. "The Foreign Minister called for the respect of the right to self-determination promised to the people of Jammu and Kashmir as well as Palestine by the UN. " Qureshi said that "a final resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute lies in fulfilling the aspirations of the people of Kashmir, determined through a free and fair plebiscite under the auspices of the UN". "There can be no change in this principled position," the Minister maintained. The theme for the 75th General Debate is "The future we want, the UN we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism - confronting Covid-19 through effective multilateral action" Qureshi also addressed the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir on the sidelines of the UNGA. "The Contact Group reviewed recent developments relating to Jammu and Kashmir, including the grave human rights and humanitarian situation in held Kashmir and escalation in tensions along the LoC," the Foreign Office spokesperson added. The Taos News delivered to your Taos County address every week for a full year! We offer our lowest mail rates to zip codes in the county. Click Here to See if you Qualify. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime. HOUGHTON, MI An Upper Peninsula health department is calling off in-person classes in an entire county amid a spike in COVID-19 cases. Students in Houghton County, which is currently a Michigan red zone, will have online classes only from Sept. 28 to Oct. 9, the Western U.P. Health Department announced on Thursday. Students are expected to return to classrooms on Monday, Oct. 12. While students are staying home, all sporting events are also canceled. The health department is concerned about a sustained increase in COVID-19 cases in the county since late August, the announcement said. In that time, the positive test rate has increased from 0.6% to 5.1%. In the past week, the county reported 125 new cases and 29 probable cases. Houghton is among four Western U.P. counties listed in the red zone with Michigans highest rates of coronavirus transmission, based on a metric developed by the Harvard Global Health Initiative to assess coronavirus risk levels. Houghton is home to Michigan Technological University, where outbreaks among college students are spiking county numbers. RELATED: Friday, Sept. 25, coronavirus data by Michigan county: 166 cases in two days in western U.P. The capacity of our local healthcare and public health system has been stretched thin by the steady increase in COVID-19 cases in Houghton County, said Kate Beer, health officer at WUPHD. This pause allows us to work with schools and other community partners to review and strengthen mitigation efforts as we move forward with the school year. The goal is to slow the spread so that local resources are not overwhelmed. Houghton has recorded a total 336 COVID-19 cases and two deaths related to the virus. The school closure affects several school districts, including CLK Public Schools, Hancock Public Schools and Houghton-Portage Township Schools. 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, visit https://www.mlive.com/coronavirus/data/. READ MORE: Michigan pandemic death toll is thousands higher than official counts WMU reports 72 new coronavirus cases; university now at 235 infections 23 students at 10 University of Michigan buildings test positive for COVID-19, public health notices say Coronavirus cases more than tripled among Michigan residents under age 25 since July 5 Michigan school and college outbreaks infect more than 1,400 students and staff so far, state reports New Delhi: Indian Farmers Union stages 'Chakka Jam' demonstration to protest against the Central Government over Agri Bills 2020 at the Delhi-Noida border, on Sep 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Indian Farmers Union stages 'Chakka Jam' demonstration to protest against the Central Government over Agri Bills 2020 at the Delhi-Noida border, on Sep 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, Sep 25 : India woke up on Friday with farmers up in arms across the nation against the contentious agri Bills passed in the monsoon session of Parliament. While Punjab and Haryana took the lead, no other state could match their spirit. In fact, in Karnataka farmers protests elicited lukewarm responses. In Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh, police and paramilitary forces were ready to deal with any eventuality at the borders. However, so far it has been peaceful. In the bread basket states of Punjab and Haryana emotions ran high. Cutting across party lines, the day-long statewide protests by farmers evoked a huge response and normal life was disrupted. Chandigarh though was near normal. The activists of several farmer associations were seen asking traders at many places in the Congress-ruled Punjab to keep their shops and business establishments shut to mark the pan-India protest. Reports of shutdown of shops and other establishments were received from Punjab's Patiala, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Moga, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and other places. Northern Railway cancelled three trains and curtailed the routes of 20 special trains, officials said on Friday. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is still technically an ally of the ruling BJP at the Centre, has demanded that the whole of Punjab should be declared a 'principal market yard' for agricultural produce to ensure that laws based on the three passed agricultural Bills do not apply in the northern state. "This is the best, the quickest and the most effective way for Punjab to pre-empt the application of the Centre's latest anti-farmer Bills in the state because these will not apply to 'principal market yards' declared by any state government. Therefore, the Punjab government must act without delay," the SAD leader said in a strongly worded statement. However, the same cannot be said about the rest of India. In poll-bound Bihar, though Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav led a tractor rally on Patna roads, public participation was hardly visible as it was in Punjab and parts of Haryana. A procession of around 50 tractors followed the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, with his party supporters shouting slogans against the NDA government over the Bills. The protesters, without following social distancing norms, were headed towards the Governor's House when a posse of police briefly stopped them for security reasons. They were, however, allowed to proceed towards Bailey Road. In West Bengal, members of farmers' bodies belonging to the Left parties and the ruling Trinamool Congress staged sporadic protests in various parts of the state demanding withdrawal of the "anti-people" farm bills passed in Parliament. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) farmers wing 'Sara Bharat Krishak Sabha' and Trinamool-backed Kisaan Khet Mazdoor cell activists took out rallies, held sit-in demonstrations and set the farm bills on fire in Kolkata. CPI-M students wing SFI activists also staged a road blockade in front of Kolkata's prestigious Jadavpur University in the afternoon protesting against the farm bills. In Uttar Pradesh, farmers protesting against the agri bills passed in parliament earlier this week, blocked the Ayodhya-Lucknow highway for a few hours on Friday. The protesters also burnt stubble in the middle of the road and shouted slogans against the Centre, demanding withdrawal of the bills. Farmers also blocked the Delhi-Meerut highway near Ghaziabad to protest against the bills. Farmers from the Lakhimpur Kheri district have also gathered in protest. Protests have also been reported from many districts in Uttar Pradesh, including Pilibhit, Sambhal, Ghaziabad, Sitapur, Baghpat and Barabanki. In Maharashtra, farmers protested in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Pune, Kolhapur, Nashik, Nandurbar, Jalna, Beed, Aurangabad, Nanded, Yavatmal and Buldhana. Members of the Karnataka State Farmers' Association on Friday held protests at various places against the three farm Bills, however, they elicited only a lukewarm response. While farmer leader Kuruburu Shantakumar said that there are as many as 60 entry points across Bengaluru, lack of unanimity among farmers associations came to the fore when another prominent farmer leader Kodihalli Chandrashekhar asserted that their group did not support Friday's protest. In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, the protests were not even half as emphatic as in Punjab or Haryana. Led by Tamil Nadu Farmers' Association President P. Ayyakannu, half-clad farmers held their protest outside the Collectorate in Trichy while carrying human skulls in their hands. They demanded that the Bills should not be made into law. Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister R. Doraikkannu said the Bills will not impact the farmers in Tamil Nadu. However, amid nationwide farmer protests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi insisted on Friday that, "Small and marginal farmers, who constitute 86 per cent of those involved in agriculture, will benefit the most from agricultural reforms and the new laws." The protests are largely against three bills that were recently passed by Parliament in its monsoon session -- The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill. 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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Authorities alleged that protesters broke windows at a restaurant, damaged city buses, tried to set a fire and threw a flare into the street Louisville: At least 24 people have been arrested in Louisville during the second night of protests over a grand jury's decision not to indict police officers on criminal charges directly related to the death of Breonna Taylor. Louisville Metro Police said early Friday that the demonstrators were arrested before 1 am on charges including unlawful assembly, failure to disperse and riot in the first degree. Authorities alleged the protesters broke windows at a restaurant, damaged city buses, tried to set a fire and threw a flare into the street. The agency also denied accusations that circulated on social media that officers were waiting for a decision from lawyers about whether they could storm a private church property where hundreds of protesters had gathered to avoid arrest after the city's curfew went into effect. The protesters disbanded around 11 pm Thursday after negotiating with police in riot gear, who also pulled back. A Kentucky grand jury has brought no charges against Louisville police for the killing of Breonna Taylor during a drug raid gone wrong. Prosecutors said Wednesday that two officers who fired their weapons at the Black woman were justified in using force to protect themselves. Instead, the only charges brought by the grand jury were three counts of wanton endangerment against fired Officer Brett Hankison for shooting into Taylor's neighbors' homes. Taylor was shot multiple times by officers who burst into her home on 13 March during a narcotics investigation. South Africa: SA calls for deeper industrialisation Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel says there is a need for the African continent to deepen its levels of industrialisation while also addressing strategic vulnerabilities exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This requires more investment flows, economic diversification and greater policy space in the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for vulnerable economies commencing the hard work of economic recovery, Patel said. Patel made the call at a G20 Trade and Investment Ministers meeting held early this week. The virtual meeting was attended by Trade Ministers from the largest economies, including the United States, China, European Union, India, Japan, Brazil and Indonesia. South Africa was the only African representative at the meeting. Patel said that while the pandemic will affect all countries, the pain will be concentrated in economies with greater fiscal or financial vulnerability, or with higher levels of infection. The pandemic disrupted global supply chains. The new consensus on the need for greater supply chain resilience need to include efforts to spread risk by enabling the greater geographic spread of manufacturing, Patel said. The G20 Ministers meeting focused on current international trade and investment developments, including COVID-19; the future of the WTO; boosting micro, small and medium enterprises; pathways to economic diversification; and strengthening international investment. The Minister welcomed the meetings agreement to support economic diversification, saying he looked forward to joint efforts to achieve it. This should include WTO reform that addresses imbalances in the rules that emerged from the Uruguay Round, to allow for legitimate measures to support industrial development and to provide policy space for digital economy development on the African continent to drive economic growth and development, Patel said at the meeting. Patel affirmed that global trade be underpinned by the principle of special and differential treatment for developing countries. He also welcomed the meetings consensus to promote womens economic empowerment and the efforts of micro, small and medium enterprises. Addressing inconsistencies Pointing to the agreement by Trade Ministers on the risks of illicit trade, the Minister drew attention to the unresolved problems of under-invoicing and other illicit actions in international trade, which damage the national industrial capacity of many African manufacturers. This, he said, must be addressed vigorously in the future G20 Trade track. At the conclusion of the meeting, the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers adopted a communique on Realising Opportunities of the 21st Century for All. Sustainable growth In the communique, G20 Trade Ministers committed to use all available policy tools to minimise the economic and social damage of the pandemic, restore global growth, maintain market stability and strengthen resilience. The G20 Ministers also recognised the need to increase the sustainability and resilience of national, regional and global supply chains, and to expand production capacity and trade, notably in the areas of pharmaceutical, medical and other health-related products. The Ministers further recognised the importance of continuing to foster womens economic empowerment with a view to achieving global economic recovery and endorsed a set of guidelines to promote inclusive economic growth, through increased participation of small and medium enterprises in international trade and investment. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-09-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. New Delhi, Sep 25 (UNI) The NIA Special Court at Ernakulam on Friday convicted an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist under Sections 120B and 125 of IPC and Sections 20, 38 and 39 of UA (P) Act in ISIS Omar Al-Hindi Module case. The quantum of punishment would be pronounced on September 28, 2020. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered this case on October 1, 2016, based on credible information that certain youth had entered into a conspiracy and were making preparations to carry out terrorist attacks in India, in order to further the objectives of the proscribed terrorist organisation ISIS. On October 3, 2016, searches were conducted at the house of Subahani Haja Mohideen in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, which led to seizure of incriminating material, indicating his travel to the theatre of conflict in West Asia and he was arrested on October 5, 2016. 'Subsequent investigation revealed that Mohideen had exited India in April, 2015 and joined the Islamic State in Iraq, where he had fought for the proscribed terrorist organisation and later in September in the same year, he returned to India and continued activities in support of the terrorist organisation,' the probe agency said. He had also attempted to procure explosive material from Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, to make the Improvised Explosive Device (IED)s, they added. After thorough and comprehensive investigation, a charge-sheet was filed against accused Subahani Haja Mohideen on March 29, 2017 under sections 120B, 122 and 125 of IPC and sections 20, 38 and 39 of UA (P) Act. UNI AKS RJ 2205 Passenger rail service to and from Chicago holds tremendous potential for economic growth and enhanced quality of life in the Rockford area, Stadelman said in a news release. People across northern Illinois are excited about the prospect of a rail link with Chicago, and I think its important to keep everyone fully informed to include as much public input as possible. I made a personal commitment to her, he said. I told her I would do all in my power to find the person or persons responsible for killing her, or I would die trying. That commitment would lead Mr Glennon to establish a fund and raise nearly $1 million to help the Macro Taskforce carry out lie detector testing, mass DNA testing and FBI profiling in the early years of the investigation. He thanked the hundreds of police officers who had worked on the case throughout the past 23 years. My family has no criticism of what the police or the scientists might have done better during the very lengthy investigation, he said. Ciara Glennon. They did the very best they could with the information, with the methods, with the equipment that they had available to them at that time. Mr Glennon, however, did criticise the "countless" media reports in the years between Ms Glennons disappearance and Mr Edwards arrest in 2016, saying many were based on speculation and caused needless suffering to his family. They serve little or no legitimate public interest value or purpose, he said. The dramatic headlines, the subjective content, repeatedly cast doubt on the investigative work of the police and the analytical work of the scientists, all of whom I know were working diligently and conscientiously with what they had to work with. This form of reporting I can assure you inflicted needless additional suffering on my family. Of Sarah Spiers case, he said the 18-year-old's parents Don and Carol Spiers deserved justice after Edwards was acquitted over her death due to a lack of evidence. Dennis and Una Glennon leave court after Bradley Edwards was convicted of murdering their daughter Ciara Glennon. Credit:Nine He spoke of his desire for himself and Una to move forward now with the memories of their daughter always close to their heart. Crimes such as these inflict unforeseeable collateral damage, they take their toll physically, emotionally and spiritually on those left behind, he said. As a family we will not allow ourselves to be prisoners of the past. We have chosen not to provide victim impact statements. The past is unquestionably for us engulfed by sadness, and that is a powerful force, but as a family the past is transcended but the fond memories of Ciara. As you know Ive had a deep personal involvement for more than 20 years in this case, I now intend to cease that personal involvement but I depart with a peaceful belief that justice has been delivered to Ciara. Ms Glennon was the third woman to vanish off the streets of Claremont in the mid-90s. On Thursday, Edwards was found guilty of her murder, and the murder of Jane Rimmer, 23. Loading In the moments before her death Ms Glennon fought for her life, gouging at Edwards. That last desperate act by the young lawyer would deliver the crucial piece of evidence which would eventually see justice served more than 23 years after her death - Edwards' DNA embedded under her fingernail. The Glennon's are the second family to speak publicly following Thursday's monumental verdict. The Rimmer's released a statement shortly after the decision was made by Justice Stephen Hall. The "Portugal Cards and Payments Opportunities and Risks to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Portugal Cards and Payments Opportunities and Risks to 2023 report provides detailed analysis of market trends in the Portugal's cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including cash, cards, credit transfers, cheques, and direct debits during the review-period (2015-19e). The report also analyzes various payment card markets operating in the industry and provides detailed information on the number of cards in circulation, transaction values and volumes during the review-period and over the forecast-period (2019e-23f). It also offers information on the country's competitive landscape, including market shares of issuers and schemes. The report brings together the publisher's research, modeling, and analysis expertise to allow banks and card issuers to identify segment dynamics and competitive advantages. The report also covers detailed regulatory policies and recent changes in regulatory structure. This report provides top-level market analysis, information and insights into the Portugal's cards and payments industry, including: Current and forecast values for each market in the Portugal's cards and payments industry, including debit and credit cards. Detailed insights into payment instruments including cash, cards, credit transfers, cheques, and direct debits. It also, includes an overview of the country's key alternative payment instruments. E-commerce market analysis Analysis of various market drivers and regulations governing the Portugal's cards and payments industry. Detailed analysis of strategies adopted by banks and other institutions to market debit and credit. Scope The rising adoption of contactless payments during the review period drove overall card payments. According to Banco de Portugal (the country's central bank) 38% of all cards in circulation and 74% of POS terminals incorporated contactless technology in 2018. To capitalize on the growing popularity, banks such as Banco BPI, Santander, Caixa Geral de Depsitos (CGD), Novo Banco, and Millennium bcp now offer contactless cards. In addition, to promote contactless payments during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the central bank increased the contactless payment limit from 20 ($22.45) to 50 ($56.14) as of March 25, 2020. The digital channel is gaining prominence among Portuguese customers. Consequently, banks such as Novo Banco, Millennium bcp, and Santander enable consumers to open bank accounts through digital channels. In September 2019, Portugal-based Banco BNI Europa partnered with integrated digital platform provider ITSCREDIT to launch an online credit card, which can be ordered online or via mobile app, eliminating the need to fill in physical documents. Banks are expanding their reach to remote locations via mobile banking branches. For instance, CGD launched its vehicular mobile banking branch in July 2017. When parked in a particular location it provides services such as debit and credit card issuance as well as information on products and services. The bank introduced two more mobile banking branches: one in Castelo Branco (in February 2018) and one in Portalegre (in September 2018). As of June 2019 these three branches covered over 52 locations across various districts. Companies Mentioned Banco de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depsitos Millennium bcp Banco BPI Santander Visa Mastercard PayPal Apple Pay Google Pay For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/f7nbop View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200925005216/en/ Contacts: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 Sensex, Nifty Highlights on September 25: Sensex and Nifty closed 2.2% higher each Friday's trading session, backed by positive global equities that were optimistic on renewed hopes fiscal stimulus from the US. Sensex ended 835 points higher at 37,388 and Nifty gained 244 points to 11,050. European and US futures were trading mostly higher today, in line with Asian markets, tracking firm cues from Wall Street backed by fresh stimulus talks. Yesterday, the BSE 30-share benchmark Sensex ended 1,114 points lower at 36,553 and NSE Nifty 50 crashed 326 points to 10,805. Here's a look at the updates of the market action on BSE and NSE today 3. 55 PM: Market quote S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities said,"Markets recouped most of yesterdays losses today as Bulls charged ahead on expectations of a host of measures to boost demand ahead of the festive season. While the IT biggies led the charge, it was heartening to see the broader market participate with a host of companies across multiple themes as investors chose to cherry pick stocks". 3. 34PM: Market at close Sensex and Nifty closed 2.2% higher each Friday's trading session, backed by positive global equities that were optimistic on renewed hopes fiscal stimulus from the US. Sensex ended 835 points higher at 37,388 and Nifty gained 244 points to 11,050. 3. 25PM:Accenture Q1 update On Accenture's results, Jyoti Roy -DVP- Equity Strategist, Angel Broking said,"Accenture reported its Q4FY2020 numbers on the 24th of September which came in a tad below street estimates. Revenues for the quarter came in at USD 10.83bn down by 2% YoY against expectations of 10.9bn but was at the midpoint of the company's guidance of USD 10.6-11.0 bn. "Growth is expected to be muted in the first half which we believe will be a result of the consulting business remaining under pressure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However we expect the outsourcing business will continue doing well due to faster adoption of digital solutions. The Accenture Q4 numbers reinforces our positive stance on the IT sector given increased traction in outsourcing driven by greater adoption of digital technologies. In the large cap IT space HCL is our top pick while Persistent Systems and Zensar Technologies are our top picks in the mid & small cap IT space," he added. 3. 11 PM: TCS share rises over 4% Shares of Tata Consultancy Services gained over 4% on Friday's early trade after the company said it will be building the technology infrastructure for US and Canada-based women's fashion retail chain Maurices. Following the update, TCS share price touched an intraday high of Rs 2,439.8 on BSE, rising 4.65% against the last close of Rs 2,331.50. The stock price of TCS also touched an intraday low of Rs 2350.05, after opening at Rs 2,370. TCS Stock has gained after 2 days of consecutive fall. 2. 45 PM: Zydus Cadila receives US FDA approval On Zydus Cadila, Yash Gupta, Equity Research Associate, Angel Broking said,"Dimethyl Fumarate Delayed-Release Capsules are indicated for the treatment of patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis and will be manufactured at the group's manufacturing facility at the SEZ, Matoda. Company now has 303 approvals and has so far filed over 390 ANDAs. This is a positive development for Zydus Cadila. " 2. 31PM: Gold outlook Anuj Gupta- DVP- Commodities and Currencies Research, Angel Broking said," As expected yesterday gold and silver prices corrected sharply. Gold prices corrected by 1.73% and closed at 49,508 levels. Silver prices corrected 4.45% and closed at 58,488 levels. Sharp recovery in Dollar index cause of correction in Gold and Silver. Spot gold ended lower 1.9 percent to close at $1863.5 per ounce as strengthening of the U.S. Dollar and no signs of further stimulus infusion by the U.S. policy pressurized Gold prices. Spot gold is trading at $1856 per ounce and silver is trading at $ 22.15 per ounce. As for today traders can go for sell in gold at Rs 49,500 levels with the stop loss of Rs 49,950 levels for the target of 48,700 levels. They can also go for sell in Silver at Rs 57,500 levels, with the stop loss of 58,700 levels and for the target of 56,000 levels. 2. 16PM: Rites shares gain over 2% Shares of RITES gained rose 2 per cent in Friday's trade after the company bagged a Rs 206 crore contract to construct four roads over bridges in Andhra Pradesh from Indian Railways. The public sector enterprise and a leading player in the transport consultancy and engineering sector told BSE in a filing today, "RITES has been awarded a turnkey contract for construction of (ROBs) in replacement of existing level crossings on competition basis from Railway Board amounting to Rs 205.85 crore". "This turnkey contract covers construction of 4 nos of ROBs in replacement of level crossings in Vijaywada division of SCR on Vijaywada-Vishakhapatnam section in the state of Andhra Pradesh," it added. 1. 55PM:Granules India update Yash Gupta, Equity Research Associate, Angel Broking said," Granules India Limited announced today that the US Food & Drug Administration (US FDA) has approved its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Naproxen Sodium and Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride Tablets, 220 mg/25 mg (OTC), generic equivalent of Aleve PM Tablets, 220 mg/25 mg, of Bayer HealthCare LLC. Naproxen Sodium and Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride Tablets are used for relief of occasional sleeplessness associated with minor aches and pains and to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Granules now has a total of 31 ANDA approvals from US FDA (29 Final approvals and 2 tentative approvals). This is a good addition to the company portfolio and positive devolvement for the company. " 1. 34 PM: Minspace REIT update Yash Gupta, Equity Research Associate, Angel Broking said,"Mindspace Business Park Reit one of the Indias Grade A office portfolio, has pledge to transition to 100% electric mobility by expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure for clients across all its business park by 2030, to help accelerate a global shifty to clean transport and reduce air pollution in the urban micro-markets of preference. Mindspace Business Park Reit becomes the first real-estate entity in India to join the climate groups global EV100 initiative. Mindspace Business Park has five integrated office parks and five quality independent offices with total 2 lakhs employees coming in to work each day at its offices. Mindspace Business Park Reit has already begun driving EV uptake amongst its clients by installing 1000+ charging points across its business parks. This is positive development for the company in the long run. 1. 24 PM: Real estate sector update Speaking on outlook for real estate sector Ashok Gupta, CMD, Ajnara India Ltd said, "Noida and Greater Noida being a major realty market in NCR region hold almost 23,000 RTMI units presently. The demand prevalent amongst buyers post-lockdown are for spacious units with all essential amenities located within the premises of the society. Thus, projects that were designed keeping in consideration the concept of wholesome living with facilities like clubhouse, gymnasiums, jogging tracks, children playing area, shopping arcade are gaining faster possessions. As home loans interest rates are at their lowest, and developers are open to offer flexible payment plans. The wide reach which these thoughtfully build projects are getting through digital platforms is also helping the developers get better customer insights on their new lifestyle preferences." 1. 15 PM: Market rises further Sensex and Nifty gained further by Friday's afternoon session, backed by positive global equities that were optimistic on renewed hopes fiscal stimulus from the US. Sensex traded 648 points higher at 37,202 and Nifty gained 197 points to 11,003. European and US futures were trading mostly higher today, in line with Asian markets, tracking firm cues from Wall Street backed by fresh stimulus talks. 1.00 PM: Market update On market's outlook, Yash Gupta, Equity Research Associate, Angel Broking said,"Indian Indices Nifty and Sensex, up by 150 points (1.4%) and 503 points (1.38%) respectively. Indian broader market able to sustain its opening gain. Indian Indices open higher on the back of positive global market clues. Today all sectors are trading in green S&P BSE Telecom (up 4.44%), S&P BSE Information Technology (up 3.21%), S&P BSE Healthcare (up 2.26%). We expect the market to be volatile on the back of the global market and we expect momentum in the pharma & IT sector to continue. Global Market update - DOW Jones up by 52 points (up 0.20%) and NASDAQ up by 39 points (down 0.37%). 12. 50 PM: Top gainers today IndusInd Bank, M&M, TCS, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, Maruti, Tata Steel and Axis Bank were among the top gainers on Sensex pack. Kotak Bank wa the only loser. 12. 46 PM: Rupee rises 16 paise to 73.73 Indian rupee, the local currency gained by 16 paise to 73.73 per dollar on Friday's opening session, tracking gains in Asian peers and positive domestic equities. The domestic unit opened at 73.76 per dollar at the interbank forex market, and then gained further ground to touc 73.73, registering a rise of 16 paise over its previous close. The dollar index was trading 0.01 per cent down at 93.34 against a basket of six currencies. 12. 30 PM: Gold price turns volatile Gold and Silver prices turned volatile after four sessions of fall on Friday as a weaker US dollar boosted the appeal of bullion metal. Hopes of more stimulus in the United States also aided the sentiment. Precious metals traded flat in overseas as well as international commodity market today after falling to the lowest in two months on renewed hopes of more stimulus measures in US. Gold price turns volatile, silver rates at Rs 59,300 12. 14 PM: Oil prices Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.60 per cent to USD 42.19 per barrel. Earlier, oil price were dropping on concerns over US economic recovery as fear of a second wave of coronavirus lingered. 11. 51AM: Coronavirus toll Worldwide, there were 324 lakh confirmed cases and 9.87 lakh deaths from COVID-19 outbreak. India's COVID-19 caseload breached the 58-lakh mark and the death toll from COVID-19 infections rose to 0.92 lakh. 11. 35 AM: Gold outlook Anuj Gupta- DVP- Commodities and Currencies Research, Angel Broking said, "On Thursday, Spot gold ended marginally higher by 0.24% but headed towards a weakly decline as strengthening of the U.S. Dollar made the yellow metal undesirable for other currency holders. Spot silver ended higher by 1.6% to close at $23.2 per ounce while prices on the MCX ended higher by 1.95 percent closing at Rs 59629 per kg." Rise in US unemployment claims and hopes over additional stimulus by US is expected to levy some support for gold prices, he said and added, "Reinforcement of lockdown in the Euro-zone reflecting the alarming increase in Covid-19 cases and slowdown in the business sector in US & Europe dampened hopes of a paced economic recovery. In August 20, Home sales in US grew to their highest levels in 14 years which supported the market sentiments." 11. 20 AM: Why Future Enterprises share fell 20% in 5 sessions Share price of Future Enterprises fell 5% today after the firm CARE Ratings downgraded the credit rating of non-convertible debenture issue of the firm to 'D' from 'C'. Future Enterprises share hit lower circuit of 5% to Rs 11.20 against previous close of Rs 11.75 on BSE. The stock has lost 20.21% in the last five days. Why Future Enterprises share fell 20% in five sessions 11. 11 AM: Mindspace update Yash Gupta- Equity Research Associate, Angel Broking said,"Mindspace Business Park Reit one of the India's Grade A office portfolio, has pledge to transition to 100% electric mobility by expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure for clients across all its business park by 2030, to help accelerate a global shifty to clean transport and reduce air pollution in the urban micro-markets of preference. Mindspace Business Park Reit becomes the first real-estate entity in India to join the climate group's global EV100 initiative. Mindspace Business Park has five integrated office parks and five quality independent offices with total 2 lakhs employees coming in to work each day at its offices. Mindspace Business Park Reit has already begun driving EV uptake amongst its clients by installing 1000+ charging points across its business parks. This is positive development for the company in the long run." 10. 47 AM: UTI AMC IPO Jaikishan Parmar- Sr. Equity Research Analyst, Angel Broking said,"UTI AMC IPO will open for subscription on September 29 and sets IPO price band at Rs 552-554 per share. We believe IPO will garner the interest from all market participants, as IPO Priced at an attractive valuation. UTI AMC demanding a valuation of 25x of FY20 earning and 5.3 percent of Q1FY21 QAAUM. However, Listed peers HDFC AMC trades at 35x FY20 earnings and Nippon AMC trades at 37x FY20 earnings. Additionally HDFC and Nippon AMC trades at 12.56 percent and 8.55 percent of Q1FY21 QAAUM, Respectively. Hence Considering attractive valuation and asset-light business models we believe IPO sail through successfully." 10. 32 AM: Global markets Overseas, Asian stocks are trading higher on Friday as a late Wall Street rally supported global sentiment. In US, tech shares recovered some of their recent losses. Although gains were checked as the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased last week. 10. 13 AM: Market opening outlook On markets opening today, Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments said,"The Nifty has opened in the green and traders can utilise this opportunity to strategize short positions as the index remains in a weak zone. We could witness a target of 10750 during the course of the October series. If we are unable to hold that level, the Nifty could further slide to 10600. The resistance zone on the upside is at 11550-11600." 10.03 AM: Market tehcnicals Geojit Financial said in its note,"With September series closing near 11800, we have retraced 23% of the March- September rally. Ideally this fibo level is a point of turn, which is what the October series would weigh in, in the initial days. However, standard deviation studies suggest that the bounce back potential may be limited to 11324-11476, and the prospects for Nifty slipping into the 10500-10150 region needs to be given a serious consideration. Having said that we had long identified 10000 as a near bottom, suggesting that we may not be reliving a collapse akin to that of March 2020 again. Alternatively, direct rise above 11476 should re open chances of 12500 again. Potential of a vertical recovery looks limited though." 9. 50 AM: Stocks to watch today on September 25 RIL, Future Enterprises, Raymond, Sun Pharma, TCS, RITES, DLF among others are the top stocks to watch out for in Friday's trading session. Stocks in news: RIL, Future Enterprises, Raymond, Sun Pharma, TCS, RITES, DLF 9. 45 AM: Global markets Asian markets are trading higher tracking overnight gains in US markets. Investors will focus on Chinese bonds as they are going to be included in FTSE World Govt. Bond Index. U.S. markets saw volatility through the day. US Jobless claims data was slightly above estimates but was below the 1mln mark. Tech stocks added to negativity. European markets closed lower as investors' hope for economic rebound lost sheen as many see a second wave of coronavirus developing. 9. 31 AM: Opening session Sensex and Nifty opened on a bullish note on Friday, amid positive global equities. SGX Nifty was rising 90 points higher, indicating positive trend in domestic grounds today. Sensex traded 453 points higher at 37,006 and Nifty gained 127 points to 10,932. 9. 10 AM: Market outlook As per Reliance Smart Money, NSE-NIFTY breached its three expiries old rising trend and reported fall of 6.5%. On the last trading session of expiry, the index slipped to 2-month low continuing its daily falling trend and settled tad above its long-term moving average 200-day SMA. Though its major technical indicators remained in sell mode, near-term rebound cannot be ruled out as we believe the index will respect its long-term moving average. On the higher side, the index will face major hurdle at around 11,100 mark. In case the index violates its long-term moving average, next supports placed at 10,624 and 10,563 levels, which coincide with its 100-day SMA and mid-July low, respectively. As for the day, support is placed at around 10,725 and then at 10,645 levels, while resistance is observed at 10,951 and then at 11,095 levels 9.00 AM: FII action Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,885.69 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 188.64 crore in the Indian equity market on 24 September, provisional data showed 8. 50 AM: Nifty technical indicators On the technical front, supports placed at around 11,018 and then at 10900-10950 levels were crossed during the session, with Nifty ending at 10,800 today. In this week, Sensex and Nifty have fallen by 2,426 points or 6.2% and 710 points or 6.17%, respectively. Yesterday, Sensex ended 65 points lower at 37,668 and Nifty declined 21 points to 11,131. Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking said,"Nifty is down by nearly 6% this week so far and tested the crucial level of 10,800 too however there's no sign of respite from the banking index." 8. 40 AM: Nifty outlook Sameet Chavan (Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives, Angel Broking said," We have been cautious on the market recently and our strategy to remain light on trading positions has played out well so far. Now, the index is near to its immediate support zone of 11000-10950. On the flipside, 11250-11300 remains an immediate resistance zone. The index could consolidate within this range in next couple sessions and we could also see some swings within the range on the expiry day." 8. 30 AM: Closing yesterday Domestic benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended with deep losses, ending almost 3% lower on Thursday, the expiry day for September futures & options contracts, backed by heavy selloff in global equities. Yesterday, the BSE 30-share benchmark Sensex ended 1,114 points lower at 36,553 and NSE Nifty 50 crashed 326 points to 10,805. A Serbian military jet crashed Friday in western Serbia near the countrys border with Bosnia, killing the two pilots on board, the Defense Ministry said. The ministry said the MiG-21 plane was on a regular flying mission when it crashed around 9 a.m. (0700GMT) near the village of Brasina. A ministry statement said a commission would examine the cause of the accident following an investigation at the crash site by both military and civilian teams. Local media are reporting that the plane crashed into the yard of a house in a village. Serbian state broadcaster RTS reported that a villager was hospitalized with burns. No other details were immediately available. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON It is difficult to know whether serial entrepreneur Hugh Osmond's timing is awful or inspired. The float of his Various Eateries chain occurred at possibly the worst moment for the restaurant sector. However, out of adversity tends come opportunity. On Friday the owner of the high-end Coppa Club and Tavolino venues raised 25million by placing 34.2million shares at 73p each, for a market capitalisation of 65million. Stock market debut: Coppa Club and Tavolino owner Various Eateries hopes to expand its portfolio through opportunistic acquisitions now that rivals are struggling Six-year-old Various Eateries, whose summer trading reached 50-60 per cent of 2019 levels in London and nearly pre-pandemic figures elsewhere, will use the proceeds to expand its portfolio through opportunistic acquisitions. 'To many, this crisis is an existential threat; but it is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a new, major leisure business, based on how people want to live now,' said founder Osmond. Of course he has some form after transforming Pizza Express and building Punch Taverns into an 8,000 pub goliath worth 3.5billion. He also helped create the FTSE 100 insurance aggregator Phoenix Group, and has two private equity firms he still manages. For his latest venture he has teamed up with Andy Bassadone, the force behind Italian restaurants Strada and French bistros chain Cote, while most recently he led the expansion of Bill's Restaurants and The Ivy Collection. While Osmond was spying a 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity', the problems were pretty acute for the rest of the sector with the 10pm curfew now in place. Arguably it could have been worse. Booze-led Revolution Bars tumbled 24 per cent to 10p after announcing a radical restructuring in the wake of the new restrictions, while pub chains Young's and City Pub were down 14 per cent to 835p and 10 per cent to 58p respectively. In the food space, Loungers was down 15 per cent to 139p, while Franco Manca owner Fulham Shore lost 10 per cent to 7p. Posh cinema operator Everyman was only down 7 per cent to 81p. Given the bloodshed at larger rival Cineworld, this ranks as a success and is possibly reflective of the more niche, higher margin experience-based approach taken by Everyman, which isn't reliant (totally) on blockbusters and popcorn. Turning to the wider market, the AIM-All Share dipped 2.5 per cent to 948, just outperforming the FTSE 100 which was down 3 per cent to 5,822. Among the fallers, diagnostics firm Genedrive shed 15 per cent to 128p after admitting it takes extra time to get US approval for its Covid-19 automated laboratory testing due to the nature of saliva samples. Broker InterTrader also trimmed its stake to 2.4 per cent from 3.3 per cent. Elsewhere, marketing consultancy Ebiquity dropped 11 per cent to 20p after turning to an interim loss before tax of 1.9million, although it expects to return to profitability in the second half. Among the risers, National Accident Helpline owner NAHL Group climbed 41 per cent to 56p after revealing that asset manager Frenkel Topping has proposed a takeover, though it is too early to confirm whether a transaction will go ahead. Boohoo shares rose after announcing it will address the issues flagged by an independent review regarding its 'weak' corporate governance practices Open Orphan surged 15 per cent to 17p after confirming it is indeed in advanced negotiations with the UK government for a Covid-19 vaccine challenge study as speculated by the press. The biotech plans to expose 48 healthy volunteers to the virus at a facility in London's Whitechapel to assess whether its nasal candidate provokes an immune response. Meanwhile, fast fashion designer Boohoo rose 13 per cent to 359p after announcing it will address the issues flagged by an independent review regarding its 'weak' corporate governance practices. Finally, finnCap's results suggested the small-cap arena will be vibrant and healthy for the next few months with a flurry of IPOs and fundraisings. This week payments provider Fonix Mobile and telecoms services provider Calnex announced their intention to float, while bioplastics firm Biome Technologies proposed to raise 1million via a placing to speed up growth. No IPOs in sight for next week, we'll have to wait for October. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Michelle Nichols (Reuters) New York, United States Fri, September 25, 2020 11:15 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c472770a 2 World UN,UN-Secretary-General,Antonio-Guterres,coronavirus,climate-crisis,COVID-19,pandemic Free The United States, China and Russia fought on Thursday during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the coronavirus pandemic after UN chief Antonio Guterres had warned the body that if the climate crisis was approached with the "same disunity and disarray" of COVID-19, then: "I fear the worst." Guterres said the coronavirus was out of control as the global death toll approaches 1 million, while more than 30 million have been infected. He blamed "a lack of global preparedness, cooperation, unity and solidarity." "The pandemic is a clear test of international cooperation a test we have essentially failed," he told the 15-member body. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Chinese government's top diplomat, Wang Yi, both took veiled swipes at the United States during the virtual council meeting on global governance post-COVID-19, to which US Ambassador Kelly Craft responded: "Shame on each of you." "I am astonished and I am disgusted by the content of today's discussion ... members of the council who took this opportunity to focus on political grudges rather than the critical issue at hand," she said. While not naming any countries, Lavrov noted that the pandemic had deepened differences between states. "We see attempts on the part of individual countries to use the current situation in order to move forward their narrow interests of the moment, in order to settle the score with an undesirable government or geopolitical competitors," he said. Long-simmering tensions between the United States and China hit the boiling point over the pandemic, spotlighting Beijing's bid for greater multilateral influence in a challenge to Washington's traditional leadership. Wang called for better coordination and cooperation among key powers on Thursday. "Major countries are even more duty-bound to put the future of humankind first, discard Cold War mentality and ideological bias, and come together in the spirit or partnership to tide over the difficulties," he said. 'Enough is enough' US President Donald Trump is facing a Nov. 3 re-election battle as the United States is dealing with the world's highest official number of deaths and infections from the coronavirus. Washington accuses Beijing of a lack of transparency that it says worsened the outbreak. China denies the US assertions. Craft reiterated those accusations on Thursday, echoing a call by Trump for the world body to hold China accountable. China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun rejected her accusations and said: "Enough is enough. You have created enough troubles for the world already. ... The US should understand that blaming others will not solve its own problems." The United States has announced plans to leave the Geneva-based World Health Organization after Trump accused it of becoming a puppet for China during the coronavirus pandemic. The WHO has rejected Trump's assertion. "At times, geopolitics have tampered cooperation and hindered our agility. The pandemic has tested the international system like never before," said Britain's Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon. "But now is not the moment to reject international institutions." French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also appeared to take a stab at the United States when he said the pandemic should not be used to undermine "all the work has been done over recent decades by feminist movements for gender equality." "We must be on our guard, we must be watchful, particularly when it comes to protecting sexual reproductive rights," he told the Security Council. Trump's administration has led a push at the United Nations against the promotion of sexual and reproductive health rights and services for women because it sees that as code for abortion. Earlier this month, the United States voted against a UN General Assembly resolution on the coronavirus pandemic partly because it included such language. France's PNAT specialist anti-terror prosecution office said it had opened a probe into charges of 'attempted murder related to a terrorist enterprise" as well as 'conspiracy with terrorists' A man armed with a meat cleaver wounded two in Paris Friday outside the former offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo before being arrested by police, three weeks into the trial of suspected accomplices in the 2015 massacre of the newspaper's staff. France's PNAT specialist anti-terror prosecution office said it had opened a probe into charges of "attempted murder related to a terrorist enterprise" as well as "conspiracy with terrorists." Charlie Hebdo has angered many Muslims around the world by publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed over the years, and in a defiant gesture ahead of the trial reprinted some of the caricatures on its front cover this month. Twelve people, including some of France's most celebrated cartoonists, were killed in the January 7, 2015, attack on Charlie Hebdo by Islamist gunmen. Paris police said two people were "critically wounded" in Friday's attack near the paper's former offices in the capital's 11th district. The magazine's new address is kept secret for security reasons. A large meat cleaver found near the scene is believed to have been used by the attacker. Prime Minister Jean Castex, visiting the scene with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, said the lives of the two victims "are not in danger, thank God." The Premieres Lignes news production agency said the wounded were its employees -- a man and a woman taking a cigarette break outside. "They were both very badly wounded," the founder and co-head of Premieres Lignes, Paul Moreira, told AFP. Another employee, who asked not to be named, said he heard screams. "I went to the window and saw a colleague, bloodied, being chased by a man with a machete." The company specialises in investigative reports and produces the prize-winning Cash Investigation programme. 'Odious attack' Paris prosecutors said the "main perpetrator" was arrested near the Place de la Bastille square, not far from the scene of the crime. According to PNAT head Jean-Francois Ricard, the suspect was an 18-year-old man. Initial indications are that he was born in Pakistan. A second person, aged 33, was arrested in the Bastille area later and held for questioning to determine possible links to the "main perpetrator," said Ricard. The reason for the second arrest has not been divulged. Five schools in the area went into lockdown for several hours after the attack, and half a dozen nearby metro stations were closed. "Around noon we went for a lunch break at the restaurant. As we arrived, the manager started shouting 'Go, go there is an attack...' We ran to lock ourselves in our shop with four customers," Hassani Erwan, a 23-year-old barber, told AFP. Castex reiterated the government's "firm commitment to combat terrorism by all possible means." In a Twitter post, Charlie Hebdo expressed its "support and solidarity with its former neighbours... and the people affected by this odious attack." Charlie threatened The stabbing came amid the trial of 14 alleged accomplices of brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, the perpetrators of the January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo that was claimed by a branch of Al-Qaeda. A female police officer was killed a day later, followed the next day by the killing of four men in a hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket by gunman Amedy Coulibaly. The defendants stand accused of having aided and abetted the perpetrators of the three-day crime spree, themselves killed by police. The trial has reopened one of the most painful chapters in France's modern history, with harrowing testimony from survivors and relatives of those who died. The magazine received fresh threats from Al-Qaeda this month after it republished controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed ahead of the court case. The massacre at the newspaper sparked international outrage and heralded a wave of Islamist violence that has left 258 people dead and raised unsettling questions about France's ability to preserve security and harmony in a multicultural society. More than 100 French news outlets on Wednesday called for continuing support for Charlie Hebdo against what they described as the "enemies of freedom". Just last week, police relocated the paper's head of human resources, Marika Bret, from her home following death threats. The trial, which opened on September 2, was postponed Thursday after accused Nezar Mickael Pastor Alwatik fell ill in the stand. But it resumed Friday morning, with the suspect back in the box, after a coronavirus test came back negative. Search Keywords: Short link: Stage photos of the ballet gala are to be presented by Shanghai Ballet on Sept 29. [For chinadaily.com.cn] Shanghai Ballet will present an online gala on Sept 29 to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Chinese Culture Center in Brussels, Belgium. Titled Blossom, the gala show will be hosted by the Chinese embassy in Belgium and the Chinese Mission to the European Union. The show will be streamed live via the Facebook accounts of the Chinese embassy in Belgium and the Chinese mission to the EU. The show will be available for public viewing in China through a series of online media platforms such as Douyin, Shanghai Observer and the Paper. Created during the pandemic, Blossom was choreographed by young artists from Shanghai Ballet. The gala show consists of four programs: "Three Shades of Blue," "Smile in the Dream," "A Tale to Tell" and "A Dream of Floating Life." Stage photos of the ballet gala are to be presented by Shanghai Ballet on Sept 29. [For chinadaily.com.cn] Stage photos of the ballet gala are to be presented by Shanghai Ballet on Sept 29. [For chinadaily.com.cn] Stage photos of the ballet gala are to be presented by Shanghai Ballet on Sept 29. [For chinadaily.com.cn] Stage photos of the ballet gala are to be presented by Shanghai Ballet on Sept 29. [For chinadaily.com.cn] Stage photos of the ballet gala are to be presented by Shanghai Ballet on Sept 29. [For chinadaily.com.cn] (Source: chinadaily.com.cn) Mumbai, Sep 25 : Vikas Singh, family lawyer of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, on Friday stated that the delay being by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to convert the case from abetment to suicide to murder is frustrating. Senior advocate Singh took to his unverified Twitter account to express his opinion. He added that an AIIMS doctor who is part of the medical team probing the actor's death had told him long back that Sushant's death happened by strangulation and not by suicide. "Getting frustrated by the delay in CBI taking a decision to convert abetment to suicide to Murder of SSR. The Doctor who is part of AIIMS team had told me long back that the photos sent by me indicated 200% that it's death by strangulation and not suicide," Singh tweeted on Friday. Reacting to his tweet, Sushant's sister Shweta Singh Kirti wrote from her unverified Twitter account: "We have been so patient for so long! How long will it take to find the truth? #SSRDeathCase." The CBI started investigating Sushant's death in August after Mumbai Police had concluded the actor had committed suicide. Subsequently NCB and ED have also been roped in to help in the probe. However, no concrete revelation about Sushant's death has been made yet. Latest updates on Sushant Singh Rajput Death Mystery -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) Speaker of Nigerias House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Thursday warned that internal security challenges in the country is threatening the very existence of the Nigerian state and undermining the publics faith in government Staff of GCNet on Thursday commenced a sit down strike as part of efforts to get the management to pay them their exit packages. It followed a resolution by the Staff Welfare Association to commence a series of industrial actions against their management from Thursday, September 24, 2020, until further notice. According to workers, this is to press home their demands for the immediate payment of redundancy packages to redundant staff in accordance with the Arbitration Award. A three-member arbitration panel under the auspices of the National Labour Commission (NLC) has ruled in favour of about 150 staff of Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) over a redundancy dispute with GCNet. Consequently, the arbitration panel has ruled that GCNet is under obligation to pay each of the staff a redundancy package in accordance with the companys policy without any adjustment or variation The effective date for the redundancy is August 31, 2020 and this shall be the last day of employment of the affected staff with GCNet, the panel held in a ruling dated September 4, 2020. The arbitrators appointed by the NLC and the two parties were Mr Charles D. Antwi, Mrs Anita Wiafe Asinor and Mr Paul Osei Mensah. Termination GCNet was an information technology firm which used to facilitate trade services at the countrys ports and had a contract government until 2023. In April this year, the government terminated the contract, leading to a shutdown of its operations in May, this year. The government cancelled the contract to allow the full rollout of a new customs clearing system, Uni-Pass, which according to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), would centralise the processing and handling of all import and export documentations, a system known as a single window clearing system. As a result of the termination of the contract, GCNET decided to lay off some of its staff and accordingly notified Chief Labour Officer of its intended redundancy. HR policy Documents filed at the arbitration hearing showed that GCNet had an HR Manual that obliges it to use a certain formula to pay its staff during a redundancy exercise. In view of the redundancy exercise, management of GCNet and the Staff Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement the redundancy in conformity with the HR Manual. As a result of the MoU, management of GCNet issued termination letters to the affected staff with the redundancy set to take effect on August 31, this year, but payment to be done on or before June 30, this year. Dispute According to the ruling, two days before the deadline for the payment of the redundancy package, the management of GCNet wrote to the Staff Association that it could not pay the package and asked for a renegotiation of the redundancy pay as stipulated in the HR Manual. This led to a dispute which ended up at the NLC, with the two parties agreeing to a voluntary arbitration. Case of GCNet It was the case of GCNET that the HR was a collective agreement, but the Staff Association was not a registered labour union and hence per the Labour Act, 2003, it could not entered into a collective agreement with the company. In view of that, GCNET argued that the MOU it signed with the staff association was null and void and, therefore, not binding. Also, GCNET contended that it did not have the funds to pay the redundancy package as contained in the HR Manual on the basis that the government of Ghana was yet to pay the compensation for abrogating the contract, while there was no guarantee that the government would even pay the compensation. Case of the Staff The staff association, on the other hand, presented a case that the HR policy or manual was the conditions of employment developed by GCNET for its entire staff, which it had been implementing since it commenced operations and, therefore, it was binding on the company. Also, it argued that per Article 21(1) (e) and Article 24 (3) of the 1992 Constitution, freedom of association was guaranteed and there is no law that states that every association must be registered. It further contended that the government of Ghana had agreed to pay GCNet compensation for abrogating the contract and, that compensation would include the redundancy package for staff. Ruling The arbitration panel agreed with the staff and held that GCNet must pay the redundancy package as contained in the HR Manual because the redundancy package was already predetermined. It held that the MOU between the Staff Association and GCNet was for the implementation of the redundancy exercise and not a negotiation of the redundancy package because that was already contained in the HR Manual. In fact, we find that there has been no negotiation of redundancy pay during this redundancy exercise, the panel held. The panel also rejected the claim by GCNet that it had no capacity to pay the redundancy package. We find that GCNet is entitled to compensation is entitled to claim compensation from the government of Ghana and such claim will include redundancy payment that will be made to staff, the panel added. Source: Graphic.com.gh 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 Woman at the Helm of Financial Powerhouse Citi Jane Fraser has been elected to the board of directors of Citigroup, and will take over from Corbat when he retires from Citi and steps down from its board of directors in February 2021 Jane Fraser, currently Citis President and CEO of Global Consumer Banking, will succeed Michael Corbat as CEO in February, becoming the first woman to get to the top of a major American bank like Citi. Fraser has been elected to the board of directors of Citigroup, and will take over from Corbat when he retires from Citi and steps down from its board of directors in February 2021. As the first female CEO of a top 20 US bank, Fraser now joins the ranks of top women financial executives like Sallie Krawcheck who served as a senior executive at Citi and Bank of America (BAC) during the 2008 financial crisis, Marianne Lake who was chief financial officer of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) in 2012 and Beth Mooney who took over KeyCorp (KEY) in 2011. Of course, there are even bigger stars in the public sector like Janet Yellen who led the Federal Reserve, the most powerful central bank in the world, from 2014 to 2018 and Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank. Frasers elevation as CEO is noteworthy since it is the first time Citigroup is handing over reins to a woman. Jane Fraser has been at Citi for 16 years and has been in her current roles since 2019, but not many outside the bank may identify her with Citi CEO. Insiders know the stuff she is made of. While Michael Corbat is seen as the architect of Citis transformation from bankruptcy to a leaner, stronger and safer institution, Fraser has played important role in bringing up Citi from the fathoms it has fallen. As John C Dugan, chair of the Citis board of directors, put it, She has deep experience across our lines of business and regions and we are highly confident in her. Janes ability to think strategically and also operate a business is a unique combination that will serve our company well. Jane Fraser is currently the President of Citi and the Chief Executive Officer of Global Consumer Banking. Her global responsibilities include all consumer businesses in 19 countries, including retail banking and wealth management, credit cards, mortgages and the associated operations and technology. Before this role, she was the chief executive officer of Citis Latin American region from 2015 to 2019. From 2013 to 2015, she was the chief executive officer of the US consumer and commercial banking and CitiMortgage. From 2009 to 2013, Jane served as the chief executive officer of Citi's private bank. Prior to that, Jane was the global head of strategy and mergers and acquisitions for Citi from 2007 to 2009. She joined Citi in 2004 in the corporate and investment banking division. Before joining Citi, Jane was a partner at McKinsey & Company. She started her career at Goldman Sachs in the mergers and acquisitions department in London and then worked for Asesores Bursatiles in Madrid, Spain. Jane Fraser is a member of the Board of Deans Advisors at Harvard Business School, serves on Stanford Universitys Global Advisory Council and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Jane has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MA in economics from Cambridge University. She is married with two children. Citi will name a new CEO of Global Consumer Banking in the coming weeks. Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. New bid but little hope to reform UN Security Council Nations have renewed a bid to reform the UN Security Council, seen here A flurry of world leaders have appealed again to the United Nations to reform the Security Council, reviving a bid launched 15 years ago. But chances of transforming the world's body most powerful institution are seen as close to zero by most experts, who see little incentive from today's Permanent Five to let others in. Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States hold veto-wielding permanent seats at the Security Council, an arrangement that reflects the geopolitical dynamics at the time of the UN's creation in the aftermath of World War II. A coalition of four nations -- Brazil, Germany, India and Japan -- on Wednesday renewed its campaign for inclusion. Adding the "G4" would ensure that the Security Council incorporate Europe's biggest economy (Germany), the world's second largest developed economy and major UN contributor (Japan), the world's second most populous nation (India) and the most populous nation in Latin America (Brazil). "The world of today is very different from what it was when the United Nations was created 75 years ago," their four foreign ministers said in a joint statement after talks by videoconference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, held virtually this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "Only if we manage to reform the Security Council will we stop it from becoming obsolete," they said. - Who want to lose power? - But to include more nations, the Permanent Five would dilute their own status. The chances of Security Council reform "are next to none," said Andrew Bacevich, professor emeritus of international relations and history at Boston University. "And the reason is that the reform proposal, which in many respects makes great sense, calls upon the Permanent Five countries to lose their power, he said. "I can't imagine why any of them would find that prospect agreeable." The United States has backed a seat for close ally Japan, and former president Barack Obama on a visit to India announced support for New Delhi's bid. Story continues But the United States is hardly pressing for an expansion, and showed hesitation in 2005 amid tensions with Germany over the Iraq invasion. With Britain's exit from the European Union, France is the only EU nation with a Security Council veto. But France officially backs the bid by the four nations including Germany, as well as an expanded African presence, and unlike Russia, the United States and China seeks to limit the use of the veto to questions involving mass atrocities. - 'Best reflection' - Leaders from around the world called at the UN General Assembly for a more representative Security Council. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that Africa needed to be better represented in order "to collectively resolve some of the world's most protracted conflicts." In 2005, African nations adopted a common platform to seek two permanent seats on the Security Council but discussions have failed to determine which countries those would be. Angolan President Joao Lourenco called for a Security Council "that is the best reflection of peoples, nations and continents," while President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo called for a body that is "more transparent, more democratic and more representative." President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica, a nation with no standing army, said that the top UN body should be rechristened the "Human Security Council," deploring how the world's major arms exporters were represented. The (Human) Security Council must be "capable of overcoming the major internal divisions to work together with one sole voice," he said. Chilean President Sebastian Pinera similarly said that the Security Council "is no longer responding to the needs and challenges of our time." "We must be the architects of our new common home," Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said. "We need a UN 4.0." phr-lbc/sct/ch "It has been my privilege to lead INFINITI HR since its inception in 2008," INFINITI HR CEO Scott Smrkovski said. "We are in the people business, and I couldnt be more proud of the people that make up and support all that INFINITI HR is and strives to be. This award is dedicated to all of our har Every year the Washington Business Journal publishes a list of the 75 fastest growing companies in the Washington area. This year, leading professional employer organization, INFINITI HR, has joined the ranks and is a leader and disruptor in the HR space. The Fastest Growing Companies list is one of the most prestigious lists and this years honorees reflects the diversity and growth of the Greater Washington region. The list is based on average percent revenue growth between 2017, 2018, and 2019. Companies also must be headquartered in the D.C. area. The Fastest Growing Companies awards program has been around for more than 20 years and this year saw a record number of companies looking to be considered for this coveted program. With roughly 2,200 private, locally based companies being considered this year, INFINITI HR rose to the top. Business owners looking for a range of services: mitigation of liabilities, increased efficiencies, lower labor costs, more personal service and interactions, and relief from HR responsibilities turn to INFINITI HR. In addition, INFINITI HR has an innovative health insurance solution that provides better benefits and reduces costs for businesses. This will continue to drive rapid growth for the organization in the future. "It has been my privilege to lead INFINITI HR since its inception in 2008," INFINITI HR CEO Scott Smrkovski said. "We are in the people business, and I couldnt be more proud of the people that make up and support all that INFINITI HR is and strives to be. This award is dedicated to all of our hardworking employees, clients, partners, and supporters. Thank you." The top 75 Fastest Growing Companies will be announced in alphabetical order in September 2020. List ranking will be announced at a virtual ceremony on October 22, 2020. About INFINITI HR Exceptional Experiences | INFINITI HR is The Professional Employer Organization by Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs. This leading SMB Aggregator created the first fully customizable PEO of its kind designed to reduce total labor cost, mitigate employer liability through master aggregated risk pools, and leverage the economies of scale of a large enterprise for competitive advantage making it possible for franchises and innovative businesses to grow faster. INFINITI HR is a Certified Professional Employer Organization by the IRS, a proud supplier to Choice Hotels International, Best Western Hotels & Resorts and the International Franchise Association (IFA.) INFINITI HR is the Professional Employer Organization for many of the most iconic brands located throughout the United States. This PEO provides full regulatory compliance management, an on-demand HR director for clients of any size, real-time payroll /tax filing, access into industry leading Master Policies for Workers Compensation, EPLI, and a True-Group Benefits Portfolio designed for innovative SMBs. Click here for the latest press releases and up-to-date news on human resources outsourcing. To learn more about how your business can save time, money, and mitigate employer liability, call INFINITI HR at 866-552-7360 or email info@infinitihr.com. A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on September 21, 2020 shows him giving a speech as the Islamic republic marks the anniversary of its 1980-88 war with Iraq Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday said the Islamic republic's 1980-88 war with Iraq showed the country can defend itself, without directly addressing the current circumstances. "Trying for eight years, doing everything they can, and yet achieving nothing -- is there a greater victory for Iran?" Khamenei said. Khamenei made the remarks in a televised video address to top military commanders and war veterans across the country, delivered at the beginning of "Holy Defence" week marking the war's anniversary. "The Holy Defence showed that aggression towards this country is very costly," he said. "When a nation shows it has the power and determination to defend itself... it causes the aggressor to think twice before attacking," said Khamenei. "And if it wants to act wisely, it would realise it is not to its benefit and is very costly." Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Iran a year and a half after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, triggering the war that was eventually brought to an end through a UN-brokered ceasefire. Khamenei said the conflict had made Iran's revolution "much stronger" than it was before. The supreme leader also accused Western powers of having armed Saddam while depriving Iran of aid, saying it showed "the truth and the nature of the Western civilisation". Saddam was only "an instrument" in the hands of the foreign powers united against the Islamic republic, he said. His speech came after the United States unilaterally declared that UN sanctions against Iran were back in force and threated to impose "consequences" on states that fail to comply. The move was dismissed as legally void by other world powers. Iran and the United States have come to the brink of direct confrontation twice since June 2019. Khamenei called on officials to preserve the memory of the war as "part of the national identity" of Iranians by creating works of literature on a global scale. Iran this year cancelled a military parade held annually to mark the war's anniversary over the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 24,400 and infected over 425,000 in the Islamic republic since March. Khamenei urged Iranians to better observe health protocols such as social distancing and wearing masks, noting that the virus kills around 150 people every day in the country. "Suppose a plane with 300 people on board crashes every two days and everyone dies. Is this a small thing?" he said. State Bank of India (SBI) has warned its customers to be alert of fake emails sent by fraudsters that look similar to the bank's official email. India's largest lender mentioned a few points for its customers to do if they come across such scams. In a tweet, the bank said, Our customers are receiving fake alert emails from non-existing entities in the name and style of SBI. Kindly refrain from clicking on such emails. We never ever send such mails." The mails are designed to look like an official communication from the bank and customers have been asked to Think Before You Click". The bank has also provided a link of the official Internet banking website in order to help existing customers. What to know: Fraudsters are sending emails that appear to be from . The bank asked its customers to report fake email to the cybercrime department of the Indian government, if any SBI customer comes across such a mail. The cyber-crime department page linked on the tweet also provides more details on how to spot email scam and phishing attempts, identity thefts and other safety tips for internet banking customers. NEW YORK - The lawyer representing a man accused of conspiring with associates of Rudy Giuliani to make illegal campaign contributions has asked a judge to let him quit the case, in part because his client hasn't paid his legal bills. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/9/2020 (483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. NEW YORK - The lawyer representing a man accused of conspiring with associates of Rudy Giuliani to make illegal campaign contributions has asked a judge to let him quit the case, in part because his client hasn't paid his legal bills. David Correia is among four men charged last year with using straw donors to make illegal contributions to politicians they thought could help their political and business interests. He also faces a fraud charge. Two other men charged in the case, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, worked with Giuliani to try and get Ukrainian officials to investigate the son of Democrat Joe Biden. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In a letter to a federal court judge in Manhattan that was made public Friday, Correia's attorney, William Harrington, didn't detail all the reasons he was asking for permission to leave the case. But he referenced a finding by a judge that Correia has not paid his legal bills. A message was left with Harrington on Friday seeking comment. Prosecutors said Correia, an American-born businessman who owns a home with his wife in West Palm Beach, Florida, teamed with Parnas, Fruman and a third man, Andrey Kukushkin, in a scheme to make illegal campaign donations to local and federal politicians in New York, Nevada and other states in an attempt to get support for a new recreational marijuana business. Parnas and Fruman face separate charges that they made illegal campaign contributions to Republicans, in part to further the political interests of a Ukrainian government official. All four defendants have pleaded not guilty. Giuliani, Trumps personal lawyer and a former New York City mayor, has said he had no knowledge of illegal donations and hadnt seen any evidence that Parnas or Fruman did anything wrong. Fox San Antonio viewers will see a new face next month during the station's morning programming. Mayde Gomez will replace Breanna Barrs as co-anchor of "Fox News First" with Ernie Zuniga starting Oct. 19, the station announced earlier this week. Barrs left the station earlier this month. "Im very excited that Mayde is joining our strong 'Fox News First' team, Sinclair San Antonio General Manager Dean Radla said in a news release. ... The combination of Mayde working with Ernie Zuniga, whos such a strong presence in the market, will be dynamic for our viewers and allow FNF to continue to grow our ratings. READ ALSO: Fox San Antonio experiencing major anchor shakeups Gomez, who is originally from Dallas, has been an anchor and reporter at ABC 10 in Sacramento, California since 2018 and has worked for ABC 7 in Los Angeles and Telemundo 60 in San Antonio. She also had a stint with KSAT 12's "SA Live" six years ago. San Antonio continues to extend its arms to me," Gomez said in the release. I could not be more ecstatic to join the morning team and return to the city that gave me my first shot in news. Gomez is a graduate of the University of Texas in Arlington. Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for MySA.com | taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway We will continue to deal with Chinese PLA in firm, resolute manner: Army chief In recent years, China demolished around 16,000 Mosques International oi-Vicky Nanjappa Beijing, Sep 25: China has demolished thousands of Mosques in Xinjiang, according to an Australian think-tank. Around 16,000 Mosques have been destroyed or damaged, according to the Strategic Policy Institute, which is based on satellite imagery. Most of the destruction had taken place in the last three years and around 8,500 Mosques had been completed destroyed, the report said. Many Mosques that escaped demolition had their domes and minarets removed. Now China triggers a border row with Nepal with construction of 11 structures It may be recalled that an AFP investigation conducted last year had found dozens of cemeteries had been destroyed in the region. China on the other hand has insisted that the residents of Xinjiang enjoy full religious freedom. In June it was reported that the Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country's Han majority to have more children. While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice is far more widespread and systematic than previously known, according to an AP investigation based on government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor. The campaign over the past four years in the far west region of Xinjiang is leading to what some experts are calling a form of demographic genocide." The state regularly subjects minority women to pregnancy checks, and forces intrauterine devices, sterilization and even abortion on hundreds of thousands, the interviews and data show. Even while the use of IUDs and sterilization has fallen nationwide, it is rising sharply in Xinjiang. The population control measures are backed by mass detention both as a threat and as a punishment for failure to comply. Having too many children is a major reason people are sent to detention camps, the AP found, with the parents of three or more ripped away from their families unless they can pay huge fines. Police raid homes, terrifying parents as they search for hidden children. After Gulnar Omirzakh, a Chinese-born Kazakh had her third child, the government ordered her to get an IUD inserted. Bihar poll dates, Sunil Gavaskar stokes controversy & more news | Oneindia News Two years later, in January 2018, four officials in military camouflage came knocking at her door anyway. They gave Omirzakh, the penniless wife of a detained vegetable trader, three days to pay a 2,685 fine for having more than two children. If she didn't, they warned, she would join her husband and a million other ethnic minorities locked up in internment camps often for having too many children. God bequeaths children on you. To prevent people from having children is wrong, said Omirzakh, who tears up even now thinking back to that day. They want to destroy us as a people. The result of the birth control campaign is a climate of terror around having children, as seen in interview after interview. Birth rates in the mostly Uighur regions of Hotan and Kashgar plunged by more than 60% from 2015 to 2018, the latest year available in government statistics. Across the Xinjiang region, birth rates continue to plummet, falling nearly 24 per cent last year alone compared to just 4.2 per cent nationwide, statistics show. The hundreds of millions of dollars the government pours into birth control has transformed Xinjiang from one of China's fastest-growing regions to among its slowest in just a few years, according to new research obtained by The Associated Press in advance of publication by China scholar Adrian Zenz. This kind of drop is unprecedented....there's a ruthlessness to it, said Zenz, a leading expert in the policing of China's minority regions. This is part of a wider control campaign to subjugate the Uighurs. The Chinese Foreign Ministry referred multiple requests for comment to the Xinjiang government, which did not respond. However, Chinese officials have said in the past that the new measures are merely meant to be fair, allowing both Han Chinese and ethnic minorities the same number of children. For decades, China had one of the most extensive systems of minority entitlements in the world, with Uighurs and others getting more points on college entrance exams, hiring quotas for government posts and laxer birth control restrictions. Under China's now-abandoned 'one child' policy, the authorities had long encouraged, often forced, contraceptives, sterilization and abortion on Han Chinese. But minorities were allowed two children three if they came from the countryside. Under President Xi Jinping, China's most authoritarian leader in decades, those benefits are now being rolled back. In 2014, soon after Xi visited Xinjiang, the region's top official said it was time to implement equal family planning policies for all ethnicities and reduce and stabilize birth rates. In the following years, the government declared that instead of just one child, Han Chinese could now have two, and three in Xinjiang's rural areas, just like minorities. But while equal on paper, in practice Han Chinese are largely spared the abortions, sterilizations, IUD insertions and detentions for having too many children that are forced on Xinjiang's other ethnicities, interviews and data show. Some rural Muslims, like Omirzakh, are punished even for having the three children allowed by the law. State-backed scholars have warned that large rural religious families were at the root of bombings, knifings and other attacks the Xinjiang government blamed on Islamic terrorists. The growing Muslim population was a breeding ground for poverty and extremism, heightening political risk, according to a 2017 paper by the head of the Institute of Sociology at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences. Outside experts say the birth control campaign is part of a state-orchestrated assault on the Uighurs to purge them of their faith and identity and forcibly assimilate them into the dominant Han Chinese culture. They're subjected to political and religious re-education in camps and forced labor in factories, while their children are indoctrinated in orphanages. Uighurs, who are often but not always Muslim, are also tracked by a vast digital surveillance apparatus. reported 4,519 fresh cases and 84 deaths on Friday, taking the infection tally to 3,78,533, officials said. The COVID-19 death toll mounted to 5,450 in the state, they said. "As many as 4,519 fresh cases were reported in the state in the past 24 hours. While 3,13,686 patients have so far been discharged, the number of active cases in the state stands at 59,397, Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters here. The death toll due to the infection has risen to 5,450," he said. As per the data provided by the officer, the state's infection rally stands at 3,78,533. For the past eight days, the number of fresh cases is less than the number of people discharged after treatment, Prasad said, adding that 6,075 persons were discharged in the past 24 hours. The state's recovery rate is rising and currently stands at 82.86 per cent, he said. Of the 59,397 active cases, 30,371 are under home isolation, he said. The official said over 1.64 lakh samples were tested for COVID-19 on Thursday and since the pandemic outbreak, more than 93.10 lakh samples have been tested in the state. He said the R-value of the state is 0.91, which is below the national average. R-value is a measure of the number of people infected on an average by an already infected person. Till Thursday, Lucknow had recorded 644 COVID-19 deaths, the maximum in the state. Kanpur comes a close second with 622 deaths, followed by 260 deaths in Allahabad and 235 deaths in Varanasi, according to an official bulletin. (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.) ANN ARBOR, MI With early voting underway in the 2020 election, Captain Planet arrived at the University of Michigan on Friday, encouraging students to register and cast their ballots. You have the power to vote! the costumed superhero called out to passersby Sept. 25. We need your help to protect the planet! Help me stop the looters and polluters! Behind the green wig and full body suit was state Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, who pointed students toward the citys new early voting and voter registration location at the UM Museum of Art on State Street. Im a fool for public service, said Irwin, who has teamed up with a group of residents trying to increase voter turnout and help guide students through the process. Irwins willingness to put on the costume and participate shows a real commitment to the democratic process, said Linda Wan, one of the residents involved in Fridays outreach event. Michigan voters start casting ballots in 2020 presidential election The group is trying to get the message out that UM students from out of state and other Michigan cities can register and vote in Ann Arbor with no drivers license required just the last four digits of their Social Security number, a university Mcard and the local address listed in their Wolverine Access profile. Students have been inquiring about how to vote at this new office, Wan said. So we hope to help out in a fun way. Max Lacascia, a UM student voting in his first presidential election, said he had to register before he could vote Friday. It was really quick, he said. Im from Massachusetts. I just switched all my stuff, but it took like five, six minutes. I was in and out. The campus museum location for registration and voting is currently open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, while the clerks office at city hall is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. At both locations, voters can register, request and receive an absentee ballot, and then either vote on the spot at a booth or take their ballot home to fill out and return later. Voters also have the option of voting by mail and at the polls on Election Day, which is Nov. 3. Our message is use your super power, said Lauren Sargent, another member of Fridays outreach group. Everything is in place for you to be able to register and vote absentee and de-facto early vote right here on U of Ms campus. Voters can later cancel their absentee ballots if they decide they want to vote at the polls, Sargent said. All youre doing is giving yourself the protection that no pandemic shutdown, no mail issues, no nothing is going to interfere with that, she said. Aside from the presidential contest, theres a long list of other local races and issues on the ballot. MLive has partnered with the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Michigan to provide information to voters. Check out the leagues voter guide at Vote411.org/ballot to find information about candidates and issues on the ballot. MORE ELECTION STORIES: Ann Arbor voters to decide tax proposal that could raise $160M for affordable housing Here are some projects Ann Arbors proposed affordable housing tax could fund Whos running in the November 2020 election in Washtenaw County These 12 proposals are on the November 2020 ballot in Washtenaw County Tax proposal on November ballot would help fill Ann Arbors sidewalk gaps Democrats vs. Republicans: 4 state House races in Washtenaw County on Nov. 3 ballot Dingell faces 2 repeat challengers in Michigans 12th Congressional District race Walberg, Driskell face off for third time for Congressional seat Voters set to decide who will be new Washtenaw County trial judge presiding over family-court cases Proposals in Ypsilanti would expand nomination powers to council members The Constitution gives Congress spending authority, the court said, and it requires two keys to unlock the Treasury, and the House holds one of those keys. The Executive Branch has, in a word, snatched the Houses key out of its hands, according to the opinion from Judge David B. Sentelle, who was joined by Judges Patricia A. Millett and Robert L. Wilkins. The call came to Sandy Villatoro's cellphone as she was driving back from her cousin's funeral in Houston in March. The COVID-19 pandemic was causing cancellations at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown hotel, where she had given away her few shifts as a housekeeper so she could attend the funeral. The call was from her manager. March 28 would be her last day of work. "I didn't even know what to think. I was shocked," Villatoro said. "I worked there for five years and, you know, we've never gotten laid off." Mozes Bautista, a student at Arizona State University, has worked the front desk at the Embassy Suites hotel in midtown Phoenix for five years. He says the job was perfect for his schedule, and the discounts on stays allowed him to travel. His bosses were flexible when he needed to take his mother, who has cancer, to doctor appointments. Until March, when he too received a phone call. "They let like 80% of the staff go just within little to no notice," Bautista said. Sandy Villatoro works as a housekeeper at the Sheraton Downtown Phoenix. She's one of thousands of hotel and resort workers who have been furloughed or laid off during the pandemic. 16,100 Arizona hotel jobs lost Kim Sabow, president and CEO of the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association, a trade group, told The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, that in March, when Arizona would typically see occupancy rates around 80%, those rates dropped into single digits almost overnight. "It really impacted our industry and our revenues. In the first six months of this year, we've lost $7 billion in visitor spending," she said. Thousands of hotel and resort workers in Arizona have lost their jobs amid the pandemic. The most recent figures from the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity show the lodging sector of the travel and leisure industry lost 16,100 jobs year over year, a net loss of more than 36% of the jobs the industry had in 2019. According to the monthly employment figures kept by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity, the lodging industry employed 45,800 Arizonans in March 2020. By May, that number had plummeted to 24,600. Story continues 'The virus spreads when people feel like they have to go to work sick' As the number of COVID-19 cases in Arizona has dropped, some travelers eager for a vacation have gained confidence to book. As a result, hotels and resorts have called back staff. By July, the number Arizonans employed in hotel and lodging jobs increased to 28,200 and held steady at 28,300 in August. With jobs slowly returning, Rachel Sulkes, an organizer for Unite Here, the union representing hospitality and resort workers in Arizona, worries about what employees will face. She said she has heard from people who have returned to find out they've lost their seniority or their accrued time off. "We think that is an important one because we know that the virus spreads when people feel like they have to go to work sick," Sulkes said. The union is pushing for three separate Phoenix ordinances to protect workers in the city. The ordinances would: Cap the amount of space housekeepers can clean to 4,000 square feet in an eight-hour workday. Require employees to pass a city-sanctioned, six-hour public hygiene program within 120 days of employment. Add mandatory paid 15-minute breaks every four hours for all employees. Add 80 hours of sick leave for those not covered by the Family First Coronavirus Response Act, which "requires certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19." Require companies to recall furloughed employees by seniority before hiring from the outside. The ordinances were introduced at a Phoenix City Council meeting in July through a letter from Vice Mayor Betty Guardado, Councilman Carlos Garcia and Councilwoman Laura Pastor. They were quickly pulled after the hospitality industry complained the provisions had been pushed through without its input. Trade groups and hotel owners felt the provisions were excessive and rigid at a time when the industry needed flexibility to survive and duplicated steps hotels and resorts were taking on their own. "Fortunately, we were successful in convincing city council to table that while we provided them with information on how the industry is leading in these areas. Leading on cleanliness. Leading on making sure that visitors and employees are entering safe working environments and safe environments that they are visiting," Sabow said. Sulkes said she's looking forward to that dialogue. "I want to take the industry at their word and I want to take city council at their word that it's really about trying to get it right and not about simply resisting having to put protections in place for workers and the public," Sulkes said. Returning to work Mozes Bautista works as a front desk clerk at the Embassy Suites Downtown Phoenix. Initially furloughed, he's now returned to his job. Bautista is one of the workers who has returned to his position as a desk clerk, but his hours have been limited to 32 a week. He continues to work the job he found delivering packages for Amazon. Overall, he said he has felt safe with the protocols put in place at Embassy Suites and he knows of no reported cases there. "I feel like the hotel does a decent job in terms of managing sanitation and stuff like that," he said. His one frustration has been the pushback from guests unwilling to wear masks. "It's a different life we live in now and it's been forced upon everybody," he said. "I don't want to do it. You don't want to do it. I don't want to tell you to wear a mask, but it's just the way it is." A recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and married to a U.S. citizen, Sandy Villatoro is in the process of filing a spousal petition to gain legal status in the U.S. She was unsure if filing for unemployment benefits would jeopardize that petition, so she hesitated to seek them. "I didn't have work so there was no money coming in. I couldn't pay for much," she said. She eventually filed and qualified for unemployment, but now the extra $300 from the federal government has run out. The Sheraton Phoenix Downtown where she works is set to reopen Nov. 1. As part of the Marriott brand, the hotel has instituted temperature checks, requires employees to wear masks and has implemented other changes. "To limit contact for many guests, housekeeping services have changed so each room is not necessarily getting serviced every day," said Jon Erickson, director of sales and marketing for the hotel. Villatoro said she's nervous to return, wondering how managers will handle breaks and sick time, although she misses and is ready to return to work. "We love our jobs and want to do it, but we also want to be protected," she said. You can connect with Arizona Republic Consumer Travel Reporter Melissa Yeager through email at melissa.yeager@azcentral.com. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona hotel workers on jobs lost to COVID-19, returning to work With the US presidential election looming, lawyers for Donald Trump will ask a federal appeals court on Friday to block Manhattans top prosecutor from obtaining the presidents tax returns in connection with a criminal probe into Trump and his businesses. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments from lawyers for Trump and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, whose investigation began more than two years ago. The probe has been stalled as Trump fights an Aug. 2019 grand jury subpoena to his accounting firm Mazars USA for eight years of his corporate and personal tax returns. Vance began his probe after Trumps former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen paid hush money to silence two women before the 2016 election about claimed sexual encounters with Trump. The probe now appears to go beyond the payments, with Vance saying in court filings he might have grounds to investigate Trump and his businesses for tax and insurance fraud, and that possible bank fraud might also be examined. Trumps lawyers have said the subpoena was wildly overbroad, issued in bad faith, and part of a fishing expedition designed to harass him. Vance is a Democrat, and Trump is a Republican. Fridays arguments follow the US Supreme Courts July 9 rejection of Trumps claim he was absolutely immune from criminal probes while in the White House. The Supreme Court said Trump could raise other challenges to the subpoena. Trump has said he expects a return to that court if the appeals court rules against him, as it did last November. In an Aug. 20 ruling, US District Judge Victor Marrero said Vance should obtain the returns, saying Trumps effort to prolong the dispute could cause statutes of limitations to run out and give him the immunity the Supreme Court rejected. Justice requires an end to this controversy, Marrero wrote. Trumps lawyers want the case returned to Marrero so he can review the substance of the presidents arguments, rather than treat them as a repackaging of his immunity claim. Though the appeal was fast-tracked, the public will likely not know whats in Trumps tax returns before the Nov. 3 election. Grand jury proceedings are secret, and if Vance gets the returns it could be months before their contents become public. All three judges on the appeals court panel were appointed by Democratic presidents, as was Marrero. In India, where crimes against women are rampant, an engineer turned human rights activist and author stands at guard to give voice to victimized women all across the country and abroad as well. Kundan Srivastava is the saviour that every woman who has been wronged needs to get justice. Every 15 minutes a rape is recorded, every five minutes an incident of domestic violence is reported, every 69 minutes a bride is killed for dowry and every year hundreds of thousands of women get abortions and Newborn girls are killed, due to which they are encouraged. Sex ratio Girls and women also have to contend with lifelong discrimination, prejudice, violence and neglect. In an environment like that, 29-year-old Kundan Srivastava knows he sticks out like a sore thumb, but he has some questions that are reasonable enough: Are women safe in our society? Arent they human being? Kundan was inspired by Dalai Lamas message stating the importance of love and compassion. His burning desire and passion for social justice led to his kidnapping in 2004. After seven days of ordeal, he finally managed to escape while enduring a gunshot on his leg. However, this didnt stop this courageous man to fight for justice and equality. In 2016, Kundan Srivastava stood up for 70-year-old Rajrani Jain who was brutally assaulted by her daughter-in-law Sangeeta Jain by doing a sting operation. Her husband Sandeep Jain recorded a video as suggested by Mr. Srivastava. The husband himself also suspected his wife of assaulting his parents since quite some time. When asked about the incident, the elderly woman, Rajrani Jain said that her daughter-in-law started slapping her abruptly on the day the incident happen. She dragged the old woman from the bed and hit her head with a brick. Not only this, her daughter-in-law also tried to give an electric shock to her via a water heating rod. Sangeeta also harassed her husband with false marital rape and dowry harassment cases. Kundan criticized the police for not taking any appropriate and timely action. Sangeeta Jain was later arrested in the evening. She was the first woman who was arrested in the early morning after Akhilesh Yadav took interest in this case after the Kundans voice. This young human rights activist has been fighting against such injustice for over 10 years. He believes that one must always stand against crime and injustice and just coffee table discussions would not change the situation. In another case that happened in 2016, Nand Kishore was arrested and sent to Tihar Jail for assaulting his own 70-year old mother, Rajindari Devi after Kundan Srivastava filed a complaint. A neighbour of Rajindari Devi saw Kishore beating his mother and made a video of it. The neighbour filed a complaint against Kishore at the police station but he along with some local residents pressurized him to withdraw the complaint. Srivastava filed another complaint to take the matter further. After the authorities came to know about this incident, she was sent to Delhis GTB hospital for treatment. Based on Srivastavas complaint, Nand Kishore was booked under sections 323, 341 and 352 for voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful restraint and assault. Another incident in 2017 brought Kundan Srivastava into the limelight when he stood up for an American woman of Indian origin. This woman in question was being harassed and racially abused by an American man who called her some rude names and insulted her to leave the place while she was commuting via train. The incident occurred on February 23, 2017. Ekta Desai, a New York resident, was travelling via train, when this African-American individual starts harassing her. She then started making video which made the man visibly angry. His abusive rant contained words like Black Power and Freedom of speech. He was using foul language and asking her to get out of here. Desai uploaded the video on social media saying that she and the man were on the same compartment of the train with 100 other passengers. She was listening to music on her headphones as usual and all of a sudden she found him yelling at her. Desai also said that she did not react to this mans verbal abuse and pretended not to hear him. Even though there was no reaction from Desai, the man continued abusing her, demanding to know why she was recording him. The video went viral after taken it by Srivastavas platform The Voice Raiser and in no time it had thousands of views. On social media, several natives expressed their sympathy and extended their support. Desai also filed a police report but they allegedly told her that the man was mentally unstable. They also asked her to exercise caution. After this, Desai got in touch with Kundan Srivastava, The Voice Raisers founder and noted human rights activist. Mr. Srivastava immediately raised his voice and demanded the US government to take suitable action against the man who misbehaved with the woman. Kundan believes that women must always be respected, and people must not be silent spectators whenever any such incident happens. He opines that person has no right to slut-shame a woman and need to follow the civic rules. This incident was preceded by the killing of Srinivas Kuchibhotla in a Kansas bar, who was shot by Adam Purinton, a US Navy veteran. The shooting created a stir in the Indian-American community. In recent months, Srivastava has been speaking out against rape, domestic violence and elderly abuse cases. After the December 2012 gang rape of a young woman on a bus in the Indian capital, Delhi, and her subsequent death, India introduced Section 376, a tough new anti-rape law and strong laws in favor of women. Since then, there has been a surge in the registration of rape cases. Srivastava, too, has often taken to social media to speak up for crime against women, human rights, attracting a severe backlash he regularly gets trolled on social media, feminists and defenders accuse him of bias. But Srivastava remains unfazed. I want justice for everyone, regardless of their gender. My work is not for women. My work is against injustice. India certainly needs more activists like Kundan Srivastava who have the courage to stand up for what is right and give voice to those who have been silenced. British telecom giant Vodafone Group plc on Friday won an arbitration against the Indian government over a demand for Rs 22,100 crore in taxes using retrospective legislation. An international arbitration tribunal ruled that India's demand in past taxes were in breach of fair treatment under a bilateral investment protection pact. "The award is confidential but Vodafone can confirm that the tribunal has found (it) in Vodafone's favour," Vodafone group said in a statement. "We are studying the lengthy documents and can make no further comment at this time." It was not immediately known if the Indian government will abide by the arbitration award. The Government of India's liability will be restricted to about Rs 75 crore -- Rs 30 crore in cost and another Rs 45 crore in tax refund, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Vodafone had before the arbitration tribunal challenged India's usage of a 2012 legislation that gave it powers to retrospectively tax deals like Vodafone's USD 11 billion acquisition of 67 per cent stake in the mobile phone business owned by Hutchison Whampoa in 2007. It challenged the demand of Rs 7,990 crore in capital gains taxes (Rs 22,100 crore after including interest and penalty) under the Netherlands-India Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). Sources said the tax demand was on the UK-listed company and Vodafone's India venture faced no liability. Vodafone merged its India operations with billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla's conglomerate but the combined entity Vodafone Idea Ltd is facing a USD 7.8 billion bill in past statutory dues. Tax authorities had in September 2007 served notice to Vodafone International Holdings BV (VIHBV) for its alleged failure to deduct withholding tax from consideration paid to the Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. Vodafone challenged this in the Supreme Court, which in January 2012 set it aside, saying the transaction was not taxable in India and so the company had no obligation to withhold tax. In May that year, Parliament passed the Finance Act 2012 that amended various provisions of the Income Tax Act 1961 with retrospective effect to tax any gain on transfer of shares in a non-Indian company which derives substantial value from underlying Indian assets. The company was in January 2013 served a tax notice of Rs 14,200 crore after including interest on the principal amount. A year later, Vodafone challenged the tax demand under the Dutch BIT. Sources said the company in April 2014 served the notice of arbitration after out-of-court dispute resolution talks failed. The tax department in February 2016 served a demand notice of Rs 22,100 crore, including interest accruing since the date of the original demand. Vodafone has always maintained that there is no liability and that it will "continue to defend vigorously any allegation that VIHBV or Vodafone India Ltd is liable to pay tax in connection with the transaction with Hutchison and will continue to exercise all rights to seek redress". Besides Vodafone, the Indian government also used the retrospective tax legislation to seek Rs 10,247 crore from British oil explorer Cairn Energy Plc over a 2006 reorganisation of its Indian businesses. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:41:17|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd, a petrochemical joint venture between Brunei and China, is expanding into the second phase construction of its oil refinery and petrochemical project at Pulau Muara Besar (PMB), an industrial park on an island at the Brunei Bay. "However, there are still issues to be sorted out before we can move on to Phase 2 of the expansion. Fortunately, we are quite close to it. The scale of Phase 2 is larger and will contribute significantly to the country's gross domestic product (GDP)," Brunei's Minister at the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister of Finance and Economy Haji Mohd Amin Liew was quoted as saying on Friday by local daily the Borneo Bulletin. "We also have other projects lined up to diversify the country's economy and contribute to higher GDP growth besides creating more employment for locals," the minister told a press conference. He added that the Hengyi project that had gone into full operation at the end of last year gave Brunei's second quarter's GDP growth a major boost. "The Hengyi project is now in full swing indicating an increase in our economic growth," the minister said, adding that there has also been growth in the non-oil and gas sector like agriculture but the services sector has declined. Hengyi Industries is a joint venture between China's Zhejiang Hengyi Group and Damai Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary under the Brunei government's Strategic Development Capital Fund, with 70 percent and 30 percent of the shares respectively. Hengyi invested about 3.45 billion U.S. dollars in the first phase of its PMB oil refinery and petrochemical project, which went into full operation in November 2019 and equipped the company with 8 million tons of crude oil processing capacity per year. The company said on Sept. 16 that it was planning to invest about 13.654 billion U.S. dollars in the second phase expansion. Hengyi's CEO Chen Liancai told Xinhua that the construction of the proposed second phase expansion is expected to last for three years and that it will add 14 million tons of crude oil processing capacity per year upon completion. Enditem But the threat alone suggests that voters are pushing back against his proposed constitutional amendment, understanding it for what it is: Not just a tax increase on the super rich but a scheme of graduated rates that politicians likely will exploit just as soon as they can to soak middle-class taxpayers too. Those are the same middle-class taxpayers struggling to pay high property taxes, high sales taxes and all the other taxes and fees lawmakers already have created or raised. Democrats in of the House of Representatives will introduce a bill next week to limit the tenure of U.S. Supreme Court justices to 18 years. Currently, Supreme Court members serve lifetime appointments and bitter political battles have followed when justices have died or retired. The legislation aims to reduce partisan warring over vacancies and preserve the court's legitimacy. Democrats want to put an end to the wild partisan fights when Supreme Court justices, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, die or retire by capping their term at 18 years and giving each president two high court picks The effort is being steered by Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who plans to introduce the legislation on Tuesday, along with Reps. Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts and Don Beyer of Virginia The new bill, seen by Reuters, would allow every president to nominate two justices per four-year term and comes amid heightened political tensions as Republican President Donald Trump prepares to announce his third pick for the Supreme Court after the death on Sept. 18 of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, with just 40 days to go until the Nov. 3 election. 'It would save the country a lot of agony and help lower the temperature over fights for the court that go to the fault lines of cultural issues and is one of the primary things tearing at our social fabric,' said California U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, who plans to introduce the legislation on Tuesday, along with Representatives Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts and Don Beyer of Virginia. Partly due to rising life expectancies, justices serve increasingly long tenures, on average now more than 25 years. Term limits for high court justices have for years had support from a number of legal scholars on both the right and the left. Several polls in recent years have also shown large majorities of the American public support term limits. The bill - the Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act - is the first to try to set Supreme Court term limits by statute, according to Gabe Roth, the executive director of Fix the Court, a judicial transparency group whose campaign for high court term limits has been gaining attention. Some legal observers, including those who favor term limits, say they must be accomplished through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which has been interpreted as requiring life tenure for federal judges and justices. The bill seeks to avoid constitutional concerns by exempting current justices from the 18-year rule. Those justices would be grandfathered in. Those appointed under term limits would become 'senior' upon retirement and rotate to lower courts. 'That's perfectly consistent with their judicial independence and having a lifetime salary and a lifetime appointment,' Khanna said. The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection have crossed the mark of 32 million across the globe, while the number of deaths is nearing one million. The deaths have been more prevalent in the elderly population and those with comorbidities. Previous studies have shown that the reasons behind these deaths can be a cytokine storm (excess inflammatory cells in the body), increased levels of D-dimers and low white blood cell count. Increased D-dimer levels were seen to be associated with high mortality rates as it stimulated cytokine storms, abnormal blood clotting and organ failure. In recent research, published in the journal JAMA Network on 23rd September 2020, it was found that high red blood cell distribution width (RDW) in the blood of a COVID-19 patient can also increase their risk of mortality. The link between RDW and COVID-19 Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a test done by taking the blood sample of a person in order to measure the size and volume of red blood cells. Scientists from the Harvard Medical School conducted a study on 1,641 patients, of mean age 62 years, who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and were admitted between 4th March 2020 and 28th April 2020 to one of the following hospitals - Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Womens Hospital, North Shore Medical Center and Newton-Wellesley Hospital. The scientists examined the RDW, white blood cell count and D-dimer levels of all these patients on a daily basis along with standard clinical care. The results The results of the study showed that COVID-19 positive patients who presented with RDW greater than 14.5 percent during admission had a mortality risk of 31 percent. However, patients who had an RDW of 14.5 percent or less had a mortality risk of 11 percent. The relative risk of mortality for the patients who had an increased RDW compared to those who had a low RDW was 2.73 times. It was also found that high levels of RDW increased the mortality risk in people younger than 50 years as well as in those above the age of 80 years. The scientists further found that the relative risk of death (between those with low and high RDW) increased within 48 hours of admission. Within 48 hours of admission, the mortality risk of patients with a normal RDW of 14.5 percent or less increased by 0.8 percent, whereas, for those with an RDW greater than 14.5 percent, the mortality risk increased by 4.9 percent. The conclusion The scientists stated that an increased RDW in COVID-19 patients at the time of hospital admission or during hospitalization can increase their mortality risk. The scientists further found that an elevated RDW during hospitalization can increase the mortality risk by 6 percent to 24 percent for those who had normal RDW during admission and 22 percent to 40 percent for those who had an elevated RDW during admission. With this study, the scientists concluded that COVID-19 patients with high RDW during hospital admission are at a 6.12 times higher risk of dying within 48 hours than those with a normal RDW. For more information, read our article on Blood Test (CBC). 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. WEST HAVEN A couple of dozen protesters from the group Concerned Citizens of West Haven, gathered on the steps of City Hall Friday to object to the Police Departments handling of recent events and to request a public meeting with police and city officials. The group led by activist Brandan Patterson said they also want police to release a media advisory about the investigation into a motorist who allegedly drove a car through protesters in the street July 5. One of the latest issues the group alleges shows inequality is that a protester, Kirsten Vega, 23, who attended the July 5 protest, was recently charged with second-degree threatening because of a Facebook post she allegedly made about police, writing of an officer: We need to get her fired or just beat up point blank period. Police created a media release about the arrest and posted it on the departments Facebook page with a picture. Were not going away until justice is applied equally, Patterson said, as was the message from others, including well-known activist Barbara Fair, as well as local activist Samantha DeGennaro, who were among the speakers. State Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, whose district includes West Haven, was there to show support. Mayor Nancy Rossi said Friday that Patterson made her aware of parts of the investigation into the motorist who allegedly drove through protesters and has been trying to contact Police Chief Joseph Perno, who has been unavailable due to training. Rossi said she cannot make a comment without knowing all the facts, and she will make a comment when she has the facts. Rossi said she wasnt aware of the press conference until contacted by the Register Friday afternoon. Perno could not be reached for comment. Members of the group Friday claimed there were threats against them on social media during protest periods, and they complained to police, but action allegedly was not taken. The police have not confirmed the status of the investigation into the motorist, but the Register has filed a Freedom of Information request. Register with JOC.com and receive 5 free pieces of content for the first thirty days. After thirty days, you will receive 3 pieces of content and after sixty days you will receive 1 piece of content. To receive full access, Subscribe Today . You can also subscribe to our daily newsletter. Register Phuket Provincial Police Chief to join Immigration ranks PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Rungrote Thakurapunyasiri has been transferred to take up the post of Commander of Immigration Division Region 3 based in Bangkok. policeimmigration By The Phuket News Friday 25 September 2020, 03:33PM Pol Maj Gen Pornsak Nuannu, currently serving as Commander of the Ranong Provincial Police, is to take up the post of Phuket Provincial Police Commander on Oct 1. Photo: NNT The transfer was confirmed by an order published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette yesterday (Sept 24). The order states that the transfer is to come into effect on Oct 1. Gen Rungrote officially took up his position as Phuket Provincial Police commander on Oct 2 last year. Phuket Provincial Police have yet to post any announcements marking the departure of Gen Rungrote, or the impending arrival of his replacement, Pol Maj Gen Pornsak Nuannu, who is currently serving as Commander of the Ranong Provincial Police. Maj Gen Pornsak has previously served as a Deputy Commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, a post he took up in 2010, before being transferred out of the province. Rajasthan CM urges demonstrators to maintain law, order during protests over teachers' exam India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P Jaipur, Sep 25: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday described as "unfortunate" the violent demonstrations over teachers' exam in Dungarpur district and appealed to the protesters to cooperate in maintaining law and order. On Thursday evening, candidates of a teachers' recruitment examination laid siege on a highway in Rajasthan, pelted stones and torched vehicles over their demand to fill vacancies in the unreserved section with the Scheduled Tribe-category candidates. Farm Bills: Samajwadi Party to protest in Uttar Pradesh against farm and labour reform laws "Violence and violent demonstration in Dungarpur is very unfortunate. Constitutional right to protest should be used. There should be peaceful demonstrations but no one has the right to take law into their hands," Gehlot tweeted. "My appeal to the protesters is to please cooperate in maintaining peace and law and order," the chief minister wrote. According to official sources, a delegation of protesters is likely to meet the chief minister in Jaipur on Friday evening. Explained: Here are the new quarantine rules for these seven states due to COVID-19 outbreak A large mob had blocked the National Highway 8 in Bichhiwara area of Dungarpur, around 500 km south of Jaipur. The candidates of the 2018 teachers' recruitment exam have been protesting for over the past fortnight to press for their demand to fill 1,167 general posts with ST-category candidates, police said. Bihar poll dates, Sunil Gavaskar stokes controversy & more news | Oneindia News The protesters pelted stones on the police force and torched several vehicles. Police resorted to baton charge and fired tear gas to disperse the mob, according to officials. Three persons were arrested. Two police officials -- an assistant superintendent of police and a station house officer -- suffered minor injuries. Four police vehicles were torched by the protesters. Additional police force has been deployed to control the situation. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, September 25, 2020, 14:26 [IST] Vice Secretary of Hanois Party Committee Chu Ngoc Anh was elected Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee for the 2016-2021 tenure with 95 out of 96 votes at the 16th session of the 15th Hanoi Peoples Council this morning. Mr. Chu Ngoc Anh at the Hanoi Peoples Council meeting this morning. During the meeting session on September 25, the members of Hanoi People's Council started the process to dismiss Nguyen Duc Chung from all leadership positions and voted for Chu Ngoc Anh as the chairman of Hanoi People's Committee. On September 18, the politburo of Vietnam assigned Chu Ngoc Anh as the Deputy Secretary of Hanoi Party Committee. He is currently Minister of Science and Technology and will hold the post until the National Assemblys meeting in October when he will be relieved of the post. In assuming his new position, Mr. Ngoc Anh, who is still the Minister of Science and Technology, stressed that Hanoi is working toward the 17th municipal Party congress, the 1010th founding anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi and many important political tasks. In his new position, he vowed to, together with Peoples Committee staff, promote the spirit of solidarity and consensus and direct municipal authorities to continue following instructions of the municipal Party Committee and Peoples Council. Attention will be paid to main missions to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development targets, promote the values of the capital city, and increase the citys position and role, he added. On August 11, the politburo suspended Nguyen Duc Chung from all of the posts including the deputy secretary of Hanoi Party Committee. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc announced that Chung was suspended from the position of the chairman of Hanoi People's Committee for the investigation for his involvement in accounting irregularities, money laundering and serious violations of bidding regulations at local firm Nhat Cuong Mobile and the Hanoi Peoples Committees mismanagement of state assets. On August 28, Chung was detained for four months for appropriating documents containing state secrets." Mr. Chu Ngoc Anh was born in 1965 in Hanoi. He holds a PhD degree in physics. He is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (12th tenure). Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Organizing Commission Pham Minh Chinh hands the decision of the Politburo to Mr. Chu Ngoc Anh From 1988 to 1995, he was a lecturer at the Institute for Technical Physics under the Ha Noi University of Science and Technology. From 1995 to 1997 he worked at the Science and Technology Advances Application Company MITEC under the Ministry of Industry and Environment and the Institute of Posts and Telecommunications Technology under the General Department of Posts. From 1997 to 2003, he was deputy manager, then manager of the Institute of Posts and Telecommunications Technology under the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group. In 2003 2010 he was staff, then Deputy Head of the Department on High-tech; Director of the Technology Application and Development Department under the Ministry of Science and Technology. From August 2010 to January, 2011, he was Deputy Minister of Science and Technology cum Director of the Technology Application and Development Department. From January 2011 through March, 2013, he was an alternate member of the 11th Party Central Committee, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology. From March 2013 to May, 2013, he was Deputy Secretary of the Phu Tho Provincial Party Committee From May 2013 to September, 2015, he was Deputy Secretary of the Phu Tho Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Phu Tho Provincial Peoples Committee. From September 2015 to April 2014, he was Deputy Minister of Science and Technology. Since April 2014 he has been the Minister of Science and Technology. Thanh Nam Good sowing of kharif crops, better minimum support prices, and fewer Covid-19 cases (in villages) will help the rural growth story to continue, says Maruti. Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India expects the volume recovery seen in the past few months to continue on the back of a strong growth momentum in rural India and a growing preference for personal transportation in urban markets. Good sowing of kharif crops (up 8 per cent year-on-year), better minimum support prices, and fewer Covid-19 cases (in villages) will help the rural growth story to continue, said Shashank Srivastava, executive director (sales and marketing), Maruti Suzuki India. The contribution of rural in Marutis sales mix advanced to 41 per cent in the five months of 2020-21, as against 37 per cent in the same period last year. In the entire FY20, rural sales contributed 39 per cent to the total sales. Even as growth has tapered off in urban India, brisk sales in rural markets are primarily a reflection of improving income levels, he said. Maruti, like most automobile companies, defines rural on the basis of the government of India Census. According to the 2011 Census, there were 640,867 villages in India. The firms sales in urban India in August saw a year-on-year growth rate of 11 per cent, while rural sales grew at a brisk 34.5 per cent. Both urban and rural sales declined in the year-to-date period by 42 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively. In addition to an increased expenditure by the government, cash flows from a record harvest of rabi crops, good sowing of kharif crops, and a favourable monsoon in line with the forecasts have bumped up consumption in rural India. Earlier this month, rating agency ICRA revised its forecast for domestic tractor sales - a proxy for state of rural economy. It is 7-9 per cent as compared to 2-4 per cent earlier. A sharp drop in stock levels at channel partners - 80,000 at the end of August from 130,000 in April - also gives Maruti enough headroom for dispatching more to its dealers and clock higher sales, said Srivastava. Auto firms count dispatches to dealers as sales. Since the Covid-induced nationwide lockdown has been lifted, the firm has seen a recovery. In August, its sales grew 20 per cent to 116,704 units. The gains, however, largely came on a low base of last year, when it had sold 97,061 units. One cannot read much into last months sales as it came on a very low base, said Srivastava. YTD, the industry is still down 50 per cent y-o-y. He, however, remains unfazed by the competition from Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia Motors in the SUV segment, where Brezza currently enjoys a leadership position. A 2.5-litre petrol engine, which powers the Brezza, will hold the company in good stead and help the company ward off competition from the upcoming Sonnet compact SUV and other rivals. Its a white space that will continue to tap into, he said, pointing out that the share of petrol in the compact SUVs now stands at 75 per cent. An analyst at a domestic brokerage said, Once the market recovers, companies will go full throttle with their launches, and Maruti will have more competition." EC to take call on by-polls on September 29 India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Sep 25: The Election Commission will take a call on bypolls to one Lok Sabha and 64 assembly seats on September 29 after going through inputs provided by poll officials and chief secretaries of the states concerned, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said on Friday. Bihar Polls 2020: What are the poll dates and when will the results be announced | Oneindia News Responding to questions on the issue during a press conference to announce the schedule for Bihar assembly elections, Arora said EC Secretary-General Umesh Sinha will issue a press release of the schedule the same evening based on the decision taken at the poll watchdog. Earlier, the EC had said in a statement that Bihar elections and the bypolls will be held around the same time. Key issues that could impact the Bihar Assembly Election 2020 Arora said when the EC had decided on holding the bypolls along with Bihar elections then it had no inclination towards some states sending representations to raise issues related to the bypolls. He said most of the representations were received in the last one week and the commission will have to discuss the inputs before taking a final call. Among the 64 vacant assembly seats, 27 are in Madhya Pradesh. Most of these 27 seats fell vacant when rebel Congress members resigned from the party and the assembly to join the BJP. With the resignations of the Congress members, the Kamal Nath-led government fell and the BJP returned to power. The bypoll to the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha seat in Bihar has been pending. Counting of votes in three phase Bihar Elections 2020 on November 10 One assembly seat each in Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka and West Bengal; two seats each in Assam, Jharkhand, Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu and Odisha; five assembly seats in Manipur and eight each in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh are also vacant. In July this year, the Election Commission had deferred the by-elections to one Lok Sabha and seven assembly seats beyond the six month period due to the onset of monsoon and possibilities of floods and the COVID-19 pandemic. Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi will set up a court for non-Muslims to strengthen the culture of tolerance and acceptance of other communities and ensure access to services for all segments of the society, a media report said. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, has issued a resolution for the setting up of a Personal Status and Inheritance Court for non-Muslims in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the largest of the UAE's seven emirates. The move is in line with the strategic goals of the AbuDhabi Judicial Department to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of the judicial procedures and ensure access to services for all segments of the society, the official WAMnews agency reported. This will also ensure prompt justice and strengthen the culture of tolerance and acceptance of others by creating institutional infrastructure, it added. Chancellor Yousef Saeed Al Ibry, under-secretary of the department, said an integrated action on all the social, educational and institutional levels, is required to spread the culture of tolerance in the judicial domain. He also pointed out that the UAE legislative system practically promotes the culture of tolerance and acceptance of others values at the judiciary level, in harmony with the prevailing norms in the community. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 22:11:03|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JAKARTA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- As many as 240 Indonesian migrant workers have been deported by the Malaysian government, an immigration official has said. They were sent to the Social Affairs Office in Indonesia's West Kalimantan provincial capital of Pontianak on Friday morning, Berie Januar P Sarbini, a supervisor of the immigration office in the province's Entikong area which borders Malaysia, said in a statement. "The Indonesian migrant workers were deported as they have problems with stay permits, drug abuses and without legal documents in Malaysia," Sarbini said. Before entering Entikong the migrant workers were obliged to apply health protocols to avoid the COVID-19 infections, he said, adding that the Entikong health office also asked them to conduct health tests before immigration checks. This year, hundreds of Indonesian migrant workers were deported from Malaysia among others due to illegal entries to the neighboring country, problems with stay permits and drug abuses. Enditem A protester stops traffic on the Delaware Ave. exit on I-95 south on Sept. 24, 2020 to protest the Breonna Taylor grand jury ruling Read more For a second night, this time taking their protest onto I-95, Philadelphia demonstrators set out across the city Thursday in continued outrage over the decision by a grand jury in Kentucky not to indict police officers in the death of Breonna Taylor. About 100 marchers rallied on Independence Mall about 7 p.m. and then made their way through Old City and onto the highway shortly before 8. Video showed them in standoffs with motorists who had been forced to a halt. The highway was reopened just before 8:30 as the marchers headed off at the Columbus Boulevard exit and onto the streets of South Philadelphia, where they urged outdoor diners to join them. They got a standing ovation from some. On South Street, protesters screamed into open windows. Some residents raised their fists in solidarity and others seemed to ignore the crowd making its way through their neighborhood. It was just yesterday when we saw that Black lives dont matter, one of the protest organizers, who gave her name only as Kizzy, said at the initial rally outside Independence Hall. The system has failed us and has failed Breonna Taylor, because its a system not designed for us. We are done talking, we are done pleading, we are done asking, she added. "Now is the time to tear it down. By 9 p.m. the crowd had made its way to the South Street Bridge, where a contingent of bicycle police blocked access in an apparent attempt to prevent protesters from walking onto I-76. For a few minutes protesters yelled at the officers, some urging Quit your jobs, to blank stares. Then the group continued to Lombard Street, headed back toward Center City. In Rittenhouse Square, they again got support from those dining outdoors, some of whom chanted Black Lives Matter along with them. The encounter at the South Street Bridge was one of the more tense moments of the night. Another was when an officer collided with a protester at Sixth Street and South. Overall, police were largely hands-off. Earlier Thursday, just across the citys western border, protesters in Upper Darby staged a die-in at the 69th Street Transportation Center. The demonstration, organized by local civil-rights group Understanding, Devotion, Take Action, Justice, called for a nationwide strike and shutdown in reaction to the grand jurys ruling. Kyle McIntyre, one of the organizers, said the group doesnt condone or want violence. They "just want justice. Our goal is to get justice for Breonna Taylor. And we said if we didnt get it, we would shut it down, and this is us shutting it down, McIntyre said. The intersection of 69th and Market Streets was shut down during the protest. Just after 5:30 p.m. about a dozen people holding signs and banners occupied the southwest corner. Some passersby honked their horns and raised fists in support. Others shouted at the group, questioning their motives. In March, Louisville officers fatally shot Taylor, an emergency medical worker, multiple times after entering her apartment with a warrant connected to a suspect who did not live in the home. READ MORE: In Breonna Taylor case, limits of law overcome calls for justice Former Detective Brett Hankinson was charged with three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment for shooting into a home next to Taylors. Two other officers involved in the shooting Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove were not indicted. Protests erupted almost immediately throughout the country, including in Philadelphia, where hundreds of people marched through Center City on Wednesday, bemoaning the decision by the grand jury and demanding justice. Thursdays action ended at City Hall about three hours after it began, with speakers asking everyone assembled to come back at noon Friday. Organizer Mikal Woods said Thursdays protest was unaffiliated with any organizations: Were citizens. Were angry and mad, and were taking it to the streets in the most peaceful way possible. READ MORE: Protesters marched through Philadelphia Wednesday, in the wake of the grand jury ruling in Breonna Taylors death He said that hed been pleased with the protest, and that it had been important for the group to pass through neighborhoods near Center City that havent been the site of many protest marches. Theres a lot of prejudice in these neighborhoods, and we wanted to let them know were here, unapologetic, and theyre going to hear us, Woods said. Staff writer Oona Goodin-Smith contributed to this article. New York (United Nations) 25 September 2020 (SPS)- The Vice President of Zierra Leone, Mr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, reiterated his countrys commitment to UN efforts aimed at total elimination of colonialism, in his countrys speech before the UN General Assembly Today. Sierra Leone reiterates its commitment to multilateral efforts geared toward the total elimination of colonialism in all its forms and manifestation, and supports the adopted decade plan of action, he stressed. He further considered that if we are to remain true to the fundamental principles of the United Nations that is fit for purpose, then it becomes absolutely necessary to relegate the chapter of colonialism to history within the period 2021- 2030, adding that the global paradigm of engagement, partnership, multilateralism, and mutual respect for the aspirations and views of all peoples must prevail. On the same vein, he considered that while isolationist sentiments, geopolitical tensions, and economic uncertainties are escalating, the multilateral rules-based system is severely being tested. The UN Charter remains the foundation for that multilateral system, international cooperation, and global peace and security. It provides the framework for maintaining peace and security, upholding human rights and dignity, promoting sustainable development and international cooperation to tackle both longstanding and emerging challenges. In view of this, Sierra Leone reaffirms its firm commitment to multilateralism as embodied in the Charter of the United Nations. We are, in this regard, committed to promoting international cooperation to address present and emerging challenges that confront our world, including our collective engagement in the prevention of conflict as well as advancing durable peaceful settlement of conflicts and disputes, he emphasized. (SPS) 090/500/60 (SPS) WATERLOO REGION Response times for sudden cardiac arrest in Waterloo Region are significantly better than the target, prompting paramedic services to raise the standard for how quickly patients get help when their heart stops beating. Its very important for the sudden cardiac arrest patients to be there as soon as you can, said Stephen Van Valkenburg, chief of paramedic services. The quicker you get there, the better for the patient. Emergency response time for sudden cardiac arrest calls improved significantly in 2019, prompting the target to be raised in 2021. Thats thanks in part to being able to include data from fire services in Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo. Firefighters also respond to calls for sudden cardiac arrest and carry defibrillators an essential tool to restart a heart that suddenly stopped beating. Van Valkenburg said it was assumed the response was better than the existing target of six minutes or less 50 per cent of the time. Including fire services data, its six minutes or less just under 75 per cent of the time. Now that we have the data, we can actually prove it, Van Valkenburg said. The new target will be six minutes or less 70 per cent of the time in the regions 2021 response time performance plan. Other targets are unchanged. We just thought we should up our standard, Van Valkenburg said. We may actually change that again. Every minute matters with sudden cardiac arrest because lack of blood flow to the brain soon can cause severe and irreversible damage. It can happen at any age. It could be young or old. It doesnt matter, Van Valkenburg said. He said this condition is an example of when a tiered emergency response is a great benefit to patients, and fits with the aim of constantly striving to improve care. Well continue to get better as we go forward, Van Valkenburg said. Every March, the region submits a full year of response-time data to the province for the previous year based on targets. According to a report recently given to regional council, progress has been made in achieving response times across all but the most urgent calls, where there has been a small decrease but still in compliance with the target, despite ever-increasing call volumes. This year, the number of incident responses is less than the almost 60,000 anticipated due to lower demand during the first wave of COVID-19 a trend seen across paramedic services in Ontario. But that has not lasted. Call volumes are back to normal levels, and incident responses are currently projected to be 56,000 a 1.5 per cent decrease from 2019. When my 2-year-old grandson, Landon, first learned my fiance's name, Karen, it came out Teta. We have no idea why or how, but he will likely call her this nickname throughout his life, just as I have done. Civilian employees of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) are threatening a massive demonstration over poor conditions of service, the first time in the history of this country. ModernGhana has gathered that the Civilian employees receive a paltry Gh50 as monthly allowance while their colleague soldiers always smile to the banks. The situation is not different from employees who hold Master's Degrees, 1st degrees, Chartered Accountants, HNDs as they all take home the Gh50 monthly allowance. The civilian employees serve and work harmoniously with the armed forces but their interest has never been taken seriously by the hierarchy of the Armed Forces Command. A source familiar with the matter told ModernGhana that government has been playing jest with them and the military hierarchy has always cast a shadow over their demands. This reporter was told that anytime the issue resurfaces to better the conditions of service for both civilian employees and soldiers, they (Civilian employees) are always relegated to the background. The source told this reporter that the issue of poor working condition has been on the back burner for many years. Some employees who pleaded on condition of anonymity stressed that their top officials are taking them for granted due to the nature of the institution they serve which bar them from forming a union to fight for their common interests. "They have been left to their own fate. They are now tired of the situation and are now giving an indication of a demonstration of some sort very soon to draw attention to their plight. They work for 35 years and over and go home with almost nothing because the salary is so low and that means very meagre retirement benefit from SSNIT. So heartbreaking to see some of the pittance monies they receive when on retirement," the source emphasised. The over 7000 Civil employees said they are fed up to the back tooth and will embark on such action to register their displeasure over the adamant posture of government regarding their welfare. The Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University, Professor Duncan Maskell, is right to raise a discussion in these pages around "our tolerance for death in this global pandemic". From the moment we take our first breath, we begin our demise yet we clamour in fear that life be preserved at any cost while perversely hiding away the often scary, messy and bloody bookends of birth and death. University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Duncan Maskell. Credit:Justin McManus During a conversation with an elderly friend about the current management of aged care facilities she paused to wonder, when was it we all began to regard dying as such a failure? About the same time, I answered, as our growing anxiety around being born. What was it Becket wrote? "They give birth astride a grave, the light gleams in an instant, then it's night once more." By Express News Service HYDERABAD: TRS working president and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, on Thursday, asked the Graduate MLC election in-charges of Khammam, Warangal, and Nalgonda districts to accord top priority to the voter registrations, which will begin on October 1. Interacting with them over a teleconference, he slammed the Opposition parties stating that they have no agenda to fight against the TRS in the upcoming election. Rama Rao said that TRS had won all the elections in the State, from Panchayat to Assembly elections. He added that the party had registered a grand victory in Municipal and ZPTC elections, and expressed confidence that the party would again record a big win in the upcoming MLC elections. The Minister highlighted that the TRS party under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had introduced various welfare and development schemes in the State. He also mentioned that the TRS-led government had eradicated the 60-year-old fluorosis problem in just six years. Today, there are no fluoride victims in the State and it is an achievement, he said. The TRS working president stated that the State government took the development programmes to every corner of Telangana. Reorganisation of districts, mandals, revenue and divisions was done for better governance, he said, and pointed out that the benefits of the new Revenue and Municipal Acts were reaching every citizen in the State. He asked the partymen to highlight the welfare schemes introduced for the benefit of youth and students. Under various recruitment programmes, the government has filled one lakh vacancies in the State. In the private sector, the government has attracted about two lakh crore investments, creating 15 lakh employment opportunities, he added. The IT Minister said that the agriculture sector in Khammam,Warangal, and Nalgonda had recorded a major boost with the irrigation projects providing sufficient water. He mentioned that the TRS-led government had already developed Mega Textile Park in Warangal. KTR also said that the attempts were on to inaugurate the Khammam IT Tower in October. He also mentioned that the attempts were to operationalise Buggapadu Food Processing Park and setting up of various other food processing parks. The working president said that the TRS party had a strong 60 lakh cadre. He instructed the partymen to ensure registration of all eligible persons for Graduate MLC elections. He asked all public representatives, including Ministers, MLAs, MLCs to vote along with their families in their respective districts. He asked the public representatives to start voter registrations from their homes. New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) Government passes the Codes for the Protection of Employersa, 2020 September 25, 2020 There is an inescapable aefficiencya to an authoritarian government. aSham and Bogusa Democracy In a matter of three or four hours of parliamentary time, labour rights won by workers over a century and a half were wiped away and replaced by the Codes on Industrial Relations, on Social Security and on Occupational Health, Safety and Working Conditions. The BJPas amaximum governancea comes with a brutality that turns over labour rights entirely in favour of capital. A day before this the BJP ran through parliament new laws that change the course of pricing and markets for farm produce placing income and livelihood of the entire peasantry at risk. For the past six years trade unions have stressed that the government has refused all discussion on labour law areforma. While introducing the bills the Labour Minister claimed that government had accepted 80 per cent of the electronic suggestions and 85 per cent of the recommendations made by the parliamentary committee. No one can tell what recommendations government accepted, but it clearly rejected the recommendations of the standing committee on the definition of workers and employees, on closure and retrenchment, on lowering standards for health and safety, on the lack of protection for fixed term contract employees, on inadequate protection for workers against disciplinary rules along with the sheer scale of delegated legislation and violation of principles of separation of powers between the centre and the states. Codes to Protect Employers The BJP promised to aconsolidatea 44 allegedly out dated, unwieldy and contradictory laws into four codes through aaamalgamating, simplifying and rationalising the relevant provisionsa of law and codify them by including case law derived from judicial decisions of courts. Many critical labour rights have been won through long legal battles by unions over time, a majority of which have been excluded from this process of acodificationa. On the basic question of what is an aindustrya, the Supreme Court settled through its 1979 ruling that it must be defined by the nature of work and not just by the existence of the profit motive. Further, both the Andhra Pradesh and Madras High Courts ruled in 1982 that tribunal awards cannot be altered by government. Both these critical advancements find no mention in the codes. Definitional Smokescreen Multiple definitions of worker and employee in the Codes have created more ambiguity than earlier and will now allow employers to use this ambiguity to deny workers their already limited rights. The Codes expressedly exclude the huge numbers of agricultural workers, ahonorariuma and domestic workers, the overwhelming majority of who are women, from the definition of a worker. At the other end, a wide definition of amanagera will allow employers to classify a large number of workers in this category. The definition of aemployera now includes contractors and sub-contractors effectively absolving the principal employer of all responsibility. The government, of course believes that the contract labour system will be replaced by fixed term contracts (FTC), who are not provided any safeguards on period of contract, its renewal and any possibility for regularisation. Hence the established judicial premise that a perennial task must command a permanent job is now a renewed challenge. The threshold for most critical health and safety provisions will now only be applicable in establishments with 300+ employees. The same threshold now applies for introduction of standing orders, for lay off, retrenchment and closure, shrinking the number of establishments where there will be jobs protected by law. Most significantly, the entire body of the four codes can effectively be set aside at the will of the executive in apublic interesta. So we could have a situation that a coal mine or petroleum refinery here or a sea port or car manufacturing factory there can be made completely free from even the few rights that are left in apublic interesta. Rights replaced by Dole The most significant expectation of people at large and the promise of the BJP government has been universal social security. The code has settled this through a discriminatory two tier system that divides aemployeesa and aunorganised workersa through arights conferred on them and schemes framed, under this Codea respectively. In effect, a very small number of regular employees whose workplaces will qualify as an establishment will have the right to social security (PF, ESI, gratuity and maternity benefit) as guaranteed in the past, and the remaining large section of the working population will have to squabble over the benefits given out under the various budget constrained aschemesa of a agenerousa government. These schemes shall be made up by the executive and will neither be disbursed from legislatively protected funds nor be justiciable in a court of law. Trade Unions as Centres of Resistance The future course of the countryas working class will be determined critically by our response to the new codes, most of all on the attack on trade union rights a on registration, on membership, on union recognition, and on the right to strike. As elsewhere in the world, trade union rights in our country too were won through sustained militant hard fought battles with unparalleled sacrifice. Trade union rights have always been won by challenging the laws of private property and profit. These are not rights we shall give up. Of course, we know that the BJP has carefully chosen this time to launch what it thinks is its final attack on the working class a a time when vast numbers of working people have been without work and wage for almost six months as a result of the draconian lockdown. This is not just an attack on working people, it is an attack that hits at the very core of democratic rights on our right to free association, on our rights to defend our rights, on our rights to dissent, speak up and strike when our rights are under attack. Whether it is the right to universal social security, or a fair and just minimum wage, or a safe workplace or a secure job: none of it can be won and secured without trade union rights. Hence our struggle must go forward in defending, retaining and sustaining our trade union rights. And it is with this resolve that we must and we will go forward in a struggle that is united, democratic and militant. Gautam Mody General Secretary, New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) Eight months after the coronavirus outbreak was declared a global health emergency, countries around the world have seen vastly different results from their efforts to fight the pandemic. The outcomes have been driven by factors both in and out of the control of individual nations, with some common threads emerging: 1. Preparedness Helps While countries have adopted a variety of strategies, they basically boil down to finding out who is currently infected (testing and tracing) and minimizing the risk that the virus spreads (isolating, quarantining and taking other preventive measures). Early on, many places that responded most effectively were those that had learned tough lessons from the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which like the new coronavirus originated in China. Taiwan, for example, managed to stamp out locally transmitted coronavirus infections in April by deploying early health screening of visitors, along with thorough testing and contact tracing. It helped that in many Asian nations, widespread use of medical masks became common after the SARS outbreak. 2. Early testing is paramount Countries that quickly rolled out testing and tracing in January - including South Korea and Germany - quashed their early waves. Testing enabled policymakers to react quickly to the growing threat and convinced people of the danger at hand. The benefit of that early action appears to be long-lasting. While both countries faced rising cases again at the end of summer, they seem to have driven the virus levels so low in preceding months that they're so far able to handle the situation calmly. By contrast, the U.S. and U.K. were considered by some experts just a year ago to be the most prepared countries on the planet for a pandemic. Yet each failed to put sufficient testing in place early on, allowing the virus to spread largely unchecked, eroding some people's faith in health officials and leading to two of the highest rates of Covid deaths per capita in the world. 3. Geography counts Island nations such as Iceland and New Zealand were able to reduce new confirmed cases to low numbers by banning visitors and fully isolating themselves. Geography can also pose challenges. When China began to reopen its economy in April and May, it had to take special precautions to prevent case spillovers along its borders with North Korea and Russia. In Europe, lots of cross-border travel caused many countries' initial outbreaks and became a big headache for policymakers during the summer vacation season. 4. Strong-arm tactics work In a March analysis, political scientist Sofia Fenner concluded that both authoritarian regimes and democracies could achieve good outcomes - the decisive factors were whether nations have significant physical infrastructure, highly reliable civil servants and leaders who responded rapidly and proactively. China raised eyebrows globally when it locked down tens of millions of people in January to stanch the spread of the virus. The effort worked and was soon copied by countries on other continents. When China reopened, it raised eyebrows again - with measures most countries so far have deemed too intrusive. For example, authorities used data from government departments, phone carriers and the travel history of citizens to assign them a color-coded risk level that determines their freedom of movement. By summer, these measures had been so effective that Wuhan, where the pandemic started, had seen only a handful of cases since May and many people considered the app no longer necessary. 5. A Softer touch can work, too Less-restrictive measures have also succeeded. Japan has suppressed two surges of the virus without mandatory lockdowns. Instead, in a country where social cohesion is high, extensive public awareness campaigns advised citizens to avoid situations most likely to create clusters of cases that are believed to really drive exponential growth: closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings. Because of its successful early testing, Germany experienced a relatively permissive shutdown this spring compared to many of its neighbors, which it combined with a robust contact tracing program. Thanks to some of the world's toughest privacy laws, the country's 375 local health authorities couldn't rely much on digital surveillance for help. Instead, they recruited teams with members ranging from medical students to firefighters, who work via email, telephone and sometimes even fax. Their efforts are considered a key reason that Germany had about a fifth of the number of coronavirus deaths per capita as the U.S. South Korea's effective response was something of a hybrid: It relied extensively on surveillance, using everything from smartphone tracking to CCTV footage, but without ever imposing a lockdown. 6. Trust in government helps The credibility of policymakers matters at a time when citizens are flooded with news, scientific research (some of it bad) and often conflicting messages. Countries with lower levels of trust in authorities are especially vulnerable to conspiracy theories that some commentators began calling the "Infodemic." Distrust of the government in Iran, after it lied to cover up the military's mistaken downing of a civilian airliner Jan. 8., led citizens to ignore directives not to travel during the Persian new year, in late March. In the U.S., crowds gathered in state capitals protesting government lockdowns and demanding a reopening of the economy. In Latin America, the two most populous countries, Brazil and Mexico, saw some of the highest death counts after leaders downplayed risks, while in other nations authorities working to contain the virus struggled against historic skepticism toward government measures. Why was Bradley Edwards, the man who brutally murdered Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon, found innocent of the murder of Sarah Spiers? It's the question the entire state will be asking. How could Justice Stephen Hall convict a confessed rapist of two brutal murders, but not the third? And where does the family of Sarah Spiers, who have been waiting decades just to hear the words "not guilty", go now to find justice? The investigation into the death of Sarah Spiers is not over, despite Thursday's verdicts. When you boil down Justice Hall's reasoning in his 619-page legal judgment, the answer is in a 200-year-old legal principle. It says that where the evidence of a crime is circumstantial, an accused cannot be convicted if there is an inference that can be drawn from the evidence that is consistent with innocence. Edwards' defence lawyer Paul Yovich argued in his closing submissions during the trial that it was "perfectly plausible" a different offender was responsible for Ms Spiers' death. She recently celebrated her 39th birthday. And Ashley Roberts continued to flaunt her age-defying physique as she left Heart Radio after presenting her breakfast show on Friday. The Pussycat Dolls star looked incredibly chic in a stone 185 off-the-shoulder dress from Reiss. She's got style: Ashley Roberts looked stylish as ever as she left Heart Radio after presenting her breakfast show on Friday Ashley showed off her tanned legs in the midi dress and opted for comfort on her feet with white trainers. She complemented her beige look with a long trench coat, tortoise shell sunglasses and a white designer handbag. The former Strictly star wore her blonde locks in a sleek straight look and accentuated her bronzed tan with glamorous make-up. Gorgeous: The Pussycat Dolls star looked incredibly chic in a stone 185 off-the-shoulder dress from Reiss Trendy: Ashley showed off her tanned legs in the midi dress and opted for comfort on her feet with white trainers The media personality recently revealed she is open to the idea of adopting a child in the future. Speaking in an interview with Fabulous magazine in July, she said: 'I'm definitely open to the idea of adoption. 'You just never know what the future is going to bring and the most important thing is to be happy and, whether my body naturally has kids or not, we'll see what life brings. I'm definitely open to that.' The blonde also reflected on dating following her split from Italian Strictly Come Dancing professional Giovanni Pernice, 29. They called time on their year-long romance in January after meeting during Ashley's stint on the BBC One dance competition in late 2018. The TV star said: 'I'm good on my own, though. I'm pretty independent. It's nice to have that connection with someone, but at the moment lockdown is still [effectively] here, so "me" is where it is.' Details added (first version posted on 17:18, on September 24) BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24 Trend: The chain of provocations committed by Armenia in word and deed under the leadership of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan caused serious damage to the negotiation process on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and greatly increased the tension in the region, Trend reports citing the statement of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The inflammatory statements, accompanied by aggressive military actions, military, and other provocations, indicate that Armenia is preparing for new aggression against Azerbaijan, said the MFA's statement. "Having dispelled all possible expectations of the international community, the Armenian leadership decided to choose the policy of annexing its predecessors from the day of its coming to power. Armenia, having publicly stated that it abandons the logic and concepts of the negotiation process, which has been going on for many years under the leadership of the OSCE Minsk Group, and envisaging a phased withdrawal of its armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, dealt a blow to it. As Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated in his interview on September 19, "their [Armenia's] absurd statements, provocative steps make the negotiations meaningless", said the ministry. On the contrary, under Pashinyan's leadership, Armenia adopted a military doctrine and a national security strategy that envisages the concept of a "new war for new territories" and defines the goals of this country in the negotiation process as preserving the results of the war, the statement noted. The current leadership of Armenia, by the intensification and expansion of illegal activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, including the illegal resettlement of ethnic Armenians from the Middle East, once again unequivocally proves that it is pursuing a policy of annexation, abusing for this purpose the negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, stressed the MFA's statement. Armenia's aggressive behavior culminated in a deliberate act of aggression in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border on July 12-16, the statement said. This armed attack was not an accidental military incident, this is another clear demonstration of the illegal use of force by Armenia against Azerbaijan and was aimed at seizing new territories of Azerbaijan. Armenia, which failed in this "test" attack, but was still preparing for the next act of aggression, purchased a lot of weapons and ammunition and concentrated its forces along the line of contact, the statement said. The threats of a military strike against important civilian infrastructure and big populated areas of Azerbaijan are accompanied by the intensification of Armenias military intelligence and sabotage in the depths of the Azerbaijani territory, the statement said. Moreover, Armenia announced about the creation of military units (in which tens of thousands of servicemen will serve) which will be used to conduct military operations against Azerbaijan, the statement said. In the context of Armenia's preparation for a new military attack, Azerbaijan calls on the international community, in particular the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, to bring Armenia to a sound mind and force it to refrain from new aggression, the statement said. The Armenian leadership must renounce its provocative statements, stop all actions that violate stability, and in good faith fulfill its obligations to achieve the political settlement of the conflict, the parameters of which have already been determined by four UN Security Councils resolutions, as well as the OSCE decisions and documents, the statement said. Until this happens, the Armenian officials cannot deceive either Azerbaijan or the international community with the statements that this country is allegedly ready for negotiations, the statement said. As Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated at the high-level meeting dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the UN, there is only one way to achieve peace - the Armenian armed forces must be withdrawn from all the occupied Azerbaijani territories. Azerbaijans territorial integrity has never been and will not be a subject of compromise, the statement said. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (September 25, 2020) said that all BJP volunteers should reach out to the farmers on the ground and inform them in very simplified language about the importance and intricacies of the new farm reforms. PM Modi made the statement while he was addressing Foundation Day of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana on the occasion of his birth anniversary, via video conferencing. Lauding the new farm bills, PM said that small, marginal farmers will benefit the most from agriculture reforms. He added, ''BJP-led NDA govt has created history in its increase of MSP for farmers.'' ''NDA government made full efforts to connect farmers with banks. Over Rs 1 lakh crores transferred to over 10 crore farmers under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. Our effort was to provide KISAN credit cards to more & more farmers so they can avail loans easily,'' said PM Modi. Live TV PM Modi said, ''You will be surprised to know that there existed about 10,000 slabs of minimum wages for various sectors. After a lot of efforts, these have been reduced to 200 slabs.'' He criticized the opposition parties and said, ''Previous government used to make a complicated web of promises and laws which farmers or laborers could never understand. But BJP-led NDA govt, has constantly tried to change this situation and has introduced reforms for the welfare of farmers.'' Speaking on new labour reform, PM said, ''New labour reforms will transform the lives of our labour force. So far, only 30% of the workers had the coverage of minimum wage guarantee. Now, it will expand to all workers in the unorganised sector.'' Remembering Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, PM Modi said that his contribution to make India better as a country and society has inspired generations. The path he has shown to every BJP worker instills confidence in us. He said, ''BJP workers' conduct should be in line with expectations, aspirations of India of 21st century.'' (Alliance News) - Four low-cost airlines, including Ryanair Holdings PLC, are facing an antitrust investigation in Italy for failing to reimburse flights cancelled on account of the coronavirus pandemic. The carriers offered vouchers rather than full refunds, in a "possible breach" of EU regulations on air passengers' rights, Italian competition authority AGCM said in a statement on Friday. easyJet PLC, Blue Panorama and Vueling - a Spanish carrier owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group SA - are the three other airlines targeted by AGCM's investigation. The authority noted that even though the pandemic was given as the reason for cancellations, the flights in question were scheduled for after the end of Italy's lockdown period. The airlines were also accused of failing to inform customers about their cancellation rights, and providing "onerous and poor"A customer service via an expensive and "hard-to-reach" phone helpline. ACGMA said it launched similar investigations in July against two other airlines, Alitalia and Volotea. source: dpa Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. SIUs virtual Innova-ship program begins in October by Christi Mathis CARBONDALE, Ill. Its a six-week commitment of less than two hours a week and it could change your life, according to organizers. A new session of Innova-ship, a no-cost training program that helps people take their creative concepts and innovations to the next level, starts next month at Southern Illinois University Carbondales Research Park. Registration is underway. The accelerated online program helps bridge the gap between innovation and commercialization. The free training sessions will be from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Thursdays, Oct. 8 through Nov. 12. SIU students, faculty and staff are welcome to participate along with anyone from the region who has an interest in entrepreneurship or an interesting concept they wish to pursue. We find that a lot of people have great ideas and potential inventions, but arent sure how to take that next step, Deborah Barnett, SIU Research Park associate director and program facilitator, said. Whether its an idea for a new device, product, app, or other business idea, our goal is to help people move from the idea stage to commercialization or implementation. Grant funded The research park received a $50,000 award from the Small Business Administrations Growth Accelerator Fund Competition last fall to fund the comprehensive program. SIU is one of just 60 recipients chosen from across the country. Participants will learn how to bridge the gap between innovation and commercialization and they will have access to ongoing advisement and consultation as well as information about how to apply to Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer funding programs, Barnett said. Topics covered during the six-week training include: Developing ideas and concepts. Defining target markets, conducting market research and then entering and capturing the market. Testing the business model. Planning for financial success. Creating a pitch presentation. Exploring financing options (including SBIR/STTR funding) and identifying potential investors The program is geared toward those who are focused in the STEAM areas of science, technology, engineering, agriculture, and math. But people with viable concepts of any kind are welcome to participate. Successful and popular The Innova-ship program was originally created as an on-site, in-person program. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, part of the spring session and all of the summer session switched to an online format that Barnett said worked out very well. The online presentation drew a diverse group of participants comprised of about one-third graduate students, along with undergraduate students, faculty and community members. Among them are a Saluki graduate student who participated virtually after returning home to the east coast when classes moved online in the spring. Also completing the program were a pair of Carbondale natives who recently graduated from upstate universities and now plan to return to their hometown to start a new business. The 39 people who finished training in 2020 exceeded the number organizers estimated when applying for the grant. The virtual presentations reduced travel expenses for guest speakers and other costs, allowing funding to stretch to add a third session, Barnett said. COVID-19 has presented some interesting challenges, but we have also witnessed a spike in innovative ideas as people think about how to do things differently. We continue to receive strong interest and look forward to an exciting fall cohort, she said. We have never held three programs of this type in a single year. Sundry ideas Barnett noted participants brought their own unique ideas that spanned multiple disciplines, passions and interest areas. Childhood literacy, social equity, affordable housing, product development to assist older adults with mobility issues and technology applications to help address unemployment challenges were just some of the issues that participants sought to address. Others focused on more traditional business concepts such as a bed and breakfast, a family bookstore or shared retail space. Raymund Narag, associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at SIU, is very active in global justice reform. He participated this summer in the hopes it would help him advance his work. I learned a lot from this short training program, Narag said. It gave me an idea on how to proceed with a business concept and, at the same time, maximize my advocacy and research interests. I learned how to package my trainings, how to find and entice participants and how to convince the participants to support my advocacy. Enhancing diversity In addition to supporting the development of entrepreneurship and innovation, another goal of the SBA Growth Accelerator programs, as noted in a recent report by the National Womens Business Council, is increasing awareness of SBIR/STTR funding opportunities for women and other underrepresented populations. Barnett said nearly half of the 39 Innova-ship participants are women and more than half indicated that they are Black, Hispanic, Latino or Asian. We are very pleased with the diversity of innovative ideas represented in this years Innova-ship programs, but even more pleased with the diversity among participants as they represent various ethnicities, ages, backgrounds and passions, Barnett said. Research Park programs offer additional services The research park provides a variety of facilities and services that can serve as the launch pad for innovation in the region. Southern Illinois. The staff has successfully offered individualized technical assistance, technology entrepreneurship services and other innovation-focused activities, according to Lynn Andersen Lindberg, SIU Research Park executive director. Apply now For more information or to apply to participate in the fall session of Innova-ship, visit researchpark.siu.edu or contact Barnett at dbarnett@siu.edu or 618/453-3849. P olice officers have changed their social media profile pictures in tribute to their colleague shot dead in Croydon. The officer was shot in a police station in the early hours of Friday morning and later died in hospital, police said. Politicians, police chiefs and other officers have condemned the attack and offered their condolences to the family and friends of the man who died. And some officers have updated their display picture to show a blue line against a black background, or posted the image online, as a mark of respect for their colleague. Stuart Hutson said he was one of the officers that responded first to the incident. He added in a tweet: "This morning my team and I responded to the worst possible radio transmission from custody, words and scenes I shall never forget. "The unimaginable happened to our police family. We have lost not only a good skipper but also a real gentleman. One of the best. RIP brother". Officers in the Metropolitan Police's firearms unit said they were "desperately sad" about the death of their colleague. They said in a tweet: "As one @metpoliceuk family we are desperately sad to have lost a friend and colleague last night. "Our thoughts are with all affected friends and family. We exist to protect London from armed criminality: this incident therefore weighs on us profoundly. We will never forget". A senior police office who tweets under the name the Met Skipper said he was "struggling to find the words" to discuss his colleague's death. He said: "My thoughts are with my blue family." Prime Minister Boris Johnson, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Met Police commissioner Cressida Dick and many other politicians have also offered their condolences after the "devastating" killing. Scotland Yard said in a statement: At approximately 0215 on Friday, September 25 the officer was shot by a man who was being detained at Croydon Custody Centre in Windmill Lane. Officers at the scene in Croydon / REUTERS Officers and paramedics treated him at the scene and he was taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service. Very tragically he subsequently died at hospital. We are in the process of informing all of the officers family and are supporting them with specialist officers. A 23-year-old man was detained by officers at the scene. He was also taken to hospital with a gunshot wound and remains in a critical condition. No police firearms were discharged during the incident. Technavio has been monitoring the sinus dilation devices market and it is poised to grow by 1.07 bn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost 8% 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/20200925005176/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Sinus Dilation 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: What are the major trends in the market? The benefits of balloon sinus dilation over conventional sinus surgeries is a major trend driving the growth of the market. The benefits of balloon sinus dilation over conventional sinus surgeries is a major trend driving the growth of the market. At what rate is the market projected to grow? The year-over-year growth for 2020 is estimated at 2.62% and the incremental growth of the market is anticipated to be 1.07 bn. The year-over-year growth for 2020 is estimated at 2.62% and the incremental growth of the market is anticipated to be 1.07 bn. Who are the top players in the market? Bausch Health Companies Inc., Dalent LLC, Intersect ENT Inc., Johnson Johnson, KARL STORZ SE Co. KG, Medtronic Plc, Olympus Corp., Sklar Surgical Instruments, Smith Nephew Plc, and Stryker Corp., are some of the major market participants. Bausch Health Companies Inc., Dalent LLC, Intersect ENT Inc., Johnson Johnson, KARL STORZ SE Co. KG, Medtronic Plc, Olympus Corp., Sklar Surgical Instruments, Smith Nephew Plc, and Stryker Corp., are some of the major market participants. What are the key market drivers and challenges? The high prevalence of chronic sinusitis is one of the major factors driving the market. The high prevalence of chronic sinusitis is one of the major factors driving the market. How big is the North America market? The North America region will contribute 38% of the market share. The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Bausch Health Companies Inc., Dalent LLC, Intersect ENT Inc., Johnson Johnson, KARL STORZ SE Co. KG, Medtronic Plc, Olympus Corp., Sklar Surgical Instruments, Smith Nephew Plc, and Stryker Corp. are some of the major market participants. The high prevalence of chronic sinusitis 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. Sinus Dilation Devices Market 2020-2024: Segmentation Sinus Dilation Devices Market is segmented as below: Product Balloon Sinus Dilation Devices Endoscopes Sinus Stents Surgical Instruments Application Standalone Sinus Dilation Hybrid Sinus Dilation Geography North America Europe APAC 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=IRTNTR41647 Sinus Dilation 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 sinus dilation devices market report covers the following areas: Sinus Dilation Devices Market Size Sinus Dilation Devices Market Trends Sinus Dilation Devices Market Industry Analysis This study identifies the benefits of balloon sinus dilation over conventional sinus surgeries as one of the prime reasons driving the sinus dilation 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. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Sinus Dilation Devices Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist sinus dilation devices market growth during the next five years Estimation of the sinus dilation devices market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the sinus dilation devices market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of sinus dilation 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 Balloon sinus dilation devices Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Endoscopes Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Sinus stents Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Surgical instruments Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by Product Market Segmentation by Application Market segments Comparison by Application Standalone sinus dilation Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Hybrid sinus dilation Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by Application Customer landscape Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024 APAC Market size and forecast 2019-2024 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 Vendors landscape Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Overview Market positioning of vendors Bausch Health Companies Inc. Dalent LLC Intersect ENT Inc. Johnson Johnson KARL STORZ SE Co. KG Medtronic Plc Olympus Corp. Smith Nephew Plc Stryker Corp. TE Connectivity Ltd. Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis 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/20200925005176/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ On Tuesday 22nd of September 2020, I was awoken from my sleep by a call from my brother Dominic Oboh and his remarks were "The news is that, your brother Kwakye had killed his girlfriend in his room and has absconded". I was very much amazed and asked him whether he was sure about it? He continued "That is the big news at" Kakumdo" (a suburb of Cape Coast) and has been trending about three days now and I just had the news from a friend and decided to brief you accordingly," he added. I immediately called the wife who is also a family friend to make enquiries about what I had just heard. She said "All you've heard is true". Wow, shocked and confused, I was on the phone. ENCOUNTER WITH THE WIFE The wife of Emma who confirmed the news to me said his deceased husband has been maltreating her because of this same lady. She explained to me that, it was the main reason why she had to find a job and leave the husband's house to where she works now to find some peace. She quizzed that "Can you imagine that because of this same lady, my husband would sleep out and when I asked him about it, he gets offended at me?". I've not seen the lady before but I know my husband has been cheating on me with her," she added. According to his wife, on Saturday 19th of September, 2020, she called the husband now deceased, and told him to accompany her to take their three-month-old son to church. She continued that, the husband responded saying "If I'm not dead by Sunday, then I shall come and accompany you to dedicate our son to the Lord". According to her, her husband later called and thanked her for all the good things she has done for him and also asked forgiveness for all the wrongs he has done to her. She narrated the whole incident to me. "I was surprised about the way he was speaking because he has been having problems with me and had even decided not to take responsibility for our child and denying that the child isn't his". So, at a point, I was lost with all he was saying". She continued that, she never took those commentaries seriously until her husband sent her a WhatsApp message demanding for the pictures of their son whom he hadn't seen before. According to her, she sent the pictures to him and he expressed his admiration and added that, if he wasn't dead by Sunday, then he shall come to accompany her to church. She added that, it was there that she replied the message asking him "What was wrong with him?" But according to her, he replied that he was just joking and since then she never heard from him again until she was called and given the bad news of what her husband has done to his girlfriend. ENCOUNTER WITH THE POLICE After having this conversation with my friend's wife and she confirmed same to me. We had a lengthy discussion on the matter which I cannot share more details because that wouldn't be fair to a dead friend and his wife. Later that morning, I received a call again and this time the news was that Kwakye had committed suicide by hanging and the body had been found at 'Bronyibima,' a suburb of Elmina. I called the wife but she couldn't pick up. She later called me and said the CID had invited her but I was quick to add that "Your husband had committed suicide and I've sent you the pictures of the incident and called but you couldn't pick up". So, if the Police are inviting you over then, that could be the reason". She screamed oooohhhhh and I said, "that is the latest news I've had about her husband." Later that morning at about 11:14am she called me, we met and we proceeded to the University of Cape Coast Police Station. That was the police station handling the murder case. We had a lengthy conversation with DSP Awal who is the Commander of the Station and he asked the deceased driver's wife whether she had heard what had happened? She answered in the affirmative. He then asked her how she heard the news and she replied that, she read about it on social media. According to DSP Awal, the whole unfortunate incident was planned and executed. I asked him why he had come to such a conclusion and responded saying how the lady was killed in the guys room without any struggle amazes him. "Killing a human being isn't easy, so for him to able to say that, without any trace of struggle with the girl makes it surprising to him". He added that "It appeared there was no scream from the lady and none of the tenants in the house hand any wind of the incident," DSP Awal stated. I asked him so how was the murder discovered? He narrated that, Emmanuel Kwakye had given one of his keys to a cotenant who keeps her food items in his fridge. The lady had gone to his room to pick her item from the fridge and found the lady in the room but she thought she was asleep. He continued that, it was one of the friends of the deceased who had come to the house to look for his friend after incessant calls without any answer. It was he who discovered that, the lady had been killed in the room on the morning of Sunday 20th September, 2020. The exact time of the murder is still unknown but from the narrations, it might have been on Sunday. According to the DSP, his friends intimated that, he had been making comments to ending his girlfriends life and that of his. But, they never took it serious until the fateful news. He added, the reason why he thinks it was well planned and executed was that, "When you see the rope with which he hanged himself, that should tell you, he meant to end it all. The rope is a very strong one," he added. DISPELLING RUMOURS AND MISINFORMATION After this unfortunate incident, there have been rumours and a lot of reportage with misinformation and factual inaccuracies. Others are saying he might have been a member of a cult group due to some things he wrote on an envelope that was found in his room. I have had the opportunity of reading those notes he left behind and it has nothing to with any 'occult' group, though had some mystical dimensions that related to death. Moreover, the wife has clarified that her husband belongs to no such group to the best of her knowledge. The second rumour is that, the guy was the one who took the lady through her three years of Training College Education. This is factually inaccurate. Emmanuel Kwakye who is a family friend of mine had personally told me that, his girlfriend had revealed to him after some months of their dating that, a certain gentleman took her to school. "She would marry the gentleman, should the gentleman show seriousness and demands to marry her" which he told me some months ago. He added that, the lady told him that, if she doesn't marry that guy, she would be very ungrateful to that gentleman because of what the man has done for her. This the beginning of his problem with his girlfriend. My friend and brother Emma as we affectionately call him wasn't happy and came to discuss it with me. I opined that, he has no case since the lady has been very truthful to him and as such he should take it easy with her. I remember telling him, there are two options, either he would end the relationship or keep the relationship knowing that, the lady belongs to someone. WHO IS EMMANUEL KWAKYE Emmanuel Kwakye my name sake as I've known him is a very respectful and hardworking taxi driver. Ever since we met somewhere in 2012, he has been my family chauffeur and the chauffeur for other important personalities in Cape Coast. Married to Comfort a beautiful lady. He is very affable and a handsome gentleman until this unpleasant incident. CONCLUSIONS AND INFERENCES From knowing him, his wife and having ample knowledge about his relationship with his murdered girlfriend, I have come to the following conclusions: First, it is possible he might have spent heavily on this lady and felt cheated by her. Because the last time we met was Thursday, 15th of September, 2020. He complained to me again about some things the lady was doing which he didn't like. I counseled him to be calm and that he should come the following day for us to do further discussions on the issue and help him seek further help. From all the conversations we had, he indicated that he loved the lady so much and would want to marry her at all cost. He added that he was prepared to do anything to have her but never mentioned to me he planned to murder her and commit suicide as well. The second inference I intend raising is that, I don't know what actually this particular lady did this my brother such that, he was overly in love with her. For a married man to love someone to the extent of murdering her and killing himself, leaving behind his wife and three month old son, leaves much to be desired. I wouldn't have written anything about this unpleasant incident, but to help dispel rumours and misinformation I had to. So long as men and women continue to exist on this earth, men would have relationships with women. Married men would continue to date other single ladies. Indeed some married men would marry more than a wife and may have other concubines. Some married men would even date other married women while some single men would also date other people's wives. Inasmuch as I don't condone men who chase other married women, or married women who cheat on their husbands, it happens in our society. I don't necessarily abhor a married man chasing other single ladies because this has been part of humanity ever since. My only caution is for married men to be careful about the kinds of concubines they decide to have. Some of these single ladies are over-ambitious to the extent that, they are willing to do anything to keep somebody's husband and damn the consequences. Such situations are devilish on the part of those ladies and they must stop it. Emmanuel Kwakye, the deceased taxi driver had issues with his wife which I shall not disclose here. But, men should also be careful not to be disrespectful and ungrateful to women who have helped them to stand on their feet. The world is a cycle and everything seems to go round in circle. Whatever a man soweth, so shall he reap. May the departed souls of Emmanuel Kwakye, my friend, my brother and my family chauffeur and that of his girlfriend Georgina Sayel find their balance in the spiritual realm. Let's all tread cautiously. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been adjusting to life in the United States since officially stepping down from their roles as working royals back in March. The two have taken up residence in Los Angeles, and there have been rumors about when the couple might return to the United Kingdom. But with Harrys cousin, Princess Eugenie, recently announcing a pregnancy, could Harry and Meghan return to the U.K. when Eugenie welcomes the 11th in line for the throne? Probably not. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle; Princess Eugenie | Chris Jackson/Getty Images; Dave Benett/Getty Images for Animal Ball Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie were always close growing up Its hard to understand what life is like as a royal for anyone who didnt grow up in that kind of family. But Harry and Eugenie can bond over the fact that they are both grandchildren of the queen, and it has helped them develop a close connection throughout their lives. The two could often be seen laughing together at royal events, and theyve been regarded as two of the most fun members of the family. When Harry married Meghan, things between those two and the public became rocky. But Eugenie always offered a line of support. When Harry and Meghan joined Instagram, Eugenie welcomed them through her own congratulatory post. And when Harry and Meghan introduced Archie to the world, Eugenie once again took to Instagram to express how happy she was for the couple, amid rumors that Meghan wasnt easy to get along with. Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images RELATED: Princess Eugenie Accidentally Helped Leak Prince Harry and Meghan Markles Relationship To the Press, Source Says Eugenies baby is due in early 2021 which might not coincide with Harry and Meghans schedule Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, just announced that theyre expecting their first child in early 2021. The couple posted a photo of baby shoes to social media to mark the announcement, and though its unclear when their exact due date is, its likely sometime between January and March. Harry and Meghan have remained in the United States since this past March, after the leaving the U.K. upon completing their final royal engagement. But its been rumored that the two could return to the U.K. next year and potentially stay for several months. Express reports that Harry and Meghan might return in March for the Invictus Games, then stay through July to attend both Trooping the Colour (in June) and the unveiling of Princess Dianas statue (in July). Should Eugenie welcome her baby before the Invictus Games, Harry and Meghan likely wont make the trip to the U.K. to meet the newest addition to the royal family. Rather, they would probably wait until it made more sense for his schedule potentially sometime in March. Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie and Mr Jack Brooksbank are very pleased to announce that they are expecting a baby in early 2021. . The Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York, Mr and Mrs George Brooksbank, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are delighted with the news. pic.twitter.com/nLrzkwHMGC The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 25, 2020 Has Harry stayed close with his cousin since moving to the United States? Harrys relationship with the royals has remained unclear since he left for the U.S. Some sources have suggested Harry is on much better terms with his family, while others seem to think Harry and the royals are only drifting further. Its hard to tell where things stand with him and Eugenie; the two were close when they were young, but its possible their lives have led them in two separate directions. Still, Harry will likely be thrilled to meet the couples newest addition when he and Meghan are in the U.K. next. On Friday night, news of the shooting of Kashmiri advocate and TV personality Babar Qadri went viral on social media. Qadri, 40, was shot by a single bullet as he was stepping outside his home in the Hawal area of central Srinagar, Kashmir. The incident has caused unrest in Kashmir, especially since it followed three days after Qadri tweeted to Jammu and Kashmir police, telling them about a threat to his life. READ: Days after Tweeting to Police for Help, Advocate Shot Dead at Home by Militants in Srinagar Who was Babar Qadri? Babar Qadri is a 40-year-old lawyer-activist who was a regular on TV debate and panel discussions. Hw also regularly wrote columns in Kashmiri newspapers. A prominent and well-known lawyer in Srinagar, Qadri was known to take up cases for juvenile justice such as cases where juveniles had been booked by the state. Qadri had been practicing law for the past decade. Active in student politics, Qadri started practicing law in 2008. He is survived by two young daughters. Why did Qadri send an SOS to cops? Qadri was a regular on national as well as international tv news channels when it came to speaking on matters regarding Kashmir. While he spoke and worked against the Indian governments use of acts like PSA to detain minors among other issues, he also spoke about other problems faced by the Kashmiri population. For his views and his proximity to national media channels, Qadri was often projected as a threat by some. On September 21, Qadri tweeted to the police saying, I urge the state Police administration to register FIR against this Shah Nazir who has spread the wrong campaign that I work for agencies. This untrue statement can lead to a threat to my life". He also shared screenshots of the person called Nazir giving him open threats in the comments. I urge the state Police administration to register FIR against this Shah Nazir who has spread wrong campaign that I work for agencies. This un true statement can lead to threat to my life.@ZPHQJammu pic.twitter.com/utkurYpRzk Babar Qadri Truth (@BabarTruth) September 21, 2020 Was Qadri in danger? Qadri often identified himself as pro-Kashmir and not anti-India". He was quick to question separatist leaders and politics within Kashmir as well as identified Kashmir as a trilateral matter. Recently, Qadri had launched the All JK Peoples Justice Party and had named himself its President. Following this, his membership of the Kashmir High Court Bar Association (KHCBA) was suspended. This month, the Bar Council also refused to revoke the suspension. Following the ruling, Qadri said, When I formed a Lawyers Club of Kashmir, I was accused of dancing on the tunes of Indian agencies. Now when I work for unity and want to (re)join, the passage is blocked to me". On Wednesday, days before his shooting, Qadri also said on Facebook that The bar needs a moderate but intelligent leading group. We need good speakers, good debating persons who can talk on our behalf. We need a person who can confront a judge or an official of the administration. Yes we got enough exploited by emotional blackmail, coercion and threats to life which was a norm that we were made used to. Now the change is on a plate, go and have it. The traditional DOPE LALLAN should now be buried down alongside Covid-19. His words did not seem to go down well with a majority with many calling him a government stooge. In 2018, after the murder of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari, he had accused several separatist organizations in Kashmir such United Jihad Council and Joint Resistance Leadership of being involved in the attack and also blamed them if anything were to happen to him. What was the police response? After Qadris death was confirmed by the SKIMS Hospital, police have increased security in J&K, especially in the Hawal area where huge crowds gathered for Qadris funeral. As per reports, police said that despite Qadris tweet, the advocate had not filed any formal FIR. Security has been increased in Srinagar since the passing of the advocate. All political parties in Kashmir as well as the BJP have expressed shock at the shooting. A manhunt for the assailants has since been launched. European Union's decision not to recognise Alexander Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus would complicate the EU's dialogue with Belarus, but not affect Belarusian ties with Moscow. Russia said on Friday that the European Union's decision not to recognise Alexander Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus contradicted international law and amounted to indirect meddling in the country. Lukashenko, in power since 1994, was inaugurated on Wednesday in a secretive ceremony after weeks of huge protests. He declared a landslide win at an election last month that was marred by vote-rigging allegations he denies. Russia is a close ally of Belarus and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the move not to recognise him would complicate the EU's dialogue with Belarus, but not affect Belarusian ties with Moscow. Search Keywords: Short link: This is an opinion column. There are so many cracks through which they may fall. So many ways our children may fall further behind when already struggling to keep pacestruggling to learn. Especially if their parents have no choice but to work while their children cope with navigating school remotely in these unprecedented times of COVID-19. No choice but to leave them at home in the care of an older adultoften a grandparent or auntie who just may not be savvy in the ways of Chromebooks, logins and Zoom. Or maybe even an older siblingwho themselves might struggle with learning at home. Learning what they would normally absorb in a classroom while now sitting at the kitchen table or on the couch. If there is a kitchen table. Or a couch. Thats real for too many low-income families. Families in the Black Belt. Families in low-income neighborhoods from Huntsville to Mobile. In 2019-20, 445,000 Alabama children qualified for free or reduced-price mealsthats more than six in 10 of our students, 62 percent, exactly. In Birmingham, all students are eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch, regardless of family income. Families who cant afford not to work, but also cant afford childcare. Leticia Watkins knows those families. Knows the children in those families on Birminghams westside. As the Director of Children and Youth at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, she directs year-round programs aimed at uplifting young people in the Titusville neighborhood surrounding the church, and beyond. Young people too often are burdened by conditions they did nothing but be born into. Conditions that make it hard to keep pace. Hard to learn. Even harder to hope. When Birmingham City Schools shut down in March to help stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, she led an effort that helped the church provide more than 37,500 lunches to area studentsin cooperation with Kickstartas well as drive-through COVID-19 testing and a virtual summer camp with drive-in family Fridays. Watkins often walks to work, traversing Titusville and running into and engaging with many young people she knows. One day, after the district announced it would go 100 percent remote for at least the first nine weeks of the 2020-21 school year, Watkins bumped into a younger she knew. He said he was going to 'home school, she recalls. I know that is a specific term. I also knew these children had working parents, so was not 'home school. She began to worry about those young people, those families. Those parents who needed school to open safely so they could return to work. We already know about summer slide, she says. A fall fall would put kids further behind and it would be a shame if it happened mainly because they didnt have support at home to be successful in a remote learning program. With the support of the churchs pastor, the Rev. John L. Cantelow, Jr., BCS officials, and especially principals and teachers at area school, SABC opened its Student Support Center. Watkins calls it a hub that hosts 21 K-7 students whose parents work outside the home, offering counselors (overseeing four students each in five rooms) who ensure kids are connected (digitally) and connected (intellectually) throughout the 7:30 am to 3:30 pm school day. Its not childcare, Watkins says emphatically. And were not writing a curriculum. And yet the day includes learning stations, sight word walls, afternoon art sessions, and math games to reinforce teachers' lessons, Watkins says. There is a challenge of the day that may send students home with a research assignment, often about Black leaders from Birmingham, like the Rev. Fred L Shuttlesworth. The kids are excited to come back the next day and share their answers, Watkins says. On Fridays there are no virtual classes, so the day begins with outdoor games, then sessions to catch up on assignments, group and individual reading time, ending with movies popcorn and ice cream. (Watkins says I am not eligible to attend, sadly.) Of course, social distancing, wearing masks, and other COVID-19 safety protocols are in place. Children are told to hold one arm straight ahead when they have to walk in line to lunch or outside for recess to ensure proper distancing between themselves and the student in front of them. Watkins knows even parents working at home could use the support hub, but limited space caused her to decide to touch those most vulnerable. If a parent is at work, they simply cant support their child in remote school, she says. "If theyre working from home and, say, have to take a meeting, at least they can peek in on their child. Still, it was a tough call. Now, in these times, it is incumbent upon all of us to help stitch at least a small portion of the safety net so many children from low-income families throughout the state need to keep pace. To keep learning. With manna from the CARES Act, we finally tightened the cavernous digital divide that too long left too many low-income families in our state languishing in tech deserts. Now, after investments in hot spots, Chromebooks, and wireless service throughout the state, almost everyone has (or can have) the internet access so many of us take for granted. That doesnt fully address the real, thoughthe real lives and real challenges of many working, yet low-income families. Thankfully, myriad agencies have pivoted to be part of the safety net. At a time of year when they would normally be conducting after-school programs, the A.G. Gaston Boys & Girls Clubs are conducting a support hub, too. Its Remote Learning Program, starting at 7:30 a.m., is near capacity at the Howlett and Southside Homes Clubhouse (Bessemer) for ages 6-18. Once school hours are done, the clubs' traditional afterschool program begins and rolls until 6:00 pm. The first few days of the SABC hub were not smooth, Watkins admits, now with a laugh. Parents were still signing up the night before the September 7th start of school. Not every student had received their Chromebook (the church had extras available) and getting everyone into homeroom by 8:10 am on Day 1 was a bit of a beast. Not surprisingly, many 5- and 6-year-oldsbless their young heartshad no idea how to log into school. Watkins calls it Schoology 101. Were all adjusting here, she told parents at the time. Give us grace and well give you grace. Previous summer programs at the church accommodated up to 95 campers, but Watkins was mindful of the unique challenges of managing numerous students, each of whom might be navigating their own curriculum. Were very aware that in a traditional classroom a teacher can manage 18 to 30 students, she says. But all of those students are on the same page. Not the same learning level, but the same page. The 20 students are attending" Glen Iris, Hemphill, Central Park, Epic, Richard Arrington, and Erwin elementary schools (the latter in Jefferson County School District); and Phillips Academy, Jones Valley, and Green Acres middle schools. Were literally a support system, she says. "Teachers and principals have been appreciative and responsive. Its been an incredible partnership to collaborate, Watkins says. An essential one. Especially now. Especially for so many. So many in danger of falling through the cracks. So many of our most vulnerable. The Sixth Ave Baptist Church Student Center program is free to parents, but sponsorship opportunities may be ascertained by reaching Watkins at lwatkins@sixthavebaptist.org. The cost for Boys & Girls Club attendees $400 per child for the nine weeks. To support that program contact Kim Brown (kbrown@aggbgc.org) or Victoria Truss (vtruss@aggbgc.org) A voice for whats right and wrong in Birmingham, Alabama (and beyond), Roys column appears in The Birmingham News and AL.com, as well as in the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register. Reach him at rjohnson@al.com and follow him at twitter.com/roysj The Komodo dragon the world's largest species of lizard could be driven to extinction by global warming and rising sea levels, a study has warned. Numbers of the iconic reptiles also known as 'Komodo monitors' are in rapid decline, with only around 4,000 left on the five Indonesian islands they call home. Experts from Australia used Komodo dragon monitoring data and climate statistics to model how the species, classified as vulnerable, will likely fare in the future. By 2050. the lizards will be extinct on three islands Gili Dasami, Gili Montang and Flores on which they have lived for more than a million years, the team said. Climate change is expected to reduce the Komodo dragon's habitat by shifting local temperatures and degrading the forests in which they and their insect prey live. The Komodo dragon, pictured the world's largest species of lizard could be driven to extinction by global warming and rising sea levels, a study has warned (stock image) 'Climate change is likely to cause a sharp decline in the availability of habitat for Komodo dragons, severely reducing their abundance in a matter of decades,' said paper author and spatial ecologist Alice Jones of the University of Adelaide. 'Our models predict local extinction on three of the five island habitats where Komodo dragons are found today,' she added. Komodo dragons which can grow to 10 feet (3 metres) long are endemic to the five Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Gili Dasami, Gili Motang and Flores, the latter of which has seen numbers of the lizard plummet to new lows. 'Current-day conservation strategies are not enough to avoid species decline in the face of climate change,' Dr Jones explained. 'This is because climate change will compound the negative effects of already small, isolated populations.' 'Interventions such as establishing new reserves in areas that are predicted to sustain high-quality habitats in the future, despite global warming, could work to lessen the effects of climate change on Komodo dragons,' she concluded. 'The severity and extent of human actions impacting Komodo dragon populations, especially on Flores Island, are only just being realised,' said Komodo Survival Program Coordinator Deni Purwandana. 'Having an insight into future impacts of climate change provides new possibilities to work with conservation agencies and local communities to find on-ground solutions that will limit climate and other threats to Komodo dragons and their habitats.' Numbers of the iconic reptiles, pictured also known as 'Komodo monitors' are in rapid decline, with only 4,000 left on the five Indonesian islands they call home (stock image) 'Using this data and knowledge in conservation models has provided a rare opportunity to understand climate change impacts on Indonesia's exceptional but highly vulnerable biodiversity,' said paper author Tim Jessop of Deakin University. According to their models, the team added, Komodo dragons may need to be relocated in the future if they are unable to survive in their traditional habitats. 'Our conservation models show that Komodo dragons on two protected large islands are less vulnerable to climate change,' added paper author and ecologist Damien Fordham of the University of Adelaide. 'However, even these island habitats might not provide an adequate insurance policy for the survival of the species.' 'Conservation managers in coming decades may need to consider translocating animals to sites where Komodo dragons have not been found for many decades.' 'This scenario can be tested easily using our approach.' 'Our research shows that without taking immediate action to mitigate climatic change, we risk committing many range-restricted species like Komodo dragons to extinction.' The full findings of the study were published in the journal Ecology and Evolution. Komodo dragons which can grow to 10 feet (3 metres) long are endemic t o the five Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Gili Dasami, Gili Motang and Flores, the latter of which has seen numbers of the lizard plummet to new lows KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 (Reuters) - In another twist in Malaysian politics, formerly jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim announced on Wednesday he has secured a majority among lawmakers to enable him to form a new government. Anwar's move follows months of political upheaval that began in February and comes after a failed push for a confidence vote in parliament against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Anwar, 73, said the support he garnered indicates "Muhyiddin has fallen as PM." But Muhyiddin and his allies reject that. FEB 23 Politicians from the Pakatan Harapan ruling coalition explore a possible alliance with some members of the ousted former ruling party United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and other groups, according to sources. Anwar says some coalition colleagues are trying to bring down the government and form a new one to deny him the premiership that he was assured he would get. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was angry that he was pressured by pro-Anwar ministers days earlier to set a clear handover timeline, sources have said. FEB 24 Mahathir resigns. According to political sources, he was upset by accusations that he was willing to work with alleged corrupt politicians he defeated in the last general election. The Pakatan Harapan coalition collapses after Mahathir's party withdraws. The king re-appoints him as interim leader until a successor is named. FEB 25 The palace says the king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, will meet lawmakers before deciding on the next step. FEB 26 Mahathir apologises for the political turmoil, says he would return as premier if backed by parliament to form a unity government not aligned with any political party. Anwar opposes what he calls a "backdoor government". Three parties from Pakatan Harapan nominate him as their prime ministerial candidate. FEB 28 After meeting all lawmakers, the palace says the monarch is not confident that any parliamentarian has majority support to form a new government. Story continues Mahathir's Bersatu party nominates Muhyiddin as a prime ministerial candidate. UMNO and Islamist party PAS vow to back him. FEB 29 Mahathir says he will stand for the premiership on behalf of the former ruling coalition, Pakatan Harapan. Mahathir and Anwar are allies again. The king names Muhyiddin as Malaysia's next prime minister, assessing that he may have majority support in parliament. MARCH 1 Mahathir promises to challenge Muhyiddin's house support and says the king would no longer see him. Muhyiddin is sworn in as Malaysia's 8th prime minister. MAY 8 Parliament's speaker accepts Mahathir's proposed May 18 vote of no-confidence against Muhyiddin. MAY 13 The speaker delays the confidence vote, after the government prioritises fighting the coronavirus outbreak and sets just one order of parliamentary business for a single-day sitting. JULY 13 Muhyiddin wins narrow backing from lawmakers - just two votes - for his bid to replace the lower house speaker. The vote was widely seen as a gauge of Muhyiddin's legislative support and political strength. SEPT 23 Anwar announces he has secured a majority of about two thirds of the 222 lawmakers to form a new government, and is seeking an audience with the king for assent to take over from Muhyiddin. Members of Muhyiddin's coalition say they back the premier. Muhyiddin says he is the rightful prime minister until proven otherwise. (Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Martin Petty) Police officers arrested two separate drivers caught racing shortly after midnight Sept. 14 on northbound Greenfield Road, near Hemlock Avenue, in Dearborn. A traffic stop was initiated for the first driver, a Dearborn Heights man in a blue 2008 Audi-A4, near Greenfield Road and Paul Avenue, while the driver of a gray 2003 BMW 540 fled the scene. The Dearborn Heights man apologized for racing, was charged with reckless driving, advised to contact Dearborns 19th District Court for a hearing date and was released at the scene. After the Audi driver was released, police officers spotted the BMW driver traveling south on Greenfield Road. After confirming that it was the second vehicle spotted racing earlier, a traffic stop was initiated. The driver, a Detroit man in a gray 2003 BMW 540, apologized for racing, but failed to provide proof of insurance for his vehicle. His vehicle plates were also expired. He was arrested for reckless driving, no insurance and expired plates, advised on court procedure, and released at the scene. MINNEAPOLIS, MN- September 25, 2020 - University of Minnesota Medical School researchers received funding from the Parsemus Foundation to initiate research on the widely-used diabetes medication, metformin, available globally as an inexpensive generic drug for prevention and treatment for COVID-19. To prevent delay during the COVID-19 pandemic, the California-based Parsemus Foundation is funding the University of Minnesota's investigational new drug (IND) application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to launch a multi-center randomized controlled clinical trial of the use of metformin as a COVID-19 treatment and prevention method. The U of M Medical School research team, led by co-principal investigators Carolyn Bramante, MD, MPH, in the Department of Medicine, and Christopher Tignanelli, MD in the Department of Surgery, submitted the IND application on August 12. The team has the next few weeks to secure additional funding. "The epidemiological data from multiple studies globally-- not just ours-- support a trend or effect of metformin in preventing hospitalization and death from COVID-19," Bramante said. "And a mechanism of action is there-- metformin has a little-known past as an antiviral, in addition to its blood sugar reduction and inflammation-reducing effect. TNF and mTOR are among the proposed pathways. But, a randomized clinical trial is needed to be sure the association is truly cause and effect." "Several observational studies in the U.S. and around the world have shown an association between outpatient metformin use and reduced mortality and hospitalizations for COVID-19," Bramante said. "The most recent papers (one not yet publicly available), were done in detailed databases that allowed accounting for body mass index and degree of glucose in the body (hemoglobin A1C). There are known mechanisms of metformin that would reduce severity of COVID-19, including its inflammation reducing effects, and potentially also its ability to inhibit mTOR, a protein that helps the virus grow." Metformin, familiar to many by the brand names Fortamet or Glucophage, is used as a diabetes medication to lower glucose levels, with a common side benefit of reduced appetite and weight loss. Findings from previous studies provided Bramante's team with a reason to believe that metformin is a promising treatment and prevention method for COVID-19, including preliminary data from an observational study co-led by Bramante and Tignanelli. The team examined de-identified data from UnitedHealthcare and found that women already taking metformin who were diagnosed with COVID-19 had about 25% reduced risk of mortality. Preliminary data from another observational study of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, co-led by Bramante and Tignanelli, showed that treatment for metabolic disease, including taking metformin, was associated with a lower likelihood of being hospitalized due to COVID-19. The findings align with results from observational studies in China and France and from the University of Alabama. Upon approval of the IND application, the goal of the clinical trial will be two-fold: to definitively study whether or not metformin prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection and whether or not it can prevent severe COVID-19 disease and hospitalization in those who are infected. The unique study they have designed will also elucidate what duration of metformin is needed to achieve those benefits. Since metformin is already widely used and available, its use to fight COVID-19 could begin as soon as there are positive clinical results and would change the global standard of care for prevention and early-stage disease, similar to recent definitive results on dexamethasone for advanced disease. The CDC forecasts predict 1,300 to 5,500 new COVID-19 hospitalizations per day by Oct. 12 in the U.S. alone. This means that a treatment that reduces hospitalization by about 50-60%, as evidenced by observational data, could potentially prevent thousands of hospitalizations each day in the U.S.. With generics available for less than $4 per month from manufacturers around the globe, metformin also has the advantage that it can be used immediately and inexpensively worldwide. Metformin is also safe in everyone (children, pregnant women, adults of any age), as long as they don't have significant kidney, liver or heart failure. Though the Parsemus Foundation has provided the initial funding, it is too small to fund the full trial. "We are proud to partner with the University of Minnesota Medical School by providing the seed funding to kick off the metformin trial. The team has a record of running fast, definitive trials and already has test sites from around the country ready to start," said Foundation Trustee, Elaine Lissner. "All the puzzle pieces are there, they just need to be put together with additional funders to launch the study." ### About the University of Minnesota Medical School The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. Visit med.umn.edu to learn how the University of Minnesota is innovating all aspects of medicine. About Parsemus Foundation Parsemus Foundation works to create meaningful improvements in human and animal health and welfare by advancing innovative and neglected medical research, with an emphasis on making sure advances change treatment practice rather than disappearing into the scientific literature. Many of the studies the foundation supports involve low-cost approaches that are not under patent. Focus areas include reproductive health, animal reproductive health, and COVID-19 prevention and treatment. More information on the Parsemus Foundation and its work can be found at http://www.parsemus.org. When two brothers fell critically ill with Covid-19 around the same time in March, their doctors were baffled. Both were young -- 29 and 31 years old -- and healthy. Yet within days they couldnt breathe on their own and, tragically, one of them died. Two weeks later, when a second pair of Covid-stricken brothers, both in their 20s, also appeared in the Netherlands, geneticists were called in to investigate. What they uncovered was a path leading from severe cases, genetic variations, and gender differences to a loss of immune function that may ultimately yield a new approach to treating thousands of coronavirus patients. The common thread in the research is the lack of a substance called interferon that helps orchestrate the bodys defense against viral pathogens and can be infused to treat conditions such as infectious hepatitis. Now, increasing evidence suggests that some Covid-19 patients get very ill because of an impaired interferon response. Landmark studies published Thursday in the journal Science showed that insufficient interferon may lurk at a dangerous turning point in SARS-CoV-2 infections. It looks like this virus has one big trick," said Shane Crotty, a professor in the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California. That big trick is to avoid the initial innate immune response for a significant period of time and, in particular, avoid an early type-1 interferon response." The work highlights the potential for interferon-based therapies to enlarge a slowly accumulating range of Covid-19 treatments. These include Gilead Sciences Inc.s remdesivir and convalescent plasma, a component of the blood of recovered patients that may contain beneficial immune factors. These treatments provide limited benefit and are typically used in very sick, hospitalized patients. The possibility that interferon may help some people is enticing because it appears most efficacious in the early stages of infection, when life-threatening respiratory failure could still be averted. Dozens of studies of interferon treatment are now recruiting Covid-19 patients. We think timing may be essential because its only in the very early phase one can really battle the virus particles and defend against infection," said Alexander Hoischen, head of the genomic technologies and immuno-genomics group at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen that analyzed the DNA of the two sets of brothers. Being male, elderly, and having underlying medical conditions can all raise patients risk of life-threatening Covid-19. But even within these groups, disease severity varies widely. Scientists have speculated other factors influence susceptibility, including pre-existing levels of inflammation and immunity, the amount of virus that starts an infection, and patients genetic makeup. Interferons role represents a new nexus in Covid-19s complex interaction with the human immune system. Many patients suffer their worst complications because of an immune overreaction sometimes called a cytokine storm, and may benefit from dexamethasone, a cheap generic that calms these storms. Its a very interesting disease because too little immunity is no good," Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sept. 10 in an on-line briefing for Massachusetts General Hospital staff. Too much immunity is really, really bad." Some people are known to have trouble fighting infections because they make antibodies that deactivate their own interferon. On Thursday, a global consortium of researchers said such immune reactions to the protein could account for life-threatening Covid-19 pneumonia in at least 2.6% of women and 12.5% of men. Interferon-blocking antibodies appeared in 101 of 987 patients with severe disease, but none of 663 people with an asymptomatic or mild case, according to the study in Science. Patients over age 65 were also more likely than younger ones to have the autoimmune abnormality, which was clinically silent until the patients were infected with SARS-CoV-2," the group of more than 100 scientists said. These findings provide a first explanation for the excess of men among patients with life-threatening Covid-19 and the increase in risk with age," the researchers led by Jean-Laurent Casanova, head of Rockefeller Universitys St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases in New York said. They also provide a means of identifying individuals at risk of developing life-threatening Covid-19." Genetic analysis of Covid-19 patients published in the same journal revealed two dozen gene mutations that had been silent" until patients were infected by SARS-CoV-2. Researchers -- many of them also involved in the antibody study -- sequenced the genomes of 659 patients with life-threatening cases of the disease; 3.5% carried genetic variations that inhibit interferon production. Those genetic flaws were similar to the ones that Hoischen and his colleagues from a dozen Dutch centers described in the Journal of the American Medical Association two months ago. The two sets of brothers had inherited a gene mutation that impaired the interferon response, keeping their immune systems from fighting the coronavirus until it had replicated for days. In the Dutch men, the effects were cruel. The first, a young father from a town in the southern Netherlands, suffered shortness of breath, cough and fever at home for eight days before admission to intensive care. He was to spend 33 days in the hospital, 10 of them on a ventilator. His 29-year-old brother succumbed to Covid-19 in an intensive care unit in Rotterdam, after being treated for shock and a fever that soared to 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit). When doctors at Radboud learned of his younger siblings case, as well as a second pair -- 21- and 23-year-old brothers also in respiratory failure -- they went looking for a genetic cause. They found a mutation that was carried on the X chromosome. Defects on this chromosome are more likely to affect men, who have only one copy, while women have two. The mens mutations are rare -- occurring in 1 in 10,000 people -- and an unlikely explanation for the vast majority of severe Covid-19 cases. But the studies in Science indicate that various forms of interferon dysfunction may underlie as many as one in eight critical patients, and that screening and targeted treatment might prevent severe illnesses and deaths. If we manage to get them into our university medical center early enough," Hoischen said, our clinicians may be able to treat them with interferons." Other ways of overcoming autoimmunity, like the removal of antibodies against interferon from the blood, called plasmapheresis, could also help patients. The rare diseases and the more common forms of the same disease may converge, and we can learn from each other," said Hoischen. Thats the hope." This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! On the occasion of GMT Magazines 20th anniversary (and WorldTempuss upcoming 20th anniversary in 2021), we have embarked on the ambitious project of summarising the last 20 years in watchmaking in The Millennium Watch Book, a big, beautifully laid out coffee table book. The Millennium Watch Book is available exclusively now for pre-order at a discounted rate on www.the-watch-book.com, in French and English, with delivery aimed just in time for the holiday season. In the coming weeks, WorldTempus will be exclusively sharing excerpts from the book, to give you a taste. Only a few days left to get an additional 10% discount on the Millennium Watch Book. To obtain your code, fill in the information requested in the dedicated area to the left of the article. Heres is an exclusive excerpt from our section Whos who, where we name the 80 industry players, from CEOs to Creative Directors to retailers and independent watchmakers, who have indelibly shaped the last two decades of watches, written by those in the industry who perhaps know them best. For more information, visit www.the-watch-book.com. Laurent Picciotto Founder, Chronopassion Laurent Picciotto revels in the art of paradox. He set up shop as a watch retailer in the 1980s at a time when there was no such thing. In a world in which every word of every public statement had to be signed off at a board meeting, he dived headlong into social media. In 2011, he was MC for the Grand Prix dHorlogerie de Geneve (GPHG). Hes always been fond of independent watchmakers, even when the trend was towards the standardisation of institutional brands. It would be tempting to conclude that Laurent Picciotto likes to go against the flow; but the fact is that more often than not, hes the one deciding the direction of flow in the first place. Hes worked with dozens of partners, including Audemars Piguet, Hublot, MB&F, Urwerk, and of course Richard Mille, of which he was a shareholder and co-founder. He headed up an Audemars Piguet brand store for 10 years a concept that simply didnt exist 25 years ago. Then in 2007, he opened the first Hublot own-brand store in the world right next door to his. A few minutes discussion with Jean-Claude Biver, key details jotted down on the back of an envelope, and a handshake. Thats how you did business with CEOs of that calibre in those days, recalls Laurent Picciotto. Laurent Picciotto Stephane de Bourgies When it came to Urwerk and MB&F, the story was something else entirely, with Picciotto playing the role of midwife for both brands. Max Busser spares no praise when it comes to Laurent Picciotto: Curator, talent-spotter, risk-taker, benefactor, fine watch fanatic, compulsive enthusiast and above all, a faithful friend. Laurent Picciotto is always doing what youre least expecting. In 2017, he decided to sell off his entire personal collection. It was an exceptional auction over within the space of a few hours, under the hammer of Aurel Bacs. Why did he do it? It was time. I wanted to start again from scratch. Basically, Picciotto follows his instincts. He collects pretty much everything on wheels, designs guitars, and buys more leather jackets than hell ever be able to wear. And in 2020 theres still a steady stream of young designers calling on the veteran in his Parisian lair, all with the same question: Laurent, what do you think of this? Truly case of You are what you is. A day after a commercial building under construction collapsed in Meera Milli Mohalla, Dera Bassi, police on Friday booked its dead owner for causing death by negligence. Police have booked Hardev Singh, 72, who, along with three labourers, had succumbed after the two-storey showroom came crumbling down. While Hardev was rescued alive, he had died during treatment at Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32. The labourers, Gopi Chand, 60; Raju, 46; and Ramesh Sardara, 45, all hailing from Bihar, however, had died by the time rescuers reached them under the rubble. The deceased showroom owner was booked on the complaint of Rajus brother Suniya. The owner was using old material and failed to take necessary precautions that led to the collapse of the building, killing my brother. He had come to Dera Bassi for a better life, but now I am taking back his body, he said. The bodies of the labourers were handed over to their kin after autopsy at the Dera Bassi civil hospital on Friday. MC officials said Hardev had got the building plans approved in March. The showroom was coming up in place of a house owned by a family, hence, he had been working to get the approval to convert the house into a commercial building since 2000. ALSO READ: Beyond FIRs, probes, no action taken in similar cases in the past A preliminary report by the Dera Bassi MC building inspector had attributed the collapse to old material and faulty sanitary fittings used in construction, while structure stability and load-bearing capacity were also ignored. A magisterial inquiry by the Dera Bassi SDM Kuldeep Bawa has already been ordered by the Mohali deputy commissioner. Notice to adjacent buildings owner The municipal council (MC) has issued a notice to the owner of the building coming up adjacent to the collapsed structure to stop construction work till the inquiry is completed. The owner has also been directed to get a structure stability certificate and other inspections done before resuming work, said Jagjeet Singh Judge, MC executive officer. Besides, the owner of a house adjacent to the collapse site has also been asked to vacate the premises, as his building had developed a crack. The owner has been directed not to stay in the house till the repairs are carried out as the structure is now unsafe, Judge said. Survey of old buildings In the wake of the collapse, MC has decided to undertake a survey of all unsafe buildings in the town. All buildings older than 50 years will be inspected, and demolished if found unsafe, after notices to their owners, the EO said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON STONY BROOK, NY, (Under Embargo until September 25, 12:01 AM, EST) - A 17 million-year-old whale fossil discovered in the 1970s is the impetus for new research by an international team led by Stony Brook University that takes a unique approach to uncovering the course of mammalian evolution in East Africa. The whale fossil represents a massive change from the Miocene to today in Kenya's Turkana Basin, as the fossil of this sea animal was originally found 740 miles inland and 620 meters in elevation - an indication perhaps of a transformed geological and ecological landscape with the open-ended question: Why was the whale there? That is one of the questions the Stony Brook University-led international team will seek to answer when it launches the new, first-of-its-kind project in January 2021. The aim is to understand how climate change and tectonics on Miocene ecosystems in this region influenced life and evolution, from the whale to now. The work is supported by a four-year $2.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Frontier Research in Earth Sciences (FRES) Program. Named the Turkana Miocene Project, the research is multinational, interdisciplinary and involves five core U.S. universities. The goal is to better define through fieldwork, laboratory analysis and climate modeling how tectonics and climate interacted to shape the environment that gave rise to the ancestors of humans and our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangs that emerged in Africa. "A longstanding question at the intersection of Earth and Life Sciences is: What roles, if any, do climate and tectonics play in the evolution of life? The East African Rift is among the best places to study the influences of Earth processes on the evolution of mammals," explains Isaiah Nengo, PhD, Principal Investigator, Professor of Anthropology and Associate Director of Stony Brook University's Turkana Basin Institute (TBI). "Here, uniquely, the region's geologic and climate histories, including the formation of the rift system that is the cradle of humankind, are preserved in sedimentary rocks. Our collaborative work will tease out how tectonics and climate come together to drive evolution." The research team will tackle a task not done before by investigating the basin's sediments, and the fossils they contain, to gain insight into ancient climate and habitats that record the emergence of humans, their primate ancestors, and African mammals over the last 25 million years. It is estimated that the human-chimpanzee common ancestor evolved approximately 7.5 million years ago (mya) and diverged from the common ancestor with the gorilla ancestor about 9.3 mya. Meanwhile, the common ancestor of the great apes and humans is estimated to have diverged from the ancestor of the gibbons and siamangs approximately 19.1 mya. All these key divergence events would have occurred in the time period known as the Miocene (from about 23 mya to 5 mya). Professor Nengo will collaborate with Stony Brook Geosciences Professors and co-investigators Gregory Henkes and William Holt, along with the international team. They will explore relationships between tectonics, climate, and mammal evolution in the Turkana Basin using integrated field, laboratory, and modeling studies. New and existing data will be combined to study the links between rift development, climate change, and their respective roles in vegetation and mammal evolution. Years one and two will consist of data collection from the field. The third year will involve laboratory analyses. In the fourth year, the team will conduct the analysis and be on site at TBI to produce a tectonic model that reconstructs rift evolution in this region of East Africa over the past 25 million years or Miocene period. That tectonic model will be integrated with climate-vegetation models of equal or better resolution. Independent geological, geochemical, paleoecological, and paleontological data will be used to validate these model outputs to distinguish the influences of tectonics and climate on the evolution of Turkana ecosystems and mammals. "This integrated approach across geoscience subdisciplines is really the future of paleoenvironmental reconstruction," adds Gregory Henkes, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Stony Brook University. "The challenge of separating commingled effects of climate, tectonics, and evolution is incredibly complex. We hope to leverage the best of these different approaches to demonstrate that its possible, at least at the scale of a single, very important basin." ### About the FRES-Supported International Research Team The international team members include experts in tectonics, sedimentology, geochronology, isotope geochemistry, paleoecology, climate modeling, and paleontology. The Turkana Miocene Project includes five core institutions: Stony Brook University, Rutgers University, Hamilton College, the University of Michigan, and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (Lamont). International collaborators include team members based at the National Museums of Kenya and University of Helsinki, Finland. NSF's FRES also provides funding to complete extensive fieldwork that will provide training for a cohort of students and postdocs at Stony Brook University, Lamont, Rutgers, Michigan, Hamilton College, and Turkana University College. The project involves four existing members of Interdepartmental Doctoral in Anthropological Sciences (IDPAS) at Stony Brook and the incoming Presidential TBI hire in E&E, Tara Smiley. Other co-investigators include: Kevin Uno at Columbia; Craig Feibel at Rutgers; Catherine Beck at Hamilton College; Chris Poulsen at Michigan; and IDPAS faculty members Troy Rasbury (Geosciences)and Gabrielle Russo (Anthropology); Sidney Hemming (Lamont), Stephen Cox (Lamont), Ali Bahadori (Stony Brook University), Mae Saslaw (Stony Brook University), Sara Mana (Salem State University), Mikael Fortelius (University of Helsinki, Finland), Indr? ?liobait? (University of Helsinki, Finland), Guilluame Dupont Nivet (Rutgers University), Rahab Kinyanjui (National Museums of Kenya, Kenya), Patricia Princehouse (Institute for the Science of Origins, Case Western Reserve University), Ellen Miller (Wake Forest University), Francis Kirera (Mercer University), Nasser Malit (SUNY Potsdam), Peter Ungar (University of Arkansas), and Liam Zachary (University of Arkansas). Permission for field and laboratory research in Kenya is provided by the Kenya Government with the support of the National Museums of Kenya. In the past, vaccine messaging has drawn on anti-polarization strategies to try building consensus around contentious issues. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had a problem: A new vaccine could save lives and end a viral epidemic that had infected millions of Americans. The immunization was safe, effective, and widely available. Most insurance companies planned to cover it. But few people were taking it. That epidemic was human papillomavirus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted infection that sometimes causes cervical cancer and other serious conditions. In 2006, after federal regulators approved the first HPV vaccine, the CDC officially recommended that all adolescent girls be immunized. In 2011, the agency extended the recommendation to boys, too. But uptake of the vaccine was, by all accounts, abysmal. So the agency launched a campaign to promote the importance of the HPV vaccine. Extensive fact sheets, created by a consulting firm and released on the CDCs website, addressed parents concerns that the vaccine would encourage their kids to become sexually active. Doctors and nurses began delivering talking points, provided by the CDCs communications team and disseminated by partners such as the Immunization Action Coalition, a foundation-, industry-, and government-funded nonprofit, that touted the vaccines cancer-preventing qualities. Immunizations jumped. By 2017, 49 percent of adolescents were up to date with the HPV vaccine. That figure is still below CDC goals. But the HPV campaign, focusing on a vaccine that is entirely optional and given after early childhood, has become the subject of extensive research in the years since. And, as scientists edge closer to finalizing vaccines for Covid-19, lessons from HPV and other vaccine messaging campaigns are suddenly more relevant than ever. Indeed, while its possible a vaccine could be approved for public use as early as this fall, and widely available sometime next year, its unclear how many Americans will be willing to take it. Many analysts are optimistic that an effective vaccine will be welcomed, but surveys indicate widespread suspicion. Officials appear to be preparing a response: In early July, CDC Director Robert Redfield testified at a Senate hearing that the agency has spent months developing a plan to build Covid-19 vaccine confidence, though he offered few details. A preliminary CDC vaccine rollout plan, published in mid-September, describes good communication as essential to a successful Covid-19 vaccination program, and notes the agency will engage and use a wide range of partners, collaborations, and communication and news media channels in an effort to reach different audiences. There's often this assumption that if we build it, they will come, said Kaitlin Christenson, vice president of vaccine acceptance and demand at the Sabin Vaccine Institute, a global nonprofit funded by a mix of government, pharmaceutical industry, and foundation sources. But even the most effective vaccine is not going to produce results if it isn't taken up and delivered effectively. Sometimes overlooked, vaccine messages from brochures in doctors offices to Instagram posts are as vital to a vaccine campaign as the vaccine itself, some experts say. Over the years, vaccine messaging specialists have homed in on tactics, from those generating fear to others that evoke community values, that can boost compliance. But results have been mixed, and fundamental debates remain over the best messaging strategies. And its not yet clear what Covid-19 vaccine messaging campaigns launched amid a global pandemic unfolding in the shadow of intense political polarization will look like, let alone if they will work. Before the early 2000s, said Glen Nowak, a health communications expert at the University of Georgia and former communications director for the CDCs National Immunization Program, CDC leadership believed that vaccines needed little fanfare to convince the public of their value. Up until then, Nowak said, it was assumed that vaccines will speak for themselves. Policymakers also often leaned on state day care and school vaccination mandates to win compliance. But telling people to do something because you say so isnt a really effective way of getting them to feel confident, Nowak added. He recalled that when flu recommendations changed to include children in the early 2000s, it became clear that public and provider communications would be needed to foster awareness and compliance with the new recommendations. The HPV vaccine, released a few years later, underscored the idea that just posting new vaccine guidelines wasnt enough. With the advent of Facebook and other online social media in the 2000s, anti-vaccine messages proliferated online, sharing stories of children harmed by vaccines. At the same time, more parents began taking advantage of philosophical and religious exemption policies that let them send their kids to school unvaccinated. That trend raised alarm among public health experts and created a need for persuasive messaging, wrote Xiaoli Nan, director of the University of Marylands Center for Health and Risk Communication, in an email. Today, the creation of vaccine messages, sitting at the intersection of marketing and medicine, can take months or years to unfold. Sometimes the process is spearheaded by vaccine manufacturers, hospitals, or pharmacies. Often, though, the campaigns are the work of government agencies trying to boost vaccine use or address looming concerns among hesitant parents. The CDCs National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases has a contract with a communications firm that develops millions of dollars worth of educational materials and campaigns, mostly directed at flu and HPV messaging, according to Nowak. It also has its own communications team to develop materials, targeting messages based on data from the previous year about who did or did not have high vaccination rates. In recent years, vaccine messaging has proliferated to include Twitter accounts, TV commercials, online ads, satirical campaigns, cartoon characters, doctor education efforts, brochures, posters, billboards, radio ads, and even dedicated YouTube channels. What makes for an effective messaging campaign, though, is a more elusive question. Jody Tate, director of research and policy for the Health Policy Partnership, a consultancy, said effective messaging digs into survey and focus group data to understand peoples reluctance whether its based on concerns about safety, or something more fundamental, such as a language barriers or access to medical care and then tailors itself accordingly. Who delivers those messages is also crucial, Tate said. Overwhelmingly, surveys find that doctors and nurses are the most trusted sources of vaccine information. A 2018 Wellcome Global Monitor survey found that roughly three-quarters of adults around the world trust their doctor or nurse ahead of family and friends, religious leaders, and celebrities. Doctors are the ideal messengers, Nan wrote. Rejecting the flash of some advertising, many experts favor a simple, fact-based approach. And simple messages, repeated often, can potentially be effective, said Christopher E. Clarke, a health and environmental risk communication scholar at George Mason University. (Indeed, in a metanalysis of 14 years worth of influenza-related communications by the CDC, Nowak found that visible and frequent reminders raised vaccination rates). Experts are divided, though, on whether a straightforward tell-the-facts approach is really enough. There is growing evidence that traditional communication of vaccines e.g., messages focusing on statistics has not worked well, Nan wrote. More successful strategies, she added, rely on trustworthy messengers, telling stories rather than using statistics, and appeals to moral values. In 1999, when Nowak, then director of communications for the CDCs immunization program, looked at why more people 65 years and older werent getting the flu vaccine, he discovered they didnt think the CDCs fact-based materials which urged high-risk groups, including the frail and elderly, to get vaccinated applied to them. They were, after all, in their 60s and 70s. They werent frail or elderly, they told Nowak in focus groups. They were healthy and active. Over the years, the agency has remade its flu and other vaccine messaging to be more positive and appeal to peoples desire to stay healthy and maintain their quality of life. Positive framing has proven, in some cases, to work well. A study published this May, which looked specifically at HPV vaccine messaging, found that negatively worded messages could actually increase the perception of risk associated with taking vaccine itself. Negative messaging was not a good way to communicate, said Porismita Borah, an author of the study and an associate professor of communications at Washington State University. Kelly Moore, associate director for immunization education at the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) and a former CDC adviser, said that fear and uncertainty can lead to inaction. Instead, she said, it is messages that are positive messages of hope and optimism and empowerment that encourage people to take action, because they believe that by what they are doing, they can change their destiny. But some experts argue that fear can offer a more effective push. The chickenpox vaccine was licensed and recommended for all children in 1995. But its uptake was poor for the first few years, said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a frequent government adviser on vaccine policy who also helped invent a rotavirus vaccine that is produced by Merck. I think people thought of chickenpox as a benign right of childhood passage, he said. But as many as 13,000 people were hospitalized and 150 people died each year in the early 1990s as a result of chickenpox and the vaccines maker, Merck, used those figures to create a more aggressive advertising TV commercial campaign, which included interviews with parents who had lost children to chickenpox. It was dramatic, and they were criticized for that, Offit said. But the campaign, in conjunction with increasing public school mandates, also worked: By 2014, 91 percent of U.S. children 19 to 35 months old had received one dose of the vaccine. Similarly, HPV vaccine messaging has sometimes preyed on peoples fear: In 2016, for example, its maker, also Merck, ran ads that featured adults with cervical cancer, asking their parents if they knew a vaccine could have prevented it. Some research suggests that, at least when it comes to the HPV vaccine, anticipated regret can be a powerful motivator. What convinces people? Offit asked. Sadly, I think fear is more powerful than reason. Some vaccine messaging campaigns simply fail. And some messengers can also endanger messaging campaigns. In 2002, fearing that terrorists would use smallpox as a weapon, President George W. Bush ordered half a million military members to be vaccinated against the disease before launching a voluntary program for health care and emergency workers the following year. Amid concerns that the vaccine wasnt safe, he had himself vaccinated and announced it to the press. But fewer than 40,000 health care workers accepted vaccination. Some people still didnt feel the vaccine, which can cause rare but serious complications, was safe. The administration didnt consult with doctors, critics say, and didnt anticipate that politics would play a role in peoples decision to be vaccinated. The program was launched just months before the U.S. went to war with Iraq, and many liberals believed the vaccination campaign was propaganda. Todays climate poses a distinctive, uncharted challenge: No other vaccine has been made at such breakneck speed, amid such publicity, and with such political division, said Clarke. "There is no precedent for this challenge, he said. With at least several months likely remaining until the most ambitious Covid-19 vaccine will potentially go to market, a recent Gallup survey found that around one in three Americans say they would not get a free, FDA-approved Covid-19 vaccine. Surveys also suggest that Black Americans are more hesitant about the vaccine than White Americans potentially a legacy of longstanding discrimination against Black people in the health care system. Partisanship matters, too. The Gallup survey also found that only around half of Republicans currently plan to take the vaccine when available. The country has been divided along partisan lines on many preventative measures against Covid-19. That political divide will likely spill over to the upcoming Covid-19 vaccine, warned Nan, who, like Clarke, believes tailoring messaging to peoples political or religious views could be essential to uptake. While other kinds of public messaging campaigns match messages with the receivers worldview, Nan explained the technique has rarely been used in vaccination messaging. But Graham Dixon, a science and risk communication professor at The Ohio State University, said that a Covid-19 vaccine messaging strategy that presents a consensus not only in the scientific community, but among policymakers, could be effective in increasing vaccination. There has been a great deal of political polarization in this issue, he said, and it's almost inevitable that people's decision to get a Covid-19 vaccine will land in the same way if we don't create a messaging strategy that emphasizes a depoliticized message. In the past, other messaging campaigns have drawn on anti-polarization strategies to try to build consensus around contentious issues. A climate change awareness campaign from 2008, for example, featured famous political adversaries including the left-wing pastor Al Sharpton and the right-wing evangelist Pat Robertson sitting together on couches, talking about their shared concern about the environment. If and when a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available, messaging should be consistent across the political spectrum, and in a perfect world should feature influential leaders from the Republican and Democratic parties, Dixon wrote in a follow-up email. But, he added, it was probably wishful thinking to believe that Joe Biden and Donald Trump would appear together in a PSA encouraging Covid-19 vaccination. Despite what Redfield has described as months of planning at the CDC for how to build vaccine confidence, its unlikely the agency will unveil official campaigns until a vaccine goes to market. Asked in July for details about its plan, a CDC spokesperson sent Undark a link to the agencys existing framework for vaccinating with confidence and referred further questions to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HHS declined repeated requests for comment and provided only unattributed information via email, writing that Operation Warp Speed (OWS) the federal initiative to deliver 300 million doses of a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine by January 2021 is committed to maximum transparency. Since then, CDC has released some additional details of the campaign as part of a 57-page "interim playbook" that outlines vaccination plans for local and state public health officials. Some journalists, legislators, and scientists have accused OWS of a lack of transparency about its process for selecting vaccine candidates. That opacity, critics say, exacerbates concerns over any potential vaccines safety and efficacy. If the operations name foreshadows more messaging from government agencies, experts caution there is reason to be wary. The term warp speed was an unfortunate term, Offit said. That particular message, he said, suggests corners are being cut to create a vaccine. Constantly saying youre going fast makes people think youre going recklessly fast, said Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist at New York Universitys Grossman School of Medicine. Beth Bell, a clinical professor of global health at the University of Washington and member of the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said shes not sure how the name came about. (The committee is not directly involved in the nuts and bolts of vaccine messaging.) I think those of us who are looking at recommendations are quite serious about not cutting corners and not sacrificing safety for speed, Bell said. To convince Americans already concerned about vaccine safety to take a vaccine developed at record or warp speed, transparency will be key: Loud and clear throughout this period of preparation, and when a vaccine is available, it's going to need to be very clear what we know about the vaccine, and frankly, what we don't know, said Jason Schwartz, a health policy scholar at Yale University. Experts believe that vaccine messaging that presents more information even if that information is incomplete, or changes as more evidence emerges can sway people toward vaccine confidence. I understand why members of the public are skeptical and hesitant right now, said Moore, the Immunization Action Coalition staffer, during a conversation in July. Someone recently asked me if I would take the first vaccine that rolls off the line, and I said, I would like to see the data and then I'll make my decision. If that's my approach, then I respect others for having the same approach. Nonetheless, experts hope that a safe, effective vaccine and any messaging that accompanies it will be welcomed by the majority of Americans who will have to receive it to reach herd immunity. I'd like to think it would be like the end of the movie Contagion, Offit said, where everybody's lining up to get this vaccine. Jillian Kramer is a journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic, Scientific American, and more. This article was originally published on Undark. Read the original article. President Donald Trump did not build a wall, and Mexico did not pay for it. His immigration policies, though, have hurt the economy and put the nations prosperity at risk. Trump made immigration the centerpiece of his 2016 campaign, using bigotry and exaggeration to fire up his supporters. Immigrants, though, are a critical part of the workforce. Out of the 40 million immigrants living in the United States, only 10.5 million are not authorized to work here, according to Pew Research, a data collection and analysis organization. The number has dropped steadily since the Great Recession of 2008, as single Mexican men voluntarily returned home, and families from Central America have become most of the unauthorized border-crossers. TOMLINSONS TAKE: The U.S. is short a million workers, cant lose 9 million more Despite adding only 5 miles of new wall, Customs and Border Patrol reports more than doubling border apprehensions to 851,000 people, the highest numbers in 12 years. But Trump has not kept his promise of more deportations. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested only 143,000 people in fiscal year 2019, half of what the agency apprehended in 2009. President Barrack Obamas ICE arrested and deported more than twice as many people during his first term in office. Trump also failed to require businesses to use E-Verify to identify workers who use forged documents, which are readily available from China via the internet. In February, Trump dropped the mandatory use of E-Verify from his budget proposal after coming under pressure from the business community. The dirty truth is that the U.S. cannot afford to lose the 9 million workers who are here without the proper paperwork. Industries such as construction and hospitality rely on immigrant labor and profit from paying them lower wages than Americans would demand. Hardliners in the Trump administration, such as political adviser Stephen Miller, have had far greater success slashing legal immigration. The White House has made it more difficult for refugees to enter the country or for employers to import skilled workers. Trump suspended refugee settlement immediately after taking office in 2017 and then toughened the standards for obtaining refugee status and obtaining the background checks. The number of refugees entering the country dropped from 97,000 in 2016 to 23,000 last year. The administrations Remain in Mexico policy has stopped people fleeing violence in Central America from entering the country while their sanctuary case is adjudicated, creating refugee camps in northern Mexico. Federal judges are still sorting through the inhumanity of Trumps child separation program that put kids in cages. Trump is also still aiming to throw out immigrants who entered the country as kids, and now, as adults, rely on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Trump administration wants to end the program and deport 650,000 workers from the only country theyve ever known. Many of the presidents defenders like to say that he does not oppose all immigration, only illegal immigration. But Trump has made it much harder for people to come here legally and contribute to our economy. The administration is rejecting visas for highly skilled professionals at triple the rate of previous administrations, according to the National Foundation for American Policy, a Washington think tank. Employers have also found it more challenging to get visas for low-wage agricultural workers. Trump has said the policy would boost American employment, but employers say thats not happening. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, when so many are unemployed, Silicon Valley cannot find enough people with the programming skills they need. And few Americans are flocking to strawberry fields or shrimp boats where the days are long and the work back-breaking. TOMLINSONS TAKE: Immigration, health care and energy are THE issues The truth is we need immigrants; they are critical to Americas long-term prosperity. In Europe and Japan, where populations are shrinking, economic growth is minimal. The U.S. population is growing only through immigration, which keeps our economy vibrant, innovative and growing. In a new book, journalist and author Matthew Yglesias recommends the U.S. radically expand immigration to prevent China and India from becoming the worlds next superpowers. In One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger, the co-founder of the Vox news site explains that the U.S. has far fewer people per square mile than most countries and has room to grow. Immigrants of virtually all stripes help make native-born Americans richer, make our retirement programs more sustainable, and offer the fuel for innovation that can help the country grow, Yglesias wrote. The solution to the illegal immigration crisis is to let more people come legally, not tie ourselves into knots trying to stop the flow. Trump has failed to keep his promises on immigration, and for that, we should be grateful. We need every pair of hands willing to help build this country. Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and policy. twitter.com/cltomlinson chris.tomlinson@chron.com HENRY COUNTY, GA / ACCESSWIRE / September 25, 2020 / Ben F. Windham P.C., Best Personal Injury Lawyer Henry County, exposes secrets of underinsured auto insurance in Georgia. The Georgia legislature has codified minimum requirements for motor vehicle liability insurance policies under O.C.G.A. 33-7-11. Any automobile liability policy in this state must have not less than $25,000.00 dollars because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one incident or $50,000.00 dollars because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one occurrence. In current economic times, $25,000.00 dollars is nowhere near enough insurance coverage for someone who is seriously injured in an automobile collision. Even minor collisions alone result in hospital visits for diagnostic testing and can result in more than $25,000.00 dollars in medical bills. This is not to mention that many injuries will put people out of work for some time, causing them to have a claim for lost wages. It is very important due to the minimum required policy limits in this state that people have what is referred to as "uninsured" or sometimes "underinsured" motorist protection on their automobile insurance policy. While it is true that everyone should carry uninsured motorist protection, it is these types of policies that are the most unfair to insureds in the State of Georgia. Until 2009, the secret of the insurance industry was that even if an insured paid for $25,000.00 dollars in uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, they were only entitled to tap into that $25,000.00 dollars if the person that caused the collision in which they were injured had less than $25,000.00 dollars insurance coverage. In other words, if the person that hit you had $50,000.00 in insurance coverage and you had $25,000.00 in uninsured/underinsured insurance coverage, you would not be allowed to any portion of your $25,000.00 policy. This would be true even if your damages were in the many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Story continues Finally, in 2008 the Georgia General Assembly, over and against the wishes of the powerful insurance lobby, decided to let the cat out of the bag and fix this dirty little secret. The new statute would read that everyone was entitled to their entire uninsured/underinsured motorist protection limits so long as their damages called for it. The insurance industry refers to this right to tap into your own insurance coverage as "added on uninsured motorist protection." The new statute still allows insurance companies to wiggle out of honoring uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage so long as they have the insured execute an "opt-out" or "rejection" of the right to utilize the entire amount of the uninsured motorist protection limits. Never sign an "opt-out" of added on coverage document from your insurance carrier. Another secret of the automobile insurance industry in the State of Georgia is that when you make a claim on your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, your insurance company hires lawyers to represent the person that caused the collision that hurt you and will try to defeat your claim to any of your own insurance. If the insurance company defends the person that caused your injuries in bad faith and you ultimately recover the entire amount of your uninsured/underinsured insurance limits, the penalties that await your insurance company are merely a slap on the wrist. When insurance companies act in bad faith and don't pay first party claims, they can be held accountable for bad faith. In a first party claim situation, that bad faith could feasibly have no limits. These bad faith laws encourage insurance carriers to fairly evaluate the claim. Example, John Doe runs a stop sign at 60mph and T-bones your car because he was texting his girlfriend. John Doe only has $100,000.00 dollars in insurance coverage, but your damages are more than $100,000.00 dollars. If the carrier does not fairly evaluate the claim, paying the $100,000.00 limits, you can ultimately force John Doe's insurance company to pay for the entire jury award in your case. If your own insurance carrier evaluating your claim to uninsured / underinsured motorist coverage drags you through two years of litigation, then no matter what a jury awards you, you can only potentially recover a bad faith penalty of 25% of the limits of your uninsured/underinsured motorist protection and reasonable attorney's fees. Should you get to that point and finally have a jury award you the limits of your uninsured/underinsured motorist protection, your insurance company will not voluntarily pay the penalty. They instead, fight and defend the second lawsuit that you must bring against the insurance company directly in order to prove they were acting in "bad faith." Another pitfall of uninsured automobile insurance in Georgia is that most folks don't realize that you cannot say the word insurance or indirectly refer to the concept of insurance in any way at a personal injury trial seeking insurance proceeds. Georgia law allows insurance defense lawyers to defend their case in part by hoping that people on your jury will assume that you are suing the person that caused your injuries individually, creating guilt that should they award what is just and right they could financially ruin the person that was negligent. This is also true when you are seeking payment of your uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance limits after you have already settled with the person that caused your injuries. In other words, your own insurance company that refuses to pay your claim or any portion of your uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance limits, files an answer as the attorney for the person that hit you and can choose to never reveal the existence of insurance, and can prevent you from ever revealing to the jury that you are only seeking payment of the insurance that you paid for. A lot of insurance companies are putting in their policies that failure to file a claim and "formally" notify them within a reasonable time after an accident of your potential need to tap into your own uninsured/underinsured coverage will result in no coverage at all. I am seeing more and more large automobile insurance companies in Georgia completely refuse to honor any uninsured/underinsured claim by their customer when their customer fails to "formally" put them on notice of a potential claim within what they consider a reasonable time after the collision. The courts have little or no power to do anything other than side with the insurance companies based upon basic contract principles. For example, you are hit by someone that you believe has plenty of insurance based upon your injuries, so you do not formally file a claim with your own insurance company. After twenty days, you're still in severe pain from the collision, so you make an appointment with an orthopedic doctor. That orthopedic doctor orders an MRI which forty days after the collision reveals that you suffered two herniated discs in your lumbar spine which will require extensive surgery; perhaps multiple surgeries and a large sum of lost wages. 60 days have passed since the occurrence? You are possibly OUT. You likely have no right to make a claim for your own uninsured/underinsured insurance coverage for which you have paid good money. I hope this opens your eyes to many of the pitfalls that face Georgia consumers in making an uninsured / underinsured motorist claim on their own automobile insurance. About Windham Law: Ben F. Windham P.C. personal injury attorneys serves clients throughout Henry County and the greater Atlanta area, including McDonough, Stockbridge, Hampton, Ellenwood, and Locust Grove. They specialize in seeking justice for individuals who have been injured by the negligence of others and litigate against all insurance companies providing tenacious and honest representation. Their approach is hands-on and much different from the high-volume TV and billboard lawyers. Clients of Ben F. Windham, P.C. work directly with an attorney during all phases of their case. At Ben F. Windham, P.C. expect a collaborative team with an entrepreneurial mindset determined to meet and exceed their client's expectations each step of the way towards obtaining justice. To learn more about Ben F. Windham P.C. Trial Attorneys, or for a free case evaluation please visit https://windhamlaw.com or call 833-236-9467. Contact: Ben F. Windham P.C. Address: 3838 GA-42, Locust Grove, GA 30248 Contact Name: Ben Windham Website: https://windhamlaw.com Email: Ben@windhamlaw.com Phone: 833.236.9467 (833-BENWINS) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1833BENWINS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bewindham/ Twitter: @benwindham SOURCE: Ben F. Windham P.C. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/607878/Car-Accident-Lawyer-Henry-County-Ben-Windham-Reveals-Pitfalls-of-Uninsured-Motorist-Insurance-in-Georgia Jefferson County Drainage District 6 likely will have its second new board member within the past seven months - replacing a more than seven-year board veteran. The Commissioners Court will vote Tuesday on accepting board member Miriam Johnsons resignation. They also are expected to vote on County Judge Jeff Branicks appointment of local rice farmer and rancher Chuck Kiker to fill the vacant seat. Johnsons resignation, submitted this week, comes a few weeks after a contentious board meeting where a slim majority approved the Districts 2020-2021 budget. That document included raises for 11 members of management and an additional 3% cost of living adjustment for all employees. Chuck Oakley, chief financial officer for the drainage district, noted that the 3% actually broke down to a 1.5% cost of living adjustment and a 1.5% merit increase. Johnson couldnt be reached for comment on Friday. But during the meeting earlier this month, board member Tony Malley III called on Johnson to abstain from the vote because her daughter was one of the employees set to receive a substantial pay increase. Related: Local attorney tapped for drainage district board Im sorry to disappoint you Tony, but I will be voting on this because Im not voting on a single raise, Im voting on an entire budget, she replied during the meeting. Branick was out of the office Friday after the agenda for Tuesdays meeting was posted and couldnt be reached for comment. But Kiker said in an interview that he thinks he was recommended for appointment in part because he has some political experience from work in various national cattle organizations as well as the number of years hes lived and worked as a farmer and rancher in western Jefferson County. Many residents in the area have been calling on elected officials to appoint someone with experience on the land to fill the seat. Ive been here in every flood. When you farm rice, you watch the weather every night, he said. You know where the low spots are, the high spots. You know where the structures are that flood and those that dont. I hope I can bring something good to the board. Kiker said he realizes theres little that can be done to prevent all flooding during major rains like that the region saw during Tropical Storm Harvey three years ago and Tropical Depression Imelda last year. And he acknowledged that he has much to learn about state- and federally mandated processes that might keep the district from pursuing solutions that may seem obvious to residents. Related: New drainage GM pledges more transparency His appointment comes as some county commissioners are expressing concern about the way the majority of the board members will allow taxpayer dollars to be spent this year. When I found out what happened with DD6s budget and the raises, I was offended, said Commissioner Michael Shane Sinegal, whose area is not served by DD6. But he noted that raises will mean some DD6 employees are making a higher annual salary than the commissioners or the county judge. During the meeting, District Manager Joe Majdalani defended the raises, saying that he eliminated large bonuses employees had been getting and dissolved two unnecessary positions. He said those actions led to a net savings. Majdalani added that some employees do the job of two or three different people and should be paid accordingly. I didnt run for commissioner for the salary. I feel guilty sometimes because county employees cant get a raise unless we get a raise. But the responsibilities are not half as tough on (some DD6 employees) as they are on us, Sinegal said. We have some serious responsibilities. We set the tax rate. We give abatements. You think about the county judge - the emergency management responsibilities and disaster declarations where your freedom could be on the line for those decisions. Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox During the DD6 board meeting, Malley noted the districts Chief Engineer now will be making $207,000 annually. Sinegal said the commissioners make $107,000 a year. Additionally, he and other commissioners added, the high salaries paid by DD6 already make it hard for the county and other governmental subdivisions to hire well-qualified personnel to work for the county. Commissioner Everette Bo Alfred, who appointed Malley earlier this year, noted that the county is undertaking a salary study to compare county salaries to those at both county drainage districts, in private industry and other similar positions. When the commissioners decided to pursue the study - long before the recent DD6 raises - they discussed the need for such a study in part because of higher salaries already being paid by the drainage districts. Malley and district board member Bernie Daleo, who both voted against the budget, said the desire to hold back on offering the raises wasnt a negative critique of the work being done by either employees or Majdalani. Both said their questions largely were based around the timing. Related: Drainage projects inch forward as hurricane season nears Were in the middle of a global pandemic, Daleo said. Unemployment just got down to 8% in Texas, and were doing a lot of raises and a cost of living adjustment that the county didnt even do. Regardless, residents will see a slight decrease in the drainage districts tax rate. Its expected to take money out of its rainy day fund, although that could change based on which grants come in and what projects ultimately move forward. kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com twitter.com/KaitlinBain A New York City man was charged after a three-year-old girl he was babysitting fell unconscious, and he surpassed a nearby hospital to drive hours away to a center in Queens. New York Police Department officers dispatched to a call about a dead young child named Jaylynn Evans who was brought to Cohen Childrens Medical Center around 7.15pm. PIX 11 reports that officers were informed that Anthony Richardson, of the Bronx, had brought the little girl to the facility while she was unconscious and unresponsive. There were no signs of obvious trauma, police told Pix 11. Jaylynn Evans (pictured), a three-year-old girl in New York City, died on Thursday evening after she became unconscious and unresponsive Pictured: An map showing the approximate distance and route traveled by Richardson on Wednesday Some reports have said the girl may have been infected with COVID-19 at the time, but the Medical Examiner will determine the official cause of death. The child's mother had reportedly left her under the care of Richardson, who is the father of her mother's best friend. According to New York Daily News, Richardson had been watching Jaylynn and another four-year-old child at his Mott Haven home. The two children were watching TV and eating snacks when Jaylynn suddenly fell ill. Anthony Richardson drove Jaylynn to Cohen Childrens Medical Center (pictured) in Queens from the Bronx but the trip took hours, authorities said Although Lincoln Medical Center (pictured) is less than a mile away from Richardson's home, he reportedly felt the child would receive better treatment at a different medical center Richardson reportedly did not immediately call 911 or drive the child to Lincoln Medical Center under one mile away. Instead, he loaded the children into his vehicle and drove nearly 20 miles out of the Bronx to Cohens Childrens Medical Center in Queens. The trip, authorities told NYDN, took hours. When asked why he took Jaylynn to a hospital miles away, Pix 11 reports that Richardson told authorities he felt the nearby hospital was not as good and the child could get better service elsewhere. Richardson was subsequently charged with acting in a manner injurious to a child under the age of 17. US President will accept the results of the election if it is free and fair, his press secretary said on Thursday, amidst a raging controversy on the president not committing himself to a peaceful transition of power in the case of a defeat in the November 3 polls. "The president will accept the results of a free and fair election. But I think that your question is more fitting to be asked of Democrats, who have already been on the record saying they will not accept the results of an election," Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters at her news conference. She was responding to a question seeking an assurance that there will be a peaceful transition of power. "I am referring to the president being asked if there would be a peaceful transfer of power and he did not say yes. So I am asking, will there be a peaceful transfer of power if he loses this election?" the reporter asked. "I believe that question asked by the Playboy reporter -- in fact, I think have it right here -- he (Trump) was asked win, lose or draw, whether he would accept the transfer of power. I am not entirely sure if he won, why would he accept a transfer of power. That is maybe the deranged wish of that reporter, but that is not how governing works," McEnany said. She referred to several comments made by the Democrats in the past, apparently questioning the validity of an election. "South Carolina Democrat Jim Clyburn has said Trump is not going to win fairly. Senator Barbara Boxer has said the only way Trump will win is to steal it. That is according to Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer," McEnany said. "The Washington Post has noted -- they have a headline -- 'Democrats may not trust the results of the election if Trump wins'. And then you have that beautiful quote from Hillary Clinton that Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstance," she said, adding that this is more a fitting question for the Democrats. "The president will accept the results of a free and fair election. He will accept the will of the American people," McEnany said. The president, she said wants to get rid of the mass mail-out voting and that is not because..."he has said clearly that that could go either way. It could damage either candidate's chances because it is a system that is subject to fraud". "In fact, in the last 24 hours, police in Greenville, Wisconsin found mail in a ditch and it included absentee ballots. And also, I can confirm for you that Trump ballots, ballots for the president, were found in Pennsylvania. And I believe you should be getting more information on that shortly. Here in the last 24 hours, they were found cast aside. "The president has always made the distinction that absentee ballots, where you go through a process, where you request a ballot and you mail that in, that is a system that works," the press secretary said. "But a system where you mass mail out to voter rolls, which are not kept and maintained, where in Los Angeles County, for instance, you have 120 per cent of the county enrolled, that system is untenable. It does not work. It leads to what we saw in Nevada, where there were ballots languishing in trash cans and pinned to apartment boards," she added. Ahead of the second ministerial meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), senior officials of the four countries in the grouping held consultations on Friday on collective efforts to advance a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. The senior officials of the foreign ministries of India, Australia and Japan and the US state department held a video conference and discussed ways to enhance the resilience of supply chains amid the Covid-19 crisis and shared best practices on combating the Covid-19 pandemic. The foreign ministers of the Quad are expected to meet in Tokyo early in October against the backdrop of Chinas increasingly aggressive behaviour across the region. The Quad was upgraded to the ministerial level with a meeting on the margin of the UN General Assembly last year. The upcoming ministerial meeting will be held at a time when all four members of the Quad have serious differences with China India is engaged in a border standoff in Ladakh, the Australian government has pledged to halt projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Japan is worried about Chinese intrusions near the Senkaku Islands, and the US is engaged in a trade war. During Fridays video conference, the senior officials exchanged views on ongoing and proposed practical cooperation in connectivity and infrastructure development and security matters, including counter-terrorism, cyber and maritime security, to promote peace, security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, according to a statement from the external affairs ministry. The four democracies discussed ways to work together to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, promote transparency and counter disinformation, and protect the rules-based order the region has long enjoyed, said a readout from the US state department. In an apparent reference to American efforts against Chinese telecom major Huawei, the US readout said the officials noted the importance of digital connectivity and secure networks and discussed ways to promote the use of trusted vendors, particularly for fifth generation (5G) networks. The officials also explored ways to enhance coordination on counter-terrorism, maritime and cyber security, regional connectivity, and quality infrastructure based upon international best practices, such as the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment. They also highlighted the need to improve supply chains in sectors such as critical minerals, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, the US readout added. Both the Indian statement and the US readout reiterated the Quads firm support to the centrality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and Asean-led mechanisms in the regional architecture for the Indo-Pacific. The members of the Quad expressed their readiness to work with ASEAN and other countries to realise a common vision for the Indo-Pacific. The officials also explored ways to work together in the Mekong sub-region, in the South China Sea, and across the Indo-Pacific to support international law, pluralism, regional stability, and post-pandemic recovery efforts, the US readout said. Chinas growing aggression and assertiveness has prompted the members of the Quad to step up efforts, both among themselves and with other countries in the Indo-Pacific, to forge new supply chains and to enhance maritime security cooperation. The foreign secretaries of India, Australia and France co-chaired the first senior officials trilateral dialogue on September 9 to enhance cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and strengthen multilateralism. On September 1, India, Australia and Japan agreed to launch an initiative to ensure the resilience of supply chains in the Indo-Pacific. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. As a member of the UN Human Rights Council, Armenia enlisted among its priorities the contribution to global efforts to prevent genocide and strengthening the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. Sustained and effective functioning of the Office remains a compelling priority today, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said in his remarks delivered at the 12th Ministerial Meeting on the Responsibility to Protect. In 2015 Armenia led the global efforts to designate 9 December as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. By this we have provided together collectively an additional platform to develop and invest in our collective efforts for the prevention agenda. We have been consistently outlining the importance of strengthening capacities at both national, regional and international levels to detect and act on warning signs, which may lead to massive crimes, and the necessity to prevent genocide and other mass atrocities at early stages. All Genocides could have been prevented, whether it is the Armenian Genocide, the Jewish Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide or other atrocity crimes. Dissemination of hatred, intolerance, radicalism, war propaganda, incitement to and actual discrimination against racial, national, ethnic, religious and all other minorities, as well as targeted attacks against civilians continue to shape present realities in different parts of the world. The international community, the United Nations and its Member States are still ill-prepared to respond in a timely and decisive manner to these signals of trouble, the Armenian FM said. According to him, it is a matter of serious concern that the international community may afford inaction to the language of threats, wherein denial and justification of past genocides, laced with aggressive and abusive vocabulary of certain political leaders about lessons that victims across generations should not forget. It is most disturbing. Future perpetrators interpret silence to such barbaric disregard of the norms of a civilized world as a license to kill, he added. Under no circumstances sovereignty can be a safe haven for perpetrating gross and grave human rights violations against those who are peacefully exercising their human rights, including the right of self-determination. No nation can be afforded the right to kill behind the thick curtain of sovereignty. The responsibility to protect is critical in this regard, as it reminds that sovereignty is not a license for impunity but a responsibility. Sovereignty should be exactly the primary and most functional level for the effective implementation of the responsibility to protect. International cooperation to strengthen national capacities to protect remains important as ever, the FM said. He added that respect for human rights is an integral part of a democratic society. It is important to implement human rights obligations and commitments and to cooperate closely with the UN human rights mechanisms. In this context, it is also important to stress the role of the civil society in advocacy, early warning, training and education. And once again I want to emphasize the important role that the Global Center has been continuously playing in this regard. Such priorities were underlined in the resolution on the Prevention of Genocide presented by Armenia and unanimously adopted by the Human Rights Council in June 2020. Since 2015 Armenia has been regularly hosting Global Forums against the Crime of Genocide, gathering prominent scholars and practitioners of genocide prevention from across the world. This is our unwavering commitment and contribution to building a global community against the crime of genocide and other mass atrocities, he added. Brazil on Thursday said 831 deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the past 24 hours pushed the death toll to 139,808, Trend reports citing Xinhua. According to the Ministry of Health, tests have detected 32,817 new cases of COVID-19 infection since Wednesday, bringing the total caseload to 4,657,702. The state of Sao Paulo, the most populated in the country, is the epicenter of the national outbreak, with 958,240 cases of infection and 34,677 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 257,985 cases and 18,037 deaths. Also on Thursday, Brazilian Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo said that in the last six months, the government has deployed 28,729 soldiers around the country to help fight the pandemic. In addition, the armed forces delivered 1 million food kits and 627,917 face masks, produced 24,555 liters of gel hand sanitizer, and disinfected 6,249 public sites, among other actions, Azevedo said at a press conference. LINDON, Utah, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- BambooHR, the industry's leading cloud-hosted software provider dedicated to powering the strategic evolution of human resources, today announced the winners of its second annual BambooHR Scholarship, awarding three passionate, creative university students with $5,000 to pursue their goals. "The recipients of our scholarship are emblematic of individuals who will benefit from our mission at BambooHR to set people free to do great work," said Brad Rencher, CEO of BambooHR. "As more organizations recognize the influence employee experience has on overall business success, they'll be able to fully harness the power of their workforce. We're excited to support these future leaders as they prepare to join this new workplace." Scholarship winners were chosen after a two step process. Each was required to write a personal statement about how they embrace and live one of BambooHR's seven core values: enjoy quality of life, make it count, grow from good to great, lead from where you are, assume the best, be open, and do the right thing. Second, applicants could choose to build an HR plan or create a short video highlighting their growth from good to great during their academic career. This year's winners are: "The BambooHR Scholarship means so much to me as I'll be able to pay my fall and spring tuition. The creation of my application was enjoyable and meaningful as I thought about the core value of growing from good to great, a motto I have tried to live by throughout my college career," said Deborah Bernadine Artus. "It will be great to pursue this school year without the stress of finances and focus solely on academics." From recruitment and onboarding to performance management and employee engagement, the BambooHR cloud platform is a leading end-to-end system for the entire employee lifecycle for small to medium-sized businesses. Known for its workplace initiatives like paid-paid vacation, financial education support, and parenting classes, BambooHR leads today's employee experience evolution for its own employees and the company's 19,000 customers across 120 countries. About BambooHR With over 600 employees, 19,000 customers and over a million users worldwide, BambooHR is a leading and innovative platform for Human Resources in the SMB market. BambooHR's software makes it easy for HR professionals to collect, maintain, and analyze data, improve the way they hire talent, onboard new employees, manage compensation, and develop their company culture. It's designed to set organizations free to focus on what matters mostpeople. BambooHR's clients include innovators like Asana, Foursquare, Stance, and Reddit. BambooHR also hosts more than 30,000 HR professionals at its annual HR Virtual Summit . Recent recognition and awards include the 2020 Forbes Cloud 100, Fortune's Top 50 Workplaces in Technology, a Best Small & Medium Workplace for the third consecutive year, Best Workplaces for Women , and Best Workplace for Millennials by Great Places to Work. To find out more, visit bamboohr.com or follow us on Twitter at @bamboohr . Learn more on LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook and Instagram . SOURCE Bamboo HR LLC Related Links www.bamboohr.com Medical workers and staff members of the Ruili Women's Federation pose for a photo after finishing a day's work of nucleic acid testing in Ruili City, Southwest China's Yunnan Province. [China Women's News] Following implementation of COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control measures in Ruili City, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the Ruili Women's Federation responded quickly and mobilized the women's organizations at all levels in the city to join the anti-epidemic team, encouraging women Party members, cadres, and volunteers to fight on the front line of the battle against the epidemic. As one of the organizations responsible for the digital management of a matrix of urban communities amid epidemic prevention and control, the city's women's federation rose to action quickly. It held an urgent meeting to assign tasks, clarify duties and determine the area's concentrated nucleic acid test sites. The staff members visited the households door to door in the communities under the federation's jurisdiction, helped register the information of test takers in advance and made preparations for the nucleic acid tests the next day. They also helped residents download an app to order takeout food, join WeChat groups, register health codes, and relieve their anxiety during the visits. The Ruili Women's Federation holds a meeting to implement epidemic prevention and control work on the evening of September 14. [China Women's News] Staff members of the Ruili Women's Federation visit households to mobilize residents to do nucleic acid testing. [China Women's News] Staff members of the Ruili Women's Federation help register citizens' information at a nucleic acid test station on the morning of September 15. [China Women's News] Staff members of the Ruili Women's Federation help register citizens' information at a nucleic acid test station in a designated hotel. [China Women's News] The test takers gave thumbs up to express their gratitude to the medical workers and workers of the city's women's federation. "The test was very quick, and the staff guided us in an orderly manner, which made us feel relieved," one said. Through hard work, 822 people have been tested at the nucleic acid test station where the city's women's federation was in charge. The women's federation established two WeChat groups, which cover 200 households and 167 stores. The new "household group" and "store group" facilitate communication and mobilization in the fight against the epidemic. Residents express gratitude to staff members of the Ruili Women's Federation in a WeChat group. [China Women's News] Wang Ting, President of the Ruili Women's Federation, said that the staff members will continue to stick to their frontline posts. "We are full of expectations for this autumn, meanwhile we are confident of winning the battle against the epidemic and safeguarding the happiness and well-being of the people." (Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China) MP Oleksandr Yurchenko, suspected of bribery, who was taken into custody with an alternative bail of UAH 3 million, was paid for the required amount, the High Anti-Corruption Court reported. "Yesterday the bail was posted in full," Olesia Chemerys, head of the HACC press service, told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday morning. She added that Yurchenko was issued a certificate of bail, which is the basis for leaving the pretrial detention center. The NABU reported that as part of the investigation, evidence was collected to report suspicion to the MP of committing crimes under Article 368 of the Criminal Code and part 4 of Article 27, part 4 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. On September 15, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, speaking in parliament, said that there is no reason to announce suspicion to MP Oleksandr Yurchenko. On the same day, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) arrested the assistant to the deputy with an alternative bail of UAH one million. The NABU also published videos confirming their position regarding the case of the MP Yurchenko. On September 17, Venediktova signed Yurchenko's suspicion. On September 18, HACC postponed until September 21 the meeting on the election of a restraint measure for Yurchenko due to his failure to appear at the meeting due to alleged contact with a person with confirmed COVID-19. On September 21, The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has imposed a pretrial restraint on MP Oleksandr Yurchenko in form of detention with an alternative to bail of UAH 3 million. In the case of a bailment, Yurchenko will be assigned the following obligations: wear an electronic means of control, arrive at the detective's first call, notify about a change in place of residence and work, submit documents for travel abroad. Capitol Hill Baptist sues DC mayor over ban on outdoor worship with over 100 people Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The 850-member Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., is suing Mayor Murriel Bowser over her ban on outdoor church services of more than 100 people during the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that the gathering restriction has been applied unfairly. Represented by attorneys at the First Liberty Institute and WilmerHale, LLP, the church led by 9Marks co-founder Mark Dever filed a complaint in federal court on Tuesday arguing that the city has violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. For CHBC, a weekly in-person worship gathering of the entire congregation is a religious conviction for which there is no substitute, the legal document reads. The Church does not offer virtual worship services, it does not utilize a multi-site model, and it does not offer multiple Sunday morning worship services. In March, Bowser issued an executive order that, among other things, barred CHBC and other churches from gathering for indoor and outdoor in-person worship. According to the lawsuit, the city is prohibiting worship gatherings of over 100 people or 50% of building capacity (whichever is fewer) even if held outdoors and even if worshippers wear masks and practice appropriate social distancing. Under the districts four-phase re-opening plan, the churchs in-person worship gatherings will be prohibited until a widely-available vaccine or an effective therapy for COVID-19 is available, the lawsuit explains. The city has been in phase 2 for over three months. Justin Sok, a pastor at CHBC, said in a four-paragraph statement that CHBC had met in-person every Sunday since its founding in 1878, except for three weeks during the Spanish Flu in 1918. That changed following Mayor Bowsers first orders concerning COVID-19 on March 11, 2020. Since that time, the members of CHBC most of whom live in the District have been unable to meet in person, as one congregation inside District limits (even outdoors), Sok detailed. Our simple desire is to have a community and one that meets together safely. The church has applied for multiple waivers to the mayors policy. However, city officials refuse to provide CHBC with a waiver beyond 100 persons as part of a mass gathering, Sok added. The lawsuit filed Tuesday simply asks that CHBC be permitted to meet in-person, with similar restrictions as area businesses and other gatherings have employed to protect public health, the pastor stressed. A church is not a building that can be opened and closed. A church is not an event to be watched. A church is a community that gathers regularly and that community should be treated fairly by the District government. The lawsuit mentions that Bowser coordinated with organizers of the Commitment March on Washington to re-imagine the racial justice demonstration on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Defendants have been discriminatory in their application of the ban on large scale gatherings, the lawsuit, which lists the city as a co-defendant, states. For example, on June 6, 2020, Mayor Bowser appeared personally at an outdoor gathering of tens of thousands of people at the corner of 16th and H Streets, NW and delivered a speech describing the large gathering as wonderful to see. According to the court filing, the church made repeated efforts to contact Bowsers office, including direct efforts and indirectly through a city councilman. After initially filing for a waiver in June, the church resubmitted its waiver request on Sept. 1. The district refused to rule on the Churchs application for months before rejecting the application last week, the filing explains. The rejection of the waiver leaves CHBC subject to the civil and administrative penalties should it violate the order. A representative of the church told The Christian Post that Dever is not available for interviews about the lawsuit. 9Marks, a ministry organization that provides resources for churches, previously posted an article in March about how churches in Washington, D.C., had complied with demands from authorities to close services for about a month during the 1918 Spanish Flu out of neighborly love to protect public health. In a video posted on the churchs YouTube page in May, Dever said Christians have always gathered together to be with the fellow believers and do things that Jesus has called us to do. In Hebrews 10, we are told that we shouldnt forsake the regular assembly of ourselves together, Dever stressed. That is why Christians, ever since the very first Christians, have begun the week by gathering, by coming together, like we do normally here in this space. The pastor said that Christianity has always been a religion that gathers. Some people would think of Christianity as basically an experience that a monk would have, where you are simply off by yourself having your own private devotions, Dever stated. Friends that is not really what we see in the Bible as normal for Christians. What we are called to do as Christians is get together, he added. That is why we have [churches] like this all over the world. We always have. If you go back to the very first Christians, literally on the first day there were people called Christians, they were gathering. According to The Washington Post, Capitol Hill Baptist has met for several months in a field near a Virginia church. Thomas Bowen, the director of the mayors Office of Religious Affairs, told the newspaper that the city has engaged with congregations to ensure houses of worship can plan their services in a way that it is safe for everyone. The pandemic has placed us all in a tough situation, leading us to make adjustments to all aspects of our lives, Bowen said. Photo credit: L. KASIMU HARRIS, EVE EDELHEIT, PATIENCE ZALANGA - Getty Images From Good Housekeeping The statistics on hunger in America are staggering. One in nine people in the U.S. is food insecure, meaning they lack consistent access to healthy meals, and many have visited a food bank in the past year. Now, as we brace for what could be the worst recession in more than a decade, millions of people hit by unemployment and struggling with poverty are newly at risk of not having enough to eat. To capture a literal snapshot of the issue and to highlight steps communities are taking to tackle it, Good Housekeeping, in partnership with Feeding America, sent photographers across the country, from the Louisiana bayou to the farmlands of Iowa and a religious community in Houston. The results reveal a resilient beauty in cities working hard to keep people fed. Photo credit: Hearst Owned Our Growing Need In 2020, food insecurity is projected to increase by the highest percentage in parts of the South and Southwest. For example, in Mississippi, one in three people could go hungry this year. Food Insecurity in America Photo credit: Hearst Owned How Communities Are Coping Arkansas is the number one producer of rice in the U.S., accounting for nearly half of the countrys crop. Wisconsin produces 3 billion pounds of cheese per year. Iowa leads in corn production. Food Lifeline in Seattle, Washington, was the first food bank in the country to respond to the unique demands of COVID-19. At the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, more than 50 tons of food leave the warehouse daily, an increase of more than 10 tons per day since February. In the early days of the pandemic, casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, were used as food distribution centers. Some served more than 1 million people a month. In Montgomery County, Maryland, Manna Food Center provides locally grown produce to those in need. In New York City, the Barrio Fridge sits outside a bodega. The community keeps it stocked with food that is free to any who need it. Other cities have joined in, with fridges dotting needy neighborhoods. Story continues Photo credit: Arturo Olmos Photo credit: Hearst Owned Photo credit: Patience Zalanga Photo credit: Eve Edelheit Photo credit: Eve Edelheit Photo credit: Hearst Owned Photo credit: Arturo Olmos Photo credit: Patience Zalanga Photo credit: Hearst Owned Photo credit: L. Kasimu Harris Photo credit: Jared Soares Photo credit: Arturo Olmos Photo credit: Jared Soares Photo credit: Hearst Owned Photo credit: Hearst Owned You Might Also Like BELGRADE, Serbia - A Serbian military jet crashed Friday in western Serbia near the countrys border with Bosnia, killing the two pilots on board, the Defence Ministry said. The ministry said the MiG-21 plane was on a regular flying mission when it crashed around 9 a.m. (0700GMT) near the village of Brasina. A ministry statement said a commission would examine the cause of the accident following an investigation at the crash site by both military and civilian teams. Local media are reporting that the plane crashed into the yard of a house in a village. Serbian state broadcaster RTS reported that a villager was hospitalized with burns. No other details were immediately available. Subscriber content preview NEW YORK (AP) The Walt Disney Co. has further postponed its next mega-movies from Marvel, including Black Widow, while also postponing Steven Spielberg's West Side Story a full year in the company's latest recalibration due to the pandemic. Ten of Disney's top films shuffled release dates Wednesday, uprooting several of the company's major fall releases. The Scarlett Johansson Marvel movie Black Widow, last set for Nov. 6, heads to May 7 of next year. Instead of opening next month, Kenneth Branagh's murder mystery Death on the Nile moves to Dec. 18. That was the date set for West Side Story, but Spielberg's musical will instead debut in December 2021. . . . Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Thursday said the three farm bills, passed by the Parliament during the Monsoon session, will strengthen the concept of one nation one market and directly connect farmers with the market, eliminating the role of middlemen. Rawat added that these bills will bring revolutionary changes in the lives of the farmers. Modi government has tried to aid farmers in two ways; if they want to sell their produce in (farmer markets) mandis, they will get a high MSP and if he wants to sell it outside the mandis, he can sell it anywhere at a good price and the government will provide him technical assistance in the process, Rawat said, adding, There will be no role of middlemen now. Rawat said the Narendra Modi government is pro-farmers and the people of the country know it well. Some people are however, trying to mislead farmers and provoke them. Farmers will have to themselves understand these agrarian reforms. They very well know that Prime Minister Narendra Modi always thinks about their welfare, he said. Listing the steps taken by the central government for farmers, Rawat said MSP of various crops has been increased and recommendations of the Swaminathan report have been implemented by the government for the benefit of farmers Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state unit have announced a series of protests against these bills Terming the bills as anti-farmer, Congress state unit president Pritam Singh, in a press conference here on Thursday, announced the calendar of protests in the state till October 31. We will start an online campaign Speak Up on September 26. Then on September 28, we have decided to take out a protest march from the party office in Dehradun to the governors house. On October 2, we will organise state-wide protests at district and assembly segment level. Between October 2 and October 31, we will start a signature campaign against these bills which will be then presented to the AICC (All India Congress Committee), he said The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, were passed by both the Houses of Parliament during the monsoon session recently and await Presidential assent. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state unit president SS Kaler said they have decided to continue protests against the anti-farmers bills in the state. On Friday, to begin with, we will organise a major protest demonstration in the Sitarganj area of US Nagar. On Wednesday, we had staged a protest in Dehradun at a time when the one-day assembly session was underway, he said. Kaler added that his party will continue to fight for the cause of the farmers and hold regular interactions to seek their feedback. Riga City, Latvia -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/25/2020 -- The Decentralized Finance (DeFi) market is one of the rapidly evolving sectors within the crypto space. Furthermore, the Yield-farming DeFi tokens have taken the markets by storm with a massive bull run over the last two months. However, there have been some dishonest actors that have been bringing a bad image to the overall Yield Farming sector. This has resulted in major uncertainty among retail investors. Meet YAKUZA The YAKUZA DAO is one such cryptocurrency that aims to clean-up the system while giving power back into the hands of people. YKZ is a community-driven decentralized token with yield-farming build atop the DFO platform. The project adopts this special mechanism called the Decentralized Flexible Organization (DFO) that gives its users the flexibility several functionalities over the period of time and later decide how to use the treasury to generate value. With the special DFO mechanism in place, the initial goal of YAKUZA will be to gain value on the treasury with the help of a liquidity mining program. The DFO platform will use different monetary policies to acquire highly appreciating assets. These will be some of the confidence-building measures within the community to ensure growth for the long-term. Building Trust Among the Stakeholder of YAKUZA DAO As said earlier, the YAKUZA project aims to give major control of funds in the hands of the holders. Thus, they have issued all of the supply and the Liquidity Provider (LP) tokens to the DFO so that they are controlled only by its holders. Holders of the YAKUZA DAO (YKZ) token will have absolute control over their investments that can be moved only via its proposal system. The initial supply of YKZ is pegged at 10,000 tokens. 1.5% of the total supply is locked in the DFOhub wallet and has been reserved for the Generation Fees. Besides, 61.7% of the total supply i.e. 6170 YKZ have been kept aside as governance token locked with the YAKUZA DFO platform. The holders of YKZ decide the monetary value of the token. These holders ensure that the funds are invested in the best possible way. The aim is to invest in a diverse variety of assets and bounties by improving the capabilities of the DFO platform and thereby secure long-term investments. The YAKUZA DAO (YKZ) token price can be tracked in real-time over popular platforms like CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko. About Cryptoshib Criptoshib tries to keep crypto enthusiasts updated with the latest happenings and stories from the crypto world. We try to post stories about projects and people of the crypto and blockchain communities from around the world. Media Contact https://cryptoshib.com/yakuza-decentralized-flexible-organization/ Trump signs US healthcare executive orders that may have little impact Donald Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders on healthcare for Americans that lawyers said will carry little weight, as the president seeks to boost his flagging credibility with voters on the hot-button issue ahead of the 3 November presidential election. Trump signed the twin orders implementing his "America First Healthcare Plan" in an airport hangar in Charlotte, North Carolina, amid an audience that included medical professionals seated socially distanced and many wearing masks amid the coronavirus pandemic. "Under my plan 33 million Medicare beneficiaries will soon receive a card in the mail containing $200 that they can use to help pay for prescription drugs," Trump said in describing part of his program. One of the executive orders is aimed at ensuring Americans with pre-existing conditions retain healthcare coverage, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters on Thursday, even as his own administration seeks to strike down the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which protects the same right. Azar also said Trump was directing him via the second executive order to work with Congress to pass legislation banning surprise healthcare bills by the beginning of next year, and explore executive action to address the goal if the legislative bid fails. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi labeled it a "bogus order," as she called on the president to "drop his lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic." While Trump heralded his actions, some lawyers expressed skepticism that he had the authority to make the move via executive order. Nicholas Bagley, a professor at University of Michigan's law school, said: "Unless there's a law that prohibits the conduct in question, or unless the president is exercising a power that's been delegated to him by Congress, his statements have no more legal weight than a tweet." "It's as if I was walking around with a memo that was titled 'Executive Order,' and claimed that the policy of the United States is that everybody gets a cheeseburger on Tuesdays," he added. Chinese National Denied US Entry Over Chinese Communist Party Membership: Lawyer NEW YORKA Chinese national was recently turned away at a U.S. airport, in what might be the first known case of a visa ban due to the travelers status as a Chinese Communist Party member. The person has a U.S. travel visa valid for 10 years. As the father of a U.S. citizen, he applied for a family-based immigration visa some months ago and had recently met with a Guangzhou consular officer for an interview, but was still awaiting a decision, according to his lawyer. Being advanced in years, the person didnt withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for fear of affecting his pension benefits. On Sept. 17, he flew from China to the United States to visit his daughter. Customs authorities stopped him upon landing at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport and sent him on a next-day flight back to China, saying that he does not meet the requirement for entering the United States, according to Zheng Cunzhu, a U.S.-based immigration lawyer who consulted on the case. Because of client confidentiality, Zheng didnt disclose the persons name. The mans travel visa was subsequently revoked. His daughter, who had been waiting at the airport to pick him up, later looked up his case at the National Visa Center on the State Department website, which indicated that his visa application was denied. According to Zheng, the daughter said her father recalled nothing unusual during the visa interview, other than that he mentioned being a Party member. The case comes at a time when the United States tightens up measures countering threats posed by the regime. The Trump administration in July reportedly considered putting a ban on U.S. visas for CCP members. While deliberations were in its early stages, senior officials had circulated a draft of a possible presidential order that may deny visas to more than 90 million CCP members, Reuters reported at the time, citing an insider source. While the U.S. administration has previously announced visa restrictions on specific Chinese officials for their roles in perpetuating human rights abuses, this is probably the first case of someone being turned away at the airport for their Party membership, Zheng said in an interview. Given his clients experience, any CCP member could risk being barred from U.S. entry, regardless of whether they are visiting as immigrants, tourists, or to see family, Zheng added. People queue outside the U.S. embassy in Beijing, on April 27, 2012. (Ed Jones/AFP/GettyImages) According to the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act enacted in 1952, those applying for an immigrant visa are considered inadmissible if they are or have been a member of or affiliated with the Communist or any other totalitarian party. Exceptions are made for those who can prove their membership was involuntary or had been terminated at least two years before their visa application. On green card and immigration visa applications, U.S. authorities ask candidates whether they have been associated with any communist parties. Immigration from China has become a contentious issue as U.S.China tensions intensified over the pandemic, as well as Beijings military aggressions, spying concerns, and human rights abuses. In September, the State Department revoked more than 1,000 visas for Chinese researchers with military ties. A department spokesperson told The Epoch Times at the time that they continue to welcome legitimate students and scholars from China who do not further the Chinese Communist Partys goals of military dominance. Zheng, noting that his client appeared eligible for immigration in all other aspects, advised him to quit the Party as soon as he can. Upon doing so, they could try reapplying as early as in two years, he said, citing the Foreign Affairs Manual, a comprehensive guidebook for the State Departments policies and procedures. The New York-based Tuidang Center, a nonprofit organization established in 2007 to coordinate grassroots efforts for people to formally withdraw from CCP-affiliated organizations, recently began issuing digital certificates in light of growing requests from the Chinese community around the world. The certificates are recognized by immigration authorities, with the statement printed in both English and Chinese, the centers director Yi Rong recently told The Epoch Times. The center has recorded more than 364 million entries to date, its website shows. Commenting on the recent case, Yi said that the visa rejection should serve as a warning bell for all CCP members anywhere. As the world wakes up to the true nature of the regime, it would be wise to relinquish any existing Party ties, she said. Zheng, who in 1989 organized protests in his hometown of Hefei to support pro-democracy students at Tiananmen Square, had the same message for anyone who still has CCP membership. If you have realized that this Party has violated what it promised to Chinese people and lied, I hope you can quit this organization earlier than later, he said. Dont trade off the chance of immigration to the United States and reuniting with your children for the sake of pensions or rewards. A State Department official told The Epoch Times that visa records are confidential under U.S. law, and declined to comment further. The Department of Homeland Security didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Luo Ya and Linda Lin contributed to this report. Ehtisham Kiyani, a reporter for Channel 24 was arrested on false charges for allegedly bearing weapons in Islamabads High Court. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Pakistan affiliate the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) condemn his arbitrary arrest and call on authorities to investigate the misuse of law to harass journalists. Police officials deployed for the security of the Islamabad High Court arrested Kiyanion September 23, accusing him of allegedly carrying weapons as he arrived at the court. The journalist was present to cover a court caseinvolving the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice-president, Maryam Nawaz, and her husband, Captain Safdar, in relation to the long-running Avenfield Reference case. The high-profile corruption case against Pakistans former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, and his family dates back to 2016 Panama Paper relevations about the familys purchase of four flats in Avenfield House, Park Lane, London. It is not clear why the journalist was targeted, but he was taken to Ramna police station, Islamabad, for further questioning. Islamabad High Court Chief Justice, Athar Minallah, issued an order for the immediate release of the journalist. He was released an hour later. Upon his release, Kiyani reported that he had been mistreated, tortured and harassed in police detention. His mobile phone and other belongings were confiscated and he was not able to contact his family. The arbitrary arrest or abduction of journalists and their release following a public outcry has been regularly documented in Pakistan. Most recently, journalists Asad Toor and Bilal Farooqi were arrested on September 11 on allegations of publishing objectionable and derogatory material online. They were released on September 12 and 16 respectively. PFUJ Secretary General Rana Muhammad Azeem said: The PFUJ strongly condemns the arrest and urges the authorities to make sure that such the arbitrary arrests do not happen in future so that media workers could perform their duties without any fear. The IFJ said: The arbitrary arrest of journalists and media workers on questionable and false charges is an abuse of power and the law and a direct violation of journalist rights. The IFJ calls for greater scrutiny of such cases and for perpetrators to be disciplined. SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) A man was found dead near the construction trailer complex at the SoFi Stadium development in Inglewood early Friday. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner said a Latino male in his 20s was pronounced dead at 2:34 a.m. The mans name hasn't been released publicly because the next of kin has yet to be notified. An autopsy is pending. A spokeswoman for the development said Inglewood police are investigating the death. A construction worker at the stadium died in June after falling more than 110 feet from the buildings roof. His family sued the projects developers in L.A. County Superior Court. A second construction worker died at the project in July. Turner-AECOM Hunt, the joint venture overseeing construction, said at the time he had exhibited signs of a health issue. The medical examiner-coroner hasnt released a cause of death or autopsy report pending further investigation. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the June and July deaths, but a spokesman said the agency isn't involved in the probe of Friday's death. Inglewood police asked anyone with information on the death to contact homicide detectives at 310-412-5246. The Rams opened SoFi Stadium with a victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 13. The Chargers, who share the stadium that is the centerpiece of a 298-acre development, host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Local journalism is important and producing it costs time and money. To continue viewing content on tucson.com, please sign in with your existing account or subscribe. " " The Halifax donair is the Canadian cousin of the Greek gyro. But its special donair sauce is what its cult followers love so much. Foodio/Shutterstock Canadians have a reputation for being kind, thoughtful and patient people. And we can thank Canada for some wonderful contributions to the world: lacrosse, Drake, Celine Dion, and even insulin. But one thing Canada isn't so known for is its cuisine. Sure, in 1884 Montreal pharmacist Marcellus Gilmore Edson patented peanut paste, the precursor to what we now know as peanut butter, and Canada's national dish is poutine. But aside from those, there's not much to what we would consider as "Canadian cuisine." (How many times have you suggested to friends, "Hey, let's go out for Canadian tonight"?) Advertisement But there is one sloppy sandwich whose reputation precedes itself, at least in Nova Scotia. And like its Canadian cousin-in-hangover-protection poutine, it's a smattering of ingredients doused in sauce. We're talking about the Halifax donair. Its story goes like this: Sometime in the 1970s, Greek immigrant Peter Gamoulakos opened up a restaurant in Halifax and tinkered with classic Greek dishes to blend the tastes of Greece and his new home country. One thing he did was swap lamb meat for beef in the famous gyro sandwich and cover the new creation in a signature "donair sauce." Voila. The craze was born. The pita-filled Halifax donair is a savory and sweet combination of spit-roasted shaved beef, served topped with onions and tomatoes and that special signature donair sauce. And it's the sauce that makes the sandwich. According to Food Network Canada, it's "addictively sweet" and made of a "blend of evaporated milk, vinegar, garlic powder and sugar." The entire thing is messy, juicy, and perfect for long nights or hangover-tinged mornings. In 1973, Gamoulakos opened King of Donair, a chain of restaurants in Halifax now owned by Nicholas Nahas his two brothers, Norman and Andrew. Nahas is a lawyer by trade and a "donair man by choice." "I like to think of the Halifax donair as the gyro's cooler and better-tasting cousin," Nahas says. "It's a variation of the Greek gyro, which is more than likely a variation of the Turkish Doner kebab. The donair and sauce recipe have Greek origins while the pita has Lebanese origins. We use grilled Lebanese pita bread instead of the thicker bread you see with gyros." Nahas calls the donair "a staple late-night drunk food" and says pop culture and social media are to thank for its graduation to an any-time-of-the-day food. Now that you're dying to try the kitschiest Canadian food we know of, Halifax is a the place to start. And the good news is you don't even have to be drunk or hungover to eat one. NOW THAT'S Funny In 2015, the Halifax city council voted to make the donair the city's official food. Advertisement Originally Published: Sep 25, 2020 Oil workers in New Mexico fear they will lose their jobs and oil companies are rushing to secure drilling permits on federal lands ahead of the presidential election, which could result in Joe Biden winning who has promised to immediately ban new fracking on federal lands. Many of the sweetest spots in the Permian left for drillers to profitably drill at $40 a barrel oil are located on the New Mexico side of the Permian. But most of New Mexicos oil and gas production takes place on federal land, unlike in Texas. Biden is not banning fracking overall, but he has said that he would move to ban new fracking activities on federal land. Fracking on federal land is just 10 percent of the total U.S. fracking industry, but for New Mexico, its much more65 percent of the states oil and gas production takes place on federal land, according to Reuters estimates. The possibility of a Biden win in November has had many companies operating in New Mexico proactively securing months, and even years, worth of drilling permits on federal land before the election. For the oil workers, a Biden win would mean fewer jobs It scares the heck out of us, Jim Mayes, a foreman at S&J Contractors, told Bloomberg. The New Mexico Oil and Gas Association (NMOGA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) released earlier this month a new analysis warning that New Mexico would be among the states hardest hit by the proposal to ban federal land leases. New Mexico would lose over 62,000 jobs by 2022, according to the analysis. With nearly 40 percent of the states budget funded by natural gas and oil production, a ban could put at risk more than $1 billion of federal revenue sharing which helps support New Mexicos education and conservation programs, API and NMOGA said. Related: The World's Most Expensive Crudes Get Expensive Again The oil industry in neighboring Texas also fears a President Biden. Texas oil and gas executives have a lot on their minds right now, but their worst fear for the next twelve months is neither the recession nor the pandemicits the possibility that President Biden will win the White House. According to a recent survey of the University of Houstons Hobby School of Public Affairs among members of the Texas Oil and Gas Association (TXOGA), 76 percent of oil and gas executives in Texas say that the election of Joe Biden is the top threat to the economic well-being of their companies. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: China claimed on Friday that the World Health Organization (WHO) had conveyed its support for using experimental Covid-19 vaccines on high-risk groups during clinical trials in June. The National Health commission (NHC) also said that Chinas annual production capacity of vaccines is expected to reach 610 million doses by end of this year and is forecast to reach 1 billion doses per year by 2021. China had informed the WHO about inoculating high-risk groups on June 29, Zheng Zhongwei, director-general of NHCs Development Centre for Medical Science and Technology said at a press conference. State media reported that China had approved the plan on June 24 and authorised emergency use of the vaccines on July 22. The NHC had argued that under the Chinese vaccine management law, emergency vaccines were allowed to be used on certain people at high risk of contracting the disease, such as medical workers, frontline pandemic control workers and customs workers. After the approval, on June 29, we made a communication with the relevant representatives of the WHO Office in China, and obtained support and understanding from WHO, Zheng said. High-risk groups also include workers at border ports, agricultural and sideline products, and frozen food markets besides the elderly, pregnant women, children, and patients with underlying diseases. Speaking at the same press conference, Wu Yuanbin, director of the Department of Science and Technology for Social Development of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said four new coronavirus vaccines had entered phase 3 clinical trials. Wu said that currently 11 new coronavirus vaccines in China had entered clinical trials. Four vaccines entered Phase 3 clinical trials, of which three are inactivated vaccines and one an adenovirus vector vaccine. The phase-3 clinical trials are being conducted in several countries in the Middle East, South America, and Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, two stevedores in east Chinas port city of Qingdao were reported as asymptomatic Covid-19 cases on Thursday. The workers aged 40 and 45 had both handled imported frozen seafood on September 19. Nucleic acid tests revealed they were positive for novel coronavirus on Thursday. So far, 132 close contacts have been tracked and put under quarantine, official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. The funeral for a 71-year-old woman fatally shot in her Birmingham neighborhood will be held today and the pastor who will be eulogizing her said he doesnt want her death to be in vain. Javanna Cotton Midge Owens was killed Sunday, Sept. 13, while walking down the street in the Harris Homes community. She was a widow, a mother, a grandmother to three and a great grandmother to eight. She also is one of four people over the age of 55 killed in Birmingham in the past two weeks, and among 11 so far this year. "Now the killing is not only people they think are involved in criminal activity, but innocent bystanders are being murdered,'' said the Rev. Paul Hollman, pastor at Mount Mariah Missionary Baptist Church where Owens was a member. In the last 2 weeks, weve seen senior citizens are being murdered. "We as a people can march if the police shoot someone, but in Birmingham so many people are being killed that its seen as commonplace,'' he said, and no one seems to be concerned. A couple of the killings of those over age 55 have been ruled justifiable, but the majority have not. In Owens' killing, Birmingham police responded at 9:05 p.m. that Sunday to 546 Brussels Circle on a report of a person shot. Owens was found unresponsive in the roadway and taken to UAB Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 9:40 p.m. Birmingham police Sgt. Rod Mauldin said Owens was walking down the street and approached the vehicle as if she knew the occupants. Thats when a single shot was fired from the vehicle and Carter was struck. The suspect vehicle then drove away. With the help of the FLOCK LPR cameras license plate readers police were able to locate the vehicle. Kartavius Vines, 37, is charged with capital murder in her death. "Every three days someone is being killed, murdered in Birmingham,'' Hollman said, noting that population is declining. I believe this is a state of emergency that were living in a city where every three days someone is not dying, someone is being murdered. Countywide, there have 129 homicides so far in 2020, including 90 in Birmingham. Of the Birmingham homicides, 14 have been ruled justifiable and one accidental and therefore arent deemed criminal. Hollman said homicides should be taken as seriously as COVID-19. "If the pandemic is an emergency, we must be in a state of emergency in Birmingham to stop this senseless killing,'' he said. Anytime a city begins to the kill the mothers and grandmothers, we must raise every type of flag we can and say this is a state of emergency. "What I see is murder apathy. No one seems to care because so many murders are happening in Birmingham,'' he said. What we need to do is not sweep under the rug. He said the community must wake up. "If that lady was killed by a police officer, it would be national news, everybody would be coming out. Now that were killing our own, Black on Black crime, aint nobody coming out,'' Hollman said. If were going to say Black lives matter, and I agree with that, but Black lives matter whether its the police doing the shooting or whether its one of us doing the shooting. We cant have it both ways. Hollman, whose church is on Georgia Road near both the Harris Homes and the Gate City public housing communities, said hed like to see the now-vacant Gate City Elementary School turned into a police substation with officers on bikes, horseback and on foot. He would also like to see that area become an opportunity zone to help provide activities for the young and the old, as well as healthcare and job training for all. "They can serve an entire population right there,'' he said. We need to protect and to provide. "Midge was very involved in her community. She liked helping people,'' he said. We need to create a place where they can have something to do not just play bingo but where they can be involved in the community. "Im not saying God has given me the answer to end all violence ,'' Hollman said, but right there in that community we can do something and make that place active and rehab it like were rehabbing other areas and turn it into a safe haven. He said those are some of the things that will be on his mind when he delivers the eulogy at todays funeral. Its a challenge, he said, trying to comfort Bekimba Carter whose mother was slain in September, whose son was slain in August and whose father was also slain two decades ago. "What do I say to a woman growing up in Birmingham where her mother, son and dad were all killed on the streets?'' Hollman said. We must turn our swords into plow shears. We must stop killing one another. And we must those things fundamentally necessary to build up our communities. "Were not going to let her death go in vain,'' he said. We have the necessary tools. We God and faith and the tools to combat this violence, but violence has to be the No. 1 thing on our agenda. Five years ago I received a telephone call from a friend. She told me that one of our mutual friends had taken his own life. No one knew why. Brian was a successful health-care professional, with a wife, a family, and an apparently very bright future. Many of us had not seen any indications that something was wrong, although those in close contact with him knew there were problems. He just got up one morning and was never seen alive again. Everyone was devastated. What do you do with such news? One of the most painful human experiences must be to say goodbye to a loved one in the morning and then never see that person alive again. I was asked to do the sermon at the celebration of Brians life. I preached on the psalms of lament and the unending, unfailing love of God. I tried to help people see that the joy that God promises includes suffering and that the psalms of lament offer faithful language to express our hurt, brokenness, anger, and disappointment at what my friend had done and what God had seemingly not done: save him. Two Affirmations Brian was a Christian; he was a lover of Jesus, as were his family and many of his friends. And yet, despite the profound consolation of the gospel, for some, the first response to his death by suicide was not comfort but fear. In spite of the apostle Pauls firm assurance that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:3839), they were afraid for Brians eternal future. I guess that is the problem with hypercognitive theologies that assume that our eternal futures lie in our own hands rather than in the loving hands of God. If it is the case that neither death nor life can separate us from Gods love, then we need not fear death, even death by suicide. We simply need to trust in Gods grace. There is a difficult tension between recognizing that God does not abandon those who end their own lives and the imperative that such actions are not Gods desire for human beings. As Duke Divinity School theologian Warren Kinghorn once reminded me, two affirmations are indispensable for a Christian approach to suicide: Suicide is a tragedy and a loss, and never to be encouraged or seen by Christians as a positive good. Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. If we Christians say either of these things without the other, we fall into error. My sermon at Brians funeral tried to capture the complex dynamics of these two statements. The lament psalms articulate the reality of tragedy and loss alongside the reality of Gods unending love. Such an approach does not take away our pain, but it does provide us with a certain kind of consoling hope. I think people were helped by that sermon. But then something changed. The autopsy results came back, and it turned out that Brian had had a problem with his pituitary gland that may have contributed to his depression and ultimate demise. Some people seemed strangely relieved when they heard this. Ah! It wasnt really his mind. It was his body that had gone wrong. Now, that may have been the case, but there are two things to consider as we reflect on this reaction. First, the spiritual dualism is quite startling. If his death has something to do with Brians mind, then it is a spiritual problem, but if it has to do with his body, it is a medical issue. Second, and connected to the first point, it is interesting how medicine became, for some, a therapeutic theodicy, a way of explaining the presence of perceived evil and suffering. If the problem lies within the human psyche, and if the human psyche is the place where we determine our salvation, then Brian has a real problem. But if the issue is biological, then medicine can explain it without the need for awkward questions around the nature of God and the meaning of human suffering. Article continues below One of the problems for modern Western people is the tendency to equate the soul with the mind. Culturally we place inordinate social value on intellect, reason, quickness of thought, and academic ability. Certain strands of theological thinking can be sucked into this hypercognitive trap when defining emphasis is placed on intellect and verbal ability, with the verbal proclamation of the name of Jesus assumed as a central and vital aspect of our salvation. When we think like this, any damage to the mind implicitly or explicitly morphs into damage to the soul. This can make it particularly difficult for Christians to live well with mental health challenges, brain damage, or something like dementia. The implication that the real problem is soul damage prowls around like a roaring lion. The palpable sense of relief that some of my well-meaning Christian friends expressed as they encountered a medical theodicy is but one instance of a cultural phenomenon that is, to say the least, troublesome. A Liberating Language Fast-forward five years to a few months ago. I had just flown from Aberdeen to London and was walking toward the airport exit when a man I had never met before stopped me. Youre John Swinton? he said. Now, I can never be certain whether to own up to a question like that! But on this occasion I did. He said, You spoke at Brians funeral five years ago. I just want to thank you. I had never thought of suffering and joy in that way, and I had certainly never thought that it was OK to be angry with God and to speak out that anger and frustration through the psalms. I just wanted to say thank you. With that he walked on. I left the airport and got on a train to central London. As I thought about that brief encounter, I began to realize that the problem that many people encountered when Brian took his life was that they were speechless. His friends had no effective language to articulate the pain, lostness, and indeed anger that they felt toward the situation and in many ways toward God. They had become monolingual in their faith lives, sure and confident in the language of happiness and hope, but completely lost when it came to the language of suffering, brokenness, disappointment, and in particular, a biblical understanding of joy. They had heard Jesus say: Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy (John 16:20), but they had not experienced the illumination of his words. This lack of language led them to turn to medicine and biology for intellectual and spiritual relief. They turned to them as theodicies not just because they alleviated fears about Brians eternal destiny but because they spoke in a language with which they were familiar. Medicine and biology represented a safe place. Within their theological tradition, they couldnt find the right kind of language to articulate their feelings and fears. The language of medicine and biology filled the gap. What the stranger in the airport taught me was that the words of my sermon had given him a language to express his sadness, his pain, and his anger, and that this language came from within his faith tradition in a way that he had not noticed previously. My articulation of the power of the psalms had moved him from silence into speech. I had helped him to reframe both lament and joy. By understanding the nature and purpose of joy, we can understand depression in a different way, and that will give us a way to talk about depression (and to remain silent) that is both liberating and, I hope, healing. Understanding depression through the lens of Christian joy can help us understand depression more thickly and respond more faithfully. John Swinton is professor of practical theology and pastoral care at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and the founding director of the Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability. He is the author of Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges (Eerdmans), from which this essay is adapted. [ This article is also available in Portugues, , Indonesian, and . ] Ukraine and China will strengthen trade and economic cooperation, including cooperation in industry and agriculture, the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine has reported. According to the report, this issue was discussed at a meeting between Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine Ihor Petrashko and China's Ambassador to Ukraine Fan Xianrong on September 24. Both parties discussed potential cooperation and new projects in the fields of infrastructure, industry and agriculture. As for the agricultural sector, they discussed the issue of expanding the range of agricultural products in the markets of the two countries and increasing bilateral trade. The Ukrainian side expressed its readiness to hold the fourth meeting of the Ukrainian-Chinese intergovernmental commission on cooperation virtually and awaits proposals on the date for the meeting from the Chinese side. "Trade with China is a strategically important area for Ukraine. China is the No. 1 country in terms of trade among Ukraine's partners in the world (provided that we consider trade with the EU as with separate countries). The potential for cooperation is huge, so we strongly support the deepening of our trade and economic cooperation," Petrashko said. According to him, Ukraine's geographical location is an important factor in finding opportunities in the Ukraine-China-EU triangle. The free trade agreement with the EU and the beginning of trade liberalization with China may provide significant benefits in the future in the implementation of joint strategic projects. Ukraine's trade turnover with China in 2019 amounted to $12.8 billion. In the first half of 2020, it reached $6.6 billion. Ukraine exported $3.4 billion worth of goods to China in 2019 and $3 billion worth of goods in the first half of 2020. op If Umar, Safoora and Sharjeel become political leaders in the future, who gains the most? It is impossible for millions of law-abiding, nation-loving Indians to mentally rend asunder the image of this young man from the slogans of "Bharat tere tukde hongey/inshallah, inshallah" or "Bharat tere barbaadi tak/jung chalegi, jung chalegi" reverberating on the JNU campus on the night of 9 February, 2016. Or of him organising a tribute to Afzal Guru, who was hanged for his role in the 2001 Parliament attack. As for this young woman, she was at the forefront of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests which immediately led to the Delhi riots. The police charge sheet also accuses her of incitement and conspiracy in the riots. Another man stood on stage calmly talking about mobilising millions of Muslims at Bengals sensitive Chickens Neck stretch to cut the North East off from the rest of India. Umar Khalid, Safoora Zargar and Sharjeel Imam have all been arrested. The two men are in jail, while the woman is out on bail. They have grave charges against them which could keep them in prison for long enough to leave a permanent mark, but not ones that would keep them inside forever. At some point, they will step out free. They will emerge much bigger in status than they are now. They are already heroes for the many adversaries of Hindutva, and time in jail usually amplifies that. It cannot be that the drivers of the Hindutva engine have not foreseen or calculated this. They know with their lives how victimhood makes leaders larger than they would otherwise be. It is improbable that they acted rashly, out of vengeance or spite, to throw them in jail. This regime usually does not allow emotions to disrupt a larger design. It is foolish to believe that the police that report to it work in ideal conditions and in a political vacuum. That begs the question: If Umar, Safoora and Sharjeel become political leaders in the future, who gains the most? Umar can window-dress his speeches with Mahatma Gandhi references as much as he wishes, it cannot hide the innermost chambers of his radical Muslim identity politics. Muslim campus leaders like Umar, Sharjeel and Shehla Rashid have projected themselves as communists to acquire the academic veneer of progressiveness, though their un-Left, Islamist side keeps peeping out. Shehla eventually dropped all pretence of secularism and went into a Twitter meltdown blaming liberals for not allowing Muslims to lead the anti-CAA protests. So, we are looking at the possibility of three leaders in Indian electoral politics in their 40s, heroes to some, but Islamists riding the far-Left, anti-Hindutva bandwagon to vast swathes of Indians. They will polarise far more than mainstream Muslim leaders do, pushing the floating vote of many centrist Hindu fence-sitters into the BJPs lap. They can never be a Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Farooq Abdullah or Mohammad Salim. They are more likely to be Asaduddin Owaisi 2.0, minus his intellect and a certain nationalism rooted in his Muslim identity politics. The likes of Umar, Safoora and Sharjeel will forever be the extremist fringe, galvanising Hindu votes. Besides, they will cut into Muslim and far-Left votes of the Congress and other regional parties, further weakening the already crumbling mainstream Opposition to the BJP. Lastly, their very serious police records can always be used as an invisible leash by those in power. Their movements nationally and globally will be restricted and monitored by agencies. One of the most chilling prospects in politics is to be groomed as your opponents delight. Zara McDermott spoke to the Loose Women panel about her heartbreaking experiences with revenge porn and her 'damaging' stint on Love Island. The reality star, 24, who now stars on Made In Chelsea, detailed how she was victim to the crime twice and is now working with Refuge charity to try and overhaul and strengthen laws surrounding the heartbreaking crime. The day before her Loose Women appearance, Zara, who is making a documentary on revenge porn, joined charity officials from Refuge in Parliament Square to lobby for changes in rules about revenge porn. Pained: Zara McDermott spoke to the Loose Women panel about her heartbreaking experiences with revenge porn and her 'damaging' stint on Love Island Refuge is calling for anyone who threatens to share intimate photographs of another person without their consent to face prosecution. A law against disclosing intimate photos came into force in 2015 but the charity wants to see this strengthened. Speaking on Loose Women about her own experience, she said: 'Ive been a victim of revenge porn, or what is called Image Based Sexual Abuse, twice in my life... 'Notably, when I came out of Love Island, and came out to images of me, what felt like, circulating around the whole world. It was one of the hardest things I went through in my whole life.' On how to help girls going through the same thing, she went on: 'I think that telling someone to never sending an image of themselves or a video or do anything in a relationship in a digital way... Shock: Zara admitted she would not to Love Island if the opportunity arose Campaign: The reality star, 24, who now stars on Made In Chelsea, detailed how she was victim to the crime twice and is now working with Refuge charity to try and overhaul and strengthen laws surrounding the heartbreaking crime 'Its quite naive to ask someone to do because we live in a hugely digital age right now, it's only going to get more prolific in society... 'So I think that trying to do it safely is a really interesting concept to think about and something I thought about a lot, how can you educate people safely?... 'And also and educating people who would share the images about the implications of their actions and them knowing it's illegal and is an offence, I think could change a lot. When asked if she would do Love Island again, she stated: 'I wouldnt do it again personally, just because of my experience and how it has damaged me. Theres probably millions of other people who would'. Opening up: 'Its quite naive to ask someone to do because we live in a hugely digital age right now, it's only going to get more prolific in society' On Thursday, Zara joined Refuge ambassador and domestic abuse survivor Natasha Saunders and Refuge policy manager Cordelia Tucker O'Sullivan outside Parliament. She is joining charity officials in calling for an amendment to the Domestic Abuse Bill when it returns to the House of Lords in the coming days. According to Refuge data, one in seven young women have been threatened this way despite the law against revenge porn - often by current or former partners. The charity says victims face barriers to justice because the act of making these threats is not yet a criminal offence. Pained: Refuge is calling for anyone who threatens to share intimate photographs of another person without their consent to face prosecution Speaking about the project on Instagram, she said: 'I'm going to speak to you guys about a very serious topic, something that's really, really close to me and something I've been a victim of myself and that is revenge porn, or as other people like to call it image based sexual abuse... 'Some of the messages I've had have shocked me to the core. I can't even begin to tell you what women are going through now.' In March, it was revealed that Zara give an 'emotional and raw' account of her experience of revenge porn in a BBC documentary. She revealed she will open up about the traumatic time in an upcoming show for BBC Three - recounting the time she left Love Island in 2018 and learnt that an ex had leaked naked images of her online. Open and honest: Speaking about the project on Instagram, she said: 'I'm going to speak to you guys about a very serious topic, something that's really, really close to me' Painful: In March, it was revealed that Zara give an 'emotional and raw' account of her experience of revenge porn in a BBC documentary Zara wrote on Instagram: 'ANNOUNCEMENT. Hi Everyone. Some of you may be aware that I have been a victim of Image Based Sexual Abuse, which is also known as Revenge Porn... 'For those of you who don't know what this is, it's basically when one person shares intimate images of videos of another person without their consent... 'I am really humbled and honoured to announce that the BBC and I are currently making a documentary to share my story. 'My main aim is to bring awareness to this issue, and be a voice for those who have suffered in silence and to help make a change. I am sharing my story and being my most vulnerable, emotional and raw [sic].' Open and honest: According to Zara, she now feels 'confident enough to properly speak out' about her personal experiences of revenge porn According to Zara, she now feels 'confident enough to properly speak out' about her personal experiences of revenge porn. She wrote: 'This has affected my life and me as a person tremendously, and for the first time I'm confident enough to properly speak out and share my story. 'I am nervous to share these intimate details with the world but I hope that it will only make positive change and lessen the blame on us victims. The documentary will be out in a few months time on BBC Three. Thank you so much.' Personal pain: According to Zara, she now feels 'confident enough to properly speak out' about her personal experiences of revenge porn Of the upcoming show, Fiona Campbell, the Controller at BBC Three, said: 'We're grateful to Zara for sharing her story with us and hope it will make a difference to young lives around the UK.' This follows last year's acclaimed documentary from the channel, Odd One Out featuring Jesy Nelson, 28, which broke BBC Three records. The programme, which emotionally explores the Little Mix star's horrific trolling ordeal and suicide attempt, also became the top show on BBC iPlayer after its release with 1.87 million requests within seven days - 64% being 16-34-year-olds. Odd One Out also aired on BBC One at 9pm on Thursday 12 September with a whopping consolidated 3.3 million viewers and a 55% growth in show watchers compared to initial overnight ratings. The stimulus stalemate has pitted Democrats and Republicans against each other on Capitol Hill. But another issue Social Security and its ability to pay retirement, disability, survivor and other benefits into the future has also created a rift between leaders of the two parties. Congressional lawmakers gathered on Thursday in a House Ways and Means Committee meeting titled "Save Our Social Security Now." There, Democrats and Republicans clashed over whether Trump's move indicates a broader plan to permanently eliminate the payroll taxes that fund the program. More from Personal Finance: What Trump's payroll tax plan may mean for Social Security's future What a Biden win could mean for your Social Security benefits Claiming Social Security retirement benefits? Don't let these myths trip you up Trump put a temporary payroll tax holiday in place through an executive order he signed in August. It allows employers to defer workers' portion of the Social Security payroll tax 6.2% on wages up to $137,700 to be temporarily suspended from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31. This only applies to workers who make less than $4,000 bi-weekly. Those taxes would have to be repaid starting in January, though Trump has signaled he wants to permanently forgive those payments if he is re-elected. Based on what the president has said, some worry he wants to do away with payroll taxes altogether.In a clip played during the hearing from a White House press conference on Aug. 10, Trump called the tax holiday a "tremendous saving for people." "After the election, on the assumption it will be victorious for an administration that's done a great job, we will be ending that tax," Trump said. "We will be terminating that tax. "On the other hand, the other group wants to raise taxes, and they want to leave it where you pay it." Patients admitted at a Covid centre in Kalyan were shocked to find worms in their dinner on Wednesday night. After the matter came to light, the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) authorities have given a notice to the food supply contractor seeking an explanation. Insects were found at the Covid centre set-up at a high-rise in Kalyan. Kamlakar Indulkar, a Kalyan resident and Shakha Pramukh of Shiv Sena was admitted at the centre on September 21 after testing positive for Covid-19. I was not feeling well for three-four days, so I carried out the test at Rukmani Bai Hospital in Kalyan and was tested positive. The authorities themselves suggested to get admitted in the Covid centre, Indulkar said. On Wednesday night after we received dinner, I was shocked to see worms in it. I thought it was only on my plate. But later everyone from more than 20 wards started complaining about the same. We approach the management and complained about the contractor, added Indulkar. Sanjay Jadhav, secretary, KDMC, said, We had given notice to the contractor and asked him for an explanation for the bad food quality. We will take action. The dinner was distributed to around 40 patients on a single floor on Wednesday night. As soon as the insects were found, it was returned. Within an hour we re-arranged dinner for the patients. The hospital has around 700 patients and we see that proper food reaches them on time. Voting in 2020 will look like no other election in recent memory. Heres a preview of what will be different, what will largely be the same, and what to expect in the weeks leading up to and following the election. What can I expect if I vote on Election Day? Heavy turnout is predicted this year. Expect long lines at some polling locations, particularly in cities. Even though election officials are encouraging voters to cast their ballots at early-voting sites or by mail, some people prefer the tradition of exercising their right to vote on Election Day. Others fear their votes will not be counted if they vote by mail. And still others will inevitably put off voting until the last minute. If you live in a presidential swing state, theres a good chance you may see extra poll watchers sent by each party to monitor voting. Also, if you havent voted since the coronavirus pandemic started, youll probably notice new safety precautions requirements that voters line up six feet apart, extra space between voting machines, plastic shields protecting poll workers and lots of hand sanitizer. At some locations, youll receive your own pen so germs cant be spread from one voter to another. What are officials doing to reduce lines at polling places? It is a monumental effort. The vast expansion of voting by mail across the country is primarily meant to allow people to vote safely from their homes, but it could also help alleviate crowding at some polling locations. Soldiers escort coffins containing the remains of Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War during a burial ceremony in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, April 4, 2019. Remains of 10 Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War were reburied Thursday in China after they were returned from the Republic of Korea (ROK). (Xinhua/Yang Qing) By Mei Shixiong BEIJING, Sept. 25 -- South Korea will transfer another batch of Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) martyrs remains and related items to the Chinese side on September 27. The two sides will jointly host an encoffining ceremony in South Korea on September 26. Following the humanitarian principles and in the spirit of friendly consultations and pragmatic cooperation, South Korea has successfully handed over the remains of 599 CPV martyrs buried in South Korea for six consecutive years from 2014 to 2019. This year marks the seventh handover in accordance with the consensus reached by China and South Korea. The South Korean side will continue to transfer the newly-excavated CPV martyrs remains and related items to the Chinese side in the future. Relevant departments of China and South Korea will further strengthen cooperation in the areas related to martyrs remains. (TNS) As college students return to school amid the coronavirus, a San Diego startup is helping them stay safe through technology that monitors crowds in real time in libraries, gyms and other high-traffic locations around campus.Occuspace, founded by UC San Diego graduate Nic Halverson, uses a sensor that plugs into an electrical wall socket to pinpoint Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals from mobile devices, such as laptops and smartphones within a range of about 4,000 square feet.An algorithm then predicts occupancy at up to 95 percent accuracy. Privacy protections have been built in to make the data anonymous. Occuspace claims it does not gather or store any information that would reveal a person's identity.Through a mobile app, students see how many people are at popular gathering places, thus avoiding crowds and the hassle of being turned away when buildings reach density limits under physical distancing guidelines.The startup's technology has been deployed mostly in libraries at about a dozen universities so far, including UC San Diego, Baylor University, UC Santa Barbara and the Oklahoma University.Since mid-April, customers and sales have surged nearly five-fold, said Halverson."We have more in-bound interest than we've ever had," he said. "We raised a bit more money, doubled team size from four to eight people and are still growing faster than we can handle, which is fun."Based on current expectations, Halverson is hoping to be in over 30 schools by January. He expects growth to continue as more institutions bring back students.Occuspace is among several technology tools being rolled out at universities to help students maintain physical distancing. They include a pilot program at UC San Diego and UC San Francisco that uses Bluetooth on cell phones to find people who have come in contact with the coronavirus.Some college campuses have emerged as hotbeds for new COVID-19 cases this fall. San Diego State University continues to see an upsurge, which forced the university to pause in-person classes. There have been 933 confirmed and probable cases involving university students since the pandemic began, of which 353 have been connected to students living on campus.Occuspace was slated to come to SDSU's library, said Halverson, but the installation was paused because the building remains closed.The University of Rochester in New York plugged in Occuspace at one of its libraries in August ahead of students returning for the fall semester. Students can check for crowds using Occuspace's free Waitz app, or through the University of Rochester's mobile app."This is part of our approach to helping folks to make responsible choices and empowering them to be safe and conscientious," said Lauren Di Monte, assistant dean for digital and research strategies.Di Monte said Occuspace was easy to install and allows the university to identify spaces where staff might need to perform walk-throughs to ensure physical distancing. Since crowds were a sore spot at the library even before COVID, Di Monte expects Occuspace to continue to be offered post pandemic.Founded in 2017, Occuspace was born from Halverson's struggles at finding study space at UCSD's Geisel Library. The startup has raised $600,000 to date and is in the process of seeking additional investor funding.In the wake of COVID 19, interest in Occuspace has expanded beyond universities, said Halverson. It is working with ski resorts to deliver lift line wait times, and it has been approached by national fitness clubs, as well as apartment landlords with on-site gyms.Halverson believes gyms are a natural extension of the technology, which he would like to see eventually integrated into services such as Apple Maps, Google Maps and Yelp."The visitor experience to a place is a lot worse when it's really crowded or you have to wait a long time," he said. "And COVID helped a lot of people start to see more value in telling people how busy a space is before they come. So we've started to break out of universities and get into new verticals as well." - Focus on effect of SVec on downregulation of pathological immune responses underlying the destruction of own cells in DM1 and in MS patients - Investment of 0.6 million (US$0.7 million) in animal proof-of-principle studies LEIDEN, The Netherlands and SEVILLE, Spain, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Amarna Therapeutics, a Dutch privately held biotechnology company developing the next-generation SV40-based gene delivery vector platform transforming gene-replacement and immunotherapy across many disease areas. The company today announced it has entered into a collaboration with scientists from the Progreso y Salud Foundation (FPS) at Cabimer in Seville, to jointly examine the efficacy of Amarna's SVecTM gene delivery vector to develop effective immunotherapies for diabetes mellitus type 1 (DM1) and multiple sclerosis (MS). The collaboration is a joint effort between the research group of the FPS at research institute Cabimer, led by Dr. Benoit Gauthier, and Amarna Therapeutics, represented by Dr. Peter de Haan (CSO) and Miguel Garcia Toscano (Head of Laboratory in Spain). To date, the symptoms of DM1 and MS can be managed, but patients cannot be cured from both autoimmune diseases. The aim of this joint effort is to study the efficacy of Amarna's SV40-based gene delivery vector platform, denoted SVecTM, for downregulation of pathological immune responses that underlie the destruction of own cells in DM1 and in MS patients. The research will focus on the induction of SVecTM-mediated immune tolerance to the primary self-antigens of both diseases. The studies will use advanced animal models of both autoimmune diseases, that have been established by the collaboration partners. Amarna will invest some 0.6 million over the next two years in the Gauthier research group to conduct the animal proof-of-principle studies for these two indications, for which at present there are no cures available. Benoit Gauthier, Staff Scientist at Junta de Andalucia-Consejeria de Salud y Familias, comments: "We are thrilled to start this new venture with Amarna Therapeutics, a world leader in viral gene therapy and we anticipate the studies to generate exciting results." Peter de Haan, Amarna Therapeutic's Chief Scientific Officer, adds: "We are delighted entering this collaboration with such a renowned academic partner like FPS and we look very much forward to initiate the planned studies. Since the quality of life for patients with DM1 and MS is so severely impaired given the lack of cures for these invalidating diseases, the more efficiently we can develop our groundbreaking SV40-based gene delivery vector based therapies, the sooner patients will experience the positive impact of our solution on their lives." About FPS For more than ten years, Benoit Gauthier's research group has focused on the field of diabetes and recently other autoimmune diseases. Its basic quality research has generated important new knowledge which enable the development of new therapies for this disease cluster. An important finding of the group was the mandatory association of immune responses to pancreatic beta cells with their capacity to regenerate in patients with type 1 diabetes. In addition, the discovery of the PAX8 gene, and the relationship between type 2 diabetes (T2D) and increased risk of pancreatic cancer, led to international recognition and generated numerous publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The group is funded by different national and international public and private institutions, as well as from diabetes patient associations and supported by the Andalusian Government. Amarna Therapeutics Amarna Therapeutics is a privately held Biotech company founded in 2008. Its head office is located in Leiden (The Netherlands), and it also holds a research facility in Seville (Spain). The company has developed a proprietary production and gene therapy delivery platform in its SuperVeroTM cell line and SVecTM vector for the development of safe and efficient therapies. The company's pipeline targets several major indications as well as orphan diseases within the field of degenerative, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The company plans to take the first candidate from its pipeline into clinical development in 2021. In October 2019, Amarna secured 10 million in new equity, with the aim of bringing the first product into clinical studies. The financing round was led by the Swedish Flerie Invest AB, together with existing shareholders and an innovation credit from the "Netherlands Enterprise Agency" (RVO.nl). Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1248229/Amarna_Therapeutics_Logo.jpg Rapper Tory Lanez has denied allegations that he shot Megan Thee Stallion. (Anna Webber / Getty Images for Spotify) After months of silence, Tory Lanez has denied allegations that he shot fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion in an incident in the Hollywood Hills. The Canadian artist took several harsh digs at the "WAP" hitmaker in the lyrics of his latest album, which dropped Thursday night. Megan Thee Stallion underwent surgery for a gunshot wound in July, according to medical records, and has spoken at length about the incident on social media. Hours after Lanez's new album, "Daystar," was released, Megan Thee Stallion's attorney, Alex Spiro, issued a statement to the Los Angeles Times warning of a "smear campaign" allegedly waged against his client. "We have been made aware of manipulated text messages and invented email accounts that have been disseminated to the media in a calculated attempt to peddle a false narrative about the events that occurred on July the 12th," Spiro wrote on Friday. "A smear campaign can't change the truth." Megan Thee Stallion officially named Lanez as her attacker last month while accusing him and his team of "lying" about the incident. The L.A. County district attorneys office is reviewing a potential charge of felony assault with a firearm in connection with the case, which is still under investigation. In "Daystar," Lanez addresses Megan Thee Stallion's allegations with the lyrics, "I ain't do it" and "How the f you get shot in your foot, don't hit no bones or tendons?" He also accuses Megan Thee Stallion's "people" of "trying to frame me for a shooting." In a July Instagram video, Megan Thee Stallion credited the spirits of her late father, mother and grandmother with protecting her from more serious injury involving bones or tendons. Medical records have confirmed that shrapnel was removed from her left heel hours after she was shot. It was super scary, she said at the time. It was like, just the worst experience of my life. And its not funny. Its nothing to joke about. ... I didnt put my hands on nobody. I didnt deserve to get shot. Story continues In August, the "Savage" rapper revealed more details about the incident, alleging that Lanez shot at her as she was walking away from an argument. She added that she chose not to immediately report her allegations to the LAPD on the scene who responded to a report of a shooting out of fear that the police might attack her. The Times later confirmed that Lanez apologized to Megan Thee Stallion over text after the incident, claiming that he "got too drunk" after a night of partying. "I know u prolly never gone talk to me again, but I genuinely want u to know Im sorry from the bottom of my heart, Lanez wrote to the VMA winner. "[It] should have never happened and I cant change what did. I just feel horrible. Lanez was arrested that morning on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon but has not been charged in the shooting. In a statement provided to The Times earlier this month, Spiro confirmed that Megan Thee Stallion's legal team had "turned over our investigation and files to the LA District Attorney's office and ... remain concerned that, given the irrefutable evidence, they have yet to take action." Shortly after she initially described the injury to officials as a glass cut, Megan Thee Stallion first addressed the incident publicly on Instagram, clarifying that she actually "suffered gunshot wounds, as a result of a crime that was committed against me and done with the intention to physically harm me." In a since-deleted Instagram post, the "Hot Girl Summer" mastermind later shared that she was "healing so well," along with a close-up photo of her injured foot. Why would I lie abt getting shot? Why are yall so upset that I dont wanna be in the bed sad? Why yall upset that I can walk? she wrote in the post. "I usually dont address internet b but yall people are so sick! ... Sorry Im not as sad and miserable as a lot of yall lol but ima keep being Megan Thee ... STALLION. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan told the United Nations General Assembly on September 25 that Indias Hindu nationalist government is a state sponsor of hatred and prejudice against Muslims. Speaking in a prerecorded speech to the UN gathering, which is being held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, Khan told world leaders that Islamophobia rules India and threatens nearly 200 million Muslims who live there. They believe that India is exclusive to Hindus and others are not equal citizens, Khan said. The Pakistani leader also criticized the Indian governments attempts to consolidate its control over the Muslim-majority Kashmir region. Khan has frequently criticized the August 2019 decision by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis government to strip Jammu and Kashmirs statehood, scrap its separate constitution, and remove inherited protections on land and jobs. Indias action and a security clampdown that followed has sparked protests. UN-appointed independent experts have called on India to take urgent action. Residents of the heavily militarized Indian-controlled region of Kashmir say security forces have arrested thousands of young men. They claim that security forces have raided people's homes, inflicted residents with beatings and electric shocks, and threatened to take away and marry their female relatives. Based on reporting by AP and Reuters The driver of the speeding cluster bus that crushed three people to death and injured three others in north-east Delhis Nand Nagri late Thursday night, told police that the brakes of the vehicle had failed. Senior police officers said they are getting a mechanical inspection of the bus done, which will ascertain the drivers claim. The accident took place around 9.30pm, police said. Three persons -- 12-year-old boy Karan from Mandoli, 22-year-old Ravinder Pal from Ghaziabad, and 40-year-old Amar Singh, a daily wager -- were killed by the speeding bus plying on Route Number 261 (between Sarai Kale Khan and Nand Nagri). Three injured persons, including a woman and 16-year-old boy, are still undergoing treatment at a hospital in north-east Delhi, the police said. Police said an irate crowd later vandalised the cluster bus and shouted slogans against Delhi Police. They blocked the road and even chased away a police van for arriving late at the spot. They also stopped an ambulance from taking the injured persons to a hospital. A video made on phone by an onlooker showed an irate crowd pulling off the ambulance the stretcher carrying an injured boy. In the video, a few people can be heard shouting slogans against the police and were seen blocking the road. The errant driver, Pushpender Singh, who had fled the spot on seeing the angry crowd, was arrested in the early hours of Friday, police said. He was booked for rash and negligent driving and for causing death due to negligence. Deputy commissioner of police (north-east) Ved Prakash Surya said Singh told the police that the brakes of the bus had failed while it was descending the ITI flyover with nearly 15 passengers on board and that led to the mishap. The driver has said after the brakes failed, he first tried to stop the bus by driving it on to a concrete road divider. But the bus did not stop even after ramming the divider -- it went on to hit a mini truck. The driver then lost control of the vehicle and it crashed into a vendors cart and ran over a few pedestrians, the DCP said. Surya said the police are verifying the drivers claims about the sequence of events. A mechanical inspection of the bus will be done to verify of the brakes had failed, he said. Cluster buses are managed by private concessionaires and regulated by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System ( DIMTS).When asked about the brake failure of the bus, as alleged by the driver, DIMTS did not respond. Spokespersons of the Delhi government also did not offer comment on the matter on behalf of the transport department. Witnesses told the police that after hitting the mini truck, the bus rammed a vendors cart and hit a few more people before coming to a halt. Around six to seven were injured in the accident, of whom a man and a boy died on the spot while the third man died during treatment at Swami Dayanand Hospital. The incident also sparked a law and order situation as a mob of over 100 people vandalised the cluster bus and pelted stones on it. The mob also vented their anger on the personnel of a police patrolling van that had reached the spot. They chased the van away and blocked the main road,before staging a protest and shouting slogans against the police. DCP Surya said nearly 60 police personnel from three police stations and the reserve battalion were rushed to the spot to contain the situation and avoid further violence. The agitators dispersed when they were assured of swift police action. Some minutes later, some women also arrived there to stage a protest and block the road. But we intervened and cleared the spot. The situation was brought under control within half an hour and no untoward incident has been reported since then, he said. 25.09.2020 LISTEN The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service is expected to release the outcome of investigations into alleged violence that occurred during the voter registration exercise across the country. This follows months of investigations by a taskforce constituted by the Inspector General of Police, James Oppong Boanuh. His action follows allegations and reported cases of violence and voter intimidation at registration centres across the country. The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had accused government and security agencies of scheming to disenfranchise the party's supporters. But speaking to the media on the sidelines of a virtual prosecution workshop for police prosecutors, the Director-General of Legal and Prosecution of the Police, COP Nathan Kofi Boakye said a comprehensive report will be ready soon. The whole thing is with the CID now. The IGP set up a small task force to look at all the various offences that came up during the registration process. I think that in due course, the CID will let you know where they have reached with their investigations and prosecutions. Investigations take time and most often than not, it is not a one-sided thing. It needs the corporation of the electoral officers, it needs the cooperation of the polling agents and everybody. ----citinewsroom Amid our local and national reckoning on race, this annexation's fallout remains a defining aspect of our region. You can't truly understand modern-day Richmond without knowledge of these events five decades ago. Moeser is a professor emeritus of urban studies and planning at VCU and a former senior fellow at the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement at UR. Dennis, a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at George Mason University, was the first coordinator of African American Studies at VCU. I interviewed both men via Zoom on Wednesday. There were two parts to the annexation story. There was the oligarchy ... who comprised much of the politics of Richmond but also much of the economics of Richmond," Dennis said. "The other part of the story is the emergence of the Crusade for Voters and the very active role that the Crusade played in challenging the white Oligarchy." Activist Curtis Holt, a tenant association leader in Creighton Court, filed a lawsuit challenging the annexation. City elections were suspended for seven years and the case landed in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ordered the creation of Richmond's nine voting districts to replace what had been at-large City Council elections. Schoolchildren have been left riddled with anxiety and stress at the thought of taking exams after missing crucial time at school, the head teacher of a Yorkshire school has said. Pepe Di'Iasio has seen a greater number of pupils coming forward with feelings of uncertainty and nervousness to teachers at Wales High School in south Yorkshire. The 51-year-old also praised the government for putting education high on the agenda, but warned that not enough was being done to support students who have fallen behind. He said: 'We've got an increased number of students who are coming forward to our pastoral team to share that they have increased anxieties and stresses around the uncertanties of the next year.' Head teacher Pepe Di'Iasio has seen a greater number of pupils with anxiety and stress at Wales High School in south Yorkshire Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced an aid package for school children earlier this year that is set to provide 1billion funding to schools across the UK. The funding will be channeled into private tutoring firms which will work with schools to give extra classes to pupils who have fallen behind with their studies. It comes after research asserted that one to one interventions is the best way to close the attainment gap in struggling students. Although there is particular concern for those who have crucial exams coming up later this year, Mr Di'Iasio says all pupils are experiencing difficulty. 'All children who have been off school, are struggling to come back to what is a new normal and have to readjust, refocus and recalibrate to make sure they're ready for the months ahead. 'That's particularly hard for the year 13 students who have lost a quarter of the time for their A levels and for those year 10 pupils returning into their year 11 who will be sitting GCSEs at some point later this year. 'The students who have been off for the last six months and have A levels ahead of them are already feeling anxious and concerned about how they are going to make up for lost time. 'And this is despite all our best efforts as teachers to reassure students and to support them. ' Mr Di'Iasio also poinited out that 'Boris' billion' equates to approximately 80 per pupil, which he says does not go far enough. Pupils returned to Wales High School in Yorkshire four weeks ago, after many struggled with their studies while having to work remotely during the coronavirus pandemic, leading to greater levels of stress and anxiety, the head said 'For years finances have been tight in schools,' he said. 'It's been great that the government has accepted that more recently and we're really pleased to have the additional funding that has been allocated to schools this year. 'But these are completely new and unprecedented times, and if we're putting schools at the top of the agenda, we need to make sure we have the resources with which to engage them and make up the ground that we really need to do over the next couple of months.' 'I would always say the government needs to do more,' he added. 'I truly believe all pupils need extra support, but they all need different things. 'Knowing your pupils and being able to support them in different ways is absolutely critical.' Mr Di'Iasio said that pupils are raring to get back to school and return to learning after the coronavirus lockdown forced them to do their schooling from home. The school are putting on extra classes using government funding from a 1billion stimulous package, but the head teacher says the government can always do more to support all struggling students, not just those preparing for A levels and GCSEs this year The school has identified key areas of study to focus on with the students, with many teachers attempting to naivgate the tougher parts of the curriculum while they have the chance. Fears of a second lockdown or 'circuit break' mean pupils attendance or ability to attend school over the course of the next term is not guaranteed, Mr Di'Iasio reports. The school are laying on additional classes after the school day ends and have drawn up a plan on how to use school breaks such as half term and the Christmas holidays to get pupils up to speed. 'We're going to do everything we can to put them in a stronger position so this wont affect their grades,' he said. 'But it doesn't stop our students feeling that they are swimming against the tide. 'A levels are hard at the very best of times and this year is going to be even harder.' The Bombay high court on Friday asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) if it always acts with the same swiftness to demolish other unauthorised structures as it did with actor Kangana Ranauts bungalow. The high court has asked the civic body to explain why it did not proceed against Ranaut under provisions of the law that would have required the corporation to give the actor sufficient time to respond to the charges. The bench also remarked that Pradeep Thorats client (Shiv Senas Sanjay Raut) had indeed done what he said, a reference to the title of an article in Sena mouthpiece Saamana Ukhad diya (uprooted) that was seen to link the BMC action to the Sena leader. The article was published after parts of the actors Pali Hill bungalow were demolished on September 9. The bench has asked the BMC to explain why it had carried out the demolition in the ground floor when there was no ongoing work and asked for details of the workmen alleged to be carrying out the alterations when the premise was inspected. The courts observations and directions came after Kangana Ranauts lawyer told the high court that the BMC had invoked section 354 (A) of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act to initiate action against the actors building which pertains to ongoing work at a construction site. Senior counsel Birendra Saraf, who represented the actor in the proceedings, told the two-judge bench that there was no ongoing work at the premises when the BMC staffers claimed to have detected the unauthorised construction on September 5 and September 7. The court has asked the BMC to produce the phone of the mukadam who detected the unauthorised construction in Kangana Ranauts bungalow on September 5 to verify if the photographs of the alleged ongoing unauthorised alterations and additions were taken on that day. The report of the unauthorised construction is reported to have provoked the BMC teams inspection of the building on September 7. Birender Saraf contended that the real reason for the demolition wasnt the discovery of the unauthorised construction but Kangana Ranauts tiff on social media with the Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut over she called out the government. The two-judge bench of justices SJ Kathawalla and justice RI Chagla is hearing Kangana Ranauts petition - initially filed to seek a stay on the demolition on September 9. She later sought compensation of Rs 2 crore for the damage to her property caused during the demolition. Kangana Ranaut told the high court that she had photographic evidence to back up her claim that the unauthorised alterations and additions alleged by the BMC in its notice were completed in 2019. This could be established by photographs taken in January 2020 during a pooja that was held on the premises. Birender Saraf told the judges that the actor was a public-spirited person and had taken to social media to criticise the government for its handling of various issues that led Shiv Sena chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut to target her. The senior lawyer added that the demolition was carried out at the behest of Raut since she had countered and confronted him on social media. Ranauts team told the court that there were several discrepancies and contradictions in the two BMC affidavits filed on September 10 and 17 and asked the judges to get the BMC to provide complete details of the detection, inspection and stop work notices issued as well as provide any evidence that some work was going on at the bungalow in the first place. Senior counsel Aspi Chinoy who represented BMC along with advocate Joel Carlos submitted that the actor was trying to improvise its arguments as she had not denied the unauthorised alterations and additions pointed out in the BMC notice. Chinoy further said that while only two demolished toilets would have been exposed to the rains, the rest of the demolition was internal. Dublin, Sept. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Meal kit Market Research Report by Type - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Meal kit Market is expected to grow from USD 3,197.22 Million in 2019 to USD 6,646.20 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.97%. This research report categorizes the Meal kit to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets: On the basis of Type, the Meal kit Market is examined across Health-conscious Meal Kit, Omnivore Meal Kit, and Regional Cuisine Meal Kit. On the basis of Serving, the Meal kit Market is examined across Family/Four Serving and Two Serving. On the basis of Geography, the Meal kit Market is examined across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region is examined across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region is examined across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region is examined across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom. The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Meal kit Market including Gobble Inc., Gousto, Green Chef Corporation, HelloFresh SE, Koninklijke Ahold N.V., PeachDish, Plated, Purple Carrot, Sun Basket, and Terra's Kitchen. The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Meal kit Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision-making and understanding the competitive landscape. The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth. Cumulative Impact of COVID-19: COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market. The report provides insights on the following pointers: 1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information offered by the key players 2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets 3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments 4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players 5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments The report answers questions such as: 1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Meal kit Market? 2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Meal kit Market during the forecast period? 3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Meal kit Market? 4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Meal kit Market? 5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Meal kit Market? 6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Meal kit Market? Key Topics Covered: 1. Preface 2. Research Methodology 3. Executive Summary 4. Market Overview 5. Market Dynamics 6. Market Insights 7. Global Meal kit Market, By Type 8. Global Meal kit Market, By Serving 9. Americas Meal kit Market 10. Asia-Pacific Meal kit Market 11. Europe, Middle East & Africa Meal kit Market 12. Competitive Landscape 13. Company Usability Profiles 13.1. Gobble Inc. 13.2. Gousto 13.3. Green Chef Corporation 13.4. HelloFresh SE 13.5. Koninklijke Ahold N.V. 13.6. PeachDish 13.7. Plated 13.8. Purple Carrot 13.9. Sun Basket 13.10. Terra's Kitchen For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/982ffy Story continues About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 BEIJING, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The China Green Companies Summit 2020 is set to open in Haikou, Hainan Province from September 28 through 30, 2020. Supported by the People's Government of Hainan Province, hosted by the China Entrepreneur Club and co-hosted by the Haikou Municipal People's Government and the (Haikou) Green Enterprise Development Research Institute, the Summit will focus on the theme of "Business Growth in the Digital Age". Over 1,000 domestic and foreign business leaders including Jack Ma, Wang Yusuo, Frank Ning, Guo Guangchang, Ma Weihua and Lei Jun, will attend the Summit along with top government officials, academic experts, NGO representatives and key media outlets, to discuss the core topics of digital development and future business trends. The Summit will concentrate on issues such as the energy ecosystem, big-data-based healthcare ecosystem, real estate ecosystem, digital strategy, new infrastructure, venture investment, organizational innovation and the R&D management. Epidemic-related topics will also be discussed, including global economic cooperation and supply chains, the impact of the epidemic on industrial patterns and technical trends, efficiency of public welfare, and others. Meanwhile, 2020 marks the opening year for the Hainan Free Trade Port (Hainan FTP) which will create huge opportunities for business development. The Summit will not only recommend opportunities for development in Hainan to entrepreneurs, but also focus on the advantages and benefits of Hainan's regional economy. The Perfect Timing to Focus on Hainan The CPC Central Committee and the State Council have released the Master Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port (the Plan) on June 1. According to the Plan, Hainan FTP will cover the whole of Hainan Island, with the aim to initially establish an FTP policy system focused on freedom and facilitation of trade and investment by 2025. The FTP will become a new focal point for the open economy of China by 2035, and then develop into a high-level FTP of global influence by the middle of this century. In fact, Hainan has drawn worldwide attention since the State Council officially approved the establishment of China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone in 2018. Hainan has attracted nearly 100,000 talented individuals for investment and development, doubled foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in actual use for two consecutive years and brought in 30 of the Fortune Global 500 enterprises. Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, 110 foreign-funded enterprises were established in Hainan in the first four months of 2020, and Hainan's actual foreign capital investment was up 252.33% year on year. The Plan also offers institutional designs in 11 aspects including freedom and facilitation of trade, investment, cross-border capital flow, and personnel entry and exit. It is the perfect timing for entrepreneurs to shift their focus to Hainan. As the opening year for the development of Hainan FTP, 2020 is a window of opportunity for development in Hainan. Hainan Province has also proposed to pool its resources in developing 12 key industries. Hainan is now stepping up infrastructural construction all round. The People's Government of Hainan Province has inked strategic agreements with enterprises including China Mobile, Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent to cooperate in fields such as the digital economy, smart services, information smart islands and e-commerce. Hainan is expected to be the first in China to achieve province-wide full digitalization. As an economic and social trend, digitalization will promote the comprehensive advancement of businesses. The digitalization of many enterprises has entered the stage of deep integration into virtually every business activity, which calls for even greater communication and coordination between companies. In this regard, this is the perfect timing for Hainan to host this Summit under the theme of "Business Growth in the Digital Age". The Summit will include a focus forum"Sharing New Opportunities of the Free Trade Port", and organize visits to industrial parks in Haikou, to provide a comprehensive introduction about Hainan and recommend opportunities for development in Hainan to entrepreneurs. This annual conference will be live-streamed and shared on over ten platforms of mainstream media. The China Entrepreneur Club is the premier business leader platform in China. Established by 31 of China's most influential entrepreneurs, economists and diplomats in 2006, the CEC is a hub for Chinese entrepreneurial exchange, cooperation, and international collaboration. As a private non-profit organization, the CEC is committed to nurturing entrepreneurship and business integrity while paving the future of sustainable economic and social development. SOURCE China Entrepreneur Club Related Links http://www.daonong.com/English Advertisement A Kentucky Democrat who proposed the 'Breonna's law' legislation that would ban the use of no-knock warrants across the state was arrested while protesting in Louisville on Thursday night and charged with rioting. Attica Scott was arrested alongside daughter Ashanti and at least 24 others in the parking lot of the First Unitarian Church, where police and demonstrators got locked in a two-hour standoff after a 9pm curfew elapsed. Scott and her daughter are facing charges of first-degree rioting as well as failure to disperse and unlawful assembly after police said the group of protesters smashed the windows of a nearby library and a flare was thrown into the building. Around 1,000 Black Lives Matter activists had taken to the streets of Louisville during the day Thursday to protest after only one of the three officers involved in Breonna Taylor's killing while mistakenly raiding her home on a no-knock warrant was indicted over the shooting, though not for firing the shots that killed her. The news reignited demonstrations across the country, many of which have been ongoing since the killing of George Floyd in May, including in LA where one protester was run down by a truck in an unprovoked attack. In St. Louis, protesters blocked westbound lanes of Interstate 64, and in New York City, a large group of demonstrators marched into Manhattan from Brooklyn over the Williamsburg Bridge. Rep. Attica Scott, a Kentucky state lawmaker, is pictured left at a demonstration in June. She was arrested on Thursday and charged with first-degree rioting, a Class D felony, as well as failure to disperse and unlawful assembly Scott (pictured during her arrest) has served in the Kentucky House of Representatives since 2007. She is the author of the proposed 'Breonna's Law', which seeks to ban the use of 'no-knock' warrants statewide Police say at least two dozen protesters were arrested during Thursday night's demonstration on rioting and unlawful assembly charges Protesters targeted the Louisville Public Library, smashing its windows and throwing projectiles inside during the chaos Police made arrests in relation to the attack on the library, then negotiated with protest leaders to allow the rest of the demonstrators to leave peacefully About 200 people occupied the church grounds, where demonstrators taunted officers in riot gear who stood nearby, forming a massive cordon around the church Demonstrators massed at First Unitarian Church in Louisville on Thursday, where clergy allowed them to seek refuge on church grounds to avoid arrest after a 9pm curfew went into effect Broken glass and flare inside library on third pic.twitter.com/J8EeDvKBLQ Sarah Ladd (@ladd_sarah) September 25, 2020 Louisville Metro Police on Friday said at least two dozen people were arrested before 1am on unlawful assembly and rioting charges. Hundreds of activists had stayed on the streets of past the 9pm curfew, with around 200 occupying the grounds of the First Unitarian Church after the clergy agreed to grant them sanctuary from arrest. Authorities allege protesters broke windows of restaurant, damaged city buses, tried to set a fire and threw a flare into the street. Footage shared online by the police department showed people targeting a Jeff Ruby's Steak House on Fourth St, and vandalizing the city's TARC buses. A photo shared on Twitter also showed a lit flare thrown inside the Main Library. The agency also denied accusations that circulated on social media that officers were waiting for a decision from lawyers about whether they could 'storm' the private church property. 'The LMPD at no time, was waiting for "a decision from legal about whether or not they can storm the property." No arrests were made for being on church property. No National Guard was deployed to address these issues,' the department said in a statement. The standoff eventually ended after police made arrests in relation to the attack on the library, then negotiated with protest leaders to allow the rest of the demonstrators to leave peacefully. Police established a heavy presence around the church, blocking off the protesters from roaming downtown Police officers hold a perimeter around the First Unitarian Church where protesters are seeking refuge at during a curfew, a day after a grand jury decision in the March killing of Taylor in her home in Louisville, Kentucky Protesters face off with police officers outside of First Unitarian Church of Louisville where they took refuge as they protest the lack of criminal charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, in downtown Louisville, Kentucky last night Brother Tim of the First Unitarian Church of Louisville, speaks to Louisville Metro Police officers in downtown Louisville, Kentucky last night A demonstrator holds a smoke bomb as he marches to protest the lack of criminal charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, in downtown Louisville, Kentucky last night More than 1,000 people defied a second night of curfew in the US city of Louisville to protest over the lack of criminal charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, with some seeking refuge in a church Protesters march as they protest the lack of criminal charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, in downtown Louisville, Kentucky last night Protests have continued after the Kentucky grand jury indicted one of the three officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor A protester holds a road flare as demonstrators march last night in Louisville, Kentucky The stone Gothic-style church was built in the late 19th century and is known for its progressive ideology. A large Black Lives Matter banner hangs outside it. A church leader at the scene explained that churches were exempt from the emergency curfew order, and said that the demonstrators had been invited onto the church grounds to avoid arrest. Video from the scene shows some of the demonstrators at the church demanding that white protesters leave the grounds of the 'sanctuary'. 'All you white motherf***ers leave!' one man was seen shouting. Soon after 11pm, the protesters at the church began to disperse after police told them that they could go home without being arrested. Rep. Scott was among a group arrested near the main branch of the Louisville Free Public Library and First Unitarian Church at the intersection of South Fourth and York streets, officials said. She was charged with first-degree rioting, a Class D felony, according to officials. She is the author of 'Breonna's law, the proposed Kentucky legislation would ban the use of 'no-knock' warrants statewide. Initially, reports claimed Louisville police executed a 'no-knock' warrant to enter Taylor's home in the early morning hours of March 13. The stone gothic-style The First Unitarian church was built in the late 19th century and is known for its progressive ideology. A large Black Lives Matter banner hangs outside it Shortly before 11pm on Thursday, about 200 people remained in the area outside the First Unitarian Church in Louisville A person sits in a police vehicle after being detained, Thursday in Louisville. Authorities pleaded for calm while activists vowed to fight on Thursday in Kentucky's largest city, where a gunman wounded two police officers during protests Protests over the killing of Breonna Taylor continued Thursday in the city of Louisville. Pictured is a memorial to Breonna Taylor, that has been set up at Jefferson Square Park Although this particular type of search warrant was requested and approved to search the home, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron on Wednesday said an independent witness verified that officers knocked and announced their presence during the raid. Late on Thursday, what appeared to be armed militiamen were spotted guarding a gas station in downtown Louisville. There was a clash between some protesters and a group of 12 to 15 armed white people wearing military-style uniforms but it did not turn physical. Demonstrator Nicole Aghaaliandastjerdi said she knew several people taken into custody and believes they were arrested unfairly. 'I am not sad, I am angry,' she said, vowing to return downtown Friday to help her friends get out of jail. BLM protesters in Louisville smash library windows and throw a flare inside as police declare an 'unlawful assembly' in the city and begin arrests as National Guard prepare to enforce curfew Carmen Jones, a local organizer, instructs protesters over a megaphone as they arrive at the First Unitarian Church for refuge A priest from the First Unitarian Church talks to the riot police as protesters take refuge in the church shortly after curfew Police established a heavy cordon around the church, eventually allowing the protesters to leave if they pledged not to vandalize property At the Louisville church, people in the crowd chanted 'Black Lives Matter' as tensions continued for a second night in the city. Video released by Louisville Metro Police Department shows protesters chanting and taunting officers in riot gear. Police appeared to be keeping their distance from the protesters, who did not appear to be willing to disperse. They began pulling back after apparently reaching an agreement with the protesters, who pledged to leave church grounds and continue marching on the pedestrian sidewalk. The police asked the protesters to pledge not to vandalize property. Before the march began, protester Shameka Parrish-Wright told the crowd to stay together and take care of each other if they were met with force. 'We want to show the country and the world what we're about,' Parrish-Wright said. Louisville police released images showing officers detain protesters who violated curfew Some 100 protesters gathered in downtown Louisville to defy a 9pm curfew and stood face to face with police in riot gear Police in Louisville detain a protester who is pinned to the sidewalk on Thursday night Some protesters blocked roads as they marched. Police, meanwhile, were seen nearby and patrol cars blocked some roads. There was no immediate signs of a confrontation. On Wednesday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear mobilized 500 members of the National Guard. The governor ordered them deployed to Louisville to prevent civil unrest. Meanwhile, city officials who initially announced a 72-hour curfew have extended it through the weekend. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the curfew, which goes into effect from 9pm to 6:30am each night, does not apply to people commuting to work, going to houses of worship for services or seeking medical attention, the Louisville Courier Journal reported. Fischer has encouraged Louisville residents to begin heading home at 8pm each night so as to allow enough time to abide by the curfew. After curfew set in, the protesters took up refuge at Calvary Episcopal Church. Louisville police in riot gear blocked off all roadways leading to the church Several of the protesters stood opposite police in riot gear who were standing on the street Police appeared to be in discussions with individuals linked to the demonstrators, though it is unclear what was said Police in riot gear are seen above talking to a civilian as protesters look on from the church grounds Earlier on Thursday evening, BLM marchers confronted about a dozen members of an armed militia. The militia members were dressed in full military garb and carrying assault rifles. They identified themselves as 'Oath Keepers,' a group that calls itself 'nonpartisan association of current and former serving military, police, and first responders' whose goal is to 'defend the Constitution.' The Oath Keepers members said they were in Louisville to protect property. 'We're not here to start nothing,' a militia member from North Carolina told the Courier Journal. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Oath Keepers 'one of the largest radical anti-government groups in the U.S.' A few BLM protesters confronted members of the Oath Keepers, but most kept away. 'Back up! Don't be stupid!' one man yelled. 'Walk through and keep moving. Do not engage these people with no guns!' Earlier on Thursday evening, BLM marchers confronted about a dozen members of the Oath Keepers, an armed militia Oath Keepers were set-up at a Hampton Inn in downtown Louisville, and said they were in Louisville to protect property BLM protesters got into a heated exchange with heavily armed militia that were set-up at a Hampton Inn Shortly afterward, Breonna Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, made a brief appearance at Jefferson Square Park. She stood for a few moments at the memorial that was erected for her daughter. Palmer, who has not said anything publicly since the grand jury decision was announced on Wednesday, wore a black satin jacket that read 'Until Freedom.' Underneath the jacket she wore a white t-shirt with a picture of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron over the words 'Mitch's b****.' Cameron, a Republican and the first African American elected to the position of state attorney general, is a protege of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. L ondon is being placed on the national Covid watch list as an area of high concern, according to London Councils. It comes after 620 new cases were confirmed in the capital in the last 24 hours more than double the number at the start of the week. Thirty-five more patients with Covid were admitted to the capital in the last 24-hour period, taking the total to 212, of which 40 are on ventilators. A formal confirmation is due imminently from Public Health England but the announcement was made this morning by London Councils, which represents the 33 boroughs. Council leaders said the decision to place the capital on the watch list alongside places such as Bolton and Blackburn was a stark reminder of the need for all Londoners to pull together and take action to keep themselves, their families and their communities safe, and to ensure that London's economy is protected. National restrictions announced by Boris Johnson Londoners have been urged to follow the rules 1. Office workers who can work from home are being asked to do so. 2. All pubs, bars and restaurants must operate table-service only, except for takeaways. 3. All hospitality venues must close at 10pm. 4. More people must wear face coverings - staff working in retail; all users of taxis and private hire vehicles; and staff and customers in indoor hospitality venues - except when seated at tables to eat or drink. 5. In retail, leisure, tourism and other sectors, governments Covid-secure guidelines will become legal obligations. 6. From Monday, a maximum of 15 people will be able to attend wedding ceremonies and receptions. 7. The rule of six is being extended to all adult indoor team sports. 8. Business conferences, exhibitions and large sporting events will not be able to reopen from 1 October. 9. Stronger penalties for failing to adhere to government restrictions: a fine of up to 10,000 for businesses that break the rules and the penalty for failing to wear a mask or breaking the rule of six will now double to 200 for a first offence. However the addition of the capital to the watch list was not being immediately followed with local lockdown restrictions seen elsewhere in high incidence areas. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said:London is at a very worrying tipping point right now. Were seeing a sharp rise in 111 calls, hospital admissions, and patients in ICU. The near collapse of test and trace and the resurgence of the virus means new measures to slow its spread were absolutely necessary.Testing capacity was diverted away from London in the last two weeks to other national hot spots and weekly testing numbers are now down 43 per cent in the capital since mid-August. The lack of testing capacity is totally unacceptable and it is why London has been added to the Governments coronavirus watchlist as an area of concern. "Ministers simply have to get a grip. Its vital that testing capacity is increased immediately in London and focused in the areas it is needed most. Any delay will mean letting the city down and will cost lives. Sources said the decision to make London an area of concern would improve access to tests - effectively putting it higher up the queue. The number of extra cases and rising hospital admissions were both key factors in the decision to put the capital on the watchlist. Liberal Democrat health spokesperson and London MP Munira Wilson said: "This news will worry people across London and more widely. Extra testing capacity is of course welcome, but London's capacity should never have had to be diverted elsewhere. Most importantly we need to ensure the test and trace system in London and around the country is working properly. "At the moment, it's clear that our test and trace system still isn't up to scratch. Ministers must put more energy and resource into getting this fixed. Their failure to get this sorted to date is putting public health at risk." It comes amid chaos in the testing system with the Standard revealing this week that the capital was deprived of 25,000 tests in the last three weeks despite rising prevalence of the virus. London's empty network continues during Coronavirus 1 /32 London's empty network continues during Coronavirus Daniel Hambury Jeremy Selwyn Daniel Hambury Daniel Hambury Daniel Hambury Jeremy Selwyn Daniel Hambury Daniel Hambury Daniel Hambury Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn This saw the weekly covid infection rates last week indicate a fall in 27 boroughs rogue figures that Public Health England had to dismiss. The latest borough by borough rates and the national and regional R figures including for London - are due to be published this afternoon. London Councils said that the boroughs were working with their communities, business and the police to engage, educate, explain, and if necessary enforce the new restrictions and regulations. It called on the Government to ensure that it funds the work so resources do not need to be drawn from other council services. London councils pleaded with Londoners to follow the national restrictions announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday. The watchlist is determined by Health Secretary Matt Hancock after studying epidemiological advice from the chief medical officer, NHS Test and Trace, the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England. 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 It indicates the local authorities with the highest weekly incidence rate and its trend, combined with a range of other indicators including the test positivity rate, an assessment of the local response and plans, and the trend of other metrics such as healthcare activity and mortality. Sian Berry, Green Party co-leader and London Mayor candidate, said: We have lacked test information in London for weeks, which has caused huge worry for all of us in local and regional government. The news today that Public Health England has added London to its list of areas of concern, using estimates from other data, shows what a crucial time this is, and how all our actions can make a difference. The 10pm closing time for bars and restaurants has already led to crowded scenes on public transport that worry me greatly. My strong advice to Londoners today is to avoid going out in the next few days unless you have to, and find other ways to see friends and family. Loading.... Like you, I am sad, tired and weary after six months of a gruelling national crisis, but were in a dangerous moment, lacking data and tests, and we must work together as a city amid rising signs of infection." Market estimates suggest the airline has already totted up Rs 1,800 crore of losses in FY20, and FY21 is expected to see losses in the region of Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore Many in the sector say that Vistara lacks the light-footedness of the airlines with which it competes, reports Anjuli Bhargava. IMAGE: Vistara's Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in New Delhi. Photograph: ANI Photo In early March 2020, Vistara inducted its first B787-9 -- the Dreamliner -- to launch its international operations, almost five years after it took to the skies, a much-anticipated moment for the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture in India. But as luck would have it, the aircraft arrived to stand on the ground for several months as the pandemic grounded airlines worldwide. For close to six months, the aircraft lay idle and was joined by a second one in August, in consonance with the induction schedule. It is, however, only at the end of August that Vistara decided to launch its maiden international Delhi-London (Heathrow) flight, three times a week as of now. In terms of timing, the induction couldn't have come at a worse moment. This is as far as the carrier's international operations go. But even its domestic fleet -- grounded like those of other airlines -- has been lying virtually idle through the pandemic. "The airline has been slow and stodgy in its management in this time of crisis," says an aviation industry analyst. Many in the sector say that Vistara lacks the light-footedness of the airlines with which it competes. Airlines such as SpiceJet took the lead in pushing revenues through cargo and charter operations during the pandemic, a move followed quickly by the market leader IndiGo. Vistara, by contrast, has only recently started focusing on both these revenue-earning streams. In an e-mail response the company said it was taking a deeper dive into cargo and charter operations, increasing its revenue through cargo and doing more charters. "During the lockdown, Vistara operated 34 special cargo flights in a little over a month's time to transport more than 220 tonnes of essential commercial goods, relief material, and medical supplies," a spokesperson said. The airline said it had pulled its Dreamliner into cargo operations, too. The spokesperson added that the airline had also done a few international charters -- without specifying how many -- and would now be doing some flights under the travel bubble. The airline currently operates around 50 domestic flights a day, compared with close to 125 flights for SpiceJet and 500-odd for IndiGo. Ever since flights resumed, many carriers are taking bookings for flights to collect cash but cancelling them at the last minute due to very poor loads. The carriers find themselves in a "chicken and egg" situation. Carriers need to fly more and win back passenger confidence. But loads are very low and don't justify operations, so carriers are for loads to pick up to add more flights. "Only if they fly more will loads pick up," argues an official in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. A bloodbath on their books is unavoidable for now, he says. "The danger of Vistara going the 'Kingfisher way', a money guzzler with no hope of returns, is the big worry," says an industry source. The pandemic and the consequent hit on airlines coupled with Vistara's almost tortoise-like approach is pointing towards far higher losses in FY21. According to CAPA India Research, Vistara's losses for FY20 are Rs 1,270 crore (Rs 12.70 billion) and will cross Rs 1,800 crore (Rs 18 billion) in FY21 (being unlisted Vistara does not reveal its financials). But industry sources say CAPA's numbers are conservative. Market estimates suggest the airline has already totted up Rs 1,800 crore of losses in FY20, and FY21 is expected to see losses in the region of Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 25 billion to Rs 30 billion), because the first quarter is a write-off and the post-pandemic recovery of the sector is unclear. Domestic losses, they argue, will be compounded by the international ones for this year. Many are confounded by the sheer size of the airline's losses in FY20. Almost all the Indian players gained substantially in the first quarter of the year gone by due to Jet's closure and it is argued that one of the biggest gainer from Jet's closure in some sense should have been Vistara as it was the only one offering a business class product on the main trunk routes, just as Jet did. While IndiGo ended the year (despite a far bigger operation) with a loss of Rs 230 crore (Rs 2.3 billion) and SpiceJet (53 aircraft) with a loss of almost Rs 930 crore (Rs 9.3 billion), Vistara's loss at Rs 1,800 crore with 33 aircraft in operation has taken the industry by surprise. "It's hard to see how, when and where the airline anticipates this changing," says one source. The airline in response defended the losses, arguing that it invested in aircraft and expansion and that oil prices remained high through the year. But more fundamental questions remain up in the air, such as whether the Indian domestic aviation space can at all support a full-service airline. Many believe -- based on the experience with both Jet and Kingfisher -- that the Indian market can no longer support a full-service carrier. In a recent interview, IndiGo CEO Rono Dutta argued that he didn't think there was any space in India's market today for an airline to charge a bit more for this or that. Vistara sources also acknowledge that its "premium economy" gambit tried in its initial days did not work and now the Indian market's price sensitivity cannot support any extras. Industry veteran Shakti Lumba adds that "the very fundamentals on which Vistara was set up have been uprooted by COVID-19". In a post-COVID-19 world, he thinks, the airline's chances of success are slim. Many believe that the Tata group made a cardinal mistake in 2019 when it failed to buy the struggling Jet Airways and merge it into Vistara. Now some feel that the only way for the Tatas to make good of this investment is to buy Air India and try to pull off a successful merger of two "public sector companies", the latter a telling comment on how Vistara is viewed in India's aviation landscape. ConsumerAffairs is not a government agency. Companies displayed may pay us to be Authorized or when you click a link, call a number or fill a form on our site. Our content is intended to be used for general information purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment based on your own personal circumstances and consult with your own investment, financial, tax and legal advisers. Company NMLS Identifier #2110672 Copyright 2021 Consumers Unified LLC. All Rights Reserved. The contents of this site may not be republished, reprinted, rewritten or recirculated without written permission. India's third Covid wave likely to peak on Jan 23, daily cases to stay below 4 lakh: IIT Kanpur scientist India logs over 3.17 lakh new Covid cases in last 24 hours; daily positivity rate up at 16.41 per cent 'Don't need lessons on human rights from Islamabad': India slams Pak at UN India oi-Deepika S Geneva, Sep 25: India on Friday launched a blistering attack at Pakistan saying the world doesn't need a lesson on human rights from a country known as the "nursery and epicentre of terrorism". Addressing the 45th Session of the Human Rights Council at the UN, Senthil Kumar, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India, Geneva, hit out at Islamabad and said Pakistan "uses every opportunity to make unfounded and fallacious remarks against my country, which reflect their negative and paranoic state of mind". "Before preaching to others, Pakistan must remember that terrorism is the worst form of human rights abuse and a crime against humanity. The world doesn't need lessons on human rights from a country which has been known as 'nursery and epicenter of Terrorism'," he said. Kumar further said "Nobody knows the fate of missing 47,000 Baloch and 35,000 Pashtuns till date. Sectarian violence has claimed more than 500 Hazaras in Balochistan and more than 100,000 Hazaras have fled Pakistan." "The Baloch have never felt safe inside Balochistan and now they do not feel safe even outside Pakistan. The case of the disappearance of Rashid Hussain in December 2018, and the killing of journalist Sajid Hussain Baloch after he went missing in March 2020, only serves to demonstrate that the Baloch human rights defenders are being targeted and eliminated even after they quit Pakistan," he added. Sunil Gavaskar defends himself, says never blamed Anushka | Oneindia News The First Secretary further pointed out that it was a matter "of great concern" that the population of religious minorities in Pakistan which was 23 per cent in 1947 has reduced to an insignificant number. "The reasons are not hard to find. Systemic discrimination and persecution through killings, violence, forced conversions, forced displacement have nearly annihilated religious minorities in Pakistan. In the Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan has effected demographic change by reducing and driving the real Kashmiris out," he added. MUMBAI: With many stars joining the drug probe which emerged out of the mysterious death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing the late actor's family, on Friday (September 25) stated that the NCB probe is overshadowing and hindering the investigation behind the real truth in the death case. He also accused the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of going slow in the case. "Why call the whole of Bollywood? There are no seizures from these people who have been called today or tomorrow. In an NDPS case, everything depends on the quantity, the family feels it is being done to divert from the main issue (death case of sushant)," said Vikas Singh while holding a press conference here on Friday. The senior advocate further stated that media attention is being diverted from the case by calling the top actors from the Hindi film industry for questioning on drug angle. Singh said that CBI has till date not issued a single press statement regarding the probe and said that 'the direction in which the investigation is going is a little worrying for the family.' He also alleged that over a week has passed since the CBI team probing the case landed in Delhi but they haven`t met the team of doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). "Today we are completely helpless on the case as no one from the CBI is doing any press briefing. It is the lack of interest and the speed with which the case is going that is worrisome," Singh said. He claimed that one of the doctors from the AIIMS, after seeing Sushant's dead body photos, had called it murder case. "One of the doctors in the team of AIIMS suggests it is 200 per centdeath by strangulation and not a suicide. This is after photos clicked by Sushant's sister Mitu were shared with him." "If there is a case of murder then obviously the speed, tenor of the investigation will be different. Unfortunately none of the family members were staying with Sushant and Hence we don't know what exactly happened," he said. He said that CBI is following the footsteps of Mumbai Police and stated that they are not satisfied with the probe carried out by the central probe agency in Sushant death case. "Sushant was being given drugs without his knowledge. And even if he was taking the narcotics voluntarily, did Riya Chakraboty inform this to his doctor," Singh asked during the press conference. He said that they will move the court if they feel the probe is not moving in the right direction. "The CBI has calmed down and NCB has intensified its investigation," he said, adding that "This is worrisome." We open this new volume of the long-running all-girl series with Dana DeArmond, who is recovering from plastic surgery to her face, and her nurse Winter Jade assisting her. Dana feels they have bonded during the recovery and they enjoy the culmination of the build-up of sexual tension after Danas bandages come off. Eliza Ibarra comes home to find stepmom India Summer gathering all the stuff her dad has given her and getting ready to burn it because she caught him with one of Elizas friends. Eliza tries to get her to see reason, and we guess to keep her from further losing her shit and burning down the house, pursuades her to have some pretty hot lesbo fun and record it to show the cheating asshole. Violet Star goes to get a psychic reading from hippie chick Avi Love, who gives her readings topless, and then they, well, align their root chakras together, as it were, with tribbing and carpet-munching galore. Kenzie Taylor and Alex Coal have an awkward meeting as dueling widows, but seem to enjoy hate-fucking each other in the end. Nice assortment of setups, girls and action. A black barrister was mistaken for a defendant three times at court in one day, leading the head of England and Wales courts to issue her an apology and to launch an investigation. Alexandra Wilson, who specialises in criminal and family cases, explained what had happened to her in a series of messages on Twitter, saying she was absolutely exhausted by this and similar incidents. In response, Kevin Sadler, the acting head of HM Courts and Tribunals Service, apologised to Ms Wilson, writing that it was totally unacceptable behaviour, which would be investigated as as matter of urgency. Ms Wilson, who is also the author of In Black and White, a book about racism in the justice system, thanked him for his apology. I hope that this leads to some real change, she added. The barrister was first assumed to be standing trial by a security guard, who asked for her name so that he could check that it was on a list of defendants. A member of the public then took her for a journalist and told her not to enter the court, before an usher who recognised her allowed her to go in to speak to the prosecutor. In the courtroom, another lawyer as well as the clerk mistook her for a defendant, with the latter asking her whether she was represented. Ms Wilson tweeted: This really isn't ok I don't expect to have to constantly justify my existence at work. A Ministry of Justice report published last week found that black and minority ethnic people were over-represented in applications for judicial appointment but were less likely to be successful. Postal.io Postal.io, one of the fastest growing companies in the US with over 100 customers in its first 5 months, is pleased to announce that it has earned several accolades in G2s Fall 2020 quarterly reports. For the 2nd quarter in a row, Postal was rated by customers as a High Performer in Account-Based Execution. 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About Postal.io Postal is a leading sales and marketing engagement platform that empowers companies to improve conversion rates with automated direct mail, corporate gifting and charitable giving. The Postal platform leverages machine learning to enable customers to optimize the creation, delivery, budgeting, and reporting of campaigns at scale. Forward-thinking enterprises and small companies alike trust Postal to deliver greater ROI through the automation and integration of offline and online strategies. Postal is a venture-backed, privately held company based in San Luis Obispo, California. To learn more, please visit Postal.io If the pre-trial hearings are anything to go by, the Commercial Court battle between publicans and FBD Insurance is set to be an explosive affair. On October 6, Ireland's oldest bar and three popular Dublin pubs will begin their test case against FBD over its refusal to pay out on business interruption claims during the Covid pandemic. A remote discovery hearing which took place yesterday heard counsel for two of the pubs involved, Michael Cush SC, accuse the defendant, FBD, of "completely inappropriate" behaviour. Those involved in the case are Leinster Overview Concepts Ltd, trading as Sean's Bar in Athlone, Co. Westmeath; Aberken, trading as Sinnotts Bar; Hibernian Way Ltd, trading as Lemon & Duke, and Hyper Trust Ltd, trading as the Leopardstown Inn. It's a highly anticipated trial which is expected to last 13 days, and the outcome will have a significant impact on the claims of 1,300 businesses which were forced to close due to public health advice. FBD is arguing it shouldn't have to pay out, claiming that even if bars and restaurants stayed open during lockdown, they would have had no custom. Businesses are continuing to go down the legal route in their pursuit of compensation against the insurer, which reported profits of 112.5m for 2019. Wright's Cafe Bar in Swords, Dublin, trading as Hogs and Heifers, is the latest to take High Court action against FBD. Ronan Galligan, formerly a detective sergeant with An Garda Siochana, heads up the risk department for the Michael JF Wright Hospitality Group. As a director of the company, he said the decision to initiate proceedings wasn't taken lightly. "We have instructed our solicitors to go after this case because we believe it is necessary," Mr Galligan told the Irish Independent. "None of us have encountered Covid-19 before, it's new to everybody. But our problem was that when we decided to close - before the Government was even forcing us to as we knew it was the right thing to do - when it came to looking for some compensation from our insurer, the response was absolutely abysmal." In recent years, the Wright Group shifted its focus to the food industry and operates a number of food halls, restaurants and bars across the capital. Last year, it decided to close down the Wright Venue as it moved away from the nightclub scene due to sky-high insurance costs. "We could spend up to 500,000 a year on insurance policies in the group," Mr Galligan said. "We went from receiving no response at all from FBD, to them refusing any acknowledgement of indemnity. We have paid full policies and were left with nowhere to go and no indication we were going to get any help. "The cost of litigation is extraordinary, so we were very slow to go into the courts, but we absolutely felt we had no other choice other than to do that because of the position we were left in. Had the insurers engaged with their customers, this could have been avoided. "It is utterly ridiculous that you pay every year for business interruption, only for someone to try and interpret a clause to suit themselves afterwards," he added. A number of discovery hearings have taken place ahead of the court case involving the four pubs. Michael Cush SC, counsel for the Leopardstown Inn and Lemon & Duke, criticised the discovery process as being "unsatisfactory from start to finish". He claimed FBD has had a "disturbing approach" to the discovery of documents. Yesterday, he accused the defence of implying that the bars were engaging in the discovery process to try to rack up costs after FBD agreed to cover the publicans' legal bills following a request from the Central Bank to that affect. "The reference to 'whingeing', which was a description used to characterise this application, is wholly inappropriate and surprising," Mr Cush said. "And the clear implication that this level of attention to discovery was motivated by the arrangement in relation to costs. "Now, that's a very significant thing to say. That's a serious allegation and I want to know if it is being stood over because it's completely inappropriate." One of the issues before Mr Justice Denis McDonald was whether FBD should be directed to swear a further affidavit providing additional details as to how it was not until July 2 that a direction was given to staff to preserve relevant documents for the purposes of this case. This is despite the fact FBD maintains it anticipated litigation from as early as March 18, and that these proceedings were issued on May 16. A hearing on September 11 heard how some documents and handwritten notes had been destroyed by FBD. The second issue was whether FBD was entitled to claim privilege over documents generated following a call from the Central Bank in April of this year. Judge McDonald ruled FBD would have to swear a further affidavit by close of business on Monday and could not claim privilege over the documents, except for those marked "without prejudice". FBD insists its policies do not cover losses incurred by a pandemic. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 10:01:40|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A worker forklifts New Zealand products into a container to be shipped to China for the third China International Import Expo 2020 (CIIE), in Auckland, New Zealand, Sept. 18, 2020. A shipping container loaded with premium products of New Zealand has embarked from the Ports of Auckland at mid-night Thursday for the third China International Import Expo 2020 (CIIE) to be hosted by Shanghai between Nov. 5 and Nov. 10. The container, on board the China - New Zealand Service by COSCO SHIPPING Lines, affiliated with China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, is expected to arrive at Shanghai Port in mid-October. (Xinhua) AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A shipping container loaded with premium products of New Zealand has embarked from the Ports of Auckland at mid-night Thursday for the third China International Import Expo 2020 (CIIE ) to be hosted by Shanghai between Nov. 5 and Nov. 10. The container, on board the China - New Zealand Service by COSCO SHIPPING Lines, affiliated with China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, is expected to arrive at Shanghai Port in mid-October. Huang Yuefeng, economic and commercial counsellor from the Chinese Embassy to New Zealand, was pleased to see a variety of New Zealand products enlisted. "The CIIE in the past two years has witnessed tangible profits for the New Zealand companies. They have also find huge potential in working with China as it sends a strong message of opening up to the rest of the world," said Huang. "Despite the disruption caused by COVID-19, New Zealand companies are still very eager to participate in the CIIE this year, as they strongly believe it will create more business opportunities and brand exposures for the New Zealand products to the global market." "I am fully convinced that the New Zealand companies with their premium products including food and beverage, agriculture products, health products and consumer products will showcase a healthy and pure New Zealand brand to China and to the world," said Huang. Inside the container on board the COSCO SHIPPING which embarked on Thursday night, there are a wide range of health products including honey products from NAC Trading. Preparation was disrupted by the COVID-19 Alert Level 3 lockdown in Auckland earlier this month. However, a dedicated team was mobilized to ensure its full presence at the CIIE. Xiaoyu Kang, managing director of COSCO SHIPPING Lines New Zealand, told Xinhua that she was delighted to have her team in New Zealand providing professional shipping services to the companies that are heading off to the CIIE. "We are doing our best to ensure the products from New Zealand arriving Shanghai safe and sound, and on time," said Kang. Some other COSCO SHIPPING containers have sailed earlier this month from Port of Tauranga with a range of New Zealand dairy products such as infant formulas, ice creams, and etc. Products from several dozens of New Zealand companies such as Fonterra, Zespri, Oceania Diary, Theland, Alpine Deer, Yashili New Zealand and Allied Faxi will be featured in the CIIE. COSCO SHIPPING is the official shipping service provider for CIIE. COSCO Shipping lines has been operating in New Zealand for 30 years. Enditem BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany added regions in 11 European countries to the list of destinations it classifies as coronavirus risk zones, dealing a further blow to hopes for a revival of tourism as many countries brace for a possible second wave of the pandemic. Regions newly listed by the Robert Koch Institute health agency included major tourist destinations such as the French regions of Centre-Val de Loire, Brittany and Normandy, as well as the coastal region Lika-Senj in Croatia and the upland Primorsko-notranjska region in Slovenia. The Irish, Portuguese and Danish capitals, the Dutch province of Utrecht, Austria's state of Vorarlberg, most of the Czech Republic, Gyor county in Western Hungary and Romania's Covasna county were also listed. Listing as a risk area is typically followed by the Foreign Ministry advising against non-essential travel to the region in question. Germany warns against travel to regions within the European Union where the rate of COVID-19 infections exceeds the level of 50 per 100,000 population in a week. (Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Credit Suisse, UBS held tie-up talks backed by both chairmen - Bilanz FILE PHOTO: Logo of Swiss bank UBS is seen in Zurich ZURICH (Reuters) - The chairmen of UBS and Credit Suisse supported a merger of equals between Switzerland's two largest banks during discussions earlier this year, Swiss magazine Bilanz reported on Wednesday, adding talks had since stagnated. The details reported by finance periodical Bilanz suggest that a merger between Credit Suisse and UBS, which had been examined by staff working under UBS chairman Axel Weber in recent months, had been more seriously considered than previously known, receiving backing from both parties. Both UBS and Credit Suisse declined comment. Switzerland's two biggest banks held tie-up negotiations in the first half of the year, Bilanz reported, citing two unnamed sources involved in the discussions. Although kept secret, a merger had been considered seriously, one source told Bilanz, receiving the backing of both UBS Chairman Axel Weber and Credit Suisse Chairman Urs Rohner, who is due to retire from his post in 2021. However, discussions had dropped off since the summer holidays, one source told Bilanz, amid a drop in Credit Suisse's share price placing the banks' respective valuations beyond the merger of equals threshold. Reuters reported last week that the board of UBS had gathered to discuss strategy, but a merger with Credit Suisse was not on the official agenda, suggesting cooling interest in the idea. Both chief executives of UBS and Credit Suisse expressed expectations of an up-tick in consolidation within Europe's banking sector at a conference on Tuesday, with UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti calling more deals "inevitable". (Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Barbara Lewis) Lukashenko was sworn in for a sixth term as the President of Belarus at a secret ceremony after an election that was widely believed to have been rigged London: Britain is preparing sanctions on individuals allegedly involved in human rights violations in Belarus, working with the United States and Canada to hold President Alexander Lukashenko and his government accountable. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the House of Commons in London on Thursday that in light of the European Unions delay in preparing its own sanctions, the UK would join other allies to adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights abuses. "We will apply all the tools at our disposal to hold Lukashenko and his regime to account," he said. Thousands of Belarusians took to the streets of the capital of Minsk and other cities on Wednesday evening, protesting the unannounced inauguration of President Alexander Lukashenko that took place in the morning. Police fiercely dispersed the crowds; in Minsk, officers used truncheons and water cannons, leaving dozens injured. Over 360 protesters were detained. Protests in Belarus continued Thursday, part of nearly seven weeks of rallies against the authoritarian leader's reelection, which the opposition claimed to be rigged. "We are willing to join the EU in adopting targeted sanctions against those responsible for the violence, the repression and the vote-rigging, although the EU process has now been delayed in Brussels,'' Raab said. "Given that delay ... we're co-ordinating with the United States and Canada to prepare appropriate listings as a matter of urgency." The EU said Thursday that the swearing in of Lukashenko to a sixth term lacks democratic legitimacy, defies the will of the Belarusian people and will only deepen the countrys political crisis. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell reiterated that the 27-nation bloc did not recognize the result of the 9 August election that kept Lukashenko in power after 26 years. "This 'inauguration' directly contradicts the will of large parts of the Belarusian population, as expressed in numerous, unprecedented and peaceful protests since the elections, and serves to only further deepen the political crisis in Belarus, Borrell said. Borrell underlined the EUs belief that "Belarusian citizens deserve the right to be represented by those they freely choose through new inclusive, transparent and credible elections." He praised their courage. On Monday, EU foreign ministers failed to impose sanctions on Belarus officials suspected of election fraud or of playing a part in a brutal security crackdown on the post-election protests, despite appeals from Lukashenko's main opponent to take courageous action against his regime. Cyprus continues to block the sanctions until similar measures are slapped on Turkey for its disputed energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. EU leaders will try to break the deadlock when they meet in Brussels on 1 October. In an email to The Associated Press on Thursday, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said "Lukashenko does not belong in a presidential palace. He belongs on the EU sanctions list." "The secrecy surrounding his inauguration ceremony just illustrates that he has not been sworn in based on free and fair elections, but on election fraud and violence," Kofod said. By ANI NEW DELHI: Due to widespread COVID-19, terrorists are making malevolent attempts to exploit the financial and emotional distress caused by lockdowns to disturb the cohesiveness of societies, India said at the 45th session of Human Rights Council. Pawan Badhe, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India to UN in Geneva while making a statement at the Council said, "Terror groups have also exhorted supporters to target security forces and health workers. Another disturbing trend has been the collection of funds by proscribed terrorist outfits ostensibly for undertaking charitable activities, but which, in reality, would be used to finance terror." The topic of the debate was "Human rights situations that require the Council's attention". "The increased presence of people online and on social media has been targeted by terrorists to disseminate misinformation through hate speeches, fake news and doctored videos. The intent has been to entice and establish links with vulnerable individuals and recruit them in their cadres," Pawan Badhe added. "We underscore the need to foster a society in which individuals and communities are able to counter the spread of terrorist ideologies and challenge those who espouse them," he added. India emphasised that Council can't remain immune to the devastating human rights impacts caused by terrorism. It needs to play a key role in creating awareness about the protection of the rights of the most vulnerable groups particularly children and young persons in order to prevent their radicalisation and indoctrination by terrorist ideologies. Assam government has introduced mandatory RT-PCR tests on arrival for air passengers in addition to the existing rapid antigen tests in order to reduce the time spent on quarantine. Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced tatkal (quick) RT-PCR test results within 24 hours and said several other guidelines were being introduced to ease travel hassles for arriving air passengers. At present we conduct a rapid antigen test (RAT) of air passengers at the airport on their arrival and if found negative, ask them to spend 10 days in home quarantine. From now, we will conduct both RAT and RT-PCR tests of all passengers on arrival, Sarma told journalists. If a passenger pays Rs 2,200 for RT-PCR test, the result will be given within 24 hours and if it comes negative, they dont have to spend any more time in quarantine. For those who dont pay the amount, the RT-PCR test results will be given to them within 5 days, during which period, they will have to stay in home quarantine, he added. In order to reduce the time spent at the airport, after arrival, in filling up forms for Covid-19 tests, the Assam government has launched an app and a website called visitassam.org. Passengers can fill up the forms online even before arrival or can download the forms and fill them after taking a print out. From now on, persons who have been cured of Covid-19 wont have to take tests or stay in quarantine on arrival at the airport, provided they are asymptomatic. However, they need to produce their discharge certificate from the hospital or Covid-19 negative report given by ICMR, Sarma said. Also Read: Assam launches gold scheme for brides from weaker section The minister informed that the Covid-19 scenario in Assam continues to be grim. Till Thursday, the state had recorded 165,582 positive cases, 135,141 recoveries and 608 deaths. The positivity rate in Assam is 7.21%, fatality rate is 0.37% and the recovery rate is 81.6%. We are recording nearly 2400 new cases daily in September. These days we are witnessing more severe cases among patients and the number of deaths has also increased, said Sarma. Also Read: Tarun Gogoi stable now; AIIMS doctors also monitor health The minister informed that efforts are on to increase ICU beds across the state. He assured that despite the surge in cases, there were adequate number of ICU and isolation beds in government hospitals at present. We are conducting a mass awareness drive on Covid-19 with 30,000 health workers going house to house and urging people to stay safe and get tested if any symptoms are seen. We are planning to ramp up tests and conduct 1 lakh tests daily on September 28, 29 and 30, said Sarma. One former judge and prosecutor summed up the cost to Foxx this way: The states attorney is going to make hundreds of decisions in a month, let alone a term. If the public cant believe that the decisions, some of which they might disagree with, are based upon the law and the facts, then were in a bad situation. You cannot have the integrity of a states attorney as the chief criminal law officer of the county questioned. Because once its questioned, integrity is not a jacket you can put back on you. Take that off and its off forever. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:20:34|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ISTANBUL, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Local officials in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul recently launched an online aid campaign to supply the growing needs of students who began the new education term online, a district mayor told Xinhua on Friday. "The new term, starting online due to the COVID-19 pandemic across Turkey, revealed the needs for tablets, computers, and televisions," said Riza Akpolat, mayor of Besiktas, one of Istanbul's most crowded districts. "Thousands of citizens started to struggle to find a decent working device to be able to attend the online classes," Akpolat added. To cope with the rising demands, the municipality on Wednesday launched the campaign. Akpolat called on students and their families to post the devices they need on an online platform and urged those who want to help to submit their donation. Around 18 million students in the country started their new term online at the beginning of this month, having classes via the internet and TV channels. "Unfortunately, not all students have equal opportunities in this distance education process," Akpolat noted. "Therefore, we have launched this campaign to meet the demand and contribute to the education of the students." The municipal teams have started to collect the donated devices after getting notices from the website. Additionally, the local officials in the Kartal district on the Asian side of the city launched a similar campaign. Enditem Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sebastian Partogi (The Jakarta Post) - Fri, September 25, 2020 07:26 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c47111b1 1 Science & Tech Nissan,e-POWER,electric-vehicles,All-New-Nissan-Kicks-e-POWER,SUV Free Driven by peoples increased environmental awareness, electric vehicles (EV), which produce less carbon emissions than fossil fuel-powered vehicles, have become the new frontier of transportation, especially among urban commuters. Indonesias environmentally-conscious commuters can now enjoy the sensation of driving an electric vehicle without the need for external charging, thanks to Nissan's latest innovation, the e-POWER system. The car offers improved fuel-efficiency and produces lower emissions. Plus, by not requiring external charging, it is a convenient choice, as Indonesia does not yet have proper EV infrastructure, with charging stations still scarce across the country. Nissan unveiled its new EV in early September. It was first car ever in Indonesia to be launched digitally on a rooftop. For the unveiling of the new vehicle, Nissan also highlighted its innovative technological features and how these features can benefit drivers, in terms of convenience, navigation and safety. Nissans rich history and DNA have been shaped by a series of innovations and world-firsts. Today is yet another important milestone of our journey. The All-New Nissan Kicks e-POWER's Indonesian debut pioneers innovative solutions for consumers who want to feel the sensations of driving an electric car in all of its efficiencies, without the hassle of charging, Nissan Indonesia president director Isao Sekiguchi said. As a global electrification leader and big SUV player, Nissan has developed the all-new Nissan Kicks e-POWER as a reliable, sophisticated, efficient and fun supporter of those who want to experience driving electric cars, Sekiguchi continued. Environmentally friendly: The e-POWER system offers its drivers a 100 percent electric car experience. (Courtesy of/Nissan) First of all, the all-new Nissan Kicks e-POWER offers a 100 percent electric vehicle driving experience. In its e-POWER system, the cars wheels are fully put in motion by its electric motor, while its gasoline engine will only be used to charge its battery and connect electric currents to its motors. The system makes sure the car will use its gasoline engine only when really necessary, thus reducing noise and boosting fuel efficiency. The system supplies a maximum power of 95 kilowatts (kW) (129 PS) a maximum torque of 260 Newton meters (Nm), as well as a lithium-ion battery providing you a 100 percent electric vehicle-driving experience. Combined together, these features give you rapid yet smooth acceleration, instant torque, quiet cabins and superb fuel efficiency. The cars one-pedal operation also allows drivers to smoothly navigate crowded and chaotic urban traffic. The smart technology makes it possible for drivers to accelerate and decelerate using one pedal only: the gas pedal. On heavily congested urban roads, this one-pedal technology reduces the need to transition from one pedal to another, making your driving experience more comfortable and fun. The one-pedal operation even makes it possible to drive your car in a sporty, easy and more exciting way. Interruption-free: This car offers the sensation of driving an electric car without having to worry about external chargers. (Courtesy of/Nissan) Nissan's Safety Shield System, meanwhile, allows drivers to commute worry-free. The system comprises an Intelligent Forward Collision Warning technology, along with the first Intelligent Emergency Braking system in its class. The intelligent Forward Collision Warning detects sudden movements of the cars in front of the EV to immediately warn drivers that they could potentially hit the car in front of them. Meanwhile, the Intelligent Emergency Braking feature will automatically put on the car's brakes during emergency situations when the potential for collision has increased. The car also features another sophisticated technology that is the first in its class: Intelligent Cruise Control. This helps the vehicle to automatically keep itself within a safe distance and speed from the vehicle in front of it. Activating the system can help reduce driver exhaustion during long trips. Furthermore, the new EV also boasts Nissans other sophisticated technology to enhance commuters driving experience, such as Blind Spot Warning, Intelligent Around View Monitor with Moving Object Detection, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Intelligent Trace Control and Hill Start Assist. The all-new innovative SUV also boasts Nissans famous signature design: a distinctive V-motion grille, futuristic LED front lights with the unique Kicks logo, a two-tone exterior color design and 17-inch rims all of which give the car a modern and classy feel. Four exterior colors are also available: including two dual-tone color options Monarch Orange and Black as well as Storm White and Black, along with two classical monotone options: Gun Metallic and Black Star. The SUV also has a 175-millimeter-high ground clearance, suitable for various road types in Indonesia. The SUV also has a black sporty-looking, spacious cabin, leather-covered seats and a very high-capacity cabin (423 liters). The front seats have been equipped with zero gravity technology, designed to boost comfort and reduce exhaustion on long trips. The all-new Nissan Kicks e-POWER has been designed in a way that prioritizes the needs of Indonesia consumers. The e-POWER system, one-pedal operation and various sophisticated features have been carefully chosen to cater to the needs of EV drivers in Indonesia, Sekiguchi said. An effort backed by local clerks to allow early processing of absentee ballots in Michigans most-populated regions this election cycle is headed to Gov. Gretchen Whitmers desk as state elections officials prepare for record-breaking numbers of absentee voters. On Thursday, the Michigan House voted 94-11 on Senate Bill 757, legislation that would let clerks in communities with more than 25,000 people start preparing absentee ballots for counting a day early if they provide written notice to the Secretary of State at least 20 days before the election. Senators approved House changes Thursday night, meaning the legislation heads to Whitmer for final consideration. Currently, clerks arent allowed to remove absentee ballots from their outer envelopes until the morning of Election Day. Under the legislation, eligible clerks would still not be allowed to open the inner secrecy sleeve or begin actual tabulation of ballots until Election Day and the option to process the ballots early only applies to the Nov. 3, 2020 election. Related: Bill to allow earlier pre-processing of absentee ballots approved by House panel The legislation was expanded in the House to include additional elections reforms proposed by lawmakers, including requiring clerks to contact voters if they didnt sign their absentee ballot or if it doesnt match the one registered with the state and letting election workers manning absent voter counting boards to work in shifts on Election Day so long as no one leaves the premises prior to polls closing. Another change mandates additional security measures for absentee ballot drop boxes installed after Oct. 1, including provisions that drop boxes be under video surveillance in a well-lit area and be securely locked to avoid ballot tampering. These are commonsense measures that will help our clerks and election workers while preserving integrity, said Sen. Ruth Johnson, a Holly Republican who previously served as Secretary of State. This legislation will allow our local election officials to efficiently and securely process the estimated 3 million absentee ballots expected to be cast in this Novembers election. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and local clerks around the state had been pressuring the legislature to take action as more voters than ever are requesting absentee ballots. Michigan voters approved no-reason absentee voting in 2018, and the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred additional interest in voting remotely. As of this week, more than 2.39 million people a third of the states active voters have already requested an absentee ballot, per the Secretary of States office. The measures earned support from a wide bipartisan majority in both chambers, although some wished the reforms went further. Efforts by House Democrats to give clerks more than a day to pre-process and removing the 25,000-person threshold for pre-processing were rejected on the floor. Rep. Vanessa Guerra, D-Saginaw, said lawmakers would likely have to revisit the measure anyway due to its focus on the 2020 election, adding local governments could also use more funding to help implement costly security measures. This November will not be the last election we have, and certainly wont be the last election where we see an increased number of AV voters, she said. Related: With seven weeks to Election Day, lawmakers are considering these changes to voting laws Senate Bill 757 was among a handful of election-related bills and resolutions considered by lawmakers Thursday. Heres a rundown of other measures passed this week that would change how elections operate in Michigan: Electronic voting for overseas military 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 Bill 117, which passed both chambers Thursday and is now headed to the governor, would allow active-duty overseas military and their spouses to vote electronically. Related: Active duty military serving overseas could vote electronically under Michigan Senate-passed bill But including spouses in the measure concerned some Republicans, who supported an initial version of the bill that would require military members sign their absentee ballot with an electronic signature verified by the U.S. Department of Defense via the Common Access Card. Johnson, the original sponsor, took her name off the bill and voted against it, urging lawmakers to reinstate the Common Access Card signature requirement "to make sure that we know whos voting and make sure that we have integrity in our elections.' But Sen. Adam Hollier, D-Detroit, who serves in the U.S. Army Reserve, said most other states that allow electronic voting for the military dont require the Common Access Card stipulation, adding that voting absentee the traditional way from overseas is just as difficult for a military members family. Right now we have an opportunity not just to protect them, the men and women who wear our uniform and put their flag on our shoulder, but their families who sacrifice everything for them, Hollier said. Felonies for false absentee voter applications 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 Senate Bill 977 passed the House 77-26 on Thursday. A related bill sponsored by Reps. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton, and Pauline Wendzel, R-Watervliet, passed the House 74-29 and now heads to the Senate. Read more from MLive: Why it takes so long to count absentee ballots Michigan Senate passes bill to allow absentee ballot processing to begin one day early Appeals court rules sending absentee ballot applications to all registered voters was legal Michigan clerks begin mailing absentee ballots this week A third of active Michigan voters have requested absentee ballots Michigan clerks to state lawmakers: We need more time to count November ballots The National Medical Commission (NMC), in place of the (MCI), for development and regulation of all aspects of medical education and profession, has been constituted and will come into existence from Friday, a gazette notification said. With the NMC coming into being, the Board of Governors (BoG), which superseded the (MCI) on September 26, 2018, to perform its functions, will get dissolved and the nearly 64-year-old Indian Medical Council Act will stand abolished. Former head of Delhi All India Institute of Medical Sciences ENT department, Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma has been appointed for a period of three years with effect from September 25 while Rakesh Kumar Vats, the Secretary General in the Board of Governors of the MCI, presently, would be the secretary of the commission. The four autonomous boards under the NMC Act -- the Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB), Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB), Medical Assessment and Rating Board and the Ethics and Medical Registration Board -- have also been constituted, according to the notifications issued by Nipun Vinayak, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health on Thursday. "In pursuance of the provisions of sub-section (1) of the section 60 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 is hereby repealed with effect from the 25th day of September, 2020. "The Board of Governors appointed under section 3A of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 in supersession of the constituted under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the said Act shall stand dissolved," one of the notifications read. The NMC comprises a chairman, 10 ex-officio members and 22 part-time members. The ex-officio members include presidents of the four autonomous boards. "In pursuance of the provisions...of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 , the central government hereby constitutes the National Medical Commission," another notification read. "Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers...the central government hereby notifies that all the remaining provisions of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, shall come into force with effect from the 25th day of September, 2020," another one read. Dr Sharma, was on January2, appointed the chairman of the NMC,the new medical education regulator after the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved his appointment for a period of three years. "Under sub-section (2) of section 4, the Chairperson of the National Medical Commission (Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma) is appointed for a period of three years with effect from the 25th day of September," according to a notification said. Also, Rakesh Kumar Vats, the Secretary General in the Board of Governors of the MCI was appointed as the secretary of the commission for a similar term on January 2. The NMCAct, which seeks to usher in mega reforms in the medical education sector, received the assent of the president on August 8 and was published the same day. The Act provided for setting up of an NMCin place of the scam-tainted Medical Council of India. (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.) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Isabelle Sciamma (Agence France-Presse) Milan, Italy Fri, September 25, 2020 14:31 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c473451d 2 Lifestyle fashion-show,Milan-Fashion-Week,Prada,Armani,Italy,luxury,fashion Free Never before had Miuccia Prada seen so many people at one of her fashion shows. Of course, they were all watching from their computers. "Now we are with so many more people, and that's new, at least for me," said Prada on Thursday, following her digital show on the second day of Milan Fashion Week. The top Italian fashion brand, known for its subdued, darkly hued garments, shoes and handbags, is one of many presenting virtual fashion shows this season in Milan, as coronavirus cases continue to rise throughout Europe. The spring/summer 2021 collection was the debut Prada show for Raf Simons, the Belgian designer tapped as Prada's co-creative director in February. "It's a strange situation, it's my first show with Raf Simons and instead of being here with our friends in the industry, all our community, we are alone," Prada said in filmed comments, with Simons seated at her side. "But in fact what is really exciting is we're not alone at all," she said. The industry, which has been shaken by the coronavirus pandemic, is betting big on digital to rethink fashion as the virus continues to weigh on sales. The luxury houses showing at Milan are embracing the digital format like never before: shows are presented on TikTok, Instagram TV, YouTube or on dedicated mini-sites, like the one created by the house of Armani to present the new collection of its Emporio line. "During the lockdown we realized, mainly I realized, how important technology is and how it's impactful for us," Prada said, adding that with the film format "we hope you can enjoy and see the clothes better." Read also: Unsexy selfies, huffy fashionistas as Milan opens Sector in crisis Fashion Week is a key moment for business. "Fashion is the second-largest industrial sector in Italy and the peninsula produces 41 percent of the European Union's fashion turnover," said the president of the Fashion Chamber, Carlo Capasa, during the presentation of Fashion Week. But the Italian market lost a third of its sales in the first half of the year. Despite clear signs of recovery in China, a top market for luxury goods, uncertainty persists due to a second wave of the virus and the tightening of containment measures in many countries, which are slowing orders from retailers with a domino effect on the entire sector. With the bulk of international buyers unable to attend the shows due to travel restrictions, the brands have adapted: in the showroom, mannequins sport the new looks and personalized virtual appointments are offered. "Digital does not replace the emotion of the physical show, but it is thanks to digital that the sector is maintaining itself," said Capasa. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson scripted a complaint to President Donald Trump about how the presidential personnel office is handling his agency, notes seen by reporters on Friday show. Carson spoke at a 'Black Economic Empowerment' event organized by Trump's re-election campaign at an Atlanta conference center, ahead of Trump. Reporters watching on a television screen in the room got a partial, up-close view of talking points typed on the back of Carson's speech. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson accidentally revealed talking points meant for President Donald Trump as he delivered remarks Friday in Atlanta, Georgia Carson's notes could be read by reporters in the room as he planned to tell the president that he's been 'very loyal' but has issues with the presidential personnel office and likely aide John McEntee, as a 'John' is referenced The scripted notes were written on the backside of a paper Carson was using to deliver his speech at an event aimed to boost Trump with Black voters In the notes, Carson appeared to be complaining about Trump aide John McEntee, head of the presidential personnel office, referred to in the notes as PPO. Parts of the notes were obscured by Carson's microphone. 'Mr. President, I am your friend and I am very loyal to you, and after you win I (illegible) to stay in your administration,' Carson had written. I am not happy with the way PPO is handling my agency. I like John and respect (illegible) he is doing. However I am sensing a severe lack of trust with some of the...' Trump has tasked McEntee with ensuring loyalty among senior aides at Cabinet agencies, an administration source said. The White House declined to comment and no comment was immediately available from the agency. Carson, who was formerly a neurosurgeon, ran for president against Trump in the 2016 Republican Primary, but endorsed the New York real estate developer in March of 2016. He's one of the few cabinet heads remaining from Trump's original roster. Carson is the only Black member of Trump's cabinet and was on hand at an event meant to enhance the president's footing with Black voters. At the event, Trump made a series of promises to Black America, including establishing Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery, as a federal holiday. Trump, who announced the promises less than 40 days before the November presidential election, also pledged to designate two groups as terrorist organizations: the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan and the amorphous movement known as antifa that opposes fascism. He also promised to increase access to capital in Black communities, create more jobs, support Black-owned businesses and expanding opportunity zones. Trump said he 'will always put Americans first and that includes very, very importantly Black Americans.' Nothing short of an indictment in Taylors death could have convinced the masses that the process was fair. So once again, the demand for justice has threatened to throw our cities into chaos. Grand juries are supposed to be fair, but everyone knows that they often are not. Though they initially were formed to protect the public from an oppressive government, some say they have moved too far away from that mission. In recent years, there have been calls for the United States to completely abolish grand juries, as they were in England in 1948. The Supreme Court has held that nothing in the Constitution requires the use of a grand jury. In some cases, they have become a convenient tool for prosecutors who are too scared to make the tough decisions they were elected to make. Its true, as Cameron said in his news conference Wednesday, the grand jury is supposed to be independent of the prosecutor and free from outside influence. But prosecutors present their side of the events with no input from the opposing side. They only get to see and hear what the prosecutor puts in front of them. Bilkis Bano, the 82-year-old who earned the moniker "Dadi of Shaheen Bagh" during the long protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the national capital has now been named among the 100-most influential global personalities by Time magazine. "I am very happy that I was honoured in this manner. Although I did not expect this," said the grandmother after the recognition. Along with Bilkis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ayushman Khurrana, biologist Ravindra Gupta and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai were on the list of '100 Most Influential People of 2020' that was released on Wednesday and features pioneers, artists, leaders, icons and titans who have had the most impact in 2020. "I have read only the Quran Sharif and I have never been to school but today I feel excited and happy. I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for also being included in this list. He is also my son. So what if I did not give birth to him, my sister has given birth to him. I pray for his long life and happiness," Bilkis Bano said. Bilkis Dadi, who along with two other grandmothers emerged as the face of NRC-CAA protest, hails from Hapur, Uttar Pradesh. Her husband died about 11 years ago and she currently lives in Shaheen Bagh with her daughters-in-law and grandchildren. On being asked about India's fight against COVID-19, she said: "Our first fight is against coronavirus. The disease should be eliminated from the world." The family of Bilkis Dadi also expressed their excitement on her being recognised among the world's most influential people including Prime Minister Modi. KERRVILLE, Texas, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- James Avery Artisan Jewelry, a family-owned jewelry retailer based in Texas, announces the upcoming opening of its new store on Wednesday, October 7 in Lake Jackson, Texas at 204 Highway 332 West, Suite A in the Lake Jackson Center. "This new location is situated in the heart of Lake Jackson and surrounding communities, and this beautiful new store brings the James Avery shopping experience closer to home for our customers in the area," says James Avery Director of Customer Service and Marketing Communications Lindsey Avery Tognietti. At the moment, the James Avery shopping experience may be a little different, but the company is committed to making each visit to their stores convenient, inviting and memorable for customers. Tognietti says customer and associate safety is the number one priority and the Lake Jackson Center store will open following recommended health protocols and guidelines which have been implemented in all James Avery stores. There are hand sanitizing stations in the store for customers and associates as well as regular cleaning and sanitizing of all jewelry and high-touch areas of the store. The company asks customers to honor social distancing guidelines and wear face coverings when in store. James Avery associates undergo daily health screenings and wear facemasks. The current store hours will be Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, 12 to 6 p.m. and are subject to change. Lake Jackson Center customers are welcome to shop in the new store or use the 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 Press Release September 25, 2020 Bong Go gives full support to TESDA, judiciary budget; calls for continued government support for workforce development Senator Christopher "Bong" Go expressed his full support for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority's proposed budget for fiscal year 2021 during a hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Finance on Thursday, September 24. In his manifestation, the Senator, who serves as vice-chair of the committee, gave his confidence that the Philippines would bounce back and emerge stronger than ever despite the education sector being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. He thanked the hardworking men and women of TESDA whom he credited for ensuring that the nation's workforce steadily improved in the face of global competition. Go implored them against complacency and urged them to safeguard the gains made by providing the support needed so the nation could continuously strive to improve. "Napakarami pong umaasa sa TESDA, noon pa man, at napakarami ring natutulungan. Tama lamang po na tulungan natin sila dito sa kanilang budget," said Go, before expressing his gratitude to Secretary Isidro Lapena. Earlier this year, the Senator had issued a call to TESDA to provide more technical and vocational training and skills enhancement opportunities to displaced Filipino workers after the imposition of quarantine measures led to the closure of many businesses. According to Go, TESDA's programs must be responsive to the needs of the local economy as well as local and international developments that have an impact on labor and society. He urged the agency to actively participate in the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) program of the government by providing technical and vocational education and training programs to the beneficiaries who will be relocating back to their provinces. "Ang layunin po ng BP2 program ay mag-enganyo at matulungan ang mga Pilipinong gusto nang magsimula ng panibagong buhay sa kanilang mga probinsya. Wala pong pilitan ito. Kung sino po ang may gusto, tutulungan sila ng gobyerno na lumipat para mabigyan sila ng bagong pag-asa ng mas magandang buhay pagkatapos ng krisis," explained Go previously. "As PRRD said, starting fresh in the provinces would give Filipinos hope for a better future after COVID-19 crisis. Sa pagbabalik sa probinsya, mabibigyan sila ng bagong pag-asa," he continued. Go also recently urged TESDA to use its available resources to provide support and training to small local producers of protective masks that pass medical standards. He made the appeal after urging government to enforce a stronger mask-wearing policy as well as to promote and patronize local production of protective masks. "Tulungan rin nating makaahon ang mga lokal na industriya, tulad ng mga mananahi at mga nagbebenta ng raw materials na magagamit sa paggawa ng masks. Kung mapapalakas natin ang local production ng masks, mabibigyan natin ng livelihood ang mga tao, lalo na yung mga nawalan ng trabaho, at mas mapoprotektahan natin ang ating mga kababayan mula sa sakit," said Go. Judiciary Budget Meanwhile, Go also expressed his support to the judicial branch of the government as he manifested his support to its proposed 2021 budget. In a public hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Finance on Thursday, September 24, Go said, "I express my support for the Supreme Court and the entire Judiciary, one of the three co-equal branches of the government." "As our society cannot flourish without functioning courts, it is very important that the Judiciary is sufficiently funded so as to enable it to render its crucial mandate," he added. The Senator, meanwhile, asked the Judiciary to continue to implement measures and programs which will not only improve the performance of the courts but also, and equally importantly, rid itself of the bad eggs which tarnish its reputation. "After all, a healthy, independent, impartial, and corruption-free Judiciary is essential to a country which follows the rule of law, such as ours," he noted. WASHINGTON The Trump administration on Friday finalized its plan to open about nine million acres of the pristine woodlands of Alaskas Tongass National Forest to logging and road construction. The administrations effort to open the Tongass, the nations largest national forest, has been in the works for about two years, and the final steps to complete the process have been widely expected for months. They come after years of prodding by successive Alaska governors and congressional delegations, which have pushed the federal government to exempt the Tongass from a Clinton-era policy known as the roadless rule, which banned logging and road construction in much of the national forest system. The United States Forest Service, an agency of the Department of Agriculture, on Friday published an environmental study concluding that lifting the roadless rule protections in the Tongass would not significantly harm the environment. That study will allow the agency to formally lift the rule in the Tongass within the next 30 days, clearing the way for the Trump administration to propose timber sales and road construction projects in the forest as soon as the end of this year. In a 2019 draft of the study, the Forest Service said it would consider six possible changes to the rule. One option would have maintained restrictions in 80 percent of the area currently protected by the rule; another would have opened up about 2.3 million acres to logging and construction. In a statement released Thursday night, the Department of Agriculture said that its preferred alternative is to fully exempt the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule, which would open the nine million acres to development. By Maria Sheahan BERLIN (Reuters) - Police searched more than 40 homes and businesses in five German states early on Wednesday as part of an investigation into foreign workers being illegally brought to the country to be exploited in the meatpacking industry. Police want to question more than 80 foreign workers, mostly from non-European Union eastern European countries, including Ukraine and Belarus, a spokesman for federal police said. Germany's meatpacking sector has come under fire this year for the widespread use of sub-contracted migrant workers from eastern Europe, as cramped accommodation and poor oversight were blamed for accelerating coronavirus outbreaks. In response, the German cabinet passed a new law in July compelling meatpackers to employ staff directly in industrial abattoirs rather than sub-contracting. At the centre of the investigation are two companies, IRC and Berkana, suspected of having brought workers to Germany illegally, possibly using forged documents, for meatpacking jobs, as well as 10 individuals with Russian or eastern European roots, the spokesman said. He did not name the suspects. During the raids, police seized cash and other valuables worth 1.5 million euros ($1.75 million), the sum they estimate the companies made illicitly by passing on to workers only a fraction of the money meatpackers paid for their services. "We have a minimum wage in Germany, but we have to assume that foreign workers don't necessarily know that, and that they receive much less than that," the police spokesman said. IRC Czuprynscy in Poland said it was not possible for the company to send anyone to Germany with forged papers, while declining further comment. Berkana had no immediate comment. The raids focused on the town of Weissenfels in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, where Germany's largest meatpacker and exporter Toennies has a factory. A Toennies spokesman said there had been no raids at any of its offices or factories. He could not say whether IRC and Berkana were subcontractors of Toennies. (Additional reporting by Marcin Goclowski and Matthias Inverardi; Writing by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Michelle Martin and Barbara Lewis) There are lots of places to sell your stuff when you're ready. The kids today (yes, I just said that) use an app called Depop, so I would start there first. You can also try Poshmark, LetGo and other resale sites that attract slightly older audiences. Write a catchy ad, be as descriptive and honest as possible, and take excellent photos. You can search those apps and ebay to get an idea of how much your stuff is selling for. If you have something you think might be worth a few bucks more, take it to ebay, where you will probably find more serious buyers who are willing to pay more. If you find you've got a gift for reselling pleather tube tops, you might even want to start buying and reselling vintage clothes. It's a $28 billion market, according to estimates from analyst firm GlobalData. While I wouldn't recommend selling on Facebook Marketplace (it draws a very general audience), the site is a great place to watch for free or low-priced vintage clothes and to make "in search of" posts. People might even sell you entire boxes (so-called "lots") full of clothing for a very fair price just to have it out of their house. According to preliminary forecasts of the National Bank, Ukraine will be able to get only one loan from the International Monetary Fund by the end of the year. "There are two tranches left under this year's program. Of course, we no longer have an opportunity to receive two tranches as the year is nearing its end. What we can focus on and try to do now is to receive [one] IMF tranche by the end of the year. It is now clear that the tranche will be tied to the budget and, most likely, as in 2018, it will be tied to the adoption of the budget. That is, we are already talking about November. At the same time, other assistance programs are also tied to the IMF," Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Dmytro Solohub said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine. He noted that the second tranche of the IMF and the tranche of the World Bank, approved in late June, would probably have already been transferred to Ukraine if it hadn't been for the events around the National Bank. As reported, the Ministry of Finance expects to receive two tranches from the International Monetary Fund worth $700 million each by the end of the year. In June 2020, Ukraine received $2.1 billion loan from the IMF. ol Bihar is the first state to go to polls in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic and that makes it a test case, for it will be as big a challenge for the voters as it will be for the candidates and political parties. What makes the challenge even bigger is the trail of destruction left behind by severe floods affecting nearly 18 districts, a battered state economy and the approaching festive season. All the important festivals like Navratri, Durga Puja, Chhath, Diwali, Milad Un Nabi and a few more are scheduled in October-November, which usually bring migrants back home. With a large number of migrants already back and more likely to join, their mood and behaviour would be a thing to watch in the face of Covid-19 pandemic. Though there is usually talk of anti-incumbency factor after 15-year-rule by any particular leader, in Bihar, a fractured opposition does not seem fully prepared to cash in on it, while the NDA is confident of another victory under Nitish Kumar. Here is a look at the 10 key issues likely at play in Bihar assembly elections 2020: 1. Voting percentage The 2015 assembly election saw the highest voter turnout of 56.8% in Bihar largely due to greater participation by women. That will be a challenge to match for the election commission, as this is the first election happening in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic. The trail of devastation caused by floods in 18 districts will also be a big handicap. As the EC announced the election, Bihar government was still battling a heavy discharge from rivers originating in Nepal. 2. Digital reach This election will be different from the past on more than one count. First and the foremost, campaigning mode will not be the same. Big rallies and public meetings will not be possible leaving the parties to reach out to masses either digitally or through limited physical outreach. That will mean a paradigm shift in electioneering and greater dependence on technology. 3. Migration For the first time, the Opposition is trying to play up the migration issue in Bihar and the ruling dispensation is working hard to project its handling of the issue as its success. With nearly 30-lakh migrants reaching Bihar from various parts of the country amid the nationwide lockdown and poignant scenes going viral on social media, the issue will remain hot. Migration from Bihar is not a new development, but the pandemic has reversed the norm. 4. Covid-19 management The healthcare in Bihar will be under a sharp focus. Conscious of it, the ruling dispensation brought about quick changes in the health department to get things right and it now has statistics under control with consistently falling fatality and positivity rates and an increase in testing for the disease. However, the opposition has been questioning the veracity of the figures. This may lead to a verbal showdown before the electorate. Also Read: Bihar Assembly Election 2020: Polls to be held in three phases from October 28, says EC 5. Employment or lack of it At a time when unemployment and falling economy are national issues, its echo in Bihar election is quite natural. Aware of it, the NDA offered jobs balm to migrants to assuage the hurt. The Opposition has been trying to play up unemployment as a big poll issue. Bihars unemployment rate had increased to 46.6% in April 2020, as per a survey by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). 6. Dalit assertion Dalit politics has taken precedence over minority politics before Bihar elections this time. Dalit leaders like Jitan Ram Manjhi and Shyam Razak have also switched sides. Constituting nearly 16% of the state population, the Dalits are in hot demand politically. How they behave could be an important factor this time. 7. Minority issues This is the first election in Bihar when issues of Ram Mandir and Article 370 may not have the same impact. The buzz over CAA-NRC, which was quite loud before March, has also subsided. How the minorities will vote in this backdrop will be a thing to watch. They are traditionally known to vote in en masse and could impact the results on nearly 80 assembly seats and the influence could be more pronounced in the Seemanchal region. 8. Farm bills As the protests grow over the two new farm reform bills passed by the Parliament and a war of words on the issue between the BJP and the Opposition escalates, Bihar elections may prove to be the first ground test of its traction amongst the masses. The PM had said during a launch of projects that Centre had followed the Bihar model for the farm reform bills. Bihar had dissolved all agriculture marketing committees and marketing boards in the state in 2006 after repealing the state APMC Act. Nitish Kumar has already said it improved procurement, however, the Opposition has hit the streets on the issue. Also Read: From Modi to Owaisi, 6 key faces in face-off between Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav 9. Education Education has always been a big issue in Bihar. While the ruling dispensation takes pride in a chain of national and state-level institutions, including medical colleges, engineering colleges and polytechnics, created during the NDA regime, the Opposition plays up the issues of quality and school teachers. Schools teachers continue to be unhappy despite Nitish governments pre-poll sops to calm them down. 10. Law & order Nitish Kumar came to power in 2005 using the law and order issue. It has always been a selling point for Nitish administration. But the RJD-led Opposition has started raising it as a big issue citing recent incidents of murder and loot. The war of words between the NDA and GA leaders has only intensified on the issue recently. Thorolds two Catholic elementary schools will be consolidating students under one roof thanks to a $5-million provincially-funded project. The Niagara Catholic District School Board was officially given the green light Monday to construct an addition to Monsignor Clancy elementary. Construction of the addition is slated to be complete in 2022. The addition to the existing school will allow the new building, to be called Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, to also teach students from St. Charles Catholic elementary. The school name is a nod to Catholic educations past in Thorold, as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary was the name of an elementary school which opened in 1928 and closed in 1999. It is also the name of Thorolds Catholic Church parish. St. Charles currently includes students from kindergarten through Grade 3 at 25 Whyte Ave. N, who for years have had to move over to Monsignor Clancy, located at 41 Collier Rd., for grades 4 through 8 before moving on to high school. The Catholic board, along with Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce and Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff, announced the funding approval. A.T. Clancy Catholic School, named for Monsignor Aloysius Treaner Clancy who was the pastor of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary parish in the 1950s and 60s, opened in 1964 for grade 6 to 8 students. In 1989, monsignor Clancy began to transition into a secondary school before reverting to elementary status in 1999, following amalgamation of the Welland County and Lincoln County Catholic school boards in 1998. Provincial funding includes a capital priorities grant of $3.4 million and a child care funding grant of $1.5 million for a total of $5,040,382. The plan to consolidate the two Catholic elementary schools in Thorold has been discussed for quite some time, said Catholic board director of education Camillo Cipriano in a media release. We have been functioning as a single community under two roofs for a long time, said Dan Trainor, principal of Monsignor Clancy. The community has patiently waited for this; and deserves this opportunity for families to be together at school. Since this process began, family support has contributed to the success of two schools functioning as one., said Susy Walsh, principal of St. Charles elementary. Highlights of the addition and renovation include: 104 new pupil places, which will allow for 130 junior and senior kindergarten students A five-room kindergarten addition 49 licensed child care spaces A three-room child care centre renovation The board said construction is set to begin in October and is anticipated to last 12-16 months. Our Lady of the Holy Rosary will house 700 students. In case there was any doubt about our current predicament, Dr Ronan Glynn, the acting chief medical officer, declared it officially this week: Ireland has entered a second wave of Covid-19. "We're moving into the second chapter," he said. "It's a particularly difficult time for the country because everyone is sick and tired of this at this stage and the idea of having to phase into restrictions, measures, decreasing our social contacts, is frankly a horrible one for people." We may find it hard to cope psychologically with months of increased restrictions and the calamitous prospect of a renewed upsurge of deaths. But we may be better equipped to deal with the latest surge than we were when Covid-19 first struck here in late February and March. What have we learned about tackling the virus and crushing the curve since the eventful spring, when the then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar ordered a lockdown? The government of the time and the health authorities succeeded in some respects in limiting the damage. Unlike authorities in the UK and the US, they acted promptly in imposing restrictions and curbing the rapid spread of the virus. But in other ways, the Irish authorities were caught badly off guard: the biggest disaster of the crisis so far has been the failure to protect residents in nursing homes, which have been linked to over half the Irish deaths. There are other groups that have been disproportionately put at risk of infection: healthcare professionals, meat plant workers and those who live in direct provision. Read More Our success in dealing with the virus will depend on how the authorities have adapted to these difficulties and changed their practices. Improved treatments Expand Close Dr Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dr Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health. The growing medical knowledge of how to treat patients will play a role in whether this renewed upsurge is as damaging as the previous one. "We have learned a lot about the virus in the past six months," says Dr Laura Durcan, a Beaumont Hospital rheumatologist and member of the national council of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association. "It is no longer an unknown entity." By June, research had indicated that the steroid Dexamethasone can be a lifesaver for patients who are critically ill with Covid-19. Dr John Bates, an intensive care consultant in Galway and dean of the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, says: "We know that Dexamethasone reduces mortality in patients who need mechanical ventilation by about a quarter." Remdesivir, an antiviral drug that was originally developed to treat Ebola, may not be a lifesaver, but clinical trials show it can cut the duration of symptoms from 15 days to 11. Durcan says we now also know better what drugs do not work. Despite the endorsement by US president Donald Trump, the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine has been found to be ineffective in treating Covid-19. Boosting intensive care The success of doctors in saving lives during the second wave could depend on how well-prepared intensive care units (ICUs) are. One of the frequently cited reasons for the rapid lockdown in March was the shortage of places for patients in ICUs, where the most seriously ill Covid patients are commonly treated. There were fears that the hospitals would be overwhelmed. Before the pandemic, the state had just 257 intensive care unit beds, and since the pandemic, that capacity has increased modestly to 280. "We managed to get to 400 beds during the first surge," says intensive care consultant John Bates. "But that required us to shut down most scheduled surgical care in a lot of hospitals. We would be concerned if that happened again." Having the trained intensive care staff on hand to treat patients is as important as the equipment itself. In the spring emergency, ICUs were prepared for the surge by diverting staff from operating theatres, and also using theatre equipment and spaces. Bates says this approach was taken because the staff working there had a similar mix of skills. He is concerned about what will happen in the winter flu season, when there could also be a rise in Covid admissions to hospital. The HSE's winter plan has promised 17 extra intensive care beds as well as other additional capacity in hospitals. "You have to recruit nurses and train them. They would need to be recruiting them now if they want to create extra capacity over winter," Bates says. On the plus side, ICUs are physically better equipped to deal with a surge than they were in spring. Bates says there is now no shortage of ventilators. There are now also hopes that the normal winter flu surge will not be as severe as in previous years. "There has been a lighter flu season in the southern hemisphere, and that usually gives us an indication of what might happen here," Bates says. Because people are travelling less, maintaining social distancing and taking other precautions, flu does not seem to have spread as widely in southern hemisphere this year. A report in The Economist this month showed that from May to mid-August of 2015-19 an average of 86,000 people in Australia tested positive for the flu each year, and about 130 died of it. But this winter its government has registered only 627 influenza infections and just a single death. Hospital preparations Healthcare staff and other frontline workers are now much better equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE) than they were at the start of the pandemic. Hospitals are going to great lengths to screen patients and staff for Covid-19 and reduce risks of infection, but in many cases their old-fashioned designs and poor ventilation still make this difficult, according to Durcan. Some emergency departments have the space to maintain social distancing, but Durcan says that in Beaumont Hospital, staff are limited by poor 1980s infrastructure. The spread of Covid-19 as an airborne pathogen has highlighted how patients should be accommodated in single rooms with their own bathrooms, she says. "In my hospital, 25pc of the rooms are single and most of the rest of them are six-bed units where everyone shares a bathroom," she adds. "From an infection control point of view, you are putting six sick people into one room and getting them to share a bathroom." Protecting nursing home residents Reports in recent weeks have highlighted the spread of Covid-19 among young people, and there have been some suggestions that this is in some ways less damaging. But Professor Philip Nolan, chairman of the National Public Health Emergency Team's (Nphet) Irish epidemiological modelling advisory group, warned that there has also recently been an increase in cases among older people. The incidence in over-65s is now about four times what it was five weeks ago. Dr Colm Henry, the HSE's chief clinical officer, said this week that it was not possible to keep nursing homes completely immune from a virus openly spreading through the community. Expand Close Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer, HSE / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer, HSE While the failure to protect nursing home residents in the spring proved to be disastrous and is likely to have resulted in hundreds of deaths, there are hopes that they will be better protected during this second wave. During the summer, a report by an expert panel, led by University College Dublin professor of public health Cecily Kelleher made 86 recommendations to reform how older people are cared for in nursing homes. Prof Kelleher told Review that the supply of PPE in nursing homes and the testing of residents and staff had improved. "In general, we learned from the first wave of this that where there is wide community transmission, you have to be vigilant around vulnerable groups such as residents of nursing homes. "In our report, we were very clear that there needs to be rapid testing and turnaround of results, and staff needed to be able to take swabs. That is in place, I believe." The HSE has also created Covid-19 response teams to deal with outbreaks in nursing homes. John Sheehan, a Cork GP and councillor who is medical officer of the Farranlea community nursing home, says that more precautions are now taken with staff and visitors. "The screening of patients coming out of hospitals into nursing homes has vastly improved. In our nursing home, they put in an isolation procedure for two weeks. So when a patient comes in, the risk of them spreading it to another resident is significantly reduced. "There has been improved infection control and the HSE is moving towards a maximum of four in multi-occupancy rooms," he says. "That will take time, but it should reduce the risk. If you look at the transmission in nursing homes, multi-occupancy rooms was a factor. "Staff education, infection control measures and PPE have all improved and that should reduce the risk. It is also important that the nursing homes can now do the testing themselves." Staff in nursing homes have worked tirelessly through the crisis, often for meagre rewards, and it will be hard to maintain morale through the winter. Contact tracing and going local An effective test-and-tracing operation around the country is seen as essential in reducing the spread of the virus, but this becomes more difficult when the virus surges. A study by Imperial College London found that if 80pc of cases and contacts are identified and there is immediate testing following symptom onset and quarantine of contacts within 24 hours, then the reproductive rate of the virus can be reduced by up to 26pc. Ireland's test-and-tracing system has worked better than that in Britain, where it has fallen apart, according to Anthony Staines, professor of health systems at Dublin City University. Prof Staines said we had a large-scale test-and-trace system in operation in May and June, but this was scaled down in June and July. The country has the capacity for 15,000 tests a day. "Our system is reasonably accessible and reasonably quick, but it is still not fast enough," he says. Professor Mary Horgan, an infectious diseases consultant, says we need a more refined way of tackling outbreaks at a local level. "What we need now is real-time information about an outbreak in a local area. There should be immediate testing and tracing, so that you get on top of the infection in a small locality with local contact tracers and local public health doctors. "We need to understand how it is transmitted, so that we have a more bespoke way of introducing restrictions." This local approach is the one used in Germany, where contact tracing is the responsibility of regional public health authorities. Germany was also able to rely on a pharmaceutical industry that quickly produced viable tests and a hospital system that had so much spare capacity that it was able to treat patients from neighbouring EU countries as well as German patients. In the current phase of the pandemic, the Irish authorities seem keener on local restrictions than national lockdowns, which is seen as the sledgehammer solution. They now seem willing to differentiate between counties and regions. "The county-by-county approach seems reasonable, but the message has been confusing," says Staines. "The way it was put across, there were five levels that a county could be at, but Dublin was not in any of them." Maintaining public morale While the medical outlook may have improved and precautions have been put in place, the response to the crisis has probably deteriorated in one important respect. The messages delivered to the public are a lot less clear than in spring when there was a simple message for the public: stay at home and avoid social contact. Since Micheal Martin took over as Taoiseach, the advice has been ambiguous. On the one hand, the Government wanted to open up the country to revive the economy and maintain our sanity. On the other, it has had to impose restrictions and stop the spread of the virus. Another reason for the mixed messaging is that we now have three parties in government, and a Tanaiste who has been accused of acting as though he was the chief. The public is constantly being advised to avoid "house parties", but the message seems to conjure up an image of students raving in a bedsit, when it is just as likely to be a family gathering. "The problem is not necessarily 47 teenagers crammed into a two-bed semi-D somewhere having a party," says Staines. "It could be 12 people having a very civilised dinner party in Foxrock." The challenge now is to keep the public onside and motivated in the coming months, according to Durcan. "Everyone got really gunned up for the battle in March. But we need to maintain the troops for the war that isn't going away." Back in March, the then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar borrowed a line from Winston Churchill when he said: "Never will so many ask so much of so few." As we get ready for the long haul, another line of Churchill's gives a sense of the difficult task ahead: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." India hasnt been an easy market for Harley, where its had an assembly plant for a decade and sells a few thousand bikes. The company operates a complete knock-down assembly plant, where components and parts are imported from the U.S. and assembled into motorcycles for the local market. It also produces the Harley-Davidson Street series for sale outside North America. Finding the price sweet spot and gaining traction in India, even with models made for the market with smaller engines, has been difficult. Discounts sometimes help; at other times, they turn off buyers. Bike manufacturers have struggled with the existential approach more for less, or vice versa? Indian consumers are aspirational and not that easy to please: A cheaper model of a high-end brand wont cut it. Taxes on larger powertrains are punitive. Harleys bikes can cost as much as 1.1 million rupees (about $15,000). Thats steep for a market where the average bike with decent mileage starts at 50,000 rupees, and its nearest competitor prices closer to 150,000 rupees. Ontarios government should look close to home to help the economy recover from the ravages of COVID-19, realtors say. More home sales, more home renovations and more homes built outside the urban core would promote consumer spending and create jobs, according to the Ontario Real Estate Association. The key instrument for economic recovery in Ontario is the sale of homes, which will result in an injection of more homes on the market and create spinoff jobs and consumer spending, said association president and former Niagara-area MPP Tim Hudak. The Ontario group issued a report this week with 15 recommendations to help Ontarios economy. Among them: a six-month holiday on the land transfer tax levied on home sales; a permanent increase in the land transfer tax rebate for first-time buyers to $6,000 from the current $4,000; and introducing a home renovation tax credit to spur people to improve or expand their properties. Especially in Ontario, there is so much the government can do to spur on the economy, said Terri McCallum, president of Niagara Association of Realtors. She cited studies showing for every house that is sold, there is about $73,250 now in spinoff. All the paint people buy, renovations, appliances and furniture, there are lots of taxes that are collected. Just so much. Canadas real estate market is already humming, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association. It reports net home sales rose by 6.2 per cent in August over July, while listings rose 10.6 per cent. The national average sale price was 18.5 per cent higher in August than during the same month last year. In Niagara, the number of new homes sold in August was 37 per cent higher than August 2019, and the benchmark sale price of $482,600 was 15 per cent higher than last year. Meanwhile, Canadas unemployment rate is slowly receding but was still 10.2 per cent in August. Niagaras rate was 12.3 per cent. It would be a smart move to get more people in the housing market, said McCallum. When you (do that) those people are moving up from rental units, so that frees up a lot of rental units. She pointed to the land transfer tax as an obstacle people face in buying a home. The rate is a half percentage point on the first $55,000, one per cent on the rest up to $250,000 and another 1.5 per cent on the next $150,000. If you were to take that three or four or $5,000 and put it back into the economy you know, buy furniture or things for the house that would be a better place for it, we believe, said McCallum. Expanding home renovation tax credits would have the same effect, she said. It just seems to make sense that you need to put money back into the economy, and the housing market plays such a big role. If you put money into peoples pockets they are only going to spend it in other areas and that will help the rest of the economy. McCallum said the Ontario association hasnt heard back from the province on its recommendations. Hudak stepped down in 2016 as MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook to join the real estate association. In a release, he said a survey conducted by Altus Consulting Group showed three in 10 Ontarians said they would be likely or somewhat likely to buy a home sooner if they werent charged the land transfer tax on the first $600,000 of the sale price. Also, 28 per cent said they would likely take advantage of a home renovation tax credit if it was offered. CLEVELAND -- Having a mental health need can be a dangerous and even deadly proposition in law enforcement encounters and in Cuyahoga County Jail. Consider the man diagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia disorders, whom Garfield Heights police officers punched, kicked and repeatedly shocked with a stun gun and who then spent months in jail before the police body camera videos were obtained by cleveland.com in June. Or Jasper Muldrow, who was in psychiatric seclusion at the Cuyahoga County Jail when he was allegedly assaulted by a jail officer in November 2018. Or Gregory Fox, who hanged himself in the Cuyahoga County Jail in August 2018, who needed psychiatric treatment, according to a lawsuit brought against the county by his family. To truly prevent these tragedies, we have to look at where interactions between the justice system and people with mental illness too often start: with police. People with mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed by police during encounters than the general population, according to a 2015 study. One in four deaths at the hands of police involve people with mental illness, according to a Washington Post survey. The Washington Post also found that they are disproportionately Black and other people of color. This is a national issue that cities around the country are grappling with, and this issue is striking closer and closer to home here in Cleveland. As all eyes turn to Cleveland for the first presidential debate next Tuesday, policing is top of mind, and how we police those people experiencing mental health emergencies should be paramount. Its a pity none of these issues is likely to be raised, because none has been included in the debate topics. We must reimagine police involvement in mental health emergencies in favor of care response alternatives. There is already growing recognition by the public and law enforcement that police are being asked to do jobs they were never intended to do by responding to people having mental health emergencies. As the presidential candidates arrive in Cleveland, they should know that American voters are paying attention to where they stand on mental health and policing. Across party lines, voters overwhelmingly want their elected officials to do more to support mental health care, according to an online July 2020 survey by Benenson Strategy Group. Proven solutions exist, driven by communities that are reimagining the future of public safety and policing. The best-known example, Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets, or CAHOOTS, has been active for more than 30 years in Eugene, Oregon, and has been proven to save lives and money. Of the 24,000 calls CAHOOTS responded to last year, police backup was requested just 250 times. In 2019, the program calculates it saved an estimated $14 million in ambulance and emergency room treatment costs, as well as $8.5 million in public safety costs -- nontrivial amounts in a city with an annual budget around $800 million. Versions of the model are now being considered and replicated in San Francisco, New York City and Indianapolis. Proven care response alternatives like this one improve on how we respond to and support people with mental health emergencies. These models use trained civilian responders and redirected funding to support a more nuanced and appropriate urgent response. Police around the country have been shown to be on board. We envision a future that upholds the dignity of those living with mental illness and empowers their life choices. We envision a future where interactions with police do not escalate to life-threatening violence for people with mental illness, where police resources are freed up to focus on crimes, and where fewer people with mental health concerns are being housed in jails and prisons around the country, including here in Cuyahoga County. Dr. Ashwin Vasan is president and CEO of Fountain House in New York City. Lori DAngelo is executive director of Magnolia Clubhouse in Cleveland. Have something to say about this topic? * Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication. * Email general questions, comments or corrections on this opinion column to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com. By Azernews By Akbar Mammadov Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry has said that the chain of provocations committed by Armenia under the leadership of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan both in words and deeds has undermined the negotiation process and led to a significant rise of tension in the region. In a statement issued on September 24, the ministry also said that the bellicose statements, military, and other provocations accompanied by aggressive military posturing show that Armenia is preparing for new aggression against Azerbaijan. The ministry reminded that Armenia has adopted a military doctrine and national security strategy under Pashinyan, which envisages a concept of new war for new territories and define the strategic goal of this country in the negotiation process as safeguarding the outcomes of the war. Recalling Armenias attack on Azerbaijans border Tovuz region on July 12-16, the ministry said that the attack was aimed to seize new territories of Azerbaijan. Having failed in this test attack, nevertheless continuing preparation for the next turn of aggression, Armenia has acquired a large amount of weapons and ammunition and concentrated its forces along the line of contact. Threats of striking Azerbaijans critical civilian infrastructure and large residential areas are accompanied by intensified military reconnaissance and subversive actions deep inside the territory of Azerbaijan. In parallel, Armenia announced the establishment of a civilian militia consisting of tens of thousands of civilians who will be forced to undertake military actions against Azerbaijan, the ministry said. In view of Armenias preparation for a new military offensive, the ministry called on the international community, in particular, the OSCE Minsk Group and its Co-Chairmen to bring Armenia to terms of common sense and urge this country to refrain from another aggression. The ministry cited illegal resettlement of ethnic Armenians from the Middle East in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, Pashinyans numerous inflammatory rhetoric and his illegal visits to occupied territories, Anna Hakobyans participation in military training for women among the long list of provocations committed under Pashinyans administration. The ministry further recalled that Pashinyan called for Karbakhs unification with Armenia in August 2019, while Defence Minister Davit Tonoyan in March 2019 threatened to occupie more Azerbaijani territories in case of the resumption of the war. The Cambodian government is shoring up its finances as the withdrawal of some European Union trade preferences leaves its mark on an economy already struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic and an exodus of Western businesses. The hardest hit is the $7 billion garment, textiles, and footwear industry, where about 700,000 workers earn a basic $190 a month, including $7 for transportation and rent, producing for big-name brands such as Levi's Strauss, H&M, and Adidas, six days a week. The government has allocated a $1.2 billion spending package to help offset losses from the partial withdrawal of trade preferences under the Everything But Arms program - which provides duty- and quota-free access to the EU market for all products other than arms -- that went into effect last month and the impact of the pandemic which has taken a heavy toll on a once-thriving industry. Phen Kosal, who has worked at Hung Wah Cambodia garment factory producing clothing for export for the last six years, says the EBA partial withdrawal was having a dreadful impact on her work prospects amid layoffs, loss of overtime, and reduced hours. Now, I am begging for the governments help because of this issue. Im also in debt with the banks and financial institutions, which is why Im desperately seeking help. Her sentiments were echoed by Sao Chen, who works at the Meng Da Footwear factory. He estimated that overall earnings - including his own - were down 20 percent, while many workers had been laid off for four to six months. The main problem we are facing today is some workers are the only breadwinners feeding an entire family at home. Sometimes their monthly income is only $100 to $200 and they spend everything on rent, food, kids school and there are many more costs. EBA trade preferences go to the least developed countries that meet international standards of democracy and human rights. However, a ban preventing the main opposition party from contesting elections in 2018 amid a crackdown on dissent and the independent press resulted in a victory for Prime Minister Hun Sens long-ruling Cambodian Peoples Party in every contested seat. That upset the EU Cambodia's largest trading partner, accounting for 45 percent of 2018 exports prompting the withdrawal of the preferences. The partial withdrawal has hit about 20 percent of Cambodia's exports to the EU, and early estimates say this will cost the business about $130 million. Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia data shows that 450 garment and footwear factories in Cambodia had suspended work, while 83 factories closed in the first half of this year, affecting about 150,000 workers. GMAC Secretary-General Ken Loo said the EU had erred by withdrawing those preferences on August 12, amid the COVID -19 pandemic, which has had a much greater impact on the Cambodian economy. Numerous brands and retailers in Europe and North America have canceled or delayed orders due to the drop in retail sales in Europe from the pandemic, he said. Consequently, millions of Cambodian citizens could fall back into poverty due to this crisis. There are other issues affecting the economy. The ports are crammed with goods once destined for the EU. High debt levels among small borrowers in the microfinance industry and a sharp drop in remittances from workers abroad amid the pandemic have also taken a toll. Meas Sok Sensan, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, put a brave face on the withdrawal telling the government-friendly news portal Fresh News this did not mean Cambodia would lose export markets in Europe. Europe is still Cambodia's exporting destination. The EBA partial withdrawal means some Cambodian goods are no longer on the tax exemption list anymore, he said. While brands, however, can move to another country, as many Western expat businessmen and NGOs did after the elections, their workers cannot. I think this issue is going to make for some job losses for the worker if we dont have the orders or if the brand does not stay in the country, said Athit Kong, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union. I think the parties need to work together to maintain and to keep this benefit for the country, and especially for the workers, he said. 'BJP karyakartas should reach out to farmers on ground,' says PM Modi Farmers shout slogans as they block a railway track during a protest against farm bills passed by India's parliament, in Devi Dasspura village on the outskirts of Amritsar, India, September 24, 2020. REUTERS/Munish Sharma A country-wide bandh is being observed on Friday against the Centres contentious farm bills. Various farmers bodies, including the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) are participating in the Bharat Bandh. Also, in Punjab, farmers three-day rail roko agitation has entered its second day as protesters continue to sit on railway tracks across the state. Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the oldest ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power at the Centre, will hold a chakka jam across Punjab against the agricultural bills. The partys only representative in the Union cabinet, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, had resigned last week in protest against the bills. Follow all live updates here: In most West and Central African main markets, some local apparel shops or even online, it is easy to buy Michelle Obamas handbags, Michelle Obamas shoes or [Kwame] Nkrumahs pencils. Except these arent exactly items that the US former first lady or Ghanas first president has used. Nor are these real shoes, handbags or pencils. Still, on a mid-morning shopping trip last January, Hawa Diallo and her friend Naa Ayorkor Tetteh walked the crowded alleys of the Marche HLM (HLM Market) in Senegals capital Dakar, hoping to score a good deal on any of the items. The market is known to be the best place to find all things fabric. Indeed, the shoes, handbags or pencils they were looking for are actually popular names for different designs and color patterns specific to one of the most enduring and widespread clothing materials from West and Central Africa: a distinctively colourful and elaborately designed 100 per cent cotton fabric commonly referred to as the wax hollandais, ankara or kitenge. Riotously colorful, densely patterned, and unassailably fabulous, is how Sara Archer, an art writer, described wax hollandais in a 2016 news report for Hyperallergic, an American art and culture online magazine. At the time, the fabric and the fashion it has inspired were part of an official exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, about an hour-and-a-half drive from New York City. The origin of the printed fabric and its popularity in Africa date back to the mid-1800s when a Dutch company, now named Vlisco, traded it in West Africas coastal towns. Since then, the fabric has been a mainstay of African fashion. The generic wax hollandais reference originated then. But the name has now extended to any similarly printed fabric, irrespective of the print technique or the manufacturer. Over the last decade, the popularity of the fabric has grown outside the continent, including among the African diaspora and African American communities in the US. Beyond the fashion however, the unique tradition of naming the patterns as they come on the market, make them one of the best chronicles of historical and contemporary events, reflecting social trends or celebrating social rites of passage. Kofi Annans brains The most iconic of the fabrics, recognisable the world over, is Angelina, a V-shaped ornate main pattern with a dotted band on the edge, reportedly inspired by Ethiopian clothing tradition. The name came from a very popular song by a Ghanaian high-life band released around the time the fabrics were offered for sale. Angelina comes in several colour combinations and is almost always worn in dashiki style. The dashiki is a pull-over outfit either as a shirt or dress - with the V-shaped pattern forming the collar at the front while the same pattern is centrally displayed at the back. The most iconic of the fabrics, recognisable the world over, is Angelina, a V-shaped ornate main pattern with a dotted band on the edge, reportedly inspired by Ethiopian clothing tradition. Another design, showing clusters of three trees grouped together in a brain-like shape, is called Kofi Annans brains. The name came about because the pattern design hit the market around the time Mr. Annan was ending his second term as United Nations Secretary-General. The brain-like shape pattern was seen as a symbol of his brilliant mind. Following former US president Barack Obamas historic election in 2008, consumers found ways to honor him and first lady Michelle Obama. Two of the fabric patterns that hit the market around the same time were called Barack Obamas heart and the other Michelle Obamas handbags. Mrs. Obama later visited a few countries in Africa, and another pattern was named after her shoes, symbolizing her setting foot on the continent. As for Nkrumahs pencils, the pattern celebrates the sharpness of the intellect of the legendary pan Africanist. None of these names were from the company itself but from consumers cleverly linking fashion to history, celebrating famous people or expressing the trends of the moment. Afrochic The same patterns can have alternative names in different countries. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for instance, Angelina is called Ya Mado because dancers in a video of the song were wearing the fabric pattern. Another pattern, commonly referred to as cha cha cha, evokes the 1960s legendary Congolese rumba tune titled Independence cha cha. In Ghana the same pattern is called Senchi Bridge after a suspension bridge on the Volta River that swings widely when travelled on. In neighbouring Togo cha cha cha is referred to as the back of the chameleon. Whether in the DRC, Ghana or Togo, these names chronicle life events, reflecting milestones such as independence or the end of war, or changes in fortunes or personal circumstances and more. For a long time, women were the fabrics largest consumers for its simply designed attires - usually a two-piece skirt and top, or a three-piece top, bottom and waistcloth. Men would mostly make simple shirts out of the fabric or an ensemble of a top and trousers that is worn on special occasions. But things have changed, Johannesburg-based fashion designer Tanya Kagnaguine told Africa Renewal from South Africa. The offering is no longer just about a two or three-piece usual wear. It is about offering new contemporary designs capable of rivalling ready-made attire imported from Europe. These new designs, Tanya calls them Afrochic, are a blend of traditional African designs and modern and creative fashion wear. These fabrics have always been part of our daily lives, part of our culture, and part of our moments of celebrations and of sorrows American artists such as Beyonce Knowles, Rihanna, Madonna; politicians and world leaders like Nelson Mandela, Ghanas president Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, US former first and second ladies Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, have all embraced the fabric and its Afrochic designs. As the revival of the ankara/kitenge was taking off in the mid-2000s, Tanya left her high paying international job and set up her own company Fafa Creations to respond to growing local demand after the apartheid years. Really African? But as much as the ankara/kitenge is considered the most iconic of all African fabrics, a few critics point out that Vlisco, which is still in business centuries later, is neither African nor based in Africa. They also point out that the batik technique distinctive of the original fabrics is reportedly of Indian origin, first introduced to Indonesia where it failed to gain traction, before being exported to West Africa, hinting that African pride in those prints might be misplaced. It ours, nonetheless because we made it so, Esi Atiase, a Senegal-based digital entrepreneur counters. These fabrics have always been part of our daily lives, part of our culture, and part of our moments of celebrations and of sorrows, she says. And for her, it is fitting and proper to claim and celebrate that heritage. These are our stories To honor that tradition and celebrate this heritage, Esi and her colleagues created an animated video mapping of some of the classic patterns. They debuted it at the 2016 Dakar biennial art festival before showing it later that year at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris, France. One of the classics they digitally animated was the Jumping Horse, also known as Je cours plus vite que ma rivale, meaning I run faster than my rival. In West Africa, the design pattern came out in the years leading to the 1995 Beijing womens conference, at a time of debate on womens rights and the legal status of polygamy. Another pattern design linked to the same public debate was Si tu sors, je sors, literarily meaning You leave, I leave. While at a simple level it could be seen as a spousal warning against infidelity, it was also seen as a proclamation of determination among young women in the region to have their rights respected. By video mapping the fabrics Esi believes she is raising awareness of the social relevance of the fabric, while also serving as a tribute to innovation, artistic creativity and the consumers choice to share their thoughts and celebrate life through their clothing. This is us, these are our stories, she said. For more information on COVID-19, visit www.un.org/coronavirus By David Milliken and Andy Bruce LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government launched scaled-back job support on Thursday for workers hit by the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, but warned not everyone could be helped during an economic meltdown that is threatening millions of jobs. Finance minister Rishi Sunak also unveiled plans to extend loan repayments for businesses and delay ending a tax cut for the hospitality sector that has been drastically hit by coronavirus restrictions. Despite the state support, unemployment looks set to surge by the end of the year, with major employers from British Airways to Rolls-Royce and Marks & Spencer shedding jobs rapidly. "I cannot save every business, I cannot save every job," Sunak told parliament as he announced his Winter Economy Plan, which replaced a planned budget statement and set out a six-month replacement for the jobs furlough scheme. "As the economy reopens it is fundamentally wrong to hold people in jobs that only exist inside the furlough." Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his finance minister was right to warn the public that things were going to be tough. Sunak later told reporters it was impossible to predict how many jobs his new measures would save, and that forecasts of fast-rising unemployment by the Office for Budget Responsibility and Bank of England (BoE) "don't make for good reading". Britain's unemployment rate rose to 4.1% in the three months to July with 1.4 million out of work, and the BoE forecast last month it would jump to 7.5% by the end of the year if there was no replacement for the existing furlough scheme. With the government warning further restrictions might need to be imposed to curb a second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, Sunak said the government was ready to do more if required, but added it would need to keep an eye on public finances. At the heart of his new measures is a replacement for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the furlough scheme that supported 8.9 million private sector jobs at its peak in May and ends next month - sooner than equivalents in other countries. Story continues Under the new "more targeted" programme, Sunak said government support would only be available to workers whose employers keep them on at least a third of their normal hours. If employers agree to pay staff a third of their salary for unworked hours, the government will contribute another third, up to 698 pounds ($890) a month. Self-employed workers can apply for grants of up to 1,875 pounds. Economists estimate that - depending on take-up - this will cost the government around 3-4 billion pounds over the programme's six-month life, compared with more than 50 billion pounds for the eight-month-long furlough programme. The Confederation of British Industry, which had urged the government to adopt such a scheme, said it would help save hundreds of thousands of jobs. But millions of people have benefited from furlough support, and Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the new programme was significantly less generous. "It is clear that many jobs will be lost over the coming months," he said. SECOND WAVE The pandemic has killed nearly 42,000 people in Britain, the highest death toll in Europe, and the government is borrowing record amounts to help an economy on track for its biggest annual contraction in around 100 years. COVID-19 cases this week showed their biggest daily increase since May, prompting the government to order bars to close early and people to work from home again. The opposition Labour Party criticised the delay in introducing the jobs measure, which it said had hurt business confidence, while the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services trade union, Mark Serwotka, called it "a plaster to cover a gaping wound". The Resolution Foundation think-tank said many businesses had little incentive to use the scheme, as it would be cheaper to have one full-time employee than two staff working part time. Sunak also plans to extend a cut to value-added tax for hotels, cafes and restaurants until March 31. Additionally, businesses will be given 10 years to repay government-backed loans rather than six. (Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Kate Holton, Andrew Cawthorne and Alex Richardson) Release Grand Jury Transcripts in Breonna Taylor Case, Family Lawyers Tell Kentucky AG The family of Breonna Taylor are pushing Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron to release transcripts from the grand jury that returned charges against one police officer involved in executing a search warrant on her home in March, and appoint a special prosecutor to bring charges against the other officers. Brett Hankison, a former officer who helped serve the warrant, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of three wanton endangerment counts. But neither he nor the other officers were charged with murder, which activists and family members wanted. What did Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron present to the grand jury? Did he present any evidence on Breonna Taylors behalf? Or did he make a unilateral decision to put his thumb on the scales of justice, to help try to exonerate and justify the killing of Breonna Taylor by these police officers, Benjamin Crump, one of the lawyers, said at a press conference in Louisville on Friday. Cameron denied Taylors family justice, Crump alleged, adding: Thats why we are standing here today united in solidarity, declaring and demanding that he release the transcripts of the grand jury proceeding, to we can know if there was anybody giving a voice to Brianna Taylor. Camerons office said in a statement that he understands that the family of Ms. Breonna Taylor is in an incredible amount of pain and anguish, and he also understands that the outcome of the Grand Jury proceedings was not what they had hoped. Regarding todays statements at the press conference, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but prosecutors and Grand Jury members are bound by the facts and by the law. Attorney General Cameron is committed to doing everything he can to ensure the integrity of the prosecution before him and continue fulfilling his ethical obligations both as a prosecutor and as a partner in the ongoing federal investigation, his spokeswoman added. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron speaks during a press conference to announce a grand jurys decision to indict one of three Louisville Metro Police Department officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, in Frankfort, Ky., Sept. 23, 2020. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images) The attorney general, a Republican, announced the charges against Hankison on Wednesday. He said that some of the 10 gunshots fired by the officer traveled through Taylors apartment and went into a neighboring residence, where a family of three was at home. But the shots were triggered by Taylors boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, firing at Hankison and the other two officers, Sgt. Jon Mattingly and detective Myles Cosgrove, Cameron said. That made the actions by Mattingly and Cosgrove, who both fired at Walker, justified. This justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges in Ms. Breonna Taylors death, he told the briefing. In addition, Kentucky State Police and FBI ballistics analysis reached different conclusions, creating a reasonable doubt in the evidence about who fired the shot that killed Taylor. For the first time speaking publicly since Camerons announcement, Crump, Taylors mother Tamika Palmer, and others gathered downtown to criticize how the investigation, which Cameron took over from local police, unfolded. Bianca Austin, Breonna Taylors aunt, reads a statement at a press conference in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 25, 2020. (Jeff Dean/AFP via Getty Images) Palmer said in a statement read by Bianca Austin, Taylors aunt, that she never had faith in Cameron. I knew he was too inexperienced to deal with the job of this caliber. I knew he had already chosen to be on the wrong side of the law the moment he wanted the grand jury to make the decision. What I had hoped is that he knew he had the power to do the right thing, that he had the power to start the healing of this city, that he had the power to help mend over 400 years of oppression, she said. What he helped me realize is that it will always be us against them, that we are never safe when it comes to them. Lonita Baker, another lawyer representing Taylors family, later urged Cameron to appoint a special prosecutor. If you in fact did not say Breonna Taylors name to the grand jury, if in fact you did not present any charges on behalf of Breonna Taylor to the grand jury, we demand that you appoint a special prosecutor to present charges on behalf of Breonna Taylor to a grand jury because its not too late, she said. We still demand for justice for Breonna. Local politicians have said they see the EU's 140-billion-euro economic support fund for Spain as the perfect way to get the money at last to extend the Costa's rail line beyond Fuengirola towards Marbella and Estepona. The mayor of Malaga and the president of the Diputacion provincial authority have said the government should be lobbied for when it starts to divide up the high amount of Covid-19 money, the likes of which may never be seen again. Two options are on the table for any extension of the line. The cheapest would run parallel to the AP-7 toll motorway, which a study in 2018 suggested would cost 2.4 billion euros. The more expensive involves more tunnelling and running closer to the coast, costing 3.85 billion euros. Francisco de la Torre, Malaga's mayor, made clear that the line shouldn't be an extension of the existing Cercanias track to Fuengirola, but a new, faster line from Malaga connecting Marbella in 40 minutes. Franciso Salado, of the Diputacion, pointed out in the SUR-organised TV debate that Marbella is the only town in Spain with 100,000 people that does not have a direct rail link. Among other projects in the politicians' sights for the EU funds is improving the connecting water pipes from La Concepcion reservoir, near Marbella which fills quickly and has to be released out to sea, to the water-hungry Axarquia area. Ankara: Britains BAE Systems on Saturday signed a deal with Turkeys national aerospace firm to develop a new generation of Turkish fighter jets, the British government said in a statement. Under the deal signed in Ankara during a visit by British Prime Minister Theresa May, BAE Systems and state-owned Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) will establish a partnership for the development of the TF-X fighter jet. Commenting on the agreement, May said it indicated that Britain is a great, global, trading nation and that we are open for business, after the Brexit vote saw the country seeking new partners for trade. It marks the start of a new and deeper trading relationship with Turkey and will potentially secure British and Turkish jobs and prosperity for decades to come, May added. The deal is a so-called Heads of Agreement which is non-binding and will only be obligatory once formal contracts are signed. The initial phase is worth over 100 million pounds (117 million euros), Downing Street said. But the agreement can pave the way for further deals potentially worth billions of pounds over a 20-year lifespan, Mays spokeswoman told reporters. Currently the Turkish air force flies F-16s, some of which were used to bomb parliament by rogue elements in the military during the attempted overthrow of Erdogan last year. Ankara has long mooted the plan to build its own homegrown fighter jets.After a controversial visit to the United States meeting President Donald Trump, the spokeswoman stressed that it was in the UKs national interest to engage with Turkey on trade and defence despite criticism at home and abroad of Mays cosying up to Erdogan. Our defence and security cooperation is justified and important because Turkey is an important ally in NATO, the spokeswoman added. BAE Systems chief executive Ian King said the agreement confirmed the continued work on the aircrafts design and development in an exciting next step in relations between both Turkey and the UK with the cooperation between BAE Systems and TAI. The Turkish army is heavily involved in multiple military operations and frequently launches air strikes on Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey, and more recently the Islamic State extremist group in northern Syria. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 By Elchin Mehdiyev Trend: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyans government is busy with the deployment of terrorist organizations in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, Azerbaijani MP Arzu Naghiyev told Trend on Sept. 25. The main goal of the Armenian side is preparing for new provocations and war, Naghiyev added. There is enough information about the resettlement of terrorists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to the occupied territories. Moreover, it has been proven that ASALA terrorist organization operates in the occupied territories, the MP added. This statement was made from the highest tribunes. There is only one goal - to continue the war against Azerbaijan by using mercenaries and terrorists, Naghiyev said. While informing the world community on this issue at the general debate of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said that Armenia recruits and uses mercenaries and terrorists from different countries against Azerbaijan. Armenia is a state sponsoring terrorism. Armenia committed more than 30 terror acts in Azerbaijan. We have credible information about the presence of Armenian ASALA terror organization on the occupied territories." Naghiyev stressed that an indirect proof of the use of terrorists and mercenaries against Azerbaijan in the occupied territories is that the Armenian side concealed the information about the losses during the recent events in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district on July 12-16. Armenians constantly hide the information about terrorists and mercenaries, therefore they do not talk about losses, the MP said. Sooner or later, Azerbaijan will liberate its lands. Most of those who are in the occupied territories are mercenaries who came to fight. The MP reminded about the provocations in Los Angeles and other US cities that were committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis immediately after the events in the direction of the Tovuz district. "ASALA" inscription on the clothes of some Armenian provocateurs and provocations against the civilian population is also a fact, Naghiyev added. This means that they are interconnected and "propagandize" each other. International organizations must inquire about such facts. Moreover, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group must also clarify their position." When Faye tried to get a coronavirus test on Thursday, she was told her nearest testing centre was in North Shields, near Newcastle. Faye lives in Sussex. Despite specifying that she was unable to drive, the 23-year-old student, who asked to be identified only by her first name, was told she would have to travel 350 miles north if she wanted to find out whether she had the virus. Home tests were unavailable. So does that mean I should get on public transport with Covid symptoms to go to North Shields for a Covid test? Faye asked, speaking to The Independent. The UK government keep saying that [testing] has been a priority of theirs but I dont believe it truly has been." The student is one of many who has struggled to access testing, with social media in recent weeks being flooded with people complaining of being asked to travel dozens and sometimes even hundreds of miles for a test. Another Twitter user, also from Brighton, was aksi told to visit the walk-in testing centre North Shields, with the government website wrongly showing it to be just 7.5 miles from their postcode. When contacted by The Independent, Lesley Burdett, 50, said she had tried putting in multiple Brighton postcodes and was consistently told to travel to North Shields for a test. The health secretary recently pledged that no one should have to travel more than 75 miles for a test, after reports of people being told to travel from London to Wales, and from Cumbria to Scotland. It comes as new figures showed that positive cases have increased by 180 per cent since the end of last month, according to NHS Test and Trace. The statistics show 19,278 new people tested positive for the virus between 10 and 16 September in England. Between 20 and 26 August, 6,732 people tested positive. In a sign that the system is struggling, turnaround times for in-person tests have risen, with only 28.2 per cent of people receiving their result within 24 hours, compared with 33.3 per cent the week before. This is despite the number of tests completed being similar (demand increased by just 1 per cent over the past week). In June, Boris Johnson pledged to get all [in-person] tests turned around within 24 hours by the end of June". Anthony, 29, said he travelled 30 miles from St Helens to Manchester for a test on Monday after being told local sites and home testing were unavailable. Nearly 72 hours later, he had not received a result. The digital production manager said he had had to take time off work after developing symptoms shortly after seeing a friend who later tested positive. But before that, Anthony had seen several people on his birthday, who are now unsure whether they also need to self-isolate. Im just sat about unable to leave the house," Anthony wrote on Twitter. The helpline they set up is unable to chase up results due to demand. The entire thing is a shambles. He told The Independent that when you try to chase up a test result, you get an automated message due to demand we are unable to look for results and the phone line is disconnected. Prof James Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and a University of Oxford professor, told The Independent: The success of track, trace and isolate ultimately depends on infectious people with Covid-19 isolating from others. The longer the delay in testing, tracing or isolation, the more time the infection has to spread. It is disappointing to see any decrease in turnaround time, Prof Naismith added. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: NHS Test and Trace is providing tests at an unprecedented scale over 200,000 a day on average last week with the vast majority of people getting tested within six miles of their home. There has been a spike in demand in recent weeks and the message is clear only people with symptoms should be requesting a test. Were doing everything possible to overcome this challenge including by bringing in new labs that can process tens of thousands of tests a day, opening new test sites, and trialling new rapid tests that will give results on the spot. As we expand capacity further, we will continue to work around the clock to make sure that everyone who needs a test can get one. By Trend EU has a strong interest in peace and stability in the South Caucasus, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar wrote on his official Twitter account, Trend reports with reference to the message. Klaar noted that he has arrived in Azerbaijans capital Baku city. In Baku for two days of meetings. The #EU has a strong interest in peace and stability in the South Caucasus. Important to reduce tensions and return to process of substantial negotiations without preconditions led by OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Klaar wrote. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 05:14:25|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Israeli medical workers wearing protective gears work in the coronavirus ward in the Galilee Medical Center in northern Israeli city of Nahariya on Sept. 24, 2020. (JINI via Xinhua) -- Iran's cases hit 439,882, 25,222 deaths; -- Israel tightens anti-coronavirus lockdown; -- Iraq reports highest 4,505 daily new recoveries; -- Lebanon records biggest 1,143 single-day new infections. CAIRO, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased to 439,882 in Iran on Friday. Meanwhile, Israel tightened the ongoing anti-coronavirus lockdown as the total infections surged to 217,899 in the country. Iran, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East region, reported 3,565 new cases, bringing the total number of infections to 439,882. A girl wearing a face mask is seen at an old bazaar in Tonekabon, northern Iran, on Sept. 22, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz) The pandemic has so far claimed 25,222 lives in Iran, up by 207 in the past 24 hours. A total of 369,842 coronavirus patients have recovered, with 4,023 still in critical condition. In Israel, 5,784 new COVID-19 cases were recorded, taking the tally of coronavirus infections to 217,899, which included 1,412 deaths and 153,574 recoveries. Earlier in the day, tightening of the ongoing three-week anti-coronavirus lockdown took effect in Israel, which will last at least until Oct. 10. Under the new lockdown, all markets and businesses were shut down except for factories and services defined as "essentials," and residents are required to stay within a 1,000-meter radius of their homes, except for special cases such as receiving medical care or an emergency. Saudi Arabia announced 472 new cases and 26 more deaths, raising the tally of confirmed cases to 332,329 and the death toll to 4,625. The kingdom also reported 843 more recovered patients, taking the total recoveries to 315,636. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey climbed by 1,665 to 311,455, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted. The death toll from the coronavirus in the country rose to 7,858 after 73 new fatalities were added in the past 24 hours, Koca said, adding the total recoveries increased to 273,282. The ICU bed occupancy rate of the country's hospitals has reached 68 percent during the novel coronavirus outbreak, while the intubation occupancy rate is 33 percent, the minister noted. People go through disinfection before entering a mosque in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept. 20, 2020. (Xinhua) In the mean time, 4,593 new COVID-19 cases were detected in Iraq during the past 24 hours, bringing the total nationwide infections to 341,699. The Iraqi health ministry reported 4,505 recoveries from the virus, the highest in a single day since the outbreak of the disease, raising the tally of recoveries to 273,266. The death toll from the coronavirus in Iraq rose to 8,867 after 68 fatalities were added. In Qatar, 225 new coronavirus cases were detected, increasing the total number to 124,650, including 212 deaths and 121,512 recoveries. In the mean time, Kuwait reported 590 new cases, bringing the country's total number of infections to 102,441, including 595 deaths and 93,562 recoveries. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced 1,008 new cases, raising the total confirmed cases in the country to 89,540. The tally of recoveries in the UAE rose to 78,819 after 882 more patients have recovered from the virus and the death toll reached 409 with two more deaths. In Morocco, the tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 112,522 after 2,423 new cases were added, which included 1,998 fatalities and 91,932 recoveries. Algeria on Friday reported 175 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest daily increase since June 29, bringing the total tally of infections to 50,754, including 1,707 deaths and 35,654 recoveries. On the same day, Palestine reported 452 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally of infections in the Palestinian territories to 48,282, including 35,709 recoveries and 327 deaths. People wearing face masks are seen at an old market in Tripoli, Lebanon, on Sept. 12, 2020. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) In Lebanon, the number of COVID-19 infections increased by 1,143 to 33,962, while the death toll went up by four to 333. It is the highest single-day increase since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Lebanon on Feb. 21. Libya registered 658 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total confirmed cases in the country to 31,290. Moreover, 666 more patients have recovered and 17 died, increasing the total recoveries in the country to 17,508 and the death toll to 491. In Jordan, 620 new COVID-19 cases, increasing the tally of cases to 7,211 with 4,035 recoveries and 39 fatalities. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Alya Nurbaiti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 11:03 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c472750e 1 National Wiku-Adisasmito,covid-19-task-force,coronavirus,COVID-19,COVID-19-cluster,COVID-19-infection,pandemic,SARS-CoV-2,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus,flood Free National COVID-19 task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito has warned the public about possible infection clusters at shelters for flood victims as the rainy season approaches. We are calling on regional governments to be vigilant to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission. One potential source of COVID-19 clusters would be the flood victims shelters, Wiku said on Thursday. Adherence to health protocols at the shelters, including wearing masks, physical distancing and washing hands, could reduce the risk of transmission, he said. He also noted the importance of maintaining the cleanliness of the shelters and providing sufficient air circulation and sunlight to protect the people from common rainy season diseases such as dengue fever, diarrhea, leprosy, typhus and skin disease. All of these diseases could lower peoples immunity, causing them to become more susceptible to contracting COVID-19, he said. Read also: Central, West Kalimantan declare state of emergency after two weeks of flooding The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicted the rainy season which often brings floods will begin in late October or early November this year, but several regions have already reported torrential rain during the current transition from the dry season to the wet season. Heavy rainfall has caused flooding in several regions in the country, including Jakarta and West Java on Tuesday and Wednesday, with water in Sukabumi, West Java, reaching 6 meters high. The Sukabumi Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency reported that 20 people sustained injuries and 210 families had fled their homes during the flooding. Meanwhile, Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan declared a 14-day state of emergency until Sept. 26 and 27 respectively in response to massive flooding that has inundated dozens of districts in the two provinces over the last 15 days. At least 16,459 people were affected by the flood in Central Kalimantan alone, while in West Kalimantan, flooding hit more than half the districts in Ketapang regency, home to 279,530 people. By Trend Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov received newly appointed Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Greece to Azerbaijan, Nikolaos Piperigos, Trend reports on Sept. 25 referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. The views on a number of issues from the bilateral cooperation agenda, including relations in the political, economic, trade, humanitarian, and other fields, were exchanged at the meeting. Both sides stressed they attach great importance to their bilateral relations and expressed their willingness to further develop them in all fields to the mutual benefit of both countries. The importance to use the full potential of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Greece was stressed. The parties also discussed cooperation in international organizations and other issues of mutual interest. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.25 By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend: The value of trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Romania amounted to $798.3 million over the first seven months of 2020, compared to $1.04 billion during the same period of 2019, Trend reports with reference to Kazakhstans Statistics Committee. The share of Romania in the total value of Kazakhstans trade turnover stood at 1.6 percent during the reporting period compared to 1.9 percent during the same period of 2019. Kazakhstans export to Romania amounted to $750.8 million over the period from January through July 2020, compared to $998.1 million during the same period of 2019 Romanias share in the total volume of Kazakhstans export amounted to 2.6 percent during the reporting period of 2020 compared to 3 percent during the same period of 2019. In turn, Kazakhstans imports from Romania amounted to nearly $47.4 million over the reporting period, compared to $47.1 million during the same period of 2019. Romanias share in the total volume of Kazakhstans import amounted to 0.23 percent during the reporting period of 2020 compared to 0.21 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 Romania trade turnover were food products, agricultural products, as well as products of the chemical industry. --- Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After ending the previous session slightly higher, treasuries turned in a lackluster performance during trading on Friday. Bond prices saw modest strength in early trading but pulled back near the unchanged line as the day progressed. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by less than a basis point to 0.659 percent. Treasuries initially benefited from the release of a report from the Commerce Department showing a much smaller than expected increase in durable goods orders in the month of August. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders rose by 0.4 percent in August after soaring by an upwardly revised 11.7 percent in July. Economists had expected durable goods orders to surge up by 1.5 percent compared to the 11.4 percent spike that had been reported for the previous month. Excluding a 0.5 percent increase in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders still climbed by 0.4 percent in August following a 3.2 jump in July. Ex-transportation orders were expected to shoot up by 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, the report said orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a reading on business spending, advanced by 1.8 percent in August after jumping by an upwardly revised 2.5 percent in July. Buying interest remained relatively subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves amid uncertainty about the economic outlook. Traders also kept an eye on developments in Washington amid reports House Democrats plan to unveil a new $2.4 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The price tag for the bill is $1 trillion less than a stimulus package the House passed back in May but may still be too high for Republicans. The subsequent pullback by treasuries may partly have reflected the rally that emerged on Wall Street, with tech stocks leading the way higher. The Labor Department's monthly jobs report is likely to be in the spotlight next week, although reports on consumer confidence, pending home sales, personal income and spending and manufacturing activity may also attract attention. Traders may also keep an eye on the first debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden for clues about the outcome of the presidential election. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Over a crackling maritime radio comes the voice of the captain of the small French warship Aramis as it cruises the English Channel. In heavily accented but precise English, he instructs P&Os Pride of Kent ferry to move out of his way so he can shepherd a boat full of migrants floundering off the French coast towards British waters. In the radio message, heard and recorded by the Mail on Tuesday morning, Aramiss captain says the dinghy is on his port side and he is escorting the tiny vessel safely on its journey in the Channel. The Mail heard this French warship order this huge P&O ferry aside as it escorted migrants into our waters The captains instruction was issued an hour after dawn on an extraordinary day in the worlds busiest shipping route when nearly 400 migrants sailed from France and successfully reached the Kent coast. Between sunrise and early evening its believed at least 50 small boats carrying men, women, children, five babes in arms and even a double amputee, reached Dover and the surrounding shorelines. The tally, given to us from sources in the Kent area, is far higher than the official count of 32 boats issued by the Home Office. Disturbing photos taken before dawn have emerged of migrants on a north French beach, near the seaside town of Gravelines, being put into boats by people-smuggling gangs seizing the opportunity of dispatching them to Britain on the last calm day before autumn storms hit the Channel. Yet whatever the plight of the migrants that day, the French warships instruction to the Pride of Kent, ploughing from Dover to Calais, is highly controversial. In peril: Sixteen Afghan migrants rescued by the Border Force. In their defence, the French maritime authorities say their priority is to preserve human life and safe navigation in the Channel A second radio message picked up by the Mail and made by the same Aramis captain five minutes later is equally astonishing. In it, the captain forbids all vessels in the area from coming within one nautical mile a little more than one land mile of his vessel to allow safe passage for the migrant boat he is escorting. Scores of ships and other craft in the busy Channel that morning were forced to change course for the Aramis and the dinghy. A global ship-tracking website called MarineTraffic shows the Pride of Kent moving away from its normal route, immediately after the first radio message and arriving at the Port of Calais a few minutes late as a result. An officer on the ferry can be heard agreeing to change course to starboard before the French captain in an accent straight out of TV sit-com Allo, Allo! replies: Thank you for your co-operation. The radio messages have emerged just as the French Navy stands accused of indirectly helping people-smuggling gangs operating on the French coast where thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa wait to get to Britain. In their defence, the French maritime authorities say their priority is to preserve human life and safe navigation in the Channel. By law, all mariners have a duty to assist vessels in distress under a 25-year-old international convention on safety at sea. In heavily accented but precise English, he instructs P&Os Pride of Kent ferry to move out of his way so he can shepherd a boat full of migrants floundering off the French coast towards British waters The French explain that their Navy assesses the level of distress in each boat and acts in response to it. Many migrant boats, they say, are turned back and never reach Britain. Not everyone, however, sees it like this. Earlier this year Maddy Allen, of the charity Help Refugees, told the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee there is scant evidence that the French authorities are encouraging migrants to apply for asylum there. It means, she said, that more are pushed towards chancing the boat crossings. This week Clandestine Channel Threat Commander Dan OMahoney, appointed by Home Secretary Priti Patel to combat the arrivals, met French ambassador Catherine Colonna in London to discuss how best their countries can stop migrants leaving French shores in the first place. And pressure is growing on the French after it emerged its Navy stopped only ten out of the armada of migrant boats leaving its shores on Tuesday. The mayhem on the seas off Dover meant that every British rescue vessel in the vicinity was called out to bring in migrant boats, including the fast police launch that Mrs Patel has used when visiting Dover. The Mail has charted the French Navys interventions in the Channel over five months. We have discovered migrant boats routinely being shepherded towards Britain, and even into our waters near the White Cliffs of Dover. There they are passed like parcels to our Border Force vessels, British coastguard cutters, and crews of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, to bring into port. It is impossible to say exactly how many times this has happened because, shockingly, according to a maritime route-checking agency, French Navy vessels in the Channel often turn off tracking devices to hide their operation purposes and keep their route information secret. They are even suspected, said the agency in an email to the Mail, of using the identities of other vessels which makes vessels such as the Aramis hard to be distinguished. Certainly, the Aramiss route on Tuesday morning as it headed towards Britain could not be found by the agency. It is thought not to have used a tracking device since last year. In contrast, the Pride of Kents forced diversion on Tuesday can clearly be seen on maritime tracking websites, alongside routes of hundreds of other vessels sailing in the area that morning. Our first evidence that the French Navy is helping migrants get to Britain came on May 20 this year. We have a series of photographs showing a small inflatable with 13 migrants on board being escorted by the French Navy patrol boat Jacques- Oudart Fourmentin to the Channels sea border between England and France. There, in the separation zone a safe stretch of water for vessels waiting to enter or cross the Channels shipping lanes it is met by the UK Border Agency cutter, Speedwell, which at 9.41 am puts out a rope to haul in the migrants boat, observed by the nearby Fourmentin. Four minutes later, after observing the rescue, the Fourmentin disappears towards the horizon back to France. Six days later, the French Navy law enforcement vessel P678, was spotted in the Channel guiding migrants towards English waters. The vessel is photographed soon after dawn, at 5.59 am, in the separation zone and has travelled with the little boat across the two busy shipping lanes to get there. This particular incident raises the question of why the French Navy risked the migrants lives in this way, and why the P678 didnt take them on board and return them to France instead of escorting them for miles across the dangerously busy Channel. Perhaps the most revealing insight came very early in morning of June 10, when Abeille Languedoc, a salvage tug chartered by the French Navy to ensure safety in the Channel, was sighted beside a white and black rigid inflatable boat carrying nine or ten migrants towards the UK. As we investigated the French Navys involvement in the Channel crossings, it became clear their vessels are now close to operating an escort service for migrants. The French, of course, say this is not a mess of their making. A Border Force vessel is seen above We have a later photograph of the tug in British waters, clearly just a few miles off the White Cliffs of Dover, at 5.21 am. It watches as the migrant inflatable is pulled by its tow rope to the side of a Border Force cutter by two officers wearing anti-Covid masks. The migrants are taken on board before the cutter heads to Dover, with the inflatable tied to the stern, and the Abeille Languedoc returns to France. We have discovered that scenes such as this go on with frightening regularity. We have reports of Aramis, which guided the migrants rowing a craft towards England this week, conducting a similar operation earlier this month. It escorted a boat, dangerously overloaded with 16 Afghan migrants, including four women and two children, up to British waters in the separation zone. There the migrants were left bobbing as the Aramis gave them bottles of water and life jackets. The migrants, desperately bailing out the boat one man using an empty milk carton took the items but still tried to carry on steering towards the British coast. By the time the Border Force vessel, Hunter, came on the scene winds were gusting as high as 28 knots and waves were lapping over the migrants boat which was in danger of sinking. A fishing boat skipper who witnessed the extraordinary event, which took place over 90 minutes says the soaked and cold occupants could have drowned at any moment. Yet where was the Aramis? It had turned back for France, just before the Hunter came onto the scene, leaving the migrant boat in dire peril. This is not the end of the disturbing tale. As we investigated the French Navys involvement in the Channel crossings, it became clear their vessels are now close to operating an escort service for migrants. The French, of course, say this is not a mess of their making. Brainwashed by the people smugglers into believing that Britain is the only place to be, the migrants often refuse to be rescued by the French Navy. They have threatened to jump into the sea or even throw children overboard to avoid being picked up because they believe it will mean a return to France. This leaves the French with little option but to shadow the boats across the Channel where, once in British waters, the migrants know that they will be brought in to England. However, we have spoken to boatmen, fishing skippers, and lifeboat crew on the Kent and East Sussex coast who are increasingly concerned at the numbers of boats arriving with what they say is the active assistance of the French. They pointed us to one of the most disturbing and telling incidents of this year, a year in which more than 6,600 migrants are estimated to have reached the UK by boat. It happened on Saturday, May 16, and again involved the French Navys patrol boat Fourmentin, which is ironically named after an 18th century French privateer who made a living British shipping. The Fourmentin was spotted shadowing a migrant boat until it was well into British waters, four miles off the East Sussex coasts Pett Level beach. There, it made a rendezvous with a RNLI lifeboat, alerted by the French Navy, which towed the migrants to shore where Border Force vans and officers were already waiting to take them for interviews and processing as potential asylum seekers. Tracking data from the Fourmentin that morning confirms it had travelled from near the French coast before making the handover to the RNLI, and then hot-footing it back to France. The truth is that the French seem increasingly to ignore criticism that they are actively helping migrants across the Channel. Ten days ago, in Dover, the Mail was told that six migrants in a small green inflatable with a Suzuki engine had entered British waters with the help of its Navy an hour or two earlier. Six miles off Kingsdown beach near Dover, a French Navy vessel was spotted by fishermen with binoculars sending over a fast RIB to the migrants with water bottles and lifejackets as they waited for Border Force vessels to come to the rescue. So what of the warship Aramis and the migrant dinghy that its captain helped on Tuesday? His messages were put out on publicly accessed radio for anyone monitoring the migrant crossings to hear. We have been told that the migrant boat had no engine and that its six occupants were trying to row the 21 miles to Britain. It is believed to have taken them until nearly five in the afternoon nine hours on from the moment the Aramis cleared a sea path for the group off Calais for them to arrive off Kent and the safety of a Border Force cutter. Though our sources say the Aramis is very likely to have entered British waters on Tuesday we will never know the exact truth. For the route of the warship is untraceable over the many hours it was at sea that day. And that is probably just how the captain with the Allo, Allo! accent wants it to be. A group of House Republicans led by Representative Jim Banks (R., Ind.) on Friday called on attorney general William Barr to investigate a recent rise in anti-Catholic hate crimes. There have been 70 instances of anti-Catholic violence in North America this year with 57 crimes being reported since May alone according to a letter sent to the attorney general by Banks and 15 other House Republicans. By contrast, in all of 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, the FBI reported 53 incidents of anti-Catholic hate crimes in the U.S. Bigoted criminals are threatening Catholics and undermining Americas core ideal of religious liberty, Banks said in a statement. The DOJs Civil Rights Division exists to combat spikes in targeted violence. It needs to fulfill its duty, determine who is behind this pattern of attacks and bring them to justice. Beginning in early July, reports of horrific and brutal attacks on Catholic and Church properties spiked, the letter says, including in Boston where a statue of the Virgin Mary at Saint Peters Parish Church was set ablaze. One day earlier, the letter says, a man in Florida allegedly drove a van into a church with parishioners inside before spilling gasoline in the churchs foyer and attempting to set it on fire. That same day, San Gabriel Mission in California was burned down. The letter calls the issue ongoing, citing an incident in September where a man was videotaped toppling an Our Lady of Guadalupe statue in Coney Island, N.Y. As in any other instance of a rapid spike in hate crimes targeted at a specific group, the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division has an obligation to investigate the perpetrators of this violence and any organizational or ideological connections between them, the letter states. Crimes like these arent just targeted at individuals and their property; they are targeted at American society as a whole, it continues. They are motivated by a destructive impulse to harm property and persons, but also the equally warped desire to undermine Americas constitutionally guaranteed rights and social trust within our communities. Story continues The Republicans call to investigate concludes in saying the attacks threaten the physical safety of Catholics as well as the integrity of the American system, and saying the Department of Justice has an obligation to uphold both. The letter was co-signed by Representatives Andy Harris (R., Md.), Greg Steube (R., Fl.), Ted Yoho (R., Fl.), Jackie Walorski (R., Ind.), Doug Collins (R., Ga.), Jeff Duncan (R., S.C.), Rick Allen (R., Ga.), Pete Olson (R., Texas), Glenn Grothman (R., Wisc.), Chuck Fleischmann (R., Tenn.), Ron Wright (R., Texas), Paul Gosar (R., Ariz.), Mike Kelly (R., Pa.), Ken Buck (R., Colo.), and Dan Crenshaw (R., Texas). More from National Review President Donald Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election, raising the already blaring alarms over threats to America's democracy to a deafening volume. There's no clearer demarcation between democracy and autocracy than the peaceful transfer of power after an election. Trump showed us on Wednesday that he is prepared to cross that line. Any other president, at any other time in the history of this country, would have had a simple, straightforward answer, when asked if he would accept the results of the election. Any other president would have affirmed his respect for the will of the people -- the hallmark of democracy. But when Trump was asked that question, his response was a shrapnel-filled grenade. Here's what he said: "Well, we're going to have to see what happens. You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster." He added, "Get rid of the ballots, you'll have a very transfer -- you'll have a very peaceful -- there won't be a transfer, frankly. There'll be a continuation." I'll resist the temptation to clean up Trump's syntax in search of a cogent answer. But it is clear he's signaling -- once again -- that he has no intention of accepting the results if he loses. It is also evident that his monthslong effort to claim mail-in ballots are prone to fraud -- something experts agree is extremely rare -- is designed to hand Trump and his backers a path out of defeat. US Attorney General William Barr has previously dismissed claims that Trump would try to seize power if he lost the election and accused Democrats of fearmongering instead. But Barr has also supported Trump's attacks on mail-in voting, and experts fear he could play a role in influencing the outcome of the election. When asked about Trump's comments, Democratic candidate Joe Biden responded with disbelief and asked, "What country are we in?" Biden, knowing how Trump might play the comment, went on to say, "I'm being facetious -- what country are we in? Look, he says the most irrational things. I don't know what to say about it, but it doesn't surprise me." The President has made clear that this election is not simply a choice between Trump or Biden. It's a choice between an accelerated dismantling of America's democracy, or a return to America's centuries-long struggle to become a more perfect union -- a nation that more faithfully reflects its founding ideals of democracy and equality. Trump also revealed, perhaps unwittingly, that he does not think he will handily win the election. He seems intent on sowing chaos and confusion and attacking mail-in ballots, which could potentially tear the country apart in an ensuing fight over the election results. "I think this will end up in the Supreme Court," he said, "and I think it's very important that we have nine justices." Note that there were only eight justices on the court at the time of the 2016 election. Trump could very well pressure his nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to pledge loyalty to him and his electoral aspirations, rather than a commitment to fairness and the Constitution. Whatever Trump has in mind, there is only one sure way to prevent a disaster that could engulf the entire country: A landslide victory for Biden would make it more difficult for Trump to remain in office by leveraging the courts, congressional Republicans and even the bands of extremists roaming anti-racism protests aiming to spark more chaos. A decisive electoral result could defang Trump's postelection troops. But even then, we must prepare for what may lie ahead. The 2016 election offers some clues. Trump, who repeatedly claimed the election was rigged against him, refused to commit to accepting the outcome during the final presidential debate in 2016, saying, "I will look at it at the time. I will keep you in suspense." Moscow had expected Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to win, and pro-Kremlin bloggers were prepared to call into question the validity of the results with the hashtag #DEMOCRACYRIP, according to a 2017 US intelligence report. If Trump loses and rejects the election results this time around, he would create the perfect opening for Russia to delegitimize the new US president. Russia, along with other rivals and enemies of the United States, would delight in the electoral chaos and foster distrust in Biden's mandate. Trump's most recent assault on democratic practices is hardly his first. The President has broken the most basic democratic norms by attacking the media, praising tyrants, demanding personal loyalty from government officials, turning the Justice Department into a personal political tool, pressuring public health agencies to downplay a pandemic and stoking internal divisions instead of trying to unite the country. These are all affronts against democracy, but they are more arcane, perhaps more subtle. Refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power after losing an election is pointing a loaded gun to the heart of democracy. Refusing to surrender power is pulling the trigger. Trump has signaled to his supporters -- in the streets and in the halls of Congress -- that the battle will not end after November 3. According to Barton Gellman of The Atlantic, Trump's team is already preparing a legal attack on the election results in key battleground states. Multiple scenarios are possible. Gellman envisions one where the battle drags all the way to January 20, with two men showing up to be sworn in. Others have looked at possible outcomes that might follow an election in which Trump has told his followers, who have shown a willingness to do almost anything to support him, that the vote is rigged. We cannot rule out the prospect of violence. Those wargaming the possibilities have also floated scenarios in which states with Republican-led legislatures, and Barr put their thumbs on the scale to help Trump. When the election results were inconclusive in 2000 and the Supreme Court handed the victory to George W. Bush, the Democratic candidate Al Gore decided to accept the outcome for the sake of the country. But looking at the smoldering rage across Americans cities and the polarization that Trump has deliberately stoked, does anyone think a similar outcome is likely this time? The only way Americans avoid disaster is if they hand Joe Biden an overwhelming, indisputable victory. ZUNI PUEBLO A handcarved figure held sacred by a Native American community in New Mexico has been returned to the tribe by an Ohio auction house, the company said. The 15-inch wooden war god was returned to Zuni Pueblo authorities in late August after it was discovered in an estate collection that had been consigned to Cowan's Auctions, the company said Thursday in statement. The company's director of Native American, prehistoric and tribal art, Danica Farand, said she recognized that the figure was from the Zuni Pueblo and began the process for its return, assisted by the Authentic Tribal Art Dealers Association. The Zuni recognize the war gods as living beings, and their removal from the shrine where they live represents an affront to Zuni cultural traditions, Farnand said in the statement. The war gods are sacred beings that deserve to be at rest. When I explained to our consignor their significance to the Zuni, they were happy and eager to return him to his home. Each winter, members of the tribe's Deer and Bear clans carve two figures known as Big Brother and Little Brother. The twin gods are then ceremonially brought to a shrine on tribal land where they are left in an act to protect the tribe and the earth. Over the years, many of the figures have been illegally removed and have made their way into museum and private collections in the U.S. and Europe. Zuni Pueblo has recovered more than 100 of the wooden carvings in recent years. Zuni Pueblo Lt. Gov. Carleton R. Bowekaty said in a statement that the return of the war gods known as Ahayu:da are for the protection and well-being of the entire world. Zuni and many other tribes continue to face difficulties in seeking the return of sacred cultural items held in private hands and collection worldwide, he said, adding that the pueblo looks forward to developing its partnership with the art dealers association. Robert Gallegos, a tribal art dealer in Albuquerque and a board member of the dealers association, said the group is committed to working with tribes, private collectors and dealers to help repatriate sensitive cultural property. He said establishing a level of trust between all parties helps resolve issues of cultural patrimony. According to the auction house, the figure recognized by Farnand had been part of a 1930s-1950s traveling show of American Indian artifacts that operated in the southeastern U.S. Its long-deceased owner, a man who claimed he was a Cherokee tribal member from Oklahoma, died with no immediate family and left the contents of the sideshow to a friend and fellow collector in Ohio. The war god was found in the friend's estate. The auction house said it has helped in the return of numerous religious masks and other objects for years. Kingmakers of the Zazzau Emirate in Kaduna State have excluded Ahmed Bamalli, a man considered as the closest prince to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, from the list of nominees for the vacant seat of Emir of Zazzau. The race is on to replace Shehu Idris, the monarch who died on Sunday after occupying the throne for over 45 years. Parts of the report prepared by the five kingmakers, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, show that the kingmakers screened and forwarded only three names, from which the governor is expected to make a choice. This newspaper gathered that eight princes wrote to the kingmakers to indicate interest in the position. Sources familiar with the process confirmed the decision of the kingmakers to this newspaper. The kingmakers are Wazirin Zazzau, Ibrahim Aminu, Makaman Zazzau, Muhammad Abbas, Fagachin Zazzau, Umar Muhammad, Limamin Gari, Dalhatu Kasim, and Limamin Kona Muhammad Aliyu. Attempts to speak with the chairman of the five-man kingmakers committee, the Wazirin Zazzau, Ibrahim Aminu, on Friday were unsuccessful as he did not answer calls placed to his known number. The three-page report gave its verdict on the two-stage selection process followed on three princes. Those graded were the Iyan Zazzau, Bashar Aminu; the Yariman Zazzau, Munir Jaafaru; and the Turakin Zazzau, Aminu Idris. The report stated that those vying for the post were graded on seven parameters. The parameters and the marking scheme were; minimum qualification (BSc or HND) 15 per cent; experience as a district head 20 per cent; experience in public service 10 per cent; no proven adverse report 10 per cent; relationship with the public (tolerance/community relationship) 15 per cent; national award 5 per cent and physical fitness 10 per cent. In grading the three shortlisted candidates based on these criteria, the kingmakers scored Mr Aminu 89 per cent, Mr Jaafaru 87 per cent, and Mr Idris 53 per cent. At the level of personal votes, three of the kingmakers voted for Mr Aminu while Messrs Jaafaru and Idris got a vote each. A surprise candidate, unexpected result Palace sources in Zaria told PREMIUM TIMES Mr Aminu staged a last minute surprise after initially feigning disinterest in the process. Informed sources said Mr Aminu was also not the favourite of his Katsinawa dynasty as the clan presented the eldest son of the late emir as their choice. This newspaper earlier reported Mr Aminus advantage as the most entrenched of the princes jostling for the throne. He was the longest-serving titleholder among the contenders, having first been appointed in 1978. He was also the district head of Sabon Gari until 2018. Another major factor that is said to have worked in Mr Aminus favour is his large financial chest. As a member of the Katsinawa clan, Mr Aminus ascension will be a perpetuation of the clan over the others as the Katsinawa has had a stretch on the throne lasting for 61 years. It was a surprise that Mr Aminu polled ahead of Mr Jaafaru, believed to have the goodwill of President Muhammadu Buhari and a large section of the political and business elite. The major surprise in the turn of events is however the exclusion of Mr Bamalli from the shortlist. The immediate past Nigerian ambassador to Thailand is believed to be closest to Governor El-Rufai. Mr El-Rufai was instrumental to Mr Bamallis ambassadorial appointment in 2017 having earlier served in his administration. Governors albatross Mr El-Rufai is now left to decide between the three princes, according to custom. Advertisements The governor had on Thursday reiterated that the decision on who becomes the emir rests with him. The kingmakers recommend but ultimate responsibility to choose rests on my humble self I must be knowledgeable about the process as the aspirants and kingmakers, the governor wrote on his verified Facebook page. A source in Kaduna government house, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the governor will subject the nominees to security vetting. PREMIUM TIMES also gathered that the governor had convened a security meeting early on Friday ahead of a meeting with the Zazzau kingmakers. One would naturally assume that a long-ago, far-away event such as the Spanish Civil War had no direct bearing on southwestern Illinois. However, I recently learned that a resident of our region fought in that conflict. His name was Joseph Smolka. He was single, a coal miner and lived in the Macoupin County town of Staunton. Free elections in 1931 allowed the long-oppressed Spanish people to throw off the shackles of monarchy and military dictatorship. This fledgling republic was bitterly opposed by monarchists, wealthy landowners, the Catholic church and other conservative elements of Spanish society. Army officers revolted against the Spanish Republic in 1936. Gen. Francisco Franco eventually emerged as the leader of the rebel forces, who designated themselves as Nacionales. Usually translated as Nationalists, Adam Hochschild observed in his book Spain in Our Hearts that Nacionales is better understood as meaning the only true Spaniards. The conservative world press of the 1930s, including that of the United States, sought to smear the Loyalists as communists. While communists indeed rallied to the Loyalist cause, the Spanish government also enjoyed the support of centrists, liberals, socialists and even anarchists. This diverse coalition was often called the Popular Front. Supporters of the Spanish Republic referred to themselves as Loyalists, since they had maintained their loyalty to the duly-elected government of Spain. Religion played a profound and deadly role in the Spanish Civil War. Francostroops murdered teachers because Loyalists strongly supported secular education,which was anathema to the Catholic Church. In the early days ofthe civil war, Loyalist militias executed approximately 7,000 priests because theCatholic Church was seen as the enemy of the republic. Outraged by these atrocitiesand fearful of a communist take-over in Spain, the Vatican joined Germany and Italy in recognizing Francos Nacionales as that nations true government. Franco sought and received military assistance from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Mussolini dispatched 80,000 troops and deployed the Italian navy to bombard Loyalist strongholds and sink supply ships. The Condor Legion of Nazi Germany, which was comprised of volunteers from that nations army and air force, fought for the Nacionales. German pilots tested terror bombing techniques that the Luftwaffe would later utilize during World War II. The Soviet Union provided the Loyalists with aircraft, tanks, artillery, small arms and advisors. Mexico also aided the embattled republic by sending rifles and ammunition. The U.S. Congress had passed a Neutrality Act just a year before the civil war broke out that prohibited the export of weapons, ammunition and implements of war to belligerent nations. The American Catholic hierarchy and press strongly supported the Nacionales. Since over 70 percent of American Catholics had voted Democratic in 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt dared not alienate this vital constituency by appearing sympathetic to the Loyalist cause. Nonetheless, 2,800 Americans went to Spain to fight Franco and his Axis allies. Of that number, about 750 were killed. Joseph Smolka evidently was one of them. Born in Staunton on Jan. 30, 1900, Smolka joined the Communist party in 1933 during the depths of the Great Depression. About 75 percent of the American volunteers in Spain were member of the Communist party or its youth league. According to the archives of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, in which American volunteers served, Smolka arrived in Spain on June 1, 1937 and worked as a mechanic in Albacetes auto park. Smolka never returned home from Spain. When Smolkas father inquired about his sons fate, the archives state he was told that Joseph disappeared, when he ran his truck into a spot that was being surrounded by the insurgents and from which the Loyalists were retreating. They said that he left his truck and started after the retreating forces, but when the next stop was reached, he was not there. In all probability, Smolka was captured, executed and then buried in an unmarked mass grave. Ernest Hemingway, who covered the war as a pro-Loyalist correspondent, wrote that no men ever entered earth more honorably that those who died in Spain. The Spanish Republic fell to Franco in 1939. John J. Dunphy is an author, the Godfrey 15th Precinct Democratic Committeeperson and recording secretary for the Godfrey Democrats. (Newser) Capping days of commemorations of her extraordinary life, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday becomes the first woman in American history to lie in state in the US Capitol, per the AP. Ginsburg, who died last week at age 87, also will be the first Jewish-American to lie in state and just the second Supreme Court justice. The first, Chief Justice William Howard Taft, also had been president. Ginsburg's casket will be brought to the Capitol Friday morning for a private ceremony in Statuary Hall attended by her family and lawmakers. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, planned to attend. Members of the House and Senate who are not invited because of space limitations imposed by the coronavirus pandemic will be able to pay their respects before a motorcade carrying Ginsburg's casket departs the Capitol early afternoon. story continues below The honor of lying in state has been accorded fewer than three dozen times, mostly to presidents, vice presidents, and members of Congress. Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights icon, was the last person to lie in state following his death in July. Rosa Parksa private citizenis the only woman who has lain in honor at the Capitol. Ginsburg has lain in repose for two days at the Supreme Court, where thousands of people paid their respects, including President Trump and first lady Melania Trump on Thursday. Spectators booed and chanted "vote him out." Trump plans to announce his nomination Saturday of a woman to take Ginsburg's place on the high court, where she served for 27 years and was the leader of the liberal justices. She is to be buried next week in Arlington National Cemetery beside her husband, Martin, who died in 2010. (Read more Ruth Bader Ginsburg stories.) Two ruling parties in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi-led government the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) announced that they will not implement the farm laws in Maharashtra which were passed in Parliament early this week. Deputy chief minister (DyCM) and NCP leader Ajit Pawar said the farm bills, as well as the labour bills, will not be implemented in Maharashtra. State revenue minister and Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat said that all ruling parties are against the newly-enacted laws and the decision of not implementing them in the state will be taken collectively after due deliberation. The Congress and NCP supported the nationwide protest by farmers to oppose the three farm bills passed by Parliament early this week. Various farmer organisations including Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Lok Sangharsh Morcha held marches, blocked highways, burnt copies of the bills and formed human chains in at least 21 districts in Maharashtra on Friday in opposition of the bills. The farmer organisations have announced plans to intensify their protests if the bills are not withdrawn by the Central government. The third ruling party in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena is yet to clear its stand on the issue, though it has been criticising the Central government over the bills. While speaking in Pune on Friday, Pawar said that not only the farm bills but even the amendment in labour laws passed in Parliament early this week, will not be implemented in Maharashtra. These bills were passed in haste. We are studying the legalities of the bills and will take a call to not implement them in the state, he said. His cabinet colleague and state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat said that all the ruling parties are against the anti-farmer laws. We have been opposing them tooth and nail. We will discuss the laws to take steps against their implementation in the state, he said. Shiv Sena, the prime ally in the MVA government in Maharashtra has not yet clarified its stand on the bills. The party had invited criticism by Maharashtra BJP leaders for its hypocritical stance for supporting bills in the Lok Sabha and walking out of the vote in the Rajya Sabha. The issue will be discussed in the coordination committee of the three parties. Our stand this time was similar to the one taken during the CAA debate in the Parliament early this year. But on farm issues, we would not support the bills and their implementation in Maharashtra. The stand will be clarified in due course, said a Sena functionary, requesting anonymity. Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana led by former MP Raju Shetti burnt copies of the bills in Kolhapur. Shetkari Sanghatana has always been against the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and our leader, the late Sharad Joshi used to call these committees abattoirs of farmers. However, we do not endorse the way the existing system of farm produce marketing is being thrashed out by the Central government. This is nothing but an attempt to make farmers slaves in the hands of industrialists, Shetti said. He described it as a step towards privatisation of the Food Corporation of India and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed), which purchase about 30% of the farm produce. Ajit Nawale, general secretary, ABKS said that protests were held in 21 districts of the state by farmers. At least the farmers have some mechanism in place to market their produce at a reasonable price in the form of APMCs today. The bills passed in Parliament are the first step towards handing over farm marketing to a few industrial houses that will decide the prices of the produce. Though the Centre has been claiming these bills are a way to free farmers from the clutches of APMCs, the government has freed itself from the responsibilities of fair and remunerative prices to farmers. In Maharashtra, the Fadnavis government had brought bills to regularise APMCs, but it could not set up an alternative mechanism to the APMCs to give farmers remunerative prices for their produce. It was a failed attempt, he said. Farmers from Thane, Palghar, Nashik held rasta roko protests on national highways including Mumbai-Jaipur-Delhi disrupting the traffic for some time. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Congress announced a programme to be implemented over the next five weeks to oppose the farm bills. The party has announced plans to organise a drive on social media to garner support against the bills, virtual farmer rallies and to gather signatures from 1 crore farmers opposing the bills. Senior Congress leader HK Patil, who was recently appointed as Maharasthra Congress in-charge, said in a press conference in Mumbai, Under pressure from big industries, the [Narendra] Modi government passed the farm and labour bills which will uproot and destroy farmers and workers in the country. The bills will bring back the feudal zamindari system in the country. The laws should be immediately repealed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Even if it's not a huge purchase, we think it was good to see that Philip Bowman, the Non-Executive Independent Director of Kathmandu Holdings Limited (NZSE:KMD) recently shelled out NZ$65k to buy stock, at NZ$1.31 per share. While we're hesitant to get too excited about a purchase of that size, we do note it increased their holding by a solid 33%. Check out our latest analysis for Kathmandu Holdings Kathmandu Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Group CEO Xavier Simonet bought NZ$245k worth of shares at a price of NZ$0.50 per share. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (NZ$1.23), we still think insider buying is a positive. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price. In the last twelve months Kathmandu Holdings insiders were buying shares, but not selling. The average buy price was around NZ$0.64. We don't deny that it is nice to see insiders buying stock in the company. However, we do note that they were buying at significantly lower prices than today's share price. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below! Kathmandu Holdings is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying. Does Kathmandu Holdings Boast High Insider Ownership? Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. From looking at our data, insiders own NZ$3.9m worth of Kathmandu Holdings stock, about 0.4% of the company. We prefer to see high levels of insider ownership. Story continues So What Do The Kathmandu Holdings Insider Transactions Indicate? It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. While the overall levels of insider ownership are below what we'd like to see, the history of transactions imply that Kathmandu Holdings insiders are reasonably well aligned, and optimistic for the future. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Kathmandu Holdings. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Kathmandu Holdings (including 1 which can't be ignored). 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. In this Sept. 29, 2018, file photo, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters. The United Nations makes a point of welcoming all nations, regardless of political persuasion. But in many ways, there's a love-hate relationship between the North and the UN. AP Hermit Kingdom? Not quite. To pay close attention to North Korean diplomacy is to notice the many ways it upends the stereotype of the isolated, nuclear-armed wildcard of Northeast Asia. Yes, the country's propaganda services are prone to rhetoric meant to convey a sense of towering fury, mostly for domestic consumption. But before the coronavirus outbreak sealed its borders, North Korea's state media reported on a steady stream of select foreign diplomats, academics, journalists and delegations trooping up to the capital, Pyongyang. Along with scattered embassies throughout the world, the North also has a permanent mission at the United Nations in New York, where one of its diplomats will dutifully, if virtually, join other world leaders speaking at the annual U.N. General Assembly. The United Nations makes a point of welcoming all nations, regardless of political persuasion. But in many ways, there's a love-hate relationship between the North and the U.N. And it raises a lingering question: What, exactly, does North Korea get out of membership in the United Nations? On the one hand, the world body, with its jumble of nations _ big and small, rich and poor, powerful and weak _ gives North Korea, which is formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK, a rare and highly visible platform from which to respond to the criticism it faces. Most of that comes from what it considers the world's leading bully _ the United States _ and its allies. But the United Nations also generates a fair share of that criticism. It puts the North's diplomats regularly on the defensive as they battle a stream of official reports, investigations and motions that point out the North's abysmal human rights record, its decades-long, coffers-draining pursuit of nuclear-tipped long-range missiles and other charges of infamy. One important thing the North gets from the U.N.: a direct point of contact with the 192 other member nations, including a host of countries that would be loath to send their diplomats to pay homage in Pyongyang _ the United States pre-eminent among them. The two nations don't have formal diplomatic ties, and Washington relies on Sweden as its consular proxy in Pyongyang. This means the North's U.N. mission in New York is something of a substitute for an official embassy in Washington. When one side needs quick contact with the other, they often use the so-called ''New York channel'' at the United Nations. A good example of the importance of the ''New York channel'' came as the two sides were working out details of the three extraordinary summits between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in 2018 and 2019. With the United Nations, ''North Korea gets an excellent venue to work bilateral conversations with every country in the world without having to deploy diplomats in member capitals (at great expense), or have them travel to Pyongyang,'' said John Bolton, who has served as both the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush and as National Security Adviser under Donald Trump. ''The criticisms of North Korea will come anyway, and having a U.N. mission gives the DPRK proximity to media markets and universities in order to respond,'' Bolton said in an email. He added: ''The opportunities for DPRK intell gathering go without saying.'' The usefulness of the United Nations for the North is perhaps most obvious during times of high tension. In 2017, for instance, when animosity and back-and-forth threats between Trump and Kim had many fearing the possibility of war, North Korean officials used the media at the U.N. to repeatedly respond to Trump, holding several press conferences and reaching out directly to reporters with statements. It's true that quite a lot of what comes out of the U.N. is not to the North's liking, and its diplomats have stormed out of gatherings critical of the country's human rights, considered among the world's worst. But then they've also used the body to amplify their side of things. Of course, North Korea would have more vibrant and substantial diplomacy with other U.N. member states if it abandoned its pursuit of a banned nuclear weapons program, according to analyst Chung Eunsook at the private Sejong Institute near Seoul. ''When North Korea becomes a non-nuclear state and opens itself up, it can better engage in multilateral diplomacy as a genuine member of the international community,'' Chung said. Part of the North's approach to diplomacy is the result of its turbulent history, and the outsized role the United States and the United Nations play in it. North Korea was born when the Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonialism at the end of World War II, only to be forcibly divided into a Soviet-backed north and U.S.-supported south. Three years later, North Korea and South Korea became nations. Two years after that, in 1950, North Korea sneak-attacked the South to start the bloody three-year Korean War. That drew in China on the North's side and the United States and a host of other nations fighting under the U.N. flag on the South's. That war has never technically ended, and the line between the North and South is the most heavily armed border in the world. These days, aside from the North's operations at the U.N., there's little reason to expect the kind of diplomacy that came in 2018, with Kim Jong Un meeting with leaders from the United States, Russia, China, Vietnam and South Korea. Kim is facing domestic crises on several fronts: a crumbling economy battered by unrelenting sanctions; a ragged infrastructure that's been pummeled by a string of typhoons; and the COVID pandemic, which has caused North Korea to seal its borders even with China, its economic lifeline. Still, the U.N. speech at the General Assembly next week will be an opportunity for the North to take to the world stage and express its own vision of nationhood _ the storyline of a proud, beset people who have been forced to embrace nuclear weapons to survive against unrelenting hostility from the United States, South Korea and their allies. More generally, the speech will be ''an attempt to win favorable international opinion,'' said Choi Kang, vice president of Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies. And that ability to reach out and be heard by global hearts and minds _ in a way as rare as it is direct _ may, when it comes to North Korea's U.N. membership, be the biggest benefit of all. (AP) Less than one percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are Black. Recently, Wells Fargo CEO, Charles Scharf was quoted saying, "There is a very limited pool of Black talent to recruit from," when questioned on Capitol Hill. Despite the recent heightened interest in Diversity and Inclusion and companies pledging Billions of dollars towards Social Justice initiatives and investing in Black businesses, there isn't a real blueprint on how these monies will reach Black people. The Black IDEA Coalition is a 501(c)3 organization and has the infrastructure to provide research, models, and technical assistance to help companies identify Blacks. Theater project embezzlement case comes up to appeal stage RAPSI 17:38 25/09/2020 MOSCOW, September 25 (RAPSI) The Moscow City Court has received appeals against sentence in a high-profile Seventh Studio stage company embezzlement case, RAPSI has learnt from the courts press service. Appeals have been fined by all defendants except the Gogol Centre theater director Kirill Serebrennikov. The hearing date has not been set yet. On June 26, the court passed a 3-year suspended sentence and an 800,000-ruble fine on the Gogol Center theater director Kirill Serebrennikov for embezzlement of 129 million rubles (about $2 million) of budget funds allocated for the theater project Platforma. Ex-head of Seventh Studio Yury Itin also received a 3-year suspended term and a fine. Producer Alexey Malobrodsky was given a 2-year suspended sentence and a fine. Director of the Russian Academic Youth Theater Sophia Apfelbaum received a fine but was released from its payment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. The court also granted a 129 million-ruble civil suit. Serebrennikov, Itin and Malobrodsky are to pay the money. The court found that Serebrennikov and Itin had committed embezzlement involving Malobrodsky in the crime. However, Apfelbaum was not aware of their criminal plans but provided for the approval of the Platforma financial plans submitted by Serebrennikov. However, the court found Apfelbaum guilty of negligence resulted in grave damage. According to investigators, defendants in the case stole 133 of 214 million rubles ($3.3 million) of budget funds allocated to the Seventh Studio company in 2011-2014 for development and popularization of contemporary art in Russia as part of the project Platforma. Serebrennikov was arrested in late August 2017 and then placed under house arrest. In early November, Moscows Basmanny District Court seized assets belonging to Serebrennikov including apartment, car, and money in the amount of more than 360,000 rubles ($5,300), over 60,000, and $4,000. Delegates attend a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria, on July 28, 2019. The remaining Iran nuclear deal signatories reaffirmed their commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and criticized the United States for its unilateral sanctions during a meeting here Sunday, according to Chinese delegate Fu Cong, director general of the Department of Arms Control at the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Photo:Xinhua By Chen Anqi "The United States has now restored the UN sanctions on Iran," according to a statement by the White House on September 21.The international community was in an uproar as soon as the statement came out. This hegemonic act that ignores international law and acts unilaterally under the disguise of the UN has not only failed to achieve the desired effect but has plunged the US itself into a more isolated situation. Sanctions are no longer new to Iran. The US has been drawing up a sanctions script against Iran, but Iran's actual situation has not developed in accordance with the script prepared by the US. In fact, Iran not only developed a resistance economy, reduced its dependence on imports, but also circumvented sanctions as it developed exports of non-petroleum products, and created a level of income that had not been reached before. In addition, although the US has made progress in promoting the establishment of diplomatic relations between some Arab countries and Israel, there is still a big gap between its goal of forming an anti-Iran alliance in the Middle East. Eric Brewer, deputy director and senior fellow with the Project on Nuclear Issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies of the US, said: "So far, this is really all for show. It looks like a lot of the new designations are individuals, sub-organizations, etc. of previously sanctioned entities. Also, these sanctions could have been done under existing executive orders without snapback." The US containment of Iran has not produced any substantial effect. The effect of US sanctions on Iran is mediocre, but because of such actions, the US has been unprecedentedly isolated in the United Nations. In late August, the US requested the UN Security Council to activate the rapid reinstatement of sanctions mechanism in Resolution 2231 in an attempt to restore sanctions against Iran. This move was opposed by 13 of the 15 member states of the UN Security Council. This absurd act of forcibly "representing" the UN has unexpectedly attracted strong opposition from many countries, including its allies. China, Russia, the UK, France, Germany and other parties to the Iran nuclear deal wrote to the President of the UN Security Council to express their opposition to US's unilateral announcement. The EU also issued a statement expressing its opposition. In addition, the UK, France and Germany issued a joint statement warning that the US has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal and has no right to make this request. The US's bullying on the Iran nuclear issue, and its arrogant attitude toward the international law are being generally resisted by the international community. "When this - the being assisted by few - reaches its extreme point, his own relations revolt from the prince." At present, the beliefs and behaviors that put its own interests first have greatly weakened the influence of the US in the international community, and the centripetal force in the traditional circle of allies has also shown a downward trend. Facing the tough statement of the US, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza recently stated that, US sanctions will not affect the friendly relations between Venezuela and Iran. A just cause enjoys abundant support, while an unjust cause finds little.. Any attempt to put one's own interests above the common interests of the international community will not win the heart of the people. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 00:08:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution to extend the mandate of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia for another year, till Sept. 25, 2021. Resolution 2545, which won the unanimous support of the 15-member council, also indicates the Security Council's intention to add to the mission's mandate the task of verifying compliance with the sentences of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. The inclusion of the new task will be based on the outcome of the ongoing consultation process coordinated by the Colombian government, says the resolution. The Special Jurisdiction for Peace is a transitional justice mechanism to investigate crimes committed during the five-decade-long armed conflict between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The Colombian government and FARC struck a peace deal in August 2016 after four years of negotiations in Havana, Cuba. The Security Council in July 2017 approved the establishment of the Verification Mission to verify the political, economic and social reintegration of former FARC combatants as well as security guarantees. The Verification Mission succeeded a UN mission of unarmed observers tasked by the Security Council in January 2016 to monitor and verify the laying down of arms, and to help monitor and verify the cease-fire following the signing of a peace agreement. Enditem Melburnians desperate to escape their city prison have fled to the idyllic beach town of Byron Bay - and locals are not happy. Fed-up residents have slammed city dwellers from Australia's coronavirus capital who they claim are flocking to the celebrity hotspot to wait for the second wave to pass. Apparently the invaders are typically middle-aged men with turned up collars whose eyes are glued to their iPhones. Their cars of choice - apparently, gaudy Range Rovers, SUVs and Maseratis carrying Victorian number plates - have also irked the natives. Byron Bay Local and Heartbreak High star, Putu Winchester-Stanton, has launched a scathing attack on the new arrivals. Melburnians desperate to escape their city prison have fled to idyllic beach town of Byron Bay (pictured) - and locals are not happy Byron Bay Local and Heartbreak High star Putu Winchester-Stanton (right) has launched a scathing attack on the new arrivals 'You can spot the Melburnians in a second,' he told the Herald Sun's Page 13. 'They just reek of Melbourne. Puffer jackets and ironed jeans. I mean whats with that?' His harsh comments were echoed by another local, artist Kane Latty. 'It was bad enough before the school holidays, but now they all ponce around thinking they're the Hemsworths. Go f***ing home,' he said. Some celebs have chose Byron Bay as their temporary home during the coronavirus pandemic. Natalie Bassingthwaighte her partner Cameron McGlinchey and their two children, daughter Harper and son Hendrix, moved from Melbourne to the trendy coastal town earlier this year. Fed-up residents have slammed city dwellers from Australia's coronavirus capital Melbourne (pictured) flocking to the celebrity hotspot to wait for the second wave to pass (stock image) Among the tanned, youthful surfers of Byron Bay (pictured) pasty middle-aged Melburnians with iPhones and upturned collars stick out like a sore thumb (stock image) Natalie Bassingthwaighte her partner Cameron McGlinchey and their two children, daughter Harper and son Hendrix, moved from Melbourne to the trendy coastal town earlier this year Baywatch star Zac Efron also relocated to the coastal community sparking fears that the town was losing its 'community atmosphere'. In a recent post shared to a Byron Bay Facebook group, one local wrote: 'Byron Bay used to be inclusive. If you don't have a tonne of money forget it. 'And by the way, I've lived in Byron Bay for nearly forty years, so it's got nothing to do with tall poppy [syndrome]. It's to do with losing the community atmosphere. 'Now it's all AirBnBs, this is what I don't like,' they finished. New Delhi: Adding a new twist to the mysterious death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, family lawyer Vikas Singh has made an explosive revelation on Twitter this morning. Senior advocate Vikas Singh took to Twitter and wrote: Getting frustrated by the delay in CBI taking a decision to convert abetment to suicide to Murder of SSR. The Doctor who is part of the AIIMS team had told me long back that the photos sent by me indicated 200% that its death by strangulation and not suicide. Getting frustrated by the delay in CBI taking a decision to convert abetment to suicide to Murder of SSR. The Doctor who is part of AIIMS team had told me long back that the photos sent by me indicated 200% that its death by strangulation and not suicide. Vikas Singh (@vikassinghSrAdv) September 25, 2020 It must be noted that although Mumbai police stated that it is a suicide, Sushant's family, friends and an ocean of fan following suspected foul play in his death. Eventually, the case went to CBI which is now awaiting AIIMS viscera report to come to a conclusive closure. Besides the CBI probing actor's death, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NBC) is investigating the drugs angle and Enforcement Directorate is looking into the money laundering case. With three premiere agencies investigating the curious death case of Sushant Singh Rajput, all eyes are now on finding out the truth. Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his residence on June 14, 2020. OTTAWAThe minority Liberal government has reached a deal with the New Democrats over legislation to support workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, securing the backing needed to survive a confidence vote on the throne speech. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh touted the deal as historic and said changes demanded by his party to Bill C-2 will ensure that millions of Canadians will be entitled to two weeks of paid sick leave, rather than just the thousands he claimed would have benefited under the governments original proposal. Today is a historic moment, he told a hastily called news conference on Parliament Hill late Friday. Because this is the first time ever in the history of our country that we have a federal program now for paid sick leave we believe this is a first step towards creating a permanent program that should be a part of our Canadian social safety net. Singh declined to give details of the changes the NDP has won to the legislation until they are formally tabled in the House of Commons on Monday. But if they reflect the deal struck Friday, Singh said the NDP will support fast-tracking the bill through the Commons in one or two days and will also support the throne speech, which must be put to an eventual confidence vote. The minority Liberals need the backing of at least one of the main opposition parties to avoid defeat on the confidence vote, which would plunge the country into an election just as a second wave of COVID-19 is surging across the country. The government had already agreed earlier in the week to another key NDP demand: that Canadians whove been left without jobs or fewer hours of work due to the pandemic will continue to receive $500 a week in benefits. That is the same as they have been receiving under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit which ends Saturday. The government had originally proposed payments at $400 a week. With the end of the CERB, which has been used by almost nine million Canadians to stay afloat during the pandemic, the government is transitioning recipients back to a more robust, generous employment insurance regime. For those who dont qualify for EI, Bill C-2 will create a temporary new Canada Recovery Benefit as well as a sick leave benefit and another benefit for caregivers who are forced to stay home to care for a dependant who falls ill or is forced to self-isolate. Applications for the recovery benefit are to open Oct. 11 and, for the other two benefits, on Oct. 4. To avoid leaving some Canadians in the lurch without any financial support, Singh acknowledged the urgent need to get the bill passed swiftly. He blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the time crunch, nothing that he prorogued Parliament in August, preventing it from dealing with anything until after the new session opened this week. Nevertheless, Singh said the NDP will support the government in getting the bill passed quickly next week, bypassing the normal legislative process that can take months or even years. We need to speed up the passage of this legislation so that it gets in place quickly and so that theres not a break in support for families that need the support, he said. The Liberals also cheered the deal. We are entering the second wave and millions of Canadians are still struggling to make ends meet, government House leader Pablo Rodriguez said Friday on Twitter. We now have an agreement with the NDP on a bill that will deliver the help that Canadians need. Its by working together that we will get through this pandemic. The government has set aside Monday and Tuesday for debate on the bill. Earlier Friday, the Conservatives attempted to win support for a motion calling for the Commons to sit on Sunday as well so that MPs could have more time to debate Bill C-2. While they agreed that Canadians need support, they argued that MPs also have a duty to scrutinize legislation that will cost the federal treasury billions. They did not get the unanimous consent needed to pass the motion. The Conservatives have already said they will vote against the throne speech and the Bloc Quebecois say they are leaning that way unless the Liberals meet demands from the provinces to add billions to annual federal health transfers by next week. The Federal Government on Friday inaugurated the first Infectious Disease Centre (IDC), in the Federal Capital Territory, and handed it over to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH). Speaking at the inauguration of the 40-bed centre in Gwagwalada, Abuja, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said that the centre would improve Nigerias capacity to respond to all infectious diseases. With laboratory testing and case management in one location, there is a much shorter time between sample collection and infection confirmation. This will ensures early initiation of treatment and thus mitigate mortality during infectious disease outbreaks. I am very proud that today, we now have an international standard centre where we can manage highly pathogenic infectious disease cases, including critical medical and laboratory equipment, Mr Ehanire said. The minister hinted that the model would be replicated across the 36 states to ensure that the country was better prepared for infectious disease outbreaks. Other facilities in the hospital inaugurated by the minister included the Accident and Emergency Unit which is a 32-bed facility with an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), radiology suite, dialysis unit, fully equipped dedicated operating theatre and oxygen supply unit. Also inaugurated was a Cardiology Unit with facilities for non-invasive procedures including a 4D echocardiograph. The minister also laid the foundation stone for the Mental Health Block, a 76-bed block which, when completed, would have facilities for specialised therapies, an emergency area, consulting, psychotherapy and seminar rooms, and a pharmacy. The Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, in a remark, said that the project commenced in 2019 following the outbreak of the Lassa Fever in 2018 and the urgent need for a centre to manage infectious diseases. ALSO READ: Disease control centre activates three laboratories for outbreak samples In addition to managing viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Lassa fever, Mr Ihekweazu said the centre was designated for the management of cases of other infectious diseases, including coronavirus, in the FCT. The NCDC boss stated that the treatment centre also had a molecular laboratory for the prompt diagnosis of infectious diseases. He said it was even more important to establish a treatment centre in Abuja to improve health security, while noting that COVID-19 had shown that no investment in the health sector was too small. Mr Ihekweazu reinforced the need for multi-sectoral collaboration to ensure the sustainability of the project The cargoes of Iranian gasoline that the United States seized more than a month ago continue to idle off the U.S. Gulf Coast amid a court battle over ownership of the cargo and the grounds for confiscation. In the middle of August, the U.S. Administration said it had seized the fuel cargo of several vessels, alleging that the fuel came from Iran and was going to Venezuela. The confiscation followed a lawsuit filed by U.S. prosecutors for the seizure of the cargo carried by the four vessels for violating U.S. sanctions against Venezuela. The U.S. Department of Justice announced at the time the successful disruption of a multimillion-dollar fuel shipment by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization, that was bound for Venezuela. These actions represent the governments largest-ever seizure of fuel shipments from Iran. The cargo from all four vessels, totaling 1.116 million barrels of petroleum, is now in U.S. custody, the Justice Department said. However, companies claiming ownership of the fuel asked this week a U.S. judge to release the cargoes, because, the firms claim, the U.S. forfeiture relies on a series of unfounded assumptions, Reuters reported, noting that the Iranian fuel remains stuck at sea and cannot discharge at a U.S. port. The companies claiming ownership of the fuel say that the gasoline was intended for buyers in Peru and Colombia, not Venezuela. Venezuela is in the grips of a severe gasoline shortage as refineries are unable to operate normally because of a shortage of diluents necessary for the production of fuels as well as an urgent need for repairs. Iran, as a fellow target of U.S. sanction, has declared its readiness to help Venezuela deal with the shortage and earlier this year managed to send cargoes of fuel to the Latin American country. Iran and Venezuela have also recently exchanged crude oil, in defiance of the U.S. sanctions. After Iran delivered condensate to Venezuela via an Iran-flagged tanker, the same tanker is now loading Venezuelan crude oil at a terminal in the Latin American country, Bloomberg reported earlier this week, quoting a shipping report. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, September 26 2020 Indonesian regulatory bodies and financial technology (fintech) firms are trying to strike a balance that will encourage innovation in the industry while ensuring customer security. Financial Services Authority (OJK) head Triyono said on Friday that the authority was pursuing a light touch and safe-harbor approach to encourage what he called responsible innovation, which would prioritize security, customer protection and well-managed risk. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Namita Bajpai By Express News Service LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khans son Abdullah Azam, who has been disqualified from the state Legislative Assembly for quoting the wrong date of birth by furnishing a fake birth certificate in his poll affidavit, is likely to be debarred from contesting elections for six years. Principal secretary, UP Assembly, Pradip Dubey, has referred the matter to the President of India for his opinion under Section 8 (A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 over the issue. His move comes following the opinion of the law department which had recommended the debarment of Abdullah Azam from contesting elections for indulging in 'electoral malpractices'. The President is likely to take any decision over the issue only after taking the opinion of the Election Commission of India. On its part, the poll panel would take the state law departments recommendation into account before sending its opinion to the President. ALSO READ | Welcome release of Kafeel Khan, hope Azam Khan will get justice too: Akhilesh Yadav Abdullah would likely become the first leader in the country to be debarred from contesting the election for at least six years. Abdullah, along with his MP father Azam Khan, and MLA mother Tazeen Fatima, is languishing in Sitapur jail for almost six months now. All three have been named in a number of criminal cases. Abdullah was elected as an MLA from Swar Tanda in 2017 when he was not 25 years old. He was accused of contesting and winning election by furnishing a fake birth certificate. The Allahabad High Court held his election invalid in December 2018 after the allegations were found to be true. The Assembly Secretariat had issued a notification dismissing his membership. Recently, the Assembly secretariat received petitions from Akash Saxena of the BJP and Nawab Qazim Ali of the Congress, seeking his debarment from contesting the elections. If Abdullah is debarred from contesting Assembly polls for six years, it would be a unique case in electoral history and a setback to Rampurs strongest political family. San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Thursday announced $28.5 million in coronavirus aid for the citys Latino residents, who remain among the most impacted by the virus. Breed did not specify where the funds would come from, but a press release from her office said the city obtained the initial funding of $22.5 million through a variety of solutions and that it will leverage public and private sources to meet the remaining need. The funding will include: $7.3 million for coronavirus testing, contact tracing and behavioral health $8.5 million in housing subsidies and eviction prevention $5.3 million for food access and family support $1.4 million for small business and workforce assistance Our Latino community has borne the brunt of the COVID pandemic not just here in San Francisco, but across the country, Breed said in a statement Thursday. While we have provided support for food access and financial assistance, it hasnt been enough. We can do more to support those who have been going to work day after day and who too often live in crowded conditions that make it hard to isolate. Latinos account for 50% of coronavirus cases in San Francisco, despite making up just 15% of the citys population, according to data from the citys department of public health. Meanwhile, Latinos account for 61% of coronavirus cases across California, despite making up just 39% of the population. Low-income Latinos who work essential jobs and live in crowded housing to afford skyrocketing rents remain among the most vulnerable to COVID-19 a pattern that has persisted across the U.S. throughout the pandemic. Yet testing sites are often hard to find in low-income neighborhoods a problem that has plagued communities like San Franciscos Mission and Bayview districts. Its clear this pandemic continues to have traumatic impacts on our most vulnerable populations in San Francisco, especially for hard-working Latino families and workers who make up one in every two COVID-19 cases in San Francisco, said Joaquin Torres, director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, in a statement Thursday. The vital resources and investments Mayor Breed has prioritized to address the needs within this community reflect and respect the tireless and powerful advocacy and work of our partners, as well as our citys commitment to the most vulnerable and impacted. Breed said the Department of Public Health and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development led the funding effort. The city also worked with the Latino Parity and Equity Coalition, which has advocated for more resources for the Latino community, Breed said. The coalition represents members from local nonprofits and advocacy groups focused on housing, immigration and social service. Tatiana Sanchez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Tatiana.Sanchez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @TatianaYSanchez. While a lucky humpback whale found its way back to sea almost two weeks after losing its way in a crocodile-infested river in northern Australia, efforts are being made to rescue as many as possible out of the estimated pod of nearly 500 pilot whales stranded in Australias southern island of Tasmania this past week. As of now, marine rescue teams are able to save about 88 long-finned whales, while some 380 had died in the mass stranding, Tasmanias Parks and Wildlife Service said in a statement on Sept. 24. The statement noted that the rescue of another 20 whales has been prioritized following an assessment in the morning. Pilot whales lie stranded on a sandbar near Strahan, Australia, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. (Brodie Weeding/Pool Photo via AP) The rescue ensued when around 270 whales were spotted on Monday on two sandbars and a beach near the west-coast town of Strahan. The Tasmanian authorities launched a mission on Tuesday to rescue the remaining pod after the experts ascertained that almost one-third of the 270-strong pod had died. However, on Wednesday the rescue became even more challenging when they spotted nearly 200 more stranded and distressed whales, many of which are believed to be possibly dead; the discovery was made in Macquarie Harbour. Nic Deka, regional manager of Tasmanias parks and wildlife service, said in a statement on Wednesday that the rescue operation has been scaled up, with the number of volunteers increased and others on standby so that they are readily available whenever needed. Members of a rescue crew stand with a whale on a sand bar near Strahan, Australia, on Sept. 22. More pilot whales were found stranded on an Australian coast Wednesday, Sept. 23, raising the total to almost 500 in the largest mass stranding ever recorded in the island state of Tasmania. (Brodie Weeding/Pool Photo via AP) The statement said that a total of 470 whales became stranded in the Macquarie Harbour incident. At any point in time this number is really an estimate, Deka said. It is a complex site. Many of the whales are submerged and so we have made our best efforts to do the counts as we assess which animals are alive and which are deadit is difficult. Deka said earlier this week that in Tasmania, whale strandings are not uncommon. Whale strandings of this scale are not unusual either, however, we have not had one of this level for the past decade, he said. A member of a rescue crew stands with a whale on a sand bar near Strahan, Australia, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. (Brodie Weeding/Pool Photo via AP) Dr. Kris Carlyon, Parks and Wildlife Services marine biologist, said the rescue operation might take days and would be slow. Theres an element of reality too. This is such a complex event that any whale we save we are considering a real win. We are focussing [sic] on having as many survivors as we can, Carlyon said on Tuesday. Deka added: Inevitably the longer the event goes on the higher the likelihood that the animals will perish if they cant be released. On Wednesday, Deka said that the team is now planning on how to dispose of the dead whales, with their preference being to dispose of the animals at sea. Deka said: Our focus in the next few days will be to try to contain the spread of carcasses because as the whales start to decompose, they will start to bloat and float and with the tides they will drift. They will present a significant navigation hazard if we dont contain them. We are getting really good assistance from the aquaculture industry in terms of collection and containment of the carcasses. They have been great to date in assisting with the rescue as well, he added. Deka noted that the aim is to remove the carcasses as quickly as possible, however, the process would take several days. On Tuesday, September 29, at 12.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference entitled "UP Foundation Presents Result of Research 'Rating of Influence of Ukrainian Officials." Participants include Head of the UP Foundation, historian, politologist Kost Bondarenko; analyst of the UP Foundation Lev Bondarenko (8/5a Reitarska Street). The press conference will be broadcast on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Admission of journalists requires registration on the spot. Additional information be phones: (044) 586 2472, (050) 038 8754. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Reuters) Dubai, United Arab Emirates/Jerusalem Fri, September 25, 2020 10:13 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4722517 2 World Israel-UAE,bilateral-cooperation,bilateral-relation,bilateral-ties,cyber-attacks,cyber-security Free The United Arab Emirates and Israel share threats to their national online networks, the Israeli cyber-security chief said on Thursday in a rare public discussion of potential cooperation with his counterpart following the normalization of relations. The establishment of formal Israel-UAE ties over the last month - spurred in part by common worries about Iran - unleashed a flurry of bilateral deals, including on cyber technologies, Israeli exports of which were valued at $6.5 billion in 2019. "We are threatened by the same threats ... because of the nature of the region, because of the nature of our new, 'outed' relations and because of who we are - strong economically and technologically," Igal Unna, head of Israel's National Cyber Directorate, told UAE counterpart Mohamed al-Kuwaiti in an online conference. "We see already things in fast progress and I am very optimistic that we have a lot in common and a lot to share." Kuwaiti described the UAE as potentially at risk of online sabotage including ransomware attacks as it develops its digital sphere. He promoted the idea of international cooperation - including in joint exercises - in cyber defense. "Israel is very well-known on the technological part and that will really help," Kuwaiti said. Doron Hadar, commander of the Israeli military's crisis negotiation unit, said during the conference that dealing with ransomware attacks is "not a 'win/lose situation', it's a 'lose/lose less' situation. So [with] the right negotiation and dialogue ... you will manage the situation and you'll survive." Kuwaiti described normalization with Israel as a "step forward" for the UAE government as it pursued things like smart government and artificial intelligence technologies. The UAE valued its cyber-security market at $490 million last year. Neither Kuwaiti nor Unna explicitly named threats to their countries. Israel has elsewhere described itself as in a cyber-war with arch-foe Iran. Louisiana's attorney general announced on Friday he has launched an investigation into a case of a fourth-grader from Jefferson Parish who was not allowed to attend school for six days for having a BB gun in his bedroom, where he was attending online school. "I am alarmed by what appears to not only be multiple violations of both the State and Federal Constitutions, but also blatant government overreach by the school system," Attorney General Jeff Landry said in a press release, calling it an "egregious incident." "I have begun investigating this matter and plan to take action in defense of this young man and his family and all families who could suffer the same invasion of their homes and constitutional rights." "For anyone to conclude that a student's home is now school property because of connectivity through video conferencing is absurd," he added. Ka Mauri Harrison returned back to school on Thursday virtually after he was suspended this month over the BB gun, which was visible on his class' video conference for a The announcement came after Ka Mauri Harrison returned back to school on Thursday virtually after he was suspended this month over the BB gun, which was visible on his class' video conference for a "split second," said Ka Mauri's father, Nyron Harrison, CBS New Orleans affiliate WWL-TV reports. The nine-year-old was taking a test in his bedroom earlier this month when his brother walked in carrying the BB gun, WWL-TV reports. The boy picked up the BB gun when it fell, and put it next to his seat, where it was apparently visible on his class' video conference. Ka Mauri's teacher filed a behavior report, saying he "presented a weapon that appeared to be a rifle/shotgun during his Google Meets classroom session," which is a violation of the school's weapons and internet usage policy. The report said he would be recommended for expulsion, per the school district's policy, WWL-TV reports. While school officials agreed the boy did not point the gun at the computer, the school system maintains its on-campus policies are in effect for distance learning, the family's lawyer said, according to WWL-TV. Story continues Ka Mauri received a six-day suspension. "They just went ahead and went along with it and blew it out of proportion," Ka Mauri's dad told the station. Harrison said he worries how this incident will affect his son's future. "This outcome is going to follow him through the rest of his life, and that's what's not allowing me to accept their decision," he said. Attorney General Landry said it was "ludicrous" to punish this "All-American" kid and said the school and school board "deprived" the boy of "six days of educational instruction" "just the start of the damage done to him and his family." "My office and I will take a deep dive into all the irreparable harm caused by this egregious incident and take appropriate actions," he said. According to WWL-TV, the Jefferson Parish Public School System said it does not comment on individual students and their records. The school system said teachers and administrators are allowed to use "reasonable discipline to keep order." CBS News has reached out to Jefferson Parish Public School System and Woodmere Elementary for comment and is awaiting response. Chelsea Berner Cusimano, the Harrison family's attorney, said the situation was "grossly mishandled," and that school officials should reconsider keeping the suspension on Ka Mauri's record, since the incident happened at home. She also said a lawsuit is not out of the question if the suspension is not removed from his record. CBS News has reached out to the Harrison family for more information. "CBS Evening News" headlines for Thursday, September 24, 2020 Louisville police officers shot amid protests over Breonna Taylor CBS News exclusive interview with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Kelly Craft Hyundai Motor Group said Friday it has hired an ex-PSA powertrain expert as it strives to develop next-generation powertrain and electrification technologies. The Korean automotive group appointed Alain Raposo, 57, as executive vice president in charge of its powertrain tech unit under the group's research and development division, the company said in a statement. Raposo will be responsible for engine, transmission and electrification development for Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors starting Monday. He will report to Albert Biermann, president and head of the RD division, it said. "I'll put all my energy and knowledge, together with my Powertrain Tech unit members, to contribute to the success of the Hyundai Motor Group. I am excited to experience the Korean culture and to join Hyundai in its efforts to make a smart digital transformation from the combustion era to fully sustainable mobility," he said in the statement. (Yonhap) Hopes of the UK and EU agreeing a post-Brexit trade deal have increased after Brussels said 'the tide is turning' and Downing Street welcomed recent 'useful exchanges' with the bloc. Talks between the two sides have been deadlocked for months because of disagreements on key issues. But there are now signs of progress being made with less than 100 days left until the end of the transition period. Michel Barnier, the EU's top negotiator, returned to Brussels from London this morning after another round of informal negotiations broke up without a major breakthrough. However, hopes of a deal being struck are now higher than they have been for months ahead of formal talks resuming in Brussels next week. Hopes of Boris Johnson striking a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union are growing Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets shoppers and shopkeepers today during a visit to his constituency in Uxbridge, west London The Times reported overnight that there is 'cautious but growing optimism in Whitehall' that there will be a deal agreed this year. The newspaper said there was now a 'more positive attitude' surrounding negotiations and 'things are moving' with a 'deal is coming into view'. Downing Street said at lunchtime there had been 'useful exchanges' with Brussels in recent weeks after being asked if Number 10 was now more optimistic a trade deal can be struck. The Prime Minister's deputy official spokesman said: 'We've had useful exchanges with the EU over the past couple of weeks and progress has been made in certain areas. 'The EU has now confirmed that normal processes will be followed on third country listings. 'But we've always been clear that a number of challenging areas remain, which is why we continue to be committed to working hard to reach an agreement and we look forward to the next negotiating round in Brussels.' The spokesman said that state aid and fisheries remain the main areas of contention. The comments from Number 10 came after an EU official told Politico that 'it seems like the tide is turning'. Michel Barnier returned to Brussels from London this morning after a week of informal talks Relations between Britain and the bloc dipped to a new low in recent weeks after Boris Johnson published his plans to override parts of the Brexit divorce deal but tensions now appear to be easing. It came as the British Retail Consortium warned shoppers will face higher prices for their weekly shop if the two sides fail to strike a free trade agreement. The trade body said increased tariffs could add more than 3 billion annually to the cost of food and drink. Number 10 said it remains committed to striking a 'zero tariff, zero quota' trade deal with the bloc and 'avoiding tariffs is beneficial for both sides, particularly given our shared commitment to high standards'. A boy who had recovered from the coronavirus has tested positive for the contagion again 16 days after he was discharged from the hospital and passing a two-week quarantine in China. The 12-year-old, known by his surname Li, has been put under isolation in Harbin of north China on Thursday following his positive result, the health authorities say. The news comes as a major port city in east China has scrambled to quarantine hundreds after two handlers working for a seafood importer tested positive for the coronavirus, sparking fears of a looming new COVID-19 outbreak in the country. A boy (not pictured) who had recovered from the coronavirus has tested positive for the contagion again 16 days after he was discharged from the hospital in China. The stock photo shows a young Asian boy wearing a face mask as he stands by the window looking out Li arrived in Shenyang of north-eastern province Liaoning from the US with his mother on July 31, according to a statement from the health officials. Workers wearing protective suits check information of an inbound passenger at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on March 27 Li arrived in Shenyang of north-eastern province Liaoning from the US with his mother on July 31, according to a statement from the health officials. The boys mother was diagnosed as a confirmed COVID-19 patient while her son tested positive for the virus but displayed no symptoms. After receiving treatment and passing a 14-day quarantine, the child was declared virus-free and discharged from a Shenyang hospital on September 8. He was picked up by his father who drove him back to their home city, Harbin in neighbouring Heilongjiang province, on the same day. The young former patient spent another two weeks isolating at home as part of so-called health management, according to the authorities. Li did not go to school during this period. On Wednesday, Mudanjiang officials reported five more asymptomatic patients. Another four new infections were reported by the local authorities today. This file photo taken on April 24, shows a medical worker taking swab samples of a Chinese man for nucleic acid testing Ms Bi had her temperature taken again, which came back normal, after arriving in Shenyang on the same day. A worker wearing a protective suit checks the body temperature of a passenger at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on March 27 On Wednesday, the boy was taken by his parents to a local hospital to receive coronavirus testing. He reported no symptoms or discomfort. Lis results came back positive the next day but his father and mother both tested negative. The boy has been put under quarantine at a designated hospital while nine of his close contacts, including his parents, have also been isolated for observation. The apartment block where the family lives is under lockdown and disinfected by the local community workers, the official statement says. The boy has been put under quarantine at a designated hospital while nine of his close contacts, including his parents, have also been isolated for observation. The file photo shows students walking into a primary school in Harbin on their first day back on August 31 The 12-year-old, known by his surname Li, has been put under isolation in Harbin, Heilongjiang province of north China on Thursday following his positive result, the health authorities say So far, there have been no scientifically proven cases of someone catching the coronavirus twice, with experts tending to blame inaccurate test results or a lengthy illness. Some say it is not uncommon for parts of viruses to keep circulating even after recovery. The traditional understanding of viruses suggests that people who have had COVID-19 already should develop a level of immunity that is at least temporary. But cases, such as this one, call the idea of natural protection into question. As well as concerns about reinfection, there are also signs that people may simply remain ill for a long time with the virus still circulating in their bodies. The news comes as health authorities in Qingdao, a port city of over 9million, has reported two new asymptomatic cases on Thursday - two male workers, aged 40 and 45, who were responsible for unloading imported seafood products. China appeared to have largely contained the virus outbreak as the country went over a month without new cases of domestic infection. Passengers are pictured wearing face masks as they are waiting to get off a flight from Shanghai at Tianhe Airport in Wuhan on September 24 The new infections are the first domestic COVID-19 cases China has found in over a month after authorities had been recording only imported cases from inbound travellers. The officials also found coronavirus contamination on some packages stored by the seafood company. The importer's products and facilities generated 51 positive test results, but no tainted products made it to market, the commission said, without identifying the items or their origins. China appeared to have largely contained the virus outbreak as the country went over a month without new cases of domestic infection. But the resurgence in Qingdao is not the first time in recent months when frozen products from overseas have been linked to the spread of coronavirus. Authorities in Beijing and Dalian have linked their local outbreaks to imported food products. As of Friday, China has recorded a total of 85,322 confirmed coronavirus infections. The countrys death toll remains at 4,634. Supermodel, philanthropist and entrepreneur Natalia Vodianova told CNBC she feels her native country Russia has coped "incredibly well" with the Covid-19 crisis. The mother of five, whose close family and charity, the Naked Heart Foundation, is based in the country, said she feels it may currently be safer for them compared to her base in France. "I feel that my family is safer there than, for example, in France, where I see that a huge effort also is being made, but somehow people are not taking it seriously enough," she said. Vodianova - who married her longtime partner Antoine Arnault at a civil service in Paris on Monday - said she was worried for all of her family's safety during the crisis, but in particular for her mother, her 90-year-old grandmother and her sister Oksana who has autism and is at high risk from the virus. "It's been shown that people with special needs get affected more by Covid. We don't know why, but that seems to be the case," she said. Natalia Vodianova at the Christian Dior Haute Couture show as part of Paris Fashion Week on July 3, 2017 in Paris, France. Edward Berthelot | Getty Images But the internationally-acclaimed supermodel said Russia had experienced cases of Covid-19 later than other countries and had been able to prepare with the help of information shared by Italy and France. She said testing was readily available in the country. "We have tests, very cheap and very good tests, available immediately to any individual around the country, almost for free. And you would do a test today, you would have the results in the evening. Or if you do it in the evening, you would have results in the morning, which is not the case in Europe," she said. The latest figures compiled from Johns Hopkins University show 1,123,976 confirmed cases of the virus in Russia - the fourth highest in the world after the U.S., India and Brazil. It has reported 19,867 deaths, compared to 31,472 deaths in France which has just experienced another uptick in cases. However, there have been questions raised over the accuracy of the reporting from Moscow due to recent excess deaths data being significantly high. Vodianova, who is also a tech investor, was speaking after taking part in a "Goals House" panel on "Breaking Barriers for Women's Health," being held as part of U.N. General Assembly Week in London. Vodianova began her Russian-based charity, the Naked Heart Foundation, in 2004. Its mission is to "build an inclusive society open to people with disabilities and special needs." Despite the impact of the coronavirus, she said she had managed to switch its focus online for fundraising dinners and schooling for children under the foundation's care. She said the uncertainty in the economy and cost-cutting by businesses makes it "harder than ever" to fundraise. "Of course they're cutting their philanthropic budgets as well and it's affecting us," she said. The markets shouldnt worry too much about a sudden flow of 1.2 million barrels of oil per day out of Libya. Yes, some of the ports and oilfields have been reopened. But this conflict isnt over. Its very fluid, and dangerous power-jockeying in both the east and west portend more trouble ahead. When theres trouble in Libya, oil is always held hostage. As we noted last week, Fayez al-Sarraj of the GNA in Tripoli has announced his intentions to resign. That has led to an immediate power struggle in the west. The GNA is at odds with itself at this point and two key military figures - acting defense minister Salah Eddine al-Nimroush and a high-level GNA commander, Osama al-Juwaili - are now setting the stage for the next leg of the conflict. And, importantly, neither of these GNA military figures accepts the signing of the deal with Haftar that got the LNA general to agree to allow the ports to be opened and the oil to flow again. That agreement was signed by Ahmed Maitig, the VP of the Presidency Council. Their power struggle in Tripoli could reset the tentative peace. Elsewhere in the Middle East, the oil crisis is far from over, which means that opening the floodgates of Libyan oil is even less welcome. Had the Turks not intervened in Libya against Haftar (whose allies include oil powers Saudi Arabia and UAE), the GCC powerhouses would have been fine letting this conflict simmer and letting Haftar fend for The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind, the Governor General said in the throne speech delivered on behalf of the Prime Minister to open Parliament and that called for new head of state. This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving, she added. It was a powerful statement about a nation that feels its time to remove the Queen as its head of state and to move away from a monarchical system that sees its symbolic leader living an ocean away. It wasnt Gov. Gen. Julie Payette who spoke those words to Canadians on Wednesday while reading the speech from the throne in Ottawa on behalf of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Instead, it was Gov. Gen. Sandra Mason of Barbados, who last week was reading the throne speech written by Prime Minister Mia Mottley. Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state, the speech read. The government plans to complete the process in time for the Caribbean islands 55th anniversary of independence from Britain in November, 2021. The speech raises an important question for Canadians: If Barbados can do it, why cant we? In the 21st century, it is unthinkable Canada, a multicultural nation that champions diversity, is still beholden to a queen or king living in England. Add to that the fact that under the monarchy system no Canadian will ever be our next head of state, nor will any Catholic, Jew, Muslim or anyone from countless other ethnic and religious backgrounds. And just as the time is right in Barbados, the timing here is also good, with polls consistently showing most Canadians favouring a dignified cutting of our ties to the monarchy, the final relic of our colonial past. In Barbados, the move away from the monarchy has been gaining support for decades. The island, which has about 300,000 people, gained its independence from Britain in 1966. But its very first prime minister, Errol Barrow, declared at the time that Barbados would not be found loitering on colonial premises after closing time. Barbados will become the latest in a long line of nations ending formal ties with Britain. Indeed, 16 countries have done just that since Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953. Besides Canada and Barbados, the only countries outside the United Kingdom that still have the Queen as their head of state are Australia, New Zealand, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. Diehard monarchists and constitutionalists in Canada will argue that its imperative we have the Queen as our head of state or we will become a republic just like the U.S., where the president also is head of state. But such arguments are predictable, meaningless obstructionism. Most former British colonies dropped their ties to the monarchy long ago without any problems. Most have a prime minister, who heads the elected government, and a head of state who performs largely ceremonial duties. We could select a head of state in several ways. We could do as India does, for example, and have members of Parliament and provincial legislatures elect the head of state. Or we could follow Irelands example and have the head of state directly elected by all voters. And if we dont want to call the head of state by the title president, then we could simply pick another name. We could start the process with a national referendum that asks the simple question: Should Canada sever ties with the British monarchy? If a simple majority vote Yes, then the formal process to do just that can begin. It might take two years, including gaining the formality of each province agreeing to the necessary constitutional amendments. Obviously, Canada faces more critical issues right now, starting with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy. But with the Queens reign nearing an end, the time to start looking to replace the monarchy is now. If Barbados can do it while also having to deal with a pandemic, then Canada can do it too. He pretended he was a regular international traveler with a relative who could sell the drugs in New York. In fact, he had left home for two vacations in 20 years in South Africa, never going further than neighboring Mozambique. His New York connection was a nephew who worked in public safety and had no idea what was going on long after the arrest. I think we really need to take away all the terminology and translate that to practical terms because I think the confusion comes from different fields having a different view of what aerosol means and what needs to be done, says Muge Cevik, an infectious disease specialist at the University of St. Andrews in the U.K. The term aerosol is often used interchangeably with airborne, though there are distinctions, none of which matter for any practical recommendations from the CDC. A price works just like a valve. Raise the price of any good, service or commodity and less of it will flow. The CEO of Duketon Mining Limited (ASX:DKM) is Stuart Fogarty, and this article examines the executive's compensation against the backdrop of overall company performance. This analysis will also evaluate the appropriateness of CEO compensation when taking into account the earnings and shareholder returns of the company. See our latest analysis for Duketon Mining How Does Total Compensation For Stuart Fogarty Compare With Other Companies In The Industry? Our data indicates that Duketon Mining Limited has a market capitalization of AU$27m, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as AU$349k for the year to June 2020. Notably, that's a decrease of 10% over the year before. In particular, the salary of AU$245.2k, makes up a huge portion of the total compensation being paid to the CEO. For comparison, other companies in the industry with market capitalizations below AU$279m, reported a median total CEO compensation of AU$303k. This suggests that Duketon Mining remunerates its CEO largely in line with the industry average. Furthermore, Stuart Fogarty directly owns AU$124k worth of shares in the company. Component 2020 2019 Proportion (2020) Salary AU$245k AU$245k 70% Other AU$104k AU$144k 30% Total Compensation AU$349k AU$389k 100% On an industry level, around 68% of total compensation represents salary and 32% is other remuneration. There isn't a significant difference between Duketon Mining and the broader market, in terms of salary allocation in the overall compensation package. If salary dominates total compensation, it suggests that CEO compensation is leaning less towards the variable component, which is usually linked with performance. Duketon Mining Limited's Growth Duketon Mining Limited's earnings per share (EPS) grew 112% per year over the last three years. It achieved revenue growth of 127% over the last year. This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently and is good news for the shareholders. It's great to see that revenue growth is strong, too. These metrics suggest the business is growing strongly. While we don't have analyst forecasts for the company, shareholders might want to examine this detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow. Story continues Has Duketon Mining Limited Been A Good Investment? We think that the total shareholder return of 73%, over three years, would leave most Duketon Mining Limited shareholders smiling. 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. In Summary... As we touched on above, Duketon Mining Limited 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. Investors would surely be happy to see that returns have been great, and that EPS is up. So one could argue that CEO compensation is quite modest, if you consider company performance! In fact, shareholders might even think the CEO deserves a raise as a reward due to the fantastic returns generated. CEO compensation can have a massive impact on performance, but it's just one element. That's why we did some digging and identified 2 warning signs for Duketon Mining that you should be aware of before investing. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a different set of stocks. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies. 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. Russia has criticized a decision by the European Union to not recognize Alyaksandr Lukashenka as the legitimate president of Belarus as an opposition leader called for renewed mass protests after Lukashenka held a secretive inauguration this week following a disputed election. Lukashenka, in power since 1994, was inaugurated on September 23 in a secretive ceremony after weeks of mass protests. He declared a landslide win at an election last month that was marred by vote-rigging allegations he denies. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on September 25 that the decision to not recognize him as the head of state would complicate the EU's dialogue with Belarus, and have no effect on Belarusian ties with Moscow. In reaction to Lukashenkas move, opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging network that Belarusians should take to the streets on September 27 to push for the "goal of new, honest elections and, as a result, an official, lawful inauguration." Russia has backed Lukashenka since the election with a $1.5 billion loan and vows of possible military help, including support from a police brigade. Peskovs comments come a day after the EUs foreign policy chief reiterated the blocs stance that it refuses to recognize Lukashenka as Belaruss legitimate leader. This inauguration directly contradicts the will of large parts of the Belarusian population, as expressed in numerous, unprecedented, and peaceful protests since the elections, and serves to only further deepen the political crisis in Belarus, Josep Borrell said in a statement issued on September 24, adding that Brussels was reviewing its relations with Minsk. The United States has also said it does not recognize Lukashenka. "The elections August 9 were neither free nor fair. The announced results were fraudulent and did not convey legitimacy," a State Department spokesperson told RFE/RL on September 23. "The United States cannot consider Alyaksandr Lukashenka the legitimately elected leader of Belarus." The EU and United States have increased contacts with Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the self-exiled opposition candidate, who is now in Lithuania and says she won the election. Lukashenka has directed a brutal postelection crackdown in response to protests, including thousands of arrests, beatings, and other mistreatment of peaceful protesters, and the expulsions of foreign journalists. A Minsk court in a closed-door hearing on September 25 rejected an appeal to release opposition leader Maryya Kalesnikava pending her trial. Kalesnikava, a former leader of Tsikhanouskayas campaign team and member of the Coordination Council to facilitate a political transition in Belarus, is facing charges of threatening Belaruss national security. According to the Minsk court ruling, the 38-year-old Kalesnikava will remain in custody until her planned trial at the beginning of November. Her lawyer, Lyudmila Kazak, went missing on September 24, with police confirming later that she had been detained. Kazak's lawyers said on September 25 that she faces administrative charges of participating in an unauthorized rally and resisting a police officer. Kalesnikava and two of her staff were snatched from the streets of Minsk on September 7 by masked men. The three were driven the next day to the border, where authorities told them to cross into Ukraine. 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. 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. The United States, Canada, and Britain are expected to impose sanctions on Belarusian officials for the crackdown as early as September 25. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said ON September 24 that the United Kingdom was initiating its own sanctions, in coordination with the United States and Canada, after the European Union's measures were delayed by Cyprus. Raab said London was working with Washington and Ottawa "to prepare appropriate listings as a matter of urgency" against Belarusian authorities. The United States is consulting with the EU on its sanctions list, but the timetable for announcing them may differ from Brussels due to different approval procedures in the bloc. The passage of EU sanctions needs unanimous approval from all 27 member countries and Cyprus has so far refused to vote, insisting that the EU must also extend sanctions over Turkish gas-drilling operations in its waters at the same time. The United States has been pressing Cyprus to lift its veto on the proposed EU sanctions against Belarus to allow a coordinated response to the crisis. With reporting by Reuters The Indian economy will experience a record contraction in the fiscal year to March 2021 on account of the global Covid-19 pandemic but real GDP will recover significantly in FY22, rating agency Standard and Poor's said on Friday. S&P affirmed its rating on India's long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit at the lowest investment-grade level and retained its stable outlook on the economy. India's long-term rating was affirmed at 'BBB-' with a stable outlook while the short-term rating was held at 'A-3'. "The stable outlook reflects ... The set features 4600 artworks exquisitely reproduced over more than 3000 pages. Selling for $1500, in a limited edition of 1000 copies, it's an expensive book but cheaper than the smallest Whiteley drawing. One suspects the edition will sell out quickly as there is no point in waiting for the paperback. The Brett Whiteley Catalogue Raisonne, published by Schwartz City, is not made for casual browsing. People wont be flicking through it in bookshops or leaving it lying around on the coffee table. Its three times heavier than the permitted amount of hand luggage on a plane trip. Its as sturdy as a piece of furniture. Its a work of art in its own right, and a monumental statement of intent. That intent is to proclaim the glory and greatness of Brett Whiteley (1939-92) for now and forever. Amen. Upon opening the package I discovered a gleaming white case in which seven white volumes of varying thickness had been tucked into seven slots cut to the same proportions. It was such a snug fit that an effort was required to separate each book from the mother ship. When I found myself tipping the case backwards so I could reinsert a volume, I wondered if design had triumphed over practicality. When the Brett Whiteley Catalogue Raisonne 1955-1992 arrived on my doorstep, I bent down to pick it up. I thought Id need a forklift. Lugging it inside, I made straight for the bathroom scales, which registered 22.9 kilos. It might be useful to say a few words about the Catalogue Raisonne, a literary genre that confounds the most dire predictions about the impending death of the book. We use the French term because it better describes such a publication. The literal translation would be a "reasoned catalogue" meaning that it not only collects all the known works by a particular artist, but puts them into a context: explaining how and when they were made, where they were exhibited and sold. A catalogue raisonne not only provides a thorough description of a work, but charts its provenance, sometimes through the hands of many different collectors. In the past this made the catalogue raisonne a valuable tool for scholars and art dealers. Because such projects often ran into multiple volumes and required vast amounts of research they were produced in small editions and sold for high prices. But as soon as the books were published another batch of works would turn up, which meant the catalogue was instantly superseded. The inelegant solution was to publish supplementary volumes, but this was hardly viable unless there were enough new discoveries to justify the cost of printing. (Foliage and Fruit) ceramic vase (c. 1984) from Brett Whiteley's catalogue raisonee. Credit: John K. Dellow One would think all these problems would be solved in the digital age by the simple expedient of putting the relevant information on a database that could be kept up to date, able to be consulted or downloaded for a fee. But despite being cumbersome and impractical, catalogues raisonne continue to be printed with great regularity. The raison is that they are supreme symbols of an artist's historical importance and market value. The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonne, which began publication with five volumes in 2002, is now up to seven volumes, and may be acquired for the 'discount' price of around US$3000. To date there are seven volumes in the catalogue raisonne of Cy Twombly's paintings, another four volumes of drawings, two volumes of sculpture, three more of photographs, and one of printed graphic work. If you're ready to spend a million or more on a piece by Warhol or Twombly, you may as well get all the books. Donald Trump suggested unnamed US officials are conspiring a political hit against him by delaying the release of a Covid-19 vaccine after he accused the Food and Drug Administration of political interference by requiring the drug to meet health guidelines. Addressing a crowd at a campaign rally in Florida on Thursday night, the president said: "They're trying to do a little bit of a political hit. 'Let's delay it just a little bit.' Did you notice that?" He also suggested that the results of the 2020 presidential election will determine "whether we end the pandemic" that has killed more than 200,000 Americans over the last several months. The president made similar remarks in recent days as his campaign sprints across the US in battleground states despite health guidelines urging against crowds to prevent the spread of infection. On Wednesday, the president said that he may or may not approve FDA guidelines following Senate testimony from members of his administration assuring that its work alongside the agency was motivated by science and data and defended its integrity. The president has claimed that a vaccine would be ready within weeks, among his Election Day promises as the nations climbing death toll shows no immediate signs of slowing, but his statements contradict realistic assessments from health officials and medical experts, including his own Centres for Disease Control and Prevention director. His public statements and rush to release a vaccine, part of the administrations multi-billion dollar Operation Warp Speed program, have raised fears that he federal regulatory agencies would bend to pressure for a swift release before a drugs safety and efficacy has been proven. New guidance issued by the FDA for emergency use authorisation for late-stage trial vaccines would require independent review before approval. "We're looking at that and that has to be approved by the White House. We may or may not approve it," the president told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. That sounds like a political move. He has previously levelled baseless attacks against the FDA, suggesting its part of a deep state conspiracy to undermine his re-election chances. Officials at the FDA and CDC have repeatedly assured Americans that whenever a vaccine is approved it will be safe. FDA director Stephen Hahn told a Senate committee on Wednesday that the agency will not authorize or approve any Covid-19 vaccine before it has met the agency's rigorous expectations for safety and effectiveness. Five vaccines supported by the Warp Speed effort are in their late clinical stages. CDC director Robert Redfield told a Senate committee last week that a viable vaccine is expected sometime between November and December" but that it will be in very limited supply and will have to be prioritised for people in vulnerable age groups and with pre-existing conditions. If you are young, healthy and want to help this year's historic presidential election run smoothly, one way to make a difference in your community is to volunteer as a poll worker. There is a "big need" for volunteers this year because more than half of those who typically volunteer are over 60 and, understandably, worried about the coronavirus, Bob Brandon, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Fair Elections Center, tells CNBC Make It. (Polling sites are doing everything they can to keep volunteers and voters safe, he adds.) But fewer volunteers means fewer polling sites can operate: Milwaukee, for example, typically has 180 polling places. At the primary in April, just five sites were operating. Earlier this month, election board officials in states across the country said they were still thousands of volunteers short. More than 900,000 volunteers are needed to operate polling sites across the country, according to Brandon. And more volunteers are needed this year than in past years not only to ensure that jurisdictions like Milwaukee can operate the appropriate number of polling sites keeping lines shorter and enabling more voters to cast their ballot but to count the anticipated increase in mail-in ballots. Brandon notes there is an especially great need for workers in certain states and cities, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Miami and Charlotte, N.C. If there's one good thing that's come of the pandemic, it's that citizens who don't typically volunteer have been signing up to work the polls, becoming more invested in their communities and the democratic process as a whole, he says. In many states you have to be at least 18 to volunteer, although some allow high school students aged 16 or 17 to volunteer. "It's going to wind up being a whole new generation of poll workers," says Brandon. "We're going to have a lot more people who are younger and more diverse who have done this and decided it's a good thing to do." How the process works The official duties of poll workers vary by jurisdiction, but typically, they open and close the polling sites, check in voters and ensure everyone who wants to (and is eligible) to cast a vote is able to. In most places, volunteers get paid for their training and for the elections they work. In New York City, you can volunteer to be a Coordinator, an Assembly District Monitor, an Information Clerk, an Accessibility Clerk or an Interpreter, among other jobs. It's not an easy gig. Volunteers have to complete a training and commit to a 15-hour day working at their assigned poll site. They arrive before it opens and will work, with few breaks, until all of the votes are submitted after it closes. If your employer does not offer volunteer days, you'll have to use a vacation day or take an unpaid day off of work. But if you're interested, don't let any of that deter you. Election boards and voting organizations are doing everything they can to simplify the process and make it as safe as possible. After reading about the poll worker shortage earlier this year, I decided I felt personally safe enough to volunteer in NYC. After filling in some basic personal information on Power the Polls, a nonpartisan poll worker recruitment site, I was directed to New York City's Board of Elections' (BOE) site, where I applied to be an Information Clerk. A few days later, I received an email that my application was approved and I selected a training session from NYC's Election Day Worker Dashboard. My in-person training session was simple and safe and lasted approximately 3 hours. It was held near my apartment in Brooklyn, though some other volunteers had traveled over an hour to reach the elections warehouse. The BOE workers took the other volunteers and myself through what we would be expected to do on election day and taught us how to find voters in New York City's elections system. The BOE workers told us time and again that it's the Information Clerk's job to ensure everyone who wants to vote, can. If a voter turns up to the wrong polling site, we fill out a referral card for the correct site, and use the the BOE's system to map out how they can get there. We also learned how to properly fill out Affidavit Ballots for any voter who requests one. If you want to get involved, you can look up the requirements for your state via Work Elections. Poll worker safety is a top priority 1. Yes. Too many kids are staying home. They need a virtual learning option to keep up. 2. Yes. Teachers are out sick and subs cant handle the load. Online learning is needed. 3. No. Its too late in the school year to make a wholesale switch in teaching platforms. 4.No. Many parents arent in a position to stay home while their kids learn virtually. 5. Unsure. It may seem like a good idea from a health standpoint, but it has shortcomings. Vote View Results John Adams was in the final weeks of his presidency when Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth announced he was retiring from the Supreme Court for health reasons. It was December 1800. Adams had just lost a bitterly contested presidential election to his fellow Founder Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was Adams's vice president, but the two men were rivals with entirely different political views. Federalists urged the president to find a replacement before Jefferson took office on March 4, 1801. In late January of 1801, Adams filled the vacancy by appointing Secretary of State John Marshall as the new chief justice. President-elect Jefferson, who despised Marshall, was furious. To open a seat on the high court, Jefferson soon pushed for the impeachment of Justice Samuel Chase, whom he also wasn't crazy about. More than two centuries later, the nation is consumed by another fight over the high court as President Trump rushes to fill the seat of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last week at 87. Democrats argue the Supreme Court choice should be left up to the president who is elected Nov. 3, but are powerless to stop the Republican-controlled Senate from confirming Trump's nominee. Adams had just moved into the newly completed White House, then known as the President's House, when Ellsworth announced his retirement. After considering several candidates to replace him, Adams met in January of 1801 with Marshall to discuss possible choices. Suddenly, Adams declared, "I believe I must nominate you." Marshall later said he was "pleased as well as surprised," and that he "bowed in silence" as he left. The Federalist-controlled Senate confirmed Marshall a week later. The Federalists also voted to reduce the number of Supreme Court seats to five from six when the next vacancy occurred so Jefferson couldn't appoint anyone. They pushed through the Judiciary Act of 1801 to add 16 circuit court judges and other judicial appointees, all with lifetime terms. The action was "conceived either in folly or in petulance and malice" one Philadelphia newspaper said. Adams had 19 days to appoint and commission the new judges. Marshall, who still was the acting secretary of state, was reportedly signing judicial commissions in his office at midnight before Jefferson's inauguration the next day. Jefferson's designated attorney general burst into the room and declared that the new president had ordered him "to take possession of this office and its papers." Some historians doubt the story is true, but the Adams appointees did become known as the "midnight judges." Jefferson charged that the judiciary act was "a parasitical plant engrafted" on the "judicial body" as a last-ditch effort to thwart him. But, he wrote to James Madison, "It is difficult to undo what is done." As for the Supreme Court appointment, there wasn't any love lost between Marshall and Jefferson, even though they were cousins. Marshall, who had fought in the Revolutionary War, believed Jefferson had dodged military combat. Jefferson's political views also made him "unfit" for the presidency, Marshall wrote Alexander Hamilton in early 1801. Jefferson charged that Marshall's staunch Federalist views were anti-democratic. In a letter to Madison, Jefferson complained about Marshall's "profound hypocrisy." But there was nothing he could do about the chief justice, who had a lifetime appointment. He still had Marshall swear him in as president. After Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans took control of Congress, they wasted little time in undoing some of Adams's actions. They passed the Judiciary Act of 1802, which repealed the Judiciary Act of 1801, eliminating the new judges. Then Jefferson saw an opportunity to grab a seat on the Supreme Court. In 1803, Chase, while presiding over a circuit court case in Baltimore, blasted Jefferson's party for repealing the 1801 judiciary law. He told a grand jury that America risked sinking into a "mobocracy, the worst form of all government." Jefferson and others considered the ill-tempered Chase, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, to be a dictatorial jurist who blatantly inserted his Federalist politics into his decisions. Jefferson wrote to a lawmaker. "Ought the seditious and official attack on the principles of our Constitution . . . to go unpunished?" Virginia Rep. John Randolph led impeachment charges against Chase in early 1804, declaring he would wipe the floor with the obnoxious justice. In March of 1804, the House impeached Chase on charges of "arbitrary, oppressive and unjust" conduct. The Senate trial began that November. Presiding was Vice President Aaron Burr, still facing possible murder charges for recently killing Hamilton in a duel. Though Jefferson's party held the majority, in early 1805 the Senate acquitted Chase. Jefferson responded that "Impeachment is a farce which will not be tried again." Chase is the only justice ever to be impeached. Meantime, Jefferson won approval to restore the sixth seat to the high court and add a seventh. He ended up appointing three justices by the time he left office in 1809. By then, Marshall had become an imposing legal force. In 1803, William Marbury, a justice of the peace who had lost his appointment when Congress canceled the new judgeships, petitioned the Supreme Court to force Secretary of State Madison to give him his commission. He didn't get it. But Marshall used the case to write his landmark Marbury v. Madison opinion that established the principle of judicial review of laws passed by Congress. Marshall went on to serve 34 years, the longest tenure of any chief justice. He died in 1835 at the age of 79. Adams once wrote: "The proudest act of my life was the gift of John Marshall to the people of the United States." President of state-owned enterprise National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom Petro Kotin has confirmed plans to launch the first phase of the central spent nuclear fuel storage facility (CSFSF) in December 2020, the press service of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine has said. According to the press service, the president of Energoatom made the corresponding assurance during a meeting in the ministry initiated by Holtec International, a supplier of technologies and equipment for the project. At the same time, Kotin said that in order to meet the work schedule, it is necessary to resolve issues that depend not only on the company. In particular, it is necessary to build railway tracks to the storage facility on the forest site managed by the State Agency for the Management of the Exclusion Zone. The head of Energoatom called for the resumption of monthly meetings of the steering committee for the construction of the CSFSF, at which problematic issues can be quickly resolved. As a result of the meeting, the Ministry of Energy instructed Energoatom to intensify the work on the project, weekly report on the state of construction and existing problems, weekly provide the Ministry of Energy, Holtec International and KIEP Institute with reports on the status of calculations on the project, resume the participation of representatives of the ministry in the committee meetings and update the construction schedule of the CSFSF. "The construction of the CSFSF is the largest project in the field of nuclear energy in Ukraine. With the introduction of its own storage facility, Ukraine will get rid of its monopoly dependence on Russia in terms of storing spent nuclear fuel. In addition, our state, using its own storage facility, will be able to save about $200 million a year, which now is paid to Russia," Minister of Energy Olha Buslavets said. On Thursday, Californias Disneyland honoured the late actor Chadwick Boseman at Annaheims Downtown Disney District by unveiling a huge mural of the Black Panther star titled King Chad. According to an Instagram post about the mural on Disneys page, the artwork was designed by writer and concept artist Nikkolas Smith. The artwork displays the Marvel star exchanging a Wakanda salute with a young fan wearing the iconic Black Panther mask. Disney also shared images of the mural on Instagram and according to the caption the artwork with pays a tribute to Chadwick reads the following inscription from the artist, As a former Disney Imagineer, I had the honour of working on a major childrens hospital initiative and Avengers Campus as my final two assignments. Seeing Chadwicks heart for people in-person, and later discovering his courageous battle with cancer, I was inspired to create this tribute to honour his life and legacy. To us, he was and will always be TChalla. Long Live The King. The artist took to his personal Instagram account and shared, This one is special. My King Chad tribute is now on a wall on display at Downtown Disney. It is a full-circle moment for me: my final two projects as a Disney Imagineer last summer were working on the Childrens Hospital project and the Avengers Campus. He added, To millions of kids, TChalla was a legend larger than life, and there was no one more worthy to fill those shoes than Chadwick Boseman. Im so thankful to be able to honour Chadwicks life and purpose in this way. I am grateful to the Disney family for being so supportive of my journey as an artist. The mural shows a child wearing a hospital gown, in remembrance of Chadwicks visit to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, where he met children battling long-term illnesses, while he himself was secretly fighting colon cancer. The actor went on to continue filming, keeping his illness a secret, until he succumbed to the disease. On August 28, 2020, Boseman died of the complications of his illness, he was 43. The artist had previously posted the image on his account in August and written, He would never let the kids see that he was fighting cancer too... To them, he was and will forever be TChalla... The King. The prints of the mural are available of the artists page, who added that a portion of the sales of prints of the mural would go to St. Jude and Childrens Hospital L.A. in honour of Boseman. Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alfea Jamal 'Ask no questions, hear no lies.' Alfea Jamal is a fashion, culture, travel and food writer. She also dabbles in video journalism, multimedia production, the culinary arts, design and is modestly decent with canvas. ...view detail Your Man in the Public Gallery: Assange Hearing Day 15 By Craig Murray September 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - When Daniel Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers, the US Government burgled the office of his psychiatrist to look for medical evidence to discredit him. Julian Assange has been obliged to submit himself, while in a mentally and physically weakened state and in conditions of the harshest incarceration, to examination by psychiatrists appointed by the US government. He has found the experience intrusive and traumatising. It is a burglary of the mind. Julian is profoundly worried that his medical history will be used to discredit him and all that he has worked for, to paint the achievements of Wikileaks in promoting open government and citizen knowledge as the fantasy of a deranged mind. I have no doubt this will be tried, but fortunately there has been a real change in public understanding and acknowledgement of mental illness. I do not think Julians periodic and infrequent episodes of very serious depression will be successfully portrayed in a bad light, despite the incredibly crass and insensitive attitude displayed today in court by the US Government, who have apparently been bypassed by the change in attitudes of the last few decades. I discuss this before coming to Tuesdays evidence because for once my account will be less detailed than others, because I have decided to censor much of what was said. I do this on the grounds that, when it comes to his medical history, Julians right to privacy ought not to be abolished by these proceedings. I have discussed this in some detail with Stella Morris. I have of course weighed this against my duty as a journalist to you the reader, and have decided the right to medical privacy is greater, irrespective of what others are publishing. I have therefore given as full an account as I can while omitting all mention of behaviours, of symptoms, and of more personal detail. I also believe I would take that view irrespective of the identity of the defendant. I am not just being partial to a friend. In all my reporting of these proceedings, of course my friendship with Julian has been something of which I am mindful. But I have invented nothing, nor have I omitted anything maliciously. I will state firmly and resolutely that my account has been truthful. I do not claim it has been impartial. Because in a case of extreme injustice, truth is not impartial. The following account tries to give you a fair impression of todays courtroom events, while omitting the substance and detail of much of the discussion. The single witness all day was the eminent psychiatrist Prof Michael Kopelman, who will be familiar to readers of Murder in Samarkand . Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Kings College London and formerly head of psychiatry at Guys and St Thomass, Prof Kopelman was appointed by the defence (he is not one of the psychiatrists of whom Julian complains, who will give evidence later) and had visited Julian Assange 19 times in Belmarsh Prison. His detailed report concluded that I reiterate again that I am as certain as a psychiatrist ever can be that, in the event of imminent extradition, Mr. Assange would indeed find a way to commit suicide, Kopelmans evidence was that his report was based not just on his many consultations with Assange, but on detailed research of his medical records back to childhood, including direct contact with other doctors who had treated Assange including in Australia, and multiple interviews with family and long-term friends. His diagnosis of severe depression was backed by a medical history of such episodes and a startling family history of suicide, possibly indicating genetic disposition. Prof Kopelman was firm in stating that he did not find Assange to be delusional. Assanges concerns with being spied upon and plotted against were perfectly rational in the circumstances. Kopelman had no doubt that Julian was liable to commit suicide if extradited. It is the disorder which brings the suicide risk. Extradition is the trigger. James Lewis QC cross-examined Professor Kopelman for four hours. As ever, he started by disparaging the witnesss qualifications; Prof Kopelman was a cognitive psychiatrist not a forensic psychiatrist and had not worked in prisons. Prof Kopelman pointed out that he had been practising forensic psychiatry and testifying in numerous courts for over thirty years. When Lewis persisted again and again in querying his credentials, Kopelman had enough and decided to burst out of the bubble of court etiquette: I have been doing this for over thirty years and on five or six occasions London solicitors have phoned me up and said that James Lewis QC is acting in an extradition case and is extremely keen to get your services for a report. So I think it is a bit rich for you to stand there now questioning my qualifications. This caused really loud laughter in court, which remarkably the judge made no attempt to silence. The other trick which the prosecution played yet again was to give Prof Kopelman two huge bundles which had, they said, been sent to him that morning and which he said he had never seen unsurprisingly as he started testifying at 10am. These included substantial items which Prof Kopelman had never seen before but on which he was to be questioned. The first of these was an academic article on malingering which Kopelman was in effect scorned by Lewis for not having read. He said he had read a great many articles on the subject but not this particular one. Lewis then read several sentences from the article and invited Kopelman to agree with them. These included clinical skills alone are not sufficient to diagnose malingering and one to the effect that the clinical team are best placed to detect malingering. Prof Kopelman refused to sign up to either of these propositions without qualification, and several times over the four hours was obliged to refute claims by Lewis that he had done so. This is another technique continually deployed by the prosecution, seizing upon a single article and trying to give it the status of holy writ, when JStor would doubtless bring out hundreds of contending articles. On the basis of this one article, Lewis was continually to assert and/or insinuate that it was only the prison medical staff who were in a position to judge Assanges condition. Edward Fitzgerald QC for the defence was later to assert that the article, when it referred to the clinical team, was talking of psychiatric hospitals and not prisons. Kopelman declined to comment on the grounds he had not read the article. Lewis now did another of his standard tricks; attempting to impugn Kopelmans expertise by insisting he state, without looking it up, what the eight possible diagnostic symptoms of a certain WHO classification of severe depression were. Kopelman simply refused to do this. He said he made a clinical diagnosis of the patients condition and only then did he calibrate it against the WHO guidelines for court purposes; and pointed out that he was on some of the WHO committees that wrote these definitions. They were, he said, very political and some of their decisions were strange. We then entered a very lengthy and detailed process of Lewis going through hundreds of pages of Assanges prison medical notes and pointing out phrases omitted from Kopelmans sixteen page synopsis which tended to the view Assanges mental health was good, while the Professor countered repeatedly that he had included that opinion in shortened form, or that he had also omitted other material that said the opposite. Lewis claimed the synopsis was partial and biased and Kopelman said it was not. Lewis also pointed out that some of Assanges medical history from Australia lacked the original medical notes. Kopelman said that this was from the destruction policy of the state of Victoria. Lewis was only prepared to accept history backed by the original medical notes; Kopelman explained these notes themselves referred to earlier episodes, he had consulted Professor Mullen who had treated Julian, and while Lewis may wish to discount accounts of family and friends, to a medical professional that was standard Maudsley method for approaching mental illness history; there was furthermore an account in a book published in 1997. After lunch Lewis asked Prof Kopelman why his first report had quoted Stella Morris but not mentioned that she was Julians partner. Why was he concealing this knowledge from the court? Kopelman replied that Stella and Julian had been very anxious for privacy in the circumstances because of stress on her and the children. Lewis said that Kopelmans first duty was to the court and this overrode their right to privacy. Kopelman said he had made his decision. His second report mentioned it once it had become public. Lewis asked why he had not explicitly stated they had two children. Kopelman said he thought it best to leave the children out of it. Lewis asked whether he was hiding this information because having a partner was a safeguard against suicide. Kopelman said that some studies showed suicide was more common in married people. Besides, what we were considering here was stress of separation from partner and children. Lewis then addressed the reference in Prof Kopelmans report to the work of Prof Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. Without specifying Professor Melzers background or position or even making any mention of the United Nations at all, Lewis read out seven paragraphs of Prof Melzers letter to Jeremy Hunt, then UK foreign secretary. These paragraphs addressed the circumstances of Assanges incarceration in the Embassy and of his continual persecution, including the decision of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Lewis even managed to leave the words United Nations out of the name of the working group. As he read each paragraph, Lewis characterised it as nonsense, rubbish or absurd, and invited Prof Kopelman to comment. Each time Prof Kopelman gave the same reply, that he had only used the work of the psychologist who had accompanied Prof Melzer and had no comment to make on the political parts, which had not appeared in his report. Baraitser who is always so keen to rule out defence evidence as irrelevant and to save time allowed this reading of irrelevant paragraphs to go on and on and on. The only purpose was to enter Prof Melzers work into the record with an unchallenged dismissive characterisation, and it was simply irrelevant to the witness in the stand. This was Baraitsers double standard at play yet again. Lewis then put to Prof Kopelman brief extracts of court transcript showing Julian interacting with the court, as evidence that he had no severe cognitive difficulty. Kopelman replied that a few brief exchanges really told nothing of significance, while his calling out from the dock when not allowed to might be seen as symptomatic of Aspergers, on which other psychiatrists would testify. Lewis again berated Kopelman for not having paid sufficient attention to malingering. Kopelman replied that not only had he used his experience and clinical judgement, but two normative tests had been applied, one of them the TOMM test. Lewis suggested those tests were not for malingering and only the Minnesota test was the standard. At this point Kopelman appeared properly annoyed. He said the Minnesota test was very little used outside the USA. The TOMM test was indeed for malingering. That was why it was called the Test of Memory Malingering. Again there was some laughter in court. Lewis then suggested that Assange may only get a light sentence in the USA of as little as six years, and might not be held in solitary confinement. Would that change Kopelmans prognosis? Kopelman said it would if realistic, but he had done too many extradition cases, and seen too many undertakings broken, to put much store by this. Besides, he understood no undertakings had been given. Lewis queried Kopelmans expertise on prison conditions in the USA and said Kopelman was biased because he had not taken into account the evidence of Kromberg and of another US witness on the subject who is to come. Kopelman replied that he had not been sent their evidence until substantially after he completed his reports. But he had read it now, and he had seen a great deal of other evidence that contradicted it, both in this case and others. Lewis suggested it was not for him to usurp the judgement of the court on this issue, and he should amend his opinion to reflect the effect of the US prison system on Assange if it were as Kromberg described it. Kopelman declined to do so, saying he doubted Krombergs expertise and preferred to rely on among others the Department of Justices own report of 2017, the Centre for Constitutional Rights report of 2017 and the Marshall report of 2018. Lewis pressed Kopelman again, and asked that if prison conditions and healthcare in the USA were good, and if the sentence were short, would that cause an alteration to his clinical opinion. Kopelman replied that if those factors were true, then his opinion would change, but he doubted they were true. Suddenly, Baraitser repeated out loud the part quote that if prison conditions in the US were good and the sentence were short, then Kopelmans clinical opinion would change, and ostentatiously typed it onto her laptop, as though it were very significant indeed. This was very ominous. As she inhabits a peculiar world where it is not proven that anybody was ever tortured in Guantanamo Bay, I understand that in Baraitsers internal universe prison conditions in the Colorado ADX are perfectly humane and medical care is jolly good. I could note Baraitser seeing her way suddenly clear to how to cope with Professor Kopelman in her judgement. I could not help but consider Julian was the last person in this court who needed a psychiatrist. Lewis now asked, in his best rhetorical and sarcastic style, whether mental illness had prevented Julian Assange from obtaining and publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents that were the property of the United States? He asked how, if he suffered from severe depression, Julian Assange had been able to lead Wikileaks, to write books, make speeches and host a TV programme? I confess that at this stage I became very angry indeed. Lewiss failure to acknowledge the episodic nature of severe depressive illness, even after the Professor had explained it numerous times, was intellectually pathetic. It is also crass, insensitive and an old-fashioned view to suggest that having a severe depressive illness could stop you from writing a book or leading an organisation. It was plain stigmatising of those with mental health conditions. I confess I took this personally. As long-term readers know, I have struggled with depressive illness my entire life and have never hidden the fact that I have in the past been hospitalised for it, and on suicide watch. Yet I topped the civil service exams, became Britains youngest Ambassador, chaired a number of companies, have been Rector of a university, have written several books, and give speeches at the drop of a hat. Lewiss characterisation of depressives as permanently incapable is not just crassly insensitive, it is a form of hate speech and should not be acceptable in court. (I am a supporter of free speech, and if Lewis wants to make a fool of himself by exhibiting ignorance of mental illness in public I have no problem. But in court, no.) Furthermore, Lewis was not representing his own views but speaking on the direct instructions of the government of the United States of America. Throughout a full four hours, Lewis on behalf of the government of the USA not only evinced no understanding whatsoever of mental illness, he never once, not for one second, showed one single sign that mental illness is a subject taken seriously or for which there is the tiniest element of human sympathy and concern. Not just for Julian, but for any sufferer. Mental illness is malingering or if real disqualifies you from any role in society; no other view was expressed. He made plain on behalf of the US Government, for example, that Julians past history of mental illness in Australia will not be taken into account because the medical records have been destroyed. The only possible conclusion from yesterdays testimony is that the performance of the representative of the United States Government was, in and of itself, full and sufficient evidence that there is no possibility that Julian Assange will receive fair consideration and treatment of his mental health issues within the United States system. The US government has just demonstrated that to us, in open court, to perfection. Craig John Murray is a British former diplomat turned political activist, human rights campaigner, blogger and whistleblower. Between 2002 and 2004, he was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan during which time he exposed the violations of human rights in Uzbekistan by the Karimov administration. Craig's ability to provide this coverage is entirely dependent on your kind voluntary subscriptions. Subscriptions to keep his blog going are gratefully received. Your Man in the Public Gallery: Assange Hearing Day 16 By Craig Murray On Wednesday the trap sprang shut, as Judge Baraitser insisted the witnesses must finish next week, and that no time would be permitted for preparation of closing arguments, which must be heard the immediate following Monday. This brought the closest the defence have come to a protest, with the defence pointing out they have still not addressed the new superseding indictment, and that the judge refused their request for an adjournment before witness hearings started, to give them time to do so. Edward Fitzgerald QC for the defence also pointed out that there had been numerous witnesses whose evidence had to be taken into account, and the written closing submissions had to be physically prepared with reference to the transcripts and other supporting evidence from the trial. Baraitser countered that the defence had given her 200 pages of opening argument and she did not see that much more could be needed. Fitzgerald, who is an old fashioned gentleman in the very nicest sense of those words, struggled to express his puzzlement that all of the evidence since opening arguments could be dismissed as unnecessary and of no effect. I fear that all over London a very hard rain is now falling on those who for a lifetime have worked within institutions of liberal democracy that at least broadly and usually used to operate within the governance of their own professed principles. It has been clear to me from Day 1 that I am watching a charade unfold. It is not in the least a shock to me that Baraitser does not think anything beyond the written opening arguments has any effect. I have again and again reported to you that, where rulings have to be made, she has brought them into court pre-written, before hearing the arguments before her. I strongly expect the final decision was made in this case even before opening arguments were received. The plan of the US Government throughout has been to limit the information available to the public and limit the effective access to a wider public of what information is available. Thus we have seen the extreme restrictions on both physical and video access. A complicit mainstream media has ensured those of us who know what is happening are very few in the wider population. Even my blog has never been so systematically subject to shadowbanning from Twitter and Facebook as now. Normally about 50% of my blog readers arrive from Twitter and 40% from Facebook. During the trial it has been 3% from Twitter and 9% from Facebook. That is a fall from 90% to 12%. In the February hearings Facebook and Twitter were between them sending me over 200,000 readers a day. Now they are between them sending me 3,000 readers a day. To be plain that is very much less than my normal daily traffic from them just in ordinary times. It is the insidious nature of this censorship that is especially sinister people believe they have successfully shared my articles on Twitter and Facebook, while those corporations hide from them that in fact it went into nobodys timeline. My own family have not been getting their notifications of my posts on either platform. The US Government responded to Baraitsers pronouncement enthusiastically with the suggestion that closing arguments did not ought to be heard AT ALL. They ought merely to be submitted in writing, perhaps a week after final witnesses. Baraitser appeared eager to agree with this. A ruling is expected today. Let me add that two days ago I noticed the defence really had missed an important moment to stand up to her, when the direction of her railroading became evident. It appears that because of the ground the defence already conceded at that stage, Noam Chomsky is one of the witnesses from whom we now will not hear. I am afraid I am not going to give you a substantive account of Wednesdays witnesses. I have decided that the intimate details of Julians medical history and condition ought not to be subject to further public curiosity. I know I cannot call back what others have published and the court is going to consider press requests for the entire medical records before it. But I have to do what I believe is right. I will say that for the defence, Dr Quinton Deeley appeared. Dr Deeley is Senior Lecturer in Social Behaviour and Neurodevelopment at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience (IOPPN), Kings College London and Consultant Neuropsychiatrist in the National Autism Unit. He is co-author of the Royal College Report on the Management of Autism. Dr Deeley after overseeing the standard test and extensive consultation with Julian Assange and tracing of history, had made a clear diagnosis which encompassed Aspergers. He described Julian as high-functioning autistic. There followed the usual disgraceful display by James Lewis QC, attempting to pick apart the diagnosis trait by trait, and employing such tactics as well, you are not looking me in the eye, so does that make you autistic?. He really did. I am not making this up. I should say more about Lewis, who is a strange character. Privately very affable, he adopts a tasteless and impolite aggression in cross-examination that looks very unusual indeed. He adopts peculiar postures. After asking aggressive questions, he strikes poses of theatrical pugilism. For example he puts arms akimbo, thrusts out his chin, and bounces himself up on his feet to the extent that his heels actually leave the floor, while looking round at the courtroom in apparent triumph, his gaze pausing to fix that of the judge occasionally. These gestures almost always involve throwing back one or both front panels of his jacket. I think this is some kind of unconscious alpha male signalling in progress, and all these psychiatrists around might link it to his lack of height. It is display behaviour but not really very successful. Lewis has grown a full set during lockdown and he appears strikingly like a chorus matelot in a small town production of HMS Pinafore. There is a large part of me that wants to give details of the cross-examination because Deeley handled Lewis superbly, giving calm and reasoned replies and not conceding anything to Lewiss clumsy attempts to dismantle his diagnosis. Lewis effectively argued Julians achievements would be impossible with autism while Deeley differed. But there is no way to retell it without going into the discussion of medical detail I do not wish to give. I will however tell you that Julians father John told me that Julian has long known he has Aspergers and will cheerfully say so. The second psychiatrist on Wednesday, Dr Seena Fazel, Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, was the first prosecution witness we have heard from. He struck me as an honest and conscientious man and made reasonable points, well. There was a great deal of common ground between Prof Fazel and the defence psychiatrists, and I think it is fair to say that his major point was that Julians future medical state would depend greatly on the conditions he was held in with regard to isolation, and on hope or despair dependent on his future prospects. Here Lewis was keen to paint an Elysian picture. As ever, he fell back on the affidavit of US Assistant attorney Gordon Kromberg, who described the holiday camp that is the ADX maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado, where the prosecution say Julian will probably be incarcerated on conviction. You will recall this is the jail that was described as a living hell and a fate worse than death by its own warden. Lewis invited Prof Fazel to agree this regime would not cause medical problems for Julian, and to his credit Prof Fazel, despite being a prosecution witness, declined to be used in this way, saying that it would be necessary to find out how many of Krombergs claims were true in practice, and what was the quality of this provision. Fazel was unwilling to buy in to lies about this notorious facility. Lewis was disingenuous because he knows, and the prosecution have conceded, that if convicted Julian would most likely be kept in H block at the ADX under Special Administrative Measures. If he had read on a few paragraphs in Krombergs affidavit he would have come to the regime Julian would actually be held under: So let us be clear about this. William Barr decides who is subjected to this regime and when it may be ameliorated. For at least the first twelve months you are in solitary confinement locked in your cell, and allowed out only three times a week just to shower. You are permitted no visits and two phone calls a month. After twelve months this can be ameliorated and we will hear evidence this is rare to allow three phone calls a month, and brief release from the cell five times a week to exercise, still in absolute isolation. We have heard evidence this exercise period is usually around 3am. After an indeterminate number of years you may, or may not, be allowed to meet another human being. Behind Baraitsers chilly disdain, behind Lewiss theatrical postures, this hell on Earth is what these people are planning to do to Julian. They are calmly discussing how definitely it will kill him, in full knowledge that it is death in life in any event. I sit in the public gallery, perched eight feet above them all, watching the interaction of the characters in this masque, as the lawyers pile up their bundles of papers or stare into their laptops, as Lewis and Fitzgerald exchange pleasantries, as the friendly clerks try to make the IT systems work, and my mind swims in horrified disbelief. They are discussing a fate for my friend as horrible as that of the thousands who over 500 years were dragged from this very spot and strung up outside. They are all chatting and working away as though we were a normal part of civilised society. Then I go back to my hotel room, type it all up and post it. The governments who are destroying Julian have through their agencies pushed the huge corporations who now control the major internet traffic gateways, to ensure my pained and grieving account is seen by very few. My screams of pain and horror are deadened by thick padded walls. We are all locked in. BOSTON Two former administrators of a Massachusetts veterans home where nearly 80 people sickened by the coronavirus died have been charged over their handling of the outbreak, the state attorney general said Friday. Its believed to be the first criminal case in the country brought against nursing home officials for actions during the pandemic, Attorney General Maura Healey said. Former Holyoke Soldiers Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former Medical Director Dr. David Clinton were indicted by a grand jury on charges stemming from their decision in March to combine two dementia units, packing residents who were positive for the coronavirus into the same space as those with no symptoms, Healey said. The veterans risked their lives from the beaches of Normandy, to some the jungles of Vietnam, and to know that they died under the most horrific circumstances is truly shocking, Healey told reporters. A phone message was left Friday with a lawyer for Walsh. An email was sent to attorneys for Clinton. They could each face prison time if convicted of causing or permitting serious bodily injury or neglect of an elder, Healey said. Relatives of veterans who died at the home said they hope justice will prevail. We now want our state to move forward and do the right thing to ensure this never happens again to any other veteran, the family members said in an statement emailed by the Holyoke Soldiers Home Coalition, a group advocating for improvements. The charges come three months after a scathing independent report said utterly baffling decisions made by Walsh and other administrators allowed the virus to spread unchecked. The worst decision was to combine the two locked dementia units, both of which already housed some residents with the virus, said investigators led by former federal prosecutor Mark Pearlstein. Healey said Walsh and Clinton were the ones ultimately responsible for the decision to combine the two units, which she said led to tragic and deadly results. More than 40 veterans were packed into a single unit that usually had 25 beds, and space was so limited that nine veterans some with symptoms and some without were sleeping in the dining room, Healey said. This never should have happened. It never should have happened from an infection controls standpoint, Healey said. Since March 1, 76 veterans who contracted the coronavirus at the home have died, officials said. The first veteran tested positive March 17. Even though he had shown symptoms for weeks, staff did nothing to isolate him until his test came back positive, allowing him to remain with three roommates, wander the unit and spend time in a common room, investigators found. When a social worker raised concerns about combining the two dementia units, the chief nursing officer said that it didnt matter because (the veterans) were all exposed anyway and there was not enough staff to cover both units, investigators said. One staffer who helped move the dementia patients told investigators she felt like she was walking (the veterans) to their death. A nurse said the packed dementia unit looked like a battlefield tent where the cots are all next to each other. As the virus took hold, leadership shifted from trying to prevent its spread to preparing for the deaths of scores of residents, the report said. On the day the veterans were moved, more than a dozen additional body bags were sent to the combined dementia unit, investigators said. The next day, a refrigerated truck to hold bodies that wouldnt fit in the homes morgue arrived, the report said. Walsh has defended his response, saying state officials initially refused in March to send National Guard aid even as the home was dealing with dire staffing shortages. He was placed on administrative leave March 30, and the CEO of Western Massachusetts Hospital, Val Liptak, took over operations. Walsh was fired after the release of the report, but a judge invalidated his termination this week after his lawyer argued that only the board of trustees could hire and fire the superintendent. The Massachusetts U.S. attorneys office and U.S. Department of Justices Civil Rights Division are also investigating whether officials violated residents rights by failing to provide proper medical care. Attorneys general in other states, including Pennsylvania, have also launched investigations into coronavirus deaths at nursing homes. And earlier this month, federal agents searched two nursing homes near Pittsburgh, one of which had the worst outbreak of any nursing home in Pennsylvania. Justice Department officials wrote wrote the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan last month seeking data on whether they violated federal law by ordering public nursing homes to accept recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals. The letters, sent from the head of the civil rights division, said the department hoped to determine whether the orders may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents. The Justice Department said it was evaluating whether to initiate investigations under a federal law known as the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, which protects the rights of people in nursing homes and other facilities. But the law applies only to nursing homes owned or run by the states. ___ Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report. Hyderabad, Sep 26 : A Hyderabad-based startup has launched what it claims to be the world's first social drinking platform, which will also deliver liquor to people at their doorsteps. The developers of Booozie, the web and app-based platform, claim it will promote responsible drinking. It features a database of bars/clubs in every city, offers and events at various bars/clubs, an exhaustive catalogue which lists the brands and current MRP of brands available in every state of India and free online delivery of liquor at doorsteps. "Booozie will be a delivery aggregator by picking up liquor from the nearest shop, with upfront payment to stores without any commission from stores and will provide free delivery," Vivekanand Balijepalli, Co-Founder and CFO of Booozie, told IANS. Booozie, the flagship brand of Innovent Technologies Private Ltd, is now planning to commence online delivery of liquor in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha over the next two months under the first phase. "In the post-Covid era, there is a huge demand for online delivery of liquor. We welcome the change in policy adopted by various states to permit this. Over the next 6 months, we intend to start operations in 10 states in India and hope to cover at least 20 states over the next 12 months subject to approval from state governments," he said. The company has already submitted proposals to seven states including Karnataka and Telangana and is waiting for the permission from the state governments. The start-up said at a time when the pandemic has added to the problem of unemployment, it aims to create over 1,000 jobs during the next one year. It was during the Covid-19 induced lockdown that Vivekanand and two other co-founders hit the idea of developing this platform. "Liquor shops were closed and there was a lot of demand for liquor. Everyone was craving and trying different options. We started studying the whole liquor industry and decided to work on this idea," he said. They found that the liquor industry in the country is heavily dependent on the government and there is a huge deficit in the consumer demand and the current supply in the market. They felt the need to build something based on community connections. The co-founders also realised the need to network the community. "This platform is dedicated to people who enjoy drinking because there is lot of stigma associated with liquor. People on Facebook and other platforms don't feel free to share their experiences on liquor. This is a closed community where they can post and interact and they can learn how to make new cocktails," he said. He did not agree that the platform will encourage liquor consumption. "In fact we will be promoting responsible drinking. Going forward, through our user interaction platform, we will try to solve various social issues related to consumption of alcohol such as depression, excessiveness, convenience etc," he said. Booozie has collaborated with HyperVerge Technologies to provide for age-gating, ID verification, face recognition of users, thereby restricting under-age users to view content or place orders on the app. In addition, at the time of delivery, a check is done to ensure that no one misuses the platform. Susovan Mazumder, Co-Founder and CPO of Booozie, said they noticed that there is a lack of information for users to choose the brands within their budget. "Booozie will give the users the access to a curated database of brands along with their pricing specific to their state. In the future, we intend to bring various features such as online drinking games which users and their friends can play on our platform, prepaid bottles at bars/clubs, spending tracker etc. which we believe will be a hit with the millennial audience." Booozie intends to connect users to bars/clubs upon lifting the restrictions. "We have a comprehensive database of bars/clubs in every city, we anticipate low footfall for these outlets in the future due to the changed mindset of people. We propose to provide a platform for these outlets to draw users through coupons, events, offers, etc. Through our catalogue rating system, we also intend to help liquor manufacturers and state governments gauge the demand of particular brands that are unavailable in their state," he added. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Anti-aircraft guns in London during the Blitz of 1940 were mostly for show. It was extremely difficult to shoot down an aircraft. The shells launched to explode in an enemy bombers flight path had to be timed to one-fortieth of a second, explained Future Tense fellow Jamie Holmes in a recent online event co-sponsored by Future Tense and Issues in Science and Technology.* A timing device a second off would mean an explosion 2,000 feet from its intended target. Advertisement Its no surprise, then, that at the start of the Blitz it took about 20,000 shells to shoot down a single airplane. Developing a solution to the probleman electronic sensor within a shell that could detect a nearby aircraft and blow up in its proximitywas simple in theory but complicated in execution, Holmes said. The electronics of the day were extremely sensitive, the transistor didnt yet exist, and any sensor would have to withstand enormous pressure. The task of creating the first intelligent bullet, Holmes writes, was thus akin to shooting a light bulb out of a pistol. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The story of the rag-tag group of Americans who took on this challenge, one of the toughest, most urgent scientific tasks of World War II, is the center of Holmes new book, 12 Seconds of Silence: How a Team of Inventors, Tinkerers, and Spies Took Down a Nazi Superweapon. Advertisement Advertisement This team of scientists, led by Merle Tuve and known as Section T of the Office of Science and Research Development, went from working on a borrowed Virginia farm and buying the wrong blasting powder to creating the worlds first smart weapon, itself key to Allied victory. Its a story of cooperation and overcoming scientific puzzles under great pressure, Holmes said, explaining why he was drawn to the subject. Or, as he wrote in a Future Tense piece: Its a story of how to organize science in an emergency against a ticking clock. Sound familiar? Today, the threats we facea pandemic, climate change, cyberattacksare less visible than Nazi bombs and drones raining from the sky. Advertisement Threats such as low-grade cyberwarfare and intellectual property theft in particular are hard to rally against, because they are most obvious in channels that are very classified and sensitive, said Lt. Gen. Robert Schmidle (ret.), the university adviser on cyber capabilities and conflict studies at Arizona State University as well as a cyberfellow at the schools Center on the Future of War. A major challenge, said Schmidle, who formerly served as first deputy commander within the U.S. Cyber Command, is trying to incentivize the electorate and the industrial base to do work for the government when you are asking, in some cases, for them just to press the I believe button. Advertisement The bonds between the military, the academy, and industry that were forged during World War II form the basis of the military-industrial-knowledge complex. Those bonds were made closer and more permanent by government spending on science and technology during the Cold War, and are now being tested by a number of factorslack of leadership, increased globalization, decreased incentives and legitimate moral concerns on the part of individuals being pressed into service. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Back in WWII days, there was no doubt that companies like General Motors were subservient to the national interest. But nowadays, globalization has escalated such that it can be hard to define the nationality of a corporation, said Andres Martinez, the editorial director of Future Tense. Companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, in many cases behave as if they were nation states, agreed Schmidle. While the military-industrial-knowledge complex has resulted in innovationand indeed fueled the growth of Silicon Valley and an extraordinary set of commercial technologies such as GPS and the internet itself it has also brought mistakes and tragedies, said Margaret OMara, the author of The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America. The resulting question is How can we think about a next-generation partnership that prioritizes a broader public good? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While industry is an important partner to certain parts of the government, OMara said, it cant be the agenda-setter. Governments need to develop their capacities to become better partners, recognizing that the most important piece of any partnership is the people. Scientists and technologists need a mission to do their best work, said OMara, who serves as the Howard & Frances Keller Endowed Professor of History at the University of Washington. Complex politics, interrelated tech, and integrated supply chains make it harder for todays scientists and technologists to figure out whats the right stance to have when it comes to working with the government, she said. Those who do choose to work in science and technology development for the government do so for the mission, not the money, Schmidle said. Advertisement U.S. immigration and education policies will also make or break the future of national innovation. The Americans do not have a monopoly on technological talent. The reason that the U.S. has been such a powerhouse is because of immigration policy, foreign educational exchange, and an investment in higher ed, OMara said. Looking at this historically, those are foundational. Advertisement Ultimately, Merle Tuves team settled on a radio proximity fuse, which would prove crucial to fighting against the V-1, the Nazis deadly drones deployed late in the war, which struck terror among Londoners with both their whirling travel sound and the 12 seconds of silence that accompanied their final descent to impact. As Holmes documents, Office of Science and Research Development Director Vannevar Bushs vision of mobilizing science for the war effort led to the development and deployment not only of the fuse, but also of Allied landing craft, a blood substitute, penicillin, and radar-jamming technology, to name just a few of the innovations from Bushs army of researchers within the OSRD. Advertisement For Holmes, the OSRDs path to success offers lessons for contemporary efforts to leverage science and technology in the national interest. Bush believed that in order to come up with radical innovations, you need to go back to basics, Holmes said. Balancing the timeless tension between the need for basic and applied research, the government set some parameters of priorities, but granted scientists autonomy to conduct their research as they saw fit. The OSRD was arranged so that the government would hold patents derived from researchers work, and designed in order to foster connections between people who arent used to talking to each other, Holmes said. Perhaps most importantly, as Holmes wrote for Future Tense in August, Bush and Tuve left us with the lesson that administrative wisdom can be profoundly heroic. [I]ts not just relying on science but the intelligent organization of science that often matters most. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement *Correction, Sept. 25, 2020: This article originally misspelled Jamie Holmes first name. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. Hospitalizations lag in Europes second wave for now As the number of coronavirus cases mounts, European officials fear a repeat of harrowing scenes from the spring, when the virus swamped intensive care units in Italy and Spain. New restrictions have been imposed across the continent: In Munich, which would ordinarily brim with boisterous crowds for Oktoberfest this month, the authorities banned gatherings of more than five people. In Marseille, France, all bars and restaurants will be closed next Monday. And in London, where the government spent weeks encouraging workers to return to the citys deserted skyscrapers, it is now urging them to work from home. But just how imminent is the peril? European leaders are dealing with a fast-changing situation, with conflicting evidence on how quickly new virus cases are translating into hospital admissions. Madrids hospitals are close to capacity, for example, but the number of hospital admissions and deaths in France are going up more slowly. Hypotheses: Some experts argue that this shows that the virus has lost potency since it first arrived in Europe, or that it is now infecting mostly younger people, who are less likely to experience severe symptoms. Others say it is a testament to social distancing, the widespread use of face masks, greater precautions for more vulnerable people and better medical treatment. Charles Sturt University Ethics Professor Clive Hamilton (R) speaks at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, on Aug. 28, 2019. (Richard Szabo/Epoch Times) Beijing Blacklists Two Australian Academics The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has declared two Australian academics persona non grata and banned them from entering China, despite neither having current travel visas or plans to travel to the country. Prof. Clive Hamilton from Charles Sturt University and analyst Alex Joske from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) are now prevented from entering China under the Exit and Entry Administration Law, Chinese state media outlet The Global Times reported on Sept. 24. Hamilton, a professor of public ethics, has published two best-selling books on China: Silent Invasion: Chinas Influence in Australia and Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World. Both books focus on exposing the Chinese regimes systematic campaign to exert political influence in Australia and around the world. Joske, who grew up in China, has published multiple papers on the Chinese regimes interference in western democracies. His latest paper titled Hunting the Phoenix exposed Beijings co-opting of academics from around the world to harness technology for China and the Peoples Liberation Army. Read More Chinese Regime Using Australian Scientists in Quest for Tech, Military Dominance A Chinese paramilitary police officer gestures and speaks over his two-way radio while standing at the entrance gate of the Australian embassy in Beijing on July 9, 2020. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images) Joske wrote on Twitter: Chinese state media reports that I have been banned from entering China are the latest in a series of attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to punish those who shine a light on its activities. I am proud of my research on the Chinese Communist Partys efforts to interfere in politics and transfer technology from around the world. The accuracy of my research on these topics has never been seriously challenged by the Chinese government. Joske also noted that he had decided years ago that the personal risk of travelling to China was too high and he had not held or applied for a visa for years. Meanwhile, Hamilton wrote: There goes my travel plans. There go my travel plans. Clive Hamilton (@CliveCHamilton) September 24, 2020 The move by the Chinese regime comes after Australia cancelled the visa of two Chinese academics and four Chinese journalists in an effort to investigate and curb foreign interference. It also follows the hasty evacuation of Australias last two remaining foreign correspondents from China on Sept. 7. Bilateral relations with the Chinese regime are shifting as Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his government push back against Beijings increasingly belligerent foreign policy initiatives, its disregard for the rules-based global order, and its creeping threat to Australian sovereignty. Eric Abetz, a Liberal senator, previously told The Epoch Times: China is starting to realise that not everyone will simply kowtow to their threats, be it geopolitical aggression, foreign interference or economic pressure. Second wave concerns: Laura Duffell, Matt Smith, Andrew Molodynski. Frontline NHS workers tell this website of dread they are feeling at prospect of second wave of coronavirus hospitalisations Top medical union raises concerns for workers mental health following short turnaround since first COVID-19 spike Daily infections are doubling every week, with government having warned this will translate to increased hospital admissions Visit the Yahoo homepage for more stories As the coronavirus continues to surge in its second wave, frontline NHS staff who had to deal with COVID-19 the first time round are feeling increasing dread. In early April, at the peak of the first wave, between 3,000 and 3,500 COVID-19 patients were being admitted daily to UK hospitals. There were thousands more deaths. So, how do the same frontline healthcare workers pick themselves up for the expected second spike of COVID hospitalisations this winter? With great and understandable difficulty. Watch: Timeline of key events since UK was put into lockdown in March Referring to the recent wave of new infections, one nurse told Yahoo News UK: Were all freaking out a little bit. Meanwhile, the British Medical Association (BMA), the chief medical trade union, also told this website of its concerns for workers mental health. Its worse the second time, its mental health spokesman said. On Monday, Sir Patrick Vallance, the governments chief scientific adviser, warned an increase in infections will translate to increased hospitalisations. There were 6,634 recorded on Thursday, double the amount of cases seven days before. Last week, Dr David Rosser, CEO of the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust, told ITV the levels of anxiety among our staff that we may go back to what we saw in April is beyond anything I have ever experienced in over 30 years in the health service. Dr David Rosser, CEO of University Hospitals Birmingham Trust: "I've never known a clinical team as distressed and apprehensive as they are at the moment...people are saying to me 'I'm not sure I can do this again.'" pic.twitter.com/7TpwzIxavC Luke Addis (@mrlkdds) September 18, 2020 He added colleagues have been approaching him saying: Im not sure I can do this again. Story continues Speaking to this website, Laura Duffell, a matron at the trauma centre of a London hospital that was three times over its intensive care capacity at the peak of the first outbreak, said there is a similar sense of dread among her colleagues. We in nursing are all freaking out a little bit. This is up and down the UK. Weve been talking about the rise in infections and its worrying everyone hugely, especially with how quickly they are going up. We are very short of nurses and I have had colleagues who said if it does happen again, I wont be in the job because I just cant cope. Laura Duffell: 'The idea of it happening again fills everyone with a little bit of dread.' We do have staff currently off with stress and anxiety-related disorders in the aftermath of what happened. The idea of it happening again fills everyone with a little bit of dread. Duffell has been a co-organiser of nationwide protests calling for NHS pay rises, due in April next year, to be brought forward. One of her fellow campaigners, Matt Smith, has previously told this website he has to work two extra shifts a month to get more money. Matt Smith: 'The thought of having to wear PPE for 13 to 14 hours a day again isnt pleasant.' Smith, an advanced nurse practitioner at a London hospital who was stationed in an intensive care unit during the first wave, said of the prospect of doing it all again: At least this time round you know what to expect a bit more. But having to deal with the issues we had last time really sick people who couldnt have relatives with them when they need them most, the thought of having to wear PPE [personal protective equipment] for 13 to 14 hours a day again The thought of having to go through all that again isnt pleasant. Earlier this month, the BMA issued a 10-point plan on how to protect the mental health of NHS workers amid the pandemic. It came after research in May found 45% of doctors were suffering from depression, anxiety, stress, burnout or other mental health conditions relating to, or made worse by, the COVID-19 crisis. Dr Andrew Molodynski, the BMAs mental health lead, said: Our concerns are the same as the first wave. People are going to be exposed to much more difficult working conditions, witnessing patients coming in in large numbers with the infection again, and will have the big worry of catching COVID and taking it home to people who may be more vulnerable. That was stressful for a lot of us. And he warned the impact of this could be worse the second time. Dr Andrew Molodynski: 'This time, we know what the difficulties are going to be. It actually makes the anticipation of it much worse.' Dr Molodynski explained: The first time, it was a crisis and the vast majority of people chipped in and got on with it. We didnt really know what was happening, we just dealt with what came before us. This time, we know what the difficulties are going to be. Hopefully that will be helpful in terms of dealing with the virus, but it actually makes the anticipation of it much worse. He went on: The worry is there will already be quite a lot of people who will be recovering from the first wave managing to get a bit of a breather, a bit of headspace, but thats looking as though its not going to be for long before they are straight back into it. Among the measures called for by the BMA include providing a supportive culture for staff who may be reluctant to seek help, and supporting staff who need to take time off or want to work flexibly. It comes after the government introduced a raft of new rules for England including encouraging office staff to work from home, pubs closing at 10pm and wedding attendance being cut from 30 to 15 aimed at restricting the spread of the virus. However, Boris Johnson has also hinted at a second lockdown, saying the government reserves the right to go further if infections dont fall. Watch: How to remove a face covering correctly Coronavirus: what happened today Click here to sign up to the latest news and information with our daily Catch-up newsletter Chiefs in the Tain Traditional Area have hailed the significant impact President Akufo-Addos flagship educational intervention, Free SHS is having on their community. At a durbur of Chiefs on Thursday September 24, 2020 in Nsawkaw, the Chiefs said Free SHS has made it possible for their children to access secondary education. "The people of Tain are so grateful for your Free SHS. Today, most of our people are getting free education and that will help us," said Daasebre Okogyeaman Duodu Ampem III, Nsawkaw Chief, who spoke on behalf of the Tain Chiefs. The Chiefs said as a poor and marginalized communuty, the Free SHS policy will help transform the community. "It will help to change the socio economic structure of our district," Daasebre Okogyeaman said. While commending the government of Akufo-Addo for its educational intervention, the Chiefs urged the government to continue to do more to bridge the gap in social differences in the country, especially in their community. "We are part of the marginalized; very poor, low income. So then, every effort that the government will undertake to help us is very critical." "Your programs should be geared towards alleviating poverty in the poor communities like Tain." The Chiefs acknowledged government's ongoing project of building a cashew factory in the area, and also appealed to government to have a second look at the pricing of Cashew to help cashew farmers in the area. "We grow cashew and we know there is an attempt to build a cashew factory for us; it is in the process and we are waiting for it." "We also want you to do something about cashew prices because the cashew farmers are complaining of the pricing. Akufo-Addo government committed to Cashew production Prior to Dr. Bawumia's visit to Nsawkaw, he had earlier in the day visited Bongaase in the Damba Constituency, where chiefs there also spoke about the welfare of cashew farmers. The Vice President spoke extensively on government's plan to prioritize the cultivation and processing of cashew, and other crops. He said the Tree Crops Development Authority Bill has been passed by Parliament, and the Authority will supervise the activities of cashew farming and other crops, just as the Cocoa Marketing Board does for Cocoa. On pricing, the Vice President said the Tree Crops Development Authority will be the exclusive government agency to manage Cashew pricing, as well as conduct research into cashew production and other tree crops. 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. Featured Video Thunderstorms are weather disturbances characterized by concentrations of thunder, lightning and fierce winds. When they accumulate in clusters, these storms are often accompanied by violent cloud bursts and flooding, which can devastate the areas affected. Denmark is no stranger to this phenomenon. In 2011, large parts of Copenhagen were submerged by deluges that lead to roughly 6 billion kroner in damages reported to insurance companies. In a new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen shed light on one particular mechanism that has the potential to spawn powerful thunderstorms and cloud bursts: "We conclude that the atmosphere's ability to generate large thunderstorms is influenced, among other things, by the difference between the temperature of the earth's surface during the night versus during the day. If the difference is great, we see more thunderstorms, and subsequently, more cloud bursts," explains Jan Olaf Harter, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute. Along with his department colleagues, Harter used computer simulations to study the occurrence of so-called mesoscale convection systems -- particularly powerful thunderstorms that spread out over areas of 100 kilometers or more. While these types of thunderstorms occur mainly in the tropics, they are also relevant in the Danish context. "If summertime temperatures in Denmark continue to increase, I would not be surprised if we experience more thunderstorms and cloud bursts. And this is exactly what some climate models predict will occur within the next 20-30 years," says Jan Olaf Harter. The significance of night- and daytime temperature differences Thunder occurs when warm, moist surface level air rises into weather and meets cooler air higher up in the atmosphere. This destabilizes the air above it even more and creates convection, which transports the warm air even higher. It's like a pot of boiling water -- heated water at the bottom of a pot rises upwards and bubbles to the surface. The same occurs with thunderstorms. "As warm air is shot up into the atmosphere, it meets with colder air and condenses, i.e., it forms clouds and raindrops. Consequently, thunderstorms are usually followed by dense rain and cloudbursts," explains Silas Boye Nissen, a PhD student at the Niels Bohr Institute, and one of the researchers behind the study. The researchers conclude that the risk of major thunderstorms and cloud bursts is influenced by differences between the earth's surface temperature at night and day. When the temperature difference is large, the risk of severe thunderstorms increases. And while scientists can't yet say for sure what affects the temperature differences, they propose a cautious hypothesis. The difference between day- and nighttime surface temperatures is dependent upon the moisture content of soil. If soil is moist, temperature differences are reduced; "Like a swimming pool or a sea that moderates day- and nighttime temperatures," explains Harter. If, on the other hand, soil is dry, high daytime temperatures will decrease significantly overnight, as there is not enough moisture in the soil to absorb the heat. Thunderstorms boosted by air pockets Danish thunderstorms typically cover areas of about 10 kilometers, while tropical thunderstorms can spread over areas of 100 kilometers or more. The reason why thunderstorms can be so powerful, in addition to large day and nighttime temperature variations at the earth's surface, also relates to a self-reinforcing mechanism. "When differences in air temperature create clouds and intense rain, the rain uses up lots of energy on its way down as it slowly evaporates. As this occurs, each raindrop creates a pocket of cold air around it. As these pockets of cold air collide with other cold air pockets, of other weather systems, more clouds, rain and thunder are formed. This results in a self-reinforcing effect," explains Silas Boye Nissen, who concludes: Torrential rain from cloud bursts often causes damage to homes and jeopardizes people's lives. As such, it is important to keep researching the causes of extreme weather phenomena." ### The Electoral Commission (EC) has clarified that those who have been affected by the duplicate voter identification card numbers in the recent mass registration exercise, can still vote on December 7, 2020 whether or not they pick up their new cards. "I also want to establish that, but because of possible use of the ID card for other purposes [such as bank transactions], for voting the [duplicate] ID numbers will not have any effect, because if you go there [voting centre], your biometrics will be scanned, your picture will appear, you will be verified biometrically and you will vote, it has nothing to do with the ID card [number], but because people normally use the ID card for other purposes, that is why we decided to change [them]." "I want to explain again that, whether you have an ID card or not, on the 7th December, once you are duly registered, you can still vote," the Director of Elections at the EC, Dr Serebour Quaicoe said this in a television interview on Metro TV's Good Evening Ghana programme monitored by Graphic Online on Thursday night [September 24, 2020]. Dr Quaicoe gave the explanation when the host of the television programme, Paul Adom Otchere phoned him and asked him about the means through which the Commission was reaching out to voters affected by the duplicate ID numbers and how they were getting them to pick up their new ID cards before Election Day noting that it is not everybody who will go to an exhibition centre to verify their details. Dr Quaicoe explained that, "if the Commission had not informed the people, that there has been duplicate of ID card [numbers], they wouldn't have known... the video that was leaked and we said it is misleading, if you listen to the voice over, it said that we are doing registration, that is what the video was saying, [but] the people were not doing registration, they were only laminating, so the misleading part we said was in reference to the voice over that said we were doing new registration. Nobody is denying the fact that the ID cards were being laminated, but it was not new registration." 60,000 duplicate ID numbers The EC Director of Elections revealed that it has been detected that about 60,000 registered voters got duplicate voter identification numbers during the last mass registration exercise. This anomaly, he said is across about 100 to 110 districts. He explained that the problem was generated by the biometric (BVD) kits during the mass registration process and was detected by the system itself when all the data was put together at the national level. He said the system itself has subsequently generated new voter ID numbers for the about 60,000 registered voters to correct the anomaly and new cards have been printed. He said the anomaly is not something that is new and that it is a historical problem with the process as there were similar challenges in 2012 and 2016. "In 2012, I think that in Central Tongu or so, all the people who registered in that particular district, their ID numbers were replaced. It affected Weija, a lot of them. These are issues that normally occur, the system will detect it at the data centre and the new cards are printed and replaced," he said. He said in all a total of about 16.9million people were registered in the last exercise, which is the highest ever voters registered in Ghana. The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) through its flagbearer, former President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday reiterated that the party will not accept the results of a flawed election. Mr Mahama also mentioned that the EC had taken what he described as "unacceptable steps" which have the potential to disturb Ghana's democracy. Our party the National Democratic Congress and I have unflinching commitment to our democracy and we will do everything in our power to ensure it continues to be an anchor of this country peace and stability. Let me also remind you that in the past few years, we have repeatedly drawn attention to a considerable number of unacceptable steps taken by the Electoral Commission as presently constituted. These steps have the potential to wreak the democratic architecture that has seen the conduct of seven successful elections for the past twenty or more years. The NDC specifically mentioned the duplication of voter ID numbers, same picture for all registered voters in some polling stations and omission of some names in the register which is currently being exhibited as some of its concerns. The NDC has argued that those problems have largely been detected in its strongholds and suspects that it was a deliberate attempt to remove its sympathisers and supporters from the voters register. The party said it would have expected that "in good faith" the EC would have informed the political parties and get them involved in the process of resolving the anomalies. The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) on its part has said those anomalies are administrative issues meant to be resolved and that is why the EC was exhibiting the register for the public to flag the anomalies for resolution. Source: Graphic.com.gh 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 32 million mark, China detected its first local asymptomatic infections in more than a month after two port workers who unloaded frozen seafood tested positive, adding to alarm that contaminated imports could be transmitting the coronavirus. The two cases, found in Shandong provinces Qingdao city during testing of port workers, were the first symptom-free cases that China has reported since August 20. China hasnt reported any local symptomatic infections since August 15 either. Click here for complete coronavirus coverage The new cases will intensify concern in China over whether imported products are infectious. Traces of the virus have been found on frozen, imported seafood and meat, as well as in the containers in which they were shipped. Also, China said it plans to produce 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine per year by 2021, and claimed that the World Health Organization (WHO) had backed its emergency use of experimental vaccines on high-risk groups in late June. The National Health commission (NHC) said Chinas annual production capacity of vaccines is expected to reach 610 million doses by the end of this year. China had informed the WHO about inoculating high-risk groups on June 29, Zheng Zhongwei, director-general of the NHCs development centre for medical science and technology, told reporters on Friday. China approved the plan on June 24 and authorised emergency use of the vaccines on July 22. After the approval, on June 29, we made a communication with representatives of the WHO Office in China, and obtained support and understanding from WHO, Zheng said. London at tipping point Mayor Sadiq Khan on Friday said London is at a very worrying tipping point as officials revealed that the capital city is being placed on the UK-wide watch list. Khan said, London is at a very worrying tipping point right now. Were seeing a sharp rise in 111 calls (for medical care), hospital admissions and patients in ICU. The near-collapse of test and trace and the resurgence of the virus means new measures to slow its spread were absolutely necessary. Meanwhile, Novavax has begun a late-stage trial of its potential vaccine in the UK. Letter and parcel services to the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore will resume fully next Tuesday, An Post has announced. Starting from September 29, customers can send letters and parcels up to 10kg to these four countries like before, after a lengthy disruption was caused by limited air freight capacity. Cyril McGrane, An Post Director of International Mails, said hes looking forward to restoring these services. We know how important mails and parcels from home are for our communities there at this time, he said. Were also maintaining current international postage rates for customers, despite the actual cost of air freight increasing due to fewer flights and much reduced capacity in recent months. Read More He said that An Post is ensuring there are ample airmail services for sending Christmas mail to family and friends abroad. Much as we hate mentioning so early, the post early for Christmas advice will be more important than ever this year. With business typically being more busy during Christmas, customers are advised to send things earlier this year to ensure they arrive on time. Early means very early for Christmas 2020 posting. An Posts website states to check the last dates of posting for Christmas as they differ for each destination worldwide. Postal services are operating in a complex global situation where transport and logistics networks have been seriously impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr McGane said. Working with our postal peers across the globe, we are dealing with a constantly changing situation with some routes being restricted and others being restored, all the time. In the last few weeks, service has been restored to around 14 countries, including South Africa, South Korea and Croatia. For live updates, customers are advised to consult An Posts website. Last Christmas, An Post made one million euro more letter sales than it did in 2018. From the moment Premier Daniel Andrews told the hotel quarantine inquiry on Friday that his health minister, Jenny Mikakos, was accountable for what had gone wrong in this botched program, her resignation was inevitable. Andrews did not even try to defend the way it had been run or the ministers entrusted with doing so. He agreed that decision-making had been slip-shod, "disappointing" and that there had been a collective failure to take responsibility. He also said that, even though Mikakos and her department had been in charge since shortly after the program began in March, there had been far too much concentration on its logistical aspects security, the provision of food and rooms and far too little on its potentially devastating health consequences. Former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos Credit:Justin McManus Relatively junior health officials wrote warning after warning about this the first on April 9, within a fortnight of the program beginning but it was not until June, when COVID-19 had broken out of the hotels and into the suburbs, that anybody started paying attention. In the inquiry on Friday, it was put to Andrews that, from the start, there should have been "a much greater focus on clinical matters and greater involvement of medical clinical expertise". He agreed without demur. He also agreed that a workforce appropriate to the task not ill-trained, ill-equipped, casually employed subcontract labour in the form of security guards should have been on site. And asked if he thought the program had been in desperate need of a "clear line of control and the actual active exercise of that control" by the accountable agency (in this case, the Health Department), he said, simply: "Yes". Read the full piece here. Asiya Gul Iram and her daughters have lived in Britain for more than a decade, but they rarely leave their home. The three of them sleep in the same bedroom despite having one each. They are all bright, educated women with ambitions, but since 2015 they have lived in fear of being sent to a life of oppression because of an accusation Asiya vehemently denies. My life stopped when I got that letter, says the 48-year-old, describing the moment she was accused by the Home Office of cheating in an English language test she had completed three years before. I didnt cheat. I did nothing wrong. How can they accuse me for something I havent done? The Pakistani national moved to the UK on a student visa with her husband and daughters, Saba and Shifa Ikram, aged 26 and 30, in 2007. Her relationship with her husband was volatile she had already attempted to escape from him twice while in Pakistan because he and his relatives wanted their daughters to marry much older men in the family. But when he agreed they could move to Britain, Asiya hoped it was a chance to start anew. She began her studies in business administration, commuting from their home in West Drayton to central London. Saba, then 14, started studying for her GCSEs at Rosedale College in Hayes and Shifa, then 18, started working as a shop assistant, while their father got a job working at Morrisons. The family lived a moderately happy life. According to Asiya, her husband would occasionally, spurred by pressure from his relatives in Pakistan, speak of them going back and marrying their daughters into the family. She didnt like the idea, but she knew that as long as they were settled with studies and work in the UK, it wasnt something she had to worry about too much. Saba, Asiya and Shifa live in fear of being deported by the Home Office (Saba Ikram) Everything changed in January 2015, when Asiya who was at that point on the brink of completing her Bachelors degree in accountancy became one of thousands of international students accused of cheating in the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), which she had taken in 2012. Given no proper right to challenge the decision, they were subsequently told they had no right to stay in the UK. The Home Office was last month accused by the National Audit Office (NAO) of failing to ensure innocent people were not wrongly targeted in the operation, which saw more than 2,400 students removed from the country. The department has come under increasing pressure to allow those accused to retake the test to prove their innocence. With no proper opportunity to challenge the decision and no in-country right of appeal, Asiya felt hopeless. Meanwhile, Asiya said she believed her husband saw this as an opportunity to fulfil his relatives wishes and go back to Pakistan. He said OK, your visa is finished, you cheated, so now lets go back, she remembers. He said we are going back to Pakistan and now the daughters are old enough to get married. I said we couldnt go back, their lives would be ruined. He started beating me, beating my daughters. We called the police and he left the house. After that we had no hope. Her husband left, and she later discovered he had returned to Pakistan, where he apparently made allegations of adultery against her. Asiya and her daughters decided they had no option but to apply for asylum. But with limited finances, they were unable to afford a lawyer and represented themselves. Their asylum claim was refused in March 2017, with the judge accepting the Home Office claim that Asiya was a resourceful, well-qualified and well-educated woman who would be able to fend for herself in Pakistan. They subsequently submitted a human rights application, which was refused on the same grounds in July 2018. A month later, Saba and Shifa were detained while reporting to the Home Office. They were taken into a room without their mother, and Asiya waited in the waiting room from 10am until 4pm not knowing what had happened to them. Meanwhile, her daughters were being interrogated, handcuffed and transported to a removal centre. Crying at the memory, Saba, 26, says: They put handcuffs on me and my sister. I just wanted to scream. Its not nice when you see this happening to someone you love. They said take off your shoes, I want to see what you are hiding. They were treating us like criminals. The sisters were served a letter stating they were liable for removal. Saba and Shifa were taken to Harmondsworth immigration removal centre, where they were informed they would be removed to Pakistan in a matter of days. They said our flight had been booked for Tuesday. I just wanted to hit my head against the wall, says Saba. I just wanted answers. They hadnt told us. At night-time I started having suicidal thoughts and they wouldnt give me my medication. It was hell. They were released after seven days. But, with no resolution to their case, the three women are now living in fear that they will be detained again and that this time they could be sent back to Pakistan. Since they detained my daughters, we are really afraid of the Home Office, says Asiya. Every month when we go to report, we feel terrified. When we enter the Home Office building, we start shivering. We always think this could be our last time. I cannot sleep properly. When something fell in the corridor the other night we were all so scared. We were crying. We thought maybe the Home Office had come to our door. Even when the postman posts a letter the noise scares us. Recommended International students wrongly kicked out over cheating speak out Their MP, shadow chancellor John McDonnell, recently wrote to immigration minister Caroline Nokes for the second time to request that Asiya be given the opportunity to take a fresh English test in order to give her the chance to clear her name. But he is yet to receive a response. The Labour MP said: Following the TOEIC scandal, they have been left for years with no resolution to their case with devastating consequences. The family also has the support of Migrant Voice, a charity that has been campaigning since 2017 alongside many of the students affected. Nazek Ramadan, director of the charity, said: There are countless other parents like Asiya, and young people like Saba and Shifa who have been denied a dignified life and a hopeful future by the governments accusation one made on the basis of worthless evidence and one they were denied the right to challenge. For this family, that false accusation is threatening their fundamental right to a safe existence. Sajid Javid, the home secretary, has said he is sympathetic to this issue and has promised twice in the last two months to make a statement on the governments next steps but campaigners and those affected are still waiting. When asked about Asiya and her daughters cases, a Home Office spokesperson said: All applications are considered on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules. As legal proceedings are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further. Why is the Home Office getting so many immigration decisions wrong? Unable to study, work or claim benefits, Asiya and her daughters are currently relying on the charity of local friends who help them with their rent, bills and groceries. She trembles as she reflects, with teary eyes, on how things changed after she was accused. I was studying properly, I was going to the college regularly. I passed my first-year exam. I did the test myself, she says with determination. And on top of that, the label of cheater is really hurtful. I was thinking by 2015 I would be finished my bachelors degree and I would go for a masters. I was hoping to go into banking. But all of my dreams got shattered by this false accusation. Its completely taken away my independence. I wanted to be a strong woman, to support my daughters and protect them from my family, to keep them here safe. And I was trusting the UK government that they would believe us, that they would give me a fair chance to prove myself. But they havent. And Im losing my hope. By PTI NEW DELHI: A Delhi Court Friday took cognisance of a supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI against Dubai-based businessman Rajeev Saxena and others in the AgustaWestland chopper scam. Besides Saxena, summons were also issued to the then AgustaWestland International Director Giacomino Saponaro, also arrayed as an accused, for October 23. Special Judge Arvind Kumar also issued production warrant against British National Christian Michel James, who was earlier arrested in the case and is currently lodged in Tihar central jail here, directing the jail authorise to produce him on next date of hearing. The supplementary charge sheet, according to the CBI sources details the alleged role played by Saxena and others in bringing bribes for politicians, bureaucrats and Indian Air Force (IAF) officials in India in the scam. The sources said that the agency, which had earlier this year sought sanction from the authorities concerned to prosecute former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, has not named him as an accused since the request is not granted yet. The judge took cognisance of the offences including that of section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 201 (destruction of evidence), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery) 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using forged document as genuine) of IPC and various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, related to bribing a public servant and criminal misconduct by a public servant. I have heard counsel for CBI and gone through the material on record. Issue summons to accused persons for October 23, the judge said while taking cognizance of the charge sheet filed on September 18. Others summoned include Sandeep Tyagi, Praveen Bakshi, Pratap Krishan Aggarwal, Narendra Kumar Jain, Rajesh Kumar Jain, Sunil Kothari, Deepak Goyal and K V Kunhikrishnan. Sandeep Tyagi is the cousin of former IAF chief SP Tyagi, who has been named as an accused with others in the first charge sheet filedf in the case in September 2017. The court also summoned several companies named as accused in the final report; IDS Infotech Ltd., India (through its MD P K Aggarwal), Aeromatrix Info Solutions Pvt.Ltd. (through its Director Gautam Khaitan), Neel Madhav Consultants Pvt. Ltd. (through its Director Sandeep Tyagi), Mainak Agency Pvt. Ltd. (through its Directors Sandeep Tyagi and Sanjeev Tyagi) and Interstellar Technologies Ltd., Mauritius (through its Director Rajiv Saxena). The agency told the court that it may file another supplementary charge sheet in the matter. The agency had earlier told the court that during the course of investigation, copies of classified/ secret official documents of Indian Air Force (IAF)/ Ministry of Defence (MoD) such as Operational Requirements for VVIP helicopters before issuance of Request of Proposal and other incriminating documents running into more than one lakh pages received from Italy and Switzerland. Michel had entered into as many as five contracts through two of his firms to legitimise the illicit commission/ kickbacks on the procurement of VVIP helicopters by MoD, India, the CBI said. It said that out of the kickbacks received from AgustaWestland, Michel further made payments to various persons in India. Michel was taken into custody by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on December 5 last year after his extradition from Dubai, while the ED took him into custody on December 22 last year. He is currently in judicial custody in both cases. Dubai-based businessman Saxena was extradited to India on January 31, 2019 in connection with the scam relating to the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland. ED had earlier arrested Saxena but he was later granted bail after the agency supported his plea to turn approver in the case. From economy to psychology, from environment to diplomacy, what happens in the U.S. election will have a profound impact on Canada. Northern Exposure is a series of stories looking at whats at stake for us as America decides its future. WASHINGTONOver the years I have learned, a reader in British Columbia wrote to me this week, that when the U.S. coughs, Canada gets a very bad cold, perhaps the flu. The saying has a particular resonance during a pandemic, but in few areas is the analogy more apt than the economy. Roughly a fifth of Canadas gross national product comes from exports to the U.S., which accounts for about 75 per cent of Canadas foreign trade. The U.S. is also Canadas largest source of foreign investment. As of 2011, U.S. subsidiaries in Canada employed more than 546,000 people. Our proximity to the U.S. is a huge source of our prosperity. We live next to such a massive market that is willing to do business with us, right? said Peter Loewen of the University of Torontos Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. People shouldnt underestimate that. These levels of wealth are all recent, and they come from our capacity to trade. And when it comes to trade, the presidency of Donald Trump induced some coughing fits among Canadians or at least some gagging sounds when he imposed import tariffs and forced the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement by threatening to tear it up. Its been a turbulent time. Considering the upcoming election, veteran trade lawyer Daniel Ujczo of Dickinson Wright in Ohio would expect that volatility to change if the administration did. I mean, it wouldnt be trade policy by tweet, he said in a recent phone interview. This relationship revolves around the relationship between the leaders, whether we like it or not, Ujczo said. If Trump is re-elected and Trudeau remains prime minister, he said, I think well see pretty much more of the same and there will need to be a focus on a more constructive relationship between those two. If Trumps Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, were to be elected, however, Ujczo foresees a stronger relationship, between both the leaders and their cabinet-level officials. Hes not the only one who thinks so. Kathryn Friedman, an expert on North American relations at the University at Buffalo, points out that when Biden was the U.S. vice-president, his last official visit was to Ottawa, where he praised Canada as an ally and a friend; by contrast, Trump and his administration often portray Canada as a national security threat and a predatory trader. Under a Biden administration, Friedman said, I do think that Canada would be elevated back to its rightful place as one of our closest allies. But that relationship, paradoxically, might not make much difference to actual trade policy. The experts Ive spoken with more or less agree that despite its adversarial and sometimes tortured negotiation, the new USMCA trade deal is a good update on the old NAFTA. No prominent American politicians and few Canadians are itching to change it. Ujczo says hed expect a less disruptive second term from Trump on continental trade, since hes already laid the groundwork for a new playing field in his first term. But more than that, he said, the Democrats trade policy ideas, especially among the congressional delegation, arent substantially different from Trumps protectionist impulses. Canadians always think that Democrats are more favourable because theyre aligned on socio-cultural ideology, but Democrats have really not been great for Canada on trade issues, he said. I do think we would see more predictability from the White House, but I anticipate less predictability from Congress. A Biden administration, meanwhile, would likely cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, a project to which Canadas oil industry and governments are deeply committed. Biden would also bring the United States back into the Trans Pacific Trade Partnership within the first week or so of his administration, according to Chris Sands, who leads the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington. What does that mean for Canada, which is already a member? Well, good news, bad news, said Sands. Suddenly youve got another competitor in that family and you lose one of the little advantages you had over the U.S. Aside from direct trade, the Canadian economy generally feels the strength or weakness of the American economy through investment, jobs at American corporations and tourism, among other things. That means Canada will be watching its neighbours recovery from the pandemic-induced recession very closely. In managing the virus itself, probably a precondition of a full recovery, Trump has graded his response this year an A+ while pinning virtually all hope for a quick economic recovery on the quick development of a vaccine. Biden has announced a more aggressive response to the spread of the virus, in line with what many epidemiologists have recommended, which may include locking down some areas of the country again or implementing national rules on masks. Biden has also staked part of his economic platform on stimulus, sometimes invoking Franklin Roosevelts Great Depression-era New Deal as a parallel. Polls show many American voters see the economy, and the prospects for dealing with it, as an area of strength for Trump. By contrast, 13 Nobel Prize-winning economists issued a statement this week supporting Biden, saying his economic policies will result in economic growth that is faster, more robust, and more equitable. That said, predicting the trajectory of the American economy under any president is a very difficult job. What isnt difficult to see is that whatever direction it goes, it is likely to take Canadas economy at least some of the way with it. Read more about: Hyaluronic acid, retinol and vitamin C have all had their turn in the sun. Now, its niacinamides time to shine. Its kind of an under-represented ingredient, says Dermalogica skin therapist Maicy Dizon. Companies and people are starting to understand the benefits of it. And those benefits are said to be manifold. Niacinamide is purported to lock in moisture and regulate sebum, banish pimples and fade dark spots. I personally like to call it my everything ingredient, says Dizon. But is it too good to be true? Here, we break down everything you need to know about skin cares latest star. This popular serum from The Ordinary banks on niacinamide and zinc to control oil and alleviate congestion. The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%, $6, sephora.ca What is niacinamide? Its a form of vitamin B3, which is niacin, explains Dr. Lisa Kellett of Torontos DLK on Avenue. The antioxidant, which can also go by the name of nicotinamide, is water-soluble and often found in serums, though you can spot it in moisturizers, eye creams and a host of other things, too. What does it do for skin? According to many, the question is what doesnt it do? Niacinamide gets top billing in products addressing everything from dryness to acne to hyperpigmentation. The thing is there isnt a huge amount of data on it in terms of evidence-based medicine, says Kellett. Lets go through the specifics, shall we? Salicylic acid clears pores and fights breakouts while niacinamide helps keep skin bright and even. Dermalogica AGE Bright Clearing Serum, $89, sephora.ca Does niacinamide help with acne? It has been shown to regulate sebum and reduce acne, but a 2017 review of previous studies stated additional studies are needed comparing nicotinamide to other first-line acne treatments and evaluating the efficacy and side effect profile of nicotinamide over an extended period of time. Thats why Kellett says there are better things for acne, namely tried and true ingredients like benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid. But those can be quite drying, which is why Dizon often recommends using them in conjunction with niacinamide, which is less irritating. Anyone whos acneic is usually using very stripping ingredients and products, so I find its a nice gentle accompaniment for someone whos got a routine that has more of those astringents or stronger active ingredients in it. Dermalogicas AGE Bright Clearing Serum, for example, blends salicylic acid with niacinamide. This daily lotion combines ceramides, hyaluronic acid and niacinamide to strengthen the skin barrier and lock in moisture. CeraVe Facial Moisturizing Lotion SPF 30, $17, shoppersdrugmart.com Does niacinamide help with moisture? Its thought that niacinamide might help to increase the production of ceramides, which are very important to the lipid barrier of the skin, says Kellett. That barrier is what allows our skin to hold on to moisture, making it key to combating dryness. But again, we need more studies to ascertain that, she says. A blend of niacinamide, ashwagandha (a medicinal herb often used in Ayurveda) and goji (considered a superfood) aims to calm stressed skin, reduce redness and deliver a healthy glow. Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Stress Rescue Super Serum with Niacinamide, $96, sephora.ca Can niacinamide help with inflammation? Niacinamide has indeed been found to have anti-inflammatory properties, including when taken as an oral treatment. Anyone who has supersensitive skin, it really helps to calm down some of the redness, says Dizon. However, it may have the opposite effect when used in high concentrations. Thus, you might want to proceed with caution if you have rosacea or dermatitis, says Kellett. Also, make sure not to confuse niacin with niacinamide, as the former can actually lead to flushing. Kojic acid and alpha arbutin join forces with niacinamide to fade the look of dark spots and post-blemish marks. Peter Thomas Roth PRO Strength Niacinamide Discoloration Treatment, $116, sephora.ca Does niacinamide help with hyperpigmentation? It helps to promote skin healing, so its good for anyone who has damaged or broken skin, says Dizon, adding that this makes it particularly helpful for reducing post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. There are a ton of people out there who whenever they get a pimple, theres always going to be some kind of a scar thats left over because of it. The idea is that by promoting healing and curbing inflammation, which triggers the production of pigment, niacinamide can alleviate acne scarring. The evidence supporting niacinamides effects on hyperpigmentation is unfortunately limited. One 2011 study found that a 4 per cent niacinamide treatment was less effective than 4 per cent hydroquinone (an ingredient only available by prescription in Canada) for treating melasma, but was accompanied with fewer side-effects. Kelletts take? There are other things that you can use for hyperpigmentation that are more effective. She recommends things like azelaic acid, kojic acid or arbutin, depending on the underlying cause. Dizon also says, You cant go wrong with vitamin C when youre concerned about pigmentation. Can you combine it with other actives? Its a pretty forgiving ingredient, says Dizon. However, make sure to check what else is in the bottle. If youre using a vitamin C and your serum with niacinamide has another ingredient in it, say salicylic acid, you dont want to be mixing those two ingredients together because you risk irritation. It has also been claimed that niacinamide can help make potentially irritating ingredients like retinol more tolerable. The question is, Is it actually just the base thats doing that? says Kellett, noting that niacinamide is often used with a humectant. Whats the verdict? Kellett gives it to us straight: If your problem is acne, niacinamide isnt bad for acne, but there are better things. If you want an antioxidant, vitamin C is a more powerful antioxidant. If you want something for pigment, niacinamide isnt bad, but there are things that are better. Its been touted as the be all and end all and its not. However, niacinamide can be used instead of these more powerful ingredients if your skin has trouble tolerating them, since its gentler. The thing is, though, its not as effective, says Kellett. Its a tradeoff. If youre thinking about incorporating a new ingredient into your skin care regimen, its a good idea to speak with an expert first. Clients will often self-diagnose themselves, says Dizon, noting that she cant even count the number of times clients have told her they put anti-dandruff shampoo on their face because they thought they had fungal acne. Its definitely reassuring to look for those answers on the internet, I totally get that. Dr. Google is super popular! But its always better to get a professional opinion. Kellett agrees: In general, I always tell people, Get a proper diagnosis and management plan, and treat the issue appropriately. This article contains affiliate links, which means The Kit may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our journalism is independent and is in no way influenced by advertising. By clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that third-party cookies will be set. More information. There are so many characters to keep track of in The Trial of Chicago 7, so many swirling agendas and rivalries and sidebars and surprising doglegs (Michael Keaton shows up late in the film as former U.S. attorney general Ramsay Clark), that a linear, Wiki-like narrative would seem to be a filmmakers only recourse. But Sorkins mastery of the material, and his shrewd instincts as a dramatist, result in something much more fluid and emotionally engaging than a mere fact-based retelling. He has cast his film impeccably, with the actors confidently toeing the line between impersonation and characterization. Redmayne and Cohen are particularly impressive as activists with wildly different approaches to social change. (Much like his character, Langella continually threatens to steal the whole show with his magnificent portrayal of the other Hoffman, whose imperious disdain for the defendants is only equaled by his obliviousness and confoundment.) HAMMOND Federal authorities have arrested an Illinois man suspected of robbing Griffith and Hammond banks last week. Terrance W. Brown, 32, of Harvey, is being held in federal detention, pending his hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court. U.S. Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch II has filed a criminal complaint Thursday alleging Brown robbed the First Midwest Bank, 915 45th St., Griffith, on the morning of Sept. 18. Andrew Chonowski, an FBI special agent, alleges in the complaint that footage from video surveillance cameras show Brown entering the bank carrying a cane and wearing a gray hoodie. He also was wearing a hat with a camouflage brim, a black shirt with a red, white and blue American flag design, white Air Jordan 3 shoes, a blue face mask, a blue glove on his left hand and dark sunglasses, Chonowski said. He said Brown announced the robbery, jumped over the counter and took $12,724 from a cash machine and drive-thru teller window drawers before fleeing in a gray 2007 Nissan sedan. The cars license plate was registered to a woman living in Harvey. Analysis reveals 63% of the COVID-19 cases in the US until August 2020 originated from people between the ages of 2049, while about 1.2% of the cases originated from children 09 years old. However, this could change as schools re-open. The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) since the beginning of 2020 has led to dramatic interventions to contain its spread. The virus spreads through human contact, so one of the strategies has been to limit person-to-person contact. Several countries used near-total lockdowns and stay-at-home orders to limit personal contact. How people interact with each other has changed dramatically since these interventions. Data from the US showed the average number of contacts per person was four or less. In China, children had almost no contact with each other during the initial weeks of the lockdown and had reduced contact with older persons. Because of such strategies, the number of cases declined during the first half of the year. But, there has been an increase in the number of cases since the middle of June in the US, with more cases also being reported in Europe. Modeling infection spread in the US In a new study published on the preprint server medRxiv*, a team of researchers on behalf of the Imperial College London COVID-19 Response Team used longitudinal and age-specific population mobility and COVID-19 mortality data to model and predict SARS-CoV-2 spread in the US. Model fits and key generated quantities for New York City, California, Florida and Arizona. (let) Observed cumulative COVID-19 mortality data (dots) versus posterior median estimates (line) and 95% credible intervals (ribbon). The vertical line indicates the collection start date of age-specific death counts. (middle) Estimated number of infectious individuals by age (posterior median). (right) Estimated age-specific effective reproducton number, posterior median (line) and 95% credible intervals (ribbon). In their model, they determined contact intensities, which are the expected number of contacts made by a person, at a population level, and for specific age groups in the US. They used cell-phone data to estimate the movement of persons over 15 years to determine how to contact intensities changed during the pandemic. For children under 14 years, they used data from contact surveys conducted when schools were closed. They determined baseline contact intensities using contact survey data from before the pandemic. Using cell phone data and Foursquares location technology, Pilgrim, they compiled a national-level mobility data for more than 10 million persons in the US. The technology shows user visits to different locations and time spent at a location using mobile signals. The data were aggregated by different age groups: 1824, 2534, 3544, 4554, 5564, and 65+. Overview of the age-specific contact and infection model. In the model, SARS-CoV-2 spreads via person-to-person contacts. Person-to-person contacts are described at the population level with the expected number of contacts made by one individual, referred to as contact intensities. Contact intensities are age-specific. Contact intensities vary across locations (states and metropolitan areas) according to each locations age composi tion and population density, and change over time. Data from contact surveys before the pandemic are used to define baseline contact intensities. Data from age-specific, cell phone derived mobility trends are used to es- timate changes in contact intensities during the epidemic in each location, among individuals aged 15+. Contact intensities involving individuals aged 0-14 are defined based on contact surveys conducted during school closure periods. Infection dynamics in each location are modelled through age-specific, discrete-time renewal equations over time-varying contact intensities. Natural disease parameters such as age-specific susceptibility to infection, the generation time distribution, and symptom onset and onset to death distributions are informed by epidemiologic analyses of contact tracing data. Age-specific infection fatality ratio estimates are informed by large-scale sero-prevalence surveys. Disease heterogeneity is modelled with random effects in space and time on contact intensities and disease parameters. The model returns the expected number of COVID-19 deaths over time in each location, which is fitted against age-specific, COVID-19 mortality data. New data sources presented in this study are indicated in double-framed boxes. Adults drive spread The mobility trends saw an initial decrease in visits outside the house for about a month starting the middle of March compared to levels before stay-at-home orders but gradually started increasing after the middle of April for all age groups. For all the states evaluated, the reproduction number was consistently lowest for children 09 years and people over 65. By 17 August 2020, the reproduction number was above 1 only for people aged 3549 years, contributing to about 35% of spread in the infection. People aged 2034 contributed about 28% to cases. So, adults between 20-49 years were responsible for about 62% of the infections. Based on their analysis, the authors believe that the mean age of new infections has remained constant, and changes in transmissions by specific age groups is not a key driver of the epidemic in the US yet. When schools open However, as schools re-open in the US in August and September, this could change. If children aged 011 years return to school and contact behavior patterns remain the same, as before the pandemic, there could be an increase of cases by about 250% by the third week of November 2020, predicts the model. This is assuming the trends for other age groups dont change, and face masks are used. Predicted COVID-19-attributable deaths in the central kindergarten and elementary school reopening scenario. Posterior median estimates (line) are shown along with 95% confidence interval (shaded area). Daily COVID-19-attributable deaths as reported from [2] are overlaid (red bars). Estimated expected deaths are shown in blue for the observation period. Predicted expected deaths in the continued school closure scenario are shown in green. Predicted expected deaths in the school re-opening scenario are shown in yellow. This scenario assumes a 50% transmission reduction from and to children aged 0-11 due to face mask use and other non-pharmaceutical interventions. There could be an additional 12% extra deaths because of COVID-19 compared to when schools were closed. These excess deaths are predicted notably to be in areas with resurgences like Texas, California, and Florida if strategies are not implemented to reduce transmission from and to children. However, if transmission via children could be reduced by 66% or more, the model predicts no substantial increases in deaths. The authors caution these predictions should be considered with limitations. It is possible that we over-estimated the impact of re-opening kindergartens and elementary schools on transmission dynamics, they write because of several limitations and assumptions used in the model. There is limited data on contact patterns to and from children, and the authors used patterns from contact surveys in the UK and China. The predictions are for the state-level and could vary significantly at the county level. Furthermore, the model does not account for other factors such as household settings, a ley driver of transmission. Although re-opening kindergarten and elementary schools is essential, the model predicts an increase in cases, particularly in areas with sustained community transmission from adults. Thus, interventions targeted at adults 2049 years old could help contain the spread and help safe school re-openings. *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. Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. The CEHAT Spanish Hotels Confederation has called for immediate measures to reactivate the tourism industry. During a meeting with Spain's tourism minister, Reyes Maroto, the confederation's executive committee urged the minister to immediately implement a contingency plan and a package of incentives for the survival and reactivation of tourism. The CEHAT president, Jorge Marichal, having learned that the government has not made any representations to the European Commission for tourism businesses to receive European aid, stressed the immediacy of this action in order to prevent the destruction of employment and the loss of thousands of companies. "Time is against us. There needs to be immediate action." The measures which CEHAT considers essential for the tourism industry's survival include the "pressing need" for specific ERTE conditions which should remain in force at least until Easter 2021. Depending on the tourism situation, these should allow the entry and exit of workers (into and out of employment) and have social security bonuses for affected workers. Maroto said that "they are working" on this and are considering the specific needs of the tourism industry. Marichal stressed the importance of a special "renewal" plan that is both "concrete and ambitious" in reactivating tourism. "Clear, strong and swift action must be urgently taken at national and European levels. Many of our competitor countries have special plans for tourism, and we are offering public-private collaboration to design these immediately." A further measure highlighted by CEHAT is the creation of tourism vouchers. These could help in reactivating the low-season demand that has disappeared because of the cancellation of the Imserso programme of subsidised holidays for senior citizens. On Imserso, the confederation believes that it needs "to be redesigned in order to adapt to the new circumstances after the pandemic". Donald Trump US President Donald Trump speaks to the press in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 28, 2020. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images President Donald Trump's niece, Mary Trump, has had a lot to say about his mental health this summer, telling CNN, for example, that her uncle is a "psychologically deeply damaged man." But psychologists Alan D. Blotcky and Seth D. Norrholm are even more blunt in an op-ed published by the New York Daily News this week: they describe him as a "psychopath" and "the most psychiatrically disordered president in history." "It is time to stop relying on political pundits to weigh in on Trump's behavior, which they often soften and even normalize," Blotcky and Norrholm write. "We are psychologists, and we are convinced Donald Trump is a psychopath. His malignant behavior over the past four years is growing and escalating right before our eyes. Trump's psychopathy will change us forever if he is not stopped." Blotcky is a clinical psychologist in Birmingham, Alabama, while Norrholm is on the faculty at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit. The psychologists offer a long list of reasons why they believe that Trump "may well destroy our 244-year-old democracy" if he isn't voted out of office in November and why they believe his "mental health" is in such a terrible state. Trump, they write, not only "breaks norms, rules and laws with impunity" and "peddles fake conspiracy theories and irrational magical thinking" he also "blames, scapegoats and gaslights as easily as he breathes" and "undermines the vital role of the free press, because he abhors oversight and accountability." In addition to those things, the psychologists write in their op-ed, Trump "has no conscience" and "denigrates and humiliates anyone and everyone in his path." Story continues "He has no respect for military heroes or renowned experts," Blotcky and Norrholm say of Trump. "He is racist and xenophobic. He incites violence and culture wars. He is obsessed with power and adoration. He is a greedy opportunist. He is corrupt to the core." The psychologists add that because Trump is "desperate to win re-election," he has gone to a variety of dangerous extremes to accomplish that for example, he "compromised the Postal Service" and "is letting the Russians intervene on his behalf in this election." "Donald Trump is dishonest and destructive and evil," Blotcky and Norrholm warn. "He has become (emboldened) and empowered by the complicity of his Republican sycophants. Sadly, he now believes he is destined to carry on his mission. He feels unstoppable. And he must be stopped before it is too late." Related Articles The US Department of Justice published, then removed, then re-issued a press release that announced an inquiry into nine discarded military ballots in Pennsylvania, an unprecedented and unusual move that has worried election analysts and legal scholars as Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr spread unfounded claims about vote-by-mail fraud. Voting rights advocates also argue that the case could stem from a legal battle in which the GOP has sought to invalidate mail-in ballots cast without secrecy envelopes. On Thursday, David Freed, US attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that the FBI and state police were investigating the case. The US attorney said the Luzerne County district attorney requested an investigation into absentee ballots mailed by members of the military, who routinely vote by mail. At this point we can confirm that a small number of military ballots were discarded, he announced. An initial version of the announcement claimed that all nine ballots were cast for the president. Of the nine ballots that were discarded and then recovered, [seven] were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump, the office said in a revised press release. Two of the discarded ballots had been resealed inside their appropriate envelopes by Luzerne elections staff prior to recovery by the FBI and the contents of those [two] ballots are unknown. But the White House had leaked the announcement hours earlier. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, railing against allegations of voter fraud, told reporters that afternoon that Trump ballots, ballots for the president, were found in Pennsylvania and I believe you should be getting more information on that shortly. Despite the lack of clarity in the case, the Trump campaign and Republican allies were quick to blame Democrats. Matt Wolking, the Trump campaign's deputy director of communications, said on social media: Democrats are trying to steal the election. He later deleted his message. Legal analysts were stunned that the DOJ and administration would announce an investigation that is in progress, contrary to policy, while also disclosing how the ballots were cast in an apparent attempt to connect the case to the GOPs baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, what critics believe has sought to undermine Democratic votes ahead of an election that could have a larger-than-usual mail-in ballot turnout. This statement by a US Attorney is bananas, said Walter Shaub, former director of the United States Office of Government Ethics. It talks about an ongoing investigation, and it reveals the candidates named on ballots. Im still processing all of the levels on which this is wildly inappropriate. Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, called the announcement political gamery. DOJ doesnt announce this kind of investigation, she said. It certainly doesnt announce whom ballots were cast for, since that should be immaterial in a voting [rights] investigation. A statement on Friday from the county manager of Luzerne County poured cold water on the suggestion by Mr Trump that fraud was behind the discovery, explaining that a temporary seasonal independent contractor had incorrectly discarded several ballots earlier this month. Officials did not know to whom the ballots had been cast until the DOJs announcement. County manager David Perdri immediately began an internal inquiry and informed her direct supervisor, he said. All garbage from the Elections Bureau was secured, and each bag of garbage from the entire building in the dumpster was searched by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Luzerne County District Attorneys Office, Pennsylvania State Police as well as Luzerne County staff" and placed in the FBI's custody, he said. "While the actions of this individual has cast a concern, the above statement shows that the system of checks and balances set forth in Pennsylvania elections works," he said. "An error was made, a public servant discovered it and reported it to law enforcement at the local, state and federal level who took over to ensure the integrity of the system in place. Election analysts have also argued that the error is more likely attributed to new rules for mail-in ballots to be sealed inside privacy envelopes. The ballots were returned in envelopes similar to absentee ballot request forms and thus opened by election officials. Analysts have argued that its probable that the ballots did not shield the voters information using the mandated secure envelope, a so-called naked ballot that has drawn intense scrutiny in the state after election officials warned that thousands of ballots cast may have been invalidated in primary elections this year because of the requirement. A recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision to void so-called naked ballots mailed without envelopes that conceal the voters identity could cause electoral chaos and protracted legal battles, according to a warning from Lisa Deeley, who chairs the Philadelphia commissioners office, in a letter to state lawmakers on Monday. The decision part of a series of rulings that extended vote-by-mail deadlines, allowed ballot drop boxes and removed Green Party candidates from the ticket could force as many as 100,000 votes to be tossed out in a state that Donald Trump carried by just 44,000 more votes than his opponent Hillary Clinton in 2016. Opponents in the ruling argued that while election laws told voters to use the secrecy envelope, it did not direct officials to discard votes cast without them. Pennsylvanias Republican Party, however, said that counting those ballots would compromise the vote and encourage voter fraud. It remains unclear why the exactly the nine ballots were discarded. This is an ongoing investigation where there is no public interest reason to override the usual policy of not commenting and especially not to say for whom the ballots were cast. An unprecedented in kind contribution to the president's campaign, said MSNBC election security analyst Matthew Miller. I know it's hard for the career people at DOJ, and they are not to blame, but they really do need to fight back and speak up when stuff this like [this] happens. Refuse to participate. Call the House Judiciary Committee. Call a reporter. Everything is on the line right now. Spanish authorities opted not to return Kiesch to Luxembourg, following his capture in August, citing his links to Spain as the reason for the abandoned extradition. In response to this decision, the Luxembourg Public Prosecutor's office addressed a letter to the Spanish Ministry of Justice on Thursday, arguing that Kiesch should serve his residual sentence in Spain. The Grand Duchy initially requested Kiesch be surrendered to Luxembourgish authorities following his arrest - a request which was denied by the decision taken by the Madrid Central Investigation Court on 21 August. The judgment gave Kiesch provisional release and opposed the European arrest warrant, on the basis that Kiesch had established a new life in Spain and put down roots with a family. Luxembourg responded to this refusal, citing the framework decision 2008/909 / JHA on the principle of mutual recognition in judgments in criminal matters in the European Union, and requesting that Kiesch's residual sentence, namely 3,275 days, be executed in Spain. 39-year-old Kiesch was sentenced for murder in 2000, and had been on the run since 2004. LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / September 25, 2020 / On 18 October 2019, the Company announced the acquisition of Love Hemp Ltd ("Love Hemp"). The terms of the acquisition (the "Initial Terms") made provision for deferred consideration of up to a maximum of 4,000,000 to be paid to the vendors of Love Hemp (the "Sellers") as follows: 1,500,000 in cash on the date falling six months and one day from the date of completion, provided that at the Company's election it could alternatively pay to the Sellers an amount equal to 2,000,000 to be satisfied by the issue of ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") calculated on a 10 per cent discount to the 10-day VWAP preceding the date of the issue of those shares (the "First Deferred Payment"); and 1,500,000 in cash on the date falling twelve months and one day from the date of completion, provided that at the Company's election it could alternatively pay to the Sellers an amount equal to 2,000,000 to be satisfied by the issue of Ordinary Shares calculated on a 10 per cent discount to the 10-day VWAP preceding the date of the issue of those shares Pursuant to the Initial Terms, the Company was required either to pay the Sellers 1,500,000 in cash on 16 April 2020 or, within two business days of this date, to issue the Ordinary Shares to satisfy the First Deferred Payment. On 18 April 2020, the Company notified the Sellers that they would issue the Ordinary Shares to satisfy the First Deferred Payment but until this time they have not done so as they have been in active discussions with the Sellers as to varying the Initial Terms. The Company has today entered into a deed of variation with the Sellers to vary the Initial Terms (the "Revised Terms") so that the Sellers shall instead be paid as follows: 22,222,222 Ordinary Shares ("First Deferred Payment Shares") shall be issued and allotted to the Sellers on 25 September 2020 in their relevant proportions at a price per share of 9p. Pursuant to an escrow agreement also entered into today, the share certificates relating to the First Deferred Payment Shares shall be held by an escrow agent and the First Deferred Payment Shares may not be disposed of by the Sellers until the earlier of: the termination of the relevant Seller's employment contract or any extension thereof; the date three days before the closing date of the sale of the Seller's ordinary shares to a third party purchaser; or at the request of the Seller, on the closing date of the sale or merger of the Company which results in new shareholders owning more than 51 per cent of the entire issued share capital of the Company 1,500,000 in cash on 15 January 2021, provided that at the Sellers' election it can alternatively pay to the Sellers an amount equal to 2,000,000 to be satisfied by the issue of Ordinary Shares calculated on a 10 per cent discount to the 10-day VWAP preceding the date of the issue of those shares Tony Calamita and Thomas Rowland are the principal Sellers, and have each been allotted 10,000,000 of the First Deferred Payment Shares, such that each now has an interest in 23,500,000 Ordinary Shares, representing in each case 12.2 per cent of the Company's enlarged issued share capital. As announced by the Company on 9 March 2020, the Company has raised 2,355,782 (before expenses) through the issue of convertible loans and convertible debentures ("Convertible Loan Notes") which are convertible into Ordinary Shares at a price of 10p per share at the election of the holders. The Company has now received notice from one of the holders electing to convert 12,121 into 121,210 Ordinary Shares at 10p per share and the Company has elected to convert the interest owing of 1,073 into a further 17,877 Ordinary Shares at 6p per share to issue in aggregate 139,087 Ordinary Shares ("Conversion Shares"). In addition, the Company has today issued and allotted 680,778 Ordinary Shares to certain advisers in settlement of fees at a price per share of 7.3p ("Adviser Shares") Application will be made for the First Deferred Payment Shares, the Conversion Shares and the Adviser Shares to be admitted to trading on the AQSE Growth Market and admission is expected to become effective on 1 October 2020. Following the issue of the First Deferred Payment Shares, the Conversion Shares and the Adviser Shares, the Company has 192,005,534 Ordinary Shares in issue, each share carrying the right to one vote. The figure of 192,005,534 should be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement. About Love Hemp Love Hemp is one of the UK's leading CBD and Hemp product suppliers and has more than 40 product lines, comprising oils, sprays and vapes and a variety of edible and water-based CBD products. Love Hemp has established relationships with over 1,200 stores in the UK, including leading brands such as Ocado, Holland & Barrett and WH Smith. About World High Life World High Life was established by the founders of Supreme Cannabis (TSX: FIRE), and 1933 Industries (CSE: TGIF), both companies at the forefront of the legalized cannabis industry. LIFE was established to take advantage of the huge opportunities available in the UK and European legal cannabis space, which is set to be the largest in the world within five years. For further information please contact: David Stadnyk Founder & CEO World High Life PLC +44 (0) 7926 397 675 info@worldhighlife.uk AQSE Exchange Corporate Adviser Mark Anwyl/Allie Feuerlein Peterhouse Capital Limited +44 (0) 20 7469 0930 ma@peterhousecap.com af@peterhousecap.com Financial PR Megan Ray / Madeleine Gordon-Foxwell Blytheweigh +44 (0) 20 7138 3222 Megan.Ray@blytheweigh.com Madeleine.Gordon-Foxwell@blytheweigh.com For more information on World High Life please visit: www.wordhighlife.uk Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information We seek safe harbour. Some statements contained in this news release are "forward looking information" within the meaning of securities laws. Forward looking information include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the use of proceeds of the non-brokered private placement and payment of the debt settlements. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases (including negative or grammatical variations) or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and involves risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting the Company will be those anticipated by management. The forward-looking information contained in this press release constitutes management's current estimates, as of the date of this press release, with respect to the matters covered thereby. We expect that these estimates will change as new information is received. We do not undertake to update any estimate at any particular time or in response to any particular event, except as required by law. Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them. 1 Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated a) Name Antony Luigi Calamita 2 Reason for the notification a) Position/status Managing Director, Love Hemp Ltd b) Initial notification /Amendment Amendment 3 Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor a) Name World High Life Plc b) LEI 213800ERYVHIGFSPMM75 4 Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted a) Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument Identification code Ordinary Shares of 1 pence each ISIN: GB00BMDY1P48 b) Nature of the transaction Deferred consideration c) Price(s) and volume(s) Price (p) 9p per share Number of Ordinary Shares: 10,000,000 d) Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price Issuance of 10,000,000 Ordinary Shares at 9p per share at an aggregate value of 900,000 e) Date of the transaction 25 September 2020 f) Place of the transaction AQSE Growth Market (AQSE) Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them. 1 Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated a) Name Thomas Mark Rowland 2 Reason for the notification a) Position/status Chief Operating Officer, Love Hemp Ltd b) Initial notification /Amendment Amendment 3 Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor a) Name World High Life Plc b) LEI 213800ERYVHIGFSPMM75 4 Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted a) Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument Identification code Ordinary Shares of 1 pence each ISIN: GB00BMDY1P48 b) Nature of the transaction Deferred consideration c) Price(s) and volume(s) Price (p) 9p per share Number of Ordinary Shares: 10,000,000 d) Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price Issuance of 10,000,000 Ordinary Shares at 9p per share at an aggregate value of 900,000 e) Date of the transaction 25 September 2020 f) Place of the transaction AQSE Growth Market (AQSE) 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: World High Life PLC View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/607768/World-High-Life-PLC-Announces-Deferred-Consideration-and-Issue-of-Equity Vialva was 19 years old when he and fellow members of a gang in Killeen, Texas, killed Todd and Stacie Bagley, white married Christian youth ministers from Iowa, on the Fort Hood army base in 1999. He was pronounced dead at 6:46 p.m.(11.46pm Irish time) after US Department of Justice officials injected him with pentobarbital, a barbiturate, at the execution chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana, according to reporter serving as a media witness. It was the sixth federal execution this year, and the second this week, after the practice was resumed by US President Donald Trump's administration. Under Trump, the Justice Department has now executed twice as many men this year than all of Trump's predecessors combined going back to 1963. The last time the US government executed six or more people in a single year was in 1942, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) in Washington. The execution of Vialva, 40, comes as the nation grapples with racial disparities in the criminal justice system, with daily protests occurring in U.S. cities against police brutality against Black people. Advertisement Of the 56 people on federal death row, 26, or 46%, are Black, and 22, or 39%, are white, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a non-profit organisation based in Washington. Black people make up only 13% of the US population. DPIC published a report this month concluding that racial bias persists in the US system of capital punishment. The report said that the killers of white people were more likely to face the death penalty than the killers of Black people, and a study in North Carolina found that qualified Black jurors were struck from juries at more than twice the rate of qualified white jurors. At Vialva's trial in the US District Court for Western Texas in 2000, a jury of 11 white people and one Black person found him and a Black accomplice, Brandon Bernard, guilty of carjacking and murder, and voted for them to receive the death penalty. Bernard's execution date has not been set. The American Civil Liberties Union has said that the teenaged Vialva was unfairly tried as an adult and circulated a video of Vialva this month speaking from prison about racial disparities. "The death penalty has been used disproportionately against Black people for decades," Vialva says in the video. "People are unaware that many of us here were arrested before we were old enough to drink." According to court records, Vialva and his accomplices were looking for someone to rob when they found Todd Begley using a payphone at a convenience store, and he agreed to give them a ride in his car. In the back seat, Vialva pulled out a gun and ordered Begley and his wife to get into the car's trunk. After forcing Begley to disclose his PIN, Vialva withdrew cash from Begley's account at an ATM, though there was less than $100 on deposit. He used the cash to buy fast food and cigarettes, among other items. During the several hours they spent in the trunk, the Begleys could be heard telling their kidnappers to embrace Christianity. Eventually, Vialva parked the car in an isolated part of Fort Hood, opened the trunk and shot both Begleys in the head, killing Todd and rendering Stacie unconscious. Bernard then set the car on fire, and an autopsy showed that she died from smoke inhalation. The meeting between the Federal Government and the Organised Labour over the hike in fuel price and electricity tariff has been postponed till Monday September 28. Labour unions had fixed the same day to commence a nationwide strike. Both parties met in Abuja on Thursday but did not reach an agreement. Ayuba Wabba, President of the Nigeria Congress (NLC), confirmed that discussions would continue. The discussions will continue on Monday, by 3 p.m, NAN quoted him as saying. However, the National Industrial Court has granted an interim injunction restraining the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) from embarking on industrial action. Justice Ibrahim Galadima granted the order pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice. He restrained the unions, their officers, affiliates, privies from preventing workers and other Nigerians from accessing their offices. Galadima ordered the Inspector General of Police and the Director General, Department of State Services (DSS), to protect workers at offices from harassment by NLC and TUC. The Trump administration rescinded an award recognizing the work of a journalist from Finland last year after discovering she had criticized President Donald Trump in social media posts, then gave a false explanation for withdrawing the honor, according to a report by the State Department's internal watchdog. The report tracks how the discovery of the journalist's remarks worried senior U.S. officials and prompted a decision to withdraw the honor to avoid a possible public relations debacle. The report's release is likely to worsen tensions between the department's leadership and the inspector general's office, which has undergone several shake-ups following the firing of Inspector General Steve Linick in the spring at the request of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. "The Inspector General's report is another somber example of how fear and partisanship have permeated our nation's foreign policy and diplomacy under the Trump administration," said Sen. Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who along with seven other senators requested the investigation. According to the report, the journalist, Jessikka Aro, was selected for the State Department's International Women of Courage Awards for her reporting on Russian propaganda activities dating back to 2014. Aro endured death threats and cyber attacks for her work, which helped expose Russian troll factories. After she was informed of her selection and offered flight options, State Department interns discovered her Facebook and Twitter posts, including one from September 2018 in which she noted that "Trump constantly labels journalists as 'enemy' and 'fake news,'" said the report. In another tweet she noted that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet in Helsinki where "Finnish people can protest them both. Sweet." According to meeting notes obtained by the IG, senior U.S. officials argued that Aro's invitation should be withdrawn, including the acting director of the Office of Global Women's Issues. The director's concerns included the possibility that the "media could highlight the tweets and Facebook posts during the ceremony," which could cause "potential embarrassment to the Department, particularly given the involvement of the Secretary and the First Lady [Melania Trump]." MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images After the State Department withdrew Aro's invitation and the story became public in a report by Foreign Policy, the department's press office told reporters that Aro had been "incorrectly notified" that "she'd been selected as a finalist. This was an error. This was a mistake." The department also told Congress that Aro "ultimately was not selected to receive the award, due to the highly competitive selection of candidates." But the IG ultimately found that the decision to give her the award was not a mistake and was included in a memo approved by Pompeo. It also noted that the decision to withdraw the award was due to the discovery of the social media posts despite public claims otherwise. "Every person OIG interviewed in connection with this matter acknowledged" that had her social media posts not been flagged, "Ms. Aro would have received the IWOC Award," the report said. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images Critics of the department's handling say the actions of U.S. officials contradicted the spirit of the "Courage" awards, which since 2007 have honored women who "have demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality, and women's empowerment, often at great personal risk and sacrifice," according to the State Department's website. "Secretary Pompeo should have honored a courageous journalist willing to stand up to Kremlin propaganda. Instead, his department sought to stifle dissent to avoid upsetting a president who, day after day, tries to take pages out of Putin's playbook," Menendez said. "The State Department owes Ms. Aro an apology." In response to the report, the State Department Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues said her office share's the IG's concerns and has implemented a "robust examination of office policies and procedures to ensure consistency, transparency, and accountability." COVID inspectors reminded venues to abide by the 10pm curfew law in Soho last night (Dan Barker/Twitter) As the government warns that coronavirus marshals will be a common sight on UK streets for the foreseeable future, local councils have already engaged staff to monitor restaurants and bars, on the lookout for illegal lock-ins and late-night drinkers. Boris Johnson has warned that COVID-secure compliance officers are being employed to enforce social distancing rules to help stop the spread of coronavirus. And as a 10pm curfew on the hospitality came into force on Thursday City of Westminster inspectors were out in force peering through pub windows on the lookout for anyone breaching the rules. Venues and business owners could face fines of up to 10,000 if they do not abide by the curfew, which could be in place for up to six months, as could members of the public who flout the Rule of Six and other restrictions. In Cornwall, street marshals were introduced in Camborne, Helston, Newquay, Redruth, St Austell, St Ives and Truro in July. Police officers patrol Soho as the 10pm curfew begins, but COVID-marshals could soon be joining them across the country, albeit with no actual powers (Peter Summers/Getty Images) The local council said they "give friendly help and guidance to those visiting and working" in the area. Leeds City Council introduced six night marshals "who were in place over four weeks and who did not have any enforcement powers". It was announced on Friday though that the city was facing a full local lockdown. Who are COVID marshals? Marshals can either be volunteers or existing members of council staff. The PM said: We will boost the local enforcement capacity of local authorities by introducing COVID-secure marshals to help ensure social distancing in town and city centres, and by setting up a register of environmental health officers that local authorities can draw upon for support. Transport secretary Grant Shapps also said that street wardens who patrol local town centres would be helpful to support this activity. COVID-secure marshals can be volunteers or local council employees (Dan Barker/Twitter) The Local Government Association (LGA) said "any new responsibilities for councils in this area will have to be fully funded", but there has been no funding announced by government. Story continues What powers do they have? The government has still to set out exact details of what marshals will do, and says those decisions will be a matter for local authorities. In areas where marshals have already been introduced, they have handed out hand sanitiser and face coverings, answered questions and explained social distancing guidelines to members of the public. Marshals do not have the power to enforce social distancing or to issue fines to anyone who breaks the rules, but the government says they can call the police if enforcement action is needed. Will they be paid? The government has not set out details of what the role will pay, but some reports suggest they could receive around 30,000 a year. What has the reaction been to the announcement? Social media users were quick to mock the announcement, with some describing them as sounding like the worst sort of busybodies. Madeleine Stone, the legal officer for privacy and civil liberties campaigners Big Brother Watch, said that COVID marshals reporting on neighbourhoods undermines the community spirit that has been critical during the pandemic. Covid Marshals are just going to be the grown up version of school corridor monitors aren't they. pic.twitter.com/M42GxleAAZ Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) September 10, 2020 She told Yahoo News UK: Weve seen serious examples of police over-stepping the law already. The last thing we need now is marshals patrolling towns and cities to monitor and police us without any legal authority. This is an excessive and authoritarian approach to public health." A spokesperson from the human rights group Liberty told Yahoo News UK that they will be keeping an eye on the restrictions. Coronavirus: what happened today Click here to sign up to the latest news, advice and information with our daily Catch-up newsletter Because the referendum is non-binding, the results will not automatically become law if a majority of voters vote yes. Additional legislation, which must be passed by the City Council, would be needed before marijuana businesses could legally operate in the city, and elected officials have the option of passing zoning regulations, which would set perimeters and restrictions on where such businesses could operate within the city. Minister of State for Trade Promotion Robert Troy has endorsed confirmation Edgeworthstown's proposed digital hub has been given the seal of approval by Enterprise Ireland. The Government agency has given the go-ahead for a co-working space which could see up to 40 businesspeople operate from the town's former Ulster Bank premises. The Leader carried a feature in its newspaper earlier this month illustrating the plans and progress which had been made in kick-starting the initiation of the project since the bank's closure in September 2017. ALSO READ: State of the art enterprise hub is Edgeworthstown's game-changer Mr Troy said the announcement represented a vote of confidence in the mid Longford town as it attempts to reinvent itself following years of economic strife and the more recent challenges posed by Covid-19. "This is a terrifiic development for the community," he said. "With the successful redesignation of funds, the Old Ulster Bank building will be redveloped into an enterprise hub that will facilitate up to 38 people with short- and long-term working spaces. "I have been engaging with Enterprise Ireland on this application, and I want to compliment the work of Edgeworthstown Enterprise Hub CLG and Longford County Council, and for making the initial application. This funding is extremely important to fostering a strong and vibrant community in Edgeworthstown." Mr Troy singled out the efforts of both fellow TD Joe Flaherty and Fine Gael Senator Micheal Carrigy in bringing the venture to the stage it is at today. While there are challenges ahead, with challenge comes opportunity," he added. As Minister of State in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I am determined to support projects such as this to ensure our regional communities get every opportunity to develop and grow. A story on the state of the startup scene in Kenya has got many riled up on the seemingly uneven playing ground, stacked against local founders and companies. The story "Silicon Valley has deep pockets for African startups - if you're not African" appearing in The Guardian, detailed how many African owned startups are starved of funding and only white backed startups attract meaningful funds. The article quoted the Venture Capital in Africa by African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association which painted the paltry investments made by local investors. "Foreign investors have been attracted by new opportunities and new markets in Africa. North American investors represented 42% of the total number of investors that participated in VC investments on the continent between 2014 and 2019, followed by European based investors at 23%. African based investors accounted for 20%, followed by Asia-Pacific (8%) and investors based in the Middle East (6%)," the report stated. A 2019 report by Timon Capital and Briter Bridges also showed that there were more expat founders in Kenya than locals cementing the foreign founder trend in the country. "In Kenya, 37% of the co-founders surveyed were expats compared to 10% in Ghana and 5% in Nigeria," the report said. Kenya has set its name as the hub of innovation right after the success of mobile money in the country. It has become the petri dish for new models of transaction, fintech and mobile technology in Africa. Kenya's high mobile (SIM) penetration of 116.1 per cent and internet penetration currently over 80 per cent have made it a conducive country for tech innovation. This reputation has attracted entrepreneurs from established markets such as Silicon Valley. In return, the most funded companies in Kenya are generally white-owned companies, resulting in the term "white capital". Even though this has given a chance for foreign dollar inflows and creating jobs, the Kenyan startup scene seems to have been owned by foreigners, while local innovators scramble for the little they can to keep their business afloat. The big shareholder groups in Vodafone Group Plc (LON:VOD) have power over the company. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies. We also tend to see lower insider ownership in companies that were previously publicly owned. With a market capitalization of UK28b, Vodafone Group is rather large. We'd expect to see institutional investors on the register. Companies of this size are usually well known to retail investors, too. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Vodafone Group. See our latest analysis for Vodafone Group What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Vodafone Group? Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing. We can see that Vodafone Group does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Vodafone Group's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters. Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Vodafone Group. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 7.1% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 4.0% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.0% by the third-largest shareholder. Story continues On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest. While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future. Insider Ownership Of Vodafone Group The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it. I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions. Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Vodafone Group Plc. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own UK34m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling. General Public Ownership The general public, with a 18% stake in the company, will not easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies. Next Steps: It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Vodafone Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - Vodafone Group has 4 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit unpleasant) we think you should know about. But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Kept apart by a devastating pandemic and dispersed across the globe, world leaders convened electronically Tuesday for an unprecedented high-level meeting, where the U.N. chief exhorted them to unite and tackle the eras towering problems: the coronavirus, the "economic calamity" it unleashed and the risk of a new Cold War between the United States and China. As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the first virtual "general debate" of the U.N. General Assembly, the yawning gaps of politics and anger became evident. China and Iran clashed with the United States - via prerecorded videos from home - and leaders expressed frustration and anger at the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which the U.N. chief has called "the number one global security threat in our world today." As he began his speech, the secretary-general looked out at the vast General Assembly chamber, where only one mask-wearing diplomat from each of the U.N.s 193 member nations was allowed to sit, socially distanced from one another. "The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our annual meeting beyond recognition," Guterres said. "But it has made it more important than ever." While the six-day mainly virtual meeting is unique in the U.N.s 75-year history, the speeches from leaders hit on all the conflicts, crises and divisions facing a world that Guterres said is witnessing "rising inequalities, climate catastrophe, widening societal divisions, rampant corruption." In his grim state of the world speech, he said "the pandemic has exploited these injustices, preyed on the most vulnerable and wiped away the progress of decades," including sparking the first rise in poverty in 30 years. U.S President Donald Trump is seen on a video screen remotely addressing the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters. This year's annual gathering of world leaders at U.N. headquarters will be almost entirely "virtual." Leaders have been asked to pre-record their speeches, which will be shown in the General Assembly chamber, where each of the 193 U.N. member nations are allowed to have one diplomat present. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) The secretary-general called for global unity, foremost to fight the pandemic, and sharply criticized populism and nationalism for failing to contain the virus and for often making things worse. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized how "countries were left on their own" at the onset of the pandemic, stressing that "effective multilateralism requires effective multilateral institutions." He urged rapid U.N. reforms, starting with the Security Council, the most powerful body with five veto-wielding members - the U.S., China, Russia, Britain and France. By contrast, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose country has reported the second-highest coronavirus death toll after the U.S., trumpeted his focus on the economy in dealing with the pandemic. Bolsonaro lambasted "segments of the Brazilian media" for "spreading panic" by encouraging stay-at-home orders and prioritizing public health over the economy. He's downplayed the severity of the coronavirus and repeatedly said shutting down the economy would inflict worse hardship on people. Guterres told the virtual audience that "too often, there has also been a disconnect between leadership and power." A year ago, he warned about the rising U.S.-China rivalry, saying Tuesday: "We are moving in a very dangerous direction." "Our world cannot afford a future where the two largest economies split the globe in a great fracture - each with its own trade and financial rules and internet and artificial intelligence capacities," Guterres said. "We must avoid this at all costs." The rivalry between the two powers was in full display as President Donald Trump, in a very short virtual speech, urged the United Nations to hold Beijing "accountable" for failing to contain the virus that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan and has killed over 200,000 Americans and nearly 1 million worldwide. Chinas ambassador rejected all accusations against Beijing as "totally baseless." "At this moment, the world needs more solidarity and cooperation, and not a confrontation," U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun said before introducing President Xi Jinpings prerecorded speech. "We need to increase mutual confidence and trust, and not the spreading of political virus." French President Emmanuel Macron said the pandemic should be "an electric shock" to encourage more multilateral action. Otherwise, he warned, the world will be "collectively condemned to a pas de deux" by the U.S. and China in which everyone else is "reduced to being nothing but the sorry spectators of a collective impotence." Tensions with the U.S. also dominated a fiery speech by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, whose country is facing the worst COVID-19 crisis in the Middle East. He lashed out at U.S. sanctions but declared that his country will not submit to U.S. pressure. Rouhani said the United States cant impose negotiations or war on Iran, stressing that his country is "not a bargaining chip in U.S. elections and domestic policy." He used the May death of Black American George Floyd under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer as a metaphor for Irans "own experience" with the United States. "We instantly recognize the feet kneeling on the neck as the feet of arrogance on the neck of independent nations," Rouhani said. U.S.-Iran tensions have run dangerously high this year, and Trump signed an executive order this week to enforce all U.N. sanctions on Iran because its not complying with a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers - a move he touted in his U.N. speech but that most of the world rejects as illegal. Similarly, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the need for multilateral cooperation against the pandemic, urging an end to "illegitimate sanctions" against his country and others that he said could boost the global economy and create jobs. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking on behalf of the African Union, said rich nations havent been generous enough in helping developing countries combat COVID-19, which is setting back the continents economy and development. After the pandemic shut down big parts of the world in March, Guterres called for a global cease-fire to tackle it. On Tuesday, he appealed for a 100-day push by the international community, led by the Security Council, "to make this a reality by the end of the year." Amid widespread calls for U.N. reforms, Frances Macron said the global body itself "ran the risk of impotence." "Our societies have never been so interdependent," he said. "And at the very moment when all this is happening, never have we been so out of tune, so out of alignment." ___ Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York and Angela Charlton from Paris In this photo provided by the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. Headquarters in New York. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (Eskinder Debebe/UN via AP) Member state flags fly outside the United Nations headquarters during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. This year's annual gathering of world leaders at U.N. headquarters will be almost entirely "virtual." Leaders have been asked to pre-record their speeches, which will be shown in the General Assembly chamber, where each of the 193 U.N. member nations are allowed to have one diplomat present. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen on a phone screen remotely addressing the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters. This year's annual gathering of world leaders at U.N. headquarters will be almost entirely "virtual." Leaders have been asked to pre-record their speeches, which will be shown in the General Assembly chamber, where each of the 193 U.N. member nations are allowed to have one diplomat present. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seen on a video screen in the Al Jazeera office remotely addressing the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters. This year's annual gathering of world leaders at U.N. headquarters will be almost entirely "virtual." Leaders have been asked to pre-record their speeches, which will be shown in the General Assembly chamber, where each of the 193 U.N. member nations are allowed to have one diplomat present. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) In this image made from UNTV video, representatives of different countries seated several seats apart listen to speakers during during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters in New York. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (UNTV via AP) In this photo provided by the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks from the podium, center, during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters in New York. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (Eskinder Debebe/UN via AP) A representative with the United Nations Media Accreditation & Liaison Unit staffs an area reserved for members of the press, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020, at United Nations headquarters. In 2020, which marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, the annual high-level meeting of world leaders around the U.N. General Assembly will be very different from years past because of the coronavirus pandemic. Leaders will not be traveling to the United Nations in New York for their addresses, which will be prerecorded and most events related to the gathering will be held virtually. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is seen on a video screen remotely addressing the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters. This year's annual gathering of world leaders at U.N. headquarters will be almost entirely "virtual." Leaders have been asked to pre-record their speeches, which will be shown in the General Assembly chamber, where each of the 193 U.N. member nations are allowed to have one diplomat present. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) In this image made from UNTV video, people applaud after a pre-recorded message was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters in New York. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (UNTV via AP) Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun speaks to reporters, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at the Chinese Mission to the United Nations in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Health department announces shift from case investigation procedures Although health department staff will no longer be following up with every individual who tests positive for COVID-19, staff will continue to provide direct education, resources and support. Many turned to the streets - as they did in several US cities - to call for reforms to combat racist policing Some of them raised their fists and called out ``Black lives matter!'' Others tended to the letters, flowers and signs grouped together in a square in downtown Louisville. All of them said her name: Breonna Taylor. People dismayed that the officers who shot the Black woman in her apartment during a drug raid last March wouldn't be charged with her death vowed to persist in their fight for justice, with one activist saying Friday that the protests would not let up until the officers were charged. The big question for a town torn apart by Taylor's death and the larger issue of racism in America was how to move forward. Many turned to the streets - as they did in several US cities - to call for reforms to combat racist policing. ``We've got to take it lying down that the law won't protect us, that they can get away with killing us,'' said Lavel White, a regular protester in downtown Louisville who is Black. He was drawn to a march Thursday night because he was devastated by a grand jury's decision a day earlier not to charge the officers for Taylor's death. ``If we can't get justice for Breonna Taylor, can we get justice for anybody?'' He was angry that police in riot gear were out in force when protesters had been peaceful as they streamed through the streets of downtown Louisville past a nighttime curfew. Demonstrators also gathered in places like Los Angeles where a vehicle ran through a crowd of protesters, injuring one person. In Portland, Oregon - a city that has seen many protests since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis _ a fire was set at a police union building. Taylor, a Black woman who was an emergency medical worker, was shot multiple times by white officers after Taylor's boyfriend fired at them, authorities said. He said he didn't know who was coming in and opened fire in self-defense, wounding one officer. Police entered on a warrant connected to a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside. State Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Wednesday that the investigation showed officers acted in self-defense. One officer who has already been fired was charged with firing into a neighboring apartment. On Friday, Ben Crump, an attorney for Taylor's family, called for Cameron to release the transcripts from the grand jury. The FBI is still investigating whether Taylor's civil rights were violated. But the burden of proof for such cases is very high, with prosecutors having to prove officers knew they were acting illegally and made a willful decision to cause someone's death. While there was despair after the decision in Taylor's case, others saw reasons to hope. Reginique Jones said she'll keep pressing for increased police accountability and for a statewide ban on ``no knock'' warrants - the kind issued in the Taylor case, though the state attorney general said the investigation showed police announced themselves before busting into her apartment. ``I believe that we are going to get past this,'' Jones said as she returned Thursday to the park in downtown Louisville that has been at the center of the protests. ``We can still get some justice.'' Taylor's family planned to speak Friday in the park that's become known as Injustice Square. The case has exposed the divide in the US over bringing justice for Black Americans killed by authorities and the laws that allow officers to be charged, which regularly favor police. Since Taylor's killing, Louisville has taken some steps to address protesters' concerns. In addition to the officer who was fired and later charged, three others were put on desk duty. Officials have banned no-knock warrants and hired a Black woman as the permanent police chief - a first for the city. Louisville also agreed to more police reforms as it settled a lawsuit that included $12 million for Taylor's family. But many have expressed frustration that more has not been done. And so they took to the streets. Louisville police in riot gear barricaded roads and cars honked as the crowd marched past a nighttime curfew. Officers blocked the exits of a church where protesters gathered to avoid arrest for violating the curfew. Several people were detained, including state Rep. Attica Scott, a Louisville Democrat. Scott unveiled legislation recently that would ban the use of no-knock search warrants in Kentucky. The measure, called Breonna's Law in honor of Taylor, also would require drug and alcohol testing of officers involving in shootings and deadly incidents and require that body cameras be worn during the execution of all search warrants. Police eventually pulled back late Thursday after negotiating with demonstrators to end the protest. At least 24 people were arrested as of 1 a.m. Friday, police said. Authorities alleged the protesters broke windows at a restaurant, damaged city buses, tried to set a fire and threw a flare into the street. Earlier, it got heated between some protesters and a group of 12 to 15 armed white people wearing military-style uniforms, but it didn't turn physical. The curfew will last through the weekend, and Gov. Andy Beshear called up the National Guard for ``limited missions.'' Peaceful protests a night earlier gave way to some destruction and violence. Two officers were shot and were expected to recover. Larynzo D. Johnson, 26, was charged, and a not guilty plea was entered for him Friday. Bond was set at $1 million. Zac Meihaus, the attorney representing Johnson at the arraignment, said the area where the shootings occurred was ``a war zone`` and said it is difficult to ``pinpoint'' if Johnson fired the shots in question. A prosecutor replied that a gun was recovered from Johnson, and there are video and witness accounts of the shootings. In the Louisville square where protesters often gather, Rose Henderson has been looking after the flowers, signs and letters placed at a memorial for Taylor and hopes officials won't try to remove them. ``We're going to stay out here and hold this place,'' Henderson said. Search Keywords: Short link: Googles parent company, Alphabet, has settled a series of shareholder lawsuits over its handling of sexual harassment claims, agreeing to greater oversight by its board of directors in future cases of sexual misconduct and committing to spend $310 million over the next decade on corporate diversity programs. The settlement, filed Friday in Santa Clara County Superior Court, also said employees would no longer be forced to settle disputes with Alphabet in private arbitration. Workers had demanded that change after details of sexual harassment cases at the company became public two years ago. In addition, Alphabet said it would limit confidentiality restrictions when settling harassment and discrimination cases and ban workplace romances between managers and subordinates. The Mountain View company was hit by a wave of shareholder lawsuits after the New York Times reported in 2018 that the board of directors had approved a $90 million exit package for a star executive, Andy Rubin, even after an investigation deemed a sexual harassment claim against him credible. Rubin has denied the claim and others against him. Five lawsuits in California were eventually consolidated into one case. One of them, brought by James Martin, an Alphabet shareholder, said board members had allowed illegal conduct to proliferate, ignored their fiduciary duty and became enablers of sexual harassment and discrimination. Other shareholder suits are awaiting action in federal court and in Delaware, where Alphabet is incorporated. The federal cases are on hold pending the outcome of the California suits, while the matter in Delaware is in mediation. The settlement is truly historical and designed to change the culture at Google and set a new standard throughout Silicon Valley, said Joseph Cotchett, a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy in Burlingame, who worked on the team of attorneys on the case. The settlement with Alphabet does not direct money to the people who sued, but it does steer funding and policies to prevent the bad behavior from recurring. Julie Goldsmith Reiser, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, another firm representing Alphabet shareholders, said the $310 million agreement is meaningful because the tech giant is paying the money directly and it is earmarked to address one of the root problems at the company. The settlement fundamentally alters Alphabets workplace policies, Reiser said. It feels like weve given the company the tools to become a better workplace. Reiser hailed it for setting a new level of corporate governance. The level of board involvement and executive accountability, she said, goes far beyond what weve seen in other settlements. According to Mark Molumphy, another partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy who worked on the case, the settlement will hold Alphabet and its management accountable for making significant institutional changes to increase diversity, both in the workplace and the boardroom. It will also serve as a model for diversity and inclusion efforts throughout the technology industry, he said. As the lawsuits started piling up, Alphabets board created a committee of independent directors to investigate the claims, interviewing current and former directors and employees. After the review, the committee determined that it should try to resolve the claims, according to the settlement. Alphabet and its directors denied any wrongdoing in the document laying out the agreement. The company has undergone a significant changing of the guard in the last few years. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who founded Google more than two decades ago, stepped down from a day-to-day role at the company in late 2019. David Drummond, a longtime company lawyer who kept his job even after details of an extramarital relationship he had with a woman who worked for him became public, left Alphabet this year. Eric Schmidt, the former CEO, who was known to appear at company events with women he was seeing in extramarital relationships, left the board in 2019. Recent years have involved a lot of introspection and work to make sure were providing a safe and inclusive workplace, Eileen Naughton, vice president of Googles people operations, wrote in a blog post on the companys website. Im grateful to everyone, especially our employees and shareholders, for providing us with feedback, and for making sure that the way we tackle these vital issues is better today than it was in the past. As part of the settlement, Alphabet agreed to form an advisory council focused on diversity, equality and inclusion made up of four executives including CEO Sundar Pichai and three outside experts including Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge. The group will take on a wide range of issues, including hiring and retention, compensation, and how the company responds to and investigates employee complaints. In addition, Alphabets board will receive more information about how the company is handling claims of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation, and directors will receive regular reports on the compensation of any senior executives found to have engaged in serious misconduct. Shortly after the report about the payouts to Rubin and other Google executives accused of sexual misconduct, 20,000 workers staged a walkout demanding changes to how the company treats employees. In response, Google agreed to stop forced arbitration in individual cases of sexual harassment or assault. It later expanded the policy to all employee disputes with the company. Alphabet said it would now extend the policy to its 11 other subsidiaries, like the self-driving car company Waymo. Some of those businesses have thousands of employees. Google employees will no longer be bound by nondisclosure agreements preventing them from discussing the underlying facts or circumstances of incidents when settling sexual harassment and retaliation claims. Alphabet said it would encourage its subsidiaries to do the same but was not requiring the change. In an attempt to address problems of executives dating subordinates, Alphabet said, it changed its workplace romance policy so that managers are no longer allowed to date employees they supervise. The previous policy strongly discouraged such relationships. Alphabet also agreed that employees who are being investigated over claims of sexual misconduct, sexual harassment or retaliation when they depart Google will not receive severance or other compensation. That is already the case for employees fired for misconduct. Under the new policy, even if an employee is not fired, the misconduct will be taken into account in determining his or her severance, the company said. Chronicle staff contributed to this report. Daisuke Wakabayashi is a New York Times writer. Two Men Arrested for Plotting ISIS Attacks on Trump Tower, NYSE: Officials Two men have been arrested on accusations of plotting a terrorist attack in New York City, including the Trump Tower in Manhattan, according to officials. Kristopher Sean Matthews, of Elgin, South Carolina, had the alias Ali Jibreel, and officials said he was conspiring with other ISIS terrorist supporters over a period of months, including Texas man Jaylyn Christopher Molina. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio said Matthews and Molina are both accused of conspiring to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, reported The State. The charges carry a potential 20-year prison term. Molina referred to himself as Abdur Rahim, officials said. The FBI used online covert employees and confidential sources to find Molina and Matthews, officials said in an affidavit. An FBI investigator said there were conversations between Matthew and Molina as well as others in a secret chat group, where they professed loyalty to ISIS and their hate for the United States. We need to stick together, we need to defeat them, we need to take a lot of casualties, Molina allegedly said as the two men discussed plans to kill in a terrorist attack. Matthews said it would be better to attack government buildings instead of areas like malls where innocent children are, according to the officials. At one point, Molina wrote: You are my enemy (America) and never will I wear your flag but I will raise the black flag of Allah, as reported by News4, citing charging documents. They wanted to attack places such as the Trump Tower, the New York Stock Exchange, and other places. The two also described gaining some kind of notoriety if they pulled off the attack. It would make them rock star status baby, Matthews said. This could be Netflix worthy. The affidavit also claims that the two wanted to go to Syria and join ISIS. Meanwhile, Molina as recently as mid-August was in contact with a woman in Europe about manufacturing explosives. Molina is also accused of posting manuals on how to train with an AK-47 rifle and bomb-making instructions from al-Qaedas Inspire magazine, documents said. The two also told the chat group about a so-called multi wave attack strategy. The arrests come days after the Trump administration announced it sent mechanized infantry and other assets into Syria to increase support for coalition forces fighting ISIS in the region. President Donald Trump has said that he ultimately plans on withdrawing troops from the Middle East. A Facebook logo is seen on a computer screen in this photo illustration on October 31, 2017. Material posted on Facebook and other social media directly and indirectly reached over 126 million Americans between 2015 and 2017 according to company testimony before the US Senate. Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images Facebook issued a warning Thursday of potential "hack-and-leak operations" by the Russian government ahead of the 2020 US election. "Hack-and-leak where a bad actor steals sensitive information, sometimes manipulates it, and then strategically releases it to influence public debate is one of the threats we're particularly focused on and concerned about ahead of the November elections in the US," Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy at Facebook, said in a blog post. In the last presidential election, Russian government operatives working to elect Donald Trump created fake news outlets to disseminate emails stolen from the Hillary Clinton campaign. "Our team at FB saw such activity in 2016 and reported it to the FBI," Alex Stamos, the company's former chief security officer, wrote on Twitter. "The Facebook post indicates that this might be happening again." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Be on the lookout for another Russian government hack-and-leak operation ahead of the US presidential election, Facebook warned this week after removing dozens of pages and hundreds of accounts linked to Kremlin disinformation campaigns. Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of security policy, announced in a September 24, blog post that the social media company had uncovered state activity on its network that "originated in Russia and focused primarily on Syria and Ukraine," two countries where Moscow is currently at war. Other targets included US antifascists, or "Antifa," which one page that Facebook said was maintained by associates of Russian intelligence portrayed as a movement that believes the United States "was founded on white supremacy, and therefore needs to be destroyed." The removal comes weeks after Facebook identified another cluster of Russian state influence operations, including one ostensible news organization, "Peace Data," that targeted US progressives and recruited left-of-center freelance writers with the promise of $200 a post, as Business Insider reported. Story continues But Facebook's announcement came with a warning about a future influence campaign, akin to the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee and release of stolen emails through Wikileaks, that could be far more effective. "We've seen deceptive campaigns target journalists and public figures in the past, including as part of hack-and-leak operations," Gleicher wrote. "Hack-and-leak where a bad actor steals sensitive information, sometimes manipulates it, and then strategically releases it to influence public debate is one of the threats we're particularly focused on and concerned about ahead of the November elections in the US." Gleicher stressed that Facebook has not yet seen such a campaign on its site. Rather, the activity it has identified "is linked to actors associated with election interference in the US in the past." However, Alex Stamos, former chief security officer at Facebook, suggested on Twitter that the warning was presumably based on something the company was seeing. In the last presidential election, intelligence operatives working to elect Donald Trump created ostensibly independent, activist-oriented news outlets, such as "DCLeaks," to disseminate emails stolen from the Hillary Clinton campaign, as detailed in the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's report on Russian election interference. "Our team at FB saw such activity in 2016 and reported it to the FBI," Stamos wrote. "The Facebook post indicates that this might be happening again." Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com Read the original article on Business Insider Francis Kwarteng releases The America That I Didnt Know Existed: Immigrant Experience in American Education. AURORA, Colo. Francis Kwarteng wanted to share his harrowing American experiences with the American public as well as with the world, to contribute to the discourse on race relations, and to provide critical solutions to these problems. It is for these reasons that he writes, The America That I Didnt Know Existed: Immigrant Experience in American Education (published by Xlibris). This book raises serious questions about the way Black people are viewed and treated in America via Kwartengs varied social and educational experiences in America, about the important role of Afrocentric pedagogy and consciousness in expanding the American curriculum as well as in reversing negative tendencies and stereotyping expressed toward Africans and people of African descent, and about the fact that the American dream is probably the exclusive preserve of white privilege. America is not a level playing field for self-actualization. Contrary to what people are made to believe, white privilege, racial discrimination, employment and educational discrimination, racism and implicit bias, sexism and gender politics, the stress of Black life, and several other factors militate against the positive forces of self-actualization, Kwarteng points out. Honesty, studiousness, hard work, deferred gratification and good citizenship sometimes don't pay in America, a country where the central issue of the American curriculum, purposefully designed to glorify and promote the interests of whiteness while banishing non-Whites to the dustbin of otherism, constitute the narrative bulk of the complex social, political, and moral issues this book discusses in the broader context of how these issues have impacted my experiences in America, particularly of how they have conspired to frustrate my attempts to make it in America at every turn. When asked what he wants readers to take away from his writing of this book, Kwarteng replies, That the American Dream is a lie and that white privilege is very much alive. I want readers to also learn more about Afrocentric theory and how this critical theory is shaping the epistemic, sociopolitical and moral language of race relations, curriculum development, social justice, corrective historiography and the fairness of media representation. The America That I Didnt Know Existed: Immigrant Experience in American Education By Francis Kwarteng Softcover | 6 x 9in | 398 pages | ISBN 9781664127302 E-Book | 398 pages | ISBN 9781664127296 Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble About the Author Francis Kwarteng has degrees in mathematics, engineering, and nursing. He also has an advanced level certificate in education (science) and a specialist certificate in computerized accounting. He is an avid reader and prolific writer. He enjoys listening to all the world's music forms and genres, reading science fiction (and world literature), playing soccer and watching movies. He likes watching "Democracy Now," hosted by Amy Goodman, Nermeen Shaikh and Juan Gonzalez. Molefi Kete Asante, Noam Chomsky, Ama Mazama, Nobel laureates Wole Soyinka and Toni Morrison, and Cheikh Anta Diop are his greatest intellectual heroes and heroines. California would avoid more than half a million premature deaths over the next 50 years if the US commits to climate goals to keep global warming below 2C, according to a new congressional report. The study, published on Thursday by the House environment subcommittee, came as lawmakers held final hearings on climate change. Titled Health Benefits for the State of California if the United States Meets the Goals of the Paris Agreement, its lays out the benefits for the Golden State if the US works with other countries under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which aims to keep global warming well below 2C to avoid climate catastrophe. Doing so, according to the report, means that in California alone around 555,000 premature deaths would be avoided, along with 400,000 ER visits and hospital stays for cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and nearly 5,000 hospitalizations for children suffering from asthma. The report also found that nearly 32 per cent of premature deaths caused by air pollution in California could be eliminated in a decade. The economic value of these health benefits would be nearly $4.5 trillion, it stated. In recent months, California has battled raging wildfires and since August 15, there have been 26 fatalities, 6,700 structures destroyed and thousands of people displaced. The state has also faced widespread drought and dangerously high heatwaves. The subcommittee report emphasized that benefits are maximized if the US works with other nations under the Paris deal, but that there are substantial benefits with unilateral action. Over 15 years, unilateral action would achieve 80 per cent of the avoided premature deaths in the state that would result from global action. President Trump, who has called climate change a hoax and rolled back dozens of climate and environmental regulations while in office, is committed to withdrawing from the Paris agreement if he is re-elected in November. The research was conducted by Dr Drew Shindell, Nicholas Distinguished Professor of Earth Sciences at Duke University. One of the key findings of this report is that the United States can save lives, reduce illnesses, and save trillions of dollars by acting now on its ownat a local, state, regional, and national levelto eliminate the primary impacts of fossil-fuel pollution, the report states. Democratic members of the committee, Chair Harley Rouda and California Reps. Mark DeSaulnier, Ro Khanna, and Katie Porter, said in a statement: "The unprecedented wildfires that have continued to burn throughout California over the past few months have devastated the West Coast and illustrate the life-shattering harms of climate change. Todays report is a call to action; it shows the first estimates of what achieving the goal set out in the Paris Climate Agreement would mean for Californians. From: Larry Levine - Publisher of the Midnight Report New York , NY Friday, September 25, 2020 Video Clip: Click to Watch Prison Expert Larry Levine discusses the mysterious death or suicide of suspected child molester Jeffrey Epstein while he was awaiting trial in New York and being held at the Federal Bureau of Prisons Manhattan (MCC) Metropolitan Correctional Center. Epstein was arrested by the FBI on July 6, 2019, on sex trafficking charges and found dead in his cell on August 10, 2019. His former girlfriend and confidant Ghislaine Maxwell is currently under arrest and being held in the same Federal Prison Facility! 213-219-9033 llevine@wallstreetprisonconsultants.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 07:28 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4711d55 1 Business fintech,financial-inclusion,Jakpost-Fintech-Fest,webinar,financial-literacy,digital-infrastructure,bank-indonesia,aftech,LPEM-UI,Experian Free Indonesian fintech companies are still facing basic infrastructure and literacy issues in their attempt to increase financial inclusion in the country. Some two-thirds of surveyed fintech companies were already serving both the unbanked and underbanked population, including in rural areas, according to a recent survey by the Indonesia Fintech Association (Aftech), which has 362 members offering various financial services. However, 75 percent of the fintech companies reported they were still facing low financial literacy among the target market, 57 percent reported facing basic infrastructure problems and 44 percent reported facing limited capital or resources challenges. So if we can work on this part, all of these three things, we can actually reach our target even faster, Aftech board member Chrisma Albandjar said on Thursday during the Jakpost Fintech Fest webinar series organized by The Jakarta Post. If we are very focused on that part we will actually achieve the 90 percent financial inclusion, she added, referring to the national target in 2024. According to a 2019 survey by the Financial Services Authority (OJK), Indonesias financial inclusion rate stood at 76.1 percent, marking an increase of some 40 million unbanked adults from 2017, when the rate was nearly 50 percent. To overcome the challenges, 45 percent of fintech companies told the Aftech survey they collaborated with traditional financial institutions such as banks and 23 percent took part in the governments strategic partnership. Chrisma was expecting the COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate the progress because it was leading to faster adoption of digital financial services as people had to stay at home or at least comply with social distancing rules. The government also has interest in more and more people having a formal financial account so it can transfer its Rp 695 trillion (US$46.4 billion) coronavirus relief package efficiently, said Chaikal Nuryakin, head of the research group for digital economy and behavioral economics at the University of Indonesias Social and Economic Research Institute (LPEM-UI). Still, challenges remain as the proportion of villages deemed financially remote stood at 57.3 percent and those deemed digitally remote at 8.1 percent, said Chaikal, quoting 2018 Village Potential (Podes) data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS). Moreover, 63.6 percent of villages still did not have access to bank branches, ATMs and bank agents. That is huge, said Chaikal. [With] these village characteristics, who is going to offer these people financial services? Chaikal added that even if fintech companies could get into the villages, they still needed to compete with informal lending services like loan sharks, which provided financing for the locals to pay school tuition. According to the Aftech survey, only 23 percent of fintech companies have operations outside Java island. The association has worked with the National Committee for Financial Inclusion (DNKI) and the World Bank in doing pilot projects on digital payment in Kalimantan, according to Chrisma. It is also providing training for small businesses that are mostly based outside Java to use digital payment. Bank Indonesia (BI) is working on an interconnected application programming interface (API) to bridge fintech companies and traditional banks in hopes that it will enable more people to use just one app to access financial services. With an interconnected ecosystem, people will not face difficulties. The existing one is inefficient, said BI deputy governor Sugeng. Going forward, it will be a lot easier with IPT, an integrated payment interface. One touch will cover everything. Very efficient, he added. State-owned Bank Mandiri has allowed fintech companies like Dana and LinkAja to access its API, thus allowing its customers to top up their e-wallet accounts without having to switch from the e-wallet mobile app to the banks mobile app. To get more people into formal financial services, Indonesia could also leverage alternative data such as peoples telecommunication services usage to create a credit scoring system for the un-included population, said Mohan Jayaraman, the managing director for Southeast Asia and regional innovation at Experian Asia-Pacific, a consumer credit reporting company. In the Indonesian context, we have already got this live with alternate data and with the content that we put together with alternate data providers like telcos, for instance, said Mohan. What we then do is try and see if we can support these lenders through a broader analytical platform. Special thanks to KICK-ASS TKC TIPSTERS who actually "get" what this blog is really about . . . Tonight we have a glimpse at one of our longtime Kansas City leaders struggling with tech. To wit . . . LET'S ALL LISTEN CLOSELY TO COUNCIL LADY KATHERYN SHIELDS CUSS OUT ZOOM AND ARGUE WITH HER HUSBAND, PHIL!!! Here's the clip and tonight's moment of Zen . . . Developing . . . For many years, it seemed as though the Senate might avoid the same tit-for-tat pattern of abusing rules and ignoring norms. A bipartisan group of senators known as the Gang of 14 agreed in 2005 to stop Democratic filibusters against judicial nominees in exchange for keeping the chambers filibuster rules in place. The agreement didnt last. In 2013, tired of GOP filibusters of Obamas nominees to the federal bench, Democrats invoked the nuclear option, approving an unusual interpretation of Senate rules that ended the power of a minority to filibuster nominations to the executive branch and lower federal courts. Republicans had opposed the nuclear option, but they changed their minds in 2017 and used it to end the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees as well. Thailand's parliament voted Thursday to delay deciding on whether it will amend the country's constitution, and anti-government protesters continued the daily demonstrations they have been staging for more than two months, calling for more democracy and reform of the monarchy. Rather than vote on the amendment, lawmakers dominated by government supporters opted to set up a committee that will study various plans to amend the charter written by a military-appointed panel after a 2014 coup. Critics of the current government say the constitution was drafted to ensure the country's current prime minister remained in power after the election last year. The decision is expected to delay the process by another month, agitating the thousands of protesters who gathered outside the parliament to put pressure on lawmakers to implement constitutional change and remove Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, a former junta leader, from office. BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Up to 200,000 Hungarians could become simultaneously infected with coronavirus under the government's worst-case scenario, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told parliament on Monday, adding the healthcare system would be able to cope with such numbers. After a spike in cases since the end of August, Hungary reported 876 new infections on Monday, bringing the total number of cases to 18,866 with 686 deaths. The number of active cases rose to 13,779 based on the latest tally. Orban, who has said a second wave of the pandemic could peak in December or January, told lawmakers that under the worst-case scenario, 16,000 Hungarians would need hospital treatment, with 800 people requiring ventilators. "To be on the safe side, I reckon with double those figures," Orban said. Orban's government spent $1.15 billion on 16,000 ventilators this year after the premier said in April that Hungary would need up to 8,000 ventilators and intensive care hospital beds during the peak of the crisis. Orban did not clarify on Monday the reason for the difference between the two estimates of ventilator need. Some doctors and opposition politicians have warned, however, that a shortage of certified nurses could be the main bottleneck in the healthcare system. The Human Resources Ministry said last week that Hungary had 1,839 intensive care beds available, of which 812 were prepared to treat COVID-19 cases. It said another 9,487 hospital beds would be available to treat COVID-19 patients. The ministry said that Hungary was prepared to tackle the second wave of the pandemic. It was unclear how many of the newly-acquired ventilators have been installed so far and the government has not replied to Reuters questions regarding the availability of staff required to operate them. (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Anita Komuves; Editing by Toby Chopra) All smiles: Alliance councillor Sorcha Eastwood with husband Dale Shirlow at the polling station on their wedding day Alliance councillor Sorcha Eastwood has spoken about the anger she felt after receiving an online rape threat on her wedding day. She first spoke about the threat to the BBC, after a survey from this paper indicated that a quarter of female MLAs had experienced sexual harassment. Standing as a Westminster candidate in June 2017, Ms Eastwood had taken time out of her big day just to cast her vote while still in her wedding dress. "I was a newlywed, obviously I didn't get elected but it was a really positive experience and life was really good," she told the Belfast Telegraph. As she left the church with husband Dale Shirlow she received an anonymous message, assuming it was from a constituent. "It was basically a really disgusting rape threat. I didn't actually say anything to my husband for about an hour because I was so shocked," she said. "When you stand for election it's just you out there, but when something like this happens it impacts your whole family. When I told my husband he was just really angry. What made us just so frustrated was that it was anonymous." At the time, she didn't report the abuse thinking there was nothing that could be done. "Now I know there can be help in terms of tracing these people. Even if it takes some time it's definitely worth doing." Aside from being disgusted at the message, the Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council member said the sinister communication also left her worried about her personal safety. "I wondered, 'Where is this person, are they from my town, do they know where I live?' "It was just a really frightening time. "You don't know if you decide to hold a public meeting if this person is likely to come. "It really just starts a whole chain reaction of thoughts in your mind that aren't healthy, and that's when you need the support of people and other organisations to rally round." After several years in politics, she said online abuse has become part of daily life. "The abuse that I would tend to get now wouldn't be a rape threat, but it would certainly be unwarranted attention, a lot of sectarian and misogynistic abuse," she said. While keen not to put off other women from standing for public office, she said challenging the behaviour in public was more important. In addition to backing from her own party colleagues, Ms Eastwood also thanked DUP MP Carla Lockhart for sending her an email in support. She said with more people now relying on the internet to communicate during the pandemic, greater safeguards were needed. "I think people feel uninhibited now because they're faceless and don't have to account for their actions," she said. "I just wonder if people would say that to me if I was out on someone's doorstep or in a public meeting. I don't think they would. "I think we absolutely need to see firm actions from the operators of these social media platforms, in the same way that fake news has really damaged public trust and confidence." While thankful for the support since speaking out, she said it shouldn't be left to victims alone to defend themselves. "It's not okay just to bystand. If someone's being abused, call it out," she said. "The onus shouldn't always be on the person who received the abuse or the threat." Timothy Ray Brown, the first person known to have been cured of HIV infection, says he is now terminally ill from a recurrence of the cancer that prompted his historic treatment 12 years ago. Brown, dubbed 'the Berlin patient' because of where he lived at the time, had a transplant from a donor with a rare, natural resistance to the AIDS virus. For years, that was thought to have cured his leukemia and his HIV infection, and he still shows no signs of HIV. But in an interview, Brown said his cancer returned last year and has spread widely. He's receiving hospice care where he now lives in Palm Springs, California. 'I'm still glad that I had it,' Brown said of his 2007 bone marrow transplant. Timothy Ray Brown, the first person known to have been cured of HIV infection, says he is now terminally ill from a recurrence of the cancer that prompted his historic treatment 'It opened up doors that weren't there before' and inspired scientists to work harder to find a cure, which many had begun to think was not possible, the 54-year-old said Thursday. 'Timothy proved that HIV can be cured, but thats not what inspires me about him,' said Dr. Steven Deeks, an AIDS specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, who has worked with Brown to further research toward a cure. 'We took pieces of his gut, we took pieces of his lymph nodes. Every time he was asked to do something, he showed up with amazing grace,' Deeks said. Brown was an American working as a translator in Berlin in the 1990s when he learned he had HIV. In 2006, he was diagnosed with leukemia. Dr. Gero Huetter, a blood cancer expert at the University of Berlin, believed that a marrow transplant was Brown's best chance of beating the leukemia. He wondered, could he also cure Brown's other life-threatening disease by using a donor with a gene mutation that provides natural resistance to the AIDS virus? Donors like these are very rare and transplants are risky. Doctors have to destroy the patient's diseased immune system with chemotherapy and radiation, then transplant the donors cells and hope they develop into a new immune system for the recipient. Timothy Ray Brown with his dog, Jack, on Treasure Island in San Francisco in 2011. Brown, who was known for years as the Berlin patient, had a transplant in Germany from a donor with natural resistance to the AIDS virus. It was thought to have cured Brown's leukemia and HIV Browns first transplant in 2007 was only partly successful: His HIV seemed to be gone but his leukemia was not. He had a second transplant from the same donor in March 2008 and that one seemed to work. Since then, Brown has repeatedly tested negative for HIV and has frequently appeared at AIDS conferences where cure research is discussed. 'Hes been like an ambassador of hope,' said Browns partner, Tim Hoeffgen. A second man, Adam Castillejo -- called 'the London patient' until he revealed his identity earlier this year -- also is believed to have been cured by a transplant similar to Browns in 2016. But donors like these are scarce and the procedure is too risky to be widely used. Timothy Ray Brown poses for a photograph, Monday, March 4, 2019, in Seattle. Brown, also known as the "Berlin patient," was the first person to be cured of HIV infection 'Berlin Patient' Timothy Ray Brown was successfully cured of the HIV virus 12 years ago Scientists have been testing gene therapy and other ways to try to get the effect of the favorable gene mutation without having to do a transplant. At an AIDS conference in July, researchers said they may have achieved a long-term remission in a Brazil man by using a powerful combination of drugs meant to flush dormant HIV from his body. Mark King, a Baltimore man who writes a blog for people with HIV, said he spoke with Brown earlier this week and is grateful for what Brown has contributed to AIDS research. 'It is unfathomable what value he has been to the world as a subject of science. And yet this is also a human being who is a kind, humble guy who certainly never asked for the spotlight,' King said. 'I think the world of him.' The US will stay away from "ridiculous" foreign wars that never end and bring back its troops, President Donald Trump has said, as he pledged to strike down terrorists who threaten Americans and maintain the country''s "unrivaled" military might to ensure peace through strength. Addressing an election rally in the key battleground State of Florida on Thursday, Trump alleged that for decades, American politicians had spent trillions of dollars rebuilding foreign nations, fighting foreign wars, and defending foreign borders. "But now we are finally protecting our nation rebuilding our cities, and we are bringing our jobs, our factories, and our troops back home to the USA," he said. "We will strike down terrorists who threaten our citizens and we will keep out of America - of our great country - we will stay away from those ridiculous endless foreign wars. They never end," Trump told thousands of his supporters. Referring to the "endless foreign wars", Trump said that the American troops were coming back. "They''re all coming home. They''re all coming home. We will maintain America''s unrivaled military might. And we will ensure peace through strength. And nobody has strength like we have strength. Peace through strength," he asserted. One of the largest campaign rallies of the 2020 presidential elections, over 30,000 people turned out for the president''s rally in Jacksonville, Florida, on Thursday night. The high turn-out of his supporters, ignoring the social distancing measures during the coronavirus pandemic, is reflective of his popularity in the State. "I was thrilled to be back in my home state of FLORIDA with thousands of loyal, hard working American Patriots in Jacksonville! Trump said in a tweet with an impressive video of thousands of people at the Jacksonville rally site. Trump said former vice president and his Democratic presidential rivel Joe Biden was having a hard time attracting people to his rallies. "Isn''t it crazy? Isn''t it crazy? This is some, it''s interesting, when Biden comes to Florida, you have like, 12, 13 people. You know, they do the circles. And he has a hard time filling up the circles. Here we probably have 30,000 people or so. That''s a lot of people," Trump said. Describing it as the most important election in the history of the United States, Trump said the Republicans were dealing with people that are crazy. "They''re going to raise your taxes; they''re going to take away your Second Amendment (right to bear arms). The Democrat Party has been completely taken over by socialist, Marxist, and far-left extremist. They have raised the policies of communist Cuba, socialist Venezuela, they want to end the American Dream for Hispanic Americans," he said. Trump alleged that Senator and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris was further left than her party''s Senator Bernie Sanders. "The Republican Party is the party of jobs, freedom, and safety and we will ensure that America never becomes a socialist or a communist country, he said. "I say now a socialist or communist country because these people are crazy. Kamala. You know Kamala is further left than Bernie. I didn''t know that. She''s the furthest left in the US Senate," he alleged. Trump said Harris dropped out of the Democratic presidential race even before the start of the primaries because of low poll numbers. Trump said that his administration was delivering a safe vaccine and the country is doing a record economic recovery. "This recovery is a record. They''ve never seen anything like it and next year is going to be, I think, the best economic year in the history of our country. Unless a very sleepy guy got in and he decided to quadruple everybody''s taxes. Then you can forget it," he said. Insurers need to understand the tools available to identify flood risk and current reconstruction cost value (RCV) in order to better distribute risk, understand potential underinsurance exposure and ensure policyholders who face flood loss can fully recover, CoreLogic said. After Hurricane Harvey devastated the Gulf Coast in 2017, CoreLogic estimated that 70% of the flood damage was uninsured, said Dr. Howard Botts, executive and chief scientist at CoreLogic. Since flood is not part of a standards homeowners policy, identifying these key areas of flood underinsurance can enable insurers to offer policies that help homeowners recover quickly and keep communities strong and thriving after a disaster. CoreLogic also found that uninsured damages from catastrophes can not only be devastating to homeowners and insurance carriers, but can threaten the mortgage industry. If a hurricane causes significant storm-surge damage during a time when mortgage delinquencies are already high, this could result in additional issues for lenders and insurers and ultimately delay economic recovery for impacted communities, said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. For example, our analysis shows that three months after 2018s Hurricane Florence made landfall, serious delinquency rates had doubled in major metros affected by the storm. CoreLogics underinsurance figures are based on an analysis of rising reconstruction costs over a rolling two-year period for homes that are at high to extreme risk of being partially or completely destroyed during a flooding disaster. The estimates are also based on the assumption that a Category 3 to 5 hurricane damages an estimated 30% of at-risk homes RCVs, and inland flooding damages 30% of at-risk homes RCVs. Highlights of the study include: Storm surge along Atlantic and Gulf Coast Outside SFHAs: While the highest risk exposure in the area exists within SFHAs, which have mandatory flood insurance requirements for mortgaged homes, many at-risk homes are located outside SFHAs. CoreLogic estimated that the potential uninsured damage exposure to homes hit by a Category 3 to 5 hurricane is nearly $218 billion in high to extreme storm-surge risk areas. While the highest risk exposure in the area exists within SFHAs, which have mandatory flood insurance requirements for mortgaged homes, many at-risk homes are located outside SFHAs. CoreLogic estimated that the potential uninsured damage exposure to homes hit by a Category 3 to 5 hurricane is nearly $218 billion in high to extreme storm-surge risk areas. Within SFHAs: The NFIP limits coverage to a maximum of $250,000, but many NFIP-mandated homes have RCVs far exceeding this figure. CoreLogic estimated that homes inside SFHAs and at high to extreme risk of storm surge damage from a Category 3 to 5 hurricane have an uninsured exposure of $5.2 billion after NFIP coverage. Inland flooding along the Mississippi Outside SFHAs: CoreLogic estimated that homes in high to extreme risk areas have potential uninsured inland flood damage of $31 billion. CoreLogic estimated that homes in high to extreme risk areas have potential uninsured inland flood damage of $31 billion. Within SFHAs: According to CoreLogic, homes with high to extreme inland flood risk have an uninsured exposure of $70 million after NFIP coverage. While there are more than five million NFIP policies in force currently, that leaves considerable uninsured flood loss exposure, CoreLogic said. My daughter and I dropped in to the local pub the other night. Sitting out on the balcony, the evening sliding across the harbour beneath a lavender sky, I had a beer. Every cold bubble sprang on my tongue as if it were the first. Canola in a field in western Victoria this week. Credit:Tony Wright I do not relate this to make locked-down Melbourne readers envious, but to point out that small pleasures have become significant in ways that once, before the virus, wouldn't have rated a passing mention. We feel privileged, out here in the regions, to know that having beaten down the numbers, all of a sudden we can do things like drop in to a pub, even if numbers are limited to 10 people per room. Canara Bank jumped 4.2% to Rs 86.75 after the bank said its board approved raising upto Rs 2000 crore through qualified institutional placement (QIP) route. As a part of QIP, the bank will issue equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each in one or more tranches. The QIP issue will be within the overall maximum limit of board-approved capital raising plan of Rs 5000 crore for FY2020-21, the bank said in a statement. Canara Bank is a state-owned commercial bank. The Government of India held 78.55% stake in the bank as of 30 June 2020. The bank's net profit rose 23.5% to Rs 406.24 crore on a 47% rise in total income to Rs 20,685.91 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019. The stock is up 17.47% from its 52-week low of Rs 73.85 posted on 24 March 2020. The counter has fallen 68% from its 52-week high of Rs 234.3 registered on 29 November 2019. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Anna Naghdalyan, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, has issued a comment regarding the statement by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev that was delivered at the United Nations General Assembly. The peoples of the region inherited a complex conflict, the final resolution of which requires an agreement that will be acceptable for the people of Armenia, the people of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] and the people of Azerbaijan. Only the authorities enjoying the mandate of their people are capable of demonstrating the political will for reaching a compromise and establishing peace. Both Armenia and Artsakh authorities have received the mandate of their peoples and are ready to launch a dialogue with the authorities of Azerbaijan that enjoy the relevant mandate of their people. Ilham Aliyev, who inherited the power from his father and who shares it within a single family, is not such a leader. His authority has always been based on manipulations of the conflict, promoting the image of Armenia and the Armenian people as a useful enemy within his own society, rather than addressing the latters needs. Under the rule of Ilham Aliyev Azerbaijan missed the historic opportunity to use the oil boom to build a modern country and society. Today the authorities of Azerbaijan are perceived in the world as an authoritarian and repressive regime which uses all the opportunities, including the COVID-19 pandemic, to harass and silence its own people. In the region, we deal with such a governmental system where the values are replaced with a cult of personality, dynasty and own wealth, while the interests serve the preservation of inherited power at all costs. Regrettably, all costs are paid by the people of Azerbaijan deprived of voice and freedoms, reads the comment by the Armenian MFA spokesperson. Activists in Louisville defied a citywide curfew Thursday (September 24) night protesting a grand jury's decision not charge three police officers with the death of a 26-year-old African-American paramedic named Breonna Taylor. Taylor's case became a rallying cry for the police-reform movement. Earlier on Thursday, Taylor's mother Tamika Palmer joined demonstrators at a memorial for her daughter in Louisville. Taylor was shot and killed in a botched police raid at her apartment in March. Three plainclothes cops broke down her door, executing what's known as a "no-knock" warrant, in search of drugs. Taylor's boyfriend claims he believed the cops were intruders, and fired a gun at them. The police returned fire, shooting Taylor five times. A grand jury on Wendesday (September 22) found the cops' use of force was justified. Two of the officers involved have been placed on administrative duties. A third was dismissed and charged Wednesday with wanton endangerment after investigators said bullets he fired went through a wall into a neighboring apartment. Residents here say the decision denies Breonna justice. "I expected them to really get locked up. I really thought they were going to get locked up." "Because it was only one officer that got charged. And they came as a group. They came together.." Louisville has agreed to pay $12 million to Taylors family to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit. As a curfew went into effect after dark here and police declared an unlawful assembly, a group of 200 to 300 protesters who had marched through the city for hours retreated to the grounds of the First Unitarian Church, which opened its doors to the activists. "The Unitarian Church is a believer in social justice and equality. And we work hard, we work, it's just a part of our mission and principals to help people who need help." Taylor's death and the grand jury decision sparked nationwide condemnation. On Thursday night protesters also took to the streets in St. Louis, in Seattle, and in Sacramento. Demonstrators rallied in New York City, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Rochester and in Philadelphia. Organizers are preparing for more demonstrations Friday night. Healey said Walsh and Clinton were the ones ultimately responsible for the decision to combine the two units, which she said led to tragic and deadly results. More than 40 veterans were packed into a single unit that usually had 25 beds, and space was so limited that nine veterans some with symptoms and some without were sleeping in the dining room, Healey said. Five Republican US senators have confronted Netflix over the streaming giant's plan to adapt a Chinese sci-fi book trilogy, expressing concern over the original author's comments about claims of forced labor in Xinjiang. Liu Cixin's bestselling "The Three-Body Problem," which tells the story of humanity's first contact with aliens, is set to become a major Netflix series co-written by the creators of "Game of Thrones." In a letter to content boss Ted Sarandos, the senators accused Liu of "parroting dangerous [Communist Party] propaganda" and suggested Netflix was "providing a platform to Mr Liu in producing this project." They highlighted a New Yorker article from last year in which Liu is quoted defending mass internment in China's northwestern Xinjiang region, where activists say more than one million Uighurs and other Muslim Turkic-speaking people have been incarcerated in camps. "Would you rather that they be hacking away at bodies at train stations and schools in terrorist attacks?" Liu told the magazine. "If anything, the government is helping their economy and trying to lift them out of poverty." According to the senators' letter, adapting Liu's work would represent "the normalization of, or apologism for, these crimes." "We ask Netflix to seriously reconsider the implications of providing a platform to Mr Liu in producing this project," it concluded. Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Donald Trump's administration has ramped up pressure on China on a wide range of issues, imposing sanctions over policies in Xinjiang. With Trump's reelection bid looming closer, Republicans recently pulled Netflix into the US election fray with a separate row over French film "Cuties," accused of sexualizing little girls. Conservative activists say the drama is a by-product of an overly liberal culture often associated with Hollywood -- and that it promotes pedophilia. Story continues Its director denied the charges and said the movie is a critique of the over-sexualization of young girls. Republicans have also pointed out that Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings is a significant Democratic donor. Liu's father joined the Communists during China's civil war, but was later sent to work in coal mines in the country's north, while the author himself is described as "no dissident" in the New Yorker profile. The trilogy by Liu -- whose famous fans include former president Barack Obama -- imagines an alternate history in which a female Chinese astrophysicist makes contact with an alien civilization, prompting global fears of an invasion. Netflix announced its adaptation earlier this month, with "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" director Rian Johnson serving as an executive producer, along with Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment company. "Game of Thrones" duo David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will co-write the series. In an official statement at the time, Liu said the apocalyptic series "transcends time and the confines of nations, cultures and races." amz/sst A fire gutted two floors of a four-story community center owned by the neighboring St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church in San Francisco early Thursday, and church leaders suspect arson. "They set three different fires, two on the bottom floor, and one on the middle floor," said Rostom Aintablian, chairman pastor of the Board of the Trustees. "We do think its arson." The fire ignited at 51 Commonwealth Ave. around 4 a.m., and the S.F. Fire Department responded immediately, according to a message posted by the church on Facebook. The church said the incident is under investigation; the fire department wasn't immediately available for comment on this story. The 1940s building housed Vasbouragan Hall where community gathers were held, as well as offices for St. Gregory Armenian Church and other organizations. The bottom and middle floor are almost completely burned out and the church offices gone, while the overall structure remains intact, according to Aintablian. Aintablian believes the fire is a hate crime and stems from years of tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia. "We know our history, we know who our enemies are," he said. "We think it has something to do with the war in our country. We dont know for sure, but deep inside me tells me it has something to do with this. Or else it doesnt make sense to me for someone to come in the middle of the night and set fires in the building." San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin condemned the act with a message on Twitter. "This is an outrage," Boudin wrote. "The Armenian community of San Francisco woke up today to an arson at their church. There is no room for this cowardly, hateful, criminal conduct in San Francisco. We stand with the Armenian community against hate!" Alex Bastian, deputy chief of staff for the San Francisco District Attorneys Office, also called the fire a cowardly act and posted images of the damaged building on Twitter. For some context, in our history and around the globe, every time Armenians have been targeted, they come for our churches and our schools, tweeted Bastian, who was baptized in the church. But you know what? Its very hard to terrorize my community, no matter how hard people try. We are hardened by the millennia of hardship and the centuries of injustice. Most of us in the community, are refugees, or the children of refugees, from war zones around the world. Bastian said he believes the fire is related to the vandalism of San Francisco's Armenian School Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan in July. The school provided surveillance video to the San Francisco Police showing men covering walls with hateful and racist graffiti. "Attacks against our community are escalating, from vandalism - to arson - to unfortunately whatever is next," Bastian wrote. Amy Graff is the News Editor for SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com. Mumbai/New Delhi, Sep 25 : In what looks like more trouble for the biggest names in Bollywood, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) could summon several top actors, directors and producers of tinsel town for questioning. The development comes when Siromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa has claimed that the drug law enforcement agency is set to summon filmmaker Karan Johar soon in a drug-related case. Sirsa had filed a complaint with the NCB chief Rakesh Asthana last week over the alleged drug party hosted at Johar's residence in 2019 where several top actors were in attendance including Deepika Padukone, Arjun Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Varun Dhawan, Ranbir Kapoor, Malaika Arora and several others. Sirsa took to twitter and wrote, "Sources have told me that Karan Johar is soon going to be summoned by the NCB. He will be questioned about the 2019 drug party." However, NCB officials remained tight-lipped in response to queries sent by IANS. Meanwhile, NCB sources related to the probe confirmed to IANS that the agency has also summoned Assistant Director Anubhav Chopra for questioning. Chopra was earlier associated with Dharma Productions owned by Johar. Earlier in the day, the NCB also questioned Dharma Productions executive producer Kshitij Ravi Prasad and Deepika's former manager Karishma Prakash for several hours. The NCB also grilled Bollywood actor Rakul Preet Singh for more than four hours. Sources said that during her questioning, Rakul accepted the contents of her chats discussing drugs with Sushant's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, who was arrested by the agency on September 9. Meanwhile, the source also said that during his questioning Kshitij, too, confirmed names of some other people. Even Karishma, during her questioning, disclosed several names of those who procured drugs from her. The source said that based on the statements of Rakul and Kshitij, more celebrities will be be called in for questioning in the coming days. The NCB has also issued summons to Deepika, Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor for questioning on Saturday. Deepika was supposed to join the investigation on Friday, but her questioning was shifted to Saturday on her request. Deepika, who was shooting in Goa, returned to Mumbai on Thursday night accompanied by her husband Ranveer Singh. On Thursday, Sara returned from Goa along with her mother Amrita Singh, where she was on vacation. The NCB has registered a case under the NDPS Act on the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after several alleged chats discussing drugs were found from the phone of Rhea and her brother Showik. TRAXXALL, business aviations trusted maintenance management partner, today announced that it has been recognized by the Globe and Mail Report on Business, Canadas authoritative source for breaking business news and in-depth analysis. TRAXXALL ranked 102nd of 400 companies in the 2020 Canadas Top Growing Companies. Qualifying independent Canadian companies are ranked by percentage revenue growth over a three-year period. From 2016 to 2019, TRAXXALLs revenues grew by 476%. We are honored to be recognized by the Globe and Mail Report on Business, the countrys most prestigious business publication, says Scott Henderson, CEO, TRAXXALL. We have enjoyed rapid growth in recent years thanks to the quality of our technology, product and service. We view this ranking as validation of our disruptive strategy to introduce innovation to a business aviation niche where change has been absent for too long. The Globe and Mail Report on Business speaks primarily to the Canadian financial community. As proud members of Montreals aerospace cluster, we welcome the awareness that it creates particularly for privately-held companies on Bay Street and beyond. We congratulate all ranked companies and thank the Globe and Mail for this opportunity, concludes Scott Henderson. About TRAXXALL TRAXXALL is an intuitive and customizable aircraft maintenance tracking and inventory management system focused on data accuracy. It reduces aircraft downtimes, increases operational efficiencies and protects aircraft resale values. TRAXXALL was designed and built by an unparalleled team of aviation maintenance experts and is supported by the industrys most-experienced maintenance analysts. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, TRAXXALL has offices in Jacksonville, FL; Denver, CO; London, UK; Marseille, France and Clark, Philippines. For more information, please visit http://traxxall.com. Media Contact: Mark Lowe, PRagmatic Communications mark.lowe(at)pragcom.com / (514) 576-2519 Ivanka Trump and Mike Pence visited Minneapolis, the city where George Floyd was killed during an arrest, to take part in a 'Cops for Trump' event While in the city, they made an unscheduled stop at a salon destroyed by rioting Spoke to owner Flora Westbrooks, saying 'we're with you' as she neared tears Event took place against backdrop of protests across the country as one cop was indicted over the killing of Breonna Taylor, but was not charged for her death Ivanka Trump and Mike Pence have paid a surprise visit to a hair salon in Minneapolis that was destroyed by rioting in the city in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. The Vice President and President's daughter met with owner Flora Westbrooks to show their support and hammer home Trump's 'law and order' election message. ADVERTISEMENT Approaching tears as she surveyed the ruins of her store - Flora's Hair Design - Wesbrook told the pair: 'I never thought this would happen. Not to me.' 'We're with you,' Pence told her. The meeting took place against the backdrop of more unrest in cities across America as one police officer was indicted over the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, though was not charged for the shots that killed her. Ivanka Trump and Mike Pence made a surprise visit to a Minneapolis hair salon on Thursday that was destroyed by rioting in the wake of George Floyd's death Ivanka and Pence spoke with owner Flora Westbrooks (second left), hammering home Donald Trump's 'law and order' election message by telling her 'we're with you' Westbrooks, near tears, told Ivanka and Pence that she 'never thought this would happen... to me' as they surveyed the remains of her store Ivanka Trump introduces Mike Pence at 'Cops for Trump' Ivanka Trump, center, waves to the crowd as she takes the stage for a 'Cops for Trump' listening session in Minneapolis Protests turned to violence in several cities, including in LA where an activist was hit by a truck, while riots were declared in Louisville. After the meeting in Minneapolis, Ivanka and Pence made their way to a listening session with a 'Cops for Trump' group and business owners. Trump has been campaigning on a law-and-order message for weeks and is eager to put Minnesota in play four years after he narrowly lost the state to Hillary Clinton. 'I want to be clear: There's no excuse for what happened to George Floyd, and justice will be served,' Pence told the crowd at an airport hotel. 'But there's also no excuse for the rioting and looting and violence that ensued. And those who engaged in acts like these will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.' Floyd died May 25 after a white police officer pressed his knee into the handcuffed Black man's neck during an arrest captured on bystander video. His death set off protests around the world, including some that became violent. Property damage in Minneapolis alone is estimated at roughly $100 million. Click here to resize this module After Floyd's death, a majority of Minneapolis City Council members pledged to abolish the police department and replace it with a new agency that would take a more socially minded approach. ADVERTISEMENT Their hopes of taking the idea to voters in November was blocked by a city commission and won't happen before 2021, if ever. The talk of abolishing police came as Minneapolis saw spiking violent crime, as many other big cities did, and also as some residents complained that police response times had slowed. Morale in the department has been down, and dozens of officers have retired or are seeking disability leave. 'We are expected to be the handyman that fixes everything, and it's not possible,' Matthew Hagan, a Hennepin County sheriff's deputy and president of the Minnesota chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, told Pence. Pence said men and women in law enforcement deserve respect every day, and if people want better-trained officers, they need more funding. 'We're not going to defund the police - not now, not ever,' Pence said. 'The American people want us to stand by law enforcement and stand by our African American neighbors and all of our neighbors whove been impacted by the violence in our cities.' Matt Seyko Thao, a 30-year-old from West St. Paul, said he thinks the Trump campaign is using law-and-order messaging to court those who were unsure about calls to defund the police earlier this summer. Vice President Mike Pence waves to an audience as he arrives at a 'Cops for Trump' listening session inside of the Intercontinental Hotel at Minneapolis Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a 'Cops for Trump' listening session with Ivanka Trump, third from left, moderator Scott Turner, fourth from left, business owner Flora Westbrooks, third from right, and other panelists Current and former law enforcement officers stand after being recognized by Vice President Mike Pence during a 'Cops for Trump' listening sessions 'He's here to give relief to the people who go support the police, people who say 'what happens if the police are gotten rid of,' he said. 'It's all a political ploy ... and he's here for the wrong reasons.' Pence's visit to the city where Floyd died prompted Minneapolis leaders to ask Gov. Tim Walz to activate the National Guard as a precaution. ADVERTISEMENT The governor's office said 100 guard members were made ready out of what Walz called 'an abundance of caution.' The Trump campaigns visit came a day after several hundred demonstrators rallied at the state Capitol in St. Paul before marching onto an interstate to protest a Kentucky grand jury's decision not to bring homicide charges against Louisville police officers who fatally shot Breonna Taylor, who was Black and unarmed. Kate Bedingfield, deputy campaign manager for Joe Biden, said in a statement: 'Nothing Vice President Pence says today will distract voters from the truth: four years of the Trump-Pence Administrations chaos and division has made Minnesotans lives worse.' Pence told business owners that he sensed their feeling of helplessness as they watched the unrest unfold in May. He said that shouldn't happen. 'It was hard to stand there and see your business burn. Everything you worked for,' Westbrooks said. 'I just want my business back. I just want another start.' ADVERTISEMENT Ivanka Trump said the Trump administration will do what America does best 'and help you and others like you rebuild, because thats what we need to do.' By Ismaila Chafe and Michael Adeshina The Presidency has reacted to a letter from United Kingdom lawmakers, legal experts, and campaigners over security developments in Nigeria. The British lawmakers had, in a letter to the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, dated September 14, and co-signed by Baroness Cox, Baroness Kennedy, Jim Shannon, Fiona Bruce, former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Williams and 14 others, asked the Commonwealth to conduct an impartial investigation into the killings in Nigeria and bring the perpetrators to justice. The parliamentarians expressed indignation over the killings along ethnic and religious lines by Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East and Fulani herdsmen in the Middle Belt region and said the failure of the Federal Government to protect Nigerians was a breach of the Commonwealth charter. They, therefore, requested the Commonwealth to raise the killings with the Ministerial Action Group. However, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, responded to the letter with a statement titled, British lawmakers, legal experts and campaigners should work with President Buhari, not fall for propaganda. In the statement, Malam Garba Shehu, urged United Kingdom lawmakers, legal experts, and campaigners to visit Nigeria for genuine information. He said the information supplied to them were from agents of anarchy, adding that the lawmakers visit would enable them to discuss all points raised in their letter. He, however, expressed the readiness of the Nigerian government to work with the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group and all concerned parties to bring a lasting solution to herder-farmer clashes, and the threat posed to all Nigerians and the Sahel region as a whole from Boko Haram terrorists and their allies. He said: We ask our British colleagues to visit Nigeria, whether formally or informally to discuss all the points raised in their letter. Our government is made equally of Christian and Muslim cabinet members; our Vice President is an Evangelical Pastor. We have everything to gain as a country through international cooperation with concerned, senior British parliamentarians, and policymakers. The threat to civilians and peaceful co-existence between different ethnic and religious groups from Boko Haram, banditry and land disputes is of serious concern to the President and the government. It is incorrect, however, to assert that the government has or is doing nothing to address these intertwined threats. Firstly, there are on-going efforts for the establishment of cattle ranches to prevent or curtail open grazing, the practice that brings herders and farmers into conflict. This is an age-old problem facing Nigerian Governments since the colonial days. However, matters of land distribution are dealt with at state level. This means willingness has to be shown by state governors to drive the process forward. The Federal Government launched a plan last year to work with states to address these issues together. Unfortunately, this has been lacking in some states. On the long and determined battle waged against Boko Haram, Shehu said Nigerians are aware of the efforts made by the government. When the government came to power, the terrorist group held and administered an area the size of Belgium. Now they hold none. The terrorists are hiding out amongst remote forests and across borders. This makes it difficult to extinguish the final flames of the insurgency, and the government has no illusions of the potent threat still posed. However, the progress made cannot be denied, he explained. On efforts to address rising crime and insecurity, he said the governments new community policing initiative was launched this month as N13billion had been earmarked for this Initiative. According to him, 10,000 new constables are being recruited from the areas they will safeguard as opposed to past practice. He expressed optimism that this Initiative would bring policing closer to local communities. Shehu advised the UK lawmakers against listening to those citizens who were bent on creating divisions among peace-loving Nigerians for selfish motives. At the same time as we take note of the lawmakers letter, it is also important to stress to our partners and colleagues in the UK that not all who press them have the best interests of either democratic governance or peaceful coexistence in mind. For example, the former Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, named and quoted in the letter as a source on military matters, relinquished that position some 40 years ago in 1979. He was last in a government position 17 years ago in 2003 (as Minister of Defence). At that time, religious and ethnic riots erupted in two states of the federation, (2001 and 2002), these were violently and ruthlessly put down by the military under his authority, leading to the loss of thousands of lives and the displacement of some further 50,000 persons. He is, therefore, not a natural source of pressure for good governance. Another, signatory to the letter, is well-known to be associated with the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, a Nigerian-blacklisted terrorist group. The IPOB are running a well-known (source-of-financing-unknown) international campaign intended to damage the reputation of Nigeria and its government in order to further their cause of independence. He jumped bail in Nigeria. He frequently travels on a Nigerian passport but urged his supporters to burn their passports! The IPOB barely mentions their aims in their publicity; neither do they mention that their own leaders do not claim to be Christian. Yet, their media and lobbying campaign has focused near-exclusively on promoting matters related to Christianity in Nigeria, promulgating false claims that a government with 50 percent of its cabinet and 50 percent of its State Governors who are Christian somehow works against Christians. We call on our British friends and colleagues to join us in addressing genuine solutions not pander to agents of anarchy. Share this post with your friends: Related After receiving recognition in the Times list of 100-most influential global personalities, 82-year-old Bilkis Bano said that she is happy with the honour and she didnt expect this. Bilkis Bano who is known as the Dadi of Shaheen Bagh became famous for her sit-in protests at Shaheen Bagh during the anti-CAA agitation. I am very happy that I was honoured in this manner. Although I did not expect this," Bilkis told ANI. Time released a list of 100-most influential global personalities on Wednesday which includes who pioneer in art, acting, politics and industry icons. The list featured many Indians including PM Modi, Ayushman Khurrana, biologist Ravindra Gupta and Sundar Pichai. I have read only the Quran Sharif and I have never been to school but today I feel excited and happy. I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for also being included in this list. He is also my son. So what if I did not give birth to him, my sister has given birth to him. I pray for his long life and happiness," Bilkis Bano reportedly said. Bilkis Bano was among hundreds of other women who braved the chilling cold of January from 8 in the morning to midnight to protests the controversial act. Bilkis, along with thousands of women who joined her in Shaheen Bagh, a neighborhood in New Delhi, became the symbol of resistance in a nation where the voices of women and minorities were being systematically drowned out by the majoritarian politics of the Modi regime," writes journalist Rana Ayub in her note in Times on the 82-year-old daadi of Shaheen Bagh. The Shaheen Bagh protest went on for 101 days before it was cleared by the Delhi Police on March 24 in view of coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions to curb the spread. The Justice Secretary has no qualms with Government plans to override the Brexit divorce deal, despite warnings he is failing to uphold the rule of law. Robert Buckland reacted angrily in the Commons as he came under fire from opposition MPs over controversial sections of the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill, which the Government itself has acknowledged will break international law. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced criticism domestically and on the world stage for pursuing legislation that would defy the Withdrawal Agreement brokered with the EU last year. He has been forced to agree to table an amendment to the Bill, giving MPs a vote before the Government can use the powers related to Northern Ireland which would breach the treaty. The Government argues the changes are required to protect the relationship between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Speaking in the Commons, shadow justice secretary David Lammy said Mr Buckland had taken an oath in 2019 as part of his role as Lord Chancellor to respect the rule of law. Mr Lammy then highlighted resignations linked to the legislation including Lord Keen of Elie who quit as Advocate General for Scotland. He asked if those who had resigned were wrong, adding: If not, can I ask him how he can turn up in this House with a straight face after voting to betray his oath and break the law? Mr Buckland described it as a very serious allegation, stressed his belief in the oath and noted: I have done everything I possibly can, consistent with that oath, to make sure that this Government acts in a way that is consistent with the rule of law. That is what is happening, this House is directly involved quite properly in these deliberations, amendments are being made to this Bill as we speak, and the contingency in which these exceptional provisions are to be used have been clearly set out. These are unprecedented times, we do not want to see a breach in any obligations either by us or by the EU but it would be irresponsible if we did not make those necessary preparations. That is why Im here and that is why I will continue to be here as long as I feel able to discharge my oath and I can tell (Mr Lammy) I feel very able to discharge my oath thus far. Mr Lammy said the Bill breaches international law but is also a flagrant attack on the rule of law at domestic level. He told Mr Buckland: I say to the Lord Chancellor, he is an esteemed barrister, he swears to a code of conduct, does he not now risk bringing the profession into disrepute by breaching that code of conduct? Mr Buckland said he found it extraordinary that Mr Lammy had raised the code of conduct in these matters, explaining he acts as an MP and a minister. He added: Every member of the Government is obliged to follow the rule of law, its very clear, I take a particular oath to uphold that and defend the judiciary. I have absolutely no qualms with what has been happening. I have worked extremely hard to make sure this House is fully involved, and I say to him that the idea this, the passage of this Bill, is a breach of UK domestic law is just plain wrong. Conservative former minister Sir Bob Neill earlier said the compromise amendment accepted by the Government would not have happened without backbench pressure and Mr Bucklands very close personal and direct involvement in making changes to the Bill to ensure they are committed to the rule of law. Mr Buckland said the Commons has a lock on the matters, adding: I think the way is much clearer and much more satisfactory. MPs wished Mr Buckland happy birthday throughout justice questions, with the SNPs Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) joking: With age may come wisdom. The Bill undergoes its final day of scrutiny at committee stage on Tuesday. Chennai, Sep 25 : Russia's integrated nuclear power player Rosatom on Friday said that ship BBC Elbe has left the country with equipment for two 1,000 MW atomic power plants coming up in Tamil Nadu's Kudankulam. According to Rosatom, the ship carries cargo including spent fuel pool racks, auxiliary equipment for turbine for Unit No 3 and foundation frames with anchor bolts for turbine, air duct of the reactor shaft equipment, fastening elements of the reactor coolant pump, hydroaccumulator of emergency core cooling system, shock absorber of the container section for Unit No 4 and penetrations and tanks for both Units. The BBC Elbe is heading for Germany's Hamburg port to take four transformers (two for each unit) for Kudankulam Units 3 and 4, manufactured under the contract for equipment supply from third countries, and will then set course for India. "This is the second shipload in September. Together with our Indian colleagues, we are supplying equipment required at the NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) site, making up for lagging behind during the Covid-19 restrictions," said Mikhail Novikov, Deputy Director for Kudankulam NPP equipment procurement. Arrival of equipment in the Indian port is expected in the second half of October, Rosatom said. India's atomic power company, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is building four more plants - Units 3, 4, 5 and 6 - of 1,000 MW each in Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district. The first two units of similar power generation capacity have been functional for some time now. Black, South Asian and Aboriginal populations from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds in Canada are nearly four times more likely to have three or more medical conditions that have been identified as risk factors for severe illness from COVID-19. Shen (Lamson) Lin, a doctoral candidate in gerontology and course instructor at the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Institute for Life Course and Aging, compared 1,102 racialized immigrants and 338 Aboriginal Canadians with 23,802 Canadian-born Whites, aged 45 and older, using population-based data from the baseline Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA, 2012-2015). His findings were recently published in The Gerontologist (Special collection: Gerontology in a Time of Pandemic). We know that COVID-19 outbreak is not affecting everyone at the same levels, and the prevalence of multiple chronic conditions within an individual -- known as multimorbidity -- has also been linked to social inequalities for decades. I was curious to explore how one's family income, education levels and experience of racism and nativism -- and the intersection of these three social standings -- shape the health of aging populations." Shen (Lamson) Lin, Doctoral Candidate and Study Author, Department of Gerontology, University of Toronto Lin's study examined nine chronic conditions associated with an increased likelihood that one will experience severe illness due to COVID-19 infection, requiring hospitalization, intensive care and the use of a ventilator. These medical conditions include diabetes, asthma, cancer, previous heart attack or myocardial infarction, kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obesity. The odds of having three or more of these medical conditions was greater for Black and South Asian immigrants and close to double for Aboriginal populations in Canada, relative to Canadian-born Whites. Black, South Asian and Aboriginal populations from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds (those without any post-secondary education and/or those who earned less than the median household income) had the highest odds of having three or more medial conditions. The multimorbidity differences associated with these populations were enhanced for older adults (aged 66 to 85) compared to their middle-aged counterparts (aged 45-65). Among older respondents, Black immigrants were five times more likely and Aboriginal Canadians three times more likely to have three or more medical conditions. "These observed health gaps illustrate various minority struggles that are often obscured within a discourse of multiculturalism and diversity" says Lin, "Given the lack of socio-demographic and race-based data in Canadian health systems, my study provides a timely frame of reference for public-health decision makers to reconsider measuring upstream health inequalities to mitigate the pandemic's long-term societal harms." Additional risk factors for multimorbidity were identified. These included being male, experiencing chronic pain, having a physical impairment, living without partners, and a lifetime of smoking. "Widespread chronic disease and racism in addition to the contemporary pandemic make living conditions more difficult for vulnerable older adults, especially those from racialized, immigrant, and impoverished communities," says Lin. "With COVID-19 spreading globally, health equity should be placed at the center of all policy responses designed to mitigate the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on underserved aging communities." Josh Frydenberg has called the Queensland deputy premier a 'stumbling, bumbling lightweight that no-one's ever heard of' in a savage put-down on live TV. The federal treasurer slammed Steven Miles on Friday morning in an ongoing clash over ADF troops at the Queensland border. Earlier this week Dr Miles accused the federal government of deliberately removing troops to pressure Queensland to open its borders and asked him to apologise for 'attacking' the state government. Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles has accused the federal government of deliberately removing troops (pictured) to pressure Queensland to open its borders He also accused Mr Fydenberg of falsely claiming the state had not asked to keep troops at the border beyond the agreed end date of September 30. The treasurer, who has denied lying and said the removal of troops is not political, savaged Dr Miles in an interview on Nine's Today Show. 'He's a stumbling, bumbling, lightweight that no-one's ever heard of who's just made it up as he goes,' the treasurer said. 'I was asked a question on radio yesterday whether the government's movement of ADF Troops was designed to deliberately damage Queensland's border policy. 'And I said that was absolutely rubbish and then he goes and holds a press conference asking me to apologise. For what?' 'This guy, just as (Home Affairs Minister) Peter Dutton said earlier, is just seeking to pick a fight, to play politics, to play politics with the pandemic... to play politics with the deployment of ADF troops. I mean, that guy should just grow up.' In early August the federal government agreed to provide about 150 troops to man Queensland's border checkpoints until 30 September. On Monday Queensland State Disaster Coordinator Steve Gollschewski wrote to federal officials asking for continued support. But it will not be extended as the ADF is 'prioritising its resources' to focus on hotel quarantine and preparation for the bushfire season, a defence department spokesman said. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Wednesday: 'We would like to see continued support on our borders... I would urge the Commonwealth Government to reconsider their decision.' Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is pictured on Thursday in Parliament House On Wednesday Dr Miles slammed the federal government for not extending the border support, claiming the decision was politically motivated. 'There's no secret that the prime minister doesn't like our strong border protections, but they have kept us safe,' he said. 'The ADF shouldn't be used as a bargaining chip in what is an ongoing political attack from the federal government on the state government. 'Our policies have worked and they should back off.' On Thursday morning Mr Frydenberg was asked about the dispute on ABC radio. Dr Miles believed the treasurer said in that interview that Queensland did not ask for an extension and later that morning accused him of lying. The deputy premier handed out letters to journalists showing the state government had asked the federal government to extend the ADF employment until October 19. 'This is yet another example of a federal government minister being sent out by the prime minister to attack our government,' Dr Miles said. But Mr Frydenberg later denied saying Queensland had not asked for an extension, and said of Dr Miles 'he obviously can't read'. 'The question that was put to me was whether the movement of ADF personnel was designed deliberately to sabotage Queensland's border policy,' Mr Frydenberg told Sky News. 'I've never heard such rubbish, he should not be so loose with his language' Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Wednesday: 'We would like to see continued support on our borders.' Pictured: A police road block Meanwhile, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to cave in to pressure to reopen to all of NSW, saying the chief health officer has advised her that all of the southern state is a Covid-19 hotspot. But critics say that doesn't make sense with few cases of community spread outside of Sydney. Mr Dutton claimed Ms Palaszczuk was acting for political advantage rather than on health advice. 'It was always based on the fact that Queensland is going to an election in a few weeks and the premier was desperate to make sure there was no outbreak,' he told Nine's Today program on Friday. From Friday, the state will allow up to 30 people to gathering without a COVID-safe plan and people can visit aged care homes and hospitals. As well, ACT resident can now fly to Queensland without having to go into quarantine. Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner of specialist Operations Steve Gollschewski reminded visitors from the nation's capital they can only travel by air and must have a pass. 'They can fly in, they can expect to be still processed at the border. Police will check they have a valid pass,' he told Nine's Today program. Queensland has recorded no community spread of the virus for more than 14 days and reported just five active cases on Thursday. (Newser) The man killed by a grizzly bear in America's biggest national park was attacked as he field-dressed a moose he had killed the night before, authorities say. The victim of the first known fatal bear attack in Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve has been identified as 22-year-old Ohio resident Austin Pfeiffer, NBC reports. Park spokeswoman Jan Maslen says Pfeiffer was butchering the moose Sunday while his hunting partner transported the meat back to their camp about half a mile away. "We assume it was a surprise attack, that he was preparing the next load and didnt have a weapon or deterrent on hand to defend himself," she says. story continues below Maslen says Pfeiffer's partner was charged by the bear when he returned to the kill site. The man shot at the animal several times and it ran off after flinching like it had been struck, Maslen says. He found Pfeiffer's body next to the moose carcass. "Park rangers found no evidence that the bear remains in the area, and no other park visitors are known to be in the immediate vicinity of the incident location," the National Park Service said in a statement. The Anchorage Daily News notes that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's safety guide "encourages the removal of game meat immediately, because bears may be drawn to the kill site." (Read more bear attack stories.) Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday praised Opposition parties for cooperating with the chair but said they had "political compulsions" to boycott the proceedings of the Lower House. RS chairman suspended eight opposition MPs over their unruly conduct on Sunday. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday praised Opposition parties for cooperating with the chair in the extraordinary monsoon session of Parliament but said they had political compulsions to boycott the proceedings of the Lower House. Every time, I try that opposition should be included in the debate. They cooperated with chair throughout. But there were political compulsions to boycott the House proceedings, he said. Rajya Sabha chairman suspended eight opposition MPs over their unruly conduct on Sunday during the passage of two farm bills in the Upper House. Deputy Chairman Harivansh was in the Chair when the unprecedented ruckus took place. The opposition members were suspended on Monday. They resorted to boycott of proceedings of the House after the speech of Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday over their demands relating to agriculture bills and revocation of suspension of the MPs. Members from some opposition parties in Lok Sabha MPs also later boycotted the proceedings. Despite the boycott, Birla held chai par charcha with the protesting parties. I had chai pe charcha but to no avail. They told me there are certain reasons (for a boycott), the Speaker said. During the session, Birla was praised by members for maintaining a balance between treasury benches and opposition. The Speaker said that the proceedings of the Upper House are never discussed in the Lower House and efforts to do this was unfortunate. Also Read: Safeguard farmers interests and procure their interests: Andhra CM to officials Also Read: Bharat Bandh 2020 live news updates: Farmers protest against new farm bills We should take care of the fact that parliamentary dignity is to be observed at all times, he said. The monsoon session, held amid precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, started on September 14 and was adjourned sine die on September 23. It was scheduled to conclude on October 1. (ANI) In the 90s, Anchor studied mussels at Poplar. He wanted to know how far they ranged and more about their host fish. About 100 were marked, and he followed them for three years. One day, he went out to check on them, and a river otter, another endangered species at the time, had consumed about 70 or so of the mussels. He called another biologist for an explanation of what had happened and was met with a comment about being lower on the food chain. He was not sympathetic for the clam at all, Anchor said, laughing. From renowned author, memoirist and literary biographer Edmund White comes a Texan epic spanning decades. Twin sisters Yvonne and Yvette are born on the Texas prairie in the 1930s. Humble beginnings turn to grander designs when oilfields are discovered, and though they look identical and share hideous, nouveau riche parents, the sisters are chalk and cheese. Effervescent Yvonne progresses from cheerleader and debutante to sorority girl, and outstrips even her mothers social-climbing ambitions, eventually marrying into the French aristocracy. Meanwhile, studious Yvette rejects the temptations of the flesh, embracing her spiritual calling at a convent in Colombia. White twines the material and the spiritual to create a sensuous and dramatic saga enriched by sinuous prose, audacious narrative technique, and the erudition of a longstanding Francophile. This absurd, funny and disturbing vision of a nuclear family features characters strapped to the rack of 21st-century life. The dysfunctional Tinkleys are at once manacled to rapid technological change and footbound by persistent social expectation. His career stagnating, Hank is determined to be man of the house, transforming it into a smart home with a doggedness bordering on obsession. His wife Jenny escapes the prison of domesticity by regularly writing to a criminal, developing an overfondness for envelope glue in the process. Interactions between the couple and their children are vividly and amusingly drawn; modern parenthood, and the way gender and technology play into it, is wittily laid bare. Contemporary American fiction excels at mordant social satire, but Randalls novel is so stylish and keenly observed it feels fresh. Either Side of Midnight Benjamin Stevenson, Michael Joseph, $32.99 Credit: TV producer turned amateur sleuth Jack Quick was introduced in Benjamin Stevensons debut Greenlight; and is now in prison after a true-crime doco gone horribly wrong. In Either Side of Midnight, he gets a visit from the twin brother of a current-affairs presenter, Sam Midford, who shot himself live on national television. The bereaved brother is convinced it was murder, not suicide, and he engages Jack, once he is released from jail, to start digging into the mystery. Stevenson writes solid Australian crime thrillers with a command of psychology and suspense and a dark comic edge. That the series extends its tendrils into satire it neatly skewers the culture of our television industry only adds to its appeal. The Midnight Library Matt Haig, Canongate, $29.99 Mail-in primary election ballots are processed at the Chester County Voter Services office in West Chester, Pa., on May 28, 2020. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo) Pennsylvania County Blames Contractor for Discarded Ballots A Pennsylvania county on Friday blamed a contractor for the discarded ballots found by FBI agents this week. The nine military mail-in ballots were found in a dumpster in Luzerne County, as were four absentee ballot envelopes that were empty, federal officials said. County officials began sending out absentee ballots to military members and overseas voters on Aug. 25, the county said in a new statement on Friday. Luzerne County manager David Pedris office said the countys elections bureau historically hires contractors to help with various tasks in the months leading up to an election, and this year was no exception. One of the contractors, who began work on Sept. 14, was tasked with sorting mail received by the bureau. Two days later, it was discovered by Luzerne County Elections Director Shelby Watchilla, that this contractor incorrectly discarded into the office trash [absentee] ballots, the statement said. Ms. Watchilla immediately began an internal inquiry and informed her direct supervisor. The contractor was removed from service and told not to return. After an internal inquiry was completed, Watchilla contacted the countys office of law, which informed her that the matter needed to be reported to the proper authorities. The county district attorneys office was soon contacted for investigation and assistance. All garbage from the bureau from Sept. 14 to Sept. 16the days the contractor workedwas placed in a dumpster and secured by county staff. FBI agents later searched each bag of garbage from the entire building, with assistance from county officials and Pennsylvania State Police officers. The FBI headquarters is seen in Washington on Feb. 2, 2018. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Any item of concern was taken into custody by the FBI. Elections staff were not aware for whom the ballots were cast until U.S. Attorney David Freeds office announced that seven of nine discarded ballots were cast for President Donald Trump. Freeds office initially said all nine were for Trump but later issued a revised statement downgrading that number. When FBI agents return the ballots, the county will attempt to contact the voters involved and process the votes, according to the new statement. It encouraged people who have mailed their ballots to the county to check their status at the Pennsylvania Department of State website. Because of what happened, county officials plan on providing supplemental extensive training to both full-time staff members and contractors. In addition, a security camera in the bureau will help officials actively monitor and ensure that all staff are strictly adhering to proper procedures and protocols, the county said. Mail-in ballots will start being sent to the general public in Luzerne County on Oct. 5. The countys announcement came after Freed directed Watchilla to fix the issue that the federal investigation uncovered. Our interviews further revealed that this issue was a problem in the primary electiontherefore a known issueand that the problem has not been corrected, he said. While the assigned investigators are continuing their work including reviewing additional discarded materials, it is imperative that the issues identified be corrected. The investigation into what happened is ongoing, according to federal officials. Guard firms license recall over kindergarten murder confirmed in cassation flickr.com/ Casey Hugelfink 15:34 25/09/2020 MOSCOW, September 25 (RAPSI) Private security firm Svyatogor whose employee had let a kid murder enter a kindergarten in Naryan-Mar, a town in the Nenets Autonomous Area, lost a cassation appeal against revocation of its license, according to the records of the North-West District Commercial Court. The firm has appealed a ruling of the Arkhangelsk Regional Commercial Court delivered on February 13 and appeal ruling of June 2. An application for the license annulment was filed in April 2018 by the Nenets directorate of the National Guard Service. The court pointed unprofessional behavior in the security field of the agency and stated that it failed to fulfill its guard obligations. In March, a court in the Nenets Autonomous Area released a resident of the city of Naryan-Mar Denis Pozdeyev, who had been found guilty of killing a 6-year boy in a local kindergarten, and ordered him to undergo compulsory mental treatment, the courts press service reported Tuesday. During the trial the court held that the man had committed the murder of a minor. However, a mental examination found him insane. According to the results of a psychiatric examination, the man suffers from a mental illness and was of unsound mind when committing the crime, the statement reads. The court found that on October 31, the resident of Naryan-Mar in a drunken state entered the local kindergarten and stabbed a child of 6 years with a knife. The boy died on the scene. Initially, the man refused to give testimony, but later he pleaded guilty to the murder and told an investigator that he heard voices in his head. In July, the security firms guard, who had let the kid murder enter the kindergarten, was sentenced to 2.5 years in penal colony for providing substandard services that negligently led to the death of a minor. Asia Hong Kong Activist Joshua Wong Arrested for 2019 Mask Protest Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong gives a speech in September 2019. / Kyodo HONG KONGProminent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was arrested by police Thursday over an anti-mask law protest last October, a move that he described as political persecution aiming to silence dissents. No matter what happens, I will still continue to resist and let the world know how Hong Kongers choose not to surrender, Wong told reporters outside the Central Police Station while released on bail. The judicial system is being weaponized to be the tools for the authorities to silence the voice of dissidents. Read more. You may also like these stories: Indonesia to Start Food Estate Project Despite Criticism Fujifilm May Seek Approval for COVID-19 Drug Next Month Chinese Media Say Western Groups Paying Myanmar NGOs to Oppose Investment Projects Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Natalie Thomas (Reuters) Fri, September 25, 2020 18:01 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c474538f 2 Environment Mya-Rose-Craig,Britain,climate-activists,Arctic,protest,climate,Greta-Thunberg Free Like many of her generation, Mya-Rose Craig feels strongly that adults have failed to take the urgent action needed to tackle global warming and so she has headed to the Arctic Ocean to protest. Armed with a placard reading 'Youth Strike for Climate", the 18-year-old British activist is staging the most northerly protest in a series of youth strikes worldwide. The strikes, made famous by Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, are resuming after a lull caused by the global coronavirus pandemic to draw public attention back to the threat posed by climate change. "I'm here to... try and make a statement about how temporary this amazing landscape is and how our leaders have to make a decision now in order to save it," she told Reuters Television as she stood with her placard on the edge of the Arctic sea ice. "I absolutely think that my generation has always had to think about climate change... which is why as weve got older theres been this massive wave of just this need for change, this demand for change when we realized the grown-ups arent going to solve this so we have to do it ourselves." Craig, from southwest England, is known as "Birdgirl" online, where her blog chronicling her bird-watching experiences has attracted thousands of followers. Read also: If Arctic ice melt doesn't boost sea levels, do we care? She has traveled hundreds of miles above the Arctic Circle aboard a Greenpeace ship, Arctic Sunrise. Climate data shows the Arctic is one of the fastest changing ecosystems on the planet, with serious consequences for wildlife from polar bears and seals to plankton and algae, while the melting sea ice contributes to rising sea levels worldwide. Warming in the Arctic shrank the ice covering the polar ocean this year to its second-lowest extent in four decades, scientists said on Monday. For Craig, getting to the ice floe involved a two-week quarantine in Germany, followed by a three-week voyage to the edge of the sea ice. Craig said those who dismiss the youth protests as just a rebellious phase by her generation are wrong, and she wants those in power to stop treating climate change as a low-priority issue, raised only to appease "the lefties in the corner". "Its everything now and it has to be treated like that," she said. Processing work on mail in ballots for the Pennsylvania Primary election is being done at the Butler County Bureau of Elections, in Butler, Pa., on May 28, 2020. (Keith Srakocic/AP Photo) DOJ Directs Pennsylvania County to Change Practices After Discarded Ballots Found The Department of Justice directed the Pennsylvania county where discarded ballots were found to change its practices before the upcoming election. U.S. Attorney David Freed said in a letter to Shelby Watchilla, director of elections for Luzerne County, that the nine discarded ballots all originated with members of the military. Two of the ballots had been recovered by elections staff, reinserted into what appeared to be their appropriate envelopes, and resealed. One was linked to an envelope that was recovered, potentially tying it to a specific voter. The six others were simply removed and discarded, and cant be attributed to a specific voter. In addition to the military ballots, investigators found four official, bar-coded, absentee ballot envelopes that were empty. The majority of the discarded ballots and envelopes were found in a dumpster. Protocol dictates how election officials should process military ballots, including securely storing the ballotsand not opening themuntil Election Day. Opening any mail-in ballot violates the law. A man casts his ballot in the primary election in Philadelphia, Penn., June 2, 2020. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) The preliminary findings of this inquiry are troubling and the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections must comply with all applicable state and federal election laws and guidance to ensure that all votesregardless of partyare counted to ensure an accurate election count, Freed wrote. Even though your staff has made some attempts to reconstitute certain of the improperly opened ballots, there is no guarantee that any of these votes will be counted in the general election. In addition, our investigation has revealed that all or nearly all envelopes received in the elections office were opened as a matter of course. It was explained to investigators the envelopes used for official overseas, military, absentee and mail-in ballot requests are so similar, that the staff believed that adhering to the protocol of preserving envelopes unopened would cause them to miss such ballot requests. Our interviews further revealed that this issue was a problem in the primary electiontherefore a known issueand that the problem has not been corrected. Investigators are still probing what happened. The investigation includes reviewing additional discarded materials. In the meantime, Freed urged the county election official to correct the issues. Both he and Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, a Republican, are available to meet with Watchilla, he told her. Please be assured that the investigators will carefully preserve all documents collected in connection with this investigation. Our goal, that I am sure you share, is to ensure that every properly cast ballot is counted, Freed said. County administrators alerted the district attorneys office last week about issues with a small number of mail-in ballots, Salavantis said in a statement. Based on the information, her office launched a probe and consulted with the U.S. Attorneys Office. Mail-in primary election ballots are processed at the Chester County Voter Services office in West Chester, Penn., on May 28, 2020. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo) At the request of the district attorney, federal officials took over the case on Monday. The investigation is in its early stages and we are confident that it will be successfully resolved so it will not have an impact on the integrity of the election process, Salavantis said. At the time the investigation started, county officials had not started sending out regular mail-in ballots. But military members and overseas citizens are able to request and receive special write-in absentee ballots before printed ballots are ready, according to the state of Pennsylvania. Seven of the nine discarded ballots were cast for Trump, officials said. FBI agents, working together with the Pennsylvania State Police, have conducted numerous interviews and recovered and reviewed physical evidence, the Department of Justice said in a statement. Election officials in the county have been cooperating with the probe. In an updated statement on Thursday that was sent to The Epoch Times, Chief County Solicitor Romilda Crocamo thanked the district attorneys office, state police, and federal officials for quickly accepting the request for a probe and for their professional work on the investigation. The County will continue to work in cooperation with the authorities throughout their review, he said. Due to the fact that this is an ongoing investigation, it is not appropriate for the County to provide further comment at this time. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24 Trend: The Azerbaijani Air Forces are conducting combat-training flights in accordance with the combat training plan for 2020 approved by the minister of defense, Trend reports on Sept. 24 referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. During the flights, the main attention is paid to the piloting technique with the use of offensive and defensive maneuvers at various heights and speeds. During the fulfillment of tasks for conducting modern maneuverable air battles, aircraft crews worked out the tasks for detecting and destroying an enemys ground targets. Ankara, Sep 25 : Turkish prosecutors on Friday ordered the detention of at least 76 academics over their alleged links to a network believed to be behind the failed 2016 coup attempt. Police launched simultaneous operations in 26 provinces across the country to nab the suspects upon the order of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Istanbul, Xinhua news agency reported citing state-media as saying. Those targeted also administrative personnels on active duty in universities. All the 76 suspects have alleged connections with the network headed by the US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, Anadolu added. Since the beginning of August, Turkish prosecutors had ordered the detention of more than 500 suspects, including soldiers on active duty. The 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. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Farmers from Noida Friday blocked the citys border with Delhi for over two hours to protest against three farm reforms bills passed by Parliament last week, throwing traffic in the area out of gear till afternoon. A number of farmers bodies, under the aegis of Bharatiya Kisan Union, had come together to march from Noida to Delhi in support of the nationwide protest, but were stopped on the way by police. More than 150 farmers all members of Bharatiya Kisan Union reached Noida Gate near Mayur Vihar border around 11.45am, but were met by barricades that had been set up by Delhi Police personnel. Around 150 Delhi Police personnel armed with anti-riot gear were deployed at Chilla village on the border on Friday morning in a bid to prevent the agitating farmers from crossing over to the national capital. The deployment of Delhi Police personnel at Alipur on the Delhi-Haryana border was minimal. The farmers parked several tractors and cars on the Noida side of the border, completely halting vehicular movement from both sides. The protesters blocked the road till 2pm, slowing down vehicular movement on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, and forcing the police to divert traffic. According to Delhi deputy commissioner of police (east) Jasmeet Singh, traffic going towards Noida was diverted towards other border points, including New Ashok Nagar, Kondli, and Mayur Vihar Phase-3. Except the Chilla border, which was blocked for nearly three hours, all other routes connecting Noida from Delhi, including the Delhi-Noida Direct flyway, were open for motorists. The traffic diversion, however, caused some confusion among several motorists. At 12.44 pm, the Delhi Traffic tweeted a traffic alert, informing the public about the obstruction in traffic at Chilla border due to demonstration. However, the police, in a tweet two hours later, said that the traffic had returned to normal. Uttar Pradesh (UP) police officers spoke with leaders of the farmers groups in Noida, said Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (JCP), (eastern range), Delhi Police. The farmers were apprised about the guidelines of Unlock 4, which prohibits any kind of mass gathering or protests across the country, including the national capital, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic after which the protests were called off. The three farm bills approved by Parliament, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance; and Farm Services Bill and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, have become contentious issues. The new laws aim to liberalise the agriculture sector by removing hurdles created by the Agriculture Marketing Produce Committee (AMPC) Act in direct procurement of agriculture produce by buyers and create a level-playing field for all, thereby allowing private players a bigger role in farm trade. Farmer bodies and opposition parties say that these reform bills take away price protection provided through Minimum Support Price (MSP), whereas the government maintains that MSP will remain in place and the bills will ensure higher remuneration for farmers. BKUs NCR chapter president, Subhash Chaudhary said through the bills, the government will abolish mandis (agricultural produce marketing committees) and open avenues for corporates to directly access farmers produce. There are no measures in the bills to ensure farmers are able to sell their produce at decent rates. The government should at least ensure that grains are bought at or above the MSP. The government is promoting capitalism with the bills, and hence farmers demand amendments in them, he said. Ashok Bhati, spokesperson, BKU (Noida), said the farmers had held a symbolic protest in different districts of Uttar Pradesh on September 21 as well. We had requested the government to address our grievances. The government ignored our demands hence we hit the streets, he said. Bhati said the government framed the three bills Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020without consulting farmers and without safeguarding their interest. Vipin Pradhan,a farmer leader, said that the farmers submitted a memorandum to senior police officers demanding the three bills to be rolled back. Kumar Ranvijay, additional deputy commissioner of police, Noida, said the protest was peaceful. We had diverted the Delhi-bound traffic to DND Flyway and Kalindi Kunj. The police personnel were also deployed at the DND Flyway loops and Noida Expressway to guide the commuters. Delhi Police had diverted Noida-bound traffic to internal roads, he said. Ganesh Saha, deputy commissioner of police, (traffic) Noida said arrangements were placed on time to divert the traffic in light of the protest and there were no jams on Thursday. The Justice Department is seeking an immediate ban on downloads of WeChat in Apple and Google app stores, saying the Chinese-owned messaging service is a threat to the security of the United States. Last week the U.S. Commerce Department moved to ban WeChat from U.S. app stores but on Saturday, Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in California agreed to delay U.S. restrictions, saying they would affect users First Amendment rights. In a filing Friday, the Justice Department asked Beeler to allow for an immediate ban while the case works its way through court. WeChat is a messaging-focused app popular with many Chinese-speaking Americans that serves as a lifeline to friends, family, customers and business contacts in China. Its owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent. The Justice Department is seeking an immediate ban on downloads of WeChat in Apple and Google app stores, saying the Chinese-owned messaging service is a threat to the security of the United States The Justice Department says WeChat allows the Chinese government to collect and use personal data on Americans to advance its own interests. The Justice Department filing said 'the First Amendment does not bar regulation of WeChat simply because it has achieved the popularity and dependency sought by (China), precisely so it can surveil users, promote its propaganda, and otherwise place U.S. national security at risk.' In addition, it states the app has approximately 19 million active daily users in the U.S. in a range of formats, including text, images, video and audio. The Justice Department argues that the U.S. will suffer irreparable harm, both substantive and procedural, if the court does not stay its decision. The Trump administration has targeted WeChat and another Chinese-owned app, TikTok, for national security and data privacy concerns, in the latest flashpoint amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing The filing also states Beeler's order was in error and 'permits the continued, unfettered use of WeChat, a mobile application that the Executive Branch has determined constitutes a threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.' Beeler blocked the Trump administration from requiring Apple and Google to remove Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat for downloads Saturday, September 16. This injunction stopped the U.S. Commerce Department's order to ban the app, which was set to take effect on September 20. She also noted that the evidence about WeChat posing a national security threat was 'modest.' However, many Chinese Americans use WeChat as a way to communicate with relatives back home and as 'everybody in China uses WeChat,' Willy Shih, a professor at Harvard Business School focused on technology and management told CNN. 'It's hard to appreciate how important it is for reaching people in China,' he continued. 'It appears like [the US] is trying to drop an Iron Curtain between the countries so that people can't communicate with each other.' President Donald Trump wrote in his executive order, 'Like TikTok, WeChat automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information' TikTok has come under fire for the same reason as WeChat - US officials say it poses a threat to national security by collecting user information and send it to China The Trump administration has targeted WeChat and another Chinese-owned app, TikTok, for national security and data privacy concerns, in the latest flashpoint amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing. On Thursday, the administration was ordered by a US judge to either postpone the ban on TikTok or respond not later than Friday afternoon to a request to ByteDance, the app's parent company, to temporarily block the ban. TikTok has come under fire for the same reason as WeChat - US officials say it poses a threat to national security by collecting user information and send it to China. President Donald Trump wrote in his executive order, 'Like TikTok, WeChat automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information.' The dance between the Trump administration and TikTok has been a long one. Numerous times have US users been told that the app will be banned from the states, which was first announced on August 6- an order issued by the president. Let's deliver a real policies and finance for the Rural regions across the European Union was the plea issued by Leitrim Cllr Enda Stenson, in a debate in the European Committee of the Regions. Cllr Enda Stenson was debating live from The Hive in Carrick-on-Shannon his opinion on "delivering Rural Revival" in the presence of the European Parliament Chair of the Agriculture Committee Norbert Lins the German President of the European Union as well as the European Commission. Cllr Stenson highlighted that Rural areas and rural towns and villages have been decimated with the closure shops, bars, restaurants and small business in rural areas across the EU. This has been made even worse with the COVID19 crisis and this is heightened in Ireland with the threat of a no-deal BREXIT looming large. The shrinking populations in rural areas are becoming an increasingly worrying trend, and we need to see how we can have a fairer distribution of employment opportunities in rural areas but this needs to go hand in hand with provision of services, such as GP services, banking and other essential services to make life easier in our fantastic rural areas. Cllr Stenson also dealt with the access to broadband where he highlighted that to date Rural areas have been forgotten in the digital revolution and this trend needs to be reversed. Transport links and the provision of 'local link' services is crucial. His call for the "rural proofing" across all the EU policies received very strong support from the European Parliament AGRI committee chair who said that we need to ensure the implementation of this principle in the next financing period. Cllr Stenson summed up by saying that our rural areas have huge potential for balanced regional development, by rebalancing how we treat rural areas we can achieve a real change which will make our rural areas a wonder place to live, work and raise a family. Cllr Stenson's opinion will go for final approval of the 329 elected members of the European Committee of the Regions in December. Also read: Leitrim woman part of the new Vision for Cycling in Rural Ireland An Odessa, Texas, pastor and his wife were killed and their three young children injured in a head-on crash in southeastern New Mexico Thursday, according to New Mexico State Police. Otis Kent Kenny Comstock, 35, and Melissa Nicole Comstock, 34, died in the crash that happened on U.S. 380 west of Tatum around 8 p.m. Thursday. Their three children were injured in taken to area hospitals. Crossroads Church of Odessa told its congregation of the crash in a Friday Facebook post. There is no easy way to deliver news like this. Executive Pastor Kenny Comstock, his wife Melissa, and their three children Natalie (6), Camden (4), and Carver (1), were in a multi-vehicle accident in the state of New Mexico. I am broken-hearted to inform you that Kenny and Melissa did not survive the accident, the post reads. Their children Natalie and Carver, both survived with some scrapes and bruises. Camden, sustained head injuries, underwent surgery, and is expected to make a full recovery. According to the State Police news release, a Mercedes driven by a 47-year-old man from Albuquerque was headed east on U.S. 380 when, for reasons still under investigation, the Mercedes crossed the center line and drove head on into a westbound Ford truck driven by Kenny Comstock and occupied by his family. Mr. Comstock was pronounced deceased on scene and Mrs. Comstock was pronounced deceased at an area hospital by the Office of the Medical Investigator, State Police said. The driver and only occupant of the other vehicle was also taken to an area hospital. His condition was not known. Per policy, State Police said it does not release the identities of surviving victims or those who have not yet been charged with a crime. State Police said alcohol does not appear to have been a factor in the crash and that seat belts were properly used by the Comstock family. The case remains under investigation by State Police. French soldiers descended on the site after two people were injured - ALAIN JOCARD /AFP Two people were injured, one badly, in a knife attack in Paris Friday near the former offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a source close to the investigation told AFP. One suspect has been arrested near the Bastille plaza in eastern Paris, according to police. A second was arrested on the metro. A security cordon has been erected around the former offices of Charlie Hebdo and bomb disposal experts were called in following the discovery of a package. French police officers cordon off the scene - GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT /AFP The stabbing came as a trial was underway in the capital for alleged accomplices of the authors of the January 2015 attack on the Charlie Hebdo weekly that claimed 12 lives. Several schools in the sector were closed with staff and pupils inside as precautionary measure. Firefighters were seen rushing injured individuals into ambulances - ALAIN JOCARD /AFP The attack comes in the wake of multiple death threats made against Charlie Hebdo employees. The head of Human Resources said earlier this week she was given "10 minutes" to leave her home after police received credible death threats. 01:31 PM European Council President tweets support The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, sent a message of support to France. "All my thoughts are with the victims of this act of cowardly violence. Terror has no place on the territory of Europe," the former Belgian premier wrote in a tweet. "Full solidarity with the French people during this new ordeal." Nouvelle attaque a larme blanche devant les anciens locaux de #CharlieHebdo. Toutes mes pensees vont aux victimes de cet acte de violence lache. La terreur na pas de place sur le territoire europeen. Pleine solidarite avec le peuple francais dans cette nouvelle epreuve. Charles Michel (@eucopresident) September 25, 2020 01:17 PM French authorities give statements Story continues "The principle assailant has been arrested and a second suspect is currently being detained for questioning," according to Jean-Francois Ricard, the Paris anti-terror prosecutor. Regarding the condition of the injured: "Their lives are not in danger, thank the Lord," said Jean Castex, the Prime Minister. He confirmed the two victims were journalists who were on a cigarette break at the time. Mr Castex also issued a "resolute" pledge to fight terrorism "in all its forms". He added the incident "took place in a symbolic place just as the trial of the perpetrators of the awful attacks on Charlie Hebdo is taking place". 01:13 PM School lockdown now lifted Police have lifted the lockdown of local schools following the arrests. Some 125 schools had been confined in the 3rd, 4th and 11th arrondissements. Jean Castex, the French prime minister, and interior minister Gerald Darminin, are currently at the scene of the attacks, along with the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. French Prime Minister Jean Castex (C), French Interior minister Gerald Darmanin (C-L) and the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo (C-R) arrive at the scene - ALAIN JOCARD /AFP 01:05 PM One attacker 'born in Pakistan' One of the attackers was born in Pakistan, according to French Radio Europe 1 12:49 PM First arrested suspect 'born in 2002' The suspect arrested with blood on his clothes on the steps of Bastille opera was born in 2002, says BFMTV. The suspect is believed to be 18 years old. 12:19 PM Second suspect arrested 'on metro' The second suspect was arrested in the metro, according to BFM TV. One eyewitness told RTL that the assailant dropped his weapon - an axe or meat cleaver - at the Richard Lenoir metro entrance before making his escape. Armed police swarmed have been deployed - IAN LANGSDON/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock /Shutterstock 12:17 PM Charlie Hebdo trial 'suspended' The Charlie Hebdo trial was suspended minutes after the attack, according to reports, although it is unclear if the suspension had anything to do with the incident. 12:07 PM Suspect will be questioned over 'terrorism' The suspected attacker, who has been arrested, will be questioned over "attempted murder related to terrorism" and "conspiracy with terrorists," the anti-terror prosecutors office said. 11:57 AM First suspect arrested 'did not match' witness description According to a police source cited by France Info, the first suspect arrested with blood on his clothes didnt correspond to eyewitness descriptions of the assailant. People run towards security forces at the scene - CHARLES PLATIAU /REUTERS 11:54 AM Second suspect arrested A second suspect has now been apprehended by police, according to local media. 11:53 AM Police treating incident as 'terrorist attack' Police are treating the attack as terrorist as the anti-terror prosecutor has taken control of the case. 11:47 AM Al-Qaeda 'threatened attacks' on Charlie Hebdo Al-Qaeda recently threatened Charlie Hebdo with fresh attacks. In its publication One Ummah it said the magazine would be mistaken if it believed the 2015 attack was a 'one off', after the magazine printed the 'contemptible caricatures' in a defiant issue that marked the start of the trial in Paris of suspected accomplices in the attack. 11:46 AM Latest pictures from the scene A general view as police officers investigate the scene of an incident near the former offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo - GONZALO FUENTES /REUTERS A police car blocks the Bastille roundabout in Paris - GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT /AFP Police officers have been conducting an investigation at the scene - GONZALO FUENTES /REUTERS 11:42 AM Witnesses describe attacker At around 12.30pm local time, police arrested a suspect with "blood on his clothes". According to witnesses cited by Le Parisien, a suspect was wearing a sleeveless puffer jacket. "Thousands" of pupils are currently confined in five schools that have been shut and barricaded in the area. Retirement homes have also been shut, along with all local shops. 11:39 AM Police now say only two injured Paris police have now said that only two people, a man and a woman, have been injured in the attack, rather than four. The victims work for the production company Premiere Lignes, which is in the same building as the former offices of Charlie Hebdo, and whose staff filmed the Kouachi brothers as they fled the scene after their murderous attack on the satirical magazine in January 2015. The company, which had recently made a film on jihadists, said it had not received any direct threats. A member of staff Premiere Ligne told BFM TV: "It happened extremely quickly. A man with a sort of axe attacked people outside the building. He didn't get inside. He ran off and the police arrived. We were forcibly evacuated from our offices." According to the concierge of one local building: "My son was doing sport nearby when the attack happened. He heart people screaming and saw a man running away with a big knife. He saw an injured woman and a man. I was already living in the area five years ago. Naturally, these are traumatic memories." 11:37 AM Attack a poignant reminder of 2015 A woman walks past a mural commemorating the victims of the 2015 attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in which 12 were killed - THOMAS COEX /AFP 11:31 AM Witnesses describe horror from the scene Witness accounts from the attack have begun filtering through. "I was in my office. I heard screams in the road. I looked out of the window and saw a woman who was lying on the floor and had taken a whack in the face from what was possibly a machete," a witness told Europe 1 radio. "I saw a second neighbour on the floor and I went to help." A visibly upset witness is seen near the scene - ALAIN JOCARD /AFP 11:26 AM Video shows large police presence A large police presence has been deployed in Paris after four people were wounded in a knife attack near the former Charlie Hebdo offices.pic.twitter.com/KRA3txaZ2B talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) September 25, 2020 Video circulating on social media shows a sizeable police presence at the scene 11:22 AM No explosives found in suspect package According to reports in France Info citing police sources, no explosives have been found in the package identified as suspect outside the scene A French police officer secures the area - GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT /AFP 11:17 AM Weapon found at scene A blade was found at the scene, two police sources told Reuters. One described it as a machete, the other called it a meat cleaver. Armed police were seen swarming the area - GONZALO FUENTES /REUTERS 11:14 AM President of Paris region 'extremely shocked' The critically ill victims have been transported to Paris' Pitie-Salpetriere hospital. Valerie Peceresse, president of the Paris region, said she was "extremely shocked by the murderous attack" in "an arrondissement that has already paid a heavy price for terrorist violence." The Bataclan concert hall, where 90 people died in November 2015, is a few yards down the road. In this part of our investigative series on how doctors, hospital and diagnostic centres are defrauding Nigerians patients annually through an entrenched medical referral kickback scam, we unveil the identities of the owners of the medical diagnostic laboratories involved in the scam. A PREMIUM TIMES investigation had revealed how some Nigerian medical diagnostic companies are colluding with doctors and hospitals to scam Nigerians through a referral kickbacks scheme, making healthcare provision expensive and ineffective. Me Cure Me Cure Healthcare Limited is a family-owned business principally run by father, Samir Udani, and son, Arjun Udani. The senior Mr Udani is a chemist and food scientist with over 35 years experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare supplies and manufacturing industry. Samir and Arjun Udani Mr Udani founded Me Cure in 2005 and the company has since grown to be one of the popular healthcare providers in the country. In 2009, he was awarded the Healthcare Businessman of the Year in Nigeria. But Arjun, a Stanford University-trained project manager, runs the family business. As executive director of Me Cure, he directly manages the companys diagnostic centres in Nigeria as well as Me Cures industries pharmaceutical manufacturing plants. He is also the managing director of Healthdekho Healthcare Private Limited, the Udani familys healthcare innovation and technology firm. Apart from planning to build what the company has described as the largest oncology hospital in West Africa, Me Cure Industries Limited, the parent company of Me Cure Healthcare, also has a cosmetics and skincare business under the brand name PureGlow. Arjun is a director in the following businesses, which are affiliated to Me Cure Industries Limited: YouthBerry Healthcare Private Limited, Healthdekho Healthcare Limited, Techcetra Online Solutions Private Limited, Peanut Butter Jelly Online Services Private Limited and GBTT Online Services Private Limited. Clinix Healthcare Ebere Nwosu, the managing director of Greenlife Pharmaceuticals Limited is one of the owners of Clinix Healthcare. Mr Nwosu is one of Nigerias most successful healthcare moguls. Mr Nwosu is a pastor at the Redeemed Church of God founded a number of philanthropic organisations including, Paincare Ministry, an evangelical organisation, which give medical care, food and other essential provisions to indigent communities in the country. Ebere Nwosu Afriglobal MedicareThe parent company of Afriglobal Medicare Limited, Nagode Industries Limited is one of the market leaders in the trading and distribution of chemical raw materials in Nigeria. Other companies affiliated to Afriglobal Medicare are Afriglobal Commodities Limited, Afriglobal Logistics Limited and Advance Medisystems Limited. Maneesh Garg is the CEO of the group which started as a family business for more than 30 years. He is a University of Oxford and Northwestern University-trained economist. Mr Garg is a public speaker who is known for making references to his personal experience and challenges as a healthcare entrepreneur in Nigeria. Echolab Echolab is a subsidiary of integrated Diagnostics Holding (IDH) which also has operations in Egypt, Jordan, Sudan. The company has over 452 branches in these countries. IDH paid $25 million in 2017 to acquire the majority stake in Echo-Scan, as the laboratory was formerly known. The Chairman of IDH is a British peer named Anthony Tudor St John. St John, a hereditary member of the British House of Lords since 1999, was educated at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and The London School of Economics where he received a Master of Law degree. He is an expert in African affairs, deregulation, and information technology. In 2012, the Independent newspaper in the UK reported that St John was among members of UK parliament who failed to declare their financial and non-financial dealings as required by law. The newspaper found that in November 2011, he joined the special advisory board of Mooter Media, an Australian digital media firm but failed to declare it on the register. He also failed to declare he was an adviser to the technology marketing agency Mcdonald Butler Associates. He argued that the positions were without salaries and said he had asked Mcdonald Butler Associate to remove his name from its website. Hend El Sherbini, the CEO of IDH, is a professor of Clinical Pathologist at the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt. She also has a PhD in Immunology from Cairo University and an MBA from London Business School. According to a Forbes article, she grew the IDH from a small diagnostic business founded by her mother into a $668 million enterprise. Vedic Lifecare: Benedict Okpala, one of the owners of Vedic Lifecare Hospital, is a University of Lagos-trained physician. He is a former board member of the Federal Psychiatric Hospital Calabar Member, Policy Drafting National Health Insurance Scheme. He is also a fellow of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (FAGP) and Distinguished Medical Practitioner of Nigeria (DMP). In 2010, he was awarded the Pontificial Honours of Pope Benedict XVI for his contributions to the Catholic Church and the state. Vcare The owner of Vcare, Sanjay Mathur, was an oil and gas professional and held several executive positions in oil and gas firms in India and Nigeria before setting up his diagnostic firm. Sanjay Mathur He was a former managing director of the lubricant division of Conoil and the regional manager of ExxonMobil in India. In 2017 he resigned as the managing director of Conoil, alongside two other executives, after the oil firm recorded abysmal half-year financial performance. Union Diagnostics Dr. Ambrose Olusola Akinniyi Union The CEO of Union Diagnostics, Olushola Akinniyi, is a consultant gynaecologist. Mr Akinniyi is a member of the renowned American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (MAIUM) and a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM). He is also the owner of Trucare Fertility Clinic, in Lagos. Advertisements SYNLAB Tinuola Akinbogbe is a University of Lagos and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine- trained doctor. Between 2006 and 2007, she was the head, Client Services Department of the health management organisation (HMO), Healthcare International. She later joined another HMO, Oceanic health Management Ltd, where she worked for six years and rose to the position of Head, Risk Management of the firm. In 2013, she was appointed the medical director of GlobeMed Group, an HMO. She became a director of Health Assur Limited, an HMO and was the chief executive office (CEO) of the company until August 2019. In September 2019, she was named the CEO of Synlab. Ms. Akinbolagbe is also a trustee of Drug Aid Africa, a non-governmental organisation that provide medical drug supplies and support to low-income patients in Nigeria and across Africa. IN 2017, European healthcare giant, Synlab, which has a presence in 40 countries in four continents, bought a majority stake from Pathcare laboratories and renamed it after itself. Synlab, which is owned by private equity firm Cinven, did not disclose the size and the value of the equity it bought. READ OUR OTHER REPORTS IN THE SERIES BELOW. PART 1: INVESTIGATION: Kickbacks for Referrals: How Nigerian doctors, hospitals, diagnostic centres are defrauding patients PART 2: INVESTIGATION: How medical referral kickback scheme makes healthcare expensive, ineffective PART 3: Kickback for Referral: How doctors, diagnostic centres, defrauded us Victims Beijing: China on Saturday raised objections over the presence of the Prime Minister of Tibetan government-in-exile at a recent dinner hosted by former US envoy to India Richard Verma in New Delhi, saying it resolutely opposes any countrys interference in its internal affairs by using Tibet issue as an excuse. The dinner hosted by Verma on January 15 in honour of his visiting friend and Hollywood actor Richard Gere was reportedly also attended by the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay. No country in the world recognises the so-called Tibetan government-in-exile, Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a written response to PTI over reports that the Prime Minister of Tibetan government-in-exile was present at the event. We are firmly against any countrys official contact with it in any form, and resolutely opposed to any countrys interference in Chinas internal affairs by using Tibet related issues as an excuse, the Foreign Ministry said. The private gathering hosted by Verma days before Donald Trump took over as US President was made public by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju who thanked the envoy for the dinner on Twitter yesterday. Photographs posted on his Twitter page showed the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile and other US diplomats attending the dinner. China routinely protests visits and meetings of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and his associates saying it constitutes interference in its internal affairs. In October last year, China objected to Vermas visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh which Beijing claims as southern Tibet, saying any interference by Washington in the Sino-India boundary dispute will make it more complicated and disturb hard-won peace at the border. Last month, China took strong exception to the Dalai Lamas meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan during a childrens summit. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Eventually, the river ripped a wide gash in the levee and sent a torrent of water through the abandoned camp. It overtopped by 2 to 4 feet floodgates that had been installed after the 2015 flood which at the time was called a once-in-1,000-years storm. Every building was damaged except for a few that had been built on stilts in the 1990s. Martin said sand, trees and roots that covered the camp at depths of up to 5 feet have been removed. Much of it was used to help plug holes in the levee and replace about 7 acres of land that was washed away. Most all the sand stayed on the site and replaced what was lost, he said. Some experts question whether it makes sense to rebuild in a spot thats experienced two similar off-the-charts floods in such a short time. Elizabeth Chalecki, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, focuses her research on climate change and defense policy. Because of climate change, she said, once-rare weather events such as the ones that hit Camp Ashland in the past decade can be expected as often as every two or three years. While patrolling his ranch one night, a San Antonio man came across a creature he had never seen before stalking his herd. The man said he stared at the small, dark-colored predator, and the first thing he thought: "Chupacabra!" The rancher said he hunted the creature for three days on his South Side property in an attempt to keep his livestock safe from the odd-looking animal. The man wished to remain anonymous so Chupacabra enthusiasts wouldn't find his ranch in search of the urban legend. "We have never seen such an animal on our property and were stunned," the rancher said, adding that it resembled the description of the legendary and mythical Chupacabra known for sucking the blood out of livestock and goats. While there are several theories about what the Chupacabra looks like, one suggests it is similar to a hairless canine, standing on four feet similar to what the rancher finally killed to protect his herd. READ ALSO: Urban legend or the real deal? San Antonio Zoo unveils new Chupacabra exhibit After looking at photos of the catch, Rob Coke, director of veterinary care at the San Antonio Zoo, said it was a coyote suffering from mange. Coke said the rancher found the "real world" Chupacabra usually seen in South Texas. The coyote had a mange infection a disease passed through mites that causes hair loss and darkened and dry or scaly skin. The rancher admits as much. "This animal resembles a coyote but smaller and apparently has a skin condition in which it has lost its hair," he said. But that isn't stopping the rancher from having a little fun with the urban legend. The rancher said he saved the animal and is planning on getting it mounted by a taxidermist for his ranch to have its own Chupacabra. Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for MySA.com | taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway Adults conceived through sperm donation reported higher frequencies of allergies, type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune conditions in a world-first study that examined the long term health outcomes of donor-conceived people. The study was conducted by Flinders University's Caring Futures Institute, led by researcher Damian Adams, and published in the Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. It looked at 272 donor-conceived adult participants from around the world together with 877 who were conceived naturally. Results revealed that for most health outcomes, donor sperm conceived adults reported no significant difference to participants born through natural conception. However, donor sperm conceived adults had seven times more type 1 diabetes diagnoses than naturally conceived adults, together with double the incidence of thyroid disease, acute bronchitis and sleep apnoea; and a 45% incidence of allergies compared to 35% in the naturally conceived population. Mr Adams says most of the health conditions reported by donor conceived people had an immunological basis, suggesting an alteration to their immunological systems. What may potentially be driving this is the maternal complication of preeclampsia, which has increased incidences associated with the use of donated gametes (sex cells). Preeclampsia is an extremely serious condition that is mediated by the immune system. Research has shown that children born from a pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia have altered epigenetic profiles including links with an altered immune system." Damian Adams, Researcher, Flinders University Mr Adams is a PhD candidate at Flinders University, whose interest in the health outcomes of donor-conceived people was sparked by vast knowledge gaps in the area. His supervisors include Flinders University Professor Sheryl de Lacey, who has a clinical background in infertility and assisted reproductive technology. She says the use of donor gametes has been cloaked in secrecy and abetted by anonymity, with pregnancies assumed to be no different to natural conceptions. "Being aware of an increased risk of pre-eclampsia in pregnancy and the implications for children in adulthood holds the potential to empower women beyond their pregnancy," Professor de Lacey says. "For parents, this unique study provides important information that informs their decision of whether to disclose conception means to their child, and to choose the health care they receive. For donor-conceived people, having this information may improve vigilance in preventative health behaviors." Mr Adams says donor-conceived people are a hard to reach population, with research consistently showing that the majority do not know they were conceived by sperm donation. "We had to implement six different recruitment strategies to attract the sample size we achieved," he says. The majority of participants were from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands. Those conceived by donor or through natural conception were matched for age, sex, height, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, exercise and fertility. "This study was preceded by our systematic review of the literature, where we noted a dearth of studies investigating the perinatal and long-term health outcomes of donor sperm treatments, despite the technique being used for almost 140 years," Mr Adams says. Huawei Lab Building in China Catches Fire, Killing Three A building within Huaweis lab campus in southern Chinas Dongguan city caught on fire on Sept. 25 afternoon, killing at least three people. The city government claimed that the building has no relationship with laboratories, but Chinese media quoted Huawei employees who said the facility contains 5G labs. Huawei is Chinas largest manufacturer of telecom equipment. But the company has been banned from several countries 5G rollouts amid concerns that its products could be exploited by Beijing to conduct espionage. State-run media 21st Century Business Herald quoted an Huawei employee who said the fire started in an anechoic chamber that was being built to absorb electromagnetic waves. The absorption material accidentally caught on fire. But the news report was soon removed from the internet. The map of Huawei Tuanbowa Campus in Dongguan, China. (screenshot from Huaweis Weibo account) Another state-run media, The Paper, quoted the campus management company, which said the building that caught on fire was the laboratory building G2 in Huaweis Tuanbowa campus in the Songshanhu High-tech Industrial Development Zone, Dongguan city. The Paper also reported that the building on fire housed 5G labs. It also reported that Huawei began relocating its research and design center, Huawei University, and pilot scale production center to Songshanhu district since 2018. That district campus employs about 30,000 developers, who work on the companys high-end smartphones, Harmony operating system, and other high-end products, according to The Paper. Three Deaths After 3 p.m., witnesses shot videos from the Tuanbowa campus. In the videos that Chinese netizens shared online, thick smoke could be seen emitting from the building from at least a mile away. In some videos, the top three floors of the building can be seen covered in smoke. The wall was burnt to a dark color. Other videos were shot from inside the Tuanbowa campus, where Huawei employees could be seen escaping from the building area. Some of the employees were dressed in white lab coats. The Dongguan Fire Brigade announced that the fire was extinguished at around 4:50 p.m. The found at least three peoples bodies, identified as administrative staff inside the campus. Before the fire was extinguished, the Dongguan city government announced that there were no casualties. So far, the fire department did not provide a cause for the fire, but confirmed that all Huawei employees had to evacuate the campus. Corey Johnson, the New York City Council speaker and a presumed front-runner in the 2021 contest to replace Mayor Bill de Blasio, withdrew from the mayoral race on Thursday. This challenging time has led me to rethink how I can best be of service to this city, he said in a statement, and I have come to the conclusion that this is not the right path for me. Mr. Johnsons exit reflects how the countrys largest city has been upended in six months economically, socially and politically by the coronavirus pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests. No one knows when or how the city, which has so many offices, restaurants and businesses still empty, will fully return to its paces, or whether people will feel comfortable on crowded subway trains or sidewalks. It has been eight years since The Dark Knight Rises - the final chapter of Christopher Nolans Batman trilogy - was released, bringing one of the finest superhero series to an end with audiences begging for more. And even though Marvel Studios have taken over the genre ever since, no trilogy gets even close to what Nolan and Christian Bale created between 2005 and 2012 (Captain America trilogy is a distant second, though). We have talked about some of the films major points like great villains, cinematography and script-writing that made them so phenomenal, in the past. But rewatching the masterpieces brings out a lot of tiny and interesting details even today. Here are five things Christopher Nolan did in the Batman Trilogy that prove his obsession with attention to detail: 1. Harvey Dent Entering Maronis Car Warner Bros Lets start with one of the most mind-boggling attention to detail tasks Nolan did while shooting the second installment of the series, The Dark Knight. In the scene, Harvey Two Face Dent plans to kill Gothams mob boss Sal Maroni inside his car. Warner Bros Warner Bros Instead of showing Dent unrealistically waiting for Falcone inside his own car, Nolan manages to show Dent knock out one of Maronis thugs at the extreme left corner of the screen for less than a second and then Harvey can be seen entering the car in the rear-view mirror. Check out the complete scene here: 2. Sharp Glass Joker Used In The Police Station Warner Bros Ever wondered how the Joker managed to get hold of a glass shard, point it at one of the police officers neck and get his phone call which led to the death of Rachel Dawes? Nolan ensured that the scene maintained continuity and he did so by showing Batman lose his cool and slam the Joker against the glass window with sharp pieces of glass falling right next to him. Check out the scene here: 3. Bane Mirrors Batmans Fighting Style When Batman fights Bane for the first time, hes absolutely dominated and literally gets his back broken too. Surprised by how Bane knows all his tricks and could read his next move, Bruce starts throwing his punches wildly. During the fight, Bane says: You fight like a younger man, with nothing held back. Admirable but mistaken. Later in the film when Batman returns to Gotham and breaks Banes mask during a fist fight, a surprised and desperate Bane fights the same way, trying to knock out his enemy with one punch, smashing the pillar that came in his way and Batman finally gets the upper hand. 4. Bruce Waynes Scar On Left Hand After getting the better of Scarecrow in the first scene of The Dark Knight, Bruce returns to his batcave where Alfred stitches a wound he incurred on his left upper arm due to a big dog bite. To maintain continuity in the next film, Nolan ensures that the scar still shows in the next movie when Bruce is wearing a black half-sleeve T-shirt. 6. Joker Keeps The Guns Hammer Locked Warner Bros The hospital scene in which Joker brainwashes Harvey Dent to become Two-Face, at one point, Joker dares Harvey to choose whether he lives or dies. He asks Harvey to flip the coin and shoot him in the head if chance isnt in his favour. Warner Bros The Joker puts Harveys hands on the trigger of the gun and places the barrel on his own forehead. What Harvey as well as the audience failed to see is that the Joker keeps the hammer of the gun pulled which would make it impossible for Dent to press the trigger even if he wanted to. San Francisco, Sep 25 : San Francisco Mayor London Breed has announced an expanded coronavirus-related support scheme for the US city's Latino community, a group which has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. From an overall fund of $28.5 million, Breed has allocated an initial $22.5 million toward supporting the Latino community with a focus on health, housing, food access, and small businesses, reports Xinhua news agency. "Our Latino community has borne the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic -- not just here in San Francisco, but across the country," Breed said in her announcement. Latinos make up 50 per cent of the reported cases of Covid-19 in San Francisco, despite the demographic making up just 15 per cent of the city's population, according to health officials. The disproportionate effect of Covid-19 on the community can be traced back to crowded living conditions and the high number of Latino frontline workers, according to Breed's announcement. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Alaska Airlines just announced five new routes from Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California. Thomas Pallini/Business Insider Alaska Airlines is growing its West Coast route network with a focus on leisure routes to sun destinations for the winter. Los Angeles and Palm Springs are the focus of the expansion with the airline going up against tough competition on popular routes to Cancun and Reno. Most flights are operated by Alaska Airlines' regional brand using Embraer E175 regional jets. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Alaska Airlines is growing its winter schedule with five new leisure routes from cities on the West Coast. Los Angeles and Palm Springs are the main focus of the route expansion with the former just receiving 12 routes in July. The Seattle-based airline joins American Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and United Airlines, among others, in growing its leisure route networks as demand shifts away from business travel and the pandemic enters its fourth season. Though its name might suggest the airline only has Alaskan flights, Alaska Airlines has been consistently growing on the West Coast since acquiring Virgin America the Richard Branson and Virgin Group-backed airline known for its eccentricity and its bases in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The 2016 merger saw Alaska Airlines grow in both cities complementing its existing route network in each but gain market share overnight on the transcontinental market flying from multiple West Coast cities to New York and Boston, among others. Despite its expanded presence on the East Coast, the airline has shown a clear preference for the West Coast with growth across the region, especially as New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut mandate 14-day quarantine for travels from an ever-changing list of states. Joining the route expansion was also an announcement that the airline's policy of blocking middle seats until November 30, shortly after the Thanksgiving travel rush. Here's the full list of where Alaska Airlines is going this winter. Between Los Angeles and Cancun, Mexico Story continues Cancun, Mexico. Shutterstock.com Alaska Airlines will offer once-daily service between Los Angeles and Cancun beginning December 17 until April 12, 2021, utilizing a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, on which Business Insider flew in February shortly before the pandemic. Mexico is one of the few countries accepting American visitors with Cancun alone being the major focus of recent route expansions from the likes of JetBlue Airways and American Airlines. Competing with Alaska Airlines on the route will be Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, United Airlines, and Mexico's Interjet. JetBlue just announced its Los Angeles-Cancun route earlier this month as the airline grows its West Coast presence in direct competition with Alaska Airlines as the two mid-tier airlines battle for market share. Between Los Angeles and Reno, Nevada Reno, Nevada. gchapel/Getty Images Alaska Airlines will also offer once-daily service between Los Angeles and Reno, Nevada beginning December 17. The service has no current end date and will be operated by Alaska Airlines' regional brand operated by Horizon Air Embraer E175 aircraft. Connecting the City of Angels with The Biggest Little City in the World will see Alaska Airlines go head-to-head with American Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, and Delta Air Lines. Between Palm Springs, California, and Boise, Idaho Boise, Idaho. benedek/Getty Images Alaska Airlines will begin flying daily between Palm Springs, California, and Boise, Idaho starting December 17. The service will operate until April 12, 2021, under Alaska Airlines' regional brand with flights utilizing a SkyWest Airlines Embraer E175. The only competitor on the route Alaska will have to face is ultra-low-cost carrier Allegiant Air, which does not share the same commitment to blocking seats and offers a twice-weekly service. Between Palm Springs, California, and Reno, Nevada Reno, Nevada. Legacy Images/Shutterstock Alaska Airlines will begin flying daily between Palm Springs, California, and Boise, Idaho starting December 17 until April 12, 2021. The five-times-weekly service will be offered on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through Alaska Airlines' regional brand and operated with a SkyWest Airlines Embraer E175. Between Palm Springs, California, and San Jose, California San Jose, California. Shutterstock.com Alaska Airlines will begin flying between Palm Springs, California, and San Jose, California beginning December 16 with no scheduled end date. The twice-daily service between the Inland Empire and the Capital of Silicon Valley will be offered under Alaska Airlines' regional brand utilizing Embraer E175 aircraft operated by SkyWest Airlines. Read the original article on Business Insider David Tennant turns out a bone-chilling performance as real-life serial killer Dennis 'Des' Nilsen in Stan's hit new true-crime drama, Des. A trailer for the series shows the 49-year-old former Doctor Who actor transformed into Nilsen, who went on a five-year killing spree in the UK. Known as the 'kindly killer', Nilsen killed 15 young men from 1978 to 1983, before he was finally caught. Terrifying: David Tennant (pictured) turns out a bone-chilling performance as real-life serial killer Dennis 'Des' Nilsen in Stan's hit new true-crime drama, Des Appearing as Nilsen, David appeared cool and calm as he cooperated with the authorities, confessing to the murders. 'I have to ask, why did you do this?' asked one of the detectives, prompting Nilsen to reply: 'I was hoping you could tell me that.' A biographer then revealed the calculating Nilsen may have been playing the detectives in an attempt to get a lesser sentence. Horrific: Known as the 'kindly killer', Nilsen killed 15 young men from 1978 to 1983, before he was finally caught In an interview with Express earlier this month, David explained his decision to take on the terrifying role, after people noted his resemblance to the killer. David said the hard part was trying to strike the right 'balance' between telling the story, but also acknowledging the victims. 'We didn't want to slope into sensationalist because it would be easy to do and wouldn't serve the victims of this,' he explained. Uncanny: A trailer for the series shows the 49-year-old former Doctor Who actor transformed into Nilsen, who went on a five-year killing spree in the UK 'There's some footage of him and there's a lot that has been written about him and people who knew him. 'You take that all in and then forget about it. I suppose I spent quite a lot of time studying him and listening to his voice.' Des is now streaming on Stan. The lockdown saw a devastating increase in the number of people dying at home from heart attacks and strokes, a major study reveals. Experts said the Governments stay at home message scared people into staying away from hospital, even when they desperately needed medical help resulting in 2,085 excess deaths. Deaths in private homes from cardiovascular causes rose by a third from March to June in England and Wales, according to the first detailed assessment of death certificates. Care homes also saw these deaths soar by a third, suggesting vulnerable people simply were not getting the care they needed when all the attention was on Covid-19. Researcher Professor Chris Gale, a cardiologist at the University of Leeds, said: These are deaths that should not have happened. We were in full lockdown and the message to stay at home was taken literally. People were not seeking care and many died as a result. The indirect death toll may well end up surpassing the direct toll of Covid. Doctors have been warning since March that they were seeing fewer people in hospitals and GP surgeries. Figures earlier this month revealed that NHS admissions for common conditions dropped by 173,000 between March and June. The damning new assessment, published last night in the Heart medical journal and shared exclusively with the Daily Mail, reveals deaths from heart disease in private homes surged by 35 per cent in the four months from March, resulting in 2,279 more fatalities than had been seen on average over the previous six years. Cardiovascular deaths in care homes and hospices jumped by 32 per cent in the same period. Today saw another 6,874 Covid-19 cases recorded, meaning the seven-day rolling average is 54 per cent higher than it was a week ago. MailOnline analysis shows this is the sixth consecutive day the average compared to the week before has risen At the same time, heart and stroke deaths in hospitals dropped by roughly 1,400. This means some of those who died at home or in care would probably have died even if they had received hospital treatment. But even taking that into account, the researchers calculated there were 2,085 excess deaths in England and Wales due to heart disease and strokes during the first wave of coronavirus an increase of 8 per cent. On average, that means 17 people needlessly died every day between March 2 and June 30. Professor Gale said: It is entirely plausible that a number of deaths could have been prevented if people had attended hospital quickly when they began to experience their heart attack or stroke. The sad irony is that heart attack services remained fully operational and continued to deliver high-quality care during the peak of the pandemic. He said the Governments actions saved a lot of lives by protecting the NHS, but added: The consequence, the balance, was that people did not seek help, and they died as a result. With coronavirus infection rates rising, and a second lockdown a distinct possibility, ministers needed to think hard about how the NHS reacted, Professor Gale said. Experts last night said the NHS must heed the findings. Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, of the British Heart Foundation, said: We need to restore and maintain care for heart and circulatory disease patients as a priority. EXCLUSIVE: Lockdown 'may kill 75,000' - that's the OFFICIAL projection of the deadly toll of Covid restrictions including missed cancer diagnoses, cancelled operations and health impacts of a recession. The virus death toll? 42,000 by Ben Spencer and Simon Walters for The Daily Mail Nearly 75,000 people could die from non-Covid causes as a result of lockdown, according to a devastating official figures buried in a 188-page document. The startling research, presented to the Governments Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), will further increase pressure on Boris Johnson to hold back on introducing further coronavirus restrictions. The document reveals 16,000 people died as a result of the chaos in hospitals and care homes in March and April alone. It estimates a further 26,000 will lose their lives within a year if people continue to stay away from A&E and the problems in social care persist. Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets shoppers and shopkeepers during a visit to his constituency in Uxbridge, west London And an additional 31,900 could die over the next five years as a result of missed cancer diagnoses, cancelled operations and the health impacts of a recession. The toll of deaths directly linked to the virus last night stood at 41,936. The estimates, drawn up by civil servants at the Department of Health, the Office for National Statistics and the Home Office, were presented to Sage at a meeting on July 15. The documents stressed that had nothing been done to stop the spread of the virus in March, 400,000 people could have died of Covid. And if the NHS had been overrun, this figure might have even soared to 1.4million. But they acknowledged the restrictions had significant unintended consequences. The revelation came a day after leading pathologist Dr John Lee warned in the Mail that we were at risk of making the cure worse than the disease. The figures are bound to lead critics to ask why neither Health Secretary Matt Hancock or Home Secretary Priti Patel, whose officials compiled the report, has volunteered the information. Both have spoken of the number of people who may die from Covid without stringent restrictions. But they have been less forthcoming about the risk that the measures themselves could lead to many non-Covid deaths, despite being made aware of the danger more than two months ago. An additional 31,900 could die over the next five years as a result of missed cancer diagnoses, cancelled operations and the health impacts of a recession (file image) Many people took the stay at home message to heart in the early days of the crisis, with hospital admissions plummeting as a result. But despite fears in March that the NHS would be overwhelmed by a Covid surge, most hospitals were never overrun, and the emergency Nightingale hospitals set up in the spring remained empty. The document said: We estimate changes to emergency care may account for 6,000 existing excess deaths in March and April 2020. If emergency care in hospitals continues to be low for a full 12 months, this could result in an additional 10,000 excess deaths. It added: We estimate there were approximately 10,000 non-Covid-19 excess deaths of care home residents in March and April 2020... there could be an additional 16,000 non-Covid-19 excess deaths over 12 months in care home residents. Many people took the stay at home message to heart in the early days of the crisis, with hospital admissions plummeting as a result. Pictured, people out in Westminster, London, on Friday morning London Mayor Sadiq Khan pressed for more measures to be imposed to stop cases rising any more before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a nation-wide 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants and encouraged working from home again. Pictured: Soho In the longer term, the officials estimate a 12,500 deaths over five years because of cancelled operations. The impact on GP services could result in 1,400 deaths over five years from missed cancer diagnoses alone. The true impact will be much higher, they said, but they had been unable to model the impact on any disease area other than cancer. The officials said lockdown will also lead to some reductions in mortality. Better air quality, fewer road accidents and less childhood disease will reduce overall deaths by roughly 1,000 over a year, they calculated. And a further 4,000 lives will be saved thanks to healthier lifestyles in the short-term. They estimated that 67,000 people will lose their lives directly from Covid across the UK by next March, although that figure was calculated before infections started rising again this month. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) believes it has risen 60 per cent over the same time frame and that there are now 9,600 infections a day King's College London (KCL) scientists behind the COVID Symptom Tracker mobile app estimate there were at least 16,310 daily cases of the disease in the last week, more than double the 7,536 estimated last week Added to the non-Covid deaths, the total death toll from the pandemic will reach 101,000 across the UK by next March, rising to nearly 150,000 in five years. Finally, they warned of the devastation of a long-term economic downturn could lead to 18,000 excess deaths over two to five years. An NHS spokesman said: While some people had understandable concerns about coming forward for care during the pandemic, the NHS stayed opened to care for all who needed it. For every person with Covid that NHS hospitals treated during the first wave, clinicians were also treating two non-Covid inpatients as well as 200,000 receiving cancer treatment and GPs carrying out more than 102million consultations. Areas of extreme drought conditions are expanding across Connecticut, according to a new report released Thursday. U.S. Drought Monitor says 99 percent of the state has abnormally dry or drought conditions. Last week, it nearly 83 percent. Extreme drought conditions now cover about 15 percent of Connecticut in northern Hartford and Tolland counties and the eastern half of Windham County and parts of New London County; last week it was 2 percent. The worsening drought conditions have led some water companies this week to request or order water conservation. Effects of extreme drought conditions include stressed Christmas tree farms, dairy farmers struggling financially, well drillers and bulk water haulers seeing increased business, rivers and streams running low, warmer water temperatures, wells running dry and people digging more and deeper wells. Conditions are worse in neighboring Rhode Island where 94 percent of the Ocean State has extreme drought conditions. The U.S. Department of Agriculture rated 100 percent of Rhode Islands pastures in very poor to poor condition. Pastures were rated 90 percent very poor to poor in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Streamflow in many areas of the Northeast is very low for this time of year. Some of the areas hardest hit by drought are reporting wells going dry and new wells needing to be dug, Drought Monitors report said. The latest report shows severe drought conditions in 37 percent of the state in northeastern Litchfield County, most of Hartford County, part of Tolland County, southwestern Tolland County and part of eastern New London County. There are moderate drought conditions in central Litchfield County, northeastern New Haven County, nearly all of Middlesex County, southeastern Hartford County, southern Tolland County and the western half of New London County, according to the report. Abnormally dry conditions have returned to all of Fairfield County. Last week, there were none. The eastern half of both New Haven and Litchfield counties remained unchanged from last weeks abnormally dry conditions classification, the report said. On Tuesday, Clinton-based Connecticut Water asked customers served by its Shoreline system to voluntarily reduce their water consumption by 10 percent because of continued dry weather and increased use, company officials said. The towns served by the Shoreline system are Clinton, Guilford, Madison, Old Saybrook and Westbrook. The drought advisory announced by the utility for customers in those communities is the first of four stages of Connecticut Waters drought response plan designed to extend available water supplies to meet essential needs. Craig Patla, vice president of service delivery at Connecticut Water, said between June and August, water use was about 20 percent higher than it was in the summer of 2019. This week, the Bristol Water and Sewer Department announced the citys reservoirs have declined to below 60 percent capacity from the lack of rain. The city is now requiring all customers to limit the amount of outside water use and requiring the public to adhere to the departments policy on odd/even watering days. On Wednesday, the Putnam Sewer and Water Department asked customers to voluntarily limit their water usage. Nothing adds insult to injury like the pain of losing a beloved surfboard in a wipeout. When photographer/surfer Doug Falter lost his custom-made Lyle Carlson surfboard in huge swells off Waimea Bay, Hawaii, he thought his favorite surfboard was gone for good. Falter had just caught his seventh rad wave when he wiped out, and the surfboard leash came off his ankle. He swam after the board with all his might, but it disappeared from sight. After running across the bay and scaling huge rocks to try to get a good vantage point, Falter knew it was a lost cause. Still, as a last resort, he took to social media, posting pictures in the hopes a sailor or fisherman might spot it on the water. This combination image of two handout photographs show, at left, a picture taken by Brent Bielman on Oct. 18, 2015, of surfer Doug Falter posing with his surfboard in Hawaii, and at right, an undated picture taken in 2020 courtesy of Giovanne Branzuela showing Branzuela posing with the same surfboard on Sarangani island in the Philippines. (Brent Bielman/Giovanne Branzuela/Handout/AFP/Getty Images) I was really upset, he wrote. I managed to catch the biggest waves of my life on this board. Thats why it meant so much to me. Falter had heard of surfboards washing up in Kauai, but he never imagined his surfboard would show up 5,200 miles away in the Philippines. Months after the surfboard was lost, a Filipino man purchased the long-lost surfboard from a fisherman for $40 because he wanted to learn how to surf. Branzuela, a school teacher in the Philippines, after finding out about Lyle Carlsons lost board, reached out to him and informed him that his board had been found. When I saw the picture of it, I couldnt believe it, Falter said. I thought it was a joke. In the picture, his surfboard was water-worn, faded, and yellowed from months at sea. Nonetheless, Falter recognized his custom-made baby. This is 5,200 miles away! Falter wrote in utter shock. [But] as bummed as I was when I lost it, now I am happy to know my board fell into the hands of someone wanting to learn the sport. I couldnt imagine a better ending to this story than to see the sport of surfing begin in a place where nobody surfs. Now, Falter has an excuse to visit the Philippines. This undated handout photo received on Sept. 18, 2020, courtesy of Giovanne Branzuela shows Filipino teacher Giovanne Branzuela (L) posing with his surfboard, once owned by big-wave surfer Doug Falter, who lost it while surfing in Hawaii, along with his village mates on Sarangani island in the Philippines. (Giovanne Branzuela/Handout/AFP/Getty Images) He wrote on social media that he would have flown out immediately if it werent for travel restrictions due to the pandemic. In the meantime, he has decided to raise money for Branzuela and his 144 students. If it werent for travel restrictions I would have raised money to bring boards for learning and surf supplies, Falter said. I could teach him how to surf and hopefully a few of his 144 students For now the most I can do is raise money to send him a goodie package with wax, leashes, books and magazines for his students to learn English. For now, Branzuela will have to practice on his own. Its been my dream to learn to surf and ride the big waves here. For now I can use his surfboard, Branzuela said. I told him I will take good care of it. We would love to hear your stories! You can share them with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.nyc By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 61 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 (Natural News) Not that the vast majority of Americans (who still get their news from the propagandists and liars in the mainstream media) are aware, but two Senate committees dropped a report on Wednesday that, were it not involving the current Democratic presidential nominee and his family, would have led the news cycle for weeks. To recap, a year-long probe by the Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Finance Committee discovered a number of irregularities and questionable behavior on the part of Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden, as well as the former vice president himself. According to a summary of the 87-page report, officials within the Obama administration ignored clear warning signs about ethical conflicts and possible extortion risks involving Joe Bidens family. Notably, the Treasury Department, in a series of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), flagged millions of dollars exchanged between Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy firm on which Hunter Biden sat as a board member, Yelena Baturina, a Russian oligarch, and a Chinese businessman who has ties to the ChiCom government. The Treasury records acquired by the Chairmen show potential criminal activity relating to transactions among and between Hunter Biden, his family, and his associates with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals, the report says. Hunter Biden paid nonresident women who were nationals of Russia or other Eastern European countries and who appear to be linked to an Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring, the report notes. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told Just The News that the substantial amount of suspicious activity alone puts the former vice president at risk of illicit influence or even extortion should he somehow find a way to steal the election from President Trump. The report raises serious questions that former Vice President Biden needs to answer. There are simply too many potential conflicts of interest, counterintelligence and extortion threats to ignore, he said. Thats exactly right; say what you will about President Trump, but a) the man doesnt need someone elses money; and b) hes not even taking a salary himself (not a dime since getting into office; all his checks are donated to a needy government agency). That means there is zero influence that can be exerted on him; he owes no one. A President Biden, though? Not so much. The Obama administration knew that Hunter Bidens position on Burismas board was problematic and did interfere in the efficient execution of policy with respect to Ukraine, the report noted. Moreover, this investigation has illustrated the extent to which officials within the Obama administration ignored the glaring warning signs when the vice presidents son joined the board of a company owned by a corrupt Ukrainian oligarch. In addition to the over $4 million paid by Burisma for Hunter Bidens and Archers board memberships, Hunter Biden, his family, and Archer received millions of dollars from foreign nationals with questionable backgrounds, the report adds. What about the former vice president himself? He, too, will have some exposure, especially from China, whom he has already downplayed as a potential U.S. enemy. During his December 2013 trip to China, during which Hunter Biden flew on Air Force Two, Hunter Biden admitted he met with a Chinese banker, says the report. According to news reports, Hunter Biden appeared to be conducting his own private business during this specific trip and was working to secure a deal in the hopes of creating a Chinese equity fund. Joe Biden reportedly paved the way for his sons deal by downplaying the Chinese threat to Japan, which alarmed the Japanese at the time, according to a National Sentinel video news report. After meeting with the U.S.-China Business Council and President Xi Jinping, the then-vice president took a soft tone with China, alarming Japanese ally Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was increasingly concerned about Chinas growing militarism. About 10 days later, Hunter Biden and his business partners secured a huge billion-dollar deal with a state-owned Chinese bank. Watch: Sources include: NaturalNews.com JustTheNews.com Actor Rakul Preet Singhs statement was recorded on Friday by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with a drug case related to the death of Sushant Singh Rajput in June. The agency had on Wednesday also summoned actors Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor, fashion designer Simone Khambatta and celebrity manager Shruti Modi for the ongoing case. According to news agency PTI, Rakul Preet Singh, 29, was seen entering the guest house, from where the central agency is operating, in Colaba around 10.30am. Rakul Preet Singhs statement was recorded by the SIT today. It will be analysed and produced before the court, Mutha Ashok Jain, NCBs director general, told reporters. NCB said that Karishma Prakash, actor Deepika Padukones manager, joined the investigation and she has been called again on Saturday. Karishma Prakash works at KWAN talent agency. Also read | Bombay HC to hear Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showiks bail pleas on Tuesday KWANs CEO Dhruv Chitgopekar and film producer Madhu Mantena have also appeared before NCB for questioning in the matter. Shruti Modi, the former business manager of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, has been questioned by NCB as well. Padukone, who was in Goa, reached Mumbai on Thursday with her husband Ranveer Singh. According to NCB, Padukone has submitted to join the investigation on Saturday, in connection with a drug case related to the late actor. Actor Rhea Chakraborty, who was arrested in the drug case, is in judicial custody which has been extended till October 6. NCB had launched an investigation after it received official communication from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in which there were various chats related to drug consumption, procurement, usage and transportation. The ED had on July 31 registered an Enforcement Case Information Report in the late actors death case after a First Information Report was filed by Rajputs father KK Singh against Rhea Chakraborty in Bihar on July 28. Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai residence on June 14. (With agency inputs) They've been dealing with COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter. And on Thursday, the cast of Bravo's Southern Charm, filmed in Charleston, returned in a new sneak peek of the reality show's upcoming seventh season. The group of South Carolina friends are seen discussing the coronavirus pandemic, dealing with the cultural fall out of the renewed protests against systemic racism and, of course, detailing their romantic entanglements. Back for more: Bravo released a sneak peek at the seventh season of reality show Southern Charm, centered on a group of friends in Charleston, South Carolina, on Thursday Drama: And the show's most notorious star Kathryn Dennis is once again front and center as she navigates the news that her ex Thomas Ravenel is having a baby with another woman The show's most notorious star Kathryn Dennis is back - and back on the booze. The ex-partner of Thomas Ravenel, with whom she shares two children, appears to have fallen off the wagon as she's shown downing a shot and making fun of her lapse in sobriety. The troubled redhead also has to deal in the new season with the news that Ravenel is having a baby with another woman and claims she sent racially charged messages over social media including using a monkey emoji in a message to a Black woman. Fell off the wagon: Dennis, who shares two children with Ravenel, is also back on the booze. In the clip, she's shown downing a shot and making fun of her lapse in sobriety Scandal: The troubled redhead is also accused of sending racist messages to a Black woman and newcomer Leva Bonaparte confronts Dennis for 'living in a bubble of white privilege' History: Bonaparte also points out to other castmembers that nineteenth century politician and defender of slavery John C. Calhoun is an ancestor of Dennis, causing shockwaves 'In my heart, I know I'm the furthest thing from racist,' Dennis is seen saying as she denies sending a monkey emoji. Newcomer Leva Bonaparte, who is of Persian descent and married to Charleston native Lamar, confronts Dennis for 'living in a bubble of white privilege.' She also points out to other castmembers that nineteenth century politician and defender of slavery John C. Calhoun is an ancestor of Dennis. 'For me, it's about the change I want to see in this little southern town of mine,' Leva says in the sneak peek The trailer clip shows footage of Calhoun's statue being removed from its prominent place in Charleston earlier this year. Returning castmember Danni Baird appears shocked at the connection between Dennis and Calhoun. Baird is also shown having a face-to-face conversation on her porch with Dennis about the state of their friendship, which ends with her telling Dennis to leave. Cool reception: Danni Baird is seen having a face-to-face conversation on her porch with Dennis about the state of their friendship, which ends with her telling Dennis to leave Guy talk: Also returning for another season are Austen Kroll, left, and Craig Conover, right Joining in: Kroll's on/off girlfriend Madison LeCroy has been recruited as a full-time member of the cast for season seven Girl trouble: Shep Rose returns and, naturally, his romantic entanglements continue to be a source of drama Meanwhile, Austen Kroll's on/off girlfriend Madison LeCroy has been recruited as a full-time member of the cast for season seven. Shep Rose introduces his new girlfriend Taylor Ann Green to the group but won't say if he's serious about her. Also back is Craig Conover and socialite Patricia Altschul along with her butler Michael. Absent, though, are Cameran Eubanks, Naomie Olindo and Chelsea Meissner who announced earlier this year they were leaving the show. The new season of Southern Charm was filmed between February and July with cast also documenting some of the drama themselves during lockdown. Southern Charm's new season will premiere on Bravo on Thursday, October 29, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Previous seasons are currently available to watch on NBCUniversal's new streaming platform Peacock. ROME - Pope Francis urged world leaders Friday to use the coronavirus emergency as an opportunity to reform the injustices of the global economy and the perverse logic of the nuclear deterrence doctrine, warning that increased isolationist responses to problems must not prevail. Francis laid out his appeal for greater involvement and influence of the United Nations in protecting the poor, migrants and the environment in a videotaped speech Friday to the U.N. General Assembly, held mostly virtually this year because of the pandemic. Francis said the world has a choice to make as it emerges from the COVID-19 crisis and addresses the grave economic impact it has had on the planets most vulnerable: greater solidarity, dialogue and multilateralism, or self-retreat into greater nationalism, individualism and elitism. The latter, he said, would certainly be detrimental to the whole community, causing self-inflicted wounds on everyone. It must not prevail. Ever since the virus struck Italy in late February, Francis has sought to show the interconnectedness of the pandemic with the health of the planet and its people. His message is that the crisis provides a chance to come out better or worse, and that there are plenty of reasons to work to come out better. The pandemic has shown us that we cannot live without one another, or worse still, pitted against one another, he said. This is why, at this critical juncture, it is our duty to rethink the future of our common home and our common project. Francis is expected to lay out further his vision for solidarity and the post-COVID world in an encyclical to be released Oct. 4. In a way, his U.N. speech was something of an executive summary or blueprint for what is expected, a brief overview of his core concerns of economic justice, environmental protection and care for societys most marginal. Francis reaffirmed the Catholic Churchs opposition to abortion one of the Vaticans key ideological points of contention with the United Nations. He said recourse to abortion had only increased in the pandemic, saying it was sad that some countries were promoting abortion as an essential service to be provided even during the health emergency. It is troubling to see how simple and convenient it has become for some to deny the existence of a human life as a solution to problems that can and must be solved for both the mother and her unborn child, he said. Francis called for basic health care for all, the reduction, if not forgiveness of debt for the worlds poorest countries and a reform of the Bretton-Woods financial institutions which he said are only escalating inequalities between rich and poor. Now is a fitting time to renew the architecture of international finance, he said. He repeated his demand for an end to the doctrine of nuclear deterrence, which he articulated most fully during his 2019 visit to Japan at the memorial dedicated to victims of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima. We need to dismantle the perverse logic that links personal and national security to the possession of weaponry, he said. Nuclear deterrence, in particular, creates an ethos of fear based on the threat of mutual annihilation; in this way, it ends up poisoning relationships between peoples and obstructing dialogue. ALBANY Saturday Night Live comedian Fred Armisen portrayed former New York Gov. David Paterson as a bumbling fool, bumping into walls and cameras. But in September 2010, under the bright lights of 30 Rocks Studio 8H and in front of a live audience, Paterson got the last laugh. You guys spent so much time talking about me being blind, I forgot I was Black, Paterson cracked, the crowd erupting with laughter. The SNL saga, Patersons ascension to the governorship, his time in office; run-ins with presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump; and more are chronicled in Patersons autobiography, which comes out Monday. The former governor spoke with the Times Union and reminisced on the stories in the book and others not included in the biography. Paterson had one foot out the door after a tumultuous tenure as governor that began in 2008 when, as lieutenant governor, he stepped in finish the unexpired first term of scandal-plagued Eliot Spitzer. SNL had been mocking Paterson for years, as had the New York press corps, and, he said, kids on the playground when he was a boy. Everything became a blindness thing, Paterson said. I think that when SNL did it, that was one thing, but all of a sudden it was open season to make me feel the way I felt when I was 9 years old on the playground and people called me cross-eyed. I would always say, 'Look, Im the governor, you can make fun of me however you want, Im still the governor, but theres a whole lot of other people who are blind or have other disabilities and think these jokes are about them,'" he said. I decided to basically beat them at their own game. That led to his appearance on the show, where Paterson got the last word against the comedians and writers who had needled him for so long. He also got the last word against the people who teased him on the playground. Two years earlier, in March 2008, the second floor office shared by staff of the governor and lieutenant governor was eerily quiet. Something was up. Paterson didn't notice from his third-floor office. Finally he received a call from an aide to Spitzer, who was secretly ringing him from a bathroom against the orders of the governor. The aide told Paterson that Spitzer was resigning the next day due to Spitzer's once-secret involvement with prostitutes. Paterson assumed that Spitzer had invested money with the wrong people inadvertently until an aide walked into his office to explain in more detail what had occurred. I have limited vision, but Charles was beat red, Paterson said with a laugh. At that point I knew, 'oh, this is a little bit more than I thought it was.' So I just remember this feeling, just this feeling of what am I supposed to do right now?" One of the first things he did was call then-Sen. Hillary Clinton and tell her what happened. On the phone, Paterson said he talked his way around the question, simply saying that Spitzer was resigning, but not articulating why. Finally, she stopped him: Why is he resigning? she asked. And thats when it hits me. How do I explain this, Paterson said, pausing here, to Hillary Clinton? I almost felt like I was in the scandal. So, I said, 'Well, he got caught with a prostitute. And there was dead silence. And I say, Yeah, there was a prostitution ring or something. And, finally, she says, Oh, what a world. Paterson, a political ally of the Clintons, went on to support her 2008 primary race against Obama earning him no points with the eventual president. Later, an Obama administration official personally tried to get Paterson to drop out of the governors race, he said, which he eventually did. Years later, Bill Clinton called Paterson and told him to meet him at the Sheraton Hotel in New York City. Paterson went up to the hotel room, but Clinton wasnt there yet. In the sitting room of the suite was a longer couch and a chair. Paterson sat at one end of the couch. When Clinton arrived, Paterson said he expected the former president to sit in the chair, but instead he plopped down in the middle of the couch, right next to the governor. Clinton said he thought it was a shame the Obama people werent happy with Paterson for sticking by the Clintons, but he couldnt publicly comment on it because it was not fair, he had said, for former presidents to criticize current presidents. Why am I here then? Paterson asked him, and Clinton said it was to tell him that the Clintons appreciate him and love him, and so he can give him a hug. They embraced. Now, at this point, Ive been accused of everything, Paterson said of his thoughts as he walked out of the hotel. And now Im going to be accused of having an affair with Bill Clinton. Paterson said he has a few regrets about his time as governor. He wishes hed recruited his own staff who were primarily loyal to him. And he said he regrets not following a piece of advice given to him at that time by Trump to be more aggressive with the media or ignore them completely, a tactic that has become the cornerstone of the presidents political brand. He recounted Trump, talking to him about weathering controversy in Paterson's personal relationships, saying: Listen, youre handling this perfectly. People can talk about you, people can gossip about you, but people know perfectly well that stuff like this is happening in their lives or their relatives lives." The book indulges in "what-ifs" as well: Had I not been stonewalled by Obama, Cuomo, and about 50 other people, I may have even had a crack at the presidency. Or, better still, the vice presidency and another hooker incident. CANBERRA, Australia - China appears to be expanding its network of secret detention centres in Xinjiang, where predominantly Muslim minorities are targeted in a forced assimilation campaign, and more of the facilities resemble prisons, an Australian think-tank has found. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute used satellite images and official construction tender documents to map more than 380 suspected detention facilities in the far northwestern region, highlighting internment camps, detention centres and prisons that have been newly built or expanded since 2017. The report builds on evidence that China has made a policy shift from detaining Uighurs and other largely Muslim minorities in makeshift public buildings to constructing permanent mass detention facilities. This is despite Chinese state news agency Xinhua reporting late last year that trainees attending vocational education and training centres meant to deradicalize them had all graduated. Regional government chairman Shohrat Zakir was quoted as saying that foreign media reports of 1 million or 2 million people attending these centres were fabricated, though he would not provide any figures. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Friday dismissed the report as pure disinformation and slander, saying the Australian institute had no academic credibility. China does not operate so-called detention camps in Xinjiang, Wang told reporters at a daily briefing. Citing media reports and investigations by internet users, Wang said one of the sites in the report had been identified as an electronics manufacturing park and another as a five-star residential complex. So we also hope that all sectors can distinguish truth from falsehood and together resist such absurd assertions concocted by anti-China institutions, Wang said. Predominantly Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region have been locked in camps as part of a government assimilation campaign launched in response to decades of sometimes violent struggle against Chinese rule. Though officials described the camps as boarding school-like facilities meant to provide free job training, former detainees say they were subjected to brutal conditions, political indoctrination, beatings, and sometimes psychological and physical torture. Under the assimilation drive, the state has forced Uighurs to undergo sterilizations and abortions, an Associated Press investigation found, and in recent months, has ordered them to drink traditional Chinese medicines to combat the coronavirus. Australian Strategic Policy Institute researcher Nathan Ruser wrote in the report released late Thursday: Available evidence suggests that many extrajudicial detainees in Xinjiangs vast re-education network are now being formally charged and locked up in higher security facilities, including newly built or expanded prisons, or sent to walled factory compounds for coerced labour assignments. At least 61 detention sites had undergone new construction and expansion work in a year to July 2020, the report said. These included at least 14 facilities still under construction this year. Of these, about 50% are higher security facilities, which may suggest a shift in usage from the lower-security, re-education centres toward higher-security prison-style facilities, Ruser wrote. At least 70 facilities appeared to have lesser security by the removal of internal fencing or perimeter walls, the report said. These included eight camps that showed signs of decommissioning, and had possibly been closed. Of the camps stripped of security infrastructure, 90% were lower security facilities, the report said. The think-tank s findings align with AP interviews with dozens of relatives and former detainees that indicate many in the camps have been sentenced in secret, extrajudicial trials and transferred to high-security prisons for things like having contact with people abroad, having too many children and studying Islam. Many others deemed less of a risk, like women or the elderly, have been transferred to a form of house arrest or forced labour in factories. EU unity on WTO chief frays as Hungary backs Britain's Fox FILE PHOTO: Liam Fox is seen outside Downing Street in London By Michael Nienaber and Philip Blenkinsop BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU governments agreed on Monday on the qualities they want from the next leader of the World Trade Organization, but no longer back the same candidates after Hungary said committed Brexiteer Liam Fox would be one of its picks. The bloc were united on their choices in the first round of selection as the field was cut from eight to five. But Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Sunday evening his country would back Fox, a former Conservative trade minister who strongly supported Britain's exit from the European Union, as well as Kenya's Amina Mohamed in round two. A number of EU countries, notably France, oppose Fox's candidacy, EU diplomats say. Earlier on Monday, Fox told a briefing that he was hoping for more EU support. "I would say that the UK is following exactly the agenda that the EU would have had, had the EU had a candidate in this race, which of course it doesn't." His pro-free trade agenda would be beneficial to most European economies, such as Hungary, the 10th most open economy in the world in terms of trade as a percentage of GDP, or two other top 10 nations Luxembourg or Ireland. German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told a news conference after EU trade ministers met in Berlin that the EU had done well to get three of its picks through - Mohamed, Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea's Yoo Myung-hee. He added there was a good chance that an overwhelming majority of EU countries would stick together on the issue. European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, who now oversees trade at the EU executive, said there was "strong agreement" among ministers on Monday that the next WTO director-general should be someone capable of managing profound reform. "To be credible the new leader of the WTO must enjoy the trust of WTO members and be able to present balanced views that reflect the diverse nature of WTO membership." The WTO has said it wants to select the winning candidate by early November. (Reporting by Michael Nienaber in Berlin, Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels and Krisztina Than in Budapest; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Colombo, Sep 25 : Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has ordered for the termination of a Light Railway Transit (LRT) project which was to be constructed in capital Colombo, the local EconomyNext reported here. According to government officials, the LRT project was a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded project and the President had ordered for its immediate suspension as it was not an effective transport solution, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. EconomyNext quoting a letter written to the Transport Ministry Secretary, Secretary to the President P.B. Jayasundara said the project was very costly and not the appropriate cost effective transport solution for the urban Colombo transportation infrastructure. The project was likely to cost an estimated US $1.5 billion. "A suitable transport solution could be worked out in consultation with the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing and the Department of National Planning of the Ministry of Finance," Jayasundara wrote, adding that the President had also ordered the immediate closure of the project office. Sri Lanka signed a 30 billion yen (284.57 million U.S. dollars) concessionary loan with the government of Japan in March 2020 for the projects. The government also expressed concern about buildings that might be affected by the LRT. The LRT project was expected to cover a distance of 17 km. Sixteen LRT stations were to be constructed along the route. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Teddy Boy Locsin, Jr. said he has ordered ambassadors in the Middle East to deny convicted Filipino drug dealers a chance to return to the Philippines through prisoner exchanges. I wont allow the pardon of convicted Filipino drug dealers in the Middle East," Locsin announced on his Twitter account on Friday. "My orders to my ambassadors there is exclude drug dealers from prisoner exchanges, I smell a local connection to the local drug trade," the senior diplomat added. "Sorry. No mercy, . Echoing President Rodrigo Dutertes tough talk on drug users, Locsin said, You destroy my people, I will let the law abroad destroy you. He also said that unlike in Indonesia, these dealers were not fooled. He was apparently referring to the case of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on death row in Indonesia after 2.6 kilograms of heroin was found in her luggage in 2010. Her alleged recruiters in the Philippines are facing charges of illegal recruitment, human trafficking, and estafa. Senate President Vicente Tito Sotto III supported Locsins refusal to help Filipinos who were found guilty of drug offenses abroad. Exactly my position when I was Dangerous Drugs Board Chairman, he said in a tweet. Early this month, the Justice Department said 95 Filipinos convicted of various crimes in the United Arab Emirates were flown home in exchange for two Emirati citizens who were jailed in the Philippines. Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete announced this prisoner swap in a radio interview, saying it was the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs that made the demand, but no other details were disclosed. KYODO NEWS - Sep 25, 2020 - 22:07 | World, All A judicial probe into the 2014 massacre of 132 schoolchildren in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar blamed the tragedy on inadequate school security and local support for the terrorists, declassified parts of the investigation report revealed Friday. The 525-page report, authored by Peshawar High Court judge Mohammad Ibrahim Khan and dated June 26, 2020, was partially declassified on the instructions of the Supreme Court, which had set up a judicial commission to probe the attack that also left 13 teachers and other adults dead. Nine heavily armed terrorists stormed the school compound at around 10 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2014, by climbing over the school's back wall. Shooting and flinging grenades, they forced their way to the auditorium where a large number of students had assembled for first aid training and were most of the casualties occurred. The rampage at the school with nearly 1,100 students had continued for about eight hours. Many of the students and teachers killed in the attack were lined up and shot in the head. Others were gunned down while trying to hide. The attack, one of the worst in Pakistan's history, was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban as revenge for the military's operations in North Waziristan, which was then a rebel-held territory. Most of the students at school, situated in a military complex in Peshawar, came from families of troops. About 132 witnesses, including 31 police and army officials testified before the judicial commission, which also examined previous investigations by police and other security agencies. "The assistance provided to the fanatics from the inhabitants of the locality...is unpardonable," the judge wrote in the report. He further noted that one of the two mobile patrols deployed at the school, because of a general threat alert regarding educational institutions run by the military, was first tricked by the terrorists into leaving its position by setting a vehicle on fire. This, it said, exposed the backside of the premises allowing the terrorists to enter the school from there unchallenged. The judge said there were inadequate guards at the school, and even those deployed were improperly stationed with more focus on the front of the compound. This, he said, compromised the security on the rear side. "Equally incomprehensible is the inertia on part of (the guards) to the initial heavy firing and blasts by the terrorists," the judge observed in his report. "Had they shown a little response and engaged the militants at the very beginning, the impact of the incident might have been lesser." He noted that the mobile patrol was later punished for its negligence after being found guilty through a court of inquiry. But he did not elaborate what punishment was given to its members. The incident prompted the then government to set up military courts for trial of terrorists and end a then six-year-long moratorium on capital punishment. One such court later sentenced six of the attackers to death, while another received a life sentence. Five of the convicts have so far been executed. Two others have been on the run. Hoi An Ancient Town in central Quang Nam Province started welcoming tourists again on Thursday after two months of social distancing to stall COVID-19, offering a 50 percent discount on admission fees at many well-known destinations. According to Truong Thi Ngoc Cam, director the Center for Culture, Sports, Radio and Television of Hoi An City, promenades in the famous tourist attraction have resumed operations. A 50 percent discount on admission fees at all destinations will be applicable until the end of October. Local authorities have plans to extend the discount program until the end of this year. Motorized vehicles will be banned from entering the ancient quarter from 9:00 am to 11:00 am and between 3:00 pm and 9:00 pm. Art and performance activities have also been organized in the area, including the 'bai choi' folk singing game at the An Hoi junction or the blindfolded pot smashing game on Chau Thuong Van Street. Other performances, such as the 'Tieng Duong Cam' (The Sound of Piano) music show, 'Trang phuc Hoi An Ky uc thoi gian' (Hoi An Fashion Memories of Time) fashion show, are available on weekends. Street stalls and shops have also been reopened. During the social distancing period, the local government upgraded public facilities and expanded sidewalks to improve tourism services. A new lighting system has been installed on Le Loi Street and Hai Ba Trung Street, while the decorative lighting system of Hoi An City has been improved. Other tourist attractions in Hoi An, including Tra Que Vegetable Village, Cam Thanh Coconut Village, and Thanh Ha Pottery Village, have been opened again with some discount programs. On Wednesday, Hoi An Citys government gave approval for the Quang Nam Tourism Association and some households to organize Tan Thanh Market on Nguyen Phan Vinh Street every Saturday, from early October to the end of this year. Traders at the market are encouraged to sell local handicraft products and specialties. The city started suspending all activities on July 28 in the wake of a fresh outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in neighboring Da Nang three days earlier. With more than 30 positive cases, Hoi An was one of the two epicenters of Quang Nam Province. Meanwhile, Da Nang released its last COVID-19 patient from the hospital on Wednesday, said the Ministry of Health. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A photo illustration show a syringe. Argentina was selected to test a vaccine against COVID-19, it is estimated that the clinical phases will begin in August. Carol Smiljan/NurPhoto via Getty Images President Donald Trump suggested that the White House could bypass the US Food and Drug Administration on approving a coronavirus vaccine. Marc Sanchez, an FDA attorney, and consultant, said the remark was an "unfortunate attempt to increase the pressure on the FDA." Sanchez said doing that would erode public trust in the agency and in a vaccine. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. President Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that the White House could bypass the US Food and Drug Administration on approving a coronavirus vaccine. Marc Sanchez, an FDA attorney and consultant, said doing so would not only "upend" the FDA's structure but erode the public's trust in the agency to roll out a safe and vaccine on its own. Sanchez said the comment was an "unfortunate attempt to increase the pressure on the FDA." "FDA has historically been slower than its counterparts around the world in approving novel medical devices and drugs, taking seriously the role of protecting public health and safety over speedy approvals," Sanchez said. The FDA announced stricter protocols when it came to approving an emergency coronavirus vaccine, and FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn made a promise that the "FDA will not authorize or approve a vaccine that we would not feel comfortable giving to our families." "FDA will not authorize or approve any Covid-19 vaccine before it has met the agency's rigorous expectations for safety and effectiveness," Hahn told the Senate Health Committee. "Decisions to authorize or approve any such vaccine or therapeutic will be made by the dedicated career staff at FDA, through our thorough review processes, and science will guide our decisions." He added: "FDA will not permit any pressure from anyone to change that." However, during the news conference at the White House on Wednesday, Trump erroneously cast any delay in releasing a COVID-19 vaccine to the public as "a political move." Story continues "That has to be approved by the White House. We may or may not approve it," Trump said. "Why would they be adding great length to the process?" Sanchez told Business Insider that he is not aware of whether the president is able to make such a move. But said that considering that the FDA is an executive agency, he supposed "there could be a situation where President Trump revoked this delegation and makes a decision directly," which "would totally upend not only the FDA structure but how we think of executive agencies generally." "FDA relies on public trust, and the FDA staff I have worked with and befriended in over a decade of practice understand this keenly," Sanchez said. "It is terrible to think of FDA losing that trust." He added that the independence of the agency is critical so that people can remain confident in the vaccine and the overall quality of the agency. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine test in Thailand Reuters Sanchez drew on the contentious reputation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has recently been embroiled in public disputes with the Trump administration over health guidelines and recommendations amid the coronavirus pandemic. "There's this core public trust, and we have that in the FDA. Part of that core trust is that its independent, and that independence is rooted in science and public health, protecting public health through good science," he said, adding that he thinks the CDC has failed to establish such independence and reliance on "pure science." Sanchez highlighted that the FDA work with hydroxychloroquine, and how despite political pressure they still based their rulings on scientific information. He explained that FDA approval for vaccines in many cases gets more scrutiny than other drugs because they affect essentially the entire population. He said the organization goes through multiple steps from clinical work in several different phases to do a risk-benefit analysis and evaluate the safety and efficacy of a vaccine. "Normally that process would take years and we're talking about it in a non-pandemic, a non-priority drug. It's a very long process to go through," Sanchez said. "Obviously, we're trying to truncate that process in the interest of public health, but not trying to take shortcuts in a way that introduce new risk or upset that balance of risk and benefit." He added, however, that the political commentary and focus on a vaccine, including claims by Trump to have one ready before the election, has added some degree of pressure to researchers, who would normally do their work without any rush. "Now we have the management themselves receiving political pressure that then kind of continues to push down. So I think that's principally what we've seen or can see happen is ordinary reviewers being told to hurry their work or to produce a result more quickly," he said. "And so I think that's part of that public trust element that we've got to make sure that they continue to do the work aware of the pandemic and the public health need for this, but not making a decision or rushing their work to make mistakes." Read the original article on Business Insider The Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) was founded in 1951 to deal with the aftermath of the polio epidemic that swept Ireland in the 40s and 50s. Founders Lady Valerie Goulding and Kathleen ORourke set up the CRC to respond to the needs of children and adults who had been left with disabilities as a result of the illness. It has grown from a small clinic in Upper Pembroke Street in Dublin to an advanced organisation that supports people with disabilities and their families across the country. To mark the launch of Fair Play To You, a new online lottery from The Care Trust that will raise funds for CRC, Rehab and the Mater Hospital, we spoke to CRC CEO Stephanie Manahan about how its services help its users. A national specialist in physical disabilities From its humble beginnings in the 50s, the CRC has grown to become an organisation that works with around 3,500 children with disabilities and their families as well as almost 400 adults. Clearly time moved on significantly and the world became more sophisticated and the CRC grew and grew and grew to encompass, in the main, a broader spectrum of physical disabilities, explains Stephanie. We are one of the very few organisations in the country that specialises in physical disability so we specialise in rare and complex physical disabilities across the country. We have people from every county in Ireland who would attend our services. Users can avail of its specialist services in its Dublin, Waterford or Limerick locations but it also provides clinical outreach services. It also has a multidisciplinary team that includes a doctor, speech and language therapist, social worker, psychologist, occupational therapist and physio who provide consultations throughout the country. Although the majority of its work is with children and families, it also provides adults with rehabilitation, individualised care, disability services and education opportunities aimed at supporting meaningful occupation and integration to their communities. Its all part of the greater mission to help people with disabilities fulfil their potential and be as independent as possible. Support where its needed The CRC provides social and medical care, technological solutions for its users, and a range of services to help children with disabilities enjoy as full a life as possible. Weve got orthopaedic consultants, neuro-disability consultants, and paediatricians and they work with our multi-disciplinary team on diagnosis and treatment planning in the earlier phases, which are then the building blocks for being able to get the best for the children, says Stephanie. Its really important in those early days to understand what the best treatment plan for a child is before you engage them in their next journey and their plans for the future. It is a national leader on assistive technology and specialist seating, solving problems for children and adults with technology and providing bespoke wheelchair and seating solutions for those who cant just buy an off-the-shelf wheelchair. Its amazing because the seating service works very closely with assistive technology. We have people here who would have no use of their limbs, they may have no ability to speak but their eyes can operate their wheelchair through a system of assistive technology. It is really creative and theres such scope these days to give people the opportunity to manage their own lives through technology. They are at the forefront of providing technological solutions for children with disabilities, which can allow them to do things that would once have seemed impossible. Its always so delightful to see families when they can see something small that makes a difference to a child. Often, they will say Oh we never thought our child could do that. And that will be through technology. CRC are also trustees for schools in Clontarf and Clondalkin in Co Dublin. Its a vital service for children that could otherwise struggle to have their needs met in a classroom environment. Stephanie points out that some classes could have seven adults to five children, with a teacher, five SNAs and a nurse to provide support for students. We provide a whole host of services across the whole spectrum for children predominantly, but we also do some fabulous work with their families, says Stephanie. If it takes a village to raise a child, well it certainly takes an extended family to raise a child with disabilities. The CRC runs workshops to support parents whose child has been recently diagnosed, siblings of children with disabilities, and grandparents. Its team of family support workers visit families, and help to look after the child with disabilities. It also runs annual summer camps for the children, which gives the parents much-needed respite and provides the kids with an experience they might otherwise miss out on. The importance of additional funding Although the CRC is funded by the state, the funds raised through The Care Trust and other sources allow them to innovate and provide additional services. When Covid-19 struck, the CRC responded to transform its services overnight and pivot to virtual appointments, consultations and classes. It also invested in devices to give to families and students to allow them to avail of these online services. We were able to do a huge amount of outreach work, which was all funded by The Care Trust and our fundraising. During the Covid-19 crisis, CRC staff also supported other health services when they had to shut down their offices during lockdown. While core teams ran essential online sessions, the rest of the CRC staff were redeployed to hospitals, hospices, testing facilities and nursing homes to provide help during the crisis. They had all returned by July but at one point there were 112 CRC staff actively supporting other organisations. The experience forced the CRC to innovate and overcome, something that they have previously been able to facilitate with funding from The Care Trust. They previously used funding to open a hub in Killester for adults with disabilities, which is focused on integrating them into the community as opposed to being a traditional day centre set up. What that gave us was the ability to prove the concept to the HSE and as a result of that, the HSE has funded a second hub which will be opening soon. Through The Care Trust funding, they were able to bring in an ABA psychologist, fund a fleet of 20 buses, and support essential research and development. The new Care Trust lottery, Fair Play To You, gives people a chance to support the work of the CRC, Rehab and the Mater Hospital, with a chance to win up to 25,000. Simply log on to the Fair Play To You website and you can buy a line for just 1, with the option to buy one or more lines at a time. Each unique line gives you three numbers. If your three numbers come up as the bonus numbers in the Lotto, Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 in the next draw, you could win the current jackpot of 5,000. If theres no winner, the jackpot can grow to as much as 25,000. Your support can make a real difference to peoples lives. Stephanie recalls the CRC receiving an anonymous donation of 10,000 and a card from a family that had used their services. They wrote a beautiful card saying that when their child was born, they were in the depths of despair and they came here and we changed their lives. That was how they put it, because they could suddenly see a future. Its quick and easy to sign up to Fair Play To You. Go to the Fair Play To You website now and sign up for your chance to win cash prizes while helping three great Irish charities - CRC, Rehab and the Mater Hospital. Sponsored by British telecom giant Vodafone has tasted victory against the Indian government in an international court, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at the Hague, over a retrospective tax bill of around Rs 40,000 crore. The whopping amount, which includes alleged tax liabilities, penalties and interest, was claimed by the Indian revenue authorities over the companys acquisition of the Indian assets of Hutch in 2007. The epic slugfest between both parties has played out for more than a decade at various legal forums, including tax tribunals, the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court. It is widely considered as perhaps the most controversial global tax dispute over a cross-border deal. In 2012, the apex court ruled that the tax department had no jurisdiction to impose obligations on Vodafone for transfer of shares of a foreign company between two non-residents. Then came the sudden twist which soured Indias investment image and shook up the global tax community. The Indian Parliament introduced retrospective amendments to the Income Tax Act, which neutralised the top courts decision. This led to the aggrieved telco invoking The Netherlands-India Bilateral Investment Treaty. And in a setback to the Indian government, the PCA has now held that the governments insistence on the Rs 40,000 crore claim, despite the favourable verdict from the Supreme Court, was in breach of the terms of the Bilateral Investment Treaty. The PCA has also held that Vodafone is entitled to fair and equitable treatment under the Bilateral Investment Treaty signed between India and The Netherlands. Heres how the Finance Ministry responded to the PCA decision: The government will be studying the award and all its aspects carefully in consultation with counsels. After such consultations, the government will consider all options and take a decision on the further course of action including legal remedies before appropriate fora. Commercial disputes between private parties are subject to arbitration, which are confidential proceedings unlike regular open court hearings. Whether taxation disputes are commercial disputes or fall under the area of sovereignty is one aspect that has been raised in government circles post the PCAs stance. If tax spats do fall under sovereignty, the big question is whether India will surrender its sovereign powers to private commercial arbitrators. On the other hand, Vodafone has highlighted that any attempt by India to enforce the tax demand would be a violation of Indias international law obligations. By the looks of it, the road ahead for the implementation of the PCA decision may not be as smooth as it seems! Fereshte Sethna, Founding and Managing Partner at DMD Advocates Moneycontrols Ashwin Mohan caught up exclusively with Fereshte Sethna, Founding and Managing Partner at DMD Advocates, the law firm which advised Vodafone before the PCA for a quick chat on the implications of the decision on various stakeholders. Edited exceprts: Q: How significant is PCAs decision from the point of view of international investor sentiment? Investors were unhappy when the Indian government rolled out the unpopular retrospective amendment to overturn the apex courts verdict which favoured Vodafone. A: Indias obligations to international investors, including tax certainty, are once again back in sharp focus. The Supreme Court judgment of 2012 in the Vodafone case affirmed the requirement for tax certainty. The legislative exercise that followed, in order to lay retrospective tax claims on Vodafone and other investors, through attempting to eviscerate the Vodafone judgement has resulted in India defending multiple investor-state arbitrations. Q: You along with the rest of the team at DMD Advocates have been closely involved with this high-profile case right from day one when the first writ petition was filed at the Bombay High Court in 2008. Since then the spat has seen multiple rounds of litigation at various forums, including the tax tribunal and the top court. How has the journey been so far in this rather epic tax tussle? A: The constant, throughout the Vodafone tax litigation, has been the requirement for strict interpretation of tax laws, which ensures that the tax payer must acquire knowledge of tax exigibility, permitting for informed commercial decisions. Q: As a tax lawyer involved in litigation and arbitration, what are some of the key lessons that you have picked up through the course of this case? A: The key lesson for India is to actively engage with the tax payer. Multiple dispute resolution mechanisms abound. The tax administration must focus on ensuring that these are triggered in a timely manner and brought to fruition. Q: You have seen the Finance Ministry statement on the arbitration award. The Indian government will evaluate options, including legal ones, at the appropriate forum. Under law and as per procedure, what is the forum that can be moved by an aggrieved party? A: We will leave that to the advisors to India to work out the options. No doubt those are decisions that must be taken keeping in perspective the Indian tax payers interests. Q: What does today's (September 25) victory for Vodafone mean for other MNCs who might be involved in similar proceedings under respective treaties? Whats the key takeaway for them? A: While arbitration awards may not strictly constitute binding precedent value, in the interests of consistency, adverse rulings against India may follow Q: Do you think this is a good opportunity for the Indian government to reverse an unpopular tax law introduced by the earlier regime and restore tax policy certainty once and for all? A: Prospective taxation is bound to ensure tax certainty --- both for the tax payer and the revenue department of the Government of India. Hyderabad, Sep 25 : In a shocking case of honour killing, a youth from Hyderabad was kidnapped and murdered by the family members of his wife for marrying her against their wish. The body of Hemant Kumar, 28, was found in Sangareddy district near Hyderabad early Friday. Hemant and his wife Avanti were kidnapped by a group of people from their house in TNGO colony in Gachibowli area around 3 p.m. on Thursday. While Avanti managed to escape from their clutches by jumping out of a car, they took her husband to the city outskirts and murdered him. Cyberabad police have reportedly arrested 12 people in connection with the kidnap and murder. They include Avanti's maternal uncle, cousins and hired killers. Hemant and Avanti, who were neighbours, fell in love about eight years ago and wanted to marry. However, the girl's family, belonging to an upper caste, was opposed to the marriage. Avanti's parents locked her in home in November last year and were looking for another alliance. She later managed to escape and on June 10 this year, Hemant and Avanti entered into the wedlock at a temple in BHEL. As the couple faced threat from Avanti's family, they approached Cyberabad Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar, who referred the matter to Chandanagar police station. Both sides were called to the police station and Avanti's family was told not to trouble the couple. However, on Thursday a group of more than 10 people in three cars reached Hemant's house and asked the couple to come with them. "We were told that they want to discuss the issue and we boarded the cars. After a few minutes I realized that we have been kidnapped and I jumped out of the car," Avanti told reporters. However, the car carrying Hemant sped away towards Outer Ring Road. Though Avanti and Hemant's parents alerted police, the vehicle could not be traced and the youth's family was informed by police early Friday that his body was found in a field near Patancheru in Sangareddy district. This is the second such sensational case of honour killing in the state in two years. Earlier, Pranay, (24), a Dalit youth was hacked to death by a hired killer in full public view when he along with his wife Amrutha and mother were coming out of a private hospital in Miryalaguda on September 14, 2018. The sensational murder was caught on CCTV camera. Amrutha's father Maruthi Rao, who was against the marriage, had struck the deal to kill Pranay for Rs one crore. Ask chef Aaron London about the dishes he is planning to serve at his namesake restaurant, ALs Place, upon its reopening for outdoor dining Thursday, is to hear true excitement. Hell deep dive through the ingredients and preparation, explaining each one meticulously and tantalizingly as he picks his favorites on the retooled, seasonal menu The last thing I'll say, last dish, London promises, after having gone through three other items before launching into another explainer and the excitement is catching. After weeks of closure due to shelter-in-place, and well, everything else that has come along with COVID-19 followed by months of to-go service, London is more than ready to get back into some semblance of normalcy. I'm excited about serving food to guests again, London said by phone to SFGATE. I think that's a hugely important part of what we do in hospitality is: We make something delicious. We give it to somebody, we see their face light up that's really important for myself and for my team. I'm excited to plate food on a plate instead of a paper box. That is from the artistic side, that's wonderfully exciting, the creative side. I'm excited to just feel that energy of being in a restaurant. It's part of what got me into restaurants originally, right? ALs Place is finally reopening for outdoor dining with eight (socially distanced) tables and shiny new plexiglass barriers as of Thursday. Although outdoor dining has been happening in various ways for months, London has only recently become comfortable with the idea of welcoming back customers. He has been focusing his efforts these last three weeks on designing and building a comfortable and safe outdoor space for customers and staff, with six new cabanas in the works to serve even more diners in the upcoming weeks. Blair Heagerty / SFGATE But it wouldnt be a reopening without a touch of nervousness. London is reopening his hit restaurant which most notably earned Bon Appetit's Best New Restaurant accolade in its opening year in 2015 after months of a lack of normalcy and routine, plating everything into to-go boxes when he would have much rather be serving his creations on actual plates. When asked about his concerns or nervousness on reopening, London has plenty on his mind. There is, of course, first-day jitters, like it is for many restaurateurs on the apex of opening day, let alone one that comes after a closure forced by a pandemic. One would just be natural butterflies in the tummy before day one of opening, London said. No matter how much work and energy and thought we've been putting into making sure we're ready for everything, it's still like being at the top of the roller coaster ride. It's like, OK, let's fing go. I just want service to start already. So there's some of that anticipation. But of course, now there are more concerns to worry about, including safety and the possibility of getting shut down again, say, should another wave of COVID happen. Nervousness I think that's indicative of the state of the world right now, nervousness is, you know, what's gonna happen? London said. Are you going to keep people safe? Can we trust the clientele that they're being vigilant and keeping their masks on and social distancing? So that's a nervousness. And another one too, is, who knows if we're just all going to get shut down again in a week? London continued. We're spending thousands of dollars that I don't have, that I'm taking out loans for to stand back up, to build new infrastructure and to put something in place. And I don't know a week from now, [if] we're just going to get shut down again. ... I think that's a nervousness everybody has right now. Despite the worries and butterflies, London is moving forward with outdoor dining because in his mind, the to-go boxes that have taken over his food for the past few months have been lacking. In prior years, ALs Place has eschewed to-go boxes for customers because the food wouldnt travel well, or wouldnt translate at home, but the year of 2020 forced a change to all that. London pushed to translate all of his food for the to-go audience, to much acclaim "Ive been obsessed with ALs Place all through pandemic," one friend confessed to me but it took time to figure out a path. Blair Heagerty / SFGATE I decided the direction I wanted to take was, you know what, I'm still gonna make this AL's Place food, London said of the switch. I'm just gonna make some tweaks to the components, [make] decisions on the plate and the portion sizes, et cetera, to try to make this feel as Al's Place as possible, to feel as close to a family-style menu when you come into the restaurant but still translate well for to-go. Although London is very much proud of the food he and his team has had to adapt for those cardboard contraptions, it took adjustments to his approach to food. Reconfiguring the menu meant having to make larger portions at lower prices than a dish would traditionally command at the restaurant things look really small in a cardboard box, London noted along with a change in thinking of how to approach each dish. We had to really put thought [into things] when I was making a dish. It couldn't just be like, Ooh, yum, what do I want on the plate? London recalled. It was, Yum, What do I want to plate? And then it was next, OK, well, what kind of containers am I going to put those in? And how am I going to be able to put that in a box together so it travels well, that makes sense for the guest? How are they going to take it out and reheat it and plate it? And we created elaborate instructions for every dish, so people would know what to do with it. To-go launched with London, GM Kimberly Litchfield and a team of sous chefs, a downturn from its usual staff of 32. London now has a staff of 18 to gear up for the patio reopening, assured that their lean group feels safe in reopening after meetings over whether to do outdoor dining, talking through the steps that theyre taking to keep them and the guests safe. Beyond the necessary safety precautions that London and his team have meticulously researched and implemented, the group has rethought service for the front of house, looking to maintain a balance of safety with the hospitality that, well, makes up the hospitality industry. Blair Heagerty / SFGATE We just went through every possible step [of service] and we created two options for every step, London said. And one option would be, maybe, lowered hospitality and one option, wouldn't. And so then we kept a running kind of a hospitality list so we can look at it as a whole, because it's a little bit of tunnel vision to be like, OK, well, do we want the guests to pour their own wine, or do we want to pour their wine if it's bought by the bottle but not by the glass, et cetera. And if you're looking at it micro like that, it's a little bit hard to make an organic decision. So we kind of tried to go through it and be choosy so that we could retain as many steps that are hospitality-related as possible, while at the same time limiting the amount of interaction with the table as much as possible, which are, two big opposites, London said. Hospitality is touching the table. And so it was kind of like, how do you attain a semblance of hospitality while still lowering the amount of interactions where the server is within the physical bubble of the guest. So a lot has gone into that. I'm really proud of what we've created I think we've created a great new playbook. London and his team have struck that balance, as far as he is concerned, and the excitement is palpable. ALs Place is ready to welcome back guests and maybe, just maybe, sneak a glance at patrons enjoying the food and give them all a bit of respite from the world. The idea hopefully, with guests going back out to restaurants is, maybe for a moment they can sit down and eat some good food and forget for a moment how fed up everything is everywhere, London said with a laugh. Looking for descriptions of the food from chef Aaron London? Weve added some of his comments to photos of the dishes throughout the story and the slideshow above. ALs Place, located at 1499 Valencia St. in San Francisco, is open for outdoor starting Thursday, Sept. 24. Its hours of operation are Wednesday Sunday, 5:30 10 p.m. Reservations are strongly suggested and are available at Resy here. Dianne de Guzman is the Food + Drink Editor at SFGATE. Email: dianne.deguzman@sfgate.com Josette Blocker, the aunt of Demonte Ward-Blake, who was paralyzed after an officer pulled him to the ground during a traffic stop in October, said she wants to see the law enforcement officers bill of rights repealed and more transparency added to Marylands public information act law. That law classifies disciplinary records as personnel matters, prohibiting the department from making them public unless they are obtained through discovery in a court proceeding. 25.09.2020 LISTEN As the world marked UN International Peace Day on September 21, some institutions and leaders of the Catholic Church around the world have asked political parties and politicians to avoid political and verbal violence but rather aim at promoting peace through polite utterances. The Chief Executive Officer of Caritas Ghana is one of the leaders who has called on political actors in the west African country of Ghana to make every effort to avoid political and verbal violence ahead of the nations general elections. As on this day, the United Nations calls for 24 hours of non-violence and ceasefire, ahead of our 2020 elections, our politicians and political commentators must also commit to end the vitriolic verbal violence on each other, Mr. Samuel Zan Akologo, Executive Secretary of Caritas Ghana told CNS in an interview September 21. The UN Day of Peace is marked on September 21 of every year and according to Akologo, Caritas Ghana sees the Day as a propitious moment to witness to the theme of "Shaping Peace Together." He added that the day is also Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day in Ghana, the man who epitomizes our national freedom from colonialism. Independence and freedom mean nothing if we fail to sustain our social cohesion as one nation, one people, one destiny. With the increasing cases of violence in the country, the Catholic Bishops of Ghana in July 22 collective statement urged political parties to avoid all acts of political violence that could mar the beauty of the recently ended registration exercise which has been opened this week for exhibition. Stay away from acts that cause violence to enable us to have a peaceful environment for the Presidential and Parliamentary elections in December, the Prelates said in a collective message. The Message signed by the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Philip Naameh urged all political parties, particularly the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the major opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to exhibit political maturity and commitment to their signing on to the National Peace Councils document that outlines the pathway to peace. Acts such as bussing people and illegally registering people at various polling centres will always create some form of violence as both parties will not agree to that and hence may ignite some form of violence, the Bishops of Ghana said. Meanwhile, to mark the UN International Day of Peace, Caritas Africa and Caritas Europa have also in a collective message issued on September 21, called on the European Union (EU) and African leaders to adopt a new framework for EU-Africa relations that puts people at the heart of local peace and security efforts. Concerned about the risk of a future partnership marked by top-down approaches, we urge leaders to be inspired by this years International Day of Peace theme Shaping Peace Together, and to make the upcoming 6th African Union (AU)-European Union (EU) Summit an opportunity to commit to practical ways of building peace through genuinely inclusive processes., the two continental bodies said in the message. The 6th AU-EU Summit at the end of October is expected to lead to a joint declaration laying down the priorities and concrete actions of the EU-Africa relations in the next few years, including in the fields of peace and security. Despite the EUs commitment to the 2030 Agenda principles and to creating a people-centred partnership, previous statements by EU institutions on their vision for this future partnership such as the proposal made by the European Commission (EC) and the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the Council Conclusions on Africa have consistently focused more on state security. EUAfrica relations should, however, be based on multi-stakeholder partnerships, involving civil society and other actors, not only governments or intergovernmental institutions. This, Caritas Africa and Europa said in their statement is particularly relevant given that peacebuilding is a holistic process that requires addressing the root causes of conflict and investing in community-level conflict prevention and social cohesion. Peace building also requires important efforts towards the elimination of extreme poverty and the preservation of the rule of law, the message added. We thus call on EU and African leaders to recognize the importance of local community engagement and the contribution of faith actors in peacebuilding efforts; to establish practical entry-points for grassroots and civil society actors, including women and youth, so they can participate meaningfully in peace initiatives; and to scale-up locally led funding, programming, and partnership opportunities. They noted that As Caritas, we advocate for grassroots participation not only because it is indispensable for the effectiveness of peace building strategies, but foremost because it is a clear option for recognizing each persons dignity, for solidarity, for co-responsibility, and for the choice to work for the common good. Adding, the two Caritas bodies said we envision and encourage the future EU-Africa partnership to benefit from the opportunity to put people at the centre of peace efforts by investing in community-driven initiatives. Caritas Europa as well as Carita Africa compose two of the seven regions of Caritas Internationalis, the global confederation of Caritas. Caritas Africa is the network of 46 Caritas organisations in 46 African countries. Caritas Africa member organisations are part of the local communities they serve, and focus on human development, peace building and economic justice, while practically responding to some of the worlds largest and most complex humanitarian emergencies. Caritas Europa is the network of 49 Caritas organisations in 46 European countries. Published on 2020/09/25 | Source New poster added for the upcoming Korean documentary "The Confessions of May in the Wilderness" (2020) Advertisement Directed by Kim Tae-yeong-II Narrated by Jo Sun-mook, Seo Kab-sook,... Synopsis The movie is a compilation of the movie "Wilderness" in which a member of the airborne unit who killed a girl during the Gwangju Democratization Movement burned himself to death with remorse and "Mr. Kant's Presentation", the story of a man who wanders around as a result of torture after participating as a civilian army. "Mr. Kant's Presentation" In May 1980, he joins the civilian army in Gwangju and loses his sister to the martial law army. Kant, a young man who becomes a wanderer due to aftereffect, gets dragged away by the police on the day the Justice Priests' Foundation announces the truth about the Park Jong-chul Torture Manipulation Case, being forced to reveal his identity... "Wasteland" In May 1980, with memories of Gwangju deeply engraved, Kim Eui-ki (Jo Sun-mook), a soldier who defected from the military, has been running away for six months, agonizing over his weakness in which he cannot perform any act of will. While wandering around, he works at a bar called "25 Hours", in Gunsan's base town of 'Silver Town', where there are countless human armies living against the U.S. military every day. Release date in Korea : 2020/10/28 T he widow of a police officer killed last year has joined politicians and police chiefs in condemning the fatal shooting of an officer in Croydon. Lissie Harper, whose husband Pc Andrew Harper was killed on duty in August 2019 , said the death of a Metropolitan Police officer was utterly devastating. She shared a Facebook post with the news, adding: What is happening to our world. In a statement, she also condemned the "barbaric" attack, adding: This is devastating news. No person should go to work never to return. No human being should be stripped of their life in a barbaric act of crime. Another hero has been taken from us in unwarranted violence. They protect us but who protects them? Another life is gone in a disgraceful act that reminds us of the danger our police officers face with every shift they begin. My heart is broken for yet another member of our blue line family, and all of his family, friends and colleagues who must now accept a life without him in it. My thoughts and love are resolutely with them. Mr Harper, a Thames Valley Police officer, died when he was caught in a tow rope and dragged along country lanes after trying to stop quad bike thieves in Berkshire in August 2019. His three teenage killers were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter after an Old Bailey trial. Ms Harper is campaigning for a change to the law which would see all those convicted of killing emergency workers receive a life sentence. PC Andrew Harper and his wife, Lissie / PA The Met Police officer was shot in a south London police station in the early hours of Friday morning and later died in hospital, police said. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Met Police commissioner Cressida Dick were among many politicians and police bosses who condemned the attack and offered their condolences to the family and friends of the officer. Mr Johnson said he offered his "deepest condolences" to the family, friends and colleagues of the officer who died. "We owe a huge debt to those who risk their own lives to keep us safe," he added. Mr Khan said he was "devastated" by the killing and paid tribute to the "brave officer" who "paid the ultimate price for helping to keep Londoners safe." Tragic incidents like this are terrible reminders of the dangers our police officers face every single day, he said. He added: "My thoughts are also with the entire Metropolitan Police family, who I know will be deeply mourning their colleague at this extremely difficult time. "I remain in close contact with the Commissioner to offer her and our Met officers and staff my support." Met Police commissioner Ms Dick condemned the "tragic" attack and added her condolences, which she said had sent "shockwaves and sadness" through the force. She said: This is a truly shocking incident in which one of our colleagues has lost his life in the most tragic circumstances. My heart goes out to his family, direct colleagues and friends. We are currently supporting his family and also have a dedicated team providing support to the officers and those in the custody centre who witnessed the shooting. When a colleague dies in the line of duty the shockwaves and sadness reverberates throughout the Met and our communities. Policing is a family, within London and nationally, and we will all deeply mourn our colleague. Croydon Custody Centre shooting - In pictures 1 /61 Croydon Custody Centre shooting - In pictures Jeremy Selwyn Forensics at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn General view of the scene at Croydon Custody Centre Sky News Flowers at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Police tape cordon inside Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer has been shot dead by a suspect being booked into custody at a south London police station today Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Nigel Howard A Forensic ServiCes van at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer stands guard at Croydon Custody Centre Getty Images Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Nigel Howard Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Forensics at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Flowers are laid down outside the custody centre where a British police officer has been shot dead in Croydon, south London REUTERS Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours of Friday morning PA The scene at Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer beside flowers left outside Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA REUTERS REUTERS AFP via Getty Images PA AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images REUTERS PA AFP via Getty Images Nigel Howard AFP via Getty Images PA Nigel Howard Nigel Howard PA PA AFP via Getty Images PA REUTERS Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick paid tribute to the "wonderful" officer known to colleagues and friends as Matt, in a ceremony at the National Police Memorial in central London on Sunday also attended by Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan PA Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan pay tribute to the "wonderful" officer known to colleagues and friends as Matt, in a ceremony at the National Police Memorial in central London PA The investigation into the officer's death is ongoing, she said. The man's fellow officers also shared their sadness at his death. Stuart Hutson said he was one of the officers that responded first to the incident. He added in a tweet: "This morning my team and I responded to the worst possible radio transmission from custody, words and scenes I shall never forget. "The unimaginable happened to our police family. We have lost not only a good skipper but also a real gentleman. One of the best. RIP brother". New Delhi The Indian delegate at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York walked out of the hall when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khans pre-recorded statement was played on Friday. The delegate, a junior diplomat named Mijito Vinito from the 2010 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, picked up his papers and left the hall as Khans speech was played on a large overhead screen. Khan raised the Kashmir dispute, as he has done in several recent speeches to multilateral bodies, and criticised the Indian government on several issues. After Khans speech, TS Tirumurti, Indias permanent representative to the UN, tweeted that the country would use the right of reply facility to respond to the Pakistani premiers address. PM of Pakistan statement a new diplomatic low at 75th UN General Assembly. Another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, war mongering and obfuscation of Pakistans persecution of its own minorities & of its cross-border terrorism. Befitting Right of Reply awaits, Tirumurti said in his tweet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the UN General Assembly through a video statement on Saturday. Earlier in the day, in a thinly veiled attack on Pakistan, India told the UN Human Rights Council on Friday that banned terror groups are collecting funds amid the Covid-19 pandemic ostensibly for charitable activities that would be diverted to finance terrorism. There are also malevolent attempts by terrorists to exploit the financial and emotional distress caused by the lockdowns to disturb the cohesiveness of societies, Pawan Badhe, first secretary in Indias permanent mission in Geneva, told a debate on human rights situations that require the councils attention. The increased presence of people online and on social media has been targeted by terrorists to disseminate misinformation through hate speeches, fake news and doctored videos, he said. The intent has been to entice and establish links with vulnerable individuals and recruit them in their cadres. Terror groups have also exhorted supporters to target security forces and health workers, he added. Another disturbing trend, Badhe said, was the collection of funds by proscribed terrorist outfits ostensibly for undertaking charitable activities, but which, in reality, would be used to finance terror. Though Indias intervention in the debate didnt name any country, it was apparent the reference was to Pakistan. India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of failing to counter fund-raising and recruitment by UN-designated terror groups operating from its soil, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. Terrorism is the grossest affront to the enjoyment of the inalienable human right to life and to live in peace and security. It poses a serious threat to economic and social development, undermines democracy and jeopardises the rule of law, Badhe said. He described terrorism as an attack against freedom of thought, expression and association and said: While acts of terrorism violate the rights of individual victims, it also deeply affects the enjoyment of a range of rights by the families of the victims and society as a whole. Any terrorist incident disproportionately affects the human rights of women, girls and children. The UN Human Rights Council cannot remain immune to the devastating human rights impacts of terrorism, and it needs to play a key role in creating awareness about protecting the rights of the most vulnerable groups, particularly children and youngsters, to prevent their radicalisation and indoctrination by terrorist ideologies, he said. As the world grapples with Covid-19, it is important to cooperate among states coherently to fight against terrorists, whose disruptive activities have continued and, in fact, increased during the pandemic, Badhe said. ... Swiss Re announced further streamlining of the legal entity structure of the group. Following the announcement on June 19, 2020 that the Life Capital Business Unit will be disbanded, Swiss Re also intends to reorganize the legal entity structure of its Corporate Solutions Business Unit. As part of the changes, the group intends to make Swiss Reinsurance Co. Ltd. the sole direct wholly owned operating subsidiary of Swiss Re Ltd. Swiss Reinsurance Co. Ltd. would in turn have separate holding companies for the business units of Reinsurance and Corporate Solutions, as well as the iptiQ division. As a result of these planned changes, Swiss Reinsurance Co. Ltd. intends to assume the debt of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Ltd. The streamlining of the groups legal entity structure will not change the fact that these businesses continue to operate independently, said Swiss Re. The target legal entity structure is expected to be implemented by the end of 2021, subject to receipt of the required regulatory approvals. Swiss Reinsurance Co. Ltd. is rated AA- by S&P, Aa3 by Moodys and A+ by AM Best. Source: Swiss Re Topics Reinsurance Swiss Re New Delhi, Sep 25 : The elections for the 243 Assembly seats in Bihar will take place in three phases between October 28 and November 7. The counting of votes will be on November 10, the Election Commission said on Friday. Addressing a press conference here, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said, "The Bihar elections will be held in three phases. Elections for the first phase will take place on October 28 on 71 Assembly constituencies, elections for second phase on 94 seats will take place on November 3 and third phase poll on 78 Assembly seats on November 7." He said that counting of votes will take place on November 10. He also said, keeping in mind the Covid-19 pandemic, polling time has been increased by one hour. "Now the polling time will be between 7 a.m. to 6 p.m." he said. But it would not be not applicable to the left-wing Effected (LWE) areas. The term of the Bihar Assembly comes to an end on November 29. According to the poll panel, there are 7.29 crore voters in the state, including 3.85 crore male and 3.4 crore female voters and 1.6 lakh service voters. In 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) emerged as the largest party by winning 80 seats while the ruling Janata Dal-United won 71 seats, the Congress 27. The BJP managed to win 53 seats, followed by two seats by the LJP and one seat by Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular, others won 10 seats in the state. The BJP despite winning only 53 seats got the maximum percentage of vote share with 24 per cent, followed by the RJD with 18 per cent and JD-U 17 per cent. The Congress managed to get seven per cent vote share and LJP got around 4.8 per cent vote share. The CEC also announced a number of new measures in the view of the Covid-19 pandemic. Arora said, "Now nominations can be done online and offline also. And quarantined patients can vote at the end." He further said the poll panel has also revised norms of the number of persons accompanying the candidate and number of vehicles at the time of nomination. "It has also created an optional facility to fill the nomination form and the affidavit online and submission of the same, after taking a print, before the Returning Officer concerned. For the first time, the candidates will have the option to deposit a security amount for contesting the elections online," the poll panel said. "Keeping the containment guidelines in view, the Commission has limited the number of persons, including candidates for door to door campaign to five. Public meeting and road shows shall be permissible with suitable instructions subject to containment instructions issued by the MHA/State. "Face Masks, Sanitizer, Thermal scanners, gloves, face shield and PPE kits shall be used during the electoral process ensuring social distancing norms. Hand gloves shall be provided to all the electors for signing on the voter registers and pressing buttons of EVM for voting," it said. "Covid-19 patients, who are quarantined will be able to cast their vote in the last hour of polling, at their respective polling stations, under the supervision of health authorities. This is beside the option of postal facility already extended to them," the poll panel said. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed US Judge blocks TikTok ban, asks the US to defend the decision The Commerce Department of the United States issued an executive order to Apple and Google to ban WeChat and TikTok from their app stores, but now US District Judge Carl Nichols blocked the decision. The judge said the government must file a response to a request by TikTok for a preliminary injunction or delay the order by 2:30 pm EDT Friday. The TikTok app A similar situation is happening in California, with a federal judge issuing a preliminary injunction blocking the ban of WeChat - another platform, owned by a Chinese conglomerate Tencent. According to TikTok, the restrictions are not motivated by a genuine national security concern but are rather being used as a bargaining chip in the upcoming general elections. Last Saturday saw a different sort of delay to the ban after positive developments - Walmart and Oracle reportedly will join hands in purchasing a minor stake in TikTok Global - a new subsidiary by ByteDance that is supposedly going to make TikTok a platform for influencers and brands to promote products while doing their silly dances. Source Israel got the biggest and most destructive surprise in its history on Oct. 6, 1973. On the afternoon of Yom Kippur, as Jews were marking the holy day by fasting and praying to atone for their sins, the armies of Egypt and Syria launched a massive coordinated attack on Israeli troops in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights. Thousands of tanks crossed the borders, setting off ear-piercing warning sirens throughout the country and signaling the start of the Yom Kippur War. The Israeli empire, which extended in those days from the shores of the Suez Canal in the south to the summit of Mount Hermon, a stones throw away from Damascus, in the north, found itself under existential threat. The Israel Defense Forces, which just seven years earlier had speedily and easily defeated the Arab armies besieging the states narrow borders in the Six-Day War, was caught unaware as the enemy advanced. The Egyptian army crossed the Suez Canal, overrunning Israels fortifications, and inflicted heavy casualties on the Israeli troops. In the north, an armored Syrian force swept through the Golan Heights, threatening the Sea of Galilee and town of Tiberias below. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, the iconic symbol of Israels Six-Day War victory, darkly warned of the impending demise of the Third Temple essentially, Israels annihilation. The IDF, with the help of a US weapons airlift, eventually blocked the enemy advance, turned the tide and ended the war at an advantage small consolation for the families of the 2,800 dead, tens of thousands wounded and hundreds taken prisoner or missing in action. Israeli arrogance and smugness over the 1967 victory were replaced by a sense of defeat and despair. The Yom Kippur debacle shook the foundations of the young state, resulted in the eventual downfall of the Mapai Party that had run it unchallenged for 25 years and left an entire generation deeply traumatized to this day. As Jews prepare to observe Yom Kippur starting at sunset Sept. 27, the climate is reminiscent of those dark days. This time, the enemy is not an Arab nation, but rather the coronavirus pandemic. As it was 47 years ago, Israel of 2020 is again the victim of a critical intelligence and operational failure and criminal negligence by an obtuse leadership oblivious to the impending disaster. With over 1,300 dead and the highest infection rate in the world, Israel has become the sick man of the Mediterranean. With infection rates on a relentless upward trajectory, Israel entered a near total lockdown on Friday, Sept. 25. Less than 24 hours before the lockdown, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation on prime time television. He assumed no responsibility, admitted to no mistakes and did not engage in any soul searching. He blamed the public, the Knesset, the protests against him, various segments of society, the political opposition and, of course, the disease itself. To date, his accusatory tirades have not helped Netanyahu extricate himself from the hole he has dug. His ratings have plunged to record lows and his Likud Party continues to decline in the polls. The public has lost trust in Netanyahu and every other instrument of government. Israel's defense minister and alternate prime minister, Benny Gantz, and his Blue and White Party are perceived as collaborators with Israels bloated and helpless government and faring no better. Chaos and civil disobedience appears to be sweeping the country. The vaunted high-tech nation is sinking, a state accustomed to its image as a winner now a loser. The sense of helpless and anarchy is also eating away at the political system and changing the balance of power, according to the polls, in which the ruling coalition parties that now command 74 Knesset seats have lost 20. The sole winner of this mess is Yamina chair Naftali Bennett, the only political figure the public feels could vanquish the epidemic if Netanyahu would only give him the reins. During his brief stint as defense minister prior to the formation of the current government, Bennett displayed creativity and initiative in facing the first COVID-19 wave, which culminated in the Passover eve lockdown in mid-March. Bennett was a lonely voice in those days and despite his impressive activism, Netanyahu refused to appoint him coronavirus czar, likely fearing his popularity. After initially impressive results in quelling the first wave, Netanyahu rushed to bring life back to normal, exhorting Israelis to go ''have fun in a triumphant May 26 broadcast. Three months and much gross mismanagement later, the epidemic is back with a vengeance. Netanyahu seemed oblivious of the warning signs and mounting infection rates, preoccupied with his criminal indictment and his machinations to dismantle the government and call early elections to avoid his trial. When he finally acknowledged the overwhelming health and economic crisis facing Israel, it was too late. Bennett is undoubtedly the winner, surging in the polls to over 20 Knesset seats compared to the seven his right-wing national-religious party now holds. Netanyahus Likud, on the other hand, polled at 29 seats in results aired on Sept. 23. The gap between the two is narrowing for the first time in years and the leader of the Israeli right is no longer a foregone conclusion. The playing field is now wide open. The coronavirus is threatening Israels political map. If Bennett's party keeps surging and threatens the hegemony of the Likud, he could become kingmaker. Not only is Bennett no longer in Netanyahus pocket, the reverse may be true. In private conversations, Bennett, who is furious at Netanyahu for leaving Yamina out of the government after the March elections and is seeking revenge, talks about Netanyahu as a has been and a clear and imminent danger to Israels national security. If the current polling is translated into electoral results, Bennett will face a tough decision. A strong showing that puts his party on a near equal footing with the Likud would likely win a power-sharing offer from Netanyahu. Should Bennett believe Netanyahu or opt for a salvage coalition with disparate parties (Yesh Atid, Blue and White, Yisrael Beitenu and others) with the goal of ousting Netanyahu? Unlike Gantz, who ignored warnings and believed Netanyahus promise to hand over the premiership to him in the second half of the governments term, Bennett will not be so gullible. He could even get to go first in a power-sharing rotation deal with Netanyahu. However, elections are not in the cards at this point. Given his polling figures, Netanyahu wouldn't dare risk new elections in December, the next exit point from his deal with Gantz. If Netanyahu remains with his current coalition, his rotation with Gantz will come in late 2021. The virus could turn out to be the only force strong enough to unseat the prime minister who has been running Israel for almost 20% of its history. Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong on September 25 (Vietnam time) sent an important message to the High-level General Debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The following is the full text of the message. Your Excellency Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Your Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to congratulate Your Excellency Volkan Bozkir upon your election as the President of the 75th United Nations General Assembly. I am fully confident that under your experienced and able leadership, our session will be a success. Let me also voice my appreciation for the important contributions that His Excellency Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have made despite the tremendous challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. President, We are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and entering the third decade of the 21st century in extraordinary circumstances. For the first time in history, the Leaders of Member States are unable to gather at the UNGA General Debate. This, however, does not diminish our resolve and ability to deliberate and seek solutions for issues of common concern. I echo the Secretary-General's assessment that we are facing the most formidable challenges since the birth of the UN, in particular, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, society, politics and, most of all, human life. Mr. President, Against this backdrop, I welcome the theme of our Session: The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism confronting COVID-19 through effective multilateral action. Allow me to share some of my thoughts along that line. First, global and regional multilateral mechanisms must be strengthened. We need a United Nations that is truly cohesive and inclusive, where every member, large or small, rich or poor, can have a voice in deciding matters of common concern. The UN must serve as the incubator for multilateral cooperation initiatives for peace, development and prosperity.Further reforms should be undertaken to transform the UN into a stronger and more effective organisation that can fulfill its role of harmonizing the interests and behaviours of states in the face of the monumental changes of our time. Second, the United Nations Charter and the fundamental principles of international law must be upheld and advanced as the norms of behavior for all countries in contemporary international relations. We must be resolute and perseverant in advancing cooperation and friendship to counter conflict and hostility. We must choose dialogue over confrontation, and peaceful settlement of disputes over unilateral acts of imposition. In this spirit, Viet Nam calls for the removal of unilateral sanctions that adversely affect countries socio-economic development and peoples livelihoods, especially the embargo imposed upon Cuba. Third, the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a stern warning to us all, requiring our stronger commitments and stronger actions to promote sustainable, inclusive and human-centered development. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development should continue to be the framework for our cooperation to overcome this pandemic for sustainable recovery. Our policies and actions should have the interest of our people at the heart, so that no one, and no country, will be left behind. Developing countries should receive financial assistance, technological and commercial facilitation to realize the Sustainable Development Goals. Mr. President, Seventy-five years ago, on 02 September 1945, President Ho Chi Minh delivered the Declaration of Independence that proclaimed the birth of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (now the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam). Since those early days, President Ho Chi Minh, on multiple occasions, sent letters to the founding members of the UN, expressing Viet Nam's desire to become a member of the Organization. While it was not until 1977 that this aspiration became reality, the long and tenacious struggle of Viet Nam to win and defend national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity served as a concrete contribution to the worldwide movement for peace, democracy and social progress ultimately the same noble goals to which the UN aspires. Let me take this occasion, on behalf of the Vietnamese people, to express our deepest gratitude to countries and international friends for your generous support towards our past righteous struggle for national independence and present national development. Viet Nam was once a poor and backward country ravaged by war, strangled by embargo. After thirty-five years of Doi Moi reform, Viet Nam has emerged as a middle-income developing country and is aiming to be a high-income industrial country by 2045. In the fight against COVID-19, difficulties notwithstanding, Viet Nam has recorded positive and noteworthy outcomes. We have successfully contained the pandemic while promoting social and economic development. Out of international solidarity and with the understanding thatthe pandemic is only defeated when we all win, Viet Nam has engaged in cooperation and experience sharing with many countries, including support provided to those worst affected by the pandemic and to the common international efforts. Viet Nam pursues a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization and diversification of relations. As a reliable partner and an active, responsible member of the international community, Viet Nam attaches importance to the work of the UN and has been expanding our comprehensive cooperation with the Organization. Viet Nam will work with member states to make the UN more democratic, transparent and effective. As a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the term 2020 2021, Viet Nam promotes dialogue, de-escalation of tension and confrontation, and fair and reasonable solutions to regional and global peace and security issues. We champion multilateralism and the respect for international law and the UN Charter, and strengthen relations between the UN and regional organizations, especially ASEAN. As the 2020 ASEAN Chair, Viet Nam is working with fellow member states to build a region of peace, friendship and cooperation, in order to realize the vision of ASEAN as a politically cohesive, economically integrated and socially responsible community. Together with countries within and outside the region, we are committed to the maintenance and promotion of peace, stability, maritime security and safety and freedom of navigation in the East Sea (South China Sea), in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. We call on all concerned parties to exercise restraint, avoid unilateral acts that would complicate the situation, and settle disputes and differences through peaceful means with due respect for diplomatic and legal processes. Mr. President, Over the last 75 years, member states have painstakingly built a United Nations for peace, cooperation and development. We are duty-bound to strengthen and reinvigorate the worlds largest multilateral organization, particularly in face of the immense challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. Thank you for your kind attention. Boris Johnson borrowed more in five months to tackle coronavirus than the Government did in the entire year after the 2008 financial crash. The bruising economic fallout of the pandemic was laid bare by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) as the UK's national debt surpassed 2trillion. In in a bleak 10-page analysis of the state of the public sector finances, the OBR underscored how deep the nation had plunged into the red. From April to August this year net borrowing ballooned beyond 173billion as the Chancellor Rishi Sunak bankrolled furloughed employees' wages and handed rescue loans for businesses. The eye-watering figure is a 146.9billion increase on last year and, with more than half the fiscal year still to go, smashed the 157.7billion annual total set during the peak of the financial crisis in 2009-10 when Gordon Brown's administration's grappled with global recession. The report read: 'Less than halfway through the 2020-21 fiscal year, the budget deficit has already topped full-year borrowing in 2009-10 (at the peak of the financial crisis).' It went on: 'Today's data highlight the growing fiscal cost of the coronavirus crisis, although it will still be many months before the full impact of the shock becomes clear.' Boris Johnson (pictured visiting his Uxbridge constituency today) borrowed more in five months to tackle coronavirus than the Government did in the entire year after the 2008 financial crash Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under pressure from Tory MPs to spell out how the UK will pay for the coronavirus crisis after he yesterday hinted at tax rises From April to August this year net borrowing ballooned beyond 173billion as the Chancellor Rishi Sunak bankrolled furloughed employees' wages and handed rescue loans for businesses Mr Sunak yesterday unveiled his Winter Economy Plan to safeguard jobs as the furlough scheme is wound down next month. It included a wage subsidy Jobs Support Scheme to replace furlough as well as further VAT cuts for the hospitality and retail sectors and the extension of emergency loan schemes. Economists estimated the giveaway could cost 5 billion, potentially taking the total cost of the Government's Covid-19 support to approximately 200 billion. The OBR briefing highlighted how central government spending is already a third higher than last year. 'Central government spending so far in 2020-21 is 33 per cent higher than a year earlier, reflecting the cost of the coronavirus job retention and self-employment income support schemes, plus additional grants to local authorities and higher public services spending.' Mr Sunak hinted that tax rises will eventually be required to get the public finances back on an even keel as he said he will have to make 'difficult decisions' in the future. But Conservative backbenchers want ministers to urgently set out their plan for paying the money back as they warned the Government it cannot 'keep kicking it into the long grass'. The Office for National Statistics today revealed that public sector debt has continued to climb above 2 trillion Public sector borrowing is 146.9billion more than last year (left), while central government spending has increased by a third (right) The scale of the Government's coronavirus spending was illustrated in stark terms this morning after the Office for National Statistics said the UK's national debt had hit a record 2.024 trillion at the end of August. That figure is almost 250 billion more than it was at the same time last year as borrowing hit 101.9 per cent of gross domestic product after 36 billion was borrowed by the public sector in August alone. It came as Chief Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Barclay today insisted the Jobs Support Scheme will incentivise employers to keep on staff amid claims it would be cheaper for firms to bring back one furloughed employee than two working part-time. He said that assessment 'doesn't reflect the fact that many employers value the flexibility of being able to tailor how much time employees are working as we go through the uncertainty of the winter months'. Meanwhile, Lord Wolfson, the chief executive of Next, warned Britain's economy risks 'becoming hooked' on Government handouts as he also said many roles are likely to be lost across the retail sector as consumers make a permanent shift to shopping online. Rishi Sunak's new help for business and jobs at a glace Furlough scheme will be replaced with a Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) to 'directly support' wages of staff working at least a third of regular hours. Firms will pay workers for hours they work. For regular hours they cannot work, employer and Treasury will both pay a third of their wages, so they get two-thirds of pay for missed hours. JSS open to firms who have not used furlough. Self Employment Income Support Scheme Grant (SEISS) is extended, with a lump sum to cover November to January next year. It will be worth 20 per cent of average monthly profits, capped at 1,875. Second grant available for February to April 2021 Bounce Back Loan guarantee term extended to 10 years from the current six. Interest-only repayment periods of six months and payment holidays also now available. VAT cut from 20 to 5 per cent for firms in hospitality and tourism sectors is extended to March 2021. Other firms who have deferred VAT bills under New Payment Scheme will be allowed to pay it off in 11 interest-free payments in 2021-22 financial year instead of one full payment in March 2021. 'Time to Pay' self-assessment tax system extended to January 2022. Advertisement The latest figures spelling out the state of the national finances came as: Former prime minister Gordon Brown said he believes that Chancellor Rishi Sunak will have to rethink his jobs plan to deal with the pandemic amid concerns it does not go far enough to stop a wave of redundancies. Mr Brown called on the four home nations to 'co-operate more intensively to get things done' during the coronavirus crisis. Sir Mark Walport, a member of the Government's Sage panel of experts, said university students may have to remain on campus over Christmas if there are Covid-19 outbreaks. Scotland's Higher Education Minister Richard Lochhead said dealing with the outbreaks in universities is a 'big challenge'. More than 40 Tory MPs are now calling on the Government to give Parliament a vote on any new lockdown measures. Labour's shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds warned unemployment is heading towards '1980s levels' despite Mr Sunak's wage subsidy package National debt passed 2 trillion for the first time in history in July as the Government continues to throw billions of pounds at offsetting the economic chaos caused by the Covid-19 crisis. That figure continues to rise as the pandemic continues with the ONS today revealing that the 36 billion borrowed in August this year was 30.5 billion more than was borrowed in August last year. It was also the third highest borrowing in any month since records began in 1993. Borrowing in the first five months of this financial year, April to August 2020, is estimated to have been 173.7 billion. That is 146.9 billion more than in the same period last year and the highest borrowing in any April to August period since records began in 1993. Meanwhile, the Government's tax receipts have been hit hard with 37.3 billion collected in August this year, some 7.5 billion less than in August 2019. Central government is estimated to have spent just shy of 80 billion on day-to-day services in August, more than 19 billion more than in August 2019. The dire borrowing figures have prompted growing unease among Tory MPs as they call for the Government to set out its strategy for how to pay for the crisis. One Tory MP told Politico: 'I don't think Sunak had any alternative to do what he did to avoid destitution.' How much money is the Government spending on the coronavirus crisis and how much cash has it borrowed? Public sector borrowing in August this year was estimated to have been 35.9 billion - that is 30.5 billion more than in August 2019. Borrowing in the first five months of the current financial year - April to August - is estimated to have been 173.7 billion. That is 146.9 billion more than in the same period last year and the highest borrowing in any April to August period since records began in 1993. The borrowing data suggests Government borrowing could increase to 372 billion for the financial year ending March 2021. The ONS said central government is estimated to have spent almost 79 billion on day-to-day activities in August - that is 19.5 billion more than in August last year. Meanwhile, government tax receipts are estimated to have been 37.3 billion in August - 7.5 billion less than in August 2019. Overall public sector debt at the end of August was 2.024 trillion - approximately 101.9 per cent of GDP and 249.5 billion more than at the same point last year. Advertisement But they added: 'How it all gets paid for will be the mystery of our time.' Another Conservative backbencher said the Government needs to publish a pay back plan sooner rather than later. 'It's not good enough to keep kicking it into the long grass,' they said. Mr Sunak was asked at a Downing Street press conference yesterday how the UK will pay for the Government's massive spending this year. Hinting at potential future tax rises, he said: 'Over time and as the economy recovers we absolutely need to have an eye on our public finances and to make sure that we are in a strong and sustainable position.' He added: 'I will obviously have to make similar difficult decisions in the future as we get on a path back to sustainability but right now the priority is supporting the economy, throwing everything we have got at protecting people's jobs and that is what I will continue to do.' Much of the Chancellor's Winter Economy Plan was broadly welcomed by businesses but there are concerns that there will still be massive redundancies in the coming months. Experts said the Jobs Support Scheme is significantly less generous than the furlough programme it is replacing and critics claimed it could actually incentivise employers to get rid of staff. Mr Barclay this morning defended the scheme against suggestions that it may actually be cheaper to bring back one furloughed employee than two on half-time. He said: 'What that doesn't take on board, a spreadsheet interpretation, doesn't reflect the fact that many employers value the flexibility of being able to tailor how much time employees are working as we go through the uncertainty of the winter months and they want to retain the skills and expertise of their labour market.' Government will pay 22% of wages as Rishi reveals replacement for furlough Workers will be able to pick up 77 per cent of their wages for doing as little as a third of their regular hours under plans unveiled by Rishi Sunak today. The Chancellor unveiled the Job Support Scheme (JSS) to 'directly support' wages of staff in 'viable' roles for six months from November. It will replace the furlough, or Job Retention Scheme (JRS), which is due to come to an end on October 31. But the new scheme is less generous than furlough, with the Chancellor admitting it was too expensive to continue after October. Under the new system employees' wages receive a maximum subsidy of 22 per cent from the Treasury, depending on how many hours they work. But firms must pick up the additional 55 per cent, compared to 20 per cent under furlough. It has sparked fears that many businesses will simply lay staff off instead of taking it up. Paul Johnson, director of the IFS think tank, said: 'The new job support scheme represents a significant new intervention from government to support jobs through the crisis. 'But it is significantly less generous than the furlough scheme it replaces - though remarkably the Chancellor provided no indication of the likely cost of the scheme. 'He is trying to plot a difficult path between supporting viable jobs while not keeping people in jobs that will not be there once we emerge from the crisis. 'With employers now having to pay at least 55 per cent of the normal wages of their employees it is clear that many jobs will be lost over the coming months.' Advertisement The Jobs Support Scheme will require employees in 'viable jobs' to work at least one third of their normal hours and to be paid for that work as normal by their employer. For the hours not worked, the Government and the employer will each pay one third of the remaining equivalent salary. So for an employee working one third of their normal hours, the employer will have to cover 55 per cent of the normal wage costs while the Government's top up will see the worker receive approximately 80 per cent of their normal pay. Mr Sunak said yesterday the UK must 'face up to the trade offs and hard choices coronavirus presents' and that 'as the economy reopens it is fundamentally wrong to hold people in jobs that only exist inside the furlough'. He won plaudits from Tory MPs for saying the nation 'must learn to live with' coronavirus and 'live without fear'. Tory former Cabinet minister Sir Iain Duncan Smith told The Guardian: 'The truth is that there are a lot of risks in our lives and the Chancellor is right we need to learn to live with Covid, manage it, get through it and not kill the economy. 'We have to get back to work, this can't go on forever.' Steve Baker, the Tory former Brexit minister, also lavished praise on Mr Sunak, saying he is 'increasingly distinguishing himself as a chancellor of both principle and pragmatism who we can rely on to promote our shared prosperity'. Some interpreted Mr Sunak's comment as contradicting the Prime Minister's move to impose new restrictions to slow the spread of Covid-19. But Mr Barclay denied there is a rift between the two men, as he said: 'The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are working extremely closely together and I think you can see that in the dovetailing of measures.' He said there is a need to work 'in tandem between both the health measures announced by the Prime Minister and those of the Chancellor'. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury said the Chancellor had been 'honest with the public that we will not be able to save, regretfully, every job' amid concerns some sectors have not received the help they need to stay afloat. 'There's a whole range of investment going into the economy in those sectors whilst we protect as many of those jobs that are viable, that people have been protected in initially through the furlough and now through the winter package,' he told Sky News. The green line on this ONS graph shows central Government expenditure this year while the blue line shows spending for last year Meanwhile, the Government is having to deal with lower tax receipts. The green line shows cumulative tax receipts for this current year - lower than the blue line showing receipts for last year Senior Tories label Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance 'Witless and Unbalanced' as 40 MPs demand Parliament get a vote on all new lockdown rules Tory MPs today urged Boris Johnson to be 'smart' and give into their demands for Parliament to be given a vote on new lockdown rules as the PM was told 'controlling the lives of 65 million people by fiat is not sustainable'. Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, has tabled an amendment which would require a vote to be held on any new restrictions 'as soon as reasonably practicable'. Sir Graham has the backing of at least 40 of his fellow Tory MPs with the rebels hoping the amendment will be put to a vote next Wednesday. However, they are urging the Government to back down before that point and to accept that MPs should be given a say on whether new rules should be imposed. It comes amid growing Tory anger at Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance after the Government's two top scientists set out a doomsday scenario at the start of the week of the UK facing 50,000 new daily cases of coronavirus by mid-October unless drastic action was taken. The Telegraph reported that some Tory MPs have now nicknamed the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser 'Witless and Unbalanced', accusing them of 'scaremongering'. Advertisement 'It is right that we also look at the cost to the wider economy, these measures come at a significant fiscal cost, and that's why it's right we target those jobs that are viable during what is going to be sadly a difficult winter.' The Government has faced questions over exactly what constitutes a 'viable job'. Mr Barclay said it was 'one where the employer is able to bring someone back to work'. He told BBC Breakfast: 'That really reflects a change in focus from the initial first phase where through the furlough we protected a peak of 8.9 million jobs to the next phase where we recognise we will be living with this virus for a longer period of time than initially thought. 'Therefore we need to take more targeted measures rather than for people being home for a very long period of time, to start to bringing people back into the labour market where we can and, where that's not possible, then focus very much on the skills the training and how we get them into other jobs.' Lord Wolfson today warned Britain's economy risks 'becoming hooked' on handouts as he welcomed the Jobs Retention Scheme, saying it was time firms paid more towards wages. Lord Wolfson said Next, which has around 10 per cent of its staff on furlough, may not even need to use the scheme. He told the BBC: 'We don't think we need it, but we think there are other sectors that desperately will. 'It seems like a very sensible scheme to me. I think it's important that employers begin to pay a little bit more for the schemes and that employees get a little bit less - because otherwise I think there's a risk that our economy will just become hooked on it.' Lord Wolfson was asked if he thinks city centres are 'doomed' and he replied: 'I don't think so. I think they're going to have to change. 'It's not that people aren't going to have their hair cut or aren't going to buy sandwiches or aren't going to go shopping, it's that they might do less of it in city centres and more of it elsewhere.' It was put to Lord Wolfson that a seemingly permanent shift to greater online shopping means that a lot of 'unviable' jobs will be in retail. He replied: 'I think that is right. I wouldn't want to underestimate the difficulty that is going to cause a lot of people who work in retail. 'I think it's going to be very uncomfortable for a lot of people. We will inevitably, and have already, reduced the number of people working in our shops and I'd expect that to continue over the coming five or six years as the demand for retail goes down. 'We're taking on people in our call centre. We're training new recruits in our call centres, in our warehousing, our distribution networks are taking on new employees.' Lord Wolfson's intervention came as former prime minister Gordon Brown said he believed Mr Sunak will soon have to rethink his jobs plan. Mr Brown claimed there was nothing in the Chancellor's message for the unemployed, those who are on universal credit and looking for employment, or young people who are outside of education and do not have a job. He also warned that under the Jobs Support Scheme it will be 'cheaper, I am afraid, for an employer to keep a full-time person on than to keep two part-time people on'. Next boss Lord Wolfson warns UK economy risks 'becoming HOOKED' on handouts The chief executive of Next has warned Britain's economy risks 'becoming hooked,' on Government handouts - as bosses give their verdicts on Rishi Sunak's 9bn scheme that 'won't stop job cuts'. Lord Simon Wolfson welcomed Rishi Sunak's new Job Retention Scheme, saying it was time firms paid more towards wages. The Chancellor said the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), a form of wage subsidy, would be brought in after furlough is wound down at the end of next month and last until May. It could benefit millions, but is far less generous than the furlough scheme with the state's contribution falling from 80 per cent of a worker's wages to a maximum of just 22 per cent. Lord Wolfson said Next, which has around 10 per cent of its staff on furlough, may not even need to use the scheme. Lord Wolfson told the BBC: 'We don't think we need it, but we think there are other sectors that desperately will. 'It seems like a very sensible scheme to me. I think it's important that employers begin to pay a little bit more for the schemes and that employees get a little bit less - because otherwise I think there's a risk that our economy will just become hooked on it.' Despite warning retailers could find themselves in an uncomfortable position over the coming months, Lord Wolfson was optimistic for the future. He said: 'We think by the time it gets to the end of October, there'll be enough work through the normal build up to Christmas to employ all the people that we've currently got on furlough.' Advertisement He said the Chancellor 'has got to reconsider this' and suggested a summit with the mayors around the regions, union chiefs and the business community would be a good move. The ex-premier, who served as chancellor for 10 years in the former Labour government, told ITV's Good Morning Britain programme: 'I think he needs to come back with a better budget for jobs. 'I suspect he knows himself this morning that he is going to have to change his measures because we have got the health restrictions, but the support for the people who are protected by them is now being reduced.' Mr Brown also called for the four home nations to work better together to slow the spread of coronavirus and protect the UK economy. 'If you are going to sort the problem of unemployment or testing, you really have got to work together,' he said. 'I think people want the governments of all the different parts of the United Kingdom to co-operate more intensively to get things done.' Mr Brown suggested it was better to spend more money now to prop up jobs, adding: 'Of course, if it is a one-in-a-century event, you have got to say: 'We have got to take action now to prevent worse damage later'.' Labour's shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds warned unemployment is heading towards '1980s levels' despite Mr Sunak's wage subsidy package. 'Certainly those unemployment levels are rising very substantially, they're going back towards 1980s levels,' she told the BBC. 'I think the real question now, and I asked this in Parliament yesterday of the Chancellor, is whether this system of targeted wage support will incentivise employers to keep people on. 'That's the real kind of million-dollar question, because if it doesn't, if it's not actually designed in a way that will make it economically sensible for employers to keep people on, then unfortunately it won't be living up to the promise of other wage support schemes that we've seen being so successful.' WAHOO Nearly every aspect of daily life is made possible because a truck driver delivered the goods and resources people need. Truck Driver Appreciation Week, Sept. 13 to 19, was an important time for America to pay respect and thank the professional truck drivers for their hard work and commitment in undertaking one of our economys most demanding and important jobs. These 3.5 million professional men and women not only deliver our goods safely, securely, and on time, they also keep our highways safe. Shining a light on the families of truckers, the Wahoo Chamber and Economic Development Office, Nebraska Trucking Association and Schwan Food Company delivered a meal for four to Professional Truck Driver Manny Brazil and family last Friday. Every driver deserves our appreciation, said Dave Zelnio, NTA director of operations and communication. Their family holds down the fort so our drivers can deliver. Family support can be a challenge and its worth recognizing. The Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA) wants the Government to relax the rules that apply to the tax efficient Employment Incentive and Investment Scheme (EIIS) during the "Covid emergency period" to attract more money to companies with high growth potential. In a submission published yesterday, the IVCA highlighted several "enhancements" it believes the Government should make in next month's budget to incentivise investment in the scheme, which is meant to support growth and employment in indigenous small businesses. The IVCA wants all qualifying investments in EIIS during what it calls the "Covid emergency period" - July 2020 to December 2021 - to be exempt from capital gains tax. The lobby group is also pushing for enhanced relief for micro companies, a standard investment period of four years and, significantly, tax relief eligibility for investment vehicles besides approved EIIS funds. These changes, the group hopes, will open investment for more companies in the IT sector, which typically doesn't attract EIIS interests, as well as deploy capital from venture capital and private equity funds among Irish SMEs. Sarah-Jane Larkin, the IVCA director-general, said venture capital funds were well capitalised coming into Covid and could potentially partner with existing EIIS funds to encourage investors into tech companies. She said the crisis had brought "a different perspective to the investment equation" and that the Government needed to deal with these issues quickly to support SME funding. The IVCA has joined forces with Euronext, the owner of the Irish Stock Exchange, and other tech sector and investment organisations to form the Alliance for an Innovation Driven Recovery. The aim of the coalition is to help innovative enterprises access private capital during the Covid crisis. Forty-seven per cent of respondents to the poll from a group that supports Republican Governor Kemp said they support Mr Biden, compared to 46 per cent who said they support Mr Trump, well within the margin of error More than half of voters in the US believe the Electoral College should be abolished in favour of an election system that awards the presidency to a candidate who receives the popular vote. Fifty-one percent of respondents in a recent Hill-HarrisX poll taken six weeks before Election Day agreed that a popular vote count should replace the current system, which relies on ballot results in each state to determine the electors who will pledge their vote to a candidate. In a separate Gallup poll, 61 per cent of respondents supported the popular vote system, moving six percentage points up from 2019 and 12 points up from 2016. Support for a move to a popular vote election is more acute among Democratic voters. Nearly 70 per cent of Democratic voters in the Hill-HarrisX survey said the system, outlined in the US Constitution, should be abolished, compared to 49 per cent of independent-identifying voters and 33 per cent of Republicans. In the Gallup poll, nearly 90 per cent of Democrats and 68 percent of independents support replacing the Electoral College system, compared to 23 per cent of Republican voters. Donald Trump famously lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 3 million votes in 2016 but was awarded an electoral college victory. The presidents campaign targeted strategic wins in states that would create an electoral victory with the required 270 electoral votes, an effort that election analysts predict the campaign will aim to recreate in 2020 against rival Joe Biden. Presidential candidates have won the White House while losing the popular vote only four times in election history it happened twice within the last 20 years, in 2000 and 2016. Critics have argued that the Electoral College is an antiquated measure that distorts the will of the voters by disproportionately weighing the impacts from less-populous areas. Amending the Constitution to abolish the Electoral College would require the support of two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-quarters of the states. Story continues But there also has been an effort among states to endorse a National Popular Vote Interstate Compact to agree to award its electoral votes to the popular vote winner, essentially circumventing a Constitutional challenge. The Hill-HarrisX online poll surveyed 3,758 registered voters between 10-14 September. It has a margin of error of 1.6 percentage points. Gallup surveyed 1,019 people between 31 August and 13 September. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points. Read more 2020 election: How does a candidate win under the electoral college? What is electoral college and what are the pros and cons of the voting system? Agartala: The Tripura government on Friday announced that schools in the state will reopen for the students of classes 11 and 12 from October 5. Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath said that students having written consent from their guardians will only be allowed to come to schools. The decision to reopen the schools was taken by the government following a high-level meeting, chaired by the education minister, on Thursday. The vice-chancellors of Tripura Central University and Maharaja Bir Bikram State University, directors of Elementary, Secondary and Higher Education Departments, and other officials of the Education Department were present in the meeting. "The Ministry of Education had issued a notification in detail along with the standard operating procedure (SOP)for reopening of schools from September 21. Ten states across the country have already reopened the schools. We have also decided to reopen schools," Nath said. The minister said that 50 per cent teachers would attend schools every day by rotation and take classes. For students in other classes, the schools will be opened in a phased manner after reviewing the situation, the minister said. She's Britains answer to Greta Thunberg and clearly has the same eye for promoting her cause. Myra-Rose Craig, 18, from Somerset, mounted a solitary protest on an ice floe at the edge of the Arctic Ocean yesterday to highlight climate change. She was participating in Fridays for Future, a global campaign inspired by Miss Thunberg, the 17-year-old Swedish activist. As she floated on the icy waters, Miss Craig held up a sign for Miss Thunbergs Youth Strike for Climate movement. Myra-Rose Craig, 18, from Somerset, mounted a solitary protest on an ice floe at the edge of the Arctic Ocean yesterday to highlight climate change The British environmentalist, from the Chew Valley, south of Bristol, said she spent weeks travelling by road and boat to the Arctic edge north of the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Her journey was part of a Greenpeace expedition to bear witness to the sea ice minimum, the lowest level of ice at the end of each summer. Calling on leaders and decision makers to do something about climate change, she said: Just floating in the middle of a sea of slush has really just reminded me how delicate the Arctic is. In a Twitter post, she wrote: Time is running out. The Arctic is melting and could be gone by the time Im in my 30s. The British environmentalist, from the Chew Valley, south of Bristol, said she spent weeks travelling by road and boat to the Arctic edge north of the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard Miss Craig, whose mothers family are Bangladeshi, founded the Black2Nature charity that encourages inner-city children from black and ethnic minority backgrounds to explore the natural world. Ice in the Arctic Ocean melted to its second-lowest level on record this summer, triggered by global warming along with natural forces. The extent of ice-covered ocean at the North Pole, extending further south to Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia, reached its summertime low of 1.4million square miles lat week before starting to grow again. In the 1980s, the ice cover was about 1million square miles bigger than current summer levels. Miss Craigs protest marked a day of global action held each Friday by children and youth activists to draw attention to climate change. Pictured: A child holds a sign with a drawing at a rally in support of the climate strike in Lisbon, Portugal Miss Craigs protest marked a day of global action held each Friday by children and youth activists to draw attention to climate change. Pupils and students around the world have been striking on Fridays for nearly two years, a form of action pioneered by Miss Thunberg, who led a socially distanced protest in Sweden yesterday that was limited to 50 by lockdown laws. Demonstrations were planned in at least 150 countries yesterday, although many were online. In February, Miss Craig shared a platform with Miss Thunberg at a rally in Bristol. Pupils and students around the world have been striking on Fridays for nearly two years. Pictured: A child at the protest in Lisbon, Portugal The same month, Miss Craig, who attended Chew Valley secondary school, received an honorary doctorate in science from the University of Bristol. She is believed to be the youngest Briton to receive such an award. A keen birdwatcher known as Birdgirl online, she has campaigned for years to improve diversity in conservation work. She became interested in nature because her parents are bird enthusiasts, but noticed there were few from ethnic minorities on birdwatching trips. In 2015, Miss Craig set up a nature camp for 20 teenagers, which led to Black2Nature. I grew up in London, Ontario not in the traditional sense, but it was the university community that shaped the most formative years of my life. For the past four years, this place has been a source of friendship, comfort, community and pride for me. Its a place that made my degree so much more than a piece of paper, a place that became the home away from home that I never knew I needed. With university students recent return to school, cities across the country are experiencing an influx of COVID-19 cases, fueled by crowded bars and house parties. This recent spike is a clear indication that the pandemic is far from over. Community members are growing increasingly scared and I cant really blame them. Students are an incredible cohort of people, but sometimes we dont take our impact on our university communities as seriously as we would in our hometowns. As we head into the last weekend of September a weekend that has traditionally garnered thousands of students to an unsanctioned Fake Homecoming street party on Broughdale Ave. we must remember that we have a responsibility to take care of a community that has provided us with so much. And trust me, I do get it. It has been a long six months since our world turned upside down, and this fall is a far cry from the Septembers we are used to. Back to school season usually brings a comforting familiarity as we bump into old friends downtown and connect with new ones at late-night afterparties. But this is not about us. We are living through one of the most defining moments of our time in the coming weeks, our actions will determine the wellbeing of our communities for years to come. Our actions will have an impact on our fellow students too. Those who spent all summer working to pay their tuition, those who head back and forth from their hometowns to take care of their immunocompromised family members, and those who isolated themselves for two weeks after their cross-continent flight to keep our cities safe. It is about our professors and administrators who adapted to the ever-changing circumstances of last semester to keep classes going, who worked tirelessly this summer to adjust to the new realities of teaching, who are so excited to welcome their incoming classes back with the same enthusiasm as they have always had. This is about our public health workers, our seniors, our local business owners, our bus drivers, our neighbours, their loved ones, and each other. The list goes on. However, what I hope to convey is that we are a part of an ecosystem and organism much bigger than ourselves. We are a part of a community that has shaped who we are and who we will become one that was here long before we got here and one that will be here long after we depart to our next destination. We need to start taking responsibility for our collective health and safety. Lets stay in our social bubbles, stop hosting parties, and get tested when we have symptoms. Our choices matter and over the next few weeks, they will speak volumes to what students are capable of. Students have the power to change the world, and now more than ever we have a chance to prove it. The head of a HSE led committee has claimed Longford would have followed Dublin's lead and gone into lockdown had a meeting which has been subject to a major Covid-19 outbreak gone ahead. Cllr Paraic Brady, who acts as chairperson of the Dublin Mid-Leinster HSE forum made the admission after a late decision was taken to host a zoom meeting of the committee instead of a scheduled one at Tullamore's Bridge House Hotel. Cllr Brady, together with county council colleagues PJ Reilly and Paul Ross had been scheduled to also attend the planned last Tuesday week. It emerged last week that the hotel had been forced to temporarily close after around half of the people from a group of 40 tested positive for the virus. The group had stayed at the premises for five days two weeks ago and just five days before the HSE meeting was pencilled in to take place and 48 hours after the alarm was raised concerning an outbreak at the hotel. We (Longford) would have been in phase three, the same as Dublin, he said. It's a call I made and it was the right call to make. Cllr Brady, instead, chaired the rearranged meeting via zoom from a HSE office in Tullamore. It would have looked very bad for the HSE to go ahead with a meeting in that way given all the guidelines that has been made to the public, he said. His fellow HSE forum member Cllr Paul Ross was equally supportive of the decision which was taken by Cllr Brady and health chiefs. "There are councillors on the forum from Longford, Westmeath, Laois, Offaly, Kildare, Westmeath and south Dublin," said Cllr Ross. "It's a huge area and cross party so it was a huge relief that a decision was taken to hold a zoom meeting instead otherwise there could have been much graver implications as to the virus' spread." The Longford County Council cathaoirleach revealed how the forum, which meets bi-monthly, held two previous meetings at the Bridge House Hotel earlier this year. Cllr Ross said both he and his fellow elected representatives on the committee were this week counting themselves extremely fortunate at the decision to hold a meeting remotely. "We did have an AGM in July and there was pressure to get that done which we did," he said. "The HSE had been actively seeking a venue that would meet social distancing standards because our meetings would normally see up to 50 people attend. "It was a great call in the end to have a zoom meeting at the end of last week especially what with what has emerged since. "It just goes to show you even with the strictest of precautions you just don't know how or where it (virus) will spread next," he said. 18+ FOR.kg search news service (news aggregator, media aggregator) Read first Agreement on the use of the FOR.kg search site When using materials from the FOR.kg - reference to the source is required For all questions please contact customer support Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is stepping up efforts to help uprooted families in the Sahel, among more than 700,000 people affected by the devastating floods in the region, the agency said on Friday Luis Alvarez/Getty Images One of the most stressful things a person can experience is receiving a positive diagnosis from a doctor, no matter what it is. Your mind can race in a million different direction, and perhaps immediately jump ahead to worst-case scenarios. It's easy to become overwhelmed with questions for the doctor, and to have a hard time deciding where to begin. Doctors are trained to handle these situations and they have a wealth of experience and information on the subject. It's likely they've heard every question imaginable, and if they don't have every answer, they can at least point you in the right direction. In the case of chronic illness, including rheumatoid arthritis, you'll be working together on long-term treatment and management, making it even more vital that you feel comfortable asking questions and advocating for yourself. To help weed through the chaos and fear that can dwell on your mind after finding out you have rheumatoid arthritis, PEOPLE spoke to rheumatologists about what questions need to be at the top of your list to help manage your diagnosis and take charge of your health. How severe is my rheumatoid arthritis? It it key to identify any pains and problems you are experiencing at the time of your diagnosis. As Katherine Wu, M.D. and rheumatologist with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, tells PEOPLE, rheumatoid arthritis can cause problems in different parts of the body such as the eyes, heart, lungs, and skin, and "monitoring for any new symptoms can help your doctor diagnose this earlier." The Mayo Clinic explains that rheumatoid arthritis occurs when "your immune system mistakenly attacks your own body's tissues," which affects your joints' lining and causes painful swelling that can potentially lead to bone erosion and joint deformity. The more severe your case, the greater the impact it can have on your body, so your doctor needs to be explicitly aware of any symptoms you're experiencing to help determine how much the arthritis has progressed, and which treatment(s) makes the most sense. Story continues "Patients with rheumatoid arthritis do have an increased risk of certain health issues," says Laura Cappelli, M.D., rheumatologist and assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "There are many things patients and their doctors can do to decrease these risks, including addressing risk factors for heart disease and making sure they are up to date with vaccinations." What are my options for treatment? As mentioned, treatment will depend on how far along your arthritis has developed. Your rheumatologist's goal is to minimize as many of your symptoms as possible. The ultimate goal is to achieve remission, but treatment should start, at a minimum, by getting your rheumatoid arthritis to a place that is actually manageable. As Wu explains, there are dozens of medications approved for R.A., with new ones being studied every year. "With your doctor, you can find the best medication that works for your rheumatoid arthritis," she says. You may have to try a few different medications before ultimately finding the one that works best for you, but that only furthers the importance of being candid with your doctor about your experience so they can find the best solution for you. Cappelli believes in being open with to your doctor about what you are trying to achieve with treatment: "We treat rheumatoid arthritis with effective medications for a variety of reasons, including preventing permanent joint damage, avoiding disability, and improving quality of life and physical function," she says. "Sharing your goals for the future with your doctor will allow you to work together to meet them." The most challenging part can be waiting for treatment to take effect. It can be a lengthy process that requires an immense amount of patience. As Cappelli points out, "most long-term medications for rheumatoid arthritis take some time to become fully effective. It is helpful for patients to know about this as they judge their response to treatment." What lifestyle changes should I make? It is important to see rheumatoid arthritis as a major part of your life, and as such, make appropriate modifications to your lifestyle to maximize the efficacy of your treatment. Simply taking medication won't be enough for long-term progress. It's about acknowledging your diagnosis and finding ways to adjust your life to make it a manageable part of your existence, which will require compromises. "Some activities, such as cigarette smoking, have been linked to increased risk for rheumatoid arthritis and higher disease activity," says Wu - which further illustrates the importance of being completely candid with your doctor about your health and lifestyle as they help you come up with a treatment plan. "It is a good idea to discuss with your doctor if there are any lifestyle changes you can make to help keep your rheumatoid arthritis controlled." "Many patients want to learn about ways to help their rheumatoid arthritis in addition to medications," adds Cappelli. "Your doctor will know what sort of lifestyle modifications have been studied in rheumatoid arthritis and whether they have been beneficial." What is the expected quality of life? Upon finding out you're going to have to live with rheumatoid arthritis, it's natural to be curious about any long term effects. Once you've gotten your case under control, will you be able to maintain your same quality of life? According to Dr. Anca Askanase, associate professor of medicine at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Director of the Columbia University Lupus Center, most people with rheumatoid arthritis do go on to live normally. That said, Askanase points out that people with rheumatoid arthritis have a higher risk of heart disease as well as lower life expectancy, so it is imperative to take any lifestyle changes you discuss with your doctor seriously. Unfortunately, as much as you may be able to live normally with R.A., Askanase notes that it is a chronic disease that cannot be cured, so it cannot afford to go ignored. The CDC recommends joining a self-management education class. At the very least, you should make every attempt to stay healthy and active after receiving a diagnosis; Askanase suggests using Arthritis.org to help inform you further. Will I be able to have children? For many women, a major concern is how rheumatoid arthritis can affect pregnancies, but Megan E. B. Clowse, M.D., M.P.H, with the Duke University School of Medicine's Division of Rheumatology & Immunology assures that your rheumatoid arthritis does not have to interfere with your desire to have a family. "Weve known for decades that many women with rheumatoid arthritis actually feel better pregnant than not pregnant, though about half can have active rheumatoid arthritis during pregnancy," she tells PEOPLE. She also cautions that while many R.A.-treating medications can be taken safely during pregnancy, "it is important to talk with your rheumatologist about the safety of your medications in pregnancy before you conceive," as several can cause harm to a developing fetus. Clowse also says that women with rheumatoid arthritis can safely breastfeed on many of these medications. "Many women experience an increase in joint pain after delivery, so I recommend taking effective medications to treat rheumatoid arthritis during this important time," she adds. "Having severe joint pain while taking care of an infant can be a huge challenge fortunately, you dont need to pick between taking care of your baby and taking care of yourself." Additionally, women currently treating R.A. are able to safely take birth control. Clowse recommends MotherToBaby as a great resource to learn more about pregnancy and medications for women with rheumatoid arthritis. The most important piece of the puzzle is keeping your doctor in the loop throughout the process. "Your symptoms may also change during and after pregnancy, so your doctor may want to monitor you more carefully during this period," says Wu. What does my diagnosis mean for my family? Because rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder, it does have a genetic component, and it can run in families. As a result, it's important to figure out how to share your diagnosis with your family. As Cappelli mentions, "the degree of risk to family members depends on the particular disease. Your doctor can help you discuss the risk of autoimmune disease with your direct relatives." But as a post from New York's Hospital for Special Surgery explains, "Its a possibility that some types of arthritis run in the family, but its not like diabetes, where if both parents have it, the child will have it as well." Simply having a history of R.A. in your genes doesn't automatically mean you will develop it. "Something else has to happen - some kind of environmental trigger, like a virus, for example - for someone to develop rheumatoid arthritis. In some studies, for instance, smoking, along with a genetic predisposition, has been shown to increase the risk," adds HSS. KALAMAZOO TOWNSHIP, MI Police are searching for a man believed to have shot a male relative Thursday evening in the 500 block of Lum Avenue. Township of Kalamazoo Police officers responded to the shooting at 6:20 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, according to a news release from the department. Upon arrival, officers found the 26-year-old male victim, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the abdomen, the release states. Officers administered first aid and the victim was transported to Ascension Borgess Hospital with what is believed to be a non-life threatening wound, police say. According to police, the suspect is related to the victim. Township police, along with officers from other area agencies, are actively searching for the suspect. Anyone with information is asked to call silent observer at 269-343-2100 or the Township of Kalamazoo Police Department at 269-488-8911. Also on MLive: Kalamazoo Schools graduation number climbs to new high in age of Kalamazoo Promise Higher tax proposed to support homes for all in Kalamazoo County Gary Peters and John James offer stark differences in Michigans U.S. Senate race Chennai: On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Professor Satish Dhawan, a pioneer who spearheaded ISRO's efforts as the organizations second Chairman, an Indian space startup has unveiled their indigenously developed cryogenic engine - Dhawan-I. This cryogenic engine is meant to fuel the upper stage of their rocket Vikram -II. The company, Skyroot Aerospace has already tested a solid-fueled engine, but the cryogenic engine is even more significant because of the extreme complexity in the technology and the handling of its fuels. A cryogenic engine uses liquid fuel and an oxidizer that is maintained at extremely cold temperatures. Cryogenic is a generic term that can be used to describe temperatures below -150 degrees Celsius. Such engines are used in the upper most stages of rockets, which are used for propulsion in space. A typical rocket consists of two or more stages, each of which would have its own engines (either single or packed in a cluster). Simply put, a rocket is a combination of multiple engines(stages) that are vertically stacked. Skyroot Aerospace has revealed that their cryogenic engine would be powered by Liquid Natural gas as fuel (LNG) and Liquid Oxygen as oxidizer (LoX). This engine is Indias first fully Cryogenic engine running on futuristic fuel LNG, the agency said. The Cryogenic propulsion team is led by V. Gnanagandhi an ex-ISRO scientist and Padmashri awardee who is also the Senior Vice President at Skyroot. It is said that LNG being used comprises of over 90% methane gas, thus making it a clean-burning, low-cost, highly re-usable field which is suited for long duration space missions. Pawan Kumar Chandana, CEO of Skyroot Aerospace says that their team has successfully completed many tests to check the fuel flow and structural integrity. He added that they were building a dedicated test facility for hot fire testing of this engine. Dhawan-I is a 100% 3D Printed cryogenic engine with regenerative cooling says Naga Bharath Daka, COO. Regenerative cooling refers to a configuration where, some or all of the propellant is passed through tubes, channels, or in a jacket around the combustion chamber or nozzle to cool the engine. This is effective because the fuel (and sometimes the oxidizer) are good coolants. The heated propellant is then fed into a special gas generator or injected directly into the main combustion chamber. While the company has successfully tested the upper-most stage engine of its first rocket Vikram-I, the initial stage engines of Vikram-I are being manufactured. If all goes well, the company is looking forward to a maiden launch of Vikram-I by December 2021, with the support and guidance of the Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO). The cryogenic engine wont see action in Vikram-I and is meant for their bigger rocket Vikram-II. In terms of payload capacity, Vikram I is meant to lift 225 kg to 500 km Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit(SSPO) and 315 kg to 45 inclination 500 km Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Vikram II is designed for 410 kg to 500 km SSPO and 520 kg to 45 inclination 500km LEO. In case of Vikram III we are looking at 580 kg to 500 km SSPO and 720 kg to 45 inclination 500 km LEO. On Thursday, India recorded over 86,000 cases, taking its total caseload way past the 5.8-million mark. India has been adding over 1,000 deaths daily for the past 25 days. Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, earlier hospitalised due to the infection, was also diagnosed with dengue. Sisodia was moved to the private Max Hospital in Saket from the Delhi government-run LNJP Hospital in the evening, considering his "falling" blood platelet count and low oxygen level. On the vaccine front, Russian President informed about the second Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccine will get registered soon. (Newser) A knife attack in Paris on Friday that seriously injured two people has prompted authorities to launch a terror investigation, reports the AP. The reason? The attack took place near the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, scene of a terror attack in 2015 that left 12 people dead, reports Reuters. The newspaper has since moved to an undisclosed location. Police have arrested a suspect in the knife attack, though details were scarce. At this point, it's not certain the attack is related to the newspaper, though the 2015 assault is very much back in the headlines these days. The Hebdo trial of 14 people who allegedly helped the attackers is currently taking place elsewhere in the city. The widows of those attackersbrothers Cherif and Said Kouachiwere to testify on Friday. story continues below I was in my office," a witness told Europe 1 radio on Friday of the knife attack. "I heard screams in the road. I looked out of the window and saw a woman who was lying on the floor and had taken a whack in the face from what was possibly a machete." Both of Friday's victims have injuries considered to be life-threatening. French Prime Minister Jean Castex cut short a scheduled speech on Friday when news of the attack broke. The New York Times reports that al-Qaeda recently issued new threats against the newspaper after it reprinted the satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that led to the 2015 attack. (Read more Charlie Hebdo stories.) Iran is estimated to have exported nearly 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and condensate so far in September, TankerTrackers told Reuters, in what would be the highest level of Iranian exports in a year and a half and double the observed exports in August. Two other tanker-tracking firms have also seen an increase in Iranian oil exports so far in September, although not as much as TankerTrackers.com has found, according to Reuters. Since the U.S. imposed sanctions on Irans oil industry and exports in May 2018, the Islamic Republic has been using various tactics to ship crude abroad without being detected, including by tankers switching off transponders or documents stating the oil does not originate from Iran. Irans Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said earlier this week that America has waged a war against Iran with no blood, referring to the sanctions on Irans oil. Iran continues to export oil in defiance of the U.S. sanctions, and it seems to have recently increased its oil exports despite the fact that official figures still put the shipments at very low levels. Related: OPEC+ Complied 101% With Oil Production Cuts In August China, for example, the worlds largest oil importer, is likely receiving much more oil from Iran than the official figures report, according to various reports, media investigations, and tanker-tracking firms. In August, Iran was exporting a lot more crude oil than U.S. figures suggest, data from TankerTrackers.com has revealed, as reported by NBC News. According to the data, Iran was exporting as much as 600,000 bpd, using ship-to-ship transfers with transponders turned off to avoid detection, skirting U.S. sanctions. The daily average number compares with an estimate of 227,000 bpd made in a U.S. Congressional report, NBCs Raf Sanchez wrote on Twitter. Last year, a U.S. State Department official told the media that the department was tracking ship-to-ship transfers and was working with other governments to ensure that they, too, were tracking such moves that became one of few ways for Iran to still get its crude to foreign markets. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: LOUISVILLE, Ky. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered downtown on Thursday night, a day after two police officers were shot during protests against a grand jurys decision not to file charges in the killing of Breonna Taylor. After months of demands by people across the country for police accountability, demonstrators spilled into the streets to voice their support for Taylor's memory and for her grieving family. Some called for Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron to release all the evidence in the case while others carried Black Lives Matter and United Not Divided signs and questioned whether justice would ever be served in Louisville, Kentucky. In the early evening, demonstrators blocked an intersection and chanted, "Whose streets? Our streets." Image: Louisville protest (Darron Cummings / AP) Hundreds of protesters swelled into the area. They were joined by a group of 30 armed people who said they showed up to protect businesses from possible vandalism. By the city's 9 p.m. curfew a group of demonstrators sought shelter outside a church, where a woman with a megaphone said, "Stay on the church property. They are opening the sanctuary. We are safe here." A protester holding burning sage meandered through the group. Police had the area surrounded, and some of the remaining demonstrators on the streets were placed under arrest. Chemical agents were deployed, an unlawful assembly was declared and stragglers were encouraged to go home or face being locked up. Later in the evening, an officer and a protester shook hands on a deal to let the demonstrators exit the church property without being arrested. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer on Thursday extended the 9 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. curfew through the weekend. Roadblocks and barricades remained in place downtown. Following protests in Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday night, Gov. Mike Parson activated the National Guard. Police in Oakland, California, said in a statement that they "will continue to facilitate safe places & spaces for demonstrations." Story continues In Louisville, the grand jurys decision announced Wednesday drew sharp criticism from protesters and local activists who had called for three officers involved in the violence at Taylor's home to be charged in her death. Brett Hankison was the only officer involved in the early morning raid on Taylor's Louisville apartment who was charged, but not in her death. He is accused of first-degree wanton endangerment. Det. Myles Cosgrove, the officer whose rounds killed Taylor, according to the indictment, was not charged. Taylor, 26, an emergency medical technician, was fatally shot in her home on March 13 after Louisville police officers executed a no-knock warrant to search for drugs or cash in connection with an investigation involving her ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, a convicted drug dealer. Glover had been using Taylors address to receive packages, according to authorities. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was with her when officers arrived at the door, told police the officers did not identify themselves. Worried as they pounded on the door, he said, he fired off one round from a gun he was licensed to have. It injured one officer, and police returned fire, killing Taylor and shooting up a neighbor's apartment. During protests Wednesday night, two Louisville police officers were shot while responding to a report of a large crowd and gunfire. Larynzo Johnson, 26, was charged with two counts of assault on a police officer and 14 counts of wanton endangerment of a police officer. Louisville police arrested 127 people during protests Wednesday. Chloe Atkins reported from Louisville and Dennis Romero from California. "We still have it as top of mind as part of a first salvo in the millennial campus," Gilliam told trustees at a board committee meeting Tuesday. "I hope we'll be able to get back to that soon." UNCG got permission from the UNC Board of Governors in 2017 to establish a millennial campus, which allows for private-sector partnerships that universities typically can't engage in. UNCG has said it plans to create two millennial campus districts one for the visual and performing arts along Tate Street, and a health and wellness district largely along West Gate City Boulevard. In the master plan's six-to-10-year time frame, possible projects include additions to the Weatherspoon Art Museum and the Bryan School of Business and Economics and construction of a second new science building. The master plan also calls for replacing the Eberhart Building, a science facility to two of UNCG's most popular majors, biology and psychology. That building turns 50 next year. She recently enjoyed a relaxing trip to the South of France with beau Brad Pitt. And Nicole Poturalski was back to work as she strutted along the Hugo Boss catwalk during Milan Fashion Week on Friday. The model, 27, looked sensational as she flaunted her toned figure in a black maxi dress with a plunging neckline and long sleeves. Stunning: Nicole Poturalski looked sensational as she strutted along the Hugo Boss catwalk during Milan Fashion Week on Friday Nicole exuded confidence as she walked during the show, completing her simple yet stylish ensemble with strap sandals. As she made her way along the catwalk Nicole flashed a glimpse at her bronzed legs through her dress' side splits. The stunner added a splash of colour to her outfit by donning a mint green bracelet with a large silver buckle at the front. Just like the other models, Nicole wore her long brunette locks down and perfectly slicked back off her face with a side parting. Beauty: The model flashed a glimpse at her bronzed legs through the splits at the side of her fitted dress In action: She exuded confidence as she took to the catwalk during the star-studded show Fashion: Guests to the show sat on spaced out blocks and wore face masks as they admired Nicole's outfit on the runway The beauty added a touch of makeup, including a slick of mascara and nude lipstick to accentuate her pretty features. Also seen at the Hugo Boss show was Suki Waterhouse, who wowed in a cream ensemble of a trench coat, top and trousers. Model Irina Shayk also looked sensational as she walked the Hugo Boss catwalk in a utility-style outfit with square shoulders. Style: Nicole's dress boasted a plunging neckline with several buttons along the seams Slick: Nicole wore her brunette locks tucked behind her ears In the zone: Nicole looked every bit the professional model as she strutted her stuff Hugo Boss' colourful also show boasted a selection of shades including greens and red as well as denim garments and long coats. Several models took to the catwalk, flaunting their svelte figures in silk dresses and tailored suits, with them all wearing similar open-toe shoes. Milan Fashion Week is being held as a breakthrough for Italy, seven months on from when the country dealt with the devastating effects of coronavirus. All in the details: All of the models donned open-toe sandals which crossed over on the top of their feet, with Nicole being given a black pair with a silver detailing In formation: Nicole looked incredible as she flaunted her model walk during the show Chic: Irina Shayk wore her brunette locks in sleek loose lengths while her make-up was extremely minimal to best highlight her glowing complexion She's got style: Suki Waterhouse turned heads as she led the arrivals for the Hugo Boss Milan Fashion Week show on Friday Here come the girls: Irina strutted down the runway in a quirky khaki shirt dress, while another model showed off a silk floral number from the collection Meanwhile, actor Brad, 56, is dating model Nicole and they were spotted last month arriving in the South of France on a private jet where they visited Chateau Miraval. 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. Back: Milan Fashion Week is being held as a breakthrough for Italy, seven months on from when the country dealt with the devastating effects of coronavirus Snakes and leathers! The outfits seen at the show featured a host of textiles and patterns Close up: Nicole's dress boasted a large collar and long floating sleeves Matchy matchy: The models behind Nicole also wore black ensembles with touches of green It is believed that Nicole and Brad 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. Nicole is allegedly in an open relationship with her husband Roland. Earlier this month, Nicole hit back at trolls accusing her of of 'hating' Brad's ex-wife Angelina Jolie and said people should 'stay out' of her relationship after she shared a cryptic quote saying 'happy people don't hate'.' Brad and Nicole's visit to Chateau Miraval reportedly angered Angelina, with a source telling the Mirror: 'Angie is furious and utterly stunned Brad could stoop this low. Spring/ summer: The upcoming collection was awash with mint green, denim and long coats and suit trousers Back together! Nicole's runway show comes after Brad's fans went wild when he reunited with ex-wife Jennifer Aniston for a risque table read of Fast Times at Ridgemont High Brad meanwhile reunited with his other ex wife Jennifer Aniston last week for an online table read. It was the first time the former spouses have been seen together since they were spotting chatting backstage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in January. The former couple recreated one of Fast Times At Ridgemont High's most risque scenes, where Jennifer's character walks in on Brad's character 'daydreaming' about her topless in the bathroom as she looks for Q-tips. The actor took on the role of Brad Hamilton, originally played by Judge Reinhold, 63, while his ex-wife Jennifer, 51, played high school 'sex queen' Linda Barrett, portrayed by Phoebe Cates, 57, in the coming-of-age teenage dramedy. HARTFORD Police said a body was found in the Connecticut River on Friday. Lt. Paul Cicero said the body is on the Hartford side of the river. Firefighters and the Hartford police marine unit were dispatched. The first officer on the scene confirmed a body was in the river. The investigation is in the area of Charter Oak Landing on Reserve Road. Check back for updates. (Natural News) The left is having a meltdown over the proposition of President Trump appointing a new Supreme Court justice before the November election, as the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg supposedly had a death wish that her replacement not be appointed until a new president is installed. But the truth is that Trump is merely following the advice of Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, all of whom stressed in the past that vacant SCOTUS seats need to be filled immediately. Back in 2016, for example, Biden emphasized that as chairman or ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, he would go forward with a confirmation process even a few months before a presidential election, if the nominee were chosen with the advice, and not merely the consent, of the Senate, just as the Constitution requires. As you may recall from that time, it was Republican leaders who did not want to move forward with even considering an Obama nominee for the Supreme Court, and Biden was urging them to do so, citing constitutional requirements. That same year, Obama indicated much the same when he stated unequivocally that when there is a vacancy on the SCOTUS, the President is to nominate someone, the Senate is to consider that nomination. Obama added that there is no unwritten law that says that it can only be done on off-years. Thats not in the Constitution text. Im going to do my job, Obama added in a separate interview about the same issue, as the Senate at the time did not want to cooperate with his nomination. Im going to nominate somebody Its not as if the Senate calendar is so full that we do not have time to get this done. If you remember, Obama actually tweeted about the issue as well, demanding that Senate leaders do your job. Obamas tweet added that the Senate had one priority at the time, and that was to fill the Supreme Court vacancy as soon as it returned from recess. Trump is only following the Constitution by issuing a nomination for confirmation And last but not least is failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who stated that any delay in the nomination process of a new Supreme Court justice is dishonoring to the Constitution. Clinton issued her own statement following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia indicating that her thoughts and prayers were with Scalias family, but that Republicans in the Senate and on the campaign trail who are calling for Justice Scalias seat to remain vacant dishonor the Constitution. The Senate has a constitutional responsibility here that it cannot abdicate for partisan political reasons, Clinton added, emphasizing the importance of filling vacant SCOTUS seats as soon as they become available. Fast-forward to the year 2020 and each of these prominent Democrats: Biden, Obama and Clinton, are all saying the exact opposite of what they did back then now that President Trump is at the helm and the far-left mainstream media is supporting their hypocritical about-face. As the far-left squeals and whines about Ginsburg being replaced, seeking to set up effigies in her honor while keeping her seat vacant forever, the right, including Trump himself, is echoing back to the advice of these former Democrat leaders in forging a path towards a new nominee. We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of the United States Supreme Court Justices, Trump tweeted, thanking former Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for abolishing the requirement in 2013 that presidential appointees to the Supreme Court receive 60 votes for confirmation. We have this obligation, without delay! Trump added. For more related news, be sure to check out Trump.news. Sources for this article include: ZeroHedge.com NaturalNews.com Dr. Jill Biden, the wife of Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden, plans to visit Traverse City on Tuesday, Sept. 29, according to the campaign. Additional details have not yet been announced but will follow, according to a press release. The former Second Lady was in the state recently on Sept. 15, when she toured Kids' Food Basket in Grand Rapids and attended an event with military families in Battle Creek. Related: Jill Biden focuses on veterans issues, food insecurity in West Michigan campaign swing A top surrogate for her husband, Jill Biden has also visited Flint and hosted virtual events supporting him. Joe Biden himself was last in the state on Sept. 9. Michigan is a battleground state as incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and Biden vie for the White House. Trump won the state by 10,704 votes over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. Donald Trump, too, has visited Michigan and sent surrogates in recent weeks. At a Sept. 10 rally in Freeland, he drew 10,000 for a speech that focused on jobs and the economy. Related: President Donald Trump says hes running for reelection to keep jobs in Michigan The election takes place on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Related stories: Joe Biden meets with Detroit-area steelworkers during campaign swing through Michigan President Donald Trump says hes running for reelection to keep jobs in Michigan Jill Biden focuses on veterans issues, food insecurity in West Michigan campaign swing Donald Trump celebrates Michigan rally turnout, slams Bidens jobs record Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A professor at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) has developed a robust, reliable assay for COVID-19 that returns results in less than 20 minutes. Stephen Bustin, professor of molecular medicine at ARU and a leading expert in quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), which is widely used to detect infectious SARS-CoV-2 in cells, has developed the assay, called Cov2-ID, with colleagues at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford. The test detects three viral targets, making it more reliable than other tests that look at just one, and was 100% accurate in almost 30 patient samples taken. The test also has the potential to detect viral load, which is the amount of the virus present in each patient. Cov2-ID has been developed using Professor Bustin's own MIQE guidelines, which were developed to promote best practice for qPCR assay design and publication, to produce results which are robust, sensitive and fast. It is also designed to minimize the likelihood of a false negative result which may lead to patients unwittingly infecting others. Full details of Cov2-ID have been unveiled in a pre-print research paper, which has been submitted for peer-review to the journal Nature Scientific Reports. Currently, the UK's testing system is facing problems because of the length of time it takes to get results back from laboratories, many of which are being inundated with tests to process. The Cov2-ID testing process is both fast and simple to carry out, potentially making it ideal for use in venues such as schools, GP surgeries, offices and airports, as well as across the wider NHS Test and Trace system. Professor Bustin said, "Unfortunately, the existing tests available for COVID-19 are inadequate for testing and monitoring populations for viral spread. The tests not only need to identify who has the virus, but they need to work quickly enough to stop them passing it on. A patient could feasibly take our test, wait in isolation, and receive results in less than 20 minutes. This would in turn prevent the laboratory backlog that is currently hampering efforts to stop the virus circulating in our community." Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak More information: Stephen Bustin et al. CoV2-ID, a MIQE-compliant sub-20-minute 5-plex RT-PCR assay targeting SARS-CoV-2 for the diagnosis of COVID-19, (2020). Journal information: Scientific Reports Stephen Bustin et al. CoV2-ID, a MIQE-compliant sub-20-minute 5-plex RT-PCR assay targeting SARS-CoV-2 for the diagnosis of COVID-19,(2020). DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-75000/v1 New Jersey officials on Thursday approved a budget that hinges on borrowing $4.5 billion (U.S.) to cover basic operating costs, making the state one of the first to take on debt to plug a gaping financial hole during the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Philip D. Murphy and his fellow Democrats who control the Legislature argued that the step was needed to avoid deep cuts to essential services, including education, transit and health care, in the absence of a deal in Washington on a stimulus bill. Across the country, states and cities have been pummeled by declining tax revenues and unparalleled levels of unemployment. Illinois has also looked to balance its budget using $1.2 billion from a short-term lending program run by the Federal Reserve, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has asked the state for permission to borrow billions of dollars to cover operating costs. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Thursday that he was leery of permitting new borrowing a budget tactic that has been disparaged ever since it brought New York City to the brink of bankruptcy in the 1970s. New Jerseys plan has been roundly criticized by Republicans, who sued to try to block the borrowing. Normally, many economists warn against states borrowing to pay for their operating costs, arguing that doing so can lead to spiralling debt that can force major spending cuts or significant tax increases. New Jersey is already burdened by the fourth-highest level of bond debt in the nation, representing a cost of $4,125 per resident, according to the credit rating agency Moodys. Daniel Bryan, a senior adviser to Murphy, said the $4.5 billion in new borrowing was an option of last resort. It was this or a calamitous slashing of government services that would have done even more damage to families already hit hardest by the pandemic, Bryan said. The $32.7 billion budget relies on the borrowing to help plug an estimated $5.3 billion deficit magnified by the urgent health needs of the pandemic and the sharp decline in tax revenue following a months-long shutdown of businesses. The spending plan, which covers the next nine months, also includes about $1 billion in cuts, establishes a so-called millionaires tax on income over $1 million and retains a 2.5 per cent corporate surcharge, which had been scheduled to drop to 1.5 per cent. It also builds in an anticipated end-of-year surplus of about $2.5 billion, a cushion officials in the Murphy administration say is crucial given the potential for a second wave of the virus. State Sen. Michael L. Testa Jr., a Republican who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the state Republican Party, said the state should not have crafted a budget that left a $2.5 billion surplus when it was borrowing to cover operating expenses. How could anyone with any intellectual honesty borrow $4 billion to do that? Youre maxing out your credit card to put money in your savings account, Testa said. But rating agencies like Moodys have cited the states lack of robust surpluses as part of the reason New Jersey has the second worst bond rating in the nation. Only Illinois has a lower rating. In April, Moodys revised the states credit outlook to negative from stable. If it is downgraded, New Jerseys rating would be considered the lowest level for investment-grade debt, which makes it more expensive for a state to borrow. Over time the expense can add up to a lot of money that residents would rather see spent on public services. Baye Larsen, a Moodys analyst, said it was not uncommon for states to use deficit financing during recessions. She said Moodys would be looking carefully at the details of how the $4.5 billion in new debt is structured as it considers the states bond rating. The risk always with large budget gaps is that the government will have to reach for unsustainable solutions to fill it, Larsen said. If Republicans and Democrats in Congress do agree on a pandemic aid package for states and cities, there is a possibility that some of those funds could be used to pay down the new debt, provided that is not barred as a condition of the bailout, state officials have said. After voting to approve the budget, Craig J. Coughlin, the Democratic speaker of the Assembly, noted that option. I still think the federal government needs to do more, Coughlin said. If they do, well be able to pay down debt readily. On Thursday, Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., introduced a bill in Congress to provide new federal relief to states and local governments, but with strings attached. The money would be offered as loans, to be repaid with interest at the same rates that the Fed now offers to states. But if by June 30, 2022, the borrowing governments could show that their budgets were truly balanced, and they were building up adequate rainy day funds, the loans would be forgiven and the borrowers could keep the money. In 2004, as former Gov. Jim McGreevey, a Democrat, moved to borrow to enable spending increases, he was sued by Leonard Lance, a Republican member of the state Senate, who was later elected to Congress. The state Supreme Court permitted the borrowing that year, but made it illegal to do so in subsequent budgets. This year, the Supreme Court cited the extraordinary health emergency and the fiscal crisis caused by the coronavirus, which has led to more than 16,000 deaths in New Jersey, when it cleared the way for the borrowing to go forward. New Jersey delayed approval of its fiscal year budget by three months during the early throes of the pandemic, passing a stopgap spending measure in late June. The budget that was approved Thursday, which is widely expected to be signed into law by Murphy, covers only nine months. Lance, who lost his seat in 2019, said the state should have been permitted to borrow in the fiscal year in which the crisis struck, but not during the year that starts Oct. 1. This is a terrible burden that will be borne by our children, he said. In August, more than 90 economists and economic policy experts in New Jersey released a joint letter urging the state not to use what they called counterproductive cuts to balance the budget. Large cuts would erode the health and social infrastructure needed to continue combating COVID-19, increase inequality and exacerbate the economic downturn, they wrote. James W. Hughes, the former dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy of Rutgers University, said the $4.5 billion borrowing plan was completely unlike the states use of debt in 2004. We had a real budget crisis this year, with chances of massive budget cutbacks, said Hughes, who was not among the economists who signed the letter. This is a real, deep, unprecedented crisis. MBABANE The Republic of China (Taiwan) has extended its appreciation to the Government of Eswatini for its support at the United Nations 75th General Assembly. Following Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlaminis advocacy for Taiwan to be part of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has expressed her appreciation of the kingdoms support. In her official Twitter post, President Tsai Ing-wen thanked the premier for his outspoken support for Taiwans meaningful participation in the UN. Help With your help, our voice can be heard so that Taiwan can help more countries around the world, the president said. On Monday, the PM spoke during the UN General Assembly, imploring the international body to fulfil its promise to leave no one behind and invite the nation to join. The UN General Assembly began on Monday by commemorating the 75th anniversary of the organisations founding. When it was the countrys turn to speak, the PM, in a pre-recorded video, said the African nation once again called on the UN not to leave out Taiwan. We urge the United Nations to open its doors to all the nations in the world and their people, he stated. The premier went on to say one issue yet to be discussed was that of Taiwan. He emphasised that the East Asian country had played a meaningful role in the implementation of UN development efforts and that it would continue to contribute to the international community. He further said; Taiwans inclusion within our community of nations would be a crucial step towards realising our pledge of leaving no one behind. Credibility Dlamini said it would not only boost the UNs legitimacy but also lend credibility to its goals and efforts. Year in, year out, every September, member States meet in the General Assembly Hall at the UN Headquarters in New York for the annual session and its highly visible general debate. The country normally has a representation on those meetings. The modalities of the 75th session differed this year in light of the global health crisis. "That is something we are not used to doing in the Netherlands," he says. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China founder and British MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith is pushing for International Olympic Committee to strip Beijing of the 2022 Winter Olympics over its human rights issues. His coalition's numbers have surged by 60 per cent since June. Indian MPs are set to join the group of more than 160 imminently. It now counts government and opposition MPs from Japan, Africa, US, Europe, New Zealand and Australia among its members and co-chairs. They have been criticised for ideological prejudice, pushing an aggressive anti-China line, and fermenting a cold-war mentality. Internally, the mismatch of left, right, centrist MPs is not a unanimous voice, with disagreement over tactics and direction, but the purpose of the group is mostly to share experiences of the Chinese governments approach in each country. "Individual countries are not really discussing this with each other," says Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative Party and one of the more hawkish members of the coalition. "The whole point of IPAC is to get legislators to stand together. An attack on one is an attack on all." China's Foreign Ministry has urged the alliance to stop fanning the flames of anti-Chinese sentiment and "play a more constructive role in the solidarity and cooperation of the international community". But as their numbers grow IPAC's tactics are becoming more unconventional and brazen. Duncan Smith says the alliance was behind the protests that greeted Wang when he landed in Europe in August, linking establishment politicians with anti-establishment protesters. He accuses former UK administrations of having a "kowtow policy", British industrialists of taking the "Chinese shilling" and says the Chinese government has bullied Australia as a warning to others: "this is what will happen to you". The group has endorsed research into the Chinese government's sterilisation of Uighur's in Xinjiang, the establishment of labour camps in Tibet, as well as promoting the Czech parliamentary speaker's recent visit to Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province. The unofficial body, acting as its own extra-parliamentary foreign policy unit, is pushing domestic politicians not involved with the group to take a more assertive stance. Loading "If history has taught us anything at all it is when a country behaves like this in a dominant position and you turn a blind eye it always gets worse," Duncan Smith says. "When Germany walked into the Rhineland everybody sort of shrugged. They said 'they are their territories, they had a right to do it'. So when China decided to crack down on Hong Kong, there were protests and governments saying 'you should not be doing this' but next to nothing to follow that up. "They broke a treaty in Hong Kong and did it believing the free world would do next to nothing. Lo and behold they are quite right: the free world will do next to nothing." The United States has launched trade sanctions on Chinese government officials responsible for implementing the Hong Kong national security laws and establishing detention centres in Xinjiang. The UK and Australia have offered visas to Hongkongers looking to leave the former British colony. But most countries have preferred to continue economic cooperation with China while voicing concerns over its policies. "The point is right now China believes that protests are not problems because at the end of the day, governments are persuaded by money," says Duncan Smith. New Zealand is a case study in cautious diplomacy. The chair of its foreign affairs committee, Simon O'Connor, says there is a lot of "quiet admiration" for Australia's stance on China, which has seen it hit with multiple trade strikes after pushing for an independent inquiry into the coronavirus, "but we dont want to make too much noise so we don't get hit". O'Connor, a National Party MP who sits with the opposition in Wellington, says if he had to be "somewhat uncharitable" there is a contradiction in high-profile Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who "is very big on human rights and global cooperation yet relatively silent on these matters". "New Zealand unfortunately is so highly dependent on China and trade that she is probably making the calculation that I'm better off not saying too much than to get massive backlash from the industry." Unlike Australia, New Zealand continues to have bilateral contact with its Chinese partners. On Wednesday it was lauded by China's Deputy Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen for "continuing to lead relations between China and Western countries". The Australian government has been attempting to turn down the temperature on Chinese relations this week after months of escalation but two reports filled the void. Employees are kept around when theyre needed, and then told to go home when theyre not needed, he said. And it results in tremendous uncertainty. You never know when you will be called in, so you cant get a second job, to supplement what ultimately was designed as a part-time job. It ends up preventing things like child care, or just living a normal life. Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday announced details in the long-awaited Phase 3 reopening of the state economy, with some good news for the hard-hit hospitality industry, but bars and night clubs will remain closed in the coronavirus pandemic. The changes will take effect Oct. 8, Lamont said. They are happening as COVID-19 numbers remain low, despite a slight uptick in the last two weeks. Weve watched this closely and its been pretty successful, he said. If we have to change course we will. Restaurants, hair salons, barber shops and personal service providers will be able to accept 75 percent of capacity, up from 50 percent. Outdoor venues including stadiums and concerts can go up to 50 percent of capacity, from 25 percent, with mandatory masks and social distancing. Indoor performing arts venues can open up to 50 percent capacity. Indoor gatherings such as weddings in commercial venues can be up to half of the locations capacity to a maximum of 100 people. Outdoor private events, with limits now of 100 people, will move up to 150 people. Religious gatherings indoors can be up to 50 percent capacity, capped at 200 people, up from 100 now. Outdoor religious gatherings and graduations can now have numbers of people limited only by the capacity of the locations with distancing between groups. All of these expansions come with mandatory masks and distancing, Lamont said. He had little to offer to the shut-down bars, however. I think its worth waiting a little longer, he said, noting that bars are by their nature hard to make safe. Indoor social gatherings at private residences are still limited to 25 people, no change from Phase 2. Restaurants and caterers, in particular, which have been trying to stay in business with outdoor dining, takeout orders and a fraction of indoor business, have been lobbying hard for looser limits heading into the cooler fall season. Other businesses, notably personal services such as hair and nail salons, have also pushed for a lifting of some restrictions. Will they come? One question is whether customers will come now that the limits are being raised. Phase 1 of the reopening came in the third week of May and Phase 2 in the third week of June, with adjustments in July. Were ramping up a little bit in terms of risk, Lamont said, but look we could dial it right back. Scott Dolch, executive director of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, said Thursday afternoon that industry leaders have met recently with Lamont and his top aides in attempt to persuade them that they can operate safely beyond the current 50-percent capacity limits for restaurants and 25 people for indoor events. Todays news is another important step in Connecticuts nation-leading efforts to respond to COVID-19 in a safe and responsible manner, Dolch said in a statement released during Lamonts daily news conference. Like the rest of the country, Connecticut is not out of the woods of this pandemic by any stretch, but we've proven that its possible to be mindful of our local economy at the same time we keep our residents as safe as possible. Connecticut reinstated limited indoor dining on June 17. Still far ahead of the nation Connecticut has had a slight increase in cases and infection rates over the last two weeks but remains within its own three-month range, far below the national average. The state had the nations lowest percentage of tests showing positive COVID-19 cases for much of the summer, mostly below 1 percent, falling as low as 0.5 percent. The rate moved up over the last two weeks and is now at a 7-day average of 1.3 percent. The national 7-day average positivity rate hit a summertime high of 8.4 percent and is now at 5 percent, with a few states, notably Texas, over 10 percent, according to data compiled by Kaiser Family Foundation. In number of new cases per day per 1 million residents, Connecticut has bounced between 20 and 50 for most of the summer and is now at a 7-day average of 45 - the 4th lowest among all states, with all of the lower states in the Northeast. The nation hit 200 new cases per day per 1 million residents in late July, then fell to just over 100 two weeks ago and has climbed back up to 132. The states with the highest percent of new cases are in the South and especially the Midwest, led by the Dakotas. The nation hit 200 new cases per day per 1 million residents in late July, then fell to just over 100 two weeks ago and has climbed back up to 132. The states with the highest percent of new cases are in the South and especially the Midwest, led by the Dakotas. Associate Editor and columnist Dan Haar and Staff Writer Peter Yankowski contributed to this report. Queen Elizabeths visit to Ireland in 2011 was her very best ever state visit former President Mary McAleese has revealed. Speaking on the Late Late Show this evening, Ms McAleese recalled back to the British monarchs monumental visit to Ireland nine years ago. She didn't come as a grand visitor from next door she did come as a very humble reconciler, she remembered. Read More She did love that visit. I know that because when she left, we got, the minute her plane touched down when she took off from Cork Airport after four amazing days, the minute her plane touched down her deputy private secretary rang us immediately to say that she had said on the plane that it was her very best ever state visit. She was delighted, she was so happy, she added. Ms McAleese said that the Queen would have been nervous about visiting the country given its past with the United Kingdom. And she would be entitled to be nervous about it, with all our attitudes and their attitudes. Right up until the last moment, she played the devil, she played a bit of devilment which shows you she has a great sense of humour, she said. The lawyer and human rights campaigner also remembered that the Queen had told her previously, many years before the visit took place, that she deeply regretted not visiting the State. Her greatest regret was that she had never been to the Republic of Ireland. I think she said that she had 25 horses trained here but it was the fact that she had never been able to come here. This rankled with her, added Ms McAleese. 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The skirmishes receded after July 16 but armed incidents at the border still occurred throughout July and August. The July confrontation, resulting in over a dozen military and civilian deaths and the destruction of infrastructure on both sides of the border, is regarded as the most serious since the Four Day War between Armenia and Azerbaijan in April 2016. The conflict also sparked unprecedented interethnic clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani diasporas across the world. BACKGROUND: The recent flare-up at the border is one of several military confrontations between Armenia and Azerbaijan since the volatile 1994 cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, this time the skirmishes did not take place on the Line of Contact (LoC) in Karabakh and the surrounding territories where they usually occur, but at the internationally recognized border between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Azerbaijans Tovuz and Armenias Tavush regions. A trenched line, manned by soldiers from both sides, divides this section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border zone. Clashes in this area have occasionally occurred since the 1992-94 war but never on a scale comparable to the July 2020 outbreak. Nevertheless, tensions have been rising steadily in this region in recent years and resulted in particularly severe skirmishes in 2014 and 2016 during the Four Day War. Strategically important infrastructure is located in Azerbaijans Tovuz province, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, the South Caucasus Pipeline (part of the Southern Gas Corridor), and the recently opened Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway. According to Azerbaijans Ministry of Defense, clashes also occurred on the border between Azerbaijans Nakhchivan and Armenia. This landlocked, strategically located exclave of Azerbaijan borders Armenia to its the east and north. Its location puts Azerbaijan in striking distance of important targets on Armenias territory, including its capital Yerevan. In recent years, Baku has consistently upgraded military capabilities in the exclave by establishing a new Combined Army Unit, deploying new military hardware and conducting yearly exercises with Turkey. Although military clashes around Nakhchivan are not as frequent as along the Karabakh LoC, they did occur in 2014-15, during the Four Day War and in 2018. The July fighting involved the use of heavy artillery an aerial drones as well as cyberattacks and disinformation. It resulted in 18 military and civilian casualties, including several high-ranking service members. Azerbaijan reported the loss of popular major general Polad Hashimov, a colonel and two majors. Armenia lost one major and one captain. IMPLICATIONS: The exact course of events is difficult to ascertain, as the portion of the border where the skirmishes broke out is unmonitored and Armenia and Azerbaijan have traded accusations for the confrontation. It remains unclear which incident triggered the fighting. Armenias Ministry of Defence (MoD) reported that an Azerbaijani jeep tried to cross Armenias border in the Tavush region and was abandoned by the soldiers after a warning from the Armenian side. Shortly thereafter, Azerbaijani soldiers allegedly started to shell an Armenian outpost. By contrast, Azerbaijans MoD accused Armenian armed forces of attempting to seize Azerbaijani positions, using artillery in the direction of the Tovuz region. Both countries accused each other of targeting civilian settlements in the densely populated areas adjacent to the international border. There are also several possible explanations for why the escalation occurred in the first place. Some analysts have pointed out that Armenias leadership may have initiated the armed confrontation at the border to boost the governments popularity and divert public attention from the economic and health crisis that are shaking the country due to the coronavirus pandemic. Yet Azerbaijan is also experiencing economic turmoil and a public health emergency, and its leadership could benefit from the rally-around-the-flag effect to diffuse social discontent. Other observers assert that Azerbaijan would not have initiated an attack in this area, in close proximity of its critical energy and transport infrastructure. Another potential motive stems from the fact that this section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, albeit internationally recognized, remains undemarcated, which incentivizes occasional pushes aiming to seize new heights in the area. It has also been pointed out that Azerbaijan has grown frustrated with the stalemate in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. This was reflected in an unusually explicit interview with President Aliyev in July on Azerbaijani television, where he stated that the peace process has become meaningless and criticized the OSCE Minsk Group, which was set up to facilitate the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, for inaction. The skirmishes inflamed public opinion in both countries and beyond and were accompanied by a propaganda war. On July 14, police dispersed a crowd in Baku after a large patriotic march in support of the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh went out of hand and turned into a burst of social discontent, and a small number of participants stormed the parliament building. In Armenia, protesters rallied in front of Ukraines embassy in Yerevan, throwing objects at the building to protest a statement issued by Ukraines Ministry of Foreign Affairs supportive of Azerbaijans territorial integrity. The brief confrontation also triggered interethnic clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani diasporas in several locations worldwide, which quickly moved from the Internet to the streets and resulted in brawls in many cities such as London and Los Angeles, as well as in Moscow and other Russian cities. The verbal exchanges continued and on July 16, Baku warned that if Yerevan escalates the conflict further, Azerbaijan is capable of striking Armenias nuclear power plant in Metsamor. Azerbaijani officials retracted this statement soon thereafter, but it had already caused an uproar in Armenia. The July confrontation also drew attention from international actors, mainly Russia and Turkey, who took radically different positions on the issue. Ostensibly, Russia remained neutral and offered mediation. However, reports suggest that Moscow may have provided Armenia with military support just before the border skirmishes erupted. On August 13, President Aliyev explicitly stated that Moscow sent Armenia more than 400 tons of military equipment weeks before the escalation. As a CSTO ally, Russia has been a frequent supplier of military equipment to Armenia and it remains unclear whether the latest arms shipment was intentional or coincidental. Nevertheless, Russia appears reluctant to provide overt support for Armenia at the expense of Azerbaijan, since it wants to maintain positive relations with Baku. Observers have also pointed out that Moscow should want to diffuse the ramifications of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict on its own territory, since large numbers of Azerbaijanis and Armenians reside in Russia. Moscow is likely also concerned over the possibility that Turkey may increase its presence in the Caucasus in order to support Azerbaijan. In contrast to Moscows position, Ankara has openly supported Azerbaijan based on their bilateral strategic partnership, which envisages mutual support in case of necessary self-defense, including military assistance. Soon after the clashes erupted, Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Armenias attack against Azerbaijan and offered Turkeys full support for Baku. In mid-August, Turkey dispatched a high-level military delegation to Azerbaijan headed by Minister of Defence Hulusi Akar, which was received by Azerbaijans president. At the end of July, Turkey also organized large-scale military exercises with Azerbaijan, which lasted for two weeks and included air and ground forces. Furthermore, in mid-August Azerbaijani media reported that Baku and Ankara were discussing the possibility of establishing a Turkish military base in Nakhchivan. CONCLUSIONS: The July confrontation at the internationally recognized border between Armenia and Azerbaijan brought no territorial gains for either side. However, the border zone (and to a lesser degree Nakhchivans border with Armenia) re-emerged as another flashpoint between Baku and Yerevan. This is a worrying development since clashes outside the Karabakh area remain on the sidelines of the peace process, even though they have become more frequent and violent. Moreover, the recent violence at the border has further polarized both nations, which will make diplomatic progress over Nagorno-Karabakh even harder. It is unlikely that either Yerevan or Baku, which are currently preoccupied with an economic and health crisis, are interested in full-scale war. However, there is still reason for concern: if an escalation between the two would spiral out of control, this could turn the South Caucasus into a ground for Turkey-Russia proxy confrontation, allowing Turkey to use its obligation to support Azerbaijan as a pretext for upgrading its military engagement with the region. AUTHOR'S BIO: Natalia Konarzewska ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) is a graduate of University of Warsaw and a freelance expert and analyst with a focus on political and economic developments in the post-Soviet space. Image Source: Armenian Special Forces by Khustup is licensed by CC BY-SA 3.0 / resized from original The additional overall store cuts are part of a new positions being created that include service ambassadors, digital client advisors and personal stylists, the company said in the statement. The new jobs will better serve our customers, the company said. This is reflective of our unique integrated retail experience as we continue our path to be the preeminent luxury customer platform. A 27-year-old Birmingham man is under arrest after police say he assaulted an employee at a Vestavia Hills business during a break-in. The burglary happened shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday at Leaf and Petal in the 300 block of Summit Boulevard in the Cahaba Heights community. Vestavia Hills police Capt. Shane Ware said the employee was taken to a local hospital for treatment and quickly released. Sylvester Finney is charged with first-degree theft of property, third-degree robbery and third-degree burglary. A vehicle was taken during the break-in and assault but has since been recovered. Finney fled the scene on foot but was captured within 15 minutes by patrol officers. He was held overnight in the Vestavia Hills City Jail and booked into the Jefferson County Friday just before 3:30 p.m. His bonds total $55,000. The incident appeared to be a crime of opportunity and rare for that area. "This is very unusual for us,'' Ware said. Cahaba Heights, like the rest of Vestavia Hills, is very safe. The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners voted Thursday to extend its moratorium on residential evictions until Jan. 8, ensuring that struggling renters wont be forced out of their homes when Oregons statewide eviction moratorium expires next week. The county issued its first eviction moratorium in mid-March to protect renters who were facing economic hardships due to the coronavirus pandemic. It later voted to drop its own moratorium and instead adopt the states, which placed a ban on evictions for both residential and commercial properties and gave renters until March 31, 2021 to pay back their outstanding nonpayment balances. But Oregons eviction moratorium is set to expire on Sept. 30 and the state has not taken steps to extend the protections. That prompted Multnomah County to act Thursday. Under the countys new eviction moratorium, landlords will not be able to evict residential renters simply because they cant pay their rent through Jan. 8, 2021. Renters will also have until July 8, 2021 to pay back their outstanding nonpayment balances. When renters wake up on October 1, theyll know that theyll be covered by the same protections as they were the day before, said Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury in a statement. Portland is due to implement its own eviction ban next week mirroring the countys action. Its not clear that the city action will offer any additional protections. Gov. Kate Brown issued an executive order in August extending Oregons foreclosure moratorium through the end of the year, but the state hasnt taken similar action to extend the residential and commercial eviction ban for renters. Oregon residents living outside Multnomah County, where local moratoriums arent in effect, could still be protected from evictions after Sept. 30 by a new federal moratorium, which runs through the end of the year. However, the federal version may not protect all renters. To qualify for protections under the federal version, tenants must fill out a declaration stating that they expect to make under $99,000 this year and are experiencing a substantial loss of household income, a layoff or extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses, among other requirements. While Kafoury said she hopes the countys new eviction moratorium will limit anxiety and give clarity to Multnomah County renters, she said that additional federal action is needed to help both renters and landlords, and to ensure that there are not mass evictions when moratoriums ultimately end and back rent comes due. -- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com | @jamiebgoldberg The elections are scheduled for November 3. Former Ukrainian ambassadors have shared their views of possible impacts of the U.S. presidential elections on Ukraine. They gave their forecasts for different scenarios, according to the Ukrainian news agency RBC Ukraine. Read alsoU.S. Senate committee approves Dayton as ambassadorial nominee for Ukraine Former Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States and former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryshchenko is convinced that the likelihood of a favorable scenario for Ukraine in the event of Donald Trump's election is low. The top diplomat says the incumbent U.S. president does not link the impeachment case to certain individuals, but correlates it with the entire country. "He imposes his point of view on specialists, the intelligence community, all those who traditionally have hammered out the chief executive's position," Hryshchenko explained, adding that Trump's attempts to improve relations with the Kremlin carry objective risks for Ukraine. The diplomat called Joe Biden's behavior more predictable for Ukraine. "Biden's policy will most likely be similar to that of President Obama, but not necessarily. I think he is tougher and more decisive than Obama. He has his own questions to ask many figures in Ukraine who tried to influence, including the course of the current campaign, but this will not be the main thing for him," Hryshchenko said. Another former Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, believes that Ukraine needs to more actively express its position in relations between the two countries. "A wait-and-see position is wrong. It is a big mistake to think that bipartisan support is provided to Ukraine automatically. We need to constantly show why Ukraine is important to the United States, we must not be afraid of active actions," Chaly said. Simultaneously with the presidential elections in the United States, elections are taking place in more than a third of the Senate, the entire House of Representatives, many governors' positions and legislative agencies of the States. "The configuration of Congress for Ukrainian issues is no less important than who wins the presidential elections," Chaly added. U.S. elections: Details Louisiana state trooper Chris Hollingsworth was buried Friday with honors, three days after he died following a car crash A Louisiana state trooper who died in a single-car crash just hours after he was told he would be fired for his role in the death of a black man was buried with honors Friday. Authorities sought to keep the burial for Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth secret out of concerns it would attract a mass protest. Hollingsworth, who was white, was the only one of six troopers placed on leave earlier this month in the May 2019 death of Ronald Greene, 49, following a high-speed chase. Police initially told Greene's family he died from injuries sustained after crashing his car into a tree, but later acknowledged troopers 'struggled' with him during the arrest over an unspecified traffic violation. Greenes family has filed a federal wrongful-death suit alleging troopers 'brutalized' him, shocked him three times with a stun gun and left him 'beaten, bloodied and in cardiac arrest.' Louisiana state trooper Chris Hollingsworth was quietly buried with honors Friday. A state police motorcycle honor guard precedes the hearse carrying his body State troopers are seen saluting during Hollingsworth burial, which was purposely kept quiet Troopers stand at ease with their hands folded, across from some of the family and friends that witnessed Hollingsworth's burial services Friday His death has prompted a federal civil-rights probe and increasing calls for authorities to release body-camera video. On Friday, state police officials and family mourned Hollingsworth under tight security at services that marked the latest turn in the long-simmering in-custody death case. Hollingsworth died Tuesday from injuries suffered in a single-car highway crash in Monroe that came just hours after he received a letter informing him that State Police intended to fire him over his role in Greene's death. The crash, which involved Hollingsworth's personal car, occurred at about 3am Monday near Monroe, Louisiana. The seriously-injured Hollingsworth was then airlifted to a hospital and pronounced dead Tuesday. Troopers of the Louisiana State Police gather at Hollingsworth's burial site Friday Members of a Louisiana State Police honor guard conclude their practice of folding an American flag to be presented to Holingsworth's family Ronald Greene (pictured) died in May 2019 after he was taken into custody by state troopers following a high-speed chase Family members of Ronald Greene listen to speakers as demonstrators gather for the March on Washington, in Washington in August 2020 Greene's family released graphic images of the injuries he sustained, along with pictures of his car (shown) which appears to have little damage to it Authorities have not released details about Hollingsworth's death or the letter he received, but WBRZ reported that Hollingsworth's car had been traveling at a high speed. Hollingsworth had been on leave since September 9 and was off-duty at the time of his crash. Police initially told Greenes family he died from injuries sustained after crashing his car into a tree during the high-speed chase in rural Northern Louisiana. But, later they acknowledged troopers 'struggled' with him during the arrest over an unspecified traffic violation. Greenes family has filed a federal wrongful-death suit alleging troopers 'brutalized' him, shocked him three times with a stun gun and left him 'beaten, bloodied and in cardiac arrest.' His family also released graphic photographs showing deep bruises and cuts to Green's face, in addition to photos of his car, which appeared to show little damage, which raised questions as to whether Greene's injuries had been received during the crash or his arrest. Despite mounting pressure, the agency has repeatedly refused to release body-camera footage from Greene's arrest, citing the ongoing state and federal investigations. The FBI and the US Justice Department have launched a civil rights investigation into Greene's death. Attendees of the funeral services for Louisiana State Police Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth, walk past a suspended American flag A heavy Louisiana State Police presence is seen at the New Chapel Hill Baptist Church during funeral services for Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth Members of a Louisiana State Police honor guard conclude their practice of folding an American flag to be presented to the family of Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth Motorcycles and helmets are ready to escort the hearse carrying the body of Louisiana State Police Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth, to its burial site in West Monroe, Louisiana Louisana Gov. John Bel Edwards did not attend Hollingsworth's ceremony, which included a State Police honor guard and escort for the dead trooper Friday. Masked mourners, many in dress-blue trooper uniforms, packed the New Chapel Hill Baptist Church where Hollingsworth had been a member, filling its parking lots to capacity on a misty and overcast day. The services were closed to the public despite a major police presence that included contingency plans for snipers, drones and a SWAT team to respond to any large disturbance, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the plans who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. The plans underscored the growing tension in communities around the country where demonstrators have taken to the streets to protest racial injustice and the killing of black people by police. While no protests materialized around the funeral, activists planned a march to the Governor's Mansion later Friday in Baton Rouge 'for all those affected by violence or death at the hands of law enforcement officers.' Unlike with other trooper deaths, Hollingsworths was not announced internally by the agencys superintendent, Col. Kevin Reeves. 'The Hollingsworth family has elected to have a private ceremony for family and friends and asks for privacy at this time,' said Lt. Nick Manale, a State Police spokesman. 'Retired departmental personnel and active duty troopers who pass away in a non-line-of-duty death are afforded Honor Guard representation based on the requests of the family.' An online fundraiser for the troopers family said Hollingsworth would be remembered for his 'quick, contagious smile and his dedication' to his schoolteacher wife of 21 years and their teenage son. Hollingsworth served nearly three decades in law enforcement. The geography of such attacks is expanding, Danilov notes. The Ukrainian government detects cyber attacks almost round the clock, while its sources are located in Russia and beyond, says National Security and Defense Council's Secretary Oleksiy Danilov. Speaking at an online conference entitled Digital Transformation of the State: Cybersecurity Prospects and Risks, cyber attacks of various levels are detected almost around the clock, coming mainly from abroad. "While earlier attacks came mainly from the territory of the Russian Federation, today many Asian countries have been added to the map of attackers," Danilov said. The NSDC Secretary believes that it is necessary to be prepared for cybersecurity challenges because they will increase exponentially. At the same time, cybersecurity expert Kostiantyn Korsun told Ukraine 24 that the cyber threat will grow in connection with the approaching local elections. Read alsoPolice to trace Ukrainian users of Russian VKontakte social network NSDC"Yes, the likelihood of such events is high. I don't think that the CEC website will be hacked, it is quite well protected, although anything is possible. But, I think, massive efforts will be directed specifically at mass disinformation. Just yesterday, the websites of the regional divisions of the National Police and posted very high-quality, professional fake news aimed at compromising Rapid Trident 2020 military exercises. In this case, everything indicates that this is the aggressor state [Russia] and its cyber troops, because this can't be beneficial to anyone else." When asked if it was about sabotage, he replied: "Absolutely so. The technical investigation will confirm this, I'm sure. It was well-coordinated, orchestrated, so here the Kremlin's hand is fully evident." Latest cyber attacks and fake news spins IN Japan, public officials, whether elected or appointed, will immediately resign once they are involved in a scandal, especially if it involves graft and corruption. Some even commit hara kiri (suicide) because of the shame. Committing suicide is an honorable act for the Japanese. It is part of their culture, their high code of conduct, moral and ethical standard. But here in the Philippines, we have a different culture. Im not suggesting they commit hara kiri. But the culture of some in government is more of kapalan ng mukha. Some officials accused of being involved in scandal and graft and corruption cling to their position. If they are elected, these officials will always claim that they have the mandate of the people so why should they resign? If they are appointed, they will wait for the appointing authority to fire them or tell them to resign. They even challenge the accuser to file charges in court and wait for the court to decide, before resigning. If we were in Japan or if we were Japanese, I think Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 Director Victor Caindec would have already tendered his resignation. But since we are Filipinos in the Philippines, he is clinging to his position. Where is his delicadeza? Presidential spokesman Harry Roque accused Caindec of extorting money from motorcycle distributors. Roque said the alleged extortion activities of Caindec were in connection with the processing of certificate of registration of vehicles. I have affidavits to prove that Caindec has been extorting money from motorcycles distributors and this is a matter of public documents already. Nang hindi po pumayag na mas mataas yong kikil na ibibigay sa kanya, saka po siya nagkaroon ng kung anu-anong hadlang, Roque told Palace reporters. Roque said he already raised the matter to LTO Chief Edgar Galvante, which prompted the agency to allow vehicle owners to process the registration outside of Cebu. Zero corruption ang Presidente and huwag kang magkamali na gawin iyong mga ginawa ng ibang mga opisyal na hindi daw ako nagsasalita sa ngalan ng Presidente pagdating sa kurapsiyon. Tingnan po natin, I will bring the matter up now to the top leadership, Roque said. Story continues But Caindec dismissed the allegation of corruption as a smear campaign. He said: So, ang akong pangutana, we are the only LTO region investigating a dealership. Well, at least in my opinion, I refused a bribe offer, which led to this extensive investigation. So, kung kami ray ga-investigate, kami ra diay ang corrupt? It is public knowledge that LTO is one of the graft-ridden agencies. Despite Caindec projecting himself as incorruptible, the office is still the subject of corruption allegations. Caindec should expose those who attempted to bribe him. If we recall, I took the cudgels for someone who refused to file a complaint after raising allegations to media against Caindec. I asked the Ombudsman to conduct a lifestyle check on Caindec. I also sent the same letter-request to Department of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) Commissioner Greco Belgica and President Duterte himself which the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) acknowledged having received a copy. I am still waiting for the result. But, in view of Roques allegation, if Caindec has delizadeza, he should resign. General Lance Corporal Bright Akosah, who allegedly shot and killed a taxi driver at Adjin Kotoku after robbing him of his vehicle, has appeared before an Accra Circuit Court. Akosah, who was in dock with Ebenezer Tetteh, a trader, are facing a charge of conspiracy to commit crime, to wit murder and murdering 40-year old Samuel Tawiah. Akosah, Tetteh and Francis Aidoo, aka Keche, have also been additionally charged with conspiracy to rob and robbery. The accused persons have pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to rob and robbery. The court, presided over by Mrs Evelyn Asamoah, however, preserved their pleas on the charge of conspiracy to murder and murder. The court further remanded them into police custody to reappear on October 14. Mr George Asamani, counsel for the accused persons, prayed for bail on the charge of conspiracy to commit crime, to wit robbery, saying they were bailable offences but the court turned down the application. The facts, as narrated by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Fuseine Yakubu, are that the deceased, Samuel Tawiah, is a resident of Afuaman, near Pokuase in Accra. ASP Yakubu is a Police officer with the Police SWAT Unit at the Regional Police Headquarter in Accra. Tetteh also resided at Agbogboloshie and Aidoo, a tailor, resided at Cape Coast. On September 12, this year, prosecution said Akosah and Tetteh went to Adjin Kotoku and its environs to survey areas where their victims could easily be robbed. He said the following day Akosah, dressed in his Police uniform, and armed with his pistol, instructed Tetteh to proceed to Adjin Kotoku to lay ambush at a spot they had agreed on. Based on that Akosah went to Pokuase Junction to stop a Nissan Versa Taxi with registration; GW 6818-20 and lured the driver, Samuel Tawiah, to drive him to his site at Adjin Kotoku. Prosecution said Akosah, who sat at the back seat, directed Tawiah to Tettehs hideout and gave him (Tetteh) a signal to come out. However, sensing danger, Tawiah tried to escape but Akosah pulled his pistol and shot him twice at the back. The two pulled Tawiah out and dumped him in the bush, where Akosah shot him for the third time in the left ear. Akosah and Tetteh abandoned the deceased in the bush and informed Aidoo that they had succeeded in robbing a taxi cab and asked him to look for buyers for the vehicle, which they drove to Biriwa and packed there. On September 14, this year, at about 0800 hours, the Anti-armed robbery Unit of the CID, acting on intelligence, feigned interest in the car and therefore negotiated the price with Aidoo at GHS8, 000.00 Prosecution said Aidoo informed Akosah who agreed on the amount and subsequently asked him to bring the buyers but Aidoo was arrested in the process and took the Police to Elmina where Akosah was arrested with the Nissan Versa. Also found on him were NP 22 Pistol, one magazine loaded with eight rounds of 9 MM ammunition, one wrap of dried leaves suspected to be narcotic drug, one lighter, iPhone Seven plus, One Itel phone, and a spanner. A Police ID card, a Voter ID card, and a GCB Visa Card all bearing the name of Bright Akosah were also retrieved. Prosecution said Akosah admitted the offence of robbery and mentioned Tetteh as his accomplice. On September 16, this year, Akosah led the Police to arrest Tetteh near the Awudome Cemetery who confessed that he (Akosah) shot and killed Tawiah when he tried to snatch his vehicle. Akosah confessed killing Tawiah, prosecution said. 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 DALLAS, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Witherite Law Group, a personal injury law firm specializing in truck and motor vehicle accidents, has selected two fellows for their inaugural nine-month personal injury legal fellowship. Nicholas Coward and Essence Cleveland will be starting their fellowship this month. The firm originally announced the launch of one Witherite Law Group Fellowship for Personal Injury Law for a recent African-American law school graduate in July 2020. Amy Witherite, commercial truck accident attorney and founding partner stated, "Our original intent was to hire one fellow this year, but it was clear from the start that would be a challenging decision given the great candidates we had apply. After meeting both Essence and Nic, we knew we had to have both of them on our team. Their passion to consistently put 'People First' and their drive for professional expertise made that an easy decision." The fellowship will provide recent African-American graduates of a Dallas-Fort Worth law school hands-on experience, training and expertise in the field of personal injury law. Nic Coward is a graduate of the Texas A&M University School of Law, where he served as President of the Black Law Students Association. During law school, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Judge Eric Moye. He was also part of a team that successfully petitioned for an executive grant of clemency, while working at Texas A&M's Criminal Defense Clinic. When asked about joining Witherite Law Group, Coward stated, "I am excited to have the opportunity to learn from and work with trial attorneys that are so determined and dedicated and have been recognized by their peers as the best in Texas. This is a great opportunity to experience my childhood dream of becoming an attorney." Essence Cleveland is a veteran, wife, mother, and a graduate of Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Her service in the Air Force included a tour under Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cleveland is the first in her family to earn a doctorate, as well as the first attorney. Essence served as a Mitchell Hamline Law Review Associate and as the student speaker at her law school commencement in 2019. She feels a great connection to the firm's core value of 'Integrity Always', stating, "I am a military veteran and Integrity is the first core value of the Air Force. Applying this value to my future career is a huge honor for me. I am grateful for the opportunity this fellowship has brought me and future fellows." The personal injury firm plans to expand the fellowship program in 2021 to include additional graduates and other under-served groups across its Dallas, Fort Worth and Atlanta offices. ABOUT WITHERITE LAW GROUP Witherite Law Group is a Dallas-based personal injury law firm founded in 2001 with offices in Dallas, Fort Worth and Atlanta, GA. The firm's attorneys specialize in helping those injured in a car or truck accident and can be reached by calling 1-800-TruckWreck or 1-800-CarWreck, 24 hours a day. SOURCE Witherite Law Group Gardai say that the Louth County Council CCTV systems - which are back operational in estates around Drogheda - are helping them in the ongoing fight against criminality. Gardai are investigating four arson attacks in the past two weeks, most of them unrelated. They are also not believed to be part of the feud in the town. But Supt Andrew Watters admits that it is a 'worrying development' and something the gardai are keeping a very close eye on. Checkpoints in the whole area have been stepped up, with armed gardai also part of the operations. Here are todays top news, analysis and opinion. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times. UP farmers join nationwide bandh over 3 farm bills in a big way Farmers in Uttar Pradesh, like their counterparts in Punjab, Haryana and other parts of the country, on Friday took to the streets in protest against the contentious farm bills passed by Parliament recently. Read more. Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia undergoes plasma therapy, condition improves: Official Delhis deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was on Friday administered convalescent plasma therapy and there has been an improvement in his health condition, officials said. The deputy chief minister has been battling the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and dengue. Read more. India targets Pakistan at UN body over counter-terrorism record India on Tuesday mounted a sharp attack on Pakistan during a virtual meeting of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, accusing it of sheltering and supporting terrorists and pushing a false narrative on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Read more. Is BMC always this swift to demolish, asks high court in Kangana Ranaut case The Bombay high court on Friday asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) if it always acts with the same swiftness to demolish other unauthorised structures as it did with actor Kangana Ranauts bungalow. Read more. Sushant Singh Rajputs family feels probe is going into different direction: Lawyer The family of Sushant Singh Rajput feels that the investigation into the case of the late Bollywood actors death case is going in a different direction, lawyer Vikas Singh said on Friday. Read more. Memer goes on a date with Alexandra Daddario, she reminisces their fun time together Some of you may know Alexandra Daddario for her work in popular shows, such as True Detective and White Collar or even for her role in the Baywatch film. Her excellent acting skills and fabulous screen presence often garner a lot of praise from audiences. Now, however, many tweeple are applauding her great sense of humour. Read more. Bihar polls: RS Prasad confident of win; Tejashwi says Bihar will throw NDA out Election Commission of India announced dates for Bihar Assembly elections on Friday. Elections in Bihar to take place in three phases starting October 28. Counting of votes to be done on November 10. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said he is confident that NDA government will win in Bihar. Read more. Kangana Ranaut stands up for Anushka Sharma after Sunil Gavaskars comments but accuses her of selective feminism Kangana Ranaut criticised Sunil Gavaskar for taking Anushka Sharmas name in his commentary during an Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab on Thursday. However, Kangana also accused Anushka of selective feminism. Read more. Agency Main Content REMARKS AS PREPARED Governor Kate Brown Portland Protest Press Briefing September 25, 2020 Good morning. I am here today to address the events of the coming weekend in Portland, and my concern over the risk of increased violence this weekend. I am joined by: Oregon State Police Superintendent Travis Hampton; Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese; and Portland Police Bureau Chief Chuck Lovell. As we head into the weekend, we are aware that white supremacist groups from out of town, including the Proud Boys, are planning a rally on Saturday in Portland. They are expecting a significant crowd some people will be armed, with others ready to harass or intimidate Oregonians. Many are from out of state. The pattern of these particular groups is clear: to intimidate, instigate and inflame, and these types of demonstrations in the past have often ended in fistfights, and sometimes escalated to bloodshed. Whether youre left-wing, right-wing or anything in between, violence is never the answer. And I am incredibly concerned about this increased risk of violence in Portland this weekend, and for the safety of Oregonians. In America, we have the right to peacefully assemble, and everyone in Oregon has a right to express themselves freely even those who the vast majority of Oregonians would deeply disagree with. However, the First Amendment does not give anyone license to hurt or kill someone because of opposing political views. And when free expression is fueled by hate, and coupled with an intent to incite violence, then I need to do everything I can as Governor to ensure the safety of Oregonians. I have spoken with Mayor Wheeler, Commissioner Hardesty, Multnomah County Chair Kafoury, Sheriff Reese, and Speaker Kotek. Out of this conversation came the agreement that we must have a coordinated effort across state and local law enforcement officials to keep everyone safe this weekend. To do that, I am exercising my authority to put the Superintendent of State Police and the Multnomah County Sheriff in charge of public safety in Portland this weekend. The Mayor has agreed to and supports this plan. This is our entire community coming together to protect our community. We want the highest level of coordination and the strongest leadership possible. Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese, Oregon State Police Superintendent Travis Hampton and Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell will work together to keep people safe this weekend. This is a critical moment. We have seen what happens when armed vigilantes take matters into their own hands: weve seen it in Charlottesville. Weve seen it in Kenosha. And, unfortunately, we have even seen it here in Portland. The Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer groups have come to Portland time and again, from out of town, looking for a fight, and the results are always tragic. Let me be perfectly clear: We will not tolerate any kind of violence this weekend. Left, right or center, violence is never a path toward meaningful change. Peaceful protest is the only path to change. Those stoking the flames of violence, those coming to Portland looking for a fight, will be held accountable. Before I hand it over to our law enforcement officials, to give an overview of how this unified command structure will operate this weekend, I feel compelled to address the feelings of outrage, hopelessness and heartbreak over racism in America, especially on the heels of the recent charging decision in the Breonna Taylor case. America needs to hear this: Breonna Taylor and her family deserve justice. And this weeks grand jury decision was not justice. I know that many here in Oregon, and across our country, are outraged and frustrated. Many people are hurting. Through our pain, we must continue to work toward racial justice and police accountability. The people who enforce our laws cannot be above the law. Our justice system is not just unless it works for everyone. In Oregon, were actively making the changes we want to see in the world. Since George Floyds murder, weve passed six bills improving police accountability. Weve launched a statewide Racial Justice Council to center racial equity in our budget and policy decisions, and we have a team already working to re-envision police training and standards for all law enforcement officials statewide. These steps are just a start. There is still much more work to do to create an Oregon that works for all of us. Lets continue that work together. Lets continue to say the names of Black Americans whose lives were taken by racist violence, and honor them by recommitting ourselves to making meaningful change. Lets work together to create a better Oregon for all of us. With that, I will turn it over to Superintendent Hampton. WASHINGTON -- The anxiety, stress and worry brought on by COVID-19 is not limited to daytime hours. The pandemic is affecting our dreams as well, infusing more anxiety and negative emotions into dreams and spurring dreams about the virus itself, particularly among women, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. In a special section in the journal Dreaming, researchers reported on the results of four studies from around the world about people's dreams during the pandemic. Previous research has suggested that our dreams often reflect what's happening in our waking lives and that other crises--including war, natural disasters and terrorist attacks--have led to an increase in anxious dreams. The four studies in this special section found that the same is true of COVID-19. "All of these studies support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming: That dreams are consistent with our waking concerns rather than being some outlet for compensation, as some older psychoanalytic theories had hypothesized," said Deirdre Barrett, PhD, editor of Dreaming and an assistant professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "The higher levels of anxiety, dreams about illness and death in general, and COVID-19 specifically, are in line with that." Overall, the new studies also suggest that women's dreams have been more strongly affected by the pandemic than men's--possibly, Barrett suggested, because women are bearing more of the burden of caregiving, job loss and other hardships. "Dreams can help us understand our emotional reactions to the pandemic," Barrett said. For example, one mother in a study by Barrett dreamed that her child's school contacted her to say that the child's whole class was being sent to her condominium to be home-schooled for the duration of the pandemic. "When mothers of young children hear that dream, there is a laughter but also usually a strong empathy at the overwhelmed feeling the dream dramatizes. Your dreams can make you more aware of just what about the pandemic is bothering you the most--and sharing them with trusted others is a good conversation-starter for talking about these shared feelings," Barrett said. The four COVID-19 articles in the issue are: Michael Schredl, PhD, Zentralinstitut fu?r Seelische Gesundheit, and Kelly Bulkeley, PhD, The Sleep and Dream Database This study of more than 3,000 U.S. adults surveyed in early May 2020 found that people who had been most strongly affected by the pandemic--such as those who had gotten sick or lost their job--also reported the strongest effects on their dream life (heightened dream recall, more negative dreams and more pandemic-related dreams). Women and people with more education also reported stronger effects of the pandemic on their dreams. The findings suggest that changes in the frequency, tone and content of dreams can help identify those at risk for mental health problems during the pandemic, according to the researchers. Contact: Michael Schredl Deirdre Barrett, PhD, Harvard University Women's dreams have been more negatively affected by COVID-19 than men's dreams, according to this international study of 2,888 participants. The researcher asked online survey respondents to recount their dreams about the pandemic and then compared the responses to a database of dreams from before the pandemic. Overall, women showed significantly lower rates of positive emotions and higher levels of anxiety, sadness, anger and references to biological processes, health and death in their pandemic dreams compared with the pre-pandemic dreams. Men's pandemic dreams showed slightly higher levels of negative emotions, anxiety and death than in pre-pandemic dreams, but the effects were less pronounced than they were for women. Contact: Deirdre Barrett Ilaria Iorio, PhD, Massimiliano Sommantico, PhD, and Santa Parrello, PhD, Universita degli Studi di Napoli Federico II Researchers analyzed the dreams of 796 Italian participants, all of whom completed a dream questionnaire in April and May 2020 and described their most recent dream in detail. Twenty percent of the dreams included an explicit reference to COVID-19, the researchers found. Overall, women reported higher emotional intensity and a more negative emotional tone in their dreams, as did participants who knew people affected by COVID-19. Contact: Massimiliano Sommantico Cassidy MacKay, BSc, and Teresa L. DeCicco, PhD, Trent University Pandemic-era dreams resemble the dreams of people with anxiety, suggests this study of Canadian college students. Researchers analyzed detailed dream journals from 19 Canadian college students recorded between mid-February and mid-March 2020, as the pandemic and pandemic-related physical distancing restrictions were taking hold in Canada. They found that the pandemic-era dreams contained more location changes, as well as animal, head, food and virus-related dream imagery compared with a control group of people who kept dream journals before the pandemic. This type of dream imagery is similar to previous findings of the dream imagery of people experiencing waking day anxiety, according to the researchers. Contact: Teresa L. DeCicco ### The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes nearly 121,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives. The leader of the state at the center of Australia's coronavirus outbreak said he doesn't know who in his government made the decision to hire security firms to monitor quarantine procedures in Melbourne hotels that subsequently failed. "The decision to engage private security contractors, and many decisions like it, were of an operational nature," Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said in a statement to the inquiry into his government's hotel quarantine program. "I believed that those directly involved in the design and delivery of the program would carefully consider infection control protocols as part of their deliberations." Andrews and his Labor government have been under mounting pressure over security failures at quarantine hotels for returned overseas travelers that led to a resurgence of community transmission in Victoria. The renewed outbreak means the state capital will be under a strict lockdown and curfew until the end of October, hampering the nation's economic recovery. In the statement, submitted before he appeared at the inquiry for questioning on Friday, Andrews said that while he was aware of the federal government's offer to provide Australian Defence Force personnel to help quarantine measures, "I certainly had no expectation that the ADF would have any extensive involvement at that time" in his state's hotel program. Andrews joins other Victorian state ministers, government department secretaries and senior health officials to front the inquiry who told it they don't know who decided to hire the security firms. Epidemiologist Charles Alpren told the judicial inquiry last month that at least 90% of the state's coronavirus cases since May could be linked to the hotel breaches. Unlike other states, which relied on police or the armed forces to oversee hotel quarantine, the Andrews government hired private security firms. Among a litany of problems, the contractors failed to use personal protection equipment, families were able mix in each other's rooms, and some guards had sex with quarantined guests, the Herald Sun newspaper reported. According to the report, the virus spread among the guards who car-pooled or shared cigarette lighters. They then unwittingly introduced the disease to their own communities in Melbourne's poorer and more multicultural suburbs where it spread through large family gatherings that breached social-distancing rules. Social welfare lobbyists also say the government failed to properly convey public health advice to multicultural communities, with leaflets not translated into enough languages. Faced with a surge of cases that reached a daily high of 686 on Aug. 4, Andrews locked down Melbourne, the nation's second-largest city after Sydney, and then the rest of the state. The measures have deepened Australia's first recession in almost three decades, with Victoria -- responsible for about a quarter of gross domestic product -- grinding to a halt. Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has been particularly scathing of the premier's handling of the crisis, saying it was "like watching a car crash." While the other states and territories have curbed or even largely eliminated community transmission, Victoria's virus tally has swelled to more than 20,000 -- about 75% of the national total. The majority of the 773 lives lost due to the virus in the state have been connected to elderly-care homes. While numbers are falling, with 14 new cases recorded Friday, more progress is needed before the lockdown can be lifted. Andrews says that won't happen until the rolling 14-day average of new cases in Melbourne falls below 5. On Friday, it stood at 25.1. Despite fierce criticism from Frydenberg and the business community, Andrews is yet to take a real political hit from the crisis. A Newspoll published in the Australian newspaper on Tuesday showed 62% of Victorian voters agreed the premier, who first won power in 2014, had handled the health crisis well. STRATHAM, N.H., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Audi Stratham, a member of the International Cars, Ltd. family of dealerships, has just opened The Annex, a pre-owned automobile center at 50 Portsmouth Avenue in Stratham, New Hampshire. "We couldn't be prouder of our team for opening The Annex. Like most people and families in today's environment, it hasn't been easy. Everyone is dealing with struggles and opening a new business during these times has created unique obstacles. We are delighted to officially be open and our team is dedicated and excited to be helping customers find anything from the car of their dreams to one that will meet their daily needs," said Barry Goodman, General Manager of The Annex. "Our location at 50 Portsmouth Ave couldn't be more convenient. No matter what our customers are considering, we can ensure that the vehicle and our customer service will exceed expectations!" You can purchase with complete comfort knowing that Audi Stratham's professionally trained technicians have thoroughly reviewed every vehicle at The Annex with your family's safety and budget in mind. Audi Stratham and their technicians recently won the coveted Magna Award for 2019 by Audi of America, Inc. The Audi Magna award recognizes the top-ranking Audi dealerships throughout the entire United States each year. Only the top dealerships with premier customer experience whom achieve certain service and training criteria win this prestigious award. "People may not realize this but The Annex, like it's sister dealership Audi Stratham is employee owned. We are proud to open another car buying opportunity for the region but being employee owned has even more meaning to the community during these unique times," says Richard Collins, CEO of International Cars Ltd., "Our minimum wage starting at $15 per hour is an industry leader in the state of New Hampshire but getting people back to work and having ownership in what they do every day sets our customer service apart from everyone else." The Annex will be the premiere used vehicle destination and you can check out their inventory at www.UsedCarAnnex.com or for additional information on Audi Stratham, visit www.AudiStratham.com. About International Cars, Ltd.: International Cars, Ltd., is an employee owned company comprised of seven New England area dealerships including Audi Stratham, Porsche Stratham and The Annex in Stratham, New Hampshire, Dover Honda and Dover Chevrolet in Dover, New Hampshire, and Honda North and One North Pre-Owned in Danvers, Massachusetts. Honda North has been recognized as a Honda President's Award recipient for the 10th consecutive year and the 13th year collectively. Honda North has also previously advanced to the prestigious Master Circle. The Honda Masters Circle recognizes the top 50 dealerships in new vehicle sales nationally. International Cars has won several industry awards, including the Audi Magna Society Award in 2010, the third time consecutively and 2019 at Audi Stratham. Porsche Stratham has been recognized as a Porsche Premier Dealer. Company-wide values focused on ownership, accountability, and high-level customer service and satisfaction are an integral part of employee ownership success. Together, International Cars earned several AACE (Annual Award for Communications Excellence) Awards through The National ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) Association. For more information on International Cars, please call Michael Nadeau at (978) 539-5006 or visit www.iclautos.com. SOURCE International Cars, Ltd Related Links https://www.iclautos.com/ FINALE LIGURE, Italy, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Meridian Adventure Race this Sunday will host the second event of the EPICBLUE SWIMRUN Finale Ligure race to support awareness surrounding plastic pollution with proceeds going to the International non-pro?t organisation Plastic Oceans. EPICBLUE captures the passion of caring for the ocean that is core to the ethos of the renowned Meridian Adventure Group, one of the world's most exclusive organisations at the forefront of ocean experiences. The races empower leading swim-runners to engage in eco-friendly competition while pushing the limits of human endurance in a spectacular coastal destination. The event will be held Sunday 27 September 2020 on Italy's Ligurian coast, bringing the rapidly growing sport of swimrun, inspired by the Otillo race in Sweden, to this exceptional setting. Event logistics are managed by respected ASD Polisportiva Maremola for Meridian Adventure Race. The EPICBLUE SWIMRUN Finale Ligure race is the first event of this three-part endurance series that promises adventurous opportunities that challenge competitors to explore their personal limits while discovering new destinations. The multisport challenge invites athletes to compete at three of the most amazing outdoor sites in the world: Finale Ligure, Italy (27 September 2020); the remote location of Waisai, Raja Ampat Indonesia (10 June 2021) and the historic villages of Izmir, Sigacik and Seferihisar, Turkey (24 July, 2021). PRO-ATHLETE CHALLENGE / ACTIVE SEMI-PROFESSIONALS The EPICBLUE LONG ENDURANCE main course, 23.4 km in total, is a mix of open water swimming and spectacular trail running between Finale Ligure, Varigotti and Noli. The race passes through three iconic villages of the North West Riviera. Spectators can expect a fast and beautiful course with tough competition as the event will be attended by some of the world's strongest swim-runners. Team competitions will be battling for six coveted slots in the EPICBLUE Turkey event, scheduled for July 2021. AVID OCEAN ENTHUSIASTS CHALLENGE / SPORTING ENTHUSIASTS The EPICBLUE SHORT EXPERIENCE course is set for those seeking a 13.4 km introduction to the sport with five swim sessions. The total expected number of participants is 90, within limits allowed under local sanitation requirements. Athletes attending from three nations will be racing in teams of two in the following three categories: Men, Mixed and Women, or in the SOLO category which are now open for the LONG ENDURANCE Distance. Both TEAM and SOLO categories are available for both the LONG ENDURANCE and SHORT EXPERIENCE events. "We aim not only for a new sense of adventure in the multisport format but also to provide athletes direct support of conservation efforts that are important to creating healthy and abundant oceans. As people who love the outdoors, we believe in protecting it," said Matteo Testa, EPICBLUE Race Director. "Meridian Adventure is honoured to have structured a partnership that uses EPICBLUE SWIMRUNS to support visibility and engagement for Plastic Oceans," said Sean Galleymore, founder of Meridian Adventure Group. "We're honoured to uphold the mission and purpose of an international nonpro?t organisation that continually succeeds at raising awareness about plastic pollution and inspiring behavioural change in consumers." In a bid to bring passionate athletes who love the ocean together around ocean conservation, using their energy in their sport for good, EPICBLUE announced the first ambassadors for the series, Kristin Larsson and Annika Ericsson, both of whom will be racing this year in Finale Ligure. As the winning team of the women Long Endurance EPICBLUE Finale Ligure 2019 race and three-time Otillo World Champions, Annika and Kristin represent the ideals of the Meridian Adventure and EPICBLUE, and lead efforts to support improved ocean health. Sponsors, partners and the institutions supporting the event include: Meridian Adventure Race HEAD Restube Casavova Acque Minerali PLASTIC OCEANS DESTINATION PARTNERS Capitaneria di Savona Comune di Finale Ligure Comune di Noli Comune di Noli Lega Navale Italiana WEB LINKS: EPICBLUE SWIMRUN: https://race.meridianadventures.com/ MERIDIAN ADVENTURES: https://race.meridianadventures.com/epic-blue-italy/ Copyright 2020 by MERIDIAN ADVENTURE RACE China secured the WHO's backing for the emergency use of COVID-19 experimental vaccines as early as in June to protect the people from the pandemic even though the clinical trials had not been completed, a top health official said on Friday. Zheng Zhongwei, head of medical science development at the National Health Commission, told reporters in Beijing that the World Health Organisation gave its support to China for its emergency use of vaccines in late June, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. According to Zheng, the commission proposed the emergency use of the vaccines in mid-June to protect people in high-risk occupations such as frontline health workers, border officials and overseas workers. The vaccines still had to complete phase 3 of the clinical trials but the State Council approved the proposal on June 24. After the approval, on June 29, we had a communication meeting with the relevant representatives of the WHO office in China, and obtained understanding and support from the WHO, Post quoted Zheng as saying. He said that the approval strictly abided by China's vaccine and pharmaceutical laws and used the WHO standards as a guide, adding that there were "no severe adverse events" from the injections. The WHO faced stringent criticism especially from US President Donald Trump who accused it of being a puppet of China for not acting in time to halt the spread of the COVID-19 when it broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year. Trump has also pulled the US out of the WHO. In his address to the UN General Assembly on September 23, Trump also attacked the WHO, saying it is virtually controlled by China. Last week, Yang Xiaoming, Chairman of China National Biotec Group, which had obtained approval to start the phase 3 trials for its coronavirus vaccine candidates in the UAE, said 350,000 people had been injected with the experimental vaccines under the scheme. Yang Sheng, Deputy director of the National Medical Products Administration's drug registration bureau, said that four China-developed COVID-19 vaccines have begun the final stage of human trials overseas after obtaining approval from the foreign authorities. China has been focusing on developing five types of vaccines and each method has at least one entering clinical trials. In total, 11 vaccine candidates are in different stages of testing, Yang was quoted as saying by state-run China Daily. Zheng said China's annual capacity to make COVID-19 vaccines was expected to reach 610 million doses this year and 1 billion doses by 2021. He offered no details on how the doses would be distributed. Facing global adversity over the mass spread of the coronavirus, China plans to have diplomatic offensive, offering its vaccines specially to a number of smaller countries at affordable costs. China did not join the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (Covax) alliance to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. Zheng said China had been a supporter of Covax. Chinese representatives recently held a videoconference with the WHO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations which together founded Covax on vaccine production and development. We communicated in full detail about vaccine development, production and distribution. We will continue the close communication with these organisations to promote COVID-19 vaccines to become a global public good, Zheng said. He said China would set an affordable price for vaccines for the public, with higher priority given to essential workers such as couriers and people handling frozen food, then people at high risk of COVID-19, including children, pregnant women and the elderly. Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy More Politics, More Fiction To the Editor: Your appealingly conceived Sept. 13 feature on political novels might disappoint some readers for ultimately confining itself to so few of the great political novels of the last 100 years. Here are some titles that might help redress your focus on a mere handful of books: Robert Coovers The Public Burning and Philip Roths The Plot Against America and, moving abroad, Arthur Koestlers Darkness at Noon, Alberto Moravias The Conformist, Thomas Manns Dr. Faustus, Boris Pasternaks Doctor Zhivago, Mario Vargas Llosas Conversation in the Cathedral, V. S. Naipauls A Bend in the River, Yukio Mishimas Runaway Horses, George Orwells 1984 and Nicholas Mosleys Hopeful Monsters. Alexander Hicks Atlanta To the Editor: There is a back story to Klaus Manns novel Mephisto, which is not noted in Margaret Atwoods delightful short essay about reading the novel while living in Germany in 1984 (Politics in Fiction, Sept. 13). The novel is a roman a clef based on the legendary German actor and director Gustaf Grundgens, who had worked with Mann in the theater and briefly married his sister Erika, before making a Faust-like pact with the Nazis and becoming a protege of Hermann Goring and director of the Prussian State Theater. Mann committed suicide in 1949. A rehabilitated Grundgens resumed his career in postwar Germany. I recall seeing him as a teenager perform Friedrich Schillers Don Carlos in the early 1960s in Hamburgs Deutsches Schauspielhaus, where he served as director. And of course Manns novel inspired Istvan Szabos brilliant film adaptation in 1981 of Mephisto. This year, URC Vietnam is honoured to be among the 33 organisations nationwide to receive the recognition award of the National Fund for Vietnamese Children under MoLISA for supporting children in Binh Duong during the 2015-2020 period. The company is one of several organisations and individuals which proactively contributed VND2.8 billion to support over 1,000 disadvantaged children and 700 scholarships in Binh Duong with good academic results despite difficult circumstances on the occasion of Mid-Autumn Festival 2020. URC Vietnam, Binh Duongs DOLISA, and the Fund for Vietnamese Children in Binh Duong celebrated a memorable and meaningful Mid-Autumn Festival with the local children As an active foreign-invested enterprise in Binh Duong, URC Vietnam has brought many meaningful programmes to children who are the potential seeds for the future development of Vietnam. This year marks the sixth consecutive year that the company has celebrated warm and memorable Mid-Autumn Festivals with the children in Binh Duong. URC Vietnam made the Mid-Autumn Festival 2020 more meaningful by offering 200 scholarships valued at VND 50 million and additional gifts in URC products worth VND 31 million to children in Binh Duong. Among the lucky students receiving URC Vietnams scholarships this year, VIRs reporter met Minh Hieu, one of the excellent students from a disadvantaged background. Hieu lived with his poor grandmother who earned their living mainly from breeding chicken. Back then, Hieu thought he had to quit school and give up his dream of becoming a doctor. My grandmother and I were very happy and moved when I received the scholarship from URC. With this scholarship, I can continue to go to school while I will try my best to help my grandmother with the chickens to earn more in the future, shared Hieu. 200 underprivileged students in Binh Duong received the support of URC, DOLISA, and the Fund for Vietnamese Children in Binh Duong to continue their academic passion On behalf of Binh Duongs authorities and people, we wish to express our highest appreciation for all the sponsors contribution to Binh Duong province, especially the continuous support from URC Vietnam. With the companys scholarships and gifts, this year festival has more meanings, and it will certainly encourage our children in the new school year to reach for their dreams, said Nguyen Thanh Truc, Deputy Chairman of Binh Duong Peoples Committee cum chairman of the Fund for Vietnamese Children in Binh Duong. Laurent Levan, president and general director of URC Vietnam shared: This activity is one of our efforts to contribute practically to encourage, motivate, and support students to pursuit their academic passion as well as to bring a joyful and memorable Mid-Autumn festival to underprivileged children in Binh Duong. We participate in this event to showcase URC Vietnams efforts to contribute to the development of the communities where we operate; and a part in URC Vietnams sustainability journey to uplift lives. SEOUL: North Korea expressed regret on Friday for having shot dead a South Korean man to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the South`s national security adviser said, amid growing public and political outrage. The apology figured in a letter from the North`s United Front Department, which handles cross-border ties, to South Korean President Moon Jae-in a day after Seoul officials said the North`s soldiers killed the man, doused his body in oil and set it on fire. The rare message came as Moon faced intense political fallout over the incident, which coincided with a renewed push for steps to engage Pyongyang this week. "Chairman Kim Jong Un asked to convey his feeling that he is greatly sorry that an unexpected and unsavory incident occurred in our waters which hugely disappointed President Moon Jae-in and compatriots in the South," said Suh Hoon, the adviser. "The letter was a quick response to our requests and included the explanations for the incident, an apology and promises to prevent recurrence," he told a briefing. North Korea`s leadership hopes the incident does not undermine recent efforts to foster trust between the neighbours, Suh cited the North`s letter as saying, adding that Moon and Kim had exchanged letters this month in hopes of better ties. Moon praised Kim`s "strong resolve to save lives" and steer virus control and flood recovery work in his Sept. 8 letter, his office said. In a Sept. 12 reply, Kim said Moon would win the COVID-19 battle and "good things" would happen after that. The leaders have held three summits and signed pacts to ease tension since 2018, but relations have soured since the collapse last year of a second summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump, at which Moon had offered to be a mediator. BACKLASH The shooting of the man, a fisheries official who had gone missing this week, shocked many South Koreans, sparking a fierce backlash from the opposition and the public, prompting an unusually stringent response from Moon, who called it "unpardonable". Critics accused Moon of failing to save a citizen`s life while being still soft on North Korea, saying the military did not attempt to save him despite spotting him six hours before the shots were fired. "Now is not the time to speak of ending the war," said opposition lawmaker Thae Young-ho, a former North Korean diplomat who called for a formal investigation by the government. The North Korean soldiers fired more than 10 shots at the man after he tried to flee without revealing his identity, Suh cited the North`s letter as saying. But the letter said they burned a floatation device he was using, according to their anti-virus manuals, and not his body. "The troops could not locate the unidentified trespasser during a search after firing the shots, and burned the device under national emergency disease prevention measures," Suh added. In 2008, North Korean troops shot and killed a South Korean tourist who had strolled into an off-limits area while staying at a resort complex in the North, bringing a halt to joint tourism projects. Moon has pledged to resume the tours. News of the shooting came a day after Moon proposed a new regional initiative including North Korea to the U.N. General Assembly to tackle crises such as the coronavirus and strained ties with Pyongyang. Moon also reiterated that the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, should be formally terminated. On Friday, in a speech for Armed Forces Day, Moon did not mention the incident, or North Korea, but pledged to safeguard the public. NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of Harvard University Graduate School of Design, The Department of Architecture course Innovation in Project Delivery, President and CEO Cheryl McKissack Daniel of McKissack & McKissack will address an audience drawn from the University's graduate schools and community on Friday, September 25, via Zoom Webinar at 3:00pm EST. The lecture will cover her trailblazing work, running a business that traces back to the 1800s, sustainability, challenges, trends and succession planning, among other topics. As fifth generation of the family's century old business, she currently employs 150+ employees and has contracted more than $50 billion over the past decade, with major project work in commercial, healthcare, education and transportation. Notable projects include Coney Island Hospital, The New Terminal One at JFK, The Oculus at the World Trade Center, and many more. "As a Black female in this White male dominated industry, I am humbled to speak before this notable Institution," states Ms. McKissack Daniel. "I cherish these opportunities. By continuing my ancestors' work, I'm able to fulfill my own personal commitment to inspire future generations; especially women of color to be relentlessly BOLD and build careers within an industry, which is so profoundly underrepresented." A civil engineer, with 25+ years in design and construction, Ms. McKissack Daniel has lectured widely on diversity in these fields. As the firm's President and CEO, she has made it an essential charge that diversity is implemented during each phase of a project or program. "Cheryl McKissack brings an important perspective to so many of the challenges we face today," states Lecturer in Architecture Mark R. Johnson. "I am glad to welcome her to speak at Harvard." About McKissack & McKissack McKissack is the oldest minority-owned professional design and construction firm in the US. A family-owned business founded in 1905, McKissack has been a leader in planning, design, and construction of 6,000+ projects, proudly upholding the standards of excellence established by its forefathers. McKissack provides a wide range of services to a variety of government agencies, municipalities, private institutions, industries, designers and developers. McKissack currently manages $20 billion in construction and is ranked by Crain's among the top woman and minority-owned companies. SOURCE McKissack & McKissack Related Links http://www.mckissack.com Roskomnadzor, the Russian federal authority responsible for the supervision of communications, information technology, and mass media in the country, has blacklisted Binance's website. Binance announced the news in its official Russian Telegram channel on Friday, saying that the exchange received a notification from Roskomnadzor on Thursday about the inclusion of Binance's website, www.binance.com, in the regulator's register for "containing information prohibited for distribution in Russia." Gleb Kostarev, director of Binance Russia, told The Block that the register is a list of "notable websites that have been blocked or censored in Russia, including current and past blocks." Binance said it has been placed in the register due to data distribution related to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. The Roskomnadzor register shows that Binance's website entered the list on June 2, while the "access is not limited," meaning the website can still be accessed in the country. Kostarev told The Block that the website can still be accessed "for now." The Block could not independently check via a VPN whether Binance's website is accessible. Binance said it has engaged with legal counsels for further advice. In the meanwhile, it continues to provide services to Russian users "in full and clients' funds are safe." As for the June inclusion, the exchange said it had not received any notifications from law enforcement agencies before Thursday. Binance offers trading in six coins BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, BUSD, and USDT via Russian ruble deposits. This story has been updated to include comments from Gleb Kostarev, director of Binance Russia. 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. CAMBRIDGE A 27-year-old woman has been charged after police say she tried to purchase a new SUV using stolen identity documents. Waterloo Regional Police were notified that a fraudulent application had been made to purchase the vehicle, worth about $55,000, from a Cambridge dealership. Fraud branch detectives went to the dealership on Thursday, where they say the woman was using the stolen documents to apply for credit. The woman is facing several charges including fraud over $5,000, identity fraud, identity theft, possession of government documents, uttering a forged document, and obtaining credit by fraud. Local bus and train users will be able to use their bank debit/credit card, their smart phone, or their Leap Card to pay for travel. So says National Transport Chief Executive Anne Graham in response to Dail questions from Cork East TD Sean Sherlock. In her response, Ms Graham said the NTA was willing to discuss the issue of loading LEAP cards on buses, but this was not without difficulty. Payment methods will also be 'smarter' with a greater choice of pre-paid and post-payment options, and the ability for the best fare for customers to be automatically charged. Better mobile apps and near real-time information on payments will be available. "The NTA can discuss on-bus sales with Bus Eireann. "However, for safety reasons, it is not ideal that Bus Eireann buses provide Leap Card loading services due to the increased security risks around cash handling. In addition it also would slow down boarding times, particularly on busier routes in Cork and Limerick city centre. "The implementation of Next Generation Ticketing for the bus system is part of the BusConnects capital programme and requires the appropriate programme and funding approval to be received under the Public Spending Code. It is not possible to give a time-frame for the delivery of the Next Generation Ticketing Programme until these approvals have been received." Mumbai, Sep 25 : Thousands of slogan-shouting, and banner/poster-carrying farmers took to the streets all over Maharashtra on Friday to protest against "the anti-farmers" law recently passed by the Parliament and vowed to fight them with all vigour. The agitation has been supported by the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the All India Kisan Sabha, the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, major farmers' organisations, various national and state level trade unions and student unions. Spearheaded by AIKS President Ashok Dhawale from Palghar, in Mumbai, the protests were led by Mahendra Ugade, by Sunil Kharpat in Thane, by Subhash Dake in Beed, by Govind Ardad in Jalna, by Sudam Thakre in Nandurbar, and by Arjun Ade in Nanded. In Kolhapur, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana President Raju Shetti urged farmers in the state and all over the country to protest the laws with full vigour, and led an agitation in which a bonfire was made of the copies of the law. "These laws are detrimental to the very survival of the farming community. The government has pushed through these laws undemocratically and it was a black day when it was passed in Parliament. We will not tolerate the injustice meted out to the farmers," he said. State SSS President Sandeep Jagtap led farmers in Nashik where they protested by burning an effigy of the centre and shouted slogans condemning the government. Similar protests were carried out in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Pune, Kolhapur, Nashik, Nandurbar, Jalna, Beed, Aurangabad, Nanded, Yavatmal, Buldhana with thousands of farmers taking part in the agitation and marching to offices of the local Collectors or tehsildars. In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, farmers' leaders addressed small rallies of protesters and explained the contentious issues in the revised farm laws which could be detrimental to the agro-communities and consumers while benefitting corporate houses. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a law professor at Notre Dame University, poses in an undated photograph obtained from Notre Dame University, on Sept. 19, 2020. (Matt Cashore/Notre Dame University/Handout via Reuters) Sen. Lee: Trump Likely to Pick Barrett for Supreme Court Vacancy President Donald Trump will likely choose Judge Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court vacancy hes seeking to fill, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told The Epoch Times. Ill be surprised at this point if he chooses anyone else. She seems to be exactly what hes looking for, Lee said in an interview with American Thought Leaders published on Thursday night. Barrett, 48, is a circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a position the Senate confirmed her to in 2017. She is a former law clerk to late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Shes been educated and trained in the mold of not only her former boss, Justice Scalia, but my former boss, Justice [Samuel] Alito, and, and Justice Clarence Thomas. Those are the kinds of justices hes been promising to nominate, Lee said. And she is a textualist originalist, she views her role as a judge as involving the interpretation of the law based on what it says based on what words are used, and how those words were understood publicly at the time of their adoption, either into the Constitution or into whatever statutes being interpreted. Its exactly the kind of justice President Trump wants, and that the country needs right now. So I think it will be her and that it should be. Trump wants to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last week, with a woman. Trump has confirmed two of the five names on his shortlist: Barrett and Barbara Lagoa, 52, a former Florida Supreme Court justice who now serves as a circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network, told The Epoch Times that both women have shown the courage thats a hallmark of a Trump nominee, pointing to Lagoas recent refusal to recuse herself from a voting rights case despite pressure to do so. She was able to stand firm, Severino said. Judicial Crisis Network works to confirm judges that are dedicated to adhering to the Constitution and the rule of law. The group helped confirm both of Trumps Supreme Court nominees, including Brett Kavanaugh. Barretts qualifications include her commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law, with a well-developed record as a scholar and a judge, Severino added, describing her as the perfect nominee. U.S. Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, is shown in this official undated photo released by the Florida Supreme Court. (Florida Supreme Court/AP Photo) Allison Jones Rushing, 38, a circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, is also rumored to be under consideration. Like Barrett, Rushing faced a faith-based inquisition during her confirmation hearings, but displayed confidence and calm, according to Severino. The fact that she was willing to stand up for her principles speaks a lot to her courage, she told The Epoch Times. Trump plans to announce his choice at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Within a week or two of the nomination, the Senate Judiciary Committee will start its work on the nominee, including hearing from her and other witnesses. Allison Jones Rushing speaks during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to be a judge on the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 21, 2019. (C-SPAN via ap) About a week after that, the committee will vote on whether to advance the nominee to the full Senate, Lee said. With just over a month left before the Nov. 3 election, some Democrats, and a smaller number of Republicans, are pushing to delay consideration of a nominee until they can see whether Trump wins reelection or Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden unseats him. Barretts choice would also help in that matter, the senator said. Judge Barrett was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and has been a judge since then, just about three years ago, he said. There was a pretty comprehensive background check done on Judge Barrett, a significant paper record and file created in connection with that investigation. They can update that and supplement it for any additional information they might need, within a couple of weeks time. That still gives us time to then hold a hearing process that will take the better part of a week, and ask questions of her in person and in writing, and vote on the nominee in committee and get it to the Senate floor. We can do all that between now and the election. Hubs in North America, fell by an average of 9 points, or 1.3%, reflecting the least change in ratings across all sectors. Photo: Getty New York has topped the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), while London retained the second spot, but the capital made some ground closing the gap between the two, gaining 24 points leaving only a four point difference. Meanwhile, Shanghai overtook Tokyo beating it to the third place, with a one point difference. Hong Kong and Singapore took 4th and 5th place respectively. Beijing, San Francisco, Shenzhen and Zurich rounded up the top 10 on the latest index. Los Angeles and Geneva dropped out the top 10, replaced by Shenzhen and Zurich. Within the top 30 financial hubs, Luxembourg, Boston, Seoul, and Madrid rose by more than five places. The top 30 global financial centres ranked in the 28th Global Financial Centres Index. Graphic: Z/Yen Financial centres in Western Europe had a mixed performance on GFCI 28 after appearing strong on the 27th edition, dropping an average of 21 points (3.17%), with 15 hubs rising in ranking and 12 falling. In the Asia/Pacific region, 10 centres fell in ranking and 14 rose, indicating a level of confidence in the stability of Asian centres and their approach to sustainable finance. Taipei, Chengdu, and Qingdao all jumped more than 30 places in the rankings. Hubs in North America, fell by an average of nine points, or 1.3%, reflecting the least change in ratings across all sectors, with Boston, Washington DC, and San Diego all improved five or more places in rankings. Out of the 11 hubs in the region, six have made it to the top 20, compared with four in GFCI 27. READ MORE: Coronavirus: UK government borrowing at highest in decades Ratings across all the centres in the Eastern Europe/Asia region fell in the GFCI 28, after a strong performance in GFCI 27. Only three of the 16 centres in the region Moscow, Istanbul, and Athens improved their rank, with Sofia, Baku, and Almaty falling over 30 ranking places from GFCI 27 to GFCI 28. The Middle East/Africa region saw the ratings of all 13 centres fall, only Abu Dhabi, Mauritius and Cape Town improved in the rankings. All the centres in Latin America & The Caribbean also dropped in ratings, with the average rating for the region falling 54 points or 8.66%. Story continues Overall, centres in the Asia/Pacific region outperformed all other regions, as the mean of the top five Asia/Pacific centre remains higher compared with other regions. Chart: Z/Yen Furthermore, all the respondents were asked about the centres they consider will become significant over the next two to three years. Of the top 15 centres mentioned, 10 are from the Asia/Pacific region. The 15 centres likely to become more significant. Chart: Z/Yen The 28th edition of the survey by City of London commercial think tank Z/Yen, in partnership with China Development Institute (CDI), measures the competitiveness of 111 financial hubs. It also conducts more than 54,500 assessments collected from 8,549 professionals working in the sector. The impact of the coronavirus crisis was felt amid rising economic uncertainty, as the research showed that the average rating of centres dropped over 41 points or 6.25% from GFCI 27, published in March 2020. GFCI authors also said geopolitical tensions and local unrest also contributed to the drop in ratings. Crucially, the volatility appears to have benefitted the top 10 as all increased their ratings. Of the next 40 hubs, 12 improved their ratings while 27 dropped. This may indicate increased confidence in leading centres during the COVID-19 pandemic. GFCI 28 was compiled using 138 instrumental factors, with third parties including, the World Bank, The Economist Intelligence Unit, the OECD, and the United Nations, providing these quantitative measures. In times of trouble, the Dalai Lamas story is one that bears repeating. The hardships include being plucked from his peasant parents as a toddler and ensconced in a spooky old palace, where he was tasked with relearning nearly every ounce of the knowledge he had managed to sponge up in his previous life as the 13th Dalai Lama. Then being required, at 15, to confront Chinese authorities who were invading his homeland and would soon take it over entirely. And they certainly include the time he, age 23, was forced to disguise himself and flee Tibet under cover of night, spending the next couple of weeks crossing deadly stretches of the Himalayas before arriving as a refugee in India, where he has lived in exile for the past 61 years. Through it all, his very job as spiritual leader of the Tibetan people was to act with equanimity. That he did so and continues to do so has made him an international inspiration, a beacon of hope to millions. Recently, he gave Rolling Stone a chance to delve into how hes kept his cool all these years and how we might as well, even as the world implodes around us. Your holiness, were in a moment when theres a lot of anxiety and grief around the coronavirus. Whats your advice to people who are struggling Now this pandemic is very serious. Very sad. Were just so afraid. Thats not useful. We must attack it specialists, scientists, doctors, I very much appreciate. If the problem can [be] overcome, then no need to worry; make effort to overcome. If no way to overcome the problem, theres no use too much worry. But its hard not to worry. How do you keep yourself from worrying? Through training how to tackle destructive emotion, and how to develop positive emotion. This is very important. All destructive emotion [is] based on appearances, not reason, so we cannot meditate on anger, hatred, fear. But positive emotions such as compassion, altruism, or enthusiasm are based on reality, on reason, so we can train [them] through meditation. Ignore seeing, ignore hearing, pay more attention [to] your mind. Only the human brain has the ability to concentrate on a point and analyze. Story continues What kind of student were you? I was quite lazy! [Laughs] My tutor sometimes threatened to show whips! But gradually, my mind, my brain [grew] quite sharp. Certain subjects scholars find difficult, for me [were] easy. So I believe that [in] my previous life that subject [was] familiar. The album Inner World was released on your 85th birthday. Is there something beneficial that your music has been able to do in this time that you have not been able to do? My main practice is altruism. My body, voice, mind [are] dedicated to the well-being of 7 billion human beings. Nice sound comes, they feel happy. Sound affects the mind. Music comes [on]? Their face like [smiles broadly]. Youve said that the next Dalai Lama might be female or maybe there shouldnt even be a 15th Dalai Lama. Whats the future of the institution? Next Dalai Lama not my business! Tibetan people have the right to decide whether the institution should continue or not. If you were to meet Donald Trump, is there something youd like to say? Today, my number-one commitment is try to promote a sense of oneness of 7 billion human beings. Im hoping all the leaders of the world, and particularly the big nations leaders America, Russia, China, India see oneness of all 7 billion human beings. When he became president, he mentioned America First [with] that I have some reservation. America [is] the leading nation of [the] free world, so morally, historically, America has responsibility. Children at two years, they play together. They dont care [about] other childs religion, other nationality. Then once the children [start] education, [theres] not much talking about warmheartedness, just knowledge; and that creates some feeling of we and they, and then, gradually, my nation, their nation, my religion, their religion. Our education should include moral teachings. Religion? No. But moral teaching. Your own successful life very much depends on warmheartedness. What you call wise selfishness? Taking care [of] others is the best way you fulfill your self-interest. Altruism [is] very useful, very important to keep peace of mind. Any person I meet, I feel [are] brothers, sisters. That brings me inner peace. I think I can say, Dalai Lama, wherever I go, always smiles. More from Rolling Stone See where your favorite artists and songs rank on the Rolling Stone Charts. Sign up for Rolling Stones Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Hyundai Heavy Industries headquarters in Ulsan / Korea Times files Hyundai Heavy Industries has been in talks with the European Union's (EU) antitrust watchdog over its acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine Engineering Co. amid the suspended probe into the deal, a company official said Friday. The EU's Competition Commission has yet to announce the resumption of its probe into the proposed $1.8 billion deal between South Korea's two major shipbuilders after its probe halt announced on its website on July 14. The latest probe suspension was the third of its kind by the Commission after the previous two suspensions in January and March caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In mid-July, the Commission said it will resume its investigation into the deal of two South Korean shipbuilders if information requested is provided in a timely manner. "The company has been closely cooperating with the EU competition authorities in relation with the acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine Engineering," said Park Joon-su, a spokesman at Korea Shipbuilding Offshore Engineering Co., the sub-holding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, giving no details of the cooperation. The EU antitrust watchdog sees the deal will hurt market competition in the shipbuilding field of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petrochemical gas (LPG) carriers. Last December, the Commission revealed concern that the proposed deal may push up ship prices, which will hurt the European companies' competitiveness in the construction of cargo ships. The deal needs regulatory approval from six countries South Korea, China, Kazakhstan, Japan, the European Union and Singapore. Kazakhstan and Singapore approved the deal in October 2019 and in August, this year, respectively. The Commission allowed the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU), an umbrella labor union to join the Commission's investigation at its request. On July 9, the KMWU submitted its opinion to the Commission that the acquisition may beef up the monopoly status of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings in the local shipbuilding market. "The KMWU judged that the deal may dwindle the shipbuilding industry in South Korea," Kim Tae-jung, of the leadership of the KMWU, said. In March 2019, Hyundai Heavy Industries signed the deal to buy a 55.72 percent stake in Daewoo Shipbuilding, which could create the world's biggest shipbuilder with a 21 percent share of the global shipbuilding market. In order to acquire Daewoo Shipbuilding, Hyundai Heavy Industry Group has split Hyundai Heavy Industries into two entities Korea Shipbuilding Offshore Engineering (KSOE), a subholding company that governs shipbuilding units under the group, and a reorganized Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. KSOE currently manages the group's three shipbuilding units Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. If the acquisition deal goes ahead, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group will have four shipbuilders under its wing. (Yonhap) The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance annual meeting at the New Voices New Rooms conference on Thursday quantified the astonishing growth of the organization in the past year, which saw membership leap from 160 stores in 2019 to 589 stores. At the start of the pandemic we opened up membership to anyone in the region and waived dues, said Linda-Marie Barrett, executive director of SIBA, who added that despite the reduced revenue due to a lack of membership dues, cost cutting at the organization meant it did not have to dip into its reserve funds. For official business, two new booksellers were formally welcomed to the board: Jamie Rogers Southern of Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, N.C. and Deanna Bailey of Story on the Square in McDonough, Ga, who had been appointed in July. Several issues arose during the session, which took place over Zoom, with questions coming in over the chat function. Chief among these was an increase in delayed shipments from Ingram and Simon & Schuster, which some booksellers said have led to key titles not showing up on time. In addition, there were complaints raised about an increase in damaged books. That said, several people praised Marcia Wood, Ingrams sales rep for the south, for being someone who solves problems and gets things done. Another bookseller asked what SIBA was doing to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive. Barrett replied by explaining the Alliance released a "Statement Against Racism, and that the entire staff and SIBA board partook in DEI training with Cultures Connecting. In addition, the effort was, she said, reflected in all of our programming, both the work SIBA does that is consumer facing, like Reader Meet Writer, and at New Voices New Rooms. For all our events, we are actively looking for more BIPOC authors to feature and are holding spaces for them. She added that the issue will be raised at the organizations board meeting next week to see if there is more that can be spelled out specifically in SIBAs policies and bylaws. SIBA board president Kelly Justice of Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Va., called the online regional a good sized meeting and she was especially grateful for information that was shared from Binc about the relief programs they are offering to booksellers for Covid-19 and non-Covid related issues. Justice was also keen to tell members that if they had an issue or challenge they wanted to air on social media, to open two browser screens, so when youre pasting something into Facebook, you can copy it and sent it in an email to the ABA. That way its not just something that will solicit you support on social media, but it also becomes an action item. Barrett said that SIBA attendance at the NVNR conference was strong. Of the 856 registrants, 290 were SIBA members up from 210 who attended last years event, a rise of 38%. In all, 116 SIBA bookstores were represented, up from 75 last year, which is a 55% increase. We are satisfied with how this turned out, said Barrett. We are looking at doing more programming in the future. Since the future is unknown and we have built something that works we want to keep things going and do our best to satisfy the demand for this kind of interaction. She added, It feels like we built the field of dreams and people are coming to it. IRWINDALE, Calif., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Bonduelle Fresh Americas , home of Ready Pac Foods, announced that it has joined Walmart in the groundbreaking "10x20x30" initiative to root out food loss and waste from the supply chain. 10x20x30 is led by Walmart and more than 10 of the world's biggest food retailers and providers, each having committed to engage at least 20 suppliers in a "whole supply chain" approach to cutting food loss and waste in half by 2030. Bonduelle Fresh Americas supplies Walmart with Ready Pac Foods Bistro Bowl Salads and salad kits. "Bonduelle Fresh Americas, along with the entire Bonduelle Group, is committed to preserving our planet's resources. Among our commitments are specific and measurable actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the reduction of food waste and loss," said Mary Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, Bonduelle Fresh Americas. "We are driven by the belief that 'Nature is our Future,' and we are determined to continually evolve our business model to build a better company for the world." Bonduelle Fresh Americas commits to a 50% reduction target in its own operations, to measure and publish its food loss and waste inventories, and to create actionable strategies to reduce this waste. This includes reducing the amount of food waste we create in our facilities, increasing product donations to communities in need and providing food for animal feed. The food retailers and providers behind 10x20x30 include AEON, Ahold Delhaize, Carrefour, IKEA Food, Kroger, METRO AG, Migros (Turkey), Pick n Pay, The Savola Group, Sodexo, Tesco, and Walmart. Among them are 6 of the largest food retailers in the world, the world's 2nd largest food service provider, and leading food retailers in regions such as southern Africa, the Middle East, and Japan. Combined, participants operate in more than 80 countries. 10x20x30 was publicly launched at the 2019 annual food loss and waste summit hosted by Champions 12.3 , a voluntary coalition of executives from business, government and civil society committed to raising ambition and motivating action to achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which call for a 50% reduction in food loss and waste worldwide by 2030. "Reducing the more than 1 billion tons of food that's lost or wasted each year would bring big social, environmental and economic benefits but bringing these benefits to scale requires action across the entire supply chain," said Dr. Andrew Steer, President and CEO, World Resources Institute, which serves as Secretariat for Champions 12.3. "I'm encouraged to see so many leading food retailers and suppliers committing to bold action. It's exactly what the world needs to achieve the target of 50% reduction by 2030." Each year, one-third of all food produced in the world around 1 billion tons of food is lost or wasted every year, with significant environmental, economic, and food security impacts. Each year, food waste and loss is responsible for nearly 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and approximately $940 billion in economic losses even with 1 in 9 people undernourished worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the urgency of addressing food loss and waste. Farm-level losses have increased in many countries as distribution has been disrupted and restaurants and other hospitality businesses have reduced operations. Addressing food loss and waste in supply chains is a key strategy for ensuring both a sustainable business and food future. 10x20x30 is aligned with the goals Bonduelle Fresh Americas is engaged in to improve sustainability. For example, Bonduelle Fresh Americas is also working to achieve zero waste in all of its manufacturing facilities by 2025. This means the goal is to divert more than 90% of waste from landfill and incineration. ABOUT BONDUELLE FRESH AMERICAS Bonduelle Fresh Americas is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bonduelle ( BON.PA ). With four processing facilities throughout the U.S., the business unit focuses on fresh vegetables, salads and fresh meal solutions for the Americas. Acquired by Bonduelle in 2017 as Ready Pac Foods, the renamed Bonduelle Fresh Americas is the newest of the company's five business units. The company manufactures a complete range of products featuring fresh produce and protein under the company's Ready Pac Foods, Bistro, Ready Snax, Cool Cuts, and Bonduelle Fresh Picked brands. Offerings include fresh-cut salads, fresh-cut vegetables, snacking and fresh prepared meals available where consumers buy groceries and in restaurant chains across North America. Visit Bonduelle Fresh Americas or follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram . ABOUT BONDUELLE Bonduelle, a family business, was established in 1853. Its mission is to be the world reference in "well-living" through plant-based food. Prioritizing innovation and long-term vision, the group is diversifying its operations and geographical presence. Its vegetables, grown over almost 120,000 hectares all over the world, are sold in 100 countries under various brand names and through various distribution channels and technologies. An expert in agro-industry with 56 industrial sites or owned agricultural production sites, Bonduelle produces quality products by selecting the best crop areas close to its customers. Visit www.bonduelle.com/en for more. ABOUT CHAMPIONS 12.3 Champions 12.3 is a coalition of leaders across government, business and civil society dedicated to inspiring ambition, mobilizing action, and accelerating progress toward achieving Target 12.3 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Target 12.3 calls on the world to "halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses" by 2030. The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and World Resources Institute serve as co-secretariats of Champions 12.3. For more information, visit www.Champions123.org Contact: BONDUELLE FRESH AMERICAS [email protected] (626) 678-2222 SOURCE Bonduelle Fresh Americas Related Links http://www.bonduelle.com There's something chilling about watching uniformed police officers confront a group of protestors, remove their badges and nameplates, then wade into the crowd indiscriminately swinging fists and riot batons. That description of events could refer to a number of American cities, from Portland to Louisville, where civil unrest and peaceful protests have escalated into violent confrontations with law enforcement over the past few months. But in this case, we're referring to events that occurred in August 1968, when a rally in Grant Park became the basis for trumped-up charges against a group of anti-war protestors, stirringly depicted in Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7. Before we arrive at this pivotal clash, Sorkin treats us to a zippy opening montage that sets the table: Lyndon Johnson is sending more troops to Vietnam and increasing the monthly draft calls, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy have been assassinated, and various anti-war groups -- the Students for a Democratic Society, led by Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp); the Youth International Party, also known as the "Yippies," led by Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong); and The MOBE, represented by David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch) -- are converging on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to protest the nomination of Hubert H. Humphrey, who activists believe is too closely aligned with Nixon in his positions on the Vietnam War. Six months after the event, with Nixon in power and ruthless new Attorney General John Mitchell (John Doman) heading the Justice Department, rising star prosecutor Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is summoned to charge eight men with conspiracy to incite a riot under the Rap Brown Act, a law passed by Southern whites in Congress to limit the free speech of black civil rights activists. Mitchell is aware of the law's origins, but he's more concerned with what it can accomplish than why it was created. "I deem these shitty little fairies a threat to national security," Mitchell growls. "So they're gonna spend their thirties in a federal facility." In addition to the leaders mentioned above, charges are also levied against Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who was in Chicago to give a speech and had no part in organizing the protests. That little factoid doesn't matter much to the prosecution, because they can exploit the reputation of the Panthers -- many of whom show up in the courtroom to support Bobby -- in order to strike fear in the jurors and create bias toward the group as a whole. The final two defendants are MOBE members Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins) and John Froines (Danny Flaherty), neither of whom seem to have any reason to be there in the first place. "This is the Academy Awards of protests," Weiner quips. "It's an honor just to be nominated." If you're scratching your head at the number of defendants, don't worry -- after egregious treatment at the hands of cantankerous Judge Hoffman (an excellent Frank Langella), including a refusal to postpone due to absence of legal representation and perhaps the most shocking act of ignominy to ever occur inside an American courtroom, one man will be granted a mistrial and excused from the proceedings. Of the remaining Chicago 7, it's Tom and Abbie that Sorkin hones in on, presenting them as revolutionaries trying to accomplish similar goals with wildly different tactics, succinctly communicated in the way they conduct themselves in the courtroom: Tom gets a fresh haircut and remains quiet and polite at the defense table, while Abbie and Jerry arrive one day clad in judge's robes. When Hoffman demands they remove the garb, they gleefully reveal themselves to be dressed in police uniforms underneath. Tom bristles at Abbie's disrespect of the institution, but Abbie recognizes the trial for what it is: a political railroading, and with every newspaper and television station covering the proceedings, he's not about to pass up the opportunity to make a statement. "It's a revolution," he tells Tom. "We may have to hurt some people's feelings." Trying to keep the peace -- and keep everyone out of jail -- is defense attorney William Kunstler (Mark Rylance), who doesn't quite buy into the notion that his clients were hand-picked to serve as an example. "There's no such thing as a political trial," he tells Abbie. But as the trial drags on, with Judge Hoffman overruling nearly every objection, suppressing key testimony, and handing out contempt of court charges like Halloween candy, Kunstler is forced to meet the ugly truth head-on. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is Sorkin's second time working behind the camera (after Molly's Game in 2017) and his direction feels remarkably more assured than his debut effort, but where the film truly shines are in its superb ensemble cast, and its dialogue. Sorkin proved himself a master of the courtroom drama with A Few Good Men, and 28 years later shows that his ability to weave witness testimony, cross examination and clashes between opposing counsel into riveting, edge-of-your-seat cinema is just as sharp as it was then. He even borrows from that film's playbook, casting an A-list actor (we won't spoil it here) in the role of a last-minute witness who makes a colossal impact. The performances in The Trial of the Chicago 7 are uniformly great, especially Strong's characterization of Jerry Rubin as a sharp-minded intellectual with a speech pattern akin to that of Tommy Chong. A cursory review of Rubin's televised interviews from this time period show this to be far from historically accurate, but it allows for some brilliant comedic moments. It's Baron Cohen, however, who chalks up the film's best work -- he doesn't quite nail Abbie's Boston accent, but he definitely captures the late activist's spirit, particularly in the third act when he finally takes the witness stand. Sorkin peppers in bits of dialogue straight from the court transcripts for this moment, and Cohen absolutely crushes the material. Originally meant as a directorial vehicle for Steven Spielberg before the 2007 Writer's Guild strike put the project on the shelf for more than a decade, The Trial of the Chicago 7 could not have arrived at a more relevant time. The parallels between the 1968 demonstrations and the Black Lives Matter protests, both marked by violent skirmishes with law enforcement, are impossible to ignore, and much like what we're seeing today, it was never really about the violence -- if that had been the case, then it would have been members of the Chicago police department sitting at the defense table. But what the government truly took issue with was the fact that people like Tom Hayden and Abbie Hoffman had the audacity to speak up in the first place. "I've never been on trial for my ideas before," Abbie tells Schultz during the film, and indeed those ideas should have been Constitutionally protected. But against the backdrop of modern America, more than 50 years after the events it depicts, Sorkin's film serves as a reminder -- or perhaps a warning -- that Constitutional protections only extend as far as those in power will allow, and that's a terrifying proposition. Rishi Sunak's deputy has swatted away suggestions of a rift between the Chancellor and Boris Johnson over the Government's coronavirus strategy. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Barclay insisted both men were working 'in tandem' and denied Numbers 10 and 11 were adopting different approaches. On Thursday Mr Sunak said the nation needed to learn to 'live without fear', just days after the Prime Minister tightened coronavirus laws amid a steep rise in cases. Unveiling his Winter Economic Plan, the Chancellor said 'our lives can no longer be put on hold,' which was widely interpreted to contradict the message from his boss. Mr Johnson's noticeable absence from the Commons chamber - he instead toured a police station in Northamptonshire - further fanned speculation of a rift. Meanwhile MPs will be granted a vote on Mr Johnson's controversial 'rule of six' on October 6, in a win for more than 40 Tory rebels MPs. Rishi Sunak's deputy today swatted away suggestions of a rift between the Chancellor (pictured left yesterday) and Boris Johnson (pictured in his Uxbridge constituency today) over the Government's coronavirus strategy Chief Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Barclay insisted both men were working 'in tandem' and denied Numbers 10 and 11 were adopting different approaches Mr Barclay played down reports of a rift, telling BBC Radio 4's Today: 'The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are working extremely closely together and I think you can see that in the dovetailing of measures.' He said there is a need to work 'in tandem between both the health measures announced by the Prime Minister and those of the Chancellor'. On Sky News, Mr Barclay was asked whether the Chancellor's use of the word 'fear' was a suggestion that people should not follow the guidance. He responded: 'Quite the opposite. I think what's very clear from the message, the Chancellor said we need to address the health risks in order to protect jobs.' Downing Street insisted there is no rift at the top of Government, but Tory MPs are growing increasingly uneasy over the Government's move to impose sweeping restrictions without Parliament voting on them. Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets shoppers and shopkeepers during a visit to his constituency in Uxbridge, west London Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under pressure from Tory MPs to spell out how the UK will pay for the coronavirus crisis after he yesterday hinted at tax rises More than 40 Tory MPs have backed an amendment from Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the powerful 1922 Committee, which could force a debate on measures. The number of rebels means could wipe out Mr Johnson's 80-seat majority and see him lose the crunch vote. Senior Conservatives have been impressed with the Chancellor, and backbench MP Tom Tugendhat praised Mr Sunak's approach when asked whether it is No 10 or 11 that is running the show. He told Today: 'I'm sure the Prime Minister is running the Government. But I think Rishi Sunak did an extremely impressive job yesterday and I have to say he enjoys huge amounts of confidence on Conservative benches and when I speak to people around the country, and certainly the people I represent in Kent, he has huge support as well.' His net approval ratings flying high in the polls, the 40-year-old Mr Sunak has been tipped as a potential future leader. He was promoted to Chancellor in February after his predecessor Sajid Javid quit after refusing to sack his entire team of advisers. Relations between Numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street have often been tested, memorably in the Blair/Brown years. An aerial view of Casitas del Valle in Moreno Valley, Calif., a Sunrun solar panel project similar to the ones financed by Chanel's $35-million investment that aims to provide solar access to about 30,000 low-income Californians over the next several years. (Sunrun) If youre a low-income resident of California with a new solar panel on your apartment-building roof and extra money in your pocket, you might have Chanel to thank. The French luxury label that's the go-to for celebrities around the world (including Tilda Swinton at the recent Venice Film Festival and Shira Haas and Julia Garner at Sunday night's Emmy Awards) announced Wednesday that it is investing $35 million with San Francisco-based Sunrun, the largest rooftop solar installer in the U.S., aimed at bringing solar power to 100 multifamily properties in the Golden State. That will be for about 30,000 low-income residents, said Lynn Jurich, Sunrun's cofounder and chief executive. They'll get solar panels on their rooftops that will essentially save them about $50 per month on their electric power. Most of their electricity will be free for the 20-plus years. The solar-meets-high-style partnership may sound like an odd pairing, but according to John Galantic, Chanel Inc.'s president and chief operating officer, its part of Chanels larger effort to combat climate change outside its core business. The impacts of climate change are already upon us, he wrote in an email to The Times. While we need to take action within our own business activities to reduce emissions, we also believe in going beyond our own footprint to support communities and natural ecosystems that are already affected by climate change. He said Sunruns track record in the solar space as well as its chief executive convinced him the company was the right one to expeditiously further that goal. When we met Lynn Jurich, CEO of Sunrun, we knew we had found our partner, Galantic said. When Lynn says, 'Lets get this done,' she means it. Jurich said Chanels several-year investment is helping to finance the installation of solar panels on apartment buildings that will eventually provide solar power to an estimated 10,000 households that wouldnt have had the option of solar otherwise because they're tenants in multifamily dwellings. (By comparison, an individual homeowner installing a solar system would invest around $15,000 before rebates and tax credits.) Story continues Chanel is also funding 20,000 hours of solar-panel installation job training in the first year of the partnership. Although the relationship between Chanel and Sunrun came to fruition only late last year, 21 of the 100 Chanel-financed installations have been completed. Four Monterey Village in Rancho Cucamonga, Olive Meadow in San Bernardino, Impressions at Valley Center in Victorville and Vera Cruz Village in Richgrove are in Southern California. Models walk on a runway made of solar panels at Chanel's spring and summer 2013 runway show during Paris Fashion Week in October 2012. Sunrun's Chief Executive Lynn Jurich thinks it's not a stretch that solar panels could eventually become a status symbol not unlike a luxury fashion label. (Patrick Kovarik / AFP / Getty Images) Although Chanel memorably sent models down a solar-panel-lined spring/summer 2013 runway, including one in a solar-panel-inspired dress, don't expect to see the solar panels emblazoned with the Chanel double-C logo any time soon. Although Jurich laughed heartily at the notion of Chanel-branded solar panels, she said a luxury branding play in the solar space isn't as absurd as it might sound. "I think [solar panels] will become a status symbol," she said. "Look at what's happened in Japan where some people even put up fake solar panels because it's fashionable." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. BERLIN (Reuters) - The victims of sexual abuse in Germany's Catholic Church can apply for compensation payments of up to 50,000 euros from next year, the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK) said on Thursday. According to a study from 2018 on abuse in the Catholic Church, at least 3,677 minors were victims of sexual violence by at least 1,670 members of the clergy in Germany between 1946 and 2014. Experts, say, however, the number of unreported cases could be as high as 100,000. The one-off payments, which will be allowed from Jan. 1, will be determined individually for each applicant by an independent committee. In addition, victims can be reimbursed for therapy costs, said DBK Chairman Georg Baetzing. However, the payouts fall short of victims' demands. The Eckiger Tisch victims' group has in the past called for payments of several hundred thousand euros, arguing many of those affected are unable to work. It has also criticised procedures victims have to through to receive the money. However, the decision at least provides clarity for victims as inconsistencies between dioceses on payments have led to much criticism. "This order will guarantee a uniform framework in all 27 (arch-)dioceses," said Baetzing in a statement. A previous head of the Catholic Church in Germany had in 2018 apologised for the failure and pain suffered by the thousands of children sexually abused by its clergy. An abuse scandal has shaken the Catholic Church in many countries, from Ireland to Argentina and the United States. Thursday's decision was one of the main items on the agenda of the autumn meeting of the DBK bishops conference in Fulda. (Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Alexandra Hudson) New York, UN (PANA) - Libya, as a country of transit for migrants, cannot surmount the associated challenges without international support, the countrys Head of State told world leaders gathered virtually for the UN General Assembly, rejecting unilateral reports on the situation of migrants White House Urges Peaceful Protests, Denounces Mob Justice in Wake of Louisville Unrest The White House denounced the latest outbreak of protest-related violence in Louisville, Kentucky, urging peaceful demonstrations and cautioning against rhetoric in the media that could fuel calls for mob justice. Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany made the remarks in a Sept. 24 press briefing, in which she addressed a range of issues, including clarifying that President Donald Trump will accept the results of a free and fair election, and criticizing Democrat actions that she said sow chaos and discord, like mulling impeachment as punishment for Trump intending to exercise his constitutional authority to nominate a Supreme Court justice. McEnany was asked about what the presidents message is for the family of Breonna Taylor, who died in March from bullets fired by police when they returned fire while serving a no-knock warrant at her Louisville home. Our hearts go out to her. It was a horrible tragedy that happened, she replied, adding, and that our hearts also are with the two police officers who were shot last night in the Louisville riots. Two Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers were shot Wednesday in downtown Louisville and sustained non-life-threatening injuries amid growing unrest surrounding the handling of the officer-involved shooting case of Taylor. A grand jury on Wednesday determined that Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove were justified when they opened fire on Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Taylors boyfriend told police he heard knocking but didnt know who was coming into the home and opened fire in self-defense, striking one of the officers in the leg. Detective Brett Hankison, who fired several shots into Taylors apartment from outside, was indicted on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment. Riots broke out in multiple U.S. cities following the grand jury decision. Kentuckys attorney general, Daniel Cameron, at a press conference following the grand jury announcement called the incident a tragedy and urged calm. The decision before my office is not to decide if the loss of Breonna Taylors life was a tragedythe answer to that question is unequivocally yes, Cameron said. If we simply act on outrage, there is no justicemob justice is not justice, he later added. Justice sought by violence is not justice. It just becomes revenge. Protests that broke out after the grand jury announcement at one point became violent, with police spokesman, Sgt. Lamont Washington, saying that 46 people were arrested. McEnany, at the briefing, noted the situation in Louisville, saying there were reports of vandalism and arrests. The Trump administration urges calm and reminds those who wish to have their voices heard to do so peacefully. You have a right to peaceful protest, as outlined in the First Amendment, she said. McEnany then referred to Camerons statement urging people not to resort to mob justice, before taking aim at a CNN reporter for challenging the attorney generals words. And you contrast his message with that of CNNs Brianna Keilar, who said, I question the judgment of the Kentucky Attorney General saying that mob justice is not justice. We know that this is a very loaded language. Thats an appalling statement from Brianna Keilar at CNN. And what is outrageous about this take is that mob justice is not justice, McEnany said. She continued, This has nothing to do with politics, it has everything to do with the value of human life and the safety and security of our American cities and across the country, weve seen our police officers come under fire in the line of duty Our police officers deserve our respect and the violence that is being committed towards them is outrageous. She called the words of Keilar outrageous, irresponsible, and we should never hear statements like that followed by hours later two police officers being shot. Keilar later responded in a tweet: The Breonna you should be talking about today is not me, @PressSec. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police are asking for the publics help to locate a 16-year-old girl who has been reported missing from West Brighton. Courtney Jefferson was last seen at her home in the vicinity of Bement Avenue and Henderson Avenue on Tuesday at about 1 p.m., according to a statement from the NYPDs Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. She was reported missing on Thursday. Police described Courtney as being Black and standing about 57 tall and weighing about 150 pounds. She has brown eyes and black hair and was seen wearing a black sweater and black sweatpants. Anyone with information is urged to visit the NYPDs Crime Stoppers website, call the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477 (TIPS) or 1-888-577-4782 (PISTA) for Spanish, or text their tips to 274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential. TROY The 20-year-old Cohoes man charged with fatally shooting an 11-year-old boy in Troy earlier this month had been released from jail in June where he was being held on robbery, weapons and reckless endangerment because he had not been indicted within 45 days of his arrest last October. Jah Quay E. Brown has a lengthy criminal history dating to at least 2016 that includes arrests for a shooting as well as assaults, robbery and larceny charges, according to court records. Shane Hug, a local attorney and former Rensselaer County assistant district attorney, was appointed as a special prosecutor in Brown's case for the weapons and reckless endangerment charges in the city of Albany connected to a drive-by shooting. Hug on Friday confirmed that Brown was released from jail in June after his attorney, Gennaro Calabrese, filed a writ of habeus corpus motion seeking his client's release from custody due to the amount of time that he had been behind bars without being indicted. The release took place not long after the coronavirus pandemic had brought New York's court system to a crawl, including the empaneling of grand juries. Hug said he had no grounds to oppose Calabrese's motion and added that Brown's release from custody "had nothing to do with bail reform." Troy Police Department Brown's defense attorney, Gennaro Calabrese, could not be reached for comment. Brown's arrest last October took place about two weeks after he was shot in the head on First Street in Albany. That shooting left Brown briefly hospitalized. He was shot less than a month after the drive-by shooting in Albany in which he was identified by police as the driver of the vehicle from which the shots where fired. Those charges, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment, both felonies, led to Brown's arrest on Oct. 21. He was also arraigned on Oct. 24 for an unrelated robbery in Guilderland. Brown had been in custody at Albany County jail from late October until he was released on a court order in early June granting the writ motions one for a robbery charge in Guilderland and the second in the Albany shooting case. There was also no grand jury impaneled in Albany County from roughly March to July. But an executive order from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had stayed pre-trial and speedy trial requirements during the pandemic. That means the special prosecutor could have asked for a stay on the motions for a writ that were filed by Brown's attorney, but apparently did not. Hug said the robbery and shooting-related charges are both active cases and that Brown's release from custody in June does not mean he will not face indictment. "I know that everyone is looking for someone to blame for this heinous act," Hug said of the boy's shooting death. "The bottom line is the only person responsible for the death of this innocent child is the person who pulled the trigger; allegedly that person is Mr. Brown. Ayshawn's family has my deepest sympathies." Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. While he was at Albany County jail earlier this year, Brown also was charged with felony gang assault for an attack on another inmate. That case remains pending in Colonie and is also assigned to a special prosecutor. On Thursday morning, Brown was charged with killing 11-year-old Ayshawn Davis in a drive-by shooting on Old Sixth Avenue on Sept. 13, according to Troy police. Brown faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. Brown told the judge during his arraignment that he was "concerned about my safety and my well-being." Troy's deputy police chief, Dan DeWolf, said a handgun that police believe was used in the boy's shooting was recovered from Brown's residence. Police declined to say whether Brown was the shooter in the drive-by shooting, or if others may have been involved. Troy police credited the State Police Special Investigations Unit and other law enforcement agencies for providing assistance that helped lead to Browns arrest. Safety Rings have been put in place on Sentosas beaches, indicating spots where small groups of up to five may gather. (PHOTO: Sentosa) SINGAPORE Members of the public who wish to visit Sentosas beaches (Tanjong, Palawan and Siloso) during peak periods (weekends and public holidays) will soon be required to book their entry into the beaches prior to visiting, as part of efforts to enhance guest experience and safety. The enforcement of this safety measure will take effect from 17 October 2020. The reservation-only entry into the beaches is aimed at facilitating safety management measures as well as reducing queues and waiting time to enter the beaches, as crowds and queues have been observed forming during peak periods. The beach entry booking system will be trialled for an initial period of three months, during which Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) will monitor guest behaviour and feedback, regularly review the reservation and redemption process and make adjustments where necessary. In addition, Safety Rings have been put in place on Sentosas beaches, indicating spots where small groups of up to five may gather. When using these Safety Rings, which are demarcated by rope squares in the sand, groups should keep within the allocated space and observe a minimum safe distance of one metre from other groups and guests. Beach reservation and entry process In line with the safe distancing measures, Tanjong, Palawan and Siloso beaches have been segmented into a total of seven zones, each with a capacity limit ranging between 100 and 350. Key things to note while making reservations: Bookings are to be made via www.sentosa.com.sg/beachreservations. Guests may pre-book their entry up to seven days before their intended beach visits, subject to capacity limits. For its initial roll-out, the reservation system will begin accepting bookings from 10 October 2020, for visits commencing from 17 October 2020. Guests may choose from two time slots to visit: Morning (8am 1pm), or afternoon (2pm 7pm). Guests may make reservations for up to five persons in each booking. Upon successful booking, guests will receive an email confirming their selected beach zone and time slot. On the day of the visit, guests should approach the Beach Entry Kiosk of their selected zone, and present their confirmation email for verification. Guests may access the selected beach zone anytime during the reserved time slot. Upon successful verification of the booking by staff at the Beach Entry Kiosk, guests will be issued with wristbands for admission into the beach zone. Guests will be required to leave the beaches at the end of their selected time slots, or at any time prior at their convenience. Guests who decide to change their plans after making a booking are reminded to cancel their reservations and give up their slots to other guests. Story continues On weekdays, guests may enter the beaches without a reservation, subject to the capacity limits. Guests should also note that Sentosas beaches will be closed between 7pm and 8am daily. (PHOTO: Sentosa) Reservation of beach game courts A total of 15 beach courts across Tanjong, Palawan and Siloso beaches will be made available for booking, for guests who wish to play court-based games such as beach volleyball. The booking process for beach game courts are similar to that for general beach entry. Guests who have booked beach courts are not required to make another booking for beach entry. For the safety of guests, only up to five persons are permitted to play in each court-based game. There should be no intermingling between groups of players or cross-court games. Guests strongly encouraged to make prior reservations at other offerings Guests who wish to visit other offerings in Sentosa such as food and beverage establishments and attractions are also strongly encouraged to make prior reservations, and pre-purchase tickets online where appropriate, before arriving. This will reduce queuing time for guests and enhance safe distancing. Guests may make their reservations with the respective establishments directly or via their booking platforms. Palawan Beach Zones. (PHOTO: Sentosa) Siloso Beach Zones. (PHOTO: Sentosa) Tanjong Beach Beach Zones. (PHOTO: Sentosa) For more information, go to www.sentosa.com.sg/beachreservations government gave its firm assurance to all 32 Kannadigas who are repatriated from This was announced here by the Deputy Chief Minister, Dr C. N. Ashwathnarayana on Thursday. "All 32 Kannadigas reached Bengaluru on Thursday evening and the state has made them stay in Bengaluru University hostel premises," he said. He further added that all of them have undergone mandatory Covid-19 tests and till the results come, they will be kept in a hostel. The minister said that most of them lost their due to the pandemic and they are direly in need of jobs, hence the state government had taken responsibility for accommodating them. According to him, took every possible initiative to bring back these 32 persons who were languishing in prisons after they had violated their Employment visa rules. "Most of them had over stayed in that country. We got in touch with External Affairs ministry and in turn they got in touch with Embassy in Saudi Arabia, who helped us out to bring all of them to India," he explained. --IANS nbh/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.) Advertising spend on e-commerce platforms is set to rise sharply this year despite the global recession - reaching a total of $58.5bn - as brands look to capitalise on the boom in online shopping as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, finds WARC, the international marketing intelligence service. Advertising investment across e-commerce sites such as Amazon, Tmall and Rakuten, omnichannel retailers such as Walmart and Carrefour, and social commerce on platforms such as Pinduoduo and TikTok is set to increase 18.3% worldwide, growing 30 times faster than the wider online ad market and in stark contrast to a forecast fall of -8.1% for the total advertising industry this year. The uptick in e-commerce advertising spend mirrors a rapid increase in online purchasing; consumers will spend an additional $183bn online this year as a direct result of COVID-19 with total e-commerce sales set to rise by 30.4% - $677bn - to $2.9trn worldwide. Brands are flocking to leverage targeted advertising across e-commerce platforms as a means of getting closer to the consumer at the point of purchase. Alibaba controls the world's third-largest ad business, Amazon is growing well ahead of Google and Facebook Alibaba is set to make $23.5bn from selling ad inventory across its e-commerce properties this year, giving it control of the third-largest ad business by revenue, behind only Alphabet and Facebook. Alibaba's advertising income - across e-commerce sites like Taobao, Tmall and Lazada - is set to rise 6.6% this year, though this a far slower rate of growth than its competitors. Amazon, the fourth-largest ad seller by revenue, is among the fastest-risers this year - company filings show its ad business grew 4.5 times faster than Facebook and 63 times faster than Alphabet in the first half of 2020. Consequently, Amazon is on course to make $18.1bn from advertising this year, up by 35.6% at a time when the wider internet ad market is flat (+0.6%). Elsewhere, Chinese social commerce platform Pinduoduo is set to see its ad income leap 33.8% to over $5bn, ahead of local rival JD.com on $3.6bn. None of the e-commerce platforms monitored by WARC is expected to witness a fall in advertising revenue this year. Consumers will spend an additional $183bn online this year due to COVID-19 Online sales are set to rise 30.4% to $2.9trn worldwide this year, according to data from Edge by Ascential. This represents a forecast upgrade of 8.2 percentage points - $183bn - since the COVID-19 outbreak began. Domestic growth rates range from +19.0% in the UK, to +22.1% in the US and +37.6% in China. Taken together, e-commerce sales will account for 88% of global retail growth in 2020. The top five platforms will tighten their grip on the market this year, turning over an additional $529bn combined as a result of the outbreak. E-commerce platforms Alibaba (+$221bn), Pinduoduo (+$122bn) and Amazon (+$92bn) have seen the sharpest forecast upgrades since the outbreak. Advertising spend - particularly within the FMCG sector - is moving online as a result of the shifting complexion of sales since the COVID-19 outbreak. Over 8% of Unilever's business is now done online - the company made 71% (2.2bn) of its total 2019 e-commerce sales in just the first six months of 2020. Livestreams are growing to account for a fifth of Chinese e-commerce while the West has been slow to capitalise on social selling Livestreamed commerce is booming in China - it is set to more than double to a sales value of $171bn this year. This represents 10.2% of all e-commerce sales today, a share which is set to rise to a fifth (20.3%, $421bn) in just the next two years. Data from Yimian, a sister company of WARC, show that the top three platforms - Taobao, TikTok and Kwai - will see over two-thirds (69.1%) of all livestreamed sales this year. COVID-19 has pushed new consumers to the format; three in ten (30%) have spent more than they used to on products sold via livestreams and intend to keep doing so. In total, livestreamed commerce has an estimated audience of 525m, equivalent to 62.8% of China's online population. Summing up, James McDonald, Head of Data Content, WARC Data, and author of the research, says: "With ad investment flat or falling across most media in the wake of COVID-19, e-commerce platforms - which have seen penetration balloon - are in a strong position to capture reallocated budgets by using sales data to demonstrate ad performance during a volatile economic climate." To visualise the rapid growth of e-commerce platforms, view WARC's infographic: The difference in advertising revenue per second, pre- and post-COVID; and WARC's video: Global advertising spend by medium 1980-2020. A sample report of WARC's Global Ad Trends: The pivot to e-commerce is available to download here. The full report is available to WARC Data subscribers. This latest Global Ad Trends report complements the recently launched WARC Guide to e-commerce. Latest information on WARC Data across regions Global Sports sponsorship investment to drop 37% TikTok reaches nearly 700m users TVs now account for a quarter of YouTube viewing 65% of Baby Boomers now gaming due to COVID-19 Americas Half of Americans have boycotted a brand Canadian TV adspend to record double-digit decline this year Financial concerns driving consumer shift to AVOD Amazon grows quickest but Loblaw extends its lead in Canadian retail Asia Pacific Mobile video adspend to hit 300bn in Japan this year One in three will visit the cinema less often after COVID-19 15% of urban Indians now gaming for over four hours Radio advertising spend in Australia to record first decline in 11 years Europe, Middle East and Africa Three in five EMEA marketers have adopted a mobile-first strategy Gaming reach flat or falling across major European markets in July Italian advertising spend to drop by 21.7% this year Less than 10% of TikTok users follow brands on the platform Global Ad Trends, a monthly report which draws on WARC's dataset of advertising and media intelligence to take a holistic view on current industry developments, is part of WARC Data, a dedicated independent and objective one-stop online service which rigorously harmonises, aggregates, verifies and evaluates data from over 100 reputable sources, including Nielsen, featuring current advertising benchmarks, forecasts, data points and trends in media investment and usage. WARC Data is available by subscription only. For more information visit https://www.warc.com/data Each man was indicted on five counts for two charges; the specific charges were for caretakers who wantonly or recklessly permit or cause bodily injury and abuse, neglect or mistreatment of an older or disabled person. The criminal neglect charge carries a term of up to three years, and the serious bodily injury charge carries a sentence of up to 10 years for each count, Ms. Healey said. Mr. Walshs lawyer, Tracy A. Miner, said in an email that he planned to plea not guilty. It is unfortunate that the attorney general is blaming the effects of a deadly virus that our state and federal governments have not been able to stop on Bennett Walsh, she said. Mr. Walsh, she added, was on the front lines trying his best to do whatever he could to help the Veterans of the Holyoke Soldiers Home, including asking for help from state officials and the National Guard, which arrived much too late. A lawyer for Dr. Clinton could not immediately be reached for comment. The Soldiers Home in Holyoke, a state-run facility that provides health care, hospice care and other assistance to veterans, has been under investigation since early April, when the attorney generals office said it learned of serious issues with Covid-19 infection control procedures. By then, the authorities were growing increasingly worried about the facility, which housed frail veterans of World War II and other conflicts. Within five days, eight veterans had died, others were sick with the coronavirus, and staff members were also falling ill. Flags in Holyoke, a city of 40,000 residents more than 90 miles west of Boston, were lowered to half-staff. The truth has to be known and I would ask ex-President Cristiani that if he has nothing to hide, why not come to the court and tell the truth, Baulenas said. But it seems he has always hidden behind the military. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for an "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" (self-reliant India) is an important initiative, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said. "The economic package under this self-reliant India initiative, which was announced in the aftermath of the coronavirus shock, has supported the Indian economy and mitigated significant downside risks, so we do see that initiative as having been important," Gerry Rice, Director, Communications Department, IMF, told reporters at his fortnightly news conference here. Looking ahead, as the prime minister has said, for India to play a more important part in the global economy, pursuing policies that stimulate by improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the economy is critical, he said, responding to a question on Modi's call for an "Aatmanirbhar Bharat". "To achieve the stated 'Make For The World' goal in India, the priority is to remain focussed on policies that can help further integrate India in the global value chain, including through trade, investment and technology," Rice said. Responding to another question, he said the IMF's joint study with the NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Finance shows that to achieve a high performance in health-related sustainable development goals, India would need to gradually increase its total spending in the healthcare sector from the current 3.7 per cent of the GDP. "More generally, beyond the health sector, comprehensive structural reforms are needed to achieve more inclusive and sustainable medium-term growth. "We have talked about those reforms before -- infrastructure, land reforms, product market and labour market reforms, increasing female labour force participation, access to finance and better jobs," Rice said. Also read: India needs manufacturing prominience to become self-reliant: Anand Mahindra Also read: MSMEs bat for opening payment dispute councils to medium enterprises From the opening of his third presidential bid, Joe Biden has argued that he is in a unique position to mend a fractured nation and work even with Republicans to unify the country into some semblance of consensus. That central thesis of the Democratic presidential nominees campaign is being severely tested by the battle over the future of the Supreme Court. In the week since liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgs death, hes faced pressure from progressives seeking bolder action. And most Republicans in the Senate, a place where Biden spent 36 years of his career, have ignored his calls to wait until after the election to approve a successor. President Donald Trump is expected to name his pick on Saturday, launching a confirmation process that may only deepen the nations sectarian politics. For now, Biden is holding his ground, defending the purpose and function of institutions and governing processes that are needed to install Ginsburgs successor but appear to be fraying after years of strain. We have to de-escalate, Biden said on Sunday in his first extended remarks after Ginsburgs death. Cool the flames engulfing our nation. He followed up Monday in Wisconsin during a 25-minute speech where he didnt mention the court at all. We have to bring the nation together, he said. Thats going to be my primary job. The approach leaves Biden, a former senator shaped by a bygone era of Capitol Hill bonhomie, between ideological firing lines so intense as to risk overshadowing remembrances of Ginsburg as a legal giant, feminist hero and, late in her 87 years, a pop culture icon. Whether Biden is right will determine not only his prospects in November but what kind of legislative success, well beyond judicial confirmations, he could muster once in office. Sometimes it sounds naive, said progressive labour and Democratic Party leader Larry Cohen, who supports Biden but wants him to be more forceful about overhauling how Capitol Hill works. Biden is with his fellow Democrats in decrying a swift GOP-run confirmation so close to an election especially given Republicans refusal to consider President Barack Obamas last Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, in March 2016, eight months before Election Day. Yet, at least publicly, Biden is not entertaining calls among some Democrats and progressives urging him to threaten specific retaliation. Various groups already wanted Biden to endorse abolishing the Senate filibuster to allow anything to pass by majority vote. Now some want Biden to add the warning that a Democratic majority and President Biden would expand the Supreme Court at their first opportunity. Even Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a consummate establishment Democrat like Biden, has declared that nothing is off the table if Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell go through with cementing a 6-3 conservative supermajority four years after denying Garland a confirmation vote. Garland would have tilted the court 5-4 in favour of Democratic appointees in 2016, with Ginsburgs death leaving a 4-4 court. Inflaming tensions are other fundamental dynamics. Republicans hold a 53-seat Senate majority, but that group collectively represents millions fewer Americans and got millions fewer combined votes than the 47 senators in the Democratic caucus. Trump is the second consecutive Republican president not to win the national popular vote in his first election. In fact, since 1988 Republicans have won the presidential popular vote just one time: President George W. Bushs re-election in 2004. Advisers to Biden and Trump agree that Democrats almost certainly will win it again this year, too. Democracy is being restricted to the elite and their minority, said Cohen, among the leaders pushing to end the filibuster. Yet Biden doesnt lament the curious turns of the nations institutions. Rather, hes staked his campaign on defending the structure. Im gonna say something outrageous. I know how to make government work, Biden said at his first big rally in Philadelphia on May, 18, 2019. Ahead of the Iowa caucuses this winter, he declared in Ames that, Our Constitution is built in a way that literally it cannot function unless we are able to arrive at consensus. Indeed, as a former six-term senator and two-term vice-president, Biden tells stories of back-slapping and deal-making that he contends can be reprised. Compromise is not a dirty word; its how our government is designed to work, he told a teachers union audience this summer. Ive done it my whole life. Perhaps more accurately, Biden has been in the middle of Capitol Hills evolution. He was Senate Judiciary Chairman in 1987 when Democrats jettisoned a controversial Supreme Court nominee from President Ronald Reagan. Robert Bork, a favourite in conservative legal circles, got a floor vote but garnered just 42 votes, including two Democrats. Six Republicans were among the 58 nays. The move incensed conservatives and gave birth to the highly organized activist network that Republicans have used to great success in confirming their preferred jurists in recent years. But its worth noting that a subsequent Reagan nominee for the same vacancy, Anthony Kennedy, was confirmed unanimously. The final vote occurred early in the presidential election year of 1988. When President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg in 1993, her liberal credentials and outlook were well-established. She was confirmed 96-3 anyway. Partisan wrangling intensified from Clintons second term onward. Democrats spiked the filibuster for regional appeals court judges in 2013, citing Republican obstruction. McConnell and Republicans followed suit in 2017 by ending filibusters for Supreme Court justices. Biden, whod once shepherded Kennedys nomination through seamlessly, voted against both of George W. Bushs nominees: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. Over the same period, bipartisan legislative deals waned. Bushs signature domestic policy, the No Child Left Behind education law, had a Senate champion unthinkable today: the late Ted Kennedy, the liberal lion from Massachusetts. Biden often claims while campaigning that he cajoled three key Senate Republican votes for a 2009 economic rescue package when he was vice-president but just one of those senators, Susan Collins of Maine, remains in the Senate, and she faces a tough re-election battle. Obamas signature domestic legislative win, the Affordable Care Act, got through Congress without a single Republican vote and only because Democrats managed procedural moves to avoid a final filibuster. Now, even as Senate Republicans seemed poised to fast-track a court confirmation, Congress remains unable to agree on another economic stabilization bill amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Those trends, Cohen argued, offer little reason to think Biden and Democratic Senate majority could even get floor votes on major efforts on the climate crisis, immigration law or gun regulations. A day before Ginsburgs death, Biden reiterated his optimism. With President Trump out of the way he predicted hed find somewhere between six and eight GOP senators to work with a new Democratic majority. Im going to be Americas president, Biden insisted, not a Democratic president. Days after the Maharashtra department of higher and technical education clarified that the 100% attendance rule for teaching and non-teaching staff of colleges is not compulsory, the University of Mumbai (MU) released a circular this week stating that staff involved in the upcoming examination session should be present in college as and when required. The circular dated September 22 also states that the principals and vice-principals shall be present every day from the date of commencement of exams till results of final-year (summer 2020) examination are declared. During exams until the declaration of results, principals and vice-principals should not take leave, and teachers and other non-teaching staff involved in the exam and result process should be present at their respective institutes, states the circular. It further reiterates the need for setting up a helpdesk at colleges to help the students solve their problems before and during the exams. Every college will also upload sample question papers on their websites and conduct mock tests for students in order to ease them into the online examination pattern, states the MU circular. On September 18, the state government released a government resolution (GR) asking for 100% attendance from all teaching and non-teaching staff of colleges to conduct the upcoming online exams for final-year students and ensure that results are declared in time. Teacher organisations from across the state shared their discontent with this move by the state government in view of the rising Covid-19 cases in the state. Following complaints by several stakeholders including colleges, the government released a clarification on September 21 stating that 100% attendance is not binding on the entire staff, and that respective colleges or universities can decide how many of the staff, especially from the examination department, need to be present in order to ensure smooth functioning of online exams for final-year students. The latest circular only reiterates the examination process to the affiliated colleges in case of any doubts. Though colleges have informed us that the examination process is running smoothly at present, said Vinod Patil, director, board of examinations and evaluation, MU. While online exam for students with backlogs/allowed to keep term (ATKT) start from Friday, final-year exams for fresh candidates will take place between October 1 and 17. The government has stated that results for these exams would be declared by the first week of November. The boss of Australia's oldest union is warning Labor will kill off blue-collar jobs and any chance of winning government if it does not wholeheartedly embrace gas to properly transition to a low-emissions economy. Australian Workers' Union national secretary Daniel Walton has lashed Anthony Albanese's federal opposition for "continuing to impotently hedge" on gas and being "suckered" by the extreme left and right on climate policy. Australian Workers Union boss Daniel Walton. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Writing in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald on Friday, the union heavyweight said any more equivocating from Labor on gas was "not just morally indefensible, it's strategically moronic". "The extreme right and the extreme left side of the debate won't thank us, and the moderate middle will be turned off by our lack of conviction. Our chances of electoral success will flatline," Mr Walton writes. She recently announced she is expecting her first child with fiance, Reece Hawkins. And on Friday, London Goheen showed off a glimpse of her baby bump as she posed while enjoying a relaxing walk in a park. The 22-year-old American model shared a photo to Instagram, flaunting her trim pins in a tight white minidress while cradling her growing bump. She's glowing! Reece Hawkins' model fiancee London Goheen (pictured) showed off her growing baby bump in a tight dress on Friday In the photo, London smiled for the camera while she gently placed her hand on her blossoming bump. The raven-haired beauty let her luscious locks cascade down her shoulders, and kept her makeup minimal with a flawless visage, mascara and a plump pink pout. London and Reece revealed they're expecting a child earlier this month, just weeks after announcing their engagement. Growing family: London and Reece Hawkins (pictured) revealed they were expecting a child earlier this month, just weeks after announcing their engagement London's post comes after she was slammed for charging followers to see photos of her baby bump on OnlyFans. She 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. Backlash: London's post comes after she copped backlash after revealing that she's going to be charging fans to view pictures of her baby bump on subscription service OnlyFans 'She's literally charging people for her OnlyFans to view pics of her bump? What the f**k,' one follower wrote on London's pregnancy announcement. Another person commented: 'Wow sis is really charging $9.99 per month to see her pregnancy photos lol.' In a statement to Daily Mail Australia earlier this month, London defended her decision to show off her baby bump on OnlyFans. 'I never said it was compulsory': In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, 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. She added: '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.' Reece also shares two children with his ex-partner Tammy Hembrow: son Wolf, five, and daughter Saskia, four. Fancy face masks and protective shields feature next to printed-out versions of paintings and graffiti, photographs, sculptures, music and video at a Prague exhibition of Covid-19 art created during the pandemic. Its curator told AFP Friday the travelling exhibition comprising more than 2,000 works by 500 people from 60 countries was meant as a tribute to artists whose work has kept the world sane during the pandemic. "A key motivation was the fact that artists helped us mentally survive the pandemic, so it's a way to thank them," said curator Pavel Stastny, an artist himself. When the pandemic struck Prague in the spring, Stastny slapped a face mask on the large graffiti portrait of John Lennon on Prague's iconic Lennon Wall. The wall once served as a shrine for those seeking freedom from the Communist regime in the former Czechoslovakia. The regime was toppled in 1989. Stastny said news of the masked Lennon made its way abroad and caught the attention of French collector Blaise Runart, who added an image of the work to his online collection. "I became part of a group of artists whose works focussed on Covid-19," Stastny said. He then began collecting images of works by his peers worldwide via social networks including Instagram and Facebook for the exhibition held through September. Some of the art was mediated by embassies, and some videos were shot and provided by UNESCO as part of its Next Normal campaign focussed on life after the pandemic. "The works are fantastic, they capture the ideas and impressions the artists had during the pandemic," visitor Terezie Pokorna told AFP. "This person made fun of it, that one made a big deal out of it." From Prague, the exhibition will move on to another Czech city, and perhaps even abroad. "We are in talks with Belgium, Paris, Serbia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Thailand," Stastny said. frj/amj/mbx GENESEE TWP, MI -- For this years spirit week, the student council at Kearsley High School has planned a fundraising challenge to give back to someone in need. The spirt week theme is Granting a Wish. The district has partnered with Make-A-Wish Michigan to adopt, Jackson, a critically ill 7-year-old boy. Jackson loves the water and wishes to have a pontoon boat. The goal of the week, which runs from Monday September 28 to Friday, October 2, is to raise $6,000. Students are also asked to write letters of support to Jackson. Spirit cup points will be awarded to the grade with the most students that complete a letter. Student Council President Jonathen Hart said they had originally hoped to hold a Wish Week in the spring, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, plans were put on hold. But the global crisis makes the initiative even more important, Hart said. He said the main reason the students wanted to do the fundraiser was to show how a community should come together even when during a global pandemic and work to help someone whos more in need. In addition to letters, Hart said students will be writing wishes for Jackson or others in need. About 40 people have been involved in making the fundraiser possible, he said. We decided that, what better way to start the year with all this craziness going on, then to help someone in need? This entire week were basically going to do everything we can to make (Jacksons) wish come true, Hart said. Those who would like to contribute can donate here. Make-A-Wish Michigan works with around 50 schools each year in some capacity, said Christy Schulte, communities and public relations manager for the non-profit. Of that total, about 10 to 15 schools hold their own Wish Week during the school year. The fundraiser is run through the Kids For Wish Kids program, which engages students, schools and youth organizations in philanthropy and service activities in partnership with Make-A-Wish, according to the Make-A-Wish website. When a high school or any school is interested in participating in or Kids for Wish Kids program, its always inspiring for Make-A-Wish, as well as our Wish Kids and families, to know that there are these students out there that feel so called to give back that they do all the brainstorming, planning and fundraising to help make wishes come true right here in Michigan, Schulte said. 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 kids learn from grandma, retired teacher at century-old community center Educators go door-to-door to connect with Flint children missing from virtual class Why Davison schools have had 139 quarantined but only 3 positive coronavirus cases Flint students get free backpacks, haircuts, Halloween costumes at community event A St. Albert Catholic School alumna has been named its new president and will become the first female president in the schools history, the school announced Friday. Dr. Anne M. Rohling, a member of the St. Albert High School Class of 1982, will fill the vacancy left by Deacon Vernon Dobelmann, former executive director, who resigned in August. Rohling earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, a master's of business administration degree at Creighton University and juri doctorate at Creighton University School of Law. She brings a wealth of business and legal acumen to the role, having guided strategic initiatives and negotiated multi-million-dollar contracts for a number of Fortune 500 companies, according to a press release from the Catholic Diocese of Des Moines. After her time in corporate America, she opened an independent legal practice in Council Bluffs, where she practiced patent law and advocated on behalf of the elderly. Her tenure as a well-respected member of the American Bar Association has afforded her legal experience in prosecution, business operations, regulatory compliance and litigation management -- all skills she plans to use to ensure the operational vitality of St. Albert Catholic School. Anne Rohling is steeped in the experience of Catholic education in her own life path and in her own commitment to parish religious education and voluntary involvement in communal and corporate outreach, said Bishop William M. Joensen. She is a natural leader anointed by the Spirit in all she does. I believe she is moved by the Spirit to embrace this great personal and professional sacrifice by making this momentous transition at this point in her career on behalf of St. Albert Catholic School, and I am profoundly grateful. For Rohling, this role is personal. She is a St. Albert alumna and the product of a lifetime of Catholic education. I am one of the many successful products of Catholic education, Rohling is quoted as saying. My father passed away when the oldest of my six siblings was 10 years old and the youngest was 1 year old. My mother sacrificed to provide all of her children with a Catholic education. Each one attended parish schools and graduated from St. Albert High School. This model of sacrifice and the experiences St. Albert afforded me opened my eyes to the beauty of Catholic education and the profound desire to support and promote Catholic education in my community, she said. Rohling also has experience in nonprofit management from her work as a community leader and volunteer over the past 20 years. She has served on nonprofit boards, including St. Albert Catholic School and the Council Bluffs Public Library. A dedicated member of St. Peters Parish, Rohling has guided a number of fundraising efforts on behalf of the church and currently serves as its director of religious education. After a very thorough search for the presidents position, St. Albert is fortunate to welcome back to the school one of their own, said Joe Narmi, school board president. Anne brings many years of experience in the business world, has very deep roots in the Council Bluffs and southwest Iowa communities and has an abundant enthusiasm and passion for St. Albert and Catholic education. I am excited to partner with Anne as the new president of St. Albert Catholic School, said Jeff Lenz, St. Albert Foundation president. Anne is a tremendous addition to the strong and diverse leadership at St. Albert. Her unique education and business background will make an outstanding contribution to our St. Albert family, leading as our first female president. "The St. Albert Foundation Board looks forward to working with Anne to make a dramatic and positive impact within our community. Rohling will begin her new role on Nov. 2. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Shiv Senas Sanjay Raut asked on Friday if it was appropriate to conduct the assembly elections in Bihar amid the coronavirus pandemic in India, saying it has given rise to an unprecedented situation, news agency PTI reported. The Election Commission on Friday announced the dates for the Bihar assembly elections, which will be held in three phases from October 28 and the counting of votes will take place on November 10. Is coronavirus pandemic over now? Is the situation right for elections? Raut questioned, according to PTI. While the Shiv Sena criticised holding the Bihar assembly polls during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) welcomed the decision of the Election Commission. For the first time such a large exercise is to be held in the world during Covid-19, Devendra Fadnavis, the BJPs Bihar elections in-charge, said, ANI reported. People of Bihar have faith in Modi ji. The government under Nitish Kumar ji and Sushil Modi ji has also worked for people. Itll be re-elected, Fadnavis was quoted as saying by ANI. Also read | From Modi to Owaisi, 6 key faces in face-off between Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav We are confident that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will get a majority and Nitish Kumar ji will be the chief minister again, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union minister and member of Parliament from Bihars Patna Sahib, also said. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)s Tejashwi Yadav also spoke in favour of the Bihar assembly elections. We welcome the decision of the Election Commission. We are assured as people of Bihar want to get rid of this government, ANI quoted Yadav as saying. The Janata Dal (United) does not matter in the election, our fight is against the BJP, he also said. Photo credit: Staff From Popular Mechanics Call it a satellite communicator or a satellite messenger. Either way, you dont want to go off the grid without one. In emergency situations, these handheld devices let you call for help, but most of the time theyre a conduit for texting with family or friends when cell service is spotty at best. Some even have navigation features to help you find your way. Garmin and Spot are the biggest names on the market, but since 2018, new competitors have joined the fray with more affordable options designed to work with your phone. Read quick reviews of four standout options, then keep scrolling for buying advice and in-depth reviews of these and other models. Iridium vs. Globalstar: Which Satellite Network is Best? If you can see the sky, you can usually send a message with a satellite communicator. Thats because these devices transmit radio waves up to satellites in Low Earth Orbit to send texts. They also work with separate GPS satellites (based in Medium Earth Orbit, thousands of miles farther away from the surface) to pinpoint and track your location. There are a handful of private satellite communication networks in the outdoor recreation market, but the two big players are Iridium and Globalstar. Iridium started commercial service in 1998 and recently replaced its aging orbiting infrastructure with the help of Space Xs Falcon 9 rockets . The company promises global coverage through 66 satellites and a few spares that are 476 miles from Earth. Globalstar, which owns Spot, began in 2007 and offers coverage in 120 countries , including those in the Americas, Europe, Australia, and much of Africa and Asia. Either network is fine for most adventurers, but if youre planning a trip to the poles, in central Africa, or parts of the Middle East, choose Iridiums broader coverage. Remember, the clearer the path to the sky, the better your connection will be. For the best service, avoid sending texts from tight canyons, dense forests, or in cloudy conditions. Its also a good idea to make sure your message was delivered before throwing your communicator in your pack, as the fabric or other gear can also interrupt transmission. Story continues Know Your Messaging Preferences Selecting your preferred messaging capabilities can help you choose the right satellite communicator for you. A majority of models offer two-way messaging so you can receive texts from loved ones or emergency responders, but Spot offers devices with outgoing capabilities only. The option to send custom or preset messages (programmed before you leave home) via SMS or email is also fairly standard, but some gadgets only allow for one or the other. You also have a choice between a standalone device or one that integrates with your phone via Bluetooth. Standalone units almost always have a screen for mapping purposes and have either a qwerty or touchscreen keyboard for messaging. These extras come with a price penalty, but its a fair tradeoff if you want to save weight by ditching your phone. Then again, if youre photographing your adventures with your phone for some epic latergrams anyway, choosing an integrated device will let you save some dough. Other Considerations All satellite messengers have GPS location tracking in case of emergency or so your contacts back home can keep an eye on your progress. A few devices stop there, but many provide offline maps, downloadable waypoints, or other features commonly found in handheld GPS units. If you already use and are committed to a GPS app or prefer paper maps, skipping out on real-time navigation is another way to save money. As with any gear with a battery and that youll be hauling on your back, bike, or boat, dont forget to factor in battery life and weight. And remember, just like your cell phone, your satellite communicator requires a data plan to send and receive messages and track your location. Most companies offer annual and month-to-month subscriptions, which are more cost-effective for people who only take a few trips each year. There are often activation fees to start (or resume) service, and you can also get dinged with overage charges unless youve selected an unlimited plan. Its a good idea to review a specific companys policy before purchasing. Photo credit: Ash Bartholomew How We Tested To find the best satellite communicators, we started with a list of 12 gadgets and considered the features, price, weight, and battery life of each. Those that we were able to test accompanied us on backpacking trips and other excursions. While using them, we paid attention to their user-friendliness and reliability. For models we havent gotten in our hands yet, we consulted reviews from customers and expert sites, including OutdoorGearLab , Gear Patrol , Backpacker , Adventure Alan, and Outside. Read on to find out about the seven messengers we recommend. HIGHLY RATED Garmin inReach Mini Weight: 3.5 oz. | Battery Life: 35 hours to 24 days | Real-Time Navigation: Yes | Standalone Device: Yes When the inReach Mini launched in 2018, it drew some attention. It was cheaper, smaller, and lighter than previous devices in the inReach family, and its still earning its spot at the top of many reviewers lists. The pint-size package is appealing to the ultralight crowd, but it punches above its weight in terms of features. From the device, you can exchange preset and custom texts, send an SOS, get weather reports, receive basic navigation info, and track your location in intervals as short as two minutes (the most detailed reporting available from any company). Pair it with your phone through Garmins Earthmate app and you have even greater functionality: namely, the ability to download offline maps; check your mileage, vert and other stats; and use a touchscreen keyboard instead of the very slow scrolling version on the Mini. Whats more, conservative usage extends the battery life for week-long adventures or more ambitious thru-hikes. Aside from the digital keyboard, the biggest shortcoming is that Garmins most affordable service plan limits you to 10 custom messages (including any received texts) and doesnt cover tracking. Checking, sending, or logging your location costs 10 cents per transaction on the basic service plan, so consider upgrading if you anticipate heavy usage. BEST VALUE Spot X Weight: 7.0 oz. | Battery Life: Up to 240 hours | Real-Time Navigation: Yes | Standalone Device: Yes Spots X meets the definition of a value pick by balancing affordability with a fairly robust feature set. Its screen is larger than the inReach Mini, and it has a full qwerty keyboardtwo things that aid user-friendliness (and add weight). The large battery can last a lengthy 240 hours when using 10-minute interval tracking, according to Spot. Although its fairly basic, the X does have built-in navigation. Create waypoints by dropping pins from the unit or by entering GPS coordinates on the Spot Mapping website and syncing your device. In the field, use the built-in compass to help navigate to your chosen destination. You wont see an actual map, nor will you find one in the Spot X app, which has the same capabilities as the device. The apps purpose, then, is to act as a different interface, not a supplement. Where Spot does offer more is in its optional S.O.V. service plan, $3 per month or $30 annually, for non-emergency vehicle snafus. You can spend less on a sat comm device, but the Xs combination of two-way messaging, tracking, and navigation features earn it our best buy. BEST FOR MESSAGING Zoleo Satellite Communicator Weight: 5.3 oz. | Battery Life: 200 hours | Real-Time Navigation: No | Standalone Device: No A contender for the best value, the new Zoleo doesnt offer navigation or location tracking at programmed intervals. Though you can choose to send your coordinates in texts, and theyre automatically shared with the rescue team when you use the SOS button. That wont be a dealbreaker for the explorers who just use satellite communicators to, you know, communicate. And there, it shines. The physical hardware has check-in and SOS buttons, so you could use it in the field as a one-way standalone device. But if you want to carry on a conversation, bring your phone and connect to the compatible app. There you can send and respond to emails and texts, and because youll get a dedicated SMS number and email address, contacts can reach you without any barriers (Thats counter to the many models that require you to send a message to someone before they can communicate with you at all). The character limits on traditional texts and emails160 and 240, respectivelyare similar to competitors, unless the recipient is also using the Zoleo app, which increases it to 950 per message. When youre in cellular or Wi-Fi range, the device defaults to sending texts and emails over these networks, so you can save your credits for when you really need them. Every incoming and outgoing message and weather report counts to your limit on the two lower-tier service plans that start at a pricey $20 per month. PAY AS YOU GO Bivy Stick Blue Weight: 3.4 oz. | Battery Life: 120 hours | Real-Time Navigation: Yes | Standalone Device: No Bivy is the no-annual-contract service provider of the sat comms world. Instead you pay for 20, 100, or unlimited credits, each good for one action, such as exchanging messages, sharing your location, getting a weather report, or logging an hour of tracking. For occasional adventurers, this pay-as-you-go model lets you save in the long run. As for the hardware, the new Blue sees major improvements over the first-generation device. We appreciate that Bivy added check-in and SOS buttons and chopped the weight in half by reducing the size of the battery from 5,200 mAh to 1,400 mAh. The Blue should last for weekend trips, but youll need to bring a power supply for anything longer. From the app, we could send and receive texts and emails, navigate with the offline maps, manage our waypoints, and scout beta for future trips. Its a great choice for ultralight explorers or anyone with a fear of commitment. ONE-WAY MESSENGER Spot Gen4 Weight: 5 oz. | Battery Life: 1,250 messages | Real-Time Navigation: No | Standalone Device: Yes This fall, Spot gave its line of one-way communicators a facelift in the Gen4. It looks more like an external hard drive than the chunky tactical appearance of its predecessor, but the changes arent all cosmetic. The water-resistance increased from IPX7 to IPX8, so the device should survive a dunk in water up to 6.5 feet deep for 30 minutes or less. Without a screen or Bluetooth capability, the Gen4 is fairly basic, but thats not necessarily a bad thing. Aside from powering it on or off and sending a few pre-programmed messages throughout the day, we mostly forgot we had it on us. Our peaceful nature retreat wasnt interrupted by group texts or other non-essential communication. And we liked that it has the same vehicle rescue service (for an additional fee) as the X, though we thankfully didnt have to use it. The Gen4 doesnt offer any navigation, which wasnt a deal breaker for our tester who is a regular All Trails user and carries paper maps as a backup. We appreciated the detailed tracking (the shortest interval is 2.5 minutes), though it wasnt perfectly reliable when the device was dangling from our testerspack. The Gen4 also has a motion-activated track setting so the device wont eat up data (or battery) when you stop for lunch or other breaks. And you should make it through plenty of trips before needing to swap the four long-lasting AAA batteries for a fresh set. Finally, the very affordable price tag makes the Gen4 a great deal if youre willing to go without a few features. LOW ANNUAL FEE Somewear Global Hotspot Weight: 4 oz. | Battery Life: Up to 240 hours | Real-Time Navigation: Yes | Standalone Device: No Somewear entered the market at the end of 2018 with its Global Hotspot and a shockingly low base service plan. The $100 annual fee shaves $45 or more off similar plans from competitors, though youre limited to 10 messages and 75 pin drops each month. Still, its an attractive option for infrequent users who can stomach the initial price tag, which feels steep for a satellite communicator thats as reliant on a phone as the Hotspot is. All messaging, mapping, and weather reporting happens in the app. The only thing you can do without it is send an SOS, though we were glad to at least see that in the event of an emergency if our phone was dead. Of course, the major advantage of this design is how easy it was to use. The app was very intuitive and allowed us to send texts through cellular and Wi-Fi networks when we were in range. The tracking was accurate even under tree cover, but we were disappointed that theres no option to share mapping links to social media. Thanks to the petite size and secure bungee, the Hotspot was more comfortable to carry on a shoulder strap than larger models that often dangle from a carabiner. We also appreciated the long battery life, though it far exceeded our phones. BEST NAVIGATION Garmin Montana 700i Weight: 14.5 oz. | Battery Life: 18 to 300 hours | Real-Time Navigation: Yes | Standalone Device: Yes Garmin holds nothing back in the redesigned Montana series, announced last month. The 700i has a full-color 5-inch touchscreen thats 50 percent larger than the previous model and now comes equipped with preloaded road maps, turn-by-turn navigation, and inReach satellite communication tech. These updates transform the Montana from a handheld-only GPS unit to one thats ready for the road and lets you communicate with emergency personnel or your family wherever you roam. Optional map views include satellite imagery and public land boundaries delineated on the preloaded topographic maps. The 700i has the same service plans as other Garmin satt devices, meaning its able to record your location as frequently as every two minutes but tracking isnt included in the basic option. Still, the standalone unit, which can last nearly two weeks in Expedition mode, is very capable. Use it to check weather forecasts, monitor changing conditions in real-time thanks to the on-board barometer, message other inReach-enabled devices (handy for communicating with parties at basecamp while you go for the summit), connect to your phone or Wi-Fi, and sync with Garmins Alpha and Astro trackers for hunting dogs. It's a hefty devicemore than twice as heavy as the next lightest on our listand some will balk at the price. But if you employ it in your car, adventure rig, and the backcountry, the Montana is worth the investment. You Might Also Like Close Donald Trump warns Democrats he might 'pack' Supreme Court if GOP holds White House and Senate A Democratic sweep in November would have the best odds of boosting employment and rebounding the economy, Moodys found in its analysis of election scenarios. The economic outlook is strongest under the scenario in which Joe Biden and the Democrats sweep Congress and fully adopt their economic agenda," analysts said. The Democratic nominee has meanwhile ridiculed Donald Trump for his ignorance of American history and highly questionable advice on using household bleach to combat the coronavirus, turning the tables on a president known for his insults. Im not the guy who by the way said the problem with the Revolutionary War is we didnt have enough airports," the candidate joked with a reporter in North Carolina. "Im not the guy who said the attack that took down the trade towers was on 7-Eleven. The president again mocked his challenger at a rally in Jacksonville, Florida, on Thursday night as the former vice presidents latet polling from Fox puts him ahead in the key states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada, where the president trails by 11 points. In an interview with MSNBC on Friday, Mr Biden refused to speculate on the doomsday scenarios that legal scholars and election analysts have considered following the presidents threats to the election, insisting that the president is using fear as a distraction from his administrations failures.The Democratic candidate instead suggested that the rule of law will prevail and American voters will have their voice heard at the polls. The last thing we need is the equivalent of a coup, he said. No ones going to back him if that were to occur." He added that the whole notion of him talking about this is to take our eye off the ball, not to talk about whats happening about people dying of [Covid-19], not talking all the unemployment, not talking him being unwilling to bring Congress together and get off his golf course and out of the sand trap and have meeting in the White House. Its always about distraction with him, he said. He called the presidents attempts to undermine the results of the election irresponsible and outrageous" and he suggested that a massive voter turnout will overwhelm the presidents claims that the results will be disputed. The people in this country are going to be heard on 3 November, he said. The candidate and his wife Jill Biden appeared in Washington DC on Friday to attend services for late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, lying in state at the US Capitol. Mr Trump is expected to announce his third appointment to the high court on Saturday. Vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris will deliver remarks on Monday in response. Follow live coverage as it happened Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load Egyptian journalist Ahmed Saeed Sayed Hassanein, who works at Al-Ahram, was one of those awarded by the foundation The Heikal Foundation for Arab Journalism announced on Thursday the winners of its fourth annual journalism awards at a small-scale ceremony in honour of the late Mohamed Hassanein Heikals birthday, according to a press release by the foundation. The foundations board of trustees presented awards to two young journalists: Egyptian journalist Ahmed Saeed Sayed Hassanein, who works at Al-Ahram, and Iraqi independent journalist Asaad Al-Zilzali. Hassanein was recognised for his excellence in investigative journalism on issues concerning Syrian refugees, migration and reunification, the foundation said in a press release, while Al-Zilzali was recognised for conducting remarkable investigative journalism on Iraqi children orphaned during the war, and his courageous coverage of womens issues, including sexual harassment. This years ceremony was live streamed via Zoom in recognition of social distancing guidelines, and also to allow Al-Zilzali to take part in the official award announcement from his home, the foundation said. The press release said that the foundation recognises the achievements of young journalists in the Arab world and was held this year despite the unprecedented circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak, which necessitated a delay in this years competition deadline as well as a significant reduction in the number of attendees at the awards ceremony. In attendance at this years ceremony was former secretary general of the Arab League Nabil El-Araby and director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Mostafa El-Fekki, among other distinguished guests. Established in 2007 by renowned Al-Ahram journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, the Heikal Foundation for Arab Journalism aims to nurture excellence and development in the field of journalism across the Arab world. It is a tremendous honour to be standing among you today despite these challenging times to present this award to yet another pair of exceptional young journalists, said Hedayat Heikal, chair of the board of trustees. I cannot imagine a more pertinent time to be a member of the press corps; a time where were witnessing unprecedented changes and a completely new world order unfold before us and where these courageous young men and women are tasked with the responsibility to gather the facts and tell an accurate story. Heikal could not have been prouder to have his legacy once again celebrated in this manner, she said. The foundation announced that the inauguration of the relocation of the Heikal library, office and manuscripts to the Bibliotheca had been postponed due to the unforeseen circumstances of the coronavirus outbreak. The trustees noted, however, that the main book collection from Heikals office, most manuscripts and rare documents, have been safely delivered to the library. Original office furnishings, carpets, personal stationery and maps will also be delivered soon. A few handwritten notes are still being archived and will be sent to the library by February next year, along with additional books from Berkash and Alexandria, maps, videos and all Heikals photographs. The official inauguration of the Heikal library is expected to take place in 2021. An additional collection of books from Heikals private library have also been archived by the Bibliotheca, but they will remain in the home of Hedayat Heikal for the duration of her lifetime, and will afterwards be sent to the library. Search Keywords: Short link: LOS ANGELES, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The cost to qualify an initiative measure for the November 2020 ballot averaged a record-high $7.22 per valid signature, a prohibitive cost that locks average Californians out of the initiative process, according to a new report released by Consumer Watchdog today. As 2020 ballot initiative campaigns file campaign spending reports today, a trend identified in the report continues: The same special interests that spend the most lobbying lawmakers in Sacramento also dominate the ballot initiative process. The report finds that high signature costs have put the initiative process out of reach for all but the wealthy. It concludes that electronic signatures could make signature gathering accessible for regular Californians and restore citizens' access to the ballot. Download the report, "Sea Change in Sacramento: How Electronic Ballot Signatures Empower Voters." https://www.consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/SeaChangeReport.pdf The report compiled data about citizen-initiated initiative campaigns and lobbying expenditures from Ballotpedia.com, the Fair Political Practices Commission, California Secretary of State, and polling by the Public Policy Institute of California. Consumer Watchdog reviewed a decade and a half of ballot measure activity since 2005 and found: Signature costs reached a record-high average of $7.22 per valid signature for measures on the November 2020 California ballot. per valid signature for measures on the California ballot. Dramatically increased signature thresholds pushed the average cost to qualify a measure in 2020 to $4.8 million . . $32.3 million was spent qualifying 8 measures for the 2020 ballot. Since 2005, $224 million has been spent to qualify 92 initiatives for the California ballot. The report also found: Initiative campaigns have collected over $3.1 Billion in campaign contributions since 2005. in campaign contributions since 2005. All but the wealthiest are now locked out of the California ballot initiative process due to the high cost of participating. ballot initiative process due to the high cost of participating. Two of the top five initiative spenders in every election cycle since 2005 also ranked among the top 25 lobbyist employers in Sacramento . While final totals for 2020 are not yet available, the trend of the same groups spending big in Sacramento and on initiatives - has continued. Campaign finance reports available today show that Uber, Lyft and Doordash have contributed a combined $146 million to pass Prop 22 and repeal AB 5. The three companies spent over $2 million lobbying lawmakers in Sacramento since 2019, largely in the effort to prevent AB 5's passage. Several of prior years' top initiative spenders and lobbyist employers make repeat appearances this election cycle, including: dialysis companies, SEIU, developers/realtors, and the California Teachers Association, who have all spent large sums on ballot measures and lobbying in Sacramento. Year Top 5 Initiative Spenders Rank (1-5) Top 25 Lobbyist Employers Rank (1-25) 2018 SEIU 4 SEIU 4 Realtors 5 Realtors 16 2016 Hospitals 3 Hospitals 2 CTA 5 CTA 9 2014 Kaiser 1 Kaiser 6 Wellpoint 2 Health Plans 24 2012 CTA 3 CTA 3 SEIU 5 SEIU 1 2010 CTA 1 CTA 2 Valero 5 WSPA 1 2008 Agua Caliente 3 Agua Caliente 25 PG&E 5 PG&E 23 2006 Chevron 2 Chevron 15 Aera 4 WSPA 4 2005 CTA 1 & 2 CTA 3 SEIU 4 SEIU 7 The solution, the report finds, is giving citizens remote access to direct democracy. Authorizing campaigns to collect initiative petition signatures electronically could restore the ballot initiative process to the people it was intended to serve. "Initiatives were the antidote to special interest influence, but today they've become special interests' favorite tool. The same special interest groups that dominate policymaking in Sacramento dominate the initiative process today," said Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog. "Letting initiative proponents meet citizens where they are in the town square and on the town social media feed is the antidote to the $7 signature." The report identifies other states where electronic signature gathering is already being tested. The state of Michigan authorized e-signatures temporarily in April after the pandemic shut down in-person signature gathering. One campaign used the common business software DocuSign to collect tens of thousands of signatures, requiring voters to authenticate their identity with driver licenses or state identification cards. Voters in the City of Boulder authorized e-signatures for initiative petitions in 2018 and will have a system in place for the 2021 elections. Arizona allows political candidates to collect e-signatures to qualify for the ballot. In 2001, The Speaker's Commission on the California Initiative Process, convened by then-Speaker of the Assembly Robert Hertzberg, sought recommendations on electronic signature gathering from the Public Policy Institute of California. "Sea Change" finds that the obstacles to e-signatures identified in that 2001 report security fears, ease of qualifying, and the cost of implementing a statewide database of voters have fallen away over two decades of technological advances. California now has a statewide voter database. Voters without computer access can sign on a smartphone or at a vote center, in addition to on traditional paper petitions. E-signatures are submitted securely with two-factor authentication to governments and businesses at every moment, across the internet. Recent experiments also provide strong evidence that e-signatures won't necessarily make it easier to qualify a measure for the ballot. For example, the report finds that no flood of signatures materialized when a Michigan campaign began gathering signatures electronically. The campaign collected no more than 30,000 signatures in six weeks. SOURCE Consumer Watchdog Related Links http://www.consumerwatchdog.org Further allegations have emerged that dissident republicans on hunger strike in Maghaberry have been eating during their protest. The hunger strike was initiated 10 days ago in support of Palestinian doctor Dr Issam Bassalat (62), who has been charged over alleged links to the New IRA. It has been claimed that the inmates have been refusing meals provided by the prison but have been making use of a communal tuck shop and making their own food. The Irish Republican Prisoners' Welfare Association (IRPWA) angrily denied that the inmates had been using a tuck shop earlier this week. The prisoners have demanded that Dr Bassalat, who is also on hunger strike, be moved to Roe House. Dr Bassalat was placed in Foyle House for a fortnight on his return from hospital due to Covid restrictions. Republican prisoners in Hydebank and on the E3/E4 landings in Portlaoise Prison have also engaged in "a solidarity hunger strike alongside him" for two weeks. However, a Maghaberry insider has told the Belfast Telegraph that the prisoners "aren't on hunger strike at all". "It's all talk," said the source. "They're refusing meals provided by the prison but they're using their communal tuck shop that's been built up plus making sandwiches, toast etc." Through the IRPWA, those on hunger strike in Maghaberry released a statement on Wednesday stating that they were not "eating any food of any sort" and the only thing they were consuming was water. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice (DoJ) said that there are a number of procedures in place to mitigate the risk of spreading Covid-19 among the prison population and that those in isolation have access to healthcare, legal representation, showers, and can maintain family contact. Meanwhile, supporters of the inmates will undertake a 24-hour fast outside Maghaberry today. A white line picket at the Kennedy Centre in west Belfast will also be held. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend: Kazakhstan venture fund QazTech Ventures will allocate up to $250,000 to Uzbek startups, Trend reports with reference to the Center for Support of Youth Entrepreneurship in Uzbekistan. Center for Support of Youth Entrepreneurship announced that during online negotiations with Kazakh colleagues from QazTech Ventures, an agreement was made that startups from Uzbekistan will be able to apply for venture capital investments of up to $250,000 for each project. Submission of applications is completely free and requires startups to fill out a special application form on the Yosh Tadbirkor (Center for Support of Youth Entrepreneurship) website. Startups applying must be active players in the market, have income and earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation. Earlier, QazTech venture programs were available only to residents of Kazakhstan. QazTech Ventures was established in 2019 to promote the development of technology entrepreneurship through venture funding, business incubation, and technology consulting tools. It is part of the structure of Baiterek National Managing Holding JSC in Kazakhstan. The Center for Support of Youth Entrepreneurship in Uzbekistan provides young entrepreneurs with financial and informational support. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @romakayeva By PTI WASHINGTON: Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), a globally-banned terror group, is now probably capable of only "small-scale regional attacks", a top American counter-terrorism official has told lawmakers. AQIS was set up by al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2014 to expand the terror group's influence in the region. "In South Asia, al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has struggled to rebound from the death of its leader, Asim Umar, in a US military raid in Afghanistan in September 2019 and is probably only capable of small-scale regional attacks," Christopher Miller, Director, National Counter-terrorism Center, told a Senate committee on Thursday. Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on the"Threats to the Homeland", the top American counter-terrorism official said that in mid-March, AQIS published a special issue of Nawai Afghan Jihad praising the US-Taliban agreement, which mirrored al-Qaeda's leaders' statements on the deal. "Finally, al-Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan has been reduced to a few dozen fighters who are primarily focused on their survival, and are probably incapable of conducting attacks outside the country under sustained CT pressure," Miller said. According to Miller, since the Global War on Terror began nearly two decades ago, the US has significantly degraded terrorist adversaries and made the US a considerably harder target for them to reach. "Today's terrorism threat to the US and our allies is less acute but more diffuse -- emanating from more groups in more places than it did in 2001," he said. While continued counter-terrorism pressure has degraded the group's Afghanistan-Pakistan senior leadership, in the near term, al-Qaeda is more likely to focus on building its international affiliates and supporting small-scale, readily achievable attacks in key regions such as East and West Africa, said FBI Director Christopher Wray. ALSO READ| NIA finds al-Qaeda recruits in Bengal; Governor hits out at Mamata government "Simultaneously, over the last year, propaganda from al-Qaeda leaders seeks to inspire individuals to conduct their own attacks in the US and the West. For example, the December 2019 attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola demonstrates that groups such as al-Qaeda continue to be interested in encouraging attacks on the US soil," he said. Miller told senators that 19 years ago, after the shock of Al Qaeda's devastating attacks abated, the US set out to accomplish three objectives; one, harden its borders; two, go overseas to destroy the safe havens and sanctuaries of al-Qaeda and its associated groups and attrit their combat forces; and three, address the drivers of instability that created al-Qaeda by supporting like-minded partners in their efforts to combat Islamist extremism. "Due to the enormous dedication, selfless service and sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of Americans and like-minded foreign partners, we have been remarkably successful in accomplishing the first two objectives. I sense that we are on the verge, if providence is kind, of transitioning from a US-led, partner-enable campaign to an era where local and regional partners take the lead and we provide them niche support to fill gaps in their security, intelligence, informational and legal architectures," he said. "I must be clear and not histrionic. Our enemies will successfully attack us again, as their adaptation and innovation are driven by a profound hatred for what we represent. This is our terrorists' dilemma and their strategic advantage. They only need to be successful once while our defences must be successful all the time for preventing a cataclysmic attack. But our enemies have profoundly underestimated the resilience of the American people time and again," Miller said. Miller wondered if the 9/11 al-Qaeda leaders regretted their decision to attack the US. "I'm confident the survivors must. They thought us soft, and spoiled and morally unanchored. They are now either dead, imprisoned or in hiding awaiting death or capture. Their ideology is debunked in the overwhelming majority of this Islamic world," he said. "No one today misjudges our resolve and commitment to protecting the security of our citizens and using all available instruments of national power against those that bring war and violence to our shores," he added. Costco pulls Palmetto Cheese from shelves after founder calls Black Lives Matter terror organization Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Retail giant Costco Wholesale has reportedly removed Palmetto Cheese products from its shelves after Brian Henry, founder of the pimento cheese company and mayor of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, branded Black Lives Matter a terror organization. Costco has not yet released an official statement on the removal of the pimento cheese products cited by USA Today. But the Post and Courier, which broke the story, captured a photo of a sign from Costco in Myrtle Beach explaining that the cheese was "discontinued" and would "not be re-ordered." "Over 120 Costco's throughout the US are no longer carrying this item," the sign noted. Henry also told the publication that his product was in the process of being removed from shelves. The controversy stems from a public Facebook post made by Henry on Aug. 25 in which he said he was sickened by the senseless killings of Nicholas Wall, 45, and his stepdaughter, Laura Ashley Anderson, 21, by a black man that has since been identified as Ty Sheem Walters III. "2 innocent people murdered. Not 2 thugs or people wanted on multiple warrants. 2 white people defenselessly gunned down by a black man," Henry wrote in the since-deleted post. "So why do we stand by and allow BLM to lawlessly destroy great American cities and threaten their citizens on a daily basis ... This BLM and Antifa movement must be treated like the terror organizations they are." Henry, according to News for Georgetown and Beyond, argued that there would be no national outrage over the killings because the victims are white and the shooter is black. He also noted in a statement that he was a friend of the shooting victims family. My wife and I know the family of the victims. I was deeply saddened and angered by the gruesome nature of the killing and felt grieved for the family and this community," he said. "I typically refrain from social media because of my position as an elected official. But, in this case, I felt compelled to pour out my heart to this family and release some of the emotion I felt, so I drafted a post on Facebook." Georgetown resident Jacqueline Williams told GAB News that the difference between the white shooting victims and black victims of police shootings is justice. I commend our sheriffs office on apprehending him so he can have his day in court. That is something a lot of black men and black women never get to do, Williams said. We are all outraged by what happed [in Georgetown]. All of our hearts are broken. On Sept. 3, at a press conference at the Pawleys Island Sea View Inn, which he and his wife, Sassy, own and operate, Henry apologized for the comments after some soul-searching and a series of meetings with local faith leaders. I am profoundly sorry to those I offended with my post last week. My comments were hurtful and insensitive, Henry said. "I spent that past 10 days listening and learning. The conversations Ive had with friends, our staff, the community and faith-based leaders provided me with a deeper understanding of racial inequality and the importance of diversity sensitivity, which is very much needed to heal Pawleys Island, Georgetown and our country." The acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn and his Northern counterpart, Dr Michael McBride, have also made a specific appeal to teenagers and people in their 20s and 30s in Donegal and Londonderry to reduce their social contacts. The two medical officers met on Friday as part of an effort to reduce travel between border counties. It comes after the Irish Government announced that it is tightening its coronavirus restrictions in Co Donegal. The Govt has decided to move Donegal to Level 3 under the Plan for Living with Covid-19 from midnight tomorrow following public health advice from NPHET. This is in response to rising Covid 19 cases in the county. For more visit: https://t.co/z1gcv7Lo8z pic.twitter.com/GOD90Tf8Hs Micheal Martin (@MichealMartinTD) September 24, 2020 Advertisement In a joint statement, Dr Glynn and Dr McBride said: Given the current number of new cases in Donegal and neighbouring areas of NI in Derry, Strabane and Fermanagh we would appeal to everyone to avoid all but necessary travel across the border. It is also recommended that employers on both sides of the border make every effort to facilitate employees to work from home in so far as is possible. We realise that for those living in border areas this will not be welcome news but we must prevent further spread of this virus and we can only do so by working together to protect each other. Donegal will move to risk level three of the Governments plan to deal with Covid-19 following advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) as of midnight on Friday. The restrictions will last for three weeks. The chief medical officers said they were concerned about the significant proportion of cases in young people in Donegal and Derry, and asked teenagers and those in their 20s and 30s in particular to reduce their social contacts. They also jointly called for everyone across the island to continue to follow public health advice to keep themselves and others safe. Advertisement They said close collaboration between the relevant authorities in Northern Ireland and Ireland would continue and be strengthened in the coming days to address the concerning trend in case numbers on both sides of the border, not alone in Donegal and Derry, but also in other areas along the border where the profile of the disease continues to evolve. Donegals 14-day incidence rate is now higher than Dublins, with 148.2 positive cases per 100,000 population, and Dublin recording 144.5 positive cases per 100,000. In neighbouring Derry and Strabane council area, the rate in the last seven days is 141.4 positive cases per 100,000 population the highest in Northern Ireland. Their statement comes as Taoiseach Micheal Martin urged Northern Ireland leaders to harmonise public health measures as the number of Covid-19 cases grows rapidly on both sides of the border. The Fianna Fail leader spoke to First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill after the Irish Governments announcement that Donegal would face stricter Covid-19 restrictions. Mr Martin said on Friday that he did indicate to them that on a practical level, it would make sense if we could harmonise as closely as possible respective public health measures. The numbers on the other side of the border are high and worrying for authorities there. I was speaking to the CMO (Dr Glynn) over the week and places like Cork city has been going up in a straight line and that is a worry - 20 to 30 cases a day Mr Martin said the respective medical officers were working to different systems so it makes sense that there would be co-ordination, particularly in messaging and communications, and also in terms of testing and contact tracing. That would be enhanced in terms of the interaction between GPs on both sides of the border. He said he is appealing to peoples good sense and common will to adhere to the updated public health measures in Co Donegal. Mr Martin also warned that the NPHET could advise the Government to enforce local restrictions in cities including Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. The number of cases is continuing to rise in these areas, sparking concern among public health experts. Around the World in 80 Days, the David Tennant-starring adaptation of the beloved classic by Jules Verne, is set to resume shooting in Romania and South Africa, Variety has learned. Production was suspended by the coronavirus pandemic in March. Production restarts next month in Romania before traveling to South Africa, which last week announced that international flights into the country will resume on Oct. 1 for the first time since March. International film production returned to Romania in June. Tennant (Broadchurch, Dr. Who) plays explorer Phileas Fogg, who, following an outrageous bet, takes on a challenge to circle the globe in just 80 days. Hes joined on the journey by his valet, Passepartout, played by rising French star Ibrahim Koma (Je Suis Daddy, Mother is Wrong), and the aspiring journalist Abigail Fix, played by Leonie Benesch (The Crown), who jumps at the chance to tell the extraordinary story. Around the World in 80 Days is a Slim Film + Television and Federation co-production, with additional co-production partners Palladium Pictures in South Africa, and Daro Film as associate producer. France Televisions introduced the project to their Alliance broadcasting partners, Germanys ZDF and Italys RAI, while Seven West Media have backed production and will broadcast the drama in Australia. The series is a BBC acquisition, set to air in 2021. Federation Entertainment will handle distribution rights to the series. We are over the moon to be re-commencing filming on Around the World in 80 Days, said Crawford Collins, who is executive producing. This project is such a challenging and ambitious series to put together, so it has required a huge amount of support on all fronts to pull it off. We couldnt have achieved it without our wonderful production team, our stellar cast, our super supportive broadcasters and financiers, the inventiveness of our directors, and the ingenuity of our wonderful writing team led by Ashley Pharoah, said Collins. Story continues More from Variety Best of Variety Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The study, released on Wednesday, however, does not conclude that these mutations made the virus deadlier or changed clinical outcomes. According to scientists, all the viruses accumulate genetic mutations and most of them are insignificant, The Washington Post reported. New Delhi : Houston researchers have unveiled a study of over 5,000 genetic sequences of coronavirus which reveals the pathogen's virus's continuous accumulation of mutations. Study author James Musser of Houston Methodist Hospital said that coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 are relatively stable as viruses go since they have a proofreading mechanism as they replicate. "But every mutation is a roll of the dice, and with transmission so widespread in the US -- which continues to see tens of thousands of new, confirmed infections daily -- the virus has had abundant opportunities to change, potentially with troublesome consequences," Musser said. "We have given this virus a lot of chances. There is a huge population size out there right now," he added. Several scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine, the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory and Austin's University of Texas also contributed to the research. The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, appears to be the largest single aggregation of genetic sequences of the virus in the US as of now. Last month, a study by UK scientists said a mutation that changes the structure of the "spike protein" on the virus's surface may be driving the outsized spread of that particular strain, according to The Washington Post. According to the new Houston study, the findings pointed out the strong possibility that the virus, which moved through the population, became more transmissible, and this "may have implications for our ability to control it", said David Morens, a virologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Morens said it is a single study and "you do not want to over-interpret what this means." However, the virologist stated that the virus could be responding potentially through random mutations to such interventions as social distancing and wearing of masks. "Wearing masks, washing our hands, all those things are barriers to transmissibility, or contagion, but as the virus becomes more contagious it statistically is better at getting around those barriers," Morens said, adding it could have implications regarding the formulation of vaccines. The virus could be under selective pressure to evade the human immune response as people gain immunity either through infections or a vaccine. "Although we do not know yet, it is well within the realm of possibility that this coronavirus, when our population-level immunity gets high enough, this coronavirus will find a way to get around our immunity. If that happened, we would be in the same situation as with flu. We will have to chase the virus and as it mutates, we will have to tinker with our vaccine," Morens said. Photo credit: Niko Tavernise/NETFLIX 2020 From Esquire Aaron Sorkin's new film about the trial of the Chicago Seven has been gestating for more than a decade, and filming wrapped before this summer of protest. But between its depictions of police brutality, its marchers in the streets, its institutions unwilling to confront their own biases, and its portrayal of a state happy to ignore facts and evidence that prove inconvenient to its arguments, The Trial of the Chicago 7 could hardly be more timely. A courtroom thriller, it tells the true story of how, in 1969, Vietnam War draft protestors Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins), John Froines (Daniel Flaherty) and David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch) were tried for conspiracy and inciting a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, despite flimsy evidence. They're not much of a gang, despite what the state says. Hayden and Davis are clean-cut college organisers, Hoffman and Rubin countercultural revolutionaries leading the Youth International Party, known as the Yippies. The others are odds and ends, acquaintances and strangers from the broader Civil Rights struggle. But the state has decided they're a gang, and that they deserve 10 years in jail. Black Panthers co-founder Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), the eighth defendant, was cut out of the trial partway through, though not before being shackled and gagged in the courtroom. Mark Rylance's haggard but steely William Kunstler is their lawyer, butting heads with Judge Julius Hoffman (a particularly excellent Frank Langella), who puts roadblock after roadblock in the way of a fair trial. Photo credit: NICO TAVERNISE/NETFLIX 2020 As you'd expect of a Sorkin script, it crackles and fizzes, particularly in a cross-cutting walk-and-talk-and-talk-and-talk sequence, which might be the most Aaron Sorkin part of any Aaron Sorkin project ever. Baron Cohen and Strong, in particular, make the most of their brotherly stoner double-act, and it's easy to see why Baron Cohen would have jumped at the part; his Hoffman walks the same line of acid mockery and genuine insurrection as his best characters have, and gives him a chance to flip between charismatic sermonising, political stand-up and pointed gravitas. Story continues As much as the film is about the cruelties and vagaries of a justice system and political machine being used to crush dissent, it's perhaps more about painful internecine squabbling between groups on the left. What starts as the youth versus the establishment quickly descends into the youth versus itself. Hayden and Davis, the white-bread middle-class college boys, are about taking power by winning elections. They find Hoffman and Rubin's pie-in-the-sky plans about levitating the Pentagon and covering Chicago in banana skins alternately ludicrous and infuriating, self-centred irritants rather than committed change-makers. In return, Hoffman and Rubin see them as complacent and dull, unable or unwilling to imagine a future without a system. For Hayden the trial is just that, a fight to avoid jail; for Hoffman and Rubin it's a soapbox. You get the sense that Sorkin leans toward Hayden's pragmatism, though the film itself stays pretty equivocal. "You're trading a cow for magic beans," Hayden snaps at Hoffman at one point. "Actually, that ended up working," Rubin points out. Photo credit: Niko Tavernise/NETFLIX 2020 It all swirls together neatly. Slick, sprightly and densely packed with ideas, the clashing personalities among the defendants are never less than entertaining, and you're never more than a few minutes away from some sharply turned verbal sparring. In other words, this is a Sorkin movie, full of sparring idealists who always have a zinger in their back pocket. The counter to that being: this a Sorkin movie, and the style can't always paper over a lack of substance. Partly that's because history doesn't always provide the beats that make for compelling cinema. The sudden disappearance of the Black Panthers and Seale up to that point, the film's most incendiary and mistreated figure leaves a yawning hole at its centre that his fellow defendants can't quite fill. The climax of the trial, though stirring, felt less satisfying the longer I sat with it. You're left thinking: so... does the system work, actually? Or is the system only broken until the point that it releases you? Is the system the problem, or the people using it? The film's central question, of whether seeking the respect of the people and institutions you intend to destroy is sensible or absurd, remains unanswered. The enduring moment of Sorkin's last legal drama, A Few Good Men, saw Jack Nicholson screaming that Tom Cruise and we, the audience couldn't handle the truth. Baron Cohen gets a comparable moment here: pressed for an answer on the stand, he tells the prosecutor: "Give me a moment, would you friend? I've never been on trial for my thoughts before." In The Trial of the Chicago 7 it's not that we can't handle the truth; it's that the truth is whatever the person with power allows to be said. That might be an even scarier thought. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is in cinemas from 2 October and on Netflix from 16 October Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more delivered straight to your inbox SIGN UP Need some positivity right now? Subscribe to Esquire now for a hit of style, fitness, culture and advice from the experts SUBSCRIBE You Might Also Like More prestigious Sydney schools have been drawn into the controversy over year 12 muck-up days, with the rector of St Aloysius' College in Milsons Point condemning student plans he described as criminal and more gross than anything he had previously witnessed at the school. The intervention at St Aloysius' has emerged after the controversy involving Shore School, which alerted police to scavenger hunt plans circulating among its own year 12s which challenged boys to assault strangers, trespass, take drugs and engage in other illegal activities to earn points. Ross Jones, the rector at St Aloysius' College, intervened to prevent a "criminal" scavenger hunt. Concerns about potentially illegal and dangerous scavenger hunt activities have also emerged at Pymble Ladies' College and St Ignatius' College Riverview. After the Shore plans were revealed by the Herald, community members came forward to say similar plans were common and in the works at other elite schools in northern Sydney. Harley-Davidsons inability to continue operations in India in the face of uncertain market conditions has left the bike owners to fend for themselves. The company announced its plan to exit India on September 24. To further fuel anxiety levels, the bike company has not provided any firm assurance on providing service support to the 25,000-odd bikes it has sold in the country. Question mark over service support Little over 30 dealerships and an equal number of service centres were operational in India before the news of the exit came. By September 24 evening, individual HD dealer websites became non-functional, though Harleys India website was still retailing bikes. Questions on continuity of service support and spare parts availability remained unanswered by the spokesperson based in the US to whom an email was sent by Moneycontrol on September 24. The company is communicating with its customers and will keep them updated on future support, stated the press release from the company. Bike owners claim that they got to know of the brands exit from news articles. Also Read: Harley-Davidson shuts down India operations, 70 employees face the axe Spare-parts procurement on-going issue Several Harley bike owners Moneycontrol spoke to said that procurement of spare parts had been a trying issue for the past several months. This situation, they fear, would only aggravate from here on. To get a couple of brake pads replaced, I had to wait for three months. They kept telling me that the parts were coming from Singapore. The bike was lying idle for the entire duration because I could not risk riding it with worn-out brake pads, said a HD bike owner based in Bengaluru. I bought the Softail for Rs 15 lakh and spent another Rs 5 lakh on accessorising it in 2018. But due to lack of service support, the bike is lying idle. It needs a clutch plate replacement, for which I had placed a request before the lockdown, said an owner of Low Rider S. In the company statement, Harley-Davidson added that the business contract with its dealers in India will live its life and wont be renewed thereafter. It would be next to impossible for dealers to keep running their businesses based on just the income from the service centres. With a luxury brand like Harley, setting up a dealership costs anywhere between Rs 3-4 crore. With a total of 35 dealerships, Rs 110-130 crore will go down the drain. Moreover, there will be customers who will not receive glitch-free service as spares will now be in shortage, thus leading to dealer harassment cases, said Vinkesh Gulati, president, Federation of Automobile Dealers Association. General Motors example In 2017, General Motors announced the exit of Chevrolet from India, marking the first exit by a popular auto brand from the country. General Motors sold a few best-sellers such as the Chevrolet Tavera and Chevrolet Beat. The move to quit India did not jeopardise General Motors service offering to the country. The company assured its customers that all vehicle service needs will be met through authorised service centres, which will remain open and spare parts will be available for the next 10 years. Harley-Davidson has the option of tying up with a third party service provider, but with just around 25,000 bikes, investors will be hard to find. Premium bikes such as that from Harley-Davidson are generally not encouraged to be serviced at a non-Harley service center. Just setting up a service centre of Harley will cost Rs 1-2 crore. The investor who is brave enough to invest in such a market has to manage imports of spare parts all by himself. The parts themselves dont come cheap. Plus, the volume of HD bikes available for servicing wont be huge as only 25,000 bikes have been sold in India, said an HD dealer on the condition of anonymity. Bikes on discount Harley-Davidsons announcement to exit India may have come as a surprise to many but the writing started to appear on the wall since the start of September. Usually, when brands decide to exit markets, inventories are sold at never-before-seen prices. That is what happened at Harley-Davidson India. Its bikes such as the Low Rider S were being sold at Rs 14.69 lakh after a discount of Rs 1.5 lakh. The Iron 883 was priced lower at Rs 9.38 lakh after a discount of Rs 90,000. These were bikes compliant with the latest emission norms of Bharat Stage VI. U S President Donald Trump has been booed as he paid respects to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He and first lady Melania Trump - both wearing masks - stood silently at the top of the steps of the court and looked down at Ms Ginsburg's flag-draped coffin, which was surrounded by white flowers. Her death has sparked a controversy over the political balance of the court just weeks before the November presidential election. Moments after the president arrived, booing could be heard from spectators about a block away from the court building. Donald Trump pays respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the US Supreme Court building in Washington / REUTERS They chanted "vote him out" as the president stood near the coffin. Mr Trump walked back into the court as the chants grew louder. As his motorcade returned to the White House, there were also chants of "Breonna Taylor" from some spectators standing on the pavement. Their calls came one day after it was announced that a Kentucky grand jury had brought no charges against Louisville police for her killing during a drug raid connected to a suspect who did not live at Ms Taylor's home. The US leader plans to nominate a replacement this weekend for liberal justice Ms Ginsburg, best known for her advancement of women's rights. Mr Trump has called Ms Ginsburg an "amazing woman". Her body will lie in state at the Capitol on Friday, the first time a woman receives that distinction, and only the second time it will be bestowed on a Supreme Court justice. William Howard Taft, who had also served as president, was also recognized in such a manner. The body of Rosa Parks, a private citizen and not a government official, previously has lain in honour at the Capitol. Ms Ginsburg will be buried alongside her husband, Martin, in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery next week. Martin Ginsburg died in 2010. Meanwhile, the president is expected to announce his nominee to replace Ms Ginsburg on Saturday. He has said he will select from a list of five women. Republicans are working to move quickly to a confirmation vote, possibly even before the November 3 election. The official of the Seoul Ministry of Fisheries was killed by the border forces of Pyongyang: for the Covid-19 emergency, they have orders to "shoot to kill" those who try to cross the border. The apology sent in a letter to the president of the South Moon Jae-in: a rare occurrence in the troubled history between the two countries still at war. Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Kim Jong-un has apologized for the killing of a South Korean civilian in the territorial waters of North Korea. The apology was confirmed by Suh Hoon, director of the South Korea National Security Bureau, this morning. Yesterday Seoul revealed that an official from the Department of Oceans and Fisheries was killed by North Korean border soldiers. The man, 47, was on board a vessel that was inspecting the waters near the island of Yeonpyeong, in the Yellow Sea. South Korean authorities suspect that he attempted to defect to the North by swimming on floats towards the border. By Pyongyang's own admission, North Korean special forces intercepted the southern citizen as he crossed over by sea. After refusing to provide his personal details and attempting to escape, he was shot dead under the anti-Covid-19 legislation, which requires the Northern military to "shoot to kill" anyone who tries to infiltrate the country. The North Koreans, however, denied the Seoul version that the official's body was burned and then thrown into the sea: they would have set fire only to the "floating material" used by the victim. It is rare for the Pyongyang regime to make amends for incidents with South Korea. Kim sent his apologies to South Korean President Moon Jae-in in a personal letter, saying he was "sorry" for what happened and for having "disappointed" him and the people of the South. The two Koreas are still technically at war; North and South never signed a peace treaty at the end of the conflict that raged between them from 1950 to 1953. In recent months the tension between the two sides has grown considerably. In mid-June, Kim threatened to send his troops into the demilitarized zone between the two countries, in retaliation for the launch of defamatory leaflets into his territory by dissidents sheltered in the South. The order was withdrawn a few days ago after. First, however, Pyongyang blew up the building that housed the contact office with Seoul in the North Korean city of Kaesong. million by 2027, at a CAGR of around 8.2 % between 2019 and 2027. (TRAVPR.COM) NEW YORK - September 25th, 2020 - Corporate travel insurance covers insurance of business trips of the consumer as well as a company. Apart from this, it also offers risk coverage against healthcare or medical expenditure as well as hospitalization for traumatic collisions, chronic illness, medical evacuation, permanent disability, trip cancellation, loss of passport, baggage loss or delay of baggage, trip cancellation, loss of travel documents, and cancellation of flight due to unavoidable climatic conditions. Rise in the business expansion globally to drive the market trends The rise in business activities across the globe is predicted to steer the expansion of the corporate travel insurance market over the forecast timeline. Apart from this, a large number of single as well as multiple trips occurring due to business expansion is expected to drive the growth of the corporate travel insurance industry during the period from 2019 to 2027. Moreover, the mandatory government laws for having insurance when planning a business tour are expected to raise the acceptance of insurance by corporate firms. Apart from this, travel insurance helps in saving the tour of costs. All these factors are expected to expedite the growth of the corporate travel insurance industry over the forecast timeline. However, the low level of awareness about the insurance policies will impede the market scope over the forecast timeline. According to the research report published by Facts and Factors, the global corporate travel insurance market is anticipated to be valued approximately USD 6,104 million in 2018 and is projected to hit the revenue of around USD 12,416 million by 2027, at a CAGR of around 8.2 % between 2019 and 2027. Annual multi-trip travel insurance segment to account for major market revenue share The growth of the segment is credited to a bulge in the number of multiple trips for business purposes. In addition to this, the cost of multi-trip travel insurance is reasonable. Moreover, multi-trip travel insurance also covers uncertainties for all the annual trips. In addition to this, companies select the annual multi-trip travel insurance to prevent last-minute hassles of purchasing insurance plans. Furthermore, business tycoons, marketing persons, and sales staff use this insurance as they have to travel many times in a year. All these aforementioned aspects are expected to steer the growth of the segment during the forecast period. Medical treatment to dominate the insurance covered segment in terms of CAGR The medical treatment segment is likely to register the highest CAGR of nearly 9.6 % during the forecast period. The medical treatment expenses are very high in western countries as well as in gulf regions. In order to reduce this expenditure, many persons prefer purchasing of medical treatment insurance during business travels. This factor will steer the segmental growth over the forecast timespan. Asia Pacific region to lead the overall market growth both in terms of revenue and CAGR The growth of the market in the Asia Pacific zone is credited to an increase in business tours in countries like India due to the establishment of small firms. Apart from this, a rise in the awareness about the advantages of travel insurance will further propel the expansion of the market in the Asia Pacific during the forecast timeline. Key players involved in the corporate travel insurance industry include Matrix Insurance Group (Aust) Pty Ltd., Travel Insurance Services Pty Ltd.,CSA Travel Protection, TravelSafe Insurance, Allianz Australia Limited, Seven Corners, USI Affinity, AWP Australia Pty Ltd., AXA, American Express Company, Chubb, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, Smart Business Insurance Pty Ltd., American International Group, WEBBER INSURANCE SERVICES, Zurich, DavidShield, and CGU. Get a Free Sample of this Research Report for More Detail Insights: https://www.fnfresearch.com/sample/corporate-travel-insurance-market-by-insurance-single-trip ### COLONIE A second individual at the North Colonie school district has tested positive for COVID-19, school officials said Friday. The student is in the district's remote elementary program and has not been in any school buildings since March. Anyone who has been in close contact with the student outside of school will be contacted by the local health department to discuss how long to self-isolate, district officials said. New York schools are required to submit a daily report to the state of any confirmed cases of COVID-19 linked to a school. The COVID-19 Report Card is available to the public on the state Health Department website and includes daily case statistics from schools throughout the state. "While the dashboard is an important tool for identifying trends regionally and statewide, please know that any information regarding COVID-19 in North Colonie schools will be shared with you directly and will not be delayed by these additional reporting requirements," Superintendent D. Joseph Corr said in a memo to families. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. District officials also sought to clarify the dashboard, which indicates the number of lab-reported positives based on residential address" is just an estimate and does not reflect the number of confirmed cases in the school. The dashboard indicates that there are three positive cases of people within the district. Two weeks ago, the district announced that a staff member who had been in the Shaker High School building but did not have contact with students had also contracted the disease. "We continue to work closely with the local health departments and we will follow their guidance," Corr said. US President Donald Trump hoped on Thursday that India and China would be able to resolve their current border disputes as he reiterated his offer to help the two Asian giants in this regard. "I know that China now, and India, are having difficulty, and very very substantial difficulty. And hopefully, they will be able to work that out," Trump told reporters at the White House. "If we can help, we would love to help," he said. The president's remarks in this regard come days after senior Indian and Chinese military commanders held talks aimed at resolving the months-long standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. The two countries agreed to stop sending more troops to their disputed border in the Himalayas. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that the border conflict is pushing India to look for an asymmetric response: flexing its naval might. "India is intensifying joint naval maneuvers with the US and its allies while building new ships and setting up a network of coastal surveillance outposts that would allow New Delhi to keep an eye on the Indian Ocean's maritime traffic," the newspaper said. A "Grand Tamasha" podcast with senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, eminent American expert on India and South Asia Ashley Tellis said the Trump administration has taken a very transparent position of support for India in this crisis. "And, of course, it is motivated in part by the opportunities to confront China on a grander scale, which sort of makes it part and parcel of the US's own bilateral problems with China. But I think there is something more going on here. And the more is that I do not think the United States had the alternative of doing otherwise. "That is, Chinese aggression in this instance has been so blatant that the United States could not stand by and either ignore it or not come to India's defence," said Tellis, the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs. "What are the issues here? We all agree that those borderlands along the Himalayan territories are undefined. We all agree that they should be negotiated, delimited, demarcated through a peaceful process. We all agree that the agreements that China and India have repeatedly reached among themselves since the 1990s actually offer a good enough framework for how to resolve this dispute over the long term," he added. What China has done is that it has thrown all those understandings overboard, Tellis said. "And it is very important to recognise this that whatever the provocations may have been, the provocations created by Article 370 or whatever, I do not think they justified a reaction of this kind. Because a diplomatic provocation should have, you know, elicited a diplomatic response, rather than a quick jump to military action, which has enormous risks. "By China taking the step to move quickly to military action, which has now resulted in loss of lives, I think it has put itself on the opposite side of the United States, which is arguing more loudly than ever for a rules-based community," he added. "And so, even beyond the Trump administration's own bilateral problems with China, I think they were left in absolutely no position but to support India on this count and I think even a Democratic administration would have done the same in these circumstances," Tellis said. Also read: India-China military talks on Ladakh lasts 14 hrs; more negotiations ahead Also read: PM Modi destroyed 'web of relationships' with countries: Rahul Gandhi A health worker seen while working to collect swab samples for coronavirus testing. India in the last 24 hours logged 86,052 fresh Covid-19 cases and 1,141 related deaths due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) disease, which pushed the overall tally and death toll to 5,818,570 and 92,290 respectively, according to figures released by the Union health ministry on Friday. Delhi, which had earlier sent a benchmark for other states to contain the spread of Covid-19 may now face a second wave of infections. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the second wave is at its peak and its intensity will be less in the coming days. Over 3,800 Covid-19 cases and 36 deaths were recorded in the national capital on Thursday while the containment zones have increased to 2,059. Click here for complete coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic Amid the virus outbreak, West Bengal is set to organize Durga Puja- which is the largest festival in the state. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee laid out Standards of Procedures (SoPs) for thousands of hawkers and puja committees. Over 37,000 pujas will be organized in Bengal which includes 2,500 in the capital city of Kolkata Meanwhile, Brazil, which is the third worst-hit nation from the pandemic is set to join the global Covid-19 vaccine partnership called COVAX. President Jair Bolsonaro will issue decrees laying the legal groundwork and reserving a fund of $453.8 million for securing vaccines, his office said. Follow live updates here: Hong Kong police have banned a major anti-government march planned for National Day, citing Covid-19 rules and the threat to public order. The Civil Human Rights Front organised the event for October 1 to voice opposition to the Beijing-imposed national security law and show concern over the detention of 12 Hong Kong fugitives captured while trying to flee to Taiwan and who are being held over the border in Shenzhen. In rejecting the bid on Friday, Senior Superintendent Ng Lok-chun said social-distancing regulations that limited public gatherings to four people could not be disregarded. Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China. Deputy convenors of the Civil Human Rights Front Eric Lai Yan-ho and Figo Chan. Photo: Jonathan Wong It would be illegal to stage or take part in the public rally, and public order will be destroyed, he wrote in a letter of objection seen by the Post. Previous rallies organised by the front had turned violent and public facilities were damaged, Ng noted. The force was concerned over a repeat of such incidents and warned anyone who organised or took part in an unlawful assembly could be jailed for five years. The letter was sent to the fronts deputy convenor Figo Chan Ho-wun, who said the organisation would appeal the decision. Police were simply trying to stop Hongkongers from venting their anger against the government, he argued. In the past eight months, peoples discontent about the governments handling of the pandemic has been consistently suppressed, Chan told a radio programme. If the citys legislature cut police officers pay, I wonder if they would take to the streets too. The group, which was behind a series of anti-government demonstrations that began in June last year over opposition to the now-withdrawn extradition bill, earlier said a ban would be ridiculous. Chan did not reveal whether the front would proceed with the march if the appeal was rejected, and his group has said the demonstration was just one of many ways for people to show their determination to resist. Story continues In his letter, the senior superintendent said the front would be unable to control outbreaks of violence, which would pose a threat to peoples safety. Participants, residents, reporters and police officers were injured in [previous] clashes or violent incidents, Ng said. Some protesters did not only engage in violence, arson and large-scale road blocks, some even used petrol bombs, ball bearings, bricks, spears, iron rods and other home-made weapons to destroy public properties. Allowing the demonstration to go ahead would risk damage to MTR stations in Causeway Bay and Central, as well as the Wan Chai police headquarters and the High Court building in Admiralty, the senior officer argued. The location of your planned march is very close to some high-risk buildings, he said. As the social atmosphere remains unstable, after cautious assessment, we have reason to believe that some participants of this public march could deviate from the planned route and violently destroy these buildings. But Chan dismissed the objections. Police headquarters is surrounded by water barricades too. How can those buildings be in danger? he said. MTR stations were called high-risk buildings, but they are used by many people every day. How is that different from people marching with their face masks on? The government announced this week Covid-19 restrictions on gatherings would be extended to October 1. According to police, 107 applications for public events were received in the first half of this year., of which 87 were allowed. Between July and August, police received eight applications and none were approved. More from South China Morning Post: This article Hong Kong protests: police ban anti-government march planned for National Day by Civil Human Rights Front first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020. With around six months left before West Bengal goes to assembly polls, defection of supporters and local leaders in the districts have increased, claim both ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and its main rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Almost every day, the parties are circulating photos and videos of people crossing over from either side. On Thursday, for example, the BJP tweeted about around 100 families from a minority community that supported the TMC at Baduria in the North 24 Parganas district that have now joined the BJP to strengthen the arms of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and overthrow the TMC. Also read: Will never waver... - Confident Nitish spells out plans for next term The tweet appeared barely two hours after the party posted that more than 100 minority community members, who earlier supported the TMC and the CPI(M), joined the BJP in the South 24 Parganas. This happened less than a day after the TMC tweeted that the BJPs West Midnapore district minority cell general secretary Rajdeep Guha, trade union leader Sailendra Singh, president of the BJPs Kharagpur north unit president Ajay Chattopadhyay and the same areas local unit president Sajal Roy joined the ruling party. Without these leaders, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh could not have won the Midnapore Lok Sabha seat, claimed TMC leaders. On Tuesday, the TMC announced that 100 BJP workers and a former BJP youth front leader shifted their allegiance to the ruling party in Hooghly districts. The same day, the TMC said that 250 BJP workers led by their local general secretary left the saffron camp at Cooch Behar district in north Bengal region where the BJP won seven out of eight Lok Sabha seats in 2019. The switching of camps has sharpened the rhetoric in the poll-bound state. The TMC had claimed for years that the BJP is an insignificant force in Bengal. And now, when it can see the writing on the wall, the ruling party is trying to project that it is not a spent force because people from the BJP are joining it in such large numbers, said Bengal BJP vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar. Those who have joined the TMC are small functionaries. We are not worried at all. Mamata Banerjee should make tall statements if heavyweight leaders such as Mukul Roy and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who left her, return to the TMC. We feel pity for her, added Majumdar. TMC Lok Sabha member and spokesperson Saugata Roy said the exodus from the BJP is a fallout of the call Banerjee gave two months ago. While addressing party workers at the TMCs martyrs day programme on July 21, she asked deserters to return home. We are seeing the effect now. The BJP may claim that hundreds of TMC workers are joining it, the reality is quite the opposite. Reverse migration has started, said Roy. Kolkata-based political science professor Udayan Bandopadhyay feels that the desertions in both camps have been triggered by aspirations. In the BJP, a lot of young leaders and party workers are returning to the TMC because their political aspirations have not been fulfilled. This is mainly because of an apparent lack of coordination between the partys state and central leadership. On the other hand, a section of TMC workers are leaving in the hope of getting something that they cannot achieve in the ruling party, said Bandopadhyay. In the federal tax case that has muddied his campaign for Orleans Parish district attorney, City Council President Jason Williams argued this week that prosecutors have now admitted he was targeted over his political position. Williams is asking U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman to throw out the 11-count indictment against him and law partner Nicole Burdett, as two dates the Nov. 3 election primary and a Jan. 11 trial -- loom large on the calendar. Feldman has set a hearing for Oct. 2 on a second motion by Williams and Burdett to dismiss the federal charges against them, after the judge denied the first. In both, the law partners allege political malevolence behind the prosecution. The June 26 indictment, which dropped a month before Williams qualified to run for DA, accuses the pair of conspiring to inflate Williams' federal business deductions by more than $700,000 over the five tax years ending in 2017. The government says that shaved off about $200,000 in tax liability for Williams, following earlier tax troubles that had plagued him. The pair is also charged with failing to file the proper tax forms for the receipt of cash payments. They have pleaded not guilty to all charges. A prominent criminal defense attorney, Williams is now in his second term in an at-large council seat. Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Louisiana, which is handling the tax case after a recusal by the U.S. Attorneys Office in New Orleans, said the tax investigation of Williams began after he stood up an IRS agent who had waited for hours at his office in 2018. At the time, IRS Special Agent Lori Marable was investigating Henry Timothy, the Westwego tax preparer who handled returns for hundreds of clients, including Williams. But after Williams failed to show up for the scheduled interview, Marables supervisor called in IRS Special Agent Tim Moore, who was attached to the FBIs public corruption squad. Because Williams failed to meet with SA Marable and due to the fact that he was a public official, SA Marables supervisor requested that IRS Special Agent Tim Moore get involved, prosecutors wrote in a filing this month. Moore knew the FBI already was investigating Williams separately, in what prosecutors describe as an ongoing probe; theyve offered no details. Moore saw glaring errors on Williams tax returns and asked to open a broad tax investigation, prosecutors wrote. But Williams failure to show up for a witness interview is not a valid reason for investigators to turn their sights on him, Williams lawyer, Billy Gibbens, argues -- nor is the mere fact that Williams holds a public office. Neither of these reasons are legitimate purposes for pursuing a criminal tax investigation, and both demonstrate actual vindictiveness on the part of the government, wrote Gibbens, himself a former federal prosecutor. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Williams and Burdett filed separate responses to the governments most recent pleading, in which prosecutors argued that Williams was trying to use his run for office as a shield. This is Defendants second motion to dismiss, in which they insist that because Williams is running for public office, he should have some type of immunity or protection from prosecution, they wrote. The fact that he is running for Orleans Parish District Attorney has played no part in the Governments decision to charge Defendants, nor should it have any effect on the Courts ruling. Burdetts attorney, Michael Magner, has described his client as collateral damage in a political attack on Williams, who had first signaled his intention to run for DA publicly in October 2018. Williams claim that he was targeted because he is Black and running for DA buttresses the argument to also dismiss the indictment against Burdett, who is White, Magner argued. If it were not for the governments improper motive to charge Mr. Williams, it never would have charged Ms. Burdett in an attempt to get to Mr. Williams, he wrote. If Feldman wont throw out the indictment, Magner is asking the judge to turn over transcripts of grand jury testimony from Timothy, now a cooperating witness for the government. Magner says Timothys testimony before the grand jury contradicted earlier statements hed made to federal agents. The governments case is based upon testimony that the government knows is false, he argued. Prosecutors say Timothy has been consistent since he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, who cast Burdett in a central role in the alleged conspiracy, though they have not alleged that she benefited personally. She introduced Williams to Timothy, she did the majority of the negotiating with Timothy, and she was responsible for the operation of the firms billing software, prosecutors wrote. In addition, it was Burdett who referred others in the firm and outside the firm to Timothy. Williams had years of backed-up tax trouble when Timothy began doing his taxes in 2012. Prosecutors claim Timothy took direction from Williams and Burdett when he inflated Williams business deductions. Williams claims Timothy held himself out falsely as a CPA and bloated the business expenses on his own, not just for Williams but for the bulk of his clients. He claims Timothy is lying to save himself. Prosecutors insist that Timothy still faces federal charges, though they have not said what felony counts those might include. NEW DELHI: The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India on Friday announced the much-awaited dates for that the Bihar assembly election 2020. The Election Commission of India (ECI) informed that the election in Bihar will be held three phases amid strict COVID-19 protocols. The election in the first phase will begin from October 28, the second phase will be held on November 3 and the third phase election date will be held on November 7, said ECI. The counting for Bihar Assembly elections 2020 will be held on November 10. Live TV Bihar Assembly election 2020 phase details: First phase: 71 assembly constituency, 31,000 polling station Second phase: 94 assembly constituency, 42,000 polling station Third phase: 78 assembly constituency, 33.5 thousand polling station The election in Bihar will be held in total of 243 seats. Among the steps taken, CEC Arora said that polling time will be increased by one hour and will now be from 7 AM to 6 PM, except in areas affected by Maoist extremism. Bihar Assembly election will be one of the biggest elections held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, said CEC Sunil Arora. He informed that about 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh units of faces-shields, 23 lakh (pairs of) hand gloves arranged. For voters specifically, 7.2 crore single-use hand gloves are arranged. Keeping the safety in concern the ECI has also implemented several restrictions in the election campaigning and have opened the option to file nominations forms online. The previous Assembly elections was held in the state in the year 2015, JDU, RJD and Congress had fought the elections together under the Mahagathbandhan banner. SPRINGFIELD Holyoke Soldiers' Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh and his former medical director could each face up to 50 years in state prison after being indicted Thursday by a statewide grand jury, according to Attorney General Maura Healey. Walsh and Dr. David Clinton once the top medical adviser at the Soldiers' Home were each charged with 10 criminal counts related to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak that claimed the lives of at least 76 elderly veterans. They face five counts each of two charges: caretaker who wantonly or recklessly commits or permits bodily injury to an elder or disabled person, and a similarly worded charge pertaining to the alleged abuse, neglect or mistreatment of an elderly or disabled person. Healey said each count of the first charge carries a potential sentence of 10 years in state prison. We charged these two because they were the ultimate decision makers, Healey said during an announcement Friday morning. She said the investigation is ongoing, and did not discount more charges or additional defendants. Tracy Miner, a Boston attorney representing Walsh, said the attorney generals case is a misguided attempt by the government to assign blame. It is unfortunate that the attorney general is blaming the effects of a deadly virus that our state and federal governments have not been able to stop on Bennett Walsh, Miner said in a statement. Mr. Walsh has spent his entire life in the service of our country, first in active duty in the Marine Corps for 24 years and then serving other veterans as the Superintendent of the Holyoke Soldiers Home. He, like other nursing home administrators throughout the Commonwealth and nation, could not prevent the virus from coming to the Home or stop its spread once it arrived there, she said. Walsh, 50, was appointed head of the state-run Soldiers' Home in 2016 after the retirement and resignation of the facilitys two top administrators over what they described as deficiencies in staffing and funding. He was suspended in late March as the death toll began to climb and the state sent in an emergency response team to quell the spread. Walsh was later fired by Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders and Gov. Charlie Baker. A lawyer for Walsh recently won a motion in Hampden Superior Court challenging the firing, arguing state officials lacked the authority under state law. Walshs termination will now be in the hands of the Holyoke Soldiers' Home Board of Trustees. The board has scheduled a special meeting for Sept. 30. Clinton, 71, resigned his part-time job at the facility over the outbreak. Healey put a fine point on the criminal charges, telling reporters that each charge is linked to an individual veteran and the investigation homed in on the decision to combine two dementia units as the outbreak erupted. Nine men from the 42-resident unit who were thought to be asymptomatic were moved to beds in a dining room. But Healey said some of the nine veterans were incorrectly categorized as asymptomatic, and were in fact carrying the disease. She noted that the veterans beds were just feet from each other in the dining room, and directly adjacent to a room where others were obviously suffering from the virus. We allege that several of the residents that Holyoke Soldiers Home categorized as asymptomatic were, in fact, showing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 at the time of the consolidation or shortly thereafter, Healey said. The residents in the consolidated unit were allegedly mingling together, regardless of COVID-19 status. We allege that this decision was reckless from an infection control perspective and placed the asymptomatic veterans at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Healey said during Friday mornings press briefing that of the five veterans tied to the charges, three contracted the virus, one died, and two more did not contract the disease. Healeys investigation drew from a lengthy report by Boston attorney Mark Pearlstein and commissioned by Baker in the thick of the crisis. Released on June 24, Pearlsteins report denounced the decision to combine two dementia units as baffling and catastrophic," and the opposite of infection control. Attorneys for Walsh have said Chief Nursing Officer Vanessa Lauziere made the call to hastily combine the dementia units because they were drastically short-staffed. Lauziere resigned over the deaths. Healey would not comment on why Lauziere or other staff were not charged. Francisco Urena, secretary of the states Department of Veterans' services and Walshs boss at the time of the outbreak, resigned the day before the Pearlstein report was released. He has not been charged. Miner argues more responsibility for the crisis at the Soldiers' Home should lie with the state. At all times, Mr. Walsh relied on the medical professionals to do what was best for the veterans given the tragic circumstances of a virus in a home with veterans in close quarters, severe staffing shortages, and the lack of outside help from state officials, she said. The attorney general should not be scapegoating Mr. Walsh, who was on the front lines trying his best to do whatever he could to help the Veterans of the Holyoke Soldiers' Home, including asking for help from state officials and the National Guard, which arrived much too late. A separate investigation by the U.S. attorneys office is pending. The COVID-19 outbreak at the Soldiers' Home also launched the formation of a local, grassroots coalition calling for widespread reforms and renovations at the facility, prompted lawsuits in state and federal courts and gave rise to a legislative oversight committee to scrutinize the response to the epidemic. State Sen. John Velis, a Democrat from Westfield, is a member of the oversight committee and has emerged as an advocate for families impacted by the outbreak. He declined comment on the indictments Friday. Im anxious to begin our first legislative oversight committee hearing next month, because at the the end of the day my firm belief is we need to do everything we can to make sure this never happens again," Velis said. Related content: England and Wales prepares to launch its own app on Thursday in a bid to stem the viruss spread (Niall Carson/PA) England and Wales are set to be the latest nations to embrace an app in the hope of better tracing the coronavirus. The NHS Covid-19 app will be available from Thursday and follows a number of countries who have already turned to technology. But feedback has been mixed with limited information about each nations success, in part due to the focus on privacy. Here, the PA news agency looks at contact tracing apps across the world: Singapore Singapore became the first country to launch a Covid-19 app back in March called TraceTogether and has achieved 2.4 million downloads. One of the issues faced by the voluntary app is that it needs to be running in the foreground on iOS to work. Apple and Google came together to devise a shared framework that would make it easier for health authorities to create tracing apps after Singapores effort was launched, but the country has decided to stick with its own approach despite the limitations on iOS. Several people have asked why we are not using the Exposure Notification System created by Apple and Google for contact... Posted by Vivian Balakrishnan on Sunday, June 14, 2020 According to Vivian Balakrishnan, minister-in-charge of the countrys smart nation initiative, technology is only a supplement, not a replacement for the humans. In September Singapore also began distributing Bluetooth tokens, which can be worn on a lanyard or carried, as an alternative for older people without a smartphone. Australia Australias voluntary app is based on the same system developed by Singapore, therefore suffering some of the same iOS limitations. COVIDSafe was launched in late April and notched up more than a million downloads within the first 24 hours however, the Government has refused to reveal how many active users it has had. Officials in Australia have also defended not opting for the Apple-Google approach, with only a limited number of cases where the app successfully managed to identify previously unidentified close contacts reported. By downloading the COVIDSafe app, you are taking an important step to help Australia stop the spread of COVID-19. Search COVIDSafe in the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Learn more: https://t.co/nb5aMHzstk pic.twitter.com/tIFv7Sp01t Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) August 30, 2020 Defending their decision not to change course, Australias deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said: The Apple-Google offering, apart from being released only once the global case numbers exceeded nine million, substantively diminishes the role of the disease detective in the process. By their own admission, these tech giants will not allow public health officials access to the details of contacts. India The Aarogya Setu app uses both Bluetooth and GPS location to track users, the latter of which has been avoided by most other countries and has raised questions about privacy. Indias app is required to be used more widely than in other countries too, with all workers, both private and public, expected to have it installed. China In China, the app gives users a colour based on a traffic light system green for clear, red for a coronavirus contact and it is reportedly needed to move about as widespread restrictions are lifted. France Frances StopCovid app has been running for three months now but a recent report suggests that it has had little success. According to the Covid-19 control and liaison committee, less than 200 notifications have been sent since the app launched. Ireland Expand Close HSE Director General Paul Reid (left) and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly with the official Irish health service executive Covid Tracker contact tracing app (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp HSE Director General Paul Reid (left) and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly with the official Irish health service executive Covid Tracker contact tracing app (Niall Carson/PA) Irelands Covid Tracker app, which uses the Google-Android framework, appears to have fared slightly better, with a total of 370 notifications sent out to close contacts between June when the app was launched and mid-August, according to reports. Iceland In May, it was reported that uptake in Iceland stood at 38%. Gestur Palmason, a detective inspector from the Icelandic Police Service charged with overseeing contact tracing efforts in the country, told MIT Technology Review that the technology had been proven useful in a few cases but said it wasnt a game changer. Other countries and regions Many other places have also already launched their contact tracing apps, including Germany and several US states. Months beyond the initial May launch originally touted for the England and Wales offering, officials and Government will be hoping that taking time to test before rolling out was the right move. A tourist has been confronted in Bali for savagely beating up dogs and threatening people with a stick in a disgusting act of animal cruelty. Sickening footage was shared online showing the man chasing after a dog at Batu Belig Beach in Bali on Wednesday. He was heard shouting 'all Bali dogs have rabies' because he was previously bitten by one, and was boasting that he had 'killed two already'. The man was armed with a stick and was beating up dogs and threatening people at Batu Belig Beach in Bali on Wednesday A woman is then seen running and yells at the man, 'don't you dare' as a dog ran past them. 'What do you think you're doing?' she continued as he threatened her with the stick and yelled back. He then storms off as others join the woman at telling him to go away and leave the dogs alone. The woman who shared the disgusting footage said the man needs to be arrested for his heinous acts. 'Immediately, five people gathered around to try and protect the dogs but he was threatening them [by] poking the stick towards them and eventually he decided to leave,' she told Coconuts Bali. The man is seen approaching a stray dog on the beach shore before he is stopped by angry witnesses A woman yells at the man, 'don't you dare' and he threatens her with the stick Furious social media users called for the man to be found and dealt with following his atrocious behaviour. 'Utterly repulsive human. Take him out please,' one person wrote. 'What a gutless coward. Big man hitting little doggies. Come on guys, get him locked up,' another commented. 'What is wrong with people abusing defenceless animals??!! Made me so angry!' someone else wrote. Like all life as we know now, Europe says the police service has its origins with themso there you have it, modern police systems find their roots in Europe. The pseudo-continent had at the start of the 18th century, experienced exponential escalations in crime, especially in their citiesperhaps, in part owing to the industrial revolution the region was experiencing. The law enforcement mechanisms in place during and prior to this period had been, among othersand Mr. Gandhi would not like thissomething close to: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Except when I stole an eye of yours, you could go for my heart; and for your tooth, you could take my lungs. Citizens settled their cases among themselvesmost of the time. There were the duels. Oh, the duels! If you think certain past African practices absurd, then hold Europes beer for their duels. It was perhaps the height of human baseness, and Europe supposed mother of all civilization as we know it (supposedsupposed.) was home, too, to this human folly. The Duels So then, you, at the height of your professionlegal, financial, health, businessall those fanciful professions; you, a man (Id like to include here woman but then, in this senseless charade, it was strictly man); you, having accumulated such vast wealth in the course of your profession; you waiting to go on pension, or already on pension, enjoying or intending to enjoy the fruits of your labourwhen wronged by your fellow man, would say something close to, I need satisfaction, meaning meet me outside. And the two of you, each wielding a weaponsword, gun (choose your choice) will battle it out. Mostly it was honour at stakeone man would invite another man out to duel, sometimes to death, because his honour had been hurt by the other. Is it not these rich people, supposed esteemed people who cared for honour, so much so that they were willing to, within a blink of an eye, cut their own lives, or anothers life short? The gentlemens duelit was called. A man who lived long, avoiding such battles was a cowardly manwhat is long-life if a man has never defended his honour? In these duels, the loserspecifically, the injured or dead manwas automatically adjudged the guilty party; the winner/living/un-scratched, innocent. Reasons to duel? Oh, maybe you told another man that he smelled like a pig; or that his wife had a flat chest; or that he was short, or fat; or perhaps you found yourself, pen in hand, staining another mans white shirt with blue inkall these things could lead to dueling, injuries and perhaps death. Civilization Increased crime rates in the subcontinent in the 18th century necessitated the creation of a law enforcement agencyone differing from the dueling, mob justices, militarism, etc. the region had and were still witnessing. So then: the policean institution initially vehemently argued against. Europe in its institution of the police, had faced vehement protests by its populaceprominent and average citizens alike. The fear was that a law enforcement agency formed under the executive arm of government would mean making this organ of government too powerful, and easily prone to breaching civil rights. This argument was, however, defeated with this increase in crime. Crime necessitated the creation of modern police system, as we know it now. (no shock there.) I dont get no respect Fast-forward to today, and the policethese crime fighters, these men and women employed to safeguard the peace, these people serving a very vital societal purposeare worldwide, subject to no respect. Why? Because they do not deserve it? Yes? No? If we choose to go with yesit must be a soft yes, at least. For the institution itselfthe basis for its formation: to safeguard the peace, protect society, etc. all these are words and phrasings deserving respect. These are things the institution ought to beand that, that deserves all the respect it can get. So then, our yes to the question: do the police not deserve respect? perhaps is in reference to what the institution actually is, or at least, what the institution has become. Maybe, that is where police derisions stem from. Service with integritysays the slogan of Ghana Police, To Serve and To Protectsays the motto of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Yet these agencies, like many other police institutions worldwide, are subject to insultsinsults that seem to suggest failures in mandates. If failure be the cause of these mockeries and disdains, we must note that the police does not exist outside the realm of governance. Perhaps (perhaps!emphasis necessary) they are what we made them. The MurderersUSA Police Defund the Police is actually the slogan of a movement in America, seeking to, as the name suggests, defund the police. Some have gone so far as to call for a total abolition of the nations police service altogether. The ThievesGhana Police These are comments by Ghanaians under a certain article. The police must be purged! One of the worst institutions! It is better to find justice yourself than to rely on Ghana policepeople of low intelligence causing embarrassment (This commenter seemed to be showing pro-dueling tendencies.) Light at the End of the Tunnel Ghana stands a better chance of finding success in her bid at creating a functioning police service than, say, USAa country with a long history of injustices. The nations past (and present) legislations, justice systems, like all aspects of its national lives, were created with the protection of its White citizens only, in mind. Blacks have been on the receiving end of endless, ever-changing forms of torture, attacks, monstrosities, in all shapes and formsfrom all sections of society. Hence, the nations fight towards a functioning police service does not end with: restructuring of the police service, war on corruption within the police service, re-training of police forces, etc. The journey towards a fair and just American police service has one mighty hurdle to crossthe hurdle of racial prejudices. And if ever there was a difficult root to uproot, it is this. Ghana has no such institutionalised racialism existing in her law enforcement agencies. The creation of an effective, fair, just police service, one that actually and consistently lives up to its mandate of: service with INTEGRITY is a much more doable task in the Ghanaian context. Like every development imperative, Ghana is not short on the how. Our problem is not with: but how are we going to do it, for we knowwe always know. Our main problem always lies with our tendencies to consistently sweep things under the carpet. The police occupy such crucial place in our national lives that we cannot afford to keep them relegated to positions of bottom-priority. Is it not bizarre that an institution created with the intention of safeguarding law and order is overlooked and deridedwhat does that say of a countrys law, order, and safety atmosphere? People are, among others, being murdered here and there in Ghanawe need the police coming through here and there. BY YAO AFRA YAO Premier Daniel Andrews emerged from a meeting of national cabinet before hotel quarantine was set up on March 27 believing Victoria would not be given as much help from the Australian Defence Force as NSW. However, any request for help was an operational decision for those in the State Control Centre and not his, Mr Andrews told the hotel quarantine inquiry on Friday. Despite a number of pieces of evidence presented to the inquiry that the Commonwealth made several offers of ADF troops to Victoria's anti-coronavirus effort, the Premier told Parliament in August that it was "fundamentally incorrect to assert that there was hundreds of ADF staff on offer and somehow someone said no. Grilled about his knowledge of the quarantine program, Mr Andrews said he had been generally aware ADF support was available. However, Mr Andrews said in a statement: "After the national cabinet meeting on 27 March 2020, I understood that any ADF support ... would be provided where necessary and according to need, and that "I understood that NSW was seen as having the greater need at that time". President Donald Trumps rally near Harrisburg Saturday night illustrates Pennsylvanias continued importance in the November election. Both Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, the former vice president, have made repeated visits to Pennsylvania in recent months. Pennsylvania has been widely picked as one of the key states that will determine who wins the election. T esco is reintroducing limits on items such as toilet roll as the supermarket giant's chief executive appealed for the public to avoid "unnecessary" panic buying. The company revealed on Friday that its stores will have a three-items per customer limit on flour, dried pasta, toilet roll, baby wipes and anti-bacterial wipes. The new limits come a day after Morrisons introduced similar measures. We have good availability, with plenty of stock to go round, and we would encourage our customers to shop as normal," a Tesco spokeswoman told the Evening Standard. "To ensure that everyone can keep buying what they need, we have introduced bulk-buy limits on a small number of products." The supermarket giant explained that there are also additional limits for a select number of products online, such as rice and canned vegetables. The Tesco spokeswoman added: To help our customers shop safely, we will also have colleagues at the entrances of our larger stores to remind customers about the safety measures we have in place, including the legal requirement to wear a face covering. London panic buying during the Coronavirus outbreak - In pictures 1 /61 London panic buying during the Coronavirus outbreak - In pictures PA Wire Shoppers descended on supermarkets again AFP via Getty Images Shoppers seen rushing to get toilet rolls as new ones are put on sale in a London Morrisons store Rex Features Shoppers should be sensible when buying food and groceries Lucy Young Shoppers queue outside a branch of Costco, in Croydon PA Lucy Young Lucy Young Lucy Young Lucy Young Lucy Young Reuters Reuters Reuters People queue outside a Sainsbury's store as the coronavirus outbreak continues Reuters Reuters Reuters Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Queues for hand sanitizer at Boots in Islington Jeremy Selwyn Tesco Brent Cross 9.00 am Jeremy Selwyn Empty shelves of pasta are seen at a supermarket Reuters Brent Cross Shopping centre at 5:30am Jeremy Selwyn SplashNews.com A sign at a Sainsbury's supermarket informs customers that limits have been set on a small number of products Reuters AFP via Getty Images Shelves have been cleared of the likes of pasta and toilet roll AFP via Getty Images A woman carries a basket filled with toilet rolls AFP via Getty Images Shoppers wait in line for a supermarket to open its doors in London AFP via Getty Images Shoppers are faced with partially empty shelves AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images Brent Cross Shopping centre at 5:30am Evening Standard / eyevine AFP via Getty Images A long line of shoppers queue to buy groceries at a supermarket in Chingford, London Cham Karimeddin Shoppers form long queues ahead of the opening of a Costco wholesale store in Chingford Getty Images Empty shelves in the bakery aisles of an Asda store in London PA Shoppers queue at the checkout of a supermarket in London AFP via Getty Images A customer leaves with shopping as other customers queue to enter a Costco Wholesalers in Chingford Reuters A long line of shoppers queue to buy groceries at a supermarket in Chingford Ashraf Karim Eddin Shoppers are faced with partially empty shelves at a supermarket in London AFP via Getty Images FILE PHOTO: A man stands next to shelves empty of fresh meat in a supermarket, as the number of worldwide coronavirus cases continues to grow, in London REUTERS It comes after coronavirus cases surged by 6,634 overnight and new Covid-19 regulations were introduced by the Government this week. Panic-buying shoppers made an extra 42 million visits to supermarkets in just four days during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March and supermarkets were left overwhelmed as panic-buying and stockpiling saw shelves stripped of many basic items from toilet rolls to milk and pasta. Morrisons confirmed yesterday that it was rationing some of its products to prevent customers from stockpiling over second wave fears. Restrictions will be placed on items including toilet roll and disinfectant to maintain current supply levels. Shocking footage shows shoppers panic buying in Brent Cross Morrisons said current stock levels "are good", but it has brought in the measure to ensure goods continue to be "available for everyone"amid fears panic buying will restart. A spokesman told the Standard said: "We are introducing a limit on a small number of key products, such as toilet roll and disinfectant. "Our stock levels of these products are good but we want to ensure that they are available for everyone." It comes after supermarkets such as Ocado and Tesco added warnings on their websites to alert their customers that they are experiencing high demand for deliveries. Ocado's posted a notice to its website stating: "Delivery slots are selling out faster than usual. If you can't find a slot now, please use the 'Next 3 days' button to see available slots further in advance." By Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin SEOUL, Sept 22 (Reuters) - South Korea's President Moon Jae-in called on Tuesday for a regional infectious disease control and public health initiative involving China, Japan, Mongolia, and North Korea to tackle health crises and lay the foundation for peace with Pyongyang. In a video message to the United Nations General Assembly, Moon said collective protection of life and safety would lay the groundwork for North Korea to have its security guaranteed by engaging with the international community. "In the face of the COVID-19 crisis that poses a greater threat to humanity than a war, we came to be acutely reminded that the safety of neighbouring countries is directly linked to that of our own," Moon said, according to an English translation of his prepared remarks distributed by his office. Moon proposed launching a "Northeast Asia Cooperation Initiative for Infectious Disease Control and Public Health," but did not provide details. "It is not only Koreas response to COVID-19 but also the invaluable lessons Korea will be gaining from institutionalizing peace that Korea wishes to share with the rest of the world," he said. South Korea's aggressive testing and tracing efforts during the coronavirus outbreak have been praised internationally. North Korea has said it has no confirmed cases, though some U.S. officials have cast doubt on that claim. As part of his election pledges, Moon proposed building a regional cooperative mechanism in Northeast Asia to defuse military tensions and foster joint responses in areas of common interest, including disease prevention, disaster response and cybersecurity. Moon this year also expressed his willingness to provide help to North Korea to fight the coronavirus outbreak, calling health issues a top priority in inter-Korean cooperation, but Pyongyang has said it would not receive outside aid and shut the border tighter. North Korea has rejected cooperation with South Korea and ridiculed previous proposals after denuclearisation talks with the United States stalled, scuttling lofty goals for inter-Korean projects made at a series of summit between Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (Reporting by Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Bernadette Baum) Petitioners from across China stand outside a building affiliated with the Beijing Public Security Bureau on July 1, 2013, the 92nd anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. They held signs and shouted out slogans like "Down with corrupt officials." (Human Rights Campaign in China) They Will Be Strong: Chinese Citizens Will Ultimately Decide Regimes Fate, Says Former Canadian MP A former Canadian MP and Polish immigrant who was part of the grassroots solidarity movement that helped defeat Soviet rule in Poland says Chinese citizens will likewise be the key actors to overturn Chinas one-party dictatorship. The Communist government has been in power in China for over 70 years, but this will not last forever, said Wladyslaw Lizon, a former Conservative MP who represented the riding of Mississauga East-Cooksville from 2011 to 2015. The people of China, I truly believe that they will get together, they will be strong, they will oppose it, and they will bring that government down for the good of all the peopleand for the good of the world. Lizon, who was Canadas first Polish-born member of Parliament, joined Polands anti-communist Solidarity movement when it formed in 1980, putting his life on the line to protest Soviet rule. He immigrated to Canada in 1988one year before the Berlin Wall fell, signalling the collapse of the Soviet Union. Former Canadian MP Wladyslaw Lizon in a file photo. (Handout) I was still in Poland when the government wanted to crush the movementthey imposed martial law, they brought in the army, riot police, he recalled. I was on strike with my workers, facing the tanks, facing riot police. And some people suffered, but thank God without major bloodshed, without many casualties, mainly peacefully. Lizon, who co-founded the Victims of Communism Memorial project being built in Ottawa, said it was crucial for Polish dissenters to have the support of the international community to feed their morale when tensions with Soviet forces escalated into martial law. We were glued to radios to listen to whats happening around the worldwhat the world is saying are we left alone, or are people in support? he said. It was so encouraging when we were finding out that there were protests in New York, in Toronto, in many places in Europe, in support of our actions. This is what gave people power. Lizon said this type of international support is whats going to be needed and is needed now in China, to boost Chinese peoples courage in challenging the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its very important that those that decide to go to the struggle and fight for the freedom for basic human rights, for basic democratic rights in Chinathey have to know that we support them. They have to know theyre not alone, he said. It has to come from the inside, but it will not happen without the support of the outside world. Meanwhile, the CCP has faced increasing backlash from the international community in recent months amid fallout from its coverup and mishandling of the pandemic, and aggressive actions in Hong Kong after imposing the new national security law. 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. 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 in the speech. (Olivier Hoslet/pool via Reuters) On Sept. 22, U.S. President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly that the world must hold China accountable for their actions that led to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. administration has also ramped up retaliatory measures against the regime in recent months such as sanctioning human rights abusers in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, shuttering the Chinese consulate in Houston, and banning Chinese technology companies accused of espionage. Lizon says G7 countries now need to form a strong coalition and unified approach toward China, otherwise the regime will continue to isolate and threaten countries that criticize it. China is going to play one country against the other, he said. We dont have a united policy, but I truly hope that many countries are realizing nowthey can see whats happening, and they are realizing that there is no other choice, he added. They have to get their forces togethernot to destroy China, but to have one strong policy. This will help those that are fighting for democratic freedoms in China, but also we have to protect our freedoms and our positions as the democratic world. 360 Million Chinese Quit the CCP Though the number of protests in China has been growing steadily since the early 1990s, the authorities use various strategies to quell them: violent suppression, censorship, the imprisonment or re-education through labour of dissidents and activists, and the creation of a vast domestic surveillance network that monitors all citizens. But pockets of dissent continue. For example, on Sept. 21, more than 100 petitioners in Beijing went to the citys police headquarters to apply for a demonstration permit to protest corruption, claiming their assets had been stolen by corrupt officials. Their protest slogans included maintaining the laws dignity and fighting for civil rights. The protestors were quickly swarmed by policeover 40 were arrested and detained while the others fled the scene. Agitated Chinese petitioners show documents during a gathering outside a courthouse in Beijing on April 3, 2008. (Teh Eng Koon/AFP/Getty Images) This type of small-scale public dissent, often centred around complaints about the corruption of local officials, is most common. However, a larger movement has been taking place behind the scenes since 2004the Tuidang or Quit the Party movementwhich calls on Chinese citizens to peacefully renounce and distance themselves from the Chinese Communist Party. Through the work of Tuidang volunteers in China and around the world, 360 million Chinese people have quit or renounced their membership in the CCP and affiliated organizations. Renunciation statementsusing the persons real name or an aliasare collected and posted to the Tuidang Centres Chinese-language website. Lizon said the large number of people who have quit the CCP is a good sign for future democracy, but it is only the first step. There has to be a second step. After this, those people have to get together. They have to join forces, have to work together, have to be able and be ready to accept sacrifices for the good of not only Chinese people, but for the good of all the people in the world, he said, adding he remembers the courage of his fellow democracy activists in Poland. Many people joined and they were ready to sacrifice ready to give up their lives. I dont think we fully realized what it meant, but this was the general feeling. And this is what it takes. It takes sacrifices. It takes strength, but it takes people working together. When people work together, they are strong. April Zhu contributed to this report. Britain will hold back part of its contribution to the World Health Organisation until the international body gets to the bottom of the origins of the coronavirus in China. The Prime Minister will today announce a 30 per cent increase in its support for the WHO over the next four years, costing 340million and making the UK one of the largest donors in the world. However, it is understood that part of the funding earmarked for the previous period will be conditional on cracking down on China and the UK is understood to have demanded the body determine where the virus came from. The WHO has been criticised for being too soft on China and US President Donald Trump has said he will withdraw funding over the claims. Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured in his Uxbridge constituency on Friday) will announce that Britain will hold back part of its contribution to the World Health Organisation until the international body gets to the bottom of the origins of the coronavirus in China The WHO has been criticised for being too soft on China and US President Donald Trump has said he will withdraw funding over the claims. Pictured: WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing The move comes as Boris Johnson warns today that the world must heal the ugly rifts caused by coronavirus as he appeals for countries to come together. In his virtual speech to the UN General Assembly, he will call on world leaders to overcome divisions caused by the virus. His comments can be taken as a swipe at countries such as China, which has been accused of withholding information about the virus, but also Russia, which the UK has accused of launching cyber attacks to steal the vaccine, as well as the US over its WHO funding remarks. He will also set out a five-point plan, developed in consultation with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to prevent future pandemics including ensuring free trade continues internationally. Boris Johnson will announce a 30 per cent increase in its support for the WHO over the next four years, costing 340million and making the UK one of the largest donors in the world. Pictured: WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during Peace One Day on Monday Mr Johnson will say: After nine months of fighting Covid, the very notion of the international community looks tattered. We know that we cannot continue in this way. Unless we unite and turn our fire against our common foe, we know that everyone will lose. Now is the time... for humanity to reach across borders and repair these ugly rifts. The Prime Minister will also announce new investment in COVAX, the international Covid-19 vaccines procurement pool, including 500million in aid funding to help 92 of the worlds poorest countries access a vaccine. A SENIOR Government minister has issued a stark warning on the spread of Covid-19 saying the virus is "racing ahead of us at the moment". Higher Education Minister Simon Harris made the remarks as he announced new restrictions on colleges and universities today. Third level institutions are being asked to hold lectures online over the next three weeks in a bid to reduce the movement of people around the country. Mr Harris, a former Health Minister, said that some towns and cities are "on a knife-edge" as he warned of the risk of the virus spreading. Read More He said he knows enough about the virus "to know that often we like to think we're in charge and the virus likes to show us whos boss. "This is a virus that has gotten ahead of us again. "Its racing ahead of us at the moment and we need to do everything humanly possible to get back in charge of this virus. "I mean us as a people - all of us in terms of our own individual activities. "There are things every single one of us can do this weekend to help." He said there is simple advice from the acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn who has asked people to do two things: "keep our distance and reduce our contacts. "If each of us do those things it will help ensure we can continue to resume more and more contact and more and more priority services of which education is one of them." He said the decision to ask colleges to hold lectures online and only have students on campus for specialist classes in labs or small tutorials is about timing. "At the moment we know that there are certain parts of this country, particularly large urban areas who are on a bit of a knife-edge. "And according to our medical experts the next two or three weeks will decide which way to go. "What we all have to reflect on, the Government, but also all of us as people is what do we want to do with those two or three weeks. "What we can't do those two or three weeks to decide now would be a great time to massively increase the movement of people and the socialisation that goes with that." Steve Martin's duties as the father of the bride are not done! Martin and the cast of the '90s hit "Father of the Bride" are reuniting on Friday for "Father of the Bride: Part 3-ish," which is the first installment of the story since "Father of the Bride: Part II" in 1995. Watch TODAY All Day! Get the best news, information and inspiration from TODAY, all day long. Martin, 75, and co-star Kimberly Williams-Paisley, 49, who played Martin and Diane Keaton's daughter in the two films, spoke with Jenna Bush Hager on TODAY Friday ahead of the movie's premiere, which will be at 6 p.m. EST on Friday on the Netflix YouTube channel and Netflix Facebook page. The two stars talked about reuniting with the cast, including Keaton, Kieran Culkin and Martin Short, to make the new film to benefit World Central Kitchen during the pandemic. "I think this is meant to be a gift to fans of 'Father of the Bride' movies, and then also we're hoping really it'll raise money for World Central Kitchen," Williams-Paisley said. Steve Martin And Kimberly Williams-Paisley In 'Father Of The Bride' (Touchstone / Getty Images) The film depicts Martin as an overbearing father worried about his daughter marrying a man she's only known for a few months. It has become a rite of passage for many fathers to watch it with their daughters who are getting married. Jenna watched it with former President George W. Bush before she tied the knot with her husband, Henry Hager, in 2008. "I know so many people, including myself, that watched this with my dad the week before I got married," Jenna said. "And we both teared up. And we felt like this connection between the two of y'all and the two of us." "The scenes are written in such a touching way, and of course, everybody was so much fun," Martin said. The writer of the original film, Nancy Meyers, wrote the new story during quarantine. She shared a teaser on Instagram Thursday, writing that the cast "is all back with some VERY special guests!" Story continues "She said, 'What if we did one to help people in the pandemic get food?' We said that just sounds like a great idea," Martin said about Meyers. "And I cleared my schedule, which was very busy. And we did it." The mini-sequel shows the Banks family's life during the pandemic. Netflix teased the new movie with a trailer on Tuesday with the message "something's coming" and a graphic of a mass email being sent to all the characters about a family meeting on Zoom. The short film promises to be similar to other virtual Zoom reunions of other hit movies, with the most recent being the '80s classic "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." However, this will not be a simple table read like many of the other reunions. "It's a script with actors, with a story!" Martin said. Williams-Paisley said the whole thing was shot in about a week, with the cast serving as their own camera operators and hair and makeup people. Twenty-five years after they were last together, the cast jumped right back into their old roles. "Well, I only know how to play one character," Martin joked. The reunion also brought back memories of the first "Father of the Bride" movie in 1991, which marked Williams-Paisley's film debut. "I remember the first day getting on set and asking Steve if he had any advice," she said. "And he said, 'Yeah, you're gonna need a good therapist.'" "I'm just gonna add something that Kimberly was cast in a one in a million chance," Martin said. "She sent in a video tape of her performance. So magic still does happen in Hollywood." The movie has remained part of the fabric of their lives decades later, whether it's Martin hearing people repeat memorable lines or Williams-Paisley sharing it with her children. "I know that a phrase I hear a lot in other contexts, not to me, but is, 'Welcome to the '90s, Mr. Banks.''' "And my kids have both been given math lessons with the hot dog buns," Williams-Paisley said. Supermarkets are keen to avoid scenes such as this with shoppers stocking up on items such as toilet rolls, and causing a nationwide shortage (Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images) As cases of coronavirus in the UK continue to rise, many supermarkets have reintroduced rationing in order to prevent the scenes of bare shelves and grappling customers seen at the start of the year. Pasta, toilet roll, and many non-perishable items are now limited on numbers for customers in an effort to avoid shortages. A rapid rise in cases of coronavirus over the past month has prompted fears of a second lockdown as Boris Johnson implemented tighter social restrictions to cope with the second wave of the virus. And shelves have already been left bare following the PMs address to the nation on Tuesday night, in which he outlined the new raft of restrictions which could last for up to six months. So what can you buy, and where? Empty supermarket shelves were a common sight in March as shoppers panic-bought ahead of lockdown (Mike Kemp/In PIctures via Getty Images) Morrisons Morrisons has confirmed that it is rationing selected items, and has introduced buying limits on some of its most popular essentials, to ensure stock does not deplete rapidly. Purchases will be restricted to three items per customer on products including toilet toll and disinfectant. A spokesman for the store said: We are introducing a limit on a small number of key products, such as toilet roll and disinfectant. Our stock levels of these products are good but we want to ensure that they are available for everyone. Tesco Tesco have also reintroduced a limit on the amount of some products that can be bought at one time. CEO Dave Lewis said panic buying is unnecessary and added that it only creates a tension in the supply chain. In stores, there is a three-items per customer limit for flour, dried pasta, toilet roll, baby wipes and anti-bacterial wipes, and there are additional limits for a small number of products online, such as rice and canned vegetables. A spokeswoman for Tesco told Yahoo News UK: We have good availability, with plenty of stock to go round, and we would encourage our customers to shop as normal. To ensure that everyone can keep buying what they need, we have introduced bulk-buy limits on a small number of products. Story continues To help our customers shop safely, we will also have colleagues at the entrances of our larger stores to remind customers about the safety measures we have in place, including the legal requirement to wear a face covering. Products such as pasta are being limited by supermarkets in an effort to prevent panic-buying (Isabel Infantes/AFP via Getty Images) Waitrose A spokeswoman told Yahoo News UK: We are holding good stock levels in all key product areas and we would like to reassure customers that there is no need to worry about buying more than they need. To ensure that customers can get what they need we've set a purchase limit of two packs on a small number of items including toilet rolls and hand sanitiser for online purchases. Sainsburys A spokewoman for Sainsburys told Yahoo News UK: We dont currently have any restrictions. Customers will be advised if this changes. Aldi Aldi has not announced new quantity limits but CEO of the chain Giles Hurley penned an open letter to customers this week urging them to shop considerately and reassuring them that Aldi stores remain fully stocked. A spokesman for the store was not available when contacted by Yahoo News UK. Coronavirus: what happened today Click here to sign up to the latest news, advice and information with our daily Catch-up newsletter In a rare dispute between provinces over the sale of local government bonds, the finance department of Henan province in central China blacklisted a brokerage firm controlled by the municipality of Tianjin this week after the firm failed to pay in full for the bonds it had bought. The incident is the latest in a series that underscore the rapidly worsening financial situation in Tianjin, one of the four mainland cities that are under direct supervision of the central government. According to Henan's finance department, Tianjin-based Bohai Securities, in which the municipal government owns a 25 per cent stake, bought 375 million yuan (US$55 million) of special purpose bonds via auction on September 9. Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China. But Bohai Securities only paid 30 million yuan the day after the auction, less than 10 per cent of the value of the bonds. The default, the first-of-its-kind nationwide, led the Henan government to remove the firm from its list of authorised bond underwriters until 2022. In a response to the official China Securities Journal newspaper, Bohai Securities blamed the default on an employee from its bond underwriting department who was not aware of the result of the auction until two days later, causing it to miss the payment. It added that the firm tried to pay again later but did not succeed. The proceeds from special purpose bonds are mainly used to fund infrastructure and housing projects. The rare default of a state-controlled financial institution on a local government bond purchase is the latest case exposing financial troubles in the port city of Tianjin, one of the most indebted governments in China. Over the past few years, the municipality of 15.6 million residents has attempted to restructure its economy, but slowing growth has undermined its debt-fuelled investment model. China debt: how big is it, who owns it and what is next? Story continues Since 2016, Tianjin's growth has dropped sharply partly because it was forced to reduce the gross domestic product figure for that year initially generated by Binhai New Area, the biggest economic contributor to the city, by a third after a controversy over data forgery emerged. It has also been attempting to restructure its economy to move away from traditional heavy industries and curb pollution. In 2019, the city's economy grew by 4.8 per cent, below the national average of 6.1 per cent. In the first half of 2020, its economy contracted by 3.9 per cent, which was one of the worst performances among China's 31 provincial-level jurisdictions. Weaker growth, coupled with tax and fee cuts mandated by Beijing to stimulate growth, eroded the city's revenues. In the first six months of the year, Tianjin's revenue dropped by 17 per cent from a year earlier, a sharper fall than its expenditure, which declined by 15 per cent, according to government data. In addition, the city's revenues from land sales plunged to 45 billion yuan (US$6.6 billion) in the first half of 2020, which was around half the level compared to the same period last year, as property developers became reluctant to invest money in the city. "The Tianjin municipal government's budgetary performance is among the weaker of tier one governments in China. It has deteriorated rapidly to one of the widest overall deficits among domestic peers in the past three years," rating firm S&P Global said in a research report. "We expect the municipal government to continue dealing with deficits at elevated levels over the medium term, because we view the pressures on its fiscal capacity as rather structural than temporary." According to S&P Global, from 2015 to 2019, Tianjin had an average budget deficit equal to 9 per cent of its total revenue, which was much higher than 3 per cent among all provinces between 2015 and 2018. Last year, the city's overall debt - including that from local government financing vehicles (LGFV) that are state-owned firms that borrow to fund infrastructure and other public projects - was 2.4 times larger than the revenues it generated from tax, fees, land sales and other sources, according to Liu Yu, a fixed income analyst at GF Securities. Other analysts have estimated that the city's debt burden is much higher. At the end of June, Tianjin's total LGFV debt represented around 9.5 times of its annual fiscal revenues, while interest payments on LGFV debt alone represented an estimated 37 per cent of total bank lending within Tianjin, according to an analysis by Logan Wright from New York-based consultancy Rhodium Group. Shrinking revenues and the high debt load have hamstrung the municipal government's ability to support many of the firms that it owns. The government said the state-owned enterprises under its management had a total liability of 3.8 trillion yuan (US$559 billion) at the end of March last year. Technically, the government is responsible for much, if not all, of that debt. In late August, Tianjin Real Estate Trust Group, a property developer under the government's de facto ownership, defaulted on a bond traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange after failing to pay interest of 15.8 million yuan (US$2.3 million) and principal of 200 million yuan (US$29.4 million) due to bondholders. The firm said the default was due to a cash shortage and limited availability of new financing after Beijing tightened regulations on developers' balance sheets to curb rising housing prices. The default led Chinese rating agency Pengyuan to downgrade the developer's long-term credit profile from AA- to C. It also flagged a default risk on the firm's 3.6 billion yuan bond repayments that are due in the coming year. Belt and Road Initiative debt: how big is it and what's next? Tianjin Real Estate Group, the developer's parent company that is wholly owned by the municipal government, was supposed to help repay the debt if a default occurred, but the group itself is burdened by high debt and risk of default. It has not disclosed any audit reports for the past two years, leaving the public with only scanty knowledge of its financial position. At the same time, the group's market-based, mixed ownership reform stalled over the past three years after several private firms pulled out of negotiations following a series of corruption scandals among its top leadership. In a desperate effort to boost cash flow, the group sold a land parcel this month at half the price that it bought it for three years ago. In December, Tewoo Group, a state-owned commodity firm from Tianjin, defaulted on an offshore bond worth US$1.25 billion, one of the largest state-owned enterprise defaults in the offshore market, after the government was unable to lend support. Tewoo is now under bankruptcy restructuring. 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. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 00:05:53|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The South African government on Friday unveiled a plan to buy energy from independent power producers (IPPs) in a rare move to cope with a prevailing power crisis. The plan, gazetted by the government, will enable the procurement of 6,800 MW of solar and wind generation, 3,000 MW of gas generation, 1,500 MW of coal generation and 513 MW of storage. Electricity from IPPs must be purchased by state-run electricity utility Eskom, and programs will target connection to the grid as soon as reasonably possible, said Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy. New generation capacity is needed to be procured to contribute towards energy security, the minister said. Electricity produced from the new generation capacity shall be procured through one or more tendering procedures which are fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective and shall constitute IPP procurement programs, he said. Eskom has maintained monopoly on power supply, providing more than 95 percent of the electricity consumed in the country. But the embattled parastatal, staggering under a heavy debt, has failed to provide sufficient electricity for more than a decade, resulting in constant power blackouts, particularly in recent months. Many customers, including the City of Cape Town, have applied for government permission to purchase directly from IPPs, but to no avail. The governmment's plan to allow IPPs to come on the stage is seen as a breakthrough in addressing the country's power shortage. The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomed the eventual gazetting of the plan, albeit delayed for more than two months since the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) gave this procurement the green light. South Africa cannot afford more delays or government interference in the electricity supply sector, the party said. "If we are to break free from the shackles of the Eskom monopoly, IPPs must be encouraged and incentivized to take up the slack of the failing state-owned entity," said the DA. The DA called on the IPP Office to speedily issue the necessary requests for proposals and open the next bid window for renewables. "If we are to ensure our economy is restored to a stable footing, we must safeguard and foster our energy security," said Kevin Mileham, DA Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy. This entails acting with speed to call for applications, and then processing those applications rapidly and efficiently, he said. Enditem A one time prosecution barrister who admitted downloading explicit child sex videos was handed a combination of probation and community service orders on Friday. Ordering 60-year-old Jonathan Lowry to complete a two year probation order and 100 hours of community service, District Judge Steven Keown told the pervert it was obvious that the children involved in the images, some as young as seven, have no control over their lives and have no defence against the makers and distributors of this material. Material that will invariably be viewed and downloaded over and over again, re-victimising these children over and over again, declared the judge who told the former barrister it is because of people like you Mr Lowry, who are prepared to download these images in order to obtain gratification, that the abuse of children continues". These were real victims and real images of real sexual abuse perpetrated against children as young as 7 years of age," the judge said. These are some of the most serious offences to be dealt with in the Magistrates Courts in Northern Ireland. At an earlier hearing Lowry, from the upmarket Holyrood Manor in the leafy Malone Road area in the south of Belfast and who for years was a lead prosecutor in Belfast and Dungannon Crown Courts, entered guilty pleas to six charges including two of making an indecent image of a child, three of having extreme pornography and one of attempting to possess an indecent image of a child. All of the offences were committed on various dates between 9 September 2009 and 30 October 2016. The court heard that when Lowrys devices were examined police uncovered two sexually explicit videos, one classified at level A, the most graphic category which depicts acts of penetrative sex, and the other at level B. According to count three, the offence of attempting to possess an indecent image, that related to a movie file listed as PTHC, which is an abbreviation for Pre-teen hardcore, and involves 11yo, 12yo, 10yo, kids. The court also heard that Lowry had downloaded three extreme pornographic movies which involve bestiality. At the height of his career as a Public Prosecution Service prosecutor Lowry dealt with a plethora of different crimes including serious sex offences and indecent images cases. Sentencing him on Friday, Judge Keown said that immaterial of his clear record and numerous references, the authorities are very clear that in cases of this kind, involving the exploitation of children for sexual gratification, some but not much weight is attached to previous good character". He said the choice for him was whether to impose a custodial sentence or to hand down a sentence more designed to rehabilitate Lowry and ensure against any further offences. The judge outlined that as any custodial sentence would be short given the nature of the offences and would not result in any supervision or rehabilitative work. I propose to sentence Mr Lowry to a community disposal specifically aimed at rehabilitation and the avoidance of reoffending," he said. Turning to the issue of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, Judge Keown revealed that in psychiatric and psychological reports, Lowry said he had become desensitized through what he saw on the internet, telling one of the doctors: I started looking and then kept getting into other stuff, more and more, Ive looked at all sorts of things on the internet. Lowry, the court heard, admitted seeking out more extreme material over time with the medical professional giving an opinion that when analysed, his actions are suggestive of those offenders who initially seek sexually deviant material for errant curiosity when under psychological stress and who then persist in their conduct beyond curiosity to develop more conditioned sexual interests". Imposing a five year Sexual Offences Prevention Order, Judge Keown said while there were positives in the various reports, he believed such as order was both necessary and proportionate. It bars Lowry from having or using any web capable device without prior approval and that device must be able to hold its internet history and he is prohibited from deleting any web history. He is also barred from working with children and the former barrister was ordered to sign the police sex offenders register for five years. Following the verdict Detective Constable Jane Biggerstaff of the PSNIs Child Internet Protection Team said: Children should be able to live their lives in total innocence, without a care in the world. However, there are people who choose to exploit and expose children to their dark, depraved underworld. Our message today is clear, we will not cease in their endeavour to catch those who exploit the most vulnerable in our society. This conviction should serve as a warning to those who think their own activity will go unnoticed or unpunished. Everyone leaves a digital footprint when downloading, viewing or making indecent images of children. We will be relentless in our pursuit of offenders and when we catch them the repercussions will be far reaching. The Google Pixel 5 will arrive in black and green variants, and Googles official name for the green model has just been confirmed. It has been confirmed by Jon Prosser, while talking with another tipster, Max Weinbach. FIrst Jon Prosser mentioned the Sage Green name, after which Max Weinbach said itll be either Subtle Sage or Sorta Sage, as he has been hearing both. After that, Jon Prosser seems to have confirmed the final name. The green Google Pixel 5 will be called Subtle Sage It will be Subtle Sage. Thats a rather odd choice, but then again, were talking about the company that usually goes with such names. Google opted for Just Black and Oh So Orange names in the past, those are just some examples. Advertisement Speaking of which, the black Google Pixel 5 variant will probably be called Just Black. Thats the companys go-to name for all black Pixel phones, it seems. The Google Pixel 5 will become official soon. The company is getting ready to announce it on September 30, along with some other devices. The phone will launch alongside the Pixel 4a 5G, and some Nest products. The device will not ship with a flagship processor, and yet it will be the companys most powerful phone released in 2020. It will be equipped with the Snapdragon 765G 64-bit octa-core SoC. Advertisement That chip is really capable, and one of the best mid-rangers Qualcomm has to offer. Still, its nowhere near the Snapdragon 865 or 865+ in terms of performance. It does support 5G, though. The phone will be on offer in a single variant The Pixel 5 will arrive in a single variant. It will include 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. You wont be able to expand its storage. It will feature a 6-inch fullHD+ 90Hz display. That display will be protected by the Gorilla Glass 6. The phone will also include a 4,080mAh battery, which will support 18W fast wired charging. Wireless charging will also be supported, while reverse charging may be a part of the package as well. Advertisement The phone will be IP68 certified, while we still dont know what build materials will Google use. All we know is that it wont be all plastic like the Google Pixel 4a. A 12.2-megapixel main camera will be included on the back, alongside an ultra-wide camera. A single 8-megapixel camera will sit on the phones front side. The device will sport a rear-facing fingerprint scanner, and its bezels will be very thin. A flat display will be included, and a display camera hole will as well. The phone is set to cost $699 in the US, CAD799.99 in Canada, and 629 in Europe. For more information, check out our Pixel 5 preview. Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations. When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined President Barack Obama for lunch in his private dining room in July 2013, the White House sought to keep the event quiet the meeting called for discretion. Mr. Obama had asked his White House counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, to set up the lunch so he could build a closer rapport with the justice, according to two people briefed on the conversation. Treading cautiously, he did not directly bring up the subject of retirement to Justice Ginsburg, at 80 the Supreme Courts oldest member and a two-time cancer patient. He did, however, raise the looming 2014 midterm elections and how Democrats might lose control of the Senate. Implicit in that conversation was the concern motivating his lunch invitation the possibility that if the Senate flipped, he would lose a chance to appoint a younger, liberal judge who could hold on to the seat for decades. But the effort did not work, just as an earlier attempt by Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who was then Judiciary Committee chairman, had failed. Justice Ginsburg left Mr. Obama with the clear impression that she was committed to continuing her work on the court, according to those briefed. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.25 By Tamilla Mammadova Trend: Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of Georgia, there are strong good-neighborly relations between the countries, said Irakli Beraya, chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, commenting on the meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov, Trend reports via Georgian media. According to him, in addition to close cooperation in a bilateral format, Georgia and Azerbaijan are united by international energy and transport projects of great importance. As Beraya noted, the strategic partnership between Georgia and Azerbaijan and excellent good-neighborly relations will ensure the successful implementation and effectiveness of these projects, as well as the opportunity to implement many new projects. "Azerbaijan supports the resolution adopted annually by the UN General Assembly," said the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said that is that there are no unresolved issues in relations between the two countries, Beraya said. This is the first official visit of Bayramov to Georgia. During the trip, the minister has already held official meetings with Georgian President Salome Zourabiscvili, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Kakhaber Kuchava, and Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Mila61979356 Dynamic Sounds personnel take Principal Gibson and school prefects through a demonstration of the operating procedure for the system. The St. Martins Secondary School (SMSS) is reveling in a recent act of kindness bestowed on it. Last Tuesday, September 14, Mr. Vaughn Mills - owner and operator of Dynamic Sounds, handed over a brand new public address system to the school. Mills, a SMSS alumnus, a graduate of the Class of 1988, handed over the equipment to Principal Yohance Gibson, in the company of representatives of the Local Chapter of the St. Martins Past Student Association (SAMPASA, school prefects and staff members of Dynamic Sounds. Prior to the handing over, President of SAMPASA SVG Mr. Ronnie Daniel gave a snapshot of the endeavour. "When we sort of whispered to Vaughn, he was in a difficult position his Dad, Mr. Cedric Mills, had passed and he had to put it in the background. This ceremony was delayed, but nonetheless, we are here and we are thankful. Daniel went on to reminisce about the days when the then Dynamic Guys, from which the Dynamic Sounds evolved, provided music for the SMSS fairs that made them the biggest (fairs) in Kingstown. This event, he suggested, was another demonstration of giving. In handing over the equipment, Mills described it as a RCF Power Speaker System. He said further, "There is also a mixer from where the volume and tonal quality of the sound is controlled. This will help the school to communicate and to get your word across during the functions of the school. The system also came with microphones and accompanying stands. Principal Gibson thanked Mills for his contribution, saying, "Gifts like these build the extracurricular curriculum; in that we have concerts where we are able to have opportunities for our children to bond, and where the whole community works in camaraderie. The Dynamic Sounds personnel then proceeded to do a demonstration of the operating procedure of the system for the benefit of the Principal, staff and Class Prefects. The gift is quite timely as the school hopes to have an innovative activity for this years Independence celebrations and this time, all voices will be heard. A new app launched in Hamilton this week will help those facing homelessness and anyone else in need find and access social services more easily. The idea was conceived after CG Chen, whose background is in tech, spent hours and hours scouring the internet to help a recently-evicted friend find the services he needed to get back on his feet. Like, what could be easier than Google? said Chen, CEO of Ample Labs, a Toronto-based tech non-profit that empowers those facing homelessness through technology. And when we did our research, the answer was nothing. So they developed a tool. Chalmers, a web app that will ultimately be available on iOS and Android, is a chatbot that helps connects users with social services like food banks, overnight shelter, crisis hotlines, clothing banks and drop-in centres in a few seconds. Research shows that 94 per cent of people experiencing homelessness in North America own a cellphone, and more than 75 per cent have a smartphone, she said. The app can be accessed both from mobile devices and desktop computers. The goal is diversion to help vulnerable people get the services they need and to prevent them from falling further into the system, she said. The app took off with police officers and local businesses, who often encounter community members in need and dont know where to direct them. Chen said Hamilton was an easy choice open, innovative, and with consistently high poverty rates. We obviously care about impact as an organization and we care about working with cities that are open and collaborative, she said. Ample Labs received $50,000 in government funding, distributed by United Way Halton and Hamilton (UWHH) for expansion of the app in Hamilton and $30,000 for its expansion to Halton. Other partners include the Hamilton Public Library, Ontario 211, Wesley Urban Ministries, and the City of Hamilton. Mike Mikulak, UWHHs vice-president of community impact, said the app serves as a complement to Ontario 211, a crisis line and telephone directory for social services. For some people, that's great, he said. But there's also a lot of stigma around social services, and so sometimes something happens and they want to access something, but they don't necessarily want to talk to a person. He said people will often turn to Google, rather than call a hotline. It can be really hard to sort of find and connect to those services, he said. The app uses data from the hotline, leveraging an existing investment to add a new layer to social services access, he said. This is a perfect opportunity to address this gap during the crisis when so many people are accessing these social services for the first time, he said. Chalmers has been available in Toronto and Barrie for more than a year. In Toronto alone, the app has had more than 75,000 unique users, and expects to hit 100,000 by November. Chen said the data the app collects age, housing status and location, among others provides key information about poverty in cities, especially amid a pandemic. In 2019, 37 per cent of users in Toronto said they were on the app looking for help for themselves, as opposed to helping someone else or checking out the app. In 2020, that number has jumped to 56 per cent. This was kind of a shock to us, she said. These numbers just really increased. In October, Chalmers will launch in Halton, and by the end of the year, it will be accessible in York, Peel and Durham regions, as well. It seems like COVID-19 has really sped up these conversations, she said. The US Academy has introduced a new set of diversity standards for the Oscars, but good intentions may not always lead to positive changes in the film industry Politics in art is a sensitive subject, but it is one that has been a driving force in all forms of art since the wall paintings on ancient Egyptian temples. Politicising art, however, is a more controversial subject, and it becomes even more controversial when preset political agendas control the forms of art concerned, especially TV productions and films. The decision by the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which annually awards the prestigious Oscars for the best films of the year, has recently taken one of its most controversial decisions in recent years. The academy has introduced a new set of standards, to be applied in 2024, which must be followed by films to be eligible for the Best Picture Award. These standards, labelled as inclusive ones, state that for any film to qualify for an Oscar in the Best Picture category it must meet at least four standards or criteria. At least one of the lead actors or significant supporting actors in the film must be from an under-represented racial or ethnic group, defined as Asian, Hispanic/Latino, Black/African-American, Indigenous/Native-American/Alaskan Native, Middle Eastern/North-African, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, or another under-represented race or ethnicity. At least 30 per cent of the films crew must be chosen from the following under-represented groups: women, a racial or ethnic group, people identifying as LGBTQ+, people with cognitive or physical disabilities, or people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The main story of the film or the main storyline, theme, or narrative of the film must be centred on an under-represented group or groups. The four standards are broken into nine criteria introduced by the academy on the pretext of promoting inclusion and fighting racism. Yet, had such standards been applied only a few years ago classic US films such as The Godfather, The Silence of the Lambs, The Lord of the Rings or The Departed would not have been eligible to win a Best Picture Award. Even this years Oscar nominee for Best Picture, the film 1917, would not qualify, and of course it would also be ineligible to win the award. A hypothetical film about the adventures of 10 Viking warriors would not receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture unless 30 per cent of the films production crew were from under-represented categories, as explained above. If the film had something like 25 per cent of its crew from under-represented categories, and not 30 per cent, it would also be tossed out of the competition no matter how brilliant it was. The new standards will force world-class filmmakers and studios to shift their focus from hiring the best and best-qualified crew to focusing on choosing their crew based on race, religion and sexual preference. In other words, filmmaking will become a struggle to meet politically correct criteria that are quite hard to meet, rather than an activity aiming to make works of art. In turn, the new rules will likely dim the chances of films such as US director Martin Scorseses gangster movies, or genres such as Westerns, ever to qualify for the Best Picture nomination at the Oscars unless the producers somehow manage to meet a new formula that mimics the making of a US Food and Drug Administration-approved drug rather than a work of art. As a result of the new standards, new problems will arise. Enforcing quotas of suitable actors and crew members in films may be good opportunities for some new talents, but they will also likely be seen as negative by veterans of the industry, including non-white actors or crew members. These may feel that they have been chosen for a film not on the basis of their talent, but in order to complete a quota or to meet a standard that is disrespectful to them and their careers. There is nothing wrong with an all-black cast, or an all-white cast, an all-women cast, an all-Christian cast, or an all-Muslim cast for that matter, if the story of the film demands one. But enforcing the presence of diverse characters in a film just for the sake of diversity simply politicises the art of cinema to cater to political agendas. It is no secret that historically the Oscars have been less than fair, or even bigoted, towards actors of colour. Even some groundbreaking roles by legendary actors such as Samuel L Jackson have not been enough to grant them Oscars. Film legends like Morgan Freeman, regarded as one of the greatest US actors of all time, only won an Oscar once, while James Earl Jones only won an honourary Oscar in 2011. The case of African-American women and other non-white actors has not been much better and has only improved in recent years. That said, the Oscars have been changing, however, and a great actor like Mahershala Ali has won an Oscar twice in recent years. None of these black actors, or any other actors, would likely accept an Oscar as part of a quota, a kind of consolation prize, and would only accept one based on their talent and creativity. Luckily, some artists have started to speak out against such moves by the academy, and Hollywood star Kirstie Alley has described the list of new standards as a disgrace to artists everywhere. While she reiterated her support for diversity, inclusion and tolerance, she said she was opposed to mandated arbitrary percentages relating to hiring professionals in the cinema business. It seems a woke culture, one conscious of issues concerning social justice and racial justice, is taking over the United States but unfortunately in an unhealthy manner that has led to a cancellation culture in which some US citizens are effectively silenced in the name of political correctness. Many of the victims of this new culture are politicians and celebrities, and these are being bashed on social-media networks for simply saying the wrong things according to the perfectionist standards of the time. Of course, the horrific killing of African-American man George Floyd by a white police officer last May in the US state of Minnesota has caused unprecedented ripples across US society, and it is still having repercussions today, including in the spread of cancellation culture and the new standards for the Oscars. While the Oscars will likely remain the most-coveted cinema award by all those who work in the film industry, these new standards will likely diminish their value and the perception of cinema audiences towards their winners. Undoubtedly, these are politically turbulent times in the United States, and the new Oscars standards are a reflection of how far some are willing to go to appease either minorities or certain groups for political gains, to meet a certain agenda, to gain media exposure, or out of simple hypocrisy. The new set of standards may have been written with good intentions, but good intentions are not enough to make positive changes, and in many cases they do the opposite. After all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. *The writer is a political analyst and author of Egypts Arab Spring and the Winding Road to Democracy. *A version of this article appears in print in the 24 September, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: President Xi Jinping delivers a speech via video from Beijing to a high-level meeting in honor of the United Nations' 75th anniversary on Monday. [Photo/Xinhua] China's donations to bolster world food security, assist least developed nations New measures announced by President Xi Jinping to support the United Nations will offer a strong boost to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, bolster the level of food security and reduce extreme poverty for the world's least developed countries, officials and experts said. In a speech delivered via video at the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Xi announced a $50 million donation to the China-UN Food and Agriculture Organization South-South Cooperation Trust Fund (Phase III) and another $50 million to the UN COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan. The donation to the FAO comes on the heels of China's funding support to the organization in 2009 and 2015, which totaled $80 million. The contributions have funded two phases of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation programs, through which China sent 350 agricultural experts to 12 developing countries in Africa and Asia to share their expertise in the production, processing, storage and marketing of agricultural products. "We are very grateful for this new $50 million contribution announced by President Xi, as it provides a strong boost to the work of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Program," said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu. "Through knowledge-sharing, and the exchange of expertise and technologies between developing countries, the program aims to improve food security and nutrition, reduce rural poverty, engage rural women and youth, build resilience, and develop local capacities to contribute to the 2030 Agenda," he said. Li Zhiping, deputy director-general of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the new donation indicates the strong emphasis China's top leadership places on South-South cooperation in the agricultural area in the new era. "It also shows that China will push forward South-South cooperation to a higher and deeper level with more pragmatic actions," she said. With close to half of the goals laid out in the 2030 Agenda related to agricultural development, Li said the program between China and the FAO is an important way to help realize goals set in the agenda and concrete action to build a community with a shared future for mankind. In his speech at the UN meeting, Xi said China is set to lift out of poverty all of its rural residents living below the poverty line by the end of this year, which will enable the country to meet poverty eradication target 10 years ahead of its schedule set out in the 2030 Agenda. China has managed to lift 850 million people out of poverty since it began reform and opening-up in 1978, which accounts for nearly 70 percent of global extreme poverty reduction, according to the World Bank. Jeffrey Sachs, an economics professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, said China's fight against poverty has been the most remarkable in human history, and is an inspiration to other parts of the world. "SDG 1 (the first Sustainable Development Goal) calls for the end of extreme poverty, and China has accomplished that. The COVID-19 pandemic is a big setback for the global effort to end poverty, but there too, China has shown leadership in suppressing the pandemic. "I believe that China has a big role to play in helping other parts of the world both to fight COVID-19 and to end extreme poverty," he said. Li Xiaoyun, a professor of rural development and global poverty alleviation at China Agricultural University, said China has become one of the largest contributors to global poverty reduction through its South-South cooperation and foreign aid programs. The new measures announced by Xi directly target two factors that lead to poverty in developing countriespublic health emergencies and grain security problems. Meanwhile, China is not only contributing funds to global poverty reduction but also its own solutions and experiencethe elimination of absolute poverty through economic growth, the readjustment of income distribution and targeted poverty alleviation, he said. Wang Xiaodong contributed to this story. At 27, Kara DuBois experienced chest pain but her doctor explained that she had a panic attack. So she thought little of it until five years later. She learned that she actually had experienced a heart attack and needed quadruple bypass surgery. Since then she has had four more heart attacks and was in end-stage heart failure. I didnt know that I had a heart attack, DuBois, 48, of Narberth, Pennsylvania, told TODAY. Ive been really close to death so many times. From ages 27 to 48, Kara DuBois had five heart attacks and was in end-stage heart failure. As she waited for a transplant she felt like she was dying. (Courtesy Kara DuBois) But after a string of three heart attacks in less than a year, she received a heart transplant and believes her story of hope can help others facing hardship. Dont give up before your miracle, she said. It comes right after your worst moments. When you want to give up, its right around the corner. A family history of heart disease At 32, DuBois needed a physical exam. During it, she received an EKG and learned some stunning news: She had experienced a major heart attack previously and needed to undergo quadruple bypass surgery. She realized that anxiety attack in her 20s was more serious than she knew. I had heart disease, she said. While DuBois father wasnt around, she learned that his family had heart disease and many died before turning 50. After she recovered from the bypass surgery, she hoped lifestyle changes and following doctors advice would allow for a long, healthy life. But she still wanted to make the most of it and started working on her bucket list. I always dreamed of going on a cruise and swimming in tropical waters, she said. DuBois enjoyed life, but after another heart attack and years on medication, even simple activities became tough. I was just doing regular things, but things were getting harder. I would go out with my friends and go for a walk and I just couldnt keep up, she explained. Little things like that were taking a toll on me. Having quadruple bypass surgery in her 30s made Kara DuBois really appreciate life and try to fulfill as many items on her bucket list as possible. (Courtesy Kara DuBois) Then in November, she had another heart attack. Then another and another. It was just so many heart attacks, DuBois said. Chuck (my husband) was watching me dying over and over and me seeing the look on his face, I think we all have post-traumatic stress. Story continues Doctors managed her medicine to help as much as they could. To be considered for a heart transplant she had to be sick but not too sick to qualify, she explained. My issue was getting on the list and the horrendous backflips I had to do to get on the list. That was torture, she said. At times I wanted to give up so much, but my slogan is Dont give up before your miracle, so that wasnt an option. Kara DuBois' husband, Chuck Elliott, and her mom, Georgette DuBois, helped DuBois grapple with end-stage heart failure and three heart attacks since November 2019. (Courtesy Kara DuBois) She was finally ready to undergo screening to see if she qualified, but then the COVID-19 epidemic began and she had to wait. I spent a month getting sicker, she said. Im dying. (I wondered): Are they going to be able to manipulate these medications in a way thats going to help me make it? Heart failure before 50 Having heart disease and being in heart failure before age 50 was terrifying. (It) really freaked me out, she said. Its intense. Its not for the faint of heart. DuBois saw Dr. Paul Mather a cardiologist and professor of clinical medicine at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia. He treats patients in heart failure and admits that he rarely sees patients as young as DuBois. It is not common at all, he told TODAY. Its incredibly unusual, especially for a woman, to have early coronary artery disease. There is some genetic underlying disorder. Being in the hospital for a heart transplant felt overwhelming for Kara DuBois. That's when she started sharing videos of her experience on social media asking friends and family for help. The response bolstered her strength. (Courtesy Kara DuBois) While genes play a role in her illness, Mather admits we dont know enough about the exact cause of why she was so ill. DuBois tried lifestyle changes and faithfully took her prescriptions but it wasnt enough. Even though she was on all the right medicines and taking (them) and paying attention and doing all the right things, she couldn't overcome the underlying disease, Mather said. She started having little heart attacks because her vessels started to close. While a young woman having a heart attack is especially rare, Mather said its important for doctors to truly listen to patients, no matter their age, when they complain of chest pains. Medicine underserves our female population especially with cardiac disease, he said. Anybody who presents with what we call typical cardiac symptoms should be looked at. Mather stressed that women often experience unusual symptoms, including: Palpitations Shortness of breath Gastrointestinal issues Feeling confused or disoriented Exhaustion Its just something (doctors) should consider, heart health, he explained. From dark days to hope In August, DuBois spent two weeks in the hospital on a balloon pump, a machine that manually pumps blood through the coronary arteries to help the blood flow out of the heart more efficiently Mather explained. People with this pump cannot move and need to be strapped into bed lying down. As DuBois grappled with being immobilized and isolated, she asked a nurse what she could do to thrive after the transplant. I said What kind of personality traits and things do you need to be a person who survives this versus the person who doesnt, DuBois said. She said, You need support, so that night I went screaming onto Facebook like 'Rally around me. I really need you.' The day before Kara DuBois received a new heart, she saw a rainbow from her hospital bed. It became a As encouragement flooded in, she received news that she'd get a new heart on August 14, her mom's birthday. Everything just went as smoothly as I would have hoped and she did really well," Dr. Marisa Cevasco, assistant professor of surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia, told TODAY. "No complications in the post-operative period. DuBois is taking medications and needs to receive regular biopsies to make sure her body isn't rejecting her heart, but she feels optimistic. And, she looks forward to ticking off everything on her bucket list, including learning to ride a bike. Since her heart transplant, Kara DuBois feels amazed by her new life. She can't wait to learn to ride a bike once she's fully recovered. (Courtesy Kara DuBois) Its so amazing. I actually have a future and its so bright, she said. Every second I wake up, Im thrilled. Poland authorities and mining unions said on Thursday that an agreement on a plan to restructure the countrys unprofitable and polluting coal industry is imminent, as hundreds of workers protesting the governments intention to shut mines refused to return to the surface. Some of the miners have been underground since Monday when the protest began. From two mines, the movement has expanded to 10. Other miners have staged shorter demonstrations across the countrys southern coal region, a spokesman for one of the unions told Reuters on Wednesday. Poland is more dependent on coal than any other state in the European Union. The fossil fuel provides nearly 80% of its energy needs, with 8% of that electricity coming from a single coal mine, Turow. The country is also the blocs only member that hasnt committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. Since the 1990s, governments have grappled with the ailing domestic coal industry. All of them including the present one have ultimately failed to implement plans to restructure it. We believe it is impossible to implement these proposals without the full approval of trade unions, Karol Manys, spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin, said in July after several hours of talks between government and mining union officials, the Daily Sun Express reported. German model Fast forward two months and both the government and the unions now say they are ready to adopt the German restructuring model. The plan would require drafting a detailed schedule for gradual mine closures and adjusting output to power plants demand. Related: Why Russia Is Pushing Unneeded Nuclear Power Plants On Egypt Germanys plan to exit coal by 2038 was approved by the Parliament in July. The phase-out program includes financial compensation to mining companies, power plant operators, affected regions, and employees moving from coal to renewables as a power source. President Andrzej Dudas administration had originally set a goal to shut all coal mines by 2040. Poland had to suspend production at 12 state-run coal mines in June for three weeks because of the spread of COVID-19. Talks held with trade unions then showed the deadline needed to be adjusted to mitigate the effects on the local economy. The government is now targeting 2050, while the unions want to keep coal mines running until 2060. Maybe we can meet halfway?, regional Solidarity union head Dominik Kolorz told Bloomberg late on Wednesday. Negotiations with unions continue on Thursday and a final agreement on a timeline could be reached by the end of the week. By Cecilia Jamasmie for Mining.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Explained: Here are the new quarantine rules for these seven states due to COVID-19 outbreak India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P New Delhi, Sep 25: Coronavirus outbreak in India has seen states revising their quarantine and self-isolation guidelines for travellers from time to time to control the spread of the deadly virus. It can be seen that Kerala became the latest state to relax the mandatory home quarantine for passengers arriving in the state to seven days from 14 days. While some states have relaxed quarantine rules for international passengers on short business visits, some have eased guidelines for certain other categories of passengers as well. Kerala man tests positive for Covid-19 thrice in 6 months Also, the government has reduced the duration of institutional quarantine for international passengers to seven days followed by home isolation for another 7 days. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a high-level virtual meeting with chief ministers and health ministers of seven states which have reported very high number of coronavirus cases. These states and the union territories are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Punjab. Here are the coronavirus quarantine rules across Indian states: a. Maharashtra: The government mandates 14 days of home quarantine for all passengers. International passengers need to go under seven days of institutional quarantine followed by seven days of home quarantine. On the other side, domestic passengers from Mumbai and Aurangabad intending to exit Mumbai within seven days of the arrival shall be exempted from quarantine. Coronavirus: India records 86,052 new cases in last 24 hours; Tally nears 5.9 million b. Andhra Pradesh: In Andhra Pradesh, all symptomatic and asymptomatic persons travelling from Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will be sent to institutional quarantine for seven days. If the novel coronavirus test comes negative, they will be sent to home quarantine for a further seven days. Passengers coming from other areas will be sent to home quarantine for 14 days. c. Karnataka: People travelling from other states to Karnataka shall neither have to undergo the mandatory quarantine for 14 days nor register themselves on the Seva Sindhu portal. All the international passengers who are found asymptomatic upon arrival must undergo a mandatory home quarantine for 14 days. d. Uttar Pradesh: International passengers would have to go under seven days of institutional quarantine followed by seven days of home quarantine. However, domestic passengers would have to undergo 14 days of home quarantine. The passengers exiting the State within 7 days of arrival shall be exempted from quarantine. e. Tamil Nadu: According to reports, Home quarantine is mandatory for 14 days and if the individual develops fever, cough, breathlessness during the quarantine period, they are expected to visit a health facility. It is also said that COVID-19 tests will be done only on symptomatic persons coming from other states or union territories. Those who test positive and are symptomatic will be taken to hospital isolation for treatment. Bihar Assembly Election 2020: List of rules one should follow amid COVID-19 f. Delhi: International passengers would have to undergo seven days of institutional quarantine at government facility at no charge or paid quarantine at designated hotels. Later, the passengers have to undergo seven days of home quarantine. For exemption from quarantine, passengers can also upload RT-PCR test reports 96 hours prior to undertaking the journey. g. Punjab: International passengers would mandatorily undergo quarantine of 14 days, with seven days in an institutional quarantine centre whereas the remaining days can be spent in self-quarantine. The expense of seven-day institutional quarantine will have to be borne by the passengers only. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, September 25, 2020, 13:44 [IST] Andre Vltchek RIP By Peter Koenig Andre, my good friend and comrade is no more. We worked on several investigative projects together. Andres professional rigor, sharpness of understanding, vision and ability to connecting the dots is exemplary. We shared some unforgettable moments, when we followed a refugee trail from Bodrum, Turkey, to the Greek Island of Kos in the Aegean Sea onwards to Athens. Im deeply shocked and saddened beyond words by Andres sudden passing. In the night from Monday to Tuesday 22 September, Andre traveled by chauffeur-driven car with his wife from Samsun on the Black Sea in Turkey to Istanbul. When they arrived in the early morning hours at the hotel and his wife wanted to wake him up, he didnt react. He had passed away. Turkish police said Andres death was suspicious. His body was immediately brought to a hospital for forensic analysis. Andre traveled relentlessly from one battle field to another, from one conflict zone to a war zone. He exposed innumerable atrocities committed around the world, mostly by western powers. He never wavered from revealing the truth. From Afghanistan to Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan to Argentina, Chile, Peru to Hong Kong, to Xinjiang, the Uygur Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China Andre was there. He reported on environmental crimes in Borneo, or originally called Kalimantan, Indonesia, where corruption is destroying vital rainforests the lungs of Mother Earth for the benefit of western corporations, killing wildlife and annihilating the livelihoods of indigenous people. Andre stood always up for justice, in defense of the poor, for the persecuted, the oppressed for those that by and large are considered non-people by the elitist Global North; the destitute, the refugees, political prisoners, those that disappear and wither away in the shadows. As an investigative journalist and geopolitical analyst, he fought Supremacist Might for Human Rights. Andre was a true Internationalist. He will be deeply missed. May his soul rest in peace and his spirit live on. Two American supporters of Isis living in Texas and South Carolina were arrested for conspiring with a terrorist organization to plan "Netflix worthy" attacks on Trump Tower, the New York Stock Exchange and federal buildings, according to the FBI. Jaylin Christopher Molina, who goes by "Abdur Rahim", and Kristopher Matthews, who goes by "Ali Jibreel", were arrested on Monday for allegedly planning attacks that would earn them "rock star status baby", according to San Antonio-based KSAT news. The two men are also accused of discussing travel to Syria to join Isis and recruit additional members, according to a criminal complaint filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio, reported by The State. Covert agents tracked communications between the two over encrypted messaging applications as they allegedly shared graphic Isis videos, AK-47 training manuals, bomb-making instructions, and attempted to radicalize others to join the terrorist organization, according to the affidavit. An investigator with the FBI says in the criminal complaint that the secretive chat groups professed their loyalty to Isis and their hate for the United States, saying America is the enemy that needed to be defeated. We need to stick together, we need to defeat them, we need to take a lot of casualties, Mr Molina is alleged to have said, according to The State. Mr Matthews allegedly said they shouldn't attack places "like malls where innocent children are", but should rather attack government buildings like the CIA, FBI, and DEA, as well as the New York Stock Exchange and Trump Tower. I would hit places like that to send a message, Mr Matthews allegedly said, according to The NY Post's reporting of the criminal complaint. In my opinion, if you really want to do some damage and make a statement I would have a team have a three to four-man team and everyone spreads out hit different sides then boom engulf them. As recently as 25 August, Mr Molina was in contact with a woman in Europe who was requesting instructions on bomb-making, according to authorities. Mr Matthews allegedly wrote in one of the chat groups that if they accomplished the "mission", they would be given "rock star status baby". "This could be Netflix worthy, Mr Matthews allegedly wrote in the chat group, according to the reported court papers. The pair face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. It's been two months since the release of Sanjana Sanghi and the late Sushant Singh Rajput's film, Dil Bechara. The film was bittersweet for many reasons, most importantly because it was the last film that audiences got to see Sushant in. Sanjana took to her Instagram handle to mark two months of the release of Dil Bechara. With a touching note, she expressed her gratitude to fans, remembered Sushant and shared all the things that make the movie special. Sharing a video montage of the movie, Sanjana wrote as caption, "#2MonthsOfDilBechara. 2 months since you all made our labour of love yours forever. 2 months since you endowed upon us a lifetime of endless love. 2 months of Manny, Kizie and our world of Dil Bechara. Thank you for letting art touch you, heal you, and elate you. It's what it was meant to do. #ThinkingOfYou #Sushant #InLovingMemory." See Sanjana's post here. Dil Bechara is the Hindi remake of the Hollywood film The Fault In Our Stars. The romantic drama was the directorial debut of casting director Mukesh Chhabra. When it released on Disney+ Hotstar on July 24, 2020, many celebrities had taken to their social media handles to celebrate Sushant's last film and had caught the movie at the exact time of its premiere on the streaming platform. The film received much love from fans and celebrities alike and received a record IMDB rating of 10/10. Talking about Sushant, the actor was found dead in his Mumbai apartment on June 14. The CBI took over investigation of his death from the Mumbai Police. The probe is underway. ALSO READ: Kangana Ranaut Fights For Justice, Does Not Pause To Celebrate Sushant's Last Film Dil Bechara ALSO READ: Sushant Singh Rajput's Film Dil Bechara Registers 95 Million Viewers In First 24 Hours Biden Says He Will Bring DOJs Civil Rights Division to the White House Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has made a number of pledges that will see the Justice Department shift vastly from the one under President Donald Trump, especially in the area of civil rights and policing. Biden this week told reporters that, if elected, he plans to bring the DOJs civil rights division into the White House as a way to elevate its standing and will ensure that the divisions presence will be elevated in the department so that it will have access and transparency into all police department activities across the country. Id make sure theres a combination of the Civil Rights Division having more direct authority inside the Justice Department and be able to investigate, than in fact it has now, he said while speaking at an economic summit for black business people in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday. Trump and Biden have offered divergent views on civil rights issues, especially in relation to law enforcement. Since taking office, the Trump administration has rolled back a number of Obama-era civil rights enforcement tools and limited the role of the federal government in these areas while focusing the departments energy on upholding constitutional freedoms. The Trump administration has repeatedly expressed support for police officers and has committed resources and funding to assist in reducing violent crime across the country. Trump and Attorney General William Barr have both condemned calls to defund the police and are against limiting legal protections from civil lawsuits against police officers. Trumps Justice Department has reinstated the death penalty and has instructed federal prosecutors to charge defendants with the most serious and provable crimes. Yet the Trump administration is open to police reform and has taken steps to address issues of police misconduct, which officials have said are often isolated instances. Trump signed an executive order on police reform in July, which encourages the use of the latest standards for use of force and sending social workers to some police calls geared toward homeless people and people with mental health and addiction problems. The Justice Department has also launched several civil rights investigations to see whether officers in recent shootings involving African Americans violated any federal laws. Moreover, Barr believes that there is work to be done to restore the confidence of black communities in law enforcement but does not believe police departments are systematically racist, as has been claimed by a number of politicians and groups. The Biden campaign, in contrast, has highlighted racial, gender, and income-based disparities in policing and the criminal justice system as a priority area to address, pledging to bring back the Obama-era pattern-or-practice investigations and consent decrees to address allegations of systemic police misconduct. Biden has previously said that he does not support defunding police departments but is in favor of conditioning funding such as Byrne grants to departments based on their willingness to adopt reforms. Byrne grants are the leading source of federal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions, according to the Justice Department. If they dont eliminate chokeholds, they dont get Byrne grants; if they dont do the following, they dont get any help, Biden said in an interview with NowThis in July. The Democrat nominee has also vowed to award $300 million in grants to focus on community-oriented policing, through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. The Trump administration has also awarded multiple grants to the COPS program, with a recent focus to allow local and state agencies to hire more law enforcement professionals and expand community policing initiatives. On the other issues, Biden has pledged to eliminate the death penalty, to decriminalize the use of cannabis and expunge all prior cannabis use convictions, and to make it easier for individuals to sue police officers for civil claims by limiting qualified immunity. He is also advocating to broadly use clemency for certain nonviolent and drug crimes. There will be a new enthusiasm towards enforcing civil rights allegations and violations, Professor Jeff Swartz told The Epoch Times. Swartz teaches criminal law and criminal procedure at Western Michigan Cooley Law School and is currently on the Biden campaigns legal team for the west coast of Florida. Swartz, who served as a county court judge for Miami-Dade County, Florida, said that he believes a Biden DOJ will make some real efforts in enforcing the federal civil rights statute, which poses some challenges for prosecutors. The statute right now is very narrowly drawn, it is very difficult to enforce it, he said. Because it is so narrowly drawn, prosecutors have to jump through tremendous hoops to prove things that are very difficult to prove in particular, in the criminal justice area. Swartz said a potential Biden DOJ would also bring some uniformity in the way police departments are investigated in order to ensure that there is not at least discernible systemic racism or bias in the way that the police do their job, through reinstating consent decrees. These agreements between the Justice Department and a police department with allegations of misconduct allow for greater federal oversight over the targeted police department, but were criticized for tying down local police departments and making their work more difficult. John Feehery, a Republican strategist and columnist, told The Epoch Times that he believes prosecutors would be more active under a Biden DOJ but their enforcement would go beyond seeking accountability in policing. He said prosecutors would likely have a large appetite in enforcing environmental and voting issues, and cases against corporations. He added that this would likely make businesses go on the defensive, which could result in a slowdown of the economy. If businesses have to hire lawyers instead of hiring employees, you know, they dont invest in economic growth, they invest in trying to protect themselves from lawsuits, he said. Feehery also said Biden, who he believes isnt really anti-police, is likely trying to appeal to the far-left by pushing his police reform agenda. Communities could see a decline in public safety as a result, he said, as police officers may lose their confidence in the government providing the support needed. A number of police departments have already seen a drop in morale amid the George Floyd protests and calls for defunding police. Meanwhile, Trump has chosen to run on a law-and-order platform as his re-election strategy. He promises to fund and hire more police and law enforcement officers, increase criminal penalties for assaults on police officers, prosecute drive-by shootings as domestic terrorism, bring violent extremist groups like Antifa to justice, and end cashless bail. A number of police organizations have endorsed Trump for re-election including the nations largest police union, the Fraternal Order of Police, and New Yorks Police Benevolent Association, which represents tens of thousands of New York City police officers. Criticisms of Trumps DOJ Biden has sought to contrast how he would run his DOJ with Trump by stating that it would be totally independent of him. Trumps DOJ has received criticism for a number of decisions involving politically sensitive high-profile cases involving Trump associates, such as former political adviser Roger Stone and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, as well as the dismissal of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman. Critics have accused Barr of acting as the presidents personal attorney and politicizing the DOJ. Meanwhile, many former DOJ employees have also expressed concern over the cases. Barr defended his decisions to intervene in those cases, saying that he was never directed by the president to get involved and that his decisions were influenced by his responsibility to uphold the rule of law and to apply a consistent standard of justice across the board. Last week, the attorney general delivered a rebuke toward some federal prosecutors who he says are too invested in prosecuting prominent public figures, rather than serving justice to the people. Barr said it was thus important to have layers of supervision to evaluate the conduct of individual prosecutors in order to ensure that the fair-handed administration of justice is being delivered. Individual prosecutors can sometimes become headhunters, consumed with taking down their target. Subjecting their decisions to review by detached supervisors ensures the involvement of dispassionate decision-makers in the process, Barr said. On Wednesday, Biden leveled criticism at the Justice Department during his speech, calling it the Department of Trump, while taking issue with the departments decision to defend Trump against rape accuser and columnist E. Jean Carroll. Biden said that he would stay out of prosecutorial decisions and leave it up to his attorney general, implying that thats not the case with Trump. The Justice Department, under my administration, will be totally independent of me. I will not direct who to prosecute, how to prosecute, what to prosecute, he said. Swartz said this would be bringing morale back to the department, which he believes, after talking to former DOJ employees, had taken a hit due to discontent under the direction of the current administration. He said that if Biden is elected, he would recreate the type of Department of Justice that we had for decades before Trump came into office. Meanwhile, Feehery said he expects Biden to have a cozier relationship with the DOJ because bureaucrats are likely to be less adversarial toward political insiders. He said Bidens career in Congress, on the Judiciary Committee, and in the White House would likely mean that there would be more people who would be politically loyal to him in the department. I think that [Attorney General] Barr has been trying to get control over the bureaucracy, [while] I think Biden will be much cozier with the bureaucracy, he said. Prices of European food in UK shops will soar if the Government fails to broker a free trade agreement with the bloc, retailers have warned. The British Retail Consortium said supermarkets and their customers face 3.1billion of food and drink tariffs a year - an average 112 per household - if trade barriers are erected. More than 85 per cent of European imports will be slapped with tariffs greater than 5 per cent in a no-deal scenario, while the average duty would be a hefty 20 per cent. Following the BRC's intervention, Downing Street today reiterated its commitment to striking a free trade agreement, which it said would 'benefit both sides'. The British Retail Consortium said supermarkets and their customers face 3.1billion of food and drink tariffs a year - an average 112 per household - if trade barriers are erected A 3 pack of Irish beef mince would jump to 4.08, while a Spanish cucumber would cost 47p rather than 43p (file photos) The BRC listed many staple foods which will be hit with tariffs, including '48 per cent on beef mince, 16 per cent on cucumbers, 10 per cent on lettuce, and 57 per cent on cheddar cheese.' By these calculations, a 3 pack of Irish beef mince would jump to 4.08, while a Spanish cucumber would cost 47p rather than 43p. A 6.94 kilo of EU cheddar would theoretically rise by 3.96 to 10.90 - although the UK is a producer of cheese much is still imported from abroad. Retailers have already signaled they would not be prepared to absorb the tax hikes and have urged ministers to thrash out a deal to avoid consumers bearing the brunt. Andrew Opie, Director of Food & Sustainability the British Retail Consortium, said: 'There is no time to waste, the UK and EU must hammer out a final arrangement as soon as possible. 'Coronavirus is already making life hard for consumers, particularly those on lower incomes and, and a no-deal Brexit will have a massive impact on their ability to afford essential goods. 'UK consumers have benefitted from great value, quality, and choice of food thanks to our ability to trade tariff free with the EU. A 6.94 kilo of EU cheddar would theoretically rise by 3.96 to 10.90 - although the UK is a producer of cheese much is still imported from abroad (file photo) British officials led by Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove (right) are locked in talks with Brussels (Michel Barnier, left) to strike an agreement and avoid such a scenario 'There is now the risk of a 3bn tax bill for the food we cannot source here in the UK. 'Unless we negotiate a zero-tariff deal with the EU, the public will face higher prices for their weekly shop. This would prevent harm to shoppers, retailers and the wider economy.' The UK formally left the EU last January but remains part of its Customs Union and Single Market until the end of the year when the transition period closes, meaning imports from the bloc are not subject to tariffs. Unless a deal is reached, the UK will in January begin trading with the EU using the UK Global Tariff. The Prime Minister's deputy spokesperson said today: 'We have obviously been working hard and continue to work hard to reach a deal with the EU and our aim as it has been throughout is to have a zero tariff, zero quota FTA and we obviously look forward to continuing those discussions next week when there will be a formal round of negotiations. He said that 'avoiding tariffs is beneficial for both sides, particularly given our shared commitment to high standards'. British officials led by Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove are locked in talks with Brussels to strike an agreement and avoid such a scenario. But negotiations have stalled because of two noticeable sticking points - fisheries and the rules governing state aid. The EU also reacted angrily to Boris Johnson's Internal Market Bill, which they say overrides part of the Withdrawal Agreement struck last year. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Emergency Situations of Armenia Felix Tsolakyan introduced today new deputy minister Armen Pambukhchyan to the ministry staff, the ministry told Armenpress. Minister Tsolakyan congratulated the deputy minister on appointment and wished success, expressing confidence that he will continue his work with a high responsibility by contributing to the development of the field. Previously, Armen Pambukhchyan was serving as a Member of Parliament in the ruling My Step faction, but he stepped down because of getting a new position in the government. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in a meeting with elected heads of Russian regions, via video link outside Moscow By Tom Balmforth and Anton Kolodyazhnyy MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin called on Friday for an agreement between Russia and the United States to guarantee not to engage in cyber-meddling in each other's elections. In a statement ahead of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3, Putin called for a reset between Russia and the United States and said he wanted an agreement between the two countries to prevent incidents in cyberspace. "(I propose)... exchanging guarantees of non-interference in each other's internal affairs, including electoral processes, including using information and communication technologies and high-tech methods," he said. Moscow's relations with Washington are at post-Cold War lows as the election looms. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the aim of tilting it in Donald Trump's favour, including by hacking into the campaign of his rival Hillary Clinton. Moscow denies that charge. Trump is currently campaigning for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden. "One of the main strategic challenges of our time is the risk of a large-scale confrontation in the digital sphere," Putin said in the Kremlin statement. "We would like to once again appeal to the United States with a proposal to approve a comprehensive program of practical measures to reset our relations in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT)." He proposed the two countries reach an agreement to prevent major cyberspace incidents, something he compared to a 1972 U.S.-Soviet treaty reached at the height of the Cold War to prevent incidents at sea and in the air from escalating. He also called for the two countries to fully restore communication lines between their respective agencies to discuss key international information on security issues. Russia has denied it is attempting to interfere in the 2020 U.S. campaign, despite evidence to the contrary. Story continues Microsoft said two weeks ago that hackers linked to Russia, China and Iran were trying to spy on people tied to both Trump and Biden. Russia and China dismissed the allegations. Reuters reported on Sept. 9 that Microsoft had alerted one of Biden's main election campaign advisory firms that it had been targeted by suspected Russian state-backed hackers. The Kremlin called the report "nonsense". (Additional reporting by Anton Kolodyazhnyy; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Mark Trevelyan and Hugh Lawson) Huang Xiaowei (C), Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation, goes on an inspection tour to East China's Zhejiang Province on September 17-18. [For Women of China] 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, conducted an inspection tour to East China's Zhejiang Province on September 17-18, in a bid to improve family work and deepen the reform of women's federations. Huang stressed that the women's federations at all levels should study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, play the role of a bridge, perform the duty of guiding, serving and contacting women, and unite and lead women to contribute to building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and winning the decisive victory against poverty. Huang visited Luying Marriage and Family Dispute Mediation Station in Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang. She learned from the staff members about the work of resolving family conflicts. In Yucun Village, Anji County, Huzhou City, Huang listened to the story of Tang Xialan, a recipient of the honorary title of the Most Beautiful Family of Zhejiang Province, learning about how she organized women villagers to hold cultural activities and pass on good family traditions. During a visit to the workshop of Li Xiaofang, a recipient of the honorary title of the National March 8th Red-banner Holder, Huang communicated via video link with the principal of the No. 1 Kindergarten of Congjiang County, Southwest China's Guizhou Province, who has received Li's pairing-up support. Noting that the fundamental mission of education is to cultivate virtues and morality, Huang stressed the joint efforts of schools, families and society in cultivating core socialist values while educating children. Huang spoke highly of the women's federations in Yinzhou and Haishu districts of Ningbo City about their cooperation with hospitals, public security organs, procuratorial organs and people's courts, in order to provide one-stop, comprehensive services for the minors whose rights and interests have been infringed upon. Huang Xiaowei (R), Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation, goes on an inspection tour to East China's Zhejiang Province on September 17-18. [For Women of China] Huang also visited the Women's Spiritual Education Base of Qianhe Village in Jiande City. She noted that the spirit of local women is a vivid reflection of Chinese women with strong sense of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-reliance and self-improvement. More efforts should be made to carry forward the great spirit of the anti-COVID-19 battle and guide women to better contribute their strength. (Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China) State Sen. Eric Berthel, under criticism for putting a sticker on his car in apparent support of the controversial conspiracy group QAnon, on Friday issued an apology. Im deeply sorry to anyone who has been offended and to my constituents who have questioned my action, said Berthel, who district includes also Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Middlebury, Oxford, Roxbury, Seymour, Southbury, Washington and Woodbury. Berthels apology was issued in an opinion piece sent to Hearst Connecticut Media that was posted Friday morning. He said he finds the groups extreme views abhorrent. Berthel first was criticized early last week on social media when someone saw the sticker. He said he doesnt adhere to QAnons more-extreme conspiracy theories, but supported its belief in government accountability. This week, state Rep. Arthur ONeill, R-Southbury, the longest-serving Republican in the state House of Representatives, became the first prominent GOP figure to criticize Berthel, charging that Berthel isnt fit to hold office, even as state Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano of North Haven defended Berthel. Berthel said Friday that he understood the meaning of QAnon sticker on his car representing the phrase Where We Go One, We Go All to be a phrase attacking corruption in politics. My failure to look into the movement more deeply, which I take full responsibility for, led me to overlook the extreme views of the movement which I dont subscribe to and find abhorrent, Berthel wrote. It was my lack of fully understanding this movement that led me to put these words on my car for which I deeply regret. I was wrong. I was wrong to assume that a sticker would not evoke the extreme elements of the movement which I vehemently disagree with and which I did not fully understand at the time. The core of QAnon beliefs erroneously charges that Devil-worshiping pedophiles operate a worldwide sex-trafficking ring and are in battle with President Donald Trump. Berthel said he removed the sticker weeks ago, and that the issue has become a distraction in his re-election campaign. In a separate statement on Friday, Berthel said ONeills criticism, on the eve of the veteran House members retirement, was disappointing from someone he thought was a friend. I am saddened to see Art ONeills deeply personal and false attack by someone so many of us called a friend and once saw as a respected voice, Berthel said, adding that local political issues might have had something to do with ONeills criticism. It is disappointing to see a lawmaker who I have worked closely with to do much good for our state leave office on such a bitter and sour note, Berthel said. ONeill said in an interview Friday night that he was disappointed that he was the first Republican to criticize Berthel. The reason why I said what I said was because of his displaying the sticker, ONeill said. His attitude about QAnon effectively seemed to be trying to normalize QAnon, as if it were a regular political or social organization, ONeill said. QAnon is not the kind of organization where you order from a menu of beliefs. This was something that should have been condemned by people not just within the Republican party but throughout the state. People want to try to trivialize it when a state legislator puts on public display an endorsement or support for an organization the FBI calls a domestic terrorist threat. kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT KELOWNA, British Columbia, Sept. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vitalis Extraction Technology, Inc. (Vitalis) is pleased to announce it has placed No. 3 on the Globe and Mails 2020 Report on Business ranking of Canadas Top Growing Companies. Canadas Top Growing Companies ranks Canadian companies on three-year revenue growth. Vitalis earned its spot with a three-year growth of 8,090 per cent. Vitalis is a world-class manufacturer of industrial-scale supercritical CO2 extraction systems for a broad range of industries, turning their organic materials into pure extracts. Vitalis builds for the future and continues to raise the bar for safety, service and performance to serve its diverse customer base that includes producers of cannabis, hemp, pharmaceuticals, F&B and essential oils. "What an honour it is to be recognized on this list of great Canadian companies. It is truly a testament to our team and technological innovations, coupled with the trust of our industry-leading clients that has fueled our global growth from our proudly Canadian roots," said Joel Sherlock, co-founder and chairman of Vitalis. "Vitalis was born on the premise of partnership we believe that combining a customer-first approach with industry-leading innovation helps drive our clients' success, which in turn propels our own business. This belief drove our decision to build components in-house, from the initial fabrication of raw steel and customized control systems to live on-site installation and training. We stand firmly behind the quality of every system. We're proud to reach this milestone as we approach our 5th birthday, and excited to maintain this momentum of growth moving forward with our sights set on new products and new markets." Launched in 2019, the Canadas Top Growing Companies editorial ranking aims to celebrate entrepreneurial achievement in Canada by identifying and amplifying the success of growth-minded, independent businesses in Canada. It is a voluntary program; companies had to complete an in-depth application process in order to qualify. In total, 400 companies earned a spot on this years ranking. The full list of 2020 winners, and accompanying editorial coverage, is published in the October issue of Report on Business magazineout nowand online at tgam.ca/TopGrowing. The stories of Canadas Top Growing Companies are worth telling at any time but are especially relevant in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, says James Cowan, Editor of Report on Business magazine. As businesses work to rebuild the economy, their resilience and innovation make for essential reading. Any business leader seeking inspiration should look no further than the 400 businesses on this years Report on Business ranking of Canadas Top Growing Companies, says Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail. Their growth helps to make Canada a better place, and we are proud to bring their stories to our readers. About The Globe and Mail The Globe and Mail is Canadas foremost news media company, leading the national discussion and causing policy change through brave and independent journalism since 1844. With award-winning coverage of business, politics and national affairs, The Globe and Mail newspaper reaches 5.9 million readers every week in print or digital formats, and Report on Business magazine reaches 2.1 million readers in print and digital every issue. The Globe and Mails investment in innovative data science means that as the world continues to change, so does The Globe. The Globe and Mail is owned by Woodbridge, the investment arm of the Thomson family. About Vitalis Vitalis Extraction Technology Inc. (Vitalis) is a privately-owned, Kelowna BC -based engineering and manufacturing company, producing industrial supercritical CO2 extraction systems for the cannabis, hemp, pharmaceuticals, F&B and essential oil industries. The companys core focus on innovation and design has vaulted it to the forefront of the market. Renowned for their reliability, scalability, and continuous operation, Vitalis systems are euGMP-compliant and carry the latest certifications, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), National Board (NB), Canadian Standard Association (CSA/CRN), and European Conformity (CE/PED). Vitalis is one of only a few Original Equipment Manufacturers in the space, with operations in Canada, Australia, USA, Columbia, Denmark, United Kingdom, and Serbia as well as in-country support centers spread across the globe. Visit https://vitaliset.com for more information. Facebook: @VitalisET Instagram: @vitalisextractiontech Twitter: @vitaliset LinkedIn: Vitalis Extraction Technology Inc. YouTube: Vitalis Extraction Technology For media inquiries, please contact: Shauna MacDonald Brookline Public Relations, Inc. smacdonald@brooklinepr.com 403-585-4570 DANBURY South Street Elementary School has earned a national honor for its progress in closing achievement gaps. The school is one of four in Connecticut and 367 in the country to be named a National Blue Ribbon School, a coveted award, the U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday. Up to 420 schools are nominated each year. Its a privilege to recognize the extraordinary work you do to meet students needs and prepare them for successful careers and meaningful lives, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said in a statement. Morris Street Elementary School earned this award in 2017 for working to close the achievement gap, as well. The state has named South Street a School of Distinction for three of the last four years. Gov. Ned Lamont congratulated the Connecticut schools for the award. Every child - no matter their familys income or the neighborhood where they live - deserves access to a quality education that prepares them for achievement, he said in a statement. We no doubt continue to have work to do to close persistent achievement gaps that have lingered far too long, but I firmly believe that the strong work of so many of our educators is having an impact. More than half of South Street students are English learners, while 87.2 percent are from economically disadvantaged families, Lamonts office said. The school has a daily 30-minute block called What I need, or WIN, where students receive intervention or acceleration, which has led to academic growth, the governor said. The state uses data from the Next Generation Accountability System to nominate schools. Receiving this prestigious honor speaks to the true team effort it takes to make tangible progress on closing gaps in opportunities, access, and outcomes that exist for too many of our students, State Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona said in a statement. Taking these successes to scale statewide will require us to come together in the same spirit of collaboration with all of us doing our part, especially in light of this pandemic. In addition to South Street, Northeast School in Vernon was awarded for its exemplary effort to close the achievement gap. Meanwhile, George Hersey Robertson School in Coventry and Norton Elementary School in Cheshire were honored for being among the states highest performing schools, the education department said. A ceremony will be held virtually on Nov. 12 and 13. Schools will receive plaques and flags in the mail. Working With AWS Regions in Windows PowerShell Brien Posey explains how to address problems caused when your EC2 instances happen to be in a different region from the one that AWS Tools for PowerShell is configured to use. Earlier I wrote about using Windows PowerShell to manage EC2 instances. Recently, someone told me they tried to use the Get-EC2Instance cmdlet to retrieve a list of their EC2 instances, but the cmdlet did not return any results. One of the main things that can cause this problem is a regional mismatch. When you create an EC2 instance, that instance is created in a specific region. Similarly, AWS Tools for PowerShell is also linked to a particular region. If your EC2 instances happen to be in a different region from the one that AWS Tools for PowerShell is configured to use, then the Get-EC2Instance cmdlet will not display any results. There are a couple of ways to determine the region AWS Tools for PowerShell is using by default. The easiest method is probably to enter the Get-AWSRegion cmdlet. Upon entering this cmdlet, AWS will display a list of all the AWS regions and will indicate (by way of a True/False statement) whether each is the default. If you look at Figure 1 for example, you can see that US East (Virginia) is the default region, because it is the only region for which the IsShellDefault attribute is set to True. [Click on image for larger view.]Figure 1: US East Virginia is the default region. If you want to be able to see the result a bit more easily, then you can filter PowerShell's output so that only the default region is displayed. The command used for doing so is: Get-AWSRegion | Where IsShellDefault -EQ $True [Click on image for larger view.]Figure 2: PowerShell displays the default region. You can see what this looks like in So if you confirm your EC2 instances are in a different region from the one PowerShell is using by default, how can you switch to the correct region? There are two different approaches to dealing with a PowerShell session mapped to an incorrect region. The method you should use to correct the problem depends largely on your own unique situation. If for example, most of your EC2 resources are in a different region from the one PowerShell is mapped to by default, then the best option is likely to map PowerShell to a different default region. If on the other hand, the default region aligns with some of your EC2 resources, but you need to access an instance in another region, then your best option is probably going to be to manually specify that instance's region. I will show you both techniques. Manually Specifying a Region Manually specifying a region is usually just a matter of appending the Region parameter to the cmdlet that you are using, and then specifying the region name. The trick however, is to remember that regions must be provided in a specific format. It is also important to remember that regions and availability zones are two different things. To show you what I mean, take a look at Figure 3. This figure shows the EC2 dashboard. The region is listed as Oregon. However, PowerShell will not let you enter Oregon as the region name. The region name that you specify must match one of the regions listed in Figure 1. [Click on image for larger view.]Figure 3: The EC2 Dashboard lists the region as Oregon. It's also worth noticing that the instance shown in Figure 3 is running in an availability zone named US-West-2C. US-West-2C is an availability zone, not a region. The region that corresponds to this availability zone is US-West-2 (not 2C). So with that said, check out Figure 4. Initially, I entered the Get-EC2Instance cmdlet by itself. No results were returned, because there are no instances in the default region. I then repeated the command, but this time entered US-West-2 as the region. This time a result was returned. [Click on image for larger view.]Figure 4: This is how you specify a region. Changing the Default Region If you decide that you need to change the default region, you can do so by using the Set-DefaultAWSRegion cmdlet. You will simply need to append the Region parameter, followed by the name of the region that you want to use as the new default. To change the default region to US-West-2 for example, you would use this command: Set-DefaultAWSRegion -Region US-West-2 You can see an example of how this process works in Figure 5. [Click on image for larger view.]Figure 5: This is how you change the default region. A parental kidnapping of an infant in Roseville on Thursday morning ended quickly with no one injured and the childs father in custody, according to police. The suspect, a 24-year-old Detroit man, arrived at 10:15 a.m. at the childs mothers home in an apartment complex in the area of 13 Mile and Utica roads armed with a handgun, Roseville police said in a news release. He abducted the 7-month-old girl and fled. Police said the suspect was quickly located in Detroit by Roseville police investigators, and Detroit police immediately responded and arrested the suspect. The handgun used in the abduction has not been recovered, police added. The child was found unhurt with the suspects mother at a Detroit residence, police said. The child was transported to the Roseville police station and reunited with her mother. The quick return of the infant to her joyful mother was the result of excellent police work by all members of the Roseville Police Department who responded to the scene, and the detectives who investigated, Deputy Chief Mitchell Berlin said in the release. Berlin also thanked Detroit police. Police planned to seek a warrant from Macomb County prosecutors. East Carolina University and its Pirate Promise community college partners have received a contract to work with the U.S. Navy in the development of the Naval Community College (USNCC). ECU is leading the only group of North Carolina higher learning institutions to be awarded a USNCC contract. | Photo: Samantha Jetzer / U.S. Navy Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson, left, and Algie Gatewood, president of Alamance Community College, sign a co-admission agreement as part of ECUs Pirate Promise program in October 2019. The program has grown to 35 community college members. | Photo: Rhett Butler This post appears here courtesy of ECU News Services . The author of this post is Matt Smith East Carolina University and 18 of its Pirate Promise community college collaborators have been selected as partners for the new United States Naval Community College (USNCC) effort.The joint effort by the country's three maritime services the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard developed the USNCC to deliver distance education and online learning to their enlisted members.ECU is leading the only organized group of North Carolina higher learning institutions to be awarded a USNCC contract and expects to receive educational services task orders mini-contracts that define a specific project's scope, cost and schedule in the coming weeks that will better outline future student requirements. It is anticipated that task orders will be issued periodically as the USNCC expands its programming needs and student base.As part of the mission to provide educational and career development opportunities for enlisted members, the Navy's \ called for the creation of the U.S. Naval Community College. The college will ultimately develop into a fully accredited higher education institution, but degrees will initially be issued by civilian education partners like ECU and its Pirate Promise team. All enlisted sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen will be enrolled in the community college upon enlistment and can begin working toward an associate degree.ECU Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson said.ECU's background in industrial technology, industrial distribution and logistics, business administration, supply chain management, cybersecurity, health sciences, hospitality management, engineering, computer science and information system, among others, could make the consortium an attractive avenue for USNCC students.said Keith Wheeler, executive director of ECU's Office of National Security and Industry Initiatives ECU's Pirate Promise network has grown to 35 partner colleges. Aimed at improving transfer student access and success, the program allows students to apply to participating community colleges and ECU simultaneously.The Naval Community College will begin teaching its first cohort of up to 600 students in January with a focus on engineering and information technology as a proof of concept. PG-13 | 1h 58min | Biography, Drama | 6 January 2017 (USA) I have zero sense of direction. The Waze app is the most important feature on my motorcycleI absolutely love that woman in my headphones, who tells me where to go. Google Maps was one of the most welcomed pieces of technology in my life. Lion is the true story of a 5-year-old foundling Indian boy who gets tragically lost and separated from his village, and who, 25 years later, locates his mother via Google Earth. Saroo (Sunny Pawar), a lost Indian boy, in Lion. (The Weinstein Company) In 2016, Lion received six Oscar nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Dev Patel), Best Supporting Actress (Nicole Kidman), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Cinematography. Youll want to see this one. Sue Brierly (Nicole Kidman) in a moment of regret, in Lion. (The Weinstein Company) The First Story Little Saroo (Sunny Pawar) is a fearless child. He helps his laborer mother, Kamla (Priyanka Bose), lift rocks in their small mining village, and his older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) lift coal (as in steal) from freight trains. One night, Saroo convinces Guddu to let him take a train ride with him to a distant worksite. Guddu says no, but Saroo is very determined. However, being only 5, Saroo needs more sleep than both he and Guddu bargained for. Saroo (Sunny Pawar) smiles at his big brother before going to sleep and never seeing him again, in Lion. (The Weinstein Company) Guddu leaves Saroo temporarily asleep on a train platform bench, but Saroo, in a sleep daze, leaves his bench and falls back asleep on the much more comfortable seat in a nearby train that has its doors open. Little Saroo wakes up thousands of miles from home. Saroo (Sunny Pawar) looking for a more comfortable place to sleep, in Lion. (The Weinstein Company) The days-long train ride comes to a stop in Calcutta, where Saroo is unable to speak the local dialect and ends up a street urchin. Having no food, he picks through trash. Finding a spoon, he sits outside restaurants, mimicking people eating soup, with his little spoon. Imaginary food is his only sustenance. These are some of the most profoundly sad scenes in recent movie history. Saroo (Sunny Pawar), a homeless 5-year-old Indian boy, in Lion. (The Weinstein Company) He narrowly avoids local child-traffickers who kidnap homeless children hanging around the transit system. He also flees from the kind woman who lures him with orange soda, detaining him long enough to be cursorily inspected by a slimy local pedophile who basically licks his chops and promises to return later. Eventually Saroo is placed in an orphanage, where he is adopted by a wealthy Australian couple in Tasmania (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham). The Second Story The grad-school-age Saroo (Dev Patel) is grown, grateful, and seemingly well-adjusted, and in a good relationship with a classmate (Rooney Mara). Rooney Mara and Dev Patel play boyfriend and girlfriend in Lion. (The Weinstein Company) One day at a party, Saroo wanders into the kitchen of an Indian classmate and finds a piece of indigenous Indian food that awakens a childhood memory, which instantaneously regresses him to age 5. Im lost, he says to his girlfriend. His story pours out at the party to concerned friends, and they tell him about Google Maps. He realizes that he has an unquenchable need to find his family. Saroo (Dev Patel) searching Google Earth for his lost family, in Lion. (The Weinstein Company) Saroo uses Google Earth on his computer, makes many train-speed calculations on paper, draws lots of circles and arrows, and nearly drives himself mad trying to re-create his journey on that long-ago fateful train ride. In the end, only after hes thrown up his hands in failure do luck and intuition (and perhaps a bit of divine intervention) guide his eyes on the computer screen to the remote area of India containing the village whose name he no longer knows, but whose footpaths he can still walk in his mind. The ensuing mother and child reunion will drain your tear ducts for the next six months. Saroo (Dev Patel) reunites with his mother, Kamla (Priyanka Bose), in Lion. (The Weinstein Company) And not only did he not know the name of his village, but it turns out that he didnt even know his own name. To say his true name would be a spoiler. But its hiding in plain sight. Lion will most likely go down in history as the patron-saint movie of all people whove been lovingly adopted. It captures the horror, danger, loneliness, and vast existential meaninglessness encountered by lost children in such a powerful way that I remembered that 20 years ago, I used to take part in a program to read bedtime stories to homeless children. It also brought a sense of shame that I stopped going because the agency was so disorganized. Theres nothing more heart-wrenching than little homeless children. Saroo (Sunny Pawar, far R), a lost Indian boy roaming the subway, in Lion. (The Weinstein Company) A recent companion to Lion is Runner. See both of these true stories and, if you havent already, please consider doing something for the ongoing plight of homeless children, especially in this day and age when child and sex-trafficking is ramping up at an unimaginable rate. Sue Brierley (Nicole Kidman) and Saroo Brierley (Sunny Pawar) in Lion. (The Weinstein Company) Lion Director: Garth Davis Starring: Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, Abhishek Bharate, Priyanka Bose Rated: PG-13 Running Time: 1 hour, 58 minutes Release Date: Jan. 6, 2017 (USA) Rated: 4.5 stars out of 5 Midland ISDs efforts to educate students online have not been meeting the communitys expectations for academic rigor, starting with the districts online academy, Interim Superintendent Ann Dixon said on Thursday. Her assessment is in line with comments from district leaders, parents, campus leaders and teachers about the problems with Midland ISD Online Academy. During this weeks school board meeting, district leaders pressed central office staff about deficiencies in the academy, including staffing and academic achievement issues. Some of those issues came to light Thursday, as Dixon told the Reporter-Telegram the failure rate in Midland ISD Online Academy was running between 60 and 70 percent. She also said that while the high school attendance rate typically averages around 96 percent, it has been around 90 percent for those participating online. Other issues are problems with teacher scheduling, the inability to monitor student participation and breaks from protocols, including reports that some principals were having to make as many as 20 changes to online and blended learning rosters a day when the plan was to allow changes to happen during a small window. The first six weeks look dismal, Dixon said. Dixon also said those participating in blended learning in which students attend class on campus two days a week and participate in at-home learning the other three days arent receiving the necessary instruction when they are off campus. The current state of the program, which has been in place since the start of school on Aug. 19, was not what district leaders expected. The online academy appeared to be in transition since planning began. District leaders talked at the board meeting about how the academy couldnt deviate from the curriculum offered on a students assigned campus. Also, there werent separate teacher rosters as was originally expected. An announcement Thursday from the district focused on schools re-entry plan. But Dixon said it was important to communicate the issues with the online academy. She said it was important to note that from this point forward, teachers would be assigned to face-to-face learning or the online academy. If a student moves from one to the other, the teachers will follow so the same resources are there to allow for a curriculum with the same rigor, whether a student was on campus or at home. That is something we havent been able to monitor well, Dixon said. She said there may be occasions when online classes from different campuses might be combined so there are a sufficient number of students to make up a class. She used the example of French IV for which there might not be enough students taking it online at just Lee High or Midland High. We can refocus now, Dixon said. Stronger teachers might be put in difficult delivery systems, knowing they might be coming back to campus (eventually). Dixon said the changes to the online academy was a case of leadership having conversations with principals about the status of the program and the need to do what was best for teachers and to achieve academic success. She said all district employees are focused on the academy as the sole option for elementary school students not wanting to be on campus beginning Oct. 5 and for secondary students beginning Nov. 9. She also said that it was important to communicate to the public that the online academy exists as alternative because of the coronavirus pandemic. Lastly, she said there isnt time to waste as the coronavirus pandemic has put educators behind. She said that students cant continue to fall farther behind after losing months of instruction, especially in a district struggling with performance. We have to step it up, Dixon said. Farmers and ahrtia associations in Haryana have blocked several road highways and at least one railway track in the northern parts of the state to implement the nationwide shutdown call given by a group of farmers organisations against the three farm reform bills passed in the Parliament during the recently concluded Monsoon session. The protesting farmers sat on dharnas, blocking traffic movement on highways by parking their tractor-trailers and cars on roads in Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Karnal, and Kaithal districts. Karnal-Ladwa-Yamunanagar highway near Ladwa town, Karnal-Assandh-Jind road near Jalmaba Village of Karnal, Shahbad-Saha road near Shahbad, Yamunangar-Kurukshetra road near Radaur of Yamunangagar district had been blocked. The farmers associated with Bharatiya Kisan Union or BKU, (Charuni), have also blocked the Ambala-Yamunanagar-Saharanpur railway track near Sudhal village of Yamunanagar district. In the morning, there was no major impact in the cities as the shops and the markets remained opened but later, farmers carrying black flags were seen in several cities, requesting the shopkeepers and trade unions to shut down in support of the Bharat Bandh Call by closing their shops from 10am to 4pm. Also Read: Bharat Bandh: List of trains cancelled, highways blocked Most of the grain markets are also closed and there is no procurement of paddy in the mandis as the commission agents have also extended their support to the protests. While a heavy deployment of the police force has been made, they were not seen stopping the farmers from blocking the roads. The cops were instead seen managing the traffic by diverting it to the link roads. Also Read: Congress-ruled Punjab at standstill till 4pm in support of farmers bandh call The members of BKU (Charuni) have blocked the railway track near Yamunanagar, disrupting the movement of rails. The farmers were also taking out protest rallies on tractors, cars and bikes. BKU state president Gurnam Singh Charuni is visiting several districts and addressing farmers, encouraging them to support the agitation to force the central government to withdraw the agriculture reform bills. Around 17 farmer and ahrtia associations are supporting the bandh including BKU, All India Farmers Union (AIFU), All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), All India Kisan Mahasangh (AIKM). In Ambala, the traffic coming from Delhi side and going towards Patiala or Chandigarh has been diverted. Police presence at the borders, connecting Ambala with Patiala (Shambhu border) and Chandigarh (Sadopur), has been increased to manage traffic, IG Ambala Y Puran Kumar said. Borders have not been sealed but we are only diverting traffic due to protests near Patiala and near Dera Bassi. As of now, there has been no reports of any protesting group going towards Delhi today, IG Kumar said. OTTAWA - Quebeckers were urged to stop socializing, Ontarians were barred from late-night pub-hopping, and the entire country was sternly warned of critical containment measures required in coming weeks as soaring COVID-19 case counts edged past 150,000 on Friday. The escalating pandemic drew repeated pleas for vigilance from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam in a joint press conference that also outlined a deal with AstraZeneca, which would guarantee up to 20 million doses of an experimental vaccine. With cases surging in Ontario and Quebec hot-spots, Trudeau implored the public to adhere to public health guidelines, stressing that what we do now, will be critical for the weeks and months to come. This was a repeated refrain across the country as political and public health officials took pains to tell the public it was time to scale back parties, dinners out, group activities and other individual actions they said were key factors in an alarming spike in transmission. In Quebec, Health Minister Christian Dube told residents to a make a special effort to limit contact with other people for at least 28 days in order to contain spread and save hospitals from increased burden. I insist on this, said Dube, nevertheless saying he had no problem with people dining in small numbers, within their bubble. Were asking you (for) a month of effort to break the second wave. Dube called it a 28-day challenge to flatten the curve, which on Friday pushed Quebecs daily tally to 637 new cases, bringing the total number in the province to 70,307. There have been 5,814 deaths in Quebec. In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford said bars and restaurants must now close by midnight, with alcohol service to stop at 11 p.m., but that takeout and delivery will be permitted to continue into the wee hours. All strip clubs will also close, he said, while explaining that the new restrictions strike a balance between public health needs and the provinces financial future. I dont think its a huge ask if they can stop serving drinks at 11 oclock and close their establishments at 12 oclock, he said during his daily media briefing. The measures were not good enough for NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who criticized the Ford government for failing to provide a proper, comprehensive and effective second wave strategy. Ontario reported 409 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death -- about half of the new cases in Toronto and 65 per cent of them in people younger than 40. The total number of cases in Ontario stood at 48,905, including 2,837 deaths. Elsewhere, Alberta reported 17,190 confirmed cases, while British Columbia stood at 8,543 confirmed. COVID-19 cases jumped in Manitoba, too, where masks will be mandatory in Winnipegs indoor spaces starting Monday. Officials also limited indoor and outdoor gatherings to 10 people after 54 new cases emerged in the province -- 44 of them in the capital region. COVID-19 cases reached about 150,140 nationwide, with caseloads spiking dramatically in the four largest provinces over the past few weeks. In the joint televised press conference with Trudeau, Tam said Canadians still have a chance to keep the epidemic from escalating, if we all act together now. Local public health authorities cannot do this alone. Each of us must take action to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our communities, she said. Despite the sombre warnings, Trudeau offered assurances that Ottawa has taken steps to secure a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one proves viable. The latest deal is the sixth such arrangement to ensure Canadians have access to crucial supply. Trudeau also addressed urgent calls to make more COVID-19 testing options available, stating there are a number of rapid tests in the process of being evaluated by Health Canada, and they will be made available as quickly as possible. Tam added that Health Canada was trying to evaluate a variety of new tools including point-of-care devices and serological tests but suggested that work was hindered by a lack of clinical data from the companies seeking approvals. There was really little data submitted to the regulator, and you need basic, minimal clinical information. And so were also looking at how do we help in the assessment of those types of tests, said Tam. The whole thing has to work in real life, if you like, but I think well be providing more information to people next week and as things evolve. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2020. Read more about: Manama: The Indian embassy in Bahrain holds a virtual open house on Friday in which Indian Ambassador Piyush Sreevastava along with consular members interacted with the Indian community to redress their consular and labour issues. Ambassador encouraged all community members to regularly follow the Embassys website and social media accounts to get updates on Covid 19 pandemic and related travel issues. Ambassador also urged Indians to make use of the current amnesty being provided by the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain till December 31 Ambassador said an Air bubble has been operational between India and Bahrain from September 11 and upon fulfillment of visa requirement and COVID related formalities passengers can now book their tickets directly through Airlines website or through travel agents Some other grievances of Indians discussed in the open house were resolved on the spot and Ambassador promised that the rest will be followed up More people have been shot and killed by law enforcement in Bexar County so far in 2020 than in 2019, according to data from the Texas Justice Initiative. So far this year, the San Antonio Police Department, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, the Balcones Heights Police Department and the Universal City Police Department have all reported a combined 19 officer-involved shootings, 11 of which were fatal. Compared to last year, local agencies reported a combined 20 shootings with 10 ending in fatalities. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Current data by the Texas Justice Initiative, shows 15 officer-involved shootings as of Sept. 1. Since then, SAPD has reported two and Balcone Heights one. BCSO was involved in a fatal shooting Aug. 25, but the incident was not reported to TJI until Sept. 7 and not included in the Sept. 1 data. So far in 2020, SAPD has had 12 shootings, BCSO 3, Universal City 2 and Balcones Heights 1. Since 2015, there have been a total of 91 shootings, 49 of them fatal in Bexar County. According to TJI, 50 individuals who have been shot by police were Hispanic, 20 were white, 17 were Black and four were classified as other. On Express-News: I loved him a lot: Family speaks out after West Side man shot, killed by San Antonio police In the same time period, 16 peace officers in Bexar County have been shot by civilians. This year, two San Antonio police officers were shot in April, but both are expected to recover. Only two law enforcement officers in the area have been killed in the line of duty since 2015. The latest fatal shooting was Tuesday, when SAPD officers shot and killed 44-year-old Victor Sanchez after he allegedly threatened police with a handgun during a confrontation at a West Side apartment. For more information on TJI data, click here. Adelaide, Sep 25, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Resolution Minerals Ltd ( ASX:RML ) is on track to complete the first year earn-in requirements on the 64North Project and secure a 30% interest in the project. The first year requires US$5 million in exploration expenditure of which US$1 million must be focussed on regional targets.Summary- Assays from Aurora Prospect drill hole 20AU07 (hole #7) have been fast tracked for the 7m thick quartz vein from 488m in hole #7. Assays for this zone are expected in less than 2 weeks.- Drilling is planned to commence in early November at the Aurora Prospect from same drill pad as hole #7. Two (2) follow up drill holes for 1100m of diamond core drilling will be completed.- Track work to E1 Prospect, Eagle Block continues. A series of trenches* will be excavated by heavy machinery to allow detailed sampling and mapping of potentially mineralised structures.- Follow up drill planning at the E1 Prospect will be held over until assay results from the trenching are received and prioritisation of drilling resources will be allocated to the Aurora Prospect for now.- Regional field work programs have concluded for the summer field season and samples are being submitted for assays with results to be announced over the coming months.Managing Director, Duncan Chessell commented:"Two further high priority drill holes at the hole #7 drill pad will test the along-strike continuity and potential grade variation of the promising 7m thick quartz vein recently intersected at hole 20AU07."Variation in grade and thickness is typical for this style of mineral system and we look forward to the results of these three holes with anticipation."To view a Video explainer of operations update, please visit:About Resolution Minerals Ltd Resolution Minerals Ltd (ASX:RML) is a mining company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of precious and battery metals - such as gold, copper, cobalt, and vanadium. The company is led by Managing Director Duncan Chessell and an experienced team with proven success in corporate finance, marketing, metallurgy and geoscience. This equips Resolution Minerals with the tools to meet the changing demands of the mining markets. Resolution Minerals Ltd Listed on the ASX in 2017 with a focus on the exploration of the Wollogorang Copper Cobalt Project. It has since aquired the Snettisham Vanadium Project and more entered into a binding agreement witth Millrock Resources to earn up to 80% of the highly prospective 64North Gold Project. Texas Attorney General Announces 134 Voter Fraud Charges Ahead of 2020 Election A county commissioner, his wife, and two others were arrested this week on voter fraud charges in Texas. Gregg County Commissioner Shannon Brown, Marlena Jackson, Charlie Burns, and DeWayne Ward are accused of being part of an organized vote harvesting scheme during the 2018 Democratic primary, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, announced. The group targeted young, able-bodied voters to cast ballots by mail by fraudulently claiming the voters were disabled, in most cases without the voters knowledge or consent, officials said. It is an unfortunate reality that elections can be stolen outright by mail ballot fraud. Election fraud, particularly an organized mail ballot fraud scheme orchestrated by political operatives, is an affront to democracy and results in voter disenfranchisement and corruption at the highest level, Paxton said in a statement. Mail ballots are vulnerable to diversion, coercion, and influence by organized vote harvesting schemes. This case demonstrates my commitment to ensuring Texas has the most secure elections in the country, and I thank the Gregg County Sheriff and District Attorney for their continued partnership. Those who try to manipulate the outcome of elections in Texas must be held accountable. Gregg County Commissioner Shannon Brown, bottom left, his wife Marlena Jackson, top right, DeWayne Ward, top left, and Charlie Burns, bottom right, were charged with voter fraud in Gregg County, Texas. (Gregg County) A grand jury returned 23 felony counts against Brown, a Democrat, 97 counts against his wife Jackson, and a combined 14 counts against the two others, according to indictments obtained by The Epoch Times. Counts include illegal voting, fraudulent use of mail ballot applications, and unlawful possession of ballots. If convicted, defendants face jail time, some up to 99 years. Browns office didnt respond to a request for comment. The other defendants couldnt be reached. Brown won the 2018 primary election by just five votes over his challenger, former Longview City Councilwoman Kasha Williams, out of 2,089 cast. Brown rode nearly 500 absentee ballots to the win. Williams received less than 200. The investigation was triggered by a complaint filed in 2018 by Rev. D.J. Nelson. A message left at Nelsons church wasnt returned Friday. A worker files election material in El Paso, Texas, on March 3, 2020. (Cengiz Yar/Getty Images) In the state, 9 percent of the ballots cast were absentee, Nelson told KETK shortly after filing the complaint. So 9 percent statewide, but in Gregg County it was 32 percent. Gregg County Elections Administrator Kathryn Nealy told the Longview News-Journal later that year that mail-in ballots in precinct four were being looked at for a long time. They use this same group of people every election, because they get paid for it, she said. I cant repeat the names, but there is an organized group out there who thinks that this is their job. Nealy declined to comment when reached by The Epoch Times. State Sen. Bryan Hughes and state Rep. Jay Dean, both Republicans, said in a statement that the indictments followed a monthslong investigation. Voting by mail is an important tool for our over-65 and disabled citizens, Hughes said in a statement. Mail-in ballots are also most vulnerable to cheating and fraud. We must protect Texas election integrity, and we will. Customers prepare packages at the downtown El Paso United States Postal Service Post Office in El Paso, Texas, on April 30, 2020. (Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images) Dean added, The alleged account of voter fraud appears so clearly to be a problem in our districts, but we are encouraged by the attention it has brought to the issue, both here and statewide, and by the opportunity to fix this problem. Gregg County, which has 71,729 registered voters, sits in east Texas near the border with Louisiana. The indictments come amid concerns about fraud in what will be an unprecedented utilization of mail-in voting in the Nov. 3 presidential election. Mail-in ballots, many cast for President Donald Trump, were found discarded in Pennsylvania this month while trays of mail, including absentee ballots, were discovered in Wisconsin. Also this month, Paxton successfully petitioned the state Supreme Court to stop Harris County officials from sending over two million mail-in ballot applications, alleging the effort would create voter confusion and jeopardize the integrity and security of our elections. Tel Aviv University researchers suggest that carriers of the genetic mutations PiZ and PiS are at high risk for severe illness and even death from COVID-19. These mutations lead to deficiency in the alpha1-antitrypsin protein, which protects lung tissues from damage in case of severe infections. Other studies have already associated deficiency in this protein with inflammatory damage to lung function in other diseases. The study was led by Prof. David Gurwitz, Prof. Noam Shomron, and MSc candidate Guy Shapira of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine, and published in The FASEB Journal on September 22, 2020. The researchers analyzed data from 67 countries on all continents. Comparisons revealed a highly significant positive correlation between the prevalence of the two mutations in the population and COVID-19 mortality rates (adjusted to size of the population) in many countries, such as the USA, the UK, Belgium, Spain, Italy, and more. Consequently, the researchers suggest that these mutations may be additional risk factors for severe COVID-19. They now propose that their findings should be corroborated by clinical trials, and if validated should lead to population-wide screening for identifying carriers of the PiS and/or PiZ mutations. Such individuals should then be advised to take extra measures of social distancing and later be prioritized for vaccination once vaccines are available. According to the researchers, these steps can be effective in reducing COVID-19 morbidity and fatality rates. Analysis of databases reveals that in Belgium, where 17 of every 1,000 people carry the PiZ mutation (the more dominant of the two mutations discussed in this study), the COVID-19 mortality rate was 860 per million according to figures for September 2020. In Spain the picture is similar: 17 of every 1,000 citizens carry the PiZ mutation, and the COVID-19 fatality rate is 640 per million. In the USA, where 15 per 1,000 are carriers, 590 of every million died of the coronavirus. The numbers in the UK are in line with the overall trend: 14 per 1,000 carry the mutation and 60 per million have died of COVID-19. In Italy, where 13 per 1,000 are carriers, the mortality rate is 620 per million. In Sweden, where 13 per 1,000 are carriers, the fatality rate is 570 per million. On the other hand, the researchers found that in many countries in Africa and South East Asia, where these mutations are relatively rare, COVID-19 mortality rates are correspondingly low as of September 2020. In Japan, where 9 of every million died in the pandemic, the mutations' prevalence is negligible. Similar numbers were also found in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Prof. Gurwitz, Prof. Shomron, and Shapira conclude, "Our data analysis reveals a strong correlation between these mutations and severe illness and death from COVID-19." "We call upon the research community to test our hypothesis against clinical data, and also call upon decision makers in every country to conduct population-wide screening for identifying mutation carriers and prioritize them for vaccination once COVID-19 vaccines have been approved. In the meantime, carriers should be notified that they may belong to a high-risk group and advised to maintain strict social isolation." Union Environment Minister Prakash Javedkar said on Thursday that Covid-19 pandemic has emphasised that un-regulated exploitation of natural resources coupled with unsustainable food habits and consumption patterns lead to the destruction of systems that support human life COVID-19 pandemic has emphasised that un-regulated exploitation of natural resources coupled with unsustainable food habits and consumption patterns lead to the destruction of systems that support human life, said Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday and urged nations to put nature at the heart of their recovery plan post-pandemic. Javadekar represented India at the virtual Ministerial Roundtable Dialogue on Biodiversity Beyond 2020: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth. The ministerial was hosted by China, one week ahead of the upcoming United Nations Summit on Biodiversity, to exchange views on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Around 15 ministerial representatives from countries with adequate regional representation, as well as the heads from relevant international organisations participated in the event, according to a statement by the Ministry of Environment. Also read: US judge orders Trump admn to defend or postpone TikTok ban Also read: Hopefully India, China will be able to work out their differences: Trump The Minister tweeted that at the Biodiversity roundtable urged the nations to join hands on the occasion of the start of the UN Decade of Action and Delivery for sustainable development and to put nature at the heart of our recovery plan post COVID19. Addressing on the occasion, the Minister said that India has already been taking a leadership role in biodiversity conservation by hosting two Conference of Parties (COPs) within a span of less than a year, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP in September 2019 and CMS COP in February 2020. The statement quoted Javadekar as saying that with just 2.4 per cent of the land area, India accounts for nearly 8 percent of the recorded species even while supporting almost 18 percent of human population as well as cattle population and has also enhanced forest cover to nearly 25 percent. Further, it said that in addition, India aims to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land, and achieve land-degradation neutrality by 2030. With tiger population doubled in the last 11 years India has the largest wild tiger population, he said. The Minister further informed the roundtable that India being a megadiverse country, has a robust legal and institutional set up for biodiversity governance and an established system for access and benefit-sharing provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), with a network of 250 thousand Biodiversity Management Committees across the country involving local people and 170 thousand Peoples Biodiversity Registers for documentation of biodiversity. He said that in view of the Global Biodiversity Outlook report presented recently by CBD, they had no option left except to join hands and to conserve and protect nature and said that India believes that the 15th Conference of Parties to the CBD scheduled in 2021 at Kunming, China for adoption of post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework provides a unique opportunity. Also read: India, Australia two-day naval exercise in Indian Ocean ends Telecom giant Vodafone on Friday won a vital ruling against the government of India in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague over 20,000 crores in dues which it had called unfair in the international court. The multinational telecommunications company, Vodafone on Friday won an arbitration against the government of India over its retro tax demand of Rs 20,000 crore, which it had called as unfair in an international court. Sources suggest that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague on Friday issued that the imposition of tax liability on the telecom company Vodafone violates the investment treaty agreement between India and the Netherlands. It said that the respondents (Indias) conduct in respect of the imposition on the claimant (Vodafone Group) of an asserted liability to tax notwithstanding the Supreme Court judgment was in breach of the guarantee of fair and equitable treatment. The tribunal, in its ruling, had asked the Indian government to reimburse 4.3 million pounds to Vodafone for the fees that the Vodafone group had to pay to the arbitration group. Also read: Bharat Bandh 2020 live news updates: Farmers protest against new farm bills Also read: Bihar readies for polls amid pandemic; EC announces dates and safety measures The issue emerged out in 2007 when the Telecom Giant Vodafone, purchased 67 per cent of Hutchison Whampoa for $11 billion dollars. The Indian government had said that Vodafone was accountable to pay taxes worth Rs 7,990 crore on the acquisition, that it had contested. Declining govts claims, Vodafone group had maintained that it is not liable to pay claimed capital gains tax as India and the Netherlands had a bilateral investment treaty (BIT). Vodafone challenged the governments demand in the Supreme Court of India and it even won the case. But, in the year 2012, the Indian govt amended the finance act and stamped the tax retrospectively. Also read: India, China decided to have next meeting of Senior Commanders at the earliest: MEA New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday participated in the virtual high-level Roundtable on Climate Ambition, hosted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Kumar, the only leader from India invited to the meet, shared his state's policy initiatives and sustainable development efforts, including climate resilient agriculture and water conservation. "Considering the impacts of climate change in Bihar, in the form of erratic pattern of rainfall, extreme heat, falling groundwater level, drought and flash floods, we have developed our growth strategy around water conservation and greening initiatives under the 'Jal Jeevan Hariyaali Abhiyaan'," Kumar said in his video address. Kumar was speaking in the segment titled 'Aligning Nationally Determined Contributions, long-term low emission development strategies, COVID-19 recovery packages and business plans with the 1.5C and carbon neutrality by 2050 goals.' Nitish Kumar said Bihar, which has two per cent of the world's population, is an important stakeholder in contributing to the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius. "Our policy initiatives, including climate resilient agriculture, conservation of surface and ground water, solar energy, clean fuel and biodiversity conservation is leading our growth approach to sustainable development," he said. He asserted that his government firmly believes that any form of life is possible only when there is water and green cover. Meanwhile, Guterres called for every government, business, civil and international organisation in the world to develop a transition plan to net-zero emissions, and boost ambition in finance and adoption as an equal priority to cutting emissions, and the only way to reach the 1.5C temperature goal. "All actors - governments, cities and companies, NGOs and international organisations need to have their own transition plans to net-zero before 2050," said the UN chief. Singer Carrie Underwood features one of her sons on her new Christmas album. (Photo: Reuters) Halloween hasnt even happened yet, but Carrie Underwood is ready to get you in the Christmas spirit. The country star is gearing up to release her first-ever Christmas album, My Gift, and theres a special guest featured on one track: her son Isaiah. Underwood virtually joined the Today show on Thursday to gush about her proud mom moment as the 5-year-old lends his vocals to Little Drummer Boy. Whenever I think about that song, you know, I picture his face and his personality, that is so him, the American Idol winner, 37, shared. He would be the kid that would make you something and bring it to you because thats what he had to give you. Thats the whole sentiment behind Little Drummer Boy is bringing what he has to Jesus, which is why I wanted to name the album My Gift. Underwood continued, I feel like, you know, the gift of music is such a blessing in my life and I really want to give that back to Jesus. It seemed to make sense to me. Isaiah did such a great job on that song. I was the proudest mom in the world and I got to share something I love. The ACM winner showed off Isaiah in a trailer for the album where hes seen singing with his mom in the studio. Underwood laughed that she felt a little bit like a stage mom. I was like in the booth with him and trying to get him to access all his little 5-year-old emotions which he can totally do on his own, but that clip is him throwing his arms in the air and he was just so expressive, Underwood recalled. When I heard the song back with his sweet little voice on it I was laughing and crying and just so many emotions. Im so proud of him. Underwood recently celebrated her 10-year anniversary with husband Mike Fisher. Along with Isaiah, they are also parents to son Jake, 20 months. One bright side of the coronavirus pandemic has been spending so much time with her family. Its been good, she shared. Ive never been in one place for this long, you know, in the past 15-plus years of my career. So its been really great to just really get to know them and watch them grow, especially Jake its such a critical time in his life and Im never gonna get it back. So, were just trying to enjoy it. Story continues My Gift is Underwoods seventh studio album and will be released on Friday. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: In this Aug. 23, 2016, file photo, the South Korean and American flags fly next to each other at Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. The United States on Thursday expressed its support for South Korea in condemning North Korea for the killing of a South Korean government official. Reuters The U.S. on Thursday expressed its support for South Korea in condemning North Korea for the killing of a South Korean government official and demanding an explanation from the communist state. "We fully support our ROK ally's condemnation of this act and the ROK's call for a full explanation from the DPRK," a spokesperson from the U.S. State Department told Yonhap News Agency, referring to South and North Korea by their official names the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, respectively. The remark came after South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed deep regrets, calling the incident a "shocking incident that cannot be tolerated for any reason." Seoul earlier said North Korea shot and killed the 47-year-old South Korean official working for the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on Tuesday when the South Korean allegedly tried to defect to the communist state. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on September 24 made a decision to revoke the banking license and liquidate Bank Arcada (Kyiv), according to the regulator's website. "The NBU, at the suggestion of the Deposit Guarantee Fund, made a decision dated September 24, 2020 under No. 601-RSh to revoke the banking license and liquidate Bank Arcada," the report says. As reported, on August 25, the National Bank declared Bank Arcada insolvent, due to the decrease in capital ratios to less than one third of the minimum established level because of the loss of the main asset - the head office building and the land plot at 3 Olhinska Street in Kyiv. The bank reportedly pledged the property as collateral for a loan attracted by a developer related with the bank and lost it due to the developer's untimely debt service. From September 11, 2020, the Deposit Guarantee Fund began to make payments to the bank's depositors under agreements that expired before August 25, 2020, and under bank account agreements (current). More than 90% of Bank Arcada depositors (more than 5,000 persons) will receive deposits in full, since their size does not exceed the amount of UAH 200,000 guaranteed by the fund, and larger deposits will be reimbursed within the guaranteed amount. It was clarified that in general the fund will provide payment of UAH 285 million. Bank Arcada was established in 1993. According to the NBU, the owner of the bank's significant stake as of June 1, 2020 was Kostiantyn Palyvoda (a total participation of 74.797%). According to the National Bank, as of August 1, 2020, in terms of total assets (UAH 1.877 billion) Bank Arcada banked 45th among 75 banks operating in the country. Paris: Nicolas Sarkozy could be forced to stand trial after failing in his attempt to quash an inquiry into claims he used Libyan cash for his 2007 election campaign. The former French president saw a Paris appeals court on Thursday (Friday AEST) uphold the validity of the investigation into reports he accepted 45 million ($81 million) from the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2017. Credit:AP The 65-year-old has denied the allegations but his lawyer would not say if he would appeal against the decision. The failed legal bid means the inquiry by two anti-corruption judges can continue, although it remains to be seen whether they will call for a trial. The investigation began after Mediapart, a French online investigative journal, published a document in 2012, allegedly signed by Libya's intelligence chief, which appeared to show that Gaddafi had agreed to hand over the cash to Sarkozy. In August of last year, a romance novelist named Courtney Milan tweeted a series of screenshots from a 1999 romance novel called Somewhere Lies the Moon. In those passages, Kathryn Lynn Davis, the books white author, describes her Chinese characters slanted almond eyes and bronze faces, turned slightly yellow by the London climate. Milan wrote: As a half-Chinese person with brown eyes, seriously fuck this piece of shit. Soon after, Milan got an email informing her that two formal ethics complaints had been filed against her with the Romance Writers of America, an organization whose members include some 9,000 published and aspiring romance authors. One came from Davis, who was accusing Milan of cyberbullying and alleging that her tweets had cost Davis a publishing contract; the other came from Suzan Tisdale, a white romance writer who runs a small publishing company where Davis worked as an editor. Months passed with no word. Milan told only a few people the details of the ongoing investigation. One of those was another romance novelist: her friend Alyssa Cole. Advertisement Cole is intimately familiar with the ways the romance communitys largely white gatekeepers have resisted making the genre more inclusive. Her 2017 historical romance An Extraordinary Union, about a former slave modeled on an actual Black Civil War spy, was one of the most popular romance novels that year, even garnering praise from mainstream criticsa rare feat for a genre that tends to be siloed into the realm of guilty pleasure. But An Extraordinary Union wasnt even nominated for one of the RWAs own annual awards. All the finalists in the historical romance category that year were white women, all but one of whom had written books where the swoony male heroes were 19th-century British aristocrats. At the time, no Black author had ever won, in any category, since the organization started giving awards in 1982. Coles snub prompted its own blowbackfirst a flood of tweets from romance writers of color about the diversity issues theyd faced in the industry and then what felt like a hollow pledge from the RWA board to do better. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cole was one of the first people to know when, two days before Christmas in 2019, the RWA judgment on Courtney Milan came in. Milan was found guilty of violating the associations express purpose of creating a safe and respectful environment for its community of writers. Despite the RWAs own code of ethics outlining that non-RWA-operated social media posts and honest discussions of books and similar writing were not valid grounds for complaints, Milan had been formally censured; her membership was suspended for one year, and she was banned from holding leadership positions in the future. Cole felt she couldnt stay silent. I just left my body with rage, she said. She didnt want her friend to have to shoulder the burden of speaking out alone. So, with Milans permission, she leaked the judgment from the RWAs ethics committee on Twitter. What followed was an explosive reckoning over racism in the world of romance writing, one that threatened to tear the community apart. For Cole, whose romances often deal with white backlash to racial progress, the blowup was nothing less than America in miniature. Advertisement Roosters crow in the background as Cole and I sip coffee together in our respective homes, some 2,000 miles apart. Cole and her husband have lived in Martinique since 2014; they moved into their current house on a rural part of the island three years ago, and the chickens have been around ever since. Cole followed her husband, who is French, to the Caribbean after a meet cute worthy of a romance novel: They met at a mutual friends brunch in 2012, two weeks after Cole was dumped by someone else, and she assumed he didnt like her because he wasnt talking much. (In reality, it was because he couldnt understand her fast-paced English.) Shes sort of like the awkward romance heroine who has chickens running through her yard and trips over things, said Milan. Its in this house, surrounded by chickens, where Cole wrote her new book When No One Is Watchingher debut thriller and her first official foray outside of romance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As a kid, Cole would buy tabloid romances and use Wite-Out to change the descriptions of ivory or pale skin to brown. When No One Is Watching, released earlier this month, is being marketed as Rear Window meets Get Out; its a story about sinister forces behind the gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood. Cole has long been interested in the intersection of dreamy romance and real-world drama. Her first series of full-length novels, 2015s Off the Grid, was a trilogy of post-apocalyptic romances that follows a multiracial group fighting to survive after the electrical power goes out. Since then, Coles romances have been set during the civil rights movement and the Revolutionary War, in medieval Scotland and 1917 Harlem, all dramatic backdrops for her heroinesmostly Black womenwho retain and assert their agency, even if they exist in a time period where all the forces around them are designed to deprive them of it. In 2018, she published the first book in her Reluctant Royals series, a string of delicious contemporary romps through international palaces, all starring Black heroines. It landed on the New York Times list of 100 notable books that year. Advertisement Growing up in the Bronx and Jersey City, Coles early literary favorites included Anne Rice and Stephen King. She found herself most fixated on how relationships formed on page and on screen, especially in stories that had happy endingseven if they didnt include people who looked like her. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Her parents worked to make sure she was also surrounded by books that reflected the reality of the neighborhoods where she grew upbooks by authors like Octavia Butler and Toni Morrison, and fairy tales that featured illustrations of people who looked like her. But even as books written by diverse authors were scattered around the house, the romances Coles mother owned mostly featured white characters written by white authors. As a kid, Cole would buy tabloid romances at supermarkets and use Wite-Out to alter the descriptions of ivory or pale skin, changing them to brown. My career on some level is making sure people dont have to do that, she said. She was 11 when she read her first romance novel, Sandra Kitts The Color of Love, starring a Black graphic designer. For Cole, who also aspired to be a comic book artist at the time, it was a lightning rod moment, the first time she didnt have to mentally or literally sub out the authors descriptions in order to see herself. Advertisement Coles love of romance persisted into adulthood, when, while working as a production editor of a science journal in Brooklyn, she started reading Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, a website founded in 2005 thats dedicated to dissecting romance novels, and realized there was a wider community that shared her tastes. Suddenly, Cole felt inspired to try writing romance herself. I like reading these kinds of books. There are other people who like reading these kinds of books, she remembers thinking. If I sit down and write a whole book, maybe someone will want to read it. But romance bloggers werent her only source of inspiration. Cole found the seeds of several of her historical romances in a more unlikely place: Ta-Nehisi Coates blog, which she began following around 2008, when he was writing on comic books. As Coates began to write more about historyincluding the Freedom Riders and Black Civil War spiesCole found herself asking two questions: 1) Why dont more people know about this? and 2) What if there were kissing involved? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Black historical fiction usually evokes one of two emotions in readers: pathos or pity. There is little room for the full range of emotion Black people experienced, no matter the time period. Even in the most horrific circumstances, of course Black people fell in love. And Cole felt sure that those stories deserved to be toldnot to romanticize the past but to tell the full truth of how we built lives despite this countrys best efforts to take them from us. Advertisement Not long after Cole began reading Coates blog, she started publishing in various small presses. Then, in 2015, her sci-fi romance trilogy Off the Grid was picked up through a Twitter pitch contest run through Carina, the digital arm of Harlequin. In 2016, Cole found an agent with the manuscript of An Extraordinary Union, which eventually landed on the desk of Esi Sogah, a senior editor at Kensington. According to the annual State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing report published by the Ripped Bodice, the West Coasts sole romance-only bookstore, Kensington was one of two publishers whose publication list included more than 20 percent authors of color in 2019.* (Carina is the other.) I dont think [An Extraordinary Union] would have been published if there was not a Black editor at Kensington at that time who was willing toI dont want to say take a risk, because the book was good, Cole tells me. Im not trying to be egotistical. A lot of times when it comes to talking about books by Black authors, its like, This person took a chance on me. Well, they take a chance with every book, but only people from marginalized groups are supposed to act all grateful and as if were not making money for the publisher. Esi liked it. She advocated for it. They decided to publish it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cole found herself asking: 1) Why dont more people know about this history? and 2) What if there were kissing involved? For many years, the only entry points into the romance industry for Black authors were specific imprints targeted at Black audiences, like Harlequins Kimani, which announced in 2017 that it was ceasing publication. According to novelist Beverly Jenkins, the grande dame of Black romance, it wasnt until Black authors began publishing their books through independent presses or selling their e-books on Amazon that the industry sat up and took notice of the money it was leaving on the table. The [women who published independently], I think, made a real difference in how Black writers and Black readers were perceived, Jenkins said. [That helped change] publishings minds that maybe they need to start doing business differently. For the majority of Jenkins 30-year career, she was the only novelist writing Black historical romances with a major publishernot because others didnt want to but because, she says, editors were convinced that Black women didnt read. Now, major publishing houses regularly release books by Black romance writers, though the numbers remain very lowless than 10 percent of romance novels released by a leading publisher in 2019 were written by an author of color. (Cole has been published by HarperCollins since 2018s A Princess in Theory.) The industry seems to very slowly be coming to terms with the fact that the person most likely to read a book in any format is a college-educated Black woman, a statistic that both Cole and Jenkins cited to me with the weary ease of someone long used to having to do so. The runaway success of authors like Jasmine Guillory, whose 2018 romance The Proposal was a New York Times bestseller, will hopefully turn the tide even faster. Though the genres image in mainstream culture still evokes housewives furtively thumbing through mass-market paperbacks with Fabio on the cover and euphemisms for genitalia within, those stereotypes bear little resemblance to the $1 billion powerhouse industry as it exists today. Coles ascendance as a star is just one example of how romancewhich accounts for 23 percent of the U.S. fiction markethas progressed past the lily-white days of yore. But the implosion of Romance Writers of America shows just how far the industry still has to go. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shortly after Cole tweeted about Courtney Milans reprimand from the RWA ethics committee, #IStandWithCourtney started trending on Twitter. Heavyweights of the genre threw their support behind Milan, including bestselling romance novelist Nora Roberts. The judgment against Milan was reversed and the organization canceled its annual awards ceremony, the Rita awards, after hundreds of authors pulled out in protest and threatened not to renew their memberships. A petition seeking the resignation of the RWAs then-president, Damon Suede, began circulating online. (In response to a request for comment, Suede said in part: I have no feelings about Alyssa Cole leaking the documents she did. I am well aware that many people have identified me as a convenient target because I present as a white cis male. I fully support all honest reportage, but I am weary of carrying blame for events enacted by other people.) In the spring, a new board of directors issued an apology to Milan and announced that they would be renaming the Rita awards in honor of the organizations founder Vivian Stephens, a Black woman. (The writer whose book Milan tweeted about, Kathryn Lynn Davis, did not respond to a request for comment. But she told the New York Times in December that she would not have filed a complaint if Milan had been more professional.) To Cole, the cultural and media response to the controversy has misunderstood its stakes. I think people try to make it into just about Courtney, she said. It wasnt just RWA versus Courtney. It was RWA versus the idea of Courtney and what Courtney represented, which was a pledge for diversity. I dont think the book would have been published if there was not a Black editor at the publishing house. Alyssa Cole In many ways, the RWA scandal was an early harbingerone of the first sparks of the racial reckoning that spread like wildfire across so many industries in the wake of this summers protests. But to many within the romance community, the changes prompted by this blowup feel long overdue. Vivian Stephens, who co-founded the organization in 1980, explained in a recent Texas Monthly interview that she left when it became clear that her white RWA colleagues were more interested in creating a social club that hosted lavish parties than in actually changing the face of the publishing industry. She offered to act as an adviser when it became clear that the organizations leadership had little idea how toor will toengage with the frustrations of their increasingly diverse membership. No one took her up on it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cole has long found that white readers displace their discomfort with her books by nitpicking for grammar errors or suggesting that her stories are unrealisticwhile the billionth story by a white author of a duke marrying a maid does not receive the same scrutiny. And some readers are very clear that historical romance about slavery is not the kind of fantasy theyre looking for. It was so uncomfortable for me that I know Ill never be able to reread it, and thats my criteria for a five star review, said one Goodreads commenter about Coles A Hope Divided, which is set during the Civil War. But when Cole and writers like her include racism in their romances, its not to make white readers uncomfortable or to ruin the escapism associated with a genre that, by definition, must end happily. Leaving the realities of life as a Black woman on the cutting room floor isnt escapism to those who experience themit is erasure. People just want to write love stories, Cole told me, her voice breaking with frustration. And yet in the face of so many structural challenges, shes found that the very act of writing about Black romance inevitably feels political. You literally have to become an activist to write a story about two people meeting and falling in love, she said. Shes fighting, in her words, the ingrained resistance to the idea of a Black woman in a stable relationship that is indicative of lovenot of sex, of love. Cole hasnt abandoned romance for good. The first book in her new Runaway Royals series comes out in December, and sparks fly between the two main characters in When No One Is Watching. But her temporary departure from the genre was certainly inspired in part by the frustrations of working within it. She recalls the anger that built as she approached the end of An Unconditional Freedom and realized that, as much as she wanted to, she couldnt actually kill off Confederate leader Jefferson Davis. Alongside the bone-deep rage that comes with knowing the sheer horrors Black people have faced in America was her knowledge that one act wouldnt change the past. Assassinating Davis would just feel like a cheap, superficial swipe at historical revisionism when the real evils were far bigger than one bad man. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And so Coles new thriller When No One Is Watching deals with the cycles of racism that define American historycycles that directly contradict the idea that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice. Theres a moment early on in the book when the protagonist, a Black Brooklyn native, finds herself on a tour of her own gentrifying neighborhood. Her exchanges with the white tour guide are tense, especially when she interrupts to supplement the details of the lives of rich white people who lived there a hundred years ago with details about the lives of Black people who lived there more recentlyand were pushed out to make room for a new set of rich white people, all part of the cycle of white flight and redlining, disinvestment and gentrification. As the tour guide waves the group onward, the protagonist laughs to herself that annoying people with history they dont want to acknowledge is kind of fun. That line might as well be describing Coles whole career. I try not to be the characters that I write, but thats basically my artist statement, Cole laughs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Coles decision to leak the RWA documents can also be read as part of her general commitment to annoying people with history they might not want to acknowledge. Its a commitment that seems to bond together a new generation of Black romance writers, from Cole to Vanessa Riley to Jasmine Guillory to Piper Huguley, who are writing Black women who dont have to be inhumanly strong in order to be loved. That new generation, Jenkins told me, allows her to no longer be worried about the state of African American romance going forward. I consider them all my nieces. My life would be a lot poorer without them. To Cole, writing thrillers and romance novels is not as different as it might seem. When youre telling a love story, you still have to create a tension and suspense, she says. You really have to make the readers think that the couple is not going to get together at the end, even though they picked up the book because the couple is going to get together at the end. And while When No One Is Watching doesnt end with the dismantling of systemic oppression, it stillwithout giving away any detailsgets as close to one of her beloved happy endings as it can. Sometimes, you just want some catharsis, she laughs. I just want the kind of media white [readers] have been getting for their entire lives. Niagara has great potential in its underutilized lands along the Welland Canal from Thorold south through Welland and Port Colborne, says Ian Hamilton. Hamilton, chief executive officer of the Hamilton Oshawa Port Authority (HOPA), joined Thorold Mayor Terry Ugulini, Welland Mayor Frank Campion and Port Colborne Mayor Bill Steele Friday to create a network of multimodal hubs along the canal through a memorandum of understanding. To be called Niagara Ports, HOPA and the three municipalities will work together to snap up lands declared surplus by Transport Canada along the waterway, then work to bring new industry and jobs to the region. This is very important for the City of Thorold, and Welland and Port Colborne. We have assets along the Welland Canal that we can utilize, and we have the multimodal capability with good rail and highway systems already in place, said Ugulini, after the signing at Lock 7 Viewing Centre in Thorold. He said Thorold has a couple of properties its looking at, and there are industrial sites that would create the opportunity for investment as Niagara Ports grows. These assets (the canal lands) have been underutilized because of the shift to on-time delivery, with everyone using transport trucks, he said. This pandemic has taught us that we have to start to do things differently. I believe that coming out of this pandemic with our eyes wide open, were going to be looking at utilizing and leveraging these assets and take some pressure off the highway system, said Ugulini, adding there will be job creation. Steele agreed, saying the economy would grow as well, with between three and five spinoff jobs for every one created by Niagara Ports. He said it will increase the tax base as well, bring in more investment to the lakeside city and update the marine industry. Partnering with Welland, Thorold and HOPA gives us bigger clout when it comes to the federal and provincial governments. Steele said the partnership already has a big foot in the door with Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey, chair of the House of Commons standing committee on transport, infrastructure and communities. He said the idea for creating a port in Niagara came many years ago when he served on council with Badawey as mayor. We tried to do this many years ago, but we couldnt get the synergies going. Unless we collaborate more, things will never get done, said Steele. He said theres land along the east pier on the canal, north of ADM and along the Highway 140 corridor that could be used to create the port. Campion agreed with Steele about the Highway 140 corridor and said there are lands there not being utilized for what they should be. This is an important issue for Welled. We need to utilize our canal lands to their full potential. Campion said that in the past, industry sprang up along the canal that ran through the middle of the city. Today bollards, where ships tied up, are still visible on the now recreational canal. RELATED STORIES Business Niagara Ports strategy aims to bring the world to Welland, Port Colborne and Thorold With the canal bypass built east of the citys downtown core, the connection was cut. But Campion said the city still has good rail and highway access for any company looking to move to the area. He said the city is open to any industry willing to be part of Niagara Ports and improve the economy of Welland and Niagara. We have the company on the canal that makes containers (CNTNR transforms shipping containers into prefabricated homes). If we could get some tie-offs for them (on the canal) they could ship their goods around the world, said Campion. Hamilton said HOPA has a vision to create an integrated network of marine assets in the Great Lakes, especially in southern Ontario. We believe this (Niagara Ports) is a wonderful addition. By tying together all the assets, it allows us to invest in the right places. We can take advantage of economies of scale an create the right infrastructure, attract businesses and service the existing ones, said Hamilton. Realme Narzo 20 First Sale Scheduled For September 28: Is It Worth Buying? News oi-Tanaya Dutta Realme Narzo 20 is all set to go for sale in the country on September 28. The handset made its debut along with the Realme Narzo 20A and the Narzo 20 Pro. The Pro model has just finished its first sale today (September 25). Now, the Realme Narzo 20 sale is set for September 28 at 12 pm. The phone is already listed on Flipkart with the 'Notify Me' option. Customers can grab the handset via Flipkart, Realme.com, and some selected offline outlets. Realme Narzo 20 Price In India, Sale Offers The handset comes in two storage and color variants. The 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant is priced at Rs. 10,499, while the 4GB RAM + 128GB storage model will be available at Rs. 11,499. The Realme Narzo 20 will be available for purchase in Glory Silver and Victory Blue color options. Customers can get various offers on the Realme Narzo 20 while buying it from Flipkart. The offers include a five percent discount on HSBC Credit card and Axis Bank Buzz Credit card. There is also a no-cost EMI option and a five percent unlimited cashback offer on Flipkart Axis Bank Credit card. Besides, you can get two years of Discovery Plus premium Subscription at Rs. 299. Is The Realme Narzo 20 Worth Buying? Running the Android 10 with Realme UI on top, the phone has a 6.5-inch HD+ (720 x 1,600 pixels) display along with a 20:9 aspect ratio. The company has used the gaming-centric octa-core MediaTek Helio G85 SoC on the Realme Narzo 20. The chipset clubbed with powerful ARM Mali-G52 GPU which claims to offer exceptional gaming experience. For battery, the handset packs a 6,000 mAh battery that supports 18W fast charging. In terms of optics, you get a triple rear camera setup that offers a 48MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and lastly a 2MP macro shooter. Upfront, it features an 8MP front-facing camera. On the connectivity front, it supports 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, USB Type-C, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Onboard sensors include a fingerprint sensor, an accelerometer, ambient light, a magnetometer, and a proximity sensor. The handset can be a good choice under Rs. 12,000. You can get a gaming chipset that can also handle daily usage without any trouble, external storage expansion options, great camera features. The massive battery which claims to offer 43 hours of calling, 117 hours of music on a single charge. Best Mobiles in India This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 565 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser, what weve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, investing in our expanded Links section. Jerri-Lynn here. Alas, I am sorry to say, this minor fine is probably a harbinger of things to come. Companies will get off very lightly for their sins and violations, workplace or otherwise, that cause clearly known and foreseeable coronavirus spread. We just dont know how to apply the principle of accountability and more. If were only going to issue such derisory fines, why bother? And longstanding readers know, the erosion of the rule of law is not a new Trump-driven phenomenon, but was well in place in the Eric Holder Justice Department and expressed in the previous administrations approach to the Great Financial Crisis (see The Obamamometers Toxic Legacy: The Rule of Lawlessness). At least the George W. Bush Justice Department took some corporate scalps when the dot-com bubble collapsed: Enron, Adelphia, WorldCom. But by now, turning a blind eye to transgressions is well-settled, bipartisan policy. By Brett Wilkins, staff writer at CommonDreams. Originally published at CommonDreams Iowa regulators on Thursday levied their first coronavirus-related fine against a meatpacking planta $957 citation for a minor record-keeping violation by a subsidiary of one of the nations biggest beef processing companies. The Associated Press reports the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the citation to the Iowa Premium Beef Plant in Tama, where 338 of the facilitys 850 employees tested positive for Covid-19 during an April outbreak that produced one of the states first hot spots. Thats 80 more workers than the state previously acknowledged, according to inspection records. Iowa regulators have issued their first citation to a meatpacking plant with a large #coronavirus outbreak that sickened its workforce a $957 fine for a minor record-keeping violation. https://t.co/xNrLgQe8oo Star Tribune Business (@StribBiz) September 24, 2020 Iowa OSHA announced on June 1 that it would investigate the Tama plant and four other meat processing facilities in the state where thousands of workers had tested positive for coronavirus. Records reviewed by the AP showed that none of the other plants were fined, despite at least nine Covid-19 deaths among them. The other facilities that were investigated by the agency are Tyson Foods plants in Waterloo, Columbus Junction, and Perry, and the JBS plant in Marshalltown. Iowa OSHA cited two other-than-serious violations committed by the Tama plant: failure to keep a required log of workplace-related injuries and illnesses, and failure to provide the document within four hours after inspectors requested it. The fine was originally meant to be twice as high. However, Iowa OSHA Administrator Russell Perry approved a settlement with the company cutting the amount in half. Iowa Premium Beefwhich last year was purchased by National Beef, the nations fourth-largest beef processoralso agreed to correct the violations. Observers reacted to the fine with disbelief and derision: Wow. 338 workers got sick in this outbreak, and Iowa Premium Beef negotiated down their Iowa OSHA fine from $1,914 to $957. https://t.co/Ras0kb1v76 Leah Douglas (@leahjdouglas) September 24, 2020 40% of their employees test positive for COVID and you only fine the company $957??? Jfc. https://t.co/KPoA87h28k Justin Kittle (@justinkittle) September 24, 2020 An underappreciated narrative from this pandemic will be how far state and federal officials go to hold corporations accountable for their actions Important to note this was reduced from a $1,914 fine to $957 https://t.co/fHP9PF8wt0 Jake Holzman (@jacob_holzman) September 24, 2020 The first Iowa fine comes less than two weeks after the U.S. Labor Department finedJBS Foods, the U.S. subsidiary of Brazilian giant JBS SAwhich, with over $50 billion in annual sales, is the worlds largest meat processing companya paltry $15,615 for failing to adequately protect workers against coronavirus. Beatriz Rangel, daughter of Saul Sanchezthe first JBS Foods employee to die of Covid-19called the small fine a slap in the face. News of the Tama fine also follows the revelation earlier this month that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the meatpacking industry collaborated to downplay and disregard risks to worker health during the Covid-19 pandemic. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perduean agribusiness tycoon and former Georgia governor with a long history of corruptionhas been criticized for pushing meat processing facilities to remain open or quickly reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. The meatpacking industry in Iowa has been described as too big too fail, wielding tremendous political power in the heavily agricultural Midwestern state. A job interview is the time to put your best foot forward to show the hiring manager that you're not just capable of filling the job, you're also someone who would be a good fit for the team. Interview success starts with a clean professional appearance and attitude. There's a lot more you should bring to the interview than just a firm handshake and extra copies of your resume. Here are a few things you'll want to have ready as you go in for that big meeting. 1. A Concise Personal Statement. The first thing an interviewer is likely to ask is the simplest of talking prompts: "Tell me about yourself." This is not the time to dish about how great a dancer you are or wax prosaically about summers in Ohio. It's time to show the interviewer that you can communicate ideas clearly and concisely. Instead, consider how the president or CEO of a company might respond. You want to very briefly give a professional summary of your experience and goals. You can feel free to show some personality through your tone -- and you can do that throughout the interview . 2. A Positive Attitude. Speaking of personality, a good attitude is always highly desirable. Sure, you might be knowledgeable, but are you someone people would want to work with? There are a lot of qualified people for any job, so what makes you the right choice? Based on your resume and cover letter, the interviewer thinks you are a qualified candidate for the job. Otherwise, you wouldn't have made it to the interview stage. Sometimes, being someone with the right attitude makes the difference between a job offer and "we'll call you." 3. Managed Expectations. Employers don't like turnover. When they hire a new employee, they are looking for someone whose career goals align with the company's objectives, because a well-aligned employee is going to invest their time and effort into their new role, along with every role thereafter. It's important not to take a job without asking about the things that mean the most to you. Whether you care more about salary, benefits, vacation time, commute distances or upward mobility, you need to be honest with the employer and yourself. 4. Real Answers. Speaking of honesty, a recruiter, hiring manager or headhunter meets hundreds of people for every open position. Those who have been in a hiring role for a long time will develop a sixth sense for people and can sniff out a false answer or misrepresentation fairly quickly. The age-old question, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" might be a little difficult to answer on the spur of the moment, so it's important to prepare for the interview by reviewing some of those infamous "gotcha" questions recruiters are known for -- and to be honest in your answer. 5. Questions of Your Own. Whenever an interviewer or recruiting panel asks, "Do you have any questions for me/us?", the answer should always be yes. If you feel that asking about job benefits or salary might be a little too much for the first interview, that's fine. There are always other questions you can ask. Read: How to Prepare Questions to Ask in a Job Interview Take notes while you do research for the interview. Researching the company is always a good idea. If you know who you'll be meeting, research them too. Ask about the company's mission; ask the interviewer why the company was a good fit for them. The important thing is to be engaged and invested in the company, and that all starts before you walk in the door. 6. Confidence. Exuding confidence when you're one candidate among potentially hundreds isn't always easy, but it's a necessity. You want to come into any job interview meeting the expectations of those who might be hiring you. And let's face it, veterans are expected to be leaders. This expectation might even be the reason you got an interview over someone else just as qualified. Put yourself in their shoes. The company ideally wants someone who is impressive, confident, bright and capable. They may have chosen a veteran for these qualities on top of the potential leadership ability. So give the people what they want. -- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook. Want to Know More About Veteran Jobs? Be sure to get the latest news about post-military careers, as well as critical info about veteran jobs and all the benefits of service. Subscribe to Military.com and receive customized updates delivered straight to your inbox. New laws which mean no more than six people from two households in Northern Ireland will be allowed to sit at the same table in a pub or restaurant will be a challenge to enforce, a hospitality trade body has warned. The new regulations, which were brought in this week by the Executive, apply to indoor and outdoor tables at venues. Children will not be counted within a party of six, but must be from either of the two households- this is the only circumstances in which tables of larger than six are permitted. Live music and DJs in venues are also now banned under the newly published legislation. Read More Colin Neill, chief executive of Hospitality Ulster, told the Belfast Telegraph that pubs and restaurants are currently battling to just break even and that some of the new regulations may force customers away. "It is very hard for us to enforce (table limits) because we can say to people coming in, which we are advising our members to do, but if they identify as from one household there is nothing we can do to go any further," Mr Neill said. Expand Close Colin Neill of Hospitality Ulster / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Colin Neill of Hospitality Ulster "Even when you check people's IDs, you could have three students with different address IDs but they are all living within one house at the minute. All we can do on the table regulations is rely on the honesty of the people coming in." The Executive is set to decide next week whether pubs and restaurants should close at 10pm, as they now do in England. However, Mr Neill fears that this would increase the number of people going to house parties rather than their local pub or bar. Read More "11pm with a half hour drinking up time is our normal licence without a late licence," he said. "That is the same legal requirement that is in down south at the minute. So it makes sense to work on an all island basis for our cross border areas. "Also, the Executive has continuously cited house parties as a major issue, but the hospitality industry closing at 10pm will only drive house parties. Even if they close the off licences at 10pm, people will buy their drink during the day. "We were reopened to save jobs and businesses. To do that we have to have a big enough offer to attract people out of the house so that we can make enough just to pay the bills but to do it safely. "If you look at the new legally enforceable regulations, we are now the only part of the UK and Ireland with that level of legally enforceable Covid safety hygiene requirements. In that sense, we have created a safer environment than anywhere else in the island." Read More Mr Neill said that if pubs and restaurants are forced to close at 10pm they will lose 50% or more of their business. "If you look at the restaurants, they would lose there second sitting. That would be 50% of their business again and in the pub trade it could be more because people would not come out," he said. "The bigger social issue is that we are just going to drive house parties, we are going to drive cross border trade. All of the things where they say the issues are. "There is no evidence at all the surge in cases is being driven by the hospitality industry. There are stats for England that show the three lowest places for transmission is prisons, hospitals and the hospitality industry. " Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the "Gburugburu" of Enugu State may not just be an all-rounder in positive attributes in the Coal City-State as the name implies but also has his fist allegedly deeply buried in the jar filled with the stench of inter-ethnic bigotry. This may have been proven by the continuous detention of three senior staff members of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Enugu who were arrested on March 22, 2019, on mere suspicion that they masterminded the murder of a co-senior staff member by name Dr. (Mrs.) Maria Amadi, the former Head, Nursing Services, a native of Nsukka who was shot dead in front of her residence at Federal Housing Estate Trans Ekulu on March 21, 2019, at about 5 pm. Despite a detailed investigation by the Nigerian Police which revealed that a three-man armed-robbery squad who has since been paraded and charged to court were responsible for the untimely death of Mrs Amadi, the trio of; Mrs Buzor Ruth Maduka, the Principal, School of Post-Basic Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing of the FNHE school of Nursing, a native of Isukwato in Abia State, Mr Afam Ndu, the Deputy Principal from Obosi in Anambra State and Mrs Stella Achalla, a Principal Confidential Secretary in the Hospital we learnt are still locked up in prison, allegedly due to the state governors influence on the case as sources squealed that Governor Ugwuanyi not only has an interest in foisting his kinsmen as principal officers in the Hospital but also has a personal vendetta with one of the staff members currently in detention. The crux of the Matter It all started when there was a disagreement between staff members of the Hospital after the then MD was reinstated despite being above 60 years. His subsequent removal following several protests and petitions birthed fractions in the Hospital as those from Nsukka origin which happens to be the governors community were not too happy with the fact that someone from another state was now heading the Hospital. The unfortunate death of Mrs Amadi who got promoted a month earlier became a front for the governor and his kinsmen to manifest their bigotry as the trio of Afam, Stella and Ruth were immediately rounded up on allegations that the deceased had stated before her demise that she had a fallout with them over the posting of students. However, no prior altercation was recorded apart from the statement made by the clerical officer Miss Nnamani Ebere who dispatched the posting letters to her office 30 minutes before the close of work. According to Miss Ebere, the deceased rejected the letters with no explanation which prompted her to return them to the principal. Dr Amadi was later shot three times at close range same day at about 5 pm in front of her residence and was confirmed dead a few minutes after 7 pm on her way to University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital after she was referred from the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital Parklane Emergency unit. Police Investigation A preliminary shabby investigation by the Trans-Ekulu Divisional headquarters under the command of the then Divisional Police Officer Hope Eziani and her Investigating Police Officer both from Nsukka unjustly indicted the trio who were subsequently remanded in prison custody. A tipoff of by a veteran in the Enugu State Neighbourhood Watch saved the day as a comprehensive investigation was later launched by the Federal Anti-Robbery Squad, FCID Abuja on the Instructions of the Inspector General of Police. This led to the arrest of three armed robbers who not only confessed to killing Mrs Amadi in the course of robbing her but narrated for the police how the incident happened. The killers in their confessional statement also made it clear that nobody contracted them to kill Dr Amadi and they never knew any of the FNHE employees who were unjustly accused and arrested over their colleague's death thereby exonerating them from the accusations. Sources also revealed that the three armed robbers; Chidiebere Ochi, Amandi Ekwo alias Pharaoh and Uchenna Onuora alias Amigo who are all members of Vikings confraternity, popularly known as baggers had been terrorizing the Trans-Ekulu axis in Enugu State at that time with repeated tipoffs to the police on their intended operations always ignored. Enugu State Government and Police trade Blame Game Notwithstanding the interim Police Investigative report signed by Olafimihan Adeoye, Commissioner of Police, FSARS, FCID, with Ref No. CR:3000/X/FHQ/ABJ/FSARS/TI/VOL 37/38 dated 11th September 2019 and a comprehensive report by the Legal/Prosecution Section, FCIID signed by DCP Augustine Sanomi with Ref No. CB3514/X/LEG/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.38/118 dated 28th November 2019 recommending that the case of criminal conspiracy and murder against Mrs Buzor Ruth, Mr Afam Ndu and Mrs Stella Achalla be withdrawn from the court, the Enugu State Judiciary arguably influenced by Governor Ugwuanyi resorted to deploying judicial filibusters to keep the nurses perpetually incarcerated even with the glaring facts that point to their innocence. During a telephone conversation with Hon. Miletus Ezugworie Eze, the Attorney General of Enugu State who coincidentally also hails from Nsukka, he affirmed that the Police investigated the case and forwarded to his office to prosecute. We started prosecution, midway. They said they have found those who killed the woman and asked me to stop my own, and they dont want to bring that case file, the new case file for me to prosecute those who have confessed. I said no, the one you brought to me, the evidence I saw in the file is sufficient for me to prosecute. If you have found new persons bring the new people so that I can prosecute and these people can be let go. He berated the Police for the delay in the release of the three nurses as he averred that not only have they refused to transmit the case file of the new suspects to him as requested but are also trying to usurp his powers as the Prosecutor of the state which is enshrined under Section 211 of the 1999 constitution as amended. Police cant ask me to terminate a case. They can only give me the material that will enable me to terminate the case. If they say they have found new people, they have not given me that fileif they want me to terminate it, let them give me the case file of the new people so that I will see what is in the file if I find it meritorious I will terminate the other one and continue with the new one but they are holding that file. So it is the Police causing the whole problem. How can the Police sit down in their house and ask the Attorney General to terminate his own case he queried. However, when quizzed on the governments alleged influence on the case and the continuous detention of the three nurses, Hon. Miletus stated that as the Attorney General of the State he could not reply to mere speculation. Police Reacts The Investigation Police Officer IPO from FSARS who handled the case in reaction to the claim by the AG stated that he did what was needed by forwarding the case file to the Police Legal Department and believed that the file was also transmitted to the Department of Public Prosecution Enugu State. Meanwhile, according to the OC Legal, DCP Augustine Sanomi, who is now retired, if the Police did due diligence to the case and new facts emerged and were communicated to the AG, nothing stops him as the Attorney General from reaching out to the Police to request for the file if he claims it was not sent to him and therefore should not use that as bases to deny justice to some persons who probably are been detained on account of mere suspicion. We wrote back to the Attorney General stating the present state of the findings and the fact that some persons have accepted to have been behind what happened. Those who were initially suspected and charged to court were innocent persons, so I dont know why he should be delaying he said. Personal Vendetta Rumours as high as the pyramids of Giza have it that Governor Ugwuanyi has a personal vendetta with one of the detained nurses over a long-standing battle for supremacy over the heart of a lady back in the University of Nigeria campus hence his interest in the case and alleged use of his Executive powers to arm-twist the Enugu State Judiciary to doing his bid despite all the facts presented to them. Mr Nnayelugo Chidi Aroh, the Enugu State Commissioner of Information, however, refuted the claim when contacted by SecretReporters, outrightly stating that the state government is the executive arm of government and do not interfere with the justice system run by the Judiciary or the investigative system run by the Nigerian Police. Its only mere blackmail for anyone to associate the state government with a process that is legally in the domain of people. Mr Nnayelugo further stated that the state government is too busy to meddle into such as the Hospital in question is a Federal Facility under the Federal Ministry of health and as such, the governor has no powers in directing its affairs. With the Principals seat now occupied by staff from Nsukka origin, the three Nurses who have been unjustly separated from their families for more than 18 months also appealed to the Enugu State Governor through their attorney for a Temporal bail reprieve given the Present COVID-19 Pandemic and the population density of inmates in the Enugu State Custodial centre of the Nigerian Correctional Services where two of them have since developed serious health issues and had to be rushed to hospitals severally. But like the biblical pharaoh with a hardened heart, the appeal which was also sent to the Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice Priscilla Emehelu fell on deaf ears apparently because her husband is from the same clan with the Speaker of the Enugu State house of Assembly and close to the powers-that-be in Enugu State who care less about the deteriorating health conditions of the three nurses and the impact of their continuous detention on their loved ones, the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Enugu and the Nursing community at large. Despite not receiving their Salaries for the past 18 months, the three nurses especially the principal, Mrs Buzor Ruth Maduka who unfortunately lost his brother to the cold hands of death last month have been struggling to remain emotionally and mentally strong with the huge responsibilities hanging on their neck as Father, mothers, and grandmothers. The National Human Rights Commission have since condemned and described this continuous incarceration as an aberration of justice as justice delayed is justice denied. This report was carried out by Secret Reporters News as part of its duties towards fighting injustice in high places. Dax Shepard Opens Up About His Recent Relapse The 'Armchair Expert' Podstar Shares His Story of Battling Addiction On today's episode of Armchair Expert, Dax Shepard podcast host, veteran actor, and husband of Kristen Bell shared the painful story of his recent relapse into Vicodin abuse, after 8 years of sobriety. Addiction and substance abuse are common problems, especially for men, but an uncomfortable silence surrounds the entire topic. We're not supposed to talk about our mental health problems, or admit to an addiction. Addiction itself is viewed as a moral failing, a weakness of will, evidence of sin. But we're paying a heavy price for our collective silence. An estimated two million Americans are currently battling the same opioid addiction that Dax Shepard is battling. More than 50,000 Americans lose their lives each year to opioid overdoses. To put those numbers into perspective, we're losing the same number of American lives each year as were lost during the entire Vietnam War. In fact, in the worst years, opioid deaths surpassed Vietnam combat deaths. Every one of these people has a story, and while the specifics might vary from person to person, they tend to converge on some common themes. There's almost always an initial event the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, a catastrophic physical injury that kicks off the opioid use. There's the shame that comes from being unable to stop. The lies you tell yourself and others about why you're using and how often. The stress those lies create in your personal life, and the strain they place on all your most important relationships. That's what makes Dax's honesty so powerful. In the episode, titled "Day 7," he shares the raw, unvarnished truth with his listeners. He talks about the pain he caused his wife Kristen and his podcast co-host Monica Padman. He spoke about the loss of his father, as well as their strained relationship ("We had so little in common, and so much f*cking friction ... But the number one thing we had in common was we were both f*cking addicts"). To say this kind of honesty takes guts is an understatement. Dax broke through a silence that's made this entire topic taboo, and for that we applaud him. Addiction was already a massive problem in our societies, but the coronavirus pandemic has only made things worse by isolating people and making it harder for them to reach out to friends and family. If you're struggling with addiction, consider some of these helpful online resources: AA virtual meetings; the SMART Recovery program, with online meetings; LifeRing Secular Recovery's 24-hour chat room, open to everyone; or even consider joining some addiction-specific subreddits like /r/RedditorsInRecovery or /r/StopDrinking. Related Reads: President Donald Trump delivers a speech about health care on Sept. 24, 2020 in Charlotte, North Carolina, less than six weeks before the November election. President Donald Trump delivers a speech about health care on Sept. 24, 2020 in Charlotte, North Carolina, less than six weeks before the November election. Credit - Brian BlancoGetty Images President Donald Trump, who has long promised a beautiful and phenomenal health care plan, announced a series of largely meaningless actions on Thursday during a speech in North Carolina that effectively served as a campaign event. The most tangible proposal Trump unveiled was a vow to send $200 prescription drug discount cards to 33 million Medicare beneficiaries in the coming weeks. However, the President said the $6.6 billion outlay needed to fund this program would have to come from savings from his most favored nations drug pricing proposal, which he announced on Sept. 13, and which experts say would be close to impossible to implement before the November election. The Trump Administration recently tried and failed to convince the pharmaceutical industry to fund a similar plan, according to the New York Times. Its unclear if the version announced Thursday will see a different fate. Trump also announced two non-binding executive orders on Thursday, one addressing the topic of surprise out-of-network medical bills and the other addressing the topic of protecting pre-existing conditions. These are two of Americans biggest complaints with the countrys health care system. But neither of these orders will have any immediate effect on the problem at hand. The first non-binding executive order is simply a promise. It declares that it is the policy of the United States that people who suffer from pre-existing conditions will be protected, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on a press call with reporters before Trumps speech. This does not create a policy or a law. Administration officials and the President himself said this would cover the same protections already established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA)the health care law passed by former President Barack Obama, which the Trump Administration is currently trying to overturn in court. Story continues The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear a challenge to the ACA on Nov. 10, one week after Election Day. If the High Court overturns the law, the American health care system would be sent into chaos. (That prospect is now more likely since Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died and Trump has vowed to appoint a new judge to replace her as soon as possible.) The protections for those with pre-existing conditions that Trump is touting would evaporate, tens of millions of Americans would lose health insurance coverage and the current system of insurance marketplaces would disappear. Health care and legal experts noted that its unlikely the White House could put in place similar protections for people with pre-existing conditions without passing a law through Congress. Trump, though, did not seem deterred. He told the often-cheering audience on Thursday that he was glad his Administration has been able to keep the ACAs protections for pre-existing conditions even as Republicans successfully eliminated other provisions, like the so-called individual mandate. We were able to terminate the individual mandate, but kept the provision protecting patients with pre-existing conditions, Trump said. This statement likely made the Trump Administrations own Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers squirm. In the current ACA case before the Supreme Court, DOJ lawyers are backing an argument that is at odds with the Presidents wordsthat the Justices must find the entire ACA no longer constitutional since the individual mandate is no longer in effect. And while Trump has often talked about protecting people with pre-existing conditions, his Administration has repeatedly taken actions that would have the opposite effect. The Administration has supported Congressional Republicans many attempts to repeal the ACA, which would eliminate protections for those with pre-existing conditions, and it championed cheaper, skimpier health insurance plans that allow insurers to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. The second non-binding executive order also does not commit Trump to taking action. Rather, it directs Azar to work with Congress to ban surprise out-of-network medical bills. If Congress does not pass legislation by Jan. 1, Azar told reporters, then Trump will direct him to take other actions. (Azar said he did not have other details on what those actions would be.) Trumps announcements Thursday failed to match his pledge of a full and complete health care plan. They also failed to make good on senior officials claims, made on the press call just ahead of Trumps speech Thursday, that the President would present an historic proposal. But none of this came as much of a surprise to those in Washington or in the health care industry. Trumps speech, less than six weeks before an election in which hes trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in most polls, was widely viewed as another attempt to change the national conversation. Trump is particularly lagging behind Biden on most health care issues, and surveys show that most Americans still disapprove of the Presidents handling of the coronavirus pandemic. A new survey released by the Commonwealth Fund on Thursday found that the majority of likely voters in 10 battleground states said Biden is more likely to protect insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions. And a poll by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation this month found that the majority of voters trust Biden over Trump on a variety of health care issues, with the President only leading narrowly on prescription drug prices. Trumps top advisers, while striking an upbeat note before his event in North Carolina, demurred when asked for the details on how the Presidents new plans would become reality. It is what it is, Azar said. by Adrian Zenz In Tibet, pastoralists and surplus farmers are trained and indoctrinated in facilities similar to Xinjiang internment camps. Chinese authorities use the fight against poverty as mechanism of social control to fight "separatism" and stifle the Buddhist religion. Tibetan workers have also been "transferred" to other provinces. Beijing (AsiaNews) More than half a million Tibetan farmers and pastoralists have been placed in military training facilities to be turned into wage workers controlled by the authorities. This model replicates the one used in Xinjiang internment camps where more than a million Uyghur Muslims are imprisoned and indoctrinated. A study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute shows that the Chinese regime runs 380 "concentration camps" in the Xinjiang autonomous region. According to the Chinese Communist Party, Tibetans are a "lazy people" who need to be reprogrammed. To this end, Chinese leaders want to reduce the "negative influence" of the Buddhist religion. What follows is the first of three parts of an analysis by Adrian Zenz, researcher at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation. Introduction In 2019 and 2020, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) introduced new policies to promote the systematic, centralized, and large-scale training and transfer of rural surplus laborers to other parts of the TAR, as well as to other provinces of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). In the first 7 months of 2020, the region had trained over half a million rural surplus laborers through this policy. This scheme encompasses Tibetans of all ages, covers the entire region, and is distinct from the coercive vocational training of secondary students and young adults reported by exile Tibetans (RFA, October 29, 2019). The labor transfer policy mandates that pastoralists and farmers are to be subjected to centralized military-style vocational training, which aims to reform backward thinking and includes training in work discipline, law, and the Chinese language. Examples from the TARs Chamdo region indicate that the militarized training regimen is supervised by Peoples Armed Police drill sergeants, and training photos published by state media show Tibetan trainees dressed in military fatigues. Poverty alleviation reports bluntly say that the state must stop raising up lazy people. Documents state that the strict military-style management of the vocational training process strengthens [the Tibetans] weak work discipline and reforms their backward thinking. Tibetans are to be transformed from [being] unwilling to move to becoming willing to participate, a process that requires diluting the negative influence of religion. This is aided by a worrisome new scheme that encourages Tibetans to hand over their land and herds to government-run cooperatives, turning them into wage laborers. An order-oriented, batch-style matching and training mechanism trains laborers based on company needs. Training, matching and delivery of workers to their work destination takes place in a centralized fashion. Recruitments rely, among other things, on village-based work teams, an intrusive social control mechanism pioneered in the TAR by Chen Quanguo, and later used in Xinjiang to identify Uyghurs who should be sent to internment camps (China Brief, September 21, 2017). Key policy documents state that cadres who fail to achieve the mandated quotas are subject to strict rewards and punishments. The goal of the scheme is to achieve Xi Jinpings signature goal of eradicating absolute poverty by increasing rural disposable incomes. This means that Tibetan nomads and farmers must change their livelihoods so that they earn a measurable cash income, and can therefore be declared poverty-free. This draconian scheme shows a disturbing number of close similarities to the system of coercive vocational training and labor transfer established in Xinjiang. The fact that Tibet and Xinjiang share many of the same social control and securitization mechanismsin each case introduced under administrations directed by Chen Quanguorenders the adaptation of one regions scheme to the other particularly straightforward. Historical Context As early as 2005, the TAR had a small-scale rural surplus labor training and employment initiative for pastoralists and farmers in Lhasa (Sina, May 13, 2005). The 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) then specified that this type of training and labor transfer was to be conducted throughout the TAR (PRC Government, February 8, 2006). From 2012, the Chamdo region initiated a military-style training for surplus labor force transfer for pastoral and agricultural regions (Tibets Chamdo, October 8, 2014). Chamdos scheme was formally established in the regions 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), with the goal of training 65,000 laborers (including urban unemployed persons) during that time (Chamdo Government, December 29, 2015). By 2016, Chamdo had established 45 related vocational training bases (TAR Government, November 17, 2016). Starting in 2016, the TARs Shannan region likewise implemented vocational training with semi-military-style management (Tibet Shannan Net, April 5, 2017). Several different sources indicate that Chamdos military-style training management was conducted by Peoples Armed Police drill sergeants. Policies of the 2019-2020 Militarized Vocational Training and Labor Transfer Action Plan In March 2019, the TAR issued the 2019-2020 Farmer and Pastoralist Training and Labor Transfer Action Plan which mandates the vigorous promotion of military-style[vocational] training, adopting the model pioneered in Chamdo and mandating it throughout the region. The vocational training process must include work discipline, Chinese language and work ethics, aiming to enhance laborers sense of discipline to comply with national laws and regulations and work unit rules and regulations. Surplus labor training is to follow the order-oriented or need-driven method, whereby the job is arranged first, and the training is based on the pre-arranged job placement. In 2020, at least 40 percent of job placements were to follow this method, with this share mandated to exceed 60 percent by the year 2024, also below). Companies that employ a minimum number of laborers can obtain financial rewards of up to 500,000 renminbi (,900 U.S. dollars). Local labor brokers receive 300 () or 500 () renminbi per arranged labor transfer, depending whether it is within the TAR or without. Detailed quotas not only mandate how many surplus laborers each county must train, but also how many are to be trained in each vocational specialty (Ngari Government, July 31, 2019). The similarities to Xinjiangs coercive training scheme are abundant: both schemes have the same target group (rural surplus laborers); a high-powered focus on mobilizing a reticent minority group to change their traditional livelihood mode; employ military drill and military-style training management to produce discipline and obedience; emphasize the need to transform laborers thinking and identity, and to reform their backwardness; teach law and Chinese; aim to weaken the perceived negative influence of religion; prescribe detailed quotas; and put great pressure on officials to achieve program goals. (End part one) (Natural News) The Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been hard on everyone, but laid-off workers in America have been struggling the hardest. While a short term extension of relief has helped them put food on the table, many unemployed Americans are struggling to look for jobs as extra unemployment benefits are starting to run out. Running out of savings Caroline Mongillo lost her part-time job at a music venue when the pandemic struck the country in March. While she set out to find a new job, things were more difficult because the countrys labor market was crippled by the pandemic. Fortunately, Mongillo and millions of other laid-off workers received $600 a week in extra unemployment benefits from the federal government. Those benefits, however, have already expired. While they have been replaced, its with a short-term extension for only $300 a week. Despite the stimulus packages, as well as efforts on her part to minimize her spending, Mongillo states that shes already spent half her savings. Mongillo shared that she has applied for at least 50 jobs in the last few weeks. Shes often inquired about jobs in marketing and advertising, but her wait has been in vain. If the marketing and advertising job hunt is a dead-end, Mongillo says that shes fine with a retail job at Target or other similar places. But she worried about taking a job in retail, especially since it might make it hard for a fresh graduate like her since she took out $25,000 in loans to attend college. According to Mongillo, The $600 weekly benefit helped her survive the early months of the pandemic, and she was even able to save about $1,200. But now that the benefit has been reduced to half the previous rate, shes growing more anxious. The extra unemployment benefit, which was included in a March stimulus package to help people, businesses and the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, expired at the end of July. Once the benefits ended, a lot of laid-off workers are at a loss on how to put food on the table and pay bills, with no end in sight to the pandemic. Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project, warned that the laid-off workers receiving $600 will fall off a cliff once the benefits end. Evermore added that the median benefit in states like Mississippi is around $212 a week. Meanwhile, in Arizona, the maximum benefit is $240 a week. This means people will have to figure out how to survive from $840 to $240. At least 50 million workers filed for unemployment insurance since March. Mark Hamrick, Bankrates senior economic analyst, warns that America remains in the thick of the pandemic-induced economic downturn. Worse still is the fact that there has been little to no improvement in new claims for unemployment benefits. The $600 benefit is a lifeline for many, particularly those living paycheck to paycheck. Feeding America, a nonprofit food bank network, estimates that one in six Americans could face hunger because of the coronavirus pandemic. The extra $600 may not seem much to those who still hold steady jobs amid the pandemic, but the benefit has helped stimulate the struggling economy. The loss of the benefit could significantly affect consumer spending and demand, which will eventually cripple the economy, advised Hamrick. Time is running out, and wallets are quickly emptying During the first few weeks of September, at least 13 million people were collecting regular state unemployment benefits that helped the majority of workers. Millions more were receiving benefits via other federal and state programs, along with one for gig-economy workers. While the countrys unemployment rate declined to 8.4 percent from a peak near 15 percent earlier when the pandemic began, it remains above a pre-pandemic level of 3.5 percent. Thanks to President Donald Trumps action last August, laid-off workers received an extra $300 in benefits a week. But those benefits only lasted six weeks. Congress, on the other hand, still hasnt reached an agreement on a new federal jobless benefit. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgs death has left an opening at the Supreme Court, which could also delay pending negotiations. The Labor Department reports that a lot of employees still havent received the additional $300 payments. In the meantime, these workers are surviving on regular state unemployment benefits alone, which have averaged $326 a week in the year through July. (Related: California started sending out FEMA-funded unemployment payments on Labor Day.) Creeping financial fears According to Peter Ganong, an economist from the University of Chicago, the $300 supplemental benefit would help put about 48 percent of workers above their previous income levels. But under the $600 benefit, at least 76 percent of workers eligible for benefits were making more than their previous income. Ganong added that unemployment-insurance recipients tend to spend more than the average person. Since unemployed people have income thats temporarily low, receiving extra money means they might spend it because it because it would bring them closer back to their desired level of spending. And while the benefit reduction hasnt caused cutbacks in spending across the economy, data suggests that spending by unemployment beneficiaries has weakened. Cardify.ai, a market-research firm that tracks the impact of the pandemic on consumer spending throughout America, reported that both debit- and credit-card spending among unemployment-benefits recipients significantly slowed once the extra $600 benefit expired in July as laid-off workers spent less on apparel, groceries and ate out less. Cardify studied anonymized spending data for users who linked their credit cards and bank accounts to Drop, a mobile-rewards platform. Drop then identified unemployment-insurance recipients according to whether they had received a direct deposit for benefits between July 15 and July 31. Helpful, but not enough to assuage financial fears The extra $300 in benefits was helpful, but it wasnt enough to completely ease financial fears. JC Elliott, a 59-year old resident of Dallas, was laid off from her job as a marketing director in May. Elliott made ends meet using $1,120 a week in jobless benefits, along with the $600 supplement. The benefits totaled to less than Elliotts pre-pandemic salary of $110,000, but they were enough to help her pay the bills without using up her savings. When the $600 in weekly benefits expired last July, however, Elliott was forced to start spending her savings. Money was also much tighter after the $300 weekly benefit ran out. Like Mongillo, Elliott is tirelessly searching for a new job. Despite the job search, Elliott cant help but feel consumed by panic. Economists predict that the benefit reduction will cut back consumer spending in the following months. At least 50 percent of economists in a Wall Street Journal survey said that the lower jobless benefits will impact spending this September. According to some businesses and workers, receiving the extra $600 made laid-off workers complacent about looking for new jobs. On the other hand, a lot of economists who studied unemployment benefits reported that receiving the extra payments werent a major deterrent to employment searches. The pandemic has made the search for new jobs much harder, leaving a lot of people little to no chance of finding employment anytime soon. Even though the number of job openings improved this summer from when the coronavirus pandemic began, its still below the levels seen before COVID-19 started spreading this spring. Sources include: WSJ.com ABCNews.go.com Grab is looking to solidify its dominance with the Gojek merger, photo: Le Toan The regional tech circle has been in a stir over news of a coming tie-up between ride-hailing platform Grab and its Indonesian competitor Gojek. As expected, the two sides have declined to offer comments prior to the conclusion of the deal. Gojek even denied the talks and asserted the news were only rumours. However, according to DealStreetAsia, the two are approaching a workable agreement. A deal would significantly strengthen Grab in Vietnam but it also raises questions about violating market concentration rules. According to Article 30 of the Law on Competition 2018, Economic concentration shall be prohibited if it causes or probably cause substantial anti-competitive effects on the Vietnamese market. In a response to VIR, Kieu Anh Vu, managing director at KAV Lawyers, said that in case Grab and Gojek carry out the economic concentration, it will be necessary to review the magnitude of the resulting anti-competitive effect to determine whether the deal should be allowed. According to Article 13 of Decree No.35/2020/ND-CP dated March 24, elaborating on several articles of the Law on Competition 2018, enterprises party to an economic concentration deal are obligated to notify the National Competition Commission if the deal fulfils one of four terms: - The total assets available in Vietnam of either party are worth VND3 trillion ($130.43 million) or more in the fiscal year before the planned year of economic concentration; - The total sales or purchase volume of either party in Vietnam is worth VND3 trillion; - The value of the economic concentration deal is at least VND1 trillion ($43.47 million); and - The joint market share of the parties is at least 20 per cent of the total market in the fiscal year before the planned economic concentration. Currently, the market share of Grab in Vietnam is about 70 per cent, according to New York-based research market firm ABI Research. Thus, in case it performs a merger with Gojek, their combined market share will definitely trigger the decree. As a result, Grab will have to notify the National Competition Commission if they go ahead with the alliance. Referring back to the similar deal between Grab and Uber in 2018, Dinh Thi Hoang Nhung, managing director at HNLaw & Partners, told VIR that the deal was determined as purchase and sale, transfer, and obligation acceptance that was insufficient to constitute a violation of the economic concentration rules of the Law on Competition 2018. She was of the opinion the same transaction method could be employed this time as well. Uber withdrawing from Southeast Asia in exchange for 26 per cent of Grabs shares in 2018 was a stock trading deal, under the Law on Competition 2004, said Nhung. Under Article 16 of the Law on Competition 2004 and Article 34 of Decree No.116/2005/ND-CP released in 2005 on detailing a number of articles of the Law on Competition 2004, the arrangement did not give Uber control over Grab as its shareholding was far below the requisite 50 per cent of voting right. Meanwhile, Grab did not own Uber stocks, so it had no voting rights on Ubers management board, said Nhung. Despite passing the checks in Vietnam, the Grab-Uber deal was in 2018 assessed as anti-competitive by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore, which fined them to a combined SGD13 million ($9.5 million). The Philippine Competition Commission approved the merger in August 2018, with conditions related to pricing and service quality. However, two months later, the watchdog imposed a penalty of nearly $300,000 on Grab and Uber for failing to reach the terms. In February 2019, the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) proposed a fine of $20.5 million against Grab for allegedly abusing its dominant position by imposing restrictive terms on its drivers, preventing them from promoting and providing advertising services for Grabs competitors in the e-hailing and transit media advertising market. Subsequently, Grab has filed for a judicial review of the fine, claiming it did not violate Malaysias Competition Act 2010. Grab started operations in Vietnam in 2014. Initially a ride-hailing service provider, since then the company has expanded geographical coverage and established an ecosystem of services including transportation (Grab, GrabBike), credit and payment (GrabPay by Moca, Grab Rewards), food delivery (GrabFood), hospitality (co-operation with Agoda and Booking.com), as well as amusement (minigames). In April 2019, it applied to change its business registration to add real estate activities. The expansion started with the co-operation deal with e-wallet Moca to debut GrabPay by Moca. According to the information released by the two parties, Grab owned only 3 per cent stake in Moca, yet two of its representatives were on the Moca Board of Directors. Also, after the deal, Moca has become an exclusive partner to the Grab ecosystem, without signing with any other partners. An unofficial source stated that Grab has taken over Moca. If the information is true, the Singaporean company has become a major contender on the local e-payment scene, next to MoMo and ZaloPay. Meanwhile, Gojek is valued at $12.5 billion and is focusing on food and payments, in addition to core transportation. In 2018, as Uber sold its Southeast Asian operations to Grab, Gojek decided to expand into Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines starting with ride-hailing but aiming to replicate the multi-service offering which had worked so well for them in their home country. In Southeast Asia, Gojek is known as a multifunctional app with 20 services. With these profiles, the two have so far been rivals, but if the two merge, they could combine their strengths, removing a major element of competition from the market and bringing them closer to total domination. Most recently, Alibaba was reported to invest $3 billion in Grab, giving rise to speculation that the sum could be used for the merger with Gojek. Charlottesville has sent a slew of honorary street name requests to the citys Historic Resources Committee for its review. At its virtual meeting earlier this week, the council voted 4-1 to send outstanding requests and the honorary street naming policy to the committee. Mayor Nikuyah Walker cast the dissenting vote, saying the council should have been able to act on some of the recommendations. Honorary street names do not change the name of the street. Rather, brown signs with the honorary designation are placed near signs with the actual street name. Councilor Lloyd Snook proposed using the committee to consider names and pointed out that the council has discussed the re-namings during its last two meetings after 11 p.m. Weve already constituted this body to do this kind of thing, he said. Weve got them there, lets use them. Last month, the council voted to suspend its honorary street naming policy and accept proposals for new names through Aug. 31. At the time, councilors had been considering an honorary street name downtown to recognize the Black Lives Matter movement. Walker said the city had created an expectation that it would be approving names to honor the Black community. Councilor Heather Hill countered that the council has made it clear it cannot deal with recommendations on an ongoing basis. She said using the committee also would help remove perceptions of bias in the process. I feel like, right now, its gotten too personal, she said. I want to remove this body from that process and add one layer at least. Walker said she thought the council should be able to at least act on Charles Alexanders request. Alexander, known in his educational work with children as Mr. Alex-Zan, originally sought to designate Fourth Street Northwest between West Main Street and Preston Avenue as Black History Pathway. It was revised to Wyatt Johnson Way (Black History Pathway) over concerns it didnt fit the existing policy. Fourth Street Northwest is adjacent to the Jefferson School in the former Vinegar Hill neighborhood, a predominately African American area the city razed in the 1960s. Snook said the city should continue to consider true renamings of several streets. Councilor Michael Payne noted that former Councilors Wes Bellamy and Mike Signer had been working on a proposal to examine unnamed city properties and come up with 12 properties to name in honor of those who fought for social justice. City spokesman Brian Wheeler said he was in meetings with Bellamy, Signer, former Deputy City Manager Mike Murphy and Charlene Green, former manager of the Office of Human Rights, about the process last year but that next steps werent finalized. Murphy and Green have since resigned and Bellamy and Signer didnt seek re-election, so Wheeler is the only remaining official who was involved in those meetings. Wheeler provided some notes from the meetings about the proposals. The group considered creating a list of 40 to 50 people who could be honored while gathering summary information on places that are already named after people. The group also discussed ways to involve the community, such as an open house. The Historic Resources Committee will review the honorary naming proposals, examine the policy and provide a recommendation to the council at a future meeting. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. EuropeFX Traders demand more from their brokers, and by extension the technology they have at their disposal. In an increasingly competitive field, users want to feel greater agency over their trading, along with access to the same tool suite available at traditional desktop trading desks. Life is increasingly on the go, placing a greater emphasis on mobile trading apps and technology. Indeed, users are demanding more from these apps than ever before, placing a greater premium on such technology. Many brokers have struggled to effectively satisfy these needs. However, EuropeFX has met the challenge head on, culminating in the launch of eFXGO!, an intuitive trading app for FX and contracts-for-difference (CFDs). According to EuropeFX CEO Keith Ioakim, "Traders demand more from their brokers, and by extension the technology they have at their disposal. In an increasingly competitive field, users want to feel greater agency over their trading, along with access to the same tool suite available at traditional desktop trading desks." This is no easy feat, though eFXGO! has managed to check off all the right boxes. For starters, eFXGO! isn't simply a scaled-down desktop platform. Instead, the app operates as a sovereign advanced trading technology that is engineered for mobile devices only. The entire framework of eFXGO! is tailored specifically for mobile trading, which allows it to perform a range of specialized functions. The native Android and iOS app are fully compatible and streamlined to work with all existing EuropeFX systems, including MT4. Modern day traders rely on a basket of different assets. eFXGO! offers access to upwards of 100 tradable assets, including major, minor, and exotic FX pairs, commodities, and CFDs covering shares, indices, and spot metals. Users of MT4 and other existing platforms will feel right at home with eFXGO! The difference lies in the flexibility and fine-tuned feel the app provides while trading on mobile devices. Thanks to its dedicated mobile design, users are able to take advantage of improved trade flexibility and order execution. This extends to trades directly from chart viewing, saving users the trouble of sorting through multiple pages. Moreover, trade alerts help keep all users abreast of any developments and updates, placing them in greater control over their positions. eFXGO! is also built on offering precise entry and exit points on all your positions. One of the biggest strengths of eFXGO! is its ease of use for first-time users. The app has an extremely familiar feel and traders both advanced and novice can take advantage of an optimized and clean interface. Unlike many other platforms, eFXGO! is backed by in-app support that is available around the clock, five days a week. The app is also defined by its flexibility, syncing directly with the EuropeFX client area as well as its supported platform variants. This is instrumental in ensuring a smooth trading experience between multiple accounts so you can spend more time trading and less time figuring learning the interface. eFXGO! also has made security protocols an area of emphasis. This includes relying on encoded and encrypted data transmission to give you more piece of mind. Find out today what eFXGO! can do for you by downloading it today to your Android or iPhone! About EuropeFX EuropeFX is a global leader in Forex, CFDs, stocks, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and more. The company utilizes STP trade execution, offering live webinars and education sessions and an extensive lineup of tradable assets, markets, platforms and trading options. Risk Warning: CFDs are complex instruments and carry a high risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 78.94% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Hanoi's deputy Party chief Chu Ngoc Anh has been elected as chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee for the remaining time of the 2016-2021 tenure. Anh received 100 percent of approval after 95 delegates cast their ballots at the 16th session of the Hanoi Peoples Council on Friday morning. He still holds his position as Minister of Science and Technology. The prime minister is expected submit a proposal to the National Assembly to relieve Anh from his post as Minister of Science and Technology in November. On September 18, Anh was named deputy secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee by the Politburo. Chu Ngoc Anh, 55, was born in Thai Hoa Commune, Ba Vi District, Hanoi. He was a research fellow and lecturer at the School of Engineering Physics under the Hanoi University of Science and Technology between October 1988 and November 1995. He was Deputy Minister of Science and Technology from August 2010 until March 2013. Anh was named deputy secretary of the Party Committee in the northern province of Phu Tho in March 2013. He became chairman of the provincial People's Committee in May the same year. He held both positions until September 2015, when Anh returned to the Ministry of Science and Technology as its deputy minister. Anh has been Vietnam's Minister of Science and Technology since April 2016. Also at the Hanoi Peoples Councils 16th session, delegates agreed to dismiss Nguyen Duc Chung from his position as chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee. On August 11, Chung was suspended from work for 90 days according to a decision signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Chung's suspension was meant for verifying, investigating, and clarifying his responsibilities in relation to a number of cases in accordance with the law. Hanoi's permanent vice-chairman Nguyen Van Suu stood in for Chung while he was suspended. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Name: Bob Hebert Party: Republican Race: 111th House District Republican Bob Hebert is seeking a first term in the 111th House District, which includes the entire city of Ridgefield. Among Heberts priorities if elected would be to oppose mandated school regionalization, protect local control of planning and zoning, and restoring economic prosperity. Hebert was re-elected to a second term in 2019 as a Selectman for the Town of Ridgefield and Fire Commissioner. He most recently initiated and co-chaired the Reopen Ridgefield Task Force designed to help businesses safely return to activity. Prior to his successful 2015 election to Ridgefields Board of Selectmen, he served as chairman of the Ridgefield Housing Authority. Hebert is currently the managing partner/owner of Hebert Partners. Founded in 2006, Hebert Partners is a commercial real estate investment and advisory firm. He is also the founder of The Bank of New Canaan. Herbert served in the Army and received two Bronze Stars during deployment to Vietnam. Hebert and his wife Jan have lived in Ridgefield for the past 35 years, where they raised three children. There remains a dearth of information from the community regarding a horrific shooting this week despite a reward of $25K and a great deal of public outcry from local leaders. Similarly, this week a Missouri witness protection bill was signed without any funding. And so, the impact of empty political promises seems negligible when confronting a deadly spike in violence that's seemingly unstoppable. Checkit: October is fast approaching and as the weather turns cooler, it's good that we have brand new dramas to cozy up with. Let's see what we should anticipate on one of our favorite streaming site Netflix next month! This monthly update serves as a purpose to keep the avid fans updated on what's currently happening in the world of Korean dramas. So make sure that you don't miss out on anything next moth! Surely, you'll never run out of Korean dramas to binge watch on Netflix. Here are the K-dramas you should keep an eye out for in October 2020 on Netflix. Enjoy! 1. Start-Up Release date: (Coming Soon) This upcoming drama will feature the story of people who are involved in the world of startup companies. It tells the story of a drop out student named Seo Dal Mi (Suzy) who dreams of becoming Korea's famous tech mogul "Steve Jobs". She is very energetic and is determined to reach her goal. As the story progress, she eventually crosses paths with Nam Do San (Nam Joo Hyuk) who is the CEO and Founder of a technological company named Samsan Tech. Nam Do San becomes Seo Dal-Mi's first love and they will support and cheer each other as they reach their goals. RELATED: Kang Han Na is a Successful Career Woman in tvN's "Start-Up" 2. Familiar Wife Release date: October 1 The story is about a married couple who is together for 5 long years, Cha Joo Hyuk (Ji Sung) and Seo Woo-Jin (Han Ji Min). They surprisingly discover themselves having different lives, living separately from each other, when their fates magically change through an incident. Cha Joo Hyuk suddenly woke up with a different life as well as a different wife as Hye Won (Kang Han Na). 3. Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol Release date: October 7 This romantic comedy drama about a smart and lively pianist named Goo Ra-ra who was having a hard time financially because of her family falling into debt. Due to this, she finds her way to a piano academy in a small village and there she meets multi part-time worker Seon Woo-joon who is satisfied with his carefree lifestyle. When they crossed paths, they were bound to change each other's lives and created a bond that developed into something more beautiful. RELATED: Cute Bromance of Lee Jae Wook and Kim Joo Heon in New Drama "Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol" 4. Private Lives Release date: October 7 "Private Lives" is about fraudsters who were able to come across a secret of the nation and try to reveal the secret. Lee Jung Hwan (Go Kyung Pyo) is a leader of a major corporation, who may look like a simple and ordinary employee but he is one mysterious person. Another character is Cha Joo Eun (SNSD's Seohyun) who is a swindler who looks like a sweet and innocent woman that supports her own illegal doings. 5. When My Love Blooms Release date: October 15 "When My Love Blooms" centers its story on two characters named Han Jae-hyun (Yoo Ji-tae) and Yoon Ji-soo (Lee Bo-young). They both met when they were university students and instantly fell in love. After 20 long years, their paths crossed and discovered that they both changed since their younger years. They are given a second chance to restart their relationship, and be able to rekindle their romance from 20 years ago. LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 25, 2020 / The shift to e-commerce was already thoroughly underway before the onset of COVID-19, but the global pandemic lit a fire under the trend towards a more digital economy. Delivery technology is rapidly improving. In only a few years, Amazon drone deliveries and autonomous vehicles will likely become commonplace, diminishing the demand for brick-and-mortar retailers as delivery costs plummet. Retailers will need to resort to digital branding out of necessity to reach a broader customer base. Consumer preferences are also increasingly signaling a preference for online ordering, especially with fears of an invisible virus circulating around the world. Record plunges in retail sales in April show just how fragile a critical sector of the economy can become when consumer preferences change from an uncontrollable event. However, despite the drop in consumer sales, online delivery marketplaces like Amazon, Instacart, Grubhub, and Postmates have thrived amid the crisis. COVID-19 just accelerated the transition to the e-commerce market of smaller retailers, many of whom are left with sparse options besides taking their business digital. So, should you transition your local, small business to the Internet in the aftermath of a pandemic? Here are three reasons why you should. A Shift to a Digital Economy is Inevitable The American economy has drastically changed over the last few decades. The ascendance of the information age has eschewed domestic manufacturing in favor of digital services and products - known as the dynamic shift from tangible to intangible goods. For example, 80 percent of stock value today is accounted for by intangible goods like intellectual property and branding. Comparatively, tangible goods accounted for 83 percent of stock market company value in 1975. An economy that encompasses significantly more intangible goods than tangible ones is a byproduct of the Internet, and the trend is only gaining momentum as the costs of operating an online business continually decrease. Foregoing a digital presence, even if it's as simple as a Wordpress e-commerce website connected to Stripe, can be a death knell for many smaller retailers as people spend copious amounts of time online shopping rather than popping into physical stores. However, there are legitimate reasons why small business owners are hesitant to make the digital leap - a lack of knowledge and the costs. "Most businesses that want to make the transition to a digital presence and brand are short on both time and money," details Jaiden Vu, Founder of Black Peached. His company helps small businesses overcome the obstacles to getting a digital presence up and running, covering everything from video marketing to ad campaign management. "Many of the smaller businesses are not aware of the nuances of social media marketing and how powerful they can be when used properly," continues Vu. "Especially the established stores that are run by older generations, it can be a major sticking point. We try to get everything running for them so they can manage their digital presence once we're done." Considering the millions of unemployed and lost revenue from COVID lockdowns, the shift to a digital economy is not only inevitable -- it's a train that's rapidly departing. You want to be on that train before it's too late. Online Marketplaces & Delivery Services Have Surged During COVID Beyond the toilet paper shortage, you may have noticed that online delivery platforms were consistently back-logged, short of numerous items, and appeared unable to handle the surge in demand of March as COVID-19 fears ramped up. However, they adjusted quickly, and have been churning out consumer products at an unprecedented clip since. For example, Amazon Fresh, which was mired by a shortage of delivery windows, increased its order capacity by 60 percent and Amazon hired more than 175K additional employees to cover the demand. Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon, turned some of its stores in major cities like New York into delivery-only warehouses to better serve customers. Grubhub and Postmates each also saw significant upticks in order volumes, with Postmates even partnering with Walgreens to deliver groceries. Comparatively, small businesses like local groceries and retailers cannot operate with the same economies of scale and were forced to either close or implement onerous procedures like temperature checking and social distancing measures. Those obstacles are layered on top of the notion that people were deterred from going to a physical grocery store anyways. What these developments demonstrate is something most people are well aware of - the time saving and efficiency of e-commerce have reached a tipping point; they're here to stay. The Opportunity for Boutique Products is Massive Many small businesses, from a services company to a mom-and-pop store, may be hesitant to enter the e-commerce market because they don't believe their product or service can evolve into a household brand. That idea is simply untrue. Consumers, particularly young ones, have demonstrated in recent years that they want exclusive, boutique products. Smaller brands and retailers can carve out a niche in just about any sector. All it takes is a loyal following of customers, which may be much smaller than you think is necessary. Kevin Kelly, the founding editor of Wired Magazine, wrote a famous essay in 2008 called "1,000 True Fans." He details how only 1,000 or even less loyal "true" customers can empower your business to thrive, and rake in enticing profit margins even if your business exists entirely in a niche market - like handcrafted figurines collectors. You don't need a blockbuster product, just the ability to cultivate a small following and convert them into dedicated customers. The Internet helps you reach those customers. The power of branding can go a long way in gathering a cult-like following as well. Just look at Supreme, who sells skateboard culture-infused apparel at ridiculous prices using deft marketing and exclusive merch drops. Taking your business digital doesn't mean you have to compete with Supreme, though, but it's a compelling example of how clever marketing can produce something special. If you're stuck at home wondering how your business will survive the economic onslaught of COVID-19, look to the Internet as your benefactor. You may have seriously considered taking your company digital for a while, but just never got around to it. Now is the time. E-commerce will come to dominate the retail and services sector in the next decade, and whether you think your boutique brand or niche offering can grow organically on the world wide web or not -- it's worth a shot. Contact: Kari Craig Energent Media kari@energentmedia.net SOURCE: Energent Media View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/607804/3-Reasons-to-Transition-Your-Company-to-The-e-Commerce-Market-After-COVID-19 Employers have been warned focusing on recruitment alone is not enough to tackle a lack of diversity in workplaces. Photo: PA Employers have been warned focusing on recruitment alone is not enough to tackle a lack of diversity in UK workplaces. Jo Portlock, inclusion and diversity director at Reed Business Information, told a panel event on diversity at the DIAL Global virtual summit on Friday firms had to also focus on measures to retain staff from diverse backgrounds. She said too much discussion over diversity focused only on recruitment, adding: You cant recruit your way out of a diversity problem. The DIAL Global Virtual Summit is supported by Yahoo Finances parent company Verizon Media. The virtual conference, entitled A Call to Action & Moving the DIAL for Meaningful and Sustainable Change through Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging speaks to senior directors and C-suite executives at the largest organisations in the world to discuss how companies can foster a truly diverse and inclusive workplace. Portlock said employers had to consider how to build a culture of psychological safety, where staff challenging or speaking up on issues was embraced rather than ostracised. She and other panelists highlighted the importance of data to accurately capture the diversity of workforces. Portlock said employers had to make it an appropriate culture for people want to share that data by showing the purpose and following up with action, highlighting her own organisations plans to gather more information on staff self-identification. Another panellist, McCann Health Medical Communications chief operating officer Alice Choi said targets were also crucial to ensure follow-through on employers stated commitments on diversity. READ MORE: If Black Lives Matter 'then now is the time for organisations to prove it' One of the dangers is that every organisation in the current climate is going to say they absolutely want to drive this change and see this change, but people need to see not just the rhetoric but people walking the walk, she said. Story continues Employers should set key performance indicators (KPIs) that are not just aspirational but realistic, transparent and widely communicated, she added. Rushi Jalla, chief diversity & inclusion officer at BAE Systems, also spoke on the panel. She said her company had carried out a four-day diversity training programme for senior staff. READ MORE: How to evolve from feel-good optics to creating real and measurable change? Most staff who completed the programmes said they had learned that treating everyone the same is not treating everyone fairly, said Jalla. The company assessed participants hiring records before and after they participated, and found a 15% increase in hiring of women and people of colour. Participants began to think critically on what their times were missing when recruiting, rather than falling back on fit and gut feeling, she added. India: Hindu extremists kill church planter, dump body in woods Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A church planter in Indias Maharashtra state was brutally killed by Hindu extremists after suffering years of abuse for his Christian faith amid escalating religious intolerance and violence in the country. Persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reports that on July 10, unknown Hindu extremists murdered Pastor Munsi Thado, 35, and left his body in the forest near Badpari village in the Godcharoli district of Maharashtra state. The Hindus reportedly dragged the pastor from his home, ignoring his wife Rajinis pleas for his life to be spared. In the five years preceding his death, Pastor Munsi lived in the forest near Badpari village due to village pressure. Village leaders angered by Munsis evangelistic efforts demanded he recant his Christian faith. When the pastor refused to comply with their demands, he was chased out of the village. Following his ostracism from his community, Munsi, who was part of a Maoist separatist group prior to his conversion to Christianity, continued to evangelize, leading nearly two dozen families to Christ. He was killed because of his faith, life, and ministry to the Adivasi people in the area, one of his colleagues told ICC. He led more than 20 families to Christ in the last five years, ever since he was thrown out the village by some Hindu radicals. India has roughly 66 million Christians out of a total population of approximately 1.36 billion. The country has seen a steady rise in persecution of Christians over the past decade, according to Open Doors USA, which ranks India the 10th most dangerous place to live as a believer. Open Doors notes that attacks against Christians are often perpetrated by Hindu nationalists, while converts to Christianity from a Hindu background are "especially vulnerable to persecution and are constantly under pressure to return to Hinduism, especially through campaigns known as Ghar Wapsi (home-coming)". Rights groups claim that since the Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu nationalist party, won the general election in 2014, Hindu extremists have targeted Christians with immunity. According to Persecution Relief, which tracks anti-Christian persecution and harassment in India, crimes against Christians in India increased 60% between 2016 and 2019. The nonprofit found that between January 2016 and June 2020, there were 2,067 crimes inspired by religious intolerance against Christians in India. Eight out of 29 states in India have passed strict anti-conversion laws to prevent any person from converting or attempting to convert, either directly or otherwise, another person through forcible or fraudulent means, or by allurement or inducement. Penalties for breaching the laws can range from monetary fines to imprisonment. Rights groups have warned that such laws are often used to discriminate against religious minorities or to justify extrajudicial killing. Last month, Pastor Prasanna Kumar was attacked and brutally beaten by a mob of radical Hindu nationalists as he returned home from a prayer meeting in Bikampur village, located in the Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh. The radicals accused the pastor of forcefully converting Hindus to Christianity. Last week, 14 U.S. Senators signed a letter asking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to consider the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedoms recommendation to designate India a Country of Particular Concern. In the letter, primarily endorsed by the Coalition to Stop Genocide in India, the senators demanded that targeted sanctions be imposed against Indian agencies and officials responsible for escalating religious intolerance and violence. There is strong bipartisan Congressional support for holding India accountable for its escalating violence against its principal minorities, the Muslims and Christians, the Coalition to Stop Genocide in India explained. The U.S. Government must designate India a CPC. R epublican leader Mitch McConnell has promised an "orderly transition" of power after Donald Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer if he loses the presidential election. When asked a question about committing to the results of the November 3 election, Mr Trump said that this week: "We're going to have to see what happens". The US President has baselessly claimed widespread mail voting would lead to massive fraud, despite the five states that routinely send mail ballots to all voters having seen no significant fraud. He told reporters on Wednesday: "You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster." Mr Trump also took to Twitter to claim: "Democrats are Rigging our 2020 Election!" as he shared a clip of a Fox News interview about mail-in voting. Donald Trump charges up the crowd while speaking of the need to win the upcoming election during a campaign rally at the Toledo Express Airport / Getty Images Top US senator Mitch McConnell and other senior figures in Mr Trumps Republican Party said they had no hesitation in committing to an orderly transfer if Mr Trump loses. Mr McConnell responded in a tweet: The winner of the November 3 election will be inaugurated on January 20. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792. Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was very sad the president of the US was even raising this question. She asked: What would our founders think? Calm down, Mr President. Ms Pelosi reminded Mr Trump the US is not North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia or other countries with strongman leaders he openly admires. You are in the United States of America, it is a democracy, she said. So why dont you just try for a moment to honour our oath of office to the constitution of the United States? The House Speaker added that she has confidence in American voters to cast their votes and choose the president. Donald Trump launches 2020 re-election campaign - In pictures 1 /36 Donald Trump launches 2020 re-election campaign - In pictures President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greet supporters at a rally where the president formally announced his 2020 re-election bid AP A supporter holds a placard during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump formally kicking off his re-election bid in Orlando, Florida Reuters A man holds up a sign as the crowd waits for US President Donald Trump to arrive at a rally at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida to officially launch his 2020 campaign AFP/Getty Images Protestors hold up anti President Donald Trump signs during a rally AP White House senior advisors Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner react as U.S. President Donald Trump formally kicks off his re-election bid with a campaign rally in Orlando, Florida REUTERS A supporter dances to music at a rally where President Donald Trump announced his 2020 re-election bid AP Supporters of President Donald Trump cheer as he arrives to speak at his re-election kickoff rally AP Kimberly Guilfoyle (right) and Donald Trump Jr. arrive at a rally for US President Donald Trump, to officially launch the Trump 2020 campaign AFP/Getty Images A supporter poses for photo before U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign kick off rally at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida REUTERS US Vice President Mike Pence speaks with US President Donald Trump at a rally to officially launch the Trump 2020 campaign AFP/Getty Images First lady Melania Trump speaks to supporters at a rally where President Donald Trump formally announced his 2020 re-election bid AP A woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty protests against President Trump outside a rally where Trump officially launched his re-election campaign Getty Images Opposition groups protest against President Trump outside a rally where Trump officially launched his re-election campaign Getty Images A supporter of US President Donald Trump demonstrates outside the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Images Supporters of US President Donald Trump hold placards near the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Images Opposition groups protest against President Trump outside a rally where Trump officially launched his re-election campaign Getty Images Donald Trump launches his re-election campaign at a rally in Orlando, Florida Reuters Donald Trump greets First Lady Melania Trump as he takes the stage for the official launch of the Trump 2020 campaign at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Images Thousands of supporters gathered at the rally Reuters Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump, Lara Trump, Eric Trump, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Donald Trump Jr. arrive at a rally for US President Donald Trump, to officially launch the Trump 2020 campaign, at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump and press secretary Sarah Sanders hug at a campaign kick off rally at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida REUTERS U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign kick off rally at the Amway Center in Orlando Reuters Protesters attend a rally against US President Donald Trump AFP/Getty Images A woman protests against President Trump outside a rally where Trump officially launched his re-election campaign Getty Images Members of the Proud Boys face off against anti-Trump protesters outside a rally where President Trump officially launched his re-election campaign Getty Images Opposition groups protest against President Trump outside a rally where Trump officially launched his re-election campaign Getty Images Opposition groups protest against President Trump outside a rally where Trump officially launched his re-election campaign Getty Images Few Republican politicians came to the presidents defence. Instead Senator Lindsey Graham, an ally of Mr Trump and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox & Friends on Thursday: If Republicans lose we will accept the result. If the Supreme Court rules in favour of Joe Biden, I will accept that result. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, a member of the House GOP leadership, tweeted: The peaceful transfer of power is enshrined in our Constitution and fundamental to the survival of our Republic. Americas leaders swear an oath to the Constitution. We will uphold that oath. Long-time senator Richard Shelby, of Alabama, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, added: Well, weve always had a peaceful transfer of power. Thats one of the hallmarks. And I think this year will be no exception. Mr Trump also declined four years ago to commit to honouring the election results if his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, won. Joe Biden, his current Democratic challenger, was asked about Trumps comment after landing in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday night. What country are we in? Mr Biden asked incredulously, adding: Im being facetious. Look, he says the most irrational things. I dont know what to say about it. But it doesnt surprise me. Olivia Troye: Donald Trump said Covid might be a good thing so he doesn't have to shake hands with disgusting people Mr Trump has been pressing a months-long campaign against mail-in voting this November by tweeting and speaking out critically about the practice. More states are encouraging mail-in voting to keep voters safe during the coronavirus pandemic. The president, who uses mail-in voting himself, has tried to distinguish between states that automatically send mail ballots to all registered voters and those, like Florida, that send them only to voters who request a mail ballot. Ohio Congressman Steve Stivers, a former chairman of the House Republican campaign arm, tweeted: Regardless of how divided our country is right now, when elections are over and winners are declared, we must all commit ourselves to the constitution and accept the results. Senator Mitt Romney, one of the lone GOP voices to cross Mr Trump, referred to an electoral crisis in Europe, tweeting: Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus. Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable. Additional reporting by Associated Press. * EU wants new rules for migration from Africa, Middle East * Commission proposal sure to stir up divisions within bloc * "Mandatory solidarity" would see each state take some arrivals By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The European Union's executive proposed on Wednesday overhauling the bloc's broken migration and asylum rules, seeking to end years of feuds and bitterness over the many people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. The most contentious element would impose a legal obligation on each state to host an assigned number of refugees - something eastern nations including Poland and Hungary are dead against - as well as helping in other ways under "mandatory solidarity". Each state would receive 10,000 euros ($11,750) per adult taken in, funded from the bloc's budget. Endless rows over where to locate refugees and migrants have caused bad blood between the Mediterranean-shore countries where they mainly come, the reluctant easterners, and the richer northern states where many of the new arrivals aspire to live. The bloc was caught off guard in 2015 when more than a million people made it to EU shores, overwhelming security and welfare networks, and fomenting far-right sentiment. But the bloc's top migration official said the crisis was over, with the EU now receiving some 1.5 million net new foreigners coming legally to live and work per year, compared to only 140,000 asylum seekers arriving irregularly. "We need these people," said Swedish EU Home Affairs Commissioner, Ylva Johansson. "Managing migration is not about finding a perfect solution but a solution acceptable to all." The executive European Commission's plans to overhaul its defunct system include scratching a rule that the first EU country of arrival be responsible for asylum requests, which put too much burden on Mediterranean nations. Under the new proposal, those arriving would be assigned to specific countries based on family links, history of education or work, or having a visa issued by a member state. Story continues 'MANDATORY SOLIDARITY' In the 400-page proposals spanning five different pan-EU laws, Johansson put emphasis on sending back those who fail to win asylum. "It's necessary to have the acceptance of EU citizens to relocate (host) those who have the right to stay to be able to send back those who are not eligible," she said. The plan, sure to stir up heated disputes, would also aim to open up more legal routes for refugees and migrants, and work more closely with countries hosting and managing people before they reach Europe. It would also put EU countries with external borders under closer monitoring to ensure they do not violate the law after multiple reports of pushbacks in Hungary, Croatia, Greece or Malta. Under the plan, people rescued in the sea would have to be relocated in the bloc - rather than sent back - and the Commission recommended that member states do not criminalise charities involved in such rescues. At times of regular immigration, all EU states would be obliged to help under the new idea of "mandatory solidarity" by relocating or returning people, or offering material assistance on the ground in arrival countries. If, however, a country were falling under major pressure, it could seek to activate a crisis mechanism under which its EU peers would be obliged to take people in or send them back. The complex system would eventually lead to each EU country having to take in some refugees. Despite having German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the driving force behind it, the plan faces an uphill battle. The Commission said all elements should be in place from 2023. "My guess is that I will have zero member states saying it's a perfect proposal," said Johansson. "But I do hope that I'll also have 27 member states saying it's a balanced approach and let's work on this... It's about realising we have a common problem and we have to manage it together." After opening Germany's doors to Syrian refugees back in 2015, Merkel suffered electoral setbacks as the far right surged on anti-immigration sentiment. But in a sign of the changing mood, German mayors offered this month to take in refugees after an overcrowded camp on the Greek island of Lesbos burnt to the ground. Protesters took to the streets in many German cities chanting "We have space!". (Reporting and writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne) Experts are studying how man-made noise pollution, like from boats and oil drilling, is threatening the lives of orcas. One team of scientists is collecting hundreds of hours of orca recordings off the coast of Norway in an effort to make to region a marine protected area. Man-made noises interfere with orcas' communication, which they use for hunting and mating. And orcas trying to escape the underwater cacophonies may travel too far to the rocky shoreline, which can result in stranding and death. View more episodes of Business Insider Today on Facebook. Orcas have a language of their own. They communicate through touch, movement, and most importantly, sound. And it's marine scientist Ellyne Hamran's job to eavesdrop on them. Hamran is an acoustic researcher studying the sounds marine mammals like whales and dolphins use to communicate. She's captured hundreds of hours of orca recordings. This summer, she's listening to the orcas of Norway's Lofoten Islands, beloved by the creatures for its healthy populations of herring and other fish to feed on. But an invisible problem is increasingly alarming experts: noise pollution from whale-watching cruises, oil exploration, and other human activity. Hamran has set out to study how it affects the whales and use her findings to make Lofoten a marine protected area, permanently shielding it from both unwelcome noise and oil drilling. "Whales are using sound as their primary sense, unlike humans that are using their vision," Hamran told Business Insider Today. "So it's very important for whales to be able to communicate to each other, to find mates, to search for prey, also to navigate the area." Hamran works for Ocean Sounds, a nonprofit that advocates for marine ecosystem conservation and has been tracking orcas here in Lofoten since 2003. Marine scientist Ellyne Hamran has collected hundreds of hours of whale sounds to study how noise pollution affects the animals. Maarten van Rouveroy for Business Insider Today On a typical day, Ellyne, her husband Bjrn, their dog Bailey, and a team of researchers drive around the islands in an inflatable boat looking for action. Story continues When they spot whales, they slowly approach, then turn off the engine to minimize noise. They use an underwater microphone called a hydrophone to record vocalizations. "During socializing, they're producing a variety of vocalizations. It can be whistles, calls, buzzes, clicks same with when they're feeding. They're a little bit more quiet when they're traveling," she said. They also photograph the whales to keep track of the family groups. Bjrn operates a drone that films whales from above. The scientists assign a number to each orca and add them to a catalog. "We will be able to use this method to track them over time. It's a very noninvasive and inexpensive way of doing the research," Hamran said. Over time, they match the orcas' sounds up with behaviors, gradually learning their complex language. Each pod speaks its own dialect, so tracking them is essential for understanding the communication. The large population of whales also attracts thousands of people looking for boat tours every year. But these ships full of whale lovers can actually be quite disturbing to ocean life. "We've had issues of boats zooming through pods, sometimes even between the mother and calf," Hamran said. "It's also quite loud on the hydrophone, even loud enough that you want to turn the volume down, but the whales are not able to go in and modify how loud the boats are. And I don't think people are aware of this issue." Orcas communicate with whistles, calls, buzzes and clicks. Maarten van Rouveroy for Business Insider Today Boat noise can overpower whale calls "it could mask the vocalizations that they can't be able to communicate with each other nearby or find a mate," she said. And it can scare away the fish orcas feed on, too. "They spend quite a lot of time rounding up the herring to feed, and then a boat could come way too close and now disperse the fish," she said. The looming threat of oil drilling also poses a problem. In 2019, the Norwegian government reached a deal to block drilling in Lofoten for now. But every seat in the parliament is up for election in September 2021, which could put the area at risk again. And even without permission to drill, companies can still use blasts of compressed air to map where oil lies beneath the ocean floor. These seismic surveys can be louder to marine life than fireworks from 3 feet away. Researchers aren't sure how these sounds affect ocean mammals' health, but studies have found that a single seismic airgun survey can be heard underwater for months. All this, combined with occasional military exercises in the area, creates an underwater cacophony that interrupts whale communications. Because orcas are instinctively collaborative, communication is central to everything they do. Disoriented whales may also swim out of their usual living area Hamran said the whales often swim dangerously close to the rocky coastline to get away from the boat noise. Ellyne says this may explain why the spring of 2020 saw more whales stranded on the coasts than any previous season. Noise pollution like sounds from boats and oil drilling could interfere with orcas' ability to communicate. Maarten van Rouveroy for Business Insider Today The strandings could also have been caused by a harmful algae bloom or a virus that affected several species. But unless Ellyne and the team can examine a stranded whale shortly after its death, they can't gather much information. Typically they need to arrive within 48 hours of the stranding or else the animal will have decayed too much. Ultimately, Ellyne's findings support Ocean Sounds' efforts to educate the public about protecting the mammals. Ocean Sounds has a set of guidelines for whale-watching boats that they're advocating to turn into Norwegian law. They include requiring boats to slow down and turn off the engine while approaching whales and maintaining a minimum distance of 50 meters at all times. Achieving their goal of having Lofoten named a marine protected area would shield marine mammals from all forms of manmade noise pollution, not just boats. Until that happens, Ocean Sounds is selling recordings of whale communications online as a way to raise awareness and fund their operations. "We're trying to be able to not only study the vocalizations and behavior, but also to bring the whales to the people, giving a voice to the whales," she said. EDITOR'S NOTE: This video was originally published in September 2020. Read the original article on Business Insider MANZINI Hold your horses. This is the message from government to import car dealerships. Ministry of Finance Communications Officer Setsabile Dlamini said import car dealerships that sought to attain import permits for their vehicles older than seven years should hang in there while the ministry formulated a strategy that would deal with their quagmire. This follows that on August 28, 2020, a gazette revoking Legal Notice No. 80 of 2012 came into effect. This was the Used Vehicles Import Permit Specification Notice, 2020, which stipulates that import vehicles oldder that seven years would no longer be permitted to enter the country. The signatory to the notice is the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg. Its implementation resulted in them (import car dealerships) being denied import permits to bring into the country automobiles they had procured prior to the pronouncement of the new legislation. This has resulted in them seeking audience with Rijkenberg as they expressed the challenges they would face and also their clients. Iceland's infection rate per 100,000 people has risen from 7.3 to 89.7 in 10 days French tourists have been linked to at least 100 cases at two bars in Reykjavik Nordic country was praised for its successful testing and tracing in the first wave Only one person is in hospital with Covid-19 and nobody has died of it since April Iceland was added to Britain's quarantine list last night after its infection rate surged over the UK government's threshold following an outbreak in Reykjavik linked to French tourists. The weekly infection rate per 100,000 people has risen from 7.3 to 89.7 in the space of 10 days, soaring over the threshold of 20.0 at which UK ministers will usually take action. ADVERTISEMENT While the numbers are minuscule by many countries' standards, with an average of 44 new cases per day and no new deaths since April, the rebound has worried officials and led more than 2,000 people to be quarantined in Reykjavik. Much of the recent outbreak has been linked to two French tourists who broke quarantine rules after arriving in Iceland, causing an outbreak at two bars, while cases have also been detected at two universities in the capital. Iceland's infection rate per 100,000 people has crossed the threshold of 20 at which UK ministers usually strike a country off the quarantine list. Iceland's rate has continued to mount since then and is now at 89.7 after more than 300 cases in the last week The infection rate peaked at around 150 cases per 100,000 people in early April, but had mostly been minimal or even zero until the recent spike Click here to resize this module How cases have surged in Iceland Iceland's coronavirus infection rate has soared dramatically over the past 10 days, official data reveals. The nation - home to around 340,000 people - is currently recording 89.7 new cases of Covid-19 for every 100,000 people. The 306 cases diagnosed in the past week has seen the rate surge more than 12-fold since dropping to just 7.3 on September 15. Figures also show the infection rate has doubled in less than a week, after standing at 42.5 on September 20. During the height of its first wave, Iceland's weekly infection rate topped 150. It was in the triple-digits for 18 consecutive days at the end of March and start of April. More than 1,000 coronavirus tests were being carried out each day in Iceland during its first battle with the disease - the equivalent of around 200,000 in Britain. But the UK was nowhere near that threshold in the spring. The mass testing allowed Iceland to avoid a general lockdown, with thousands of people quarantined but everyone else merely told to be careful and wash their hands. Around 3,000 Covid-19 tests have been carried out each day across Iceland over the past week, according to data from the nation's health ministry. Capacity has ramped up massively, from fewer than 2,000 a day in total, to cope with the spike in cases. Iceland was widely praised for fending off the first wave with an extensive testing and tracing scheme which Britain had to abandon as cases piled up. ADVERTISEMENT More than 13 per cent of the country's 340,000 population was tested in the space of six weeks, with every contact of infected people ordered into quarantine. That meant the rest of the population was not ordered to stay inside, but only to be careful and wash their hands regularly. Primary schools and some cafes and restaurants stayed open throughout, while high schools, hair salons and other businesses re-opened after only six weeks. Hospitals had been testing people arriving from abroad for a month before the first confirmed case, and the presence of Reykjavik-based biopharmaceutical company deCODE Genetics helped to ramp up testing. Since the first wave subsided in April, with some days seeing no new cases at all, the country has tried to re-open to tourism which is one of the pillars of its economy. Under current rules, passengers can leave quarantine after five days if they test negative twice, or 14 days if they do not wish to be screened. People in quarantine are allowed to take walks outside their home in the sparsely-populated country but are not allowed to visit tourist attractions. Travellers also have to pre-register and provide contact details which allow for tracing if they test positive while in Iceland. But while the number of imported cases has been consistently low, a spike in domestic transmission has forced new restrictions in the last two weeks. The last week has seen 306 new infections, compared to 49 a week earlier and 29 a week before that. ADVERTISEMENT Not since the week of April 5-11, when there were 311 new cases, have so many new infections been recorded in the space of seven days. Iceland has seen its largest spike in coronavirus cases since the spring after an outbreak in Reykjavik, leading Britain to strike the country off its 'travel corridor' list The orange line shows cases picked up by border screening in Iceland, which have remained low, while the blue line shows domestic infections which have soared in the last week According to Icelandic newspaper Visir, at least 100 of the new cases can be traced back to two French tourists who failed to follow the quarantine rules. An Irish pub and a Brewdog bar accounted for most of the new cases after the strain of the virus brought by the French visitors spread there. It is unclear whether the French tourists went there themselves, or infected others by breaking quarantine rules who then passed on the virus at the two bars. 'This French virus, which we might call it, is a bit overwhelming now,' said Iceland's chief epidemiologist Thorolfur Gudnason. 'I have information that it was difficult to get them to follow the instructions,' he said of the tourists. 'I really can not say more.' Of the 2,486 people currently in quarantine in Iceland, 2,117 are in the greater Reykjavik area, with another 100 in the neighbouring West Iceland region. A separate cluster centred on the town of Akranes, which caused a earlier upswing in cases in July, is also continuing to cause infections. Iceland's government last week ordered a four-day closure of bars and discos in Reykjavik which accounts for most of the new cases. 'It is important to react as quickly as possible with targeted measures to prevent a generalised epidemic with its consequences,' chief epidemiologist Thorolfur Gudnason in a memo to the health minister. In addition to the cases at bars and nightclubs, some cases have emerged at two universities in the capital. Only a handful of countries remain open to UK tourists, because some nations which are acceptable to British authorities are not allowing UK visitors in, such as New Zealand People sit outdoors at a restaurant in Reykjavik on April 29, when most of Europe was in the depths of lockdown but Iceland was able to avoid one with effective testing and tracing Although the numbers are high by Iceland's standards, they are still low compared to most of Europe - with 344 cases in the last 10 days causing the alarming spike in the infection rate. Only one person is currently in hospital with Covid-19, not in intensive care, and even at the height of the crisis the number was only 44. Just 10 people have died from coronavirus, a figure even lower than New Zealand's 25, and only 2,512 people have ever tested positive. Still, Iceland was added to the UK's list last night along with its Nordic neighbour Denmark, which has also tightened restrictions in recent weeks. Bars and restaurants across the country were last week ordered to close at 10pm, a measure previously reserved for Copenhagen and its suburbs. The limit on public gatherings has been cut from 100 to 50, with the tougher measures remaining in place until at least October 4. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stressed that while the number of cases was going up the situation was still better than in March. 'What we're doing now is about avoiding ending up there, so that we avoid a closing down of large parts of society,' Frederiksen said. Slovakia and the Dutch island of Curacao were also struck off the 'travel corridor' list last night in an announcement by transport secretary Grant Shapps. The measures leave an ever-smaller number of countries open to British tourists, who already have to quarantine on their return from France, Spain and Portugal. Some countries such as New Zealand are acceptable from the British government's point of view, but are not allowing UK tourists to enter. Germany and Italy are still open, but both countries are approaching the threshold of 20 cases per 100,000 - which Britain itself is now well above. ADVERTISEMENT Italy's rate is 18.7 after more than 11,000 new infections were recorded in the last week, while Germany's rate rose to 14.9 today. Tom Reel /San Antonio Express-News Bexar County's first high-occupancy vehicle lanes are set to open on the North Side next week, allowing multi-passenger vehicles to bypass traffic, according to a news release from the Texas Department of Transportation and VIA Metropolitan Transit. The new HOV lanes will open between Ralph Fair Road and La Cantera Parkway eastbound on Interstate 10. The westbound HOV lanes are set to open later this fall. VIA teamed with TxDOT for the new lanes in an effort to reduce traffic congestion, the release said. Today in history, on September 25, 1396, a major military encounter with Islam that demonstrated just how disunited Christendom had become took place. In 1394, the Ottoman Turks "were doing great injury to Hungary," causing its young king, Sigismund, to appeal "to Christendom for assistance." That appeal came at an opportune time. The hitherto quarreling English and French had made peace in 1389, and a "crusade against the Turks furnished a desirable outlet for the noble instincts of the Western chivalry." Matters were further settled once "men of all kinds" pilgrims, laymen, and clerics returning from the Holy Land and Egypt told of "the miseries and persecutions to which their Eastern co-religionists were subjected by the 'unbelieving Saracen,' and ... appeal[ed] with all the vehemence of piety for a crusade to recover the native land of Christ." Western knights everywhere mostly French but also English, Scottish, German, Spanish, Italian, and Polish took up the cross in one of the largest multiethnic crusades against Islam. Their ultimate goal, according to a contemporary, was "to [re-]conquer the whole of Turkey and to march into the Empire of Persia ... the kingdoms of Syria and the Holy Land." A vast host of reportedly some one hundred thousand crusaders "the largest Christian force that had ever confronted the infidel" reached Buda in July 1396. But numbers could not mask the disunity, mutual suspicions, and internal rancor that were evident from the start. Not only did the French spurn Sigismund's suggestion that they take a defensive posture and forgo the offensive, but when the king suggested that his Hungarians were more experienced with and thus should lead the attack on the Turks, the Frenchmen accused him of trying to take away their glory and set out to take the field before him. They easily took two garrisons before reaching and besieging Nicopolis, an Ottoman stronghold on the Danube. Victories and still no response from Sultan Bayezid led to overconfidence and complacency; dissolution set in, and some sources say the camp became all but a brothel. Suddenly, on September 25, 1396, as the Western leaders were feasting in a tent, a herald burst in with news that Bayezid who only three weeks earlier was far away besieging Constantinople had come. Without waiting for Sigismund's Hungarians, who were trailing, the Westerners instantly formed rank and made for the first, visible line of the Ottoman force, the akinjis, or irregular light cavalry. Although they made quick work of them, the vagabond horsemen had "veiled from the sight of the enemy a forest of pointed stakes, inclined towards the Christians, and high enough to reach the breast of a horse." Many charging horses were impaled and fell as volleys of arrows descended upon man and beast, killing many of both. The loss inflicted on the Christians was considerable. A young French knight called on the men "to march into the lines of the enemy to avoid a coward's death from their arrows and the Christians responded to the marshal's call." Although the Muslim archers harrying them were scattered along a sloping hill, the unhorsed and heavily armored crusaders marched to it on foot. As they ascended, "the Christians struck vigorously with axe and sword, and the Ottomans retaliated with sabre, scimitar and mace so valiantly, and packed their lines so closely, that the issue remained at first undecided. But as the Christians were mailed, and the Ottomans fought without armor, the bearers of the Cross ... butchered 10,000 of the infantry of the defenders of the Crescent, who began to waver and finally took to their heels." As the latter fled, another, larger host of Islamic horsemen became visible. The unwavering crusaders "hurled themselves on the Turkish horse, effected a gap in their lines, and, striking hard, right and left, came finally to the rear," where they hoped to find and kill Bayezid with "their daggers [which they used] with great effect against the rear." Startled at this unusual way of fighting reportedly five thousand Muslims were slaughtered in the melee "the Turks sought safety in flight and raced back to Bayezid beyond the summit of the hill." At this point, the Western leaders called on their knights to stop, recover, and regroup; yet despite "their exhaustion, the weight of their armor, and the excessive heat of an Eastern summer day," the berserkers pursued "the fugitives uphill in order to complete the victory." There, atop the hill, the full might of the Muslim host finally became visible: forty thousand professional cavalrymen (sipahi), with Bayezid grinning in their midst. Instantly and to the clamor of drums, trumpets, and wild ejaculations of "Allahu akbar!," they charged at the outnumbered and now exhausted Christians. The latter valiantly fought on, "no frothing boar nor enraged wolf more fiercely," writes a contemporary. One veteran knight, Jean de Vienne, "defended the banner of the Virgin Mary with unflinching valor. Six times the banner fell, and six times he raised it again. It fell forever only when the great admiral himself succumbed under the weight of Turkish blows." His "body was found later in the day with his hand still clutching the sacred banner." No amount of righteous indignation or battle fury could withstand the rushing onslaught. Some crusaders broke rank and fled; hundreds tumbled down the steep hill to their deaths; others hurled themselves in the river and drowned; a few escaped and got lost in the wood (a handful made it home from their odyssey years later, in rags and unrecognizable). The Hungarians arrived only to witness the grisly spectacle of a vast Muslim army surrounding and massacring their Western coreligionists. Sigismund boarded and escaped on a ship in the Danube. "If they had only believed me," the young king (who lived on to become Holy Roman Emperor thirty-seven years later) later reminisced; "we had forces in plenty to fight our enemies." He was not alone in blaming Western impetuosity: "If they had only waited for the king of Hungary," wrote Froissart, a contemporary Frenchman, "they could have done great deeds; but pride was their downfall." Though it failed, the crusade caused considerable damage to Bayezid's forces: "for the body of every Christian, thirty Muhammadan corpses or more were to be found on the battlefield." But the Islamic warlord would have his vengeance: On the morning after the battle the sultan sat and watched as the surviving crusaders were led naked before him, their hands tied behind them. He offered them the choice of conversion to Islam or, if they refused, immediate decapitation. Few would renounce their faith, and the growing piles of heads were arranged in tall cairns before the sultan, and the corpses dragged away. By the end of a long day, more than 3,000 crusaders had been butchered, and some accounts said as many as 10,000. Whether because hours of this "hideous spectacle of mutilated corpses and spilt blood horrified [even] Bayezid," or whether because his advisers convinced him that he was needlessly provoking the West, "he ordered the executioners to stop." When news of this disaster spread throughout Europe, "bitter despair and affliction reigned in all hearts," writes a chronicler. Never again would the West unite and crusade in the East. "Henceforward it would be left to those whose borders were directly threatened to defend Christendom against the expansion of Islam." All of this was a sign of the times, of a burgeoning secularization that prioritized nationality over religion in the West. As historian Aziz Atiya notes in his seminal study of the battle: The Christian army consisted of heterogeneous masses, which represented the various and conflicting aspirations of their countries and nascent spirit of nationality therein. The sense of unity and universality that had been the foundation of Empire and Papacy in the early Middle Ages was passing away, and in its place the separatism of independent kingdoms was arising. This new separatist tendency demonstrated itself amidst the crusading medley before Nicopolis. There was no unity of purpose, no unity of arms and companies, and no common tactics in the camp of the Christians. The Turkish army was, on the other hand, a perfect example of the most stringent discipline, of a rigorous and even fanatic unity of purpose, of the concentration of supreme tactical power in the sole person of the Sultan. For an increasingly isolated Constantinople, such developments boded ill. Thanks to its cyclopean walls, the city of the Byzantine emperors managed to survive for another 57 years, falling to the Turks in 1453 thanks primarily to cannons developed by European turncoats contracted by the Ottomans. Note: All quotations in the above account were excerpted from and documented in the author's book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West. Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum. The McLaren 765LT, the track-focused version of the 720S , was unveiled in early March 2020, a couple of weeks before the world went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Come September, and the 765LT is finally going into production, with the first hand-built examples to be delivered by the end of the month. And McLarens announcement comes with good news for its customers: the 765LT is a bit quicker than previously claimed. The McLaren 765LT is impressively quick Powered by a twin-turbo, 4.0-liter V-8 engine rated at 755 horsepower, the McLaren 765LT hits 60 mph from a standing start in 2.7 seconds. This figure didnt change, but McLaren says that the sprint to 124 mph is quicker than previously estimated. The 765LT will get to this speed in seven seconds flat, two tenths quicker than the initial claim. It might not sound like a lot, but in the world of supercars, this is a big improvement. Running the quarter-mile takes 9.9 seconds, while top speed is rated at an equally impressive 205 mph. McLaren showcases new MSO-customized models McLarens brief announcement comes with new photos of the 765LT, this time around showing off two "themes" designed by MSO for McLare customers. The first one is called Strata, and it features a black exterior with a livery that starts off as Cherry Black in the front, becomes Memphis red in the center, and then transforms into Azores Orange toward the rear. The three-color design carries over into the cabin too. The second bespoke model is called Geohex and features Tarmac Black and Tokyo Cyan paints inspired by a 3D honeycomb. McLaren has yet to release photos of this car, but did showcase a third model featuring the MSO Bespoke Carbon Fiber Body treatment with shows off the carbon skin of the car. It boasts a glossy transparent finish, but McLaren says it can tint the carbon-fiber in various colors. The McLaren 765LT is already sold out Set to be produced in 765, individually-numbered units, the McLaren 765LT is already sold out. According to McLaren, "expressions of interest for 2021 now exceed the total number of cars available," which means that McLaren could build a second batch next year. Theres no official confirmation, but McLaren could roll out a special-edition version of this supercar or a brand-new variant altogether. The McLaren 765LT was priced from $358,000 before options. This mean restaurants, bars, fitness centers and stores will now be able to operate at full capacity. Holcomb said individuals will be expected to keep social distance and keep their masks on except while eating or drinking. The bill to replace the Gambias flawed 1997 constitution, which included presidential term limits and checks on presidential power was voted down this week in the National Assembly, in a move that united a number of political parties behind President Adama Barrow, who is looking to run for president in 2021. Barrow doesnt have any political party members in parliament because hes just setting up his political party now so its not up and running, says Sidi Sanneh, Gambian former senior minister and ambassador, referring to Barrows new National People's Party(NPP). All who supported him came from other parties. This is how he was able to get 55 percent in favor of the new constitution and 45 percent against the new constitution coming into effect, Sanneh tells RFI. The bill needed 75 percent in favour for it to pass into law. Sanneh added that eight parliamentarians who were expelled from their opposition party voted against the bill, as well as MPs from the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), which is former president Yahya Jammehs party. The current constitution, usually called Jammehs Constitution, was revised nearly 60 times of the course of Jammehs 20-year rule. A new constitution would have distanced the country from Jammehs tainted past. After registering his new party in January, Barrow gave a clear sign that he plans to run for president again in 2021, although he indicated when he was elected that he would be a one-term president. The constitution bill would have created a two term limit, with the president serving five years per term. A clause in the bill for a transitional president, such as Barrow, would have his current term counted as one term. Gambians disappointment Many Gambians hailed the new constitutional bill, which would also expand the role of women in government by introducing gender quotas. Story continues It was a very big disappointment that the constitution was voted down almost 70 percent of Gambians supported it, says Sanneh, adding that not only Gambians, but international partners are concerned. The transition was financed almost entirely by the European Union and other development partners who are not happy with this, he adds. The impression Im getting now is that the MPs didnt think seriously of the ramifications of voting this down, says Sanneh. The process to re-write the constitution by the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) took two years. With elections slated for 4 December, 2021, there is not much time for the bill to be re-written, passed in the National Assembly, and then put a referendum put forth. I dont think that the Barrow government is going to maintain the 1997 constitution because the opposition to that document is very high-- they have to think about this thing very quickly so at least they can bring it back to the National Assembly, says Sanneh. Illumina to buy cancer detection company Grail in $8 bn cash-and-stock deal Illumina Inc, an American company that develops, manufactures and markets integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and biological function, on Monday announced the signing of an agreement to acquire Grail, a company focused on multi-cancer detection, for a cash and stock consideration of $8 billion. In addition, Grail shareholders will receive future payments representing a tiered single digit percentage of certain Grail-related revenues. Grail, a healthcare company focused on early detection of multiple forms of cancer through improved and rigorous testing of patients. San Diego, California-based Illumina provides a line of products and services that serves the sequencing, genotyping and gene expression, and proteomics markets. The acquisition of Grail extends Illuminas portfolio to include cancer screening, diagnosis and cancer monitoring, creating a portfolio of best-in-class, proprietary tests in each of the major oncology testing application areas, Illumina stated in a joint release. The total NGS oncology opportunity is expected to grow at a CAGR of 27 per cent to $75 billion in 2035. Illumina plans to leverage its global scale, manufacturing and clinical capabilities to lead Grails commercialisation efforts, realise the total addressable market potential and drive significant growth in the clinical value chain. NGS is poised to revolutionise oncology care, and this acquisition allows Illumina to participate more fully in the high value clinical solutions that are enabled by its NGS sequencing technology. With Grail, Illumina will continue as a leading sequencing innovator and partner, while also becoming a proprietary test provider, Illumina stated in the release. The combination will enable us to accelerate the global adoption of NGS-based multi-cancer early detection tests, increase accessibility, and improve patient outcomes. In 2019 alone, there were 15M new cases of cancer and 10M cancer-related deaths early detection has the potential to change that, according to the release. Earlier this year, Grail reported positive results from its Circulating Cell-free Genome Atlas (CCGA) study that has enrolled 15,000 participants. The study found that the first version of Galleri reported sensitivity of 44 per cent for stage 1 through 3 tumors, and 67 per cent sensitivity for the 12 deadliest cancers. Further, Galleri was able to detect more than 50 cancers across all stages, more than 45 of which do not have recommended screening in the US. And in 93 per cent of the positive results, the test correctly identified the tissue of origin. All with a specificity of greater than 99 per cent. The Presidents of Poland and Italy, Andrzej Duda and Sergio Mattarella, on Wednesday discussed the future of the EU economy after the Covid-19 pandemic and the situation in Belarus, head of the Polish President's Office Krzysztof Szczerski told. The two presidents met in Rome during the first day of President Duda's official visit to Italy. Krzysztof Szczerski said that the talks covered the future of the European economy after overcoming the pandemic crisis, including the need for financial and investment cooperation aimed at bringing back production processes to the European Union. He noted that cooperation of Polish and Italian companies has a large role to play here. The presidents also referred to Duda's April letter to leaders of EU, Eastern Partnership and Balkan countries containing a five-point plan for international cooperation after defeating the coronavirus pandemic. The heads of state also discussed the situation in Belarus. According to Krzysztof Szczerski, Andrzej Duda and Sergio Mattarella expressed "common concern and lack of acceptance for actions against citizens taken by the Belarusian authorities." The presidents emphasised that "Belarusians should be given the right to speak out in free elections so that they could define their future," said Szczerski adding that the two presidents had agreed that "nobody is allowed to treat Belarus instrumentally, this also applies to Russia, and that the EU must be active in Belarus and make decisions that would support the right of Belarusians to free elections." President talks investment, EU climate policy, Belarus with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte Krzysztof Szczerski told journalists that the two had discussed the future of the European Union particularly in the context of recovering from the social and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. "We all expect that the issue is not closed, that a second wave is coming," Szczerski said. "In connection with that, its social and economic effects will be with us for longer. That's why it is very important today to work together at the European level." Krzysztof Szczerski said Andrzej Duda and the Italian PM had talked specifically about investment as a means to come out of the crisis as well as about public and infrastructure investment. "The president stressed heavily that in Europe there are necessary investments too on the North-South axis," Szczerski continued. "We are carrying them out within the framework of the Three Seas Initiative and Italy should also be a part of that great investment plan in Europe." Krzysztof Szczerski added that among other things, this aim is to be served by new instruments in the coming EU budgetary perspective. He noted that Duda had talked with Italian politicians about the course of negotiations on the EU budget. He said the president had emphasised the need to meet EU climate goals "but only on the principle of just transformation, in other words one that takes into account the economic and social specifics of individual countries and their needs, in order not to bring about new areas of poverty and exclusion." Preventing food wastefulness a social policy priority - President Preventing the waste of food as a means of promoting responsible consumption and limiting the impact of consumption on the environment is a priority in Polish social policy, Andrzej Duda said in Rome. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) Following the appeals of the families of slain victims, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has reclassified the Maguindanao massacre as ongoing or unresolved. The organization previously considered the case as resolved early September but a letter from UNESCO Deputy Director-General Xing Qu on September 24 acknowledged that appeals have been launched, hence their new decision. UNESCO welcomes the interactions with the families of the victims and their representatives in which the Organization has had the honor to be involved, the letter read. UNESCO also noted that for due process of law to be preserved in line with international human rights standards, their voices should be taken into account. The appeal to UNESCO was sent on September 12 with over 100 individual and organizational signatories aside from the families of the victims of the Maguindanao or Ampatuan massacre which killed 57 people, 32 of whom were journalists. Based on this new information, the legal cases concerned will, therefore, be maintained as ongoing/unresolved in the UNESCO Observatory of killed journalists, as well as in the upcoming Director-Generals Report on Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity until such a moment when a final verdict is reached by the Philippine judicial system, Xu added. 28 convictions, 80 suspects still at large In December 2019, 28 suspects were found guilty including eight members of the Ampatuan clan, sentenced to a maximum of 40 years in prison for the murder of 57 people in the mass killing ten years ago. Datu Andal "Unsay" Ampatuan, Jr., Zaldy Ampatuan, and Datu Anwar, Sr. sons of the late former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan, Sr. were also convicted. Andal was dubbed as the mastermind by prosecution witnesses. Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Solis-Reyes' 761-page decision said the prosecution was able to "establish the guilt beyond reasonable doubt" of 28 accused "who are found to have acted as principal." The court also ordered the arrest of 80 suspects who remain at large. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu has ordered the suspension of two mining firms in Alcoy, Cebu pending the results of the investigation on the alleged dolomite mining damage. DENR Undersecretary Benny Antiporda said in a statement on Friday that Cimatu ordered the suspension as the investigation is ongoing on the alleged damages caused by the dolomite mining on the coral reef, water, and ambient air quality. Secretary Cimatu suspended the Dolomite Mining Corporation for its quarry operations and Philippine Mining Service Corporation, a processing plant for dolomite, said Antiporda. Cimatu has directed the Environmental Management Bureau Region 7 to conduct sampling on the ambient air quality and on the quality on waters below the conveyor at shiploading facility. The Environment chief held a two-hour meeting with officials from Dolomite Mining Corporation, the Philippine Mining Services Corporation, local officials and other stakeholders at the mining site. He also ordered the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office Cebu to determine the health condition of the corals. The alleged damage of coral reef in the surrounding area where the dolomite boulders were extracted was the subject of the complaint of the local government. "Habang under investigation dito ay mag cease operations muna sila pero nag cease operations naman sila dahil sa cease and desist order of the province. Ang sabi ko kahit wala ang cease-and-desist order na yan they have to stop operations at mag conduct ng investigation muna," Ciimatu told reporters during his visit to Alcoy town on Friday." [Translation: While there is an ongoing investigation here, operations must cease, but it already did because of the cease-and-desist order of the province. I said even without that, they need to stop operations.] The stoppage wiill last pending the EMB investigation. If violations are found, Cimatu said operations will be suspended further. The Cebu provincial government has earlier issued a cease-and-desist order for the unauthorized mineral extraction of the dolomite rocks to be used in the controversial Manila Bay white sand layover. Governor Gwendolyn Garcia issued Executive Order No. 25 preventing the two aforementioned firms from "extracting, processing, selling and transporting dolomite, associated mineral deposits, and other quarry resources." Dale Israel, CNN Philippines correspondent in Cebu, contributed to this story. By Nafis Haider, TwoCircles.net Bihar: Flood is a regular event in Bihar, but this year the water in Ganga and its tributaries including Sone, Gandak, Ghaghara are on a continuous increase. After creating havoc in the Seemanchal area of Bihar, monsoon this year has built up yet another condition of flooding in the districts of Gopalganj, Samastipur, Siwan, Bhagalpur, Khagadiya and Patna. Support TwoCircles There has been a steady increase in the water level of Ganga and Gandak, which continuously reach above the danger level. As per the State Disaster Management Department (DMD), 8,362,451 people have been affected by the flood this year which primarily include farmers and landless labourers. Added to the already flooded districts of Purina, Katihar, Kishanganj and Araria, by Kosi and Gandak, approximately half of Bihar is underwater. But, the relief operations from the government are nowhere to be seen on the ground. Talking to TwoCircles.net, Ravi Kumar, a middle-class farmer from Parsawuni, Gopalganj said, The crops are already spoiled and if the rain continues whatever is left will also be submerged. There will be no harvest this year for Ravi Kumar. His cattle are also starving because of the lack of fodder. Farmers are unable to provide fodder to their cattle due to the fields being completely submerged in water. TwoCircles.net spoke with Tasarun Nasreen, a primary school teacher who said, This year, there has been a significant rise in the level of water in the canals which usually remain dry. The water of Ganga has flooded the Samaur Bazar and the nearby fields, the waterlogging and the lockdown have created a detrimental effect on the local economy. There has been an abundance of fishes in the artificial ponds, but no place for the fishermen to sell. Heavy incessant rainfall in Muzaffarpur has created a problematic situation for the farmers as well as the urban dwellers. Amil (name changed), a resident of Muzaffarpur city, while speaking to TwoCircles.net .com, stated, The heavy rainfall has caused water logging in the whole city. Even the highway is underwater. The poor drainage system and the rain have become detrimental for the people here and the break in the sewage canal due to the pressure of the water only adds to the problem. The crops are all destroyed; farmers are not able to sell anything. The little harvest that they had this year has also got rotten due to high humidity and the lockdown has closed all options to sell them quickly. Amil spoke about the protest of the local RJD workers who rowed boats in the city as a sign of protest against the negligence of the state government headed by Nitish Kumar. The COVID-19 containment wards that have been built on the abandoned airstrip of Patahi Airport in Muzaffarpur, is filled with knee-deep water. While the Water Management Department (WMD) ministry claims that it has released relief packages for the stranded in the flood, Amil said that no help is in sight. They all eat up the money. The poor always remain the one left to suffer, he said. As per the report of DMD, 25 lives have been lost in the flood up till now but the government is completely negligent on this issue. The WMD Minister, Sanjay Kumar Jha has taken the regular excuse of blaming Nepal for the flood, but the locals in Patna claim that this situation could have been avoided if the authorities were vigilant. Imtiyaz, a resident of Phulwari Sharif, said that the flood along the Digha and Danapur area is the result of miss management of the government. The lack of a proper drainage system and delay in the construction of proper roads and bridges creates regular waterlogging in the areas. The State government has been complacent in building dams, and in improving flood control measures, which cause Patna to be a regular sufferer during the time of Monsoon. Every year in Bihar, thousands of people suffer and many are killed in floods, yet the government has done little to improve conditions on the ground. . The lack of dams and maintenance of the proper drainage system makes the situation more difficult. Gandak, Ghaghara, Khiroi and Ganga are the reason for perennial flooding in Sitamarhi, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, and Patna. In the absence of any help from the government, more will suffer if the monsoon continues. Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Senik met with Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain to Ukraine Silva Cortes Martin on September 24, according to the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. During the conversation, the diplomats discussed the results and ways of implementing the agreements reached during the visit of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to Spain on September 10 this year. The parties noted the leading positions of Spain among the trade and economic partners of Ukraine. They also discussed the prospects for increasing the dynamics of bilateral cooperation. In addition, the diplomats discussed the issues of electronic governance and digitalization of the public sector. Senik informed about the introduction of digital technologies in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and other state bodies of the country. In turn, the Spanish side declared its readiness to develop cooperation and establish an exchange of experience in this area. ish This local artsy college has consistently been ranked as one of the "worst values" in higher education and the institutions recent dedication to sketchy PR announcements seems to confirm as much. Checkit: The body of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who spent her entire career fighting for women's rights and against discrimination, arrived at the U.S. Capitol building on Friday, September 25, to lie in state in National Statuary Hall, becoming the first woman and Jewish person in history to do so. She died on September 18, the first evening of Rosh Hashanah. According to CNN, "lying in state" is a term used for government officials and military officers whose remains are placed in the U.S. Capitol "to allow the public to pay their respects. This tribute is considered one of the highest honors." RBG's personal trainer, Bryant Johnson, visited the Capitol today and paid a very special tribute to the legendary Justice. The pair famously worked out at least twice week and had a close friendship. In 2017, when asked about "the most important person in her life," RBG responded, "my trainer." Push ups for RBG pic.twitter.com/IC2pxlx97G Graham MacGillivray (@GWMacGillivray) September 25, 2020 Johnson spent 30 years in the Army, including 12 years as a member of a Special Forces Airborne Unit. In the 1990s, he began working as a personal trainer for military and civilian officials, including justices, judges, attorneys, and law clerks like Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. Johnson began training RBG in 1999 after the justice recovered from colon cancer, and, according to her, she "looked like a survivor of Auschwitz." As recently as 2017, she and Johnson would meet around 7 p.m. at a gym inside the Supreme Court, so she could listen to PBS NewsHour while she worked out. During her more intense workouts, she was known to skip the EDM and listen to "opera recordings." (She was an avid opera fan, and even appeared as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in Donizettis "La Fille du Regiment" at Washington National Opera in 2016, per the New York Times.) In 2018, Stephen Colbert worked out alongside her in the gym of the Watergate Apartments: Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger followed RBG's exact workout routine in 2017 (it "nearly broke" him). It started with a five-minute elliptical warm-up. When the Justice would use the elliptical, Johnson would spot her, in case she lost her balance. "Im kind of like the security blanket, the lifeguard," he told Politico. "Im just here making sure nothing happens." Then, they moved on to some stretching, like toe-touches and butterflies. For most of the exercises, RBG would do three sets of 10 to 13 reps, depending on Johnson's judgment of what her body could handle on a given day. She would do strength exercises starting with a machine bench press, where she normally lifted 70 pounds. After the bench press, she would move onto "leg curls and leg presses, chest flies and lat pull-downs, all on machines, while stretching the muscle groups being exercised in between sets," according to Politico. After the strength exercises, RBG would move onto one-legged squats, using Johnson for support. From there, she would do 20 pushups (Johnson took pride in getting her to switch from wall pushups to horizontal pushups), followed by planks, and seated dumbbell curls with 12 pound weights (also spotted by Johnson). The last exercise was always crucial: sitting and standing while holding a medicine ball, then tossing the ball back and forth with Johnson before sitting down again. "I told the justice that if you cannot do this exercise, you will need a nurse 24/7," Johnson said. The pair continued working out together even as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down gyms across Washington, D.C. "Everybody's been shut down. The only reason why I didn't shut the justice down is because, hey, she ain't having it," Johnson told CNN. However, they took precautions to make sure the Justice didn't contract the novel coronavirus, like wearing masks, staying six feet apart, and wiping down equipment. "At Justice Ginsburg's request, the Court has set aside the limited private space next to its health facility for Justice Ginsburg to exercise. Her doctors share her view that the training sessions are essential to her well-being," a Supreme Court spokesperson told CNN. "The space is being used exclusively by the justice. No other justices are using the space, and the employee gym is closed to all users." Ginsburg will be buried in a private interment ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery next week. Lorraine Leiser, 73, of Glendale Heights, said she waited with her son at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton for about three hours to vote. She said she felt safest voting in person with a paper ballot given recent speculation about possible delays using the U.S. Postal Service. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's casket outside the US Supreme Court building in Washington, DC, on Thursday. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters President Donald Trump faced boos and chants of "vote him out" when he and first lady Melania Trump paid their respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court on Thursday. The crowd also chanted "honor her wish," a reference to a request Ginsburg made to her granddaughter in the days before she died that her seat not be filled until after the presidential election. The president has baselessly rejected the legitimacy of Ginsburg's statement, claiming without evidence that top Democrats fabricated it. Get the inside track on the race for the White House with Business Insider's DC Bureau. Sign up here for our free event on September 29. President Donald Trump was booed and met with chants of "vote him out" when he and first lady Melania Trump paid their respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court on Thursday morning. As the first couple stood by Ginsburg's casket, draped with an American flag, on the steps of the court building, a crowd behind fences nearby chanted and booed. The president and the first lady rarely venture out of the White House in Washington and thus rarely face public criticism the way they did on Thursday. The crowd also chanted "honor her wish," a reference to a request Ginsburg made in the days before her death last Friday that her seat not be filled until after the presidential election. "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed," the 87-year-old justice told her granddaughter Clara Spera, NPR reported. The president has baselessly rejected the legitimacy of Ginsburg's statement, claiming without evidence that top Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, or Rep. Adam Schiff might have fabricated it. "That came out of the wind. It sounds so beautiful. But that sounds like a Schumer deal, or maybe Pelosi or Shifty Schiff," Trump told Fox News earlier this week. Story continues Since Friday, thousands of people have visited the Supreme Court to pay their respects to the influential liberal justice. Reversing their position that Supreme Court nominees should not be considered during an election year, Republicans are swiftly moving to replace Ginsburg with a conservative justice and plan to hold a vote before Election Day. The president has said he'll announce his nominee on Saturday evening. Read the original article on Business Insider But the National Gallery had the support of its board of trustees, including Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation, the philanthropic giant. Mr. Walker said in an email that if the museums had not taken a step back to rethink the exhibition, it would have appeared tone deaf. He added that the National Gallerys director, Kaywin Feldman, had surveyed the trustees, and said that there was unanimous support for the postponement. What those who criticize this decision do not understand, Mr. Walker said, is that in the past few months the context in the U.S. has fundamentally, profoundly changed on issues of incendiary and toxic racist imagery in art, regardless of the virtue or intention of the artist who created it. A spokeswoman for the National Gallery, Anabeth Guthrie, said the directors consulted a range of employees at the four museums, including staff in interpretation, education, and community partnerships. In their joint statement, the directors of the four museums said that additional perspectives and voices would be necessary before the show could go on, and that such a process would take time. Yet the curators Harry Cooper at the National Gallery, Alison de Lima Greene at the M.F.A. in Houston, Mr. Godfrey at Tate Modern, and Kate Nesin at the M.F.A. in Boston had already brought together a wide range of contributors for the shows authoritative catalog, which is already in the shops. The curators, as well as artists such as Trenton Doyle Hancock and Glenn Ligon, who are Black, and the cartoonist Art Spiegelman, who is Jewish, all offered perspectives on Gustons personal experiences of confronting the Klan in his youth, and on the formal and political innovations of his cartoonish Klansmen. In mid-June, following the killing of George Floyd and intense debates over racial inequities in art, curators worked together to revise and broaden the exhibitions wall panels and educational materials. Of particular concern was the debut of his Klan paintings in 1970. They reached out to artists, critics and others who had seen the show then, in order to reconstruct how Black viewers reacted to that initial display. The exhibition was to include many of Gustons paintings from 1968 through 1972, a period in which he was developing his new vocabulary of hoods, books, bricks, and shoes. Some of the figures in Gustons works included caricaturish white-hooded figures smoking cigars, riding in a car, or, in one of Gustons most well-known works, painting a self portrait at an easel. Andrey Zozulya became the CEO of Volga Gas plc (LON:VGAS) in 2015, 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 Volga Gas pays its CEO appropriately, considering recent earnings growth and total shareholder returns. Check out our latest analysis for Volga Gas How Does Total Compensation For Andrey Zozulya Compare With Other Companies In The Industry? Our data indicates that Volga Gas plc has a market capitalization of UK20m, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as US$396k for the year to December 2019. Notably, that's an increase of 11% over the year before. We think total compensation is more important but our data shows that the CEO salary is lower, at US$185k. In comparison with other companies in the industry with market capitalizations under UK157m, the reported median total CEO compensation was US$378k. From this we gather that Andrey Zozulya is paid around the median for CEOs in the industry. Furthermore, Andrey Zozulya directly owns UK128k worth of shares in the company. Component 2019 2018 Proportion (2019) Salary US$185k US$181k 47% Other US$211k US$175k 53% Total Compensation US$396k US$356k 100% On an industry level, around 71% of total compensation represents salary and 29% is other remuneration. Volga Gas pays a modest slice of remuneration through salary, as compared to the broader industry. If total compensation is slanted towards non-salary benefits, it indicates that CEO pay is linked to company performance. Volga Gas plc's Growth Over the last three years, Volga Gas plc has shrunk its earnings per share by 45% per year. Its revenue is down 3.0% over the previous year. 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. While we don't have analyst forecasts for the company, shareholders might want to examine this detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow. Story continues Has Volga Gas plc Been A Good Investment? Given the total shareholder loss of 51% over three years, many shareholders in Volga Gas plc are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. So shareholders would probably want the company to be lessto generous with CEO compensation. To Conclude... As we touched on above, Volga Gas 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 is an important area to keep your eyes on, but we've also need to pay attention to other attributes of the company. That's why we did our research, and identified 3 warning signs for Volga Gas (of which 1 is a bit unpleasant!) that you should know about in order to have a holistic understanding of the 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. Gavin James will take to the stage at Dublin Vinyl Pressing Plant on Saturday, October 3, for a global live stream gig presented by Huawei Ireland. The exclusive gig will see Gavin perform to a virtual audience, celebrating the launch of his new six-track Boxes EP and Huaweis release of the FreeBuds Pro Wireless Stereo Earbuds. The new Huawei FreeBuds Pro are the worlds first true wireless stereo (TWS) earphones to support intelligent dynamic noise cancellation, suitable for delivering industry-leading audio and Huaweis best sound performance, ever. With Gavin James a long-standing fan of the Huawei wearable products, including the FreeBuds Pro, the partnership for the live stream concert illustrates Huaweis commitment to providing music fans with high-quality, immersive audio experiences through innovative new consumer products, and its vast music catalogue, Huawei Music. Gavins new EP, which features several new songs, including a tribute to Gavin's uncle Paddy called I Miss You, will be available on Huawei Music for streaming as well as limited CD or Vinyl with concert ticket included from GavinJameMusic.com Zena Ross, Head of Marketing & PR of Huawei Consumer Business Group Ireland, said: At Huawei, we are committed to providing consumers with smart and innovative experiences which push boundaries and improve quality of life. The Huawei FreeBuds Pro produce liberating audio experiences with extraordinary sound, style and comfort, perfect for fans of Gavin James. "We are thrilled to partner with Gavin who will perform an exclusive gig to celebrate the launch of our new product alongside the release of his incredible new EP." The FreeBuds Pro, which are one in a series of new wearable consumer products to recently expand Huaweis all-scenario product portfolio, are this years flagship among Huaweis audio products. Featuring new hybrid Call Noise Cancellation and Dynamic EQ Adjustment, which uses data from the in-ear microphone to automatically optimise the sound for the users specific ear type, the earphones promise outstanding audio quality. Delivering exquisite craftsmanship, freedom from wires and long-lasting comfort along with innovative technology, the FreeBuds Pro are sure to delight music fans in Ireland. Commenting ahead of the exclusive Dublin concert, Gavin James said, I am excited to perform yet another exclusive gig in partnership with Huawei, to celebrate the launch my new Boxes EP and the FreeBuds Pro. Having performed a special, festive acoustic gig with Huawei last December Gavin says it was a natural choice to partner with the brand again for next weekends virtual concert. It was a no brainer for me to partner with Huawei again, especially with the new FreeBuds pro which I use and they have amazing studio-quality sound! This gig is something special and Im really looking forward to being able to perform again. The virtual streamed experience is new but the fact that we can make the music in such a brilliant venue is amazing Byron Maxi, Managing Director of Huawei Consumer Business Group Ireland, commented on Huaweis commitment to delivering audio excellence, Our innovative technology complements the talent of artists like Gavin James, and the many others whose music can be accessed via Huawei Musics diverse and personalised music catalogue. Huawei Music gives us an opportunity to stretch our innovation further, and as an extension of the celebrations for the FreeBuds Pro, Huawei has also announced Sonic Escapes, a series of 360 binaural soundscapes designed to make the most of the Freebudss Dynamic Noise Cancellation solution, allowing the user to travel the world through sound. Huawei Freebuds Pro, with the industrys first Intelligent Dynamic Noise Cancellation solution, is the perfect way to enjoy a Sonic Escape. With this we have pushed the limits of audio technology to create the most immersive and intelligent listening experience yet. Freebuds Pro launched in Ireland on September 5 in Carphone Warehouse, Three, Vodafone and other retailers. RRP 179 Find out more HERE. New Delhi [India], September 25 (ANI): The Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a press conference, in which the schedule for Bihar Assembly polls is likely to be announced, in New Delhi today. The Assembly elections for 243 seats in Bihar are due in October-November and the tenure of the current Assembly is scheduled to end on November 29. A team consisting of ECI members had visited the State earlier this month to review poll preparedness and take stock of the situation. While Opposition parties like Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had earlier been urging for the polls to be postponed owing to the pandemic, they later held talks over the sharing of seats in the RJD and Congress-led Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance). The incumbent BJP and Janata Dal-United (JDU) coalition government have also begun preparations for the polls. The central leadership of the BJP had clarified that the NDA will go to Bihar polls under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The war of words between NDA and Mahagathbandhan has peaked in the past few days with the speculations regarding poll dates likely to be announced on the rise. In the previous Assembly elections held in the state in 2015, JDU, RJD and Congress had fought the elections together under the Mahagathbandhan banner. On the other hand, BJP led NDA had fought the elections with Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and other allies. RJD with 80 seats had emerged as the single largest party in the 2015 Assembly elections, followed by JDU (71), and BJP (53). However, BJP got the largest vote share (24.42 per cent), followed by RJD with 18.35 per cent and JDU (16.83 per cent). After the polls, however, a rift emerged between JDU and the RJD in 2017, leading to CM Nitish Kumar snapping ties and rejoining ties with the BJP-led NDA to retain power in Bihar. (ANI) Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. San Francisco, 25 Sep 2020: The Report Mobile Stroke Unit Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2012 - 2022 Global mobile stroke unit market is expected to reach USD 9.4million by 2022, according to a new report by Grand View Research Inc.The demand for mobile stroke unit is expected to upsurge owing to increasing demand for specialized emergency rooms on wheel to increase the stroke survival rate. The incidence rate of stroke is high owing to the lack of awareness amongpeople related to the primary stroke signs and hence the government of developed economies such as the U.S. has established many initiatives at the national level to address this issue. Some of them are Act FAST, Stroke Training and Awareness Resources (STARS), stroke program, and cryogenic stroke awareness. Growing healthcare cost burden has also increased the percentage of research funding for stroke. In April 2015, the Health Economics Research Centre at Oxford University compared the research spending for stroke from 2008 to 2012. The result established the fact that the percentage of stroke research funding had increased from 1% to 3%. In 2012, the government and charity spending for stroke in the UK was around USD 4.14 billion. Stroke primarily occurs owing to obesity, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking habits. 87% of the stroke is ischemic in nature due to the artery blockage in high blood pressure patients. Obesity leads to difficulty in blood circulation as the body has high fat. Access Research Report of Mobile Stroke Unit Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/mobile-stroke-unit-market Further key findings from the report suggest: The U.S. is the most potential market owing to increasedstroke research funding and programs undertaken to increase awareness and high penetration of telemedicine technology. In 2011, the U.S. government spent over USD 302 million for stroke research to prevent the primary signs of stroke such as atrial fibrillation and molecules discovery to treat them. The January 2015 report released by the American Hospital Association, surveyed that in 2013, 52% of hospitals used Telehealth, while 10% implemented it. Consumers are willing to use the Telehealth services (74%) highlighting the fact that telemedicine is highly adopted in the U.S. Germany is another potential market owing to the various research funds by the European Union to undertake cardiac research in relation to atrial fibrillation. The RETRAINER project was supported by nine partners from Germany, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland. In March 2003, German competence Network on Atrial Fibrillation (AFNET) was formed to investigate the reason of arrhythmia and improving patient care. The concept of mobilestroke unit originated from Germany, where the University of Saarland placed a portable CT scanner in ambulance along with a neurophysiologist to analyze the survival rate instroke patients. The concept was then revolutionized and the worlds first MSU named STEMO came in to existence. The UK experiences around 152,000 stroke cases and an annual healthcare cost of USD 12.73 billion. The increasing concern for the lack of stroke awareness led to the foundation of the Act FAST campaign in February 2009. In February 2015, the NHS Lewisham Clinical Commissioning Group and the Public Health England together supported the Act FAST campaign highlighting the common signs of mini-strokes and strokes. After the inception of this program, 38,600 people have additionally gone to hospitals calling 999, the emergency number. Manufacturers are also conducting collaborative exercises to study the effect of pre-hospitalization treatment against hospital stroke treatment. In July 2012, Neurologica Corporation and Meytec partnered to develop worlds first comprehensive mobile stroke ambulance. VIMED STEMO combines Meytecs telemedicine technology with Neurologicas CT scanner. The state-of-the-art CereTomallows real time imaging, thus reducing the treatment. To address increasing healthcare cost burden, the European nation funded a robotic project to speed up stroke rehabilitation. Some key players of MSTUs market includeMeytec, Nueurologica Corporation, Excellance, Frazer, and Falck. Browse more reports of this category by Grand View Research at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/medical-devices Grand View Research has segmented the global mobile stroke unitmarket on the basis of regions: Mobile Stroke Unit Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) S. UK Germany Argentina Access Press Release of Mobile Stroke Unit Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-mobile-stroke-unit-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 remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. ZURICH When Patrik Hofligers daughter Elea was born in April, his employer gave him just two days off. So the father of two, who lives near Zurich, took three weeks of vacation to support his wifes recovery and take care of their other daughter. I think the time right after the birth is especially important, said Mr. Hofliger, who works as a computer scientist at an IT services company. If I couldnt have been there, I would have missed out. Switzerland is the only country in Western Europe without some form of paid paternity leave, allowing biological fathers just one day off after the birth of a child the same time given for moving homes. But that may change on Sunday, when the Swiss will vote in a referendum that would mandate 10 days of leave for new fathers. Although a paternity leave provision was set to go into effect last year after being approved by Parliament, a group of conservative politicians opposing the law collected enough signatures to put the issue to a referendum. Charlotte, NC, Sept. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The 18th annual UNCF Maya Angelou Women Who Lead Luncheon is moving online this year, set for 12 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 26. The virtual event will feature various speakers, an awards presentation, a heartwarming tribute to Dr. Maya Angelou, followed by a cannot-miss live social hour showcasing the highly acclaimed HATitude competition, celebrity appearances and more. Twenty minority-owned vendors from across the country will also be featured in an online virtual mall. Presented by Wells Fargo, the Maya Angelou Women Who Lead Luncheon is named after loyal UNCF supporter, the late Dr. Maya Angelou. As a civil rights activist, educator and a strong advocate for women around the world, Angelou believed that every student deserved the opportunity to go to college. She was chosen to be the face of the Women Who Lead Luncheon because of her positive image and vested interest in UNCF. The event honors corporate, community and civic women leaders who have received positive recognition locally, statewide, nationally or internationally. Proceeds benefit talented and deserving students across the United States who lack the financial support to get to and through college. Susan L. Taylor, founder and CEO, National CARES Mentoring Movement, and editor- in-chief, Essence magazine, will serve as the keynote speaker. Taylor is a lifelong activist, editor and best-selling author of four books who founded her own cosmetics company at 24. This led to the beauty editors position at Essence, the publication she would go on to shape into a world-renown brand with more than 8 million readers. As the current health crisis continueshitting communities of color especially hardwe are looking for ways to make it possible for our students to continue to be engaged, be inspired and to continue to earn the degrees they need, and we need them to have, said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO, UNCF. Many of them will be our future doctors, nurses, virologists, pharmacists, lab technicians, paramedicsthe frontline personnel who will fight the viruses of the future we will all face. So, it is especially important to ensure college education continues, even during such trying times. The luncheon will honor Beverly Evans Smith, national president and CEO, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; Dr. Glenda Baskin Glover, international president, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; Valerie Hollingsworth Baker, international centennial president, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.; and Deborah Catchings-Smith, 24th international president, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., with the UNCF Women Who Lead Award. Their steadfast commitment to education and empowering social change for African Americans have yielded collaborative programming and initiatives for students across the country. In 2019, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., committed to donate $1 million over three years in support of HBCUs and their students. The national crisis and the uncertainty around the spread of the coronavirus have motivated us to rethink the way we fundraise, forcing us to move from doing things in person to virtual events. We are fortunate that during these challenging times our loyal donors and corporate partners continue to support the work that we do across the country, added Tiffany Jones, area development director, UNCF. We are working harder today because we recognize that our students need us now more than ever. The 2020 event co-chairs are Okeatta D. Brown, public affairs senior strategy consultant at Wells Fargo, and Margaret S. Phinizy, senior vice president and wholesale voice of the customer leader at Wells Fargo. This year, the event fundraisers hope to garner national support and raise at least $500,000. To register, please visit UNCF.org/MAWWLL. For more information, go to UNCF.org/Charlotte or contact Jones at tiffany.jones@uncf.org. Follow this event on social media @UNCFCharlotte #UNCFCharlotte #UNCF. ### About UNCF UNCF (United Negro College Fund) is the nations largest and most effective minority education organization. To serve youth, the community and the nation, UNCF supports students education and development through scholarships and other programs, strengthens its 37 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education and college readiness. UNCF institutions and other historically black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding nearly 20 percent of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF awards more than $100 million in scholarships annually and administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized motto, A mind is a terrible thing to waste, but a wonderful thing to invest in. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students at more than 1,100 colleges and universities. Learn more at UNCF.org or for continuous news and updates, follow UNCF on Twitter @UNCF. (Natural News) Facebook will use its powers to shape the national conversation in the wake of an unclear or tumultuous election, putting the controversial social media giant in an uncomfortably powerful position following any election chaos. (Article by Jared Harris republished from WesternJournal.com) The companys head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, confirmed plans to censor and restrict content to the Financial Times on Tuesday, according to Business Insider. The Facebook official said the information lockdown would come as a result of widespread unrest, a situation that looks increasingly likely as the left continues to threaten riots and violence against President Donald Trump. Clegg vowed the company would aggressively restrict the circulation of content deemed inflammatory. Executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, would have a direct say in any rulings made by the censorship team. However, it doesnt seem as though anyone defending themselves with force in this post-election chaos will get a fair shake from Facebook. Just ask Kyle Rittenhouse someone the platform says committed mass murder despite mountains of contrary evidence. Posts casting doubt on this narrative have been taken down, while those baselessly slandering the young man as a terrorist remain live. Keep in mind that this wasnt decided by an investigation or any sort of public discourse, but by the Big Tech overlords at Facebook. If they can do this to a 17-year-old boy, they can do it to anybody. Considering Facebooks rampant problems with its anti-conservative bias, it appears the campaign to control the post-election narrative will fall heavily against the American right. Its not just average citizens who will feel the might of Facebooks content restrictions, but also candidates taking center stage in the elections. Andy Stone, the policy communications director at Facebook, confirmed the platform would ban political ads that claim victory before results have been declared. Facebook will be rejecting political ads that claim victory before the results of the 2020 election have been declared. Andy Stone (@andymstone) September 23, 2020 Stone said Facebook would be relying on Reuters and the National Election Pool in its attempt at playing kingmaker. While these are reputable institutions, human fallibility and the chaos of the upcoming elections could lead to some questionable decisions. As we said a couple weeks ago, we're working with Reuters and the National Election Pool. https://t.co/hzvxVvKaYX Andy Stone (@andymstone) September 23, 2020 Facebooks attempt to control the post-election conversation on its platform seems poised to create even more chaos as the men behind the curtain will be judging content by their own secret standards. While we do need rational and healthy discussion in the months leading up to and following Election Day, its clear that Facebook should not be the moderator of our nations political future. Read more at: WesternJournal.com and FacebookCollapse.com Most of the large Indian IT services players, such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and HCL Tech, have signalled increased offshoring efforts and opting for local hires in the US, primarily to address the immigration-related challenges. Indian IT services companies are likely to step up offshoring and local hiring in the US as wages paid to visa holders are expected to go up owing to a fresh proposal by the Donald Trump administration. A proposal in this regard was submitted by the Department of Labour (DoL) to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (under Office of Management and Budget) last week. Though the fine print is not publicly available, legal experts are of the opinion that this would change the wage conditions of H1B, L1, and other non-immigrant visa holders. In absence of details about the proposed wage changes, its difficult to quantify impact on Indian IT companies, but it will certainly inflate cost of H1B visa talent pool and may further increase offshoring and localisation efforts of Indian IT players, said Ruchi Burde, assistant vice-president, BOB Capital Markets. It appears that the DoL is increasing the wage level for H1B category of visa holders, to bring it on a par with Americans, said Raunak Singh, founding partner, Avitr Legal. The rationale behind this change seems to be that the US Government intends to promote employment of Americans. "By bringing the wage levels of H1B visa holders on a par with Americans, the employers may not get benefit of hiring foreign workers at lower wage rates. Most of the large Indian IT services players, such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, and HCL Technologies, have signalled increased offshoring efforts and opting for local hires in the US, primarily to address the immigration-related challenges. Earlier this month, Infosys had said it would hire 12,000 American workers over the next two years, creating a 25,000-strong workforce in the US over five years. Around 60 per cent of the US workforce are local hires. Wipro reported that offshore revenue from services rose to 48.5 per cent in the June quarter, from 48.2 per cent in the March quarter, and 47.7 per cent for the same period last year. The figure stood flat at 72 per cent for Infosys. TCS and HCL Technologies do not disclose the offshore revenue mix in their quarterly statements. According to a recent HDFC Securities report, every 1 per cent increase in US onsite cost, the impact on operating margins is 27/40 basis points for tier-I/tier-II IT firms. This is the sixth time such a rule is proposed since its first introduction in fall 2017, but it still continues to be under the same stage of the federal rule-making process. Considering the elections just around the corner (November 2020), there is a strong likelihood that we may see a hike in wage levels for H1B category of visa holders, said Singh of Avitr Legal. The proposed regulation targets prevailing wage rates for H1B visas, H1B1 visas for guest workers in speciality occupations from Chile and Singapore, and E-3 speciality occupation workers from Australia. Industry body Nasscom has criticised the proposal, saying it alters the level-playing field for Indian IT firms. The changes should not come as an interim final rule (IFR) as no one has the right to comment on it, said Shivendra Singh, vice-president and head of Global Trade Development at Nasscom. H1Bs, L1s, and work visas are a temporary way to bring in high-skilled visas. "It is a trade issue and not an immigration issue as it does not alter the net immigration number. Photograph Kevin Lamarque/Reuters UK scraps plans to allow trans-identified people to change sex ID without medical examination Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The U.K. government has scrapped proposed revisions to the Gender Recognition Act that would have allowed transgender-identifying individuals to change their sex listed on documents without a first having a medical examination to diagnose gender dysphoria. The announcement comes approximately two years after the government signaled its plans to allow trans-identified people to identify their chosen sex on legal documents. The reversal comes after significant pushback from women's rights campaigners who have argued that self-ID undermines women's sex-based rights. Government ministers decided that proper checks and balances in the system and also support for people who want to change their legal sex already existed within the legal regime, The Independent reported Tuesday. As it stands, anyone wanting to change their birth sex on legal documents must file an application along with two reports from a doctor or psychologist stating they have suffered from gender dysphoria to obtain a gender recognition certificate. According to the BBC, U.K. Equalities Minister Liz Truss said in a statement that GRA reform was not the top priority for transgender people." Perhaps their most important concern is the state of trans healthcare, she said, in a statement supplied to members of parliament. Trans people tell us that waiting lists at NHS gender clinics are too long. I agree, and I am deeply concerned at the distress it can cause. Truss' statement comes amid ongoing scrutiny of transgender medical practices in the U.K. Earlier this year, a formal clinical review was set in motion to investigate both the safety and efficacy of puberty-blocking drugs and the rules pertaining to parental consent before a child undergoes body-altering medical procedures. Truss added that the 2010 Equality Act "clearly protects transgender people from discrimination." The same act allows service providers to restrict access to single-sex spaces on the basis of biological sex if there is a clear justification," she said. The government further promised to reduce the time involved in applying for a certificate and lowering the expenses associated with it to make the process "kinder and more straightforward." Presently, obtaining a GRC costs approximately $178 (140). LGBT activist groups expressed disappointment with the action, saying the administrative changes were not enough. "While these moves will make the current process less costly and bureaucratic, they don't go anywhere near far enough toward meaningfully reforming the Act to make it easier for all trans people to go about their daily life," argued Nancy Kelley, chief executive of Stonewall UK, the nation's largest LGBT activist organization. By contrast, Fair Play for Women, a group that defends women's sex-based rights, lauded the move, saying that Truss and the government had "acknowledged women are stakeholders too and policies must fairly balance the conflicting rights of trans people and women." Around the Western world, the conflict over so-called transgender rights has largely centered around how the immutable trait of biological sex is defined in law as a civil rights category alongside the concept of "gender identity," which has often been described as a psychological feeling or "internal sense" of ones gender yet has no material basis. Critics of gender identity ideology and legislation, particularly some feminists, have long asserted that sex-based rights, many of which were hard-won, are significantly undermined with such redefinition. While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity. That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on. Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars. Though I was surrounded by two loving parents, plenty of brothers, sisters and cousins, their love could not protect me from the unholy oppression waiting just outside that family circle. Unchecked, unrestrained violence and government-sanctioned terror had the power to turn a simple stroll to the store for some Skittles or an innocent morning jog down a lonesome country road into a nightmare. If we are to survive as one unified nation, we must discover what so readily takes root in our hearts that could rob Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina of her brightest and best, shoot unwitting concertgoers in Las Vegas and choke to death the hopes and dreams of a gifted violinist like Elijah McClain. Like so many young people today, I was searching for a way out, or some might say a way in, and then I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence. He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice. He said it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself. Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it. You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time. People on every continent have stood in your shoes, through decades and centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others. Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring. When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide. AL-AUJA, West Bank - Jaseer Fahed Afyet stood where a vast sea of pale sand met a small island of green leaves and looked over the banana trees he had planted in June. They are likely to be his last. For three generations - before conflict and climate dried up much of his water - his family has grown bananas on this arid piece of the Jordan Valley just north of Jericho. Now, his few rows of young trees on just four acres account for one of the last remnants of the West Bank's banana basket. He is one of the final growers left, and he knows chances are good that the same lack of water that drove out so many of his neighbors will end his family's 50-year run. The end of the banana era represents the broad shift in Palestinian agriculture over the course of Israeli control of the West Bank and its water. At the time of the 1967 war, the area around Jericho was known for lemons, oranges and bananas. But over the decades, as Israel sunk more deep wells to supply growing Israeli settlements in the occupied territory, the springs began to dry out earlier and earlier each year, according to studies by the World Bank and other international organizations. Palestinian surface wells grew brackish as water tables dropped, the sweet water becoming too mineralized for lemons, citrus and bananas. Growers who could afford it began a slow shift to other crops, including the much hardier date palm, a desert native. But hundreds of small operators left farming altogether, selling their land and taking work as laborers in the surrounding Israeli settlements. About 3,000 area residents now work in the settlements, according to the Jericho Labor Office, spiking to 8,000 at the date harvest. When Afyet's grandfather planted his first banana trees in the 1970s, the area had been a storied producer of the fruit for decades. The Jericho banana, sweet and small, was popular in markets from Kuwait to Baghdad. Hundreds of small growers made good livings. One banana baron started a short-lived airline. "We called it 'Green Gold,'" said Afyet, whose 32-acre family enterprise never stretched to grand corporate schemes but did allow them to buy land, a few horses and once a taxi to run as a side business in the village. Afyet said he used to export 1,400 tons of bananas a year along with four partner growers. Now, the shops in al-Auja sell bananas imported from Israel, and Afyet is the only one still growing them. "One of them owned [62 acres]," he said. "Now he doesn't enough land for his grave." The area's banana acreage has plummeted from about 1,500 acres to less than 130 in the last decade, according to Ahmad Fares, the Jericho and Jordan Valley director of the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture. He credits the region's heat and high oxygen levels - at an elevation of 850 feet below sea level - with the fruit's rich flavor. "They are sweet as sugar," he said. He said he can still see bananas thriving just over the Jordan River, where Jordanian farmers enjoy the same conditions with easier access to water. At his peak, Afyet employed 20 workers. He began letting them go after the 2006 season marked a steep drop in water. He experimented with other crops, mostly vegetables, but in the driest years, when the spring stopped running as early as May, he left his fields to work for growers in Netiv HaGdud, a settlement five miles away. The difference in water use he saw there was stark. The herb and produce greenhouses have access to the pumps and pipes of Mekorot, the Israeli water company that pumps water from all three of the limestone aquifers that underlie the Jordan Valley and distributes it among the settlements. Additionally, a huge waste treatment plant nearby converts sewage from Jerusalem into gray water suitable for irrigation by Israeli farmers. Afyet used to work near a glittering swimming pool. "With water from that pool, I could irrigate five dunams for a year," he said, referring to the local land unit that equals about a quarter of an acre. Like many Palestinian farmers, Afyet says he has asked Israeli authorities to drill a new well on his property, or to purchase water from Mekorot, including gray water. He said his applications were repeatedly rejected. "They won't even sell us the dirty water," he said. - - - Israel says it is managing the resources according to an agreement included in the 1995 Oslo accords that gave it ultimate control over West Bank water, an arrangement that was supposed to be updated after five years but has remain untouched over decades of stalemate. Giora Shaham, director general of the Israel Water Authority, said there is no blanket policy against selling water to Palestinians, and said no requests to buy it have crossed his desk in his three years in charge. He said well permits are allotted cautiously only to keep from exhausting groundwater supplies for downstream users, both Israeli and Palestinian. "We are responsible for the whole area," Shaham said. "These are hydrology decisions, not political ones." In Jericho, which averages less than six inches of precipitation a year, no commercial crop grows without irrigation. Water must be pumped from the aquifers or channeled from natural springs. A network of concrete sluices, for instance, connects the Auja spring to Afyet's banana grove five miles away. Palestinians have the authority to run pipes and canals in the areas they control under the Oslo accords, which divides the West Bank into a patchwork of zones managed by either the Palestinian Authority or Israel. But unlike Israel, the Palestinian authority cannot pipe water across zones to distribute it from the few wet places to the many dry ones. Israel also enforces its control of water by destroying Palestinian pipes and tanks containing water that officials deem unpermitted or stolen. Israeli officials say they are enforcing the law. Palestinians and their advocates say they are trying to force the farmers from their land. "Control of water is central to the occupation," said Amit Gilutz of B'Tselem, an Israeli advocacy group. "Here, where there is no gold [and] there is no oil, water and land are the essential resources." - - - Mohammed Nassasra, a grape grower in the village of Jiftlik, watched Israeli soldiers bulldoze his water distribution pond earlier this year, saying it lacked a permit. Nassasra says the pond was built 15 years ago and filled with legal spring water. "The settlers don't like competition," Nassasra said on a recent afternoon, fingering one of the desiccated grape bunches, a severed irrigation pipe at his feet. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli military agency that administers Palestinian activities in the West Bank, said it "carried out an enforcement operation against three illegal reservoirs that had been set up in the village of Jiftlik. We will note that the enforcement was carried out in accordance with the authorities and procedures." David Elhayani, the leader of an settler umbrella group, disputed that Israeli residents want to drive Palestinian growers out of business, saying that a good farm economy makes life more peaceful for everyone in the contested region. He said Palestinians routinely poach from the Israeli water network and drill illegal wells. Israeli farmers have their own complaints about the stingy allocations of well permits, he said. Palestinian authorities, meantime, were hamstrung after the Oslo accords in managing the West Bank's water resources by too little staff and too much bureaucracy. Shaham said, for instance, that the Palestinians are entitled under the accords to extract 60 million more cubic feet of water from the Eastern Aquifer than they do. To help ease the shortage, Shaham said he envisions two projects: a plan to bring water from Northern Israel to the Jordan Valley with as much as 10 percent going to Palestinians; and a tunnel under construction that will bring additional wastewater from East Jerusalem to the Og Treatment Plant. "I told my companies that some of that [treated gray water] will go to irrigate dates around Jericho," he said. That will do little for Afyet and his bananas. Toeing the hard earth between his trees, Afyet is facing reality. It was a good winter of rain, and the al-Auja spring produced water into September for the first time in years. It gave him hope to try one final crop. "Next year, maybe we will come here and eat bananas," said Afyet, the shoulder-tall seedlings around him almost the only green visible in the sun-baked landscape. "If not, that's it," he added. "This too will be desert again." Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad, whose party faces an insurmountable handicap because of its ailing founding chief being behind bars, on Friday came out with a subdued war cry for the assembly polls in Bihar. IMAGE: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav rides a tractor along with party supporters during Bharat Bandh, a protest against the farm bills passed in Parliament recently, in Patna, on Friday. Photograph: PTI Photo A five-line tweet which displayed his fondness for verse but lacked his trademark flamboyance, was all that came from the septuagenarian after the Election Commission announced the poll schedule. 'Utho Bihari, karo taiyari/ Janta ka shasan abki bari/Bihar mein badlaav hoga/ Afsar raj khatm hoga/ Ab Janta ka raaj hoga,' ran the tweet. Asking the people of Bihar to bring their own government to power, the post made a veiled reference to the alleged high handedness of bureaucracy under the Janata Dal(United)-Bharatiya Janata Party rule but fell shy of a frontal attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his arch rival, or the near hegemonic saffron party which considers him a bete noire. Considered invincible when the undivided Bihar was ruled by Prasad, and later his wife Rabri Devi, the RJD has witnessed its fortunes dwindle since 2005 when it was ousted from power. The 2015 assembly polls brought a new lease of life to the party as Prasad and Kumar took all by surprise as they buried the hatchet and formed the Grand Alliance taking the Congress -- a spent force in the state -- on board. Prasad, who had been disqualified two years ago following his first conviction in a fodder scam case, canvassed with fire and the new coalition won hands down, halting the BJP juggernaut set in motion with Narendra Modi's ascent. The elections saw Kumar returning as the CM for the first time while both sons of Prasad occupied cabinet berths with a swagger that stemmed from the RJD emerging as the single largest party with 80 seats under its belt. However, the party was left high and dry when the chief minister in July 2017 made an abrupt exit from the Grand Alliance and returned to the National Democratic Alliance, unable to take the heat generated by a money laundering case in which the name of Tejashwi Yadav, his then deputy and Prasad's younger son, had cropped up. Attempts by the RJD to politically milk Kumar's 'betrayal of mandate' have born no fruit so far. The party's tally in the 243-strong assembly has nosedived to under 70, thanks to a few defeats in by-polls and a significant number of defections by sitting MLAs in the recent past. Those turning their backs on the RJD in recent times included Parsa MLA Chandrika Rai whose daughter's nasty marital dispute with Tej Pratap Yadav, the mercurial elder son of the proverbial 'first couple' of RJD, has become a major embarrassment for the party. The NDA has also made its intentions clear to make the 'injustice' meted out to newly-married Aishwarya Rai a poll issue. The younger son Tejashwi Yadav has been anointed by the father as heir apparent and approaches the assembly elections as the RJD's chief ministerial candidate. He, however, is faced with an unenviable situation with many in the party, like late founding member Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, having questioned his leadership skills. Recently, former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha president Jitan Ram Manjhi too walked out of the Grand Alliance, which had come to be helmed by the RJD with Congress and three smaller parties in tow. Manjhi has since been training his guns at Yadav while singing paeans to Kumar against whom he had raised a banner of revolt when asked to step down as CM to make way for the return of his mentor. Yet another blow has come into the form of open rebellion from Upendra Kushwaha, chief of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, who is said to have made up his mind to quit the Grand Alliance and return to the NDA, notwithstanding the cold vibes he shares with Nitish Kumar. "Tejashwi Yadav is not yet ripe to take on Nitish Kumar. We do not wish to fight a lost battle. We may consider continuing in the Grand Alliance if a more suitable face is projected," Kushwaha said here on Thursday at a party meeting in which he was authorised to take a decision on the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party's future move. The 30-year-old Tejashwi Yadav, admired even by critics for his composure, could barely conceal his frustration when reporters posed before him questions, shortly before he hit the streets driving a tractor in solidarity with the 'Bharat Bandh' called by farmers' bodies. "This is a strange demand. How can other parties expect the RJD to decide its leadership as per their wishes? We never ask them to consult us while deciding their office-bearers. And I wonder why everybody is so curious about seat-sharing in the Grand Alliance. Even the NDA has not been able to announce its own formula," Yadav snapped. The NDA faces a challenge in the form of rebellion from Chirag Paswan-led LJP, but the party is unlikely to boost the RJD's prospects. Its proclamation of fielding candidates against the JD-U may, at the most, cause some problems for the party headed by the chief minister. Such a situation could be advantage BJP, which has been desperate to gain an upper hand in the state but wary of rubbing Kumar the wrong way for fear of his again joining hands with Prasad and give rise to a lethal combination. A cocktail of powerful antibodies identified in recovered patients locks the coronavirus infection machinery, inhibits SARS-CoV-2 attachment to host cells, and protects animals challenged with the pandemic coronavirus A mix of ultrapotent antibodies from recovered COVID-19 patients has been shown to recognize and lock down the infection machinery of the pandemic coronavirus and keep it from entering cells. Each of the antibody types performs these overlapping tasks slightly differently. Low doses of these antibodies, individually or as a cocktail, were also shown to protect hamsters from infection when exposed to the coronavirus by preventing it from replicating in their lungs. An advantage of such cocktails is that they might also prevent the natural mutant forms of the virus that arose during this pandemic to escape treatment. As some variants in the infection machinery have already been discovered during the coronavirus pandemic, using a mix of antibodies allows for neutralization of a broad spectrum of such viral variants. In addition to preventing virus entry into host cells, the presence of the antibodies also seems to set off the infection-fighting actions of other immune cells, which arrive to clear out the virus. "We believe that leveraging multiple, distinct, complementary mechanisms of action could provide additional benefits for clinical applications," the researchers noted. The researchers determined how the antibodies worked on a molecular level through cryo-electron microscopy studies of the resulting changes in the configuration of the virus infection machinery. Besides directly preventing interactions with the host receptor, one of the two discovered antibodies locks the infection machinery in an inactive conformation, meaning it could not fuse with the host membrane on the surface of the cell. If unable to fuse, the coronavirus cannot break in and deliver its RNA to commandeer the cell. The findings of this research are reported Sept. 24 in a rapid release paper in Science. Here is the paper. The senior authors were Dr. Katja Fink of Vir Biotechnology and Dr. David Veesler, associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Veesler has studied the molecular structure and infection mechanisms of a variety of coronaviruses and other viruses. The lead authors were M. Alejandra Tortorici of the UW Department of Biochemistry and the Institut Pasteur in Paris, and Martina Beltramello of Humab BioMed, a subsidiary of Vir Biotechnology in Switzerland. Researchers from Washington University in St Louis, Rega Institute in Belgium, the University of Milan, Italy, and the University of Texas in Dallas also collaborated on the research. Efficient therapeutic options are needed to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 that has caused more than 978,000 fatalities worldwide. While the world awaits approved vaccines, pharmaceuticals to prevent or treat infections from the pandemic coronavirus are being sought that might be quicker to develop and test. These might both address the gap until vaccines are widely distributed, and still be needed for use after vaccines are available. "Our results pave the way to implement antibody cocktails for prophylaxis or therapy that might have the advantage of circumventing or limiting the emergence of viral escape mutants," the researchers noted. The antibody cocktail in their study needs to undergo trials in humans to determine safety and effectiveness. ### This study was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a Pew Biomedical Scholars Award, an Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Fast Grants, the University of Washington Arnold and Mabel Beckman cryoEM center, the Pasteur Institute, the KU Leuven/UZ Leuven COVID-19 Fund, the Flanders Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Paul Rusesabagina, the polarising hero of the hit movie "Hotel Rwanda," admitted to a Kigali court on Friday that he had helped form an armed group but denied any role in its crimes. Rusesabagina is famed for his depiction by Don Cheadle in the 2004 film in which a moderate Hutu is shown as saving hundreds of lives at a luxury hotel during the 1994 genocide, which left some 800,000, mostly Tutsi, dead. However, a more complex image has emerged of the staunch government critic since he appeared in Kigali under arrest in mysterious circumstances last month, after years living in exile in Belgium and the United States. Rusesabagina admitted Friday to helping form the National Liberation Front (FLN), which he has previously said sought to "liberate" Rwanda from the authoritarian government of Paul Kagame. Kagame has been in power since 1994 and is often accused by critics of crushing opposition and ruling through fear. However the 66-year-old, who appeared in court clad in Rwanda's pink prison outfit and a pink mask, said the aim was not to sow terror. "We formed the FLN as an armed wing, not as a terrorist group as the prosecution keeps saying. The aim was to draw the government to the attention of the plight of refugees. I do not deny that the FLN committed crimes but my role was diplomacy," he said in court Friday. He said the FLN was the armed wing of his political party, the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), which he formed in 2017. Rusesabagina is being tried on 13 charges including terrorism, financing and founding militant groups, murder, arson and conspiracy to involve children in armed groups. His court appearance was to appeal a ruling denying him bail, and a decision was set for October 2. Rusesabagina's daughter Carine Kanimba wrote on Twitter that her family was "saddened and shocked by the images of our father's shaved head and draped in pink prisoner's clothes. Story continues "Although our morale is low, we will not give up until he is back home." Rusesabagina's family said he would never have willingly returned to Rwanda, and the details of his arrest are still murky. In an interview with The New York Times, Rusesabagina, speaking with Rwandan officials in the room, said he boarded a private jet in Dubai which he thought was taking him to Burundi, but landed in Kigali instead. His family says Rusesabagina has not been allowed to consult with lawyers of his choosing. - A polarising hero - In the years after the genocide, Rusesabagina -- a Hutu -- became increasingly critical of Kagame's government, accusing his ruling party of authoritarianism and anti-Hutu sentiment. Rusesabagina left Rwanda in 1996 along with other moderates who believed the space for political opposition was fast shrinking. The release of the Oscar-nominated film "Hotel Rwanda" thrust him into the global spotlight, giving him a greater platform for his criticism of Kagame's government. Kagame is championed abroad for turning the country around. However critics such as Rusesabagina accuse his government of authoritarianism, ruling through fear and crushing the opposition. Several critics of his regime have been assassinated abroad. As Rusesabagina grew more critical, his image at home worsened as the regime attacked his character. Detractors claimed he embellished his heroics, while some survivors groups accused him of profiting from their misery. Rusesabagina formed his groups in the wake of the 2017 election, in which the 62-year-old Kagame won a third term, after a constitutional amendment allowed him to run again and potentially stay in office for another two decades. In a 2018 video expressing support for the FLN, Rusesabagina said: "The time has come for us to use any means possible to bring about change in Rwanda, as all political means have been tried and failed." The FLN claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Nyungwe, a forested area near the Burundi border which is popular among tourists coming to see endangered mountain gorillas. The attacks prompted France, Germany, Canada and Australia to advise their nationals against travel to the area. In April 2019, Rwandan authorities arrested the commander of the FLN, Callixte Nsabimana, who had previously claimed responsibility on social media for attacks including setting fire to a passenger bus in 2018, leaving two dead and many injured. However in court, Nsabimana tried to distance himself from the killing of civilians. "When we attacked the Nyungwe area, we had given FLN specific orders that whatever operation they launch, it should be about destroying bridges, ambush military vehicles, attack government offices as well as police and military camps. We didn't expect them to attack civilians," Nsabimana said in court last year. str-fb/np/ach The drill that practically ended the two weeks of training for the approximately 200 soldiers from seven Balkan countries participating in the Carpathian Eagle drill, took place on Friday, in the Cincu training area, Brasov county, on which occasion there also took place the traditional Day of Distinguished Visitors. "It was the two-week drill during which Special Operations Forces activities were carried out at the initiative of the chiefs of defence from 9 Balkan states. On this occasion, we also celebrate 12 years since the signing of this agreement, this regional cooperation initiative, and we are glad that we have managed to organize this drill in this context of the pandemic, which affects us all, and we appreciate the effort of the participating countries. We had six countries and a seven one that sent its representatives only today [Friday - editor's note]. The big absentees, who did not participate due to COVID-19 reasons, are Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina," the Commander of the Special Operations Forces, Brigadier General Tiberiu Serban, stated on Friday, at Cincu, the commander of the Special Operations Forces Command.According to him, the goal of the "Carpathian Eagle 2020" drill was to strengthen cooperation and interoperability, for the participants to share from their own professional experiences, to strengthen ties between the participating countries, the Cincu range providing very good conditions for training both personally as well as collectively."A peculiarity of the drill were the multinational teams, which added to the complexity of the approaches and training. There was a language barrier, but this obstacle was overcome. (...) The participants managed to share the techniques, the procedures that they know," mentioned General Serban, who added that all the terrestrial actions were combined in a version of work integrated with the air means, this mode of action being specific for everything that means special operations.Regarding Friday's exercise, the Commander of the Special Operations Forces said that his scenario involved "a combination of conventional and unconventional approaches of the opponent," the main effort of the mission being to capture a very important personality of the opponent, to eliminate this target of great value to balance things or to tile the balance into its own favour."The Special Operations troops, both for Romania and for the other countries, represent a resource of strategic importance and that is why we spare no effort to become better and better," pointed out General Tiberiu Serban.More than 200 troops from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, northern Macedonia and Turkey, in cooperation with structures of the Ministry of National Defence, participated with ground and air combat means, between September 14 and 26, in the Multinational Special Forces Exercise, Carpathian Eagle 2020 "Carpathian Eagle 2020", in the Cincu range. According to statistics released Thursday, the percentage of minority and low-income riders has not changed over the past four years. On Metrorail, 58 percent of riders are people of color; people with annual incomes of less than $30,0000 account for 25 percent of customers. The disparity is even more pronounced on Metrobus, where 81 percent of riders are minorities and 46 percent are low-income. Meanwhile, systemwide, 32 percent of customers speak little to no English. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 23:40:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close URUMQI, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Goji berry growers and processing companies in Jinghe County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, have embraced a bumper harvest this year, thanks to more goji derivative products. On the production lines of Qirui Biotech Co., Ltd., packaged goji primary pulp are neatly arranged, with the aroma of goji berries filling the workshop. After a few procedures such as washing, smashing, and filtering, fresh goji berries will be processed into packaged primary pulp and sold online and offline across the country. Founded in 2019, Qirui Biotech has rapidly developed into one of the leading deep-processing enterprises of goji berries, also known as wolfberries, across the region. Juice, primary pulp, beer, enzymes, and other health care products made of goji berries are gaining popularity among consumers at home and abroad. "In the past, many local goji processing enterprises only produced dried berries, with low prices," said Zhang Qin, general manager of Qirui. "At present, more companies are beginning to produce goji derivative products, which increases the added value of goji berries a lot." Currently, Qirui has an annual production capacity of 800 tonnes of goji enzymes, 1,800 tonnes of primary pulp, 3,000 tonnes of juice, and 10,000 tonnes of beer, and has exported products to 30 countries and regions. In 2019, the company achieved sales of more than 25 million yuan (around 3.67 million U.S. dollars). "We are now developing goji coffee," said Zhang. "We hope we can produce more derivative products of goji berries in the future." China's goji berry history dates back thousands of years. In ancient herbal medicine, its functions included protecting the liver, improving eyesight, and conserving strength. Jinghe County, known as the "hometown of the Chinese wolfberry," has a total planting area of over 8,600 hectares with an annual output of 260 million yuan. There are 13 goji processing companies, building 23 goji brands, and developing 14 derivative products. Rich derivative products rely on high-quality goji berries. In recent years, Jinghe has made great efforts to help growers improve the quality of goji berries and increase their income. The country has so far established 25 goji planting cooperatives to bring the scattered farming masses together and promote large-scale standardized planting. Those cooperatives are responsible for the supply of the means of production, the organization of technical services, and the marketing of output. "Therefore, the processing companies are not worried about the quality of goji berries, and farmers are not worried about the market," said Li Jiangwei, a goji grower at Akqi Farm, a township in Jinghe. In 2019, Li contracted a 40-hectare goji plantation, joined a local cooperative, and began with the green and standardized farming of goji berries. "In the past, goji growers had a high yield but a low income due to the poor quality of goji berries. The sale prices were only about 10 yuan per kg," said Li. "But now we can sell 30 to 40 yuan per kg after we followed the standardized farming methods." "Goji berries have sweetened us growers' lives," said Li. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 23:55:00|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The total number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases in Africa has reached 1,437,072 as of Friday with the death toll passing the 35,000 mark, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said. The continental disease control and prevention agency said in a statement that the death toll due to illnesses related to COVID-19 in Africa has reached 35,007 as of Friday. The Africa CDC also said the number of people who have recovered from the infectious virus across the continent has reached 1,184, 645 so far. Amid the uneven impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on African countries, the Africa CDC also disclosed that the most COVID-19 affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Ethiopia and Nigeria. The Southern Africa region is the most COVID-19 affected region both in terms of the number of confirmed positive cases as well as the number of deaths, it was noted. The Northern Africa region is the second most COVID-19-affected African region, it was noted. Five countries account for 71 percent of total COVID-19 cases in the continent: South Africa at 47 percent, followed by Morocco at eight percent, with Egypt coming third at seven percent. Ethiopia and Nigeria round up the top five most COVID-19 affected countries list with five percent and four percent each. South Africa currently has the most COVID-19 cases, which hit 667, 049. The country also has the highest number of deaths related to COVID-19 at 16,283. The continent's total COVID-19 cases represent about 4.5 percent of the global tally, according to the Africa CDC. The Africa CDC also said 10 African countries are reporting fatality rates higher than the global case fatality rate of 3.1 percent. These African countries include Chad, Liberia, Niger, Egypt, Mali, Angola, Algeria and Sudan. The average continental fatality rate is currently around 2.4 percent. According to the latest figures from the continental disease control and prevention agency, some 17 African countries and regions are under full border closure due to concerns related to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in Africa, while closure of country-wide educational institutions has been activated across 33 African countries in an effort to halt the spread of the infectious virus. Amid the increasing number of COVID-19 cases across the African continent, the adverse impacts of the pandemic are affecting the continent across various sectors in addition to the healthcare and socioeconomic sectors. Enditem How to bounce back from stretched out stretchable sensors Elastic can stretch too far and that could be problematic in wearable sensors. A team of researchers at Yokohama National University has proposed a fix to prevent too much stretching while improving the sensing ability of electronics. This could lead to advanced prosthetics or disaster recovery robotics. They published their results on July 29 in the Scientific Reports. "Stretchable physical sensors are crucial for the development of advanced electrical systems, particularly wearable devices and soft robotics," said Hiroki Ota, paper author and associate professor in the Faculty of Engineering at Yokohama National University. "However, current stretchable pressure sensors composed of elastic materials can be highly deformed during the strain of the devices." The bend of an elbow or a knee can push the sensor past its structural integrity, producing a large error on the pressure movement measurement. This stops the sensor from being able to measure pressure and strain at the same time, but as independent variables. To help combat this, the researchers proposed a monolithic array of pressure and strain sensors that can simultaneously and independently detect the force and bend deformation of motion. They used two different materials--one soft and one hard--to protect the sensor's ability to stretch and still accurately measure movement. They placed a hard silicone, called PDMS, along electrodes over the array. At the center of each PDMS placement, they positioned soft porous silicone, which senses pressure. "The PDMS around the pressure-sensing elements prevents the development of large deformations of the elements during the developed device tension," Ota said. The soft porous silicone pressure sensor is contained within the hard shell of the PDMS, so it can measure the force of pressure without being overextended past reliable margins of error. The containment also allows the sensors to identify and measure both pressure and strain as independent contributors to movement. "In addition, resistances of column and row electrodes in the matrix of the mapped array are much lower than the ones of the pressure sensors," Ota said. "This substrate and control of electrode resistances can prevent stretch deformation of the device from affecting the sensing of pressure." The electrodes in the stretchable array can measure strain at a much lower rate than is required to detect pressure. "We could recognize pressure and strain sensing of our device independently," Ota said. Ota said the team plans to apply the new stretchable sensor approach to a physical keyboard that can be mounted on the surface of a body, which could bend with the strain of the body and still detect fingertip pressure, as well as a physical sensor on a soft robot. They also hope to use the sensor to better understand the motion and touch of the human hand. "In the future, by molding this sensor into a glove shape, it can be applied to the device which electronically analyzes the finger movement and tactile sense of the hand," Ota said. ### Other contributors include Ryosuke Matsuda, Satoru Mizuguchi, Fumika Nakamura, Takuma Endo, Yutaka Isoda and Go Inamori, all of whom are affiliated with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Yokohama National University. This research was supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency, PRESTO Grant Number JPMJPR18J2, MIC/SCOPE (Number: 181603007). Yokohama National University (YNU or Yokokoku) is a Japanese national university founded in 1949. YNU provides students with a practical education utilizing the wide expertise of its faculty and facilitates engagement with the global community. YNU's strength in the academic research of practical application sciences leads to high-impact publications and contributes to international scientific research and the global society. For more information, please see: https:/ / www. ynu. ac. jp/ english/ This story has been published on: 2020-09-24. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. After sitting dormant over the summer, some offices are flicking on the lights, reconfiguring cubicles and posting signs to remind workers to keep their distance and follow good hygiene practices. Even with COVID-19 safety measures in place, the return to the office will inevitably result in awkward situations. How to deal with the person who shows up coughing or gets too close for comfort? How to respond to an invitation to the after-work social gathering? Pre-COVID, many often thought that good office etiquette or any proper etiquette required us to be polite and forgiving, even if that meant condoning some bad behaviours. That certainly wasnt the case then, and its not the case now, said Linda Allan, a Toronto-area management consultant specializing in workplace conduct and business etiquette. Ive always told my participants and clients that people need to feel comfortable doing and saying whats right; they need to have the courage of their etiquette convictions. Definitive numbers are hard to come by, but commercial real estate firm Colliers says its downtown Toronto offices currently sit at 12 to 15 per cent occupancy. Anecdotally we have heard similar occupancy rates among the large landlords KingSett, Oxford and Dream, for example, said Pamela Smith, Colliers director of communications in Canada. A KPMG survey of just over 1,000 Canadians released in August showed that 54 per cent of respondents said they feared returning to the office. Six in 10 Canadians said they would refuse to go to work if they didnt feel it was safe. Eighty-two per cent, however, said they trusted their employers to take the necessary precautions. Across Canada, various levels of government have trotted out guidelines to help employers mitigate the risk of exposure. Among their recommendations: remind employees to stay home if theyre feeling ill; install hand-sanitizing stations throughout the office; avoid handshakes and multi-person meetings; use floor markers to promote social distancing and one-way traffic in narrow corridors; close off non-essential common areas; stagger working hours; and increase cleaning of high-touch surfaces, such as elevator buttons and photocopiers. Employers need to make sure that the workplace is safe and functional, and that the return-to-office process provides comfort to and builds trust with employees, said Kerris Hougardy, vice-president of people services for Colliers in North America. Expect that there will be tweaks to those measures, Hougardy adds. Some adjustments for Colliers have included giving our people access to coffee. When we first began repopulating our offices, we had to shut down our communal kitchens. This was having a negative effect on people being in the office theyd have to take more elevators, go to coffee shops more frequently and so installing touchless coffee machines made a big difference. Hougardy says theyve also been making changes to their signage to be more friendly and uplifting even humorous, while still being instructional. Inevitably, as people spend more time back in the office their guards may go down or they may forget social-distancing rules, Allan says. Thats when people will need to speak up and not be afraid about coming across as rude. Its going to take some courage for people to say, Given our current health situation, would you please abide by the guidelines? Would you please step back a bit or wait over there while I finish here? Of course, you dont want to be overly harsh, Allan says. Lets be cautious and courteous. There will be a natural desire for people to want to socialize again outside of work. Table manners that were relevant before are even more relevant now, Allan says. People talking with food in their mouth, which means food and spittle is flying, she said. Her recommendation? Before these social events take place lets just say, Lets go over some guidelines and basic table manners and rules of etiquette around food that have to be more in focus now because of COVID. But what can employers do to ensure that all these rigid rules dont sink office morale? Hougardy says that over the summer, Colliers held outdoor sales meetings, food bank collection drives and small-group leisure activities, such as pitch and putt outings and bring-your-own-food picnics. We also encouraged virtual morale building regular check-ins, team yoga sessions, sharing successes and challenges openly ... virtual happy hours, videos from the CEO and our other leaders. Rather than doing away with common areas altogether, Allan suggests that employees still be allowed to use break rooms or water-cooler areas but perhaps with tables and chairs repositioned to allow staff to maintain distance. Have some semblance of normality, of some social interaction, because thats what human beings seek the most and need the most, she said. Tips to keep office employees safe General Sanitize the office thoroughly and often, especially high-touch surfaces and common areas, such as door handles, entryways, elevators, washrooms and kitchens. Employees must be required to stay home if feeling ill. Workspaces Reposition workstations so they are at least two metres apart or install dividers. Dont hold gatherings if distancing cant be maintained. Use visual markers to create one-way staircases and corridors. Get workers to use their own pens, staplers, headsets and computers. Minimize use of shared equipment like photocopiers and coffee makers. Lunchrooms/communal spaces Close or restrict access to common areas. Stagger break times. Encourage people to eat outside or at their desks. Ask workers to bring their own plates/utensils. Outside visitors Reschedule unnecessary visits from vendors, delivery people or others who dont need to be there. Remove magazines and candy trays in reception areas. Dont offer coffee, tea or water to visitors. Sources: WorkSafe BC, Ontario Workplace Safety and Prevention Services, Government of Canada Final decision to be made on Monday, PM stands behind the proposal of epidemiologists and hygienists. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Smaller weddings and strict limits for mass events: That is what the pandemic commission proposes Slovakia should abide by as of October. Our paywall policy The Slovak Spectator has decided to make all the articles on the special measures, statistics and basic information about the coronavirus available to everyone. If you appreciate our work and would like to support good journalism, please buy our subscription. Coronavirus numbers have been on the rise in Slovakia particularly over the past week; there were 419 positive tests reported on Friday. There are currently 19 red and 19 orange districts, while 41 districts remain green in Slovakia as of September 25. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The measures that the commission proposes are meant to stabilise the curve of new daily confirmed coronavirus cases in Slovakia, but epidemiologists expect the numbers to further rise for at least another 10 to 14 days after the measures come into force. The map of red and orange regions since September 25, 2020. (Source: Health Ministry) New measures as of Thursday They expect to introduce the measures on October 1, but they do not have the final version of the measures yet, Chief Hygienist Jan Mikas said. PM Igor Matovic, however, revealed that the proposal should be identical to what the epidemiologists proposed two weeks ago: limiting weddings to 30 persons and allowing only events with seated participants, with a maximum of 100 people indoors or 200 people outdoors. Mass events where the participants are not seated will be banned "until the rise of positive cases is stopped". Matovic previously stepped in to soften the measures. However, he says he has been disappointed. The commission is also considering limitations to travel across borders but has not come up with any definite proposals yet. Mikas noted that currently, most of the cases are not imported across the borders, like they were in some previous months, but are contracted at family reunions, weddings and discos. Appeals to responsibility "We call on people to start being responsible and cautious like they were during the first wave," Mikas said. Matovic stressed that measures must be taken; otherwise, the situation will exceed the limits of contact tracers and hospitals. "I will no longer fight for the freedom of irresponsible people," Matovic said. The current rules would be effective if people observed them, but he claims that about one third of the population is irresponsible. Read more about the coronavirus outbreak in Slovakia: Some severe COVID-19 cases may be due to faulty genes, misguided antibodies, say scientists India pti-Madhuri Adnal New York, Sep 25: More than 10 per cent of young and healthy people who develop severe COVID-19 have misguided antibodies that attack not the virus, but the immune system itself, and another 3.5 per cent may carry a specific kind of genetic mutation, according to a new study. The research, published in the journal Science, noted that both groups of patients lack type I interferon -- a set of 17 proteins crucial for protecting cells and the body from viruses. These proteins, according to the researchers from the Rockefeller University in the US, are part of the intrinsic and innate immunity, kicking in before the body produces an antibody response, and are known to play an important role in immediately heightening the cells' defences in response to several viruses. Coronavirus will likely become seasonal, but not yet, say scientists In the case of some patients with severe COVID-19, they said the interferons could either be neutralised by the patients' own antibodies, or may not be produced in insufficient amounts due to a faulty gene. They said the findings help explain why some people develop a disease much more severe than others in their age group including in individuals who required admission to the hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU) despite being in their 20s and free of underlying conditions. The study results, according to the researchers, may also provide the first molecular explanation for why more men than women die from COVID-19. "These findings provide compelling evidence that the disruption of type I interferon is often the cause of life-threatening COVID-19," says Jean-Laurent Casanova, a co-author of the study from the Rockefeller University. "And at least in theory, such interferon problems could be treated with existing medications and interventions," Casanova said. The novel coronavirus can cause symptom-free infection in most people, or can kill some others in a few days. Bihar poll dates, Sunil Gavaskar stokes controversy & more news | Oneindia News According to the researchers, the unusual susceptibility to certain infectious diseases can be traced to single-gene mutations that affect an individual's immune response. In the current research, they genetically analysed blood samples from more than 650 COVID-19 patients who had been hospitalised for life-threatening pneumonia due to the coronavirus, of whom 14 per cent had died. The scientists also included samples from another group of over 530 people with asymptomatic or benign infection. They initially searched for differences between the two groups across 13 genes known to govern the production of the type I interferons in the body, which are critical for defense against the influenza virus. According to the study, a significant number of people with severe disease carried rare variants in these 13 genes, and more than three per cent of them were missing a functioning gene. From further experiments, they showed that immune cells from these patients did not produce any detectable type I interferons in response to the coronavirus. The scientists demonstrated that human fibroblast cells with mutations affecting the interferon type I pathway were more vulnerable to the virus, and died in higher numbers, and did so at a faster rate than cells without those mutations. They said three other infectious diseases caused by mutations affecting an immune signalling protein can also be caused by auto-antibodies against that protein. Examining 987 patients with life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia, they found that more than 10 per cent had auto-antibodies against interferons at the onset of their infection, with a majority of them (95 per cent) being men. Coronavirus will likely become seasonal, but not yet, say scientists The researchers confirmed these findings using biochemical experiments which showed that these auto-antibodies can effectively curb the activity of interferon type I. In some cases the auto-antibodies could be detected in blood samples taken before patients became infected and in others, they said, these were found in the early stages of the infection, before the immune system had the time to mount a response. However, the auto-antibodies seem to be rare in the general population, the scientists said, adding that only four out of 1,227 randomly selected healthy people were found to have them. "All of these findings strongly indicate that these auto-antibodies are actually the underlying reason some people get very sick, and not the consequence of the infection," Casanova said. The scientists believe the findings could point to medical interventions that may help control the disease severity. Citing an example, they said two types of interferons available as drugs and approved for use to treat certain conditions, such as chronic viral hepatitis, could be further investigated for their effectiveness against severe COVID-19. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 15:32:10|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close GABORONE, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Botswana is actively pursuing strategies for regional cooperation on infrastructure and integration to create more active routes and expand market access, the country's foreign minister said Thursday. Enhanced international partnership, particularly regional cooperation, is of paramount importance to the advancement of Botswana's "transformation agenda," Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation Lemogang Kwape told the Annual Ministerial Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Landlocked Developing Countries that was held virtually this year. As a result, Botswana is creating more active trade routes and working with its neighbors to harmonize policies that will further facilitate trade, Kwape said. "In that regard of creating more trade routes together with our neighbors in South Africa and Namibia, we have built a Trans-Kalahari Corridor, which is a highway aimed at facilitating faster and cheaper movement of goods and services between our countries," Kwape said. Botswana and its northern neighbor Zambia have also embarked on the construction of the Kazungula Bridge, a joint project to further facilitate the movement of goods and people within the Southern African Development Community region and others, he added. According to Kwape, Botswana last year completed its review of the National Trade Policy and National Export Strategy to diversify economy and trade, improve its global competitiveness, and advance poverty eradication. Enditem Access to real-time health screening and tracking information is more important now than ever, and Sneez delivers. Sneez, LLC announced today that it has been chosen out of a record-breaking 400 applicants as one of the top technology companies in the Southeast to present at Venture Atlanta 2020. Now in its 14th year, the annual conference to be held October 21-22, pivoted to a fully virtual format, Venture Atlanta Live Online. One of the nations best venture capital conferences continues to showcase innovators from the hottest tech markets in the US and boosts its largest number of selected companies and represented investor funds to date. Even in light of COVID-19, Venture Atlanta continues to fuel capital and growth, serving the needs of the regions vibrant tech community. We are honored to have been selected as a Showcase Company of Venture Atlanta 2020, said Sneez, LLC CEO, Danielle Lamphier. Our portfolio of health and wellness technology solutions is rapidly gaining traction, and this opportunity to network with other growth minded innovators and investors couldnt be more timely. Access to real-time health screening and tracking information is more important now than ever, and Sneez delivers. Sneez, LLC, is the creator of the leading mobile application for real-time illness tracking, the Sneez app. The company recently added SneezSafe to its portfolio of wellness technology solutions. This new web-based tool is designed for employers and other organizations, such as colleges and universities, to enable employees to screen for symptoms associated with COVID-19 each day before going to work or class. The customizable tool uses the latest CDC guidelines and decision logic to process user data instantly, directing users to seek further evaluation or connect to care when needed right from the platform. SneezSafe features a robust employer reporting dashboard and is approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to serve as a data gathering tool for the Community Research Partnership National COVID-19 Study conducted through Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Venture Atlanta has become the authority for recognizing technology innovation across the Southeast and beyond, connecting the best and brightest innovators with top-tier, national investors and other leaders in our technology ecosystem that helps drive success and results with over $4.5 billion in funding awarded to date, said Venture Atlanta CEO Allyson Eman. This year, weve pivoted to a digital format to best serve the needs of our vibrant tech community and are thrilled to be showcasing our largest line up of companies ever. These companies reflect our incredible pool of talented people, inspiring innovation, and continued opportunities for growth within the technology community. Venture Atlanta Live Online will offer an unparalleled experience that streams two days of immersive events and interactive networking opportunities. Attendees will be able to connect with others at the conference, set up one-on-one meetings, stroll the virtual show floor, watch pitches in real-time, and use features like live chat, and audience polling. Atlanta-based independent investment management firm, Invesco, is this years premier sponsor, with Cherry Bekaert, Nelson Mullins and Truist as additional headline sponsors. Venture Atlanta Live Online will conclude with TechSquare Labs Atlanta Startup Battle, in which top five companies will pitch on stage against one another to win a $100,000 investment. To learn more about the Sneez, LLC, portfolio of products, visit http://www.sneezapp.com and http://www.sneezsafe.com. For additional information about Venture Atlanta, to register for the event or to view the conference schedule, please visit http://www.ventureatlanta.org. About Venture Atlanta Venture Atlanta, the Southeasts technology innovation event, is where the regions most promising tech companies meet the countrys top-tier investors. This years event is going all digital through Venture Atlanta Live Online. As the Southeasts largest investor showcase helping launch more than 400 companies and raise over $4.5 billion in funding to date, the event connects the regions top entrepreneurs with local and national investors and others in the technology ecosystem who can help them raise the capital they need to grow their businesses. The annual non-profit event is a collaboration of the Atlanta CEO Council, Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). For more information, visit http://www.ventureatlanta.org. For updates, follow us on Twitter and visit our blog. About Sneez, LLC Sneez, LLC, uses technology and health data integration to help local communities stay informed and healthy. The Sneez brand was born when pediatric doctors, William Satterwhite, MD and Steven Hodges, MD, created the Sneez app in 2016 - the first of its kind real-time illness tracking app. The Sneez app uses diagnosis data from local physicians and urgent care locations to inform the public of a variety of sicknesses occurring in their specific geography, including flu, colds, strep throat and other common illnesses. This data is used to create a virtual heat map of illnesses circulating in local communities by zip code. The app also helps consumers and their families connect with local healthcare providers through scheduling in-office and virtual visits with providers, as well as equipping users with helpful information such as the wait times at their local emergency room. In response to COVID-19, Sneez has launched SneezSafe, a workplace solution for health screening and care. The web-based platform screens employees and other community members for COVID-19 through a simple daily survey and connects them with healthcare providers for evaluation and treatment. For more information, please visit http://www.sneezapp.com and http://www.SneezSafe.com. For updates, follow us on LinkedIn. # # # SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador: El Salvadors next ambassador to Washington is someone President Donald Trump might remember from his days as a beauty pageant boss. A photo circulating on social media Friday showed a smiling Trump locking arms with Milena Mayorga and two other contestants - Miss USA and Miss Guatemala - on the sidelines of the 1996 Miss Universe pageant, where she was a top 10 finalist. Trump at the time was owner of the pageant. Mayorga, 44, was appointed Thursday night by President Nayib Bukele as El Salvadors next ambassador to the U.S. Shes a political neophyte with no previous diplomatic experience, having been elected to congress for the first time in 2018. But shes well known to Salvadorans for years as a popular TV host. Mayorga garnered the presidents attention after denouncing corruption in her conservative ARENA party, which as the dominant force in congress has blocked Bukeles agenda. She later quit the party. As ambassador, shell face an uphill battle trying to repair deteriorating relations with Republicans and Democrats in Congress who have increasingly voiced concern that Bukele, although highly popular, is overstepping his authority and threatening checks and balances in the small Central American country. While Bukele has endeared himself to Trump by backing his hardline immigration policies, hes faced criticism among human rights and pro-democracy activists for defying El Salvadors supreme court and congress. On Thursday, six Republican congressmen led by David Royce of Ohio and Mario Diaz Balart of Miami wrote a letter to Bukele expressing concern about what they called El Salvadors slow but sure departure from the rule of law and norms of democracy that our hemisphere has fought so hard to preserve. The letter provoked an angry response on national TV from Bukele, who dismissed the letter - which followed similar complaints by Democrats - as the work of a small group of lawmakers that dont represent even 3% of the entire U.S. Congress. Getting congressmen to write a letter is the easiest thing in the world, Bukele said. Criticism of Bukele stems from his repeated defiance of congress and the supreme court. In February, he sent heavily armed soldiers to surround the congress to pressure lawmakers into approving a loan to fund a fight against gangs. Then in April, Bukele ignored several rulings by El Salvadors supreme court striking down strict measures that led to the detention in crowded quarantine centers of hundreds of people accused of breaking the coronavirus lockdown rules. He also recently attacked one of Central Americas most independent investigative news outlets, El Faro, after it uncovered evidence that the government had been secretly negotiating with jailed members of MS-13, which is considered a terrorist group in El Salvador. Throughout the confrontation, hes maintained strong support from the Trump administration and U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson. Bukele last year signed a bilateral agreement that would allow the U.S. to send asylum seekers from other countries to El Salvador. The policy had not been implemented before the pandemic. In August, his government signed a $450,000 contrac t with a well-connected Washington lobbyist, according to U.S. Department of Justice filings. Bukele claims to have annulled the contract with the Sonoran Policy Group without having disbursed any funds. Mayorga has generated controversy inside El Salvador for honoring on social media the deceased military commander behind the 1981 raid on the village of El Mozote, a gruesome low point during the countrys long civil war. Almost 1,000 people, including farmers and children, were killed by U.S.-trained counterinsurgency troops during a hunt for leftist guerrillas. Some people never die, they just convert into myths and legends, she wrote in a 2018 tribute to army Col. Domingo Monterrosa on the anniversary of the commanders birth. Monterrosa was later killed when a guerrilla bomb destroyed the helicopter he was traveling in. Mayorga was a top 10 finalist at the 1996 Miss Universe won by Alicia Machado, a former Miss Venezuela who campaigned against Trump in the 2016 campaign. Machado accused Trump of labeling her with a sexist nickname Miss Piggy that caused her shame and humiliation after she was crowned Miss Universe. Goodman reported from Medellin, Colombia. 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 Trump, Katko no friends of CNY farmers To the Editor; Despite constantly claiming that hes "the friend of the farmer, President Trump just keeps on pummeling Central New York farmer. For many years, ever since the rise of the mega-dairy farms and the demise of the family farm, Central New York farmers have been struggling to find a combination of crops that could fill the void. After trying a variety of different crops, two crops had seemed to offer some promise. The first was corn for ethanol and the second was soybeans for export. Now, in the space of just a couple of years, the Trump Administration, under the watchful eye of Republican Congressman John Katko (sarcasm) has blown both of those markets up. The first was the Trump EPAs granting of waivers to a third of the gasoline refineries (54 out of 134 refineries in the US) allowing them to not blend ethanol as required by the Renewable Fuels Standard. This action which has since been declared illegal by the courts led directly to the closing of the ethanol plant in Fulton. And even though it been declared illegal, the Trump Administration has so far refused to reverse its actions thus preventing the market conditions necessary to reopen the plant. This leaves some 150,000 acres of production, some 25 million bushels of corn worth $100 million dollars to the farmers without a ready market. Meanwhile, if that wasnt enough damage, the Trump Administrations misbegotten trade war with China has seriously upset soybean markets around the world. Only a year ago, there was all sorts of excitement about the possibility of exporting soybeans from the Port of Oswego directly to Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa. The harbor at Oswego was dredged to allow bigger ships and before the trade war got going 4 shiploads were successfully loaded out. Now, in the middle of the summer, the company that handled that trade, Perdue, has pulled out, leaving Central New York farmers with only one soybean buyer. Something on the order of 80,000 acres in nine neighboring counties worth an estimated $20 million must struggle to find a market -- 30,000 acres in Cayuga County alone. Today, Im looking at a handful of envelopes containing this years school taxes and am left wondering just how Im going to pay them. Ill tell you what! Trump and Katko are no friends of the Central New York farmers, thats for sure. Its time to get them both out of Washington and get somebody in there who doesnt go out of their way to make life hard for people. Richard Glenister | Locke Fed up with campaign ads To the Editor; This letter is directed to John Katko, Dana Balter, Claudia Tenney, and Anthony Brindisi: With all due respect, please stop with the negative campaign ads and tell your constituents what you are going to do for your districts as well as America if you are elected (re-elected). If you are not able to do this, then donate the money that these ads cost to benefit local organizations as the CNY Food Pantry, The Rescue Mission or other worthy groups. Signed, A weary voter Beverly Ianuzi | Camillus The meaning of Catholic social justice To the Editor, Id like to respond to Dave Pasinski, who wrote in regards to Cardinal Timothy Dolans chumminess with an administration that violates nearly every principle of Catholic social justice. Mr Pasinski made these statements without listing any evidence or examples. Catholic social justice teaches us that ALL people are made in the image of God and so possess an equal and inalienable worth. That is why President Trump is against abortion. He is the most pro-life president weve ever had in the White House. His stand on abortion is a proclamation that ALL life is important and should be allowed to live their full potential as intended by God. Trump has accomplished so much for the black and brown communities with unemployment at its lowest in 50 years prior to Covid. He has integrated the First Step Act for prisoners whose sentences were too long. 1000 prisoners benefited from this. 90% of them were black men. He moved the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognized the Goals Heights as part of Israel. He is committed to Womens Economic empowerment by developing the first ever government approach focused on advancing womens full participation in the global economy. Mr Pasinski, president Trump cares very much for social justice for ALL; The unborn, the black and brown communities, the Jews and for women. If that isnt what Catholic social justice is about, I dont know what is. Thank you, and God Bless. Jody Jackson | Syracuse, N.Y. Standing up for conservative ideals To the Editor; In a recent letter to the editor, a local citizen shared with us his opinion about Republicans supporting Joe Biden. In particular, he took former Congressman Jim Walsh to task. He suggested that as a life-long Catholic, Mr. Walsh should not support someone who does not promote conservative ideals I ask what set of conservative ideals President Trump displays that a person of faith should embrace. He does not show respect for families evidenced by his policies that separated children from their parents and held those children in cells that closely resembled cages. He does not value being truthful he lies with such impunity that we have stopped calling him out for it. His language and behavior are demeaning to women. He uses language that encourages racial and ethnic division. He shows no desire to take care of the planet that we have been given. What are the values that Mr. Trump has that Catholics, or any person of faith would want their children to emulate? Republicans who want to promote their conservative agenda, who love this country, and who want a leader whom their children can respect should vote Mr. Trump out of office. Then they should find a standard bearer whom they can be proud of and look to 2024 to argue for principled and decent leadership. Don Saleh | Pompey Blame China, not Trump To the Editor; I am writing because I am sooooo upset the commentary written by Leana S. Wen of the Washington Post. Better headline would be: Trump saved thousands of lives, and continues to do so. Her basic erroneous assumption is that the lost lives were Trumps fault. No, they were Chinas fault. Her next erroneous assumption is that Trump could have acted even sooner that he did when he banned the Chinese from traveling here. He was vilified for his ban. Sooner? Before anyone knew what we were actually dealing with? Lets use corticosteroids. Of course, but lets also use hydroxychloroquine and convalescent plasma, too. Tests prove them effective, also, according to many doctors and countries. She chooses to ignore these scientists. And, she doesnt seem to understand the vetting process for drugs. Fast doesnt mean that they are not tested, just that the test results are looked at immediately, not months later. Etc. Question. Does she remember what happened in the early days when people first learned about the virus? Pandemonium! Couldnt find toilet paper! Now consider the utter chaos and brutality that could have occurred if people were not calmed down by our strong leader. Thank you Trump for keeping a lid on the panic. I say that Trump has done a masterful job, in a new and threatening situation. And lives were saved. Saved. We do need to learn from the past and apply it to the futurebut not try to use what we have learned from the past six months, and condemn Trump for what he couldnt possibly have known back then. Were better than that. Carolyn W Paddock | Fayetteville, NY Write us How to submit letters and commentary to Syracuse.com HOUSTON, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- HeroX, the social network for innovation and the world's leading platform for crowdsourced solutions, today launched the prize competition "NASA's Watts on the Moon Challenge" on behalf of NASA. In support of the agency's Artemis program to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon, NASA seeks to incentivize the development of robust energy solutions to power sustained human presence on the lunar surface. HeroX Solar energy is abundant on the Moon when the sun is out, but nights on the Moon can last 350 hours at a time. This long lunar night, combined with extreme temperature changes, makes solar power use complex. In this challenge, NASA is seeking energy management, distribution, and storage solutions to help sustain a long-term human presence on the Moon. Some solutions proposed by teams might also be useful in addressing energy challenges on Earth, which might lead to commercial development here as well. "We are again proud to partner with NASA to crowdsource ingenious solutions to interstellar problems," says Christian Cotichini, CEO of HeroX. "This has exciting implications for space exploration, and it could also improve life down here on Earth, in terms of renewable energy use and storage. As the saying goes, 'shoot for the Moon and you'll land among the stars.' Our talented team of problem solvers will be doing just that." The Challenge: The Watts on the Moon Challenge will offer winning teams up to $5 million in total prizes. Participants may have the opportunity to develop and demonstrate their solutions at NASA facilities, and they may even have the opportunity to fly their solution to the Moon. The first phase of the challenge presents a mission scenario with three mission activities. Teams will choose one or more activities to address by proposing an energy distribution, management, and/or storage solution. Teams are eligible for a prize for each mission activity that they address. The Prize: Prizes for Phase 1 will total up to $500,000. Up to three first place teams (one for each mission activity), as determined by the NASA judging panel, will be awarded $100,000 each. Up to four runner-up teams will receive up to $50,000 each. Depending on the results of Phase 1, NASA may choose to proceed with a Phase 2 focused on developing prototype systems. Prizes for Phase 2, if it occurs, will total up to $4.5 million. Additional details about the number of winners and division of prizes in Phase 2 (including milestone prizes, if offered) will be included in the Phase 2 rules. Following the end of Phase 2, one or more teams may be invited to work with NASA to design and build flight-rated hardware for an operational demonstration on the lunar surface. Eligibility to Compete and Win Prize(s): Individuals must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the United States and be 18 years of age or older. Organizations must be an entity incorporated in and maintaining a primary place of business in the United States (some restrictions apply). To accept the challenge, visit https://www.herox.com/wattsonthemoon ABOUT HEROX HeroX is a social network for crowdsourcing innovation and human ingenuity, co-founded in 2013 by serial entrepreneur, Christian Cotichini and XPRIZE Founder and Futurist, Peter Diamandis. HeroX offers a turnkey, easy-to-use platform that supports anyone, anywhere, to solve everyday business and world challenges using the power of the crowd. Uniquely positioned as the Social Network for Innovation, HeroX is the only place you can build, grow and curate your very own crowd. Explore the latest challenges at www.herox.com Media Contact: Alexandra Pony [email protected] 250.858.0656 SOURCE HeroX Actor Rakul Preet Singh as well as Deepika Padukones manager Karishma Prakash on Friday joined the Narcotics Control Bureaus (NCB) investigation at the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) guest house in Colaba. The agency is probing into the drug angle related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who was found dead at his Bandra flat on June 14. Singh was questioned for around four hours, while Prakash was at the NCB office for seven hours. Singhs name cropped up during the interrogation of actor Rhea Chakraborty. Prakash was summoned after her name came up during the questioning of Rajputs talent manager Jaya Saha, on the basis of chats submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which was probing the financial angle in the 34-year-old actors death. NCB deputy director KPS Malhotra said, Singh and Prakash joined the investigation on Friday. NCB has summoned Prakash again for questioning again on Saturday. Meanwhile, film executive producer Kshitij Ravi Prasad was taken for questioning to the agencys office. Till the time of going to press, the agency had not concluded the questioning of Prasad and assistant director Anubhav Chopra. Prasad and Chopras name came up during the interrogation of Powai hotelier Ankush Arneja, an alleged drug peddler, who was arrested by NCB on September 13. NCB had recovered 42 grams of hashish and cash 1.12 lakh from his Powai home. Arneja is accused of selling drugs to high-profile individuals. One of the chats found by NCB revealed that Saha, Prakash and Padukone had allegedly discussed about procuring drugs, said officers. Padukone has been summoned for investigation on Saturday, added an officer. Actors Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan will also join the investigation on Saturday after their names cropped up in Chakrabortys statements, the officer added. Meanwhile, WhatsApp has clarified on the chats being leaked for investigations and doing the rounds on social media and news channels. WhatsApp protects your messages with end-to-end encryption so that only you and the person youre communicating with can read what is sent, and nobody in between can access it, not even WhatsApp. Its important to remember that people sign up on WhatsApp using only a phone number, and WhatsApp doesnt have access to your message content. WhatsApp follows guidance provided by operating system manufacturers for on-device storage and we encourage people to take advantage of all the security features provided by operating systems such as strong passwords or biometric IDs to prevent third parties from accessing content stored on the device, said a WhatsApp spokesperson. A man using the dating app Tinder in New Delhi in 2015. Spotify and the makers of Fortnite and Tinder are taking on Apple as part of a newly formed coalition calling for fair treatment in the way the tech giant runs its app store. Read more Nine companies have banded together to try to break Apples control over its App Store, a move that formalizes the growing opposition the tech giant is facing from developers on its platform who increasingly have been standing up to its power. Fortnite parent Epic Games, online dating group Match Group, Spotify and others, all of whom have butted heads with Apple in the past, on Thursday formed the Coalition for App Fairness. They laid out a set of 10 principles they hope Apple will abide by or be forced into compliance on by regulators and lawmakers. The suggested principles aim to make fundamental changes to how the iPhones iOS software works, including breaking Apples strict control of how mobile apps are installed on most iPhones, through the Apple App Store. If Apple were to change course and follow the principles an unlikely scenario without a court order or new laws it would fundamentally alter the multibillion-dollar industry built around iOS applications and potentially give Apple less control over how customers use the thousand-dollar computers in their pockets. A website launched Thursday by the coalition framed it as a battle between right and wrong. "Every app developer, regardless of size or the nature of the developer's business, is entitled to fair treatment by these app stores and the platform owners who operate them," the site reads, in a plea to regulators and lawmakers. "Together we will fight back against the monopolist control of the app ecosystem by Apple." The coalition action is the latest head wind for Apple, which is under fire for allegedly wielding its power to thwart competitors and stifle innovation to serve its own bottom line. Apple takes a 30% fee for digital goods sold on the App Store. Many of the coalitions members, based in the United States and Europe, have already come out against the company, either in lawsuits or in news releases and media interviews. And some have helped lawmakers craft questions at congressional hearings and influenced possible laws that might one day curtail Apples power. Apple has defended its control of the App Store, pointing to privacy, security and quality as the main reasons it must vet which apps are allowed on the platform and limit their capabilities. It says the vast majority of the apps on its platform pay no fees (because they do not sell digital goods), but that the fees it does charge help support the platform. It was unclear exactly how the coalition would force Apple to change its guidelines, based on the principles it suggested Thursday, though the website urges "enforcers, regulators and legislators around the world" to address the issues it raises. Some of the coalition members are in discussions with lawmakers who are considering legislation that would limit the power of big technology companies, according to officials briefed on the matter who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive topics publicly. Epic Games is suing Apple in what could be a landmark antitrust case, alleging that Apple illegally forces developers to use its payment service if they want to offer software through the App Store. Last month, Epic broke Apples rules when Fortnite, its most popular video game, began offering customers a way to pay Epic directly, circumventing Apples payment process and its 30% fee on digital goods. Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store, and Fortnite responded the same day with a lawsuit in federal court and launched a media campaign, complete with a movie trailer comparing Apple to Big Brother from the George Orwell novel 1984. Epics lead lawyer is Christine Varney, who made a name for herself taking on Microsoft in the 1990s and successfully defended Qualcomm, one of Apples most bitter enemies, in a recent antitrust case. Apple has denied in court that it is a monopoly and is countersuing Epic for breach of contract. Fortnite CEO and co-founder Tim Sweeney told the Washington Post on Tuesday that he chose to take on Apple because he thought it was the right thing to do. Users are lacking right now the basic freedom to install apps on their smartphone from sources of their choosing. Apple blocks it outright, he said. In June, email provider Protonmail, which also joined the coalition, framed Apples 30% fee in moral terms, accusing the iPhone maker in a blog post of running what it called a protection racket and compared taking on Apple to any mafia trial. Protonmail was taking the stand as a witness against Apple while others were fearful, according to the post. The groups new website also lists grievances that go beyond Apples 30% fee. For instance, the site details how Apple hurt Tile, which sells Bluetooth tags that people can use to locate lost keychains and other property. Apple launched a competing service, called "Find My," which got special privileges and access to iPhone hardware. At the same time, Apple made it more difficult for Tile to ask customers for the location data needed to make its products work properly. The Post detailed the tension between Apple and Tile last year. Apple has also long been rumored to be launching a competitor to Tile hardware, called AirTags. AirTags will reportedly use the iPhone's Ultra Wideband capability to help locate lost items. Representatives from Tile say they have urged Apple to allow the company to use the phone's Ultra Wideband capability, but Apple has so far refused. Another accusation that the coalition levels at Apple is that it copies its competitors. Blix, another member of the coalition that makes email service BlueMail, sued Apple in federal court for patent infringement. Blix says that shortly after Apple launched a product called "Sign in with Apple" last year, a product Blix claims uses its technology, Apple removed Blix's software from the Mac App Store. Apple denies the accusation. The coalition did not take aim at Google, which also operates an app store on Android phones and charges a 30% fee on sales. Sarah Maxwell, a spokeswoman for the coalition, said the group believes in a level playing field across all gatekeeper platforms and is engaged in a dialogue with a number of them. We will happily work with any platform willing to support the principles proposed by the coalition. Unlike Apple, Google allows customers to download apps outside of its Play Store, although some consumers find the process difficult. This is an update to a story posted at 9:05 a.m. Holyoke Soldiers' Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh and Dr. David Clinton, the homes former medical director, have been charged with criminal neglect in connection with a COVID-19 outbreak at the facility that killed dozens of veterans. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healeys office confirmed the charges Friday morning, and said Walsh, 50, and Clinton, 71, were indicted Thursday by a statewide grand jury. The men each face five counts of two separate charges: caretaker who wantonly or recklessly commits or permits bodily injury to an elder or disabled person, and a similarly worded charge pertaining to the alleged abuse, neglect or mistreatment of an elderly or disabled person. The charges come six months after Healeys office began investigating the outbreak at the 247-bed long-term care facility that claimed the lives of 76 veterans and sickened many others some of whom are still recovering at the Soldiers' Home or other facilities. Healey said she believes the case is the first in the country brought against nursing home administrators since the pandemic began, adding that there are ongoing investigations into other long-term care facilities with high death rates due to COVID-19. We owed it to the families who lost loved ones and these veterans who served their country to get to the bottom of what happened, Healey said. She and her staff interviewed 90 families impacted by the outbreak at the Soldiers' Home, Healey said. They risked their lives from the beaches at Normandy to the jungles of Vietnam, Healey said. To know they died under the most horrific circumstances is shocking. Tracy Miner, a Boston attorney representing Walsh in the criminal case, said neither Walsh nor other nursing home administrators across the nation could prevent the virus from entering their facilities or from stopping its spread once it arrived. It is unfortunate that the Attorney General is blaming the effects of a deadly virus that our state and federal governments have not been able to stop on Bennett Walsh, Miner said. Clinton, resigned over the outbreak on June 24. He has not responded to previous requests for comment and the phone number for his private practice in South Hadley has been disconnected. His attorney has not responded to a request for comment. The states investigation focused on the decision by Soldiers' Home leaders to consolidate two dementia units into one on March 27, just before the death toll began to climb. The same weekend, a refrigeration truck was parked outside as a makeshift morgue and a surplus of body bags were delivered, according to a report authored by Boston attorney Mark Pearlstein and commissioned by Gov. Charlie Baker. Pearstein called the decision catastrophic and baffling, characterizing it as the early tipping point of the outbreak at the Soldiers' Home. Pearlsteins report was made public and Walsh was fired the same day. He had previously been suspended, and has challenged his firing in court. Healey said her investigation and the charges focus even more specifically on the choice to put nine seemingly asymptomatic veterans in a dining hall as staff shuffled the veterans around, attempting to contain the virus. The residents thought to be asymptomatic were placed in nine beds in the dining room. However, the AGs Office alleges that several of the residents that Soldiers Home categorized as asymptomatic were, in fact, showing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 at the time of the consolidation or shortly thereafter, Healey said. Walsh and Clinton will be arraigned on the charges in Hampden Superior Court at a later date, Healey said. Healey was scheduled to discuss the indictments at 11 a.m. Friday. The outbreak is also the subject of an investigation by the U.S. attorneys office. That investigation is active and ongoing, a spokeswoman said earlier this week. This is a developing story that will be updated after additional reporting. Related content: Kim Kardashian threw her support behind her husband Kanye West in Paris in March, as he put on a Yeezy show months before his recent mental health episode. In scenes from Thursday's episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kanye, 43, prepared for his Yeezy Season 8 show in the City of Lights, while Kim, 39, worried that the show might be canceled, or she might get sick due to COVID. During the episode, she was seen getting fitted in a latex bodysuit sent by Balmain chief and friend Olivier Rousteing, before voicing her concerns over 'the virus'. Latex: Kim Kardashian jetted to Paris to support her husband Kanye West during Fashion Week in March, during which she was seen getting fitted in a latex bodysuit sent by Balmain chief and friend Olivier Rousteing Speaking about the show in one of her confessionals, Kim said: 'Because the virus is so unknown, and you hear it just spreading, we didn't know if the fashion show was gonna happen. So our plans kept on changing every day.' Fittings were delayed and clothes still being shipped, with everything running right up to the last minute, as Khloe , 36, and Scott Disick, 37, decided not to attend. Kim's anxiety got worse after the Yeezy show actually started, because her seven-year-old daughter North West was rapping in front of a crowd for the first time. 'She's never even been up on a stage and practiced,' Kim said. 'So to see her up there, my nerves are just, I honestly start crying because I'm happy for her, but I'm so nervous for her.' Kanye: In scenes from Thursday's episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians , Kanye, 43, prepared for his Yeezy Season 8 show in the City of Lights, while Kim, 39, worried that the show might be canceled, or she might get sick due to COVID Gospel: She'd wanted to wear the tight-fitting look to the Balenciaga show, but went to attend Kanye's gospel-infused Sunday Service at the Bouffes du Nord theater beforehand Third time's the charm! The latex look she was sporting was one of three she wore when she was at the event 'So you know my name is Northie,' the girl chanted to cheers at the show. 'What are those? They are clothes. What are those? These are clothes. Wow!' 'Yay! I love you Penelope!' she added, pointing to pal Penelope Disick, eight. 'Yes, I love you. One, two, three!' Afterward, Kim realized it had all gone better than planned. Not going: Fittings were delayed and clothes still being shipped, with everything running right up to the last minute, as Khloe Kardashian, 36, and Scott Disick, 37, decided not to attend Northie on stage: So you know my name is Northie, the girl chanted to cheers at the show. What are those? They are clothes. What are those? These are clothes. Wow!' Kim: 'She's never even been up on a stage and practiced,' Kim said. 'So to see her up there, my nerves are just, I honestly start crying because I'm happy for her, but I'm so nervous for her' On the mic: 'So you know my name is Northie,' the girl chanted to cheers at the show. 'What are those? They are clothes. What are those? These are clothes. Wow!' Love for Penelope: 'Yay! I love you Penelope!' she added, pointing to pal Penelope Disick, eight. 'Yes, I love you. One, two, three!' 'I'm so proud of how confident she is,' she said of North. 'She obviously gets that from her dad, and it just makes me so happy that she's not afraid to try anything.' 'You know, she's just so fearless, and I love that about her. And I'm such a proud mom.' At the beginning of the episode, Kim extended an invitation to her family to attend Kanye's Yeezy show in Paris, and everyone seemed excited. Proud mom: 'I'm so proud of how confident she is,' she said of North. 'She obviously gets that from her dad, and it just makes me so happy that she's not afraid to try anything' Invite: At the beginning of the episode, Kim extended an invitation to her family to attend Kanye's Yeezy show in Paris, and everyone seemed excited 'Wait, have you guys heard about this new virus?' Kris Jenner, 64, interjected, as Kim said, 'Is it the corona one? Yeah. So, s***, so is it too scary just to be there?' She reflected on whether she should make the trip. 'It is a little bit scary just thinking about traveling,' she told the cameras, 'because there's talk of the coronavirus circulating, and no one really knows a lot about it... 'But as of right now Fashion Week is still on, and I talked to so many friends and people that are in Paris and everyone feels super-comfortable, so I'm really excited.' In the weeks leading up to the show, the news about COVID-19 grew more and more dire, and the family started to text back and forth about it on group chats. New virus: 'Wait, have you guys heard about this new virus?' Kris Jenner, 64, interjected, as Kim said, 'Is it the corona one? Yeah. So, s***, so is it too scary just to be there?' Reflecting: She reflected on whether she should make the trip. 'It is a little bit scary just thinking about traveling,' she told the cameras 'It's all of the links,' Khloe told Scott. 'MJ to Mom: 'They're shutting down Paris.' She decided not to fly to the Yeezy show because she worried the Paris airport might end up closing, which would separate her from her daughter True, two. Scott agreed, noting that while Kourtney Kardashian, 41, was taking his daughter Penelope to the show, he didn't want to go and leave his other kids with a nanny. No fly: She decided not to fly to the Yeezy show because she worried the Paris airport might end up closing, which would separate her from her daughter True, two Kourtney: Scott agreed, noting that while Kourtney Kardashian, 41, was taking his daughter Penelope to the show, he didn't want to go and leave his other kids with a nanny Khloe told the cameras, 'Kanye is my family and I will do literally anything to support him but more and more cases are coming out in Europe every single day, and I don't want to potentially get sick. I don't want to risk getting somebody else sick. And there's talks that if travel might be banned, and if we go to Paris, we might be stuck there. And I can't take that risk with my daughter.' In the next scene, Kim and Kourtney were shown eating at a restaurant in Paris with their daughters, looking at photos of how big North had gotten since their last trip. 'I feel like we need hand sanitizer before we eat,' Kourtney noted. Support: Khloe told the cameras, 'Kanye is my family and I will do literally anything to support him but more and more cases are coming out in Europe every single day' In Paris: In the next scene, Kim and Kourtney were shown eating at a restaurant in Paris with their daughters, looking at photos of how big North had gotten since their last trip Hand sanitizer: 'I feel like we need hand sanitizer before we eat,' Kourtney noted That night, North and Penelope ate churros, rode a carousel and danced in their rooms. The next day, their moms went to church in latex looks sent over by Olivier Rousteing at Balmain, with Kim calling hers 'the coronavirus suitno one can get in here!' She'd wanted to wear the tight-fitting look to the Balenciaga show, but went to attend Kanye's gospel-infused Sunday Service at the Bouffes du Nord theater beforehand. Afterward, she dined with Kourtney, Kanye and pal Fajer Fahad, and admitted that her plans to go to Paris had fluctuated all week as the news got worse. 'I almost walked off the plane,' Kourtney said, as headlines about 'designer masks' and cancellations at Fashion Week were shown. Fajer said there was good buzz around the Yeezy show, with everyone trying to get invites. Dined: Afterward, she dined with Kourtney, Kanye and pal Fajer Fahad, and admitted that her plans to go to Paris had fluctuated all week as the news got worse Headlines: 'I almost walked off the plane,' Kourtney said, as headlines about 'designer masks' and cancellations at Fashion Week were shown That made her recall the first time Kim met Kanye after his second Yeezy show in Paris. 'I didn't know where to go,' Kim said, of arriving in the city alone. 'I was like, 'You guys, I don't know what to do! I want to get him a cake to celebrate. Don't they have a Ralph's here?' She'd wound up getting a small box of pastries for Kanye, and got 'kidnapped' by Fajer and a friend, who took care of her. First meeting: That made her recall the first time Kim met Kanye after his second Yeezy show in Paris Years later, Kim fretted for her husband, as she'd just learned that fittings were being pushed back for his show because of coronavirus, with items still being sewn and shipped over. The night of the show itself, she, Kourtney and the kids rode to the event together. 'You wanna get some vibes and listen to some North music?' Kim asked her daughter, who shook her head. 'When are you gonna debut it to the world?' Fretted: Years later, Kim fretted for her husband, as she'd just learned that fittings were being pushed back for his show because of coronavirus, with items still being sewn and shipped over Together: The night of the show itself, she, Kourtney and the kids rode to the event together 'My daddy knows,' North said. 'I don't know.' They got to the show at the Espace Niemeyer with only seconds to spare, and watched the models walk down the runway to the sound of cars honkingthe show's 'soundtrack.' All of a sudden North was onstage, singing, 'Oooh oooh,' as Kim taped her with her phone. Musical North: 'My daddy knows,' North said. 'I don't know.' In a confessional, she observed, 'I had no idea what the fashion show was going to look like in itself, but when Kanye asked North, 'Do you wanna sing?' I just the nerves that I have now ' Afterward, Kim and Kanye told North she'd done well, and Kourtney noted that the performance had been 'cool' to experience during such a tough time. 'You girls, put on hand sanitizer,' she told North and Penelope as they left the show. No idea: In a confessional, she observed, 'I had no idea what the fashion show was going to look like in itself, but when Kanye asked North, 'Do you wanna sing?' I just the nerves that I have now ' On Kim's return home to California, she found herself the target of a long-running prank. Earlier on the episode, Khloe and Scott admitted to Kris that they had been pranking her for five months with Kim, the KUWTK crew and their assistants. Khloe had repeatedly posed as Kris while doing embarrassing thingsdumpster diving, throwing trash from her car, and publicly vomitingall of which they had photographed. Prank victim: On Kim's return home to California, she found herself the target of a long-running prank Admitted: Earlier on the episode, Khloe and Scott admitted to Kris that they had been pranking her for five months with Kim, the KUWTK crew and their assistants Admitted: Khloe had repeatedly posed as Kris while doing embarrassing thingsdumpster diving, throwing trash from her car, and publicly vomitingall of which they had photographed Once they even got Kris so drunk she didn't remember whether or not she'd done the things she'd been accused of doing, then told her the photos were being shopped to tabloids. 'These little b****es got me so f***ing good, thinking that I was losing my mind and I'm a sloppy drunk,' Kris marveled, impressed. To keep the joke going, Kris called Kim and told her she was 'really upset,' because TMZ had pictures of her 'in a trash dumpster and peeing on the street.' Little b****es: 'These little b****es got me so f***ing good, thinking that I was losing my mind and I'm a sloppy drunk,' Kris marveled, impressed. Upset: To keep the joke going, Kris called Kim and told her she was 'really upset,' because TMZ had pictures of her 'in a trash dumpster and peeing on the street' 'I must have blacked out after I had dinner,' she said as Kim laughed. 'It's not funny Kim. This could ruin my entire career.' To 'torture' Kim, she passed on alcohol during a meal, and called to tell her that she was going to rehab for alcohol issues after learning she 'blacked out and climbed into a trash bin.' Horrified, Kim texted Khloe from Paris, 'I'm freaking out! You guys mom called me and told me she's checking herself into rehab!' Ruin: 'I must have blacked out after I had dinner,' she said as Kim laughed. 'It's not funny Kim. This could ruin my entire career' Freaking out: Horrified, Kim texted Khloe from Paris, 'I'm freaking out! You guys mom called me and told me she's checking herself into rehab!' She squirmed, telling the cameras, 'I don't even know how I got roped into this!' When Kim got back home, Kris upped the ante: She called and said she was in Palm Springs, California, about to check into a rehab clinic. 'They said they had to take my phone,' Kris claimed, acting up a storm. 'I said, 'Oh my God,' so you're the only one I'm calling. I just want to tell you, I think it's the best thing to do for me, for my soul. I think I've got a problem, and I've got to deal with it, and' Roped: She squirmed, telling the cameras, 'I don't even know how I got roped into this!' Acting: 'They said they had to take my phone,' Kris claimed, acting up a storm. 'I said, 'Oh my God,' so you're the only one I'm calling. I just want to tell you, I think it's the best thing to do for me, for my soul. I think I've got a problem, and I've got to deal with it, and' Kim turned to Scott, who was sitting next to her, and asked, 'I have to tell her, right?' 'Kim, I blacked out,' Kris went on. 'I don't remember being in a garbage can.' Kim broke, saying, 'Wait, mom, I have to talk to you. This has all been a prank. You did not black out. That was all Khloe in those pictures dressed up as you. This has been an ongoing prank for months.' Prank: Kim broke, saying, 'Wait, mom, I have to talk to you. This has all been a prank. You did not black out. That was all Khloe in those pictures dressed up as you. This has been an ongoing prank for months' Kris fake-exploded. 'Are you f***ing out of your mind?' she roared. 'Are you f***ing crazy, Kim? Are you crazy? This is a f***ing prank, and I'm at the Betty Ford Center?' 'Mom, I feel awful,' Kim said, blaming it on Khloe and Scott. 'I'll send you all the photos.' 'But you did this,' Scott whispered, as Kim insisted, 'This wasn't my idea.' Scott insists: 'But you did this,' Scott whispered, as Kim insisted, 'This wasn't my idea' Kris hung up on Kim, shouting, 'I don't even know what I'm going to say to you, Kim. I'm so f***ing p****ed.' Kim texted everyone involved in the prank, saying, 'You guys, mom is gonna kill us all,' and reminded them she wasn't going to take the fall for it. Just then, Kris opened a door in the room, calling, 'Helloooooo! Just got back from rehab! It was great! I feel so much better!' Rehab: Just then, Kris opened a door in the room, calling, 'Helloooooo! Just got back from rehab! It was great! I feel so much better!' Kim laughed, and told her mom, 'I hate you!' while asking Scott if he'd known of her plans. 'I am in such shock,' she said in a confessional. 'I totally fell for it. I had no idea she was in on it I can't believe that I was the one that got pranked in the end.' Kris told her daughter that 'if we all got quarantined, we would have a lot of fun. 'Cause we would just play pranks on each other.' Hate you: Kim laughed, and told her mom, 'I hate you!' while asking Scott if he'd known of her plans Quarantine: Kris told her daughter that 'if we all got quarantined, we would have a lot of fun. 'Cause we would just play pranks on each other.' Elsewhere on the show, Kris and her boyfriend Corey Gamble, 39, adopted a rescue poodle named Bridget, but the momager was too busy to take care of her. 'Kris is the one that wanted a dog, but I'm doing 99.7% of all dog duties,' Corey carped. To get Kris' attention, he spoiled Bridget, taking her to lunch, suggesting she visit Palm Springs and a Lakers game with him, and pretending to have a Patek Philippe watch made for her. New dog: Elsewhere on the show, Kris and her boyfriend Corey Gamble, 39, adopted a rescue poodle named Bridget, but the momager was too busy to take care of her Spoiled: To get Kris' attention, he spoiled Bridget, taking her to lunch, suggesting she visit Palm Springs and a Lakers game with him, and pretending to have a Patek Philippe watch made for her. 'Looks like I have some competition,' Kris said, as Corey shot back, 'Competition? No one comes before Bridget. There's Bridget, then the world. She's number one, and you're Kris.' Her pal Faye Resnick told her not to be jealous, saying 'Bridget's cute, but you're Kris Jenner.' To win Corey's affection, Kris dressed up in a dalmatian costume, which her boyfriend loved. Competition: 'Looks like I have some competition,' Kris said, as Corey shot back, 'Competition? No one comes before Bridget. There's Bridget, then the world. She's number one, and you're Kris' Kris and Faye: Her pal Faye Resnick told her not to be jealous, saying 'Bridget's cute, but you're Kris Jenner' She promised to be a better dog mom, offering, 'You should see what I have on under this.' The couple went into a bedroom and shut the door, vowing to be back in '20 to 25' minutes. In a sneak peek of next week's episode, Scott wondered if he had the symptoms of COVID-19, saying, 'I don't feel like what a normal 36-year-old feels like.' Keeping Up With the Kardashians returns next week on E! Costume: To win Corey's affection, Kris dressed up in a dalmatian costume, which her boyfriend loved So the lesson for Democrats should be to take all they can when they can? Thats what some prominent Democrats now propose: As soon as their party is in charge, add enough seats to the Supreme Court to give Democrats the greater imprint on it. Make the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico states, so that Democrats have much better odds of controlling the Senate. Do away with the filibuster entirely. That could be just the start of the list. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has announced the beginning of consultations with experts on the creation of the stock market in Ukraine. "I am convinced that with the involvement of international experts, we will develop this topic and in a year we will end up with the stock market," the government's press service quoted the Prime Minister as saying speaking at a meeting with the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC) held on September 24. Shmyhal did not specify other details, but expressed hope that the ACC representatives would join this process. For the second time this month, the prime minister noted that the absence of a functioning stock market after almost 30 years of Ukraine's independence is a crime, and the benefits of the stock market can be seen on the example of neighboring countries. In mid-June, head of the executive committee of the National Reforms Council under the President of Ukraine Mikheil Saakashvili announced the plans of the National Council to consider the project of the Kyiv Financial Center. In a statement on Thursday, the Commission said that the civilian casualties were unacceptable amid the ongoing peace talks in Doha between representatives of the Kabul government and the Taliba, reported TOLO Nwws. Kabul, Sep 25 (IANS) The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has said that in the first week since the start of the peace talks in Doha on September 12, 19 civilians were killed and 45 others wounded, Afghan security sources have said that the scale of violence has expanded to 24 provinces of the country since September 12. "The violence continues and sometimes the scale of violence increases; the increase in violence has no justification," said Rasoul Talib, a member of the peace negotiating team representing the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. According to the Afghan security agencies, an average of 30 security personnel were being killed on daily basis. "Increase in violence has created major concerns for the people, we are concerned about it, we hope that the talks in Doha lead Afghanistan to a ceasefire," said Faraidon Khawzon, a spokesman for the High Council for National Reconciliation. On September 22, the Ministry of Interior Affairs said at least 98 civilians were killed and 230 others were wounded in Taliban attacks in 24 provinces in the last two weeks. But the Taliban rejected the figures, saying that the government's major operations in nine provinces have increased the conflicts with the group. The grim developments come as the two sides have held four small "contact" group meetings over the last nine days to try and decide the rules, agenda and scheduling for the official talks. --IANS ksk/ The Albemarle County School Board will decide in two weeks what to do about in-person classes for the second quarter a decision that as of now will be made based on a set of factors but no clear metrics. Meanwhile, a resolution proposed by the Albemarle Education Association outlined several suggested metrics, including the percent positivity and case incidence rates, for each reopening stage. The county school system is following a five-stage reopening plan that phases in groups of students for in-person classes. The division started the first quarter in Stage Two. Josh Mound, a teacher at Center I and member of the AEA, said teachers think its important to remove politics from reopening decisions and focus on science and safety, hence the resolution. Movement between stages shouldnt be a fraught, uncertain issue every quarter, he said. If we focus on clear benchmarks, then families and teachers can know if were on track to move stages in the next quarter or not. The benchmarks also let the public, county officials, University of Virginia and other community leaders know what we need to do as a community to fight COVIDs spread and open schools safely. Schools Superintendent Matt Haas will recommend a stage for the second quarter at the School Boards next meeting, on Oct. 8, and then the board members will vote. In advance of that decision, the School Board discussed the current COVID-19 case numbers during its meeting Thursday. Thursdays COVID-19 presentation did include color-coded numbers for the case incidence and positivity rates but neither the Virginia Department of Health nor the school system has explained how those colors are determined. Case incidence rates in Albemarle have fluctuated and the rolling seven-day average has stayed under 10 while Charlottesvilles case numbers continue to climb when looking at the rates per 100,000 residents. In the last month, Charlottesvilles seven-day average case incidence rate has increased from 4.8 to 46.9. Albemarles average was 8.5. We wanted to explain that the metrics we received from the Virginia Department of Health are intended to provide a starting point for conversations and decision making, said Eileen Gomez, the divisions COVID-19 coordinator. We do not have absolute benchmarks for which people are clamoring. Ryan McKay, senior policy analyst with the Thomas Jefferson Health District, helped with the presentation and echoed Gomez that the data is a starting for a broader discussion about the what the risk may be. So, I think the context behind the data is important, McKay said. The districts positivity rate was at 4.7% on Thursday and has remained under 5% for the last eight days, which McKay said reflected the massive amounts of testing going on. State officials repeatedly have said that any decision about school reopenings is a local one, though VDH does provide divisions with information about risk levels based on the case numbers. Not all of that information is publicly available. The School Board could lean on indicators and metrics released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gauge the risk level in schools. However, those indicators were not discussed during Thursdays meeting. The School Board also has not discussed what it would like the case numbers and other data points to be before moving to a different reopening stage, despite calls at public comment for the board to do so. For example, if the health department determines theres a moderate risk of transmission, its unclear what that would mean for the schools. With Albemarles current COVID-19 ordinance which makes masks mandatory in public, limits restaurants to 50% occupancy indoors and restricts certain public and private in-person gatherings to a maximum of 50 people officials said they wanted to see a benchmark of a positivity rate of 5% or lower for at least 14 days before lifting restrictions, citing the World Health Organizations recommendation. The Board of Supervisors on Sept. 16 approved the current restrictions until Nov. 18, but County Attorney Greg Kamptner said county staff would continue to monitor the situation between now and then. Some speakers during Thursdays public comment section urged the board to adopt benchmarks or metrics to use in determining which stage to move to and supported the resolution from the AEA. But it cant be just like nine weeks and then its going to magically disappear; an arbitrary nine weeks in one phase, then go to the next is not acceptable, said Erin Wise-Ackenbom, a teacher at Albemarle High School. You need to use science and data, and look at the experts. If you dont like what AEA has laid out then make your own and make it clean. The AEAs resolution includes thresholds for Stages Three, Four and Five that are based on the districts positive rate, the case incidence rates per 100,000 residents for Charlottesville and Albemarle, the testing capacity and turnaround times for test results. For Stage Three, the association wants to see a positivity rate below 3% for the previous 14 days; fewer than five new cases in Albemarle and Charlottesville during the previous 14 days; at least 150 new tests per 100,000 residents per day over the previous 14 days; and providing of COVID-19 testing to students and staff, with results available in less than 48 hours. The Albemarle Education Association will actively oppose any change in phases divorced from reasonable data benchmarks and the latest research on COVID-19 safety, according to the resolution. Several teachers who spoke during the meeting were opposed to moving to Stage Three, which the division is currently weighing. Those who spoke said virtual learning is going well and that its not yet safe to return to school, echoing many of the concerns raised in July when the board initially decided how to start the school year. I want nothing more than to go back to the classroom and be with my students, but I only want that when it is safe for everyone, said Kathryn DeAtley, a kindergarten teacher at Meriwether Lewis Elementary. In July, 65% of teachers said they didnt feel comfortable returning to the classroom. Parents were divided on their levels of concern with returning to school, though 67% preferred hybrid learning. About half of the divisions parents responded to the July survey. Bo Odom, a parent of a first-grader at Greer Elementary, said during public comment that virtual learning was not working for his child. Its enrichment, not learning, he said. ... These are first-graders. We shouldnt expect the kind of self-control necessary for online learning. In weighing whether to move to Stage Three, the division has listed several factors, including state and federal guidance, current COVID-19 conditions in the area, ability to staff the schools and the districts testing capacity. In the past two months, the district has ramped up testing as UVa has offered more community testing locations and started testing students more regularly. This month, the district is averaging 625 tests a day, according to an analysis of VDH data. We heard often tonight about safety, McKay said. Thats really hard to define. Its better to define the potential risks involved there and what are we doing, not just in relation to positivity rates and the case counts, but what are we doing holistically, as a community, to mitigate and minimize risk. Division spokesman Phil Giaramita said McKays comments were useful and that he was not aware of any plans to propose a checklist to the board. I think the recommendation will take into account a range of factors, including health data, feedback from parents, students and staff via the upcoming online surveys and recommendations from the federal and state public health experts, he said in an email. School Board member Katrina Callsen asked McKay whether schools are a place where risk would be low and how they could lower that risk. Because its hard as a board member without a health background to just see the numbers and feel like we need to make the decision based on the numbers, she said. McKay said the reopenings in Louisa and Greene counties show it can be done safely with a host of mitigation strategies in place, from daily health screenings to keeping students in separate groups, as well as quick responses to positive cases. While school doesnt look like school in terms of the numbers and what a classroom looks like, they have been very successful at bringing students back, implementing policies such as face masks, putting markers on the floor, stickers on the floor, as well as reminders of how to do physical and social distancing, he said. So, the strategies they put in both levels have been pretty remarkable to see. As of Thursday, Louisa County was averaging 4.3 new cases per 100,000 residents while Greene County was at 3.6. 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. Miuccia Prada went back to her trademark minimalist style for her first collection with Belgian designer Raf Simons, who joined the Italian fashion group as co-creative director in February. The pairs Spring/Summer 2021 womens show was streamed live on Thursday for Milans fashion week, where most collections are being presented digitally and without audiences due to coronavirus social distancing rules. Its a really strange situation, Prada said in a video after the show, where she and Simons answered questions from people around the world. But we have the occasion to really show the clothes, we cant see the real people, the public, but at least we hope you can enjoy and see the clothes better. Models wore mostly black and white or pastel-coloured vests, trousers and long skirts in simple, monochrome designs which Prada said were inspired by the idea of uniforms. Many clothes had round-shaped holes cut out of the fabric. Clothes are pared-back, refined, focused, without superfluous decoration: shell tops, straight pants, overcoats in industrial re-nylon, the brand said in a statement. Simons, 52, said he had never expected to be, one day, co-designing a collection with Miuccia Prada, but that he was extremely happy with the result. ALSO SEE | PHOTOS: Virtual catwalk for Prada during Milan Fashion Week Maybe its harder as you have more dialogue, and that can also impact on the timing, but all in all I find it easier, he said when asked what it was like to jointly create a collection. Decision-making for me is strengthened when I know that Miuccia likes very much what I also like very much. Even if I am convinced, my decision is strengthened when I know that she too is convinced. After becoming one of Italys best-known fashion houses, Prada has struggled in recent years. A restructuring drive began to pay off in 2018 when sales returned to growth for the first time in four years thanks to a new strategy aimed at rejuvenating the label by renovating shops, launching new products and boosting online sales. But the Hong Kong-listed group has, like luxury rivals, been hit hard by the pandemic, which forced high-end houses to temporarily shut shops and idle manufacturing sites. Simons appointment, announced in February, marked the first time the Italian fashion house has hired an outsider to work with its head designer. He was most recently creative director at Calvin Klein and before that at Christian Dior and Jil Sander. Miuccia Prada, 71, said at the time the move was not intended to pave the way for a possible succession as the groups top designer. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter Despite national reports that President Donald Trump could ask GOP-controlled Legislatures to choose loyal electors in the event that he loses the election this fall, Wisconsin election officials said Thursday such a scenario is all but impossible here. The Atlantic reported this week that, in addition to potentially claiming fraudulent election results if he loses to former Vice President Joe Biden on Nov. 3, Trump has allegedly asked GOP leaders in battleground states to circumvent the states popular vote and select their own electors to cast votes in the Electoral College, which ultimately determines the winner. However, Wisconsin statute does not grant state lawmakers the authority to choose electors, Wisconsin Elections Commission spokesman Reid Magney said Thursday. To the best of our knowledge, theres no role for the Legislature to decide which electors go and which ones dont, Magney said. Magney said representatives with the Democratic, Republican and Constitutional parties will meet in October to select electors. Which electors go to the Electoral College depend on the results of the Nov. 3 election, which are certified by the head of the commission in early December. After that, Gov. Tony Evers and Secretary of State Doug La Follette send a letter to the U.S. General Services Administration listing the vote totals and electors. I think thats laid out pretty directly and in black and white in the Wisconsin state statute in terms of how that process works and theres not room for other things to happen in that process, WEC administrator Meagan Wolfe said on a media call with reporters Thursday. Any change to that process would necessitate legislative action, but that would require the Legislature, which hasnt formally convened since April, to meet and actively change state law. Whats more, under split government, Evers, a Democrat, could veto such an effort. In the Atlantic article, the chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party said he has discussed appointing loyal electors with the Trump campaign, adding that it is one of the available legal options set forth in the Constitution. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said he has not been contacted on the matter. Theres no such effort in Wisconsin, Vos said in a statement on Thursday. The only people who have been working to undermine the election are those who want to ignore the voters in their state and grant electors to the winner of the national popular vote. The Electoral College has worked for more than 200 years and I support the current system, Vos said. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, did not respond to requests for comment. Biden leads Trump 50% to 46% among likely Wisconsin voters in the latest UW-Madison Elections Research Center/Wisconsin State Journal poll. We flew with BA on the second flight into Antigua. We were definitely apprehensive about what to expect both during the flight and when we arrived. We were asked at check-in for our test results and again as we were boarding, one person was refused boarding for not having had a test done. The flight was good and the crew were trying very hard to make things as normal as possible. We had to wear a mask for the whole journey, but this wasnt too bad and we took several different types, because some are more comfortable than others - it really wasnt a big deal. As well as the normal immigration form, you also have to fill out a health declaration form, which is very straightforward. The meal service was a bit different (food comes in a lunch box), but it was fine - they are happy for you to take your own if you want. When we arrived we disembarked by seat row, which was very efficient. Everything at the airport is really well organised, you have your papers checked, then you have a brief meeting with a doctor who again checks your Covid test certificate - I guess at this point if they arent happy that it is genuine, they will test you again. You then go through the normal immigration procedure. It takes a bit longer than usual and the further back you are seated the longer it will take, but it all feels very safe. Well done to Antigua for taking it so seriously, and also for making you feel so welcome. Based on our experience, I would definitely recommend coming down here. Busy as he is, the prime minister, even as a former journalist, probably doesnt have much time personally to check out his media coverage. This is probably just as well, because lately the right-wing, traditionally Tory, press in Britain, which is to say almost all of it, has turned a bit nasty. Take yesterdays early splash on MailOnline: EXCLUSIVE: In the week Boris told a battered Britain it was in for another six months of Covid winter misery, his partner Carrie Symonds enjoys five-star Italian holiday at 600-a-night Lake Como hotel with son Wilfred and three friends. Shades of crisis what crisis? there and the coming winter of discontent for the premier as a no-deal Brexit and Covid adds to the general sense of a complacent government prime minister especially that has lost control of events. Not what youd expect, maybe, from that quarter. In fact the Daily Mail has been after Boris Johnson for some time. Back in May, during the Cummings affair, the paper asked of Johnson and Cummings what planet are they on?, adding: Neither man has displayed a scintilla of contrition for this breach of trust. Do they think we are fools?. The Daily Mail also uncovered the location of Johnsons Scottish holiday hideaway, which cant have helped relations. The Mail on Sunday, it is fair to say, is more supportive towards the prime minister, though that may be scant consolation for the scorn of old friends and colleagues. ISTANBUL - Turkish authorities said Friday they have issued arrest warrants for 82 people, including current and former officials belonging to the country's pro-Kurdish opposition party, on charges stemming from deadly riots in Turkey in 2014 over the war in Syria, a Turkish prosecutor's statement said. During the protests, in dozens of cities and towns across Turkey, demonstrators had called for Turkey to allow military assistance to Kurdish fighters in Kobane, a Kurdish-majority town in Syria that was under siege by the Islamic State militant group. At least 37 people in Turkey were killed during the riots, authorities said. The prosecutor's statement Friday said the arrests were being ordered "regarding the calls for protests" at the time by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a banned militant group in Turkey, as well as the People's Democratic Party, or HDP, the pro-Kurdish opposition party, which is legal. Turkish authorities have accused the HDP of supporting violent acts by the insurgent PKK, a charge the party denies. The prosecutor's statement did not explain why six years have passed between the alleged crimes and the arrest warrants. The government has pursued a crackdown on the HDP, which promotes greater cultural rights and autonomy for Turkey's Kurds. Dozens of elected mayors from the HDP have been removed from their offices over the last few years and replaced with government-appointed trustees. Those detained Friday included Ayhan Bilgen, a prominent mayor from Kars in eastern Turkey and one of the few HDP mayors who has managed to retain his position during the purge. At least two of the party's former members of parliament were also arrested, according to local media reports. In an interview with The Washington Post in June, Bilgen said he and other remaining HDP mayors were facing intensifying pressure from the authorities and government-friendly media outlets and that they expected to be arrested at any moment. "We joke with another, wondering whose turn is next," he said. Footage of his arrest on Friday, posted on Twitter, showed Bilgen being led by officers to the back of a blue armored vehicle, as a small group of onlookers shouted, "Mayor Ayhan, we are proud of you." Gursel Tekin, a lawmaker affiliated with the Republican People's Party, or CHP, called the arrest orders "political" in a message posted on Twitter. "Trying to criminalize the HDP and the democratic political space is a great disservice to Turkey," he added. The battle for Kobane, which began in September 2014, was a watershed moment in the fight against the Islamic State, unfolding within shouting distance of Turkey's border - in full view of the international news media - and ending with the first major defeat of the militant group. It also marked a milestone in Turkey's deteriorating relationship with the country's Kurdish movement. The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which had been pursuing peace talks with the PKK, angered Kurds by refusing to allow fighters or weapons across its border to aid Kurdish fighters in Kobane. As tens of thousands of Kurdish refugees from Syria streamed across the frontier, the protests over three days in early October 2014 shocked Turkey, leaving nearly 800 people injured as vehicles and shops were set ablaze in Kurdish-majority cities. The government justified its actions in part by saying that providing military aid to Syrian Kurdish fighters affiliated with the PKK amounted to supporting terrorists. Ankara relented in late October under intense international pressure and allowed Iraqi Kurdish fighters aligned with Turkey to assist in the defense of Kobane. Megan Fox clung to her beau Machine Gun Kelly as the rapper helped her off the rooftop of The Roxy. The couple were seen sneaking off the roof of the iconic Hollywood club Thursday night. Kelly, 30, helped steady his girlfriend, 34, as she climbed around the side of a rooftop enclosure. Making their getaway: Machine Gun Kelly helped his girlfriend Megan Fox sneak off the roof of The Roxy on Thursday Megan held on tight to her beau as he assisted her over the edge of the fence. Once the Transformers actress made her way to the opposite side of the enclosure, Kelly helped stabilize her high heels along the edge of the building. Kelly protectively stood behind Megan as she clung to the rooftop enclosure. The nail-biting move comes during a night of fun for the couple, who were out celebrating the release of Kelly's new album, Tickets To My Downfall. Death-defying: Kelly carried his girlfriend as she clung to the enclosure doorway Careful now: The actress steadied herself over the fence with the help of her beau Risky: Fox held on tight to the railing as she made her way along the edge of the rooftop Following his lead: Kelly guided his girlfriend through the nail-biting process Dangerous: The couple stood upon the edge of the iconic Hollywood club The actress turned heads in a leather biker jacket and ripped denim jeans, while her rapper beau cut a quirky figure in a graffitied white shirt and joggers. The couple left the Dream Hotel arm-in-arm after ringing in the Machine's (Richard's) milestone with friends, after the hitmaker said he 'didn't know what love was' until he met the Hollywood star. Megan added a boost to her height with leopard print heels and accessorised her stylish ensemble with a pink shoulder bag. Helping hand: The rapper reached for his girlfriend's heel-clad foot Hold me tight: Fox clung to her beau as he assisted her over the rooftop enclosure Wild night: The smitten couple made their escape from the rooftop of the club Steady now: Once the Transformers actress made her way to the opposite side of the enclosure, Kelly helped stabilize her high heels along the edge of the building Pep talk? Kelly appeared to be chatting with his lady love before she climbed over the enclosure He's got her back: The rapper protectively stood behind his girlfriend once she made her way over the fence He's got her: The Beyond The Lights actor never left Megan's side She wore her brunette tresses in glamorous waves and amped up the glamour with a polished make-up look. Machine Gun Kelly, meanwhile, lived up to his stage name as he showed off his tattooed arms in the sleeveless shirt which was adorned with writing. It comes after Kelly gushed about how in love he is with new flame Megan. Smitten: The couple put on a loved-up display as they headed out for dinner to celebrate the release of his album Tickets To My Downfall on Thursday She's got style: The actress, 34, turned heads in a leather biker jacket and ripped denim jeans, while her rapper beau cut a quirky figure in a graffitied white shirt and joggers Loved-up: The couple left the Dream Hotel arm-in-arm after ringing in the Machine's (Richard's) milestone with friends Fashion maven: Megan added a boost to her height with leopard print heels and accessorised her look with a pink shoulder bag All eyes on them: The pair certainly turned heads as they left the restaurant 'I didn't know what [love] was until me and her made eye contact... That's when I was like, 'Whoa!'' the rapper, 30, revealed during an interview on The Howard Stern Show, as reported by People. The Houston native, born Colson Baker, added: 'That was my first experience with being open to love and stuff like that. I definitely wasn't set up to believe that that's something that could ever exist.' MGK and the Transformers star, went public with their romance in May after meeting on the set of the movie Midnight In The Switchgrass, shortly after her split from husband of 10-years Brian Austin Green, 47. Party boy: Machine appeared in high spirits after the evening of celebrating Born entertainer: Machine Gun Kelly, meanwhile, lived up to his stage name as he showed off his tattooed arms in the sleeveless shirt which was adorned with writing Wild: The couple beamed as their friend filmed the night out in the back of the car Filming on the production was taking place in Puerto Rico when it was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kelly told Stern that it had been 'love at first sight' when they met. Megan and her estranged husband Brian share three sons, Noah, seven, Bodhi, six, and Journey, four. Back in May, Green confirmed his split from Fox during an episode of his podcast ...With Brian Austin Green. During his confession, he maintained that infidelity did not play a role in their separation and that he will always have love for Megan. 'I will always love her. And I know she will always love me and I know as far as a family what we have built is really cool and really special.' Having a blast: The couple chilled out in the back of a mini truck as they carried on the party A Minsk-based foreign language teacher , an active participant in Belarus protests Pavel Chuduk sat down with UNIAN to tell how the first batch of detainees were tortured with electric shockers while in custody, the latest atrocities of security forces amid Lukashenko's secret inauguration, and on why the Belarusians are no longer afraid, but still believe in peaceful protest. Soon it will be two months into the Belarus election protests. Participants in rallies get beaten, detained, and go missing without a trace, but Belarusians still take to the streets. Have you been part of protests since day one? Tell us what is happening in Minsk now? Let's start from the very beginning. On August 9 (the date of the presidential elections in Belarus) several thousand people took to the streets in Minsk for peaceful reasons. Alexandr Lukashenko decided to use all force he had against the people. It was a military operation, like in Syria or Iraq. Lukashenko's army against his people. The worst thing that happened then was flash and noise grenades. They would throw them into the crowd, aiming, and fragments would scatter three to four meters around. In my presence, three people fell, lay motionless, most likely due to concussion. Doctors were not allowed to the scene. I have been an activist for 12 years, but there has never been such a crackdown on the part of Lukashenko. That night, at about half past one, I was detained. I was returning from the Minsk Hero City Stele monument (the place where protesters gathered that evening). Opposite the HQ of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption, plain cloth operatives jumped out of the van. In 10 seconds I was down with my face to the pavement. I was dragged in handcuffs into one of the rooms. There were three people sporting uniforms with no insignia. They started electrocuting me. This lasted about three minutes, the discharges were somewhere around where the kidneys are. After that, I could not get up off the floor for several minutes. They yelled: "Bitch, get up!" I couldn't. They picked me up and after a while transported to the detention center on Okrestina. There, I was told to stand on my knees for several hours, along with another 200 people. If someone moved, they would beat them. If someone did something wrong, they would beat them. How has tasing affected your body? I didn't feel my fingers, for two days I could not do "scissors". My feet hurt, my jaw didn't work well, I had dry mouth constantly. The neck was red to the chest, then got darker. Now I cough as I'm talking to you probably also one of the consequences. My temperature jumps. My whole body is like a piece of junk now. Before that, as an activist, I was brought to the police station more than once. You've probably read my story and decided not to beat up the "political" guy with a record. Why leave bruises from a baton is I can later report them properly? Does the electric shocker leave marks? No. They know about it and they use it. They are the authority. There's only the KGB and the presidential administration who oversee them, as well as president himself. These people have "all-inclusive" authority: if they're told to kill, they'll kill, and if they're told to let someone go, they'll release them. Is there information on how many protesters have died? Six or seven... But there are missing persons, too. I would count from ten. There are victims, and there will be more. But violence ended when more than 150,000 took to the streets. There were no cops in sight. For two weeks, we lived in a democratic country, no one messed with us, we would gather anywhere in the city without any issues. Then on weekends the government tightened the grip. Again they began to detain many people. And after the inauguration, which was held secretly from the media, from diplomats, the violence returned with greater force. On September 23, about 5,000 people gathered near the Stele monument, people were heading to the Palace of Independence, where the inauguration of the so-called president was taking place. About half-way, the crowd stopped. A narrow street was blocked by riot police who stood in several lines. It seemed to me that they even outnumbered activists. And they were rough, too just like on August 9. Blood was shed, again. Massive attacks by riot police began, water cannons drove up, carrying red, yellowish or orange water, with a specific smell, some chemical, I guess. People were scattered with water and those who resisted more with batons. Yells were heard: "Come here, bitch!", Face to the ground!, "You idiot, why are you here along these morons?!" But some policemen would just say: "Move away!" or "Do you understand that you will get a hefty fine? Go away!","Run, girl!" Sometimes there are more or less adequate people among law enforcers. There is a small share of them. So you can't say everything is black and white. It's all a mess. How many protesters were detained during that rally? And will it be possible to intimidate Belarusians in this way? According to reports as of the evening of September 24, a total of 343 people were detained and 323 were awaiting trial in custody. Lukashenko's authority is based on fear. "If not me, then no one" is the main message in these elections. The main reason for the arrests is to make people afraid to even go grocery shopping. But in my case, after the handcuffs and tasing, I became stronger. I passed the peak thresholds. It's the same with everyone. Detentions don't work. People resist, sometimes physically. Two weeks ago Lukashenko turned 66. Some 150,000 gathered to "congratulate" him. People were walking toward the Drozdy, the elite village home to businessmen from Lukashenko's entourage and loyal to police. Rumor has it Lukashenko also lives there. For the past 30 years, people would just whisper to each other about the Drozdy: "This is a strategic site," and now the crowd just heads there chanting: "Sasha, go away!", "Get out!" Of course he hears it, and it makes him mad. Just look at him: clenched fists, all tension. Of course, the inauguration was supposed to be held in this rat style. There is no respect for this man, and who even said he's a human being? It is unclear what this will lead to. What will happen today, tomorrow no one can predict. But the larger the wave of violence, the harsher the response. Violence beats violence. People have overcome their fear and are ready to defend their rights in the streets. In the past two to three weeks, the number of people rallying on weekdays has dropped slightly. But at the weekends it's no fewer than 120,000. Violence is almost constantly used against protesters. You say that this has already hardened people. Why do the protests remain peaceful? We have very peculiar people here in Belarus. Even if the NEXTA Telegram channel starts urging people to "take to the streets and crush riot police", they won't do it. They will come out with roses, stroll along Independence Avenue, then ask riot police: "Let me into the subway, don't block the road. Police are with the people" We are neither Ukrainians, nor Russians, nor Americans. We don't have enough endorphins (unfortunately, or fortunately) to do the Maidan, as you did in 2014. We just won't be able to. Do you know how we cross the road? The red light is on and several thousand people just stand there waiting for the green light... People come with garbage bags to collect trash after rallies. Is this a revolution? Seriously? It's a phenomenal thing. It's like a diagnosis "Belarusian". We absolutely don't want any deaths during protests, although we do understand that the transition from dictatorship to democracy means sacrifice and blood. But God forbid. Nobody wants this. No new regime is worth it. Belarusians don't want their brothers and sisters to die. And you can hear: "Well, maybe he'll go away" or "Let's talk to him." It's not clear what happen today or tomorrow. Things are heating up, the level of violence has risen to a higher degree. But people keep taking to the streets. On Saturday, there will definitely be a women's march (our first feminist revolution is a rather interesting nuance). There will also be a traditional march on Sunday. What happened to those detained in August? I am still awaiting a court ruling. But if I'm detained a second time, I will be remanded in custody for at least 15 days. What's the ceiling? There are various stories. When they detained me, I realized that if I make a wrong move or if I build my dialogue wrongly, they would easily plant some 0.5 grams or 1g of "weed" on. In that case, it would be a completely different story. They could also find some cash at my home during a search. Anything could happen. The state TV channel shows people apologizing on camera: "I'm sorry, I've read too much on those Telegram channels. I was bringing sharp metal objects for a reward on August 9. The person's face is blurred, and a separate shot shows a vehicle carrying iron nails. People ask for forgiveness, like they do from [Chechen leader Ramzan] Kadyrov in Russia. I'm aware of 45 people who faced criminal charges for an "attack on the police". Many were detained when they started to text their police neighbors: "You bastard, what are you doing?" After the Telegram channel NEXTA posted more than a thousand files with personal data of security operatives, people started sending those operatives different texts. That immediately resulted in charges. Punishment depends on "remorse" and many other factors. I heard people get two to four years in prison. Probation? No, real terms. People are thrown behind bars for tearing buttons off police uniforms. For texts, calls, threats. It's as if holes in r uniforms are like fractured fingers. And the other day, the Prosecutor General promised: "Everyone will get what they deserve, everyone will be held responsible, there will be fines, not small ones either." Usually a fine is from 100 to 1500 Belarusian rubles. The fear factor is out there, but it doesn't affect protest developments. If the government keeps doing what it's doing, it will simply be rammed. Here they usually repair roads five times a year. It will be the same this time, only it will be riot police who will be rolled into the asphalt. We are not that peaceful to constantly put up with violence. A wave could rise that would be difficult to subdue. Vlad Abramov A waiter looks out on the terrace of a Paris bar during the coronavirus pandemic on September 24, 2020. Kiran Ridley/Getty Images France and the UK on Thursday set all-time records for daily coronavirus infections. Other European countries are seeing their highest cases since the continent's peak earlier this year. The EU's health commissioner said that in "some member states, the situation is now even worse than during the peak in March." Much of Europe was devastated during the first wave of the pandemic, which was followed by a marked lull. Better testing systems and infrastructure could go someway to explaining the new high figures but experts agree that a resurgence is underway. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. France and the UK recorded their highest daily COVID-19 cases since the global outbreak began, and the EU warned that some of its countries now have worse outbreaks than they had in March. Stella Kyriakides, the EU's health commissioner, warned on Thursday that in "some member states, the situation is now even worse than during the peak in March." Taken together, the developments point to the feared second wave of the pandemic having arrived in Europe. There are differences from the first wave in spring. While infections have increased, the number of deaths has not risen so sharply. Also, the ability of officials to test and keep track of the number of infections has increased, meaning that the daily figures are now a better reflection of how the virus is spreading. In the first wave, testing systems were only able to capture a small portion of those infected. People on the London Underground on September 25, 2020. Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images This is the picture across European countries as of Friday: France reported 16,096 new cases on Thursday. The cases are far higher than during its first peak in March, when a record of 7,578 cases was set. The UK reported 6,634 on Thursday, beating its previous record of 6,201 on May 1. Denmark reported a record 589 cases on September 19, compared to its April peak of 390. Belgium reported 2028 cases on September 18, second only to its April 15 high of 2,454. Poland reported a single-day record on September 14, with 1,136 cases. Greece reported its highest-ever number of new cases on September 21, with 453 cases. Story continues France's coronavirus cases as of September 24. Worldometer The EU also listed seven countries as "high concern." They are: Spain, where a record 11,289 cases were recorded on September 23. Malta, where it set a record of 106 cases on September 16. Romania, which avoided a large peak earlier this year but is now seeing its highest-ever cases, at over 1,600. Bulgaria, where cases are now back close to their July record of more than 300. Croatia, where cases peaked in early September at 369 but have slightly fallen since. Hungary, which had almost no cases until September but saw a record 1070 cases on September 20. Czech Republic, which had also avoided a large outbreak but saw a record 3,123 cases on September 17. European countries' current strategy for dealing with the virus is starkly different to the strict lockdown most implemented during the first wave. In those early lockdowns, some regions banned outdoor exercise and insisted on citizens carrying permission forms to leave their homes. Governments are now largely relying on local and regional lockdowns, and urging people to work from home, wear masks, and practise social distancing. However, not all European countries are seeing the same pattern. Italy, the first European country to be devastated by the virus, is seeing around 1,500 new cases a day far higher than in June, July, and August, but well below its March peak of 6,554. A worker sanitizes the Piazza dei Miracoli near to the Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy, on March 17 2020. Laura Lezza/Getty Images Germany and Ireland are also seeing cases rise, but not to the extent seen earlier in 2020. The situation in Europe contrasts with that of the US, where the outbreak has continued in a more linear progression. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US's top infectious-disease expert, warned in June that the US was still in its "first wave." The new daily cases in the US has only risen since then. The US US daily new coronavirus cases as of September 24. Worldometer Read the original article on Business Insider Britain's biggest supermarket Tesco will prevent customers from bulk-buying flour, pasta, toilet roll and anti-bacterial wipes to prevent a re-run of the COVID-19 stockpiling that stripped shelves bare earlier this year. British customers stocked up on long-life goods in March as the country entered a national lockdown, forcing many people to queue for hours or drive further than normal to find goods such as toilet roll, tinned fruit and rice. With Covid cases rising once again in Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told people to work from home if they can earlier this week, prompting Tesco to join smaller rival Morrisons in reimposing restrictions. Both chains have also placed staff at the entrance to stores to ensure that face coverings are worn. "We have good availability, with plenty of stock to go round, and we would encourage our customers to shop as normal," a spokeswoman said. "To ensure that everyone can keep buying what they need, we have introduced bulk-buy limits on a small number of products." Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Andrex toilet rolls and Kleenex wipes, said on Thursday it was seeing a moderate increase in the demand for Andrex toilet tissue, but that it had more than enough product to ensure a steady supply across the UK. Other suppliers such as consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble and Reckitt Benckiser have said they are well prepared. Earlier this week the bosses of both Tesco and Aldi, Britain's fifth largest player, said supplies were plentiful but called on shoppers to only buy what they need. "We just don't want to see a return to unnecessary panic buying because that creates a tension in the supply chain that's not necessary," said Tesco Chief Executive Dave Lewis. CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar was higher against its major counterparts in the European session on Friday, as new restrictions in Europe due to a resurgence in Covid-19 cases dampened prospects of economic recovery. A second wave of infections across Europe forced governments to reimpose drastic measures. The U.K. reported the highest number of new coronavirus cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic. France also reported a record number of Covid-19 cases, a day after the government announced new restrictions on bars and restaurants in major cities. Spain's cumulative tally of confirmed coronavirus infections passed 700,000 on Thursday. Investors focus on stimulus talks in Washington as the Democrats are preparing a $2.2 trillion package amid indications of strain in financial markets. Data from the Commerce Department showed that durable goods orders climbed much less than expected in the month of August. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders rose by 0.4 percent in August after soaring by an upwardly revised 11.7 percent in July. The greenback recovered from a 3-day low of 1.2806 against the pound and reached as high as 1.2694. The greenback may find resistance around the 1.25 level. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the UK budget deficit widened to the highest on record in August due to lower income and government's coronavirus relief schemes. Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks, increased by GBP 30.5 billion from last year to GBP 35.9 billion in August. The greenback rose back to 105.53 against the yen, heading to pierce a 10-day peak of 105.54 hit at 8:45 pm ET. If the greenback rallies again, it may find resistance around the 108.00 mark. The USD/CHF pair hit 0.9286, its biggest level since July 23. On the upside, 0.96 is seen as its next likely resistance level. The greenback bounced off from its early low of 1.1685 against the euro, with the pair trading at 1.1626. Next key resistance for the greenback is seen around the 1.14 mark. Data from the European Central Bank showed that Eurozone money supply increased at a slower pace in August and credit to the private sector logged a steady growth. The broad monetary aggregate M3 expanded 9.5 percent on a yearly basis, slower than the revised 10.1 percent increase seen in July. M3 was expected to grow 10.2 percent. The U.S. currency recovered to 1.3391 versus the loonie, 0.7025 against the aussie and 0.6541 against the kiwi, off its prior low of 1.3328, 2-day lows of 0.7087 and 0.6592, respectively. The next possible resistance for the greenback is seen around 1.37 versus the loonie, 0.68 against the aussie and 0.63 against the kiwi. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de During a public event on Friday morning, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar handed over 51 ambulances dedicated to Covid-19 patients from rural areas. The ambulances are supported by oxygen supply and will be controlled at the taluka control room. On Friday, 16 of these ambulances were registered with the regional transport office (RTO) while 46 more ambulances are expected to be added to the fleet by next week. The ambulances will be dedicated to the rural primary health centres and hospitals. Pawar said, We must tone down celebrations for any festivals this year considering the Covid-19. Zilla parishad chief executive officer Ayush Prasad said, The initiative is unique in more than one way. It is the first time in the country that the gram panchayat have joint ownership with other gram panchayats of a public property and also the unspent money was used for this purpose. A total of 97 ambulances were purchased out of which 51 were handed over. All the ambulances will be controlled by the taluka control room and can be contacted by the designated nodal officers. The ambulances have been supported by oxygen cylinders and will be controlled from the control room The 97 ambulances have been purchased by MP funds and gram panchayat funds out of which 92 were purchased for primary health care centres and ZP hospitals. Rural Pune is reporting over 1,000 cases on a daily basis. Currently, the total number of cases has gone up to 49,411 in nagar parishad and gram panchayats of which 32,369 have recovered and discharged. Out of the total number of active cases, 15,785 are active cases of which 11,270 are in hospital isolation and 4,515 in home isolation. A total of 1,257 deaths has been reported till date. Over 1.76 lakh samples have been tested till date in rural Pune. Canadian Broadcasting Corp The Canadian comedy Schitts Creek made history on Sunday by sweeping many of the Emmys premier categories, winning for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Director for a Comedy Series (Daniel Levy and Andrew Cividino), Outstanding Lead Actress (Catherine OHara), Outstanding Lead Actor (Eugene Levy), Outstanding Supporting Actress (Annie Murphy) and Outstanding Supporting Actor (Daniel Levy). However, it wasnt always so successful: The show originally began with just the father-son duo of Daniel and Eugene Levy, and the first season received mixed reviews. Schitt's Creek had never been nominated for an Emmy before 2019, in its fifth season, and did not win one of the awards until this year, when it won a whopping nine. The show itself focuses on the Rose family, a group of millionaire socialites defrauded by a business partner in their multinational chain of video stores. The family is forced to move to the humble town of Schitts Creek, where they must adapt to a new way of living. We wondered what that might look like in real life, so we broke down the franchises that the Roses might try to invest in if given the chance. Kim Jong Un 'very sorry' over killing of South Korean, Seoul says Apologies from North Korea -- let alone attributed to Kim Jong Un personally -- are extremely unusual North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a rare apology Friday over what he described as the "unexpected and disgraceful" killing of a South Korean at sea, Seoul's presidential office said. Apologies from the North -- let alone attributed to Kim personally -- are extremely unusual, and the message comes with inter-Korean ties in a deep freeze, and amid a standoff in nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington. Analysts said the North was looking to placate its neighbour after the shooting -- the first time its forces killed a Southern citizen for a decade -- provoked outrage in the South, with President Moon Jae-in calling it "shocking". The fisheries official was shot dead on Tuesday by North Korean soldiers, and Seoul says his body was set on fire while still in the water, apparently as a precaution against coronavirus infection. Kim was "very sorry" for the "unexpected and disgraceful event" that had "disappointed President Moon and South Koreans", rather than helping them in the face of the "malicious coronavirus", said Suh Hoon, the South's National Security Adviser. Suh was reading out a letter from the department of the North's ruling party responsible for relations with the South. In it, Pyongyang acknowledged firing around 10 shots at the man, who had "illegally entered our waters" and refused to properly identify himself. Border guards fired at him in accordance with standing instructions, it said. There was no immediate confirmation of the contents of the letter from the North, whose state media did not mention the incident on Friday. North Korean defector turned Seoul-based researcher Ahn Chan-il said it was "extremely rare for the North's supreme commander to offer an apology, especially to South Koreans and their President". "I think this is the first since the 1976 Korean axe murder incident," he said, referring to the killing of two US officers in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula. Story continues Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, added: "Kim Jong Un's supposed apology reduces the risk of escalation between the two Koreas and keeps the Moon government's hopes for engagement alive." It was a "diplomatic move" which "avoids a potential fight in the short term and preserves the option of reaping longer-term benefits from Seoul", he said. A US State Department official told AFP Kim's apology was "a helpful step." - 'Abominable act' - The killing provoked fury in the South. Moon -- a consistent advocate of better relations with Pyongyang -- said it could not be tolerated for any reason. In an editorial Friday, the Korea JoongAng Daily said it was "enraged at the North's abominable act". "The act of murdering an unarmed man and burning his body cannot be excused in any way," it said. The man -- who was wearing a life jacket -- disappeared from a patrol vessel near the western border island of Yeonpyeong on Monday, and North Korean forces located him in their waters more than 24 hours later. South Korean media reports said he was in his 40s with two children, but had recently divorced and had financial problems. Seoul military officials say the man was interrogated while in the water over several hours and expressed a desire to defect, but was killed after an "order from superior authority". The North's letter said his body was no longer visible after the shooting and troops set his flotation device -- which was covered in blood -- on fire in accordance with national emergency prevention regulations. North Korea's crumbling health system would struggle to cope with a major virus outbreak, but it has not confirmed a single case of the disease that has swept the world after taking drastic steps to prevent local infections. Pyongyang closed its border with China in January and state media said authorities had raised a state of emergency to the maximum level in July. The North put the border city of Kaesong under lockdown in the same month after a defector who had fled South three years ago sneaked back over the heavily fortified border, with the possibility he could have carried the disease into the country. US Forces Korea commander Robert Abrams said earlier this month that North Korean authorities had issued shoot-to-kill orders to prevent the coronavirus entering from China, creating a "buffer zone" at the border. cdl/slb/gle/rma/sst Two more schools in the Lake Geneva region are reporting new cases of coronavirus on campus. Walworth Elementary School in Walworth and Brookwood Middle School in Genoa City both have announced one person testing positive for coronavirus at their schools. Both declined to indicate if the infected person was a student or an employee. Brookwood Middle officials notified parents in a note sent home Monday, while Walworth Elementary posted an announcement Wednesday on its website. Both schools said they were working with county health officials to manage the situation and, if necessary, to quarantine other students or employees. Since the new school year began Sept. 1, coronavirus cases have similarly been detected at Badger High School, Big Foot High School, Elkhorn High School and Lake Geneva Middle School. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Earlier in the day, Sushant Singh Rajput's family lawyer Vikas Singh had claimed that he was told by a member of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) team, that strangulation was the cause of Sushant's death. However, the panel chief of the AIIMS forensic team which is investigating how Sushant died, has dismissed Vikas Singh's claims. Sushant Case: Vikas Singh | FilmiBeat Times Now quoted the panel chief Sudhir Gupta as saying, "Can't make an opinion by seeing marks." He further said that no conclusions have been drawn so far on the manner in which Sushant died, and requested people to be patient. "No conclusion or conclusion opinion of homicide or suicide could be made by seeing ligature marks and scene of occurrence. It's difficult for doctors and next to impossible for general people, needed solely internal link discretion and forensic interpretation," he said. Vikas Singh had expressed his frustration over the delay in converting the abetment to suicide case to murder case, and had claimed to have received a 200 percent confirmation from a member of the AIIMS team, that Sushant had died by strangulation. "Getting frustrated by the delay in CBI taking a decision to convert abetment to suicide to Murder of SSR. The Doctor who is part of AIIMS team had told me long back that the photos sent by me indicated 200% that it's death by strangulation and not suicide," read his tweet. Sushant's sister Shweta Singh Kirti retweeted the lawyer's tweet and wrote, "We have been so patient for so long! How long will it take to find the truth?" Notably, investigation of Sushant's death was transferred from Mumbai Police to the CBI. The actor was reportedly found dead in his apartment on June 14. Meanwhile, Sushant's girlfriend Rhea has been arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with a drug case that emerged in Sushant's case investigations. She was arrested for financing and procuring marijuana for Sushant. Many have slammed the media trial and witch-hunt that Rhea is being subjected to. She is currently in Byculla jail. ALSO READ: Rhea In Her Bail Plea: Sushant Took Advantage Of Those Closest To Him To Sustain His Drug Habit ALSO READ: Shweta Tripathi Reacts To Rhea Chakraborty's Media Trial; Says 'This Is No Way To Treat Anyone' President Donald Trump said Friday that the winner of the presidential race will not be known on Election Day predicting a long 'dispute' between the two parties during a week when he caused an uproar when he refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. Trump's comment about a contested election, made during a speech in Atlanta, comports with what many political observers have been warning might occur. It also follows his own repeated attacks on mail-in voting and a claim Thursday the election won't be 'honest.' 'Now I dont know with this ballot situation,' he said during a speech on black economic empowerment. U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on Black Economic Empowerment during an event at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., September 25, 2020, where he predicted the winner of the presidential election would not be known on Nov. 3 'Youre not going to see it November 3. Democrats are playing games. You see that,' Trump said. He told the crowd: 'But youre going to raising the hand if not November 3, hopefully shortly thereafter,' he said. 'I know youre going to be raising your hand, with me we may end up in a dispute for a long time, because thats the way they want it,' he said. 'But were going to end up winning, thats for sure,' Trump said. He mocked the idea of staying beyond the Constitution's limit that would hold him to two terms. 'I told you he's a dictator! He will not give up power!' Trump said. 'Under no circumstances will he give up power. He intends to serve at least two more terms,' he said. Then Trump riffed about remarks that have 'a little sarcasm' and how they prompt people to shout 'twelve more years!' 'Youre not going to see it November 3. Democrats are playing games. You see that,' President Trump said of receiving a result on Election Day Trump then cast a wide grin as his supporters erupted into chants of 'Twelve more years!' Trump made the statements as he attacked mail-in voting, a method millions of Americans are using, with polls showing a disproportionate share of Joe Biden voting by mail. He brought up an FBI statement from Thursday about nine military ballots in Pennsylvania discovered in a trash can. 'You see they found ballots in a wastepaper basket. They found ballots dumped in a stream. Take a look at Iowa, the primaries,' he continued. 'They tried this ballot concept and they still dont know who won. Its a very terrible thing thats happening, very very terrible thing,' he said. Rival former Vice President Joe Biden tamped down the explosive issue in comments to MSNBC Friday. 'I don't think it's going to go anywhere, the American people are on to this guy,' he said. 'Well have an election in this country as we always have had, and hell leave,' Biden said. The president's son Eric weighed in on his father's comments on a peaceful transfer of power, saying President Trump would relinquish control of the government if he lost to Joe Biden in a blowout. But Eric, who helps run the Trump Organization, said his father would contest the election results if there were indications of 'massive fraud.' 'I think my father's just saying listen, if he got blown out of the water, of course he'd concede,' Trump said on a campaign swing in Las Vegas Thursday. 'If he thought there was massive fraud, then he'd go and try and address that,' he said, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. Eric Trump says his father would concede the election 'if he got blown out of the water' He said that would apply in cases such as if there were 'tens of thousands of ballots are found in a dumpster.' He spoke a day after the president forced Republicans to issue a flurry of statements asserting the nation would honor the peaceful transfer of authority after the elections after Trump failed to do so when asked point-blank. Like some Republicans on Capitol Hill, he pointed to an August comment by Hillary Clinton that Biden shouldn't concede under any circumstances. 'I think my father's saying the same thing: I'll have to look at what happens,' Eric Trump said. Clinton's comment, to Showtime's 'The Circus' was: 'Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances, because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don't give an inch, and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is.' His son's comment about conceding in a 'blowout' came on a day when the president said he isn't sure the election could be 'honest,' just minutes after his press secretary asserted that he would accept the results of the election so long as it was 'free and fair.' Several top Democrats have also said their party should aim for a blowout, fearing Trump could try to exploit any situation with recounts or contested ballots to immediately claim victory and claim a rigged election. Trump's comments which once again raised unproven charges about mail-in ballots came as the White House and congressional Republicans sought to explain his refusal Wednesday to commit to a peaceful transfer of power following the elections. 'We want to make sure the election is honest but I'm not sure that it can be,' Trump said. It came after White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany provided a conditional statement to the press saying Trump 'will accept the results of a free and fair election.' Trump was asked as he left the White House on a trip to North Carolina and Florida whether the election was only legitimate if he wins. 'We want to make sure the election is honest but I'm not sure that it can be,' President Donald Trump said Thursday, a day after refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. The White House said he would accept the results of a 'free and fair' election 'We have to be very careful with the ballots. The ballots that's a whole big scam. They found I understand eight ballots in a wastepaper basket in some location,' Trump said. He was likely referencing an FBI announcement about an investigation into potential irregularities at the Luzerne County Board of Elections. Investigators said they have uncovered nine discarded mail-in ballots. 'Some of those ballots can be attributed to specific voters and some cannot. All nine ballots were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump,' said U.S. Attorney David J. Freed. Trump also mentioned 'a lot of ballots in a river,' and said: 'They throw them out if they have the name trump on it, I guess. But they had ballots.' The stakes are high both for President Trump and for the company he spent years expanding. On Wednesday, a New York judge ruled that Eric Trump must comply with a subpoena in a probe that extends to Trump Organization statements when obtaining financing for projects. It is one of several areas where the president could face legal exposure if he is no longer in office. The president continued his attack on mail-in ballots Thursday, using the latest information from the FBI as fuel. 'The other ones had the Trump name on it and they were thrown into a waste paper basket. We want to make sure the election is honest but I'm not sure that it can be,' he said. 'I don't know that it can be with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots. They're unsolicited millions being sent to everybody. We'll see.' Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump will accept the results of a 'free and fair' election a day after the president refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. McEnany was grilled repeatedly Thursday about the president's statement which raised enough concerns that it prompted early pushback from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, and Sen. Marco Rubio. 'The president will accept the results of a free and fair election, he will accept the will of the American people,' McEnany repeated. 'The president will accept the results of a free and fair election he will accept the will of the American people,' said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Thursday Asked if Trump would accept the results even in the event that he loses, McEnany refused to engage. 'I've answered your question. He will accept the results of a free and fair election,' she said. She also sought to help dig the president out of his comments from Wednesday by taking swipes at the reporter who asked it, Brian Kerem of 'Playboy' magazine, a CNN contributor. 'You are referring to the q asked by the Playboy reporter, right?' McEnany said, quizzed by an ABC reporter Thursday. She noted that the reporter had asked Trump if he would accept a peaceful transfer 'win, lose or draw.' 'I'm not entirely sure if he won why he would accept a transfer of power,' she quipped. 'That is mainly the deranged with of that reporter,' she said. McEnany also blasted the use of mail-in ballots raising questions about what type of elections Trump considers free and fair. Her comments on the topic which she raised at the top of her briefing Thursday, came after Republicans asserted Thursday that if Joe Biden is elected president in November there will be an 'orderly transition' after Donald Trump refused to commit to 'peacefully' leaving office if he loses. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted early Thursday that 'The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th.' 'There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792,' he continued. Even amid McEnany and Trump's attacks on mail-in voting, which Trump says is filled with fraud, FBI Director Chris Wray testified Thursday: 'We have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise.' McEnany and Senate Republicans who all were forced to comment on the president's statement pointed to comments by Hillary Clinton in August where he urged Biden not to concede the election. 'Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances, because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don't give an inch, and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is,' she told her former communications director Jennifer Palmieri in an interview with Showtime's 'The Circus.' Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances, because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don't give an inch, and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is,' GOP lawmakers were forced to speak out in defense of U.S. election integrity after the president would not directly answer a question on if he intends to peacefully transition power in January should he be elected out of office after his first term. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said Thursday that 'we will peacefully swear in the President' as per the usual timeline for swearing in a new president after an election year. 'As we have done for over two centuries we will have a legitimate & fair election,' the Republican senator tweeted the morning after Trump made the questionable comments. 'It may take longer than usual to know the outcome,but it will be a valid one,' he continued, in a likely reference to mail-in ballots holding up the outcome. 'And at noon on Jan 20,2021 we will peacefully swear in the President.' Senate Republicans had to defend U.S. election after Donald Trump refused to commit Wednesday to peacefully transfer power if he loses in November Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed 'there will be an orderly transition' Republican Senator's Marco Rubio of Florida (left) and Mitt Romney of Utah (right) also weighed in on the questionable comments '[W]e will have a legitimate & fair election,' Rubio tweeted. 'It may take longer than usual to know the outcome,but it will be a valid one,' he said in reference to mail-in ballots potentially holding up the results 'Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power,' Romney said Wednesday evening. 'Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable' Mitt Romney also lashed out on Twitter Wednesday evening. 'Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus,' the Utah Republican said in reference to the European country experiencing mass protests as its president sought a sixth term and was secretly sworn in despite the opposition candidate claiming they received 60-70 per cent of the votes. 'Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable,' Romney continued in his tweet. He told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday that 'there's no question' Republicans would step up and make sure the transition followed through if Trump resisted. 'All the people who have sworn to support the Constitution would assure there would be a peaceful transition of power including the president,' he said. Romney added that he doesn't believe there is 'any scenario' where Trump would not peacefully step aside and hand power over if elected out. 'I'm absolutely confident there will be a peaceful transition if there's a new president or if not, we'll have a continuation,' he said. President Trump was asked during a press briefing Wednesday evening if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power after the November election and declined to do so. 'Well, we'll have to see what happens,' said Trump, when pressed on the matter at the White House. It was a similar comment to those he made in 2016 when asked similar questions. Romney's comments about the refusal came just days after he said he would agree to vote to confirm whomever Trump nomination to take the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Ruth Bader Ginsburg instead of waiting until after the election. Trump would not say if he would leave office peacefully if he loses. '[W]e'll have to see what happens,' he said. 'Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer frankly, there'll be a continuation,' he continued Many worried Romney's criticism of the president and the fact that he was the only Republican to indict the president on one article of impeachment would lead him to defect from the rank and file of the Party. After refusing to go along with a pledge to vacate the Oval Office if he loses the election, the president attacked Democrats Wednesday and delivered swipes that appeared to be directed at mail-in voting, the subject of his frequent attacks at the White House and at campaign rallies. Wyoming's at-large Republican Representative Liz Cheney vowed to 'uphold' her oath to the Constitution as she defended U.S. election integrity. 'The peaceful transfer of power is enshrined in our Constitution and fundamental to the survival of our Republic,' she tweeted Thursday. 'America's leaders swear an oath to the Constitution. We will uphold that oath.' 'Win lose or draw in this election will you commit here today for a peaceful transferal of power after the election?' Trump was asked at the top of his press briefing. 'Well, we'll have to see what happens,' Trump replied entertaining the question, but also refusing to commit. His questioner pointed to 'rioting' in U.S. cities, and asked if Trump would commit to making sure there is a peaceful transfer of power after the election. 'You know that. I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster,' he said, in a likely reference to mail-in ballots. Trump regularly says they are rife with fraud, although a handful of states use them for elections. Trump was asked about a peaceful transfer as police clashed with protesters marching through the streets of Louisville after a grand jury chose not to indict three officers in the death of Breonna Taylor on Wednesday afternoon 'Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer frankly, there'll be a continuation,' Trump said. He continued: 'The ballots are out of control. You know if. And you know who knows it better than anybody else, the Democrats,' he said. Trump's refusal for a straight answer came the same day The Atlantic published an article titled 'The Election that Could Break America,' which played out scenarios where Trump would refuse to accept results amid court cases and recounts, and rejects the outcome even if rival Joe Biden appears to have won or be within sight of prevailing in the Electoral College. Trump's campaign is 'discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority,' according to the piece, by author and former Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman. Biden was at a loss for words when asked how he felt about the president's comments. 'What country are we in?' the former vice president queried to reporters. 'I'm being facetious,' he clarified. 'I said, what country are we in? Look, he says the most irrational things. I don't know what to say.' 'Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer frankly, there'll be a continuation.' - President Donald Trump The president made the comment as some of his fiercest critics have accused him of making moves toward authoritarianism. Biden said this summer trump will 'try to steal' but said he is convinced the military 'will escort him from the White House with great dispatch.' The president faces the backdrop of ongoing investigations by prosecutors in New York that could implicate the president if he were to leave office. McEnany began her briefing with an attack on Democrats: 'Make no mistake. Democrat radicals want to shatter norms and disregard precedent for the sake of the very norms and precedent they claim must be safeguarded.' She brought up 'court-packing,' impeachment, and calls to abolish the Electoral College. She called them 'tactics they are using to sow chaos and discord' and said they are endorsing a 'mass mail-out ballot system' that would likely lead to a 'week long delay.' She said they are doing so because 'they cannot win on the merits.' The clash over a peaceful and orderly transfer comes as Biden leads Trump by 7 percentage points nationally, according to a Real Clear Politics average of multiple polls. FBI analysts who had knowledge into the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn were concerned about the agency's conduct, with some speculating that certain agents wanted Hillary Clinton to be president. According to court filings from Flynn's lawyers, one FBI employee said the case against the former general was a 'nightmare.' The concerns were expressed by FBI employees in the early days of the federal investigation into Flynn's ties with Russia sometime in August 2016. According to Fox News, one FBI analyst speculated that the investigation showed that some agents 'wanted a Clinton presidency' and not a 'wild card like Trump.' The court filings also contained text messages in which FBI analysts questioned the agency's use of national security letters to obtain Flynn's finances. Lawyers for Michael Flynn (above), President Trump's former national security adviser, filed papers in court containing text messages claiming to show that FBI analysts were concerned about the bureau's conduct in the investigation into his alleged ties with Russia NSL is an administrative subpoena issued by the federal government that does not require approval from a judge. The use of NSLs was expanded after the passage of the PATRIOT Act in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. On December 5, 2016, an FBI analyst monitoring the probe into Flynn observed that using an NSL was not a 'logical investigative step.' FBI employees also discussed a January 5, 2017, meeting that included then-President Barack Obama, then-FBI Director James Comey, and several members of the administration. One employee observed that 'people here are scrambling for info to support certain things and it's a mad house.' When Trump suggested in January 2017 that a briefing on 'Russian hacking' was delayed in order to build a case, one employee said: 'Trump was right.' On January 10, another FBI employee said that analysts 'all went and purchased professional liability insurance' over concerns that they were legally exposed due to the agency's conduct in the investigation. 'The whole thing is pretty uglywe shall see how things pan out,' one FBI employee wrote. The revelations came weeks after a federal appeals court in Washington declined to order the dismissal of the Flynn prosecution, permitting a judge to scrutinize the Justice Department's request to dismiss its case against Trump's former national security adviser. FBI analysts reportedly speculated that the Flynn probe was being waged by agents who preferred Hillary Clinton become president, according to a report. Then-FBI Director James Comey is pictured in February in Boston The decision keeps the case at least temporarily alive and rebuffs efforts by both Flynn's lawyers and the Justice Department to force the prosecution to be dropped without further inquiry from the judge, who has for months declined to dismiss it. The ruling is the latest development in a criminal case that has taken unusual twists and turns over the last year and prompted a separation of powers tussle involving a veteran federal judge and the Trump administration. The Flynn conflict arose in May when the Justice Department moved to dismiss the prosecution despite Flynn's own guilty plea to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition period. But US District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who had upbraided Flynn for his behavior at a 2018 court appearance, signaled his skepticism at the government's unusual motion. He refused to dismiss the case and instead scheduled a hearing and appointed a retired federal judge to argue against the Justice Department's position. That former judge, John Gleeson, challenged the motives behind the department's dismissal request and called it a 'gross abuse' of prosecutorial power. Flynn's lawyers sought to bypass Sullivan and obtain an appeals court order that would have required the case's immediate dismissal. They argued that Sullivan had overstepped his bounds by scrutinizing a dismissal request that both sides, the defense and the Justice Department, were in agreement about and that the case was effectively moot once prosecutors decided to abandon it. At issue before the court was whether Sullivan could be forced to grant the Justice Department's dismissal request without even holding a hearing into the basis for the motion. 'We have no trouble answering that question in the negative,' the court wrote in an unsigned opinion for the eight judges in the majority. The judges also rejected defense efforts to have the case reassigned to a different judge. For many people, both across the country and here in Houston, bow-tied researcher Dr. Peter Hotez has served as one of the pandemics most reliable guides. Hotez is co-director of the Texas Childrens Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, where his team is working on coronavirus vaccines. Hes also a professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Weve talked with him periodically since early March , when the disease had surfaced in Seattle but not yet in Houston. At the time, he said Houstonians didnt need to disrupt their daily lives yet, but urged people to keep an eye on the growing threat. Six grim months later, he said Wednesday that he is worried the U.S. and Houston may be heading for the biggest surge in cases yet. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Whats on your mind now as you look at COVID-19 stats across the country and here in Houston? The big issue is where were headed this fall. Im concerned because were seeing an uptick in the numbers again. After that big summer surge in July and into August, the numbers were starting to go down as we moved into September. Wed hit a low of around 30,000 new cases nationally. Now were over 40,000. Im worried that were starting to see the third peak. A number of people have predicted a rise this fall. And Im especially worried about that third peak because, even more than the first two, well be starting it from a much higher place. With the first peak, we went from zero new cases per day up to around 30,000. That was that terrible surge in New York with all the deaths. We went down to about 18,000 after that, and then up to 66,000 new cases a day: That was the second peak. Now were back down to 30,000 starting from the height of our first peak and are seeing a rise. I worry its going to crescendo even more. The graph of new cases per day would be a triple hump, with successively bigger humps. Thats scary. Im worried about what will happen in the fall. If it is happening, I can identify several reasons, and there may be others. One is the K-12 surge because were opening up schools in areas where theres transmission. Second is the college-associated surge. The last is just this general malaise. Some people will call it COVID burnout. Others will call it lack of national leadership because we dont have any role models. When I walk around Montrose, in my neighborhood, no ones got masks on. Theyre out in the cafes, and its looking more and more like business as usual. And I worry about voting in places where theyre not allowing mail-in ballots. That could cause a surge. The combination of all those things portends something very ominous this fall. Could you expand on that? Why is it so scary to have a peak that starts from a high number of transmissions? What does that mean? It could mean we get to those terrible numbers that Dr. Fauci predicted way back when he said we can get to 100,000 new cases a day. If that happens, a surge in deaths surely follows. And then wed realize the IHME University of Washington predictions of 300,000 deaths before the end of the year, and maybe as many as 400,000 deaths by the time the inauguration rolls around. Were already at 200,000, which is a terrible number. But 400,000?! Thats the number of American GIs is killed in World War II. Thats going to continue to destabilize the nation. Could you tell us more about each of the places where youre worrying about surges? Lets start with K-12 schools. What would it look like if outbreaks were beginning there? Remember, the K-12 schools have just opened. The Houston Chronicle reported last week that the numbers are not as bad as some principals and school teachers thought it might be. But I think it was too soon to say. I think its just starting now. We have to remember that when we have seen peaks and rises with this disease, its never linear, and its never contemporaneous with the new thing that may have triggered the rise. Weve always seen the same graph. Its flat, its flat, its flat and then when it goes up, it really goes up. Its too late to put it back in the bottle then. We have to be really careful about any sense of complacency. We cant be self-congratulatory after that the first week or two of school have gone well. If its going to go bad, its going to go bad very quickly, and its going to happen in a few weeks. Im worried about Texas schools. And Im worried about schools across the southern part of the United States, where we never really brought the rates down. Everyone is being very self-congratulatory about Florida, but the panhandle of Florida still has one of the highest rates in the nation. Im also worried about whats going on in the Midwest. If you look at where the largest rise in cases is, its a big block in the center of the country. Its the central Southwest: Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri are looking bad. And then its North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa. Those seem to be the big hotspot areas for now. And if it really takes hold later in the fall, then we might see it come back to the Northeast. So thats the K-12 story. What about colleges? The New York Times reported that Texas has the largest number of college students affected of any state. We opened up colleges in areas of high transmission. The things that worry me about K-12 also worry me about colleges, even in the schools where things are going okay. Were just at the beginning of this, and I dont know how its gonna go. Whats interesting is when you look at whats happening up in Iowa, the Dakotas, and in some of the Midwest parts of the country where the numbers are high. When I first saw that rise in the Dakotas, Iowa and Wisconsin, I thought, Oh, thats post-Sturgis. I thought it was a consequence of the Sturgis bike rally. But when I started looking closer at the places where the numbers were high, a lot of them were college towns Ames, Iowa, and Grand Forks, where University of North Dakota is. So there may be something different going on. Its easier to spot college transmission in college towns in the Midwest than it is elsewhere. Those land grant institutions there, theyre in little tiny towns. They concentrate people in places with a lot of flat prairie all around. In a place like that, a rise in college cases stands out a lot more. In a place like Houston, if a rise in cases is happening because the colleges are opening, its hard to discern it right away. We have big universities, like University of Houston and Rice, but we also have a lot of people not connected to universities here, so looking at our stats, it would be much more difficult to spot college transmission. What worries you about voting? Voting is still tough. Some places are making a lot of accommodations, like drive-by voting or mail voting. But other places are sort of drawing a line. It seems to be that way in Texas. If my wife and I are going to vote, it seems as though were going to have to go to the polling place and mask up, wear our face shields and everything else, and hope for the best. We shouldnt have to make those kinds of choices. Well have to wait and see how well voting is set up especially when you get inside the polling booth. Voting in person will cause a lot of people contact that wasnt really necessary. Some polling places will be better regulated and more efficient than others in terms of taking precautions. But Ive noticed that in the southern part of the United States, people are often not as attentive to those details. So well see how it goes. Im worried that we could see spikes afterward. When we see a spike, its going to be hard to ascribe it to any one thing. A laundry list of things are happening at the same time K-12 reopening, colleges, complacency. Voting is definitely going to be on that list. But much bigger than voting is going to be is this attitude, this complacency, that were seeing. Especially in this part of the country, a lot of people are going out without masks. Some people do it out of defiance, or they see it as part of their political allegiance not to wear masks. More commonly, I think, its just carelessness and not really understanding. We still need to get the word out. On RenewHouston.com: He was frustrated by lax mask enforcement at his Houston-area gym. So he quit. When I take a walk with my wife, Ann, in our Montrose neighborhood, well often walk down Westheimer past all the cafes. People are outdoors, having a good time, drinking their wine, and though theyre in pretty crowded areas, they just dont mask. And even though the bars are supposed to be closed, there are still funny things going on. I wont give you the name of my favorite Houston dive bar I dont want them run out of business but it is a bar. I mean, before the pandemic, Ann and I would often go there for a drink. If you asked the proprietor nicely, they had a little carton of Goldfish those little orange snacks and they would pour some in a bowl for you, and youd give them an extra dollar for a tip. That was the extent of the culinary options. Now, to stay open, the bar has refashioned itself as a restaurant. Ive noticed a large sign there advertising hotdogs. I havent gone in, but I dont doubt that somebody is back there with a little tiny grill and a toaster and a couple rolls of Saran Wrap. They have the capability of making hotdogs, so suddenly its classified as a restaurant, and therefore can stay open. So yeah: Im quite concerned that things are really going to go badly this fall not just in Houston but across the country. All the places that have been hit hard over the summer are going to go way back up because we never really brought it down. How do you feel about the quality of the data that were seeing? About that way that cases are reported? It depends on the state. Theres been so much confusion in Texas so many mid-course adjustments. I get a lot of calls from journalists in New York and Boston, from the big papers in the northeast. Theyre overly suspicious of Texas there anyway people couldnt understand why Ann and I would move to Texas. Those journalists are convinced that nefarious dealings are going on, that this red state is trying to hide data, that sort of thing. But Im pretty convinced thats not the case. There have been inefficiencies, and elements of our public health infrastructure got overwhelmed quickly and are having trouble adjusting to the influx. But knowing the people that I know here, I dont think theres been any hiding of data or anything like that. Having said that, these backlogs and changing standards make the situation more difficult to interpret. Its okay for a problem to happen once or twice, but every couple of weeks, there seems to be a big correction. We just saw it in the Houston Chronicle this morning, right? All of a sudden, you know, we went from what it was 700 cases, theyll send 2,000 cases, theres clearly some kind of data dump that that went on. And, and thats just happening too often. And again, I dont think its anything suspicious or underhanded, or I just think its inefficiencies. But its not where we need to be? Our epidemic began in February. Were seven or eight months into this. This should have been ironed out by now. Of course, we should have controlled COVID-19 by now too. But thats a different story. Any other thoughts? Whats on your mind this week? Im very concerned about what Im seeing coming out of the White House. Ive been very outspoken on a number of fronts criticizing the White House this summer getting out of my comfort zone and having a political side. There were two reasons. One was that I saw low-income neighborhoods being decimated. Thats still the case: Were still seeing historic decimation of Hispanic, African American and Native American communities. The other reason is my increasing concern that what were seeing out of the White House is an anti-science disinformation campaign playing down the pandemic, spectacularizing their response. Im now on The Lancet commission for COVID-19, headed by Jeffrey Sachs, the economist, and Richard Horton from the Lancet. The commission is to assist governments, civil society, and UN institutions in responding effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic. My research partner Maria Elena Bottazzi and I head the vaccine subgroup. MORE Q&As: Coronavirus expert Dr. Peter Hotez reveals when we can expect a vaccine As we were working through this, its interesting how all the things that I was accusing the White House of are exactly the same as whats happening with the Bolsonaro regime in Brazil, and the Duterte regime in the Philippines, and also the same as whats going on in Nicaragua. This seems to be the modus operandi of whats being now referred to as medical populism meaning that its denial of the severity of the epidemic, refusal to implement control measures, spectacularizing their own response, and also working towards magical solutions, a la hydroxychloroquine. Its not just the White House: This is happening in other authoritarian-slash-populist regimes. That gave me pause for concern. Then, on top of that, were seeing things get even worse. Look at the disruption of the White House coronavirus task force by appointing Scott Atlas, who doesnt really try to hide the disinformation, right? He just says things that are blatantly out of whack and way beyond anything thats remotely the majority opinion in the scientific community. Even now, with 200,000 deaths, the the White House is still relying on a disinformation campaign. Thats really worrisome. Is The Lancet commission trying to figure out how to address medical populism? For right now weve focused on calling it out and reporting it. I dont know how you address it. Our countrys has been built on great research universities and institutions. The strength of America has always been the strength of our science, right? Not only did it win wars and improve our quality of life, its the reason why the world loves the United States. Its because of our research universities. In my book that comes out next year, about my time as U.S. science envoy, I report on how, when I traveled all over the world, the leadership of those countries had all trained in our U.S. research universities not only the Harvards and Yales and Johns Hopkinses, but also the big land grant universities. Theyd gone to Iowa State, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. Thats the secret strength of our country. The fact that weve marginalized scientists is really concerning. This week, one of Houstons own, Lauren Gardner, who grew up in West U., was named one of Time Magazines 100 Most Influential People. Shes a professor at Johns Hopkins who made a dashboard to track the spread of COVID-19. The U.S. has access to scientists like that to all the great epidemiologists up at Harvard. Why rely on these hacks when we could have assembled the greatest minds in the country some of the greatest minds in the world? We could have solved COVID-19. Simple as that. And we have chosen to go in a different direction: with fake health-freedom ideologies. So the other thing that Ive been writing and speaking about is this anti-science movement. I have a paper that came out this week in Microbes and Infection, which traces the origin of the modern-day anti-vaccine movement. Its been around for 20 years, but around 2015 it took this sharp pivot to the political far right. It started taking money from donors to the Tea Party and that sort of thing. And thats when Texans for Vaccine Choice was created around the time of the Trump campaign. Thats when you got people like Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh really piling on against vaccines. The anti-vaccine movements far-right turn has expanded now, under this banner of health freedom, to campaigns against masks and contact tracing. Its a full-blown anti-science movement. In this paper, I point out that one of the leaders of the anti-vaccine movement went to Berlin, Germany, in August. There was a rally in Berlin with 18,000 people campaigning against massive contact tracing. CBS News and other outlets are reporting that the rally was sponsored by neo-Nazi groups and the neo-Nazi party. This is what started in Texas. This far right health-freedom movement is now a globalized anti-science organization linked to neo-Nazi groups and QAnon and all this other craziness. That worries me. Weve got to figure out a way to get ahead of that pretty soon before it really spirals further out of control. lisa.gray@chron.com, twitter.com/@LisaGray_HouTX A family in Indianapolis, Indiana, was ambushed by thieves who shoot and killed the mother. The dad who survived the shooting was helped by his son who hid from the perpetrators. He was able to call 911 with his son's assistance. On September 17, the victims were ambushed by unknown perpetrators. The woman died from gunshot wounds, while her husband was injured but was not fatally shot. According to the police, they were attacked on Thursday. The victims are identified as Wilma and Jonathan Hochstetler with their six-year-old son, Bradon. The family was attacked while on a roadside, mentioned Meaww. The father was shot in the neck, but his wife was killed instantly. Bradon hid from the perpetrators inside a vehicle. Despite getting shot in the neck, Jonathan got to where his son is hidding. He assisted his injured father calling 911, and summoned the police to where they were. According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Samone Burris said the police found the family on Thursday nearby 3000 block of North High School Road. The wife was dead when they arrived, and Jonathan was sent to the hospital for immediate treatment. Doctors had to do surgery because the bullet shattered parts of his jawbone and neck vertebrae, reported The Sun. An interview with the victim's father, Sam Hochstetler said that his son owns an roofing and gutter company. He was at a site of one of his projects located on the West Side of Indianapolis hours before the attack. While hauling a trailer that had a busted tire, they were assisted by two employees to bring the truck to Worthington, which is not far from where they were. Also read: Russian Ballerina Dismembered, Dissolved in Sulfuric Acid Amid Fears of Lewd Picture Leak Wilma helped and went back to the worksite with Bradon to get a spare for the busted trailer tire. All was fixed after midnight and everything was in order that they are now ready to go home. The trailer running light was not working said Jonathan's dad. Andrew Yutzy told WLOX that two unknown men went up to the family. Wilma was alarmed and alerted her husband to the danger. They stole the woman's phone and got their wallets, then walked away from them. But the perpetrators were not done yet. They returned to draw weapons and shot Wilma dead at point-blank. They also shot Jonathan, which shattered his neck. Bradon hid from the criminals to help save his dad. The grandfather related the trauma suffered by his grandson, who at six-years-old did not understand what he saw. He said that Bradon thought his mom would get up again, but she died on the spot. Still, the child said that the men should have never shot his mom. Sam said his grandson does not know that his mother was killed after they were robbed, noted Metro UK. The injuries of Jonathan are severe, and his wife's pitiless murder left their son under the care of Child Protective Services. He was transferred to the care of his relatives, with his three siblings from 10, 13, 16-years old (three girls). Police have no leads to the suspects yet and is still continuing investigation for leads to solve the murder of Wilma Hochstetler. Related article: Request of Tennessee Man Accused of Parricide To Not Reveal Crime Photos Denied by Court @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Amy McGrath, a Democrat who is running against Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell, visited the memorial. "I really believe that Attorney General Cameron should release the full grand jury investigative report because Louivillians, Kentuckians, and the family of Breonna and everyone should be able to see that to make that judgment. Part of what we are as a nation is making sure we have transparency and to me that's a really important piece of this. Let's have a transparent investigation, lets release it to everyone". "In the meantime, let's focus on making sure we elect leaders who will work for change." Daniel Shular/Insider People flocked to a Louisville memorial honoring Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was shot and killed after officers entered her home on a no-knock warrant. On Wednesday, three officers involved in the incident were not indicted in relation to Taylor's death. The decision sparked protests across the state and across the country demanding justice for Taylor. Amy McGrath, a Democrat who is running against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for his Senate seat in Kentucky, also visited Taylor's memorial, demanding that the Kentucky Attorney General release the full grand jury report for Taylor's case. "I really believe that Attorney General Cameron should release the full grand jury investigative report because Louivillians, Kentuckians, and the family of Breonna and everyone should be able to see that to make that judgment," McGrath said. "Let's have a transparent investigation, let's release it to everyone," she continued. "In the meantime, let's focus on making sure we elect leaders who will work for change." Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. A memorial honoring Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was shot and killed after officers entered her home on a no-knock warrant, was erected in Louisville, Kentucky, where she lived. On Wednesday, former Det. Brett Hankison, Sgt. Jon Mattingly, and Det. Miles Cosgrove were not indicted in relation to Taylor's death. A Kentucky grand jury charged Hankison with three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment for shooting into Taylor's apartment and potentially endangering her next-door neighbors. Hankison was fired from the department earlier this year. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said a grand jury found that two of the three officers were justified in their actions on the night of Taylor's death, saying it was an act of self-defense. Amy McGrath, a Democrat who is running against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for his Senate seat in Kentucky, also visited Taylor's memorial, demanding that Cameron release the full grand jury report for Taylor's case. Story continues "I really believe that Attorney General Cameron should release the full grand jury investigative report because Louivillians, Kentuckians, and the family of Breonna and everyone should be able to see that to make that judgment," McGrath said, emphasizing the importance of transparency in the decision. "Let's have a transparent investigation, let's release it to everyone," she continued. "In the meantime, let's focus on making sure we elect leaders who will work for change." A memorial for Breonna Taylor is placed at the apartment where she was killed earlier this year in Louisville, Kentucky. A memorial for Breonna Taylor is placed at the apartment where she was killed earlier this year in Louisville, Kentucky on March 13, 2020, by police during a raid from a no-knock warrant. Daniel Shular/Insider A handwritten note hangs as part of a memorial for Taylor at the apartment where she died. A handwritten note hangs as part of a memorial for Breonna Taylor on Sept. 24, 2020, at the apartment where she was killed earlier this year in Louisville, Kentucky on March 13, 2020, by police during a raid from a no-knock warrant. Daniel Shular/Insider Candles hold a note in place on the ground as part of the memorial for Taylor. Candles hold a note in place on the ground as part of the memorial for Breonna Taylor on Sept. 24, 2020, at the apartment where she was killed earlier this year in Louisville, Kentucky on March 13, 2020, by police during a raid from a no knock warrant. Daniel Shular/Insider Activists wait outside the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections for protesters who were arrested on Wednesday during demonstrations. Police arrested 127 people in total on Wednesday. Activists wait outside the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections for protesters who were arrested on Wednesday during demonstrations to be released on Sept. 24, 2020. Police arrested 127 people in total on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. Daniel Shular/Insider Antwain Milliner said he feels "like people are going to get more animosity" following the shooting of two Louisville police officers Wednesday night. "It's going to make police look at individuals differently, the people, the citizens." Milliner stands near Jefferson Square Park on Sept. 24, 2020 in downtown Louisville. Daniel Shular/Insider Louisville resident Aaron Johnson stands next to his grill in Jefferson Square Park before handing out food. Louisville resident Aaron Johnson stands next to his grill in Jefferson Square Park before handing out food on Sept. 24, 2020. Daniel Shular/Insider Rev. Raymond Johnson from Marion, South Carolina, spoke with people gathered in Jefferson Square Park. Reverend Raymond Johnson from Marion, South Carolina speaks with people gathered in Jefferson Square Park "It's been very peaceful. "I came here to march tonight, I want love, I come to pray", Rev. Johnson said, "I can understand they're frustrated, but I don't want to take that frustration in violence." Johnson went on to say, "I think tonight is going to be a lot calmer." Daniel Shular/Insider "It's been very peaceful. I came here to march tonight, I want love, I come to pray," Johnson said. "I can understand they're frustrated, but I don't want to take that frustration in violence." He added: "I think tonight is going to be a lot calmer." Johnson spoke with fellow Vietnam war vet Richard Dickerson, who came to Louisville from Alabama. Reverend Raymond Johnson from Marion, South Carolina talks with fellow Vietnam war vet Richard Dickerson, left, who came to Louisville from Alabama. "Things that happened in Vietnam, you're in a war zone, 40 years later I'm back I don't expect to see that", Johnson said about black Americans who have been recently killed by police in the United States while standing in Jefferson Square Park on Sept. 24, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky. Daniel Shular/Insider "Things that happened in Vietnam, you're in a war zone. Forty years later, I'm back I don't expect to see that," Johnson said, comparing his experience in Vietnam with Black Americans who have been recently killed by police in the United States. Names of Black people who have been killed by police are placed in a circle around Taylor's memorial. Names of black people who have been killed by police are placed in a circle around the Breonna Taylor memorial that stands in Jefferson Square Park on Sept. 24, 2020, in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Daniel Shular/Insider Democratic Senate candidate Amy McGrath greeted Louisville resident Michael Dorsey in Jefferson Square Park. Kentucky democratic senate candidate Amy McGrath bumps elbows with Louisville resident Michael Dorsey on Sept. 24, 2020 in Jefferson Square Park. " I don't understand what David Cameron saw", Dorsey said about Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameren's announcement that none of the three officers who shot Breonna Taylor were going to be charged for her death. "It's kinda obvious that they're not really going to do anything, but hopefully we can take this situation and maybe next time the laws are gonna change and views are gonna change", Dorsey said, "I think we're gonna begin start loving each other." Daniel Shular/Insider Dorsey said he doesn't "understand what David Cameron saw" following his announcement that none of the three officers were charged for Breonna Taylor's death. "It's kinda obvious that they're not really going to do anything, but hopefully we can take this situation, and maybe next time the laws are gonna change and views are gonna change," Dorsey said. "I think we're gonna begin start loving each other." Mauro Jones, 61, of Louisville writes, "The laws were meant to slaughter us," with chalk on the ground in Jefferson Square Park. Mauro Jones, 61, of Louisville writes "The laws were meant to slaughter us" with chalk inside Jefferson Square Park on Sept. 24, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky. "I knew they weren't gonna find them guilty of her murder, I already knew, they never do", Jones said about the decision to not indict the three police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor, "I just really think they're above the law". Daniel Shular/Insider "I knew they weren't gonna find them guilty of her murder, I already knew, they never do," Jones said regarding the Taylor case indictment. "I just really think they're above the law." Reverend Karleen Jung said she found out about the decision to not indict the three police officers in Taylor's death after finishing up a food ministry event. Jung sits in Jefferson Square Park on Sept. 24, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky. Daniel Shular/Insider "I'm here with a couple of colleagues, we kind of exchanged messages last night and decided we needed to come down here," Jung said. "Ultimately, the issue in our city and really, in our country is very systemic. It's about changing laws." Read the original article on Insider As many as 200,000 disabled children over the next eight years could potentially be locked out of their Child Trust Funds unless their families pay hundreds or even thousands of pounds in court fees. Campaigners, Child Trust Fund and Junior Isa providers and trade bodies are in discussions with the Government to come up with a solution to a nearly 20-year-old timebomb which is beginning to go off for families and their vulnerable children. Children with mental and physical disabilities reliant on their parents to manage their money do not have the capacity to do so themselves, leaving them unable to access their Child Trust Fund savings when they turn 18. As many as 200,000 children could be unable to access their Child Trust Fund savings without a court order due to a problem with how the savings accounts were designed But because the money belongs to them, their parents or guardians are unable to access it either unless they get an order from the Court of Protection letting them manage the money on their child's behalf. The court application can cost 365 plus up to 2,500 in solicitors' fees which in many cases will more than wipe out the amount of money saved into a CTF, with the UK's largest provider OneFamily saying the average amount held in its accounts was 2,100. The Government and CTF providers insist the procedures are necessary to protect vulnerable children from being exploited by unscrupulous people attempting to access their money and to maintain their legal rights. But the lawyer who has been campaigning for a change in the law since 2016 said the risk of abuse was 'tiny', due largely to parents saving their own money for 18 years on behalf of their child and being trusted by the Department for Work and Pensions to manage their child's benefits. Philip Warford, the managing director of law firm Renaissance Legal, said the problems affecting as many as 200,000 of the 6.3million Child Trust Fund holders dated back to the launch of the accounts in 2005. The savings accounts were launched by then-Chancellor Gordon Brown, with children born between September 2002 and January 2011 given a voucher of up to 500 by the Government, with parents encouraged to contribute too. More than 700,000 teenagers will be given the keys to their Child Trust Funds over the next 12 months. But Mr Warford said it was never made clear to parents that disabled children would be unable to access the funds at 18 due to their lack of mental capacity. My son James would like to buy a new adapted bicycle with his savings, but because the scheme has no process for dealing with mental capacity issues, come September he will be completely barred from accessing his account. Andrew Turner Andrew Turner, from West Sussex, wrote in The Guardian at the end of August that his disabled son James, who would be one of the first trust fund teenagers to turn 18, would be blocked from accessing the funds. He wrote: 'He would like to buy a new adapted bicycle with his savings, but because the scheme has no process for dealing with mental capacity issues, come September he will be completely barred from accessing his account. 'We then face the cost and delay of an application to the court of protection on his behalf. With coronavirus delays in the court system, we are told it could take up to a year to secure this approval. 'In 2005, the government offered parents additional incentive payments to invest in a child trust fund if they were claiming disability living allowance. 'From September, many of these disabled young people may not receive any benefit from their savings if they are reliant on their parents for help with finance. 'The prospect of initiating a formal court process alongside the challenges of supporting a disabled young person will be daunting for many families.' A petition started by Philip Warford's law firm Renaissance Legal has just under 4,500 signatures. It has seen a spike in interest since the problem of disabled children's trust funds was raised on TV at the end of August The same problems also currently affect the 954,000 holders of Junior Isas if they are disabled and unable to manage money. Mr Warford told This is Money that he believed there was a simple way to fix the problem by adapting an existing procedure which allows the parents of children with less than six months to live to access the money provided they get confirmation from a medical professional. He said the Child Trust Fund regulations 'should be adapted to cover severe disability' in cases 'where a person will not be deemed not to have capacity to manage a bank account for themselves', enabling the money to be accessed before a child turns 18. While talks continue between trade bodies and the Government over changes, Mr Turner told This is Money it was 'disappointing that nothing has changed for so many years', even if he 'remained hopeful that a new process will be agreed shortly for both CTFs and Junior Isas'. Jon Lee, head of investment at OneFamily, which looks after around a quarter of all Child Trust Funds, said: 'We believe this is an important issue that needs to be urgently addressed, to ensure that all teenagers have equal access to the full balances of their child trust funds. 'I'm pleased that our industry bodies - TISA, the Building Societies Association and UK Finance - are working with the Ministry of Justice to draft new industry guidance that could potentially help many families. 'All those involved want this situation resolved as soon as possible; but we have not any timings promised as yet. 'In the meantime, we'll continue to review each case sensitively and with compassion. Everyone's situation is different, so in certain circumstances it may be possible to release funds if sufficient proof of identification can be provided by the person responsible for managing the young person's finances. 'We encourage customers who may be in this position to get in touch so that we can assess the support they need.' A spokesperson for the trade body UK Finance said: 'We are working with the Government and other trade bodies to strike the right balance between ensuring that all children owning a Child Trust Fund are able to access it, with appropriate protections that are designed to help more vulnerable young adults as they become eligible to access their funds.' But in the meantime the Government has continued to insist that families must go through the expensive and time-consuming process of applying to the Court of Protection. With as many as 200,000 children caught up in the problem, Mr Warford said that could result in as many as 25,000 a year having to go to court over the next eight years. HMRC also told The Telegraph in March this year that 'funds could be accessed if Power of Attorney is in place', a stance which Mr Warford described as 'completely absurd'. He told This is Money: 'It's totally a red herring. A Power of Attorney is something that you give. I can give it to you, and you can give it to me. It's not something which you can unilaterally take from me. 'For me to be able to give it to you, I have to be 18 and I have to have a relatively high level of mental capacity. If I had that high level of capacity, I could manage my CTF, so the access problem does not come into question.' The Ministry of Justice insisted to This is Money there were instances where a child who did not have the capacity to withdraw their Child Trust Fund money could still have the capacity to make a Power of Attorney. A spokesperson said: 'The requirement for a parent or guardian to have obtained legal Power of Attorney or an order from the Court of Protection is vital in ensuring vulnerable people are not exploited.' Bhubaneswar, Sep 25: The Congress and the Left parties along with farmers held protests across Odisha on Friday, demanding the withdrawal of the farm sector reform bills passed in Parliament. Activists of Naba Nirman Krushak Sangathan (NNKS) led by Akshya Kumar took out rallies in different districts, while members of the Western Odisha Krushak Sangathan under the leadership of Lingaraj staged protests against the bills. The farm bills will no way help farmers, rather put them in trouble," Lingaraj said, while CPI(M) leader Suresh Panigrahi accused the NDA government at the Centre of making provisions to exploit farmers. He said the contract farming will destroy the agricultural economy in the country. Carrying placards and posters, farmers of other outfits took processions in different parts of the state. Allowing corporate and capitalists in the farm sector will cause hardship to poor farmers," Congress MLA Suresh Routray said. The agitating farmers in Odisha got the support of trade union workers, activists and students. However, the ruling BJD which opposed the farm bills in the Rajya Sabha did not participate in the protest marches. Senior BJD leader and MLA Debi Prasad Mishra said the party has already registered its protest against the farm bills in Rajya Sabha. Leader of Opposition P K Naik of BJP said, There is no justification to oppose the farm bills. The central government has passed the bills for the welfare of the farmers." The three bills passed by Parliament are the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020. 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 New Delhi: British telecom giant Vodafone Group plc on Friday won an arbitration against the Indian government over a demand for Rs 22,100 crore in taxes using retrospective legislation. An international arbitration tribunal ruled that India's demand in past taxes were in breach of fair treatment under a bilateral investment protection pact. "The award is confidential but Vodafone can confirm that the tribunal has found (it) in Vodafone's favour," Vodafone Group said in a statement. "We are studying the lengthy documents and can make no further comment at this time." It was not immediately known if the Indian government will abide by the arbitration award. The Government of India's liability will be restricted to about Rs 75 crore -- Rs 30 crore in cost and another Rs 45 crore in tax refund, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Vodafone had before the arbitration tribunal challenged India's usage of a 2012 legislation that gave it powers to retrospectively tax deals like Vodafone's USD 11 billion acquisition of 67 per cent stake in the mobile phone business owned by Hutchison Whampoa in 2007. It challenged the demand of Rs 7,990 crore in capital gains taxes (Rs 22,100 crore after including interest and penalty) under the Netherlands-India Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). Sources said the tax demand was on the UK-listed company and Vodafone's India venture faced no liability. Vodafone merged its India operations with billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla's conglomerate but the combined entity Vodafone Idea Ltd is facing a USD 7.8 billion bill in past statutory dues. Tax authorities had in September 2007 served notice to Vodafone International Holdings BV (VIHBV) for its alleged failure to deduct withholding tax from consideration paid to the Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. Vodafone challenged this in the Supreme Court, which in January 2012 set it aside, saying the transaction was not taxable in India and so the company had no obligation to withhold tax. In May that year, Parliament passed the Finance Act 2012 that amended various provisions of the Income Tax Act 1961 with retrospective effect to tax any gain on transfer of shares in a non-Indian company which derives substantial value from underlying Indian assets. The company was in January 2013 served a tax notice of Rs 14,200 crore after including interest on the principal amount. A year later, Vodafone challenged the tax demand under the Dutch BIT. Sources said the company in April 2014 served the notice of arbitration after out-of-court dispute resolution talks failed. The tax department in February 2016 served a demand notice of Rs 22,100 crore, including interest accruing since the date of the original demand. Vodafone has always maintained that there is no liability and that it will "continue to defend vigorously any allegation that VIHBV or Vodafone India Ltd is liable to pay tax in connection with the transaction with Hutchison and will continue to exercise all rights to seek redress". Besides Vodafone, the Indian government also used the retrospective tax legislation to seek Rs 10,247 crore from British oil explorer Cairn Energy Plc over a 2006 reorganisation of its Indian businesses. Prince was a prolific artist in his lifetime but his posthumous re-releases such as Sign O Times show even more of his genius Prince is back. Well, not in the earthly realm, but his famed vault has meant that his estate has had a prodigious amount of material to work with since he made his transition to an ancestor on April 21, 2016. Read More: H.E.R., Misty Copeland, Gary Clark, Jr. highlight the Prince Grammy special, Lets Go Crazy Though he released 39 albums in his lifetime, Prince recorded much more music and stored it in his famed vault at Paisley Park that contained more of the master recordings hed sought complete control over in his life as a Warner Bros. artist. Complete albums were stored away in the vault, along with abandoned songs that Prince worked on with and without collaborators over his three-decade career. Since hes passed, the estate has put out a 1999 rerelease, remastered to account for modern digital recording techniques and an EP, Piano And a Microphone 1983 featuring Prince trying out versions of his hits and other songs in various stages of completion on the piano. They also put out Prince: Originals and a Prince 4Ever compilation album mostly of songs already released on other albums. If that wasnt enough, this year, the estate promised something the Prince community had long been waiting for a remastered super deluxe rerelease of his 1987 classic Sign O the Times. The songs were culled from three albums Prince had in progress Crystal Ball, Camille, and Dream Factory recorded with The Revolution until Prince abandoned that project, cut them out, and recorded a bunch of new songs. That album would become what is largely considered to be his master project and includes the title track, the hit U Got the Look with Sheena Easton, and the classic ballad Adore. Prince said in the liner notes for his 1993 release The Hits/The B Sides that he wrote Adore specifically for the Quiet Storm radio format that featured artists like his friend and collaborator Patti LaBelle, and Luther Vandross. But since then, ex-fiancee Susannah Melvoin has claimed the song as one he wrote for her. Story continues The remastered CD, which just means that the album has been brought up from its likely original analog recording to digital and every tracks sound improved (playing the original meant having to turn the volume way up to account for the difference) came in multiple packages from an 8 CD, 1 DVD set to a 13 LP, 1 DVD set. Or you could just listen to the release on streaming media via Apple Music, Tidal or Spotify. Both editions feature 45 new songs and a DVD with the Dec. 31, 1987 Paisley Park performance, the last on his Sign O the Times tour featuring Miles Davis, and a June 20, 1987 show at Stadium Galgenwaard in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Princes Paisley Park, now a museum in Chanhassen, Minnesota. which he built in the 80s and recorded Sign O The Times among many other albums. (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images) The most obvious takeaway is aside from the fact that Prince was a productive, prolific musical genius with an insane work ethic is that the original Sign of the Times CD still holds up. It is an amazingly diverse work that spans pop, R&B jazz, and funk/soul with a little of the Prince genre thrown in a combination of all of them with that special sauce he had that made so much of his music sound innovative. If youve ever discussed Princes music with a musician, and I have, they will talk about his technological prowess working with equipment that was new at the time like the Linn drum, as well as an ear that just heard things differently and a will that allowed him to take musical risks. Remastering this album is like someone restoring an old painting to its former grandeur its only right to make sure that genius stands the test of time. As for the 45 new tracks, Princes output is overwhelming, which makes you understand why Warner Bros. tried to curtail his releases. You could probably spend the rest of your life exclusively listening to Prince and still not have enough time to absorb it all. He wrote some really, really good and some great songs and made some great music well after his age and lack of radio airplay had people thinking his prime was long past. There are a few throwaways on every new rerelease but many of the tracks on the Sign O the Times super deluxe version have been fan fave bootlegs for years. The tracklisting first speculated on by Prince fansites when the release was still rumored. Most of it proved true. Standout tracks include Witness For the Prosecution, Can I Play With U, his collaboration with Davis, a ridiculously compelling version of The Ballad of Dorothy Parker with horns, an alternate take of Forever in My Life, the jazzy Electric Room With No Light and a first-take version of Power Fantastic, a woefully underrated song that first appeared on The Hits and the B Sides. There are likely more standouts but even I couldnt get to them all before this was turned in. The thing about Prince is that if you are so inclined there is a seemingly endless output of tremendous art that if you love music or make it, you can take your time going through to find new things to enjoy or be inspired by. As Prince once said in a song, there will never be another like me. Read More: Dave Chappelle says Prince only person who cared after show departure That brother wasnt lying. We were blessed by his talent in life and can still be surprised by it in death. Wherever in the heavens or the skies that he still reigns, hes left us something to remember him by. How did we get this lucky? Have you subscribed to theGrios podcast Dear Culture? Download our newest episodes now! The post Princes Sign O the Times re-release shows that masterpieces never age appeared first on TheGrio. Kentucky native George Clooney is speaking out about Breonna Taylor's case. On Wednesday, Sept. 23, former police detective Brett Hankinson was indicted on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment for his involvement in the fatal shooting of Taylor in March. Hankinson was charged for firing shots that entered Taylor's neighboring apartment. Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove were not criminally charged. They were both, however, with Hankinson the night of March 13 when Taylor was fatally shot after authorities were granted a search warrant to enter her Louisville home in relation to a narcotics investigation. In the months following Taylor's death, the family's attorney, Lonita Baker, denied that she was involved in any drug activity. During a Wednesday press conference following the announcement of the grand jury's decision, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Mattingly and Cosgrove were "justified in their use of force" in response to a shot fired by Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Cameron issued a response to the ongoing outcry over the case. Stars Donating to Black Lives Matter Organizations "There will be celebrities, influencers and activists who have never lived in Kentucky who try to tell us how to feel, suggesting they understand the facts of this case, and that they know our community and the commonwealth better than we do," Cameron said. "But they do not." Clooney, however, expressed how "ashamed" he was of the grand jury's decision. "I was born and raised in Kentucky. Cut tobacco on the farms of Kentucky. Both my parents and my sister live in Kentucky. I own a home in Kentucky, and I was there last month," he shared in a statement with E! News. "The justice system I was raised to believe in holds people responsible for their actions," he continued. "Her name was Breonna Taylor and she was shot to death in her bed by 3 white police officers, who will not be charged with any crime for her death. I know the community. I know the commonwealth. And I was taught in the schools and churches of Kentucky what is right and what is wrong." Story continues He concluded, "I'm ashamed of this decision." George Clooney, Breonna Taylor This isn't the first time in recent months the actor has used his platform to bring attention to racial injustice and other social issues. In June, Clooney penned a powerful essay for The Daily Beast that was titled "George Clooney: America's Greatest Pandemic Is Anti-Black Racism." "This is our pandemic," he wrote. "It infects all of us, and in 400 years we've yet to find a vaccine. It seems we've stopped even looking for one and we just try to treat the wound on an individual basis. And we sure haven't done a very good job of that." Clooney touched on the Black Lives Matter movement and the nationwide protests held in Taylor and George Floyd's honor. "The anger and the frustration we see playing out once again in our streets is just a reminder of how little we've grown as a country from our original sin of slavery," he explained. "The fact that we aren't actually buying and selling other human beings anymore is not a badge of honor. We need systemic change in our law enforcement and in our criminal justice system." "We need policymakers and politicians that reflect basic fairness to all of their citizens equally," he continued. "Not leaders that stoke hatred and violence as if the idea of shooting looters could ever be anything less than a racial dog whistle. Bull Connor was more subtle." Before closing, Clooney left readers with a final message of hope. "So this week, as we're wondering what it's going to take to fix these seemingly insurmountable problems, just remember we created these issues so we can fix them," he shared. "There is only one way in this country to bring lasting change: Vote." Mike Pompeo defends being vocal about his evangelical faith: 'I think it's important' Im an evangelical Christian and I believe Jesus Christ is my Savior Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended being outspoken about his evangelical faith as he spoke before an annual gathering of conservative Christian voters Tuesday night, saying that religion drives how people think about the world and their families. Pompeo, a former congressman and CIA director, sat down with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins for a video interview that aired during the first night of FRCs annual Values Voter Summit, an event that traditionally takes place in-person in the nations capital but this year is being held online because of the pandemic. The 56-year-old, who has often been vocal about his faith and spoken about his Christian identity in speeches overseas and at some prominent American evangelical churches, was offered the chance to defend his action of putting his faith out in the forefront despite criticism from some atheists and secularists. People appreciate knowing who you are, that you are authentic and that you dont hide the things that drive you, the central underpinnings of who you are, Pompeo said. For me, I am an evangelical Christian and I believe Jesus Christ is my Savior. I think when I meet with counterparts, whether they are from an Arab state that is a majority-Muslim country or in Israel, a predominantly Jewish country, I think they appreciate people who are consistent and know where you are coming from. We all have different ideas. Those three religions have some centrality. They come from Abrahamic faiths. But they appreciate that. Earlier this month, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice criticized Pompeo for being an overtly religious secretary of state" after he gave a video speech played during the Republican National Convention that he recorded while he was in Jerusalem. Rice claimed that it was "problematic" because hes "supposed to represent all of America" and its religions. While speaking with Perkins, Pompeo referenced a speech he gave when he went to Cairo, Egypt, last year. He talked about being an evangelical Christian and how were all children of Abraham. I still get notes to this day from people all around the world [who say that] for you to stand in Cairo and talk about your being an evangelical Christian but recognizing that the people in Egypt were predominantly from a different religion, but you could find places where you could work together and make life better for people of both countries, Pompeo said. I think that is the way diplomacy is best conducted when people are honest about who they are, what drives them. ... I swore an oath to the U.S. Constitution but the person I am is important for people to understand. Pompeo shot down the notion that the faith of diplomats should be put on the back burner. Perkins, one of the nations leading Christian conservative activists and a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, noted that 80% of the world is religious in orientation who make decisions based upon those deeply held beliefs. Too often in the West, we have held to this secular mindset that religion has to be pushed out when the world makes decisions based upon their faith, Perkins added. So as a believer who believes that faith is real and it affects peoples lives, I think it gives you an advantage in diplomacy. Pompeo responded by saying that this type of mentality exists in many countries. When you cant talk about it or you push it to the background or you push it aside or pretend it is not part of the process of analysis, you are taking away one of the fundamental elements of human nature, Pompeo reasoned. We are all made in the image of God. That drives how people think about their lives, their families, all the things that matter and that we hold most dear. I think it is important. The secretary added that the Trump administration has worked hard to maximize religious freedom for every human being all across the world. There were days I wish we did better, as you know from serving on the commission, Pompeo admitted. There are lots of places in the world where religious freedom is not available. That saddens me and drives me every day to work to help my team to improve the lives of those people and give them more space to exercise their conscience rights. On Sunday, the former congressional representative from Kansas spoke at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, pastored by Jack Graham. While there, Pompeo called on Americans to keep faith in the public square. Faith in the public square is not only lawful but righteous. This faith is not only powerful, but required by the American tradition, the secretary said, quoting George Washingtons farewell address: Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable support. In October 2019, Pompeo also received criticism after he spoke at the American Association of Christian Counselors World Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, about what it's like to be a Christian leader, saying that he draws on the wisdom of God to help him be a force for good in the life of human beings. Pompeo has spoken multiple times at the FRC Values Voter Summit over the years, going back to his days as a congressman. President Donald Trump is among many other notable politicians and speakers expected to speak at the summit this week. The day before the Almeda fire melted their Phoenix, Oregon, home and food truck beyond recognition, Lichen Richardson and Phoenix Sigalove were relaxing at Lake of the Woods about 45 minutes away. Armed with floaties, towels, and plenty of snacks, they enjoyed the lake views and watched their kids jump off their rented pontoon boat "10,000 times," Richardson jokes. They wanted to celebrate one last day of summer before the kids were due on Zoom calls for their first day of distance learning on September 8. The founders also wanted to enjoy their first real vacation after two breakneck years running their food truck in nearby Ashland and Medford. Parked at weddings, downtown food truck hubs, and wineries, Richardson and Sigalove's Daddy Ramen served dishes like Roasted Chicken Miso Ramen and BBQ Brisket Wontons, and pulled in about $100,000 in sales in 2019. Between the two of them, Richardson and Sigalove have four children--ages 7 to 14--from previous marriages, so they frequently balanced evening grocery runs and all-night ramen broth brewing sessions with karate class and making school lunches. But they found the work fulfilling, Sigalove says. And the pandemic had been good for the business: Daddy Ramen saw about a 20 percent bump in sales and finally started generating a profit. After a successful first day of remote classes, the family checked into a hotel, mostly to get away from the smoke near their home. From what they could tell, the fire itself was still two towns away across a highway and their home was in no immediate danger. But things changed quickly. The next day, a neighbor who was last to evacuate sent them videos of their house, food truck, and cars--all reduced to rubble and blackened metal. "Nothing in those pictures or those videos are recognizable as anything that was once my home, once my business, once my purpose in life," Richardson says. Their plight hasn't gone unnoticed. In the wake of the fire, friends and fans of Daddy Ramen are crowdfunding a campaign to help Sigalove and Richardson get back to doing the work they loved: Feeding people. The campaign has raised $38,200 as of September 23, and while it won't replace everything, it's a start. Bowls With a Bigger Purpose. Richardson and Sigalove met in 2015 through a mutual friend and bonded over a love of cooking. In particular, they loved the intricacy of creating ramen; a process that can take up to 18 hours. After many all-night cooking experimentation sessions, Richardson and Sigalove pulled together enough money from family and friends to buy a custom food truck with wood paneling on the outside and a Ford F-250 pickup truck to pull it--$75,000 all told. Daddy Ramen served its first bowl in May 2018. From day one, the couple aspired to feed anyone who was hungry, not just paying customers. They operated a "pay it forward" system where customers could buy a bowl of ramen for someone in need, paying $8 per bowl instead of the usual $13. For those orders, Richardson and Sigalove would place a brightly colored coaster in the window to represent a free meal for anyone who needed one. But even when the pay-it-forward account was empty, "We never turned away somebody in need," Richardson says. Over the years, they gave away 2,000 meals, Sigalove estimates. One question they got all the time: "People would say to us, how do you know that they need it?" he says. While opening the truck early in the morning in downtown Medford, Sigalove recalls how people would come out of the nearby tree line carrying sleeping bags, shivering from sleeping outside, and line up for hot bowls of ramen. "We knew, very early on, we were onto something," he says. "Quickly, we became known as a place where anybody could get a meal, no questions asked." They say it never occurred to them to stop giving away free food even when they were straining to pay for basic expenses. In the slower winter months in 2019, with fewer events and no farmer's markets, Richardson says they forwent purchasing things like toothpaste so they could make rent and keep their children comfortable. However, the giving program and word of mouth it generated on social media helped drive customers to the truck, especially during the pandemic, Sigalove says. During that time, when the lines were longer, he estimates they gave away as many as 40 meals in a day's shift. The Campaign to Rebuild. Twelve hours after discovering that the Almeda fire consumed the couple's food truck and their home, Richardson and Sigalove's friend Lola Danforth started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for the couple. While she set the initial goal at $8,000 to help the family get back on its feet, the donations kept coming in. So Danforth expanded the mission to include restarting Daddy Ramen and upped the goal to $40,000. Friends and family contributed, but Richardson says they don't know many of the donors, such as Elizabeth Smith, who donated $750 last week. "We feel fortunate to be able to support them at this wretched time, knowing that if the situation were reversed, they'd have our backs," Smith posted on the campaign's website. "It's more money than we've ever had in our bank account or even close," Sigalove says. Still, they need to find a new home to rent, replace everything they owned, and buy a new truck. The commercial kitchen appliances required in the truck alone cost upwards of $15,000. For the moment, they're staying temporarily at a friend's vacation home in Ashland, and spending a fair amount of their time on the phone with insurance companies. The founders say they don't expect coverage for anything in their home; their request to add renter's insurance six days before the fire didn't go into effect in time. They say they're hopeful they will recoup at least some of their investment on the food truck. In the meantime, the couple has been donating to other GoFundMe campaigns related to the fires. They aim to find a commercial kitchen in the coming days so they can cook with Rouge Food Unites, a program to deliver meals to people displaced by the fires and give jobs to restaurant workers. Sigalove's grandfather's watch was one of the few items they managed to salvage from the fire. Richardson lamented on her Facebook page the other things they won't get back: her first fake ID, her great-grandmother's jade earrings, and the cork from the bottle of champagne they popped on the food truck's first day of service. Still, both say they're grateful to still have intact the most important thing: their family. Neither has lost the entrepreneurial spirit and drive to give to others, despite all of the challenges ahead. A few weeks ago, crimson skies and bloody orange-coloured sun made headlines as a result of record-setting widlfires burning across Colorado, California, Oregon, and Washington in the United States. Air pollution, the most dangerous element of huge fires The fires not only ejected smoke, but soot and ash into the air amid searing heat. This is because smoke from wood burning strongly absorbs purple and blue light leading to longer wavelengths to pass through and the sky taking on shades of red. The unreal colours that engulfed the skies over the western US in early September is a red alert for our air pollution and climate emergency. Most importantly, air pollution may be the most dangerous element of the massive fires. AFP Health risk of smoke explained In several areas along the West Coast, air quality has still not upgraded from the worst category: hazardous. The smoke from these wildfires is adding more stress to communities already battling COVID-19 and health systems already burdened with extra patients. The dirty air could also worsen the symptoms associated with the respiratory infection. The smoke itself is a mixture of gases and particles like volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, soot, and ash. Right away, they can cause watery eyes and scratchy throats. AP But the biggest threats from smoke come from some of the tiniest particles, particularly those with a diameter smaller than 2.5 microns, known as PM2.5. These particles can penetrate deep into the airways, exacerbating heart and lung problems. Further, scientists have demonstrated that smoke from pine and eucalyptus woods both of which are common in Northern California have caused genetic mutations in affected bacteria. To corroborate the fact, a study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives in 2018 suggests that these bacterial mutations also serve as indicators for elevated risks of cancer. Fires and their relation with climate change While wildfires, by their very nature, are a part of a healthy ecosystem and have happened throughout history, it cant be underestimated that the scope of the wildfires we have recently seen is a direct feedback relationship with climate change. Annually, some seven billion tons of carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere via wildfires, with that figure only increasing year after year. Also, the black carbon, a short-lived climate pollutant, thats released from wildfires can actually absorb heat while floating around in the air and temporarily warm the atmospheres where it pockets in across the country, continent, and world. AFP Recent research shows that the heat-trapping potency though short-lived is much higher than previously thought, somewhere between two-thirds to twice as much carbon dioxide. It is certain that there is no going back from this man-made chaos. But it can be made better with sustainable living, evolved day-to-day life decisions and the need to start exactly NOW. Vodafone Group Plc. won a crucial victory in a years-long tax dispute with the Indian government, a development that could potentially save the UK wireless carrier almost $3 billion. An international arbitration tribunal ruled Friday that Indias efforts to claim 200 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) in past taxes were in breach of fair treatment under the bilateral investment protection pact between the south Asian nation and the Netherlands, according to a lawyer representing the company in the case. The tribunal has also asked India to halt its efforts to claim the tax dues. India can appeal. Shares of Vodafone Idea Ltd., Vodafones money-losing India unit, jumped 14% in Mumbai after CNBC-TV18 reported the ruling, the biggest gain since Sept. 3. The ruling may ease the burden on Vodafones India venture at a critical time when it is already facing a demand for billions of dollars in back-fees Indias Supreme Court ordered it to pay last October in a separate case. The joint venture between Vodafone and billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birlas conglomerate has been weighed down by a $7.8 billion bill from the government -- biggest among peers -- eight straight quarterly losses and over $14 billion of debt. Vodafone has finally got justice, said Anuradha Dutt, managing partner of DMD Advocates, a New Delhi-based firm which argued for Vodafone. They have held that the government trying to recover from Vodafone the tax, interest, and penalty, is unfair and it breaches the fair and equitable standards laid down by international law. A Vodafone spokesman in London confirmed the tribunal has ruled in the companys favor. The award is confidential, he said. We are studying the lengthy documents and can make no further comment at this time. A spokesperson for Indias finance ministry did not answer calls seeking comment on the arbitration court ruling. This marks the latest twist in over a decade-long tax dispute that started when Vodafone entered India by acquiring Hutchison Whampoas Indian operations in 2007 and was slapped with this tax bill. Vodafone disputed this tax demand and the countrys Supreme Court agreed that no local law supported the levy of this tax. But the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee amended the tax rules to apply retrospectively, triggering a legal battle that ended up in the Hague arbitration court. As South Africa's preeminent initiative to advocate for the advancement of gender empowerment, Standard Bank Top Women has once again embarked on its annual conference aimed at addressing issues of gender inequality, in all its various forms. The theme for the 2020 instalment of this prestigious event is aptly titled "Brave Conversations", which looks at administering social change through brave conversations and challenging the role we play as society in empowering women to accelerate growth in Africa. Caster Semenya & Hon. Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane at the 2019 Standard Bank Top Women Conference Funeka Montjane, Chief Executive, Personal and Business Banking at Standard Bank South Africa Dr Saundarya Rajesh, social entrepreneur and Founder-President of Avtar, India (voted a top speaker in 2019) Hajer Sharief, Human rights advocate & Co-Founder of Together we build it, Hajer promotes the participation of women and youth in peacebuilding efforts Libya Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Entertainer & Founder the Princess of Africa Foundation South Africa The realities Of women in business in South Africa As a trusted partner and a brand of influence, Standard Bank wants to lend its voice in supporting the call for collective social change within South Africa and Africa as a whole. As a nation, if we truly want to participant in real change, we cannot stop at acceptance, we must have conversations that push and pull at the issue of gender inequality, says Lindy-Lou Alexander, Head of Marketing for Personal and Business Banking at Standard Bank.This compelling narrative will be explored at various lengths by some of South Africas leading women in celebration of women across the African continent. The conference will be in the form of a webinar, in respect to the adherence of lockdown and social distancing. This gathering will take place over two days and will be attended by some of the nations most accomplished businesswomen and thought leaders on 1 and 2 October 2020.Amongst the various speakers and women of influence the conference will be attended by:This years Top Women conference through the lens of Brave Conversations really allows us to empathetically highlights issues affecting women and how we go about solving them as a collective, says Alexander.More than half of South Africas population is female, yet only 34% of SMEs are women-led, according to survey conducted by Facebook in partnership with the World Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).Female entrepreneurs face challenges that are unique to them. Common barriers for women entrepreneurs include a lack of capital and assets, fewer business-orientated networks in their communities, lower status in society, higher levels of domestic responsibility and culturally induced lack of assertiveness and confidence in their ability to succeed in business.To help women progress Standard Bank has implemented various initiatives focused on growth and development from both an internal and external perspective. Supported by United Nations Women and the Commission for Gender Equality, the Top Women Conference joins hands with women from all walks of life in an ambitious campaign and a refreshed narrative in Brave Conversations, that focuses on the advancement of women and girls.We are excited that, through our Brave Conversation theme we offer a quality bolstered innovative programme that will allow women entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to learn and be fast tracked to high-level networking with trade executives, to grow their business acumen and skills development through panel discussions, and to gain valuable exposure among captains of industry, concludes Alexander. Mesothelioma is a deadly cancer mainly caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. Unfortunately, mesothelioma is generally diagnosed at an already advanced stage and none of the therapeutic strategies tried so far is able to eradicate the disease. So new biomarkers that could help to identify the disease at an earlier stage are urgently needed. Also, a more thorough understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying mesothelioma malignant features could guide the application of more successful targeted approaches or combination strategies. Researchers from the team of Antonio Giordano, Director and Founder of the Sbarro Health Research Organization at Philadelphia, PA (www.shro.org) and Professor of Pathology at the University of Siena, Italy, set out to address these urgent needs. The authors analyzed the expression of tiny RNA molecules microRNAs which are key regulators of gene expression programmes. Through a microarray analysis, they identified a signature of 48 microRNAs that are differentially expressed between the normal mesothelial tissue and the mesothelioma specimens, provided by Luca Luzzi and Cristiana Bellan from the University of Siena. A subset of these microRNAs was further studied through an alternate method (qRT-PCR) and their differential expression was also validated in an extended case series. Within this list of new potential candidate biomarkers, able to distinguish cancer from normal tissue, the authors also identified microRNAs previously associated to mesothelioma, such as miR-145 which is implicated in mesothelioma development and resistance to chemotherapy, further supporting their role as a classifiers of benign versus malignant mesothelial tissues. Among the candidates, the authors zoomed in on miR-320a because its family members showed the same trend of deregulation in mesothelioma even if located on different chromosomes, which suggests that a common upstream mechanism leads to their dysregulation. The authors showed that miR-320a targets PDL1, a well known player of the antitumoral immune response and target of recently developed immunotherapy strategies. Interestingly, the authors previously found that miR-320a is in turn a target of the p53 tumor suppressor, being directly upregulated upon stress cues. P53, which is often inactive in mesothelioma because of alterations in its pathway, is able to downregulate PDL1 expression through the action of other microRNAs. "Our findings suggest that a defective response to stress owed to p53 inactivation might contribute, through a consequent microRNA-defective regulation, to develop immunosuppressive features thereby favoring mesothelioma escape from organismal immunosurveillance" says Caterina Costa of the National Cancer Institute of Naples, Pascale Foundation, first author of the study published September 14 on Cell Death and Disease, a renowned scientific journal of Springer Nature. Once again, our studies of this deadly cancer point to a crucial role of tumor suppressor genes, which are poorly actionable." Francesca Pentimalli corresponding author of the study from the Pascale Institute and Adjunct Professor at the Sbarro Institute, Temple University of Philadelphia "We hope that the identification of these microRNAs and their mechanisms of action will lead to the identification of biomarkers that could help us to diagnose mesothelioma at an earlier stage and to identify new urgently needed therapeutic strategies" concludes Luciano Mutti President of the Italian Group on the Study and Therapy of Mesothelioma and Adjunct Professor at the Sbarro Institute. O utcry over the killing of Breonna Taylor has resurfaced this week after a Kentucky grand jury opted not to move forward with charges against any police officers for their role in her death. The grand jury on Wednesday indicted only a single officer - Brett Hankinson - for shooting into neighbouring apartments on the night of March 13, when Ms Taylor, a Black woman, was shot dead during a police raid which saw three white officers force their way inside her home. Mr Hankinson was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in connection to the raid. Neither the grand jury nor the presiding judge elaborated on the charges, while the attorney general meanwhile said the two other officers' actions had been justified. But the decision prompted immediate dismay amid protesters pressing for justice over Ms Taylor's death, with demonstrations erupting in her home city of Louisville, where the grand jury resides. The unrest saw gunfire ring out and two local police officers wounded by shots. Protesters also gathered in several other cities across the US, including New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Portland. So, here's what you need to know about the case: Anger over the decision not to charge Kentucky police officers for Breonna Taylors death has poured into Americas streets / Getty Images What happened to Breonna Taylor? Ms Taylor, an emergency medical worker, was shot multiple times by officers who entered her home on March 13 during a narcotics investigation. According to an arrest report, the officers had been granted a "no-knock" warrant, allowing them to enter the property without warning. The warrant was connected to a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside. The use of no-knock warrants has since been banned by Louisvilles Metro Council. Ms Taylors boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, opened fire when police burst in, hitting one of the police officers at the scene, Sergeant Johnathan Mattingly. Mr Walker was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but prosecutors later dropped the charge. Mr Walker told police he heard knocking but did not know who was coming into the home and fired in self-defence. What did the grand jury decide? Ms Taylor's relatives and activists had been pressing for the three officers to be charged with murder or manslaughter. But the Kentucky grand jury rejected those calls after reviewing the case, instead charging only Mr Hankison with three counts of wanton endangerment in connection with the March 13 police raid of Ms Taylor's home. At a news conference, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Mr Hankison and the two other officers who entered Ms Taylors apartment announced themselves before entering the apartment and did not execute a no-knock warrant. According to Kentucky law, the use of force by Officers Jonathan Mattingly and (Myles) Cosgrove was justified to protect themselves," he said. "This justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges in Miss Breonna Taylors death." Regarding the inevitable disappointment by those who wanted criminal charges brought in Ms Taylors death, he added: The decision before my office as the special prosecutor in this case was not to decide if the loss of Ms Taylors life was a tragedy. The answer to that is unequivocally yes. Mr Cameron added that I understand that Breonna Taylors death is part of a national story, but the facts and evidence in this case are different than others involving police shootings. If we simply act on emotion or outrage, there is no justice, he said. Mob justice is not justice. Justice sought by violence is not justice. It just becomes revenge. He added that the FBI is still investigating potential violations of federal law in the case. What has happened to the police officers involved? Mr Camerons office had been receiving materials from the Louisville Police Departments public integrity unit while they tried to determine whether state charges would be brought against the three officers involved, he said. Before charges were brought, Mr Hankison was fired from the citys police department on June 23. A termination letter sent to him by interim Louisville Police Chief Robert Schroeder said the white officer had violated procedures by showing extreme indifference to the value of human life when he wantonly and blindly shot 10 rounds of gunfire into Ms Taylors apartment in March. Mr Hankison, Sergeant Johnathan Mattingly, Officer Myles Cosgrove and the detective who sought the warrant, Joshua Jaynes, were placed on administrative reassignment after the shooting. On September 15, the city of Louisville settled a lawsuit against the three officers brought by Ms Taylors mother, Tamika Palmer, agreeing to pay her 12 million US dollars and enact police reforms. What has the reaction to the grand jury's decision been? The grand jury's announcement prompted immediate dismay among some quarters. Justice has not been served, tweeted Linda Sarsour of Until Freedom, a group that has pushed for charges in the case. Rise Up. All across this country. Everywhere. Rise up for #BreonnaTaylor. Lawyer Ben Crump, who is representing Ms Taylors family, meanwhile tweeted that the charges involved nothing for the murder of Breonna Taylor". "This is outrageous and offensive," he added. Meanwhile, protesters incensed by what they describe as racist policing for their part vowed to persist in their fight for justice over Ms Taylor's death as they took to the streets in cities across the US. Violence seized the demonstrations in her home city of Louisville this week as gunfire rang out and wounded two police officers. Police have meanwhile enforced a curfew in the city, where Mayor Greg Fischer said violence is not the answer. Im asking everyone to reject violence, he said. Our community is hurting the question obviously is what do we do with that pain. An Automotive Company Successfully Devises a Market Entry Strategy to Enter the German Automotive Industry | Infinitis Recent Successful Market Intelligence Engagement LONDON--The automotive industry has been highly competitive due to continuous technological advancements and changing consumer preferences. The German automotive industry has successfully established itself as one of the most successful and challenging automotive markets globally. Many automakers are attempting to enter and compete in the German automotive industry. However, the barriers to entry are extremely high, and the lack of a market entry strategy has often led to failure for various automakers. Infinitis market intelligence engagement can help automotive companies devise an appropriate market entry strategy, identify and tackle the multiple barriers to entry, and successfully establish themselves as leaders in the German automotive industry. Leveraging Infinitis market intelligence engagement may be exactly what your organization needs. Request a free proposal to learn more about Infinitis expertise in market entry strategies and the German automotive industry. World-class R&D infrastructure, industry value chain integration, and highly skilled workforce are some of the major factors that contribute to the German automotive industrys success, says an automotive industry expert at Infiniti Research. Business Challenge: The client, an automotive company, based out of North America, decided to expand their business operations to the German automotive industry. They sought to increase their market share, revenues, and profits by doing so. However, the German automotive industry is highly competitive and the client found it challenging to overcome the barriers to entry. Therefore, they approached Infiniti Research to leverage our expertise in offering market intelligence engagement. Within the seven-week engagement, the client sought to map out their market entry strategy, stay abreast of German automotive industry developments, and understand supply chain disruptions caused by Brexit. Speak to industry experts to gain a detailed understanding of Infinitis market intelligence engagements and how it helps automotive companies devise effective market entry strategies and gain comprehensive insights of the new market. Our Approach: Infinitis market intelligence experts developed a comprehensive market entry strategy to help the client enter the German automotive industry. The approach included the following: Market research and gathering comprehensive insights into market developments, industry cost drivers, and various certifications required to launch a new vehicle in the German automotive industry. Market scanning and monitoring to evaluate the technology market landscape and identify growth opportunities, and understand the impact of disruptive technologies on their business. Consumer research to understand the needs, preferences, values, and behavior of consumer segments in their target market. Competitive intelligence study to analyze the top automotive companies in Germany, understand all factors impacting the business operations in the German automotive industry, and strategies adopted by top automakers to tackle supply chain complexities. Business Outcome: By leveraging Infinitis expertise to devise a market entry strategy to enter the German automotive industry, the client gathered market insights and gained a detailed understanding of the competitive landscape. Consequently, the client built strategic business plans and identified the best business partners to support their operations in the German automotive market. By leveraging Infinitis market intelligence solution, the client was able to: Differentiate their brand from other automotive players with innovative marketing efforts Increased market share by 20% within two years To learn more about the business impact of Infinitis market entry strategy, and gain comprehensive insights into the German automotive industry, read 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 analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions and develop intelligent business strategies. To know more, visit: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/about-us Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 19:52:18|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ANKARA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for the detention of 82 Kurdish politicians, including former lawmakers of pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP), as part of an investigation launched over deadly protests in 2014. "The Ankara Prosecutor's Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau has launched an investigation on the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) terrorist organization and its so-called executives, as well as certain political party executives and members," the prosecutor's office said on Friday. At least 18 of the suspects were detained in simultaneous police raids in seven cities of Turkey, semi-official Anadolu Agency reported. The current mayor of eastern Kars city Ayhan Bilgen from the HDP, and six former HDP lawmakers are reportedly among the detained. A week of violent protests caused 37 deaths in 2014. The protests came as a reaction to the Turkish government's perceived inaction towards the Islamic State militants' siege of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane. The Turkish government blames the HDP for being a political front for the outlawed PKK. The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for over 30 years, which has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people. Enditem WATERLOO More than 37,000 pounds of turkey bologna from Iowa farmers was delivered to three state food banks Thursday morning, including the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, 1605 Lafayette St. The Iowa Food Bank Association put $100,000 in CARES Act funding toward the turkey purchases, according to a news release. More than 52,000 Northeast Iowa residents will face food insecurity during the pandemic, said Barbara Prather, executive director of Northeast Iowa Food Bank. She worked with the Feeding Iowans Task Force and Department of Agriculture to coordinate turkey purchases and deliveries. When the pandemic hit, food insecurity hit the roof. That takes more food and more resources, Prather said. What this does is bring those resources so we can get them out into our community. Thursdays delivery was purchased from state meat processing company West Liberty Foods, owned by turkey growers. Another 37,000 pounds of turkey bologna will be delivered Oct. 22 to other state food banks, the release said. The purchases aim to help turkey farmers who struggled when sandwich chains saw a decrease in sales. Our farmers and our producers have been impacted by everything thats happening, said Iowa Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Julie Kenney. In the midst of challenge, theyre looking for opportunities to help others. About 12 million turkeys are raised each year by Iowa farmers, according to a news release, and their products are usually sold in grocery stores and restaurants. Iowas turkey industry is playing a critical role in bringing high quality, nutritious protein to families in need of food security, Gov. Reynolds said in a news release. Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg, who leads the Feeding Iowans Task Force, attended Thursdays deliveries in Waterloo. He said turkey bologna deliveries will be distributed equally among Iowas food banks in the coming weeks. Hiawatha and Davenport were the other Iowa cities to receive the first shipments. You had numerous Iowans, through no fault of their own, who perhaps were facing food insecurity for the very first time in their lives, Gregg said. Its one of the things that I think about personally because Im not somebody who has had to face food insecurity. Its something that you almost take for granted. He said the task force worked to implement creative solutions to food insecurity caused by COVID-19, drawing on the states agricultural and food processing industries. Just know at the end of the day, somebody will be going home with food because of something everybody in this room did to make a difference in the lives of people, Prather said Thursday. Love 2 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 25, 2020 / Ximen Mining Corp. (TSXV:XIM)(FRA:1XMA)(OTCQB:XXMMF) (the "Company" or "Ximen") is pleased to provide the following update on progress at the Kenville Gold Mine project in the Nelson mining camp in southern British Columbia. Work on the 257 portal is progressing well. Steel supports have been installed and a new entrance has been timbered in place at the 257 Portal (see photo below). Photo of new entrance installed in Kenville 257 Portal. Work is now focussed on laying bedding and placing the new steel culvert outside of the underground entrance (see photos below). Photo of truck arriving at Kenville Mine carrying crushed gravel for culvert bedding Photo of Kenville 257 Mine Level Portal and stockpile of crushed gravel for bedding (right). Photo of first section of culvert being placed outside of Kenville 257 Portal. Dr. Mathew Ball, P.Geo., VP Exploration for Ximen Mining Corp. and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, approved the technical information contained in this News Release. On behalf of the Board of Directors, "Christopher R. Anderson" Christopher R. Anderson, President, CEO and Director 604 488-3900 Investor Relations: Sophy Cesar, 604-488-3900, ir@XimenMiningCorp.com About Ximen Mining Corp. Ximen Mining Corp. owns 100% interest in three of its precious metal projects located in southern BC. Ximen`s two Gold projects The Amelia Gold Mine and The Brett Epithermal Gold Project. Ximen also owns the Treasure Mountain Silver Project adjacent to the past producing Huldra Silver Mine. Currently, the Treasure Mountain Silver Project is under a option agreement. The option partner is making annual staged cash and stocks payments as well as funding the development of the project. The company has recently acquired control of the Kenville Gold mine near Nelson British Columbia which comes with surface and underground rights, buildings and equipment. Story continues Ximen is a publicly listed company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol XIM, in the USA under the symbol XXMMF, and in Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin Stock Exchanges in Germany under the symbol 1XMA and WKN with the number as A2JBKL. This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the receipt of TSX Venture Exchange approval and the exercise of the Option by Ximen. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "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, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the possibility that the TSX Venture Exchange may not accept the proposed transaction in a timely manner, if at all. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: Ximen Mining Corp. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/607780/Ximen-Completes-Entranceway-and-Starts-Laying-Culvert-at-Kenville-257-Portal WASHINGTON - Attorneys for former national security adviser John Bolton on Thursday urged a federal judge to halt the government's efforts to seize the proceeds from his memoir and accused White House aides of improperly trying to stall publication of the book because it reveals unflattering material about the president. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth of the District of Columbia Circuit, voiced doubt, saying Bolton attorneys were mounting their own "political diatribe" in alleging Trump aides took unprecedented steps and politicized a pre-publication review of Bolton's book, "The Room Where It Happened." "Isn't the question whether the information is classified or not?" Lamberth prodded Bolton's defense. "You've engaged in that whole political diatribe, but it really has no place in what we're arguing today." The oral argument came one day after a lawyer for the career government official who conducted the initial review for classified information in Bolton's manuscript contended in a letter to the court that Trump aides had "commandeered" the process, then erroneously claimed it contained classified information and failed to propose edits to facilitate publication. On Thursday, the parties gathered for a video conference court hearing in the lawsuit brought by the Trump administration in June seeking to halt release of Bolton's book, an account of his 17 months as the president's top security adviser. Among other disclosures, the book reports that Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help him win reelection, confirms that Trump attempted to use military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's son and says Trump expressed willingness to halt or obstruct criminal investigations as personal favors to authoritarian foreign leaders. Lamberth refused to halt publication in a June 20 ruling, saying the government acted too late to prevent the sale of already distributed books. At issue Thursday was Bolton's motion to toss out the case, and the government's motion for a summary judgment ruled that the government can seize Bolton's profits because the book contained classified information. Bolton attorney Charles Cooper argued that the government had failed to allege that the former adviser knowingly disclosed such information and asserted that the nondisclosure agreements he signed required him to obtain written authorization to release only material he knew to be classified. If unsure, Cooper argued, he was required only to confirm from "an authorized official" - in this case, he argued, Ellen Knight, the National Security Council's senior director for records access - that the information was unclassified. Cooper claimed that this is what Knight verified by phone and email after the initial review and that Bolton knew of no other classified information remaining in the manuscript he submitted to his publisher April 27. "The government must be able to allege that Bolton knew or had reason to believe that his manuscript contained SCI, or it contained a description of activity that derived from SCI," the most sensitive compartmented information, Cooper argued. "They have not alleged that, and we would submit they cannot allege that." Arguing for the government, Deputy Associate Attorney General Jennifer Dickey denied that the contracts required that violations be knowing. Dickey said there was no dispute that Bolton gave the manuscript to his publisher without receiving formal written authorization that the pre-publication review he initiated was concluded. The government earlier produced six samples of what it asserted was classified material, three of which were classified before April 27 and one that Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency, said in a declaration "implicates" the most sensitive level of material. "It would make no sense for the pre-publication review to attach and then say an author could opt out before written authorization that it was completed," Dickey argued. If he objected with the process, Bolton should have sued instead of walking away. "What is unprecedented is for the most recent national security adviser, who had been entrusted with classified information on a daily basis, who has a Yale law degree, and experienced counsel would think it's consistent with his contractual or fiduciary duty to simply sign off to his publisher on April 27 without waiting for written authorization that it did not contain information damaging to national security," Dickey said. Bolton's side said it is premature to decide the case before Lamberth decided whether the defense can investigate whether information in the book was properly classified and whether the review was conducted in the interest of national security, or concocted to protect Trump from political embarrassment. The government has acknowledged that after Knight concluded that Bolton had completed required edits, national security adviser Robert O'Brien, whom Trump appointed to succeed Bolton, ordered an additional review - a move Knight and government attorneys called unprecedented. O'Brien tapped another new appointee, Michael Ellis - the NSC's senior director for intelligence and a former aide to Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. - who received his classification authority March 1 and was not officially trained on it until the day after he completed the Bolton manuscript review. In a letter from her counsel, Knight said that Ellis erroneously challenged hundreds of passages, that government attorneys pressured her to disavow her professional team's earlier conclusions and that when she refused, she was told she no longer had a path forward at the security council. Knight said several government attorneys agreed in a later debriefing when she speculated that the reason the Justice Department was suing Bolton was "because the most powerful man in the world said that it needed to happen," according to her lawyer's letter. Arguing Thursday, Bolton attorney Michael Kirk said there was a concerted effort by White House lawyers to get Knight to change her story over five consecutive days in 18 hours of meetings, which was especially revealing of bad faith. He also cited Trump's statement in June to television news anchors that the White House was going to try to block publication of the book saying, "After I leave office, he can do this." "Any concern truly grounded in national security would not magically evaporate when the president leaves office and is not subject to political embarrassment," Kirk said. Lamberth however objected. Knight "hasn't seen the material" submitted by the government only to the court that four government officials have declared to be classified, including a sensitive passage cited by Nakasone, the judge noted. "She didn't know what the final classifications were," Lamberth said. Racist white men love invading Black womens personal spaces. At least it seems that way. They treat us like were insignificant, and then bulldoze their way into our native countries, our cities, our neighborhoods, our streets, our homes and our bodies without criminal consequence. Perhaps the white mans feelings of entitlement to the Black womans personal space comes from the centuries of slavery when a white man could violate any Black woman within his reach and suffer no consequences. Perhaps these are the great days that our president longs for. Lets not forget that hes been accused of violating women at least 26 times. In March, white police officers invaded Breonna Taylors home and shot and killed her. On Wednesday, a grand jury decided that the two Louisville police officers who murdered her will be free to move around their Kentucky communities like it never happened. Every time I see Breonnas photo, I see myself. She could have been me. I could have been her. Breonna was a 26-year-old Black, college-educated, ambitious woman. When I was her age, I was working my first full-time job as a reporter for the Record-Journal in Meriden, and I was a full-time graduate student studying journalism at Quinnipiac University. I was living in my first solo apartment. It was a cute little one-bedroom in West Haven. I had a boyfriend at the time who lived 45 minutes away, and he sometimes spent the night at my house when he didnt feel like driving all of the way back home. Breonnas boyfriend was spending the night at her place when police officers botched a raid on her apartment. Ive imagined myself in Breonnas situation. Ive imagined laying in bed next to my boyfriend laughing and talking, and then suddenly the police are knocking down my door, firing bullets through my apartment and through my body. In this scenario that Ive imagined, Ive done nothing wrong, like Breonna. I wasnt really in the wrong place at the wrong time because I was home, where I should have been, just like she was. Breonna didnt deserve to be murdered. The cowards that murdered her dont deserve to be living outside of a prison cell. The city of Louisville will pay Breonnas family $12 million as part of a settlement for the botched raid, but that is not justice. Her life was worth more than that money. Her mother lost her daughter. As a mother of two, I would much rather have my sons here with me than $12 million. White people, just a few months ago you were horrified when you watched Minneapolis police officers strangle George Floyd for eight minutes and 46 seconds. After seeing that video, you swore that Black lives mattered. You quickly drafted statements about equality and social justice. You hired Black people and called them chief diversity officers. You created new confusing catch phrases to describe Black people, like BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color). You wanted to know what books you could read to learn about racism. You were studying systems of white supremacy and wanted every Black person you knew to tell you how you contributed to those systems. Now, an innocent Black woman has been killed in her home, and youre silent. Getting justice for Breonna Taylor was your pop quiz, and you have failed. Black people have been pleading for justice for some time now, and were not getting it. We are tired, but a Black persons fatigue mixed with anger and centuries of oppression is a deadly eruption just waiting to happen. There is going to come a time when Black people start shooting back, fighting back and strangling back. If we face the possibility of being killed without consequence, why wouldnt we fight back? The world will become as equally dangerous for white people as it is for Black people ... if not more. White people have been bullying Black people for 400 years. Weve been taking some major blows this year. Now Black women are livid. We are also well-educated, strategic, organized, financially literate and ready to obliterate anyone or anything that stands in the way of our freedom and safety. A severe storm is coming. Consider this your weather advisory. Stacy Graham-Hunt is a national-award winning columnist and author, who writes about race and identity. She is passionate about Black people telling their own stories. Email her at stacygrahamhunt@gmail.com or follow her on social media @stacyreports. By Trend Turkmenistan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have considered the possibility of implementing several joint projects, Trend reports with reference to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. The discussions were held during a videoconference between Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Vepa Hadjiev and USAID representative in Turkmenistan Nino Nadiradze. During the meeting, the parties considered issues of expanding cooperation between Turkmenistan and USAID. Thus, the participants of the meeting discussed the updated roadmap for Turkmenistan for the fiscal year 2021. Also, proposals were made to consolidate joint efforts to ensure peace, stability, and sustainable development in Central Asia and Afghanistan within the framework of the "C5+1" format of cooperation between the US and Central Asian countries. As earlier Stephen Guice, Public Affairs Officer of the US Embassy in Ashgabat told Trend, The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Local Works program will transform Turkmenistans livestock sector by applying locally-driven market-oriented, affordable solutions that will increase incomes for farmers, service providers, and entrepreneurs. Guice pointed out that the program will also foster links between the Government of Turkmenistan and the private sector. This past year, for example, USAID co-founded a successful pilot shipment of Turkmen melons to Austria with a local Turkmen firm, which demonstrated the viability of this new trade route and the demand for premium Turkmen produce abroad, noted earlier Guice. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz At least four school districts in Oregon have identified coronavirus cases among students or staff in the past week, The Oregonian/OregonLive has confirmed, and state agencies plan to publicly share more comprehensive data next week. Infected students or staff attended school in-person at two districts. The third case involved a student participating in online comprehensive distance learning with no classroom exposure, while a fourth school district identified cases involving staff who have not been in the classroom because of online learning. The cases involve 10 people in all, including family members who did not attend school. It does not appear any of the cases involved spread within a school setting, state and district officials said. Its unclear how many of the states roughly 600,000 students are currently being educated in brick-and-mortar classrooms this fall. State education officials say its at least 8,579, or about 2%. To answer that question, the Oregon Department of Education will begin requiring districts each Friday to provide detailed tallies quantifying how students are being taught. The state will post its data online beginning next week, offering the fullest picture yet about where Oregon students are learning amid the pandemic. School outbreaks will be publicly reported by a different state agency, the Oregon Health Authority. Its unclear what benchmark the agency will set for disclosing cases linked to a school or classroom, although it could be as low as a single case offering far more transparency than information shared about workplace infections. Scott Nine, Oregons assistant superintendent for education innovation and improvement, said officials are focused on identifying cases quickly and stopping spread. He said its too early to draw any inferences from the states experience with coronavirus during the first three weeks, or less in many districts, of in-person school. Its a very early beginning for us having students and educators back in some capacity, he said. We need to be very humble with how thats going to play out. Virtually all of Oregons largest school districts wont consider reopening classrooms to in-person learning until November at the earliest. Even then, state officials will limit reopenings based on state- and county-level metrics. Local districts have the final say about whether to resume in-person learning, with the likelihood that some communities will continue online classes even if cleared to reopen. Schools, and particularly college campuses, have become a new frontline in the spread of coronavirus nationally. While very few children become severely ill, some teachers in Oregon and across the country have expressed concern about transmission not only in schools but among students carrying the virus home to family. State officials have developed a 40-page manual to help school districts prepare for various scenarios they could encounter if a coronavirus infection is detected. The Brookings-Harbor School District, on Oregons southern coast, reported the states first case Sunday among someone whod been in a classroom. It was obviously like, Darn, said David Marshall, the district superintendent. And I probably would have used other words. But wed prepared for it. A student or staff member at the districts only elementary school, Kalmiopsis in Brookings, tested positive. The school is open five days a week to kindergarteners through third-graders, and the person had attended the previous week, Marshall said. Officials later identified a second case involving a student or staff member, although Marshall said the contact leading to spread occurred outside of school. Two family members of the known cases, who had no involvement at the school, also tested positive, he said. Marshall declined to specify if the infections involved students or staff, citing privacy concerns. UPDATE: When the Oregon Health Authority released data about cases at schools nearly a week after this story published, it disclosed only one case -- not two -- involving students, staff or volunteers at Kalmiopsis. Marshall said the district was as prepared as it could be, having run through COVID-19 scenario planning, compiling detailed class lists and sharing contact information with key officials in Curry County. At about noon Sunday, Marshall received a text message about the positive case from the county health department. That prompted the district to quickly provide a list of student and teacher names for contact tracers and jump-started broader notifications for the school. Unaware that it was the first district in Oregon to identify a case this school year at an open facility, Marshall said he opted to move the entire elementary to online learning for two weeks. We certainly felt the obligation to take a more conservative, precautionary approach so that it didnt become an event that had the potential to spread more broadly, he said, adding that in the future hed hope to only close in-person learning to an affected grade level. Since then, state education officials have learned of coronavirus cases involving students or staff in at least three other districts. One case is an adult in the Lowell School District in Lane County, Nine, the assistant state superintendent, said. The other is a student participating in online comprehensive distance learning in the Pleasant Hill School District, he said. Like Pleasant Hill, the Medford School District has also identified coronavirus cases among people outside of the classroom. The district is offering only comprehensive online learning, and the four cases are among staff, district officials said. UPDATE: When the Oregon Health Authority released data about cases at schools nearly a week after this story published, it did not disclose any cases among students, staff or volunteers within the Lowell School District. State education officials are now trying to get a better, data-driven handle on which schools are offering in-person learning so they can better respond to cases. The Oregon Health Authority is preparing to implement fairly extensive testing related to the first cases associated with schools, Colt Gill, director of the Department of Education, told districts in a letter Thursday. In order to be ready OHA needs to know where to place these resources geographically ahead of a confirmed case in a school, Gill wrote, adding: This enhanced surveillance effort will help us understand how to respond to COVID-19 cases in schools and help us maintain in-person instruction. Individual school districts are responsible for notifying families and staff about coronavirus cases within schools. But the Oregon Health Authority will soon begin sharing information about some school infections publicly, apparently with far more transparency than for other cases or clusters. In the case of workplace outbreaks, the health agency only reports instances in which at least five cases are linked to a business that has at least 30 employees. The agency created mirror standards for reporting outbreaks at schools and day cares, with a threshold of five cases and an enrollment of 30 students. But the state changed day care rules this week to report two or more cases at locations with at least 16 students. The Oregon Health Authority is still finalizing a new policy for schools. But the agency is expected to announce next week that it will publicly report each and every coronavirus case, by school, at locations where in-person learning occurs. For schools without in-person learning, the state would release information if an outbreak involved five or more linked cases, as is standard for other businesses. The information would be published in a weekly online report. State health and education officials are working together on the best ways to keep the public informed; protect staff, student and family privacy; and protect public health, Delia Hernandez, a public health spokeswoman, said in a statement. As more schools open to in-person instruction, she added, OHA will report COVID-19 cases associated with schools to the public in ways that balance these important priorities. To date, the state has reported confirmed or suspected coronavirus infections among 4,810 Oregonians ages 19 and younger. Of those, 56 have been hospitalized. No one within that age range has died. Note: This story has been updated to include Medford cases, which were not originally disclosed by the Oregon Department of Education. -- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt NEW YORK and TORONTO, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Hanover Square Press announced the virtual book tour line-up for Reverend Al Sharpton's RISE UP: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads (available 9/29/20), starting on September 28 with an all-star line-up of today's most important voices. Rev. Sharpton will be in conversation with Martin Luther King III and Pete Buttigieg, Michael Eric Dyson, Alicia Garza, and Van Jones. Tickets include a signed edition of RISE UP. RISE UP is his seminal call to action, and in the book, Rev. Sharpton draws on his decades of unique experience as a civil rights leader, a politician, and a television and radio host to encourage voters to stand up for what they believe and enact change in their country. In RISE UP, he revisits the highlights of the Obama administration, the 2016 election, Trump's subsequent hold on the GOP and his interactions and relationships with other key players in politics and activism. He also amplifies the new voices and movements that have emerged in response to the Trump presidency. Join Rev. Sharpton and these thought leaders on his virtual book tour: Left Bank Books ( St. Louis, MO ), 9/28, 8pm EST , w/ Martin Luther King III and Pete Buttigieg ), 9/28, , w/ and Politics + Prose ( Washington, DC ), 9/29, 6pm EST , w/ Michael Eric Dyson ), 9/29, , w/ Book Passage ( Corte Madera, CA ), 10/1, 8:30pm EST , w/ Alicia Garza ), 10/1, , w/ MahoganyBooks ( Washington, DC ), 10/3, 4pm EST , w/ Van Jones Rev. Sharpton notes, "I'm thrilled to be speaking to readers across the nation in this virtual format, and look forward to the thought-provoking and inspiring conversations we'll have with these critical voices." Rev. Al Sharpton is the host of MSNBC's "PoliticsNation" and the founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN), one of the leading civil rights organization in the world. With over 40 years of experience as a community leader, politician, minister and advocate, the Rev. Al Sharpton is one of America's most-renowned civil rights leaders. Sharpton also hosts the nationally syndicated radio show, "Keepin' It Real", which broadcasts in 40 markets, five days a week. He resides in New York. Moderator Biographies: Martin Luther King III Martin Luther King, III, the second child of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, has motivated audiences around the world with his insightful message of hope and civility. He has taken up the torch of his parents and continued the quest for equality and justice for all people. He has traveled extensively around the globe spreading the message of nonviolence and its role in resolving global, international, and cross-cultural conflicts. In addition to public service as an elected commissioner of Fulton County Georgia, Mr. King has served as the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, also co-founded by his father, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social change, founded by his mother after the assassination of his father. He has himself co-founded several organizations including Realizing the Dream, a nonprofit non-governmental organization that fosters nonviolent peace and development strategies. Pete Buttigieg Pete Buttigieg has served as a two-time mayor of South Bend, Indiana and was a Democratic candidate for president of the United States in 2020. A graduate of Harvard University and an Oxford Rhodes Scholar, Buttigieg enlisted in the US Navy Reserve and became lieutenant when he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2014. In April 2019 he announced his candidacy for president and in February 2020 won the Iowa Caucuses, becoming the first openly gay person to ever win a presidential primary or caucus. Michael Eric Dyson Dr. Michael Eric Dyson is a Georgetown University sociology professor, a New York Times contributing opinion writer, and a contributing editor of The New Republic, and of ESPN's The Undefeated website. Alicia Garza Alicia Garza is the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network, an international organizing project to end state violence and oppression against Black people. The Black Lives Matter Global Network now has 40 chapters in 4 countries. She also serves as the Strategy & Partnerships Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the nation's premier voice for millions of domestic workers in the United States. Additionally, Alicia is the co-founder of Supermajority, a new home for women's activism. Van Jones Van Jones is the CEO of REFORM Alliance, CNN host and political commentator, and an Emmy award-winning producer. Jones has been a leader in the fight for criminal justice reform for more than 25 years. He has founded and led many thriving social enterprises, including the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, and the Dream Corps a social justice accelerator that houses Dream Corps TECH, Green For All and #cut50, which led the charge to pass the FIRST STEP Act (a bipartisan Federal bill that the New York Times calls the most substantial breakthrough in criminal justice in a generation). About Hanover Square Press Hanover Square Press publishes compelling fiction and nonfiction encompassing a broad range of genresfrom crime, thrillers, literary and high-concept fiction to narrative history, journalism, science, biography and memoir. Hanover Square Press published its first titles in 2018, including the New York Times bestsellers Hurricanes by Rick Ross, Lincoln's Last Trial, Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense, and John Adams Under Fire, by Dan Abrams and David Fisher, For more information, please visit HanoverSqPress.com or on Instagram @hanoversquarepress. About Harlequin Trade Publishing Harlequin Trade Publishing is a leading publisher of commercial fiction and narrative nonfiction. The company publishes more than 100 titles a month, in both print and digital formats, that reach audiences globally. Encompassing highly recognizable imprints that span a broad variety of genres, the publisher is home to many award-winning New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling authors. Harlequin is a division of HarperCollins Publishers, the second-largest consumer book publisher in the world. Through HarperCollins' global publishing program, Harlequin titles are published in 17 countries and 16 languages. For more information, please visit HarlequinTradePublishing.com and @HTPBooks on Instagram. SOURCE Harlequin Related Links http://www.harlequin.com The Bobcat fire, as seen from the 105 Freeway and 605 Freeway interchange on Sept. 20, 2020, is one of the largest in Los Angeles County history. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Its too much, my friend Beth told me, when we talked not long ago. First corona and now the fires. Many of us were barely holding on before. We dont know how to deal with this as well. Beth lives in Northern California, where I have spent much of my adult life. Niko, my Finnish husband, and I, the trailing spouse, have been in Helsinki since early April. This separation from America is working a profound change in how I understand my native country, on how I see life in California. In Finland, COVID-19 has been largely contained since May. The people trust their government politicians and believe in science. No one I know here can believe that Americans would turn wearing a mask into a political litmus test. The social safety net is tightly woven: Finns arent homeless on the streets; they arent shooting one another on the barricades. Meanwhile, in the United States, more than 200,000 people have died of COVID-19, tragically and to a great degree needlessly. Three times a day on average, a civilian is killed by a police officer. The narcissist in the White House is hell-bent on destroying democracy. And some of the biggest fires in Californias history have devoured an area the size of Connecticut, with no end in sight. The more I weigh the differences between here and home, the more I find myself inching toward a status I never dreamed of: expat. I count Beth, a friend for 20 years, as one of the most feet-on-the-ground, not easily fazed people in my life. In March, when California instituted its COVID-19 lockdown, she and Ken, her husband, decamped from San Francisco to a second home near Point Reyes National Seashore. They peck at their laptops on weekdays, venturing out only for evening walks in the hills and a weekly run to the grocery store. They know how fortunate they are, how privileged. Still, anyone would chafe after spending so many months in even such benign lockdown. We havent seen our kids since March, Beth lamented. Weve had a few socially distanced, bring-your-own-food dinners with friends, but otherwise weve been isolated. Story continues And then came the fires. Helicopters overhead its like a war zone, Beth said when the fires were at their most dangerous. The Woodward conflagration, finally contained after three weeks, scorched nearly 5,000 acres and though it came within half a mile of their home, Beth and Ken were lucky on that count too. They didnt even have to join the hundreds of thousands of West Coast evacuees. But what about the next fire season or the one after that? What about October? Beth thinks these days in terms of layers of trauma: pandemic, fire, election nightmares, horrid air quality. Normal in Northern California seems far in the future. But for Niko and me, its been almost-back-to-normal since June. Early in the pandemic, the Finnish government invested in thorough contact tracing, and local authorities track the spread of the disease by testing groundwater sewage as well. Finland recently released an app that lets us know if we have encountered someone who tested positive, and it says something about my adopted country that 20% of the population signed up on the first day. Online data show the seven-day average of new cases per million in Finland at about 14; in the U.S., its about 130. We eat out (on terraces), get haircuts, visit museums. We worry about a second wave. But what this country did once to flatten the curve, it will doubtlessly do again if the number of new cases rises markedly. I devour U.S. news, but now I start the day reading the English-language Helsinki paper, for which I have started to write. I Zoom with friends at home, and listen to U.S. political podcasts, but the United States seems very far away, as if I were looking at it through the wrong end of a telescope. Niko and I had planned to return to San Francisco this month, but as the saying goes, Man plans and God laughs. Who would choose to go back now? When I speak with my friends, I remind them that, although they are barred from Finland until the U.S. has the pandemic under control, they could go to the U.K. or Ireland. After quarantining for two weeks, they would live a safer, saner life there. But none of them are budging. Its as if they have become inured to a dangerous new reality. Theres a bedroom in our apartment with your name on the door, I tell them. Perhaps a year from now when these fires at least will have receded, a vaccine is available and, fingers tightly crossed, theres a decent man in the White House they can take us up on our offer. Meanwhile, I try hard to imagine myself in their shoes, in San Francisco or Point Reyes, and sometimes only sometimes I succeed. David Kirp is an emeritus professor of public policy at UC Berkeley; he has permanent resident status in Finland. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. British tourists must provide evidence of a negative Covid-19 PCR test on arrival Travellers will be monitored in 'restricted' areas before taking another test Upon receipt of a second negative result, they may leave quarantine They must continue to self-monitor with daily temperature checks for up to 7 days from arrival in the country Barbados has seven-day rate of 1.4 Covid cases per 100,000 while UK has 52.1 Barbados has added the UK to its list of 'high risk' countries, meaning arriving British holidaymakers face a restricted movement period and will be monitored for symptoms for seven days after arrival. New restrictions will be implemented from October 1 after a surge in coronavirus cases in the UK, where another 6,634 infections were recorded yesterday alone. ADVERTISEMENT Tourists will be required to show evidence of a negative Covid-19 PCR test on arrival, or risk being refused entry to the idyllic Caribbean country. Those who fly in from Britain will be monitored for seven days and will be initially required to stay at a designated 'holding hotel or approved villa' at their own expense, or at a government facility free of charge. They would not be confined to their rooms, but would have limited access to some hotel amenities. Barbados has added the UK to its list of 'high risk' countries, meaning arriving British holidaymakers will be quarantined for up to a week. Pictured: Bathsheba, Barbados Four to five days after their initial test was taken, they will be retested and can leave their accommodation if they receive a negative result. The monitoring process is self-conducted. It includes daily self-temperature checks and sharing that information with the public health team who check-in via call or text. Monitoring is generally for seven days after arrival or the length of stay, whichever is shorter. Other 'high risk' countries include France, Ireland, Switzerland and the US. Barbados, which reopened its borders to international travel on July 12, is a popular winter sun destination for UK holidaymakers. The country's tourism authorities have issued a message to visitors which states: 'As we welcome you back to our beautiful island there are a number of precautions and safeguards being implemented to protect both locals and visitors.' Barbados is currently recording a seven-day rate of 1.4 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people, while the UK is on 52.1. Click here to resize this module Travellers arriving in the UK from Barbados are exempt from the nation's own coronavirus quarantine policy. ADVERTISEMENT But the 14-day self-isolation requirement will be reimposed on travellers from Denmark, Iceland, Slovakia and the Caribbean island of Curacao from 4am on Saturday due to a rise in cases. It comes as another 6,634 Covid-19 cases were recorded in the UK yesterday, meaning the seven-day rolling average is 48 per cent higher than it was a week ago. MailOnline analysis shows this is the fifth consecutive day the average compared to the week before has risen. Barbados is currently recording a seven-day rate of 1.4 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people, while the UK is on 52.1. Pictured: Rockley beach Before last Saturday, the weekly coronavirus growth rate had dropped every day for an entire week. It had plummeted from the high of 84 per cent on September 12 to 20 per cent on September 19. Chief scientific advisors to the Government, Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance have terrified the nation by their gloomy prediction that cases may reach 50,000 per day by mid-October, if nothing is done. They claimed infections were doubling every week, in line with growing outbreaks in Spain and France. But scientists shot down the claims, warning it was based on old data that relied on just a few hundred positive cases. Even Boris Johnson distanced himself from the claims, saying the outbreak could be doubling up to every 20 days. Other figures from NHS Test and Trace also suggest cases had dwindled last week. But the newest statistics - released yesterday - only go up until September 16, meaning any spike in the past week has yet to be confirmed in another government dataset. Department of Health figures show the doubling rate of cases is around two weeks. Almost 5,000 people are being diagnosed with Covid-19 every day at the moment, up from 2,500 on September 10. But this is based on lab-confirmed infections, and thousands of patients won't ever develop any symptoms. ADVERTISEMENT The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which tracks the size of the outbreak by carrying out thousands of random swab tests, estimates cases have risen 60 per cent in a week to 9,600 a day. While King's College London researchers, who are behind a symptom-tracking app, say it has doubled over the same time-frame to around 16,000. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Reuters) Stockholm, Sweden Fri, September 25, 2020 09:14 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c471a720 2 World Sweden,coronavirus,COVID-19,COVID-19-infection,pandemic,SARS-CoV-2,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus Free Some areas of Sweden are seeing a worrying resurgence of coronavirus infections because many people seem to have set aside months of caution in favor of full-on social life once again, its prime minister said on Thursday. Unlike most countries, Sweden eschewed a mandatory national lockdown against the pandemic, instead calling for personal responsibility, social distancing and good hygiene to slow rather than eradicate a disease seen as here to stay. Though still with a COVID-19 caseload much lower than in many other European countries, Sweden has recorded a gradual rise in new infections in recent weeks. On Thursday 533 new ones were reported, the highest daily number since early July. Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said Swedes had recently become too relaxed about heeding anti-COVID guidelines. "In Sweden, the situation is comparatively...stable, but we also see signs that the number of infections is increasing in certain areas in our country. That's worrying," he told a news conference. "The caution that existed in the spring has more and more been replaced by hugs and parties, bus trips in rush-hour traffic, and an everyday life that, for many, seems to return to normal. "What we do right now, we will be glad of later. What we do wrong now, we will suffer for later," Lofven added. He urged Swedes to adhere to social distancing and good hygiene standards, warning the government was ready to introduce stricter measures if needed to curb the spread of the virus. "Unfortunately, we are seeing a small upturn in Sweden," Chief Epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told reporters. "It is moving slowly but surely in the wrong direction, something we talked about that could happen in the autumn when we returned to workplaces." Sweden reported two new deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday, taking the Total to 5,878 since the start of the pandemic. That toll is many times more per capita than in its Nordic neighbors, but also well below countries like Spain and Italy that opted for hard national lockdowns. The government also said on Thursday it had decided to extend a loan guarantee scheme for small and mid-sized businesses until the end of the year. Amid a financial scandal that has indirectly implicated him, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the head of the saint-making office in the Vatican decided to step down from his post and renounce his cardinal rights, Thursday. The resignation of Becciu was confirmed by the Holy see through an announcement. The statement was that Pope Francis has accepted the decision of the cardinal to renounce the rights he has been awarded as part of the cardinalate and also his resignation from being a prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. According to The Associated Press, there have been no further details given by the Vatican on why the pope accepted the resignation of Becciu. Based on reports, the Vatican's former secretariat state No. 2, Becciu was reportedly involved in a financial scandal regarding an investment that the Vatican made in a real estate deal in London. The said deal cost the Holy See millions of euros which were paid as fees to middlemen. Several officials of the Vatican were placed by the Vatican prosecutor under investigation, including the middlemen. However, Becciu was not one of the officials that were investigated. He was only implicated because he has previously defended the original investment's soundness and denied that there was any wrongdoing. At the moment, it is still unclear whether the resignation on Becciu has any connections to the scandal or a possible separate line of inquiry. Read also: Deadly Assault Kills at Least 28 Afghan Police Amid Historic Peace Talks With Taliban Insurgent Group However, the sudden resignation of the cardinal and the severity of his sanction insinuated that there is more to the scandal that what is being let on. In addition, the conservative statement released by the Holy See about the downfall of one of its most powerful officials has caused some raised eyebrows. According to NBC News, the last time that a cardinal's rights were revoked was during the July 2018 sexual abuse investigation on American cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Last year, McCarrick was deprived of his ecclesiastical status by the pope for the charges of sexual abuse on adults and minors against him. Moreover, the Vatican's statement also said that Beccui remains a cardinal only without any of the cardinal rights. This was clarified by the statement referring to him as "His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Becciu." The 72-year-old cardinal would have been part of the conclave which may possibly choose the successor of the current Vatican sovereign, Pope Francis. However, by renouncing his rights, he also ceased his right to take part in the vote. The financial scandal which Becciu has been implicated in dates back to 2014. This is when the Vatican decided to venture on a real estate deal and invested more than $200 million in an Italian businessman-run fund. The said deal resulted in the Holy See having 45% of the luxury building situated in London's Chelsea neighborhood at 60 Sloane Ave. The money which was used was from the asset portfolio of the secretariat which is largely funded by the donations of Catholics around the world for charity use of the pope and expenses in the Vatican. Related article: Iran President Asserts Resistance from US Imposing Sanctions @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. For all the tumult and unease that have characterized this campaign for the White House, it is hard to imagine a potentially more consequential week of events than the one that will begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Its quite possible that by the end of next week, the contest between President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. will have a good deal more clarity than it does today. Consider: On Saturday, with all the orchestrated buildup and arguably faux drama that has become familiar to anyone who has followed his career as a developer, reality TV host and now president, Mr. Trump will unveil his nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. Some critical questions will come into focus. How much will the confirmation process overshadow the issue that Mr. Biden thinks could win the White House: Mr. Trumps handling of the coronavirus pandemic? The president has already shown that he can rally his party behind his choice and his decision to push for quick confirmation. How will Mr. Biden and Democratic leaders choose to wage a fight that might already be over, and that Republicans are hoping will be a trap for the former vice president? Three days later, Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden will meet at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland for the first of three debates. The importance of these kinds of events tends to be overblown, though it seems fair to say that the 90 minutes of their meeting in Cleveland might turn out to be the most important 90 minutes of the campaign. Democrats and some Republicans think a commanding performance by Mr. Biden, dispelling suggestions by Mr. Trump about his mental acuity or concerns among Democrats about his fortitude in standing up to the president, could set the framework for the final weeks of this campaign. Controversial city businessman Paul Kobia has led Matatu operators in a case seeking to stop Nairobi Metropolitan Services from banning PSVs in the CBD. The businessman and 50 matatu SACCOS have moved to court seeking to enjoin Badi and NMS in an earlier case against Governor Mike Sonko. In an application that was certified urgent, the petitioners through their lawyer, Henry Kurauka, want the court to order that the conservatory orders which were issued against Governor Sonko and the county government stopping the ban be served to Badi as well. That this court be pleased to order that the conservatory orders in force to prevent the respondents from implementing a decision to ban or prohibit public service vehicles from accessing Nairobi City pending the hearing of this petition to apply to Nairobi Metropolitan services and Maj-Gen Badi, said the petitioners. The applicants aver that some county functions such as transport were transferred to the national government to be implemented by NMS. They note that earlier this month, Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) Director-General Mohammed Badi purported to implement the ban prohibiting PSVs from accessing Nairobis Central Business District. On Tuesday, September 8, Badi appeared before the National Assembly Committee on Administration and National Security and said matatus will be barred from accessing the Central Business District from next month. Matatu and Boda Boda Operators Federation has since vowed to defy the looming ban. As a federation, we are saying we are not moving out of the CBD. What we need to do is like all other developing countries. Lets embrace the public transport system. We need to deal with the real issue here. The real issue is that everyone is now using their private vehicles, the federations chairperson Kushian Muchiri said on Tuesday. Wanjiku has to trek all the way from Ngara to the CBD. Why are we being so unfair? If Badi meets us, we will be able to tell him what really needs to be done, he added. For three generations before conflict and climate dried up much of the water his family grew bananas on this arid piece of the Jordan Valley just north of Jericho. Now, his few rows of young trees on just four acres account for one of the last remnants of the West Banks banana basket. He is one of the final growers left, and he knows chances are good that the same lack of water that drove out so many of his neighbors will end his familys 50-year run. Thick cloud of ashes are seen covering the surrounding areas of the city, following the eruption of Sangay volcano, in Colta, Ecuador, September 20, 2020, Picture taken September 20, 2020 in this image obtained from social media. Courtesy of Police of Ecuador/Social Media via REUTERS. (Photo : Reuters Connect ) Sangay Volcano in Ecuador let out a powerful eruption on September 20, at 4:20 local time. The explosion generated a dense, dark ash plume reaching out to an altitude of about 40,000 ft. The plume is moving towards the east and west direction. The volcano is known as one of the most active volcanoes globally and the most active in Ecuador; Sangay volcano exhibited a high activity level since June of this year. Ash fall covered the provinces of Chimborazo, Bolivar, Guayas Los Rios, Santa Elene and Manabi. The ash fall also covered 55,000 hectares of a banana plantation. In the province of Chimborazo, there was so much ash that the daylight turned into night. READ: Guatemala Fuego Volcano Releases Cloud of Ash 4,700 Meters up Into the Atmosphere in a Major Eruption The Volcanic Activity of Sangay Volcano Since January to June this year, Sangay volcano has been spewing ash plumes from 500 to 1,100 summit. The plumes would rise to more than 2,000 m and drift SW and W. On September 15-22, authorities have recorded seismic activities such as high-level explosions, harmonic tremors, earthquakes, and ash plumes that rise as high as 2 km above the summit. On September 20, the volcano let out an explosion with a massive ash cloud rising above the summit. In Bucay and Cumanda districts, authorities restricted driving, prohibited the opening of establishments and outdoor activities from avoiding ash fall. Meanwhile, operations were suspended in Jose Joaquin de Olmedo Airport in Guayaquil for seven hours to clean runways. Chimborazo was most affected by the ash fall, especially in the districts of Guamote, Alausi, Chunchi, Pallatanga, and Cumanda. Photos from the area suggest poor visibility and ashes covering the streets, cars, and houses. Agricultural lands were greatly affected. Residents and tourists are urged not to come near the danger zones. If the area is within the ash fall zone, use a mask, goggles, and limit exposure. READ ALSO: Earthquake Swarm Near San Andreas Fault, California at Big Quake Risk This Week The earliest recorded eruption was in 1628. Eruptions also occurred in 1628,1728, 1916, 1934, to the present. Sangay volcano is in the Morona Santiago province's unpopulated region, approximately 25 miles from the city of Macas. Local and regional Emergency Operations Committees were tasked to coordinate response measures and deliver humanitarian aid to affected areas. Damaged Banana Plantation The 55,000 hectares of the banana plantation is expected to decrease 25 percent to 30 percent of fruits exported worldwide. The loss is also equivalent to 1.5 million boxes of fruit, according to the banana exporters association. The areas significantly impacted by the ashfall are Naranjito, Mata de Cacao (Babahoyo), El Triunfo in Guayas, among others. The ash showers hasten the ripening process of the banana. Thus, to save the remaining bananas, workers in the field will have to follow a detailed guideline in handling and managing the fruit. READ NEXT: New Zealand's New Alert System for White Island Could Save Lives Check out more news and information on Volcanic Eruption on Nature World News. Attorney General Maura Healey has filed a lawsuit against a Massachusetts law firm that is accused of accepting tens of thousands in illegal kickbacks from a pharmacy in exchange for referring at least 800 of the firms personal injury clients. Keches Law Group, P.C. accepting more than $90,000 in kickbacks from Injured Workers Pharmacy in exchange for referring the clients to the pharmacy without disclosing its financial interest in the referrals or obtaining their clients' informed consent, Healeys office said in a statement Friday, announcing the lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court. Lawyers in Massachusetts are expected to follow the law, said Healey. Clients should feel confident that they are getting unbiased advice from their lawyers, not being steered towards providers that are secretly paying for referrals. Keches Law Group is surprised and disappointed by Healeys suit, which is based on the firms short-term marketing arrangement with an online pharmacy, reads a statement from Thomas F. Maffei, who is representing Keches. KLG cooperated with the AGOs unrelated investigation of that pharmacy and immediately terminated its commercial relationship. There was no quid pro quo, and to their knowledge no client was harmed. KLG denies that its conduct was unfair or deceptive in any way and disputes the AGOs characterization of the facts, the statement reads. For 35 years, KLG has fought to protect the rights and interests of thousands of injured Massachusetts workers and accident victims. KLG will continue to do so while it defends this claim. Healeys office started investigating Keches Law Group connection to an investigation of Injured Workers Pharmacys dispensing practices. That investigation led to an $11 million consent judgment, resolving claims the pharmacy violated the states consumer protection law by failing to implement adequate safeguards against unlawful and dangerous controlled substance dispensing and by paying kickbacks for new patient referrals, the statement said. Keches entered a one-year marketing agreement with Injured Workers Pharmacy in March 2017. The agreement indicated that IWP would pay Keches $4,000 per month to link to IWPs website and promote IWPs pharmacy services. However, internal emails show the true purpose of the monthly payments was to compensate Keches for referring at least 40 of its clients to IWP each month, the attorney generals office said. Healey alleges the firm and pharmacy agreed to a second, unwritten arrangement in January 2018. IWP agreed to pay for Keches' social events in exchange for referrals, the statement said. Ultimately, IWP paid more than $74,000 for the social events, including an X1 racing event, a yacht outing, and a nearly $ 24,000-holiday luncheon. Keches' referrals under the 2017 and 2018 agreements generated more than $1.2 million in revenue for IWP, Healeys office said. With the lawsuit, Healey seeks an order from the court permanently enjoining Keches from further violations of the consumer protection law, together with consumer restitution, civil penalties and attorneys' fees and costs. Former President John Mahama is asking the Electoral Commission (EC) to publish in full all names of applicants with defective ID cards on its website to ensure transparency in the voter exhibition exercise. Mr Mahama expressed concern about the many irregularities which had characterised the ongoing voter exhibition exercise including omission of names, duplication of numbers, and wrong identities of registrants. He stated that these anomalies if not resolved, would lead to political unrest, which may affect the country's democratic values. The former President said this on Thursday at a press conference in Accra to expressed the party's dissatisfaction about irregularities at the ongoing voter exhibition exercise. The exercise started from Friday, September 18 to 25, 2020 but was extended to Sunday, September 27 at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee on September 24. He said selected exhibition centres in the Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti, Savannah, Volta and other Regions have witnessed anomalies which needed urgent attention to rectify the problem to avoid any untoward situation. He said some EC officials were seen on social media printing new voter's cards to individuals with duplicate ID cards numbers, without the notice of the political parties. He said the conduct of the EC had generated anxiety from the public that the December polls would not be free and fair elections. "These warning signs do not augur well for the country, we will resist any form of intimidation from all quarters because the sovereign power comes from the people", he said. Mr Mahama called on the Commission to begin a regular comprehensive and transparent dialogue with the Inter Party Advisory Committee to resolve any electoral flaws ahead of the December polls. He said over the years, the EC had had a cordial relationship with IPAC and assisted the Commission to carry out its constitutional duties and ensured general acceptance of election results. Mr Mahama said the EC had ignored in recent times valuable advice from IPAC which had necessitated these occurrences in the electoral processes leading to the elections. He said the party would not accept the results of a flawed election from the Commission. He appealed to International Election Observers to focus their attention on Ghana and to monitor the country's electoral processes. Mr Mahama appealed to Ghanaians to visit the exhibition centres stations with their ID cards and ensure that their details were accurate in the register. He urged party's executive to suspend all campaigns and monitor the voter exhibition exercise to avoid any form of manipulations. Reacting to the issues, the Commission in a statement on September 21, explained that during the just ended registration exercise, few centres experienced the production of duplicate ID cards which resulted from registration kits bearing the same codes. This, according to the Commission led to the printing of Voter ID cards with the similar numbers for different persons, and that it was replacing the duplicate cards for the affected persons. The Commission entreated political parties to visit the affected districts offices to monitor the distribution of the duplicate cards to the affected persons. ---GNA Cookie Preferences Cookie List Cookie List A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website when visited by a user asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting for our advertising and marketing efforts. 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A total of 6,634 new coronavirus cases were recorded in the UK on Thursday the highest daily increase since the beginning of the pandemic. With the UK facing a second coronavirus wave, the chancellor announced a new employment package to replace the furlough scheme, although critics warn the significantly less generous plan wont stem the tide of job losses. Meanwhile, students in Scotland have been asked to avoid pubs this weekend and told they cant go home to see their families. Here is your morning briefing. With the furlough scheme due to end on 31 October, the chancellor announced his winter economy plan in place of the cancelled Budget. Rishi Sunak conceded that his emergency package of financial support for business and workers will not be enough to "save every job" and unemployment will rise as the effects of further restrictions are felt. The new plan, which is comparable to Germanys job support programme, is far less generous than the furlough scheme. Under the plan, workers will end up at least 77 per cent of their usual, full-time pay even if they only work a third of their normal hours. The government and their employer will pay the difference, with the Treasurys share capped at 22 per cent. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the end of furlough is likely to translate into sharply rising unemployment, while the prime minister said things will be tough. Students in Scotland have been told they cannot return to their family homes for the moment, due to the ban on household mixing, and have also been asked not to go to the pub this weekend. Scotlands national clinical director explained that the countrys new rules against indoor household mixing apply to students as well, as a number of outbreaks in universities led to scores of students being forced to self-isolate. More than 120 students have tested positive at Glasgow University, with some 600 being forced to quarantine across student halls. Clusters have also been identified in Dundee, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. It follows an admission by the health secretary that students may be asked to stay on campuses during the Christmas holidays. First minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted a message asking students to "please do whats being asked of you while saying she was sorry the pandemic was making a special time for students so tough". Ms Sturgeon also emphasised that Universities Scotlands advice to stay away from hospitality venues was just for this weekend. Tory move to increase parliamentary scrutiny of coronavirus restrictions gains backing A bid to increase parliamentary oversight over the governments coronavirus measures has gained increasing support. Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the powerful 1922 Committee of Conservative backbench MPs, put forward an amendment that would require parliamentary debate and voting on more restrictions. More than 40 Conservative MPs have said they back Sir Bradys bid enough to challenge the governments majority if the amendment is selected by the Commons Speaker and then voted through. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a senior Tory backbencher, said he was supporting the move because the government doesn't allow parliament to have scrutiny over these quite severe coronavirus measures". He added: "It's disgraceful really that really very far-reaching powers, curtailing people's civil liberties, have just been pushed through without a proper debate in parliament." Fix coronavirus laws that hurt vulnerable people, Law Society urges Coronavirus laws have had a disproportionate impact on societys most vulnerable, legal figures have warned, urging consideration ahead of plans to review the measures. The Coronavirus Act was introduced six months ago, and MPs will vote on renewing the rules next week which could see it kept in place for longer. Vulnerable people struggled to access justice and legal advice during lockdown as a result of the laws, a report by the Law Society of England and Wales warns. President Simon Davis said:"Those living in prisons, immigration detention or care settings, disabled people, children and victims of domestic abuse are particularly dependent on the state and have been disproportionately impacted by measures to contain the virus. "Government must maintain access to legal advice and courts during emergencies, so citizens are able to challenge exceptional measures. But many have been unable to access legal advice, despite efforts to set up technology to replace prohibited visits in person." The NSDC and other state agencies, together with international partners, are planning to completely close access to VKontakte in Ukraine. Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov says government agencies will trace people using Russia's VKontakte social network in Ukraine. "This is also their responsibility. The fact is that now the system that is starting to work will allow us to have information about those who use that social network. They all will be on the books. If they continue to distribute Russian content in Ukraine, the National Police will have to deal with them," he said during the online conference "Digital transformation of the state: prospects and risks of cyber security" on Friday, an UNIAN correspondent reports. In addition, Danilov said the NSDC and other government agencies, together with international partners, were planning to completely close access to VKontakte in Ukraine in the near future. Read also Ukraine embarks on development of cybersecurity strategy after recent cyber attacks Background You have been in films since 2006, tell us how you feel when you look back at your career graph? When I look back at my career, it is filled with hard work, luck, lots of ups and downs. It was not easy for me to sustain 13 long years in the south film industry and that too without a film background. So I can proudly say that I am a self-made star who is surviving for the past 13 years, while balancing ups and downs, trying to give good roles, and being a part of good movies. It's a mixed feeling. I feel blessed and also proud at the same time. You are playing the role of a vigilant and stylish crime detective Maha in Nishabhdam. Tell us more about the traits of the character? She is an officer in the Seattle Police Department, where she is investigating a case. And whatever u saw in the trailer, that's all we can say about her character as of now. But I would definitely say that she is bold, gutsy and a sincere investigating police officer. How different is Maha from the other roles you have done previously? Definitely, it is very different from the other roles that I have played in my career. It's the role of a cop with a modern personality. I have never played such a role in my career. I really wanted to take up the role when I was narrated about Maha because this was something I always wanted to try, something different from the typical ones. There comes a situation in life where you get a different role and you have to grab it. This one was such an opportunity. What attracted you to Hemanth Madhukar's film Nishabdham My role, because as I said I never did a role like Maha in my film career. And Nishabhdam's storyline is something that I loved. I personally love to watch thrillers and this is a pure thriller movie that I am doing for the first time in my career. The way he (Hemanth Madhukar) has written the characters and the screenplay, I think one will never want to say no to the movie. In the trailer released recently, we couldn't see combination scenes of yours with R Madhavan. Does the omission has anything to do with a big twist in the plot? (Laughs) I seriously can't explain that. It is knotted with the main script. But I can tell you that we all have great combination scenes with one another, which is worth a watch. How was it sharing screen space with Anushka Shetty? I had a great time working with Anushka. She is really positive and very friendly. We have a lot of combination scenes in the film. And the way our characters are described in the movie, it is fun to have that combination scenes. I really enjoyed working with her for those scenes and I was looking forward to its filming. I used to occasionally ask the director that when are we going to shoot those scenes. I really loved doing the movie especially because of those combinations. We saw combination scenes of yours with Michael Madsen. How was it working with a popular Hollywood star? I have major combination scenes with Michael Madsen. He is an extremely talented actor, I do not have to reiterate that. But working with him was a learning experience for me. The way he acts, the way he speaks in the scenes, and the way he delivers it is entirely different and I have never seen that style of working. It was new for me and I admired his way of work. It was a privilege for me to witness that and share screen space with such an actor. Were you nervous working with him? I was nervous in the beginning because I was not sure what kind of person he is. Generally, I need to have a comfort level while working together as it is not just one or day you are shooting for the film. I had many scenes with him and I really need that comfort with my co-star to deliver my best and luckily I got that from Michel Madsen. He treated me like a kid and would call me where is that little girl' (laughs). I really had fun working with him. Earlier, Nishabdham was scheduled for a theatrical release. Even when the trailer was released, many opined that it should have gone for a release at the theatres. What's your opinion about it? Ultimately, we have made this film for the audience to come to theatres and watch it and if that's not possible, we can surely go to their homes and can make them watch the movie (laughs). Well, if you are keeping a thriller away from the audience for a year, it will only stale. So I think it was a wise decision for us to opt for the OTT release. We really can't wait for the audience to watch Nishabdham. Ms Loielo and the instructing solicitor on the curfew case, Omar El-Hissi, held a press conference alongside Mr OBrien last week, where the Opposition Leader said his party had acted as matchmaker between Ms Loielo and the legal team leading the case: Marcus Clarke QC, Ms Plain, Dr Harkess and Mr El-Hissi. Mr OBrien repeated that statement on Wednesday and said he was very supportive of the fact that the Liberal Party is supporting this litigation against the curfew. As Ive said previously, Michelle [Loielo] is a member of the party, weve made no bones about that," he told reporters. Loading "Wed also been speaking to a number of lawyers who are very concerned that in fact the law had been broken, and the Premier and the government had acted illegally in bringing about the curfew." Mr O'Brien said there were "too many Labor law firms" in Victoria that would not have taken on the curfew case. "Well, thank goodness there are still some lawyers in the state who are prepared to to put their money where their mouth is, act on a pro bono basis and act for Victorians who've been done over," the Liberals leader said on Wednesday. Ms Plain and Dr Harkess receive up to $900 per day when they work for the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which provides independent reviews of administrative decisions by the federal government such as citizenship and immigration matters. They both work exclusively on migration decisions. Ms Plain and Mr Clarke have also provided legal advice to the Victorian Liberal Party that was referred to by shadow Attorney-General Edward ODonohue in Parliament earlier this month. Mr Clarke, Ms Plain and Dr Harkess told The Age they were unable to comment, citing Victorian Bar rules protecting lawyer-client confidentiality and preventing public statements about legal proceedings they are involved with. Mr El-Hissi did not respond to requests for comment. Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Federal shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, whose party has accused the government of making politically motivated appointments made to the tribunal, said he was particularly concerned that Ms Plain and Dr Harkess were "only recently appointed by the federal Liberal government to the lucrative jobs on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal". "Christian Porter needs to explain how the conduct of these lawyers is consistent with the AAT Members Conduct Guide," said Mr Dreyfus. In a statement, Attorney-General Christian Porter said questions about the AAT guidelines were a matter for the tribunal itself and defended Ms Plain and Dr Harkess. "As a lawyer, Mr Dreyfus should also understand that representing a client does not in itself suggest endorsement of that client or their particular views or activities," Mr Porter said. Loading Ahead of Supreme Court hearings beginning in the curfew case on Monday, the Andrews government's lawyers this week confirmed they would invoke public interest immunity to withhold key documents behind the extension of the curfew on September 13. On Thursday the court rejected the government's bid to also withhold advice on whether the curfew violated Victoria's Human Rights Charter. Greg Barns SC, an administrative law expert and member of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, said the AAT has been the subject of a great deal of public controversy in recent years because of the "overt politicisation of the appointment process by the federal Coalition government." "All its members, full time and part time, need to keep that background in mind in terms of the causes and cases they are involved with in their private practice," said Mr Barns, a current member of the Tasmanian bar. "It is not suggested in any way these members have acted unethically but given the AAT has been so politicised in recent years by one side of politics, it is probably preferable its members are careful not to involve themselves in high-profile political cases." "Were excited to be part of this years AFCEA virtual event and extend our cybersecurity expertise to attendees. This is an excellent opportunity for those in the field to get up to date on cybersecurity and learn how to improve cyber defense." - Christian Espinosa, Alpine Security CEO Alpine Security, a leader in cybersecurity training, will be hosting two virtual training events in coordination with AFCEA, a nonprofit organization for military, government, and industries to collaborate on technology. These courses are part of the AFCEA Mid-America Cyberspace Conference, which will be completely online this year. Alpine Security will host two interactive pre-conference training sessions to kick off the event. Both sessions will be on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, from 10:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m. The cost to attend is $247 and available to all attendees that have a full 2020 registration. First is Cyber Defense Ineffectiveness and What We Can Do About It, presented by Jana White, COO of Alpine Security. Attendees will learn about the current threat landscape, which is still prolific even in a time of vigilance, compliance, and advanced tools. The session will look into the proliferation of attacks, providing insights with data gathered from penetration testing, audits, and incident response. The presentation will offer solutions to common issues and the biggest challenges that face compliance, including cloud migration and adoption. Participants will also engage in group exercises to further knowledge and comprehension. Next, is Ethical Hacking Made Easy, presented by Alpine Security CEO Christian Espinosa and Myles Kellerman, Sr. Cybersecurity Engineer and Trainer, Alpine Security. This session will focus on the basics of ethical hacking with a framework. During the course, attendees will perform both active and passive reconnaissance, network enumeration, vulnerability identification, and other exploitation activities. This hands-on session requires the installation of VirtualBox. Were excited to be part of this years AFCEA virtual event and extend our cybersecurity expertise to attendees. This is an excellent opportunity for those in the field to get up to date on cybersecurity and learn how to improve cyber defense, Espinosa shared. To learn more about these classes and to register, please visit https://www.afceacyberconference.com/Agenda/Pre-Conference-Trainings. Space is limited for both events. ABOUT ALPINE SECURITY Alpine Security is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) formed in 2014. Founder Christian Espinosa, an expert in the field of cybersecurity, recognized the need for cybersecurity solutions for organizations to be more big picture than simply under the microscope. The company provides cybersecurity training, penetration testing, risk assessments, audits, and more. Learn more at alpinesecurity.com. Students in Scotland have been told they cannot currently return home to see their relatives as they belong to different households, and also must avoid the pub this weekend. The countrys national clinical director clarified that new rules banning household mixing indoors affect students amid a backdrop of coronavirus clusters at Scottish universities. And students have been told not to go to pubs and those who repeatedly flout coronavirus guidelines could be thrown out of university, under new rules. Around 120 students have tested positive at Glasgow University, where more than 600 have been self-isolate across residences. Was asked last night whether students in halls and flats can go back to parents homes, Jason Leitch, the Scottish governments national clinical director, tweeted on Thursday. To clarify, they are a separate household. He added: There are exceptions, eg caring responsibilities, but the law is clear: they cant meet indoors with another household even mum and dad. Sorry. His comments come after Matt Hancock, the UK health secretary, said he is not ruling out asking students to stay on campus over the Christmas holidays as a measure to tackle the spread of coronavirus, but that it was something the government wanted to avoid. Coronavirus clusters have been identified at several Scottish universities. A total of 120 cases of coronavirus have been identified in an outbreak at Edinburgh Napier University. NHS Lothian said the positive results had been confirmed from the establishment by Thursday morning, while there was a small number at the University of Edinburgh and Queen Margaret University. In Dundee, 500 Abertay University students were asked to self-isolate this week in student accommodation where three people have tested positive. Representatives from higher education in Scotland met to discuss a range of measures which would be introduced amid concerns over a number of outbreaks since term started. It has seen students required to download the Protect Scotland tracing app and they have been asked not to attend bars at the weekend. Universities have also now agreed to introduce a "yellow card, red card" system for breaches of student discipline that put students and others at risk, which could result in an end to their studies. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotlands first minister, tweeted a message to students on Thursday, saying she was sorry coronavirus was making a special time for them so tough". It wont be forever and the more we get the virus back under control now, the sooner youll get a bit of normality back, she said. So, please do whats being asked of you. She also reminded students Universities Scotlands advice to stay away from pubs and hospitality venues was "just for this weekend". Scotland announced new rules to stem the spread of coronavirus this week, including a ban on household mixing indoors and a 10pm curfew for pubs and restaurants. Additional reporting by Press Association By PTI NEW DELHI: A witness in the alleged rape case involving former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati has moved the Supreme Court seeking to handover the investigation to a central agency such as CBI or NIA and to transfer the case outside Uttar Pradesh. The petitioner Anshu Gaur, who is a prime witness in the said gang rape and POCSO case against Prajapati, claimed that even after his arrest attempts to threaten and coerce the witnesses did not stop. "Petitioner kept running from pillar to post in the State of Uttar Pradesh, requesting for protection for himself as well as for the victims, who, due to their already disadvantaged position, were at a great risk of giving up their fight for justice, since they were being constantly subjected to a combination of extremely coercive tactics on one hand and enticements on the other," the plea, filed through advocate Mehmood Pracha, said. The petition said that the cases deserve to be tried at a neutral venue, where the Court can function without fear, pressure or favour, as also the witness and other concerned parties can depose freely. ALSO READ | SC stays HC order granting bail to ex-UP minister Gayatri Prajapati in gang rape case The plea has also sought directions that then minor victim be administered proper medical treatment and care, including psychological, away from the influence of the accused. In a jolt to Prajapati, the apex court has earlier stayed the Allahabad High Court's order granting interim bail for a period of two months on medical grounds to him in a gang rape case. The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on September 3 had granted the interim bail to Prajapati, who was a minister on the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government, on health grounds. However, despite the grant of bail, Prajapati could not come out of jail as he remained in judicial custody in a fresh case of fraud, forgery and criminal intimidation was registered against him. Prajapati is in jail since March 15, 2017, and is currently undergoing treatment for various ailments at KGMU, Lucknow. He, along with others, is accused of raping a woman and attempting to molest her minor daughter. The gang-rape case was lodged with Gautampalli police station in 2017 and later, Prajapati was arrested and sent to jail on March 15, 2017. He was earlier granted bail by a sessions court in the case but it was cancelled by the high court before his release from jail. Cunningham said some residents are afraid to let the government know where they are because they are uncertain what will be done with the information. That data cannot be shared with other government agencies, making it secure and confidential. California's largest wildfire is threatening a marijuana-growing area, and authorities say many of the locals have refused to evacuate and abandon their crops. The August Complex wildfire is nearing the small communities of Post Mountain and Trinity Pines, about 200 miles northwest of Sacramento, the Los Angeles Times reported. Law enforcement officers went door to door warning of the encroaching fire danger but could not force residents to evacuate. 'It's mainly growers,' Trinity County Sheriff's Department Deputy Nate Trujillo said. 'And a lot of them, they don't want to leave because that is their livelihood.' It comes even as weather forecasters predict more hot, dry and windy conditions that could fan flames. Flames of the August Complex wildfire in California are nearing the marijuana-growing areas of Post Mountain and Trinity Pines (seen above) Trinity Pines has up to 40 legal farms with one estimate putting the current growing crop at around $20 million. Pictured: Cal Fire air tankers help stop the spread of a brush fire in Larkfield, California, September 24 Owners of the cannabis farms say they don't want to evacuate to protect their plants from being burned or stolen by thieves. Pictured: Flames surround a marijuana plant as a wildfire burns near Oroville, Califiornia in July 2017, on Saturday, July 8, 2017 As many as 1,000 people remained in Post Mountain and Trinity Pines, authorities and local residents estimated on Thursday. The area is in the Emerald Triangle, a three-county corner of Northern California that by some estimates is the nation's largest cannabis-producing region. People familiar with Trinity Pines said the community has up to 40 legal farms, with more than 10 times that number in hidden, illegal growing areas. Growers are wary of leaving the plants vulnerable to flames or thieves. Each farm has crops worth half a million dollars or more and many are within days or weeks of harvest. One estimate put the value of the area's legal marijuana crop at about $20 million. 'There [are] millions of dollars, millions and millions of dollars of marijuana out there,' Trujillo said. 'Some of those plants are 16 feet (five meters) tall, and they are all in the budding stages of growth right now.' Gunfire in the region is common. A recent night brought what locals dubbed the 'roll call' of cannabis cultivators shooting rounds from pistols and automatic weapons as warnings to outsiders, said Post Mountain volunteer Fire Chief Astrid Dobo, who also manages legal cannabis farms. Mike McMillan, spokesman for the federal incident command team managing the northern section of the August Complex, said fire officials plan to deliver a clear message that 'we are not going to die to save people. That is not our job.' 'We are going to knock door to door and tell them once again,' McMillan said. 'However, if they choose to stay and if the fire situation becomes, as we say, very dynamic and very dangerous...we are not going to risk our lives.' Efforts to extinguish more than two dozen major wildfires across California have benefited recently from low winds and normal temperatures along with and moist air flowing inland from the Pacific. But forecasters said that weather pattern will reverse during the weekend as a ridge of high pressure boosts temperatures and generates gusty winds flowing from the interior to the coast. Cannabis cultivators have been heard shooting rounds from pistols and automatic weapons as warnings to outsiders. Pictured: Pot farm manager Michael Hausmann co-founder of pot company Legion of Bloomlooks looks over damaged marijuana plants, left; Marcos Morales, co-founder of Legion of Bloom looks at ready-to-harvest plants, right Firefighters say they will make every effort to evacuate people, but will not risk their lives if some choose to stay despite warnings. Pictured: Firefighters light a controlled burn to help contain the Dolan Fire near Big Sur, California, September 11 In northern and central areas of the state, the strongest winds were forecast to occur from Saturday night into Sunday morning, followed by another burst Sunday night into Monday. California isn't the only state experiencing this issue. Oregon has also been facing wildfires that have burned several marijuana farms. 'A lot of farms are completely destroyed. A lot of our friends have lost everything down there,' East Fork Cultivars President and co-founder Nathan Howard told Marijuana Business Daily. Howard says he isn't even sure if his own farm has been consumed by flames yet because he had to evacuate. 'We're all evacuated,' he told the website. My brother and I are going to take some vans...to try to go to the farm tonight or early tomorrow to salvage the genetics we've been working on for five years.' Meteorologists warn that a ridge of high pressure over the weekend will boost temperatures and generate winds that will fuel the fires. Pictured: Cal Fire's Boggs helitack crew from Cobb Mountain, California assist in putting out a 12-acre brush fire in Larkfield, September 24 Nearby states such as Oregon also report that their marijuana businesses are in evacuation areas. Pictured: Aaron Gonzalez follows a path to harvest marijuana from a farm near Garberville, California, as a nearby wildfire threatens the region, October 2016 According to The Oregonian, about 20 percent of state-licensed marijuana businesses, about 408 companies, are in areas that require some level of evacuation due to the fires. Pacific Gas & Electric utility is tracking the forecasts to determine if it would be necessary to shut off power to areas where gusts could damage the company's equipment or hurl debris into lines that can ignite flammable vegetation. The utility posted a power cut 'watch alert' for Saturday evening through Monday morning. If the shutoff happens, about 21,000 customers in portions of northern Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties would lose power, PG&E said. When heavy winds were predicted earlier this month, PG&E cut power to about 167,000 homes and businesses in central and northern California in a more targeted approach after being criticized last year for acting too broadly when it blacked out two million customers to prevent fires. PG&E equipment has sparked past large wildfires, including the 2018 fire that destroyed much of the Sierra foothills town of Paradise and killed 85 people. In Southern California, meteorologists anticipate very hot and dry weather conditions with weak to locally moderate Santa Ana winds on Monday. Paper or plastic? In New Jersey, try neither. The state Legislature on Thursday voted to make New Jersey the first in the country to ban single-use paper bags in supermarkets along with all single-use plastic bags in stores and restaurants. Eight other states, including California, New York and Vermont, have bans on single-use plastic bags either in effect now or scheduled to go into effect in the coming years. But by banning both plastic and paper single-use bags, as well as disposable food containers and cups made out of polystyrene foam, environmental advocates said the New Jersey bill is among the most stringent in the United States. This bill is probably the strongest, most comprehensive bill in the nation dealing with plastics and packaging, said Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, which had been helping lead the campaign for the ban. It will go a long way in our battle with plastic pollution. Pompeo Exposes Chinese Spies Targeting US Politicians; China Plans Blacklist on US Companies Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a speech in Wisconsin on September 23 where he exposed some of Chinas programs to influence US politicians. He also revealed the State Department is reviewing the activities of two Chinese government organizations involved in these operations in the United States, under the regimes United Front Work Department, the U.S.-China Friendship Association, and the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification. Meanwhile, the Chinese government is planning to create a blacklist of US companies, as a way of retaliating against US sanctions placed on Chinese companies. The Ministry of Commerce published a Unreliable Entity List on September 19 of provisions that will be used in the blacklist. Among the points it looks at are endangering national sovereignty, security or development interests of China, and for suspending normal transactions with any business, organization, or individual of China that the regime believes goes against normal market principles or damages their rights. And its now being revealed that Catholics in China are being persecuted regardless of whether they follow the original religion, or the Chinese governments altered version under the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Even people at state-sanctioned churches are facing threats and intimidation, and the regime is shutting down or destroying churches regardless. These stories and more in this episode of Crossroads. Crossroads is an Epoch Times show available on Facebook and YouTube. Join Patreon to Support Crossroads: https://www.patreon.com/Crossroads_Josh Ka Mauri Harrison was taking a test during his online fourth-grade class earlier this month when he noticed the teacher frantically waving at him. His computer was muted, so the Louisiana 9-year-old couldn't hear what she was upset about. And before he could unmute her, the video stream died. He and his parents soon learned what the problem was: The teacher had caught sight of an unloaded BB gun in the boy's bedroom. As a result, Ka Mauri faced expulsion from school. While the punishment was reduced at a hearing this week to a suspension, his family argues the case has been a grievous mistake that threatens the future of a promising young student. "This is an injustice. It's a systemic failure," Chelsea Cusimano, the family's attorney, told The Washington Post early on Friday. "They're applying on-campus rules to these children, even though they're learning virtually in their own homes." Jefferson Parish Schools, which includes Ka Mauri's school, Woodmere Elementary, didn't immediately respond to a message from The Post. The district declined to address his case to local media. "We do not comment on individual student records," Vicki Bristol, a spokeswoman for the district, told WDSU. "Regarding discipline, it is our policy that teachers and administrators may employ reasonable disciplinary and corrective measures to maintain order." Ka Mauri isn't the only child to face harsh punishment for having a toy gun in a virtual learning session. A Colorado school last month called the police on a Black seventh-grader for handling a bright green "Zombie Hunter" toy gun during an online class, and a New Jersey school did the same earlier this month to a sixth-grader with a toy gun. In Ka Mauri's case, the problem started during a test in his social studies class on Sept. 11. Ka Mauri lives with four siblings in Harvey, La., on the south bank of the Mississippi River across from New Orleans. According to a report from Jefferson Parish Schools shared with The Post, a Woodmere teacher saw him briefly leave the screen and then return with "what appeared to be a full-sized rifle." He set it down, but the teacher could still see the barrel. In fact, Ka Mauri told The Advocate, one of his younger brothers had come into the room and knocked over the toy BB gun. He bent down to pick it up, and then propped it next to his chair. The boy, his teacher and classmates later interviewed by the school all agreed that Ka Mauri never pointed it at the camera or played with it, Cusimano said. School officials soon reached Ka Mauri's parents by phone, who explained the weapon was an unloaded BB gun. But school officials ruled that Ka Mauri had committed a "violation of weapons in the classroom setting." "They are treating it as if he brought a weapon to school," Nyron Harrison, his father, told the Advocate. "They told me he would be facing expulsion." At a hearing on Tuesday, a school official found that the 9-year-old was guilty of "displaying a facsimile weapon" in class, but suspended him for six days instead of expelling him. Ka Mauri returned to class on Thursday, but Cusimano said his family isn't done fighting the case. They argue the school district violated their privacy and that due process wasn't followed; Cusimano said that when she asked school officials for updated rules for students learning remotely, they simply pointed to regular on-campus policies. While the district rejected their request to appeal the disciplinary hearing, Cusimano said the family might take the matter to court. She said they worry that the disciplinary record, especially since it relates to a weapon, could hurt Ka Mauri's chances of getting into a good high school. School officials around the country need to assess whether their rules make sense in the new online-teaching world of the pandemic, she argued. "They need to take 20 minutes to think about children, who are already facing an uncertain future in the middle of pandemic," she said. "This family chose to do virtual learning. What they didn't choose is to be opened up to Jefferson Parish to look into their home and judge what happens there, such as allowing a kid to have a BB gun." Are farmers being treated as the whipping boys for the sins of our capitalist, consumerist society? I decided to take a good look at farming practices over the centuries and see how farming has evolved to where it is today. In his 2017 book Energy and Civilisation A History, Vaclav Smil, a renowned Czech-Canadian scientist and policy analyst, goes right back to the transition of mankind from hunter-gatherer to farmer. For tens of thousands of years it was a farmers own labour, supplemented with the power of horses and oxen, that was the principal energy source available to sow and harvest crops. Smil explains that this was more or less the situation right up until about 1900, when food production still only barely exceeded mankinds requirements. The discovery of oil changed everything. Oil heralded the development of synthetic chemical fertilisers. In 1944 insecticides arrived in the form of the ill-fated DDT, and in 1945 the first commercial herbicide, 2,4-D, went on the market. On the back of these developments, global food production has quadrupled, and the global population jumped from 1.6 billion in 1900 to about 6bn in 2000. Smil quotes the late American ecologist Howard T Odum: Industrialised man no longer eats potatoes made from solar energy, he now eats potatoes partly made from oil. Unfortunately, the other side of the coin is that after just 100 years of modern farming combined with a consumer driven capitalist economy, the environment is suffering. Robert Watson, chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, recently said: The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide. www.thethirdpole.net/2019/05/06/global-biodiversity-is-collapsing-warn-scientists/ This raises serious questions about the wisdom of successive Irish governments farming policies over the last 70 years. During this time farmers have been brain-washed into continually increasing farm output under the guise of so-called good science. Unfortunately, while all this was happening, excellent scientific research emanating from our own National Environmental Research Centre in Johnstown Castle was generally ignored. If these environmental voices of reason were listened to, perhaps a far better and more sustainable compromise between increased output and protecting our environment could have been reached. However this raises the really important question, who is really to blame for our current environmental crisis? Is it farmers who have been constantly advised and encouraged to produce all this extra food? Or is it the extra 4.4 billion people on our planet who consume (and often waste) this extra food? Expand Close A bullock recently sold by John Heney / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A bullock recently sold by John Heney Having just sold my first two loads of finished cattle, a clearer picture is emerging as to how things are working out for me this year. Compared to last year, the results are amazingly similar. So far about two-thirds of my Friesian cattle sold have graded O, while the same proportion had a fat score of 3= or more. So if you allow for the price difference from last year, which is about 15c/kg, the average price per animal is working out about the same. The biggest surprise I noticed was the price difference between the first two loads. The first load were a small, stocky-type bullock with plenty of flesh, while the second load were much taller Friesian cattle. Pound for pound, I have consistently found that larger, taller Friesians always fare much better. In this case they averaged just over 100/hd more than the smaller cattle. While this outcome is totally contrary to industry trends, I unashamedly intend to continue buying as many tall Friesian store cattle as possible. The cost of store replacements this year has risen by about 100, which is twice the rise in the price beef cattle are making. The only reason I can attribute to the trade remaining so firm is the current abundance of grass. But then as a very wise friend said to me recently, hasnt it always been like this?. Above is a picture of a bullock I sold recently. Even though this wasnt the heaviest bullock on the second load, he did have the best confirmation. Confirmation grade O=; fat score 3=; carcase weight 333.4kg. He was bought last November, weighing 437.5kg John Heney farms in Kilfeackle, Co Tipperary BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 By Zhale Qasimova Trend: Following the decree of Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev On some measures in the field of providing electronic services of state bodies, the Electronic Water Portal of Azersu OJSC (http://e-su.az) has been launched, the company told Trend. This system is used for the first time in the housing sector, said Emil Ahmadov, Head of the electronic management and modern technologies department of Azersu OJSC. The portal has been available to citizens since September 2020. Many electronic services offered by Azersu OJSC are integrated on a single portal platform. This system is also important in terms of minimizing communication between citizens and officials. Access to the Electronic Water Portal is carried out through the Asan Login. After entering the system, the subscriber's code, his/her phone number, and e-mail address are recorded. Taking into account that the system is integrated into the e-government portal when registering, information about the user immediately appears in the system. Via the portal, users can get notifications and pay for services for the use of drinking water and wastewater disposal. At the same time, subscribers can receive information about all their payments through the system. The portal also helps to clarify controversial issues related to future payments. Through the portals "population" group on the portal, consumers can be notified by providing readings from mechanical meters. It will further be possible to purchase technical specifications, check water samples, and register new users. The system also allows tracking the status of execution of requests addressed to Azersu OJSC. Thus, citizens can follow online the execution of their appeals to the department from the date of their submission. They will also be able to receive information on the current stage of the appeal, the date of the last execution, and on the responsible persons. In the case that additional time is required to consider applications, the citizen is informed about this online. The portal created the possibility of "online chat" for citizens who can use this opportunity around the clock. Currently, some services of the system are active in pilot mode. The portal regularly works to expand the range of services provided. Its mobile version will be launched in 2021. Investigation into Moscow municipal lawmaker accused of rally rules breaches completed Moskva city news agency, Sergey Vedyashkin 18:53 25/09/2020 MOSCOW, September 25 (RAPSI) - Investigation into a criminal case over repeated violations of rally holding regulations against Moscows municipal lawmaker Yulia Galyamina is completed, RAPSI was told in the press service of Russias Investigative Committee on Friday. In early July, Galyamina published on the Internet posts calling to participate in an unauthorized rally in central Moscow on July 15. However, in the last 180 days the woman was repeatedly brought to administrative liability for similar violations, according to the statement. Investigators believe that her actions have an intentional character and must be examined in accordance with Russias criminal legislation. In July, the citys Tagansky District Court fined Galyamina 200,000 rubles ($2,700) for an illegal action near the Moscow Directorate of the Interior Ministry. New Delhi, Sep 25 : The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, has administered the first dose of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine -- Covishield -- to three candidates on Friday, informed PGI Chandigarh Director Prof Jagat Ram. The clinical trials of Oxford vaccine has started at PGI Chandigarh after the institute administered first dosage of the vaccine to three volunteers on Friday, Prof Jagat Ram, director, PGIMER told IANS. Ram said that two females and a male were given dosage of 0.5 ml. "Two females aged 57 and 26 years and a 33-year-old male were administered the vaccine candidate at the institute," he specified. The PGIMER is one of the seventeen sites where phase II trials of the 'Covishield' vaccine developed by Oxford University and being mass-produced by Pune based Serum Institute of India (SII) is being conducted. A source privy to the development confirmed that the candidates will be monitored for 28 days after the 0.5 ml dose of vaccine and then the second dose will be given followed by a monitoring of 28 days. After that a blood sample will be taken and they will be observed for a span of six months. Besides, the candidates have been asked to note any development of symptoms like fever in their personal diary. 18 candidates have been found eligible till now to undergo the trial. The institute plans to take 100 candidates into the phase II study while it has made commitment for 253 candidates to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The criteria fulfilling the eligibility prerequisites for the study included the minimum age of 18, no underlying medical condition and no prior Covid-19 infection. Besides, family members of the candidates are also required to be Covid negative. The trials started after the institute received safety approval pending from the Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB) for the first 100 candidates selected to undergo the trials last week. The trails have been delayed by more than two weeks. The institute had earlier claimed to start the trials by the first week of September. However, it was initially delayed due to pending safety approvals of the candidates from DSMB. Later, the trials were suspended pan-India by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) after COVID-19 vaccine trials were put on hold in the United Kingdom (UK) as one of the participants there reported a severe adverse reaction following administration of a booster dose. The suspension was revoked by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) last week only. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Local municipalities and school districts have continued to report new coronavirus cases this week. Here's the latest: Shenendehowa district sees its sixth case this week The Shenendehowa school district said Thursday that two Orenda Elementary school students and a middle school staff member have tested positive for COVID-19 marking the district's fourth, fifth and sixth cases so far this week. The Orenda cases are "directly related" to a Chango Elementary teacher who tested positive earlier this week and were they were contracted through outside activities, not by attending school, the district said in a notice posted to its website. Later in the evening, the district announced that a middle school staff member has also tested positive, though it did not identify to which of its three middle schools the person is connected. The district says it's working with the Saratoga County Public Health Department to assist with any follow-up needed through contact tracing. Anyone identified as having prolonged, direct exposure to the students was to be contacted by the end of the day Thursday, the district said. Officials are urging area residents to add the number for the county health department 518-885-2276 to their contacts as it may otherwise come up as spam on some phones. If you do not receive a call, then you have not been identified as having direct, prolonged contact with the person, the district said. "We cannot emphasize enough that parents, students and staff members need to be just as vigilant following guidelines outside of school, this includes limiting group gatherings, practicing good hygiene, wearing masks and following social distance guidelines," the district said in a notice posted to its website. Two students from Shenedehowa's High School East also tested positive for the virus this week. The first one was announced Sunday and the second on Tuesday. The district said the latter case was related to a previous case "stemming from a point of exposure in a recreational contact outside of school." The district said all students and staff are required to complete a daily health assessment, wear masks and socially distance while in school or on the bus. In addition, classrooms are cleaned regularly throughout the school day, and deep cleaned and sanitized at the end of each school day. "Safety is everyone's responsibility," the district said. "We need to work together to keep everyone safe. Please do not send your child to school sick. If you suspect that you, your child, or someone in your family has been potentially exposed to COVID-19, please contact your personal medical provider." 14 more people added to Albany County caseload Albany County reported 14 new coronavirus cases Thursday. County Executive Dan McCoy said that brings the total number of cases to 2,876 since the pandemic began. There are 93 active cases in the county and 2,783 people have recovered from the virus. Of the new cases, eight are associated with the University at Albany, two are health care workers or live in congregate settings and three did not have a clear source of transmission. Eight people remain hospitalized, with no patients in intensive care. UAlbany has had 73 positive cases since Sept. 11. It would have to hit more than 100 cases by a static two-week window deadline Friday to impact student in-person learning. The university has had 114 cases since classes began this fall semester, with 49 of those students who tested positive doing remote only learning. Low transmission risk seen at Queensbury High A person who was in Queensbury High School earlier this week has tested positive for COVID-19, Warren County officials said Thursday. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. The exact days and times the person was in school were not disclosed, but district officials said the person was not there Wednesday and described their case as asymptomatic. State and local health authorities additionally determined that any risk of transmission would have been low, the district said, since the person followed safety protocols at all times in accordance with the district's safety plan. "At this time, the district remains open for in-person instruction," Superintendent Kyle Gannon wrote in a letter to families Wednesday. The district was notified of the case Wednesday, he said. Only one person was ordered to quarantine as a result of the case, he said. County Health Services announced the case Thursday, and said an investigation was conducted by their staff, as well as school district administration and the state Department of Health. A joint determination was made not to quarantine students who were in the presence of the infected person based on precautions taken within the school by students and staff, the county said. The source of the person's infection remains under investigation. The district previously had two members of its elementary school test positive for coronavirus. Those cases, confirmed Sept. 10, were members of the same household and risk to others would have been similarly low due to safety precautions that were taken, officials said. "As is being seen around the country, the return to school has been accompanied by a spike in COVID-19 cases locally," the county warned in a COVID-19 update issued Thursday. "Until Wednesday, Warren County has not had 20 or more active COVID-19 infections among residents since May 28-29." The county was monitoring 22 active cases of coronavirus Thursday, one of whom was in the hospital. The county was monitoring just six cases at the start of the month. County Health Services Director Ginelle Jones urged anyone who feels "any symptom of illness" to stay home until they consult with a medical provider about a COVID-19 test. Princess Eugenie of York and Jack Brooksbank during a visit to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital to open the new Stanmore Building on March 21, 2019 in Stanmore, Greater London. (Photo by David Mirzoeff - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank are very pleased to announce that they are expecting a baby in early 2021, Buckingham Palace said. A tweet by the Royal Family account said: Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie and Mr Jack Brooksbank are very pleased to announce that they are expecting a baby in early 2021. The Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York, Mr and Mrs George Brooksbank, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are delighted with the news. Eugenie also shared the news on Instagram, alongside a photo of their hands holding a pair of baby booties. "Jack and I are so excited for early 2021...." she wrote. The royal is 10th in line to the throne, and her baby will be 11th, pushing her uncle, Prince Edward, down in the line of succession. Expand Close Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank (Victoria Jones/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank (Victoria Jones/PA) Princess Eugenie, who is a daughter of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, married Jack Brooksbank at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in October 2018. Eugenie (30) works at a contemporary art gallery. The couple, who had dated for seven years, got engaged in January 2018 when Brooksbank (34) proposed during a trip to Nicaragua. They married in the same venue used by Harry and Meghan. Video of the Day The open comment is quickly disappearing from the American discourse. Not only on the Internets but also via the municipal meatspace. Here's how "it" starts . . . At a hearing held over the telephone yesterday, a federal judge appeared unimpressed by claims made this week that Trump administration officials had abused the prepublication review process in a bid to suppress publication of former National Security advisor John Boltons bestselling memoir The Room Where It Happened. According to a report in the New York Times, attorneys for Bolton argued that claims in a bombshell 19-page letter filed by attorneys for Ellen Knight, the former senior director who led the review of Boltons manuscript, bolstered their case that the government acted in bad faith by withholding a formal written clearance for Boltons memoir even though Knight affirmed that she and her team had cleared the book for publication. But Judge Royce Lamberth appeared unmoved by the argument, suggesting that Knights letter was a political diatribe that had little bearing on the questions before the court. Lawyers for the DoJ, meanwhile, pressed its argument that it did not matter whether the government was acting in bad faith or not, or whether Bolton actually shared classified information. Bolton was required by contract to wait for written authorization before proceeding with publication, which he did not do. Our position is clear, DoJ lawyers told the court, the breach occurs regardless of whether there actually was classified information in the manuscript. Lamberth is considering competing motions from the parties. On July 16, Bolton asked the court to dismiss the Department of Justice's remaining civil case against him, arguing that he has not breached his nondisclosure agreements. Failing a dismissal, Bolton is seeking discovery in the case, claiming any contractual duties Bolton may have had under his NDAs were mooted by the Trump administrations bad-faith abuse of the review process. The DOJ is seeking summary judgment in the case, a ruling that would enable the government to seize Bolton's royalties, citing the author's nondisclosure agreements. The DoJ is also said to be considering criminal charges against Bolton. On June 20, federal judge Royce Lamberth denied the DoJ's emergency application for an order blocking publication of Bolton's book. But in his 10-page opinion and order, Lamberth rebuked Bolton for pushing ahead with publication, rather than seeking redress from the courts. "Bolton could have sued the government and sought relief in court. Instead, he opted out of the review process before its conclusion, Lamberth wrote, adding that he was persuaded that Bolton likely jeopardized national security by disclosing classified information in violation of his nondisclosure agreement obligations." But the evidence before Lamberth at that time did not include testimony from Ellen Knight and her team. In her letter to the court this week, attorneys for Knight said she was not taking sides in the case, but raised concerns about the integrity of the prepublication review process. As a career professional in the field of classified information management, Ms. Knight is very concerned about the politicizationor even the perceived politicizationof the prepublication review process, attorneys for Knight told the court. Once authors start perceiving that manuscripts are being reviewed for political considerations, they will lose confidence in the integrity of the process and find ways to publish or release their works without submitting them for review. This could result in unchecked disclosures of sensitive information and the potential for serious damage to our national security. In this May 19, 2018 file photo, Amy Coney Barrett, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit judge, speaks during the University of Notre Dame's Law School commencement ceremony at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. President Donald Trump's selection of Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court has teed up a colossal clash over religion and reproductive rights to play out in the final days before Election Day. Trump will nominate Barrett on Saturday, following Ginsburg's death a week ago from complications due to pancreatic cancer, NBC News has learned. Barrett, a devoted Catholic, is a favorite among religious conservatives and a target of those on the left who say she is likely to vote to undo the court's longstanding abortion protections. Trump has sought to develop his anti-abortion credentials while in office, repeatedly pushing for a late-term abortion ban during his State of the Union addresses to Congress. Trump pledged during his 2016 campaign to nominate justices who would "automatically" overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion decision. In contrast, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has moved further in favor of reproductive rights since announcing his presidential run, last year flipping his position to support federal funding of abortion via the repeal of the Hyde Amendment. While the candidates had already staked out their positions, abortion was not one of the primary issues facing the campaigns before Ginsburg's death. The specter of Barrett nomination hearings in the Senate will likely force that to change. To be sure, any conservative judge on Trump's shortlist was likely to inspire a fight over reproductive rights. Even before Barrett's expected nomination, the political arm of the reproductive rights group Planned Parenthood announced a six-figure ad buy opposing Trump's replacement of Ginsburg. But Barrett's past writings and statements have ensured that the fight over the future of Roe v. Wade is likely to be particularly hard fought. If Barrett is confirmed she will be Trump's third justice on the nine-member bench and the sixth appointee of a Republican president. Many of the battle lines were drawn when Trump nominated Barrett to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where she has sat since 2017. Liberal groups have zeroed in on a 1998 paper that Barrett co-authored with a professor while a law student at Notre Dame, which referred to aborted fetuses as "unborn victims," and comments attributed to her by the Notre Dame alumni magazine in 2013, in which she is paraphrased as saying Roe v. Wade created "through judicial fiat a framework of abortion on demand." After graduating from Notre Dame, Barrett worked there as a law professor, and served on the chapter of the anti-abortion United Faculty for Life for six years, according to a questionnaire she filled out as part of her last confirmation process. She has also been a member of the influential conservative group The Federalist Society, with which at least four of the court's current conservatives also have ties. From the 7th Circuit, Barrett has only considered laws governing abortion on two occasions, and in neither case wrote an opinion expressing her own views. But in both, she voted to reconsider rulings that had struck down abortion restrictions. In a third case considering a Chicago ordinance that prohibited some forms of anti-abortion protests outside abortion clinics, Barrett upheld the law, citing Supreme Court precedent. It is not clear whether Democrats or Republicans will be more energized by the prospect of Barrett's confirmation to take the place of Ginsburg, a reliable vote in favor of reproductive rights and an icon for feminists, particularly those on the left. Biden has sought to turn the Supreme Court vacancy into a conversation about health care, and in particular a coming case about the fate of the Affordable Care Act. The Supreme Court will consider the legality of the sprawling health-care law during arguments one week after Election Day, and if they strike it down, tens of millions of people are expected to lose their coverage. In her academic writings, Barrett has been critical of the reasoning Chief Justice John Roberts used to uphold the health-care law in a blockbuster 2012 case. Even given Biden's efforts, the focus on abortion is likely unavoidable, given the strength of the various activist groups dedicated to the topic. Americans United for Life, a national anti-abortion group, staked out their position early. The organization's president, Catherine Glenn Foster, put out a statement the day after Ginsburg's death calling on Trump to name Barrett to the bench. "It is a certainty that in the coming years, the Court will be asked to rule on questions fundamental to the functioning of our Republic, including the most important human rights question of our time: the human right to life," she said. "We are confident that if appointed to the Supreme Court, Judge Barrett would prove herself a trusted caretaker of the Constitutional protections extended to every human person in America, including human lives in the womb." In a report on Barrett compiled by the Alliance for Justice, a consortium of progressive organizations, the group says that Barrett's understanding of the law "threatens to turn back the clock on rulings about a woman's right to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions, as well as those that protect the rights of workers, the LGBTQ community, voting rights, and many other critical rights." The clash over abortion was also a major factor during the confirmation hearings for Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in 2018. Even as liberals criticized Kavanaugh's views on reproductive rights, some conservatives complained that Trump passed over Barrett, thought to be a more reliable anti-abortion vote. In the first major abortion case to come before both of Trump's picks, Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch, both men voted to uphold a Louisiana restriction that threatened to reduce the state to just one clinic. The Louisiana law was nearly identical to a Texas law the court had struck down just four years before. Roberts, however, sided with the court's liberals to strike down the law, delivering the necessary fifth vote. Roberts, who had voted to uphold the law in Texas, said that he was bound by the recent precedent. Some politicians are using COVID-19 to engage in 'overt hostility' toward religion: Al Mohler Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler Jr. believes that some politicians are using the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to enact policies that reflect an overt hostility toward churches. The president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, was a speaker at the Values Voter Summit on Wednesday evening. The event, which normally brings large numbers of conservatives to the Washington, D.C., was largely virtual this year due to the lockdown of venues in response to the novel coronavirus. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins interviewed Mohler for the segment, with the former talking about a spiritual dynamics to recent events in the United States. At one point, Perkins asked Mohler when churches should start to question the motives of government regarding COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on in-person worship. Mohler responded that he believed some politicians have used COVID-19 as an opportunity for overt hostility to religious congregations and especially the Christian churches. And that overt hostility is what we have to confront, said Mohler. No government authority has a right to say that the church isnt essential. No government authority has the right to tell us how we are to order our worship services, and no government has the authority to say that Christian churches or other religious gatherings can be uniquely discriminated against. Mohler did express support for reasonable, temporary, generally applicable rules aimed at curbing the pandemic, but warned, thats not what were looking at in some cases. As an example, he referenced Capitol Hill Baptist Church of Washington, D.C., which recently filed a lawsuit against Mayor Murriel Bowser over outdoor worship gathering restrictions. The suit accused Bowser and government officials of being discriminatory in their application of the ban on large scale gatherings, pointing out that the mayor herself spoke at an outdoor event in June that had thousands of attendees. Mohler, who spoke to Perkins from Louisville, was also asked how to approach the recent grand jury decision in the Breonna Taylor case. A Jefferson County grand jury announced on Wednesday that they would not indict three police officers over the March 13 shooting death of Taylor, which sparked outrage and protests. Police had a warrant to search Taylor's residence, which was the address for her ex-boyfriend who was a longtime drug dealer in the city. Taylor was shot by police after her boyfriend first fired at and shot a police officer. Regarding the fallout from the decision, Mohler said that justice comes by means of the rule of law and that the rule of law never achieves perfect justice in this life. Only God can execute perfect justice, said Mohler. Attorney General Daniel Cameron here in Kentucky had to make a ruling according to the law as special prosecutor and I think he set up that case just extremely well. He set the contrast well too. We either have the rule of law or we have mob justice. And as I often say, two words that never go together are mob justice. Perkins agreed with Mohler, adding that youll never achieve justice through lawlessness, it just doesnt work that way. Created in 2006 and hosted by FRC Action, the Values Voter Summit is the annual D.C.-area gathering of social conservatives from across the country. In the past, prominent public figures such as members of Congress, Vice President Mike Pence, and President Donald Trump have given speeches at the summit. On Tuesday night, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave remarks as part of the virtual VVS event, defending his tendency to talk openly about his evangelical Christian beliefs. People appreciate knowing who you are, that you are authentic and that you dont hide the things that drive you, the central underpinnings of who you are, said Pompeo. For me, I am an evangelical Christian and I believe Jesus Christ is my Savior. I think when I meet with counterparts, whether they are from an Arab state that is a majority-Muslim country or in Israel, a predominantly Jewish country, I think they appreciate people who are consistent and know where you are coming from. We all have different ideas. Those three religions have some centrality. They come from Abrahamic faiths. But they appreciate that. The economic downturn in Ukraine not critical and reaches 4.5%, according to the EBRD estimates. The official statistics and forecasts are planned to be released in early October when a shareholders' meeting will take place. "If you look at a map of the world to indicate changes in the economy caused by [coronavirus] pandemic, the situation in developing countries is no worse than in developed countries such as the UK or Germany. So far, we estimate that the economic downturn in Ukraine is about 4.5%, it may grow to 5.5% by the end of the year. But our forecasts are optimistic. We believe that the country's economy will recover next year as there are all factors of development for this," Iryna Novikova, Deputy Director of EBRD in Ukraine, said at the Lviv Business Forum, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. The EBRD representative also said that the data on economic indicators would be officially published at a shareholders' meeting in a week, which would be also attended by representatives of Ukraine. The Lviv Business and Economic Forum, which took place in Lviv region on September 24, brought together the representatives of government agencies and local self-government bodies, leading banking institutions, successful entrepreneurs interested in the economic development of Ukraine. Representatives of international economic organizations and institutions, foreign financial and investment companies were also invited to participate. ol By PTI NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea seeking to postpone the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A three-judge bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and M R Shah also refused to grant liberty to the petitioner to give representation to the Election Commission in this regard. "We can't permit everybody to go to the Election Commission. We can only permit you to withdraw the petition," the bench said. The matter was then dismissed as withdrawn. Hours before the election commission is set to announce the poll schedule for bihar election,SC refuses to entertain plea seeking postponement of upcoming Bihar Assembly polls in view of COVID-19 pandemic @NewIndianXpress @TheMornStandard kanusarda (@sardakanu_TNIE) September 25, 2020 The EC is set to announce the schedule for Bihar assembly elections on Friday. The top court was hearing the plea filed by one Ajay Kumar who contended that the general assembly elections cannot be held smoothly due to the pandemic. The plea sought to hold the Bihar Assembly elections till the situation becomes normal. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Victims of a redemption fiasco by Lime Asset Management hold a rally in front of the Financial Supervisory Service headquarters on Yeouido in Seoul, Aug. 20. Yonhap By Lee Min-hyung The nation's business and finance circles are expressing concerns over the justice ministry's plan to introduce two customer protection bills, which they say may burden corporate activities due to the possibility of raising the number of bad consumers, industry officials said Sunday. The core consideration of the introduction of the bills on "class actions and punitive damages" is aimed at protecting the best interests of local consumers. However, it's been expected the bill, if passed, may negatively affect not just conglomerates, but also small- and medium-sized companies. The Ministry of Justice announced Thursday it plans to submit the bills to the National Assembly by the end of this year. The bills call for strengthening punitive damages against companies and allowing class actions to be expanded in all incidents with more than 50 victims. This was in response to growing calls that the class action-related legal system should be established beyond the securities market. "We are concerned that the vitality of the entire industrial ecosystem may be cut due to the introduction of the two bills, as more and more bad consumers will seek to find legal loopholes by possibly abusing the laws," an official from one of the nation's top conglomerates said. "For instance, companies in the business-to-consumer (B2C) area will be even busier dealing with a surging number of such consumers, and chances will become larger that the companies will end up spending more on handling legal disputes and compensation for bad consumers," the official said. This also goes the same for the B2B sector. "When a subcontractor of a conglomerate files a lawsuit against the latter, the conglomerate will cut business ties immediately and find another subcontractor," the official said. "This is a lose-lose game for both sides." Another official from the finance industry also said more financial players will be affected by the law. He took the recent redemption fiasco by Lime Asset Management as an example. Lime suspended 1.6 trillion won worth of fund redemption, leading to hundreds of victims suffering losses. "Each of the customers signed the fund product under different terms, so some of them can be complete victims, while others cannot be," the official said. "A growing number of customers will likely abuse the new law, but financial firms will suffer more damages by handling a possible increase in lawsuits from customers." "We hope the ministry will present additional legal measures to prevent industrial and financial circles from receiving unwanted damages from bad consumers," he said. Another local financial official said the intention of the bills is a step in the right direction, as companies will be more cautious when manufacturing and selling products. "Given a series of social disputes surrounding customer damages such as carmakers' involvement in emission fraud scandals consumers will definitely welcome the bills," the official said. "But the justice authority should also consider any potential side effects from the bills, and hear the voices from the industry side." India on Tuesday mounted a sharp attack on Pakistan during a virtual meeting of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, accusing it of sheltering and supporting terrorists and pushing a false narrative on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Mahaveer Singhvi, joint secretary (counter-terrorism) in the external affairs ministry who led the Indian delegation for the webinar organised by the UN body, pointed out the meeting was being held on a day when the Indian embassy in Kabul was attacked by a Pakistan-backed terror group 12 years ago and Indians and Afghans were killed. It is very unfortunate that a country which perpetrated terrorist attacks in Mumbai (2008), Pathankot (2016), Uri and Pulwama is now preaching to the world community, Singhvi said in his intervention during the meeting with the theme The global scourge of terrorism: Assessment of high risk threats and trends including the rise of violent extremism and hate speech in a pandemic environment. While the world is coming together to battle the pandemic, it is unfortunate that Pakistan, a state which sponsors cross-border terrorism, continues to use every opportunity to peddle false narratives and make baseless, malicious and egregious allegations against India and interfere in our internal affairs, he said, adding that the statement by Pakistans representative at the meeting was part of this pattern. Singhvi added, Even as Pakistan provides shelter and support to terrorists, it continues to peddle a false and motivated narrative on the situation in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is seeking to portray its military, financial [and] logistical support to cross-border terrorism against India as a freedom struggle. It is also peddling misinformation about Indias domestic legislation and policies. The webinar was part of the UN bodys virtual counter-terrorism week, and Singhvi pointed out that terrorists have made innumerable attempts to infiltrate India from their safe abodes across the border to carry out attacks and have even used unmanned aerial systems to smuggle weapons across our borders. At the global level, terrorists have tried to exploit financial and emotional distress caused by the pandemic, and used the increased presence of people online and on social media to disseminate misinformation through hate speech, fake news and doctored videos, he said. Another disturbing trend is the collection of funds by proscribed terror groups ostensibly for charitable activities but which would be used to finance terror, he said. Singhvi described Pakistans statement claiming credit for eliminating al-Qaeda as ludicrous and said the groups founder, Osama Bin Laden, was recently glorified as a martyr by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Parliament. This is a chilling reminder of the patronage that international terrorists receive in Pakistan, he said. Khan had publicly acknowledged the presence of up to 40,000 terrorists in Pakistan and the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team of the UN Security Council had reported that about 6,500 Pakistani terrorists from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) are operating in Afghanistan, he said. Pakistans role as epicentre of terrorism has been well documented by numerous international organisations including UN and FATF. Unlike Pakistan, India does not make any distinction between terrorists and invariably condemns terror attacks anywhere in the world, including the one in Karachi, referred to by Pakistans representative in his statement, Singhvi said. The Indian official also criticised human rights violations in Balochistan, Kyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the discrimination against religious and cultural minorities. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON facebook like button Tweet tweet button for twitter Published Sept. 25, 2020 Free COVID-19 testing is available Monday, Sept. 28-Friday, Oct. 2, at the University of Louisiana Monroe. Testing is available for ULM students, faculty, staff, and Louisiana residents ages 5 and up. The drive-through or walk-up self-administered swab testing is provided by the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana National Guard. Drive-through and walk-up testing will be in the parking lot between US-165 and the Liew Family International Student Center, 3800 Northeast Dr. Testing is 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28-Thursday, Oct. 1 and 9 a.m.-noon Friday, Oct. 2. New Delhi: A woman has been arrested for allegedly abandoning her four-month-old child from her ex-husband because her current spouse was "irritated" with the infant's cries, police said on Saturday. Mobina Khatoon (18) allegedly abandoned her daughter around 6 PM in the jungle behind Hanuman temple, MB Road, said a senior police officer. The child was found and the police team started care of the child and has been named 'Dakshina', he said. The police team spread information about the girl child in the area using social and electronic media. "She was spotted by a priest of the temple. The child was taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre. Doctors said she was in stable condition," the officer said. Police went through the CCTV footages of the temple area and began searching for her parents. The team got a clue about the accused persons and arrested Irshad Ali (33) and his wife Mobina, he added. Mobina was earlier married to another man and gave birth to the baby, whose real name is Nagma, in September last year, he said. Her husband Raju deserted her and went to Nepal but she married Irshad Ali and was living with him. "Ali was irritated with the baby girl as she used to cry a lot. He even threatened to kill the child and pressured Mobina to abandon her," said the officer. A case under section 317 (Exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years, by parent or person having care of it)of Indian Penal Code has been registered at Pul Prahladpur police station. The child has been handed over to an NGO, and she will be produced before Child Welfare Committee on Monday. Both the accused will be produced in the court. Ali is working as a labourer and has four children including two daughters. His eldest daughter is 15 years old and youngest son is five years old. Hyderabad: All-India Kisan Sangharsh Struggle Co Ordination Committee protests against the three contentious agriculture-related Bills that have led to agitation by farmers in many states, at Aayakar Bhavan in Hyderabad on Sep 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Hyderabad: All-India Kisan Sangharsh Struggle Co Ordination Committee protests against the three contentious agriculture-related Bills that have led to agitation by farmers in many states, at Aayakar Bhavan in Hyderabad on Sep 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Hyderabad, Sep 25 : The Left parties and Congress on Friday staged protests in Telangana as part of the nation-wide agitation against contentious farm bills passed by the Parliament. The CPI and CPI-M, their affiliated organisations, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and other farmers' bodies held a protest in Hyderabad. Holding their respective party flags, dozens of activists participated in the protest held at Ayakaar Bhavan in the heart of the city. Raising slogans against the Centre and holding placards, the protestors including women sat in front of the Income Tax office. Terming the new farm legislations as 'anti-farmer' they demanded their immediate revocation. Senior Congress leader V. Hanumanth Rao also participated in the protest. He said the new laws will hit hard Indian farmers. The Congress party also organised protests across the state. Party leaders and workers participated in the sit-in at district and Assembly constituency headquarters. The party also held a candle-light rally last night at Ambedkar Statue near Tank Bund. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also staged a sit-in at Ambedkar Statue to protest against what it called draconian legislation. Ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is also opposing the new farm legislations but its protest was confined to the Parliament. Party leaders, however, Asaid TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is ready to lead a farmers' agitation at the national level. State Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that the new legislation would badly affect the interests of farmers. He demanded the government should amend the law by inserting a clause to ensure that farmers get Minimum Support Price (MSP) whether they sell their produce in market yard or outside. The Congress leader said states which used to regulate prices and mandi fees will no longer be able to do so with the new enactments. "These bills are going to cause the collapse of the system of selling farm produce in market yards. Because of the interference of the centre, the states have to lose their constitutional right of agricultural markets which is under the state list," he said NEW DELHI: The ruling BJP on Friday (September 25, 2020) exuded confidence that the NDA alliance will get a majority in the soon to be conducted Bihar assembly election 2020 and Nitish Kumar will become the Chief Minister again. We are confident that NDA will get a majority and Nitish Kumar ji will be Chief Minister again, Union Minister and BJP MP from Patna Sahib Ravi Shankar Prasad said soon after the Election Commission announced the full schedule for conducting assembly elections in Bihar from October 28. Meanwhile, the states main opposition party RJD - said that it will fight against the alleged misrule of NDA and uproot the ruling coalition in Bihar. We welcome the decision of Election Commission. We are assured as people of Bihar want to get rid of this government. JD(U) does not matter in the election, our fight is against BJP, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said. Earlier, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, Sunil Arora announced that the Bihar assembly election 2020 will be held in three phases beginning from October 28 amid strict COVID-19 protocols. "Bihar assembly election 2020 will be held in three phases from October 28 and November 7, and the counting of votes will be held on November 10," the CEC said. In the first phase, elections will be held in 71 Assembly constituencies. In the second phase, 94 Assembly constituencies will go to polls. In the third phase, polling will be held in 78 Assembly constituencies, the CEC said in a press conference adding that ''the counting of votes for all seats will take place on November 10.'' Live TV Addressing the press conference, the CEC said that these will be perhaps the largest election anywhere in the world during Covid-19, and listed precautionary measures taken by the poll panel and authorities. Among the steps taken, CEC Arora said that polling time will be increased by one hour and will now be from 7 AM to 6 PM, except in areas affected by Maoist extremism. As we talk, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) stands enforced with this announcement. The Commission has already made elaborate arrangements for ensuring the effective implementation of MCC guidelines: Chief Election Commissioner, CEC Sunil Arora said. To further decongest polling stations and allow more free movement of voters, polling time has been increased by 1 hour. It'll be held from 7 AM - 6 PM, instead of 7 AM - 5 PM earlier. However, this will not be applicable to Left-wing affected areas, CEC Sunil Arora said while addressing a press conference to announce the schedule for Bihar assembly polls. The CEC informed that Covid-19 patients who're quarantined will be able to cast their vote on the last day of poll, at their respective polling stations, under the supervision of health authorities. This is beside the option of the postal facility already extended to them. The CEC said that 7 lakh hand sanitisers, 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh face shields and 23 lakh pairs of hand gloves have been arranged for Bihar polls. Social distancing norms will need to be followed at public gatherings during the poll campaign. Arora further said anyone using social media for mischievous purposes, such as for flaring communal tension, during elections will have to face consequences, while hate speech will be also dealt with harshly by the Election Commission. The CEC warned that ''social media platforms are expected to make adequate arrangements to safeguard against misuse of their platforms & set up strict protocols to handle such issues as and when they arise.'' The Assembly elections for 243 seats in Bihar are due in October-November and the tenure of the current Assembly is scheduled to end on November 29. Ron Cobb (Credit: Gerrit Alan Fokkema/Fairfax Media via Getty Images). Lucasfilm and Mark Hamill have paid tribute to Ron Cobb, the veteran production designer behind movies like Back To The Future, Conan The Barbarian and Alien. Cobb died yesterday, on his 83rd birthday, in Sydney from complications of Lewy body dementia. Read more: The Mandalorian season two trailer In a post to Twitter, Luscafilm, via its Star Wars account, said: We were saddened to learn of the passing of conceptual designer Ron Cobb, who designed one of the most memorable characters in the Mos Eisley cantina, Momaw Nadon. He also contributed to E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, Alien, Back to the Future, and many more. He will be missed. We were saddened to learn of the passing of conceptual designer Ron Cobb, who designed one of the most memorable characters in the Mos Eisley cantina, Momaw Nadon. He also contributed to E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, Alien, Back to the Future, and many more. He will be missed. pic.twitter.com/TP9RckDiI6 Star Wars (@starwars) September 22, 2020 Mark Hamill added that Cobb was 'a giant in his field'. Ron Cobb was a giant in his field. His impact on sci-fi & fantasy films is immeasurable. Thank you for a lifetime of brilliant contributions & your incomparable imagination. #RIPRonCobb https://t.co/1muckonjaS Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) September 22, 2020 After working as an animator at Disney, he was laid off before joining the army, working as a draughtsman in Vietnam. He later became an underground political cartoonist, and began designing album covers then moving into the movies, working on Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Alien, designing the interior and exterior of the space ship Nostromo. Story continues While working as a designer for John Milius on his fantasy classic Conan The Barbarian, he met Steven Spielberg, who was working on Raiders of the Lost Ark on the same studio lot, and worked on the original idea for the movie Night Skies, which would later become E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. His career in production design took off, and he worked on movies including The Last Starfighter, Total Recall and True Lies. For Back To The Future, he was credited as the 'DeLorean Time Travel Consultant', having created the home-made look for Doc Brown's now iconic time machine. He is survived by his wife of 48 years Robin, and his son Nicky. New Delhi: A delay in the monsoons withdrawal from western Rajasthan may have shielded Delhi from conditions that are unfavourable for its air quality. But the scenario will not last for long. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said that conditions are becoming favourable for the withdrawal of southwest monsoon from West Rajasthan from September 28 onwards. The air quality early warning systems of the Ministry of Earth Sciences as well as government scientists have said the wind directions are likely to change in a day or two from easterly-southeasterly to northerly and northwesterly direction. This is likely to spur a gradual deterioration in Delhis air quality from September 26 onwards. With the beginning of monsoons withdrawal, the northwest and northern regions of India, including the Delhi-NCR, enter a transitional weather phase wherein winds become slower and drier, helping accumulation of pollutants, local and non-local. The air quality over this large landmass becomes toxic from October onwards due to the high concentration of local pollutants and due to the burning of stubble farming that occurs during the harvest of paddy in Punjab and Haryana. With unfavourable winds, it becomes easier for the winds to get transported southwards, across Delhi-NCR and the Indo-Gangetic plains. The governments early warning forecast, run by Indian Institute of Tropical Management and IMD, has also shown that there is likely to be some amount of dust incursion into Rajasthan and Delhi-NCR from Afghanistan and Pakistan. As winds change direction and their speed drops, it will help in accumulation of local pollutants. At the same time, there might be some incursion of dust from western areas bordering Pakistan. This incursion though will not lead to an exponential rise in pollution in Delhi-NCR, a government scientist said on the condition of anonymity. This week, the predominant surface winds in Delhi have been coming from southeast and east direction. These winds, in the range of 8-12 kmph, have helped disperse local pollutants. The favourable winds have helped Delhis air quality index (AQI), a broad indicator of the pollution levels, to be in the satisfactory category. SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research) said on Thursday that the AQI was likely to stay in the satisfactory to moderate category on Friday, and predicted a marginal deterioration by Saturday and Sunday. It added that the isolated stubble burning incidents recorded in Amritsar district will not have any significant impact on Delhi this week. Burning of farm stubble in Punjab and Haryana usually begins in the second week of October and is at its peak during up to early first week of November. Farmers who are unable to afford machinery or labour to manage the farm stubble engage in the practice of stubble farming to prepare their farms for wheat sowing for the upcoming Rabi season. Last year, 44 per cent of Delhis PM 2.5 load was attributed to stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana. After being sentenced to 25 years in 1993, and spending 13 of those years in prison, Rodriguez has for the last dozen or so years worked for the trucking company, the same place that hired him two weeks after his release from jail. My boss told me not to worry, Rodriguez said, they trusted him. (Natural News) With Big Solar on the rise, experts fear that the world could be facing a solar panel waste problem. In 2019 alone, solar panel producers worldwide installed a whopping 114.9 gigawatts (GW) of new solar power, according to a recent report from the Paris-based organization International Energy Agency (IEA). This figure corresponds to a 12 percent increase from 2018, with significant growth across all continents. In total, 2019 saw 629 GW of solar panels installed worldwide. Its worth noting that environmentalists have been touting the shortsighted claim that solar power could offset the dreaded effects of so-called climate change. But with solar fast becoming a popular source of power worldwide, and with proponents highlighting its purported potential to replace fossil fuels, experts now beg the question of how solar power proponents plan to dispose of those gigantic sheets of electronic waste. It turns out, the answer is a resounding silence. The trouble with solar power and solar waste In one of his recent articles online, Duggan Flanakin, a director of the Washington-based nonprofit group Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), underscored the growing problem of solar waste. While sunshine is free fuel, Flanakin added that harnessing it for human use isnt. In truth, solar is neither as clean nor as sustainable as its purported to be. While petrochemical and nuclear companies must come up with detailed plans for dealing with waste management, as well as accidents that might arise as a consequence of their operations, solar companies are not held to the same standards. Quite the opposite, solar companies are often rewarded with massive subsidies to power their operations but without the threat of facing legal repercussions due to the improper disposal of panels. Customers are also not charged for waste cleanup, which further distorts the true cost of solar power. Flanakin adds that Washington remains the only state with existing mandates for the proper reuse of used solar panels. Even California, which has the largest solar installations in the U.S., is still pushing for policies that seek to address solar waste, with no end in sight. But while these measures are, without a doubt, a step in the right direction, other states need to follow suit before real change can occur. Without proper mandates for solar disposal, most of the panels will go to landfills, said Arizona State University solar researcher Meng Tao. Once solar panels enter landfills, toxic components like lead can leach out as the panels break down, creating new health hazards. With a lack of policies regarding solar waste management, solar panels face a limited number of end-of-life procedures. Moving forward with solar power Problems with solar waste management do not diminish the benefits of solar power. (Related: Solar sector still growing: Solar power output rose 47% in the first three quarters of 2017, highlighting Trumps support for clean power.) Instead, the lack of policies and regulations in solar production highlights the shortcomings of both the government and producers the government for not holding producers to mandated energy industry standards, and producers for placing the onus of proper waste disposal on their customers. Without addressing these shortcomings, the problem of solar waste will continue to grow as more panels reach the end of their life and as newer ones enter the market, said Flanakin. But the good news is that it is not too late for countries to push for policies that address proper solar waste disposal. For instance, countries like Japan and India are working on laws that aim to ensure solar panels are reused at the end of their life. Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) is funding a range of projects that show how solar panels can be repurposed, including for powering e-bike charging stations and housing complexes. Read more articles about the pros and cons of solar power at SolarPanels.news. Sources include: WattsUpWithThat.com PV-Magazine.com Grist.org Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin HUGUES HONORE/FIACHRA GIBBONS (Agence France-Presse) Paris, France Fri, September 25, 2020 10:30 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4723fc7 2 Books Gabriel-Matzneff,France,Literature,MeToo,Sexual-assault,writer Free France has stripped pedophile writer Gabriel Matzneff of all state aid, the country's culture minister said Thursday. The controversial essayist, who never made a secret of his preference for sex with adolescent girls and boys, is to stand trial next year on a charge of promoting pedophilia. "I can assure you that Gabriel Matzneff is no longer getting his grant," Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot told the publishing weekly, Livres Hebdo. Matzneff has occupied a privileged niche in the French literary world for years, winning the prestigious Renaudot prize in 2013 and getting thousands of euros in aid as well as a subsidized apartment in Paris' upmarket Left Bank. Officials said he received some 160,000 euros ($186,000) over the past 18 years in grants for low-income writers. But publisher Vanessa Springora ignited a huge scandal earlier this year with her memoir Consent, in which she described how she was groomed by Matzneff when she was 14. Two other women have since come forward to say they too were abused by him as teenagers. The scandal has shaken the French arts and fashion establishments, with a deputy mayor of Paris forced to resign because of his links to the writer. Read also: French writer 'regrets' his pedophile sex tourism in Asia Widening scandal Christophe Girard had been the conduit for money given to the writer from the Saint Laurent fashion house. Girard too is now under investigation over a rape accusation against him, which he denies. The Matzneff scandal was one of the turning points in the #MeToo movement in France, after decades of people turning a blind eye to the diarist's behavior despite his frankness about his private life. Within months of the latest instalment of his "intimate journals" hitting the shelves, French publishers began pulling his books from shops as Springora's book began making headlines in January. Matzneff, now 84, denounced the "unjust and excessive attacks" on him, claiming that his relationship with Springora had been one of "beauty". But in her book, which quickly became a bestseller, she wrote: "Aged 14, you are not supposed to have a 50-year-old man waiting for you when you leave school. "You are not supposed to live in a hotel with him, or find yourself in his bed with his penis in your mouth when you should be having your mid-afternoon snack." Bachelot praised Springora for having the courage to speak out. "I thank Vanessa Springora," she said. "Whenever there are power issues, financial issues, there can be these phenomena of sexual assault. "That should lead the books industry to think about prevention measures, and to be much more proactive," she added. The minister called for parity between the sexes on the juries of the country's big literary prizes and at the head of its major publishing houses. Whether it's a dry Chablis or punchy, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon, a glass or two of quality wine can be one of life's small pleasures. A phenomenon known as "cork taint" can, however, create a host of problems including rancid smells and an off-putting taste. It's a problem that Frederique Vaquer, a winemaker in the south of France, has first-hand experience of. "One time, I was with a lot of customers, it was a very important tasting and I opened a magnum," she told CNBC's Sustainable Energy. "I had only one magnum normally, it's a beautiful wine and that time it was 'corky'." When it comes to cork tainted wine, the chemical compound 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole, or TCA, which can make its way into the cork, plays a significant role. However, in France, a firm called Diam Bouchage has been developing a process that looks to tackle the issue head on through the use of carbon dioxide (CO2). Dominique Tourneix, the company's CEO, explained that its system addressed the problem by using pressurized, "supercritical" CO2. According to a video demonstration on its website, Diam Bouchage takes this supercritical CO2 a fluid state of carbon dioxide and injects it into an autoclave containing granulated cork that's been pre-sifted. The idea is that the CO2 passes through the cork, removing all the substances, including TCA, that could taint wine. The CO2 itself is then "removed, filtered and ... recycled in a closed circuit," while the cleaned and purified cork grain is turned into stoppers at a manufacturing site. Diam Bouchage has also developed a product range which incorporates beeswax and a bio-based binding agent. In his interview with CNBC, CEO Dominique Tourneix explained how by-products of the company's process could also be recycled and reused. "Different companies are actually purchasing our extract coming from the cork to use the extract for their cosmetic applications," he said. OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Kapor Foundation announced today that they are giving $1 million in grant funding to national civil rights and local grassroots organizations focused on voter education and engagement, voter and election protection, and building political power within Black and Brown communities. Grants range from $15,000 to $100,000 and are announced during National Voter Registration Week (Sept. 21 - 25) as a part of the Kapor Center family of organizations' 100 Days of Action for Racial Justice Campaign to support the mobilization of Black and Brown communities in upcoming local, state, and national elections. Kapor Foundation selected 27 recipients, prioritizing organizations led by people of color and those with a track record of engaging Black and Brown voters across the country and local regions where the Kapor Center organizations operate programs. The following national and local organizations received grants: Voter Education and Engagement: NAACP, VotoLatino, New Georgia Project, Hispanic Federation, Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Poder Latinx, UnidosUS, National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, Black Millennial Convention Foundation, 99Rootz (Power California), Detroit Action, 482Forward, Chicago Votes, Make the Road PA, People for the American Way Foundation, Oakland Rising Voter and Election Protection: Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, Represent.US, National Redistricting Foundation, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition Building Political Power within Black & Brown Communities: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Latino Community Foundation, Tech Equity Collaborative, Black Futures Lab, Black Organizing Project, The Unity Council The $1 million in grant funding is part of a larger strategy to promote civic engagement and fight racial inequality, especially as the November election approaches. To support local voter participation, Kapor Center has also partnered with the Alameda County Registrar of Voters to utilize Kapor's facilities at 1901 Poplar Street in West Oakland as a polling location. In addition, the Kapor family of organizations have committed to providing all employees paid time off on Nov. 3 to ensure participation and encourage volunteering, and 22 of Kapor Capital's portfolio companies have pledged to provide VTO for their employees. Kapor Center will also launch an organization-wide effort to encourage individual and collective action to mobilize communities, provide education, and ensure individuals get to the polls, particularly at SMASH university partner locations in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. "As we continue the fight for racial justice, we understand that civic engagement is critical to our democracy, to dismantling disparities, and to our work to enhance diversity in technology," said Allison Scott, CEO of the Kapor Foundation. "We believe in the importance of supporting leaders of color working directly with communities of color, and are honored to support these organizations to continue their critical work. We encourage others to join us." The Kapor Center family of organizations Kapor Foundation , Kapor Capital , and SMASH work together to holistically transform the tech and venture capital ecosystems by addressing multiple holes in the leaky tech talent pipeline. SMASH addresses entry into the tech pipeline by preparing young people of color with STEM skills and creating the next generation of tech employees, entrepreneurs, and investors. Kapor Capital addresses the entrepreneurship piece of the pipeline, funding gap-closing tech companies that provide innovative solutions for low-income communities and communities of color. The Kapor Foundation is doubling-down on efforts to dismantle educational inequity by focusing on closing the digital divide and increasing equity in computer science education, advancing economic justice by dismantling barriers to entry into the tech sector, and advocating for policy change at all levels. Note: The Kapor Foundation used a strategic grantmaking process; they are not accepting unsolicited grant proposals at this time. About Kapor Center Kapor Center aims to enhance diversity and inclusion in the technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem through increasing access to tech and STEM education programs, conducting research on access and opportunity in computing, investing in community organizations and gap-closing social ventures, and increasing access to capital among diverse entrepreneurs. Learn more about Kapor Center at: https://www.kaporcenter.org/ SOURCE Kapor Center Related Links https://www.kaporcenter.org Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay: Mercury Risk Means Certain People Shouldn't Get Amalgam Dental Fillings: FDA Certain people are at higher risk for health problems from mercury-containing amalgam dental fillings and should avoid them if possible, a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommendation says. Groups that may be at greater risk of harm from mercury vapor released by these fillings include: pregnant women and their developing fetuses; women who are planning to become pregnant; nursing women and their newborns and infants; children, especially those younger than six years of age; people with pre-existing neurological disease such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease; people with impaired kidney function; and people with known allergy to mercury or other components of dental amalgam, which also includes silver, tin and copper. The recommendation was issued after a review of research, monitoring reports and public discussions. "The FDA is not recommending anyone remove or replace existing amalgam fillings in good condition unless it is considered medically necessary because removing intact amalgam fillings can cause a temporary increase in exposure to mercury vapor and the potential loss of healthy tooth structure, potentially resulting in more risks than benefits," Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in an agency news release. "While the available evidence suggests that dental amalgam use has generally declined over recent years, due to more alternative products being offered and used effectively for dental restorations, high-risk individuals, as noted in our recommendations, should discuss alternative products for restoring teeth with their dentist," Shuren said. ----- Scientists Sequence Genome of Mold That Produced First Penicillin The genome of the original mold that produced the first penicillin has been sequenced by scientists. The world's first antibiotic was accidentally discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming when mold contaminated one of his petri dishes, CNN reported. "Remarkably, after all this time spent in the freezer, (the mold) grows back fairly readily. It is fairly easy, you just break it out of that tube and put it on a petri dish plate and away it goes," said Tim Barraclough, a professor at the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London and the Department of Zoology at Oxford University. This is the first time the genome of the mold has been sequenced, and the researchers said what they've learned could help efforts to combat antibiotic resistance, CNN reported. ----- Wood Ear Mushrooms Linked to Salmonella Outbreak Recalled wood ear mushrooms imported by Wismettac Asian Foods Inc., of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., and sold to restaurants may be linked to a multi-state salmonella outbreak, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday. "Restaurants should not sell or serve recalled wood ear mushrooms distributed by Wismettac Asian Foods Inc., labeled as Shirakiku brand Black Fungus (Kikurage). Restaurants should immediately discard any of the recalled product," Frank Yiannas, deputy commissioner for food policy and response, said in an FDA news release. "Wood ear mushrooms imported by Wismettac Asian Foods Inc. were only sold to restaurants and were not available directly to consumers," Yiannas added. The mushrooms were distributed in six packs of five-pound bags to restaurants in AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, IN, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NV, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, and Canada. "Concerned or high-risk individuals should check with their restaurant to confirm that any wood ear mushrooms that have been used or are being used are not part of this recall, and boiling water should be used anytime dried mushrooms are reconstituted," Yiannas said. ----- Two Health Care Executive Orders Announced by Trump Two new health care executive orders were announced Thursday by President Donald Trump. One protects pre-existing conditions and the other prevents surprise billing, but they're likely to have little impact, according to NBC News. Pre-existing conditions are already protected under the Affordable Care Act, which Trump is trying to dismantle, and the surprise billing order requires Congress to pass legislation. Trump has repeatedly pledged a health care overhaul but hasn't produced a solid alternative to the Affordable Care Act, which has become increasingly popular among Americans, NBC News reported. Mexico, the land of sun, sand and ceviches (oh and, beaches) has opened its doors for tourism to re-enter the scene. The impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the world is devastating and all encompassing. Not a single industry was left unscathed, and that especially applies to the tourism sector. Which is why Mexican authorities have taken apt measures to ensure safety for the precious tourists who are entering the country and reviving its major lifeline. Hotels and resorts are required to implement hygiene and safety protocols set by the Mexican federal government, which is being constantly monitored by local authorities All youll need is a Mexico Tourist Card and a plan for where you want to go. Lucky for you, weve got both of the above covered. Keep reading to figure out where to apply when youve realised that **youve worked really hard and deserve a break!** 1. All-Inclusive Resorts Trust that the big name resorts are taking extra precautionary safety and hygiene measures to keep you and your loved one safe (some even offer health insurance!) Now that thats settled, heres what you can look forward to - a luxury resort setting, complete with fully stocked ocean / jungle / mountain view villas, pools, bars, spas, fitness centres, private beaches and jungle observatories! **You may never want to leave** these paradises inside paradise. You can find these dream destinations along Mexicos Pacific Coastal hotspots like Riviera Nayarit, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta or the Mexican Caribbeans star spots i.e. Yucatan, Cancun, Riviera Maya and Playa del Carmen. 2. Baja California Sur 3. Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa One of the first places to be **** by the World Tourism Organization, this peninsular state comprises some of the top beaches like the twin resorts of Los Cabos - also known as the lovers beaches, the Isla Espirito Santo - a gorgeous island with everything you need and Todd Santos - an artsy village resplendent with galleries and cultural centres, in the South. Moving further up North, youll find the Parque Nacional Bahia de Loreto, a National Park but with beautiful beaches, sea cliffs, deserted islands & an array of marine mammals! To the North West, youll find Guerrero Negro, a much celebrated whale watching spot complete with the bluest lagoons youll ever find. Sinaloa, for short, is a popular **history & ecotourism hub** in Northwestern Mexico. From Teacapans estuaries, Concordia & Copalas churches, Culiacans zoos to Topolobampos whale shark watch, every single place is embedded with deep cultural history and heritage. All these locations are inundated with historical sites and ruins, set to the backdrop of sparkling beaches. These are also major fishing villages so the local seafood is nothing short of fresh and delicious. Lastly, top it off with some musical evenings in Costa Rica! 4. Quintana Roo Home to the major players like Cancun, Tulum and Playa del Carmen, this state on the Yucatan peninsula houses some of the **most famous chill-spots in the world**. Starting with the luxurious hotels and nightlife in Cancun, you can offset that to the National Parks and Mayan Ruins in Tulum. Peaceful resort islands more your thing? Isla Mujeres and Isla Holbox are the places to be with your Mexico Tourist Card. The latter being more low-key and relaxed than the more scenic and catered Isla Mujeres. Round it off with some snorkeling and kitesurfing in Xpu Ha or Mahahual and leave feeling completely refreshed and at peace. 5. Guerrero The high energy star of the Mexican Pacific Coast, Guerrero is well known for its nightlife and dives but also its diving culture, mountains and museums. Beginning with the capital city, Acapulcos party beaches and nightlife will leave your spirits high and alive. Wind down from all the partying with some yoga with turtles on the Troncones beaches or with some zen dolphin-watching along the coasts of Ixtapa. More of an art history person? Ixcateopan de Cuauhtemoc, Tixtla and Iguala are the places to be, for you. Whatever your idea of a holiday is, Mexico has it all - for you, your family, loved ones, lovers and friends! 2020 has been a wild ride. Take a break and let yourself breathe in the fresh ocean air, you earned it. Whats left to say? Grab your Mexico Tourist Card and get packing. **Mexico, aqui vengo!** Updated Date: 25 September 2020, 16:07 Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) The Department of Education has denied it is responsible for the production of a viral learning material that used dirty words. The issue was raised by Senator Joel Villanueva during the department's budget hearing. Education Sec. Leonor Briones said that according to their investigation, the material was from a review center for teachers in Zambales. She also questioned why DepEd was being pointed responsible for this when schools have not opened yet. "We have investigated that Senator Joel when I learned about it. It's not DepEd. It's a material produced by a review center for teachers for particular students," she said. "That is quite curios why in some place in Zambales put up a review center and attribute it to DepEd. There is clearly malice involved." Briones said they will file all possible charges against the person liable for this malicious attempt. "It is really a sabotage of our programs put us in a bad light," she said. The reviewer being talked about was posted on Facebook. A part of the reviewer showed that one question had choices with "names" that were malicious. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the prohibition of holding face-to-face classes to prevent the spread of the virus among students. The DepEd will start its learning continuity program this October 5 when classes for basic education students resume. One of the learning modes during the new normal is the use of self-learning modules. Education Usec. Diosdado San Antonio said they are making efforts to make sure that the modules that learners will be using in the coming school year will be organized. Prior to this issue, DepEd was also criticized in August due to grammatically incorrect materials that aired on DepEd TV, which they said were due to a typing error. "We have learned from our mistakes and we have put in place review teams. In fact there are volunteers coming to me to help us do the editing. We will also hire third party editor soon," San Antonio said. WILLIAMSPORT A western Pennsylvania trucking firm has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $2 million fine on 31 criminal counts alleging violations of the Clean Air Act. The fine is included in a signed plea agreement filed Thursday in U.S. Middle District along with a criminal information charging Rockwater Northeast headquartered in Canonsburg. The Washington County company is accused in a scheme to tamper with emission control devices on heavy-duty diesel trucks used to transport water and wastewater in the Marcellus Shale natural gas fields. A government expert has estimated 26 tons of nitrous oxide plus particulate matter were released into the air from the trucks. The six individuals have pleaded guilty to charges related to the tampering that occurred between Aug. 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014. The Rockwater charges list 31 heavy-duty diesel trucks on which the government says emission systems were altered by disabling onboard diagnostic systems using aftermarket devices. Rockwater managers and employees replaced or caused to be replaced hardware emissions control devices on the trucks with purchased defeat devices, the information charges. The company also is accused of being responsible for arranging with third parties to issue certificates stating the Rockwater vehicles with disabled onboard diagnostic systems met state inspection standards. Benefits of the tampering, according to the government, included fuel savings, reduced maintenance costs for malfunctioning or deteriorating emissions systems and avoidance of lost business and revenue by trucks being out of service. The plea agreement states the fine will be paid before sentencing. A date has yet to be set for Rockwater to enter a guilty plea. The six who have pleaded guilty are Brian Mellott, Joseph A. Powell, John E. Joseph Jr., Gavin Rexer, Dennis Paulhamus Jr. and Timothy Sweitzer. Mellott, the only one to be sentenced, received a six-month term in February. He lost his job as an inventory and logistics analyst at Rockwaters Linden facility in Lycoming County. Powell was general manager of water management for Rockwell facilities in Linden, Hickory and Avella, the latter two in Washington County. Joseph was a shop manager for Rockwell in Hickory and Rexer held the same position at Linden. Paulhamus owned a trucking firm that did hauling for Rockwater and Sweitzer owned a garage. Both businesses are in Jersey Shore. When they pleaded guilty, Paulhamus admitted selling $62,000 worth of defeat devices to Rockwell and Sweitzer acknowledged he passed for state inspection trucks without the required emission controls. This year marks the centennial of women in the United States being guaranteed the right to vote in all elections. Some women, in some states, in some elections, could vote before then. New Jersey granted women the right to vote in 1790, then revoked it in 1807 a classic example of a right being taken away. In 1869, the then-territory of Wyoming granted the right to vote to all women and became the first state with womens suffrage when it joined the Union in 1890. As the campaign of womens suffrage spread in the late 19th century, a patchwork of voting laws grew up across the country. Virginia, like most states, banned women from voting except in certain situations. In 1904, women in Madison Heights were allowed to vote on whether to ratify the town charter. In 1911, women in Waynesboro were allowed to vote in a bond referenda. In 1915, women in Falls Church were allowed to vote in two advisory referenda. (For these historical facts, were indebted to The Campaign for Woman Suffrage in Virginia, a new book by three researchers at the Library of Virginia Brent Tarter, Marianne E. Julienne and Barbara C. Batson). Still, it took the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to guarantee that right for all women everywhere in every election. On Aug. 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment. Eight days later, on Aug. 26, 1920, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby formally certified that the 19th Amendment had met the constitutionally-required threshold of three-fourths of the states. Last month we wrote about the drama that accompanied the final certification: Tennessee had to mail the paperwork to Washington and there was some concern that opponents might file a last-minute lawsuit to block the certification. Thats why Colby a suffrage supporter left instructions for the paperwork to be brought to him as soon as it arrived at Union Station in the early morning hours, so that he could sign it before courts opened for the day. That final drama made us curious: What route did the paperwork that triggered the 19th Amendments certification take to get from Nashville to Washington, D.C.? Heres what we wrote then: No history weve found records the specific route but railroad historians weve consulted say it probably went through what is now the CSX route through Covington, Clifton Forge, Staunton, Waynesboro and Charlottesville. They say that journalism is the first draft of history, which implies there might be other drafts to follow. Today, we have one. Gordon Hamilton, who serves on the archives committee of the Norfolk & Western Historical Society in Roanoke, has dug further into this and consulted a group we were unaware of the Railway Mail Service Library. He reports that the paperwork for the 19th Amendment most likely went on the Memphis Special, which stopped in Nashville, then continued on through Knoxville, Bristol, Roanoke and Lynchburg before arriving in Washington at a scheduled 12:30 a.m. (although on that day a century ago it ran late and didnt arrive in Washington, D.C., until 3:45 a.m.). First, we congratulate Hamilton and railway mail historian Frank Scheer for their research. Second, we ask: What should we do with this newfound knowledge, other than share it with you today? Here is our modest suggestion: This calls for some sort of historical marker or other commemoration. Now, at first blush the 19th Amendment passed through here might seem akin to George Washington slept here. After all, the Virginia General Assembly notoriously rejected the 19th Amendment by wide margins in 1920 and didnt get around to symbolically ratifying it until 1952. So, legally speaking, Virginias only role in the amendment becoming law was that the final paperwork rolled through on the night train. Why is that worth a monument? Heres why. Its the same reason we honor civil rights figures from through the years, even those many of the things they were seeking werent achieved until much later. They were on what we can safely call the right side of history. Even though Virginias political establishment was very much anti-suffrage, there were still suffragists here, making their case and they have gone largely unrecognized in any kind of formal way. Roanoke is a city strangely devoid of statues. The only two that depict actual people are the ones of Martin Luther King Jr. and Gibson Morrissey, the founder of the Roanoke Symphony the former on Henry Street, the latter a less-than-life-size depiction inside the Berglund Centers Performing Arts Center. That has spared Roanoke a debate over Confederate statues (the monument to Robert E. Lee that once stood in Lee Plaza is more properly called a stela or simply a shaft) but still leaves us short of bronze heroes. Or heroines. The book we mentioned above cites some of Roanokes early suffragists. Elsewhere in Virginia, suffrage campaigners tended to be upper-class white women because they had the time and political connections. Lillie Mary Barbour, of Roanoke, was unusual because she came from a different background she was secretary of the local chapter of the United Garment Workers of America. Another was Millie Paxton, a Black civic leader who took the lead in registering Black women to vote after the amendments passage. The Library of Virginia says she helped register 655 Black women in Roanoke, more than in any other city in Virginia except Richmond even though Virginia law at the time did its best to discourage Blacks of any gender from voting. (Historical note: Paxton was also a Republican). A womens suffrage monument is appropriate everywhere but especially so in Lynchburg. The Hill City was the epicenter of the early suffrage movement in Virginia. Orra Langhorne, of Lynchburg, started petitioning the General Assembly to allow women to vote in 1880 and founded a statewide suffrage group based in Lynchburg in 1893. After her death, her nieces daughter, Elizabeth Otey, of Lynchburg, emerged as a statewide suffrage leader. Otey earned her own place in history after the amendment became law. In 1921, she ran for State Superintendent of Public Instruction as the Republican nominee, the first woman nominated for statewide office by either major party in Virginia. Maybe those cities dont need a monument to the train but we ought to have a monument to the women who worked for what that train carried. The Roanoke Times After 21 years of being set on fire, doused in water and set on fire again, time has taken its toll on the Manitoba Emergency Services College burn house. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/9/2020 (483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us After 21 years of being set on fire, doused in water and set on fire again, time has taken its toll on the Manitoba Emergency Services College "burn house." The province announced Friday it would be putting out a request for proposals to replace the battered building, which lies just west of the Brandon Municipal Airport. The building is used by students at the college to simulate live fires and rescue operations in a safe environment. "The Manitoba Emergency Services College here in Brandon is a critical training facility for firefighters and we want to ensure they have the best teaching tools available so when they graduate they are ready to respond to emergencies and save lives," Municipal Relations Minister Rochelle Squires said. "This building has been heavily used for more than two decades and needs to be upgraded so students can train safely for this important career." The new building will be designed with new technologies and allow students to learn modern fire fighting techniques. The goal is to have a new burn house ready for students next fall. See Saturday's newspaper for more details. The Brandon Sun After closing its borders six months ago, South Africa is scheduled to reopen to international travelers on Oct. 1. Kruger National Park and the country's winery-laden Western Cape which includes the capital city of Cape Town and its most famous natural wonder, Table Mountain will likely dominate travelers' itineraries. But there are other parts of the country that offer secluded, socially-distanced experiences for those who are willing to venture beyond the usual tourist routes. One such place is KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa's eastern-most province. There travelers who want to be immersed in nature and who have a yen for conservation can stay at a private game reserve that allows guests to participate in efforts to protect local rhino and elephant populations. Combating poachers It's estimated that three rhinos are poached every day in South Africa. In the whole of Africa, an elephant is poached approximately every 15 minutes. With only 18,000 white rhinos and 400,000 elephants left in Africa, in 20 years' time at current rates, both animals will be completely gone. Private game reserves in KwaZulu-Natal, such as &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve and Nambiti Private Game Reserve, are trying to change that. Each has accommodations that range from comfortable to luxurious, and cuisine that varies from good to outstanding. A luxury suite at Nambiti Hills, a game lodge at Nambiti Private Game Reserve. Courtesy of Nambiti Hills Private Game Experience Apart from the Big Five lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and Cape buffalo Nambiti is home to giraffes, zebras, blue wildebeests and many varieties of antelope. Night drives reveal nocturnal animals such as porcupines, aardvarks, hyenas and civet cats. For Manager Mike Potter, security against poachers is his biggest budget item more expensive than roads, fences or looking after the animals. "It's financially crippling," he said, "but we have to do it." Poachers are mainly locals who work with syndicates from Mozambique. A total of five rhinos have been poached from Nambiti, three of them in February 2013. "The poachers came in by helicopter," said Potter. "We could see where they had landed." Nambiti's lodges are situated in a malaria-free part of KwaZulu-Natal. Courtesy of Nambiti Hills Private Game Experience Security was dramatically increased, and since then no rhinos have been lost. Lodge guests pay a daily rhino levy of 50 South African rand ($3), which helps the cause. Nambiti is part of the World Wildlife Fund's Black Rhino Range Expansion Project, which aims to boost the rare black rhino population in South Africa. The WWF funds Nambiti's team of four rhino monitors, who track the animals' movements via motorbike. An annual grant of about $5,000 covers the cost of their bikes, boots, binoculars and other equipment. "We download all the animal positions weekly," Potter explained. "If we haven't seen one of them for a week or two, we focus on finding it." Nambiti's 23,000 acres of land are monitored to protect the animals within the game reserve. Courtesy of Nambiti Hills Private Game Experience The job isn't easy either. "These men are vulnerable to being chased by angry black rhinos or attacked by lions," said Potter. Though it's sad to see a dehorned rhino, Potter agrees that "dehorning" them removing their horns so they won't be targeted by poachers is the best way to protect the animals. But at approximately $2,400 for each rhino dehorning expedition, it's hugely expensive. That is where conservation-minded travelers can get involved. It's possible to participate in rhino dehorning by paying a fee to join a team, usually arranged through a tour company. That contribution covers the helicopter, pilot, wildlife vet and drugs involved. At the end of the day, travelers return to their luxury lodges with the satisfaction of having helped to protect a rhino's life. An academy on Shaka-Zulu's hunting grounds Thula Thula (pronounced "tula tula") is a Zulu name that means "peace and tranquility." It's also the name of a game reserve located on the historic hunting grounds of King Shaka, founder of the Zulu empire. The reserve is famous for its conservation work, its herd of 29 elephants and its charismatic ex-Parisian owner, Francoise Malby-Anthony. She and her late husband, Lawrence Anthony, founded the Thula Thula Private Game Reserve in 1999 with a troubled herd of just seven elephants. When he died in 2012, she took over the management of the reserve, expanding it and establishing a rehabilitation center for orphaned animals. Francoise Malby-Anthony with Thula Thula's anti-poaching unit. Courtesy of Thula Thula Private Game Reserve To fix problems affecting wildlife, said Malby-Anthony, we must address human problems. Not only has powdered rhino horn been used in Chinese Traditional Medicine for thousands of years, but it is used today to display wealth and status. "Seventy percent of Chinese people do not know that the rhinos and elephants are killed for their horns," she said. It's vital that local people be involved in conservation, she said, so all of Thula Thula's staff comes from nearby communities. Visitors come from around the world, but mainly from the United States, Europe and, of course, South Africa. Accommodations are in two lodges one of which is a luxury tented camp and income from those finance the reserve's conservation efforts. Twice-daily game drives usually in the morning and evening are the highlight of any lodge stay. "These safaris are guided by our experienced game rangers, who share their knowledge and their passion, raising awareness of environmental issues and the necessity to protect endangered species," said Malby-Anthony. Thula Thula's Francoise Malby-Anthony and her vet team with Thabo, a rhino at the reserve. Courtesy of Thula Thula Private Game Reserve Thula Thula Volunteers Academy is a different form of eco-tourism. The academy holds regular two-week stays for eight volunteers at a time. Volunteers work as conservation assistants, the idea being that they will not only contribute to the work on the ground, but also go home and spread the message. "I used to think that a rhino without a horn was not a rhino," said Malby-Anthony. "But I changed my mind in February 2013 when five heavily armed men killed two of our rhinos both were only 18 months old and still with such small horns." "Since then, we have deployed intensive anti-poaching and security measures to keep our wildlife safe," she said. "This is our priority." Thula Thula's dog unit patrols 24 hours a day, and a plane comes weekly to check the fences. When she had surveillance cameras installed, the elephants removed them because they didn't like foreign objects in the trees. The solution was to apply a hot chili paste all around the camera. "That did the trick elephants don't like chili at all," said Malby-Anthony. Thabo, without a horn, rubs heads with an elephant named Shaka at Thula Thula Private Game Reserve. Courtesy of Thula Thula Private Game Reserve The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way so many of us once viewed life. From a safe haven of the nonchalant, everyday buzz of daily commutes and Friday meetups with friends to a suddenly cold world of social distancing, fear and depression, were facing a world crisis unmatched since World War II. The job sector has been seriously affected. According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, 31.3 million people report being unable to work due to COVID-19-related business closures. 6.5 million more people say theyre prevented by the pandemic from even looking for a job. The result of all this panic and confusion is that more and more people are turning to the pandemic-proof world of the internet. In fact, searches for the term work from home have skyrocketed from 300,000 searches per month to a staggering 1.8 million searches per month. As an entrepreneur for nine years and the founder of Express Writers, I can tell you that making money online isnt just a sideline teens use to add to their school allowances. Its a real business, one that took me from clueless college dropout with $75 in my pocket to thriving entrepreneur with five brands, three courses, and three best-selling books. How I accomplished all this was through one channel alone: the written word. Today, Im sharing with you how you can do it too, banishing the figure of the starving poet from your mind and getting down to creating a thriving freelance writing side hustle. You can use it to supplement your income or even replace the job you may have lost. Here are five steps to follow. 1. Find your niche. Choosing a niche involves two things: the subject you love and the people youre talking to. Its impossible to label yourself as a writer without knowing what youll say and to whom youll say it. To start, dive deep into what interests you and sparks your passion. Lay your experiences out on the table and study them. For instance, if you have a long history in personal finance and credit cards, you can get into the finance writing niche. Your audience will be everyday people who want to save more and live a richer, more stable life. At first, this sounds counterintuitive. As a finance writer, youll miss out on clients who need writers on other subjects like fitness or marketing. But the longer you do it, the more youll see how it makes sense. While you can always land generic writing assignments in freelance markets, authority writers get paid up to $1 per word while building a lasting name in their industry. 2. Learn. One thing you need to keep in mind before starting your freelance writing career is that web writing is entirely different from book or even essay writing. You need to build the right skills before you can get hired and paid. This is critical. When you write for the web, its less about wordsmithing to satisfy your readers literary cravings, and more about catching attention and competing with the go-go world of hundreds of digital media distractions. More often than not, good web writing also involves SEO-optimization and content strategy. The good news is that its not difficult to get into the zone and learn how to create powerful web copy. Here are resources I recommend. 3. Build your portfolio. Before clients or agencies hire you, theyll want to see your work in action. To make it easy for them, take a few days to build an attractive website for yourself. Plug in your writing samples, photos of yourself and landing-page copy selling your services. Related: 5 Freelance Careers with the Easiest Learning Curve 4. Pitch for projects. By now, youre ready to contact potential clients and ask them if they want to work with you. If youre just getting started, platforms like UpWork and Fiverr are diverse freelance marketplaces where you can connect with clients and land freelancing gigs. 5. Rinse and Repeat When it comes to freelance writing, getting started is one of the most difficult parts youll come across. But the moment you land your first freelancing gig, youll snowball from there, gaining experience, collecting reviews and building your reputation as a web writer. Related: How to Start a Freelance Writing Side Hustle How to Simplify Your Freelance Work-Life Balance Amidst a Bad Job Market, India Emerges Second Fastest Growing Freelance Market in the World Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved After claiming to have broken his tooth on a surprise bone nestled within a Chicken McNugget, a man in Palm Beach, Fla., is suing McDonalds. Alexei Stolfat and his wife had ordered the fateful food via Uber Eats back in May when he unsuspectingly consumed a bone a little under an inch long. Stolfat then suffered from unbearable jaw pain along with a toothache and headache for days afterward. He took pictures of the crispy criminal, along with the bone that had caused him so much discomfort, sharing them as evidence. Stolfat then went to the dentist where he was told his tooth had been cracked in two places. A tooth extraction, root canal and dental implant surgery were then needed to fix the issue. MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JUNE 21: Signage on a McDonald's restaurant states "Lake Street Strong" on June 21, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A number of buildings nearby on Lake Street were looted and burned during the unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd by members of the Minneapolis Police Department on May 25. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)Getty Images The Sun Sentinel reports how Stolfat is currently seeking over $1.1 million in damages, as well as a recall of all Chicken McNuggets. Although not a licensed attorney, he has filed the lawsuit on his own and intends to represent himself based on the legal work experience he received back in his native country, Estonia. If he wins the case against McDonalds, he vows to donate $1 million to a charitable foundation. The rest hell keep for dental expenses, as well as recompense for the mental and emotional distress. Im not looking to be famous in this case or something like that, Stolfat explained to TODAY. I want to help other people, to protect them and tell them to be careful with McNuggets. One of the items listed in the Federal complaint filed on Sept. 14 was that, since the fast food behemoth claims McNuggets are made from boneless chicken, there should never be bones present within them. McDonalds expressed to TODAY that they take these claims very seriously, and are investigating the matter further. There was a moment towards the end of Daniel Andrews appearance before the hotel quarantine inquiry when the Premier and the lawyer leading his interrogation found themselves in serendipitous agreement. We really should know who made the decision to use private security guards, counsel assisting the inquiry Rachel Ellyard said. Yes, replied Mr Andrews, it was an important question. Indeed, it was one of the very reasons he set up the inquiry. At ease: Premier Daniel Andrews at the hotel quarantine inquiry. If Ms Ellyard really wanted to know, she might have pressed a little harder. Earlier in his testimony, Mr Andrews was shown footage of comments he made, on the day mandatory quarantine was agreed upon by national cabinet, in which he indicated that private security firms were part of his plan. Research Undergraduate Enrollments Take Another Dip for Fall Fall 2020 undergraduate enrollment changes by type of institution. Source: "First Look Fall 2020 Enrollment" from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center According to a preliminary study from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, overall enrollments across the United States are running 2.5 percent below last year's level (compared to a 1.7 percent drop in fall 2019 from the previous year). Community colleges are hurting the most; they've lost about 7.5 percent of students. Four-year private nonprofits are down 3.8 percent. The first-look snapshot was based on reporting from 22 percent of colleges, as of Sept 10, 2020. Institutions that are primarily online (defined by the Clearinghouse as schools where more than nine in 10 students enroll exclusively online, even before the pandemic) saw a 5.6 percent decline among undergraduate students attending full-time, and a 3.6 percent jump by students attending part-time. For graduate students it was just the opposite: Full-timers increased by 4.4 percent and part-timers decreased by 3.9 percent. Undergraduate enrollment by campus setting saw positive blips year-over-year in four categories: private-for-profits in town and rural settings (5 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively), public four-years in city settings (half a percent) and private nonprofits in rural settings (a third of a percent). The most dramatic slide occurred in four-year private-for-profits in suburban settings, which shrank by 31 percent. International enrollments were down 11 percent. Decreases also hit specific sub-groups: American Indian and Native Alaskan student enrollment shrank by 8 percent, and 6 percent fewer White students and Black students enrolled. By credential type, post-college certificates saw big pickup, increasing by 24 percent fall-over-fall. Undergraduate certificates, on the other hand, dropped by 9.7 percent, followed by associate degree enrollments (down 7.5 percent). On the upside, graduate enrollment has increased by 3.9 percent. Private for-profits saw the biggest pickup at 9.1 percent, followed by public four-year schools (4.7 percent). The largest gain by a graduate school sub-group was Hispanic students; enrollment rose by 14.2 percent among those students. There were 10.2 percent more American Indian/Native Alaskan graduate students enrolled. Among Asian graduate students, the increase was 9.3 percent, followed by Black students with an 8.4 percent upsurge. For the 26 states for which "sufficient data" was available, researchers reported that 19 states showed fewer undergraduate students compared to the same time last fall; enrollment declines ranged from 0.1 percent (for Virginia) to 13.9 percent (for Arkansas). By contrast, graduate enrollments were up for 21 states, with Arizona leading (with growth of 15.7 percent). Arkansas, again, experienced the biggest drop (15.2 percent) in graduate enrollments. "Adding to what we saw in the summer term enrollments, the fall data continue to show how much higher the stakes are for community college students during disruptions like the pandemic and the subsequent recession," said Doug Shapiro, executive director of the Clearinghouse, in a statement. "The picture will become clearer as more data come in, but at this point the large equity gap for students who rely on community colleges for access to higher education is a matter of critical concern." The results are openly available on the Student Clearinghouse website. The Clearinghouse expected to release its next set of data findings on Oct. 15, 2020, followed by another on Nov. 11. Luis Suarez has officially become an Atletico Madrid player after putting pen to paper on a two-year contract at the club. The Uruguayan underwent his medical examination on Friday morning before heading to the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano to sign his contract. On Friday afternoon, Suarez will train with his new team-mates for the first time as Atletico continue to prepare for their LaLiga Santander opener, which is at home to Granada on Sunday. Suarez, who was one of Diego Simeone's top targets in this transfer window, arrives at Atletico with the hope of putting the club's goalscoring woes in the past. The 33-year-old will partner Joao Felix in attack, which means that the Portuguese starlet will be able to learn from one of the best in the world. With an average of 22 goals in each of the last six seasons, Suarez will look to continue these numbers in an Atletico Madrid shirt. Be it the devastating Kerala floods, rescued Kashmiri students after the Pulwama attack or distributing gifts to Syrian refugees on Eid, volunteers of Khalsa Aid have come forward to help those in need. And now Khalsa Aid members have been seen distributing foods and water bottles during nationwide farmer protests against agricultural reform bills passed by the Parliament. Here are some pictures of Khalsa Aid volunteers serving langar to the protesting farmers. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In desperate need of organ donations, Peter and Denise Perera of Castleton Corners are in the fight of their lives, but they are determined to overcome their respective illnesses for their daughter Biancagrace, 14. In 2018, Peter, 51, was diagnosed with renal failure and is now Stage 5 in urgent need of a donor kidney. He is on several national and international waiting lists and was forced to stop working after 30 years as a DOE bus driver because of his medical condition. Denise, 58, is also in critical need of an organ -- but of a liver. Now retired after 30 years as an assessment team school psychologist at Susan E. Wagner High School, Denise is battling a long-standing blood disorder and now a liver disease that has affected her pancreas, spleen and other organs. Denise is presently undergoing invasive medical testing and procedures and will be placed on a donor waiting list next week at Mr. Sinai for a liver transplant. Her rare blood type of Rh negative will make it more challenging to find a match. Times have been rough since finding out about my husband and my illnesses and it has brought a strain on us as a family mentally, physically, and emotionally, said Denise. "Thank God there are still good people in the world who care and are sincere. "We keep strong for our beautiful daughter Biancagrace, who has brought such a big impact in our life and is truly a big inspiration to us. We truly live for her. The feeling is mutual. My mom is all I wish to become: a respectable, charitable, and beautiful woman," said Biancagrace. "My dad is the most loving and caring person you will ever meet. Even though he is sick, he is still strong and willingly takes care of us. He is my hero. "They are the most important people in my life, and to see them go through this breaks my heart because theyve sacrificed the world for me. If you would like to donate to the Pereras' GoFundMe page, please click here. Biancagrace and her dad, Peter Perera. (Courtesy Denise Perera) PETERS DAILY RENAL DIALYSIS Peter currently receives daily peritoneal dialysis, injections, and regular bloodwork. Some of his daily medications and medical supplies are not fully covered by insurance while others have enormous co-pays which the family cannot always pay. However, the familys faith remains steadfast. During this time Ive never seen us so vulnerable since we are such a joyous family, always spending time with family and friends, volunteering in our community, said Biancagrace. This time has impacted me as a young adult, as Ive become more independent and have taken on the role of caring for my family. It is hard to see some of these things going on in my life, but Im surrounded by amazing people my family -- my friends, and most importantly, my parents, who even in their sick days still care, support, and love me. If you would like to donate to the Pereras' GoFundMe page, please click here. Denise and Peter Perera. (Courtesy Denise Perera) "AUNTIE OF SUSAN E. WAGNER HIGH SCHOOL Jamie Greenberg is the 25-year friend and former colleague of Denise Perera. The Pereras are one of the most loving, happy, caring and faith-based families I have ever had the pleasure to know and adore, she said. They are a beloved Staten Island family well-known in their professional, business, religious, cultural, school and dance communities. "Denise was known as the Auntie of Susan Wagner, with her extraordinary sense of humor and magnetic personality. She always had kind words and a prayer to make those around her feel appreciated and loved. Peter is similarly described by Greenberg. He is the perfect gentleman, devoted husband and incredibly loving father with the ever-present smile and waves hello to everyone who passes, even if theres a slight chance he may not know them, she said. Since they are unable to work, the Perera family has accumulated tremendous travel expenses for their continuous trips to NYC doctors. Their medical insurance does not cover all the hospital stays, doctors, procedures, medications or supplies, and they are struggling to meet their daily living expenses, said Greenberg. The costs of the organ transplants will also not be completely are not completely covered by insurance. But the Pereras remain optimistic. No matter what life throws at us we have held on to our faith each day we get stronger and stronger as a family and the bond beneath us grows, said Denise. Life has truly been a whirlwind but God does not give you what you cant handle. REGISTER TO BECOME A DONOR AND/OR DONATE TO HELP WIH EXPENSES If you would like to register to become a kidney donor and B+ blood type, please visit for more information: https://cornell.donorscreen.org/register/donate-kidney. If you would like to donate to the Pereras' GoFundMe page, please click here. My family and I thank you for all your charitable donations," said Denise. "Both friends and strangers have really made a difference in our lives and I cant thank you enough for giving us an outlook of hope, a gift I will always treasure. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. God bless you all. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday a deal with AstraZeneca to procure up to 20 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate being developed with Oxford University. This comes after Ottawa signed similar agreements with Sanofi and GSK, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna. In total, Canada now has access to six COVID-19 vaccines under development or in clinical trials to prove their safety and effectiveness, or a combined minimum of 174 million doses, according to Procurement Minister Anita Anand. Trudeau on Friday also pledged Can$220 million (US$165 million) in funding for Covax, the international coronavirus procurement pool, that would secure another 15 million vaccine doses for Canadians. An additional Can$220 million has been earmarked to purchase doses through Covax for low- and middle-income countries, he said. "This pandemic can't be solved by any one country alone," Trudeau told a news conference. "Because to eliminate the virus anywhere, we need to eliminate it everywhere." "That's why Canada is helping ensure vaccines are distributed quickly and fairly around the world by supporting (vaccine alliance) Gavi's Covax facility and advanced market commitment," he said. The WHO has said more than 170 countries are in talks to participate in the Covax initiative. More than 60 wealthy nationsexcluding the US and Chinahave already joined the WHO-backed program. The aim is for Covax to lay its hands on two billion vaccines doses by the end of 2021. On Friday, Canadawhich has a population of nearly 38 millionsurpassed 150,000 COVID-19 cases, including 11,500 active infections and nearly 9,300 deaths. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak 2020 AFP Former WDOD Radio afternoon host Amy Reed has sued the station, alleging that she was harassed by station management and by Alex Williams, who preceded her as the afternoon host. The suit was filed in Chattanooga Federal Court by Ms. Reed, who joined the station in January after leaving Country WPAW 93.1 The Wolf in Greensboro, N.C. Her starting pay was $50,000. The suit says her immediate supervisor was Danny Howard, station manager. She said she reported Mr. Williams' "online attacks" against her to the station to no avail. Instead, she said, management admonished her for focusing on sexual content. She said she was told, "The social media landscape presents critical opportunities and challenges for the Hits 96 brand. Your guidance and planning skills are welcome, however, the optics of the Hits social pages, (that reflect and affect our image greatly), need attention. There has been an overabundance of sexually charged content on both our page as well as your personal-professional page which you cross tag and promote on-air. i.e. - Pole dancing (which we removed) - Dating app discussions - Shirtless firefighters - Drinking game references - YouTube discussions about booty size - Just the Tip Tuesday feature (which we cancelled, but remains on your personal page) The Hits page doesnt have to be a G rated site. But it also shouldnt be rated R either. While the occasional post of a firefighters calendar or the latest general dating app info could be acceptable, a variety of posts that break up those types of content is crucial. We cannot afford to have a page filled with multiple sexual innuendo posts. (Listeners and advertisers will notice and react negatively, which is not our goal) Going forward please use great caution to avoid posting content that may be identified as sexually charged; especially when in succession with similar posts. It is of great importance that we protect the image of the Hits 96 WDOD brand." Ms. Reed said prior to that memo, the station "never advised her to avoid posting widely-accepted content because it was not acceptable to Hits 96." The suit says on Feb. 19 she stated, in a joking manner, forget your dreams and become a teacher strictly because of the amount of time they get off. The suit says, "No other negative comments were made. Ms. Reed moved on to the two other items for that break. When Ms. Reed became aware that listeners were responding on Twitter and Facebook to her comments, she replied that her statements were strictly her opinion; and, if the listeners wished to further discuss, she was in the studio and available. Ms. Reed was pleasant, respectful, and only responded to acknowledge the listeners complaints. She stopped responding when she became aware that the discussion was proving unproductive, which is proper protocol per the Social Media Guidelines of Hits 96." The complaint says on Feb. 20, she was suspended from her employment without pay for two days. In conjunction with her suspension, Ms. Reed received a memorandum, stating: "On Wednesday February 19th, Amy Reed (afternoon personality on WDOD-Hits 96 Chattanooga) made on-air comments and posted opinions regarding teachers. She stated/posted forget your dreams and become a teacher strictly because of the amount of time they get off followed by additional negative comments about teachers. Ms. Reed argued online with one listener and took an on-air call from a teacher which she proceded to laugh at. Ms. Reed has been verbally informed this type of commentary does not match the image of WDOD (Hits 96), will not be tolerated, and that she will be suspended for two days 2/20 & 2/21 without pay. Furthermore Ms. Reed must reach out to educate herself on teacher roles by volunteering over a three week period and an area public school system. She has also been instructed to offer multiple on-air apologies upon her return to the air during the week of 2/24 and to drastically change her image on-air in the community. Ms. Reed has been informed that our stations bond with our community is of utmost importance and that she has damaged that connection. She was also notified that any further instances will be grounds for termination." Ms. Reed said she told station officials that she planned "to reach out to David Carroll, a reporter for WRCB who is very involved with the area school districts, as well as several teachers to put together a round table discussion where I can learn more about the local education system, the daily challenges teachers face, and both their micro and macro concerns. For a future charity event, I would like to put together a drive to help reduce student lunch debt in elementary & middle school. While I understand this is not directly related to teachers, a teacher from Hamilton County who I was engaging with in an online dialogue last night said that assistance with lunch is much needed, even more so than supplies, etc." She said Mr. Howard later told her, "Do not contact David Carroll nor other members of the press as this could serve to compound the problem and fuel publicity. Ms. Reed said she felt she had two strikes against her and had no other choice than to resign. The suit was filed by attorney James Friauf of Knoxville. By Azernews By Akbar Mammadov Female members of Azerbaijans Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) organization have criticized the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pahinyans wife Anna Hakobyan for organization yet another military training for Armenian women in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region. The 45-day military training for Armenian women will be held with the organization and participation of Anna Hakobyan in occupied Azerbaijani territories as of October 1. The illegal training by Anna Hakobyan with women in the Nagorno-Karabakh territory of Azerbaijan after presenting herself as a peace advocate in the region in 2018 and calling on Azerbaijani women to the "Women for Peace" campaign, shows the hypocritical policy of the occupying Armenian state, the female members of the KLO said in a statement published in local media. If even women in Armenia are preparing for war, how can we believe that this country wants peace? the statement reads. The members of the organization said that Armenia has been using the cease-fire regime since 1994 to further expand the policy of occupation, to illegally settle Armenian families living abroad in Karabakh in a bid to delete Azerbaijans traces in the region. "Armenia has been occupying Nagorno-Karabakh, an integral part of Azerbaijan, for 30 years, ignored the world community's demand for withdrawal, repeatedly committed provocations on the front line with Azerbaijan and made another attempt against the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in the direction of Tovuz, the statement reads. The organization urged the international community to put an end to Armenias illegal activities and to and demand the immediate withdrawal of the Armenian occupying forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, in line with the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the decisions of the OSCE." It should be noted that Anna Hakobyan initiated and participated in military training for fifteen civil women in one of the Armenian military units in the occupied Karabakh region of Azerbaijan from 25 August to 31. During the so-called combat preparedness training, Hakobyan and the other women were completely immersed in military life, wearing uniforms, being stationed in their unit and undergoing professional, physical, combat preparedness and first aid training. 'I'm getting killed financially' (Getty Images) Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator, has complained he is getting "killed financially" by his Democratic rival, Jaime Harrison, who has seen a surge in donations following death of the late Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Mr Gramham, whose role as Judiciary Committee chair puts him at the heart of GOP efforts to replace Ginsburg before November's election, bemoaned the reported improved financial muscle of his rival, saying that the donors "hate my guts". "My opponent will raise $100 million in the state of South Carolina, Mr Graham, 65, told Fox News on Thursday. The most money ever spent in the history of the state on a Senate race in this state was by me in 2014 when I spent $13 million. It was not immediately clear what figure Mr Graham, an ardent supporter of president Trump, had been alluding to. Recent reports have suggested that Mr Harrison, 44, pulled in around $9 million worth of donations in the 72 hours following Ginsburg's death last Friday. According to federal election spending records, Mr Harrison raised $28 million in June, compared with his rival's $29 million. It remains to be seen how much more money Mr Harrison can pull into the coffers before November's election, but the $100 million touted by his rival seems excessive. The death of Ginsburg, a liberal icon who spent almost three decades serving on the highest court in the land, has proved to be somewhat of a curveball in an election already described as one of the most important in living memory. Mr Trump, 74, has vowed to replace Ginsburg with a conservative justice, a decision that may well reshape the court for a generation. If the president and GOP press ahead with the plan, it would decisively tilt the ideological balance of power in the Supreme Court. The court's rulings have implications for some of the most important and hottly contested US laws. Mr Graham, who appeared on Fox News last week to issue a rallying cry for more funds of his own, faces a battle to hold onto his seat in the solidly red state, which the president won easily in 2016. A Quinnipiac University poll from earlier this month showed the pair tied on 48 per cent. Story continues Responding to the incumbents plea for help, Mr Harrison taunted the GOP politician on Twitter. "Anybody else get the sense that Lindsey Graham just realized he's going to lose on November 3rd?" he said. He later tweeted the hashtag "#LindseyGrahamIsLosing" as he called for supporters to "keep it that way" by donating more money to his campaign. Read more Trump vows to take drug test ahead of US election debate if Biden does too Theres never been an election like this: Former head of US election mission raises concerns over voter confidence in 2020 Facebook registers 2.5 million voters ahead of US election Iran will join Russia's efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, Russian news agencies quoted the countrys Iranian ambassador as saying. The Russian Direct Investment Fund, the countrys sovereign wealth fund, recently inked a deal with India to produce 300 million doses of its Sputnik V vaccine and it appears Iran will be among the next countries to strike a similar deal. Russian state-owned news outlets reported that Irans ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, discussed manufacturing the vaccine with fund head Kirill Dmitriev. Our officials have held several rounds of consultations and we announced that we will cooperate," Jalali said on Friday, per Reuters. That includes joint production with Russia. Iran has great potential to produce the vaccine." Russia announced in August that the Sputnik V vaccine named for the worlds first artificial satellite was approved for use after just two months of testing. Worldwide, some 300 vaccine candidates have been put into development and at least 39 are undergoing clinical trials, according to the World Health Organization. Iran claims to have developed its own coronavirus vaccine. In mid-September, state news outlets quoted Health Minister Saeed Namak as saying that researchers were ready to move to human trials after successfully testing a vaccine on animals. Since confirming its first case in February, Iran remains the hardest-hit country in the Middle East. The country has reported more than 25,000 deaths from the virus and over 436,000 infections. The Iranian Health Ministry warned this week that a third wave of infection is imminent. Bihar Election 2020 dates would be announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday. The Election Commission will hold a press conference at 12:30 pm today. While the purpose of the press conference has not been mentioned, it is most likely to be the announcement of the Bihar Election 2020 schedule. The term of the 243-member Bihar legislative assembly comes to an end on November 29. Elections in Bihar would be the first major election held amid the pandemic. The Bihar elections are likely to be held in October-November. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will contest the Bihar election for a fourth term. Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress are also in the fray. BJP that has lended its support to Kumar has said that NDA in Bihar that also includes JD(U) and LJP will fight under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. PM Modi has also endorsed Nitish Kumar as the face of NDA in the state. The ECI had earlier issued a set of guidelines for the polls. The number of people campaigning door-to-door has been capped. Submission of nomination forms has been allowed online. Voters would be provided with gloves before they use the electronic voting machines (EVMs). Standard measures like social distancing and wearing of masks will be followed. ECI had stated that people who have high temperature would be allowed to vote only in the last one hour of the polling. Face masks, sanitiser, thermal scanners, gloves, face shields and personal protective equipment kits would be used during the process, ECI had stated. Tables at the counting hall have been halved. Maximum of 1,000 people would be allowed to vote at a polling station. Also read: PM Modi inaugurates Kosi Rail Mega Bridge in Bihar; dedicates it to nation Also read: PM Modi inaugurates 3 petro projects in Bihar; vouches for Nitish Kumar's role in development of 'New Bihar' Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, getting a flu shot is more important than ever. University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) students and employees, including those learning remotely and teleworking, can schedule an appointment to receive a flu shot in January or February. Because some of the symptoms of the flu and COVID-19 are similar, getting a flu shot is more important than ever. It will reduce your risk from the flu while conserving health care resources to fight the pandemic. UMaryland Immediate Care (UMIC) clinics will be offered on the first floor of the Southern Management Corporation Campus Center. A full list of dates and times is available along with the registration form here. The dates are: Tuesdays, 2 p.m.-4:45 p.m. Jan. 19-Feb. 23 Fridays, 9 a.m.-11:45 a.m. Jan. 22-Feb. 26 Time slots are not appointments, but a range of time when you can arrive for your shot. No walk-ins will be accepted, and you must have your photo ID to check in plus your insurance card if insurance is covering the cost. UMIC will offer asymptomatic COVID-19 testing during the flu shot visit. UMB students with active insurance are covered at UMIC. UMB employees insurance will cover the flu shot at UMIC if your insurance is through University of Maryland or your HMO or MCO plan lists a University of Maryland Family Medicine provider on your insurance card. Out-of-pocket rates for those not covered by insurance are $40 for the flu shot or $70 for a high-dose flu shot, plus a $56 administration fee. You also can safely get a flu vaccine at other locations including your doctors office, health departments, and pharmacies. Many University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) hospitals are offering community vaccination clinics and are following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccination guidance during a pandemic. View all UMMS flu shot locations. Students and employees learning and working from home also can visit the Maryland Department of Healths Get Vaccinated page for a full list of flu shot locations. Find more information about fighting the flu and the pandemic at UMBs Coronavirus Recovery website. Art Dugoni knew how to fix a mouth full of bad teeth and, even more importantly, he knew how to teach others how to do it, with passion and dedication and good humor. Dugoni, who had cancer, died Wednesday in his Palo Alto home. He was 95. Perhaps the premier dental educator in the country, Dugoni was the longtime dean of the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry in San Francisco and, before that, a professor who inspired thousands of young people to take up the profession. His kindness, his depth of knowledge and his ability to remember the name of a dental students girlfriend or dog were the stuff of legend. We grow people, he was known for saying, and along the way they become doctors. The dental school was renamed in his honor in 2004. It is the sort of distinction normally made posthumously, but the thousands of colleagues, students and educators who bore a genuine affection for their silver-haired mentor just didnt feel like waiting. Dentistry, said the schools current dean, Nader Nadershahi, is stronger today because of Arts passion for people and the profession. Dugoni served as dean of the school that now bears his name from 1978 to 2006. Before that he taught pediatric dentistry and orthodontics. He was the former president of both the California Dental Association and the American Dental Association. He lectured, he published articles in dental journals and he showed countless students how to hold a drill, how to read an X-ray and how to put a patient at ease. But at the old dental school building in PacifIc Heights, before it moved into its state-of-the-art facility in South of Market five years ago, he was perhaps best known for leaving his office and making the rounds from the clinics to the custodians office to the cafeteria and for addressing countless people by their first names, accompanied by a smile that rivaled a Pepsodent billboard. All the while, he maintained a private orthodontics practice in South San Francisco, where even patients leery of dentists were never leery of Dr. Dugoni. When he talked to you, he made you feel like you were the most important person to him in the whole world, said San Francisco dentist Michael Fox, who graduated from the school in 1982. He was always walking around the school, always hands-on. Hed walk into the clinic, hed walk into the mail room, hed walk into the lecture hall. He was always talking to someone. He was such a genuine, caring and humanistic person. Cupertino dentist Ken Frangadakis recalled taking an orthodontics class from Dugoni in the mid-1960s. He made it easy to learn, and he didnt come down on you, Frangadakis said. I remember him saying to me, This is how were going to move this front tooth and showing me how to do it. He was the most respected dentist in the world. And he remembered the name of your partners children. I dont know how he did that. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. A native of San Francisco, Dugoni was a graduate of Gonzaga University and of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in San Francisco, the forerunner of the school that would eventually bear his name. He was also a passionate fundraiser and philanthropist, and his good-natured shaking down of donors was largely responsible for the $66 million fundraising campaign in the 1990s that enable the school to move into its new building. Whenever Art put out his hand for me to shake, recalled Concord dentist and UOP graduate Brian Sheaff, I knew I would be reaching for my wallet. He is survived by seven children: Steven of Hillsborough; Michael of Fremont; Russell of Fairfield; Arthur of Sacramento; James of Stockton; Mary Rouleau of Los Altos; and Diane Harris of Foster City. His wife of 66 years, Kaye, died in 2015. Plans for a virtual memorial celebration are pending. Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF Candace Adams has spent 20 years at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties, Westchester Properties and New York Properties. She has been president of the company since 2010 and added the title of chief executive officer three years after that. Adams oversees regional operations and 1,800 agents across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island. She serves on the residential brokerage board of directors at the Real Estate Board of New York, and has been named among Real Estate Executive Magazine's "100 Most Influential Real Estate Executives" two times. Adams, winner of the Top Leadership award in the large employers category of the 2020 Hearst Connecticut Media Top Workplaces contest, spoke with Hearst about this turbulent year. Click here for complete coverage of the regions Top Workplaces for 2020. Click here for a searchable list of the 49 Top Workplaces winners for 2020. How has managing a workforce of 1,800 people spread across three states changed as a result of the pandemic? Using video conferencing, weve been able to bring in speakers to discuss the different aspects of the business, like the psychology of selling homes during the pandemic And because of that, even though we're a large company, I think we've kept it from becoming too bureaucratic. Did the strength of the real estate market in Connecticut surprise you initially? This has been an unprecedented year. We saw January and February [sales] numbers that were higher than last year. Then it came to a screeching halt, which was a real shock to our Realtors. After the restrictions were lifted, it has become this robust, crazy market. If a house is priced well, it sells within 24 hours. Who would have thought back in March that we would have the hottest real estate market we've seen on past 10 years? At the time, we were seeing the market through a lens of uncertainty. All of the working from home changed the mental process of thinking about buying a home. It was a big surprise. Tell us about how you got started in the real estate business. I have been in the business for 30 years. When I got my start, I was a young mother with two children and I wanted a career that was flexible. The reason I began my career in real estate was that I was very entrepreneurial and I wanted to be able to enjoy the fruits of my labor. What did you do before you joined Berkshire Hathaway? I was an owner of [a real estate] company in Ellington and Tolland, which a partner and I sold to Prudential. What do you look for when bringing new real estate agents into the company? We are all about character and integrity. We can teach the real estate business. But you cant teach character. Are the markets oversaturated with real estate agents? Theres always room for more agents. You rarely see real estate agents stumbling over each other. They work at their own pace and they have their own sphere of influence, their own niche. What factors are driving the market? Historically low interest rates are driving it for starters and theres also a low inventory of homes available. Beyond that, we've seen the migration of people out of urban centers. We're dealing with the emotions of buyers. Those buyers want houses with plenty of property and they want a home office. Psychologically, they want the security of owning something. The American Dream has become the American need. How has technology changed the way you do business especially during coronavirus? It has certainly cut down on the one-on-one activity in person. But I think it has allowed us to reach out more frequently to our agents. People are still seeing the properties in person, but all of the other activities associated with the purchase are being done online. It saves people from having to run into a office. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com Margaret Cafferkey from Mallow who won a cool 61,000 in prizes on behalf of her brother Denny, with host Marty Whelan. Photos: Mac Innes Photography Caroline OCallaghan from Kildinan won 32,000 for her mother Patricia Barry the second time she had appeared in the show for her mum Two lucky ladies from North Cork enjoyed their spin back down from the capital last weekend after winning more than 90,000 between them courtesy of the National Lottery. The 2019/2020 season of the Winning Streak drew to a close with ten players taking part in two separate game shows, which paid out more than 400,000 in cash prizes. One of the biggest individual winners was Mallow woman Margaret Cafferkey who spun the wheel on behalf of her brother Denny Hawe - scooping a cool 61,000 in prizes, including an electric car worth 25,000. A huge fan of the show, Margaret admitted she was "shocked and excited" upon leaning that her brother's name had been selected to go on the show. She was more than happy to do her brother a 'good turn', while Denny was equally happy to watch his sister from the sidelines at the RTE studio in Dublin. Margaret Cafferkey stepped in for her brother Denny at Winning Streak and was more than happy to do her brother a good turn. She is a huge fan of the show and upon learning her brother's name was one of the final five to be selected, she was a mix of shocked and excited at the same time. While Denny didn't take to the Winning Streak stage, he was more than happy to watch his sister from the sidelines at RTE studios. Meanwhile, Caroline O'Callaghan from Kildinan finally got to appear on the show on behalf of her mother Patricia Barry from Glenville - after a six month wait. Caroline was due to have appeared on Winning Streak on March 21. However, the show was postponed until last week following the Government imposed Covid-19 restrictions. Ironically, it was the second time that she had appeared on the show for her mother after Patricia's name was drawn out of the Winning Streak drum back in 2014. On that occasion she went home with 34,000 and last Saturday Caroline and Patricia continued their own personal 'winning streak' by winning another 32,000 in cash. Caroline, who is married with two children of her own, said had a long standing agreement with her mother that in the event of Patricia's name being called out she would go on the show in her place. "It was a pact I never thought I would ever have to make good on - let alone do it twice," she said. Ferozepur: Hours after Rahul Gandhi announced Amarinder Singh as the Congresss chief ministerial face in Punjab, the partys state unit chief challenged Arvind Kejriwal to name AAPs CM candidate to prove it is sincere about the welfare of the people in the state. Addressing public rallies in Ferozepur Rural and Guru Har Sahai, Amarinder also questioned the credibility of Aam Aadmi Party to govern a state for which it is a complete outsider. He flayed Kejriwals continued attempts to make a back-door entry to grab the chief ministerial post in Punjab without contesting the polls. Pointing out that all other major political parties in the fray has named their chief ministerial faces, Amarinder said there was enough evidence to indicate that Kejriwal himself was eying the top post in the state despite his total disconnect with Punjabs people and their concerns. Setting at rest speculation, Rahul Gandhi on Friday addressing a poll meeting at Majitha in Amritsar district, announced that Amarinder Singh will be the partys chief ministerial face in the high-stakes Assembly polls. Despite being asked to name the partys chief ministerial candidate and clarify stand on vital issues such as SYL, he said, Kejriwal continues to maintain a stoic silence, clearly indicated a nefarious design on his part. Kejriwals adamant refusal to name a Punjabi chief ministerial candidate and to clarify on the AAP candidate for deputy CM's post suggests that he is interested in taking over the coveted post, as was in fact publicly mentioned by his own party leader recently, Amarinder said. The PPCC chief claimed that Kejriwal was furthering his personal interests at the cost of thePunjabs people, who cannot not afford to experiment with outsiders at a critical juncture when the state needed an experienced leadership with roots in Punjab and an understanding of its problems. AAP?s total disconnect with Punjab is evident from the fact that it is bringing in thousands of people from other states to steer its electioneering, Amarinder said. He further said Kejriwal himself as a Haryanvi could not be expected to stand by Punjab on issues of SYL, Chandigarh and Punjabi language, which had been simmering between Haryana and Punjab for decades. Amarinder said there was no difference between the Akalis and AAP, with both only interested in promoting their vested interests by looting Punjab and its people. Lambasting the ruling Badals for allegedly destroying the states economy and now trying to divide the people through communal polarisation, Amarinder said he has vowed to give a solid thrashing to Parkash Singh Badal in Lambi, where he has chosen to contest only to teach the Badals a lesson. Expressing concern over the spate of farmer suicides in the state, Amarinder reiterated his promise to waive off all farm debts if Congress comes to power. He also reiterated his promise of one job per family and revival of industry to wean the youth away from drugs and bring Punjab back on the track of development. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The New Institute will hold a press conference on Monday, September 28 at 12pm at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Ballroom, featuring four experts who will present on the fraudulent election that occurred on April 15 in South Korea, how China intervened in the South Korean election, the downward spiral to authoritarianism by the Moon Jae-In administration, and the dangers faced by the United States from China's interference in its own upcoming presidential election in November. The four experts who will present are: Former National Assemblyman of the Republic of Korea, Min Kyung Wook; Ewha University Law Professor, Choi Won Mog; Journalist and Author, Grant Newsham; and Attorney Park Joo Hyeon (participating virtually from Seoul). These four experts will lay out the case for the rigging and fraud that occurred in the April 15 general election in South Korea, from the illegal use of QR codes on early voting ballots, to over 1.1 million mail-in votes that have been found to be fraudulent, among others. Most importantly, the four will also present how China meddled and interfered with the South Korean election, and the warning signs these dangers present to the United States as Americans prepare to vote in November. "The election fraud virus is here, passing through South Korea; America, you are next," said Prof. Choi. Former Representative Min warned that, "Over 1.1 million early voting mail-in ballots out of 2.7 million have been found to be fraudulent from the recent April election in South Korea. Be aware, or be next!". Journalist and attorney Newsham stated, "Surprising election results are nothing new in democratic societies. But evidence collected by concerned South Korean citizens after the April 15, 2020 elections strongly suggests that the election was indeed 'fixed.'" Mr. Newsham, who interviewed more than 20 experts in South Korea regarding the fraudulent election and wrote a report, will also speak about the danger posed by China for the United States. "The US government hopefully takes seriously the allegations of fraud in the South Korean election. And it might even consider it a warm-up for the US election in November 2020. But even if the election rigging story is too hard, consider the larger story beyond the April 15th election: The possibility of a longtime US ally in northeast Asia moving away from a consensual multiparty democracy towards an authoritarian state and aligning itself with the People's Republic of China," said Newsham. The press conference will close with calls for officials in South Korea to immediately look into the allegations of fraud, how the people of South Korea - the voters - can take back their rights, and how the United States should prepare for the possibility of fraud and Chinese and other foreign influence in the upcoming presidential election. The presenters will be available for in-depth interviews following the press conference during lunch. For any questions, please contact Henry Song at 202-341-6767, or [email protected] . Please RSVP HERE . * * LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED * * The National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20045, (202)-662-7500 The Ballroom; Monday, Sept. 28, 12-1pm Press Conference, 1-2pm lunch and interviews with presenters. Strict COVID-19 precautions and social-distancing guidelines will be in use and enforced. For more information, please visit: https://www.press.org/safetyfirst . Extra facemasks, and hand sanitizers will be available. RSVP SOURCE The New Institute Around 150 Delhi Police personnel armed with anti-riot equipment such as water cannons, tear gas guns and shells were deployed at Chilla on the Delhi-Noida border on Friday morning in a bid to prevent over 100 agitating farmers from crossing over to the national capital from Greater Noida following nationwide protest call given by various farmer associations against the farm bills passed by Parliament earlier this week. The protests led to traffic disruptions around the border. However, later in the day, Jasmeet Singh, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), (east), Delhi Police, who was present at the Delhi-Noida border to supervise deployment and security arrangements in the national capital, said the farmers dispersed peacefully after 2pm. Around 100 protesting farmers had blocked both carriageways at the Chilla border around 11.45am. A police arrangement and traffic diversion plan was already in place in anticipation at the border. They dispersed peacefully at 2:20pm. Traffic is normal now at Chilla border, he said. Catch LIVE Updates of Bharat Bandh here Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police authorities spoke with the leaders of the farmers groups in Noida, said Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (JCP), (eastern range), Delhi Police. The farmers were apprised about the guidelines of Unlock 4, which prohibits any kind of mass gathering or protests across the country, including the national capital, owing to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. We are also trying to keep a strict vigil on other interstate borders through which the protestors may attempt to sneak in, said a senior Delhi Police officer on condition of anonymity. The deployment of Delhi Police personnel at Alipur on the Delhi-Haryana border is minimal. Opposition parties and farmers organisations are unhappy about the passage of The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 by Parliament earlier this week. The bills are awaiting an assent from President Ram Nath Kovind. Some 20 Kurdish politicians and activists were arrested today after prosecutors in Ankara issued warrants for 82 people accused of inciting public unrest and abetting terrorist acts and propaganda. The charges stemmed from deadly riots that erupted six years ago across the mainly Kurdish cities in the southeast when the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani on the Turkish border was besieged by the Islamic State. Incensed by the Turkish governments refusal to come to Kobanis aid, thousands of Kurds took to the streets. The protests turned violent, leaving 46 people dead and over 600 others wounded. Prosecutors accuse the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) of igniting the unrest in tandem with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The mayor of the eastern city of Kars, Ayhan Bilgen, and three former HDP lawmakers were among several prominent HDP members who were detained today. The Ankara chief prosecutor's office said indictments were being drawn up for seven other HDP lawmakers over their alleged connection to the riots. Why it matters: The timing of the arrests has prompted speculation that the real purpose is to deflect attention from the countrys mounting economic worries by further polarizing Turks and Kurds. This in turn, will make it harder for the secular opposition to continue its informal electoral alliance with the HDP. Kurdish votes helped the opposition wrest Istanbul and Ankara from the ruling Justice and Development Party in mayoral elections last year. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made demonizing the HDP part of his electoral strategy since June 2015, when the pro-Kurdish group denied his Justice and Development Party (AKP) a ruling majority in parliament for the first time since it came to power in 2002. That same year Erdogan ended peace talks with the PKK. A 2-year-long cease-fire with the militants collapsed. Erdogan has since relied on his nationalist ally, Devlet Bahceli's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), to sustain his majority in the parliament and to win the presidential elections in 2018. In exchange, Erdogan has met nationalist demands to suffocate the HDP, locking up scores of HDP lawmakers and mayors. The partys charismatic former co-chair, Selahattin Demirtas. is among them. Demirtas was jailed in 2016 over a cocktail of thinly supported terror charges, including his alleged role in the Kobani riots, which carry a combined penalty of 142 years. With his biting wit and clarity of message Demirtas is seen as the only political leader capable of effectively challenging Erdogan if not at the ballot box, then on the soapbox. Its unlikely Demirtas will be freed anytime soon as prosecutors erect new cases against him just as others are overturned. Whats next: The economy is in the doldrums as joblessness and inflation spiral, all compounded by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The AKP continues to slip in the polls. According to the results of an August survey conducted by Ankara-based Metropoll, the AKP would get only 31.3% of the vote if an election were held today. The figure does not take into account 20% of respondents who said they were undecided. Presidential and parliamentary elections are not due until 2023. Yet it seems unlikely that Erdogan will be able to turn the economy around in time to clinch a second presidential term in a first round of balloting, even with a bit of tinkering. So whipping up nationalist sentiment against Turkeys supposed foreign and domestic foes remains the time-tested method of last resort to keep his base intact. The question now is whether the AKP will carry things further; will more HDP lawmakers be stripped of their immunity, prosecuted and kicked out of parliament? While this could be seen as a step too far, it could bolster the AKP and MHPs share of seats, making it even easier to push through legislation tailored to serve the alliance's needs. Then again, the HDP could preempt such moves by withdrawing from parliament, a move that would please hard-core Kurdish nationalists within in its base. Know more: Read Ayla Jean Yackley on how Erdogan has finally caved and hiked interest rates to rescue the collapsing Turkish lira and Diego Cupolo on the mass arrests of human rights lawyers. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: Armenian leaderships demonstrative rejection of proposals put forward to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict makes the negotiations meaningless, the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister, Araz Azimov said. Azimov made the statement during a video meeting of the foreign ministers of member states to the Conference on Interaction & Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held on Sept.24, Trend reports referring to the press service of Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Due to the fact that in 2020-2022 Kazakhstan will chair CICA, the program of this countrys chairmanship and the further development priorities were presented at the meeting. During the meeting, a decision was made to elect Kairat Sarybay, the permanent representative of Kazakhstan to international organizations in Austrias Vienna, as CICAs Executive Director. Speaking at the meeting, Azimov stressed the importance of developing cooperation within the framework of CICA and increasing the effectiveness of the organization's struggle against the threats and challenges faced by the member states of the organization. Touching upon Azerbaijans national, bilateral and multilateral-level efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Azimov pointed out that the steps taken by Azerbaijan on its own initiative within its chairmanship for the Non-Aligned Movement are a good example for cooperation in this area within the framework of CICA. The deputy minister emphasized that Azerbaijan attaches particular importance to encouraging the development and coordination of regional and trans-regional transport infrastructure, adding that cooperation in these areas within CICA has great potential. He said that for the potentials implementation its necessary to continue practical cooperation measures, also adding that, ensuring the security of transport and transit infrastructure is of great importance in this context. Speaking about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azimov noted that it seriously threatens security and stability in the region. He drew the attention of the meeting participants to provocative and aggressive activities of the current leadership of Armenia. The Armenian leadership deliberately escalates the situation and damages the negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the conflict, he noted. "Such behavior and statements of the Armenian leadership, including the demonstrative rejection of the proposals put forward to resolve the conflict, make the negotiations vain." The deputy foreign minister stressed the importance of the principled position and solidarity on the part of the CICA member states. "The international community, including the CICA member states, should take important steps for Armenia to end its occupation policy, Azimov said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts. MADRID (dpa-AFX) - Spain's industrial producer price decline slowed for a third straight month in August, preliminary data from the statistical office INE showed on Friday. The industrial producer price index decreased 3.5 percent year-on-year after a 4.8 percent fall in July. The pace of decline has slowed in every month since the 8.8 percent slump in May. Excluding energy, producer prices decreased 0.4 percent year-on-year following a 0.5 percent fall in the previous month. On a month-on-month basis, producer prices dropped 0.2 percent in August after a 1.8 percent increase in July. The fall was the first in three months. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. The Coalition for Revolution (CORE), the organisers of the #RevolutionNow protest, has announced plans to hold a mass action against poor governance in Nigeria on October 1st. The group is led by a former presidential candidate and Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore. The #RevolutionNow protest, which was first staged in August 5, 2019 and the second edition on the same date this year, held across major cities in Nigeria. However, the peaceful demonstrations have been met with a clampdown by security operatives, resulting in arrests and incarceration of many protesters. In a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES, on Thursday, CORE called on all Nigerians at home and in the diaspora to participate in the October 1 protest. The demonstration is to demand the reversal of anti-people policies implemented by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. These harsh policies that have bored a burdensome hole into the pockets of the Nigerian people are coming at a time when citizens are recovering from the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, a global health crisis that was also mismanaged by the Buharis government further plunging already struggling citizens into deeper financial problems. It also comes at a time when there is an unprecedented dictatorial-style crackdown on free speech, dissent, activism, journalism and the right to associate and congregate peacefully and protest. Amongst its demands, CORE clamoured for the reversal of the hike in the price of petrol from N148 to N151, an end to state-supervised and approved impunity under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari and the sacking of all service chiefs in the country due to their proven incompetence in finding a lasting solution to the Boko Haram insurgency which has claimed and is still claiming the life of Nigerians daily. Others include; the respect for the rule of law and an end to the victimisation of critics and extra-judicial killings by law enforcement officers. The release of all political detainees and prisoners of conscience across the country and the dismissal of trumped-up charges levelled against them. Payment of a living wage and social security benefits to all Nigerians so that they can live a dignified existence. An end to poorly thought-out foreign loans that would burden and enslave future generations. Swift electoral reform and the introduction of diaspora voting before the 2023 general elections. Protection of Nigerias environmental resources from thieves, poachers and a greater commitment to finding a solution to the climate crisis. The creation of alternative, cleaner and cheaper sources of electricity for every Nigerian household and businesses, the group said in its list of demands. According to COREs schedule, the protest march will take place in all 36 states across Nigeria as well as some places in London, Sweden, Netherlands, San Francisco, New York, Washington DC, Germany and Canada. Meanwhile, the group alleged plans by the Nigerian police to scuttle the protests in some locations, advising protesters to be vigilant and avoid confrontation. All participants are also encouraged to bring fully charged mobile devices to record, live-streams and document everything. Veteran politician Anwar Ibrahim - who has long sought to become prime minister - said he now had the backing of enough MPs to form the government Malaysian opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim said Wednesday he had "formidable" support from MPs to form a new government, but the prime minister insisted he remained the country's legitimate leader. The Southeast Asian nation has been in turmoil since an alliance that swept to power in 2018, which was headed by Mahathir Mohamad and included Anwar, collapsed in February amid bitter infighting. Muhyiddin Yassin became premier at the head of a coalition backed by a scandal-plagued party which had been ousted at the polls two years earlier, but with only a wafer-thin majority in parliament. Speaking at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, veteran politician Anwar -- who has long sought to become prime minister -- said he now had the backing of enough MPs to form the government and oust Muhyiddin. "Conclusively we have a strong, formidable majority," the 73-year-old said. "The government under the leadership of Muhyiddin Yassin has fallen." However, there were immediately doubts over his claim as he did not reveal how many MPs were backing him or which parties they were from. A government must command the support of a majority of the 222 MPs in parliament. To form a new government Anwar must prove to the king, who formally appoints Malaysia's premiers, that he has enough support in parliament, and he has yet to meet the monarch. He said an audience with the king originally planned for Tuesday had been postponed as the monarch was having medical treatment. The national palace confirmed a meeting had been scheduled. - 'Political psychopath' - Muhyiddin appeared unshaken by the opposition leader's challenge, and challenged Anwar to go through the proper process to prove his claim to the premiership. "Until proven otherwise, the... government still stands firm and I am the legitimate prime minister," he said in a statement. The parties backing Muhyiddin's coalition slammed Anwar's move as "cheap publicity". Story continues "His latest action highlights his greedy and power-crazy attitude which pays no heed to the country's political and economic stability, or the fate of the people who are badly affected by Covid-19," they said in a joint statement. Other members of the government brushed off the move, with International Trade and Industry Minister Azmin Ali brandishing Anwar an "incorrigible liar and political psychopath". Anwar's move came ahead of weekend elections for the legislature in the eastern state of Sabah, which will be a major test of the current government's popularity. Muhyiddin's administration has had the difficult task of leading Malaysia through the coronavirus pandemic, with the economy suffering its worst contraction in more than 20 years in the second quarter amid a strict lockdown. But restrictions have been eased and authorities have won praise for their handling of the outbreak, which has been relatively small -- Muhyiddin received a 69 percent approval rating in a survey earlier this month. Long-time opposition leader Anwar was a key figure in the alliance that won a shock victory at landmark elections in 2018, toppling a scandal-plagued coalition that had ruled Malaysia uninterrupted for over six decades. Voters kicked out the old regime in large part due to anger at former premier Najib Razak's involvement in a massive financial scandal which saw billions looted from state coffers. Mahathir, now 95, became prime minister for a second time and Anwar was released from jail, where he had been serving a sentence after being convicted of dubious sodomy charges. But the government collapsed amid tensions between rival factions over whether Mahathir would stick to a promise to hand power to one-time nemesis Anwar, and Muhyiddin seized power without an election. pl-sr/rma Johnson is speaker at Northern State event Monday U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson will speak at the grand opening of Northern State University's Center for Public History and Civic Engagement. New Delhi: US President Donald Trump has told British Prime Minister Theresa that he believes Brexit will be a "wonderful thing" for Britain which will open the door to new trade deals as the two leaders held hands at the White House. British Prime Minister Theresa May is the first foreign leader to meet US President Donald Trump. In a joint press conference at the White House, Mr Trump said: "Great days lie ahead for our two peoples and our two countries. "On behalf of our nation, I thank you for joining us here today as a really great honour." TMrs May said: "Thank you for inviting me so soon after your inauguration and I'm delighted to be able to congratulate you on what was a stunning election victory. "And, as you say, the invitation is an indication of the strength and importance of the special relationship that exists between our two countries, a relationship based on the bonds of history, of family, kinship and common interests. "And in a further sign of the importance of that relationship I have today been able to convey Her Majesty the Queen's hope that President Trump and the First Lady would pay a state visit to the United Kingdom later this year and I'm delighted that the president has accepted that invitation." Mrs May made a point of emphasising that during their talks, Mr Trump had given strong backing to Nato, an alliance that the president has previously called obsolete. The president was asked if he was considering lifting US sanctions against Russia ahead of an expected Saturday phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr Trump was noncommittal, saying "We'll see what happens. As far as the sanctions, very early to be talking about that."Challenged about his views on torture, Russia, banning Muslims and punishment for abortion by BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg,Mr Trump joked to Mrs May: "This was your choice of a question. There goes that relationship." He insisted that he would allow decisions to be made on the use of torture by his defence secretary, James Mattis - who has different views on the issue. The president tweeted after the press conference: For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Simmering questions about how South Carolina should spend a windfall settlement for housing a federal plutonium stockpile spilled into the courts this week, casting uncertainty onto the fate of the states $600 million payday. A pair of lawsuits mark a new phase in South Carolinas protracted fight over tons of weapons-grade plutonium which was brought to the Savannah River Site near Aiken two decades ago with the promise it wouldnt stay long. South Carolina first fought to have the stockpile removed; then it fought to be paid for having it here. Now, with cash in hand, the state is fighting over how to spend it. One lawsuit argues the money should be set aside for the Savannah River Sites neighbors, seeking a court order to enforce requests made by local leaders on the states rural western edge. Another argues that outside attorneys are getting too big a cut, echoing a position previously taken by the governor and one of the states top prosecutors. Both ask the courts to step in before money changes hands. Attorney General Alan Wilson, who negotiated the settlement deal, flatly rejected both arguments. In response to questions about the lawsuits, Wilson spokesman Robert Kittle said in an email: Our response is this: these lawsuits have no merit. First in line with a lawsuit came Allendale and Barnwell counties, which are home to the Savannah River Site and the U.S. Department of Energys cache of surplus nuclear weapon material. The counties, along with economic developers in the area, on Monday argued that the money should benefit their region because it has suffered the stigma of hosting Americas nuclear legacy. The counties cite a state law that requires federal money to be spent the way the federal government intended. They argue the settlement was intended as a salve to the economic damage caused by the plutoniums presence and the governments failure to build a plant to process the material. In an affidavit, the regions top economic-development official, Danny Black, said he had seen companies decide not to build factories in the area because of the stockpile, causing a significant blow to the economy of our region. The federal governments agreement to pay the state $600 million came with the acknowledgement that the plutonium could stay into the 2040s. As a result, the three-county region, which also includes Aiken County, deserves to have a significant amount of the settlement money set aside for its benefit, said state Sen. Brad Hutto, who is representing the counties and the economic-development group. The lawsuit doesn't specify an amount or put forward specific projects the money should be used for. "There's got to be some recognition that our three-county area has actually suffered real damages," Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said. "While the state of South Carolina may have settled the case, they settled the case on the back of our three counties." Then came the S.C. Public Interest Foundation, a good-government group that on Friday challenged the attorney generals plan to pay a pair of law firms $75 million for their work on the case. The foundation asked the courts to review the lawyers proposed payday, which it called patently unreasonable. The foundation contends that absent a court order approving the legal fees, only the state Legislature can decide how to spend state money. It also argues that the courts should not support the payment, citing the states rules for lawyers, which prevent them from collecting an unreasonable fee. The attorney fees were previously questioned by Gov. Henry McMaster and 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe, who led the recent Statehouse corruption probe and has become a prominent critic of Wilson. McMaster told Wilson he didnt support the payments because he believed the settlement had less to do with the strength of the states legal maneuvering and more to do with the political pressure its leaders put on the federal Energy Department to resolve the plutonium issue. Pascoe, meanwhile, said the $75 million payment was unconscionable and reeks of political cronyism because of the attorney generals connections to the plutonium cases lead firm, Willoughby & Hoefer, where he once worked. Wilsons office said it hired Willoughby & Hoefer because the Columbia-based firm approached the state with a legal strategy it wanted to pursue. His office said it signed a percentage-based fee agreement before anyone expected to land such a large settlement. Willoughby & Hoefer and its counterpart on the case, Davidson, Wren and DeMasters, did not respond to requests for comment. JON SOPEL, 245,000-a-year BBC salary: Jon Sopel, 60, is paid up to 245,000 a year in his role as the broadcaster's North America Editor, covering all aspects of US news including politics, policy and business. But the presenter last year sparked a conflict of interest row after accepting tens of thousands of pounds from the biggest bank on Wall Street. Mr Sopel boosted his pay by speaking at a string of JP Morgan events despite it posing an apparent conflict of interest. Jon Sopel presided over two sessions at JP Morgan's Global Markets Conference in Paris in 2017 which included an interview with Mr Dimon. And in 2016, Mr Sopel appeared at JP Morgan's Board Summit in New York. Pictured is Mr Sopel giving an off-the-record keynote address at the world's biggest tobacco company's Miami conference in April Mr Sopel presided over two sessions at JP Morgan's Global Markets Conference in Paris in 2017. And in 2016, Mr Sopel appeared at JP Morgan's Board Summit in New York, where he interviewed a former president of the European Commission about what Brexit 'means for global business'. Sources say he was paid around 35,000 for the Paris conference. He is thought to have received around 20,000 for the New York event. He is also known to have hosted other JP Morgan events. Mr Sopel's agent Mary Greenham said: 'He has done events for JP Morgan and the BBC are aware of this.' Earlier in 2019, he spoke at an event by Philip Morris International, the world's biggest tobacco company. Mr Sopel lives in Washington with his wife, but keeps a four-bedroom house in Hampstead worth more than 2million and a 1.2million flat in London's Belsize Park. MISHAL HUSSAIN, 255,000-a-year BBC salary: The Radio 4's Today programme presenter, 47, took part in at least 10 functions and in January appeared at the Oslo Energy Forum. Ms Husain moderated the event - which she has also been apart of at least five times previously - but it is not known how much she was paid. However other BBC stars are listed on speaking agency websites as being able to charge between 10,000 and 25,000 to attend corporate events. At the forum Ms Husain moderated discussions on topics such as 'climate action in a world of cherished entitlements'. As well as the three-day Oslo Energy Forum appearances, Ms Husain has attended a conference staged by Equinor, Norway's state-controlled oil company. BBC presenter Mishal Husain (pictured) was paid to appear at Norwegian gas and oil industry events, causing critics to call for tighter rules HUW EDWARDS, 495,000-a-year BBC salary: Huw Edwards has raked in an estimated 400,000 in speaking fees in the last five years. The News at Ten anchor has fronted at least 16 events since the start of 2014, and commands fees of up to 25,000 a time. He is also thought to have hosted numerous other events over that period but the BBC does not make the engagements public or keep a central register so the extent of his moonlighting work is unknown. Mr Edwards does not tend to accept money from firms that could be a conflict of interest. He also undertakes charity events for free. However, he has fronted a series of events for railway firms, regional law societies and insurance brokers. The News at Ten anchor has fronted at least 16 events since the start of 2014, and commands fees of up to 25,000 a time The News at Ten anchor fronted at least 16 events since the start of 2014, and commands fees of up to 25,000 a time. Pictured, Edwards hosting the British Insurance Brokers Association conference where Boris Johnson revealed his ambition to be Prime Minister In 2019, he hosted the National Rail Awards in London and also fronted events for the Birmingham Law Society, the Women's Institute and Thames Valley Business Magazine. He also hosted the British Insurance Brokers Association conference where Boris Johnson revealed his ambition to be Prime Minister. According to JLA, one of the speakers' agencies which has him on their books, he charges between 10,000 and 25,000. The BBC said that none of the events broke its impartiality rules. GREG JAMES, 229,999-a-year BBC salary: Radio 1 DJ Greg James was paid 100,000 by oil giant Shell to front an online campaign which plugged the company's 'green' credentials. The 34-year-old, who broadcasts to around 5.6 million listeners each Monday to Thursday, fronted a five-part series for Shell called The Great Travel Hack. The Top Gear-style programme followed two teams of competitors racing from London to Istanbul while using environmentally friendly vehicles. Sources close to the PR campaign claimed that James was paid 100,000 to feature in the videos, which have been watched 81 million times since Shell uploaded them to its YouTube channel last October. Radio 1 DJ Greg James (pictured in July promoting the Radio 1 'Up Yours Corona' campaign), was paid 100,000 by oil giant Shell to front an online campaign which plugged the company's 'green' credentials KAMAL AHMED, 209,999-a-year BBC salary: In February, the editorial director of BBC News apologised for accepting a 12,000 payment for speaking at a banker's conference, adding that he will not be taking any money from organisers. Kamal Ahmed is understood to have received 12,000 for a 40-minute appearance at the Aberdeen Standard Investment's conference, days after telling 450 of his colleagues that their jobs were being cut. Ahmed who is listed on the Speakers Associates website in the 10,000 to 25,000 per appearance category took part in a panel discussion hosted by Steph McGovern, his former BBC colleague who now works for Channel 4. He came under fire both publicly and within the BBC for his 12,000 fee for the event and subsequently sent an email to colleagues apologising. Kamal Ahmed is understood to have received 12,000 for a 40-minute appearance at the Aberdeen Standard. The director, who earns between 205,000 and 209,999, is listed on the Speakers Associates website in the 10,000 to 25,000 per appearance category Ahmed said in his email that he was asked 'some months ago' to talk about 'economic issues' by the investment firm and that he was not asked to talk about anything related to the BBC. He is the previous Economics editor at the corporation. Ahmed, who earns between 205,000 and 209,999, was one of four senior BBC bosses who sat on bar stools as they announced the job cuts. He drew criticism after he turned up for the 'bloodbath' announcement wearing a black T-shirt and casual trousers. Time travel with free will is logically possible in our Universe without any paradox, according to new research from the University of Queensland. Classical dynamics says if you know the state of a system at a particular time, this can tell us the entire history of the system, said Germain Tobar, a student in the School of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Queensland. This has a wide range of applications, from allowing us to send rockets to other planets and modeling how fluids flow. For example, if I know the current position and velocity of an object falling under the force of gravity, I can calculate where it will be at any time. However, Einsteins theory of general relativity predicts the existence of time loops or time travel where an event can be both in the past and future of itself theoretically turning the study of dynamics on its head. A unified theory that could reconcile both traditional dynamics and Einsteins theory of relativity is the holy grail of physics. But the current science says both theories cannot both be true, Tobar said. As physicists, we want to understand the Universes most basic, underlying laws and for years Ive puzzled on how the science of dynamics can square with Einsteins predictions. I wondered: Is time travel mathematically possible? Tobar and his colleague, Dr. Fabio Costa from the Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems in the School of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Queensland, found a way to square the numbers and their calculations could have fascinating consequences for science. The maths checks out and the results are the stuff of science fiction, Dr. Costa said. Say you traveled in time, in an attempt to stop COVID-19s patient zero from being exposed to the virus. However, if you stopped that individual from becoming infected that would eliminate the motivation for you to go back and stop the pandemic in the first place. This is a paradox an inconsistency that often leads people to think that time travel cannot occur in our Universe. Some physicists say it is possible, but logically its hard to accept because that would affect our freedom to make any arbitrary action. It would mean you can time travel, but you cannot do anything that would cause a paradox to occur. The teams work shows that neither of these conditions has to be the case, and it is possible for events to adjust themselves to be logically consistent with any action that the time traveler makes. The study was published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity. _____ Germain Tobar & Fabio Costa. 2020. Reversible dynamics with closed time-like curves and freedom of choice. Class. Quantum Grav 37: 205011; doi: 10.1088/1361-6382/aba4bc This article is based on text provided by the University of Queensland. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 23:05:38|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TIRANA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Albania has donated on Friday 150 "friendship trees" to Tirana, marking the 100th anniversary of the city becoming Albania's capital. Chinese Ambassador to Albania Zhou Ding and Deputy Mayor of Tirana Municipality for Foreign Relations Anuela Ristani planted some of the trees in the park of the Artificial Lake in Tirana. Speaking at the ceremony, Zhou said that the trees, donated ahead of the 71st anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which falls on Oct. 1., symbolize the everlasting friendship between the two countries on the occasion of the two anniversaries. Zhou said Tirana is a strong and lively city. "Despite the shocks of several earthquakes and COVID-19 pandemic, residents here always face challenges and difficulties with courage and solidarity." The ambassador recalled that on the onset of COVID-19 outbreaks in China, the Tirana municipality initiated a campaign to support China's fight against the pandemic by rejecting stigmatization and discrimination. "We are very proud of having a real friend like Albania and very proud of China's contribution with medical equipment in Albania's battle against the pandemic," Zhou added. Zhou said that Tirana is moving forward on the path of green and sustainable development, stressing that China is ready to work together with Albania and Tirana on promoting green economic recovery. In her remarks, Ristani praised the donation of the Chinese embassy. "This is absolutely a very special gift for Tirana, more special than in any other year, especially in this difficult time, when it is not easy for our friends to wish or be present during our celebrations," Ristani said. Among those present at the ceremony was Head of the Friendship Parliamentary group between Albania and China, Member of Parliament (MP) Bashkim Fino. Fino thanked the Chinese embassy and the ambassador on behalf of the Albanian Parliament and the Albanian people for the continuous assistance given to the country. Fino called the donation as a "great help and extraordinary care shown by the Chinese Embassy." Tirana was declared the capital of Albania on Feb. 11, 1920. Enditem Advertisement After days wading through chilly waters, surrounded by the pained cries of hundreds of stranded whales on Australia's south coast, rescuers faced the grim task Friday of disposing of the carcasses. In 'one hell of an effort', a crew of around 100 conservationists and skilled volunteers saved 94 of the 470 animals stranded on Tasmania's rugged western seaboard -- Australia's largest-ever mass stranding, Tasmanian environment department marine biologist Kris Carlyon told media. 'With this one, we are dealing with something unique, we haven't dealt with a stranding of this type before,' Carlyon said, adding the offshore rescue of such a large number was particularly unusual. Tasmania Parks and Wildlife lowered its estimate of the death toll from 380 to 350 on Friday, and rescuers remained hopeful they could save up to 20 more of the creatures. A team of 100 volunteers and conservationists have raced to save a massive pod of distressed pilot whales that became stranded on the sandbanks at Macquarie Harbour (pictured), off Tasmania's west coast, on Monday About 470 whales (beached whale pictured on Friday) were beached in the largest mass stranding ever recorded in Australia The massive rescue operation has only been able to save 94 whales (whale pictured on Friday) and at least 350 have died Rescue crews have also been faced with the challenge of disposing of the carcasses and have trialled towing the dead whales out to sea before cutting them loose (rescue team pictured with a beached whale on Friday) But the focus was shifting to how to dispose of the carcasses as quickly as possible over fears the decomposing corpses could damage the environment in Macquarie Harbour, drift into the paths of boats or attract sharks. Several methods were being trialled for moving the dead whales -- including towing them out to sea before cutting them loose to sink in deeper water. 'They're hard moments, when there's so much to go and it just feels defeating, it feels never-ending,' Wildcare volunteer Josh Gourlay told AFP. 'When you see what it looked like before and what it is now and you think -- actually... we've done really well.' With rescuers braving relentless rains, strong winds and cold waters for hours daily to try and save the struggling animals, he admitted the effort had taken its toll on him. 'You almost need a whale's thick skin to be out there as well.' - 'We can't save them all' - Pilot whales (rescue crew pictured on Friday) are highly social creatures and can grow up to six metres (20 feet) long Rescue crews (pictured) said fighting to save the dying whales and hearing their anguished cries was 'emotional' A map shows the two locations where the whales were stranded this week as rescuers desperately try to save the survivors Pilot whales -- which can grow up to six metres (20 feet) long and weigh a tonne -- are known to be highly social. Some animals have resisted rescue or tried to return to their family after being freed, becoming beached for a second time. The causes of mass strandings remain unknown despite scientists studying the phenomenon for decades. Despite some restrandings, there were hopes the surviving whales would recover from the stressful event, Carlyon said. Four whales (pilot whale pictured) have been euthanising by wildlife authorities with firearms and specialist ammunition Crews (pictured) have been trialling methods to remove the dead whales and are likely to tow carcasses by boat out to sea Experts feared the decomposing corpses (dead pilot whale pictured on Thursday) could damage the environment in Macquarie Harbour and drift into the paths of boats or attract sharks The mass stranding (coastline pictured) surpasses a 1996 beaching of 320 pilot whales at Dunsborough in Western Australia A pilot whale is washed up during the mass stranding on the Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania's west coast 'Ideally, they will regroup, they will reform those bonds, and they'll get on with things.' Gourlay and his fiancee, Corey Young, said crews were still positive despite the physical and emotional burden of the rescue. 'Hearing the crying, that is probably the most distressing part,' he said, adding that the anguished noises from calves separated from their mothers were hard to shake. But Young said the teams, mostly made up of people accustomed to helping animals in tragic circumstances, were rallying around each other. 'We can't save them all, that's for sure... you've got to be positive.' Tasmania's previous largest mass stranding involved 294 long-finned pilot whales in 1935 (whale pictured on Wednesday) It is believed two whale groups from the same pod ventured close to the Tasmanian shore (pictured) to hunt The body of a dead pilot whale is seen at Macquarie Harbour on Thursday in Strahan, western Tasmania after the worst mass stranding recorded in Australia Dr Carlyon said four of the whales had to be euthanised for welfare reasons. 'These are animals that we've given a chance. We've tried to release them, they haven't done well,' he said. The mass stranding surpasses a 1996 beaching of 320 pilot whales at Dunsborough in Western Australia. Previously, Tasmania's largest mass stranding involved 294 long-finned pilot whales at Stanley in 1935. One large group was initially discovered stranded near the harbour's head on Monday, with rescuers on Wednesday spotting 200 dead whales a few kilometres away. It is thought the two groups were part of the same pod and ventured close to shore to hunt. GOVERNMENT has set tough measures for doctors intending to leave the country and also ordered the closure of three programmes at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ)s medical school in a move viewed as punishment to specialist health practitioners for demanding personal protective equipment. Doctors, most of them mulling leaving the country when lockdown restrictions are lifted, have been on successive job actions for better salaries in the last 12 months. According to new requirements viewed as a manoeuvre to block a possible mass exodus, the doctors wanting to go outside the country will now be required to pay US$200 upfront for a clearance certificate signed by the Medical and Dental Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe. The same clearance cost $1 500, about US$20, at the beginning of the year.Most doctors earn about $9 000, which is equivalent to about US$110 using the auction rate. The doctors will also be required to obtain a Certificate of Good Standing signed by three people. First to sign will be the hospital clinical director, provincial medical director or medical superintendent, followed by the director of curative services in the Health ministry, before the application finally goes to the ministrys permanent secretary for approval. In the past, only a senior doctor with five years experience, provincial medical director or medical superintendent they practised with in the previous six months was supposed to sign. Yesterday, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who is also Health minister, blocked top medicine students from accessing public hospitals as punishment for demanding better working conditions. He also forced the UZ to immediately stop studies in three key programmes at the school of medicine to ensure that the doctors cannot proceed with their education as part of a cocktail of punitive measures. In a letter to the UZ dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Services on Wednesday, one Mutongereni said they had received communication from the Ministry of Health and Child Care to suspend classes. Following communication from the Ministry of Health and Child Care to the effect that registrars enrolled for the University of Zimbabwes Masters of Medicine and Masters of Obstetrics and Gynaecology programmes are no longer allowed to access public hospitals, the university has suspended classes for the programmes with immediate effect, Mutongereni said. But a letter released by Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights secretary Norman Matara, addressed to the ministry by the registrars, revealed that the specialist students were being punished for requesting minimum requirements for their safety as well as that of patients. A number of registrars stationed at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals have indicated their willingness to resume clinical services, but are hoping that minimum requirements for healthcare workers and patient safety are met as we continue in the pandemic, the letter read. These include the provision of Dopplers, CTGs [cardiotocography, a technical means of recording the feotal heartbeat and the uterine contractions during pregnancy], adequate personal protective equipment as appropriate for tasks, adequate nursing staff levels for theatres and the wards, two functional theatres at MMH at any given day and time including weekends, the ready availability of consultants to teach and assist, a commitment to resumption of elective surgeries and outpatient clinics and adequate junior levels. The specialist students reiterated that the hospital and the university must treat them as qualified doctors and post-graduate students and not mere cheap labour. It is our expectations that both the hospital and the university treats us as qualified doctors and post-graduate students and not mere cheap labour providers. Our salaries amount to nothing and providing services on a voluntary basis like this, we hope will be accorded some level of kindness, they wrote. The doctors also demanded that they be provided with fuel, airtime, data allowances and meals for doctors on call. Contacted for a comment, Health and Child Care permanent secretary Jasper Chimedza asked NewsDay to send the questions on his mobile phone, but had not responded by the time of going to print last night. The banning of specialist training has been described as a command and militaristic approach to matters of public health. Chiwenga, his deputy John Mangwiro and Chimedza are all former military men and have been accused of using their military tactics to run the ministry. President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week boasted that he appointed Chiwenga as Health minister to instil discipline in the ministry. Newsday Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) Senator Franklin Drilon rejected the idea of Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo to postpone the May 2022 elections, noting that politicians cannot use this as an excuse to cling to their posts beyond their fixed term. Drilon is not surprised with yet another attempt for a no election scenario, but said that this move cannot be used as a de facto term extension. "The postponement could be a prelude to the main objective of extending the terms of members of Congress and elected officials. But that is not feasible," he told CNN Philippines' The Source on Friday. The Constitution requires a national election every three years, done on the second Monday of May. The next polls must be held on May 9, 2022, ahead of the end of President Rodrigo Duterte's six-year term by June 30 of that year. "Even if we postpone the election, the terms of the elected officials are set in the Constitution. Unless you amend the Constitution, you cannot extend the terms of the officials," Drilon added, noting that only the term of barangay executives can be amended by law. All other elective posts from the municipal, city, provincial, and national level up to the President are fixed under the 1987 charter. Commission on Elections Chairman Sheriff Abas told House members on Thursday that only Congress and the President can decide on such a proposal. Should talks to postpone the national elections proceed, a law must be passed by Congress to authorize this. Drilon said Comelec's authority only allows it to suspend elections in a certain locality where there are "very serious cases" that will hinder a free, honest, and orderly exercise. READ: No online voters registration despite pandemic Comelec Drilon also pointed out that the pandemic cannot be cited as the reason for holding off polls, saying it is not covered by the Election Code. Among the accepted reasons for the postponement of local polls are violence, terrorism, and the destruction of election paraphernalia. There's also that question if the COVID-19 crisis will still be a problem a year and a half from now, which was Arroyo's main contention. "I cannot see any justification for the postponement of the national election. We will oppose that vigorously in the Senate. I think the Senators will not be swayed by any argument to allow the postponement of the election," Drilon said. Lawmakers reject call Senate President Tito Sotto III and Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson have also questioned proposals to delay the elections, saying it runs counter to provisions of the Constitution. "Any discussion or debate on this issue is an exercise in futility, if not a waste of time and energy," Lacson said in a statement. Duterte's close aide now Senator Christopher "Bong" Go also shrugged off the idea, saying postponing the next elections should only be a last resort. Cagayan de Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez, who heads the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, also rejected Arroyo's call. He said elective officials "must all face the crucible of facing the judgment of our people in regular elections." Agusan Del Norte Rep. Lawrence Fortun, of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, also firmly said that postponing the elections is "not an option." "Ang eleksiyon ay mahalaga sa ating demokrasya at kailangan magproceed siya," he argued on CNN Philippines' News Night. [Translation: The elections are important to our democracy and it needs to proceed] Fortun mentioned that Comelec has created plans to ensure the safety of elections amid the pandemic. It will only need the support of Congress and the Budget Department to increase its funds so these plans can proceed, he added. Election lawyer and former Senate bet Romulo Macalintal added that the request to hold off the May 2022 polls would run counter to the government's claim that the country is winning the COVID-19 fight. "The Comelec should also be more dynamic in addressing this issue to calm down our people and would-be investors to assure them of political stability in our country despite this pandemic," he said in a statement. The group Legal Network for Truthful Elections bucked the idea too, saying there's more than enough time for Comelec to adjust poll protocols to fit the "new normal" if needed. "South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia have in fact conducted their elections this year amidst the pandemic. Why should we postpone ours when we all have the time to prepare?," the watchdog said. Drilon instead backed the Comelec's proposal for a longer voting period to as long as three days to limit crowds. Drilon said the poll body is known to extend voting hours whenever they see lines of voters still waiting for their turn at the precincts. READ: Comelec eyes longer voting period, online candidacy filing for 2022 polls UK Foreign Secretary to visit Vietnam next week UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will pay an official visit to Viet Nam from September 29-30 at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, according to the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab expressed thanks to Vietnamese competent authorities and health workers for their devotion to cure British nationals who were confirmed having COVID-19 in the Southeast Asian country during his phone conversation with Deputy PM, FM Minh last July. Raab congratulated on Viet Nams successful response to the pandemic, saying that the UK lists Viet Nam as one of countries whose citizens do not need to isolate for 14 days when entering his country. He affirmed the UK regards Viet Nam as one of its major partners in Asia-Pacific and Southeast Asia, expressing his wish to further deepen the strategic partnership with Viet Nam in all fields. Raab also highly valued Viet Nams efforts as the current ASEAN Chair and non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, reiterating that the UK stands ready to continue close collaboration with Viet Nam at multilateral frameworks, the United Nations Security Council, as well as other international for a. The Foreign Secretary voiced the UKs continue support for preserving peace, security and stability and for respect for international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the East Sea. Meanwhile, Deputy PM, FM Minh spoke highly of mutual coordination and support between the two countries at multilateral for a, pledging that Viet Nam, as the current ASEAN Chair, advocate foreign partners, including the UK, to strengthen cooperation with ASEAN. Minh welcomed foreign partners, including the UK, to make constructive contributions to peace, cooperation, development and observation of international law in the region and the world. Both sides expressed their pleasure at the strong advancement of the Viet Nam-UK strategic partnership over the past decade. In this regard, Minh suggested the two countries beef up exchange of delegations while maintaining the existing cooperation mechanisms and working towards the signing of a free trade deal between the sides. He also asked the UK side to continue mutual support for citizen protection work, emphasizing that Viet Nam would create favorable conditions for foreign investors, experts, business managers and skilled workers, including those from the UK, to enter Viet Nam. Viet Nam and the UK set up diplomatic relations in September 1973 and upgraded their ties to Strategic Partnership in 2010. A mazon is attempting to take on Microsoft and Google with Luna, its new foray into cloud-based video game streaming. Using an internet connection, Luna will be able to stream video games directly to your PC, Mac, Fire TV devices, as well as on iPhone and iPad. According to Amazon, Android is listed as "coming soon". Much like Google Stadia and Xbox's xCloud service, paying a monthly subscription will grant you the power to stream games. Luna is much more like Google Stadia, in that it features a subscription version called Luna+, which will grant you immediate access to some games, while also being able to pay for others at a reduced rate. Microsoft's xCloud, on the other hand, allows you to stream games without having to buy them individually. This means that you can stream games without having to download anything or shell out hundreds of pounds for a powerful console or PC. At the moment, there is no UK price for the subscription. It is currently listed at $5.99 a month for Luna+ and you can only request Early Access if you're in the States. The Luna controller / Amazon Luna will have different channels, for example, a Ubisoft channel is listed, which would be the place users can subscribe to and play available Ubisoft titles. This will be updated with Ubisoft games as and when they launch, complete with 4K resolution and mobile compatibility, which means upcoming games like Watch Dogs: Legion and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla will be available at launch. Each of the different channels will have a different library of games and Amazon has said that they aren't just for publishers, citing there could be channel genres like an "RPG Channel". It does seem that you'd buy access to each channel, as opposed to individual games, but this is currently unclear. If you pay the Luna+ subscription, you will get access to Amazon's own Luna+ game channel, which will reportedly launch with titles like Abzu, Resident Evil 7, Control and more, along with 4K streaming resolution at 60 fps for select titles. Of course, Luna will have integration with the Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch, where you'll be able to see live Twitch streams taking place for games in Luna. Amazon announced that: "Players will see Twitch streams for games in the service, and from Twitch, they'll be able to instantly start playing Luna games". There is also a special Alexa-compatible Luna controller which will connect directly to Fire TV devices to reduce any controller to game latency. One big advantage Luna seems to have over Stadia and xCloud is that it will reportedly work on Apple devices, something which the latter two currently do not offer. The one caveat to this, however, is that it won't be playable through an app but instead through the Safari web browser. Loading.... There is no word on a release or even a price in the UK. If you live in America you can sign up for Early Access here. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent out a warning against the Benadryl Challenge, which is gaining popularity on social media. The challenge, most often seen on TikTok, has participants take large amounts of Benadryl to induce hallucinations. The FDA warns that taking higher than recommended doses of the common over-the-counter (OTC) allergy medicine diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma, or even death. In August, a 15-year-old girl reportedly died after doing the Benadryl challenge," Healthline reported. And there are other reports of children going to the hospital afterwards. We are aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the Benadryl Challenge encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok, the FDA said. The FDA said it will be investigating these reports and conducting a review. We will update the public once we have completed our review or have more information to share, the website stated. The FDA has also reached out to TikTok to have them remove the video and be vigilant to remove additional videos that may be posted. This is not the first time the FDA has warned against TikTok challenges. Earlier this year, the FDA also warned against the Skull Breaker Challenge," which seriously injured a 13-year-old Massachusetts student. Related Content: The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said India and China have decided to have the next meeting of the Senior Commanders at the earliest. Furthermore, the next meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) is also likely to take place soon. India and China have decided to have the next meeting of the Senior Commanders at the earliest, said the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday on the India-China border issue. The way ahead will be to refrain from making any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo, while the two sides continue their discussions to achieve complete disengagement in all friction areas and to ensure full restoration of peace and tranquility in the border areas, said the MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava at a briefing. In this regard, the two sides have also decided to have the next meeting of the Senior Commanders at the earliest. In parallel, the next meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) is also likely to take place soon, he added. India and China, which held the sixth round of Senior Commanders meeting on Monday following border tensions in eastern Ladakh, have agreed to avoid misunderstandings and misjudgments, stop sending more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground and avoid taking any actions that may complicate the situation. Also Read: Congress slams CM KCR for not including Covid treatment in Aarogyasri Also Read: Andhra CM cant sit like a silent monk on temple incidents: TDP The two sides also agreed to strengthen communication on the ground and to hold the next round of Military Commander-Level Meeting as soon as possible. A joint press statement on Tuesday said that the two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on stabilizing the situation along the LAC in the India China border areas. It said that the two sides agreed to take practical measures to properly solve problems on the ground. Also Read: PM Modi jokingly asks Milind Soman are you really that old during Fit India Dialogue Naas District Court judge Desmond Zaidan said that court proceedings were progressing as well as can be expected under strict Covid-19 protocols. He said: We're trying to work as best as we can under the guidelines. We have to live with Covid-19 for the moment and there will be a vaccine down the road at some point. I'm still open for business. We're keeping the numbers down in the courtrooms. We have a civilian security official at the door who is limiting numbers and enforcing the wearing of face coverings. The Courts Service has insisted that regular business in the District Court will continue in as safe a manner as possible with public health guidelines in mind. A statement added: All district courts are limiting the number of people that can safely be present in court buildings and court rooms at any time. Accordingly, measures are put in place to better regulate the numbers required to attend courts to ensure that court buildings do not become overcrowded. In all District Courts only persons who have been summoned to court or who have business listed before the courts should attend at court buildings for the foreseeable future. Those attending court are requested to observe public health guidance regarding social distancing, hand hygiene, cough/sneeze etiquette and use of face coverings while in the court building. The Court Service has set out guidance on how to access the courts safely and we expect all court users will always observe this guidance. The Court Service has put measures in place to help people safely navigate their way through court buildings. If courts cannot be conducted safely judges may have to suspend cases until a safe environment can be achieved. LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - SEPTEMBER 24: Demonstrators march through the streets on September 24, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. A Kentucky grand jury indicted one police officer involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor with three counts of wanton endangerment. No officers were indicted on charges in connection to Taylor's death. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Police in Louisville, Kentucky, arrested a state lawmaker, Rep. Attica Scott, who had introduced legislation to ban "no-knock" warrants following the police killing of Breonna Taylor. Scott was arrested near the First Unitarian Church in downtown Louisville, where protesters were seeking refuge following a 9 p.m. curfew. It was the second night of protests after Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron declined to pursue charges related to the killing of Taylor. One officer, Brett Hankison, who was fired over his role in the raid, was charged with wanton endangerment for shooting into a neighbors' apartment. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Police in Louisville arrested a Kentucky state lawmaker on Thursday during protests against impunity for the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor. Rep. Attica Scott, a Democrat who introduced legislation dubbed "Breonna's Law" to ban "no-knock" warrants, was charged with first-degree rioting and failure to disperse, local TV station WDRB reported. Police also arrested Shameka Parrish-Wright, a local organizer with The Bail Project. State Representative Josie Raymond (@RepJosieRaymond) September 25, 2020 Scott was one of several people arrested while seeking refuge at the First Unitarian Church in downtown Louisville following a 9 p.m. local curfew that is in effect through the weekend. The church had welcomed protesters, declaring itself a sanctuary for those demanding justice for Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department officers in March. Ryan Van Velzer (@RyanVanVelzer) September 25, 2020 Following the arrests, police were reportedly in talks with activists over a negotiated exit from the church. Story continues It is the second consecutive night of protests in Louisville after Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, announced Wednesday that no officer would be charged in relation to Taylor's killing. One officer, Brett Hankison, who was fired over his role in the raid, was charged with wanton endangerment for shooting into a neighbors' apartment. Officers had raided Taylor's apartment searching for drugs, with some eyewitnesses testifying that they broke down the door to her apartment without first announcing themselves. Taylor's boyfriend, believing a home invasion was in process, fired a shot, prompting a stream of bullets from police, wounding him and killing Taylor. Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com Read the original article on Business Insider Theres a reason Democratic leaders arent leaning into the possibility of adding judges to the Supreme Court: they might not have the votes to do it. A growing number of Democratic candidates in competitive Senate races say they are unlikely to support expanding the court as retribution for President Donald Trump and Republicans plan to quickly fill the vacancy created by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgs death. And that could hamstring Democratic Leader Chuck Schumers potential majority from following through on liberals most explosive threats. I'll evaluate any proposals based on whether they'll help us return the judiciary to an independent body free from politics. At this time, I have doubts that expanding the Supreme Court would do that, said Maine Democrat Sara Gideon, whos in a close race with GOP Sen. Susan Collins. Gideons skepticism about expanding the Supreme Court is shared by at least five other Democratic Senate challengers. A spokesman for Mark Kelly in Arizona confirmed he opposes adding new justices to the court. Jon Ossoff, who is challenging GOP Sen. David Perdue in Georgia, said Democrats shouldnt expand the court just because a justice may be confirmed with whom we disagree on policy. Al Gross, an independent candidate running with Democrats support in Alaska, said on MSNBC Wednesday that he opposed adding new justices. These candidates, looking to prevail in key swing states, join sitting moderate Democratic senators like Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona who oppose adding more justices. Of course, senators could always change their minds. But for now, the Democratic Party has a math problem if it hopes to add more liberal justices to the court under a prospective President Joe Biden. Democrats will need at least 50 votes to pass any legislation to expand the court and thats assuming a new Democratic majority already took the contentious step of eliminating the filibusters 60-vote threshold first, which moderate senators oppose and challengers are mixed on. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority, and Democrats need a net three seats to take the Senate if Biden wins. Story continues In fact, most of the politicians talking about expanding the court these days are Republicans, who are trying to paint their Democratic challengers as out of step with their constituents. During a debate Tuesday night, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) pressed Democrat Cal Cunningham on court packing, and Cunningham cited Ginsburgs own comments on keeping the court at nine justices to underscore his opposition. This I think sends Democrats around the exact wrong path. We dont need more partisanship in our judiciary, Cunningham told reporters following the debate. Incumbent Senate Republicans said that voters shouldnt buy Democrats statements about expanding the court. Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) called Kelly a trojan horse for liberals agenda. First he refused to answer. And then once he got hammered then he probably looked at some polls and called Schumer and asked what to do. Who are we trying to kid? McSally said in an interview. He is going to enable the most radical agenda weve seen in our lifetime to include their crazy ideas about packing the Supreme Court. I dont believe him, said Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) of Gross. My opponents first vote if he won is to make Schumer Senate majority leader. And then, thats it. You empower the radical left, which is what Schumers become, and you have no control. Republicans focus on the courts and the cautious posture by Democratic candidates reflects the tough terrain that the Democratic Party faces in its fight for the majority, with only two GOP incumbents in states won by Hillary Clinton up for reelection. Many of these potential majority-makers have sought to distance themselves from the partys liberal wing, shunning proposals like the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. Senior Democrats on Capitol Hill are giving them backup, too. We are not pursuing that at this point. At all, said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) of changing the Supreme Court. Usually the reality is that there will be members within the caucus that are more conservative. We even have that now. Despite the steep odds of cobbling together the votes for a Supreme Court overhaul, liberals pushing for ambitious change in the post-Trump era are unbowed by key candidates running away from the idea. Im not worried about what they say about this in September 2020, said Brian Fallon, a former aide to Schumer who now runs progressive legal group Demand Justice. For now, these candidates should worry about their campaigns, while we on the outside continue to build grassroots support for doing what will be necessary if Republicans steal another seat. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is pushing his party to promise revenge, but right now he has few takers. Put simply for most Democratic senators, structural changes to the Supreme Court are low on the priorities list. Schumer has simply said that all options are on the table. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said that talking about payback is totally crazy given that an election is looming and that circumstances surrounding the court can always change by the time Democrats gain back power. You guys [in the media] are the only people talking about this. Who is going and giving speeches on the floor of the Senate in the Democratic Caucus on this? said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Literally 75 percent of the questions Ive been asked over the last three days have been on this topic. When theres one United States senator who has mentioned it. Democrats have opened the Supreme Court fight by attacking Republicans hypocrisy in not filling a vacancy four years ago or criticizing others, like Michigan Republican candidate John James, for not taking a clear position on whether the nomination should move forward. Senate challengers are using the Supreme Court fight to pressure Republicans on other issues, including the legal threat to the Affordable Care Act and pre-existing conditions protections a matter that was already central to their campaigns. Kelly, Democrats candidate in Arizona, opposes adding new justices to the court, and criticized the focus on hypotheticals rather than the need for Covid-19 relief legislation. The Senate should be focused on passing urgently needed coronavirus relief for Arizonans something theyve pushed off for months not rushing a vote on a lifetime nomination to the Supreme Court or issuing hypothetical threats about what will happen if the vacancy is filled, Kelly said in a statement. Still, some others have left the door open even as they decline to directly confront the question about the courts. Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock in Montana, whos seeking a Senate seat in November, told the Washington Post during his presidential bid he was open to discussion on different ways we can depoliticize the Supreme Court, including expanding the court. Bullock spokeswoman Olivia Bercow said in a statement Wednesday that Republicans view the court through a political lens, and Bullock "doesn't believe that in this hyper-political time that it's a conversation to be having or that this is a solution to the challenges we face now." Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper hasnt endorsed or outright opposed adding seats. He said during his Democratic presidential bid he was concerned about the precedent for each party one-upping the other on adding seats, but also that he was open to it. But this week Hickenlooper told the Colorado Sun he was not discussing hypotheticals in his challenge to GOP Sen. Cory Gardner, which he said would distract from Republicans decision to fill a vacancy in an election year. Theresa Greenfield, who is challenging Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst, was dismissive of adding seats to the court during a virtual candidate forum Wednesday afternoon. She said she didn't think that's "what we need to be doing" but also that she hadn't formed an opinion on it. Her spokesman clarified afterwards in a statement that she opposes adding new justices. "Its not something that Iowans are certainly talking about at this point in time," Greenfield said. "Theyre talking about health care, and they know that health care is at stake at the Supreme Court. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday said the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will decide whether lenders can sell spectrum rights of bankrupt telecom operator Aircel Group under the ongoing insolvency resolution process. A two-judge bench headed by Justice S. Abdul Nazeer said the decision will be limited to Aircel, as the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has already approved UV Asset Reconstruction Co. Ltds resolution bid for the company. Two other bankrupt telcosReliance Communications Ltd (RCom) and Videocon Telecommunications Ltdare at different stages of the resolution process. On 9 September, Aircels lenders had filed an application urging the apex court to modify its order that NCLT will look into the sale of spectrum held by bankrupt telcos. In its application, Aircel requested the court to allow NCLAT to take decisions related to spectrum sale as nothing was pending before NCLT. We consider it appropriate that the aforesaid various questions should first be considered by the NCLTLet the question be decided within the outer limits of two months," the Supreme Court said in its 1 September order in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case. SC had allowed telecom operators Vodafone Idea Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd and Tata Teleservices Ltd to pay their AGR dues in 10 years. However, the court did not decide whether spectrum could be sold under the insolvency process. While lenders argued that spectrum was an asset and an important part of the insolvency resolution process to recover dues, the DoT countered that it could not be sold as it was national property. ishita.g@livemint.com Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics Tapping the new Covid-19" option in a layers feature in a top corner of a screen will enhance maps using the latest 7-day average of cases per 100,000 people in areas being viewed, it said. A label will also let users know whether the number of Covid-19 cases in a particular spot is trending up or down, according to Maps product manager Sujoy Banerjee. The tool is meant to provide critical information about Covid-19 cases in an area so you can make more informed decisions about where to go and what to do," Banerjee said. Data used in the Covid layer comes from sources including Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins hospital, the New York Times, and Wikipedia, which get information from public health organizations such as the World Health Organization and government health ministries, according to Banerjee. The Covid layer is rolling out this week worldwide in versions of the map app tailored for mobile devices powered by Apple or Google-backed Android software, the California based company said. Google Maps already featured pandemic-related tools such as letting users know when public transit was likely to be crowded. While getting around is more complicated these days, our hope is that these Google Maps features will help you get where you need to be as safely and efficiently as possible," Banerjee said. In the initial phases of the pandemic, Google had come up with a similar feature. In April, Google said it would show the locations of food shelters and night shelters on Google Maps in cities across India to help people find these essential services during the ongoing lockdown. Google, in a statement, said it was working closely with state and central government authorities to surface the locations of these relief centres. Highlighting the locations of food and night shelters on Google Maps was a step to make this information easily available to the users in need, and ensuring they can avail the food and shelter services being provided by the government authorities. Ruth Bader Ginsburg's personal trainer of 21 years performed three push-ups in front of her casket in tribute to the Supreme Court Justice and fitness enthusiast as she lay in state in the US Capitol Friday. Bryant Johnson, who helped her stay fit and active even during her bouts of cancer, was seen dropping to the ground in the Statuary Hall inside the Supreme Court and doing the exercises during the memorial service Friday morning. Mourners including Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris joined officials, lawmakers and the justice's grieving family in paying their respects to the legal pioneer at the ceremony held by a female rabbi. Ginsburg, a champion of gender equality, made history again as she became the first woman and the first Jewish person to lie in state in the US Capitol. Ruth Bader Ginsburg's personal trainer of 21 years performed three push-ups in front of her casket in tribute to the Supreme Court Justice and fitness enthusiast as she lay in state in the US Capitol Friday Bryant Johnson, who helped her stay fit and active even during her bouts of cancer, was seen dropping to the ground in the Statuary Hall inside the Supreme Court and doing the exercises during the memorial service Friday morning Johnson, 55, approached Ginsburg's casket following the short service where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told of her 'profound sorrow' at the liberal icon's passing and Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt gave an emotional reflection on the challenges Ginsburg faced and overcame as a woman trying to break into the male-dominated legal profession. The personal trainer, wearing a face mask and clutching the order of service for the ceremony, walked to the casket which was placed on the Lincoln catafalque alongside a portrait of Ginsburg and two wreaths in the colors of the American flag. He took a moment to pay his respects to his former workout buddy before he did the push-ups on the floor of the hall. The justice once referred to Johnson, a 30-year army veteran, as a 'very important part of my life' while he described her as 'awesome', 'remarkable' and someone who never uttered the word 'can't'. Johnson has put Ginsburg through her paces in the gym for more than two decades, after they first teamed up back in 1999 when she was being treated for colorectal cancer at the age of 66. Ginsburg said her husband told her she looked 'like a survivor of a concentration camp' after battling the illness and inspired her to do something to get fit. The pair were introduced by another judge and committed to working out twice a week ever since. Ginsburg became known for her fitness regime including push-ups, planks and squats and often promoted the benefits of taking care of her body. They would often work out at the court gym after a day's work while 'PBS NewsHour' played in the background. The justice (pictured working out with Johnson) once referred to Johnson, a 30-year army veteran, as a 'very important part of my life' He described her as 'awesome', 'remarkable' and someone who never uttered the word 'can't' Johnson helped RBG stay fit and healthy when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2009. In 2014, Ginsburg fell ill during a workout session and she was taken to hospital and had a stent implanted in her heart. She returned to the gym soon after and, in 2017, Johnson released a book inspired by the fitness enthusiast called 'The RBG Workout: How She Stays Strong... and You Can Too!' He said at the time he hoped the book would show people 'you're never too old to do something.' It goes through the grueling hour-long workout RBG did, alongside illustrations of the justice doing the exercises. They then appeared in a segment with Late night show host Stephen Colbert in 2018. The duo carried on working out this year, despite being faced with the shuttering of the Supreme Court gym amid the coronavirus pandemic and the return of her pancreatic cancer. Johnson has also trained two other liberal justices, Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Stephen Breyer. Ginsburg became known for her fitness regime including push-ups, planks and squats and would often work out at the court gym after a day's work while 'PBS NewsHour' played in the background Ginsburg, only the second woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice, died aged 87 last Friday surrounded by her family after battling cancer. She said her 'most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed' in the days leading up to her death. However Trump has vowed to plow ahead with appointing her replacement for the Supreme Court seat in a move that has sparked fierce debate, with many Democrats - as well as some Republicans - insisting the seat must not be filled until after the election. The crux of the debate centers around the move made by Republicans back in 2016 - and led by McConnell - to block then-President Barack Obama from appointing a new justice to the court nine months before the election. Their argument at the time was that the position should not be filled until a new president was elected by the American people - a standard set by the Republicans that the Democrats now argue the party must continue to honor. They appeared in a segment with Late night show host Stephen Colbert in 2018 RBG with Colbert. She carried on working out this year, despite being faced with the shuttering of the Supreme Court gym amid the pandemic and the return of her cancer Trump said he will name his nominee for the role on Saturday at the White House. Ginsburg's flag-draped casket arrived at the Supreme Court Wednesday morning for a ceremony in the court's Great Hall, flanked by lines of the justice's former law clerks, who served as honorary pallbearers. It lay in repose on the steps of the court for two days before she lay in state Friday during a moving memorial ceremony Friday. The service began at 10 a.m. with a joint services military honor guard carrying Ginsburg's flag-draped casket up the steps of the Supreme Court and into the hall. The casket was placed on the Lincoln catafalque in Statuary Hall and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave a moving introduction where she told of her 'profound sorrow' at the liberal icon's passing. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a champion of gender equality, made history again on Friday as the first woman and the first Jewish person to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden paid their respects at Ginsburg's flag-draped casket after the short service Vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris speaks with members of Congress and guests prior to the memorial service 'It is with profound sorrow and deep sympathy to the Ginsburg family that I have the high honor to welcome Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to lie in state in the Capitol of the United States,' she said. 'She does so on a catafalque built for Abraham Lincoln. May she rest in peace.' Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt of Adas Israel Congregation in Washington then gave an emotional reflection on the life of Ginsburg, speaking of the challenges she faced as a woman trying to break into a male-dominated profession. 'I get out of law school with top grades, and no law firm in the city of New York will hire me,' she quoted Ginsburg as saying one time. Hotlzblatt, whose husband clerked for Ginsburg from 2014 to 2015, told how the justice overcome these challenges to rise to the highest court in the land. 'Justice did not arrive like a lightening bolt, but rather through dogged persistence, all the days of her life. 'Real change, she said, enduring change, happens one step at a time.' The casket is draped in a flag while a portrait of Ginsburg and two wreaths, one reading House of Representatives and the other reading United States Senate, in blue, white and red flowers - the colors of the American flag Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt gave a moving reflection at the service speaking of the challenges Ginsburg faced and overcame as a woman in the male-dominated legal profession She added: 'As a lawyer, she won equality for women and men not in one swift victory, but brick by brick, case by case, through meticulous, careful lawyering.' Mourners including Ginsburg's family members, members of Congress and lawmakers then approached the casket in turns to take a moment to pay their respects to the late icon. Her casket was then carried down the steps in a procession by the honor guard. Ginsburg's family plans to hold a private burial next week at Arlington National Cemetery where she will be laid to rest next to her late husband Martin who died in 2010 after 56 years of marriage. Ireland on Thursday removed Germany, Poland and Lithuania from its travel "green list", leaving just four countries exempt from a 14-day quarantine for arriving passengers. Ireland, which has some of the tightest travel restrictions in Europe, is only allowing quarantine-free travel from countries with a COVID-19 infection rate of under 25 cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days. As a result, travellers arriving from all countries other than Cyprus, Finland, Latvia and Liechtenstein must go into quarantine for 14 days from Monday next week, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Three of those countries have restrictions on travellers from Ireland, which currently has a COVID-19 infection rate of 71 cases per 100,000 people, according to the European Centre for Disease Control. The Irish government has said it will adopt a more liberal system of coordinated travel restrictions proposed by the European Commission once they are adopted in mid-October. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie Eight months after the first human case of the new coronavirus (Covid-19) was diagnosed in the US, a countless number of dreams and plans have been tabled or put on hold. Businesses have shuttered, some colleges and universities started the fall fully remote, and racial strife is adding to the turmoil in the country. While unprecedented times is now a cliche for describing this time we are in, its also apropos to describe this year as a time like no other. If someone were to make a movie about the 1918 Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, and 1968 race riots all happening at once, it would look and feel like 2020. Amid all the uncertainty in the US surrounding public health, job security, unemployment figures, and education, no one wants to put their future on hold. Foreign investors will continue to see opportunities to invest in US businesses and in support of creating more jobs and securing permanent US green cards. Despite the pressures that the pandemic and surrounding rhetoric have placed on immigration and some visa programs, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Programs continues to be a viable, solid alternative to getting a quality US education and becoming US residents. Pressures on other visa programs The topic of immigration has received particular attention from the Trump administration this summer and has targeted some visa programmes but not others. Trumps June 22 presidential proclamation effectively shut down L-1 and H1-B visa channels by suspending visa issuances for workers, their spouses and children. Then the administration said international students would have to transfer or leave the country if their universities opted for online-only learning this fall; this proclamation was later rescinded after major universities like Harvard and MIT sued. On August 19, exemptions to the June order were announced for tech and healthcare workers who would be resuming employment with the same employer. Even then, theres an uncertainty around these visas that cannot be shaken. As a consequence, we are likely to see renewed interest in the EB-5 program, which provides mutually beneficial arrangements for immigrants and job creators. A one-time investment of $900,000 for a new US business that creates at least 10 jobs for US workers earns the investors green cards and the ability to achieve permanent residency. The at-risk capital is returned after the permanent green cards are received. Students who take advantage of this program are not limited by the industry they will work in after graduation unlike other visas and they do not have to worry about having to re-apply for visas or work permits. In an average year, about 10,000 EB-5 visas are issued per year, and just under half that figure was used as of June over the course of fiscal year 2020 (which ends September 30), according to department of state visa control chief Charles Oppenheim in a June IIUSA webinar. He acknowledged issuance has been slowed by the pandemic impacts, and he predicted the programme could gain at least 4,200 new visas in FY2021. In other words, we could see 14,000 new EB-5 visas next year (starting October 1). This is good news for residents of countries that have limits on the number of immigrant visas or that tend to have a higher number of EB-5 applicants. Part of the sluggishness this past year was due to the limitations or resistance to in-person meetings and the increase in the minimum investment from $500,000 to $900,000 that became effective last year. Applications for EB-5 could take longer for investors to make if they cannot see projects firsthand. Another shift well see from the pandemics impacts is the categorisation of Targeted Employment Areas (which are rural or high unemployment areas) toward the end of 2021, as some regions in the US have been hit harder than others. This could open up or shift opportunities for some investors. Similar to the most recent financial crisis, when stock market return potential has diminished, investors in a strong position are likely to turn to real estate for stability, as demand in real estate is increasing. High net worth investors may also be enticed to put their funds toward other countries, such as Portugal, whose Golden Visa Program is attractive for fast-tracking residency into the European Union. Taxation in Portugal is considered more favourable and can be an important factor as investors and their families decide where to reside. The country also offers universal health care and affordable yet quality education. Whats Next? In the coming months, businesses are going to be picking up the pieces. Some international students may have opted for a gap year rather than deal with visa uncertainty and the limits of virtual-only learning. The next year could be an opportune time to plan carefully the kind of future families and investors want to establish for themselves. The writer is executive chairman and founder of LCR Capital Partners Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 14:22:47|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday unveils his agenda for health care, a key topic for the election in November. Trump, speaking during an event in Charlotte in the state of North Carolina, claimed that his administration is "delivering better care with more choice, at much lower cost, and working to ensure Americans have access to the care they need." He wants to improve access to direct primary care arrangements, cut red tape to enable patients to spend more time with their doctors, and invest in critical areas, including pediatric cancer, sickle cell disease, and Alzheimer's research, according to the White House. Trump also went after 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and Obamacare, which was signed into law by then President Barack Obama in 2010. The Republican candidate has sought to repeal Obamacare, a promise during his 2016 campaign, despite strong pushback from Democrats. Biden, who was Obama's deputy when Obamacare took effect, accused Trump of "arguing to strip millions of Americans of health care in the middle of a pandemic" in a tweet on Thursday. Polls have showed a tight race between Trump and Biden in North Carolina, a battleground state. Enditem The main womens prison in Pierre has 57 active coronavirus cases after an outbreak infected more than 100 inmates in the separate minimum security unit last week. The Department of Corrections and Department of Health mass-tested 112 inmates within two of the four cell blocks of the main prison this week and found 51 were positive for the virus, according to a Friday news release from the DOC. Data on the DOC website shows there are six more inmates within the prison with active cases. There is also one active case within Unit E, a separate building, and 22 active cases within the minimum unit, a third separate building known as the Pierre Community Work Center (PCWC). A total of 172 female inmates have tested positive since the pandemic began but just 19 have been symptomatic, according to the news release. There are currently 408 inmates at the three all-female prisons in Pierre, according to DOC spokesman Michael Winder. Winder did not explain why staff weren't part of the mass testing, but he said they're encouraged to get tested when they have symptoms. Three PCWC workers and two staffers from the main prison have self-reported active cases, according to the DOC data. Winder also said the DOC is working with the DOH to begin randomly testing staff. Before the increase in cases, positive inmates or those showing symptoms of the virus were quarantined in the solitary confinement unit within the main prison, inmates and family members previously told the Journal. The quarantine area was changed to the PCWC after the Sept. 14 mass testing of the unit found more than 100 active cases of the virus, Winder said. PCWC inmates who tested negative were moved to the main womens prison while those who were in close contact with people who tested positive were on quarantine status within the main prison. Inmates from the main prison who tested positive this week are being quarantined into one of the four blocks, Winder said. Those who had close contact with the women who tested positive are being held in a second block. The DOC announced March 17 that all South Dakota inmates who participate in the community service and work release programs, plus parolees with the Community Transition Program, were barred from going to their outside jobs due to the pandemic. But it never announced announced in July that it was phasing in community service programs, where inmates receive prison wages under the national minimum wage for working at government and nonprofit jobs. The Journal learned that Pierre inmates were returning to those jobs through a recently released inmate and a close friend of an inmate. The reporting was later confirmed by Winder. The PCWC outbreak therefore happened after some inmates were working in the community and returning to their rooms that house up to nine people. Unlike in its Friday press release, the DOC didn't announce the PCWC mass testing and coronavirus outbreak. The DOC did post data showing an outbreak and later explained it discovered the cases through the Sept. 14 mass test. On Friday Winder also confirmed the Journal's reporting that one PCWC inmate was sent to the hospital for coronavirus treatment. She recovered and was brought back to the prison. The health and safety of our staff and inmates is our number one priority, DOC Secretary Mike Leidholt said in the Friday news release. We will continue to work closely with DOH and follow the Centers for Disease Control guidelines. DOH and DOC staff continue to screen inmates, including through regular temperature checks, the new release says. They also engage in regular cleaning and disinfection. All inmates and staff are required to wear masks and inmates are encouraged to practice proper hygiene and hand washing, according to the release. Staff interacting with positive inmates wear masks, gowns, gloves, and face shields or goggles. Community service jobs have been stopped in Pierre but continue on a limited basis at other prisons, Winder said. Work release, where inmates earn normal wages working at community jobs, continue to be on hold throughout South Dakota prisons. Contact Arielle Zionts at arielle.zionts@rapidcityjournal.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. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Budi Sutrisno (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 09:04 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c47199d4 1 National COVID-19,coronavirus,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,erick-thohir,SOE-Minister,hospital,hospitals,testing-capacity,coronavirus-testing,treatment,medical-treatment,COVID-19-vaccine Free The government has made strides in expanding hospital capacity and improving treatment standards for COVID-19 patients, the COVID-19 Response and Economic Recovery Committee said on Thursday. We have taken various strategic steps to increase the capacity of specimen testing, increase hospital beds and isolation rooms, increase the standardization of case handling and supply of medicines and accelerate the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine, committee head Erick Thohir, who is also the state-owned enterprises minister, said on Thursday. The efforts had seen positive results, Erick claimed, as the daily examination of specimens had reached 38,181 as of Wednesday, exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, with the ratio of patients having recovered reaching 73 percent. He said that, to improve the recovery rate, the government would ensure the availability of isolation facilities for patients with mild symptoms, including the provisional Wisma Atlet hospital in Jakarta and two- and three-star hotels in other regions. This will ease the burden on hospitals as well as on medical personnel, so that they are not overwhelmed and exhausted. And, what is also important is to limit virus transmission from patients without symptoms, added Erick. Erick said his committee had been coordinating with state-owned hospitals to encourage standardization of clinical management in treating COVID-19 patients. Read also: Jokowi calls for equal vaccine access in UNGA address This standardization is important so that doctors in remote areas can follow standardized medical procedures and have a reference for [treating] patients with mild, moderate or severe symptoms. In addition, Erick said, the committee was encouraging domestic pharmaceutical companies to provide medical devices and essential medicines. Two Indonesian pharmaceutical companies, Indofarma and Kimia Farma, were currently working to produce antiviral drugs, which Indonesia had been importing from other countries, he added. The government has been stepping up efforts to secure vaccines through bilateral and multilateral channels. Erick said that, in addition to collaboration with Sinovac and G42, as well as partnerships with Genexine, CanSino and AstraZeneca, the government was talking with Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Novafax. Coupled with the cooperation with UNICEF within the COVAX facility to guarantee the availability and delivery of vaccines, our efforts to expedite the availability of vaccines are on the right track, he said. Erick pleaded for collective action by citizens to help prevent further transmission by strictly adhering to health protocol. AS the Philippines recalled the imposition of martial law through Presidential Proclamation 1081 on Sept. 21, the United Nations observed International Day of Peace on the same day. Even how hard Marcos loyalists work to revise the historical narrative of the dark age of democracy under the dictator Ferdinand Marcos; there are still many among us who can personally testify to the atrocities and human rights violations of the Marcoses. Never again! It was in 1981, when the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 36/67 declaring Sept. 21 as International Day of Peace aimed towards reconciling people around the world, especially those engaged in war. Sadly, global peace is elusive and the annual observance is merely symbolic, as conflicts and violence continue to inflict deaths and suffering among many people in all corners of the world. For the 2020 observance, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres urged all warring parties to lay down their arms and focus on the global pandemic that threatens humanity. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled), a disaggregated data collection, analysis and crisis mapping project, listed current conflicts today in places like Somalia, Afghanistan and Lebanon, among others. The list does not include tensions in the South China Sea, North Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand. I scoured for news on significant activities on Sept. 21 and I could only find one and it had a commercial angle. Peace One Day, whose goal is to raise awareness of #PeaceDay and manifest action, in turn decreasing violence around the world, reached out to as many people in 24-hours, partnering with Lipton under the program, Make Tea Time Peace Time. The UN News had an article on the secretary-general speaking in front of the Japanese Peace Bell on the grounds of the UN Secretariat, where he outlined how the coronavirus is putting peace at risk that prompted him in March to appeal for a global ceasefire shortly after the pandemic was declared. We did our share in marking the event in our FBLive program, GigAlive, where we focused on this years celebration theme, Shaping Peace Together. One of the songs I performed was Imagine which can very well be the universal anthem for world peace. It is rather ironic that its composer John Lennon would be killed violently. Still I can hear Johns chanting, All we are saying is give peace a chance. Rome: The powerful head of the Vatican's saint-making office, Angelo Becciu, has resigned suddenly from the post and renounced his rights as a cardinal amid a financial scandal that has reportedly implicated him indirectly. The Vatican provided no details on why Pope Francis accepted Becciu's resignation in a statement late on Thursday (Friday AEST). In the one-sentence announcement, the Holy See said only that Francis had accepted Becciu's resignation as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints "and his rights connected to the cardinalate". Cardinal George Pell reportedly had a role in uncovering the scandal. Giovanni Angelo Becciu presides over an eucharistic liturgy, at the St. John in Latheran Basilica, in Rome. Credit:AP Becciu, the former No. 2 in the Vatican's secretariat of state, has been reportedly implicated in a financial scandal involving the Holy See's investment in a London real estate deal that has lost millions of euros in fees paid to middlemen. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 06:05:44|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinse envoy on Friday called for more international support for Sudan as the country is going through a critical period of political transition. Positive developments in Sudan are clear to all. At the same time, COVID-19, floods and a fragile economic system still constitute challenges for its transitional process. The international community should increase its assistance and help Sudan tide over this difficult moment, said Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations. China welcomes the recent positive developments, particularly the initialing of a peace agreement on Aug. 31 in Juba, South Sudan. China calls on all parties in Sudan to remain united, proceed to sign the peace agreement as scheduled, and actively implement it, he told the Security Council. The parties not yet part of the Juba process should also sign the peace agreement as soon as possible. The peace agreement is a new starting point for peace and development in Sudan. China encourages all Sudanese parties to continue with the dialogue in a bid to jointly promote Sudan's transition from peacekeeping to peacebuilding and achieve longterm peace and stability at an early date, he said. With fragile economic and health systems in the country, COVID-19 and floods have worsened the living conditions and increased their humanitarian challenges for the Sudanese people. The international community should provide targeted assistance to help the Sudanese government realize economic reforms and strengthen its health system. The international financial institutions should also take action to relieve Sudan's debt, said Dai. China actively supports Sudan's efforts to develop its economy and fight the pandemic and has provided a large amount of material and technical assistance. China will continue to do its best to help Sudan achieve sustainable development, he said. In view of the positive developments in the Sudanese political process, the Security Council should conduct a timely review of the sanctions on Sudan, establish a roadmap for lifting them, thus sending out a positive message, said Dai. China calls on the country concerned to remove Sudan from the "State Sponsors of Terrorism" list as soon as possible and lift the unilateral sanctions against Sudan so as to provide favorable conditions for fighting the pandemic by the Sudanese people and its government, he said. China appreciates the important role played by the United Nations-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) in promoting the peace process in Sudan, and expects UNAMID to implement its exit strategy in an orderly manner as its mandate expires by the end of this year, said the envoy. Dai asked for a smooth handover from UNAMID to its follow-up mission in Sudan: the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS). He emphasized that UNITAMS, set up with the core task of supporting the political transition process in Sudan, should work within its mandate and refrain from intervening in Sudan's internal affairs. The Sudanese government bears the primary responsibility in protecting civilians. China supports the Sudanese government in formulating and implementing a national strategy for this purpose. UNITAMS should provide technical support in this regard, said Dai. The hard-won peace process in Sudan is an opportunity for the international community to help Sudan move forward toward peace and development. China will join the international community to contribute to the promotion of Sudan's political transition, long-term stability, development, and prosperity, said Dai. Enditem Kate Garraway powered through her Smooth Radio show on Friday, after a 'tough week' with husband Derek Draper, who remains critically-ill in hospital. The presenter, 53, clutched a coffee in hand as she finished off a week of hosting her Relaxing Music Mix show as well as her Good Morning Britain duties. Kate revealed on GMB her week has been particularly hard for her husband, 53, as he continues to recover from the long-term effects of coronavirus in ICU. WonderWoman: Kate Garraway powered through her Smooth Radio show on Friday, after a 'tough week' with husband Derek Draper who remains critically-ill in hospital Kate cut a casual figure in a pink knitted jumper, flared jeans and trainers and wore a blue safety mask as she left the studios before hopping onto the back of a motorbike. During Friday's episode of GMB, Kate, received a message from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown who sent his well wishes to the mother-of-two. Kate thanked the politician and offered viewers an update on her husband's condition, as she admitted it had been a difficult week for the family. Love: Kate revealed on the show her week has been particularly hard for her husband, 53, as he continues to recover from the long-term effects of coronavirus in ICU (pictured last year) Inspiration: The presenter, 53, clutched a coffee in hand as she finished off a week of hosting her Relaxing Music Week as well as her Good Morning Britain duties Laid-back look: Kate cut a casual figure in a pink knitted jumper, flared jeans and trainers and wore a blue safety mask Tremendous effort: She hopped onto the back of a taxi motorbike She turned to co-host Ben Shephard, 45, and said: 'Tough week with Derek. It has been a tough week.' Later in the show, Lorraine Kelly appeared on screen to discuss what would be coming up on her show, and said: 'I'm sorry to hear it's been a tough week, Kate but we love having you on the telly!' Former lobbyist Derek was hospitalised on March 29 after suffering serious complications from Covid-19 and has remained in intensive care ever since, in a minimally conscious state from which no one knows if he will ever recover. Touching: During Friday's episode of GMB, Kate, received a message from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown who sent his well wishes to the mother-of-two Speaking to the Mail On Sunday's YOU magazine about the family's ordeal earlier this month, Kate revealed doctors had warned her Derek wouldn't survive, and expressed her shock at seeing his appearance as his 'worn-out and thin' body struggled to fight the virus. Derek, who she revealed has lost eight stone during the battle, is one of an estimated just five people in the world whose bodies have been damaged so much by Covid. v Kate recalled: 'Doctors were saying, "He's not going to make it.' Unable to breathe, he was put into a medical coma to give his lungs a rest. Before he went under, he called Kate and said, "I love you, you've saved my life." A timeline of Derek's coronavirus battle MARCH Kate revealed she and Prince Charles had got 'relatively close' at the Prince's Trust Awards on March 11 - Charles was diagnosed with coronavirus in mid-March. She said: 'Around the 29/30 March, I came home came in and said [to Derek] 'god you look ill.' 'He said he had a headache, numbness in his right hand, and was struggling to breathe, 'I rang Dr Hilary (Jones) and tried to get through, he talked to Derek. He said put me back on, I think you need to call an ambulance' Derek, 52, was taken into hospital on March 30 and remained in an unresponsive condition. APRIL Kate and her children isolated at home after she displayed 'mild symptoms'. Kate said: 'Derek remains in intensive care and is still very ill. I'm afraid it remains an excruciatingly worrying time. 'I'm afraid he is still in a deeply critical condition, but he is still here, which means there is hope.' MAY Kate said: 'The journey for me and my family seems to be far from over as every day my heart sinks as I learn new and devastating ways this virus has more battles for Derek to fight. 'But he is still HERE & so there is still hope.' That month, Kate and her family took part in the final clap for carers She said: 'I'll never give up on that because Derek's the love of my life but at the same time I have absolute uncertainty' JUNE On June 5, Kate revealed Derek is now free from coronavirus but continues to fight against the damage inflicted on his body JULY On July 5, Kate revealed Derek has woken from his coma but he remains in a serious yet critical condition. On July 8, she announced she would be returning to GMB, after being urged by doctors to 'get on with life' during Derek's recovery. She added that Derek had 'opened his eyes' after waking from his coma, but has been told his recovery could take years. On July 13, Kate returned to GMB for the first time since Derek was hospitalised. On July 28, Kate revealed she'd paid an 'extra emotional' first visit to Derek, and admitted she's 'frustrated' by his slow progress. Advertisement For several weeks, the family's only contact with Derek was through hospital staff, so when Kate first saw her husband, she found him unrecognisable. Kate recalled: 'When I finally got to FaceTime him, seeing him unconscious was a big shock. 'He's lost nearly eight stone in weight, a lot of it muscle throughout his body. He looked worn-out, thin and pale with dark circles under his eyes and there were lots of tubes.' Kate contracted coronavirus herself at the same time as Derek, but made a full recovery. Kate contracted coronavirus herself at the same time as Derek, but made a full recovery. Last month, the presenter discussed wanting to donate her blood plasma to Derek in a bid to help him in his battle. The TV host said she she was 'desperately researching anything she could do to help' her husband who remains very sick in hospital. Her GMB co-host Adil Ray, 46, said: 'On the show last week, you would have seen Kate talking about the potential importance of blood plasma transfusions for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. 'That day the number of people offering to donate went up 300 per cent. Kate said: It's a lovely lovely thing. The process which is similar to giving blood, only takes 45 minutes and can be used to help treat patients who aren't producing enough of their own antibodies to fight COVID-19. 'The reason it's popped up, why I was talking about it, was because when Derek first got sick, I was desperately researching anything I could do to help. 'I watched him be consumed by the virus despite all the brilliant efforts of those around trying to help him in the NHS.' She continued: 'I was told at the time, because it was one of the ideas I had, 'what about giving my blood, there are antibodies in my blood because I've had it, will that help?' they said no because the trials for it hadn't really started. 'I started talking about it last week because I found out that now it is being used which is fantastic.' Adil said: 'Kate, I will say this, you're so inspiring at a time like this.' Kate replied: 'I don't know about that, I feel very emotional about it actually, not just the idea that people are coming forward but that it might save lives. Kate revealed she is reluctant to talk about Derek 'every week' on the show as she doesn't want to upset viewers, but was reassured by Adil that she has been 'inspiring.' Kate said Derek 'is very much still with us,' but it is still a 'waiting game'. In July Derek emerged from his deep coma and started showing some signs of consciousness, occasionally opening his eyes. Only a few weeks ago, Kate was finally allowed to visit Derek in hospital. Coronavirus precautions mean the children and Derek's parents haven't been able to yet. She admitted: 'I see him quite infrequently, not as often as I'd wish'. Discussing the moment doctors told her that Derek may never recover, Kate confessed that she threw up in shock. She said: 'We hope and believe he will come out of it, but we just don't know. 'The heart of the family has been ripped out and we don't know if we will ever get it back.' Strong: She turned to co-host Ben Shephard, 45, and said: 'Tough week with Derek. It has been a tough week' Heartbreaking: Kate revealed that doctors had warned her Derek wouldn't survive, and expressed her shock at seeing his appearance as his body struggled to fight the virus Giving an update on his condition, she continued: 'At first it was all about Derek's lungs. 'But then his kidneys started failing and he was on dialysis. Now they've realised Covid can affect every cell of the body: most recently Derek's been having problems with his intestines. 'The absorption of food and vomiting are problems and they're trying to work out whether that's because his cells don't produce the enzymes to digest. 'His liver and heart and blood vessels have been affected.' Last month, Kate revealed she paid an 'extra emotional' first visit to Derek, as he continues to slowly recover from COVID-19. Doting mother: Kate and Derek married in 2005, and share daughter Darcey, 14, and son Billy, 11 (pictured in December) The Good Morning Britain presenter also told Ben Shephard that it was 'lovely' to see her partner as (28 July) was his 53rd birthday, but she continues to be 'frustrated' by his slow progress. Kate told Ben: 'I did go and see Derek, he's had a tough couple of weeks, and it's just frustrating. 'It would have actually been his birthday today so I was extra emotional so I was thinking about the day he was born. She added: 'What the doctor said to me was, 'Sometimes, Kate, a day when nothing has gone backwards is a positive'.' As Ben agreed that Derek had 'a stable day,' Kate added: 'It's just I'm desperate for a step forward. It's always lovely to see him and so it's wonderful to have the chance to see him.' Kate and Derek married in 2005, and share daughter Darcey, 14, and son Billy, 11. Earlier this year, Kate took a break from work in order to look after their children in lockdown and be there for Derek. The journalist made a welcome to present Good Morning Britain in July after being away for 14 weeks and has now announced she will be returning to her Smooth Radio show so Derek 'can hear my voice as well as many of the songs we both love.' The broadcaster also confirmed she would be heading back to the Global studios in London to record her show from 10am to 1pm everyday, after her friend Myleene Klass filled in for her. As she announced her return to the airwaves, Kate acknowledged the frightening circumstances she currently faces, but hopes work will provide a welcome distraction for both herself and her husband. She said to The Sun: 'I'm delighted to be returning to my morning show on Smooth and to my Global family who have been a big support to me. 'Things are still hugely challenging and a long way from being normal, but I'd like to think that this will give Derek yet another opportunity to hear my voice as well as many of the songs we both love. 'My heartfelt thanks go to Myleene Klass who has been brilliantly caretaking the show for me and to all my regular listeners for their messages of support.' Throughout all this, Kate has been holding the fort at home, trying to present a chipper front for the sake of the children. Heartbreaking: Discussing the moment doctors told her that Derek may never recover, Kate confessed that she threw up in shock (pictured in 2008) There have been many articles written about widening S.C. Highway 41 through the Phillips community as well as several other parcels of land. A few things should be mentioned. Hwy. 41 is an evacuation route for hurricanes. Tens of thousands of people would be directed to the route. There needs to be a traffic study to determine where all these people are coming from. I believe it would find that most are coming from North Charleston and locations north of Charleston County. The traffic problems that exist may not come from the subdivisions along Highway 41 as some writers have surmised. People who work in big-box stores, offices, grocery stores, repair shops, landscaping and more use Highway 41 to get to work in Mount Pleasant. I cant see how widening Highway 41 would disturb the Phillips community. It would probably improve property values. It certainly appears that widening the road would help control the traffic, be most cost effective and would not destroy the Phillips community. This widening has been held up for years and should be finalized. JIM DELANEY Palmetto Isle Drive Mount Pleasant Beetle insulting The Sept. 21 Beetle Bailey cartoon was not funny. In fact, its very insulting. Take it from me and millions of others who have served our country, serving in any branch of the U.S. military is a full-time job. Many times, it was in harsh conditions, away from loved ones and for long periods. Shame on Mort, Greg and Brian Walker for writing this insulting cartoon and equal shame on The Post and Courier for printing it. God bless our military and the country they serve. JIM ROWAN Retired Air Force, master sergeant Coopers Hawk Drive Hanahan Stick with Trump The naivety of Catherine P. McEaddy Holmes in her Sept. 2 commentary is astounding. She thinks that Joe Biden will fight COVID-19, respect the rule of law and do whats in the best interest of the nation. Not so. Joe Biden would be like a puppet on a string, doing the bidding of the far-left money interests that support the Democratic agenda. Four years of a Biden presidency would be a disaster. Also, if he were to die or become unable to continue in office, we would be stuck with left-wing radical Kamala Harris. As for me and my family, we are sticking with President Donald Trump. He has not disappointed us. BUDDY MILLIGAN Riverland Woods Place Charleston Cartoon off base I appreciate editorial cartoons, which are the visual equivalent of a column, where an opinion is voiced. But like a column, political cartoons should be based on facts. The cartoon in the Sept. 22 edition of The Post and Courier deals with the filling of the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In the frame, a woman declares that Ginsburg paved the way for women on the bench! Next to her, a donkey representing the Democratic Party replies, But they should only be liberal women! The truth is, its the Republican Party that is insisting on a conservative woman who will meet the extreme rights litmus test on a variety of issues, instead of the academic and judicial background of the candidates. Ginsburg herself was a role model for bipartisanship on the court. Sadly, we are watching the dissolution and distrust of yet another great American institution because the current White House and Senate value party over country. BELLA ENGLISH Ocean Boulevard Isle of Palms Right to opinions I was disappointed in The Post and Couriers food editor and chief critics use of her column on Sept. 9 to denigrate Palmetto Cheese. Her remarks had nothing to do with the quality of the product. It was in response to the remarks of Mayor Brian Henry, owner of Palmetto Cheese, on Facebook concerning Black Lives Matter. I understand that he later apologized. We all are painfully aware of the discord that has rocked Americas cities in recent months, and the sensitive issues being dealt with in our communities. Whether the sentiments made about BLM are true or not, the right to express those sentiments is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Is it right to boycott Palmetto Cheese and not buy its products just because the owner expressed an opinion? This is the ideology that existed in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, lest we forget. Should free speech be squelched in this Arsenal of Democracy? Should the employees of Palmetto Cheese lose their jobs because of comments made by their employer? I think not. After all, it is the best pimento cheese around these parts. DAVID RICHARDSON Waring Street Summerville Why not have tolls? After driving Interstate 95 and the Florida Turnpike to the Florida Keys twice in the past four months, I received invoices from the Florida Tolls by Tag program for tolls. I decided to open a Sun Pass account, which also is good in Georgia and North Carolina. Participants put money in the account, and the program deducts the charges from the account at a discount. There is no stopping at toll booths and no fumbling for money. The total cost for my last trip was $4.74. If these states can widen their roads to six and eight lanes using tolls, why cant South Carolina? Most interstate traffic passes through our state. Come on, South Carolina, get your head out of the sand and improve our roads. LESTER FINKELSTEIN Betsy Kerrison Parkway Johns Island Yet even before word began to leak Friday about his selection, Mr. Trumps senior aides had all but resigned themselves to his nominating Judge Barrett, the former Notre Dame law professor the president put on the federal bench in 2017. Mark Meadows, the presidents chief of staff, and the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, were especially insistent on Judge Barrett. Mr. Meadows had argued to Mr. Trump that Ms. Lagoa has an insufficient record on which to judge just how conservative she is, according to Republicans briefed on the conversations. At the same time, conservative interest group leaders sought to derail Judge Lagoa by reminding the president that it was his former adversary, Jeb Bush, who first put her on the bench. Another issue is that Mr. Trumps instincts are still geared toward his political base, and he continues to behave like a candidate who is running in a Republican primary. When offered the choice between making broad appeals or burrowing further into his overwhelmingly white and largely male base of support, he almost always sides with his core voters. That, more than anything, is what alarms Republicans about Judge Barrett and gives Democrats a measure of political hope the possibility that she will bring Mr. Trump few voters he doesnt already have, while driving more people into Mr. Bidens column. I think its going to increase our turnout of young women, said Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, who she acknowledged wanted to turn Mr. Trump out of office but were not overly enthusiastic about Mr. Biden. The risk in forwarding Judge Barrett is that she allows Democrats to elevate the question of legal abortion, which is broadly popular. In interviews, several Republican lawmakers from Republican-leaning states conspicuously declined to offer direct views on Roe v. Wade. Its subject to the Supreme Court to determine whether its consistent with the Constitution and the laws, said Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, whos locked in one of the closest races in the country. To this point, theyve affirmed it and reaffirmed it. TOKYO - Japans new prime minister, stepping from the shadows of his longtime supporting role, said Saturday in his debut at the U.N. General Assembly that hes willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without any conditions. The offer comes as Yoshihide Suga only days into his tenure tries to do what his predecessor and former boss, Shinzo Abe, Japans longest-serving prime minister, couldnt: resolve the decades-old issue of North Koreas abductions of Japanese citizens, along with the Norths growing nuclear and missile program. Establishing constructive relations between Japan and North Korea will not only serve the interests of both sides but will also greatly contribute to regional peace and stability, Suga said in a recorded speech that came Friday afternoon at the COVID-hit annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. in New York. I will miss no opportunity to take actions with all my dedication, he said. In a nod, perhaps, to criticism that he is something of a lightweight on foreign policy issues, Suga noted that he has worked for many years on the abduction issue, which remains a big domestic concern in Japan. Abe had also offered to meet with Kim during his own tenure. Sugas international debut is being watched closely because he has spent a large part of his career supporting Abe with backroom bureaucratic manoeuvrs and in largely scripted, sometimes prickly dealings with the media. His speech was relatively straightforward, with no resounding rhetoric or wildly innovative ideas to improve Japans rocky ties with the nations it terrorized in WWII or its decades-long economic malaise. Much as hes done domestically in the week and a half that hes been prime minister, Suga is eager to emphasize that hell continue the foreign policy efforts Abe championed in his nearly eight-year rule. Continuity wont necessarily thrill Japans Asian neighbours. Many have been hoping that Suga will distance himself from the hawkish Abe, who regularly questioned the narrative of Japan as a war criminal. Sugas cautious approach is largely due to his lack of experience on the world stage, in part because his job as chief cabinet secretary required him to manage disasters and other crises at home. But it also may be linked to his temperament. He is not a visionary, according to Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University Japan. He is a capable lieutenant who will follow Abes foreign policy. Because of the constraints on travel and face-to-face contact caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Suga also wont be able to pursue the personal diplomacy that Abe favoured and will muddle along rather than breaking any new ground, Kingston said. Suga maintains that he was involved behind the scenes on big foreign policy issues and in building relationships with foreign leaders. Much as Abe did, Suga is looking to emphasize ties with the United States, Japans top ally. Suga has praised Abes skills in forging personal ties with U.S. President Donald Trump, something he said that he might not be able to do as well. Abes close relationship with Trump, much marveled at in the Japanese press, was said to be key to keeping U.S.-Japan ties firm. And Suga may have played a bigger part in building that relationship than is widely known. In recent comments published in Bungei Shunju magazine, Suga said he was the one who insisted on establishing ties with the Trump side when nobody was seriously expecting a Trump victory. Suga noted that the coronavirus pandemic, while an unprecedented crisis, has also brought the international community back to co-operation from its tendencies towards division and isolation. Suga also said that Tokyo is determined to host the postponed Olympics next summer as proof that the world is bouncing back from the virus. Japan, with just over 80,000 cases and 1,500 deaths, has so far managed to avoid the explosive spread of infections seen in the United States and Europe, despite its nonbinding shutdown requests. Experts say the widely accepted use of face masks and regular handwashing and sanitizing might have helped, though theres worry about another wave of illness this autumn and winter. The government is now further relaxing restrictions on tourism and public events to try to stimulate economic recovery. Sugas behind-the-scenes operations are one thing, but questions still abound about whether a leader who has not previously served in key diplomatic or defence posts will be able to navigate the much more visible arena of high-stakes global diplomacy. His lack of foreign policy experience is a worry even among his party colleagues, said Tsuneo Watanabe, a Sasakawa Peace Foundation senior research fellow who is an expert on Japan-U.S. relations. That said, Suga has good contacts with the countrys powerful bureaucrats and with skilled policy advisers in the Foreign Ministry, Watanabe said. His approach will probably be pretty much the same as Abes, focused on a stronger security alliance with the United States while balancing economic ties with China, Watanabe said. Among the other strong pieces of evidence that Suga wants foreign policy continuity with Abe is his appointment of Nobuo Kishi, Abes younger brother and a military hawk, as defence minister. Suga will face perhaps his biggest challenge in trying to settle ties with South Korea. The countries trade and political relations plummeted under Abe after Seoul claimed that Abe was whitewashing Japans historical crimes. If Abes successor intends to serve the long-term interest and avoid further deterioration of the Japan-South Korea relations, now is the time to explore the chance for a reset in relations, Kazuhiko Togo, a former diplomat and a visiting professor at Kyoto Sangyo University, wrote in a recent East Asia Forum article. At the very least, Suga is not as reviled in Seoul as Abe, so that might create an opening, Kingston said, although much will depend on how Seoul handles things, as Tokyo is unlikely to take the initiative. In some ways, the virtual setup of this years U.N. General Assembly might benefit Suga. He has vast experience dealing with scripted media situations, but he is also sullen and prickly with tough questions, Kingston said, and when he eventually travels as prime minister, he, like Abe, could get in trouble with a more assertive foreign press because he will not be able to get away with the evasive tactics he favours. ___ Foster Klug, APs news director for Japan, the Koreas, Australia and the South Pacific, has covered Asia at UNGA since 2005. Follow him at www.twitter.com/apklug. Follow longtime Tokyo correspondent Mari Yamaguchi at www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi Read more about: European governments will pay claims above an agreed limit against AstraZeneca over side-effects from its potential COVID-19 vaccine, under different terms to a deal struck with Sanofi, an EU official told Reuters. The deals reflect different strategies by two of the world's top drugmakers for protecting themselves as a debate rages about liabilities for vaccines aimed at ending the pandemic. AstraZeneca has secured the European Union's backing in a confidential agreement which reflects the lower price sought by the British drugmaker, the official said. "If a company asks for a higher price we don't give the same conditions," said the official, who was involved in the talks but declined to be identified as the contracts are confidential. 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 Unexpected side-effects after a drug has regulatory approval are rare, but the speed at which a COVID-19 vaccine is being pursued increases the risks of unforeseen conditions. The deal with AstraZeneca, which shifts some of the risks involved in the roll-out of a vaccine to taxpayers, was struck in August and its liability clauses have not previously been reported. Under the deal, AstraZeneca would only pay legal costs up to a certain threshold, the official said, declining to elaborate on how the costs would be shared with individual European governments or the cap. The financial shield would cover both legal costs and potential compensation, which is rarer but potentially a much bigger outlay in the event of something going wrong. In return for the higher price paid for its vaccine, French drugmaker Sanofi, which is working with GlaxoSmithKline as a partner, did not get any liability waiver. Spokespeople for AstraZeneca, Sanofi and the European Commission declined to comment on the specifics of the deals. When asked about AstraZeneca's relatively low price, a spokesman reiterated the company's pledge to share the vaccine widely and not to turn a profit from it during the pandemic. Under the AstraZeneca deal, EU countries have agreed to pay 2.5 euros ($2.92) per dose, while Sanofi has negotiated a price at around 10 euros, the official said. SIDE-EFFECTS As part of the supply deals, the only two sealed so far by Brussels, the EU has also made a non-refundable downpayment of 336 million euros to AstraZeneca to secure 400 million doses, proportionately lower than the 324 million euros it paid to Sanofi to secure 300 million doses. The EU official told Reuters that the contract with AstraZeneca included a narrow definition of side-effects that could limit the possibility of claiming compensation although the company remains liable for its vaccine. The deal with AstraZeneca was negotiated before it paused late-stage trials of its vaccine candidate this month after a British volunteer developed neurological symptoms. Trials have resumed in Britain but not in the United States. EU governments would share compensation costs only if unexpected side-effects emerged after the AstraZeneca vaccine was approved. Liability has been a key stumbling block in talks with other COVID-19 vaccine makers, EU officials have said, as companies fear they risk larger legal costs than they usually face when vaccines are developed in much longer trials. A European Commission spokesman said advance purchase deals "provide for member states to indemnify the manufacturer for certain liabilities incurred under specific and strict conditions", but "liability still remains with the companies". This means it would be the firm's responsibility to defend its shot in the courts. Drugmakers have called on EU regulators to set up a Europe-wide compensation scheme, while patients' organisations are calling for an EU-wide fund financed by pharmaceutical firms that would compensate for unexpected side-effects. The EU legal regime is among the least favourable to drugmakers on compensation claims, although plaintiffs have rarely managed to win as the law requires them to prove the link between an illness and a vaccine that may have caused it. The United States has granted immunity from liability for COVID-19 vaccines that receive regulatory approval. Meanwhile, Russia has said it would shoulder some of the legal liability should anything go wrong with the vaccine developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute. Few countries in Central America can claim as diverse historical beginnings as Guatemala, an area about the size of the U.S. state of Tennessee (42,144 square miles or 109,152 square kilometers). The Republic of Guatemala is home to the Mayan Empire, one of the most well-known and well-respected civilizations in the world. The Maya Indians lived in most of what is now Central America and made their way to Guatemala as early as 2400 B.C. They built massive pyramids and temples, crafted the art of writing through hieroglyphics and developed astronomy. They also left a timeless legacy for Guatemalans [source: Latham]. The Mayans' rule was eventually toppled by Spanish invasion in 1523, but that didn't stop the heritage of the Mayan empire from thriving in the country, even today. Of the more than 14 million people who make their home in Guatemala, more than half of them are descendants of the Mayans [source: Enjoy Guatemala]. Advertisement Much of Guatemala's history has been marked by violence. For 36 years, the country was embattled in a civil war that took the lives of more than 200,000 people. The war brought about mass murders and resulted in millions of people being run off of their land. Guatemala's civil war ended in December 1996, but the war scars still remain. Violence and intimidation are major problems in private life and in politics too [source: PBS]. Today, the influences of both the Mayans and the Spaniards are unmistakable in Guatemala. These influences permeate throughout the country's languages, customs and even the foods that are eaten. In this article, we'll look at some Guatemalan traditions, starting first with food. The Chase star Anne Hegerty has been condemned by fans of record-breaking K-pop band BTS after posting a dismissive social media post about them. On Twitter, Hegerty (who is known on The Chase as The Governess) described BTS as a little Korean boy band thats fundamentally not important. She made the comments in response to a tweet from The Economist senoir editor Anne McElvoy, who had written Please no in response to news that the band had spoken at the 75th UN General Assembly. McElvoy later apologised for her remarks, writing: My earlier tweet about BTS was in jest and Im sorry it was taken the wrong way. Apologies. It was this which prompted Hegertys response, as she asked: All this about a little Korean boy band thats fundamentally not important? BTS are the best-selling music artists in Korean history, and retain a strong following worldwide. Their most-viewed music video, for the 2017 single DNA, has accumulated more than one billion views on YouTube, with others coming close. Their recent single Dynamite broke YouTube records for most concurrent viewers, and rose to No 1 in the US, peaking at No 3 in the UK. BTS fans were quick to defend the band from Hegertys remarks on social media. BTS, the little Korean boy band, were speaking for the second time at the UN sharing a message of hope & care to people all over the world, including their multi-millions of fans, wrote one Twitter user. What is fundamentally not important about that? Someone else wrote: Just because you dont understand something doesnt mean that its not important to someone else...in this case, millions of people across generations, cultures and genders worldwide. To dismiss them is to open yourself up to this type of scrutiny. Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Another wrote: Hi Anne, not to call you out but hoping I can call you into these conversations. I dont believe in cancelling folx but I do believe in correcting. This little Korean boy band is fundamentally important in so many ways. First and foremost: theyre representing Asian men. And finally showing the world how Asian men can be sexy, aspirational, inspirational, beautiful, fierce, talented and more. For you to dismiss them and say little is not only a microaggression but is actually racist. Please use your words carefully. Will Waldron Microsoft has said that China, Russia and Iran hackers are targeting the campaigns of both major party candidates in the United States. We have been given proof that interference to influence election results was also used in 2016. In addition to indignation, every citizen should realize that a vote in hand, able to be cast freely, is a powerful weapon. Every citizen with that right should step forward to cast their vote and demonstrate that a democracy built on freedom and a tradition of peaceful transfer of power cannot be manipulated into oblivion by totalitarian states bent on its destruction. Every voting citizen should be leery of the propaganda that, given contemporary technology, is easily available to anyone with sinister motives. We all have the means to reliably inform ourselves with facts, not biased opinions, about the qualities and achievements of those who seek to lead us into the future. It is our responsibility. This outrage makes voting a duty. Betsy Lopez Abrams Albany Haiti - News : Zapping... Moise promises honest and democratic elections Thursday during the 75th ordinary session of the United Nations during the general debate of the General Assembly, President Jovenel Moise declared in a pre-recorded video message "[...] Today, the Republic of Haiti is cut off from an institution essential to the proper functioning of democracy, the Parliament. We have set up a new Provisional Electoral Council to achieve credible, transparent, inclusive, free, honest and democratic elections..." MOPOD announces demonstrations Thursday at a press conference Jean Andre Victor of the Popular Patriotic Movement Dessalinien (MOPOD) radical opposition movement, which sees in the actions of the Government to organize the next elections and to propose a new Constitution an attempt to establish a dictatorship, announces a series of demonstrations aimed at thwarting this plan and ensuring a political transition. Computing at the service of the judiciary This week Rocfkeller Vincent, the Minister of Justice participated in the presentation ceremony of the Computer System for the Management of Judicial Cases (GICAJ), at the School of Magistrates, road of Freres. Minister Vincent is convinced that the GICAJ is a fundamental instrument that will effectively contribute to the fight against prolonged preventive detention... OAS reiterates support for elections Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the OAS, reiterates his support for the need to conduct an electoral process in Haiti as soon as technically possible and at the same time invites political parties to work together to strengthen democracy in the interests of consensus. Cooperative Support Fund The Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH) this week launched the Cooperative Support Fund. This fund aims to support any Cooperative of Savings and Credit (CEC) in difficulty or facing financing needs to support its growth or finance a project. Note that all cooperatives in Haiti currently have more than 1.1 million members. Already a promotion for Berson Soljour Berson Soljour, has just been promoted Inspector General of the Haitian National Police only two weeks after his appointment as head of the Central Directorate of Administrative Police (DCPA) https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-31829-icihaiti-pnh-new-boss-at-the-administrative-police-directorate.html HL/ HaitiLibre The Philadelphia office of the Securities and Exchange Commission is hosting a public outreach event on Tuesday, Oct. 6, aiming to help Americans avoid financial frauds related to the coronavirus pandemic, including phony investment and retirement pitches, fake COVID-19 test kits, and get-rich-quick scams. Kelly Gibson, director of the SECs Philadelphia office, will moderate the free event, offered along with the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the FBI, and the Federal Trade Commission. To participate, go to the SECs website, sec.gov, between 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Oct. 6 and click on the Event link. Submit questions for speakers in advance to SECPhillyOutreach@sec.gov. Registration is not required. Many U.S. federal agencies are receiving complaints of coronavirus scams, especially advance-fee and multi-level marketing frauds, theft of funds through the Small Business Administrations emergency loan program, unemployment fraud, and fake coronavirus cures peddled through the internet or through robo-calls. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to these financial frauds, Gibson said. Panel speakers will include Scott Thompson, associate director of the SEC Philadelphia regional office; Jon Miller Steiger, director, East Central Region of the Federal Trade Commission; Ronald Sarachan, assistant U.S. Attorney and deputy chief, Criminal Division, White Collar Crime for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; and Patrick Duffy, supervisory special agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation. READ MORE: Philly business leaders form task force to recharge the regions economy The U.S. Attorneys office here has been investigating unemployment and identity fraud for months, ever since Congress passed a stimulus package following mass job losses. As many as 58,000 Pennsylvanians had some identifying information stolen earlier this year as part of nationwide scams related to coronavirus, the government has said. Readers can report identity thefts related to unemployment to the state of Pennsylvania here. The Internal Revenue Service also issued its annual Dirty Dozen list of top tax scams, and highlighted fake charities related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fake charity schemes generally start with unsolicited telephone calls, texts, emails or even in-person appeals. And bogus websites use names similar to those of legitimate charities to get people to send money or disclose financial information. READ MORE: An evaluation of Trumps and Bidens economic policies by Moodys economist Mark Zandi Legitimate charities will provide their employer identification number (EIN), which can be used to verify legitimacy. You can find qualified charities with the search tool on IRS.gov. The IRS has seen a tremendous increase in phishing schemes utilizing emails, letters, texts and links, the agency said this past summer. These phishing schemes are using keywords such as coronavirus, COVID-19 and stimulus in various ways. Most of these new schemes are actively playing on the fear and unknown of the virus and the stimulus payments. TOPEKA, Kan. - A state university president in Kansas whose decision in June to cancel a virtual speech by Ivanka Trump angered donors and others resigned Friday, after less than a year in the job. The Board of Regents, which oversees Kansas higher education system, did not say why Wichita State University President Jay Golden stepped down, offering no details on what led up to it. The university received national attention and plenty of criticism for dropping a virtual speech by President Donald Trumps elder daughter for its technical school graduation. The Board is thankful for his service, a statement from Bill Feuerborn, the regents chairman, said. We are appreciative of his hard work and dedication to the university and are grateful for his commitment to serving students. We wish him well in all his future endeavours. Wichita State referred questions to a Board of Regents spokesman who did not return a telephone message from The Associated Press. A home phone number for Golden could not be found. Regent Jon Rolph, a Wichita restaurateur, told The Wichita Eagle that Goldens resignation was not related to the Ivanka Trump controversy. Being a part of the conversations around accepting Jays resignation today, that was clear, he said. However, Rolph said state privacy laws prohibit him from discussing the circumstances of the resignation, but added that there was no impropriety. Golden cancelled Ivanka Trumps speech after students and faculty protested. Steve Clark, a former Kansas regent from Wichita, sought Goldens ouster in June and sent a letter then to board members saying Goldens decision to cancel the speech by Ivanka Trump threatened a multimillion-dollar relationship with Koch Industries, the vast conglomerate led by billionaire and conservative political donor Charles Koch. Clark said Friday that Golden, who previously served as vice chancellor and professor of engineering at East Carolina University in North Carolina, wasnt a good cultural fit for our Midwest values here. I dont think he was very good at balancing the interests of all the university stakeholders, the students, alums, faculty and donors and considering all things, Clark said. I think its better for him and much better for the university. Clark is the chairman and CEO of a Wichita investment firm and served as chairman of search committees for both Golden and his predecessor, John Bardo. Golden became president in January, after Bardo died in March 2019. Clark told the regents in June that cancelling Trumps speech damaged the schools reputation with high-profile donors and relationships could be restored only if Golden left. There were numerous issues, Clark said Friday. There were a lot of people upset at the Trump decision. He had his own agenda and he appeared to maybe not take, as I said, all stakeholders interests into consideration. But Kansas House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat, said the announcement caught him by surprise and that Golden appeared to be popular with students. I certainly hope it has nothing to do with the Trump thing, he said. I would be disappointed if somebody would lose their job over that. Wichita State has 14,000 students, including some 3,000 at its technical school and is home to a national institute on aviation research. Parts of Wichita and its suburbs are politically conservative, and Donald Trump carried the county in 2016 by 18 percentage points. Ivanka Trump visited WSU Tech last year to promote its training programs. The regents statement said Wichita State Provost Rick Muma will serve as acting president while the board considers options for an interim president. - Associated Press reporter Roxana Hegeman contributed to this report from Belle Plaine, Kan. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during his 'The Great American Comeback Rally' at Cecil Airport in Jacksonville, Florida, on Sept. 24, 2020. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Trump Forgives Romney Because Hes Being Very Nice on the Supreme Court President Donald Trump said on Thursday night that he is no longer angry with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) because of the senators support for confirming a Supreme Court justice before the election. Do you see whats going on with the Republican Party, how unified the Republican Party is? Right? Now were unified, Trump told a crowd of supporters in Jacksonville, Florida, on Sept. 24. Its a beautiful thing to see. Thank you, Mitt. Thank you. Appreciate it. Even Mitts onboard. No, its a good thing to see. Romney was the only Republican senator to vote in favor of convicting Trump during the impeachment trial. The Utah Senator voted for convicting Trump on the abuse of power charge, but voted to exonerate the president on the charge of obstructing justice. Trump spotlighted the vote, but said hes no longer upset thanks to Romneys stance of the Supreme Court confirmation. Of course when they did the impeachment hoax, we had 197 to nothing in the House and 52 to a half, that was Mitt, the president said referring to the impeachment vote counts for Republicans in the House and Senate. But thats OK, Im no longer angry at Mitt because hes being very nice on the Supreme Court. Hes doing the right thing. I just want him to do the right thing. The president is scheduled to announce a female nominee for the Supreme Court on Saturday. The appointee, if confirmed, will fill the seat left vacant by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away last week. Republicans hold a thin but reliable majority in the Senate, so Romneys support is crucial for moving the nomination forward quickly. The Democrats promised to pull out all the stops to attempt and derail the process until after Election Day. Romney has frequently criticized Trump, but fell in line with fellow Republicans shortly after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he would move to confirm any nominee put forth by Trump. The Constitution gives the President the power to nominate and the Senate the authority to provide advice and consent on Supreme Court nominees, Romney said in a statement. Accordingly, I intend to follow the Constitution and precedent in considering the Presidents nominee. If the nominee reaches the Senate floor, I intend to vote based upon their qualifications. Trump has said that having a full Supreme Court bench would be crucial for resolving any election-related legal challenges. New Delhi, Sep 25 : : With many stars joining the drug probe which emerged out of the mysterious death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing the Bollywood actor's family, said that the NCB probe is overshadowing and hindering the investigation behind the real truth in the death case. "Why call the whole of Bollywood? There are no seizures from these people who have been called today or tomorrow. In an NDPS case, everything depends on the quantity, the family feels it is being done to divert from the main issue (death case of sushant)," said Vikas Singh while holding a press conference here on Friday. The senior advocate further stated that media attention is being diverted from the case by calling the big stars. "CBI has not issued a single press statement regarding the probe and the direction in which the investigation is going is a little worrying for the family," Singh said. He also alleged that over a week has passed since the CBI team probing the case landed in Delhi but they haven't met the team of doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). "Today we are completely helpless on the case as no one from the CBI is doing any press briefing. It is the lack of interest and the speed with which the case is going that is worrisome," Singh said. Claiming that one of the doctors from the AIIMS team suggested it's a murder case, Singh said, "One of the doctors in the team of AIIMS suggests it is 200% death by strangulation and not a suicide. This is after photos clicked by Sushant's sister Mitu were shared with him." "If there is a case of murder then obviously the speed, tenor of the investigation will be different. Unfortunately none of the family members were staying with Sushant and Hence we don't know what exactly happened," he said. Earlier in the day, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) began questioning Bollywood actor Rakul Preet Singh, Dharma Productions executive producer Kshitij Ravi Prasad and Deepika Padukone's former manager Karishma Prakash in connection with its probe into the drugs case related to death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. According to NCB officials, Rakul, Karishma and Kshitij deposed before the drug law enforcement agency in a drug case related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. NCB officials said Rakul was the first to arrive at the NCB office followed by Karishma and Kshitij.They are being questioned about their alleged drugs chats that came to the fore after the NCB seized the electronic devices of several people. Latest updates on Sushant Singh Rajput Death Mystery "There's flies in the kitchen I can hear 'em there buzzing." Perhaps San Antonio health inspectors were humming the late John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery" this week when they visited one Northwest Side restaurant. The inspectors found flies in the kitchen by the back door, gnats in the storage room, and food sitting below peeling paint in the walk-in refrigerator. READ ALSO: San Antonio billionaire wants to test every student in the city for COVID-19 Elsewhere, they spotted fruit flies in the employee restroom at a Northeast Side convenience store and cooks handling food with their bare hands at a Far West Side eatery. A total of 14 eateries failed to score an "A" during inspections by the city's Metropolitan Health District. Continue scrolling for a look at the violations spotted by inspectors this week. Restaurants are graded on a 100-point system where "100" is a perfect score, and demerits are based upon the number of violations found during a regular food establishment inspection. There are three categories of demerits and each is assigned a demerit score between 1 and 3 points, according to the health division. If you have questions about inspections or complaints about a food establishment, contact the Metropolitan Health District office by calling 3-1-1 or 210-207-6000. Be prepared to provide the name, location, date of incident and details of the incident. (Bloomberg) -- Google will halt election advertising after the polls officially close for the U.S. presidential election, a move designed to limit false messages about the outcome of the contest. The largest internet company said advertisers will not be able to run ads referencing candidates, the election or its outcome, according to an email viewed by Bloomberg News. The policy, which is designed to block all ads related to the election, also applies to YouTube, the biggest online video service. How to Vote in 2020: Everything You Need to Know Google also said advertisers should expect to wait at least two days for political ads to be approved in the lead up to the election. With its new policy, the company is treating the election as a sensitive event, such as natural disasters, where it prohibits ads that may capitalize on tragedies. Axios reported the change earlier. Given the likelihood of delayed election results this year, when polls close on November 3, we will pause ads referencing the 2020 election, the candidates or its outcome, a Google spokeswoman said in a statement. This is a temporary measure, and well notify advertisers when this policy is lifted. Tech platforms are rushing to rewrite policies to ensure that campaign ads do not mislead voters. Facebook Inc. will block campaigns from submitting new ads in the week leading up to election day. Twitter Inc. has banned all political ads. U.S. President Donald Trump accused Twitter and Facebook of political bias after their decisions. In contrast, Googles decision on Friday didnt produce immediate outrage. I dont buy many fireworks on the 5th of July, said Will Ritter, founder of Poolhouse, a digital ad firm that works with Republicans. Since May of 2018, Google has sold more than $432 million of political ads, according to the companys database. Earlier this year, the Trump campaign bid successfully to run ads on YouTubes homepage leading up the election, Bloomberg News reported. Story continues (Updates with link to voting guide after second paragraph.) For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. by Vladimir Rozanskij Under the changes clergy who study aborad will be subjected to a control to "exclude extremist ideas". The new law is also criticized by Buddhists, Muslims, Jews and Protestants, who go abroad for their studies. There is a fear of a resurgence of state control over religions, as in the early 1990s of the last century. The opposition of Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals. Moscow (AsiaNews) - Russian Catholics are concerned about the changes to the law on freedom of conscience and religious associations which have been presented to the State Duma. Above all, the introduction of the obligation of attestation for clergy who have carried out theological studies abroad, which are absolutely not contemplated in Catholic institutions, to "exclude extremist ideas. On 22 September the vicar general of the Archdiocese of the Mother in Moscow, Father Kirill Gorbunov (in the photo) reflected the Catholic Churches position speaking with Ria Novosti agency. The new draft law was proposed by the Parliamentary Committee for the Development of Civil Society and the Issues of Public and Religious Associations. Its approval at first reading was scheduled for 22 September, but was postponed to a later date. The required certification provides for priests and "staff of religious associations" to be required to retrain at Russian academic institutions. This norm has aroused negative reactions not only from Catholics, but also from Russian Buddhists, who traditionally travel abroad to receive specific formation. The same can be said of leaders from most Muslim, Jewish and Protestant communities. In the words of Father Kirill, we agree that the priests who come from outside to carry out their ministry in Russia should be informed about the history, culture and religious traditions of Russia, and that they should not disseminate any kind of extremist idea in their preaching. However, as long as the common law is not violated, the surveillance of these factors is a duty of the religious associations themselves . In his opinion, the attempt by the state to regulate these processes "does not provide for effective solutions, rather it would lead to inextricable contradictions". Gorbunov also stressed that "the formation system in the Catholic Church is strictly unified ... One can be sure that extremist ideas are absolutely banned in all Catholic cultural institutions". Until now, similar interventions by the representatives of religious communities in the media have blocked attempts towards a further resurgence of control measures on religions. This process has been gaining ground in the last five years, after the approval in 2015/2016 of the so-called "Jarovoj law" against religious manifestations of extremism, which led to the banning of Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientology and many Pentecostal and Methodist communities. Any approval of the new changes, which also provide for new classifications of the title of "member of the community", would oblige all religious associations to rewrite and re-register their statutes, giving the competent institutions the right to block them and interfere in life of believers. This ordeal has already seen several times since the late 1990s, putting a strain on the patience of the various communities. For this reason too, Pentecostals, Baptists and Methodists prefer not to officially register, and consequently are harassed by the authorities. Nurses in the Greater Accra Region on Thursday resumed work following an agreement reached by the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA) and the National Labour Commission (NLC) after embarking on a three-day strike. Nurses, midwives, Physician Assistants and Anaesthetists in the public sector withdrew their services on Monday, September 21 to demand for improved conditions of service. The strike left many patients stranded nationwide because of the absence of health personnel. But the NLC directed the Ministry of Health and the GRNMA, to renegotiate and develop a document which will favour both parties by October 28, 2020. A visit to some hospitals in Accra namely, Adabraka Polyclinic, Achimota Hospital and the Greater Accra Region Hospital revealed that the nurses had respected the decision of the NLC by resuming to their duty posts. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr George Boakye Yiadom, the Administrator of the Adabraka Polyclinic, stated that the nurses reported back to work without complaints. He said the strike action affected the hospitals work as patients were left unattended to, adding, their return has brought a big relief to the patients. Also, Mrs Vivian Gbekle, the Head of Nursing at the Adabraka Polyclinic said, her nurses at her outfit reported to work today earlier than before and that she went round the wards to ensure that nurses at all the wards were at their duty post. At the Achimota and the Greater Accra Regional Hospitals, the situation was not different as the nurses were seen busily attending to patients. The Officials, however, refused to speak to the GNA news team, requesting the team to seek permission from the Regional Health Directorate. 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 BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: Azerbaijani Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov visited the enterprises in Ganja city, the Ministry of Economy told Trend. The issues of strengthening the economic potential of the city, creating an industrial zone and allocating the appropriate areas for this purpose were discussed with Head of the Executive Power of Ganja Niyazi Bayramov. The minister visited Azeraluminium LLC located in Ganja, one of the leading non-ferrous metallurgy companies in Azerbaijan and the only producer of primary aluminum in the South Caucasus. The main enterprise of the company - "Aluminum complex" is located in Ganja. The complex includes four plants (casting and continuous metal rolling, electrolysis, processing and painting under pressure, anode processes) and two additional sections (silicon grinding substation, mechanical repair station). The total capacity of plants for the production of primary aluminum is about 50,000 tons per year. The issues of ensuring sustainable supply of raw materials, expanding the production of primary aluminum, organizing the production of various products as a result of deep processing, optimizing production and increasing competitiveness were discussed during the talks with the management of the enterprise. Then the minister visited the Ganja Automobile Plant. The enterprise assembles vehicles for various purposes, agricultural machinery (tractors, combines, etc.), trucks and other equipment. The existing production capacity of the enterprise, its potential for assembling new types of equipment, including tractors, other agricultural machinery and buses, the possibility of sale were discussed during the meeting with the management of the plant. The need of increasing the competitiveness of the enterprise was emphasized. North Korea expressed regret on Friday over the death of a missing South Korean, saying it shot him as part of measures to battle the coronavirus, the South's national security adviser said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in saying the incident should not have happened, the official told a briefing. Earlier this week, a South Korean fisheries official went missing while on duty on an inspection boat near the South-North border. On Thursday, the South Korea Defense Ministry said that he had been shot dead in the North Korean waters and demanded from Pyongyang explanations and punishment of those responsible. "Our military issued the instruction on Thursday that calls for the strengthening of the readiness posture regarding the current situation ... The focus is on closely monitoring North Korean military moves around the clock and to maintain a firm defense posture to swiftly react to all circumstances so as to prevent the escalation of tensions," deputy spokesperson for the Defense Ministry Col. Moon Hong-sik said, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency. The incident with the fisheries official was described by South Korean President Moon Jae-in as shocking. He also vowed to react to any threats to the lives of citizens of his country coming from North Korea. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Golar LNG Limited (the Company) advises that the 2020 Annual General Meeting of the Company was held on September 24, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. at 2nd Floor, S.E. Pearman Building, 9 Par-la-Ville Road, Hamilton HM 11, Bermuda. The audited consolidated financial statements for the Company for the year ended December 31, 2019 were presented to the Meeting. The following resolutions were passed: To re-elect Tor Olav Trim as a Director of the Company. To re-elect Daniel Rabun as a Director of the Company. To re-elect Thorleif Egeli as a Director of the Company. To re-elect Carl Steen as a Director of the Company. To re-elect Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen as a Director of the Company. To re-elect Lori Wheeler Naess as a Director of the Company. To re-elect Georgina Sousa as a Director of the Company. To amend and re-state the Companys Bye-law 58 relating to the quorum necessary for the transaction of Company business at a General Meeting To re-appoint Ernst & Young LLP of London, England as auditors and to authorise the Directors to determine their remuneration. To approve the remuneration of the Companys Board of Directors of a total amount of fees not to exceed US$1,750,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020. Hamilton, Bermuda September 25, 2020 Imarc_a digital agency In addition, Nick Grant will be taking on an advisory role as Chairman Emeritus. These leadership appointments are effective immediately. We owe Nick many thanks for his contributions to Imarcs success, said Imarc Partner Dave Tufts. He has been dedicated to the company for the past 21 years, including the last six years as our CEO. Under his leadership, we experienced a period of phenomenal growth more than doubling in size and winning countless awards. Nick engineered the seamless build-out and transition to our beautiful offices in Amesbury, MA. Imarc Partner Patrick McPhail said, Were confident that our customers will be as thrilled as we are about welcoming Nils Menten back as Imarcs CEO. Were looking forward to the energy and passion Nils brings to any team hes a part of, said Imarc Partner Katie Desmond. Were all excited to be reunited after six years apart, and we truly feel that the best is yet to come. In the late 1990s, Nils Menten grew Imarc from a wild idea into one of the most highly decorated digital agencies in New England. He will be responsible for leading the company to future success. This transition will be nearly undetectable to our customers and business partners, said Menten. No other management changes are planned, and the company is in excellent shape financially. It will be business as usual moving forward. About Imarc Imarc is a premier full-service digital agency with a strong focus on web, mobile, and custom application solutions. We create smart solutions for forward-thinking brands across several different industries. With over 50 experienced engineers, UX engineers, designers, writers, strategists, and marketing experts, Imarc has been helping more than 400 clients create the incredible. We put our clients first and focus on building deep relationships with them. We are proud to say that some of our clients have been with us since the very beginning. Imarc has also made the Inc 5000 list six times, was named by Boston Business Journal as one of the top five firms in Massachusetts, and has won over 175+ industry awards. Contact Information Contact Person: Ashley Romagnoli, Digital Marketing Manager Company: Imarc, A Digital Agency Company URL: https://www.imarc.com/ Address: 21 Water St. First Floor, Amesbury, MA 01913 Phone: (978) 462-8848 Email: Ashley@imarc.com Seven of nine Bay Area counties are currently in the red tier of California's color-coded COVID-19 reopening plan, and that number may rise to nine in the coming days. During press conferences this week, the public health officers in Sonoma and Contra Costa counties both stated that their counties the only two the Bay Area that remain in the restrictive purple tier could be moved to the red tier as soon as next week. The two counties have seen sustained decreases in daily case rates the most important metric in changing tiers. Counties in the red tier can reopen indoor dining, schools, personal care services, gyms, movie theaters and more. However, individual county health officers can also withhold certain activities if they choose, and several Bay Area counties are doing just that. Here's a rundown of which Bay Area counties will follow the state plan vs. those that will impose their own additional restrictions. Counties allowing everything the state allows: San Mateo, Marin, Napa, Solano, Contra Costa and Sonoma counties. For these counties, if the state's red tier framework allows a business to reopen, county officials will not stand in the way. Here are the state's red tier restrictions for a handful of businesses of interest: Personal care services: Indoor, but with mask-wearing and sanitization protocols. Indoor dining: 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is less. Gyms: 10% capacity at indoor gyms. Movie theaters: 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is less. Indoor places of worship: 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is less. Bars: Closed. Access the state's full industry guidance here. Counties imposing their own individual restrictions: San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda. San Francisco: The county has brought back many red tier activities, but indoor dining, movie theaters, and indoor places of worship have not reopened at this time. Mayor London Breed has stated that the city plans to allow indoor dining to resume once it moves into the orange tier, which could happen as soon as Tuesday. No timeline has been provided for movie theaters and indoor places of worship. Santa Clara: During a Tuesday county Board of Supervisors meeting, Santa Clara County public health officer Dr. Sara Cody said the state's red tier framework is too lenient. Remember, were still at significant amounts of COVID spread, and we dont want to make the mistake that we collectively made earlier where we went a little bit too fast and then spent the summer with quite a bit of COVID transmission, Cody said. Santa Clara County has yet to reopen indoor dining, personal care services that require mask removal such as lip fillers and botox, movie theaters, indoor places of worship and indoor gym operations that involve "activities or classes that involve cardio/aerobic exercise." No timeline has been provided for any of the still-closed businesses, and a large number of local business groups have voiced their displeasure to county officials. You can access Santa Clara County's full list of additional restrictions here. Alameda: The county did not reopen any businesses that were allowed to resume operations upon the county's movement to the red tier. "While movement to the Red Tier allows for additional sectors to open with restrictions, local Health Officers can proceed more cautiously than the State allows," county officials wrote in a statement. "As with all other re-openings, it will be important for Alameda County to take a measured and phased approach to avoid dramatic increases in disease transmission and re-closures." The county's health department stated it is "using the next two weeks (through October 6) to ensure our metrics remain stable" and "will release a phased plan that balances increased risk of spread of COVID-19 from newly permitted activities alongside appropriate mitigation strategies that can be implemented." Eric Ting is an SFGATE reporter. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting UNODC strengthens data collection and reporting on Trafficking in Persons crimes in Tajikistan The government of the Republic of Tajikistan is committed to address the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) issues at different levels. Anti-trafficking strategies and policies were developed and much was achieved in terms of preventing and combating this crime and assisting trafficked persons while protecting their human rights. However, due to the lack of accurate, comparable and timely figures, the trafficking in persons issues remain a huge challenge. Unavailability of data not only hinders the production of reliable statistics but makes it impossible to recognize trends. To strengthen the counter-trafficking responses and work more effectively towards preventing and combating trafficking in persons, UNODC Programme Office in the Republic of Tajikistan in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan held a three-day Data Collection and Reporting on Trafficking in Persons workshop for justice system specialists along with Statistics Agency under the President of Tajikistan, General Prosecutors Office, Migration Service, Ombudspersons office, and the Ministry of Interior. The workshop aimed at enhancing the understanding of data collection on trafficking in persons, the analysis processes and mechanisms. Mr. Koen Marquering, International Coordinator of UNODC Justice Programme in Central Asia expressed gratitude to the workshop participants for their significant efforts in countering the trafficking in persons and expressed the need in establishing more harmonized approach to collecting data on this crime. I hope this workshop will help the participants to enhance their knowledge and skills of data gathering, data classifications, data analysis, and the roles of various agencies, but will also lead towards a more coordinated and comprehensive response to trafficking in persons. Participants exchanged the experiences on methodologies used in different institutions to collect and analyze TIP-related data, indicators for victims and offenders, flow data, availability of relevant and timely information. In order to develop the data analysis and data visualization skills the workshop participants completed some practical exercises elaborating the data by region, type of crime and sex. Mr. Jesper Samson, Researcher, UNODC HQ, presented to participants a Global report on trafficking in Persons questionnaire and assessment of 2018 data registration in Tajikistan. According to the assessment, Law enforcement institutions register and share vibrant information with statistical agency. Thus in 2018 the number of convicted of trafficking in persons was 31 persons (27 females and 4 males), 40 victims of trafficking in persons were detected (6 boys, 5 girls, 15 men and 14 women). According to Mr. Jesper Samson, the data which Tajikistan provides is enough to elaborate solid analysis. The outcomes of the assessment were discussed during the workshop. Expert from Kyrgyzstan, Ms. Larisa Ilibezova presented the challenges and achievements of Kyrgyz Republic while introducing the TIP data collection mechanisms into the law enforcement institutions. This initiative is a part of a UNODC project on strengthening Law Enforcement Responses to Trafficking in Persons in Tajikistan, funded by the US State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). Additional information: . For more information, please contact Vasilina Brazhko (Mrs.) UNODC Communication and PR Specialist Whats app: +996775987817 e-mail: vasilina.brazhko[at]un.org By Associated Press ISLAMABAD: An international media rights group on Friday voiced concern over the brief arrest of a Pakistani journalist this week for allegedly carrying weapons while reporting on a court case in the capital, saying Pakistani authorities should investigate the misuse of law in order to stop the harassment of media workers. In a statement, the International Federation of Journalists said that Ehtisham Kiyani was arrested on Wednesday "on false charges for allegedly bearing weapons in Islamabad's High Court". Kiyani, who works for the Pakistani TV station Channel 24, denied the charges and was freed the same day following a protest from fellow journalists. His arrest was the latest in what appears to be a crackdown on journalists in Pakistan. It came two weeks after authorities arrested a journalist, Bilal Farooq, in the port city of Karachi on charges of spreading hateful content against the military on social media. Two other journalists, Asad Tooq and Absar Alam, were recently charged with sedition. Pakistani authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. The International Federation of Journalists said the "arbitrary arrest of journalists and media workers on questionable and false charges is an abuse of power and the law and a direct violation of journalist rights". Kiyani was arrested while covering a corruption case against Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of the country's ailing former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. Sharif has been in London since last November, when he was released on bail to seek medical treatment abroad. He was previously sentenced to seven years in prison on corruption and money laundering charges. Although Pakistan's government insists it supports freedom of speech, journalists and press freedom advocates often accuse the country's military and its agencies of pressuring media outlets to quash critical coverage. Why Aren't You Profiting from the Convergence of Telecom and IT? You're traveling through a land not of sight nor of sound, but of mind. Well, no, it's not like that. This is not another dimension in the multiverse; it's just another channel. But it's about as large as the one you're in. If you're from the IT channel, I'm referring to the telecom channel, and if you're from telecom, I'm talking about IT. Two remarkably separate channels operating side-by-side and intersecting far less often than you might think. Different Rules of the Road While the economy that drove the origins of both channels -- aggregation -- is the same, the ways in which the channels operate are somewhat different from each other. Originally, the IT channel was born of the opportunity for distributors and large retail organizations to aggregate the purchases of hundreds or thousands of resellers into one buying relationship that drove deeper discounts, which improved competitiveness. While some resellers were franchises of, or had allegiance to, a particular aggregator, many played the big distributors off each other for better discounts, terms and treatment. Some of this was passed through to the resellers. The telecom channel was also created by well-funded players who became "master agents" for the large carriers, thus enjoying superior service discounts or sales commissions. To achieve the level of sales they had committed to, these master agents signed on "sub-agents," who sourced services through their master agent to provide their customers with competitive pricing. The Major Difference Telecom sub-agents sell carrier circuits to customers, which are implemented by the carriers themselves. Recently, master agents have diversified by aligning with providers of various related services and offering these to their sub-agents for incremental sales to customers. IT channel partners started out reselling (and were called resellers because, originally, nobody but IBM could sell IBM, so IBM dubbed their PC-selling partners "resellers") all manner of computer-related products to their customers. To compete with other channel partners, they added valuable services to the product sales, leading to them being renamed value-added resellers (VARs). Soon, they started discounting to compete more aggressively. The only thing they accomplished was driving any real profit out of their product sales. While telecom sub-agents by and large haven't changed much, IT resellers have had to adapt to survive. One by one, they moved away from selling products and toward providing services to their customers. These services were far easier to differentiate from competition and produced much higher margins as a result. For seven years I wrote a column called "The Changing Channel" here on RCPmag.com, and this was the change I was describing. Today the better, more insightful channel partners have become service providers; most of them call themselves managed service providers (MSPs). What's Your Biggest Problem? Ask this question of a large group of MSPs and the answer you'll hear most often is, "Finding great sales talent." There are many contributing reasons for this. The best sales professionals from the IT channel realized long ago they couldn't make money selling computer products. Those who couldn't shift to selling services shifted to selling other products elsewhere. Most of those who could make the shift seem to have opened their own practices. Many retired to live near here in sunny Arizona! Bottom line: The IT channel is suffering a drought of sales talent. Ask the same question of telecom sub-agents and they'll simply tell you that they need more to sell. Carrier services continue to commoditize, limiting their ability to make money. They need other services to sell that their customers will appreciate. Have You Caught the Clue? So we have a service channel delivering great services but has difficulty selling, and a sales channel seeking great services to sell to their existing customers. Put them together and watch the magic happen. Many of those who are aware of this opportunity but have been confronted with great difficulty promoting the obvious convergence of these two great channels allow themselves to be distracted by semantics. It's not what we call it -- it's what we make happen that counts. What we need to make happen is teaching these telecom sub-agents and MSPs to work well together. MSPs can easily teach telecom sub-agents to sell their services and earn hefty commissions, and telecom sub-agents can help MSPs know how and when to best engage them. Seems to me that letting telecom sell and IT deliver is a match made in channel heaven. What do you think? United Nation, Sep 25 : Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli called on Friday for the early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT). He said at the high-level UN General Assembly meeting, "Nepal condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations; or other activities inflicting pain and suffering to the innocent people. We call for an early conclusion of a comprehensive convention against terrorism." The CCIT was proposed by India in 1996, but it has been blocked in UN negotiations due to differences on defining terrorists, with some asserting it should not apply those they claim are "freedom-fighters" to circumvent its provisions. In his pre-recorded speech, Oli did not mention India or China or regional issues, but said, Kathmandu would be "maintaining friendly relations with its neighbours." He said, "Non-alignment, the five principles of peaceful coexistence, international law and norms of world peace guide Nepal's foreign policy. We believe in 'amity with all and enmity with none'." "Guided by these principles, the government of Nepal is firmly committed to safeguarding Nepal's sovereignty, territorial integrity and maintaining friendly relations with its neighbours and all other countries in the world." he added. He did speak about the humanitarian situations in Libya, Syria and Yemen, and reiterated support for a two-nation solution to the Palestine-Israel issue. Oli called for regional disarmament as part of a global effort and said the Kathmandu Process should be strengthened. "As the host country to the UN Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, we underline the need to strengthen such regional approaches including the Kathmandu Process," he said. The Kathmandu process started in 1987 is a regional dialogue that has functioned in fits and starts to promote disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation in the region. At the UN, Oli said, the Security Council must be reformed to make it more representative and democratic. But he added, "The principle of sovereign equality must remain at the core of all reform initiatives." Calling for the full implementation of the Paris agreement on Climate Change, he warned that the melting of ice due to climate changes will cause "outburst of glacial lakes resulting in huge loss of lives and properties downstream." With his country emerging from years of insurgency and political turmoil, he said, "Nepal does not condone impunity in serious violations of human rights. We are fully committed to concluding the ongoing transitional justice process in line with our commitment. Concerns of the victims will be addressed.a (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis) A team of biologists reports a comparison between museum collection of cichlid fishes kept before a dam closed on the Amazon Tocantins River in 1984, and current species from the Tucurui Reservoir - collected 34 years later. Led by Craig Albert and doctorate student Chaise Gilbert from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, researchers worked with specialists from Brazil. Together, they tested whether cichlid fishes displayed changes in their physiology. This is inferred from changing habitats and foraging behavior caused by the dam rapidly changing the environment from a clearwater river to a murky reservoir. A Change in Environment Leading to Morphological Changes The researchers described the Tocantins as "historically characterized by fast-flowing rapids, sand, and rock covered waterbeds and seasonal floodplains." It is also among the largest clearwater rivers in entire South America. However, increasing human presence and activity in the area have resulted in the construction of dams along the river, with the Tucurui Hydroelectric Dam being the largest and the oldest of them. Tucurui included a large permanent reservoir of about 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) long and 40 kilometers (24.9 miles) wide. RELATED: Scientists study fish to learn how to adapt to the impacts of climate change Cichlid fishes are a source of interest within the scientific community for its propensity for morphological change, demonstrating alterations in as short a period as a single season. Aspects of the cichlid's body shape often match feeding conditions and environmental change, according to Albertson. Specifically, the skeleton of these fishes is sensitive to external factors, prompting researchers to use them as an illustration of organisms' response to anthropogenic activities that cause environmental changes. Using geometric morphometrics, the study of shapes based on Cartesian landmarked coordinates, researchers compared the morphology of six species of fishes collected from the Tucurui reservoir in 2018 to those samples collected in the same area shortly before the closure of the dam in 1984, or the pre-dam period. Comparing Samples from the Same Species, 34 Years Apart To begin the morphological comparison, researchers took a picture of both museum (pre-dam) and field (post-dam) samples with a digital camera, with each photographed sample accompanied by a scale bar to guide coordinate locations. Aside from 2D geometric morphometric information, researchers also collected a set of four linear measures across all available specimens - done to supplement their data and account for possible changes in certain traits. "Our overarching hypothesis is that the damming of the Tocantins and subsequent formation of the Tucurui reservoir has induced shifts in habitat and foraging behavior and that the anatomy of resident cichlid populations has changed in ways that allow them to adapt to this novel environmental conditions," Albertson explained. After comparing the changes between pre-dam and post-dam samples, researchers noted the dramatic changes in the environment and the subsequent effects on the local marine life. They pointed out that the construction of the Tucurui Hydroelectric Dam and its Tocantins reservoir may have possibly helped the success of local Cichla species, citing a previous study that noted the preference of this species toward stable water levels and sufficient littoral zones for reproduction. RELATED: New Study Offers Insight on Human Impact on Mammal Extinction While researchers noted that "it is impossible to explicitly connect changes in cichlid morphology detected here to the construction of the Tucurui dam," the dam has played an important role - noting its changes to the hydrology of the local area, and soon affecting the ecology surrounding it. Check out more news and information on Marine Biology at Science Times. New Parliament building cost likely to go up by Rs 200 cr, CPWD expected to get approval 83 Parliament officials tested positive for COVID-19, breach Rajya Sabha security India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P New Delhi, Sep 25: Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has informed that as many as 83 officials of the secretariat have tested positive for the novel coronavirus during the Monsoon Session of the Parliament. Naidu has directed the officers to render necessary medical assistance to those who have tested positive for the virus and this has happened during the Monsoon session that was also cut short even then the officials have got infected. India-China joint statement reflects stated commitment to disengage It can be seen that Delhi is witnessing a second wave of COVID-19 infections as there has been a significant spike in the number of patients in the national capital. Bihar poll dates, Sunil Gavaskar stokes controversy & more news | Oneindia News On Wednesday, both houses of Parliament adjourned sine die eight days before their scheduled end on October 1 amid concerns of the spread of coronavirus among lawmakers. Several MPs, including a few ministers, have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past few days. The Monsson session was held with large-scale safety protocols in place that include staggered seating of MPs in chambers of both Houses to maintain physical distancing. Despite the precautions, more than 30 MPs, including Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Prahlad Patel, had tested positive during the Parliament session. - Liza Soberano has recently been vocal with her stand on some social issues happening - She explained what made her decide to speak up and voice out her opinion regarding these matters - According to Liza, she knew her voice has some power and it could help other people - The Kapamilya star said that she loves ABS-CBN and she wants to help fight for it and its employees PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Kapamilya star Liza Soberano explained why she decided to be vocal on social issues recently. KAMI learned that Liza has been speaking up about the ABS-CBN shutdown and other relevant topics lately. Photo from Flickr Source: UGC In an interview with Karen Davila on ANC, Liza explained the reason why she has been vocal on her stand regarding several issues. I think it comes from, I think more of napupuno na po ako, Liza said. Before, I wasnt the type to talk about such issues but Ive always had my fair share of opinions on them, I just didnt feel comfortable sharing them because I knew people would always have something to say against my opinion, she added. The Kapamilya star said that she also gained confidence from other people who would stand up for themselves. Therefore, she decided to speak up on behalf of those who cannot do it for themselves. She also wanted to help ABS-CBN because she loves the company she worked for and she cares about the employees. I knew that my voice has some power and I knew I needed to help even in the smallest way that I could, she said. PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Born on January 4, 1998, Hope Elizabeth Liza Soberano is a famous actress and endorser in the Philippines. She is currently in a relationship with her on-screen partner, Enrique Gil. Earlier, Liza received an indecent comment from a netizen who is an alleged employee of Converge. Liza said that she will not let this comment pass because they know her home address. Just recently, Liza decided to file a formal case against the Converge employee. Liza was accompanied by her talent manager Ogie Diaz and her legal counsel. Please like and share our amazing Facebook posts to support the KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinions about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts and views on different matters! Source: KAMI.com.gh The challenges faced by ISO members during the COVID-19 pandemic and business continuity were two key issues highlighted during the event. ISO President Eddy Njoroge thanked members for their commitment to the organization, affirming, I am confident that we will all emerge from this crisis stronger and more resilient than ever. He also urged members to vote for the approval of the proposed ISO Strategy 2021-2030 which will be a key milestone for ISO. This is a journey that began over two years ago, and which is now coming to an end, he said. It is not just a rhetoric vision to make life safer, easier and better, but is truly an overarching aspiration that is ingrained at the core of all of us members of the international standards community. It will enable us to ensure that we remain relevant now, and for years to come. ISO President Eddy Njoroge, ISO Secretary-General Sergio Mujica, Vanessa Von der Muhll, Head of Communication and Marketing, and Jose Baltar, Head of Governance, leading the members virtual session. The virtual session also featured a report from the ISO Secretary-General, Sergio Mujica, who took the opportunity to acknowledge the immense challenges of recent months due to COVID-19. I would like to say that I am proud of our organization. We have demonstrated incredible resilience and the capacity to deliver in very difficult circumstances. This is more important than ever because the world needs ISO. The hard work and achievements of the technical community were also recognized with the winner of this years Lawrence D. Eicher Award announced as ISO technical committee ISO/TC 45 for rubber and rubber products. In presenting the award to the technical committee, the ISO President acknowledged its world-leading experts, standards and excellence in promotion and consultation (see video here). Participants were also introduced to the candidate for ISO President, Ulrika Francke from Sweden. In her presentation to ISO members, Ms Francke introduced herself, outlined her professional experiences and shared her thoughts on the important role ISO plays in the world. All statutory items needing approval by ISO members including the ISO Strategy 2021-2030 and electing the next ISO President will be voted on by correspondence. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: On the 25th of September 2020, the utmost nation-wide assembly of Turkmenistan the meeting of the Peoples Council of Turkmenistan was held. In view of the global pandemic, the participants of the Peoples Council of Turkmenistan located in the other regions of the country took part in the session which was organized in Ashgabat through videoconferencing. The successive session of the Peoples Council of Turkmenistan chaired by the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov was attended by the Chairperson of Mejlis (Parliament), Deputy Chairmen of the Cabinet of Ministers, heads of the ministries and profile agencies, members of public organizations, elders, representatives of various sectors, students and representatives of the mass media. Being the highest representative body of the public authority, the Peoples Council (Halk Maslahaty) provides for the application of the experience of Turkmen people in the area of state formation accumulated during the centuries-old history and participation of extensive groups of population in the adoption of significant public and political resolutions leading consequently towards realizing conceptual ideas and unity. This is based on such noble traditions of ancestors as holding nation-wide assemblies, during which the authorized representatives of communities made decisions on the most vital political, economic and military issues while generally accepted democratic principles were observed. The successive session of the People Council of Turkmenistan had a rich agenda. During the meeting, the key vectors of successful implementation of historic and long-term programs in the new development period of the independent and permanently neutral Turkmenistan, as well as the subjects related to the socio-economic growth of the state in 2021 were considered. Besides, the constitutional reforms aimed at the development of work of the representative bodies in the area of legislative power were regarded. The corresponding documents of the Peoples Council were adopted. The historic address of the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov took place. The Head of State noted that in the result of the work done, the social conditions corresponding to the world standards are created for the population. These achievements were attained due to the friendship, hard work, and high spirituality of the people. During the successive session of the Peoples Council of Turkmenistan, it was also comprehensively spoken about the constitutional reforms which serve as a proof of adherence to democratic norms and international cooperation conditioned by the achievements of the society. The People's Council joined the system of state institutions performing functions in the field of legislation. Thus, on the way to the creation of a bicameral system of a representative legislative institution of state government, a proposal was voiced to establish the National Council of Turkmenistan, and its Chambers to be named as the Halk Maslahaty (People's Council) and the Mejlis. This proposal was unanimously adopted. During a regular meeting of the People's Council, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov signed the Constitutional Law of the meeting of the People's Council of Turkmenistan "On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of Turkmenistan." The implementation of constitutional reforms is aimed at ensuring a prosperous and happy life for the Turkmen people and is one of the important steps towards further democratization of the state. Starting from the first days of its sovereign development, Turkmenistan proclaimed the neutrality of the state, taking into account national and international interests in world politics, and strictly adhering to the principles of good neighborliness, mutual respect, and equality, implements a foreign policy aimed at maintaining global peace, security, and prosperity. The need to strengthen the multilateral cooperation of Turkmenistan with such authoritative international organizations as the United Nations, the European Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was especially noted. Strengthening ties with the countries of Asia and the Pacific region, states of the Near and Middle East, the European and American continents were also noted among the priority tasks of the country. The President also stressed the importance of strategic cooperation between Turkmenistan and the United Nations. In this context, it was noted that the country's initiatives put forward in the field of water, energy, and transport diplomacy are supported by the world community and contribute to strengthening the international authority of Turkmenistan. The head of the Turkmen state stated that the proclamation, on the initiative of Turkmenistan, of 2021 as the International Year of Peace and Trust, in accordance with the Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, in turn, demonstrates to the whole world the country's efforts aimed at establishing universal peace and friendship, and this became another historic milestone in strengthening the importance of the neutral status of the state. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that the acquisition of the observer status in the World Trade Organization by Turkmenistan will ensure the coordinated development of the national economy, strengthening its position in foreign trade relations, intensifying multilateral cooperation, including actively attracting foreign capital. In view of the global situation, ensuring environmental safety in the Aral Sea basin also became a separate topic on the agenda of the meeting. The President of Turkmenistan also stated that the spread in 2020 of a particularly dangerous disease - a new type of coronavirus, adversely affected the economies of the countries of the world, and, despite the ongoing difficult socio-economic situation on a global scale, the country's economy maintained its stable development. In Turkmenistan, more than 70 percent of the state budget is directed to the social sphere. In this context, in his speech, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that as part of the implementation of the "Program of socio-economic development of the country for 2019-2025", a huge work is being done in all areas of the national economy. In particular, work is underway to comprehensively develop the national education system, increase the range of import-substituting products, expand the indicator of national energy products in the world market, widely introduce innovative technologies in all spheres of the economy, increase the export of textile goods, and create competitive macro-structural transport and logistics systems. In this direction, other significant tasks have been identified for the development of priority sectors of the economy. World-famous Spanish architect Salvador Perez Arroyo came to Vietnam in 2009 and decided to stay here. Photo courtesy of Vietnamese Women's Museum Hes responsible for significant projects around the world, such as the 100m-high Moncloa Tower in Madrid. In 2009, he received a call to work in Vietnam, and thats when he fell in love with the country and decided to establish a company here, working out of Quang Ninh, Hanoi and Da Nang. One of his most notable works in Vietnam is Quang Ninh Museum, which is a must-see destination for tourists to the northern province of Quang Ninh. The unique architecture combines history, culture and the tourism potential of the province, and has become a popular spot to take photos. Arroyo was born in 1945 in Madrid but currently lives in Hanoi. He has lectured at universities in England, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands, in addition to being a speaker at international conferences in Berlin and Copenhagen. He has also received 50 global architecture awards. Besides architecture, Arroyo also has a passion for photography. Since 2009, he has been taking photos that truthfully reflect real life in cities across Vietnam. His first solo exhibition held in July in Hanoi featured black-and-white photos reflecting life and culture in modern Vietnam, extracted from the book Happy Streets. Though the opening ceremony was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the exhibition still drew attention from local visitors. The book Happy Streets is a sociological experiment on modern Vietnamese society through photography. The architect studies contemporary Vietnamese life in cities through the interactions between its inhabitants in public spaces. I was looking into my significant life period in Vietnam to preserve these special instants in open urban spaces: streets, squares or landscapes, said Arroyo. I was looking for happy and intense images to transmit a positive message about life and culture in Vietnam. This is the reason you will not find classic pictures like conical hats or handicraft workers in this book. Arroyo admitted that Vietnam today is a modern country which changes quickly every year. Public spaces are full of creativity, dynamism and young people. We also cant say Vietnamese street culture is far from tradition. The word fusion can be used here. Its always a big surprise to find modern life supported by young people but perfectly mixed with traditional roots, he added. He explained its the reason why he and other foreigners are attracted to Vietnam. The choice to use black and white was an intentional decision to draw attention to things that are constant and unchanging. According to the architect, the black and white makes the image reduced to its essential qualities. Thanks to the absence of colour, the search for the essential is the classic component that appeals to the maximum expression of the composition itself in the eyes of the public. He named the book Happy Streets because from the beginning, he was impressed by the dynamism and intense activity he can enjoy by walking on the streets and observing the surrounding life. Most of the photos are about city life and peoples portraits, however, he has also reflected significant landscapes which are popular among foreign tourists such as Hanoi's Old Quarter, a lotus pond near West Lake, the Temple of Literature, Sword Lake and Ba Vi National Park. This book is not dedicated to landscapes; I am more interested in people in open urban spaces but I like the photo taken in Ba Vi because it displays so clearly to me the human scale in front of nature, he said. You should come in the morning while the mist still rests in the air. The intense humidity and the smell of the fresh forest brings a fantastic experience. The architect has nurtured a special love for Hanoi. He spends hours visiting tourist attractions or contemplating a street corner with a cup of coffee. He enjoys following the small streets and lost corners of Hanoi. Walking around the old city is a pleasure for him. You can connect and discover many places and special people who quickly become friends, he said. Hanoi was built with over hundreds of layers, and many of them are still present mixed with modern construction. Arroyo does not consider himself an expert in this field. But only good photographs release stories and unleash in the observer the narrative interpretation of the captured reality. Through photographs, I capture today's Vietnam: a perfect balance between modernity and the most authentic Vietnamese traditions, said Arroyo. The knowledge of street culture gives him the opportunity to understand the country in a different way. The experience always brings joyful discoveries and helps him understand how small the differences are between different cultures. As evictions hearings resume in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, the Legal Aid Justice Center and Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America are urging in-need tenants to be aware of their options. On Thursday, volunteers from the Charlottesville DSA stood outside the Albemarle County General District courthouse talking to tenants about their rights and options. More than 30 unlawful detainer and eviction cases were scheduled Thursday afternoon, the most in several weeks, according to Emma Goehler of the Charlottesville DSA. For the last few months, the local DSA has been working to help tenants facing evictions by posting flyers at their complexes with information and, most recently, helping tenants to apply for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium letters. Were doing what we can to help our neighbors deal with this housing crisis, Goehler said. The CDC moratorium is helpful but it still requires that tenants pay months worth of back rent, provides no rent relief and does nothing to solve the affordable housing crisis in our community. Thursdays docket could be one of the most devastating, Goehler said, as more than 30 people were set to appear for the 1 p.m. window. However, by 2 p.m., many still had not shown up, likely meaning that their hearings would not be continued and would instead proceed. One tenant who was present for a hearing was Gerald Perry, a resident of Barracks West. The owner of that apartment complex, Goldstar Barracks Owner LLC, was the plaintiff for nearly half of Thursdays cases. Carrying a worn blue folder stuffed with legal documents and receipts, Perry said his already difficult financial situation was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Perry said he lost a part-time job at the start of the pandemic but has since been able to get his finances relatively back in order. He expected to be able to pay his back rent by the end of the month. Prior to talking with the Charlottesville DSA on Thursday, Perry said he was not aware of the CDC moratorium. According to Brenda Castaneda, legal director with the Legal Aid Justice Center, if tenants show up to unlawful detention or eviction hearings, they can make use of the CDC moratorium. The CDC moratorium, which lasts until Dec. 31, will send a letter to the landlord saying COVID-19 has affected income and the tenant promises to try to access government assistance and pay as much as they can. According to Castaneda, Charlottesville General District Court heard its first case involving a CDC letter this week. Judge Andrew Sneathern did not dismiss the case, instead continuing it to November. For both the 60-day extension and for the CDC moratorium, tenants must be aware of their rights and show up to assert them, Castaneda said. If they dont show up, or dont know to assert their rights, then they will still be evicted. Tenants also can claim a 60-day extension from the state as part of HB 340, a piece of legislation passed by the General Assembly this year. However, HB 340 only applies if people have lost income due to COVID-19 and the tenants must show up with written evidence of that. According to Castaneda, written proof can include a paystub showing reduced wages, a letter from an employer, or an affidavit, models for which can be found on VPLC.org. I think the main takeaway is that none of these protections are automatic, Castaneda said. They can ask for a 60-day extension from the judge if sued, but need to show up with some kind of written proof. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Virginia opted not to extend the moratorium on eviction proceedings as Gov. Ralph Northam had sought, citing slow progress on housing relief in the General Assemblys special session, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The justices extended the judicial emergency until Oct. 11, but not the moratorium. The Legal Aid Justice Centers efforts to assist tenants has not been limited to eviction moratoriums. Earlier this month, Legal Aid, Charlottesville law firm MichieHamlett and the Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley filed a class-action federal lawsuit on behalf of tenants throughout the commonwealth against the Hampton-based Senex Law P.C., alleging abusive and unfair debt collection practices in violation of federal law. According to a joint news release, Senex Law is a debt collection mill representing landlords across Virginia and has a starring role in the states mass evictions. Landlords throughout Virginia use Senex Law to prepare and send notices to tenants when theyre late on rent payment. Per the release, Senex charges the tenant for attorney fees with each notice, raking big profits off the backs of those most in need. The amounts being charged as attorneys fees are not reasonable, and the notices greatly overstate the level of attorney involvement, the complaint reads. Upon information and belief, Senex churns out hundreds or thousands of these notices each month in a window of just a few days, with a representation of attorney involvement when in fact there has been no meaningful attorney review of the underlying claims. Because Senex is functioning as a debt collector, the lawsuit argues it must provide specific information required by federal law to prevent abusive and unfair debt collection practices, including information that tenants have the right to have 30 days to verify that the amount billed is accurate. The lawsuit alleges that Senex Law ignores the law by attempting to hide behind landlords, disguising its true role in the profit scheme, and eagerly collecting their fees. No hearings have been set yet and Senex has yet to file a response. A request for comment from Senex was not immediately returned Thursday night. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Washington: Barbara Lagoa, the Florida judge identified this week by US President Donald Trump as a contender to succeed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, made a broad ethical promise last year when the Senate confirmed her to the federal bench. The 52-year-old wrote that a judge must recuse herself when her impartiality might reasonably be questioned and said she would step away from any case involving her past work as a judge. Then came a case this year involving a referendum that Floridians approved to restore the voting rights of former felons and a law that the Republican-controlled legislature then passed setting a major limitation: only felons who don't owe money to the state can vote. Barbara Lagoa, from Florida, is on Donald Trump's shortlist for the US Supreme Court. Credit:Bruin79/Commons The voting rights issue was one Lagoa had been vocal about while on Florida's high court, repeatedly challenging the arguments made by attorneys for former inmates, who could become a sizable voting pool in a state with a history of close presidential contests. When the matter resurfaced before her on the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, Lagoa did not recuse herself. By the time it was announced in the summer of 1985 that the space shuttle Challenger would be launching the following January, the American public was well past the point of gathering around the TV set on the morning of liftoff, and the media had relegated coverage of such events to the third item on the evening news or a smallish story on Page 4 of the newspaper. After all, this would be the 25th such mission; whats new about that? NASA had an answer: This would be the first flight to feature a civilian: one Christa McAuliffe, a beloved social studies teacher at Concord High School in New Hampshire who was selected from more than 11,000 entrants. NOW there was media and public interest. A sizable television audience (including schoolchildren in assemblies around the country) was watching on the morning of Jan. 28, 1986, when the Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, soared into the cool blue sky and blew apart 73 seconds into flight. Weve seen that newsreel footage of the plume of fire and the white clouds of smoke and the horrified looks on the faces of the observers again and again, and we remember hearing about the failure of the O-ring that caused the explosion. We know this story. But with the four-part Netflix docuseries Challenger: The Final Flight, we get perhaps the most comprehensive and humanized version of events yet, featuring rare archival footage, recollections of journalists, thoughtful profiles of each of the seven crew members, and insightful, deeply moving interviews with surviving family as well as some of the principal figures in the launch, including some who are haunted to this day by the series of events leading up to the launch. There were people in NASA who said a catastrophe would take place, says Richard Cook, resource analyst for NASA at the time. And all of the important players at NASA knew. June Scobee Rodgers, widow of Challenger Cmdr. Richard Dick Scobee, wonders, How could they live with themselves for making a decision like that? The decision in question involved those infamous O-rings rubbery gaskets sealing the the sections of the booster rockets. Engineers at Morton Thiokol, the Utah-based company that built the shuttles solid-fuel booster rockets, had expressed deep concern about the O-rings losing flexibility in cold weather, but after numerous weather-related delays, the Challenger took off with the ambient air temperature at the Kennedy Space Center just 36 degrees. Challenger: The Final Flight doesnt indict one specific individual as the culprit, but its clear officials at NASA neglected to heed some serious warnings and tried to cover their tracks during subsequent investigations. But the docuseries isnt just about newsmagazine-style journalism. We learn the back stories of the crew, which included Judith Resnik, the second woman and first Jewish woman in space; Ellison Onizuka, the first Asian-American in space; Ronald McNair, the second African American in space; Michael J. Smith and Gregory Jarvis and the aforementioned Cmdr. Scobee and, of course, Christa McAuliffe. There are heartbreaking moments reminding us these brave and bold explorers were also lovely, caring, real people. June Scobee Rodgers says that when she received confirmation the crew was gone, she went into the closet and wrapped her arms around her husbands clothes. She then opened Dicks weather-beaten briefcase: I saw his astronomy maps and I saw a Valentine card, To My Wife. Jan. 28, he was already prepared to come home and give me a Valentine. According to meeting notes obtained by the inspector general, senior U.S. officials, including the acting director of the Office of Global Womens Issues, argued that Aros invitation should be withdrawn. The directors concerns included the possibility that the media could highlight the tweets and Facebook posts during the ceremony, which could cause potential embarrassment to the Department, particularly given the involvement of the Secretary and the First Lady, referring to Melania Trump. SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 24, the Sacramento Bee reported that anti-vaccination extremists from outside of California prevented Placer County residents from expressing their views at a Supervisors' meeting and successfully influenced the Placer County Board of Supervisors' decision to rescind the county's emergency COVID order, despite scientific evidence indicating that the novel coronavirus still threatened the health and lives of Placer County residents. According to the California Department of Health, Placer County currently is a substantial risk for COVID infection. Senator Dr. Richard Pan Dr. Richard Pan, pediatrician and State Senator representing the Sacramento area, issued the following statement denouncing the tactics of anti-vaxxer extremists to undermine the health and safety of Sacramento area residents: "The Sacramento region is a thriving community of more than two million residents. Sadly, the health of every one of us has been threatened by the actions of radical anti-health extremists outside of our region and their ally on the Placer County Board of Supervisors. "Make no mistake, anti-vaxxers are interested in destroying trust in the very institutions that have successfully protected public health more than 150 years. These extremists are anti-health, anti-science, and pose a direct danger to the health of our community and country. "I commend the former Placer County Public Health Officer, Dr. Aimee Sisson, who refused to back down from her oath to protect the people of Placer County and resigned in protest. "Everyone is at risk when radical extremists target our communities. I strongly urge all Placer County officials to revisit the Board's dangerous decision to not enforce public health measures and to take a science-based approach to protecting the residents of Placer County from COVID-19 and other health threats." Contact: Samantha Harber 919.306.9322 [email protected] SOURCE Senator Dr. Richard Pan for CA District 6 The first state to go to the polls after the Covid-19 pandemic struck India, Bihar is struggling to manage not only the disease but also the return of millions of migrant workers. Moreover, floods have inundated 18 of the states 38 districts, killing 27 people and displacing over 7 million . The election which will be held in three phases beginning October 28 --- coincides with the festival season when social distancing norms is difficult to enforce and which might see the return of even more migrant workers to their ancestral villages. A look at the key issues in these elections: Covid-19 management The state has come under some criticism for low testing, though the number has improved in recent weeks to 53670 per million, as compared to the national average of 51713. The positivity rate a ratio of positive cases compared to total tests has also fallen from 8.8% in mid-July to 2.7% by mid-September. As the state with the largest chunk of population living in rural areas, Bihar has always ranked low in availability of doctors and hospital beds. The government claims it has ramped up facilities, even in rural areas while the Opposition alleges that hospital beds and emergency services are inadequate. Migration The Opposition is trying to play up the distress of nearly 2.5 million migrants who returned to Bihar, pointing to their impoverished condition and alleging that the state government has done little to provide them jobs. The government has launched a slew of projects from fisheries to agriculture and said lakhs of migrants have been provided employment under MGNREGA and other schemes. Migration from Bihar is not a new phenomena but this is the first election where migration and the votes of migrant workers is set to be a decisive factor. Digital reach The first big election in the Covid era is happening in a state with relatively low internet and telephone penetration. This will affect campaigning as big rallies and public meetings will not be possible. That will mean a paradigm shift in electioneering and greater dependence on technology. Teledensity the number of telephone connections per hundred people in a given area is the lowest in Bihar. Internet penetration in Bihar is 32 subscribers per 100 people, compared to the national average of 54. Mass media exposure, too, is poor. Flood havoc Floods are cause of perennial sorrow in Bihar, where 28 of the 38 districts are marked flood-prone. This year, though, the floods were more severe than usual and affected the state at a time when people were already struggling to deal with the pandemic and lockdown. At least 8.3 million people in 16 districts were displaced, and many are living in relief camps still. The Opposition has claimed politicization of relief, while the government has blamed earlier regimes for weak embankments and corruption. Law & order This is an issue very close to the heart of chief minister Nitish Kumar, who first came to power in 2005 with the pledge to improve the law and order in the state after 15 years of Rashtritya Janata Dal (RJD) rule. But a spate of petty crimes and murder cases has emboldened the RJD-led Opposition. A war of words between government and Opposition leaders has ensued. Jobs Job creation was another central election plank of the Kumar administration. His government claims to have provided jobs to lakhs of migrants through MGNREGA and various other development schemes, but the Opposition says the youngsters and poor continue to suffer due to joblessness. Dalit and minority votes Scheduled castes form 16% of the state, and they are set to play a decisive role in the state elections. The changing political dynamics are also underlined by leaders such as Jitan Ram Manjhi and Shyam Razak, who have moved from the Opposition alliance to the NDA, as well as the Lok Janshakti Party, which is driving a hard bargain with the BJP. In 2015, the Grand Alliances victory was attributed, in part, to the solid backing it received from the Muslim community that forms 16.87% of the states population. This time in the absence of emotive issues such as Ram temple or Citizenship (Amendment) Act and a fractured Opposition, how minorities vote especially in the Seemanchal region is difficult to predict. Farm bills This will be the first election after the contentious farm bills were passed in Parliament, triggering protests across India. Bihar had dissolved all agriculture marketing committees and marketing boards in the state in 2006 after repealing the state APMC Act. Kumar has already said it improved procurement, while the Opposition is on the streets in protest. Education Education has always been a big issue in Bihar. The ruling dispensation takes pride in a chain of national and state-level institutions, including medical colleges, engineering colleges and polytechnics, that were created during the NDA regime, the Opposition is focusing on the poor quality of school teaching. Sushant Singh Rajput case Over the past three months, the debate over the controversial death of the 34-year-old actor has roiled Bihar and captured the imagination of people. With the actors family filing an FIR, prominent politicians supporting the demand for prosecuting actor Rhea Chakraborty and her family and the possible entry of former top cop Gupteshwar Pandey into politics, the fractious issue may have an impact on campaigning and polls. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Arun Kumar Arun Kumar is Senior Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times. He has spent two-and-half decades covering Bihar, including politics, educational and social issues. ...view detail Photo: The Canadian Press Commissioner Austin Cullen listens to introductions before opening statements at the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia, in Vancouver, on Monday, February 24, 2020. The head of B.C.'s money laundering inquiry has delayed the resumption of the hearings because of the B.C. election. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck The head of B.C.'s money laundering inquiry has delayed the resumption of the hearings because of the B.C. election. Austin Cullen says the hearings will start again on Oct. 26, two days after the provincial election is to be held. Cullen says in a statement he delayed the hearings to preserve the independence of the commission and to protect the integrity of the electoral process. The inquiry was to resume on Oct. 13, and Cullen says he was told the inquiry would hear about issues that had been identified, but not the complete evidence and that could invite speculation. He says difficulty arises because some, but not all, of the evidence would be made public during the election, running "an unacceptable risk of undermining the public's confidence in the independence of the commission." B.C.'s New Democrat government launched the inquiry after reports illegal cash was helping to fuel the real estate, luxury car and gambling sectors. Cullen says the delay of two weeks won't have a significant effect on the overall timeline of the commission's work. Advertisement he said.The Prime Minister urged Canadians once again to wear masks in public, get the flu shot this fall, and download the government's COVID-19 Alert app that notifies users when they have come into contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus.The Canadian government has pledged to create 1 million new jobs, extend the wage subsidy program until next summer, launch the largest jobs training program in the country's history and begin to build a national child-care program to support working women.Payette said.Source: Medindia By Azernews By Laman Ismayilova Azerbaijan has been successfully represented at Kiev's Ethno Cultural Festival. The event gathered representatives of various nationalities living in Ukraine. National pavilion featured traditional carpets, clothes, books, musical instruments and colorful paintings, the State Committee on Work with Diaspora reported. The pavilion was organized with the support of the United Diaspora of Ukraine Azerbaijanis (UDUA). The design of the pavilion, samples of national music, dance and delicious Azerbaijani cuisine left no one indifferent. At the festival, the ensemble "Caucasus" led by Nijat Mirzayev thrilled the audience with national dances. Moreover, Azerbaijani artist Asgar Javadov gave a master class as part of the festival. The head of UDUA Hikmet Javadov said that the artist has done a great job in the design of ancient and modern images of Baku. "We thank everyone who contributed this event, especially Askar Javadov and Nijat Mirzayev. In our opinion, the Azerbaijani Diaspora was represented in this festival at a high level," Javadov said. External Affairs Minister on Friday held talks with former Afghan vice president Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum covering various aspects of the historic initiative to bring back peace and stability in The visit of Dostum, an influential Afghan leader and former warlord, to India comes over a week after the Taliban and the Afghan government began direct talks for the first time to end 19 years of war that has killed tens of thousands of people and ravaged various parts of the country. Following the meeting, Jaishankar tweeted that India remains fully committed to an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled peace process. "Glad to meet Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum. Exchanged views on developments in and the larger region. His vast experience and deep insights were evident. India remains fully committed to an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled peace process," he said. Dostum also met Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla during which issues like constitutional order and rights of all sections of Afghan society figured, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said. "FS @harshvshringl met Field Marshal @ARashidDostu & listened to his insights on the #Afghan peace process and evolving situation. Constitutional order & rights of all sections of Afghan society were also discussed. India has conveyed it's long term commitment to #Afghanistan," Srivastava tweeted. India has been a major stakeholder in peace and stability of It has already invested USD two billion in aid and reconstruction activities in the country. On September 12, an Indian delegation attended the inaugural ceremony of the intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha while Jaishankar joined it through video conference. India has been supporting a national peace and reconciliation process which is Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled. India has been keenly following the evolving political situation after the US signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February. The deal provided for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, effectively drawing curtains to Washington's 18-year war in the country. The US has lost over 2,400 soldiers in Afghanistan since late 2001. India has also been maintaining that care should be taken to ensure that any such process does not lead to any "ungoverned spaces" where terrorists and their proxies can relocate. India has been calling upon all sections of the political spectrum in Afghanistan to work together to meet the aspirations of all people in that country including those from the minority community for a prosperous and safe future. (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 stabbing that left two people injured in Paris near the former offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo -- the scene of a 2015 massacre that killed 12 people -- is being treated as a terror attack, the French interior minister said. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on September 25 the knifing was "clearly an act of Islamist terrorism. Obviously, there is little doubt. It's a new bloody attack against our country, against journalists, against this society, he said in an interview with the France 2 television station. The interior minister said the main suspect was an 18-year-old believed to have arrived in France three years ago as an unaccompanied minor from Pakistan. His identity is still being verified. The main suspect was arrested on the steps of the Bastille Opera not far from the attack site with blood on his clothing. A blade, described as a machete or a meat cleaver, was recovered at the scene of the attack. An Algerian man was also arrested shortly after the attack for possible links to the main suspect. Hours later, five other people said to be of Pakistani origin were taken into custody for questioning during a raid on the main suspects home in Paris. The interior minister said the 18-year-old had been previously arrested for carrying a screwdriver but was not known to be radicalized. France's counterterrorism prosecutor's office said that an investigation had been opened into attempted murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise" and "conspiracy with terrorists." Premieres Lignes news-production agency said the wounded were its employees -- a man and a woman taking a cigarette break outside. Authorities said their injuries were serious but not life threatening. The attack comes as a high-profile trial is under way in Paris of 14 people including three fugitives, accused of helping two militants carry out the January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo. The magazine has since moved to a secret location guarded by police. French Prime Minister Jean Castex noted the symbolic site of the knife attack, at the very moment where the trial into the atrocious acts against Charlie Hebdo is under way. The court has heard that the suspects had sought to avenge the Prophet Muhammad, nearly a decade after Charlie Hebdo published cartoons mocking him. Ahead of the start of the trial three weeks ago, Charlie Hebdo reprinted some of the caricatures. With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, and the BBC A new mathematical model developed by researchers from France and Italy suggests that the second wave of Covid-19 infections in Europe is likely to last until the January of next year. Giacomo Cacciapaglia, who along with Corentin Cot and Francesco Sannino, told RFI that the predicted time-evolution of the second wave of the European COVID-19 pandemic could help authorities prepare and implement effective measures. The researchers used data from the first wave of infections starting in March to predict the nature of the second wave across Europe and integrated it with the number of reciprocal travellers between different countries in Europe. The start of a second wave in each country is identified with the time when the daily count of new infected cases increases, after a period of staying constant. Their model is based on the assumption that the measures undertaken by different governments during the second wave will produce similar effects as during the first wave of infection. Comparing the real-time growth curve of infections to the one predicted in the model shows the effectiveness of the measures. For example, while the second wave in Germany and Finland started at the same time as predicted by the model, the speed of growth in these two countries is lesser than in the model, suggesting the measures have been more effective than during the first wave. In France, the growth of infections during the second wave follows the growth curve predicted in the model suggesting the measures have produced similar effects as earlier. The researchers applied a modelling technique from high energy physics to characterise the evolution of the Covid-19 epidemic in different European countries. What struck us about the nature of the spread of infection was that it starts from a stable state (starting with zero number of cases before the pandemic) and reaches another stable state (after the end of a wave) via a fast growing period. "We realised that there are some similarities in the way the number of infected behaves over time and some solutions in particle physics models," Cacciapaglia added Story continues The solutions were obtained by a process called renormalisation group modelling approach. It is an important tool for theoretical physicists to predict the nature of a particle or a phenomenon. Some models were based on this approach to describe the origins of the Higgs Boson as well as certain phenomena in condensed matter physics and two dimensional solids, Cacciapaglia added. By using the data of a previous wave, researchers can use this modelling technique to predict the timing of the next waves. Deputy head of the Finance Ministrys Department of International Cooperation Hoang Dieu Linh said that in line with the theme of Vietnams ASEAN Chairmanship, Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN, the Finance Ministry and State Bank of Vietnam have proposed two priority initiatives: Sustainable finance in ASEAN and Promoting regional payment connectivity. At the press conference (Photo: VNA) During the meeting, ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors will review the progress of the Roadmap for Monetary and Financial Integration of ASEAN and initiatives within the framework of the AFMGM Process. Discussions with leaders of international finance organisations regarding the global and regional macro-economic situation as well as policies to cope with COVID-19 and recover the regional economy will also be held. A joint statement is expected to be released at the end of the event reflecting their stance on regional and global issues and updating the outcomes of ASEAN finance-banking cooperation and providing orientations for cooperation activities in the near future. The 24th ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting, the 16th ASEAN Central Bank Governors Meeting, and the Meeting of Deputy Finance Ministers and Deputy Central Bank Governors will be also held at the same time. On the sidelines of the AFMGM, ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors will hold a dialogue with business communities, including the ASEAN Business Community, the ASEAN - EU Business Community, and the ASEAN - US Business Community. ASEAN Deputy Finance Ministers and Central Bank Deputy Governors will also hold a discussion with the US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury on issues of concern. As Vietnam has assumed the ASEAN Chairmanship this year, it will co-chair the AFMGM and partner with regional member states to carry out financial-banking cooperation activities./. Johnny Depp cut a very dapper figure as he joined the star studded arrivals at the 2020 Planetary Health gala in Monte Carlo on Thursday. The actor, 57, looked sharp in a smart black tuxedo as he posed on blue carpet at the glittering charity event. The Pirates Of The Caribbean star added a crisp white shirt and black tie as he coyly posed for pictures at the bash. Looking good: Johnny Depp cut a very dapper figure as he joined the star studded arrivals at the 2020 Planetary Health gala in Monte Carlo on Thursday Johnny kept his locks in a loose, disheveled style, while he rounded off his look with round, tortoiseshell glasses. The film star was sure to follow guidelines as he also held a black face mask in his hand. Hosted by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the gala gathers leading philanthropists, talents and scientists to join forces and launch the charity's initiatives to bridge the widening gap between health and the environment. Dapper: The actor, 57, looked sharp in a smart black tuxedo as he posed on blue carpet at the glittering charity event The 2020 Monte-Carlo Gala for Planetary Health aims to highlight the idea that our future is dependent on healthy ecosystems. Hosted by the Princes foundation, it has gathered talents, philanthropists, decision makers and scientists to discuss the challenges the planets environment faces. The night is usually auction filled with many collectables, memorabilia and fine art from some of the most high-profile artists across the globe going on sale. Proceeds will be used to help the Foundation's initiatives, which includes the development of marine protected areas, protection of threatened marine species, the mitigation of the impact of climate change and acidification on the ocean, as well as the fight against plastic pollution. Style: The Pirates Of The Caribbean star added a crisp white shirt and black tie as he coyly posed for pictures at the bash Strike a pose: Johnny kept his locks in a loose, disheveled style, while he rounded off his look with round, tortoiseshell glasses However it's likely this year's event has seen drastic changes to ensure social distancing can be adhered to, with many stars also donning masks as they arrived on the blue carpet. It's been a busy week for the star as on Sunday he attended the premiere of his new film Crock Of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan. Father-of-two Depp is a longtime friend of The Pogues' MacGowan, 62, and even performed on his first album. His film on the musician, directed by Julien Temple, combines unseen footage from the band and MacGowan's family and is described as a 'celebration' of the star. Star-studded: Milutin Gatsby, Helen Mirren, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Princess Charlene of Monaco, Andy Garcia and Kate Beckinsale were among the guests at the gala Board of Ethics Executive Director Steve Berlin said he isnt allowed to confirm whether hes even given advice but said city employees and officials are only prohibited from supervising a spouse. News of the wedding plans raised concerns for some members of Lightfoots administration, who told the Tribune they were worried about the appearance of a potential conflict raised by the relationship. The Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong has pleaded not guilty to the charge of contempt brought against him by the High Court. Presiding judge, Justice Amos Wuntah Wuni took the lawmakers plea after several failed attempts by lawyers to stay the prosecution. Mr. Agyapong is in court for allegedly making a statement deemed contemptuous in the case in which Susan Bandoh and Christopher Akuetteh Kotei had sued him, one Ibrahim Jaja, Nana Yaw Duodu aka Sledge and the Inspector General of Police in a land dispute. On a show aired on Net2 TV, the MP is said to have scandalised and brought the name of the court into disrepute. The Chief Justice was petitioned to take action against Mr. Agyapong over the comments. The petition was written by one, Sulemana Issifu, who described Mr. Agyapong's conduct as monumental impunity against the courts. The Land Court division of the High Court recalled the case today, Friday, September 25, 2020, after it adjourned the contempt proceedings to allow the court and lawyers for the legislator to further deliberate on questions of jurisdiction and procedure for the case. The case has been adjourned to Monday, September 28. ---citinewsroom (JTA) As my calendar announced the approach of September, I began to relive an event that took place exactly 50 years ago. On Sept. 6, 1970, my mother, my four siblings and I were on a plane that was hijacked by terrorists. TWA flight 741 was one of three planes successfully hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine that day the hijacking of an El Al plane was foiled by the onboard sky marshals. At the time, I was a 14-year-old kid living in Trenton, New Jersey, whose only care was how the Baltimore Orioles were doing. This event changed my life, as well as the l... Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, (C) alongside family members and lawyers a news conference at Jefferson Square Park, Louisville - Getty The mother of Breonna Taylor, who was shot dead in her bed by police in Kentucky, said the decision not to charge officers with her killing showed how the US justice system fails black people, as protesters vowed to continue demonstrating. Ms Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical worker, was shot multiple times by white plainclothes officers after her boyfriend fired at them when they entered her home after midnight on a no-knock search warrant on March 13. One officer was charged with wanton endangerment for firing into the home of Ms Taylors neighbour, in an indictment announced by Daniel Cameron, Kentuckys Attorney General, on Wednesday. No charges were brought directly relating to her killing. I was reassured Wednesday why I had no faith in the legal system, in the police, in the law, which is not made to protect us black and brown people, said Ms Taylors mother Tamika Palmer, in a statement read out by her sister, Bianca Austin. Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, right, was too emotional to deliver her address to a news conference - AP Directing her ire at Mr Cameron, Ms Austin, who spoke on behalf of Ms Palmer - too emotional to address reporters herself - said: He knew he had power to do the right thing, to start the healing of this city, to help mend over 400 years of oppression. What he helped me realise is it will always be us against them." She went on to list what she saw as the failings in her daughters case, which has become a touchstone for protests across America. Cameron alone didnt fail her (...) the whole system failed her, she said. Ms Palmer stood by her sisters side weeping, wearing a face mask reading "Black Queen" and an I love Louisville police t-shirt with yellow crime scene tape crossing out the word "police". Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Ms Taylors family, on Friday demanded the grand jury release transcripts of their proceedings to know if anyone was giving a thought to Breonna Taylor. If you want us to accept the result, release the transcript so we can have transparency, Mr Crump told reporters at a press conference in a downtown Louisville park that has become known as Injustice Square. Story continues Authorities pleaded for calm while activists vowed to protest in Kentucky's largest city - AP The police officer was charged with wanton endangerment for the bullets fired at white neighbours who lived next to her. There was no wanton endangerment charge for the bullets that went into Breonnas apartment. There was no wanton endangerment charge for the bullets that mutilated Breonnas body. There are two justice systems in America: one for black America and one white America. It underscores what weve been saying all along, and is only emphasised by this decision. Mr Crump said he is counting on a different, federal investigation for justice for the family, who have been left heartbroken, confused and bewildered. Tamika Mallory, who has led the protests against racism and police brutality in Louisville, said that demonstrations would continue until fresh charges were brought. Protesters have gathered every night since the decision was announced in cities including New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Portland - a city that has seen many protests since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Breonna Taylor posing during a graduation ceremony in Louisville Kentucky. She was shot dead by police in her home in March - Family handout Hundreds took to the streets for a second night in Louisville and a number of arrests were made, including of state Representative Attica Scott, the only black woman in the Kentucky legislature and the author of the proposed Breonna's Law, which would end "no-knock" warrants. In Washington, DC, crowds gathered at Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House. Authorities in Los Angeles say at least one person was hurt when a vehicle ran into a small crowd of people protesting police brutality. The case has exposed the divide in the US over bringing justice for black Americans killed by authorities and the laws that allow officers to be charged, which regularly favour police. Courtesy: Kraft Heinz This year is clearly taking its toll on everyone, as evidenced by Kraft thinking we all want a nice warm bowl of pumpkin spice mac 'n' cheese right now. Now, I love mac 'n' cheese as much as the next person, and I consider it the perfect comfort food dish. FICTION Honeybee Craig Silvey Allen & Unwin, $32.99 Craig Silvey's 2009 blockbuster novel, Jasper Jones, sold more than half a million copies worldwide, spawning a play, a movie and a generation of schoolchildren who sharpened their moral compass on it. Now, after a decade's wait, comes his new novel, Honeybee. It opens on a desolate overpass in suburban Perth, where two strangers have come to end their lives. The story is told from the point of view of 14-year-old Sam Watson, who has been traumatised and brutalised by the world. Vic, an ageing widower, defers his own death in order to save Sam from jumping, sparking a tentative alliance and a story about the redeeming power of friendship. It is a particularly sensitive moment for a cis author such as Craig Silvey to publish a work romanticising the plight of a trans person. Credit:Daniel James Grant We follow the growing intimacy between Sam and Vic, and unravel the past that drove them to attempt suicide. We learn that Vic remains scarred from his part in the Vietnam War, and is still in mourning for his wife. He has had little to live for, until he meets Sam. Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, has called for a Family Rosary Crusade against Covid-19 during the month of October. I invite families all over Ireland to pray the Rosary together at home each day for Gods protection during this time of Coronavirus. These past six months have reminded us of the importance of the domestic Church the Church of the sitting room and kitchen the Church that meets every time a family stands or kneels down, or sits down to pray together," Archbishop Martin said. It has also helped us realise how important is the vocation of parents to be the primary teachers and leaders of their children in faith and prayer. That is why I am calling for a Family Rosary Crusade against Covid-19 during October encouraging you to pray the Rosary, or even a decade of the Rosary, each day during the month of October. Pray for your own family and loved ones and for all those whose health or livelihood is being seriously impacted by the coronavirus crisis. Archbishop Eamon is also inviting families to spread the word online. He said, Using the #FamilyRosaryCrusade or #OctoberFamilyRosary hashtags please feel free to share a picture or a short sound clip of your family saying a Hail Mary, Our Father or Glory Be! on social media. Archbishop Eamons inspiration for the Rosary Crusade came from a visit to the Missionaries of Charity in Armagh who reminded him of what Mother Teresa, St Teresa of Calcutta, once said: Cling to the Rosary as the creeper clings to the tree for without Our Lady we cannot stand." The Board of Trustees at Elms College in Chicopee has appointed Kristin Ferriter Hagan, Carolyn Jacobs and Paul J. Marchese to serve on the board. The new members bring a wide range of perspectives to the board and have experience in higher education, institutional advancement, and financial services. I look forward to working with each of them as we advance the mission and vision of the college." Elms president Harry E. Dumay said. Hagen is a 1996 Elms College graduate who was magna cum laude in psychology. She has served as director of development for St. Marys Parish School in Westfield. where she was responsible for all major gift fundraising, grant writing, event planning, and community outreach. CAROLYN JACOBS Jacobs returns to the Elms Board of Trustees, where she served from 2009-2018. A renowned social work professor and a spiritual director, she was Elms 2017 Commencement speaker. She is a Dean Emerita of the Smith College School of Social Work, where she taught for 35 years. Jacobs received her bachelors degree from Sacramento State University, her masters in social work from San Diego State University, and her doctorate from the Heller School of Brandeis University. Jacobs also received training as a spiritual director from the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. She serves on the board of directors for the Mind & Life Institute in Charlottesville, Va. Marchese is executive vice president of business development and relationship management at St. Germain Investment Management. He has more than 35 years of experience in private banking, investment management, and financial planning. PAUL MARCHESE Prior to his tenure at St. Germain, Marchese was vice president of business development for private banking at FleetBoston Financial Corp. He currently serves as vice chairman of the Board of Trustees for both Mercy Medical Center and Mason Wright Foundation. Marchese is a board member of The Stanley Park of Westfield, Glenmeadow, and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. He also serves on the finance committees of Trinity Health of New England and Pathlight (formerly The Association for Community Living). He holds a bachelors degree in economics from Georgetown University and an MBA in marketing from the Boston College Carroll School of Management. (Newser) Back in August, protesters in Buffalo, NY, started noticing that police officers were covering their names on their badges, despite official police department policy noting that "name tags must always be displayed on the outer most garment." That policy has just been modified, and local activists aren't happy about it. WKBW reports that while cops' badges still must be clearly visible, their names have been swapped out for badge numbers, per a departmental rule change quietly made about a week ago. Mayor Byron Brown says the change came after threats were made online toward police officers and their families. Buffalo Police Department Capt. Jeff Rinaldo says more than a dozen cops have been the target of these threats, and that the mandate for the change came directly from the police commissioner. story continues below "There [have] been some absolutely disgusting things said about officers and their small children, and threats to their well-being on websites," Rinaldo says. Brown notes some of the "doxxing," where cops' personal info is posted online, and subsequent threats are coming from outside Buffalo, WKBW reports, via CNN. "People in different parts of the country, maybe internationally ... see a name on a uniform and then go to work on the computer," he says. Local activists decried the change, which wasn't publicly announced when it was made, saying it prevents transparency and accountability and erodes community trust. It's "another way of hiding the injustices that the people in our community face every single day, and we're so tired of it," Buffalo's India Walton, who advocates for police reform, tells WKBW. (Read more Buffalo stories.) The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) says they want to see fairness, transparency, and integrity in the process leading to the upcoming General Elections. This has been stressed by the flagbearer of the main opposition party, Mr Dramani Mahama during a press conference in Accra on Thursday to address issues of anomalies that have characterised the recently compiled new voter's register. ...it matters very little whether the situation confronting us is a product of incompetence, malice or both. Our demands are the same regardless. We want to see fairness, transparency, and integrity in the processes leading up to the election, including in this exhibition exercise, the former President told Journalists yesterday. While urging the EC to seriously take all the challenges pointed out in the exhibition exercise and address them before December, John Dramani Mahama has emphasized that the NDC will not accept results of a flawed election. But let me serve notice once again that we will not accept the result of a flawed election. We will certainly not look on, neither will we shirk our civic responsibility and allow the EC- whether by ill intent or sheer incompetence- to usurp the people's mandate in the December 7 polls, the NDC flagbearer said. The NDC has called on the Electoral Commission to have a regular, comprehensive, and transparent dialogue with the Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) to look for the best way forward before the December 7 polls. Below is the speech: Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Global passenger security equipment market was valued US$ 45.85 Bn in 2017 and is expected to reach US$ 91.43 Bn by 2026, at a CAGR of 9.01% during a forecast period. The objective of the report is to present a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, industry-validated market data and projections with a suitable set of assumptions and methodology. The report also helps in understanding passenger security equipment market dynamics, structure by identifying and analyzing the market segments by transport infrastructure, type, and Region and, project the global market size. Further, report also focuses on competitive analysis of key players by product, price, financial position, product portfolio, growth strategies, and regional presence. The report also provides PEST analysis, PORTERas analysis, SWOT analysis to address question of shareholders to prioritizing the efforts and investment in near future to particular market segment. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/4028 The passenger security equipment is used to protect passengers from accidentals injuries, crimes, and other threats. The governments have started investing high on the protection and security products and solutions owing to the growth in safety and security concerns. Terrorism threats and security standards set by international authorities containing IATA, ICAO, and ACI remain two of the most influential drivers supporting the global passenger security equipment market. The rise in the terror attacks on public transport infrastructures, increasing concerns about safety and security among consumers are driving the growth of the market. Moreover, the growing demand for biometrics technologies for identity verification by governments boosts the growth of the passenger security equipment market. However, the high installation cost of such equipment is expected to hamper the market growth. People screening systems segment has led the market in 2017 and is estimated to maintain this trend for the forecast period. People screening systems are used to detect concealed weapons, explosives or other contraband without requiring physical contact between the security screener and the person being screened. Airports segment is expected to grow at highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to improvement of airport infrastructure and growing in security threats. North America is projected to largest market share of the global passenger security equipment marketdue to expenditure on the passenger security equipment by governments. The increasing investment is marked due to illegal and unethical activities at the train stations, airports, bus stands, and seaports apart from the security threats. Growth in terrorist activities in North America, the Canadian government approved a bill to provide security awareness in June 2017. Some of the key players in the global passenger security equipment market are Honeywell International, Orbocomm, Rapiscan Systems,L-3 Communications, Kapsch, Siemens AG, Rockwell Collins, Safran Group, Raytheon Group, and Smiths Group. Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/4028 Scope of the Global Passenger Security Equipment Market Global Passenger Security Equipment Market by Transport Infrastructure Bus Stations Airports Seaports Train Station Global Passenger Security Equipment Market by Type Fire Safety & Detection System Baggage Inspection System Intrusion Detection and Prevention System Explosive Detection System People Screening Systems Video Surveillance Others Global Passenger Security Equipment Market by Geography North America Europe Asia-Pacific Middle East & Africa South America Key Players operating in the Global Passenger Security Equipment Market Honeywell International, Inc. Orbocomm L3 Technologies, Inc. Kapsch Siemens AG OSI Systems Rockwell Collins Safran Group Raytheon Group Smith Group, Plc. Anixter Avigilon Harris HID Global Lockheed Martin Northrop Grumman Rapiscan Systems More Info of Impact Covid19@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/covid-19-analysis/4028 Uttar Pradeshs first private mandi (market place) for procurement of farm produce was inaugurated at Arania Khurd village of Bulandshahr on Thursday amid protests against the three farm reform bills. A group of farmers and gram pradhans (village chiefs) from nearby villages protested against the private mandi and said it would eventually go against the farmers, while the mandi officials objected to their remarks. Sub divisional magistrate (SDM) of Khurja Lavi Tripathi inaugurated the mandi and said it would provide an alternative platform to farmers to sell their produce. She further said that farmers were happy as no additional fees was charged at the mandi for selling their produce and the mandi would also help them by providing seeds and fertilizers at subsidized rates in future. A Delhi-based rice export company has established the future agromart pvt ltd and has plans to establish similar mandis in Aligarh, Hapur and Bareilly in coming years to procure paddy and other produce from farmers of western UP. The companys director Ajay Bhalotia said that over a dozen farmers sold their produce on the opening day of the Agromart. He claimed to have procured paddy at the market rate and said that they would ensure best possible facilities and assistance to farmers in future. Latest Updates: Farmers Protest LIVE News Bhalotia admitted that a group of people tried to disrupt the function but the situation was controlled. Farmer Jagdish of Shyampur village arrived at the mandi with 40 quintal basmati which he sold at Rs 1950 per quintal. I am happy, I got a good price of my produce, said Jagdish. Responding to ongoing protests by farmers against the farm reform bills that have enabled selling of agriculture produce directly to private firms, he said, Kisano ki to durdasha ho hi rahi hai (The condition of farmers is miserable). Also Read: Bharat bandh call over farm reform bills: UP police put on alert Bharatiya kisan unions (BKU) state spokesperson Dharmendra Malik said that the union government was more interested in shielding the interest of corporates instead of farmers and the former were ready to use all resources to exploit the agriculture sector with the help of the government. He said that the governments tall claims that the farm bills were for the benefit for farmers were an eyewash and farmers had decided to fight a decisive battle. Madhur Chauhan, president of Arania block gram pradhan sangthan, who also attended the inauguration, said that opening of private mandis would create a competitive atmosphere but the government should also protect the interest of farmers. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Panaji: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday dared Opposition to fight the upcoming Assembly polls on the development plank instead of raking up minor issues like advancement of the Union budget and election dates. The Opposition parties are working overtime, more than the efforts put in by Finance Minister to prepare the Budget, to criticise the advancement of budget date. It is an indication that these parties have accepted defeat in the forthcoming polls, he said, addressing an election rally in Goas capital Panaji. Though the union budget is going to be presented on February 1, some political parties are already making graphs to criticise the government, without even having an idea of the budgetary provisions, Modi said. The PM appealed to the voters of Goa to give a comfortable majority to the BJP in the election for growth and stability of the state, which had suffered due to instability in the past. Goa is going to polls on February 4. Read | Goa assembly polls 2017: Ruling BJP to release election manifesto on Jan 29 Modi also made a reference to the objection raised for holding elections in Punjab and Goa on the same day. A political party (referring to AAP) even went ahead and alleged that PMO pressurised the Election Commission for holding elections on the same day for these two states. The system has to be respected and strengthened. But some people take pride in devaluing it, said the Prime Minister. While appealing to the voters to give comfortable majority to BJP, Modi said, My government in New Delhi has given more to Goa in last 25 months than what the state received from the Centre in last 50 years. There have been some facilities provided such as visa on arrival and Goa is major beneficiary of such facilities. Read | Elections 2017: PM Modis 'Mann Ki Baat' gets green signal from EC With minimum investment, tourism sector can prosper. Tourism also helps a cross-section of the society by creation of jobs. My government will work with the state government shoulder to shoulder for the betterment of Goa, he said. Modi said BJP will create the best infrastructure in Goa for the tourists as well as locals. Blaming the previous UPA government at the Centre, he said In the 10-year rule (of UPA government) there were no funds for Goa for construction of even a bridge. More than development of the state, some political parties get pleasure in hurting others, he said. People of the country are wise; hence Congress is being defeated everywhere. People of Goa are wiser; hence they should vote for BJP and give a comfortable mandate, he said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A drunken man caused chaos at a hotel in the capital on Thursday evening, insulting police and threatening staff. The man turned up at a hotel in Limpertsberg in the attempt to book a room. When confronted by staff for not wearing a mask, as is required by law, the visibly intoxicated individual began to issue threats. Police were summoned when the man refused to leave the premises. Upon arriving at the hotel, a police patrol found the aggressor fast asleep. Furious at being awoken by the officers, the man displayed aggressive behaviour and hurled insults at the patrol. He was removed from the premises and left to pass the night in a cell (drunk tank) to sober up. DGAP-News: ABIVAX / Key word(s): Half Year Results The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Abivax presents first-half 2020 financial results and operations update PARIS, France, September 24, 2020 - 08:00 p.m. (CET) - Abivax (Euronext Paris: FR0012333284 - ABVX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company harnessing the immune system to develop novel treatments for inflammatory diseases, viral diseases and cancer, today announces its 2020 half-year financial results, as of June 30, 2020, and provides an update on its pipeline progress. The financial statements for the first half of 2020, approved by the Company's Board of Directors on September 22, 2020, have been audited and the certification report is being prepared by the Company's external auditors. Prof. Hartmut Ehrlich, M.D., CEO of Abivax said: "Abivax has made tremendous progress in its ongoing clinical programs despite the Covid-19 pandemic, and the recruitment pace is now back on a pre-Covid-19 level. This is particularly important for Abivax's priority clinical program, the ABX464 Phase 2b trial in ulcerative colitis, conducted in 15 European countries as well as the US and Canada, with 77% of patients already randomized to date. We expect recruitment in this trial to be completed by the end of this year and to report top-line results in early Q2 2021. Given the fast enrollment, KOL and investigators' commitment, and high patient retention rate, we are confident that the outcome of this study will confirm the very promising two-year Phase 2a maintenance data that we announced at the beginning of September. Additionally, we were able to efficiently set up the miR-AGE trial to test the potentially beneficial triple effect of ABX464 for the treatment of high-risk Covid-19 patients. The trial is ongoing in six European countries and Brazil, and we expect to open centers in Mexico, Chile and Peru shortly. As always, our strategic decisions are driven by value generation for our shareholders as well as the ability to broadly and rapidly provide access to ABX464 for patients in need and partnering remains the Company's preferred scenario." Didier Blondel, CFO of Abivax, added: "The past months have been particularly eventful for Abivax and opened up several new opportunities. Due to the unique properties of ABX464 which has both an antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects, we expanded our clinical pipeline to treat high-risk Covid-19 patients to prevent the development of life-threatening hyperinflammation and the resulting potentially fatal acute respiratory distress syndrome. We are grateful that the French government (Bpifrance and CGI) actively support the miR-AGE trial as well as the future development and required next steps for the potential commercialization of ABX464. The EUR 36 million in funding provided by Bpifrance was complemented by an additional EUR 5 million from Societe Generale; taken together with our current cash resources, of EUR 12.1m as of June 30, 2020, we have sufficient funding for operations until early 2021. With the continued trust and financial support of our stakeholders and the French government, we are in a good position to select, in the near term, the most attractive opportunities for Abivax shareholders and patients in need of innovative Abivax products." FIRST HALF 2020 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Items in the Income Statement H1 2020 H1 2019 Change In millions of euros M M M Total operating income 1.6 0.0 1.6 Total operating expenses (16.3) (17.3) 1.0 of which Research and Development costs (13.5) (15.0) 1.5 of which administrative costs and overheads (2.8) (2.3) (0.5) Operating result (14.6) (17.2) 2.6 Financial result (1.0) (0.7) (0.3) Ordinary result (15.6) (17.9) 2.3 Extraordinary result 0.2 0.0 0.2 Tax on income 0.0 3.8 (3.8) Result for the period (15.4) (14.2) (1.3) Financial Items from the Balance Sheet 30/06/2020 31/12/2019 Change in millions of euros M M M Net financial position (12.4) (11.0) (1.5) of which financial fixed assets* 0.0 0.0 0.0 of which fixed-term deposits (maturing in > 1 year) 0.0 0.0 0.0 of which fixed-term deposits (maturing in < 1 year) 0.0 0.0 0.0 of which available cash flow 12.1 9.8 2.3 (of which financial debts) (24.5) (20.7) (3.7) Total Assets 49.8 51.7 (1.9) Total Equity 9.4 18.6 (9.2) of which equity capital (3.6) 11.8 (15.4) of which conditional advances 13.2 6.8 6.4 * Excluding items of the liquidity contract (liquidity and own shares) and deposits & guarantees OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS: PORTFOLIO UPDATE ABX464 in ulcerative colitis (UC) After the promising results obtained during the Phase 2a 12-month-open-label extension study, Abivax recently reported excellent two-year efficacy and safety data for ABX464 ulcerative colitis Phase 2a maintenance study. These results once again confirmed the good safety profile and durable efficacy of 50 mg once-daily oral ABX464 in patients with moderate-to-severe UC after the second year of treatment, with 69% of patients in clinical remission and 94% benefiting from a clinical response. Furthermore, readings of the endoscopies were performed centrally by independent reviewers and median fecal calprotectin, the key biological marker of UC disease activity, remained at 31.6 g/g (normal levels are below 50 g/g). For the currently ongoing UC Phase 2b trial, ABX464-103, patient enrollment is ongoing and on track in all 15 European countries, as well as in Canada and the US where patients have been included into the study. 77% (180/232) of patients have been randomized to date and recruitment is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2020. Top-line results of the two-month induction study are expected for Q2 2021. Abivax is currently preparing all required steps to advance ABX464 for the treatment of moderate-to-severe UC into a Phase 3 clinical program. With its persistent good clinical safety and tolerability profile along with its durable superior efficacy, Abivax is very confident that ABX464 can become a potent chronic therapy option to address the high unmet medical need in UC and potentially additional inflammatory diseases. ABX464 in Crohn's disease (CD) Abivax decided to follow the latest recommendations of its leading KOLs and is now planning to go straight into a pivotal Phase 2b/3 trial in CD. Due to the pathophysiological and clinical similarities of CD and UC, Abivax is keen to investigate if the pivotal study in CD will demonstrate strong efficacy and favorable safety as already reported in UC. The clinical study in CD is expected to start patient recruitment beginning of 2021. ABX464 in Covid-19 - miR-AGE trial In May, Abivax announced the launch of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2b/3 trial of ABX464 in 1,034 Covid-19 elderly or high-risk patients (miR-AGE trial - ABX464-401). In June, the miR-AGE trial was selected by the French Government as one of six research projects to find a therapeutic solution to treat Covid-19 patients. These projects are financed with a total of EUR 78m by the French state, of which Abivax receives 36m EUR in non-dilutive funding for the conduct of the trial as well as for manufacturing scale-up and additional development costs related to other ABX464 studies for the potential filing of Marketing Authorization Applications (MAAs). The miR-AGE trial is currently ongoing in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium and the UK as well as in Brazil. Patient recruitment in Mexico is imminent, as are regulatory approvals to initiate the study in Peru and Chile. Abivax will perform an interim analysis after the treatment of 300 patients and, subject to the evolution of the pandemic, plans to complete recruitment in Q4 2020. The decision to expand Abivax's clinical pipeline with a Covid-19 indication was based on the potentially beneficial triple effect of ABX464 for the treatment of elderly and high-risk patients, including: 1) antiviral effect to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication, demonstrated in an in vitro stringent human pulmonary epithelium model; 2) anti-inflammatory effect to prevent hyper-inflammation, shown in a Phase 2a clinical trial in UC patients with once-daily oral administration of ABX464; and 3) tissue repair properties that might limit longer-term pulmonary damage as observed for the healing of inflammatory lesions in UC patients. With its unique molecular mechanism of action, and convenient oral dosing, ABX464 has the potential to prevent and treat cytokine storm and hyper-inflammation, which lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and death of Covid-19 patients. Other clinical programs: ABX464 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) The ongoing ABX464-301 Phase 2a study is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of two oral dose-levels of ABX464 administered daily, in combination with methotrexate (MTX), in patients with moderate-to-severe active RA who had an inadequate response to MTX and/or to one or more anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) biological therapeutics. The trial is ongoing in 24 study centers across Europe and the completion of enrollment of 60 patients is expected for the end of this year. ABX196 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) In the Phase 1/2 clinical trial ongoing at the Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center in San Diego and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, HCC patients are treated with ABX196 in combination with the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo(R), Bristol Myers Squibb). Up to 46 patients will be included into this clinical study that consists of two phases, a dose escalation phase and an expansion phase. Top-line data from the dose escalation phase are expected at the end of this year. Financial Calendar 2020 About Abivax (www.abivax.com) Abivax, a clinical stage biotechnology company, is mobilizing the body's natural immune machinery to treat patients with autoimmune diseases, viral infections, and cancer. Abivax is listed on Euronext compartment C (ISIN: FR0012333284 - Mnemo: ABVX). Based in Paris and Montpellier, Abivax has two drug candidates in clinical development, ABX464 to treat severe inflammatory diseases, and ABX196 to treat hepatocellular carcinoma. More information on the company is available at www.abivax.com . Follow us on Twitter @ABIVAX_. Contacts Abivax Communications Regina Jehle regina.jehle@abivax.com +33 6 24 50 69 63 Investors LifeSci Advisors Chris Maggos chris@lifesciadvisors.com +41 79 367 6254 Press Relations & Investors Europe MC Services AG Anne Hennecke anne.hennecke@mc-services.eu +49 211 529 252 22 Public Relations France Actifin Ghislaine Gasparetto ggasparetto@actifin.fr +33 6 21 10 49 24 Public Relations France DGM Conseil Thomas Roborel de Climens thomasdeclimens@dgm-conseil.fr +33 6 14 50 15 84 Public Relations USA Rooney Partners LLC Marion Janic mjanic@rooneyco.com +1 212 223 4017 DISCLAIMER This press release contains forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates (including patient recruitment) with respect to certain of the Company's programs. Although the Company believes that its forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates are based on assumptions and assessments of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that have been deemed reasonable, such forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. A description of these risks, contingencies and uncertainties can be found in the documents filed by the Company with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers pursuant to its legal obligations including its registration document (Document de Reference). Furthermore, these forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates are only as of the date of this press release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Abivax disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, forecasts or estimates to reflect any subsequent changes that the Company becomes aware of, except as required by law. This press release is for information purposes only, and the information contained herein does not constitute either an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe securities of the Company in any jurisdiction, in particular in France. Similarly, it does not give and should not be treated as giving investment advice. It has no connection with the investment objectives, financial situation or specific needs of any recipient. It should not be regarded by recipients as a substitute for exercise of their own judgement. All opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. The distribution of this document may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Persons into whose possession this document comes are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions. Additional features: File: Abivax: A strong and diversified pipeline 24.09.2020 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de WASHINGTON Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who won trailblazing legal victories for womens rights before ascending to the nations highest court, broke her final barriers on Friday, becoming the first woman and the first Jewish American to lie in state in the United States Capitol. In a ceremony choreographed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to give the women of Congress a leading role, Justice Ginsburg was eulogized as a persistent warrior for justice whose example had inspired generations of women and girls. Members of Congress, top military commanders and the Democratic presidential nominee all came to pay their respects on the final day of public mourning for the justice as did her beloved trainer, who dropped to the floor of the National Statuary Hall to salute her with three push-ups before her flag-draped coffin. Justice did not arrive like a lightning bolt, but rather through dogged persistence, all the days of her life, said Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt of Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, the only person to give remarks during the brief ceremony. Real change, she said, enduring change, happens one step at a time. The tribute took place inside a Capitol deeply divided over replacing Justice Ginsburg so close to the presidential election. Its somber tone was a stark contrast to the partisan acrimony that promised to consume Washington in the coming days, as President Trump on Friday evening chose a conservative successor to the liberal icon and Republicans raced to confirm a person who would tip the Supreme Court decisively to the right. AKRON, Ohio Two people are in custody after police say they found and an explosive device in their vehicle following a brief chase. Matthew Cannon, 31, is being held in the Summit County Jail on charges of robbery, escape and willful fleeing, according to jail records. Destiny Danehart, 23, also is in the jail on a charge of possession of dangerous ordnance. According to police, officers tried to pull over a car driven by Cannon at about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday on Interstate 77 north, just before the central interchange. Police say Cannon refused to stop, leading officers on a short chase. The car exited I-77 at the Kelly Avenue/South Arlington Street exit. Police canceled the chase in the area of Seventh Avenue and Fuller Street, but moments later found the car crashed at South Arlington Street and Seventh Street. While searching Daneharts purse, officers found what looked like an explosive device, police say. Danehart told officers the device was a bomb, police say. The Summit County Bomb Squad was called to the scene and secured the device. Cannon and Danehart were arrested at the scene. Danehart was taken to Summa Health Akron City Hospital for medical treatment before being taken to the jail. Police say Cannon was wanted on a warrant for robbery and escape. Danehart had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear on a theft charge. More crime-related content on cleveland.com: Argument preceded fatal shooting during home-invasion in Cleveland, police say Man in mental health crisis shot by CMHA police in Cleveland charged with assaulting a police officer Lorain County husband who killed wife before shooting himself wrote I Snapped, in letter left at scene, records say One dead after highway sign falls onto truck following crash on I-480 in Cleveland (Natural News) Holly Zoller. Remember that name because you will probably be hearing a whole lot about it in the coming days as this self-described Bail Disruptor has been identified as the individual who rented the U-Haul truck that distributed riot gear to protesters in Louisville following the Breonna Taylor verdict. Zollers name went public after a U-Haul employee who works at the location where she rented the truck leaked her rental reservation agreement to the media. In the Notes section, someone named Leah Short flagged Zoller as someone who was mentioned hundreds of times in Twitter posts, adding that the truck she rented was being used to protest illegally. U-Haul apparently added Zollers rental agreement to its Cautionary Alert in Customer Management Tool, meaning U-Haul was already aware that Zoller was up to no good at the time when she rented the truck. After video footage of riot gear flowing out the back of it went viral, U-Haul employees leaked her identity to the media, and the rest is now history. Zoller works for The Bail Project as a Bail Disruptor A quick search of Zollers background reveals that she is Bail Disruptor who works for The Bail Project. She also coordinates volunteers for an organization known as Food Not Bombs that provides fresh and shelf-stable food to a community in the center of Louisvilles food desert and has organized around anti-fascist movements. Zoller describes herself as a professional organizer who helps distribute books to prisoners, or what she calls people living behind bars. She also has three daughters and lives in Louisville. In case you missed it, multiple angles of video footage show Black Lives Matter (BLM) rioters swarming the back of Zollers rented U-Haul to grab riot shields and other riot gear that she provided to them. This act alone by Zoller makes her complicit in inciting a riot, which is a crime. More related news about the BLM riots is available at Chaos.news. Is George Soros funding The Bail Project? As for the George Soros connection, The Bail Project has an employee in its ranks named Dolores Canales who was previously a Soros Justice Fellow. Currently the Community Outreach Director for The Bail Project, Canales works in the prison systems to aid those who are incarcerated, along with their families. While Canales uses the word previously to describe her role as a Soros Justice Fellow, that she was ever connected to Soros at all screams of a conspiracy, especially since her partner Zoller was caught doing exactly what other Soros-connected activists have done in the past to incite riots and violence. While there is no definitive proof that The Bail Project is still in any way receiving funding from Soros or a Soros-connected group, the connection cannot be ignored. As The Right Scoop suggests, there is a good possibility that Soros is funding a group [that] is funding a group [that] is funding THIS group, as that seems to be the way he likes to work. Meanwhile in Louisville, the weapons of war that Zoller provided to BLM supporters were used to wreak havoc across the city. I dont know who funded who or what but its clear that Holly Zoller is a criminal and should be charged and arrested, one commenter at The Right Scoop wrote. And someone should give her some fashion advice because honey when youre that big more cover is better optics. Another wrote that people should stop referring to Zoller and others like her as protesters or even rioters. They are terrorists and insurgents who are traitors trying to overthrow America, this same commenter wrote. Sources for this article include: TheRightScoop.com Twitter.com NaturalNews.com President Donald Trump has laid out his health care "vision" on Thursday, addressing two major issues facing Americans. The President signed two health-related executive orders as part of that vision but has no legislative power. His vision is called the "America First Health Care Plan." A news release from the White House stated that Trump had three pillars for his health care vision. He wanted to ensure "better care" for Americans, "more choice" for health care options," and "lower costs" for families and seniors." "Today I will lay out my vision for a health care system that puts patients first, families first and perhaps most importantly for all of us, America first," said Trump. He made the announcements during a Charlotte, North Carolina event. But this fall short of a full proposal as not much has been detailed yet, noted the CNN. Nevertheless, it was still a notable announcement that could persuade voters in the swing state. Protecting Pre-existing Conditions One of Trump's executive orders will ensure protections for people with pre-existing conditions. A CBS News report noted that Trump would not sign any bill on his desk that does not protect pre-existing conditions. He said any legislation that Congress sends him has to include this provision. "We're putting it down in a stamp," he said. He attacked the Democrats for "constantly" talking that issue, "yet pre-existing conditions are much safer with us than they are with them." News outlets noted that Trump had repeatedly tried to tear down the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But the act already protects people with pre-existing conditions. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar refused to specify how exactly the White House can guarantee these protections. It is important to note that the Supreme Court could overturn the ACA. Azar said the ACA was a "fallacy." He added that the executive order could protect patients if the high court decides to strike down the ACA. Trump had failed to replace the ACA even when the GOP controlled the House, Senate, and White House. But he did do away with the enforcement of penalties under the landmark health law. Surprise Medical Billings Trump will also try to put an end to surprise medical bills. "The days of ripping off American patients are over," he said in an ABC 13 report. Under the second executive order, Congress is directed to pass legislation addressing surprise medical billing by the end of the year. Trump warned that if lawmakers don't achieve this, Azar will do so through executive or regulatory actions. Once implemented, this executive order can help patients who are often hit with surprise medical payments. They usually get these when they receive emergency care from an out-of-network provider. According to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, about one in six emergency room or in-hospital patients generated at least one out-of-network billings in 2017. Trump has already called for to end the practice back in a 2019 speech. He also said so in his State of the Union address earlier this year. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle agree that the practice has to stop. But they can't decide who will cover the tab-insurers or providers. Check these out! Trump Promises to Give $200 Drug Discount Cards to Seniors Trump Says He Might Reject Tougher FDA Vaccine Standards Trump to Sign Executive Order Protecting Premature Babies Opinion Article 25 September 2020 The hospitality sector has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic as we saw hotels around the world forced to close their doors for an uncertain and extended period of time. Hotels have used lockdown to prepare for reopening, taking into account new protocols and cleaning procedures so that guests and employees are confident to return. However, the path ahead is not going to be smooth. Optii's recent research shows that the average guest departure room cleaning time has increased by around 11% overall, and where guests have received stayover cleans the cleaning time increases by around 35%. Therefore, operations teams are faced with a complex challenge as more is required from staff to meet the new requirements, whilst costs must be cut wherever possible as hotels expect to run at lower than average occupancy levels for the near future. So, what challenges do hotels face and how can they prepare for the road ahead? Managing the elasticity of demand The fluctuating numbers in occupancy has and will be one of the hardest challenges for hotel managers. The unpredictable nature of travel at the moment and guest confidence and numbers means that hotels need to prepare for both low occupancy and peaks of high occupancy. One of our customers, Craig Coughlin, CEO of LUXXE highlighted how this has been a real challenge across parts of Australia during the school holidays. Craig said, "At the start of July, the school holidays brought with it a totally unexpected spike in occupancy, notably in Canberra where the numbers shot from 20% to 80% for the 2-week duration. This peak was not predicted, and the hotels had to scramble to assemble their teams and facilities to accommodate the extra guests, and to cater for them at the right standard. Following the holiday, the occupancy rate has now gone back down to 17% for Canberra, and the hotels have had to readjust operations to match this." Helping teams to adapt to the new world order Most employees in the hospitality industry are in this job because of the interactive and people-centred nature of it. Many employees pride themselves on providing stellar customer service and going above and beyond for guests to ensure they feel welcome and enjoy their stay. Now they are faced with maintaining this level of service, but at a distance and must manage guests' own levels of comfort. For example, guests may now want to be disturbed less in order to maintain social distancing. Additionally, face masks hide the usual friendly and welcoming smiles of staff and adapting to this new normal has been challenging. Within hotel departments and teams, there have also been distinct changes as housekeeping teams are used to meeting at the start of the day to assign and discuss tasks and make note of any special requests. In the 'new normal', hotels are having to rely on other forms of communications from a distance whilst maintaining higher standards of cleaning and service but with less contact. The usual face-to-face training has also had to be adapted so that everything is done online, all of which are a pivot from the traditional process for our industry. Embrace technology to manage these complexities Investment in the right technology is what will potentially make the difference for hotels in the new normal. We have seen how the industry has responded to the need for higher cleaning and hygiene standards, investing in PPE and effective cleaning solutions. Now as we enter the next phase of the pandemic hotels need to look to technology to help assess what has been working and what needs to change. When it comes to the unpredictable nature of occupancy levels, technology will play a crucial role in providing a full picture of operations across all departments. Hotel managers need to be able to quickly and reliably see how long cleaning across rooms is taking and where this can be cut back or increased to meet the right standards. By equipping managers with this information, they can then make the necessary decisions based on patterns and feedback on where to mitigate additional costs for long-term success. There are a number of technological solutions which will provide operations managers the tools they need to communicate effectively with teams in various departments. Craig said, "Communication amongst the team is absolutely crucial and we had to find a way to replace the traditional in-person processes. By moving things onto an app, we have enabled teams to easily share pictures of rooms that need cleaning or tasks that need special attention across all different departments so that we can quickly react. We can also shift our training to online platforms so that we are ensuring all of our staff are up to date with all of the new protocols." It is not an understatement to say that the operational complexities hotels face will be difficult. No one person has the perfect solution for what is needed, as the path ahead is still unknown, and hotels are having to adapt at record speeds to stay operational. However, I am optimistic that by working together as an industry we can come together to find tools and solutions for challenges as we face them. Each success, whether small or large, must be celebrated and by staying open and transparent with employees and guests, I believe we will be able to effectively embrace the new working environment. Faculty of Humanities and Sciences Dr. Ashley Yoon Mooi Ng Associate Professor of Education Ashley Ng is Associate Professor in Education at The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, where she coordinates the post-graduate research programmes. She teaches on the MA in International Higher Education and supervises on both the EdD and PhD programmes. Prior to joining the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, she was the Director of Training for Future Leaders and Principals for the BCEDP programme, which trains more than 1000 school leaders - a joint partnership between the University of Nottingham Malaysia, the National University of Bangladesh and the World Bank. She also played vital roles in the professional development of international (Sri Lanka) and local school principals. US President Donald Trump hopes that recent peace agreements in the Middle East involving Israel, UAE and Bahrain will help him win over Jewish American voters in the upcoming presidential elections. The recent deals brokered by Washington saw two Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain, normalise relations with Israel. Read: Trump Says Nobel Peace Prize Possible For 'stopping Mass Killings' Between Serbia, Kosovo Trump hopes deals will sway Jewish American voters While Jewish American voters have historically leaned towards the Democrats, experts believe Trump hopes to change that following the recent peace deals. On the other hand, any loss of votes for Democratic hopeful Joe Biden can prove vital for Donald Trump in the November elections. As per reports, the Republican Jewish Coalition is spending an estimated $10 million to support Trump along, with other Republican candidates, and primarily focusing their efforts in key swing states. The executive director of the coalition, Matt Brook, has stated that the recent deals have proven that Trump has a clear plan when it comes to achieving peace in the Middle East. This month the Republican nominee also launched a new initiative called Jewish Voices for Trump and one of the co-chairs of the initiative has claimed Trump to be "a champion of the Jewish people" while calling him the "greatest ally" Israel has ever had. Read: Trumps Nomination For Nobel Peace Prize hard-earned, Says White House Moreover, Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for his pivotal role in brokering a peace deal between Israel and UAE. The peace deal, which was signed on September 15 makes UAE the third Arab nation to normalise ties with Israel after Egypt and Jordan. The Kingdom of Bahrain has also followed UAEs example and signed a peace deal normalising its relations with Israel. White House continues to seek more Arab support for the normalisation of ties with Israel and Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner, who accompanied the Israeli delegation to Abu Dhabi for formally finalising UAE-Israel ties, indicated that other Arab countries could soon follow the suit. Meanwhile, US State Secretary Mike Pompeo has also said that the deal has been a boon to peace and regional stability as it heralds a new era. (With AP inputs, Image: AP) Read: Donald Trump Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize For His key Role In UAE-Israel Agreement Read: Abraham Accords: Israel & UAE Ink Historic Deal To Establish Full Diplomatic Relations The 'seven resolves' initiative, launched by the state govt for its 2015-20 term, comprised seven schemes to ensure basic necessities to every household Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday welcomed the Assembly poll schedule announced by the Election Commission, and said that he would take up more developmental programmes if the people of the state give him another chance to serve them. Like his "saat nischay" (seven resolves of good governance) of the current term, his government would launch phase-II of the development initiative, Kumar told a press conference at JD(U) office. Seven resolves, launched by the state administration for its 2015-20 term, comprised seven schemes to ensure basic necessities such as supply of piped drinking water, construction of toilets and concrete drains and electricity connection to every household. Kumar, also the JD(U) president, said that Phase-II of the seven resolves would include enhancing skill of youths to brighten their jobs prospect, promoting entrepreneurship among women by providing them financial assistance, irrigation facility to every agriculture field and additional health facilities for people and animals. On seat-sharing among the NDA constituents, he said that now that the election schedule has been declared, the process will be fast-tracked. As per the poll panel announcement, voting for Bihar Assembly elections will be held in three phases on 28 October, 3 November and 7 November, and votes will be counted on 10 November. On Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Chirag Paswan taking potshots at him regularly indicating a rift within the ruling alliance, Kumar said that he does not pay much attention to "what anybody is speaking. We want that all constituents of the NDA fight the election unitedly and win handsomely." "The BJP is also working for this," he said. Kumar reiterated that "15 years vs 15 years" would definitely be the campaign narrative. The NDA has been highlighting the works done during the 15 years of RJD rule in Bihar from 1990 to 2005 vis a vis those under Kumar between 2005 and 2020. On campaigning during COVID crisis, he said he would ask his party and the NDA coalition members to abide by the guidelines issued by the poll panel in this regard. On Thursday, October 1, at 11.30, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference entitled "How Much Will Tobacco Tax Receipts Grow Next Year?" Participants include Executive Director at NGO "Life" Lilia Olefir; researcher at Kyiv School of Economics Pavlo Yavorsky; neurosurgeon Anton Shkiryak. Participation of a representative of the World Bank is expected (8/5a Reitarska Street). The press conference will be broadcast on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Admission of journalists requires preliminary registration by e-mail: dmytro.p@center-life.org. Additional information by phone: (063) 344 1269. PENGHU, Taiwan (AP) Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wen visited a military base on one of Taiwans outlying islands Tuesday in a display of resolve following a recent show of force by rival China. Tsai spoke to roughly a hundred air force pilots and crew members at the Penghu Magong Air Force base, where two pilots took off in Taiwan-produced Ching-kuo Indigenous Defense Fighters to greet her arrival. Taiwan has the ability and resolve to safeguard its territory, she said, while praising the soldiers as being able to get up in the air within five minutes. I know that having to face the provocations of the People's Liberation Army surrounding Taiwan, and their actions in disturbing the areas peace, in the situation, everyones duty at the frontline air defense at Penghu has become heavier, Tsai said. But I have faith in every individual, that every one of our well-trained air force brothers and sisters is able to lift this heavy responsibility, she said. The Chinese air force flew 37 planes, including fighter jets and long-distance bombers, over the Taiwan Strait on Friday and Saturday in what Beijing called a deliberate warning during a visit by a high level U.S. State Department envoy to the island. It was an unusually large display of force in response to the second such visit by a high-level U.S. official in two months. The American health secretary visited Taiwan in August. China considers Taiwan part of its national territory and objects to all official contact between other countries and Taipei. At a news conference Monday, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin again condemned the visit, calling it a political provocation that emboldens Taiwan independence separatists and undermines China-U.S. relations as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait." China has increased its diplomatic and military pressure on Tsai's government over her refusal to agree to China's insistence that the island be considered a part of Chinese territory. The vast majority of Taiwanese reject the prospect of political union with China under the one country, two systems" framework in place in Hong Kong. Story continues Tsai has remained defiant in face of China's anger. I am confident in each one of you, because as soldiers the Republic of Chinas air force, how can we let others throw their weight around in our own airspace? she said on Tuesday, using Taiwan's formal name. While China's armed forces have an overwhelming numerical advantage over Taiwan, the island's small but well-trained high-tech force enjoys strong support from the U.S., the island's chief ally. Annual Report to Shareholders Perth, Sep 25, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Over the course of the last 12 months, Hastings Technology Metals Ltd ( ASX:HAS ) ( FRA:5AM ) has substantially progressed the Yangibana Project to the position where it is now considered to be the next most likely light rare earth project to be constructed anywhere in the world. Advancement of the project has occurred on many fronts, from updated mineral resources and mining reserves to tendering equipment selection and advanced process design engineering.In November 2019, an updated JORC Mineral Resource estimation was completed by independent consultant David Princep from Gill Lane Consulting, incorporating all known drilling results from Bald Hill, Fraser's, Auer and Auer North, Yangibana and Yangibana North deposits. A complete geological re-interpretation was completed which defined thicker and more coherent zones of mineralisation based on Total Rare Earths Oxide (TREO) as opposed to the previous interpretation which used only Neodymium and Praseodymium (Nd2O3+Pr6O11).The mineral resource update resulted in 13% more, or 1.7 million tonnes (Mt) increase, in Measured and Indicated tonnes to 15.40Mt @ 1.12% TREO.A subsequent economic optimisation of the Measured and Indicated portions of the Mineral Resource resulted in an 18% increase in the economic Ore Reserves to 12.20Mt @ 1.13% TREO.The COVID-19 delay has allowed Hastings to rapidly progress an internal project review process, which has been undertaken at a desktop level targeting opportunity around decoupling the hydrometallurgical plant from the beneficiation plant with additional internal site layout optimisation around the process plant and tailings storage dam locations.The concept of decoupling the Hydrometallurgical portion from the beneficiation plant and relocating it to a coastal location has resulted in a potentially significant CAPEX reduction. The relocated acid-baked kiln which sits inside the hydrometallurgical plant to a fully serviced coastal location would remove the requirement for the gas pipeline and place the hydrometallurgical plant closer to ports for export of the mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) and imported reagents.The Yangibana site layout as per the definitive feasibility study (DFS) contained opportunities to realise operational improvements by relocating the camp and slightly re-arranging the process plant and tailings storage facilities to a more central and customised location. Benefits of the re-arrangement include:- reduction in internal haul road length and construction cost; and- a much-reduced main access road length.To support these proposed changes additional flora and fauna surveys have been undertaken. Technical engagement through third party specialists continues to solidify these concepts as a pre-cursor prior to re-starting engineering engagement. FLSmidth Pty Ltd has been placed on hold during COVID-19 and no further progress has been made on the kiln package in this area. TAPC (Kiln Off Gas Scrubber) engineering works are now at 96% complete, with the delivery of the last of the off-gas scrubber engineering around the filter press requirements.To view the Annual Report, please visit:About Hastings Technology Metals Ltd Hastings Technology Metals Ltd (ASX:HAS) (FRA:5AM) is advancing its Yangibana Rare Earths Project in the Upper Gascoyne Region of Western Australia towards production. The proposed beneficiation and hydro metallurgy processing plant will treat rare earths deposits, predominantly monazite, hosting high neodymium and praseodymium contents to produce a mixed rare earths carbonate that will be further refined into individual rare earth oxides at processing plants overseas. Neodymium and praseodymium are vital components in the manufacture of permanent magnets which is used in a wide and expanding range of advanced and high-tech products including electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, medical applications and others. Hastings aims to become the next significant producer of neodymium and praseodymium outside of China. Hastings holds 100% interest in the most significant deposits within the overall project, and 70% interest in additional deposits that will be developed at a later date, all held under Mining Leases. Numerous prospects have been identified warranting detailed exploration to further extend the life of the project. Brockman Project The Brockman deposit, near Halls Creek in Western Australia, contains JORC Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources, estimated using the guidelines of JORC Code (2012 Edition). The Company is also progressing a Mining Lease application over the Brockman Rare Earths and Rare Metals Project. Hastings aims to capitalise on the strong demand for critical rare earths created by the expanding demand for new technology products. KALAMAZOO, MI -- Kalamazoo Public Schools is launching learning hubs to help students learning virtually amid the coronavirus pandemic. The district partnered with Kalamazoo Youth Development Network to provide students in-person support for distance learning, Superintendent Rita Raichoudhuri said. She said the learning hubs will give students access to WiFi, healthy snacks and meals, enrichment activities and mental health and wellness resources. Students will also be able to have in-person, socially distanced support and outdoor recreation and physical activity, Raichoudhuri said during the Tuesday, Sept. 22 Board of Education meeting. She said the district hopes to launch the program by the second week of October. The Kalamazoo Youth Development Network is a nonprofit in Kalamazoo County that helps support students while out of school. The learning hubs will be open first to students identified with the highest need. Raichoudhuri said the district identified students in need of extra support during virtual learning including students with disabilities, English language learners, students without reliable internet, those missing from virtual learning in the spring and those experiencing housing or food insecurity. She said there are 842 students who meet all five equity cohort categories. Board member Jason Morris applauded the districts new program to help students. We are paying attention to our most vulnerable constituents, Morris said. The learning hubs were made possible by a $125,000 grant approved by the Kalamazoo City Commission, Raichoudhuri said. She said the program will also be supported by a $200,000 grant from a local foundation.'' Additional information regarding the foundation was not provided prior to publication. Related: Kalamazoo Schools graduation number climbs to new high in age of Kalamazoo Promise The district began the school year online-only on Aug. 31. According to enrollment data updated Sept. 21, nearly 10,500 students, or 79% of the student population, chose a tiered plan that starts with remote-only learning and eventually switches to in-person classes, Raichoudhuri said. Another 2,640 students, or 20%, chose to attend school virtually for the entire school year, she said. About 1% of students are attending virtual courses provided by the Kalamazoo Region Educational Service Agency. After Thanksgiving, students in the first option would switch to a hybrid learning model with two days of in-person learning with social distancing and three days of virtual learning from home from Nov. 30 until March 12. Raichourdhuri is surveying teachers and other staff ahead of her decision whether to transition to hybrid learning. She will also be holding 10 listening sessions over the week of Oct. 12 and will survey parents during the week of Oct. 19. A decision is expected to be made on trimester two on Oct. 22. Raichourdhuri said previously that the district will only move to in-person learning in November if it is safe to do so. She outlined safety protocols for in-person school including mandatory mask wearing, social distancing, enhanced cleaning and handwashing. Ann Arbor Public Schools created a similar program called Connections+, which plans to allow students to meet in-person at neighborhood partners, such as community centers and apartment complex clubhouses, when in-person school is allowed, while also meeting virtually. This will allow all families to get the enrichment of a learning pod without needing to hire private tutors or childcare. Also on MLive: Parents collect school supplies to help Kalamazoo online students in need 5 candidates vying for 3, six-year seats on the Kalamazoo School Board Coronavirus outbreaks reported at 29 Michigan K-12 school and 20 colleges; dozens of staff sickened Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photo Getty When a blue Jeep sped down an Aurora, Colorado, roadway in July, narrowly missing protesters, some witnesses swore the driver had put their lives at risk. I saw him look straight at the crowd and hit the gas, Rebecca Wolff, a protester who spoke to police about the incident, told the Denver Post. Another protester broke a leg jumping off the raised highway to avoid the driver. But in an hour-long press conference on Wednesday, District Attorney George Brauchler announced that he would not press charges against the driver unless presented with more evidence against him. Also Wednesday, in neighboring Denver, a different man drove a car into a crowd that was protesting Kentucky prosecutors declining to charge any officers for fatally shooting Black 26-year-old EMT Breonna Taylor in March. As of Thursday evening, no charges had been filed in the Denver incident, either. Since the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May, Americans have spent months in the streets protesting racism and police brutality. Those same streets have also become the site of a disturbing pattern of vehicle attacks, with drivers speeding toward and sometimes striking protesters. Complicating matters are calls by lawmakers to impose harsh penalties on those who block trafficand even to grant immunity to drivers who hit protesters under certain circumstances. As The Daily Beast recently reported, such calls have been percolating in legislative chambers for years, their language sometimes curiously similar, like a right-wing fever dream playing on repeat. But drivers dont always need those immunity laws. A pattern of dropped or languishing cases across the country has already seen drivers duck charges for speeding atand sometimes ramming intoprotesters. Meanwhile, the attacks keep coming. Ari Weil, a PhD student studying terrorism at the University of Chicago, has been monitoring car attacks since racial justice protests swept the country in late May. Between those first days of protests and Sept. 5, hed recorded 104 incidents of people driving into protesters: 96 of them civilians and eight of them law enforcement. Of those civilian drivers, 39 had been charged, Weil found. Story continues In other words, well under half of people who drove vehicles at protesters this year had been charged, he estimated. Not all of those cases are necessarily malicious, Weil stressed. Five of the 96 civilian cases appear to have stemmed from someone taking a wrong turn, or encountering a protest by accident. In 48 of those cases, Weil found, the drivers intent was not immediately apparent. But he estimated 43 of them to be overtly malicious acts based on the driver either having known extremist associations, yelling slurs at protesters, or deliberately swerving or turning to run people down. Other monitors of car attacks have offered slightly different figures. A protest-tracker by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a conflict-mapping non-profit, has logged 69 malicious ramming attacks from May 28 to Sept. 15. More recent incidents not captured in the Weil or ACLED dataset included collisions following Wednesdays announcement of no charges over Breonna Taylors death. In addition to the Denver incident, a driver in Buffalo, New York, was filmed hitting protesters. Both cases were under investigation as of Thursday. The discrepancies in such tallies reflect the difficulty of determining whether a vehicle attack was attempted murder, an honest mistake, or something in-between. When Brauchler declined to press charges against the Aurora Jeep driver on Wednesday, he said the driver was trying to get away from protesters. He noted, correctly, that a protester has been charged with attempted murder for firing a gun at the Jeep, although, again, the details vary according to individual accounts. The protester fired the gun after the Jeep driver started moving through the crowd, accelerating toward a wall of moms, two of those women told CBS4, accusing the driver of nearly killing them. Its the kind of murky situation that has plagued the George Floyd protestsby many accounts the largest American mass-mobilization in history. Car attacks in prior years have been a lot more cut-and-dry, Weil said, noting the past use of car attacks by jihadists and the far rightmost notoriously the murder of Heather Heyer at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. During the more recent protests, however, there are many more opportunities for motorist-protester interactions, some of which are motivated by racism and some of which are not, he added. The threat of vehicular homicide often has protesters looking over their shoulders, according to Maggie Ellinger-Locke, a lawyer with the National Lawyers Guild, which monitors protests. This is a really dangerous trend that appears to be on the rise, where were seeing far-right actors using vehicles as weapons, driving into protesters, she said, noting that, although anecdotal, car attacks do appear to be on the rise. Protesters are aware of this. Legal support organizations like the National Lawyers Guild are aware of this, and theyre very alarmed by it. Some car attacks have resulted in arrests. A driver who plowed through a Bloomington, Indiana, protest, striking at least two people, was arrested two days after the incident and charged with criminal recklessness and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious bodily injury. A self-proclaimed Ku Klux Klan member was convicted last month for an attack on Black Lives Matter protesters outside Richmond, Virginia. A Seattle man accused of driving onto a closed section of highway and striking two protesters (one fatally) has been arrested and pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide and reckless driving. A Long Island man accused of hospitalizing two protesters with his car was arrested in July, as was an alleged Iowa City car attacker who, during his arrest, told police that protesters needed an attitude adjustment. But several high-profile cases have passed without charges. In Tampa, Florida, on June 21, the driver of a pickup truck was filmed cursing at protesters before driving over a median and onto the wrong side of the road to hit Jae Passmore, a prominent local activist. The driver has not been charged, although according to Passmores attorney Ben Crump, police know the drivers identity. When Passmore held an event six days later, a second car ran into the group and drove away with an injured protester on the cars hood, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Police stopped the driver, but did not arrest them. Instead, the protester was with four counts, including felony criminal mischief. A spokesperson for the States Attorney Office in the 13th Judicial Circuit on Thursday said the pickup incident was still under investigation. They added that the charges against the protester in the second incident were being droppedbut also that driver who struck them was off the hook. There is no evidence that either person intended to cause harm, and therefore charges are not appropriate, the spokesperson for prosecutors said in a statement. Both people made decisions that escalated the situation, and basic courtesy by either person could have minimized or avoided this conflict. A slew of these incidents remain in a bizarre state of investigative limbo. When a car full of pro-police demonstrators drove through a crowd of Black Lives Matter activists in Manhattans Times Square earlier this month, the news site Gothamist was quick to name the cars likely driver, who has posted the vehicle on pro-police pages. (A passenger also spoke to the media under her own name.) Several witnesses have gone to police about the incident. Nearly a month later, the incident remains under investigation, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney told The Daily Beast. Oftentimes there's been a big delay by prosecutors deciding whether to charge people, Weil said. Prosecuting car attacks might become even more difficult under proposed legislation that would criminalize protesters blocking traffic or offer immunity to people who hit those protesters with cars. The most recent of those proposals, announced Monday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, would remove liability for people who strike or kill protesters with cars if the driver is fleeing for safety from a mob. Its a claim made by many such drivers, including the neo-Nazi who killed Heyer in Charlottesville. Those proposals havent passed yet, and have been rejected in states like Kentucky and North Carolina. But Ellinger-Locke said even the suggestion of such lawsand the legitimacy they offer attackerscan heighten the risk of further harm. I think they suggest to people engaging in that kind of dangerous, harmful, potentially murderous conduct, that its something law enforcement supports, she said. I think people are seeing the introduction of these bills and feeling emboldened to take action because of them. Not only does that chill the speech of demonstrators seeking to advance their message, but I think sends a clear message that that sort of conduct is okay. Would-be attackers are sometimes aware of such proposals, Weil said, pointing to a Discord messaging group that planned 2017s deadly Charlottesville rally. Some users, including the killer, James Fields Jr., spoke gleefully of the possibility of hitting anti-racist protesters, with another user writing, I know NC law is on the books that driving over protesters blocking roadways isnt an offense. (The law was not, in fact, on the books, although that didnt prevent Fields deadly attack.) Weil warned that language about hitting protesters is an active part of the far-rights meme vocabulary. Its also spread to conservative talk radio hosts. When a Denver woman was filmed in May driving through a crowd of protesters and making a U-turn, allegedly with the intent to hit another, the host of a morning show on Denvers 710 KNUS radio station reportedly said on air that the driver ran your monkey rear-end down Youve got that coming. The apparent target of his comments, the man whom the driver allegedly made a U-turn to hit, was Black. On July 20, the driver was chargednearly two months after the incident. Brauchler, the district attorney who on Wednesday declined to charge the driver of the Jeep in Aurora, hosts a different show on the same station. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday said doctors treating coronavirus patients in designated hospitals should work in rotation- seven days in Covid-19 section and as many days in non-COVID section with one-day holiday in between. He said doctors should follow this pattern instead of working in Covid-19 sections for seven to 15 days and getting home-quarantined for a week. Tope said this rotation system would address the issue of shortage of doctors to some extent. He was addressing a press conference after reviewing the coronavirus situation in Maharashtras East Vidarbha. He visited goverment hospitals in Bhandara, Gondia and Nagpur to take stock of the situation. Every doctor should work in Covid-19 department, except the senior doctors having comorbidities. They should work in rotation. It has been observed that after working for seven to 15 days in Covid-19 section, doctors go for one week of home quarantine, he said. But doctors in some big private hospitals work in rotation of seven days in COVID section followed by one day holiday and then seven days of work in non-COVID department, followed by a day off, he said. I feel that considering the requirement of doctors now, this system of getting home-quarantined for seven days is inappropriate, the minister added. According to him, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) would soon issue a circularabout seven- day duty rotation. This will address the issue of scarcity of doctors to some extent, he said. Tope stressed the need to increase contact tracing, optimum utilisation of RT-PCR tests and added that home isolation for asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms must be encouraged. Tope also asked the Nagpur administration to increase beds for Covid-19 patients in Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) as well asprivate facilities. He suggested that hospitals operated by the railways and Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) be roped in for treating coronavirus patients. The minister said that hospitals empanelled under the state governments Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana scheme should allot 25 per cent beds for non-COVID patients. There are 20 packages under the scheme available in 32 hospitals in the district. The administration should create awareness among people as some hospitals are misusing this scheme. The administration should also charge five times fine from those hospitals found overcharging, he added. NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Medscape Education has been selected as a partner in hosting The Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting 2020, September 30-October 6. In collaboration with HFSA, Medscape Education and MedscapeLIVE! will offer an immersive environment where heart failure professionals will engage around the latest research and treatment advances. The 7-day meeting of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and researchers will feature more than 50 multidisciplinary, scientific sessions, late-breaking research announcements, live chats with industry and e-poster presenters, interactive breakout sessions, networking opportunities, a Virtual Exhibit Hall with product theaters, and interactive gamification. MedscapeLIVE!'s virtual conference platform enables attendees to visit the exhibit hall and poster sessions, electronically take notes, answer polling questions, submit questions directly to faculty, and save or share slides, notes, and other content. MedscapeLIVE! provides live experiences across the spectrum of formats to create unique engagement opportunities for scientific dialogue, learning and networking. Already central to Medscape Education's programs and services, MedscapeLIVE!'s experiential solutions are informing the current and future learning approaches of clinicians worldwide. "We're honored to partner with HFSA to offer an engaging and immersive virtual meeting", said Rejean Rochette, Group General Manager, Medscape Education. "The way clinicians manage their practices, learn about clinical advances, treatments and pharmaceutical information, and participate in education has changed significantly due to COVID-19; what was already a significant trend has accelerated and altered the learning landscape now and for the future. Our MedscapeLIVE! conference solutions enable clinicians to learn, engage and connect on the latest scientific findings in their field." Attendees can obtain Continuing Medical Education (CME), Continuing Education (CE), Maintenance of Certification (MOC), Continuing Education Units (CEU), and nursing and pharmacology credits. "We are very excited to partner with Medscape Education to host our Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting this year," said Biykem Bozkurt, 2020-2021 President of HFSA. "The essential switch to the virtual platform brings new and exciting opportunities for a broader outreach. We are confident that we'll be able to deliver the same outstanding educational content on the MedscapeLIVE! platform, along with some new, and exciting activities." To register for the HFSA Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting 2020, visit hfsa.org/annualscientificmeeting. About Medscape Education Medscape Education (medscape.org) is the leading destination for continuous professional development, consisting of more than 30 specialty-focused destinations offering thousands of free C.M.E. and C.E. courses and other educational programs for physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals. It is a division of Medscape. Medscape is the leading source of clinical news, health information, and point-of-care tools for health care professionals. Medscape offers specialists, primary care physicians, and other health professionals the most robust and integrated medical information and educational tools. Medscape is a subsidiary of WebMD Health Corp. About MedscapeLIVE! MedscapeLIVE!, a division of Medscape, delivers live peer to peer experiences both in person and virtually. MedscapeLIVE! events create a community of collaboration and engagement for health care practitioners worldwide. With turn-key conference management services and support, including best-in-class technology platforms and production teams, MedscapeLIVE! produces over 400 events annually ranging from impactful intimate sessions to large multi-day proprietary conferences. About the Heart Failure Society of America The Heart Failure Society of America is a multidisciplinary organization working to improve and expand heart failure care through collaboration, education, research, innovation, and advocacy. HFSA members include physicians, scientists, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and patients. HFSA's goal is to significantly reduce the burden of heart failure on patients and families worldwide. For more information, visit hfsa.org. SOURCE Medscape Education Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) operating from Myanmar, particularly ULFA-I (United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent), NSCN-K (National Socialist Council of Nagaland Khaplang), led by its current chairman Yung Aung, and NSCN-IM (National Socialist Council of Nagaland Isak Muivah), are trying to relocate their bases near the border due to persistent action by the Myanmar Army over the last few months, according to an assessment by central intelligence agencies. People familiar with the developments told HT that ULFA-I and NSCN-K were keeping a close watch on both Indian security forces and the Myanmar Army to save its cadres from action. ULFA-I was relocating its cadres with the help of NSCN-K to safer hideouts. Also Read: BSF and BGB to work together to reduce number of border killings NSCN-IM, too, was also planning relocation of its bases because of the presence and movement of the Myanmar Army in areas controlled by them across the border. A counter-insurgency official, requesting anonymity, argued that the cadres of north-east-based outfits have always moved to different locations whenever there has been action by the Myanmar Army. Over the last few years, there has been more coordinated action against these outfits by both Indian and Myanmar armies and rebels have faced huge setbacks but they always manage to move to a different location, he said. The intelligence inputs also suggest that north-east-based insurgent groups are trying to take advantage of unemployment caused by the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic to recruit more jobless youths in their separatist outfits. The reports have come at a time when the governments peace talks with NSCN-IM have failed because of differences between the insurgent group and the Centres interlocutor R N Ravi. Earlier in September, the NSCN-IM had reiterated its demand for a separate flag and a constitution for the Nagas. To be sure, the intelligence inputs largely talk about the movement of insurgent groups near the border during July and August. Another counter-insurgency official, however, said that there is a heightened threat of attack on security forces. We are alert to the situation, said a security official, who didnt wish to be named. Stanislaus National Forest Open As Many Federal Forests Are Closed Fishing at Pinecrest Lake View Photo Sonora, CA Half of the federal forests in California are closed due to high fire risk, and others, like the Stanislaus National, are open. The nine forests that are closed include Sierra, Angeles, Inyo, Cleveland, Los Padres, Klamath, San Bernardino, Sequoia and Six Rivers. Those that are open are the Stanislaus, Eldorado, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta-Trinity and Tahoe. Regional Forester Randy Moore states, Continued closures are based on extreme fire conditions, critical limitations of firefighting resources, and to provide for firefighter and public safety. We understand how important access to the National Forests is to our visitors. The Forest Service notes that closures in California will be reviewed daily. The federal agency manages 20-million acres across the state. The fire danger across many parts of California is anticipated to be high this weekend, as areas are under a Red Flag Warning. Click here to view the latest information from the National Weather Service. Strict fire restrictions are in place at all of the national forests. By Trend Azerbaijans Ministry of Agriculture has commented on the reported shortage and rise in prices for fertilizers provided to farmers in the country, Aytakin Mammadova, head of the public relations department of Agro Service OJSC under the ministry, told Trend. According to Mammadova, no problems with the distribution of fertilizers exist in the country, and all the farmers are currently provided with fertilizers. Agricultural fertilizers need to be applied to the soil in parallel with sowing. No problems with this exist anywhere in the country, she said. Sulfur amophos fertilizers were transferred to farmers this year. There are enough of these fertilizers at all bases of Agro Service OJSC. There can be no shortage of fertilizers in any region. Moreover, we have fertilizer sales companies from which farmers can purchase fertilizers on a subsidy basis." Mammadova noted that the farmers who failed to purchase fertilizers can apply to the company. Even if entrepreneurs dont have the opportunity to visit the Agro Services bases, the company creates the necessary conditions for them, she noted. "We are already engaged in the mobile sale of fertilizers. The mobile service operates in the regions 6 days a week. Farmers can get the necessary fertilizers with farm cards," she added. Mammadova said that prices of fertilizers dont increase, so they are sold to farmers at the same price. Its just that earlier farmers, having submitted the necessary documents, received fertilizers with a 70 percent discount, that is, 70 percent of fertilizers were paid by the state, and 30 percent - by farmers. In addition, some fertilizers that were not available last year are imported and offered to farmers at relatively low prices," she concluded. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz North Korea shot dead 'defector' from South and burnt body: Seoul Security is tight on the South Korea-controlled island of Yeonpyeong near the disputed waters of the Yellow Sea North Korean soldiers shot dead a suspected South Korean defector at sea and burned his body as a coronavirus precaution after he was interrogated in the water over several hours, Seoul military officials said Thursday. It is the first killing of a Southern citizen by North Korean forces for a decade, and comes with Pyongyang at high alert over the pandemic and inter-Korean relations at a standstill. The fisheries official disappeared from a patrol vessel near the western border island of Yeonpyeong on Monday, a South Korean military official told AFP. More than 24 hours later, North Korean forces located him in their waters and questioned him from a patrol boat, he said, with his interrogator wearing protective equipment. He was killed around six hours after being found, according to the official. "He was shot dead in the water," he said. "North Korean soldiers poured oil over his body and burnt it in the water. "We assess it was carried out under the North's anti-coronavirus measure," he added. According to the defence ministry, the people who burnt the body wore gas masks and protective clothing. There was no immediate comment from Pyongyang on the incident and it was not possible to independently verify the South Korean military's account. Pyongyang has closed its borders and declared an emergency to try to protect itself against the virus which first emerged in neighbouring China. The man was wearing a lifejacket and his shoes had been found on board the South Korean boat, the official said -- indicators suggesting he entered the water voluntarily. "We have obtained intelligence that he had expressed his intention to defect while being questioned," he added. He declined to go into detail about the source of the information. But the South Korean military is known to intercept radio communications by the North's forces. The killing took place after an "order from superior authority", Yonhap cited South Korean officials as saying. Story continues Seoul's defence ministry condemned the shooting as an "outrageous act". "We sternly warn North Korea that all responsibilities for this incident lie with it," it said in a statement. South Korean media reports said the man was in his forties with two children, but had recently divorced and had financial problems. - 'Shoot to kill' - The isolated North -- whose crumbling health system would struggle to cope with a major virus outbreak -- has not confirmed a single case of the disease that has swept the world. Pyongyang closed its border with China in January to try to prevent contamination, and in July state media said it had raised its state of emergency to the maximum level. That same month, North Korean officials put the border city of Kaesong under lockdown after a defector who had fled to the South three years ago sneaked back over the heavily fortified border, amid fears that he may have carried the coronavirus. US Forces Korea commander Robert Abrams said earlier this month that North Korean authorities had issued shoot-to-kill orders to prevent the coronavirus entering the country from China, creating a "buffer zone" at the border. This week's incident is the first time in 10 years that North Korean forces have killed a Southerner. In November 2010, Pyongyang's military bombarded Yeonpyeong island -- close to this week's incident -- killing two civilians and two marines. It came months after a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sank South Korea's Cheonan warship, killing 46 seamen, although Pyongyang denies responsibility. In 2008, a North Korean soldier gunned down a female South Korean tourist who walked into a forbidden area at the North's Mount Kumgang resort, prompting Seoul to suspend the money-spinning visits. kjk/slb/fox Lee couldnt be called right-wing, but his politics had a conservative bent. He often wrote and spoke about how reactionaries and radicals were equally wrong and privately complained about how taxes in America were too high. In the midst of the antiestablishment riots of 1968, he convened a panel for a failed talk-show pilot in which he repeatedly denounced radicalism; asserted that Black people needed to respect the law; and said the Vietnam War may have been immoral, but had to continue for the greater good. These ideas were of a piece of the way hed depict the hot issues of the day in the comics he co-wrote, particularly in stories about Spider-Man and Captain America confronting campus protests: They always featured good guys on both sides who succeeded by meeting in the middle. And, of course, the vast majority of the characters he wrote for were white and male. All of this should give people pause when they tout him as a champion of the progressive politics of 2020. Geneva: The United Nations on Saturday urged US President Donald Trump to continue his countrys long tradition of welcoming refugees and to ensure their equal treatment, regardless of race, nationality or religion. The appeal came in a joint statement from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration in reaction to Trumps sweeping new executive order on Friday suspending refugee arrivals and imposing tough controls for travelers from seven Muslim countries. The agencies, which offer frontline assistance to millions of would-be migrants and asylum seekers, hailed the US resettlement programme as one of the most important in the world. The longstanding policy has offered a double win: first by rescuing some of the most vulnerable people in the world, and second by enabling them to enrich their new societies. The contribution of refugees and migrants to their new homes worldwide has been overwhelmingly positive. ALSO READ | Google forced to order its travelling staff to return to America after Trumps immigration policy The IOM and the UNHCR hope that the US will continue its strong leadership role and long tradition of protecting those who are fleeing conflict and persecution, the statement said. We strongly believe that refugees should receive equal treatment for protection and assistance, and opportunities for resettlement, regardless of their religion, nationality or race. Trumps decree suspends the entire US refugee resettlement program for at least 120 days while tough new vetting rules are established to confirm asylum seekers do not pose a security threat. In addition, it specifically bars Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely, or until the president himself decides that they no longer pose a threat. And it slaps 90-day bans on the issuance of visas for migrants and visitors from seven mainly-Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bazaar Corporate Radar | Feb 22, 2021, 12:00 AM IST Bazaar Corporate Radar Bazaar Corporate Radar is your window into the minds of top CEOs, Boardrooms, global economists, fund managers and sector analysts. If it?s making news, you?ll find it on Bazaar Corporate Radar. 1. Who was in charge of hotel quarantine? The Health Minister, says Premier Daniel Andrews. In his witness statement, the Premier wrote that the operation began as a "multi-agency operation, overseen and co-ordinated by the State Control Centre". "The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), as the designated control agency was primarily responsible for the program," he wrote. He said Health Minister Jenny Mikakos and Jobs Minister Martin Pakula were responsible for informing cabinet about the hotels program. Sources said that China is not ready to accept that it first transgressed across the line of actual control (LAC) New Delhi: India has clearly told China that it will talk about disengagement in the whole of Ladakh starting from Depsang plains to Pangong Tso, said sources. India has also warned China that Indian soldiers will fire if PLA troops will try to outnumber them like in Galwan on June 15. Sources said that China is not ready to accept that it first transgressed across the line of actual control (LAC) and is insisting that talks should be held on disengagement from South banks of Pangong Tso where India has occupied strategic heights. However, India stand is clear that we will talk from A to Z in Ladakh, said sources. Sources said that China had started breaking protocol after Doklam which said that not more than 15-20 soldiers will patrol the LAC. But Chinese army started sending bigger patrol consisting of 50-100 soldiers and this number kept on increasing every year. These bigger Chinese patrol used to push Indian teams. PLA soldiers first started stone pelting and then brought improvised weapons like iron rods studded with nails to attack Indian patrols. Now Indian soldiers are directly warning Chinese soldiers that we will fire if you will come near us for attack. Chinese soldiers have also understood that if they will come in large numbers to attack Indian soldiers they will suffer bigger losses, said sources. Sources confirmed that there have been many instances of firing at the line of actual control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh since India occupied strategic heights on August 29-30. A senior official said that Indian soldiers used to carry guns previously too but now they have been given instructions that they are free to fire in self-defence and in extreme conditions. Now we will not allow Chinese to follow their old strategy of coming in large numbers with improvised weapons and attacking Indian soldiers, said sources. Sources said that China is also preparing to stay in the Ladakh sector during winters. We cannot believe in everything China says. Joint statement is good but whatever China is saying should also be reflected on the ground, said sources. Indias stand is that it was China which first transgressed and it will have to disengage first. The Czech Republic's GDP could rise 25 percent by 2100 even under extreme global warming, according to a report from accounting giant Deloitte. One of the world's 'Big Four' accounting firms released a report this week concluding that extreme, "business-as-usual" climate change will benefit a third of the world's economies over the course of the 21st century. Published online in Czech, the analysis from Deloitte's Prague office said that countries in colder latitudes such as Canada, Norway and Russia "should benefit the most from rising temperatures." The Czech Republic's GDP, for example, would likely rise 25 percent by 2100 "in the fastest warming scenarios," according to a summary of the report. The findings -- based on the relationship between average annual temperatures and GDP -- fly in the face of most research on the long-term economic impacts of climate change. Recent studies in peer-reviewed journals show the world economy taking a huge hit from global warming by century's end, shrinking up to 20 percent by 2100 if greenhouse gases continue unabated. In a more conservative estimate, the IMF said last year that per capita GDP would drop more than seven percent. "Calculating the effects of climate change purely on the basis of changes in mean temperature or rainfall altering GDP is naive and misleading," said Tim Lenton, a professor at the Global System Institute at the University of Exeter, commenting on the Deloitte report. "Climate change is the most profound risk management problem humanity has ever faced." - 'Perfectly insane' - Gernot Wagner, an associate professor in climate economics at New York University, said the big risks from global warming come from extreme weather events such as heatwaves and flooding, not changes in average temperature. "This is an example of a seemingly logical 'study' that is also perfectly insane," he said. A team of researchers from the Charles University Environment Centre in Prague also slammed the Deloitte analysis, pointing out in a lengthly rebuttal that the Czech Republic's open export economy is dependent on developments in world markets, something ignored in the report. Story continues "Climate is a global phenomenon," noted Wagner. "No country is an island, including the Czech Republic." Surprisingly, the report finds that the most extreme UN climate scenario -- which sees the planet heating four degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2100 -- would benefit the Czech Republic more than a rise of 2C. In either scenario, some 70 countries would see "positive effects", while 125 will experience negative ones, it found. The conclusions would seem to be at odds with objectives and positions laid out by Deloitte Global earlier this month. The company "believes that urgent and immediate action is needed to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement," Deloitte Global associate director and head of media relations Steve Dutton told AFP. The 2015 treaty calls for capping global warming at "well below" 2C, and 1.5C if possible. In a press release, Deloitte announced earlier this month a commitment "to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 for our own operations." Contacted by AFP, Deloitte's director for the Czech Republic, David Marek, said his office stands by the findings. Deloitte's worldwide operations pulled in more than $45 billion for the fiscal year ending in May 2019. mh/dl Sushant Singh Rajputs family lawyer Vikas Singh expressed his frustration with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), that is probing the actors death. The advocate claimed that the premier agency was delaying the conversion of the case from abetment to suicide to murder. He claimed a doctor from the team of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) that is working on the forensic report of the case, had told him, on the basis of the photos of his mortal remains, had confirmed that SSRs death was 'caused by strangulation.' READ: In Massive Sushant Case Development, CBI Team To Meet AIIMS Body To Assess Forensic Report Sushant Singh Rajputs lawyer on actor's death Vikas Singh tweeted on Friday about his frustration over the delay in the conversion of the case, as he claimed one of the doctors had told him 200 % that it was death by strangulation and not suicide. Getting frustrated by the delay in CBI taking a decision to convert abetment to suicide to Murder of SSR. The Doctor who is part of AIIMS team had told me long back that the photos sent by me indicated 200% that its death by strangulation and not suicide. Vikas Singh (@vikassinghSrAdv) September 25, 2020 Numerous other people, including politician Subramanian Swamy, actor Shekhar Suman, SSRs staff Ankit Acharya had raised questions about the marks on SSRs mortal remains and did not mince their words in calling it a murder. The CBI is likely to discuss with the AIIMS team about the forensic report, that will throw light on whether the death was homicide or suicide. Professor Dr Sudhar Gupta of AIIMS had earlier clarified that the report will be conclusive without any doubts. Sushant had been found dead at his Bandra residence on June 14. Sushants family on July 25 had filed a First Information Report at Patna police station. His father KK Singh accused SSRs live-in-girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, not just of abetment to suicide but also embezzlement, among other charges. However, the Bihar government recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, alleging non-co-operation from Mumbai Police, that had been probing the case till then. The CBI took up the case as per the Supreme Court order on August 19, after the Enforcement Directorate had already commenced the investigation into the embezzlement charges. Later, the family stated that they were suspecting murder and not suicide like mentioned in the FIR. The CBI also confirmed that they were probing both murder and homicide angles in the case. Meanwhile, the Narcotics Control Bureau also came into the picture, arresting Rhea for her alleged involvement in a drug cartel, while Deepika Padukone and numerous other stars are also set to be questioned for their involvement with drugs. READ: In Massive Sushant Case Development, CBI Team To Meet AIIMS Body To Assess Forensic Report READ: Sunanda Case: Dr. Swamy Questions Delhi Police On Not Submitting AIIMS Report In Court It is the opinion of the writer that Minister of Agriculture Saboto Caesar (pictured) cannot escape blame for the tardiness of his Ministry with respect to dealing with diseases. In his attempt to hide the evidence of their mismanagement of the economy of this country, Mr. Saboto Caesar, our Minister of Agriculture, has been trying to impress that the reason why we are not benefitting from the trading in bananas has been the loss of the preferential market we had on the British market. But the farming community knows that the reason has been the gross mismanagement by the ULP administration. One should not have to remind Mr. Caesar that they promised to revitalize the banana Industry and at the time when those promises were made, it was known that the marketing regime was going to see changes. Some of those issues should have been prepared for when we hosted that big International Banana Conference here in 2004. However, the decisions which were taken at that Conference which were to be speedily implemented never came. In view of what has become of the Industry today one finds it difficult not to agree with those who feel it was a big scam! One of the issues reflecting serious mismanagement was the neglect of the ULP government to address satisfactorily the issue of BLACK SIGATOKA. They remained un-responsive for two years before attempting to take any remedial action. Mr. Saboto Caesar and the CAO seemed to enjoy the publicity in the CUT-BACK operations. It must be remembered that the Government had previously undertaken the responsibility for PEST and DISEASE CONTROL in the industry. They did not honour that responsibility so they are therefore historically blameable. But they went one step further. They, in their insensitivity to societal development, neutralized/crippled the largest farmers organization in the land THE BANANA GROWERS; ASSOCIATION. They effectively crippled the farmers and reduced them to scrunters. The records clearly show that Mr. Caesar has been more than disappointing so far in his stint as Minister of Agriculture, particular so, that he represents an area of the state where the people have been traditionally keen on Agriculture. As we approach the time of elections, we must have serious discussions on several subjects, very important among them is our Agriculture. Recently there was a discussion progrmme on T.V, hosted by Mr. Timothy Antoine, the Governor of the ECCB, and the topic was HOW DO WE GET OUR PEOPLE TO EAT MORE LOCAL FOOD? This is a very important area and I am strongly suggesting the comprehensive examination of three plans, which our administration had proffered some time ago aimed at fostering our development. They are: 1. The Twenty-Point Hundred Days Plan authored by Sabota Caesar, Minister of Agriculture, and Ashley Cain CAO. 2. The ECCB Stimulation and Growth Plan of 2008. 3. The National Economic and Social Development Plan (NESDP). And we must bear in mind that the NESDP offered a vision for improving the life for all Vincentians and was anchored on the achievements of the following over-arching goals: * high and sustained levels of economic growth; * reduced unemployment and poverty levels; * improved physical infrastructure and environmental sustainability; * high levels of human and social development; * a peaceful, safe and secure nation; * a technologically advance work force; * a deep sense of national pride and cultural renaissance; * regional integration; * enhanced global solidarity. The agony burdening the Vincentian society testifies that the aforementioned plans have failed. It is imperative that they be critically reviewed in a serious examination which would inform us intelligently to determine how we proceed from here. Egypts health ministry had announced on Sunday that 332 Egyptians out of 642 applicants have met the criteria required for taking part in two Chinese coronavirus vaccine clinical trials Egypt is in talks to acquire coronavirus vaccines as soon as they are proved to be effective and are recognised internationally, the Egyptian cabinet spokesperson Nader Saad said Thursday In statements to DMC TVs DMC Evening, Saad said that Egypt has secured a commitment from the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) to receive 30 million vaccine doses as soon as the vaccine is accredited. Egypt is one of the first countries that will receive the vaccine in such quantities, he said. Saad said that even though the coronavirus situation in Egypt is reassuring, one should not get overconfident, noting that some neighbouring countries are seeing a second wave of the virus, and that Jordan has reinstated strict precautionary measures. Egypt had witnessed a slight increase in the daily tally of coronavirus cases in the past few weeks, reversing a low of 89 on August 22, the lowest daily infection toll since early April. With the onset of the new school year, keeping schools and universities functioning during the coronavirus pandemic and seasonal flu is a priority for the government in the upcoming period, Saad said. He added that the ministries of education and higher education have prepared a plan for the new academic year. The new academic year for public schools and universities will start on 17 October. According to the health ministry, Egypt has registered 102,513 coronavirus cases, including 92,644 fully recovered patients and 5,835 fatalities. Egypts health ministry had announced on Sunday that 332 Egyptians out of 642 applicants have met the criteria required for taking part in two Chinese coronavirus vaccine clinical trials. Search Keywords: Short link: Police are seen at the scene of an incident near the former offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Paris, France, September 25, 2020. / Credit: GONZALO FUENTES/REUTERS Paris Police in the French capital arrested one man after a stabbing attack outside the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Friday. The Paris Police later confirmed there were no other suspects being sought. French Prime Minister Jean Castex confirmed the attack, which police said had left two people wounded. Both victims, believed to be employees of a video production company that uses the office building, were left in serious but not life-threatening condition, according to the police. The Paris prosecutor's office opened a terrorism investigation into the stabbing not long after the suspect was apprehended on Friday. Elite police intervention units were on at the scene and a security cordon was quickly put up around the area. General view as police officers investigate the scene of an incident near the former offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Paris, France, September 25, 2020. / Credit: GONZALO FUENTES/REUTERS The building in the eastern 11th district of Paris was the scene of the deadly January 2015 attack carried out by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, who entered the offices on January 7 and killed 11 people, including eight Charlie Hebdo editorial staffers. As they fled the scene, the brothers killed a policeman who had been posted on guard outside the newspaper's offices, after it received numerous threats. Those threats related to Charlie Hebdo's publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Muslims believe his likeness should not displayed or published, and millions took offense, sparking huge protests across the Muslim world. The two brothers were later shot dead by police. A trial for that attack opened in Paris on September 2. The newspaper marked the occasion by republishing some of the cartoons of the Islamic prophet. Al Qaeda recently renewed its calls for attacks targeting the newspaper, which now operates out of a secret, heavily-guarded location. Charlie Hebdo journalists continue to receive threats, but its defiant director Laurent "Riss" Sourisseau, who was among those injured in the 2015 attack, vowed in the edition published earlier this month: "We will never give in. And we will never give up." Story continues It has taken five and a half years for the case to come to trial. In that time, investigators have pieced together the chain of events that led to the attacks, first on the Charlie Hebdo offices, then two days later at a Jewish supermarket in a Paris suburb. Initially police thought the second attack was the work of a copycat. However, in building their case, investigators found the two were closely coordinated, and that the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly who killed a policewoman on January 8 and then four men during the hostage-taking at the Hyper Cacher supermarket on January 9 had several accomplices in common. On trial are 14 people accused of helping the Kouachi brothers and Coulibaly. They face a range of charges including providing material support, funding, buying weapons, and procuring a getaway car for the attackers. They face possible sentences between 10 years and life imprisonment. "CBS Evening News" headlines for Thursday, September 24, 2020 Louisville police officers shot amid protests over Breonna Taylor "London Calling": U.K. imposes new restrictions to fight second wave of COVID-19 The national secretariat of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned the suspension of the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, by a faction of the party in the state for alleged anti-party activities. The faction in its resolution earlier published by PREMIUM TIMES accused the governor of supporting the re-election of the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, at the detriment of the APC flagbearer in the state. That Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the Executive Governor of Ekiti State is hereby suspended from the Party in view of his numerous anti-Party activities especially his role in the recent concluded governorship election in Edo State which is contrary to the provisions of Article 21 (A) (ii) of the APC Constitution, the faction stated. The controversial suspension was done a day after some leaders of the APC in Ekiti, including Babafemi Ojudu, political adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari, were suspended by the Ekiti APC, for allegedly refusing to withdraw suits against the party as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari. Mr Ojudu and other aggrieved members of the Ekiti APC are members of the faction that Friday announced the suspension of the governor. In its reaction to the controversy, the APC headquarters also rejected the indefinite suspension of the presidential aide and about a dozen others. The APC headquarters, in its statement issued Friday afternoon, condemned Mr Fayemis suspension, saying it recognises no faction of the APC in Ekiti. The actions are a nullity as the Partys National Secretariat is yet to receive communication from the state chapter on the purported suspensions. We strongly advise all members to adhere to our party constitution. Governor Kayode Fayemi remains the leader of the party in Ekiti State. In line with the mandate of the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led APC Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary National Convention Planning Committee and the Presidents admonition to party members to ensure and support ongoing amicable and rancour-free settlement of internal party disputes, we call on our esteemed party members and leaders in Ekiti State to be duly guided, APC national spokesperson, Yekini Nabena, wrote in the statement. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The 'Global 3-Methylpyridine (beta-Picoline, 3-Picoline, CAS 108-99-6) Market Outlook 2019-2024' offers detailed coverage of 3-methylpyridine industry and presents main market trends. The market research gives historical and forecast market size, demand, end-use details, price trends, and company shares of the leading 3-methylpyridine producers to provide exhaustive coverage of the market for 3-methylpyridine. The report segments the market and forecasts its size, by volume and value, on the basis of application, by products, and by geography. The report has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from key industry participants. The global 3-methylpyridine market has been segmented into five major regions, namely, North America (U.S., Canada, and others), Europe (U.K., France, Germany, Russia, and others), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Australia, and others), South America (Brazil, Argentina, and others), and Middle East & Africa (South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and others). Furthermore, the report also includes an in-depth competitive analysis of the key vendors operating in this market. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3841 Key Regions - North America - Europe - Asia Pacific - Middle East & Africa - South America Key Vendors - Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd. - Vertellus Holdings LLC - Shandong Luba Chemical Co., Ltd. - Nanjing Red Sun Co., Ltd. - Koei Chemical Co., Ltd. - request free sample to get a complete list of companies Key Questions Answered in This Report - Analysis of the 3-methylpyridine market including revenues, future growth, market outlook - Historical data and forecast - Regional analysis including growth estimates - Analyzes the end user markets including growth estimates. - Profiles on 3-methylpyridine vendors including products, sales/revenues, SWOT, and market position, recent developments. - Market structure, market drivers and restraints. More Info of Impact Covid19@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/covid-19-analysis/3841 University Health System is laying the groundwork for a hospital on the far West Side, one of the fastest-growing parts of San Antonio. It would be taxpayer-funded UHS second hospital. Its flagship University Hospital, with 700 beds, is in the South Texas Medical Center. Officials say theyre still early in the planning for the new facility. Yet the systems board of managers agreed Aug. 25 to spend $13.4 million for a mostly vacant 80-acre tract of land, according to meeting minutes. The greenbelt is between Culebra and Shaenfield roads, alongside Loop 1604. George Hernandez, UHS president and CEO, said the acquisition will set a foundation for future growth as the system acts on its long-term plan to build additional hospitals across the city. Michael Fisher/ San Antonio Express-News He expects to close on the purchase soon but hasnt set a timeline for design work and construction of the hospital. UHS is acquiring the land from Creamer Ltd., an affiliate of Rick Sheldon Real Estate LLC On ExpressNews.com: UT Health San Antonio to build teaching hospital, strengthen partnership with UHS On Wednesday, the citys planning commission OKd changing the designated use of a 32.2-acre section of the property from mixed use to community commercial. The citys zoning commission will vote Oct. 6 on whether to rezone the tract, which would clear UHS to build an acute care hospital with a helicopter landing pad. Two years ago, health care consulting firm Blue Cottage conducted a market analysis for the Bexar County Hospital District, the public agency that does business as UHS. The firm identified the West Side as a good candidate for a suburban hospital campus. The hospital would be in Bexar County Commissioner Justin Rodriguezs precinct. He said the far West Side has seen significant population growth in recent years, especially around Loop 1604. New school construction is one of the signs that families are flocking to the area. In a separate undertaking, UHS is working with UT Health San Antonio on the schools plan to build a teaching hospital in the Medical Center by spring 2024. On ExpressNews.com: University Health System prepares for $500 million hospital expansion The system also is building the Womens and Childrens Hospital, a 12-story tower with two new emergency departments, at its Medical Center campus. UHS officials say building another hospital would free up about 70 beds at University Hospital, allowing staff to concentrate on more complex cases and serve more patients transferred from communities throughout the region. We need to have a better geographic distribution of our hospital resources to support growth but also our existing ambulatory system, Hernandez said. Were looking at the Northeast corridor as well, and I think were going to look at the southern corridor. The timing on all those could be different. UHS shares the market with privately owned systems such as Baptist Health System, Methodist Healthcare System and Christus Santa Rosa Health System, each of which operates several hospitals in the San Antonio area. However, the citys East and South sides are home to fewer hospitals or medical clinics. Residents in those communities often travel to the downtown area for health care. SA Inc.: Get the best of business news sent directly to your inbox On the East Side, we always welcome any type of health care providers, especially right now because of this pandemic, which has exposed that there is a disparity in health care for African American and Hispanic communities, said Tuesdae Knight, president and CEO of the economic development organization San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside. Knight said she understood that UHS couldnt have too many projects in the works at the same time but that she hoped UHS had plans to build on the East Side, too. I can tell you that we are so happy that the West Side is getting this because I know that they need it, she said. Im sure that our day will come. Staff Writer Lauren Caruba contributed to this report. Laura Garcia covers the health care industry. To read more from Laura, become a subscriber. laura.garcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @Reporter_Laura India and some of the other South Asian nations on Thursday foiled Pakistans renewed move to get the consent of the SAARC to host the long-pending 19th summit of the regional organization. Nepal, which currently holds the chair of the SAARC, also stressed on holding the summit of the eight-nation-bloc early. India and most of the other members of the organization, however, expressed the view that it was not an opportune time to hold the conclave as they were preoccupied with dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. As he joined his counterparts from the other SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) nations in a virtual meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar took a tacit dig at Pakistan for exporting terror to India and other nations and thus hindering cooperation within the SAARC for development and prosperity in South Asia. Pakistans Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the other hand indirectly raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and said that the peaceful resolution of outstanding disputes was a pre-requisite for achieving development, poverty alleviation and social upliftment in the region. Qureshi reiterated the willingness of the Pakistan Government to host the 19th SAARC summit and said that the obstacles created in the way of holding the conclave should be removed for the bloc to function as an effective instrument of regional cooperation. The 19th SAARC summit had been scheduled to be hosted by the Pakistan Government in Islamabad on November 9 and 10 in 2016. It had been postponed after New Delhi had decided to opt-out, protesting cross-border terrorism coming from the territory under the control of Pakistan, particularly the attacks on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in Punjab in January 2016 and the Indian Armys brigade headquarters at Uri in Kashmir in September 2016. The other SAARC nations had also followed suit and the summit had been postponed indefinitely. Pradeep Kumar Gyawali of Nepal chaired the virtual meeting of the SAARC Foreign Ministers on Thursday. He urged the SAARC member states to explore all viable options to hold the 19th Summit at an early date and to generate the new momentum and dynamism in the regional organization, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nepalese Government. Nepal has been holding the chair of the SAARC since the 18th summit that it had hosted in November 2014. During the virtual meeting on Thursday, Nepals national statement was presented by its Foreign Secretary, Shanker Das Bairagi, who noted that holding the 19th SAARC Summit had remained stalled for a long period. He also pointed out that the meetings of the SAARC Council of Ministers and Standing Committee also remained pending since 2016. We believe that the formal mechanisms of SAARC must function properly. The early holding of the 19th Summit has become imperative to further the SAARC process. We hope that the Council will make an appropriate decision on this vital matter, said Nepalese Foreign Secretary. New Delhis relations with Beijing came under stress over the past few months after Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli ratcheted up his countrys territorial disputes with India. Prime Minister Narendra Modis government suspects that Pakistans all-weather ally China has played a role in straining the ties between India and Nepal at a time when the Indian Army is already engaged in a stand-off with the communist countrys Peoples Liberation Army along the disputed boundary between the two nations in eastern Ladakh. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi stated that the virtual meeting on Thursday saw several SAARC Foreign Ministers appreciating the leadership of the Prime Minister of India in convening a video conference of the leaders of the bloc on March 15 this year to initiate collaborative measures for combating the pandemic in the region. Jaishankar highlighted a slew of measures taken by India in the follow-up to the video conference of the SAARC leaders on March 15, including virtually convening health professionals and trade officials meetings, creating a Covid-19 Information Exchange Platform (COINEX), foreign currency swap support, and activation of SAARC Food Bank mechanism. He informed that under Indias contribution to SAARC Covid-19 Emergency Fund, the supply of essential drugs, medical consumables, protection, and testing kits, and other equipment, amounting $ 2.3 million, were made available to the countries in the region. He reiterated Indias continued commitment to assisting SAARC countries in combating Covid-19 pandemic and in building a connected, integrated, secure, and prosperous South Asia. United Nations, Sep 26 : The Indian delegate at the United Nations General Assembly session on Friday walked out in protest when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan began attacking India in his speech at the high-level meeting. First Secretary Mijito Vinito, who was sitting on the second seat in the first row of the Assembly chamber, stood up and left as soon as Khan turned on India by focusing on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In a tweet, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, T.S. Tirumurti decried Khan's attacks as "warmongering and obfuscation". Khan's pre-recorded speech was screened at the General Assembly chamber during the annual meeting stymied this year by the Covid-19 precautions. A new element tucked into Khan's 34-minute speech, more than a third of which was devoted to India, was a call for the Security Council to send its peacekeeping force to Kashmir by drawing a parallel to East Timor, now known as Timor-Leste. "The Security Council must prevent a disaster conflict (in Kashmir) and secure the implementation of its own resolutions, as it did in the case of East Timor," Khan said. The Security Council authorised international intervention and sent peacekeepers in the aftermath of the Indonesian invasion of the former Portuguese colony, but a parallel would require such a force to clear Pakistanis in Kashmir in defiance of its resolution demanding their withdrawal. Khan also declared a thinly veiled support for the attacks on India by the militants. "The government and the people of Pakistan are committed to standing by and supporting the Kashmiri brothers and sisters in their legitimate struggle for self-determination," he said. To preemptively deny the involvement in any Pakistan-sponsored attacks on India, Khan said, "We have consistently sensitised the world community about a false flag operation." Khan alleged, "India is playing a dangerous game of upping the ante against Pakistan in a nuclearised environment." In his tweet, Tirumurti said, "PM of Pakistan's statement a new diplomatic low at 75th UN General Assembly. Another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, warmongering and obfuscation of Pakistan's persecution of its own minorities and of its cross-border terrorism. Befitting Right of Reply awaits." At the start of his speech with religious platitudes, Khan declared his commitment to an even more stringent theocratic state before accusing India of moving away from secularism. "We envisage Naya Pakistan to be modelled on the principles of the state of Medina, established by the Holy Prophet Mohammed," he declared. Later, the premier of the Islamic republic, which constitutionally denies full citizenship rights to non-Muslims as well as Muslims of the Ahmadiyya sect, asserted that India is giving up on the secularism of Mahatma Gandhi and is moving towards a "Hindutva" state. "The secularism of Gandhi and Nehru has been replaced by the dream of creating a Hindu Rashtra," he asserted. Khan's attacks on the RSS is to try to build up support for his cause, which has so far seen only Turkish support, by linking it to Nazism as his attacks on India have not found any backing. Khan was silent on the persecution of the Uighur minority in China, Pakistan's patron, and Beijing's verified creation of camps for internment of the Muslim minority and campaign to eradicate their cultural and religious identity. But he claimed that according to "reports", there were camps in India filled with Muslims. He also accused India of changing the demography of Kashmir and suppressing its cultural identity. He invoked the Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and said the Council should enforce them. However, the main resolution on Kashmir -- No. 47 -- demands that Pakistan should withdraw its troops and personnel from Kashmir. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis) Northern Irelands First Minister has warned people not to game the coronavirus regulations as she urged against non-essential cross-border trips. Arlene Foster told anyone contemplating a trip from the region to a holiday home or caravan in Co Donegal to stay at home. Her comments come after the islands two chief medical officers called on people to limit cross-border travel in response to soaring infection rates in Co Donegal and in the Derry City and Strabane Council area. Co Donegal has been placed under a three-week period of tightened restrictions by the Irish Government while across the border the area around Londonderry is recording the highest Covid-19 infection figures of anywhere in Northern Ireland. What we're trying to do at the moment is to break the transmission of the virus and the way to do that is to follow the regulations and to follow the advice Arlene Foster Mrs Foster, whose own Fermanagh constituency is adjacent to Donegal, said she had a very good conversation about the situation with Taoiseach Micheal Martin. Obviously, because of the fact that Donegal runs right down the west of the province in relation to the border, theres a need to have practical co-operation and we discussed that last night, she said in Enniskillen. And as you know, the two chief medical officers have released a statement as to how it should be managed, that people shouldnt be going between the two different jurisdictions, unless theres an exempted reason for doing so. In a message to anyone considering a cross-border leisure trip at the weekend, she added: I would advise them not to go because I dont think that that is essential travel, and its certainly not an exempted part. And people shouldnt try to game the regulations, people should use their common sense. What were trying to do at the moment is to break the transmission of the virus and the way to do that is to follow the regulations and to follow the advice and I think people should listen very carefully to the advice thats been given to citizens in Donegal but also to what were saying here in Northern Ireland. Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill noted the alarming speed at which case numbers had risen in Donegal. I think it shows that the virus is still with us, she said. It shows that the virus spreads at an alarming rate. It shows how quickly peoples fortunes can turn around. What we need now is a very strong response to that and I welcome the fact that, you know, measures have been put in place immediately. Ive spoken with the chief medical officer who has spoken to his counterpart Ronan Glynn, they very much recognised that we need to move now in lockstep, we need to be very joined up on our messaging, we need to fight this virus as a whole island approach. I think that the fact that we live on an island is an advantage to us and we need to work very hard to make sure that we are moving in tandem in fighting back against Covid-19. The document on evacuating the residents is an Azerbaijani falsification. The Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) National Security Service (NSS) has issued a statement in this regard. "() taking into account the public interest in the document On the evacuation of the residents of Artsakh published on social media, in order to prevent unverifiedand in some cases, aimed at disseminating disinformationcomments, the National Security Service of the Artsakh Republic considers it necessary to inform that the Azerbaijani special services are again making active attempts to disseminate disinformation, as the mentioned document is fake. The mentioned circumstance once again proves that the Azerbaijani side is attempting to cause panic, with cheap means, among the Armenian society," the statement of the Artsakh NSS reads, in particular. ICE EV The low-volume maker of luxury cars has made a name for itself by remaining true to its core values that have guided its activity for more than a century. Rolls-Royce has seemingly been that brand that seemed frozen in time, doing things its own way regardless of what was going on around it.That approach may have flown until now, but if the powers that be decide we can't drivecars anymore, not even Rolls-Royce can stand against that. The only two things the company can do in that situation is to call it quits or fall in line. BMW would have no problem surviving without the British brand in its portfolio, but it does score extra points in style for the Bavarians, and those are hard to come by. Besides, it's the only real way they can compete with the Mercedes-Maybach models since no matter how many expensive materials you throw in a BMW 7-Series, it will still lack the historical name of its competitor.So, at some point, Rolls-Royce might be forced to release a battery-powered model , and that moment could come sooner rather than later. It will surprise nobody that BMW is well aware of the situation and has just trademarked what could very well be the name for the firstmodel of its luxury brand.The information surfaced on the i4Talk forum posted by a user called giga_world. According to their discovery, BMW has filed a trademark application with the German Patent and Trademark Office for the "Silent Shadow" name.If that sounds somewhat familiar, it's because it's very close to the name of the classic Silver Shadow model that was last produced in the 1980s. We have no idea whether the two models will share more than just a name similarity - hell, we don't even know for sure whether the Silent Shadow will be an EV, or if it will be at all.What a missed opportunity this would be, though, don't you think? The name is perfect, offering both a connection to the brand's past as well as a clear description of the new vehicle's nature - Rolls-Royce and BMW couldn't have come up with a better choice.Unfortunately, when it comes to EVs, it's not just the Shadow that's silent, but also Rolls-Royce as well. BMW is starting to make serious strides in its EV offensive, yet it still has a long way to go. With just the iX3 available out of the company's promised new wave of EVs, it's way too early to gauge the technological level just yet.Naturally, Rolls-Royce is keeping quiet for now, and even though we can't know what's going on behind the closed doors of their R&D department, it's good to see the company is at least preparing a name. And a cool one at that. Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah, the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive has lauded Bloomberg Philanthropies for Global Road Safety for extending the six-year road safety project to the city of Kumasi. Mr Sowah made the commendation when he addressed a virtual meeting in Accra to kick-start support to the country by Bloomberg Philanthropies towards the prevention of road traffic crashes in the country. Ghana was selected in February this year as one of 15 countries to benefit from Bloomberg Philanthropies 240-million dollar commitment to help prevent road traffic deaths over a six-year period, from 2020 to 2025. Accra and Kumasi have been chosen to be part of 30 cities around the world to benefit from the project. The virtual meeting was participated by the Minister of Transport, Kweku Ofori Asiamah, the Executive Director of the National Road Safety Authority, Madam May Obiri Yeboah, Metro Coordinating Director of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and other representatives of road safety stakeholder organisations. Mr Sowah said: Five years ago, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly was privileged to be part of the first five-year phase of this life-saving project and has chalked many successes on the ticket of this initiative. We are highly delighted to collaborate with Bloomberg Philanthropies once again in the new six-year phase of this important mission of reducing crashes and saving lives. The Chief Executive said statistics had shown that road crashes and its related deaths and injuries were on the rise in the country and that the respective assemblies needed to work to the best of their abilities on the partnership to ensure the reduction of road traffic injuries and deaths across the entire nation. Mr Asiamah said: The great success I have personally witnessed within the first phase of this project within the city of Accra lends credence to the fact that Ghana stands to benefit highly from this project. My Ministry and I pledge our unflinching support to Bloomberg Philanthropies on this life saving six-year journey. The Bloomberg Philanthropies, based on the success of 12 years of investment in road safety, announced in February, during the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Stockholm, Sweden, a doubling of its support for global road safety, securing another 240 million US dollars between 2020 and 2025 to save 600,000 lives and prevent up to 22 million injuries in low- and middle-income participating counties around the world, such as Ghana. The six-year reinvestment in Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety is expected to double the impact of these life saving measures. Since 2007, the initiative has saved nearly 312,000 lives and prevented up to 11.5 million injuries. 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 DGAP-News: Gungnir Resources Inc. / Key word(s): Miscellaneous Gungnir Resources Inc.: Gungnir Upsizes Previously Announced Financing and Closes Strategic Investment by Palisades Goldcorp Ltd 25.09.2020 / 14:00 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Gungnir Upsizes Previously Announced Financing and Closes Strategic Investment by Palisades Goldcorp Ltd. Surrey, BC - September 25, 2020 - Gungnir Resources Inc. (GUG: TSX-V, ASWRF: OTCPK) ("Gungnir" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that due to interest from a European institutional investor, the Company is upsizing its recently announced non-brokered private placement offering (See the Company's news release dated September 14, 2020), and expects to raise up to an additional $200,000, for up to total of $600,000 in gross proceeds (the "Offering"). The Offering consists of units of the Company (the "Units") priced at $0.06 per Unit (the "Unit Price"), with each Unit consisting of one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Common Share") and one common share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one Common Share (each, a "Warrant Share") at a price per Warrant Share of $0.09 per share for a period of 36 months from the issue date. In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that it has closed the first tranche with a lead order from Palisades Goldcorp Ltd of the Offering for gross proceeds of $400,000 from the sale of 6,666,667 Units (the "First Tranche"). The net proceeds of the Offering will be used to continue the exploration program, inclusive of drilling, at the Company's 100% owned projects in Sweden, concentrating on the Knaften Gold zone and our two nickel resources, Rormyrberget and Lappvattnet. The Offering is expected to close on or about September 30, 2020 and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and the applicable securities regulatory authorities. All securities issued under the Offering are subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from the issue date. As consideration for the services of certain finders, the Company will pay a cash commission of 8% of the gross proceeds of the Offering and that number of non-transferrable finder units (the "Finder Units") as is equal to 8% of the aggregate number of Units sold under the Offering. Each Finder Unit was priced at $0.06 and consisted of one Common Share and one common share purchase warrant (each, a "Finder Warrant"). Each Finder Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one Common Share (each, a "Finder Warrant Share") at a price per Finder Warrant Share of $0.09 per share for a period of 36 months from the issue date. In connection with the closing of the First Tranche, the Company paid a cash commission of $32,000 and issued an aggregate of 533,333 Finder Units. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the 1933 Act and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act, as amended, and application state securities laws. About Palisades Goldcorp Palisades Goldcorp is Canada's new resource focused merchant bank. Palisades' management team has a demonstrated track record of making money and is backed by many of the industry's most notable financiers. With junior resource equities valued at generational lows, management believes the sector is on the cusp of a major bull market move. Palisades is positioning itself with significant stakes in undervalued companies and assets with the goal of generating superior returns. About Gungnir Resources Gungnir Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based TSX-V listed mineral exploration company (GUG: TSX-V) with gold and base metal permits in northern Sweden. The Company's key project, Knaften, hosts high-grade gold, VMS (zinc-copper) and copper-nickel targets, and all are open for expansion and further discovery. The Company also holds two nickel-copper-cobalt deposits, Lappvattnet and Rormyrberget, located east of Knaften. Further information about the Company and its properties may be found at www.gungnirresources.com or at www.sedar.com. On behalf of the Board, Chris Robbins, CFO and Director For further information contact: Head Office/Investor Relations Phone: +1-604-683-0484 Jari Paakki, CEO Email: jpaakki@eastlink.ca Chris Robbins, CFO Email: robbinscr@shaw.ca Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Information Certain statements in this news release may constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (also known as forward-looking statements). Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, and may cause actual results, performance or achievements or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements or industry results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by the use of terms and phrases such as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "feel", "intend", "may", "plan", "predict", "project", "subject to", "will", "would", and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions. Some of the specific forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: Gungnir's plan for future exploration and development of its properties, Gungnir's plan for future disclosure relating to exploration and development of its properties within the timelines set out above or at all; the exercise of warrants; expectation to raise additional funds under the Offering; and the use of net proceeds from the Offering. Forward-looking information is based on a number of key expectations and assumptions made by Gungnir, including, without limitation: the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the Canadian and global economy and Gungnir's business, and the extent and duration of such impact; no change to laws or regulations that negatively affect Gungnir's business; there will be a demand for Gungnir's services and products in the future; Gungnir will be able to raise additional funds under the Offering; Gungnir will receive the required approvals to closing the Offering; and Gungnir will be able to operate its business as planned. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what Gungnir believes to be reasonable assumptions, it cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with such information. Forward-looking information is provided for the purpose of presenting information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking information involves significant risks and uncertainties and should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results as actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking information. Those risks and uncertainties include, among other things, risks related to: no certainty that any economically viable mineral deposit will be located on Gungnir's properties; Gungnir may not raise any additional funds under the Offering; Gungnir may not receive approval from the TSX Venture Exchange; that Gungnir will be able to complete its exploration programs as anticipated; the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Canadian and global economy, Gungnir's industry and its business, which may negatively impact, and may continue to negatively impact, Gungnir and may materially adversely affect its investments, results of operations, financial condition and Gungnir's ability to obtain additional equity or debt financing, and satisfy its financial obligations; circumstances may change resulting in the use of proceeds set out in this news release; general economic conditions; future growth potential; common share prices; liquidity; tax risk; tax laws currently in effect remaining unchanged; ability to access capital markets; environmental matters; and changes in legislation or regulations. Management believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information contained herein are based upon reasonable assumptions and information currently available; however, management can give no assurance that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Gungnir. The forward-looking information is stated as of the date of this news release and Gungnir assumes no obligation to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by applicable law. 25.09.2020 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de With the stir against the Centres agriculture reforms intensifying, Punjab is seriously contemplating amending the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act and declaring the entire state as a Principal Mandi Yard. The development comes as the government is also facing heat from the Opposition after the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Shiromani Akali Dals (SAD) lone minister in the Narendra Modi government over the proposed legislation. A report in The Indian Express, citing sources, said that the Congress government, which is under tremendous political pressure, feels that doing so will bypass provisions in The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, which was cleared by the Parliament. The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, have been passed by both Houses and await presidential assent. Sources aware of the development told the publication that the government has not yet taken a final decision with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh seeking a legal opinion on the matter. On Thursday, he was briefed by Advocate General Atul Nanda. Meanwhile, State Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said the government is contemplating such a move but added that it may be struck down by the Supreme Court. The Chief Minister has already said that we will go to the Supreme Court against the central governments legislation. Let us see, he was quoted as saying. Sources in the Chief Ministers Office also said that agriculture experts had advised last week that the state follow the example of Rajasthan, which had notified warehouses that fall under the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and Rajasthan State Warehousing Corporation (RSWC) as procurement centres under the states APMC Act, the IE report added. Intensifying their protests against the contentious agricultural bills passed by Parliament earlier this week, several farmers organisations, including from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, called for a national shutdown on Friday. Farmers in Punjab have already started a three-day rail blockade against the bills, squatting on tracks at many places. Ever since the bills were tabled, farmers expressed apprehensions that the legislations will pave way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system and they will be at the mercy of big corporates. The Congress-led government in Punjab has described the legislation as a blatant attack on the federal structure. The Centre, however, assured the farmers that these very historic bills would benefit them. vient donc de faire une nouvelle fois mumuse avec une bonne grosse CG, a savoir la. La carte a ete mise sous froid avec de l'azote liquide et overclocker a pas moins de 2580 MHz sur le GPU et 21.5 Gbps sur la memoire, ce qui nous donne 52 % d'OC sur le GPU et un peu plus de 10 % sur la memoire. Et avec un tel OC, forcement, un nouveau record est tombe. Mais pour faire tomber ce record, il faut aussi ajouter que le 10900K qui etait a 5.2 GHz sur tous les cores et la memoire en DDR4-4600...Avec cette configuration, le score sous 3D Mark Port Royal etait de 16773 points, soit 30 % de plus que ce que propose la carte @ stock.Sachez qu'une RTX 3090 Founders Edition s'OC de 7 % maximum en moyenne, donc 52 % imaginez... The weekly food shop will get more expensive unless a free trade deal is reached with the EU, experts warn. The British Retail Consortium said supermarkets would face an annual 3.1billion tariff bill for food and drink. The BRC said retailers would have 'nowhere to go other than to raise the price of food' to mitigate the trade tariffs if there is no deal before Christmas. It added that many non-food retailers would also face large tariff bills for EU-sourced products. Andrew Opie, from the BRC, said: 'Unless we negotiate a zero-tariff deal with the EU, the public will face higher prices for their weekly shop. The British Retail Consortium said supermarkets would face an annual 3.1billion tariff bill for food and drink 'This would prevent harm to shoppers, retailers and the wider economy.' The EU is the UK's largest trading partner and represents four-fifths of food imports, the BRC said. In May, the UK published its new tariff schedule, which will be implemented by January 1 next year if a deal is not agreed. Under this, 85 per cent of foods imported from the EU will face tariffs of more than five per cent, while the average tariff on food imported from the continent will top 20 per cent. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: 'We continue to work hard to reach a deal with the EU and our aim has been to have a zero-tariff, zero-quota Free Trade Agreement and we look forward to continuing those discussions next week.' Hopes of a Brexit deal by October are at 50/50 as No10 says the EU has a 'more constructive' attitude but still hadn't bridged key issue of fisheries Hopes of a Brexit deal by next month were put at 50/50 yesterday as No 10 said the EU had a 'more constructive' attitude but still had not bridged significant gaps. A deal or no deal are both still possible outcomes ahead of a European Council summit in mid-October, British officials said. They warned there was still no agreement over the key issues of fisheries and 'level playing field' rules on areas such as competition and state aid. The comments appeared to scotch reports from Brussels that the 'tide is turning' and that Downing Street was 'cautiously optimistic' a deal would be done. Both sides have agreed that the European Council summit on October 15 is the last opportunity to agree a trade deal. A Government official said yesterday: 'We are in the final period of negotiations. 'There remains a lot of work to do and either outcome is still possible. In particular, the differences on fisheries and the level playing field remain significant. 'If the gaps in these areas are to be bridged, the EU's more constructive attitude will need to be translated into more realistic policy positions.' Talks between the two sides have been deadlocked for months because of disagreements on key issues. Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, returned to Brussels from London yesterday after another round of informal talks ended without a breakthrough. EU diplomats also suggested significant progress was yet to be made. It came after reports overnight that there was a 'cautious but growing optimism in Whitehall'. The Times reported that there was now a 'more positive attitude' surrounding negotiations and that a 'deal is coming into view'. Earlier yesterday, Downing Street said there had been 'useful exchanges' with Brussels in recent weeks. The Prime Minister's deputy official spokesman said: 'Progress has been made in certain areas but we've always been clear that a number of challenging areas remain, which is why we continue to be committed to working hard to reach an agreement and we look forward to the next negotiating round in Brussels.' The comments from No 10 came after an EU official told the Politico website 'it seems like the tide is turning'. Relations between Britain and the bloc plummeted in recent weeks after Mr Johnson published plans to override parts of the Brexit divorce deal, but tensions appear to be easing. However, European Council president Charles Michel suggested the EU would not give in yesterday in his speech to the UN General Assembly. 'From now on, we will better enforce the level playing field in a market open to those who respect its standards, whether they leave our union or want to move closer to it,' he said. In a clear swipe at Mr Johnson, he added: 'Respect for treaties, basic principle of international law, comes to be considered optional even by those who, until recently, were its historical guarantors.' Yesterday, EU diplomats said the UK needs to provide 'more detailed, concrete proposals' on the main sticking points. One suggested there would be an increased risk of no deal if there was no major progress on key issues in next week's negotiating round. A spokesman for Mr Barnier said he 'is neither optimistic nor pessimistic but he is determined to reach a deal'. [September 25, 2020] German know-how for the e-mobility boom in China: BENTELER at Bosch booth at Auto Beijing - BENTELER and Bosch support electric vehicle manufacturers in the prospering Chinese automotive market with a jointly developed rolling chassis - The modular and scalable platform solution for electric vehicles will be presented at the Beijing International Automobile Exhibition 2020 in China - In parallel with its presence at the trade fair, BENTELER is launching an extensive information initiative about e-mobility worldwide SALZBURG, Austria and PADERBORN, Germany, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The rolling chassis for electric vehicles, jointly developed by BENTELER and Bosch, will be on show in Beijing, China from Saturday at the Beijing International Automobile Exhibition 2020. Electric car manufacturers, also those new to the electromobility market, can find out about the advantages of the modular and scalable platform solution at the Bosch booth until October 5. It allows new models to be brought to market much more efficiently and faster than was previously the case. Furthermore, car manufacturers benefit from the decades of BENTELER's experience as a global partner to the automotive industry. In this way BENTELER is playing an active role in the Chinese electric mobility boom. China is the world's largest market for electric and plug-in hybrid automobiles. After the production stop in spring, the industry recorded strong growth in electromobility for the fifth month in a row in August. Sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles with alternative drives rose by 25.8 percent compared to the previous month. Experts expect further increases. Parallel to thetrade fair presentation in China, BENTELER is launching an extensive information initiative worldwide to promote the development of sustainable mobility concepts. The highlight is a 90-minute web conference, hosted by Marco Kollmeier, Vice President Business Unit E-Mobility at BENTELER on October 29. Interested parties can find further information on the web conference at https://www.benteler-automotive.com/en/products-competencies/e-mobility. On the webpage and via newsletter, BENTELER also publishes technical articles on the challenges and solutions for car manufacturers in the area of electromobility. The presented products, services and applications are based on BENTELER's first-class engineering competence, innovative material and process technologies as well as comprehensive expertise in metal forming and processing. The rolling chassis systems developed by BENTELER include, among other things, integrated crash management, flexible and scalable battery storage systems and chassis solutions for electric axles. "I'm very pleased that our outstanding solutions will find a wide audience both in China, the largest e-mobility market in the world, and in Germany, the home of automobility. We see ourselves as solution providers who, together with our customers, bring e-mobility concepts to the road," says Marco Kollmeier, Vice President Business Unit E-Mobility at BENTELER. "BENTELER provides extensive know-how, an international network of strategic partners and decades of experience as partner to the automotive industry. This way we support our customers whether they are established manufacturers or start-ups from outside the industry. And thus support them in their projects happen faster and more cost-effectively." Contact: BENTELER International AG Birgit Held Vice President Corporate Communications/Marketing Salzburg, Austria Tel.: +43 662 2283-101040 / Mobile: +43 664 88361890 Email: public.relations@benteler.com About BENTELER BENTELER is a global, family-owned company serving customers in automotive technology, the energy sector and mechanical engineering. As innovative partner, we design, produce and distribute safety-relevant products, systems and services. In the 2019 financial year, Group revenues were 7.713 billion. Under the management of the strategic holding BENTELER International AG, headquartered in Salzburg, Austria, the Group is organized into the Divisions BENTELER Automotive and BENTELER Steel/Tube. Our around 30,000 employees at 100 locations in 28 countries offer first-class manufacturing and distribution competence all dedicated to delivering a first-class service wherever our customers need us. BENTELER. The family of driven professionals. Since 1876. www.benteler.com About BENTELER Automotive BENTELER Automotive is the development partner for the worlds leading automobile manufacturers. With around 26,000 employees and more than 70 plants in about 25 countries we develop tailored solutions for our customers. Our products include components and modules in the areas of chassis, body, engine and exhaust systems, as well as solutions for electric vehicles. www.benteler-automotive.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1280874/BENTELER_Auto_Beijing_2020.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1039923/BENTELER_Logo.jpg SOURCE BENTELER [ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\LTE's Homepage ] PASADENA, Texas, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On Thursday, August 27, 2020, the Pasadena EDC Board of Directors approved the launch of the Pasadena Loves Local Campaign in partnership with the City of Pasadena and the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce to support the local business community. "The overall goal for the campaign is to encourage residents and business owners to invest in Pasadena to support our local business community," said Suzette McDowell, Marketing Manager for Pasadena EDC. "As Pasadena works toward the rebuilding phase from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative for us to work collectively to support those who serve our community." One of the campaign's main components will be the launch of the Pasadena Cares Financial Assistance Grant Program, designed to provide financial relief to the most vulnerable businesses who maintain operations in the City of Pasadena. Grants will be awarded in the amount of $1,000.00 through a lottery process set to take place in two phases. A total of $250,000 has been approved to fund the grants program. "It is essential for all of us to come together to support local businesses. The program will not only provide financial relief to struggling businesses but also help raise awareness on the importance of investing in our local community," said Steve Cote, Pasadena EDC Chairman. Phase 1 of the grant applications and eligibility criteria are now available online at www.PasadenaLovesLocal.biz. Small businesses interested in applying are encouraged to review the application guidelines and eligibility criteria prior to applying. Deadline to apply for Phase 1 of the grant program is Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 11:59 PM. "It is an honor to help so many deserving businesses in our community," said Pasadena Mayor Jeff Wagner. "This grant program is just one example of the vital partnerships that make Pasadena a great place to do business." Grant recipients will be contacted in late October and a special check distribution event will take place in November. For more information and announcements for Phase 2 of the grants program, be sure to follow Pasadena EDC at www.PasadenaEDC.com or on social media FB: @PasadenaEDC, Twitter: @Pasadena_EDC, LinkedIn: @PasadenaEconomicDevelopmentCorporation. SOURCE Pasadena Economic Development Corporation Related Links http://www.PasadenaEDC.com Drugs case: Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan return; top male actors in NCB list? The Narcotics Control Bureau has significantly expanded its drugs probe which started in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death. Deepika Padukone and Sara Ali Khan returned to Mumbai on September 24 after receiving NCB summons in connection with the case. While Deepika was in Goa to work on a new film being directed by Shakun Batra, Sara was in the state for a vacation with her mother Amrita Singh. Both of them are likely to be questioned on September 26, while fellow actors Rakul Preet and Shraddha Kapoor will be also be appearing before the NCB in the coming days. The probe might widen further with reports suggesting that Jaya Saha, Sushant's former talent manager, naming 4 top male actors in the case. Meanwhile, the drugs probe agency questioned designer Simone Khambatta in Mumbai. Amid all this, Rhea Chakraborty alleged a witch-hunt during a hearing in the Bombay High Court on her bail application. Watch the full video for more. ...read more MINSK -- A lawyer representing a top opposition activist in Belarus has been freed after a court imposed a fine against her on September 25, a day after she was detained by police. Meanwhile, three journalists who have covered weeks of mass protests against the country's longtime authoritarian ruler have each been sentenced to about two weeks in jail. The lawyer, Lyudmila Kazak, went missing on September 24 before police confirmed later in the day that she had been arrested. She was found guilty of "failing to obey police" and fined about $260. Kazak has defended Maryya Kalesnikava, a key member of a council Belarus's political opposition set up to push for a new presidential election in the wake of the disputed August 9 vote that officials said had given Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term in office. The opposition and some poll workers claim that the results were falsified. Kalesnikava is facing charges of undermining state security and could be sentenced to up to five years in prison if she is convicted. Kazak had relayed several messages to the public that Kalesnikava sent from jail -- including calls for protesters to continue anti-Lukashenka protests as well as allegations that law enforcement officers threatened to kill Kalesnikava. "Freedom is worth fighting for. Do not be afraid to be free," one of Kalesnikava's messages said. "I do not regret anything and would do the same again." Kalesnikava has said Belarusian security forces drove her to the border with Ukraine to try to make her leave the country, but she tore up her passport. Meanwhile, two journalists with the Polish-funded Belsat TV channel that covers Belarus were sentenced on September 25 to 12 days in jail and each fined about $310. They were charged with working without accreditation. A Belarusian video journalist was also sentenced on September 25 to 15 days for "involvement in mass disorder," according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians have been protesting daily since official results announced from the presidential election gave Lukashenka about 80 percent of the vote. With reporting by AP Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali has urged the SAARC member nations to explore all the viable options to convene the 19th summit of the eight-member regional body at an early date, underlining the need for deeper engagement to collectively fight COVID-19 and develop regional resilience to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. Chairing an informal meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) council of ministers held virtually on Thursday, Gyawali said there is a need to make SAARC an effective and result-oriented regional organisation capable of bringing visible changes in the lives of the peoples of South Asia. SAARC nations need to explore all viable options to convene the 19th SAARC Summit at an early date and to generate new momentum and dynamism in the regional grouping,Gyawali added. The foreign minister underlined the need for deeper engagement of the Member States to collectively fight COVID-19 and develop regional resilience to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic,he added.The SAARC is a regional grouping comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The 18th SAARC summit was held in Kathmandu in 2014.The 2016 SAARC Summit was to be held in Pakistan's capital Islamabad. But after the deadly terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit due to "prevailing circumstances". The attack was carried out by terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad. The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the Islamabad SAARC meet.Gyawali during the meeting stressed the need for making SAARC an effective and result-oriented regional organisation capable of bringing visible changes in the lives of the peoples of South Asia. Nepal's coronavirus tally crossed the 70,000-mark on Friday with the detection of 1,313 new cases in the last 24 hours. It has so far reported 459 deaths due to the virus. (Image Credits:Twitter/PradeepgyawaliK) New York (United Nations) 25 September 2020 (SPS)- The President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, H.E. Mr. Francisco Gutteres Lu Olo, called on the UN to speed-up the process for the decolonization of Western Sahara, in his speech yesterday before the UN 75th General Assembly in New York. This year, he recalled, is the last year of the third international decade for the eradication of colonialism.. In Western Sahara, the United Nations Mission - MINURSO has been in the territory for almost three decades, but we have not yet seen satisfactory progress. Therefore, he adds it is urgent to appoint a Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Western Sahara in order to speed up the process of negotiations between the parties in conflict and find a solution that guarantees the Saharawi People the exercise of the right to self-determination, according to the United Nations Charter and other relevant Resolutions. (SPS) 090/500/60 (SPS) 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... On Wednesday, an army of Justice Ginsburgs former law clerks, all dressed in black, honored their mentor by lining up as honorary pallbearers on the front steps of the Supreme Court when her casket arrived. It was an impressive display. However, Christian Mitchell, Illinois Deputy Governor, noticed a jarring lack of ppl of color among the former Ginsburg clerks. This wasnt because African-American former Ginsburg clerks declined to serve as honorary pallbearers. It was because, in her 27 years on the Supreme Court, Ginsburg apparently hired only one African-American clerk one out of approximately 150. That, by the way, is one more than she reportedly hired during her 13 years as a federal court of appeals judge. From this record, Mitchell concludes that even heroes have blindspots. If Ginsburg had been a conservative, he probably would have concluded that Ginsburg was a white supremacist. However, the lack of black clerks in Ginsburgs chambers should not, without more, be viewed as indicating a blind spot or racism. Is there any evidence that Ginsburg ever rejected a black applicant in favor of a white candidate with inferior credentials? Is there evidence of a pattern of selecting white applicants over black ones when the credentials were equal? If not, then Ginsburgs only sins were color blindness, merit hiring, and skepticism about the wonders of diversity. It would have been nice, though, if Ginsburg had backed merit-based selections and color blindness, and been less impressed by the diversity-imperative, in cases involving other institutions. As a series of speakers at Thursdays city council meeting criticized Huntsville police Chief Mark McMurray and called for his removal, Mayor Tommy Battle responded with unequivocal support of both the police department and its leader. I have to say, I have not lost confidence in this police department, Battle said during his opportunity to speak later in the meeting. I have not lost confidence in this chief. A total of 15 speakers from the public addressed the council raising issues about Huntsville police or McMurray and seven of those speakers specifically said that McMurray had lost the confidence of the citizens his department protects. Four speakers said McMurray needs to be removed from his post. McMurray was not at the city council meeting. Related: Huntsville protesters want police held accountable for tear gas, rubber bullets Related: As Huntsvilles police chief defends using tear gas, protesters call for apology At issue is the response by Huntsville police at protests on the courthouse square on June 1 and June 3 when law enforcement which also included Madison County sheriffs department and Alabama state troopers released tear gas and fired rubber bullets in an effort to end the hours-long protests. Speakers quoted from McMurrays public statements defending the police department for the actions they took, saying his words demonstrated his lack of understanding of the protesters. Since those protests, speakers have regularly attended city council meetings to voice their displeasure with McMurray and the police department. Typically, Battle has not addressed the complaints raised by speakers at council meetings. The conversation tonight, you could hear the theme about lost confidence, Battle said. I can tell you from what we see as the general public, when I talk to the general public, when we have conversations about where we are as a city, 78 percent of the people will say were moving in the right direction. And thats not just from an election, thats from polls in (2019 and 2020) that say the city is moving in the right direction. We are moving forward. Battle was re-elected to a fourth term last month, receiving 78 percent of the vote. During his opportunity to speak, council President Devyn Keith spoke directly to the absent McMurray and encouraged him to listen to the complaints. To the chief, if you are listening, I know you love this city, Keith said. "I couldnt imagine how tough it is to hear your name (criticized) every other Thursday (at council meetings). Maybe my words have value when I say this I say it to you and all of the police force these people speaking at the dais care about Huntsville. If you can understand that, and its tough to do because Im struggling with it every day, but it will let you hear some of their concerns differently. Its not because they are young. Its not because they are impassioned or they cant see the bigger picture. They have their view of Huntsville just as we do. So to everybody else, if we can just make sure that we make no assumptions when somebody walks up to that podium, the only assumption we should make is that they want to live in the greatest city just this side of Heaven as well. The city council is awaiting a review from the Huntsville Police Citizens Advisory Council on police actions at the protests on June 1 and 3. The advisory council has held meetings to receive feedback from the public and the review is ongoing. The council opted not to put time constraints on the HPCAC since they are volunteers. In addition to expressing support for McMurray and his department, Battle touted advances police have made during his time as mayor including the creation of the HPCAC in 2010 when Mark Hudson was chief. We had that argument time and time again and they said, no, we need to do it, Battle said. And they put it in place and started it. McMurray became chief in 2015 after working in the department for 29 years. Battle pointed to implicit bias training and the initiation of crisis intervention teams and mental health training for police officers during McMurrays tenure. The mayor also touted increased diversity in the police department since he became mayor. We as a community need to move forward and its time to move forward, Battle said. But we move forward in such a way that we take the actions that have happened over the last 10 or 12 years that have been positive actions for our police force and we continue to add to them. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) for the General Debate as the first speaker in the forenoon of Saturday. He will speak in the 75th Session of the General Assembly on September 26. Prime Minister Modi is also expected to touch on India`s priorities at the United Nations. Since the UNGA in 2020 is being held in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is being conducted mostly virtually. Live TV The theme of the 75th UNGA is--The future we want, the United Nations we need, reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism confronting the COVID-19 through effective multilateral action. Some of the priority issues for India during the 75th session of UNGA are as follows: * To promote the strengthening of global action on counter-terrorism, India will push for more transparency in the process of listing and delisting of entities and individuals in sanction committees. * Being one of the largest Troop Contributing Country, India will seek to engage intensively in finalizing of mandates for UN peacekeeping mission. * Continuing Indias active engagement on issues relating to sustainable development and climate change. * Promoting India's role as a net health service provider, India will highlight the contribution to global cooperation against COVID-19 by aiding more than 150 countries and as a pharmacy to the world. * 2020 being the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, India will reiterate its commitments and achievements in women-led development. * Indias role as a South-South development partner, especially in the context of the India-UN Development Partnership Fund. * Commitment to the idea of global partnership under SDG 17 including on climate change the founding of the International Solar Alliance. * India will also be a non-permanent member of the UNSC for two years beginning 1 January 2020, where a 5-S approach of Samman (Respect), Samvad (Dialogue), Sahyog (Cooperation) Shanti (Peace) and Samriddhi (Prosperity) will be followed. * Indias priorities are- inclusive and responsible solutions for international peace and security, effective response to international terrorism, NORMS (New Orientation for a Reformed Multilateral System), technology for all and streamlining of peacekeeping. Greggs has closed one of its factories in the North East after an outbreak of coronavirus. The bakery chain closed its Balliol Business Park factory on Wednesday afternoon after small number of workers tested positive for COVID-19. A spokeswoman told The Independent that Greggs was unable to confirm exactly how many people had caught the virus, but those who had are being asked to self isolate while the rest of the staff are being tested. The factory, which employs 300 staff and makes its savoury snacks such as steak bakes and sausage rolls, will have a deep clean before reopening at a later date. The spokeswoman added that a stock shortage was unlikely as there is lots of stock at the facility which is ready for use. Its the second time Greggs has been forced to temporarily close one of its working areas after an outbreak of the illness. Last month, one its depots in Bramley, west Leeds, was closed after around 10 to 19 workers tested positive for the virus. Greggs closed the depot promptly and deep cleaned the area and tested all of its staff. It then reopened several days later. Other factories that have been affected by outbreaks at work include M&S and two meat factories. A chicken plant, called 2 Sisters, in Anglesey, Wales, temporarily shut after more than 150 employees at the 560-strong plant tested positive for the virus in June. A total of 75 people at the Banham Poultry factory in Attleborough, Norfolk, tested positive for the illness last month. Meanwhile Greencore factory in Northampton, which supplies M&S with its prepacked sandwiches, saw nearly 300 people receive a positive COVID-19 test in August. Each factory told its workers all of its workers or those who tested positive to self isolate before deep cleaning the facility. Yesterday the Government said that as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 6,178 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, taking the overall number of confirmed cases to 409,729. It also said a further 37 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday. This brings the UK total to 41,862. But figures published by the UKs statistics agencies show there have now been 57,500 deaths registered in the UK where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. Additional reporting by agencies BJP leader Lanka Dinakar on Thursday targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for not attending the monsoon session of the Parliament and vacationing abroad, stating that he has become Twitter Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi has become Twitter Gandhi and he was not found in the monsoon session of the Parliament as he was vacationing abroad. He is such an irresponsible Parliamentarian as he speaks without noticing the facts. When the Congress-led UPA issued an ordinance to protect the convicted MLAs and MPs, Rahul Gandhi had torn up and thrown it away in a press meet, Dinakar said in a statement. Cornering Gandhi for opposing farm bills, he said: Rahul skipped the monsoon session of the Parliament intentionally. Now, he is tweeting against the interests of the farmers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central Government passed important bills for the benefit of the farmers. Our suggestion is that let him read and understand the subject and then question the government. But he has been accustomed to criticise the government without proper study. He emphasised that there is no problem with these bills and said: Union Government has hiked MSP for several agricultural outputs of the farmers after passing these three Bills. After passing these bills, farmers have got the option and opportunity to sell their outputs wherever they want in India. It is One Nation - One Market for them to get the best price. In this option farmers can get prices above the MSP as their choice of marketing is wider. Apart from this, farmers and buyers can enter agreement for buyback at prefixed prices. The government has deregulated the food items and cereals, pulses, onions etc. with an aim to raise the farmers income, he added. During the recently concluded monsoon session of Parliament, the two Houses passed Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020. A bill to amend the Essential Commodities Act was also passed. Time: Location: More info: Wednesday, January 26 - 12:00 - 1:00 PMWebinarIn this webinar, Scheherzade Rana, a corporate mindfulness trainer, meditation teacher, speaker and Founder of Innerspace Mindfulness will share ideas and strategies for becoming an inclusive leader. You will cultivate openness and awareness of bias and learn new ways to connect to your colleagues (and yourself) with empathy, compassion and courage.Using the latest mindfulness science, you will gain a greater understanding of how to create a culture of well-being and psychological safety - one that is integral to inclusive and high-performing teams today.You'll also learn the "how-to" of organizational mindfulness with a simple minutes-a-day practice that you can start right away! We strive to cut through the noise and separate fact from fiction. Whether its the race between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, contests in Illinois for seats in the U.S. House and Senate those coequal branches of government that could either reinforce or shift the balance of power in Washington or the dozens of state House and Senate contests, count on us. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) Tycoon Ramon Ang is looking to join the Malampaya consortium by buying Shell Philippines' stake in the natural gas project, San Miguel Corporation said Friday. "We confirm that the company is interested in acquiring the 45-percent stake of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. in the Malampaya gas-to-power project," SMC said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange in response to a newspaper article quoting Ang. The billionaire controls both SMC and Petron Corporation, which runs the biggest oil refinery in the country. Petron has also branched out to supply fuel in Malaysia. Earlier this week, Shell announced that it is scouting for a buyer to take its position as operator of the Malampaya project as it looks to preserve its financial footing in the Philippines. The Malampaya facility is located off the coast of Palawan and is in the West Philippine Sea, an area believed to be rich in oil deposits. Shell started commercial oil exploration and extraction efforts in 2001, with a second rig platform opened in 2015. Businessman Dennis Uy, who owns retail chain Phoenix Petroleum, already owns a 45 percent stake in Malampaya after buying out the shares of Chevron, Shell's original partner. Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi earlier said that the Malampaya reservoir is only good until 2027, while the contract with the Department of Energy ends in 2024. The Malampaya consortium has been requesting for a 15-year contract extension since 2008. Businessman Manny Pangilinan, who runs power distributor Meralco, proposed to develop Malampaya even after it runs dry. This was also rejected by regulators last year. READ: Dennis Uy, MVP eyeing oil exploration deals in West Philippine Sea CLEMSON The lead coordinator for the White House coronavirus task force, in Clemson on Friday as part of a 17-city college tour, praised the school for its testing transparency and wastewater research. Dr. Deborah Birx, a constant figure in White House briefings about the pandemic, spent about 30 minute with reporters after spending a day with community leaders and researchers. Wearing her trademark scarf, Birx answered questions, took a few photos with Clemson officials and headed back to Washington, D.C. "You could not ask anything more of a university than to provide information in a transparent way that others can use," Birx said, adding praise for the work Clemson did all summer to prepare for students returning to campus. Clemson University's online COVID-19 dashboard, last updated Sept. 18, shows more than 2,500 people at the school have tested positive for COVID-19 since June 5. Graphics show the daily case counts surging the first week of September and again last week. Another graphic shows the percentage of positive tests. Everyone wanting to come to campus must first be tested, according to school policy, and they are subject to regular testing thereafter. "It's one of the best we've seen," Birx said, adding she hopes the university finds a way to update the dashboard more frequently now that classes have begun. Clemson students began returning for in-person classes on Sept. 21. Birx has visited multiple cities and colleges campuses in recent weeks in the ramp-up of testing and contact-tracing as students return to school and cold weather descends, conditions that experts fear could lead to another wave of outbreaks. She was most recently in South Carolina on Sept. 10 to announce that a federal "surge" team would aid Columbia with its coronavirus response. In early September, the University of South Carolina was reporting more COVID-19 cases than almost any other college campus in the nation. Among experts on Clemson's campus that Dr. Birx consulted with was David Freedman, an engineering professor at Clemson who has been analyzing wastewater in Clemson for the presence of the coronavirus since May. Readily available data like this is what gets through to young people, she said, many of whom may be asymptomatic, and persuades them to avoid large gatherings and parties. "Students need to see the relationship between those events and what happens in the wastewater and what happens in individual cases," she said. She told reporters at a 2 p.m. briefing that she "challenged" Clemson to expand the wastewater testing. Clemson and Baton Rouge, La., have both done a good job of monitoring wastewater not only on campus but in the surrounding community, she said. Clemson has months of baseline data to compare new results against. She also asked Clemson to coordinate with the Centers for Disease Control on closely monitoring students in quarantine over the next two or three weeks to examine exactly how long they shed viable virus, i.e., virus that can infect others. Finally, she said she has asked Clemson to study the physical space inside classrooms to understand more thoroughly the requirements for socially distancing among students and faculty. "I'm thrilled that the universities are back, that the researchers and lab techs are back," she said. Birx emphasized the importance of wearing masks in public, both indoors and outdoors. She said the most common source of spread is gatherings among people who know each other. Families and friends feel safe with each other, she said, but the virus spreads in these situations easily if masks aren't in use. Going into fall, Birx said she does fear that the colder weather will drive people inside, where they are most likely to spread the virus. This is what happened over the summer when hot weather pushed people in warmer states inside for the air-conditioning. She said the best mitigation method is for people need to wear their masks, keep six feet apart and wash their hands frequently. "We learned a lot from the South," she said. "When they moved indoors because it got hot, you could see the viral spread." Birx closed the briefing without addressing issues more politically fraught, such as the president's thoughts on wearing masks and her own position within the White House coronavirus taskforce. CNN reported earlier this week that Birx is not comfortable with the direction the group has taken in recent weeks since the addition of a new White House adviser, Dr. Steve Atlas. While at Auburn University on Thursday, she told reporters she has no intention of leaving the task force, according to the Associated Press. "We are in the middle of a pandemic that is affecting Americans. As an American, I think I can do the best service to my country right now by serving in this role, working across the agencies because that is the experience that I have," Birx said Thursday. Views also vary within South Carolina on masking. Clemson students speaking to a Post and Courier reporter in mid-September questioned the point of them. "This is soooo dumb," one said. A lawsuit filed this week by the owner of a popular Spartanburg hamburger restaurant has challenged a local mask mandate as well as the governor's emergency orders. The lawsuit from Ike's Korner Grille owner Neil Rodgers goes after Gov. Henry McMaster's authority to declare and repeatedly renew a state of emergency in South Carolina since last March, something the lawsuit argues should have been approved by the General Assembly after 15 days. Still, the virus is widespread, as evidenced by wastewater data released this week. Findings show for the first time the presence of coronavirus in campus wastewater at Clemson University at significant levels. The virus had never been detected at levels above 17,000 copies of virus per liter until Sept. 15, when it shot up to 350,000. Meanwhile, levels in the city of Clemson's wastewater treatment plant have been above 2 million since Sept. 8. Experts say analysis of wastewater can give policymakers up to two weeks to respond to stop an outbreak of disease. Birx started her career in government in 1985 researching HIV/AIDS for the Department of Defense. She trained at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in internal medicine and immunology. Before joining the coronavirus effort, she was a special representative on global health diplomacy for the U.S. government and had become a world-renowned medical expert on HIV/AIDS. Tills open-casket service at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ sent shockwaves across the nation. The Chicago church where Emmett Tills open-casket funeral sent shockwaves across the nation is now listed as one of the nations most endangered places. Tills extended visitation and funeral service, held at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ on Sept. 3-6, 1955, saw an estimated 100,000 people. The 14-year-olds mother Mamie Till-Mobley pushed for an open-casket funeral to allow the world to see her sons horribly mutilated condition after his lynching. This 2005 photo shows a picture of Emmett Till included on the plaque on his gravesite at Burr Oak Cemetery in Aslip, Illinois. His unsolved 1955 murder in Money, Mississippi, after accusations of whistling at a white woman helped spark the civil rights movement. The woman, Carolyn Donham, admitted later shed lied. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Till-Mobley, at the time, said: Let the world see what they did to my boy. The tragic yet unprecedented event and a photo of Till in his casket published in Jet magazine is credited as being a catalyst for Americas civil rights movement. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a D.C.-based nonprofit organization, the church has severe structural issues now. Read More: 15 gravestones at historic Black cemetery vandalized To now see that this iconic church is now on the endangered list its metaphoric to what were seeing in our democracy today, Keith Beauchamp, director of the 2005 documentary, The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till, told USA Today. It is quite disturbing considering how much a landmark that church is for Chicago and the symbolism of what it stands for. Currently, the church is only minimally used by the congregation and needs rehabilitation funding and partnerships. More than 300 places have been listed on the nations most endangered places list in the organizations 33-year history, and in that time, fewer than 5 percent of listed sites have been lost. Read More: Neo-Nazi sentenced to 25 years for shooting Black man in racist attack The Chicago-born Tills disfigured corpse was found three days after Carolyn Donham claimed Till, there in Money to visit family, grabbed and whistled at her while she worked in the country shop owned by her husband, Roy Bryant. Bryant and J.W. Milam, his half-brother, were identified by Tills great uncle as the men who forced the teen into their car, taken from the elders home, but the two were found not guilty of murder by an all-white jury in a segregated courthouse. A 2017 book, The Blood of Emmett Till, contains Donhams admission in 2008 that her accusations were lies. Story continues In a New York Times essay published after his death, the late Rep. John Lewis wrote about the effect Tills murder had on him. Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor, Lewis wrote. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. Have you subscribed to theGrios Dear Culture podcast? Download our newest episodes now! The post Church that held Emmett Tills funeral now listed on U.S. endangered historic places appeared first on TheGrio. Actress Saiee Manjrekar has signed her second film after Dabangg 3. She will be seen in the Mahesh Babu-produced bilingual, Major, starring Adivi Sesh. Actor-filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar's daughter Saiee took to Instagram and posted a picture where she is seen dressed in a pristine white suit teamed with a chunky silver neckpiece. She completes her look with minimal make-up and her hair tied. "Honoured, humbled and excited to be a part of the braveheart, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan's biopic. It's a film based on the NSG Commando, who fought with utmost bravery in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Can't wait to join the cast and start shooting next month! #MajorTheFilm @adivisesh @sobhitad@sonypicsprodns @gmbents@urstrulyMahesh @aplussmovies@sashikirantikka," she captioned the image. Major, a bilingual shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi, is inspired by the life of NSG commando Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who was martyred in the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks of 2008. The film marks Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu's debut as producer and also features Sobhita Dhulipala along with Adivi Sesh and Saiee. So far, more than 50 per cent of the filming has been completed. Saiee will start shooting for the film next month in Hyderabad. She says what matters for her is the script and the impact her character has in the overall narrative. She added: "Once you deep dive into the dissection of a character, there are so many beautiful emotions that I can explore as an actress. This is what I saw in the script of Major, which is why when it was offered to me, I instantly said yes'. I am open to working down South and this one is a bilingual shot simultaneously in two languages. I can't wait to start shooting for the film." Director Sashi Kiran Tikka shared that casting right is the base for good direction. "When we watched her work, we felt that Saiee Manjrejar fit the bill perfectly," he explained. Sharing his thoughts about the tragic event, he added: "None of us were present when the incident happened. All we know is what was in the news that time. The challenge lies in bringing authenticity to our imagination of what happened in reality, and the pressure lies in showing it in a feature film style rather than a documentary style." Text: IANS Images: Saiee on Instagram The police have picked up 21 persons to assist investigations into the abduction of three police officers and road obstructions at entry points into the Volta Region in the early hours of Friday. Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister and Chair of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) said the security situation had been normalised, with the roads cleared and the Sogakope Divisional Police Commander, Mr Dennis Fiakpui, who was among the police officers abducted, rescued and receiving treatment. Members of the Homeland Study Group, a secessionist group, early hours of Friday blocked main entry points linking the region to Accra and the Republic of Togo in an overnight operation, advocating the right of self-determination of the people of Western Togoland. The Regional Minister told the Ghana News Agency that unauthorised barriers and blockades erected by the Group at Sogakope, Tefle and Juapong had been cleared. He said the security was on top of the situation and assured the people of the region to go about their normal duties devoid of fear or intimidation. People of the region woke up Friday to find segments of the roads leading to Accra blocked by the Group at Tsopoli, Juapong, Atimpoku with the segment between Sege and Aveyime blocked by sand tips to render the road impassable. 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 A Manitoba judge has rejected a mothers request for a court injunction to allow two of her children to attend school without wearing masks. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/9/2020 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A Manitoba judge has rejected a mothers request for a court injunction to allow two of her children to attend school without wearing masks. Krista McKenzie, a practising lawyer who is representing her family, took the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine to court this month after administrators asked her to keep her kids home until she provided more information about why they cannot wear face coverings. Exemptions to the provincewide mask mandate in schools for staff, visitors and students in Grade 4 and up are limited to nine reasons, ranging from a child being younger than two to having a medical condition that prevents a student from safely donning a mask. Court documents indicate McKenzie, who owns a boutique law firm in Orillia, Ont., has requested an exemption for her two eldest children, "for various medical, psychological, dental and personal reasons that are of a private nature." MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Two students put on their masks for their first day of school. During a bilingual hearing held on Monday, the mother of three made her case on the grounds there is limited research about kids wearing masks, little is known about the repercussions of wearing masks on children especially those with medical conditions, and children are too young to be able to speak up for themselves if they need to remove a mask. On Thursday afternoon, Court of Queens Bench Justice Gerald Chartier dismissed the request in a Winnipeg courtroom, with the plaintiff and defendants present via conference call. In his decision, Chartier wrote the potential harm to McKenzies children if they wear masks is "not substantiated medically or through other evidence." "The applicant's children have a right to attend school, however that right is subject to the school board's directives as well as the application and administering of those directives relating to COVID-19," he said. The applicant's children have a right to attend school, however that right is subject to the school board's directives as well as the application and administering of those directives relating to COVID-19." Court of Queens Bench Justice Gerald Chartier Chartier wrote that McKenzie did not pass the three-part RJR-MacDonald test for an injunction, because he was not satisfied her children would suffer irreparable harm, and the public interest was of serious importance in the case. He did, however, note the plaintiff met the bar for raising a serious issue to be tried about the issue of reasonable accommodation in relation to her children wearing masks. "COVID-19 is, of course, a new phenomenon, but so too is the issue of the effects of children wearing masks for long periods of time," he added. In McKenzies statement of claim, which was filed on Sept. 16, she sought upwards of $210,000 in damages on behalf of her children, including $60,000 related to allegations of discrimination and $1,000 for every day her children were not in attendance at school. Chartier said he needed more time to make a decision about whether he would order any financial penalties. Christian Monnin, lawyer for the Division scolaire, said Thursday the decision should be made in consideration of the "serious allegations" levelled against the division. McKenzie had argued the division did not properly communicate ever-changing mask exemption protocols and acted arbitrarily, the result of which was her childrens right to education being denied for two weeks. The latest detailed provincial guidelines on mask limitations which state divisions can request parents provide information about their childs limitations and a note from a health care provider if they are seeking an exemption, were published Sept. 18. In the end, for us, its not a matter of who wins or who loses, its a matter of making sure that all our students and our communities, our staff, are in a safe environment." Alain Laberge, superintendent of the Division scolaire Since the policy was not available prior to McKenzie filing for an injunction, she said those details must also be taken into consideration. "In the end, for us, its not a matter of who wins or who loses, its a matter of making sure that all our students and our communities, our staff, are in a safe environment," Alain Laberge, superintendent of the Division scolaire, told the Free Press after the decision. Laberge said the division is happy to work with parents who are seeking exemptions and accommodate them, if they provide details. Two weeks into the school year, the Division scolaire has received more than 52 requests for online learning and 10 requests for mask exemptions. Seven of the latter requests have been accepted, while three are pending. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Were not against exemptions, not at all, but we believe it is important to have a good knowledge of what the exemptions are all about not because we think that what (parents) are bringing to us is not true, but mostly because if we have to accommodate, we want to best accommodate their children with the best accommodation possible," Laberge said. McKenzie did not respond to the Free Press' calls. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie Melbourne GP Tania Siddiquis 13-year-old daughter Diya has done all she can to enter one of Victoria's low-cost, select-entry high schools. She's done weekend classes and practice exams to prepare for a three-hour entrance exam which covers verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, persuasive or creative writing, reading comprehension and mathematics. Gifted education expert Dr Leonie Kronborg. Credit:Simon Schluter The entrance exam was to be held at the Melbourne Showgrounds to accommodate growing demand. But it has been delayed twice first in June and again this month due to COVID-19 restrictions on large gatherings. No new date has been set, leaving about 3500 applicants and their families in limbo. House Speaker Pelosi Holds Weekly News Conference House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed the need for new economic relief funding at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 24. Credit - Stefani ReynoldsBloomberg/Getty Images When Corissa Hernandez first heard that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died, she was personally devastated. She credits Ginsburgs advancement of womens rights for her ability as a Latina to become a restaurant owner in Los Angeles. But within days, as it became clear that Senate Republicans intended to move forward immediately with confirming Ginsburgs replacement, pushing aside all other issuesincluding the passage of a new COVID-19 economic relief packageher grief was compounded by a new anxiety about her own future. Im terrified, says Hernandez. As it is, in the six months that weve all been experiencing a pandemic, the statistics are showing weve already lost 40 percent of black owned small businesses and 32 percent of Latino small businesses. We dont have the luxury of time on our side. We need relief and we need it now. Last spring, Hernandez received a $75,000 loan under the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). That money helped her keep her business afloat and 5 of her 8 employees on payroll. But as the pandemic continued to ravage Los Angeles into the summer, she had to temporarily shut down her restaurant and those PPP funds are now depleted. Hernandez thought that maybe Congress would pass another relief package this fall, affording her another loan, but the new focus on the Supreme Court confirmation has all but eliminated that hope. I was much more optimistic, this time last Thursday that I am now, said Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, referring to the day before Ginsburgs death. But we need to do something. The elements are there to get it done but it could be theres just not enough oxygen left in the room to get that done. Story continues House Democrats announced on Thursday that they were drafting legislation for a new $2.4 trillion relief packagea trillion dollars less than the bill they passed in May, and a clear effort to appeal to Republicans, whod balked at the price tag of their original bill. But thats hardly reason for Hernandez to celebrate. Any bill, even if it passes the House, would need the support of at least thirteen Republican Senators and the White House. And as the fight over Ginsburgs replacement begins to consume Washington, Senate Republicans, who were barely able to reach a consensus among themselves on a fourth round of relief this past summer, seem to have little appetite for another fight. I think were seeing more and more in both parties tell their leadership that they want to get their parts done that we can agree to, said Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho. But I dont know its at that point that I can tell you we expect something soon. (Crapo made these comments before House Democrats announced plans for a new bill Thursday afternoon.) But millions of Americans, including Hernandez, say federal relief can hardly come soon enough. In recent weeks, several federal economic relief programs that were included in previous relief bills have expired. The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which provided an additional weekly $600, ended on July 31. The Paycheck Protection Program that had supplied businesses like Herndanezs with potentially forgivable loans, stopped accepting applications on August 8. And the Payroll Support Program, which has been providing airlines with financial assistance to keep workers on payroll, expires on October 1. If no renewal agreement is reached for the latter, hundreds of thousands of airline employees may find themselves furloughed. Meanwhile, the number of deaths in the United States just topped 200,000 and the unemployment rate, while slowly decreasing, is still at 8.4%more than double what it was before the pandemic began. Lobbyists and outside groups, particularly those representing industries like restaurants and other small businesses in the hospitality industry that have been flattened by the fallout, have been pushing for more relief for months, to no avail. In the days since Ginsburgs death, they have ratcheted up their calls for action to ensure they dont become collateral damage in the race to confirm Ginsburgs replacement. We recognize the huge loss that comes with the passing of Justice Rith Bader Ginsburg and we understand the attention of Congress is trained on commemorating her remarkable life and legacy and determining a path of forward for the seat on the court that is now vacant, Doug Parker, the CEO of American Airlines, said in a September 22 press conference on Capitol Hill Tuesday, which was organized by airlines and unions to push for a six month extension of the Payroll Support Program, but we know that is far from the only challenge our country is facing. On Sept. 21, the Small Business Roundtable wrote a letter to Congressional leadership on behalf of 30 million small businesses claiming business failures in the next several months will skyrocket if Congress does not pass a relief package by the month. Two days later, leadership received a letter from the Save Small Business Coalition and Chamber of Commerce expressing similar views. Im hearing from operators and restaurant owners every day telling me theyre going to make business decisions for October based on what Congress does this week, says Sean Kennedy, executive Vice President at the National Restaurant Association. The stakes are that high. Restaurants have that small a runway to work with. While many of these officials spent the summer furious at lawmakers of both parties for failing to reach an agreement, the frustration in recent days has been compounded by Republicans haste to unify around a Ginsburg replacement. Were not partisan and were not taking a position on the Supreme Court or any nominee. But were very much about Congress having its priorities straight, says John Arensmeyer, the CEO of Small Business Majority, a group that advocates for small businesses and has been pushing Congress to renew the Paycheck Protection Program. Were not saying at some point they shouldnt consider the vacancy obviously. Were saying to fast track it and to further delay reaching some kind of agreement on critical economic policies seems like their priorities are out of order. Procedurally, it is much easier for the Senate to confirm a judicial nominee than pass a massive economic stimulus package. The former merely requires a majority vote in the Senate alone, where Republicans already control 53 seats. The latter requires support from both chambers, including 60 votes in the Senate, and the Presidents signature. But polling shows that Americans are significantly more enthusiastic about the idea of Congress passing another round of economic relief funding than they are at the prospects of filling Ginsburgs vacant seat. Even Washington lobbyists, schooled on Senate procedure, are frustrated that voters demands arent front and center. As much as folks pay attention to high profile things like the Supreme Court, the first place they pay attention to, if theyre a business owner, is to their business. And if theyre a worker or an unemployed person, the first thing they pay attention to is their own finances. I would expect that we see growing frustration with the fact that Washington couldnt come together on [coronavirus relief, says Neil Bradley, Chief Policy officer at the Chamber of Commerce, who worked for House Republican leadership for more than a decade. Its a frustration driven by the real world consequences of Congress failing to get a deal. Some observers saw hope in Democrats Thursday announcement of a new, pared-down proposal. I am feeling way more optimistic today than yesterday, said Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. But for people like Hernandez, who have been awaiting relief for weeks, every week that passes feels like a kick in the shins. Washingtons apparent willingness to ignore the pressing economic needs of Americans like her sends a clear message, she says: We are of no priority. A RANGE of blood and urine specimens extracted from Peter Magombeyi, the former Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) president, who was allegedly abducted by state security last year showed no traces of poison, latest toxicological results show. He was allegedly abducted at the height of nationwide protests by junior doctors over poor remuneration in 2019. Magombeyi was discovered 30 kilometers outside the capital, a week after he went missing when he was allegedly abducted by suspected state agents. As he convalesced at a local private hospital, amid a heavy presence of state security agents who sought to quiz the doctor, lawyers and doctors representing him sought recourse from the High Court to have him released so that he could seek medical attention outside the country. Magombeyi claimed that he was tortured and electrocuted by his alleged abductors, who snatched him in Budiriro. While he was in hospital after he was discovered, five doctors namely Trust Zaranyika, Aaron Musara, Andrew Mataruse, Walter Mangezi and Shingirirai Meki signed an affidavit confirming that Magombeyi urgently required further functional brain imaging and toxicological evaluation, services which are not available in Zimbabwe. The High Court granted the order, allowing Magombeyi to seek medical assistance outside the country. According to documents seen by the Zimbabwe Independent this week, which include a range of toxicological tests conducted on blood and urine samples extracted from Magombeyi, the medical examinations conducted in Botswana show that the ex ZHDA leader had no traces of poison and alcohol in his body. The series of toxicological tests to determine whether Magombeyi was poisoned during the time he was reportedly abducted were conducted by Neo Maimela, Chief Forensic Scientific Officer employed by the Botswana government. According to an affidavit dated August 13, 2020, Maimela highlighted that he is based at the Police Forensic Science Laboratory in Gaborone, and has been in the Chemistry section of the laboratory since December 2003 following completion of the Police Recruit Course at the Botswana police College, Otse. The affidavit, seen by this newspaper this week, underscored a series of tests conducted on blood and urine specimens drawn from Magombeyi as part of an assessment to determine whether he was poisoned. It reads: I Neo Maimela make oath and state that I have the following qualifications Master of Science in Forensic Toxicology (Medical Science) from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK IN 2012. Bachelor of Science degree (Chemistry and Environmental Science) form the University of Botswana obtained in 2000.I am a Chief Forensic Scientific Officer employed by the Government of the Republic of Botswana under the Ministry for State President. My duties include analysis of drugs, cases of suspected poison, alcohol in blood and maintenance of breathalysers. The laboratory records show that on 03/08/2020 at 15:36hrs the exhibits described below were received from Mr Motsamai and registered as T66/20 by Sub- Inspector Mapeo. On the 03/08/2020 I received the exhibits from Sub-Inspector Mapeo for analysis. The exhibits which are described extensively in the affidavit and analysed by Maimela were contained in a transparent re-sealable plastic bag labelled L/R 342/19 it contained a white form which was labelled Patient: Peter Gabriel Magombeyi, Age: 26 YRS (years)Address: Budiriro 2 Harare. According to the affidavit, the releasable bag labelled 342/19 contained Two yellow capped transparent blood tubes each labelled Peter Gabriel Magombey;DOB:20/6/93.The tubes contained some blood samples. A grey capped transparent blood tube labelled Magombeyi Peter;20/6/93;25.PUT.The tube contained some blue sample. The aforementioned releasable bag also carried a blue capped transparent blood tube labelled Magombeyi Peter; 20/6/93, and it also contained some blood sample. Analysing these blood samples, as well as urine specimen contained in a green capped bottle labelled Date: 20/9/19;TIME: 12:55hrs;PATIENT:Magombeyi Peter; Specimen: Urine, the forensic expert extracted the samples using a method called Solid Phase Extraction(SPE) technique and analysed them using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS. To determine the presence of ethanol in Magombeyis samples, the forensic expert analysed the samples using the Headspace Gas Chromatography technique. Following the range of tests carried out, the results showed that there were no poisons, illicit drugs or controlled substances in the blood samples. No ethanol was detected in all the samples. Subsequently, Maimela concluded that alcohol, illicit drugs and controlled substance were not detected in all the samples. However, the urine samples showed the presence of Acetaminophen (commonly known as paracetamol) which is a drug used to relief pain and reduce fever The affidavit, seen by the Independent, was submitted under oath to Principal Officer Tshephe Keewe on August 13. Magombeyi resigned from his position as leader of ZHDA in January citing personal reasons but committed to contribute towards the upliftment of the welfare of medical practioners, amid a worsening economic environment. President Emmerson Mnangagwas administration has accused Magombeyi for stage-managing the alleged abduction. Zimbabwe Independent Lindsey Major, wracked with asthma, crisscrossed Seattle in search of an N95 mask as wildfire smoke blanketed the West Coast. The 25-year-old from Mercer Island scoured stores. Pharmacies, big-box outlets, grocers none had anything to offer. At work, a door was inadvertently left open overnight, saturating the environment with dirty air. Her employer, a local television news operation, had only one mask to spare, and it didnt fit. You can breathe, but its like something weighing on your chest, said Major. My lungs felt like they were full of wet bands. Major finally posted a desperate plea in a neighborhood Facebook group and secured a single precious N95. The masks are recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to filter out small airborne smoke particles and Covid-19, but they were almost unfindable this month even as air quality in West Coast states ranged from merely unhealthy to hazardous. The pandemic decimated the supply, making it nearly impossible for people like Major to get protection, and federal efforts to increase supply of the staple have fallen short. Fire season has weeks to go. Dozens of large blazes that have scorched millions of acres in California, Oregon and nine other states marked the beginning of one of the worst wildfire seasons in history. More than 3.7 million acres were burning from active fires as of Thursday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Strong winds pushed the smoke into major cities, resulting in unnerving bright orange skies and acrid odor that lasted days. Local and state health departments advised residents to remain indoors as much as possible. But staying confined is difficult, especially for essential workers, and most homes lack high-grade air filters. The Trump administration insists that personal protective equipment is plentiful, however doctors and first responders throughout the pandemic have reported rationing and reusing masks. Making N95 masks requires specialized equipment that few U.S. companies have. In April, President Donald Trump used the Defense Production Act to compel increased production by 3M Co., the biggest U.S. manufacturer. The company expects to produce 95 million masks per month in October, up from 50 million in June. Officials from seven of eight states who spoke with the Governmental Accountability Office in July and August said they had trouble purchasing personal protective equipment, according to a recent report. However, the administration has been draining resources from the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile, the main program meant to directly supply states with crisis medical supplies including masks. In August, the administration transferred to its Operation Warp Speed vaccine program $6 billion of $16.7 billion that previously had been allocated to the stockpile. Emergency mask shipments are hardly making it into the hands of the general public. Last week, Oregon asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 1.4 million additional N95 masks, said agency spokeswoman Janet Montesi. The shipment is meant for first responders, shelter operators and health-care workers. Bedeviled by bad air, some West Coast residents blame the federal government for shortages. Jim Murphy, a San Jose technology consultant who wanted an N95 mask, said the Trump administration should be requiring companies to produce more. He bought N95 masks in January but gave them to relatives with essential jobs. If youre like me, and you have a couple of dogs you need to take out for walks, you have no choice but to get outside, Murphy said. It would sure be nice to have something that would protect you from the smoke even for short periods of time. Hardware stores have had a hard time sourcing N95 masks since at least March. Aaron Bourne, the general manager at W.C. Winks Hardware in Portland, Oregon, said his order from 3M has been on hold since Jan. 17. The company provides an estimate for arrival, Bourne said, but it gets pushed back every time it approaches. Winks Hardware, which specializes in hard-to-find items, instead sells Chinese-standard KN95 masks when those are available. The store got a shipment of 100 on Sept. 11, and sold all but 15 that day. The rest were gone soon after they reopened the following Monday. Other stores have essentially given up. David Rider, who manages a True Value in Grandview, Washington, said there was a surge in demand for air-filtration products. Both N95 and KN95 masks have been out of stock at the store since March. Rider said he could obtain KN95 masks through his supplier but would need to charge $5 for each. In spite of the overwhelming demand, experts disagree on whether masks should be worn around wildfire smoke. Oregons most populous county, Multnomah, told people to use them when outside. But Joel Kaufman, a doctor and professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington, said they should be reserved for emergency workers close to the fires who have been fitted for them. Most civilians, even the sick, should avoid them, he said. The people we worry most about the people with chronic lung conditions arent good candidates to wear these masks, because the masks increase the amount of work it takes to get air in and out, Kaufman said. The folks who need it the most are, sort of, the least able to tolerate wearing them. Air-quality scores are now improving in most large cities. On Mercer Island, Majors asthma symptoms have gotten better, though she worries about the future for herself and people who are more at risk. She hopes more neighbors will come forward with masks to donate. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Farmers shouted slogans and blocked roads in several parts of the country Friday, protesting against the three agri-marketing bills passed recently by Parliament. IMAGE: Farmers on tractors shout slogans as they arrive to block the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border during a protest against farm bills in Noida. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters The most widespread protests were in Punjab and Haryana, but demonstrations were also reported from Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala and Karnataka as part of the 'Bharat bandh' call given by several farmer unions. Over 30 organisations had given a separate 'Punjab bandh' call, leading to farmers blocking roads and traders shutting shops and vegetable markets for the day. The bandh in the state appeared to be near total. Hundreds of farmers -- on foot, two-wheelers and tractor-trolleys -- were stopped at Delhi's border with Uttar Pradesh as they tried to press ahead into the national capital, their agitation disrupting traffic in Noida and Ghaziabad. IMAGE: Farmers sit on a road as they block a national highway during a protest against farm bills passed by Parliament, in Shambhu in Punjab. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters Stopped from entering the city, the farmers staged 'panchayats' at the road blockades where they were addressed by Bhartiya Kisan Union office-bearers. Addressing Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and workers on the birth anniversary of party's ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay, Prime Minister Narendra Modi again made a pitch for the new laws meant to deregulate the sale of farm produce. But farmer unions and opposition parties say they will lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system. IMAGE: Farmers block a railway track as they participate in Rail Roko Andolan during a protest against the farm bills passed in both the Houses of Parliament recently, at village Devi Dass Pura near Amritsar. Photograph: PTI Photo In West Bengal, farmer bodies loyal to the Left parties staged protests. Communist Party of India-Marxist farmers' wing 'Sara Bharat Krishak Sabha' and those of other left partners such as Communist Party of India, Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party took out rallies in Hooghly, Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas, Bankura and Nadia. In Karnataka, there were demonstrations across the state and many farmers arrived in capital Bengaluru to take part in protests against amendments to the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act and the Karnataka Land Reforms Act. Farmers under the umbrella of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) staged protests in Kerala, including outside the Raj Bhavan in capital Thiruvananthapuram. IMAGE: Supporters of TMC stand around agricultural products arranged in a formation of a map of India as part of protests against farm bills in Kolkata. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters In Punjab's Barnala, a tractor was set on fire by protesters. Punjab farmers blocked the Sangrur-Patiala, Chandigarh-Bathinda and Ambala-Rajpura-Ludhiana and Moga-Ferozepur roads, triggering traffic diversions and hardship to commuters. Buses run by the state-owned Pepsu Road Transport also went off the roads in Punjab. Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal drove a tractor while his wife and former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal sat beside him in Muktsar district. SEE: RJD's Tejashwi Yadav drives a tractor in protest against farm bills He led a tractor march from his Badal village to Lambi, where the party had organised a protest against the bills. At several other places, party workers blocked roads. Prominent Punjabi singers like Harbhajan Mann and Ranjit Bawa took part in a farmers' protest in Nabha. A three-day 'rail roko' that began Thursday is also underway in Punjab, with farmers squatting on the tracks at many places in Punjab and the railways suspending many trains. IMAGE: RJD activists during 'Bharat Bandh', a protest against the farm bills passed in Parliament recently, in Patna. Photograph: PTI Photo The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee on Friday announced its extension by another three days. Buses run by state owned Pepsu Road Transport Corporation also remained off the roads on Friday. In neighbouring Haryana, farmers blocked the Karnal-Meerut, Rohtak-Jhajjar and Delhi-Hisar and other roads. Apart from Noida and Ghaziabad which border New Delhi, there were scattered farmer protests in western Uttar Pradesh and in districts like Deoria, Kushinagar and Maharajganj districts. IMAGE: A shop is locked during 'Bharat Bandh', a protest against the farm bills passed in Parliament recently, in Kurali. Photograph: PTI Photo The Samajwadi Party said its workers held protests in all UP districts, submitting memorandums addressed to the Governor to the district magistrates. The Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, now await presidential assent. A criminal case against the U.S. arm of a French chemical maker accused of releasing pollution that injured 21 people resumed on Sept. 24 under a cloud as a judge ruled out a motion to dismiss the case. Prosecutors unintentionally misled a grand jury by claiming another firm, unlike Arkema, moved its hazardous chemicals when presented with the threat of flooding, Texas Judge Belinda Hill said in court on Thursday, allowing the trial to proceed. Defense attorneys had argued the grand jury testimony was part of a pattern of misconduct that tainted the case. The companys Crosby, Texas, plant became waterlogged and lost power needed to cool organic peroxide chemicals after Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain on the area in 2017. The untended chemicals caught fire and burned for days, injuring 21 safety workers and forcing residents from their homes. Arkema and its U.S. chief executive, Richard Rowe, and former plant manager Leslie Comardelle face felony charges for the pollution released by the chemical blaze. The company faces up to a $1 million fine and the executives could receive up to five years in prison. The trial resumed after being suspended in the spring due to the pandemic. Judge Hill plans to release her findings on the misconduct at a later time, according to a person familiar with the matter. Earlier this year, she sanctioned prosecutors for withholding other evidence beneficial to the defense. Prosecutors this month agreed to drop separate assault charges against the company and a third executive over smoke inhalation injuries suffered by public safety workers assigned to guard the plant. Arkema maintains the case wrongly turns a flooding disaster into a criminal case. Topics Fraud Chemicals One of the two officers shot during Wednesday night's riots in Louisville has returned to his police precinct just hours after being released from hospital. Major Aubrey Gregory was greeted with a round of applause from colleagues as he arrived at the Louisville Metro Police Department for roll call on Thursday morning. Gregory is the commander of Louisville police department's special operations division and was leading the response to riots that erupted in the city Wednesday night, following a grand jury's decision not to indict cops on murder charges over the shooting death of black woman, Breonna Taylor. Major Aubrey Gregory returned to his the Lousville Metro Police Department Precinct on Thursday morning, less than 24 hours after he was shot during riots over Breonna Taylor Gregory (left) is the commander of Louisville police department's special operations division. He was shot alongside Officer Robinson Desroches (right) during riots on Wednesday night Gregory has been a Louisville police officer since 1999, according to the Courier Journal. He previously served as commander of the city's Fifth Division and has experience working with Louisville's SWAT team and bomb squad. Meanwhile, the second officer shot during the night of violence in Louisville on Wednesday - Officer Robinson Desroches - remains in hospital following surgery. Desorches was was struck by a bullet to the abdomen just below his bullet proof best. He is currently listed in a stable condition. Larynzo Johnson, 26, was arrested over the shooting and charged with two counts of assault of a police officer and 14 counts of wanton endangerment. Larynzo Johnson was arrested Wednesday night after the two cops were shot during protests over the grand jury decision An arrest citation says Johnson 'intentionally used a handgun to fire multiple bullets at officers... causing serious physical injury' to two cops struck by the gunfire, reported the Courier Journal. It is not clear whether the charges could be upgraded following an investigation. A total of 127 protesters were arrested during unrest in Louisville, where Breonna Taylor lived prior to her death back in March. Taylor was shot and killed by officers who were conducting a no-knock search warrant of her home in relation to a drug investigation. Taylor was allegedly sleeping in bed with her boyfriend at the time officers stormed into her apartment. The intrusion prompted her startled boyfriend to fire his own gun at the cops, who then fired back in self-defense. Taylor became caught in the cross-fire and was shot six times. She died at the scene. A protester stands next to a burning pile of trash as tensions boiled over in Louisville's downtown area on Wednesday night Police officers are seen in the location where Gregory and Desroches were shot on Wednesday night Fired Louisville detective Brett Hankison (left) was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in connection to the police raid that killed Breonna Taylor (right) on the night of March 13 On Wednesday, a grand jury decided not to pursue murder charges against the three cops involved in the incident. Instead, it handed down its decision to indict just one of the officers, Brett Hankison, on charges of wanton endangerment for shooting into the homes of Taylor's neighbors. Hundreds of protesters began marching through Louisville streets immediately after the announcement. Tensions quickly boiled over as protesters confronted lines of police officers who fired pepper balls and used wooden batons to drive them back. Thousands out demonstrators also took to the streets in cities across the country, including New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Las Vegas. Heavily-armed riot police stand guard in a street in downtown Louisville amid protests sparked by a Kentucky grand jury's decision to clear three officers of charges for the shooting death of Breonna Taylor A police officer stands in an alley after an officer was shot on Wednesday evening On Thursday evening, tensions between protesters and cops continued despite a city-wide curfew being put into place. Demonstrators massed at First Unitarian Church, where clergy allowed them to seek refuge on church grounds to avoid arrest during curfew, and a massive police cordon was established around the property. A church leader at the scene explained that churches were exempt from the emergency curfew order, and said that the demonstrators had been invited onto the church grounds to avoid arrest. It came after BLM protesters smashed the windows of a public library in downtown Louisville and threw a flare inside as authorities extended a citywide curfew into the weekend and the National Guard prepared to deploy. A protester offers water to a man as he is detained on the ground by police officers clad in riot gear on Wednesday Covid-19 is set to take its toll in the coming months - and the HSE's 600m winter plan extending to April will not be enough to fix it all. Some of the problem is to do with things that money cannot buy, rather than the level of health funding. So much of our essential care is undermined. The pandemic has played havoc with the way so much medical care used to be delivered. It has slowed down the whole process in already strained services because of infection control procedures, testing and other safety measures with less patients being seen. There is no way out of that bind for now. The virus not just hits and potentially kills those it infects. It also has indirectly damaged cancer services, diagnostics and condemned thousands of public patients to long waiting lists which may last years. Read More The plan itself has key objectives and one of the crucial aims is to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic the A&E trolley crisis crippled hospitals. The numbers attending for emergency care are rising again and a crucial measure of the plan will be how it alleviates the pressures on hospitals with a range of community supports aimed at treating as many people outside of an A&E or hospital ward as possible. The problem with winter plans in other years were that the aspiration was much the same but there were never enough community services to go around. They worked very well for the people who received them but were too thin and what about all the others in need. The extension of hubs to cater for people referred for respiratory illnesses is likely to have an impact as this is often the reason people end up in hospital every winter. There will be 20 of these. The greatest nightmare would be a roll-out of scenes from Italy last year when its intensive care units were flooded with seriously ill Covid-19 patients. The HSE is promising 17 more critical care beds on top of the 282 already in place which is a modest number. There is also likely to be surge capacity from private hospitals if the virus worsens. There will be 483 more hospital beds, 251 this year and 89 sub-acute beds where people can move to after their main treatment has been delivered. A lot is contingent on recruiting over 12,000 staff and much of the funding is contingent on next month's Budget. The health unions, who have a genuine stake in ensuring this plan works, as their members face more demanding and draining months on the frontline, gave a mixed response yesterday. Dr Padraig McGarry, president of the Irish Medical Organisation, said it only amounted to emergency funding to get the health services through the winter period and is equivalent to about 3pc of the annual budget for the health services. "The new beds being announced today are temporary beds in the system. There is no funding for additional sustained long-term beds in acute and other sectors," he said. "One of the key structural problems in the health services is the shortage of doctors with 500 vacant consultant posts, very few incoming GPs to replace the 600 GPs due to retire over the next few years and only half the number of public health specialists as other comparable countries." Professor Alan Irvine, president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, said the plan is a welcome recognition the system is "playing catch-up" but the race will not be won this or indeed any winter unless and until there is an investment in the people patients depend upon. "This plan is a promise to invest in services but not in the professionals required to deliver them," he said. "The big promises in the plan can only be realised if we have additional consultants and healthcare professionals. The plan includes little to no specifics on this fundamental component. Building capacity requires investing in space and in professional healthcare workers. "There is no clear allocation of funding to hire additional hospital consultants and other frontline professionals. "Two-thirds of the 600m will not be deployed until 2021. These factors alone immediately cause concern around the ability of the plan to adequately address the challenge of a 'winter like no other." Phil Ni Sheaghdha of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said it will not work without more nurses. The workforce is already strained due to staff on sick leave or in self-isolation due to Covid infections. "The Ireland East group has 400 nursing vacancies unfilled over its 12 hospitals," she said. The Russian spy who was accused of killing Alexander Litvinenko has been given a major role in the investigation into Alexei Navalny's poisoning. Andrei Lugovoy, 54, is high up in Moscow's Security and Anti-Corruption committee which has been tasked with probing the latest poison attack on an anti-Kremlin figure. Vladimir Putin's ally previously worked as a KGB ally and is still wanted by British authorities over Litvinenko's poisoning with radioactive polonium-210 in 2006, but Russia have denied his extradition. Andrei Lugovoy (pictured), who was accused of killing Alexander Litvinenko has been given a major role in the investigation into Alexei Navalny's poisoning Navalny, a prominent Putin critic, left his Berlin hospital for the first time this week after being poisoned with Novichok, the same substance used in the Salisbury attack in 2018. The dissident politician fell ill while on a flight in Russia, spending a total of 18 days in a coma. It was initially suggested by Navalny's friends that he was poisoned with a cup of tea that he drank at Tomsk airport shortly before boarding the flight where he fell ill. Navalny, a prominent Putin critic, left his Berlin hospital for the first time this week after being poisoned with Novichok But his political allies now believe the agent was slipped into a water bottle he drank from at a hotel. The 44-year-old revealed that he is still in rehabilitation and is learning basic skills such as balancing, catching, throwing and writing following the attempt on his life, which has been blamed on the Russian state. The Kremlin continues to deny involvement in the poison plot, and has requested evidence from Germany to support its conclusion of Novichok poisoning. Putin is under pressure to launch an investigation into the attack, and Lugovoy will be a key figure in the probe, according to The Mirror. British authorities found that Luogovoy met with Litvinenko (pictured in hospital), a defected Russian spy who had been critical of the state and accused Putin of murder, on the day he was poisoned But he has already claimed Navalny's poisoning was directed by Western intelligence services, and the investigation is likely to be a sham. A UK security source said Lugovoy's involvement deliberately shows an 'arrogant disregard for the West'. They added: 'It also acts as a threat, displaying a brutal readiness to resort to very cruel violence and murder.' British authorities found that Luogovoy met with Litvinenko, a defected Russian spy who had been critical of the state and accused Putin of murder, on the day he was poisoned. The Kremlin continues to deny involvement in Navalny's poison plot, and has requested evidence from Germany to support its conclusion of Novichok Lugovoy had met with the former FSB secret service officer at least four times in the month before the attack. Traces of the deadly polonium-210 were found in each of the hotel room that Lugovoy had stayed in, in the restaurant he dined in, and on two planes he travelled on. Lugovoy was then treated at a Moscow hospital for suspected radiation poisoning after his return to Russia. Meanwhile Litvinenko died three weeks after his attack. Maharashtra on Friday went past 1,300,000 Covid-19 cases, with 17,794 fresh infections taking the tally to 1,300,757. The latest 100,000 cases came in five days, after the state had moved from 1,100,000 to 1,200,000 cases in four days fastest rise of 100,000 infections so far on September 20. The state also reported 416 Covid-19 fatalities on Friday, taking its toll to 34,761. According to the state health department, of the 416 deaths, 228 were from the past 48 hours, 106 are from last week and 82 from the period before last week. While the active cases in Maharashtra rose to 272,775, Friday witnessed 19,592 people recovering, taking the total number of recoveries to 992,806. The states recovery rate stands at 76.33%. Mumbai, meanwhile, repo-rted 1,876 fresh infections as its case count rose to 194,303, and an addition of 48 fatalities took the citys toll to 8,706. Mumbai has 28,395 active Covid-19 cases. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who held a review meeting to assess the Covid-19 situation in Pune division and Konkan region, said easing of lockdown restrictions increased the threat of the virus spreading. Thackeray asked people to ensure they wear masks and maintain social distancing to contain the spread of Covid-19. The Konkan region, which comprises of Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, has witnessed a surge in cases and fatalities in the past month. Senior health department officials said the movement of people from hotspots to Konkan region during Ganeshotsav in August was the primary reason for the increase in cases. Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg saw a rise of 78%, 124% and 237% in cases, respectively, between August 25 and September 24. During the same period, fatalities rose by 48% in Raigad, 163% in Ratnagiri and 331% in Sindhudurg. In terms of active cases, Sindhudurg had 463 active cases on August 25, which rose by 186% to 1,324 on September 24. In Ratnagiri, the active cases rose from 1,502 to 2,736, while Raigad saw a rise from 4,872 to 7,920. We had anticipated a rise in cases after Ganeshotsav, but so far the increase is not so much that the districts would have difficulties in managing its patients. The district administration has been told to carry out rigorous contact tracing. As the region has poor connectivity, if the spike goes out of hand, it would lead to an increase in deaths, said a bureaucrat, who was present at the CMs meeting. Pune division, which includes Pune, Satara and Solapur districts, too, has seen a spike in cases during the past month. Pune district witnessed a 77% rise from 155,039 infections on August 25 to 274,421 on September 24. While Satara saw a whopping 213.18% jump in cases and Solapur had a 90.54% rise. Keeping in mind the unlock process due to which the movement of people has increased and regular activities of people have started, the transmission is expected to increase, said Thackeray, during the meeting, adding that public campaigns are needed to make people wear masks, sanitise their hands and maintain social distance. Thackeray also directed district officials to take assistance and guidance from the Covid task force members while treating critical patients. He said the state governments My Family, My Responsibility campaign will help create a health map of Maharashtra and make its people fit. The campaign, which was kicked-off on September 15, aims to survey and screen households in the state to detect Covid-19 patients as well as those with comorbidities. Volunteers were compiling data of those who had been detected with the infection, those who had recovered and their post-coronavirus situation, Thackeray said. In Konkan, 10.63 lakh families have been surveyed. In Pune, they have surveyed 182 villages and 13 municipal councils, the CM said, adding that the campaign was being extended in Pune to include factories, housing societies and civic wards. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says the government is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the possibility of reducing the state budget deficit for 2021. "The income part today is less than the expenses that we have to carry out. A deficit arises, the deficit is covered from various sources, in particular from borrowed. These are international loans, external borrowing and internal borrowing ... This year the deficit is 7.5%, about UAH 298 billion. Next year we plan 6%, but now we are negotiating with the International Monetary Fund to reduce it a little," Shmyhal said at a meeting with students of the Lviv Polytechnic National University in Lviv. The prime minister stressed that the government will fulfill the 2020 budget and the 2021 budget. According to him, the authorities expect a moderate economic growth, which has already begun. Beccius name has surfaced in several financial scandals, including in the Vaticans purchase of a London investment property that had allegedly helped enrich the middlemen. But on Friday, Becciu described a separate case involving the donations of church money to Beccius home diocese on the Italian island of Sardinia, where the cardinals brother is the head of a charitable arm. Becciu said he was being accused of aiding and abetting my family, my brother. A federal judge in California late Thursday blocked the Trump administration from stopping the 2020 Census count next week instead of Oct. 31 as the bureau had planned, saying the plaintiffs had proved the government's truncated schedule could lead to an inaccurate count. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in the Northern District of California granted a preliminary injunction in the case brought by the National Urban League and a group of counties, cities, advocacy groups and individuals. Koh had, earlier this month, issued a temporary restraining order to continue the count, which has been beset this year by the coronavirus pandemic, natural disasters and legal tussling. The case is likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a statement called the ruling "a victory for our Constitution and American Democracy," and plaintiffs called it a win for people in harder-to-count communities who may have been missed under a rushed count. "The court's decision affirms our contention that changes to the census schedule will irreparably harm the integrity of the 2020 Census and result in a devastating undercount of vulnerable communities," said Marc H. Morial, the NUL's president and chief executive. "Career officials at the Census Bureau opposed the shortened schedule precisely for these reasons, and to avoid the perception of political manipulation, and we are confident that integrity and equity will win out over the partisan vandalism that threatens our democracy." Melissa Arbus Sherry, an attorney with Latham & Watkins who argued the case, said in a statement, "As the Court recognized, the Census Bureau has itself repeatedly recognized that a full, fair, and accurate count takes time, especially when faced with a historic pandemic. Every day that the 2020 Census count continues, and Census operations appropriately continue, will help ensure the accuracy and completeness of this once-in-a-decade tally." The departments of Justice and Commerce did not respond to requests for comment. In her ruling, Koh found that the government's explanation for why it had shortened the timeline ran "counter to the facts." Department of Justice lawyers had argued that the government had truncated the count in response to Congress's failure to act on the bureau's earlier request to extend the statutory deadline for delivering the data. The House approved the four-month delay in its May coronavirus relief bill but the Senate has yet to approve it. But Koh found that even as Congress was taking "major steps" toward extending the deadline, the Commerce Department was already pressuring the bureau to accelerate the count. Internal documents released during the lawsuit showed career bureau officials strategizing how to resist the pressure, calling it "ludicrous to think we can complete 100% of the nation's data collection earlier than 10/31," and saying "any thinking person who would believe we can deliver apportionment by 12/31 has either a mental deficiency or a political motivation." On Aug. 3, the government abruptly announced a "Replan" in which the count would end Sept. 30, a month before the date it had originally requested, and that the data would be reported by the end of the year, while President Trump was still in office, instead of the original deadline of April 30. Koh referred to a July 29 House Oversight and Reform hearing at which bureau director Steven Dillingham did not support extending the deadline but rather "sidestepped questions" about whether the administration had reversed its position. "Accordingly, Defendants' explanation - that the Replan was adopted in order to meet the December 31, 2020 statutory deadline because Congress failed to act - runs counter to the facts," she wrote. "Those facts show not only that the Bureau could not meet the statutory deadline, but also that the Bureau had received pressure from the Commerce Department to cease seeking an extension of the deadline." The evidence supported the plaintiffs' claim that the government's decision was "arbitrary and capricious," in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, according to the ruling. "Single-mindedly sacrificing" a complete and accurate census in order to meet a congressionally mandated deadline "can itself violate the APA," she wrote. The ruling also found that the jurisdictions and groups that had filed the suit would suffer irreparable harm from an inaccurate census, including a loss of federal funding and Congressional representation, both of which are determined by decennial census data. A federal court in Maryland is expected to rule soon on a similar challenge to the shortened schedule. This week, the Trump administration also asked the Supreme Court to overturn or expedite a review of a separate ruling against a memo from the president that said undocumented immigrants should be excluded when using census data for allocating congressional seats to the states. Census workers have told The Washington Post and watchdog groups that they were instructed to cut corners in recent weeks in the rush to meet the shortened deadline. On Thursday, House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., sent a letter to Dillingham asking about leaked documents that appear to show the bureau breaking or changing its rules for the enumeration of homeless people in order to finish the count by Sept. 30. Dillingham said bureau officials would answer her questions Friday in a regularly scheduled briefing. Maloney and other lawmakers have expressed concern about the change in schedule, saying a rushed count would hurt communities in both Democratic and Republican states. A bipartisan Senate bill introduced this month by Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, would extend the count through at least Oct. 31 and extend the data reporting deadline by four months. Census experts say post-count analysis and adjustments are key to an accurate count; the government's Replan would have shortened it from six months to three months. A date extension approved by lawmakers could be vetoed by the president but still could add weight to challenges in court. Otherwise, an expected appeal of Koh's decision by the government "continues uncertainty" for field operations, Vanita Gupta, president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a tweet Friday. "It's why Congress must still act." Tesco has become the latest supermarket to impose rationing on food and household goods, as panic buying returns to the UK amid fears of a second wave of coronavirus. In a bid to avoid the bulk buying which left shop shelves across the UK almost bare in March, the supermarket giant will limit items such as flour, dried pasta, toilet roll and anti-bacterial wipes to three per customer. It comes after Morrisons yesterday announced rationing would be introduced on certain items in its stores up and down the country. The restrictions come as supermarket chiefs look to avoid a over repeat of the stockpiling panic seen in stores at the start of the pandemic in March. Pictures from supermarkets across the UK have already shown empty or rapidly emptying toilet roll shelves, just days after the government announced tighter restrictions in a bid to stave off a second coronavirus wave. Tesco (pictured: a nearly empty toilet roll shelf at Tesco in Cambridge) has become the latest supermarket to impose rationing on food and household goods, as panic buying returns to the UK amid fears of a second wave of coronavirus In a bid to avoid the bulk buying which left shop shelves across the UK almost bare in March, the supermarket giant will limit items such as flour, dried pasta, toilet roll (pictured: A sign at Tesco in Cambridge limiting toilet roll to one per customer) It comes after both Aldi and Morrisons yesterday announced they would impose rationing in stores up and down the country. Pictured: A woman leaves a Tesco in Steatham, London, with two packs of toilet rolls on Wednesday - before restrictions were announced A Tesco spokesperson said: We have good availability, with plenty of stock to go round, and we would encourage our customers to shop as normal. 'To ensure that everyone can keep buying what they need, we have introduced bulk-buy limits on a small number of products. To help our customers shop safely, we will also have colleagues at the entrances of our larger stores to remind customers about the safety measures we have in place, including the legal requirement to wear a face covering.' Yesterday, bosses at Morrisons introduced curbs on toilet roll and hand gel with shortages already being reported in stores up and down the country as Britain braces itself for a second wave of coronavirus. Shelves have been emptied following Boris Johnson's address to the nation on Tuesday night, in which he outlined a new raft of restrictions, which include a call to work from home where possible. The new restrictions could last for up to six months. Ahead of today's announcement, Tesco supermarkets yesterday started rationing toilet roll, with a notice on the shelf at a store in Ely, Cambridgeshire, today limiting it to just one pack per customer. Shelves had also been emptied of rice, pasta and baked beans at the supermarket. The notice said: 'Due to availability issues toilet roll is currently restricted to one per customer.' Meanwhile an Aldi store appears to have once again set limits on the amount customers can buy, with a notice appearing at a store in Sydenham, South East London, forbidding shoppers from bulk buying essential items. As concerns have grown, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) urged customers to be considerate of others and 'shop as you normally would'. Some of the supermarket giants have insisted they are well stocked and will not need to cap how much of a certain product shoppers can purchase. However, Morrisons is taking steps to avoid the chaotic scenes earlier this year when shoppers stacked trolleys full of precious commodities in case leaving the house became difficult, depriving many others of essentials. MORRISONS: A Leicester supermarket's shelves are pictured empty today as fears grow Britain faces a second national lockdown with the prospect of food shortages TESCO: Tesco supermarkets, including this one in Ely, have started rationing toilet roll The graphic above shows the break down of what Britons spent their cash on in the supermarkets when panic buying started back in March A man leaves a Costco store in Manchester with a trolley full of toilet paper on Tuesday A spokesman told The Grocer: 'We are introducing a limit on a small number of key products, such as toilet roll and disinfectant. Our stock levels of these products are good, but we want to ensure that they are available for everyone.' Sainsbury's introduced a purchasing cap on certain items this year but told MailOnline today no such restrictions were currently in place. What changes are being introduced at supermarkets following PM's latest statement? On Monday, Boris Johnson announced that face masks will be compulsory for shop workers, while fines for not wearing masks will increase to 200. Asda has said it will introduce 1,000 new Covid-19 marshals on the doors of its supermarkets to ensure customers wear masks properly. Morrisons also said it has reinstated wardens to store entrances to ensure rules are enforced. However, most health and safety measures have stayed the same at supermarkets despite the new announcement. Measures at Sainsbury's and Tesco are understood to be broadly unchanged from recent months, with staff ensuring shopper numbers are limited in stores, with people queuing outside in line with distancing rules. Advertisement Similarly, a Waitrose spokeswoman said: 'It's not something we are doing at the moment. We are holding good levels in all key product areas and we have also looked at the items people bought early in lockdown and planned ahead.' Meanwhile, Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis told Sky News earlier this week that the grocer has 'very good supplies of food'. He said: 'We just don't want to see a return to unnecessary panic buying because that creates a tension in the supply chain that's not necessary. And therefore we would just encourage customers to continue to buy as normal.' The UK's largest grocery chains introduced health and safety measures to cope with the pandemic earlier this year as stores remained open due to their essential status, although some restrictions have been relaxed in recent months. The stores were among the main beneficiaries when lockdown restrictions were first introduced, and demand for online shopping surged in March as customers were told to stay at home, with grocers rapidly growing their online operations as a result. The supermarkets have said the expansion has allowed them to cope with higher demand as restrictions tighten again. Shares in online retailer Ocado have jumped over the past week due increasing demand, as industry analysts have reported high booking figures for online shopping slots. Wholesale shop Costco has this week been inundated with customers with stores in Leeds, London and Manchester seeing a surge in visitors. Many stores had to erect barriers to regulate the growing queues, and shoppers were seen leaving with overflowing trollies as they stocked up on supplies. As customers flooded social media with pictures of empty aisles, one shopper declared: 'It's happening again.' More empty spaces inside the Tesco supermarket in Ely, Cambridgeshire where loo rolls have been limited to one pack per customer amid rise in demand over lockdown fears Products have been flying off the shelves at this Sainsbury's store in Taplow, Buckinghamshire However, Giles Hurley, the CEO of Aldi UK, Britain's fifth-largest supermarket group, emailed customers on Tuesday to reassure them following Mr Johnson's address. 'Our stores remain fully stocked and ask that you continue to shop considerately. There is no need to buy more than you usually would,' he said. How will the impact of tighter restrictions be different to what was seen in March? Restrictions have been tightened in recent days but remain significantly looser than when the pandemic first struck, allowing shopping habits to continue as normal more easily. However, supermarkets are prepared for even stricter restrictions after boosting supply chains in the face of the pandemic. Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the BRC, said retailers will remain a 'safe space', even if further lockdown measures are enforced. 'Supply chains are stronger than ever before and we do not anticipate any issues in the availability of food or other goods under any future lockdown,' he added. Online operations are also in a stronger position to cope with demand surges, with most major grocers more than doubling delivery capacity since March. Advertisement Analysts are sceptical that another round of panic buying will materialise and also believe supermarkets are much better prepared for any possible spike in demand. 'We believe that the public has more confidence in its food system,' said Shore Capital analyst Clive Black. Analysts do, however, expect a boon to supermarkets' trading from the new restrictions on Britain's hospitality industry. Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said: 'We urge consumers to be considerate of others and shop as they normally would.' He played down the presence of panic-buying and paid tribute to the 'excellent job' of retailers to provide food during the pandemic. Reassuring the public, he added: 'Supply chains are stronger than ever before and we do not anticipate any issues in the availability of food or other goods under any future lockdown.' But supermarkets are bolstering security at their doors and have doubled the number of delivery slots. Meanwhile, Asda has announced 1,000 new safety marshals to help enforce the Government's advice to wear and face mask and will give sanitised baskets and trolleys to customer as they enter the store. Morrisons also said it has reinstated wardens to store entrances to ensure rules are enforced. However, most health and safety measures have stayed the same at supermarkets despite the new announcement. Measures at Sainsbury's and Tesco are understood to be broadly unchanged from recent months, with staff ensuring shopper numbers are limited in stores, with people queuing outside in line with distancing rules. Long snaking queues also formed at Costco in Chingford, north London earlier this week, with specialist barriers set up in a zig zag formation to control the growing crowds Costco wholesale stores across the UK saw a surge in shoppers this week, leading to long queues (pictured: Costco store, Leeds) On Monday, the Prime Minister also introduced a 10pm curfew for bars, pubs and restaurants. The curfew will not affect supermarkets or convenience stores. However, some analysts have suggested the move and another potential decline in commuter numbers after people were told to work from home could boost supermarket demand as eating out habits are impacted by the measures. Clive Black and Darren Shirley at Shore Capital said the new guidance could result in a 'step back' in the recovery of food-to-go specialists, which would prove a 'hammer-blow' to the likes of Greggs and Pret A Manger. They said 'demand for grocery retail is likely to be boosted once again' as more meals are eaten at home. Tesco and Asda have been approached for comment on purchasing limits. Organized by China Daily and the local government, the event aims to implement the spirit of President Xi Jinping's speeches and instructions about Gansu and boost the culture and tourism industry of Lanzhou, a city along the Yellow River. Keynote speakers from home and abroad shared their thoughts about the Yellow River civilization's inheritance and development, as well as its global significance and the development of the Belt and Road Initiative. "Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese nation. The Yellow River civilization is an integral part of the Chinese civilization and the root of the Chinese nation," Zhou Shuchun, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, said in a speech at the event. The river, which has been winding on for thousands of years, has nurtured the spirit of unremitting self-improvement, perseverance, national amalgamation and openness, thus forming the spirit of Lanzhou inclusiveness, persistence, innovation and harmony, he said. He said as an essential vehicle to connect China with the world, China Daily will continue to report stories about poverty alleviation and reforms in Gansu, for the world's better understanding of the Chinese spirit and China's policy to help its people shake off poverty. Wang Jiayi, Gansu province's publicity chief, said as an essential hub of the ancient Silk Road, Gansu is a strategic tunnel connecting China with west and central Asia. The local government has been striving to protect the Yellow River civilization and ecosystem and build Lanzhou into a tourism hub through the Belt and Road Initiative. Lanzhou deputy mayor Lyu Linbang said for the past decade, the Lanzhou Yellow River Cultural Tourism Festival has evolved into a brand that enhances the city's influence. With integration of the culture of the Yellow River, Silk Road and the culture of ethnic groups, Lanzhou is a popular tourist city that attracts visitors with its exotic atmosphere and great landforms. In a video speech, Erik Solheim, former undersecretary-general of the United Nations and executive director of the UN Environment Program, recalled his visit to Gansu to see the province's beautiful land forms and the life of its people. He said the Belt and Road Initiative is a fantastic new opportunity for multilateralism. "Those countries involved in the initiative see it as an opportunity for shared prosperity and for poorer nations to come out of poverty. But we need to take Belt and Road in a greener direction," he said. China is the biggest solar and wind nation around the globe, he added, with much environmental experience to share with the world, such as the greening of the deserts in Gansu. He expressed his confidence that, together with others, China will create through the Belt and Road and other mechanisms a shared global ecological civilization. Zhong Lina, vice-dean of the Institute for Big Data Research in Tourism and Culture at Beijing International Studies University, designed a route to take her son along the Yellow River to learn about Chinese civilization and diverse natural landscapes. She hopes more visitors from the world, especially young people, will use the journey along the Yellow River as a starting point for understanding China. Orlando Nieva Valente, former general director of Varoni Publicidad & Producciones TV & Media Broadcasting Company in Peru, said the marvelous scenes of the Yellow River remind him of the Amazon River that traverses his home country. "The deforestation (of the Amazon) is visibly staggering. Many organizations have been doing their best to protect it, but the economic interests of countries or large investors often unfortunately take priority," said Valente, who's doing research on new media at the Communication University of China. Comparing that situation with the Yellow River banks and its developed cities, he said the difference is that for centuries China has been increasing the modernization of the main towns and communities along the banks, turning them into prosperous metropolises like Beijing. He believed the Yellow River and Amazon River can learn a lot from each other in terms of ecosystem protection. Yeshi Lhamo, associate professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said there are various intangible cultural heritage projects throughout the Yellow River Basin, like the Gesar epic tradition. The Chinese government has established 23 state-level eco-cultural preservation areas across the country, among which eight are located in the basin. She praised the government's efforts to protect them and said people should keep observing and thinking about the development of the Yellow River culture. "The development, vision, history, culture, science and technology, and natural ecology of our Yellow River Basin, can become a model for sustainable development in such an unpredictable world," she said. David Gosset, founder of the Europe-China Forum, said the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and its effects have helped accelerate China's return to a position of centrality through a process of renaissance. He defined this renaissance in five areas: the Chinese economic re-emergence, China's social transformation, China's cultural and intellectual metamorphosis, Global China and China's position as the source of ideas for the 21th century. "President Xi Jinping presented the idea of ecological civilization. Not only do we need it for Gansu and China, but also for the world," Gosset said. Signing ceremonies of culture and tourism projects on the Yellow River were also held at the event. "For those from the regions along the Yellow River, they are connected with each other. It's essential for the regions to work together to promote its great civilization and rich tourism resources," attendant Li Zhixiong said, an official from the culture and tourism department of Yan'an, Shaanxi province. Launched in 2018 by China Daily, Vision China invites political, business and academic speakers to tell China's story from a global perspective and discuss major China-related topics of international interest. Previous to this event, talks have been held 15 times in places like Beijing, Tianjin and London. By Xu Lin SOURCE China Daily With its unilateral support to Azerbaijan and the expansion of military presence there, Turkey undermines efforts at peace and stability in the region as well as the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to this end, Pashinian said, addressing the UN General Assembly from Yerevan. Turkey directly threatens Armenia and puts on show aggressive military posturing by way of provocative joint military drills with Azerbaijan in close vicinity of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, he charged. Yerevan and Ankara began trading bitter accusations following the July 12 outbreak of heavy fighting on Armenias border with Azerbaijan, Turkeys regional ally. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish leaders blamed Yerevan for the weeklong deadly hostilities and reaffirmed support for Baku in unusually strong terms, raising the possibility of Turkish military intervention in the Karabakh conflict. Turkish and Azerbaijani troops held joint exercises in various parts of Azerbaijan in August. Successive Turkish governments have refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and open the border between the two countries. They have made the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations conditional on a Karabakh settlement acceptable to Baku. Pashinian mentioned the July border clashes in his UN speech, saying they demonstrated that there is no military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is long overdue for the Azerbaijani leadership to acknowledge this fact and renounce the use of force and threat of force in the context of the conflict resolution, he said. The right of self-determination of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh is a basis of the peace process, which is recognized by the international community and the international mediators, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, added the Armenian leader. By virtue of this right, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh should be able to determine their status without limitation. Baku maintains that any peaceful settlement must restore Azerbaijani control over Karabakh. The Boston Planning and Development Agency approved the redevelopment of Suffolk Downs racetrack after a seven-hour meeting that began Thursday and ended Friday morning. The $8 billion project led by HYM Investment Group calls for the creation of 10,000 apartments and condos as well as office space for 25,000 workers on the 109-acre lot in East Boston. The multi-phased project, that could take two decades to complete, will include a mixed-use neighborhood, a 40-acre publicly accessible open space system, and two retail squares at Suffolk Downs and Beachmont stations. The first phase will include approximately 1.39 million square feet of development consisting of 520,000 square feet of corporate use and amenity space, three residential buildings, 800 townhomes proposed along Waldemar Avenue, construction of the Horseshoe Pond and Belle Isle Square public plaza with over 100,000 square feet of ground floor retail. Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders criticized the project in February saying it only added to the citys gentrification. We need affordable housing for all instead of more gentrifying luxury developments for the few. I stand with the longtime residents of East Boston fighting displacement from the communities they have spent generations building. https://t.co/OGpZAD755O Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 27, 2020 The tweet prompted a wave of responses, including from Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo and Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards, who represents East Boston. Arrigo simply tweeted OK Boomer. Edwards replied by tweeting out her comments on the development, submitted last May to the Boston Planning and Redevelopment Authority. She expressed concerns that, among other things, East Boston residents had been left out of the planning process prior to 2019. Good evening this is the district city councilor from East Boston. Don't worry @BernieSanders I have a PLAN FOR THAT!#bospoli#mapoli https://t.co/DhrSQkhqsF Lydia Edwards (@LydiaMEdwards) February 27, 2020 Related Content: The driver who was filmed plowing through a group of protesters in Denver claims he did not intend to harm anyone and says he was only defending himself after they surrounded his car. Jonathan Benson was behind the wheel of the vehicle that was seen driving through a crowd of demonstrators protesting outside the Colorado State Capitol building following a grand jury's decision on the Breonna Taylor shooting on Wednesday. Benson had approached the intersection of 14th Street and Lincoln when the group surrounded his vehicle and blocked his path, video of the incident showed. Scroll down for video Jonathan Benson says he did not intend to harm anyone when he drove through a group of protesters in Denver on Wednesday night Benson was behind the wheel of the vehicle that was seen accelerating into a crowd of BLM demonstrators outside the Colorado State Capitol building Benson said he reacted in self defense after the group surrounded his car and smashed his windshield (pictured) After a brief standoff lasting several minutes, he eventually accelerated into the crowd, knocking one person to the ground before speeding off down the road. Benson had not been publicly identified until Thursday when he addressed the incident saying he had become overwhelmed amid all the 'chaos.' 'I had the intent to defend myself, that's it,' Benson told Denver 7. 'I had no intention of hurting anybody and I'm glad it was a bike that I ran over because I thought I ran somebody over, so I was glad that nobody got hurt.' Benson said he was on his way to pick up a client when he saw police lights and 'commotion' near the intersection which had not been blocked off. 'I was looking right to see the accident and by the time I turned, I started getting surrounded by people,' he said. Benson claimed protesters then began shouting at him and kicking his vehicle and at one point smashed a hammer on his windshield. 'At that moment, I didn't know if someone was getting in my car...it was just chaos,' he said. Footage showed the moment a driver plowed through a group of Black Lives Matter protesters during unrest in Denver, Colorado, following the Kentucky grand jury's decision to not indict any of the police officers with the death of Breonna Taylor Police detained Benson shortly after, down the road, after they watched the incident through the street's halo cameras Car hit a protester pic.twitter.com/dtETwNoHPT Shelly Bradbury (@ShellyBradbury) September 24, 2020 Shortly after driving through the crowd, Benson was detained by police who had watched the incident through the street's halo cameras, but he was not arrested nor charged. Denver Police Department Division Chief Ron Thomas said the footage showed Benson appeared to be threatened during the chaos. 'I think that the vehicle was being kicked and then that individual kind of worked their way out of that situation,' Thomas said. 'In the event someone is blocking you or you are surrounded by people, our advice is to stay in the car, lock your doors, do not engage with demonstrators,' the police chief added. The incident happened around 9.15pm once the main protest had finished. During that time, a small group of protesters remained rallying in front of the Colorado Capitol building. No serious injuries were reported in the incident. The woman who was knocked to the ground, identified only as Kate, was not badly hurt but said the driver had hit her bicycle. Benson was not arrested nor charged in the inciden Protests erupted across the US (Denver pictured) following the decision on Wednesday to not indict the officers in the death of Breonna Taylor 'I was kind of going up on the hood and I was like, 'No, I'm not doing this', and I rolled over to the side,' she told the Denver Post. 'He wasn't gonna stop even though I was, like, on his hood.' She said she had come out to demonstrate after state officials 'let Breonna Taylor's murderers off'. The incident happened around 9.15pm once the main protest had finished. During that time, a small group of protesters remained rallying in front of the Colorado Capitol building. The protests erupted Wednesday night across the US after a grand jury indicted one Louisville officer in connection to the March 13 killing, but for shooting into a home next to Taylor's that had people in it. No charges were brought against the other two officers who fired their weapons in her home. The UK government on Thursday began moves to confiscate about $39 million from Bhadresh Gohil, a legal counsel to convicted former governor of Delta State, James Ibori. Mr Gohil was one of Mr Iboris lawyers in his multi-billion naira trial in 2011 in London for money laundering. On April 17, 2012, Mr Ibori was convicted by a UK court and sentenced to 13 years in prison after he was found guilty of stealing public funds valued at about $250 million belonging to the Delta State government during his tenure as governor. Mr Ibori, who was the governor of the oil-rich Delta State between 1999 and 2007, was accused of stealing the funds in the V-Mobile shares deal he brokered with the Akwa Ibom State government. Legal tussle A Reuters report on Thursday said British prosecutors have opened a legal process to attempt to confiscate about 30.8 million (about $39.3 million) from Mr Gohil who was reportedly a willing conduit in the theft of public funds. Mr Gohil was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 2010 on a 13 counts charge for money-laundering and related offences associated with his role in the crime. The lawyer was named in the report as a partner in a London-based legal firm in the district of Mayfair, and reportedly assisted the convicted former governor to siphon stolen funds through shell companies and offshore accounts. The bulk of the stolen funds were traced to transactions involving illicit acquisition of properties, including a London country house and a private jet valued at about $20 million. The lawyer was accused of equally facilitating the fraudulent scheme through which about $37 million was stolen in phoney consultancy fees involving the V-mobile deal. The report said hearing in the case was currently on at the Londons Southwark Crown Court, with lead prosecution counsel, Jonathan Kinnear, opening his case against Mr Gohil. Mr Gohil is expected to be given the opportunity to call witnesses to disprove the evidence against him. Vodafone Group Plc won a long-running tax battle with the Indian government, which had demanded that the British telecom operator pay Rs20,000 crore in back taxes, interest and penalties related to its 2007 purchase of Hutchison Whampoas India operations. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague held that any attempt by India to enforce the tax demand would be a violation of the countrys international law obligations, Vodafone Group said in a statement on Friday. This was a unanimous decision, including Indias appointed arbitrator Rodrigo Oreamuno, the statement said. The tax dispute cast a shadow over Vodafone Groups operations in Indias intensely competitive telecom market, where it had to write off billions of dollars worth of investments. Shares of the telcos Indian unit Vodafone Idea Ltd surged 13.6% after the arbitration court ruling. Investors in the Indian unit are hoping that the order will encourage the UK company to pump in additional capital into its India operations. To be sure, Vodafone Group has stated that it does not intend to make further investments in the India business. Had the judgment gone against Vodafone, it would have had to pay $2 billion, which is equal to the telcos stake value in Vodafone Idea, a telecom analyst said, requesting anonymity. Vodafone owns 45.1% in Vodafone Idea, Indias third-largest mobile operator. The arbitration court ruled that the Indian tax departments demand from Vodafone is in breach of the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between India and The Netherlands. Any further challenge to the order, if the tax department decides to do so, has to go to the Singapore high court (jurisdiction), said a person with direct knowledge of the matter, requesting anonymity. Vodafone was represented by senior counsel Harish Salve and a team of DMD Advocates. In response to the judgment, the Indian government said it will study the arbitration award and will decide on further course of action after legal and other consultations. Another person aware of the matter said that the government of India may have to refund the tax collected, which is about Rs45 crore, if it does not appeal against the award. The dispute arose when the government amended the Finance Act in 2012, allowing it to retrospectively tax any gain on transfer of shares. Following the amendment, Rs 20,000 crore was demanded from Vodafone in back taxes on capital gains, interest and penalty. The idea was to tax companies for any transfer of shares involving an underlying Indian asset. The amendment overturned a Supreme Court judgement that went in the companys favour. Vodafone then challenged Indias amendment to the law, which allowed the country to retrospectively tax deals, including its $10.9 billion acquisition of a 67% stake in Hutchison Essar. This victory of Vodafone was expected, considering the widespread condemnation India faced for its decision to retrospectively amend the law to tax Vodafone, overruling a favourable judgment from the Supreme Court against the tax office, said Amit Maheshwari, partner, Ashok Maheshwari and Associates. "He is trapped in another hell," Alice says of her boyfriend, one of 12 Hong Kongers detained in China after trying to flee by sea. (Rachel Cheung / For The Times) The young woman keeps two timers on her phone: one counting down until her anniversary with her boyfriend, the other tracking how many days it has been since he vanished at sea. Shed noticed him acting strange in the days before Aug. 23: tense and withdrawn, but abruptly telling her, Take care and that she was loved. They had gotten together in December after he was bailed out of detention, one of more than 10,000 Hong Kong people whove been arrested since last year in connection with mass protests against increasing Chinese control over the semi-autonomous territory. Hed become constantly on guard after that, afraid of being locked up again. Family members of 12 Hong Kong people detained in Guangdong province speak to news media Sept. 12 in Hong Kong. (Anthony Kwan / Getty Images) Then he disappeared. For three days, his girlfriend and family had no information of his whereabouts. They worried hed been kidnapped or even killed. Word came on Aug. 26: The Chinese coast guard had stopped a boat reportedly headed toward Taiwan and taken 12 Hong Kongers on board into detention. They would be held in mainland China, not their home city. He is trapped in another hell, said the girlfriend, who spoke on condition of using only her first name, Alice, and withholding her boyfriends name for fear of retribution under a new national security law recently imposed on Hong Kong to silence dissent in the former British colony. A month has passed since the Hong Kong 12, as they have been nicknamed in the city, were detained for alleged illegal border crossing in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, just over an hours drive from Hong Kong but a world away in terms of legal protections. Their case is a nightmare for 12 families now living the very scenario that brought millions of protesters into Hong Kongs streets last year: being subjected to the mainland Chinese justice system, where the law enforces political authority rather than upholding individuals' rights. All but one of the detained had been barred from leaving Hong Kong under court orders, according to a statement from Hong Kong police. They were mostly activists and pro-democracy protesters who had been charged with attempted arson, possession of offensive weapons, rioting and possession of explosives; one had been charged with breaking the national security law. Story continues The Hong Kong families have attempted to hire mainland Chinese lawyers to defend the 12 11 men and one woman who range in age from 16 to 33 and include at least one foreign national, a 19-year-old with Portuguese citizenship, according to local reports. None of the mainland lawyers representing the 12 have been granted access to their clients, according to two of the lawyers hired by the families and activists working with them. The lawyers have been followed, harassed, warned by security officials to drop the case, and told at the Shenzhen detention center that the 12 had separately hired their own attorneys from a government-provided list. Fan Biaowen, left, Liang Xiaojun and Song Yusheng are human rights lawyers hired by Hong Kong families to represent their detained relatives. (Wu Li) My son would definitely not do that, said the mother of one of the detainees, 29-year-old Li Tsz-yin, at a news conference two weeks ago. The family members spoke wearing sunglasses, masks and hats, with jackets zipped up to conceal their faces. Her son didnt know anyone in mainland China and wouldnt have chosen a Chinese lawyer on his own, she said, her voice shaking. The [government] departments are kicking us around like a rubber ball," said the wife of Wong Wai-yin, another detainee. Authorities had told the Hong Kong lawyer she hired that he should drop the case, she said, while various government departments directed her to call different numbers about seeing her husband, all to no avail. I keep dreaming of him shaved bald, in prison clothes with an overgrown beard, his face entirely helpless, she said. I cant see any hope. The case has further strained relations between Beijing and Washington. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus wrote on Twitter earlier this month that the arrest of the 12 Hong Kong democracy activists is a sad example of the deterioration of human rights in Hong Kong. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the 12 were not democratic activists, but elements attempting to separate Hong Kong from China a claim that appeared to raise the 12 Hong Kongers current charges of illegal border crossing to the more serious charge of separatism. One of the 12, 30-year-old programmer Andy Li, had been arrested under the national security law in August. He helped arrange a delegation of foreign observers to visit Hong Kong during local elections last year. He was charged with collusion with foreign forces and money laundering. It is pure anguish to not know what Andy is going through right now, his family wrote in a statement. He must have fled Hong Kong because he believed he would not receive fair trial under the new national security law, they wrote and now he was in an even worse situation. Most of the 12 Hong Kongers had not told their families of their plans to flee, according to local reports. Cheng Tsz-Ho, 18, bade goodbye to his father at dawn, telling him he was going fishing. Li Tsz-yin, 29, had suddenly asked his mother to take a selfie together a few days before the trip. Cheung Ming-yu, 20, had stayed up the night before playing video games, waiting until his family fell asleep. Liu Tsz-man, who was less than a week from turning 18, had fought repeatedly with his father over Hong Kong politics. But hed called his older brother days before leaving and asked him to care for their dad. Across the border, the lawyers hired by the Hong Kong families have been rebuffed on repeated attempts to meet the detainees. One of the lawyers spoke with The Times via an encrypted messaging app while on a train to Shenzhen. He couldnt call because two plainclothes men, one policeman and one state security agent, had been following him since he left home, he said. He had also been called in by the local justice bureau, state security department, and lawyers association after his first trip to Shenzhen. Some had warned him to drop the case and others to stop speaking with media. He said officials "reminded me that it will be 'detrimental' to me if I continue," he said. Another of the family lawyers, Lu Siwei, said he had made several visits and been denied access for bureaucratic reasons, including claims about missing documents or that the detainees had chosen other representation. As lawyers, we have signed a contract, so we must continue," he said. They are my clients. I must try to secure their rights. Its that simple. The Hong Kong detainees can be held up to 37 days until Sept. 30. Then officials can either send them into the normal criminal court process, place them under "residential surveillance in a designated location" a form of incommunicado detention without trial for up to six months or release them on bail, said Leo Lan, a researcher for the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a China-focused human rights coalition. People held in residential surveillance are vulnerable to confession through torture, Lan said. In China, human rights lawyers have often been subjected to such arbitrary detention. The Hong Kongers will likely remain detained without access to a lawyer of their own choice, which means their trial if there is one at all will be a farce, Lan said. Thats common in mainland China, where suspects have no right to silence, bail is the exception rather than the rule, judges are controlled by the Party and required to cooperate with the procuratorate and the police to secure a conviction, said Maya Wang, a researcher for Human Rights Watch. One indication of the difference between Chinas and Hong Kongs legal systems is the conviction rate, Wang said: In Hong Kong, the rate ranges from 57% to 68%; in the mainland, its 99.9%. The Chinese government is using their case to set an example, to scare off other Hong Kongers who take part in protests, Lan said. Alice spends her days waiting for news. She had never met her boyfriends parents before he was taken to China. He often fought with them over politics, the son filled with conviction to fight for Hong Kong, the parents terrified for his safety. Now his mother calls Alice every day. She blames herself for not stopping her son. She feels helpless. She wonders whether speaking out helps or hurts. On the streets, activists sometimes set up stalls for sending postcards to the detainees in Shenzhen. Some passersby scribble cartoons of the Mid-Autumn Festival Oct. 1 this year when families are supposed to reunite. All of Hong Kong is waiting for you, they write. Alice keeps a diary for her boyfriend. She counts the days until they are reunited. She has mailed a few postcards to him. But no one knows where they go. Times staff writer Su reported from Beijing and special correspondent Cheung from Hong Kong. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Mumbai, Sep 25 : Veteran poet, lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar on Friday took a jibe at news television channels that have been highlighting a house party organised by Karan Johar last year. A video of the party has gone viral on social media. Akhtar tweeted from his verified account, noting how television channels were more concerned about Johar's house party of last year instead of talking about the controversial farm Bills passed recently by Parliament. "If Karan johar had invited some farmers too for his party, life would have been easier for our TV channels. They would not have had to choose between farmers protest and Karan's party! It seems that Karan's do is the second most favourite PARTY of our channels," Akhtar tweeted. Celebrities spotted at the party, as spotted in the video, include Bollywood stars Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Shahid Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Malaika Arora, and Arjun Kapoor, besides filmmakers Zoya Akhtar and Ayan Mukerji. It is being speculated that the celebrities seen in the old house party video were high on drugs. The video, which surfaced for the first time last year, has resurfaced on news channels after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) started summoning Bollywood celebrities including Deepika Padukone and her ex-manager Karishma Prakash for questioning for alleged drug links. Others who have been on the NCB radar are actresses Sara Ali Khan, Rakul Preet Singh and Shraddha Kapoor. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The city Health Department announced the first death in two years from the West Nile virus in New York City. One Staten Island resident and five other New Yorkers have been diagnosed with the first West Nile infections of the 2020 season, according to a news release from the Health Department. The person who died was over 65 years old and age is a well-known risk factor for severe West Nile virus outcomes. This is the first death from West Nile virus infection in New York City since 2018," the news release said. The release did not list the home borough of the person who died among the total of six people who were infected. All six were admitted to hospitals and five were discharged, officials said. We do not disclose information beyond what is in the release, said an email from a spokesman for the Health Department. We mourn the loss of a fellow New Yorker and urge everyone to take simple precautions to keep themselves and their families safe from mosquito bites, said Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi. When outside, wear mosquito repellent, cover your arms and legs, and discard standing water and install window screens to reduce your risk. In addition to the Staten Islander who became ill, the virus sickened two people each in Manhattan and Queens and one person in Brooklyn. One Manhattan resident likely was infected while traveling out of New York City, according to the news release. The Health Department warns that people who are over age 50 or have weakened immune systems may experience severe complications such as meningitis and encephalitis that could result in permanent or long-term issues such as muscle weakness, fatigue, confusion and depression. Others may experience milder symptoms such as headache, fever, fatigue, and rash. First detected in the city about 20 years ago, the number of human cases has ranged from three to 47 annually since 1999. Last year, 10 New Yorkers were diagnosed with virus, the news release said. Of the 434 New Yorkers diagnosed with West Nile virus since 1999, 47 or 11% died due to their infection. The number of positive mosquito pools has also varied annually from 40 to 1,024. The city has over 47 species of mosquitoes, but West Nile virus is transmitted mainly by several Culex species, including salinarius, pipiens and restuans, the news release said. West Nile virus has been detected in mosquitoes collected throughout the five boroughs, the news release said. The Health Department has successfully helped control mosquito-borne diseases with regular mosquito surveillance throughout the early spring and summer," according to the news release. The city has 106 surveillance traps in the five boroughs. The agencys mosquito control efforts are data driven and rely on our mosquito trapping and testing results to determine areas of the city to spray pesticide and apply larvicide, the news release said. "The Health Department will increase spraying in neighborhoods that meet these criteria. Department employees use trucks or backpack sprayers to kill adult flying mosquitos. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in Germany recovering from what authorities there determined to be nerve agent poisoning, thanked Russian pilots and paramedics for acting quickly after he fell into a coma on a flight from Siberia. Navalny, who collapsed on a plane to Moscow on August 20 and spent nearly three weeks in a coma, said in an Instagram post on Friday that pilots quickly landed the plane in Omsk and medical workers at the airport jammed a dose of atropine into him, immediately recognizing a toxic poisoning. Thank you, unknown good-hearted friends. You are good people, the 44-year-old politician wrote under a photo of him hugging his wife Yulia. After 48 hours in a hospital in Omsk, where Russian doctors said they found no trace of any poisoning, Navalny was transferred to the Charite hospital in Berlin. German chemical weapons experts determined that he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok findings corroborated by labs in France and Sweden. Navalny, a longtime foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was discharged from the hospital earlier this week. Charite hospital said that based on Navalnys progress, physicians believe a complete recovery is possible. Russian authorities have been resisting the international pressure to launch a criminal investigation, saying no trace of poisonous substances has been found in Navalnys system and demanding Germany, France and Sweden to share their findings. The Russian delegation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons sent a note to Germany on Wednesday, requesting comprehensive information on the so-called Navalny case, including test results, biological materials and other clinical samples to be provided within 10 days. German government spokeswoman Martina Fietz confirmed Friday that the Germany mission to the OPCW received the note. The mission will respond in keeping with rules that provide for a 10-day deadline, Fietz said. But let me repeat again what we have said here repeatedly in the past: Russia already has everything necessary to be able to conduct investigations itself, Fietz added. She once again pointed out that German, Swedish and French labs have confirmed that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, and that the OPCW has taken samples. Navalny has remained in Germany to undergo rehabilitation after being released from the hospital, which may take weeks, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said Thursday. Nevertheless, he planned to return to Russia at some point, according to his allies. Navalnys team blamed the Kremlin for the poisoning, claims which officials brushed off. In Fridays Instagram post, the politician said that a series of happy coincidences and sharp actions by pilots and medical workers sabotaged what Navalny said he thought may have been the plan of the killers. I was supposed to fall sick 20 minutes after takeoff, and in another 15 minutes lose consciousness. There was guaranteed to be no access to medical help and in another hour I would continue travelling in a black plastic bag on the last row of seats, scaring all passengers going to the bathroom, the politician wrote. Everything that happened next was very dramatic and deserves a separate story, but there would have been nothing to tell if not for these guys. ___ Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report. (Natural News) A tweet encouraging arson in Louisville, Kentucky, posted a day before violent riots once again broke out across multiple American cities including Louisville, did not violate the Twitter rules, according to a spokeswoman for the social media giant, despite the company dedicating itself in 2018 to improving conversational health on the platform. (Article by Allum Bokhari republished from Breitbart.com) Louisville, KY will burn tonight tweeted Lee G News, the account of an independent black vlogger with a moderately sized following. The tweet included a picture of the vlogger and one other person holding raised fists, wearing masks bearing the name Breonna Taylor. While the account itself is not particularly influential, Twitters official response to the tweet indicates that the platform has a high tolerance for tweets promoting the domestic terrorist violence that has been endemic in American cities over the past four months. I can confirm that the Tweet referenced does not violate Twitter Rules, a Twitter spokeswoman told Breitbart News. The tweet was later deleted by the author, but evidence of its existence can be found in internet archives. In the wake of the Breonna Taylor ruling, multiple other twitter users posted viral tweets with similar sentiments, with no action taken by Twitter to prevent their spread. In fact, it became a trending topic on the platform, which made a commitment to improve conversational health in 2018. burn it all down, said Guy Ben-Aharon, a Twitter user with a verified checkmark the platforms stamp of approval. And I hope they burn Louisville down tonight, yll hear me? Burn it down, the college the precincts the whole thing Dom Pablo (@YoSoy_dom) September 22, 2020 I hope they burn Louisville down tonight Burn it down, the college the precincts the whole thing, said another user in a tweet that gained hundreds of retweets. I hope They burn down the entire city of Louisville The Great and Terrible (@ICan__FixThat) September 23, 2020 I hope they burn down the entire city of Louisville, says a tweet that gained over four hundred retweets. The violence being encouraged by Twitter users, with the tacit approval of the platform, has already led to two police officers being shot in the city of Louisville. The two officers are currently being treated and are reportedly in a stable condition. Read more at: Breitbart.com A woman has revealed how she was given a parking fine despite leaving a note on her car explaining that she was rushing to hospital. Susie Best received the ticket after leaving her silver Mercedes in the Raglan Street car park, in Mosman, an affluent suburb in Sydney's north. She shared a photo of the hand-written note and the offending ticket to a local Facebook page. 'Not too impressed with our usually wonderful Parking Offers,' she wrote. Susie Best, (pictured) received the ticket after leaving her silver Mercedes in the Raglan Street car park She shared a photo of the hand-written note and the offending ticket to a local Facebook page 'Please do not book me. Gone to RNS (Royal North Shore) emergency,' her note read. She also along with a selfie of herself in a mask at the hospital and a photo of the waiting room. A number of locals were sympathetic to her plight, urging her to provide a medical certificate to the authorities to appeal the fine. 'This has happened to me before, with proof of a medical emergency afterwards they will cancel the ticket,' a woman wrote. Ms Best also shared a picture of herself inside the hospital after leaving her car 'Same happened to my family... Even with proof of ambulance paperwork etc still wouldn't rescind - very ruthless rangers and heartless,' another wrote. But some were convinced she deserved the parking fine. 'Youve had time to put a note on a car 6+kms away from emergency and then found another form of transport to get to the hospital to sit patiently at the back of triage,' a third person wrote. 'You cant realistically believe you wont be fined.' DUBLIN, Sept. 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Netherlands 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. Despite near-term challenges, medium to long term growth story of gift cards in Netherlands remains strong. The gift card industry in Netherlands will continue to grow over the forecast period and is expected to record a CAGR of 7.5% during 2020-2024. The gift card market in the country will increase from US$ 2085.9 million in 2019 to reach US$ 2646.7 million by 2024. 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 Netherlands. Historically, the gift card market in Netherlands has recorded a steady growth with a CAGR of 11.6% during 2015-2019. However, According to the Q2 2020 Global Gift Card Survey, gift card market in Netherlands 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. Along with broader gift card markets, digital gift cards or e-gift cards have witnessed strong growth. This growth in the gift card industry in the Netherlands can be primarily attributed to the overall growth of the e-commerce market in the country. Several gift card companies are using e-commerce or internet-based apps to promote usage of gift cards. F or instance, Yesty offers its services of buying and sending gift cards using WhatsApp. Holland America Line has already started offering gift cards to gift cruise experience. Gift cards offered by the quick-service restaurants are another example that is supporting growing trend of gifting culture in the Netherlands. For instance, a Dinner Cadeau gift card can be availed at more than 3000 restaurants in the country, making it a perfect gift for food-loving friends. Booming retail sector is also contributing to the growth of gift card market. Leading retailers such as Zara and Ikea are offering gift cards for consumers to buy and use for gifting occasions. Ikea gift cards are available in both physical and digital formats and can be used in Ikea stores, restaurant, IKEA.nl, the Bistro and the Swedish Food Market. Both the physical and digital gift cards don't have an expiry date. Moreover, Zalando, a leading e-retailer in the Netherlands, lets its consumers to customize their gift cards. Another factor that will drive the growth of the gift card market in the country, is the adoption of gift cards by businesses to offer their staff and employees with rewards and incentives during holidays and other occasions. For instance, employers in the Netherlands are choosing WeekendjeWeg gift cards to reward their staff. Employees can use these cards in more than 550 bungalow parks and 2000 hotels in Berlin, France, Benelux, Germany and popular destinations such as Paris. Any balance amount in the cards can be used on Bungalows.nl, Weekendjeweg.nl and Weekendjeweg.be. 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 Netherlands. 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 Netherlands . . 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). Companies Mentioned Royal Ahold NV Jumbo Supermarkten BV Blokker Nederland BV Sperwer Holding BV Intergamma BV Hema BV Detailresult Groep NV Sligro Food Group NV V&D BV Inter Ikea Systems BV Euretco BV H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB Coperatieve Primera BA For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/g3d01b Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday discussed the Afghan peace process with senior Afghan leader Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum, saying India remains committed to Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled negotiations. The visiting former Afghan vice president also met foreign secretary Harsh Shringla and briefed him on the evolving situation in Afghanistan. Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek warlord, was awarded the rank of Marshal earlier this year as part of the new power-sharing deal between Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah. Though Dostum continues to be an influential figure in Afghanistan, he has been dogged by his controversial past. Also read: India targets Pakistan at UN body over counter-terrorism record He is visiting India a little more than a week after the Taliban and the Afghan government began their first talks in Doha to end 19 years of war that killed tens of thousands and ravaged the country. Glad to meet Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum. Exchanged views on developments in Afghanistan and the larger region. His vast experience and deep insights were evident. India remains fully committed to an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled peace process, Jaishankar tweeted after their meeting. Glad to meet Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum. Exchanged views on developments in Afghanistan and the larger region. His vast experience and deep insights were evident. India remains fully committed to an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled peace process. pic.twitter.com/D07OdGXO8W Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) September 25, 2020 Shringla listened to Dostums insights on the Afghan peace process and evolving situation, and they also discussed constitutional order and the rights of all sections of Afghan society, said a tweet from the spokesperson of the external affairs ministry. India has conveyed its long term commitment to Afghanistan, the spokesperson added. Also read: Pakistan exploited our youth, ordered killing of fellow Kashmiris - EFSAS India, the regions largest provider of development aid to Afghanistan, has watched a recent spike in violence by the Taliban and terror attacks on minorities such as Sikhs with growing concern. Since 2001, India has undertaken projects worth $3 billion in Afghanistan, including $1 billion pledged in 2016 under the new development partnership scheme for five years. An Indian delegation participated in the September 12 inaugural session of the intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha which was also addressed via video conference by EAM Jaishankar. In his address, Jaishankar clarified that any new dispensation which emerges from the intra-Afghan dialogue process must ensure that the soil of Afghanistan is never used for anti-India activities. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In what looks more like a movie trailer for the next Hollywood blockbuster than a campaign ad, Houston Congressman Dan Crenshaw is trying to use his fame in the GOP and maybe more importantly share his donor base to help five fellow Texas Republicans running for Congress. In the nearly 4-minute video clip, Crenshaw, a retired Navy SEAL, plays the role of an action hero as he literally jumps out of an airplane on the way to recruit other Texas Republicans to run for office. Who says campaign ads have to suck? Crenshaw said in promoting the video on social media that directs his 1 million followers to a website called Texasreloaded.com to donate to a fund to help the five other candidates. Crenshaw, 36, said they were going for a Mission-Impossible-meets-the-Avengers look. Within 24 hours after it was posted, the video had already been viewed more than 500,000 times on YouTube, Twitter and other social media platforms. And Crenshaw said the joint fundraising committee has already raised far more money than they spent on the ad. CRENSHAW AT THE RNC: Houston Rep. one of few RNC speakers who didnt mention Trump Texas Veterans in Congress Brian Babin, R-Woodville - Air Force Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land - Navy Louie Gohmert R-Tyler - Army Michael Conaway, R-Midland - Army Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston - Navy Van Taylor, R-Plano - Marines See More Collapse That money is critical in several of those races, where the Democrats have bankrolled more money than Republicans heading into the final five weeks of the campaign. Election Day is Nov. 3 with early voting set to begin on Oct. 13. Ad aims to balance the scales in battleground Texas races Crenshaw said with all the outside money pouring in to help Democrats in those five races, the Republicans could use a fundraising boost. Were trying to balance the scales a little bit, he said. Although just a freshman in Congress, Crenshaw has become a rising star in the party with a prolific fundraising operation. Crenshaw had already raised $9.3 million as of July 1 for his re-election more than all but 6 of the 435 members of Congress. Among the few ahead of him are top congressional leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican. In the ad, after parachuting onto an airbase, Crenshaw recruits Houston Republican Wesley Hunt, a retired U.S. Army Apache helicopter pilot. Next is August Pfluger, a retired F-22 Air Force pilot, as their military experience and campaign districts flash on the screen. Hunt is running for the 7th Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston. Pfluger is running in the 11th Congressional District, which extends from just outside of Fort Worth to Midland, against Democrat Jon Mark Hogg. Later, Republicans Beth Van Dyne, Navy veteran Tony Gonzales and Genevieve Collins make appearances. Van Dyne is running in the 24th Congressional District in Dallas-Fort Worth against Democrat Candace Valenzuela. Gonzales faces Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones in the 23rd Congressional District, a swing district stretching from San Antonio to El Paso. And businesswoman Collins is running in the 32nd Congressional District, also in Dallas, where she is trying to knock out U.S. Rep. Colin Allred. In three of those races, Democrats are seen as having an edge heading into November, according to the Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C. Fletcher, Allred, and Jones are all favored in their races, while Van Dyne and Valenzuela are in a races considered toss-ups. Pfluger is favored over Hogg. Fletcher, Jones and Allred all had massive fundraising advantages over their Republican opponents. Fletcher and Jones both had three times as much campaign money heading into the fall than Hunt and Gonzales, respectively. Allred wasnt far behind, with nearly triple the funding of Collins. Six Texas veterans now serve in Congress down from 16 in the 1970s Crenshaw himself has a race on his hands, facing Democrat Sima Ladjevardian in Houstons 2nd Congressional District, which runs from Humble to West Houston. In 2018, Crenshaw won the seat by 7 percentage points. The Cook Political Report favors Crenshaw to hold the seat but has listed it among nearly 100 most-competitive races in the nation. Financially, Crenshaw has a massive edge over Ladjevardian, with more than 7 times as much money. The military theme in the video also highlights the candidates service background in key races. That comes as Texas has seen the number of veterans it has in Congress plummet for decades. Only 6 members of the states 36 U.S. House members have a military background. Two of them U.S. Reps Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, and Michael Conaway, R-Midland are retiring from Congress this year. Olson is a Navy veteran and Conaway was in the Army. The other Texas veterans in Congress are U.S. Reps Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler; Van Taylor, R-Plano; and Brian Babin, R-Woodville. The drop in veterans is particularly notable for Texas because of the militarys huge footprint here. Texas has 15 active military bases, 1.6 million veterans and over 220,000 troops stationed in Texas bases, including both active duty and reserves. In the 1970s, Texas had 16 veterans among its ranks in Congress. Crenshaw said he only wishes he could have highlighted more of the veterans running for Congress in Texas. He said veterans in Congress have different problem-solving skills than others and have a camaraderie that helps them build coalitions that cross party lines. He said there is a common bond and common trust from the start with veterans, whether they are Democrats or Republicans. Democrats have their share of veterans running as well, including Air Force veterans Jones, of San Antonio, and U.S. Senate candidate MJ Hegar, a decorated Air Force pilot from Cedar Park, just north of Austin. Tammy Hembrow has made her relationship with new boyfriend Matt Poole Instagram official. The 26-year-old model shared a photo of herself kissing her 32-year-old beau to the social media site on Friday. 'Two Tauruses in love,' she captioned the photo, which amassed almost half a million 'likes' within a few hours. It's on! Tammy Hembrow has made her relationship with new boyfriend Matt Poole Instagram official this week Tammy and Matt recently enjoyed a romantic vacation together in the Whitsundays. The Instagram sensation showed off her incredible figure and glowing bronzed complexion as the pair continued their getaway earlier this week. The mother-of-two posted several snaps from her trip to the idyllic island on her Instagram account. Love looks good on her! Tammy showed off her curves in a strapless bikini during a romantic holiday in the Whitsundays with her new beau Matt In the pictures, Tammy posed in strapless floral bikini that showcased her curves and tattoos. She also posted a fun video of her and Matt enjoying a fun water slide off their boat. Last 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 couple 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. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached a residential flat in London worth 127 crore (13.5 million pound) belonging to Rana Kapoor, Yes Banks former chairman and managing director, who has been booked for alleged money laundering by the agency, officials said on Friday. The property was bought by Kapoor in 2017 for 93 crore (9.9 million pound) in the name of DOIT Creations Jersey Limited, according to officials. Information from a reliable source revealed that Rana Kapoor is trying to alienate this property in London and that he has hired a reputed property consultant. Enquiries from open sources confirmed that this property has been listed for sale on several websites, they added. ED had initiated a probe into allegations of money laundering after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered two cases of corruption against Kapoor in March. In one first information report (FIR), the bureau alleged that Yes Bank had invested 3,700 crore in short-term debentures of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) between April and June 2018. Kapoor was allegedly paid kickbacks amounting to 600 crore by DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan in return. CBI has alleged that DHFL sanctioned a loan to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RAB Enterprises in which Kapoors wife Bindu is a director and 100% shareholder. Kapoors daughters, Rakhee Kapoor Tandon, Roshni Kapoor, and Radha Kapoor, are also 100% shareholders in DoIT Urban Ventures. Based on the case registered by CBI, ED began its probe into allegations of money laundering by Kapoor. In the second case, CBI alleged that Kapoor and his wife bought a bungalow from Avantha Group promoter Gautam Thapar at a much lower price than its valuation. In the past, Thapar had mortgaged the bungalow for a corporate loan of 600 crore, but he sold it for 380 crore to Bliss Abode Pvt Ltd in which Kapoors wife was a director at the time. After the probe, ED filed a charge sheet against Kapoor, his wife, and their three daughters for money laundering. After the charge sheet was filed, Kapoors lawyers moved a bail plea on the merits of the case. The total attachments under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in this case come to 2,011 crore. Among these attachments proceeds of crime amounting to 600 crore belong to Kapoor and remaining attachment of assets worth 1,411 crore are related to Wadhawan brothers. Prosecution complaints have been filed against Kapoor, Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan and others. In another separate PMLA case, ED has also attached an asset amounting to 307 crore belonging to Kapoor. Kapoor, Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan were arrested by ED for their role in alleged money laundering and they are in judicial custody. Every name on the BrandBucket marketplace is exclusively listed with BrandBucket. That means that all of our sellers are very responsive, making for quick domain transfers. A dedicated BrandBucket agent will manage your domain transfer from beginning to end, ensuring a secure and easy transaction. They will manage the receipt of the domain into one of BrandBuckets secure registrar accounts and then complete the transfer to you. 1. Verification and registrar choice After we receive the payment and verify it, we will reach out via email to confirm which registrar you want the domain transferred to. We also provide a link to our tracking system, where you can communicate with us, check on the status of your transfer, view your invoice, and download your logo files. In most cases, if a domain is moved between accounts at a single registrar, the transfer is quick and usually completes within 48 hours. If a domain changes registrars (in other words, you would like to move it away from where it is currently registered), the transfer is slower. The total transfer time can then be anywhere from 48 hours to 7 days. BrandBucket has vetted and supports the following registrars: GoDaddy Namesilo Uniregistry NameCheap Google Domains Network Solutions Name.com Dynadot Amazon Route 53 123 Reg Gandi 2. We request the name from the seller. Once we know where you would like the domain transferred, BrandBucket will request the domain from the seller. All of our sellers are very responsive, making for a quick process. 3. Transfer the name into your account As soon as we receive the name from the seller, we start the transfer into your account and guide you through the whole process. 4. Verify with the buyer that the transfer is complete Once we confirm that you have received the name, we consider the escrow process to be complete. Only then do we release payment to the domain seller. Jewish American voters have leaned Democratic for decades, but Republicans are hoping the recent steps toward normalized relations between Gulf states and Israel which Trump vigorously touted earlier this month bolster his appeal to Jewish voters. With battleground states like Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan collectively decided in 2016 by fewer than 200,000 votes, any loss of the Jewish support by Democratic nominee Joe Biden could be pivotal. Democrats like to say they have a majority of the Jewish vote, said Republican Jewish Coalition executive director Matt Brooks, whose group is spending $10 million to boost Trump and other GOP candidates in electoral battlegrounds ahead of November. They do but thats not what this game is about. Brooks group is working toward a goal of 300,000 voter contacts in swing states, focusing the bulk of its spending on Trump while also aiding some GOP congressional hopefuls. Last weeks signing ceremony of the Israel-United Arab Emirates agreement, which Bahrain later joined, proves that the president does have a vision for working toward peace in the Middle East, Brooks said. The Trump campaign is ramping up its own efforts as well, launching a new Jewish Voices for Trump initiative effort in September that centers on the presidents support for Israel. Co-chairs include Nevada casino mogul and conservative donor Sheldon Adelson as well as former Trump White House aide Boris Epshteyn. President Trump is a champion of the Jewish people and the greatest ally the State of Israel has ever had, Epshteyn, who also advises Trumps campaign, said in a statement. But whether Trump can gain ground with Jewish voters on the strength of his foreign policy agenda remains an unanswered question. According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted last year, 42% of Jewish Americans said Trumps policies favor the Israelis too much, while 47% said he strikes the right balance between Israelis and Palestinians. And most Jewish voters broke for Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections. AP VoteCast found that 72% of Jews who voted nationwide backed Democratic House candidates, while 26% backed Republicans. Among those Jewish midterm voters in 2018, VoteCast shows that 74% disapproved of Trump and just 26% approved. The majority of Jewish voters who view Trump unfavorably are not going to put (that) out of their minds because the president can trumpet new pacts between Gulf states and Israel, said Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal-leaning Jewish American advocacy group J Street. J Streets political committee has raised more than $2 million for Biden and hosted a virtual reception with the Democratic nominee in September. Its not alone among progressive Jewish American groups that are bullish on Biden: Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, predicted in an interview that Biden could make up for Trumps 2016 margin of victory in Michigan and Pennsylvania with the Jewish vote alone. When it comes to Israel, theres a tendency among Republicans, including the president himself, to treat Jewish voters as if we are, A, monolithic and, B, one-issue voters, said Soifer, who led Jewish voter outreach for former President Barack Obamas 2008 campaign in Florida. Hes wrong on both counts. Indeed, Trump sparked criticism last year by telling reporters that Jewish Americans who vote Democratic are disloyal to both their faith and to Israel. The issue reemerged this month during an annual pre-Rosh Hashana call between Trump and Jewish leaders. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Trump ended the call by telling the Jewish American leaders, We really appreciate you. We love your country also. The Washington Post also reported on Wednesday (Sept. 23) that after ending phone calls with Jewish lawmakers, Trump according to unnamed current and former White House officials allegedly has muttered that Jews are only in it for themselves and stick together in an ethnic allegiance. The White House did not respond to a request for comment regarding the allegations, but a spokesperson told The Washington Post that Donald Trumps record as a private citizen and as president has been one of fighting for inclusion and advocating for the equal treatment of all. The Biden campaign has been quick to condemn Trumps remarks and cast him as insensitive to Jews. We know that Donald Trumps use of anti-Semitic tropes has emboldened all those who hate Jews, Aaron Keyak, Bidens Jewish engagement director, said in a statement addressing the Posts reporting. We must not numb ourselves to Trumps dangerous rhetoric during our sacred time of reflection and holiness. This should serve as a wakeup call to the relatively few Jewish Americans who still insist on standing with and promoting the current occupant of the White House. In a separate interview, Keyak touted the robust outreach efforts by the Biden campaign to Jewish voters, such as staging regular phone banks and taking the unusual step of hiring dedicated Jewish vote directors in Florida and Pennsylvania. The Biden campaign and the DNC have made an unprecedented investment of resources and talent into turning out and persuading Jewish voters, he said. Bidens team is working to target its efforts to be as local as possible. His campaign recently convened Jewish outreach events in Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio with Douglas Emhoff, Kamala Harris husband, who is Jewish. It has also held an event for Democrats abroad in Israel with former Sen. Barbara Boxer and two former ambassadors to the nation. Theres no question that the Jewish vote can make a difference in Florida as well as states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, Keyak said. The Trump campaign may be playing catch-up with Biden when it comes Jewish outreach, but Republicans are hoping the presidents record of support for Israel will speak louder to more moderate and conservative Jewish voters than his recent controversies. This includes Orthodox Jews, who comprise a minority of the Jewish American population but skew majority-Republican, according to a 2013 Pew study. Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, said this election is about margins, and its about margins in key swing states. Diament, whos been an appointed adviser on faith-based issues to both the Trump and Obama administrations, said that Orthodox Jews while a minority of the Jewish American population are the most swing-voter-like element of the faiths broader voting bloc. His group has held virtual sessions with Bidens Jewish outreach director as well as a Trump campaign representative and plans further programming this fall focused on specific swing states. Views of Biden among Orthodox Jews tend to skew more positive than those of Hillary Clinton did in 2016, Diament said, but on the other hand, Trump has a record to run on when it comes to the specific issues that appeal to Jewish voters the presidents team wants to court. He singled out Trumps move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, as well as the Israel-UAE deal, as motivating for segments of American Jews for whom Israel is a priority voting issue. Of course, Biden can also make the case for his own record on U.S.-Israel relations. The former vice president has steered clear of the most liberal proposals on curtailing Israeli expansionism that some of his Democratic primary rivals offered, and one of Bidens campaign surrogates, Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Florida, said she feels very good about how Biden has approached the issue. Its to the detriment of Israel that Donald Trump and some Republicans try to use Israel as a political football, to make it appear as if Democrats are not for the security of Israel, Frankel said in an interview. ___ Elana Schor reports for The Associated Press and Jack Jenkins reports for Religion News Service. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through the Religion News Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for this content. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24 By Ilhama Isabalayeva Trend: The Armenians are destroying the ancient Albanian and Christian monuments of Azerbaijan, a historian at the Institute of History of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) Ramin Alizade said Trend reports. Alizade made the speech during a webinar on the "Scientific origin of the Arsak toponym" topic. He said that the Armenians misrepresent the Christian Albanian monuments of Azerbaijan as Gregorian. In Soviet times, our pre-Islamic history was mostly forgotten. The major experts studying these areas in the South Caucasus were Armenians and Georgians, the historian noted. Albanology was more often studied by Armenians and Georgians. In Soviet times, the history of Azerbaijan was in a secondary position. Therefore, although the two main capitals of Caucasian Albania, Gabala and Barda, are Azerbaijani cities, in Soviet times, scientists discussed these issues in Russia, Armenia, and Georgia, Alizade said. The historian added that there is an urgent need to disseminate true information about the history of Azerbaijan in the digital world. We see that the struggle is continuing in the digital world. By reaching a large number of people, we should inform them truthfully, not ignore falsified information, and promote our real history, Alizade emphasized. 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. FP Trending Editor's Note: The story was originally published on 18th September, and has been republished to include new information from agencies and reports. It is a widely followed belief that all human beings originated in Africa and slowly moved out to different continents via different routes. Now, scientists have come across fossilized footprints of ancient human beings that date back nearly 1,20,000 years in what is now northern Saudi Arabia. It appears as if 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 human population may have hunted the large mammals in the area, but didn't stay long, using the watering hole as a waypoint on a longer journey. The ancient lake deposit was in Saudi Arabias Nefud Desert. If these footprints are confirmed, they will become the oldest sign of humans existing on the Arabian soil. The new findings have been published in the journal Science Advances. Researchers from the Max Planck Institutes for Chemical Ecology and the Science of Human History in Germany and Royal Holloway University of London together with a team of international partners conducted the study. Fossilized footprints of elephants and horses, among other animals, and seven footprints of ancient human beings have been discovered. Although the Arabian Peninsula exists in the middle of Africa and Eurasia, it has not received much importance in determining the course of human dispersals out of Africa. One of the reasons behind this could be the hyper-arid deserts that have become characteristic of the region. But research has shown that Arabia was not like this in the past and the recent footprints were actually taken from an ancient muddy lakebed. These hundreds of footprints were exposed after the erosion of overlying sediments. Richard Clark-Wilson of Royal Holloway, one of the lead authors of the study, said in a statement that at certain times in the past the deserts that dominate the interior of the peninsula [have] transformed into expansive grasslands with permanent freshwater lakes and rivers. This detailed scene was reconstructed by researchers in a new study published in Science Advances on Thursday, 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. Research over the last decade has shown this wasn't always the case natural climate variation in the Peninsula once favoured a much greener, more humid environment in a period known as the last interglacial. "At certain times in the past, the deserts that dominate the interior of the peninsula transformed into expansive grasslands with permanent freshwater lakes and rivers," study co-author Richard Clark-Wilson of Royal Holloway, told AFP. "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." The prints were dated using a technique called optical stimulated luminescence where light is blasted at quartz grains to measure the amount of energy they emit from them. In addition to the footprints, some 233 fossils were also recovered. These likely belong to predators of herbivorous animals in savannas, like the African savannas in the modern day. The new paper demonstrates "inland routes, following lakes and rivers, may have been particularly important to humans dispersing out of Africa" too, the study authors said. "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," senior author of the study, Michael Petraglia of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, told AFP. A Bass Coast Shire councillor is the subject of a major corruption investigation over allegations he offered to spend up to $5 million of his private wealth on communities across South Gippsland if five councillors nominated him as mayor. Cr Les Larke, a Maserati-driving multimillionaire and former general manager at State Trustees, is accused of making the offer during a meeting in Wonthaggi in 2018, which ended abruptly when several councillors walked out and immediately filed complaints. Councillor Les Larke from the Bass Coast Shire Council. Bass Coast Shire Council referred the allegations to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and the Local Government Inspectorate in 2018 and again in 2020 after receiving an anonymous complaint from the public. However, the inspectorate only launched an investigation in the past few months. No findings have been made. SCHENECTADY The radio dial on Faranz Rahmans vehicle was twisted to 103.3 FM, so when the music of her new countrys anthem swelled inside the car, her son in the back seat smiled, and the family honked their horn. God bless America, a speaker on a stage said, and cars across the Schenectady County Community College parking lot continued to honk because someone in the family was officially a U.S. citizen, including Rahman. It was one of the states first naturalization ceremonies administered during the pandemic, and so it was a drive-in ceremony filled with masked faces, social distancing and people listening through their car radios to officials who were on a stage across the lot. But on Friday morning, there were still hugs among the family members of the 43 applicants who were now Americans, and there were still eyes that communicated joy, which is what Rahman said she was feeling. Im so happy. So, so happy, she said, her son in the back looking out the rolled-down window, still smiling. She arrived in New York from Afghanistan six years ago. She took the citizenship test once and failed. She took it again and, after months of studying, passed. And then she had to wait for coronavirus shutdown restrictions to ease. Finally, on Friday, she drove through a checkpoint at the parking lot where they handed her a certificate that said, Citizen of the United States. It was a long road, and she never thought it would end in a drive-in of sorts, but she was with her family, and it was time to take pictures by the stage and American flag. Next to Rahmans family was Heerawattic Indardass, posing in a mask while her family took pictures. She felt relief to finally be there, to have a document declaring her citizenship. She was born in Guyana, a country in South Americas northeastern coast. Since she first arrived in New York 10 years ago, shed been waiting for this day. The official naturalization ceremony, the one presided over by Judge Mark Powers, was over but the more personal celebration, Indardass said, was set for Saturday, and there would be fellow Hindus and spicy eggplant dishes and seven curry and family. I feel relief to be here, but I also feel very happy, Indardass said. By 10 a.m., the parking lot, the citizenship ceremony drive-in, was emptying. So Annie Ilunga, 74, figured it was time to get home and prepare the chicken feast, a staple in her native country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her daughter, Aimee, was there to translate and spoil her with affection. Felicitations, maman, Aimee told her mother, who had put on her best lavender dress and matching necklace, who had a bouquet of purple and yellow flowers in one hand and a tiny American flag in the other because this was her country now, too. Aimee said that when her mother took the citizenship test for the first time, she didnt pass. So for nine months, she studied every day in the morning and night, under their homes porch. Shes a teacher, so shes already educated. So its just the language, Aimee said. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Shed memorize and write down the questions and answers they usually ask on tests: Who are your state's U.S. Senators? From what country did the U.S. gain independence from? What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence? She passed the test, and now look at her, Aimee said. Annie adjusted her mask. The more she smiled, the more it slipped from her face. They stood right outside of their car, posing for pictures. Felicitations, maman. Felicitations. If you are looking for the best ideas for your portfolio you may want to consider some of Del Principe OBrien Financial Advisors top stock picks. Del Principe OBrien Financial Advisors, an investment management firm, is bullish on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE:FCAU) stock. In its Q2 2019 investor letter you can download a copy here the firm discussed its investment thesis on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE:FCAU) stock. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE:FCAU) is an automobile company. In August 2019, Del Principe OBrien Financial Advisors had released its Q2 2019 investor letter. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE:FCAU) stock has posted a return of -8.1% in the trailing one year period, underperforming the S&P 500 Index which returned 10.2% in the same period. This suggests that the investment firm was wrong in its decision. On a year-to-date basis, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE:FCAU) stock has fallen by 19.4%. In Q2 2019 investor letter, Del Principe OBrien Financial Advisors said the fund posted a return of 7.1% in the second quarter of 2019, outperforming the S&P 500 Index which returned 4.30% in the same period. Lets take a look at comments made by Del Principe OBrien Financial Advisors about Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE:FCAU) stock in the Q2 2019 investor letter. "We also realized gains from our ownership of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). In May, FCA sold its automotive parts business, Magneti Marelli, to the holding company of Calsonic Kansei Corporation, a leading Japanese automotive component supplier, for approximately 5.8 billion ($6.54 billion). According to FCA CEO Mike Manley, the sale recognizes the full strategic value of Magneti Marelli, improving our financial position, delivering value to our shareholders, and allowing us to enhance our focus on our core product portfolio. Also in May, FCA executed a special dividend, paying shareholders a total of approximately 2 billion from the net proceeds of the saleequivalent to $1.45 per share. This was considered a special dividend because it was paid separately from the companys typical dividend cycle." Story continues Photo Credit: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Earlier this month, we published an article revealing Chou Associates Managements bullish investment thesis on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE:FCAU) stock. The investment firm expect the company to start paying dividends post COVID-19 crisis. In Q1 2020, the number of bullish hedge fund positions on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE:FCAU) stock increased by about 9% from the previous quarter (see the chart here), so a number of other hedge fund managers seem to agree with Fiat's growth potential. Our calculations showed that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE:FCAU) isn't ranked among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. The top 10 stocks among hedge funds returned 185% since the end of 2014 and outperformed the S&P 500 Index ETFs by more than 109 percentage points. We know it sounds unbelievable. You have been dismissing our articles about top hedge fund stocks mostly because you were fed biased information by other media outlets about hedge funds' poor performance. You could have doubled the size of your nest egg by investing in the top hedge fund stocks instead of dumb S&P 500 ETFs. Below you can watch our video about the top 5 hedge fund stocks right now. All of these stocks had positive returns in 2020. Video: Top 5 Stocks Among Hedge Funds At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We go through lists like the 10 most profitable companies in the world to pick the best large-cap stocks to buy. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. You can subscribe to our free enewsletter below to receive our stories in your inbox: Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. (JTA) The main foreign policy umbrella for the U.S. Jewish community came to a decision to not come to a decision on whether its members inappropriately disparage one another. Earlier this year, HIAS, the Jewish communitys lead immigration advocacy group, accused the Zionist Organization of America, its fellow member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, of disparagement. Klein had among other things said HIAS was not a Jewish organization. HIAS sought redress under the Conferences rules, which could result in anything from a reprimand to the ZOA... The Ministry of Defence has waived off the requirement of "Performance Security" for "Development Contracts" by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Advanced Technology Vessel Project (ATVP). As another measure to support industry, the requirement of Performance Security for Development Contracts by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Advanced Technology Vessel Project (ATVP) has been waived as per approval of Defence Minister, said Ministry of Defence. The Ministry stated, this will apply to development contracts only, as defined in para 12.5 of DRDO Procurement Manual, PM 2016, as amended. However, Warranty Bond would continue to be obtained from successful development partner to cover DRDO/ ATVP interest during the warranty period, Defence Ministry stated. Itll be applicable for all RFPs issued in respect of development contracts after the date of issue of this amendment. Ongoing cases of development contracts in which RFP/contract already been issued may continue to be regulated as per provisions in issued RFP/contract, the Ministry added. Also Read: India, China decided to have next meeting of Senior Commanders at the earliest: MEA Also Read: Congress slams CM KCR for not including Covid treatment in Aarogyasri Laser-guided Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) was successfully test-fired from MBT Arjun Tank at KK Ranges, Armoured Corps Centre and School (ACC&S) Ahmednagar on Tuesday, according to a statement by the Defence Ministry on Wednesday. The ministry said the ATGM successfully defeated a target located at 3 km during the tests. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO for the successful test-firing of the Laser-guided Anti Tank Guided Missile from MBT Arjun at KK Ranges. Congratulations to DRDO for successfully conducting test firing of Laser-Guided Anti Tank Guided Missile from MBT Arjun at KK Ranges (ACC&S) in Ahmednagar. India is proud of Team DRDO, which is assiduously working towards reducing import dependency in the near future, Singh tweeted. The missile has been developed by Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) Pune in association with High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) Pune, and Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) Dehradun. Laser-guided ATGMs lock and track the targets with the help of laser designation to ensure precision hit accuracy. The missile employs a tandem HEAT warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armoured vehicles. It has been developed with multiple-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from gun of MBT Arjun, stated the release from Defence Ministry. Also Read: Andhra CM cant sit like a silent monk on temple incidents: TDP By Trend The road leading to the border village of Farahli of Azerbaijans Gazakh district is being overhauled, the State Agency of Azerbaijan Automobile Roads told Trend. The section of the road with a length of 5 kilometers to the village of Farahli is 3 kilometers, and the section passing through the village is 2 kilometers. The width of the carriageway here varies between 6 and 4.5 meters, respectively, the state agency said. Reconstruction of the border road was started by the request of the rural population. Since they have had problems with the repair of this road over the years, noted the agency. Currently, unsuitable sections of the roadway are being removed along the road. Work is underway to level the track to the level of the natural relief and to widen the road to the standard width standards in certain parts. Also, within the project, work is underway to replace and install new drainage pipes that are in an unusable condition. For this, 14 round reinforced concrete pipes of different diameters are used, said the agency. Following the requirements of building codes, the construction of the lower and upper layers of the roadway and then the laying of a new asphalt concrete pavement, consisting of 2 layers, as well as the overhaul of the existing bridge 15 meters long and 8 meters wide, will be carried out, added the state agency. At the last stage of the project, in order to organize the normal movement of vehicles in the necessary places, road signs and information boards will be installed, road markings will be applied. Thus, the reconstructed road will be put into operation as soon as possible, said the agency. For the timely completion of the work in compliance with the established schedule, the required amount of equipment was attracted to the territory, the agency said. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Is the relationship between President Donald Trump and farm country starting to go bad? At first glance, things have never been better. According to recent data, net farm income will hit $103 billion this year, a whopping 23% increase over 2019. The problem is that most of that bounty isn't due to anything produced down on the farm. Instead, more than one-third of it came from direct federal aid, a 65% boost over last year. Without those funds, farm income would be at its lowest since 2014. This hasn't been lost on the president. Late last year, he tweeted: "Our great Farmers will recieve another major round of `cash,' compliments of China Tariffs, prior to Thanksgiving." (Spelling and punctuation his.) But even as some farmers benefit from the president's largesse, most don't. And with much of the assistance set to expire, and minimal effort on the part of Trump or Congress to address underlying problems in the farm economy, anxieties are rising across rural America. Barring a big post-pandemic rebound in the price of everything from soybeans to cheese, farmers will be first in line to pay for the Trump administration's policy mistakes come January. In 2016, Trump earned his biggest vote margins in the most sparsely populated counties. That was partly because several demographic factors associated with Trump voters are more common in rural America. But economics, too, played a role. Net farm income had declined from a record $124 billion in 2013 to $62 billion four years later, and Trump's campaign themes resonated with some long-festering rural anxieties. The pay-off came on Election Day, when several farm-heavy swing states, such as Wisconsin, unexpectedly went his way. The honeymoon, though, was brief. Trump's decision to initiate a trade war with China not long after taking office led to retaliatory tariffs on American goods, including food. In 2018, U.S. agricultural exports to China declined by 53%, to $9 billion from $19 billion. To make up the difference, and placate a key constituency, the administration arranged for direct offsetting payments to farmers that totaled $14 billion last year. If the covid-19 pandemic had never happened, those payments would've been more than enough to push total government farm aid to record levels over the past two years. A first round of relief spending then added another $19 billion. Late last week, the administration added another $13 billion. The upshot is that direct government assistance will account for more than 36% of total farm income this year. As generous as those programs have been, though, they can only paper over the structural problems facing America's agricultural economy. Cash receipts earned from selling actual goods, such as livestock, are expected to decline to their lowest levels since 2010. Farm debt is slated to hit a record $434 billion this year, and the debt-to-asset ratio may reach 14%, the ninth consecutive annual increase. With cash tight, health-care affordability has become a key concern on farms across the country. If the Trump administration were serious about assisting farmers, it would offer both a plan to address these long-term problems and some guidance on what farmers can expect when assistance programs expire. Without a commitment to renew those programs, perhaps through additional Covid relief, direct aid will likely fall by half in 2021. So far, farm country has remained loyal to the president. But there are some recent hints of trouble. The most recent DTN/The Progressive Farmer Agriculture Confidence Index, a three-times-per-year survey, found farmers expressing record-low levels of confidence in August. And while 71% of respondents still expressed support for Trump, that's a precipitous drop from 89% in April. By Election Day, a further decline could be the difference between winning a swing state and losing it. Unless Trump can present an economic future to rural America that isn't dependent on government aid, he'd be wise to prepare for the latter. - - - This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. - - - Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the author of "Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade" and "Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale." Working from home once sounded ideal to many. But months into the coronavirus pandemic, some find themselves searching for new space. To help switch up your scenery, Boston hotels started offering work-from-home packages. The packages include a desk, WiFi, coffee, personal protection equipment (PPE) and fun ways to take breaks, including cornhole and a putting green. Beacon Hill hotel XV Beacon has a package called Your exclusive boutique office for $600. Let XV Beacon be your temporary home office or offsite boutique meeting space, the website states. It includes a private room from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., large desk with stationery and pens, a television, WiFi, bottle of water, PPE kits and access to the roof deck for cornhole and a putting green. For an additional cost, theres also in-room dining options available through Mooo...., a steakhouse adjacent to the hotel. Back Bays Mandarin Oriental, Boston offers Working from M.O for just under $300 a day. Bring your laptop and well take care of the rest, the website states. Its also available from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m., includes WiFi, printing facilities, a dining credit and access to the Fitness Centre. Red Roof is also offering a package that lets you work from a new space. For $39, customers can book a room that they can use from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the week day. Want a quiet, comfortable space to work away from your living room, the website asks. The room includes WiFi, workstation, coffee, free calls and a fax machine. Red Roof has five properties in Boston but is offering it at locations across the state. The Eliot Hotel in Back Bays Work from Home package is available for $125. Our one-bedroom suites, complete with a living room and desk will provide you with the space and solitude you need to work remotely, the website states. It includes a one-bedroom suite, WiFi and coffee and tea. It also notes that no more than two people can use the room. No more than 2 guests will be allowed to check into any one room under the work from home offer, the website states. The work from home offer cannot be used to host meetings. And dont try to work late, checking out after 6 p.m. will result in a full nights room and tax charged to the credit card on file. Boston hotels are one of the many businesses impacted by the pandemic. Boston ranked as a top 5 destination for travelers during Labor Day weekend last year. But this years traveling is looking very different due to the pandemic. In July, Logan International Airport reported a decrease in arrivals by 58%, which is about 11,000 fewer flights, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The airport has reported 54,000 fewer arrivals overall so far in 2020. And theyre not the only ones. MGM Resorts also started offering a Work-from-Las-Vegas travel package earlier this year with the hopes of attracting visitors. Replace the same-old home office with a new home-away-from-home office, MGM Resorts website states. Youll get a room thats fully equipped with everything you need to get the job done plus your own Executive Assistant and much-deserved change of scenery. Thats a big win-win-win. Many of the Vegas packages are still available. Related Content: In Moscow, analysts for the Kremlin and its Security Council are working overtime to war-game scenarios for a Joe Biden presidency. Increasingly alarmed at the prospect of a White House without Donald Trump, Russia is trying to determine what thatll mean for sensitive issues from nuclear arms to relations with China, energy exports, sanctions and far-flung global conflicts, according to people familiar with the efforts. Though few see much prospect for improved ties if Trump is re-elected, Biden would likely be bad news for Russia, people close to the leadership said. A Democratic victory may even give the Kremlin another reason to tear up its own electoral calendar, moving up parliamentary elections to the spring to get them out of the way before a new administration has time to impose additional sanctions or other penalties, according to a person close to the Kremlin, who spoke on condition of anonymity to express that opinion. With so much at stake, Russias already meddling in the campaign, according to US officials. But the situation is different from 2016, when Trumps victory surprised even his backers in Moscow. US politics have become so polarized that theres little need for Russia to step in and invent new controversies, according to a senior British intelligence official. Russia is nonetheless conducting a very active campaign to denigrate Biden and sow divisions in the US political scene, FBI Director Christopher Wray said last week. The Russian leadership hasnt written off Trump yet, according to Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin adviser. Its not clear what kind of help they could offer Trump, but theyd give it to him as long as it didnt provoke a big scandal, he said. They dont want to trigger a boomerang effect. The US leader is making Russias task easier through his own brand of information warfare, including repeated claims that mail-in voting will lead to massive fraud, assertions that Russian state media are amplifying. Russian officials deny meddling, either now or in the 2016 elections. On Friday, Putin proposed that the US and Russia exchange guarantees of non-interference in elections, according to a statement on the Kremlin website. He also called for talks on information security and restoring cybersecurity cooperation, reviving a proposal he floated after the 2016 election. Since that vote, Moscows infatuation with Trump has dimmed. Russian officials say Russophobia in the US establishment wont change no matter whos in the White House. But the contrast between the two candidates is striking. While Trump said last week that China and mail-in voting were greater threats than Russia, Biden has said hed make Moscow pay for meddling, calling Russia an opponent. Meanwhile, tensions are flaring with Germany and France over the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, raising the prospect of a deep freeze if Trump loses. If Biden is elected, we will confront a consolidation of the West on an anti-Russian platform, said Andrey Kortunov, head of the Kremlin-founded Russian International Affairs Council. The prospect of new Western sanctions on Russia has helped drive the ruble to the lowest levels since April. Even as the economy plunged amid the Covid-19 lockdown earlier this year, the Kremlin was cautious about spending, continuing to husband hundreds of billions of dollars its stashed in rainy-day funds for potential future crises. Kremlin animus toward Biden goes way back, dating at least to when he visited Moscow in 2011 as vice president and told opposition leaders he thought Vladimir Putin shouldnt run for president again. That kind of affront isnt quickly forgotten, according to a person close to the Kremlin. Putin moved this year to extend his rule to 2036. The Russian leadership relishes the chance to turn the tables on Washington after decades of what the Kremlin sees as sometimes-crude efforts to manipulate Russian politics, according to a person close to the authorities. But Facebook and other social media companies are taking a more proactive stance on stopping disinformation, taking down accounts linked to the Kremlin. Late Thursday, Facebook said it removed more Russian disinformation efforts. The Treasury Department, meanwhile, sanctioned a Ukrainian politician it called a Russian agent for efforts to tar Biden for alleged corruption related to his sons business dealings in Ukraine. There is very little incentive for the Russians to stop the information operations theyve been doing, said Michael Daniel, who formerly served as cybersecurity coordinator in the Barack Obama White House and currently leads the Cyber Threat Alliance organization. What I dont think they necessarily have a strong incentive to do is take a step that would drive the US to a much greater degree of retaliation. Fiona Hill, the National Security Councils senior director for European and Russian affairs until 2019, says divisions are emerging within the Kremlin over the wisdom of continuing a dirty tricks campaign thats had mixed results and may now face diminishing returns. On the one hand, Russias 2016 influence operations succeeded beyond the Kremlins wildest dreams. The US-dominated, unipolar world that Putin has long railed against is no longer. Americas global leadership, NATO, the European Union and the structure of institutions and alliances the US built after World War II have taken a hit. On that ledger, wow, yes, basically over-fulfilled the plan, said Hill. At the same time, getting caught in the act of trying to sabotage US democracy has proved costly. They lost the entire US political class and politicized ties so that the whole future of US-Russia relations now depends on who wins in November, she said. LOUISVILLE, Ky. Louisville Metro Police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly intends to file civil lawsuits against those who have called him a "murderer" for his role in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, according to his newly hired attorney. Todd McMurtry posted video to Twitter on Thursday night that appeared to show Mattingly being put onto the back of a truck bed and driven away after he was shot March 13 at Taylor's apartment. In the tweet, McMurtry says: "They called him a 'murderer,' when all he did was defend himself." McMurtry said he represented Mattingly "with regard to affirmative claims he has against people who called him a 'murderer.' These statements are defamatory and actionable," McMurtry told The Courier Journal on Friday. He said that the intent was to file civil lawsuits related to those statements. He did not specify who they might sue. This is the raw video of Louisville officer Sgt. John Mattingly shortly after Kenneth Walker shot him. They called him a "murderer," when all he did was defend himself. #BreonnaTaylor pic.twitter.com/oCaum8neaB Todd V. McMurtry (@ToddMcMurtry) September 24, 2020 Murder is a criminal charge that includes intent to kill. Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Mattingly and another officer, Myles Cosgrove, acted in self-defense after Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired at them. Walker says he didn't know he was firing at police. Only one officer involved in the shooting former officer Brett Hankison will face criminal charges in state court. None of his three wanton endangerment charges are directly related to Taylor, but rather for shooting into a neighboring apartment where three people were present. Earlier this week, Mattingly sent an email to more than 1,000 of his colleagues saying he and other officers "did the legal, moral and ethical thing" the night of the shooting. Story continues "You DO NOT DESERVE to be in this position," he wrote. "The position that allows thugs to get in your face and yell, curse and degrade you. Throw bricks bottles and urine on you and expect you to do nothing." More: Hopes dashed twice for Breonna Taylor's mother over lack of charges against officers During a media briefing Friday, interim Chief Robert Schroeder said the department is aware of Mattingly's email and is reviewing it to determine "what course of action to take." A spokesman for Mattingly's criminal defense attorney declined to comment on McMurtry's hiring or how he obtained the video. McMurtry did not immediately respond to questions about how he obtained the video and whether he has more that have not been released publicly. During the media briefing, Schroeder confirmed that the video shows Mattingly receiving medial attention after the shooting. "We are not sure how that information was released," he said, "but due to the ongoing LMPD internal investigation, I will not be able to comment further." Louisville Metro Police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly The police department has consistently denied the release of videos of documents related to the Taylor case, but on Friday, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the city is working to release some of the investigative file. Mattingly remains on administrative reassignment following the grand jury decision on Wednesday that did not indict him on any charges. He remains under an internal investigation, like five other officers involved in the shooting, for possible police policy violations. 'Release the transcripts':Ben Crump slams decision in Breonna Taylor case, calls out systemic racism in the legal system Cameron, whose office presented the case to the grand jury, said Wednesday that FBI ballistics analysis determined that Cosgrove fired the shot that killed 26-year-old Taylor. However, previous ballistics analysis by the Kentucky State Police could not determine who fired the fatal shot. Cosgrove, Mattingly and former officer Brett Hankison were trying to serve a no-knock search warrant at Taylor's South End apartment shortly before 1 a.m. March 13. When they broke in the door, Walker fired one shot from his Glock handgun, saying later he thought an intruder was breaking in. Officials say that shot hit Mattingly in the thigh, severing an artery. Mattingly, Cosgrove and Hankison fire roughly 30 shots in return, hitting Taylor, who was unarmed, six times and killing her in her hallway. Cameron said Cosgrove and Mattingly were justified in returning fire after Mattingly was shot under Kentucky's self-defense laws. McMurtry started hinting about lawsuits in June. "To accuse an innocent person of a crime is inherently defamatory," McMurtry said in a statement to The Courier Journal in June, following several of his tweets about the subject, which appear to have since been deleted. "I watched the video from The Jefferson County commonwealth attorney. In that video, he was very clear in stating that the warrant on Breonna Taylor's home was lawful. While one of the officers has been fired, the other two appear not to have committed any crimes. So, to call them 'murderers' is defamatory." McMurtry lost to U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie in a primary challenge in April. He is also one of the attorneys who represented former Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann in his defamation lawsuits against CNN and the Washington Post, which have been settled. Sandmann was at the Indigenous Peoples March in January 2019 when a video clip of his encounter with a Native American when viral. Lucas Aulbach and Jonathan Bullington contributed reporting. Matt Mencarini for the Louisville Courier Journal: @MattMencarini This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Breonna Taylor: Jonathan Mattingly to sue over 'murderer' accusations Within days of each other at the end of August, two separate investigationsone in Ohio and one in Georgiaresulted in the arrest of 27 individuals in Ohio interested in engaging in sexual activity with minor children and the rescue of 39 endangered missing children in Georgia. These are two small victories among the widespread problem of missing children and child sexual abuse online happening at an unfathomable scale in our country. As technology continues to evolve and our youth spends an increasing amount of time online, we must take extreme precaution, especially as a majority of children begin virtual schooling this fall due to COVID-19. According to a recent study conducted by NortonLifeLock, a global leader in consumer Cyber Safety, nearly 7 out of 10 parents (69%) said that their childs screen time has heightened during the pandemic, while most parents (60%) are concerned they dont have enough time to keep track of what their child is doing online. Child internet safety is important now more than ever, and we must educate ourselves and our children about the cycle of online child sexual abuse in order to prevent more victims. As our children are thrust into a virtual online learning environment, here are some practical steps parents can take now: 1. Set up parental control tools on all internet enabled devices including age-appropriate filters to block harmful websites, videos and images 2. Regularly check the online communities your children use, such as social networking and gaming sites, to see what information they are posting 3. Spend time online with your children and build an atmosphere of trust by establishing an ongoing dialogue and open lines of communication 4. There are no takebacks online. Teach your children to think before they post and avoid sharing personal information and communicating with strangers 5. Supervise the photos and videos your kids post and send online 6. Instruct your children to avoid meeting face-to-face with someone they only know online or through their mobile device. You cannot recognize a disguised predator 7. Discourage the use of webcams and mobile video devices for younger kids and guide your teens and tweens in ways to use video safely 8. Disallow access to chat rooms and only allow live audio chat with extreme caution. 9. Set up the familys cyber-security protections 10. Periodically check your childs online activity by viewing your browsers history Everyoneparents, teachers, law enforcement and tech companies, play a vital role in mitigating online harm to children, finding our missing, and advocating for a digital world where kids are free from online sexual exploitation. For more resources and information on how to make the internet safer for children and families during COVID-19 and beyond, please visit Enough.org and internetsafetey101.org to learn more. To join the movement to help us find us or to provide closure for families who are desperately searching for their missing loved ones, visit BAMFI.org. #HelpUsFindUs About Black and Missing Foundation Inc.: Black and Missing Foundation, Inc (BAMFI) is established as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, by a veteran law enforcement official and public relations specialist, whose mission is to bring awareness to missing persons of color; provide vital resources and tools to missing person's families and friends; and to provide educational training on personal safety. BAMFI offers a free clearinghouse, which highlights profiles and information on missing persons of color, nationally. Profiles of missing individuals, throughout the nation, as well as news, information, and tips, can be found at BAMFIs Web site: http://www.bamfi.org, IG: @blackandmissingfdn, Twitter: @BAM_FI or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bamfiorg. About NWR Communications Group: http://www.nwrcommunications.media NWR Communications Group is a boutique public relations agency helping nonprofits and foundations committed to social justice issues gain visibility for their cause through publicity and social media strategies. ### City of Midland The Midland Health Department reported on Thursday that there were 40 new coronavirus cases in Midland County. The latest cases bring the pandemics total to 3,676, according to a release from the city. The health department said 2,232 people have recovered, there are 786 cases in isolation, 369 are under investigation and 207 cases are unable to locate/refused. Also, there have been 82 COVID-19-related deaths. A taxi driver has been charged with the murder of his mother-of-seven wife after she was found dead inside their home. Abida Karim, 39, was discovered by police in Leeds, West Yorkshire at around 5.30am yesterday morning. Her husband Sajid Pervez, 37, has been charged with murder and is due to appear at Leeds Magistrates Court tomorrow. It is understood that Ms Karim had only returned home last week after burying her father in Pakistan. Sajid Pervez, 37, has been charged with murder and is due to appear at Leeds Magistrates Court tomorrow Abida Karim (pictured), 39, was found dead by police in West Yorkshire yesterday morning Abida Karim, aged 39, who was found dead at their home in Hovingham Terrace, Harehills The red-brick terraced property in Harehills now lies behind a police cordon as forensics experts work in the house. Tributes have poured in for Ms Karim following her death, with neighbours describing her as a kind and caring mother. One woman said: 'Honestly can't believe it she was a good woman and caring. She was an amazing mother. She was kindness.' Another added: 'They were a delightful couple. We never had any trouble from them. I can't understand what has happened.' The red-brick terraced property in Harehills now lies behind a police cordon as forensics experts work in the house. Pictured: Police at the scene It is understood Ms Karim only returned home last week after burying her father in Pakistan A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: 'A man is due to appear in court charged with murder over the death of a woman in Leeds. 'Sajid Pervez, aged 37, has been charged with the murder of his wife Abida Karim, aged 39, who was found dead at their home in Hovingham Terrace, Harehills, yesterday (24/9). 'He is due to appear at Leeds Magistrates Court tomorrow (26/9).' This story was first published June 30, 2018. It has been updated. The century-old U.S. National Park Service may be best known for overseeing iconic landmarks like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but the agency runs more than 400 sites in every state in the nation. In New Jersey, the National Parks sites, trails and historic areas attracted nearly 4.6 million visitors last year, according to federal officials. One of New Jerseys sites -- Gateway National Recreation Area (which includes Sandy Hook in New Jersey and thousands of acres along bays and the ocean in New York) -- ranked as the fourth most visited National Park site in the country in 2019. Only the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoke Mountains National Park had more visitors. What are the other National Park sites in New Jersey? Not all are parks. They include an iconic national landmark, an epic hiking trail, a towering waterfall and a few scenic rivers and historic sites you may not recognize. In some cases, the sites are not officially considered part of the National Park Service, but they are run by groups that have partnered with the National Park Service. The 12 National Park Service sites in New Jersey are: 1) Appalachian National Scenic Trail Part of the 2,180-mile trail passes through New Jersey. The 72-mile stretch begins at the Delaware Water Gap, continues along the Kittatinny Ridge to High Point and along the New York border. Visitor can take day hikes or walk the entire New Jersey portion. 2) Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area Crossroads of the American Revolution is collection of sites covering 2,155 square miles in New Jersey in 14 counties. They include historic battle sites, houses, museums and monuments related to the Revolutionary War. The Trenton Battle Monument, Fort Lee Historic Park, Sandy Hook Lighthouse and Red Bank Battlefield Park. 3) Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area The 70,000-acre park is along the Delaware River on both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania sides. Visitors can paddle on the river, fish in the trout streams or hike the ridges and valleys. 4) Ellis Island (Part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument) Nearly 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island on their way to a new life in the United States. The island now serves as a museum and a monument to the immigrant experience. It is accessible by ferry from Liberty State Park in Jersey City. 5) Gateway National Recreation Area (Sandy Hook) The Gateway National Recreation Area includes 27,000 acres along the ocean and bays in New Jersey, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. New Jerseys portion is Sandy Hook, the popular swimming, hiking and biking park at the northern end of the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County. 6) Great Egg Harbor River Designated a federal park site in 1992, the National Park Service helps oversee the 129-mile river system in the Pinelands National Reserve. Visitors along the 59-mile river can hike, go birding, fish, go boating and kayak. 7) Lower Delaware National Wild and Scenic River The lower part of the Delaware River became part of the National Park System in 2000. In addition to paddling on the river, visitors can hike, bike and visit historic sites, including the spot where George Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas Day in 1776. The Lower Delaware National Wild & Scenic River is not owned by the National Park Service, but it is considered a partnership site administered by the park service with the help of local groups and the local and state government. 8) Morristown National Historic Park George Washington and the Continental Army spent the winter of 1779 and 1780 encamped in Morristown. The site includes a museum and library devoted to pre- and post-Revolutionary America. 9) New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve The Pinelands includes over a million acres of forests, wetlands and farms in seven of New Jerseys southern counties. In 1978, Congress designated the area the nations first national reserve. The reserve covers about 22 percent of New Jerseys land area. Visitors can hike, bike and drive trails through the Pinelands. There are also several historic sites to visit, including Allaire Village and Batsto Village. The Pinelands National Reserve is managed by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, not the National Park Service. But federal representatives sit on the commission, National Park Service officials said. 10) Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park New Jerseys newest National Park site is the towering waterfall in one of the states largest cities. The falls are surrounded by the remnants of mills and factories in Paterson. In addition to seeing the falls, visitors can go to the nearby Paterson Museum, Lambert Castle and other historic buildings related to the citys silk mills. 11) Thomas Edison National Historical Park Thomas Edisons home and laboratory in West Orange are preserved to mark the site where one of the nations greatest inventors lived and worked. Visitors can tour Edisons laboratory complex, then go to nearby Glenmont Estate, the inventors 29-room mansion in the gated community of Llewellyn Park. 12) Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail In 1781, the George Washington and the Continental Army joined forces with General Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau and the French Army joined forces and marched from Rhode Island to Virginia to fight the British. Their route was designated a National Historic Trail in 2009. The New Jersey portions pass through most of the counties in North and Central Jersey before crossing into Pennsylvania. Visitors can walk or drive the trail and visit historic sites, including the Old Barracks in Trenton. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. With strict pressure from the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the August coup leaders have installed an interim government that will run state affairs until next elections. Plucked from obscurity, the former Defense Minister Bah Ndaw ( here ) became the transitional President, while Colonel Assimi Goita serves as Vice President. The transitional committee made up of representatives of political parties, civil and religious groups agreed on both positions. According to their biographical reports, both had part of their professional military training in the Soviet Union and Russia respectively - read & watch this video - indicating that the new Malian leadership could be more Russia-friendly. The transitional civilian government, swearing-in ceremony and inauguration into office took place on Sept 25, completely closed the political chapter on the political administration of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. The military takeover, Mali's fourth since gaining independence from France in 1960, came after months of protests, stoked by Keita's failure to roll back a bloody jihadist insurgency and fix the country's many economic woes. Over the years, reform policies have had little impact on the living standards, majority highly impoverished in the country. As a developing country, it ranks at the bottom of the United Nations Development Index (2018 report). The country, however, is a home to approximately 20 million population. The primary task, right now, is to draw up "a comprehensive road map" for economic recovery. Earlier before the Sept 25 ceremony, Assimi Goita had issued a public statement at a media-covered conference to the Malian population, "We make a commitment before you to spare no effort in the implementation of all these resolutions in the exclusive interest of the Malian people. We request and hope for the understanding, support and accompaniment of the international community in this diligent and correct implementation of the Charter and the transition roadmap. The results you have achieved allow me to hope for the advent of a new, democratic, secular and prosperous Mali." While West African leaders would likely remove the economic sanctions imposed in the wake of last month's coup, following the installation of a civilian interim president, a number of foreign countries including Russia have already recognized these new developments taken toward stability. Russia, apparently, is exploring all possibilities to regain part of its Soviet-era influence as Mali begins to restructure and systematize its state administration. In an official statement to mark Mali's 60th anniversary of its independence from France, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) hoped that Mali would fix in place civilian form of government and, focus on holding free and democratic elections following a short transitional period with the assistance of the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union. It is noteworthy to recall here that Russia and Mali are linked by friendship and cooperation. In 1960, Mali attained independence following a prolonged struggle and opted for a socialist orientation. There were major projects implemented with Soviet assistance. These includes a cement factory, the Kalana gold-mining company, a stadium in Bamako, the Gabriel Toure Hospital, an airfield in Gao and a number of national education facilities. Large-scale prospecting operations were conducted, and 9,000 hectares converted into rice paddies. Thousands of Soviet educators, doctors and other specialists worked in Mali. Over 10,000 Mali citizens received higher education in Russia. "We hope that the time-tested Russia-Mali ties will continue to develop steadily in the interests of both states. We would like to congratulate the friendly people of Mali on their national holiday and to wish them every success in achieving nationwide reconciliation, reviving their country as soon as possible, and we wish them peace, prosperity and well-being," the statement particularly stressed. As Russia pushes to strengthen its overall profile in the G5 Sahel region, Mali could become a gateway into the region. Russia has made military-technical cooperation as part of its diplomacy and keen on fighting growing terrorism in Africa. Experts suspected that the regime change in Mali could see Russia-friendly new leaders taking over the country from the French-friendly Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and his government, thereby dealing a severe blow to French influence and interests not just in Mali but throughout the Sahel zone that includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Research Professor Irina Filatova at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow explained recently in an emailed "Russia's influence in the Sahel has been growing just as French influence and assistance has been dwindling, particularly in the military sphere. It is for the African countries to choose their friends and people who are now in power will be friendlier with Russia." That said, the transitional government could continue to leverage with Russia. Reports indicate that Russia has established cordial relations with transitional government. On August 21, Russian Ambassador to Mali and Niger Igor Gromyko met with representatives from the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP). The CNSP is an umbrella organization of military personnel involved in the coup, which wishes to oversee an 18-month transition before returning power to civilian authorities. Russia signed a military cooperation agreement with Mali in June 2019. In November 2019, demonstrators in Bamako urged Moscow to repel Islamist attacks in Mali as it did in Syria. At the Independence Square demonstrations in Bamako that followed the coup, protesters were spotted waving Russian flags and holding posters praising Russia for its solidarity with Mali. Samuel Ramani, DPhil candidate at the Department of Politics and International Relations at St. Antonys College, University of Oxford, wrote in the Journal of the Foreign Policy Research Institute that "Since Russia possesses a diverse array of partnerships in Mali and Sahel countries are frustrated with the counterterrorism policies of Western powers. Moscow could leverage the Mali coup to secure economic deals and bolster its geopolitical standing in West Africa." According to the expert, Kremlin-aligned research institutes and media outlets have consistently framed France's counterterrorism operations in Niger and Mali as a facade for the extraction of the Sahel's uranium resources. Russian nuclear energy giant Rosatom, which directly competes with its French counterpart Avenda for contracts in the Sahel, could benefit from favorable relations with Mali's new political authorities. Nordgold, a Russian gold company that has investments in Guinea and Burkina Faso, could also expand its extraction initiatives in Mali's gold reserves. As one of the largest on the continent, Mali is a landlocked country located in West Africa. For centuries, its northern city of Timbuktu was a key regional trading post and center of Islamic culture. Mali is renowned worldwide for having produced some of the stars of African music, most notably Salif Keita. But, this cultural prominence has long since faded. After independence from France in 1960, Mali suffered droughts, rebellions, and 23 years of military dictatorship until democratic elections in 1992. Mali has struggled with mass protests over corruption, electoral probity, and a jihadist insurgency that has made much of the north and east ungovernable. President Ibrahim Keita, who took office in September 2013, proved unable to unify the country. With time and commitment to sustainable development and good governance, there is still hope for Mali. Kester Kenn Klomegah writes frequently about Russia, Africa and BRICS. (Photo : (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)) CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 14: Engineer and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk of The Boring Company listens as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel talks about constructing a high speed transit tunnel at Block 37 during a news conference on June 14, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. Musk said he could create a 16-passenger vehicle to operate on a high-speed rail system that could get travelers to and from downtown Chicago and O'hare International Airport under twenty minutes, at speeds of over 100 miles per hour. Tesla and SpaceX's eccentric Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk recently engage in a Twitter thread that negatively shared his and a fan's opinion on Microsoft's newest venture, acquiring an exclusive license from OpenAI, an artificial intelligence company. The CEO said that this deal defeats the purpose of being 'open' as Microsoft received said license. The clean energy company's big boss shares his opinion as honest as possible and lets the world know what he thinks. The recent tweet from the CEO proves this so, sharing his opinion on Microsoft's acquisition of the supposed to be an "open" network of artificial intelligence. According to Kevin Scott, Microsoft's Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, the Redmond-giant recently agreed and deal with OpenAI, acquiring an exclusive license for the GPT-3 language model. The famed Microsoft Blog proudly announces and boasts that it has partnered with OpenAI to create an Azure-hosted home for training massive artificial intelligence models. The GPT-3 has now been licensed to Microsoft, and this model is the leading and most autoregressive artificial intelligence language model there is, remarkably mimicking and producing 'human-like' text. Microsoft's exclusive license and the acquisition gives the company an upper hand in creating more AI for its software and technology. Up to date, there is no known dispute between Tesla and Microsoft, also from Elon Musk and Microsoft-boss, Satya Nadella. Musk's statement and the Twitter user's regard may seem like disbelief or distrust towards Microsoft in utilizing the AI properly. ALSO READ: [Update] Tesla Network Outage is Worse than Previously Thought Leaving Owners Furious and Stocks Dropping by 10%: Here's the Probable Cause Elon Musk: OpenAI "Captured by Microsoft" Several users brought Twitter the dismay and criticism of Microsoft's recent acquisition and venture with OpenAI and the GPT-3 language model. Both the artificial intelligence company and the language model received criticism from several users, including the Tesla boss himself, Elon Musk. Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) shared a news link on his Twitter status, sharing the dismay and disbelief in OpenAI for allowing Microsoft to acquire the language model. Then, the Twitter account proceeds to tag Elon Musk on the tweet's body for the CEO to notice. I thought OpenAI was supposed to democratize this tech... not give Microsoft an exclusive license. https://t.co/JLPw2ijExr "Microsoft gets exclusive license for OpenAIs GPT-3 language model"I thought OpenAI was supposed to democratize this tech... not give Microsoft an exclusive license. @elonmusk Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) September 24, 2020 Another user regarded that the "executive license" of the GPT-3 language model "might as well rename it to ClosedAI." Elon Musk (@elonmusk) continued the thread and said that the venture is the 'opposite of open.' The Tesla CEO's disbelief in Microsoft to properly handle and use the technology says a lot for the electronics and software company. This does seem like the opposite of open. OpenAI is essentially captured by Microsoft. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 24, 2020 Twitter's Objection With Elon Musk supporting the Whole Mars Catalog's statement, several users still share their two cents regarding Microsoft's new venture. A known Twitter user that has occurring replies to Elon Musk's tweet and provide information, Pranay Pathole (@PPathole), shares his opinion on the debacle. The user said that open source is different from the company's name, OpenAI, which seems to be the point of confusion for saying the venture to be limiting the democracy of the GPT-3 language model. Many ppl seem to be confusing open source & OpenAI. Open source: The code is open but you can still sell products through external assets that run on the code. But OpenAI is different. The model is a key component of the AI, without it you don't have a functional AI. Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) September 24, 2020 OpenAI is the world's largest artificial intelligence research company and leading in the creation of new technology that can revolutionize the society and the world. Microsoft's recent acquisition intends it to be partnered with Azure, a cloud-computing service of the company that will soon change. ALSO READ: Elon Musk Calls Yahoo Finance 'Dumb' for Limited Research and Attacking Tesla; Twitter Fans Back Him Up This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Isaiah Alonzo 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. San Antonio has fewer teen pregnancies, more high school graduates and is using less water and energy, according to data from SA2020, an initiative launched 10 years ago by then-San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro to outline the citys priorities for the next decade. However, it is also seeing higher rates of obesity, domestic violence and recidivism in the criminal justice system. Thats why the work of SA2020 isnt done, city officials said. SA2020 is hosting a virtual celebration for its 10th anniversary Friday evening. The nonprofit will share a draft of a report reaffirming its community vision, based on input from more than 10,300 San Antonians. Through the end of October, residents will have another chance to provide feedback said Kiran Kaur Bains, the SA2020 director of community impact. The nonprofit will release a final report in January 2021. Over the past decade, the nonprofit focused on 62 areas, such as arts and culture, economic competitiveness, education, environmental sustainability and community safety. More than 174 organization and companies helped identify the issues to be worked on and goals were set based on feedback from the community. Moving forward, SA2020 will continue to release reports on the citys progress in those identified areas. It will celebrate incremental change, the progress weve made and also (be) very real about what our challenges are, Kaur Bains said. The organization has met or exceeded its initial goal in 14 areas, such as shortening emergency response times, growing the economic impact downtown and using more renewable energy. Three factors are on track to meet their goals and 27 have made some progress. Since the organizations inception, the city has shown improvement in approximately 70 percent of the indicators it identified. But among 16 indicators, the city has either made no progress or gotten worse. Most notably, the rates of recidivism and obesity are rising, people are volunteering less, there are more cases of domestic violence, the average commute time is growing and fewer people are enrolling in college and getting professional certificates, according to 2019 data. Two areas a complete streets initiative and the countys food insecurity rate are stuck at their baseline. In January, SA2020 surveyed about 3,500 residents, asking them two questions: what areas should the city continue to address and what areas did they want to see improved. The survey found residents cared most about maintaining the citys culture, landmarks and its parks and green spaces. They also identified mobility, infrastructure and education as the most important areas to improve. After the coronavirus pandemic upended San Antonians lives, forcing many into unemployment and struggling to make ends meet, SA2020 held a second community survey. From June to August, residents were asked to share their concerns and priorities online. Almost 70 percent of respondents prioritized education, with family well-being coming in at 59 percent. More than half of those who took the survey also said civic engagement and community safety were crucial to make San Antonio better. The COVID-19 crisis, as we see it, didnt create any new challenges, Kaur Bains said. It compounded the existing community challenges that we already faced. Residents can join the 7 p.m. virtual celebration on Facebook or YouTube. Some local restaurants are offering special deals in honor of the event. To learn more about the event or nonprofit, visit www.SA2020.org. Liz Hardaway is a staff writer covering San Antonio government and politics. To read more from Liz, become a subscriber. liz.hardaway@hearst.com | Twitter: @liz_hardaway United Nations, Sep 26 : The Indian delegate at the United Nations General Assembly session on Friday walked out in protest when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan began attacking India in his speech at the high-level meeting. First Secretary Mijito Vinito, who was sitting on the second seat in the first row of the Assembly chamber, stood up and left as soon as Khan turned on India by focusing on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Khan's pre-recorded speech was screened at the General Assembly chamber during the annual meeting stymied this year by the Covid-19 precautions. Khan also declared a thinly veiled support for the attacks on India by the militants. "The government and the people of Pakistan are committed to standing by and supporting the Kashmiri brothers and sisters in their legitimate struggle for self-determination," he said. To preemptively deny the involvement in any Pakistan-sponsored attacks on India, Khan said, "We have consistently sensitised the world community about a false flag operation." Khan alleged, "India is playing a dangerous game of upping the ante against Pakistan in a nuclearised environment." Meanwhile, India's permanent representative to the UN T.S. Tirumurti decried Khan's attacks as "warmongering and obfuscation". In a tweet, he said, "PM of Pakistan's statement a new diplomatic low at 75th UN General Assembly. Another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, warmongering and obfuscation of Pakistan's persecution of its own minorities and of its cross-border terrorism. Befitting Right of Reply awaits." Nearly half of Khan's 34-minute speech, which ran over the allotted 15 minutes, was devoted to his attacks on India. At the start of his speech with religious platitudes, Khan declared his commitment to an even more stringent theocratic state before accusing India of moving away from secularism. "We envisage Naya Pakistan to be modelled on the principles of the state of Medina, established by the Holy Prophet Mohammed," he declared. Later, the premier of the Islamic republic, which constitutionally denies full citizenship rights to non-Muslims as well as Muslims of the Ahmadiyya sect, asserted that India is giving up on the secularism of Mahatma Gandhi and is moving towards a "Hindutva" state. "The secularism of Gandhi and Nehru has been replaced by the dream of creating a Hindu Rashtra," he asserted. Khan's attacks on the RSS is to try to build up support for his cause, which has so far seen only Turkish support, by linking it to Nazism as his attacks on India have not found any backing. Khan was silent on the persecution of the Uighur minority in China, Pakistan's patron, and Beijing's verified creation of camps for internment of the Muslim minority and campaign to eradicate their cultural and religious identity. But he claimed that according to "reports", there were camps in India filled with Muslims. He also accused India of changing the demography of Kashmir and suppressing its cultural identity. He invoked the Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and said the Council should enforce them. However, the main resolution on Kashmir -- No. 47 -- demands that Pakistan should withdraw its troops and personnel from Kashmir. (Arul Louis can be reached atAarul.l@ians.inAand followed on Twitter at @arulouis) -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed The city says it will help Wesley Urban Ministries find a new home for its longtime downtown hub of medical and social services. The Wesley Day Centres month-to-month lease at 195 Ferguson Ave. N. will end at the beginning of November. This past summer, the city allocated funds to the day centre to extend its hours of operation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe the continuation of that service is vital, Edward John, director of housing services for the city, told councillors Thursday. John said the city and Wesley Urban Ministries hope to find a location for a new day centre that will offer a similar set of resources and supports. For 24 years, the day centre has offered an array of services help some of Hamiltons most vulnerable residents. Many who access its medical clinic, food program and other social services experience homelessness, problems with mental health and addictions. Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk, who runs a clinic at 195 Ferguson, told The Spectator shes very grateful that the city is helping Wesley find another site. I think that the number of people experiencing homelessness who are currently relying on services at the Wesley is a true testament to how vital these services truly are, she said. When COVID hit, instead of closing their doors like so many services felt they had to, Wesley increased their services and expanded their hours. That has been recognized and deeply appreciated by many in this community. The unique hubs future at 195 Ferguson has been on shaky ground for some time. In June 2019, Daljit Garry, Wesleys executive director at the time, announced the day centres landlord had opted not to renew its lease. Garry said the agency couldnt find another location in the core it could afford. Supporters, including Wiwcharuk, directed a campaign at the city to help save the day centre, where the municipality also offers services. Wesley Community Homes, the landlord, is a separate organization from the tenant despite the similar name. The non-profit housing provider, which has apartments in the same complex, worked out a month-to-month arrangement with the agency. We listened and we understood where they were coming from, Chad Roglich, board chair, told The Spectator. But now the board wants to move forward with developing supportive housing units in the day centre space, he said. We know that the need is there. Outside the front door, Hamiltons largest encampment of people experiencing homelessness has formed on Ferguson North during the pandemic. Roglich noted the board has fielded numerous complaints from residents about the encampments but said the decision to end the lease was made before the tents arrived. Last week in a letter to supporters, Don Seymour, new executive director of Wesley Urban Ministries, said the agency is very committed to the well-being of day centre users and finding a new location. On Thursday, John said irrespective of where the day centre ends up, funding for its extended hours of operation will continue until next June. Wiwcharuk and the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team, the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, Ross and McBride LLP, and Keeping Six, a harm-reduction group, have challenged the city on its approach to encampments. Last month, they secured an injunction that bars the city from removing people in tents against their will. The next court date is in October. Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong speaks at a press briefing at its office in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Friday. Yonhap More than 100 people have been injected with seasonal flu vaccines that should not have been administered due to storage problems, authorities said Friday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said hospitals and public health centers in Seoul and three other areas gave flu shots to 105 people with some of the vaccines that weren't supposed to be administered after being exposed to room temperature. The agency said the affected people have been informed of their injections, and it was monitoring whether they were showing any side effects. Yet, none of the people injected with such vaccines have showed extraordinary reactions, the agency said, adding it will keep close tabs on those people. The agency said it was initially testing 750 doses of the exposed flu vaccines and planned to carry out an additional test. On Tuesday, the KDCA temporarily halted its plan to offer free seasonal flu vaccines after some of about 5 million doses of flu vaccines were partially exposed to temperatures outside the storage range. Inactivated vaccines should be stored in refrigerators, and exposure to room temperature could result in decreased vaccine potency and increased risk of vaccine-preventable diseases. But the safety of those vaccines exposed to room temperature has yet to be determined. KDCA Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said the agency will complete a quality test on those exposed vaccines as quickly as possible and do its utmost to provide safe flu shots to people. The KDCA had said that if the exposed vaccines pass quality tests, they will be administered to those in the 13-18 age bracket, followed by the older demographic. The government was to provide free flu shots to around 19 million people, or 37 percent of the country's population. Children between 6 months and 18 years old, pregnant women and those aged 62 years old or above were included. (Yonhap) How chemists are building molecular assembly lines Part of the challenge is programming the actions of molecular machines and reducing the waste from chemical triggers that get them to work. The cast of "Riverdale" has recently returned to work for the fourth season's remaining episodes and the start of the fifth season. Production halted in the past couple of months because of the coronavirus pandemic, and now they're all back in Vancouver, Canada. KJ Apa, who plays Archie Andrew on "Riverdale," posted a video on Instagram on how they avoid the spread of the virus while shooting for make-out scenes. In the video posted on Wednesday, Apa was joined by his co-star Camila Mendes, who plays Veronica Lodge, where they were given a tiny blue paper cup of what seemed to be a mouthwash. "Our new normal is washing our mouths before every take of a make-out scene," he captioned the video. They had to swill the mouthwash inside their mouths for more than a minute. Apa and Mendes linked their arms like a bunch of newly-weds drinking champagne before swigging the liquid inside their mouth. Meanwhile, a production crew wearing gloves handed the "Riverdale" stars a clear plastic bag where they could spit out the mouthwash. The video suggested that the mouthwash could prevent the coronavirus's spread on the production set of "Riverdale." However, it remains unclear what the liquid is in the cup exactly or how effective their method would be. Their "Riverdale" co-star Lili Reinhart, who plays Betty Cooper, commented on Apa's Instagram video saying, "that s-t burns," which suggested that it wasn't just Apa and Mendes who had to get accustomed to the mouthwash. But the mouth cleanse isn't the only change made to their production set. Reinhart had previously shared that the cast and the crew had to stay in Vancouver until they finish shooting in December. In early September, Reinhart said she feels "like a prisoner" filming for the show. Speaking to Nylon magazine, "I genuinely feel like a prisoner, going back to work, because I cannot leave Canada." "That doesn't feel good. You can't go home for Thanksgiving, can't visit your family. No one can come to visit you unless they quarantine for two weeks. It just feels f*****d." Though she's frustrated she can't be home for the holidays and can't work on new projects until she leaves Canada, Reinhart said she's still grateful as many people have lost their jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic. " I'm very lucky, but it's like, 'I need to keep going," she said. "I need to keep going." Pre-production of the hit Netflix and CW show started on August 17. The next day, Reinhart told Jimmy Fallon she had to isolate for two weeks before she returned to shoot for "Riverdale." Their other co-star, Vanessa Morgan, who plays Toni Topaz, said she and the rest of the cast and crew of "Riverdale" are required to take COVID-19 tests thrice a week to make sure that they aren't positive and can continue filming. Though the show has already started filming, the show's fans will have to wait longer for the new episodes. The show is set to come back to The CW next year. According to Variety, the network is planning for a January 2021 premiere. READ MORE: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle HORROR: Ghosts Heard at Royal Wedding Ceremony? The Centres recent legislations to usher in reforms in the farm sector have met with a blowback in several states. Haryanas former chief minister and current leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda spoke to Vinod Sharma about why farmers are angry, the concerns about the laws, and corrective steps needed for an equitable balance in an expanded market. Edited excerpts: Why is the farming community restive in your state and neighbouring Punjab? What is causing them concern about the framework laid down by the three legislations on the farm sector? It is inappropriate to say the community is restive. Its actually voicing out the corrective measures that must be in place to ensure protection for their produce. Farmers should get minimum support price (MSP) based on the Swaminathan Commissions C2 formula calculated 50% above cost of cultivation (covering labour cost, operational capital, storage, transport, rent of land and incidental expenses). Farmers dont have the capacity to store their produce for a long time. The idea eventually is to ensure that the farmers should not be facing any logistical pressure. The freedom to sell agriculture produce outside the notified agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) would expand the marketplace for farm produce with scope for better prices. What then makes the minimum support price (MSP) fixed by the government so indispensable to the farmer? A correction in the framing and interpretation [of the law] is a must. Here I wish to re-clarify that the Congress manifesto always spoke about rationalising the APMC Act, not removing it. The contract farming rules we made in 2007 were all pro-farmer. Our focus was on basic protection. The rules we devised for contract farming were: one, registration of contract with the district marketing enforcement officer; two, agreed rate/contract will not be less than the MSP of the previous year; three, the buyer shall deposit an amount up to 15% of the price of produce as per MSP or a bank guarantee for the sum (as security) with the committee in which the land is situated ;and four, the security shall be released within 30 days after the satisfactory execution of the agreement between the farmer and private player. Only such measures can eliminate distress sales by farmers outside APMCs where I have seen tomatoes sold for Re 1 per kg and potatoes for nine paise per kg a few years ago. Such a regime will protect the farmers from exploitation by big business that has deep pockets. But many agriculture experts see in the new previsions the potential of ushering in a paradigm shift to make farming remunerative rather than it being relief/subsidy oriented. The positive and negative aspects have to be fairly weighed. It is correct to say that the market for farmers will expand. Yet the expansion may lead to either better prices for farm products or may cause exceptional highs and lows of demand. The equilibrium and security given to farmers through a fixed MSP as part of a rationalised policy is the right idea. Its the best (option) for the government and the farming community. What kind of assurances or amendments should be made for a broad consensus on the laws? Our demand is that the government should bring the fourth Bill stating that the contract agreement (with private buyers) should not be less than the MSP. Purchase of farm produce at a price less than the MSP should be punishable by law. I am above party politics on the issue as I am the son of a farmer. If they bring the Bill, I will welcome it as it will be for the betterment of farmers. I want them to bring the fourth Bill to safeguard MSP. If they are saying they will give the benefits then where is the glitch in bringing the Bill? The government made an announcement of increased MSP for six Rabi crops including wheat. Does that not disprove claims that it intends disbanding APMCs and the MSP mechanism? MSP assurance for some Rabi crops and wheat is not the only thing required. We are talking about India where Kharif crops (bajra, jowar) and rice play an important role in demand and consumption. The MSP mechanism and the Mandi Act as a whole have to be fair and just. The agriculture sector is subsidised even in developed countries the world over. That makes one doubt your worries. Why would the government fall on its own sword by disbanding MSP or resorting to mechanisms that hurt farmers? The reality we all are running away from is that the government has been experimenting with delicate areas of concern over the last few years. It they fail, like they have in many other sectors, they will blame destiny, the coronavirus or the Opposition. Let us get real and accept that we are a developing nation where the poor people need essential commodities at extremely low or subsidised prices. Implementing free flow without MSP might raise prices -- and the poor will literally starve. Similarly, the farmer needs to earn in a secure way. The game plan of having corporates enter this sector will harm every state. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Its a good thing we have a gravel-voiced narrator guiding us through the byzantine, time-hopping and sometimes interconnecting storylines in the mid-20th century noir mood piece The Devil All the Time, because there are times when things get so complicated and so messy, we could use a little help. At first, the jigsaw puzzle seems needlessly difficult to solve, but once all the pieces are in place and we see the big picture, were left with admiration for director/co-writer Antonio Campos ability to weave a memorably brooding film from Donald Ray Pollocks novel of the same name. (In a neat touch, Pollock voices the film as the aforementioned narrator.) Bill Skarsgaard plays Willard Russell, a World War II veteran who a decade later is still haunted by the image of a comrade strung up on a crucifix and left to die a slow and excruciating death. Skarsgaard is hauntingly good as Willard faces his demons and tries to be a good husband and father but is fighting a losing battle. Meanwhile, Carl Henderson (Jason Clarke) and his wife, Sandy (Riley Keough), travel country backroads, picking up male hitchhikers and inviting them to pose for provocative photos with Sandy. Carl takes graphic photos of Sandy with the latest victim, who indeed becomes a victim because the Hendersons are serial killers. As the story moves to the mid-1960s, Tom Holland, in James Dean mode and pulling it off quite well, becomes the centerpiece of the story as Arvin Russell, the now-grown son of his late father, Willard. Tom is fiercely protective of his stepsister, Lenora (Eliza Scanlen), a fellow orphan who gives her trust to the towns slick new preacher, Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson), who drives a Cadillac and has the starter jewelry kit of transitioning-to-Vegas Elvis. (Preston Teagardin is a predator; another fire-and-brimstone preacher in the story murders his wife. The Devil All the Time has a LOT to say about religious hypocrisy.) Arvin keeps trying to walk the righteous path, but he runs into some very bad people along his journey, and violent clashes cannot be avoided. And in a film brimming with excellent acting, Sebastian Stan is a standout as Lee Bodecker, a murderously corrupt sheriff with long-standing ties to Arvin and serial killer Sandy, among others. Bodecker is one of those villains so vile youre rooting for him to get his comeuppance, but youll hate to see him go. With Alabama filling in for postwar rural West Virginia and southern Ohio, director Campos and cinematographer Lol Crawley do a superb job of creating an ominous atmosphere, as if despair and tragedy were lurking around every small-town street corner, down every stretch of country road. For all its indictments of religion, this film is not anti-faith; its a cautionary tragedy about putting your faith in the wrong men who cloak themselves in God when in fact the devil is inside them, all the damned time. The description of his career by Ambassador Nazareth in his elegant language, judicious choice of details, without ego or malice to anyone, shows that it had its ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies and lucky and unlucky accidents. Ambassador T P Sreenivasan reviews A Ringside Seat to History. IMAGE: Ambassador Pascal Alan Nazareth and his wife Isobel Nazareth present a copy of his book Gandhi: The Soul Force Warrior to President Ram Nath Kovind in New Delhi. Photograph: All images kind courtesy Konark Publishers As a clan, diplomats tend to write more memoirs than those in other professions, essentially because they have the opportunity to explore and discover more than others because of the diversity of experiences they encounter. Telling stories is also part of the diplomatic profession. I suspect in some countries, diplomats are trained to recount stories and tell jokes to be able to make them acceptable in social circles in different countries. Indian diplomats have no such training, but out of sheer necessity they become raconteurs around dining tables or during the long interludes in negotiations, while waiting for documents or instructions. Russians and Iranians seem particularly good at this because they have been trained to speak a lot without saying much. Most diplomats do their memoirs early in retirement, when memories are fresh, photographs are not faded and travelling down the memory lane is one way to overcome the withdrawal symptoms after an active and busy life. But some of them get busy with their second careers in right earnest and then begin writing normally at the behest of relatives and friends later in life. Ambassador Pascal Alan Nazareth, having completed his chequered diplomatic career dominated by India's soft power, plunged into Gandhian studies and lectures on culture on luxury cruisers. His two books on Gandhiji was translated into 23 foreign and 12 Indian languages and he literally went with them around the globe, leaving the writing of his autography till his 80th birthday. Luckily, his memory, his sharpness of mind and sense of humour remained intact. The minute details of events, including date and time must have come from some meticulously kept diaries. No two autobiographies of diplomats can be identical, though the expectations of their career paths are the same and with very few exceptions, everyone reaches the highest levels of the service. The recruitment, training, promotions and postings are supposed to be equitable. But the vagaries of posting of diplomats are such that there is no single pattern that they follow and the policy followed is more art than science. It also depends on whether an officer hitches his wagon to a political star or remain an upright officer, as High Commissioner B K Nehru observed. In the process, some may have comparatively smooth careers. while others may have turbulent lives for no fault of theirs. IMAGE: Ambassador Pascal Alan Nazareth, second from right, with Princess Takamado, centre, and then Indian ambassador to Japan, Sujan Chinoy, second from left, during the release of the Japanese edition of his book Gandhi's Outstanding Leadership in Tokyo. The description of his career by Ambassador Nazareth in his elegant language, judicious choice of details, without ego or malice to anyone, shows that it had its ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies and lucky and unlucky accidents. It is the story of stoic acceptance of twists and turns of life and making the best of every situation. The coincidence of the Dalai Lama's arrival in India on the same day as he joined the service, the miraculous arrival of Mother Teresa at a cancer hospital in New York to heal his son, the fight against virginity tests in the UK, his chase of the fugitive Jayanti Dharma Teja all the way to Costa Rica, three coups in Africa and devastating earthquakes in Latin America, his appointment as the cultural czar of India and other events summarised by Ambassador M K Rasgotra in his thoughtful foreword, read more like fiction than facts. But every diplomat must have such exciting stories to tell. The success here is that the narration is truthful, forthright, transparent and supported by credible circumstantial evidence. His absolute dedication to work, indomitable courage, unfailing wisdom and absolute integrity are evident throughout. He does not hide his frustrations and disappointments during his career and he even reveals that two publishers had turned down his manuscript, perhaps the first author to do so. Of course, there are some celebrated instances of certain publishers rejecting manuscripts, which later became classics and best sellers. IMAGE: First from left, Ambassador Pascal Alan Nazareth, second from left, then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, with then President Giani Zail Singh, extreme right. Our paths never crossed when both of us were in the Foreign Service and we did not know each other except through the IFS folklore. I followed his work in London closely as I was in the foreign secretary's office, which was at the centre of the changes in our high commission there. But there was a certain parallelism in our careers. Both of us chose Japanese as our optional language and began our careers in Tokyo. Although both of us acquired proficiency in Japanese, neither of us got posted back to Japan as we did not fit into the jigsaw of postings at various stages. We were posted to Yangon at different times, but lived in the same house. I could, therefore, relate to his stories of 'tree spirits' and spiders. Fortunately, we did not encounter the spiders, because my wife would have refused to live there. She was horrified that she had married into a family which worshipped spiders. When she expressed her fear of spiders, she was told that our family was blessed by the spider gods and anyone who was stung by the spiders in the neighbourhood could be healed by a sprinkling of ashes by any member of the family. IMAGE: Ambassador Pascal Alan Nazareth with His Holiness The Dalai Lama. We had our share of coups like Ambassador Nazareth and his wife and there was one occasion when my wife feared that she was about to be taken into military custody in a similar situation faced by Isobel Nazareth in Ghana. The official car she was travelling in Fiji two days after a military coup was stopped by gun wielding soldiers only to inform my wife that a part of her saree was jutting out of the car. Isobel voluntarily accompanied a young lady, who was taken by the authorities from her home in a military truck and returned unharmed. Like in other diplomatic memoirs, the author's wife emerges as an equal partner in contributing to the prestige of the country and in sharing inconveniences and mishaps. Most women who marry diplomats with dreams of luxury and comforts invariably discover that diplomacy is also a challenging career. But most of them prove the point made by Pandit Nehru in Parliament that it is only the Foreign Service which provides the services of two persons for the salary of one. 'Nazareth's wife Isobel, with her abundant good looks, charm and elegance, her flair for diplomatic hospitality and her ability to handle all types of exigencies , has been a great asset to him,' observes Ambassador Rasgotra. The book has sufficient solid evidence to elucidate that statement. Writing autobiographies is a risky proposition for anyone because even truthful narration will be suspected of self-praise or self-pity. There is sufficient justification for mentioning accomplishments as they will never be known in the nebulous world of diplomacy in which successes cannot be easily measured. To a certain extent, diplomats have to blow their own trumpet as the public rarely comes to know their work. Nor will the story be complete without recording mistakes or failures. For civil servants, there is the added risk of revealing state secrets, which may be sensitive even after a lapse of time. Ambassador Nazareth has avoided all these pitfalls and created a model for diplomatic memoirs. His affable personality, unfailing courtesy, patriotism and efficiency shine through his autobiography. I feel gratified that I had the privilege of connecting the author with my own publisher, K P R Nair of Konark, who is adept in dealing with diplomatic memoirs. I must also acknowledge that Ambassador Nazareth readily accepted my minor suggestions during the production of his book. 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: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com A blind war veteran left his house for the first time in 10 months to receive a surprise birthday present of a refurbished memorial bench dedicated to his late wife. Jim Sherratt, 87, from Nantwich, Cheshire, became the first guest at military charity Blind Veterans UKs rehabilitation centre in Llandudno since it closed its doors in March. When his wife, Ivy, died in 2011 he celebrated her life by dedicating a bench to her memory on Llandudno Pier, but its condition had deteriorated in recent years after being exposed to the elements. Staff at the centre decided to surprise Mr Sherratt by restoring the bench and marking its restoration, as it is split into zones to make it Covid-safe for guests and staff alike. He had not left his home since November because of health issues and then the coronavirus lockdown. Jim Sherratt, 87, from Nantwich, Cheshire, / PA Mr Sherratt joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps for National Service in 1952 and served in the UK, mainly as an Armourer, until discharge as a Private in 1954. He lost his sight later in life due to diabetic maculopathy and has been receiving assistance from Blind Veterans UK since 2014. He has no vision in his left eye, just 1% in his right eye, and also experiences severe mobility issues. He said: Its been an extremely difficult and testing time. Being stuck in one room of your house for months on end is not much fun as you can probably imagine. I spent the time sat in my chair listening to the radio. Blind Veterans UK kept in touch all the way through. They were absolutely fantastic. I had a call every Thursday with five or six other blind veterans in my area which I always looked forward to. We heard what wed all been up to during lockdown and had a great laugh together. We are very happy to welcome our first #blindveteran back to our Llandudno centre since March. Jim has been completely isolated during lockdown so we are delighted to have him stay with us. pic.twitter.com/1OZNrfVgtM Blind Veterans UK (@BlindVeterans) September 22, 2020 Unfortunately my sight deteriorated further during lockdown so I couldnt use my magnifier to read post and the suchlike. But once again Blind Veterans UK stepped in and provided me with a reading machine, which takes a photo of the text and reads it out. Its brilliant and saved me on countless occasions this year. Ive been looking forward for months to coming back here. Its feels great to be back in this amazing place with such caring staff. Nicky Shaw, Blind Veterans UK director of operations, said: Living in isolation, blind veterans need our help right now with daily tasks, such as the shopping, and constant emotional support through this difficult time. So we are temporarily changing our service and mobilising our staff to provide practical, essential support to help the most vulnerable. There is so much that we can and must do to support blind veterans to help them maintain physical and emotional wellbeing, and to feel safe, reassured and cared for during this crisis." Prime Minister Narendra Modis address to the UN General Assembly on September 26 is expected to focus on Indias priorities as a member of the Security Council during 2021-22 and the promotion of global action against terrorism, people familiar with developments said on Friday. Modis address will be in the form of a video statement broadcast at the General Assembly hall in New York since most events are being held virtually against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. He is listed as the first speaker for the general debate in the forenoon of Saturday. Among Indias priorities during the 75th session of General Assembly are promoting the strengthening of global action to counter terrorism, and this is expected to be reflected in the prime ministers speech, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. India will push for more transparency in the process of listing and delisting of entities and individuals by the UN sanction committees, said one of the people. The prime minister is also expected to focus on the issues India will focus on during its stint as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for two years beginning January 1, 2021. This includes the 5-S approach of samman (respect), samvad (dialogue), sahyog (cooperation), shanti (peace) and samriddhi (prosperity), the people said. India will also focus on inclusive and responsible solutions for global peace and security, an effective response to international terrorism, NORMS or the New Orientation for a Reformed Multilateral System, technology for all and streamlining of UN peacekeeping operations, the people added. Being one of the largest troop contributing countries, India will seek to engage intensively in finalising the mandates of UN peacekeeping missions, the person cited above said. The theme of the 75th UN General Assembly is The future we want, the United Nations we need, reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism confronting Covid-19 through effective multilateral action. The people further said India will continue its engagement on issues related to sustainable development and climate change, promote the countrys role as a health service provider, and highlight its contribution to global cooperation against Covid-19 in the form of aid to more than 150 countries. India will also focus on its role as a South-South development partner, especially in the context of the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, and reiterate its commitment to the global partnership under SDG 17, including on climate change. A Rapid City man has been charged in state and federal court after he allegedly illegally purchased guns and told a deputy that he planned to climb to the top of Mount Rushmore and shoot President Trump during the July 3 fireworks event. Lucian Celestine, 29, was booked into the Pennington County Jail on June 30 after an investigation by the Secret Service and other federal, state and local officials, according to court records. Celestine was charged in federal court with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm for allegedly buying a Browning bolt-action rifle, scope and ammunition despite being on a federal gun background check list. Celestine who a federal magistrate judge ordered detained without bond pleaded not guilty to the firearms charge on Sept. 11, court records show. He was indicted Sept. 17 on a second charge of threatening the president and is scheduled to enter a plea on that charge on Sept. 30. If convicted, Celestine faces up to 10 years in prison for the firearms charge and up to five on the threat charge. Celestine was also indicted at the Pennington County Court for making a terrorism threat. Celestine, who is scheduled for a Nov. 3 arraignment, faces up to five years in prison if convicted on the state charge. Although the terrorist threat law has been on the books since 2005, no one in Pennington County was charged with it until June 2018. At least four others have been charged with the crime. Like most of the other defendants in those cases, Celestine has a mental health illness, schizophrenia. "The nature of the terroristic threat is not just the question of their intention to follow through, but their intention to place somebody in fear," States Attorney Mark Vargo previously said when asked about concerns that law is charging people who need treatment or those who have no intention or ability to carry through with their threat. Once someone is charged, it's up to the court to decide if the person should be convicted or needs mental health treatment, Vargo said. Court records What follows is alleged in June 30 police reports attached to the state case and a July 2 affidavit attached to the federal case. The police reports are by Jeremy Milstead, a deputy with the Pennington County Sheriff's Office. The affidavit is signed by Chad Sayles, a detective with the Rapid City Police Department who also serves on a task force for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Secret Service began investigating Celestine after receiving a tip that he was trying to buy a weapon from the Armslist website. Secret Service agents recognized Celestines name because he contacted the agency and the FBI in the fall of 2019 to report he had a strong urge to kill rapists and heard voices telling him that Trump was a rapist. Celestine said he didnt have the desire or means to hurt anyone, and he was calling because he didn't believe the voices and wanted to exonerate Trump. The agents then contacted the Armslist seller, a Brookings police officer. The officer told the agents on June 29 that Celestine wanted him to ship a rifle, scope and ammunition to Rapid City by June 26. The officer said Celestine never mentioned wanting to harm Trump but was acting strangely. He said Celestine also didnt seem to understand firearms or how they were sold, so he reported him to the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation. The agents then contacted Milstead and went to Celestines home on June 30. The trio first spoke with Celestines mother who said her son has schizophrenia and hears voices, but she wasnt concerned about him harming himself or others. The agents then spoke with Celestine, who acknowledged his past statements to the Secret Service and FBI, and said he had a gun in the trunk of his car. Celestine said he recently bought the gun for nearly $2,000 from a man in Box Elder and planned to use it for target practice. He said he didnt have plans to harm Trump. Celestine then signed forms allowing the agents to search his car and medical history. He also waived his Miranda Rights. The rifle, seven boxes of ammunition, a scope and targets were found in the trunk. Agents also found a June 29 receipt for the ammunition and four targets from First Stop Guns, a store in downtown Rapid City. Milstead told Celestine that his choice of weapon was an expensive and powerful one for target shooting. Celestine also shared that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2018 and spent a month at the state mental health hospital in Yankton. He said hes not in treatment and stopped taking his medication because it made him feel bad and didn't work. He said he instead uses marijuana, which helps him relax. Milstead eventually put Celestine on a mental health hold. Celestine became upset and later told Milstead that he did buy the gun because voices told him to shoot the president because he was a rapist. He said he had a relative who was raped so he wants to kill all rapists. Celestine said his plan was to hike to the top of Mount Rushmore through the back side of the monument where there isn't much security. He said he would hide out and then take the shot once Trump arrived. Milstead then arrested Celestine for making a terrorist threat. The federal charges came after agents found that Celestine was on a national gun background check list and had been involuntarily committed in October 2019 to Yankton after a mental health professional found he was a danger to others. Celestine was sent to the hospital after his call to the FBI but before the one to the Secret Service. Celestine was on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) which said he cant own a gun until 2022. People or stores with Federal Firearms Licensee are required to contact NICS before selling weapons. Federal law makes it illegal for anyone who has been committed to a mental health facility to have firearms or ammunition that were involved in interstate commerce. Celestines rifle was produced outside of South Dakota. Federal law also makes it illegal for sellers to provide firearms or ammunition to people they know have been committed to a mental health institution. Contact Arielle Zionts at arielle.zionts@rapidcityjournal.com. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. PITTSFIELD, Mass. The School Committee affirmed its decision to replace the Taconic mascot on Wednesday. A vote on Wednesday was taken to clarify the procedure in accepting and then filing a petition two weeks ago from a group of citizens who are against changing the name from the Braves. "I think we are wading here into a parliamentary morass," committee member William Cameron said. "The point of the vote has been lost sight of as we struggle to find words to satisfy those people who won't be satisfied by anything but rescinding the vote." School officials voted in August to eliminate the name, but the item was placed on the agenda again in September after a group of alumni and residents communicated that they were unclear that a vote would take place. They wanted a chance to speak to the matter. During this meeting in September, this group also put forth a petition asking the School Committee to hold off on the name change. The committee did not budge and voted to accept the petition, placing it on file and grounding the effort. This caused confusion because the petitioners were under the impression that by accepting the petition, the School Committee had reversed its decision. "It certainly does need to be clarified," petitioner James Massery said during public comment. "It was my interpretation ... that the name of Taconic Braves was actually accepted by a unanimous yes vote at the last meeting." Chairwoman Katherine Yon said the petitioners contacted her on the matter as well as City Council members and the city solicitor. So, she contacted the district's attorney who reaffirmed that the School Committee correctly voted on the petition by filing it. But to be absolutely clear, Yon suggested they vote to reject the petition and place it on file. Mayor Linda Tyer said she was not comfortable with this vote and did not like the sense of rejecting a petition. She felt the committee made the correct vote and didn't have to take further action. "I am not comfortable with rejecting this petition. People need to be able to appeal to their government," Tyer said. "I think the vote you took a few weeks ago was appropriate ... we acknowledged that they were heard." The mayor said the School Committee could accept the petition as a "receipt," showing that it has acknowledged it, then file it. This would achieve essentially what they already voted on earlier this month. The vote to do this was unanimous. Victoria's former police chief commissioner, Graham Ashton, appears to have had just one thing on his mind on the afternoon of March 27. Things were moving fast. An hour earlier, Scott Morrison and Daniel Andrews had decided in national cabinet that all returning travellers would be put in compulsory hotel quarantine. A phalanx of ministers and bureaucrats were then sent out, in their words, to operationalise the announcement, and they had 36 hours to do it. Former police chief Graham Ashton. Credit:Jamie Brown Ashton let his fingers do the talking. At 1.12pm that Friday he texted the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Reece Kershaw, to make it clear what he wanted; or rather, what he did not want. Mate. Question. Why wouldnt AFP guard people at The hotel?? In a bid to promote high-quality oil palm production in the country, Solidaridad, an international civil society organization, in partnership with Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), will train palm oil producers in the last quarter of 2020. The effort, expected to enhance market access for workers in the palm oil value chain in producing districts, would also ensure that finished products meet both local and international market standards. Under the partnership, Solidaridad, FDA, and the Environmental and Health Units of all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) would train 260 artisanal mill owners and over 3,000 machinery fabricators and processors, to promote high-quality food safety standards among artisanal palm oil producers. Capacities of environmental health officers would be strengthened while the Assemblies would be strengthened to monitor and enforce standards in the preparation and sale of palm oil. A release issued by Solidaridad and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday said the FDA was statutorily mandated to work with the Assemblies, particularly the Environmental and Health Units, to monitor and enforce standards for the preparation and sale of food products in the country. Solidaridad, on the other hand, through its Sustainable West Africa Palm Oil Programme, had been working to transform the oil palm sector in the country by promoting best management and milling practices. Therefore, Solidaridad's deployment of field officers in palm oil-producing districts would make up for the FDA's lack of offices at the district level that had hitherto, made it difficult for the authority to reach palm oil processors in the districts. The release explained that under the partnership, a training programme, on food safety and good manufacturing practices in the palm oil production process would be held for workers in the value chain. It would cover topics such as hygienic sterilisation and digestion of the palm fruits, identifying food safety hazards during processing, the use of potable water for palm oil processing, waste handling, test management techniques, cleaning and siting of milling equipment, and personal hygiene of workers at the mills, among others. The effort would build on two training programmes that Solidaridad and the FDA recently organized at Boadua and Assin Fosu in the Eastern and Central regions respectively, for the staff of the Environmental and Health unit of the assemblies, the Business Advisory Centre, and Women in Agriculture Development within six district assemblies. The release quoted Mr Nicholas Issaka Gbana, Oil Palm Programme Manager for Solidaridad, as saying that a substantial part of Ghana's palm oil imports could be sourced locally from artisanal palm oil producers if they met the quality requirements of both industrial users and palm oil exporters. The requirements, he said, included palm oil with low free fatty acid below five per cent, low rancidity (having the right taste, smell and colour), and had no physical, biological or chemical contaminants. Our expectation is that our two organizations would pull resources together to support artisanal palm oil producers to meet these requirements, Mr Gbana said. Mr Kofi Essel, Head of Industrial Support Services Department, FDA, is also quoted as saying that his organisation was pleased with the partnership, and expressed the hope that the collaboration would equip artisanal oil palm producers to process safe and quality products. He added that food hygiene and safety should be a core element of all food preparation processes, including palm oil, hence the need for processors to obtain and regularly update their knowledge in food safety and good manufacturing practices. Mr Essel advised consumers to stop demanding for palm oil with a redder hue, explaining that such market preferences cause some unscrupulous palm oil producers to add substances to the product to change its natural colour, which could compromise food safety. Solidaridad and the FDA are pursuing this course as part of the implementation of the second phase of the Sustainable West Africa Palm Oil Programme funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands (EKN) in Accra and the Swiss government through its State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The programme seeks to contribute to the transformation of the oil palm sector in West Africa, increase incomes of smallholder farmers and processors, and generate economic growth and jobs. SWAPP II is part of Solidaridads global agenda to build sustainable production for oil palm and other commodities. 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 Rahul Gandhi on Friday sharpened his attack on the Centre over the agriculture bills passed by Parliament and said the contentious legislation would enslave farmers." Gandhi, in his tweet, while expressing support to the national shutdown called by farmers organisations, also likened the bills with the Centres GST system. A flawed GST destroyed MSMEs.The new agriculture laws will enslave our Farmers. #ISupportBharatBandh," the former Congress chief wrote on Twitter. A flawed GST destroyed MSMEs.The new agriculture laws will enslave our Farmers.#ISupportBharatBandh Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 25, 2020 Gandhis recent comments come a day after the Congress said that the party will challenge the black laws" in the court and termed it unconstitutional" and against the countrys federal structure. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said 18 opposition like-minded parties have urged the president to not sign the bills as they will be against the federal structure if they become laws. If the president signs these bills, which I want and hope he should not sign, and once they become the law, I feel they will be against the federal structure," he said. These laws will be challenged in the court from high court up to the Supreme Court and I have no doubt that they will be quashed. We want that these laws are stopped and quashed by the court as they are unconstitutional," Singhvi told reporters. He said the issues come under List 2 of the 7th Schedule which are exclusive rights of states. Several farmers organisations, including from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have called a national shutdown on Friday, intensifying their protests against the agricultural bills passed by Parliament earlier this week. Farmers in Punjab have already started a three-day rail blockade against the bills, squatting on tracks at many places yesterday. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill were passed by the Parliament earlier this week.The protesters have expressed apprehension that the Centres farm reforms would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system and they would be at the mercy of big corporates. Kochi, Sep 25 : The CBI on Friday filed a detailed report in the special court here on the Kerala government's now controversial Life Mission housing project and has decided to take up the case, in a setback to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who was losing his cool whenever the media questioned him on the issue. The next step for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be to register an FIR and list all those who will be questioned. Sensing trouble, it was on Wednesday that Vijayan decided to order a Vigilance probe into the project. The Life Mission project, a pet one for Vijayan ever since he assumed office in 2016, was floated to build houses for the homeless and landless, using funds from sponsorships, and the role of the state government was to provide the land only. The project, however, ran into trouble when Anil Akkara, the Congress legislator from Wadakkanchery in Thrissur, first raised questions about the wrongdoings in a building project in his constituency, cleared with funds from UAE-based charity organisation, the Red Crescent. Though Vijayan had been maintaining that the state government, apart from handing over the land, had no role in the project, but things began changing since the Kerala gold smuggling case surfaced. This particular project was routed through the UAE Consulate, where main accused Swapna Suresh and P.S. Sarith, whose arrest led to uncovering of the scam, both worked. It turned murkier, when news surfaced that the son of state Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan was also close to Swapna. Suspicions were also raised after Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of the powerful CPI-M state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate. Adding to the problems, it came out that the commission for the project was not Rs 1 crore, but more than than that, as per Vijayan's media advisor as well as state Finance Minister Thomas Issac. Vijayan, for the past one month, has been evading media's questions about the Life Mission project. Speaking to the media, Akkara noted it was he who had first raised this fraud and he approached Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan seeking justice. "I knew the CBI would take up this case, as I had given them a detailed complaint on this case. Later I was called by the CBI and I gave them all the details I had about this project. Now I am happy that the CBI has taken the case up. This was a classic case where in the name of the poor, money was swindled... such a thing should never ever happen," said Akkara. Both the Congress and the BJP for long have been up in arms demanding a CBI probe and calling for the resignation of Vijayan for taking people for a ride. State BJP President K.Surendran said this is a classic case of usurping of public funds. "This particular project was cleared by Vijayan, who is the Chairman of the Life Mission. He even went to the UAE to source funds for this project. Swapna and (suspended IAS officer M.) Sivasankar had reached UAE a few days before Vijayan landed. Now that the CBI has taken up, every aspect that we raised on this will be looked into," he said. Congress-led UDF Chairman Benny Behanan said if Vijayan has any morals left, he should quit immediately. "This project was mired in controversy over its funding and the commission that was paid was the hard truth, which Vijayan always had dismissed with contempt. Everyone including Vijayan will now be questioned by the CBI and if he has any morals left, he should quit," he said. Presently, the Customs, the National Investigation Agency, the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax are probing the gold smuggling, drugs and the Life Mission case, but the opposition was demanding that only the CBI can probe this case, as external agencies were funding this project. Expressing solidarity with the farmers who called a Bharat bandh on Friday to protest the farm bills, the Congress alleged that the legislations will "enslave" farmers and the MSP will be "snatched away" from them, with Rahul Gandhi claiming the laws will foster an East India company-like culture. The three bills were passed by both houses of Parliament during the Monsoon session and are awaiting presidential assent. Gandhi talked to some farmers through video conferencing and said they have no faith in the government, adding the country together opposes these agri-related laws. He said earlier it was the East India company and now it is the West India company that has come to do business. In a short video attached with a tweet, Gandhi said India attained independence with the voice of farmers and once again the country will achieve independence through their strong voice. "One thing is clear after talking to farmers - they do not have even a little faith in the Modi government. The voice of all of us has added to the loud voice of the farmers, and today the entire country together opposes these agricultural laws," he said in a tweet in Hindi, using the hashtag "ISupportBharatBandh". In the video, he said, "these laws have to be opposed, not for farmers but for the future of the country." "The farmer's voice is in the youth, the armed forces, the police. The farmer's voice has strength and India attained independence using this voice. "India became independent through the farmer's voice and once again today India will become independent through farmers' voices," he said in the video. At one point when a farmer said it was like bringing in the East India company once again, Gandhi said earlier it was the East India company, now it is the West India company. "A flawed GST destroyed MSMEs. The new agriculture laws will enslave our farmers," the former Congress chief earlier tweeted. Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Randeep Surjewala spoke out against the farm bills and backed the Bharat Bandh. Priyanka hit out at the government, saying the three farm bills brought by it are reminiscent of the "East India Company rule". The MSP (minimum support price) of the farmers will be "snatched away" and they will be forced to become slaves of billionaires through contract farming, she said in a tweet in Hindi. "Neither will they get the price nor respect. Farmers will become labourers in their own land," she alleged. Congress' chief spokesperson Surjewala said the party joins farmers in their struggle. "Farmers are protesting with Bharat Bandh. Their livelihood 'is being snatched' away and the Modi government has attacked their farms," he said in a video message. "There is chaos everywhere. Modi ji swears by farmers, but stays true to his friendship with crony capitalist friends," Surjewala alleged. The Congress and farmers will struggle together and will never allow the Modi government to "mortgage farmers and agriculture at the doorstep of crony capitalists", he said. At a press conference, Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil said the farmers are out on the streets protesting the black laws which are anti-farmer. The Congress is launching a SpeakUp campaign on social media on Saturday in support of the farmers and against the laws. "It's time to speak up for what is right. It's time to speak up for those that give us life. It's time to speak up against those that seek to destroy our nation. It's time to #SpeakUpForFarmers," the Congress said on its Twitter handle. During Rahul Gandhi's interaction with around 10 farmers from across the country, Dhirender Kumar from Champaran, Bihar said, this is an "andha kanoon" (blind law) and the farmers and the poor are being exploited. Pankaj Taniram Matere from Bhandra in Maharashtra said no poor farmer will benefit from these laws and only companies and big people are going to benefit. "If a company buys from the farmer and does not pay, the poor farmer cannot even protest before them as they will beat them up and in that case what will the farmer do and eat," he asked. Amritrao Deshmukh of Dabri in Maharashtra said a large number of farmers have committed suicide here. Rakesh Jakhar of Jhajjar in Haryana said if the farmers are going to benefit from these laws, why the government does not make a law to ensure MSP. "Commission agents through whom the farmer used to sell his produce were called dalals. In fact, the dalals will come now when the farm produce will be sold to the corporate world," he said. As Rahul Gandhi asked why farmers fear that the MSP will go, Om Parkash Dhankar of Jhajjar said the government should guarantee that if anyone buys at below the MSP from farmers it should be considered as a punishable offence. Ashok Bootra of Yavatmal in Maharashtra said the corporates will buy cheap from farmers and will sell three-four times while Rudra Pratap Pandey of Bhojpur in Bihar said the businessmen used to earlier pay some advance but have stopped doing that saying they will not buy paddy. Gajanand Kashinath of Vashim, Maharashtra, said if Mahatma Gandhi was alive, he would have also opposed these laws. . All plaintiffs have tenants in units who are delinquent in the payment of rent and who would be otherwise lawfully evicted from the units ... but for the halt order, the complaint in Memphis says. These landlords are required by law to spend money on repairs and upkeep of the rental homes, but arent getting federal help under the ban, it says. As unprecedented wildfires continue to rage across California, firefighters from Mexico have arrived in the US state to provide assistance. Crews from Mexico's National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR) arrived in San Bernardino on Wednesday and will assist the US Forest Service, saying fires do not have borders. Nearly 1,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed. The blaze is the largest in Californias history, spanning more than 286,519 acres, some 150 miles north of Los Angeles. The fire department warned that they had only been able to contain about 32 per cent. According to a National Interagency Fire Centre statement (NIFC), five crews totaling 100 firefighters and four agency representatives from Guadalajara, Mexico, were dispatched at the United States request. We continue to experience above-normal fire activity in California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and other states, said Ken Schmid, from the Bureau of Land Management Fire Operations. Thankfully, our Department of Defense and international partners are able to support us in this time of need, as wildfire activity will likely carry on for the foreseeable future, particularly in California. Speaking before the Mexican crews are deployed to Sequoia National Forest, where the Sequoia Complex Fire rages, CONAFORs director praised international cooperation seen over the past month. "Fires do not have borders, fires do not have different languages and cultures, said Eduardo Cruz, CONAFORs director. In the end we all speak the same language when it comes to fighting fire". Tony Scardina, deputy regional forester of the Pacific Southwest region of the US Forest Service, said of the Mexican crews that "We're proud to have them here", in a video posted to Twitter. Its really an honour to have them [CONAFOR] here, at our request through the NIFC, said Mr Scardina. Were able to have them through their partnership [to] come work with us and help us with the unprecedented fire citation, he added. We're proud to have them here, and thank you for coming to help us. The United States has also requested assistance from Canada through the NIFC, which saw the countrys firefighters help tackle blazes in California and Oregon earlier this month. According to the NIFC, resources from multiple Canadian provinces totaling 291 fire specialists were sent to the US last weekend, to help firefighting efforts. There are at least 87 large wildfires burning across the West Coast, with 23 large fires burning in California, and 12 more in Oregon, in what has been a record-breaking fire season. WASHINGTON --- Former President Barack Obama released his second and final slate of 2020 election endorsements on Friday, backing a total of 111 Democrats in state legislature and congressional elections across 21 states. Among his endorsements are seven Democrats running for the U.S. Senate, including several in this year's most competitive races, and 29 House candidates. Democrats currently hold a comfortable majority in the House, and they have an opportunity this year to retake control of the Senate, which has been in Republican hands since 2014. "I'm proud to endorse these outstanding Democratic candidates who will work to get the virus under control, rebuild the economy and the middle class, and protect Americans' health care and pre-existing conditions protections from Republican assault," Obama said in a statement. Five Democratic Senate challengers received Obama's endorsement: Mark Kelly in Arizona, MJ Hegar in Texas, Adrian Perkins in Louisiana and Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Ralph Warnock in the two Georgia Senate races. Obama also endorsed two incumbents: Sens. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and Gary Peters of Michigan. The most notable endorsement was Obama's backing of Warnock, who is running in a special election in Georgia to fill the Senate seat vacated by former GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson. Warnock is pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, the Rev. Martin Luther King's church, and he led the prayer service at Obama's second inauguration in 2013. Warnock is also the leading Democrat among four top candidates competing in what's known as an open or "jungle" primary. In this type of contest, any candidate who pays the filing fees can appear on the ballot in November, but in order to win the election a candidate must win a majority of votes, not merely a plurality. The result is typically a runoff between the top two candidates, and in Georgia this would occur in January. The top two Republicans in the race are incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed to the seat last year, and Rep. Doug Collins, who was reportedly President Donald Trump's pick for the Senate appointment before Gov. Brian Kemp named Loeffler. The other Democrat in the top four is businessman Matt Lieberman, son of former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who was Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential race. Current polling averages show Loeffler and Collins with 24% and 21% of the vote, respectively, then Warnock with 19.4% and Lieberman with 10.6%. If Lieberman were to drop out and his voters shift to Warnock, the pastor could reasonably expect to make it to the runoff, while Collins and Loeffler split the GOP vote. But Lieberman could also play spoiler, siphoning support for Warnock so that only the two Republicans, Loeffler and Collins, make it to the runoff. Former gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams is one of several prominent Democrats in Georgia who are pressuring Lieberman to exit the race. "We need Matt Lieberman to understand he's not called for this moment," Abrams said Thursday. Obama's endorsement of Warnock appears to contradict the former president's pledge earlier this year to endorse only Democratic nominees, and avoid wading into intra-party primaries. Obama released his first list of endorsements in August, and his office said Friday that his second round, like his first, was populated with candidates who advanced one of Obama's four goals: "Winning control of the U.S. Senate and holding the majority in the U.S. House; electing Democrats who will support fair redistricting in 2021; supporting alumni of his campaigns and Administration; and promoting diverse, emerging leaders for this time." Click here to read Obama's entire list of endorsements. New Delhi: The academic session 2020-21 for the first-year students will commence from November 1, 2020 stated the University Grants Commission (UGC) in its latest guidelines. The UGC has directed the educational institutions to complete merit/entrance-based admission process by October 2020. Keeping in concern the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the guidelines also stated that in case of delay in the declaration of results of the qualifying examinations, the universities may start the session from November 18, says the latest guidelines issued by the UGC. The information was shared by Union Minister for Education Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Twitter on Friday, saying, "In view of the #COVID19 Pandemic, @ugc_india has issued guidelines on Examinations & Academic Calendar for UG & PG Students for the Session 2020-21." In view of the #COVID19 Pandemic, @ugc_india has issued guidelines on Examinations & Academic Calendar for UG & PG Students for the Session 2020-21. For more details, visit the UGC website: https://t.co/HTMOrA0jNl#UGCGuidelines pic.twitter.com/1i7xhumDk7 Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) September 25, 2020 According to the guidelines, the last date for admissions to fill up the remaining vacant seats will be November 31. On the other hand, the institutions, where admissions are sole though entrance tests, and which have completed the necessary requirements or are likely to do so in near future, have been directed to start their academic sessions for the first year under-graduate and post-graduate students at the earliest. They can accept the relevant documents of qualifying examinations by December 31, said the UGC guidelines. Live TV The UGC guidelines stated: 1. The institutions where admissions are solely through entrance tests and have completed the necessary requirements or are likely to complete these requirements in near future. may start their academic session of 1st year at the earliest. If necessity arises. provisional admissions may also be made. The relevant documents of qualifying examination be accepted up to 31.12.2020. 2. Merit/ entrance based admissions to the first-year programmes for the session 2020-21 be completed by the end of October 2020. The last date for admissions to fill up the remaining vacant seats shall be 30.11.2020 3. The academic calendar for the first year students' proposed in the Guidelines dated 29.04.2020 stands amended. Hence, the academic Session 2020-21 may commence from 01.11.2020 for first year students. Accordingly, the following calendar is suggested for the academic session 2020-2021. Further, the UGC has suggested the institutions to conduct the first semester/year examinations between March 8 and 26, 2021. It has also asked the universities to follow six-day week pattern for the academic sessions 2020-21 and 2021-22, besides curtailing breaks to compensate for the loss of classes. Terming the session as a special case, the UGC has also ordered the institutions to refund full admission fees on account of cancellation of admissions/migration of students up to November 30. Thereafter, the institutions can deduct not more than Rs 1,000 as processing fee for cancellations/withdrawal up to December 31. Notwithstanding these, every college/university has been directed to follow the mandatory guidelines regarding academic activities in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mumbai, Sep 25 : The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Friday imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on former Yes Bank MD and CEO Rana Kapoor for violation of disclosure regulations regarding a transaction of Morgan Credits Pvt Ltd, an unlisted promoter entity of Yes Bank. In view of the transaction by Morgan Credits Pvt Ltd of raising Rs 950 crore from Reliance Mutual Fund through unlisted Zero Coupon Non-Convertible Debentures on April 19, 2018, the SEBI undertook examination in the matter about the possible requirements of disclosure under its regulations, the order said. The SEBI sought information from the BSE and thee NSE with respect to the aforesaid transaction and they informed that they had not received any disclosures under the LODR Regulations and the SAST Regulations from Yes Bank or its promoters regarding the aforesaid transaction by its promoter entity. The SEBI also sought comments from the company, and was informed that "its promoter Morgan had raised Rs 950 crore from RMF, which was not in the nature of encumbrance of shares by promoters and thus, there has been no requirement of disclosures under the LODR Regulations and SAST Regulations". "This is a case where by not disclosing the substantial material interest in the transaction to the Board of Directors of the Company, the noticee has created an opaque layer between him and stakeholders," said the order. The SEBI imposed a consolidated monetary penalty of total Rs 1 crore on the noticee, Rana Kapoor, for the violations of Regulations 4(2)(f)(i)(1) and 4(2)(f)(i)(2) of the LODR Regulations, under section 15HB of the SEBI Act. Singapore's population has shrunk for the first time since 2003 as travel curbs and job losses brought about by the coronavirus pandemic have pushed foreign workers from the global business hub. The overall population dropped by about 18,000 people, or 0.3%, to 5.69 million, according to an annual population report. A sharp drop in foreigners, down 2% to 1.64 million, as well as a marginal fall in permanent residents, outweighed a modest rise in citizens, some of whom returned from overseas as the pandemic spread globally. "These trends were largely due to COVID-19 related challenges, brought about by weak demand and travel restrictions," the report said, citing job losses in services, a sector heavily reliant on low-paid foreign labour. As the economy faces the deepest recession in its history - an economic decline officially estimated between 5%-7% for the year - the government has been raising barriers for foreign hiring to preserve jobs for locals. But authorities in the low-tax corporate hub, home to the Asian headquarters of many multinational companies, have also warned that a populist turn could hurt business. "We must be careful not to give the wrong impression that we are now closing up and no longer welcoming foreigners," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech earlier this month, after an election in which opposition parties criticised the government's immigration policies as too slack. Singapore's non-resident population has more than doubled over the last 20 years, powering population growth in a city-state with one of the world's lowest birth rates. This has prompted recurring concerns about competition for jobs and the strains on public infrastructure, which again came to the fore on the July 10 ballot, in which the ruling People's Action Party ceded a record number of seats to the opposition. "As activities ramp up there may be a manpower shortage again down the road," said Selena Ling, head of treasury research and strategy at OCBC Bank. (Reuters) Donald Trump is a very bad debater. Donald Trump is very difficult to debate. These two seemingly contradictory statements are equally true. He's a dangerous opponent. In 2016, it was because he had nothing to lose. Now, it's because he has everything to lose. I would know. In the last cycle, I had a unique assignment: playing Trump's stand-in during Hillary Clinton's mock debates. Before donning the ill-fitting suit I had tailored, my preparation included studying the 11 Republican primary debates in which Trump participated, watching each three times: once start to finish; then only exchanges involving Trump; and finally only Trump, standing at a lectern in my living room with the sound off to focus entirely on his gestures and body language. Mimicking his appearance, gesticulations and histrionics aside, my overall approach meant zeroing in on the four topics that obsessed Trump: immigration, Obamacare, trade and "the swamp." When he was on offense, his attacks on (and nicknames for) Clinton were honed and simple by the time the debates began in September. But he rarely, if ever, defended himself. No matter the attack against him - and there were some doozies - he dispensed with them quickly. And in the GOP primary debates, his answers involved three parts: I am great; you are terrible; and a nonsensical digression that often changed the subject entirely. Four years later, Trump is not different, but the circumstances are. The Trump we see at the first presidential debate in Cleveland on Tuesday may be even harder to debate than last time, because whatever ability he possessed to engage has been subsumed by a constant need to launch into tirades over grievances. ("I sort of prepare every day by just doing what I'm doing," he told "Fox and Friends" about his pre-debate regimen.) He exists in a double bubble - isolated in the Oval Office, consuming and regurgitating nothing but friendly right-wing media and Twitter bile. And he's desperate: The debate presents the first big chance to shake up a race he's losing, but he doesn't seem to have a plan to turn things around other than to hope for Joe Biden to collapse. After studying Trump in 2016, and our national tutorial every day since, here's what I think Biden can expect as they face off three times over the next 24 days. (Although it was never really in doubt that Trump would debate, expect grumbling after the first exchange about being treated unfairly and noise about skipping the two others.) Debates are an opportunity to speak directly to voters. If you're doing it right as a candidate, you're just a more distilled version of your usual self. If you're grasping for a debate strategy, you have bigger problems than debating: Your message should be a simple extension of your overall campaign message and strategy. Biden has both. Trump has neither. Some armchair pundits hold that debates don't matter, which is absurd. Of course a 90-minute performance in front of a Super Bowl-size TV audience can affect the vote. The valid question is how much they matter. Clinton, after all, clearly won the debates against Trump. One challenge is about style: Biden will be doing some actual debating while Trump verbally hopscotches around, telling us how perfect his call to the Ukrainian president was. How smoothly he handled the final 10 feet of the slippery ramp. Interpreting coronavirus charts. Boasting about how he nailed his cognitive test. On any given day, Trump decides whether he wants to speak, and where and when. What to talk about. Whether to take questions, and if so, from whom. How long to let reporters speak before interrupting and berating them. And he decides when he has had enough. That's not a debate, and it leaves him ill-equipped for one. Because the 2016 Trump with the clear message, honed attack and efficient defense mechanism has given way to something else: a politician who cannot articulate his vision for a second term. On offense, he's a mess; he can't settle on an overarching attack on Biden, or even two. Even his already-overrated nicknaming skills have all but failed him. As for defense, his existence now entirely involves explaining, misdirecting, denying - whatever it takes to address every item on his grievance list. Which is as long as his tie. Trump will certainly check the "consistency" box: He will be the same on Tuesday as he was two Tuesdays ago, as he was in July, as he will be in October. But that person is losing. So he has to change the trajectory of the race. In the context of the debates, there are two simple ways to accomplish that: by doing really well and/or by forcing Biden do very badly. (Curiously, Trump's overall strategy has been to hope for Biden to make enough unforced errors for Trump to win. Setting aside the likelihood of any debate moment being so catastrophic that Biden couldn't recover during two more debates and a month of campaigning, it's an awfully passive plan.) It is easy to say someone needs to be prepared for anything and everything. That's typically rhetorical. Here, Biden does, in fact, need to be ready for the unexpected, because Trump has proven he'll say anything and everything. If I were reprising my 2016 role for Biden's debate prep, I would add a few wrinkles. I'd make sure to take a jackhammer to the English language: stopping short, declaring war on proper nouns, the things Trump does daily that leave the listener knowing he just screwed up but not always sure how. Just as you squint and say "huh?" after Trump's garbles, Biden will have the same impulse. And although it would guarantee him a spot in the debate Hall of Fame, a Hillary-esque full body shimmy might not look the same on Biden. You don't need to watch dozens of hours of video to know that Trump's focus is less like a laser and more like a disco ball. Debates, however, ostensibly have a topical structure. In a July interview, Tuesday's moderator, Fox News host Chris Wallace, proved that he can handle Trump. But he will have his hands full trying to keep the president on the six topics announced in advance. In one remarkable answer to a question about Social Security reform during a 2016 Republican debate, Trump took a tortured detour that ended with North Korea's military - in just 17 seconds. Biden cannot rely on Wallace to keep Trump engaged in a coherent conversation. He'll have to find ways to prevent Trump from hijacking the proceedings to indulge one of his preferred rants. Biden has a few basic decisions to make about his approach. Some are obvious. Others, such as staying high vs. going low, trigger Talmudic-level disagreements. For instance, when Trump attacks Biden's family as corrupt, of course no Democrat would argue that he should simply stand there and take it. Even Michelle Obama added this caveat to her famous admonition: "Going high does not mean putting on a smile and saying nice things when confronted by viciousness and cruelty." . But does Biden turn the question around toward Trump's family? Ivanka Trump is the most obvious target, as a government employee who still has business interests in China. But attacking Trump's eldest daughter is far more fraught than, say, going after his son Donald Jr. Identifying - let alone navigating - these lines on live TV is never simple. The best way to deal with Trump, though, won't be to try to fact-check him in real time or to let lies and absurdities go in the hope that moderators - or viewers - catch them. There's a third option: Preempt the president. Clearly and strongly preview for the 100 million people watching what will happen in the debate as soon it begins. Biden should say early on that we all know what's coming. Not to remind voters. But to remind Trump, by speaking on behalf of the majority of the country, that everyone is on to him, in a reversal of Trump's favorite "everyone is saying" paralipsis device: "C'mon, Mr. President. Everyone knows that whatever you call fake is real. Whatever you call a lie is the truth. Whatever you accuse others of doing is what you've done. And whatever you makes fun of me for saying by accident only serves to deflect from what you say on purpose." The 2020 version of Trump is constantly winging it, hoping voters will forget what he has said and done while focusing on his grievance du jour. He needs everyone watching the debate to pretend he never said there were only a few cases of the coronavirus in the United States, or that it would be gone in a week, or that he confessed, on tape, to lying about its lethality. In the end, both men's debate preparations rely on what they have done over the course of the entire campaign. For the last 18 months, Joe Biden has debated Donald Trump on the issues from afar. Over that same period, Trump has done nothing but assault Biden's character. Trump's debate preparations - "what I'm doing" every day - are the first in history to include behavior that ended up in impeachment. In Cleveland, an unshrinking force will meet an unvarying object. --- Reines is a former deputy assistant secretary of state and senior adviser to Hillary Clinton and a visiting lecturer at Tufts University's Tisch College. MANCHESTER Detectives are urging the scores of people who might have witnessed a shooting that led to a double homicide to come forward with information that could help close the case. Around 2 a.m. Aug. 2, Connecticut State Police troopers from the Troop H barracks responded to a reported shooting in the commuter lot off Buckland Street in Manchester and found two gunshot wound victims. The victims were taken to the hospital, where 20-year-old Jennifer Hicks, of Massachusetts, died later that day, police said. The second shooting victim, 24-year-old Massachusetts resident Gregory Scott, died from his injuries at the hospital two days later, police said. It was determined that approximately 100 to 200 people were at the scene at the time of the shooting and could possibly have witnessed this incident, police said. On Thursday, in an updated call for witnesses to come forward, state police said the suspect vehicle is believed to be a 2016 Dodge Ram 1500. Police said there were at least three occupants in the vehicle at the time of the shooting. It it believed that two of the suspects are Black males and at least one additional suspect is a male of unknown race, police said. Information strongly suggests that the suspects reside in Springfield, Mass., or the surrounding area. The Connecticut State Police Central District Major Crime Squad continues to investigate. Anyone with information is asked to call Troop H at 860-534-1000 or Detective Grabowski at 860-209-1301. All calls will remain confidential. A new way of analyzing the chemical composition of soil organic matter will help scientists predict how soils store carbon -- and how soil carbon may affect climate in the future, says a Baylor University researcher. A study by scientists from Iowa State University and Baylor University, published in the academic journal Nature Geoscience, used an archive of data on soils from a wide range of environments across North America -- including tundra, tropical rainforests, deserts and prairies -- to find patterns to better understand the formation of soil organic matter, which is mostly composed of residues left by dead plants and microorganisms. Researchers analyzed samples of 42 soils from archives of the National Ecological Observatory Network and samples taken from additional sites, representing all of the major soil types on the continent. The soils were analyzed by William C. Hockaday, Ph.D., associate professor of geosciences at Baylor University, and visiting scientist Chenglong Ye, a postdoctoral scientist at Nanjing Agricultural University, in the Molecular Biogeochemistry Lab at Baylor. They used a technique called nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which allowed them to analyze the chemical structure and composition of natural organic molecules in the soil. "Soils are a foundation of society by providing food, clean water and clean air," Hockaday said. "Soils also have a major role in climate change as one of the largest reservoirs of carbon on the planet. Even so, the chemical makeup of this carbon has been debated by scientists for over 100 years." "With this study, we wanted to address the questions of whether organic matter is chemically similar across environments or if it varies predictably across environments," said Steven Hall, Ph.D., the study's lead author and assistant professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Iowa State. The study revealed patterns in soil organic matter chemistry that held true across climates. Understanding these patterns, or rules for how and why organic matter forms and persists in soil, will help scientists predict how soils in various ecosystems store carbon. Carbon can contribute to climate change when released from soil into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. An improved understanding of what kinds of soil carbon exist in different environments can paint a clearer picture of how soil carbon may affect climate and how future climate changes may affect the reservoir of soil carbon, researchers said. "This study brought together a strong team of scientists, and for me, it was the first time to consider chemical patterns at a continental scale," Hockaday said. "It is exciting and gratifying when you inform a long-standing debate and offer an explanation of a major pattern that exists in nature." ### The pandemic school year Students, guardians and teachers experience a very different school year as the coronavirus disrupts the countrys education system. Schools reopening: Safety concerns | Fall normalcy | CDCs road map | Inside Bidens reopening promises Current school year: Staying at home | Asian American students missing from classrooms | Schoolchildren struggling with mental health Higher ed: Living on campus during the pandemic | Education Department extends pause on federal student loan payments | Mental health crisis on college campuses The latest DMV news: Random coronavirus testing at D.C. schools | Alexandria adopts 3-foot distancing in classrooms | In-person learning expands in D.C., but mostly at wealthiest schools | Four days a week of in-person learning in Fairfax We want to hear from you: Tell us how school reopening is going: Parents, guardians and teachers | Students Financial aid: How has the pandemic affected how youll pay for college? Former Congressman Ron Paul After Health Scare: I Am Doing Fine Former Texas congressman Ron Paul posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed with a message that he is doing fine hours after he appeared to have suffered a medical emergency during a live interview. I am doing fine. Thank you for your concern, Paul wrote on Twitter. Paul appeared to lose the ability to speak during a live webcast of his show, Ron Paul Liberty Report, according to a video posted on Twitter. It has to be liquidated. We have to get rid of that. Its a burd, Paul said before freezing up and struggling to complete the sentence. Paul is the father of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), whose office did not immediately return a message Friday. The Ron Paul Institute did not respond to a request for an update on its founders health. Paul represented Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2013, 1979-1985, and 1976-1977. He ran for president as a Libertarian Party in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008 and 2012. Paul gained a diverse following due to his fierce criticism of federal spending, the Federal Reserve, and the U.S. tax policy. He openly criticized the military-industrial complex, and the wars on drugs and terror. Well wishes for Paul poured in on social media. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) wrote on Twitter, Prayers up for Dr. Ron Paul, and the whole family. Godspeed. I wouldnt be working in politics today if it wasnt for Ron Paul and his 2008 campaign for President. Probably a lot of other people with similar stories. Prayers up for him, Republican strategist Andrew Surabian wrote on Twitter. Paul, 85, has been described interchangeably as a libertarian and a conservative. He is a staunch defender of constitutional rights, including the right to keep and bear arms. He was one of only three Republicans to vote against the Patriot Act, which vastly expanded the U.S. governments surveillance powers in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Associated Press contributed to this report. JERUSALEM: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called for an international conference early next year to launch a genuine peace process while criticizing the recent decision of two Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel. Abbas seemed to acknowledge the growing international weariness with the decades-old conflict as he delivered the latest in a long series of addresses to the U.N. General Assembly. I wonder what more I can say after all Ive said on countless occasions," he said in the video address from his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Palestinians have rejected President Donald Trumps proposal to end the conflict, which overwhelmingly favors Israel, and have officially cut off contacts with both the U.S. and Israel. Arguing that Washington is no longer an honest broker, they have called for a multilateral peace process based on U.N. resolutions and past agreements. They have also rejected the decision of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalize ties with Israel, viewing it as a betrayal of the longstanding Arab consensus that recognition of Israel should only come in exchange for territorial concessions. In his speech, Abbas said the agreements, signed at the White House earlier this month, are a violation of the principles of a just and lasting solution under international law. For more than three decades, the Palestinians have sought an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories seized by Israel in the 1967 war. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but imposed a crippling blockade when the Palestinian militant group Hamas seized power from Abbas forces in 2007. There have been no substantive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was first elected more than a decade ago, and the two sides are fiercely divided over the core issues of the conflict. Instead, Netanyahu has focused on building ties with Arab, African and Asian countries that have long supported the Palestinian cause. In Israel, the agreement with the United Arab Emirates, an oil-rich country with considerable regional influence, is seen as a historic breakthrough that could transform the Middle East. Israel put on hold its plans to annex up to a third of the occupied West Bank following the deal with the UAE, while saying it still plans to eventually go through with them. The UAE said the agreement removed an immediate threat to the two-state solution and gave the region a window of opportunity. The Palestinians insist that the core Middle East conflict will not be resolved until they realize their aspirations for independence. There can be no peace, no security, no stability, no coexistence in our region without an end to the occupation, Abbas said, speaking behind a plaque that read State of Palestine. We will not bow down," he said. We will not surrender. We will not compromise. And we shall triumph." 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 Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fauziah Zen (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 16:04 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c473d2d0 3 Opinion COVID-19-vaccine,coronavirus,vaccine,clinical-trial,Sinovac-Biotech,Novavax,Sputnik-V Free As governments, research organizations and pharmaceutical companies race to find vaccines for the novel coronavirus, a recent survey published in The Lancet found that only 67 percent of the United States population would accept a vaccine for COVID-19 if it were recommended for them. Within weeks of the survey, a major vaccine trial at Oxford University was paused after a participant fell ill. This may confirm the suspicions of those afraid of vaccinations, but the pause in the development of the vaccine after one participant out of 30,000 fell ill shows that the researchers are following strict safety protocols. The question is: Once vaccines hit the market, what then? From the perspective of maximum social welfare, everyone should be vaccinated. Globally, as of Sept. 10, there have been more than 27 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. Southeast Asia contributes about 5.1 million cases, exceeding Europe at 4.6 million cases. More than 900,000 people have died, and the number is still climbing. The estimates of the cost to the global economy range from US$5.5 trillion to $8.8 trillion, according to Asian Development Bank. When a vaccine is ready to produce, the world needs more than 7.5 billion doses. And if each person needs two doses, that figure doubles. It is a massive demand that producers cannot fulfill by 2021, even if the vaccines obtain approval by the end of 2020. An equitable allocation of vaccines will be the most challenging task due to short supplies. Two critical questions emerge: Should the government make it mandatory? How should vaccines for COVID-19 be allocated? For the first question, we can apply the economic theory of merit goods. A merit good is characterized by its meritorious impact, and despite the fact that it is not typically a public good, pubic funds may be used to provide it for mass consumption (Musgrave, 1959, 1998). Economic discourse may contest the position of merit goods, but public policy applies it in practice. Primary education and health care are among the most common merit goods recognized in many countries, especially in countries with substantial welfare states. How does the COVID-19 vaccine fit within this analysis? The arguments for coercion to consume merit goods include the potential for people to act irrationally, increasing consumption of important goods for the beneficiaries, and maximizing social welfare. Social welfare is the most critical argument for the COVID-19 vaccine viewed as a merit good. Culyer (1971), a prominent British health economist, argued that externalities in merit goods could serve as a justification for the government to intervene in the market. The global loss from the COVID-19 pandemic is huge and still counting if the world fails to control it. There are both positive and negative externalities in imposing the COVID-19 vaccine. Positive externalities include additional protection for large populations, which can reduce virus transmission, thus reducing health workers' burden and freeing up space in hospitals for non-COVID-19 patients. It also reduces both private and public costs for COVID-19 patients treatment and prevents productivity losses from infected people. The treatment costs for one COVID-19 patient could reach tens of thousands of dollars, far higher than the deemed maximum price of the vaccine at $40 per dose (GAVI Alliance). On the other hand, negative externalities of not being vaccinated mainly come from negative impacts. A nonvaccinated person potentially becomes a virus spreader and infect others who are not yet vaccinated, and those who have been vaccinated but have yet to develop the antibodies. Economic costs include: high treatment costs, productivity loss, overwhelmed health workers and crowding out non-COVID-19 patients. Mandatory vaccination deals with social welfare maximization. It is not about the government overruling the individual preference for the risk of isolated impacts. There is no place for selfish behavior in this pandemic. Each country also has a responsibility to control the virus. Especially as global connectivity is essential for economies, while the period of immunity is still unknown, failures to contain this virus in one country means a higher risk of triggering the next pandemic wave across other countries. On Sept. 2, Erick Thohir, the Executive Director of the Indonesian government's COVID-19 Response and Economic Recovery Committee, said the government planned to provide free vaccines for only 93 million Indonesians and let the rest pay for themselves. That means the government aims to cover the immunity of 35 percent of the countrys total population. However, to reach herd immunity, the portion of the population with immunity should be at least 70 percent to 90 percent (DSouza and Dowdy, John Hopkins School of Public Health). The vaccine price is a big obstacle for many Indonesians, many of whom already struggle during the prolonged crisis. Another challenge comes from the people who are unwilling to take the vaccine shot because of their beliefs. Both challenges combined pretty much close the door to herd immunity. If Indonesia still experiences waves of infections in the coming years, economic recovery will be just a fantasy. Neither tourists nor businesses or investors will come to a country with a high rate of COVID-19 infections. Would you build your plant in a country if you think that many of your workers could get sick there? If the authority is willing to consider the COVID-19 vaccine as a merit good and provide mass vaccination, how should it be done? It is highly unlikely that the vaccine doses will be ready quickly for all the population. There will be incremental phases of provision based on the production capacity of pharma companies. If the capacity of Bio Farma as a sole COVID-19 vaccine producer in Indonesia is not enough to supply doses covering 90 percent of the population by 2021, the government can secure other procurement agreements. Since the vaccine shots will be available only incrementally, it requires an effective way to allocate scarce goods to maximize the transmission control and minimize fatalities and treatment costs. Emmanuel et al. (New England Journal of Medicine, 2020) proposed four criteria of ethical values used for rationing scarce health resources, namely: (1) maximizing the benefits produced by scarce resources, (2) treating people equally, (3) promoting and rewarding instrumental value, and (4) giving priority to the worst-off. The authors come up with six specific recommendations for allocating medical resources in the COVID-19 pandemic: maximize benefits; prioritize health workers; do not give on a first-come, first-served basis; be responsive to evidence; recognize research participation; and apply the same principles to all COVID-19 and nonCOVID-19 patients. As a country with challenging connectivity, Indonesia should pay close attention to distribution and storage. Transporting and storing vaccines typically requires a specific controlled environment, which the responsible stakeholders can prepare from now on. Governments may think of the best way to set up the vaccines logistics system. The clock is ticking, and amid health emergencies, the government should keep its focus on protecting the publics health to protect the publics socioeconomic wellbeing. --- Senior economist at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). The article first appeared in University of Indonesias School of Economics blog. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Today, it's vivo Malaysia's turn to introduce the vivo V20 SE in Malaysia. The V20 SE is priced at RM1199 and it's available now with freebies including a mini speaker and car phone holder worth RM199 (eligible until 2 October). The tech specs and features weren't widely announced when it was released in China first, but we got everything you need to know. Starting with the basics, the V20 SE features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset, 8GB of RAM, 128GB internal storage, and a 4100mAh battery with 33W fast charging technology. On the 6.44-inch FHD+ AMOLED waterdrop display, you can find the 32MP front camera at the waterdrop notch and it supports an in-display fingerprint sensor. On the back, there lies the triple rear camera that consists of a 48MP (main) + 8MP (ultrawide) + 2MP (depth) module. The camera software supports Super Night Mode and there's AR too for the selfie snapper. The back design is also available in Gravity Black and Oxygen Blue as promoted prior to the release, and that's basically all you need to know about the phone. In addition, vivo Malaysia will host a live V20 SE event on its official Facebook page on Friday, 25 September 2020, from 8PM to 9PM. Viewers who participate in the live broadcast will have the opportunity to win a V20 SE phone as well as a beautiful gift. That's all folks, stay tuned for more trending tech news at TechNave.com. STORRS The University of Connecticut announced Friday it is lifting a quarantine order for students living at an off-campus apartment complex, while placing another residence hall on campus under quarantine. Quarantine was lifted for students living at The Oaks on The Square, an apartment complex just south of the UConn-Storrs campus, beginning Friday morning. Over the past two weeks, the spread of COVID-19 among our students at The Oaks decreased significantly and has remained stable, UConn Dean of Students Eleanor Daugherty and Medical Director Dr. Ellyssa Eror wrote in a letter to students. More than 60 percent of the students living there have been tested for COVID-19. The most recent positive cases have been close contacts of confirmed cases of COVID-19 rather from the general population of The Oaks, the letter said. Around 800 UConn students live in the apartment complex, school spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said. The school and local health officials placed students living there under quarantine two weeks ago amid an outbreak of new cases. Non-student residents of The Oaks were not told to quarantine. At the same time, UConn officials said they have identified six new cases Friday all among students living oncampus. As the off-campus quarantine at The Oaks was lifted, the university announced a quarantine for Belden Hall, a student dorm, that began at 4 p.m. Friday The decision affects around 93 residential students. Students there will be given an enhanced testing regimen until the school sees a decrease in new cases. Quarantine status will need to continue until a clear decrease in transmission can be documented through this testing effort. This may be greater than 14 days, the school told students. Students there will be attending class remotely and will have to pick up meals for grab-and-go dining. Guests are not allowed. Belden is now one of two residence halls under quarantine at Storrs. Eddy Hall also remains under medical quarantine. The number of students affected by the two quarantined dorms is much lower than those affected by the quarantine lifted at The Oaks, Reitz noted. No new cases were reported Friday among off-campus students at Storrs, UConn employees or at the universitys four other campuses. Other colleges and universities around the state reported new cases ahead of the weekend. Fairfield University reported 19 new cases, all among students, since Monday. The school updates its COVID-19 dashboard twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. To date, the university has reported 77 positive tests since the beginning of September, with 27 students in isolation as of Friday and 26 under surveillance. Sacred Heart University, also in Fairfield, reported 131 active cases according to its dashboard, up from 128 reported by the school two days before. Of the active cases, 100 were among students off-campus, the remaining 31 were on-campus. Yale University reported one new case this week, a graduate student who tested positive Monday. Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven reported three new cases among commuter students this week. The school has recorded a total of 18 cases so far between employees, residential students and commuters. The University of Hartford said proactive testing uncovered two new cases this week. The school currently reports 10 active cases among students and employees. Wesleyan University in Middletown reported one new case this week. The school has recorded five cases among students and five cases among employees so far. Trinity College in Hartford reported three new positive tests this week. The school said it has 10 active cases, all among students. Community Chaplaincy Norfolk (CCN) is seeking more volunteer mentors as it continues to provide a Both Sides of the Gate support service to people leaving prison in Norfolk. Community Chaplaincy Norfolk (CCN) is seeking more volunteer mentors as it continues to provide a Both Sides of the Gate support service to people leaving prison in Norfolk. New chief executive for Aylsham Care Trust Philip Macdonald has been appointed chief executive of the Aylsham and District Care Trust (ACT) which has been providing care and support for older people in the community for over thirty five years. Read more Pandemic drove Norfolk church community online New figures show that across the height of the pandemic lockdowns in 2020, churches across the Diocese of Norwich saw their in-person congregations halve but they retained 94% of their worshippers with the help of online and church-at-home services. Read more Why we need the water of life Regular columnist James Knight explains why water is so important in our lives, especially the spiritual variety. Read more Norwich church needs Outreach Weekend Cafe Manager St Stephens Church is seeking an Outreach Weekend Cafe Manager to become part of its successful and dynamic Cafe team, serving the community and city. Read more Trustee treasurer role at King's Lynn foodbank Kings Lynn Foodbank are urgently seeking a new Trustee Treasurer to work with a fun, friendly, team who are all passionate about combating food poverty in Kings Lynn. Read more Christian pregnancy charity gets Yarmouth hub TimeNorfolk, the Christian pregnancy loss charity, has opened a space dedicated to counselling for bereaved parents in Great Yarmouth. Read more Family days at Norwich Cathedral The schools and families learning department at Norwich Cathedral are holding two sessions morning and afternoon for a Family Activity Day at the Cathedral on Wednesday February 16. Read more Churches prepare Queen's Platinum Jubilee plans Churches, Christian charities and youth organisations are working together to celebrate the Queens Platinum Jubilee over the four-day Bank Holiday from June 2-5 and a new website has been created to celebrate the Queen's 70 years of faith and service. Read more Eckling Grange cares for the elderly Despite some bad press, there are some Care Homes where 'Care' really does mean 'what it says on the tin', and a star example of this is the Norfolk Christian residential care home, Eckling Grange, at Dereham. Read more New Commission to look at use of Norfolk churches A new Church Buildings Commission has been launched with the purpose of looking at the church buildings across Norfolk and Waveney in terms of their use and sustainability. Read more Norfolk link to teaching opportunity with TCKs A Norfolk couple working in Asia have been helped by teachers of Third Culture Kids, and a programme is now inviting more people to get involved with it. Read more Norfolk charity seeks mentors for prison leavers Community Chaplaincy Norfolk (CCN) continues to provide a Both Sides of the Gate Mentor support service to people leaving prison in Norfolk. Read more Prayer and Worship week for Sheringham church Lighthouse Community Church in Sheringham has launched a Prayer and Worship week as they seek Gods guidance for 2022 Read more South Norfolk church schools are set to merge The Diocese of Norwich St Benets Multi Academy Trust has been given the green light to amalgamate Harleston CE Primary Academy and Archbishop Sancroft High School into one All Through School. Read more Norwich conference looks at how to tackle spiritual abuse Following a series of revelations about high-profile Christian leaders, a group of Norfolk churches is organising a conference to look at spiritual abuse and godly leadership. Read more Revelation vacancy for Centre Manager The Revelation Christian Resource Centre and Cafe is seeking to appoint a Centre Manager. Read more Gardening morning at N Norfolk Christian centre The Pleasaunce Holiday Centre in Overstrand is holding a work-party morning on Saturday February 5 and would like as many people as possible to join in to help get the gardens ship-shape. Read more Hundreds attend pro-life rally in Springfield SPRINGFIELD Riverbend residents and students on Friday joined about 700 people from across the... Sewer work will close Douglas next week ALTON Illinois American Waters storm sewer replacement work in Alton has resumed following the... Fairview Heights facility will increase access to abortions FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS Hoping to make abortion care more accessible, a facility near St. Louis is set... Nearly 75,000 people could die from non-Covid causes as a result of lockdown, according to devastating official figures buried in a 188-page document. The startling research, presented to the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), will further increase pressure on Boris Johnson to hold back on introducing further coronavirus restrictions. The document reveals 16,000 people died as a result of the chaos in hospitals and care homes in March and April alone. It estimates a further 26,000 will lose their lives within a year if people continue to stay away from A&E and the problems in social care persist. Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets shoppers and shopkeepers during a visit to his constituency in Uxbridge, west London And an additional 31,900 could die over the next five years as a result of missed cancer diagnoses, cancelled operations and the health impacts of a recession. The toll of deaths directly linked to the virus last night stood at 41,936. The estimates, drawn up by civil servants at the Department of Health, the Office for National Statistics and the Home Office, were presented to Sage at a meeting on July 15. The documents stressed that had nothing been done to stop the spread of the virus in March, 400,000 people could have died of Covid. And if the NHS had been overrun, this figure might have even soared to 1.4million. But they acknowledged the restrictions had significant unintended consequences. The revelation came a day after leading pathologist Dr John Lee warned in the Mail that we were at risk of making the cure worse than the disease. The figures are bound to lead critics to ask why neither Health Secretary Matt Hancock or Home Secretary Priti Patel, whose officials compiled the report, has volunteered the information. Both have spoken of the number of people who may die from Covid without stringent restrictions. But they have been less forthcoming about the risk that the measures themselves could lead to many non-Covid deaths, despite being made aware of the danger more than two months ago. An additional 31,900 could die over the next five years as a result of missed cancer diagnoses, cancelled operations and the health impacts of a recession (file image) Many people took the 'stay at home' message to heart in the early days of the crisis, with hospital admissions plummeting as a result. But despite fears in March that the NHS would be overwhelmed by a Covid surge, most hospitals were never overrun, and the emergency Nightingale hospitals set up in the spring remained empty. The document said: 'We estimate changes to emergency care may account for 6,000 existing excess deaths in March and April 2020. If emergency care in hospitals continues to be low for a full 12 months, this could result in an additional 10,000 excess deaths.' It added: 'We estimate there were approximately 10,000 non-Covid-19 excess deaths of care home residents in March and April 2020... there could be an additional 16,000 non-Covid-19 excess deaths over 12 months in care home residents.' Many people took the 'stay at home' message to heart in the early days of the crisis, with hospital admissions plummeting as a result. Pictured, people out in Westminster, London, on Friday morning London Mayor Sadiq Khan pressed for more measures to be imposed to stop cases rising any more before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a nation-wide 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants and encouraged working from home again. Pictured: Soho In the longer term, the officials estimate a 12,500 deaths over five years because of cancelled operations. The impact on GP services could result in 1,400 deaths over five years from missed cancer diagnoses alone. The true impact will be much higher, they said, but they had been unable to model the impact on any disease area other than cancer. The officials said lockdown will also lead to some reductions in mortality. Better air quality, fewer road accidents and less childhood disease will reduce overall deaths by roughly 1,000 over a year, they calculated. And a further 4,000 lives will be saved thanks to 'healthier lifestyles in the short-term'. They estimated that 67,000 people will lose their lives directly from Covid across the UK by next March, although that figure was calculated before infections started rising again this month. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) believes it has risen 60 per cent over the same time frame and that there are now 9,600 infections a day King's College London (KCL) scientists behind the COVID Symptom Tracker mobile app estimate there were at least 16,310 daily cases of the disease in the last week, more than double the 7,536 estimated last week Added to the non-Covid deaths, the total death toll from the pandemic will reach 101,000 across the UK by next March, rising to nearly 150,000 in five years. Finally, they warned of the devastation of a long-term economic downturn could lead to 18,000 excess deaths over two to five years. An NHS spokesman said: 'While some people had understandable concerns about coming forward for care during the pandemic, the NHS stayed opened to care for all who needed it. 'For every person with Covid that NHS hospitals treated during the first wave, clinicians were also treating two non-Covid inpatients as well as 200,000 receiving cancer treatment and GPs carrying out more than 102million consultations.' Lockdown resulted in 'thousands' of excess deaths as Boris Johnson's 'stay at home' message scared people into keeping away from hospitals even when they urgently needed medical help, major new study reveals By Ben Spencer Medical Correspondent The lockdown saw a devastating increase in the number of people dying at home from heart attacks and strokes, a major study reveals. Experts said the Government's 'stay at home' message scared people into staying away from hospital, even when they desperately needed medical help resulting in 2,085 'excess deaths'. Deaths in private homes from cardiovascular causes rose by a third from March to June in England and Wales, according to the first detailed assessment of death certificates. Care homes also saw these deaths soar by a third, suggesting vulnerable people simply were not getting the care they needed when all the attention was on Covid-19. The Office for National Statistics, a Government-run agency, has made a more modest estimate today, saying it thinks around 9,600 people are contracting the virus every day, a 60 per cent rise from the 6,000 a week prior The chief scientific advisors to the Government, Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, gave a stark warning this week of coronavirus cases 'doubling every week', with fears cases could reach 50,000 per day by mid-October if nothing is done Researcher Professor Chris Gale, a cardiologist at the University of Leeds, said: 'These are deaths that should not have happened. We were in full lockdown and the message to stay at home was taken literally. People were not seeking care and many died as a result. 'The indirect death toll may well end up surpassing the direct toll of Covid.' Doctors have been warning since March that they were seeing fewer people in hospitals and GP surgeries. Figures earlier this month revealed that NHS admissions for common conditions dropped by 173,000 between March and June. The damning new assessment, published last night in the Heart medical journal and shared exclusively with the Daily Mail, reveals deaths from heart disease in private homes surged by 35 per cent in the four months from March, resulting in 2,279 more fatalities than had been seen on average over the previous six years. Cardiovascular deaths in care homes and hospices jumped by 32 per cent in the same period. Yesterday saw another 6,634 Covid-19 cases recorded, meaning the average number of daily infections is 48 per cent higher than it was a week ago Some top scientists had insisted there was not a true rise in cases because the test positivity rate - how many cases are found for every swab completed - had not changed wildly. However, this appears to no longer be the case. NHS Test and Trace data shows almost 3.3 per cent of people tested get a positive result compared to lows of 1.1 in July Today saw another 6,874 Covid-19 cases recorded, meaning the seven-day rolling average is 54 per cent higher than it was a week ago. MailOnline analysis shows this is the sixth consecutive day the average compared to the week before has risen At the same time, heart and stroke deaths in hospitals dropped by roughly 1,400. This means some of those who died at home or in care would probably have died even if they had received hospital treatment. But even taking that into account, the researchers calculated there were 2,085 'excess deaths' in England and Wales due to heart disease and strokes during the first wave of coronavirus an increase of 8 per cent. On average, that means 17 people needlessly died every day between March 2 and June 30. Professor Gale said: 'It is entirely plausible that a number of deaths could have been prevented if people had attended hospital quickly when they began to experience their heart attack or stroke. 'The sad irony is that heart attack services remained fully operational and continued to deliver high-quality care during the peak of the pandemic.' He said the Government's actions saved a lot of lives by protecting the NHS, but added: 'The consequence, the balance, was that people did not seek help, and they died as a result.' With coronavirus infection rates rising, and a second lockdown a distinct possibility, ministers needed to think hard about how the NHS reacted, Professor Gale said. Experts last night said the NHS must heed the findings. Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, of the British Heart Foundation, said: 'We need to restore and maintain care for heart and circulatory disease patients as a priority.' In general, bullion rally has shown signs of stalling since August with a resilient USD and concern over whether the US will push through additional stimulus. The level of $1905 is breached which was acting as good support for gold. Next support of $1869 has also been breached so we may be looking at $1819. Break below $1905 confirmed downside break of descending triangle pattern on daily scale. US Dollar has climbed to near two month peak on reports of UK and Spain looming second lockdown on rising infection. US Fed stated that path ahead for the economy remains uncertain and the US ... Quebec and Montreal, September 25, 2020 - The relationship between the income levels of parents and their children once they reach adulthood is complex, but education could be one of the factors that influence Canadian intergenerational mobility. This according to a study recently published by INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique) professor Xavier St-Denis and Statistics Canada researcher Gaelle Simard Duplain in Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de politiques. The study looks at the role education levels play in intergenerational income mobility in Canada. Most studies available on the subject present results based on national or regional income mobility, which can be used to make geographic and historical comparisons. "The underlying mechanisms at play in the relationship between the income of parents and the income of their children, including their education levels and job characteristics, hasn't been studied much in Canada," explained Professor St-Denis. To measure the effects of education on intergenerational mobility in Canada, the two researchers looked at the data from Statistics Canada's Longitudinal and International Study of Adults (LISA), which covers the period from 1982 to 2014. "Our study shows that in Canada, a child's education level explains 40.5% to 50.1% of the correlation between a child's income once they reach adulthood and their parent's income," said Professor St-Denis. "That's similar to the results observed in the United States and the UK." Income inequality repeated from one generation to the next According to the research results, social and economic inequalities occur early in life and have long-lasting effects. The results also point to the existence of differentiation mechanisms that operate throughout the working lives of people with similar levels of education. "Intergenerational mobility partly results from the different characteristics in a child's environment, from their cumulative and complementary effects. It also results from the time, financial resources, and social capital that parents with a higher income are more likely to invest in their children's education," said Professor St-Denis, who recently joined INRS's Urbanisation Culture Societe Research Centre. If the income of people living in a society is only marginally dependent on their parents' income, that society is said to have a high degree of intergenerational mobility. In other words, the context in which children grow and evolve does not depend solely on their parents' economic situation. Access to education, for example, could depend not on parents' ability to pay for it, but on the child's interest in pursuing their studies. Inversely, when the income of individuals in adulthood is, on average, similar to that of their parents, inequalities are reproduced to a much greater degree from one generation to the next. This can result in intergenerational income immobility. ### About the article "Exploration of the Role of Education in Intergenerational Income Mobility in Canada: Evidence from the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults" was published on September 14, 2020, in Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de politiques. About INRS INRS is a university dedicated exclusively to graduate level research and training. Since its creation in 1969, INRS has played an active role in Quebec's economic, social, and cultural development and is ranked first for research intensity in Quebec and second in Canada. INRS is made up of four interdisciplinary research and training centres in Quebec City, Montreal, Laval, and Varennes, with expertise in strategic sectors: Eau Terre Environnement, Energie Materiaux Telecommunications, Urbanisation Culture Societe, and Armand-Frappier Sante Biotechnologie. The INRS community includes more than 1,400 students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty members, and staff. Source: Sophie Laberge Service des communications INRS 514 771-8256 sophie.laberge@inrs.ca Twitter Facebook T ributes have been paid to a 36-year-old paramedic who died suddenly on Sunday. Eleanor Marr, known as Ellie, was a paramedic based at Hillingdon ambulance station in west London. She was three days away from turning 37 when she died on September 20. After joining the London Ambulance Service (LAS) in November 2010, Ms Marr worked for the service for nearly ten years. Garrett Emmerson, Chief Executive of LAS, said: "Ellie was a much loved and respected Paramedic at Hillingdon Group and will be dearly missed by her friends and colleagues. "Our thoughts and sympathy are with her parents and her sister and all her friends and colleagues." People joined LAS in paying tribute to Ms Marr on social media. Croydon officers from the Metropolitan Police service Twitter account said: "We are so sorry to read this news and send our heartfelt condolences to the whole LAS family". A colleague added: "So very sorry to hear this, sincere condolences to Ellies family from her colleagues at Hillingdon Hospital." Another Twitter user said: "How very sad. Yet, how wonderful a life of service to others. Sending love to Ellies family." Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 23:45:13|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close VALLETTA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Students attending state and church schools will not return to their classrooms as planned next week, the Maltese Education Ministry said on Friday. The opening has been delayed by a week with the aim of further enhancing measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, the ministry said. The decision came as teachers and parents expressed doubts whether opening schools as planned was premature and risky. Malta has been facing an increasing number of coronavirus cases and deaths in recent weeks, but the authorities insisted that the closure of schools was going to remain a last resort. The ministry said in a statement that the students will return to school in a staggered fashion as from Oct. 7. By Oct. 14, all schools would have reopened for the new school year. The ministry said that parents will have the right to choose whether to send their children to school. "Everyone's decision will be respected, and during the scholastic year pre-recorded lessons on the internet will be made available," said the ministry. Educators will still be returning to school as planned on Sept. 28. Malta's schools had been shut in March, when the country started to register coronavirus cases. Enditem Right now, Democrats are fighting to keep President Trump from filling the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Four years ago, Mitch McConnell and the Republican Senate majority denied confirmation to or even a hearing for Merrick Garland, President Barack Obamas nominee for the vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia. A politically risky escalation of constitutional hardball, McConnell justified it as Senate convention, citing a heretofore unknown tradition he called it the Biden rule which deferred any court vacancy to the next Congress when it occurred in a presidential election year. Were following the Biden rule, McConnell said at the time. Biden was chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 1992, in a presidential election year, he said the Senate should not act on filling a Supreme Court vacancy if it had occurred that year. Under this rule, Republicans should defer filling this vacancy until after the November election or into the next year. But they arent. Shortly after the announcement of Ginsburgs death, McConnell said a Trump nominee would receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate. A little later, several key Republicans said they would confirm a nominee. Trump, for his part, said he would make a nomination. Democrats cried hypocrisy. They know there is no reason, no reason, no argument, no logic to justify flipping your position 180 degrees and calling it some kind of principle, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said on the Senate floor Monday. McConnell didnt have a response as much as an ad hoc justification. The Biden rule, he claimed, was about partisan control in an election year, not the fact of an election itself. Anyone could watch the tape from 2016 and see this was false, a make-do condition for a made-up rule. But that didnt matter. Then, as now, McConnell is playing for keeps, and he wont let rules or norms or civility get in the way. Under the Constitution, the Senate says who sits on the bench, even if it cant directly nominate a judge or justice. With a Republican majority behind him, McConnell could block a moderate liberal nominee chosen by a Democratic president, so he did. Now he can confirm a conservative nominee chosen by a Republican president, so he will. A fight over the fate of the Supreme Court is weighty enough, but beneath the surface of this conflict is an even fiercer struggle about what the Constitution means, one taking place in the context of minority rule and incipient democratic failure. At no point has a majority ever voted for long-term conservative control of the Supreme Court. The president, and the Republican Senate, represent an electoral minority. Their power rests on a constitutional structure that weights the interests of their voters over those of their opponents voters. It is very possible that next year Trump and the Republican Party will hold power in Washington again, despite losing the popular vote by millions. This, its true, is procedurally meaningless. But Americans tabulate the national popular vote and have for nearly 200 years because victory on that front confers legitimacy and defeat signals weakness and grounds for political contestation. Many democratic political systems allow for minority-led governments, although they often force parties to build majority coalitions to achieve them. Thats because minority government becomes an unacceptably bitter pill when the winning party rejects compromise and consensus in favor of factionalism and unilateral action. The problem comes when a political system allows for minority winners but doesnt require coalition government. Stability is possible, but it depends on forbearance and good faith from all sides. You can play political and constitutional hardball, but it might bring conflict out into the open that you cant ultimately control, and it will raise questions about your mandate to govern. Trump, McConnell and the Republican Party have embraced a kind of political total war. Democrats and their liberal allies say this violates the democratic principles against which we judge the fairness of our institutions. In response, Republicans say the Constitution is what counts. Whether or not an action violates some abstract principle, if its in the rules, its in the rules. Clockwise from front, posing on the Button: sculpture are Daisy Angeles, Haley Carbajal, Carmen Duran, and Anthony Scarpone-Lambert, on the University of Pennsylvania campus. They are part of a group of students who are first-generation students. Read more First in an occasional series that follows a group of first-generation college students through their freshman year at the elite University of Pennsylvania On Move-In Day at the University of Pennsylvania this summer, parents unloaded cars filled with boxes, suitcases, and their most precious cargo: teenage scholars who bested 91 percent of some 40,000 applicants to enter the Class of 2021. Penn helpers in blue "Move-In Team" T-shirts hopped to like bellmen at the Ritz, offering rolling bins and muscle to moms and dads installing their children in one of the most elite institutions in the world. Unnoticed by the blue shirts, freshman Carmen Duran, 18, carried her own suitcases to her room. "I was jealous of people with parents helping them move stuff," said Duran, a working-class Mexican American from tiny Maiden, N.C., whose family couldn't afford the trip. "I did it alone." Duran, who graduated high school with a 5.09 grade-point average, is a first-generation college student neither of her parents earned a four-year degree. She's one of around 300 first-generation students in her class of 2,457. Kids whose parents have college diplomas know how to apply to a university, have a greater sense of belonging once they get there, and possess the means to enjoy an enriched college experience. Students whose parents didn't matriculate often arrive at Penn's privileged 302 acres thinking of themselves as impostors stowaways on a steamship. Most worry that their acceptance letters and financial-aid packages were cruel hoaxes soon to be reversed. Minnesota psychologist Barbara Jensen calls them "crossovers," voyagers from the working class who are advancing with difficulty into the sanctified territories of the middle and upper classes. As it happens, crossing over is a relatively rare event. A federal study released last month showed that among 2002 high school sophomores, nearly half with a parent who earned a B.A., and 60 percent with a parent who earned a master's degree, obtained a college degree or higher at least a decade later. Just 17 percent of students who had parents who didn't go to college earned B.A.s in that time frame, U.S. Department of Education figures show. Complicating the crossover journey, many first-generation students feel guilty about using precious family resources to be at school. Although not all first-generation students are low-income, often they had to quit jobs that were helping to keep their families afloat. And college education itself distances kids from their families, because freshman year at Penn is Rung No. 1 on the ladder of social mobility, an ascent that leaves mom and dad behind. Uneasy among the privileged at school, and estranged from the very people who launched them, these students find themselves in "parallel universes," said Pam Edwards, director of the Penn College Achievement Program, which serves first-generation and low-income students. Ultimately, said Edwards, herself a first-generation student, "they don't fit in at home or at school." With decent-paying blue-collar jobs evaporating, college becomes essential as a tool to battle widening income inequality. In the past, schools used race as a primary criterion to diversify their campuses and reach out to students with meager life chances. Recently, however, class has become a major factor in these calculations. But even as we speak grandly in this country of kids doing better than their parents, the emotional cost of rising is rarely acknowledged. And places like Penn are where the often unseen drama of being class-mobile plays out. The difficulties of being first-generation at Penn are becoming clearer for Duran. "I love Penn, but sometimes I feel I'm at a disadvantage here," said Duran, so sought-after a student that she was offered a potential $2 million in scholarships from universities and foundations. "I'm from low economic status in a rural area. My father's incarcerated. And Penn kids are saying the best ways to stay warm in winter are $900 Canada Goose jackets! "But I can't talk about things like that to my mom. I already feel disloyal to her." Duran said, crying. "I feel like I'm leaving her behind. My friends, too. We're in different worlds now. "It's already hard to tell them what's going on in my life. And how can I complain when I'm at an Ivy League school?" I dont know why Im here Crossover kids feel tremendous pressure to do well. "They are looked on by their families and communities as the ones who got out," Edwards said. "They need to represent." Yet what they're doing moving away from the cramped apartment, the ailing grandfather is sometimes seen by overwhelmed working-class parents as selfish. "The predominant middle-class culture at Georgetown and Penn teaches you to grow up to be independent of your family," said Sherry Linkon, director of the Georgetown Writing Program and a leading working-class studies scholar. "But it's working-class to take on family responsibility ahead of your own needs." Embodying the latter notion, Penn first-generation freshman Tiffany Wong, 17, from a low-income family in Oakland, Calif., is so accustomed to helping her father, a refugee from Vietnam, and her mother, a Chinese immigrant, that, before leaving for college, she gave them half of the $2,000 she earned from a summer job so they could pay bills and "treat themselves to go out and eat." With the stakes to excel so high, crossovers worry about measuring up. "How am I supposed to manage here with kids from better schools?" asked Daisy Angeles, 18, a first-generation freshman from Yakima, Wash., and the oldest of seven children of immigrant parents from Oaxaca, Mexico. Angeles confessed that she feels like an impostor. "These other Penn students went to private schools, had SAT prep. All first-generation students say, 'I don't know why I'm here.' It's a struggle that goes unacknowledged." When she shares her worries with her parents, they're loving but ineffective, exhorting her to sleep more. "It'd be nice to have a parent who can say, 'Oh, when this happened to me in college, I did this or that to fix it,' " Angeles said. As tough as academia can be, for now, Angeles said, her biggest worry is finding a job. Even with generous financial aid to first-generation students defraying much of the cost of four years at Penn nearly $300,000 Angeles and other first-generation students still need cash. When dining halls are closed during breaks, some first-generation students have trouble finding meals. Campus organizations such as the First Generation, Low Income Program (FGLI), and Penn First can help. Penn also has a food pantry for students. But the stigma for utilizing such services on a rich campus can be damaging. Dont think youre smarter Things are not dire for first-generation Penn student Haley Carbajal, 18, from Belle Fourche, S.D. But some extra cash would help, so she sat outside the David Rittenhouse Laboratory one morning searching the web for a babysitting job. "I'm used to work," said Carbajal, who started her own iced-coffee vending business when she was 15. Before classes began, Carbajal's parents sat with her at a Starbucks, fretting. "My biggest worry is she'll never come home," said Carbajal's father, Anthony, 43, who makes digital maps. "Things are changing permanently." Carbajal's mother, Trista, 42, who works for an insurance company, recalled her daughter's old job at a Subway shop. "She said she was going to work there forever. That was OK with me," Trista said, tearing up. Already morphing from Republican to Democrat, Carbajal explained: "The East Coast opens your mind, and South Dakota is very conservative. Now, my parents and I don't discuss politics anymore. And my old friends I'm changing at a faster pace than they are." Like older first-gen sisters with wisdom to impart, Penn juniors Candy Alfaro, 19, from Soledad, Calif., and Anea Moore, 20, from Southwest Philadelphia, know the perils and perks of mobility and how education alters family dynamics, from minor disagreements to bridge-burnings. Alfaro, the daughter of Mexican-born farmworkers, said her mother complains that college is turning her into someone new. Crying, Alfaro said: "My folks started to tell me, 'Don't think you're better or smarter than us.' " Sitting beside Alfaro in the FGLI office, Moore, who is African American, began crying in empathy. Moore's parents both worked in nonacademic jobs at Penn, where they met. "My mother was afraid of Penn, and felt like she didn't belong" as a working-class African American, Moore said. "It was heartbreaking." But when Moore got accepted, her father exclaimed, "My daughter belongs!" Still, the two would clash in "terrible" arguments when it became clear Moore preferred to think more like her teachers than her dad, and to spend time away from the family to study. "You want to go to college and make your parents proud," Moore said, tears streaming down her face, "but all the while you're distancing yourself from them. I started assimilating to the middle class early." While she was still acclimating to Penn, Moore suffered overwhelming tragedy: Her father died of lung disease, and her mother died of a heart attack not long after. Sorrowful but ambitious, Moore's class battles continue with an aunt who accuses her of acting "better than everybody," and with her sister in Southwest Philly, who dismisses Moore for "sitting with these white kids on that campus and not coming home." No such dramas have befallen Anthony Scarpone-Lambert, 18, of Chalfont, whose unconventional first-gen life includes having been on Broadway in The Miracle Worker and Mary Poppins when he was younger. A video of his exuberant reaction to getting accepted at Penn went viral, making him a minor campus celebrity. Despite that, Scarpone-Lambert shares a crossover's lament: "Sometimes, I feel everyone here is better than me." But he inspires admiration among students whose parents have degrees, like new study partner Lucy Stinn, 19, the daughter of a Texas oil executive: "First-gen students meet people here who always got everything they wanted," she said. "But I think they have a better work ethic and better sense of self. And they're more humble." Still, as of early October, many first-generation students continue to feel like outsiders. And, Duran said, when she tries to impart her story of being the first in her family to attend college, "some people here can't relate to it. They're almost bewildered." Neither can her mother grasp the nuances of her new, middle-class days. It all leaves Duran with a sense that she has a lot to learn in her still-developing life: "I have to worry about a lot of things the other students here don't. I was always an underdog," she said. "But I'll never let any of the hard stuff stop me." The Black Sea Region will only surface strengthened from this major economic crisis only with joint solutions and mutual confidence, Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu told the informal meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of The Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), which he chaired on Friday. "Our region will only surface strengthened from this major economic crisis if we are willing, in spite of all our differences, to find joint solutions and if we are willing to promote better connectivity among us and within our region, by building confidence and trust. This is our best alternative if we want to forge a shared vision about a sustainable progress of the Black Sea region, especially in the context of a constantly evolving environment, still affected by a stark crisis that brings ahead of us a long journey towards post-COVID-19 recovery," the Foreign Affairs Minister emphasized.Aurescu reconfirmed Romania's active commitment for stimulating regional cooperation in the extended Black Sea area, consistent with a substantial agenda on the economic dimension of cooperation, as well as modeality of promoting stability and prosperity in this region of strategic interest for Romania, reads a Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) release sent to AGERPRES.According to MAE, the Romanian chief diplomat highlighted that, based on this constructive agreement and as an expression of its responsibility on a regional level, Romania has decided to extend, on an exceptional basis, the national mandate of Chairmanship-in-Office on the second half of 2020, after it got the approval of all member states on a package-solution meant to ensure the continuity of the following chairmanships-in-office.The sustained demarches carried out by Romania to identify a consensual formula for ensuring the continuity of the future mandates of the organization's leadership, starting January 1, 2021, have thus led to unblocking the institutional setback by agreeing on the following chairmanships, successively assumed by Albania, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova, MAE shows.Aurescu also maintained the added value of the intergovernmental cooperation on a regional level, in supporting the national efforts of social-economic recovery after the pandemic crisis. The Foreign Minister underscored that the current challenges represent a test of solidarity and, implicitly, of the BSEC states' capacity of cooperation and coordination on a regional level, aimed at attaining an efficient response to this crisis.He also stressed the macro-financial assistance offered by the EU for the support of the states of the Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkans, aimed at combatting the pandemic and at the social and economic recovery, an initiative reflecting both the EU solidarity towards these partner states and the importance granted to the sustainable development of the Black Sea region overall.Furthermore, Aurescu also mentioned the significant financial and medical assistance support Romania offered, on a bilateral level, to some BSEC member states, such a the Republic of Moldova.In respect to the BSEC cooperation, Bogdan Aurescu pointed to the importance of the need to draw up some innovating action priorities within the organization and making efficient the coordination among the member states in view to manage the social-economic consequences of the pandemic on a regional level, by encouraging the good practices exchange or by launching some more flexible cooperation formats.The Foreign Minister reconfirmed Romania's "continuous" support for the pragmatic and flexible interaction BSEC - EU, which contributes to the consolidation of the common dimension of action in the region aimed at implementing concrete projects in sectoral areas, by capitalizing on the opportunities provided by the policies, initiatives and financial instruments allotted by the EU for the sustainable development at the Black Sea.He emphasized the relevance for the region of thrusting the pragmatic cooperation initiated within the Common Maritime Agenda at the Black Sea and the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda at the Black Sea, documents adopted in Bucharest, in May 2019, during the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU.In accordance with the agenda priorities of the Romanian Chairmanship-in-Office on thrusting the BSEC - EU interaction, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi also participated in the Council of Ministers' informal meeting and he presented the activities of the European Commission regarding the concrete cooperation with the BSEC.Also participating in the meeting were Foreign Ministers of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey, and Deputies of the Foreign Ministers of Greece, Georgia, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Ukraine.The debates within the informal ministerial council meeting focused on the modalities in which the BSEC Organization can efficiently and coordinatedly respond on the regional cooperation dimension in view to manage the social -economic implications of the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting also represented a stage report of the main activities and initiatives of Romania's Chairmanship-in-office at the BSEC during the first semester of this year. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As schools reopen, 15 Staten Island schools have already reported coronavirus (COVID-19) cases throughout the month of September. However, a recent report published by The Washington Post states that there is little evidence that the virus is spreading inside school buildings. The rates of infection inside schools is far lower than surrounding communities, the newspaper reported. Early evidence leads experts to believe that there may be a lower risk-factor that initially believed when it comes to reopening schools. Everyone had a fear there would be explosive outbreaks of transmission in the schools. In colleges, there have been. We have to say that, to date, we have not seen those in the younger kids, and that is a really important observation, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, explained to The Washington Post. However, experts warn that this does not mean there is zero chance of contracting COVID-19 from a school environment, according to the report. As some schools open with fully remote learning, data collection on schools has been inconsistent. The collection is mainly coming from smaller communities who were able to reopen with in-person learning, according to the report. **CLICK HERE FOR FULL COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK** Researchers at Brown University recently created a National COVID-19 School Response Data Dashboard to track COVID-19 cases among teachers and students. As of September 25, the confirmed student infection rate was 0.075 percent. With suspected cases, this number jumps to 0.24 percent. Among teachers, the confirmed infection rate was 0.14 percent. Suspected cases increase this percentage to 0.50 percent. These percentages were calculated over a two-week period between Aug. 31 and Sept. 13. These numbers will be, for some people, reassuring and suggest that school openings may be less risky than they expected, Emily Oster, an economics professor at Brown University who helped create the tracker, told The Washington Post. I dont think that these numbers say all places should open schools with no restrictions or anything that comes close to that. Ultimately, school districts are going to have different attitudes toward risk," she added. Iraq appears to be offering higher than the usual amount of spot cargoes on the market for October, oil trade sources in Asia and Europe told Bloomberg, leaving traders wondering how OPECs second-largest producer intends to stick to its quota under the OPEC+ deal. According to estimates from one trader, Iraq is likely offering between 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 320,000 bpd more than usual for October, Bloomberg noted. Additional barrels will not breach Iraqs quota, an official with knowledge of Iraqs export plans told Bloomberg. Iraq, the biggest laggard in the OPEC+ production cut deal, was given timealong with the other laggardsuntil December 2020 to compensate for previous overproduction, instead of until the end of September as the group had decided initially. At the same time, however, OPECs top producer and de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, lashed out at non-compliant pact members, for trying to outsmart the market. Attempts to outsmart the market will not succeed and are counterproductive when we have the eyes, and the technology, of the world upon us, Saudi Arabias Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said last week. In the first half of this month, Iraq looks to have ramped up its oil exports even though OPECs second-largest producer has promised time and again in recent months that it is committed to complying with the OPEC+ production cuts. Between September 1 and 15, Iraqs crude oil exports stood at 3.26 million bpd, 8 percent higher than the August average, according to Bloomberg estimates of tanker-tracking data. It is not certain that the rising trend in September will continue throughout the rest of the month as shipments tend to be unevenly spread through any given month. Reports emerged on Thursday that Iraq expects OPEC+ to allow it to increase its oil exports beginning next year, but later in the day, Iraqs oil ministry denied the report that had first appeared in local media. By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The Ukrainian Health Ministry has signed a memorandum of cooperation with Danish charitable organization "Bevar Ukraine," the ministry said on Facebook. According to the statement, the conclusion of the memorandum will increase the volume of humanitarian aid several times. "Many Ukrainian hospitals, hospices, nursing homes have not had enough funds for new equipment or repairs for decades. This is especially noticeable in small towns with meager local budgets. We help improve the conditions in such institutions. We are looking for donors in Denmark who have and are ready to provide the necessary equipment (for example, high-quality hospital beds), and sponsors who help finance the delivery of goods to Ukraine," the press service of the Health Ministry said, citing Head of the organization Andriy Kuzmin. In turn, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said that such cooperation is especially important during the pandemic. The organization sent to Ukraine 35 trucks and two aircrafts with humanitarian aid (more than 400 tonnes in total) worth more than EUR 1 million. In particular, in early 2020, Bevar Ukraine donated 31 artificial lung ventilators and hundreds of protective suits for Ukrainian doctors to fight coronavirus (COVID-19) disease. Cabinet starts negotiations with IMF on 2021 state budget deficit 19:30, 25.09.20 512 The prime minister believes that the budget for 2021 is realistic. LOS ANGELES Before filming the latest edition of Fargo, Emmy winner Ben Whishaw immersed himself in gangster films. I hadnt even seen The Godfather, he admits. Its such a specific, American thing. I know its not exclusive to America there are gangster stories all over the world but something about this kind of story seems central to America. In the fourth installment of the FX series, the British-born Whishaw plays the guardian of an African-American boy who is on loan to a white gangster. His Rabbi Milligan is charged with protecting him from the violence of the world and its kind of a healing of his own wound, having gone through the same thing as a child. Set in 1950s Kansas City, this Fargo introduces rival gangs hoping to keep the others in check. It has plenty of those Godfather hallmarks and a scope that Whishaw says he rarely sees in British television. This feels so huge, he says. In England, you feel like the sets are like sets theres an artificiality that I quite like. Here, the production values are quite extraordinary and the level of artistry is amazing. Whishaw, last years Emmy winner for A Very English Scandal, met Fargos executive producer Noah Hawley more than a year ago. Hed seen a TV show Id done and hed enjoyed it. He sent me the (Fargo) script and I loved it. It was just wonderful writing. The role, like so many others, met his criteria: If it feels like I havent done it before, Im always quite drawn to it. Rabbi, an Irishman, he says, epitomizes the immigrant experience. I felt what it must be like to not fit in to this country, he says. Hes a very solitary character and he doesnt fit in anywhere. Im interested in that experience of immigrants who cant, for whatever reason, assimilate and who remain constantly in some kind of limbo. In many ways, thats Whishaws path in Hollywood. Although he has starred in big-budget films like Mary Poppins Returns and the upcoming James Bond film, No Time To Die, he always feels like an outsider. Because I do so many different things I dip a toe in and then Ill go and do a small film and then Ill go do a play I never feel like I belong. If I were just working in those big films, I might find it overwhelming. At the Golden Globes and Emmys, Whishaw says, it was beautiful to be recognized for your work. But I find, to be honest, giving awards peculiar. Pitting actors against one another is quite odd and part of me feels like Im set up to fail. Maybe thats my paranoid, awful mind, but you feel, Oh, no, now Ive got to prove I was worthy of something. If anything, success has gotten him to book work several years in advance. When I first started acting, you just went for it, the 39-year-old says. Youd finish a job and sit around and hope for an audition. In the last few years, Ive become quite used to booking things in advance. I feel nervous if theres not something coming up. Its just, really, whatever happens. Youre blessed if someone sends you a script and they think of you. Although Whishaw was overwhelmed when he came to the United States as a child (to visit Disney World, no less), he still cant get over the scale of everything the portions of food are so extravagantly huge and the length of television series. I dont want to do longer shows, but Im enjoying this. Big-budget productions dont require a different approach, just a willingness to adapt. You just have to jump in and do it how you see it. You trust your own gut and your own sense of things. For this Fargo, he combined research with those gangster films. I always try to figure out when the character was born, where he was born and what was going on the world, Whishaw says. I like the sense of it, even if you never think about it again. Arriving on set, there are so many unknowns. You dont know what the room is going to be like, what the other person is going to do. So you really just have to be open. You let (the research) go and try not to think too much. Awaiting the release of the third James Bond film, Whishaw says he doesnt look back on past performances and wonder if he could have another go at a character. Only this thing called The Hour, which got canceled after the second season. That, I felt we didnt get to finish the story. I wanted to do that. Now, with several projects lined up, the soft-spoken actor says he still feels anxiety before he starts anything. The trophies (that are discreetly hidden around his home) dont quell his fears. Instead, he says, You start every job as if it were your first. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Staying in? We've got you covered Get the recommendations on what's streaming now, games you'll love, TV news and more with our weekly Home Entertainment newsletter! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The NHS Covid-19 app was rolled out across England and Wales on Thursday after months of delay, designed to automatically alert people of anyone who tests positive that they have been close to. One element within the app is a localised risk level based on the first part of a persons postcode. But in the current environment it is not considered appropriate for anywhere in England to be deemed low risk, the UK Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said. Watch list This is to reflect the general increase in infection rate across the country, the department added. The rank can be anywhere from low, to medium, to high. In England, the localised risk level is determined by data from the Local Authority watch list, though the list itself most recently only highlighted 44 areas of intervention, three on enhanced support and 11 marked as concern. Advertisement In Wales, the localised risk level is determined each week by the Welsh Government. It comes after the UKs Covid-19 threat level was ramped back up to level four by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) earlier this week. Meanwhile, the NHS Covid-19 app has shot to the top of the download chart on both iOS and Android since being launched, with more than one million downloads confirmed on Android alone. DHSC said it expects to release an update on exact download numbers across both operating systems on Monday. On Thursday, the app was hit by complaints from some users that they are unable to download it because of the age of their mobile phone. Apple iPhones need to be running the iOS 13.5 version of the firms software, released last year but available to devices several years older, while users of Googles Android require version 6.0, which was rolled out in 2015. The more people who download the app, the more people who may have Covid but otherwise wouldnt be traced should be identified and instructed to isolate, said Dr Chaand Nagpaul, British Medical Association (BMA) council chairman. The use of the app does not diminish the pressing need to have sufficient testing capacity, and must complement a properly functioning national test and trace system which can also quickly identify local outbreaks. The state government has sought to urgently amend an administrative bungle after it was revealed protective service officers had been carrying pepper spray for more than two decades without legal authority. The Police Ministers office was recently notified about changes needed to exemptions in the Control of Weapons Act to allow the officers to continue carrying OC spray. A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the inadvertent gap had since been closed with the Governor in Council this week providing an exemption to allow PSOs to carry the spray canisters. Police and PSOs patrolling Flemmington. Credit:Darrian Traynor The move means that PSOs, like police, now have a specific exemption from the application of laws which prohibit the carrying of weapons, including OC spray, the spokeswoman said. Police probe into Phuket student death still yet to conclude PHUKET: Despite police last week assuring that the investigation into the death of 19-year-old student Pornpiphat Mint Iaddam at Phuket Rajabhat University last month would be concluded within seven days, police today (Sept 25) confirmed that the investigation is still ongoing as some things still need to be checked. deathpolice By The Phuket News Friday 25 September 2020, 03:00PM Friends, family and fellow students attended Nong Mints cremation at Wat Tha Ruea in Srisoonthorn on Tuesday (Sept 22). Photo: Courtesy of Wilawan Iaddam Friends, family and fellow students attended Nong Mints cremation at Wat Tha Ruea in Srisoonthorn on Tuesday (Sept 22). Photo: Courtesy of Wilawan Iaddam Friends, family and fellow students attended Nong Mints cremation at Wat Tha Ruea in Srisoonthorn on Tuesday (Sept 22). Photo: Courtesy of Wilawan Iaddam Friends, family and fellow students attended Nong Mints cremation at Wat Tha Ruea in Srisoonthorn on Tuesday (Sept 22). Photo: Courtesy of Wilawan Iaddam Nong Mint collapsed and later died after being ordered to run as punishment for making mistakes during cheerleading practice on campus on Aug 19. Exactly how far Nong Mint was ordered to run and how far she had run before she collapsed and died is in dispute. Initial reports confirmed she had run several kilometres before she collapsed while running laps around the campus pond. The university maintains that Nong Mint had run only a few hundred metres before collapsing, and that she was ordered to run around the car park, not the campus pond. While a second-year student who ordered Nong Mint to run has already been presented with an initial charge of negligence causing the death over the incident, Phuket City Police Chief Col Theerawat Liamsuwan last week told state news agency MCOT, There will be a meeting of the investigation committees in the coming week, in order to conclude whether any lecturer or university staff will be charged for ignoring their duty or not. If or when that decision will be made is now unclear. Col Theerawat was unavailable when called by The Phuket News, but Phuket Provincial Deputy Commander Col Witoon Kongsudjai explained today (Sept 25), "Nong Mints case is still under investigation. We have only just received confirmation of the doctors report of Nong Mints death." Actually, Col Theerawat explained last week that police now had the doctors report, which confirmed that Nong Mint died of heart failure a point that was never in dispute. Meanwhile, Col Witoon today said he was unable to give any details of the meeting held by officers investigating Nong Mints death, but he did confirm the investigators met yesterday (Sept 24). Col Witoon also urged people to understand that the investigation would take time. However, that call for patience follows deputy national police chief Pol Maj Gen Suchart Theerasawat announcing at Phuket City Police Station on (Aug 24), This case should take a short time to process, and if the medical results come quickly, the case can be prosecuted and closed. Maj Gen Suchart had travelled to Phuket to be personally updated on the investigation following Nong Mints death becoming major national news amid concerns of hazing being allowed at the Phuket university, as only Nong Mint and other first-year students were ordered to run as punishment for making mistakes during the cheerleading practice. At the meeting yesterday [Sept 24], we had to consider the universitys regulations to avoid similar cases happening again in the future," was all Col Witoon would say today. He declined to explain what regulations were in effect at the university at the time of Nong Mints death, and he declined to confirm whether any new charges would be pressed over her death. This case is nearly finished. It will be finished as soon as possible, Col Witton said. Col Witoon declined to estimate when the investigation would be concluded. The release of the doctors report to the investigators allowed Vachira Phuket Hospital to finally release Nong Mints body to her family last Friday so that her funeral could be held. Nong Mints remains were cremated at Wat Tha Ruea in Srisoonthorn on Tuesday (Sept 22). Friends, family and fellow students were present to pay their respects. I am still waiting for the police to call to talk about Nong Mints case. I expect that to be soon, family member Wilawan Iaddam told The Phuket News today (Sept 25). Ms Wilawan declined to speak further about the investigation. Italy's president has told Boris Johnson his country also loves freedom but behaved responsibly after the PM commented on their handling of the coronavirus. Sergio Mattarella was replying to Mr Johnson's claim on Tuesday that infections were higher in Britain than Italy or Germany because it was a 'freedom-loving country'. Asked in Parliament if 'the reason Germany and Italy have far lower Covid rates than us' is because their contact tracing systems work better, he said there was 'a very important difference... our country is a freedom-loving country'. He claimed that made it very difficult to ask the British population uniformly to obey guidelines. Asked about the comment, Mattarella said: 'We Italians also love freedom, but we also care about seriousness'. Sergio Mattarella (pictured) was replying to Mr Johnson's claim on Tuesday that infections were higher in Britain than Italy or Germany because it was a 'freedom-loving country' Asked in Parliament (pictured) if 'the reason Germany and Italy have far lower Covid rates than us' is because their contact tracing systems work better, Mr Johnson said there was 'a very important difference... our country is a freedom-loving country' Boris Johnson's fiancee Carrie Symonds enjoying a stroll with son Wilfred during her short break to Lake Como in Italy The president was asked about Mr Johnson during a private conversation, but his words were swiftly reported in the local media and his office confirmed the remarks. Britain this week imposed fresh restrictions to try to stamp out a fast-spreading second wave of Covid-19 in the country. Government scientists warned there could be 50,000 new cases per day by mid-October without fresh curbs. Italy, which was the first country in Europe to be hit by the contagion in February, has seen new cases tick higher in recent weeks - but has managed to avoid a surge. The UK has the highest official Covid-19 death toll in Europe of some 41,862. Italy is the second-worst affected with 35,758 deaths recorded to date. The fallout comes as the UK's 'safe to travel' list was reduced to nine - including Gibraltar, San Marino and Lichtenstein - after more destinations were red-flagged. Restrictions were imposed on arrivals from Denmark, Iceland, Slovakia and the Caribbean island of Curacao this weekend. It means travellers returning from those destinations to England will face 14 days in quarantine when they get back. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced last night Denmark is one of four countries being added to the Government's travel quarantine 'red list'. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps yesterday announced Denmark, Slovakia, Iceland and Curacao are being added to the Government's travel quarantine 'red list' The new rules will come into force at 4am on Saturday morning and mean Brits can travel to just seven countries without restrictions on either border. Germany, Poland, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, Greece, Gibraltar, Lichtenstein and San Marino are the only countries Brits can travel to without facing quarantine or tests both ways. Mr Shapps also said that no countries will be removed from the 'red list' this week. Other countries on the UK's 'green list' - including Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Finland and the Seychelles - are either closed to travellers, require up to 14 days quarantine or only allow travellers with a negative Covid test in the last 72 hours. The devolved administrations often update their own lists following the UK Government's announcement of its weekly changes for England. Yotam Ottolenghi in the documentary "Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles." (IFC Films) Criticism should strive to be evergreen, but criticism and objects of critique can almost never be divorced from their context: the context in which a film was made, and the context in which a film is viewed by a critic. Six months into a global pandemic, the charming documentary Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles, about a high-end pastry party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, startled me with the sense of a frustratingly intangible very recent history. Remember museums? Events? Sharing unfettered indoor space with strangers? Let this documentary take you back to that world, which is so close, yet so far away. The film is directed by Laura Gabbert, who has carved out a niche for herself in the food-cinema world, having directed the Jonathan Gold documentary City of Gold and an episode of Ugly Delicious (as well as Sunset Story and No Impact Man). Her work is about culture, because food is culture, and Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles sits at a tantalizing intersection of food, art and history. Its the story of a remarkable event at the Met that inadvertently becomes shockingly prescient. The maestro at the center is Yotam Ottolenghi, the London-based Israeli chef and cookbook author, whose tomes of Middle Eastern fusion recipes grace the shelf of most every ambitious home cook. Known for his London shop windows piled high with confections and salads and spices like a kings table, Ottolenghi is the ideal candidate to produce a Versailles-themed dessert event for the Met. He studies Versailles, and then he studies Instagram, searching for cutting-edge international chefs and artists who are pushing the limits of pastry to produce cakes celebrating the artistic and technical patisserie innovations developed at Versailles. He taps five: Dominique Ansel (of cronut fame), Ghaya Oliveira of the New York restaurant Daniel, Singaporean sweets impresario Janice Wong, British Jello mold artists Bompas and Parr, and Ukrainian 3=D cake designer Dinara Kasko. Story continues There is much talk of Versailles as the epicenter of European politics, art, design, fashion, food, culture and trends in the 18th century, thanks , of course, to money, and lots of it. The art produced there was intended to display that wealth and power. This is well articulated by Bard professor Deborah Krohn, who becomes Ottolenghis academic guide. For King Louis XVI, decadent, luxurious and rare foods such as fruit and refined sugar were melted, mixed and molded into elaborate confectionery that screamed status. Today, that status goes to the individual chefs who become celebrities on social media. The event, which is more Met Gala than The Great British Baking Show, underscores that. This is sugar theater, ready to be gobbled up. Its not until the cake plates are cleared that Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles directly addresses the elephant in the room, which is where Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVIs tale ends: at the guillotine. Tremendous inequality led the French to revolt against their 1% who hoarded wealth while the people lacked flour for bread. Manhattans shiny skyscrapers loom ominously over this discussion. Deep into an economic crisis, this notion has a greater impact than Gabbert or the participants could have known at the time. For such a sweet film, Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles evolves into a complex exploration of the symbiotic relationship between money and art, and questions what the visibility of that conspicuous consumption could portend. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Sep 25: The Chilean super premier wine Caballo Loco 17 is a unique wine as it is made by Solera method but primarily with Bordeaux grapes and at the Retail Price of Rs. 8000-10,500, it is an excellent food wine for connoisseurs, writes Subhash Arora who has seen its evolution in India for 15 years and had an occasion to taste the wine recently Caballo Loco means crazy horse in Spanish. There are several stories about why the wine is named as such but it was introduced in 1994 by Valdivieso which started making Champagne in 1879 and is today number one sparkling wine producer with 30% share in the Chilean market, according to Christian Sotomayor, Export Manager of Valdivieso. Made from grapes chosen from special parcels, it is made by Solera method- like Sherry. Each vintage is a blend of 50% of the wine from the current years blend and 50% from the previous years, stored away as the reserve wine. First launched in 1994, it had a blend of vintages from 1990-94 and was labelled as Caballo Loco 1. Now defunct Sovereign Impex first imported the wines from Valdivieso in India in 2003-4 and Caballo Loco was the top-ended wine in the ladder. It was super-hit with the members of the Delhi Wine Club at a dinner attended by the then Ambassador H. E. Jorge Heine. He and I really fell in love with this wine on our first sip. Though the Sauvignon Blanc and the sparkling wine were also a hit, it was Caballo Loco 4 that caught our fancy and I would drink it whenever feasible. The blend was kept secret in the early days and has seen minor changes in the blend over the years, until a few years ago when Puneet Ralhan, Director of the current importing company Agnetta International informed us- a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo Valley, Shiraz, Malbec and Chiles national signature grape Carmenere. In fact, now they have started mentioning the grapes on the back level where they used to mention made from a secret blend of grapes. In recent years, Valdivieso has started disclosing the grapes in the blend. The first edition of Caballo Loco No. 1 released in 1994 had Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir grapes from 1990-1994 with a low level of 12% alcohol. The No.4 that was first released in India had Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Pinot Noir and Merlot with 13% alcohol. The blend included 50% of No. 3 and balance from vintage 1997. The current edition in the Indian market is No. 17 which is a blend of 50% of No. 16 and balance from 2012-2013. Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Malbec, Carignan and Merlot constitute the blend but the alcohol level is higher at 14.3% due to global warming. The wine is fuller bodied, with aromas of black fruits and spices, elegant structure and the long and complex evolution of earlier editions. It is deeper and richer than the previous editions too. These wines are now individually wrapped and packed in individual deluxe packing and form the upper crust of fine Chilean wines. Caballo at 200th event of Delhi Wine Club Caballo Loco also has another interesting story for the Delhi Wine Club which celebrated its 10th year and 200th wine dinner in September 2012 at Hyatt Regency. Valdivieso had been recently re-launched in India by Agnetta International. Not only did they air-lift and sponsor the iconic wine to showcase to the 250 guests attending the sit-down dinner, the Export Director Chrisitian Sotomayor flew in from Chile along with the winemaker Brett Jackson (who has been making Caballo Loco since no. 7) to attend the historic dinner and meet the trade. We had poured the wine again at another wine dinner in October 2015 where I had selected this high-ended wine. At Rs. 6050 in Delhi market, Caballo Loco 13 is not exactly cheap but President Subhash Arora does get loco at times to give us a memorable experience, said Tarsilo Nataloni , a long time Italian member of the Delhi Wine Club, who has gone back to Italy since. His palate was Italian but he appreciated fine wines from other countries as well. Loco prices Looking back, the prices were cheap at Rs. 6050 in Delhi in 2015. With a marked jump in the label registration charges, retails costs due to real estate price escalation and various additions like FSSAI costs, the wine is priced today at Rs. 10,500 in Delhi and not even available easily in Delhi. Fortunately, with the monopoly ending in Haryana this year, the price in Gurgaon varies from Rs. 8,000-9,000 (there is no fixed MRP in Haryana). For instance, The Liquor Warehouse (TLW) has priced it at Rs. 9010 while Discovery sells it at Rs. 8000. Take your pick. Ageing of Caballo Loco Although Caballo Loco 17 is the currently available edition in the market, I had bought a couple of bottles of Caballo Loco 4 for around Rs. 4000 in 2005- one for a friend and another for my cellar. I polished off mine within a couple of years but I was surprised to find the same buried in my friends cellar, last year. Though it has an expected shelf life of 10 years, it was a pleasant surprise that even after 14 years, the wine was still fresh, balanced with lovely ripe tannins. Therefore, No. 17 could be opened now but would last till around 2030 if you are a collector. For a few of the earlier related Articles, visit DWC Dinner: Going Loco for Caballo at Zerzura Delhi Wine Club: Wines to Celebrate Double Ton An interview with dr Jorge Heine, Ambassador of Chile in India Subhash Arora The Greater Accra Regional Hospital has appealed to government to permanently address the concerns raised by nurses and other health workers who recently withdrew their services. According to the Public Relations Officer of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Juliana Haruna, the strike by Nurses, midwives, Physician Assistants (PAs), and Anaesthetists (CRAs) in the public sector increased pressure on other departments at the hospital. They withdrew their services on Monday, September 21 to demand improved conditions of service. The strike left many patients stranded nationwide because of the absence of health personnel. The industrial action was suspended after three days when the National Labor Commission ensured an injunction against it. Speaking to Citi News on the return of the striking health workers, Juliana Haruna, called on the government to find a lasting solution to the problem. We all know how important the work of our nurses is in this country. The services they render are very vital. In their absence, the workload of our doctors went high. We had some of our doctors playing the roles of nurses. It was not easy at all, we hope that whatever demands the nurses are making will be addressed, she recounted. ---citinewsroom The Indian Armed Forces is writing history every other day of late. This is especially true when it comes to upholding the true essence of equality within the system. Recently, the Indian Army deployed women soldiers along the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir on regular national security duty for the first time. We also witnessed CRPF appointing its first woman Chief in Kashmir sector, which only goes on to show that the Indian Armed Forces believes that women are equally capable of putting up a tough fight in the face of danger and serve to protect their motherland just like their male counterparts. TimesNow/ANI Now, Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh is all set to officially join the Golden Arrows squadron involved in the Rafale jets operations. Shivangi is amongst the 10 women fighter pilots in the IAF, while there are 18 women navigators within the force. Shivangi is also the first female fighter pilot to come on-board to fly the Rafale jets. Who Is Shivangi Singh Varanasi-resident Shivangi Singh is a graduate from Banaras Hindu University and had joined the Air Force Academy in 2016 after completing her education. Shivangi had reportedly been a part of the 7 UP Air Squadron in the National Cadet Corps at her university. Twitter/swapy6 Shivangi comes from a modest family that lives in the small town of Phulwaria in Varanasi. Shivangis father Kumareshwar Singh reportedly runs a tours and travels business with her uncle, while her mother Seema is a teacher. Shivangi became a commissioned IAF officer in 2017 as part of the second batch of female fighter pilots after receiving her wings during the combined graduation parade at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal.Since being commissioned, Shivangi has been flying MiG-21 Bisons, though she is presently undergoing conversion training ahead of her formal joining to fly the Rafale beast. Twitter/untamedrambling It was finally in 2017 that Shivangis dreams of touching the skies came true after she and her colleague Flight Lieutenant Pratibha were inducted into the IAF. Reports also claim that Shivangi has previously flown alongside Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman while she was deployed at a forward fighter base in Rajasthan. Twitter/rudrosray Post completing her conversion training in Ambala, Shivangi will be ready to formally join the Golden Arrows squadron of the IAF and fly the multi-role fighter jets which will reportedly also be deployed along the Line of Actual Control given the growing tension with China along the Indian borders in Ladakh. The decision was said to have been taken in a bid to further Indias plan to strengthen its military position in Ladakh. Shivangis induction into the Golden Arrows comes as a great news in empowering the women of our country and we wish Shivangi brighter skies and greater heights for the future. Ipsen today announced the appointment of Philippe Lopes-Fernandes as Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer, effective 1 October 2020. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, he will be responsible for business development and alliance management, reporting directly to David Loew, CEO, Ipsen. Philippe will serve on the Executive Leadership Team. As Chief Business Officer, Philippe will play a crucial role in our external innovation strategy. The ELT and I are delighted to welcome Philippe to Ipsen and look forward to working closely with him. His extensive and impressive track record in international business development, his outstanding reputation and his ability to work closely with the scientific community around the world will be a tremendous asset as we continue to develop our position as a global biopharmaceutical leader via external innovation. I know Philippe will make significant contributions to our existing network of robust partnerships and will help us further strengthen our pipeline, said David Loew, CEO, Ipsen. Im excited to be joining Ipsen at this pivotal moment, said Philippe Lopes-Fernandes. Working closely with David, the ELT and the Business Development team, I look forward to further strengthening Ipsens alliances across its therapeutic areas to help achieve our vision of serving patients with high unmet medical needs. Prior to joining Ipsen, Philippe worked at Merck KGaA where he was the Senior Vice President, Global Head of Business Development and Alliance Management, based in Cambridge (US). Before that, he held a variety of roles at Merck KGaA in Business Development, Mergers & Acquisitions, Finance and Marketing in France, Portugal, Germany, the United States and Switzerland. Washington The Justice Department is expected to bring an antitrust action against Google in coming weeks, focusing on its dominance in online search and whether it was used to stifle competition and hurt consumers, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press Thursday. The department also is examining Google's online advertising practices, said the person, who could not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Antitrust officials at the department briefed state attorneys general Thursday on the planned action against Google, seeking support from states that share concerns about Google's conduct. The anticipated lawsuit against Google could be the government's biggest legal offensive to protect competition since the groundbreaking case against Microsoft almost 20 years ago. Lawmakers and consumer advocates accuse Google of abusing its dominance in online search and advertising to stifle competition and boost profits. Spokespeople for Google, whose parent company is Alphabet Inc. and which is headquartered in Mountain View, California, declined comment Thursday. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Google has maintained that although its businesses are large, they are useful and beneficial to consumers. The company says its services face ample competition and have unleashed innovations that help people manage their lives. Most of its services are offered for free in exchange for personal information that helps Google sell its ads. For over a year, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have pursued sweeping antitrust investigations of big tech companies, looking at whether Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple have hurt competition, stifled innovation or otherwise harmed consumers. Former President John Dramani Mahama 25.09.2020 LISTEN The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. John Dramani Mahama has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to dialogue with the Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) to find lasting solution to the challenges that have characterized the recently compiled voter register. He said the sheer volumes and magnitude of anomalies are unusual, unprecedented and cause for concern about the credibility and integrity of the new voter's register for election 2020. The EC after what it described as a successful voter register compilation exercise, is currently embarking on an exhibition exercise to give registered voters the opportunity to check their names in the register. Unfortunately, the process has not been smooth with many raising several concerns following the massive missing of names in the new voter's register. Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, former President John Dramani Mahama stressed that though the occurrence of anomalies during voter exhibition exercises is not new, the sheer volumes and magnitude of the recorded anomalies in the ongoing voters exhibition exercise are unusual, unprecedented and give the NDC genuine cause for concern about the credibility of the register and the integrity of the electoral process. The NDC flagbearer for the 2020 general elections explained, This is particularly so given the limited amount of time that we have for the resolution of these major challenges. It is obvious that the EC, despite the desperate public relations attempts, recognizes its failures and the potential challenges to the electoral process, of its actions. Despite backing the decision by the EC to extend the exhibition period to Sunday, September 27th, the main opposition party insists that it is inadequate to address the magnitude of issues to be resolved. The party is therefore pushing for the Electoral Commission to have a comprehensive dialogue with the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) to look for the best way forward before the December 7 polls. "The NDC wishes to recommend to the EC, once again, to begin a regular, comprehensive and transparent dialogue with IPAC", ex-President Mahama noted during the press conference. Below is the speech: Last November, the Supreme Court of India pulled up the Punjab and Haryana governments for their inability to prevent pollution caused by stubble burning despite previous orders. The Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta while calling Delhi worse than hell said toxic fumes over the Capital from stubble in the two neighbouring states were reminiscent of an internal war. Why are people being forced to live in gas chambers? asked Justice Mishra, now retired. Strong words as these were, and coming from no less than Indias top court, one would have been forgiven for expecting a sea change in the state of affairs this year. Truth is stubble burning has not missed a beat and is back in all its raging ferocity ahead of harvesting season. Satellite images from the United States space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) have shown that the farmers have started burning the crop residue in parts of Punjab and Haryana. Data from Nasas fire information for resource management system (FIRMS) shows a gradual jump in detection of fires in farmlands in recent days. Also Read: NASA images show early stubble burning in Punjab Experts fear the worst in the coming days. This year, stubble burning has just started in a few districts of Punjab. We use satellite data to get the number of fires and the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere from the fires, Pawan Gupta, a research scientist at the USA-based Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research (GESTAR), Universities Space Research Association told Moneycontrol by email. In the past one week more than hundred fires were detected in Punjabs Amritsar, and they are increasing and generating smoke creating hazy conditions over certain parts of northern India, he said. Apart from Amritsar, the other districts witnessing farm fires are Tarn Taran, Firozpur, and Kapurthala, Mansa and Jalandhar. Between 2019 and 2020, nothing much has changed, it seems. In August this year, the Supreme Court once again asked governments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and other states, about the stubble burning preventing preparedness. On September 22, the SC-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) wrote to the chief secretaries of Punjab and Haryana urging them to take measures to control stubble burning since evidence had started appearing. We recognise that we have lost time because of COVID-19, but given that the winter season is now fast approaching, we need to tackle this with urgency and ensure compliance, wrote Bhure Lal, chairperson of EPCA, the panel tasked with keeping an eye on pollution and stubble burning in the region. Action Plans In their action plans to check stubble burning, Punjab and Haryana government informed EPCA about proposals of setting up more subsidised custom hiring centres (CHCs) to give the otherwise expensive farm machinery to farmers for crop residue management on a rental basis. The Punjab government said it has been utilising crop residue through biomass-based power plants. Officials said while 7,378 CHCs were set up another 5,200 were bin process. The Haryana government said that a committee had been set up to look into the progress of bio-CNG and bio-ethanol projects to manage crop residue. The BJP-ruled state said that it had set up 2,879 CHCs while 2,000 more will be established by October. Stubble burning is conspicuous in winters because it deteriorates the already-spiked pollution level in Delhi-NCR ahead of harvesting season that that runs through September and November. Though burning stubble, the leftover crop residue on the farmlands, is banned, yet, in absence of alternatives such as machines, the farmers indulge in this old practice to clear the fields for the next crop. In 2019, stubble burning accounted for at least 44 percent of air pollution in Delhi, according to the government data. Of the 20 million tonnes of paddy crop produced in Punjab last year, 9.8 million tonnes of crop residue was burnt. Likewise, in Haryana, of the 7 million tonnes of paddy crop produced, 1.2 million tonnes of residue was reduced to ashes. Less fires this year? Officials have been in denial, so far, while promising a check on violations. They say that the satellites capture all fires, not just those due to crop fires. A man burns paddy waste stubble in a field on the outskirts of Chandigarh, India November 8, 2016. REUTERS/Ajay Verma Our teams are on the ground. It is too early to report farm fires. We believe this year farmers will be careful and will not burn the crop residue, said an official of Punjab Pollution Control Board. In Haryana too, officials said that they were hopeful that the instances of stubble burning would be less this year. The governments agriculture department had colour coded areas in all districts on the basis of last years residue burning. As many as 332 villages fall in the red zone, another 675 fall in the yellow zone, they said. The government will provide financial aid to at least 11,000 plus farmers who have applied for agricultural implements under the crop residue management scheme -- Promotion of Agricultural Mechanisation for In-Situ Management of Crop, said Haryanas Additional Chief Secretary, agriculture, Sanjeev Kaushal adding that the state had approved a Rs 1,304 Crore budget for crop residue management, this year. Farmers say that they do not have a choice but to burn the paddy straws as it saves them labour and equipment-hiring cost. Neither have we seen any machine in our village nor have we been given any money by the government to dispose of the paddy stubble. What do we do? We have no choice but to burn the residue. We will stop burning them once we are provided a machine by the government, Harpal Singh, 45, a farmer from Mohali told news agency ANI. COVID-19 complications Experts have warned that this year, the stubble burning can be even more deadlier because of the surge in COVID-19 cases in the region. While Punjab is about to cross one Lakh positive cases, Haryana has reported 1.18 lakh cases so far. Delhi, one of the worst affected states of the country, has 2.6 Lakh infections, so far. More pollution in air would mean more instances of co-morbidities amid the pandemic. If alternate arrangements to stubble burning are not made, pollutants like particulate matters and toxic gases could give rise to severe respiratory problems, which will further worsen the COVID 19 situation, Sanjeev Nagpal, also an advisor to the Union and the Punjab governments on the crop residue management, told PTI earlier this week. Every year, the winter pollution time witnesses a war of words between chief ministers of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. We are in touch with Punjab and Haryana governments, said Gopal Rai, Delhi governments environment minister. On September 24, Delhi CM Kejriwal met a group of scientists at the Indian Agriculture Research Institutes (IARI) campus for a live demonstration of a new machine that can decompose crop stubble. The technology, called Pusa Decomposer ensures speedy bio-decomposition of crop stubble, officials said. Crop stubble burning is the major source of winter pollution in Delhi. Governments need to listen and work hand-in-hand with scientists to address the issue of crop stubble burning, said Kejriwal. Delhi is also rolling out a subsidy scheme for buying electric vehicles soon. Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh has again sought funds from the Centre.Though state government is launching an aggressive media campaign to educate farmers and people in general, giving the linkage with COVID-19, it was imperative for government of India to step in with Rs 100/quintal compensation state has been seeking for farmers to manage paddy straw, read a statement issued by the Punjab government quoting Singh on September 23. Last week, a high-level task force led by PK Mishra, principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to incentivise farmers to control stubble burning. All these actions might be a case of too little, too late, it appears. DARWIN, Australia Alison Richards, a 38-year-old graphic designer, had been living in Britain for five years when she decided to move home to Australia. Then she got sick with Covid-19 and lost her job. It was an awful experience, said Ms. Richards, who spent six weeks without leaving her apartment, except for the night she became so ill she called an ambulance. I thought, Ill just pull myself through this and get home. Shes still waiting. Ms. Richards is among tens of thousands of Australians stranded abroad because of government coronavirus restrictions that cap the number of people allowed on flights into the country. In mid-June, Ms. Richards booked a ticket to Sydney, but she has been bumped twice from her flight as a result of the caps. Australia is one of the few places in the world that is barring citizens from leaving their own country and limiting the number of those who can return. The tough regulations have raised legal concerns about the right to freedom of movement, and have been especially painful for the large numbers of Australians who turn to travel as a balm against the tyranny of distance from the rest of the world. SINGAPORE / ACCESSWIRE / September 25, 2020 / Jadestone Energy Inc. (AIM:JSE) ("Jadestone", or the "Company"), an independent oil and gas production company focused on the Asia Pacific region, has agreed with OMV New Zealand Limited ("OMV") to amend the long stop date for the Company's acquisition of a 69% interest in the Maari Project, shallow water offshore New Zealand (the "Acquisition"). The parties have made substantial progress toward satisfying the Acquisition's closing conditions, including obtaining the majority of third party consents. As a precautionary measure in acknowledgement of the remaining closing condition, being final New Zealand Government regulatory approval, and amidst the New Zealand 2020 general election, the Company and OMV have agreed to revise the long stop date from November 15, 2020 to January 31, 2021. Both parties remain fully committed to the transaction and the Company continues to anticipate closing the Acquisition by the end of 2020. Jadestone intends to establish New Zealand as an extension to its Australia core area, and sees the Maari Project as a natural fit with its strategy to acquire and reinvest into mid-life producing assets. - Ends - Enquiries Jadestone Energy Inc. +65 6324 0359 (Singapore) Paul Blakeley, President and CEO +44 7392 940 495 (UK) Dan Young, CFO +1 403 975 6752 (Canada) Robin Martin, Investor Relations Manager ir@jadestone-energy.com Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Nomad, Joint Broker) +44 (0) 20 7710 7600 (UK) Callum Stewart Simon Mensley Ashton Clanfield BMO Capital Markets Limited (Joint Broker) +44 (0) 20 7236 1010 (UK) Thomas Rider Jeremy Low Thomas Hughes Camarco (Public Relations Advisor) +44 (0) 203 757 4980 (UK) Georgia Edmonds jadestone@camarco.co.uk Billy Clegg James Crothers About Jadestone Energy Inc. Jadestone Energy Inc. is an independent oil and gas company focused on the Asia Pacific region. It has a balanced, low risk, full cycle portfolio of development, production and exploration assets in Australia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The Company has a 100% operated working interest in the Stag oilfield and the Montara project, both offshore Australia. Both the Stag and Montara assets include oil producing fields, with further development and exploration potential. The Company has a 100% operated working interest in two gas development blocks in Southwest Vietnam and is partnered with Total in the Philippines where it holds a 25% working interest in the SC56 exploration block. In addition, the Company has executed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire an operated 69% interest in the Maari Project, shallow water offshore New Zealand, and anticipates completing the transaction in H2 2020, upon receipt of customary approvals. The Company has recently executed an agreement to acquire an operated 90% interest in the Lemang PSC, onshore Sumatra, Indonesia, and anticipates completing the transaction in Q1 2021, upon receipt of customary approvals. The block includes the Akatara gas field. Led by an experienced management team with a track record of delivery, who were core to the successful growth of Talisman's business in Asia, the Company is pursuing an acquisition strategy focused on growth and creating value through identifying, acquiring, developing and operating assets in the Asia Pacific region. Jadestone Energy Inc. is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. The Company is headquartered in Singapore. For further information on Jadestone please visit www.jadestone-energy.com. Cautionary statements Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements and information (collectively "forward-looking statements"), within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation, as well as other applicable international securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are forward-looking and not historical facts. Some of the forward-looking statements may be identified by statements that express, or involve discussions as to expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the use of phrases such as "will likely result", "are expected to", "will continue", "is anticipated", "is targeting", "estimated", "intend", "plan", "guidance", "objective", "projection", "aim", "goals", "target", "schedules", and "outlook"). In particular, forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the timing to close the Acquisition. Because actual results or outcomes could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements, investors should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, which contribute to the possibility that the predicted outcomes will not occur. Some of these risks, uncertainties and other factors are similar to those faced by other oil and gas companies and some are unique to Jadestone. The forward-looking information contained in this news release speaks only as of the date hereof. The Company does not assume any obligation to publicly update the information, except as may be required pursuant to applicable laws. The information contained within this announcement is considered to be inside information prior to its release, as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014, and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of those Regulations. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain. 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: Jadestone Energy Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/607792/Jadestone-Energy-Inc-Announces-Maari-Acquisition-Revised-Long-Stop-Date The benchmark indices firmed up further and hit fresh intraday high in mid-morning trade. The Nifty crossed 10,900 mark. At 11:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 496.65 points or 1.36% at 37,050.25. The Nifty 50 index was up 123.80 points or 1.15% at 10,929.35. In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 1.28% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.25%. The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1592 shares rose and 638 shares fell. A total of 165 shares were unchanged. Buzzing Index: The Nifty FMCG index added 2.22% to 29,688.80. The index had shed 0.95% yesterday. Tata Consumer Products (up 4.48%), Marico (up 3.91%), Godrej Consumer (up 3.33%), United Spirits (up 3.02%), Colgate-Palmolive India (up 2.72%), Nestle India (up 2.67%), United Breweries (up 2.52%), Varun Beverages (up 2.62%) and Hindustan Unilever (up 2.33%) edged higher. Stocks in Spotlight: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) rose 2.05% to Rs 585.50. M&M after market hours on Thursday announced that it converted 480 compulsorily convertible preference shares of Sampo Rosenlew Oy, Finland, into 1,440 equity shares and exercised a call option to acquire 633 equity shares from the owners of Sampo. Accordingly, the voting rights of the company in Sampo would increased from 49.14% to upto 74.97%, and Sampo would become a subsidiary of M&M. GMR Infrastructure surged 8.02% to Rs 22.90. The company announced signing of definitive agreements for the sale of equity owned by its wholly owned subsidiary GMR SEZ and Port Holding (GSPHL) of its entire 51% stake in Kakinada SEZ (KSEZ) to Aurobindo Realty and Infrastructure (ARIPL). As part of the proposed transfer of stake of KSEZ, the 100% equity stake of Kakinada Gateway Port (KGPL) held by KSEZ would also be transferred to Aurobindo Realty. Total consideration for the sale of equity stake as well as the sub-debt in KSEZ is Rs 2610 crore. Cadila Healthcare rose 1.05% to Rs 380. Zydus Cadila has received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market Dimethyl Fumarate delayed-release capsules, (US RLD: Tecfidera) in the strengths of 120 mg and 240 mg. The USFDA granted approval following entry of judgment in favor of Zydus Cadila and other ANDA applicants by the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, holding that the only unexpired patent covering Tecfidera is invalid. Dimethyl Fumarate delayed-release capsules are indicated for the treatment of patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis and will be manufactured at the group's manufacturing facility at the SEZ, Matoda. Global Markets: Most Asian markets advanced on Friday buoyed by robust U.S. housing data supported a late tech-driven rally on Wall Street. U.S. stocks ended positive in choppy trade on Thursday, led by a dogged comeback in the technology sector, having initially sold off on higher-than-expected unemployment claims. Investors remained uncertain about Washington's ability to pass a stimulus package after Fed officials indicated they expected more fiscal support. Consequently, the fears of a delayed global economic recovery from the novel coronavirus pandemic resurfaced. Jobless claims in the US rose 4,000 to 870,000 (from 866000 last week), the Labor Department said Thursday, reflecting that slightly more Americans applied for state unemployment benefits in the week ended Sept. 19 than in the prior week. Sales in US of new single-family homes in August exceeded an annual rate of 1 million for the first time since 2006. New home sales occurred at a seasonally adjusted, annual rate of 1.011 million (vs 0.965 mn in July and up 43% YoY) As per reports, US lawmakers, which include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are looking to iron out differences on a fresh round of stimulus to boost the economy. The Democrats could announce a $2.4 trillion stimulus package as early as next week. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) AIM and Media Release 25 September 2020 BASE RESOURCES LIMITED 2020 Annual General Meeting details Base Resources Limited (ASX & AIM: BSE) (Base Resources or the Company) advises that the Company's 2020 Annual General Meeting will be held at 1.00 pm (Perth time) on Friday, 20 November 2020 (2020 AGM) as a hybrid meeting: at Kimberley Room, Katitjin Centre, Australian Institute of Management WA, 76 Birkdale Street, Floreat, Western Australia ; and ; and online via the Lumi software platform accessible at https://web.lumiagm.com. At the 2020 AGM, items of business will include the re-election of non-executive director, Mr Michael Stirzaker, and the election of Ms Janine Herzig as a non-executive director. The closing date for receipt of nominations to be considered for election as a director at the 2020 AGM is 5.00 pm (Perth time) on Friday, 2 October 2020, being the date that is 35 trading days before the date of the 2020 AGM. Further information relating to the 2020 AGM will be set out in the Notice of 2020 AGM to be made available on the Company's website (www.baseresources.com.au ) by 21 October 2020. ENDS. For further information contact: James Fuller, Manager Communications and Investor Relations UK Media Relations Base Resources Tavistock Communications Tel: +61 (8) 9413 7426 Jos Simson and Barnaby Hayward Mobile: +61 (0) 488 093 763 Tel: +44 (0) 207 920 3150 Email: jfuller@baseresources.com.au About Base Resources Base Resources is an Australian based, African focused, mineral sands producer and developer with a track record of project delivery and operational performance. The company operates the established Kwale Operations in Kenya and is developing the Toliara Project in Madagascar. Base Resources is an ASX and AIM listed company. Further details about Base Resources are available at www.baseresources.com.au PRINCIPAL & REGISTERED OFFICE Level 1, 50 Kings Park Road West Perth, Western Australia, 6005 Email: info@baseresources.com.au Phone: +61 (0)8 9413 7400 Fax: +61 (0)8 9322 8912 NOMINATED ADVISOR RFC Ambrian Limited Stephen Allen Phone: +61 (0)8 9480 2500 BROKER Berenberg Matthew Armitt / Detlir Elezi Phone: +44 20 3207 7800 Primary Steele Dossier Source Was Suspected Russian Spy, Documents Show The Washington-based Russian national who supplied former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele with most of the unverified claims in the infamous Russia dossier was himself investigated by the FBI on suspicions of being a spy for the Kremlin, according to documents released by Attorney General William Barr. Though he isnt identified by name in the documents released on Sept. 24, Igor Danchenko was identified in July as the primary source for the Steele dossier. The FBI investigated Danchenko from 2009 to 2011 because he may be a threat to national security, according to an unclassified summary (pdf) of the probe provided to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) by Barr. While aware of the counterintelligence concerns about Danchenko, the FBI failed to disclose that to the secret surveillance court as part of an application to surveil former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page. To me, failure of the FBI to inform the court that the Primary Sub-source was suspected of being a Russian agent is a breach of every duty owed by law enforcement to the judicial system, Graham said in a statement. The FBI opened a full investigation into Danchenko after it learned he was an associate of two known FBI counterintelligence subjects. In 2006, he was in contact with the Russian Embassy and a known Russian intelligence officer, according to the summary. During the interactions, Danchenko told the officer that he wanted to one day enter into the Russian diplomatic service. He also contacted the officer seeking a reply, so the documents can be placed in tomorrows diplomatic mail pouch. One associate interviewed by the bureau noted that Danchenko persistently asked about the interviewees knowledge of a particular military vessel. The FBI began the process of seeking a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil Danchenko, but cut the process short and closed the investigation in late 2010, after learning that Danchenko had left the country and hadnt renewed his visa. The closing documents noted that the FBI would consider reopening the probe if Danchenko returned. This is the most stunning and damning revelation the committee has uncovered, Graham said. The investigation of the Trump campaign, codenamed Crossfire Hurricane, identified Danchenko in December 2016, two months after securing a warrant to spy on Page. The Steele dossier played a crucial role in the bureaus decision to seek the spy warrant. Steele claimed that he based the vast majority of his dossier on reports from Danchenko, who, in turn, had a network of sub-sources. The Department of Justices inspector general determined that the FBIs FISA applications were riddled with errors, some of the most egregious of which had to do with Steele falsifying and overhyping what he had learned from Danchenko. Steele also presented rumors from Danchenko as credible claims. Read More FBI Finds Sample of Spy Warrants Almost Error-Free, in Contrast to Major Failures in Surveillance of Trump Associate The FBI interviewed Danchenko for three days in late January 2017. During the interview, Danchenko disputed some of the claims attributed to him in the dossier and told agents that the allegations Steele had presented as credible were merely bar talk. Despite learning of the issues with the dossier, the FBIand subsequently, special counsel Robert Muellerwent on to renew the spy warrants on Page. Instead of telling the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) about the major issues with the dossier exposed during the Danchenko interview, the bureau repeated the claims Danchenko had disputed and simply said that he was truthful and cooperative. After the release of the inspector generals report and a severe rebuke from the FISC, the FBI conceded that it shouldnt have sought to renew the warrants. In addition to playing a central role in the spying on Page, the dossier appears to have featured in the FBIs decision to investigate the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump, a mounting body of circumstantial evidence suggests. The campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton ultimately paid for the dossier, a fact the bureau also omitted in its FISA applications. The Department of Justice released a heavily redacted copy of the electronic communication summarizing the January 2017 interviews with Danchenko (pdf) on July 17. Despite the extensive blacking out of personal details, the length of the redactions, as well as other details in the document, made it possible to triangulate on Danchenko. A Twitter user who goes by the pseudonym Hmmm was the first to identify Danchenko as the source after locating the mans resume, the details of which match exactly with both the redacted and unredacted portions of the declassified document. Danchenko locked down his social media profiles shortly after internet sleuths mentioned his name. Danchenkos identification is the latest of many severe blows to the credibility of the Steele dossier. While the inspector generals report described Danchenko as a Russia-based source, Danchenko, in fact, lived in Washington for more than a decade, including at the time when he provided information for Steeles dossier. Danchenkos resume, LinkedIn profile, and FBI interview paint a picture of an ordinary business analyst who connected with Steele when he was eager to earn an income. None of what Danchenko told the FBI or what is in the public realm suggests he had access to the inner workings of the Kremlin. Danchenko told the bureau that he relied on conversations with childhood friends and other acquaintances for the information he passed to Steele. The leadership of the FBI, including then-Director James Comey, believed the dossier was so significant that they pushed to include it in a classified annex of the seminal January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian interference in the U.S. election. Three intelligence agencies assessed at the time that Russia interfered in the election to hurt Clinton and help Trump. The FBIs investigation of the Trump campaign evolved into the special counsel probe led by Mueller. After a large-scale, 22-month inquiry, Mueller found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Secaucus police arrested a New York man at a Meadowlands Parkway hotel and seized more than an ounce of methamphetamine Wednesday night, Police Chief Dennis Miller said. The Secaucus Police Anti-Crime Unit was in the area of the Red Roof Inn, near Route 3, at 10:45 p.m. following up on complaints of narcotics activity at the hotel. Officers from the Patrol Divison and the Anti-Crime Unit saw Frank Morrow, 47, of Queens, acting suspiciously, Miller said. Police questioned Morrow and found that he had a large knife and then found he was in possession of more than one ounce of methamphetamine. Morrow was arrested and charged with drug possession and possession with intent to distribute. As the chief of police, I am committed to listening to citizen complaints and having them proactively investigated," Miller said. "Transient patrons who come to some of our local hotels to commit nefarious acts will continue to be targeted. Anyone with information regarding any suspicious activity at any hotel in Secaucus can contact the Secaucus Police Anti-Crime Unit at 201-330-2052, spdtips@secaucus.net, or anonymously on our website www.secaucuspolice.org. All calls will be kept confidential. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he will nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. "She is a woman of unparalleled achievement, towering intellect, sterling credentials, and unyielding loyalty to the Constitution," Trump said at an event hosted at the White House Rose Garden. Barrett is a 48-year-old federal appeals court judge favored by social conservatives and the religious right. Her confirmation to replace Ginsburg, a feminist icon who sat on the bench for 27 years, would solidify a 6-3 majority for Republican appointees on the bench for the foreseeable future. Trump's announcement came just 38 days before voters will decide whether he will hold the White House for a second term, and is bound to have profound reverberations on all three branches of government. Read more: Barrett nomination ensures epic abortion fight in elections final days Supreme Court to face major cases on Obamacare and religion in coming term A Supreme Court confirmation before Election Day would be quick, but not unprecedented Barrett's selection comes just a week after Ginsburg died from complications due to cancer found on her pancreas. She will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery next week. During her own remarks, Barrett praised Ginsburg's life and cited Ginsburg's friendship with Justice Antonin Scalia, a hero of conservatives who died in 2016. Barrett served as one of Scalia's clerks. "Justices Scalia and Ginsburg disagreed fiercely in print without rancor in person. Their ability to maintain a warm and rich friendship, despite their differences, even inspired an opera," Barrett said. Barrett also embraced comparisons between her legal views and her mentor's, saying "his judicial philosophy is mine too." U.S President Donald Trump watches U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett deliver remarks as he holds an event to announce her as his nominee to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on September 18, at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 26, 2020. Carlos Barria | Reuters Ginsburg, who had in the past publicly sparred with the president, said in a statement issued while she was dying that it was her "most fervent wish" that she not be replaced until after Election Day. That comment, and the precedent Republicans set in 2016 when they opposed former President Barack Obama's nominee to the bench, prompted a battle between Democrats and Republicans over whether a vote on a new nominee would take place before Nov. 3. Barrett has long been anticipated as a potential nominee to the Supreme Court, and it came as a surprise to some when Trump passed over her in favor of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to fill the seat vacated by Anthony Kennedy. Trump reportedly said at the time that he was saving Barrett for Ginsburg. Trump has repeatedly pressed for a vote ahead of Election Day, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said there is more than enough time to do so, despite his 2016 posture that prohibited a vote on Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland. Trump has said that his desire to have a conservative justice confirmed before the election stems from his belief that the outcome of the race will depend on the Supreme Court, as it did in the 2000 case Bush v. Gore. That prospect, and a coming clash at the court over the legality of the Affordable Care Act, have further inflamed the confirmation fight. Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his allies in Congress have blasted the president's decision to nominate a justice. During a speech in Philadelphia, Biden said of Ginsburg that "we should heed her final call to us, not as a personal service to her, but as a service to the country, our country, at a crossroads." In a statement released after Barrett's nomination was announced, Biden cited the Trump administration's push to have the Supreme Court scrap the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, and cited Barrett's past comments critiquing the court's 2012 ruling upholding the law. "If President Trump has his way, complications from COVID-19, like lung scarring and heart damage, could become the next deniable pre-existing condition," Biden said. It appears Republicans will have the votes they need. Two moderate Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, came out in opposition to holding a vote, but failed to attract other defectors. McConnell needs just 50 of the Senate's 53 Republicans to stay in line, given Vice President Mike Pence's ability to cast a tie breaking vote. Any selection Trump could have made was likely to be contentious, but Barrett could prove especially so. Barrett, whom Trump appointed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has already started to spur a cultural battle over the place of religion on the high court, and the future of abortion rights in the United States. Democrats are worried that Barrett's deeply held Catholic faith will bias her in cases that could cause the court to revisit Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that legalized abortion. They have pointed to Barrett's comments to students suggesting that their legal careers were a means to "building the kingdom of God," and a 1998 paper in which Barrett explored whether orthodox Catholic judges should recuse themselves from cases concerning the death penalty. In the paper, Barrett referred to aborted fetuses as "unborn victims." Amy Coney Barrett, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee for associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, speaks during an announcement ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020. Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images Barrett wrote in the article, co-authored with a professor while in law school, that the Catholic church's opposition to the death penalty provided a reason for federal judges to recuse themselves in capital cases. She wrote that the same logic did not apply to abortion or euthanasia. "We might distinguish between executing criminals and killing the aged and the unborn in this way: criminals deserve punishment for their crimes; aged and unborn victims are innocent," she wrote. Meanwhile, Barrett's path to confirmation is bolstered by support among social conservatives, who accuse Democrats of attempting to put a "religious test" in the way of the Supreme Court vacancy. Barrett has only considered two cases touching on abortion as a federal appeals court judge, in both cases voting to reconsider rulings that struck down abortion restrictions. In both appeals, Barrett signed onto opinions authored by another judge, rather than independently outlining her thinking, making an assessment of her abortion jurisprudence more complicated. If confirmed, Barrett will be the youngest member of the Supreme Court. Her confirmation would make Trump the fist president to name three appointees to the bench since Ronald Reagan. The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin hearings on Oct. 12, which will be the fastest an associate justice nominee has gotten a hearing since the retired Justice Anthony Kennedy was nominated in 1987. The hearings, which will last three to four days, will start off with opening statements by Judiciary Committee members followed by the questioning of Barrett and testimony from outside witnesses and legal experts. A final vote could take place at the end of the month, several days before election day on Nov. 3. Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement following the president's announcement, "I'm very committed to ensuring that the nominee gets a challenging, fair, and respectful hearing. We move forward on this nomination knowing that the President has picked a highly qualified individual who will serve our nation well on the highest court in the land." Trump joked that the confirmation will be "extremely noncontroversial." "We said that the last time, didn't we," he said. Liberal groups immediately criticized Barrett's nomination. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said that Barrett would "turn back five decades of advancement for reproductive rights." Sarah Kate Ellis, the president of GLAAD, an LGBT advocacy group, said Barrett would be "a vote to undermine hard-won rights critical to all LGBTQ people, women and immigrants." Kris Brown, who leads the anti-gun violence Brady Campaign, said there was "every reason to fear that Judge Barrett would advance the extreme and unfounded views of the gun lobby on the Supreme Court." Meanwhile, those on the right jumped to support the former Scalia clerk. The Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative organization, announced it had launched a seven-figure television and digital ad buy in favor of Barrett's confirmation. The Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion group, said it had launched a six-figure digital ad buy in support of the judge. "President Trump promised to appoint justices in the mold of Scalia and Thomas. He has kept that promise and I look forward to supporting Judge Barrett's confirmation," JCN president Carrie Severino said in a statement. SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser called Barrett an "absolute all-star." Sen. Josh Hawley, a conservative Republican from Missouri who was included on Trump's list of potential Supreme Court nominees, said in a post on Twitter Saturday that the nomination was "a big moment for religious conservatives." "For years we've been told to take a back seat in #SCOTUS nominations, but not any longer. @realDonaldTrump has chosen a nominee in #AmyConeyBarrett who religious conservatives can call one of their own," Hawley wrote. 'The dogma lives loudly within you' Barrett's confirmation hearings are likely to zero in on Barrett's views on reproductive rights and religion, as they did for her last round of hearings before the Senate. One comment in particular from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to Barrett energized conservatives and became something of a rallying cry. During Barrett's confirmation hearing in September of 2016, Feinstein said she had concerns related to past statements about religion. "I think in your case, professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that's of concern," Feinstein said. Conservatives promptly put versions of the statement on merchandise as a sign of protest. "'The Dogma Lives Loudly Within You'; Now It Lives Loudly On Your T-Shirt," read one headline in The Daily Wire, a conservative outlet. Democrats are likely to choose their words carefully in Barrett's confirmation hearings, but whether she will make decisions based on her faith is expected to be a prominent line of inquiry. Membership in People of Praise We can all agree on one thing; the German auto wizards over at AC Schnitzer arent playing around. Back in 1987, the firm was co-founded by Willi Kohl and Herbert Schnitzer as a subsidiary of Kohl Automobile GmbH. Ever since its birth, the company earned a reputation as a force to be reckoned with, thanks to their delicious tuning modules and virtually countless achievements in the world of motorsports.To be frank, this manufacturer never ceased to amaze the aftermarket realm with their top-grade performance enhancement kits for the likes of BMW Land Rover and MINI , as well as Jaguar and Toyota . Believe me when I say: these folks pride themselves with a truly colossal inventory that guarantees to soothe just about any petrolheads soul.In fact, Ill tell you what; instead of me just babbling on about AC Schnitzers exceptional ventures, lets take a closer look at one such entity, shall we? To be a little more specific, well be examining the tuners achievements on BMWs magnificent Z4 M40i. Needless to say, theyve managed to bring this bad boy to a whole new level.Dont get me wrong, Im not about to say the stock Z4 M40i is anything but spectacular. On the contrary; its a showstopper in the truest sense of the word! The version for European markets is put in motion by a fierce turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six powerplant, with four valves per cylinder head and a compression ratio of 11.0:1.At 5,000 revs, this liquid-cooled behemoth is capable of generating up to 335 bhp, joined by a feral torque output of 369 pound-feet (500 Nm) at around 1,600 rpm. Power travels to a rear-wheel-drive system via a Steptronic eight-speed automatic transmission.Ultimately, the Bavarian convertible boasts a 0-62 mph (0-100 kph) acceleration time of just 4.5 seconds, while its top speed is electronically governed at 155 mph (250 kph). BMWs untamed beast crawls on 17-inch wheels with five sets of two spokes.Without going into other details, its fairly safe to conclude that Z4 M40i doesnt necessarily need any sort of upgrades to impress. Nonetheless, the AC Schnitzer team didnt hesitate to find some considerable room for improvement.The Aachen-based crew worked its magic on the turbo inline-six mill to extract an additional 65 hp and 74 pound-feet (100 Nm) of extra twisting force. As a result, the total output figures jumped to no less than 400 ponies and 443 pound-feet (600 Nm) of crushing torque.Furthermore, you will find an array of visual tweaks that complement the increased power. These include bulky side skirts, a front splitter, hood-mounted air vents and an elegant rear spoiler that looks the business. The standard wheels were removed to make room for custom 20-inch alloy counterparts. Optionally, AC will be more than happy to install a lowering springs kit and a quad exhaust on request.To make it all come together as a complete package, the German tuner also added some finishing touches to Z4s interior, such as aluminum footrests, shift paddles and pedals. Last but not least, a five-year warranty is offered as standard.And there we have it, ladies and gents. Now, this outstanding exploit should give you a clear indication as to what these fellows are all about. Personally, Im aching to see what other projects will roll out of AC Schnitzers headquarters in the future! WASHINGTON - Less than six weeks out from the election, House Republicans have a chance to pick up a handful of seats, but it's not realistic for them to take back the majority from Democrats. And there's a possibility Democrats could add to their majority. Democrats are starting to see suburban districts across the nation become more competitive as President Donald Trump threatens to be a liability for vulnerable Republicans. But there are a number of vulnerable Democrats who could lose simply because they won in such conservative districts last time, and Republicans see opportunity in Virginia and South Florida. Here are the 10 House seats most likely to flip parties, updated from our rankings in July. There are three on this list that haven't been on it before. And we're taking off one seat that was previously in our top five: Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham in South Carolina's 1st District, where it looks like he's consolidating enough support and money to be reelected, or at least stay out of the top 10. 10. Minnesota 7th (Democratic-held, new to the list): Longtime Democrataic Rep. Collin Peterson has been remarkably resilient in a rural farming district that Trump won by 30 points in 2016 and will probably win by double digits again. But Republicans think this time, he'll lose. They've nominated former lieutenant governor Michelle Fischbach, who is outraising Peterson. Here, the Republican base is consolidating behind Trump despite his poor polling on handling the pandemic. The question is whether Peterson, who voted against Trump's impeachment and drums up his farm bill expertise, has a brand that can outrun how conservative this district has become. "He's just wearing the wrong jersey in a Trump district," one Republican said. 9. New Jersey 2nd (Republican-held, new to the list): Here's a head-spinner for you: Democrats are trying to take out a lawmaker who helped them win the House in 2018. Rep. Jeff Van Drew got elected as a Democrat then became a Republican a year later during impeachment. Trump won this South Jersey district in 2016, but do moderate voters feel burned by Van Drew's switching? He has a strong challenger in Democrat Amy Kennedy (yes, of that Kennedy family). And as outside Democratic groups advertise against him, accusing him of being a Trump loyalist, Van Drew has perplexingly not responded in kind on TV. 8. Texas 24th (Republican-held but will be open in 2020, previous ranking 6): After Democrats surprised even themselves with how well they did in the Texas suburbs in 2018, there are a number of Texas races Democrats see as competitive this year. This district in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is now majority-non-White, and GOP Rep. Kenny Marchant is retiring. Democrats say they're genuinely excited about their nominee, Candace Valenzuela, who has a compelling life story that includes being homeless as a child. But Republicans think Democrats are getting over their skis. They see a district that favors Trump, and Valenzuela is up against former Irving mayor and Trump administration official Beth Van Duyne, who is better-known. 7. Ohio 1st (Republican-held, new to the list): This Cincinnati-area district is another suburban seat that Democrats say is getting more competitive for them in an hurry. Republican Rep. Steve Chabot is trying to run for a 13th term after getting 51 percent of the vote in 2018 against a troubled Democrat. Both sides sense this is going to be a close race after Democrats nominated health-care executive Kate Schroder, who is trying to use one of the Democrats' strongest 2018 talking points, health care, to drive Democratic turnout in this district that narrowly voted for Trump in 2016. 6. Georgia 7th (Republican-held but will be open in 2020, previous ranking 10): Greater Atlanta is ground zero for Democrats' attempts to own suburban America. This once-conservative district is no longer majority-White. And even though it voted for Trump in 2016, a Democrat nearly won it in 2018 (Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams did win the district). Plus, it's now an open seat as GOP Rep. Rob Woodall is retiring. His 2018 challenger, Carolyn Bourdeaux, is the Democratic nominee again. She'll face Marine veteran and physician Rich McCormick. This is still a conservative-leaning district, and it will test Democrats' ability to get out the vote in Georgia, especially among suburban women. But Democrats are more optimistic by the week. 5. New York 22nd (Democratic-held, previous ranking 8): This is one of Republicans' best pickup opportunities. Democrat Anthony Brindisi won this central New York seat by two points in 2018; Trump won the district by 15 points. Republicans think Brindisi's win was a fluke, and now he has a record they can wield to try to pin him as a standard Democrat. Specifically, that he voted to impeach Trump. He's up against a challenger both sides previously cast as weak, Claudia Tenney. But Republicans say she's running a better campaign this time around, and they think the conservative lean of this district signals good things for them. 4. Utah 4th (Democratic-held, and back on the list after we took it off in the last rankings): Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams was the leading front of impressive Democratic wins in 2018. Last summer, we ranked his reelection in this Salt Lake City suburban district as the most likely to flip, but then took it off the list as a Republican primary created uncertainty. Now Republicans have nominated former NFL player Burgess Owens, a regular on Fox News with a grass-roots conservative following. But McAdams is overall well-liked and has been raising millions of dollars, whereas Owens has relatively little to spend. Still, this is the most partisan district represented by the other side. 3. Oklahoma 5th (Democratic-held, previous ranking 2): After winning narrowly in this Oklahoma City and suburban district, Democratic Rep. Kendra Horn is the only Democrat in Oklahoma's delegation. Trump won her district in 2016 by double digits, and Horn voted for his impeachment. After a primary battle, Republicans nominated state Sen. Stephanie Bice, who has a lot of catching up to do financially. One Democratic strategist thinks Horn has built enough of an independent voice to win here, another thinks she is at risk of being tagged as a generic Democrat. 2. New Mexico 2nd (Democratic-held, previous ranking 1): Republicans think Democratic Rep. Xochitl Torres Small is the poster candidate for a Democrat who basically ran as a moderate Republican in 2018 and now has a voting record that reveals her to be more of a Democrat than the district might want. She's again facing former GOP state representative Yvette Herrell, who lost by 1 percentage point in 2018 and now has Trump at the top of the ticket to help her in this Trump-friendly part of the state. Torres Small is raising millions of dollars and talking about how she's worked with the president. 1. Texas 23rd (Republican-held but will be open in 2020, previous ranking 3): Both sides agree the open race to represent this vast border district is going to be close, but both sides are also pretty confident they're going to win it. The majority-Hispanic district voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and is one of just a few like it that Democrats haven't picked up since. Republican Rep. Will Hurd has stymied Democrats, but he's retiring. Democrat and Iraq War veteran Gina Ortiz Jones came close to beating Hurd last year. Now she'll face lesser-known former Navy cryptologist Tony Gonzales, who first had to spend precious time and money in a competitive primary and is supported by Trump. Still, the House Republicans' campaign committee recently put $2.6 million down to try to keep this in their column for another two years. We've been hearing rumours and reports about the OnePlus 8T launching in India for a while now, and earlier in the week, OnePlus pretty much put an end to the chatter by officially announcing the launch date of the device. Reaching out to its fans, OnePlus revealed that the OnePlus 8T will be launched on October 14. In India, the launch event will begin at 7:30 pm, and being a virtual affair shared over a livestream by the company, is expected to be attended by thousands of OnePlus fans and the media alike. Ahead of the launch, the company even released a sneak peek of the device, giving fans an early look in 3D into the internals -- mostly the battery hardware -- of the upcoming OnePlus 8T. For those interested in taking a look themselves, you can head over here from your mobiles to preview the charging technology that will be at the heart of the OnePlus 8T. To remind our readers, the OnePlus 8T's launch comes months after the OnePlus 8 was launched in India. In between, the company launched a new mid-tier OnePlus Nord smartphone that offered the same refined software experience, premium design language, but at a much more affordable price point than the OnePlus 8. Here is everything we know about the OnePlus 8T so far. OnePlus 8T: Expected price and availability Much like other OnePlus smartphones in the past, the OnePlus 8T is set to be available for purchase through Amazon, OnePlus website and the company's chain of offline stores. As for the availability, the OnePlus 8T 5G will be available for pre-booking starting September 25 and will remain available for the same till October, 16 at all OnePlus exclusive stores. Further, customers can pre-book the device at Rs 2,000 giving them first preference once open sales are live for the OnePlus 8T 5G. As for the price, the OnePlus 8T had also been spotted temporarily on Amazon Germany, with the listing also revealing the price of the smartphone. The listing suggested that the OnePlus 8T could be cheaper than the OnePlus 8, with the 12GB RAM version of the device likely to get a price tag of 693 euros. The 8GB RAM version was also spotted online, with this particular version sporting a more affordable price point of 599 euros. Interestingly, these prices represent a 100 euro dip on the OnePlus 8, thereby making us believe that the phone OnePlus 8T could indeed be more affordable than the OnePlus 8. OnePlus 8T: Expected specifications Ahead of the launch, OnePlus itself has confirmed some key details about the smartphone, while other details have been leaked by well-known tipsters online. As per reports, the phone could come with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, paired with a Snapdragon 865+ processor. There is confirmation from OnePlus that the phone will come with an AMOLED panel that will run at a fast refresh rate of 120Hz. The information on the OnePlus 8T screen is officially available from OnePlus, complete with its testing notes from Display Mate that rates it very highly. OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus 8T screen will use a new 2.5D flexible glass which helps the display shine brighter, reaching a peak brightness of whopping 1,000 nits, while the colour accuracy will be "the highest possible across the industry". Here are some other key details revealed for the OnePlus 8T screen: -- It has received an A+ rating from Display Mate. -- It has a Just Noticeable Color Difference (JNCD) of around 0.3. In other words, true-to-life colours. -- It gets 100 per cent DCI-P3 colour space coverage. -- It supports HDR10+. -- It comes with a flicker-detect sensor. This feature was earlier seen in the OnePlus 8 Pro. -- There are up to 8,192 brightness levels available when the phone is on auto brightness. Ultra-Fast charging and other features Another feature confirmation that we have from OnePlus is faster charging. In a new ad, the phone has been teased to offer "Ultra-Fast" charging speeds. This feature is going to use a 65W charging solution. "More than doubling the charging speed of its predecessor, Warp Charge 65 is capable of charging the OnePlus 8T 5G's 4500mAh battery fully in 39 minutes, and almost 58 per cent in just 15 minutes," says the company. This, according to OnePlus, will be possible due to its new 'dual battery charging technology' that the company is using in the Ultra-Fast charger. Cameras are also expected to get upgrades. As far as the rear set-up is concerned, there will be a quad-camera setup at the back with a 48-megapixel main sensor, alongside a 16-megapixel ultrawide, a 5-megapixel macro, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. While the main cameras appear to be the same, the big change appears to be the addition of the macro lens. Additionally, the report also claims that the primary 48-megapixel lens will see OnePlus use a new imaging sensor to improve picture quality. The design of the phone has been hinted at by the leaked photos. As noted earlier, the OnePlus 8T uses a flat screen. On the front, the phone will have the camera in a punch hole on the top left. The OnePlus 8T shell will be made of glass and aluminium. As part of a sustainable framework and long-term vision for veterans across the continent, founder of the New Africa Foundation, Nana Kwame Bediako also known as Freedom Jacob Caesar has donated a 2-Bedroom fully furnished home to 95-year-old Ghanaian WWII veteran, Private Joseph Hammond. Private Hammond recently made headlines for raising 43,500 for frontline health workers and veterans in Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic by walking 3.2 kilometers (two miles) each day to reach his target on Africa Day in Accra. The hero was subsequently honored by Queen Elizabeth for his fundraising efforts. The New Africa Foundation is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide humanitarian support and a transformational mindset to empower communities across Africa. A recent initiative of the New Africa Foundation is the Career Transition Incubator (CTI) which will provide support to retired servicemen and women across Africa and ensure job skills training, job placement, and a Union Community across all 54 countries with benefits such as credit facilities and housing opportunities. Private Hammond lived and devoted his life to serve and protect our country. I was alarmed to see him at the age of 95 without a home of his own. It is a warning to us as Africans as well as our leaders to better care for the most vulnerable in our society and those who have sacrificed, in order to build great nations. It was an honor to provide this great man with accommodations to comfortably live out the rest of his days, says Caesar who first met and supported the Veteran during his fundraising activities. Recognized as a visionary, industrialist, and nation builder, Freedom Jacob Caesars advocacy work towards the unification and advancement of Africans and black people around the world have included supporting thousands of Ghanaian families with food and relief items during the lockdown period, efforts to bridge the religions of Islam and Christianity in Africa, and bringing awareness to the mis-treatment of Africans in China during the pandemic by taking a stand and demanding an apology from Chinese leaders. Caesar presented the home to Private Hammond amidst supporters at a ceremony held during the veterans final charity walk. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The coronavirus pandemic refuses to curtail the expansion dreams of West Australian independent craft brewer Gage Roads as it strides on to 2021. Fresh from installing an $8 million state-of-the-art bottle and can-filling line from Germany and securing a 40-year lease and WA government approval for a portside brewery at Victoria Quay's A Shed site, Gage Roads opened its first-ever venue in the hip inner-Sydney suburb of Redfern on Thursday. Inside Gage's Redfern microbrewery and Thai-inspired restaurant. As WAtoday revealed last December, the state's biggest independent brewer will make beers fresh on site at the 200-person capacity Atomic Beer Project microbrewery, with the core range of Atomic Pale Ale, XPA and IPA joined on tap by a rotation of limited release, seasonal and experimental brews, such as Cryo Red Alert (released earlier this year) and newbie Pauls Porter. Gage's new equipment allowed it to increase production from the 13 million litres brewed at its Palmyra base, and the east coast expansion came after a listing on the Australian Stock Exchange and recent lucrative pourage contracts with Optus Stadium and HBF Park. Minister Coveney Dail Statement on Update on EU-UK Negotiations on Brexit Speech Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney TD I am grateful for the opportunity to update the House on developments in recent months with respect to Brexit. As I have said previously in this House, despite the continued focus of the Government, and the country, on the unprecedented challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit also poses an unprecedented challenge for Ireland. The Governments focus and strategy, with regard to the implementation of the withdrawal agreement and the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, the future of the relationship between the EU and the UK and the future of our bilateral relationship with the UK, has not wavered. In the past two weeks, there has been much attention on the publication of the UK Government's internal market Bill. Its publication caused grave concern, as I will discuss in more detail later. Time is short now, as we all know, and serious issues remain outstanding. Despite noise, and despite setbacks, this Governments focus remains on the implementation, in full and in good faith, of the withdrawal agreement and the protocol, and on achieving a successful conclusion to the future relationship negotiations. I will now seek to address in more detail the state of play with regard to EU-UK negotiations, implementation of the withdrawal agreement, including the Governments discussions with UK and EU interlocutors in recent days, the readiness in Ireland for the end of the transition, and Irelands bilateral relationship with the UK, on which we must always focus. On negotiations on the future EU-UK relationship, the EU has been engaged in intensive negotiations with the UK over recent months to try to agree a broad and comprehensive future partnership agreement. This remains the goal. Ireland supports the closest possible relationship between the EU and UK. However, what can be achieved will also be determined by the scope of the UKs ambition in this area and its willingness to engage seriously with the EU's red lines. We want an agreement, but it must be one that respects the EU's long-term economic interests. Eight formal negotiating rounds have now taken place, with additional informal contacts between the chief negotiators and their teams outside the formal setting. These talks continue to address a broad range of issues, from trade in goods and services to transport and energy, from law enforcement to mobility, and so on. The ninth round is due to take place next week. Unfortunately, nowhere near sufficient progress has been made. Significant gaps remain on key issues, in particular on the level playing field, governance and fisheries. These fundamental issues must be addressed to secure an overall agreement. As set out in the political declaration agreed in October of last year, the EU-UK future relationship must encompass "robust commitments to prevent distortions of trade and unfair competitive advantages". We want this commitment followed through. Level playing field provisions must reflect the proximity and depth of the trading relationship between the EU and the UK. These are necessary to protect fair and open competition and to prevent diverging standards in areas such as environmental protections and workers' rights State aid is a key consideration in the EU-UK future relationship talks. The political declaration agreed by the EU and UK clearly sets out state aid as one of the critical areas to ensure a level playing field and open and fair competition between both parties. Progress on fisheries has also been disappointing so far. The original intention was to resolve the area of fisheries by midsummer. Fisheries is an important priority for Ireland. We are seeking to protect the interests of the Irish fleet in terms of both access and the quota share it currently enjoys in British waters. From the outset of the negotiations, Ireland and our EU partners have been clear on our level of ambition in this area and on the fact that progress on an overall trade deal is linked to progress on fisheries. This is reflected in the EU mandate and the draft EU legal text. The two sides are still very far apart, however. The task force is continuing to push for increased UK engagement on this area, and affected member states, including Ireland, are continuing our very close engagement with the task force on the EU approach. I spent some time speaking to Michel Barnier on this issue this week. The next negotiating round will begin next week, on 28 September. Time is growing very short, but we should not forget that it is in everyones interests for a deal to be reached. Michel Barnier and his team have done enormous work representing the interests of all member states. They have our full and unequivocal support. For our part, Ireland will continue to work as part of the EU27 to ensure that our collective approach to these negotiations reflects our values and interests. The withdrawal agreement, of which the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland is an integral part, was agreed by the EU and the UK, just less than one year ago, in October 2019. It was approved by all EU Heads of Government and received the assent of the European Parliament. It was signed and ratified by the UK Government. Legislation implementing it was passed by the UK Parliament at the beginning of this year. It is a legally binding international agreement. From the beginning, Ireland's approach has been guided by the principle of securing a deal that worked for Northern Ireland and the island as a whole. The protocol includes provisions that avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, that recognise the common travel area, protect continued North-South co-operation and protect the integrity of the Single Market and, as important, Ireland's place in it. It also affirms that Northern Ireland is part of the customs territory of the UK and its place in the UK's internal market. It maintains commitments to ensure no diminution of rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity, as set out in the Good Friday Agreement. It maintains the single electricity market and reaffirms the commitment of the EU and the UK to the PEACE PLUS programme. The protocol is designed to operate in all circumstances, including the absence of an agreement on the future relationship between the EU and the UK. Some commentators forget that. The negotiation of the withdrawal agreement and the protocol was lengthy and detailed and the protocol represents a fair and balanced outcome for all parties, with compromises on all sides. It is specifically designed to protect the Good Friday Agreement and the gains of the peace process, including avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland. Clarity on and stability in all aspects of the protocol are vital for businesses and people in Northern Ireland. The protocol allows them to be fully assured that the peace and prosperity delivered through the Good Friday Agreement will be protected in all circumstances. A vital component of this is protection of the all-island economy, which is important to businesses across the island of Ireland, now perhaps even more than ever. We have always been clear on the need for the protocol to work for the people of Northern Ireland and for the business community there. Throughout the Brexit process, I have maintained close contacts with leaders in Northern Ireland, including contacts today and yesterday. I have also continued to engage intensively with its farming and business representatives and other key stakeholders. I recognise the importance of east-west trade for Northern Ireland businesses. I welcome that the EU is already engaging closely with the UK to find appropriate and agreed solutions, but they must fall within the framework of the agreed protocol. The withdrawal agreement affirms in black and white the constitutional status of Northern Ireland as set out in the Good Friday Agreement. This is set out in the very first operative article of the protocol. It is vital that the protocol be implemented now in full and in good faith. The UK published the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill on Wednesday, 9 September. The British Government's approach in this legislation is deeply concerning. The Bill, if it were implemented in its current form, would undermine the withdrawal agreement and the certainty and stability that is so vital to protecting the Good Friday Agreement. It would seriously erode and damage trust in Northern Ireland and between the EU and the UK. Injecting uncertainty and confusion at this point of the process is not helpful on any level. The Taoiseach raised our concerns directly with the British Prime Minister on the day the Bill was published. He also discussed these issues with the EU's chief negotiator, Mr. Michel Barnier, and Commission President von der Leyen. We raised the same points during the extraordinary meeting of the joint committee on the implementation of the withdrawal agreement, which met on Thursday, 10 September. At that meeting, Commission Vice President Sefovi urged the British Government to remove the problematic measures from the Bill by the end of this month. I attended the General Affairs Council in Brussels on Tuesday of this week, where the state of play on Brexit was discussed and the full unity of the EU in support of Mr. Barnier, our chief negotiator, was expressed strongly. I also had a range of meetings and contacts while there on Brexit-related issues. I met Vice President Sefovi, the co-chair of the EU-UK joint committee, and Mr. Barnier. We agreed that our collective focus should continue to be on achieving a successful conclusion to the future relationship negotiations and continued engagement through the mechanisms provided for under the withdrawal agreement to resolve outstanding issues. Let us see what progress can be made in the coming short weeks, but in any final trade deal, we will have to be clear and fully certain that the withdrawal agreement will be implemented in full. Even if we get an agreement on a future relationship, I do not believe it will be ratified if there is still a threat by the UK to legislate to undermine the withdrawal agreement and break international law. Why would the EU ratify a new agreement with a country that is threatening to break an agreement that is not even 12 months old? As with everything in politics, trust and relationships are what matter in this context. I continue to try to remind the British Government in particular that, when all of this is done and we are on the other side of the transition at the end of this year, the relationship between the EU and the UK will be important for many of the global challenges that we face together and many of the mutual interests that we have and on which we need partnership. As we try to close out a future relationship agreement that puts in place a basic trade agreement and makes the end of the transition as acceptable and implementable as possible in terms of the change and disruption that are coming, we must bear in mind that, after all of this, the relationships between the EU and the UK need to be protected so that, for many reasons, we remain close in future. The next meeting of the joint committee will take place on 28 September and Ireland will participate as part of the EU delegation, as always. As Members of the House know, we have urged the British Government to step back from its deeply concerning approach in terms of legislation and to work to repair the trust that has been damaged and implement successfully and faithfully the withdrawal agreement and protocol that we agreed together. A positive resolution to this issue is in all of our interests in the short and medium terms. We remain in close contact with all of our EU and UK colleagues. This Tuesday marked 100 days until the transition period ends on 31 December. Irrespective of the outcome of the ongoing EU-UK negotiations, there will be substantial and lasting change for citizens and businesses from that date. The Irish Government has been planning for Brexit since the UK's referendum. We had made significant progress as we faced no-deal cliff edges in March and October 2019 and again in January 2020. While this earlier work stood to us as we moved into the transition period, we were also conscious that the end of the transition period was a different proposition from a no-deal scenario. It was necessary to recalibrate our work to address the immediate challenges and the long-term permanent changes that would arise on 1 January. As with every other sector of the economy, we had to do this while responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. Ireland has always supported the closest possible relationship between the EU and the UK, but the limited progress we are seeing in the negotiations requires us to plan for a less ambitious outcome than that. In May, the Government agreed to intensify its readiness planning on the basis of two possible scenarios: a limited free trade agreement with a fisheries agreement and with level playing field and governance arrangements intact; and a hard Brexit with the EU and UK trading on WTO terms after being unable to agree a future relationship and trade deal. In the first scenario, the EU and UK would agree a limited free trade agreement with level playing field provisions, providing for zero tariffs and zero quotas, and finalise a fisheries agreement in parallel. This outcome would bring substantial challenges for supply chains and trade flows and would require checks and controls in both directions on EU-UK trade. In practice, this will mean that every time Irish companies or individuals import from or export to Great Britain, they will need at least to complete a customs declaration. A limited free trade agreement would not address the full range of the EU's relations with the UK. Far from it, unfortunately. In the second scenario, if the EU and UK fail to reach an agreement, we will be faced with a hard Brexit and an immediate and disorderly change in the way the EU and UK trade and engage with each other. In such a scenario, from 1 January 2021, the EU and UK will trade on WTO rules. In addition to the implications for traders in terms of the added administrative burden, this outcome will also see the introduction of tariffs and quotas on trade, in both directions, with significant impacts on Irish trade. The effects of this will be particularly acute in the agri-food sector, where we could see an estimated tariff cost in the region of 1.35 billion to 1.5 billion per year. When one considers that we export some 5.5 billion worth of food and drink to the UK each year and import some 4.5 billion worth of food and drink from there, one sees just how significant that tariff would be in term of the cost competitiveness of that market for Irish products, particularly dairy products and beef. Either scenario will be highly disruptive and will have profound political, economic and legal implications, first and foremost for the UK but also bringing significant and lasting impacts for Ireland and the rest of the EU. The Government published its Brexit Readiness Action Plan on 9 September. The plan focuses on preparing for the change we know will arise at the end of the transition period. For each challenge arising, the action plan sets out the concrete actions Government, business and individuals must take now to address the changes and mitigate the risks that will arise regardless of the outcome of the negotiations between the EU and the UK in the weeks ahead. While Brexit will bring many changes, one of the greatest will be that, from 1 January 2021, the UK will no longer be part of the EU's Single Market or customs union. This will happen regardless of the outcome of the negotiations. Any businesses that move goods from, to or through Great Britain need to be ready for the range of new procedures and paperwork that simply do not apply today to such trade. These include customs, VAT and excise duties and rules of origin requirements. These processes have consequent cash flow implications and logistics considerations. Consideration needs to be given to certifications, authorisations and accreditations as well as specific issues relating to importing or exporting animals, plants, and products of animal and plant origin. Every business owner who trades with Great Britain, no matter how small the operation, needs to understand the impacts any new rules or processes will have on his or her operations and supply chains Failure to implement these new requirements will prevent businesses from trading with the UK or could lead to significant delays in moving goods. It is important to note that these changes will not apply to trade between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland will apply from the end of the transition period, ensuring Northern Ireland will have full access to the EU Single Market in goods. The Brexit Readiness Action Plan is the platform from which we will deliver concrete supports to businesses and citizens in the coming weeks. We are taking this work forward in three distinct but overlapping streams. The first involves work on which the Government can lead directly, such as infrastructure at ports and airports, introducing new legislation, which will come before the House in the coming weeks, and engaging with the European Commission on contingency planning and much else. The second concerns communicating with and supporting sectors and businesses most directly impacted. We are doing that every day. The third stream will involve helping to prepare for wider societal and citizen-focused impacts. Supporting supply chains and trade flows remains a key priority. We are carrying out this work with the twin aim of ensuring trade can flow as smoothly as possible while also maintaining food safety and public health. The infrastructure required at Dublin Airport is now in place, while work continues at Dublin Port and at Rosslare. We will certainly be ready on 1 January for the challenges that lie ahead. Provision has been made to facilitate the deployment of some 1,000 staff to ensure compliance with import and export customs and sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS, regulations. The capacity of ICT systems has been significantly increased to deal with the expected growth in transactions post Brexit. Revenue estimates that as many as 20 million declarations could be lodged per annum, compared with a current figure of some 1.7 million. Ensuring the efficient and effective functioning of the UK land bridge is also a key priority. Ireland has been working closely with our EU partners and the European Commission to ensure Irish and EU traders can continue to use this vital route between Ireland and the rest of the Single Market. The UK has acceded to the Convention on Common Transit, which is an important facilitating step. However, new procedures will apply. These will include a requirement for new paperwork as well as the need for each consignment to have a financial guarantee in place to cover the potential customs duties and other taxes at risk during the movement. Traders and hauliers will have to prepare for these changes if they wish to continue to use the land bridge. We must expect delays at key ports immediately after the end of the transition period. The Dover-Calais route has been identified as a particularly likely bottleneck. That was confirmed yesterday in the House of Commons by what Michael Gove had to say. Of course, goods that are moved directly between Ireland and elsewhere in the EU will not be subject to any of these new procedures. Traders moving across the UK land bridge might consider direct maritime services as an alternative route to market, particularly in the short term. Operators have indicated that capacity is available on direct routes. I encourage early engagement between all parties, including traders, hauliers and ferry companies, to discuss needs and options. The Government will be part of that discussion. We have put in place a range of financial supports such as the Brexit loan scheme and the future growth loan scheme. We will all hear a lot of marketing and advertising information on radio and elsewhere in regard to these supports. As part of the July jobs stimulus, we rolled out the 20 million Ready for Customs package. This allows businesses to claim grants of up to 9,000 per employee hired or redeployed to a dedicated customs role. Skillnet Ireland's free customs training programme, Clear Customs Online 2020, is open for applications. Both these programmes are a response to a need identified by the business sector. We continue to provide upskilling and advisory supports through Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprise offices, LEOs. A wide range of webinars are being hosted by Departments and agencies for affected sectors. Revenue has written to 90,000 businesses to advise them on the steps required and has followed up with 14,000 telephone calls to provide further advice. We continue to host a range of sectoral stakeholder events for the transport, retail, construction and agri-food sectors, among others. As Minister, I chair the Brexit stakeholder forum, which brings together a number of business and NGO groups as well as political parties. At the last couple of meetings, the Opposition parties were not represented. I understand why that is the case in the current Covid environment but it would be good to have their input at the upcoming meetings. Such engagement contributes significantly to a sense of togetherness in respect of the political effort. Further targeted measures to support business and affected sectors to prepare and adapt will be considered in the context of budget 2021. The Government is also working to pursue supports at EU level. I met Commissioner Hahn in Brussels earlier this week to discuss the special Brexit adjustment reserve, which provides funding of up to 5 billion aimed at countering the adverse consequences of Brexit in the member states and sectors worst affected by it. I highlighted to the Commissioner that economic studies have consistently shown that Ireland and, in particular, certain sectors of the Irish economy will be disproportionately affected by Brexit. We will continue to engage with the Commission as its thinking on the reserve develops in the weeks ahead. To underpin the required readiness measures at the end of the transition period, further legislation is required. On 29 May, the Government approved the preparation of a scheme for a new Brexit omnibus Bill. Some Deputies will remember the previous Bill we introduced. The overarching aim of this legislation is to address the wide range of issues that could arise post transition, seek to protect citizens and consumers, facilitate the functioning of key sectors and ensure our businesses are not disadvantaged. The Bill will also support aspects of the common travel area and North-South co-operation. I expect to bring the Bill before the Oireachtas later in the autumn, probably in three weeks. The launch of the readiness action plan is accompanied by a whole-of-government communications campaign under the Getting Ireland Brexit Ready banner. The campaign includes advertisements in national and local media, social media outreach and direct outreach by Ministers to stakeholders. I would welcome the assistance of Members in getting the key messages out to their networks to reinforce the message that action is required now to address the profound and immediate changes that are on the way. The Government will assist Oireachtas Members in playing any supportive part in giving information and timelines around what we want to do, including any technical assistance that Members may want. It is fundamentally important for Ireland, and in our interests, to work to maintain a strong and constructive bilateral relationship with the UK. We want to strengthen this relationship, which is one between neighbours, trading partners and co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. Our bilateral trade with Britain is worth over 1 billion per week and our people-to-people relationships are close to being unique in international terms. Close co-operation into the future remains clearly in the interest of all our citizens. Just as the future shape of the relationship between the UK and the EU will be decided in the coming months, we need to continue to develop Irelands bilateral engagement with the UK now that they are outside the EU. We need to develop a new framework for British-Irish engagement for the coming years. A new framework may include developing structures for regular meetings at heads of Government, ministerial and senior official levels. It will be important to enhance the role of the British-Irish Council and British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. Working through these institutions will help to ensure that our interests are protected and advanced. In this regard, the continued effective operation of the common travel area and the safeguarding of reciprocal rights in social protection, education and healthcare will remain high on the agenda. Ongoing contact across Government with the UK on our responses to Covid-19 will continue to be essential over the coming months. We are investing in the British-Irish relationship and specifically our presence in the UK. The Government is committed to opening a new consulate in the north of England, a region linked to Ireland by history and our diaspora and which offers significant commercial opportunities. Ireland will work also to ensure the closest possible future relationship between the EU and the UK in the time remaining. Irelands place remains at the heart of the European Union. I will continue to inform the House on developments in the weeks ahead. Previous Item | Next Item By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta GAZA/RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian factions have agreed to hold an election within six months, in the latest of many attempts to end more than a decade of infighting between President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement and his Islamist rival Hamas. The factions renewed reconciliation efforts after Israel reached diplomatic accords this month with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, an event that dismayed Palestinians and prompted their leaders to try to present a united front. "The two sides have agreed in principle to hold elections within six months," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas official in Istanbul, where officials from both groups met over the past two days. Fatah official Jibril Al-Rajoub confirmed the agreement and said Abbas would issue a decree setting a date. But he said the vote would be in stages - starting with parliament, then electing a new president, and finally choosing members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinians' highest decision-making body. The rivals have been unable to repair a rift from 2007, when Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel and many Western countries, seized control of the Gaza Strip. Abbas's Western-backed Palestinian Authority remains dominant in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The Palestinians have opposed Israel's deals with the UAE and Bahrain, fearing a weakening of a longstanding pan-Arab position that calls for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory and acceptance of Palestinian statehood in return for normal relations with Arab countries. (Reporting by Nidal Almughrabi and Ali Sawafta; Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Editing by William Maclean) Missouri Governor Mike Parson, a Republican who has steadfastly refused to require residents to wear masks, tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said Wednesday. Parson was tested after his wife, Teresa, tested positive earlier in the day. Teresa Parson had experienced mild symptoms, including a cough and nasal congestion, spokeswoman Kelli Jones said. She took a rapid test that came back positive and a nasal swab test later confirmed the finding. The governors rapid test showed he tested positive and he is still awaiting results from the swab test. I want everybody to know that myself and the first lady are both fine, Parson said in a video posted on his Facebook page. Right now I feel fine. No symptoms of any kind, Parson said in the video. But right now we just have to take the quarantine procedures in place. Parson is self-isolating in the governors mansion while his wife is isolating at their home in Bolivar in southwestern Missouri. Parson has repeatedly urged residents to wear masks and maintain social distancing, but he has been an outspoken opponent of mask mandates, sometimes appearing at functions without one. In July, speaking without a mask at a Missouri Cattlemens Association steak fry in Sedalia, he reiterated his stance. You dont need government to tell you to wear a dang mask, he said. If you want to wear a dang mask, wear a mask. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates The tribute was perfect for a powerful woman known for being as strong as she was tiny. A man, dressed nattily in a slate suit with brown shoes, paused in front of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's casket, lying in state at the U.S. Capitol on Friday, knelt to a plank, and did three crisp push-ups before jumping up, standing at attention and bowing his head. That man was quickly identified as Ginsburg's trainer, Bryant Johnson, 55, a 30-year Army veteran who had found his niche helping court officials -- including three Supreme Court justices -- give their bodies the same kind of rigorous conditioning demanded of their minds. Read Next: 4 Military Veterans Just Released the Most Tactical Campaign Ad of All Time Johnson, according to his website, RBGworkout.com, spent 12 years in an Army Special Forces airborne unit; a photo of him on the site shows him wearing a necklace featuring a Jump Wings pendant. Through his company, Johnson said Friday that he was not immediately available for interviews. But a 2013 Washington Post profile states that it was his military background that led him to become a fitness trainer, noting he has jumped out of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, as well as one hot-air balloon. "He's a sergeant, but he doesn't act like a sergeant," U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan told the Post at the time, adding that Johnson blended strict discipline with empathy. Johnson remained in the Army Reserve at the time of the profile; it notes he and Ginsburg had to pause training together while he deployed to Kuwait. Bryant Johnson, 55, a 30-year Army veteran, was Ruth Bader Ginsburg's trainer. (Bryant Johnsons Facebook Page) The justice, who died Sept. 18 at 87, became a Supreme Court associate justice in 1993 and first engaged a personal trainer in 1999, according to the Post. It was Johnson's training that helped the slight, 5 foot-tall justice adopt her now-famous fitness regiment of 20 push-ups a day in her 80s. Johnson, who also has trained Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer, told the Times of Israel in 2019 that he tried to impress upon his soldiers the importance of Ginsburg's work, particularly the portion focused on gender equality within the military. "I told a couple of soldiers, 'You wouldn't have these rights,'" if it weren't for Ginsburg, he said, according to the publication. In a podcast interview on Orrick.com, Johnson offered a few more insights into his choice of military career. He said in the interview that he had been persuaded to become a paratrooper without really knowing what he'd be in for: "I had no idea until after I had completed basic and I went through my school, and then they said, 'Well next place you have got to go is Fort Benning, Georgia,' and I said 'What's there?' 'Oh, that's Air Force school.' 'What?' 'Oh, yeah, you gotta jump out of a perfectly good airplane for no reason at all.' 'Look, are you serious?' And it was too late then." In case you wanted to try the famous RBG workout, beware. Though just 22 minutes long, a Politico reporter who tried it in 2017 reported "it nearly broke me." -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Related: How Ruth Bader Ginsburg Helped End the Military's Policy of Forced Abortion MILTON The state Department of Health says a Northumberland County long-term care facility where there have been 35 COVID-19 deaths failed to implement measures to prevent or contain the coronavirus in two of its nursing units. It concluded in a report that the Milton Nursing and Rehabilitation Center: Was not in compliance with infection control regulations and had not implemented Centers for Disease Control recommended practices to prepare for the coronavirus. Failed to disseminate cumulative updates for residents, their representatives and families following confirmed staff infections of COVID-19. Did not have sufficient nursing staff, with the appropriate competencies and skills sets, in one of two nursing units to assure resident safety and attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental and psychosocial well-being of each resident. The findings and conclusions are the results of observations and staff interviews during surveys completed on Aug. 14, the Health Department says. The report also contains required corrective measures taken by the Milton facility such as addressing staffing needs and undertaking COVID-19 testing of all staff and residents. Other corrective measures cited include: Implementing an appropriate infection prevention and intervention plan. Instructing all healthcare professionals in proper infection control procedures and taking steps to ensure they are being followed. Notifying families by letter of the identity of staff members who had tested positive. They now are notified as the time of a positive test result. Revising the screening form for employees to add the new type of symptoms identified such as loss of taste, smell and malaise. Interviewing five residents weekly by department managers to address their needs. The facility remains under the temporary management of Senior Health Care Solutions of Scranton, which was hired last month to ensure proper infection control procedures are being followed. Health Department spokesman Nate Wardle explained at the time the firm was hired because of deficiencies discovered during an inspection. National Guard members also were sent in to assist, and approximately three dozen residents were transferred to other locations. The latest Health Department coronavirus statistics for the Milton facility show 108 resident and 59 employee cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Among the Health Departments findings were isolation gowns hanging from doors of residents, no supply of face shields or masks in a personal protective equipment donning and doffing area, and no alcohol-based sanitizer in one of two dispensers in the common lounge/dining room. The department also found the intermittent reuse of isolation gowns and no cover on an open cart containing washcloths and towels to protect the items from potential contamination during storage. The facility is owned by the Bedrock Care Group whose spokesman Steven D. Weiner cited the collaborative effort that was undertaken to combat the deadly virus. He did not address the specific health department findings. Its been more than a month since the Haines Borough began offering free COVID-19 testing for people entering the community from elsewhere in Alaska, and as of Sept. 22, five people have taken advantage of the program. More than 1,100 travelers... Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 06:28:12|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Photo taken on Sept. 24, 2020 at the United Nations headquarters in New York shows UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaking at a video summit-level Security Council debate on "global governance after COVID-19." (Xinhua/Wang Ying) "We urgently need multilateral institutions that can act decisively, based on global consent, for the global good. And we need multilateral institutions that are fair, with better representation of the developing world, so that all have a proportional voice at the global table," says Guterres. UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for post-COVID global governance that features solidarity and multilateralism. The COVID-19 pandemic is a full-blown crisis in itself, unfolding against a backdrop of high geopolitical tensions and other global threats in unpredictable and dangerous ways, he told a summit-level Security Council debate on "global governance after COVID-19." "The pandemic is a clear test of international cooperation, a test we have essentially failed," Guterres said. The virus has killed nearly 1 million people around the world, infected over 30 million, and remains largely out of control. This was the result of a lack of global preparedness, cooperation, unity and solidarity, he said. COVID-19 is a wake-up call for even more catastrophic challenges that may arise, starting with the climate crisis, he said. "If we meet these with the same disunity and disarray we have seen this year, I fear the worst." There is an urgent need for innovative thinking on global governance and multilateralism, so that they are fit for the 21st century, said Guterres. He called for global governance that is resolute, coordinated, flexible, and ready to react to the full range of challenges. The world is no longer bipolar or unipolar, and is instead moving toward multipolarity, he noted. "We experienced fragmentation and polarization without effective mechanisms of multilateral governance 100 years ago. The result was the First World War, followed by the second (World War)." COVID-19 is a warning that must spur the world to action, he said. "We have no choice. Either we come together in global institutions that are fit for purpose, or we will be crushed by divisiveness and chaos." He asked for multilateralism for post-COVID global governance to work. "Reformed global governance is about approaches, and institutions, which must be reformed and strengthened," he said. "We need more and better multilateralism that works effectively and delivers for the people we serve." "We need more and better global governance based on national sovereignty and expressed through our shared ideals, eloquently expressed in the United Nations Charter," he added. COVID-19 has illustrated beyond dispute the gaps in the multilateral system. As countries go in different directions, the virus goes in every direction, he said. A rational and equitable approach to vaccination would reduce preventable deaths by prioritizing front-line workers and the most vulnerable. But the world has struggled to mobilize the resources needed to ensure a vaccine as a global public good, available and affordable to all, he lamented. In a world of interconnected threats, solidarity is self-interest, he said. "We urgently need multilateral institutions that can act decisively, based on global consent, for the global good. And we need multilateral institutions that are fair, with better representation of the developing world, so that all have a proportional voice at the global table," said Guterres. He called for "a networked multilateralism" that is based on strong links and cooperation between global and regional organizations, international financial institutions and other global alliances and institutions. Networked multilateralism must extend beyond peace and security, encompassing the Bretton Woods institutions, development banks, trade alliances and more, he said. Many of the cross-border challenges, from the climate crisis to rising inequality to cybercrime, involve interest groups, businesses, organizations and entire sectors that are outside traditional concepts of global governance, he said. "These challenges cannot be addressed effectively by states alone. We need to broaden our idea of global governance, to take in businesses, civil society, cities and regions, academia and young people." International conventions are not the only way to reach binding agreements for the common good. There is a need for flexible mechanisms in which different stakeholders come together, adopt protocols and codes of conduct, define red lines and create conditions for successful cooperation which is particularly relevant in the digital world, he said. "Global governance must also recognize our responsibilities to our planet and to future generations. Civil society movements, particularly those led by young people, are global leaders on these issues," he said. Global governance mechanisms until now have been exclusive, and the largest group left out in the cold is women, half of humanity, said Guterres. Women watching this week's General Debate have a perfect right to feel that they are not represented, and their voices are not valued, he said, referring to the fact that few of the speakers are female leaders. "The COVID-19 pandemic has proven what is obvious: women's leadership is highly effective. We cannot hope to turn the climate crisis around, reduce social divisions or make sustained peace without the full contributions of all of society," the UN chief said. The United Nations has a responsibility to improve the effectiveness of global governance. But the primary responsibility for making global governance work lies with member states, he said. Reform of global governance cannot be a substitute for collective action by member states to confront common challenges, said Guterres. "Conflict, human rights abuses, humanitarian crisis and stalled progress on development reinforce each other and are interlinked, while our global response is more and more fragmented. We are not keeping pace with the world as it is. The institutions of global governance should work together in coordination, to contain, mitigate and reduce risks of all kinds," he said. President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou (on the screens) addresses the General Debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly via video at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 24, 2020. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) Thursday's Security Council debate, held during the General Assembly high-level week, was a signature event with Niger assuming the Security Council presidency for the month of September. Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou chaired the virtual meeting. Guterres briefed the council. African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, and Tunisian President Kais Saied attended the debate via video teleconference. Shoppers in Cardiff, which will go into a local lockdown on Sunday. (Matthew Horwood/Getty Images) Wales two biggest cities to go into lockdown from Sunday evening People will not be able to enter or leave without reasonable excuse Government warns against weekend blowouts before restrictions come into force Visit the Yahoo homepage for more stories Cardiff and Swansea will go into local lockdown from 6pm on Sunday, the Welsh government has announced. Under the restrictions, people will not be able to enter or leave the areas without a reasonable excuse. They will not be able to meet indoors with anyone they do not live with, with extended households suspended. People must work from home when possible, health minister Vaughan Gething told a press conference in Cardiff. Watch: Can the coronavirus affect the brain? Gething warned people in both cities not to have a big blowout over the weekend before restrictions come into force at 6pm on Sunday. He also clarified students will be able to travel into Cardiff and Swansea to attend university. Coming for work or education is a reasonable excuse for travel. Meanwhile, the town of Llanelli will also go into local lockdown on Saturday at 6pm. He said the Welsh government was acting on a more localised basis for the first time in Llanelli because the transmission of coronavirus is concentrated on the town itself. With 50% of Wales population now under restrictions, Gething told reporters: Introducing restrictions in any parts of Wales is always an incredibly difficult decision for us to make. Having to introduce these restrictions in our biggest cities, including our capital, is another sombre milestone in a difficult year. Were acting to protect peoples health and to try and break the chain of transmission and stop the situation from getting worse. In England, meanwhile, Leeds is likely to face new restrictions from midnight in the fight against COVID-19, including a ban on households mixing in private homes. Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake said she expected the city will be made an area of intervention, while the leader for public health said the restrictions could last through winter. Coronavirus: what happened today Click here to sign up to the latest news and information with our daily Catch-up newsletter There is "no standard protocol" for treatment of patients who have contracted a double infection of COVID-19 and dengue, and a very "finely balanced" approach is needed to tackle both the ailments at once, experts said on Thursday. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who was shifted to LNJP Hospital on Wednesday for COVID-19 treatment, has now tested positive for dengue, perhaps the first prominent personality in the city to have been diagnosed with both infections. Medical Director of Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) Dr B L Sherwal said, both the diseases have no specific treatment, which makes it even difficult for treating doctors of such patients. "Both COVID-19 and need symptomatic treatment and in some aspects the treatment is kind of contradictory and this tricky. In COVID-19, we inject heparin drug subcutaneously which ultimately reaches the blood stream, and this is done to prevent embolism in these patients which can prove fatal," he told PTI. Embolism is sudden blocking of an artery which can obstruct flow of oxygen, and that is why some patients get complications even after treatment, the doctor said. RGSSH is a dedicated COVID-19 facility run by the Delhi government. "In dengue, on the other hand, platelets infusion is needed in cases where its count has fallen to dangerously low level. So, it's kind of opposite. And, therefore, we can't inject heparin if a COVID-19 patient has too," Sherwal said. So, for a treating doctor or it is like "walking a tight rope" and a very "finely balanced approach" is needed, he said. Sources at LNJP Hospital said "there is no standard protocol" for treatment of double infection of COVID-19 and dengue, and treatment is "patient-specific". LNJP Hospital is the largest hospital under Delhi government and a dedicated COVID-19 facility. "The patient's age, condition, co-morbidities and other factors are taken into account for treatment of both the ailments," a source said. Asked if there are any side effects of treatments in cases of a "double infection", the source said, "any treatment can have a side effect, but the treating doctor decides the methodology for it". A patient, if his or her platelets level falls dangerously below the normal level, needs external platelets infusion. A normal platelets level is considered in the range of 1.5-4.5 lakh, according to doctors. "If a patient needs plasma for COVID-19 treatment, he can be administered that, and if he needs platelets that too can be infused. The treating doctor will decide the course of treatment," the source said. Common symptoms of COVID-19 are high fever, breathlessness, cough, body fatigue and loss of sense of smell and taste. In dengue, a vector-born disease caused by aedes agypti mosquito, a person runs high fever, suffers red rashes on skin, pain behind eye sockets, joint pain and in serious case internal bleeding which can prove fatal. "In about 10 per cent of dengue cases, a patient suffers haemorrhagic fever which leads to deaths. Internal bleeding can manifest through nose, gums and those are danger signs," Sherwal said. Recently, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, himself a COVID-19 survivor, had told reporters that about 2-3 patients of COVID-19 in Delhi had shown dengue infection too. "We have managed to contain dengue the year. Our campaign '10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute' was very effective last year, and this year too dengue situation in Delhi is in control," he had 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.) Rude emails at work are part and parcel of the modern world, but they can have nasty lingering side-effects, research has found. A study has determined there are two different forms of rudeness over email. The first is 'active' and includes demeaning or derogatory remarks from the sender. The second is 'passive' - such as ignoring a request or opinion - which can make it hard to know whether the recipient forgot to answer or deliberately ignored it. Whether passive or active in its rudeness, a person's lack of manners over email can lead to people feeling uncertain and overloaded with strong negative emotions. Passive emails especially can leave people in the lurch, with someone regularly wondering what the sender's intention was, even leading to trouble sleeping. The study team from the University of Illinois said the volume of email exchanges has rocketed during the COVID pandemic as more people work remotely. But they said electronic communication can be distant, detached and often rude (stock) The study team from the University of Illinois said the volume of email exchanges has rocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic, as more people work remotely. But they said electronic communication can be distant, detached and often rude. The research shows receiving a rude email at work can cause an immediate drop in productivity, insomnia and negative emotions the next day. 'Given the prevalent use of emails in the workplace, it is reasonable to conclude this problem is becoming an increasing concern,' said lead author Zhenyu Yuan. In the study, 233 workers were quizzed about their impolite email experiences. The research shows receiving a rude email at work can cause an immediate drop in productivity, insomnia and negative emotions the next day (stock) Inequality in the workplace reduces employees' motivation Employee motivation is lowered by inequality in the workplace even among those who stand to benefit from the unfair advantages given to them a study found. British researchers found that disparities in the rewards given to different people for completing the same task reduce people's happiness. In turn, this reduces their willingness to work, the team said showing that people care about unjust systems even when they are not among the disadvantaged. Advertisement Participants were also asked to keep a diary to examine the spillover effects of email rudeness on wellbeing, including trouble falling and staying asleep. Professor Yuan said: 'Because emails are securely stored, people may have a tendency to revisit a disturbing email or constantly check for a response that they requested, which may only aggravate the distress of email rudeness.' To mitigate this stress, the researchers urge employees to 'psychologically detach' from a stressful workday after receiving rude emails. The best option is to unplug from work after-hours. Whenever possible, managers also should set clear and reasonable expectations regarding email communications. Professor Yuan said: 'It should be noted that efforts to address email rudeness should not be interpreted as the same as creating pressure for employees and managers to always check their email and respond to emails. 'On the contrary, setting clear and reasonable communications norms can prove effective in addressing both.' - In the early hours of Friday, September 25, 2020, a secessionist group blocked major entries into the Volta Region - Their action left several commuters stranded - 25 members of the group have, however, been picked up for their alleged involvement in the operation - One person has been reported dead Trending topics on the go: How we write news at YEN.com.gh The Ghana Armed Forces, in a joint operation with the Ghana Police Service, have picked up 25 members of secessionist group, Homeland Study Foundation at Abortia near Juapong, in the Volta Region with one reported person dead. In a report filed by Citinewsroom, the 25 people were picked up at Juapong. The deceased, according to a Kasapafmonline report, was reportedly shot by the military who were deployed to restore calm to the area. The report indicated that there is currently heavy military and police presence in the area. The roads have also been cleared for vehicular traffic to freely flow. Western Togoland: 25 members of the secessionist group arrested Source: Joy News, and Citinewsroom Source: UGC Western Togoland: 25 members of the secessionist group arrested Source: Citinewsroom Source: UGC READ ALSO: Mother of JJ Rawlings dies at 101 In photos sighted on Citinewsroom, they were packed in a military truck. The Homeland Study Group Foundation, based in Ho, the Volta regional capital, has been agitating for the secession of the Volta Region from Ghana. The group wants the Volta Region to be an autonomous country known as the Western Togoland. Western Togoland: 25 members of the secessionist group arrested Source: Citnewsroom Source: UGC READ ALSO: People pushing for split of Volta Region from Ghana allegedly block Accra-Sogakope road YEN.com.gh earlier reported that armed men, launched attacks on the Aveyime and Mepe police stations in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region. An eyewitness said the police officers on duty were stripped naked and locked in the cells meant for criminals; those behind the act then broke into the armoury to steal the weapons. In a separate report, the group blocked the road leading to Ho and Sogakope in the Volta region. This blockage left scores of commuters stranded on the Accra-Sogakope road. The same incident happened at Kpong where members of the same group blocked the road to prevent commuters from accessing the region. READ ALSO: Western Togoland: Unidentified men attack police stations and steal weapons Ghanaian multi-instrumentalist Dela Jackson has charged the youth in Africa to wake up | #Yencomgh Share your stories and news by getting interactive on our Facebook page! Source: YEN.com.gh Care home residents and staff will be the first to get a Covid-19 vaccine when one is approved, according to fresh government advice. Everyone over the age of 80 and NHS staff will be second in line, updated guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation states. The body, which consists of 20 top scientists, advises ministers on all vaccines. It admitted its guidance for any UK Covid-19 vaccination scheme is likely to change in the future. Matt Hancock previously pledged that Britons with underlying conditions would be near the front of the queue for any jab. But millions living with heart disease or other ailments that raise their risk of dying of Covid-19 won't be vaccinated until everyone over the age of 65 is inoculated, according to the new guidance. It comes as another drug giant launched the final-stage trial of its coronavirus jab. Novavax will test its double-dose vaccine - which the UK government has already bought 60million doses of - on 10,000 volunteers in the UK. It is the second vaccine in the UK to go into phase 3 trials, behind Oxford University's candidate which moved into efficacy studies over the summer. Everyone over the age of 80 and NHS staff will be second in line, updated guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation states The government hopes a jab will be ready in the first half of next year, but there will still need to be measures in place while people are injected. The severity of the restrictions - such as social distancing rules - will hinge on how successful the vaccine is. WHO WILL GET A COVID-19 JAB FIRST? Under the proposed ranking by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the vaccines will be rolled out in the following order: older adults' resident in a care home and care home workers all those 80 years of age and over and health and social care workers all those 75 years of age and over all those 70 years of age and over all those 65 years of age and over high-risk adults under 65 years of age with underlying health woes moderate-risk adults under 65 years of age with underlying health woes all those 60 years of age and over all those 55 years of age and over all those 50 years of age and over rest of the population (priority to be determined) Advertisement The JCVI guidance said frontline health and social care workers are at increased risk of being exposed to Covid-19, as well as transmitting the SARS-CoV-2 virus to vulnerable Britons in hospitals and care homes. The committee labelled health workers as the highest priority for vaccination and told health chiefs doing so would also help 'maintain resilience in the NHS and for health and social care providers'. People with underlying health conditions, who are at increased risk dying from Covid due to their weakened immune systems, should be next in line, the JCVI says. The body said that it continues to evaluate evidence on risk factors, adding that 'early signals have been identified of other potential risk factors, including deprivation and ethnicity'. Brits living in the poorest parts of Britain have been twice as likely to die from the disease as those in the wealthiest regions. People from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds (BAME) have also been disproportionately hit by the pandemic. But experts warned today the first coronavirus vaccine will not be a 'silver bullet' and is unlikely to stop people catching the disease. Scientists advising the government said it may only reduce people's symptoms and be partially effective, as they stress the need for caution when a jab is eventually found to work and is rolled out. England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty has set the bar at 40 to 60 per cent efficiency - similar to the flu jab. But the Oxford University team leading the charge for a vaccine set a minimum target of 50 per cent. Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty (pictured with Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance this week) has set the bar at 40 to 60 per cent efficiency - similar to the flu jab EU's deal to buy AstraZeneca's Covid-19 at a discount 'will mean countries have to cover compensation costs if the jab causes negative side effects' European countries will have to cover compensation costs if Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine causes any side effects, as part of the EU's deal to secure the experimental jab at a discounted price, it was claimed today. The European Union is said to have struck a deal with AstraZeneca - which owns the rights to the experimental shot - that diminishes the UK drug giant's liability if people fall ill after being inoculated. EU countries will pay the reduced price of 2.20 per dose of the Covid-19 vaccine once rigorous scientific trials wrap up and the jab is deemed to be safe by health regulators, likely in early 2021. Britain has already secured 100million doses of the jab for an undisclosed fee, but AstraZeneca will be expected to shoulder the costs of any negative side effects among Britons. The EU's deal was struck in August, before late-stage trials of the vaccine were ground to a halt earlier this month when a British volunteer was hospitalised with serious spinal swelling thought to have been triggered by the jab. But investigators ruled there was no evidence the patient's condition was directly caused by the vaccine and trials have restarted in the UK, Brazil, Indian and South Africa. Unexpected side effects after a drug has been green-lit by medical regulators are rare because the process for approval is so rigorous. But the speed at which the vaccine is being pursued - vaccines normally take 10 to 15 years to develop - may increase the likelihood of unforeseen problems. People in the UK are entitled to a one-off tax-free payment of 120,000 if they become 'severely disabled as a result of a vaccination against certain diseases', according to the Government. But patients need to prove in the courts that their condition was a direct result of a vaccine - which can often be difficult. Advertisement They said one that can cut symptomatic coronavirus cases by half would be hugely valuable. But it would mean millions of Britons would, in theory, still be vulnerable to suffering the life-threatening disease. Boris Johnson has previously acknowledged that a mass-testing programme is the UK's 'only hope' of avoiding another national lockdown, in the absence of a vaccine. It is why Number 10 has pledged to eventually carry out 10million tests a day. A government source told the Times: 'It seems the most likely outcome in the short to medium term is to find a vaccine, or two doses of a vaccine, that reduces the severity of symptoms. It's possible we might need several vaccines, but we are backing a lot of horses.' Head of vaccines at the Wellcome Trust Charlie Weller said the first vaccine will probably need to be phased in alongside other restrictions. He added: 'We need to manage everyone's expectations on what these first front-runners of vaccines can actually do. 'There's a lot of hope, understandably, resting on a vaccine that is going to be this wonderful one dose [that will give] full lifetime immunity and move us back to normality the next day, but it's not going to be the perfect solution; it's not going to be the silver bullet.' It comes as a new phase-three trial for a vaccine created by US biotech company Novavax was started on Thursday, marking the second phase-three trial to take place in the UK. As part of the research, 10,000 people will be invited to take part in the late stage study. Phase-three trials require a large number of people to test the safety and effectiveness of the potential vaccine across a community. They will be held across the country including in Greater Manchester, London, Glasgow and Belfast. Sixty million doses of the vaccine have been secured by the Government, to be manufactured in Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham, if it is successful. The volunteers had previously signed up to the NHS Covid-19 vaccine research registry, created in July to allow people to express their interest in taking part in a clinical trial and to be contacted by researchers. More than 250,000 people have since signed up. Researchers and the Government are calling for more people to volunteer for the studies, particularly people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with underlying health conditions and people over 65. Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: 'I am incredibly proud of the 250,000 volunteers who have signed up to play their part in the global fight against coronavirus. 'Our scientists and researchers are working day and night to find a vaccine that meets the UK's rigorous safety standards, but we need even more people from all backgrounds and ages to sign up for studies to speed up this life-saving research. 'The more people that sign up, the quicker we can find a safe and effective vaccine, defeat this virus and protect millions of lives.' Oxford University's vaccine candidate - one of the frontrunners to be the first approved in the West - has been being trialled on tens of thousands of people in the UK, Brazil, US, India and South Africa for months. Results are expected early next year and the team hope to have the jab rolled out to the most at-risk patients by Spring. Representative Image The Supreme Court on September 25 said it will consider the Centre's suggestion of making transferable the refund vouchers to be given to the passengers in lieu of the tickets booked for the flights which were cancelled due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The top court reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions including by NGOs and passengers associations seeking refund of ticket fare for the flights which were cancelled due to the Pandemic. A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah was told by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Centre and Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), that transferrable refund vouchers can be issued to the passengers, which can be used by the travel agents who had booked their tickets for the flights which were cancelled later. The bench said, If the travel agents can use the vouchers of the passengers then it is a fair enough suggestion. At the outset, Mehta said that anybody can be a travel agent and the government does not have any control over them as it has no idea about who are registered or who are not registered. He explained modalities of refund to be given to the passengers and how it would work as asked by the top court on its last hearing. The bench asked if the refund voucher is not used within the deadline then will the money go to the account of the travel agent? Mehta replied that the government does not know these travel agents or recognize them since there is no registration and an agent buys tickets in blocks as per the contract between him and the airline. DGCA has nothing to do with it, he said, adding that it cannot control the inter se contractual obligations between agents and passengers. He added that the government has done its best to ensure that the passenger either gets the money back or gets the voucher which is transferable, as for the airlines going down or closing down will have a cascading impact on the economy. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show He contended that a passenger concerned may surrender the ticket and travel agents can sell the tickets to others but ordering the refund for all the passengers will not be good for the airlines. Mehta said that the travel plan can be changed and alternate tickets can be issued. Senior advocate Pallav Sisodia, appearing for travel agents body, said that the airlines cannot be saved from insolvency at the cost of their insolvency and it would be better if the vouchers of the passengers are made transferrable. The bench said that it has taken note of Centre's suggestion and would also take into account the submission of travel agents' body. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Indigo airline, said that he has no difficulty with the arrangement proposed by the government as the company has thousands of employees and the business has been impacted for the last so many months. Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for NGO 'Pravasi Legal Cell,' raised the concern of refund of ticket booked from abroad. The bench said that it would not go into the issue of foreign airlines as the government of India cannot order refund on those tickets. Hegde said the passenger should be allowed refund if the ticket has been booked from a destination like Dubai to a place in India on an Indian airline. The bench told senior advocate Arvind Dattar, representing GoAir, that the government has given time till March next year to refund the money and if the airline wants more time then it needs to approach the government. Dattar said that the company has liability of Rs 260 Crore and some more time like six months or one year be given for making refund to the passengers. The bench said it is reserving its verdict and would take the suggestions into account. On September 23, the top court had asked the Centre to clarify the modalities of refund of air tickets to be made to the passengers and travel agents in view of cancellation of flights during the COVID-19 induced lockdown period. Mehta had earlier said that the government has taken a decision of refund keeping in mind the welfare of all and an appropriate solution has been worked out. On September 9, the top court had asked the Centre to clarify whether it is willing to give complete refund of air tickets booked for travel during the COVID-19 lockdown. The DGCA, in its affidavit said that full refund shall be provided by airlines immediately for tickets booked during the COVID-19 lockdown for domestic or international travel within the lockdown period. It had said if airlines are not able to refund on account of financial distress, they shall provide a credit shell equal to the amount of fare collected and this shall be issued in the name of the passenger who has booked the ticket for domestic travel directly or through an agent including online platforms. In 2016, President Donald Trump vowed to appoint Supreme Court justices who would automatically overturn Roe v. Wade. Now, the White House is insisting there is no such abortion litmus test for Ruth Bader Ginsburgs replacement. The change in tone reflects the tightrope Trump is currently walking on abortion with conservatives and especially religious conservatives ahead of the November election. Trump needs to both nod to concerns of powerful religious groups that have spent years trying to overturn Roe, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that cemented legal abortion, while not turning off the sizable faction of more moderate religious voters and Republicans who support legal abortion. Trump did both this week. For the more moderate crowd, senior White House officials were insisting the president wouldnt press Supreme Court candidates for their thoughts on Roe. But at the same time, Trump was catering to the anti-abortion crowd, speaking about potential nominees with Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, a top anti-abortion group. He also appeared virtually at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, promising to sign an executive order requiring medical care be given to infants who are born alive after failed abortion attempts. Its a balancing act critical to Trumps reelection this fall. While the presidents aides know they must keep abortion-focused conservatives from slipping away, theres concern that foregrounding the issue risks turning off swing voters and galvanizing progressive activists. Trumps supporters warn Democrats are trying to do just that by linking abortion rights to the current Supreme Court battle. The left and Democrats want to talk about Roe, and I think its an attempt to make it about issues specific for the liberal base rather than talk about the qualifications of whomever the nominee is, said Ralph Reed, a top Trump surrogate who leads the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a social conservative group. Story continues Trump will announce his Supreme Court pick on Saturday at the White House. Amy Coney Barrett, a judge on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and devout Catholic, is seen as the leading candidate. She visited the White House on Monday and Tuesday to meet with Trump, according to one Republican close to the White House. Barbara Lagoa, a Catholic and Cuban American from the must-win state of Florida, is seen as another top contender. Neither woman has given explicit answers on the legality of abortion. But multiple people familiar with the process said that to make Trumps short list means their record and judicial philosophy has been carefully scrutinized with an eye toward how they could vote on cases important to conservatives. Once the nominee gets in front of the Senate, Democrats are likely to ask questions about abortion, as they did during the confirmation hearings for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. In his hearing, Gorsuch said Roe remains the law of the land, while Kavanaugh told senators he recognized the importance of the precedent set forth in Roe v. Wade. The forces that drive Trumps short list operate with a clear litmus test: ending Roe, said Amanda Thayer, a spokesperson at NARAL Pro-Choice America, a leading advocacy group for legal abortion. Yet White House aides have consistently tried to downplay the role abortion rights will play in the confirmation process. At a briefing on Tuesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president and White House would not ask a judge to prejudge a case, when asked about a nominees potential to help overturn Roe v. Wade. The presidents chief of staff, Mark Meadows, similarly said weighing in on Roe with potential nominees is not something he would do or should do. Another person familiar with the process said it was unlikely a candidates position on abortion would come up in an interview. The person said in the past, Trump has focused on the potential nominees background and judicial philosophy. Gorsuch told the Senate Judiciary Committee during his 2017 hearing the president did not ask him to overturn Roe, adding he would have walked out the door if Trump had done so. One Republican close to the White House claimed the administration was simply following conservative principles by downplaying a justices potential decision on one particular issue whether its abortion, civil rights or gun rights. The person argued conservatives prefer the political process, not the courts, to make such decisions. Notably, however, conservative legal groups have focused on using the court system to challenge laws on all of those issues in recent years. They have also emphasized filling the judicial system with reliably conservative judges a subject Trump regularly brags about. And despite the reluctance of some aides to make abortion a hot-button issue, social conservatives view it as one of the driving forces behind whomever Trump picks. Many Republicans feel comfortable openly saying they want a judge who will curtail abortion rights. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas who was included on a list of possible Supreme Court picks Trump released this month tweeted after he appeared on the list: Its time for Roe v. Wade to go. And Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a member of the Senate committee that will first vote on Trumps Supreme Court pick, said he would only support a nominee who publicly states Roe v. Wade had been wrongly decided . Social conservatives want the same type of promise, viewing abortion restrictions as one of the top issues motivating Republican voters this fall. The conventional wisdom among the right is to not talk explicitly about politically charged issues coming before the court, but the politics on abortion have changed over the years, said one conservative strategist who is involved in the outside groups pushing the White House to confirm a justice before the election. Trump and his aides have spent years showing public affinity for the countrys staunchest anti-abortion groups. In addition to Trumps recent appearance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, the president appeared at the anti-abortion March for Life in Washington a first for a sitting president. Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House, Trump said to cheers at the January 2020 march. And in the current Supreme Court confirmation battle, aides have consulted a variety of right-leaning groups not just Susan B. Anthony List that will bolster and support Trumps nominee, including the Judicial Crisis Network, Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation and Club for Growth. In this May 19, 2018, photo, Amy Coney Barrett, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit judge, speaks during the University of Notre Dame's Law School commencement ceremony at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. Barrett is on President Donald Trump's list of potential Supreme Court Justice candidates to fill the spot vacated by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP) Barrett is the top choice for anti-abortion groups. They argue she has the most established record on abortion among the potential picks and note the White House counsel already vetted her previously during the search that ultimately led to Kavanaughs nomination. Barrett has discussed hypothetical scenarios involving Roe, and has said she would follow the Supreme Court precedent on abortion. "I don't think that abortion, or the right to abortion would change, Barrett said at Jacksonville University in 2016. I think some of the restrictions would change. Choosing Barrett would give Trump a chance to excite the evangelicals, Catholics and social conservatives who were drawn to Trumps 2016 promise to appoint anti-abortion Supreme Court justices. In August, 40 percent of registered voters cited abortion as one of the important issues in the election, according to the Pew Research Center . The issue will likely be brought to the Supreme Court again in the coming sessions as anti-abortion activists and some states try to tighten restrictions on abortion. During the last session, Chief Justice John Roberts joined with liberals on the court to strike down a Louisiana law that would have required abortion providers to have admitting privileges to a nearby hospital, which critics said could have forced all but one of the states abortion providers to close. But the power of Roberts swing vote would be diminished by replacing Ginsburgs vote with a reliably conservative vote. Mallory Quigley, vice president of communications at Susan B. Anthony List, agreed that this confirmation battle is a turning point. For almost five decades, she said, the pro-abortion lobby has run to the courts because that is where they run to get favorable decisions. There is a risk to Republicans going all-in on the issue, though. Opinions about abortion are not uniform among conservatives, even in religious circles. While only 20 percent of white evangelical Protestants favor legal abortion, Catholics are roughly split on the issue, and people who identify as moderate Republicans are 57 percent in favor of legal abortion, according to recent polling from the Pew Research Center. Overall, 61 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, Pew found. The issue is also energizing abortion rights activists ahead of the election. NARAL reported its fundraising is up 1,800 percent compared with this time last year, and the group has seen double its usual turnout at virtual events. Planned Parenthood has announced a six-figure ad buy about protecting Ginsburgs legacy. Yet anti-abortion activists are also organizing around the Supreme Court pick. Susan B. Anthony List plans to spend seven figures to buy ads and launch a grassroots activism campaign focused on the Surpreme Court and late-term abortion. Penny Nance, a member of Women for Trump and CEO of Concerned Women for America, said her organization is most excited about potentially having a conservative woman on the court and is planning to launch a bus tour with the bus wrapped in pink with the Supreme Court nominees name across the side to drum up excitement next week. Theres always a component of the [Republican] party thats hesitant to take the issue of life head-on, said Nance. Were eager for a woman who has our view of the constitution sit before the court and weigh in. This article will be updated throughout the week with coronavirus case counts and other need-to-know information about the pandemic in San Antonio. Backlog of cases: A backlog of 2,794 coronavirus cases reported Sunday pushed the total number in Bexar County since the start of the pandemic to 57,145, according to the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District. September 26 One new death: The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District reported one death and 100 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. That pushes the death toll in Bexar County to 1,074 and the count of positive test results to 54,295 since the novel coronavirus pandemic started in mid-March. September 25 The number of coronavirus cases in San Antonio rose by 224 Friday, tipping the countys total since the start of the pandemic above 54,000. Mayor Ron Nirenberg reported no new deaths. The countys death toll stands at 1,073, while the number of total cases is 54,195. September 24 Five more COVID-19 deaths: The Metropolitan Health District reported 177 new cases of the novel coronavirus in Bexar County Thursday, 22 more than the 155 reported Wednesday. Five deaths that occurred within the last two weeks also were reported Thursday, bringing the citys death toll to 1,073. September 23 COVID-19 numbers update: Metro Health officials reported no new coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, as cases and deaths overall continue a steady, downward trend in San Antonio. There were 155 new coronavirus cases, a slight uptick from the weekend which officials said could be due to the Labor Day holiday but still a far cry from the reports of over 1,000 new daily cases that occurred earlier in the summer. Mass weekly testing begins: It was the first day of a new routine at Somerset Independent School District: a mass testing for the coronavirus developed by Community Labs, a San Antonio-based nonprofit that promises the ability to process thousands of tests a day, with results available within 24 hours. The Southwest Bexar County school district agreed to demonstrate the system in hopes the pilot program would speed the return to classroom learning at its seven schools. September 22 COVID-19 numbers update: Six more people in San Antonio and Bexar County have died of the novel coronavirus, the most in nearly two weeks, officials said Tuesday. September 21 COVID-19 numbers update: The risk level for coronavirus entered the safe zone in San Antonio on Monday, allowing for the reopening of various city services and facilities, at least on a limited basis. September 20 COVID-19 numbers update: The city reported a backlog of 2,473 COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing Bexar Countys total since the start of the pandemic to 53,341, according to the Metropolitan Health Districts daily coronavirus update. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected sodium chloride, silicon compounds, and water vapor in the circumstellar disks as well as methyl cyanide in the circumbinary disk around two massive protostars in IRAS 16547-4247, a binary system located 9,500 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. Sodium chloride is familiar to us as table salt, but it is not a common molecule in the Universe, said lead author Dr. Kei Tanaka, an astronomer at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the Department of Earth and Space Science at Osaka University. This was only the second detection of sodium chloride around massive young stars. The first example was around Orion KL Source I, but that is such a peculiar source that we were not sure whether salt is suitable to see gas disks around massive stars. Our results confirmed that salt is actually a good marker. Since baby stars gain mass through disks, it is important to study the motion and characteristics of disks to understand how the baby stars grow. The astronomers also found that the twin circumstellar disks around IRAS 16547-4247 stars are counter-rotating. We found a tentative sign that the disks are rotating in opposite directions, said co-author Dr. Yichen Zhang, an astronomer in the Star and Planet Formation Laboratory at RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research. If the stars are born as twins in a large common gaseous disk, then naturally the disks rotate in the same direction. The counter-rotation of the disks may indicate that these two stars are not actual twins, but a pair of strangers which were formed in separated clouds and paired up later. The team expects that further observations will provide more dependable information on the secrets of massive binary systems birth. The presence of water vapor and sodium chloride, which were released by the destruction of dust particles, suggests the hot and dynamic nature of disks around massive protostars. Interestingly, investigations of meteorites indicate that the disk of the proto-Solar System also experienced high temperatures in which dust particles were evaporated. We will be able to trace these molecules released from dust particles well by using the next generation Very Large Array, the astronomer said. We anticipate that we can even obtain clues to understand the origin of our Solar System through studying hot disks with sodium chloride and hot water vapor. A paper on the findings was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. _____ Kei E.I. Tanaka et al. 2020. Salt, Hot Water, and Silicon Compounds Tracing Massive Twin Disks. ApJL 900, L2; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/abadfc Rumor, gossip and a malicious lie nearly destroyed a Waterbury building and all but crushed the lives of people who were living the American dream. Is a protest legitimate if it is based on a lie? If it develops into mob action, damaging property and lives? We see street protests around the nation just about every day. How many of these are based on facts and how many based on false assumptions? How many originate even before the facts are known? We have all seen accounts of protests following a police shooting of a citizen. Too often, protests begin even without the facts. Certainly, unjustified shooting deserves a community response. But not every police shooting is unjustified. In Waterbury, a mob took control of an otherwise peaceful assembly a street protest based on false accusations against the proprietor of the Big Apple Motel, his family and his agents. The lie: a young Black girl had been kidnapped, taken to the Big Apple Motel and harmed for days. It didnt happen. The girl was not harmed and not kidnapped, as was posted on the internet a week before the rioters commenced a savage confrontation, disregarding the truth. The girl accused no one. Every community should provide a forum where citizens can ask questions and voice concerns immediately after an incident and quickly learn the truth before taking to the streets in protest. Leaders from every sector should register their condemnation of lawlessness and racism. Would the Waterbury protest have turned into a destructive mob if the hotel owners were not Muslim-American? Racism takes many forms. What lessons are provided here and what can we do to turn it into a teaching moment? First, we must acknowledge that what was done to decent citizens also has been done to us. This incident should serve as an example for all of us get the facts before you wave a sign. Learn the truth before you march. The horde brandished signs, Fthe Waterbury police, and Sex trafficking here and Burn down the Big Apple. They wrote on the windows, then shattered them. They invaded the lobby and destroyed a television and furniture. They spit on, cursed and terrorized staff. They clambered to the roof to smash and tear down the neon signs. The owners of the Big Apple Motel are Pakistani Muslim immigrants who came to America to pursue the American dream. Despite the attacks on their property, reputations and character, their belief in the essential goodness of their neighbors and the American people remains undiminished. After they became proud owners of the Big Apple Motel 428 W. Main St., the business thrived. Contrary to erroneous reports circulated by the rioters, the hotel has not been a den of iniquity. In fact, the proprietors tried to reduce crime in the neighborhood, essentially becoming a set of eyes and ears for law enforcement. Crimes were committed in the neighborhood not in the motel. Motel personnel called police to report criminal activity. Perhaps that is why police reports note many calls came from the motel. The motel owner and his family are committed to turning this tragedy into triumph. They have been temporarily hobbled, but they remain possessed of undiminished pride in their status as hard-working middle-class Americans. We all are obliged to stand for them and with them, to come forward resolutely to oppose those who created chaos with malicious intent. Attorney Timothy C. Moynahan is CEO of Moynahan Partners, a development consultancy. He heads the Moynahan Law Firm, Waterbury, and can be reached at 203-597-6364. He represents the owner of Big Apple Motel. ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish prosecutors issued detention warrants Friday for 82 people, including pro-Kurdish former lawmakers, as part of an investigation into deadly riots that were sparked by anger over the governments perceived inaction against Islamic State group militants who had besieged a Syrian town across the border from Turkey. The three days of riots in early October 2014 were the worst in Turkey in recent years, resulting in 37 deaths and leaving hundreds of others police and civilians injured. Clashes between protesters and police spread across the country, including to Ankara and Istanbu. Turkish officials accused leaders of Turkeys pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party, or HDP of inciting the protests by Kurds who were angered by what they considered to be Turkish support for IS militants advancing on the mostly-Kurdish town of Kobane. Turkey eventually allowed Iraqi Kurdish fighters to cross into Syria to defend the town. Twenty of the wanted suspects were detained on Friday, the Ankara chief prosecutors office said. State-run Anadolu Agency reported that police carried out simultaneous raids in seven provinces. Among those held were Ayhan Bilgen, the current mayor of the eastern city of Kars, six former HDP lawmakers, and other former party executives, the news agency said. . The warrants also target several commanders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which is considered a terror organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, according to the prosecutors office. Turkish officials maintain that HDP party leaders took instructions from the PKK for a rebellion against the state. The pro-Kurdish partys co-chairman, Mithat Sancar, denied responsibility for the clashes. Despite trying for six years, they have failed to produce evidence to prove our partys responsibility for the events, Sancar said, adding that the government was to blame for its position toward Kobane and allegedly stoking tensions on the streets. It was not immediately clear why the investigation against the 82 people was launched six years after the 2014 clashes. HDPs former leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, were arrested over the violence and remain jailed as they face several trials on terror-related charges. If they think they will forget those responsible for these incidents that killed so many civilians, they are greatly mistaken, Industry and Technology Minister Murat Varank said. Separately, the prosecutors office said it would petition the Turkish parliament to lift the legal immunity of seven current HDP legislators as part of the investigation. The government accuses the HDP, Turkeys third largest party in parliament, of links to the PKK a charge the pro-Kurdish party denies. The government has frequently cracked down on the political movement, stripping lawmakers of their legislative seats, arresting and removing elected mayors from office and replacing them with government-appointed trustees. Several HDP lawmakers have been jailed alongside Demirtas and Yuksekdag, on terror-related charges. HONG KONG (Reuters) - A student arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of selling weapons online faces charges of inciting secession under a security law imposed on the city by China three months ago, a senior police officer said on Friday. Police arrested the 23-year-old man and his mother, 49, on Thursday on suspicion of selling pepperball guns, knives, and other offensive weapons, and on further investigation found online posts promoting the use of violence to win independence from China, Steve Li, senior superintendent in the police's new national security unit, said. Li did not give the names of the suspects. Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on June 30 to punish with up to life in prison, anything China deems as secessionism, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. Critics of the law say it will erode rights and freedoms in semi-autonomous Hong Kong, while supporters say it will bring stability after a year of social unrest. (Reporting by Sharon Tam; Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) The tangible economic value we bring to our region is significant. The intangible services we provide for our clients in mental health, developmental disabilities, preventions and addictive disorders are the cornerstone of what we do help people live their best lives. A 2020 study by the University of Louisiana Monroe revealed that Northeast Delta Human Services Authority (NEDHSA) has an economic contribution totaling over $21.2 million for a single-year and could contribute over $191.9 million in 10 years to Northeast Louisiana. The study analyzed NEDHSAs contributions to local, regional and statewide economies through its expenditures on personnel wages, network of partnerships, sponsored programs and services, and clinical operations, all of which benefit Northeast Louisiana through direct, indirect and induced impacts. This study estimated that there would be a highly significant reduction in the level of economic activity in Northeast Louisiana in the absence of NEDHSA. The tangible economic value we bring to our region is significant, and we are proud to be part of this regions economic engine, said Dr. Monteic A. Sizer, the executive director of NEDHSA. The intangible services we provide for our clients in mental health, developmental disabilities, preventions and addictive disorders are the cornerstone of what we do help people live their best lives. Using an integrated care model, NEDHSA provides these services in 12 parishes in Northeast Louisiana. Through its own hiring, employment by suppliers, and spending by employees and others, the agency results in 182 additional full-time equivalent jobs in this region. The jobs created by NEDHSA, both directly and indirectly, result in local and state single-year sales tax and state income tax revenues totaling over $869,000 and over $7.8 million in 10-years. The report is limited in its scope. It evaluated the impacts on employment, income and taxes that resulted from NEDHSA operations, not on the broader indirect socioeconomic impact reductions [potentially in the tens of millions of dollars] the agency offers through its many services. We play a pivotal role in the future success of our region, Sizer said. Our agency is a difference-maker both in the huge economic impact we make, but also in the peoples lives we touch. The full report is available in the Outcomes & Reports section at http://www.nedeltahsa.org. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are risking their brand in the US with their political statements, but could find they benefit from them across the rest of the world, according to a brand expert. Eric Schiffer, chairman of Reputation Management Consultants, told Yahoo UK that the couple has taken a risk by speaking out about the election, even if they seem to be taking a neutral position. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex encouraged Americans to vote in a video marking the release of this years Time 100 list, naming the 100 most influential people in the world. Meghan, 39, had already been vocal in the political arena since the couple moved to the US, but this was the first time Harry, 36, had waded into the issue of voting. While they have not explicitly backed Joe Biden, the Democrat candidate, Meghans views on Donald Trump, the Republican president and candidate, are well known. She called him divisive and misogynistic in 2016. In the video, Harry said: As we approach this November, its vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity. Facebook deleted one of Trumps posts in August, for violating its policy about coronavirus misinformation, while Twitter has been adding fact checks to the presidents tweets since May. Schiffer said: In much of America, the kinds of comments and the things that certainly Meghan is saying and Harry getting involved in politics decimates brand trust and brand relatability to so many Americans, certainly in red states and states favourable to Donald Trump. Even in blue states where you have conservatives who will view these two as out of touch celebrity elites who are whining about politics, when one has no basis to even vote and the other in many ways has abandoned America in part and disrespects 50% of America when she needs them. This is someone who wants to be in entertainment, and yet is willing to alienate half her audience. Its illogical, disrespectful and boneheaded from a business and brand perspective. Story continues WATCH: Meghan and Harry urge Americans to vote In the UK, theres been mixed reaction to a British prince offering comment on a US election, and some predict it will actually go down well with the general public. Nick Ede, a public relations and brand consultant, told Yahoo UK: I think that the newspapers and commentators will wade in on the controversial Sussex political comments, however Meghan has always been vocal about her political beliefs and her opinion on Donald Trump. As public figures residing in the USA I think that their silence would have been worse. l think the majority of people in the UK will be happy to hear that they are using their fame to encourage voting. They are doing what many other Hollywood celebrities (and thats what they are now) especially bi-racial like Meghan are doing, like Mariah Carey, John Legend. Meghan is from the USA and so it only feels right that she speaks up. I dont think public opinion of them will change, in fact it can only go in their favour. For their brand it shows they are opposed to someone like Trump which can only be a good thing. WATCH: Trump responds to Harry and Meghans political comments Read more: Will anyone watch Harry and Meghan on Netflix? Poll shows 64% of Brits are not interested at all The couple moved to California in March and in September announced they had signed a multi-million pound multi-year deal with Netflix, to make documentaries, scripted series and childrens programming. On how the statements could impact their work with Netflix, Schiffer said: There is a limited appetite for their names on shows except perhaps with some that are scouring for content or others that may be bedazzled by the royal glow that occurs with anything that comes out of Buckingham Palace, even though they have been disowned. I do think they will have a base of some level, but you cant be decimating the base with moves that enter into politics unless you think that your base is only going to be on the left. And perhaps they do, and there is a big portion of the audience who would be more inclined to be favourable to them. I really think they are choosing to follow their own passions instead of thinking strategically. A YouGov poll in the UK found more than 60% of people were not interested at all in Harry and Meghans Netflix programming, and a Tatler survey found two-thirds think they should be stripped of their titles. Despite the couples politics potentially putting off millions of people in the US, Schiffer said there could still be a big enough global market - and that it wouldnt be so dangerous to discuss the American president elsewhere. Theres a perception they are only going to be in America, but Netflix understands that this is a global brand they are buying into and they will be pervasive across many different countries and demographics of people, he said. Frankly, outside of the United States, Donald Trump is not popular, in fact, hes the opposite. Their politics plays to an international audience but it cuts off 40-45% of the United States audience. The president took a shot at Meghan Markle and did a royal flush of her brand. That doesnt go unnoticed. It will be echoed throughout the chambers of the conservative press. It will affect peoples behaviour. But internationally, them entering into politics wont do anything, if anything it will engender them and have them be more embraced, more relevant to an international audience who largely look at Trump as the evil empire leader. Hes not a popular figure. Harry and Meghan in Australia in 2018. The couple now lives in California. (Reuters) After the Time 100 video of Harry and Meghan was released on Wednesday 23 September, a source close to the duke told PA that Harry was not talking about any candidate or specific campaign. But Schiffer said: I think you would have to be living in a cave in Afghanistan to not understand that they have political leanings against Donald Trump. Their desire to get people to vote comes loaded with this underlying message, vote for Joe Biden and stay away from Donald Trump. In their minds, what they are trying to advocate for is this values systems which is: dont create a lot of negative or harmful messaging, or hatred or propagating a culture that is caustic and creates a level of scrutiny that would cause continued pain on behalf of Harry and Meghan. There is some emotional unresolved issues that are playing out in their desire consistent with having the president be out, through motivating people to vote, which is a fascinating examination of their own psychology. Read more: Are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle breaking royal protocol by urging Americans to vote? Harry and Meghan carried out their final royal engagements in March 2020. (Reuters) Despite the criticism theyve faced, Schiffer predicted the couple will get more vocal, versus less, adding: They have made their choice and in many ways its non-royal, to get involved in these kinds of matters, which I think will backlash on them in brutal ways. In many ways, they are trying to be the wokerati, to the political audience that exists, and thats not their place. Its foolish and comes across entitled and out of touch, with this continued elitism aroma that exists around them. For many it will be a turn off. Despite Edes belief that Harry and Meghans political comments will go down well with the public in the UK, they have not been positively received by some royal watchers writing in the British press. In The Telegraph, American writer Helen Kirwan-Taylor said: For Harry a Brit who cannot even vote in this election to sit beside Meghan and sprout his opinions at such a volatile moment in US politics, has united everyone against them. Americans bought wholeheartedly into the royal soap opera; all they wanted to do is tune in for the next episode of the real life Crown. Even the dimmest of Americans understands that the British royals are paid to be quiet. Thats precisely what makes them alluring. DailyMail.com editor-at-large Piers Morgan has also been critical. On Twitter he said: Meghan & Harry can spout off about politics all they like, they just can't do it as royals. Meghan spoke about feminism during her time as a royal, like here in New Zealand in 2018. (AFP) Read more: Have your say: Should Harry and Meghan lose their royal titles? He added in a column: It's frankly outrageous for two members of the Royal Family to abuse their positions and embarrass their country in such a shameless way. And I would say exactly the same if they suggested a preference for Trump over Biden. Schiffer advised the couple to think again about their political statements, adding: They have got to focus on what they can do to contribute to society in ways that are not going to be creating a level of polarity with the public. So what do you do, you contribute to those who need help, you invest time with people who are suffering economically, many in the US are living paycheck to paycheck, some dont have health insurance, some are suffering because of COVID, give your time and money there, show you care through your actions. They have the spotlight and the resources, and if they care, put it back to the people. That would be more meaningful. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Catarina Demony (Reuters) Lisbon, Portugal Fri, September 25, 2020 09:44 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c471fd89 2 World Portugal,coronavirus,coronavirus-restrictions,COVID-19,pandemic,SARS-CoV-2,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus Free Portugal has extended measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic until at least mid-October, the government announced on Thursday, at a time an increase in the number of daily cases in the country continues to worry authorities at home and abroad. The whole country was put under a state of contingency on Sept. 15 and it will remain under it until Oct. 14, meaning gatherings continue to be limited to 10 people and commercial establishments must close between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Portugal, which has reported 71,156 cases so far, initially won praise for its response to the pandemic. Now, cases have crept back up, with the health authority reporting 802 cases on Wednesday, one the worst days since the beginning of the pandemic. "Numbers [of cases] have been growing for around five weeks," Cabinet Affairs Minister Mariana Vieira da Silva told a news conference, adding the government would re-evaluate the situation in two weeks. The government also decided on Thursday to extend the ban on festivals and similar events until the end of the year. The rise in coronavirus cases in Portugal, a nation of just over 10 million people, led various European countries to impose travel restrictions and warnings, which hurt the country's tourism-dependent economy. On Thursday, Germany added Greater Lisbon, where most coronavirus cases are concentrated, to the list of destinations to which it warned against travel. German tourists arriving in the Portuguese capital on Thursday morning mostly supported the measure. "I think the measures are definitely justified," Marcel Mora told Reuters at Lisbon's airport. "I will pay even more attention and when I return home I'll have to get tested." The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control placed Portugal on Thursday as one of the countries showing a "worrying trend" of coronavirus cases but still with "moderate risk". Courteney Cox celebrated seven years since her first date with boyfriend Johnny McDaid, on Thursday. The 56-year-old Friends actress shared a video, showing photos with the Snow Patrol musician over the years, to her 10.1m Instagram followers. '7 years ago today I had my first date with this incredible man,' she wrote in the caption. Seven years in heaven: Courteney Cox celebrated seven years since her first date with boyfriend Johnny McDaid, on Thursday, taking to Instagram to share memories together In the photos, the couple who became engaged six months after embarking on a relationship in 2013, cuddled up to each other over dinner and for selfies. They ended their engagement in 2015 and were spotting back together in 2016. 'And my life was changed forever,' she added in the caption. 'I love you J.' For the musician's 44th birthday in July, Courteney shared their virtual celebrations and explained that at the time they had been apart for '133 days' due to the pandemic. Ups and downs: The couple became engaged six months after embarking on a relationship in 2013, before calling off their engagement in 2015 but staying together Separated: For the musician's 44th birthday in July, Courteney shared their virtual celebrations and explained that at the time they had been apart for '133 days' due to the pandemic. One photo showed them surviving through Facetime calls Wishing a happy birthday over video chat she wrote 'It's been 133 days since we were last together. Covid sucks.' 'Happy Birthday J. I loved our lunch/dinner (LA/London time) zoom date today,' she wrote at the time. 'I miss you madly. ' Courteney concluded, adding the sweet hashtag #myone. Courteney has hunkers down during this period of pandemic in Los Angeles, California, with her daughter Cocowho she shares with ex David Arquettewhile Johnny weathers the storm in England. Different worlds: Courteney has hunkers down during this period of pandemic in Los Angeles, California, with her daughter Coco, while Johnny weathers the storm in England Love like never before: Back in 2016, Johnny told People : 'I dont know if you can put a label on what makes us work, but I know that Ive never loved like I love this woman, so if thats enough, then thats enough' The United States recently surpassed 200k deaths from the novel coronavirus and is nearing 7m cases with 6.99m currently recorded. While California's COVID-19 positivity rate has recently dropped the state has over 15k deaths and over 800k cases of the virus. The United Kingdom is faring better with the pandemic, reporting 416k cases and 41k deaths. Courteney and Johnny have never shied away from gushing over each other in the media. My person: Courteney told Jimmy Kimmel in 2019 'He's my guy, he's my one...Im from Alabama, so you dont really say partner unless youre in the same sex. Saying partner is difficult for me' Back in 2016, Johnny told People: 'I dont know if you can put a label on what makes us work, but I know that Ive never loved like I love this woman, so if thats enough, then thats enough.' 'Hes my partner, thats what he calls it, "my partner," the actress told Jimmy Kimmel in 2019. Adding: 'He's my guy, he's my one...Im from Alabama, so you dont really say partner unless youre in the same sex. Saying partner is difficult for me.' New Delhi: Bilkis Bano, the 82-year-old woman who had earned the moniker "Dadi of Shaheen Bagh" during the long protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the national capital, has said that PM Modi is like her son and that she prays for his long and healthy life. 'Bilkis Dadi' is also very elated to be named among the 100-most influential global personalities by Time magazine. "I am very happy that I was honoured in this manner. Although I did not expect this." the grandmother said. It may be recalled that along with Bilkis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, actor Ayushman Khurrana, biologist Ravindra Gupta and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai were on the list of `100 Most Influential People of 2020` that was released on Wednesday and features pioneers, artists, leaders, icons and titans who have had the most impact in 2020. Live TV "I have read only the Quran Sharif and I have never been to school but today I feel excited and happy. I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for also being included in this list. He is also my son. So what if I did not give birth to him, my sister has given birth to him. I pray for his long life and happiness," Bilkis Bano said. Bilkis Dadi, who along with two other grandmothers emerged as the face of NRC-CAA protest, hails from Hapur, Uttar Pradesh. Her husband died about eleven years ago and she currently lives in Shaheen Bagh with her daughters-in-law and grandchildren. On being asked about India`s fight against COVID-19, she said, "Our first fight is against coronavirus. The disease should be eliminated from the world." The family of Bilkis Dadi also expressed their excitement on her being recognised among the world`s most influential people including Prime Minister Modi. Two former leaders at the Holyoke Soldiers Home in Massachusetts were indicted Friday on criminal charges in connection with the COVID-19 deaths of nearly a dozen veterans, sister station WCVB reports. Former Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former Medical Director Dr. David Clinton were indicted following an investigation by the state Attorney Generals office. At least 76 veterans died with COVID-19 at the home and dozens more became infected beginning in March. Walsh, 50, and Clinton, 71, were the primary decision-makers during the outbreak of COVID-19 at the home. A controversial decision was made that month to combine positive and symptomatic veterans with healthy ones in an overcrowded unit, causing the virus to quickly spread. Officials have said the move was made due to staffing shortages. Walsh and Clinton were indicted on the charges of caretaker who wantonly or recklessly commits or permits bodily injury to an elder or disabled person (five counts for each defendant) and caretaker who wantonly or recklessly commits or permits abuse, neglect, or mistreatment to an elder or disabled person (five counts for each defendant). We began this investigation on behalf of the families who lost loved ones under tragic circumstances and to honor these men who bravely served our country, Attorney General Maura Healey said. We allege that the actions of these defendants during the COVID-19 outbreak at the facility put veterans at higher risk of infection and death and warrant criminal charges. Healey said the prosecution is principally focused on the March 27 decision to consolidate two dementia units into one, which resulted in the placement of symptomatic residents, including confirmed COVID-19-positive residents, symptomatic residents and asymptomatic residents within feet of each other, increasing the exposure of asymptomatic veterans to the virus. Officials allege that the decisions, which were ultimately the responsibility of Walsh and Clinton, were reckless and increased the likelihood that asymptomatic veterans at the facility would contract COVID-19 and put them at higher risk of death and harm. Healey alleges the facility decided to consolidate the two dementia units, totaling 42 residents, even though the two units contained residents with different COVID-19 statuses. Residents who were positive or symptomatic for COVID-19 were placed, six in a room, in dormitory style rooms that normally held four veterans. The residents thought to be asymptomatic were placed in nine beds in the dining room. However, Healey alleges that several of the residents that the facility categorized as asymptomatic were showing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 at the time of the consolidation or shortly thereafter. Beds in the dining room were just a few feet apart from each other and next to the room where confirmed positive residents were located, Healey said. Faleskies take on the dangerous mission? It was a rough morning, but we got it done, he said, stressing how important it was for him to finish the mission so the battalion wasnt separatedand even more exposedto enemy fire. Lisa Faleskie secretly gave Corona the citation. She said her husband is so humble, he never would have shared it. Likewise, he probably wouldnt have wanted the big fuss made over him, if hed known about the presentation ceremony beforehand. But then, humility was something else those involved had in common. When asked about the medals Corona had replaced for him, Tom Faleskie switched the focus to Corona, praising him for reaching the pinnacle of sergeant major, the highest rank for an enlisted man. Hes absolutely amazing, Faleskie said. When Hamilton was asked about his part in the event, he pointed to Corona and said, He did it all. When one of the Washington television reporters asked Corona to be interviewed on camera, he deferred to Hamilton. On Demand We have a new story every day on the front page of thephuketnews.com. Also like us on our Facebook page (facebook.com/thephuketnews) and be the first to watch all the new stories. Finally you can watch any segment, any time by going to thephuketnews.com/tv where all the stories are listed for you to enjoy. All our programs can be enjoyed in High Definition when watching on the internet. In-Room VDO Wu Yuwen (L) and Qu Xian at a scenic spot in Liuyang, Hunan Province [For China Daily] When two art students from different provinces received admission letters from the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, the story of the friendship they forged during the COVID-19 epidemic went viral online. Qu Xian, 17, is from Liuyang, Hunan Province, and Wu Yuwen, also 17, is from Wuhan, Hubei Province. They both came to Beijing last year to attend a preparatory school for the college entrance exam for art students. Qu said, "I came to the school in Beijing in June 2019, and she came a month earlier than me, but we did not get to know each other until December." In January, as the COVID-19 outbreak emerged, the preparatory school announced it was shutting down and asked students to go back home and study remotely. However, after Wuhan, then the epicenter of the virus, was placed in lockdown on Jan 23, Wu was unable to go back to her hometown. "Although the school in Beijing would provide necessities if students chose to stay, I was worried about her," Qu said. "She would be concerned about her parents and afraid of being alone in Beijing." Qu returned to Hunan and asked her parents if Wu could stay with the family so they could study together and help ease her anxiety. Her parents immediately agreed. However, Wu's parents were concerned their daughter would be a burden on her friend's family. Qu said her father convinced Wu's parents that it would be OK for her to stay. "They (my parents) picked up Wu at the airport and told Wu and her parents that we would provide the care and warmth she needed and asked her to enjoy herself as if she were in her own home," Qu said. In Good Hands In Wuhan, Wu's parents were working on the front line to curb the spread of the virus. Her father, Wu Hongyuan, a staff member at a middle school, was busy disinfecting and sterilizing buildings. Her mother, Yu Juan, a community worker, was distributing food and taking the temperatures of residents in communities. "We're grateful to the Qu family," Wu Hongyuan told Chutian Metropolis Daily. "Thanks to the great care they took of our daughter, we could devote ourselves to our work." Qu said her act of generosity came from her upbringing. "From childhood, my parents have influenced me profoundly, they taught me to be grateful to society and I have always wanted to do something for society," she said. Worrying that the Hubei girl would not be accustomed to Hunan cuisine, the Qu family learned to make new dishes such as fish-flavored pork, and bought hot dry noodles, a popular Wuhan snack, to make her feel at home. Qu also took Wu to try local delicacies, such as stinky tofu. "She fell in love with it," Qu said. At home, Qu and her parents would discuss the outbreak with Wu, who said she was comforted by talking about the situation in Wuhan. "At first I was worried about my parents and the hardship on the front line. But after learning more about the situation, I felt greatly relieved," Wu said. The two girls spent nearly two months living and studying together, until Wuhan lifted the lockdown in early April and Wu returned home by train. Last month, Wu's family drove 350 kilometers from Wuhan to Liuyang to meet Qu and her parents and thank them for looking after their daughter. The same month both girls received their admission offers, meaning they will spend four years on campus together at the academy in Beijing. Wu said: "I have been admitted to the faculty of fine arts, while Qu was admitted to the faculty of architecture. I want to get to know more friends who are interested in the arts, and make every day in college fulfilling. In the future, I might want be a curator or work in museums." Qu said she has dreamed about being an architect, and her favorite exponent is the Japanese architect Toyo Ito. All admissions to the academy began online lessons from Aug 27. The new semester will begin on Oct 12, when the two girls will have the chance to reunite on campus. (Source: China Daily) Safety in the Workplace also Includes Mental Health COVID-19 and social unrest impacting American employees. While much of the focus in occupational health and safety continues to be on the physical condition and wellbeing of American employees, another health issue has rapidly emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic mental health. With more social isolation, employment losses and downturns, and added safety procedures in the workplace to maintain physical wellbeing, Americans are faced with change and uncertainty, and its beginning to take its toll. Adding to that, the national protests this summer over the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others at the hands of law enforcement officers have led to a growing recognition of how race and systemic racism can impact the overall mental health of people of color. More employers are rising to the challenge and taking action to help support the mental health of their employees, particularly those in vulnerable communities, despite physical distancing requirements that continue to keep the workplace separated. In recent findings from Morneau Shepells Mental Health Index, a monthly measure of American employees mental health, key insights came to light about how race and mental health intersect in the workforce across the United States. This data is critical to help HR and company leaders chart a way forward on how they can develop valuable and supportive mental health programs for employees of color. Disparities in Perceptions of Racism in Society and Workplaces According to Morneau Shepells recent data, 74 percent of American employees believe that racism remains a problem in the United States, while 17 percent believe racism is a problem in their workplace. Non-white populations are significantly more likely to see racism in society and in the workplace. Breaking the data out across racial lines, additional disparities emerge. Nine out of 10 individuals identifying as Black strongly agree or agree that racism is a problem in U.S. society, followed by Arab/Middle Eastern/West Asian individuals (87 percent) and East Asian individuals (78 percent). In contrast, only 73 percent of those identifying as white strongly agree or agree that racism is a problem in the United States. Cocaine addiction is a chronic disorder with a high rate of relapse for which no effective treatment is currently available. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS, Inserm and the Paris Public Hospital Network (AP-HP) recently demonstrated that two gene mutations involved in the conformation of nicotinic receptors in the brain appear to play a role in various aspects of cocaine addiction. The results of the study were published in Progress in Neurobiology. There are approximately 18 million users worldwide, and cocaine is implicated in more than 50% of overdose deaths in the United States and 25% in France. It is also one of the only drugs for which there is no approved pharmacological treatment. Cocaine acts primarily in the brain by blocking the dopamine transporter, thereby increasing the concentration of this "pleasure" molecule in the reward system. But cocaine can also act directly on the nicotinic receptors1 in the brain. Several human genetics studies have recently suggested that a mutation in the gene encoding the 5 subunit of nicotinic receptors, hereafter referred to as '5SNP', already known to increase the risk of tobacco dependence,2 may conversely also confer "protection" against cocaine addiction. This mutation is highly present in the general population (approximately 37% of Europeans and up to 43% of the Middle Eastern population carry it), so it is important to determine how it affects cocaine addiction and, more generally, to better understand the role of the 5 nicotinic subunit in the effects of cocaine. Scientists of the Integrative Neurobiology of Cholinergic Systems Unit (Institut Pasteur/CNRS) began by evaluating the role of the 5 nicotinic subunit and the impact of the 5SNP mutation on various processes involved in the development of cocaine addiction in animal models. The results obtained were then used to characterize more specifically its impact on humans. The scientists observed that the 5SNP mutation reduces the voluntary intake of cocaine upon first exposures. "These preclinical data suggest that the mutation protects against cocaine addiction by modulating an early phase in the addiction cycle," comments Morgane Besson, one of the lead authors of the study. Working in collaboration with the Paris Public Hospital Network (AP-HP) and Inserm, the scientists then confirmed this significant effect in approximately 350 patients with cocaine addiction: those with the mutation exhibited a slower transition from first cocaine use to the emergence of signs of addiction. At the same time, the authors showed that a total absence of the 5 nicotinic subunit increased the risk of relapse after withdrawal in preclinical models. This led the scientists to identify another mutation in another nicotinic subunit, 4, associated with a shorter time to relapse after withdrawal in addicted patients. Taken together, these results elucidate the role played by both a highly frequent mutation in the 5 nicotinic subunit and the subunit itself in various stages of cocaine addiction. The research suggests that drugs modulating nicotinic receptors containing this 5 subunit could represent a novel therapeutic strategy for cocaine addiction. ### [1] Nicotinic receptors are located in the cell membrane and respond to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. They act like pores for communication between the cell's internal and external environment. Nicotinic receptors are important modulators of various functions in the central nervous system. Nicotine is an agonist for the receptors, meaning that it can act on these targets instead of acetylcholine. [2] Smoking cessation: a genetic mutation involved in relapse (CNN) -- A US ban on TikTok could start on Sunday. Maybe. There have been so many twists and turns in the saga of the app that each development can feel as fleeting as its 15-second videos. On Thursday, a US judge ordered the Trump administration to either postpone its ban on TikTok or respond by Friday afternoon to a request from the app's parent company, ByteDance, to temporarily block the ban. Beijing also still needs to weigh in on a deal that would see Oracle and Walmart invest in a new US-based entity, TikTok Global. And US President Donald Trump said Monday that American companies need to control the service, otherwise "we're not going to approve the deal." So the saga is far from over. But the outcome could set the tone for the future of US-China relations and create a precedent for businesses trying to navigate rising tensions between the world's two largest economies. Who will own TikTok? Trump has for weeks threatened to ban TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, on national security grounds unless an American company takes control of its US operations. TikTok has roughly 100 million users in the United States, and Trump claims the app gives Beijing access to the personal data of Americans. TikTok has denied those allegations. The company has said its data centers are located entirely outside of China and that none of that data is subject to Chinese law. Last weekend, Trump gave his blessing to a deal that would give Oracle and Walmart a combined 20% stake in TikTok Global, which would be headquartered in the United States and operate the app. Four of the company's five board members would be Americans, Oracle and Walmart said in a joint statement. ByteDance said in a statement that TikTok Global's board also "includes the founder of ByteDance ... as well as the CEO of Walmart." But there is still a lot of confusion over TikTok's proposed ownership structure should the deal go forward. While the initial announcement implied that ByteDance would continue to own the remaining 80% of TikTok, Oracle executive vice president Ken Glueck said on Monday that ByteDance will not own any part of the viral video app. "Americans will be the majority and ByteDance will have no ownership in TikTok Global," said Glueck. In a separate statement Monday, ByteDance claimed that TikTok would be "a 100% owned subsidiary of Bytedance." But a person familiar with the deal said that was inaccurate. According to the person familiar with the deal, TikTok Global will be partially owned by ByteDance's international and Chinese investors, but ByteDance itself will hold zero percent of the new company. Oracle and Walmart's investment will take US ownership of TikTok Global to just over half, with ByteDance's investors holding the rest. Who needs to sign off on the deal? Trump has positioned himself as the kingmaker of any TikTok deal, making clear that he must agree to the terms before anything is made official. If that seems unusual, it's because it is. While governments often vet pending deals to protect consumers from monopoly power, and often weigh national security when a merger is announced, Trump's deep involvement is a stark departure from how deals are typically finalized as is his move to compel a sale in the first place. "In the end, Trump is the X-factor," Dipayan Ghosh, the co-director of the Digital Platforms and Democracy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School, told CNN Business late last week. "Whatever he wishes will happen, no matter the merits of the related set of policies underlying the proposal." But the deal also needs the green light from Beijing. Last month, Chinese regulators introduced new rules that govern the sale of certain kinds of technology to foreign buyers a change that experts pointed out would likely require ByteDance to obtain government permission before selling TikTok to a foreign company. ByteDance has said that Oracle would be able to review the app's source code, but that the deal does not involve the transfer of its algorithms and technologies. Even so, the Chinese company said Thursday that it has applied to the Chinese government for a license to export its technology, according to a statement posted on an official Chinese social media account run by ByteDance. Officials from China's Ministry of Commerce confirmed to CNN Business that they had received the firm's license application. A source familiar with the negotiations told CNN Business earlier this week that ByteDance wasn't concerned about regulatory approval. But the deal has also received aggressive pushback from Chinese state media. State-run outlets are a powerful tool in the country's propaganda machine, and the various outlets and their editorials are often viewed as barometers of sentiment among senior officials. "US' highway robbery of TikTok completely violates market principles and the spirit of the rule of law. It is a distorted hegemonic behavior under the forced intervention of the US government," wrote the editorial board of the Global Times, a hawkish state-run tabloid. Friday's editorial was one of a few the publication released this week in opposition to the deal. "What the United States has done to TikTok is almost the same as a gangster forcing an unreasonable and unfair business deal on a legitimate company," the newspaper China Daily wrote in an editorial published Wednesday, which called the deal a "dirty and underhanded trick." I use TikTok. What does it mean for me? As the situation continues to evolve, TikTok's tens of millions of US users worry they could lose access to one of their favorite products. Under the terms of the threatened ban, people who already had TikTok on their phones could still post short videos of dances, fun recipes and comedy routines per usual, but no new downloads of the app would be allowed. US users also wouldn't be able to receive security patches or other updates, which could cause outages or glitches in the future. Though a ban has been averted for now, fears about restrictions have already sent TikTok downloads soaring. They rose 12% to 247,000 in the United States last Friday, compared to the day before, according to preliminary estimates from Sensor Tower, a research firm. Laura He, Selina Wang, Brian Fung, Charles Riley and Julia Horowitz contributed to this report. Google India Digital Services Pvt Ltd, which operates the GPay app, has told the Delhi High Court that it is allowed to share customers transaction data with third parties with the prior permission of NPCI and payment service providing (PSP) banks. The submission has been made by Google in its affidavit filed before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan in response to a PIL seeking action against 'Google Pay' (GPay) for allegedly violating the RBI's guidelines related to data localisation, storage and sharing. The high court on Thursday listed the matter for hearing on November 10 as the Centre and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have not filed their responses yet. Google, in its affidavit, hascontended that under the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) procedural guidelines, issued by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), apps like GPay are permitted to share customers transaction data with third parties and group companies with prior permission of NPCI and PSP banks. It has also said that GPay only stores ordinary customer data -- like name, address, email ID and transaction related details -- in accordance with the NPCI guidelines and not payment sensitive data like debit card number or UPI PIN. A customer's payment sensitive data is stored only on the servers of the PSP bank, it has claimed. The affidavit was filed in response to the petition byadvocate Abhishek Sharma who has sought a direction to Google not to share any data from UPI switch with any other party. Google has contended that it was complying with the NPCI procedural guidelines which govern functioning of all third party application providers (TPAPs) like GPay. It has also claimed that the petition was not maintainable as Sharma has available to him several alternate remedies like the customer care feature in the app or approaching the NPCI in accordance with the Payment and Settlement Systems Act of 2007 or asking RBI to exercise its supervisory jurisdiction. Google has further contended that there are other TPAPs like GPay, but the petition has been "selectively filed" against it. Sharma, in his plea, has also sought a direction to Google to give an undertaking to not store data on its app under UPI ecosystem and further not to share it with any third party, including its holding or parent company. The plea has claimed that the company was storing personal sensitive data in contravention of UPI procedural guidelines of October 2019, which allows such data to be stored only by PSP bank systems and not by any third party application. Google has denied the claim, saying customers' payment sensitive data is stored with the PSP banks and GPay only accesses it in accordance with the guidelines. It has also denied the allegation that it accesses customers' location to gain revenue from offering highly targeted or personalised advertising opportunities to advertisers. Also read: Paytm blames Google of discrimination after app removed from Play Store New Delhi : 5 army personnel are reportedly stuck down under a rapid flow of snow after an Indian Armys snow truck in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir caved in. Rescue operations are underway and further details are awaited for the same. Earlier too, an avalanche had hit an army camp in Gurez sector of Bandipora district near the Line of Control in which several soldiers were trapped. More than 20 people, including 15 army personnel, have died in avalanches in Gurez sector of Jammu and Kashmir since Wednesday caused due to fresh snow across Kashmir over the past four days. #FLASH J&K: Avalanche hits an Army post in Kupwara district; more details awaited ANI (@ANI_news) January 28, 2017 J&K: 5 army personnel hit by avalanche that struck Army post in Kupwara district; rescue operations by Army underway. ANI (@ANI_news) January 28, 2017 Four more bodies of army soldiers were recovered on Friday from avalanches hit Jammu and Kashmir's Gurez sector. Ten Army soldiers were killed when two avalanches struck an Army post and a patrol in Gurez sector on Wednesday. Also read: Kashmir avalanche: Soldiers' remains to be sent to their native places after weather clears Also read: J&K avalanche: Deceased soldier Devendra Soni was to go on leave, says family Rescue operations were launched and seven soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer were saved, the army official said. While seven personnel were rescued alive by the teams, the bodies of 10 soldiers were recovered on Thursday. Know more: J-K: Gurez sector Avalanche death toll rises over 20, 15 army personnel among dead For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. The financial company Investohills Vesta, together with investors from the European Union and the United States, has created the Investohills Helianthus $100 million seed fund to invest in the Ukrainian market of distressed debts, the company said on its website. According to the report, the first issue of shares of the relevant fund (in the amount of UAH 1 billion in June 2020) was approved by the National Securities and Stock Market Commission and distributed among investors. Investohills Vesta will manage the fund's activities in the interests of foreign investors, as well as provide them with a range of services in the field of redemption and collection of bad debts, litigation, storage and management of distressed and collateralized assets. "The Ukrainian bad debt market is interesting to foreign funds specializing in such investments. But they are stopped by Ukraine's specifics: weak protection of creditors' rights at the level of legislation and the judiciary. Investohills Group and the fund... has offered a full cycle of support for investment-attractive deals with bad debts," the founder and managing partner of the financial company, Andriy Volkov, said. According to the release, on August 19, 2020, the fund closed its first deal, having bought out a portfolio of troubled assets of VTB, Rodovid and Financial Initiative banks from the Deposit Guarantee Fund for UAH 1.314 billion. The public needs and deserves the fullest possible accounting of what happened May 30 between Jake Gardner and James Scurlock. Nebraska law creates an obstacle, but special prosecutor Fred Franklin and the Omaha police can step up. The fault line continues to widen between those who believe that Gardner defended himself by shooting and killing a marauding attacker amid protesting and vandalism and those who believe Gardner was a racist predator. We are among those who believe that the truth is more complex which is almost always the case in human events. As much information and transparency as possible is critical to building whatever slim bridge is possible toward civic understanding of this tragedy. Its also important to create a reasonably complete record in light of sudden national attention and politicization of the incident. Skyrmions are nanoscale vortices in the magnetic alignment of atoms. For the first time, PSI researchers have now created antiferromagnetic skyrmions in which critical spins are arranged in opposing directions. This state is shown in the artist's impression above. Nanoscale vortices known as skyrmions can be created in many magnetic materials. For the first time, researchers at PSI have managed to create and identify antiferromagnetic skyrmions with a unique property: critical elements inside them are arranged in opposing directions. Scientists have succeeded in visualising this phenomenon using neutron scattering. Their discovery is a major step towards developing potential new applications, such as more efficient computers. Whether a material is magnetic depends on the spins of its atoms. The best way to think of spins is as minute bar magnets. In a crystal structure where the atoms have fixed positions in a lattice, these spins can be arranged in criss-cross fashion or aligned all in parallel like the spears of a Roman legion, depending on the individual material and its state. Under certain conditions it is possible to generate tiny vortices within the corps of spins. These are known as skyrmions. Scientists are particularly interested in skyrmions as a key component in future technologies, such as more efficient data storage and transfer. For example, they could be used as memory bits: a skyrmion could represent the digital one, and its absence a digital zero. As skyrmions are significantly smaller than the bits used in conventional storage media, data density is much higher and potentially also more energy efficient, while read and write operations would be faster as well. Skyrmions could therefore be useful both in classical data processing and in cutting-edge quantum computing. Another interesting aspect for the application is that skyrmions can be created and controlled in many materials by applying an electrical current. "With existing skyrmions, however, it is tricky to move them systematically from A to B, as they tend to deviate from a straight path due to their inherent properties," explains Oksana Zaharko, research group leader at PSI. Working with researchers from other institutions, Dr Zaharko and her team have now created a new type of skyrmion and demonstrated a unique characteristic: in their interior, critical spins are arranged in opposite directions to one another. The researchers therefore describe their skyrmions as antiferromagnetic. In a straight line from A to B "One of the key advantages of antiferromagnetic skyrmions is that they are much simpler to control: if an electrical current is applied, they move in a simple straight line," Zaharko comments. This is a major advantage: for skyrmions to be suitable for practical applications, it must be possible to selectively manipulate and position them. The scientists created their new type of skyrmion by fabricating them in a customised antiferromagnetic crystal. Zaharko explains: "Antiferromagnetic means that adjacent spins are in an antiparallel arrangement, in other words one pointing upwards and the next pointing downwards. So what was initially observed as a property of the material we subsequently identified within the individual skyrmions as well." Several steps are still needed before antiferromagnetic skyrmions are mature enough for a technological application: PSI researchers had to cool the crystal down to around minus 272 degrees Celsius and apply an extremely strong magnetic field of three tesla roughly 100,000 times the strength of the Earth's magnetic field. Neutron scattering to visualise the skyrmions And the researchers have yet to create individual antiferromagnetic skyrmions. To verify the tiny vortices, the scientists are using the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source SINQ at PSI. "Here we can visualise skyrmions using neutron scattering if we have a lot of them in a regular pattern in a particular material," Zaharko explains. But the scientist is optimistic: "In my experience, if we manage to create skyrmions in a regular alignment, someone will soon manage to create such skyrmions individually." The general consensus in the research community is that once individual antiferromagnetic skyrmions can be created at room temperature, a practical application will not be far off. Parliamentary Affairs Minister on Friday squarely blamed opposition parties for the ruckus in Rajya Sabha earlier this week and said actions of their MPs like climbing on the secretary general's table and tearing the rule book called for punishment. The opposition should introspect why their MPs, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, were absent during the session. Rather than resorting to theatrics, they should have countered the government with numbers, Joshi told PTI. Those not having any faith in Gandhian principles sat in front of the Gandhi statue to protest on the orders of "naqli (fake) Gandhis", he said in an apparent reference to the Nehru-Gandhi family. Rajya Sabha witnessed tumultuous scenes during the passage of two agricultural reform bills Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 on Sunday. Objecting to the manner in which the farm bills were being passed, opposition members stormed the Well of the House, tore papers, climbed on tables, shouted slogans, and even threw the rule book at Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who was presiding at that time. Eight opposition MPs were suspended by Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Monday for "unruly behaviour". Protesting the decision, these MPs spent the night in the lawns near Mahatma Gandhi's statue in the Parliament complex. "It was a black day in the history of independent India and blot on the Opposition," Joshi said. Standing on the secretary general's table, tearing the rule book, damaging the Chair's mic and attacking the marshals, all these actions of these MPs called for punishment. "It is strange that those who don't believe in Gandhian principles, which was proved by their conduct in the House, sat on a dharna in front of his statue on the orders of fake Gandhis," he said. Condemning opposition MPs for attacking Harivansh, Joshi said the Congress and other opposition parties are frustrated with the rise of Prime Minister and have lost their balance. Citing the attendance register of Rajya Sabha, Joshi said a large number of opposition members were absent during the discussion on the farm bills in Rajya Sabha. "Rather than resorting to theatrics, the opposition should have countered the government with numbers," he said, claiming that out of the total 182 members present in the House during the passage of bills, 110 were from the NDA. "The opposition parties should introspect why a large number of their MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, were absent during the session," he added. With the blessings of people and under the leadership of Modi ji, the BJP-led NDA will hopefully be able to pass all bills in Rajya Sabha till 2024, Joshi said. "The opposition cannot dictate terms to us. So for sake of a healthy democracy, they should participate in discussion and cooperate in smooth functioning of Parliament," he said. The opposition parties had boycotted Parliament proceedings against alleged violation of procedures by the government while passing the farm bills. (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.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 23:42:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HAIKOU, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Secretariat Haikou Office was inaugurated in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, on Friday. "We open the Secretariat's Haikou Office to recognize the valuable contributions of Hainan Province over the past 20 years. The office reaffirms and reinforces our commitment to the development and prosperity of the province and its people. I look forward to more productive cooperation between Hainan and the forum as the office goes into operation," said Ban Ki-moon, chairman of the BFA. Former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who is a member of BFA Council of Advisors, said that the BFA is a tremendous asset for Hainan, as it gathers global ideas and has promoted the balanced development of Hainan, Asia and the entire world. "I do hope this brand-new initiative of establishing a BFA Haikou office will greatly enhance the close collaboration between Boao Forum for Asia and Hainan Province," he said. In May, the Secretariat of the BFA signed a memorandum of understanding with the provincial government of Hainan on establishing the BFA Secretariat Haikou Office to gather more international resources and contribute to the development of the Hainan free-trade port. Enditem Residents of Shuhyen in the New Juanbeng north municipality of the Eastern region have vowed to vote against Npp Led Government on December 7 2020. Speaking to journalist Kamal Ahmed, the Dwellers of Shuhyen said their town is the stronghold of the NPP in the municipality but our road has been left for more than 5 years without Tarring them. When it rains, we find it difficult to ply the road. They added Nana Addo should come to our aid immediately if he needs our vote else we will turn down on him this year. One of the natives said due to the poor nature of their road, it difficult to travel out in the evening. No driver wants to ply our road at night. She discloses. We are Appealing to Hon. Agyei Boateng, the member of Parliament for New Juanbeng north to tarred our road before election else we will show him pepper. Story by Kamal Ahmed SUHYHEN, E/R Irish Water, working in partnership with Offaly County Council, is progressing with water main improvement works along the L10104 in Clonin, to improve the security of supply and reduce high levels of leakage in the area. The works involve the decommissioning of over 650 meters of old and problematic water mains which are prone to frequent bursts, and replacing them with over 700 metres of new high density, polyethylene (plastic) pipes. The works will also involve laying new water service connections from the public water main in the road to customers property boundaries and connecting it to the customers water supply. Where the existing service connections on the public side are lead, these will be replaced as part of the improvement works. To facilitate the safe delivery of these works, some traffic management will be in place, however, local and emergency access will be maintained at all times. The works may involve some short-term supply disruptions which we understand may cause inconvenience. The project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours notice prior to any planned water shut-offs. Irish Water and Offaly County Council regret any inconvenience these improvement works may cause. The works, which are scheduled to begin on Monday, 28 September, are being carried out on behalf of Irish Water by Ward and Burke Ltd. and are expected to be completed by November 2020. Speaking about the project Joe Carroll, Regional Lead with Irish Water, said These upgrades are part of a significant investment by Irish Water to upgrade the water network in Offaly. To date, as part of the Leakage Reduction Programme, we have delivered almost 25km of new water mains and improved the water supply for more than 28,000 customers in County Offaly since 2018. Replacing old, damaged pipes will reduce the instances of bursts and water outages and safeguard the water supply for homes and businesses now and into the future. "Our customer care helpline is open 24/7 on 1850 278 278 and customers can also contact us on Twitter @IWCare with any queries. For updates please visit the Water Supply Updates section of the Irish Water website. "This project is one example of how Irish Water is working in partnership with Offaly County Council to reduce leaks every day. Fixing leaks can be complicated with over 63,000km of water pipe in Ireland. Our national Leakage Reduction Programme will see 500 million invested up to the end of 2021 to reduce the level of leakage across the country by fixing and replacing old and damaged water mains. This will ensure a safe, reliable water supply which is vital for our health, our environment and our growing population and economy. For more information, please visit www.water.ie/reducingleaks . "Irish Water is working at this time, with our Local Authority partners, contractors and others to safeguard the health and well-being of both staff and the public and to ensure the continuity of critical drinking water and wastewater services. Irish Water would like to remind people to follow the HSE COVID-19 advice and ensure frequent handwashing." A screenshot of Attorney General Maura Healey during her press conference announcing the charges against the former leaders of the Soldiers' Home. Former Leaders of Soldiers' Home Charged with Negligence BOSTON The superintendent and medical director of the Holyoke Soldiers' Home are facing charges of neglect and bodily harm related to five veterans under their care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indictments were returned by a grand jury on Thursday against former Superintendent Bennet Walsh and medical director Dr. David Clinton. Each is facing 10 counts -- five each for criminal neglect and for serious bodily injury -- and face up to 10 years in prison on each charge. They are expected to be arraigned on these charges. "We are alleging that Walsh and Clinton were ultimately responsible for a decision on March 27 that led to tragic and deadly results," said Attorney General Maura Healey on announcing the charges on Friday. "Walsh and Clinton were responsible for the decision to combine 42 veterans, some COVID positive and others, not even showing any symptoms of COVID into a single unit that usually accommodates 25 beds." The outbreak at the Soldiers' Home in March is believed to have resulted in the loss of at least 76 lives. Walsh was removed in March and summarily fired in June after a damning independent report on conditions at the veterans home commissioned by the state. Earlier this week, a Hampden Superior Court judge ruled that Gov. Charlie Baker did not have the authority to remove Walsh and that it was up to the Board of Trustees. The board is expected to meet next week. "It's truly heartbreaking to think about how residents and staff suffered at this facility, from the time we became aware of this, we made it a priority we owed it to the families who lost loved ones and these veterans who served our country to get to the bottom of what happened," said Healey. The investigation launched in April, which included Medicaid fraud team investigators, spoke with more than 90 family members of veterans and others who called into the attorney general's office. The charges brought forth are related to the care of five veterans, three of whom contracted COVID-19 and one of whom died, and the home's decision to consolidate patients who showed symptoms of the disease with those who were asymptomatic. The novel coronavirus has proved deadly to the elderly and particularly those with underlying conditions. More than 6,000 of the state's 9,100 casualties were nursing home patients and nearly 25,000 residents and employees of long-term health-care facilities have been infected. "The home decided to put six or seven veterans in rooms that were meant to hold only four people," said Healey. "And because there wasn't enough space in these overcrowded rooms for all the veterans, the home placed nine beds in a dining room. ... "We allege that these five were asymptomatic, they were not showing any symptoms of COVID-19, before being moved into this consolidate unit, and we allege that that decision to move them those five into that unit was a decision that their risk of exposure and their risk of harm, and death." Walsh and his attorney have claimed that Walsh had done the best he could under the circumstances and that he was being made the scapegoat for the administration's failures as the pandemic took hold in the state. The attorney general said there are active investigations into the care provided other long-term care facilities in the state and that while the criminal case against Walsh and Clinton is based on them being "the ultimate decisionmakers" further charges related to the Soldiers' Home may be warranted if new evidence is uncovered. Healey said she had spoken with family members prior to announcement to express her sorrow and make them aware of the criminal charges. Washington, Sep 25 : The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced a proposed rule to require "a fixed period of stay" for international students, exchange visitors and foreign information media representatives. In a statement on Thursday, the DHS said that the new rule proposes to remove the duration of status framework that currently allows aliens in "F", "J" and "I" classifications to remain in the US for as long as they maintain compliance with the terms of admission, reports Xinhua news agency. Under the rule, "F" or "J" non-immigrants would be admitted into the United States for a period up to the end date of their program, not to exceed four years, unless the DHS determines that the non-immigrant is subject to a shorter period of authorized stay limited to two years, the Department said. It added that aliens from places associated with high visa overstay rates will be limited to up to a two-year fixed period of stay. For foreign information media representatives, the DHS suggested a time limit "necessary to complete the planned activities or assignments" not exceeding 240 days, with an opportunity to extend their stay for a maximum of 240 days based on the length of relevant activities. Other updates in the proposed rule include decreasing an "F" non-immigrant's period to prepare for departure from 60 to 30 days and collecting routine biometrics from "F" "J" and "I" non- immigrants seeking an extension of stay. The proposed change will be published in the Federal Register on Friday for public comments. Abbas seeks UN Mideast conference after Arab deals with Israel Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, reciting a prayer while wearing a face mask in Ramallah on September 3, 2020, has appealed for an international conference on the Middle East Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas appealed Friday to the United Nations for an international conference on the Middle East in 2021, hoping for a new start after US elections and the milestone of Gulf Arabs' recognition of Israel. In an address to the General Assembly, Abbas asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene the meeting on the Palestinian issue "early next year" and bring in "all relevant parties." "The conference should have full authority to launch a genuine peace process based on international law," Abbas told the virtual General Assembly in a recorded address. "It should aim to end the occupation and grant the Palestinian people their freedom and independence in their own state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and settle final-status issues, notably the refugee question," he said. Abbas made his appeal amid concerns among Palestinians of dwindling support in the Arab world for their decades-long campaign for an independent state. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain earlier this month agreed to recognize Israel, a major coup for the Jewish state and diplomatic win for US President Donald Trump. The two Arab states, while saying they still support a Palestinian state, share the concerns of Israel and the United States about neighboring Iran. Abbas said: "It is delusional to think that the Palestinian people could be sidelined." "You should all know that there can be no peace, no security, no stability or coexistence in our region without an end to the occupation and without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian question," he said. The Palestinian Authority has refused diplomatic efforts by Trump due to his administration's staunch advocacy of Israel. If Trump loses in November 3 elections, the conference sought by Abbas would take place under a US president Joe Biden, who is also a supporter of Israel but has vowed to promote a two-state solution. Story continues The Palestinians have also agreed to hold elections in early 2021 as the shock of the Gulf Arabs' moves sparks new talks of reconciliation between Abbas' Fatah movement and Hamas, the Islamist militant group that runs the Gaza Strip. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said the 84-year-old Abbas' speech "showed more than anything else that his time is up." "He understood that the peace agreements we have signed shattered the Palestinian veto over peace agreements with the Arab world and what was revealed to all was Palestinian refusal," he said. - Pope backs multilateralism - Pope Francis, addressing the world body for the first time in five years, distanced himself implicitly with Trump's "America First" ideology. "At present we are witnessing an erosion of multilateralism, which is all the more serious in light of the development of new forms of military technology," he said in his video address. "We need to break with the present climate of distrust," he said. He said the world faced a choice between multilateralism and a path towards nationalism, protectionism and isolation. "It excludes the poor, the vulnerable, and those dwelling on the peripheries of life," Francis said, warning that such a path would be "detrimental to the whole community." The pontiff also called for a relaxing of international sanctions, which he called harmful to civilians around the world. The UN General Assembly each year packs 10,000 world leaders, delegates and observers into a few congested stretches of New York, which becomes a hub for face-to-face diplomacy. Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, this year's summit is almost entirely virtual, with leaders sending in recorded addresses. The summit has nonetheless been characterized by angry exchanges between the United States and China. Trump used his speech on Tuesday to demand action against China over the "plague" of Covid-19, which he blamed on Beijing as it initially covered up news of the disease. China's ambassador to the United Nations hit back by questioning the competence of the United States, which has suffered the world's highest death toll. burs-sct/ch Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death just weeks ahead of the US presidential election has triggered a fierce battle at the Capitol and exposed the frailties of the country's justice system. Also this week, Covid-19 caused the UN to hold its first virtual General Assembly and France to impose deeply unpopular restrictions in hard-hit areas. In other news, we look at the continuing political deadlock in Lebanon, the trial of suspected accomplices in the January 2015 Paris attacks, the latest scandal roiling the financial world, and the death of iconic French singer Juliette Greco. ARTICLES Ginsburgs death sparks notorious divisions, exposes frailty of US judicial system Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgs mortality haunted liberals in recent years and the death of the countrys beloved RBG has exposed the frailties of the US judicial selection process. But can the worlds leading democracy shed the American exceptionalism woven into its national DNA and heed the lessons? Paris terror attacks trial recalls terror and cruelty of kosher store rampage The gunman who stormed a Paris kosher supermarket in a gruesome attack in January 2015 had no empathy whatsoever, a former police chief told a court in the French capital this week, as victims and their loved ones relived the horror of the final chapter in a three-day killing spree that shocked the world. Paris thinks were small fry: Marseille seething over order to shut bars and restaurants The French governments highly publicised efforts to decentralise the countrys Covid-19 response ran into the sand on Thursday as politicians and business leaders in Marseille responded furiously to the closure of the citys bars and restaurants, saying they had not been consulted. Lebanon's Shiite parties stall formation of new government The Shiite bloc, composed of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, are stalling the formation of Lebanon's new government by insisting that the Finance Minister post be given to a person from their community. Their stance has isolated them from the rest of the country's political class, as well as Hezbollah's Christian ally, President Michel Aoun. Story continues World should not be dominated by US-China 'rivalry', Macron tells UN World leaders must not let themselves be dominated by a geopolitical power struggle between the US and China, French President Emmanuel Macron told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday as the annual global diplomatic gathering went online amid the Covid-19 pandemic. VIDEO REPORTS 'It was the most horrible four hours of my life,' says survivor of Hyper Cacher attack Zarie Sibony was working as a cashier at a Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris when it became the scene of a gruesome attack and hostage-taking by a jihadist gunman in 2015. She spoke to FRANCE 24 ahead of her hearing in the trial of 14 suspects accused of aiding the gunmen in the January 2015 Paris attacks The Gluers: French group denounces femicide with a poster campaign Over the past year, anti-femicide posters have been appearing on walls all around France and across Paris. The campaign, which denounces violence against women and aims to raise awareness, has been praised but also criticised. FRANCE 24 met some members of the Gluers group running the campaign. Whale beachings puzzle scientists as hundreds die in Australia mass stranding Some four hundred whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia, an occurence that continues to bafflle scientists. One key factor appears to be whales' tight social cohesion: the bond between them is so strong that even once they are rescued, many turn around and beach themselves again. THE INTERVIEW 'In some areas, IS group activities are increasing,' says Iraqi FM Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Fuad Hussein spoke to FRANCE 24 about the challenges facing his country and the whole region. He said the Islamic State (IS) group was still a threat and that the number of IS group fighters and their networks was higher than a recent UN estimate of 10,000 in Iraq and Syria. ENCORE! Tributes to Juliette Greco: 'Her life was like no other' She personified the spirit and style of post-war Paris with a career spanning more than seven decades. Music critic Marjorie Hache tells us about the legacy of actress and singer Juliette Greco, who died this week aged 93. Venice in times of Covid-19 Venice is widely considered to be the centre of European art and architecture. But after six months of Covid-19, including three months of lockdown that crushed the tourism industry, our culture editor Eve Jackson visits the city to find out how it's changed. FOCUS On patrol with Nigeria's 'Agro Rangers', who protect farmers from Boko Haram The rainy season is the best time to grow rice and corn in Borno, one of Nigeria's agricultural regions, but farmers are frequently targeted by Boko Haram attacks. In a bid to improve security, teams of so-called "Agro Rangers" were set up a year ago by authorities. Our correspondent Moise Gomis went on patrol with them on the outskirts of Maiduguri and elsewhere in Borno. EYE ON AFRICA Kenya's top judge demands dissolution of parliament over lack of women lawmakers Kenya's top judge has advised President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve the country's male-dominated parliament, saying lawmakers have failed to meet a constitutional provision which would allow for one-third of seats to be occupied by women. THE 51 PERCENT French doctors fight proposed government ban on virginity certificates A controversial debate rages in the French medical community as the government prepares to pass legislation that would punish doctors who issue certificates of virginity to young women. We also look at how a group of Israeli teenage girls campaigning for the right to wear shorts to school has triggered a national debate on the growing influence of religion in the country. PEOPLE & PROFIT Dirty money: FinCEN scandal rocks global banking sector Another financial scandal rocks the banking world, sending shares tumbling. After nearly a decade of leaks, what lessons have we learned? Also in this week's show, contact-tracing apps could help contain the coronavirus pandemic but how to convince the public to use them? We speak to the developer of Ireland's breakout system about its success. Senator Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said he didn't think Donald Trump's comments about challenging the 2020 election results were 'overly extreme.' (Getty Images) While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised an orderly transition of power after the presidential election in November if Democrat Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump, other Republican lawmakers defended the presidents controversial comments from Wednesday declining to say whether that would happen. At a White House press conference on Wednesday, Mr Trump repeatedly declined to say whether he would peacefully hand over power to Mr Biden if voters choose the Democratic ticket. Instead, he said hell have to see what happens, re-upped his attacks on the integrity of mail-in ballots, and confirmed he plans to challenge the results of an election night loss all the way up to the Supreme Court over claims of voter fraud. Millions of Americans have voted by mail in past elections with no more than a handful of cases of election fraud. In a tweet on Thursday, Mr McConnell pushed back on Mr Trumps equivocations about a peaceful transfer of power. The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792, the majority leader wrote. Earlier in the day, House Republican Conference chairwoman Liz Cheney also minced no words about the post-election process. The peaceful transfer of power is enshrined in our Constitution and fundamental to the survival of our Republic. Americas leaders swear an oath to the Constitution. We will uphold that oath, the Wyoming congresswoman, who is the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, tweeted early in the morning on Thursday. But Mr McConnell and Ms Cheney dont represent a monolith of thought on the matter among GOP lawmakers, some of whom defended the presidents statements. I didn't find what he said last night to be overly extreme, North Dakota Republican Senator Kevin Cramer told reporters on Thursday. I just thought that he's making the point that we'll see what happens after the election, and what he doesn't want to do that I think they'd like to bait him into doing is conceding the election now. Story continues Other Republicans pointed to comments earlier this year from 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton urging Mr Biden not to concede to Mr Trump on Election Day under any circumstances. Ms Clinton said she is confident the Biden campaign team is putting together a massive legal operation to ensure Republicans dont mess with legal mail-in ballots to fudge the election results. Mr Trump has said multiple times this week that he plans to challenge the results of the election in court if he loses, on the basis of mail-in voter fraud. Study after study has shown virtually no large-scale voter fraud in the US in recent elections. Were going to have to see what happens. You know that Ive been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster, Mr Trump said at his press conference on Wednesday, which he later abruptly exited to take an emergency phone call. When the reporter who asked the initial question about a peaceful transfer of power persisted in trying to get an answer out of Mr Trump, the president doubled down on his unsubstantiated claims about rampant election fraud, a crime he has urged his own supporters to commit. In an interview with Fox News Radio on Thursday, however, the president admitted he would accept the Supreme Courts ruling on the election results. Oh, that I would agree with. But I think we have a long way before we get there. These ballots are a horror show, he said, again casting doubt on the perfectly legal process of voting by mail. Read more Trump says he could block FDA request for stricter Covid vaccine safety 2020 election: Trump will only accept Supreme Court decision on results as he rails against mail-in ballots Biden news - live: Hundreds of national security officials sign letter backing Democrat Supreme Court vacancy: Biden warns womens rights will be gone if Republicans seat rumoured nominee 2020 election: Hundreds of ex-national security officers endorse 'honest' Biden over 'disdainful' Trump The Spanish government's Health Minister, Salvador Illa, has recommended that regional authorities lock down all municipalities with a 14-day cumulative incidence of Covid-19 of more than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. This would apply, as well as to Madrid, to areas such as Fuenlabrada (Madrid), Lucena (Cordoba), Getafe (Madrid), Pamplona (Navarra) or Palencia (Castilla y Leon), among others. His message, given at a press conference on Friday, was mainly directed at the president of the region of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, who only announced new partial confinement measures for eight more districts of Madrid, as well as the 37 affected by restrictions on movement into other districts since last Monday. District restrictions The restrictions in place in the capital this week prohibited all non-essential travel outside the locked-down district, although residents have been allowed to go to work, school and attend to other commitments. The minister also called for eating at drinking at the bar to be banned in establishments in Madrid and for terraces to be limited to 50 per cent of their capacity. He called on the authorities to do more to raise awareness among the general public of the need to make only essential journeys. Illa said that the regional authority in Spain's capital "must act with determination to take control of the pandemic in Madrid and short cuts won't work". He also admitted, however, that the Health Ministry can only offer recommendations, and that regional authorities must "decide". Local incidence rates The 14-day cumulative case incidence figure per 100,000 inhabitants in Andalucia on Friday was 158 and in Malaga province 186. If the 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants advice was followed for every municipality in the country, however small, five villages in Malaga province would be closed: Guaro, Jimera de Libar, Sayalonga, Serrato and Sierra de Yeguas. Other municipalities with higher incidence rates in Malaga province on Friday were Marbella with 374, Coin with 352, and Ronda 327, among others. The rate for Malaga city was 146. The Asian Development Bank said the slowdown in the garment and construction sectors continued to pose a risk to the economy, estimating a four percent contraction in its latest Cambodia update. In September, the ADB had revised its April estimate of a 5.5 percent contraction in the economy, severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, to a slightly better four percent contraction. On Wednesday, the ADB released a statement stating that while bicycle and electronics production remained buoyant, the critical garment and construction sectors were a cause for concern. Another risk, the development bank said, would be from a poor wet season harvest, owing to low rainfall in June and July, and the likelihood of subdued consumer demand. A sharp drop in orders from Europe and North America has temporarily closed about a third of GTF (garment, textile, and footwear) factories, and the pandemic has slowed construction, ADB said in the September update of the Asian Development Outlook 2020. Sunniya Durrani-Jamal, the ADBs Cambodia country director, said on Wednesday the economy was expected to rebound in 2021, projecting a 5.9 percent growth in GDP, which is closer to the countrys pre-coronavirus growth rate of around seven percent. The ADB estimated that the service sector will drop 15.1 percent, on account of a massive drop in tourist arrivals, leading to the shutdown of some 3,000 tourism businesses and the layoff of some 45,000 workers in the industry. The development bank said there have been concerns the pandemic could destabilize the financial industry or rapidly deplete foreign exchange reserves but that a widening current account deficit had been offset by capital inflows that had ensured stable reserves. The World Bank said in June that Cambodias $18.7 billion foreign exchange reserves would experience a 10-percent drop this year amid the Cambodian governments injection of some $1.176 billion stimulus package to offset the dual impacts of the pandemic and the EUs partial withdrawal of Cambodias trade privilege status. Finance Ministry spokesperson Meas Soksensan said the government was confident in its projection of a 1.9 percent contraction this year, adding it was mindful of managing the current account balance and foreign exchange reserves. 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. When I look out to this crowd, I see four more years of President Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle told a Lehigh Valley audience Thursday. Guilfoyle, a former prosecutor and Fox News host, was in Palmer Township as part of a Women For Trump rally outside the American Legion Brown and Lynch Post No. 9, off Corriere Road. The visit to the battleground state of Pennsylvania came 40 days before voters decide if Republican President Donald Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden will lead the country for the next four years. Guilfoyle addressed a crowd of more than 100 women and men, most wearing red, white and blue and various Trump campaign hats, buttons and other apparel. We are seeing enthusiasm from all of these people across the country that love President Trump and they want to reward him with four more years because we love the U.S.A.! Guilfoyle yelled to cheers. Attendees had to register for Thursdays event. A man in a Biden T-shirt and two women holding signs backing the former vice president and his running mate, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, were kept at the edge of the property. There were some boos toward the trio, and a woman in the crowd yelled, Come to the light, well let you in. As Guilfoyle was speaking, a man hollered, Say hello to the Biden people." After speaking a bit of Spanish, Guilfoyle said, We will be winning this state." Two hours before Guilfoyle arrived, Dan Dwyer and his wife Nelda were wearing their Trump 2020 hats and sitting as close as they could get to the podium, surrounded by a sea of empty chairs. Dan Dwyer said he has been to at least 10 rallies and plans to attend another on Saturday. The Macungie couple camped out for 29 hours in freezing temperatures for the rally in January in Wildwood, New Jersey. We love Donald Trump, he said. At the rallies and events, everybody is talking the same language. Everybody is supportive of Donald Trump and his policies, and what hes doing for the country. Whereas the other side, they dont even know their candidate. All they know is they hate Donald Trump and anything he stands for, and theyre against it." Dan Dwyer was wearing a T-shirt that said, Hell yeah! I voted Trump and will do it again 2020," while his wifes said, Jesus is my savior/Trump is my president. The Lehigh County man said he likes that Trump has brought back the economy and the presidents stance on immigration. Build that wall, thats his main theme right there, he said of Trump. Nelda Dwyer and her three sisters immigrated to America legally, while those that immigrate illegally they roll out the red carpet for them. I dont understand why they get everything free," Dwyer said. A new poll released Thursday by Franklin & Marshall College shows Biden with a 6-point advantage over Trump in Pennsylvania. Dwyer put little credence in polling, since polls shows Hillary Clinton winning in 2016. You see how that worked out, he said. Dan Dwyer, of Macungie, has been to 10 Trump rallies and is going to another on Saturday. His shirt says Hell yeah! I voted Trump and will do it again 2020 pic.twitter.com/4lmQBVhchR Sarah Cassi (@SarahCassi) September 24, 2020 Lisa Scheller, who is running against U.S. Rep. Susan Wild in Pennsylvanias 7th Congressional District covering the Lehigh Valley, was one of the speakers before Guilfoyle took the stage, and earned a standing ovation from the crowd. Scheller spoke of her experience as a local business owner and a former Lehigh County commissioner. Wild and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi want to take our personal liberty, they want to take our freedom and they want to swap it out by legislating themselves a road to socialism, Scheller said. On her Twitter account, Guilfoyle first describes herself as a mother, sister, patriot and proud American. But Thursdays stop was part of her work as chief fundraiser of Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee, and a senior Trump campaign adviser. She spoke on the first night of the Republican National Convention and estimated Thursday was her 27th visit to the Keystone State. Guilfoyle is in a relationship with Trumps oldest son, Don Jr., and the couple has made campaign stops together, including last month at Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays in North Whitehall Township. Guilfoyle, in a dress the same color as the Women for Trump sign behind her, touched on numerous topics during her half-hour speech, from improving the economy and stopping child sex trafficking, to Trump brokering peace in the Middle East and putting America First. She repeated a lot of Trump talking points, including that Biden, Harris and the rest of the socialist/communists want open borders, closed schools, closed churches, dangerous amnesty for people who immigrate illegally to the U.S, and they want to suffocate our economy with a $4 trillion dollar tax hike." Guilfoyle also repeatedly referenced business and school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, a sore spot in Pennsylvania politics. Thats thing with liberal privilege and liberal hypocrisy. Its one set of rules and one set of rules for all the rest of us, the hardworking for folks. Whether its Nancy Pelosi, who wants business closed but only open for her for a (hair) blowout. I gotta tell ya, Nancy, you can have all the blowouts you want when we take the gavel out of your hand and take back the House!" she said. The president wants to open back up America for business, and hes doing so responsibly -- responsibly -- and doing a great job of it. At the end of her speech, before Guilfoyle could say the line she has become known for, a man stood up in the crowd and filmed himself yelling, The best is yet to come! He did it again, filming himself with Guilfoyle in the background after she left the stage and was mobbed by people seeking pictures and autographs. Kim we love you! one woman yelled, while another said, Shes so pretty!" The Swing County, Swing State project is being generously supported in part 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. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. The advent of fall ushers in a variety of seasonal foods from apple cider doughnuts and pumpkin spice Oreos to sweet potato pie and for many Asians and Asian Americans, it also means the arrival of the ubiquitous mooncake. Mooncakes are the hallmark food of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a cultural and religious holiday that is celebrated during the fall harvest. The pastries are eaten around the time when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and brightest. Theyre given as gifts to family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers and employees, a traditional gesture that accompanies family gatherings and public celebrations. Snow Skin Mooncake with Custard Filling by Maggie Zhu and Lilja Walter The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, which typically coincides with a date in August, September or October. This year, it will be celebrated on Sept. 21. Its observed as an official holiday in China, South Korea and Taiwan, but its also widely celebrated in other countries, like Japan, Singapore and Vietnam, where its known as Tet Trung Thu and is celebrated as a childrens festival. Snow skin mooncakes, like the two pictured, are no-bake pastries. (Courtesy Suzanne Nuyen) What are mooncakes? Mooncakes are a type of snack or dessert pastry with a sweet or savory filling. They are primarily round, to reflect the shape of the moon, but can also be square-shaped. Traditional Chinese mooncakes, specifically Cantonese-style mooncakes, are baked, golden-brown and molded or stamped on top with the name of the filling. Typical sweet fillings include sweet bean paste, lotus seed paste or red date (jujube) paste that envelops one or more mini salted and cured duck egg yolks. Some popular savory fillings include ham, Chinese sausage, roast pork and radish. Another traditional filling is mixed nuts and dried fruit. The fillings are enrobed with a layer of dough made with cake flour. The jury seems to be split when it comes to these rich treats. "I feel like mooncakes are a very polarizing food. You either love them or you hate them." Suzanne Nuyen, an editor, food blogger and former TODAY intern, told TODAY Food. But at the same time, she said, "I don't think the traditional mooncake will ever die out. There will still be a place for it. They've been around for so long." Story continues Sheng Kee Bakery's mooncakes are pressed with the flavor of each pastry on top. (Courtesy June Lin) Over the years, mooncakes have evolved and been filled with everything from alcoholic infusions, ice cream and jellies to red velvet, rum raisin and tiramisu. Snow skin mooncakes, which are chilled and made with a mochi-like dough, are also a popular alternative to baked mooncakes. Another mooncake growing in popularity is the pastry mooncake, which has a light, flaky puff pastry surrounding the egg yolk. Sheng Kee Bakery, based in Brisbane, California for the last four decades, ships baked mooncakes to all 50 states and also offers nontraditional baked goods like tea mooncakes and egg yolk, green bean and taro pastries. Photo of two round shaped foods on dark background (MKK / Li Kong) Mooncakes range in size from large to small. Sheng Kees marketing director, Arthur Kao, whose family also owns the bakery chain, told TODAY, Our large mooncakes, in terms of diameter, is almost two and a half to three inches across and about an inch and a half to two inches tall. It's a pretty large size mooncake (but) the trend is actually moving away from large mooncakes and going more towards small mooncakes and other pastries. Nuyen has been making mooncakes for a few weekends out of the year with her mother and sister for the last nine to 10 years, and her familys mooncakes are 200 grams or about three inches in diameter. They very comfortably fit in the palm of your hand, she said. One of Nuyen's baked mooncakes with a nontraditional pressed lattice pattern. (Courtesy Suzanne Nuyen) Nuyen and her family sell their limited-batch mooncakes to friends and customers in the Chicago-area through word of mouth. Their business has grown significantly since Nuyen started her food blog, Bun Bo Bae. Weve sold between like 100 to 250 (mooncakes) every weekend, sometimes more, sometimes less," she said. In 2019, Nuyen estimated that they sold between 250-300 mooncakes each week for five weeks. What's the meaning behind mooncakes? The central theme surrounding mooncakes and the Mid-Autumn Festival is that of community. Kao said, For a lot of Asian Americans, for all of us who are born here, and also came here, the Mooncake Festival means a lot to us. Its like our Thanksgiving, time to hang out as you would, stress-free with your family and really share that space. For Nuyen, the holiday is a special time to spend with family. Mid-Autumn, like a lot of holidays that are important to my culture, is all about family. So the most fun part is getting to see my mom every year ... There's nothing more valuable than getting to see my mom for that amount of time and connecting with her through her heritage. In Vietnam, it's a children's holiday. And people will light lanterns and kids will go out for the parade. And it's been a lot of fun seeing what the holiday means for different Asian cultures. I don't think it's a children's holiday in China. It's just all about spending time with your family and celebrating the start of autumn and admiring the big, full moon. Nuyen also compared the tradition of gifting mooncakes to that of Christmas fruitcake. We all buy them and give them to each other during the mid-autumn season, but you know, not everyone wants to receive a mooncake," she said. Maggie Zhu has been experimenting with different mooncake recipes in her home kitchen. (Courtesy Maggie Zhu) Maggie Zhu, a recipe developer, photographer and the food blogger behind Omnivores Cookbook, describes the holiday a little differently. I would compare Mid-Autumn Festival to Easter, she told TODAY. Zhu, who is originally from China and is now based in New York City, said, It's a little bit about family gathering and a little bit religious, and then there's the moon, that's when you have the full moon. It's one of those festivals in the middle of the year, leading to the big one (Chinese New Year). We would go to grandma's place. We gather, we cook something together and we share it, like we are gifting mooncakes but it's not as big as Chinese New Year," she explained. How do you make mooncakes? Making mooncakes from scratch requires patience many steps and plenty of time. "From start to finish, our dough from scratch at home, it would be probably seven to eight hours, but the way that we do it, we do it more production style," said Kao. "We make probably 1.3 to 1.4 million individual pieces a year. So for us, we've automated a lot of the painstaking processes. We do things in large batches. So it's the filling, we separate it from the whole process, I'd say, it would take probably a week to get a full batch ready to go." Mooncake fillings with egg yolks before they're combined with the outer dough layer. (Courtesy Suzanne Nuyen) Nuyen described the process as a four-day affair. "We do a different task on each day. So maybe the first day, we start cutting up all of the ingredients. Because the fruit, nut ones have so many different ingredients, we have to cut them all up to be the same size and so, that will take pretty much the entire day. And then the next day, we will start cooking down the bean paste fillings so that they can cool overnight. "And then day two, we will roll all of those fillings into balls to get ready to press them. We make our own salted egg yolks as well and those take five weeks of curing and salt water before we can crack them open, rinse the egg yolks off and bake them with a little bit of sesame oil and sugar. So that's a five-week process. Baked mooncakes are often filled with anywhere from one to four egg yolks, depending on the pastry size. (Courtesy Suzanne Nuyen) "We take the eggs people order one or two eggs we roll it up into a ball filling and that usually takes all day the second day. And then the third day, we take those fillings and we finally start wrapping them in the various doughs and putting them through presses and baking them," continued Nuyen. "So depending on how many orders we have, we might do only the baked ones, day three, and then only the snow skin ones, day four. And then day five, we package them all and ship them and then, after, the cakes have to cool overnight on racks as well before we can put them in." Zhu, who grew up eating mooncakes as a child, only made her first mooncake a few years ago, after months of recipe experimentation. A lot of Chinese baking is measuring the alkalinity and acid in different ingredients. It comes down to the chemical (properties) that actually have a certain ratio, and the (ingredients) react with the filling. Zhu uses a plastic mooncake press like this one that lends the pastries a floral pattern. (Courtesy Maggie Zhu) The traditional (mooncake), you'll keep that in room temperature for a long time. So the key is to have a good ratio of sweetness, like sugar, and the oil in the filling. The oil inside the filling has to be seeping out to the skin, because you want the soft texture for that type of mooncake. I'm not saying that that's my favorite but that's the feature of the traditional mooncake, and if it's not done right, then you've ended up with a dry mooncake. Making mooncakes at home allows you the freedom to adjust the ingredients to your taste, like the amount of sugar syrup used. Both Nuyen and Zhu agreed that homemade mooncakes are fresher, less sweet and baked mooncakes can even be less greasy. Zhu noted that "the thing about traditional mooncake is you're not supposed to eat it after you've just made it." She recommended waiting at least a couple of days to eat them after baking to ensure they're not dry. Mooncakes can be made in multiple batches with different fillings and pressed with different patterns. (Courtesy Maggie Zhu) Instead of the baked mooncake, Zhu recommends first-time mooncake-makers try out snow skin mooncakes. The snow skin dough is similar to mochi and is a little bit more approachable because mochi is trendy right now and it does not require baking. Guineas main opposition leader called on neighbouring West African states to head off a political crisis in Guinea where President Alpha Conde is running for a third term in October elections. The 15-nation West African group known as ECOWAS supports democracy in the region and has recently pressed Mali's junta, who seized power last month, to return the country to civilian rule. Guinea's opposition leader, Cellou Dalein Diallo, said Thursday that he would like to see the regional body turn its attention to his country. Diallo, 68, has denounced as unconstitutional Condes decision to run again in the Oct. 18 elections. This will be the third face-off between Conde and Diallo, who first ran against each other in the countrys 2010 election that came after more than a half-century of dictatorship. We are a little jealous of the promptness with which ECOWAS acted in Mali to help that country reconcile when it has not taken action to help Guinea which has long been in crisis," Diallo told reporters in Dakar, Senegal, where he was visiting Thursday. We deplore the lack of reaction from ECOWAS against President Condes candidacy." For months, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Guinea to oppose another term for Conde. He insists he is following the will of the people by running in the October elections, after voters in March approved a referendum that allowed for him to run again. Since then, dozens have died in anti-Conde demonstrations that have turned violent. Diallo, of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea party, said he traveled to Senegal to rally the support of the large Guinean population living in the neighboring nation. While the incumbent president previously defeated Diallo in both the 2010 and 2015 elections, many in Guinea say that Condes popularity has sharply fallen as a result of his decision to seek a third term. The country has a two-term limit for presidents, but Conde now maintains that does not apply to him because of a constitutional referendum approved earlier this year. A company owned by former AIB executive chairman Dan OConnor is suing Cuisine de France co-founder Ronan McNamee for 2m after claiming that it helped the entrepreneur secure a 47m haircut during the financial crash on commercial property loans he held with Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank and Anglo Irish Bank. But the High Court judge hearing discovery motions in the case has questioned the claim by Mr OConnors company, Deerfield Commercial Services, describing it as somewhat tenuous. Mr OConnors firm is also suing Jackie McNamee. Justice Richard Humphreys noted that despite Mr OConnors financial genius, invoices submitted by his firm to the McNamees included an incorrect VAT rate. It also has an opportunistic flavour in that the plaintiff found out after the event that the defendants got a haircut following further work done by other people, said Justice Humphreys yesterday in a judgement, of the claim made by Mr OConnors company. Counsel for the plaintiff majored on the plaintiff having come up with a plan and to be entitled to a couple of million for doing so even if it didnt bring anything across the line, noted the judge. It seems at first sight questionable whether the defendants intended to enter into such an improvident contract. He added: Having on its own case already pocketed the retainer under the alleged agreement in full, the plaintiff now reappears years later and tried to claim credit for the final result. Maybe its entitled to do that, but then again maybe not. We will have to await the trial. Mr OConnor, a former senior GE executive, is currently chairman of Activate Capital, the house-building debt provider thats backed by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. Ronan and Jackie McNamee have also denied that they eventually received a haircut amounting to 47m on their commercial loans. They also tried to settle the case in 2016, but the offer was rejected. Such an offer can in no way be construed as an admission of liability and if anything, speaks to the extent to which the defendants felt extorted in the situation, noted Justice Humphreys yesterday. Mr McNamee and his business partner sold Cuisine de France in 1997 to IAWS, now Aryzta, for the equivalent of 65m. The High Court heard that Mr McNamee subsequently invested in commercial property. The value of that property declined with the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. The court heard that while Mr McNamee was able to continue servicing the relevant loans, he had concerns about possible issues from banks regarding to loan to asset ratios. At that stage, the court noted that Mr McNamee got involved with Mr OConnor. The defendants claim that any agreement they had was with Mr OConnor rather than his company. They have also claimed that Mr OConnors role was reduced in July 2011, and that other advisors were brought in. In July 2013, one of the defendants companies made a payment to Mr OConnors firm. In April 2016, Mr OConnors company then issued two invoices seeking more than 2m. The invoices claim that a haircut was given by Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank, but didnt say when or how, noted yesterdays judgement. The judge also noted that the invoices included a 21pc VAT rate, even though the VAT rate had increased to 23pc four years earlier. The court noted that there was no particular explanation for this, and Mr OConnor said he simply didnt know the position. Not knowing the VAT rate for its own services four years after that rate was changed, or apparently even since then, doesnt bode well for a claim for 2m premised on the plaintiffs financial genius, noted the judgement. There may also be a public policy issue as to whether a plaintiff should be entitled to sue on foot of an invoice with an undervalue of VAT, added Justice Humphreys. That perhaps can also be left to the trial. Reflecting on the matter since the hearing, he said, it is perhaps strange that the issue did not come to light when the plaintiff made its VAT return shortly thereafter for March/April 2016 on an invoice basis, as it presumably did, seeing as, on the face of things, it might not have been entitled to proceed on a moneys received basis. This is of course just a question, not a finding. Referring to Deerfields rejection of a 2016 settlement offer, the judge noted that as the plaintiff in William Shakespeares play, The Merchant of Venice, learned to his discomfiture, refusing an offer doesnt guarantee that you will win your case, and nor can such refusal be revisited merely because things dont turn out as planned. The judge also noted that the statement of claim made by Mr OConnors company doesnt specify what work was allegedly done for the defendants. It doesnt specify when this alleged work was done, he noted. It is also extremely vague as to the contract Nothing specific is referred to in terms of documents, dates, actions simply nothing. The lack of any murder charges by a grand jury in Kentucky against three white officers involved in the killing of emergency medical worker Breonna Taylor is another heart-wrenching example of racial injustice in our nation. If a no-knock warrant by police into Taylors home, which was not even where a drug suspect lived, resulted in an exchange of gunfire between police and her boyfriend, is Taylors having been shot dead by law enforcement just considered collateral damage? Once again, a justification of self-defense has been used to prevent any accountability in the shooting death of a Black citizen. Ms. Taylor was not involved with any illegal activity, and did not deserve to be shot multiple times and killed in her own home by police officers. Once again, justice has been denied in a legal case involving race. Xavier Betancourt, San Francisco Hazardous batteries So, according to Tesla CEO unveils battery advances (Business, Sept. 24), Elon Musk is vowing to create a $25,000 electric vehicle with a battery that will be able to travel 500 miles or more on a single charge? Well, since Tesla cars have lithium-ion batteries that currently cause significant environmental harm, Ill stick to biking, walking and public transit in an attempt to reduce my carbon footprint. And I hope that Mr. Musk will try to do the same with his vehicles as technology changes. Vernon Greene, Oakland Rename it Sanity Road Concerning Clearing cars from path to the Pacific (Sept. 24): The creation of a car-free zone for bicyclists and pedestrians from the Panhandle to the Pacific Ocean via Golden Gate Park is long overdue. During the past half year, residents have been sheltering in place under coronavirus restrictions. Now, they have opportunity to get some exercise with face masks and social distancing, but without inhaling noxious fumes. And heres my suggestion for a name for this new pathway, which can offer much-needed relief from all of the daily stress under which were still living: Sanity Road. Vivian Wexford, San Francisco Worried over tracking Regarding Young voters mail-in ballots rejected more often, study says (Sept. 24): It is not only disturbing that a larger percentage of young voters ballots are being rejected, but the larger picture worries me greatly. This story indicates that our voting systems can track individual voters turnout via the bar codes on the return envelopes, but also seem to track the contents. In other words, while the envelope scanner is recording that a specific person mailed in his or her ballot, the system is also tracking whether that persons ballot was rejected. If that is the case, is the system also tracking that persons votes? Is my secret ballot not really secret? Patrick Andersen, San Francisco Health care is a right Regarding Health care law hangs in balance (Front Page, Sept. 22): The GOPs endless efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act should be a major campaign issue, especially since President Trumps promise to replace it with something better has never been fulfilled. Its disheartening to imagine that federal funding to help low- and moderate-income Americans obtain health coverage, especially those with pre-existing conditions, might be ended by a new conservative-majority Supreme Court. After all these years, our leaders in Washington, D.C., are still unable to view health care as a basic human right. Natalia Giordano, Mountain View In defense of archbishop Regarding An entitled attitude (Letters, Sept. 24) and Worship outdoors (Letters, Sept. 24): I am extremely annoyed with the number of letters criticizing Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, without any opposing views. One writer said the archbishops actions were triggered by empty collection baskets, which does not deserve an answer. Another letter endorses the outdoor worship rule, which raises an obvious question. Has anyone seen the red skies in the Bay Area lately? The air quality made outdoor worship impossible. In my parish, we have not had an outdoor service for weeks. This was occurring while all the churches were empty. Most galling of all is one person in church at a time. What is the rational basis for this rule? Churches can safely accommodate large numbers of people while complying with social distance and mask requirements. This is all the archbishop and his flock is requesting. Cathal Gallagher, San Jose Imagined martydom It would be hard to come up with a more manufactured crisis than Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileones complaint about the Health Departments restrictions on indoor church services. Were in the midst of an enduring and unpredictable health crisis that has disrupted everyones lives profoundly. Many have died, many more have been severely ill, with uncertain recoveries and long-term adverse health effects. Complaints that retail is allowed while church services are not ignores the significant restrictions that retail, as well as all large gatherings, continue to face. Cordileones impassioned protest of a problem that doesnt exist is far more about his need for attention and the enjoyment he gets from reveling in an imagined martyrdom. Its pretty sad when the secular authorities are more interested in protecting the faithful than their so-called shepherd. Ronald Baumhover, Concord Detrimental system Our constitutional framers included the electoral college provision to keep the smaller colonies in the union. Contrary to their intent, it has resulted in victories to unsuitable candidates, sometimes with tragic consequences former President George W. Bush in 2000 and President Trump in 2016 are examples: Bush had justified his 2003 Iraq invasion on their alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction, based on questionable or non-existent evidence. He ignored advice from our allies, our own intelligence, and weapons inspectors who had been there several years. This invasion destabilized Iraq and the entire region, enabling access of thousands of militants, eventually resulting in total losses of one half to 1 million lives so far. Sixteen years later, Trump grandstanded the COVID-19 pandemic for political gain, using his familiar disinformation tactics, which include crediting himself for factitious achievements, and discrediting the medical profession while declaring worthless and even dangerous remedies. The delays and inaction from these antics caused over 200,000 American deaths so far. It is remarkable that our government cannot replace this detrimental electoral college voting system with a logical one-person-one-vote system as our framers had originally intended. Robert Settgast, Novato Strong Black writers I very much appreciate that The Chronicle publishes the columns of Justin Phillips and Otis R. Taylor, Jr. Black views matter. By PTI MUMBAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday brought Dharma Productions' executive producer Kshitij Ravi to its office here from his home for questioning in drugs case linked to filmstar Sushant Singh Rajput's death, an official said. In the morning, a team of NCB officials went to Ravis residence in suburban Versova. While leaving his residence, NCB team members took Ravi along with them in their vehicle and left for their office in South Mumbai. The official maintained the executive producer was being taken for questioning in connection with the case related to alleged drug abuse in Bollywood. The NCB had raided Ravi's residence on Thursday, but did not find him at home. He was then asked to appear before the NCB probe team on Friday, the official said. This morning Ravi, who was out of town, reached home from where he was taken to the agency office by an NCB team led by Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede. Meanwhile, actor Deepika Padukones manager Karishma Prakash also appeared before the NCB on Friday to record her statement in the drugs case. Prakash's WhatsApp chats included conversations about drugs with one `D' and the central agency wanted to find out who this person was, NCB sources had said earlier. The NCB, which began the inquiry after a drugs angle came to light in connection with Rajput's alleged suicide, has now widened its investigation and asked a clutch of Bollywood personalities, including leading actors, to "join the probe". Rajput (34) was found hanging in his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14. In this article .FTFCNBCA Glow founder Phil Storey and his girlfriend Sophie Crosby, who has a remote job working for a marketing agency, in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. Phil Storey LONDON With the Northern Hemisphere's winter around the corner, British tech workers who are now able to work remotely as a result of the coronavirus pandemic are moving to warmer countries. While it's hardly Antarctica, not everyone loves winters in Britain, and they're widely regarded as being long, dark, and cold. Tamara Evans, an account manager at London-based software firm Tyk, told CNBC she is looking at spending some time in Italy, Portugal and a yet to be decided third country between January and March. After conversations with colleagues who have already left Britain, Evans plans to stay in Airbnbs and move around every four weeks or so. "It's something I've always wanted to do since joining two years ago," she said. Meanwhile, her colleague Greg Delhon, a product owner at Tyk, is looking to spend some time in the south of France. "I'm looking at a month, perhaps more," he said. "I don't have any particular reason to stay in the U.K., especially in winter, and it's great that the business allows me the flexibility to spend as little or as much time abroad as I like." Tyk has a flexible remote working policy whereby staff can work from wherever they want, whenever they want. It currently has just under 80 staff in 26 countries. Morning beach sessions A business development manager who works for a software provider in London told CNBC she moved to the Greek island of Crete in the first week of September. The woman, who wasn't sure her boss would approve of her talking publicly about her remote work location, intends to spend a few months there "working full time and moving around different parts of the island." She works from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Greek time, meaning she gets to spend the morning on the beach when she wants to. Each week or so, she said she will move to a new Airbnb or short-term let. Her company was happy for her to go on the premise that her work output didn't drop and she eventually comes back. "As long as the work gets done it is fine," she said. Given the very nature of their work, tech firms can often embrace remote working far more easily than companies in other industries. Semir Jahic, a Swiss entrepreneur who lives in London, said he and his wife plan to take a six-month break from London. Semir Jahic, sales engineering lead for EMEA at software firm Clari, and his wife plan to spend some time in Spain. Semir Jahic "The plan now is to spend two to three months in Switzerland and then spring in Airbnbs in Spain (e.g. Valencia) before coming back to London," he told CNBC. "We'll put our stuff in storage and register an address with friends. At least that's the plan. Might also spend all the time in Switzerland depending on the second wave." Cheap with great food Thamim Ahmed, a researcher at University College London's Centre for Blockchain Technologies, has got his eye on Malaysia. "You can stay in a 4-5* hotel for ~600 ($767) per month or an apartment for almost half that" he said, adding that he's attracted to the country because it's warm, has great food, and a healthy number of fintech and crypto people. He plans to go for eight to 12 weeks. Elsewhere, London-based venture capitalist Vijay Vaswani said he's moving to Dubai for four months. It's got "warm weather" and it's "not too far ahead of (the) U.K. time zone," he said, adding that his firm has adopted remote working for the foreseeable future. Phil Storey, founder of website maintenance app Glow, has been splitting his time between Barcelona and London, quarantining as required. "After months of being 'locked' in my house in Yorkshire I decided it'd be great to be able to split my time between Europe and the U.K.," he told CNBC. "I've always loved travel and it's been a dream of mine for a while to be able to run a business from wherever I happen to be." One tech worker who wished to remain anonymous to avoid raising eyebrows with her bosses has recently moved to Israel while another in Ireland is contemplating moving to South Africa for six months in January. A corrupt mayor who pleaded guilty to sexual assault allegedly had a bag full of condoms and viagra stored under his council desk. Former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale persistently pursued and kissed a woman in his mayoral chambers on two occasions at the Ipswich City Council in December 2016. In 2017, police allegedly found a bag under Pisasale's desk which contained sexual aids such as condoms and Viagra when they raided his office, according to The Courier Mail. The 69-year-old, who resigned as mayor later in 2017 and pleaded guilty to sexual assaulting a woman, corruption and drug possession in Ipswich District Court on Thursday. Former Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale (pictured), 69, pleaded guilty to sexual assaulting a woman, official corruption and unlawful drug possession in Ipswich District Court on Thursday '(The victim) described the impact of the power difference between him as lord mayor and herself... as making her really scared,' prosecutor Sarah Farnden said on Thursday. 'The offending of the defendant in all respects undermined the integrity of Ipswich City Council and the position of mayor.' He also pleaded guilty in August to perjury and a $28,000 secret commission but a suppression order prevented media reporting it. This has now been lifted. Pisasale read an apology to the court, saying he started out trying to help the 'beautiful people of Ipswich' but personal 'obsession and a lack of judgment' took over during a 'dark period of his life'. 'My mind and ego took over and my behaviour was out of control,' he told the packed courtroom. 'I am not a bad person but I have made some very bad decisions.' Pisasale throws desiccated coconut on the world's largest lamington in 2009. Seven years later, he persistently pursued and kissed a woman in his mayoral chambers on two occasions at the Ipswich City Council in December 2016 Pisasale's mayoral office in Ipswich City Council (pictured) was raided by police in June 2017, prompting him to resign shortly after The former Ipswich mayor (left) laughs with Prince William (right) during a royal visit in 2011. Police allegedly found a bag under Pisasale's desk which contained sexual aids such as condoms and Viagra when they raided his office The official corruption charge relates to Pisasale agreeing to champion a Yamanto real estate project while mayor by influencing council workers and contractors. Ms Farnden said he was promised up to $35 million if sales went ahead as planned but he never received the money. What he actually got was the services of escorts and two cash payments. Pisasale was also convicted of disobedience to statute law and unlawful possessing Sildenafil, which is often sold under the brand name Viagra. The perjury conviction followed a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation that started in October 2017. Pisasale gave false testimony at a CCC hearing with regard to carrying packages from interstate for barrister Sam Di Carlo. A raft of fraud charges relate to Ipswich City Council property and money. Pisasale had his assistant deposit $26,000 in donations into a personal bank account instead of disbursing it to the intended beneficiaries. He spent $4,322 of council money to travel to concerts in Sydney and Melbourne. 'Examples of blatantly misusing council funds,' Ms Farnden said He also applied to his own use charity auction items, including sporting memorabilia, a barbecue, kitchen appliances, artwork, photographs, decorative items and whiskey. Pisasale (left) celebrates victory with Richard Pandia (right) of the Jets after the Queensland Cup Rugby League Grand Final match in 2015. He was one of Queensland's longest running mayors when he resigned in 2017 The former mayor talks to a bilby at Queens Park nature reserve. In court on Thursday, he said: 'I am not a bad person but I have made some very bad decisions.' But defence lawyer David Jones said Pisasale hadn't 'embarked on a campaign of personal enrichment'. 'These items weren't found decorating the walls at his home,' he said. 'On one occasion, he donated a China tea set and later bid for it to come back,' he said. Other items were used as gifts during official council business. But Ms Farnden said Pisasale's offending was 'pivotal' to the systemically corrupt culture at the council. 'This type of offending damages the fabric of the community,' she said. 'He did not act with the integrity expected of someone in his position and he did not need to be persuaded in order to participate,' he said. Pisasale was a popular mayor credited with the 'renaissance' of Ipswich during his tenure as mayor from 2004 to 2017. He resigned in June 2017 after 13 years in the position following a CCC raid at his office and home. Pisasale was previously sentenced to two years' prison, suspended after 12 months, after he was convicted of extortion in 2019. He remains in custody and is expected to be sentenced for all 35 charges next Wednesday. Pisasale remains in custody and is expected to be sentenced for all 35 charges next Wednesday (Natural News) A few weeks back, K. Edward Copeland, a pastor and member of The Gospel Coalition (TGC), an ostensibly Christian organization that exists to equip the next generation of believers, pastors and church leaders to shape life and ministry around the gospel, published a horrendous hit piece framing Kyle Rittenhouse as a mass shooter no different than Dylann Storm Roof. Copeland flat-out misconstrued the facts by claiming that Rittenhouse was an aggressor rather than a victim, and also conveniently failed to point out that one of the attackers whom Rittenhouse shot to death was a child rapist who molested at least five young boys between the ages of 9 and 11. Copeland, who pastors New Zion Baptist Church in Rockford, Ill., is a regular contributor to TGC, which we noted was originally founded by fellow pastor and New York Times contributor Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Manhattan. And the article in question, which is chock-full of lies and misrepresentations, is still published at TGCs website without retraction or correction, despite its fake news elements having been brought to the worlds attention by numerous independent media outlets over the past month. At no point in his article did Copeland even bother to suggest that Rittenhouse may have acted in self-defense to protect both himself and others from harm by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) mob that swarmed Kenosha that day. Copeland also failed to scope out the truth about those whom Rittenhouse shot, referring to them simply as people, and casting him as some kind of racist acting from a privileged position of white supremacy simply due to his fair skin tone. Besides the defamatory nature of Copelands words, this so-called man of the cloth completely misconstrued the events that occurred that fateful day, which only fueled the fires of anger and rage that have already resulted in numerous American cities being burned to the ground by violent domestic terrorists. What is worse, Copeland inadvertently heaped scorn upon the lives of the five young boys who were raped by Joseph Rosenbaum, one of the men Rittenhouse shot to death that Copeland erroneously cast as a victim in the melee. Will The Gospel Coalition rebuke Copeland and denounce pedophilia, or be seen as a supporter of lies and perversion? It did not take this writer long to pull up Rosenbaums extensive rap sheet, which reveals him as a sex offender of the worst kind. It also took mere seconds to uncover video evidence showing that Rosenbaum lobbed a Molotov cocktail at Rittenhouse right before Rittenhouse, a trained sharp-shooter, responded by doing what needed to be done as any good patriot and defender of justice would do. Also worth noting is the fact that the other two victims who were shot by Rittenhouse, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz, likewise had extensive criminal records. These were malignant agitators, in other words, not innocent bystanders like Copeland deceptively framed them as in his attempt to condemn Rittenhouse for t[aking] lives in front of physical and digital witnesses. While we cannot know Copelands true motivations in lying about the Rittenhouse encounter, we can at least say with certainty that he is not telling the truth. And since Copelands article is still published by TGC, this alleged Christian organization is complicit in supporting this slanderous religious leader and his egregiously false message, which distorts the facts while pulling God into the equation as someone who d[oes] not color-code human dignity and worth. The fact of the matter is that Rittenhouse successfully removed three dangerous men from Americas streets, two of them permanently, after being provoked by them. And at least one of these dangerous men was quite literally a demon in human flesh who stole the dignity and innocence of at least five little boys who were made in Gods image, and who did not deserve to be sexually molested by a pedophile. With that said, we are calling on TGC to either rebuke this Copeland character publicly and remove his article, as well as issue an apology, or else be exposed as just another faux religious organization aiding and abetting criminals and pedophiles who rape little boys to push a political agenda. What is it going to be, TGC? For more related news about the plague of artificial Christianity, be sure to check out DemonicTimes.com. Sources for this article include: NaturalNews.com KenoshaReporter.com The Government of India's liability will be restricted to about Rs 75 crore -- Rs 30 crore in cost and another Rs 45 crore in tax refund, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said British telecom giant Vodafone Group plc on Friday won an arbitration against the Indian government over a demand for Rs 22,100 crore in taxes using retrospective legislation. An international arbitration tribunal ruled that India's demand in past taxes were in breach of fair treatment under a bilateral investment protection pact. "The award is confidential but Vodafone can confirm that the tribunal has found (it) in Vodafone's favour," Vodafone Group said in a statement. "We are studying the lengthy documents and can make no further comment at this time." It was not immediately known if the Indian government will abide by the arbitration award. The Government of India's liability will be restricted to about Rs 75 crore -- Rs 30 crore in cost and another Rs 45 crore in tax refund, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Vodafone had before the arbitration tribunal challenged India's usage of a 2012 legislation that gave it powers to retrospectively tax deals like Vodafone's $11 billion acquisition of 67 percent stake in the mobile phone business owned by Hutchison Whampoa in 2007. It challenged the demand of Rs 7,990 crore in capital gains taxes (Rs 22,100 crore after including interest and penalty) under the Netherlands-India Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). Sources said the tax demand was on the UK-listed company and Vodafone's India venture faced no liability. Vodafone merged its India operations with billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla's conglomerate but the combined entity Vodafone Idea Ltd is facing a USD 7.8 billion bill in past statutory dues. Tax authorities had in September 2007 served notice to Vodafone International Holdings BV (VIHBV) for its alleged failure to deduct withholding tax from consideration paid to the Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. Vodafone challenged this in the Supreme Court, which in January 2012 set it aside, saying the transaction was not taxable in India and so the company had no obligation to withhold tax. In May that year, Parliament passed the Finance Act 2012 that amended various provisions of the Income Tax Act 1961 with retrospective effect to tax any gain on transfer of shares in a non-Indian company which derives substantial value from underlying Indian assets. The company was in January 2013 served a tax notice of Rs 14,200 crore after including interest on the principal amount. A year later, Vodafone challenged the tax demand under the Dutch BIT. Sources said the company in April 2014 served the notice of arbitration after out-of-court dispute resolution talks failed. The tax department in February 2016 served a demand notice of Rs 22,100 crore, including interest accruing since the date of the original demand. Vodafone has always maintained that there is no liability and that it will "continue to defend vigorously any allegation that VIHBV or Vodafone India Ltd is liable to pay tax in connection with the transaction with Hutchison and will continue to exercise all rights to seek redress". Besides Vodafone, the Indian government also used the retrospective tax legislation to seek Rs 10,247 crore from British oil explorer Cairn Energy Plc over a 2006 reorganisation of its Indian businesses. 25.09.2020 LISTEN A police station in the Volta Region has been attacked by suspected Western Togoland separatists group, Homeland Study Group Foundation. The group has for several months been fighting for the independence of Western Togoland from Ghana. On Friday, September 25, 2020, the group blocked roads linking the Volta Region to the Eastern and Greater Accra Regions. Reports available to DGN Online also suggest that members of the group allegedly broke into a police station in the Volta Region, stealing ammunitions. They reportedly 'kidnapped' three police officers and assaulted them, with two of the officers said to be in critical condition. The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, on Joy News confirmed the incident and said that an operation is underway to free the Police Officers who are currently being held by the secessionist group. He said that It's a critical security situation we're dealing with right now. We're coordinating activities of the security services, He assured that within an hour or two the situation will be brought under control, adding that, efforts are underway to get them released, he said in connection with the arrest of the three police officers. Previous Arrest In late May, Security forces arrested 14 persons suspected to be linked to separatists Homeland Study Group Foundation. The 13 persons 11 males and three females were picked up at a meeting at Sovie in the Volta region. Background The group based in Ho, known as the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSF), has been pushing for the secession of parts of Ghana along the border with Togo. These areas cover the Volta, Oti, Northern, North East and Upper East Regions of Ghana. The group claims that the areas which formed this part of Ghana were an independent state before being made to join Ghana in a plebiscite in 1956. The group further argued that by the dictates of the 1956 plebiscite, the terms were no longer binding on the parties, and that, even certain portions of present Ghana were not considered during the referendum. To this end, the group claims the time has come to separate Western Togoland from Ghana and make it stand as an independent state. The Leader of the group, an 86 year old Charles Kormi Kudzodzi, declared independence for the 'Western Togoland' territory on November 16, 2019, at a group meeting in Ho. He has since been hiding following an order by the Ho District Court for his arrest and two others for the unlawful independence declaration. As if this is not enough, the group had designed their own national currency, flag and composed their own national anthem. In February 2020, 21 persons alleged to have been recruited to be enlisted into the Western Togoland army were arrested at a secret training camp at Kpevedui in the Ketu North Municipality of the Volta Region. ---Daily Guide Vote for all of us by backing Cobb Editor: A vote for Tedra Cobb is a vote for representation of us, northern New Yorkers. A vote for Elise Stefanik is a vote for billionaires & large corporations getting richer on the backs of hard-working Americans. Elise Stefanik has mastered the art of the photo op, just like her hero Donald Trump. She is not above lying, nor is she above twisting the truth. I want a representative in Congress who shares my values: integrity, honesty & working for the betterment of all people. That is Tedra Cobb. Tedra has dedicated over 30 years to serving northern New Yorkers and puts health care for all as a top priority. She has worked diligently for this in her home county of St. Lawrence for decades. In 2012, Elise wrote the Republican platform that would have turned Medicare into a voucher system. As an example: Well allow you $5,000 for all your medical costs for the year. In 2018, she voted to cut Medicare by billions of dollars. Elise has taken about $200,000 in campaign money from Big Pharm & health insurance companies, so Elise, who are you really working for? Elise says she supports our troops, with Fort Drum being in her district, yet she is honored to chair Trumps re-election campaign in N.Y. Elise, how do you explain Trump knowing that Putin has hired the Taliban to kill American troops & yet Trump fails to do anything to stop it. Mr. Trump, who calls fallen military losers and suckers. Is this how you support our troops? On Nov. 3, make your vote count for the good of all of us. Tedra Cobb will fight for all of us when elected. Judy Beers, Lake George New charter means less accountability Editor: This year, on Election Day, Saratoga Springs voters will again be asked to vote on a proposed new City Charter. In recent years, there have been a lot of charter revisions proposed, and things have gotten pretty confusing, but theres one thing about this years proposal thats crystal clear. It proposes dividing our city into six wards, with one City Council member elected by the voters in each ward. Up to now, every Saratoga Springs voter has been able to vote for all the members of the City Council. If you dont like the way a particular council member acts in office, you can take direct action. Go to the polls every other year and vote for someone else to take that members seat on the council. Weve had that ability for more than 100 years. Now, this new proposal seeks to limit your power to vote to only a single member of a six-member council just the member from your ward. You can vote for a mayor and two supervisors, but youd only be able to elect four out of nine about 44 percent of your local officials. Thats 56 percent less than you can elect now. And those other five council members wouldnt have to be responsible to your wards needs. Their job will be to work for the interests of their own wards. If you dont approve of how a council member from a different ward is behaving, therell be nothing you can do about it! (We wont get into just how the ward lines might end up being redrawn, or just who might get to redraw them). Courtney DeLeonardis, Saratoga Springs Charter change will worsen situation Editor: I am writing to express my concerns with the proposed Saratoga Springs charter change. One need only look at municipalities elsewhere in the state to realize the unique system of government that Saratoga Springs enjoys. While other municipalities are rife with the scourge of political patronage in non-Civil Service positions, Saratoga Springs residents have the unique privilege of voting directly for their commissioners, who in turn exercise control over the citys various departments. Under the proposed charter change, as majority control of a council and mayorship shifts between parties, political appointees would roll into and out of leadership positions. Instead of being occupied by those chosen by the voters, these departmental leadership positions would be filled with political operatives and donors chosen not because of their qualifications but because of their political allegiance. Perhaps if the proposed change would result in a significant savings to the taxpayers, these faults could be stomached. However, the proposed change is expensive, providing for numerous well-paid department heads and the appointment of an unelected city manager with a salary easily in the high-six figures. In sum, voters should ask themselves, will the proposed charter change make Saratoga Springs a better place to live? I believe the answer to be a resounding no and I will be voting against the proposed charter change. Michael A. Brandi, Saratoga Springs Candidates must help older citizens Editor: 2020 is a historic election year, and there is much at stake. These are challenging times, especially for New Yorkers 50+. Our health and financial security are at risk. We must protect ourselves this election. If congressional and presidential candidates want older voters to support them, they must talk about the issues that matter most to you and me, such as laying out their solutions for protecting Medicare and Social Security, lowering prescription drug prices and ensuring safe and affordable long-term care. Any politician who fails to address the health and financial security of 50+ voters, especially during this pandemic, is out of touch. If a candidate wants to win, they must listen to older voters and address our needs and concerns. AARP New York has been fighting to protect 50+ voters, working diligently with local election officials to ensure all New Yorkers can vote safely. If you have any questions on voting from home, voting early or voting safely on Election Day, you can find more information at aarp.org/NYvotes. Stay safe and healthy, and dont delay in preparing to cast your ballot from home or in-person. Raymond Brzozowski, Wilton Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Officers overcome difficulties as most assignments are in less-developed areas China's peacekeeping police have become a "pillar force" for United Nations peacekeeping missions, impressing the world body and host countries with their professionalism and strict discipline, a senior official from the Ministry of Public Security said. "China is a peace-loving country and is willing to contribute forces and resources to peacekeeping missions. Also, it is China's duty to participate in such activities as it is a permanent member of the UN Security Council," said Yu Chengtao, deputy director-general of the ministry's Department of International Cooperation. "Upholding peaceful development, China will always be a contributor to world peace." China is now the second-largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping, after the United States. "The job of peacekeeping police officers includes protecting civilians, quelling riots and conducting security patrols," Yu said. "Most of the assignments were in less-developed areas, where officers overcame poor conditions to carry out difficult missions." Chinese police officers have been deployed for UN peace operations since 2000, when 15 were sent to East Timor. Over the past two decades, more than 2,600 of them have taken part in nine peacekeeping operations. Eight have died during their missions. Currently, 33 Chinese police officers are on peacekeeping operations in Sudan, South Sudan and Cyprus, and some serve at the UN headquarters. A 160-member police squad will soon be dispatched to Abyei, a disputed area on the border of Sudan and South Sudan. When President Xi Jinping attended the summit meetings for the UN's 70th anniversary in 2015, he announced several measures to support UN peacekeeping missions, including contributing to the UN's standby force mechanism, training 2,000 international peacekeepers split evenly between soldiers and police officersand setting up a fund to sponsor UN work. All have been delivered. In June 2016, China established the first permanent police squad for UN peacekeeping operations, consisting of 330 members, to support the UN's standby force. In addition, China has trained more than 1,000 police officers from around the world for peacekeeping, from high-level experienced officials to new officers with limited understanding of the UN system. The China-UN Peace and Development Fund has provided $67.7 million for over 80 projects, supporting the UN's efforts in areas including peacekeeping and counterterrorism. There are three types of UN peacekeepers: soldiers, police officers and civilians. According to the UN peacekeeping program's website, UN police provide operational support to host-state counterparts in various fields including the protection of civilians; the facilitation of secure elections; the investigation of incidents of sexual and gender-based violence; and the prevention of serious organized crime and violence. They also assist with the reform, restructuring and development of host-state police services and other law enforcement agencies. Although China has been a great contributor to world peace, some foreign analysts have claimed that China's participation in peacekeeping is driven by pragmatic reasons, such as protecting assets and Chinese people abroad. "People who understand the deployment procedure will know this argument is unreliable," Yu said."China is not taking the State's interests as a standard to choose an area to deploy peacekeepers." The procedure is usually initiated by an international dispute. The UN Security Council will evaluate whether the disputed area is a threat to international peace and security and vote for a resolution. The UN secretariat then sends out invitations to UN member states based on the resolution. "China will make a full evaluation based on our capacity and strength to answer the call, such as language skills," said Lu Cong, deputy head of the department's peacekeeping police division. "For instance, China has a shortage of French-speaking police officers and cannot offer much help to French-speaking areas." Lu said that after China submits its response to the UN, and the UN acknowledges it, assignment details will be sent to a provincial public security department to recruit qualified police officers to join the team. Yu said the deployment of peacekeepers to a certain area was a UN decision and not based on any Chinese initiative. He added that the UN evaluates the capacity of responsive member states to make contributions in areas where assistance is needed. Assessments are mostly based on technical matters, such as if the state has previous experience in the areas. The UN would then determine the number of personnel to be deployed. "It is a reality that most mission areas are less developed and less attractive to foreigners," he said. "Even in a mission area with Chinese businesses and people, it is more likely a coincidence. We peacekeeping police officers protect local civilians, including the ones who happen to be Chinese." It can seem like a no-win situation, said He Yin, associate professor at the China Peacekeeping Police Training Center of the People's Police University of China. "China sometimes finds itself caught in a dilemma," He said. "If it shies away from international affairs, some may accuse it of not shouldering its global responsibilities, and if it takes an active part in international affairs, some may accuse it of being 'assertive' and trying to reshape the world order." MEDORA A Fidelity man has died and another was seriously injured Thursday in a crash on Illinois 267 in Macoupin County, according to Illinois State Police. Matthew E. Grizzle, 28, of Fidelity, was northbound on Illinois 267 when his car struck a disabled pickup truck sitting sideways in the road at Illinois 111 at about 4:30 a.m., according to state police. Fight against COVID-19 under review Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, who is also head of the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control, chaired a meeting in Hanoi on September 24 to review the fight against the pandemic. Preventing pandemic in border area Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, who is also head of the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control, chaired a meeting in Hanoi on September 24 to review the fight against the pandemic. As of the same day, Vietnam went through 22 consecutive days without any COVID-19 case in the community. Among 1,069 infections, 412 are imported and the remaining are locally transmitted. There were 35 deaths from the virus, mostly of them suffered serious underlying diseases. As many as 989 patients have been discharged from hospitals while 41 others are under treatment at medical establishments. Pandemic hotbeds have been basically controlled but the risk remains, especially in major urban areas and those with dense populations. Head of the Health Ministrys Department of Preventive Medicine Dang Quang Tan warned that in the near future, new infections from previous hotbeds or more imported cases could be discovered as several international flights will be resumed. The ministry proposed stepping up research, production and supply of COVID-19 vaccine as well as access vaccine supply in the world, he said. Members of the committee said illegal or legal immigrants failing to follow prevention and control measures are at high risk of spreading virus in the community. They cited international experts' comments that alert should be given to community hotbeds and imported goods. According to experts, the fight against the pandemic will become harder as the winter is coming near. Moreover, residents have failed to keep vigilant as not any local infection has been found for more than three weeks. At the meeting, Deputy Minister of Public Security Nguyen Van Son requested clarifying responsibility of local authorities for quarantine, which he said, remains loose in hotels and lack of supervision. The committee assigned the Health Ministry to issue a check list of must-do actions to grassroots-level units while the Ministry of Education and Training must require schools to follow the check-list to ensure safety, thus raising public awareness of the effort. Hospitals were also asked to step up health-check registration online. Da Nang resumes all activities from 0am on September 25 All activities in the central city of Da Nang will return to normal from 0am on September 25 as the COVID-19 outbreak in the city has been under control. Service providers must commit to following pandemic prevention and control measures. The city will continue seriously following the Health Ministrys message featuring 5K (in Vietnamese) Khau trang (facemask) - (Khu khuan) disinfection - (Khoang cach) distance - (Khong tu tap) no gathering (Khai bao y te) health declaration. Earlier on September 18, the city allowed many activities to resume, except discotheque, bar, pub, karaoke and massage services. On September 23, the last COVID-19 patient was given the all-clear from the virus at Hoa Vang field hospital. Da Nang has gone through 27 days without local transmission and 25 days without new infection cases./. Da Nang in the 'new normal' browser not support iframe. After controlling the second wave of COVID-19 to strike Vietnam, Da Nang city has been gradually loosening social distancing measures imposed earlier to curb its spread. Local people have adapted well to the new normal. Da Nang city has now returned to some semblance of normality after being hit by the second wave of COVID-19 in Vietnam. Most local people, however, continue to wear a face mask when out in public. Like many other people, Theo has returned to her familys long-time business of selling traditional noodles at home but still pays due regard to prevention and control measures. Local people have now started to shop freely, without needing access tickets like during the last two months. Pandemic prevention measures are being strictly followed, however, and gatherings remain limited. Except for bars, karaoke parlours, and discos, which are still closed, other activities have been allowed to operate as normal. The people of Da Nang are ready for the revival of the coastal city post-COVID-19./. No new COVID-19 cases reported on September 25 morning Vietnam recorded no new COVID-19 infections overnight, making the tally unchanged at 1,069, the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control announced on September 25 morning. This day also marks the 23rd consecutive day without community transmissions. However, experts said Vietnam is facing four infection risk sources: people entering the country illegally, those who enter Vietnam legally but do not follow quarantine regulations seriously, the source circulating in the community, and imported commodities which are made in and transported though disease-hit countries. As of 6am on September 25, 991 COVID-19 patients had been treated successfully. The fatalities remained at 35. Among patients under treatment, there is no longer any critical case, while four have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 once, 14 twice and 12 thrice. A total 21,842 people are being quarantined nationwide. Vietnam told to keep vigilant against COVID-19 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has requested ministries and localities to remain highly vigilant and strictly implement COVID-19 control measures following public complacency about the disease. In a dispatch dated September 24, PM Phuc noted that Vietnam has basically controlled the disease as no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases have been detected in the country for the past 22 days in a row. The country has now been working toward a dual goal of epidemic prevention and economic recovery, and has achieved initial encouraging results. However, he pointed out the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving in a complex manner globally. The disease has even spreading rapidly again in a number of countries after social distancing measures were relaxed. To maintain the gains and support economic recovery efforts, the PM asked all ministries, agencies and localities to strictly implement COVID-19 prevention and control measures. Accordingly, residents are required to wear face masks, frequently wash hands with soap or sanitizer, avoid mass gatherings and keep safe distance from each other in public places. A primary focus will be on big cities as well as densely populated areas such as schools, industrial parks, markets, supermarkets, and concentrated quarantine facilities. Priority will be given to implementing epidemic prevention in health facilities, testing those with clinical virus symptoms and taking care of elderly people with underlying illnesses. The PM assigned the Ministry of Health to provide clear instructions on COVID-19 prevention and control in socio-economic activities as soon as Vietnam resumes international commercial flights. The Ministries of Public Security, National Defense and local Peoples Committee were required to tighten border control to timely prevent illegal entrants. The Government demanded serious medical surveillance over entrants to prevent cross-infection at quarantine camps and community transmission of COVID-19. The PM urged the authorities to ensure safety for international commercial flights. All inbound travellers shall have to fill out a health declaration form and undergo a COVID-19 test. He ordered media agencies to continue launching communication campaigns and encourage local residents to install Bluezone, a Vietnamese-designed COVID-19 tracing application. As of 18.00hrs September 24, Vietnam has recorded a total of 1,069 COVID-19 patients, including 991 recoveries and 35 deaths. Thua Thien-Hue province removes all COVID-19 epidemic checkpoints Every novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic checkpoint in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue was lifted on the morning of September 25 due to all COVID-19 outbreaks in the locality being successfully brought under control. According to the provincial steering committee on COVID-19 prevention and control, checkpoints aimed at monitoring the health of people travelling through railway stations and airports were also removed at the same time. Furthermore, local authorities were permitted to lift checkpoints placed on Phu Loc district, Huong Thuy town, and Nam Dong district. Moreover, Thua Thien-Hue provinces administration requested that residents and tourists continue to seriously follow the Health Ministrys message of the 5Ks, Khau trang, (facemasks), Khu khuan (disinfection), Khoang cach, (distance), Khong tu tap, (no gatherings), and Khai bao y te, (health declarations). COVID-19 shows little sign of abating in some Southeast Asian countries The COVID-19 pandemic showed little sign of abating in some Southeast Asian countries, such as Indonesia which confirmed a record daily number of infections on September 24. This is the second straight day that Indonesia has seen a record number of new cases in a single day. With 4,634 cases reported on September 24, the country now counts 262,022 cases of COVID-19. The death toll increased to 10,105 with 128 deaths in the past 24 hours. The Philippines had 2,180 new cases and 36 more deaths on September 24. The country continued to top the Southeast Asian region in the number of coronavirus infections with 296,755 cases. The fatalities rose to 5,127, with nearly half of the deaths occurring in the past 30 days. Meanwhile, Myanmar is concerned that its quarantine facilities have become overloaded due to a surge in new COVID-19 cases. Statistics of the Health Ministry showed the number of quarantined people has more than doubled, from around 19,000 in August to over 45,000 as of September 21. In the afternoon of September 24, Myanmar announced 535 new cases and three more deaths, raising the total COVID-19 tally to 7,827 and fatalities to 133. The southeastern state of Kayah is the only state in Myanmar still free from the coronavirus./. Singapore eases coronavirus restrictions Safe distancing rules will be eased and more activities allowed to resume in Singapore in the coming weeks as the number of COVID-19 cases in the community has remained low, said Singaporean Health Minister Gan Kim Yong at a press conference. More employees will be allowed to return to the workplace from September 28, although safe management measures must be in place and employers are encouraged to implement measures such as flexible working hours and staggered reporting times. Employers must ensure that such employees continue to work from home for at least half their working time, and no more than half of such employees are at the workplace at any point in time. Events within the workplace, such as seminars, corporate retreats and annual general meetings will also be allowed to resume, as long as safe distancing measures are in place. However, work-related events at external venues remain prohibited for now. From October 3, wedding receptions will be allowed to have up to 100 attendees in total, including the couple and their families, Gan said. To ensure safe distancing, participants have to be split into zones of up to 50 attendees each, or to be separated by staggered time slots with up to 50 persons in each slot. Also from October 3, all religious organisations will be permitted to conduct congregational and other worship services of up to 100 persons, subject to safe distancing and safe management measures, according to the minister./. Advertisement Protesters fought running battles with police on bicycles and blocked off intersections by setting dumpsters ablaze in Seattle on Thursday night as nationwide protests continued for a second night. Demonstrators have gathered across the country to express their anger after it was announced that the officers who shot black woman Breonna Taylor in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment during a drug raid last March wouldn't be charged with her death. In Portland, Oregon, 14 were arrested after protesters set fire to plywood attached to the front door of a police union building and clashed with officers. Images posted online showed flames erupting outside the doors of the Portland Police Association office. Some protesters managed later to get on the roof of the building, police said in a statement on Friday. The protesters who were detained were arrested on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to interfering with officers and trespassing. In Portland protesters are pictured on Wednesday night throwing a petrol bomb at officers. Unrest continued on Thursday In New York City, several hundred protesters marched through the Big Apple while chanting Taylors name, and in St Louis, crowds gathered to occupy several lanes of a freeway. In Seattle, protesters locked off an intersection by hauling dumpsters on their side and setting them alight to build a barrier between them and the police, who had gathered on bicycles. Footage shows the crowd of demonstrators launching projectiles towards the officers and them returning fire, before they charged down the retreating rioters. Earlier last night, in New York City, large masses of demonstrators were seen in Manhattans Union Square as well as Brooklyn - carrying signs demanding authorities defund the police. In Union Square, some 100 people gathered at around 5:30pm on Thursday. They then started marching west on 15th Street until they reached the area around the home of City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. Guess we're back to this. SPD once again showing all they know is escalation and violence. Dozens of blast balls and other indiscriminate munitions going out filling a residential neighborhood with gas. #seattleprotest #seattleprotests #ACAB #DefundSPD pic.twitter.com/6bun9m5DnG Subpixel Alchemist (@MarcusKulik) September 25, 2020 People demonstrate near a barricade on fire, following the announcement of a single indictment in the Breonna Taylor case, in Seattle, U.S., on Thursday, in this still image obtained from a social media video People set up a barricade as they demonstrate following the announcement of a single indictment in the Breonna Taylor case, in Seattle Around 100 people gathered in New York's Union Square on Thursday to protest the decision not to indict police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor Anti-racism protesters gather outside police headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, on Thursday evening A Richmond, Virginia, police officer has pepper spray in hand while speaking to a protester at the Richmond Police Headquarters on Wednesday. Protesters gathered after a Louisville grand jury announced there would be no murder charges against the police officers who fatally shot Breonna Taylor Johnson has come under fire from progressives for not backing larger cuts to the New York Police Department budget. Calls to defund the police have escalated in New York after the May 25 police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Hundreds of protesters also gathered in Bushwick, Brooklyn, to denounce the Louisville grand jury's decision not to directly charge any of the officers in the Breonna Taylor shooting. Another demonstration was staged in nearby McCarren Park in Williamsburg. 'We are out here for the injustices to Breonna. We are not out here for abolishing anything,' one protester told the assembled crowd at the park. 'We need people to understand, we are peacefully upset. We are pissed. Protesters light up their cell phones during a protest action on Interstate 64 last night in St Louis, Missouri Actvist Ohun Ashe leads chants with protestors during a protest action on Interstate 64 last night in St Louis, Missouri Demonstrators protesting the lack of criminal charges in the killing of Breonna Taylor by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, march along Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California last night on the second night of protests 'And the reason why we are out on these streets is to let people know that the verdict they came to, that the conclusion that they came to is unacceptable!' Meanwhile, protests were also staged in St. Louis, where crowds gathered outside police headquarters. Although the demonstrations were peaceful, state officials aren't taking any chances in anticipation of the weekend. A motorist drives through a crowd of protesters in Hollywood during a demonstration held to demand justice for the death of Breonna Taylor after the results of a grand jury indictment of former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison; in Los Angeles, California, USA last night Protesters march through Hollywood during a demonstration held to demand justice for the death of Breonna Taylor last night A protester signals toward police during a demonstration held to demand justice for the death of Breonna Taylor in LA last night Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed an executive order activating the state's National Guard 'as a precautionary measure in response to recent instances of civil unrest across the country,' the governor's office said in a news release Thursday. 'The National Guard, as well as the Missouri State Highway Patrol, stands ready to assist local law enforcement if necessary,' the release said. 'We fully support the right of citizens to peacefully protest and are committed to protecting that right. At this time, we are taking a proactive approach in the event that assistance is needed to support local law enforcement in protecting Missouri and its people,' Parson said in the release. Meanwhile, at least one person was hurt when a vehicle ran into a small crowd of people protesting police brutality in Los Angeles Thursday night, authorities said. Demonstrators protesting the lack of criminal charges in the killing of Breonna Taylor by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, march along Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California last night A driver in a vehicle joining protesters displays photos of Breonna Taylor, Andres Guardado and George Floyd, all killed by law enforcement personel, along Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California last night Demonstrators protesting the lack of criminal charges in the killing of Breonna Taylor by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, march along Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California last night A few minutes after that incident, a car drove through a crowd of several hundred protesters at another location in Los Angeles, KABC TV reported. Although there were no reports of injuries, protesters chased the driver, who was later detained by police. In the first incident, which took place shortly before 9 p.m., an ambulance transported one patient to a hospital in unknown condition following the hit-and-run at Sunset Boulevard and Seward Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Nicholas Prange said. About 30 minutes later, KCAL9 TV showed helicopter footage of a white sedan pushing slowly through a crowd of marchers blocking another intersection on Sunset. A group of protesters in a black pickup truck chased down the white sedan and cut it off. They and another group of people in a green Mustang confronted the driver and banged on the sedan's windows before the car drove away, KABC reported. Demonstrators massed at First Unitarian Church in Louisville on Thursday, where clergy allowed them to seek refuge on church grounds to avoid arrest after a 9pm curfew went into effect Protestors march as they protest the lack of criminal charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, in downtown Louisville, Kentucky last night More than 1,000 people defied a second night of curfew in the US city of Louisville to protest over the lack of criminal charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, with some seeking refuge in a church A demonstrator holds a smoke bomb as he marches to protest the lack of criminal charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, in downtown Louisville, Kentucky last night In this image made from aerial video, demonstrators gather at an intersection during a protest against police brutality, last night in los Angeles. Police say one person was hurt when a vehicle ran into a small crowd of people during the protest The driver of the Prius managed to speed away from the scene and ran at least one red light in his attempt to get away, KABC reported. Eventually police pulled over the vehicle on Santa Monica Boulevard and detained the driver. It wasn't immediately known if anyone was hurt in the second incident. There were no arrests. Los Angeles Police Officer J. Chavez said investigators were still gathering information about both incidents. A few dozen demonstrators marched through Hollywood for hours on Thursday, one of many protests across the country demanding justice for Breonna Taylor. Meanwhile, officials in Massachusetts are preparing for a large-scale protest in Boston on Friday evening. Hundreds - perhaps thousands - are expected to attend a demonstration in Boston's Nubian Square at around 6pm on Friday. At least four other protests are planned in Boston over the course of the weekend. A protester holds up a portrait of Breonna Taylor during a demonstration in Brooklyn on Thursday Young children sit and listen during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Brooklyn on Thursday A Black Lives Matter supporter holds up a sign that reads 'Say their names' during a demonstration in Brooklyn on Thursday An activist speaks as protesters look on and listen during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Brooklyn on Thursday Protesters hold up signs that read 'Justice 4 Breonna now' and 'No justice in an unjust system' during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Brooklyn on Thursday Demonstrators in Brooklyn hold up placards as they protest following the announcement of a single indictment in the Breonna Taylor case on Thursday Demonstrators wearing Black Lives Matter t-shirts look on during a demonstration in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday Demonstrators kneel in protest in reaction to the decision not to indict police officers in the Breonna Taylor case in Brooklyn on Thursday A protester in Brooklyn holds up a sign that reads: 'Until I feel free and safe to be me, there will be no peace' People walk past a fence with the pictures of victims of police brutality in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn on Thursday A demonstrator holds up two peace fingers during a rally in support of Black Lives Matter in Brooklyn on Thursday A picture of Breonna Taylor is seen at a makeshift memorial for victims of racial injustice in Brooklyn on Thursday Massachusetts Governor Charles Baker signed an order on Thursday mobilizing the state's National Guard. Baker's order calls up to 1,000 members of the Massachusetts National guard 'to provide necessary assistance to State and local civilian authorities and/or special duty and emergency assistance for the preservation of live and property, preservation of order, and to afford protection to persons.' On Wednesday night, protesters in Portland hurled several firebombs at officers during a demonstration over the Taylor decision, escalating tensions in a city that's already seen nearly four months of nightly protests over racial injustice and police brutality. Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis said Wednesday night's demonstrations were the most violent that Portland has seen thus far in four months of nearly nightly unrest since the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minnesota after a white officer held a knee to his neck. Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt - who has been criticized for dismissing cases against hundreds of protesters - condemned the violence and called for calm. Thirteen people were arrested during Wednesday's demonstration. US agents with the Federal Protective Service, who were guarding a federal courthouse nearby, offered assistance and the Portland police accepted because it was an 'emergency need in the moment,' Davis said at a news conference Thursday. 'I can't say that just because last night was exceptionally violent that that's the beginning of a trend' he said. 'I certainly hope not.' He added, 'We're at the mercy of people who show up ... and what they intend to do.' No tear gas was used by local or federal law enforcement, Davis said. Schmidt, the newly elected prosecutor who made waves this summer by deciding not to prosecute protesters arrested for lower-level, non-violent crimes, said a peaceful protest intended to honor Taylor was sabotaged by violence. 'I am thankful that no Portland police officers or Portland firefighters were injured,' he wrote in a statement Thursday. 'There is no justification for a person to ever throw an incendiary device, to set fire to buildings or to engage in other violent and destructive behavior.' Those arrested included a 23-year-old man who was charged Thursday with riot and unlawful possession of a destructive device. Black Lives Matter supporters stage a demonstration in Union Square in New York City on Thursday A group of about 100 demonstrators marched from Union Square to the home of New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson The protesters were angry at Johnson for approving a city budget that they say did not cut enough funds from the New York Police Department A woman wears a t-shirt that reads 'Protect children, not guns' during a demonstration in Union Square on Thursday A demonstrator is shown holding a 'Justice for Breonna Taylor' sign on West 15th street during a Black Lives Matter rally against Corey Johnson in New York on Thursday Demonstrators hold signs that read 'She deserved better' and 'Black Lives Matter' on West 15th Street in Manhattan on Thursday Tanesha Grant leads a crowd of demonstrators during a rally and march from Union Square in New York to the home of City Council Speaker Corey Johnson A probable cause affidavit filed Thursday in court says a police officer saw Joseph Robert Sipe light the firebomb's wick and throw it. Sipe later said he had tossed the lighted device behind the police line as it advanced, according to the affidavit. Sipe is identified in court papers as a homeless ex-Marine who has schizophrenia. His public defender, Grant Hartley, didn't immediately return an email seeking comment. Two other individuals were charged Thursday with squirting accelerant on barricaded doors at the police headquarters, throwing a firebomb that didn't explode and throwing rocks at windows. The prosecutor said in a news release that an unidentified person dropped a backpack of rocks in the middle of the protest and people started throwing them. The protesters Wednesday joined demonstrators around the US who were enraged that a grand jury didn't indict officers in the shooting of Taylor, a black woman who was shot to death in her Louisville home by officers conducting a drug investigation. Police said protesters hurled three firebombs - also known as Molotov cocktails - at officers and threw rocks that shattered windows at a law enforcement precinct station. One officer was hit in the foot by one of the firebombs and a fire department medic put out the flames. Protesters light up their cell phones during a protest action on Interstate 64 on Thursday evening A protester holds a sign that reads 'Stop killing us' as other demonstrators take to the streets in St. Louis on Thursday A Black Lives Matter protester in St. Louis holds a sign that reads 'We demand justice for Breonna Taylor. Send those killer cops to jail' A young girls holds a candle during a protest action on Interstate 64 in St. Louis, Missouri, on Thursday Demonstrators light candles during a vigil on Interstate 64 in St. Louis, Missouri, on Thursday Actvist Ohun Ashe leads chants with protesters during a protest action on Interstate 64 in St. Louis, Missouri, on Thursday The St. Louis skyline is seen in the background as demonstrators take to the streets of the city on Thursday A woman holds a sign and candles during a protest action along Interstate 64 in St. Louis, Missouri, on Thursday A demonstrator holds up a sign that reads 'Protect black women' in St. Louis, Missouri, on Thursday A large crowd of dozens of protesters block several lanes of Interstate 64 in St. Louis, Missouri, on Thursday Traffic on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge slows to a crawl as protesters demanding justice for Breonna Taylor purposely decelerated on the span to create gridlock, in San Francisco, California, USA last night A woman wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt holds a candle outside St. Louis police headquarters on Thursday Demonstrators are seen above outside St. Louis police headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, on Thursday Taylor, an emergency medical worker, was shot multiple times by white officers in Louisville who entered her home during a narcotics investigation in March. The Kentucky grand jury returned three charges of wanton endangerment Wednesday against fired Louisville Officer Brett Hankison over shooting into a home next to Taylor's with people inside. In Portland, demonstrators have taken to the streets almost every night for four months to protest police brutality and to demand a reduction in police funding. A small number have frequently set fires, smashed windows and thrown objects at police. More recently, protesters have targeted Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler for allowing police to use tear gas to disperse crowds and for what protesters believe are overly aggressive tactics. Wheeler banned all use of tear gas last week. At the same time, the mayor has become a frequent focus of attacks from President Donald Trump, who has accused him of being weak and doing nothing to stop the unrest in his city. Trump has made Portland a common theme in his 'law and order' reelection campaign. The right-wing group Proud Boys plans a rally in Portland this Saturday to support Trump and the police and to condemn anti-fascists, what the group calls 'domestic terrorism' and Wheeler's leadership, according to their permit application. The city denied the permit, citing the estimated crowd size of 10,000 during a pandemic, but police said Thursday they will not try to stop the Proud Boys from gathering at a park in north Portland. PRISTINA, Kosovo - European Union security police stormed the offices of a war veterans association in Kosovo on Friday, apparently to get hold of international prosecutors files from a war crimes investigation that the association said it received anonymously, according to witnesses and veterans. Members of the veterans association, which represents the former ethnic Albanian separatists who fought Serbian troops in a 1998-1999 war for independence, said police from the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, or EULEX, prevented them from going into the associations offices on Friday. Attorney Tome Gashi said EULEX police arrested the associations leader, Hysni Gucati, and that he would be transferred to The Hague, where a special court is probing alleged crimes by Kosovo Liberation Army members during and after the Balkan nations war. Faton Klinaku, the associations secretary, told reporters that police officers speaking different languages, including Kosovar police forces, had entered the offices in Pristina. An Associated Press video journalist observed police officers telling journalists to move away from the entrance. EULEX did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the police operation. Earlier this week, the war veterans group said that for the third time in two months an unknown person had provided war crime files from The Hague investigation. The veterans said they would make the files public. Christopher Bennett, spokesman of the Specialist Prosecutors Office at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, said that releasing the documents would be undermining the proper administration of justice and a criminal act. Former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, an ex-commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army, wrote on Facebook that there is no reason for operations or storming because everyone will respond voluntarily to justice. Haradinaj himself was twice prosecuted and acquitted in another international war crimes court in The Hague. He resigned as prime minister last when the Kosovo Specialist Chambers called him in for questioning. The Kosovo Specialist Chambers is looking into allegations that Kosovo Liberation Army members committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. On Thursday The Hague-based court arrested a former KLA commander on charges including torture of detainees and the murder of one prisoner held at a compound in Kosovo. He was taken to the courts detention centre in Netherlands. Kosovar President Hashim Thaci, former parliamentary speaker Kadri Veseli, and others have been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, enforced disappearances, persecution and torture. Both men have denied committing any crimes. A pretrial judge hasnt made a decision on whether to proceed with their case. The 1998-1999 war for Kosovos independence from Serbia left more than 10,000 people dead most of them ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, and more than 1,600 people remain unaccounted for. The fighting ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign against Serbian troops. Kosovo, which is dominated by ethnic Albanians, declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move recognized by many Western nations but not Serbia or its allies Russia and China. - Semini reported from Tirana, Albania. A school employee was arrested by Montgomery police Thursday amid allegations he had sex with a student younger than 19 years old, according to a report. James Brantley Jr., 48, was arrested Thursday and charged with sexual abuse and school employee having sexual contact with a student under 19, according to WSFA. Police did not name the school where Brantley worked. The alleged incident occurred Sept. 20, the station reported. Further information was unavailable. Something to look forward to: Microsoft may be putting most of its Office-related development resources into its cloud-based Office 365 suite, but it hasn't given up on standalone versions of the productivity software. According to a Microsoft Exchange Team blog post, a new version of Office's "perpetual" version is indeed in the works. The Exchange Team didn't go into many details about the new Office release, unfortunately. In fact, they only mentioned it in a single line, which reads as follows: "Microsoft Office will also see a new perpetual release for both Windows and Mac, in the second half of 2021." So, there you have it. Standalone Office is finally back after a lengthy hiatus -- the last version of the software to release was Office 2019, which actually came out around this time in 2018. It's unclear what new features we can expect to see in Office 2021 (or perhaps 2022), but we wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft pulls a few ideas from Office 365. Even so, standalone versions of Office will never be as up-to-date as their live counterparts, but that's something plenty of customers will probably be willing to live with. Swapping constant feature updates for reliable, 24/7 offline document access is a pretty fair trade, all things considered. We're not sure how much the new version of Office will cost, but we'll be sure to update you when Microsoft releases more information about it. ALLENDALE, MI A virtual Zoom meeting hosted by a Grand Valley State University student group was hacked by a suspect who displayed racist language and images, officials say. The student group, called Black Male Scholars, was hosting its kick-off meeting when the meeting was Zoom bombed, Grand Valley State University President Philomena Mantella shared with students and staff Thursday, Sept. 24. It was both shocking and deplorable, and this will not be allowed to stand in the Grand Valley community, Mantella wrote in Thursday evenings message. I want to express my profound sorrow to the students and employees who witnessed these reprehensible acts. The incident was immediately investigated by the universitys Information Technology Department, which was soon able to turn over suspect leads to Grand Valley Police Department, Mantella said. The investigation shows the suspect is not believed to be part of the GVSU community, the president said in an update Friday morning. Police are reportedly investigating the incident as a criminal case. There were three other Zoom bombings reported by other Grand Valley student groups that same evening, which are also being investigated, Mantella said. She did not say in her message whether the three other groups also received hateful messaging in the incidents. Milos Topic, the universitys vice president of Information Technology, is working on additional protocols and training to improve security for virtual meetings, Mantella said in Fridays update message. We will not tolerate any behavior of this nature, she wrote. We are committed to each member of our community and their well-being. More on MLive: Lawsuit dismissed against police in slain GVSU students murder-suicide Grand Valley to pay students to take daily coronavirus health screening College coronavirus outbreaks gravely concern Michigan public-health officials 24.09.2020 LISTEN The First Lady Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has cautioned supporters of the ruling NPP in the Anyaa-Sowutuom constituency in the Greater Accra Region, against voter complacency and apathy. In a meeting with market women in Chantan and Anyaa, the First Lady entreated them to turn out massively on December 7, to return the NPP, to power to continue with the good work, saying President Akufo-Addo continues to work to fulfill all his promises to the people of Ghana, through the many social intervention policies he has implemented including Free SHS, 1 Constituency 1 Ambulance, 1D1F and strengthening of the NHIS, all of which have largely benefited women and deserves another four years to work for Ghanaian women. At a durbar held in her honor by the traditional leaders in the constituency, the First lady outlined some initiatives she has undertaken to complement the government's effort to enhance the lives of women and children. She said through the Rebecca Foundation, a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and Mother and Baby Care Unit have been constructed at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, respectively. Mrs. Akufo-Addo revealed that The Rebecca Foundation through its Learning to Read Reading to Learn initiative is putting up libraries across the country and has also partnered with the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) through its Because I want to Be Initiative to train young girls and mothers to acquire skills to enhance their livelihood. The Rebecca Foundation will continue to help in the empowering of women and children, she added. At the Anyaa Sowutuom Municipal Clinic, the First Lady presented some medical items including blankets, thermometer guns, bedsheets, nose masks, and sanitizers to the health facility to assist them in the discharge of their duties and congratulated health personnel for standing firm in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic She was accompanied by MCE for Anyaa Sowutuom Dr. Emmanuel Lamptey, NPP Parliamentary candidate for Anyaa Sowutuom, Dr. Adomako Kissi as well as Regional and Constituency executives. ---citinewsroom At the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, September 24, African Nations appeal to world leaders for financial assistance to overcome the struggle of the COVID-19 pandemic. As per reports, Africa's 54 countries have estimated that the continent would need $100 billion every year for the next 3 years in order to survive the pandemic. Blind pursuit of narrow interests While making the case for the massive aid, Africa nations pointed to the trillion of dollars that had been spent by developed countries in order to revive their own economies. As per reports, almost all African speakers emphasised multilateralism in their UNGA speech. Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa criticised global apathy towards Africa and called this the blind pursuit of narrow interests. In addition to seeking financial aid, African heads of state appealed for debt cancellation so that more resources could be freed up to fight the pandemic. Due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa is reported to have experienced its first recession in a quarter-century that resulted in the stalling of years of success for some nations. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said the G-20 debt moratorium must be extended beyond this year and called upon Africas partners to take bolder measures. African nations also demanded a permanent seat on the UNs most powerful body, the Security Council. Some African leaders pointed out that at present, the Security Council was a reflection of past world order and did not take into account the African continent. Read: Troublesome South African Baboon Evicted For Raiding Homes Read: Greta Thunberg's Foundation To Donate 150,000 To Climate Change Activists In Africa Earlier on Wednesday, Nigeria had called for uninhibited supply of safe and effective coronavirus vaccines for all at the UN General Assembly. In his address, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said that the United Nations must do all it can to procure the COVID-19 vaccine for all nations otherwise the organisation would have failed in its core mission of giving expression, direction and solution to the yearnings of the international community. The COVID-19 pandemic which saw its first outbreak in a wet market in Wuhan, China last year has now spread all across the world. The virus, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation, has infected over 32.4 million people worldwide with the global death toll reaching over 987,000. (With AP inputs; Image Credits - AP) Read: South African President: 2020, The Year Of BLM Read: South Africa's Rhino Poaching Drops During Virus Lockdown Last week, President Donald Trump said he was counting on the federal court system to make it so that whatever preliminary tally is complete on Election Day will be validated as the final vote count, meaning states would not have the opportunity to count the anticipated record-high numbers of mail-in ballots. This would functionally end American democracy. And it appears that other Republicans are going all in on the idea that we should just not count actual votes. Advertisement On Thursday, Florida Sen. Rick Scott proposed a bill that would change election laws with less than six weeks to go until Novembers election, causing complete mayhem and ensuring that untold numbers of otherwise valid votes would not be counted. Scotts proposal is simple and entirely unworkable. His Help America Vote Act of 2020 would require that mail-in ballots be counted within 24 hours of when voting closes on Election Day. Scotts proposed legislation would also prevent mail-in ballots received prior to Election Day from being processed and counted until the morning of Nov. 3, contradicting state election statutes across the country including one that he signed when he was governor of Florida. Basically, the bill would move back the date by which votes can start to be counted and move up the date by which the count must end. This would limit the count to a single less-than-48-hour window, shortening the count in some cases by weeks. In Scotts own home state of Florida, as one example, votes can start to be counted up to 22 days before Election Day. In Colorado, which does all mail-in voting, they can be processed as soon as they are received and counted 15 days before Election Day. Under Scotts law, those votes would all have to begin to be counted on Election Day itself. Any votes that did not get counted simply would not count. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Subscribe to the Slatest newsletter A daily email update of the stories you need to read right now. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Scott, who has opposed providing funding for the administration of the election in COVID-19 relief bills, does not include in his bill any federal money that would help states meet this new deadline. Without funding to implement such an immediate revamp of election administration across the country, the deadline would be impossible to meet for most states. Further, the proposal would reject untold absentee ballots cast legally by Election Day but arriving afterward. Not only is counting all the ballots in 24 hours impossible in many places, [in] lots of places ballots can arrive days after Election Day to count, University of California, Irvine School of Law professor and occasional Slate contributor Richard Hasen told me. Indeed, late-arriving absentee military ballots in Florida were a major point of contention during the contested presidential election of 2000, with Republicans at the time supporting the idea that late ballots be counted. Advertisement In addition to restricting the count itself, Scotts bill would also force states to change their rules around the mail-in ballot process, including states that do all mail-in voting. Any conflicting state laws would be preempted, Scotts communications director, Chris Hartline, told me about a series of provisions that would change how states operate mail-in balloting. In many states, the changes would be practically impossible to implement in a mere six weeks. The five states that already conduct their elections almost entirely by mail appear to not meet Scotts requirements. Four states are sending mail-in ballots to every active registered voter to try to prevent long lines at the polls and the spread of COVID-19, and many other states have ramped up mail-in voting to meet demand because of the pandemic. Indeed, many such mail-in votes have already been cast in states where early mail-in voting has begun, such as North Carolina. Scotts bill would restrict this, creating new nationwide deadlines for applying for ballots that supersede current state deadlines and mandating nationwide signature matching, a practice that disproportionately invalidates votes from younger voters and people of color in enormous numbers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Back in July, when Trump floated the possibility of canceling Novembers Election Day, he was met with pushback from most in the GOP. While canceling Election Day appears to be a red line for Republican officials, many seem to have coalesced around Trumps efforts to prevent a complete and accurate count. Scotts bill is just another example. With Democrats controlling the House of Representatives, the legislation is a nonstarter. But it shows you exactly where the GOPs head is at with 40 days left to go before the last votes are cast. For more of Slates news coverage, subscribe to What Next on Apple Podcasts or listen below. Despite encryption, apprehensions always hover the privacy on social media. Personal data of citizens has been leaked many times from the government sites. Messaging app Whatsapp is often faced with similar questions. In fact, Israeli spyware Pegasus was found to be spying on journalist, politicians, etc. But with investigation on in Bollywood drug case, in the follow up of Sushant Singh Rajputs suicide case, it appears that our WhatsApp chats are easily accessible, not only to probe agencies but also to media. Earlier, actor Rhea Chakrabortys chats, even from couple of years ago, were used as evidence against her in the media trial. She was arrested earlier this month by the NCB in a drug case. Even Deepika Padukone, who has been summoned by the NCB, got into trouble over chats. Amid all this happening, a TV anchor has become the centre of all humour. She was among the top anchors debating Rheas role in Sushants suicide day in and day out. She even showed her WhatsApp chats to imply that Rhea was the one to push Sushant to drugs and depression which ultimately became the reason of his suicide. The joke doing rounds on social media is that she is reading all your messages. In fact, people want this TV anchor to check if their crush is talking to anyone else. The jokes are unending, even though they underline the irony of the situation. Take a look: Navika can you read my crushs WhatsApp messages and let me know if hes talking to someone else? Pls let me know, thank you harnidh (@chiaseedpuddin) September 24, 2020 Appeal. If any of you know a news anchor or a celebrity or talent agency, could you please whatsapp them or eachother about the #farmbill tomorrow?Just wanna make sure it gets read on the news. Vir Das (@thevirdas) September 25, 2020 Since "journalists" are reading WhatsApp messages these days:SEND NEWS Sayantan Ghosh (@sayantansunnyg) September 24, 2020 "Your messages are end to end encrypted "Also #WhatsApp : pic.twitter.com/ztsSL8Pg8a Puffy blinder (@reyaaa41282911) September 24, 2020 #Navika ma'am reading secret WhatsApp MessagesMeanwhile Mark Zuckerberg be like: pic.twitter.com/MspEEtXM0f Aditya Gona (@aditya_gona) September 24, 2020 Whatsapp has started doing a third tick for when Navika Kumar has read your message. Abijit Ganguly (@AbijitG) September 22, 2020 My Husband asked me why I was speaking so softly at home. I told him I was afraid Mark Zuckerberg was listening!He laughed. I laughed. Alexa laughed. @navikakumar Laughed. #Navika #WhatsappForward Sana (@farooquisana) September 24, 2020 #Navika ma'am reading secret WhatsApp MessagesMeanwhile Mark Zuckerberg be like: pic.twitter.com/MspEEtXM0f Aditya Gona (@aditya_gona) September 24, 2020 #WhatsApp _ your messages are secured end to end encryption Le indian media _ _ pic.twitter.com/ZbHotzKJnQ SAGAR NAYAK (@o1o1o1o1db) September 24, 2020 Meanwhile, the alleged chat of Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone with her then-manager Karishma Prakash in October 2017 was the main reason behind the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to summon her in a drugs-related case that emerged out during the probe of actor Sushant Singh Rajput death case. A top NCB source told IANS that the agency got suspicious after it came to the fore in one of the alleged chats of Jaya Saha, the talent manager of Sushant, who was discussing drugs with the late actors girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty. Well, actually Miami airport for certain routes does offer the closest the USA has to transiting, but you will still need an ESTA or visa as a UK passport holder and they can be hard to obtain. However, based on what you have said, as I understand the rules (but have not tested them) you are allowed to change planes in Miami as planned. Where you will need to be careful for this trip which without question given Galapagos visit is involved is ensure you have full travel insurance and that's hard to get with Covid cover and there may be other restrictions. In your shoes, I'd also check the terms of all booking in regard to the refund policies. The other thing to note is the trip is some time in the future. Even before times those kinds of flights could often have schedule changes. At the moment, with so much flux in the airline industry, I would guess the chances of flight time changes (such as your second flight departing before the first lands at Miami) and cancellations are much more likely to happen. I'd be keep a close and regular check on all reservations and be in a position to take action should a change occur. SWT Kyle Rittenhouse appears at extradition hearing Sept. 25 Lake County Circuit Court Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen accused of shooting demonstrators in Kenosha last month, was in an Illinois court Friday Rittenhouse faces multiple charges in connection with fatally shooting two men and wounding a third man Rittenhouse's lawyer told a judge Friday that he plans to fight his extradition from Illinois to Wisconsin The 17-year-old is due back in court next month Kyle Rittenhouse the Illinois gunman accused of fatally shooting two men and injuring a third during a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin last month remained silent as his attorney said he would fight the teen's extradition to Wisconsin to face murder charges during a Friday hearing. "We intend to challenge extradition by writ of habeas corpus," said Rittenhouse's attorney John Pierce. The hearing took place virtually with all parties appearing via Zoom, including Rittenhouse, who remains in the Lake County Juvenile Detention Center. Dressed in a dark blue prison uniform and wearing a light bluish-gray face mask, Rittenhouse was quiet throughout the hearing outside of saying, "Good Morning, your honor," to the judge. Pierce said his firm hasn't received extradition papers from Illinois or Wisconsin and will review and challenge them once they're received. The judge said he expected Rittenhouse to be served with an extradition notice from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker over the next few days and Pierce will have to file a habeas corpus writ by 5 p.m. on Oct. 8. The habeas corpus writ often is used to determine whether someone is being detained legally. Attorneys for both sides will meet on Oct. 9 to set schedules and a specific hearing date. Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide after killing two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. TikTok Rittenhouse faces multiple charges including first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide, as well as a misdemeanor charge of possession of a deadly weapon. The 17-year-old drove to Kenosha from his home in Antioch, Illinois to protect local businesses from looting amid unrest ignited by the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse, who is seen in a video firing an AR-15 style rifle into a crowd of people, is accused of fatally shooting protesters Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz on Aug. 25. Story continues Rittenhouse's case is polarizing. His detractors see him as symbolizing the type of domestic terrorism they say is increasing as calls for racial equality grow louder and protests against police brutality spread around the country. However, Rittenhouse 's gun-enthusiasm, aspirations to be a law enforcement agent and support for President Donald Trump has prompted many to hail him as a patriotic hero who wanted to help maintain law and order amid chaos in Kenosha. Trump, who visited Kenosha the week following Rittenhouse 's arrest to view the devastation from the looting and riots, declined to condemn the shooting and suggested that the shooter looked like he was "trying to get away." Rittenhouse's supporters just aren't rallying to his defense on social media. Some are donating as little as $5 or $20 to his legal defense fund and it's adding up. His attorney's Los Angeles-based law firm, Pierce Bainbridge, created the nonprofit #FightBack Foundation that's raised $1.8 million of a $5 million goal so far. A fundraiser on the Christian fundraising platform GiveSendGo said it's received $517,804 in donations toward his defense, surpassing the stated goal of $500,000. It seems that Rittenhouse may not have been able to afford his defense team had it not been for this type of financial support. He and his two sisters were raised by his single mother, Wendy, who reportedly works as a nurse's assistant. In March 2014, Wendy Rittenhouse filed a child support claim against his father, Michael, for him, his now 20-year-old sister and another sibling who turns 17 in December, according to court documents. Michael Rittenhouse is ordered to pay child support until May 31, 2022. Staffing agency QPS Employment Group Inc. in Brookfield, Wisconsin was listed as his father's place of employment in those 2014 documents. Kenosha County Sheriff's Office told Insider last month that it would be prepared for any potential unrest that could erupt relating to the outcomes in the Rittenhouse case and Blake shooting case. Read the original article on Insider This is the case of an 86 944 thats now being sold on Craigslist and had just owner since it left the factory 34 years ago.According to the official information that was posted by Fortunauto 13, the garage in charge of finding a new owner for the car, this Porsche 944 has been pampered, garaged, and catered to her whole life, and the service history shows that everything was performed in Southern California.Its ready to become your daily driver as everything is in perfect working condition, and the 944 has recently received a new timing belt and a battery. The odometer indicates 135,876 miles (218,671 km), and while it's not necessarily a low-mileage model, it runs and drives like new.Porsche 944 was officially launched in 1982 and was manufactured for just 9 years until 1991. The production took place at Porsches factory in Neckarsulm, Stuttgart for both European and US-spec models.Between 1982 and 1987, the 944 was available with a 2.5-liter engine whose output was slightly improved throughout the years. For example, the original model developed 163 horsepower, while the US version came with 143 horsepower until 1985, and which point the performance was increased to 147 horsepower. Model year 1988 brought another power increase to 158 horsepower on the European model, while a year later, the 944 ended up developing 163 horsepower thanks to a new 2.7-liter engine.Porsche 944 was available with a 3-speed automatic or 5-speed manual transmission, and the model sold here features the latter.While youd normally expect old Porsches to be rather expensive, the 944 that we have here doesnt necessarily cost a fortune. The garage expects to get $14,980 for the car, and you can check it out in person in Temecula, California. I am a judge, born, raised and proud of being a Jew. The demand for justice, for peace, for enlightenment runs through the entirety of Jewish history and Jewish tradition, she said at the award ceremony. I hope, in all the years I have the good fortune to continue serving on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, I will have the strength and courage to remain steadfast in the service of that demand. UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday that dialogue and diplomacy should resolve issues related to Iran's nuclear programme under international law, with all parties abiding a 2015 international agreement. The United States on Monday announced new sanctions against Iran's defense ministry and others involved in its nuclear and weapons programme. They were meant to support Washington's assertion - disputed by Europeans and others - that all United Nations sanctions against Tehran are now restored. "We support solving issues regarding Iran's nuclear programme by taking international law into consideration and through dialogue and diplomacy," Erdogan told the United Nations General Assembly in a video message. "I repeat our call for all parties to abide by their responsibilities under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which provides serious contributions to regional and global security," he said. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer) China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun rejected Trump's accusations of China spreading COVID-19 as 'baseless' and said, 'Lies repeated a thousand times still lie' United Nations: China on Thursday lashed out at the United States at a high-level UN meeting over its criticism on the coronavirus, with its envoy declaring, "Enough is enough!" Two days after President Donald Trump used his annual address to the General Assembly to attack China's record, the US ambassador to the United Nations also took an outraged tone - after which her Chinese counterpart showed palpable anger. "I must say, enough is enough! You have created enough troubles for the world already," Chinese envoy Zhang Jun told a Security Council meeting on global governance attended through videoconference by several heads of state. "The US has nearly seven million confirmed cases and over 200,000 deaths by now. With the most advanced medical technologies and system in the world, why has the US turned out to have the most confirmed cases and fatalities?" he asked in English. "If someone should be held accountable, it should be a few US politicians themselves," said Jun. Using a phrase often told by US leaders to China, Zhang said, "The US should understand that a major power should behave like a major power." The United States "is completely isolated," he said in remarks enthusiastically backed by his Russian counterpart. 'Shame on each of you' His remarks came after the US ambassador, Kelly Craft, opened with angry words that took diplomats off-guard. "You know, shame on each of you. I am astonished and I am disgusted by the content of today's discussion," Craft said. "I am actually really quite ashamed of this Council - members of the Council who took this opportunity to focus on political grudges rather than the critical issue at hand. My goodness." Diplomats said they were puzzled at the tone of Craft, who had left by the time the Chinese ambassador spoke. Craft was "very aggressive" after a session that had been "more or less full of consensus," one diplomat said on condition of anonymity. With world leaders asked to send speeches in advance for a virtual General Assembly, Chinese President Xi Jinping could not reply Tuesday to Trump and delivered a mild-mannered speech in which he unveiled more ambitious targets on climate change. But the spokesman for the General Assembly, Brenden Varma, said China had requested to speak next Tuesday, the day set up for any nation to reply to statements. Trump in his speech had demanded action against China for spreading the "plague" of COVID-19 to the world. China suppressed news of the respiratory disease when it first emerged last year in Wuhan and initial advice played down the risks of transmission. China's communist leaders have more recently tried to transform the narrative into one of the country's success in stopping the virus. Trump's response to the pandemic - which he has provocatively called the "China virus" - has emerged as a major political issue as he seeks a new term in the 3 November election. Africans seek debt relief Several African leaders used their virtual addresses to the General Assembly to plead for more international assistance, fearing that COVID will impede development. "Our nations are asking for financial support that rises to the level of the economic crisis they're witnessing," said Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou. "Just a debt moratorium will not be enough faced with the challenges that have arisen. We simply have to cancel the debt completely," he said, reiterating a call made Tuesday by his counterpart from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi. The Group of 20 major economies in mid-April suspended debt payments for the poorest nations through the end of the year as they face major budget shortfalls due to the COVID shutdown. The African Union is seeking to extend the moratorium through 2021, warning of dire economic effects from the health crisis. "This pandemic could erase more than a decade of economic growth and social progress achieved by the African continent," Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said. Despite the economic concerns, Africa has been one of the regions least affected in health terms by COVID-19, with the continent reporting 1.8 million cases and 34,500 deaths. Boris Johnson has said that the UK will lead the world in the world in the transition to a net-zero economy, saying that climate action cannot be another victim of coronavirus. Speaking to a United Nations roundtable on climate change this afternoon, the PM said that the UK will serve as a launchpad for a global green industrial revolution. Appearing by video link at the panel, Johnson said: As the world continues to deal with coronavirus we must look ahead to how we will rebuild, and how we can seize the opportunity to build back better. The UK will lead by example, keeping the environment on the global agenda and serving as a launch pad for a global green industrial revolution. But no one country can turn the tide it would be akin to bailing out a liner with a single bucket. We cannot let climate action become another victim of coronavirus. Let us be the leaders who secure the very health of the planet for our children, grandchildren and generations to come. He said that the UK would co-host an event in December to mark the five-year anniversary of the landmark Paris climate accords, which committed the world to reducing emissions. The conference, which will replace the postponed COP26 summit due to be held in Glasgow next November will be an opportunity for countries to announce new climate targets. He said that the UK could be the Saudi Arabia of wind power, praising the countrys enormous potential for the technology. At the moment, renewables provide nearly a third of UK power in the UK and half of this is generated by from wind energy. According to industry body Renewables UK, to meet growing electricity demand and the net zero emissions target by 2050, the UKs wind energy capacity would expand six-fold from 22GW currently to 126GW by 2050. COP26 President and Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: The eyes of the world will be on COP26 when the UK hosts it in November next year. But tackling climate change cannot wait. Thats why we are setting the stage now with a call to all those who are ready to step forward this December and set out bold new Nationally Determined Contributions for a clean and prosperous future. The responsibility to act lies with each of us and together we can drive forward action. By City AM More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: It is slightly smaller than two one-cent coins stacked on top of each other, is particularly energy-efficient due to its size, requires no maintenance and can be integrated in mobile devices. It is the smallest particle sensor in the world. With this 12 x 9 x 3 millimetre innovation, smartphones, smart watches or fitness wristbands can for the first time measure the quality of the ambient air in real time and sound the alarm in the event of increased fine dust values. Innovative implementation The sensor was developed by Paul Maierhofer as part of his dissertation at the Institute of Electrical Measurement and Sensor Systems at Graz University of Technology together with experts from the semiconductor manufacturer ams AG and with researchers from Silicon Austria Labs (SAL). The development was based on well-known methods of conventional measuring instruments as well as modern manufacturing and integration methods, which brought the project team together in an innovation process. The innovation is the miniaturization itself, as Maierhofer explains: "The sensor is right at the limit of what is physically and technically feasible and involves a lot of tricks to function at this size." Adapting behaviour to ambient air The immense social benefit of this new innovative particle sensor is obvious. According to a study by the European Environment Agency (EEA), over 400,000 people die prematurely every year in Europe alone as a result of particulate matter pollution. With the help of wearables equipped with the new particle sensor, each and every individual can monitor the ambient air and react immediately in the case of health-endangering fine dust values. "For example, by avoiding particularly polluted routes when jogging or on the daily commute to work," says Alexander Bergmann, head of the Institute of Electrical Measurement and Sensor Systems at TU Graz and doctoral supervisor of Paul Maierhofer. Improving air quality Not only in wearables, the sensor can also be integrated in local applications both in the home and outdoors and thus provides an unprecedented variety of measured values. Bergmann is convinced that this represents a break from the past in air quality monitoring: "Close-meshed and comprehensive monitoring of air quality has so far failed due to the size, complexity and cost of currently available measuring sensors. Our particle sensor fills a gap here." The data obtained can serve as a basis for further regulatory measures and raise public awareness of the particulate matter problem. The series production aimed at by semiconductor manufacturer ams is intended to achieve a price that is significantly lower than the currently available sensors. Tesla Autopilot is a drive aid built into Tesla Motors' cars that takes out the manual control and makes for a more relaxing commute for the driver. This one driver in Canada's Calgary took it a bit too seriously. Although authorities say that despite Tesla Motors cars being equipped with the Full Self Driving software, the drivers must still remain ready to take over at any time. But some people ignore the rule, casein point, this Canadian man who was sleeping away to glory with his Tesla on autopilot mode at 150km/hr. Twitter/@RCMPAlberta Police in Alberta were alerted by another driver who dialled 911 to inform about a 2019 Tesla Model S speeding in the middle of the afternoon with two people in the front seats, both asleep. Also Read: Tesla Motors: Trouble As Two Dead In Recent Accident Claims Of Cars Accelerating By Themselves A photo shared of the Tesla Model S in question on the RCMP Albertas Twitter page. Alberta RCMP received a complaint of a car speeding on Hwy 2 near #Ponoka. The car appeared to be self-driving, travelling over 140 km/h with both front seats completely reclined & occupants appeared to be asleep. The driver received a Dangerous Driving charge & summons for court pic.twitter.com/tr0RohJDH1 RCMP Alberta (@RCMPAlberta) September 17, 2020 The car appeared to be self-driving, travelling over 140 km/hr with both front seats completely reclined & occupants appeared to be asleep, wrote RCMP Alberta. "Nobody was looking out the windshield to see where the car was going," RCMP Sgt. Darrin Turnbull told CBC. Also Read: Tesla Cars Will Now Visually Detect Speed Limits, Set Cruise Speeds Accordingly With Single Tap Autopilot is to be used as a driver assist. "But of course, there are aftermarket things that can be done to a vehicle against the manufacturer's recommendations to change or circumvent the safety system," the police officer said. The RCMP charged the driver with speeding and issued a 24-hour license suspension for fatigue, and a criminal code charge of dangerous driving was issued, according to CBC. Back in August, another Tesla driver in North Carolina US, was on Autopilot mode, was watching a movie on his phone when he crashed into a sheriff's deputy car. the cruiser hit the trooper's car, pushing the two officers to the ground, the patrol said. No one was hurt. Authorities have charged Devainder Goli of Raleigh with violating the move-over law and watching television while operating a vehicle. Also Read: Tesla Sheds $80 Billion Of Its Market Value In What Is Being Termed Worst Single-Day Percentage Drop Ever Hiking is one of few activities that, for the time being, San Franciscans can still enjoy during the current coronavirus shut down (though Mayor Breed emphasized the importance yesterday of avoiding any gatherings, and threatened to shut the city's parks if this ruling isn't followed). One of the most dramatic (and steep) hikes in the city is right in the middle of San Francisco, helmed by a 100-foot towering cross that looms over the city and has its own fascinating history. Alongside Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Telegraph Hill, Rincon Hill, Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro, Mount Davidson is one of the famed Seven Hills of San Francisco those named at the time of the founding of the city. Starting from the Miraloma Park neighborhood, if you trek halfway up the steep path on the eastern side of Mount Davidson you'll catch a glimpse between the trees of a concrete crucifix. Only when you get to the top can its magnitude be fully realized. The giant concrete cross is in its fifth iteration, with all previous wooden versions burned into the soil through protest and arson. An Easter service is performed at the site most years, the first occurring in the '20s. The cross sits in a plot of land now owned by The Council of Armenian American Organizations of Northern California, who purchased it from the city in 1997. Since changing hands, a yearly commemoration of the Armenian Genocide also occurs at the cross on April 24, where a bronze plaque memorializes those horrific events during and after World War I. ALSO: This absurdly beautiful Bay Area hike will help you take a break from coronavirus The first 40-foot cross was erected at the crest of the park by the dean of Grace Cathedral in 1923, a second replaced it a year later and was promptly burned down by arsonists. The third version of the landmark was much larger, and similar to today's structure in size but also made of wood. It lasted three years before suffering the same ashy fate. Undeterred, stucco was used to build the next cross by the city in 1929, only to be burnt down in 1931. The current structure, which is still standing after nearly 90 years, was built in 1934 and commemorated with President Franklin D. Roosevelt illuminating the cross via telegraph from the White House a week before Easter that year. For many years, CBS broadcast the annual Easter sunrise services. A short walk west from the cross site leads to a clearing where an iconic eucalyptus tree fell in a windstorm in 2013. The tree itself had its own strange history: Planted after the Gold Rush by Leland Stanford, the California Governor, the non-native eucalyptus marked the boundary between the two owners of Mount Davidson (Adolph Sutro and Stanford). In recent years native plant advocates saw the tree as unwanted, with one protestor reportedly removing the bark from the base of the tree, so it would slowly die. The view from the site of the doomed tree is astounding, reaching past Twin Peaks and over the eastern half of San Francisco and the bay beyond. At a height of 928 feet, hikers look across Downtown from the highest natural point in the city, almost on a level with the tip of the Salesforce Tower. The cross's somewhat foreboding structure provides the backdrop to a scene in Don Siegel's 1971 grisly crime thriller "Dirty Harry." Clint Eastwood's Detective Harry Callahan and Scorpio (a character loosely based on the Zodiac Killer) shoot it out at the base of the cross. So long as social distancing guidance is adhered to, this hidden San Francisco landmark and its majestic views can provide a peaceful escape right now. Check out the slideshow above to see the cross and the view at San Francisco's crest. Over 7.29 crore voters will cast their votes across 243 Assembly constituencies of Bihar. In what the Election Commission of India has termed as the "biggest election during COVID-19 pandemic so far", the state of Bihar will go for a three phase poll, starting October 28. The counting of votes will take place on November 10. Over 7.29 crore voters will cast their votes across 243 Assembly constituencies of Bihar, where the term of the Assembly will end on November 29. "The world has changed significantly since the last major election in our country, which was held for Delhi assembly, and the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a new normal in every aspect of our life. Bihar Assembly polls will be one of the biggest elections globally to be held during prevailing COVID-19 situation," Arora said. In the first phase, 71 Assembly seats will go to polls, spread across 16 districts. According to the Election Commission, most of the Left Wing Extremism-affected districts come under this phase. The first phase of polling will be held on October 28. In the second phase, 94 Assembly constituencies will go to polls. These Assembly constituencies are spread across 17 districts. They will go to polls on November 3. In the third phase, 78 constituencies across 15 districts will be voting on November 7. While 10 districts will go to polls across two phases, 28 districts will complete their polling process in just one phase. Needless to say, with the announcement of poll dates, the Model Code of Conduct has come into effect. The Election Commission of India said that it has increased the number of polling booths in the state, keeping in mind the safety norms and social distancing norms. There will be nearly 1 lakh polling booths in Bihar, while there were only 65 thousand polling booths during the 2015 election. The polling time has been increased by one hour. Earlier the polls ended at 5 pm, now they will go on till 6 pm. However, this change in timing will not be applicable to LWE affected areas. Given the COVID-19 situation in the state, the Election Commission has made arrangements for 7 lakh hand sanitisers, 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh face shields and 23 lakh pairs of hand gloves have been arranged for Bihar polls. Besides, postal ballot facility will be provided wherever required and requested. Social distancing norms will need to be followed at public gatherings during the poll campaign. Moreover, people quarantined for COVID-19 will be able to vote only in the last hour of the polling. Which county is next? And what will it take to avoid the clutches of lockdown? Whether it's dubbed a second wave or a new chapter in the Covid-19 threat, we could be facing a season of on-off localised lockdowns. Donegal joined Dublin yesterday in a set of restrictions prompted by a six-fold increase in cases of the virus in two and a half weeks. Other counties which are in the potential danger zone are Louth, Waterford, Wicklow, Kildare, Cork and Galway. Local lockdown The targeted local lockdown by county appears to be the way forward. It happened in August when Laois, Kildare and Offaly faced weeks of restrictions. This was followed by Dublin and now Donegal. Instead of inducing complacency in other counties the message is 'don't let standards slip or you could be next'. There is good psychology behind this. Halve your contacts, don't abuse a night out in a pub, avoid house parties and do the other basics like wearing a face mask. Warning signs Dublin and Donegal got plenty of warnings. In the case of Donegal, the graph has been going one way. The 14-day incidence of Covid-19 rose to 148 per 100,000 yesterday, a jump from 106 per 100,000 on Monday. In the last two and a half weeks, the climb has been six-fold. Other counties can take note. If the increase in spread is at that level, the surveillance intensifies and health officials will bring down the shutters. The cases in Donegal have involved a lot of younger people. In the 14 days up until September 21, fewer than five cases were confirmed in North Inishowen, 13 were in south Inishowen, five in Milford and 24 in Letterkenny. But 87 were in the Lifford and Stranorlar area, 22 in Glenties and eight in Donegal. Community transmission This is always a worry. Community transmission means people are picking up the virus and don't know the source. They can catch it and bring it home, infecting other family members. This pattern of transmission is one of the prompters which public-health officials assess when deciding on lockdown. The solution is that if everyone meets fewer people, the less likely they are to pass it on to one of their family over dinner at the kitchen table or in the living room watching television. Watchlist The new reality is that counties with a sustained increase in cases are on the watchlist for potential restrictions. Taoiseach Micheal Martin referred to the trend in rising cases in urban centres like Galway and his native Cork. Louth had a 14-day incidence of 106.3 per 100,000 on Tuesday compared to 97.8 per 100,000 the day before, which suggests it needs to be alert and people in the county should have a wake-up call about following the rules. Waterford's 14-day incidence on Tuesday was 97.3 per 100,000, down from 98.1 per 100,000. The other counties of concern now are Kildare and Wicklow, which have seen a 14-day increase. But they appear to still have a window of opportunity to turn their fate around. Hospitalisations One of the factors which is part of the analysis by the National Public Health Emergency Team is the worrying rise in hospitalisations. This is becoming a growing source of concern and more young people are now being admitted to intensive care. The HSE yesterday reported that 88 people with Covid-19 were in hospital and 17 in intensive care. And the numbers continue to climb. Beaumont Hospital in Dublin had to isolate three wards due to patients with the virus and this had knock-on effects for people with other illnesses who needed a bed. The pressure is also being felt in the Mater Hospital. Actor Billie Lourd, daughter of the late Carrie Fisher, has announced the birth of her first child. In a post shared on Instagram, Lourd, who starred in American Horror Story, Scream Queens and the Star Wars sequel trilogy, revealed that she and her fiance, actor Austen Rydell, had welcomed a baby boy. The 28-year-old shared a photograph of her newborn sons feet, with the caption: Introducing: Kingston Fisher Lourd Rydell, one of her sons middle names paying homage to her mothers surname. Numerous Instagram users congratulated the couple on their new arrival, with many expressing their shock over the fact that neither Lourd or Rydell had previously revealed they were expecting a baby. Screaming!!! Love you guys so much, wrote actor Emma Roberts, who is currently pregnant with her first child. Recommended Billie Lourd pays homage to her late mother Carrie Fisher on Star Wars Day Zelda Williams, daughter of the late Robin Williams, commented: Yaaaaay! Congrats lovebug, and a big socially distant squeeze to you and to the new littlest Lourd! Hes finally here! So happy for you! Boy moms! wrote actor Lea Michele, who gave birth to a baby boy in August. Meanwhile Jamie Lee Curtis, who starred alongside Lourd in Scream Queens, expressed her surprise over the unexpected news, writing: WAIT WHAT???? Several people left heartfelt comments about Lourds mother Fisher and her late grandmother, actor Debbie Reynolds, who died one day after her daughter in 2016. Grandma and great grandma would have loved him like no other. Congratulations, one person said. I'm sure grandma Carrie is crying happy tears in heaven I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU, another remarked. In May, Lourd shared a black-and-white photograph of herself as a baby with her mother on Instagram to mark Mothers Day in the US. Sending my love to anyone who has lost a mother and anyone who might just be having a complicated Mothers Day this year, the actor wrote in the caption. This is my 4th Mothers Day without my Momby and days like today are never easy, but Ive found that doing things that make me feel more connected to her make it a little easier. In June, Lourds partner, Rydell, announced on Instagram that they had become engaged. She said YES!! (Actually she said Duhhh) But I guess thats even better than yes?!? the 28-year-old wrote in the caption. When Paul Hickey worked at a large multinational company, he was invited along to the LauraLynn hospice as a member of the companys charity team. We went out and walked around the site, and we got told about the Butterfly Room, Hickey recalls. This is, he soon realised, the beautiful and serene space where terminally ill children and their families spend one last special night together before the child passes away. To be honest, when I walked in I was completely blown away. The first thing I said was, are you looking for volunteers? and I applied right after I left. That was nine years ago, and since then Paul, who works in the civil service, has volunteered across LauraLynn in a huge number of roles. He has dressed up as cartoon characters like Tigger and Pluto for family days, celebrated Christmas with young patients, and volunteered at summer camps. One of his favourite yearly events is the Oscars, and he visibly swells with emotion and pride when he explains it. Its a very simple idea. One of LauraLynns big things is building memories and creating lasting legacies of children, so a few families get selected to make a movie of the child, he says. It gets professionally produced and edited, and we go to the local cinema and basically create the illusion of the Oscars, with limos and VIP rooms. The volunteers pretend to be infatuated fans on the red carpet, we have the paparazzi there and the family gets a chance to come in their best bling. Some of those children have passed away, but you can only imagine the legacy that is left for the family, he says. The death of a young child is almost too much for most parents to even begin contemplating. Likewise, caring for a child with very complex needs is fraught with challenges. Yet ask any of LauraLynns 170 volunteers, and they will tell you that their time spent on site (or, since Covid, volunteering virtually), is the highlight of their week. I see LauraLynn as a very happy place, Hickey notes. Their philosophy epitomises that its about making the most of very short, precious lives. In his years there, Hickey has seen many young patients with life-limiting illnesses die. When you drive into the parkway, and you see the butterflies [released] around the flower beds, you know that a child has passed. I do remember one little boy, who passed away a year or so ago, he recalls, I got to know him, and you create a bond, even if, unfortunately, you know what the outcome is going to be. You become almost part of the familys life, so you absolutely feel it. What offsets this is what youve done for the family. LauraLynns 170 volunteers, once trained and Garda vetted, work across a number of official roles, from fundraising and transport to admin and site maintenance. Many live near the south Dublin hospice, and want to get involved in a local charity, while others are retired and want to give back to society. Others might have known a sick child, or lost a child of their own, and can fully empathise in the situation that LauraLynns families now find themselves in. Several volunteers are hands-on with the children in roles that include reading stories, playing music, and arts-and-crafts. Others drive children to their hospital appointments, school, or day centres. Some of the work involves sensory play, calming activities and water-play. One of our most unique roles for volunteers is the LauraLynn royal family, where we try to bring a little Disney magic here, explains volunteer coordinator Lorna Collins. People will play the princess or the queen, and they come to various events, or well put the call into our volunteers for a special visit. We had a family down from the Gaeltacht in Donegal for a therapeutic stay and one of the royal family came in and did an Irish music session in her fairy godmother costume. It really was a special moment. Dubliner Kevin Murphy, who works in chemical sales, has been involved in LauraLynn since the early 2000s. At first, he and his family made monthly donations, when it was still named the Childrens Sunshine Home. In recognition of his work with the charity, he has recently been appointed to the LauraLynn Board. We did what we could to help financially, but it was always in my mind that it was this fantastic place, he recalls. I just had this warm feeling when I went in there. I started off in fundraising, and then the chaplain approached me to start a reading programme in the evenings in the Disability Centre. Despite his enthusiasm, Murphy was initially worried about interacting with children with severe medical needs. I remember thinking, how do you communicate with them?, but once I started reading, things fell right into place. Theyre the same as every other child in some ways they have their tantrums and their moods, and they like their music. Volunteering at the hospice is certainly gratifying, but would-be helpers need to be informed on just what they are expecting from the experience. We bring them on-site before they sign forms, and we show them what its going to be like, Collins explains. I quickly learned that would-be volunteers need to do an induction session. I tell them the details and what might happen, and how sizeable a commitment it is. Our focus is to bring the lighter side, so if volunteers can come with a sense of humour, a smile and compassion, thats a good thing. Its not our role to look at the awful sadness its our role to make as many happy memories as possible. The volunteer roles are non-clinical, and at end-of-life, LauraLynns medical staff and chaplaincy are usually the parties most closely involved with families. Still, its not unusual for volunteers to forge a close bond with children. Working alongside the young adults in the Disability Centre, Mr Murphy has known some of LauraLynns young service users, and their families, for close to a decade. Some of them have end-of-life care here, and because youre with them all the way through the journey, theres a warmth and serenity about it, he explains. Ive been in other [adult] hospices, and really its like chalk and cheese. You couldnt compare the two. The dignity and the way things are handled in LauraLynn are phenomenal. Several volunteers reconnect with bereaved families at special memorial services, respite days or at family days. The families get memories to hang on to afterwards, explains Mr Murphy. Weve all gone through bereavement, and there comes a point when other people stop talking about the person [who has passed on]. This is where families still come and their memories are still alive. Both volunteers admit that, despite encountering loss and families in challenging circumstances on every shift, they find their roles more rewarding than they ever could have imagined. Im very lucky. Its a way to say thank you that my children have grown up, been healthy and left home, Mr Hickey reflects. It makes you feel more appreciative of what you have. Youd often complain about life and pressures, and then you go to LauraLynn and sit with these children and think, what am I complaining about? I think Im very selfish I get more out of LauraLynn than I give, he adds. Some of the children may not be verbally communicative, but when that child smiles at you, you can sense that youre doing something right. LauraLynn will be celebrating National Volunteer Week from Sept 21-27. For more information on LauraLynns services, or details on how to volunteer, visit lauralynn.ie Google has begun introducing a new split bill feature for its Google Pay platform. As reported by Android Police, the company began testing in Singapore in mid-September. This comes soon after news broke that Google Pay was completely re-written from the ground up using Flutter. Prior to this, Google quietly got rid of the ability to conduct transactions on peer-to-peer apps. This slightly annoyed some as they felt functionality had been taken away from the app. However, now Google has added a new split bill feature that may begin in alleviate some of the bad will towards the platform. Advertisement Google Pay begins testing split bill feature Google has begun testing the feature in Singapore to iron out any potential flaws with the innovation. There is, however, no word on when and if this feature may roll out on a global scale. Therefore we will have to wait and see what comes up in that regard. Prior to this dedicated feature, users could settle bills in Google Pay by sending or requesting money in pre-calculated quantities. However, this feature should make the process that little bit easier. Advertisement Google says the new feature will allow users to form groups to organize and manage payments, as well as divide bills and other joint expenses within the app. The above screenshots give an indication of how this will work. However, they do not provide the entire workflow for how the system works. Google also provided a support page that has since been taken down. However, if you search for it you can still see the steps provided in a featured snippet. This is shown below. Advertisement Singapore customers get more new Google Pay features This update for those living in Singapore also came with a host of other new features to try out. These include PayNow support at two more banks and the ability to purchase movie tickets at Golden Village and Shaw Theaters. Users can also enjoy a new scratchcard rewards system. Support for PayNow used to only work for OCBC customers, now it will also work with DBS Paylah! And Standard Chartered Bank. Users can also use it with retailer QR codes which makes shopping at smaller stores more convenient. This all seems like very positive news especially for those living in Singapore. Hopefully, the bill splitting feature will quickly roll out across the globe after a successful trial in Singapore. However, will have to wait and see on that one. Experts advising the government say that it may only reduce people's symptoms They said it may be partially effective and stressed caution when it is rolled out Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has set the bar at 40 to 60 per cent efficiency Oxford University leading charge for vaccine set minimum target of 50 per cent They said one that can reduce symptomatic Covid cases by half will be valuable The first coronavirus vaccine will not be a 'silver bullet' and is unlikely to stop people catching the disease, scientists have warned, in a blow to Britain's hopes of avoiding a second draconian lockdown. Experts advising the government said it may only reduce people's symptoms and be partially effective, as they stress the need for caution when a jab is eventually found to work and is rolled out. ADVERTISEMENT England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty has set the bar at 40 to 60 per cent efficiency - similar to the flu jab. But the Oxford University team leading the charge for a vaccine set a minimum target of 50 per cent. They said one that can cut symptomatic coronavirus cases by half would be hugely valuable. But it would mean millions of Britons would, in theory, still be vulnerable to suffering the life-threatening disease. Boris Johnson has previously acknowledged that a mass-testing programme is the UK's 'only hope' of avoiding another national lockdown, in the absence of a vaccine. It is why Number 10 has pledged to eventually carry out 10million tests a day. Experts advising the government said it may only reduce people's symptoms and be partially effective as they stress the need for caution when it is rolled out (file photo) The government hopes a jab will be ready in the first half of next year, but there will still need to be measures in place while people are injected. The severity of the restrictions - such as social distancing rules - will hinge on how successful the vaccine is. The first jab will likely have to be followed up with a booster around a month later and some people may need two different vaccines to trigger their immune system. A government source told the Times: 'It depends on what we find. It seems the most likely outcome in the short to medium term is to find a vaccine, or two doses of a vaccine, that reduces the severity of symptoms. It's possible we might need several vaccines, but we are backing a lot of horses.' ADVERTISEMENT Head of vaccines at the Wellcome Trust Charlie Weller said the first vaccine will probably need to be phased in alongside other restrictions. He added: 'We need to manage everyone's expectations on what these first frontrunners of vaccines can actually do. 'There's a lot of hope, understandably, resting on a vaccine that is going to be this wonderful one dose [that will give] full lifetime immunity and move us back to normality the next day, but it's not going to be the perfect solution; it's not going to be the silver bullet.' Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty (pictured with Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance this week) has set the bar at 40 to 60 per cent efficiency - similar to the flu jab It was revealed yesterday British scientists will be the first in the world to carry out a controversial study where volunteers are deliberately infected with coronavirus. The 'challenge trial' which could rapidly accelerate the approval of experimental jabs is said to be set to begin in January at a clinic in east London. Participants will be infected with a dose of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, a month after being jabbed with a vaccine, according to the Financial Times. The study, reportedly funded by the government, could help drug-makers test their Covid-19 vaccines without having to wait for volunteers to naturally catch the virus. Between 100 and 200 participants are expected to be recruited for the trial, which is being run by a US advocacy group that has campaigned for human challenge trials. It is unclear which vaccine candidate will be tested, but drug giants AstraZeneca and Sanofi have both insisted they are not taking part. ADVERTISEMENT MailOnline has approached Imperial College London Britain's other jab front-runner for comment about its involvement. Challenge trials are commonly deployed by scientists trying to develop a vaccine and have been used in malaria, typhoid and flu. But, unlike those illnesses, there is no proven treatment for people with mild coronavirus, so there is nothing to stop the participants falling seriously ill. The vaccine to be tested in the project has not been named, and organisers are said to have earmarked a quarantine clinic run by hVivo in Whitechapel, London, to carry out the trials. Drug researcher hVivo is linked to Queen Mary University of London, while Imperial College London is understood to be the project's academic leader. Around 2,000 potential volunteers have signed up to take part in challenge studies in the UK. They have done so through 1Day Sooner, a US-based advocacy group which is made up of 100 leading experts including Nobel Prize-winning scientists. The group campaigns for Covid-19 infection trials and has enlisted 37,000 people worldwide. hVivo's laboratory in Whitechapel, east London (under construction) where the initial trials are set to be held in Click here to resize this module It is currently petitioning for the controversial trials to be signed off by health regulators in the UK. Any trials conducted in Britain have to be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA told the FT: 'Human challenge trials can be helpful for the development of vaccines and can provide early evidence of clinical efficacy, particularly when there are low rates of infection of the virus in the population. 'The safety of trial participants is our top priority and any proposal from a developer to include a human infection challenge as part of a clinical trial for development of a vaccine would be considered on a benefit-risk basis, with risks monitored for and minimised in the proposed trial design.' WHAT ARE CHALLENGE TRIALS? Challenge trials involve intentionally infecting healthy people with viruses then giving them a shot of a vaccine to see if the jab can clear the virus. These studies have been done with many illnesses, including malaria, typhoid and flu. But, unlike those illnesses, there is no treatment that prevents someone from falling badly ill with Covid-19. Because of the ethical implications, so far none of the 23 clinical trials of coronavirus vaccines currently being carried out around the world have used the controversial study method. Instead they are relying on participants who have caught the disease by accident in the community. But because international lockdowns have been so effective, the number of people actually contracting the illness in the public is falling. For this reason many studies are grinding to a halt. Many projects - including Oxford University's - have had to move their trials abroad where infection rates are higher. Oxford is now testing he vaccine on 6,000 people in Brazil and South Africa - and hopes to have conclusive results by the end of the year. This would mean a jab could be rolled out in early 2021. Scientists behind the challenge trial will have to select and purify a strain of coronavirus that is currently circulating among the UK population. They will then need to decide on a dose that infects the volunteer without causing serious illness. This has previously been a sticking point because experts are still divided about what qualifies a 'safe dose' of the virus, which only jumped to humans earlier this year. Some people infected with large amounts of the disease experience no symptoms at all, while others fall seriously unwell with much smaller amounts - particularly the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. It is also essential for there to be medication on standby that can prevent serious illness in participants - another roadblock in getting the trials approved. So far, only a few steroids have been scientifically proven treatment for Covid-19 - but they are only effective in the sickest of patients and do nothing for those with moderate illness. The London trial will initially use remdesivir, an antiviral drug which has shown promise in preliminary studies. But there is no concrete evidence to prove it works. It is not clear if participants will be of a certain age. Younger people are much less vulnerable to the disease than over-60s. Those who take part in the trial are likely to be paid upwards of 4,000, according to the FT. People who participate in hVivo's challenge trials of influenza receive up to 3,750. Vaccines are normally tested using two groups of people, both of which need to contract the disease naturally, with one given the vaccine and the other used as a control. Both of Britain's leading vaccine candidates are using the conventional methods, but they are being held up because so few people were being exposed to the disease during summer. Traditional clinical trials require tens of thousands of participants to boost the chance of some of them being infected with coronavirus in the community. But, in challenge trials, the pool of volunteers can be much smaller because every person is guaranteed to be infected with the disease. Reacting to the news, Dr Claire Waddington, clinical lecturer in infectious diseases at the University of Cambridge, said: 'Challenge trials are well established as a way to accelerate the development of vaccines for a wide range of infections. 'As we gain more understanding of Covid-19, we are increasingly in a position to identify those people for who Covid-19 infection is a mild illness, and these people could safely participate in a controlled human infection study after a thorough medical assessment and consent process. ADVERTISEMENT 'Such a model could give us some extremely useful information on how the immune system responds to Covid-19 and what responses are protective, as well as providing a model for early testing of candidate vaccines.' China finalizes a plan to revamp two major programs for inbound investment and expand foreign investment options. A fire at a Huawei research facility in southern China kills three. Indebted property developer Evergrande denies its seeking government support for a backdoor listing. Meanwhile, FTSE Russell says it will add Chinese government bonds into its flagship World Government Bond Index next year. And two asymptomatic Covid-19 cases linked to imported seafood are detected in the port city of Qingdao. By Timmy Shen (hongmingshen@caixin.com) and Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) ** TOP STORIES OF THE DAY China revamps foreign investment programs to expand access China combined two major inbound investment programs while broadening the scope for foreign institutional investment in a move to further open the countrys capital markets. Starting Nov. 1, the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program and its yuan-denominated sibling, the Renminbi Qualified Institutional Investor (RQFII) program, will be integrated, top regulators said. Foreign investors will be allowed to invest in a wider range of products under the combined program. Evergrande wins approval to spin off management unit China Evergrande Group won approval from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to spin off its property management unit, paving the way for the company to raise much-needed capital. The unit, recently valued at $11 billion in a stake sale to strategic investors, could help replenish the indebted developers finances. Evergrande stepped into the spotlight amid reports that the developer sought government help to avoid a cash crunch. Fire at Huawei research facility kills three Three people were found dead after a fire at an unfinished research facility of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd in Dongguan, southern Chinas Guangdong province, local authorities said Friday. The three dead were property management staffers at the industrial park where the facility is located. Causes of the incident are still under investigation. Chinese developer Evergrande denies seeking government support A letter circulating online Thursday showed indebted property developer China Evergrande Group is seeking government support for a backdoor listing. But the debt-ridden company has denied the documents authenticity and said it has taken up the matter with police. National broadband company debuts to lead cable TV consolidation Unified National Network debuted Thursday in Beijing with 101.2 billion yuan ($14.9 billion) in registered capital, to carry on a decade-long, state-driven restructuring to consolidate the countrys fragmented cable TV industry. The company is majority owned by China Broadcasting Network Corp. Ltd., which was formed six years ago with a goal of consolidating many of Chinas regional cable TV companies. Will Huawei become Chinas Tesla challenger? Telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is quietly building up expertise in key smart car technologies at the heart of a coming electric-auto revolution, raising speculation it may build cars. (Read the in-depth story here.) Chinas steel mill smoke to become fuel in Japanese firms recycling plants Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. Ltd. plans to start producing fuel ethanol from steel mill emissions under its new waste-to-fuel business in China. (Nikkei Asian Review) FTSE Russell to include Chinese government bonds to its index Global index provider FTSE Russell will add Chinese government bonds to its flagship World Government Bond Index next year, in a move that analysts said will bring a huge capital influx to the Chinese bond market. The inclusion is scheduled to start in October 2021. China to invest a greater share of its land sales windfall in rural areas More than half of the profits that local governments make from transferring land-use rights will have to be spent on agricultural and rural areas by 2025, Chinas top policymakers said. ** OTHER STORIES MAKING THE HEADLINES The number of robots operating on Chinese factory floors rose 21% last year, outpacing that in the U.S. (Bloomberg) Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd. on Wednesday debuted an open-source electric-vehicle platform that will eventually be available for other companies to use. Miniso Group Holding Ltd., a low-cost store chain backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., filed its prospectus on Thursday for a New York IPO. Ant Group Co. Ltd., which operates Alipay, launched a blockchain-based cross-border trade platform ahead of its blockbuster IPO. (Reuters) British asset manager Baillie Gifford & Co. Ltd. set up a wholly owned unit in Shanghai, becoming the latest foreign institution to target domestic investors in the worlds second-largest economy. International Finance Corp., a member of the World Bank Group, is considering a 560 million yuan loan to pig breeding and farming firm Guangxi Yangxiang Co. Ltd. (Deal Street Asia) ** ON THE CORONAVIRUS Two workers in the eastern port city of Qingdao tested positive on Thursday but showed no symptoms, according to the citys health authority (link in Chinese). The authority didnt comment on the pairs recent travel history, but noted they had touched imported seafood. On Thursday, the Chinese mainland reported eight new Covid-19 cases with symptoms (link in Chinese), all imported, according to Chinas top health body. As of Friday afternoon Beijing time, the number of coronavirus infections globally exceeded 32.2 million, with the death toll surpassing 983,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. ** AND FINALLY A space research institute in Shenzhen is recruiting test subjects for a 15-day experiment that aims to simulate gravity-free conditions (link in Chinese). The goal is to better understand how the human body reacts to space travel, the institute said. Test subjects will each be paid 15,000 yuan for their time. SPACEnter Space Science and Technology Institute ** LOOKING AHEAD Sept. 28: Weibo reports quarterly results Sept. 30: Release of Caixin China manufacturing PMI Oct. 9: Release of Caixin China services PMI Contact reporter Timmy Shen (hongmingshen@caixin.com) and editors Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com) and Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com) Read more China Business Digest: TikTok-Owner Applies for Tech Export License; State Investor Could Lead Privatization of BMWs Joint Venture Partner Support quality journalism in China. Subscribe to Caixin Global starting at $0.99. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.25 Trend: The road leading to the border village of Farahli of Azerbaijans Gazakh district is being overhauled, the State Agency of Azerbaijan Automobile Roads told Trend. The section of the road with a length of 5 kilometers to the village of Farahli is 3 kilometers, and the section passing through the village is 2 kilometers. The width of the carriageway here varies between 6 and 4.5 meters, respectively, the state agency said. Reconstruction of the border road was started by the request of the rural population. Since they have had problems with the repair of this road over the years, noted the agency. Currently, unsuitable sections of the roadway are being removed along the road. Work is underway to level the track to the level of the natural relief and to widen the road to the standard width standards in certain parts. Also, within the project, work is underway to replace and install new drainage pipes that are in an unusable condition. For this, 14 round reinforced concrete pipes of different diameters are used, said the agency. Following the requirements of building codes, the construction of the lower and upper layers of the roadway and then the laying of a new asphalt concrete pavement, consisting of 2 layers, as well as the overhaul of the existing bridge 15 meters long and 8 meters wide, will be carried out, added the state agency. At the last stage of the project, in order to organize the normal movement of vehicles in the necessary places, road signs and information boards will be installed, road markings will be applied. Thus, the reconstructed road will be put into operation as soon as possible, said the agency. For the timely completion of the work in compliance with the established schedule, the required amount of equipment was attracted to the territory, the agency said. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. Spokesperson of the Armenian foreign ministry Anna Naghdalyan commented on the statement of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivered at the UN General Assembly. Armenpress presents the MFA spokespersons comment: The peoples of the region inherited a complex conflict, the final resolution of which requires an agreement that will be acceptable for the people of Armenia, the people of Artsakh and the people of Azerbaijan. Only the authorities enjoying the mandate of their people are capable of demonstrating the political will for reaching a compromise and establishing peace. Both Armenian and Artsakh authorities have received the mandate of their peoples and are ready to launch a dialogue with the authorities of Azerbaijan that enjoy the relevant mandate of their people. Ilham Aliyev, who inherited the power from his father and who shares it within a single family, is not such a leader. His authority has always been based on manipulations of the conflict, promoting the image of Armenia and the Armenian people as a useful enemy within his own society, rather than addressing the latters needs. Under the rule of Ilham Aliyev Azerbaijan missed the historic opportunity to use the oil boom to build a modern country and society. Today the authorities of Azerbaijan are perceived in the world as an authoritarian and repressive regime which uses all the opportunities, including the COVID-19 pandemic, to harass and silence its own people. In the region, we deal with such a governmental system where the values are replaced with a cult of personality, dynasty and own wealth, while the interests serve the preservation of inherited power at all costs. Regrettably, all costs are paid by the people of Azerbaijan deprived of voice and freedoms. US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) reiterated help to India and China amid the ongoing standoff at the border areas, saying that "hopefully," both the countries will be able to resolve their differences. Washington DC [US], September 25: US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) reiterated help to India and China amid the ongoing standoff at the border areas, saying that hopefully, both the countries will be able to resolve their differences. India and China, both the countries have been engaged in a border standoff for months now. Trump told reporters outside the White House that he knew that China and India were having difficulty and very substantial difficulty. He added that he hoped they would be able to work that out. He said that if they could help, they would love to help. Trump had earlier also extended his will to help both the countries resolve the outstanding border issue. This comes after the sixth Corps Commander-Level meeting was held on Monday. India and China have decided to have the next meeting of the senior Commanders at the earliest, said the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday on the India-China border issue. Also read: Stop Pakistan from treating POK citizens like animals: Activist breaks down at UNHRC Also read: Trump wishes speedy recovery to Louisville police officers shot during Breonna Taylor protests The Corps Commanders of the two sides met after more than a month as both sides had been engaged in at least three firing incidents that have taken place along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The talks on Monday happened at a time when the Indian side has also occupied six major hill features which are helping the Indian Army to be in dominating positions on heights. Also read: Looking forward: PM Modi to Sri Lankan counterpart ahead of bilateral summit on Saturday NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Inspiring Young Minds (IYM) annual fair will be virtual this year. Instead of serving only students in NYC, our virtual fair will be available to US and International students. Over seventy schools from around the US and Canada will be in attendance. IYM's Virtual Prep School Fair will occur on October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. To attend, kindly visit IYM's website https://InspiringYoungMinds.org . Registration is free and open to the public. IYM Virtual School Fair October 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 2020 We invite you to attend The 16th Annual IYM School Fair. Inspiring Young Minds (IYM) is a grassroots educational organization founded by Mark Cheong in 2005. It is committed to assisting all students regardless of their race, ethnicity, religious background, or economic circumstances, to explore boarding school as an alternative to their current public and private school education. Media contact: Mark A. Cheong [email protected] 917-674-6759 SOURCE Inspiring Young Minds Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 20:27:13|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TEHRAN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Iran reported 3,565 new COVID-19 patients overnight, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 439,882 on Friday, according to Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education. The pandemic has so far claimed 25,222 lives in Iran, up by 207 in the past 24 hours, Lari said during her daily briefing. Besides, 369,842 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals while 4,023 remain in intensive care units. As of Friday, 3,879,640 COVID-19 lab tests have been carried out in Iran, the spokeswoman noted. She said 24 Iranian provinces, out of 31, are in high-risk condition. 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 Several school children and youngsters took to Delhis streets on Friday demanding climate action from authorities as part of the Global Climate Strike. From socially distanced sit-ins to demonstrations at Vijay Chowk, climate activists across the national capital put forward their demands to the authorities during the Covid-19 pandemic. A group of protesters had gathered at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on Friday afternoon demanding inclusive, attainable environmental plans, among other things. Their list of demands included saving the Aravallis, improved sewage treatment plants to tackle pollution in the Yamuna, decentralized waste system, and better environment education in schools. Most of the climate activism groups were continuing with digital strikes. The global Fridays for Future gave the call for a strike all over the world and we decided to join for the physical strike this time, said Srijani Datta, who recently graduated from school. Protesters said they were adhering to social distancing norms and reducing the risk of spread of infection by carrying their own sanitisers, consumables and posters. Also read: DNA of 3 men killed in Shopian encounter matches with family - J&K police Since we are building back from the pandemic, you want them to do so in a green and socially just manner. That would include maybe investing in renewables and creating green jobs in the solar and wind sector among others, investing in public and non-motorised transport, she said. Before Covid-19 lockdown, school children and youngsters across the national capital were participating in the global Fridays for Future movement. As a part of the strike, the protesters took to the streets on Fridays at least once a month to protest the governments inaction to curb climate change. The movement was inspired by teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg who started the school strikes demanding change against climate change and other environmental issues. Another group of protesters did a shoe strike outside the Prime Ministers office. Bhavreen Kandhari, one of the organisers, said less than ten people had gathered keeping in mind Covid-19 regulations. Yet, officials detained four protesters. Since children cannot come out in large numbers and protest due to the pandemic, we placed shoes and other footwear outside to make our point and demand action. Every pair of shoe represented a Climate Striker who have been demonstrating had it not been for the pandemic, she said. Requesting anonymity, a senior police officer said, No one was detained. There were three to four minors who were removed from there but not detained. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 00:01:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- An armed attack in Ethiopia's Benishangul-Gumuz regional state has killed at least 20 civilians, an Ethiopian official said on Friday. Demlew Bengez, Chief Administrator, Dengez locality in Benishangul-Gumuz regional state, said an armed attack by unidentified gunmen on Friday morning has left at least 20 people dead, reported state media outlet Amhara Mass Media Agency (AMMA). "The gunmen carried out the attack around 4 a.m. on Friday morning. The fact that the armed attack happened when it was still dark made it difficult to prevent the attack and find the attackers," said Bengez. In a press statement, Benishangul-Gumuz regional state communications affairs department, said a total of 371 people have been arrested for suspected involvement in recent deadly violence. The statement further said scores of illicit light firearms have been confiscated from the suspects. The 371 individuals are suspected to have involved in deadly violence earlier this month that left scores of civilians dead in Guba and Bulen localities of Benishangul-Gumuz regional state. Ethiopian officials have previously stated the repeated armed attacks have an ethnic focus with the main targets being ethnic Amharas. Ethnic violence between members of various ethnic groups in Benishangul-Gumuz regional state in recent months has left hundreds dead and thousands displaced. The clashes are mainly over access to power and land resources. Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State, located along the Ethiopia-Sudan border, hosts Ethiopia's largest development project the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is under construction on the Blue Nile River with a construction cost of close to 5 billion U.S. dollars. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:35:59|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Staff members take part in a flag-raising ceremony held by the Civil Aviation Administration of China to mark the first anniversary of the Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 25, 2020. The Beijing Daxing International Airport celebrated its first anniversary on Friday. The total passenger throughput at the newly-built airport exceeded the 10 million mark on Tuesday after it began operation last September. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang) BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Daxing International Airport marked one year of operation on Friday with a celebration ceremony. High standards and innovation have helped the airport maintain smooth operation over the past year despite the impact of COVID-19, according to the airport. This week, the airport's total passenger throughput exceeded the 10 million mark. It currently operates 187 domestic air routes, connecting 129 airports across the country. By Monday, it had seen 84,000 takeoffs and landings, with a cargo and mail throughput of about 39,000 tonnes. The Daxing airport has seen flights increasing, with airlines transferring operations from the Beijing Capital International Airport. China Southern Airlines has transferred 80 percent of its flights in Beijing to the Daxing airport. It is estimated the company will operate more than 200 planes at Daxing airport by 2025, and that it will have welcomed a total of 28.8 million passengers by then. 'SAFE, GREEN, SMART AND HUMANITY-CENTERED' The Daxing airport is a major project that has drawn worldwide attention, said Du Xiaoming, deputy general manager of the airport's planning and development department. "Under strategic guidance, we are building the airport into one that is safe, green, smart, and humanity-centered," said Du. Safety has always been a basic requirement for the airport. Millimeter-wave doors can cover areas beyond the reach of metal detectors. Authorities have also introduced a supervision system for runways, and radar can detect even a small stone in an aircraft's path. A light-guidance system allows pilots to direct planes in very low visibility conditions. "We have taken a variety of measures to guarantee passengers' information safety," said Li Tao, with the airport's information management department. "For example, after storing your ID information, the system will turn it into a code unrecognizable to the public. We can also supervise and stop cyber threats and attacks." Authorities have implemented the strictest standards to prevent noise pollution at the airport, and all waste is treated so that it poses no threat to the environment. "We also decided to make the Daxing airport a 'sponge airport,' where the main buildings can store rainwater and all polluted water can be recycled," said Du. Daxing is a smart airport, boasting roughly 62,000 information points and more than 4,000 internet-enabled devices. Facial recognition technology allows passengers to check in, pass through security, board planes, claim tax refunds, and shop, just by scanning their faces. A small chip in each luggage tag helps passengers to track their luggage easily, said Hao Ling, the airport's deputy general manager. There are more than 300 shops at the airport, featuring domestic and international brands. Passengers can even stop for manicures or sing in karaoke booths, making the experience "more fun" than shopping malls, according to the airport authorities. REGIONAL INTEGRATION While the airport aims for high standards, it is also making efforts to speed up coordinated regional integration across Beijing, Tianjin, and neighboring Hebei Province. The airport has opened a city terminal in Hebei's Gu'an County, allowing residents of Gu'an and the surrounding areas to complete check-in procedures ahead of time and with minimal difficulty. The Beijing Daxing International Airport Gu'an City Terminal is located just 10 km from Daxing airport's main site and covers an area of nearly 500 square meters, according to Wang Hui, director of operation planning at Daxing's terminal management department. Having checked in, passengers are transported to their planes at the main Daxing site via airport bus, a journey of just 40 minutes. Buses leave every 20 to 30 minutes and cost 20 yuan (about 3 U.S. dollars) per trip. "As the first inter-provincial city terminal of Daxing airport, Gu'an City Terminal not only expands Daxing airport's function as a hub but also allows Gu'an, Langfang and other places in Hebei to use Daxing airport's hub advantages to enhance their industrial attraction," said Jiao Yongjie, manager of the public area management department at Daxing airport. Daxing airport plans to establish multiple city terminals within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in the future to facilitate passenger travel. Enditem An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man in Bnei Brak, Israel, swings a chicken over his head as part of a religious ritual Wednesday ahead of Yom Kippur next week. (Oded Balilty / Associated Press) Naftali Herstik still remembers the first time he stood beside the pillar, meaning that he led Rosh Hashanah services from the central synagogue lectern at which a cantor chants the liturgy. It was 69 years ago, and he was 4 years old. The heir of a long dynasty of cantors and rabbis, Herstik was already a famed child prodigy and had accompanied his father at previous celebrations. He has observed Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, from the well of a temple ever since until last week. Jerusalems Great Synagogue, where Herstik served as chief cantor from its founding in 1981 to 2009, has been closed for the first time in its history because of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many Jews worldwide, nothing is as sacred as the prayers of the Jewish High Holidays, which are intended to be sung, lustily, in a communal space. Their lack this year has left Herstik distraught. It is difficult to describe the depth of sorrow seeing this synagogue closed on Rosh Hashanah, said Herstik, who immigrated to Israel from Hungary as a child. The coronavirus has forced adjustments to, and sometimes outright cancellations of, religious rituals across the globe. Many Christians and Jews found their respective Easter and Passover celebrations curtailed, while for Muslims, Ramadan observances and the annual hajj to Mecca were drastically scaled back. Here in Israel, the holiest period on the Jewish calendar which culminates Monday with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement is coinciding with the first reimposition of a national coronavirus lockdown anywhere in the world. After initially earning praise for its handling of the pandemic, the Israeli government is now under fire for mismanagement that allowed a second wave of infections to sweep the country. The government has been paralyzed for months as public health officials warned of a looming disaster while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus ultra-Orthodox coalition partners threatened to walk out on their power-sharing deal if synagogues were not allowed to remain open. Story continues On Friday, Israeli lawmakers continued tussling over the details of a bill that would shutter all nonessential businesses and ban employees from going to their workplaces but that could allow synagogues to host up to 20 worshipers praying indoors. Dr. Hagai Levine, chairman of the Israeli Assn. of Public Health Physicians, a professor of epidemiology at Hebrew University and an advisor to the government, criticized the proposed policy as the opposite of what we should do. Keeping synagogues open on Yom Kippur sends the wrong message, Levine said. Permitting gatherings in closed spaces the main way people get infected, he said will make an already-grim situation much worse. The tug-of-war over the right thing to do has even pitted brother against brother. This week saw a public disagreement between Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and his younger brother, David Yosef, who is chief rabbi of Har Nof, an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem. Yitzhak Yosef issued guidelines instructing his flock to keep synagogues open while reducing the number of worshipers and dividing them into pods. Women, he said, should pray at home if these measures leave insufficient space for them in the synagogue, as men take precedence. On the other side, David Yosef posted an impassioned video beseeching the ultra-Orthodox community which has been the hardest hit by the coronavirus to immediately close all synagogues. Even on Yom Kippur, he said, prayer should take place only outdoors or inside private homes. This has happened in previous generations, he said. When there were plagues, the sages of Israel did this, too. Save your own lives! His plea was unnecessary for some worshipers already spooked by the elevated rates of contagion. Nick Kaufman, a lawyer, went to his local temple to pray on the morning of Rosh Hashanahand quickly bolted. It was scary. No masks. Everyone shouting their prayers saliva flying everywhere, he recalled. If its like that here, Kaufman said of his secular south Jerusalem neighborhood, then we are doomed. Some Israelis have complained that their right to worship is being restricted at the same time that tens of thousands of their compatriots continue to take to the streets in weekly antigovernment protests. Demonstrators are calling for Netanyahus resignation over his ongoing trial on three corruption charges, his handling of the coronavirus crisis and the Israeli economys nosedive. Netanyahu, Israels longest-serving prime minister, has denounced the protesters and attempted to ban demonstrations by emergency decree. In a speech in parliament Thursday night, he labeled them incubators of disease, although both Levine of the physicians association and Ronni Gamzu, Israels coronavirus-response coordinator, say there has been no evidence of COVID-19 infections resulting from the protests. Amid what is supposed to be a festive and contemplative holiday season, Herstik has simply stopped listening to the news. Nothing they say matters, he said. More important is the upcoming ritual of Yom Kippur, which he described as incomparable to every other thing. Herstik, 73, finds himself in a particularly difficult predicament. His age places him in a high-risk group. Israel remains the country with highest rate of new confirmed COVID-19 cases per capita, and Jerusalem, where Herstik lives, is its worst-afflicted city. Naftali Herstik, the former chief cantor at Jerusalem's Great Synagogue. (Courtesy of Naftali Herstik) Further complicating matters, he is the recipient of a transplanted kidney and, because it is failing, undergoes dialysis every other day while he waits for a replacement. In a vulnerable population, he is the most vulnerable. My heart is with Rav Yosef the older, Herstik said of the chief rabbi who wants synagogues to remain open. But my head is with David Yosef, the younger brother. The closure of the Great Synagogue has affected not just Herstik who has continued to help lead liturgies there despite his formal retirement but others like Motti Friedman, who has traveled as far as Moscow just to hear Herstiks singing. The synagogue atmosphere focuses a person. The prayer flows more naturally, said Friedman, the former director of the Zionist Archives. But for me, personally, a great cantor creates the transcendent connection that is beyond cognition. Naftali is one of them. Herstik and his wife, Elka, spent the first night of the holiday period at home by themselves in a dejected mood, away from their five adult children and almost 20 grandchildren. He is now girding for a similarly lonely Yom Kippur, consoled only by the knowledge that the measures keeping him from communal worship are also saving his life. Every effort must be made to pray on Yom Kippur, he said, citing the example of Jewish POWs during World War II who went to great lengths to observe the holiday. But anyone who doesnt keep to the restrictions is a social criminal. Tarnopolsky is a special correspondent. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Mary Freda South Lake County Reporter Mary Freda is the South Lake County reporter at The Times. She is a proud Ball State graduate, where she studied news journalism and Spanish. You can reach Mary at mary.freda@nwi.com or 219-853-2563. Follow Mary Freda Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today CROWN POINT Clear skies and the hum of traffic from Interstate 65 ushered in a new, landmark development for the city. On Thursday afternoon, officials gathered to break ground on a new Franciscan Heath hospital in Crown Point at the southeast corner of Interstate 65 and U.S. 231. The $200 million, state-of-the-art, full-service hospital is slated to open in fall 2023 and will serve South Lake County, as well as Porter, Newton and Jasper counties. "This day it doesn't just commemorate the start a new building in our community it marks the beginning of a new age of health care in Northwest Indiana," said Daniel McCormick, president and CEO of Franciscan Health Crown Point. "This facility is going to be very important to Northwest Indiana and to what health care is in Northwest Indiana." McCormick said Franciscan Alliance leaders determined South Lake County was in need of a new, more accessible facility and came up with a "second-to-none facility." Though gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony, McCormick said Thursday's event wasn't just about the new hospital. SMITHFIELD, Va., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Smithfield Foods, Inc. is proud to announce that Megan Supan, operations development manager, in its Wichita, Kansas facility, has been named an emerging leader as part of The Manufacturing Institute's annual STEP Ahead Awards. The STEP Ahead Awards honor women who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in their careers and represent all levels of the manufacturing industry. "I am thrilled to be recognized as an emerging leader among so many talented women in the industry and am thankful for the opportunity to continue to innovate as part of the Smithfield Foods family," said Supan. "I look forward to working with other STEP honorees to continue empowering future generations of female manufacturing leaders, including those within our company." The Manufacturing Institute, the non-profit arm of the National Association of Manufacturers, launched the awards program in 2012 as part of its efforts to promote the role of women in manufacturing through its STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) Ahead initiative. According to The Manufacturing Institute, women account for about half of the U.S. labor force but represent less than one-third of the manufacturing workforce. Manufacturers can close the skills gap by 50% simply through bringing 10% more women into the industry. To reach this goal, STEP Ahead engages industry leaders to advocate for the manufacturing industry, mentor young women interested in the field, promote personal development and collaborate with one another to share ideas and best practices. The Manufacturing Institute selected Supan, in part, due to her ability to engage all aspects of business and facilitate effective, innovative projects that propel operations forward. She has worked at various Smithfield locations and continues to be a valuable team player in several company-led community functions. She actively involves herself in volunteer efforts through her church and other organizations that have a long-lasting impact on her community. Additionally, in her role at Smithfield, she leads by example to help individuals understand project processes in multiple areas from operations to business and all supporting roles. She remains patient and willing to explain each step of a task to any individual, helping them better understand the importance of the project and what that person's role is toward reaching broader goals. "We are excited to honor Megan and her significant contributions to her team and our company. She is a role model for other young professionals at Smithfield and our industry at-large, embodying our core guiding principles of Responsibility, Operational Excellence and Innovation in her everyday work," said Keira Lombardo, executive vice president of corporate affairs and compliance for Smithfield Foods and former STEP Ahead Awards Chair. "The Manufacturing Institute's STEP Ahead initiative is an incredible program that recognizes the achievements of women in manufacturing who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in their companies and communities, and I look forward to its continued success in bringing more diversity to the field." The Manufacturing Institute recognized Supan and other honorees at a virtual 2020 STEP Ahead Awards ceremony on September 24, 2020. About Smithfield Foods, Inc. Headquartered in Smithfield, Va. since 1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc. is an American food company with agricultural roots and a global reach. Our 40,000 U.S. and 15,000 European employees are dedicated to producing "Good food. Responsibly." and have made us one of the world's leading vertically integrated protein companies. We have pioneered sustainability standards for more than two decades, including many industry firsts, such as our ambitious commitment to cut our carbon impact by 25 percent by 2025. We believe in the power of protein to end food insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of food servings to our neighbors in need. Smithfield boasts a portfolio of high-quality iconic brands, such as Smithfield, Eckrich and Nathan's Famous, among many others. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com, and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. SOURCE Smithfield Foods, Inc. Related Links www.smithfieldfoods.com by Gerard Kiely, Head of the European Commission Representation in Ireland When European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, delivered her first State of the Union address to the European Parliament on Wednesday, it is no exaggeration to say that Ireland was at the heart of this important speech, which outlines the EU's vision and political priorities for the coming year. Citing inspirational examples of political wisdom and humanity from the late John Hume and the heart-warming story of Suaad Alshleh, who arrived in Ireland as a refugee from Syria and received a prestigious scholarship to study medicine in Dublin, the President clearly appreciates Ireland's positive contribution to advancing the values of the European Union. President von der Leyen placed many of Ireland's priorities at the top of Europe's political agenda. She stressed the importance of reinforcing Europe's social market economy to protect workers and businesses. President von der Leyen announced that the Commission will present a European anti-racism action plan and a strategy to strengthen LGBTQI rights. "LGBTQI-free zones are humanity free zones. And they have no place in our Union" she declared. To help tackle the Covid pandemic in the coming year, the Commission will focus on building a European Health Union, with stronger agencies and enhanced capacity to respond to cross-border threats. The President called for a common plan for a 'digital Europe', with clearly defined goals for 2030, such as for connectivity, skills and digital public services. On climate change, the European Commission proposes to increase the 2030 target for emissions reduction from 40% to 55%. This will put the EU on track for climate neutrality by 2050. "Meeting this new target will reduce our energy import dependency, create millions of extra jobs and more than halve air pollution," Von der Leyen said. The President further announced that 30% of the 750 billion #NextGenerationEU budget - a plan to ensure Europe's recovery is sustainable and fair - will be raised through green bonds. And 37% of funding will be invested in European Green Deal objectives, including 'lighthouse' European projects - hydrogen, green building and one million electric charging points. As part of the Green Deal, the 'Farm to Fork Strategy' proposes a transformation of the food system right across the supply chain. Given Ireland's strong agricultural tradition, we need to work together to ensure that Irish farmers are financially supported when developing more sustainable practices. The European Commission's support for Ireland on Brexit remains unwavering: President von der Leyen stated once again that the EU would never backtrack on its support for the Good Friday agreement and peace on the island of Ireland. Certainly, this brave political agenda for Europe and Ireland will meet many challenges, but as President von der Leyen put it: 'Europe will be what we want it to be. So let us stop talking it down. And let's get to work for it.' George Clooney has directed Felicity Jones in 'The Midnight Sky'. (Credit: Tolga Akmen/Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images) Felicity Joness pregnancy was written into the fabric of new Netflix movie The Midnight Sky, after director George Clooney intervened. Jones plays mission specialist Sully in the sci-fi thriller, which follows the crew of a starship returning home from one of Jupiters moons having found it potentially habitable only to discover that catastrophe has afflicted the Earth. Clooney told Vanity Fair that the film is science fiction, which unfortunately is less fictional as we move through the days. Read more: Jones would love to return to Spider-Man universe The 59-year-old actor and director said he received a call from Jones while he was shooting his own scenes as possibly the last man on Earth in Iceland. Jones informed him she was pregnant and Clooney hatched a plan to shoot alternate takes of scenes with a body double, then graft Joness head on to that body digitally. EXCLUSIVE: Here's your first look at George Clooney's apocalyptic Netflix movie, The Midnight Sky: https://t.co/BZroM25661 pic.twitter.com/rstSNIt4B4 VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) September 25, 2020 He said: We did that for about a week, and then she felt she was trying so hard not to look like she was putting on baby weight and stuff. And I finally just said: You know what? Youre pregnant. People have sex, and you got pregnant. And were going to just build it into it. Read more: Clooney warned Ben Affleck not to play Batman This change to the script added a fresh tension to the story, as David Oyelowos flight commander is the father. Theyre still very professional, said Clooney, who added: But when they get back home, theyve got some stuff to deal with. Felicity Jones visits the Build Series to discuss the Amazon Studios film The Aeronauts on December 03, 2019. (Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images) As well as Jones and Oyelowo, with Clooney back on Earth, the movies cast includes Tiffany Boone, Kyle Chandler and Demian Bichir as part of the spaceship crew. Story continues Clooneys film, penned by The Revenant co-writer Mark L. Smith, is based on Lily Brooks-Daltons 2016 novel Good Morning, Midnight. Read more: Ad Astra director discusses hyper-real space movies The director said his handling of the space sequences was inspired by the work of Alfonso Cuaron in Gravity, which featured Clooney alongside Sandra Bullock. The Midnight Sky will be released on Netflix in December. As Americans protest a grand jury's decision not to file murder charges against the Louisville, Kentucky, police officers who killed Breonna Taylor, the city is negotiating with its police union over a contract that will determine whether all the reforms promised in a settlement with her family can be implemented. Some of the proposed changes that came as part of the agreement, which also provides a $12 million payment to Taylor's family, the largest for police misconduct in the city's history, will require a new union contract or approval from the Fraternal Order of Police. Those include annual random drug tests and expanding records maintained in officer personnel files, according to the city. "I can tell you that the FOP and the city are at the bargaining table working back and forth," Mayor Greg Fischer told reporters during a Thursday press conference after he was asked about the contract offer submitted by the union. "Until that's complete, that information will not be released." Louisville's talks with the FOP come as activists and residents are demanding an overhaul of the department practices in the wake of the police shooting of Taylor. A Kentucky grand jury declined to pursue murder charges against the officers who shot Taylor in her home during a raid in March. But just because city officials agree to reform doesn't guarantee changes will go through. Union collective bargaining agreements typically govern how municipalities investigate, discipline and fire officers. They have come under greater scrutiny since the police killings of Taylor in March and George Floyd in Minneapolis in May, as they've hamstrung some communities' dealings with officers that brutalize or kill citizens. Chicago is also in the middle of a heated negotiation with its police union over a contract that expired in June 2017. The city presented an offer this month to the union that included a 10% raise over a four-year period as well as some reforms, which the union rejected. "We remain committed to working together towards a fair contract, but will never retreat from the reforms that are essential to restoring legitimacy and accountability," Michael Frisch, a senior advisor and legal counsel to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's office, said in a letter to FOP President John Catanzara on Sept. 16. "It is clear that you are totally misreading this moment." The Lodge 7 union countered on Thursday with an offer that included a 17% raise for officers who are city residents and adding a lower raise structure for officers allowed to live outside the city, but without any reforms. Lightfoot's office rejected that, saying in an emailed statement on Thursday that she's been "emphatically clear" that any deal "must include the City's accountability and reform proposals." Unions can be an obstacle to reform efforts, but cities can make the negotiations public and bring other stakeholders to the table to help the process along, said John Rappaport, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School. "Some cities just are a little stuck," Rappaport said of places that are still bound to old collective bargaining agreements. "There's other cities where the contracts are expiring and we're talking about how to negotiate the next one. Now we're at the place where the cities need to figure out how to get a backbone." The officers who shot Taylor still face investigations and potential disciplinary action from Louisville, which will have to follow provisions in the current contract with the union, not any new reforms. Louisville's contract with the FOP expired in 2018, but the city has extended the old contract as the parties negotiate new terms. The most recent extension expires at the end of this year, according to the city's website. FOP President Ryan Nichols has told local news outlets he is open to a conversation about the reforms, but has maintained they would not have prevented the March shooting. "As a collective bargaining process, anything within our contract is open for our negotiation," Nichols said in an interview last week with local television station WLKY. University students urged to apply for landing cards Students studying off-island are being urged to apply for landing cards as the UK's coronavirus cases increase. Education Minister Dr Alex Allison says parents and pupils should be prepared in case they need to return to the Island. Dr Allinson says the Manx Government has no plans to shut the borders as it did in March. SOUTH WINDSOR The suspect in a workplace shooting this week claimed he brought a gun to confront his supervisor as a scare tactic, but the weapon accidentally fired, according to his arrest affidavit. The affidavit, released by police Thursday, details the events leading up to the workplace shooting in the parking lot of 105 Edwin Road shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday. Alan Rosario, 33, of Ambrosa Street in Springfield, Mass., was charged with second-degree assault with a firearm, first-degree threatening, first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree assault. He was held on a $250,000 bond. The affidavit sheds light on the relationship between the victim and Rosario and a possible motive. The victim told investigators he is Rosarios supervisor. The man said Rosario shot him over a dispute they had, the affidavit said. In an interview with investigators, Rosario said the victim has been taking advantage of him for years and assigning him older trucks that do not work, the affidavit said. Rosario claimed the man also filed for unemployment under his name, according to the affidavit. The two decided to meet up in the parking lot where their trucks get fixed, Rosario told investigators, according to the affidavit. Rosario walked up to the truck the victim was sitting in and pulled the drivers side door open, the affidavit said. The affidavit said there were two passengers in the truck with the victim. Rosario stated when he got the door open, he was going to grab (the victim) but while he was doing that, he unintentionally discharged the firearm, the affidavit said. He said that was not his plan, that he had the revolver in his possession to scare (the victim). Once the gun fired, Rosario took off, he told investigators. When investigators talked to the victim at the hospital, he told them Rosario attempted to physically remove him and discharged a shot at him, the affidavit said. The victim told police Rosario said my bad and then told him not to snitch. NEWTOWN The driver of the car that crashed into a wooded area off Interstate 84 Thursday morning is suspected of falling asleep behind the wheel, according to state police. John Blake, 70, of Virginia, was driving a 2020 Chevrolet Impala near eastbound Exit 9 when the car went off the highway and crashed into a tree around 7:11 a.m. SARATOGA SPRINGS It began in 1945, when Donald Stewart sold his shop on Church Avenue to the company that would grow into Stewart's Shops, more than 335 stores in 31 counties in eastern New York and southern Vermont. Next week, the convenience store chain, which sells everything from dairy products and gasoline to a wide range of foods, marks its 75th anniversary. Half-gallons of ice cream will be on sale from Monday through Sunday, Oct. 4. Free coffee will be available on National Coffee Day, Tuesday, Sept. 29 from noon to close. This includes hot coffee, iced coffee and cold brew at the cone counter. (Excludes Coffee and Cold Brew Refreshers) michael barbaro Today we resume our series about the voters and the country in the lead up to the election. [music] astead herndon (SINGING ALONG) If you dont respect yourself, aint nobody gonna. [CAR DOOR OPENING, CLOSING] Oh. [CAR HORN TOOTING] austin mitchell [LAUGHS] That beep means that Astead forgot the keys in the car. astead herndon From The New York Times, this is The Field. Im Astead Herndon in Minnesota. So this is Powderhorn Park in South Minneapolis. Theres a big lake in the middle with a pathway that wrapped around it, pretty quiet neighborhood. So much has happened in the city since the killing of George Floyd. archived recording No justice, no peace. Prosecute the police. This is a police station burning out of control overnight. The National Guard has been deployed to the Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is in custody. astead herndon And it was here where an event happened that really changed the trajectory of the relationship between Minneapolis and police. [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] astead herndon On June 7, there was an event put on by two social justice organizations in Minneapolis, groups called Reclaim The Block and Black Business Collective. archived recording Black people and queer people and trans people and indigenous people and disabled people and immigrants and poor people, we have never looked to the police for our safety. astead herndon Theres a stage. Theres littered crowds around in front of the stage, letters spell out, Defund Police. archived recording Were here because now is the time to dismantle M.P.D. astead herndon Then they bring up nine members of the city council. [CHEERING] archived recording Yes. They out here, yall. This is great! You know? astead herndon The first council member to speak is Lisa Bender lisa bender Hi, Minneapolis. You look so beautiful today. astead herndon the president of the city council. And she makes a clear pledge. lisa bender Our commitment is to end our citys toxic relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department, to end policing as we know it, and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe. [CHEERING] astead herndon And one by one archived recording This council is going to dismantle this police department. astead herndon the other city councilors take the microphone archived recording All that money has been going into the police department. And what we have we gotten in return? Pain, trauma, and hurt. It is time astead herndon and read statements in support. archived recording Believe that we should and can abolish our current Minneapolis police system. [CROWD CHANTING] Defund M.P.D.! Defund M.P.D.! Defund M.P.D.! Defund M.P.D.! [music] archived recording Just about an hour ago you had 1,000 people here calling for the Minneapolis police department to be disbanded. They wanted it to be astead herndon Immediately, the pledge by the city council at Powderhorn Park is a national and international news story. archived recording Nine of Minneapolis councils 13 members say they would create a new system of public safety. The councils president said she has a veto-proof majority to move forward with the plan. astead herndon That a majority of the city council, a veto-proof majority of the city council, has endorsed the idea of not just defunding, but abolishing the police department. This moment has transformed the conversation locally and nationally about policing reform. archived recording The data starting to show that voters are increasingly identifying the need to maintain law and order as an election issue. Talk about that astead herndon As the general election approaches, Midwestern states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota may be decisive in the outcome. archived recording (donald trump) Now they want to defund the entire department. Theres not going to be anybody to protect you. astead herndon And President Trump has been focusing a lot of energy in Minnesota archived recording (donald trump) And thats why Im going to win the state of Minnesota. Im going to win Minnesota. [CHEERING] astead herndon a state that he narrowly lost in 2016. He has used the city councils pledge that day as evidence for one of his rallying cries. archived recording (donald trump) If Biden and the left gain power, they will dismantle police departments nationwide. Ill tell you, the community thats astead herndon But whats really happening in Minneapolis? Is the police department going to be abolished? And will it matter in November? ^ARCHIVED RECORDING (Austin Mitchell)^: So this is Thursday morning, Asteads hotel room, phone call interviews. astead herndon Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo da, doo da. austin mitchell This is the audio gold we need, Astead. [LAUGHING] [PHONE RINGING] miski noor Hello? astead herndon Hi. My names Astead Herndon. Im a reporter with The New York Times. Is this Miski? miski noor This is Miski speaking. Hi. astead herndon Hi. Thanks for taking some time out. I astead herndon Miski Noor is an activist with Black Visions Collective, one of the groups responsible for bringing the city council to the event at Powderhorn Park. miski noor Yes. Im one of the founding core team members and Im also co-director of the organization. astead herndon Minneapolis as a whole is a very progressive place. The mayor, Jacob Frey, is a liberal Democrat. All 13 members of the city council consider themselves to be liberal Democrats. But even within this kind of progressive bubble, Black Vision stands out as one of the most powerful social justice organizations. And while for many people, the idea of abolishing the police may seem like it was born this summer, Black Visions has actually been fighting for this for years. miski noor And so in 2018, we started actually putting pressure on our city council and our mayor around the police budget. astead herndon Miski says their first public push toward dismantling the police department in Minneapolis came in 2018. miski noor And we were actually able to win and move $1.1 million out of the Minneapolis police department and move that into the Office for Violence Prevention, which was really, really exciting. astead herndon If you all needed to push the city council to get a $1 million reduction in the budget, and then earlier this year the city council announces that it will seek to dismantle the police department altogether, that seems like a large gap to me. How did that change happen? miski noor Yeah. astead herndon To understand how that change happened, you have to understand what transpired in the week between two city council meetings in late May and early June. archived recording Thank you, everyone. And thank you, mayor for astead herndon On May 30th, just days after George Floyds death, one of the main topics of discussion archived recording Really, for two nights in a row, there was really no law enforcement presence in North Minneapolis, and astead herndon was the need for a stronger police response in certain neighborhoods in order to stop rioting. archived recording You know, I was on site with friends trying to help put out the fire at the Fade Factory, formerly known as Mr. Afros. astead herndon And as far as what to do about police reform archived recording Minneapolis is going to take community engagement. And the solutions should grow from the grass roots, so to speak, up and not necessarily be figured out by us in a room or individually. astead herndon Its clear that council was open to suggestions. archived recording think that weve got some tools and things astead herndon And, then, that week archived recording I hear you! [CHEERING] miski noor Our city council members experienced the response of our community. [CROWD CHANTING] archived recording I cant breathe! I cant breathe! miski noor They saw the response in the streets. They saw the escalation. archived recording Whats left for me to do when Ive turned both cheeks? miski noor The righteous rage, the pain, the grief, the anger put pressure on them for them to understand that people are way past reform and demanding true transformation and true safety in our cities. archived recording This country was built on the backs of people of color and enough killing somebody. Enough is enough is enough is enough. astead herndon By the next city council meeting on June 5 archived recording As a council member, I will tell you that I am not interested in any more reforms. astead herndon the tone had clearly shifted. archived recording I am committed to complete transformation. I am seeing so many people stepping up and saying this system does not work. This system cannot be reformed. And we must do something different. People and myself are just done with incremental change. Its been tried for decades. We know that then we have to completely rethink public safety for our city. And we also know that our community is tired. Theyve asked for change over and over and over. And they want to see urgency. astead herndon And the next day, on June 6, there was a now infamous scene of Mayor Frey being surrounded by activists outside his house. archived recording Yes or no question astead herndon That event was actually led by Black Visions. [INTERPOSING VOICES] jacob frey There was a relatively large group of people that were protesting that came to my home. They asked that I come out. archived recording Are you going to vow right now this is the only question we have for you to abolish the Minneapolis Police Department? You know its right. astead herndon At the time, the scene made the mayor look incredibly vulnerable against the momentum of the movement and the will of the people. Hes asked in that moment to make a commitment. archived recording (jacob frey) Im the mayor of this city. jacob frey I wanted to be straightforward. I answered their question honestly and directly. archived recording (jacob frey) I do not support the full abolition of the police department. archived recording All right, get the fuck out of here. Go! Go! [SHOUTING] jacob frey I dont support abolishing the police department. [CROWD CHANTING] archived recording Go home, Jacob. Go home. Go home, Jacob. Go home. astead herndon And he slowly makes his way through the crowd back toward his home, looking defeated. archived recording Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. astead herndon And the next day, on June 7 archived recording All of us on this stage support this statement. And we stand with the people astead herndon Black visions and Reclaim The Block hold that event in Powderhorn Park with the city council members. [CHEERING] archived recording We are transforming our city right now. miski noor I think that they could not deny the moment. I think that they had to feel the will of the people. And these were solutions we were already talking about. And so I want to make it really clear that, like, its not that Minneapolis has some magically progressive city council, but because community members and organizers have been putting pressure on them to do the right thing. And that is why we believe the true power lies with the people. astead herndon But when you speak with the people of Minneapolis archived recording I dont want to see the police department being dismantled. I want this police department to be reformed. I want new policing. astead herndon it gets more complicated. [music] cathy spann Do you guys want to just walk down here? astead herndon Sure. cathy spann OK. astead herndon Yeah, you take us so this is your neighborhood? cathy spann Well, yeah. OK. So astead herndon We met Cathy Spann in the Jordan neighborhood of North Minneapolis. cathy spann Im the executive director of the Jordan area community council. Now we are the neighborhood association for this area. astead herndon Its a majority black neighborhood of around 8,000 people. Cathy has been here for nearly 30 years. cathy spann But what I love is you know people. Like, you know the business owners and you wave. You know Sammys at Sammy Avenue Eatery. You know the guys at Urban Homeworks. You know the staff at Juxtaposition. And its just, like, hey, hows it going? astead herndon Cathy says the city council vote marked a turning point. cathy spann Were going to walk just a little bit. And up here on 23rd and Emerson was one of our shootings. So thats why were not going to walk a lot in the neighborhood. Weve had shootings at 23rd and James, 23rd and Irving, 23rd and Emerson, 27th and Oliver, Knox on Queen. Weve had shootings on Lowery at the gas station area. We have been under siege with gunfire. astead herndon Its true that, like in other cities, theres been a pronounced uptick in violence in Minneapolis this summer. Since Memorial Day, violent crime is up 25 percent compared to the same period last year. Violent crime in North Minneapolis neighborhoods, like Jordan, is up even more. Over 30 percent from the year-to-date annual average. cathy spann You made an announcement. And people heard two things, dismantle, defund. And for some people with a criminal element, I dont know what they heard. They mustve heard no police. But the violence escalated. astead herndon While Cathy draws a direct line from the city council pledge to criminal behavior, we cant say that for sure. What we can say is that the protest movement and the city council pledge affected police behavior. The mayor has announced that dozens of officers have left the department so far this year, going on medical leave or quitting the force entirely. And because of the economic devastation from the coronavirus lockdowns, the city of Minneapolis has enacted a hiring freeze through 2021. So no more police officers will be brought on the force for a long time. All in all, the mayor says he expects 100 officers to leave by the end of this year. cathy spann And I do fault them for that, yes. astead herndon When you think about the moment in Powderhorn Park where they made the pledge cathy spann Oh, yeah. astead herndon what did you think when you heard it? cathy spann I think emotionally this is a hot topic for all of us. And I think that I think they were emotionally charged to try to do the right thing. I want to believe that their intent was right. The track to get to righteousness was wrong. Because what they didnt do after they had this enormous announcement, they didnt think about the impact on Black and brown communities such as this. They didnt engage Black and brown people to say what should we do? What should we do? This is the path were going down. Is this the right path? They put together a plan on a Wednesday, put it to a vote on a Friday, sent it to the charter commission, and the charter commission started doing their due diligence. astead herndon Cathys talking about a piece of legislation the city council drafted at the end of June to formalize the pledge that they took in the park. After they made their park announcement, the city council began the bureaucratic work of making it possible to dismantle the police department. And they realized that the citys charter, the document that defines the structure of city government in Minneapolis, specifically mandates a minimum number of police officers, as well as police oversight from the mayors office rather than the city council. This presented a problem for the city councilors. In order to dismantle the police department, the council would first have to change that city charter. And in order to change the charter, theyd have to propose a charter amendment that would have to be voted on by residents. In order to get that charter amendment on the ballot this year to be voted on, it would need to be approved by the citys charter commission, an unelected, mostly white volunteer group. On Wednesday, June 24, the city council drafted an amendment to replace the police department with a, quote, department of community safety and violence prevention. Unquote. The new agency will, quote, prioritize a holistic and public health-oriented approach, unquote, to public safety. And it will be overseen by the council and not the mayor. Its said that within this new system, the council may maintain a division of armed officers. But there were no specific details about the makeup of the agency. Two days later, and without any public hearing, the council unanimously voted to send that proposal to the charter commission. cathy spann So what do we do? We dismantle and disband the police department and then what? Then what? astead herndon Cathy was upset. She and many others felt this new department of community safety and violence prevention was way too vague. cathy spann Who do I call in cases of rape? Who do I call in cases of domestic violence? Who do I call if I have a child that is mentally ill? Who do I call? I said theres something about what theyre trying to do does not sit right with me. It feels like theyre violating my civil rights. I feel like theyre violating my human rights. Because I have a right to be safe in my home, on these streets. I have a right to be safe. I said, Im going to sue the city of Minneapolis. astead herndon Cathy sued the city, along with seven other residents, alleging that Minneapolis leaders had violated their duties to fund, employ, and manage a police force as required by the city charter. Its a lawsuit thats ongoing. And then, in early August, the city charter commission voted 10 to 5 to spend more time reviewing the city councils charter proposal, killing any chances of it being on the ballot this year and guaranteeing there will be no significant steps to dismantle the police department in Minneapolis until at least 2021. astead herndon Whos the rep for this area, or the councilman? cathy spann Council member Jeremiah Ellison. astead herndon So he took the pledge? cathy spann He did. astead herndon Cathys council representative is Jeremiah Ellison, one of the most, if not the most, outspoken proponents of dismantling the police department. astead herndo) So what is the disconnect between what youre saying the residents here want and needed and what the elected official says the residents want and needed? cathy spann Is he listening? And thats what Im going to say. Is he truly listening? And I think that if you step back and truly listen, he will see that residents are saying we want a system that is reformed. We do want new policing. We do want it to be a different approach to how they handle and treat Black men and Black women. We do want that. But we need a system that also protects us. astead herndon Polling conducted by the Minneapolis Star Tribune just after the charter commission vote, supports Cathys position of wanting police reform, but not a full dismantling of the department. cathy spann Call 911? astead herndon In the poll, 73 percent of residents, including 76 percent of Black residents said Minneapolis should redirect some funding from the police department to social services, such as mental health, drug treatment, or violence prevention programs. But when asked if they should reduce the size of its police force, 40 percent of residents said they should. But 44 percent said they should not. And among Black residents, only 35 percent said they should, while 50 percent said they should not. And nearly half of those polled said they believe reducing the size of the police force would have a negative effect on public safety. cathy spann If you get rid of the police department, then what do you do? Whats the plan? And thats all Im saying. Whats the plan? Have you seen a plan? astead herndon I have not. cathy spann There you go. There you go. jeremiah ellison I felt like it was important that we commit to something like reimagining public safety all together. astead herndon This is Jeremiah Ellison. jeremiah ellison I think sometimes theres a give and take with this job. You definitely have to be willing to listen to your constituents. But you also cannot be leaderless in this role. And sometimes you have to be a little bit ahead of your time, or be a little bit ahead of your constituency. But I dont think that you can pass the baton when youre facing a moral question. And I think that in those moments, its important that you engage your moral compass. Win or lose, whatever the political risks, its important that you engage your moral compass when youre facing an issue like that. speaker 1 So the pledge says we are here today to begin the process of ending the Minneapolis police department. And thats something we still believe should be a goal of the city council and of local government. jeremiah ellison Yeah, I do. astead herndon Ellison stands behind the pledge to dismantle the police department. But some of the other council members who are beside him on that stage at Powderhorn Park archived recording Like a pledge? What? I didnt raise my right hand. I didnt sign a piece of paper on it. astead herndon they seem to be backing off. andrew johnson I supported the spirit of the statement and was willing to stand with colleagues as an ally in this work. astead herndon Council member Andrew Johnson says he stood with the pledge to dismantle the police department in spirit, but not in a literal sense. andrew johnson I would venture to say probably a majority were taking it in the spirit. You know, I talked with one colleague afterwards who was kind of waxing and waning on what it meant when you say end M.P.D. This colleague said, you know, I mean, technically, if you rename the department, youve ended M.P.D. [LAUGHING] philippe cunningham I saw the end pledge as an aspiration, for example, living in a police-free city. astead herndon Council member Phillipe Cunningham took the pledge at Powderhorn, too. philippe cunningham I think that there has to be a clarification between the police department and law enforcement. So I do support the replacement of the police department with a more comprehensive department of community safety and violence prevention. That does not mean that I support the elimination of law enforcement. And you know, folks will define defund and dismantle differently. And so when we say defund the police in this particular context, it was reallocate some resources to that comprehensive approach. It does not mean defund it to zero. [LAUGHS] No, were not talking about abolishing the police. astead herndon The language from Powderhorn Park, it felt pretty clear at the time. You said that you were going to begin the process of ending the Minneapolis police department. And so I think it feels understandable why people would take that as you wanting to abolish the police. philippe cunningham Yes. And thats where the mistake was. Because what we were talking about was ending it as it currently exists, which is at its own standalone entity. linea palmisano Im confused. Because you say that there was confusion amongst my colleagues that this pledge was in spirit and not literal thing when this pledge astead herndon Linea Palmisano is one of three city council members who were not on stage at Powderhorn Park, though she says the activist groups who organized the event did ask her to stand with the pledge. linea palmisano to take their pledge. They were very, very clear that the words in here are very literal. Theyre meant to be taken quite seriously. And that if you dont ascribe to all of the language in this pledge, then you are not welcome up on stage at this event. Because we are pledging, all of your colleagues here, as to whether or not they support this initiative. astead herndon How has this legislative body that seemed so unified in June around dismantling the police, even to the point of drafting legislation to open the door of replacing the police department, become so scattered in their accounts of what it all meant? lisa bender Hi. Hi? astead herndon Hi. My names Astead. Weve been trying to get Lisa Bender, the council president, to help us make sense of all this. On our last day in Minneapolis, she agreed to talk. lisa bender Youre just doing audio, yes? astead herndon Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Nothing you dont have to worry about your background. astead herndon She said Miski Noor was right. Activist groups did play a big role in the councils pledge. lisa bender Theyve organized in every ward of the city in a sustained way since 2015. So council members all have relationships with those organizations to varying degrees. astead herndon Yeah. I guess I get that they have that. Theyve been organizing consistently. That they have these relationships, they didnt just start in that moment. But I mean, the pledge moment is a unique one. So what led to taking that next step? lisa bender Their initial ask was for a pledge related to cutting the police budget. I did not feel comfortable in that moment signing on to a specific budget cut number. But I did feel like I could commit to a value statement that I felt represented the majority position of my constituents. astead herndon Youve described the statement as a value set. But activists said that they were very clear with the councilors that they meant a kind of literal endorsement of the words. Was that clear to you at the time, that this was a literal endorsement of ending the Minneapolis police department? lisa bender Yes. astead herndon There are city councilors who have told us this week that they said that in spirit and didnt mean it literally. That the language, in retrospect, was confusing. Is that something that you look back on and agree with? lisa bender I do agree with the statement we made. I think we could have and need to be more clear about a realistic timeline for us to make that kind of change. I would more say that we need to dismantle the police department as it stands and work toward a police-free future. But I mean, in my imagination, that is likely far away. astead herndon If it is likely far away, why did the council, in this moment, embrace that message. lisa bender For me, I think I am hearing more and more from my constituents, policing isnt working. Right? And so we signed on to language that activist organizations asked us to support. And I think we could have been more ready to show how that pledge would translate into the citys bureaucratic process-oriented system. That would have been very difficult to do. I mean, so say we had taken another week and tried to come up with a community engagement plan that was ready to go. I mean, Im not sure we could have achieved that. astead herndon Because of the level of public pressure? lisa bender Because our city system doesnt work that fast. astead herndon Was there adequate community engagement before the pledge? lisa bender Yeah. Its a great question. At the time, I felt that the community engagement I have been doing as a council member for many years supported the position I was taking. But, in retrospect, I think it could have benefited from more community engagement ahead of the pledge. But at the same time, I mean, we also had thousands of people in the streets demanding change. And, again, not like, reform your police department. Demanding we need to rethink public safety as an institution. I mean, we have to start somewhere. So Im not sure, you know, would a public hearing have helped? Maybe? astead herndon You know, and maybe this is just a public perception thing rather than what youre describing, but the pledge sucked up so much of the oxygen of what the council was pushing towards. Did you know or expect that to happen? lisa bender No. Yeah. I mean, I didnt realize how many council members would be there. I didnt realize how much attention it would gather. archived recording (donald trump) Theyre burning Minneapolis. You dont think of Minneapolis that way, right? You dont think of it. The city is burning down. astead herndon The defund movement has gathered a lot of attention. While the local Democratic support isnt there and it stalled out Minneapolis, nationally, of course, its become a central focus of the 2020 election. As President Trump has seized on the message archived recording (donald trump) Make no mistake. If you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across America. astead herndon that the cities are out of control and that Joe Biden wants to defund the police. archived recording (donald trump) No one will be safe in Bidens America. My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement. [CHEERING] astead herndon And according to a recent poll conducted by The New York Times in four swing states, which included Minnesota, Trumps messaging has been somewhat effective in turning the attention of voters to whats happening in cities like Minneapolis. Voters are now basically split on the question of whether the coronavirus or maintaining law and order is a more important issue to them. Voters in Minnesota and Wisconsin think that Joe Biden has not done enough to condemn violent rioting. And across the four swing states that The Times polled, 44 percent of voters believe Joe Biden supports defunding the police. archived recording (joe biden) No. I dont support defunding the police. I support condition astead herndon To be clear, he does not. But a closer read of the poll shows something else. The presidents rhetoric has actually done little to effect Joe Biden support in those same states. Hes leading President Trump by a nine point margin in Minnesota. Thats seven points better than Clinton did in the state in 2016. Because while the president has been able to turn the focus to law and order, voters dont necessarily trust him to do a better job on the issue. That 44 percent of voters who think Joe Biden wants to defund the police, thats mostly the presidents base. And theyre not up for grabs anyway. And one way of understanding all those voters who want Biden to be more forceful in condemning rioting is that they include ideologically moderate voters who are genuinely troubled by the sight of looting and rioting and want Biden to offer a compelling counternarrative to President Trump on law and order. Because they may want Biden to be elected. And looked at that way, while the Minneapolis city councils actions may have helped the president with the ammunition he needed to turn this into a national campaign issue, those same actions by the city council have left Joe Biden in a fairly comfortable position. archived recording Boo! Boo! jason frey Certainly didnt feel good watching the video afterwards, and it probably felt even a bit tougher during the moment. astead herndon You can look back now at that moment outside of Mayor Freys house, days after George Floyds death, when he refused to support abolishing the police. And it looks like he was out of step with his own city. jason frey But during these times of great difficulty and turbulence, I feel strongly that you need elected leaders to show a sense of stability, of honesty, of integrity. And to me, that just meant telling the truth. astead herndon The mayors rivals thought he was in political trouble. Ive seen text messages between city councilors at the time saying the mayor missed the moral moment and that their pledge would rise to meet it. But in the end, its that pledge that turns out to be out of step to where the city is now. A majority of Minneapolis residents, like the majority of Americans, want police reform. jason frey That is where so many people throughout our city are right now. They understand the need for deep structural change. They understand that we need a full on culture shift in the way our police department functions. And they also understand that there are instances, sadly but truly, where you need to call 911. And you need a response from a police officer. Both of those things are true. astead herndon FILE PHOTO: A Facebook logo is pictured on an Apple's Ipad in Bordeaux, southwestern France By Katie Paul and Stephen Nellis SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Friday that businesses running paid online events on its iOS app would not need to pay a 30% fee to Apple for the remainder of 2020, temporarily defusing a standoff between the two tech giants. The social media company said in a blog post that all businesses except gaming creators would be eligible for Apple's fee exemption and can process payments for the online events they run through Facebook Pay. "Apple has agreed to provide a brief, three-month respite after which struggling businesses will have to, yet again, pay Apple the full 30% App Store tax," Facebook company spokesman Joe Osborne said in a statement. Facebook said it will not charge fees of its own for online events while businesses remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, through at least August 2021. Apple said Friday that such online events have always been subject to its in-app payment rules, which charge commissions between 15% and 30% of the purchase price of paid online events. Apple said it has given businesses affected by the pandemic more time to implement the system and that Facebook is getting the same exemption until year's end it has given ClassPass and Airbnb. Tech newsletter Gaming creators will not receive the exemption because the service was launched in early 2018 and it is not a physical business affected by the pandemic, Apple said. "Apple maintains a clear, consistent set of guidelines that apply equally to everyone, Apple said in a statement. Facebook challenged Apple's rules last month, attempting to tell users in an app update that the iPhone maker would take a cut of sales for a new online events feature, but later removed the message after Apple rejected the update. The world's biggest social media company cast the move as a defense of small businesses and app developers, joining other developers such as "Fortnite" creator Epic Games, which is suing Apple on antitrust allegations over the fees. Story continues Facebook is also wrangling with Apple over new privacy rules for iPhones that will require more notifications before tracking users across apps. The social media giant said Apple's decision to lift the fees came with a catch excluding game creators from being able to use Facebook Pay in paid online events on iOS. "We unfortunately had to make this concession to get the temporary reprieve for other businesses," said Vivek Sharma, vice president of Facebook Gaming. Apple is defending an antitrust lawsuit brought by "Fortnite" creator Epic Games over its in-app payment rules. (Reporting by Katie Paul and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Andrea Ricci) Burma Chinese Companies Flocking to Southern Myanmars Industrial Complex Megaproject A signpost for the Dawei SEZ is seen in the Nabule area of Dawei district near the Dawei-Ye Highway in the Tanintharyi Region. / Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy YANGONDespite the surge in COVID-19 in Myanmar, Chinese companies including state-owned energy giants are seeking opportunities to invest in the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a US$8-billion (10.4-trillion-kyat) strategic project in southern Myanmars Tanintharyi Region that is set to be Southeast Asias largest industrial complex. The Dawei SEZ management committee has invited international companies to invest in the full phase of the long-delayed Dawei project. Dr. Myint San, vice chair (2) of the committee, told The Irrawaddy, Eight out of 10 proposals were from Chinese companies. Chinese companies are quite interested in the Dawei SEZ. Some are already planning feasibility studies for their proposed projects, Dr. Myint San said. Located in Tanintharyi Region, the SEZ is adjacent to the Andaman Sea and near the Gulf of Thailand. It lies in a strategic location connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans and linking Southeast Asia with South Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. The SEZ also plays a vital role in the Mekong Southern Economic Corridor, which aims to connect central Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand to the Dawei SEZ in southeastern Myanmar. Planning to transform Dawei into Southeast Asias largest industrial and trade complex, the 196-sq.-km project includes a deep seaport and is expected be a potential boon for firms currently relying on the transport of goods via the crowded Malacca Strait. The planned project also includes high-tech industrial zones, information technology zones, export-processing zones, port area zones, transportation zones, service business zones and other infrastructure projects. China has ambitious goals when it comes to access to the oceans. The Dawei SEZ would serve as a potential hub for China. Chinese companies seem to think Dawei could become another door to access the [Indian Ocean] for China, Dr. Myint San said. Among Chinese companies, those interested in the construction of the large oil refinery project have already agreed to carry out a feasibility study (FS), according to the management committee. These include proposals from Yunnan Indo-Pacific Group (Indo-Pacific), Zhongan Co. Ltd, CNPC East China Design Institute (CEI) and locally owned Myanmar Chemical & Machinery Co., Ltd. Moreover, the management committee has also discussed proposals for refinery projects in the SEZ with Hong Kong New Energy Investment Holdings Limited, China HuanQiu Contracting & Engineering Co., Ltd (HQCEC), China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Co., Ltd (CPP) and China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC). CPP is a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the main shareholder in a controversial twin oil and natural gas pipeline project running in parallel from the port of Kyaukphyu in Rakhine State on the Bay of Bengal through Magwe and Mandalay regions and northern Shan State before entering China. HQEC is also affiliated with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)engaging in consultation, engineering, construction management, procurement and equipment manufacturing. CEEC, also known as Energy China, is also a state-owned energy conglomerate. It has already invested in energy projects and offered technical support to major energy projects in Myanmar. It completed construction of a 118 MW gas-fired power plant in Mon State. In 2019, a consortium led by CEEC was awarded a project to implement a 120 MW power plant in Alone Township in Yangon. Some Chinese companies are joint ventures with local companies. But when we check the shareholder agreements, Chinese own a majority [of the shares], Dr. Myint San said. They are so eager to seek the potential investment opportunities there. When we checked them, they prepared documents well for the proposal including showing their financial capabilities, he added. The project was originally backed by the Thai government. In 2008, Italian-Thai Development PCL (ITD) was granted a 75-year concession to develop and attract investment to Dawei SEZ. It was scheduled to complete it in 2015, but financial constraints saw ITD withdraw from the agreement in 2013. In 2015, Myanmar and Thailand renegotiated the original agreement to allow ITD and related companies to develop up to 27 sq. km of the initial phase of infrastructure projects. The concession for the initial phase projects (including an industrial estate and supporting infrastructure such as power plants, a small port, an LNG terminal and other related projects) was officially granted to a consortium led by ITD in August 2015 and March 2016. Japan has an interest in the Dawei SEZ, which lies on its envisioned Southern Economic Corridor, part of Tokyos development strategy for the Greater Mekong Subregion. In 2015 Myanmar, Thailand and Japan signed a Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI), which brought Japan into the Dawei SEZ Development Company Limited (SPV) as a third shareholder. The shareholders are Thailands Neighboring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA), Myanmars Foreign Economic Relations Department (FERD) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The main function of the company is to advise the management committee on the comprehensive development of the SEZ and to invite international investors. However, the company has not pursued international investors. Last year, the Myanmar government and ITD completed final negotiations for the construction of the initial phase. However, the company is reluctant to begin the project. Under the initial agreement, Myanmar and Thailand have agreed to implement the initial phase first. However, during a bilateral ministerial meeting in October last year, the two governments agreed to begin the initial and full phases of the project at the same time. Moreover, they decided to the invite third-party investment for the full phase implementation of the SEZ including deep seaport and electricity supply. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) also conducted a fact-finding study based on NEDAs existing master plan to ensure it is in conformity with changing political, economic and social conditions. According to the committee, NEDAs original master plan was more focused on creating a heavy industrial complex, while JICAs study is more focused on a light industrial complex. However, Myanmar has yet to decide the development model. Since JICA submitted a development model for the Dawei SEZ, we were hopeful that Japanese investors would definitely come to our project. Despite several rounds of meeting with Japanese stakeholders, they no show sign of interest in the project, Dr. Myint San said. We also asked them to have government-to-government [G-to-G] agreements to attract Japanese investors. But it did not work out, he said. In the eyes of the Japanese investors, the Dawei project has to wait for a long time for commercial viability. It is also weak in infrastructure. These would be major reasons that they are not willing to invest in it, he added. The infrastructural weaknesses, particularly with the roads and electricity supply, are the major challenges for international investors. Part of the Dawei SEZ project involves upgrading a two-lane highway connecting Dawei with Thailand. The Union Parliament approved in March last year a 4.5-billion-baht (186.26-billion-kyat) low-interest loan from NEDA for the project. The route will connect the border crossing point at Htee Kee to the SEZ via Myittar to assist in the transportation of raw materials needed to complete the Dawei SEZ construction projects. The Energy Ministry said in 2018 that only 16 percent of Tanintharyi residents had access to the national grid. Currently, the government is planning to build transmission lines for Dawei to connect with the national gird. On the other hand, China has asked the Myanmar government to share the study report for the project in order to look for potential investment opportunities in the Dawei SEZ, according to a source familiar with the matter. However, the government decided not to share it with China as it has agreed the third party is not allowed to obtain it. The SEZ management committee is considering wooing Indian investors once COVID-19 conditions improve. The electricity supply and a two-lane highway project are underway. We will need to construct the deep seaport. We are currently looking for investors to invest in the deep seaport, Dr. Myint San said. It is a mega project. So, one country cannot afford to develop the whole project. It is a strategic project and the location is important geographically. If there is no one, we have to ask other countries like China to invest in it under the G-to-G agreement, he said. We are growing impatient because locals have already waited for many years. We have already spent years on it; we cant wait any longer for the development, he added. Kazuyuki Takimi, counselor and head of the Development Assistance Section at the Japanese Embassy in Myanmar, told The Irrawaddy that Japan is still eyeing investing in the Dawei SEZ with the aim of assisting development in Myanmar. We are interested to invest in [the] Dawei SEZ. However, it needs to take time when it comes to discussing the details for [the G-to-G] process. Moreover, we still need to consider the details for the [possible] investment, Takimi said. We very much [appreciate] what Myanmar can offer. We will continue to discuss with the Myanmar government what we can do for investment in the Dawei SEZ, he said. You may also like these stories: Myanmar, S. Korea Pledge to Step Up Cooperation on Trade, Investment, Energy Myanmar Traders Brace for Another Hit as China Closes Key Customs Gate Due to COVID-19 Despite Current Economic Fallout in Myanmar, ADB Forecasts a Bounce SAN FRANCISCO Californias largest wildfire is threatening a marijuana growing enclave, and authorities said many of the locals have refused to evacuate and abandon their maturing crops even as weather forecasters predict more hot, dry and windy conditions that could fan flames. The wildfire called the August Complex is nearing the small communities of Post Mountain and Trinity Pines, about 200 miles northwest of Sacramento, the Los Angeles Times reported. Law enforcement officers went door to door warning of the encroaching fire danger but could not force residents to evacuate, Trinity County Sheriffs Department Deputy Nate Trujillo said. Its mainly growers, Trujillo said. And a lot of them, they dont want to leave because that is their livelihood. As many as 1,000 people remained in Post Mountain and Trinity Pines, authorities and local residents estimated Thursday. Numerous studies in recent years have linked bigger U.S. wildfires to global warming from the burning of coal, oil and gas, especially because climate change has made California much drier. A drier California means plants are more flammable. The threatened marijuana growing area is in the Emerald Triangle, a three-county corner of Northern California that by some estimates is the nations largest cannabis-producing region. People familiar with Trinity Pines said the community has up to 40 legal farms, with more than 10 times that number in hidden, illegal growing areas. Growers are wary of leaving the plants vulnerable to flames or thieves. Each farm has crops worth half a million dollars or more and many are within days or weeks of harvest. One estimate put the value of the areas legal marijuana crop at about $20 million. There (are) millions of dollars, millions and millions of dollars of marijuana out there, Trujillo said. Some of those plants are 16 feet tall, and they are all in the budding stages of growth right now. Gunfire in the region is common. A recent night brought what locals dubbed the roll call of cannabis cultivators shooting rounds from pistols and automatic weapons as warnings to outsiders, said Post Mountain volunteer Fire Chief Astrid Dobo, who also manages legal cannabis farms. Mike McMillan, spokesman for the federal incident command team managing the northern section of the August Complex, said fire officials plan to deliver a clear message that we are not going to die to save people. That is not our job. We are going to knock door to door and tell them once again, McMillan said. However, if they choose to stay and if the fire situation becomes, as we say, very dynamic and very dangerous we are not going to risk our lives. A firefighter was killed and another was injured on Aug. 31 while working on the fire. Diana Jones, a volunteer firefighter from Texas, was among 26 people who have died since more than two dozen major wildfires broke out across the state last month. A memorial service was held Friday for a veteran firefighter, Charles Morton, 39, a squad boss with the Big Bear Interagency Hotshot Crew who died Sept. 17 while battling the El Dorado Fire in the San Bernardino National Forest east of Los Angeles. I know that Charlie was a very skilled, in fact extraordinary, firefighter and a fire leader, U.S. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen told the gathering at The Rock Church in San Bernardino. He committed himself, often for weeks and months on end, to protecting lives, communities and natural resources all around this country in service to fellow Americans. The Butte County Sheriffs Office on Friday released the identity of another of the 15 people killed in a rampaging forest fire earlier this month. The remains of Linda Longenbach, 71, of Berry Creek, were found on Sept. 10 in a roadway about 10 feet from an ATV, close to the body of a man previously identified as Paul Winer, 68. A relative told investigators the victims were aware of the fire and chose not to evacuate. Efforts to extinguish the wildfires have benefitted recently from low winds and normal temperatures along with and moist air flowing inland from the Pacific. But forecasters said that weather pattern will reverse during the weekend as a ridge of high pressure boosts temperatures and generates gusty winds flowing from the interior to the coast. In northern and central areas of the state the strongest winds were forecast to occur from Saturday night into Sunday morning, followed by another burst Sunday night into Monday. The Pacific Gas & Electric utility was tracking the forecasts to determine if it would be necessary to shut off power to areas where gusts could damage the companys equipment or hurl debris into lines that can ignite flammable vegetation. The utility posted a power cut watch alert for Saturday evening through Monday morning. If the shutoff happens, about 21,000 customers in portions of northern Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties would lose power, PG&E said. When heavy winds were predicted earlier this month, PG&E cut power to about 167,000 homes and businesses in central and northern California in a more targeted approach after being criticized last year for acting too broadly when it blacked out 2 million customers to prevent fires. PG&E equipment has sparked past large wildfires, including the 2018 fire that destroyed much of the Sierra foothills town of Paradise and killed 85 people. In Southern California, meteorologists anticipate very hot and dry weather conditions with weak to locally moderate Santa Ana winds on Monday. The U.S. Forest Services Pacific Southwest Region announced Friday that it is extending the closure of all nine national forests in California due to concerns including fire conditions and critical limitations on firefighting resources. The closure orders are being re-evaluated daily, the service said. --The Associated Press The law firm of Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan, PLLC announces that attorneys Terri Daugherty, Evan Vineyard and Will Leech have been installed on the 2020-2021 Board of Directors for the Chattanooga chapter of Civitan International. Attorney Terri Daugherty was announced as the vice president of the Chattanooga chapter of Civitan. Ms. Daughertys community involvement also includes volunteering with Habitat for Humanity; Partnership for Families, Children & Adults; Chattanooga Bar Association Mock Trial; Chattanooga Chamber and SETLAW. Her practice focuses primarily on general civil litigation, including tort, personal injury, premises liability, and products liability defense. She also handles family law, divorce, child custody, and parental rights cases. Attorney Evan Vineyard was announced as the treasurer of the Chattanooga chapter of Civitan. Mr. Vineyard is also a member of the Tennessee and Chattanooga Bar Associations and Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association. His practice focuses on general liability, workers compensation, and family law. Attorney Will Leech was announced as a board member of the Chattanooga chapter of Civitan. Mr. Leech is a native of Santa Fe, Tn. whose practice focuses on transportation law, workers compensation, and general liability issues. Chattanooga Civitan Club was chartered in 1920 and has served the Chattanooga community for over 100 years. Qualification for membership in the Chattanooga Civitan Club is limited to persons of good moral standing who desire to become associated with it and are in sympathy with its purposes. To learn more about Civitan International and ways to give back to the community, please visit www.chattanoogacivitanclub.org A day earlier, South Korea condemned the North for its treatment of the fisheries official, who disappeared from a patrol boat near the disputed maritime frontier earlier this week in what authorities described as an ill-fated attempt to defect. The 47-year-old was killed by North Korean troops and his body burned, the Defense Ministry said, an act that Seoul labeled an atrocity. Many people are ignoring the advice for adherence to the COVID-19 safety protocols, particularly the wearing of face masks in public. The general excuse is that the virus has been conquered and, therefore, posed no further threat. That development poses a threat to the strides made in the fight against COVID-19, and the fear in some circles is that Ghana could experience a resurgence in active cases if the protocols continue to be ignored. Wearing face masks The government introduced a range of measures aimed at stopping the spread of the virus, and last Sunday, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo extended, by an additional three months, the Executive Instrument (EI) making the wearing of face masks in public compulsory and warned that the law enforcement agencies would be required to ensure that the directive was respected by all. This had also been corroborated by a number of health experts who have all stressed the need to wear the face mask as a key preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Daily Graphic has observed in Accra that many people have been going about in public without face masks, while many sanitiser dispensers at places where people visit for business are empty. Also, the handwashing facilities mounted at many public places to enable people to conveniently wash their hands have become decorative pieces. Besides, apart from the churches, mosques and some pharmacies, most places are not observing the protocols on social distancing. The situation at the Madina Market Currently, many countries are experiencing a second wave of the spread of the virus and the attitude and negligence of many people in Ghana could lead the country along that path. Delivering his 17th address on COVID-19 to the nation last Sunday, President Akufo-Addo said since March, when the initial two cases were recorded, Ghana had now recorded about 49,000 cases. Nonetheless, he said, the figures had been managed, with over 45,258 recoveries, 507 active cases, 58 active cases and 297 deaths. Situation In the past week, the Daily Graphic went round Accra to find out how people were observing the protocols and if the regulations were being enforced. From hawkers on the streets to traders and market women, most of the people encountered did not have face masks on. The few who were spotted with the masks had them on their chins, held them or they were halfway in their pockets. Funerals have become what they used to be in the past, and with the exception of adherence to the protocols in some churches, people converge on funeral grounds or gatherings with very little regard for the protocols. Also, about 90 per cent of patrons of intra-city public transport, popularly referred to as trotro, no longer use face masks. Although the Ghana Health Service (GHS) had said commercial bus operators were allowed to operate at full capacity because activities that facilitated the spread of the virus, such as talking and singing, were minimal in commercial buses, the situation seems otherwise. The Daily Graphic also observed that while almost all trading and service provision outlets had Veronica buckets at their entrances, they did not contain water or there was no soap to wash hands, or both. It was observed that a few of those who had water, soap and tissue did not even bother to find out if patrons of their facilities washed their hands or not. Additionally, the police had abandoned their role of enforcing particularly the wearing of masks in public. While the general situation looked worrying, a number of corporate institutions, such as the Graphic Communications Group Limited, some financial institutions and supermarkets were strictly adhering to the no mask, no entry and the mandatory washing or sanitising of hands before entry policies. Some of the countries that were hard hit between last March and June but which did well to control the infection have begun recording a second wave, which has compelled leaders of those countries to consider re-introducing restrictions again. Excuses In spite of the potential threat, most people the Daily Graphic spoke with were of the opinion that the situation had been kept under control and so there was no need to strictly adhere to the protocols. The battle against COVID-19 has been won. No one talks about it any longer. If it were, President Akufo-Addo would not have allowed us to get back to normal life. So I think we have nothing to be worried about any longer, Yaw Bawua, a trader, said when asked why he was not in a mask. A bread seller, Kofi Twum, said: I do not see why we should be forced to wear face masks, since its obvious that either the virus is gone or it never existed in the country. Cant you see that many people are not wearing masks? But we are being told there is a sharp decline in active cases. They are telling us that majority of the people have recovered. For me, if people recover this fast and many people are not being infected, why are they worrying us? He asked. Others who were interviewed also said they had problems with breathing well when in the face masks, and since it was obvious Ghana was out of the woods, there was no need for them to stress themselves by wearing the mask. A woman who runs a supermarket, Ms. Mary Tetteh, said all she was looking forward to was good sales, and that she was less concerned about patrons washing their hands. She said it was clear that the COVID-19 was not an African disease and asked: If it were so, why is it that several people have recovered from it? Enforcement Reacting to the seemingly lax attitude of the law enforcers to ensure adherence to particularly the wearing of face masks, the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, said although the security agencies had been tasked to ensure that people wore masks, as required by law, the advice was for the law to be enforced with a human face. They [police] have been asked to add a human face to their duty of enforcement; but when persuasion fails, force will be applied, and so if people do not adhere, they will have themselves to blame, he said. He explained that the police had been asked to be considerate because not only was the law new; the wearing of masks was also a new way of life being encouraged, as well as the fact that wearing masks all day was a bit uncomfortable under hot weather conditions. However, people should be made to appreciate the need to wear masks and wear them right for the collective good of the entire population, he stressed. He said the national strides made were as a result of adherence to safety protocols, and that any breaches would erode national gains. The Director-General of the GHS, Dr. Patrick Kumah-Aboagye, also said the disease was still around, and that the reduction in active cases was a better ground to intensify strict adherence to safety protocols, such as wearing of masks, cleaning of hands properly, social distancing and respiratory hygiene to help sustain the momentum towards winning the fight against the global pandemic. Background In April 2020, the wearing of face masks was made compulsory in public in the Greater Accra Region and the Cape Coast metropolis. The Ministry of Health also issued a directive in the same month telling citizens to wear face masks at public places where it might be difficult to maintain social distancing. Source: Graphic.com.gh Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Chinese state developer Poly Developments and Holdings will cut jobs at its Australian real estate arm as it moves to slow capital investments in Australia amid a coronavirus pandemic-led downturn and souring relations between the two countries. On Thursday afternoon, Poly Australia told more than 100 employees across its offices in Sydney and Melbourne that a "substantial" number of staff will be cut by the end of the year as the company restructures to cope with the impact of Covid-19 and Australia's first recession in nearly 30 years, according to people briefed on the decision. The specific number of job cuts at Poly Australia, which is ultimately owned by state-owned China Poly Group, is unknown, but follows on from news that Huawei Technologies will cut jobs from its Australia operations amid growing tensions between Beijing and Canberra. Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China. Poly Australia denied rumours that it had been tapped by Beijing to leave the Australian market entirely, saying it will instead scale down its investments and exercise caution with regard to future projects. "The global economic challenges flowing from Covid-19 have been felt across all parts of the Australian economy. These challenges place a responsibility on the management of companies such as Poly Global to ensure that we survive the downturn so we can thrive if conditions improve," a company spokesman said. The company burst onto the Australian property scene in 2016 as a housing developer buying up numerous pieces of land, spending heavily on projects and expanding quickly into commercial property investment, funds management and private debt lending as the property market boomed. The spokesman added that the company would now take a more passive business approach, focusing on asset management as opposed to the more frantic housing development scene. Story continues According to the latest top 100 real estate company rankings by China Real Estate Information Corporation, China's leading real estate data research firm, Poly is the 10th largest property company in China. The Australian property market peaked in 2018, and as it has continued to decline during the pandemic, it is understood many apartment projects, including those by Poly, have struggled to sell. Last week, Australian press reported Poly had ditched negotiations on a land deal with major local property group Lendlease following months of tensions between the two countries and new concerns the conflict could spill over into Chinese investments and businesses in Australia. Last week, Australian press reported Poly had ditched negotiations on a land deal with major local property group Lendlease following months of tensions between the two countries. New concerns were also raised by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week that the conflict could spill over into Chinese investments and businesses operating in Australia. The China-Australian relationship has been on the decline since Australia announced it would coordinate an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus in April, and aside from trade sanctions, journalists from both countries have been targeted in recent weeks. On Thursday, two Australians, Clive Hamilton, who wrote a book on Chinese influence in Australia, and Alex Joske, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think tank partially funded by the Australian Department of Defence, were banned from entering China. China's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that China had the sovereign right to decide which foreigners to allow into the country. Australia relies heavily on foreign investments, with the United States with A$983.7 billion (US$699 billion) and Britain with A$686 billion worth of investments at the end of 2019, its biggest foreign investors. Despite being Australia's biggest trading partner with two-way trade between China and Australia worth around A$240 billion (US$171 billion) per year, China is only the ninth biggest foreign investor with A$78 billion. But aside from Huawei and Poly, there are no signs of a mass exodus of Chinese companies from Australia, with the number of Chinese businesses in Australia having grown substantially since the onset of Australia's east coast property boom in 2013. Helen Sawczak, the recently departed chief executive of the largest China-Australia business club, the Australia China Business Council, said a sudden decoupling would be unlikely as Chinese investors in Australia take a long-term view with their overseas ventures. "The current tensions are temporary. Business remains confident," she said. More broadly, China's "going out policy", referring to companies expanding abroad that was launched around 2000, is a long-term strategy for China, according to Hongying Wang, a Chinese politics professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. "It is a necessity based on China's need for overseas markets, resources and technology. The current pushback against Chinese investment makes the situation difficult for Chinese companies seeking to go out, as does the economic slowdown that began before the pandemic ... but in the long run, Chinese companies will likely continue their expansion abroad," she said. Chinese companies told the South China Morning Post that they were committed to staying in Australia, but some said they would be watching the US presidential election closely, indicating a win for incumbent Donald Trump could cast a further shadow on the China-Australian relationship. Foreign affairs experts said China's end game with trade sanctions against Australia, such as anti-dumping duties on the Australian barley sector, was to encourage Australia not to side with Washington in its agenda to contain China. 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. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 16:02:00|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ISTANBUL, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Turkish prosecutors on Friday ordered the detention of at least 76 academic personnels over their alleged links to a network believed to be behind a coup attempt in 2016. Police launched simultaneous operations in 26 provinces across the country to catch the suspects upon the order of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Istanbul, the state-run Anadolu agency reported. It said those targeted in operations included academics and administrative personnels on active duty in universities. All the 76 suspects have alleged connections with the network headed by the U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, Anadolu added. The Turkish government blames Gulen and his network for masterminding the coup bid in July 2016, which killed 250 people. Ankara has been pushing for the cleric's extradition. Enditem Student protesters try to flee as police fire tear gas during a demonstration against the government's proposed change in its criminal code and plans to weaken the anti-corruption commission, outside the parliament building in Jakarta, Sept. 24, 2019. Twenty-two years after the fall of a longtime autocratic president ushered in a new era of democracy in Indonesia, Southeast Asias largest country has been backsliding under the leadership of Joko Jokowi Widodo in hard-fought democratic reforms, according to analysts. The administration headed by Jokowi, who was hailed as an icon of democracy when he first was elected president in 2014, has to a degree suppressed free speech and criticism and also attempted to undermine checks and balances on government power, scholars said during a two-day online forum that wrapped up on Friday. The Jokowi governments move to strip the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of some of its powers as well as proposed revisions to the Constitutional Court that could undermine its independence are among the examples, according to political scientists who participated in the seminar hosted by the Australian National University. These examples represent what could be an unprecedented attack on two of Indonesias most important institutions and protectors of democracy, said Allen Hicken, a research professor in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan. The online discussion took place over Wednesday and Friday. It focused on arguments contained in a new book with contributions from various academics, titled Democracy in Indonesia: From Stagnation to Regression? and published by the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. According to ISEAS, the book describes a more far-reaching pattern of democratic regression under Jokowi that followed a period of democratic stagnation during the second term of his predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonos second presidential term. Jokowi and Yudhoyono were among five presidents who led the country at the end of the so-called New Order in May 1998. Thats when President Suharto, the dictator and former army general, resigned, paving the way for the promise of sweeping democratic reforms. He had ruled the country for more than three decades after leading a bloody crackdown in 1965-66 against Indonesian communists and suspected sympathizers, who were blamed for an attempted coup. Indonesian President Suharto (left) announces his resignation at the presidential palace in Jakarta, after ruling the fourth most populous nation for 32 years, May 21, 1998. [AP] Indonesia is much more democratic than it was in 1999, and thats what we hope [for] and perhaps expect, that in the next decade Indonesias democracy would expand and deepen, but we dont see that, said Hicken, one of the contributors of chapters in the book. Indonesias democracy doesnt expand. It doesnt deepen. It stagnates, he added. Democratic norms and institutions were being threatened, with a rise in repression of civil society, government censorship and persecutions of critics, Hicken claimed. As an example, the House of Representatives last year passed revisions to a law governing the KPK. Critics warned that the amendments would undermine the agencys independence, such as through establishing a supervisory agency tasked with monitoring the conduct of the commission, whose mission is to fight corruption in a country notorious for dirty lawmakers, officials and police. The amended law also transformed the KPK from an independent body into a government agency under the executive branch. In early September, the House of Representatives also passed a revised law governing the Constitutional Court, a legislative action that could weaken the court and undermine its impartiality, critics said. In 2006, the Constitutional Court annulled a provision in the Criminal Code that had criminalized speech deemed as insulting to the president, ruling that the clause violated the constitution. The Indonesian government nowadays also increasingly relies on the police and the military to conduct civilian affairs, including handling the COVID-19 pandemic, said Eve Warburton, a researcher at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the co-editor of the book. Vigilantism has increased [at] the same time [the] state presence has increased in Indonesia, she told the discussion. According to Endy Bayuni, the former editor-in-chief of The Jakarta Post who penned the foreword to the book, democracy in Indonesia is indeed declining. There is a growing consensus among scholars that Indonesias democracy is in decline, although in fairness, many new and established democracies around the world are suffering the same fate, he wrote. Despite democratic setbacks, the analysts said Indonesia was faring better than other Southeast Asian countries such as such as Thailand and the Philippines. Theres not a single country I would trade places with if Im thinking about democracy. Indonesia is in a better situation than any other Southeast Asian state outside of Timor Leste, Hicken said. Chaotic Indonesian democracy Wariki Sutikno, director of political affairs and communication at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) defended the government against the arguments made by the academics. Wariko, who was not at the seminar, said Indonesias Democratic Index score had risen to nearly 75 points out of a possible 100 points in 2019, from 72.4 the previous year, citing data from the Central Bureau of Statistics. The bureau released its democratic index for 2019 last month. From the aspects of political participation and democratic institutions, Indonesia has shown improvements, he told BenarNews, while acknowledging that civil liberties had suffered a slight regression. Mohammad Mahfud MD, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, earlier in September described democracy in Indonesia as chaotic. Because whatever the government does is always considered wrong by some groups, the minister told another virtual forum on democracy at the time. When the government makes a mistake, theres a public outcry. But when the government walks back, it is still seen as wrong. Therefore, I say, this is a democracy that is awry, he said. Mahfud MD said the government had an obligation to maintain unity to prevent democracy from being explosive. How do you maintain democracy? The answer is by nomocracy, he said, referring to government based on the rule of law. All of us must be committed to the rule of law. Meanwhile, a survey released in June by Indikator Politik Indonesia, a local pollster, showed that peoples satisfaction with democracy had dropped to 45.2 percent, from 75.6 percent in February this year before the first cases of the novel coronavirus disease were detected in the country. The poll rating was the lowest in the last 16 years, Indikator Director Burhanuddin Muhtadi said. However, even though Indonesians were more dissatisfied with democracy, people have not lost their faith in democracy, Burhanuddin said. BEIJING, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Since the launch of the reform and opening up in the late 1970s, China has seen a sharp decline in the population living in poverty alongside impressive economic growth. According to the World Bank's poverty standard of US$1 per day, more than 700 million Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty over the past four decades. China is the first country in the world to achieve the poverty reduction goal of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. In China's rural areas, the proportion of impoverished people has dropped from over 60 percent in 1990 to below 30 percent in 2002, and further plummeted to 4.2 percent by 2014. During this period, China contributed more than 70 percent of global poverty reduction. According to data recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics, from the end of 2012 to the end of 2018, the impoverished population in rural China decreased by 82.39 million-from 98.99 million to 16.6 million, with incidence of poverty dropping from 10.2 percent to 1.7 percent over the same period. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, the income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas has increased by 10 percent annually, which is 2.3 percent higher than the national average. In 2018, per capita disposable income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas reached 71 percent of the national average, which is 8.9 percentage points higher than that of 2012. Now, targeted poverty alleviation has entered the final stage. The key work ahead is to consolidate progress in poverty alleviation, prevent those lifted out of poverty from falling into poverty again and ensure that non-poor people, especially those with low incomes, do not fall into poverty. Contact: Li Zhuoxi Tel:+86-17610273327 E-mail:jessica27xixi@163.com Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ChinaIndiaDialogue/posts/1257574764389613 YouTube: https://youtu.be/RJ2yxZasQ34 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1281686/China_Pictorial_Logo.jpg HANOI Vietnam is seeking to expand its macadamia farming area fivefold to 50,000 hectares (123,553 acres) over the next five years, aiming to make the nuts one of its key agriculture exports, the government said on Thursday. Macadamia has only recently been grown on large scale in Vietnam, which is already the world's biggest exporter of cashew nuts and one of its biggest producers of rice, coffee and pepper. Annual macadamia revenue, mostly from exports, is expected to reach $500 million by 2025, the government said. "Global macadamia demand now outpaces supply," Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said in a statement on the government's website. Vietnam's farming area for the nuts will be raised to 100,000 hectares by 2030, mostly in the Central Highlands, with an annual revenue of $1 billion. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will chair a conference next week to discuss measures to boost the macadamia farming, processing and exports. (Alliance News) - A UK union on Friday hailed a "breakthrough" in talks with easyJet PLC, adding that the budget carrier will not make any pilots "compulsorily redundant". The British Airline Pilots Association, or BALPA, said it has been negotiating with easyJet since March in anticipation of the threat of job cuts as a result of Covid-19. The carrier was among the worst hit by the crisis, which has sapped demand for air travel and emptied skies. Back in June, easyJet confirmed plans to shed staff and potentially close its Southend, Stansted and Newcastle bases, leaving 727 UK pilot jobs at risk of redundancy. BALPA said on Friday: "easyJet pilots and management have achieved a breakthrough in negotiations meaning that no pilots will be made compulsorily redundant. "All the pilots based at Southend, Stansted, and Newcastle which have been closed will be offered jobs elsewhere on the UK network. We have been extremely pleased with the airline's positive approach during negotiations which was, like ours, to reduce job losses to an absolute minimum while recognising the seriousness of the Covid-19 challenge to the air travel sector." easyJet shares were 0.1% lower at 487.85 pence each in London on Friday afternoon. By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. The Yerevan court of general jurisdiction today ruled to select arrest as a pre-trial measure against leader of Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan. The examination of the motion filed by the investigator of the National Security Service lasted nearly nine hours. Tsarukyans attorneys had filed a motion for the judges self-recusal, but it was denied. After the examination of the motion, Tsarukyans attorney Yerem Sargyan told reporters that, according to the prosecutors, the basis for arrest was the risk of Tsarukyan obstructing the course of the criminal case. The defense attorneys had submitted a crime report on Tsarukyan's case to the Prosecutor General and the Special Investigation Service. They stated that they had evidence that, as a result of the illegal interference of some officials, it had been "decided" that the Court of Cassation shall deny the appeals as soon as possible so that the court case could be assigned to the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan as soon as possible, be considered as speedily as possible, and Tsarukyan be remanded in custody. Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan had submitted a petition to the National Assembly to strip Tsarukyan of parliamentary immunity, and the petition was granted, but the Yerevan court of general jurisdiction had rejected the motion of an investigator of the National Security Service to arrest Tsarukyan. According to the decision of the first instance court, there was a substantiated suspicion in the case. Both sides had appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal. The attorneys had filed a few appeals, and one of them stated that the case had to be investigated by the Special Investigation Service. The Court of Appeal had rejected the attorneys appeal and partially granted the appeal of the Prosecutor Generals Office. Later, Tsarukyans attorneys and the Prosecutor Generals Office had filed appeals to the Court of Cassation, which didnt accept the appeals for proceedings. Tsarukyan has been charged with orchestrating vote buying. But he does not accept the charge and says it as illegal. A few former deputies of the National Assembly of Armenia are also accused under this case, including Abraham Manukyan, Vanik Asatryan and Sedrak Arustamyan. Lawmakers in nine states are proposing higher taxes on the wealthy to help fill growing budget holes from the coronavirus pandemic, and the list is likely to grow, according to a legislative group. After New Jersey passed its "millionaire's tax" raising the income tax rate for those making $1 million or more legislators in New York, California, Massachusetts, Maryland and other states renewed their efforts to hike taxes on high earners. While some of the efforts may fail, states with multibillion-dollar revenue shortfalls are increasingly looking to high earners to pay for more of the costs of the pandemic and make up for lost revenue. Democratic lawmakers argue that the wealthy who have largely escaped the economic hardship of the pandemic should pay more of the costs and help those who have suffered most. Republicans and some Democratic governors say tax hikes at the state level will only cause the wealthy to move to lower-tax states like Florida or Texas. Along with New York, lawmakers in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Vermont have proposed various forms of tax increases on high earners, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Those states account for more than a third of the U.S. population, and nearly half of the nation's millionaires, according to population data and wealth surveys. Jackson Brainerd, senior policy specialist with the National Conference of State Legislatures, said he expects the tax hike movement will grow at the state level. "As we move further into fiscal year 2021, I expect that more states will start looking to raise taxes to close budget shortfalls, especially if additional federal aid does not materialize," he said. In the wake of the last the financial crisis, eight states increased taxes on high earners between 2010 and 2012, he said. While some of those increases were temporary, others California's millionaire tax continue to be extended. The two biggest battlegrounds over the taxing the rich are Illinois and New York. In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire Democrat, has spent more than $50 million of his own money to support a ballot measure in November that would allow the state to impose a progressive income tax, which would tax higher earners at a higher rate, to replace the state's current flat income tax rate. Billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin has pledged $20 million of his own money to oppose the change, saying the state's problems should be fixed with spending cuts and better management. In New York, legislators are proposing higher income taxes and a "billionaire's tax" that would annually tax unrealized capital gains on those worth $1 billion or more. Many Democratic lawmakers are citing New Jersey's new rate which at 10.75% is now higher than New York's 8.82% as a reason to raise taxes. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo opposes any tax hikes on the wealthy, saying it would only cause them to flee to lower tax states. The top 1% of earners pay 40% of New York's income taxes and 47% of New York City's income taxes, according to E.J. McMahon, senior fellow at the Empire Center for Public Policy. New York's budget director, Robert Mujica, warned legislators last week that most New York millionaires and billionaires live and pay taxes in New York City, where the combined state and city tax rate is over 12.6% higher than New Jersey's new rate. "There is much discussion about the state and nation's economic condition and the options available to New York State," Mujica said in a statement. "Let's make sure the discussions are informed." BROOKLYN, N.Y., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Vincent Theurer, of Approved Oil, has always had a commitment to giving back to his community through charitable acts and donation. The CEO and President of the NYC energy provider has most recently donated $250,000 to Richmond University on Staten Island. His gift will support the Emergency Department Campaign, as well as other initiatives to continuously improve healthcare at the facility. Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) is a treatment and training institution with over 470 beds. The facility specializes in acute, medical and surgical care, emergency care, minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic surgery, gastroenterology, cardiology, pediatrics, podiatry, endocrinology, urology, oncology, orthopedics, neonatal intensive care, and maternal health. With a commitment to patient satisfaction, excellence, compassion, and respect, RUMC has earned The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval for quality and patient safety. For More Information on The Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC), please visit https://www.rumcsi.org/. SOURCE Vincent Theurer Related Links https://approvedoil.com/ UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Disturbance: Cedar Road At 4:25 a.m. Sept. 19, police were dispatched to a residence on a report of two females fighting in the front yard. One of the females was naked. Police arrived to find that the women, 27 ,of University Heights, and 24, of Cleveland, were intoxicated. Both had minor injuries. The two women were issued criminal summons for disorderly conduct. One was released for hospital treatment, and the other to a responsible party. Meanwhile, inside the home was a Cleveland Heights man, 27, who was found to be wanted on felony warrants for kidnapping. The man was arrested and turned over to Cleveland police. Theft: Cedar Road At 7:40 p.m. Sept. 14, loss prevention officers at Target, 14070 Cedar Road, reported that a woman unknown to them stole merchandise valued at $354.96 and left the store. The same woman is suspected of committing two other Target thefts since Sept. 11. Police are investigating. Weapons offense: Traymore Road At 12:40 p.m. Sept. 15, police were called to Traymore Road, north of Hillbrook Road, on a report of multiple shots having been fired. Witnesses saw a purple SUV flee northbound on Traymore, and a gray sedan that may have been chasing the SUV. Those witnesses told police that, before the shots were fired, they saw a group of males standing outside the vehicles talking. An argument then started and the shots were fired. Checking the area, police went on to detain two men and, after questioning, determined that the two were likely victims. Both were uninjured. The men told police that they had no information on the other males involved. The detective bureau is following up on the matter. Illegal use of credit cards: South Green Road At 7:35 p.m. Sept. 15, management of Los Arcos Restaurant, 2175 S. Green Road, reported that three people were inside the eatery who were possible suspects in a fraudulent transaction that occurred a few weeks earlier. The criminal activity resulted in the loss of $149.43 to the owner of a credit card. The trio is suspected of using a credit card belonging to a Cleveland woman, 24. The woman told police she wanted to file criminal charges. The detective bureau is investigating. Discharging firearms: Washington Boulevard At 2:05 p.m. Sept. 16, police were called to a home where a gun was accidentally fired. Police charged the resident, a man, 48, with discharging a firearm within city limits. Driving without a license: Washington Boulevard At 4:40 p.m. Sept. 17, an officer stopped a car due to a traffic offense and learned that the driver, a Bedford woman, 19, did not have a drivers license, and never had one. The woman was cited for driving without a license. The cars plates were seized and the car impounded. The vehicles registered owner will be cited for unlawful entrustment. OVI: Warrensville Center Road At 2:45 a.m. Sept. 18, police investigated a car crash at Warrensville Center and Silsby roads and found that the driver who caused the crash was intoxicated. That driver, a Waite Hill woman, 23, was cited for OVI, refusal to take a breath test with a prior OVI conviction on her record, failure to maintain assured clear distance ahead, and failure to control. OVI: Miramar Boulevard At 10:05 p.m. Sept. 18, police watched as a GMC Yukon failed to stop for red lights on Warrensville Center Road, swerved and was driven upon a sidewalk where it struck another car. The Yukon didnt stop after the crash. Police followed and stopped the Yukon on Miramar Boulevard. The driver, a University Heights man, 28, was found to be intoxicated and was arrested for OVI, as well as 11 additional traffic and licensing violations. Criminal damage: Raymont Boulevard At 7:15 p.m. Sept. 20, a woman, 70, reported that someone smashed out her homes basement windows. While on the street, police learned that another home had been burglarized. Police have identified two 7-year-old suspects. See more Sun Press news here. Former Sydney teacher Chris Dawson has won a temporary halt of his murder trial to allow the 'unrestrained and clamorous' public commentary about his wife's 'disappearance' to abate. The 72-year-old, who was arrested in December 2018, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Lynette Dawson at Bayview on or about January 8, 1982. He applied to the NSW Supreme Court for an order that his trial be permanently stayed for various reasons, including because of a serialised podcast broadcast on a range of internet platforms between May and December 2018. Chris Dawson (pictured in June 2019) has won a temporary halt of his murder trial In a summary of her decision released on Friday, Justice Elizabeth Fullerton ruled the trial should be temporarily stayed and is not to commence before June 1, 2021. She noted this was the first application for a permanent stay of a criminal trial in Australia based upon a serialised podcast and the media storm which it generated. She referred to the adverse publicity in the case, or more accurately 'the unrestrained and uncensored public commentary' about Lynette Dawson's suspected murder. Undoubtedly, it was the 'most egregious' example of media interference with a criminal trial process which this court has had to consider in deciding whether to take the extraordinary step of permanently staying a criminal prosecution, the summary said. The Crown alleges Lynette Dawson was murdered some time after she was last seen at the Warriewood child care centre on the afternoon of January 8 and after she spoke to her mother on the phone that evening. In accounts he gave to various people after January 9, including to investigating police in May 1991, Dawson said he spoke to his wife several times by telephone after last seeing her on the morning of January 9. Dawson is pictured with his wife Lynette (right), who disappeared nearly 40 years ago When contact with her ceased, he said he ultimately accepted she had decided to leave him and conceal her whereabouts from him and her friends and family. The Crown also accepted the obligation of discounting any reasonable possibility that a woman seen by a number of people in various NSW locations after January 8 they believed to be Lynette Dawson was in fact her. Dawson contended his trial would be 'irredeemably unfair ' because of the nature and extent of public commentary across a range of electronic media and social media platforms concerning Lynette Dawson's 'disappearance' and her suspected murder. 'Particular focus and considerable criticism was directed at the format, style and content of a serialised podcast produced and presented by an investigative journalist employed by a national newspaper,' the judge said. Dawson, who was arrested in December 2018, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Lynette (pictured) She said the popularity of the new genre so-called 'true crime' podcast, which provides a new platform for the investigative journalist to attract a wide and diverse listening audience, highlighted the need for both the journalist and the broadcaster to apply restraint. That was if the new medium is 'to coexist with the fundamental right of a person accused of a serious crime to be tried in a court of law, not in a court of public opinion'. The judge accepted that any further delay in starting the trial intensifies the risk of memories fading or, worse still, witnesses dying. However, given the extent of the adverse publicity in this case, she ruled that the trial should be temporarily stayed to allow the unrestrained and clamorous public commentary about Ms Dawson's 'disappearance' to abate with a view to ensuring his fundamental right to a fair trial.. HARVEY, La. The president of a historically Black college has asked a Louisiana school superintendent to revoke the punishment of a fourth grader who was suspended from school because his teacher saw a BB gun in his room during a virtual lesson. Dillard University President Walter Kimbrough urged Jefferson Parish Superintendent James Gray to reconsider the punishment of Woodmere Elementary student Ka Mauri Harrison, who was suspended for six days and almost expelled, news outlets reported. A school behavior report said Ka Mauri, who is Black, was taking a test in his virtual class Sept. 11 when his brother walked into the room and tripped over a BB gun that was lying on the floor. The brothers share a room. The report said Ka Mauri left his seat, out of view of the teacher, and returned with "what appeared to be a full-sized rifle in his possession." The teacher tried to talk to Ka Mauri, but his computer was muted and he was subsequently kicked out of the class, the report said. Kimbrough said that Ka Mauri's punishment exceeded the offense and that this type of disciplinary action may harm Ka Mauri in the future. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said he has launched an investigation into the situation, citing possible infringement of the child's constitutional rights. "I am alarmed by what appears to not only be multiple violations of both the State and Federal Constitutions, but also blatant government overreach by the school system," Landry said in a news release. "I have begun investigating this matter and plan to take action in defense of this young man and his family and all families who could suffer the same invasion of their homes and constitutional rights." "For anyone to conclude that a student's home is now school property because of connectivity through video conferencing is absurd," Landry. said. "It is ludicrous for this All-American kid to be punished for taking responsible actions just as it is for his parents to be accused of neglect." Kimbrough wrote a letter to Gray expressing his understanding of the difficulties schools are facing during the pandemic. However, he wondered whether the school system had adequate policies for situations like Ka Mauri's. School Board member Simeon Dickerson seconded that, saying the school should have backed off once they realized it was a BB gun. Both men urged Gray to hold another disciplinary hearing, remove the suspension from Ka Mauri's record, update the system's policies and issue a public apology. Gray would not comment on Kimbrough's letter. A school system spokesperson said nothing has changed regarding Ka Marui's suspension. Other school board members also would not comment. "You have this overcriminalization of Black boys," Kimbrough said. "As the father of an 11-year-old boy, I want my son to be viewed through a lens of innocence if he makes a mistake, and not have to worry about him being suspended or expelled, or because this is America today, possibly killed." Experts say parents should monitor virtual learning Here are tips from Florida International Universitys Center for Children and Families. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Southwest monsoon has brought good news for Maharashtra with 33 of 35 districts either receiving normal or excess rainfall till September 23. With rainfall in ample quantity, most big and medium dams in Maharashtra are also full and the agriculture department also expects bumper crop this year. As of Thursday, cumulative water stock in all the dams in Maharashtra stood at 83.17%. During the same day last year, the dam stock was 72.46%. However, in parts of Marathwada and Vidarbha, heavy rainfall in the past one week, has also damaged the crops. According to India Meteorological Departments (IMD) seasonal map for Maharashtra, only two districts from Vidarbha have received deficient rainfall (lesser than 20% to 59% of normal). The two districts are Akola and Yavatmal where rainfall deficiency has been 26 and 23 per cent respectively. The 16 districts which have received normal rainfall are from Vidarbha and parts of Konkan. The 17 districts which have received more than normal rainfall are Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Sangli, Pune, Thane, Solapur, Osmanabad, Latur, Beed, Jalna, Jalgaon, Dhule and Nashik. According to Anupam Kashyapi, head, India Meteorological Department, The state has had good rainfall so far even as the return journey of monsoon will take some time. In Maharashtra, monsoon is expected to withdraw in the second or third week of October. The surplus rains over Maharashtra is a good sign as there will be no scarcity of water in the drought prone areas. An FBI agent who participated in the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn told the Justice Department that the initial prosecution of Flynn seemed to be based on a desire to get Trump, according to a document filed by the DOJ on Friday. The Justice Department filed as part of the ongoing Flynn case the FBI 302, or interview summary, of a September 17 interview of agent William Barnett conducted by Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Jeffrey Jensen. Attorney General William Barr had asked Jensen to go over the case against Flynn, and Jensen has since joined U.S. Attorney John Durham in a probe of the origins of the Russia investigation. Barnett told Jensen he thought the case against Flynn, who was investigated over alleged ties to Russian operatives, was opaque and operated with little detail concerning specific evidence of criminal events. Barnett further stated that he was still unsure of the basis of the investigation concerning Russia and the Trump campaign working together, without a specific criminal allegation, after working for six weeks on the Flynn investigation. Flynn was pleaded guilty in 2017 to one count of lying to federal investigators. However, Flynn reversed his plea in early 2020, and in May the Justice Department decided to drop its case against the former adviser. Barnett believed Flynn lied in his interview to save his job, as that was the most plausible explanation and there was no evidence to contradict it, the FBI 302 reads. Barnett believed the prosecution of Flynn by Muellers office was used as a means to get Trump.' More from National Review The Syrian opposition has been split by the recent appointment of independent figures, with accusations that some are working with Russia directions writes Zaman Al-Wasl. A well-informed source told Zaman Al-Wasl that the Syrian oppositions platforms, Cairo and Moscow, and the National Coordination Committee are seeking to disrupt the work of the High Negotiations Committee, under the direction of Saudi Arabia and Russia. Following the election of eight new independent opposition figures in 2019, whom former Chairman Nasr al-Hariri has rejected, disputes erupted within the Committee, which led to the suspension of its meetings for several months, and which may lead the Geneva negotiations to completely fall through. The source, who is connected to the High Negotiations Committee and the Constitutional Committee, revealed that current president of the committee, Anas al-Abdeh, submitted a consensual proposal to solve the problem of the eight elected independents, which was rejected by the Cairo and Moscow platforms and the Coordination Committee. The proposal included two points: first, introducing four independents, and raising the voting threshold from a 50-plus-one majority to 60 percent. This will mean that decisions will not be monopolized by one group over the others, which was a point of contention among the different opposition organizations. According to the source, the collation between the militant factions and independent members usually holds the majority of votes. Second, introducing four recently elected independents while retaining four of the old independents as a compromise in order to restore the work of the Committee and its meetings again. Our source confirmed that Moscow, Cairo, and the Coordination Committee rejected the proposal without discussion or explanation, instead submitting misleading proposals that alternated between keeping two of the old independents and adding six of the newly elected, and also keeping three and replacing five. According to the source, the three platforms insistence on suspending the Committees work for three months and refusing to attend any meetings, while simultaneously sending representatives to Geneva, raises questions about the real reason behind this obstruction, which discredits Geneva as an international point of reference, and realizes Russias desire to move the Syrian-Syrian dialogue and its entire political process away from Geneva, both geographically and politically. In addition, recent leaks circulated by international media revealed that it was Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman who asked Vladimir Putin to intervene in Syria, making it evident that Saudi Arabia works for Assads interests. 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 terrorist organization designation would make it illegal to provide support to the Houthis, ban members from traveling to the United States and freeze the groups financial assets. Those actions would have a largely symbolic effect because of the rebels already isolated status but could make it more difficult for aid organizations to provide relief in the country. The kid tech company co-founded by the Irish rap-loving tech entrepreneur Dylan Collins has been sold to Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite. No acquisition figure was announced for Superawesome, which raised 14m in January and has raised 32m since it was founded. The London-based company recorded almost 50m in revenue in 2019 and was on track for high revenue growth in 2020, according to Mr Collins earlier this year. It has been previously valued at close to 100m. Read More Through its technology for regulatory compliance with online advertising and marketing to kids, it has attracted big clients that include Activision, Hasbro, Mattel, Lego, Nintendo and the Cartoon Network. Mr Collins has a long list of successful tech startups behind him. The Tipperary-born businessman sold the gaming startup Demonware to industry giant Activision in 2007. A social gaming network he founded, Jolt Online, was sold to Gamestop in 2009. The internet was never designed for kids so we started SuperAwesome to make it as easy as possible to enable safe, privacy-driven digital experiences for children everywhere, said Mr Collins. Partnering with Epic Games gives us the opportunity to deliver that promise on a scale which simply wouldnt have been possible on our own. Were proud and excited to be working together to make the internet safer for kids. The acquisition of SuperAwesome comes at a pivotal time for Epic, which is currently taking legal action against Apple and Google over the percentage it pays the tech giants through app store sales. Fortnite has been kicked out of both the App Store and Googles Play Store because of the dispute. More kids interact online than ever before and now is the time to double down on their safety, said Epic Gamess founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney. SuperAwesome is the company developers want to work with to make better online content for kids. We share the belief that digital experiences are better when you go the extra mile to respect privacy and were thrilled to invest in this future alongside the talented SuperAwesome team. TRS working president KT Rama Rao has commenced exercise to gear up the party cadres for the ensuing elections to Hyderabad, Warangal and Khammam municipal corporation by holding a teleconference with the graduate MLC election in-charges of erstwhile Khammam, Warangal, and Nalgonda districts on Thursday. Slamming the opposition parties stating that they have no agenda to fight against the TRS party in the upcoming election, he asked MLC election in-charges for the victory of the TRS party in the upcoming elections. He exuded confidence that the party will again record a big win in the upcoming MLC elections. He told the in-charges to give top priority to the voter registrations which will begin on October 1 and make the voter registration program a huge success. Giving directions to the party men, the KTR stated that TRS has won all the elections in the state, from Panchayat to Assembly elections.He added that the party has registered a grand victory in municipal and ZPTC elections. KTR highlighted that the TRS party under the leadership of CM KCR has introduced various welfare and development schemes in the state. He also highlighted the new revenue act, municipal act, and stated that their benefits are reaching every citizen in the state. He mentioned that the TRS Government has eradicated the 60-year-old fluorosis problem in just six years. He said today there are no fluoride victims in the state and it is the achievement of the TRS party. The Working President stated that the TRS government took the development activities to every corner of the state. KTR asked the party men to highlight the welfare schemes introduced for the benefit of youth and students. Under various recruitment programs, the government has filled one lakh vacancies in the State. In the private sector, the government has attracted about two lakh crore investments, creating 15 lakh employment opportunities, he added. Rama Rao pointed out that the agriculture sector in Khammam-Warangal-Nalgonda has recorded a major boost with the irrigation projects providing sufficient water. Reminding that the TRS government has already developed Mega Textile Park in Warangal, KTR said that attempts are on to inaugurate the Khammam IT Tower in October and also to operationalize Buggapadu Food Processing Park and setting up of various other food processing parks. He asked all the public representatives, including Ministers, MLAs, MLCs to register their vote along with their families in their respective districts on October 1. He asked the public representatives to start voter registrations from their homes. State's innovative program can serve as a national model to ease the devastating impact of future pandemics like COVID-19 on frail nursing home residents A paper just published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that adherence to infection control processes, especially proper wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) and cohorting strategies, such as grouping residents based on their risk of infection or whether they tested positive for COVID-19, was significantly associated with declines in weekly infection and mortality rates. Lewis A. Lipsitz, M.D., Director of the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research and Chief Academic Officer at Hebrew SeniorLife, was the lead author on the report, which analyzed the process and outcome of Massachusetts' novel state-wide COVID-19 infection control program developed to stem the rate of infection among vulnerable nursing home populations. In April 2020, Massachusetts nursing homes became a hotspot for COVID-19 infections and associated deaths. In response, Governor Charles Baker allocated $130 million in additional nursing home funding for two months. Funding was contingent on compliance with a new set of care criteria, which included mandatory testing of all residents and staff, and a 28-point infection control check-list. The 28 items included: six core (must-pass) competencies related to cohorting of COVID-19 cases; closing of congregate spaces; training and demonstrated proficiency in the donning and removal of PPE; proper wearing of PPE; the presence of appropriate infection control policies; and the ability of staff to recognize and respond to the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 infection. Within two days of the Governor's announcement, Hebrew SeniorLife and the Massachusetts Senior Care Association collaborated to rapidly organize a Central Command Committee and five teams responsible for: infection control consultation and training; PPE procurement; and staffing, testing, and data management. Eighty nursing homes with previous infection control deficiencies, and 43 additional facilities that failed an initial State Executive Office of Health and Human Services audit, were deemed "special focus" for on-site and virtual consultations, and all Massachusetts facilities were offered weekly webinars and answers to questions regarding infection control procedures. The facilities were also informed by the Massachusetts Senior Care Association of available resources for the acquisition of PPE and back-up staff, and the Massachusetts National Guard was mobilized to provide universal testing. Review and analysis of data collected from the program showed both resident and staff infection rates in special focus facilities rapidly declined to the same low level in both groups after facilities put recommended infection control interventions in place. For example, special focus resident infection rates declined from 10 percent (May 17) to approximately 0 percent (July 5). "Massachusetts' innovative program was unprecedented in this country," said Dr. Lipsitz. "It helped long-term care providers increase their knowledge of, and access to, best infection control practices and reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread for both residents and staff." Lou Woolf, President and CEO of Hebrew SeniorLife said, "We hope to see this intervention replicated in other states, appropriately funded, and sustained in all nursing homes, so that future waves of COVID-19, and other pandemics, can be prevented or mitigated." "This study shows the importance of prioritizing surveillance testing, funding for wages, and PPE for nursing homes so that we can protect both our staff and our residents," said Tara Gregorio, President of the Massachusetts Senior Care Association. "Until a vaccine is approved and available widely, these remain our best defenses against COVID-19." ### Co-authors on the study include Alyssa Dufour, Ph.D., and Laurie Herndon, G.N.P., from the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Alida M. Lujan, M.B.A., M.P.A., from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School, Gary Abrahams and Helen Magliozzi from the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, and Mohammad Dar, M.D., from Massachusetts Medicaid (MassHealth). About the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research Scientists at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute seek to transform the human experience of aging by conducting research that will ensure a life of health, dignity, and productivity into advanced age. The Marcus Institute carries out rigorous studies that discover the mechanisms of age-related disease and disability; lead to the prevention, treatment, and cure of disease; advance the standard of care for older people; and inform public decision-making. About Hebrew SeniorLife Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a national senior services leader uniquely dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. Based in Boston, the nonprofit organization has provided communities and health care for seniors, research into aging, and education for geriatric care providers since 1903. For more information about Hebrew SeniorLife, visit http://www.hebrewseniorlife.org and our blog, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. About MSCA The Massachusetts Senior Care Association represents a diverse set of organizations that deliver a broad spectrum of services to meet the needs of older adults and people with disabilities. Its members include more than 400 nursing and rehabilitation facilities, assisted living residences, residential care facilities, and continuing care retirement communities. Forming a crucial link in the continuum of care, Mass. Senior Care facilities provide housing, health care, and support services to more than 100,000 people a year; employ more than 50,000 staff members; and contribute more than $3.5 billion annually to the Massachusetts economy. Media Contacts: Margaret Bonilla for Hebrew SeniorLife 617-363-8267 margaretbonilla@hsl.harvard.edu Kate Kahn for the Massachusetts Senior Care Association 617-513-8849 kahn@graymediagroup.com DeWitt, N.Y. The last years of ShoppingTown Mall were marred by constant roof leaks and other maintenance nightmares through the neglect of its deadbeat owner, one longtime tenant said. The place should be condemned, said Anthony Iglesias, who has operated the Syracuse Martial Arts Academy in the DeWitt shopping mall for 10 years. Some 105 indigenous communities settled on the banks of the mighty Coca and Napo Rivers are still feeling the ravages of a major oil spill that occurred in early April, when the country's two main oil pipelines broke upstream as a result of a landslide in the mountains that destroyed both pipes. Indigenous organisations in the Amazon estimate that some 16,000 barrels of crude reached the river waters, which also forced the closure of one of the water intakes for the city of Coca, home to 41,000 inhabitants and 169 kilometres (105 miles) south east of the capital Quito. According to official data, on April 6 the Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline pumped around 340,000 barrels of oil that day, while the other pipeline transported about 173,000 barrels of heavy crude oil. The following day both pipelines were destroyed, dumping thousands of barrels into the river and surrounding communities. Villagers complain of peeling skin and a burning sensation, especially between their fingers and toes. Locals complain that since the April spill, the fish have disappeared from the river. Families would fish in the river with nets to put food on the table, but now the fish have gone. The community planted bananas, cassava, and peanuts on nearby islands, but the spill wiped-out those plantations as well. The Alliance for Human Rights requested a protection order from the courts in favour of the affected indigenous communities, but the justice system rejected the judicial appeal. The Associated Press attempted to contact Ecuadorian authorities with questions on the case, but they have not replied. Oil is Ecuador's main export product, producing around 535,000 barrels per day, including the production of private companies. TULSA, Okla., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A new bombshell book released by Yorkshire Publishing exposes Oklahoma racial injustice a broken criminal justice system, corrupt cops, and overbearing prosecutors who persist in sending marginalized citizens to prison until there's hardly room to breathe especially women. Carol L. Mersch, an Oklahoma author and business entrepreneur (www.carolmersch.com), spent the past six years following the story of a young African American woman thrown into the center of a media frenzy and prosecutorial intimidation with no way out. The poignant, gut-wrenching story of how a young black girl-through frenzied public unrelenting media-was wrongly convicted of a crime with little physical evidence tying her to the heinous act. And an inside look at the lives of the replaceable and totally forgettable people we lock up in state-sponsored concrete cages-only to be let out after years of denigration to become yet even more forgettable. Author Carol Mersch followed the Oklahoma case of 23-year old Miashah Moses who was accused of 2nd-degree murder for leaving her two small nieces in her apartment for 8 minutes to empty the trash. While she was gone, the stove in the low-rent apartment erupted in flames. Whether it was a criminal act or an accident became the subject of controversy in a case fraught with racial undertones. "Guilty When Black" is the poignant, gut-wrenching story of Miashah Moses, 23,who, through unrelenting media attention and a rush to judgment is charged with second-degree murder in the fiery deaths of her two small nieces, Noni, age four, and Nylah, 18 months. She had prepared lunch for them and left for eight minutes to empty the trash when the stove caught fire, a not uncommon occurrence at the low-rent apartment complex, according to electrical contractors. Within 24 hours Miashah is charged with two counts of second-degree murder by Tulsa District Attorney Tim Harris who accused her of having a "depraved mind" and "malicious intent" when she left the children alone to die a horrific death. The book's four-part story, "Guilty When Black," offers a rare glimpse into the unique challenges faced by minority and marginalized women in Oklahoma, a state with the highest rate of female incarceration in the nation according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Miashah's journey down the twisted road of injustice is intertwined with vivid stories of five incarcerated women, the fall of one judge and rise of another, and the landmark exoneration of three black men and others wrongfully sentenced for crimes they did not commit. The non-fiction book is prefaced with a gripping account of the Tulsa 1921 Race Massacre, the largest slaughter of African Americans in U.S. history. The city's affluent Greenwood district, known as the "Black Wall Street," was left burned to the ground. An estimated 300 Greenwood men, women and children died in the assault. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRIGiHiPWCw One hundred years later, the embers of that event still burn silently through the ranks of law enforcement and the halls of justice in Oklahoma. "The Watchmen," a sci-fi modern-day version of the event garnered 11 Emmy awards this year for the HBO series. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-07-28/emmys-2020-nominations-watchmen-hbo. Meanwhile, "the Oklahoma prosecutorial grinder continues to dump hundreds of misguided women into the machinery of the state's criminal justice system to be ground like sausage into emotional and financial wrecks," Mersch says The CBS 60 Minutes segment "Failure to Protect" was an "eye-opening report on the problem in this state," she added. "But it hardly scratches the surface of the inequities of justice in our society, in Oklahoma and beyond, in an age where Black lives, and all lives, should matter." Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and BooksaMillion.com. NOTE TO EDITORS: Related photographs of Moses and the author can be accessed at www.guiltywhenblack.com For Additional Information or Interviews: Samantha Ryan, Director of Publishing, Yorkshire Publishing, Tulsa, 918- 394-2665, [email protected] Chrisandria Moses, Miashah Moses' mother, Tulsa, 918-978-4937. Keahmiee Moses, Miashah's sister and mother of Noni and Nylah, Tulsa. 918-978-2567. Famous Tankersley, general contractor at Miashah's apartment complex, Tulsa, 918-576-4813. See media story: https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/trial-date-set-for-childrens-aunt-in-fatal-london-square-apartment-fire-case/article_8210ae2a-73d2-5de7-a704-abb3bcded450.html SOURCE Yorkshire Publishing This time he focuses on the experience of Drew Ellis, a Black scholarship student who lives in a small apartment with his grandmother and must take two buses to get to school while his friend Jordan Banks (star of the first book) gets a ride with his father on the first day and their wealthy white friend Liam is driven by a chauffeur. While "Class Act" focuses more on Drew, Jordan Banks still offers commentary in the form of his original cartoon panels, including one in which he observes that he is treated much differently than Drew by the general public because of his lighter skin and small stature. In "Class Act," the clueless principal forces Drew to host a group of students from an urban sister school on a tour of Riverdale, a painful exercise in which the visitors witness a wealth of resources they will never have access to. Other incidents with resonance in today's racial climate include the school bully, Andy, pointing at Drew during a school football game: "Look, he's taking a knee" (when in reality, "No, he's just tying his shoe.") And when Jordan's father is driving Drew and Jordan to Liam's parents' mansion, he has to suffer through a traffic stop with a clueless white officer who jokes around, apparently unaware how a traffic stop can go wrong. The controversy surrounding a trespasser's recent attempt to enter Sofia Vergara's family home was brushed aside on Thursday as the actress took to Instagram. Apparently keen to focus on happier times, Sofia shared a throwback video that was filmed as she relaxed in her outdoor pool over the summer. The Modern Family star, 48, was shot wearing a white swimsuit as she made a rather ungraceful attempt at straddling a large inflatable. Happier times: The controversy surrounding a trespasser's recent attempt to enter Sofia Vergara's family home was brushed aside on Thursday as the actress took to Instagram After attempting to climb onto the bull shaped pool accessory, Sofia promptly lost her balance and slipped headfirst into the water. Determined to master the inflatable, she made another equally unsuccessful attempt that resulted in her floundering beneath the bull and its circular surrounding, before finally admitting defeat. The post comes after Sofia and husband Joe Manganiello's gated community was infiltrated by a stranger claiming to know her son Manolo, TMZ reports. Here we go: The Modern Family actress shared a throwback video that was filmed as she relaxed in her outdoor pool over the summer Awkward: Sofia was shot wearing a white swimsuit as she made a rather ungraceful attempt at straddling a large inflatable The couple reportedly fell victim when the suspect broke into their gated community but was infiltrated by security. When security in the exclusive area suspected the trespasser, he reportedly claimed he knew Sofia's son, 28, leading to suspicions and an eventual police call. Law insiders told the site that Sofia and Joe were faced with the drama when the man made his way into the community at noon last week. There she goes: After attempting to climb onto the bull shaped pool accessory, Sofia promptly lost her balance and slipped headfirst into the water Good sport: Fortunately the actress was able to see the funny side, despite getting a soaking When he was approached by security, who were suspicious of his behaviour, he is said to have told his story about Monolo. Security called for support from the police and after he refuses to leave quietly, he was arrested and charged with trespassing. News of the break in comes after the Colombian-born actress joined America's Got Talent as a new judge following the conclusion of her hugely successful ABC sitcom Modern Family after 11 seasons. It was her first high profile gig after Modern Family and she joined Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel and returning judge Heidi Klum on the panel. Meanwhile, the couple will celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary later this year. Time to quit: Determined to master the inflatable, she made another equally unsuccessful attempt that resulted in her floundering beneath the bull and its circular surrounding live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Oil marketing company Bharat Petroleum Corporation's (BPCL) share price slipped 3 percent intraday on September 25 after a report indicated that government's stake sale of the company may get delayed. The efforts to privatise refiner BPCL could spill over into the next fiscal year, according to a government document and sources, hurting New Delhi's efforts to rein in a ballooning fiscal deficit, said Reuters. With India's economy contracting by a record 23.9 percent in the June quarter due to COVID-19, a delayed sale of BPCL could hinder the government's ability to generate funds for stimulus efforts aimed at restoring growth, it added. New Delhi's plan to sell its stake in BPCL was first announced in November 2019, and is part of a broader program to spin-off or sell stakes in dozens of state-owned companies. Also Read - BPCL sale may be delayed to next fiscal year, worsening federal deficit woes: Sources The sale has been targeted for completion in the current fiscal year by March-end, but the deadline for initial expressions of interest was pushed by two months due to pandemic-related movement restrictions that have prevented potential buyers from inspecting the facility. At 12:28 hrs, Bharat Petroleum Corporation was quoting at Rs 371.35, down Rs 5.90, or 1.56 percent on the BSE. The share touched a 52-week high Rs 549.70 and a 52-week low Rs 252.00 on 21 November 2019 and 24 March 2020, respectively. Currently, it is trading 32.44 percent below its 52-week high and 47.36 percent above its 52-week low. (With inputs from Reuters) (Alliance News) - Keras Resources PLC on Friday highlighted progress during its management trip to Togo to discuss a path to starting production at the Nayega manganese project, in which the company holds 85% interest. The mineral resource company said Chief Executive Russell Lamming met with Togolese Prime Minister Komi Selom Klassou and Minister of Mines & Energy Marc Ably-Bidamon to discuss the issuance of an exploitation permit. Chief Operating Officer Graham Stacey is on-site ensuring that the bulk-sample plant - with installed capacity to produce 6,500 tonnes of beneficiated manganese per month - is production ready, Keras said. Stacey is siting water boreholes for the additional water required when the company commissions the new plant to expand production to 25,000 tonnes per month. Keras also said exploration activities are on-going at the Ogaro prospect, which is located 5 kilometres east-southeast of the Nayega deposit and 4 kilometres south of the previously explored T27 deposit. Exploration results will be released "in due course". "In order to maintain the momentum in Lome and at Nayega, the management has determined to remain in Togo for a further week beyond the planned return date," the company said. Shares in Keras Resources were trading 4.2% higher at 0.14 pence each on Friday morning in London. By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Foreigner tests positive for Covid-19 after leaving Vietnam A Sri Lankan man has tested positive for Covid-19 after he returned home from Vietnam. illustrative image The information was given by Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu, vice chairwoman of HCM Citys District 7 Peoples Committee at the citys meeting on Covid-19 prevention and control on Monday. Right after the 32-year-old man had the positive test result, Sri Lankas authorities informed Vietnam of the problem. The HCM City Centre for Disease Control has cooperated with District 7 to sterilise the area where the patient had been living for over the past 28 days. Local authorities have defined 15 people who had close contact with the man and all have tested negative for the virus. Among these people, 11 were those who came into contact with him at the New Hotel in District 7. They are being quarantined at the hotel, while the others are isolating themselves at their home. At the meeting, director of the municipal Department of Health Nguyen Tan Binh, said that the city has arranged 25 paid hotels which can serve a total of 2,529 people. Le Thanh Liem, vice chairman of the HCM City Peoples Committee said that the city has seen no new Covid-19 infections over the past 52 days. However, people should not ignore virus prevention as the pandemic remains complicated in many countries. A new statue that depicts the late pope St. John Paul II throwing a rock into red water has provoked debate in his native Poland and revived memories of a 1999 Italian sculpture that showed him crushed under a rock, to which the new work was intended as a counter-statement. The statue by Polish artist Jerzy Kalina, titled Poisoned Well, was inaugurated Thursday in front of Warsaws National Museum to mark 100 years since the much-loved pope's birth on May 18, 1920. Kalina, 76, said the installation in the museum's fountain relates to John Paul II's efforts in the 1980s to help free Poland from communism, which is symbolized by the red color the water has from a red fabric placed on the fountain's bottom. The artist, the creator of many works dealing with the Catholic faith and church, said he also wanted to send a warning against multiplying forms of red revolution and encourage the return to the clear well. He was apparently referring to the gradual disappearance of faith and religion in Poland. But some critics associated the art work with blood and violence. The sculpture also drew ridicule on social media, with some commenters comparing the life-sized likeness of the canonized pope toting a rock to a cartoon figure. The museum said the installation was Kalin's response to "La Nona Ora, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelans sculpture that showed the pope as feeble old man pinned to the ground by a huge meteorite. Cattelan's work, which was displayed in Warsaw in 2000, was seen as disrespectful and provoked a huge outcry. Kalina said at the inauguration ceremony for his installation that he had been angry with himself for not responding to Cattelan's provocation sooner. But now I have opposed Cattelan's pope, crushed under a huge boulder, a helpless pope, with a figure of a strong pope, a strongman, who lifts the boulder over his head and is ready to hurl it into the waters of the poisoned well of a symbolic red hue, Kalina said. Kalina also created a monument to the victims of the 2010 plane crash in Smolensk, Russia, that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other people. The 2018 black granite steps leading into the sky and symbolizing an airplane gangway were also at the center of heated controversy over their huge black form and location in Warsaw's prestigious downtown Pilsudski Square. Born as Karol Wojtyla in the southern Polish city of Wadowice, John Paul II served as pope from October 1978 until his death in April 2005. Critics say that during his papacy, the church failed to bring priests who sexually abused children to account. Recent documentaries in Poland describing stories of the victims have provoked a public debate and spurred the church into taking steps to protect children and to punish the perpetrators. County Louth is on the verge of Level 3 restrictions following a marked rise in COVID 19 cases in recent weeks, with the North Louth region of Carlingford recording exactly double the cases of Drogheda. The latest figures as we go to press show 35 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus in the north Dundalk region and 25 in the south Dundalk area. By comparison, Drogheda urban has 17 cases, the coastal areas of Clogherhead and Termonfeckin have 11 cases, and the Laytown/ Bettystown electoral area is showing 14 cases. There are fewer than five confirmed cases in Mid Louth. The national average rate is 52.8 cases per 100,000 people, which is the same rate as the centre of Drogheda. The rate in the Carlingford region is 136 per 100,000, and in Dundalk South is 77 cases per 100,000. As of midnight Saturday September 19th, nationally there were 396 confirmed cases of COVID-19.172 are men / 224 are women, and 70% are under 45 years of age Meanwhile, there have been calls for a dedicated COVID 19 testing centre for Drogheda, with local TDs raising the issue in the Dail, as well as organising an online petition. 'Drogheda is Ireland's largest town, yet we do not have a COVID-19 testing centre,' says Deputy Ged Nash. 'Since April, I have been calling on the Minister for Health and the HSE to set up a testing centre in our town. Cases are rising, and the people of Drogheda cannot wait any longer'. The closest testing centres to Drogheda are Ardee, Slane and Dundalk. 'The cases we are reporting were seeded in the last week,' says Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, 'This virus spreads from person to person. We now have a collective task across the country to break the chains of transmission and stop this virus from spreading further. Plan to see half the number of people this week that you saw last week. The full county-by-county breakdown can be viewed here https://covid19ireland-geohive.hub.arcgis.com/ Local authorities join forces to urge better habits The sharp increase in cases of COVID-19 in Co Louth has prompted the release of a joint statement on behalf of the Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, Cllr. Dolores Minogue, Chief Executive of Louth County Council, Joan Martin, Chief Superintendant of An Garda Siochana, Christy Mangan and Regional Chief Officer, Health Service Executive, Pat Bennett. They are reminding people that the increased number of COVID-19 cases - and the moving of Dublin to 'Level 3' restrictions - shows we need to redouble our efforts to minimise the spread of the virus, with the county dangerously close to having similar restrictions to Dublin put in place. 'If that happens, all of these simple pleasures will no longer be possible. Too many families have lost a loved one to this deadly virus,' says Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, Dolores Minogue. 'Businesses and the local economy will suffer more under tighter restrictions. The direction Louth takes is in all of our hands. We know that, if we all work together and follow the current guidelines, we can reverse the current trend and protect each other from the virus. They are asking every person in Louth to take positive action immediately, and change your current behaviours. This means: Meeting fewer people inside your home. Limiting the number of people you meet outside your home as much as possible. Avoiding crowds. Prioritising the people you need to see, keeping groups small, and seeing them regularly, rather than meeting lots of different people from various households. Concentrate on your core, small circle in the coming weeks. With those you do meet, be particularly attentive to safe practices - keep your distance, wear a face covering where appropriate, cough into a tissue and bin it, wash your hands. Victoria's new coronavirus cases are falling "a little faster" than expected, Premier Daniel Andrews has said, adding that he would be working "into the evening" to determine what steps out of lockdown will be taken on Sunday. More restrictions will be eased from Monday than originally outlined as the state's case numbers continued to drop "ahead of schedule". Premier Daniel Andrews on Saturday. Credit:Jason South However, Mr Andrews has warned restrictions will not be eased dramatically, again dampening expectations of a significant departure of the road map out of lockdown. "We are not throwing the doors open tomorrow," Mr Andrews said at a press conference dominated by questions about Jenny Mikakos' resignation. SHELTON All students in grades pre-K through 4 will be back in school on an early release schedule four days a week beginning Oct. 13. The Board of Education this week voted 8-1, with board member Amy Romano opposed, to implement the plan presented by interim Superintendent Beth Smith that would bring pre-K to fourth grade students back into school buildings Tuesday through Friday. Romanos objection was that the return to full in-person classes should be faster than Smith proposed. Nowhere do I see any changes for grades 5 to 12 on trying to increase instruction to better the education for those children, Romano said. I feel we need to increase instruction for everyone, not just K to 4. Under Smiths proposal, students in grades 5 to 12 would remain on their present hybrid schedule two days a week in school on early release schedules, two days a week on distance learning. Monday would remain a distance learning day for all district students. Smith said the plan will go forward as the numbers of COVID-positive individuals in the city remains low. To date, only two school community members, both associated with Elizabeth Shelton School, have tested positive, and no schools have needed to be closed since the Sept. 8 reopening. Romano called the plan a disservice to our students and parents and made a motion calling for students in kindergarten through eighth grade to attend in-school for four days, still under an early release schedule, beginning Oct. 5. Romano included in her motion that the office of teaching and learning look at the hybrid plan and see if modifications can be made to increase instruction time for the high school students and have a special meeting next week to hear about those changes. Board Chair Kathy Yolish then asked for a second to Romanos motion which was met with silence. With no second, Romanos motion died without a vote. The board then voted on the administrations plan, approving it with only Romanos dissent. Very sad was how Romano described the lack of a second to her motion, which prevented any discussion on her hopes for students returning to expanded in-school learning sooner rather than later. Smith said the reopen committee will continue examining the health metrics. She said the administration will offer an evaluation and any further changes in late October or early November. Romano said that the change in reason for in-school days on an early release schedule also has her concerned. We cant go on forever with half days, Romano said, so what are we doing about this? Smith said half days were first because of heat and then when the distance learning plan was adopted, half days were then because of that. As we continue now, half days are because of (the) distance learning plan to have teachers service those students on full distance learning and alternate days distance learning, Smith added. For students in grades 5 through 12, the hybrid model remains in place. Students with last names A through L will report to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students with last names M through Z will report to school Wednesdays and Fridays. The building principals will be placing children from the same household in the same classes or in the same daily rotation. Distance Learning will continue to take place on Mondays and days students are not in school, Smith said, and staff will still report to work Monday through Friday. Smith said the timing is right to bring the pre-K students back for four days because the districts health experts said the health metrics warrant additional students returning to school. The district will still be able to switch to different learning models as cases rise or fall, Smith said, and that some 1,400 Chromebooks now are available to students in grades 5 through 12 for 1-to-1 use of devices. The board and administrators continued to urge parents to monitor their childrens health at home before sending them to school. Smith said thermometers are available to parents from the school nurse. Free breakfast and lunch, regardless of whether students receive in-building or distance learning, will continue to be available until either Dec. 31 or the funding from CSDE is exhausted, whichever occurs first, according to Smith. Food is available for pick up in the Shelton High School bus loop from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday, with additional times offered from 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com On that fateful night, Kenneth Walker fired one shot, claiming that he thought the police were intruders. An attorney representing Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, said that the day a Kentucky grand jury brought no charges against the officers for killing her was almost as tough as the day itself. Frederick Moore III was referring to the night of March 13, when Taylor was shot to death after officers entered her apartment on a no-knock warrant. On that fateful night, Walker fired one shot, claiming that he thought intruders were breaking into the apartment. Shown is a makeshift memorial for Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, where a grand jury indicted one police officer involved in her shooting death with three counts of wanton endangerment. Kenneth Walker, Taylors boyfriend, is reportedly devastated. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) The bullet hit Detective Myles Cosgrove in the leg. Officers returned fire, pumping at least 20 bullets into the apartment, with six hitting Taylor, one of them fatally. Moore said that Walker is devastated that Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is wrongfully blaming his client for the killing. Read More: Breonna Taylors boyfriend Kenneth Walker sues over police raid Following the shooting, Walker was initially arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault; the charges were later dropped. In an interview on Thursday with NBC News, Moore said that his client maintains that Louisville Metropolitan Police did not identify themselves as they breached the apartment. Moore noted that out of nearly a dozen neighbors interviewed by The New York Times, only one said he heard police identify themselves a single time. Cameron also referenced this witness in his Wednesday news conference. Moore said that he and Walker remain resolved in our determination to find the truth. Read More: Color of Change will keep up the fight after Breonna Taylor receives no justice Cameron said that under Kentucky law, Cosgrove and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly were justified in shooting Taylor because Walker had fired at them first. Fired Detective Brett Hankison was charged with first-degree wanton endangerment after he fired 10 rounds into the apartment, several of which entered the home of a neighbor. Story continues Moore said that Cameron did not share all of the evidence with the public. Read More: ESPNs Jalen Rose calls for arrest in Breonna Taylor case during Eastern Conference finals Say what all the evidence shows, he said. Dont only say what helps your case. He presented an affirmative case to the grand jury. He stood up there yesterday and acted like a criminal defense lawyer. The release of relevant documents is a request that has been echoed by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who are encouraging the attorney general to publish his findings online. Camerons office said it would not do so because such an action could compromise the federal investigation into the case. Have you subscribed to theGrios Dear Culture podcast? Download our newest episodes now! The post Breonna Taylors boyfriend devastated he was blamed for her murder by Kentucky AG: lawyer appeared first on TheGrio. The Greta Thunberg Foundation has announced it will donate 150,000 euros to three charities working in Africa to support people on the frontline of the climate crisis. This comes as the Fridays for Future demonstrations get underway again in cities around the globe. Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg announced on Wednesday that the foundation set up under her name would split a 150,000 euro donation between three organisations currently working in Africa on environment-related issues. The recipients are the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the solar power-focused NGO Solar Sister, as well as advocacy group Oil Change International. "We are in a global emergency, which affects all of us. But everyone is not suffering its consequences equally," Thunberg said in a statement. "Africa is being disproportionately hit by the climate crisis, despite contributing to it among the least." The Greta Thunberg Foundation was set up in December 2019 and the donations were made possible after she was awarded the Portuguese Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity in July, worth one million euros. Part of the prize money has already been donated to the SOS Amazonia campaign and the Stop Ecocide Foundation. The 17-year-old's original school strike in Sweden in 2018 evolved into a worldwide movement with regular demonstrations around the globe, under the banner Fridays for Future with the next round of rallies to be held on 25 and 26 September. In France, the local branch, known as Youth for Climate has called for a range of actions on Friday, and marches on Saturday. A number of events have been organised around the country, including calls for civil disobedience. According to its website, the French movement has chosen to focus this years efforts on the local environment and spreading the climate crisis message. This includes promoting grassroots initiatives in sustainability and education, direct democracy with citizens assemblies, and the creation of biodiversity spaces in urban areas. "During this period of social, economic and health crisis, we tend to put environmental problems on the backburner," the movement says on its website. "Unfortunately, these wont wait and will simply get worse: fires, destruction of natural treasures, the melting of the icecaps, and species extinction the list goes on." A helicopter crash in the North Sea which left four people dead seven years ago has had a 'dreadful effect' on the survivors and the victims' families, an inquiry has heard. Two crew members and 12 passengers on the Super Puma L2 survived when it ditched on its approach to Sumburgh Airport in Shetland at 6.17pm on August 23, 2013. The accident claimed the lives of Sarah Darnley, 45, from Elgin, Moray; Gary McCrossan, 59, from Inverness; Duncan Munro, 46, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham; and George Allison, 57, from Winchester, Hampshire. Sheriff Principal Derek Pyle led the fatal accident inquiry (FAI), which began at the end of August and has been held virtually due to the pandemic. He closed proceedings today and his determination will be published in no more than four weeks. Mr Pyle said: 'It is of note we were originally looking at six weeks, then four weeks, and we have managed to do it in much less and that is a great credit to all of the legal teams of all the parties. A helicopter crash in the North Sea which left four people dead seven years ago has had a 'dreadful effect' on the survivors and the victims' families, an inquiry has heard. Pictured: The wreckage is recovered following the crash George Allison, 57, from Winchester, and Sarah Darnley, 45, from Elgin, lost their lives in the crash on August 23 'This was a dreadful accident and it's obvious from the evidence that we've heard and indeed from other bits and pieces I've been told about the inquiry today that this has had a dreadful effect on the survivors and on the families and friends of the people who died. 'Particularly at this time when we are focusing worldwide on all sorts of problems, it brings you up short really and makes you realise the importance of inquiries like this in order to find out what happened and ensure these accidents do not recur in the future. 'I extend my personal sympathies to all the victims' families and survivors for the effect this accident has had on them.' Martin Richardson QC, who led the inquiry for the Crown, admitted the seven-year wait for those affected by the accident was 'too long'. Dive Vessel Bibby Polaris, which was involved in the salvage of a Super Puma helicopter that plunged into the North Sea killing four oil workers, is pictured off the coast of Shetland in August 2013 Duncan Munro, from Bishop Auckland and Gary McCrossan, from Inverness, were also killed In his final submission, he said: 'The Crown does wish to apologise for the fact this investigation has taken the time it did. 'The Crown accepts seven years is a very, very long time for those who have been involved to wait for an inquiry to be held and that is particularly true for those who survived and the families of those who died.' Mr Richardson added the role of the inquiry was not to search for fault, saying the Crown takes no issue with that, but suggested Mr Pyle should express it if fault was found. Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro's attempt to access 800million worth of gold stored in the Bank of England's vaults has been heard by the Court of Appeal. The controversial leader wants to sell the assets but has been blocked on the grounds that his government is not recognised by the UK. Maduro - reelected in a controversial ballot in 2018 which most opposition parties boycotted - says the bullion can help cash-starved Venezuela fight coronavirus. Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro wants to sell 800m worth of gold stored in the Bank of England's vaults but has been blocked on grounds his government is not recognised by the UK But in a previous ruling, a High Court judge said the Bank could not lawfully release the gold to Maduro because the UK recognises his rival, Juan Guaido, as the country's leader. Guaido has asked the bank not to hand the assets over because, he argued, it would be used for corrupt purposes. But the High Court's ruling is being appealed by Maduro's laywers, who say the UK has given 'de facto' recognition to his government even though it officially recognises Guaido. The Banco Central de Venezuela also claims the case raises issues of international law, which forbids the interference by any country in the internal affairs of another. Sarosh Zaiwalla, its board solicitor, said it could also present 'a further threat to the international perception of English institutions as being free from political interference'. New Delhi, Sep 25 : With the poll panel announcing three-phased Assembly elections in Bihar, the battleines have been drawn in Bihar where the NDA led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is seeking to retain power. According to the IANS C-Voter Bihar opinion poll survey, 25.6 per cent of the respondents rated the performance of the Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party government as good, 25.2 per cent termed it as average, while 49.6 per cent assessed it as poor. A total of 27.6 per cent of the survey respondents rated Nitish Kumar as good, 27.2 per cent as average, and 45.3 per cent as poor. Nitish Kumar will complete 15 years in running the government in alliance with the BJP, save the 2015-17 period, when he was part of the 'Mahagatbandhan' with the RJD and the Congress. In the 2015 Assembly elections, the RJD emerged as the largest party by winning 80 seats in the 243-member house, while Nitish Kumar's JD-U won 71 seats, and the Congress 27. The BJP managed to win 53 seats, followed by two seats by the LJP and one seat by the Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular. Others won 10 seats. The BJP, despite winning only 53 seats, got the maximum vote share with 24 per cent, followed by the RJD with 18 per cent and JD-U 17 per cent. The Congress managed to get seven per cent vote share and the LJP got around 4.8 per cent. However, going by the results of the 2019 General Elections, the ruling alliance is comfortably placed. The sample size of the survey is 25,789 and the period of the survey is September 1 to September 25. The survey covers all 243 Assembly segments and the margin of error is +/- 3 per cent at state level and +/-5 per cent at regional level. Jewish representative Nancy Khedouri, second from left, and other Bahraini officials meet with foreign representatives, including U.S. Ambassador Justin Siberell, far left. (JTA) - Ebrahim Dahood Nonoo, the leader of Bahrain's tiny Jewish community, was among the Gulf country's approximately 50 Jews who thought peace with Israel would never arrive "in our lifetimes." "It just didn't seem possible," Nonoo told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency from Manama, the capital city where he lives with his wife. Tuesday's signing of the agreements called the Abraham Accords is expected to open up routes for collaboration, trade and travel between Bahrain and Israel, which had all been restricted. It will have a significant impact on Bahrain's Jews, many of whom have relative... WARSAW, Poland - The director of the Auschwitz Memorial appealed to Nigerias president on Friday to pardon a 13-year-old boy who was sentenced to 120 months of prison on blasphemy charges, even volunteering to serve part of the boys sentence. Piotr Cywinski wrote to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari about the case of Omar Farouq, who was recently convicted in a Sharia court in Kano State in northwest Nigeria after he was accused of using blasphemy in an argument with a friend. Cywinski said that as the director of the site that preserves the remains of the German Nazi extermination camp, where children were imprisoned and murdered, I cannot remain indifferent to this disgraceful sentence for humanity. Cywinski said that if the president couldnt give clemency, he would suggests that 120 adult volunteers from all over the world myself personally among them each serve a month in a Nigerian prison. Regardless of what he said, he cannot be treated as fully aware and responsible, given his age, Cywinski wrote. He should not be subjected to the loss of the entirety of his youth, be deprived of opportunities, and stigmatized physically, emotionally, and educationally for the rest of his life. The Auschwitz memorial site is located in southern Poland, which during World War II was under German occupation. The German forces killed 1.1 million people there. Most of the victims were Jewish, but others, including ethnic Poles, Soviet POWs and Roma, also lost their lives in large numbers there. Weve already talked about a number of these modified 935s as part of our Porsche Month coverage, but were not nearly done. As impressive as the Super GTP 935 or the Joest 935 are, they dont seem to come even close to the Kremer Racing variant we have here.Like all others of its kind, this one too started life as a factory 935, but was completely transformed by the German team. Except for the cars original engine and the regulation-required roof and windshield, almost everything else is different, from the full tubular chassis to the bodywork.Kremer called its 935 conversions Ks, and this one is part of the fourth generation of the family, if you will, which started with the K1 in 1976. Inspired by the Moby Dick 935, it had Porsches backing when it was made, with the carmaker supplying the team with the drawings, parts, and even the Moby Dick car itself to use as an inspiration.The engine, although the original one, was modified as well by getting fitted with enhanced air-to-air intercoolers and ducting, getting a 50 horsepower boost in total power.Part of a lineage that included just two chassis (this particular one being the first), the car was raced to a total of eight 1st place finishes and 13 podium finishes, in the hands of big names of motorsport like John Fitzpatrick, Bob Wollek, David Hobbs, Al Holbert, Derek Bell, and Preston Henn. Briefly, it even landed in possession of actor Nicholas Cage We uncovered this racing gem sitting on the lot of cars being sold by Porsche enthusiast Bruce Canepa . We are not being told what the asking price for this is. Tiger King star Howard Baskin reveals that he and wife Carole were forced to carry a pistol in their car following Joe Exotic's death threats. Harold, 70, appeared on Friday's Loose Women in place of his big cat activist wife, 59, who missed her interview last week due to a scheduling conflict. And while speaking to panelists Christine Lampard, Judi Love and Jane Moore, Howard explained the extreme lengths they went to in order to protect themselves as well as express his dismay over how his wife was portrayed on the Netflix show. Shocking: Tiger King star Howard Baskin reveals that he and wife Carole were forced to carry a pistol in their car following Joe Exotic's death threats Carole's nemesis Joe Exotic, 57, is serving a 22-year jail sentence for the murder-for-hire of Carole and charges of animal abuse. Following Joe's threats as well as the horrific abuse and threats made to them after the show was aired, Howard admitted that the couple were forced to arm themselves for their own protection. Asked whether they feared for their lives, he said: 'There has always been that issue dealing with these people. 'There were very serious threats from Joe trying to hire someone to kill Carole, so we ended up taking additional precautions, once the FBI told us about Joes efforts.' Missed: Harold, 70, appeared on Friday's Loose Women in place of his big cat activist wife, 59, who missed her interview last week due to a scheduling conflict He continued: 'We put on security around the house, we started carrying a pistol in our car, we would be watching to see if we were being followed.' 'Looking around at the cars around you and when you park looking to see if anyone pulling in next to you'. Meanwhile, the big cat lover hit out at the way his beloved wife was portrayed on Tiger King and noted that it concentrated on the accusations that Carole had murdered her late husband Don Lewis. He ranted: 'They made her out to be a home wrecker. She supposedly broke up a marriage and was a gold digger. They made her out like she wants to be a last one standing which is ridiculous because we've always said we want to put ourselves out of business. Extremes: While speaking to panelists Christine Lampard, Judi Love and Jane Moore, Howard explained the extreme lengths they went to in order to protect themselves as well as express his dismay over how his wife was portrayed on the Netflix show 'The whole business, the nonsense about whether she was involved in the disappearance of her husband, they just turned everything to point towards that so that people would believe that. It was just very difficult.' Elsewhere during the chat, Howard refused to discuss Joe's potential release from prison, other than to claim he deserved to be in jail for the execution of tigers. When asked whether he was concerned about Joe being released, he responded: 'I just dont want to talk about him being released from prison, he belongs in prison. He added: 'Forget the business about hiring someone to kill Carole. This is a man who walked up to five healthy tigers who trusted him and knew him, took a shotgun and blew their brains out. Threats: 'We put on security around the house, we started carrying a pistol in our car, we would be watching to see if we were being followed' 'If anyone doesnt think he belongs in jail for the rest of his life for that, they have my sympathy.' When Jane Moore pressed further and questioned him about Joe potentially getting a presidential pardon from Donald Trump, Howard was quick to shut the conversation down. He interjected: 'Could we move on to something else?' before earnestly repeating his request. Speaking out: Meanwhile, the big cat lover hit out at the way his beloved wife was portrayed on Tiger King and noted that it concentrated on the accusations that Carole had murdered her late husband Don Lewis Anger: When asked whether he was concerned about Joe being released, he responded: 'I just dont want to talk about him being released from prison, he belongs in prison' Judi Love then asked: 'Is that too distressing to talk about?', which was met with silence from Howard. Howard's appearance comes after Carole sent the Loose Women panel a pre-recorded clip on Thursday, a week after cancelling her interview on the ITV programme. The big-cat rights activist revealed to viewers that her husband Howard would be stepping in to discuss all things Tiger King via live link on Friday's edition of the show as she continues to train for Dancing With The Stars. In her video, the Big Cat Rescue CEO issued a warning to the panel as she claimed they'll be 'asking for a Baskin' if he doesn't return in one piece following his interview. She's finally arrived! Carole sent the Loose Women panel a pre-recorded clip on Thursday, a week after cancelling her interview on the ITV programme The media personality addressed her no-show earlier this month as she admitted she's been preoccupied with dance commitments on the US version of Strictly Come Dancing. The reality star said: 'I'm happy that my husband will be stepping in and speaking for me. He is such a wonderful person and you'll love him so much as I love him so much. 'In fact, when he's done I want him back girls... if you don't send him back, you're kind of asking for a Baskin!' 'Oooh, asking for a Baskin. What is a Baskin?', presenter Christine, 41, squealed, before comedian Judi, 40, joked: 'We don't want to find out, send him back quick time! Listen, I was obsessed with that show, there's too much juice!' Exciting times ahead: The big-cat rights activist, 59, revealed to viewers that her husband Howard will be stepping in to discuss all things Tiger King via live link on Friday's edition Uh oh: The reality star issued a warning to Jane Moore, Christine Lampard, Judi Love and Gloria Hunniford as she claimed they'll be 'asking for a Baskin' if he doesn't return in one piece Speaking out: The Big Cat Rescue CEO addressed her no-show as she admitted she's been preoccupied with dance commitments on the US version of Strictly Earlier this month, Loose Women viewers were left bitterly disappointed when Baskin cancelled her appearance on the show. Despite being tipped to chat to the panel, the big cat enthusiast cancelled at the last minute, in a move that came hours after her late husband Don Lewis's family funded an advertisement during her Dancing With The Stars debut. She caused shockwaves when she signed up to Dancing With The Stars and keen to capitalise on her appearance, Don's relatives opted to take out an advert seeking information on his alleged murder. Outrage: Earlier this month, Loose Women viewers were left bitterly disappointed when Baskin cancelled her appearance on the show After Tiger King hit Netflix earlier this year, many viewers were intrigued by rumours that she had killed Don and fed him to the big cats in her sanctuary. Despite incessant denials, the Lewis family used her DWTS debut to air a 50-second clip calling for information about his 1997 disappearance in 1997 and offered a $100,000 reward is being offered for any leads. Following the advert's release, Carole said: 'I haven't seen it, but I'm not surprised. Spending time worrying about what Im doing is probably not a really good use of your time', before she insisted the move was a publicity stunt. Oh no: The big cat enthusiast cancelled at the last minute, in a move that came hours after her late husband's family funded an advertisement during her Dancing With The Stars debut The scandal surrounding the advert led to debate that her reason for cancelling on Loose Women was due to the controversy. Andrea McLean said on the show: 'Carole has denied any involvement in husband's disappearance, he has formally been declared dead, she is now remarried.' As well as the advert hypothesis, other angry viewers alleged that the producers had merely been drawing in viewers and claimed the incident was 'a s**t show'. After the show aired, the panellists reached out to Carole with a video saying they were always there for her if she needs be. Carole reportedly said: 'I am so sorry, I screwed up my ever changing schedule, phone of hook with fan support/interviews... I have hours where Dancing With The Stars wants me. That has to be my priority.' Viewers soon flooded Twitter, writing: 'Come on @loosewomen Carol Baskin mugged you off big time !! Couldn't even be bothered to apologise to you... Not convinced: Viewers weren't happy 'Don't blame the time difference (she managed to 'commit' knowing this), don't blame an advert we probably weren't likely to have seen, have some manner... 'Sorry but how the f**k has #LooseWomen been allowed to advertise Carol Baskin appearing on their show all morning knowing that wasnt going to happen... 'What a s**t show... Wtf #loosewomen so I've just sat though all that waiting for Carol Baskin and the drama and there isn't again... Outrage: Fan flooded social media to comment on the debacle 'I only turned into this gargabe for the Carole Baskin interview, this show should be axed... Carole Baskin thinks she is too good for #LooseWomen... 'You dont have a lot of time with her because you wasted time on that non interview with Carole Baskin #LooseWomen... Why was the whole Carole Baskin interview made such a big deal of there?! Struggling for content maybe? #LooseWomen... 'Carole Baskin has apparently promised to give #LooseWomen her first UK exclusive interview? First the exclusive Coronavirus whistleblower and now this.' [sic] 'His big interview with Carol Baskin theyve been banging on about for days and it never happened. Why not say that in the first place? Desperate for viewers much?!' WASHINGTON, Sept. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A broad array of consumer, medical, parents, and environmental groups are lauding a new safety communication from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that recommends against use of dental amalgam in children and many women. Dental amalgam is a filling material that is approximately 50% mercury a known neurotoxin and major pollutant. Today, FDA recommended that mercury-free fillings, such as composite and glass ionomers, be used in people at higher risk for adverse health effects from mercury exposure, including pregnant women and their developing babies, women planning to become pregnant, nursing women and their infants, children (especially those under age six), individuals with neurological or impaired kidney function, and people with sensitivity to mercury or other components of amalgam. "This is the beginning of the end of dentistry's mercury era in America," says Charlie Brown of Consumers for Dental Choice. "We salute FDA for stepping forward with these recommendations against amalgam use, and we urge all American dentists to heed them. This action has the potential to protect millions of Americans from mercury exposure." Dr. Mark Mitchell of the National Medical Association, which has called for the phase out of mercury use in dentistry, called for the immediate end of amalgam use in children in all government programs: "Amalgam's use is most prevalent in government programs and institutional dentistry; its use must end now in those programs: at the Defense Department, in Indian Health, in Medicaid, in American prisons. Today's announcement sets the stage for this to occur in at least some of these populations." "Even a small exposure of a neurotoxin at the wrong time of development can have a lifelong impact, especially for the fetus and young child," said Tracy Gregoire with the Learning Disabilities Association of America. "There are proven, safer alternatives to amalgam, so we should avoid preventable exposures to neurotoxins like mercury in amalgam. For these reasons, LDA is happy to see that the FDA lists pregnant women, nursing women, and children in the high-risk category and recommends that alternatives to amalgam are used." "There is no safe level for mercury in the environment or in people," said Michael Bender of the Mercury Policy Project. "This decision will ultimately end amalgam use, both in the USA and eventually globally." Sylvia Dove of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry says, "We commend FDA for recommending against dental amalgam use in vulnerable populations a step more and more countries throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia are taking. FDA's new safety communication will help empower all patients to choose mercury-free fillings for themselves and for their children." Eric Uram, coordinator of the Chicago Declaration to End Dental Industry Mercury Use, said, "This decision culminates a three-year campaign to re-open amalgam for reconsideration. We are delighted to see FDA has taken steps to begin the end of the mercury problems caused by new amalgam use. This guidance opens the door to the major concerns we raised about communities most affected by mercury and the role of amalgam in toxic mercury's impacts to those people. We will begin talks with the appropriate agencies straight-away." The FDA news release is at https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-issues-recommendations-certain-high-risk-groups-regarding-mercury-containing-dental-amalgam CONTACT: Charlie Brown Consumers for Dental Choice 202-246-7642 [email protected] SOURCE Consumers for Dental Choice Related Links http://www.toxicteeth.org The Department of Justice has disclosed additional evidence of the FBIs efforts to undermine the Trump presidential campaign and presidency. Attorney Sidney Powell includes it in her memorandum filed yesterday in support of the agreed dismissal of the case against General Flynn. Powell characterizes the FBI misconduct involved in these efforts as Stalinist tactics. The FBIs briefing to President Obama on January 5, 2017, figures in the mix. I have embedded Powells memo at the bottom of this post. From inside the FBI a knowledgeable agent cries out regarding his colleagues: why do we do this to ourselves. What is wrong with these people[?] It turns out that the famous insurance policy against Trumps possible election requiredinsurance. Five days after the Oval Office briefing, they all went out and purchased professional liability insurance. Sean Davis and Mollie Hemingway summarize the new evidence in the Federalist column Trump Was Right: Explosive New FBI Texts Detail Internal Furor Over Handling Of Crossfire Hurricane Investigation. Subhead: Newly disclosed internal FBI notes and text messages detail the extent of the FBIs desire to take down Trump and his associates at any cost. Their column opens: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents tasked by fired former Director James Comey to take down Donald Trump during and after the 2016 election were so concerned about the agencys potentially illegal behavior that they purchased liability insurance to protect themselves less than two weeks before Trump was inaugurated president, previously hidden FBI text messages show. The explosive new communications and internal FBI notes were disclosed in federal court filings today from Sidney Powell, the attorney who heads Michael Flynns legal defense team. [W]e all went and purchased professional liability insurance, one agent texted on Jan. 10, 2017, the same day CNN leaked details that then-President-elect Trump had been briefed by Comey about the bogus Christopher Steele dossier. That briefing of Trump was used as a pretext to legitimize the debunked dossier, which was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign and compiled by a foreign intelligence officer who was working for a sanctioned Russian oligarch. Holy crap, an agent responded. All the analysts too? Yep, the first agent said. All the folks at the Agency as well. [C]an I ask who are the most likely litigators? an agent responded. [A]s far as potentially suing yall[?] [H]aha, who knows.I think [t]he concern when we got it was that there was a big leak at DOJ and the NYT among others was going to do a piece, the first agent said. Attorney General Barr also disclosed information about Christopher Steeles primary sub-source in connection with the memos prepared at the behest of the Clinton presidential campaign in 2016. If the memos were what they purported to be, I inferred that Steele performed as a conduit for Russian disinformation. Barrs letter lends credence to this inference. Catherine Herridge flagged the headline news from Barrs letter in the tweet below. #Durham BREAKING: The primary sub-source for the Steele dossier was deemed a possible national security threat + the subject of 2009 FBI counter-intel probe. According to new records, those facts were known to Crossfire Hurricane team in December 2016. @LindseyGrahamSC pic.twitter.com/I6Gp4fv98C Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) September 24, 2020 Late last night Herridge reported the story for CBS News in Senate Judiciary chair Lindsey Graham releases new details about source of Steele dossier. Brooke Singman reported the story for FOX News in Source of Steele dossier was investigated by FBI for Russian contacts, Barr says. Zachary Evans also has the story for NR in FBI Docs: Primary Sub-Source for Steele Was Suspected Russian Agent and Threat to National Security. The NR column opens: The primary sub-source for the Steele dossier was suspected of being a possible Russian agent and a threat to national security, according to newly declassified FBI documents. Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) announced the revelations on Thursday after the Justice Department declassified a footnote of the DOJ Inspector General Report on FISA abuse by the FBI. That report focused on efforts by FBI agents to obtain FISA warrants to surveil Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page, and concluded that two applications to renew such warrants were not valid because of material misstatements and omission of evidence. FBI agents on the Crossfire Hurricane probe, who investigated alleged contacts between the Trump-campaign and Russian intelligence, were aware that the Primary Sub-Source was a suspected Russian spy by December 2016. However, the FBI did not share this information with the FISA court in their applications for warrants against Page. According to footnote 334 of the Inspector General Report, the Primary Sub-Source was the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation from 2009 to 2011 that assessed his/her documented contacts with suspected Russian intelligence officers. At the request of Attorney General William Barr, the FBI made available a declassified summary of that counterintelligence investigation. [T]he FBI commenced this investigation based on information by the FBI indicating that the Primary Sub-Source may be a threat to national security, the summary states. The Primary Sub-Source was an employee at a prominent U.S. think tank, and in December 2016, the FBIs Crossfire Hurricane investigation identified the employee as Christopher Steeles Primary Sub-Source. The Sean Davis/Mollie Hemingway column above is based on Sidney Powells newly filed memo below. The memo was filed in advance of the hearing set before Judge Sullivan early next week. Explosive FBI Texts Show In by The Federalist UPDATE: At the time I wrote this I was unable to locate Attorney General Barrs letter to Senator Graham conveying the declassified FBI summary. Senator Graham has posted Barrs letter along with the enclosure here. Police have released footage of a fatal crash caused by a despicable drug-driver who also used his car as a weapon to ram a lorry. Aiden King-Eeson, from Birmingham, was jailed for eight years at Nottingham Crown Court for causing the death of Gurdip Singh Matharu. Nottinghamshire Police said footage of the incident had been released to warn motorists of the devastation drug-driving can cause. King-Eeson, of Haseley Road in Handsworth, Birmingham, collided head-on with taxi driver Mr Matharu, who had been on his way home to celebrate his sons birthday. Gurdip Singh Matharu (Nottinghamshire Police/PA) Officers said King-Eeson drove at more than double the speed limit, ignored red lights and drove on the wrong side of the road before the crash at about 9am in Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham, on July 4. The 25-year-old had travelled to Hucknall for a house party on July 3 before taking a BMW car without permission and driving into Nottingham. The vehicle was then captured on a speed camera travelling on Nuthall Road in Aspley at 61mph in a 30mph zone, before a collision with a lorry. King-Eeson, who had cocaine in his system, then ran red lights and was driving on the wrong side of the road at around 74mph in a 30mph zone when the fatal crash occurred. He pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking and driving without insurance and a licence, and was banned from driving for three years once he is released from custody. King-Eeson, originally from Zimbabwe, also faces possible deportation at the end of his sentence. FATAL COLLISION: Footage of the moment a familys lives were changed forever by a fatal collision has been released in a bid to warn motorists of the devastation drug-driving can cause.https://t.co/sE4HIjmYgI pic.twitter.com/FFRfU5xFaR Notts Police (@nottspolice) September 25, 2020 Mr Matharus daughter Sandeep Marathu issued a statement through police, saying: Our lives were changed forever as my dad was killed in this collision. Story continues He was a loving husband, a father to me and my brothers and a doting, playful grandad and adored by his family. Since arriving in the UK in 1996, dad worked hard to provide his family with a better life, making many personal sacrifices to ensure his family did not miss out. At the time of the crash my dad was on his way home from work but he never made it. He fell victim to King-Eeson, whose selfish and reckless actions gave dad no chance of survival. Dad died on the side of the street, with no family with him, which is something that will haunt us all forever. We lost the pillar of our family that day. Detective Sergeant Adam Cooper said: King-Eesons actions go beyond words. He used a car as a weapon that day, carelessly driving into anything that came in his way, recklessly ignoring speed limits and having no regard for others safety. It is my belief that he had been up all night having taken cocaine most of which had left his system by the time he was tested. He was relentless in his driving rampage, only stopping when he had taken the life of an innocent man who just so happened to be another object in his way. Mr Marathus family remain distraught and although the sentencing today is of little comfort to their loss, we recognise that King-Eeson has now been held to account for this despicable act. Turkeys foreign minister on Friday accused US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of blatant ignorance over her comments that questioned U.S. President Donald Trump's commitment to democracy and his alleged admiration of Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other leaders accused of authoritarian rule. Pelosi criticized Trumps refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses elections in November, and called on the U.S. president to honor his oath of office and the U.S. Constitution. We do know who he admires. He admires (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, he admires Kim Jong Un, he admires Erdogan in Turkey, Pelosi said. She added: But I remind him, you are not in North Korea, you are not in Turkey, you are not in Russia, Mr. President. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu took to Twitter to admonish Pelosi over her remarks. (Pelosis) rise to become Speaker of the House is what is truly worrisome for American democracy, given her blatant ignorance, Cavusoglu wrote. You will learn to respect the Turkish peoples will. Trump has been fanning uncertainty as he floats theories the election may be rigged if he loses, echoing warnings he made ahead of the 2016 voting even though past elections have not shown substantial evidence of fraud from mail-in voting. Despite troubled relations between Turkey and the United States over a series of issues, Trump has frequently praised Erdogan and their bond has helped to keep ties between the NATO allies afloat. Investors have cheered moves by the government to ease bank lending restrictions, despite doubts the policy change will unlock credit growth and stimulate the faltering economy. Bank stocks surged on Friday in response to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's decision to overhaul the National Consumer Credit Act in an attempt to make it easier for consumers to get loans and spur growth as the economy slides into a deep recession. Westpac rose 7.4 per cent to $17.58, National Australia Bank gained 6.9 per cent to $18.37, ANZ was up 6.9 per cent to $17.93 and Commonwealth Bank climbed 3 per cent to $66.13. Loading Plato Investment Management's chief executive Don Hamson was not convinced there would be an increase in loan activity as ongoing uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic had made consumers cautious. "The issue is theres a pretty low demand for loans at the moment. Its a mild positive but I don't think given the fairly insipid demand for loans it will suddenly spur on an increase in activity," Mr Hamson said. Close2U, an electronic device application, has been developed by researchers at the Complutense University (UCM) and the University of Zaragoza (UZA) to monitor cancer patients' physical and mental health using gamification. Users answer a series of daily questions about their mood and where they are experiencing pain. In return, the app rewards them in the form of advice or songs, resources intended to increase their motivation. "The use of gamification enables more continuous monitoring of cancer patients by obtaining frequent information about their mood. Among other things, this lets us know if they are depressed, stressed or in pain", explained Ivan Garcia-Magarino, a researcher in the Department of Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence at the UCM. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Spanish Cancer Association (Spanish initials: AECC), primarily at its branch in Teruel, where patients tested the app. Researchers from both universities have reported development of the app and the results obtained in the Journal of Biomedical Informatics and Journal of Healthcare Engineering. Exchange of resources among patients For example, for the question "How did you sleep?", users mark a point on a horizontal line between the two extremes "very badly" and "very well", while for the question "Where in your body are you experiencing pain?", the screen displays an image of a body on which patients mark areas affected by pain. The information obtained from their answers is sent to a hospital or association physician. In return, patients are rewarded with advice or songs which "are intended to amuse and entertain them, and which they can also share with other cancer patients to provide mutual support", observed Garcia Magarino. He also noted that the researchers were working on incorporating the app on other devices such as smart furniture or watches. "We don't know exactly when our products will be available to the general public because that will depend on our resources and interest from potential users", he concluded. Close2U is an e-Health action and meets objectives such as automatic data capture without requiring any explicit action on the part of users, and smart data analysis, alerting healthcare staff when appropriate. ### References: Navarro-Alaman, J., Lacuesta, R., Garcia-Magarino, I., Gallardo, J., Ibarz, E., & Lloret, J. (2020). "Close2U: An App for Monitoring Cancer Patients with Enriched Information from Interaction Patterns". Journal of Healthcare Engineering, vol. 2020, Article ID 3057032, 13 pages. DOI: 10.1155/2020/3057032. Navarro-Alaman, J., Lacuesta, R., Garcia-Magarino, I., Gallardo. "A methodology for the design and development of gamified mobile apps for monitoring cancer survivors". Journal of Biomedical Informatics. Vol. 106. Junio 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2020.103439. Scientists have spotted a once-in-a-century climate anomaly during World War I that likely increased mortality during the war and the influenza pandemic in the years that followed. Well-documented torrential rains and unusually cold temperatures affected the outcomes of many major battles on the Western Front during the war years of 1914 to 1918. Most notably, the poor conditions played a role in the battles of Verdun and the Somme, during which more than one million soldiers were killed or wounded. The bad weather may also have exacerbated the Spanish flu pandemic that claimed 50 to 100 million lives between 1917 and 1919, according to the new study. Scientists have long studied the spread of the H1N1 influenza strain that caused the pandemic, but little research has focused on whether environmental conditions played a role. In a new study in AGU's journal GeoHealth, scientists analyzed an ice core taken from a glacier in the European Alps to reconstruct climate conditions during the war years. They found an extremely unusual influx of air from the North Atlantic Ocean affected weather on the European continent from 1914 to 1919. The incessant rain and cold caused by this influx of ocean air hung over major battlefields on the Western Front but also affected the migratory patterns of mallard ducks, the main animal host for H1N1 flu virus strains. Mallard ducks likely stayed put in western Europe in the autumns of 1917 and 1918 because of the bad weather, rather than migrating northeast to Russia as they normally do, according to the new study. This kept them close to military and civilian populations and may have allowed the birds to transfer a particularly virulent strain of H1N1 influenza to humans through bodies of water. Listen to the latest episode of AGU's podcast Third Pod from the Sun to learn more about climate and pandemics. The findings help scientists better understand the factors that contributed to making the war and pandemic so deadly, according to Alexander More, a climate scientist and historian at the Harvard University/Climate Change Institute, associate professor of environmental health at Long Island University and lead author of the new study. "I'm not saying that this was 'the' cause of the pandemic, but it was certainly a potentiator, an added exacerbating factor to an already explosive situation," More said. It's interesting to think that very heavy rainfall may have accelerated the spread of the virus. One of the things we've learned in the COVID pandemic is that some viruses seem to stay viable for longer time periods in humid air than in dry air. So it makes sense that if the air in Europe were unusually wet and humid during the years of World War I, transmission of the virus might have been accelerated." Philip Landrigan, director of the Global Public Health Program at Boston College who was not connected to the new study War and weather The rainy, cold, muddy landscapes of the Western Front are well documented by historians. Poet Mary Borden described it as "the liquid grave of our armies" in her poem "The Song of the Mud" about 1916's Battle of the Somme. Historical accounts of early battles in France describe how the intense rain affected British, French and German troops. Newly dug trenches and tunnels filled with rainwater; muddy fields slowed the movement of troops during the day; and cold nighttime temperatures caused thousands to endure frostbite. However, little research has been done on the environmental conditions that may have caused the torrential rains and unusual cold. In the new study, More and his colleagues reconstructed the environmental conditions over Europe during the war using data from an ice core taken from the Alps. They then compared the environmental conditions to historical records of deaths during the war years. They found mortality in Europe peaked three times during the war, and these peaks occurred during or soon after periods of cold temperatures and heavy rain caused by extremely unusual influxes of ocean air in the winters of 1915, 1916 and 1918. "Atmospheric circulation changed and there was much more rain, much colder weather all over Europe for six years," More said. "In this particular case, it was a once in a 100-year anomaly." The new ice core record corroborates historical accounts of torrential rain on battlefields of the Western Front, which caused many soldiers to die from drowning, exposure, pneumonia and other infections. Interestingly, the results suggest the bad weather may have kept mallard ducks and other migratory birds in Europe during the war years, where they could easily transmit influenza to humans by water contaminated with their fecal droppings. Mallard ducks are the main animal reservoir of H1N1 flu viruses and as many as 60 percent of mallard ducks can be infected with H1N1 every year. Previous research has shown that migratory patterns of mallards and other birds are disrupted during bouts of unusual weather. "Mallards have been shown to be very sensitive to climate anomalies in their migration patterns," More said. "So it is likely is that they stayed put for much of that period." The first wave of H1N1 influenza infection in Europe occurred in the spring of 1918, most likely originating among allied troops arriving in France from Asia in the fall and winter of 1917, according to previous research. The new study found the deadliest wave of the pandemic in Europe began in the autumn of 1918, closely following a period of heavy precipitation and cold temperatures. "These atmospheric reorganizations happen and they affect people," More said. "They affect how we move, how much water is available, what animals are around. Animals bring their own diseases with them in their movements, and their migrations are due to the environment and how it changes, or how we change it." "I think it's a very credible, provocative study that makes us think in new ways about the interplay between infectious diseases and the environment," Landrigan said. NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea says the $1 billion cut to the policing budget is partly to blame for the recent surge in crime that has seen a 140 percent spike in shootings compared to last year NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea says the $1 billion cut to the policing budget is partly to blame for the recent surge in crime that has seen a 140 percent spike in shootings compared to last year. Shea said the budget cuts, which were voted on by the New York City Council back in July, has had a 'significant impact' on the crime surge over the summer. 'You think back, crime follows certain patterns and trends. Certainly, we see upticks if violence in the summer... To have this crazy time happen this year, certainly, and leading to a defunding, it's really hurt,' Shea told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo on Friday. 'This defunding movement at a time when we know crime generally takes an upward trajectory in the summer has been a double-whammy. 'Sixty percent cut in overtime is going to damage any industry. It's certainly hitting us. 'It's hurt, unfortunately, the people in high-crime areas that, unfortunately, more often than not, tend to be people of color the most.' The $1 billion budget cut resulted in policing funds being reallocated to education and social services over the next year. New York City saw a 166 percent spike in shootings in August compared to the same time last year, according to NYPD crime statistics. In August, New York tallied 242 shootings compared with 91 in the same month the previous year Shea said the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the court system and legislative factors had also played a role in surging crime rates. He said the NYPD was working with federal authorities and the district attorneys of the five boroughs to crack down on the prosecution of gang members and drug dealers carrying illegal guns. 'Both on the police side and the detective side, they are singularly focused on getting our arms around this. We are beginning to trend downwards... we have a lot of work to do,' he said. New York City saw a 166 percent spike in shootings in August compared to the same time last year, according to NYPD crime statistics. In August, New York tallied 242 shootings compared with 91 in the same month the previous year. Police also said murders went up 34 percent on-year in the first eight months of 2020. Shea said the budget cuts, which were voted on by the New York City Council back in July, has had a 'significant impact' on the crime surge over the summer. Officers are pictured above in early September during BLM protests The $1 billion budget cut, which was voted on in July, resulted in policing funds being reallocated to education and social services over the next year It comes as Gov. Andrew Cuom called on city officials to 'step up and lead' in response to rising crime, calling the trend 'wholly unacceptable'. He signed an executive order last month that calls on cities to adopt plans for reforming their police departments by April next year in order to be eligible for state funding. 'Step up and lead. 146 jurisdictions are doing it. Why isn't New York City doing it?' Cuomo said. He specifically called out Mayor Bill de Blasio, City Council President Corey Johnson, Comptroller Scott Stringer and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for not taking action. 'If none of them want to lead it, I will find someone to lead it. Just tell me you don't want to do it or you can't do it, but this is wholly unacceptable on behalf of everyone who lives in New York City,' Cuomo said. 'What government does in the age of COVID is a matter between life and death. 'The crime problem in New York City doesn't get better on its own.' My Favorite Quotes Recent Quotes Portfolio Summary Your most recently viewed tickers will automatically show up here if you type a ticker in the Get Quotes box on the top of the page. By Gabriela Baczynska and John Chalmers BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday he was convinced that Donald Trump will win another term in November's U.S. presidential election and has made no plans for any other outcome. "The only reason why I'm sitting here after spending more than 30 years in politics is that I always believe in my plan A," the nationalist leader told Reuters in an interview in Brussels when asked about the looming U.S. vote. "We have an exceptionally good relationship with Trump. Probably the level of openness and kindness and helping each other will be lower (if Democrat challenger Joe Biden wins the U.S. election). But my calculation is OK. He (Trump) will win." Orban this week endorsed Trump's re-election bid, saying his rival Democrats had forced a "moral imperialism" on the world that illiberal leaders like himself reject. [LINK] Orban is a nationalist leader regularly at loggerheads with the EU over his anti-immigration campaigns and moves to put the judiciary, NGOs, media and academics under more state control. He clashed with the administration of then-U.S. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, over what critics said was an erosion of democratic values by his government. Asked what the impact of a Trump victory would be for the EU, Orban said for those who view the bloc as built around its institutions it would be a blow. "If you understand the European Union as a centralised power the spirit and heart of which is provided by the institutions - Trump is not the best option," he said. "But if you believe that the European Union is nothing else but just a community of member states - Trump is OK, is by far the best." He said that if Trump does win the election, the EU will need to normalise its trade relationship with the United States and also establish clarity about the long-term presence of U.S. troops on European soil. Story continues "The European Union has a huge trade surplus with the United States. The (U.S.) President always raises the point that he'd like to decrease it by changing regulations. Customs, basically. It's in the air, it's not fixed." He welcomed Poland's proposal to host U.S. troops that are being withdrawn from Germany, but said this would not be necessary for Hungary because it is not facing a direct threat from Russia. Orban said Hungary would get to the NATO requirement - strongly backed by Trump - of spending 2% of GDP on defence. Asked how long that would take, he said: "Not more than five years." Orban faces a challenge to his decade-long rule in parliamentary elections due in early 2022 as Hungary braces for the economic and social impact of a new rise in coronavirus infections. (Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Angus MacSwan) The agreement signed in Turkey, after days of negotiations mediated by the Ankara government. Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled, as well as the presidency of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas leader: "Real consensus reached". The effects of the "Abraham Agreements" are also on the table. Ramallah (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Palestinian extremist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and the rival Fatah movement, which governs the West Bank, have reached an agreement to hold general elections. Sources on both sides confirmed the deal which represents a turning point in the local political scene, in the face of a vote that has been almost 15 years in the making and postponed several times in the past. According to the initial rumors, presidential and parliamentary elections will be held within the next six months. The agreement was signed by the leader of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas, and by the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh after days of talks and negotiations in Turkey, aimed at smoothing out the profound differences between the parties with the mediation of the government of Ankara. The last elections were held in 2006, when the Palestinian extremist movement won control of Gaza by surprise after forming a short-lived government of national unity with Fatah. The separation between the two fronts triggered violent clashes and, the year following the vote, the expulsion of Fatah's representatives from the Strip. Jibril Rajoub, a high-ranking official of Fatah, underlines in a note that, together with the presidential and parliamentary elections, the highest local and authority offices will also be renewed: among these the Palestinian Legislative Council, the presidency of the Palestinian Authority itself and, finally, the Palestinian National Council. Speaking to AFP Saleh al-Arouri, one of the leaders of Hamas, confirmed that the agreement is the result of intense negotiations that took place this week in Turkey. This time - he says satisfied from Istanbul - we have reached a real consensus. Earlier this month, the leaders of the two Palestinian factions had reached an agreement to initiate in-depth discussions on the so-called "Abraham Agreements", aimed at normalizing relations and diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (and Bahrain). An agreement mediated and relaunched by US President Donald Trump also in an internal electoral key, exalted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and disavowed by the leaders of Ramallah, excluded from all negotiations, who called the agreement a "stab in the back". ATLANTA: NASA astronaut Kate Rubins told The Associated Press on Friday that she plans to cast her next vote from space more than 200 miles above Earth. Rubins is just outside Moscow in Star City, Russia, preparing with two cosmonauts for a mid-October launch and a six-month stay at the International Space Station. I think its really important for everybody to vote, Rubins said. If we can do it from space, then I believe folks can do it from the ground, too. Most U.S. astronauts live in Houston. Texas law allows them to vote from space using a secure electronic ballot. Mission Control forwards the ballot to the space station and relays the completed ballot back to the county clerk. Its critical to participate in our democracy, Rubins said. We consider it an honor to be able to vote from space. NASA astronauts have voted from space before. Rubins and Shane Kimbrough cast their votes from the International Space Station. Rubins, the first person to sequence DNA in space, plans to work on a cardiovascular experiment and conduct research using the space stations Cold Atom Lab. While shes there, shell celebrate the 20th anniversary of continuous human presence on the space station, and welcome the crew of the second SpaceX commercial crew mission, expected to arrive in late October. _____ Follow Alex Sanz on Twitter at @AlexSanz. 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 Moung Sony lost contact with his younger brother, Moung Sopheak, on the afternoon of September 10. Hours later, Moung Sony, the president of the Khmer Student Intellectual League Association, was informed by the United Nations officials that Moung Sopheak was arrested by the police. Moung Sopheak, who is also a member of KSILA, was seen three days earlier at a rally that was blocked by local authorities and security personnel. The rally was calling for the release of youth activists arrested in the past month over incitement charges, including KSILA vice president Mean Prommony. According to the government, all the arrested activists, who initiated the protests to call for the release of jailed unionist Rong Chhun, had attempted to commit incitement to cause chaos by jeopardizing public security. They do not deserve to be persecuted, said Moung Sony. This is a blow for democracy and human rights in Cambodia. Moung Sopheaks detention is one of some 30 arrests by the government since the end of July, an intensification of an ongoing crackdown against dissent and peaceful assembly. Nineteen unionists, youth, and rights activists have been placed under pre-trial detention on alleged incitement charges, according to the local rights group Licadho. The jailed activists worked with youth advocacy group Khmer Thavrak, environmental watchdog Mother Nature and KSILA. At least eight other former grassroots activists of the now-outlawed Cambodia National Rescue Party across the country were sentenced to serve a range of five to seven years in jails over plotting to overthrow the government. Some 15 other of their colleagues are being detained, awaiting trials on the same charge. The arrests and persecutions have coincided with the partial revocation of Cambodias trade preferences to the European Union, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and a global economic slowdown. Observers said these events have factored in the governments heavy-handed reaction to its critics, while also revealing the governments recent indifference to pressure from Western nations. This shift was evident from the arrest of prominent unionist Rong Chhun over his comments on the Cambodian governments handling of border demarcation with Vietnam. His arrest was just 12 days ahead of the August 12 implementation of the E.U.s partial suspension of the Everything But Arms trade privileges. Rong Chhun had consistently called for Prime Minister Hun Sens government to reverse its course to ensure that export privileges, vital to Cambodias garment and footwear industry, were maintained. He was also supportive of multiple protests at garment factories over unpaid wages and incentives during the COVID-19-induced economic downturn. In March, a month after E.U. announced that it planned to scale back the trade preferences, Hun Sen targeted Rong Chhun. Cambodia is making it clear that Cambodia will not beg for that 20 percent back. Please the analyst, 'ah' Rong Chhun, listen clearly on this, Hun Sen said, using a term before the unionists name that can be used in a derogatory manner. Ouk Chhayavy, president of the Cambodian Independent Teacher Association, said the arrest of her mentor and colleague Rong Chhun used to head the union was a move to intimidate others who have benefitted from his advocacy. Rong Chhun was arrested and as you know he is a very influential person who would always stand side-by-side with workers under the rain and sunshine, Ouk Chhayavy told VOA Khmer. The arrest of Rong Chhun and the detention of nearly two dozen youth and human rights defenders were quickly noticed by the United Nations. The current situation marks a deepening of the Governments intolerance to dissent and repression of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, said U.N. human rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani. It is mainly directed at human rights organizations, environmentalists and human rights defenders. In a statement last week, the E.U.s European External Action Service said there had not been any indication of substantive progress in its call for Cambodia to open up the countrys political space for a credible and democratic opposition to operate. The E.U. is seriously concerned about the continuous deterioration of democracy and human rights in the country, E.E.A.S. spokesperson Nabila Massrali told VOA Khmer. We continue to call on the Cambodian government to take concrete action to reopen the political space in the country, to reverse the shrinking space for civil society and to ensure the respect of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Another matter at hand, and an issue consistently raised by the E.U. since 2018, is the treason trial of opposition leader Kem Sokha and the dissolution of the party he led till 2017. Prime Minister Hun Sen has suggested that the prolonged and delayed treason trial against opposition leader Kem Sokha could be delayed to 2024, well beyond scheduled local and national elections in 2022 and 2023, according to government-aligned newspaper Khmer Times. Cindy Cao, who researches E.U.-Cambodian relations at the Brussels-based European Institute of Asian Studies, the recent series of arrests and Hun Sens remarks on the Kem Sokha trial reflect Phnom Penhs consistent defiance of the E.U.s push to correct the countrys democratic failings. Hun Sen acknowledges negotiations between the E.U. and the government regarding the E.B.A. issue is an influencing factor on Kem Sokha's verdict, Cindy Cao told VOA Khmer in an email. It can be said the threat of trade sanctions did not deter the government's use of repression and to restrict freedom of expression, she added. The researcher added the government was likely balancing political concessions it was comfortable with and the economic cost of its continued crackdown, the latter likely resulting in domestic unrest. Many studies suggest that authoritarian states would prefer to pay an economic cost, rather than imperil its regime survival, Cindy Cao said. Cambodian government spokesperson Phay Siphan repeated the regimes defense of its actions, which is to maintain the countrys sovereignty. He added that the current clampdown was unrelated to the E.B.A. revocation. Cambodia prioritizes peace and the absence of chaos in society because Cambodia is an underdeveloped country not as [rich as] the E.U. so the arrests and the crackdowns are to ensure harmonious living conditions, said Phay Siphan. KSILAs Moung Sony is still amazed at the governments assertion that the youth activists, including his brother, were trying to instigate chaos when they were only advocating for their rights and that of others. The first ever speaker of parliament Maxime Carlot Korman (Right) shook hands with current Speaker Shadrack at the Erakor community hall yesterday Gandhinagar, Sep 25 : The Gujarat Assembly on Friday passed the Gujarat Fisheries Amendment Bill, 2020, which seeks to stop fishing boats from other states straying into Gujarat waters by penalizing the fishermen with a fine of upto Rs 1 lakh. The amendment Bill was passed unanimously. Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja presented the Bill in the House on the last day of the five-day Monsoon Session. "This new bill will provision 'search and seizure' powers to police Sub-Inspectors or officials above them at marine police stations and a fine of Rs 1 lakh will be imposed on boats from other states that enter Gujarat's marine boundary." The present Act of 2003 did not have any provision to penalise boats from other states that enter Gujarat waters for fishing. Under the new law, apart from a fine of Rs 1 lakh, the fishermen will also be fined five times the value of the fish they have caught. According to the amendment, the local authorities will also be able to sell the catch recovered from the errant boatmen. The new Bill was supposed to be presented in the last Budget session of the Assembly in March, but could not be taken up for discussion as the Session was curtailed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Stinson Beach just about got shut down over Labor Day weekend because it was so jammed with people. As a go-to spot on scorching Bay Area days, the parking lots were packed so early that by 11 a.m., the park service was encouraging folks to go swelter someplace else. The funny thing about Stinson on a hot day is that, while half of it may resemble a public health experts nightmare, the other half remains close to empty. Social distancing can be a major effort on the south side yet on the north, it resembles one of the Wests great undiscovered beaches. There is virtually no one on it. This is because, for those unaware, the northern half of Stinson is a private beach under the control of Seadrift, an exclusive gated community formed back in the 1950s. For decades, regular folks were not even allowed to set foot on Seadrifts sands. Even when the Coastal Zone Conservation Initiative of the 1970s banned homes or developments from blocking public beach access, Stinson was exempt. As a 2008 article in The Chronicle explains: Seadrift, which was built in the 1950s, and several other gated beachside communities in California preceded the initiative. That meant pre-existing public restrictions that blocked the masses were still permitted. But in 1994 limited access was allowed for the common folk thanks to an agreement between the Seadrift Homeowners Association and the state Coastal Commission. It allowed the public to use a 60-foot-wide strip of the beach above the high water line for low-intensity, passive recreation. In case anyone is wondering what that means, there is a sign at the boundary between the public and private beaches letting people know some of the things that are OK: Fishing, jogging and general viewing are apparently fine. Also explicitly spelled out in this 1994 agreement, picnicking and camping are not allowed. So, you might ask on a day when the public beach is jam-packed and a lot of people are neither social distancing or wearing masks, is it OK to wander over to the private beach and go sunbathing? Well maybe. And it is only maybe because on Aug. 13, 2006, a Mill Valley man dared to place his towel down on Seadrift Beach to catch some rays after which he was promptly tossed off by a Seadrift security guard. The man, Douglas Rigg, did not just take this treatment lying down. He turned around and filed a lawsuit pointing out that sunbathing was not explicitly banned in the 1994 agreement and that it should be considered a form of low-intensity passive recreation. Apparently, this was considered a fairly sound argument. Rigg was victorious and, in a confidential agreement, granted permission to sunbathe on Seadrift Beach. But the big win for Rigg was just so-so for everyone else since the deal only explicitly gave him permission to sunbathe on Seadrifts exclusive sands. As attorney Dotty LeMieux told the Marin IJ at the time of the decision: It may be that the settlement applies only to him, but even so, it certainly would set a precedent for others to be able to do that, LeMieux said. It would be nice if there was language in [the agreement] that would be applied generally. Would more people throw out their towel on Seadrift if the Rigg agreement was instead for the general public? If it was clearly labeled on the sign that besides jogging and general viewing that people could sunbathe over there, maybe more people would do it. But if someone did saunter over to Seadrift with their towel, the odds of getting the heave-ho are probably not high. Even back in 2007, Stinson Beach residents didnt think their Seadrift neighbors were generally the types to toss someone off a beach. As one local told The Chronicle: "They're very accommodating about letting people who live in town come down here whenever they want." Also, there is a far bigger deterrent to enjoying the private sands of Seadrift: Parking. There are very few spaces near the Seadrift Beach, and the general public parking lots at Stinson are close to a mile away from the Seadrift line. For many, that qualifies as a hike, which is not the weekend activity your typical beachgoer in flip-flops has in mind. David Curran is an SFGATE homepage editor. Contact him at dcurran@sfgate.com. A fire that started on Friday at a facility belonging to Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies in the southern city of Dongguan has put been out and there were no casualties, local authorities said. The building, which was close to a Huawei research lab, was a steel structure that was under construction and was not being used when the incident happened, said the management committee of Dongguans Songshan Lake area, where it is located. The fire was put out by firefighters on Friday afternoon, it added. Dongguan city fire rescue department earlier in the day said the main material burning was sound-absorbing cotton. State media had reported that the fire was at a Huawei research lab. Huawei did not respond to a request for comment. The lab mainly conducts research into materials as well as testing for 4G and 5G antennas related to Huaweis base station business, a source familiar with the matter said. It is part of a larger Huawei manufacturing facility. The company has another sprawling European-themed campus close by, which has offices for 25,000 employees. Videos posted on Chinese social media said to be of the Huawei research lab showed large plumes of dark grey smoke billowing from the building. Rights groups have long raised the alarm about Hungary detaining, refusing basic supplies like food or pushing back people arriving from Serbia. They say it runs against international humanitarian law Related EU migrant plan suffers blow as eastern Europe says no Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday rejected a new migration plan by the European Union's executive, saying it would force Hungary to welcome aslyum seekers, but he welcomed some other elements of the proposal. Speaking in a Reuters interview a day after discussing migration in Brussels with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Orban said the devil was in the detail of the proposal over how to handle arrivals in the bloc, an issue that has long divided the EU. "There are some goods news and there are some problems that are still not solved," he said, speaking in an elegant, art-deco hotel in Brussels, where the EU's executive arm on Wednesday presented what it dubbed a "balanced" blueprint on migration. "Some taboos have disappeared," Orban said, in welcoming the strengthened focus on sending back to their countries of origin those who do not qualify for asylum in the EU. But he said asylum applications should be managed in "hotspots" outside of EU borders, something seen as all-but-impossible to do for legal and practical reasons, and that those who come to Europe's borders would otherwise be detained. Rights groups have long raised the alarm about Hungary detaining, refusing basic supplies like food or pushing back people arriving from Serbia. They say it runs against the right to claim asylum enshrined under international humanitarian law. Budapest has lost a number of legal cases on migration at the EU's top court since Orban adopted his hardline policies following a 2015 rise in Mediterranean arrivals that caught the bloc by surprise, contributing to a rise in far-right sentiment. But Orban, his black face mask with a little Hungarian flag embroidered on it resting on a coffee table, was unapologetic, saying people can apply for asylum in Hungarian embassies abroad, or face being locked up if they come to the border. "Nobody can step into the Hungarian territory without having a legally completed procedure and getting a clear permission to do so," he said. "Migration in Hungary is a national security issue." A former liberal and anti-communist crusader, who then studied in the West thanks to the financial support of an ally-turned-foe, Hungarian billionaire philantropist George Soros, Orban rejected the notion of a multi-cultural society. "In Hungary, we are very strict that we would not like to have a parallel society, or open society or a mixed-up culture," he said. "We don't think a mixture of Muslim and Christian society could be a peaceful one and could provide securtiy and good life for the people." "Rather Stubborn" Orban said migration - together with protecting what he sees as Europe's Christian cultural identity and its high living standards - was the top challenge today, just as overthrowing the Soviet-imposed communist regimes in eastern Europe was 30 years ago. He criticised the Commission's new migration plan for envisaging a possibility that Budapest's commitment to send people back from southern EU states of arrival like Italy or Greece could turn into an obligation to host them in Hungary. "That is a very problematic point. It's not good, it's rather bad," he said. "It's nothing else but just renamed relocation. And we always reject relocation." While Orban said it was too early to consider a Hungarian veto, he said it would take months before all EU states even clarify their exact positions on the proposal, which Brussels hopes would resolve bitter internal EU feuds over immigration. He left no doubt, however, that Budapest would not agree to anything that could lead to Hungary being under obligation to take in people coming from the Middle East or Africa. "This point is not acceptable for the Hungarian people," he said. "That is why on certain points we are rather stubborn." Search Keywords: Short link: Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) Unilever is set to transform the sustainability of global cleaning and laundry brands, including its portfolio in the Philippines. The multinational consumer goods company announced it will replace 100 percent of the carbon derived from fossil fuels in its cleaning and laundry product formulations with renewable or recycled carbon by 2030. This ambitious initiative is a core component of Unilever's 1 billion (P56.8 billion) 'Clean Future' investment, a ground-breaking innovation program designed by the company's Home Care division to fundamentally change the creation, manufacturing, and packaging of some of the world's best-known cleaning and laundry products. "Clean Future is our vision to radically overhaul our business. As an industry, we must break our dependence on fossil fuels, including as a raw material for our products," said Peter ter Kulve, Unilever's President of Home Care. Through the Clean Future program, Unilever will finance biotechnology research, carbon dioxide and waste utilization, and low carbon chemistry which are crucial in the transition away from fossil fuel derived chemicals. The Clean Future investment will also be used to create biodegradable and water-efficient product formulations, to halve the use of virgin plastic by 2025, and support the development of brand communications. The Clean Future initiative is a critical step towards Unilever's pledge of net zero emissions from its products by 2039, which the company announced in June 2020. Central to Clean Future is Unilever's 'Carbon Rainbow', a novel approach to diversify the carbon used in its product formulations. Non-renewable fossil sources of carbon (identified in the Carbon Rainbow as black carbon) will be replaced using captured CO2 (purple carbon), plants and biological sources (green carbon), marine sources such as algae (blue carbon), and carbon recovered from waste materials (grey carbon). Making Sustainable Living Accessible to Filipinos As the 2030 Clean Future ambition takes shape, Unilever Philippines has joined the call of other companies for a global recovery plan that is grounded in bold climate action amid the unprecedented demand for cleaning products due to the pandemic. "We listen to our consumers and continue to invest in strong partnerships and superior science; and our goal has always been to deliver products that are effective, affordable, and good for the planet," shared Unilever Philippines Chairman and CEO Benjie Yap. Some of Unilever's products in the Philippines are now involved in making a sustainable living commonplace to Filipinos. Surf operates a flagship sachet collection program across the country with Misis Walastik, while Domex backs a partnership with the Department of Education for safe toilets in schools with #TogetherWeAreUnstoppable. Breeze, Domex, Comfort, Sunlight, and Surf have also started to roll out new bottle packaging made of 100 percent recycled material. "Our push for a Clean Future also drives the need for superior science in delivering effective and sustainable products. We do this to deliver products that give superior consumer experience and at the same time drives climate action as a consumer choice," said Marlo Mangilin, R&D PH Site Leader. If you have an idea for an innovation, solution or opportunity to partner with Unilever to accelerate its Clean Future program, get in touch through the company's Sustainability Partnerships and Open Innovation Submission Portal. More information about Unilever's Carbon Rainbow approach, Clean Future, and the projects that it is funding is available on the company's Clean Future website. A US federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to postpone its ban on downloads of or defend itself in a court hearing this weekend brought by the Chinese-owner of the video-sharing application, the Wall Street Journal reported. If Judge Nichols of the US District Court of Columbia decides on Sunday to halt the Trump administration's actions against TikTok, it would be the second setback of its kind for the White House in a week, the report said on Thursday. Another US federal judge last week temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's executive order curbing Americans' use of WeChat, a popular Chinese-owned messaging and e-commerce app. The White House said US downloads of the application on the Apple Playstore and Android's Google Play will be restricted from Sunday and all of US operations will be banned on November 12 unless the company ceded its local controlling equity and technology to an American firm. In August, Trump threatened to ban the application in the United States, citing wider concerns about alleged Chinese government spying on data of Americans using China-originated social media. The United States' ban was originally to take effect on September 20, but was later deferred to November 12 after the Trump administration offered the company a way out by allowing a US entity to acquire it. Trump said the software firm Oracle and retail giant Walmart were in final talks for assuming control of TikTok's equity and technology. However, TikTok's parent company ByteDance has insisted to retain an 80 per cent stake in the video-sharing platform's restructured US operations. (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 J-16 fighter jet performing in the sky in Changchun in China's northeastern Jilin province on Oct. 17, 2019. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Chinese Warplanes Enter Taiwan Airspace at Least 46 Times in Past Week, Drawing Rebuke Chinese bomber and fighter jets have entered Taiwans airspace at least 46 times from Sept. 17 to Sept. 24, in an escalation of military aggression that has angered Taipei. The latest was on Thursday, when a Chinese anti-submarine aircraft entered Taiwan airspace, Taiwans Ministry of National Defense announced. Also on Thursday, Chinas national defense ministry spokesman Tan Kefei confirmed in a video press conference that its two aircraft carriers, the Shandong and Liaoning, performed offshore training and tests together, though he did not disclose where. Taiwanese media expressed concerns that the tests could be in preparation for actions against the island. Tensions have risen in recent months between Taipei and Beijing, which claims the democratically-run, self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, to be taken by force if needed. On Monday, Beijing stepped up its hostility, by claiming there is no mid-line in the Taiwan Strait that separates mainland China and Taiwan airspaceasserting that all the airspace there belongs to Beijing. Taiwanese and Chinese combat aircraft normally observe the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait and do not cross it, although there is no official agreement between Taipei and Beijing on doing so, and the rule is observed unofficially. But Wang Wenbin, spokesman for Chinas foreign ministry, said at a Monday press briefing: Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory. Theres no so-called mid-line of the Taiwan Strait. The comment drew rebuke from the Taiwan government. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen then visited an air base in Penghu island, located in the middle of the Taiwan Strait, to show appreciation for Taiwans troops. How can we let others show off in our airspace? she said on Tuesday. A landing ship is surrounded by the amphibious assault vehicles during the Han Kuang (Han Glory) life-fire drill, some 7 kms (4 miles) from the city of Magong on the outlying Penghu islands in Taiwan on May 25, 2017. (SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images) Incursions The Chinese regime and Taiwan have no legal border in the strait, but have generally followed the mid-line policy since 1954. Since 2016, Taiwan has reported five Chinese incursions across the line, including two last week on Friday and Saturday. Taiwan scrambled jets to intercept them. Earlier in the month on Sept. 5, state-run China Military TV also posted a three-minute video of a joint landing exercise performed by the amphibious force, naval warship troops, and air force, in waters close to its southern Guangdong Provincenot far from Taiwan. The flurry in Chinese activity prompted Taiwans Ministry of National Defense to issue a strongly-worded statement on Sunday: while the Taiwan military will follow the principle that does not provokeit will definitely fight back once it is attacked. Taiwan premier Su Tseng-chang also condemned Beijings actions while speaking to reporters on Tuesday: Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country China keeps on disrupting Taiwan by sending out warplanes and warships, which damages regional peace and stability. These are not actions that a responsible country should do. After Chinese spokesman Wang made the claim about the mid-line policy, Taiwans foreign minister Joseph Wu told media before Tuesdays EU Investment Forum 2020 in Taipei that Wangs rhetoric was equal to destroying the current status of the Taiwan Strait. Wu also urged the international society to condemn the Chinese regime for its provocative actions. Aged anti-landing barricades are positioned on a beach facing China on the Taiwanese island of Kinmen on April 19, 2018. (Carl Court/Getty Images) US Support The drills came as Beijing expressed anger at the visit of a senior U.S. official to Taipei. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday accused Beijing of bluster when asked about the Chinese activity. China has been angered by stepped-up U.S. support for Taiwan, including two visits by top officials, one in August by Health Secretary Alex Azar and the other last week by Keith Krach, undersecretary of state for economic affairs. The United States, which has no diplomatic ties with the island but is its strongest backer, also plans new arms sales to Taiwan. Reuters contributed to this report. Pumpkin spice. Did you read that with disdain? Because I wrote it to be dripping with contempt. Go ahead and re-read it with your best disdainful inner voice. I may lose a lot of you on this. I may even anger my colleagues. But I do not like pumpkin flavoring. Why would so many people be upset about this? Well, Illinois just so happens to be the top grower and producer of pumpkins, pumpkin fillings, and all the other pumpkiny products that fill the shelves this time of year. Most of this production happens in Tazewell County near Morton. You may have heard the news that in 2020 we are now in a pumpkin filling shortage. The grocery store shelves are devoid of pumpkin filling for making all types of pumpkin-ish treats. If you can call them treats. Now dont get me wrong, if someone puts a slice of pumpkin pie or pumpkin muffin in front of me, I will eat it. No need to let food go to waste. If you are in a panic about the pumpkin shortage, not to worry. According to our commercial agriculture specialist Elizabeth Wahle, pumpkin harvest in Illinois has begun. So far it seems harvest is running about average for this year. Very soon, we should have plenty of pumpkin filling and flavoring to satisfy all your autumn and holiday desires. So, no need to hoard pumpkin filling. At a time when everyone is divided and arguing about everything, let me add to that. And this may be the last straw for some. I am far from anti-autumn. I love the fall, but my flavor of choice is not pumpkin, it is apple. Yes, we are setting up camps for apple versus pumpkin. So why apples? Well, first they are delicious. (Except Red Delicious. I love apples, but Im not blind that some types taste like cardboard.) Have you ever eaten a freshly picked apple right off the tree? The sweet crisp crunch as juice runs down your arm. Walking down the orchard as the chill air keeps a perk in your step. Try eating a pumpkin right off the vine. You cant! Is it legal to not like apple pie? Sorry pumpkin pie, your texture is like eating silky mud. And of course, apple cider. Need I say more? One very common argument people will give in support of apples is this fruit is an American tradition, but here is where I must preside fairly over both fall flavors. The apples typically grown for consumption, are not native to North America. Yet, pumpkins have been cultivated by Native Americans for generations before any European settlers set foot on this continent. So, you may have me there. In terms of which camp hails from this part of the world, pumpkins are more American than any apple. Plus, pumpkin production supports a lot of jobs and a major industry for Illinois. Also, everyone else in my house loves pumpkin pie and apple pie. In fact, as a show of gluttony, my children will request both for their plates. OK, perhaps pumpkins arent all that bad. Maybe we dont have to choose. Maybe both apple and pumpkin have their place in our society. Even if you wont find pumpkin-flavored items on my plate, you certainly will see it readily enjoyed by those around me. And you know, if there are any leftover pumpkin pie on my kids plate, I just cant throw it away. Someone has to eat it. No food goes to waste in my house. Pass the whipped cream. Good Growing Tip of the Week: If growing your own pumpkins, vine health is critical to storage of pie pumpkins or jack-o-lanterns. Often a pumpkin pulled from a sickly or dead vine has a shorter storage life than one cut from a healthy vine. BEIJING - The first event for the CEO of Swedish electric car brand Polestar at this months Beijing auto show: A two-week quarantine in a hotel. The auto show, the first major in-person sales event for any industry since the coronavirus pandemic began, opens Saturday in a sign the ruling Communist Party is confident China has contained the disease. Still, automakers face intensive anti-virus controls including quarantines for visitors from abroad and curbs on crowd sizes at an event that usually is packed shoulder-to-shoulder with spectators. The car show will indeed be different from any other car show, said Thomas Ingenlath of Polestar, owned by Chinas Geely Holding, by phone from his hotel room in Tianjin, east of Beijing. The automakers willingness to tackle the shows logistical challenges highlights the importance of China, their biggest market. Chinese sales have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels while U.S. and European demand is weak and the industry struggles to reverse multibillion-dollar losses. China is the only hope for many global car makers, said John Zeng of LMC Automotive Consulting. They are really counting on China to help their bottom line. Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., BMW AG and other brands are going ahead with global and China debuts of electric SUVs, luxury coupes and futuristic concept cars. Some are broadcasting events online to reach wider audiences. CEO Makoto Uchida of Nissan Motor Co. and other executives plan to appear by video from their home countries. Most brands are relying on Chinese employees or foreign managers who work in the country full-time to operate their displays while keeping contact with spectators to a minimum. Chinas auto industry has largely recovered since the ruling party declared victory over the disease in March and allowed factories and dealerships to reopen. In August, sales rose 6% over a year earlier. Meanwhile, purchases in the United States were down 9.5% from pre-pandemic levels. Sales in Europe plunged 17.6%. Automakers are responding by slashing workforces and shrinking operations. Nissan is closing factories in Spain and Indonesia and cutting global production by 20% after reporting a $6.2 billion loss for the year ending in March. Groupe Renault SA is cutting 15,000 jobs worldwide and in April pulled out of its China joint venture with state-owned Dongfeng Motor Co. To cut costs, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and PSA Peugeot Citroen want to merge and create the worlds fourth-biggest automaker. But they face an investigation by European regulators into whether that will improperly reduce competition. In China, the pandemic accelerated the consolidation of a fragmented industry with dozens of competitors by forcing a string of smaller local brands out of the market and bigger companies into alliances, said Zeng. That will change the industry landscape in the long run, he said. Chinas major auto shows, held in Beijing and Shanghai in alternate years, are the industrys biggest events, attracting every global automaker and dozens of new but ambitious Chinese brands. The last Beijing auto show in 2018 had 1,200 exhibitors from 14 countries and 820,000 visitors, according to organizers. This months event, postponed from March, follows a smaller auto show in July in the western city of Chengdu with 120 exhibitors that was a trial run for anti-virus measures. The Beijing city government has told automakers to limit the number of guests they invite but has yet to say how many people will be allowed into the 200,000-square-meter (2.2 million-square-foot) exhibition centre. Rules issued by the city say everyone at the show should remain at least 1 metre (three feet) from each other. Zeng, the industry analyst, said he was skipping the auto show because if leaves his home in Shanghai, his children would have to be quarantined after his return. Polestars Ingenlath was tested for the coronavirus before being allowed to board a plane in Stockholm. He had a second test after landing Sept. 5 in Tianjin, one of several cities where visitors from abroad undergo quarantine before they are allowed to travel to Beijing, the Chinese capital. Really, to get emotion and the passion about the brand across, you cant do that even with all the modern media we have, Ingenlath said. So I decided to go for a month. Polestar, spun off from Swedens Volvo Cars in 2017 as a standalone brand, is one of dozens of producers that plan to display electric vehicles. They range from established global giants to independent Chinese competitors including BYD Auto Co. and NIO. The Communist Party wants to make China a leader in the technology and has used subsidies and other support to transform it into the biggest EV market, accounting for about half of global sales. To spur competition, Beijing ended restrictions on foreign ownership of electric vehicle producers in 2018. Ingenlath said he brought books but has had little time to read in between working online and dealing with coworkers by phone, email and online video. I have been going through pretty hard normal work routine, he said. Ingenlaths 13-year-old daughter interviewed him for a classroom presentation about his quarantine. Barred from leaving his room, he set aside two hours a day to lift weights and do calisthenics just to be able not to go crazy. Read more about: Medza remembers the coastline of his native Senegalese town of Bargny as a place where he fished and played as a child before it became a festering rubbish dump. The beach bordering the fishing settlement, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of the capital Dakar, is now permanently choked with plastic waste and rotten fish carcasses. Wedged in by a motorway and industrial sites, Bargny typifies Senegal's jagged economic development -- as well as its seemingly endless struggle against pollution and trash. The town borders one of West Africa's largest cement factories and a power plant, and a mineral port is being built nearby. But its 60,000 inhabitants have seen little in the way of beneficial development. Residents tip out buckets of waste onto the beach for lack of disposal facilities. Local fishermen and industrial trawlers toss refuse overboard which washes back on the beach, according to Medza, whose real name is Medoune Ndoye. "It shocks me. It can't continue like this because it's evil and it's shameful," Medza, a 29-year-old environmental activist, said. Young Senegalese walk through rubbish piled up along the coastline in Bargny. By JOHN WESSELS (AFP) For months, he and other local activists have been pushing to clean up the town. On August 15 -- after raising money online for wheelbarrows, bags and shovels -- they spent three days clearing the beach. But they were fighting a losing battle: after little over a week, the beach was freshly covered with plastic detritus and other waste. "Everything is dirty again," Medza said, looking down at the scattered plastic bottles and pieces of old fish netting surrounding him. "We feel as if our efforts are in vain". Pink canal water Much of the coast of Senegal, a poor nation of some 16 million people, is polluted. Sisyphus: Young people spent several days last month cleaning up the beach -- little more than a week later, it was covered once more with trash. By JOHN WESSELS (AFP) The government has made attempts to tackle the problem -- such as banning single-use plastics this year -- but the impact on the ground appears limited. Bargny's trash problem is particularly severe. The town has a spotty garbage-collection service, but no rubbish bins or sewage system. The deputy mayor of Bargny's town hall, Daouda Moustafa Diouf, told AFP that local authorities had begun to take the problem seriously. "We made very serious investments last year because we became aware of what existed here, it was really in an indescribable state," Diouf said. The town hall is designating rubbish collection points across town, which it hopes will discourage people from dumping on the beach. Pape Ndoye, an unemployed father in his fifties, pointed to a lack of infrastructure as a driver of pollution. Artisanal workers carry a basket filled paper and wood shavings for smoking fish on the shorefront at Bagny. Their product is sold around West Africa, but the hidden environmental cost is high. By JOHN WESSELS (AFP) "People come from distant neighbourhoods to put their garbage on the beach," he said, just as a girl nearby emptied a bucket onto the sand. Bins can do nothing against trash floating in from the sea, however. And Bargny's pollution problems stretch further than the beach. A detritus-filled canal leading to the sea is so polluted that its water sometimes turns pink, or green. Medza, the environmental activist, said he remained determined. "As long as the beach isn't clean, we won't give up," he said. An Oakland events space has hosted indoor weddings, birthday parties and wakes sometimes exceeding 100 people since July, according to the manager of the space, in violation of state and county pandemic restrictions about large gatherings. Events manager David Oertel reopened the Humanist Hall events space this summer because he said he suffered a devastating financial loss from canceling so many events. Oertel said people want a place to gather, and he hasnt seen any evidence of the coronavirus and doesnt think its anything more than a bad flu. Oertel said he knows hes violating health orders, but he rejects them and describes them as torture. He has disparaged social distancing, masks and hand washing, which public health experts say are vital to stopping the spread of the virus that has killed more than 1,400 people in the Bay Area. Oertels ideas are shared by a wider group of people across the country who argue the virus is not a serious health threat and reject social distancing and masks, citing objections about personal freedom and government overreach. President Trump has often embraced this stance, making the virus into a partisan issue. Alameda County doesnt allow any indoor gatherings of people who dont live together. Social bubbles of 12 people are permitted for outdoor activities and gatherings. Its up to cities to enforce the rules, and infectious disease experts and activists said Oakland needs to swiftly deal with those who violate health orders. They said the situation with the Humanist Hall is especially concerning because the space is marketed to Black and brown communities, which have been hardest hit by the pandemic. Although Oertel said he didnt start allowing events until July, Oakland police received three 911 complaints from May to July about large gatherings and a lack of mask wearing at the building. Its unclear if police took any action. The department did not respond to inquiries about whether it sent officers to the hall. City officials sent warning letters in July and August to Oertel and a Sept. 2 letter slapped the hall with a $4,904 penalty for violating the health order. That letter threatened a $500-a-day fee if all events werent halted within 30 days. But Oakland didnt send anyone in person to investigate, Greg Minor, an assistant to the city administrator, told The Chronicle. Oertel said he doesnt know if he will comply with the orders, arguing the coronavirus isnt a threat. Oertel said those who have died either had co-morbidities or had likely reached their anticipated life expectancy. Constanza Hevia H./Special to The Chronicle No cases of the coronavirus have been tied to events at the space, according to Neetu Balram, spokeswoman for the Alameda County Public Health Department. But infectious disease experts warn that large indoor events, particularly those where people arent social distancing or wearing masks, pose a significant threat of spreading the virus. This is the highest level of risk activity, said Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, the chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF. We have to be willing to really crack down on what I call the bad actors. ... Workplaces that dont take masking, distancing and worker protection seriously, as well as other types of venues that dont take our health order seriously. Events like those held at the Humanist Hall can be super spreaders where it just takes one attendee who has the virus to spread it to many others, Bibbins-Domingo added. Concerns about a potential super spreader event is what prompted San Francisco officials to quickly shut down an indoor wedding in July. The secret wedding drew nearly 100 guests at a Catholic church. Just days later, the newlyweds and at least eight guests tested positive for the virus, two guests told The Chronicle. Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle While San Francisco took quick action against the wedding, Oakland appears to have taken a less urgent approach to the Humanist Hall. Thats despite Alameda Countys strict rules banning indoor gatherings, which reflect the countys relatively high virus prevalence 20,951 cases and 391 deaths and cases were up 21% week-over-week as of Thursday based on a seven-day moving average, according to The Chronicle virus tracker. Oertel is president of the Fellowship of Humanity, a local group that values humans based on the principles of truth, honesty, humility, compassion and kindness. The Fellowship of Humanity owns the Humanist Hall, located at 390 27th St. in midtown, according to property records, and state records show the fellowship to be a nonprofit with Oertel as its chief executive officer. It is up to each local jurisdiction to enforce the countys public health orders and ensure that people arent violating them, said Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriffs Office. Oakland hasnt been that responsive to a lot of the complaints that theyre getting, Kelly said about the city administrations response to virus violations in general. We are willing to help cities if they need help in certain areas, but each city has enough resources to be able to handle these problems. Constanza Hevia H. / Special to The Chronicle 2020 Karen Boyd, a spokeswoman for the city, said the Oakland Police Department prioritizes its limited resources to stem the uptick in crimes and shootings. Councilwoman Lynette McElhaney, who represents the district where Humanist Hall is located, said in a statement she had contacted city administration and Police Chief Susan Manheimer over a week ago about the problems there. Im deeply angered by this brazen disrespect for the County order and the threat it poses to Oaklanders, she wrote. We are reaching out to the County and local officials to determine what can be done. Humanist Hall stands out as the sole (gathering place in) defiance. This is egregious given that most of their events attract Black and Latinx residents, who are most likely to contract and die from the Coronavirus. Boyd said city officials plan to send another notice this week that imposes more fees and civil penalties. Its unclear if that approach will work. Oertel said in a text message that the Sept. 2 letter from the city is fascism, tyranny. He emailed the city a response to the Sept. 2 letter, challenging the shelter-in-place order. 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. If you order us to physically attack our neighbor, then are we obligated to attack them or is it better to disobey the order? Oertel wrote in a response he shared with The Chronicle. And where does the State of California or the County of Alameda or the City of Oakland get the right to issue such grotesque orders? The Humanist Hall has 21 events scheduled in September and 17 in October, including birthday parties, baby showers and weddings, according to a public calendar on its website. Oertel told The Chronicle hes not being cavalier or inconsiderate by hosting events at the hall, which has more than 2,000 square feet of space and can hold 123 people seated and 265 people standing. These measures, the social isolation and the compulsive hand washing and the mask wearing, we think they are all extremely unhealthy practices, he said. We are trying to protect the community from that. Oertel said he discourages mask wearing at events because he said it doesnt protect people from the virus, a stance at odds with public health experts. Oertel has referred to masks as slave muzzles on Humanist Halls Facebook page. I tell people to take the stupid thing (masks) off. It takes away your basic humanity and spirit, he told The Chronicle. Oertels other Facebook posts refer to masks as part of an initiation ritual into a slave cult and that they have nothing to do with slowing the spread of the virus. His posts have sometimes been marked by Facebook as False Information. We just dont agree with the mainstream media spin and with (Dr. Anthony) Fauci and our great ruler Bill Gates, he told The Chronicle. We think theyre monsters. The hall which costs between $600 and $800 to rent for an entire day is marketed as an affordable event space appealing to mostly Black and brown clientele, and those communities have been disproportionately affected by the virus, with higher rates of infection and severe illness. On its website, the hall is advertised as a safe place where Oakland police will not come by to harass you for being ethnic, and its Facebook page advertises the space for progressive & minority events! Critics like Cat Brooks, the co-founder of Anti Police Terror Project, said what Oertel is doing flies in the face of all of the science and the things that we know that we need to do to stem the spread of this virus. Because it is predominately people of color that utilize the services of Humanist Hall, hes potentially exacerbating the already disproportionate impact of coronavirus on Black and brown people. Chris Weber, who lives near the hall, said activity there quieted down shortly after stay-at-home orders began. Although Oertel said he didnt start allowing events until July, Weber said he noticed gatherings of perhaps 100 people by early June. I was shocked they had the audacity to be allowing people to meet in a space like that, Weber said, and that theyd have such a disregard for the safety of the people using that space. Chronicle staff writer Dominic Fracassa contributed to this story. Sarah Ravani and Dominic Fracassa are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com, dfracassa@sfchronicle.com BEAUMONT and IRVING, Texas, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As air travel begins to pick up, Infrared Cameras Inc. (ICI), the leader in advanced temperature screening technology, in conjunction with NEC Corporation of America (NEC), is providing a safer way to get business and vacation travelers back in the air through the use of high-accuracy, touchless thermal cameras. With its rapid temperature screening system, ICI provides a frontline measure to detect elevated temperatureone of the first symptoms of COVID-19to protect passengers, airport workers and flight staff. The Hawaii Department of Transportation, in a project led by NEC, is setting the standard for precautionary safety measures with the installation of ICI's thermal cameras integrated with NEC's Thermal Screening solution at its five major airports statewide. Travelers arriving in Hawaii from the continental U.S. or, trans-Pacific locations and inter-island flights are now screened upon exiting the jet bridge, in order to quickly detect passengers with a temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher. Introduction of this system serves to increase safety, while also improving operational efficiency by replacing a previously manual screening process. "At a time when business travel is picking back up and most Americans could use a vacation, many are still hesitant about air travel amidst the pandemic," said Gary Strahan, CEO at ICI. "Our goal is to help alleviate those concerns by delivering a highly effective way to instantly identify risks before travelers can leave the airport and enter the general population." The NEC and ICI solution is easy to operate and understand, using a straightforward red light/green light, hot/normal indicator system. Despite its simplicity, ICI's thermal cameras provide the most accurate and reliable temperature screening solution on the market todaywith only .1 to .3-degree variance. "Working with Infrared Cameras Inc. to deploy thermal screening solutions helps us empower airports that handle large volumes of foot traffic in realizing a safer, more efficient way to continue operations," said Jason Van Sice, Sales Vice President for NEC's global aviation practice. "By leveraging intelligent thermography to remove typical bottlenecks associated with screening, we ensure that airport operations are better equipped to handle increased passenger traffic as passengers feel confident resuming travel for business or leisure returns to higher levels." Since 1995, ICI has been responding to global health crisesacross epidemics and pandemics. In addition to airports, ICI is helping to create safe and secure environments through advanced temperature screening in schools, hospitals and offices across the country. About Infrared Cameras Inc. Infrared Cameras Inc has been a leader in developing and manufacturing innovative infrared imaging technology since 1995. Veteran-owned and based in Beaumont, Texas, ICI offers complete infrared solutions, including equipment, custom designs, software, calibration, training, and more. The company's mission is to develop the most sensitive, accurate, and competitively priced infrared cameras in the world. To learn more about Infrared Cameras, visit https://infraredcameras.com/temperature-screening/airports or follow ICI on Twitter , LinkedIn , YouTube and Facebook . About NEC Corporation of America NEC Corporation of America (NEC) is a leading technology integrator providing solutions that improve the way people work and communicate. NEC delivers integrated Solutions for Society that are aligned with our customers' priorities to create new value for people, businesses and society, with a special focus on safety, security and efficiency. We deliver one of the industry's strongest and most innovative portfolios of communications, analytics, security, biometrics and technology solutions that unleash customers' productivity potential. Through these solutions, NEC combines its best-in-class solutions and technology, and leverages a robust partner ecosystem to solve today's most complex business problems. NEC Corporation of America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, a global technology leader with a presence in 160 countries and $29 billion in revenues. 2020 NEC Corporation. NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Other product or service marks mentioned are the trademarks of their respective owners. SOURCE Infrared Cameras Inc Related Links https://infraredcameras.com OTTAWA The federal government says it will not pressure Health Canada to rush approval of rapid tests for COVID-19, insisting the process must be independent of political influence. In the face of long lineups in parts of the country for testing, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Thursday that Canadians should appreciate that they live in a country where we respect the independence of our regulatory authorities and the independence of regulators to make their own careful medical judgments is more important today than ever. Freeland said other countries which she did not name have applied political pressure on regulators to green-light unproven test kits, a move she characterized as dangerous interference. As a mother, I want to be assured that any medicines, any tests that are used here in Canada have been approved by our regulators without any political interference or pressure, Freeland said. And look, the reality is, this is not how its working in some other countries. We are seeing interference and pressure on regulators around the world and I think we can all see the very dangerous consequences of that kind of an approach. So that will not be the approach our government takes. Freeland said the government is ready to pounce to purchase new tests, vaccines and medicines as soon as they get that Good Housekeeping seal of approval from Canadian regulators. Health Canada has approved dozens of lab-based or point-of-care tests to evaluate whether someone is infected with the coronavirus. The samples are collected via a nasal pharyngeal swab, or sometimes a deep throat swab, and then processed by a lab. It has not yet approved any rapid testing devices some of which use nasal swabs, some of which use a saliva sample that could be used by airlines, restaurants or schools to give results within 15 minutes. Health Minister Patty Hajdu has said no company has submitted proof of accuracy to a high enough standard that would satisfy the regulator. On Thursday, Premier Doug Ford expressed frustration at what he suggested is foot-dragging by Health Canada. The federal agency has looked at about seven different types of tests, he said, adding it would take a huge, huge load off the public system if we can get this. And Im just asking them, please get moving on this, and try to get give us some help. Ford expressed frustration at not even knowing how long it might be before a rapid test is approved. Even if they tell us itll be a month down the road, thats all we need until we can start planning properly, he said. We thought this was going to be approved a long time ago, but some things take longer than others, so hopefully they got our message out there and theyre going to expedite this. Health Minister Christine Elliott said there are projects currently running at three hospitals where patients are having saliva-based tests. If they turn out to be helpful and reliable with their results, then this is a type of testing that would probably be very useful to use in educational settings, particularly for younger children, she said. So, we want to make sure that these results are reliable. Thats why were running them in trials in the hospitals right now, and we hope to have the results very soon from that. On Thursday, the Air Transport Association of Canada, which represents some 70 regional and smaller airline carriers in Canada, added its voice to the chorus calling for rapid tests, saying many of its members are operating at 15 to 20 per cent of their normal levels. It believes that rapid testing would facilitate the removal of the quarantine rules for travel to and within Canada, said association president John McKenna. The opposition Conservatives have been pressuring the government to seek out and approve rapid testing options for COVID-19, citing long waits for Canadians to receive the current nasal swab test, and longer waits to receive the results. The second wave of the pandemic is here and most Canadians cant afford to take two or three weeks off to get tested for COVID, Conservative deputy leader Candice Bergen told the House of Commons on Thursday. Half a year and half a trillion dollars later, Canadian families still have to wait in line for hours and sometimes days to get tested. Why is the prime minister failing Canadians on this vital test during the pandemic? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shot back that the federal government has been working with provinces and territories which are ultimately responsible for administering the testing regime in their jurisdictions and noting that Ottawa funneled $19 billion to the provinces to assist with reopening during COVID-19. Well continue to do what it takes to ensure our scientists have all the tools necessary to rapidly approve the tests that are safe for Canadians, he said. The Conservatives Ontario caucus stirred up controversy this week when its members used a serological test that has not been approved by Health Canada before its regional caucus meeting. A spokesperson for Conservative Leader Erin OToole told CBC the Ontario caucus invited the company behind the testing method, which is seeking approvals from Health Canada, to appear at its Tuesday meeting. In the Commons Thursday, Conservative health critic Michelle Rempel Garner noted that close allies like the United States and Japan have approved rapid-testing options, and accused the Liberal government of dragging its heels on reviewing the technology. Hajdu said the governments advice and approvals will change as the scientific understanding of COVID-19 changes. OToole and his wife, Rebecca, have both tested positive for COVID-19 and are self-isolating in their Ottawa home. When I spoke to Mr. Trudeau last week, I asked him to ensure that Canadians had better and faster access to COVID testing options, OToole said in his response to the Liberals throne speech on Wednesday. It is unacceptable that we trust countries like the United States, Germany and Japan with our national security intelligence, but dont trust their approval of 15-minute saliva tests. Read more about: TENDERD's telematics technology allows machines to become smart, relaying insightful information such as productivity data, as well as emissions generated from various equipment. If you want to attract more entrepreneurs to focus on innovating on the circular economy, it has to make financial sense. Arjun Mohan, the founder and CEO of TENDERD, joined influential speakers from around the world at the World Economic Forums Sustainable Development Impact Summit that took place on Thursday, 23rd of September. Arjun shared his views on how Circular Innovation can benefit the world's economy, citing examples on how technology can be leveraged to incentivize the right behavior. According to the World Economic Forum, Circular Economy promotes the continual safe use of natural resources and the elimination of waste. Today, only 8.6% of the economy is circular but there is a potential to yield $4.5 trillion by 2030 while helping to achieve climate change objectives. As part of a poll during the virtual summit, the participants were asked to rate their organizations circular efforts. The majority of them responded that their organizations are on track, they are ahead of the curve but they need to do much more. When asked to comment on the result of the poll, Arjun said, Its positive but it is rather expected, since those participating in the session are familiar with the term Circular Economy and its importance. But what about the rest of the people? How many actually know what circular economy is and how to act?. He further suggested that the entire population needs to be educated and that the governments (of the world) have a crucial role to play in rewarding and incentivizing good behavior. For the question How can we scale technology innovation and entrepreneurship for a circular economy?, Arjun responded, As an entrepreneur on the ground, Im going to look at the problem bottom up. If you want to attract more entrepreneurs to focus on innovating on the circular economy, it has to make financial sense. He pointed out that at least at the moment, the circular economy is not financially attractive. It was suggested that the big and old industries who have a huge footprint should form the cornerstones of any plans to introduce a circular economy. So, I think the government has a really strong role to play such as setting standards, monitoring them, motivating companies to follow specific standards is super important. Once all these problems are identified, the best place to go for a solution is the startup ecosystem, where entrepreneurs have ambitious approaches on how to solve them. By partnering startups with big companies, it will be profitable and sustainable for entrepreneurs to focus in this area. Companies will benefit and governments will have successfully accelerated their economy towards this goal, he concluded. The construction industry is one of the biggest and oldest industries, which have a huge impact on the environment. It also is the oldest and most important industry in the world, contributing at least US$10 Trillion per year to the worlds economy, while employing at least 1 out of every 15 people of working age. Technology can bring innovation to the industry and eliminate its footprint. One of the key principles of Circular Economy is to keep products and materials in use. TENDERD is a huge believer in the Circular Economy and its platform is built to propagate sustainable actions and decisions within the industry. Its heavy equipment is rented out to maximize utility, and its telematics technology allows machines to become smart. The parties connected onto its platform have access to insightful information such as productivity data, as well as emissions generated from various equipment. Watch the recorded session of the Circular Innovation for the Economic Reset here: https://www.weforum.org/events/sustainable-development-impact-summit-2020/sessions/accelerating-the-transition-to-a-circular-economy-times-shown-are-cet About TENDERD: TENDERD is a heavy equipment rental marketplace, which helps contractors and developers rent and manages construction equipment in a systematic and efficient way. From real-time productivity monitoring to predictive maintenance alerts, TENDERD offers a comprehensive software platform to rent and manage equipment more effectively. To learn more: http://www.tenderd.com Media contact: Daphne Sakellariou, d.sakellariou@tenderd.com An extremely small Rubiks Cube has gone on sale in Japan for 198,000 yen, or about $1,900. Advertised as a super-small Rubiks Cube, it was created to mark the 40th anniversary of the box-shaped puzzle in Japan. The cube measures just 9.9 millimeters by 9.9 millimeters, and weighs 2 grams. The puzzle is made of metal and comes with a box for its display, says MegaHouse Corporation, a business of Japans Bandai Company. The Rubiks Cube is very small but playable. People can buy it now and expect shipment beginning in December. Erno Rubik of Hungary invented the Rubiks Cube in the 1970s. At the time, he was an architecture professor. An American company, Ideal Toys, turned the puzzle into a hit product in the 1980s. It was an immediate hit in Japan, where more than 4 million were sold in the first eight months after it went on sale in July 1980. By 1982, more than 100 million Rubiks Cubes were sold worldwide. The new tiny cube was shown this week at an exhibit in Tokyo organized by the Hungarian Embassy. The exhibit also includes an artwork made with Rubiks Cubes. The show ends on November 9. Norbert Palanovics, the Hungarian Ambassador to Japan, said he tells anyone who will listen about the Rubiks Cube. He said it represents the small, simple but intelligent qualities of the country that he is so proud of. The Rubiks Cube is part of our everyday life, here in Japan, too, and inspires everyone, he said. 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 puzzle n. a question or problem that requires thought, skill, or cleverness to be answered or solved display n. an arrangement of objects intended to decorate, advertise, entertain, or inform people about something architecture n. the art or science of designing and creating buildings inspire v. to make (someone) want to do something : to give (someone) an idea about what to do or create proud adj. very happy and pleased because of something you have done, something you own, someone you know or are related to, etc. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. Earlier this month, he described how he disappeared while visiting Dubai and then turned up days later in Rwanda, a country his family says hed never return to voluntarily. Speaking to The New York Times with Rwandan authorities present, he said he thought the private plane he boarded in Dubai was going to Bujumbura, Burundi, where he had planned to speak to churches at a pastors invitation. CAIRO - Police at Cairos international airport arrested an Egyptian man returning from France on Friday with over 600 narcotic pills and two packs of marijuana stuffed into a carton of dates, according to airport authorities. Egyptian customs officials found 620 tablets of Tramadol, the powerful opioid painkiller, along with marijuana wrapped in cellophane, hidden in a box of Medjool dates a type of sweet, tree-dried fruits that the man had brought back with him from Paris. The unidentified passenger was detained and faces possible charges for violating Egypts anti-narcotics and smuggling laws, said Ibrahim Abdel-Latif, an official in the airports custom authority. Tramadol is listed by Egyptian authorities as an illegal drug because it is widely used as a heroin substitute. This was not the airports first brush with drug trafficking. Customs authorities say they routinely pick up foreigners and Egyptians alike for attempting to smuggle in outlawed painkillers and amphetamines popular in the Middle East. A 34-year-old British woman spent 13 months behind bars after she was caught sneaking a few hundred Tramadol pills into Egypt last year. Read more about: Advertisement The gunman who shot dead a Metropolitan Police custody sergeant in the early hours of the morning was deemed a 'potential terror threat' and had been referred to the anti-extremism Prevent programme, it was claimed today. The detained man was said to have been about to be assessed and have his temperature and details taken as part of new booking rules amid the coronavirus pandemic after arriving at Croydon custody centre in South London. But he shot the officer point-blank - allegedly in the chest - at about 2.15am this morning following his arrest on suspicion of possessing ammunition. Officers and paramedics then treated the officer - who was said to have been nearing retirement - at the scene before he was taken to hospital where he later died. The arrested man - who is still alive in hospital despite turning the gun on himself - had been arrested by a special constable with a normal officer on patrol after he was seen behaving strangely. They searched him and allegedly found ammunition on him, before handcuffing him and driving him in a patrol car to the custody centre. The man is understood to have been put into a holding cell, and the officer who died then opened the door to get his personal details and go through the station's Covid-19 procedures. It is believed that the suspect then produced the gun and shot the officer. Commissioner Cressida Dick added: 'Early indications are that the suspect shot himself. This has not yet been established as fact. The man remains in a critical condition in hospital.' Scotland Yard have not yet confirmed if he was on the radar of counter-terrorism police following the claims made by BBC News. However, it is believed that he had been referred to the Prevent programme. The programme is a government-led multi-agency scheme, involving the Home Office, counter-terrorism police and other authorities, which aims to prevent vulnerable people being drawn into extremism. Community leader Donna Murray-Turner described the officer shot dead this morning as 'warm, intelligent and funny'. She told MailOnline: 'He was a good person. He helped me in setting up stop and search workshops. 'I will work with anyone who wants to make change and he was one of those people. 'I would just want his family to know I was loved by them and he was loved by members of the community.' Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick and Home Secretary Priti Patel this afternoon observed a minute's silence inside the atrium at Scotland Yard. And outside the Croydon Custody Centre this afternoon, officers bowed their heads in remembrance and laid touching floral tributes to their fallen comrade. The custody sergeant is the tenth police officer to have been killed in the line of duty in the past decade, with the last being Andrew Harper in Berkshire in August 2019. PC Harper's widow Lissie Harper said on Facebook that it was 'utterly devastating', adding: 'What is happening to our world?' Today's incident marks the first time a UK police officer has been shot dead on duty since September 2012 when Dale Cregan killed PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone. Detectives said a 23-year-old man was arrested by officers at the scene and taken to hospital with a gunshot wound, where he remains in a critical condition. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick and Home Secretary Priti Patel observe a minute's silence inside the atrium at Scotland Yard, London Outside the Croydon Custody Centre this afternoon, police officers bowed their heads to remember their colleague and brought flowers as tributes (pictured) Sadiq Khan, Commissioner Dick and Ms Patel all solemnly bowed their heads as they silently remembered the officer who died Unformed officers laid bouquets of flowers outside the Croydon custody centre where a police officer was killed today A tribute was left outside the custody centre where the officer was shot dead. The card said he was the 'greatest sergeant' Two officers were seen carrying flowers to pay tribute to the sergeant who was shot dead in Croydon custody centre on Friday morning Community leader Donna Murray-Turner (right, pictured with police officers during a minutes silence today) described the officer shot dead this morning as 'warm, intelligent and funny' A Metropolitan Police officer receives floral tributes from members of the public at Croydon custody centre Members of the public carry floral tributes to Croydon custody centre to pay tribute to the police officer who was shot dead Colleagues lay flowers at the scene of the shooting at the Croydon custody centre in the early hours of this morning Women hug next to floral tributes at Croydon custody centre. A police officer was shot dead in the early hours of Friday morning Metropolitan Police officers collect floral tributes at Croydon custody centre on September 25. A police officer was shot dead in the early hours of the morning A forensics officer is pictured this morning at Croydon custody centre in South London The man was being detained at Croydon custody centre in South London (pictured today) A police officer moves the floral tributes from outside the Croydon Custody Centre in south London today Superintendent Andy Brittain observes a minute's silence outside Croydon Custody Centre in south London on Friday Police forensics officers at Croydon custody centre in South London this morning Police at the scene of the shooting at the Croydon custody suite in South London this morning Police officers bow their heads outside Croydon custody centre in South London following the man's death Police bring flowers to Croydon custody centre today where a police officer was shot by a man in London A woman brings flowers to Croydon custody centre in South London this afternoon following the shooting What is 'Prevent' and how do authorities use it to combat terrorism offences? Prevent is a government-led multi-agency scheme, involving the Home Office, counter-terrorism police and other authorities. As part of the scheme, police work with local authority partners and community organisations to help find solutions and work to support and protect vulnerable people from being drawn into terrorism. If a person is assessed as being a terrorism risk, they may be referred to the Home Office's Channel programme. The Channel programme is part of the Prevent strategy, and focuses on providing support at an early stage to people who are identified as being vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. At this point, they maybe given help from a mentor. Following assessment, many referrals to Prevent do not result in any further police action, say counter-terrorism police. In some cases other organisations such as health, housing or education step in to provide support instead. The three key points of the Prevent Strategy are to: - Responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views - Provide practical help to prevent individuals from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support -Work with a wide range of institutions (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health) where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to deal with. Advertisement Questions for Scotland Yard chiefs after sergeant's death How did officers miss that he was carrying a gun? Questions are being asked how on earth a criminal suspect was able to get a gun into a police station, which are supposed to be some of the most secure buildings in the country. It also raises the possibility he may have been able to get through a metal detector with the firearm on him. Did the suspect have the murder weapon on him the whole time? It is presumed that the suspect had the gun on him throughout the entire period of his arrest, but it is also possible that he got hold of it at some point after being arrested. There will be questions to establish exactly when he had the gun on his possession and for how long, given how rare the illegal weapons are in the UK. What type of firearm did he manage to smuggle inside the station? How the suspect got the gun into the custody centre will depend on the calibre and size of the weapon. If it was a small piece and was hidden on him, investigators attentions will then focus on how thoroughly he was searched. Was he searched on arrest - and was he searched when he got to the station? The procedure followed by the arresting police will depend on the circumstances when the suspect was detained. It is thought he was brought into the station, so how thoroughly was he searched during and after the arrest? Did the custody officer authorise a strip search? The search would have been expected to take place outside the police station. Once inside the police station, you would then expect a more thorough search, and the custody officer may authorise a strip search which could find weapons hidden around a persons body, secreted away from their clothes and pockets. Was the suspect handcuffed when he was arrested if not, why not? It is not clear whether the suspect was put in handcuffs when he was arrested. Police can handcuff people when arresting them and use 'reasonable force', but there is no rule that they have to be handcuffed. Was he searched while he was taken to the station? Under the Police Reform Act 2002, escort officers have the power to search people being taken to or from a police station and seize evidence while in transit from the place of arrest. Was the car searched to ensure nothing was hidden? Officers must also search vehicles before and after use to make sure items have not been hidden. The College of Policing guidance says: 'Staff must always consider whether they should exercise their powers to search before placing a detainee in a vehicle.' Did the police leave him unsupervised at any point? Police have the power to search a person on arrest and use reasonable force to conduct these. After a suspect has been searched on arrest 'they should not be left unsupervised until they have been presented to the custody officer, who will decide whether or not a further search is necessary'. Did the new Covid booking rules affect the situation? New Covid-19 checks brought in as the pandemic intensified mean suspects often have to wait in a holding area to have their temperature checked in case they have coronavirus symptoms. There are therefore questions over whether a full search had taken place before the suspect's temperature could be checked. Do special constables normally arrest people over a firearms offence? Special constables have all the same powers as police officers despite being volunteers, and so they can carry out any type of arrests. The special constable who is said to have arrested the suspect would have also been with a normal officer. Was the suspect being watched by counter-terror police? The suspect was allegedly known to counter-terrorism police and had previously been on their radar. Questions will therefore be raised over the level of searches carried out on the suspect. Under the Police Reform Act 2002, escort officers have the power to search people being taken to or from a police station and seize evidence while in transit from the place of arrest. Advertisement Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: 'My deepest condolences go to the family, friends and colleagues of the police officer who was killed in Croydon last night. We owe a huge debt to those who risk their own lives to keep us safe.' Scotland Yard said no police firearms were discharged, and they were informing the officer's relatives and supporting them with specialist officers. A number of policing colleagues changed their social media profile pictures to black, with a blue line, as a mark of respect to the officer. Met Police officer Stuart James tweeted: 'This morning my team and I responded to the worst possible radio transmission from custody, words and scenes I shall never forget. 'The unimaginable happened to our police family. We have lost not only a good skipper but also a real gentleman. One of the best. RIP brother.' Community police officer Jacqueline Kufuor burst into tears after laying flowers outside the centre in tribute to her colleague. She said that the deceased officer was 'a lovely guy' and 'the nicest man I have ever met'. She said: 'You never expect this to happen when you go to work. For him to have been in custody and for this to have happened, it is just so sad.' She said: 'He was a very lovely man. He was such a nice man. When he sees you, he would just stand and talk to you. He would ask you about your job and how your are coping and how you are doing out there. So when I ever had issues, I would just talk to him.' Neil John-Baptiste, 44, a recovery driver of Thornton Heath in south London, drove down to the centre to lay flowers. He said: 'I just think that a police officer has lost his life in the course of doing his duty. 'I think it is really disheartening what happened here today. These are just flowers but it is a mark of respect. Things have got to change.' Commissioner Cressida Dick said: 'This morning we learnt of the shocking death of a much-loved colleague, a long-serving sergeant in the Metropolitan Police who was working last night in our Croydon custody suite. 'I have visited and spoken to our officer's partner together with other colleagues. We are giving her the best support we can.' She added: 'Early indications are that the suspect shot himself. This has not yet been established as fact. The man remains in a critical condition in hospital. 'I understand that there is considerable interest in the identity of the officer but we have not yet been able to inform all of his close family.' Scotland Yard said it had referred the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) which will lead an independent investigation. Speaking at the Home Office, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: 'I'm deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic killing of the officer in Croydon overnight. 'All our thoughts are with the officer's family, friends and colleagues across the Metropolitan Police force, but also policing family across the country. 'This is a sad day for our country as once again we see the tragic killing of a police officer in the line of duty as they're trying to protect us and keep us safe. 'Later on today I'll be meeting with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to discuss the investigation that is currently taking place, and of course the Metropolitan Police Service now need the time and the space to get on with the inquiry that now needs to follow.' Leroy Logan, a former Metropolitan Police superintendent, said there were a number of questions to be answered around the circumstances which led to the shooting of an officer at a police station. He told BBC News: 'The first thing you want to know is how did this happen? 'How did that person come to be in the station whether it's in the yard or the building itself and be able to produce a weapon, whether it's on them at the time. 'It depends on the calibre of the weapon, because obviously if it's a small weapon and it can be easily in that person's clothing, then obviously it brings another question on how thoroughly that person was searched, if at all. 'Those are the things the department for professional standards will look at and the Independent Office for Police Conduct as well as the investigating officers who will have to look at this thing thoroughly. 'Because there's a lot of learning and obviously there's a lot of pain for the family and friends and colleagues of that officer who has fallen in the line of duty.' Speaking to BBC News, former Metropolitan Police superintendent Mr Logan said the procedure followed will depend on the circumstances in which police came into contact with a suspect. He said: 'It depends if that person was arrested outside the police station and has been transported in a vehicle. Invariably these officers will search that individual to make sure they haven't got anything that can harm other people or themselves. Police bring flowers to Croydon custody centre in South London today after a police officer was shot by a man A police officer lays flowers outside Croydon custody centre in South London this afternoon Police officers outside Croydon custody centre in South London this afternoon as they mourn their colleague's death A man reacts as flowers are laid down outside Croydon custody centre in South London this afternoon A man carries a bag of evidence next to Croydon custody centre in South London this afternoon Floral tributes outside Croydon custody centre in South London today following the death of a police officer Police officers stand outside Croydon custody centre in South London this afternoon following the shooting Police lined up while socially distanced outside the Windmill Road Custody Suite in Croydon today following the incident this morning Police officers held a minute-long silence in memory of the officer following the shooting earlier today at a custody suite in Croydon Police officers and community leaders hold a minute's silence outside Windmill Road Custody Suite to mark the death of their colleague Police forensics at Croydon custody centre in South London this morning Investigations are being carried out at Croydon custody centre today following the shooting A forensics officer works at Croydon custody centre this morning after the incident overnight Police officers leave flowers outside Croydon custody centre in south London today following the shooting Officers lay floral tributes outside Croydon custody centre today following the death of a police officer People carry flowers to Croydon custody centre in South London today after a police officer was shot by a man A woman arrives to lay flowers outside Croydon custody centre in South London this afternoon A woman lays flowers outside Croydon custody centre in South London this afternoon A police officer lays flowers outside Croydon custody centre in South London this morning A police officer stands by the scene of the shooting at the Croydon custody suite in South London this morning A police officer lays flowers outside Croydon custody centre in South London this morning 'Or try and hide any material whether it's drugs or any sort of articles that they shouldn't have. How the custody sergeant is the tenth police officer to have been killed in the line of duty in the past decade The custody sergeant is the tenth police officer to have been killed in the line of duty in the past decade. The other nine are as follows: Andrew Harper , 28, Thames Valley Police - Killed on August 15, 2019 after being dragged by a vehicle while investigating a burglary report , 28, Thames Valley Police - Killed on August 15, 2019 after being dragged by a vehicle while investigating a burglary report Gareth Browning , 36, Thames Valley Police Died on April 1, 2017 after being struck by a suspect's vehicle while deploying a stinger in 2013 , 36, Thames Valley Police Died on April 1, 2017 after being struck by a suspect's vehicle while deploying a stinger in 2013 Keith Palmer , 48, Metropolitan Police Stabbed on March 22, 2017 in the Westminster Bridge attack , 48, Metropolitan Police Stabbed on March 22, 2017 in the Westminster Bridge attack David Phillips , 34, Merseyside Police Run over on October 5, 2015 during a police pursuit , 34, Merseyside Police Run over on October 5, 2015 during a police pursuit Andrew Duncan , 47, Metropolitan Police - Run over by a suspect on September 22, 2013 , 47, Metropolitan Police - Run over by a suspect on September 22, 2013 Adele Cashman , 30, Metropolitan Police Collapsed on November 5, 2012 pursuing robbery suspects , 30, Metropolitan Police Collapsed on November 5, 2012 pursuing robbery suspects Fiona Bone , 32, and Nicola Hughes 23, Greater Manchester Police Shot dead on September 18, 2012 , 32, and 23, Greater Manchester Police Shot dead on September 18, 2012 Ian Dibell , 41, Essex Police Shot while off duty on July 9, 2012 as he was confronting an armed man Advertisement 'That's standard procedure and of course that's for security reasons just in case they have got a weapon. 'There are circumstances where someone might turn up at the custody suite area itself in the reception and are led straight through. 'So not knowing all of the details, how this person got into the secure area of the station, whether it's outside the building or in the yard or whatever, we just need to try and find out what's happened because the details are very, very scant.' Former Metropolian Police officer Dal Babu told LBC Radio: 'A full body search, you'd expect that to take place at the time of the arrest. 'The once they're in the police station you might do a more thorough search, the custody officer may authorise a strip search, and that's when you may find other weapons on individuals. 'For safety purposes officers are advised to carry out the search at the time of the arrest. 'Officers are having to travel some significant distances to take prisoners to custody suites.' Steve Reed, Labour MP for Croydon North, said his thoughts were with the officer's family and colleagues. He tweeted: 'All of us in Croydon are in shock at this heartbreaking tragic news.' Mr Reed, 46, left a floral tribute at the scene with party chair Mohammed Islam, 46. Mr Islam was 'deeply touched' by the incident as his son Shakz, 23, is waiting for his start date to become a police officer covering Westminster, Fulham and Chelsea. He said: 'This is why I am really really touched by what has happened. It's very shocking and devastating news as I never thought something to this extent could happen in this day and age. 'I really feel for the family. The bravery the emergency services show in protecting us is incredible. I know that my son will also show this courage and not be deterred by this awful event.' His son Shakz Islam, 23, said: 'When I heard an officer had been shot dead, I was absolutely shocked. My brother kept calling me to tell me someone had been killed a custody officer. Forensic officers at Croydon custody centre in South London today following the shooting Police tape cordon inside Croydon custody centre in South London this morning Police officers are seen at Croydon custody centre in South London this morning Police are investigating the incident after a custody sergeant was shot in the early hours Police officers stood at the scene at Croydon custody centre in South London this morning 'It's absolutely appalling but does not put me off wanting to become an officer. If anything it makes me want to protect the public more and shows the career is worthwhile.' What are special constables and can they arrest people? Special constables are volunteer police officers who work with and support their local force. They spend an average of four hours a week supporting detectives and after completing training have the same powers as regular officers, unlike PCSOs or police support volunteers. This therefore means a special constable is entitled to arrest someone in exactly the same way as a normal officer. Their main role is carry out local intelligence-based patrols and to take part in crime prevention initiatives in problem areas. Among their duties they conduct foot patrols; assist at the scene of accidents; carry out house-to-house enquiries; provide security at major events and tackle anti-social behaviour. They are not paid but do receive expenses, and are recruited locally by all 43 Home Office police forces in England and Wales. Advertisement Brother Zak Islam, 20, added: 'It's just such a surprise that it's happened here. A custody station like this is supposed to keep people safe. 'I just don't get how the gun wasn't found during a search before he was taken into the building. It may have prevented it from happening. I've grown up here my whole life and like living here. 'It is a bit rough but crime seems to have seriously dropped since the police station was built around five years ago.' Recovery driver Neil Garcia, 44, heard a helicopter circling overhead after he returned from work shortly after 1am. He added to the bunches of flowers left outside the custody centre. Mr Garcia said: 'It's not a surprise to hear a helicopter round here late at night but I saw the devastating news this morning. I thought it was only right to lay flowers today because a human being has lost their life at the end of the day. 'There might be a lot of tension between young people and the police around here but it's the same with many communities. 'While I don't know this officer, I know a lot of good people in the police who helped me turn my life around when I was younger so this has touched my heart. 'These people are just doing their job out of love for the communities they serve and there's no way something like this should happen to them.' Meanwhile Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: 'Horrific to hear of a police officer being shot and killed in Croydon. 'Our police put themselves in harm's way every day to keep us safe. All my thoughts are with the officer's family, friends and colleagues.' London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted: 'Devastated by this news. My heart goes out to the family of this brave officer, who has paid the ultimate price for helping to keep Londoners safe. A police officer is pictured at the scene this morning following the shooting overnight A police van is pictured outside Croydon custody centre in South London this morning Crime scene investigators are working at the custody centre in South London this morning 'Tragic incidents like this are terrible reminders of the dangers our police officers face every single day.' What is the police protocol for searching suspects? When police detain a suspect they must follow a protocol on carrying out searches. The College of Policing sets out a string of procedures officers should follow when conducting a search, saying that this is 'important' as it reduces the risk of harm to staff, protects the safety of a suspect and ensures any potential evidence can be seized. Section 54 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) gives officers the power to search someone who has been arrested on arrival at a police station. After a suspect's arrival at the police station and for the duration of their time there, these rules apply to constables and designated detention officers. Staff are subject to training on searches and refresher courses. This can include a strip search, although officers are not encouraged to automatically resort to carrying these out unless considered necessary. Codes of practice require the custody officer to explain the reasons for the search to a detainee and how it will be conducted, as well as ensuring it is done so with 'respect and dignity'. Separate powers also allow searches at any other time if a custody officer believes a detainee is in possession of an item which could injury themselves or anyone else, damage property, allow them the tamper with evidence, or escape. This law also gives officers the power to search a person on arrest and use reasonable force to conduct these. After a suspect has been searched on arrest 'they should not be left unsupervised until they have been presented to the custody officer, who will decide whether or not a further search is necessary'. Meanwhile, under the Police Reform Act 2002, escort officers have the power to search people being taken to or from a police station and seize evidence while in transit from the place of arrest. Officers must also search vehicles before and after use to make sure items have not been hidden. The College of Policing guidance says: 'Staff must always consider whether they should exercise their powers to search before placing a detainee in a vehicle. 'In large-scale public order situations it may be safer to remove the detainee from the incident and then conduct the search.' Advertisement Justice Secretary Robert Buckland tweeted he was 'shocked and saddened' by the news. He said: 'My thoughts are with the officer's loved ones, colleagues and the wider police community.' A London Ambulance Service spokesman said: 'We were called at 2.16am this morning to reports of an incident on Windmill Lane, Croydon. 'We sent two ambulance crews, an incident response officer, an advanced paramedic and two medics in cars. We also dispatched a London's Air Ambulance trauma team. 'The first of our medics were at the scene in under four minutes. We treated two people at the scene and took them both by road to a major trauma centre.' Maria Tripi, who lives opposite the police station, said she was woken by the noise of ambulances. The 66-year-old said: 'I was woken up at around 2.20am. 'I saw the blue lights in my room so I looked out and saw three ambulances, one was inside and two were outside. 'Then there was a lot more police vehicles and they were all rushing very quickly along the road. Then later I saw the forensic officers wearing all white. 'Then when I saw the news in the morning I couldn't believe it. It's a police station, I never thought that could happen there. 'I was so surprised because when I heard I was worried it could be terrorism or something like that because it's so terrible. 'It's very scary because there was so many police. I was scared for the police inside. I live near a police station, normally I feel safe here. 'I think the police need more support from the Government for more help and equipment because crime is so terrible in Croydon, its very bad.' Policing minister Kit Malthouse updated MPs about the officer's death, adding: 'May justice follow this heinous crime.' Raising a point of order in the House of Commons, Mr Malthouse said: 'We ask our police officers to do an extraordinary job. 'The fact that one of them has fallen in the line of performing that duty is a tragedy for the entire nation. 'I know the entire House will offer their condolences to his family and friends and colleagues. May he rest in peace and may justice follow this heinous crime.' Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle added: 'It is shocking news. This should never happen to the people that protect us and make us safe. 'All our thoughts and prayers go with the family and friends and the police community.' Croydon Central MP and shadow policing minister Sarah Jones told Times Radio: 'It's absolutely devastating. 'I just feel so sorry for the family of the officer who has been shot dead and so sorry for the community of our police in Croydon who are obviously a family of people who work together every day, who put themselves out in danger every day, drive into danger and are a really close family and they are going to be absolutely devastated and I'm just so sorry. Officers and paramedics treated the unnamed officer at the custody centre (pictured today) Two officers walk through the scene at Croydon custody centre in South London this morning An aerial view of Croydon custody centre in South London this morning following the shooting Forensic specialists are seen at the custody centre after the officer was shot dead this morning Police officers at the scene as a forensics specialist walks past in South London this morning Flowers are laid down outside the custody centre this afternoon following the shooting 'Of course there are going to be questions asked about what happened... and we'll get to the bottom of what happened and why. Officers leave heartfelt poem pinned to bouquet Just before 2pm a dozen uniformed police officers walked silently to the custody centre, laid two large bouquets and bowed their heads as they stood side-by-side in tribute to their colleague. They left a minute later without saying a word. A poem pinned to one of the bouquets read: Time to come home dear brother Your tour of duty through You have given as much as anyone could be expected to do Just a few steps further the smoke will start to clear Others here will guide you You have no need of fear You have not failed your brothers You clearly gave it all And through your selfless actions Others will hear the call Secure your place of honour Among those who have gone before And know you will be remembered For now and evermore Advertisement 'But today, it's an absolute tragedy and not something you ever think is going to happen.' Reverend Catherine Tucker, of Holy Saviour Church whose parish covers the custody centre, said: 'I am sad for both the death of the police officer but also the perpetrator. 'We are conscious of tensions between young people and police in this area over the past few years and we are actually running a project to try and improve those relationships. 'Unfortunately I am not really surprised that something like this has happened in Croydon. 'This is a highly and richly diverse area with very strong community links but it's one of the most highly deprived areas in terms of poverty rate in the whole country.' Admin assistant Wilhelmina Jew, 45, who lives nearby, said: 'I only saw all the activity outside the police station so when I saw it on the news, I realised that must be it. 'It is completely unacceptable for anyone to kill a police officer because they are they are the last line of support for the community. 'Sometimes I really wish we lived in a country village because sadly this sort of thing happens all too often.' The shadow justice secretary, Labour's David Lammy, tweeted: 'Appalling news that a police officer has been shot dead in Croydon. 'It is tragic when an officer loses their life in the line of duty while doing their job keeping the public safe. My thoughts and condolences are with the officer's family, colleagues and friends.' Yvette Cooper, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said: 'It is truly awful news that a brave police officer has been killed. 'My thoughts and deep sympathies go out to the family, friends and colleagues of this brave officer - and also to everyone in policing who will be feeling this loss deeply. 'Every day our police put themselves in harm's way to keep us all safe - it is devastating for this to happen to someone working to protect others'. National Police Chiefs' Council chairman Martin Hewitt said: 'This is a truly terrible incident and my thoughts and condolences go out to the officer, his family, friends and colleagues at what is a deeply distressing time. A poem pinned to one of the bouquets left at the scene by police officers following the incident in South London 'It is another tragic reminder of the risks police officers take on a daily basis to keep the public safe. 'My heart is broken', says PC Andrew Harper's widow Lissie Lissie and Andrew Harper Lissie Harper, the widow of Pc Andrew Harper who was killed on duty last year, said in a statement: 'This is devastating news. No person should go to work never to return. No human being should be stripped of their life in a barbaric act of crime. 'Another hero has been taken from us in unwarranted violence. 'They protect us but who protects them? Another life is gone in a disgraceful act that reminds us of the danger our police officers face with every shift they begin. 'My heart is broken for yet another member of our blue line family, and all of his family, friends and colleagues who must now accept a life without him in it. 'My thoughts and love are resolutely with them.' Advertisement 'Policing is a family and I join my colleagues across the country in mourning the senseless death of one of our own in the line of duty.' Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: 'The murder of a colleague on duty is utterly devastating news. Officers across London are in shock and sick to their stomachs at the nature of his death. 'All our thoughts - and that of all our members - are with his family, friends and close colleagues at this time. We and all members of the police family across the country are all utterly heartbroken at this news.' He added: 'Officers put themselves in danger every day to protect the public. Sadly, on very rare occasions officers make the ultimate sacrifice whilst fulfilling their role. When that happens we will ensure their bravery and sacrifice is never forgotten. 'Colleagues involved in the incident will have our full support for as long as is needed.' IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: 'Our deepest sympathies go out to all those affected by this terrible event. 'We were notified by the MPS of the shooting incident at Croydon Custody Centre early this morning. 'We understand a police officer has since sadly died and a man is in a critical condition in hospital. 'A murder investigation by the force is under way. Our investigators are at the scene and police post incident procedure to begin our independent enquiries.' Croydon Police had tweeted last night that they had an 'uplift in officers helping you keep safe tonight regarding Covid compliance rules'. A police car is pictured outside Croydon custody centre in South London this morning A police van is pictured outside Croydon custody centre in South London this morning Forensics officers at the scene at Croydon custody centre in South London this morning The sergeant was shot at 2.15am this morning at Croydon custody centre (pictured today) Flowers left outside Croydon custody centre in South London today following the shooting A police van outside Croydon custody centre this morning after an officer was shot dead Home Secretary Priti Patel released the above statement following the sergeant's death It is believed to be the first time a police officer has been shot and killed on duty since September 2012 when Dale Cregan killed PCs Fiona Bone (left) and Nicola Hughes (right) Democrats arent being very subtle about their feelings toward Matt Lieberman, a Democratic candidate for one of Georgias two Senate seats on the ballot in November. The son of Joseph I. Lieberman, the former Connecticut senator and 2000 Democratic nominee for vice president, is resisting calls from just about everyone that he withdraw in deference to the Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor of Atlantas Ebenezer Baptist Church and a fellow Democrat, who leads him in the polls. On Friday, former President Barack Obama endorsed Dr. Warnock, making a rare foray into what is essentially a party primary. His backing comes a day after Stacey Abrams, the de facto head of Georgia Democrats, said, We need Matt Lieberman to understand hes not called for this moment. And The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday quoted Democrats from across the political spectrum urging Mr. Lieberman to quit. The reason Democrats want Mr. Lieberman out is that he is not competing in a traditional party primary. Because Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Republican, was appointed in December to replace Senator Johnny Isakson, the first round of voting for the final two years of her term is an all-party primary, with 21 names on the Nov. 3 ballot. Iraqi Seminarian Speaks About Becoming a Priest Post ISIS In the current context in Iraq and the world, the priestly and monastic vocations are "the pinnacle of love and service," said Wameedh Khalid Francis, one of 15 students attending St Peter's Chaldean Seminary in Ankawa, the Christian neighbourhood in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. In the village of Telskuf, he underwent this experience following the attack by the Islamic State group in the summer of 2014, which "destroyed everything," he told AsiaNews. "In a dangerous context [caused by the jihadi advance], the priest did his utmost as an engineer and as the humblest of workers: people turned to him for everything. "In this situation, I understood the meaning of mission;" for this reason, "I urge young people to undertake the loving service that our world needs today." Wameedh Khalid Francis, 21, hails from Telskuf, a Christian village in the Nineveh Plain, northern Iraq, where he completed his studies up to high school. He comes from a large family, with a brother, four sisters and their parents, growing up in harmony despite hardships, aggravated by the Islamic State's advances in Iraq and Syria. Recently, the Chaldean patriarch, Card Louis Raphael Sako, launched an appeal saying that the country and its Church need "new vocations, both male and female". Speaking first to families, he told them to encourage and support their children in this choice by nurturing their faith "through prayer and contemplation". In Wameedh Khalid Francis's case, "I felt for the first time the desire for the priestly vocation at the age of 12. At the time, I used to attend church every day and serve Mass as an altar boy. "One day I asked the priest to take me to the monastery to visit it. However, I was still very young . . . He advised me to finish high school first and then come back in case I still had a strong desire to become a priest." Today Iraq is still in a critical situation due to sectarian violence and widespread corruption. The Christian community must struggle to keep its culture, presence and traditions alive despite the massive exodus of recent years. "In this context, the heart of the mission is precisely to serve our people, with the love and dedication that Christ himself taught us. Again, we are called to make Jesus known by proclaiming and witnessing through our actions to those who do not yet know him," cognizant of the fact that Iraq is largely Muslim, characterised by rifts and tensions between Sunnis and Shias. For Wameedh Khalid Francis, the best way to respond to the primary task of proclamation "is to live the Gospel in a total and radical way" and show it to people. "Today's world needs more deeds, [more] seeds planted in the ground than words" which too often are empty or unheeded. It needs people, like the priest in Telskuf, bearing witness through works and deeds to confront the huge demands of people in need, desperate in the face of the jihadi tragedy. To his peers, male or female, he wants to show the beauty of priestly service and consecrated life. "Becoming a priest, a monk or a nun," says the seminarian, "means living the Christian mission in its fullness." This "involves total service, even if it has greater value and breadth for a priest or a consecrated person " than any other profession or lifestyle. For Wameedh Khalid Francis, many saints influenced his spiritual and vocational training, "but one stands out, Saint Charbel," a 19th century Lebanese Maronite monk who was canonised in 1977 by Pope Paul VI. Several miraculous healings are attributed to him and he is among the best known and revered figures of the Church in the East. Finally, the Chaldean seminarian turns his thoughts to the world's Catholic community, especially Catholics in the West, which has welcomed hundreds of thousands of Christians who have fled from Iraq in recent years. "To you, Christians and peoples of the West, I ask you not to forget us, and to always pray for us, that peace may reign throughout the East, so that Christians can finally live in peace in their land." 256pp, 499; Penguin Jahnavi Baruas Undertow is framed by minimalist almost melancholic stillness. This makes this novel, which was published in February this year before the world was silenced by the novel corona virus, unexpectedly prescient. Loya, a young elephant conservationist, comes to visit her grandfather in Guwahati for the first time. She has never met Torun before because her mother Rukmini was cast out of their family home for marrying her Malayali classmate. Rukminis mother had forbidden the match, but Torun had found middle ground: he helped his beloved daughter elope and then never spoke to her again to appease his formidable wife. Now, 25 years later, Loya has come to Assam from Bengaluru for the first time. Shes on her way to study the Elephas Maximus in Kaziranga but first, she wants to discover her roots. Undertow is about regret and reconciliation. Reading it is like sifting through a box full of old photographs and learning about the wordless people and places in them. Loya, still resentful, is a sulking guest she wants answers but doesnt want to ask Torun the questions. So on quiet afternoons, like a curious child she goes through things in her grandfathers house: bookshelves with old government gazettes and books on folklore, old furniture, the pantry to piece together her mothers past, and making sense of her emotional inheritance. Undertow envelopes with its quiet beauty especially in its descriptions of Guwahati and the Brahmaputra river. The Saraighat Bridge looked deceptively fragile, a wisp of spun sugar against the grey sky. On uncharacteristically hot September early mornings, At that secret hour, dew softened the ground while the air still held, possessively, memories of the river at night. Underneath all this softness is the dark undertow of anger hard feelings are left unspoken but keenly felt. On her wedding day, Rukmini, angry at her mother, stood under the hot shower Perversely daring it to scald her, but all the heat did was stain her fair skin pink and draw out her anger until she was empty of it. Torun and Loya circle around each others hurts in silence until a mild confrontation. But this is not revelatory novel. Its about how conflict casts its shadow over generations. Conflict is also at the heart of the story of Assam where most of the novel is set. The politics of migration enters this novel subtly. Loya learns about Assamese identity through conversations around the Assam Agitation, the movement in the late 1970s and early 80s against undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants, to expel illegal aliens, instead of arming them with citizenship and voting rights. Last year, these protests were rekindled against the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act, which allowed undocumented non-Muslims immigrants to get citizenship. For protestors elsewhere in the country, the Act was Islamophobic and discriminatory. But in several north-eastern states and especially Assam, the protests were against the acceptance of any immigrants in this case Bangladeshi Hindus who they felt would threaten Assamese identity. Torun tells Loya about the powerful Ahom dynasty from old Burma which ruled Assam for six centuries. They were not outsiders, he insists; they were migrants only in the way that everyone is in the beginning. But, they settled down. Assimilated. Converted to Hinduism from Buddhism and married our local girls the world was a different place in those days. Borders were more fluid and constantly refashioned by war. Loya, the daughter of an exile straddling her multiple identities, is the counter argument for our evolving sense of identity. Author Jahnavi Barua (JCB Literature Foundation/Getty Images) Barua, a doctor by training, has previously written a collection of short stories, Next Door (2008) and a novel, Rebirth (2011), about motherhood which was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize. Undertow becomes a part of an almost burgeoning literary movement which holds up a mirror and traces the political brewing in modern India. Annie Zaidis critically acclaimed novel Prelude to a Riot (2019) spelt out the sinking feeling of rising anxieties due to communalism and anti-immigrant biases. Madhuri Vijay delineates the Kashmir conflict in her multiple award-winning 2019 novel The Far Field, in which like in Undertow the protagonist is also a young 20-something woman from Bangalore who goes to Kashmir to look for answers to understand her mother. During the Assam agitation, Barua writes, bandhs were just that. Bandh. Everything closed, came to a grinding halt. I read Undertow when the COVID-19 lockdown had just begun. I realized then that I had never experienced the sounds of silence before. As I read about Rukmini who had lived through many of these suspended days when the city was inert with a silence broken only by the softest of sounds: the rustling of leaves in a mango tree as the wind passed through, the cawing of a crow from the top of a water tank, the muted chatter of a television. I could hear all of them. Saudamini Jain is an independent journalist. She lives in New Delhi. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Weeks after Pointe Coupee Parish public school teachers staged sickouts and stayed away from their classrooms to press their claim that the School Board had failed to deliver on a promised pay raise, the board voted during an emotional meeting Thursday to increase their pay some more but not to the full amount the teachers had expected. "I've heard my mom cry herself to sleep at night because she couldn't pay the bills," Jilyan Andrea, 12, told board members while choking through tears. She said her mother has struggled financially for years and believed that a property tax increase this summer would result in a $6,000 raise. The board OK'd a total of $5,250, tacking on an additional $2,250 after initially approving only $3,000. Following the boards decision, in a 6-2 vote, several teachers and school staff stood outside in a hallway, some openly crying. Because voting on the property tax increase was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, the School Board last month approved only half the amount of pay raises until January. Some board members had previously voiced worries the district didnt have the cash to support higher pay. The property tax increase passed overwhelmingly and had been advertised to voters as a way to increase teacher pay and address a budget deficit that, if voters had rejected the increase, could have led to school closures, layoffs and other cuts in educational services. Pointe Coupee teachers halt 'sickout' protest over pay raises ahead of meeting Pointe Coupee Parish teachers returned to classrooms Thursday after nearly a week of staging sickouts to protest the delay of pay raises the Thursdays decision directs that teacher pay go up by $1,250 in late December and an extra $1,000 in January. Board member Frank Aguillard, who moved to structure the pay raise this way, said teachers and staff will obtain full raises when the school district collects a full year of taxes. Ahead of the measure passing in August, supporters of the tax increase warned that perhaps up to half of the district's schools could close. They also said the money to support teacher and staff raises would help address the long-standing issue of educators especially teachers just starting their careers moving to neighboring districts that pay more. Chonnon Andre, a longtime Livonia High School teacher who graduated from there, said she stays in the district because she wanted to be close to family in her tight-knit hometown. But as a single mother of four, the lower pay compared to other districts has led her to take second jobs tutoring or work at restaurants. She said, "$750 is huge for my family. I have to work two jobs at a time to make ends meet." Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up +2 Pointe Coupee teachers stage 'sickout' Friday, frustrated with district's handling of pay raises Several Pointe Coupee Parish schools were closed Friday after teachers staged a sickout, frustrated with a change to a pay increase they wer Many teachers, frustrated when the School Board approved half the salary raise amount, called in sick, walked out of schools and forced temporary closures. Those demonstrations were part of an effort to pressure the board to reconsider an earlier decision to give teachers and staff only $3,000 when they were expecting $6,000. Lucy Poley, whos taught in the district for 32 years, said voters, as well as teachers, had expected they would receive raises not long after the tax passed. Pointe Coupee Parish schools have long struggled with financial difficulties and was facing an estimated $1.5 million budget shortfall at the end of the last school year, prompting the board to put a 9.5-mill increase on the ballot. Poley said she now worries some voters may change their minds in 10 years when the tax is up for renewal. Teachers halted sickouts after striking a truce with district leaders after being reassured the board would revisit raises and its approval was likely. School Board President Tom Nelson said he was disappointed at the turn of events. Without specifics, he touched on comments some board members made about criticism the board had received on social media. Were talking about $750 because someone posted something we didnt like on Snapchat or Facebook, Nelson said. Teachers say they plan to be at schools on Friday. So-called shareholder derivative lawsuits have sprung up in the wake of Me Too revelations of sexual misconduct by executives or prominent employees as a way to try to hold companies accountable. In similar lawsuits at 21st Century Fox and Wynn Resorts, the damages won by shareholders were paid out by insurers to the companies, instead of to the individuals who sued. After a sexual harassment scandal at its Fox News division, 21st Century Fox agreed to a settlement that included a $90 million payment from insurers and the formation of an advisory committee to improve its workplace culture. The settlement with Alphabet also does not direct money to the people who sued, but it does steer funding and policies to prevent the bad behavior from recurring. Ms. Reiser hailed it for setting a new level of corporate governance and accountability, as well as a standard for the rest of the technology industry. The level of board involvement and executive accountability, she said, goes far beyond what weve seen in other settlements. As the lawsuits started piling up, Alphabets board created a committee of independent directors to investigate the claims, interviewing current and former directors and employees. After the review, the committee determined that it should try to resolve the claims, according to the settlement. Alphabet and its directors denied any wrongdoing in the document laying out the agreement. The company has undergone a significant changing of the guard in the last few years. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who founded Google more than two decades ago, stepped down from a day-to-day role at the company in late 2019. David Drummond, a longtime company lawyer who kept his job even after details of an extramarital relationship he had with a woman who worked for him became public, left Alphabet this year. Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive, who was known to appear at company events with women he was seeing in extramarital relationships, left the board in 2019. (ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) Nearly 2,000 Buchanan County residents received invalid absentee ballots this week. Buchanan County being one of two counties in the state to send out a wrongly worded proposal to Amendment 3. It just slipped through the cracks. Its an honest mistake. It happens and unfortunately, it happened here in Buchanan, said Mary Baack-Garvey, Buchanan County Clerk. On Tuesday, 1,700 absentee ballots were sent out to registered voters in Buchanan County, printed with incorrect, outdated language for Amendment No. 3. Language, Buchanan County voters said grossly differs from what it should be. To mislead the voters and make them think they were voting for something they were voting for something really good. Without having anything on the ballot that said, hey, this replacing just what you voted for in 2018. Why would anyone do anything about it? said Jane Frick, Co-facilitator of Persisterhood. The updated language for Amendment No. 3 asks voters if they wish to change the redistricting process passed back in 2018 from a non-partisan figure, drawing district lines, to a Governor-appointed bipartisan commisson(s). Baack-Garvey apologizing for the ballot error. Im not used to proofing state issues. Thats usually done by the vendors, by the state and it was confusing because the language on Amendment 3 bounced back and forth on how it was going to be worded, " said Baack-Garvey, "We have gone above and beyond to make sure everything is ready for election day. Yes, we had a small mishap. I apologize for that, but thats it. It got caught early and its done. Buchanan County is sending a new ballot to each absentee voter, accompanied with a letter explaining the language change. Baack-Garvey said the mistake will cost the county approximately $3,000. I know that the local election authority here is working to make sure that is taken care of and I have full faith in her ability to do that, said Jay Ashcroft, Missouri Secretary of State. For county residents voicing their concerns over ballots being counted twice, Baack-Garvey said their office's system won't let that happen. Each voter has their special number and letter coded to their ballot. So, when John Smiths ballot, even if its the original ballot comes in, were gonna know its the original ballot because it doesnt have the second coding letter. On the new ballot, John Smith will have 101-AA; that means second ballot. It's a very simple process, we have it down. It shouldnt be confusing at all. Nobodys going to vote twice. Its a one and done vote, said Baack-Garvey. Baack-Garvey said this mishap shouldn't place doubt in voters minds on the security of this election. Lets move past this. Its over. Theyre gonna get the correct ballot. Everybodys gonna get the correct ballot. Lets move on and have a great election day on the 3rd, said Baack-Garvey. The county clerk's office is advising those 1,700 absentee voters to destroy their original ballot while they wait for the new ballot to arrive in the mail. After Friday's first round of eliminations, here are penpics of the five candidates still in the running to become the next director-general of the World Trade Organization. Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh (Egypt), Jesus Seade (Mexico) and Tudor Ulianovschi (Moldova) were all eliminated from the race to replace Brazilian career diplomat Roberto Azevedo, who stepped down at the end of August. - Liam Fox - (Britain) -- Fox, 58, spent three years as Britain's first post-Brexit international trade minister. A former family doctor, the Scot twice ran for the Conservative Party leadership. Fox was the defence minister during the latter years of Britain's engagement in Afghanistan. The lawmaker is the only elected politician running. He has vowed to appoint women to at least half of the WTO senior leadership. -- "Free trade must never mean a free-for-all." - Amina Mohamed - (Kenya) -- The former Kenyan foreign minister, 58, is well-known at the WTO, having already chaired the organisation's most important bodies: the Ministerial Conference, the General Council, the Dispute Settlement Body and the Trade Policy Review Body. The current sports, heritage and culture minister ran for the WTO leadership in 2013 and her vision this time is "reform, recovery, renewal". -- "We need to break the cycle of despair and enter into a new phase of hope and realism." - Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - (Nigeria) -- Her country's first female finance and foreign minister, the 66-year-old had a 25-year career as a development economist at the World Bank, eventually becoming its number two. She chairs Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is on the Twitter board of directors, and is a special envoy for the World Health Organization's Covid-19 fight. -- "If the right washes the left hand, and the left hand washes the right hand, then both become clean. This is a call for collective action." - Mohammad al-Tuwaijri - (Saudi Arabia) -- A former air force pilot who flew more than 30 Gulf War missions, he was a banker who ran J.P. Morgan's fledgling Saudi Arabia operations before joining HSBC. Story continues The former Saudi economy minister, 53, currently advises the kingdom's royal court on economic strategy. He wants to do an "MRI scan" deep assessment of the WTO's problems. -- "If all wheels do not spin as designed, the tricycle cannot carry the members forward to reach their goal." - Yoo Myung-hee - (South Korea) -- Yoo, 53, became South Korea's first female trade minister in March last year after a career in trade diplomacy and foreign affairs. In 1995, she headed WTO affairs at the trade ministry and went on to strike free trade agreements with China and the United States. Her plan is to make the WTO more relevant, resilient, and responsive. -- "Despite many challenges, I am confident that the WTO will regain the hope and optimism." CEDAR FALLS Cedar Falls officials are encouraging residents to complete their U.S. Census forms as the deadline to be counted approaches. The last day to participate in the once-a-decade effort is Sept. 30 next Wednesday. Amanda Huisman, a Cedar Falls communications specialist, spoke about the impending deadline at Mondays City Council meeting. Data from the census determines federal funding for programs including health care, education, housing. It determines the states representation in Congress, social services throughout the county, she said, explaining the importance of participating. Weve got to make sure (residents are) included in our counts, partly for federal dollars and for state dollars but also just for an accurate reflection of who is in our city, Mayor Rob Green said in a later interview. Its something that can be completed in about two minutes. That can be done by filling out the mailed form households should have received in March, going online to 2020census.gov or calling (844) 330-2020. In the coming days, officials are hoping to boost the citys self-response rate, which stood at 73.5% of housing units as of Wednesday. Its a little bit better than Iowas response, noted Green. The states self-response rate stands at 71% as of Wednesday. However, with census worker follow-up to those who didnt respond on their own, 96% of households in Iowa have been counted, according to a state-by-state chart updated daily. Online information is not available on how that breaks down by city. The self-response rate as of Wednesday in Waterloo was 68.9%. It was 72.2% for all of Black Hawk County. Cedar Falls officials have been working with the University of Northern Iowa to reach students who may not have been counted yet. The census tract where UNI is located and those surrounding it show a lower self-response rate than other tracts that are partially or wholly within Cedar Falls. Count day was April 1, so students were to fill out census forms based on their college addresses even though most UNI students had moved home at that point because the COVID-19 pandemic. Its not about what town do you like the most or where do you consider your hometown, but where were you April 1, 2020, said Green. Its especially tricky because of that April 1 date. He noted, though, that the college address should be used because in future years students would live in Cedar Falls most of the year. Jean Wiesley, UNIs assistant director of residence/administrative services, said information was sent to all students living on campus in March, noting that the university would provide rosters to the U.S. Census. A variety of messages also went out online and through social media along with outreach to leaders of student organizations. That work has continued this fall, including a short presentation created for faculty use in classes this week. Some college communities are concerned about an under count of students related to confusion around people going home during the pandemic last spring. UNIs efforts mean there wont an under count for on-campus students, but Wiesley said there is a slight concern for those living off campus. Those students werent part of the information UNI sent to census officials in the spring. UNI is coordinating efforts with staff from the city of Cedar Falls to reach students who are living in off-campus apartments, she noted. That includes distributing fliers and other information about the census to apartment complexes where students live. Huisman noted that other groups of people sometimes get missed in the census count, as well. Among those are the very young and low-income people. People who complete the census may mistakenly believe they dont need to include small children. So, every person in your household does need to get counted, regardless of age, she said. Huisman also pointed that although there are COVID-19 restrictions at the public library, low-income residents can still access computers or wireless internet there. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A Chinese company has planned to launch its first asteroid-mining robot into orbit in two months as China aims to take the lead in the potentially lucrative space industry. Origin Space, a Beijing-based private space resources company, is set to send Neo-1, a 30-kilo (66-pound) small satellite carried by a Chinese Long-March series rocket, into space in November. Despite dubbing the spacecraft space-mining robot, the upcoming mission is to test its capabilities of identifying and extracting valuable resources rather than actually mining an asteroid, the firm says. A Chinese company has planned to launch its first asteroid-mining robot into orbit in two months as China aims to take the lead in the potentially lucrative space industry The picture released by Origin Space shows the different stages of development of building an X-ray exploration satellite. The Beijing-based private space resources company is set to send Neo-1, carried by a Chinese Long-March series rocket, into space in November The goal is to verify and demonstrate multiple functions such as spacecraft orbital manoeuvre, simulated small celestial body capture, intelligent spacecraft identification and control, Yu Tianhong, an Origin Space co-founder, told US science magazine IEEE Specturm. The firm claims its spacecraft will be the first space-mining robot produced by a commercial company in the world, and the mission will be a milestone for the space resources industry. The mining of space resources has become increasingly popular in recent years, with several ventures aiming to profit from the potentially trillion-dollar industry. The Beijing company also has another mission, Yuanwang-1 (Look up-1), nicknamed Little Hubble, which is slated to launch in 2021. It will develop the Little Hubble satellite together with DFH Satellite Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Chinas main state-owned space contractor CASC. Our solar system needs to be protected from an impeding 'gold rush' of space mining efforts hat could leave us in a resource catastrophe in centuries, experts say. Pictured: Artist's impression of an asteroid being mined for resources It will carry an optical telescope designed to observe and monitor Near Earth Asteroids, according to the US magazine, citing the Chinese firm, which notes that identifying suitable targets is the first step toward space resources utilisation. Origin Space also aims to take its satellite to the Moon, with a possible launch date of late 2021 or early 2022. But experts have warned that our solar system needs to be protected from an impeding 'gold rush' of space mining efforts that could leave us in a resource catastrophe in centuries. Researchers from the US Smithsonian Institution and Kings College London argue for preserving seven-eighths of the solar system as official 'space wildernesses.' Astrophysicist Martin Elvis of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Massachusetts teamed up with Kings College London philosopher Tony Milligan to explore how quickly space mining might exhaust the solar system's viable resources. The duo found that humankind would use up an eighth of the solar system's realistically-accessible resources within 400 years, assuming an annual growth rate for the space mining industry of 3.5 per cent. This growth rate would be comparable to that found in the use of iron from the start of the Industrial Revolution until the present day. After four centuries, we would have only 60 years to rein in the growth of the space economy before the solar system's usable resources would be completely gone. Based on these findings, researchers are proposing that industrial exploitation of the solar system's resources be capped at one-eighth leaving the rest as protected, wilderness-status areas. Christian Thompson/Disneyland ResortChadwick Boseman is being honored with a new mural at Downtown Disney in California. "King Chad" was created by former Disney Imagineer Nikkolas Smith and depicts Boseman, who played King T'Challa in Black Panther, giving a Wakanda salute to a child wearing a hospital gown and a Black Panther mask. Boseman, who died last month at 43 following a battle with colon cancer, had famously visited with children at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. "This one is special. My King Chad tribute is now on a wall on display at Downtown Disney," Smith wrote on Instagram Thursday. "It is a full circle moment for me: my final two projects as a Disney Imagineer last summer were working on the Children's Hospital project and the Avengers Campus. To millions of kids, T'Challa was a legend larger than life, and there was no one more worthy to fill those shoes than Chadwick Boseman. I'm so thankful to be able to honor Chadwick's life and purpose in this way." Disneyland is not yet open to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Downtown Disney reopened in July with capacity restrictions. Boseman's death shocked the Hollywood community and his countless fans, as the actor had never publicly revealed his cancer diagnosis. His Black Panther co-star, Michael B. Jordan, reflected on the loss in an emotional social media post, remarking, "I wish we had more time." "I've been watching, learning and constantly motivated by your greatness," Jordan wrote. "Through it all, you never lost sight of what you loved most. You cared about your family, your friends, your craft, your spirit. You cared about the kids, the community, our culture and humanity. You cared about me." "You are my big brother, but I never fully got a chance to tell you," he added. "I'm more aware now than ever that time is short with people we love and admire." Disney is the parent company of ABC News. By Good Morning America Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, announced on Friday that he would lift statewide restrictions on restaurants and other businesses in a bid to completely reopen the states economy. DeSantis cited reduced coronavirus hospitalizations as well as continued strain on the economy in making his decision. The governor said businesses including restaurants, bars, and nightclubs will be able to open at full capacity if they choose, however social-distancing protocols are still recommended. While the states coronavirus survival rate stands at about 94 percent, the vast majority of deaths have occurred among residents over the age of 70. DeSantis recommended that residents age 65 and older should continue to practice social distancing, although they should not refrain entirely from public interaction. If you go back in March, we were told 15 days to slow the spread, DeSantis said at a press conference. Now people are saying, hey even if there is a vaccine, its still going to take another year before you can operate appropriately, and I dont think thats viable, I dont think thats acceptable. According to the new regulations, all state-level restrictions on business activity will be removed. Local governments are forbidden from closing businesses and from reducing restaurant capacity below 50 percent, and are prevented from issuing fines to residents over violations of coronavirus-mitigation protocols. Florida has recorded over 695,000 coronavirus cases since the onset of the pandemic, with 13,915 deaths among residents. The number of reported cases peaked over the summer during an outbreak seen across states in the Sun Belt, with a seven-day average of 12,000 new cases in mid-July. However, the current seven-day average now stands at about 2,600 new cases, according to the New York Times. DeSantiss announcement came after he held a Thursday roundtable with medical experts from Harvard and Stanford Universities who presented the case for opening businesses as much as possible while maintaining social distancing. Story continues At this point, we know that the benefits of a lockdown are small.All they do is push cases off into the future; it doesnt actually prevent the disease from happening. And the costs are absolutely catastrophic, enormous, said Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford. Florida Democrats derided the roundtable as a essentially a propaganda session. The governors roundtable today was little more than a collection of like-minded individuals echoing the governors push for herd immunity policies. There would be no need for lockdowns had he endorsed mandatory masks and widespread, more robust testing, State Senator Lori Berman said in a statement. More from National Review [September 25, 2020] China Green Companies Summit 2020 to be Held in Hainan with Star-studded Entrepreneurs including Jack Ma and Lei Jun BEIJING, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The China Green Companies Summit 2020 is set to open in Haikou, Hainan Province from September 28 through 30, 2020. Supported by the People's Government of Hainan Province, hosted by the China Entrepreneur Club and co-hosted by the Haikou Municipal People's Government and the (Haikou) Green Enterprise Development Research Institute, the Summit will focus on the theme of "Business Growth in the Digital Age". Over 1,000 domestic and foreign business leaders including Jack Ma, Wang Yusuo, Frank Ning, Guo Guangchang, Ma Weihua and Lei Jun, will attend the Summit along with top government officials, academic experts, NGO representatives and key media outlets, to discuss the core topics of digital development and future business trends. The Summit will concentrate on issues such as the energy ecosystem, big-data-based healthcare ecosystem, real estate ecosystem, digital strategy, new infrastructure, venture investment, organizational innovation and the R&D management. Epidemic-related topics will also be discussed, including global economic cooperation and supply chains, the impact of the epidemic on industrial patterns and technical trends, efficiency of public welfare, and others. Meanwhile, 2020 marks the opening year for the Hainan Free Trade Port (Hainan FTP) which will create huge opportunities for business development. The Summit will not only recommend opportunities for development in Hainan to entrepreneurs, but also focus on the advantages and benefits of Hainan's regional economy. The Perfect Timing to Focus on Hainan The CPC Central Committee and the State Council have released the Master Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port (the Plan) on June 1. According to the Plan, Hainan FTP will covr the whole of Hainan Island, with the aim to initially establish an FTP policy system focused on freedom and facilitation of trade and investment by 2025. The FTP will become a new focal point for the open economy of China by 2035, and then develop into a high-level FTP of global influence by the middle of this century. In fact, Hainan has drawn worldwide attention since the State Council officially approved the establishment of China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone in 2018. Hainan has attracted nearly 100,000 talented individuals for investment and development, doubled foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in actual use for two consecutive years and brought in 30 of the Fortune Global 500 enterprises. Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, 110 foreign-funded enterprises were established in Hainan in the first four months of 2020, and Hainan's actual foreign capital investment was up 252.33% year on year. The Plan also offers institutional designs in 11 aspects including freedom and facilitation of trade, investment, cross-border capital flow, and personnel entry and exit. It is the perfect timing for entrepreneurs to shift their focus to Hainan. As the opening year for the development of Hainan FTP, 2020 is a window of opportunity for development in Hainan. Hainan Province has also proposed to pool its resources in developing 12 key industries. Hainan is now stepping up infrastructural construction all round. The People's Government of Hainan Province has inked strategic agreements with enterprises including China Mobile, Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent to cooperate in fields such as the digital economy, smart services, information smart islands and e-commerce. Hainan is expected to be the first in China to achieve province-wide full digitalization. As an economic and social trend, digitalization will promote the comprehensive advancement of businesses. The digitalization of many enterprises has entered the stage of deep integration into virtually every business activity, which calls for even greater communication and coordination between companies. In this regard, this is the perfect timing for Hainan to host this Summit under the theme of "Business Growth in the Digital Age". The Summit will include a focus forum"Sharing New Opportunities of the Free Trade Port", and organize visits to industrial parks in Haikou, to provide a comprehensive introduction about Hainan and recommend opportunities for development in Hainan to entrepreneurs. This annual conference will be live-streamed and shared on over ten platforms of mainstream media. The China Entrepreneur Club is the premier business leader platform in China. Established by 31 of China's most influential entrepreneurs, economists and diplomats in 2006, the CEC is a hub for Chinese entrepreneurial exchange, cooperation, and international collaboration. As a private non-profit organization, the CEC is committed to nurturing entrepreneurship and business integrity while paving the future of sustainable economic and social development. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-green-companies-summit-2020-to-be-held-in-hainan-with-star-studded-entrepreneurs-including-jack-ma-and-lei-jun-301138169.html SOURCE China Entrepreneur Club [ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\LTE's Homepage ] Police use water canons to disperse BJP Pattika Jathy Morcha activists during a protest demanding resignation of Kerala Higher Education minister KT Jaleel over his alleged involvement in the gold smuggling case in Thiruvananthapuram. PTI photo Notwithstanding the appeal made by chief minister Mr Pinarayi Vijayan to comply with Covid safety protocol and maintain restraint during agitations, the opposition parties in Kerala continued their protests on Thursday demanding the resignation of higher education minister K T Jaleel. Workers of BJP took out protest marches in Thiruvananthapuram and other parts of the state. The youth wing of Muslim League took out a march to Jaleels house in Malappuram. The agitators tried to cross the barricades put up in the area which led to lathicharge by police. Four youth league workers and a policeman were injured in the incident. The opposition parties have been up in arms against Jaleel after the minister was questioned by ED and NIA in connection with the allegations related to distribution of Quran brought in diplomatic baggage from UAE and aid sought from the Consulate during Ramadan. Though the NIA notice had clearly stated that Jaleel was asked to appear to answer certain questions as a witness in connection with distribution of Quran and other complaints, the opposition parties insist that the higher education minister's hands are not clean and he needs to be thoroughly interrogated. The Congress, Muslim League and BJP have made it clear that they would continue the stir till Jaleel resigned. Apart from Thiruvananthapuram and Malappuram, protests were also held in other districts. In neighboring Kozhikode, the BJP workers took out a march to Collectorate. Police used water cannon to disperse the protestors. In separate protests, Janata Dal workers and BJP SC Morcha activists took out a march to the State secretariat. The police used a water cannon to chase away the protestors who were trying to remove the barricades. In Pathanamthitta a march taken out to the SP office by members of the KSU, the student wing of Congress, turned violent. The police resorted to lathi charge to prevent the situation from going out of hand. Workers of Yuva Morcha and ABVP took out a march to education minister C Raveendranaths residence in Thrissur. Protests were also held in Alappuzha district . Opposition ignores CM's appeal: The chief minister has been repeatedly urging the opposition parties to refrain from holding violent protests or agitations in which police action is warranted, in the wake of the increasing number of Covid - 19 cases in the state particularly in Thiruvananthapuram. So far a dozen political workers who took part in these agitations have been tested positive for Covid - 19. Opposition leader Mr Ramesh Chennithala, however, rejected the CM's accusation that opposition protests were responsible for the hike in Covid - 19 cases. He attributed the rise in cases to the government's failure in effectively dealing with the situation. He sees active cooperation with partners and tougher sanctions against Russia as Ukraine's main ways to get Crimea back. Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Serhiy Kryvonos says Ukraine cannot currently retake Russia-occupied Crimea by military means. "We clearly understand that Ukraine cannot solve the problem by force at this stage. Because there are problems. This is, firstly, the war in Donbas. To wage a war on two fronts, even legally retaking our lands we won't manage it," he told the Dom TV channel. Read alsoCrimea invaders force locals to drop Ukrainian passports envoy to UNAccording to the official, active cooperation with world leaders and the buildup of sanctions against Russia is the main task for Ukraine to regain Crimea. "These sanctions should bring Russia to such a level to make them either give up Crimea or let's say be broke. Simultaneously, [we should] strengthen the country's defense capability, which will allow [us] to act with the use of military means, if necessary," he added. International platform for end of Crimea occupation In late July, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced the finalization of the concept of the "Crimea is Ukraine" international platform and that a consultative and advisory format with the transition to a negotiation format was supposed at first. On August 24, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine would offer Germany to join the future international platform. Russian occupation of Crimea In accordance with a resolution for the Nominating Committee made by the 2011 Annual General Meeting, and which applies until further notice, the Chairman of the Board is assigned the task of contacting four shareholders from among the largest registered shareholders in terms of votes in Euroclear Sweden AB's printout of the shareholder register as per the last business day in August, who each appoints one representative who is not a director on the Company's board, to form together with the Chairman of the Board a Nominating Committee for the time until a new Nominating Committee has been appointed. The Nominating Committee appoints a committee chair from among its members. The composition of the Nominating Committee shall be made public not later than six months before the next Annual General Meeting. No fee is payable for work on the Nominating Committee. Accordingly, the Nominating Committee has the following composition: Mats Guldbrand, L E Lundbergforetagen, Stefan Nilsson, Handelsbanken Pension Foundation and others, Mikael Schmidt, SCA and Essiy Pension Foundations and others, Bo Damberg, Jan Wallanders and Tom Hedelius Foundation and others, and Fredrik Lundberg, Chairman of the Board of Industrivarden. If a member leaves the Nominating Committee before its work has been completed, and if the Nominating Committee is of the opinion that there is a need to replace the said member, the Nominating Committee shall appoint a new member. Any change in the Nominating Committee's composition shall be announced immediately. Industrivarden's Annual General Meeting will be held in the Vintertradgarden room at the Grand Hotel, Stockholm, at 2 p.m. on April 21, 2021. Stockholm, September 25, 2020 AB INDUSTRIVARDEN (publ) For further information, please contact: Fredrik Lundberg, Convening member of Nominating Committee, tel. +48-8-463 06 00. The information was submitted for publication by the Head of Corporate Communications, Sverker Sivall (tel. +46-8-666 64 00), at 10:00 a.m. CET on September 25, 2020. Attachment Eugenie and Jack got married in October 2018. (WireImage) Princess Eugenie has announced she is pregnant, nearly two years after her Windsor wedding to Jack Brooksbank. The Royal Family shared the news on Instagram on Friday morning, and Princess Eugenie added her own announcement soon after. She wrote: Jack and I are so excited for early 2021... She shared a picture of baby slippers, with teddy bear heads, alongside a new picture of her and Brooksbank. The Royal Family announced: Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie and Mr Jack Brooksbank are very pleased to announce that they are expecting a baby in early 2021. The Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York, Mr and Mrs George Brooksbank, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are delighted with the news. The Royal Family account shared a picture of the couple on their wedding day. Read more: Everything you need to know about the Queen's grandchildren Her mother Sarah Ferguson also shared a message online, writing: I am so excited by the news that Eugenie and Jack are expecting their first child. Thrilled for them both and in my 60th year cannot wait to be a grandmother. Welcoming a new baby into the York family is going to be a moment of profound joy. She added another new photo, this time with Eugenie looking at her husband as they both smile broadly. However Eugenies father, Prince Andrew, will be unable to share a specific message, having stepped out of public life follow the interview with BBC Newsnight over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Story continues He is now rarely seen in public, and was even absent from the photos for his daughter Beatrices wedding day. I am so excited by the news that Eugenie and Jack are expecting their first child. Thrilled for them both and in my 60th year cannot wait to be a grandmother. Welcoming a new baby into the York family is going to be a moment of profound joy pic.twitter.com/nGtMkqNTKJ Sarah Ferguson (@SarahTheDuchess) September 25, 2020 A Downing Street spokesman said: The Prime Minister would obviously like to congratulate Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank on the news that they are expecting. Princess Eugenie, 30, is one of the Queens granddaughters, but she does not carry out royal duties. However she did get a royal wedding, marrying Brooksbank in St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle in October 2018, a few months after her cousin Harry married Meghan Markle. The couple had a carriage ride through the city afterwards as well. Eugenie chose a dress which showed her scoliosis scar, and encourages others on social media to show their scars as well. She had surgery as a child to correct curvature of the spine and used a wheelchair for a few days afterwards. WATCH: Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie hold charity call with cancer survivors Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank attend the Christmas Day Church service at Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham estate in 2019. (Getty Images) Read more: Duchess of Cambridge praises new mums for supporting each other during lockdown She works full time in the art world. Although she is not a working royal she is regularly seen at royal events, like Trooping the Colour and Royal Ascot, and also spends Christmas with the Queen at Sandringham. She also supports charities like the Teenage Cancer Trust as a private patron. On Thursday, she shared pictures of her sister, Princess Beatrice, viewing her wedding dress as it went on display at Windsor Castle. Beatrice had a lockdown wedding, marrying Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a secret ceremony in Windsor earlier this year. Lake County and Kenosha border each other. People cross the border all of the time to come here, or to go there, and we share a lot of the same issues, Muchowski said. "Seeing that this was someone from Lake County that shot these people, a lot of us felt like we had to speak up. By PTI KOLKATA: West Bengal pradesh Congress committee president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Friday accused the TMC government of trying to "bribe" the Hindus by announcing doles for Durga Puja committees and Hindu Brahmins and claimed that it is desperate to project itself as a "bigger brand of Hindutva" than the BJP. Chowdhury, who is also the leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, said that instead of getting into "competitive Hinduism" with BJP, the TMC government should "focus on creating job and industries". "Yesterday we saw Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing Rs 50,000 for Durga Puja committees and other doles after projecting TMC as the messiah of Muslims by propagating that the state government has given allowances to Imams and muezzins. "The TMC is now busy projecting itself as the mascot of brand Hindutva to counter BJP. And in doing so, it is now giving allowances to Hindu priests and grants to Durga Puja committees. She (Banerjee) is trying to bribe the Hindus," Chowdhury said. ALSO READ | TMC to launch campaign against farm bills showing untelevised Rajya Sabha ruckus videos Banerjee had on Thursday doubled the annual financial assistance to 37,000 Durga Puja committees across the state to Rs 50,000. The development came close to heels of the state governments' announcement of providing free housing and a monthly allowance to 8000 Hindu priests of the state. "The fact is the state government is not giving allowance to Imams and muezzins. It is the state Wakf board which provides those allowances. "Now the TMC is not bothered about Muslim votes. It wants Hindu votes to compete with BJP. The TMC is now engaged in competitive Hinduism," he said. ALSO RAD | Actor, TMC MP Nusrat Jahan seeks police help after video chat app uses her photo without consent The TMC government had announced a monthly allowance for Imams and muezzins in 2012. The Calcutta High Court had in 2013 dubbed the government's decision as "unconstitutional and against public interest". The TMC government had then created a separate fund under the Wakf Board for the upkeep of the properties that it held. The fund also took care of the emoluments of the Imams and muezzins. Chowdhury held the TMC government and its policies responsible for the rise of the BJP in Bengal and accused the ruling dispensation of "destroying the secular fabric of the state". The TMC dubbed the allegations by Chowdhury as '"baseless". "The TMC believes in secular and inclusive politics. The Congress leader before pointing his finger at us, should come out clean on why that party is colluding with BJP against us in Bengal," TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said. Isle of Man to mirror UK VAT changes The UK Government yesterday announced that a reduction in the rate of VAT applied to hospitality, accommodation and attractions will now be extended until 31 March 2021 The reduction from 20% to 5% was originally planned to run for six months from 15 July 2020 until 12 January 2021. The Isle of Man will also extend the application of the 5% rate to hospitality and attractions until 31 March 2021. The reduced rate of VAT already applies to holiday accommodation in the Isle of Man. The UK Government also announced an option on how to pay deferred VAT due for payment next spring. The Isle of Man will replicate this measure with more details available in due course. Businesses that have deferred paying VAT from the period March to June 2020 were due to pay the outstanding amount by 31 March 2021. They will now be able to opt to pay in smaller instalments during 2021-2022 without incurring interest. One QALY represents a full extra year of life lived in perfect health; an extra year of life lived in less than perfect health gives some fraction of one QALY. Thus a life-saving treatment vaccine or treatment for an early childhood disease might give a recipient 70 QALYs, by allowing them to survive to old age in good health. The QALY is an index used by health economists to measure the impacts on health of medical treatments or health policies in what we call cost-utility analysis. It has two components the average number of life years gained ("LY") by averting death; and the improvement of quality of life experienced ("QA"). At the other extreme, a new oncology drug might extend a cancer patient's survival by only a few weeks, but help them enjoy a much higher quality of life for that time maybe a gain of 0.2 QALYs, for example. QALYs are not a moral judgment on the value of these people's lives or their health just a device for quantifying how much their health has improved. There is nothing new about using QALYs in the Australian health care system. For years, every new drug that has sought Medicare reimbursement has needed to submit an economic evaluation to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. If it costs more than $50,000 to $70,000 per QALY, its chances of being listed start to fall. But a PBS drug listing is rather different from the complexity and breadth of decision-making on COVID-19. Loading At its core, the debate in Victoria and worldwide is about whether COVID-19 restrictions are proportionate, given the risks and consequences of virus transmission. No one is in doubt that the restrictions are working; the concern is that what is imposed is excessive, and a more nuanced approach might have achieved the same outcome, with less collateral impact on physical and mental health, social connectedness and the economy. The "costs" that many commentators are referring to are the very broad economic and social costs caused by COVID-19 and the policy responses to it the economic costs of business failures, unemployment and lost livelihoods, education disruption and myriad social and health costs of isolation, interrupted schooling, stress, family violence, etc. QALYs can only be used validly to investigate health impacts and costs, and there is enormous value in measuring the relative health impacts of preventing COVID cases through lockdowns versus harms from delayed elective surgery, say. Science teacher Nikisha Primus stands beside a Ripple Tank donated to the SJCM by the Brooklyn, New York-based MSSS/SJCM Alumni Association of North America, Inc. (Photo courtesy: MSS/SJCM Alumni Association of North America, Inc. ) The Brooklyn, New York-based Marriaqua Secondary School/St. Josephs Convent Marriaqua (MSS/SJCM) Alumni Association of North America, Inc., aims to foster the educational growth of the school, by giving back in every possible way. Another demonstration of this unfolded on Wednesday, Sept. 16, which marked the schools 52nd anniversary, when the association presented the institution with much-needed science lab equipment, inclusive of Bunsen burners, voltmeters, Carolina balance, burettes, copper metal electrodes and microscopes. "The science equipment was very much needed, said Science teacher, Nikisha Primus, who also indicated that she no longer needed to find innovative ways to demonstrate certain science processes as she now has the necessary equipment to do so. The Alumni Association said it was represented at the ceremony by Andre Bailey, who presented the equipment to Sis. Jacintha Wallace, Principal of the school. Bailey is reported to have urged students to "honour and cherish the equipment, .. reminding them that "the equipment is not just for current students but for future ones as well. The Association reported that Sis. Jacintha welcomed the presentation of the science equipment and recognized other donations the Alumni Association has made to the school in the short time that it has been in existence. The association was formed in March 2018. Sis. Jacintha indicated that the generosity of the association "reflects the motto of the school, Caritas, which means love in service in Latin, the association said. Acknowledging that fundraising activities have been affected by the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Kenny Browne. President of the Alumni Association, told THE VINCENTIAN: "We remain very active and find innovative ways to accomplish our goals during this COVID-19 pandemic. The association thanked all who supported the organization and looked forward to their continued support in making other school projects a reality. In the meantime, Janet Wyllie, Secretary of Alumni Association of North America, Inc., appealed to past students, at home and in the Diaspora, to join in assisting their alma mater. "It takes a village to enhance the education of our young people; and, these days, it matters more than ever, she said. "We are looking to broaden our membership enrollment so that our mission and goals can be achieved. Vietnamese police have seized over 3,40,000 used condoms that were cleaned and to be illegaly resold to unsuspected customers, a report by local media said. A footage by a local television channel showed dozens of large bags containing used contraceptives scattered around in a warehouse that was recently raided in the southern province of Binh Doug. AP Condoms were washed, reshaped with wooden dildos The condoms were reportedly washed, reshaped with wooden dildos and then repackaged before being resold. Police has said that the bags together weighed around 360 kgs, equivalent to around, 3,40,000 condoms. AP A woman, who is believed to be the owner of the warehouse, has been arrested. Owner of warehouse got money for every kilogram of condoms The arrested woman said that she had received a monthly input of used condoms from an unknown person. She also said that she received $0.17 (Rs 12.51 approximate) for every kilogram of recycled condoms she produced, according to the local TV channel. It is, however, unclear how many such condoms have already been resold on the market. Trumps words were all the scarier for coming on the same day as Barton Gellmans blockbuster Atlantic article about how Trump could subvert the election. The chairman of Pennsylvanias Republican Party told Gellman, on the record, that hed spoken to the campaign about bypassing a messy vote count and having the Republican-controlled legislature appoint its own slate of electors. A legal adviser to the Trump campaign said, There will be a count on election night, that count will shift over time, and the results when the final count is given will be challenged as being inaccurate, fraudulent pick your word. Former President John Mahama, also the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has called on the international communities to as a matter of urgency arrive in the country earlier and focus their lenses on the countrys election process. Speaking to journalist at the partys headquarters in Adabraka, the flagbearer said giving all that has gone amidst with the electoral process and the likelihood of continued greater challenges ahead of this years elections, the international election and domestic observers must look into our electoral process and probe well to bring out the challenges confronting the December 7th elections. He again revealed that, regulation 23 (3) of the amended CI 91, requires a publication of the provisional register on the EC website but till date, the Electoral Commission has failed to comply with this requirement. Again, duplication which should have been completed before exhibiting the provisional register was also abandoned midway, adding this can result in dire consequences. Source: Salaamat Kuukua Painstil/Peace News 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 Eight months after the signing of the Bodo peace accord, Assam government on Friday announced the setting up of a commission to redraw the boundary of Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD) as mentioned in the deal. The peace accord signed in January by National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and United Bodo Peoples Organisation (UBPO) with the Centre and Assam government had included the redrawing of BTADwhich comprises Baksa, Kokrajhar, Udalguri and Chirang districtsas one of the main clauses. The government will set up a four-member commission headed by former chief secretary PP Verma. It would have a tenure of six months from the day of its formation, health, finance, PWD and education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told journalists. The present administrator of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) Rajesh Prasad, Jayanta Basumatary of ABSU and Dalim Bayan, a non-Bodo representative, are the other members of the commission. Also Read: Politics picks up pace in Assam ahead of next years assembly polls As per the accord, villages contiguous to BTAD with a Bodo population of more than 50% can apply to be included within its boundary and villages within BTAD which are contiguous to its boundary and have a non-Bodo population of over 50% can apply to be excluded from its area. As provided in the accord, the commission will advise the state government on increasing the number of seats in BTC from 40 to 60 as well as delimiting constituencies, Sarma said. The minister said that Assam governor Jagdish Mukhi has already approved the renaming of BTAD as Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), as specified in the accord. Once these clauses are implemented, the state government will initiate the inclusion of Bodo as an associate official language in Assam as well as set up a Bodo-Kachari Welfare Council for Bodos living outside BTAD, said Sarma. The new initiatives announced on Friday follow a meeting between Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on September 20 regarding the implementation of the accord. Elections to BTC, which was ruled by Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF), a partner in the BJP-led ruling coalition in the state, was scheduled in April this year, but the entire BTAD was placed under governors rule the same month as polls couldnt be held due to the Covid-19-induced lockdown. The health department is of the view that elections for BTC cant be held till November-end. The chief minister will hold an all-party meeting regarding the polls soon and a decision on holding the election in December may be taken. We are also watching how assembly polls in Bihar are conducted, Sarma said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON She's preparing to celebrate her 28th birthday on Saturday. And Megan McKenna put on a stylish display as she posed with balloons for fun snaps that she shared via Instagram on Friday. The former TOWIE star, 27, looked sensational in a short-sleeved white dress that showed off her slender legs as she relaxed on the grass. Wow! Megan McKenna looked stylish in a chic white dress and dazzling silver cowboy boots ahead of her 27th birthday in snaps she shared via Instagram on Friday Megan added a glittering touch to her look by wearing a pair of black cowboy boots that were adorned with silver sequins. Adding to her country music vibe, Megan covered her blonde locks with a brown cowboy hat while she accessorised with a silver necklace. The X Factor: Celebrity star gushed about her milestone birthday, as she said in the caption: 'Happiest when Im in my crystal cowboy boots... 'Its my birthday TOMORROW And anybody that purchases one of my bouncy blows with @easilockshair gets a present from ME. Birthday weeks are the best weeks.' Stunning: Adding to her country music vibe, Megan covered her blonde locks with a brown cowboy hat while she accessorised with a silver necklace Last month, it was reported that Megan is 'smitten' with her new businessman beau Josh Riley after he won her heart over during a series of fancy dinner dates. Josh is said to have wined and dined the reality star as they enjoyed a date at the swanky Mayfair restaurant Hakkasan, where they originally met earlier this year. He is the company director of the online men's fashion brand, Yelir World, which has been featured in GQ and has been worn by Wayne Rooney. A source confirmed to The Sun that the pair are now an item and are planning their future together. The source revealed: 'Megan and Josh have been dating for a few months. Theyre totally smitten, its very sweet to see. 'The pair of them are taking it slow but they have been talking about the future.' Twitter/@AshleyroweWKBWBY: BILL HUTCHINSON (WASHINGTON) -- Two protesters were injured in hit-and-run incidents in Colorado and upstate New York on Wednesday night as demonstrations erupted across the county over a Kentucky grand jury's decision not to charge three police officers in the death of Breonna Taylor. The chants for justice were quickly overcome by screams of horror as drivers in Denver and Buffalo plowed into protesters who spilled into the streets in the hours following the announcement of the grand jury's decision in the Louisville police shooting of 26-year-old Taylor, a certified emergency medical technician killed in her own apartment. The incident in Buffalo unfolded about 8:45 p.m. as protesters marched in the street near Niagra Square in the downtown area, police said. Graphic video taken by ABC affiliate station WKBW-TV in Buffalo showed a maroon and white king-cab pickup truck drive directly into a group of demonstrators who pounded on the side of the truck and yelled for the driver to stop just before a protester on a bicycle was hit. The footage shows the truck speeding away as protesters on foot chased after it. Buffalo police officials said the driver was eventually stopped by officers and detained for questioning. The name of the driver was not released and it remained unclear Thursday if any charges will be filed in the incident. Calls to a police department spokesperson by ABC News were not immediately returned. ***Warning: Graphic video*** our @wkbw photographer captured the moment a truck drove through a crowd of protesters and struck a person outside Buffalo City Hall. Important to note: police say the person struck has non-life threatening injuries. pic.twitter.com/Vo9IORTYoF Ashley Rowe (@AshleyroweWKBW) September 24, 2020 Police said Wednesday night that the protester struck by the truck suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Erie County Medical Center for treatment.A spokesperson for Slow Roll Buffalo, a nonprofit community group of bicycle enthusiasts, told WKBW that the woman who was hit by the truck is a member of its board of directors. The spokesperson said the woman suffered broken bones and was in stable condition Thursday morning.A similar incident unfolded in Denver outside the state Capitol Building, police said. Video taken by ABC affiliate station KMGH-TV in Denver showed a silver Volvo station wagon approach demonstrators marching in the street and stop.In the footage, a small group of protesters gathered around the car and instructed the driver to turn around. Several protesters were standing in front of the vehicle and banging on its hood as the car began to move forward and accelerate, knocking one female protester to the ground.The driver sped away but was stopped by police a short time later and detained, police said on Twitter. The driver's name was not immediately released and charges against him are pending further investigation, a Denver police spokesman said in an email to ABC News on Thursday.Police said in a Twitter post that no one was injured in the incident. But the video shot by KMGH showed the protester, who was knocked down, apparently shaken up, sitting on the sidewalk with other demonstrators who rushed to provide her with emergency aid. The woman told the Denver Post that she was not badly injured.The two incidents came just hours after a Kentucky grand jury indicted former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison on three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree in the shooting that killed Taylor, but neither he nor the other two officers involved in the fatal encounter were charged in her death.An investigation headed by Kentucky State Attorney General Daniel Cameron determined that Louisville Metro Police Department officers Myles Cosgrove and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly were justified in using deadly force because Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired at them first when they broke down Taylor's apartment door on March 13 while serving a warrant.Cameron said the officers knocked first and announced them themselves before ramming the door open when they didn't get an answer, a statement disputed by attorneys for Taylor's family.The two hit-and-runs on Wednesday mark the latest in a series of incidents in recent months in which protesters have been struck while marching in demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice.The most serious incident occurred on July 4 when a protester was killed and another was injured when a car barreled into a Black Lives Matter protest on a closed freeway in Seattle.Protester Summer Taylor, 24, died from injuries she suffered when she was struck by the car on Interstate 5 in Seattle. Demonstrator Diaz Love, 32, was seriously injured in the episode, according to police.The driver in the fatal Seattle incident, Dawit Kelete, 27, has pleaded not guilty to charges of vehicular manslaughter, vehicular assault and reckless driving. He remains in custody in King County Jail on $1.2 million bail, according to online jail records.Keletes lawyer, John Henry Browne, said his client did not intentionally hit the protesters. He said the crash was a horrible, horrible accident." Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Advertisement Manchester Metropolitan University students at two accommodation sites in the city have been instructed to self-isolate for 14 days following a spike in coronavirus cases. The immediate measures have been introduced at the Birley campus and Cambridge Halls after 127 students tested positive, meaning about 1,700 are now shut away. It comes as students trapped in a spate of campus Covid outbreaks have slammed universities for opening halls of residents when coronavirus means they're studying from their rooms. Meanwhile students at the University of Manchester were filmed throwing an illegal party outside their student halls. University of Glasgow student Lucy Owens tested positive for coronavirus just a couple of weeks after arriving at her halls in the now-locked down Murano complex. She asked on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: 'What are we paying for? I could do everything I am doing from my house, so why have they sent us here? 'I know we're making the most of this accommodation because we're stuck in it all day but we're not really making the most of being at university. 'Putting two thousand students into such a confined area, something like this was bound to happen.' Meanwhile footage recorded at 1am this morning showed a large gathering outside of Owens Park halls in Fallowfield, south Manchester, with one clip captioned: 'Covid wah?'. Another clip shows a sea of people dancing to music which appears to be coming from a sound system. It comes amid a surge in cases across the UK including 558 more in Scotland as students in Scotland were being faced with the prospect of receiving red and yellow cards which will be awarded for breaking Covid rules. Manchester Metropolitan University (pictured, Cambridge Halls) students at two accommodation sites in the city have been instructed to self-isolate for 14 days following a spike in coronavirus cases The immediate measures have been introduced at the Birley campus (pictured) and Cambridge Halls after 127 students tested positive Students at the University of Manchester have been filmed throwing an illegal party at 1am this morning outside of Owens Park halls in Fallowfield, south Manchester The cards are meant to act as a warning at first but universities say they will not hesitate to scale up to disciplinary action if necessary. The move has been welcomed by Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who said that discipline is necessary for those students who are 'flagrantly breaching rules'. Students at the University of Manchester have been filmed throwing an illegal party But with at least 362 confirmed coronavirus cases at universities across the UK, Sage's Sir Mark Walport has warned that infected students could be prevented from returning home at Christmas. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'If students are infected when it comes near to the end of term they may have to remain where they are.' Some students have said that catching coronavirus upon their return to university was 'inevitable'. One student who stays at Glasgow University's Murano Street Student Village, which can house 1,175 students, said that 'it was bound to happen' with so many people concentrated in such a small area. Universities in Glasgow and Edinburgh have seen the greatest number of university cases: 124 and 120 respectively. Despite warnings, a group of students at the University of Manchester held an illegal party outside of their student accommodation during the early hours of this morning. Video footage showed a crowd of students dancing to music, with one clip captioned: 'Covid wah?'. Responding to the incident, a University of Manchester statement said: 'We are aware of this party and our security services worked with Greater Manchester Police to shut it down. 'This behaviour is totally unacceptable and the University strongly condemns it. 'We have been clear and consistent with our messaging around student conduct and behaviour in halls and we will be working hard to identify those involved. A student walks past a sign at Murano Street Student Village in Glasgow, where university students are being tested at a pop up test centre A University of Manchester statement said: 'Details of offending students are being recorded and a number of these will now go through our disciplinary process.' Pictured: Owens Park halls in Fallowfield, south Manchester A sign saying 'help us, send beer' at Murano Street Student Village in Glasgow, where Glasgow University students are being tested at a pop up test centre today One student, 18, who has now been isolating for nearly a monthsays that catching coronavirus after returning to university was 'inevitable'. The teenager is staying in an eight-person flat in Glasgow University's Murano Street Student Village, which houses 1,175 students 'Our students must respect social distancing rules and all other restrictions to keep themselves and others safe. 'If students do not comply, they will face disciplinary action from the University, which could lead to fines or expulsion, and we will not hesitate to involve the police if necessary. 'Some students have already been issued with fixed penalty notices by the police. 'Additional security officers have been deployed in Fallowfield and further reminders sent. 'Details of offending students are being recorded and a number of these will now go through our disciplinary process.' Greater Manchester Police said that officers were called out around 1.20am this morning and that they seized music equipment before dispersing attendees. Around 600 students are self-isolating at Glasgow University, which has set up its own mobile testing unit, while students are warned not to attend parties and pubs this weekend At least a dozen other universities in England and Wales have brought in their own testing facilities to monitor for potential outbreaks Student Safe Lead, Inspector Shoheb Chowdhury of GMP's City of Manchester Division, said: 'We appreciate that the student experience is very different to usual this year, particularly for those beginning new courses and who would usually be enjoying freshers' week. 'We have taken a very measured approach to breaches we've encountered, taking care to engage and explain the importance of following social distancing and current local lockdown guidance. Forcing students to stay in halls over Christmas risks their mental health, Cardiff University vice chancellor warns Forcing students to stay 'cooped up' in their halls over Christmas if there are coronavirus outbreaks is 'impractical' and could lead to mental health problems, a university vice-chancellor has said. Professor Colin Riordan, president and vice-chancellor at Cardiff University, warned that it would be 'extremely difficult' to handle the situation and would cause 'an awful lot of stress'. His comments come after Sir Mark Walport, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said students may have to remain at university if they become infected at the end of term to prevent them from spreading the infection to other parts of the country and other communities. Prof Riordan said: 'I feel it's impractical to say to students they need to stay over Christmas if they don't want to. I don't know how we would enforce that, or where we get the authority to do that, so that would have to be a matter for Welsh Government.' Health Secretary Matt Hancock has not ruled out the prospect of asking students to stay on campus over Christmas amid coronavirus clusters in university halls. Prof Riordan added: 'I really personally hope that we don't end up in that situation because it would be extremely difficult to handle. 'It would cause an awful lot of stress and you know there's a potential for mental health problems telling people they have got to be cooped up in their student room over Christmas.' Advertisement 'However, where necessary we are prepared to issue Fixed Penalty Notices, and in the seven days preceding 23 September, 29 FPNs were issued to students across the City of Manchester Division. 'We continue to work positively with our partners across the higher education sector to drive home the importance of following restrictions. 'We'd encourage all students to consider the potentially negative impact on their education - not to mention their health and that of their loved ones - before attending gatherings that break the law.' The University of Manchester has also warned that students could be made subject to a curfew following a 'significant' number of coronavirus breaches. Bosses said 'active consideration' is now being given to the introduction of a curfew across halls, or other restrictive measures. Earlier this week, four students in Fallowfield were fined by the police after organising an 'after the pub party'. Each student was handed a 100 fixed penalty notice from officers for not adhering to social distancing guidelines. And at Birley Halls, accommodation for Manchester Metropolitan University students, residents claim around 100 people were partying till the early hours of the morning last Monday and Tuesday night. A GMP sergeant tweeted last week: 'Shocked at the arrogance, ignorance & selfishness of some of the freshers in Manchester. 'When you're asked to follow the Covid rules, do as you're told. If you refuse, resulting in being told to leave, don't kick off! Your actions are risking bars / pubs being closed!'. Some students however have said they felt 'on edge' and like they had been unfairly targeted throughout the coronavirus crisis so far. One fresher said: 'It's a bit weird. The first few weeks are about meeting people and obviously it's so hard to do that. 'Everyone is a bit on edge. ' The video comes as Scottish students are being threatened with a strict 'red and yellow card' system for breaking Covid-19 rules as they're banned from parties and pubs. It follows the news that at least a dozen universities in England and Wales have set up their own testing facilities, as outbreaks are reported on 17 UK campuses. Up to 125 students have contacted coronavirus across three universities in Edinburgh in another blow for Scottish universities after outbreaks in Glasgow, Dundee, Fife and Aberdeen. Institutions have said they will make it 'absolutely clear' for those studying that parties will not be tolerated - as a SAGE scientist warned students could be kept on campus over Christmas where outbreaks occur. Sir Mark Walport told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'The one thing that we don't want is for an outbreak of coronavirus in a university to then result in students going home and spreading that infection to other parts of the country and other communities, to their parents, to their grandparents. 'If students are infected when it comes near to the end of term they may have to remain where they are.' At least 362 cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed among the UK's student population, but none of them are thought to have been hospitalised by the virus. UK universities to report Covid-19 cases Aberdeen - Number unconfirmed Nottingham - One student Liverpool - 80 students, seven staff Edinburgh - 120 students at Edinburgh Napier, five at the University of Edinburgh and Queen Margaret University Dundee - Four students at Abertay University Fife - Four cases at St Andrews University Glasgow - 124 cases Exeter - Number unconfirmed Canterbury - Two cases at University of Kent Manchester - 'Several cases' at Manchester Metropolitan University Leeds - Six cases De Montfort - Two confirmed cases Warwick - One confirmed case Swansea - 12 confirmed cases Bristol - One confirmed case at the University of the West of England Advertisement Universities Scotland yesterday outlined new rules for students in the North of the UK, instructing them not to attend hospitality businesses and not to mix outside their household. The new rules say institutions will 'make absolutely clear to students that there must be no parties, and no socialising outside their households'. They add: 'This weekend, the first of the new tighter Scottish government guidance, we will require students to avoid all socialising outside of their households and outside of their accommodation. 'We will ask them not to go to bars or other hospitality venues.' It warned of taking a two-strike approaches to anyone breaking the rules, saying: 'We will take a strict 'Yellow Card/Red Card' approach to breaches of student discipline that put students and others at risk. 'While we first want to advise students about breaches of discipline, we will not hesitate to escalate this to disciplinary action including potential discontinuation of study.' Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has backed the new measures and said that discipline is necessary for those students who are 'flagrantly breaching rules'. Asked if she supports such a tough stance, Ms Sturgeon said: 'Yes I do support universities taking disciplinary action as a last resort, and as a back stop. 'I would not expect universities - and I spoke to principals this morning and I know this is not their intention - to use discipline as a first resort. 'But as with the police, if you have people who are just flagrantly breaching rules then of course discipline and enforcement has to be part of the answer.' The National Union of Students has claimed students are being 'unfairly' blamed for spreading the disease, and it condemned the 'unjustified step of applying different rules to students over and above the rest of the adult population'. But hundreds of students are currently self-isolating after outbreaks of the virus at Glasgow, Edinburgh Napier and other universities. The latest daily coronavirus figures also show a rise in positivity rates - with almost one in 10 (9.5%) of those tested confirmed as having Covid-19. In response to this, Sturgeon also expressed her sympathies for students, many of whom will be staying away from home for the first time and insisted that the decision to allow students to return wasn't linked to the loss of income potentially seen by universities if students had stayed away. She said she did not want to 'underplay the significance' of asking students not to visit pubs this weekend, but said it is not the only difficult request she has made during the pandemic. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (pictured) has backed the new measures and said that discipline is necessary for those students who are 'flagrantly breaching rules' Nicola Sturgeon backs disciplinary action as a 'last resort' against students Nicola Sturgeon has backed disciplinary action being taken as a 'last resort' against students who breach new rules aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 on university campuses. Speaking as the daily increase in cases reached a record high, with 558 Scots testing positive in the past 24 hours, the First Minister said that for those who are 'flagrantly breaching rules, then of course discipline and enforcement has to be part of the answer'. University principals - backed by the Scottish Government - have made it 'absolutely clear' to students that they must not take part in house parties. As part of efforts to prevent outbreaks in university campuses from spreading into the wider population, all students are being asked to avoid pubs this weekend. Nicola Sturgeon (pictured) has backed disciplinary action being taken as a 'last resort' against students who breach new rules aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 on university campuses In addition, universities will adopt a 'yellow card/red card' approach to breaches of discipline, with students warned the consequences could include 'potential discontinuation of study'. Bruce Adamson, the Children and Young People's Commissioner for Scotland, has raised concerns about the human rights implications of such measures, saying he is seeking an 'urgent conversation' with ministers and universities 'to establish the nature and legal basis for these restrictions'. Asked if she supports such a tough stance, Ms Sturgeon said: 'Yes I do support universities taking disciplinary action as a last resort, and as a back stop. 'I would not expect universities - and I spoke to principals this morning and I know this is not their intention - to use discipline as a first resort. 'But as with the police, if you have people who are just flagrantly breaching rules then of course discipline and enforcement has to be part of the answer.' The National Union of Students has claimed students are being 'unfairly' blamed for spreading the disease, and it condemned the 'unjustified step of applying different rules to students over and above the rest of the adult population'. Ms Sturgeon also expressed sympathy for students, many of whom will be living away from home for the first time and could being having to self-isolate in halls of residence. Pictured: Glasgow University's cloisters But hundreds of students are currently self-isolating after outbreaks of the virus at Glasgow, Edinburgh Napier and other universities. The latest daily coronavirus figures also show a rise in positivity rates - with almost one in 10 (9.5%) of those tested confirmed as having Covid-19. At her coronavirus briefing on Friday, Ms Sturgeon also expressed sympathy for students, many of whom will be living away from home for the first time and could being having to self-isolate in halls of residence. She insisted the decision to allow students to return to campus was not linked to the drop in income universities would have suffered had they been told to stay away. Describing herself as the 'devoted auntie' of someone who has just left home to go to university, she told students directly: 'I am so sorry, so heart sorry, that this time of your lives is being made as tough as it is just now. She said the Scottish Government is considering whether self-isolating students could be allowed to return to their family homes. Pictured: A bar in Bristo Square, Edinburgh, which is part of the University of Edinburgh's Student Village 'I really feel for you, but I feel especially for those of you starting university for the first time and, of course, living alone for the first time.' She said the Scottish Government is considering whether self-isolating students could be allowed to return to their family homes, adding guidance on this may be issued over the weekend. But she cautioned: 'I'm going to be frank, that's a difficult balancing act, because if you go home after you've been asked to self-isolate that may have implications for your family, who then also may be asked to self-isolate if you test positive.' She said she did not want to 'underplay the significance' of asking students not to visit pubs this weekend, but said it is not the only difficult request she has made during the pandemic. Ms Sturgeon said: 'I have asked people for six months now not to visit their vulnerable relatives in care homes. 'I'm having to ask people to do really difficult things all of the time. 'So I am asking all students for a weekend to not go to pubs, and hopefully that will help us stem these outbreaks.' Advertisement Ms Sturgeon said: 'I have asked people for six months now not to visit their vulnerable relatives in care homes. 'I'm having to ask people to do really difficult things all of the time. 'So I am asking all students for a weekend to not go to pubs, and hopefully that will help us stem these outbreaks.' The new measures come as the likes of Nottingham University set up its own testing facilities to monitor for an outbreak, while Exeter has brought in its own private tests. Professor Jonathan Ball from Nottingham University said its scheme had potentially prevented an outbreak. He told BBC Radio 4: 'We've had a pilot running with vet students they started towards the end of July, we've been weekly testing them and they've been taking their own swabs. 'We've had a single case that was an asymptomatic person, because of our advice they isolated, their household isolated. We've continued testing three weeks on and we've had no more cases. Stop face-to-face teaching at universities until the Government slows the spread of coronavirus, academic union urges In-person teaching at universities should be stopped until the Government slows the spread of coronavirus, the union representing academics and staff has said. Jo Grady, the general secretary of the University and College Union, has made the warning as many universities have already decided to switch to online-only teaching. Other institutions are spending millions to create their own test and trace systems and strict consequences are being brought in for students who flout social-distancing rules. One in 500 people across England are believed to have had Covid-19 last week and outbreaks have hit 23 universities and forced thousands of students into self-isolation. There were 172 coronavirus cases at the University of Glasgow, 127 at Manchester Metropolitan University and 120 at Edinburgh's Napier University. In Manchester, 1,700 students have been placed in isolation for two weeks at a halls of residence at Birley and All Saint's Park. Ms Grady told The Guardian: 'There is an urgency about this that didn't exist a month ago, because we are seeing infection rates rising and there is the danger that students are just becoming incubators. 'But until there is an effective UK-wide test-and-trace programme, there are going to be cases everywhere. Even if you've got a self-contained university campus with a relatively small number of students, you are still bringing people all together from all over the UK, and staff who teach at multiple institutions moving between them.' The University of Leeds, which has seen six of its students test positive for Covid-19, has become the latest institution to resort to just online teaching. The city went into local lockdown from midnight this morning - meaning most students will no longer be able to visit their families. The University of Cambridge is planning to test all of its students that are living in university accommodation every week and the University of Exeter has invested in saliva-testing facilities. Imperial College London has set up a campus-wide tracing system which will tell students with positive test results to provide details of those they have had close contact with. Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said the governments in England and Scotland could not provide enough tests to universities because of shortages caused by schools reopening. He told The BBC: 'There was a big peak with schools going back and I think the testing capacity got, I wouldn't say overwhelmed but certainly stretched [in a way] that wasn't really anticipated. The government, and this is both governments, could not make testing available for many students.' Salford University, which so far has just 20 positive results in students, has its own test-and-trace system. Lecturers don't want to go back to face-to-face learning. One said: 'Staff are really worried, none of us want to go back to face-to-face learning. We're the ones with the risk factors, rather than the 18, 19 and 20-year-olds.' Universities in Liverpool and Manchester have made the switch to online teaching and Manchester's institutions are prepped to clamp down on illegal gatherings. They could even expel students who flout social-distancing rules and impose curfews on halls. The University of Manchester has so far taken disciplinary action against 200 students for breaching social distancing guidelines, while several have also been issued with 100 fixed penalty notices by police. A spokesperson for the university said it saw imposing a curfew on students living in halls as a 'last resort', but 'if residents fail to adhere to social distancing rules we will be faced with no alternative'. A government spokesperson told The Guardian: 'Testing capacity is the highest it has ever been, but we are seeing a significant demand for tests. It is vital that staff and students only get a test if they develop coronavirus symptoms. 'Our universities are home to world-leading science and innovation, but for those producing their own tests, it is important that the process works with the national system so we know what is happening and where, so we can utilise it for public safety.' Advertisement 'We were able to identify it quickly and potentially stop an outbreak before it started.' If a positive test is returned at the university, it has to apply for a pillar two test from the Government, in order for it to be officially registered as part of the track and trace system. Students may have to spend Christmas on campus to avoid infecting parents with Covid, warns SAGE expert A scientist advising the Government has said university students may have to be told to stay on campus over Christmas in the events of coronavirus outbreaks. Sir Mark Walport, who is on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'There's absolutely no doubt about that and we've seen that from universities across the world. 'There was a paper published, endorsed by Sage, at the beginning of September that noted there was a significant risk that higher education could amplify local and national transmission. 'Universities are very large communities, they bring together people from across the country and they're far from monastic communities these days. 'The one thing that we don't want is for an outbreak of coronavirus in a university to then result in students going home and spreading that infection to other parts of the country and other communities, to their parents, to their grandparents. 'If students are infected when it comes near to the end of term they may have to remain where they are.' Advertisement Professor Powell explained why the scheme was so important: 'It's been known for sometime that universities are particularly high risk settings. When you have lots of very young people very often somebody who's infected at that age will show very mild symptoms and often no symptoms at all so they won't even know they're infected. 'We're asking them to live together in fairly large numbers so there is the potential for rapid spread of the virus and therefore we need to be aware of that and do all we can to control that.' So far the majority of outbreaks have been recorded in Scotland, but there have been student Covid-19 cases at universities in Leeds, Exeter, Liverpool and Manchester. Students in Scotland put up post-it notes in their windows, with one writing 'Send drink' and another lamenting the fact they could not smoke while in isolation. At least 600 have had to confine themselves to their student accommodation after 124 students caught the virus at the Glasgow university. This has led to some students suggesting that catching coronavirus after returning to university was 'inevitable'. One student, 18, said she has now been isolating for nearly a month, having been placed in an initial 14-day quarantine on arrival from California. The teenager and three other people in her eight-person flat in Glasgow University's Murano Street Student Village have now tested positive for Covid-19. The complex is the university's largest halls of residence and can house 1,175 students. She said: 'With this many kids in this small an area, it was bound to happen. 'We have it, so the negative people are cooking. They will drop off food outside our doors. 'It's really hard not to mix, our kitchen is small and we have to share a bathroom. We've been wearing masks.' Meanwhile Mr Hancock said he does not want students to have to stay at their institutions over the Christmas break. He said: 'I don't want to have a situation like that, and I very much hope we can avoid it,' he said. Asked if it was under consideration, he said: 'I've learned not to rule things out. And one of the challenges we have is making sure that people are as safe as possible and that includes not spreading between the generations, but this is not our goal.' Earlier this week it was revealed 500 students were self-isolating at Abertay University in Dundee after one confirmed case, while 80 students and seven staff were confirmed to have coronavirus at the University of Liverpool. There have also been 'a number' of confirmed cases at Aberdeen University. The outbreaks across Scotland have prompted a strong warning against house parties. Students living in IQ Parker House Students accommodation in Dundee were asked to self isolate due to an outbreak. They entertained themselves by posting messages on the windows At least 80 students at Liverpool University have contracted coronavirus, along with seven staff During yesterday's coronavirus briefing national clinical director, Jason Leitch, said: 'We need you not to have house parties, I could not be more clear.' Nicola Sturgeon said the 'significant outbreak at the University of Glasgow' had impacted on the daily Covid-19 infection figure for the NHS Greater Glasgow area. A total of 224 cases were recorded across the health board area in the past day, she said. Prof Leitch said he had spoken to student leaders about the latest restrictions on Tuesday through the National Union of Students. 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More Info of Impact Covid19@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/covid-19-analysis/3835 A mother whose son killed himself after being bullied online has spoken of her fears for millions of students returning to universities without proper support. Ruth Crockett's 19-year-old son, Joel, hanged himself after revenge porn photographs of him were circulated around his social group in April 2019. The tormentor had demanded money from the Liverpudlian teenager, who was diagnosed with Asperger's as well as mild learning difficulties, and had also been previously bullied online. A man, 18, from Lancaster was arrested and questioned by detectives over Joel's death but the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to take the case to court. After her son's death, mother-of-four Ruth, 53, set up Joel's Goals - a group aimed at supporting those affected by online abuse. Ruth Crockett's 19-year-old son, Joel, hanged himself after revenge porn photographs of him were circulated around his social group in April 2019. Pictured, Ruth with Joel The tormentor had demanded money from the Liverpudlian teenager (pictured), who was diagnosed with Asperger's as well as mild learning difficulties, and had also been previously bullied online Ruth said: 'Our government is sending thousands of students to college and university, where they wont receive any face to face teaching and they wont be allowed to mix with their peers, to socialise or to make new friends. 'They are basically condemning them to stay in their rooms and social media is their only form of contact with the outside world. This will lead to more bullying, more abuse and more lives lost. 'What will it take to make the government listen? We will lose more lives to depression than to coronavirus, but nobody seems interested at all.' Joel was the youngest of Ruth's four children and was a happy child. But in high school he was diagnosed with Asperger's and mild learning difficulties. Ruth said: 'Joel seemed like a perfectly normal lad, but he was very literal, and he was very trusting and vulnerable. A man, 18, from Lancaster was arrested and questioned by detectives over Joel's death but the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to take the case to court. Pictured, Joel on his 18th birthday After her son's death, mother-of-four Ruth, 53, set up Joel's Goals - a group aimed at supporting those affected by online abuse. Pictured, Ruth's son Joel 'I gave him five pound to go to the ice-cream van and so he bought five ice-creams and didn't bring any change back. If his footie team got beat, he would cry for days. He took everything to heart. 'But he was full of fun too. One of his favourite tricks was to lean out of his bedroom window with a long pole and knock on our front door. I was forever answering the door and there was nobody there.' She recalled: 'He loved drama and he was a born performer and entertainer. He wanted to be an actor. I enjoy singing too and I would sing him sleep every night when he was little.' But in his teenage years, Joel was bullied and taken advantage of, with Ruth explaining: 'He was conned and bullied into buying games online, he set up overdrafts and credit cards. I had to keep a close eye on him. 'I went into the bedroom one day and Joel said a boy from school was sharing naked photos, but he insisted they were nothing to do with him. 'Three days before he passed away, I heard him being taunted through the Xbox, being called names like "c***".' 'He also asked me for a "lump sum of money". It was a term he would never have used, as if he was repeating a phrase, but I refused. I never even asked him what it was for, I didn't think for a moment he was being blackmailed.' She added: 'I would have run to the end of the earth and back to protect him, I would have gone straight to the police if I knew how bad it had become for Joel.' But shortly after, Ruth discovered her son had hanged himself in his bedroom. Ruth was horrified to discover that Joel had researched websites to learn how to kill himself in the hours before his death. Pictured, Joel's funeral Ruth said: 'I want to help and support other victims of online trolling and cyberbullying. Teenagers and young people don't know how to cope with these situations. They need our support, now more than ever.' Pictured, Joel's grave The distraught mother recalled: 'I was hysterical. I ran into the street screaming for help, but it was too late. My son was dead.' An inquest earlier this month ruled that Joel had killed himself. The hearing heard that police were informed that private photos had been sent to many of the 19-year-old's school friends, which 'might have had an effect' on his mood. A man, 18, from Lancaster, was arrested and questioned by detectives. He was quizzed over an offence of disclosing private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress and a second offence of doing an act capable of encouraging or assisting suicide. Ruth has now set up a charity and support group called Joel's' Goals in his memory (pictured above) Following a review of all the evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to take the case to court. Coroner Anita Bhardwaj told the hearing: 'There are issues of people disclosing intimate photographs and videos on social media. There are a number of people involved here. 'In terms of evidence, there's no proof anybody assisted or encouraged the act which Joel carried out.' Ruth was horrified to discover that Joel had researched websites to learn how to kill himself in the hours before his death. She has now set up a charity and support group called Joel's' Goals in his memory. She said: 'I want to help and support other victims of online trolling and cyberbullying. Teenagers and young people don't know how to cope with these situations. They need our support, now more than ever.' If you have been affected by this story, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org. Cast our minds back to the Spring Budget announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on March 11 and we recall what on that date was deemed to be a generous package designed to deal with all that the coronavirus could throw at us. At a projected cost of 12bn, the interventions included increased funding for the NHS, loans and tax reliefs for businesses, and some changes to statutory sick pay and benefits - but that was just the first tranche. Six months later, and despite the introduction of various additional measures including the furlough scheme - and an ever mounting public debt - it has been clear in recent weeks that more would be required to help the UK economy through the potentially lean winter months. Taking to his feet in the Commons on Thursday, the Chancellor said there could be "no harder choice" than opting to end the furlough scheme adding that the focus must now turn to stable jobs that offer "genuine security". It is in response to growing concern of so-called 'zombie jobs' kept just barely alive by being part of the furlough scheme when in reality, they are destined to be lost. As the furlough initiative winds down at the end of October to be replaced by the Jobs Support Scheme announced today - which requires employees to work at least some hours - we may begin to see more starkly the impact of Covid-19 on employment levels. Firms will have to decide whether or not to keep staff on or move them to this new arrangement. Designed to help businesses that anticipate weak demand during the winter period retain their employees, some concerns have been expressed that the scheme will simply move the job loss cliff edge a further six months down the road. And with the measure expected to cost the government around 300m a month, it will also add considerably to the mounting public bill. Other announcements included an extension to the amount of time allowed to repay Bounce Back Loans from six to 10 years, while lenders will be able to extend the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme by the same amount, resulting in lower monthly repayments. Companies wishing to avail of either loan scheme also now have more time to do so, with the deadline for applications extended to the end of November. Businesses and those who complete self-assessments will also be given more time to pay any tax bills they had chosen to defer until next year, rather than face a single lump sum in January. Meanwhile, the cut in VAT for the tourism and hospitality sector will be extended until the end of March, providing welcome relief for the operators in the industry. There is no doubt, bar a few exceptions, the Chancellor's newly announced measures are to be broadly welcomed by businesses still fearing full recovery is some way off. With that fear in mind, and considering how far we've come in six months, and the unprecedented levels of public aid, some may ask if we've yet seen the end of government interventions to stem the impact of the coronavirus. Andrew Webb is chief economist at Grant Thornton North Korean leader Kim Jong Un takes part in a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 11, 2020. "Comrade Kim Jong Un, the State Affairs Commission chairman, feels very sorry to give big disappointment to President Moon Jae-in and South Korean citizens because an unexpected, unfortunate incident happened" at a time when South Korea grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, Moon adviser Suh Hoon cited the North Korean message as saying. It's extremely unusual for a North Korean leader to apologize to rival South Korea on any issue. Kim's apology was expected to ease anti-North sentiments in South Korea and mounting criticism of South Korean President Moon Jae-in over the man's death this week. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un apologized Friday over the killing of a South Korea official near the rivals' disputed sea boundary, saying he's "very sorry" about the "unexpected" and "unfortunate" incident, South Korean officials said Friday. On Thursday, South Korea accused North Korea of fatally shooting one of its public servants who was likely trying to defect and burning his body after finding him on a floating object in North Korean waters earlier this week. South Korean officials condemned North Korea for what they called an "atrocious act" and pressed it punish those responsible. According to the North Korean message, North Korean troops first fired blanks after the man didn't fully explain why he was there, rather than saying he's from South Korea. Then, he showed moves to flee, prompting the North Korean troops to fire 10 rounds. When the troops came near the man's floating object, they only found lots of blood on the floating object and the man wasn't seen. The troops determined he was dead and burned the floating object in line with anti-coronavirus rules, according to the North Korean message read by Suh. Senior South Korean military officer Ahn Young Ho told lawmaker Wednesday that North Korea fatally shot the official likely in line with elevated anti-coronavirus rules that involve "indiscriminate shooting" at anyone approaching its borders illegally. Defense Minister Suh Wook said the official was believed to have tried to defect because he left his shoes on the ship and put on a life jacket and resorted to a floating object when he was found in North Korean waters. Suh also cited an unidentified circumstantial evidence indicating the official's defection attempt. Some experts those weren't enough to conclude the official tried to defect. Myanmar & COVID-19 Myanmar Reports Over 1,000 COVID-19 Cases in a Day The health ministry is preparing more hospital beds in Yangon. / Aung Kyaw Htet / The Irrawaddy Yangon Myanmar reported more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths on Thursday, according to the Ministry of Health and Sports. On Friday morning, Myanmar reported 8,515 COVID-19, with 1,052 cases on Thursday and 171 cases during the morning. The countrys COVID-19 death toll reached 155 after 20 more on Thursday and five on Friday morning. Meanwhile, 2,381 patients have recovered from coronavirus, said the health ministry. In Asean, Myanmar is fifth for COVID-19 cases, behind the Philippines with more than 297,000 cases, Indonesia with more than 262,000 cases, Singapore with more than 57,000 cases and Malaysia with more than 10,000. Since overtaking Malaysias COVID-19 death toll, Myanmar is now behind Indonesia with more than 10,000 deaths and the Philippines with more than 5,100 fatalities. Myanmars health ministry reported COVID-19 cases in 205 townships across 14 states and regions with only Kayah State reporting no coronavirus cases. Myanmar has reported more than 8,100 COVID-19 cases since Aug. 16, when the countrys domestic transmission in a month was detected in Rakhine State, compared to 374 cases in the preceding five months. A total of 149 COVID-19 deaths have been reported since Sept. 4, compared to six deaths between March and August. At noon on Thursday, Yangon reported more than 5,800 cases, reporting around 500 cases per day. On Wednesday, Yangon reported 783 new cases. Meanwhile, the second-hardest-hit state or region is Rakhine State, which has reported more than 1,200 COVID-19 cases. All Yangon Region residents, except for those on the islands of Cocokyun Township, have been ordered to stay at home since Sept. 21. Garment factories in the city have been ordered to stop their operations until Oct. 7 and other businesses and organizations have been told to work from home. The health authorities initially said to fight the pandemic in the city a containment strategy would be used, treating all patients and placing anyone thought to be infected under quarantine for COVID-19 tests. However, as the infection rate rises, the health ministry is considering changing its COVID-19 strategy, said Professor Zaw Wai Soe, vice-chairman of Yangons coordinating of COVID-19 prevention, control and treatment committee, on Thursday. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Reports Its Seventh COVID-19 Death; First in Over Four Months Myanmars COVID-19 Cases Exceed 1,000 Myanmars Suu Kyi Warns of Jail Terms for COVID-19 Rule Breakers (Newser) Two former officials at a Massachusetts veterans home have been hit with criminal charges after dozens died there during a COVID-19 outbreak. NBC Boston and CBS Boston report that Bennett Walsh, 50, the facility's former superintendent, and 71-year-old David Clinton, who served as the facility's medical director, are facing five counts each of criminal neglect, plus another five counts of serious bodily injuries, for what Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey calls a "deadly decision" made on March 27 at the Soldiers' Home in Holyoke. That decision, due to staffing shortages, per the New York Times: to consolidate 42 veterans from two dementia wards into a space made for 25. At least 76 residents died of the virus during the outbreaksaid to be one of the deadliest outbreaks at a US long-term care facility. Dozens of other residents and workers were infected. story continues below Infected residents or those showing symptoms were placed six to a room that usually held four. Residents said to be without symptoms (though Healey says some of them actually did have symptoms) were moved to a dining room, where their beds were said to have been just a few feet apart from each other; they also mingled with infected residents in the room next door. Three of the supposedly asymptomatic residents caught the virus, one of whom died. The Times cites an investigators' report released in June "that depicted a facility in chaos." Of Walsh and Clinton's decision to consolidate the veterans into one space, one worker told investigators it was "the most insane thing I ever saw in my entire life." Walsh was placed on administrative leave on March 30; Clinton resigned after the report came out. Healey notes this is the first criminal case regarding the pandemic involving US nursing home officials. Both men will be arraigned at a later date and could face multiyear prison sentences. (Read more veterans stories.) Representational picture Vistara is working towards a leaner cost structure amid the COVID-19 disruption, even as the airline - like its peers - is exploring ways to bring in additional revenues. "We have been pursuing several measures to reduce non-customer facing operating expenditures and are making every effort to conserve cash wherever possible. This includes renegotiating various contracts with partners, vendors, and lessors," a Vistara spokesperson told Moneycontrol. The spokesperson added that the airline also cut salaries "with the intent of protecting all jobs at Vistara." On new ways to bring in additional revenues, the airline cited its ancillary service that allows passengers to book an extra seat for themselves to ensure that the next seat is empty. "Vistara Upgrades is another such initiative launched recently to augment our revenue," the spokesperson said, and added that the airline is also focusing on cargo operations, for which it has got approval for carriage of cargo on seats. The statements came in response to queries after the aviation business of the Tata Group came under the spotlight amid the legal battle with the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. In a statement on September 23, it had said that "several issues...continued to plague the group. Be it the operations of Tata Steel UK, where over the last three years alone the operational losses have increased by an additional 11,000 crores, or the Groups aviation businesses." The Tata Group has interests in two airlines. Vistara is its joint venture with Singapore Airlines. It also formed a joint venture with AirAsia to launch AirAsiaIndia. The FY20 report card In FY20, Vistara's pre-tax loss increased to Rs 1,814 crore, said a report in Business Standard. This is despite a 54 percent jump in revenue to Rs 4,738 crore. Explaining its FY20 performance, the airline reflected that expansion and high operational expenses put pressure on margins. "Over the last year, we expanded our network by close to 50 percent, launching eight new domestic destinations and starting international operations to five destinations in quick succession," said the spokesperson. The airline also nearly doubled its fleet size by the end of the financial year ending March 2020, added the executive. Vistara has a fleet of 43 aircraft, which include Airbus A320s and a Boeing 787-9. "Operational expenses remained high throughout the year," added the spokesperson, "including the increasing price of ATF and depreciating Rupees against US dollars." Commenting on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the executive said, "Our growth journey got severely impacted with the outbreak of COVID-19 and the temporary suspension of operations during the nationwide lockdown. There was a long period of no revenues that led to depleting cash reserves, while some of the significant expenses/fixed costs continued. The financial impact was witnessed by all the players in the sector." TROY A 17-year-old has died after being shot late Thursday night in the Glen and 7th Avenue neighborhood of Troy, police confirmed Friday night. Police also identified the victim as Tamari Rodriguez. "Please keep his family in your thoughts," Deputy Police Chief Daniel DeWolf said in a news release issued late Friday night. An investigation into the shooting remains underway, he said. Police were called to the area around 11:10 p.m. Thursday for a report of shots fired, and found a person on the ground who appeared to have an injury to his head caused by a gunshot, DeWolf said. The person, later identified as Rodriguez, was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital in critical condition. Police were notified late Friday of his death, DeWolf said. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Police said a dark-colored sedan was reportedly seen in the area, but it is unclear whether it was involved in the incident. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call city detectives at 518-270-4426. Interpol has handed over 3 Egyptians who are wanted in connection with a 2014 rape case that has come to light in recent months Interpol has handed over three Egyptians who are wanted in Egypt in connection with a 2014 rape case that has come to light in recent months, stirring public outrage. The three men were delivered to Egyptian authorities at Cairo International Airport on Wednesday and will be questioned by the prosecution. Lebanese police arrested the three suspects weeks ago after Interpol had put out a request for the apprehension of seven fugitives who fled Egypt after the rape, dubbed the Fairmont Nile City Hotel rape case, was brought to light. According to the National News Agency (NNA) in Lebanon, the three men were arrested in August in Mount Lebanons town of Fatqa. Two other suspects have fled the country, according to Lebanese authorities. The arrest was made days after Egypt said it had taken measures to pursue the seven fugitives via Interpol after the men fled the country via the capitals airport in July. One of the defendants in the case, which so far involves a total of nine suspects, was arrested earlier as he attempted to flee Egypt and is being detained pending investigation. The whereabouts of the remaining suspects are currently unknown. The suspects in the case, which has gained widespread attention on social media over the past two months, reportedly hail from affluent and powerful families in Egypt. The alleged rape has been under investigation by Egyptian authorities since 4 August, when a complaint about the incident was filed with the country's prosecutor-general. The complaint was first sent to the National Council of Women (NCW) by a woman alleging she was raped by several men at the luxurious Fairmont Hotel in Cairo in 2014. The victim and a number of witnesses have been questioned by the prosecution, the prosecution said on 24 August. The case went viral in July on different social media platforms after an anonymous Instagram account published posts accusing a group of young men of being involved in a gang rape following a party at the hotel. Search Keywords: Short link: EBIT BEFORE NON-RECURRING ITEMS POSITIVE DESPITE COVID-19 IMPACT ON BUSINESS; CASH OF 40.3M (EXCLUDING 25M PGE LOAN) AT 30 JUNE; STRONG SALES REBOUND CONFIRMED DURING THE SUMMER. Paris, September 25, 2020 ROCHE BOBOIS SA (ISIN: FR0013344173 - Ticker symbol: RBO), high-end furniture global market leader and the name behind French Art de Vivre, today released its first half 2020 results. The Roche Bobois S.A. Executive Board approved the financial statements on September 21, 2020. The statutory auditors conducted a limited review of the financial statements. Although the Group naturally posted a downturn in sales during H1 2020 following the closure of its stores for during the lockdown, the Company was able to demonstrate the resilience of its business model against the backdrop of the crisis. Thanks to our business model mainly based on variable costs and through the support measures provided in the different countries, the Group significantly lowered its operating expenses (down 17%) in line with its revenues, thereby limiting the impact on EBITDA. As a result, the Group's EBITDA rate declined very slightly by 1.5 points to 14.2% at June 30, 2020. The Group has recorded a sharp rebound in sales since stores reopened (+61.9% in June, +15.4% in July and +47.1% in August on its owned stores). By the end of August 2020, the Group had already nearly caught up on its two brands Roche Bobois and Cuir Center in France as compared with the same period in the previous financial year. The Company also continues to enjoy a robust financial position, with gross cash and cash equivalents of 40.3 million (excluding a 25 million state-guaranteed PGE loan), i.e. a total of 65.3 million at June 30, 2020. IFRS (m) H1 2019 H1 2020 Sale of goods 118.2 95.3 Royalties and other services 16.5 14.2 Revenues 134.7 109.6 Gross margin on sales 58.6% 58.9% Current EBITDA 21.1 15.5 EBIT before non-recurring items 7.2 0.4 EBIT 7.2 0.4 Net financial expense (1.2) (1.3) Tax charge (1.5) (0.3) Net profit/(loss) 4.5 (1.2) Net profit/(loss) Group share 4.1 (1.1) ROCHE BOBOIS SA posted first half 2020 revenues of 109.6 million, down 18.6% at current exchange rates (down 19.2% at constant exchange rates). The fall in retail sales was a consequence of the closure of the entire store chain due to the COVID-19 health crisis, partly offset by sustained delivery volumes in June 2020. The Group maintained gross margin at high level, from 58.6% in H1 2019 to 58.9% due to sustained price levels and gross margin growth in the United States/Canada region. Operating expenses were kept well under control. External expenses fell sharply from 35.0 million in H1 2019 to 28.7 million (down 18%), mainly due to the renegotiations of rents on most of the network of stores in the various countries (down 1.1 million), lower PR and advertising expenses (down 1.3 million) as well as a reduction in transport costs (fewer deliveries to customers) and store opening costs, representing a combined additional saving of almost 1 million. Staff costs also fell 16.1% from 27.9 million in H1 2019 to 23.4 million. This reduction is the result of the financial support measures provided during this unprecedented period (furlough schemes in France, grants and subsidies in the United States/Canada, etc.) and the decrease in commissions paid to sellers (lower retail sales in H1 2020). Staff costs include a 0.3 million bonus share plan expense in H1 2020. Current EBITDA amounted to 15.5 million, down 5.6 million from 21.1 million in H1 2019. The current EBITDA margin came to 14.2% at current exchange rates (14.1% at constant exchange rates) representing a limited 1.5 point decrease from 15.7% in H1 2019. In France, the EBITDA margin showed resilience at 14.1% in H1 2020 compared to 15.8% in H1 2019. The United States/Canada margin improved by 3 percentage points (from 20.9% to 23.9%) due to an improvement in gross margin in this region (+1.7 points) combined with a decrease in operating expenses. After recognition of depreciation, amortisation and impairment charges (15.4 million), EBIT before non-recurring items was positive at 0.4 million in H1 2020. The Group did not record any non-recurring expenses and thus posted EBIT of 0.4 million in H1 2020. After a net financial expense of 1.3 million and a 0.3 million tax charge, the Group posted a net loss of 1.1 million. Tight control of working capital; operating cash flow remains high Group free cash flow amounted to 15.7 million (compared to 20.8 million a year earlier). Change in working capital was tightly controlled at 0.7 million in H1 2020 compared to 2.6 million the previous year. H1 2020 operating cash flow remained high at 15.6 million (compared to 22.1 million in H1 2019) enabling the financing of all capital expenditure (3.0 million), repayments of borrowings (2.5 million), interest (1.2 million) and purchases of minority interests (1.7 million), in particular Coxbury and Deco Center 95. No dividend was paid out in view of the economic environment. The Group secured a 25 million state-guaranteed PGE loan during the first half and used an overdraft facility in the amount of 8 million. These amounts combined with a healthy level of customer down payments over the period enabled the Group to record significant cash and cash equivalents of 65.3 million at June 30, 2020, compared to 31.1 million at December 31, 2019. Gross borrowings amounted to 52.7 million (including 25 million state-guaranteed PGE loan) at June 30, 2020 against 20.0 million at December 31, 2019. Lease liabilities, exclusively related to the application of the IFRS 16 accounting method, reached 128.6 M at June 30, 2020. Continued catching-up of the network retail sales Roche Bobois SA recorded retail sales1 of 208.0 million in the first six months of 2020 across its entire store chain (including franchises) compared to 245.9 million in H1 2019, thus limiting the downturn to 15.4%, thanks in particular to record-breaking sales outside the lockdown period. This excellent trend continued during the summer. The Group recorded growth of 15.4% and 47.1% respectively in July and August at its owned stores. The trend is similar for the entire store chain (owned stores and franchises) with a global increase of 14.1% for these two months (cumulated data). Concerning the owned stores, the retail sales of the two brands, Roche Bobois and Cuir Center in France recorded a slightly decline respectively, 3.2% and 1.2% cumulated at the end of August. The Other Europe region even recorded an increase of +2%. In US/Canada, the decline was only 10.4% compared to 23.3% (cumulative at the end of June 2020). All in all, on its owned stores, the delay in retail sales is only 5.8% cumulative at the end of August 2020. At June 30, 2020, the Group had a 103 million order backlog (up 12.1 million compared to the same time last year), which will translate into an equivalent amount of revenue to be recognised this year. In the end, over this financial year, the Roche Bobois SA annual sales, will be down in view of delivery timeframes. However, this decline will be limited by the strong catch-up observed in retail sales in the various geographic regions. Finally, the Group is pursuing its 2020 development programme by adding seven new owned stores to its network: Europe: Germany (Cologne), Portugal (Lisbon 2) opened in July 2020 and Switzerland (Sion) opened in May 2020; United States: Minneapolis and the planned takeover of 3 franchisees (San Francisco, Portland and Seattle) for which an SPA should be signed by the end of the year. Availability of the first half 2020 financial report Roche Bobois SA hereby announces that it has published and filed its financial report for the six months ended June 30, 2020 with the AMF (French financial markets regulator). This report may be viewed and downloaded from the Roche Bobois website: www.finance-roche-bobois.com About ROCHE BOBOIS SA ROCHE BOBOIS SA is a French family business founded in 1960. The Group operates in 54 countries and has a network of 330 owned stores and franchises (at 30 june 2020) marketing its two brands: Roche Bobois, a high-end furniture brand with a strong international presence, and Cuir Center, positioned in the mid-range market segment with an essentially French customer base. Through its Roche Bobois brand, the Group embodies the French Art de Vivre whose presence can now be felt on the world stage, with original and bold creations from talented designers (Bruno Moinard, Jean Nouvel, Ora Ito, Sacha Lakic, Christophe Delcourt, Stephen Burks, Kenzo Takada, Bina Baitel...) and partnerships with fashion and haute couture houses. Roche Bobois is also a committed partner in the world of culture and the arts. Including franchises, these two brands posted 2019 revenues of 490 million excluding VAT, to which Roche Bobois contributed 398 million and Cuir Center 92 million. Roche Bobois SA 2019 consolidated revenues came to 274.7 million. For more information please visit www.finance-roche-bobois.com CONTACT Actus Finance - Anne-Pauline Petureaux Investor Relations Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 72/ apetureaux@actus.fr Actus Finance - Serena BONI Press Relations Tel.: +33 (0) 4 72 18 04 92 / sboni@actus.fr Forward-looking statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements do not constitute guarantees regarding the future performance of ROCHE BOBOIS. This forward-looking information covers the future outlook, growth and commercial strategy of ROCHE BOBOIS and is based on the analysis of future result forecasts and estimates of amounts that cannot yet be determined. By nature, forward-looking information involves risks and uncertainties, as it relates to events and depends on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. ROCHE BOBOIS draws your attention to the fact that forward-looking statements provide no guarantee of future performance and that its actual financial position, results and cash flow, as well as changes in the sector in which ROCHE BOBOIS operates, may differ significantly from those proposed or suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in this document. Moreover, even if ROCHE BOBOIS' financial position, results, cash flow and changes in the sector in which ROCHE BOBOIS operates were to be in accordance with the forward-looking information contained in this document, these results or changes may not be a reliable indicator of ROCHE BOBOIS' future results or developments. A description of events that could have a material adverse impact on ROCHE BOBOIS' business, financial position or results, or on its ability to achieve its targets, is given in Chapter 4 "Risk Factors" of the Base Document. GLOSSARY EBITDA = earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. Underlying EBITDA equals Group pre-tax profit before deduction of interest, depreciation, amortisation and impairment charges on non-current assets, store opening costs and staff share-based payments, but after impairment of inventories and trade receivables. It shows profit generated by business activities regardless of financing conditions, tax constraints and the upgrading of operating assets. Non-recurring expenses (one-off, unusual or infrequent items) are excluded. ------------------------ This publication embed "Actusnews SECURITY MASTER ". - SECURITY MASTER Key: m2hxlsiXlpnKmG2elZZtl2dknG2SmWecmWWVk2FvlJfKbJ9gl21pbpSbZm9ml2dq - Check this key: https://www.security-master-key.com. ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Receive by email the next press releases of the company by registering on www.actusnews.com, it's free Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-65224-pr_roche-bobois_gb_vdef.pdf Dr. Rana Dajani had recently returned to her home country of Jordan in 2006 after five years abroad, when she was struck by an observation that sparked her irrepressible curiosity: why did so few Jordanian children read for pleasure? While most would have briefly pondered the question before carrying on with their lives, Dajanis inquiring mind was unable to let it go. As an accomplished molecular biologist who has studied and worked at some of the worlds leading academic institutions, including Harvard and Yale, she began to research the issue more closely. I started asking questions, making observations, digging through the literature, said Dajani, who is currently in the United States of America where she was teaching when Jordans airports closed in March due to COVID-19, leaving her unable to return home. Speaking quickly, as if her words sometimes struggled to keep up with her train of thought, Dajani added: I realized that the way for a child to fall in love with reading is by having a role model, a parent who's reading aloud to the child. "I couldn't sleep. I had to do something." Armed with this insight, she said it was the values of her Muslim upbringing that forced her to act on what she had learnt not just for the benefit of her own children, but as many children as she could reach. I felt this huge responsibility, that I had to do something for the children around me. And I felt if I didn't, then this would be on me because I had the solution. I couldn't sleep. I had to do something. That was how the We Love Reading project was born, which today is active in 56 countries worldwide, has trained over 7,000 mostly women volunteer readers, and has brought the joy of reading to nearly half a million children, including tens of thousands of young refugees in Jordan and beyond. For her work in promoting reading and education among refugees, host communities and others, Dajani has been chosen as the regional winner for the Middle East and North Africa for UNHCRs Nansen Refugee Award, a prestigious annual prize that honours those who have gone to extraordinary lengths to help forcibly displaced and stateless people. The as-yet-undisclosed global laureate of the award will be announced on 1 October. The prize itself will be presented by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in a virtual ceremony on 5 October. Eight-year-old Syrian refugee Rama Al-Lemoni is photographed after being read a story by a We Love Reading ambassador in Amman. UNHCR/Moises Saman We Love Reading ambassador Latifa Al-Laham, 55, reads to a group of young fellow Syrian refugees in an apartment in Amman, Jordan. UNHCR/Moises Saman Having avoided books and reading for most of her adult life, Latifa says she has become an avid reader after joining the scheme. UNHCR/Moises Saman Rana Dajani climbs a tree near the house in Richmond, Virginia, where she was staying while Jordan's airport remained closed due to COVID-19. UNHCR/Evelyn Hockstein Back in 2006, We Love Reading began with a single weekly session at which Dajani read aloud to the neighbourhood children at her local mosque. But all the while, she was thinking of ways to expand the initiative to every neighbourhood in the country. After three years of tinkering I had reduced the programme to the most simple formula where it was still effective and still impactful, Dajani said. We Love Reading became a training programme, where we would train adults and youth from age 16 to 100 years old. We train them how to read aloud as an art, because most of them have never been read aloud to, so they don't know how to do it to make it fun, she continued. And we train them also on how to start a reading aloud session in their neighborhood. Those that receive the training are known as reading ambassadors, who are then encouraged to establish reading sessions in their own neighbourhoods on a purely voluntary basis and promote the scheme by word of mouth. In this way, Dajani says, the programme has become a grassroots movement in which participants feel a sense of ownership and empowerment, with more than 4,400 sessions currently being held worldwide. "They run it. They own it." They are responsible for it. They run it. They own it, Dajani explained. That's the secret sauce of We Love Reading: how people take up the programme and run with it wherever they are. The scheme has proved particularly effective in refugee settings in Jordan, which currently hosts more than 658,000 registered Syrian refugees, having a positive impact on both refugee children and adult volunteers. Following this success, the model has been replicated at Kule refugee camp in Ethiopia. Most refugees dont know whats going to happen in the future and this impacts their mental health, Dajani said. We Love Reading gives them a purpose, something that is tangible and a sense of agency. The sense of control is so important for building resilience and improving the positive mentality. That was the case for Latifa Al-Laham, a 55-year-old Syrian refugee from Damascus who fled the conflict to Jordan in 2013. Having left school after sixth grade, she had avoided books and reading most of her adult life. But after completing the training in January, not only has she begun regularly reading to her own grandchildren and her neighbours kids, she has also become an avid reader herself. "We need to believe in ourselves, because nothing is impossible." Reading has made the kids love me more, and I also set aside special time to read for myself before sunset once Ive finished cooking, Latifa said. Im a different person after the training. It gave me the power and confidence to become someone different. Even at my age, you can change your life. While Dajani admits that she is surprised by the global popularity of We Love Reading, she said its success is driving her to work even harder to bring the benefits of a love of reading to more children. I never really believed it would reach where it is today, but I dreamt it. And this is a testament that we need to dream and we need to believe in ourselves, because nothing is impossible, she said. The Nansen Refugee Award is named in honour of Norwegian explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen, the first High Commissioner for Refugees and Nobel Prize winner, who was appointed by the League of Nations in 1921. It aims to showcase his values of perseverance and commitment in the face of adversity. You can read about the other regional winners of the UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award here. Additional reporting by Charlie Dunmore and Lilly Carlisle in Amman, Jordan. In a whiplash series of events, the board of the Medina County District Library (Ohio) on September 21 voted 4-3 to withdraw the librarys institutional support for the American Library Association. But just days later, after generating a local backlash and drawing national scrutiny, the board swiftly convened an emergency meeting and rescinded its decision. In a statement shared with PW, Kyle White, president of the Medina County District Library board of trustees, confirmed that the board had voted not to renew its ALA membership after members of our board raised concerns that ALA may be drifting from its core mission to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship. But, "after hearing from members of our community who feel our action was premature, White's statement noted, the board met again on September 24 and voted to rescind the September 21 resolution pending possible further discussion and research. According to the library's social media, the board member who initially introduced the resolution to withdraw from ALA, Mary Schultz, was not present to vote at the emergency meeting, and one other board member voted against rescinding the decision. "This is about an organization leaning in one direction," Schultz reportedly said about introducing the vote to leave ALA this week, according to a report in the local Medina Gazette. "We cant support a partisan organization. Its leaning to the left. Were representing this county. We have to be totally neutral. Those sentiments were reportedly echoed by another board member, Sharon Jenks, who according to the Gazette also accused ALA of being too political. The library is supposed to be Switzerland. Like (Schultz) said, our doors are open to everyone. I dont know how we can do that and affiliate with an organization like this. Gazette reporter Bob Finnan noted that board members "wanted to go out of their way to say that their decision on Monday wasnt because the ALA supports Black Lives Matter." However, the ALA's vocal support for racial and social justice issues clearly form the political subtext behind the vote. Were not doing this because of Black Lives Matter, another trustee, Mary Ogden, reportedly said of the initial decision to walk away from ALA, according to the Gazette. The question is, do we object to the ALA taking a social justice position that doesnt further its mission; or, as a government entity in a racist society, are they required to take a social justice position? The ALA is of course a membership organization, and not library or government entity. And as a 501(c)3 organization, the ALA is required to be politically nonpartisan. But being politically nonpartisan is not to be confused with being "neutral," especially, librarians say, when it comes to such core library values as diversity, equity, and inclusion. The idea that libraries are not neutral has been a prominent theme and topic of discussion within the library profession and within ALA for years. Meanwhile, a Change.org petition set up this week to oppose the boards decision to leave ALA suggested that the board member who proposed the initial resolution did so "stating that the ALA supports defunding the police." ALA, however, has not voiced support for defunding the police. Let's not have our cherished library system associated with such nonsense," the petition notes. "The library is a service to the entire community, not a tool for the political machinations of a select few. The ALA has a long tradition of supporting First Amendment rights and advocating for diversity, inclusion, and equity. Such rights are important for all of us, minority or not, and are rights we should be supporting, not hindering. In a separate post on the MCDL Facebook page, one commenter urged the library to recruit a person of color to sit on the library board. "There is currently no diversity," the comment states calling that "unacceptable." ALA members PW spoke to (and on social media) were bemused with the idea that ALA was perceived as a far left organization. In fact, ALA has faced criticism from members, especially in recent months, for not doing enough in support of racial and social justice. MCDL director Julianne Bedel, who took the helm in February of this year, told the Gazette she did not personally support withdrawing from ALA, but politely declined to comment further on the matter for PW. "I appreciate the board's decision to revisit the question of ALA membership," Bedel noted in an emailed statement, adding that "the issues surrounding the board's original vote" were "important" and "deserve serious discussion and input from those who use our services and support our work." City employees make up the backbone of our middle class, especially in communities of color and they always have, the letter reads in part. We owe a debt of gratitude to our workers. Thats why, amid the economic fallout from the pandemic, the last thing we want to do is lay off our critical public sector employees. We urgently need federal support to shore up our budget and keep people working amid this crisis. Abbas said Palestinians remained committed to the 2020 Arab Peace Initiative in which Arab nations offered to normalize ties with Israel in return for Palestinian statehood along the 1967 borders Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene an international conference early next year to launch "a genuine peace process" between Israel and the Palestinians. Abbas urged Guterres to work with the Middle East Quartet of mediators - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the UN- and the UN Security Council on a conference "with full authority and with the participation of all concerned parties, early next year, to engage in a genuine peace process." The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with east Jerusalem as its capital, all territory captured by Israel in 1967. Palestinian leaders rejected a peace proposal unveiled in January by US President Donald Trump, in which Washington would recognize Jewish settlements in occupied territory as part of Israel. "There will be no peace, no security, no stability and no coexistence in our region while this occupation continues and a just, comprehensive solution to the question of Palestine, the core of the conflict, remains denied," Abbas told the 193-member UN General Assembly in a video pre-recorded due to COVID-19. He said the Palestinians remained committed to the 2020 Arab Peace Initiative, drawn up by Saudi Arabia, in which Arab nations offered to normalize ties with Israel in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in 1967. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed agreements last week to establish ties with Israel, becoming the first Arab states in a quarter century to break a longstanding taboo. The Palestinians denounced the move. Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz, in his debut speech to the United Nations on Wednesday, said the Arab Peace Initiative is the basis for a "comprehensive and just solution," but also said he supported US peace efforts. He stopped short of endorsing the recent US-brokered agreements. Search Keywords: Short link: People's Assembly member Safwan Qurabi believes that time is running out in Idleb and the Syrian army will soon move in a take the rebel held area writes Al-Watan. A member of the Peoples Assembly from Idleb, Safwan Qurabi, considered that the Russian effort to try to obtain what was agreed upon with the Turkish side, whether in Astana or Moscow, continues through political means and war alike. Qurabi, in a statement to Al-Watan, stressed that the M4 highway will return to service before the US elections, but hopefully through a political solution rather than fighting. Qurabi described what was going on in the previous stage as an implicit Russian-Turkish agreement to withdraw significant quantities of heavy weapons and reduce the number of Turkish military spots, according to a directive to preserve a state of non-confrontation. This had the aim to get everyone to shift their attention towards al-Qaeda groups either directly, which is a Syrian-Russian responsibility through military strikes, or indirectly, through Turkey, which pledged in its agreements with the Russians to help get rid of al-Qaeda groups. However, Turkey has continued to use these terrorist groups as a blackmail tool, which can be allowed for only a certain period of time, the end of which is fast approaching, considering that the upcoming days are critical, and that there is an unprecedented military tension. Qurabi considered that the Syrian-Russian bombing of weapons warehouses and operations rooms for al-Qaeda groups is a prelude that uses fire to deliver messages. Qurabi, who thought the current situation must be monitored, wished for the return to service of the M4 highway with the least amount of blood and destruction, and that the return would be smooth and less violent. Otherwise, we will witness a heated round whose outcome is definitive, according to Qurabi, which will have a painful impact on the region. Qurabi confirmed that the return to service of the M4 highway and the return of Syrian lands is merely the implementation of previously signed agreements. Qurabi says that Turkey has been stalling and reneging on its promises, as per usual, hoping that there is a political loophole it can use to buy some time. According to Qurabi, the right moment is today and the timing could not be more appropriate [for the return to service of the road]. He also noted that the Russians should be mindful of the fact that the Syrian army has been in a state of readiness for more than ten months now, which is cumbersome at the military level, as military inaction is a source of fatigue for military forces. I think that the zero hour is approaching, and the Syrian army will regain control over the M4 highway soon, before winter, Qurabi said. 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. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.25 By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend: The value of trade turnover between Kazakhstan and the Netherlands amounted to $2.02 billion over the first seven months of 2020, compared to $2.4 billion during the same period of 2019, Trend reports with reference to Kazakhstans Statistics Committee. The share of the Netherlands in the total value of Kazakhstans trade turnover stood at 4.1 percent during the reporting period compared to 4.5 percent during the same period of 2019. Kazakhstans export to the Netherlands amounted to $1.8 billion over the period from January through July 2020, compared to $2.3 billion during the same period of 2019 The Netherlandss share in the total volume of Kazakhstans export amounted to 6.6 percent during the reporting period of 2020 compared to 7.1 percent during the same period of 2019. In turn, Kazakhstans imports from the Netherlands amounted to nearly $132.2 million over the reporting period, compared to $121.8 million during the same period of 2019. The Netherlandss share in the total volume of Kazakhstans import amounted to 0.7 percent during the reporting period of 2020 compared to 0.6 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 the Netherlands trade turnover were food products, agricultural products, as well as products of the chemical industry. --- Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh After Santa Marian Melissa Meza received a plasma donation from a COVID-19 survivor that aided in her fight against the virus, her husband vowed to pay it forward by making his own donation once he recovered. Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu resigned suddenly and unexpectedly - AFP The powerful head of the Vatican's saint-making office, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, has resigned suddenly from the post and renounced his rights as a cardinal amid a financial scandal that has reportedly implicated him indirectly. The Vatican provided no details on why Pope Francis accepted Becciu's resignation in a statement late Thursday. In the one-sentence announcement, the Holy See said only that Francis had accepted Becciu's resignation as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints "and his rights connected to the cardinalate." Becciu, the former No. 2 in the Vatican's secretariat of state, has been reportedly implicated in a financial scandal involving the Vatican's investment in a London real estate deal that has lost the Holy See millions of euros in fees paid to middlemen. The Vatican prosecutor has placed several Vatican officials under investigation, as well as the middlemen, but not Becciu. Becciu has defended the soundness of the original investment and denied any wrongdoing, and it's not clear whether the scandal itself was behind his resignation or possibly sparked a separate line of inquiry. But the late-breaking news of his resignation, the severity of his apparent sanction, the Vatican's tight-lipped release and the unexpected downfall of one of the most powerful Vatican officials all suggested a shocking new chapter in the scandal, which has convulsed the Vatican for the past year. The last time a cardinal's rights were removed was when American Theodore McCarrick renounced his rights and privileges as a cardinal in July 2018 amid a sexual abuse investigation. He was subsequently defrocked altogether by Francis last year for sexually abusing adults as well as minors. Before him, the late Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien in 2015 relinquished the rights and privileges of being a cardinal after unidentified priests alleged sexual misconduct. O'Brien was, however, allowed to retain the cardinal's title and he died a member of the College of Cardinals, the elite group of churchmen whose main job is to elect a pope. Story continues In the Vatican statement, the Holy See identified Becciu as "His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Becciu," making clear he remained a cardinal but without any rights. At 72, Becciu would have been able to participate in a possible future conclave to elect Francis' successor. Cardinals over age 80 can't vote. But by renouncing his rights as a cardinal, Becciu has relinquished his rights to take part. Becciu was the "substitute," or top deputy in the secretariat of state from 2011-2018, when Francis made him a cardinal and moved him into the Vatican's saint-making office. He straddled two pontificates, having been named by Pope Benedict XVI and entrusted with essentially running the Curia, or Vatican bureaucracy, a position that gave him enormous influence and power. The financial problems date from 2014, when the Vatican entered into a real estate venture by investing over $200 million in a fund run by an Italian businessman. The deal gave the Holy See 45% of the luxury building at 60 Sloane Ave. in London's Chelsea neighborhood. The money came from the secretariat of state's asset portfolio, which is funded in large part by the Peter's Pence donations of Catholics around the world for the pope to use for charity and Vatican expenses. The Holy See decided in November 2018, after Becciu had left the secretariat of state, to exit the fund, end its relationship with the businessman and buy out the remainder of the building. It did so after Becciu's successor determined that the mortgage was too onerous and that the businessman was losing money for the Vatican in some of the fund's other investments. The buyout deal, however, cost the Holy See tens of millions of euros more and sparked the Vatican investigation that has so far implicated a half-dozen Vatican employees. Becciu has insisted he wasn't in power during the 2018 buyout deal and always acted in the sole interests of the Holy See. In the Vatican prosecutor's initial warrant, Becciu is not named, and it remains unclear if his role in managing the secretariat of state's vast asset portfolio was connected with the resignation. His former boss, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, has said the whole matter was "opaque" and needed to be clarified. Francis, for his part, has vowed to get to the bottom of what he has said was evidence of corruption in the Holy See. Francis would meet regularly with Becciu in the Italian's role as prefect of the saint-making office, since every month or two he would present lists of candidates for possible beatification or canonization for Francis to approve. In addition, since the beginning of his pontificate, Francis had an annual luncheon date at Becciu's apartment along with 10 priests on the Thursday of Holy Week leading up to Easter. The Vatican always reported the get-togethers were a chance for the pope to chat informally with Becciu and priests of his diocese on the day the church celebrates the institution of the priesthood. The luncheon didn't happen this year amid the Vatican's coronavirus lockdown. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices settled modestly lower on Friday, weighed down by concerns about outlook for energy demand due to rising coronavirus cases and reports of fresh lockdown measures in several countries. Reports about resumption of crude exports from Libya weighed as well on oil prices. Recent data showing a drop in crude inventories in the U.S. helped limit oil's decline a bit. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $0.06 or about 0.2% at $40.25 a barrel. WTI Crude oil futures shed about 2.6% in the week. Brent Crude futures were lower by $0.07 at $41.87 a barrel. According to Baker Hughes, the oil-drilling rigs count in the U.S. moved up for the first time in three weeks, rising by 4 this week to 183. According to reports, coronavirus cases in the U.S. topped 7 million, accounting for more than 20% of the world's todal. In Europe, health officials have warned of the risk of a potentially lethal 'twindemic of Covid-19 and the flu.' Meanwhile, the cumulative tall of coronavirus infections in Spain crossed 70,000 on Thursday. France too reported a surge in new cases. The U.K. reported the highest number of new coronavirus cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. When Tommy Wilson decided to organise a public debate to raise funds for community support organisation Kai Aroha, he didnt have to look far to find a suitably contentious topic, or two equally contentious speakers. The Tauranga City Council this year agreed to establish a Maori ward for the 2022 local government elections. The decision was welcomed by local iwi but decried by some one of them being serving councillor Andrew Hollis, who voted against the move. The Great Debate will see a prominent speaker for each side of the Maori-seats-in-local-government argument face-off at the Greerton RSA at 6pm on October 4. Interestingly, both are called Andrew, and neither of them is Maori. Andrew Hollis has got some strong opinions about there not being a Maori seat on the council and hes a councillor for the Tauranga City Council, Tommy says. Andrew Judd, who was the mayor of New Plymouth, was a strong advocate for getting one [a Maori seat] on that council and he lost his mayoralty because of it. I heard Andrew Judd speak last year and hes an amazing spokesperson on why there should be a Maori seat on councils. Then I saw Andrew Hollis getting a lot of severe push-back from local Tauranga people, especially Maori, following his comments about our councils move towards establishing a Maori ward. So youve got two great opposing views and its been a really hot topic. I thought let everyone make up their own mind by listening to both opinions. Andrew Judd was always going to be on board and after a couple of coffees and korero Andrew Hollis was too. I dont have a problem with anyone having opinions about anything, especially when theyre brave enough to share them. Its the ones who I call the Ngati Whingers, who dont share them, who are probably more of a challenge than anyone. Anyone who wants to moan about everything without coming up with a solution, or a reason for their complaint, I call them Ngati Whingers. We can only seat 170 and I think itll sell out pretty much immediately because weve already had a lot of interest. New Zealand legislation allows for council decisions regarding the establishment of Maori wards to be overturned by referendum if sufficient constituents call for one. Its because of this that the issue may be far from settled in Tauranga. Im hoping the people that will come are those that need to hear both sides so that if it does go to a referendum about whether we should have Maori seats on council or not those that dont understand or havent made up their mind will be become better informed, Tommy says. If COVID has taught us anything, its blaming people gets you nowhere but supporting and kindness gets you everywhere. The correct information is key isnt it? Andrew Hollis says he did experience a bit of angst when approached about taking part in the event but that after talking with Tommy he could see he was a decent guy who genuinely wants to have a debate. It [Maori wards] has been a very heated discussion in the city and itd be quite nice to have a discussion that lets both sides of this schism at least start talking, he says. Proceeds from the debate will go towards Kai Aroha. Area animal shelters showered with funds in memory of Betty White The online fundraiser challenged fans of actress Betty White to donate to a local animal rescue or shelter in honor of her Jan. 17 birthday. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) Vice President Leni Robredo on Friday called for limited face-to-face classes in areas with no community transmission of COVID-19 to make sure children are not deprived of education. Robredo shared the concern that the families of some students have no capacity to guide them under the blended learning system that will be used in public schools this coming academic year. Basic education classes resume on October 5 using a mix of radio, television, online and modular learning as the coronavirus health crisis continues. Maraming mga lugar na coastal, maraming mga lugar na bukid na wala naman doong community transmission. Kung ipipilit mo iyong modular, baka nasasakripisyo natin iyong uri ng edukasyon na nakukuha ng mga learners, Robredo said in an interview on Friday. A transcript of the interview was released by her office. [Translation: There are many coastal and farm areas that have no community transmission. If you insist on the modular (system), the quality of education learners would receive might be compromised.] The Vice President said her office would release a list of areas with zero community transmission where small-scale classes can be held. She said the Department of Education should base its decisions on the data and risk assessment. Huwag i-limit sa blended learning lahat, kasi iyong sinasabi ko nga (We should not limit everything to blended learning because as I said), in communities where there is zero community transmission, baka naman pwedeng magkaroon na ng face-to-face (maybe there could be face-to-face classes), she said. Some logistical challenges would also be addressed if coronavirus-free areas would hold traditional classes, Robredo said. She noted DepEd's earlier statement that students will have to share self-learning modules, which will be distributed from one learner to another, due to lack of budget. "Para kasi sabihin na lahat blended, na hindi naman kailangan lahat, baka nagsasayang tayo ng sobrang dami na resources," Robredo said. "Hindi natin siya naba-budget nang maayos." [Translation: We might be wasting a lot of resources by insisting on blended learning for all when there's no need for it. The fund is not budgeted well.] President Rodrigo Duterte has banned face-to-face classes in the whole country until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available. Once a vaccine is discovered, the government expects widescale distribution by April 2021. However, Robredo has been calling on the government to stop waiting for a vaccine, offering recommendations on dealing with the pandemic in the absence of a cure or a viable vaccine. Germany presses Russia to release UN report on Libya arms A photo released in July 2020 by the US military purports to show an improvised explosive device brought to the Libyan capital Tripoli by the Wagner Group, a Russian-backed private military contractor Germany on Friday pressed Russia and China in vain to allow the release of an interim UN report on violations of the arms embargo on Libya that faulted Moscow-linked fighters. Germany called a closed-door Security Council meeting to seek the publication of the report, saying it wanted to shine a light on the flood of arms that have gone into Libya. "We need to name and blame and shame those who blatantly violate the arms embargo," Guenter Sautter, Germany's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters. Germany has called a high-level meeting on October 5 at the United Nations to take up Libya, where a fragile ceasefire has raised hopes of ending nearly a decade of bloodshed. But diplomats said that Friday's meeting failed to secure the release of the interim report, which unlike final findings are not generally made public. Russia and China renewed their opposition to releasing it, with Moscow attacking the experts behind it, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity. The two powers stayed firm, "blocking the publication of the interim report without having been able to name any compelling argument for this position," another diplomat said. The document, seen by AFP, found numerous violations by the Wagner Group, a Russian military contractor reputed to be close to the Kremlin. It pointed to rising arms shipments at the time both to strongman Khalifa Haftar -- who is backed by Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- and the UN-recognized government that has support from Turkey. "The arms embargo remains totally ineffective. In the cases of those member-states directly supporting the parties to the conflict the violations are extensive, blatant and with complete disregard for the sanctions measures," it said. - Stalemate on new envoy - Germany also hoped Friday to secure agreement on a UN envoy for Libya to replace Ghassan Salame, who stepped down in March citing health reasons. Story continues But African nations objected to the nomination of Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian who is currently the UN envoy for the Middle East. "We are against nobody. We want an African," an African diplomat said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier named former Ghanaian minister Hanna Serwaa Tetteh for the role but the United States objected, saying that the position should be split in two between a political envoy and a boss for the UN mission. The UN-backed government and Haftar-linked parliament in eastern Libya last month reached a ceasefire and are looking to hold elections next year. Libya has been in turmoil since 2011 when a Western-backed uprising toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi. The arms embargo report points to violations by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Russia, Qatar and Turkey. Asked about the report by AFP in a discussion with several journalists, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, rejected the accusations and said his country would not comment on a report it had not read. "We categorically deny these. Our position is very clear, especially since the Berlin conference (in January), of the necessity of a ceasefire," he said. prh/sct/ec This upgrade simplifies the integration of different source systems and positions PAFnow as a platform-agnostic system. Its an optimal solution for the analysis of end-to-end processes The Process Analytics Factory (PAF)s flagship Process Mining software now offers faster performance and includes customized features for Internal Audit and Supply Chain management. The PAFnow Summer 2020 Update also includes a Process Mining first: Swimlanes in the Case Viewer that visualize organizational connections across departments or divisions. PAFnow is a Process Mining application for businesses of all industries and sizes that is completely integrated in Microsoft Power BI and thus Microsoft 365 for process analysis, visualization and optimization. It is a certified software application on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, the most popular supplier of public cloud services. With the Summer 2020 Update, PAFnows front-end performance has been increased by a factor of 50 and the back-end performance has been increased by a factor of 10, with accelerated data transformation. PAFnow currently supports Microsoft SQL Server as well as SAP HANA, Oracle, Snowflake, Exasol, INFOR and IBM DB2. This upgrade simplifies the integration of different source systems and positions PAFnow as a platform-agnostic system. Its an optimal solution for the analysis of end-to-end processes, said Tobias Rother, founder and CEO of PAF. Highlights of the PAFnow Summer 2020 Update include: Customized content and value packs for INFOR and SAP customers. For INFOR users, these are packs for Purchase-to-Pay, Order-to-Cash and Lead-to-Order processes. SAP customers benefit from the new packs for On-Time-Delivery/Operational Excellence, Inventory Management and Cash Flow Forecasting. Swimlanes that visualize organizational connections. PAFnow is the first Process Mining provider to introduce swimlanes through its newly designed, more customizable Case Viewer. A custom visual provides more detailed insight into workflow through automatic assignment of business transactions to the responsible resources. New Event Filter and a new, fully data-driven Conformance Check. Users can create a process graph of activities to use as a filter and more easily find variants in the process flow with the new Event Filter drag-and-drop tool. The Event Filter is part of the Conformance Check dashboard, and in combination with the Case Viewer, users have different options to look at conformance issues in their processes. The redesigned Conformance Check is now completely data driven and does not require manual modeling or adaptation of target process models. Users build their target processes from their actual data. PAFnow PREMIUM for Internal Audit enables audit departments to gain complete insight into the actual processes of all company divisions, maximizing effectiveness when auditing controls in business processes. The PAF will present an in-depth review of the new features of the PAFnow Summer 2020 Update in a webinar at 11 a.m. ET on September 29, 2020. Advance registration is requested. For more information about PAFnow, visit the companys website at https://pafnow.com. About Process Analytics Factory GmbH The Process Analytics Factory (PAF) is a leading innovator of global Process Mining software that makes data-intensive work simpler and more efficient in real time. PAFs flagship software solution, PAFnow, makes Process Mining accessible to companies of all sizes and industries so they can convert data into insights and actionssimply, conveniently and affordably. PAFnow is the only Process Mining tool that is fully integrated with Microsoft Power BI. The company was founded in 2014 and established its North American operations in 2020 in Ann Arbor, Michigan to be at the center of data science and artificial intelligence research. PAF is a self-financed company focused on sustainable growth. Learn more about how PAF is shaping the future of work at https://pafnow.com. LONDON (Reuters) - Investors pulled a massive $25.8 billion out of U.S. equity funds in the week to Wednesday, the third biggest outflow ever from the asset class, BofA's weekly fund flow report showed on Friday. Money was sucked out of sectors which have been the main beneficiaries of the rebound in the wake of the Covid19 March crash, said BofA analysts, citing data for the week to Sept. 23 from financial flow tracking firm EPFR. Technology stock suffered $1 billion of outflows, the largest since June 2019, while U.S. blue chips haemorrhaged $11.6 billion. The S&P 500 has lost 7.2% so far in September, its first negative monthly performance since March with the Nasdaq pulling back more than 10%. "We don't expect big bear move when Fed so easy, Wall Street flushed with cash, vaccine expectations strong", BofA analysts however commented, adding a correction in September and October typically corresponded to a "midlife crisis phase of the investment year". Other big movements in investment flows this week included high-yield bond funds suffering their largest outflows since March, losing $5.4 billion. It was also the 12th straight week of inflows for emerging market debt funds while bond funds more broadly added $1.3 billion. (This story corrects date in the second paragraph to Sept. 23) (Reporting by Julien Ponthus, editing by Karin Strohecker) Total Bellas star Nikki Bella began having postpartum sex with her fiance Artem Chigvintsev five weeks after welcoming their first child - son Matteo Artemovich - on July 31. 'I didn't even make it to the six-week point, I just started at five. I was like I'm healed, I'm fine!' the 36-year-old retired WWE wrestler revealed on Wednesday's episode of The Bellas Podcast. 'Even though last night it didn't seem fine, but that's okay. It was a little different. I felt like organs were about to drop out. I was like, "Shoot! Did I mess up?"' TMI alert! Total Bellas star Nikki Bella began having postpartum sex with her fiance Artem Chigvintsev five weeks after welcoming their first child - son Matteo Artemovich - on July 31 (pictured September 14) The 36-year-old retired WWE wrestler revealed on Wednesday's episode of The Bellas Podcast: 'I didn't even make it to the six-week point, I just started at five. I was like I'm healed, I'm fine!' At that, Nikki's twin sister Brie Danielson said of her TMI confession: 'Okay Nicole! Enough about all the gross stuff going on with our vaginas, especially yours.' In true twin fashion, Brie welcomed her second child - son Buddy Dessert - less than 24 hours before her sibling gave birth. Bella (born Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace) previously revealed September 14 that she was getting her 'groove back' and 'feeling more like herself,' but her breasts were 'still off limits' to the Russian-American 38-year-old. Nikki noted: 'Even though last night it didn't seem fine, but that's okay. It was a little different. I felt like organs were about to drop out. I was like, "Shoot! Did I mess up?"' (pictured Tuesday) At that, Bella's twin sister Brie Danielson (L) said of her TMI confession: 'Okay Nicole! Enough about all the gross stuff going on with our vaginas, especially yours' (pictured Tuesday) Double take: In true twin fashion, Brie welcomed her second child - son Buddy Dessert - less than 24 hours before her sibling gave birth (pictured Wednesday) 'Everyday feeling more like me': The licensed real estate agent previously revealed September 14 that she was getting her 'groove back' but her breasts were 'still off limits' to the Russian-American 38-year-old (pictured Wednesday) Artem is currently preparing a Rumba with his dance partner - The Bachelorette #11 Kaitlyn Bristowe - for the Disney-themed episode of Dancing With the Stars, which airs Monday on ABC. It will take a couple days for the Canadian 35-year-old to get the results of the hour-long MRI she went through Thursday morning for her injured ankle. Last episode, Chigvintsev and Bristowe's Foxtrot tied with Justina Machado and partner Sasha Farber for highest score of the night with 22 points despite her injury. 'Team Will You Accept This Dance': Artem is currently preparing a Rumba with his dance partner - The Bachelorette #11 Kaitlyn Bristowe - for the Disney-themed episode of Dancing With the Stars, which airs Monday on ABC Uh-oh! It will take a couple days for the Canadian 35-year-old to get the results of the hour-long MRI she went through Thursday morning for her injured ankle Congrats! Last episode, Chigvintsev and Bristowe's Foxtrot tied with Justina Machado and partner Sasha Farber for highest score of the night with 22 points despite her injury Bella originally met the Soviet-born hoofer in 2017 while partnered up in the 25th season while she was still technically engaged to John Cena (until April 15, 2018). Nikki and Artem got engaged mid-November in France, and it'll be their second time down the aisle after ending their respective marriages to Giselle Peacock and her unnamed high school sweetheart. Catch more of the Incomparable co-authors in the sixth season of Total Bellas, which premieres this fall on E! 'Team Smackdown': Bella originally met the Soviet-born hoofer in 2017 while partnered up in the 25th season while she was still technically engaged to John Cena (until April 15, 2018) Srinagar, Sep 25 : Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Vijay Kumar said on Friday the results of the DNA samples of the family members have matched with three persons killed in an encounter in South Kashmir's Shopian district on July 18. The encounter had taken place in Shopian's Amshipora area. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Kumar said further investigations were going on in this case. "We have received the DNA sample results of three families of Rajouri and they have matched with those killed in Amshipora Shopian," he said. Imtiyaz Ahmad, Abrar Ahmad, and Mohammad Ibrar from Rajouri district were killed by the security forces during the operation. An army inquiry later found that the security personnel had exceeded their powers under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) into their encounter killing. The Jammu and Kashmir Police and the army started probing the killing of the trio after families from Rajouri claimed that their kin had gone missing and photographs emerged on social media about them reportedly having been killed in the encounter. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Twenty-year-old Samary Sam Holguin of Cleveland is sinking her teeth into college life at Cleveland State Community College. A sophomore in the CSCC Honors College plans to be a dentist one day. Today, though, she is opening her mouth and serving as the voice of the colleges brand new Student Government Association president.Elected into office this year, Ms. Holguin has a lot of challenges ahead of her. During a really difficult year, shes chosen to stand up and lead her peers, said Dr.Victoria Bryan, dean of the CSCC Honors College and Academic Enhancement. She is a wonderful student. One who I think will represent our student body well.Although she served as a leader of her marching band in high school, drum major of the Cleveland High School Blue Raider Marching Band, Ms. Holguin says she has never served in an office like this before now. I was the treasurer once in fourth grade and President of the Anchor Club, added Ms. Holguin. Ive never had such a position and see this as a great blessing and an awesome opportunity. I just plan on making an impact on the college and showing that the students are there for one another, especially during difficult changes and times.Currently enrolled in pre-health courses, Ms. Holguin plans to move on to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville after her anticipated Summer 2021 graduation at Cleveland State. The 2019 Cleveland High School alumna plans to pursue a bachelors and doctoral degree and then a career in dentistry. It was something I wanted to do when I was five years old, said Ms. Holguin. I pursue my goals. Ive always loved the dentist. I have always had a passion for smiling and caring for my oral hygiene.Ms. Holguin hopes her career will help you earn opportunities in life others have not had the chance to enjoy. My parents are youth ministers at our church, said Ms. Holguin. They work hard but havent had the opportunities in life that I hope to have one day. I want to be able to make them proud and do the things they wish they could have done. Her parents Betzy and Jose Holguin, and her younger brother, Lysander, attend the El Shaddai Church of God in Cleveland.Fellow Cleveland High School grad and Cleveland State student Jordan Wagers was the colleges former student body president. She encouraged me to run for the office, so I did, added Ms. Holguin. After getting involved with volunteering with our Phi Theta Kappa chapter, I really wanted to do more.The 2020 Presidential Honors Scholar will represent the student body of Cleveland State in an unprecedented year. As the voice of the students, Ms. Holguin is the colleges point-of-contact on matters involving student input. The Student Government Association board works to communicate with students, gather their opinions, and accomplish goals that make campus-life better for them. A Sydney photographer has been charged after two women accused him of sexually assaulting them during photo shoots in Surry Hills and Waterloo. Garth Knight, 48, was arrested at his Waterloo home on Friday morning over the historical sexual assault allegations stretching back 15 years. The allegations were reported to police this year. Garth Knight has been charged with sexual assault. Credit:Instagram One of the women, aged 35 and working as a model at the time, was allegedly assaulted in a Surry Hills warehouse in 2005. A second model told investigators the man sexually assaulted her in 2011, when she was 33, during a photo shoot. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) Beijing continues to reject Manilas arbitration win in the South China Sea dispute and hopes the Philippine government will stick to the consensus of setting aside differences, a Chinese ambassador said Friday. Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian made the statement in response to President Rodrigo Dutertes widely praised speech at the United Nations General Assembly where he said that the arbitral ruling which recognized the Philippines sovereign rights to areas within its exclusive economic zone that China contests is now part of international law and cannot be diluted, diminished, or abandoned. We firmly reject attempts to undermine it, Duterte said. READ: Duterte lauded for sea row stance, urged to turn PH arbitral victory into reality In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled that there was no legal basis for Beijing's historic "nine-dash line" claim over most of the South China Sea. It said China violated the Philippines' rights to some areas by interfering in fishing and petroleum exploration and building artificial islands there. China has never recognized the landmark decision. Chinas position on the so-called arbitral ruling has been very clear: We do not accept and we do not recognize this so-called ruling, Huang said in a forum hosted by the Association for Philippines-China Understanding on Friday. As it has been agreed by our two presidents We should close the old chapter and shelve differences, he added. Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to disagree on the ruling to pursue dialogue and cooperation. Duterte himself announced in September 2019 that the Philippines will set aside the arbitral ruling to make way for the planned joint oil and gas exploration with China in disputed areas. We hope that both sides will implement the consensus between our two leaders... to maintain the sum momentum of cooperation between our two countries, Huang said. In a media briefing on Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made it clear that although Duterte raised the arbitral decision before the 193-member United Nations, the ruling will remain on the shelf consistent with government policy. The President has been consistent. We will move on matters that we could move forward on, including trade and investments, and we will for the time being, set this aside because I dont think the resolution of the territorial dispute is forthcoming in our lifetime, Roque said. READ: Duterte govt still setting aside arbitral ruling, Palace says Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario appealed to the Duterte administration to get the support of more countries so the ruling will be raised more emphatically in next years UNGA. The Palace maintained the Philippines stands to lose to China if the issue is put to a vote in the United Nations. This has been the stance of the Duterte administration despite the latest move of major European powers to back the country's arbitration win. A businessman takes a call while standing against a business district skyline. Rawpixel | Getty Images SINGAPORE Economic uncertainty triggered by the coronavirus may be helping some Singaporean entrepreneurs surmount a personal challenge: family objections to a less stable career path. "Pragmatic" Singaporean parents often want their children to settle into stable jobs instead of those with higher risks, said Christopher Quek, managing partner of venture capital firm Trive. But given the "bleak job market outlook," some parents appear more willing to allow their children to start their own businesses, said Quek, who has mentored start-up founders. Their investment into their children is part of ensuring retirement security for themselves and fulfilling their role in helping their children become even wealthier than they were. Christopher Quek Venture capitalist Singapore is home to some 3,800 tech start-ups, and a few big names include ride-hailing firm Grab and e-commerce giant Lazada. The Asian financial hub provides easy access to global capital and to Southeast Asia's growing consumer market. Singapore boasts solid infrastructure and a consistent rule of law but some young entrepreneurs say they struggle with family pressures. Family objections E-commerce platform Carousell is one of the largest online marketplaces in Southeast Asia. However, when its co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Siu Rui Quek first told his parents he wanted to work full-time on the start-up, he sensed their disappointment. "My dad's face immediately looked grim. My mom looked away," he said. "I almost joke sometimes that that's probably the hardest thing in the whole start-up journey so far, just telling your parents." CEO of Carousell, Siu Rui Quek Courtesy of Carousell Trive's Quek, who is not related to Carousell's CEO, said middle-class Asian families often spend a "high amount" of time and money to educate their children in hopes of helping them secure good, high-paying jobs. "Their investment into their children is part of ensuring retirement security for themselves and fulfilling their role in helping their children become even wealthier than they were," said the entrepreneur. "They are not keen on their children starting up," he said, adding that some may consider it "a waste of their efforts in educating the child." Government support For its part, the Singapore government collaborates with educational institutions and the private sector to "provide platforms for test-bedding and co-innovation," said Edwin Chow, assistant chief executive officer at Enterprise Singapore, a government agency that focuses on grooming early-stage start-ups. Singapore also helps start-ups find funding and talent. The years of working at the different start-ups have accelerated my learning and imparted skills that I would not have gained working at a multinational corporation. Andrew Fam Entrepreneur Still, the risky nature of starting or joining a small company may in some cases be frowned upon by family members. That was the case for Andrew Fam, chief technology officer at management consulting firm Straits Interactive. He founded a start-up in 2012, but it closed after 18 months due to insufficient business. His next stint at another start-up ended after nine months. "An uncle told me to drop working in start-ups, to go and work for a multinational cooperation as they provided a lot more stability," Fam said. Coronavirus effect Chow said that Enterprise Singapore's priority is to "ensure that our ecosystem remains conducive for start-ups to continue to grow" despite the uncertainties ahead. Among other support measures for start-ups, Singapore's government announced in August that up to 150 million Singapore dollars ($110 million) had been set aside to boost support for first-time entrepreneurs. Start-ups with at least three Singaporeans or permanent residents, at least two of whom are first-time founders, can now receive a larger grant of S$50,000 to match S$10,000 of their own funds. That provides a "longer runway to newly established start-ups," said Chow. "In every crisis, there are always opportunities for us to grow a new generation of companies. And this crisis is no different," said Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing, in a speech announcing the increased grants. He said start-ups are creating jobs during a "very critical period." Children with their parents wave to the armored vehicles in the Republic of Singapore Armed Forces mobile column as it parades through the financial business district to mark the 55th National Day celebrations in Singapore on August 9, 2020. Roslan Rahman | AFP | Getty Images LOS ANGELES, September 24, 2020 Effective immediately, the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region has closed the temporary evacuation point at Palmdale High School (2137 E. Ave. R, Palmdale, 93550) and will provide virtual assistance for anyone impacted by the Bobcat Fire. The Red Cross will continue to monitor the situation and has teams on standby to reopen the evacuation site, if needed. Residents still in need of assistance, can contact the Red Cross via the Disaster Distress Hotline at 800-675-5799. The Red Cross is currently assisting more than 180 residents who were affected by the Bobcat Fire, providing each person overnight accommodations, meals and resources to help get back on their feet. Following COVID-19 safety protocols, Red Cross disaster workers will also be distributing relief supplies with emergency response vehicles in the neighborhoods where evacuation orders have been lifted starting Friday, Sept. 25. SEE: Photos of Red Cross LA Disaster Relief Response for the Bobcat Fire (Flickr) Since the Bobcat Fire first started in early September, the Red Cross has worked side by side with LA County Fire to address the needs of the community. For two weeks, we have played a pivotal role as second responders, providing support for those who have had to flee and find refuge. We have opened two evacuation points, starting in Arcadia and then moving to Palmdale as the fire shifted and moved into the Antelope Valley. On Wednesday night, the Red Cross and our partners provided more than 180 people who were affected by the Bobcat Fire with emergency lodging. With the help of partners like The Salvation Army and Panda Express, the Red Cross has provided more than 3,800 meals and snacks. Volunteers have provided more than 200 individual care contacts to help people with medical or disability needs, or provide emotional and spiritual support during this challenging time. We are thankful to all those who support us as we do our job, and to the more than 70 volunteers who dedicated their time to being there to help. Some taking vacation days because of the great need. This was all accomplished as the Red Cross Los Angeles Region was also called in to support the large fires in Northern California and Oregon. It has been an intense few weeks and as we move into the height of wildfire season in October, the Red Cross is ready to set up evacuation points, serve meals, provide lodging and be there for the community. The Red Cross sets up evacuation points as a rest site for those affected to assess their needs and present lodging options. Volunteers provide snacks, water and COVID-19 safety resources, all while following DPH and CDC COVID-19 safety protocols. The Red Cross workforce has maintained social distancing, frequent sanitizing routines and regular resident health checks. Red Cross LA is dedicated to helping those affected by disasters. We work closely with local emergency management teams and our partners to coordinate relief efforts. Trained Red Cross volunteers and staff are on call round-the-clock and ready to assist in aspects such as providing shelter, meals, disaster assessment, resources and more. WILDFIRE SAFETY: RETURNING HOME Listen to local radio and television stations for updated emergency information. Do not enter your home until fire officials say it is safe. Use caution when entering burned areas as hazards may still exist, including hot spots, which can flare up without warning. Avoid damaged or fallen power lines, poles and downed wires. Watch for ash pits and mark them for safety warn family and neighbors to keep clear of the pits also. Watch animals closely and keep them under your direct control. Hidden embers and hot spots could burn your pets paws or hooves. Follow public health guidance on safe cleanup of fire ash and safe use of masks. Wet debris down to minimize breathing dust particles. Wear leather gloves and heavy soled shoes to protect hands and feet. Cleaning products, paint, batteries and damaged fuel containers need to be disposed of properly to avoid risk. Visit redcross.org or download the free Red Cross Emergency App for more preparedness tips and safety checklists, localizable alerts, shelter locator and more. Please follow @RedCrossLA on Twitter for the latest updates. Visit redcross.org/wildfire for information on how to prepare for, respond to and recover from wildfires. About the American Red Cross: The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org/la or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCrossLA or @CruzRojaLA. Human rights activist Hillel Neuer tore into China for the alleged human rights violations of Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. Speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council on September 25, Neuer asked the logic behind the appointment of China, a country accused of gross human rights abuse, as a part of five-member UNHRC panel which is responsible for the nomination of investigators on arbitrary detention. China just interrupted me at the United Nations & tried to stop me from speaking after I asked why a regime that herded 1 million Muslim Uighurs into camps is sitting on the 5-nation UNHRC panel that nominates the next UN experts on arbitrary detention & forced disappearances. pic.twitter.com/5XUqq7Zye1 Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 24, 2020 Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch, told the council that a UN committee found credible reports of China's mass detention of Uyghurs, with an estimated one million members of the minority community herded into so-called re-education camps. He expressed discontent over countries backing China on Uyghurs issue, referring to a letter signed by several nations including Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Russia, Saudi Arabia. By what logic should a representative of this country be part of the five-member panel that just nominated this Council's next investigators on arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances to be appointed in this session?" he asked. Uyghurs are Turkic-speaking Muslims in the Xinjiang province, also known as East Turkistan, who have been facing persecution in the name of re-education camps. A US-based Uyghur activist had termed the persecution of the ethnic minority group in Chinas Xinjiang region as genocide and said that the Chinese government dont see the community as normal other ethnic minorities. Read: China Bashed Online For Its 'propaganda' To Promote Tourism In Uyghur Autonomous Region Read: Disney Faces Flak For Shooting Mulan Near Uyghur Detention Camps In Xinjiang Webpage on Uyghurs Recently, the US State Department launched a new webpage on alleged human right abuses of Uyghurs by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The department has cited reports of coercive population control, detention of more than one million people of ethnic minorities in internment camps, forced labour, and destruction of religious sites. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin rubbished the claims at a regular news conference on September 14, saying those are nothing but rumours and slanders. Wang said that the rights of ethnic minority workers from Xinjiang are protected by China's Labor Law and Labor Contract Law. He added that the Uyghur population in Xinjiang grew from 5.55 million to over 12 million in the past four decades. The US Department of States webpage on Xinjiang is full of lies and rumours, he told the press briefing, without providing the rate of population growth in the past four years. Read: China's Oppression Of Uyghurs Amounts To 'genocide', Says Biden Campaign Read: Uyghur Diaspora In US Protests Against China's Human Rights Violation In Xinjiang Electrochemistry is playing an increasingly important role: Whether it is fuel cells, electrolysis or chemical energy storage, chemical reactions controlled by electric current are used. The decisive factor in all these applications is that the reactions are as fast and efficient as possible. An important step forward has now been taken by a team from TU Wien (Vienna) and DESY in Hamburg: They showed that a special material made of lanthanum, strontium, iron and oxygen can be switched back and forth between two different states: In one state the material is catalytically extremely active, in the other less so. The reason for this is the behavior of tiny iron nanoparticles on the surface, which has now been demonstrated in experiments at the German Electron Synchrotron DESY in Hamburg. This finding should now make it possible to develop even better catalysts. Electrical voltage causes oxygen ions to migrate "We have been using perovskites for our electrochemical experiments for years," says Prof. Alexander Opitz from the Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics. "Perovskites are a very diverse class of materials, some of them are excellent catalysts." The surface of the perovskites can help to bring certain reactants into contact with each other or to separate them again. "Above all, perovskites have the advantage that they are permeable to oxygen ions. Therefore, they can conduct electric current, and we are taking advantage of this," explains Alexander Opitz. When an electrical voltage is applied to the perovskite, oxygen ions are released from their place within the crystal and start to migrate through the material. If the voltage exceeds a certain value, this leads to iron atoms in the perovskite migrating as well. They move to the surface and form tiny particles there, with a diameter of only a few nanometers. Essentially, these nanoparticles are excellent catalysts. "The interesting thing is that if one reverses the electric voltage, the catalytic activity decreases again. And so far the reason for this was unclear," says Alexander Opitz. "Some people suspected that the iron atoms would simply migrate back into the crystal, but that's not true. When the effect takes place, the iron atoms do not have to leave their place on the material surface at all. Analysis with X-rays at DESY The research team at TU Wien collaborated with a team at the Electron Synchrotron in Hamburg (DESY) to precisely analyze the structure of the nanoparticles with X-rays while the chemical processes take place. It turned out that the nanoparticles change back and forth between two different states - depending on the voltage applied: "We can switch the iron particles between a metallic and an oxidic state," says Alexander Opitz. The applied voltage determines whether the oxygen ions in the material are pumped towards the iron nanoparticles or away from them. This allows to control how much oxygen is contained in the nanoparticles, and depending on the amount of oxygen, the nanoparticles can form two different structures - an oxygen-rich one, with low catalytic activity, and an oxygen-poor, i.e. metallic one, which is catalytically very active. "This is a very important finding for us," says Alexander Opitz. "If the switching between the two states were caused by the iron atoms of the nanoparticle diffusing back into the crystal, very high temperatures would be needed to make this process run efficiently. Now that we understand that the activity change is not related to the diffusion of iron atoms but to the change between two different crystal structures, we also know that comparatively low temperatures can be sufficient. This makes this type of catalyst even more interesting because it can potentially be used to accelerate technologically relevant reactions. From hydrogen to energy storage This catalytic mechanism is now to be further investigated, also for materials with slightly different compositions. It could increase the efficiency of many applications. "This is particularly interesting for chemical reactions that are important in the energy sector," says Alexander Opitz. "For example, when it comes to the production of hydrogen or synthesis gas, or to energy storage by producing fuel with electric current." By Akbar Mammadov Azerbaijans tank and missile-artillery units have conducted combat training in line with the combat training plan for 2020 approved by the Minister of Defense, the ministry reported on September 25. The training was aimed to improve the professionalism of the military personnel of tank and artillery units and developing interoperability in planning and conducting combat operations. In the course of combat coordination, the interoperating units took up firing positions. On the same day, the ministry reported that the Air Force units conducted the combat training flights, which was aimed at focusing on piloting technique with the use of offensive and defensive maneuvers at various heights and speeds. It should be noted that earlier on September 23, the Azerbaijani Air Force conducted training flights at night and in conditions of limited visibility, with the involvement of Su-25 and MiG-29 aircrafts. The Azerbaijani Army's missile and artillery formations also held live-fire tactical exercises. On September 22, the Azerbaijani Army held another military training to improve combat vehicles and armoured carriers, which was aimed at improving combat skills of the crews of infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and other combat vehicles. ---- Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 'Hoi Dinh Chem,' a lacquer painting by Vietnamese painter Nguyen Van Ty, has been sold for nearly US$1 million at an auction in France, marking a record price for a Vietnamese artwork in Europe. The painting was the star of the auction titled Indochine, mythes et realites (Indochina, Myths, and Realities) held by French auction house Drouot in Paris on Tuesday. The winning price of the lacquer painting was 832,000 euros ($974,000). This is the record price for artworks of Ty and also the record for a Vietnamese painting at a public auction house in Europe. Notably, there is another version of 'Hoi Dinh Chem,' whose name is translated as 'Chem Temple Festival,' being displayed at the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum, with three panels compared to the full original set of five. The two remaining pieces have been missing for decades. According to a statement of Drouot, known as the most prestigious auction house in France, the lacquer painting put up for bidding was the third version of the painting, the only with full five pieces created in 1942. The painting was bought at an annual exhibition of the Indochina Fine Arts College by a French surgeon who worked for a hospital in Hai Phong City, located in northern Vietnam, during the colonial era. The work had been kept in the surgeon's house in Paris until it was put up for the public auction. According to Drouot, the painting being exhibited at the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum is the second version, which was painted in 1940. The first version has only one panel left. Indochina fine arts researcher Ngo Kim Khoi found it difficult to verify its authenticity as he has yet to see it in person. However, he cast doubt on the work as it seems to be new, especially when it comes to the details of faces, leaves, and 'ao dai' (Vietnamese long dress), compared to its birth year of 1942. However, as the price is too high, the bidder must have been well advised before making a decision, Khoi said. Researcher Nguyen Hai Yen, who has worked for many years at the Vietnamese Institute of Fine Arts and then Vietnamese National Fine Arts Museum, told the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that she was a member in a team that purchased the work from a family in Hanoi. Yen met and discussed with Ty, who assured that the painting displayed at the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum was his original one. He said that he painted only one painting, said Yen. However, it is possible that the artist made more versions during the creation process, she said. However, Yen did not rule out the possibility the painting is a fake one with a bogus profile. There are works by other Vietnamese artists put up at the auction, such as those of Le Thi Luu and Le Van Xuong, and some Vietnamese antiquities. Nguyen Van Ty (1917-1992) was a famous Vietnamese painter who studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de lIndochine (the Indochina College of Fine Arts) during the 1934-1941 period. In 2001, he was awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize for his contribution to the arts. Many of Ty's artworks have been displayed at the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! "I am honored to have the opportunity to lead Specific Diagnostic's commercial operation globally and ensure this critically important diagnostic capability is available to patients around the world. Specific Diagnostics today announced the appointment of Anthony Bazarko as Chief Commercial Officer, as it begins its market launch in Europe. Mr. Bazarko is an industry veteran with over 15 years of senior leadership experience, having most recently served as the Vice President of Commercial Development, Americas and General Manager of Canada at Dana-her Corporations subsidiary Leica Biosystems ($1B in 2019 sales). Prior to Dana-her, Mr. Bazarko was the Senior Director of Strategic Affairs Americas at Roche Diagnostics Corporation. Mr. Bazarko will oversee the implementation of Specifics global commercial operations overseeing its market launch in Europe and subsequent launch in the US. Tony is coming in at a pivotal moment and is going to be a great asset to our team at Specific, said Dr. Paul A. Rhodes, Specifics CEO. With the recent hire of Alain Richard as our Head of Commercial Operations, EMEA and now Tony Bazarko as our CCO we have put a superb Danaher-bred team together that is going to be greatly beneficial to our commercialization in Europe and the US as we release our Reveal rapid susceptibility testing instrument and associated disposables. The Specific Diagnostics team has developed a platform that will have a profound impact on patient outcomes, said Mr. Bazarko. The vision and mission of this company is going to enable hospitals and healthcare systems around the world to take one further step in the quest for truly personalized medicine. I am honored to have the opportunity to lead Specific Diagnostic's commercial operation globally and ensure this critically important diagnostic capability is available to patients around the world. During his time within Danaher, Mr. Bazarko developed and executed go-to-market strategies that maximized sales and share gain potential - he achieved double digit growth on a $500M business in North America and led Canada to 18% growth in 2019. While serving as the Senior Director of strategic Affairs at Roche Diagnostics his team lead the restructuring of the North American Commercial team across five verticals and helped implement strategic direction across multiple business units that totaled $2.4B. About Specific Specific Diagnostics has developed in vitro diagnostic systems based upon a unique, patented metabolomic signature technology that enables rapid detection and identification of microorganisms as they growth in culture. Its first commercial application applies this fundamental new platform to the rapid determination of antimicrobial susceptibility directly from positive blood cultures, as well as isolate dilutions. Specific is based in Mountain View, CA. For press inquiries, please contact: press@specificdx.com GRAND RAPIDS, MI Second Lady Karen Pence rallied support for President Donald Trumps reelection bid in Grand Rapids on Friday, highlighting his pledge to fill a vacant U.S. Supreme Court seat and the vital role Michigan will play on election night. We need you Michigan, Pence said, during a Women for Trump gathering at New Vintage Place, a wedding and event venue on the citys Northwest Side. Its going to come down to every vote, every dollar, every phone call, every knock on a door, everything you do is going to affect this election. Every single person that you go from here and talk to. Pence, whose husband is Vice President Mike Pence, spoke about the power of the female vote, and said Trump has been a visionary leader who has worked wonders for the women of the nation. She said the president has opened doors of power and opportunity for female workers throughout the country. Polling data show Trump is unpopular among women overall, but maintains support among most Republican women. Trump won Michigan in 2016 by less than 11,000 votes, a margin of only 0.3%. Democrats responded two years later by electing women to every statewide office and two formerly Republican U.S. House seats. Fridays event drew a crowd of faithful Trump supporters. Esther Patterson, a 68-year-old Rockford resident, said shes confident that Trump has a strong base of female supporters. I think hes the best thing thats happened to us in decades, she said. Hes undoing a lot of the stuff that hasnt been good a lot of corruption in Washington D.C. Carol Lubs, a retiree who provides full-time care for her three grandchildren, said she supports Trump because he is anti-abortion. However, she says she has been offended by Trumps provocative behavior on social media. Some of the stuff he says --- are you kidding me? Lubs said. Fridays event featured introductory remarks from Meshawn Maddock, co-founder of Women for Trump, and Laura Cox, chair of the Michigan Republican Party. Cox, speaking after the event, said she feels very confident that women voters will turn out for Trump this election. The turnout today is part of it, she said. The fact that the second lady was here in Michigan was an important nod to that as well. A poll released this week by Baldwin Wallace Universitys Community Research Institute shows Biden leading Trump by 8 percentage points in Michigan, while 6 percent of respondents remain undecided. The private university, located in Berea, Ohio, also polled voters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Those three swing states, along with Michigan, handed Trump an Electoral College victory in 2016. That same poll showed Biden with a sizable lead among women voters in Michigan, 54% to 37%. Six of 10 Michigan women rated Trumps performance unfavorable, also the highest rate among the four states. Cox said she wasnt familiar with that poll, and that the only poll that matters is the poll on election day. The bottom line is the president has America first policies," she said, "fighting for the men and women in blue, making sure he has strong economic policies. Pence drew the most applause during her speech when she said Trump on Saturday plans to nominate a woman to fill the vacant U.S. Supreme Court seat held by former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last week. This president has kept his pledge to the American women, she said. He has uplifted and empowered women of all backgrounds. A handful of women picketed outside Pences event. One of them was Linda Trout, a retired elementary school teacher from Grand Rapids. She called Trump a bully who denigrates women on Twitter. Weve got 200,000 people dead of COVID, she said. Those are mothers and their grandmothers and theyre fathers and sons and children. I dont know how any woman/human being could approve of the way hes handled the pandemic. Read more: One person tests positive for COVID-19, closing 3 restaurants in Flint Social district, for outdoor drinking, launching in downtown Muskegon Students not expected to return to in-person classes until fall 2021, college presidents say More than two thirds of Britons believe the Duke and Duchess of Sussex should have their royal titles taken away from them, a new survey suggests. The study for Tatler magazine also showed the majority of respondents believed Meghan should not be commenting on US politics. It comes as the couple this week drew criticism for participating in a Time 100 video urging Americans to vote, which was perceived as critical of President Donald Trump, although the Tatler survey was conducted last month. The data, collected by research consultancy Savanta Comres, polled 4,174 British adults, only taking results from those who expressed an opinion when questioned. The November edition of Tatler (Tolga Akmen/Tatler/PA) It found 68% agreed Harry and Meghan should have their titles as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex taken from them, following their step down from royal life and their move to the US. A total of 63% agreed Meghan, although American, should not be commenting on US politics. And 35% concurred that the duchess wants to be president of the United States one day. The results are contained in the November issue of Tatler, available on newsstands and via digital download next Thursday: https://www.tatler.com/article/meghan-markle-november-2020-cover The fate of the Morrison government's controversial university funding reforms could hinge on the support of Senator Jacqui Lambie or Centre Alliance's Stirling Griff, with the bill's passage poised to be decided by a single vote. A snap senate inquiry returned its verdict on Friday, recommending the bill be passed without amendment but urged the government to commit to reviewing the bill two years after it commences. Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie could decide the fate of the government's university funding reforms. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen However, there was considerable dissent among the inquiry's six members. Labor Senators Louise Pratt and Deborah O'Neill and Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi opposed the findings, forcing Liberal Senator James McGrath to use his position as chair to determine the majority verdict. Senators Lambie and Griff, who are yet to reveal how they will vote on the Job-Ready Graduates bill, are expected to come under intense lobbying from all sides, as the government seeks to push the bill to a vote as early as budget week on October 6. Welland residents are being reminded there isnt a war going on in the city. On Saturday, Canadian Armed Forces will descend on the city for a fourth scheduled occasion since August, conducting training along the canal corridor near Welland International Flatwater Centre. Soldiers will participate in the activity between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. while wearing full camouflage attire, carrying gear and moving canoes. A military presence will be on-site during the exercise, says a news release from the city. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has clarified that it has not received any request, written or verbal, from actor Ranveer Singh to join actor and wife Deepika Padukones interrogation, scheduled for Saturday. It was widely reported on Friday that the 83 actor had sought permission from the agency to be present in the NCB office during Deepikas questioning session, citing anxiety issue. Ranveer had reportedly mentioned that Deepika sometimes had anxiety issues and faces panic attacks. A report in India Today, quoted NCB officials, who said, There are questions whether Ranveer Singh is joining the investigation with Deepika Padukone. We confirm that we have not received any such request from any summoned person. The last email received from the concerned summoned person is only regarding joining the investigation. Deepika, accompanied by her husband Ranveer, returned from Goa on Thursday. She along with other actors from Bollywood, including Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh, has been summoned by the NCB over alleged drugs nexus in Bollywood. Deepika was in Goa to shoot for Shakun Batras next, along with Ananya Panday and Siddhant Chaturvedi. A Republic TV report, quoting a source, had earlier said that Ranveer has submitted an application to the NCB, stating that Deepika sometimes suffers from anxiety and panic attacks and hence he should be granted permission to be with her. The application added him as saying that as he is a law-abiding citizen, he understood that he couldnt be present during her questioning session but had requested to be present in the NCB office. Deepika is slated to appear before the NCB in Mumbai on Saturday. Rakul and Padukones manager Karishma Prakash will join the investigation on Friday, an NCB official had said. The NCB, which began the inquiry after a drugs angle came to light in connection with actor Sushant Singh Rajputs alleged suicide, has now widened its investigation. According to an NCB official, the 34-year-old actor had earlier acknowledged the summons sent by the central agency. Prakashs WhatsApp chats included conversations about drugs with one D and central agency wanted to find out who this person was, NCB sources had said earlier. (With PTI inputs) Follow @htshowbiz on Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other top Republicans on Thursday repudiated President Donald Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, assuring American voters the lawmakers would accept the outcome of November's election. Trump declined on Wednesday to embrace a peaceful transfer in response to a reporter's question and said he expected his election battle with Democrat Joe Biden to be settled by the Supreme Court. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Trump said he did not know that an "honest" election could be held on Nov. 3 "with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots." The Republican president's rhetoric on Wednesday, which largely referred to voting by mail, set off a fury that prompted several Republicans in Congress to distance themselves from Trump. Despite four years of incendiary statements by Trump, members of his own party have been loath to criticise him, as many feared political retribution. "The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792," McConnell wrote in a morning tweet. Like other Republicans, McConnell did not directly criticize Trump. By midday, with the controversy raging, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told a news briefing: "The president will accept the results of a free and fair election." But for months, Trump has cast November's election as being rigged and repeatedly attacked Democrats for promoting widespread use of mail-in ballots for voters who do not want to risk contracting the deadly COVID-19 virus by casting their ballots at potentially crowded polling centers. In an interview on Fox News Radio, Trump called mail-in ballots "a horror show," despite studies showing no significant problems with that method of voting over the years. Michael Waldman, president of New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, said voting arrangements were steadily advancing. In an interview with Reuters Television, he added: "The system is not broken. States are actually improving their voting rules day by day." Story continues Democrats accused Trump of threatening American democracy and further politicising his upcoming choice to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by suggesting the yet-to-be named nominee would have a role in the election's outcome. Some of McConnell's fellow Republicans joined the effort to quell election fears, including Senators Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who told reporters: "It will be a smooth transition regardless of the outcome." Trump, who trails Biden in national opinion polls, has long sought to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election, asserting without evidence that mail-in voting would be rife with fraud. "President Trump, you are not a dictator and America will not permit you to be one," said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, calling him "the gravest threat" to U.S. democracy. Senator Bernie Sanders, who lost to Biden in the Democratic Party's presidential nominating race, called for an independent commission to oversee the upcoming election. Democratic House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi cautioned against panicking over the remarks of a president who she said admires autocratic leaders. At a news conference, she urged Americans to cast their ballots and admonished Trump: "You are not in North Korea, you are not in Turkey, you are not in Russia." Court challenges If November's election is close, Trump could contest the results in federal courts in hopes of being awarded enough Electoral College votes to retain the White House, according to political analysts. Only one U.S. presidential election, the 2000 contest between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore, has had its outcome determined by the Supreme Court. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who will play a significant role in whether Trump's upcoming Supreme Court nominee will be confirmed, said there could be litigation over the presidential election. "The (Supreme) Court will decide and if the Republicans lose, we will accept that result," Graham told Fox News. "But we need a full court." If Trump nominates a conservative to serve on the Supreme Court, as expected, and the Republican-controlled Senate confirms the nominee, it will have six justices considered to be conservative and three viewed as liberals. (REUTERS) Bilkis Bano, the 'dadi from Shaheen Bhagh' (Image: TIME magazine) Bilkis Bano, who became the face of a women-led anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi and was included by the TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2020, congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his inclusion in the list and said he, too, is her son. "I have read only the Quran Sharif, and I have never been to school but today I feel excited and happy. I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for also being included in this list. He is also my son. So what if I did not give birth to him, my sister has given birth to him. I pray for his long life and happiness," the 82-year-old said, according to reports. Apart from Bilkis and PM Modi, Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana and biologist Ravindra Gupta have also been included in the list. Bilkis, along with her two friends Asma Khatoon (90) and Sarwari (75), was at the protest site every day, braving a chilly winter in December 2019, the coldest in over a century. The trio was hailed as "Dadis of Shaheen Bagh" on social media. The Shaheen Bagh protest demanding that the government withdraw the law went on for over a hundred days. It ended in March this year in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and a subsequent lockdown announced by the government to contain the spread of the disease. Disgraced former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru allegedly solicited donations from private sources and directed them toward a nonprofit that financially supported his department, according to a new report by the city controller. The concern is that the arrangement allowed Nuru to quietly work behind the scenes to benefit his department. At issue is a system in San Francisco that allows nonprofits to raise money to support a city departments interests like staff training, luncheons or community events. Since these arrangements have little public oversight, Controller Ben Rosenfield said, it creates an opportunity for unethical steering of purchases to occur. Such is the latest revelation in a sweeping corruption investigation led by the city attorney, which is largely focused on San Francisco City Hall. The investigation first came to light in January, when Nuru was charged over an alleged scheme to bribe an airport commissioner in exchange for approving a lease at San Francisco International Airport. Since the initial charge against Nuru, the investigation has expanded to include others in City Hall and the private sector. The sweeping investigation has put a spotlight on a pay-to-play culture in San Francisco City Hall, where critics say personal relationships and loyalties are rewarded and help cover up political corruption. Critics of the long-standing culture of the so-called city family say the scandal puts a massive stain on City Hall, and undermines the publics confidence in their elected officials. On Thursday, Rosenfield detailed how certain philanthropic organizations called friends-of organizations have long supported city departments. Thirty-three of 56 city departments report having such a relationships, with agencies like libraries and San Francisco General Hospital. Many have transparency about their funding. But the report focused on how Nuru allegedly used one such nonprofit, the San Francisco Parks Alliance, to circumvent the citys purchasing controls and then direct funding to vendors of his choice. Their relationship with the Department of Public Works was unique in that there is no public oversight on the account. The vendors who benefited from the donations, according to the report, include restaurateur Nick Bovis and permit consultant Walter Wong, both of whom have also been charged by the FBI for corruption and have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud. This is an issue, the report says, because donations that would end up benefiting the Department of Public Works were never publicly disclosed. That created a perceived pay-to-play relationship between Nuru and those who donated, the report said. While philanthropic organizations provide tangible benefits to all of our residents, abuses in these relationships undermine the important role they play, Rosenfield said. When gifts are solicited from those that do business with the City, it creates a risk to fair and transparent public processes. According to the report, City Administrator Naomi Kelly allegedly knew about at least one instance when Nuru solicited funds from companies with business or regulatory decisions before the Department of Public Works. Those funds were donated to the Parks Alliance and then used to host a 2019 holiday party and other employee appreciation events that benefited those in the department. Bill Barnes, a spokesman for the city administrator, said Kelly was not aware of the individual organizations that were being solicited by Nuru. But she was aware that the event was paid for by private funds. According to the report, the Parks Alliance says it didnt know it was being used unscrupulously by city officials. Like everyone, we were outraged to learn of the public corruption in our local government, Drew Becher, CEO of the San Francisco Parks Alliance, said in a statement. Were a trusted partner to many community groups and city departments and welcome any and all actions that bring more transparency and oversight to ensure the publics trust. The Parks Alliance also said in the report that it did not profit from the relationship with Public Works. According to the report, the Parks Alliance made 960 payments totaling nearly $1 million to support Public Works activities between July 1, 2015 through Jan. 17, 2020. Those funds were largely spent at the direction of Nuru on events for his staff, merchandise and volunteer programs, according to the report. The excessive use of the reimbursements causes the city to lose financial control over these transactions, the report said. Ismail Ramsey, a lawyer for Nuru, could not be reached for comment. While the city attorneys office is leading the investigation, the controllers office plans to release a series of reports that look into the policies and practices that have allowed corruption to exist. Thursdays release was the second report. The Parks Alliance works with or provides money to 200 groups and city agencies to support citywide open space and park infrastructure. The Parks Alliance said it reached out to Nuru in 2019 to formalize its relationship through a memorandum of understanding, though this effort was ignored, according to the report. Immediately after the report was released, Mayor London Breed issued an executive order to strengthen transparency and accountability between departments and such nonprofits. Among other new rules, Breeds order requires all department heads follow rules around payments made for legislative, governmental or charitable purpose, at the request of the public officials. Such rules do not currently apply to department heads. These friends of organizations provide important philanthropic support for our parks, our libraries, and other important civic services, but we need to ensure that this support is not tainted with any perception or risk of pay to play politics, Breed said in a statement. Supervisor Matt Haney, who has long sparred with the Department of Public Works over the citys filthy streets, said he will introduce legislation next week that would go even further than Breeds order and prohibit department heads and some employees from soliciting donations for such organizations. The report also comes as voters are set to vote on Proposition B, a ballot measure written by Haney, which would split the Department of Public Works into two departments. It would separate the Public Works street cleaning, sidewalk maintenance and sanitation duties into a new agency, leaving the remaining department to handle engineering, design, project management and other work tied to public infrastructure. This report detailing flagrantly inappropriate behavior by the Department of Public Works also underscores the need to pass Prop. B in November, and implement effective oversight at a Department that is clearly out of control, he said. Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadan Reid Hoffman. Tony Avelar/AP Billionaire LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman is a major Democratic donor, and has become a key figure in raising money and power. But, as Vox's Theodore Schleifer reports, his approach hasn't always been popular among Democratic operatives. Hoffman's main focus seems to be on unseating Trump but it's unclear how, or if, he will stay involved beyond 2020. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Billionaires are pouring money into both sides of the 2020 election. Michael Bloomberg is raising millions to help felons in Florida vote. Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus pledged in July 2019 to support Trump's campaign which in turn sparked a boycott of the home-improvement store. The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the persistence of income inequality and low-income communities have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. With a "K-shaped" economic recovery looming where high-earners bounce back, but the working class finds itself further indebted the ultrawealthy stand to make more of an impact than ever. And, as Business Insider's Taylor Nicole Rogers reported, only 10% of billionaires had pledged as of July to donate to coronavirus relief. But when billionaires do involve themselves heavily in politics, they may bring with them their own version of disruption the Silicon Valley type A new profile of LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman by Vox's Theodore Schleifer looks at the tech billionaire's massive donations and nexus of power in the Democratic Party and how that's rubbed some the wrong way. Hoffman is one of the party's largest donors. As Schleifer details, he's also persistent in bringing in fellow big donors and organizing among the three-comma club. Key to Hoffman's vision is "fixing" the Democratic Party, which Schleifer reports he's done from both inside and outside of the establishment. His drive to fix what he sees as party weaknesses combined with his major focus on President Donald Trump aligns with his early career path. Story continues Hoffman received a master's in philosophy from Oxford but, as Business Insider's Richard Feloni reported, he chose to go into tech instead of academia because he believed that was a better place to answer his "guiding question" of "how do I help humanity evolve?" He's also said that rapidly growing tech companies should consider the ramifications that their growth could have on both stakeholders and on society at large. Hoffman did not immediately reply to Business Insider's request for comment. Despite irking some Democratic officials, Hoffman is still 'needed' As Schleifer reports, Hoffman has bypassed the party itself to fund Democratic initiatives including funneling $3 million into a 2017 election in Virginia through outside groups. His bypassing of the party brass to get directly involved has had unintended effects at times, as when he accidentally funded a misinformation campaign in Alabama's special election. Behind the scenes, Schleifer reports, Hoffman and his cash are sorely "needed." Although Hoffman initially fundraised for Sen. Cory Booker, he's been vocal in personally making the case for Biden. He wrote a blog post in July titled, "A Vote for Biden Is a Vote for American Business," and he was tapped to host a "high commitment" private fundraiser with President Barack Obama. But throughout Schleifer's reporting, a main concern from Democratic Party insiders and campaigns focused on long-term progressive movements is that Hoffman may be mainly focused on taking down Trump in 2020, and after that point his support may falter. According to Vox, a member of Hoffman's team reportedly told a party operative: "Win or lose, we're not doing anything past 2020." Hoffman could very well "disrupt" the 2020 election, Silicon Valley style, and help usher in a return to what he calls "normal" for American business. If that's successful, the Democratic Party may find itself returning to Hoffman's guiding question and evolving further into a party of billionaire disruption. Read the original article on Business Insider Armando Espinoza, a representative of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, says a prayer next to a memorial in front of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration that honors the more than 5700 Angelenos who have died of COVID-19. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) In late July, Gloria Lopez, a weight checker at a frozen food processing plant in Vernon, noticed that a plexiglass divider was missing between workers on the production line. Two employees were left exposed to the coronavirus. Neither had said anything. I said to one of them, Do you feel comfortable the way youre working? And she said, No, but what do you want me to do? Lopez recalled. Within minutes, Lopez instructed an employee to hit a button to stop production. She told the line leader she belonged to a new safety committee at the plant owned by Overhill Farms, which has authorized the panel's members to halt production if safety precautions were lacking. About 10 minutes later, the divider was back. I thought to myself, Yes, we can do something with our committee, said Lopez, from Huntington Park. Yes, we can be safer where we work. Photographs of people who lost their lives to COVID-19, including Celia Marcos, left, were part of a memorial erected in front of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) The company and workers backed by a union formed the group in the midst of a serious problem. On Sept. 9, Californias Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, announced more than $200,000 in fines each for Overhill Farms and its temporary employment agency, Jobsource North America the state's largest fines to date for coronavirus health violations. The citations, which reference more than 20 cases of the virus and one worker death, stem from inspections begun in April, which found the company failed to provide sufficient protective equipment, enforce physical distancing or inform workers about the dangers. They follow the first fines Cal/OSHA announced Sept. 4 for coronavirus safety violations, with penalties against 11 employers ranging from $2,025 to $51,190. Overhill Farms and Jobsource have said they plan to dispute the citations. Overhill Farms called the allegations erroneous, asserting that Cal/OSHA falsely claimed the company failed to install plexiglass dividers. The health and safety of our employees is our first priority, the company said in a statement. Overhill Farms has not only taken steps in line with the constantly evolving federal, state and local guidance, we have gone above and beyond those recommendations as we developed our employee safety procedures. Story continues Since the committee was first convened in late July, six workers, a union liaison and company representatives have met almost weekly to discuss coronavirus safety. Some of these workers have said theyve slowly seen improvements in enforcement of social distancing and feel safer on the job. Labor advocates have highlighted Overhill's safety committee as a precedent as the countys Board of Supervisors moves forward on a motion that would allow workers to form public health councils authorized to report whether their employers are complying with coronavirus health orders a proposal with widespread backing among labor groups but strongly opposed by many business leaders. Its a common sense approach, said Rob Nothoff, policy director for the L.A. County Federation of Labor. You empower workers to help add additional capacity to the Department of Public Health and to serve as kind of enforcers or whistleblowers. Everyone is better off protected. County health officials said there had been 26 coronavirus cases from March through August at Overhill Farms. Most cases were in April, when 11 workers became sick. Kathy Finn, secretary-treasurer for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, which represents several hundred Overhill employees, said she hoped the citation would send a sharp message to other workplaces. "The fact that there have been some improvements now is I think a reflection of the fact the state took so long to actually do anything, Finn said. Armando Romero, a forklift operator and member of the safety committee, said that in the early days of the pandemic Overhill Farms failed to provide workers with masks. He took a 30-day leave, worried about the possibility of exposing his mother-in-law with whom he lived. When he returned, the Maywood resident said that the company was providing masks but not enforcing social distancing or providing sufficient hand sanitizer. When coronavirus began, no one knew what rules to follow, Romero said. From there, we saw we needed to do something to protect ourselves. A group of workers with safety concerns approached their union, which proposed the idea of the committee to Overhill managers. Romero said that after the company began hearing the committee's concerns, it moved to limit how many workers could enter a plant at a time and enforced social distancing during lunch breaks by adding plexiglass dividers to tables in the lunchroom and limiting seating. Throughout the workday, the committees workers scan their areas to ensure dividers are in place and that employees wear face coverings and observe social distancing. Rhina Blanco, a worker who lives in South Gate, said she joined the committee to protect her three daughters and husband and the families of her co-workers. Like Romero, she stopped going to work briefly because she said the company wasn't providing adequate protective equipment. To get her co-workers to keep their distance, she tells them, "I dont want my family to get infected and I dont want your family to get infected." Although she said the workplace still poses a dangerous environment, Finn acknowledged the committee has created a space to raise issues in an industry where workers often fear retaliation. Some of the things they accomplished was giving the workers a voice, she said. They got the ability to shut down the line when they saw unsafe things happening. That is a huge, huge power to stop production because that impacts the company in its pocketbook. In response to questions about whether the safety committee had led to improvements, Frank Polizzi, a public information officer for California's Department of Industrial Relations, the parent agency of Cal/OSHA, said that as of the citation date the state "has not received proof that the COVID-19-related violations have been corrected by either employer." But in recent weeks, labor groups have pointed to the Overhill Farms committee as a model to support the motion supervisors are considering to create similar groups. Under the current proposal, worker councils would pair with third-party organizations certified by the county Department of Public Health to document violations, with the goal of expanding the departments enforcement capacity. Details of the program are still being developed, but Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who co-authored the motion initially approved in late July, said it should focus on industries with high rates of violations and outbreaks. The establishment of public health councils will provide another tool in the toolkit to better monitor, document and report public health violations, said Ridley-Thomas at the boards Sept. 1 meeting. If we want to slow the spread, we need to do it in the context of a just economy. In an Aug. 6 letter to the board, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer acknowledged concerns that employers might retaliate against workers who participate in the councils and suggested adopting rules to address that issue. Tia Koonse, a legal and policy research manager at the UCLA Labor Center, said that, with too few county investigators, worker councils are a cost-effective measure to ensure compliance. But the motion has faced staunch pushback from business leaders. In a letter to the board, the Los Angeles County Business Federation, known as BizFed, called the proposal nothing more than another layer of cumbersome bureaucracy designed to harass employers at the whim of any disgruntled employee. It said that employees can already report noncompliance to a county hotline and that it would support the councils only for the few bad actors that have been repeatedly warned and are still unable to comply. We dont really see any redeemable aspects to it, Sarah Wiltfong, BizFed's policy manager, said in an interview, adding that the proposal would result in the de facto unionization of businesses. Questions remain about how employers would compensate for worker councils meeting during business hours, she said. Similarly, Patricia Torres Bruno, chief policy officer for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, said the motion has been rushed through the Board of Supervisors with little input from the business community. It is not in a business best interest not to be compliant with the health orders, Bruno said. They are eager to open and open safely. Freddie Agyin, director of health and environmental control for the city of Vernon, said that when his staff visited Overhill Farms in mid-August, they noted only that plexiglass barriers needed to be extended farther on lunch tables and that more copies of health orders needed to be posted in areas employees frequent. "They have made progress, he said of the company. Agyin said employee engagement around safety issues is key. "You cant implement things where you dont have buy-in," he said. European Union leader Charles Michel has criticised the UK at the UN General Assembly for its threats to renege on parts of the Withdrawal Agreement it signed with the bloc. He warned on Friday that the 27-nation organisation will not back down in the final weeks of talks on a free trade deal. Mr Michel said respect for treaties, a basic principle of international law, comes to be considered optional even by those who, until recently, were its historical guarantors. All this in the name of partisan interests, he said in reference to the UK Government. Expand Close UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson proposed a Bill earlier this month to disregard part of the Withdrawal Agreement (Dominic Lipinski/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson proposed a Bill earlier this month to disregard part of the Withdrawal Agreement (Dominic Lipinski/PA) His ire was raised when UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would contemplate breaking an agreement he himself signed with the EU. Mr Johnson proposed a Bill earlier this month that would disregard part of the Brexit withdrawal treaty dealing with trade between Ireland and the UK. The Withdrawal Agreement officially allowed the UK to leave the bloc on January 31 this year. The EU insists the agreement must be respected for fear it could otherwise reignite tensions on the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland has special status in the Withdrawal Agreement because it is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with an EU country. The UK and the EU jointly promised in the Brexit divorce agreement to ensure there are no customs posts or other obstacles on the Northern Ireland-Ireland border. The open border is key to the stability that underpins the 1998 peace settlement that ended decades of violence between Irish nationalists and British unionists. Although Mr Johnsons government has refused a demand by the EU to drop the Bill that breaks international law, it has struck a more conciliatory tone since the legislation sparked an outcry in the UK as well as in the bloc. It has rowed back on Mr Johnsons claim the EU could try to blockade food exports to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK if there is a no-deal Brexit. The Prime Ministers spokesman Jamie Davies said the EU has confirmed normal processes will be followed and there will be no blockade. Access to our large market - the second-largest economic zone in the world and the first in terms of international trade - will no longer be sold off Charles Michel At the same time, Mr Michel also strengthened the position of the EUs chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, in his talks with the UK on a free trade deal by insisting the EU will not bend to unreasonable compromises. The talks have stalled over several issues and the EU insists the UKs negotiating strategy is to to hold on to the privileges it had as a member of the bloc without having to carry the burdens of that membership. The UK is seeking far-reaching access to the EU market but does not want to live by the rules that underpin trade with the bloc, he said. Access to our large market the second-largest economic zone in the world and the first in terms of international trade will no longer be sold off, Mr Michel said. From now on, we will better enforce the level playing field, in a market open to those who respect its standards whether they leave our union or want to move closer to it. More UK-EU trade talks are due to take place in Brussels next week. Both sides have said a deal must be struck by October if it is to be ratified by the end-of-year deadline. The UK Government said on Friday that progress has been made in negotiations but gaps remain in key areas, especially fishing rights and state aid rules. There remains a lot of work to do and either outcome is still possible, it said in a statement. The Trump administration has proposed a new rule to limit to four years the period of stay for non-immigrant international students and foreign media representatives. It plans to cut the duration further to two years for those from certain countries under the F, J and I category visas, used for students, exchange visitors and media representatives, respectively. Foreigners on these visas can currently stay for duration of status, or the period of course in case of students, and employment in case of media representatives. This applies also to the dependents of principal visa holders. The proposed rule, published by the department of homeland security, will be open for comments for 30 days. But it was not clear when it will go into effect. President Donald Trump has only a few months to finalise the rule by January 2021, and longer if he is re-elected. If he loses the November 3 election to Joe Biden, the Democrat will be under no obligation to implement it. The duration of stay can be extended either by filing for extension with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) or by going back to their countries of origin for fresh visas. The two-year rule will apply to people from countries that are either on state departments list of state sponsors of terrorism or who have an overstay rate of over 10%. The significant increase in the volume of F academic students, J exchange visitors, and I foreign information media representatives poses a challenge to the Departments ability to monitor and oversee these categories of non-immigrants while they are in the United States, the notice said. The department added it is concerned about the integrity of the programmes and a potential for increased risk to national security from people on these visas. There are an estimated 200,000 Indian students in the US, which has admitted an estimated 1 million international students every year. Together, they have generated around $41 billions worth of economic activity and supported 450,000 jobs, according to the American Council on Education, which represents US colleges and universities. Incomes generated from foreign students are critical to the financial health of many US colleges. Agra, Sep 25 : As many as 97 new coronavirus cases, including four doctors and six health workers, were reported in Agra, apart from two more deaths in the last 24 hours, official sources said on Friday. District Magistrate PN Singh said that of the total 5,326 corona cases, 4,229 patients had recovered so far. Courts in Agra as well as offices of Municipal Corporation and district administration have been reporting thin attendance, with a number of city organisations now demanding a weekend lockdown to control the infection spread. Agra Development Foundation Secretary KC Jain sought voluntary closure of city markets for two days in a week while social activists urged the district administration to punish those found without face masks and not observing social distance. The Agra Municipal Corporation has even banned the entry of outsiders in the complex even as educational institutions are having second thoughts on the early resumption of physical classes. The dilemma was, health experts pointed out, whether to reopen and resume normal activities to prevent an economic collapse or to insulate people from infections by halting the unlock process. The experiment with reopening of historical monuments like the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort to the public has also not been very encouraging so far due to very few visitors. City hotels too have not seen any increase in footfalls. "In the past few days, many cases have come to the fore where patients have been been forced to move from nursing homes to testing centres to government hospitals," claimed health activist Jugal Kishore Pandit. The Health Department officials, on the other hand, maintained that the overall situation was under control. They claimed that sample testing rate had gone up and the recovery rate continued to remain steady at around 79-80 per cent. So far, officials claimed, 176,032 samples have been tested. An official said that most patients visited government hospitals only when the situation got out of hand. "If they get tested promptly, treatment can start early to increase their chances of recovery, as has been the case so far," he remarked. More than seven crore single-use gloves for voters to put on when they press the EVM button to cast their vote, over seven lakh units of hand sanitiser and about six lakh PPE kits have been arranged for the three-phase Bihar Assembly polls amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said on Friday. Announcing the schedule for Bihar the polls, he said 7.2 crore single-use gloves for voters to press electronic voting machine buttons, more than seven lakh units of hand sanitiser, about 46 lakh masks, about six lakh personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, 7.6 lakh units of face shields have been arranged. Besides, 23 lakh gloves, apparently for polling and security personnel, have also been arranged. Bihar has 7.29 crore voters. In August, the Election Commission had issued broad guidelines for holding elections during the pandemic under which voters were to be provided with gloves to press EVM button and sign the register at polling stations. The EC had also said that face masks would be kept handy at polling stations for voters who turn up without wearing one. Arora said adequate quantity of soap and water would be kept at polling stations for sanitisation. A separate set of guidelines would be issued for voters who are residing in areas notified as containment zone, the CEC said. Thermal scanners would be placed at the entry point of every polling station. Polling or paramedical staff will conduct thermal screening of voters at the entry point of a polling station, the guidelines said. Keeping in mind distancing norms, the EC has reduced the number of voters per polling station to 1,000 instead of 1,500, resulting in an increase in the number of polling stations. While in 2015 elections, the state had 65,367 polling stations, the number now stands at 1,06,526, an increase of 62.96 per cent. According to an EC statement on Bihar polls, the average number of electors at a polling station has reduced to 684 in 2020 from 1,026 in 2015. . Education authorities reportedly recommended the boy be expelled (WDSU) A nine-year-old boy was suspended from school after a teacher spotted a BB gun in his room during an online lesson. Ka Mauri Harrison, a pupil at Woodmere Elementary in Harvey, Louisiana, missed six days of teaching over the incident on 11 September. He returned to class on Thursday, but his family's lawyer has accused education authorities of a "terrible overreaction". Ka Mauri said he had been receiving an online lesson in his bedroom when his younger brother walked in and tripped over a BB gun. My brother walked in the room and tripped over the BB gun and I put it on the side of me, the boy told WDSU. Ka Mauri's teacher called out his name to ask about the BB gun, but he did not reply because his laptop was on mute while he tried to concentrate on the lesson, his family said. The teacher then reportedly disconnected the boy from the lesson. The child's teacher subsequently reported the incident, apprently concerned that the boy was in possession of an assault rifle. Harrison left his seat (at home) momentarily, out of view of the teacher, a Louisiana Department of Education report said. When the student returned, he had what appeared to be a full-sized rifle in his possession. Officials at the department listed the incident as possession of "weapons prohibited under federal law. Ka Mauris parents, Nyron Harrison and Thelma Williams, called the school and learned about the suspension. They are treating it as if he brought a weapon to school, Nyron Harrison said. They told me he would be facing expulsion. Story continues Nyron Harrison told NOLA.com that he bought a BB gun, and not a rifle, adding he taught his son how to use it safely. Ka Mauri's suspension was upheld on Tuesday the department of education recommended expelling him, according to WDSU. This is a terrible overreaction, Chelsea Cusimano, the attorney representing the Harrison family, told the television station. This is not a child bringing a weapon to school. This was a toy that was in his bedroom. This would be the same as if you had two siblings in a room and ones ADHD medication was in the background and that childs getting charged with a drug charge. Woodmere Elementary said in a statement that it did not comment on individual school records. Regarding discipline, it is our policy that teachers and administrators may employ reasonable disciplinary and corrective measures to maintain order, the statement added. Read more Police release footage of officers shooting 13-year-old autistic boy Filling and packaging tests for the large-scale production and supply of the University of Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, AZD1222, taking place at a site southeast of Rome, Italy, on September 11, 2020. European governments will pay claims above an agreed limit against AstraZeneca over side-effects from its potential COVID-19 vaccine, under different terms to a deal struck with Sanofi, an EU official told Reuters. The deals reflect different strategies by two of the world's top drugmakers for protecting themselves as a debate rages about liabilities for vaccines aimed at ending the pandemic. AstraZeneca has secured the European Union's backing in a confidential agreement which reflects the lower price sought by the British drugmaker, the official said. "If a company asks for a higher price we don't give the same conditions," said the official, who was involved in the talks but declined to be identified as the contracts are confidential. Unexpected side-effects after a drug has regulatory approval are rare, but the speed at which a COVID-19 vaccine is being pursued increases the risks of unforeseen conditions. The deal with AstraZeneca, which shifts some of the risks involved in the roll-out of a vaccine to taxpayers, was struck in August and its liability clauses have not previously been reported. Under the deal, AstraZeneca would only pay legal costs up to a certain threshold, the official said, declining to elaborate on how the costs would be shared with individual European governments or the cap. The financial shield would cover both legal costs and potential compensation, which is rarer but potentially a much bigger outlay in the event of something going wrong. In return for the higher price paid for its vaccine, French drugmaker Sanofi which is working with GlaxoSmithKline as a partner, did not get any liability waiver. Spokespeople for AstraZeneca, Sanofi and the European Commission declined to comment on the specifics of the deals. When asked about AstraZeneca's relatively low price, a spokesman reiterated the company's pledge to share the vaccine widely and not to turn a profit from it during the pandemic. Under the AstraZeneca deal, EU countries have agreed to pay 2.5 euros ($2.92) per dose, while Sanofi has negotiated a price at around 10 euros, the official said. (CNN) At first glance, the outlook doesn't seem too grim. While reported coronavirus cases are reaching record highs as Europe endures a "second wave," deaths are still well below their peak in April. But experts warn the signs point to more tragedy ahead this winter. Europe's hospitals are now better equipped for treating Covid-19. Measures such as social distancing and mask-wearing have become the norm and the latest spread of infection has been primarily among younger people, who are less likely to die if they contract the virus. Yet colder weather is beginning to set in and the flu season is approaching. The infection is spreading to older populations, and there are signs that people are growing tired of adhering to the restrictions. "Obviously we don't really have any ways of preventing Covid from going around, other than the lockdowns or social distancing measures and so on; we don't yet have a vaccine," Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the UK's University of Southampton, told CNN. While he does not expect deaths to reach the levels seen in the first wave, Head added: "We'll see a lot of spread of cases, we will see a lot of hospitalizations, and a lot of burden on our health service. "There will also be a big death toll." From young to old Coronavirus cases reported across Europe reached a record high of 52,418 over a rolling seven-day average on Tuesday, according to CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. But there were just 556 new deaths reported, compared with a height of 4,134 daily fatalities (from 31,852 cases) from the seven-day average on April 10. That compares with a seven-day average of 44,547 cases and 722 deaths on Tuesday in North America, which has a population of 366 million compared with Europe's 750 million people. Hospitals are now better able to diagnose and treat the virus, meaning mortality rates for ICU patients in some European countries have dropped from about 50% during the spring to roughly 20%, Head estimates. But Bulgaria, Croatia, Malta, Romania and Spain have all been seeing sustained death rate increases. In the first week of September, the biggest proportion of new cases was still among 25- to 49-year-olds, according to the World Health Organization's Europe director, Hans Kluge. But there was also a rise in cases in older groups, aged 50 to 79. Head warned that the uptick in cases "will at some point translate into infections in older populations who have higher mortality rates." "We are seeing rates of cases in older populations and vulnerable populations increasing again across all European countries," he said. "So it's a very predictable pattern actually, that across the UK and France or Spain we've seen younger populations being affected, and then about four to six weeks later ... we're starting to see elderly people being infected." Head added that more cases in the community means more opportunities for the virus to get into institutions such as care homes, with "a big increase in care home outbreaks here in the UK, over the last month or so." Burden on hospitals The arrival of the flu season is also a "huge concern" because of the potential burden on health services, Head said. France, which reported its highest daily rise in case numbers of 13,498 last Saturday, saw the number of people in intensive care rise 25% last week. Deaths are not the only problem. The pressure on hospitals is also increased by the number of "long-haulers," those who are suffering adverse effects from coronavirus more than a month after they were ill. "Even in younger fitter people, we're still seeing about 10 to 20% who are having longer-term consequences beyond the initial infection," said Head. He said this would mean "further stresses on the health services over the next few months and indeed for years to come." Peter Drobac, a global health physician and director at Oxford University's Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, told CNN it would be "irresponsible" if Europe allowed the death rate to get back to April's levels. He said that while "we haven't detected any kind of seasonal pattern with this particular virus," the real risk is that the cold weather could force people back indoors, where transmission is more likely. While most countries now have greater testing capacity, Drobac said "increased testing does not explain the rise in cases that we're seeing in most settings" since we're also seeing a higher percentage of tests coming back positive. "It's clear we're losing control of this," he said. "We know enough about how the virus behaves -- how it's transmitted, how to control it, how to treat it when people do get infected -- that we should be able to make sure the second wave of infections isn't devastatingly large, because that's ultimately what's going to lead to a larger death toll, it's when health systems start to get overwhelmed." 'The perfect storm' The approach to the second wave of infections varies across Europe. Leaders are trying to balance protecting public health with avoiding catastrophic economic damage from national lockdowns. Spain reported a record 14,389 daily cases last Friday. In Madrid, which accounts for a third of its cases, residents in 37 areas are only allowed to leave their homes to go to work, school or for medical reasons, and parks and playgrounds were closed from Monday. The UK, which reported its highest case number since April on Wednesday, has restricted gatherings to six people and will close pubs and restaurants at 10 p.m. The Czech Republic, which reported a record number of coronavirus infections on Friday, reintroduced indoor mask requirements earlier this month. "The bottom line is the second wave is here in many countries in Europe already," said Drobac. "Our actions in the next couple of weeks, and throughout the winter, are going to be critical to stemming the spread but if we don't get a handle on it soon, particularly in places like the UK, Spain and France at the moment, we will certainly see a surge in deaths." Drobac said Europe once again needs to "flatten the curve" through social distancing and hygiene measures as well as robust testing and contact tracing. He believes it is "unlikely" countries will return to the full national lockdowns that were a common approach in the spring, in part because of public resistance or fatigue with restrictions. "I think it'll be hard to get political and public support for it. I think it'll be hard to enforce and people are tired," he said. "In many ways, we think winter could be a perfect storm. That's why I wish we could have used our summer a lot better, to really crush the virus and make sure we were in better position for it." This story was first published on CNN.com Will Europe's second wave of Covid-19 cases mean a second huge death toll? Norways 83-year-old King Harald V was admitted to the main hospital in Oslo on Friday, the Norwegian palace said, without giving any further information about his condition. The palace said his son, Crown Prince Haakon, has stepped in and taken over his fathers duties, including a scheduled meeting with the Norwegian government. Harald ascended the throne upon the death of his father King Olav on Jan. 17, 1991. The countrys first native-born king since the 14th century, he married a commoner as a prince and won hearts in his egalitarian country by leading the mourning in 2011 for the victims of mass killer Anders Behring Breivik. In 2016, a speech by Harald in support of gay rights and diversity attracted widespread international attention. Norwegians are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and girls and boys who love each other, he said. The speech was shared tens of thousands of times on social media. Gabriela Esparza and Zach Wu, wastewater control inspectors with EBMUD, cap 24 separate bottles while retrieving collection equipment and the samples in Oakland, Calif. on Tuesday, July 14, 2020. Paul Chinn | San Francisco Chronicle | Getty Images The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking bids from contractors that can carry out a plan to test up to 30% of the country's wastewater to act as an "early warning system" for coronavirus outbreaks, according to a contract notice posted Thursday. The notice says that surveillance of sewage water for the virus can detect an increase in Covid-19 cases five to 11 days earlier than by standard clinical testing. "Data and analysis provided by the contractor's wastewater surveillance will illustrate a more complete picture of local, community level COVID19 trends, where clinical cases had been dangerously underreported, leading to unchecked spread," the request-for-quotation notice says. "This can be particularly helpful for communities lacking testing facilities or testing supplies, or for communities in which demand for testing remains low for other reasons." The notice adds that the surveillance will not only "help guide the overall reopening strategy, but also serve as an early warning system for local re-emergence events to enable rapid containment." Wastewater surveillance has long been used by epidemiologists to track and detect other infectious diseases such as polio. Because infected people, including those without symptoms, shed the virus in stool, it can then be detected in wastewater, offering another indication of how the virus is spreading in a given community. Universities, cities and states have already launched their own pilot efforts to use wastewater surveillance as a leading indicator of Covid-19 outbreaks. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they were seeking partnerships with local health departments to establish a nationwide wastewater surveillance system. The contract notice from HHS, however, represents a potentially massive expansion of such efforts coordinated on a national level. And the intention to hand over responsibility for the initiative to a contractor is another privatization of a public health initiative by the Trump administration. 30% of U.S. wastewater The HHS-backed initiative will begin by assembling a network of about 100 wastewater treatment plants across 42 states to establish wastewater coronavirus surveillance for about 36 million Americans, or nearly 10% of the country, the notice says. It adds that the first phase will begin as soon as Sept. 30 and run eight weeks. The notice adds that the government could exercise an option to then expand the program to about 320 wastewater plants, accounting for 100 million Americans, or more than 30% of the population. The contractor is expected to report the wastewater data into the HHS Protect system, a new program set up during the pandemic to coordinate data from various sources to guide the federal government's response. The system has faced scrutiny because not all data in it is public, but some public health specialists have hailed the program as a major improvement on federal health data collection. Because the notice is only a request for bids so far, no total dollar amount is currently associated with the initiative. The federal procurement officers who issued the notice did not return CNBC's request for an estimate of the cost of the contract. HHS did not lay out which towns, cities or states would be included in the initial or potential second phase of the initiative. An HHS spokeswoman confirmed the department's plans to leverage "wastewater data to detect trends in COVID-19 cases in the community." Earlier this week, a group of lawmakers sent a letter to the CDC encouraging them to invest more heavily in a federal wastewater surveillance program in response to the pandemic. "No matter how much you try, you're not going to get everyone to get in line for a weekly nasal swab," Rep. TJ Cox (D.-Calif.), who led the effort behind the letter, told CNBC on Friday. "However, most Americans utilize a wastewater system, so we can get results from a wider population for a fraction of the cost of individual tests." Biobot The contract notice appears designed for one company, in particular: Biobot Analytics, a venture capital-backed start-up focused on wastewater epidemiology. Biobot has previously worked with HHS to test wastewater to determine the prevalence and use of opioids around the country. When the pandemic began, they quickly pivoted to testing wastewater for the coronavirus. In April, the company announced that it raised $4.2 million to ramp up its Covid-19 sewage surveillance program. The company said in a post published on Medium in July that they are already partnered with wastewater treatment plants in 42 states, accounting for more than 10% of the population. That aligns with the phase one goals outlined by HHS in the contract notice. And the contract notice is designated as set aside for women-owned small businesses. Biobot was founded in 2017 by Mariana Matus and Newsha Ghaeli. And HHS' request for bids is open for an unusually short amount of time. The notice was posted on Thursday and bids were initially due by 5 p.m. ET on Friday, according to the notice. HHS extended the deadline for bids after CNBC wrote about the contract to 5 p.m. ET on Monday. Representatives of Biobot declined to comment for this story. The federal procurement officers responsible for the contract did not explain why the open bid period is so short. 'The smoke alarm' Dave Larsen, an epidemiologist at Syracuse University, who leads his own team working on expanding wastewater surveillance in New York, said his program, which received funding from the state's department of health last month, has preempted outbreaks on at least three university campuses. He added that his program is now operational in 14 counties in upstate New York and 15 institutions, such as college campuses. Wastewater surveillance is a cost-effective method to capture the level of spread in a given community, Larsen added. "If we can document the absence of transmission, then we can ease the fear that exists with a pandemic and get people to engage in a safe and responsible way," he said. "But then also when transmission does go up, you have that early warning to say, let's scale back through a simple Public Health Advisory." However, wastewater surveillance is no replacement for standard diagnostic testing, Larsen said, adding that it's just one more tool that can help communities around the country better understand the outbreak. "I call wastewater surveillance the smoke alarm and the mass testing campaign is the fire department," he said. "You want a smoke alarm in every single house and you want to be able to call the fire department. But you don't need the fire department in every house. There's not enough fire departments." Use in Bay Area The Election Commission of India (ECI) may increase poll spending in view of the extra expenses being incurred due to the coronavirus pandemic. The poll body is currently considering a proposal to increase election expenditure, news agency ANI reported. Speaking about increasing the election expenditure, ECI clarified that: There is something under consideration by the Ministry of Law only due to the COVID-19 situation and not for all time. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said: The Commission is thinking of appointing a very senior officer to further streamline the expenditure process. He added that an announcement on the plans to increase election expenditure will be announced soon, along with detailed terms of reference. ECI is considering the proposal based on a feedback received from political parties, requesting the cap on election expenditure be increased in view of the COVID-19 situation, which mandates several health protocols be observed. The request had come as Bihar Assembly elections are slated to be held amid the pandemic in three phases, starting October 28. The Election Commission of India caps election campaign spending per candidate at Rs 28 lakh for the Assembly polls. The amount is inclusive of expenses on rallies, advertisements, public meetings, posters, banners, vehicles, etc. By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijans State Oil Company (SOCAR) has signed a socio-economic cooperation agreement with Russias Tyumen region. The agreement was signed between SOCAR Energoresource CEO Farid Jafarov and the Governor of the Tyumen region of Russia Alexander Moor at part of the Tyumen Oil and Gas Forum.on September 23, local media has reported. SOCAR Energoresource CEO noted that the agreement defines the main directions of companies cooperation for the next four years. "Since the company's foundation, we have been aimed at effective, long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation with regional authorities, which will not only contribute to the development of our enterprise, but also create favorable conditions for the development of the economy and social sphere of the entire Tyumen region," he said. Moreover, it was noted that the parties intend to jointly address the issues of ensuring stable social and economic development of Tyumen region through charitable programs and investment projects, including in the form of public-private partnership. SOCAR Energoresource acquired an equity interest in Antipinsky Refinery - one of the largest taxpayers in the Tyumen Region in June 2019, and carries out sales of oil products manufactured by the refinery in Russia and abroad. Since 2020, SOCAR Energoresource has started implementing charitable projects in Tyumen region aimed at supporting city initiatives and low-income population groups. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Teachers have much higher aspirations for their classrooms than offering child care, but the pandemic has revealed how much working parents depend on schools to provide safe havens for their children. If kids cant be in school every day, or at all, child care could offer a solution until public health restrictions are lifted.Unfortunately, the child-care sector is problematic on all sides a significant financial burden for low- and even middle-income workers and a profession that, on average, pays workers nearly 40 percent less than the median hourly wage. Tens of thousands of providers have closed as a result of the pandemic, and those that are beginning to reopen are seeing the impact of the economic downturn on enrollment, despite the increased need for their services.Around 34 million working Americans have at least one child under the age of 14, and about 70 percent dont have a caregiver in the family to support them if they go to work. Many have jobs that dont include the option of remote work.A recent national survey found that more than 13 percent of working parents had either cut back hours or left jobs to fill child-care needs. Its hard to imagine a vigorous recovery if parents are leaving work because they have to care for children attending school from home.In the last month, dozens of bills have been introduced by state legislatures around the country to help child-care providers stay in business and to support parents who need to stay on the job, or look for one. Here are a few examples: A4716 , abill, addresses the issue that the children of working parents are not likely to be physically present in schools for more than three or four hours a day, for only two or three days a week. For the 2020-2021 school year, it establishes new guidelines for the states subsidized child-care assistance program, increasing payments and revising hour limits for licensed child-care providers that enroll school-age children. SF8 asks the commissioner of Human Services to allocate up to $14.9 million for a temporary sliding fee child-care assistance program. The first priority would be families without a high school diploma who are not enrolled in the state's welfare reform program for low-income families with children, and who need child-care assistance in order to participate in training or education that would make them employable. S0353 includes employers who have provided child-care services to essential workers among those eligible for grants from a Frontline Employees Hazard Pay Grant Program, and expanding the program to include more workers whose jobs involved elevated risks of exposure to COVID-19. It appropriates $19.5 million for the fund in fiscal year 2021. HB2809 inestablishes a COVID-19 Childcare for Essential Workers Grant program, funded by CARES Act money received by the state. For purposes of the program, essential workers include those working in health care, food manufacturing or food, retail, janitorial services, transit and other industries not closed during the states health emergency. The program will end three months after the states disaster emergency is proclaimed to be over. HB5834 amends the states income tax act to include a remote learning education expense credit in recognition of pandemic-related challenges in regard to school attendance and child care. It notes that it will be costly and burdensome to the State if parents leave their jobs because their children cannot attend school in person. In addition to child care, expenditures eligible for the credit include materials necessary for online learning, tutoring, homeschool instruction and other services. S8990 , abill, would allow the Office of Children and Family Services to use CARES Act funds to make direct payments to child-care providers to cover additional hours during which these services are needed due to pandemic-related changes in school schedules. The bill hopes to incentivize providers to expand their existing programs or reopen programs that have been closed. This assistance would be intended help low- and middle-income parents stay on the job and contribute to the citys economic recovery. A MWG's Bluetronics store at the celebrating ceremony This event marks the first milestone in the retail groups ambition to scale up market coverage and acquire the leading position by the end of this year. According to MWGs market development team, the household electronic appliance sector in Cambodia is reminiscent of the Vietnamese market about a decade ago when choice of goods was limited, while the market was awash with goods of unknown origin and quality as well as parallel imports. The modest number of stores also limits access to warranty and after-sales services. According to statistics from MWG, the largest household electronic appliance chain only has 20 stores in the country while all competitors have less than 50 stores altogether. Three years ago, MWG began deploying BigPhone stores in Cambodia, which followed a similar operating model to the thegioididong.com chain in Vietnam. These exploratory moves paved the way to MWG changing its tack by opening the Bluetronics chain with larger floor areas and better variety of goods from household electronic appliances to mobile phones and accessories. With 20 stores in the Phnom Penh area in the south, Bluetronics will march on the Northwest, namely Siem Reap, to achieve full market coverage in Cambodia by the end of this year. MWGs market development team estimates that a retail network of 50 stores would fit the capacity and demand of the Cambodian market. The target of opening 50 stores by the end of the year showcases MWGs determination to conquer this overseas market. Putting the enormity of the task in perspective, the development team shared that opening a store in Cambodia is 10 times more difficult than in their home market. While Cambodia is not a large market, it is nevertheless an important market for MWG. Doan Van Hieu Em, CEO of MWG said, By increasing our network to 50 stores, we would occupy 50 per cent of the market. However, the most important target is that MWG will bring this successful recipe to other countries, targeting at Indonesia, the Philippines and more. In Vietnam, MWG achieved success with the Dien may Xanh model. While we have a winning recipe, we only need to adjust it to fit the culture of each new market, Hieu Em said. Notably, in Cambodia MWG applied its Dien May Xanh model and enlisted plentiful local expertise to help tweak it in a myriad ways under the watchful eyes of a few Vietnamese senior managers. This has helped Bluetronics localise not only decor but even promotions and after-sales services to suit the local customers' taste. MWGs suppliers include several global groups who can easily accompany us in our overseas endeavours, Dien may Xanh oversea will be the new future of Thegioididong brand, Hieu Em said. The position has been vacant ever since the Armenian parliament enacted in June controversial constitutional amendments initiated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. The amendments call for the gradual resignation of seven of the courts nine judges locked in a standoff with Pashinians political team. Three of them had 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 consider their removal illegal and politically motivated. They have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to have them reinstated. This did not stop the parliament controlled by Pashinians My Step bloc from electing three new court judges earlier this month. One of them, Yervand Khundkarian, was the only candidate nominated for the post of court chairman. The nine justices spent three days discussing practical modalities of the election and Khundkarians candidacy. One of them, Edgar Shatirian, told reporters afterwards that Khundkarian failed to garner at least five votes needed for succeeding Tovmasian as court chairman. He said he and his colleagues will meet on Monday to start the election process anew. Shatirian did not confirm or deny news reports saying that only three judges backed Khundkarians appointment and that the six others voted against him or did not vote at all. Another judge, Vahe Grigorian, openly voiced his opposition to the nominee when he spoke to journalists ahead of the vote. Grigorian was appointed to the Constitutional Court one year after the 2018 Velvet Revolution that brought Pashinian to power. He was at odds with Tovmasian and six other court members installed by former Armenian governments. Despite challenging the legality of his ouster, Tovmasian took part in the discussions on the new court chair held behind the closed doors. He insisted on Thursday that there is no contradiction between his participation and rejection of the constitutional changes. I will continue to fight until constitutionality in Armenia on this issue is restored, said the former chief justice. I dont know when I will succeed, but I will keep fighting. Tovmasian also said that he will not take part in Fridays vote because he believes the Armenian authorities have made sure that Khundkarians election is a forgone conclusion. But he claimed the following morning that the authorities are now also considering other scenarios as well. Khundkarian headed the Court of Cassation, Armenias highest body of criminal and administrative justice, until the National Assembly approved his appointment to one of the vacant Constitutional Court seats. He was nominated by a national convention of judges held in August. Several Armenian civic groups have strongly criticized Khundkarians appointment, saying that it will not address what Pashinian has repeatedly described as a lack of public trust in the Constitutional Court. The critics argue that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled against Armenia in connection with several verdicts handed down by Khundkarian in the past. In particular, the Strasbourg-based court ordered the authorities in Yerevan in 2008 to compensate the independent TV station A1+ controversially pulled off the air in 2002. Pashinian strongly defended on September 16 the choice of Khundkarian and the two other new judges. He said that their critics are primarily concerned with their own parochial interests, rather than the rule of law. Alen Simonian, a deputy parliament speaker representing Pashinians bloc, echoed the prime ministers stance on Friday. He said that there are no candidates acceptable to everyone in Armenia. There will always be attempts to promote ones own candidate and have an influence, Simonian said before the Constitutional Court vote. We chose a candidate after taking into account all concerns. Meanwhile, representatives of the two parliamentary opposition parties reiterated that they believe the recent constitutional changes were enacted in breach of other articles of the Armenian constitution. Sammy Wilson looks set to avoid a police probe into his maskless London Tube trip. It is not usual procedure for British Transport Police (BTP) policy to investigate reports of those on the London Underground not wearing face masks, the Belfast Telegraph has learned. On Thursday the DUP MP Sammy Wilson was caught on camera without a facemask. He told the Belfast Telegraph he wore one for the entire journey from London to Belfast but took it off to answer a phone call briefly while on the tube. While a picture circulating on social media showed him reading a copy of Private Eye magazine, Mr Wilson said he can forget at times to wear a mask but tries to abide by the rules. He denied witness claims he did not wear a mask for the entirety of his tube journey from Westminster to Heathrow. The witness said he reported the matter to the police. Expand Close Sammy Wilson on the tube to Heathrow. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sammy Wilson on the tube to Heathrow. The East Antrim MP has said he would "accept whatever consequences there are". Transport for London (TFL) says face coverings must be worn on the Tube for the full duration of journeys. While there are exemptions, those without a mask, or a reason for not wearing one, can be fined 200 which doubles every time they are caught. Asked if it was investigating, BTP in a statement said: "If officers are on patrol and see someone not wearing a face covering on a train or at a station, they will begin by engaging with them and reminding them of the reasons why the protections are a necessary and lawful requirement. "In these cases, the overwhelming majority of people will listen and comply, without the need for enforcement. In other cases, passengers may have a reasonable excuse or a valid exemption from wearing a face covering. It was confirmed it was not usual procedure to investigate but if but if officers see someone without a face covering when theyre patrolling then they will be spoken to. Meanwhile former DUP MLA Jimmy Spratt, who sat on the Assembly alongside Mr Wilson for several years and is undergoing treatment for cancer, said he "expects more" from his erstwhile colleague. Mr Spratt told the BBC he expected Mr Wilson to toe the line when it comes to Covid regulations. "The bottom line is Sammy is a very senior MP, a former colleague of mine in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and I expect more from a public representative, particularly at this time," he said. "I was just totally furious [when I saw the picture]. I feel he needs to be much more responsible, toe the line and do the right thing and try and protect everyone, even if he doesn't want to protect himself. "Whenever I sit two days every fortnight in the cancer centre and see other people who are much more vulnerable than me, I think to myself 'I want to protect them' - so why shouldn't Sammy to the right thing and protect others?" At the Executive press conference on Thursday, DUP leader Arlene Foster was pressed on if she or her party would take any action or speak with Mr Wilson. Mrs Foster denied she was "too weak" to enforce discipline within the party ranks. She stated: "Everybody has to abide by the laws and take the consequences. "There are no exceptions everyone is equal under the law and I think that is very, very clear." Asked again on Friday if there would be any disciplinary procedures for Mr Wilson to address, a party statement said: "The party leader has addressed this matter. "The rules are in place for good reason. No one is above the rules. Everyone must abide by the law. Sammy was wrong and has accepted that." Undated photo of Michael James Pratt, a New Zealander, who is wanted for sex trafficking and child porn charges. (via FBI) FBI Offers $10,000 Reward For Fugitive Who Fled After Sex Trafficking, Child Porn Charges The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of Michael James Pratt, the fugitive GirlsDoPorn boss who allegedly fled the country amid in the midst of a civil trial in San Diego. Pratt is facing charges and accusations of sex trafficking, child pornography, fraud, coercion, and sexual assault in connection with his website. Between 2012 and October 2019, Pratt, a 37-year-old from New Zealand, and others allegedly participated in a conspiracy to recruit young adult and minor women in the Southern District of California and elsewhere to engage in commercial sex acts by force, fraud, and coercion. According to the FBI, Pratt and a co-conspirator owned and operated a pornography production company and online pornography websites. He and his co-conspirators allegedly recruited young women from around the United States by posting advertisements for clothed modeling jobs on the Internet. They advised the women responding to the ads that the jobs were in fact for pornographic videos and that they would be paid between $3,000 to $5,000 U.S. dollars for a one-day video shoot. To persuade the women to participate, Pratt and his co-conspirators allegedly convinced the women they would remain anonymous, and that their videos would be provided to private collectors on DVD and would not be posted on the Internet. Pratt allegedly paid other young women working at his direction to act as references or provide false assurances to the women that, if they filmed a video, the video would not be posted online. Some women were not permitted to leave the shooting locations until the videos were made and others were allegedly forced to perform certain acts they had declined to do. Some of the women were allegedly sexually assaulted. Pratts pornography websites generated more than $17 million U.S. dollars in revenue. Pratt fled his home in Hidden Meadows, California, last year, leaving his cat in the care of a pet-sitting service he hired to check in daily, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Following his disappearance, Pratt and his associates were indicted on a host of civil charges in San Diego federal court, and a $12.7 million civil judgment was handed down in January this year in a case brought by 22 women whose pornographic videos were posted online. As part of that judgment, the 22 women who helped bring the case were given back rights to their image, and had the videos of them taken down on Pratts sites. Attorneys representing the business have argued that the women were over 18, understood what they were doing, accepted payment, and in some cases returned to San Diego again and again to make more videos. The plaintiffs attorneys said the videos were not immediately posted on the internet and defendants later refused requests to take down the films, AP reported. According to the FBI, Pratt has ties to, or may visit, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Singapore, Japan, Chile, Croatia, and France. Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Michael James Pratt is asked to contact the FBI in San Diego on +1 (858) 320 1800. Tips can also be submitted online at tips.fbi.gov. Creative's Questionnaire is an interview series where artists, writers, filmmakers, and other creatives talk about their work, the challenges that they face, and their inspirations. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines Life) They look like aliens, says illustrator Raxenne Maniquiz. They just look so unreal to me. Maniquiz is talking about the slipper orchids or Paphiopedilums which she drew in her own style, from online databases of Philippine plants, and free publications on ResearchGate. A graphic designer at Plus63 Design Co, in her own time, she has been working on a sustained personal project, drawing endemic flowers published as zines, or maps of the Philippines. She got the idea after the geographer David Garcia showed her a flower distribution map of the U.S. Since then, shes turned her hand and eye to rafflesias, which she planned to see flowering in Los Banos earlier this year until the pandemic upended her plan. Niyaya ko yung friends ko kahit na sinusuka ako ni mother nature, she says, recalling the time she tried trekking to research something for a client before. She ended up covered in rashes. Pero sabi ko, I want to see a Rafflesia before I die. As an illustrator, shes turned her hand and eye to rafflesias, which she planned to see flowering in Los Banos earlier this year until the pandemic upended her plan. Courtesy of RAXENNE MANIQUIZ Here, Maniquiz talks about the importance of experimentation, the role of social media in her work, and the struggles of pricing her work. Aside from the change in style, your subjects have also changed. A few years back, your botanical subjects included a variety of flowers and foliage from other parts of the world. But now, youre focusing on native flora and fauna. The intent to advocate for conservation is also evident in the botanical illustrations youve been putting out, especially with your zine and maps. Is this shift a conscious decision? What really caught my eye was Medinilla magnifica or kapa-kapa. I drew it for the [cover of the] Keepsake Planner in 2017. I think that flower started my interest in endemic flora. And then on to 2018, I was using a newer style of illustrating, something finer and sharper. The Uniqlo project which started early May 2018, I used [flowers] for the artwork. And then for Dr. Martens in 2018, I used native flowers, which spilled over to 2019 and the Janji collab, [which is] an activewear brand based in the States. They wanted to feature native flowers in the Philippines for their collection. That's why I chose endemic flowers and it was the slipper orchids at the time. It opened up a lot of possibilities. I found out about all these amazing endemic plants or endemic flowers here. And it was, I guess eye opening because we have so much and even like weirdly looking ones, like we have an abundance of slipper orchids, which I really love, and just the whole Orchidaceaea family. What do you think are the essential traits of a creative person, especially in your field? I think experimentation got me where I am now artistically. I was doing a lot of different things before [that are] far from what I'm doing now, but if I hadn't really gotten all of those experiences, I don't think I won't be able to get to where I am right now. We always get a lot of questions about style from the younger generation or fresh grads. I don't know if it's the internet or the digital age's fault that makes it seem like you need to have a style right away. But I think going through experimentation would really help with the creative process. Also, I think its important to expose yourself to other things that are not necessarily connected to what you do. You know, just having other hobbies. It doesnt have to be related to what youre doing or maybe tangentially connected. I love following florists on Instagram. Its not related to illustration, but parang nandon lang 'yung pag-stimulate sa brain. What is the core philosophy that guides your work? I haven't really reflected upon it. I think I have yet to find that. To tell you the truth, recently lang din ako naging proactive in doing self-initiated work. When I was starting out, it was really just about doing gigs, or doing what I can to earn extra cash. I guess 80 percent of my work is just really client work. The endemic zine and the distribution map are self-initiated projects. I guess moving forward I want to do more of that. Maybe I would see what my philosophy is when I start doing that. But for now, I think it's really just I want to draw what really interests me. It's just as simple as that. Keepsake planner cover illustration. Photo courtesy of RAXENNE MANIQUIZ Tell us about your latest project. Im doing another endemic zine for a client. This time the focus is on orchids. Its part of a collab with a local brand. What do you think is the most fascinating flower youve illustrated? In terms of the structure of the plant, it's really the slipper orchids because there are just so many components going on. They really look like aliens. They look so unreal to me. In terms of story, I really like the waling-waling. The Bagobo tribe thought it was so beautiful akala nila diyosa. I was like, she did that! Imagine youre super beautiful and larger than life they thought you were a diwata in disguise. Do you look back at your past work? Why or why not? I do look back at my past work to see how far I've come. It's interesting to see how you started and see the progress that you've made for yourself. Do you delete earlier works from social media? Dati I delete, but, when [Instagram introduced the archive function], I archive them now. Aside from the cringe factor, I also don't want to be associated with early works because that's not who I am. I erase it on the digital space because I still get clients who ask for something [that I dont do anymore]. I can do it technically, but it's not something I do right now. [I delete them] to avoid those things. How important is social media in your work? I have to thank social media for getting my work out there and for getting clients. I was able to get all those gigs like Charles and Keith because they saw my work on Instagram. I think it has been very pivotal. A lot of work that I really loved doing happened because of Instagram. Its a blessing, but it's also kind of a curse. There's this pressure that you have to put out work always. I think it's a bad thing that's affecting my perception of my art or how I make them. Maniquiz's collaboration with Dr. Martens. Photo courtesy of RAXENNE MANIQUIZ Do you have a mentor? Do you think it's important to have one? I consider Dan Matutina as my mentor. I mean, what he does from what I do is super different, but he has really helped me on the technical and practical side of work including talking with clients and pricing my work. He has also taught me how to look at projects to find the most effective solution for certain problems. He has helped me a lot in that regard. Im not sure if my process would have been the same if I hadnt met him. What skills do you wish you had? I wish I had the skill to do anatomy because super hina ko in drawing people. I also wish I could write. Parang ang laking effect niya when you can write down your thoughts in a very cohesive, nice way. What do you think are the biggest challenges faced by people in your field today? 'Yung napansin ko na laging nag-co-come up talaga is pricing. It's a challenge for a designer or an illustrator to price their work. Not a lot of clients out there can pay you the right amount for the work you do. I think it's been a challenge na I don't know if there should be like policy-making para hindi ma-exploit lalo na ang mga fresh grad. At this point in my career, I still have trouble pricing, so what more pa 'yung mga younger artist? How do you overcome that? Meron akong standard rate and I base everything from there. I also really have to know what kind of client I am working with. Is it a really small mom and pop? Or is it a huge corporation? I also try to gauge what kind of clients they are based on their emails. Usually, may mga red flags na doon. Nandon din 'yung isang question na, do I need money? It's either I get this or I don't have money at all. Sobrang daming factors talaga when it comes to pricing. If you really value your work, this is how you price it. If I price low, it's going to affect the [others]. Clients would be like, Ay, bakit si ganito, ganito lang 'yung price? For me, mas dapat na pinagsasabihan 'yung client because they have the money, they have the power. How did you come up with your rates? Honestly, I just based it on the rates of my peers through the years. I ask friends who have more experience in dealing with similar projects and clients. This pricing guide by Jessica Hische also helps. The rates are of course different but the things that we have to consider when we price are the same, like licensing. She also explains how it's different for logos since it's going to be used in perpetuity. What have you learned from work that you've applied to other areas of your life? Maybe multitasking. I guess not what I learned but what I would avoid. (Laughs) I wouldn't want [work] to spill over my daily life. At work, I'm just always busy and super focused on these things. But then when you step outside of it, everything becomes so trivial. Various Paphiopedilum up close. Illustration by RAXENNE MANIQUIZ How has the pandemic and the quarantine affected your work? It really affected how I work. Up to now, it's really unbelievable that we live through something like this. To make things worse, we have a government that doesn't seem like they care. Parang they don't want this to end. Before the pandemic, kaya ko talaga magsiksik ng work. As in after Plus 63, I would go to a coffee shop. I would stay there and do freelance work until they close. It's much harder for me to finish work or even start work, especially in the first few months. The pandemic has really affected the way I think about things. I was asking, what's the point of everything? Ngayon, instead of saying it's harder for me to work, the other side of that is, I'm learning to take it slowly. At first, I thought it was a bad thing to slow down. Now, upon reflection, I thought, isn't it much better to work things out than burning yourself out? In what ways have you had to adapt to the situation, work-wise? You really just have to push through because you don't have a choice. It's my responsibility to finish the work that I got paid for or they're going to pay me for. At the start of the pandemic, we were still renting the condo in Makati. Nandon 'yung pressure of paying the rent. Kapag hindi ko tinapos 'to, hindi ako mababayaran. How am I going to pay my bills? Nakakatawa lang kasi naisip namin makakabalik naman siguro tayo. And look at us now, October na. I already moved out of our condo in Makati in August. Now, Im based in Bulacan, and Ive been building my small space here because I know Im going to be here for a while. I have to make a space for me here where I can really work. I used to go here every weekend if I can, and I never brought my work here. I just wanted to relax and be with my family. All of that has changed when I started working here. Parang dahil nandun ka lang sa bahay and then youre forced to work there, nag-cause siya na mag-stall yung process ko. Kasi wala eh, parang relax ka lang sa bahay. Yung answer ko doon is to build a studio space for me. Doon siya sa backyard. Sumabay siya sa kitchen ng mom ko. She gave her storage to me. Its really small. Like, two by two meters; just big enough for my table and a shelf, but its better than nothing. How safe do you feel about going back to work as usual? I dont think its safe to do it yet. I think were going to be here [longer than we had imagined]. Im scared to say this, but I feel like were still going to be here til next year. It really depends on the response of the government. Its really that. I have friends in Korea, Thailand, and Tokyo, and its like theyve moved on to the new normal. With whats happening here, I dont think it would be safe to go to work as usual. Our boss also doesnt want to risk it. Protests rocked several states on Friday as farmers and political parties took to the streets to oppose the three agricultural marketing Bills passed by the Parliament earlier this week. Farmers in several parts of the country raised slogans, took out processions, and blocked roads and railway lines as part of the Bharat bandh call given by a number of unions to voice dissent against the Bills perceived as anti-farmer". In Punjab, the day-long protests by farmers evoked a huge response and normal life was disrupted. Over 30 organisations had given a separate Punjab bandh call, leading to farmers blocking roads and traders shutting shops and vegetable markets for the day. The bandh in the state appeared to be near total. However, Chandigarh remained the least affected. A three-day rail roko that began on Thursday is underway in Punjab as well, with farmers squatting on the tracks at many places and the Railways suspending trains. The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee on Friday announced its extension until September 29. Buses run by state-owned Pepsu Road Transport Corporation also remained off the roads on Friday. Reports of shutdown of shops and other establishments were received from Patiala, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Moga, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and other cities. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal demanded that all of Punjab be declared a principal market yard for agricultural produce to ensure laws based on the three Bills do not apply. In neighbouring Haryana, farmers blocked the Karnal-Meerut, Rohtak-Jhajjar and Delhi-Hisar and other roads. Hundreds of farmers were stopped at Delhis border with Uttar Pradesh as they tried to press ahead into the national capital, their agitation disrupting traffic in Noida and Ghaziabad. Stopped from entering the city, the farmers staged panchayats at the road blockades where they were addressed by Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) office-bearers. Farmers also blocked the Ayodhya-Lucknow highway and Delhi-Meerut highway for a few hours on Friday. Protests were also reported from the UP districts of Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, Sambhal, Sitapur, Baghpat and Barabanki. Despite lockdown in several districts of Chhattisgarh, farmers staged demonstrations outside their houses and fields in various villages and towns. Farmers under the aegis of 25 unions, including Chhattisgarh Kisaan Majdoor Mahasangh (CKMM), held protests in over 100 villages and towns demanding withdrawal of the Bills, legal guarantee to Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, and enactment of a law to sell crops within and outside mandis at MSP. In Maharashtra, the agitation found support of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, All India Kisan Sabha, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, major farmers organisations, national and state-level trade unions and student unions, who led the protesters in Mumbai, Thane, Jalna, Nanded and Kolhapur among other districts. The farmers issue turned political in poll-bound Bihar as Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, with his party supporters, led a procession of around 50 tractors, with agitators shouting slogans against the NDA government. The protesters, without following social distancing norms, were headed towards the Governors House when a posse of police briefly stopped them for security reasons. They were, however, allowed to proceed towards Bailey Road. In West Bengal, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) farmers wing Sara Bharat Krishak Sabha and Trinamool-backed Kisan Khet Mazdoor cell activists staged protests. Rallies were held in Hooghly, Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas, Bankura and Nadia. SFI activists also staged a road blockade in front of Kolkatas prestigious Jadavpur University in the afternoon protesting against the farm bills. CPI(M)-led Left parties organised protest rallies of farmers in different northeastern states including Assam and Tripura. Addressing a rally in Agartala, CPI-M central committee member Badal Chowdhury said if the farm Bills were enforced, crores of farmers and farm labourers would lose their work and jobs. Farmers suicide and mass death of farmers and farm labourers would increase due to these destructive and harmfull bills," Chowdhury, a former Left Minister in Tripura, told the gathering. Down south, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala witnessed scattered agitation against the Bills. Karnataka witnessed several demonstrations and farmers arrived in capital Bengaluru to take part in protests against amendments to the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act and the Karnataka Land Reforms Act. However, some discord among farmers associations was visible as farmer leader Kodihalli Chandrashekhar asserted that their group did not support Fridays protest even as another leader Kuruburu Shantakumar said that there are as many as 60 entry points across Bengaluru. In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, farmers led by Tamil Nadu Farmers Association President P Ayyakannu, held their protest outside the Collectorate in Trichy while carrying human skulls in their hands. They demanded that the Bills should not be signed into law by President Ram Nath Kovind. However, Agriculture Minister R Doraikkannu said the Bills will not impact the states farmers. The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, now await presidential assent. One of every three Covid-19 patients admitted in a Delhi hospital was in intensive care unit (ICU), data provided by the Delhi government, which HT has seen, said. The data, which was submitted by the health department to minister Satyendar Jains office on Tuesday (September 22), said 7,242 Covid patients were admitted in hospitals across the city as on that date, of which 2,173 (30.02%) were in ICUs and 278 on ventilator support. Currently, Delhi has around 15,800 Covid beds and around 2,980 ICU beds of which 1,319 have ventilator facilities, the governments hospital beds database showed. As on Friday, 6,935 of the total beds and 2,115 of ICU beds were occupied. On Friday, 3,827 new Covid cases were recorded in Delhi. The data submitted to Jains office further said that one out of every four general as well as ICU beds in the city was occupied by a patient who was not from Delhi. Of the 7,242 beds occupied as on September 22, at least 1,756 were booked by people from other states. Similarly, 556 of the 2,173 occupied ICU beds and 99 of the 278 occupied ventilator beds as on September 22 accommodated people from other states, the data showed. Delhi government spokespersons refused to comment on the matter. Dr Jugal Kishore, head of the community medicines department in Delhis Safdarjung Hospital said, ICU beds in Delhi have higher occupancy rates because hospitals are largely catering to patients with severe symptoms. However, people from other states coming to Delhi for better treatment is a routine affair. The government should rather look at the present pandemic as a wake-up call and increase ICU beds and ventilator support facilities in hospitals. In June, the Delhi government had issued directions suggesting that covid-19 beds in Delhi government hospitals and those in private hospitals in the Capital should be reserved for patients who reside in Delhi. The order, however, was later struck down by lieutenant governor Anil Baijal. Delhi has witnessed a second spike in Covid cases since mid-August, which subsequently also triggered an increase in the rate of occupancy of hospital beds. Before the resurgence of cases, the seven-day average of daily cases in the Capital peaked at 3,446 on June 26 before falling to 983 on August 4. In the last seven days, Delhi has seen an average of more than 3,700 new cases surfacing every day. As on August 4, the city had 13,578 total hospital beds, of which 21.76% (2,954) beds were occupied as against the current occupancy rate of 43.89% (6,935 out of 15,800 as on Friday), government data showed. Rio De Janeiro, Sep 25 : Rio De Janeiro's annual carnival parade, which was scheduled to be held in February 2021, has been postponed indefinitely amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to organisers. The samba schools involved in the parade, which attracts millions of visitors every year, had previously warned it would be difficult to organise without a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, the BBC reported. In a statement on Thursday, Jorge Castanheira, president of samba league Liesa, said: "We are looking for an alternative solution, something we can do when it's safe to contribute to the city. But we aren't certain enough to set a date." The announcement does not apply to the local street parties that take place at the same time as the Rio carnival. It is currently unclear if those will be allowed to take place. Due to the pandemic, the Sao Paulo carnival parade has also been delayed until October 2021. Brazil currently accounts for the third highest number of coronavirus cases in the world and the second highest number of fatalities. As of Friday, the country's overall case tally increased to 4,657,702, while the death toll stood at 139,808. The state of Sao Paolo is the worst-hit with over 930,000 cases and 34,677 deaths, followed by Bahia, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Ceara. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Tata Consumer Products share price gained more than 3 percent intraday on September 25 following reports that the company was planning a non-binding bid for the vending machine business of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. The board of Tata Consumer Products has approved a proposal to evaluate the buyout and is planning a non-binding bid, a Bloomberg report said. CDEL, which owns the Cafe Coffee Day chain, is asking for $271 million valuation for the vending-machine business, sources told the news agency. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story. The stock was trading at Rs 506.95, up Rs 18.20, or 3.72 percent. It has touched an intraday high of Rs 511.95 and an intraday low of Rs 495.20. It witnessed a spurt in volume by more than 1.06 times and was trading with volumes of 155,000 shares. Coffee Day is looking to induct strategic and financial partners into businesses as part of an ongoing reconstructing exercise, a representative told Bloomberg. A representative for Tata Consumer had not responded to a request for comment. The discussions with Tata Consumer are in early stages and CDEL is also in talks with other potential buyers for the business, the report said. Coffee Day Group has been working on selling its assets to clear its debt. In March, it sold its Global Village Technology Park to Blackstone Group for Rs 2,700 crore. The Tata Group has a presence in the coffee chains space through a joint venture with Starbucks in India. Thursday was the first day of early voting in Illinois, and officials in Lake County were surprised by how many people showed up to cast their ballots. At the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, the first voter arrived at 8 a.m., an hour before doors opened, and by mid-afternoon, at least 300 people had voted, Lake County Clerk Robin O'Connor told The Washington Post. At some points, the wait to get inside was more than two hours, and now that officials know there is demand, a fourth voting machine will be in operation on Friday. Voters stood six feet apart and had no problems waiting, O'Connor said, adding, "They're courteous, they're being polite, they're following the rules, it's beautiful. It's truly beautiful." Lake County has sent 126,000 mail-in ballots to voters, which is quadruple the number of people who voted by mail in November 2016, and O'Connor said officials expect "well over 100,000" ballots to be returned. One person in line told the Post he decided to vote early because he did not trust the mail to deliver his ballot, while Socorro Herrera, 36, said she came out to "set an example for people," adding, "We are all busy, but you can vote, too. I want my young kids to know this is important we all lead busy lives. It's a privilege, it really is." Toby Wong, 68, told the Post she is an immigrant and takes "voting rights seriously. I wasn't going to let fear about the coronavirus stop me. I am going to make sure my vote counts." More stories from theweek.com America is the Holy Roman Empire of the 21st century McConnell, Graham laud Barrett's nomination as Pelosi, Biden express concern for ObamaCare How Biden's disappointment in the Senate may be changing his views After 41 years working at Milford-based EBP Supply Solutions and 30 years as its CEO, Meredith Reuben has taken on some of the greatest challenges of her career in 2020. EBP Supply, a family-owned wholesale distributor of supplies to the cleaning and food-service industries that was founded in 1918, has seen rising demand for its products in response to the spread of COVID-19. As granddaughter of the companys founder, Reuben has sought to make the firm quick and flexible in response to shifts on the supply and demand sides. She has also emphasized employees health and safety, reflecting a focus on workers wellbeing that goes back to her days as an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board before she joined EBP Supply. Reflecting the effectiveness of that strategy, Reuben has won the Top Leadership Award for 2020 among midsize employers in the Hearst Connecticut Media Top Workplaces competition. EBP Supply as a whole was recognized as well, marking the third-straight year on the list for the firm, which employs 161 in Milford. In an interview, Reuben discussed how EBP Supply has adapted to the disruption of the past few months and her outlook for the company in the coming months. Click here for complete coverage of the regions Top Workplaces for 2020. Click here for a searchable list of the 49 Top Workplaces winners for 2020. What have been your priorities as CEO in the past few months? My principal focus was to make sure our COVID policies as they related to our employees and stakeholders were consistent with our values. Our values are integrity, collaboration, customer-centricity, continuous learning and [being] respectful and entrepreneurial. There were so many policy changes in how we were going to be dealing with employees coming in and what kind of safety we were going to have. I also had to enable our team to take risks from a financial perspective to secure products in unprecedented ways, either in large quantities or from alternative sources. How would you describe the amount of communication among employees in the past few months? I wanted to focus on continuous communication and feedback loops. Thats where our president and senior vice president of human resources really took leadership. We want to make sure our employees had support and that there was positive morale and solidarity during this time. We communicated a lot. There was a lot of uncertainty and fear [among] many of our employees and, frankly, some of our customers, so we required our departmental managers to have weekly Zoom meetings when our employees were working 100 percent remotely. We wanted to make sure there was connectivity among the individual teams, that they felt supported. We had weekly meetings with our sales force to garner information about our customers but also to give them support. What are some of the ways in which EBP Supplys relationships with customers have changed in response to COVID-19? We had to be very creative, and our salespeople had to understand the needs of the customers and provide those solutions to them. Particularly in the food-service arena where schools now dont have open lunch trays and want closed containers and where some of the restaurants pivoted to takeout we had to be offering them different products than theyd normally use and try to ascertain from the customers what their needs were and then bring back [that information] to category managers and then bring those products in greater quantities. What steps has EBP taken to keep employees safe at the companys facilities? We have a lot of protocol in terms of temperature checks. You have to sanitize your hands. We have policies that if youre not feeling well, you need to call your supervisor and need to get a (COVID-19) test. Then if someone has tested positive, we do contact tracing and we will find out who they were in contact with and quarantine them until theyre tested. If they test negative, we can bring them back. Weve had two or three people test positive - just a handful of cases. And we do require everyone to wear masks when theyre in the corridors. If youre in your office, you dont have to wear a mask. But if there are any meetings, we have limits on how many people can be in the room and everyone has to wear a mask. Were very consistent about that. What has been the impact of COVID-19 on EBPs headcount? How much did receiving Paycheck Protection Program funding help? I think it was a very good policy that the government did in terms of the PPP. (EBP declined to disclose the amount of its PPP funding but was not listed among recipients $150,000 or over.) Were very loyal to our employees, and we consider them to be our most important asset. It did help when there was a bit of a downturn and businesses closed in March, April and May. It really did help us get through that period. Weve pretty much maintained our headcount. We havent made any overt layoffs. What is your outlook for the next few months? The need for cleaning and sustainable food-service products has really elevated in the publics eye. What we do and sell have really come into focus by businesses all over the region and United States. In terms of the short term, theres a great deal of uncertainty if COVID comes back in the colder months. So far, Ive seen an uptick, month after month, of our sales. If things remain where the numbers are low, I see us meeting our budget for the year....In terms of our company and our model, I see a very bright future. pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott By PTI MUMBAI: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday paid tribute to Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay on his birth anniversary, but later deleted the tweet on the late leader. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also paid tribute to Upadhyay, a Hindutva icon and a revered figure for the BJP, his former ally. The BJS was the predecessor of the BJP. Taking to Twitter, Pawar, a senior NCP leader, wrote, "Tributes to the founder of JanaSanghand senior leader Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay on his birth anniversary. " However, the tweet by Pawar, who had briefly joined hands with the BJP before the MVA government was formed in November last year,was later deleted. Asked about his deleted tweet, Pawar said, "We speak good about people who are no more and that is why I had tweeted.But in politics, we have to listen to our seniors." The NCP leader, however, did not elaborate. Thackeray, who is also the Shiv Sena president, offered floral tribute to Upadhyay at his private residence 'Matoshree' in suburban suburban. Ana de Armas was seen dining with a friend at the vegetarian restaurant The Butcher's Daughter in Venice Beach in California on Thursday. The 32-year-old Cuban-born beauty wore a pretty white short-sleeved blouse with black slacks and matching sandals along with her half-heart necklace for her afternoon meal. It has been over a month since the No Time To Die actress has been seen with her 48-year-old boyfriend Ben Affleck whom she worked with on the movie Deep Water. Chic for the city: Ana de Armas was seen dining with a friend at Butcher's Daughter in Venice Beach in California on Thursday. The 32-year-old Cuban-born beauty wore a pretty white short-sleeved blouse with black slacks and matching sandals for her afternoon meal They were last seen together in Venice Beach on August 20 as they were affectionate with each other. Affleck has reportedly been in Ireland where he is filming The Last Duel for director Ridley Scott with best friend Matt Damon as his costar. Also in the movie is Star Wars actor Adam Driver. Ben, Matt and Nicole Holofcener wrote the screenplay which is based on the book The Last Duel by Eric Jager. The film is set in Medieval France and the story is about betrayal. Filming began earlier this year but then halted due to COVID-19. Now with the proper restrictions, the cast is in front of the camera again. Cheerful at lunch: Ana seemed to be in great spirits on Thursday as she smiled while exiting the restaurant. The star added a purse with a rose pattern and wore black sunglasses as she flashed a gold watch. Her female friend wore a striped mini dress Ana seemed to be in great spirits on Thursday as she smiled while exiting the restaurant. The star added a purse with a rose pattern and wore black sunglasses as she flashed a gold watch. Her female friend wore a striped mini dress and carried a chic little black purse as she added platform sandals and a Panama hat. Not together: It has been over a month since the No Time To Die actress has been seen with her boyfriend Ben Affleck whom she worked with on the movie Deep Water. He is reportedly in Ireland shooting The Last Duel; seen in April in LA This comes after Ana told Grazia magazine that she loves walking her dogs to relax. The actress admits that going out with pup pals Elvis and Salsa is among her 'every day luxuries', because, despite her fame, she enjoys the simple things in life. 'My every day luxuries are a cup of coffee in the morning with condensed milk, a walk with my pups Elvis and Salsa, or a relaxing yoga session,' she shared. The Knives Out actress also revealed that her sense of style has become more 'relaxed' due to the lack of red carpet events and usual work commitments she has which have had to be halted due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Dog lover: This comes after Ana told Grazia magazine that she loves walking her dogs to relax. The actress admits that going out with pup pals Elvis and Salsa is among her 'every day luxuries', because, despite her fame, she enjoys the simple things in life She explained: 'My style is definitely more relaxed - I've been wearing my sweatpants.' Ana believes that focusing less on her sense of style has given her the opportunity to consider more important things. She said: 'I've been less focused on my style and have been paying more attention to all of those things happening in the world.' 007 time: Ana plays CIA agent Paloma in the James Bond movie No Time To Die and apart from the kudos of joining the long list of Bond girls she wanted the role because the character is on a level playing field with 007 (Daniel Craig). She said: 'I was attracted to Paloma for so many reasons. She's such a dynamic character' Ana plays CIA agent Paloma in the highly-anticipated James Bond movie No Time To Die and apart from the kudos of joining the long list of Bond girls she wanted the role because the character is on a level playing field with 007 (Daniel Craig). She said: 'I was attracted to Paloma for so many reasons. She's such a dynamic character. She has a mission of her own and intersects with Bond so they can help each other. She's funny, strong and complex. I was really excited to play a woman in a Bond film that didn't need saving.' The Cuban actress opened up about working with director Cary Joji Fukunaga to find the perfect look for her character. She said: 'We tried a bunch of different things, and then found the stunning navy dress and we knew that was the one. It was the perfect look. And it worked with the stunts!' Abraham Foxman, seen in 2014, said he steadfastly did not endorse political candidates while he was leading the Anti-Defamation League - a practice he said he had stuck to during his retirement. (JTA) - Abraham Foxman, the former longtime leader of the Anti-Defamation League, has broken his tradition of not endorsing political candidates to back Joe Biden, arguing that President Donald Trump is a "demagogue" whose reelection would be a "body blow for our country and our community." Foxman laid out his thinking in an opinion piece for The Times of Israel in which he asserted that Trump's presidency has "given succor to bigots, supremacists, and those seeking to divide our society" and that "he and his administration dehumanize immigrants, demonize the most vulnerable, and undermine... 1 of 2 Bizarre! Gucci unveils denims for men for whopping Rs 56,501 Popular luxury brand Gucci has come up with a blue jeans variety with fake grass stain, as part of its 2020 Fall/Winter collection for men. These jeans have grass stains around the knee area. They are priced at whopping 600 pounds (Rs 56,501), as mentioned on its website. About these highly expensive pants, the website writes, this wide-leg denim pant is crafted from organic cotton specifically treated for a stained-like, distressed effect. Read More... Carole Baskin, who became a pop culture sensation due to Netflixs docuseries Tiger King, is being sued for defamation by a former assistant. As part of the lawsuit, the daughters of Baskins former husband are seeking more information about what happened to their father, who disappeared mysteriously more than two decades ago. The amended complaint to an earlier lawsuit was filed Tuesday in state court in Tampa by Don Lewis three daughters, Donna Pettis, Lynda Sanchez, and Gale Rathbone, as well as his former assistant, Anne McQueen. It also names Baskins current husband and her tiger rescue sanctuary as defendants. The lawsuit said that Baskin defamed McQueen by posting a video diary entry on YouTube earlier this month in which she says McQueen played a role in Lewis disappearance. Those statements and embezzlement allegations also were made on Baskins website, bigcatrescue.org, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit also is seeking what is known as a pure bill of discovery, which allows information in a case to be gathered before a civil complaint is filed. Despite contentions to the contrary, the truth has never been explored in any court and there is a good faith basis to believe the truth will open up many viable remedies, the lawsuit said. The pure bill of discovery will be useful to identify potential defendants and theories of liability and to obtain information necessary for meeting a condition precedent to filing suit, the lawsuit said. Lewiss disappearance remains an open case. In March, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister announced that his office was seeking new leads following the popularity of Netflixs Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. The documentary is about Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic, a former Oklahoma zookeeper. He was convicted of trying to hire someone to kill Baskin, who had tried to shut him down, accusing the Oklahoma zoo of abusing animals and selling big cat cubs. In retaliation, Maldonado-Passage raised questions about Lewis disappearance. The documentary extensively covered Maldonado-Passages repeated accusations that Baskin killed her husband and possibly fed him to her tigers. Baskin, who founded Big Cat Rescue, has never been charged with any crime and released a statement refuting the accusations made in the series. Baskin, who is a contestant on the show, Dancing With The Stars this season, said nothing when judges of the TV dance competition made references in jest to the belief that Lewis was killed and fed to the tigers at her sanctuary, the lawsuit said. Lawyers for Baskin said Wednesday they couldnt comment on pending litigation. In an email to The Associated Press late Wednesday, Baskin said she never would joke about the loss of her husband. I didnt kill him or have him killed, so theres no way Id associate losing him with that word or concept, Baskin said. Any Tiger King reference to killing or murder is strictly based on the fact that so many animal abusers have tried unsuccessfully to kill me either by rallying their minions or hiring hit men. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Florida Photo: Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images UK-based budget fashion retailer Boohoo (BOO.L) revealed that an independent review into allegations about working conditions and low pay had found many failings in its Leicester supply chain. On 8 July 2020 Boohoos Board announced that it was undertaking an Independent Review of its UK supply chain, in which Alison Levitt QC was appointed to conduct the Independent Review. The intention was to consider boohoo's obligations and duties of care in relation to the workforce in its Leicester supply chain. The review was to: Consider whether the allegations about working conditions and low pay are well-founded; and if they are; Consider the extent to which boohoo monitored its Leicester supply chain and had knowledge of the allegations; Consider the Group's compliance with the relevant law; and Make recommendations for the future. The Independent Review was completed and was delivered to the Board on 24 September 2020. Levitts review found that there were many failings in the Leicester supply chain and recommended improvements to boohoo's related corporate governance, compliance and monitoring processes. Levitt is satisfied that Boohoo did not deliberately allow poor conditions and low pay to exist within its supply chain, it did not intentionally profit from them and its business model is not founded on exploiting workers in Leicester, Boohoo said a statement. The statement also pointed out that there was ample evidence that the steps which Boohoo is now taking in relation to remedying problems in its Leicester supply chain had been implemented nearly a year ago. The report itself stated that Levitt is "confident that the adaptations which Boohoo should make involve a relatively easily-achieved realignment of its priorities and governance systems and that the Board should not feel discouraged. It has already made a significant start on putting things right." What happened? The online fashion portal Boohoo is pictured on a laptop on April 30, 2020 in London. Photo: BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images The review was initially launched after the Guardian ran a report on 4 July, suggesting Boohoo may have relied on factories in Leicester that did not close during lockdown, which could have contributed to the current COVID-19 outbreak in the city. Story continues The Sunday Times followed with an undercover expose alleging workers were paid as little as 3.50 ($4.37) an hour in Leicester factories supplying Boohoo, far below the minimum wage of 8.72 an hour. Home Secretary Priti Patel promised a crackdown on the Leicester garment industry in the wake of the reports. Boohoo said its initial investigation into the factory featured in the Sunday Times report has not found evidence of workers being paid 3.50 an hour. However, it had uncovered other evidence of non-compliance. Boohoo said it had terminated its relationship with two suppliers involved. On the publication of the Independent Review on Friday, Brian Small, group deputy chairman and senior independent director, and boohoo representative for the Independent Review said: "Although in some parts it makes for uncomfortable reading, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Levitt on record for her diligent and thorough Independent Review, which we are making public in full today. We welcome in particular her clear recommendations, which we accept, and as a Board are committed to driving up standards in our supply chain and business practices. The Board is also committed to adding further independent experience, increased oversight on matters of compliance and business practices, and adopting higher standards of corporate governance." What are the recommendations? In the lengthy statement, Boohoo said it has reviewed and is wholly supportive of Levitt's recommendations, and intends to implement these in full. It split up the next steps in addressing the issues across: Corporate governance: This includes appointing a highly experienced and respected individual to provide independent oversight of the implementation of our change agenda. Redefining our purchasing practices: This includes appointing a new group director of Responsible Sourcing. Raising standards across our supply chain: This includes consolidating an approved supplier list. Supporting Leicester's workers and workers' rights: This includes, establishing a Garment & Textiles Community Trust, governed by independent trustees, providing it with start-up funding and ongoing annual support. Support for suppliers: Working more closely with suppliers to ensure they are able to manage a more consistent and predictable flow of orders, to enable them to plan more effectively. Demonstrating best practice in action: This includes developing and launching a state-of-the art manufacturing facility based in Leicester. The review has identified significant and clearly unacceptable issues in our supply chain, and the steps we had taken to address them, but it is clear that we need to go further and faster to improve our governance, oversight and compliance, said John Lyttle, CEO Boohoo. As a result, the Group is implementing necessary enhancements to its supplier audit and compliance procedures, and the Board's oversight of these matters will increase significantly. As a Board, we recognise that we need to rebuild confidence that these matters will be dealt with appropriately and sensitively, and that they will not recur. Garment workers in Leicester, and our suppliers across the city, are an important part of our success. We recognise that boohoo has been a major force in driving the textile industry in Leicester and today want to reinforce our commitment to being a leader for positive change in the city, alongside workers, suppliers, local government, NGOs and the community at large. Today we are setting out the further steps we are taking to drive long-lasting and meaningful change that all stakeholders in the boohoo group will benefit from." Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:18:31|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MADRID, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The current COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world "the importance of working together," Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Zurab Pololikashvili has said. "This is not only vital for addressing the current crisis, but also essential if we are to achieve the ambitious aims of the Sustainable Development Goals. Countries that choose to 'go it alone' risk undermining the progress we have been making," Pololikashvili told Xinhua in an interview to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the UN this year and World Tourism Day on Sept. 27. Pololikashvili said the 75th anniversary of the UN celebrates how multilateralism has helped promote the cause of peace throughout the world. "We saw an example of this multilateralism in last week's UNWTO 112th Executive Council in Tbilisi, Georgia. We were able to gather 170 delegates from 24 countries, who all agreed to support the Tbilisi Declaration with its commitment to making international travel safe again," he said. Themed "Tourism and Rural Development," this year's World Tourism Day comes at a critical moment, as countries worldwide look to tourism to drive economic recovery, including in rural communities where the sector is a leading employer and economic pillar, he said. "Tourism also highlights how interconnected we are. No country can just 'take care of its own business' now, and we all benefit when we work together," he added. "Indeed, global tourism has never been more united than it is now, with both the public and private sectors working together to address a shared and unprecedented challenge," he said. "China is a tourism powerhouse and an active player in tourism's global governance, including as a key member of the UNWTO Global Tourism Crisis Committee which we set up back in March to guide a united response to the COVID-19 crisis," he continued. Pololikashvili highlighted that China is playing an important role in the UNWTO ever since it joined the organization in 1983. Noting that China has been a strong supporter of several key development projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative, Pololikashvili said the UNWTO has also "jumped on this initiative" to "revive the ancient routes as a tourism concept." He said China's role in promoting tourism for sustainable development is "commendable." "China has successfully embraced innovation and the digital transformation of the tourism sector. During my last trip to Guangzhou in 2019, I was very impressed with how technology shapes the development of tourism at every level," he said. "Also, as part of its efforts to alleviate poverty, particularly in rural areas, China has seized the capacity of tourism to create opportunities and turned it into a generator of decent jobs for millions," he added. Enditem Pakistan needs to continue to put extreme pressure on the terrorist groups operating on its soil, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a top American diplomat nominated to be the countrys next envoy to Islamabad has told US lawmakers. Pakistan needs to continue to put extreme pressure on the various terrorist groups that live and reside inside Pakistan," senior diplomat William Todd, who has been nominated by US President Donald Trump as the countrys next ambassador to Pakistan, said during his confirmation hearing this week. Responding to a question from Senator Bob Menendez, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Todd said the LeT has created terror over the last several years. Pakistan has worked hard to prosecute the leadership of the LeT. The leader of the terrorist group was imprisoned approximately a year ago. Twelve of his subordinates were also imprisoned," he said. If I am confirmed, I will continue to press Pakistan to take sustained, irreversible action against terrorists. I will also work with them on the terrorist-financing aspect of it," Todd said in response to a question from Menendez. How will you use your tools at your disposal to encourage Pakistan to take action against the LeT and its leadership?" the senator asked. Todd also told the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Pakistan is playing a very important role in the peace and reconciliation process. They have been very helpful facilitating meetings. They have been helpful reducing tension and they have been very, very helpful in terms of getting logistics and other things done that have helped us do what we needed to do," he said. Right now in Doha, it is an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned discussion and negotiation. But frankly, it is a long process between where we are today and where we need to go. For you know, for Pakistan, I think the most important role is moving forward, getting to peace and reconciliation, which will formally result in a political settlement that will end the 40-year war," Todd said. The US believes that if the peace-and-reconciliation process goes as planned, over a period of time, some of the Afghan refugees inside Pakistan will want to go back. Currently, the US position is that it has to be condition-based, that there needs to be, basically, safety and security first. It has to be voluntary, second, and third, that whatever is the mechanism, it should live up to the international norms of migration," Todd said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) New York, United States Fri, September 25, 2020 15:31 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c473aa75 2 Art & Culture Botticelli,portrait,arts,art-and-culture,auction,Sothebys,Renaissance Free A painting by Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli could fetch over $80 million when it goes under the hammer in New York in January, Sotheby's said Thursday -- a record auction price for the artist. Young Man Holding a Roundel has been billed by the auction house as one of the greatest paintings from the era still in private hands. It is expected to smash the $10.4 million auction record set seven years ago for a painting by the Florence native. The subject of the enigmatic portrait is not known, but art historians believe it could be a depiction of a close friend of the Medici family, which ruled the Italian city during Botticelli's life. The painting has been dated to the artist's most prolific years in the late 15th century, when Pope Sixtus IV invited him to help decorate the Sistine Chapel in Rome. During that period he produced some of his most famous works including the Birth of Venus. Read also: Botticelli painting revealed under century of varnish "This Botticelli is so much more spectacular in every way than anything we've seen coming to market," said Sotheby's senior vice president Christopher Apostle. "It says everything about Florentine culture and that moment of the Renaissance, when just everything fundamentally changes in Western thinking and art and literature." Despite its age, the painting has been kept in an immaculate state and has been exhibited in several museums. It last changed hands in 1982, when a private collector bought it got about $1.3 million. A version of this article appeared in the Tow Centers weekly newsletter. To stay updated about the Tow Centers work on how technology is changing journalism, subscribe here. While the term news desert effectively conveys the extent of the local news crisis, there is no widespread agreement among journalists and researcherslet alone funders, policymakers, and the publicabout how to define and measure one. When dealing with a crisis as urgent as the one currently facing local news, methodological questions might seem beyond the point. But any solutions to the problem of news deserts will be predicated on how we understand them. This question was at the forefront of a recent webinar I moderated for the Tow Center with some of the top researchers in the growing field of news ecosystems studies. During the webinarthe first in a three-part virtual series on local newsthe four panelists discussed the theoretical frameworks and methodologies that guide their work, as well as how their field has already evolved in recent years despite its relatively short history. Penny Abernathy, whose foundational Expanding News Desert project at the University of North Carolina helped popularize the term, said that her teams initial research on counting and mapping communities without newspapers has expanded to address issues like technological and financial access [to information], as well as the quantity and quality of the news outlets. Other researchers have expanded upon this work to include digital and broadcast outlets and provide more demographic context about the places in which news organizations are based. Sarah Stonbely, research director for the Center of Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, noted that in any study assessing the health of local news, its very difficult to achieve a level of granularity while also providing scale, which provides opportunities for comparative analysis and seeing patterns. Stonbelys News Ecosystem Mapping Project focuses on creating a highly detailed portrait of a states media landscapewith information on a local publications coverage area, frequency, ownership, and medium, as well as municipal-level details on education and median income, among other things. While Stonbelys project currently focuses on the small state of New Jersey, she hopes its methodology can be applied widely. Matthew Weber, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, is hoping to achieve both scale and depth. The News Measures Research Project, an initiative he works on with Dukes Philip Napoli and others, has mapped outlets across all mediums in one hundred randomly sampled communities and then analyzed sixteen thousand stories produced by them to assess their quality. The project, Weber said, ran up against one of the most significant methodological challenges for studies like this: how incredibly labor-intensive the data collection and analysis is, frequently involving teams of several people conducting months of trade database collection, Google research, scraping, and manual coding. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Weber and his team realized it was no longer feasible to manually analyze the fifty-five thousand articles theyve collected and have now turned to automation, using named-entity recognition and natural language processing to perform content analysis. While still in the first stages, their automated process aims to assess quality of coverage, using criteria such as whether the articles are original; whether they are truly local in terms of subject matter; and whether they address eight critical-information needs, on topics ranging from political information to education and health, as defined in a study for the FCC. Abernathy identified a real tension in our profession between the use of contemporary technology such as algorithmic tools to track trends and the demands of analyzing coverage for quality. As an example, Abernathy spoke of a Facebook data set of local news stories shared on the platform to which both her team and Webers were granted access. In some cases, she said, the automated process described above by Webers team found that a story contained valuable public safety information, but when Abernathys team manually analyzed it, they concluded it was a sensationalist crime story that didnt meet the critical-information-needs criteria. An algorithm cant tell you the difference between a five-inch story saying there will be a city council meeting, and one where someone actually attended [the meeting] and talks in depth about what happened, Abernathy said. Aaron Foley, director of the newly created Black Media Initiative at the Center for Community Media at cuny, warned that we need to be cautious about how we define quality in the first place. The Black Media Initiative is in the process of conducting its own mapping study of Black media in the US, to be published later this fall. Because Black media has been especially hard hit financially amid the local news crisis, many outlets are so understaffed that they dont have the capacity to produce much original content, Foley said. Instead, they often opt to directly publish press releases, which may bother some people within our industry. But this is still information delivery for a certain audience that might be ignored by a bigger paper, so where do we put this in our scale? Foley also said that even defining local news for Black communities is surprisingly complicated. Does a hair magazine count? Hair can be political; hair can be local news. Does that count within our ranks? he asked. It challenges our traditional methodologiesbut if we are dealing with how news outlets serve certain communities, this is what we will have to address. The tensions between scale and depth, manual and automated research methods, and competing definitions of terms like news desert will likely continue to resonate as projects like these proceed at a time when local news is more imperiled than ever. And while they may differ in approach, its exciting that a lot of our concepts are overlapping, Stonbely said. [Were] at the beginning of a research genre. Its better to be iterating in the same direction. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Sara Rafsky is a senior research fellow at Columbia Journalism Schools Tow Center for Digital Journalism. She is a writer and researcher who has worked at the intersection of journalism, press freedom, human rights, and documentary film in the US and Latin America. Washington, Sept. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. Small Business Administration is marking 10 years of support for small business growth through the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) grants. This year marks 10 years that the SBA has awarded STEP grants supporting state-level investments in small business export programs. STEP provides tremendous opportunities for American businesses to reach customers beyond our borders, said Loretta Greene, Associate Administrator for SBAs Office of International Trade. With programs like STEP, small businesses looking to export their goods and products can use the funds from these grants to participate in foreign trade missions, develop and design international marketing campaigns, translate marketing materials into other languages, and the list goes on. Since its creation in 2010 as part of the Small Business Jobs Act, STEP has recorded over $3.8 billion in exports and awarded approximately $157 million in grants to fund export opportunities, increasing the footprint of American small businesses in countries worldwide. Grants have been awarded in all 50 U.S. States and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Each STEP award is managed at the local level by state government organizations, and funding is used to cover the costs of small businesses associated with entering and expanding into international markets. On this 10th STEP Anniversary, SBA is proud to reflect on the many small businesses that have benefited from STEP and look forward to helping more reach their global potential. For more information about the STEP program and other export resources provided by the SBA, visit the SBAs business guide to exporting products. ### 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. T wo journalists were injured in a knife attack near the former officers of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Police initially announced four people were wounded in the attack but they now say only two have been confirmed as wounded. A suspect was arrested after they were detained near the Bastille plaza in eastern Paris, said Paris police. The official said police are still searching the area while they question the arrested suspect. French Prime Minister Jean Castex said the victims were journalists and that they were taking a cigarette break when the attack occurred. He added that a second suspect has been arrested. Police rushed to the scene of the attack / AFP via Getty Images An investigation was opened into attempted murder in relation with a terrorist enterprise, according to an official at the prosecutors office. Details have not been released of the identities of the attacker or the wounded, who are in absolutely urgent condition, an official said. A Paris police official said that while authorities initially thought two attackers were involved, they now believe it was only one person. Police cordoned off the area after a suspect package was noticed nearby. AP reporters at the scene of Fridays police operation saw officers flooding into the neighbourhood, near the Richard Lenoir subway station. Emergency services at the scene of the attack / AP Prime Minister Jean Castex cut short a visit to a suburb north of Paris to head to the Interior Ministry to follow developments. The motive for the attack is unclear, and it is not clear whether it is linked to Charlie Hebdo, which moved its activities out of the area after Islamic extremists attacked its editorial offices in 2015, killing 12 people. The trial in the Charlie Hebdo attacks is currently underway across town. Murmurs broke at the terrorism trial of 14 people, including 3 fugitives, accused of helping the attackers in the January 2015 killings, as the news filtered through. The widows of the Charlie Hebdo attackers are scheduled to testify Friday afternoon. Earlier this month French President Emmanuel Macron defended the satirical newspaper as he criticised what he called Islamic separatism in France. GENOA, Italy, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Costa Cruises, the leading cruise line in Europe and a part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL;NYSE: CUK), today announced it will continue its program for the gradual and responsible reintroduction of cruise holidays. Following the presentation of its cruises for the 2020-21 winter season, the Italian company has reshaped its itineraries for the rest of 2021, with the goal of providing guests the best possible cruise experience with enhanced health protocols. From April through November 2021 Costa Cruises will further extend its Mediterranean offer with a large variety of options and the convenience of multiple ports of departure. Also, summer 2021 will see the return of cruising in Northern Europe, one of the most popular destinations among Costa's guests. Details of the new itineraries and how to book them will be available shortly at Costa's website and at travel agencies. Costa is working with national and local authorities in the countries on its itineraries to offer guests a safe and enjoyable vacation experience, through implementation of the Costa Safety Protocol in all the destinations included in the new program for 2021. From March until fall 2021, three ships will be deployed on a regular basis in the Western Mediterranean: Costa Smeralda, the first ship in the fleet powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG); Costa Firenze, its new ship under construction at Fincantieri's Marghera (Venice) yard; and Costa Pacifica, which will be offering 7-day cruises calling in Italy, France and Spain. Three additional ships will be operating in the Eastern Mediterranean, all on one-week itineraries. Costa Deliziosa will sail to the Greek islands, Costa Luminosa will visit Greece and Croatia and Costa Magica will be going to Greece and Malta. During the 2021 summer season, Costa will have four ships cruising in Northern Europe. Costa Fortuna and Costa Diadema will be sailing on one-week cruises to the Baltic capitals and the Norwegian fjords, respectively. Costa Favolosa will be offering spectacular 14-day holidays in Iceland, nine days in the Norwegian fjords and a fortnight in Ireland, Scotland and England. Costa Fascinosa will be operating on a 12-day cruise sailing all the way to the North Cape, and on a 9-day itinerary in the Baltic Sea. During spring and fall 2021, Costa Fortuna, Costa Diadema, Costa Favolosa and Costa Fascinosa will all be operating in the Mediterranean. Costa Diadema will visit Israel and Turkey on two separate alternating two-week cruises. Costa Fortuna will offer Western Mediterranean mini-cruises while Costa Favolosa will be deployed on mini-cruises in the spring and 10-day cruises to Morocco in the fall. Costa Fascinosa will sail on 10-day holidays bound for Lisbon. The other cruises previously scheduled between March and November 2021 and not included in the new program will be canceled. Costa is making the necessary arrangements to inform travel agents and the customers concerned, who will be guaranteed the option of rebooking in accordance with the applicable requirements of consumer protection law. SOURCE Costa Cruises Related Links http://www.costapresscenter.com Melissa McClellan has been named the first female captain at the Oakland County Sheriffs Office. McClellan, who has worked at the sheriffs office for 31 years, began her career as a civilian clerk working her way up to executive lieutenant and jail administrator in October 2016. She was recently promoted to captain of corrective services satellites division-courts services. County Commissioner Shelly Taub introduced a resolution at Wednesdays board of commissioners meeting honoring McClellan. The resolution read in part: NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED on this special occasion, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners joins with the Oakland County Sherriffs Department, as well as the family, friends and colleagues of Captain Melissa McClellan, to congratulate her on her promotion to Captain of Corrective Services Satellites Division Court Services and recognizes her distinguished service. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Oakland County Board of Commissioners would like to recognize Captain Melissa McClellan, an African American woman, as the first ever female promoted to Captain in the history of the Oakland County Sheriffs Office. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said hes incredibly proud to have McClellans leadership in the sheriffs office. He also expressed his gratitude to the board for honoring and paying tribute to McClellan for her incredible accomplishments. Career timeline 1989-1991: Civilian clerk 1991-1998: Deputy I 1998-2004: Deputy II 2004-2013: Sergeant 2013-2016: Administrative Lieutenant 2016-2020: Executive Lieutenant/Jail Administrator 2020-present: Captain As an Executive Lieutenant, McClellans role included oversight of Oakland County Jail inmate medical and mental health services, clinic operations, classification and inmate population management, chaplain and faith-based services, jail library and inmate programs including but not limited to substance use, jail diversion, education and tether services. Her experience includes developing and implementation of policy and program effectiveness, as well as engaging in strategic planning and evaluative studies for facility improvements. She also worked with local, state and federal agencies in efforts to maintain mandates and assist with ensuring legal, National Commission on Correctional Health Care and Michigan Department of Corrections compliance for the Oakland County Jail. In addition, McClellan worked with the Oakland Community Health Network (OCHN) to implement a Medication Assisted Treatment Program in Oakland County Jail, the first robust program in the State of Michigan, utilizing methadone, suboxone and vivitrol. She is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the National Jail Leadership Command Academy, Northwestern School of Police Staff and Command, and the Police Executives and New Chiefs School. At least two people have been seriously wounded in a knife attack near the former offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Two suspects were arrested near the Bastille plaza in the city centre. A blade was recovered from the scene police sources have reported it was a machete or meat cleaver. Thousands of children in nearby schools were shut in as a precaution while the Paris Metro closed lines in the area. One witness told radio station Europe 1: I was in my office. I heard screams in the road. I looked out of the window and saw a woman who was lying on the floor and had taken a whack in the face from what was possibly a machete I saw a second neighbour on the floor and I went to help. Police initially reported four people had been injured in the stabbings but they later revised the figures down with no explanation. Frances counter-terror police have opened an investigation into attempted murder in relation with a terrorist enterprise. It is not yet clear what motivated the attack. Jean Castex, Frances prime minister, said the victims lives were not in danger. He said he immediately met the countrys interior minister to take stock of the situation. The attack comes after Charlie Hebdo republished controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to mark the start of a trial of suspected accomplices of terrorist gunmen who attacked its offices in January 2015. Rue Nicolas-Appert, the street in Pariss 11th arrondissement on which the satirical magazine was formerly based, was cordoned off on Friday. Cordons on the streets surrounding former Charlie Hebdo offices (Reuters) Paris police told the public to avoid the area and await further instructions. A suspicious package was also found, but officers said it was checked for explosives and none were found. In this months trial, 14 people are accused of obtaining weapons and providing logistical support for the 2015 attacks, which happened over three days and left 17 people dead and dozens more injured. The three attackers were killed by police. More than 140 witnesses are set to be called to give evidence in court. The trial was due to start in March but was delayed until earlier this month by the coronavirus pandemic. Additional reporting by agencies From 200 a week Aer Lingus engineer to a 20,000 dollars a night stage celebrity who can mesmerise audiences all over the world with his spell. That is how far Swords hypnotist and entertainer Barry Sinclair has come since he quit the steady career his friends said he was crazy to turn his back on to follow his star on stage. It is not something you do lightly, throw up a good job as an aeronautical engineer. Barry was the chief buyer in Aer Lingus when he did and bought the parts for the aeroplanes. But after hawking round his stage show as a semi-pro for a number of years and doing rather well at it he finally decided in 1975 to take flight from. Aer Lingus and go professional. 'People said I was mad to leave Aer Lingus. But I have done very well since. I have become a millionaire and it was very easy, easier than I thought. I do five months out of the year in America and quite often I make 20,000 dollars in a night.' We met Barry in Balbriggan, where he did a show recently and had his stage subjects performing things they would never dream of doing in a dozen lifetimes and the audiences rolling around in the aisles watching their antics. It is an amazing power, it is no trick, he assured everybody, as he performed mass hypnosis on more than a dozen volunteers and put them completely under his spell. . .'You will feel the power, your mind will be my mind. You will do exactly what I tell you, you will trust me as if I were your own brother.' And they did. At his command they went searching for their missing belly button, accusing the person next to them of stealing it and demanding to examine their belly, scalp and other parts of their anatomy to see if it was hidden there. A change of command and they became Gupsy Rose Lee the famous striptease artist peeling off her clothes to slow smoochy music. Eddie thought he was Frank Sinatra crooning about New York, while Marie was Jennifer Rush singing all about the power of love. They turned into goldfish swimming around in a bowl, they became sexy movie stars strutting their stuff, they were John Wayne riding the range of his house shooting down crooks and indians. We interviewed Barry after the show and he told us there was an amazing power in the human mind and he just taps into it and uses it. 'I do actually have power beyond belief. People can't resist. It has to be seen to be believed. You have guys trying to copy me, they come out of the woodwork and then after a few weeks they are gone and you never hear any more about them.' He rejects any suggestion that he is a fraud. 'In my show I can make people laugh more than if Freddy Star was on stage and I get packed houses everywhere I go, so how can I be a fraud.' He does not care whether people believe in his power or not. He does not know whether people are coming to see the power or see the show. He is just an entertainer and that is all he claims to be. ' I am not out to be a hypnotist. I am out to be an entertainer. But the hypnotism is real and those people on the stage are really hypnotised.' According to Barry, everybody can be hypnotised since everybody is open to suggestion. There are many definitions of hypnotism, his is getting to do what he wants them to do instantly. Could people be hypnotised merely by looking at his photograph? Yes, says the man with the irrestiblc green eyes, if they think they can be. But as they probably won't think they can, then they won't. But is hypnotism dangerous? 'No it is not dangerous to be hypnotised. My shows are only dangerous for the audience because they might die laughing.' Nobody ever taught him the power, he claims, but he had it naturally and from his schooldays was able to hypnotise people. The hardest part for him was learning to be an entertainer and it took him years of hard work to polish and perfect the kind of show he now has. He could live anywhere m the world but always come back from his global travels to his native Swords, where he grew up and where home still is and his wife Kay and daughters Linda and Louise live. 'I love Swords, I was born and reared there. I could emigrate but I wouldn't.' Adams Community Bank Elects New Trustees And Corporators ADAMS, Mass. Adams Community Bank elected new trustees and corporators at its special meeting. Following its Special Meeting of the Corporators in June, Adams Community Bank announced the election of Sheri Quinn and William Young as Trustees and Eleonore Velez and David Bissaillion as Corporators. Sheri Quinn Sheri Quinn is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) at Fenton Quinn, PC, a local firm that provides personalized financial guidance to both individuals and businesses. She has 37 years of experience as owner/partner of the firm. Her expertise ranges from tax services for individuals, trusts, partnerships, and corporations to more in-depth services such as financial statements, advisory services, and tax planning. Sheri has been on boards of numerous nonprofits including Coolidge Hill Foundation, Berkshire County Kids Place and Violence Prevention Center, Inc., BCC Foundation and Hillcrest Foundation, and Feronia Wellness LTD. She was a board member at The Kids Place since its formation in 1994 and treasurer for many years. She resides in New Ashford with her husband of 27 years, Matthew Quinn. They have two grown daughters and a grandson who live locally. William Young William Young is the Chief Information Officer at Berkshire Health Systems (BHS), where he has developed an Information Technology strategy that includes a new state-of-the-art Electronic Health system for both hospital-employed and community-based physicians across the Berkshires and has successfully led the Information Technology team to achieve Healthcares "Most-Wired" status for BHS. Young is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with a degree in Technical Management and concentration in Information Systems, Economics, and Business Law. He has been active in numerous professional and civic organizations, including serving on the Board of the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium and being an active member of the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). "We welcomed, both Sheri and Bill, in April 2019 when they were elected as corporators and we are delighted in announcing their status as Trustees," Charles OBrien, president and CEO said. "Both individuals bring very strong attributes that will complement and strengthen our current board and help Adams Community Bank continue to carry out our mission of being a strong financial partner with the local businesses and the communities we serve." Eleonore Velez Eleanore Velez is an admissions counselor and coordinator of the Multicultural Center at Berkshire Community College (BCC). Eleanore was born and grew up in Mexico City, Mexico. She has spent many years as a counselor and director of YMCA programs here in the Berkshires and New York City. She recently returned to the Berkshires and volunteered as the chairwoman for the Latin American Council where she has helped Latinos relocate to the area. Eleanore joined BCC in the fall of 2007 and has assumed a leadership role in promoting a welcoming and engaging campus for students from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds. She serves as a liaison and an advocate with community agencies and various college offices to deepen community integration. David Bissaillion David Bissaillion is a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) at Smith Brothers-McAndrews Insurance (SBM). David joined the agency in 2011 then became President and owner in January 2019. His expertise ranges from assisting business customers with their insurance needs to selling life insurance for SBM. David is an active member of the community with 25 years experience in the insurance industry. He has previously served as the President and CEO of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. "We are very pleased to welcome Eleanore and David as new Corporators who are each deeply committed to the communities we serve," OBrien said. "Both are successful leaders who bring a wealth of knowledge and business experience that will make them outstanding representatives for Adams Community Bank." A on Friday took cognizance of the supplementary chargesheet filed against alleged middleman Christian Michel, businessman Rajeev Saxena and others in connection with the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam case. Special Judge Arvind Kumar, after taking cognizance of the supplementary chargesheet, issued summons to then AgustaWestland International Director G Saponaro, Rajeev Saxena, Sandeep Tyagi, a relative of the then Indian Air Force (IAF) chief SP Tyagi, and other accused and listed the matter for further hearing on October 23. The Rouse Avenue court in Delhi had on Monday reserved its order in the matter after special public prosecutor DP Singh, representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), wrapped up his submission in the matter. During the hearing, Singh told the court that there is enough material to proceed against the accused chargesheeted in the matter. The supplementary chargesheet was filed on Saturday before Special Judge Arvind Kumar. According to sources, former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, who later became Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), has not been named as an accused in the chargesheet as CBI has not received sanction to prosecute Sharma till date. Sources said a fresh chargesheet will be filed after CBI received sanction to prosecute him. Michel, the alleged middleman and accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP choppers deal case, was extradited from the UAE in December 2018. He is currently lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with alleged irregularities in the multi-crore chopper deal. While the CBI is probing his alleged role as a 'middleman' in the deal, the ED is investigating money laundering charges against him. Rajeev Saxena, a Dubai-based businessman, was also extradited from the UAE in January last year. The AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal was finalized during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime under the leadership of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but got mired in the allegations of kickbacks. (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.) Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for an "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" (self-reliant India) is an important initiative, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said on Thursday. "The economic package under this self-reliant India initiative, which was announced in the aftermath of the coronavirus shock, has supported the Indian economy and mitigated significant downside risks, so we do see that initiative as having been important," Gerry Rice, Director, Communications Department, IMF, told reporters at his fortnightly news conference here. Looking ahead, as the Prime Minister has said, for India to play a more important part in the global economy, pursuing policies that stimulate by improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the economy is critical, he said, responding to a question on Modi's call for an "Aatmanirbhar Bharat". Live TV "To achieve the stated 'Make For The World' goal in India, the priority is to remain focussed on policies that can help further integrate India in the global value chain, including through trade, investment and technology," Rice said. Responding to another question, he said the IMF's joint study with the NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Finance shows that to achieve high performance in health-related sustainable development goals, India would need to gradually increase its total spending in the healthcare sector from the current 3.7 per cent of the GDP. "More generally, beyond the health sector, comprehensive structural reforms are needed to achieve more inclusive and sustainable medium-term growth. "We have talked about those reforms before -- infrastructure, land reforms, product market and labour market reforms, increasing female labour force participation, access to finance and better jobs," Rice said. Remarks by Party General Secretary, State President Nguyen Phu Trong at High-level General Debate of 75th session of UNGA Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong on September 25 (Vietnam time) sent an important message to the High-level General Debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong in the video message to the High-level General Debate of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (Photo: VNA) The following is the full text of the message. Your Excellency Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Your Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to congratulate Your Excellency Volkan Bozkir upon your election as the President of the 75th United Nations General Assembly. I am fully confident that under your experienced and able leadership, our session will be a success. Let me also voice my appreciation for the important contributions that His Excellency Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have made despite the tremendous challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. President, We are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and entering the third decade of the 21st century in extraordinary circumstances. For the first time in history, the Leaders of Member States are unable to gather at the UNGA General Debate. This, however, does not diminish our resolve and ability to deliberate and seek solutions for issues of common concern. I echo the Secretary-General's assessment that we are facing the most formidable challenges since the birth of the UN, in particular, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, society, politics and, most of all, human life. Mr. President, Against this backdrop, I welcome the theme of our Session: The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism confronting COVID-19 through effective multilateral action. Allow me to share some of my thoughts along that line. First, global and regional multilateral mechanisms must be strengthened. We need a United Nations that is truly cohesive and inclusive, where every member, large or small, rich or poor, can have a voice in deciding matters of common concern. The UN must serve as the incubator for multilateral cooperation initiatives for peace, development and prosperity.Further reforms should be undertaken to transform the UN into a stronger and more effective organisation that can fulfill its role of harmonizing the interests and behaviours of states in the face of the monumental changes of our time. Second, the United Nations Charter and the fundamental principles of international law must be upheld and advanced as the norms of behavior for all countries in contemporary international relations. We must be resolute and perseverant in advancing cooperation and friendship to counter conflict and hostility. We must choose dialogue over confrontation, and peaceful settlement of disputes over unilateral acts of imposition. In this spirit, Viet Nam calls for the removal of unilateral sanctions that adversely affect countries socio-economic development and peoples livelihoods, especially the embargo imposed upon Cuba. Third, the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a stern warning to us all, requiring our stronger commitments and stronger actions to promote sustainable, inclusive and human-centered development. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development should continue to be the framework for our cooperation to overcome this pandemic for sustainable recovery. Our policies and actions should have the interest of our people at the heart, so that no one, and no country, will be left behind. Developing countries should receive financial assistance, technological and commercial facilitation to realize the Sustainable Development Goals. Mr. President, Seventy-five years ago, on 02 September 1945, President Ho Chi Minh delivered the Declaration of Independence that proclaimed the birth of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (now the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam). Since those early days, President Ho Chi Minh, on multiple occasions, sent letters to the founding members of the UN, expressing Viet Nam's desire to become a member of the Organization. While it was not until 1977 that this aspiration became reality, the long and tenacious struggle of Viet Nam to win and defend national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity served as a concrete contribution to the worldwide movement for peace, democracy and social progress ultimately the same noble goals to which the UN aspires. Let me take this occasion, on behalf of the Vietnamese people, to express our deepest gratitude to countries and international friends for your generous support towards our past righteous struggle for national independence and present national development. Viet Nam was once a poor and backward country ravaged by war, strangled by embargo. After thirty-five years of Doi Moi reform, Viet Nam has emerged as a middle-income developing country and is aiming to be a high-income industrial country by 2045. In the fight against COVID-19, difficulties notwithstanding, Viet Nam has recorded positive and noteworthy outcomes. We have successfully contained the pandemic while promoting social and economic development. Out of international solidarity and with the understanding thatthe pandemic is only defeated when we all win, Viet Nam has engaged in cooperation and experience sharing with many countries, including support provided to those worst affected by the pandemic and to the common international efforts. Viet Nam pursues a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization and diversification of relations. As a reliable partner and an active, responsible member of the international community, Viet Nam attaches importance to the work of the UN and has been expanding our comprehensive cooperation with the Organization. Viet Nam will work with member states to make the UN more democratic, transparent and effective. As a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the term 2020 2021, Viet Nam promotes dialogue, de-escalation of tension and confrontation, and fair and reasonable solutions to regional and global peace and security issues. We champion multilateralism and the respect for international law and the UN Charter, and strengthen relations between the UN and regional organizations, especially ASEAN. As the 2020 ASEAN Chair, Viet Nam is working with fellow member states to build a region of peace, friendship and cooperation, in order to realize the vision of ASEAN as a politically cohesive, economically integrated and socially responsible community. Together with countries within and outside the region, we are committed to the maintenance and promotion of peace, stability, maritime security and safety and freedom of navigation in the East Sea (South China Sea), in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. We call on all concerned parties to exercise restraint, avoid unilateral acts that would complicate the situation, and settle disputes and differences through peaceful means with due respect for diplomatic and legal processes. Mr. President, Over the last 75 years, member states have painstakingly built a United Nations for peace, cooperation and development. We are duty-bound to strengthen and reinvigorate the worlds largest multilateral organization, particularly in face of the immense challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. Thank you for your kind attention./. By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Retired colonel Bah Ndaw was sworn in as Mali's interim president on Friday, tasked with presiding over an 18-month transition back to civilian rule after a military coup. Malian officials hope the inauguration will lead the country's neighbours to lift punishing sanctions imposed after the Aug. 18 overthrow of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita as president that have paralysed the landlocked country's economy. Ndaw, 70, took the oath of office in front of several hundred military officers, political leaders and diplomats. Colonel Assimi Goita, who led the coup, was sworn in as vice president during a ceremony in the capital Bamako. Ndaw, who also served as defence minister in 2014 and previously headed the air force, has been described by former colleagues as "principled". In his inaugural address, he said he would crack down on graft, one of the main complaints against Keita's government, and stamp out abuses of civilians by the armed forces. "Mali has been shaken, trampled on and humiliated by its own children, by us," said Ndaw, wearing a long white robe and a blue surgical mask as protection against the coronavirus. Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission President Jean-Claude Brou said sanctions would be lifted once Ndaw named a civilian prime minister, even though ECOWAS's initial demands for a purely civilian leadership were not met. Besides fearing that the coup could undermine their own power, presidents in the wider Sahel region are concerned prolonged uncertainty could jeopardise a joint campaign against Islamist militants centred in northern and central Mali. A previous coup in Mali in 2012 helped hasten the fall of the desert north to al Qaeda-linked militants, forcing a French intervention the following year to drive them back. (Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Bate Felix, Edward McAllister and Mark Heinrich) Shiv Sena parliamentarian and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut questioned the Election Commissions (EC) decision to announce the dates for the Bihar Assembly elections amid the Covid-19 outbreak. On Friday afternoon, EC announced that the Bihar polls will be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7 and the counting of the votes will take place on November 10. He also alleged that the Centre and the Bihar government directed and wrote the script of politicising the Sushant Singh Rajput death case to use it in Bihar election. The dates of elections are announced for a state like Bihar. So does it mean that the coronavirus [pandemic] has ended? If the rulers there and the EC think that coronavirus has ended and have thus announced the election dates, then they should tell so to everybody. I think this is the governments decision; they will say that the EC is an independent body and elections will happen, Raut told reporters on Friday. The Sena MP said that the country is facing an unprecedented situation owing to the Covid-19 outbreak and needs help from the government, not black [indelible] ink on their fingers. He added that if the decision to hold election during the Covid-19 outbreak was taken to get a government within a stipulated time, then the Presidents Rule should have been imposed, like it was done in Maharashtra in 2019. I do not think it is a hurried announcement, but they should have thought if the situation is suitable for elections, said the senior party leader. When he was asked if the Sushant Singh Rajput case will be used by Bihars ruling partners, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (United) in their campaign, Raut said that the coalition does not have issues of development to campaign on and therefore they will use the actors death. The manner in which the Centre and the state government dragged the Sushant Singh Rajput case and practiced politics over it, the case will definitely be an election issue. Janata Dal (United) has already printed posters of Sushant Singh Rajput for campaigning. It is important to be seen that this is done because they do not have anything to say on development and good governance. Therefore, forcibly such issues are being used, he said, adding that there is a sense of anger against the Nitish Kumar government. In Bihar, the main political party is Lalu [Prasad] Yadavs (Rashtriya Janata Dal). He is serving a sentence and is currently at a hospital for treatment. Congress party does not have a lot of presence in the state. In this scenario, will Nitish Kumars Janata Dal United and BJP contest one-sided elections? Nitish Kumar has been the CM (chief minister) for 24 years now and there is sense of anger against his government, which we know as anti-incumbency. But these things depend on how effectively the Opposition party stands against them in the election, he said. Shiv Sena is expected to field a candidate in the Bihar polls and a decision on it will be made by Shiv Sena chief and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray by Saturday, Raut said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Addressing an intervention during the 45th Session of the UNHRC in Geneva on Thursday, POK Activist Sajjad Raja broke down in tears as he appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to stop Pakistan from treating them like animals. Raising voice against the atrocities by Pakistan on the people of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), activist Sajjad Raja broke down in tears as he appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to stop Pakistan from treating them like animals. Prof Sajjad Raja, while making an intervention during the 45th Session of the UNHRC in Geneva on Thursday (local time), said that the POK election Act 2020 has taken away all constitutional, civil and political rights of the citizens of the POK region. We the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir plead the council to stop Pakistan from treating us like animals. The POK election Act 2020 has taken away all of our constitutional, civil and political rights. Our activities opposing accession to Pakistan have been declared anti-state in flagrent violations of United Nations Resolutions, said Raja, Chairman of the National Equality Party JKGBL. #BREAKING: Pakistan Occupied Kashmir local resident Muhammad Sajjad Raja broke into tears at UNHRC in Geneva as he said Pakistan was treating them as animals. Says, Pakistan is running terror camps in so called Azad Kashmir. Begs before United Nations in tears for some help. pic.twitter.com/2QAEISaf49 Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) September 24, 2020 He further said, We are treated as traitors in our own home simply for defending it. By declaring our political activities illegal, this act gives the Pakistan Army a free hand to assassinate our people through targeted killings and enforce disappearances. Raja said that Pakistan is brainwashing the young minds on both sides of the border in Jammu and Kashmir, thus, making them cannon fodder in the proxy war with India. Pakistan is brainwashing innocent youth on both sides of the border in Jammu and Kashmir making them cannon fodder in the proxy war with India. Pakistan continues to run terror camps from POK, he said. Speaking on the recent claim of Pakistan on Gilgit Baltistan, Raja said, Pakistan is now trying to declare disputed territory of Gilgit Baltistan as its province, thus, depriving our people of their land and their identity and culture. Pakistans revisionist moves would throw the whole world into a brutal war. The professor broke down in the middle of his intervention while speaking on the atrocities being committed by Pakistan on the citizens of the POK region. Pakistan has taken our freedom. Pakistan placed their boot of tyranny on our throat, suppressing our voice but we hope our voice shall be heard here. We beg the peace-loving world to stop whats happening to us, break away the chains, he said If a credit union rebrand is on your to-do list next year, youll want to read this. On the other hand, if you rebranded your credit union in the last few years, warning: you may find you have buyers remorse. For some time now the trend in credit unions and companies in general has been to dub a nonsense word as its new name and brand. Names like Fat Llama, LunchBadger and Purple Squirrel (yes, all real company names) have been popular in the tech start-up world, just as similar names have popped up in the credit union space. But it looks like that trend is so yesterday. Start-ups have turned to choosing names that comprise actual words or names that describe what they actually do. For example, theres a company developing internet browsers that is simply called The Browser Company, a clothing rental startup named Wardrobe, and a payment software fintech called Banked. Looking back specifically at the last 12 months, the trend has focused on feel-good words nouns, adjectives, adverbs or verbs. Words that evoke a positive feeling, an admirable trait or desired state of being. Some examples Ive seen recently are Might (project management software for remote teams), Cured (health software) and Elate (operations-based software.) Another popular branding approach as of late is the plain old, straightforward description. Companies are picking names that describe exactly what they do, such as Grow Credit, a service for building credit histories; New Age Meats, a startup cultivating meat from animal cells; and, as previously mentioned, The Browser Company. One of the most popular startup naming strategies has been the creative misspelling. By dropping vowels, adding consonants, or taking other steps, brands can have found names that are both familiar-sounding and unique. Some recent examples of companies with misspelled words includes Cann, a maker of cannabis-infused tonics; Puzzl, a payroll provider for hourly workers; and even our sister company that produces amazing websites for credit unions, uncommn. If a quirky made-up name is still your preference, you must know where to draw the line. After all, its hard to dismiss the potential of weird names when a Silicon Valley garage-launched startup called Google is now worth more than $1 trillion. If youre a large company like Verizon, you have ample budget to explain the name and teach people to pronounce it. Its harder for smaller brands like credit unions. Theres a lot more that goes into a successful credit union rebranding than brainstorming a whiteboard filled with fun names though. Rebranding your credit union can be one of the most successful projects you undertake during your tenure or one of the most expensive failures. Dont leave your credit union branding and legacy in the hands of an amateur. New Delhi, Sep 25 : Vodafone has won the case against India over a retrospective tax demand of more than Rs 20,000 crore. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague has ruled that the conduct of India's tax department is in breach of "fair and equitable" treatment. Voafone had moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2016 due to a lack of consensus between the parties' arbitrators in finalising a judge for a tax dispute. Following this, a tribunal was constituted in June 2016 after Vodafone challenged India's use of a 2012 legislation that gave it powers to retrospectively tax deals like Vodafone's $11 billion acquisition of 67 per cent stake in Hutchison Whampoa in 2007. The retrospective tax law had been enacted after a Supreme Court judgement went in Vodafone's favour. Vodafone had challenged the tax department's demand of Rs 7,990 crore as capital gains taxe (Rs 22,100 crore after including interest and penalty) under the Netherlands-India Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). Buoyed by the arbitration award, Vodafone Idea stock closed 12 per cent higher at Rs 10.20. In 2007, the Income Tax Department had slapped a demand notice seeking capital gains tax. Established in 1899 to facilitate arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution between states, the PCA has developed into a modern, multi-faceted arbitral institution perfectly situated to meet the evolving dispute resolution needs of the international community. In May 2018, the Delhi High Court had allowed the second arbitration initiated by Vodafone Plc. under the India-UK Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement in the over Rs 20,000 crore retrospective tax case. Justice Manmohan, who was hearing the case in the high court, had said that the Centre can approach the UK arbitration tribunal under the India-UK Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA) for its grievances. Vodafone had initiated two arbitrations against India, one under the India-Netherlands BIPA and the other under the India-UK BIPA. The tax demand had been raised way back in 2007 by the Income Tax Department. The then UPA government had raised a tax demand of Rs 11,000 crore on Vodafone's $11 billion acquisition of Hutchison Telecom stake. In 2012, the Supreme Court quashed the demand. On its part, the government amended its law retrospectively. Vodafone maintained that there was no tax to be paid, and in 2014, it used the BIT to challenge the demand. The two sides could not resolve the matter in negotiations following which Vodafone served an arbitration notice. Inbound international passengers to Rajasthan will find transit difficult if Air Suvidha is not applied and hard copy needs to be carried by passenger at the port of first descent. Only a copy of the COVID negative will facilitate mandatory institutional quarantine. Inbound international passengers to Rajasthan will find transit difficult if Air Suvidha is not applied and hard copy needs to be carried by passenger at the port of first descent. Only a copy of the COVID negative will facilitate mandatory institutional quarantine. Inbound international passengers to Rajasthan will find transit difficult if Air Suvidha is not applied and hard copy needs to be carried by passenger at the port of first descent. Only a copy of the COVID negative will facilitate mandatory institutional quarantine. Passengers flying in from international destinations to Rajasthan are in for an unpleasant surprise if they have taken an Air Suvidha approval prior to boarding. The flight that landed in Jaipur at 5pm on 23 September has 220 passengers, of which 44 people were scheduled to reach Udaipur. Apparently, the rules for home quarantine of international passengers flying in to Rajasthan being followed strictly and HOME QUARANTINE is no longer an option for incoming international passengers who are NOT CARRYING Air Suvidha approvals on them. All passengers took their flight from Kuwait after getting a COVID-ve certificate, which needed them to take approval from the online portal of the ministry of external affairs. The approval alongwith a hard copy of the approval was enough for them to proceed through the health check and immigration and leave the airport to get to their final destinations. This was the protocol in place from August 8, 2020. However, it has been a nightmare over the last 24 hours for passengers who arrived in Jaipur on an inbound flight from Kuwait on 23 September and were NOT CARRYING Air Suvidha approvals. As per the narrative given to UdaipurTimes by one of the passengers Aziz, the passengers were stopped at the airport exit by authorities who refused to allow them to travel freely beyond the airport and were not ready to reason. The passengers (who had the COVID -ve certificate) were told that as per orders from the Rajasthan administration, there would be an institutional quarantine either at a government managed facility or an approved hotel in Jaipur for 7 days. When the passengers insisted, the lady and police personnel who had stopped them said that the Collector's report will be needed else they would be quarantined at Jaipur. After much deliberation, the passengers were allowed to board a bus that was arranged to take them to an institutional quarantine center at Udaipur. As per Aziz, there was just a single bus (28 seater) which was commissioned for 44 passengers. When they refused to board, two more buses were arranged and 44 passengers (minus a pregnant lady, who was permitted to leave by personal transport) accompanied by a policeman, Gajendra Singh, proceeded for Udaipur at 9pm on 23 September. The buses stopped at unhygenic dhabas on the route, without any concern for health and safety of the passengers "travelling under quarantine". Neither the bus drivers nor conductors including the policeman were wearing a mask or observing social distancing protocol. The policeman had taken control of the passports of all passengers. While the passengers were nearing Udaipur, they were informed that the bus would be taking them to Kherwara as all the government managed quarantine centers in Udaipur were occupied, and 44 people could not be accomodated. The buses diverted for Kherwara after reaching The Celebration Mall. This information was not provided initially by either the control room nor by the policeman initially. This was informed to Aziz by his realtives in Udaipur, who were also in touch with the control room at Udaipur. On asking the policeman as to whether he had any instructions, the policeman showed them a WhatsApp message mentioning that passengers needed to be transferred to Kherwara. On reaching Kherwara at 7am today morning, the passengers were taken to a remote institutional quarantine center, which was devoid of proper running water, had dirty toilets and just 18 beds. When Aziz spoke to the warden about the conditions, he was told that it is only people from Udaipur who take offence to the arrangements and nearly 800 people have already been quarantined in this center in the past. The Control Room, when contacted, said that the SDM would arrive by 8am and a decision on alternative arrangements would be taken. When the SDM (Tehsildar) arrived at 8am, he took stock of the situation and agreed to transfer those willing to pay for hotel accommodation, to Udaipur. 18 passengers gave their consent to hotel quarantine, selecting their preferred hotels. It took another three hours for the list and formalities to be finalised. The Tehsildar (SDM) appointed one staff by the name of Shareef Siddiqi to join the policeman in accompanying the passengers to Udaipur. The drivers of the buses that bought them to Kherwara, refused to drive as they excused themselves for being tired after a long journey. The passengers, who had not been served even water all this time, were given tea, which was arranged by a passenger who was from Kherwara, from his home. After another hour, the passengers were served dry Poha for breakfast. A private bus was arranged for 18 passengers who paid Rs 6500 to the driver to bring them to Udaipur. Prior to their departure from Kherwara, the passengers were instructed to arrive directly at the Collectorate, but this instruction was revoked in a short while and passengers were sent to their respective hotels. 15 passengers took hotel quarantine at Udaipur Palace hotel in Savina and the remaining opted for other hotels in the city, including Ananta. Those passengers who did not alight at Savina, had to request private vehicles which drove them with their luggage to their respective hotels for their mandatory 7 day quarantine. We actually tried to move away from that and focus on what direct conflicts would be as well as improper influence and believe that we strengthened the ordinance in that regard, instead of having a vague reliance on appearance of impropriety without really understanding what that means, Lechowicz Felicione said. Its a place where town meets country. St. Catharines and Lincoln have long been urban and rural neighbours, but theyve now teamed up to market their individual attributes as a joint destination. The goal is really to match the bench experience with the urban experience. We have assets that complement each other, said Karen Doyle, tourism marketing officer for St. Catharines. We have a larger accommodations sector, they have more winery partners. They can complement each other but were still offering a common experience between the two municipalities. Doyle said the idea is to recognize the value of visitors to the areas and try and get them to stretch their spending money between the two communities so all businesses get out ahead. A sub-regional tourism marketing partnership was formalized last week with St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik and Lincoln Mayor Sandra Easton signing a memorandum of understanding. Banding together means the two municipalities can go after funding through joint applications, which Doyle said could mean access to large sums of money and bigger marketing campaigns. Paul Di Ianni, economic development officer for Town of Lincoln, said the town undertook an economic development strategy a few years back. Tourism came out as its biggest opportunity for growth and job creation. A tourism strategy then looked at the strengths and weaknesses of the sector in Lincoln and what it could be doing better. He said the town has farmed out tourism to its destination marketing organization for a couple of decades and while its done a good job, the strategy found there was an opportunity to bring other private and public sector partners to the table to help grow the sector. The town then started conversations with St. Catharines to see if it would be interested in joint marketing initiatives. Theres some natural synergy between our rural tourism landscape and their urban tourism landscape, Di Ianni said. Weve got the rural, craft beverage, culinary, eco-tourism landscape. They have the downtown, the accommodations, the cultural. Di Ianni stressed the new Lincoln and St. Catharines destination isnt in competition with Niagara Falls or Niagara-on-the-Lake but is meant to complement the overall tourism market in the Niagara region. And he said theres potential to bring other municipalities on board to create a destination that extends beyond the two municipalitys borders. The move comes at a time when tourism has taken a drastic hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Di Ianni said experts are saying tourism in Canada may not hit pre-Covid numbers until 2024 or 2025, so recovery efforts are important. We recognize our opportunity is to encourage Ontarians to visit their own backyard, he said, adding there are millions of people within an hour away from Niagara. Earlier in the pandemic, Di Ianni said Lincoln launched a Shop Lincoln campaign and did joint marketing with St. Catharines, which ran a similar initiative. They pointed people back to their websites to encourage them to shop local and have local tourism experiences. Doyle said their main focus right now during the pandemic is destination awareness. We do have businesses that are open. We have businesses that are following safety measures and all the protocols in place, she said. You can come to St. Catharines, you can come to Niagara, you can come to Lincoln and you can feel good about your visit. Its beautiful weather. Theres lots to do outside. Political correctness has invaded and struck at the heart of Germany with a series of strange new phrases in a new diversity-sensitive language guide. Berlin city council has told state employees in the capital to watch their language to avoid offence. New guidelines put in place by the nanny state authority have led to guidance on every day phrases that they say should not be used. Among the many phrases targeted by the PC brigade is asylum seeker. According to the new guide this term is misleading as there is a fundamental right to asylum. Instead state employees should use the term persons requiring protection. Foreigners should be replaced with 'residents without German citizenship' and people with a migrant background should be referred to as 'people with an international history.' State workers in Berlin have been issued politically correct guidance which lists phrases they should not use The new rules have been criticised across Germany. Gunnar Schupelius, a commentator on the local daily newspaper BZ, said that a 'clique' of politicians was trying to influence people to believe what they think is right. He wrote that they want to ensure people 'behave in accordance with their political ideology.' The guidance has been turned into a 44-page guide and it forms part of a national diversity programme. It aims to train Berlin's state employees to communicate 'with the people in this city,' regardless of their sexuality, gender, age, disability, religion or ethnic origin. The booklet also states that if someone changes gender then officials should not say gender change but gender realignment. While the German phrase Schwarz fahren, which translates as riding black, and is a widely used German term for fare dodging on public transport should not be used at all. There are no penalties for failing to adhere to the PC Brigade's list of pointless changes as they are only a set of recommendations. The PC guide was written by the State Office for Equal Treatment Against Discrimination, which is run by Justice Senator Dirk Behrendt, from the Green Party. Justice Senator Dirk Behrendt, from the Green Party, who is behind the guidance Berlin's centre-left city government is a coalition of the Greens with the Social Democrats and Left Party. Mr Behrendt, in a press statement, said: 'Berlin is home to people from many different backgrounds and in very different situations 'Berliners should understand the administration as their own and therefore the administration should also be open to this diversity. 'If the diversity of Berlin is reflected in the administration, then that is a benefit for the entire city.' Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 22:10:01|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday hailed declining COVID-19 positive cases in Africa but stressed the need to strengthen containment measures amid risk of a second wave in the continent. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional director for Africa, said the continent has escaped an implosion of infections and fatalities thanks to timely roll-out of mitigation measures coupled with favorable climate and youthful population. "The downward trend we have seen in Africa over the past two months is undoubtedly a positive development and speaks to the robust and decisive public health measures taken by governments across the region," Moeti said in a statement issued in Nairobi. She said that border closures, suspension of in-person learning, adherence to public health protocols like hand washing and physical distancing cut off the transmission chain during the early stages of the pandemic in Africa. Moeti said that a host of socio-ecological factors like a huge youthful population, low mobility alongside hot and humid climate, could have contributed to limited COVID-19 infections and deaths in the continent. "Africa has not witnessed an exponential spread of COVID-19 as many initially feared," said Moeti. But we must not be complacent. Other regions of the world have experienced similar trends only to find that as social and public health measures are relaxed, cases start ramping up again," she added. Moeti said the next phase of anti-COVID-19 war in Africa should lay emphasis on ramped-up testing coupled with strict adherence to public health guidelines to avert new flare-ups. "The response in African countries needs to be tailored to each country's situation moving forward as we see different patterns of infection within a country," said Moeti. "Targeted and localized responses that are informed by what works best in a given region of a country will be most crucial as countries ease restrictions and open up their economies," she added. Enditem A planned visit by Xi to Japan last April was indefinitely postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The plan had triggered protests even within Japans governing party because of Chinas tightening of controls over Hong Kong and its assertive actions in regional seas. Samajwadi Party (SP) on Friday would hold simultaneous demonstrations in Uttar Pradesh against alleged anti-farmer and anti-labourer laws supported by BJP governments at the state and centre to coincide with the nationwide protest call-- by a coalition of farmers organisations-- against the three farm reform bills passed by the Parliament in the Monsoon session. In a statement issued on Thursday evening, the party said that on the instruction of the partys national president Akhilesh Yadav, the party cadre in all districts would submit a memorandum against the anti-farmer, anti-labourer laws passed by the government on Friday, while maintaining social distancing. The memorandum will be addressed to the governor of the state. The bills passed by the BJP government have ignored the interests of farmers and labourers and would make the former lose ownership of land and become labourers in their own farms. Agriculture mandis will be wiped out and farmers would be forced to sell their produce at lesser prices because of uncertain MSP or minimum support price offered by the government. Live: Latest updates on farmers protests The party further claimed that the removal of wheat and paddy from the Essential Commodities Act would force farmers to sell these grains to business houses and grain traders, at the prices dictated by these enterprises. But the SP wont let the farmers be suppressed and will raise its voice, the statement said. Also Read: Bharat bandh call over farm reform bills: UP police put on alert Taking about labour laws, the statement said that the new laws would badly affect workers and labourers. Till now, an industry with 100 employees had no provision to retrench staff without government permission while the new law would give the right to industries, with even 300 employees, to retrench whenever they wanted. The party said that this would lead to insecurity among workers and encourage their exploitation. The central government has, however, said that the reforms are meant to allow farmers greater freedom in selling produce and the MSP regime was not going away. It has accused the Opposition of misleading the farmers. The Nissan logo is seen at their booth at the Tokyo Motor Show, in Tokyo, Japan October 23, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Edgar Su. The Vietnam Automobile Industry Development Company (VAD) has inked a deal with Nissan to become the Japanese carmakers exclusive distributor in Vietnam. The company announced Thursday that it will take over the vehicle distribution starting October 1 after Nissan and Tan Chong Motor Holdings Bhd officially cut their ties from September 30. VAD is a recently established company in the Viet Hung Industrial Park in northern Ha Long Town. It began operations on August 28. It has a charter capital of VND350 billion ($15.1 million) and registered 28 lines of business, with the main line being the wholesale distribution of cars and other motor vehicles. Currently, Nissan has its Sunny, X-Trail, Terra and Navara models in the Vietnamese market. Of these, only Sunny and X-Trail models are assembled in Vietnam. A total of 1,414 units of these two models were assembled in the first eight months of this year. Tan Chong, a multinational corporation based in Malaysia, will retain its presence in the local market, becoming the distributor for British automaker MG, which is owned by Shanghai-based Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor Corporation Limited. P arts of Yorkshire appeared to be blanketed in snow last night after severe hailstorms hit northern England. People took to social media to share pictures of wintry scenes as parts of Leeds and Bradford were covered in inches of hail. The Met Office had warned last night of "heavy showers and thunderstorms" across parts of Yorkshire. One Twitter user wrote "it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas" as she shared a picture of the hail in Bradford. Another person shared footage of the hailstones hitting his windscreen as he drove home in the north of Leeds. He described the scenes of "sleet and snow 4 inches deep" in the area. One social media user shared a picture of what appeared to be snow but was really an "inch of hail" in Yorkshire. Met Office meteorologist Mark Wilson said "heavy rain and strong winds" are due in the east of the UK on Friday ahead of "autumnal weather" over the weekend. The Met Office has issued a weather warning for heavy rain and strong winds for parts of East Anglia today. "It's not going to be a particularly pleasant day in East Anglia," Mr Wilson told the Standard. "There's going to be some heavy rain, cold strong winds and we could see gusts on the coast up to 60mph". He said: "Elsewhere in the UK it's not so bad. There will be more sunshine in the west but it will be on the cold side. "As we look into Saturday, many parts of the west will be dry and bright after quite a cold start. "Further east in the UK, there will be a bit more of a breeze, a bit more cloud across eastern parts and still a few showers coming in across East Anglia." The meteorologist told Brits to expect "chilly days and cold nights" over the weekend as Sunday sees more strong winds and shows in the south east of England and some further outbreaks of rain. "Elsewhere for the bulk of the UK it will be dry, bright with sunshine, but still on the chilly side. So feeling quite autumnal this coming weekend," he added. By Andrius Sytas PABRADE, Lithuania, Sept 22 (Reuters) - A new contingent of U.S. troops and armour will be deployed in Lithuania in November but their presence is not linked to the situation in neighbouring Belarus, Lithuania's defence minister said on Tuesday. Belarus has undergone six weeks of protests since a contested Aug. 9 election which President Alexander Lukashenko said he won. Since then, Lukashenko has accused NATO of a buildup near its borders, begun military drills near the borders with Lithuania and Poland, and put half his army on the highest state of readiness. More than 500 U.S. soldiers, about 25 Abrams tanks and about 30 Bradley armoured transports will replace a contingent that arrived in Lithuania on Sept. 4 for a two-month stay near the Belarus border. The new force will stay until mid-June 2021. Defence Minister Raimondas Karoblis said the U.S. military arrivals in Lithuania were not connected to the situation in Belarus. Belarus military activity near the border has reduced this month compared to manoeuvres in August, Karoblis said. "The U.S. presence makes us calmer, it's a powerful deterrent, but it's not connected specifically to the situation in Belarus, rather to the geopolitical situation after Russia began its aggression in Ukraine and Georgia," Karoblis told reporters at the Pabrade Military Training Grounds. Russia, which sees Belarus as a buffer state against the EU and NATO, supported Lukashenko and has accused the United States of fomenting revolution in its neighbour. The U.S. ambassador to Lithuania, Robert Gilchrist, also said there was no connection between the troop presence and Belarus. "It's about readiness, it's about working with our allies. There's no link (to Belarus)," he said. (Reporting by Andrius Sytas, editing by Gwladys Fouche and Angus MacSwan) Bennett Walsh, superintendent of the Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, shown speaking at a 9/11 ceremony in West Springfield, Mass. Read more BOSTON Two former administrators of a Massachusetts veterans home where nearly 80 people sickened by the coronavirus died have been charged for their handling of the outbreak, the states attorney general said Friday. Its believed to be the first criminal case in the country brought against nursing home officials for actions taken during the pandemic, Attorney General Maura Healey said. Former Holyoke Soldiers' Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former Medical Director Dr. David Clinton were indicted by a grand jury on charges stemming from their decision in March to combine two dementia units, packing residents who were COVID-19 positive into the same space as those with no symptoms, Healey said. The veterans risked their lives from the beaches of Normandy, to some the jungles of Vietnam and to know that they died under the most horrific circumstances is truly shocking, Healey told reporters. A phone message was left Friday with a lawyer for Walsh. An email was sent to attorneys for Clinton. They could each face prison time if convicted of charges of causing or permitting serious bodily injury or neglect of an elder, Healey said. The charges come three months after a scathing independent report said utterly baffling decisions made by Walsh and other administrators allowed the virus to spread there unchecked. The worst decision was to combine the two locked dementia units, both of which already housed some residents with the virus, said investigators led by former federal prosecutor Mark Pearlstein. Healey said Walsh and Clinton were the ones ultimately responsible for the decision to combine the two units, which she said led to tragic and deadly results. More than 40 veterans were packed into a single unit that usually had 25 beds, and space was so limited that nine veterans some with symptoms and some without were sleeping in the dining room, Healey said. This never should have happened. It never should have happened form an infection controls standpoint, Healey said. Since March 1, 76 veterans who contracted COVID-19 at the home have died, officials said. The first veteran tested positive March 17. Even though he had shown symptoms for weeks, staff did nothing to isolate him until his test came back positive, allowing him to remain with three roommates, wander the unit and spend time in a common room, investigators found. When a social worker raised concerns about combining the two dementia units, the chief nursing officer said it didnt matter because (the veterans) were all exposed anyway and there was not enough staff to cover both units, investigators said. One staffer who helped move the dementia patients told investigators she felt like she was walking (the veterans) to their death. A nurse said the packed dementia unit looked like a battlefield tent where the cots are all next to each other. As the virus took hold, leadership shifted from trying to prevent its spread, to preparing for the deaths of scores of residents, the report said. One the day the veterans were moved, more than a dozen additional body bags were sent to the combined dementia unit, investigators said. The next day, a refrigerated truck to hold bodies that wouldnt fit in the homes morgue arrived, the report said. Walsh has defended his response, saying state officials initially refused in March to send National Guard aid even as the home was dealing with dire staffing shortages He was placed on administrative leave March 30 and the CEO of Western Massachusetts Hospital, Val Liptak, took over operations. Walsh was fired after the release of the report but a judge invalidated his termination this week after his lawyer argued that only the homes board of trustees can hire and fire the superintendent. The Massachusetts U.S. attorneys office and U.S. Department of Justices Civil Rights Division are also investigating whether officials violated residents' rights by failing to provide them proper medical care. Attorneys general in other states, including Pennsylvania, have also launched investigations into coronavirus deaths at nursing homes. And earlier this month, federal agents searched two nursing homes near Pittsburgh, one of which had the worst coronavirus outbreak of any nursing home in Pennsylvania. Justice Department officials sent letters to the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan last month seeking data on whether they violated federal law by ordering public nursing homes to accept recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals. The letters, sent from the head of the Justice Departments civil rights division, said the agency was seeking the information to determine whether the orders may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents. The Justice Department said it was evaluating whether to initiate investigations under a federal law known as the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, which protects the rights of people in nursing homes and other facilities. But the law applies only to nursing homes owned or run by the states. ______ Associated Press reporter Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report. Taylor was just 26, the same age as my oldest son is now. Taylor was a certified E.M.T., and her mother said she planned a lifelong career in health care. My son is in medical school. She could have been my daughter. My son could have been her. They are both adults, to be sure, but to us, their parents, they are our children, our babies. You cant just cut down someones baby and say, Oh well. No amount of money can fill the hole that loss would leave. It was so egregious, like so many of these police shootings, and for months we waited to see if justice would be served, hoping against hope, knowing that history had trained us in trauma, knowing that justice was unlikely. And, in the end, the system performed precisely as expected: It disregarded the Black body and defended the state bodies. When you are injured or killed by community violence, the law is on your side, or on the side of the loved ones who grieve you. Justice in those cases can be swift and brutal. But, when it is the state doing the hurting and killing, the law is on their side. They are the law. That is why state violence is so insidious: because you are nearly helpless to protect yourself from it. People have to chant Black lives matter to assert it, to make it hang in the air so that both the person speaking these words and the person hearing them can remember it because the system demonstrates continually that those lives dont matter to it. KYIV. Sept 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) Residents of Ivano-Frankivsk intend to vote for current Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv (the Svoboda party) in local elections, his closest competitor Petro Shkutiak (the European Solidarity party) may solicit support of more than three times less number of residents. According to the results of the sociological survey titled "Political Preferences of Ivano-Frankivsk City, Region Residents," presented on Friday at the Interfax-Ukraine agency, conducted by the Agency for Social and Political Research and Communication Strategies within the period of September 16 to September 23, if the elections were held next Sunday, then 43.2% of the respondents would vote for Martsinkiv, while 12.1% for Shkutiak. Natalia Serbyn (the Ukrainian Halytska Party) can count on 8.4% votes, Oleksandr Bohachov (the Servant of the People faction) on 6%, Vasyl Stefanyshyn (the Platforma Hromad party) on 4.2%. Some 26.1% of respondents are ready to vote for another candidate. Regarding the level of confidence in the first numbers of party lists in Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council, preferences were distributed as follows: Oleksandr Sych (Svoboda) with 28%, Oleh Honcharuk (Platforma Hromad) with 17.6%, Volodymyr Viatrovych (European Solidarity) with 14.1%, Vasyl Hladiy (Batkivschyna) with 10.2%, Oleksandr Shevchenko (For the Future) with 8.5%, another candidate with 21.6%. In terms of the party, if the elections to Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council were held next Sunday, the statistic is as follows: Svoboda would get 25.4%, European Solidarity would get 21.8%, Platforma Hromad would get15.6%, Batkivschyna would get 9.2%, Servant of the People would get 8.4%, For the Future would get 6.1%, Ukrainian Halytska Party would get 2.9%, UDAR of Vitali Klitschko party would get 1.8%. Some 8.8% of respondents are ready to vote for another political force. Answering a question about their intentions to take part in the local elections on October 25, some 59.9% of respondents said "yes, definitely," some 7.9% said "no, I will definitely not vote," some 10, 5% said "not sure, most likely not" and some 21.7% said "yes, most likely." When asked about the right or wrong development of affairs in Ivano-Frankivsk region, some 41.7% of the respondents expressed the opinion that things are going in the right direction, some 42.3% answered that in the wrong direction and 16% found it difficult to answer. The survey was conducted by the Agency for Social and Political Research and Communication Strategies from September 16 to September 23 in Ivano-Frankivsk region. The street survey was carried out using the "face-to-face" method on a random sample, including 2,000 residents of Ivano-Frankivsk region aged 18 and older (some 800 of them are residents of Ivano-Frankivsk). The sample is representative by age and gender. The statistical error does not exceed 2.2%. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Made Anthony Iswara (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 23:09 483 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c474c140 1 Headlines philanthropy,creative-economy,COVID-19,arts-and-culture,craft,traditional-arts,tourism Free Indonesias philanthropists are calling on their peers and businesspeople to support the arts financially, saying the pandemic despite its adverse effects presents a golden opportunity to develop the creative sector. Indonesia Philanthropy Association (PFI) cochair Erna Witoelar said the COVID-19 pandemic provided a much-needed opportunity to develop the creative sector because cash-strapped artists were looking for creative ways to entertain a growing pool of frustrated people cooped up at home. Now is the time for my fellow philanthropists and businesspeople to support the arts. Cultivating art means you are advancing society, Erna said in a webinar this week. Funding the arts during a pandemic that has stripped the incomes of workers in a number of sectors is not easy, but some philanthropists think it is necessary to salvage an industry that props up regional economies and small and medium enterprises. Take Yuli Astuti, a batik artisan from Kudus, Central Java. She said in May that her sales had fallen 50 percent during this years Ramadan a traditional shopping season from those of last year. The fasting period up until the Idul Fitri holiday means a lot for batik makers because there are usually many buyers. However, revenue from batik sales during the fasting month of Ramadan this year has dropped dramatically, Yuli said as quoted by Antara news agency. She now offers batik-patterned face masks and parcels as bonuses for purchases in a bid to attract buyers. The current state of the sector contrasts deeply with its rapid growth before the pandemic. Data from the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf), which was combined with the Tourism Ministry in President Joko Jokowi Widodo's second term, shows that the creative economy contributed Rp 1.1 quadrillion (US$73.75 billion) to the gross domestic product in 2018, more than double the Rp 526 trillion in 2010. In April, the President responded to growing public concern by ordering his ministers to create a stimulus package for businesses in the hard-hit tourism and creative economy sectors to help them survive the economic impacts of COVID-19. We need to carefully prepare an economic stimulus for business players in the tourism and creative economy sectors so that they can survive without having to terminate employment on a large scale, Jokowi said during a limited Cabinet meeting at the time. The government also agreed to provide endowments for cultural affairs as a follow-up to the 2017 Cultural Advancements Law. The funds are set to be disbursed in 2021. Economist Chatib Basri said during Monday's webinar that philanthropists needed to meet with the government to explore different opportunities considering that novel initiatives such as virtual concerts had emerged as a result of the pandemic. The former finance minister also suggested allowing wider tax breaks in the governments super deduction tax program to encourage businesspeople to fund the sector, as the incentive currently applied to only a small number of creative industries. The super tax deduction initiative, issued last year, is a major tax cut of up to 300 percent aimed at boosting investment, research and development, as well as the participation of businesses in improving Indonesias human resources. From there, [businesspeople] can help sow the seeds of the creative industries, considering the government [can only] support them with a limited budget, he said. Although it has not announced plans to revise the super tax deduction program, the government is planning to issue larger tax breaks than usual to cover 11 business sectors, including the creative economy, to help companies weather the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Indonesian Arts Coalition board executive Linda Hoemar Abidin said a number of regulatory bottlenecks remained that prevented companies and other philanthropists from donating to the sector. For example, Government Regulation No. 93/2010 stipulates that donors can donate no more than 5 percent of their income in the previous year to receive tax deductions. Such provisions limit the interest and extent to which businesspeople want to help the artistic community. Echoing Chatib's advice, Linda urged the private sector to seek benefits from the super tax deduction program for human resources development. I think this is an opportunity for all of us to participate in encouraging philanthropy [by exploring] training activities, internships, research and development through education, culture and the arts, she said. This may be the first newspaper column I have ever begun with a personal appeal to my readers. My defence is that we are living in such strange times. Unprecedented even. And for once Im not referring to the Covid crisis. Some of you may disagree with what I write. In normal times that wouldnt worry me in the slightest. Any columnist who shrinks from an argument should start looking for another job. Some of you might even be offended. This may be the first newspaper column I have ever begun with a personal appeal to my readers. My defence is that we are living in such strange times. Unprecedented even. And for once Im not referring to the Covid crisis. Police are seen in London enforcing 10pm pub closing time That would obviously not be my intention, but occasionally I have been known to let my rhetoric cloud my judgment. ADVERTISEMENT And, finally, some of you I assume at least half will be women. It is to you I make my appeal. Please do not accuse me of being a misogynist. Its not that I have anything to hide. Like any other reasonably civilised human being, I regard misogynists as both contemptible and very, very stupid. But it was revealed this week that the Law Commission wants to make misogyny illegal. It wants to make it a hate crime. And thats what scares me. Because there is a terrible failing in the very concept of hate crime that should scare all of us. The most senior police officer in the land is a woman: Dame Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. She is seriously worried Lets assume that the Law Commission gets its way (it usually does) and someone did accuse me of misogyny. Obviously I would plead innocent and claim that there is not a shred of evidence against me. I would point to the oldest and proudest belief underpinning our system of justice. It came into being millennia ago and has stood the test of time in every country that dares lay claim to democratic credentials. We are innocent until we are proven guilty. But the way hate crime is interpreted has taken us into an Alice In Wonderland world. That towering principle has faded like the face of the Cheshire Cat, leaving just the grin. It is the grin on the faces of those who seemingly dont give a fig about what justice means. It says: who needs proof of guilt when were talking hate crime? When the College of Policing published its new Hate Crime Operational Guidance five years ago, it was sent to every police force in England and Wales. It remains in force to this day. ADVERTISEMENT It states that a comment reported as hateful by a victim must be recorded irrespective of whether there is any evidence to identify the hate element. In other words, you no longer have to do anything as old-fashioned as provide some proof that you have actually been harmed in any way. All you have to do is perceive that you have been. And that word victim is crucial. If you perceive you are a victim, that is enough for the police to come calling. The same police, perhaps, as those who destroyed the reputations of some of the most respected public servants in this land on the word of Carl Beech, a paedophile and fantasist now serving a long prison sentence. Beech had claimed he was a victim and the police had believed him. The latest figures show that 34 police forces recorded 120,000 non-crime hate incidents in the five years since the Mad Hatter took over our penal policy. Recorded is another seemingly innocuous little word there that packs a mighty punch. Try getting a job in, say, teaching or (God forbid) the police force if your name crops up when the obligatory search of the criminal records is made. No chance. Click here to resize this module And now imagine the amount of time spent on each of those incidents. And then set that against police protestations that they are so hard-pressed they dont have the time to deal with such tiresome events as burglaries. Misogyny will be the latest in a growing list of so-called non-crime incidents. They already include race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and disability. ADVERTISEMENT The most senior police officer in the land is a woman: Dame Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. She is seriously worried. Heres how she put it when misogyny was first mooted as a hate crime: We should be focusing on what the public tell me they care about . . . My officers are very busy, very stretched. We have young people in London subject to gang violence, drug-dealing, stabbings . . . lots of priorities. You can say that again. According to the latest Home Office statistics, the number of criminal offences solved in England and Wales has halved in the past five years to 7.8 per cent. Violent crime is on the rise. There were more than 44,000 offences involving knives in the 12 months up to June 2019. In my middle-class corner of West London, its hard to find a single parent of a teenage boy who does not breathe a sigh of relief when he comes home unscathed. But perhaps, in spite of my protests at the top of this column, I am, indeed, displaying misogynistic tendencies when I argue against these latest hate crime proposals. Surely women need protection from men who hate women and try to harm them? Yes, of course they do. Which is why we already have laws that do precisely that. If my daughter is attacked in the street by a woman-hating moron, he will, I hope, be locked up. If you perceive you are a victim, that is enough for the police to come calling. The same police, perhaps, as those who destroyed the reputations of some of the most respected public servants in this land on the word of Carl Beech, a paedophile and fantasist now serving a long prison sentence If my son is attacked by another moron who happens to hate those he regards as posh boys, he should be locked up, too. But if the law changes, my daughters attacker would get a harsher sentence for the same crime. Is that justice? Hate crime legislation was born from a wish to protect persecuted minorities. Women are not a persecuted minority. They happen to be a majority. The next step the Law Commission is considering is including older people. What about vulnerable younger men? What about the entire population? But perhaps I am underplaying the reality of hate crime in this country. Remember how the nation was shamed by violence against foreigners in the aftermath of the EU referendum in 2016? It was widely reported at the time. But it never happened. As this newspapers peerless investigative reporter Guy Adams has painstakingly demonstrated over recent years, what does exist is a powerful lobby insisting that the nation is suffering from a crippling level of hate crime. At one of the regular conferences organised by Capita, a company that has grown rich on lucrative government contracts, a senior police officer made the preposterous claim that there is more hate crime in London than in the whole of the United States. Perhaps he believed it. The crime statistics tell a very different story. One bright note to end on. Harry Miller is a retired police officer who set up a successful company. He posted a number of tweets between November 2018 and January 2019 about transgender issues as part of the debate about reforming the Gender Recognition Act. In one of them he wrote: I was assigned mammal at birth, but my orientation is fish. Dont mis-species me. Big mistake. A complaint was made and he was visited by Humberside Police at his work. He was told he had not committed a crime, but it would be recorded as a non-crime hate incident. He would have a police record. He says the constable added that the police wanted to check his thinking. Mr Miller was both angry and deeply worried. He took the police to court. And he won. Last year the court found the forces actions were a disproportionate interference with his right to freedom of expression. The judge said the police had undervalued a cardinal democratic freedom. And he added these words: In this country we have never had a Cheka, a Gestapo or a Stasi. We have never lived in an Orwellian society. ADVERTISEMENT Long may it remain so. Misogyny is moronic. Lets not make it a crime. Bollywood actor Vishal Lamba has lodged a complaint at Oshiwara police station against unknown cyber fraudster for allegedly cheating people in the name of actor Sonu Sood. Lamba, who is close to Sood, in his complaint, said that a person received a call from a fraudster who claimed to be Soods manager. The accused allegedly said if the person wanted help from Sood, he would have to deposit 1,700 into a bank account as processing fees. However, the fraudster stopped receiving calls after the man deposited the money, said Lamba. Sood said, We are getting several complaints where such frauds are targeting the needy. They are taking anywhere between 800 to 10,000 in the name of helping them out. I have always been posting on my social media asking people to not believe such calls. I have even told these fraudsters, through my social media account, that if they are in need of money they can contact me and I will arrange a good job for them, and asked them not cheat the needy. In one such incident, a woman who was in need of an ambulance for her mother was asked to deposit 8,000 to 10,000 by someone who said that he was from my team. The woman deposited the money but did not get an ambulance, because of which her mother died. I came to know about it after the incident, and later we helped her, said Sood. Dayanand Bangar, senior inspector from Oshiwara police station, said, We have registered a case against the unknown person and started the investigation. The case has been registered under section 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and section 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act. According to reports, scammers are calling people asking for tax or clearance fees for parcels that have arrived with their names and contact numbers at IGI Airport. Delhi Police has issued a warning to citizens asking them to be careful about any calls you may receive from people claiming to be from Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI Airport) or from Customs Duty. Scammers are posing as officials from the airport or as Customs Duty officials and asking for money as tax or clearance fee for luggage or parcels registered to your name. According to reports, scammers are calling people asking for tax or clearance fees for parcels that have arrived with their names and contact numbers at IGI Airport. The scammer will then tell you to pay up if you want your parcel. If you are expecting a parcel or if your luggage is stuck at the airport, it is best to contact the officials directly. Delhi Police also warned people to be careful about fake advertisements of vehicles and other products being sold on websites like Olx. These ads are reportedly being posted by fake Indian Army, CISF or defence personnel. Also Read: A little girl helped Google remove malicious apps that had made 3.7 cr The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) recently tweeted to warn citizens that some fraudsters were using fake ID cards to sell items online on sites like Quikr and Olx. Members of public are hereby advised to be careful while entering into any such deal/transactions as it may be a fraudster trying to cheat you. In case of doubt, please report the matter to the Local Police. 2/2 CISF (@CISFHQrs) September 18, 2020 These scammers would claim to sell a car online at a very cheap price and once they got the buyers attention, they would ask for a small booking amount so as they dont sell the car to anyone else in the meanwhile and the buyer can check out the vehicle when he/she has time. To convince buyers that this whole transaction is real, the scammers would show fake defence forces ID cards. Once the token amount is transferred, these scammers fall off the map. Another common scam related to couriers involves fake messages and emails that appear to look like a courier-tracking link from companies like FedEx. To make it look more authentic, the scammers will also address the victim with their name. Also Read: SBI warns customers about scam emails, asks users to think before they click If you are expecting a courier, it is likely that you will click on the link provided to track the package. Clicking on the link takes you to a malicious website that asks for your personal and banking details. Once this information is stolen, the scammers will then proceed to steal money from your account like in any phishing attack. Distributor BBC Spirits bringing Japanese spirits portfolio to UK Drinks distribution company BBC Spirits is launching its portfolio of Japanese products in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Based in Bordeaux, France, BBC Spirits - named for its founders Bogdan and Bertrand - has been trading in the wine and spirits industry for more than a decade. It exports more than 60 products to 30 countries worldwide and currently works with 15 partner distillers to promote their spirits internationally. The company specialises in Japanese gin, rum, whisky, vodka, sake, shochu, brandy, liqueurs and awamori. Its portfolio includes Kurayoshi whisky, gin brand Etsu and Eiko vodka. To support its expansion BBC Spirits has appointed a new sales director, Greg Kimber. He has 15 years' experience in sales and marketing in the leisure, hospitality and drinks industries. Of his appointment, Greg said: "I am delighted to be joining such a fantastic company with world-class products. With the increase in consumer demand for Japanese spirits and the Tokyo Olympics taking place in Summer 2021, what better time is there to be talking about Japanese products? Watch this space as Japan has just landed." President and CEO of BBC Spirits, Bogdan Tanasoiu, said: "Every year we extend our distribution network across the globe and we are establishing ourselves as a specialist in our field, selecting the most suitable channels for brands in different countries. We are extremely happy to have Greg on board as his experience and expertise in the spirits sector will allow us to successfully launch our brands and business in the UK and Ireland this September." 25 September 2020 - Bethany Whymark Plans to restore rail and bus services to normality have been ditched by one of Britain's biggest transport operators because of fresh coronavirus restrictions. David Brown, the boss of Go-Ahead Group, said his company had been hoping to increase capacity on buses until the Government's work from home U-turn this week. Passenger numbers on buses and trains plummeted during the virus lockdown, with usage recovering in recent weeks but still remaining far below normal levels. Hard road: Passenger numbers on buses and trains plummeted during the virus lockdown, with usage recovering in recent weeks but still remaining far below normal levels Go-Ahead, which commands about 11 per cent of the UK regional bus market, yesterday revealed it had swung into a loss of 200,000 in the year ended June 27, after making a 97million profit last year. That came despite its revenues rising by 6 per cent to 3.9billion. Brown said: 'We were starting to believe over the last week that things were going to get back to normal.' But restrictions put in place this week are expected to hit passenger levels again. After weeks of saying that employees who could return to their workplace should, the Prime Minister on Tuesday asked them to again work from home if possible. The change is expected to result in fewer white-collar workers using public transport to get to work. Brown questioned why people can go to a pub but are advised against all but essential travel and insisted that buses and trains were safe if passengers wore masks and followed social distancing rules. Go-Ahead's regional buses are carrying between 50 per cent and 60 per cent of their pre-Covid passenger numbers. One hundred firefighters from Guadalajara, Mexico, arrived in California on Wednesday to help battle flames amid a record-breaking wildfire season that has left state firefighters fatigued and stretched. Five hand crews and four agency members from the National Forestry Commission of Mexico (CONAFOR) spent their first two days in Southern California in orientation and training. On Friday, they begin their assignment on the Sequoia Complex, building containment lines around the group of blazes that have burned through 144,777 acres and destroyed 214 structures as of this morning. "It's really an honor to have them ... help with the unprecedented fire situation," said Tony Scardina, U.S. Forest Service deputy regional forester of the Pacific southwest region. Sparked by lightning in August, the SQF Complex is made up of the Castle and Shotgun fires and the group of blazes is now 36% contained. The crews from Mexico will initially be assigned to the eastern portion of the Castle incident. The effort is the result of a partnership between the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, and CONAFOR. The agency requested additional fire personnel and equipment from Canada, the U.S. military and Mexico to assist with wildfire suppression efforts in California and Oregon. We continue to experience above-normal fire activity in California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and other states, said Ken Schmid with the Bureau of Land Management Fire Operations. Thankfully, our Department of Defense and international partners are able to support us in this time of need, as wildfire activity will likely carry on for the foreseeable future, particularly in California. Canada sent 291 fire specialists to assist with fires in the West last week. Another five crews are expected to arrive on Saturday to help with the North Complex fires east of Chico. In California, crews are currently battling 25 major wildfires with over 17,400 firefighters on the front lines, according to Cal Fire. More than 8,000 wildfires have burned a record-breaking 3.6 million acres across the state so far this year. Since August 15, when lightning storms sparked dozens of wildfires, there have been 26 fatalities and over 6,900 structures destroyed. The wildfire season isn't even over and fall is usually the peak when Diablo and Santa Ana winds kick up and fan flames. This record-breaking year could get even more destructive. Amy Graff is the news editor for SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com. TV SERIES War of the Worlds SBS ON DEMAND This adaption isnt about flashy CGI battle scenes between humans and aliens zapping people with death rays. Credit: Call me a cynic, but I reckon making contact with an advanced alien civilisation is a really dumb idea. Given our abysmal record of treating other species well, despite overwhelming evidence about animal sentience, why would super advanced beings see us as anything more than a crude, war-loving life form seemingly intent on trashing its world? The late Stephen Hawking compared first contact with an alien civilisation to what followed after Christopher Columbus introduced himself to the indigenous peoples of America. That didnt turn out so well for them, he wisely warned. Which brings me to this latest adaptation of H.G. Wells classic novel The War of the Worlds, the first one to make me really sit up in my chair. Set in present-day England and France, the eight-part drama (renewed for a second series) starts with astronomer Catherine Durand detecting an intelligent signal from outer space from her observatory in the French Alps. This article is part of the Free Speech Project , a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech. On Wednesday, Sept. 30, at noon Eastern the Free Speech Project will host an hourlong online discussion about how the single global internet is splintering into smaller ones with geographic borders. For more information and to RSVP, visit the New America website. Another component of internet-browsing is about to become criminal in Russia. On Sept. 21, Russias Ministry of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media (Minkomsvyaz) released a draft law that would criminalize the use of internet protocols that, in its words, encrypt a website name. The specific protocols the law is targeting are a jargony alphabet soup: TLS 1.3, ESNI, DNS over HTTPS (DoH), and DNS over TLS (DoT). But theyre important encryption techniques that are already, to varying degrees, deployed online, including in Russia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This marks another step in Russias push for a domestic internet that the state could tightly control and isolate from the world at will. (Thats the vision, anyway.) The draft law also highlights the authoritarian assault on the open internet playing out in the sometimes-overlooked domain of standards. Shared protocols allow devices of all different types, produced by many different manufacturers, to communicate with one another through an agreed-upon set of technical rules for behavior. These standards are developed by a wide variety of experts in multistakeholder bodies. Whenever you log onto the internet, you receive an internet protocol addressa product of these kinds of shared protocols. Without said rules, internet communication would be a mess: Any time you landed in a country, youd have to head over to the airport gadget shop and make sure you didnt need a new, country-specific device to communicate with others. Similarly, if you and your friends didnt have the same kind of smartphone, thered be less guarantee of text or phone call compatibility. Advertisement Advertisement Authoritarians, particularly in China and Russia, have long had qualms with these open and interoperable standards for those exact reasons: Its harder for governments to control data flows when there are no centralized chokepoints for authorities to seize, or when protocols themselves cloak user communications behind a veil of encryption, or when experts in some far-away meeting are deciding the technical protocols used to route data in their borders. Advertisement Thats why, in recent years, Moscow and Beijing have asserted more direct state control of internet standards domestically. Within Chinas borders, for instance, the state has altered key components of the internets data routing system to put the state more firmly in the drivers seat, sharply diverging from how internet routing functions outside China and on the Chinese internets periphery. Practically speaking, that means Beijing has more control over which data goes where. Russia and, in particular, China have also become more vocal in supporting their preferred, closed standards in international forumsones that could allow greater control. In other words, theyre working on exporting a model of closed standards. They hope that more state influence over internet standards development will help them advance their goals of creating greater sovereignty online. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This draft law is one of only many actions the Russian government has taken to undermine shared internet protocols within its borders. The Kremlin has been trying for yearsmost notably under a 2019 lawto wrest control within Russia of the Domain Name System, the internets phone book for addressing traffic. In the Kremlins view, controlling the Domain Name System would give it tighter rein over how traffic flows in the country as well as which devices are compatible with this envisioned Russian domestic internet. The specific protocols named with the recent draft law encrypt otherwise-visible information about a users destination thats linked to their data packets. For state authorities relying on access to that data for content censorship and surveillance, encryption is more than a mere thorn in the side. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Naturally, the draft law cites the enforcement of information control laws as justification for criminalizing these protocols use. These laws target child pornography, for instance, but they also target what many democracies would call protected political speech, like sharing knowledge of corruption or drawing attention to pervasive and often violent homophobia in Russian society. Russias internet and media regulator, the explanatory note says, has difficulty identifying the real network addresses of devices on external systems when these encryption protocols are used, reducing its ability to restrict online information. In practice, surveillance, censorship, and internet isolation are deeply entangled in Russia. As with DNS, the Kremlin has made control of key internet protocols a central part of its plan for a domestic, isolatable internet in Russia. Part of that is moderating content, yes. But part of that is also being able to watch those communicating online, through pervasive surveillance add-ons to Russias digital infrastructure; its also about being able to develop key chokepoints for the internet in the country, so that its easier to exert control over the infrastructure than it is with a more decentralized system, both in software and in hardware. For a government with a far less technically sophisticated and established internet censorship system than the one run by counterparts in China, the Kremlins somewhat scattershot and roadblock-filled internet censorship approach depends on knowing who is saying what, when, and to whom. That allows the Russian state to use physical coercionshowing up and throwing someone in jail for saying the wrong thing onlinealongside technical internet restrictions. Advertisement Advertisement Its extremely likely that the draft law will be enactedafter all, this is a country whose ruler once declared his plan to establish a dictatorship of the law. But internet control is a complicated wish, and this plan may not work exactly to the Kremlins liking. Historically speaking, when fine-grained filtering attempts have failed, the Kremlin has relied on sweeping techniques with collateral damage for citizens ability to access other websites. As the independent Russian news outlet Meduza reported, Russian internet and search giant Yandex already uses some of these protocols, which underscores the importance of company compliance here. Standards are a growing point of conflict for the global internet, and they have been for some time. The multistakeholder bodies where these technical rules are developed are increasingly marked by a contest between a free, open, and interoperable internet model and one that prioritizes tight state control over information flows and internet architecture. Russia criminalizing the use of relatively agreed-upon internet protocols which directly employ encryption is just an illustration of this authoritarian movement against internet standards that underpin the web as we know it. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. Syracuse, N.Y. Roughly 200 people gathered around the Jerry Rescue monument in downtown Syracuse tonight for a peaceful but loud demonstration of outrage at the decision by a Kentucky grand jury not to bring charges against Louisville police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor last March. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was awakened and killed during a botched drug raid after her boyfriend fired a shot at police who broke down the door to their apartment. A grand jury on Wednesday declined to indict the officers who shot Taylor but charged an officer with recklessly firing shots into an apartment next to Taylors. Speakers at the Syracuse rally on Clinton Square said Taylor is yet another victim of racism among police and the nation at large, including Central New York. "It was more important to Kentucky that they shot into someone elses apartment than the fact that they took this womans life,'' said Yusuf Abdul-Qadir, director of the local chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "As a black person, we cant be (safe) sleeping in our beds,'' he said. The crowd, a mix of Black and white people of all ages, held candles and chanted Taylors name. They raised their fists and vowed to fight for justice. After marching for weeks on end earlier this year in response to the death of Taylor and others, several speakers conceded that its a wearying struggle they fight. "Id rather not be here,'' said a woman named Queen. Id rather not have to say, thank you for being here yet again. Comparisons to a Syracuse shooting Several people compared Taylors death to that of Steve Smith, a 33-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by police Sept. 4 in what Syracuse police said was a shootout between Smith and officers. Curtis Chaplin, speaking to the crowd, disputed the police account and questioned why video footage from police body cameras has not been released. Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard earlier today that he is still investigating the shooting and plans to present it to a grand jury within 10 days. Fitzpatrick has not made the bodycam footage publicly available before the grand jury meets, but he said he has offered to show it to Smiths mother before then. Fitzpatrick said his investigation should be finished next week. He is waiting for autopsy results, toxicology tests and ballistics reports from the shooting, he said. Members of Smiths family and their supporters have held daily protest marches since Sunday to demand answers from authorities. About two dozen people gathered for a march at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, before the Breonna Taylor event. "We stand in solidarity with the family,'' Clifford Ryans, of OGs against Violence, said at the later event. They havent gotten all the answers yet. The head of Syracuses police union issued a statement predicting that the videos will back up what police have said about Smiths death. "I feel badly for the family for losing a loved one, but this was a very clear cut case and eventually the videos will show everyone just that,'' wrote Jeff Piedmonte, the union president. Work for change, speakers say Frustration and anger poured out during tonights event, which lasted about 80 minutes. Politicians and the media came in for repeated scorn. Several speakers said they are tired of lip service from politicians and tired of the medias shortcomings in pointing out injustice. "We dont have the tolerance anymore to have the mayor tweet out Black lives matter to me,'' said Queen. Black lives actually have to matter. Abdul-Qadir urged the crowd to take action in addition to showing up for demonstrations. He specifically asked that they contact Syracuse city councilors before their meeting Monday. The council is considering "right to know'' legislation demanded by protesters that would require more transparency from police about their encounters with city residents. Regarding Taylors death, law enforcement officials have defended the grand jurys decision. The police had a warrant to enter her apartment and fired their weapons after being shot at, justifying self defense, they argue. But to the crowd gathered around the Jerry Rescue statue, a memorial to citizens who rose up against law enforcement in 1851 to rescue a runaway slave, the system failed Breonna Taylor. It failed to bring justice for an innocent woman who was sleeping in her bed before she was killed, they said. Yesterday what they told us is that I can be in my house sleeping and die, and thats all right, Queen said. News tips? Contact reporter Tim Knauss of syracuse.com/The Post-Standard: email | Twitter | | 315-470-3023 Greek high school students marched Thursday in protests against the governments herd immunity policy as occupations of high schools and strikes by doctors and transport workers spread across the country. This upsurge of social opposition comes as Athens hospitals, devastated by decades of European Union austerity, find themselves swamped with 580 COVID-19 victims as young as 17, including 70 intubated patients. Amid a total blackout in the international media, students at hundreds of high schools and broad layers of workers are joining the struggle against the EUs back-to-school campaign, led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis right-wing New Democracy (ND) government. The return to school has proceeded without opposition from the trade unions or the main bourgeois opposition party, the pro-austerity Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left). Doctors take part in a rally during a 24-hour nationwide strike by state hospital workers outside the health ministry in Athens, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) Protests by high school students against the ND governments guidelines for the return to school continue to accelerate. While on Monday dozens of high schools joined a movement to occupy the schools that began last week, by Tuesday 100 schools were occupied. Yesterday, Kathimerini reported that over 200 schools were occupied across Greece, mainly in the Attica region around Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete, Achaea and Magnesia. Anger is mounting among workers and youth over the lack of social distancing and conditions, such as large class sizes in poorly ventilated classrooms, which ensure that the virus will spread. The main demands of the protesting students include limiting class sizes to 15 and hiring on the basis of permanent contracts the number of teachers necessary to reduce class sizes, along with additional cleaning staff. Sections of workers are taking strike action in solidarity, while also demanding wage increases and contract revisions. On Thursday, a strike at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, shut down all traffic, including both merchant shipping and ferries, for 24 hours. From Monday to Wednesday, Olympic Air was forced by strike action to cancel 58 domestic flights between Athens and various Greek islands. On Thursday, students, joined by teachers and parents, marched in Athens and Thessaloniki, Greeces two largest cities, criticizing both herd immunity policies and the military buildup against Turkey being carried out by the Mitsotakis government, in alliance with France. Protesting students in Athens spoke to Greeces Press Project of how they would speak to Mitsotakis if he were present: You tell us we are closing schools, but your policy has turned them into health bombs and is resulting in the closure of one after another due to COVID-19! You are telling us that we are right, but that we should sit at home to do you a favor and give up our rights. You have the audacity to tell us that you will satisfy our demands if we back downwhile at the same time claiming that nothing can be solved, that we are asking for too much if we demand safe schools. Protesters also chanted slogans against moves to increase military service to 10 months starting at age 18, and the recent massive arms deal between Paris and Athens, which is aimed at Turkey. The Coordination Committee of Athens Students, an umbrella organization overseeing student protests and school occupations in the Athens area, echoed this sentiment in a statement criticizing the militarist budget of the Mitsotakis government. The statement read: The ND government says it will buy 16 Rafale warplanes from France this year at a cost of nearly 4 billion. Then we are told there is no money to hire teachers who are badly needed to reduce the number of students per classroom. Many students note that the 4 billion spent on French weapons to prepare a fratricidal war against Turkey would be enough to hire the 300,000 teachers needed to cut class sizes to 15. The Greek Communist Youth (KNE), linked to the Stalinist Greek Communist Party (KKE), reported that some school principals and officials are trying to blockade occupied high schools and slander protesters as mask deniers, claiming that they deny the necessity of wearing masks for safety during the pandemic. The KNE said that students are simply making the point that masks will not be enough to halt the spread of the virus between students who spend long periods of time in the same classroom. On Thursday, in addition to protests by students, Greek hospital doctors protested in Athens outside the Ministry of Health to demand more staff and a scientific approach to fighting the pandemic. We are here because the government has not taken any actions to help the National Health System, they told Greeces Press Project. We will not tolerate becoming a danger to our patients because of the intensification of workloads and our exhaustion. There must be an urgent mass recruitment of permanent staff in hospitals. The doctors emphasized their opposition to sackings of temp nursing staff, demanding that all health staff immediately and unconditionally receive permanent employment. They also called for the hiring of one doctor and four nurses for every new intensive care bed that is opened. We are here because the government, as at all previous times, whatever its policy, says that scientists suggest but they legislate, doctors told Press Project. Pointing to the rising death toll from the resurgence of COVID-19 in Greece, they denounced health protocols written to satisfy the requirements of the hotels and the tourist industry We are seeing the result of a policy that subjugates science to the savage laws of the market. Greek officials made clear they intend to ignore the protests and continue EU herd immunity policies. Even with 342 cases and nine deaths on Thursday, Development and Investment Minister Adonis Georgiadis said there would be no lockdown to halt the spread of the virus. The lockdown will not take place tomorrow or the day after, he said. We are fighting to avoid it. It is the last recourse. It is not the advisory committee on infectious disease that rules, but the government. Mitsotakis echoed the comments of Georgiadis in a televised appeal yesterday, demanding that the public wear masks. He said the choice was between self-protection and lockdown. He added that lockdowns mean closed businesses and unemployment, basing himself on plans for the billions of euros in bailout funding to go only to the banks and major corporations, rather than to workers and small businesses. As for Syriza leader and former prime minister Alexis Tsipras, he said Syriza should not provide any opportunities for the government and Mr. Mitsotakis to escape the difficult situation in which they have placed themselves and the country. In fact, Tsipras himself bears central political responsibility for the crisis now unfolding in Greece. Elected in 2015 based on pledges to end EU austerity, he betrayed these promises and implemented billions of euros in social cuts that devastated Greek hospitals, schools and other institutions now threatened by COVID-19. Syriza and its allies in the KKE and the Greek trade union bureaucracy are directly implicated in the current disaster. The alternative for Greek youth and workers is a turn to the European and international working class. Explosive anger is building across Europe and beyond at the financial aristocracys herd immunity policy, and protests have already broken out in Madrid. The political task facing the working class is to prepare general strike action across Europe against herd immunity policies, to take control of the resources necessary to fight the virus, and to bring down anti-working class governments across Europe as part of a common struggle for the United Socialist States of Europe. Britain's biggest firms have been told they cannot pay dividends, dish out bonuses or sack staff if they want to benefit from Rishi Sunak's latest coronavirus bailout. With the furlough scheme due to close at the end of next month, the Chancellor unveiled his new job support scheme to help pay the wages of staff brought back part-time. But unlike the existing lifeline, which was used by big firms such as British Airways and Philip Green's Arcadia before they laid off workers, the new jobs scheme will come with strings attached. All small and medium-sized firms will be eligible for support. With the furlough scheme due to close at the end of next month, the Chancellor unveiled his new job support scheme to help pay the wages of staff brought back part-time In contrast, larger firms will have to undergo a financial impact test to demonstrate their business has been hit by Covid-19. There was no such requirement for the Job Retention Scheme, which has been used by 1.2m firms to support 9.6m jobs at a cost of more than 39billion so far. Yesterday Sunak told MPs he wanted to ensure support 'is targeted where it is most needed.' He added: 'Similarly there will be restrictions on larger companies in terms of capital distributions to shareholders, whilst they are in receipt of money for their workers on this scheme, and indeed they will not be able to make redundancy notices to those workers who are on this scheme throughout its duration.' Further details will be published in the coming days but it is understood larger firms such as those in the FTSE 350 will also be banned from paying executives bonuses. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the restrictions make 'perfect sense' but would come as another blow to investors and pension funds, which have already seen dividends slashed at a number of major firms. He added: 'The loss of dividends is another blow in the short term but better that than the long-term damage to a company's reputation or finances from paying dividends with money it does not really have.' The Chancellor wants to avoid a repeat of firms claiming taxpayer support to save jobs, only to announce mass lay-offs. BA's decision to furlough nearly 23,000 staff shortly before announcing plans to cut 12,000 jobs angered MPs, despite the airline battling for survival. Arcadia, which owns Topshop, also accepted millions of pounds before axing hundreds of jobs. Measures announced by Sunak yesterday were part of efforts to avert another wave of job losses after ministers tightened up social distancing rules to tackle a resurgence of the virus. The end of the furlough scheme next month and new restrictions including a 10pm curfew on pubs across England has piled pressure on the Chancellor to come up with a replacement. The job support scheme will run for six months from November 1. It is much less generous than the furlough scheme but is still expected to cost the Government 300million per month for every one million workers it supports. The Treasury is understood to estimate that anywhere between 2m and 5m people could be covered by the scheme meaning it could cost up to 1.5billion a month. Firms can use it to top up the wages of those staff who work at least 33 per cent of their normal hours, taking their pay to at least 77 per cent of usual. For every hour not worked the employer and the Government will each pay one third of the employee's usual pay. The Government's contribution will be capped at 697.92 a month much lower than the 2,500 cap under the furlough scheme. Paul Johnson, the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, predicted the support was not generous enough. But the CBI, which represents big firms, said it would 'save hundreds of thousands of viable jobs this winter'. Macabre new evidence has come to light that one of Russia's most notorious Neo-Nazi leaders was murdered in his cell, his father and lawyer claim. Officials in Russia say that Maxim Martsinkevich, nicknamed Tesak - which means Machete, committed suicide in his cell in a Urals detention centre. The authorities claim that he committed suicide by asphyxia. The 36-year-old anti-gay ultra-nationalist was found dead last week. Maxim Martsinkevich, nicknamed the Machete, was found dead in a Russian prison cell last week His father Sergey though has highlighted 'disturbing' new details about the death. He said: 'I examined the body. It really was murder. 'There were traces of torture, two toenails torn off, there was an injection. Do not believe this was suicide.' The body was found on the lower bunk in the cell. Sergey claimed that his son's arms had been twisted before death. The upper bunk in the cell was daubed with blood and the words 'Tesak died here.' Maxim Martsinkevich's body was found in a blood splattered prison cell in the Urals last week Lawyer Ivan Sidorov said that the whole cell was covered in blood. Yet one of several 'suicide notes' by Martsinkevich said that he could not walk at the time of his death. All of the notes were also dated October 2020. Mir Sidorov said: 'So Maxim got up and wandered around? 'Suicides don't do that. They usually hide quietly under the sheet. There are a lot of strange and incomprehensible aspects.' A handwriting expert has claimed that one of the notes was in a women's writing. While the time of death on the official certification does not match the original statement by the authorities. One inconsistency shows that the Neo-Nazi refused breakfast in jail when, by official documents, he was already dead. Martsinkevich was listed as a criminal leader and an escape risk and was supposed to be monitored every 30 minutes Sergey and Mr Sidorov say. Yet the CCTV cameras in his cell were not working on the night that he died, they said. The lawyer added that the prison chief was 'very embarrassed' that gruesome pictures of the corpse showed the Neo-Nazi wearing ear plugs when he died. He said: 'No explanation has been given.' Lawyer Ivan Sidorov, left, and Martsinkevich's father, Sergey Martsinkevich, right, dispute how the prisoner died Martsinkevich was in transit to Moscow for a court hearing at the time of his death. The Neo-Nazi had stated previously that 'If suddenly I slash my veins or hang myself while in transit, know that I was helped. Strongly.' His family are demanding an independent investigation into the death. Martsinkevich had been the leader of the extremist group Format 18. He had also founded the homophobic group Occupy Paedophilia which set out to cure homosexuals. This organisation lured gay men to sex meetings with teenage boys. It then filmed attacks on them at the 'meeting' including covering them with urine. Martsinkevich also faced claims that he outed LGBT teens to their schools, parents and friends which led some to commit suicide. The thug had fled to Cuba but he was extradited back to Russia. He was jailed for ten years for 'banditry and hooliganism' after a vigilante campaign where alleged drugs suppliers were attacked with metal bats, pepper spray and electric shockers. He had three prior convictions relating to extremism and inciting hatred and ran far-right youth groups and posed with swastikas. The Russian Investigative Committee has denied he was murdered. Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the committee, said: 'One can say with confidence that Martsinkevich left suicide notes and committed suicide. 'He had a very serious motive to kill himself.' She added that he had expected parole in several years but new charges meant he would have stayed in prison much longer. Tamil Nadu: Govt relief cushions COVID-19 lockdown, fishing ban restrictions in TN September 25,2020 | Source: Outlook India The impact of the lockdown enforced to prevent the spread of coronavirus and local restriction on fishing were to some extent cushioned by Tamil Nadu government''s relief measures, efforts of fisher organisations, and individual vessel owners. Around Rs 96 crore was extended as relief to 4.8 lakh members through the Tamil Nadu Fishermen Welfare Board, which gave away Rs 2,000 per head for two months for the lockdown period for fishermen, fisherwomen, allied workers and crew members, a senior official in the fisheries department said. An additional breeding season allowance of Rs 5,000 was given to each family for the ban (on fishing) period. This sum was disbursed to about 1.6 lakh families, the senior official, who did not want to be named told PTI. "Chief minister K Palaniswami''s decision to extend free ration to the fishermen having family ration cards, who were entitled to the Rs 1,000 relief amount given by Tamil Nadu government, helped to mitigate the harsh conditions imposed by the pandemic," the official claimed. "Some of us who owned small boats went out to fish but unfortunately could not sell due to the lockdown. The local panchayats and our organisations asked us to prioritise supply of fish to local households first." "Vessel owners provided essential commodities to the fishermen engaged on board their huge crafts, "Mohan Kumar, a fisherman from Royapuram, here said. Although the state government did not restrict fishing, the ban on mechanised boats due to the breeding season from mid-April to mid-June allowed only small boats on a rotation basis from April 14. The mechanised boats couldn''t ply for an additional time period of 20 days (from March 25 to 14 April) due to the lockdown and after that the annual ban period started. The state government permitted the small boats to venture into the sea on a rotational basis from April 14, ensuring that only 50 per cent of the boats left from each village on alternate days and the boats were allowed to sail up to 12 nautical miles. French police have launched an investigation after a young woman said she was punched in the face by three men who complained about me wearing a skirt. The 22-year-old woman, identified only as Elisabeth, said she was attacked in broad daylight in the city of Strasbourg while she was walking home. She told France Bleu Alsace radio that as she was walking, one of the three men said: Look at that whore in a skirt. Two of the three men held her while the third hit her in the face, leaving her with a black eye before they fled. There were over a dozen witnesses to the attack but no one intervened, she said. French ministers have condemned the very serious incident as unacceptable. Gabriel Attal, a spokesperson for the government, said: In France we must be able to go out dressed in the street as we want. We cannot accept that today in France, a woman feels in danger, either harassed, threatened or beaten because of how she dresses. Junior interior minister Marlence Schiappa, who previously served as Secretary of State for Gender Equality and is now in charge of citizenship, visited Strasbourg on Wednesday to discuss the safety of women in public. Ms Schiappa told France Bleu Alsace: A woman is never hit because she wears a skirt. A woman is hit because there are people who are misogynistic, sexist, violent, and who free themselves of any law or any rule of civility by striking them. When youre a student and you have to think about the outfit you have to wear and the message it sends, its an overwhelming mental load. She urged people to call the police if they witness street harassment, sexist or sexual assault against women in public. The minister announced the recruitment of 80 social workers to be stationed in police stations and gendarmerie brigades to support victims of street harassment and gender-based and sexual violence. The incident comes after a 18-year-old man was handed a two-month suspended prison sentence after he assaulted two women who were waiting for a tram in Mulhouse. The man claimed one of the womens outfits was too short and pushed her to the ground. He was detained on Wednesday and sentenced the following day under a special fast-track procedure allowed under French law. China is still looking for new arguments to refute the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)s ruling in 2016. The legal battle in the East Sea is not over yet. On September 18, China sent a note verbale CML/63/2020 in response to the note verbales of France, the United Kingdom and Germany sent to the United Nations Secretary-General two days earlier expressing the three European countries views on the 7 notes that the Chinese mission had proposed for circulation at the UN relating to Malaysia's submission on continental shelf to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) on December 12, 2009. Going against international law In their notes, the three countries emphasized the global nature and consistency of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in establishing a legal framework defining maritime zones and implementing maritime activities worldwide. The notes emphasizes the unified integrity of the Convention on a global scale. China argues that UNCLOS is not everything. In addition to UNCLOS there is general international law. Paragraph 8 of UNCLOS Preamble notes "matters not regulated by this Convention continue to be governed by the rules and principles of general international law". This argument was developed by China after the PCAs ruling 2016 and was formally addressed by Deputy Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui at the international seminar on "East Sea from the perspective of cooperation" held on Hainan Island on September 2. The British Navy warship HMS Argyll took part in exercises with the US Navy in the East Sea in January 2019. Photo: US Navy The September 18 note of the Chinese mission officially added this argument in the East Sea dispute on the UN forum. This note outlines the current negotiations on legal documents for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) to which China actively participates as an example of the development and perfection of UNCLOS. In fact, UNCLOS is a maritime charter, covering general provisions for all maritime zones and areas of marine activity. The preamble of the Convention on migratory fish in 1995 and the BBNJ negotiation documents from 2018 state that these documents were prepared on the basis of UNCLOS, in the framework of UNCLOS regulations, in accordance with UNCLOS and without prejudice to the rights, powers and obligations of states under UNCLOS. The waters not beyond the national jurisdiction are determined on the basis of clearly delineating the exclusive economic zones and the continental shelf of the coastal state in accordance with the provisions of UNCLOS. The issues of baseline and the regulations of the islands and land features are already covered by UNCLOS after 9 years of negotiation. UNCLOS is a package solution, requiring consistency in interpretation and application and does not accept exceptions. Chinas note affirms that China has territorial sovereignty and maritime rights established in a long history, with the consistency of successive governments, in accordance with international law including both the United Nations Charter and UNCLOS. However, Chinas White Paper 1980 states that Chinese fishermen were the earliest who discovered, named and managed islands in the East Sea. This goes against international law, which stipulates that only peaceful, continuous and real acts of ownership by the government bring the name of sovereignty. The perspective of France UK - Germany Historically, Chinese governments recognized the southernmost point of Chinese territory as Hainan Island. Until 1909, China had a dispute over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands and until 1935 the name Nansha was still given to the submerged archipelago of Zhongsha. The use of force in Hoang Sa (Paracel) in 1974 and Truong Sa (Spratly Islands) in 1988 was not a measure to create a title of sovereignty confirmed by the UN Charter. British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to visit the East Sea next year. Photo: Reuters The September 18 note stated that China appreciates the importance of the provisions of the Convention and the conditions applicable to the drawing of the territorial sea. At the same time, China also believes that the practice established in international law regarding the offshore islands of the coastal state should be respected. This means that China assumes that there is an international custom to use archipelagic straight baselines for these offshore islands and that the coastal state can both adopt straight baselines according to Article 7, Part II and the archipelagic baseline in accordance with Article 47, part IV of UNCLOS for maximum benefit. The notes of France - UK - Germany had the opposite view. Part II of the Convention applies to archipelagos and land features of a coastal state. Part IV is applicable only to archipelagic country. There is no legal basis to disobey the relevant provisions of Part II or knowingly apply Part IV to the islands and land features of the coastal state. China's argument is based on the 2018 study by the Chinese International Law Association to refute the East Sea ruling. This study cited 19 offshore archipelagos that applied a straight baseline. Of these, France, the UK and Australia are all mentioned (France with the Kerguelen Islands; Guadeloupe and New Caledonia; Australia with Houtman Abrolhos Islands and Furneaux Group; the UK with the Turks, Caicos Islands and the disputed Falkland Islands). But these countries oppose China applying the archipelagic straight baseline to Hoang Sa Islands and the plan to apply it to the so-called Nanhai Zhudao. These countries' note is evidence that there is no international practice in applying archipelagic straight baselines to the offshore islands of the coastal state as proposed by China. The legal war has not come to an end Chinas note does not answer points 4 and 5 of the notes of France UK - Germany on the status of islands and claims of historic rights. The notes of the three European countries states that land reclamation activities or any form of man-made transformation cannot change the characteristics of a land feature under UNCLOS. The Chinese missions note only reiterates that China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights in the East Sea will not be harmed under any circumstances due to the illegal ruling on the East Sea. Point 4 of the Chinese note states that China is trying to resolve disputes in the East Sea through friendly consultations with countries concerned directly. China and ASEAN are committed to the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (DOC). However, the reality shows that the DOC has failed to promote the effect of refraining from the use of force and threatening to use force, not preventing expansion of occupation and land reclamation activities. The failure of the DOC forced countries to find a new code of conduct (COC), but the negotiation was still very difficult as fishing vessels of Vietnam and the Philippines were always in distress, oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities within 200 nautical miles from the coast of coastal countries were always at stake. In the war of diplomatic notes, which started from Malaysias submission in December 2019, 23 notes and official letters have been submitted so far (China - 8, the Philippines - 2, Malaysia - 3, Vietnam - 3; Indonesia - 2, US - 1, Australia - 1, France - UK - Germany - 3). Brunei and a number of other countries also issued statements demonstrating their stance. Most countries support the PCAs East Sea ruling that rejects the claim of historic rights, does not allow land features in Truong Sa to have a territorial water larger than 12 nautical miles and not to apply archipelagic baselines for the Spratlys as a unified unit. As more and more countries take a common stance, this may produce an erga omnes (towards all) effect. China is still looking for new arguments to refute the PCA ruling as well as to have a new interpretation of the provisions of UNCLOS. The legal battle in the East Sea is not over yet. Nguyen Hong Thao Note Verbales of France, UK, Germany and the legal war in the East Sea France, the United Kingdom and Germany has submitted a joint note verbale expressing their views against the seven notes the Chinese mission had proposed for circulation at the United Nations. Since being fired from Vogue at the start of his magazine career, Derek Blasberg has made quite the comeback. Being fired from Vogue, I really thought it was over, Blasberg said, speaking on video from a bedroom in his Manhattan apartment. As the coronavirus pandemic continues, most companies are still operating on a work-from-home basis, including YouTube, where Blasberg has been leading fashion and beauty partnerships for the last two years. A rarefied job, and a first for YouTube, where he makes use of his many, many high-profile friends and acquaintances, and years of fashion magazine work. Its a long way off from being forced to go freelance at 22 and avoiding having to pay for dinner with friends by saying he was busy and would meet them at dessert. More from WWD Then Id go home and eat Kraft Mac n Cheese, he said. Clearly, Blasbergs ability to socialize is not impacted by a tight budget and hes become a fixture of fashion shows and parties over the years. But a peek at his bedroom offers a few, however vague, glimpses into his now more comfortable life. Its finely decorated, with walls painted a dusty pink and well-placed gold fixtures. A woman who appears to be a housekeeper pops into the background at one point, putting some clothes or maybe a towel into a hamper. Such are the limits of interviewing people through a computer screen. But Blasberg does have a charisma that comes through, even on a laptop. His conversation is easy and light, hes quick with a quip or a friendly jab, sometimes in his own direction. Hes maintained an ever-so-slight Midwestern lilt and not yet succumbed to using the same phrases over and over that media training can drill into leaders at tech companies. Its easy to see how his relaxed demeanor and way of talking to someone hes never met as if theyve done so a dozen times has turned some very famous women, some of whom started out as subjects for magazine pieces, into his friends. Story continues It took me a while to realize that my old jobs in magazines and even CNN, I was getting to do on a much bigger scale and much bigger audience and team, Blasberg said of before he took the YouTube job in 2018. And hes busy. The dings of calendar alerts, e-mails and G-chats are frequent while talking to him. Hes brought people like Naomi Campbell to the platform, with her videos taking off during the pandemic. Hes matched influencers and brands for marketing moments, like Emma Chamberlain with Louis Vuitton. Hes gotten legacy brands like Chanel, Dior and Bottega Veneta to livestream shows. Now, like magazines and the publishing industry at large, Blasberg has been confronted with the Black Lives Matter movement and calls to force the fashion industry, of which he has long been a part, to do more to diversify and represent people of color. Later this year he hopes to launch the Black Designers Initiative on YouTube. With 15 designers already on board, the move is aimed at getting designers of color to the same level of popularity as others in the fashion design world, who are typically white, male and European. When we look at who succeeds on YouTube, theres a disparity, even in whos represented on YouTube, Blasberg admits. Beyond much-needed diversifying of fashion, Blasberg expects the industry to change its ways when it comes to the near-constant stream of shows and parties and events that the pandemic all but wiped out and of which, for years, Blasberg has been an eagerly high-profile part. I dont think it will go back to what it was for everyone, he said. There was an extreme amount of, I guess we can call it waste. Here, WWD catches up with Blasberg on his work at YouTube, his past at magazines and where he sees the fashion industry going post-pandemic. WWD: Youre someone whos used to going out a lot. How have these past months been for you? Are you going crazy or were you ready for a break? Derek Blasberg: Its been definitely super surreal, but Ive been healthy and pretty happy so its nothing to complain about. I think Im having a similar experience to a lot of people in the fashion space, where youre forced to analyze some of the routines and norms we took for granted in this industry for the past few years. Like traveling around the world for one 13-minute show, working at all hours of the day. In a lot of ways, Ive been really happy about having the time and the headspace to reflect. But, like a lot of people, Im spending so much time on these video conferences that I think my eyeballs are going to fall out of my head. WWD: It actually starts to physically hurt your face. D.B.: It does. But I will say when I used to push myself to exhaustion, sometimes Id have to get on a plane and go to a fashion show. Now when I push myself to my video conference exhaustion, I say Im going to go for a walk in Central Park. I still dont think my dog knows whats going on, hes more confused than anyone, like, Ive been on four walks today and never been on four walks in my entire life. How is this happening? WWD: A lot of us have probably been asking that this year. But this is actually your second at YouTube. D.B.: We spent a year building what would become youtube.com/fashion and, as you can imagine on a platform like YouTube that has more than two billion viewers a day, its hard to build things. Or I shouldnt say difficult, its complex. In that time we launched channels, like Jen Atkin and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Louis Vuitton TV, but last September we really moved into this pretty incredible and exciting consumer-facing fashion show extravaganza. Which in hindsight turned out to be pretty timely. Now, in a surreal way, were really flexing the muscle of youtube.com/fashion while all of these brands are transitioning to livestream shows, all digital shows or, and Im sure this is as much your new favorite word as it is mine, phy-gital shows. WWD: I actually get a little bit queasy every time I hear it. D.B.: Thats probably the right word to describe it. WWD: In the beginning of the pandemic in the West, were there any viewership changes that struck you, did fashion and beauty content drop off? D.B.: When it became clear that this was a very serious situation, and there was a moment when Google shifted all of its marketing budget to stay home, that was an interesting moment in the fashion space because a lot of fashion people recognized now is not the time to talk about trends and going out, literally were not supposed to go out, so dont talk about how to do the perfect smokey eye for a night on the town. But what was great is from where I was sitting we saw a lot of creators doing, While were home, this is my five-step protein-pak routine, This is how to treat your skin when youre staying home. We also had a lot of creators come to us for ideas with stay-at-home content. WWD: Did it take a minute for you and your team to figure out what content would play well was it you going to people saying you need to shift gears or did content creators come to you saying this is what I want to do? D.B.: Im trying to think if there were any moments where we had to reprimand a channel and I cant think of one so my instinct is no. But we definitely did do a lot of brainstorming. For example, we sat down with Karlie Kloss and came up with a lot of ideas for the kind of content she should be creating during quarantine. Also, I probably should have started with this, but within the fashion vertical there are three buckets of creators: brands, publishers and professionals. They each have different levels of strategy and concept building. Most brands, if Im being candid, just went silent for most of 2020. Whereas some of the professionals, like Naomi Campbell, she went, like WWD: She went off. D.B.: She went off. She started a whole new series called No Filter With Naomi and for three weeks she did it every single day. And I dont think Naomi would mind me saying this, shes not always been known for her punctuality. Shocking. But I will say, for this, she was on time, fully prepared, super easy to work with and super eager to talk to everyone. And we had agreed to do only two weeks and she loved it so much she did a third bonus week. That was someone who really took that opportunity to say some things we all wanted and needed to hear. So different strokes for different folks. WWD: Is most of your day spent working with brands and creators or personalities directly strategizing content for them? D.B.: Sort of. Together the fashion and beauty vertical manages, in varying levels, about 100 partners. And I have to say I have an incredible team our internal alias is the glitter, the glue and the gold because these guys make it stick together and make it sparkle. But the number-one asset we can unlock is the personal management. And to be super candid, I think a lot of people who come from the fashion space and onto YouTube, theyre missing a lot of foundational points for success on YouTube. WWD: Not super surprising. D.B.: Right. There is a concept that shorter is better and quicker performs better and we actually have data that backs up the opposite. Videos under four minutes traditionally get very low organic watch time and few comments and few shares. One thats a bit longer, thats narrative in story and structure, that does much better on YouTube. Titles are important. End cards are important. Thumbnails are super important. If you scroll through a hundred fashion show videos, the thumbnail is literally the most important thing. Dior early on into COVID-19 posted a one-hour documentary-style video on their channel which got over one million organic views. I dont think theyd anticipated such an incredible response to a one-hour film that, I think, is in French. But that had an incredible lift for them. WWD: When people see a lift like that, does it automatically make them want to do more or does it take a minute for them to get into a groove? D.B.: When something goes viral on YouTube and the comments go off its, um, Im trying to find a simile that does not involve drug use WWD: A dopamine high, you can get that from running. D.B.: OK, fine, yes that works, exactly. It is super compelling for these brands when they hit and strike gold. The other thing were focused on is bridging the gap between YouTube and the fashion world. When you strike the right balance, its an incredible marriage. I feel like a million-dollar matchmaker, a yenta. WWD: Is it hard to get to that place or do you have a formula? D.B.: It can be tricky to get brands on board and it can be tricky to convince creators that getting on a plane for a single fashion show is worth it. There are some negotiations. But when Emma Chamberlain went to the Vuitton show, that was her third show, and Vuitton looked at the social analytics, they were surprised at how explosive her engagement and her presence was for them. Bretman Rock, hes a fabulous creator who lives in Hawaii and he doesnt love going out, but we got him to come to New York Fashion Week and his video from it was one of his most watched and highest performing. WWD: Besides COVID-19, the catastrophe that is, the re-infuriation around systemic racism and the Black Lives Matter movement, has that changed your thinking or your approach to what youre doing now? D.B.: I think every company but definitely YouTube and certainly the team I work with took a look at themselves and what they represented and how they work. Im pretty fortunate, Im the only white guy on my team. But when we look at who succeeds on YouTube, theres a disparity, or even in whos represented on YouTube. So two members of my team and I decided to launch the Black Designers Initiative. Hopefully this will launch by the end of the year, theyve already onboarded 15 brands with workshops and training so theyre also represented on YouTube, as much as other designers and legacy houses. I dont think anyone whos been in America lately, or anywhere for that matter, has not been forced to look at what theyre doing and how theyre doing it. What we do and what fashion does in general will have to be more compassionate and more diverse going forward than it has been in the past. WWD: And how do you feel about using your role in that way? Youre very connected, so as an individual, how do you go about that, beyond creating specific spaces for designers of color? D.B.: My instinct is to say I havent made a lot of decisions. What has really been a great opportunity is working with such a diverse team, its given me more of an opportunity to listen than call the shots. More than anything, I think not just me but a lot of people in fashion for this long, are really interested in listening to learn what the best and most socially conscious next steps are. WWD: When you were first talking to YouTube and Google about this job, were you intimidated or you were ready to move out of editorial and some of the traditional TV youd been doing. D.B.: In my early conversations with them, I was apprehensive. I went to school for journalism. My career plan was to work in magazines and newspapers, I just thought that was my journey and what I was meant to do. And I loved getting to work with photographers and designers and models and stylists and actors and telling those stories through the written word. But in my conversations with Google, I realized my job at YouTube would be telling stories with photographers and models and actors. So it took me a while to realize that my old jobs in magazines and even CNN, I was getting to do on a much bigger scale and much bigger audience and team. So that helped me to take the job and Im so super happy that I did. WWD: When you left magazines and that type of work, did you feel you were getting out at the right time? When you started your career, it was some of the last of the good times in magazines. D.B.: I definitely entered magazine publishing still in the golden age of magazines and definitely publishing is still in a moment of reckoning as it repositions to digital. But I still write for a lot of magazines. But its been incredible to see magazines pivot. Vogue just put out this I Love New York video about the New York collections, Whoopi Goldberg narrated. Its a moody look book video, but I think more people are going to see that than the magazine this month. WWD: Theres nowhere to get good magazines anymore, even if you wanted them. D.B.: Subscriptions may go up because of that. Can I be really honest with you? Another thing Ive been doing during COVID-19 I dont subscribe to a lot of these magazines because I used to just buy them all at the airport when I travel but there have been such incredible covers reflecting whats happening in society right now, Ive been buying them on eBay. Time, O Magazines Breonna Taylor cover, the Kerry James Marshall cover for The New York Review of Books. The New Yorker did an incredible cover. I have a pile now and I dont know what to do with them. But were living in such historic times I dont want to forget the sort of reckoning and lessons were learning. WWD: It sounds like this job isnt what you envisioned for yourself five years ago. You probably were thinking more about being an editor in chief at a magazine. D.B.: Exactly. The surreal plot twist is my hesitation was, Oh, YouTube isnt magazines. And its actually doing a lot of the same things I loved about my career in magazines. WWD: Do you feel like these places Google, Facebook are the new magazines, in that they are places where people who may have been drawn toward magazines now want to work? D.B.: Theres probably some truth to that. There are all of these new roles showing up in the tech space. I guess the difference is, when I worked at a magazine you were really putting on the whole production, youre actors on the stage. At YouTube, its almost like were theater owners, so we have the stage and we will give you the best direction we think we can, but its really up to the actors to get that standing ovation. WWD: Was it difficult for you to go from being more front and center to behind the scenes? D.B.: Not really. Getting a little long in the tooth, lets be honest. But not for nothing, there have been opportunities to do public-facing things which Im happy to do. I get a little sprinkle, a little buzz, but the bulk of my job is behind the scenes. Its a lot of strategy and I actually really love that. WWD: Going forward, do you see yourself sticking with this and then the occasional magazine piece, or maybe you want to do another book? D.B.: I will try another book. You know, Peter Beard passed away, the photographer, I loved his pictures. I was an editor for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsens book Influence, maybe this was 2008. And me and Ashley went to Paris to interview Peter and I have pictures of them together, we went out, we went to Cafe de Flore. I went into those notes and the book and part of me was like, What does the new influence look like? Or maybe an update on my earlier books. The job at YouTube, especially now, does not offer a lot of time for side projects. WWD: What about post-COVID-19 what do you think will happen with fashion month and fashion parties? Will it go back to what it was or will people realize that maybe its been a bit much? D.B.: I dont think it will go back to what it was for everyone. Chanel and Dior will probably keep their same six shows a year schedule, but Gucci now will have no specific schedule. Im here for that. And there was an extreme amount of, I guess we can call it waste. An amount of frivolity associated with the way fashion presented itself to the world. When I first started crashing shows in college, there were two sides of the runway, one was press and one was retail. Twenty years on, shows are no longer about sales and distribution. Its about marketing and making a dent in pop culture via social media. And I think a brand will always want to do that, but maybe not six times a year in an elaborate multimillion-dollar presentation. The goals of these shows are not to get in newspapers and magazines and retailers anymore. WWD: You went to NYU and straight into magazines and then youve been someone whos at a lot of parties and fashion events and youve made friends with a lot of famous blonde women. Is that what you were dreaming about growing up in Missouri? D.B.: I guess the way to answer that is, of course, a lot of my wildest dreams came true. I grew up in Missouri. I didnt miss a day of school K-12, perfect attendance. I lived in the same house in the same bedroom for 18 years. I had a very traditional Americana life. I was a voracious consumer of my moms magazines. I used to steal fashion magazines from the doctors office. I was obsessed with photographers and fashion and art and a lot of people I used to cut out of those magazines are now in my life as either friends or co-collaborators and I definitely dont take any of that for granted. WWD: So for someone young who sees your life now and wants some version of it, wants to be in fashion, would you advise them to take your same approach? D.B.: Whenever I speak to young people just starting in fashion, there are a couple of lines I always say. I never said no. If someone asked me to come in early the next day to unpack a trunk, I said Yes. Oh, can you grab coffee for the office? I said Yes. When I had a job at Vogue there was a woman, the bookings editor, she would talk about the kind of girls people liked to work with, and her line was: Happy to be here, easy to work with. And that resonated for me. I would like to think Im easy to work with and the vibe I give off is Im happy to be here. But my first job out of college was actually at Vogue and I was fired because I was a terrible assistant. My journey, its easy to look back and say, Oh this was strategic or easy or glamorous, but there were a lot of tough moments. When you get fired from Vogue.I really thought it was over. WWD: How old were you? D.B.: I must have been 22. So I went freelance and I got a lot of resiliency. For the next three years, every story I wrote I had to pitch. Still to this day a lot of my job is pitching an idea and hoping someone takes it. WWD: Was there a time when you were younger, say that freelancing phase, where it was so hard and you thought about calling mom to say, Make my bed, Im coming home. D.B.: Luckily, it never got that bad. But there were, and I dont want to sound too woe is me, there were times. After I was fired from Vogue I was living in Brooklyn and a friend would invite me to dinner and I would say, Oh I have plans, but Ill meet you for dessert, so I wouldnt have to split the check. And then Id go home and eat Kraft Mac n Cheese. WWD: Was there a breakthrough moment in your career? D.B.: Im still waiting for that moment! Its a slow, steady climb. I went home to see my family and I found my high school graduation photos. I moved to New York in September of 2000. I have been here, pounding this pavement, for 20 years. Two decades. But I can rattle off some amazing moments. The day after the 2016 election I went with Emma Watson to put books on the subway for a cover story for Vanity Fair. To have my first Vanity Fair cover story was incredible and surreal. A few years before that I interviewed Tom Ford for the first time for the London Sunday Times; I got all dressed up and wore a bowtie. And then I walked in and hes lounging on a sofa WWD: Perfectly coiffed and tanned D.B.: He looked like hed stepped out of a fragrance ad. And he was like, I think bowties are sexy. He totally played me and that was an incredible moment in my career. But that was 10 years ago. When I still worked at Vogue and Andre Leon Talley still had a column Im really aging myself, Style Facts he wanted a photo of a model with a pink Oscar de la Renta caftan shot in the studio and he asked me to go and style it. That was my first sitting editors job for American Vogue and that was probably 2005. There have been a lot of thrilling moments. WWD: But youre still climbing. D.B.: I like to think so. Im not over the hill yet, am I? Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal The University of New Mexico police officer placed on leave earlier this month after posting a TikTok video with scanning for Mexicans audio from an episode of South Park over images of a man laying tile, has returned to work. The video posted in March on the since-deleted TikTok account of UNMPD officer Eric Peer was brought to the attention of the public, and of UNM President Garnett Stokes, after an Associated Students of the University of New Mexico student senator recorded the video and posted it herself on social media, leading to questions about the appropriateness of a UNMPD officer creating and sharing such videos, not to mention his posting other videos of himself and colleagues while they were on the clock. Peer was placed on paid administrative leave on Sept. 4 the same day Stokes posted on Twitter she was aware of the video and that UNM and the campus police department stand against racism and social injustice. Respect and diversity are part of our culture, values and who we are as Lobos. It is unclear what, if any, discipline Peer received other than having been on paid leave while the matter was investigated. The investigation has been concluded and appropriate disciplinary action has been taken. The officer remains employed with UNMPD, UNM spokeswoman Cinnamon Blair told the Journal in an email Thursday. The Journal has a public records request filed for more information on Peers discipline. The Journal also asked a UNMPD spokesman for comment and sought comment from Peer, through UNMPD, but had not received a response on Thursday evening. Peer has worked for UNMPD for four years and was an officer with the Albuquerque Police Department prior to that. The video, filmed inside an unspecified home, was posted March 29. The voice of Eric Cartman, a character in the animated Comedy Central show South Park, can be heard saying in a robotic manner scanning for Mexicans as the video camera moves through the house. When it zooms in on a man on the floor laying the tile, Cartmans voice can be heard saying, Ah, weve got a Mexican! The audio on the video is from Season 15, Episode 9 of South Park, titled The Last of the Meheecans, in which Cartman becomes a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Peers TikTok account had more than 11,000 followers and mostly included videos of his dog, but also several scenes of him and colleagues working around campus, sometimes to the soundtrack of songs or movies from the 1980s and 1990s. UNMs social media policy posted online states such warnings as: You are personally responsible for what you post on blogs and microblogs, social networks, forums, and other social media. Be sure that what you post today will not come back to haunt you. If you are unsure about a work-related posting, seek approval from your supervisor or manager before posting it. Refrain from publishing content that contains slurs, personal insults or attacks, and/or profanity or obscenity. Do not engage in any conduct on a social media site that would not be acceptable in The University of New Mexico workplace. ITASCA, Ill., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With more than 40 states reporting increases in fatal opioid overdoses, the National Safety Council is urging both the Biden and Trump campaigns to include opioid overdose prevention as part of their COVID-19 recovery plans. In a letter sent to both campaigns today, NSC further urges the candidates to discuss their strategies around prevention, treatment and the employers' role in ending the crisis at the Sept. 29 debate in Cleveland, Ohio a state decimated by the opioid epidemic. Opioid overdose is the single worst drug crisis in U.S. history, and the coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating the problem. The letter from NSC states that in June, 40% of U.S. adults reported struggling with mental health or substance use, and 13% reported starting or increasing substance use.1 A recent study found that people with substance use disorders (SUDs) are more susceptible to COVID-19 and its complications.2 All of these factors stand to continue erasing gains we had been making. Recently released data demonstrates that the 2018 drop in overdose fatalities was reversed in 2019, with preliminary numbers showing a record-high 50,000 fatal opioid overdoses last year. 3 "A national plan to combat the overdose crisis must be part of the broader national strategy to recover from this pandemic and continue after a vaccine is widely deployed," said Jenny Burke, senior director, impairment practice at the National Safety Council. Earlier this year, in collaboration with over 60 organizations and companies, NSC released a comprehensive National Plan to Address Opioid Misuse. The recommendations in this plan take into account the many factors, systems and players that have a role in the lifecycle of addiction from prevention to recovery, from education to the criminal justice system, from prescribers to employers. NSC urges both campaigns to adopt the plan in full and to detail the following to the American people: How the candidate's pandemic response plan will address the consequences of increasing opioid use disorder (OUD) rates How the candidate will support employers as they work to prevent opioid misuse and support employees in treatment and recovery How the candidate will increase services to underserved and vulnerable populations who have increased risks of developing a substance use disorder and more difficulty accessing treatment and recovery support services To view the National Plan to Address Opioid Misuse, visit nsc.org/presidentialplan. About the National Safety Council The National Safety Council is America's leading nonprofit safety advocate and has been for over 100 years. As a mission-based organization, we work to eliminate the leading causes of preventable death and injury, focusing our efforts on the workplace, roadway and impairment. We create a culture of safety to not only keep people safer at work, but also beyond the workplace so they can live their fullest lives. Connect with NSC: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram _____________________________ 1 Czeisler ME , Lane RI, Petrosky E, et al. Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic United States, June 2430, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:10491057. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6932a1external icon. 2 https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/substance-use-disorders-linked-covid-19-susceptibility 3 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm SOURCE National Safety Council Related Links http://www.nsc.org After a summer of civil unrest over police killings of Black people, cities and counties across the Bay Area are attempting to reimagine what police reform should look like and theyre testing some of these ideas at the ballot box this November. While calls to defund the police have become a rallying cry amid Black Lives Matter protests and a platform for some politicians most of the ballot measures here are intended to move the needle slightly rather than overthrow the system. Many center on creating or fortifying civilian oversight bodies for police. Police commissions like those in Oakland and San Francisco have for years helped shape department policies and recommend discipline, shedding some light on what have long been highly secretive internal decisions. Heres a closer look at how the next wave of police reform could shape up throughout the Bay Area on election day: San Franciscos Proposition D: A charter amendment sponsored by Supervisor Shamann Walton would create a seven-member Sheriffs Department Oversight Board that would make policy recommendations to the sheriff and the Board of Supervisors. The measure, which would be passed with a simple-majority vote, would also create an Office of Inspector General for the Sheriffs Department, which would investigate in-custody deaths and complaints against its staffers and contractors. Both bodies could recommend but not impose discipline. Walton said he created the measure in response to the botched investigation into the Sheriffs Department fight club case in which deputies allegedly forced jail inmates to fight each other in gladiator-style battles as well as in-custody deaths. If passed, the measure would cost roughly $3 million annually. Sheriff Paul Miyamoto has opposed the investigative portion of the measure, calling it a wasteful bureaucracy that overlaps with a independent investigation system already in place. Miyamoto said his office has updated its agreement with the citys independent Department of Police Accountability, and that the public can lodge complaints against sheriffs staff directly with the DPA, rather than going through the Sheriffs Office. The sheriff said he agrees with Walton, however, about creating an oversight committee that would recommend policy changes, but without investigative powers. The investigative portion is what doesnt need to be duplicated, Miyamoto said. Walton pushed back on Miyamotos claim that the investigative duties of the DPA and the inspector general would be duplicative. The inspector general would have subpoena powers, he said, and DPA has struggled to handle its existing caseload. They have a long way to go to doing their job, Walton said. There are several complaints, several injustices that still havent been addressed. DPA is not the appropriate department. San Franciscos Proposition E: A measure introduced by Supervisor Norman Yee would eliminate the mandate in the City Charter that the Police Department maintain no fewer than 1,971 full-duty officers. The requirement, introduced to the charter in the mid-1990s, has been deemed an antiquated and arbitrary benchmark for police staffing levels. If passed with a simple-majority vote, Prop. E would strip the minimum staffing requirement from the charter and require the police department to submit a staffing report to the Police Commission every two years. The San Francisco Police Officers Association has opposed the measure, saying the department has never met minimal staffing levels in recent history and is consistently short-staffed. If the measure passes, they said, it would inevitably shrink the number of sworn forces needed to combat the citys crime. Our response times to 911 calls are lagging because we dont have enough people on patrol, said Sgt. Tracy McCray, vice president of the police union. They have supervisors who say they want more foot beats, but in order to do that it has to come from somewhere else. ... Its kind of hard to do when theres not a lot of people to go around in the first place. 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. Yee said the measure would lay the groundwork for the types of police reforms San Franciscans are demanding. Namely, he said, it would allow the city to bring in other types of professionals to handle activities related to homelessness issues and mental health crises that dont involve criminal wrongdoing. Many such calls are currently handled by police. It would take the handcuffs off of our policy decisions for reform efforts, he said. Oaklands Measure S1: Four years after overwhelmingly passing a measure to create the Oakland Police Commission and its accompanying Community Police Review Agency, voters now will decide whether to give its civilian-run police watchdog groups more autonomy and authority. The measure would create the position of an inspector general that works for the police commission who would have the power to investigate the citys handling of police misconduct and audit the police departments compliance with anti-bias measures. Additionally, the measure would allow both the police commission and the Community Police Review Agency to hire its own outside attorneys, separate from the City Attorneys Office. Berkeleys Measure II: Residents will be asked whether to replace the current Police Review Commission with a new, independent, nine-member Berkeley Police Accountability Board. The board would have broader authority to review and set police department policies, practices and procedures and investigate public complaints against officers. The measure would additionally create a director of police accountability, who will investigate complaints against sworn staff and recommend discipline. The measure would provide broader access to records and lower the standard of proof in which a Berkeley officer can be charged with committing misconduct. The current standard is clear and convincing, and the revised standard would be preponderance of the evidence, according to a city report. Sonoma Countys Measure P: This initiative asks Sonoma County residents to strengthen its civilian law enforcement watchdog group, giving it greater access to personnel records and body-worn camera footage. The measure would additionally allocate 1% of the sheriffs $184 million budget to fund the watchdog groups efforts. Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy Ghana has recorded a reduction in malaria deaths in children under five by 83 per cent over the last eight years, the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) has said. The rate of malaria-related deaths reduced from 0.6 per cent in 2012 to 0.1 per cent in 2019, showing significant inroads in malaria-related deaths among children. Malaria-related deaths of all ages also reduced by 2,799 in 2012 to 333 by end of 2019, representing an 88 per cent reduction. The Deputy Programme Manager of the NMCP, Mr. James Frimpong, who made this known at an Editors forum in Accra yesterday, said although malaria incidence was still high, the integrated approach deployed to control it had resulted in remarkable reduction in deaths. The forum engaged senior journalists and editors who are the gatekeepers in the media space to play up issues of malaria to bring about behavioural change and also trigger the right intervention, investment and outcomes. The journalists were also introduced to a Zero Malaria Starts with Me campaign launched across Africa in 2018 but which is yet to gather momentum. Successes Recounting some of the success stories of the NMCP, Mr. Frimpong said the deployment of various integrated measures to control the disease as part of the existing five-year malaria control strategic plan had led to an increase in both the ownership and use of insecticide treated mosquito nets (ITNs). He said the distribution of ITNs to pregnant women attending antenatal clinic had also increased, leading to more pregnant women and children using more treated mosquito nets. Mr. Frimpong said a new five-year strategic plan, 2021-2025, had been developed to replace the current one which expires in December this year. It also intends to work towards reduction in all malaria-related deaths by 90 per cent by 2023 and reduction in malaria incidence by half by 2025. Both goals will use 2019 as the baseline. Pre-elimination is when a district does not record malaria incidence for at least two years and the new strategy wants that to happen in at least six districts by 2025. According to Mr. Frimpong, Ghana was still among the 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and 11 in the world that were contributing the most to the global malaria burden. Out of the 228 million malaria cases recorded across the world, with 405,000 deaths as of 2018, the 11 countries contributed 70 per cent to the cases and deaths. He said the country needed to continue with case management and surveillance, which deployed approaches such as the distribution of long-lasting treated mosquito nets, indoor spraying, larvae source management and seasonal malaria chemoprevention to eligible regions. Media support The National Programme Manager, NMCP, Dr. Kaziah Malm, said his outfit wanted more collaboration with the media to make malaria the foremost issue of national importance since the disease continued to be a leading public health concern. She said in spite of the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), malaria infections killed many, prevented people from work and children from the classroom on a daily basis, hence the need to whip up national awareness for a concerted fight. The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr. Affail Monney, called on journalists to help spread the message on malaria to change the narrative about the disease in the country. Ours is to help move the paradigm and change the narrative of the malaria issue, it should engineer our agenda setting and we should de-emphasise the excessive politicisation of issues. We have the responsibility to use our influence to sharpen the focus of malaria reporting, he added. Source: Graphic.com.gh 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 Donald Trump launched a blistering attack on the Black Lives Matter movement as he courted African American voters in Atlanta on Friday, repeating a number of false and unsubstantiated claims about the protest group. It is really hurting the black community," said Mr Trump, without providing any evidence or context to back up the claim. The stated goal of BLM people is to achieve the destruction of the nuclear family, abolish the police, abolish prisons, abolish border security, abolish capitalism and abolish school choice," the president falsely claimed none of above are stated positions of the organisation. Mr Trump has frequently hit out at Black Lives Matter, a decentralised protest movement that campaigns against police brutality against Black Americans. The movement has risen to national prominence in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd and widespread protests that followed. Mr Trump then hit out at major corporations, who he claimed had donated hundreds of millions of dollars to them and blamed it on weakness or fear. These are fools. The big progressive corporations donating to BLM should instead be spending their money helping Black families rebuild from these horrible left-wing riots," he said. Wealthy liberal hypocrites want to defund the police in our inner cities while living behind walled compounds, you have got to see how some of these people live, they live pretty well. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25 2020 As evident from the empty hallways and chambers of the United Nations headquarters this week, the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in major disruptions in diplomacy. With the virus still raging across the globe, countries like Indonesia have no other choice than to adapt and adjust. For the first time in the organizations 75-year history, world leaders are not convening in New York as the UN General Assembly moves online. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login The former hospital orderly at The Alfred quickly began performing CPR until an ambulance arrived in an act doctors say saved Mr Singhs life. "I could see him fading before my eyes," Mr Schipper said. "I couldn't let a mate die." Doctors would later tell Mr Singh his heart stopped beating for 10 minutes and 48 seconds. While physically Mr Singh has made a full recovery, the mental toll lingers. "The most terrifying thing was it came out of nowhere," the real estate agent said. "They have put it down to me having slightly high cholesterol levels. I'm just so grateful Peter was there and that we have such lovely neighbours." Bystanders make a critical difference in helping cardiac arrest victims before emergency responders arrive, Professor Stephenson said, as do defibrillators which can increase survival by up to 70 per cent. People by and large after cardiac arrest do not die of heart disease, they die of brain disease," Professor Stephenson, said. That extra time taken to resuscitate them probably contributed to more brain injury and therefore more death. That it is why it is absolutely fundamental that people in the home do CPR on their loved ones. Its really, really important because every minute counts. It can be the difference between whether they live or they die." Survival rates for sudden cardiac arrests have remained stagnant for years, hovering at about 12 per cent. This year, Victorian survival rates fell to just 6.1 per cent. Loading As part of the study, researchers compared the survival rates of 380 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients between March and May this year, with more than 1200 patients from the Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry, during the same period for the past three years. Almost 360 of the cardiac-arrest patients examined in the study died in the three-month period, about two dozen more Victorians than the same period for the past three years. If this trend continues, researchers estimate an extra 186 preventable cardiac arrest deaths will occur this year. The study, published in the Resuscitation medical journal, also found more cardiac-arrest patients were dead by the time paramedics arrived. Those who had survived were also far more likely to die in hospital. Researchers said the hidden consequences of COVID-19 had caused profound "collateral damage" to Victoria's out-of-hospital cardiac-arrest system of care, resulting in significantly longer delays in time-sensitive resuscitation and medical intervention. Alfred Health cardiologist Dion Stubb said heart attack presentations at hospitals had fallen by as much as 30 per cent, in a worrying phenomena mirrored across the globe. Dr Stubb, who was one of the researchers in the study, said the difference in Australia when compared with other countries was that hospitals were not overrun by critically ill COVID-19 patients. There has been no rise in cardiac arrests linked with the virus in Australia yet and only one Victorian patient examined in the research tested positive to COVID-19. Loading "This has nothing to do with COVID and everything to do with the way our healthcare system has responded," he said. "We have unfortunately seen a dramatic decrease in acute cardiac care and that's had significantly detrimental outcomes for cardiac patients." The Age revealed earlier this year, Victorians with heart attack symptoms were waiting more than 12 hours before seeking potentially life saving hospital treatment during the first COVID-19 lockdown amid fears of over-burdening the health system or catching the virus in hospital. The researchers also suspect Victoria's second, more deadly surge of infections will result in even more preventable cardiac deaths. We are even more locked down now, we are less in the streets and people have been just as fearful of going to hospital, Professor Stephenson said. We suspect we will see a trend of continued deaths and that it may have even got worse." Supplier News 25 September 2020 The question facing many global businesses now is how travel will change. 9/11 changed the airline industry, the 2008 recession changed spending mindsets. Change is inevitable, of course. Pre COVID-19, CWT was looking after enough travelers every day to fill more than 250 Boeing 747s, connecting around 25m people and handling over 100 events. Back then, we were still hugging our colleagues, and wearing a homemade mask to work would have elicited strange looks. It's impossible to predict exactly how the economy and behavior will fare once the pandemic subsides. What's clear is that some of the changes that will stick around will likely be for the better. We asked Jo Hillman, CWT's Senior Director Sales, UK & Ireland, how business travel will change, at least in the near future. Here's what she tells us: 1. The human connection has become incredibly important As reported in the Harvard Business Review and the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology - research shows face-to-face engagements are 34 times more likely to garner positive responses than electronic contact. Having been deprived of it for so long, we value face-to-face more than ever. Even with the availability of self-booking tools, we're seeing travelers want the added reassurance of speaking with an expert who can answer their questions and provide guidance. As lockdowns around the world forced our offices to close, we had to adapt and enable our employees to work remotely. To help travel counselors use their home phones to take calls, we extended a system built to meet the varying needs of contact center agents. We established gateways that allowed more than 1,600 employees access to their office desktop securely and supported a significant increase in concurrent VPN connectivity. 2. Duty of care is top of the list of priorities Companies are looking at making changes to travel policies such as pre-trip approvals, so they can have greater visibility and control over employee travel. We're helping our customers ensure their employees book through the correct channels and secure all the necessary internal approvals before traveling. Using our safety and security tools, clients can easily locate their traveling employees and assist them in making alternative travel arrangements if required. We're finding that pre-trip approval processes go a long way to boosting confidence among travelers, too. 3. Travelers are seeking a lot more information prior to traveling We're looking at new technologies to offer information at the point of sale to help travelers make informed decisions around issues like entry requirements, quarantine restrictions, and even the last time a hotel was cleaned. CWT also partners with organizations like International SOS to send our clients and their employees regular alerts about developments on the ground. There's a great deal of conjecture out there. Companies should communicate regularly with their traveling workforce and offer simple resources from reputable sources. The day will come when international travel is a less convoluted process than it is today. When it does, valuing human connection, safety, and reputable information can only be positive lasting legacies. Listen to Concur's latest webinar to hear Jo Hillman speak about the future of business travel. Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World By H. R. McMaster Harper. 545 pp. $35 - - - In February 2017, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster was on his way to a think tank in Philadelphia when he received a call inviting him down to Mar-a-Lago for a job interview with President Donald Trump. For the next 14 months, McMaster held one of the most important positions in America's national security apparatus, where he brought a historian's eye and an officer's sense of duty to the challenges of a world being reordered, in part by the fact of his boss's presidency. An unnatural fit in the drama-filled and politically obsessed Trump White House, McMaster was out by the following April, and returned to the world of academia and analysis that he clearly relishes. Part memoir, part history and part think-tank report, "Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World" is McMaster's attempt to instruct the reader about the world he encountered as national security adviser and throughout his career. In it, we learn almost nothing about his interactions with Trump or his personal opinion of the man. McMaster holds up this decision as a virtue, prefacing his book with a brushback statement that amounts to a pox on both houses. He frames his book as disappointing Trump supporters searching for a portrait of an "unconventional leader" who advanced American interests, or Trump opponents who "wanted an account to confirm their judgment that he was a bigoted narcissist unfit for office." Instead, McMaster immodestly describes himself as "apolitical; in the tradition of Gen. George C. Marshall (the architect of victory in World War II)." The parenthetical seems intended to drive home his point: Those uncorrupted by politics do the work. That's what the book aims to do: the work, in particular, of educating the reader in a manner that makes the case for McMaster's conventionally hawkish approach to American national security. With the kind of detail that reportedly caused Trump to sour on him, McMaster takes us on a tour of those parts of the world that, in his view, pose the greatest danger to the United States - from Russia and China, to traditional hot spots such as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and North Korea (pandemics merit only a glancing reference). Along the way, there are dense and often rich diversions into the history that shaped each place; evocations of ancient Greek philosophers, Confucius, and the 18th-century military strategist Carl von Clausewitz; and empathetic and astute portraits of interlocutors such as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ("he came from a people, the Ahmadzais, known as warrior-poets") and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ("Abadi's educated, pious Shia family, like many others, rejected a secular government driven by power and avarice.") McMaster has an erudite and confident voice, and is at his best when dissecting emerging trends such as Russia's weaponization of disinformation and Xi Jinping's increasing assertion of control over all aspects of Chinese life and use of technology to shape events beyond China's borders. Clearly, McMaster wants to communicate an intellectual framework and sense of reason behind the dramatic foreign policy shifts of the early Trump administration, for instance the move to a more confrontational line toward China. But his insistence on avoiding frank commentary on his former boss undermines the very credibility he is seeking to assert. Reflecting on a 2017 visit to China, he writes, "We saw competitive advantage in freedom of expression, of assembly, and of the press; freedom of religion and freedom from persecution based on religion, race, gender, or sexual orientation." Yet McMaster served a president who lambasted the free press as an "enemy of the American people," and regularly singled out Americans for attack based on their religion, race, gender or sexual orientation. The fact of Trump's presidency opened a wide space for China to extend its influence at the expense of an erratic U.S. government. And McMaster's failure to grapple at all with the racialized and undemocratic currents of the Trump presidency make his words ring hollow: A competition of political models cannot be won when the president doesn't embrace the values that define our own. Similarly, McMaster meticulously and effectively portrays how Russia uses disinformation to divide American society. He recounts in compelling detail how Russia was behind a relentless information campaign to attack him: "The emphasis was on reinforcing the 'deep state' narrative, which asserts that disloyal civil servants were actively undermining President Trump's agenda." Again, left unsaid is that no human on the planet - including Vladimir Putin - did more to advance this deep-state narrative in a way that divided Americans and rendered our national security apparatus dysfunctional than Trump. McMaster does offer critiques of Trump. Writing more as a dispassionate analyst than a former West Wing staff member, he uses the president's public comments to criticize a familiar litany of Trumpian moments - lavishing praise on Putin and Kim Jong Un, withdrawing U.S. troops from northern Syria and striking a dubious deal with the Taliban. Although he doesn't say it, his core thesis - that post-Cold War America has embraced a "strategic narcissism" that sacrifices resolute leadership in favor of short-term, self-obsessed and politically motivated decision-making - can easily be read as an indictment of the North Star of Trump's foreign policy: Trump's own interests. But in his own way, McMaster does take a side. He is far more withering and constant in his criticism of President Barack Obama, casting him dismissively as a fellow traveler of the post-Vietnam "New Left" - which he defines as viewing the United States as "the principal cause of the world's problems." Without entertaining the notion that Trump's disdain for Obama accounted for his efforts to dismantle his legacy, he offers justifications for those efforts that Trump probably could not articulate. The Trans-Pacific Partnership was an effort to generate leverage on China through a new trading bloc, but Hillary Clinton would have abandoned it (I suspect she would have renegotiated aspects of it, rather than walking away). The Iran Nuclear Deal is cast as a hopelessly failed effort to change Iranian behavior, ignoring the fact that Iran complied with nuclear restrictions that it has violated since Trump left the deal, and the damage to our alliances from Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign. Most strangely, McMaster says he opposed leaving the Paris Agreement, but argues that leaving had a "silver lining," in that it would "draw attention to the agreement's inadequacies" in fighting climate change, which hardly seems to be Trump's intent. As an officer, McMaster is right to feel as though political leaders of both parties have placed enormous and shifting burdens on the military. He has an admirable commitment to pursue better outcomes to the nation's post-9/11 wars. As a progressive, I'm among those who believe that there is a different form of strategic narcissism in thinking that the United States can shape events inside other countries through some of McMaster's suggested courses - more sanctions on Iran; the devotion of more resources to Afghanistan and the Middle East; a continued prioritization of counterterrorism in a post-pandemic world. It's wrong to say that Obama believed the United States was the root of the world's problems; he just had different priorities, expressed through initiatives on arms control, climate change, the Asia Pacific, the global economy and global health security. Moreover, Obama believed that the nation's influence depends chiefly on what kind of country we were at home - not just what we did abroad. There are important debates to be had about these issues, and in a normal world we must have them. But this book is being published just a few weeks before a U.S. presidential election that could determine whether the United States remains a functioning democracy and whether there will be any international order at all. Perhaps McMaster will have more to say about this as he discusses his book. For now, the strangest thing about "Battlegrounds" is that it appears at a moment that is existential to the form of U.S. leadership he advocates, and yet he is defiantly silent about the elephant in the room: the most important battleground right now is the one at home. - - - Rhodes is author of "The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House" and co-host of the podcasts "Pod Save the World" and "Missing America." He served as a deputy national security adviser for President Barack Obama. State governments in the North-central region of Nigeria are employing measures to halt the perennial flooding ravaging parts of the zone and alleviate the sufferings of the victims. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that torrential rains accompanied by strong winds have in recent weeks claimed many lives, destroyed hundreds of houses and washed away farmlands and domestic animals in the sub-region. The catastrophe compelled the governments in the zone to take steps to avert further flooding and provide succour to the affected people such as temporary shelters, food and medicines. In Nasarawa State, Governor Abdullahi Sule ordered the immediate evacuation of persons whose houses had been submerged by flood in Nasarawa, headquarters of Nasarawa Local Government Area. Mr Sule also directed that foodstuff, mattresses and other relief items be provided to the victims immediately. His spokesperson, Ibrahim Addra, said the governor had visited the ancient town and sympathised with the people over the incident. He urged the people to desist from erecting structures on waterways and stop indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the drains. In response to the governors directive, the Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency (NASEMA) distributed food and non-food relief materials to over 45 communities ravaged by flood in Awe and Nasarawa local government areas of the state. The Executive Secretary of the agency, Zakari Allumagas, said the governor gave the order during his visit to Nasarawa following the flood in the town. Mr Allumagas said the relief materials comprised 44 trucks of 600 bags each of assorted grains and three trucks of non-food items such as building materials, childrens clothing, cooking utensils and mats. He warned against diversion of the items. He also disclosed that over 700 households were displaced by floods in such communities as Ara, Udenyi Magaji, Ugya and Gude, Nasarawa town in Nasarawa Local Government Area, and Ribi and Gidan Soja in Awe Local Government Area. The executive secretary said the state government was working with traditional and community leaders to come up with a directive banning approval and sale of lands near riverine areas of the state. In Kogi, the State Commissioner for Environment, Victor Omofaiye, said many communities in some local government areas in the state had been ravaged by floods. Mr Omofaiye said such communities included places in Kotonkarfe, Lokoja, Ajaokuta and Ibaji local government areas. He said some victims of the disaster had already been moved to IDPs camps in Kotonkarfe, while the IDPs camps and flood estates in Lokoja were being prepared through clearing of their surroundings and fumigation for resettlement of the flood victims. He said that the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) had predicted that in 2020, about 10 local government areas would be affected by flood in Kogi. They are Lokoja, Kogi/Kotonkarfe, Ajaokuta, Bassa, Ibaji, Idah, Igalamela, Ofu, Adavi and Omala. The water level of River Niger is still fluctuating within the range of 10.5 to 10.7, but as at September 21, it was 10.7 compared to the 12.5 as at the same period in 2012 in Kogi. Flood is a menace that we experience in Kogi every year. The flood we experienced in Kogi in 2012 was massive and devastating; we do not pray for such in 2020, but we are actually on red alert, the commissioner said. He attributed flooding in the state to human and natural factors. According to him, the human factor has to do with the peoples habit in managing the environment as they dump refuse on waterways and drains, thereby obstructing free flow of water. Mr Omofaiye said that the confluence of two major rivers in Kogi: River Niger and Benue, which most times overflowed their banks, was affecting communities along the river paths, including those of other small rivers that took their sources from river Niger and Benue. Advertisements Opening of dams, especially along River Niger, such as Lagdo Dam from Cameroon and other dams also cause flooding in Kogi due to high volume of water. We have done a lot of sensitisation and awareness creation to educate the general public, especially the people living in the flood prone areas in all the predicted local government areas. We are also partnering with the relevant stakeholders including SEMA to ensure that we are ahead of any emerging situation, he said. He said he had led a team on assessment tour of some affected communities in Lokoja to ascertain the level of damage done by flood in the area and begin to tackle them head on. The commissioner said the Governor Yahaya Bello administration would not relent in its efforts at tackling environmental challenges including flooding across the state. He, therefore, advised the people living in the flood prone areas to relocate and move to high grounds in order not to endanger their lives as a result of floods. The situation is similar in Plateau as the acting Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Rose Dakwar, said that floods had affected seven local government areas in the state recently. Mrs Dakwar listed the affected local government areas as Mangu, Pankshin, Shendam, Quan Pan, Langtang South, Mikang and Wase. She said that many farmlands, houses bridges and other valuables were destroyed by the floods in the listed areas. We as an emergency management agency, have already visited each of the affected local government areas in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). We visited and ascertained the level of damage and reported back to government. Government has, therefore, included the affected areas in the distribution of palliatives before the major assistance will come their way, she said. Also, the NEMA Zonal Coordinator in Jos, Eugene Nyenlong, said the agency had composed jingles in local languages to educate the people on how to tackle floods if they occurred. Mr Nyenlong also disclosed that the agency in the zone was making use of Flood Vanguards comprising youth corps members who raised alarms if flood occurred. We also have locals that are engaged to act in terms of response and evacuation when flood occurs, he said. In Niger, not less than 500 communities have been flooded since the onset of the 2020 raining season in the state. The Director-General of the State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Ahmed Inga, who disclosed this also said about 22 local government areas had so far been affected by the floods. Mr Inga said 29 deaths were recorded during the floods, while 45,000 farmers were directly affected by the disaster. Farmlands and houses have been destroyed and assessment is still ongoing, he said. He said Governor Abubakar Bello had directed the agency to look inward and design a better way of mitigating the situation by relocating the affected communities to safe areas. He said that the state government had identified 13 resettlement sites in Muregi, Akere and Ketso, among others, where the affected communities were being resettled. He said that compensations had been paid and allocation of plots to the affected communities would soon commence. The director-general blamed the flooding partly on the situation where the state was home to three hydro-electric dams- Shiroro, Kainji and Jebba, and River Niger and River Kaduna flowing across parts of the state. Similarly, the Benue Government has assured residents of flood prone areas of its plans to tackle the incessant flooding in communities in the state. The State Director of Environment, Richarge Azaagee, who disclosed this, said plans were underway to address some of the flooding challenges, especially in Makurdi. Mr Azaagee denied that the government had abandoned communities suffering from flood related challenges. He said the government had already identified the causes of flooding in some communities/settlements and was working toward fixing them. The problem of erosion and flood is not just in Kaamem community alone, it cuts across many communities in Makurdi and the state at large. NAN reports that places badly hit by flood in Makurdi are Agber village, Behind ITF Makurdi, Wurukum market, part of Judges Quarters, Low Level, Down Katsina-Ala Street, Kaamem community, Achussah village, and Nyiman village amongst others. (NAN) W&M board approves principles for naming, renaming campus spaces Trinkle Hall and Maury Hall to be renamed immediately William & Marys Board of Visitors today adopted a set of principles and imperatives for the naming and renaming of structures and spaces on campus. The principles were developed by a working group of students, faculty, staff and alumni that was established this summer by President Katherine A. Rowe in response to a charge from Rector John E. Littel P 22. Rowe recommended the principles Thursday to the boards buildings and grounds committee. The committee recommended the resolutions for approval, and the full board approved them on Friday. As per the bylaws of the Board of Visitors, decisions to name or rename buildings and structures at W&M lie with the board. To advance William & Marys value of belonging, we must strive to reflect our community in all aspects of the university, including its physical landscape, Rowe said. Representing our history in its fullness matters, and I am grateful to the working group for giving us a strong set of standards for these highly visible elements of campus. The board also approved Rowes recommendation that the universitys Design Review Board (DRB) be responsible for reviewing naming and renaming requests through a transparent and consistent process, based on the principles. As part of that new scope and process, Rowe will expand membership of the DRB, which advises the president. The board also approved the immediate renaming of two university spaces -- Trinkle Hall, located on W&Ms main campus, and Maury Hall, a building located at W&Ms Virginia Institute of Marine Science campus in Gloucester. With clarity provided by the principles, two campus spaces have already been identified to be renamed, said Rowe. I know that the Design Review Board, which includes a variety of voices, will continue reviewing other naming and renaming suggestions in a fair and consistent manner, with respect for the gravity of their decisions. These are places where our students, faculty and staff work, study and live, and their names should represent a robust history of the university and the values for which W&M stands today. Renaming Trinkle & Maury Halls In accordance with the principles, the board approved the renaming of two spaces. Trinkle Hall, within the Campus Center on the W&M campus, will become Unity Hall, and Maury Hall at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science will become York River Hall. Trinkle was named for former Virginia Gov. Elbert Lee Trinkle, who signed some of the most pernicious Jim Crow laws in Virginias history, according to the board action. Maury Hall was named for Matthew Fontaine Maury, an oceanographer and Confederate military officer. Neither Trinkle nor Maury had a special relationship with W&M. The Maury Hall name change is also consistent with a recommendation from the VIMS Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Guiding principles for the future Chaired by Warren W. Buck III M.S. 70, Ph.D. 76, D.Sc. 13, the working group solicited feedback from all university audiences regarding the principles along with a set of three design imperatives. In August, a draft was posted to the working groups website for public comment and presented to the board for review. That feedback helped the working group refine the draft principles and imperatives, which they shared with the president earlier this month. Rowe then framed the principles in the context of the DRBs work and presented recommendations to the boards buildings and grounds committee on Thursday. The full board voted to approve them on Friday. In appreciation for all who contributed their ideas, Buck noted, On behalf of the members of the working group, I thank the faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members for their thoughtful and comprehensive efforts to inform this critical work. Along with developing principles for naming and renaming, the working group is charged with developing commemorative markers, contextualizing appropriate historical sites on campus, preparing a list of possible new names for buildings and conducting a landscape review to identify structures that may be perceived as barriers to a welcoming and inclusive environment. Rowe has asked the working group to conduct additional research on Taliaferro Hall before the November board meeting. She has also asked the group to research three people who may be considered for future campus naming opportunities.The university will contextualize key sites and structures around campus, including buildings and statues connected to the Founding Fathers. Models for that effort include the historical exhibition on slavery and W&M during the Civil War, which has been displayed in the Wren Building Information Center since 2018, and the signage that was added to the Great Hall in 2019 to provide additional background and context about the historical figures who are portrayed in that space. We must continue to strive toward telling the complete history of William & Mary and its people, including those who taught and learned here and those who were enslaved and who built and sustained the university, said Littel. And we must find more ways to share this fuller history with our community and those who visit our campus. Littel added that the university should remember the words expressed by Harvard Professor Annette Gordon-Reed, an honorary degree recipient from William & Mary and noted history scholar, to take the good with the bitter as the community moves to telling a fuller story about its past, particularly when considering buildings and statues connected to the Founding Fathers. William & Mary is, at heart, a colonial institution that is central to and interwoven in the founding of our nation. So, while it is our responsibility to contextualize these individuals and add to the history already here, it is incumbent upon all of us to recognize that there would be no William & Mary and, indeed no United States of America, without these individuals. An academic setting like ours is the very place where conversations about difficult, challenging and important issues should occur, but we are also a place that will continue to acknowledge and commemorate these individuals for their contributions to our college and nation. The university recently completed fundraising and approved the final design for its Memorial to African Americans Enslaved, which will be installed near the Wren Building along the Jamestown Road pathway to the Historic Campus. Work on the memorial is expected to begin in early 2021. The memorial is part of W&Ms long-term racial reconciliation efforts, much of which is based on work by The Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation, a decade-long research initiative exploring W&Ms history with slavery and discrimination. Research by The Lemon Project has also served to inform the efforts of the working group on naming and renaming as it looks to expand the story that is told by the W&M landscape. Before the vote on Friday, the board also heard from George Monroe Jr. and Jennifer Stacy, descendants of the enslaved community of Highland, the homestead of U.S. President James Monroe, and Sara Bon-Harper, executive director of Highland. They discussed research being done there and in conjunction with W&M students to achieve a fuller understanding of the history of the estate and all who lived there. Its time for a change on the Alamo Colleges board, and this years down-ballot trustee races merit close attention. A recent vote by the board to indefinitely postpone its election a move that would have benefited two incumbents seeking re-election raises serious concerns about the way this governing body operates. This nine-member board is elected to six-year terms, sets the districts tax rate and determines tuition rates. This year, three Alamo Colleges seats are on the ballot. The college districts trustee elections are generally held in May, but they were moved to November by Gov. Greg Abbott due to COVID-19-related public health concerns. The rescheduling of the election through executive order did not sit well with many of the Alamo Colleges trustees, and in August they sought to postpone the election to some undetermined date. The lack of transparency and community input surrounding that vote is cause for concern. The 6-2-1 vote to delay the election directly benefited two trustees who voted in support of the measure. The terms of Joe Jesse Sanchez and Jose A. Macias Jr. expired in May, but they have been allowed to remain in office until an election can be held. Both are seeking re-election. If not for another trustees concern about the election delay, his request to the Texas attorney generals Office for intervention and a threat by the state to take the district to court, the Alamo Colleges would not be on the November ballot. The vote to circumvent state law and postpone the election was wrong and would have disenfranchised voters. We cannot in good conscience support the trustees who sought to postpone the election. In the District 2 race, we recommend Gloria Ray, who has been a tireless volunteer in her community. Ray retired from Kelly AFB in 1994 after 28 years, and has been serving on various boards and commissions since then, including several Alamo Colleges committees. A former chairman of the March Committee for the annual MLK Jr. Birthday Celebration, Ray was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to the board of Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, where she served for six years. Ray knows this community well; her many years of diverse public service would be an asset on this board. The seat is held by Macias, a former Judson ISD board member who gave up his seat to take the Alamo Colleges appointment following the resignation of Denver McClendon. In the District 4 race, we recommend Lorena Lorraine Pulido, an impressive candidate with a compelling personal story. As a teen mom, she went on to earn bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, and later a doctorate from Our Lady of the Lake University. During her senior year in high school she was enrolled in a dual credit program at Palo Alto College. Pulido is well aware of the challenges facing Alamo Colleges students. She is the communications manager for VIA Metropolitan Transit and has taught as an adjunct professor at local colleges for 20 years. This is an open seat. Marcelo Casillas, who has served on the board for close to 18 years, is not seeking re-election This trustee race is the most highly contested, with four candidates. Among them is South San Antonio Independent School District board member Connie Prado, who is also running unopposed for another term on that school board. This unique situation of having a candidate participating in two different elections was created by the rescheduling of the Alamo Colleges election. If she wins both, she must forfeit one. In the District 9 race, we recommend attorney Leslie Sachanowicz, a former prosecutor now in private practice. He has been an adjunct professor at St. Marys School of Law and spent more than a decade on the San Antonio Credit Union board, where he also served as its general counsel. His legal and financial background would be an asset on this board. This seat is held by Sanchez, who was appointed in 2017 following the death of longtime trustee Jim Rindfuss. He was elected to fill that unexpired term in 2018. All eyes will be on the top of the ballot, but we urge voters to pay attention to local races, too. Every vote counts. During the Alamo Colleges trustee elections two years ago, one race was determined by two votes. The suspension came after the Bor city government filed a criminal charge against the Chinese state-owned miner after registering SO2 levels that exceeded limits on three days in a row last week, Serbian Monitor reported. According to another local media agency, See News, Zijin Mining started... A stronauts struggle to nod off in space and get less deep sleep compared to being in their own bed on Earth, research has found. Scientists from Harvard and Nasa studying how microgravity the sensation of weightlessness impacts the bodys circadian rhythms found the sleep architecture of people aboard a space station was seriously affected as they orbited 250 miles above Earth. Living and working in bright, artificial light while travelling at a consistent 17,500mph 13 times the speed of Concorde for long periods all added to the physical toll. The lead author of the study, titled Changes in Sleep Architecture During Long-Duration Spaceflight, said the findings show how humans are affected by the danger of stress and shift-work and the importance of good sleep hygiene while zooming through the cosmos. To examine sleep deprivation, scientists analysed historical mission data from four Russian cosmonauts and one astronaut aboard the former space station Mir, via head-mounted nightcap monitors worn by subjects, monitoring eye and body movement for 113 nights at home and 63 nights in space. Microgravity makes mission specialist Ron Garans arms drift upwards on the ISS in 2008 / Nasa The study found subjects had a "sleep deficit" of about an hour less while aboard Mir, often lying at unusual angles due to microgravity, compared to being horizontal in their own bed. On average, this meant about 5.4 hours of nightly sleep in space, rather than 6.6 hours on Earth, despite spending similar times resting. Subjects also spent significantly more time awake in bed, resulting in a reduction in sleep efficiency of more than 20 per cent, the study found. Five astronauts strapped into sleeping bags on the space shuttle Atlantis in 2002 / Nasa The depth of their sleep, measured by dream-state rapid eye movement, was also less. Crew sleeping bags are strapped to the walls of space stations, so astronauts do not float away, and arms drift upwards in microgravity. British astronaut Tim Peake described trying to sleep in quarters about the size of a phone box during his mission on the International Space Station. He said: The difficult thing, of course, about sleeping space is getting to sleep. Russia's Mir space station as seen from space shuttle Endeavour in 1998 / Nasa We dont lie down. We dont put our head against a pillow - all of those triggers that you get here on Earth to fall asleep. We simply zip up the sleeping bag and wait until we fall asleep, so that can quite hard. Harvards findings highlight the challenges of ensuring humans who might colonise Mars in future missions on Elon Musks SpaceX rockets arrive without significant body clock damage. Cosmonauts undertook exhausting spacewalks fixing Mir while orbiting at 17,500mph, but still struggled to sleep / Nasa On Mars, every day or Martian sol is about 40 minutes longer than back on Earth, and human passengers first must endure a seven-month, 140 million-mile journey to reach the Red Planet. Russias Mir space station was decommissioned in 2001 after more than 15 years in space, completing more than 86,000 orbits of Earth. At the end of its service, Mir mostly broke up in the atmosphere and surviving fragments fell into the Pacific Ocean. The current International Space Station orbits Earth orbits at a similar speed. Four astronauts at various angles show how microgravity affects rest cycles in space, aboard the shuttle Discovery in 1993 / Nasa Research lead author Oliver Piltch, an undergraduate researcher at Harvard College, said: We found significant decreases in sleep efficiency during spaceflight despite similar times in bed. The sleep deficits that our subjects were facing while working around the clock in a high-pressure environment provide further evidence for the danger of stress and shift-work schedules for humans anywhere. (Also) the sleep deficits experienced by our subjects draw attention to the need for a habitable spaceflight environment that is conducive to sleep hygiene. Good quality sleep is crucial to the safety and success of all future missions. Before travelling to Mars, it is important to further investigate the changes to sleep architecture that we noted in this study. A nonprofit organization based out of Chicago is lighting up the lives of thousands of individuals around the world enshrouded by darkness by providing solar-powered lighting to them. It all began when a mom of five, Nancy Economou, accompanied her husband on a business trip to the Philippines in 2009. While there, I met a young girl who had scars and burns all over her face, and they were putting toothpaste on it, Nancy said in an interview with The One Of a Million project. Nancy remembers asking what was happening and was told that the girl had burned herself due to the usage of a kerosene lamp that the villagers use as a source of light to complete their work and household chores all due to the absence of alternatives. Nancy Economou, Watts of Love founder. (Courtesy of Watts of Love) I came home from that trip and just felt called to bring solar lights to people, Nancy regaled. Slowly but surely, her dream gained traction. Nancy then founded Watts of Love in the summer of 2012, out of Chicago. Despite not having a background in lighting or technology, she set to work establishing her nonprofit in collaboration with experts in the field. Watts of Loves original solar light comprised a solar panel along with an MP3 and radio capability so that people could listen to the news. In 2018, Nancy designed and patented a new light, which was smaller and lighter. After a full day charging in the sun, a glowing YouTube product review explains, the lamp can provide up to 120 hours of light on its lowest setting. They can physically wear this new light on their body, or on their head, and be hands-free, said Nancy to The One Of a Million project. That doesnt seem like a big deal, but its a huge deal. Its a game-changer. Nancys very first ambition was to return to the Philippines to repay the community that had inspired her to start this dream project. Since then, a number of success stories have stood out to the Watts of Love family as exemplary results of their mission. The team met Daisy, a poverty-stricken mom of two, when she was assigned as their local translator in Haiti. They gifted her a solar light, but Daisy, defeated by circumstance, could not relate to its potential. One year later, Watts of Love returned. Daisy was a changed woman. Daisy had bought chickens, the team explained while sharing their success story, paid for her childrens medical bills, and put her kids in school. No longer dependent upon kerosene, Daisy had saved money and was thriving. However, it wasnt just Daisy whose life had changed for the better; Watts of Love has delivered over 40,000 lights to people and families in need across 46 countries, impacting their lives in innumerable ways. A light is not just a light, Watts of Love posted on Facebook, in one of many mission updates from overseas; volunteers teach solar light recipients that they can save money by not buying dangerous kerosene for light, they wrote. They can use that money towards enriching their familys economic status. Recently, the nonprofit is also changing lives closer to home. In the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, the Watts of Love team traveled to southwest Louisiana in September, armed with 600 solar lights, in search of the families and individuals in Lake Charles and surrounding communities. (Courtesy of Watts of Love) Nancy raised some funds and gathered a team of 10 volunteers, and with the help of United Airlines donating the miles to get the team to and from Louisiana, they embarked on a mission to help those in need. Ive been to a lot of disastersin the Philippines, Nepal, Mozambique, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and Texas, Nancy said, according to a press release. Ive seen a lot of destruction, but this was as widespread and as severe as Ive ever seen. People are really in need. U: these solar lights mean more than you could ever imagine. Our team is doing an amazing job of restoring hope Posted by Watts of Love on Saturday, September 12, 2020 Theres so much devastation, Nancy reflected, speaking to KPLC 7, and Watts of Love is really focused on people that are elderly and living alone. Together, they plan to bring light into the lives of those in Louisiana. Nancy says that knowing there are around 1 billion people worldwide thrown into darkness after sundown gives her a sense of urgency. We did a capstone study with NYU in January [2018] on the impacts of Watts of Love in Haiti, she explained to The One Of a Million project, and the study showed that the two biggest factors that came out of the light distribution were self-worth and economic freedom. Who would have thought you could create those changes with a solar-powered light? Nancy exclaimed. You can literally lift a family out of poverty in one generation. (Courtesy of Watts of Love) We would love to hear your stories! You can share them with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.nyc Despite their re-opening, both sites still have few customers. Indeed, the two museums were closed for a period of over 40 days due to the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. After the second wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, approximately 15% of hotels in Da Nang City have re-opened their doors to tourists. Simultaneously, roughly 25% of all hotels in the central city have been put up for sale because of the negative economic impact caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. As he rolls out executive orders and gives speeches and the policies that have been coming out of his administration have been amazing, I think people have just kind of been like, Wow, this is so much better than we could have hoped for, said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee. And I just know that theres been building, for a couple years, this great enthusiasm to reelect this president. New Jersey is on the verge of adopting the nations strictest ban on single-use plastics, thanks to a bill passed by state lawmakers on Thursday. The measure, which curbs the use of plastic and paper takeout bags, plastic straws and polystyrene food containers, aims to shift consumer habits in an effort to fight the constant and growing threat of plastic pollution. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. James Oppong-Boanuh, has stated that the police will deal with electoral offenders without bias should there be any such violations in the upcoming December general election. He has, therefore, asked all aspirants in the December 7 presidential and parliamentary polls to educate their supporters on the negative acts that could lead them into trouble. The IGP stated this when he called on the Central Regional Minister, Mr. Kwamena Duncan, at his office yesterday as part of a day's working visit to the region. Mr. Oppong-Boanuh was in the region to assess the operational preparedness of the police in the run-up to the general election, and to work to bridge the logistical gaps where needed. He was also expected to address some of the welfare issues of the personnel. He said the police had resolved to work professionally without fear or favour, and to deal with all offenders irrespective of their political affiliations. Mr. Oppong-Boanuh, who had earlier last Wednesday, paid a similar visit to the Western Region, urged the larger society to work towards keeping the country together in peace and in one piece before, during and after the general election. Hotspots Welcoming the IGP, the regional minister said Kasoa was turning into a recruitment point for people who were into all kinds of vices, and added that the area was a possible hotspot. He said the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District where there had been skirmishes of electoral violence in recent times needed to be watched closely. Traditional authorities Later, when the IGP called on the Omanhen of the Oguaa Traditional Area, Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II, he urged the traditional authorities to help educate the youth to avoid being used by any person or group to engage in violence. He urged the youth to report any major disagreements to the police, and encouraged them to rely on the traditional authorities to settle petty disputes rather than resorting to violence. He pledged to continue to work professionally without fear or favour. Mr. Oppong-Boanuh urged Ghanaians to be reassured that the police would work to protect lives and property at all times, particularly in relation to the upcoming elections. Pledge Responding, Osabarimba Kwesi Atta pledged to work closely with the security agencies to keep the peace of the area. He commended the Regional Commander of Police, Deputy Commissioner of Police Habiba Twumasi Sarpong, for her professional attitude to work and expressed the hope that her efforts towards peace would achieve maximum results. Other activities The IGP later addressed officers and other ranks of the Ghana National Fire Service and the Ghana Prisons Service, urging them to be professional in their activities. He encouraged them to work diligently and professionally to protect lives and property. The IGP urged them to put what they had learnt into practice on the field for a peaceful election. Source: Graphic.com.gh 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 Loopio ranks among Canada's Top Growing Companies. I believe our relentless focus on people, both customers and employees, is whats driven our growth year over year. Loopio is pleased to announce it placed No. 79 on the 2020 Report on Business ranking of Canadas Top Growing Companies. Canadas Top Growing Companies ranks Canadian companies on three-year revenue growth. Loopio earned its spot with three-year growth of 681%. Were honored to be included in this list of innovative Canadian companies for the second year in a row, says Zak Hemraj, CEO and Co-Founder of Loopio. Over the last few years, Loopio has grown to partner with more than 800 world-leading organizations, and our platform has helped thousands of people respond to RFPs seamlessly. I believe our relentless focus on people, both customers and employees, is whats driven our growth year over year. Loopios RFP response software helps companies streamline their response process for Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Due Diligence Questionnaires, and Security Questionnaires. Theyre known for their easy-to-use platform, exceptional customer service, and magnetic company culture. Launched in 2019, Canadas Top Growing Companies editorial ranking aims to celebrate entrepreneurial achievement in Canada by identifying and amplifying the success of growth-minded, independent businesses in Canada. It is a voluntary program; companies had to complete an in-depth application process in order to qualify. In total, 400 companies earned a spot on this years ranking. The full list of 2020 winners, and accompanying editorial coverage, is published in the October issue of Report on Business magazineout nowand online at https://tgam.ca/TopGrowing. The stories of Canadas Top Growing Companies are worth telling at any time, but are especially relevant in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, says James Cowan, Editor of Report on Business magazine. As businesses work to rebuild the economy, their resilience and innovation make for essential reading. Any business leader seeking inspiration should look no further than the 400 businesses on this years Report on Business ranking of Canadas Top Growing Companies, says Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail. Their growth helps to make Canada a better place, and we are proud to bring their stories to our readers. About Loopio: Loopio is a Toronto-based software provider that helps companies streamline their response process for RFPs, DDQs, and Security Questionnaires. With Loopio, teams can respond faster, improve response quality, and win more business. Loopio is one of Canadas fastest-growing tech startups. It was ranked as the 13th fastest growing company on the 2019 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 list and selected twice as one of LinkedIns Top Startups in Canada. About The Globe and Mail: The Globe and Mail is Canadas foremost news media company, leading the national discussion and causing policy change through brave and independent journalism since 1844. With award-winning coverage of business, politics and national affairs, The Globe and Mail newspaper reaches 5.9 million readers every week in print or digital formats, and Report on Business magazine reaches 2.1 million readers in print and digital every issue. The Globe and Mails investment in innovative data science means that as the world continues to change, so does The Globe. The Globe and Mail is owned by Woodbridge, the investment arm of the Thomson family. New light is being shed on a little-known role of Y chromosome genes, specific to males, that could explain why men suffer differently than women from various diseases, including Covid-19. The findings were published this month in Scientific Reports by Universite de Montreal professor Christian Deschepper, director of the Experimental Cardiovascular Biology research unit of the Montreal Clinical Research Institute. "Our discovery provides a better understanding of how male genes on the Y chromosome allow male cells to function differently from female cells," said Deschepper, the study's lead author, who is also an associate professor at McGill University. "In the future, these results could help to shed some light on why some diseases occur differently in men and women." Genes that females lack Humans each have 23 pairs of chromosomes, including one pair of sex chromosomes. While females carry two X sex chromosomes, males carry one X and one Y chromosome. This male chromosome carries genes that females lack. Although these male genes are expressed in all cells of the body, their only confirmed role to date has been essentially limited to the functions of the sex organs. In his study, Deschepper performed a genetic manipulation that inactivated two male genes on the Y chromosome, altering several signalling pathways that play important roles in certain functions of non-sex organ cells. For example, under stress, some of the affected mechanisms could influence the way in which cells in human hearts defend themselves against aggressions such as ischemia (reduced blood supply) or mechanical stress. In addition, the study showed that these male genes performed their regulatory functions in a way that was unusual compared to the mechanisms generally used by most other genes on the non-sex chromosomes. Thus, instead of specifically activating certain genes by direct action at the genome level, the Y chromosome seems to affect cellular functions by acting on protein production. The discovery of these differences in function may explain in part why the functions of male Y chromosome genes have so far been poorly understood, said Deschepper. Males differ from females in the manifestation, severity and consequences of most diseases. A recent example of this duality is Covid-19, which has a mortality rate twice as high in men than in women. Take a look at some of the biggest movers in the premarket: Costco (COST) Costco reported quarterly earnings of $3.04 per share, 20 cents a share above estimates. The warehouse retailer's revenue also beat Wall Street forecasts. Comparable-store sales rose 11.4% compared to the 7.8% consensus estimate of analysts polled by Refinitiv. Costco also saw digital sales jump by 91% from a year earlier. AstraZeneca (AZN) AstraZeneca received partial immunity from the European Union regarding any potential liability related to its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, according to Reuters. The drugmaker is said to have received that backing due to asking a lower price for the treatment, and would only pay legal costs up to a certain threshold. Novavax (NVAX) Novavax began a late-stage trial of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the U.K., in partnership with the government's Vaccines Taskforce. Ten thousand participants between the ages of 18 and 84 are expected to be enrolled. Harley-Davidson (HOG) Harley is close to a distribution deal with India's Hero MotoCorp, according to sources who spoke to Reuters. Harley had announced Thursday that it would stop sales and shut its India manufacturing plant, but the potential deal would allow Hero to import and sell Harley motorcycles in India. Redfin (RDFN), Zillow (ZG) Piper Sandler initiated coverage of both online real estate website operators with "overweight" ratings, as Americans relocate in record numbers in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Apple (AAPL) The European Union will appeal a July court decision that favored Apple in a dispute over tax breaks Apple received in Ireland. The EU's top court will rule on whether that tax deal constituted illegal state aid and whether a nearly $15 billion tax bill for Apple should be reinstated. Carnival (CCL), Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH), Royal Caribbean (RCL) Barclays upgraded the cruise line stocks to "overweight" from "equal weight." The firm said that although the call may be early, the risk/reward profile is attractive and anticipating that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may make positive comments about a return to cruising when it addresses the issue within a few days. Churchill Downs (CHDN) Susquehanna Financial upgraded the stock to "positive" from "neutral," following a 10% drop Thursday. The stock fell after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that certain slot-like machines that bet on old horse races were in violation of current law, but both Churchill Downs and Susquehanna point out that Churchill Downs does not use the system specifically addressed in the court case. Boeing (BA) Boeing supplier Impresa filed for bankruptcy protection, stemming from the grounding of Boeing's 737 Max jet after two fatal plane crashes. The Max was a key source of revenue for privately held Impresa. Brookfield Property Partners (BPY) Brookfield plans to cut down its shopping mall portfolio, according to comments made by Brookfield CEO Brian Kingston at the company's investor day and reported by the Globe and Mail newspaper. Kingston did say the closures will not be rushed. Alphabet (GOOGL) Alphabet's Google services experienced a brief shutdown Thursday evening, with users reporting issues with services like Gmail, YouTube, Google drive and the flagship search engine. Google is investigating the cause of the disruption, but a person with knowledge of the situation told The New York Times the company has ruled out a cyberattack. Vail Resorts (MTN) Vail Resorts lost $3.82 per share for its latest quarter, wider than the loss of $3.43 that analysts were anticipating, while the resort operator's revenue was below forecasts as well. Vail did say that it expects the number of season passes for this year to be roughly the same as a year ago. Bristol-Myers (BMY) The drugmaker announced positive interim results from a late-stage trial of its immunotherapy treatment Opdivo for bladder cancer patients. He is the first black inmate put to death as part of the Trump administration's resumption of federal executions after a 17-year hiatus Vialva was 19 years old in 1999 when he shot dead Todd and Stacie Bagley and burned their bodies in the trunk of their car His final words were, 'I'm ready, Father' moments before he was put to death In his last statement, he asked God to comfort the families of the couple he had killed, saying 'Father ... heal their hearts with grace and love' Christopher Vialva, 40, was pronounced dead shortly before 7pm after receiving a lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana A man who killed a religious couple visiting Texas from Iowa was executed Thursday, the first black inmate put to death as part of the Trump administration's resumption of federal executions. Christopher Vialva, 40, was pronounced dead shortly before 7pm after receiving a lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. In a last statement, Vialva asked God to comfort the families of the couple he had killed, saying, 'Father ... heal their hearts with grace and love.' His final words were: I'm ready, Father.' There was some confusion within the Bureau of Prisons about the official time of death. Inside the chamber, the time of death was announced as 6.42pm, but the agency later said the official time of death was actually 6.46pm. He was 19 years old in 1999 when he shot Todd and Stacie Bagley and burned them in the trunk of their car. Vialvas lawyer, Susan Otto, has said race played a role in landing her client on death row for slaying the white couple. Vialva was the seventh federal execution since July and the second this week. Five of the first six were white, a move critics argue was a political calculation to avoid uproar. The sixth was Navajo. This undated image taken from video provided by attorney Susan Otto shows Christopher Vialva in the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. Vialva is the seventh federal death row inmate to be executed this year Todd and Stacie Bagley, left and right, were murdered by Christopher Andre Vialva 'I believe when someone deliberately takes the life of another, they suffer the consequences for their actions, Todd Bagleys mother, Georgia, wrote in a statement released after the execution. In the video statement released his lawyers released Thursday, Vialva expressed regret for what hed done and said he was a changed man. 'I committed a grave wrong when I was a lost kid and took two precious lives from this world,' he said. 'Every day, I wish I could right this wrong.' Vialvas mother, Lisa Brown, spoke at an anti-death penalty rally Thursday morning across from the prison where her son was later put to death. 'This is the first venue Ive had in which I could say to Todd and Stacies family, I am so sorry for your loss,' said Brown, who was expected to witness her sons execution. 'Christophers mother had the opportunity to visit hi for the past 21 years,' she wrote. 'We have had to wait for 21 years for justice and closure. We cannot be with our children for visits or to see them on holidays. We were denied that privilige,' Bagley's mother wrote. Federal authorities executed just three prisoners in the previous 56 years. Death penalty foes accuse President Donald Trump of restarting them to help stake a claim as the law-and-order candidate. Otto said one Black juror and 11 white jurors recommended the death sentence in 2000 after prosecutors told them Vialva led a Black gang faction in Killeen, Texas, and killed to boost his gang status. That claim, Otto said, was false and only served to conjure up menacing stereotypes. 'It played right into the narrative that he was a dangerous Black thug who killed these lovely white people. And they were lovely,' Otto said in a recent phone interview. According to court filings, the Bagleys were on their way home from a Sunday worship service during a visit to Texas when Vialva and his teenage accomplices asked them for a lift after they stopped at a convenience store - planning all along to rob the couple. After the Bagleys agreed and began driving away, Vialva pulled out a gun and told the couple: 'Plans have changed.' A wave of federal executions by the Trump administration after a 17-year hiatus have resumed After stealing their money, jewelry and ATM card, the teens locked the Bagleys in the trunk of their car as they drove around for hours trying to withdraw money from ATMs and seeking to pawn Stacie Bagleys wedding ring. The Bagleys pleaded for their lives from the trunk. The teens eventually pulled to the side of the road and poured lighter fluid inside the car. As they did, the Bagleys sang 'Jesus loves us' in the trunk. Vialva, the oldest of the group, donned a ski mask, opened the trunk and shot the Bagleys in the head. Stacie Bagley, prosecutors said at trial, was still alive as flames engulfed the car. Questions about racial bias in the criminal justice system have been front and center since protests erupted across the country following the death of George Floyd after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on the handcuffed Black mans neck for several minutes. A report this month by the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center said Black people remain overrepresented on death rows and that Black people who kill white people are far more likely to be sentenced to death than white people who kill Black people. Of the 56 inmates currently on federal death row, 26 - or nearly 50% - are Black, according to center data updated Wednesday; 22, or nearly 40%, are white and seven, around 12% were Latino. There is one Asian on federal death row. Black people make up only about 13% of the population. Otto said Vialvas lawyers during the trial, the sentencing phase and in an initial appeal didnt appear to raise objections about the racial composition of the jury or the characterization of Vialva as a Black gang leader. That effectively barred subsequent lawyers from raising the issue of racial bias in higher court appeals. His current legal team instead stressed Vialvas level of mental development at the time of the killings. Otto said that Vialva was, developmentally, three or four years younger than his 19 years at the time of the killings and so for practical purposes was a juvenile at the time. Otto says U.S. law doesnt allow for judges to deem someone facing a possible death sentence to be technically a juvenile and therefore ineligible for the death penalty, something she says should change. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - As the coronavirus cases in the United States move closer to 7 million, the country's top infectious disease expert warned not to downplay the relevance of current public health measures such as wearing a mask, social distancing and washing hands even if an effective Covid-19 vaccine is developed and distributed nationwide. 'I think if we can get 75 to 80 percent of the population vaccinated, I think that would be a really good accomplishment,' Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a Facebook Live chat with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy Thursday. However, 'It is not going to eliminate the need to be prudent and careful with our public health measures,' according to Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention head Robert Redfield said he expects that about 700 million doses of vaccines will be available by April next year, which is enough to reach 350 million people. The vaccine does not guarantee 100 percent effectiveness and cover the entire American population, according to Fauci. He also warned that the United States has not yet passed its first wave of the pandemic, and that it should be prepared for the challenge of fall and winter. With 919 additional deaths reporting in the last 24 hours, coronavirus death toll in the United States reached 202819, as per Johns Hopkins University's latest data. With the addition of 44,669 coronavirus-related cases in the same period, total number of infections in the country reached 6978873. CNN reported that at least 21 states - mostly across the U.S. heartland and Midwest - are reporting rise in cases when compared to the previous week. South Dakota and North Dakota were the worst-affected states. South Dakota reported 166 percent increase in cases in the past four weeks as compared to the four weeks before that. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there will be up to 226,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by October. The University of Washington's School of Medicine updated its projection that an average of 3,000 coronavirus deaths a day could occur in the country by end of the year. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de The Justice Department on Thursday released details about an investigation into nine discarded mailed-in ballots in Pennsylvania, an unusual step that stoked new fears that President Trumps political appointees were using the levers of law enforcement to sow doubt about the election. The U.S. attorney for central Pennsylvania, David J. Freed, announced in a statement that F.B.I. investigators were examining mail-in ballots from military members in Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania that had been discarded. Seven of the nine ballots were cast for Mr. Trump, Mr. Freed said. In a letter to the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections released on Thursday evening, Mr. Freed said investigators found that the nine ballots had been improperly opened by your elections staff. Under Pennsylvania election law, no ballots can be opened until Election Day, even for processing. Mr. Freed added that the investigation found that envelopes used for official overseas, military, absentee and mail-in ballot requests are so similar, that the staff believed that adhering to the protocol of preserving envelopes unopened would cause them to miss such ballot requests, and had been opening envelopes. Female drill instructors may start training recruits at the Marine Corps' historically all-male recruit depot in San Diego, part of a year-long congressional mandate requiring entry-level training to be coed for the Marines. Commandant Gen. David Berger made the announcement on Thursday during an event hosted by Defense One, Military.com reports. 'All of our female drill instructors are on the East Coast,' he said. '... We're going to run a couple trials this wintertime actually moving drill instructors from South Carolina to San Diego [on temporary duty] and train recruits on the West Coast to see how this is going to work.' Female drill instructors train at the Marine Corps' East Coast schoolhouse, eventually leading recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. On Thursday, Commandant Gen. David Berger said that trials to see how female drill instructors do in San Diego will begin during the wintertime. It is currently unclear the instructors assigned to San Diego in the winter will train at the drill instructor school at the West Coast or from the East Coast It is currently unclear the instructors who will be assigned to Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in the winter will train at the drill instructor school at the West Coast or be transferred from Parris Island. Under the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the service is required to stop separating trainees by gender at Parris Island within five years and within eight in San Diego. Berger explained that the requirement would be a struggle to attain as half of all enlistees who train on the West Coast 'never see a female recruit at all.' 'Nothing about the way we're organized right now lends itself to integrated recruit training,' he said. Female drill instructors train at the Marine Corps' East Coast schoolhouse, eventually leading recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina The Marine Corps are required to stop separating trainees by gender at Parris Island within 5 years and within 8 in San Diego Last year, the Marine Corps began training coed companies at Parris Island. The East Coast recruit depot doesn't have the space to accommodate the setup during the summer month, which see an influx of trainees following high school graduations. Recruits at the boot camp at Parris Island have interacted with both male and female drill instructors. The Marine Corps has been slammed for their practices of separating the boot camps by gender in the past. Recruitment training becoming coed is a 'top priority' for the Marine Corps, who released plans for ending gender segregation at boot camp earlier this month. All-male recruit companies trained solely by men are to become 'obsolete.' 'The outcome the Marine Corps desires for gender integration is for every male recruit to train alongside a female recruit within the same company,' read the document, submitted to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. As new cases of COVID-19 in Toronto reach the highest point in the pandemic since May, city officials are moving for the first time to shut down establishments that have put members of the public at risk of virus spread. On Friday afternoon, in a late-scheduled press conference, Dr. Eileen de Villa said there were 236 new cases and the first reported outbreak in a Toronto school with two students infected and more than two dozen isolating at home. And the medical officer of health, under her own authority, has moved to close four hospitality-focused businesses that have flouted public health orders and thwarted investigators, including pressuring employees who are ill to continue working. An increase, day-over-day, of this scale is a warning to the entire city, de Villa said, urging residents to stay six feet apart whenever they can from anyone they dont live with, wear a mask and wash their hands. De Villa said several concerning factors led to the orders under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, including: Several infected employees working at multiple locations; illegal buffet dining; unco-operative business owners hampering investigative efforts; and staff working while ill and concerns of staff being pressured to do so. These factors combined to create a significant risk to efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19. With the orders still outstanding Friday afternoon, de Villa promised to update the public on the names and locations of the businesses once orders were served. The steps taken Friday are the first time the city is acting to close businesses outside of provincial orders after the province claimed bars and restaurants were not to blame. On Friday, Toronto Public Health posted the first detailed example of virus spread demonstrating how a night out led to at least 20 confirmed cases and dozens of high- or low-risk contacts across three separate bars and how the infection spread from one place to the next. A powerful reminder that #COVID19 spreads when given the chance & we all need to take steps for self-protection: heres a real-world example of how 1 night out in TO led to 20 cases & at least 80 people exposed to the virus who had to self-monitor, self-isolate & get tested, the tweet said, showing a chart of cases and contacts across the three locations. Fridays new case number is the largest single-day total the city has reported since May 22. According to the Stars daily count, the city has averaged 167 new cases each day this week, the highest its seven-day average has been since early June. That average has been accelerating since the city entered Stage 3 or reopening on July 31, and has more than doubled in just the last eight days. In early August, Toronto was seeing as few as 13 cases reported each day on average. Like much of Ontario, Toronto was hit hard in the spring by institutional outbreaks in long-term-care homes and hospitals, and by mid-April these vulnerable settings accounted for the largest share of total cases, hospitalizations and deaths. So far in the fall, the city is not yet reporting a similar rise in new institutional outbreaks. According to city data, the recent spike has been mostly driven by close contact in non-outbreak settings, such as at home, and by untraceable spread in the community. The numbers account for more than half of the provinces total Friday and came as Premier Doug Ford announced the province would restrict bars open hours and shut strip clubs. The limit on drinking in bars comes more than two months after the city requested the province make those rules ahead of Stage 3 to help reduce the risk of virus spread. On Friday, when pressed by a reporter on why it took so long to implement those measures, Ford said they were being cautious, noting an earlier decline in cases. Meanwhile all but one of Torontos health indicators on its online dashboard were yellow or red. Only the percentage of positive test results, at 1.9 per cent, was green. But Dr. Irfan Dhalla, a vice-president and general internist at St. Michaels Hospital, tweeted even that number may be troubling, saying other targets are much lower than the citys 10 per cent less than 0.1 per cent or between 0.1 and 1 per cent. So, really, theres nothing green anymore on Torontos scorecard, he wrote Friday. Asked how the current case count will affect schools, de Villa said the first outbreak was expected and she anticipates more in future. Two students at Glen Park Public School, near Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue West, have tested positive and are isolating at home. As a precaution, a teacher and two classes, with 35 students total, are also isolating. A total of 28 other schools in the Toronto District School Board were also reporting cases, for a total of 20 infected students and 14 infected teachers. Richview Collegiate had the most, with three infected students. The Toronto Catholic District School Board reported eight infected students and three infected staff at 10 schools. Glen Park is the only Toronto school that meets Ontarios outbreak definition of at least two cases where at least one is linked to a school setting, de Villa said. That suggests one student infected another, as opposed to schools where all the infected students contracted the virus at home or another setting. This (outbreak) definition supports a swift response that will help manage the spread of COVID-19 aggressively ..., de Villa said. The Star spoke to a mother of a 10-year-old girl at Glen Park Public School who was among the children sent home to isolate for two weeks. We are still on the fence on whether it is worth getting in a lineup for testing, said the mother, who did not want her name used. On Wednesday, she said, parents received information from Toronto Public Health saying there was a case of COVID in the school but werent given any additional details, such as the grade level, so they could prepare themselves. It was really frustrating. Its a quite a big school and it would have been very helpful to get more information from Toronto Public Health, she said. On Friday morning, a new message from Toronto Public Health was waiting. I woke up to an email saying there was a case in her class and she would be isolated, she said. There was definitely a sense of high anxiety among the parents initially. Its not an email you want to get but you put it in perspective. It was bad luck that Glen Park ended up with positive cases of COVID, she said. Staff have worked hard to get the students familiar with safety practices like social distancing and cohorting classes. They have tried to do everything they can to prevent this. Everything is very well planned out. Its well organized. Here, if they have to go to the bathroom every class has 15 minutes where they can go knowing there wont be a big group of kids, she said. The email that detailed the rules for isolation was soon followed by a message from her daughters teacher who said classes would continue on Zoom with two or three sessions held each day. It was very reassuring, the mother said. They are going to learn a lot about resilience and flexibility from all of this. It is obviously unfortunate but it is not unexpected, said Ryan Bird, TDSB spokesperson. With the numbers continuing to climb in Toronto and elsewhere, we did anticipate that we would have these cases start popping up in our schools among our students and staff. Bird said the TDSB continues with enhanced cleaning multiple times a day along with requirements for universal masking among students and staff, proper physical distancing and hand washing. In a statement Friday, Coun. Joe Cressy, the citys board of health chair, warned the city was reaching a dangerous tipping point in our battle with COVID-19 and risk of future lockdown. Other jurisdictions that have been successful at containing the virus have shown that we need policies that directly respond to the very real risks that were facing, his statement said. While todays announcement is welcome news, we still need more proactive actions on the part of all governments and we need it now. He said that includes boosting testing capacity across the province and the federal and provincial governments working to provide rapid testing options for those in high-risk workplaces. Elsewhere, officials were being clear about telling people to stay apart. Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube asked residents to cancel their gatherings over the next few weeks, including Thanksgiving, the CBC reported Thursday, as the province remains the hardest hit by the virus in the country. Correction Sept. 26, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to Christian Dube as Quebecs premier. With files from David Rider, Ed Tubb and Moira Welsh Jennifer Pagliaro is a Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @jpags Read more about: Members of various farmer organizations block a railway track during a protest against the central government over agriculture related bills, at Nabha in Patiala, Thursday, September 24, 2020 | Photo: PTI The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee on Friday announced extending its 'rail roko' agitation in Punjab against three farm Bills till September 29. The three-day agitation was scheduled to end on September 26. "We have decided to extend our agitation till September 29. We want the government to resolve the issue of farm Bills," committee president Satnam Singh Pannu said over the phone. The 'rail roko' agitation had started on Thursday, forcing the railway authorities to suspend the operation of special passenger trains in the state. Railway authorities had earlier said that 14 pairs of special trains would remain suspended between September 24 and September 26. The decision to suspend rail operations had been taken keeping in mind the safety of passengers and protection of railway property from any damage, officials said. Farmers have expressed apprehension that the farm Bills would pave the way for dismantling of the minimum support price system and they would be at the "mercy" of big corporate entities. The farmers said they would continue their fight till the three farm Bills were revoked. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill were passed by Parliament earlier this week. The government has said that the proposed legislations will benefit the farmers and help increase their earnings. (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.) Bhubaneswar, Sep 25 : Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has requested the Centre to accord classical status to Odissi music to fulfil the long cherished dream of music lovers of Odisha and the country. Patnaik, in a letter to Union Culture Minister Prahalad Singh Patel, has requested him to consider for conferment of classical status to Odissi music (vocal and instrumental). "It is a matter of concern that Odissi music, the tradition of which dates back almost to second century BCE, is yet to be recognised as classical music by the Government of India," Patnaik said in the letter released to the media on Friday. He said the Odishan music has at least a tradition of 2000 years and is based on written Sastra and its own core Raga. "It has a distinctive rendition style based on codified grammar, the characteristic giti system of classical texts and having its own tala, different from Hindustani and Karnatak music," he informed. The Chief Minister said Odissi music has all the requisite and exclusive characteristics to be recognized as a classical music. "Odissi dance has been recognized as one of the classical forms and stands eminent because of its characteristic bhangi, thani, lalitya, mudra etc., but, ironically, Odissi music is yet to be recognized as a classical form of music at national level," he lamented. Earlier, the state heritage cabinet passed a resolution to request the Centre to accord classical status to Odissi music. 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. Neanderthals' original Y chromosomes were gradually wiped out in the wake of interbreeding with modern humans more than 100,000 years ago, a study found. Once injected into the Neanderthal gene pool, the 'superior' Y chromosomes from the humans spread throughout the ancient hominid population by natural selection. This saw the Neanderthals' own Y chromosomes which had acquired bad mutations as a result of their small population size ultimately get totally replaced. The process would have taken in the order of tens of thousands of years, German experts predicted based on models of the Neanderthals' shifting genetic makeup. The findings support the results of previous studies, which found genetic transfer occurred from humans to Neanderthals prior to the major out-of-Africa migration. The presence or absence of a Y chromosome in mammals typically determines an individuals' sex with the Y chromosome only passed down from father to son. Neanderthals' original Y chromosomes were gradually wiped out in the wake of interbreeding with modern humans more than 100,000 years ago, a study found (stock image) Once injected into the Neanderthal gene pool, the 'superior' Y chromosomes from the humans (blue) spread throughout the ancient hominid population by natural selection. This saw the Neanderthals' own Y chromosomes (light green) which had acquired bad mutations as a result of their small population size ultimately get totally replaced HOW NEANDERTHAL Y CHROMOSOMES ENDED UP REPLACED Neanderthals and modern humans met and interbred some time between 370,000 and 100,000 years ago. Some modern human genetic material was passed into the the Neanderthal gene pool perhaps, say 5 per cent. The original Neanderthal Y chromosome had become evolutionarily 'less fit' as a result of their small population size. This had allowed detrimental mutations to build up in their original Y chromosomes. As Neanderthals went on reproducing with each other, the superior Y chromosomes from the humans were 'chosen' by natural selection over the Neanderthals' own Y chromosomes. Over tens of thousands of years, this eventually saw the Neanderthals original Y chromosomes completely wiped out from their gene pool. According to the researchers, this would have happened even if there had only been one interbreeding-based 'injection' of modern human genes into the Neanderthal gene pool. However, the replacement could potentially have been hastened by further interbreeding episodes. Advertisement Until now, studies of the Y chromosomes of early hominids like Neanderthals had not been possible given, as fate would have it, that the best-preserved specimens that could yield enough DNA for analysis have all been female. In the study, however, the researchers were able to identify three male Neanderthals and two Denisovans another species of archaic human that were suitable subjects for DNA analysis. The team developed a method to filter out the target Y chromosome molecules from the microbial DNA that typically contaminates ancient remains after using which they were able to reconstruct each specimen's Y chromosome sequence. When they compared these sequences from the archaic specimens with both each other and those of modern humans, the researchers found that Neanderthal Y chromosomes are more similar to those of people living today than the Denisovans'. 'This was quite a surprise to us,' said paper author and evolutionary geneticist Martin Petr of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. 'We know from studying their autosomal DNA that Neanderthals and Denisovans were closely related and that humans living today are their more distant evolutionary cousins,' he explained. 'Before we first looked at the data, we expected that their Y chromosomes would show a similar picture.' Furthermore, the team calculated that the most recent common ancestor of the Neanderthal and modern human Y chromosome would have existed around 370,000 years ago a date much more recent than had been previously thought. The researchers said that they were initially confused as to how the Y chromosomes from modern humans came to completely replace the Neanderthals' native ones. However, their modelling revealed that the relatively small size of the Neanderthal population allowed detrimental mutations to build up in their original Y chromosomes which made those genes less evolutionarily fit. (This would have worked in a similar way to how breeding within small groups can increase the risk of certain diseases such as how haemophilia ended up being common in the European royal families of the 19th and 20th Centuries.) When interbreeding gave the Neanderthal gene pool a small influx of genetic material from modern humans, this placed the original Neanderthal Y chromosomes in competition with those from modern humans a war they were destined to lose. 'Given the important role of the Y chromosome in reproduction and fertility, the lower evolutionary fitness of Neanderthal Y chromosomes might have caused natural selection to favour the Y chromosomes from early modern humans,' Mr Petr said. This, he added, 'eventually lead to their replacement.' Models suggests that if only 5 per cent of the Neanderthal gene pool was altered by interbreeding with modern humans and Neanderthal Y chromosomes were 12 per cent less fit there would be 2550 per cent chance of total Y chromosome replacement within 50,000 years. The process of replacing the Neanderthal's original Y chromosomes would have taken in the order of tens of thousands of years, German experts predicted In the study, the researchers were able to identify three male Neanderthals and two Denisovans another species of archaic human that were suitable subjects for DNA analysis. Previously work has typically involved female specimens. Pictured, the upper molar of a male Neanderthal unearthed in Spy, Belgium, as seen from multiple angles The team developed a method to filter out the human Y chromosome molecules from the microbial DNA that typically contaminates ancient remains after using which they were able to reconstruct each specimen's Y chromosome sequence. Pictured, researcher Matthias Meyer works on samples at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology The researchers are optimistic that it will be possible in the near future to put the replacement hypothesis to the test. 'If we can retrieve Y chromosome sequences from Neanderthals that lived prior to this hypothesized early introgression event,' began paper author and computational biologist Janet Kelso, also of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. '...we predict that they would still have the original Neanderthal Y chromosome and will therefore be more similar to Denisovans than to modern humans,' she finished. One potential target for such analysis, she noted, would be the Neanderthals from the Sima de los Huesos cave site in Spain whose remains have been dated back to around 430,000 years ago. The full findings of the study were published in the journal Science. Press Release September 25, 2020 Drilon thumbs down 'no-el' scenario Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon vowed to vigorously oppose any plan to postpone the 2022 national and local elections, warning that such a move could be a prelude to the main objective of extending the terms of national officials, congressmen, and other local officials. "We will oppose that vigorously in the Senate. That is part of a continued effort at a 'no-el' scenario. The postponement could be a prelude to the main objective of extending the terms of members of the members of Congress and the elected officials," Drilon said in an interview with CNN Philippines. Drilon believes that the Senate will not be swayed by any argument to allow the postponement of the 2022 national elections. "I cannot see any justification on the postponement of the election. I am confident that our colleagues in the Senate will not agree to such a proposal," said Drilon, Drilon stressed that the Commission on Election (Comelec) cannot postpone a national election without the law being amended. "The Comelec can only postpone an election in a political subdivision, meaning the provinces, cities or municipalities, as provided for in the Omnibus Election Code," the former justice secretary explained. But even that, he emphasized, there must be a showing that there is a serious cause of postponing the election in a political subdivision such "as violence, terrorism, loss or destruction of election paraphernalia or records, force majeure, and other analogous causes of such a nature" that the holding of a free, orderly and honest election should become impossible. Section 5 of the Omnibus Election Code states that: "When for any serious cause such as violence, terrorism, loss or destruction of election paraphernalia or records, force majeure, and other analogous causes of such a nature that the holding of a free, orderly and honest election should become impossible in any political subdivision, the Commission, motu proprio or upon a verified petition by any interested party, and after due notice and hearing, whereby all interested parties are afforded equal opportunity to be heard, shall postpone the election therein to a date which should be reasonably close to the date of the election not held, suspended or which resulted in a failure to elect but not later than thirty days after the cessation of the cause for such postponement or suspension of the election or failure to elect." Drilon further explained that in accordance with the law, the postponement of election can be done provided that is within 30 days from the time the cause for the postponement would cease. Even if the election is postponed, Drilon said that all the terms of office of all nationally and locally elected officials cannot go beyond June 30, 2022. "The Constitution is clear that the term of office of nationally elected officials that began at noon on June 30 of 2016 cannot go beyond noon of June 30, 2022", Drilon said. On a theoretical basis, the Congress can pass a law to postpone the election, he noted. "But even if you pass that kind of a law, that will not extend the terms of office of the elected officials. You cannot postpone the election in the hope that your term can be extended. To extend the term you need an amendment to the Constitution," Drilon said. "Hence, if we are going to postpone the elections, it cannot be later than June 30, 2022, because we should have a new set of officials by then." Only the barangay officials, whose term can be fixed by law, can extend office beyond three years, he added. "The national officials and local officials, other than barangay officials, cannot hold office beyond the term set out in the Constitution," he said. "Given all these legal limitations, it will be absurd to postpone the elections. Comelec should be able to come up with adaptive and mitigating measures. We will provide Comelec with sufficient funds to set up mitigating measures in case the pandemic lasts until that time," he said A special moment happened last Friday night when Denise Chaila, the musician and spoken word artist from Limerick, made her debut on The Late Late Show and spoke of her experience with racism in Ireland. Her guiding lines were 'we need to do better' and it's a statement that has sat with me all week. Racism in all its forms exists in every nation, be it the casual racism of Australia or the inherent violent racism of America. As a married man who hopes to have children it is also a personal fight, for my wife is Australian-born Vietnamese and our children will be bi-racial. In the weeks after the death of George Floyd my wife and I talked at length about the world our children would come into but more importantly the Ireland our children would grow up in. It is our hope to teach our children Irish and Vietnamese so that they can embrace both our rich cultures. But one day, we both agreed, we will have to have 'the conversation' with them. 'The conversation' entails acknowledging that sadly they may encounter racism and that, in the face of racism, they must be brave. Growing up in Australia my wife encountered racism in all its forms being considered a 'refo' - Australian slang for refugee - or the more sinister sexualised jeers and remarks centred around her race. This, she tells me, is part of being a woman of colour and these micro-aggressions are a sad part of life. In her migration to Ireland the micro- aggressions have continued but she says racism here comes in a different form. Ireland is now a multi-cultural country, be it our Afro-Irish community or our East-Asian Irish community and many more besides. There is a saying that in travelling through a land unchanged we can come to know ourselves better so it is with travelling through a changing land that we can come to understand the new nature of this place. Racism carries with it a connotation of the colonial past, a time when different races and nationalities were debased and dehumanised so as to allow the oppressor to carry out often brutal acts of dispossession. In short, it was easier to confiscate lands and wealth from a people who were considered less than the invading force. This is a connotation with a deep resonance in this country where the Irish were debased, depicted as apes and backward yokels and which allowed the crimes of Empire to occur. So it is that we cannot allow ourselves in turn to become oppressors in the modern world. It would be an action that would be a slap in the face of our ancestors and their trauma which we still remember. Denise Chaila in her conversation with Ryan Tubridy spoke too about how after her Other Voices performance at the National Gallery she experienced abuse from online trolls and received a reaction she described as 'polarised'. We have had enough of hate in this country to last many lifetimes, from nationalist and unionist, to settler versus Traveller communities. And yet in recent weeks, we have increasingly heard of the growth of the far-right in our beloved isle. This is a group who Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister, once told me want only to see things burn. And Varoufakis should know as the growth of far-right groups in Greece haunted his term in office. The growth of wrong thinking starts in small corners and, if not tamed and challenged, can grow into unspeakable acts. In the age of social media, we are surrounded by radical comments that are designed to provoke hatred. My own feed was covered in anti-Black Lives Matter comments in the early months of the protests. Racial abuse, be it online, verbal or physical, is now a reality in this country and sadly many incidents go unreported. The iReport.ie 2019 report into racism in Ireland stated that only 30pc of racist crime victims reported the incidents to gardai, with many victims being unsure how to report such actions. The group most commonly experiencing racism in Ireland were Black African and Black Irish followed by South Asian and other Asian. Perhaps the most sobering statistic from the report is that 34pc of victims of racism were Irish citizens themselves; in short we are attacking our own sons and daughters who were born in this land. But there is an antidote. It is in all our powers to stop the acts before they begin. This can only come through education; education of our children and of ourselves. Ireland is a richer place for all the people that now make up this nation. I hope it will be a richer land for my wife and children to come. When we sit down to have 'the conversation' I hope that it will be one of how our generation made the difference. That Ireland, as small a nation as we are, countered the wrong thinking and disinformation that has pervaded other lands and that racism was countered from the schoolyard to the ministerial office. We cannot allow those who seek to burn everything to win. Let the sound of our children's laughter deafen the hate. Let our strength of will now begin the overdue conversation. It's our country, let's make it the best it can be. NEW DELHI: The JEE Advanced Examinations are scheduled to be held on September 27, 2020. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, the conducting body of the examination, has released a detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and COVID-19 advisory for students, confirming that no candidates would be denied permission to appear for the examination. In the detailed advisory, the IIT-Delhi has maintained that candidates appearing for the exam, will have to carry their JEE Advanced 2020 examination admit cards. They also have to fill the COVID-19 self-declaration (Undertaking) on the admit card properly. JEE Advanced 2020: COVID-19 instructions, SOPs to be followed by students 1. Candidate should follow Entry time at the Test Centre communicated on the day before the exam via SMS to avoid any crowding at the entrance to the Test Centre at the time of entry and to maintain social distancing. 2. Candidates will be required to fill the COVID-19 Self Declaration (Undertaking) on the Admit Card as per instructions completely and thoroughly. 3. Candidates must wear their own mask at all times and are advised to carry their own bottle of sanitizer as well as their own transparent bottle of water. 4. Candidates need to maintain a space of at least 6 feet from each other at all times. Queue manager/ropes and Floor Marks will be arranged outside the Test Centre. Candidates are to follow the instructions provided by Test Centre staff. 5. Discontinuing the past practice, Lab/Hall/Room number will not be displayed outside the Test Centre to avoid any crowding at any one place in any situation. Instead, this detail will be informed to the candidates when the bar code on the Admit Card is scanned. 6. Candidates will be required to sanitize their hands by washing with soap and with Hand Sanitizer before entry into the Test Centre. Hand sanitizer will be available at various locations in the Test Centre. 7. At the time of entry, the filled-in COVID-19 Self Declaration (Undertaking) on the Admit Card, and the body temperature (using Thermo Guns) will be checked and Test Centre staff will guide the candidate to respective labs after scanning the bar code on the Admit Card. Candidates are required to strictly adhere to instructions provided by the Test Centre staff. 8. No candidate will be denied permission to appear for the examination unless she/he violates the COVID19 directives/advisories of Government (Central/State) applicable on the day of exam and instructions mentioned in the Admit Card. The JEE Advanced 2020 admit cards can be downloaded from Monday (September 21) 10:00 am to September 27 (9:00 pm). Candidates are advised to download the admit card and take its print out for future use. They are also advised to carefully examine the details mentioned on the admit card. In case of any discrepancy, candidates can contact the JEE Advanced 2020 exam authorities. This year, the IITs will offer 20 per cent of seats for female candidates. These supernumerary seats will be offered only to those female candidates who are declared qualified in JEE Advanced, admission will be awarded based on merit. SAN ANTONIO - A new study implicates 160 genes in brain shrinkage seen on MRIs of 45,000 healthy adults. The shrinkage is in the cortex, the dimply outer layer of the brain that gives rise to thinking, awareness and action, and largely consists of gray matter. The study, published Sept. 22 in the journal Nature Communications, examined 34 regions of the cortex in a discovery group of 22,894 individuals, then confirmed the findings in a replication group of 22,635 individuals. It is important to understand the biology of multiple regions of the cortex because each is affected differently in the various types of neurodegeneration including Alzheimers disease, said Sudha Seshadri, MD, senior study author from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio). We asked, What are the genes that seem to determine the thickness, area and volume of gray matter in these regions? Dr. Seshadri, who directs the universitys Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimers and Neurodegenerative Diseases, added. And the genes we found point to interesting pathways that seem to be involved in brain development, vascular and neurodegenerative disease, and some psychiatric conditions. Brain shrinkage occurs with normal aging, but the pattern of shrinkage in healthy individuals differs from the pattern in those who develop disease. The genes represent new targets of study for development of drugs to intervene before the onset of clinical symptoms, Dr. Seshadri said. This is a very rich resource, and it will be mined for many years to understand the different associations we are seeing, Dr. Seshadri said. We are excited to share it with the world. Large study samples Claudia Satizabal, PhD, of the Biggs Institute and Department of Population Health Sciences in UT Health San Antonios Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine, is one of the lead epidemiologists for the research. This study has considerable statistical power, Dr. Satizabal said. Because the results from the first sample were replicated in a second equally large sample, it is less likely that the results are purely due to chance. Dr. Satizabal and Dr. Seshadri previously published a study on the volumes of structures deep within the brain that determine subconscious needs such as appetite and sleep. In this new paper the team examined the brain surface, which is important for conscious thinking abilities. The discovery sample is from 20 study populations within the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium and the UK Biobank. The replication sample is from the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium. Study limitations included the variability of instruments to image the brain among cohorts due to different scanners, field strengths and analysis software. The sample is composed mainly of European ancestry. We seek to add other ethnicities to the CHARGE cohorts, including our Hispanic population of South Texas, Dr. Seshadri said. ### Genetic correlations and genome-wide associations of cortical structure in general population samples of 22,824 adults Authors worldwide, including from the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio: Habil Zare, PhD; Claudia L. Satizabal, PhD, and Sudha Seshadri, MD (Dr. Seshadri is faculty in the Department of Neurology. Dr. Zare is with the Glenn Biggs Institute and the Department of Cell Systems and Anatomy.) First published: Sept. 22, 2020, Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18367-y The Long School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is named for Texas philanthropists Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long. The school is the largest educator of physicians in South Texas, many of whom remain in San Antonio and the region to practice medicine. The school teaches more than 900 students and trains 800 residents each year. As a beacon of multicultural sensitivity, the school annually exceeds the national medical school average of Hispanic students enrolled. The schools clinical practice is the largest multidisciplinary medical group in South Texas with 850 physicians in more than 100 specialties. The school has a highly productive research enterprise where world leaders in Alzheimers disease, diabetes, cancer, aging, heart disease, kidney disease and many other fields are translating molecular discoveries into new therapies. The Long School of Medicine is home to a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center known for prolific clinical trials and drug development programs, as well as a world-renowned center for aging and related diseases. The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, also referred to as UT Health San Antonio, is one of the countrys leading health sciences universities and is designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. With missions of teaching, research, patient care and community engagement, its schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have graduated more than 37,000 alumni who are leading change, advancing their fields, and renewing hope for patients and their families throughout South Texas and the world. To learn about the many ways We make lives better, visit www.uthscsa.edu. Stay connected with The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. To see how we are battling COVID-19, read inspiring stories on Impact. Shen Yueyue (C), President of the All-China Women's Federation, conducts an inspection tour to a community in Beijing, on September 17. [China Women's News/Yang Rui] Shen Yueyue, President of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), on September 17-18 conducted an inspection tour to communities in urban and rural areas of Beijing, in a bid to strengthen the family work of women's federations and give play to the important role of family, family education and traditions in social governance at the primary level. Shen on September 17 visited a villager's home in Shijiaying Village, Mapo Town, in Beijing's Shunyi District, where three generations live in one household and have a good family tradition of respecting the elderly and caring for the children. She also visited a children's center in the village, chatting with parents about family education. Shen attended a symposium with representatives of parents, primary school headmasters, grassroots Party cadres and workers from social organizations while visiting the Heqingyuan Community in Haidian District, which was named as a national family education innovative practice base earlier this year. The representatives discussed how to coordinate efforts of parents, schools and society in children's education. Shen also exchanged ideas with the attendees on such issues. Shen also attended a symposium at a service center in Chaoyang District on September 18 with representatives of staff members of the Beijing Women's Federation, heads of the grassroots-level Party organizations and teaching staff. At the symposium, Shen stressed the important roles of family building, family education and traditions in social governance at the primary level. Noting that family education is a concern in every family, Shen called for persistent efforts to cultivate virtues and morality, help children cultivate good thoughts, behaviors and habits, and ensure that core socialist values are rooted in children's hearts. Shen also stressed the importance of strengthening parents' primary responsibility in family education, and the joint efforts of families, schools and society in education. Shen urged to provide targeted, scientific and effective family education guidance services through offering a series of family education guidebooks for different ages, establishing a family education guidance team and a group of parent schools, and promoting family education role models, in a bid to promote the continuous innovative development of family work and the fundamental role of family in social governance at the primary level. Shen Yueyue, President of the All-China Women's Federation, visits a children's center in Shijiaying Village, Mapo Town, Beijing's Shunyi District, on September 17. [China Women's News/Yang Rui] Shen Yueyue, President of the All-China Women's Federation, delivers a speech at a symposium during her inspection tour in the communities in Beijing. [China Women's News/Yang Rui] A symposium with representatives of staff members of the Beijing Women's Federation, heads of the grassroots-level Party organizations and teaching staff is held in Beijing on September 18. [China Women's News/Yang Rui] (Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China) Family and friends of the late Harry Taaffe gathered at The Square on Sunday afternoon to deliver a powerful message that mental health services in Ireland need to improve to stop more lives being lost to suicide. The dealt by suicide of the hugely popular grandfather and Dundalk FC groundsman sent shockwaves throughout the community earlier this summer and his heartbroken family want to make sure that other families don't have to suffer as the same loss. The vigil was organised by Harry's brother Paul and speakers included Sinn Fein TD Ruairi O Murchu, Martin Connolly from Dundalk FC, and Martina Duffy, whose brother Brendan, who lived next door to Harry in O'Hanlon Park, also died by suicide. Paul said that the family are 'more than touched' by the turnout, which was kept low due to COVID-19 restrictions. He said that they want to highlight the inadequate services for people with mental health issues in Louth and the plight faced by families trying to seek care and treatment for their loved ones. 'This isn't about Harry any more. This is about the next generation. This is so we don't have to look at our children and grandchildren and worry that they won't be able to get the treatment they deserve.' He pointed out that suicides don't just impact on the family and friends who have lost a loved one, but also on members of the emergency services and volunteer organisations who are called out to search for missing persons. Sinn Fein TD Ruairi O Murchu, who addressed the gathering, said: 'We are here to remember those who have died by suicide across Co. Louth. This has had a huge impact on us and on our community. It's not good enough. He noted that Harry had done what he was supposed to do. 'He realised he didn't feel well and his doctor signed off that he needed psychiatric services. He presented himself at Crosslanes where he was assessed but he was told that he wasn't going to be hospitalised. Hospitalisation has its own difficulties. But he was given medication so there was some element of help needed for him. But the bit that I can't stand over is that Harry was told that it would be somewhere between four and six weeks before the community care team would be able to deal with him. 'We say that you should ask for help so you get help, so that people realise that someone has their back. 'There is great work being done in communities by NGOs such as Pieta House, The Samaritans and SoSAD, among others. We need a State service that will give us what is necessary. 'What happened here is not good enough. The asks are straightforward: we need extra funding, we need 24/7 emergency mental health care. 'And what we need in particular in this county is an audit of services here. 'We need to get the services that Harry and the others deserved. It's not good enough. This is only the beginning'. Receiving the diplomat following the presentation ceremony, President Kaljulaid thanked Vietnam for supporting her country to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021, affirming that the two countries will continue their effective coordination at this organisation to promote regional and global security issues. She welcomed the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA)s entry into force and considered this deal as an important driving force for bolstering bilateral trade. The host leader also said she believes the two countries friendship will be further enhanced in the time ahead, particularly in terms of digitalisation and e-government one of the areas Estonia is leading the world in. The President noted that the organisation of the credentials presentation ceremony at the campus of a school was of importance as it showed the priority Estonia gives to education. She voiced the willingness to strengthen ties with Vietnam in this regard. For her part, Ambassador Tam expressed her determination to promote Vietnam-Estonia cooperation in various aspects, especially digitalisation and e-government. Redefining anti-Semitism on Facebook If Facebook were to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, this would be detrimental to freedom of speech. By Neve Gordon September 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - With its 2.7 billion users, Facebook is the worlds largest and arguably most influential social media platform. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that right-wing Zionist organisations have identified it as a key platform to promote their agenda. Several years ago, for example, the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs alongside students from IDC, an Israeli university in Herzliya, helped create ACT.IL, an online community that will act to promote a positive influence on the international public opinion towards the state of Israel via social media platforms. ACT.IL established an army of trolls and then developed an app to make their work more effective by coordinating mass reporting of Facebook posts critical of Israel. Soon, it became clear that no army of trolls can cope with monitoring the massive amount of content on Facebook. That is why, right-wing Zionist organisations have recently begun pressuring Facebook to include criticism of Israel as part of its own definition of hate speech. Their objective, in other words, is to force Facebook to alter the algorithms it uses to detect hate speech so the companys own algorithms will automatically remove any criticism of Israel from the platform. Algorithms, they realised, are more efficient than trolls. The campaign Working closely with the Israeli government this past summer, the pro-Israel lobbying group StopAntisemitism.org launched the new campaign after receiving funding from right-wing philanthropist Adam Milstein. In July, Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Israels Minister of Strategic Affairs, published an op-ed in Newsweek urging social media companies to root out the anti-Semitic virus by fully adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. A few weeks later, on August 7, 120 organisations representing the whos who of Zionist right-wing groups sent a letter to Facebooks Board of Directors, calling upon them to fully adopt the IHRA definition as the cornerstone of Facebooks hate speech policy regarding antisemitism. This definition, which has been endorsed or adopted in some official capacity by more than 30 countries, includes 11 examples of anti-Semitism, several of which involve criticism of Israel. This is just the latest concrete manifestation of how any critique of the Israeli government and its politics now assumes the taint of anti-Semitism. There is, to be sure, some irony here. Historically, the fight against anti-Semitism has sought to advance the equal rights and emancipation of Jews. Yet, in the IHRA definition those who speak out against the subjugation of Palestinians are called anti-Semites. Thus, instead of enabling the struggle against those wish to oppress, dominate and exterminate Jews, this new definition of anti-Semitism comes after those who wish to take part in the struggle for liberation from colonial rule. In this way as Judith Butler has observed a passion for justice [is] renamed as anti-Semitism. Yet, the people behind this campaign are neither interested in irony nor in justice, and certainly not in justice for Palestinians. As Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace who wrote an expose on the Facebook campaign for Jewish Currents, has pointed out, their letter to the Board of Directors represents the latest front in the battle to use the IHRA definition to officially exclude criticism of Israel from the bounds of acceptable discourse. Facebook responds The campaign seems to have had an immense impact. Four days after receiving the letter from the Zionist organisations, Guy Rosen, Facebook vice president for Integrity, announced the organisation had updated its hate speech policy to take into account certain kinds of implicit hate speech, such as stereotypes about Jewish people controlling the world. Monika Bickert, Facebooks vice president of content policy, sent a letter to the signatories, noting the company draws on the spirit and the text of the IHRA, and that under Facebooks policy, Jews and Israelis are treated as protected characteristics'. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks chief operating officer, even wrote a personal note to Milstein, who financed the campaign. She assured him that the IHRA definition has been invaluable both in informing our own approach, and as a point of entry for candid policy discussions with organizations like yours. Yet, the company still seems to be reluctant to adopt the parts of the definition that relate to Israel, and it is not coincidental that in Facebooks responses they mention only hate speech towards Jews. Friedman from the Foundation for Middle East Peace cites senior Facebook official Peter Stern who three months before the campaign was launched asserted that: We dont allow people to make certain types of hateful statements against individuals. If the focus turns to a country, an institution, a philosophy, then we allow people to express themselves more freely, because we think thats an important part of political dialogue and that theres an important legitimate component to that. So we allow people to criticize the state of Israel, as well as the United States and other countries. The battle continues Unsurprisingly, Facebooks new hate speech policy has not satisfied the pro-Israel lobby, and in the August 7 letter, part of the ire was directed towards Stern, claiming that he had admitted that Facebook does not embrace the full adoption of the IHRA working definition because the definition recognizes that modern manifestations of antisemitism relate to Israel. In a tweet responding to Sandbergs letter, Milstein made it clear the campaign will continue: We look forward to working with @Facebook to ensure #antisemitism is eradicated from the platform and the #IHRA working definition of antisemitism is fully adopted by your organization. On the other side of the political spectrum, a group of scholars (myself included) specialising in anti-Semitism, Jewish and Holocaust history, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict wrote to Facebook about the dangers of adopting the IHRA definition. While urging Mark Zuckerberg to fight all forms of hate speech on Facebook, we called on him to refrain from adopting and applying a politicized definition of antisemitism, which has been weaponized to undermine free speech, in order to shield the Israeli government and to silence Palestinian voices and their supporters. If Facebook does eventually bow down and include the full IHRA definition in its algorithms, free speech on Israel/Palestine, which is already under immense pressure, will receive a lethal blow. It is up to Facebook users to voice their concern by notifying Zuckerberg and Sandberg that they will abandon the platform the moment the media giant decides to adopt the IHRA definition. Ultimately, we, the users, do hold the power. WASHINGTON Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and top Democrats on Thursday moved forward with the development of a roughly $2.4 trillion stimulus bill that would provide pandemic aid to American families, restaurants and airlines, amid growing pressure from moderates who demanded additional action before lawmakers leave Washington next week to campaign for re-election. The move to present a new package was the first sign of movement in a tortured round of negotiations between Democrats and the White House that have been stalled since early August, and it came as Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said he and Ms. Pelosi had agreed to revive those talks. But it was far from clear that the measure Democrats had in mind, whose cost is about $1 trillion more than the Trump administration has signaled it could accept, would lead to a deal. Ms. Pelosi privately told top Democrats that the House could vote on it anyway, which would allow anxious Democrats who have been quietly agitating for more action on a stimulus measure to at least register their support for additional relief. Earlier in the week, she instructed lawmakers to begin work, a move previously reported by Politico. We are still striving for an agreement, Ms. Pelosi told top Democrats in a private meeting on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the remarks who disclosed them on the condition of anonymity. If necessary, we can formalize the request by voting on it on the House floor. Nation-wide cross-sectional analysis of U.S. patients receiving dialysis finds fewer than 10% of people had COVID-19 antibodies by July 2020, and fewer than 10% of those with antibodies had been diagnosed by antigen or PCR testing. Peer-reviewed/Observational/People * Nation-wide cross-sectional analysis of U.S. patients receiving dialysis finds fewer than 10% of people had COVID-19 antibodies by July 2020, and fewer than 10% of those with antibodies had been diagnosed by antigen or PCR testing. * Researchers say this representative population is ideal for studying the general spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. because these patients undergo monthly, routine blood draws and represent other similar COVID-19 risk factors such as age, non-white race, and poverty. * COVID-19 control efforts should prioritize minorities and people living in densely populated areas to prevent general community spread. The first cross-sectional, nation-wide analysis of more than 28,000 patients on dialysis in the U.S. found that fewer than 10% of U.S. adults had COVID-19 antibodies as of July 2020 and fewer than 10% were diagnosed. Published today in The Lancet, the new study also shows higher COVID-19 infection rates among ethnic minorities and people living in lower-income, high density, urban areas - underling the need for COVID-19 public health efforts that prioritize these populations in order to prevent general community spread. Researchers from Stanford University explain that patients on dialysis represent an important population to study general COVID-19 seroprevalence. These patients already undergo routine, monthly laboratory studies and represent similar risk factors to contracting COVID-19 as the general population, including age, non-white race, and poverty. Unlike community-based surveys, where a select group may show up for or agree to be tested and require a significant on-the-ground effort to launch, patients on dialysis are amenable to random sampling as part of their routine care. The study follows previous findings from recent seroprevalence studies of highly affected countries and regions (e.g. Wuhan, China, and Spain), which have shown that despite the intense strain on resources and unprecedented excess mortality, rates of seroprevalence at the population level remain low. Other seroprevalence studies of the U.S. population have been restricted to regional hotspots, such as New York City. "Not only is this patient population representative ethnically and socio-economically, but they are one of the few groups of people who can be repeatedly tested. Because renal disease is a Medicare-qualifying condition, they don't face many of the access-to-care barriers that limit testing among the general population," said Shuchi Anand, MD, Director of the Center for Tubulointerstitial Kidney Disease at Stanford University and lead author of the study. "We were able to determine - with a high level of precision - differences in seroprevalence among patient groups within and across regions of the United States, providing a very rich picture of the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak that can hopefully help inform strategies to curb the epidemic moving forward by targeting vulnerable populations." [1] The study demonstrates an urgent need for public health efforts dedicated to controlling COVID-19 to continue, with more attention paid to some of the highest risk communities the researchers identified: majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, low-income neighborhoods, and densely populated metropolitan areas. Findings showed that, compared to the majority non-Hispanic white population, people living in predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods experienced a two- to four-times higher likelihood of COVID-19 infection (rates of COVID-19 infection were 11.3% to 16.3% in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, compared to 4.8% in the majority non-Hispanic white population) while poorer areas experienced a two-times higher likelihood, and the most densely populated areas showed a 10-times higher likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity. In the study, researchers tested the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in a randomly selected representative sample of 28,503 patients to provide a nationwide estimate of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 during the first wave of the pandemic. Of the sample population, 89% were tested in the first two weeks of July. The sampling was representative of U.S. patients on dialysis distributed by age, sex, race, ethnicity, and region - with the exception that these sampled patients were less likely to be Non-Hispanic Black compared to the general U.S. adult population. Patients in the sample lived in 46 states and 1,013 U.S. counties. Accounting for the externally validated test sensitivity, seroprevalence ranged from 8.2% to 9.4% in the sampled population. Researchers estimated the SARS-CoV-2 standardized seroprevalence in the U.S. population to be approximately 9.3%. The authors also found significant regional variation from less than 5% in the western United States to greater than 25% in the northeast. By comparing seroprevalence data from their study with case counts per 100,000 population from Johns Hopkins University, the authors estimate that 9.2% of seropositive patients were diagnosed. The authors note several limitations, including that the process of undergoing in-center hemodialysis might include the use of public or non-public shared transportation to and from the facility, thus increasing the potential for exposure. Conversely, because patients on dialysis are less likely to be employed and more likely to have restricted mobility, the data might underestimate overall seroprevalence in the general population. Finally, patients receiving dialysis may have more likely died or been hospitalized due to complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection. If so, these patients would not have been present for testing in the dialysis facilities, creating a survival bias and yielding lower estimates of exposure. Despite these limitations, this study shows that a surveillance strategy relying on monthly testing of the remainder plasma of patients receiving dialysis can produce useful estimates of SARS-CoV-2 spread inclusive of hard-to-reach, disadvantaged populations in the United States. Such surveillance can inform disease trends, resource allocation, and effectiveness of community interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic. "This research clearly confirms that despite high rates of COVID-19 in the United States, the number of people with antibodies is still low and we haven't come close to achieving herd immunity. Until an effective vaccine is approved, we need to make sure our more vulnerable populations are reached with prevention measures," said study author Julie Parsonnet, MD, a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. [1] In a linked commentary, Professors Barnaby Flower and Christina Atchison from Imperial College London (UK), who were not involved in the study, note: "Although general population estimates from dialysis sampling are imperfect, they at least remain consistent across the country and from one survey to the next, permitting longitudinal surveillance. Despite the massive burden of COVID-19 in the USA, Anand and colleagues show that a small minority of the population has evidence of humoral immunity to SARS-CoV-2. Questions remain around the longevity of the immune response and correlates of protection, but high-quality longitudinal serosurveillance with accompanying clinical data can help to provide the answers. Anand and colleagues deserve credit for pioneering a scalable sampling strategy that offers a blueprint for standardised national serosurveillance in the USA and other countries with a large haemodialysing population." ### This study was funded by Ascend Clinical Laboratories, a commercial clinical laboratory that receives samples from a nationwide network of dialysis facilities. It was conducted by researchers from Stanford University and Ascend. The labels have been added to this press release as part of a project run by the Academy of Medical Sciences seeking to improve the communication of evidence. For more information, please see: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AMS-press-release-labelling-system-GUIDANCE.pdf if you have any questions or feedback, please contact The Lancet press office pressoffice@lancet.com [1] Quote direct from author and cannot be found in the text of the Article. Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed is giving city employees two hours of paid time off to vote on Nov. 3, or one hour of paid time off for absentee voting. Reed said he issued the order Thursday because this years election is especially important, both nationally and in Montgomery, where voters will consider whether to raise property taxes to support public schools. Montgomery County schools receive the lowest property tax support allowed under state law. This election comes at another inflection point in our nations history, Reed said in a press release. There stands before us countless obstacles that threaten the future of our democracy, including voter suppression efforts to go along with the COVID-19 pandemic. These are some of the reasons why I issued this executive order expanding the time allotted for city employees to vote and encouraging them to participate in the electoral process. This years ballot may not only bring change at the national level, but it may also bring much needed change in how we support and fund our public schools. The local initiative will allow our community to decide how we invest in our students, our schools, and our future. Under Reeds order, supervisors can determine the hours when employees can take time off to vote. Reed encouraged private employers to follow his example. A state law passed in 2006 requires employers to give employees up to an hour off to vote. The requirement does not apply if the employees work hours start two hours or more after the polls open or at least one hour before polls close. The law does not say the time off to vote has to be paid time off. Each employee in the state shall, upon reasonable notice to his or her employer, be permitted by his or her employer to take necessary time off from his or her employment to vote in any municipal, county, state, or federal political party primary or election for which the employee is qualified and registered to vote on the day on which the primary or election is held. The necessary time off shall not exceed one hour and if the hours of work of the employee commence at least two hours after the opening of the polls or end at least one hour prior to the closing of the polls, then the time off for voting as provided in this section shall not be available. The employer may specify the hours during which the employee may absent himself or herself as provided in this section. Time off to vote is not an issue for most employees because state law requires polling places to be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Secretary of State John Merrill said he had not heard of any other cities giving their employees paid time off to vote. Alabama voters can also vote by mail and have until Oct. 29 to apply for an absentee ballot. Any voter who does not want to go to the polls because of COVID-19 can vote by absentee ballot. Reeds directive says his chief of staff will talk to the U.S. Postal Service about any changes that could affect mail service between now and the election. It says the city will provide resources to help county election officials carry out the election. PRESS RELEASE S&P RATING UPGRADED TO 'CCC+' WITH STABLE OUTLOOK TECHNICOLOR CONFIRMS ITS 2020 AND 2022 GUIDANCE Paris(Euronext Paris: TCH; OTCQX: TCLRY) welcomes its rating upgrade by S&P Global to 'CCC+' with stable outlook. This reflects the succesful completion of the Group's financial restructuring, through which it has obtained 420 million (net of fees) of new financing, and has deleveraged via the equitization of 660 million of debt. Technicolor now has a significantly strengthened balance sheet, with cash to meet the needs of the Covid crisis and beyond. Based on business activity for the last 3 months, the Group remains confident of achieving the outlook presented in its press release issued on July 30 2020, including the achievement of cost savings in excess of 160 million during the year. In particular, EBITDA will reach 169 million in 2020, improving to 425 million in 2022. Continuing free cashflow (before financial results and tax) will be in the range of between (115) to (150) million in 2020, increasing to 259 million in 2022. Richard Moat, Chief Executive Officer of Technicolor, stated: "We are very pleased by this improvement in our credit rating, and we are determined to achieve further upgrades in the future. Technicolor is poised to return to delivering profitable growth, cash generation and value creation for shareholders on a sustainable basis." About Technicolor: www.technicolor.com Technicolor shares are admitted to trading on the regulated market of Euronext Paris (TCH) and are tradable in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADR) in the United States on the OTCQX market (TCLRY). Investor Relations Christophe le Mignan: +33 1 88 24 32 83 Christophe.lemignan@technicolor.com Media Contact Laurent Poinsot: +33 1 53 70 74 77 lpoinsot@image7.fr Victoire de Brebisson: +33 1 53 70 65 39 vdebrebisson@image7.fr Attachment Watch: Mariah Carey talks about her difficult family relationships Mariah Carey is opening about her troubled relationship with her family. In an interview on Apple TV+s The Oprah Conversation, the hitmaker discussed her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, and a lot of the conversation centred around her personal relationships with her immediate family her mom, Patricia, and ex- siblings, brother Morgan and sister Alison. (Her dad, Alfred, died in 2002.) I would never have spoken a word about anybody in my life and I tried to be very fair but people have drawn first blood with me historically, said 50-year-old Carey, whose siblings have been selling stories about her to tabloids for decades. I know you understand this: When there are people that are in any way connected to you as a person that has achieved any success, you are a target. Youre vulnerable. Read more: Mariah Carey says Ellen Show pregnancy interview was extremely uncomfortable She continued, But I wouldnt have gone here if things hadnt been done to me. If I hadnt been dragged by certain people and treated as an ATM machine with a wig on. All it is is like: Let me get some money and let me get some money no matter what. Mariah Carey attends the premiere of Tyler Perry's "A Fall From Grace" at Metrograph on January 13, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage) From Careys side of things, she didnt fit into her family from the get-go. Shes biracial, something that deeply impacted her life, with a white mother and Black father, and felt resentment from her older siblings with whom she has a significant age gap from the get-go over having lighter skin and hair. She said her early life was defined by trauma and violence. Her parents split when she was 3. She described her brother as extremely violent and her sister whose woes have been documented as troubled and traumatised, adding, And I tried to be thoughtful about that [description] although I dont know that the same courtesy has been extended to me from anybody that caused certain traumatic events in my life. Story continues Winfrey read a passage from Careys book in which Mimi claimed Alison, who was eight years older, drugged her with Vicodin, gave her cocaine, inflicted her with third-degree burns and tried to sell her out to a pimp. (Screenshot: The Oprah Conversation) We dont even know each other, Carey told Winfrey of her siblings. We didnt grow up together, as her brother is 10 years older, her sister eight years older. By the time I got into the world, they had already been damaged and Carey literally felt like an outsider amongst my own family. And when she became famous, she felt they viewed her as a get rich quick scheme. As for Careys mom, whom she has had a relationship, that is complicated too. As a child, she felt neglected by Patricia, whom she described in the book as Beauty and the Beast in one person. She always felt dirty as a child and said her mother left her with people who were not safe. And her mother was not safe for me either emotionally. Carey said that from the beginning, she always felt there was a huge role reversal in her relationship with her mother who she calls Patricia, not mom saying she would always take care of her. She said shes always been the matriarch for everyone, even as the youngest child in the family, which was a lot of pressure, but it also caused a lot of resentment and envy. She felt her family always had the mentality of, What can we get from her? And she also felt that she had so many people living off her. She said she never felt safe and was in fight mode constantly. Mariah Carey says Moroccan and Monroe give her the "unconditional love" she's always sought. (Photo: Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for Sugar Factory American Brasserie) Carey also made rare comments about her forced hospitalisation in July 2001 amid an emotional crisis. She hadnt slept in six days and felt extreme career pressure, so she sought refuge at her mothers Long Island home, which Carey had purchased. Carey had an emotional breakdown while frantically washing dishes and her mother called 911 and police her taken away. Rather than say: Were OK. Im here and taking care of my daughter. Shes tired. Someone called the cops by mistake. It was: Oh no, because you defied me, this is what is going to happen, she said of her mothers motivation. Read more: Katy Perry opens up on motherhood She still has a vivid memory of being in the backseat of the police car after being removed from her moms house. Carey said, I have never spoken about it, but I just think its important to say that, in that moment, that seemed like a better alternative then where I was in that moment with her and my ex-brother. Carey felt they capitalised on her mental health woes, instead of being genuinely concerned about her being overworked, viewing it as another scheme in which they could profit. And she maintains that she didnt actually need to be hospitalised, saying, if they had given me even two days to rest, she would have rebounded. Carey describes her relationship with her mom today as a work in progress. She now knows what to expect from her, saying, I cant go to an ice cream stand looking for hot dogs. I have to know: Here is what you get from this person. Nick Cannon (L) and Mariah Carey (C) with Moroccan Cannon and Monroe Cannon arrives at the Nickelodeon's 2018 Kids' Choice Awards at The Forum on March 24, 2018 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage) Carey also spoke about first husband Tommy Mottola, then the head of her record company, with whom her relationship has been well documented. She met him at 18 and they had a 20-year age gap. She said she fell for him because he totally believed in me, but felt forced into getting married. Once they did, she lived an extremely oppressive existence being secluded, with armed security, in their Bedford, N.Y., home (which she infamously dubbed Sing Sing, like the nearby prison). In the book, she wrote that she was held captive in that relationship. Retelling her version of their time together, which Mottola touched on in his own memoir, Carey said I was as kind as possible and if anything, I dont think I went in like some people would have. She added that her recollection of their time together is the truth... There were witnesses to this. And all these years later, I forgive him. In a statement to Page Six, Mottola said, I am deeply gratified to have played that role in Mariahs well-deserved and remarkable success, and continue to wish her and her family only the very best. With Winfrey, Carey also spoke about her second failed marriage to Nick Cannon. She said they had a fun relationship and as co-parents to their 9-year-old twins, Roe and Roc, they laugh a lot together. There is no animosity. As for those kids, they help to heal me every day from the pain of childhood, during which she also experienced racism, telling a story about a group of girls calling her the n word. She said her twins have provided her with the unconditional love shes always wanted. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:57:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KATHMANDU, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in Nepal surpassed the 70,000 mark on Friday, with a rapid increase in recent weeks, Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population said. "With 1,313 new cases in the last 24 hours, total COVID-19 cases in Nepal reached 70,614," Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson at the ministry, told a press conference. Ever since the Himalayan country lifted a nearly four-month lockdown in late July, the number of infections doubled in nearly a month, according to the health ministry data. According to a survey conducted by Nepal's Health Research Council, a government body responsible for setting standards for health research, the mobility of people is mainly responsible for the spread of the coronavirus. The survey, conducted among 577 people who had recovered from COVID-19 through quantitative and qualitative methods, revealed that 99 percent of them had traveled before being infected. Of those, 69 percent had traveled inside the country while the rest had toured internationally. As the COVID-19 cases are on the rise, the Nepali government is struggling to arrange testing facilities for all the people who want their swabs to be tested. The government has arranged the facility from 55 laboratories across the country. Gautam notified that the government has the policy of conducting swab tests on people who have developed COVID-19 symptoms and those who are at risk of being infected. "Those who stayed close to the infected person, those facing respiratory problems suddenly, returnees from abroad who have stayed at quarantine from five to seven days and people who work in the frontline to control the pandemic should be tested for the coronavirus," Gautam said. "People who need to be kept at the Intensive Care Unit, people with existing long-term health conditions, patients who need to undergo surgery for other ailments and those who need to get visa can also get tested for COVID-19." Enditem As the president stood near Ruth Bader Ginsburgs casket, he surely thought he was conducting himself with decorum. He submitted to a mask, which he has not often been inclined to do during the pandemic. Hed shown up to pay his respects to a woman for whom he appeared to have little respect the day after Ginsburgs death, hed cheerfully polled his rally attendees on whether they wanted him to replace her with a man or a woman. But whether the respect was real or feigned, on Thursday hed come to the court to do something vaguely presidential. Rewind has placed No. 49 on the 2020 Report on Business ranking of Canadas Top Growing Companies. Canadas Top Growing Companies ranks Canadian companies on three-year revenue growth. Rewind earned its spot with revenue growth of 1113%, over three years. Rewind is on a mission to protect the cloud data used by small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) every day. Software-as-a-Service platforms like Quickbooks, Shopify, Xero and Trello do not backup and protect all the information stored within them. These cloud tools only protect their software and infrastructure; meaning SMBs have little control over the data they rely on for critical decisions. Human error, cyber-attacks or other software integrations can easily compromise or erase data. In the 2020 Ecommerce Data Protection Survey Report, authored by Rewind, one in four businesses stated they had been the victims of data loss, immediately impacting their sales and operations. Its this need to protect the vital data which SMBs depend on, which is driving the significant growth of Rewind. According to Crunchbase there are over 16,000 SaaS applications in the world, we believe the opportunity for growth is practically limitless, said Mike Potter, CEO & Co-Founder of Rewind. We are constantly onboarding top talent from across North America to build more data protection tools, across all verticals. Launched in 2019, Canadas Top Growing Companies editorial ranking aims to celebrate entrepreneurial achievement in Canada by identifying and amplifying the success of growth-minded, independent businesses in Canada. It is a voluntary program; companies had to complete an in-depth application process in order to qualify. In total, 400 companies earned a spot on this years ranking. The full list of 2020 winners, and accompanying editorial coverage, is published in the October issue of Report on Business magazineout nowand online at tgam.ca/TopGrowing. The stories of Canadas Top Growing Companies are worth telling at any time, but are especially relevant in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, says James Cowan, Editor of Report on Business magazine. As businesses work to rebuild the economy, their resilience and innovation make for essential reading. Any business leader seeking inspiration should look no further than the 400 businesses on this years Report on Business ranking of Canadas Top Growing Companies, says Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail. Their growth helps to make Canada a better place, and we are proud to bring their stories to our readers. About The Globe and Mail The Globe and Mail is Canadas foremost news media company, leading the national discussion and causing policy change through brave and independent journalism since 1844. With award-winning coverage of business, politics and national affairs, The Globe and Mail newspaper reaches 5.9 million readers every week in print or digital formats, and Report on Business magazine reaches 2.1 million readers in print and digital every issue. The Globe and Mails investment in innovative data science means that as the world continues to change, so does The Globe. The Globe and Mail is owned by Woodbridge, the investment arm of the Thomson family. About Rewind Since 2015, Rewind has been on a mission to help small and medium businesses protect their vital business data. Today, over 15,000 total customers in more than 90 countries use Rewinds top-reviewed apps and support to ensure their software-as-as-service applications run uninterrupted. The Rewind platform consists of Backups, Restores and Copy, Rewind gives companies the tools they need to ensure mistakes dont stop them from protecting their business. Fearful that the occupying Nazi forces in Prague could confiscate a lifetime's worth of artwork, Jewish painter Gertrud Kauders decided in 1939 to hide her vast array of paintings and drawings. Nearly 80 years later, in the summer of 2018, Michal Ulvr was leading a demolition team tearing down a decrepit house south of Prague when "about 30 paintings tumbled out and fell onto my head," he told RFE/RL. As the day wore on, the crew turned up more stashes of strikingly beautiful artwork as they dismantled the house -- some were under floorboards, others behind walls. By the end of the day some 700 paintings and sketches lay out in the open on the worksite as summer rain clouds gathered over Prague. IN PHOTOS: The Art Of Gertrud Kauders (25 Images) When Jakub Sedlacek, the owner of the house, was alerted to the strange discovery, he realized immediately what had been uncovered. Sedlacek had been raised on stories of exquisite art hidden inside the family home he recently inherited. A close inspection of the canvases confirmed the family legend was real -- many of the paintings were signed "Gertrud Kauders." Kauders was born in 1883 in Prague, one of two children in a well-to-do Jewish home. After the Nazis rose to power in neighboring Germany and began a step-by-step takeover of Czechoslovakia, most of Kauders' family fled the country and urged her to do the same. But Kauders, whose first language was German, refused to believe the Nazis would hurt someone as harmless as her and she chose to stay. But as the full horror of the German plans for Europe's Jews was slowly laid bare, Kauders turned to a close friend, Natalie Jahudkova, for the favor of a lifetime. Jahudkova was an elegant Russian woman born in 1895 in a small town north of Moscow. She had emigrated to Czechoslovakia in 1920 after catching the eye of one of the Czechoslovak Legionnaires -- volunteer soldiers fighting for their homeland during World War I. The legion famously battled their way across Siberia after being caught up in Russias civil war. Jahudkova was one of about 1,000 Russian women who married one of the dashing European fighters and sailed with them from Vladivostok for the newly-founded Czechoslovakia, a country their husbands had helped fight into existence. Kauders and Jahudkova met while students at Prague's Academy of Fine Arts. The two became close while taking weeks-long trips with their professor, noted artist Otakar Nejedly, to paint the landscapes and cities of France and Italy. By 1939, those carefree days of summer painting trips abroad with their famous professor were a distant memory as Nazi bureaucrats and their jackbooted enforcers were busy making life impossible for Czechoslovak Jews. With time running out, Kauders untacked her canvasses from their frames and smuggled her entire lifes work to Jahudkova's house in the southern Prague suburb of Zbraslav. At enormous risk to herself, Jahudkova -- probably helped by Kauders -- hid some 700 artworks throughout the structure of her house. Jahudkova's new home was still under construction, making the hammering and labor of the two friends secret project relatively inconspicuous. Soon after the artwork was safely embedded in the Zbraslav house, Kauders was snagged in the nightmarish machinery of the Nazi state. After being identified as Jewish, records show she was arrested and transported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in May 1942. Kauders was held briefly among the starving and sickly prisoners in the camp north of Prague, then transported some 600 kilometers east to Majdanek, an extermination camp in Lublin, Poland. Sometime after May 17, 1942, Kauders was killed in the camp and her body burned in ovens built for the industrial-scale murders that would come to be known as the Holocaust. Although a handful of Czech news outlets wrote about the accidental discovery of the artwork in 2018, it was reported at the time that just 30 paintings and sketches were found. Ulvr believes a Czech journalist may have misunderstood his description of the event and assumed the 30 paintings that fell onto his head during the demolition were the entire find. Photos released to Czech media at the time showed only a handful of sketches and watercolors that are among the least compelling of Kauders' work. How The Scale Of The Discovery Was Uncovered: Both Kauders and Jahudkova were childless, but Kauders' brother had a son, Cornelius, who fled Czechoslovakia for New Zealand in 1939. He had five children, including Miriam Kauders. Miriam Kauders learned about the 2018 discovery and made repeated inquiries from her home in New Zealand into the whereabouts of what she thought were 30 paintings and sketches by her great aunt. Though early reports of the find indicated the paintings would be donated to the Jewish Museum in Prague, Miriam Kauders learned the museum had not received the art. After RFE/RL inquired on Miriam Kauders' behalf, Sedlacek eventually met with its journalists at his home in a quiet Prague suburb. Then, on September 25, Sedlacek allowed Kauders' entire collection of some 700 paintings and sketches, laid out like giant packs of playing cards in a Prague storeroom, to be photographed by RFE/RL. Sedlacek said that before knowing Gertrud Kauders had living descendants he was thinking about monetizing what he knew was a historic art discovery perhaps through exhibitions. But after RFE/RL showed documentation proving Gertrud Kauders had living heirs, he said he "wouldnt be able to live with [himself]" knowing that there were descendants of Gertrud Kauders unhappy with what he was doing with the art. Sedlacek said he is ready to donate the art to a Czech museum if Gertrud Kauders' descendants give him the power of attorney to do so. Miriam Kauders has also said she would be willing to bestow the art but reserved the right for her and her siblings to keep some portraits of her long-deceased relatives -- including their father -- for their own walls. Miriam Kauders said her father was known as a humorous boy who was nicknamed "clown" in his school years. But she said his personality darkened after the war and he "never recovered" from the Holocaust, largely because of what the Nazis did to his beloved aunt. He remembered Gertrude Kauders as a kind, gentle woman with an unusually quiet life and "no interest in men." Observing that prostitution is no offence under the law; an adult woman has the right to choose her vocation and cannot be detained without her consent, the Bombay high court on Thursday set free three sex workers detained at a womens hostel. Justice Prithviraj Chavan said the purpose and the object of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (PITA), 1956 is not to abolish prostitution. There is no provision under the law which makes prostitution per se a criminal offence or punishes a person because he indulges in prostitution, said the judge. Clarifying that what is punishable under the law is exploitation or abuse of a person for commercial purposes and soliciting in public places, the court set free the three young women, aged 20, 22 and 23, respectively. The women were rescued by the social service branch of the Mumbai police from Chincholi Binder area in Malad, in September 2019, after laying a trap using a decoy customer. They were produced before a metropolitan magistrate, who remanded them to a womens hostel and called for a report from a probation officer. On October 19, 2019, the magistrate refused to hand over the custody of the women to their respective mothers as the magistrate found that it was not in the interest of the women to stay with their parents. The magistrate, instead, directed that the women be kept at a womens hostel in Uttar Pradesh. That was because the probation officers report revealed that the women were from a particular community from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, and there was a long tradition of prostitution in the community. The women had moved the court through advocate Ashok Saraogi after the magistrates order was upheld by Dindoshi sessions court on November 22, 2019. The high court on Thursday struck down both the orders. It is important to note that the petitioners / victims are major and, therefore, have a right to reside at the place of their choice, to move freely throughout the territory of India and to choose their own vocation, as enshrined the Constitution of India, said the judge. The court said the magistrate ought to have considered the willingness and consent of the women before ordering their detention. It added that the magistrate appeared to be swayed by the fact that the petitioners belong to a particular caste and it had long history of initiating girls of the community into prostitution. The single judge bench added that keeping in mind the interest of the women, the state government can, under PITA, seek directions from the court to send them to corrective homes. institution, but their fundamental rights stand on a higher pedestal vis a vis the statutory right or any other right conferred by a general law. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 22:50:10|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SHANGHAI, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A new free-trade zone (FTZ) was inaugurated in east China's Yangtze River Delta on Thursday, along with the expansion of another one, representing new steps to ensure high-quality, integrated development for the region and further momentum for the country's opening-up. The two new developments consist of a pilot FTZ in Anhui Province and the expansion of the existing FTZ in Zhejiang Province. Together with similar projects in Jiangsu and Shanghai, they ensure that all four areas of the delta have FTZs, featuring institutional innovations to facilitate trade, investment and business, and undertaking distinctive roles in developing industries. Thursday also saw the inauguration of two newly approved FTZs beyond the delta region, in Beijing and the central province of Hunan, raising the total of FTZs nationwide to 21. The pilot FTZ in Anhui will focus on promoting the in-depth integration of scientific and technological innovation and the development of the real economy. It will accelerate the pace of its pioneering role in scientific and technological innovation and the cluster development of advanced manufacturing and strategic emerging industries, and promote the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. The expanded area in Zhejiang will focus on building a new type of international trade center and a global shipping and logistics hub, as well as the construction of a commodity resource allocation base centered on oil and gas. It will also see the construction of a digital economy development demonstration zone and a cluster area for advanced manufacturing industries. Last year, China unveiled an outline for the regional integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, which is one of the country's most economically active, open and innovative regions, producing nearly a quarter of the country's GDP. The central authorities expect the entire delta region to provide quality products and serve as a source of high-level technologies to support the national high-quality economic development. The region is also urged to take the lead in forming a new development pattern that takes the domestic market as the mainstay and allows the domestic and foreign markets to boost each other. The new pilot FTZs, together with the expanded one, will strengthen the industrial and supply chain through scientific and technological innovation and enhance its advancement, stability and competitiveness, while leading the high-quality development of industries, said Wang Shouwen, vice-minister of commerce. INTEGRATION, HIGH QUALITY "After having a business meeting in Shanghai in the morning, I take the high-speed train to Hefei for work after lunch, and meet my partners for dinner in the evening. I can return to Shanghai on the same day with a relaxed schedule," said Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of NIO Inc., a leading Chinese electric-vehicle manufacturer. With the company's global headquarters in Shanghai, its China headquarters in Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui, and a leading new-energy auto-parts manufacturing base in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, NIO has most of its important institutions in the delta region, forming a highly innovative and efficient layout. Improved connectivity within the region, such as the opening of new high-speed railways, has facilitated the flow of talents and resources, as well as the integrated development of the region. Over the past year, local governments in the delta region have launched more than 30 innovative regulations on integrated development, signed more than 120 cooperation agreements, and built more than 60 cooperation platforms, statistics with the regional cooperation office of the Yangtze River Delta showed. In the first half of this year, Jiangsu's foreign trade stood at 2 trillion yuan. During the same period, Zhejiang Province reported 1,133 newly established foreign-invested enterprises. As part of the FTZ in Anhui, its section in Hefei will be developed into a comprehensive national science center and a leading area in industrial innovation, based on industries such as high-end manufacturing, integrated circuits, artificial intelligence and quantum information. According to Liu Qingfeng, chairman of voice-recognition giant iFlytek in Hefei, a spate of supporting measures introduced in the FTZ plan will bring favorable policies to AI industries in terms of technological innovation and application development. Meanwhile, the city of Wuhu will focus on industries such as intelligent connected vehicles, intelligent household applications, robots, and cross-border electronic commerce. Wuhu-based auto-maker Chery Automobile Co. is one of the trail-blazers in developing the intelligent connected vehicle. With its self-developed intelligent connected system featuring facial recognition and remote control, the company continues to make breakthroughs in autonomous vehicles. Chery Automobile Co. will continue to develop cutting-edge technology and cooperate with external resources to build an open system of innovation, according to company sources. "The coordinated development of FTZs in the Yangtze River Delta will spur greater momentum," said Sun Yuanxin, an expert with the Collaborative Innovation Center of China Pilot Free Trade Zone at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Enditem Carrying over 100 passengers, the flight coded VN417 landed at Noi Bai around noon the same day. Tight disease prevention and control measures have been applied, with passengers having to submit negative COVID-19 results by real time RTPCR method within three days before the departure. All people on board are set to have their health checked and be quarantined upon arrival in line with regulations. The resumption of flights received warm welcome from Vietnamese citizens in the RoK as well as Korean people, particularly businessmen and investors. Vietnam Airlines is working to resume international flights in line with Government directions and approvals from foreign authorities. Resumption has already been seen on its routes between Vietnam and Japan and the Republic of Korea, with China, Taiwan (China), Laos and Cambodia expected to follow shortly. Meanwhile, the RoK Government announced on September 24 that air routes between Incheon and Vietnams Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will be reopened this month, with two flights a week. Accordingly, the Korean Air scheduled its launch of the first flight to Ho Chi Minh City on September 25 and to Hanoi on September 29. Student Backlash Over Lockdowns Spreads to Guangzhou as Trash Piles Up, Food Prices Soar Chinas one-size-fits-all approach to mandatory COVID-19 lockdowns at universities across the country has triggered increasing dissatisfaction and protests among college students. After Xian International Studies University students were reported shouting from their dormitories against the campus lockdown, students at Guangzhou Institute of Technology (GIT) followed suit, shouting and protesting from their dorms at midnight, videos circulating online have shown. Students have told The Epoch Times that trash is piling up around their dorm buildings in mounds, letting off an unbearable stench. Rats are also running around, and the convenience stores and cafeteria on campus have been hiking up their food prices. But while students have been required to stay in lockdown on campus, faculty and staff have been free to move around, leading to desperation from the students Dorms Surrounded by Garbage A senior student at GIT, who prefers to go by the name Zhang Ming, told the Chinese language Epoch Times that every dormitory in the school was surrounded by big piles of trash like hills. The trash has been fermenting for more than one week, but the schools management has been slow at addressing the problem. Trash piling up outside the dorms at the Guangzhou Institute of Technology, China. (Supplied) The trash bins are very small, and not every dormitory has them downstairs. You can imagine, an average of more than 1,000 people in each building rely on a garbage dumpster that is less than 5 cubic meters. The garbage is not collected from the dumpster on time, and its piled up like a mountain in just half a day, Zhang said. Trash piling up outside the dorms at the Guangzhou Institute of Technology, China. (Supplied) A student who goes by the name Wang Xi described the trash crisis in the school as tragic beyond comprehension. The pungent smell of the trash dump has drifted into the dormitory, and it is so disgusting to smell it, and a lot of rats are running around. Its scary, and there are a lot of mosquitoes too. In this environment, bacteria breed. How can we live there? And the shower water is yellow. How can we take a shower? Wang said they really cant bear it anymore. A dormitory of Guangzhou Institute of Technology during a COVID-19 lockdown in September 2020. Students complained of trash piling up and unsanitary conditions. (Supplied) Faculty and Staff Move Freely The school has blocked the movement of all students on campus, while at the same time, the government has relaxed pandemic control measure in the community. Public places such as karaoke bars, movie theaters, and libraries are open for business. Even inter-province traveling is allowed. But students on campuses are still in lockdown, while faculty and staff move about freely. Some students reviewed the policy released by the Ministry of Education on Aug. 27. It said that students would only be allowed to go out for essential business, and that teachers and other personnel would follow the same principle. Zhang Ming said of the policy, It says that teachers and students are treated equally. But those teachers, staff, and delivery people go in and out freely, only the students are locked up. This is just a fake lockdown, which does not achieve the purpose of quarantining the school. Soaring Food Prices, Shortened Holidays In addition to the long-term unresolved trash issues, a series of other problems have made student life hard to bear during the pandemic. Convenience stores and cafeterias have hiked up food and grocery prices due to the schools monopoly on campus, students told The Epoch Times. A student named Zhao Jing said: (The school) forces us students to spend on campus, but the prices at the convenience stores on campus are 50 percent higher than the price outside. The selling price is unmarked, so that the store can charge any price at will and we are often charged more at the checkout counter. This is obviously unfair and the school is bullying us students. All the goods in the on campus stores have no marked price. I was told a price on the first day, and it rises the next day, Zhao said. There are also long waiting lines at the cafeteria every day. Zhang Ming said that the waiting time for food at peak time in the cafeteria is at least half an hour. Takeout food from outside can only be delivered through the school fence. What further angered students was that they heard that the school is only allowing them four days off during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Holiday, which is eight days long by law. If any students need to leave the school, they have to get approval from class counselors and signatures from their parents. Official document shows students at Guangzhou Institute of Technology have only been given four of eight mandated days off for Chinas upcoming National Holiday and Mid-Autumn Festival. (Online screenshot) A student at GIT told The Epoch Times, Many schools in Guangzhou now have a full eight days off for the national holiday, which is regulated by the State Council. Why do Guangzhou Institute of Technology students only have four days off? And you have to give various reasons to leave the school for the holidays? Its unfair treatment. What I want now is fairness. Colleges Protests Growing Such dissatisfaction from students has not been limited to GIT. On Sept. 20, students at Xian International Studies University protested against a lockdown at their school, which also caused the cafeteria food prices to increase. Students were heard shouting out loud together from their dormitory for nearly 30 minutes, as shown in the online video. On Sept. 21, due to another school lockdown, students of Hefei University of Technology in Anhui Province were heard screaming into the night from their dormitory. Students of Guangdong Medical University also protested against their schools fees and money making from students in various ways. They protested by writing complaints on the walls of school buildings. Students write on the wall in protest against the schools price hiking during lockdown at Guangdong Medical Universitys Dongguan Campus in China. (Online Screenshot) Gu Xiaohua and Ling Yun contributed to the report. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 20:09:15|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Huang Xinxin CHENGDU, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- With her eyebrows tattooed, eyelids colored, cheeks rouged and lips reddened, He Jianxiu is embroidering a pair of socks in the village square, wearing a self-tailored costume with handmade knot buttons in the shape of clouds. Only four years ago, she would be somewhat bashful wearing makeup in public. But now she feels comfortable even when meeting visitors from afar. He, 27, a woman from the Yi ethnic group, is living in a new community with her fellow villagers in Yuexi County. They moved out of their mountainous village with poor roads and living conditions last year, under a relocation project sponsored by the local government. Her family of four is now living in a 100-square-meter apartment. Yuexi County in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan Province, is among the last 52 counties yet to shake off poverty in China. By the end of this year, China aims to achieve the goal of eradicating absolute poverty. Though some residents are still adapting to their new lifestyle, such as using refrigerators and smartphones, or getting around by bus instead of on foot, He is embracing her new life. "I used to wash my face only once a day," said He, who now starts each day with her skincare and makeup routine. She is learning makeup skills through tutorials on Kuaishou, a leading video-sharing platform in China. Many young women like He have also tried their hand at applying makeup in the village. They are able to easily buy online cosmetics, apparel, shoes and other products thanks to the 4G network, express delivery services and their higher salaries. It takes her five minutes on her electric motorbike to collect the parcels in the town. A cement road was built to link her community with the town center. "17 years ago, to get to school I had to ride a horse for more than three hours along narrow and winding paths deep in the mountains," He recalled. In 2016, He learned how to apply makeup for the first time while working in factories in south China's Guangdong Province. "Girls in the cities are pretty with makeup, so I also want to have a try," He said. She continued to wear makeup after leaving Guangdong for home to better take care of her two children in 2018. Upon returning home, He also took up traditional Yi embroidery and adopted a flexible schedule, allowing her to improve her makeup skills. He was unfamiliar with Yi embroidery until January this year when her community committee invited some senior Yi women to offer free embroidery training, which they learned from their mothers and grandmothers. She joined other homemakers after one week of training to embroider ethnic patterns on socks, which earns her more than 1,000 yuan (about 148 U.S. dollars) per month. Though the pay is less than what she and her husband earned in Guangdong, it serves as extra pocket money for He who needs to take care of her children at home. With this pay, He has more financial freedom to shop online and buy things for herself. Since May, Liangshan Prefecture has built 26 Yi embroidery workshops in seven poverty-stricken counties, where Yi women are able to turn their traditional cultural heritage into wealth, said local authorities. A team of college students in Sichuan are now collecting Yi embroidery works to build a database of their patterns, facilitating their widespread use for fashion design. In this way, Yi embroidery is bringing higher incomes to poor people in Liangshan Prefecture while promoting cultural inheritance. Clothing with Yi embroidery patterns even appeared at New York Fashion Week, Spring/Summer 2020. He has little awareness of New York Fashion Week, but with the increasing popularity of Yi embroidery, more women like her are escaping poverty in Liangshan Prefecture. The total output value of Yi embroidery in Ganluo County, another poverty-ridden county in Liangshan Prefecture, has exceeded 20 million yuan since 2015. This year the COVID-19 epidemic has impacted the poverty alleviation project as people were unable to go out to work as usual. Luckily with the help of Yi embroidery, more women are able to work from home. "The COVID-19 epidemic has not stalled our progress in tackling poverty in Liangshan Prefecture, since more poverty-stricken people are getting flexible jobs on their doorstep," said Lin Shucheng, secretary of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China. Enditem While his office has repeatedly refused to produce an itinerary, Premier Brian Pallister says his recent week in Ottawa was productive and he made "maximum use" of his time while there. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/9/2020 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. While his office has repeatedly refused to produce an itinerary, Premier Brian Pallister says his recent week in Ottawa was productive and he made "maximum use" of his time while there. "I had meetings for five working days... and they were productive and positive and important," he said when asked about his trip Thursday. NDP Leader Wab Kinew said the premier doesnt seem to have accomplished a whole lot during his more than one week in the nations capital. "I dont really see that there was a whole lot of effectiveness behind this trip to Ottawa." He noted the premier was unable to meet face to face with the prime minister and others, but Pallister said the information gathering and relationship building he undertook was important to the province. Pallister arrived in Ottawa late on Sept. 15 and returned to Winnipeg on Wednesday. While in the nation's capital, he said he met with the Conference Board of Canada, the Institute of Fiscal Studies at the University of Ottawa, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Labour Congress as well as with various senior officials in government departments. He also met with Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and, through teleconference, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "Some of these meetings were changed to virtual at the last minute," Pallister noted, as Ottawa is experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases. On Thursday, Ottawa had 82 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases, which was the city's second-highest daily tally of the pandemic. Ottawa is close to 1,000 new cases in September. Last Friday, Pallister participated in a news conference in Ottawa with fellow premiers Jason Kenney (Alberta), Doug Ford (Ontario) and Francois Legault (Quebec), at which they called for the federal government to vastly improve its share of health care funding. "Im very careful about making sure I make maximum use of my time when I travel and when Im here," Pallister assured reporters. He noted that some provinces maintain offices in both Ottawa and in Washington, D.C. to do outreach, while Manitoba does not. In early July, Pallister spent several days of personal time in the Ottawa area before cramming in meetings with six organizations on the final two days. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The trip made news when bystanders at Toronto's Pearson International Airport photographed him without a face mask, speaking with Andrew Scheer, then the federal Conservative leader, who also didn't wear a mask. The airport requires the wearing of face coverings inside its terminals. During that trip, he met with some of the same groups he visited on his most recent trip, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Institute of Fiscal Studies and the Conference Board of Canada. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: "In accordance with the UN Security Council resolution 853, updated timetable for withdrawal of armed forces of Armenia from occupied territories of Azerbaijan must be prepared. Appropriate UN institutions must contribute to the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions and return of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons to their native lands. The UN Security Council resolutions are not time-specific. These resolutions are valid until they are implemented. Misinterpretation of UN Security Council resolutions is unacceptable," said President Ilham Aliyev as he addressed the general debates of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly in a video format, Trend reports. "The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict must be resolved on the basis of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijans territorial integrity has never been and will never be a subject of negotiations. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be completely restored. Nagorno-Karabakh is ancient and historical Azerbaijani lands. Karabakh is Azerbaijan!" the head of state emphasized. A hydrogen fuel-cell plane that's capable of carrying passengers completed its maiden flight this week, in another step forward for low and zero-emission flight. ZeroAvia's six-seater Piper M-class aircraft which has been retrofitted with the device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity undertook a taxi, take-off, full pattern circuit and landing on Thursday. ZeroAvia has said the trip, described as a "hydrogen fuel cell powered flight of a commercial-grade aircraft," is a "world first." Other examples of hydrogen-fuel cell planes that can host passengers do exist, however. Back in 2016, the HY4 aircraft, which is able to carry four people, undertook its first official journey when it flew from Stuttgart Airport in Germany. The HY4 was developed by researchers at the German Aerospace Center alongside "industry and research partners." Thursday's ZeroAvia flight was carried out at the company's research and development site at Cranfield Airport, in England 50 miles north of London. The airport is owned by Cranfield University. "While some experimental aircraft have flown using hydrogen fuel cells as a power source, the size of this commercially available aircraft shows that paying passengers could be boarding a truly zero-emission flight very soon," Val Miftakhov, the CEO of ZeroAvia, said in a statement. ZeroAvia is heading up a program called HyFlyer alongside project partners Intelligent Energy and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). EMEC has described HyFlyer, which is backed by the U.K. government, as aiming "to decarbonise medium range small passenger aircraft by demonstrating powertrain technology to replace conventional piston engines in propeller aircraft." The next step of the HyFlyer project will see ZeroAvia work toward carrying out a flight of between 250 and 300 nautical miles from the Orkney Islands, an archipelago located in waters off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plane on this flight will use hydrogen-fuel cells. It's hoped this trip will happen before the end of 2020. The news on ZeroAvia's flight bookends a week in which European aerospace giant Airbus released details of three hydrogen-fueled concept planes, saying they could enter service by the year 2035. The designs, named ZEROe, differ in size and style, but are all meant to be zero-emission, using hydrogen as their primary source of power. One of the designs offers a radical vision of how airplanes could look in the years ahead. Carrying as many as 200 passengers, the "blended-wing body" concept would see wings "merge" with the aircraft's main body. While the widespread adoption of hydrogen power in aircraft is still some way off, land-based forms of transport are already using the technology, albeit on a small scale. Hydrogen buses have been introduced to the U.K. capital of London, for example. Elsewhere, European firm Alstom has developed the Coradia iLint, a train that harnesses fuel-cell technology to turn oxygen and hydrogen into electricity. According to the company, it can reach speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour), is low-noise and "emits only steam and water." Your browser does not support the video tag. LISBON, Portugal, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Einvestment's fund has allocated 22M to the AI and Robotics sector. The Sustainable Growth portfolio that includes the investment has increased significantly over the last two years. Since its inception, the return has already exceeded 100%. Moreover, an even more impressive performance shows an extra high yield segregated portfolio with higher risks involved. In general, the growth of assets under management reached 46.9% during the first half of 2020. Einvestment Einvestment's Sustainable Growth portfolio's value is continually growing. The reason for that is partially due to the increase of funds in the portfolio's AI and Robotics and Green Energy and Biotech sectors. Since the portfolio's inception in 2018, the return has already exceeded 100%. "If you want to deliver high returns to your investors, you always have to be ahead of the trend, calculate risks, and make forecasts. That is why we at Einvestment are currently rebalancing our segregated portfolios and increasing AI & Robotics assets shares. The AI market is expected to show significant growth this year. According to Globe Newswire , it will almost double in comparison to the previous year and reach $40.74 billion in 2020. This is mainly driven by the COVID-19 health emergency, which also initiated extra growth in the robotics sector," says Einvestment managing director Gyros Chrysoulis. Apart from that, an extra high yield segregated portfolio with higher risks involved showed an even more impressive performance than forecasted. Although the overall positive trend doesn't guarantee that the growth rates will be maintained at the same level, it shows a wise investment approach. In general, the company has almost doubled the value of assets under management since Q2 2019. Contact: Matthew Richardson Phone number: +351 211 452 614 Email: [email protected] Related Images image1.png SOURCE Einvestment Sunken Samui ferry to be raised this weekend SURAT THANI: The salvage of the vehicle ferry that sank off Koh Samui during a storm on the night of Aug 1, killing five people, will begin this weekend. By Bangkok Post Friday 25 September 2020, 04:50PM The last of the three lorries loaded with compressed garbage and electronic waste that were on board the Raja 4 ferry when it sank was raised from the seabed yesterday (Sept 24). Photo: Supapong Chaolan / Bangkok Post The operator, Raja Ferry Plc, said the raising of the vessel, the Raja 4, from the seabed would begin on Saturday (Sept 26) and was expected to take three days, reports the Bangkok Post. The last of the three trucks that went down with the ferry, and their loads of compressed garbage and electronic waste, had been hauled from the bottom of the sea on Thursday, the company statement said. The Raja 4 was en route from Koh Samui to the mainland when it sank in storm-tossed seas on the night of Aug 1. Eleven of the people on board were rescued. The five other people died, with the final body being found only after a week-long search by divers. A maritime investigation is underway. Surat Thani officials on Thursday held a rescue drill at sea near the spot where the Raja 4 sank, simulating a ferry on fire and rescuers rushing to help the people on board. Deputy Interior Minister Niphon Boonyamanee said exercise was necessary to reassure visitors to Koh Samui, Mu Koh Ang Thong National Park and other islands that their safety was in good hands. HOUSTON, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Gimmal LLC, a provider of information governance software and solutions, has been recognized as a Microsoft Preferred Partner during the launch of Microsoft's Project Cortex. Project Cortex, a Microsoft 365 initiative that leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI), empowers organizations with the correct knowledge and expertise needed to thrive in everyday activities. Preferred Partner status is reserved for members of the Microsoft Content Services Partner Program who have dedicated time to deep training and technical delivery of knowledge and insights solutions. Microsoft recently announced the first product in Project Cortex, SharePoint Syntex. Gimmal, paired with SharePoint Syntex, will improve the user experience through automating content processing and knowledge transformation while ensuring complete compliance. Benefits of this partnership include: Gimmal and SharePoint Syntex allow users to have the most advanced automated records management system ever available. By automatically applying metadata, Gimmal can ensure the correct classification of records to the File Plan. Modern term set management is not just in SharePoint, but throughout Microsoft 365. "We are excited to achieve this level of partnership with Microsoft and look forward to continuing to work together to provide enhanced information governance solutions to the market," states Gimmal President and Chief Strategy Officer, Chris Caplinger. About Gimmal Gimmal provides the solutions organizations need to find information, govern content, improve business processes, and ensure information is in compliance, no matter where they are stored. Gimmal software automates processes, helps achieve interoperability between SharePoint and SAP, centralizes policy for legacy systems, and improves productivity across your organization at the lowest possible cost. Learn more about how Gimmal is working together with Microsoft to improve information governance by visiting https://www.gimmal.com/videos/recording-microsoft365-and-gimmal SOURCE Gimmal Group, Inc. Related Links https://www.gimmal.com/ The UNESCO will convene an extraordinary session of Global Education Meeting (GEM) next month for exchange among high-level political leaders, policy makers and global education experts to protect and rethink education in the current and post-COVID-19 world. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations session on October 22 is convened with an aim to protect and promote education at a time when education financing is at considerable risk of being left behind in the governments domestic budgets, stimulus packages and international aid, the UN agency said. By convening this extraordinary session of the GEM next month, our aim is to secure commitments from political leaders to position education at the centre of national and international efforts to recover swiftly, inclusively and sustainably from the COVID-19 pandemic, said Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director of Education at UNESCO. Giannini said the overarching concern is to at least maintain, if not increase, education financing to avoid a generational catastrophe. To be fit for purpose and respond to a radically new reality, we need a more integrated, influential and accountable coordination system for education, entirely geared to building back better through stronger links between policy steering and finance. It is precisely in this spirit that the 2020 GEM will also launch an inclusive consultation on a roadmap for the improvement of the global SDG 4 - Education 2030 coordination mechanism, he said. Among the themes outlined for the session are protecting domestic and international financing of education, reopening schools safely, focusing on inclusion, equity and gender equality, reimagining teaching and learning, harnessing equitable connectivity and technologies for learning. Behind the 2020 GEM is the resolve to speak with one voice, against the backdrop of unprecedented disruption that requires us, as a global community, to be disruptive in how we act. The GEM is driven by this sense of urgency it pulls the alarm on the dramatic consequence that any decline in aid and national budgets will have on an already deep education crisis, Giannini said. According to UNESCO estimates, over 154 crore students are severely impacted by the closure of educational institutions across the world amid the COVID-19 outbreak. N agencies -- UNESCO and UNICEF along with World Bank and the World Food Programme -- had recently come up with guidelines on how to safely reopen schools in the wake of COVID-19 and also warned that widespread closures of educational facilities present an unprecedented risk to childrens education and wellbeing. Globally, over 3.2 crore people have been infected with COVID-19, and the total number of deaths from the deadly virus now stands at over 9.82 lakh. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON New Delhi, Sep 25 : A Delhi court on Friday dismissed the bail application of Shivinder Mohan Singh, the erstwhile promoter of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), in a fraud case involving an amount of Rs 2,500 crore. Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL), a subsidiary of REL, had filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) against 44-year-old Shivinder Mohan Singh and his brother Malvinder Mohan Singh for offences of cheating, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy for siphoning of public money. Funds belonging to RFL were transferred to RHC Holding Private Ltd, an entity owned and controlled by the Singh brothers, clandestinely through shell entities. Advocate Sandeep Das represented RFL in the matter. The EOW had registered an FIR in March on the basis of the complaint of RFL and filed a charge sheet after conducting investigation. Shivinder Singh had been arrested on October 10 last year. The EOW further alleged that the brothers siphoned off and diverted public money in a clandestine manner for their own benefit. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump reiterated Thursday that he may not honor the results should he lose reelection, reaffirming his extraordinary refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power and prompting election and law enforcement authorities nationwide to prepare for an unprecedented constitutional crisis. Trump escalated his months-long campaign to undermine the legitimacy of the Nov. 3 election with a series of comments Wednesday that, taken together and at face value, pose his most substantial threat yet to the nation's history of free and fair elections. In recent days, the president cast doubt on the integrity of vote totals. He said he might not accept the results if they show him losing to Democratic nominee Joe Biden. He said it was imperative to quickly fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg because the nation's high court could determine the winner of the election. And when asked directly whether he would commit to a "peaceful transition of power," Trump responded, "We're going to have to see what happens." He went on to suggest that authorities "get rid of the ballots," an apparent reference to the huge uptick in votes cast by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic, adding that, if they did, "there won't be a transfer [of power], frankly. There will be a continuation." Trump reaffirmed his views Thursday, saying on Fox News Radio that he would agree with a Supreme Court ruling that Biden won the election but that short of a court decision, the vote count would amount to "a horror show" because of fraudulent ballots. There is no evidence of widespread fraud. Later Thursday, as he left the White House for a campaign rally in North Carolina, Trump reiterated to reporters, "We want to make sure the election is honest, and I'm not sure that it can be." Trump's running commentary about an illegitimate vote reverberated from coast to coast. Many of Trump's Republican allies in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., issued perfunctory statements declaring that the winner of the Nov. 3 election would be inaugurated on Jan. 20 - an orderly transition as there traditionally has been in the United States. Democratic state attorneys general strategized among themselves on what to do if the president refuses to accept the result and said they were most concerned that his drumbeat of unfounded accusations about fraud could undermine public confidence in the election. "If there's one thing that I've learned in suing Trump and his administration dozens of times, it's that when he threatens to cross democratic boundaries and constitutional norms, he usually does - and when he denies it, it often turns out he was actually doing it all along," said Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat. Meanwhile, state election officials said they were considering what federal resources Trump might seek to deploy before and during the election - such as the president's statement last month that he would send U.S. attorneys, sheriffs and other law enforcement officers to polling places. Biden at first dismissed Trump's Wednesday night comments with mocking incredulity. "What country are we in? I'm being facetious," he told reporters Wednesday evening. "Look, he says the most irrational things. I don't know what to say." Though the former vice president for months has warned that Trump might do something to jeopardize the integrity of the election - he said in June that Trump stealing the election was "my single greatest concern" - he also has avoided amplifying the president's baseless claims in an apparent effort to maintain public confidence in the election. On Thursday, the Biden campaign highlighted the massive election protection program it has quietly been building that includes thousands of lawyers and other volunteers and has been preparing for litigation during and after the election. "The Biden campaign has assembled the biggest voter protection program in history to ensure the election runs smoothly and to combat any attempt by Donald Trump to create fear and confusion with our voting system, or interfere in the democratic process," campaign spokesman Michael Gwin said in a statement. "We're confident that we'll have free and fair elections this November, and that voters will decisively reject Donald Trump's erratic, divisive, and failed leadership at the ballot box." There was a growing recognition Thursday that Trump's challenges to the legitimacy of the election could be decided in the courts. The Supreme Court is poised to be reconstituted with Trump's personal imprint, as Republicans move quickly to fill Ginsburg's vacant seat before the election with what would be a third Trump nominee - cementing the court's ideological shift to the right. It is unclear how the Supreme Court - which 20 years ago effectively awarded the presidency to George W. Bush as part of a legal dispute over the vote in Florida - might rule on a challenge brought by Trump. "For the first time in my life, and maybe for the first time since the Civil War, the fate of constitutional democracy in the United States is on the line, and it's on the line because the president has put it there," said William Galston, chair of the Brookings Institution's Governance Studies Program. "It is a clear and present danger." State election officials said they are alarmed by the president's rhetoric. "Categorically and emphatically, when you have public officials casting doubt on the process, it's incredibly corrosive," said Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, a Democrat. "I cannot describe that with enough vehemence. It's nearly a criminal or treasonous act. We hold a sacred trust, and it is our job to make people feel like they're protected in their decision-making, as the authors of our future." Dunlap said he is trying to prepare for every problem he can imagine, including the possibility that disinformation could be spread by foreign powers - or by Trump himself - while voting is underway or while ballots are being counted, or the possibility that protesters or armed groups show up at polling places. "I view myself as a shortstop in baseball," Dunlap said. "You really have no idea what's going to come at you - but you have to be prepared to field it." Voters interviewed in Michigan, Indiana and North Carolina expressed uncertainty about whether mail-in ballots would be counted and dismay about the president's willingness to challenge the results. "I'm afraid he'll do whatever he wants," Socorro Herrera, 36, who is unemployed, said as she cast her ballot Thursday in Waukegan, Ill., a community north of Chicago. "I've never seen a president not be OK with the results. How is that possible? At this point, it seems he can do anything." In Warren, Mich., voters expressed similar disbelief. "To go against all norms, that's what upsets me," said Deborah Grimaldi, 66, a retired sewing machine operator. "It's like he wants to be a king or a monarch." The Justice Department, which traditionally has sought to keep a modicum of independence from politics, on Thursday announced an inquiry into nine discarded ballots found in Luzerne County, Pa. - a move that Trump and his aides quickly seized upon as evidence of an alleged Democratic plot to rig the election. At a hearing Thursday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that while there are small local instances of mail-in ballot fraud, "we have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise." The FBI director - seemingly aware that his comments last week about Russian election interference had angered the president - said he was "in no way minimizing" any threat to ballots. But changing the outcome of a federal election, he said, "would be a major challenge for an adversary," adding that the FBI "would investigate seriously" if it saw indications of such an effort. Republican lawmakers did not give much credence to Trump's remarks, with some senators characterizing them as stray comments from a president without a filter. "The president says crazy stuff," Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said. "We've always had a peaceful transition of power. It's not going to change." But those assurances did little to quell growing fears among state election officials, state attorneys general and other institutionalists who worried that the president's words would have far greater impact. "His statement is political theater at its most destructive," said North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat. "He and the Republican Party need to respect our democracy instead of trying to undermine it." Several Democratic officials said privately that they were less concerned that the country's electoral and judicial systems would allow Trump to remain in office if he refused to concede. And they played down the possibility that Trump could somehow subvert the electoral process - such as by declaring victory before counts are complete, seeking a court decision to toss mail ballots or encouraging Republican-controlled legislatures to appoint their own electors - even as they said they were preparing for those possibilities. "No candidate can declare that the count is just over," said Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat. "All lawful votes will be counted. It is the voters in Wisconsin who select who the winner of the presidential race is in Wisconsin. Any attempt to interfere with that process would be unlawful." Kaul said the legal disputes that lawyers from both parties are preparing to wage after the election are likely to focus on what ballots should and should not be counted. But for such a dispute to decide the election, the vote margin in that state would have to be narrow, he said. State election officials said they were bracing for legal battles and civil unrest to follow. In North Carolina, the State Board of Elections is preparing to relocate its Election Day operation to the state's Emergency Operations Center. The state board considered evacuating its workforce on Wednesday after a woman called accusing Democratic board members of trying to steal the election and warning that she and about 1,000 other conservatives were on their way to protest, board spokesman Pat Gannon said. In Wisconsin, state Elections Commission spokesman Reid Magney said he was on an election security call with federal officials several weeks ago in which an FBI official assured election administrators that any deployment of military or law enforcement for election monitoring would be illegal and would not happen. Officials in some states said they were preparing for turmoil. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said she has had discussions about how to police voter intimidation in a way that doesn't make the problem worse. "One of the conversations we are having is what that response should look like," Hobbs said. "A uniformed officer with a weapon can look intimidating, and we want to be very careful about that." - - - The Washington Post's Rachael Bade, Devlin Barrett, Rosalind S. Helderman and Paul Kane in Washington, Anna Clark in Warren, Mich., and Mark Guarino in Waukegan, Ill., contributed to this report. Ed Buck, the Democratic party donor in whose house two men died of drug overdoses, is planning to ask to be released from jail and await trial from home. On Friday, at a bail reconsideration hearing, Buck's defense attorneys are set to argue that Buck, 66, is at high-risk of contracting coronavirus if he remains locked up. According to court papers obtained by City News Service, Buck says he is willing to pay a $400,000 signature bond as well as be electronically monitored and confined to his home. The attorneys also argue that Buck suffers from gum disease and needs specialized cardiac care that the criminal justice system is unable to provide. But federal prosecutors are against his release, saying Buck is a fight risk and he represents a potential danger to the public. Ed Buck is expected to be asked to be released from jail at a bail reconsideration hearing on Friday due to the coronavirus pandemic. Pictured: Buck appears in Los Angeles Superior Court on September 19 Buck is charged with nine federal counts, including giving drugs to 26-year-old Gemmel Moore (left and right), who died of an overdose at Buck's West Hollywood home in July 2017. Another count alleges that Buck enticed Moore to travel to engage in prostitution District attorneys say Buck has a history of luring men to his apartment, injecting them with drugs and then performing sexual acts with the victims. Pictured: Protesters argue for the arrest of Buck outside his apartment, January 2019 Since 2017, two African-American men have been found dead from drug overdoses in Buck's West Hollywood home. Prosecutors allege Buck would bring the black men to his home and then inject them with crystal methamphetamine for sexual gratification. In July 2017, 26-year-old Gemmel Moore, who was working as an escort, was found dead in Buck's apartment, lying naked on a mattress in the living room. Just a year-and-a-half later, in January 2019, a second man, 55-year-old Timothy Michael Dean, was found dead in Buck's home. Buck was arrested in September 2019, and charged with three counts of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house. In August 2020, a federal grand jury charged Buck with four additional felonies, bringing the total number of federal charges to nine counts. This includes a count alleging Buck knowingly enticed Moore to travel to engage in prostitution as well as another man. He is also charged with one count of knowingly and intentionally distributing meth and one count of using his home to distribute meth as well as the sedatives gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and clonazepam. Prosecutors say Buck 'engaged in a pattern of soliciting men to consume drugs that Buck provided and perform sexual acts at [his] apartment,' according the court papers viewed by City News Service. He allegedly met victims on gay dating websites and social media platforms, and even hired a recruiter to scout men for him. Buck, 66, says he will pay a $400,000 signature bond, and consent to being electrically monitored and confined to his home, but prosecutors say he is a flight risk. Pictured: Buck with Hillary Clinton, September 2015 If convicted of the narcotics charges, Buck faces a minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life without the possibility of parole. Pictured: Buck appears in Los Angeles Superior Court on September 19 When the men arrived at his apartment, Buck would allegedly fill syringes with meth and inject the victims with or without their consent. If found guilty of the narcotics charges, Buck faces a minimum of 20 years in federal prison and a maximum of life without parole. The trial is currently scheduled for January 19, 2021. He also faces charged in Los Angeles County for allegedly running a drug den out of his apartment, but the federal trial will take place first. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 20:00 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c474a286 1 Business bank-indonesia,OJK,fintech,BI,innovation,regulation,GoPay,GoInvestasi,Pintek,payment-system,peer-to-peer-lending Free Indonesian regulatory bodies and financial technology (fintech) companies are trying to strike a balance that will encourage innovation in the industry while also maintaining a regulation that ensures customers security. Financial Services Authority (OJK) head Triyono said on Friday that the authority was pursuing a light touch and safe harbor approach to encourage what he called responsible innovation, which would prioritize security, customer protection and well-managed risks. It is very, very important, Triyono said in a Jakpost Fintech Fest webinar series hosted by The Jakarta Post on Friday. It means no regulation violation, for example, and also certainly brings good benefits to society, handling customers very well and data protection. Triyono said the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic was a game-changer for the fintech industry as it accelerated the speed of innovation. However, the industry is still heavily regulated with 135 prevailing regulations related to payment although some fintech companies also provide other services such as wealth management. Erwin Haryono, executive director of the payment system department at Bank Indonesia (BI), said the central bank was planning to come up with one umbrella regulation for payments that would streamline all the regulations to encourage more innovation in the industry. Read also: Fintech firms assist govt, banks with COVID-19 public services The planned umbrella regulation is expected to cover, among other issues, licensing, data policy, supervision and cybersecurity framework. Hopefully, by the end of the year we will have one single payment regulation that will be principle-based, and from that, we will have branches but not as many as we have today, said Erwin. It will be very supportive of innovation. Bank Indonesia is also preparing other initiatives based on its 2025 payment system road map, including creating a data hub and real-time payment system called BI-Fast to boost the fintech industry in particular and the economy in general. Indonesias economy was forecast to grow by 5.75 percent per year between 2020 and 2024 if it adopted technological advances, marking an additional 0.55 percentage point growth rate, said Erwin, quoting data from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In the second quarter, the economy contracted by 5.32 percent year-on-year (yoy). The government is expecting an annual contraction of between 0.6 and 1.7 percent this year. Read also: Fintech's role in financial inclusion rises but infrastructure, literacy challenges loom For e-wallet Gopay, the pandemic has accelerated the use of its recent investment feature called GoInvestasi, which allows customers to buy and sell gold, according to managing director Budi Gandasoebrata. GoInvestasi is a collaboration with investment platform Pluang. So, what we are seeing today is a lot of shifts in customer behavior, starting from having to move to online transactions. Also, people are more restrained when it comes to spending and they see more on investment, said Budi. Essentially, all the different use cases we try to cover. And I think underneath what we are really trying to do is solve the daily hustle of users when it comes to payments. User experience is key to Gopays innovations, including its latest investment capability. But more importantly, we want to make sure that we partner with a platform that is supervised and licensed by OJK as well. Investment in gold, traditionally seen as a safe investment in uncertain times, is soaring as people turn to bullions to protect their wealth. Meanwhile, Indonesias financial market is seeing a rise in retail investors as more information is available online to better plan individuals finances. Education fintech company Pintek is also taking part in growing the countrys economy with its innovation in the education sector, namely providing a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform for students and educational institutions. Pintek, which was registered with the OJK in 2018, has disbursed more than Rp 100 million (US$6,722.84) in loans to more than 3,000 borrowers in 28 provinces, according to Tommy Yuwono, the founder and president director. More than half are first-time borrowers and women. My dream is simple: I dont want people to be afraid to take loans when it is productive, said Tomy. Productive loans, especially for yourself, will level up your living standards and earnings in the future. I hope the education sector, parents and students will [] invest for themselves in education. Tommy also said the companys ratio of bad loans was around 0.1 percent, well below the overall non-performing loans (NPL) ratio in the fintech industry, which increased to 7.99 percent in July as a result of the decline in income among borrowers. On Wednesday, the European Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, let it be known that the European Commission has not received any request from the Spanish government for a regime of aid specific to the tourism industry. By contrast, there have been requests from various other EU member states, such as France, and the European Commission has given the green light for aid plans for tourism and transport companies. Vestager was responding to a question from Jose Ramon Bauza, a former president of the Balearics and now an MEP. This read: "Is the European Commission aware, of date, of any specific request for aid to the tourism industry by the government of Spain in order to lessen the consequences of the coronavirus crisis?" "No," came the reply. Spain has not presented any tourism aid plan to Brussels. The news that the government hasn't made a request has caused indignation. The president of the Confederation of Balearic Business Associations, Carmen Planas, has expressed her "amazement" at the fact that Madrid has not forwarded requests from the Balearic and Spanish tourism sectors "to alleviate the situation caused by the pandemic crisis". Her counterpart at the Pimem federation for small to medium-sized businesses, Jordi Mora, says that he cannot understand the strategy adopted by Madrid. "We hope that Spain will not be left out of this aid." The secretary of state for tourism, Fernando Valdes, said in Minorca on Thursday that the fact that projects have not been presented to Brussels "does not indicate that the government isn't taking the tourism industry into account". The industry has been supported "since the start of the pandemic". "The government has dedicated more than 25,000 million euros to the tourism industry with the approval of the European Union." A surge in virus cases has been linked to communion and confirmation parties, a health expert warned as another county faced into tighter Covid restrictions. Dr Anthony Breslin, director of public medicine HSE North West, said cases had been linked to these events as well as people travelling back and forth over the Border. "When we have contacted people, they have had events, christenings, communions, confirmations and, unfortunately, funerals. "They have had one or two more people at these events than would be necessary and that makes managing and keeping up with social distancing and face covering more difficult, especially when there are young kids around." As Donegal prepares to enter lockdown, detailed new statistics from the Department of Health showed the breakdown of cases by local electoral area. Read More When the incidence rates over the past two weeks are compared, the worst-affected area is Lifford/Stranorlar, with an incidence rate of 336.1 per 100,000 people. This accounts for 87 cases reported in a fortnight. But everyone has been put on notice to curb social encounters lest the whole country is forced to move to Level 3 restrictions. Expand Close Global emergency: President Michael D Higgins addresses a virtual UN meeting on universal access to Covid-19 healthcare from Aras an Uachtarain. It was co-hosted by the President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, and the World Health Organisation. Photo: Maxwells / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Global emergency: President Michael D Higgins addresses a virtual UN meeting on universal access to Covid-19 healthcare from Aras an Uachtarain. It was co-hosted by the President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, and the World Health Organisation. Photo: Maxwells A clutch of counties hover close to joining Donegal and Dublin under tighter rules. The Level 3 clampdown comes into effect in Donegal at midnight tonight, for three weeks. In face of the climbing numbers, the Government had been left with "no choice other than to act, and act decisively", Taoiseach Micheal Martin said. There was "every chance" of further announcements for other areas, he added, unless everyone heeded the overall advice and cut down on contact with others. Another 324 infections were announced across the State, while three people have died. Other counties at risk were Louth, Waterford, Wicklow, Kildare, Cork and Galway, although numbers in the first two have lately moved in the right direction. Covid is spreading because people assume that persons known to them cannot be infected, acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn warned: "People are dropping their guard because they know each other." He urged people to "act at all times as if the people in your company can give you the virus." Vigilance Dr Glynn said a significant proportion of cases were in people in their teens and early twenties. He said he was not trying to attach blame, but the message to that cohort had to be to make informed choices - particularly against a background of the third level colleges opening countrywide next week. Young people had been "phenomenal" over the last six months in assisting the national effort, but unless they maintained vigilance they would "continue to drive" the recent rise in all cases, he said. The Taoiseach warned the looming winter would be "more challenging" than in the time to date. He said he hoped sport could continue uninhibited, but it would take adherence to protocols. He spoke last night to both the Deputy and First Minister of Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill and Arlene Foster, about the move to tighten controls in Donegal. It comes against a backdrop of surging cases in Derry and a fear people are crossing the Border for leisure purposes. Donegal as a whole has exceeded Dublin at 148 cases per 100,000, ahead of 145 in the capital. After Lifford/ Stranorlar, the second worstaffected electoral area in the county is Glenties, with an incidence of 92 per 100,000 in the past 14 days. Dr Breslin said: "We are seeing the numbers all over the county, but particularly in Letterkenny and also in the Lifford/Stranorlar area." He added: "One issue we have at the moment is people crossing over the Border. The North has one of the highest incidences in the UK at the moment and we have a lot of cross-border activity. "People work across the Border, they have school across the Border, they shop across the Border. We have no problem with that. But if someone from Buncrana goes into Derry, if they are travelling on a bus, they need to wear a face mask, if they are in shops in Derry: face mask, coffee shops: face mask. Do the social distancing, etc." Stranorlar GP Dr Denis McCauley, who is chair of the Irish Medical Organisation's GP committee, said the surge of cases in Donegal was partly due to an influx of Irish staycationers to the county in recent weeks. "I think there has been an upsurge because of the good weather and Donegal has been a destination for staycationers," he said. "People moved into Donegal on their holidays. A staycation meant people from Belfast went to Donegal, people from Dublin went to Donegal." Dr McAuley said his practice had noticed an uptick in Covid-19 cases over the past five to six days and the situation is "bubbling" in the region. He warned: "There could be a lot of unnecessary morbidity if we do not pay attention to this. I am urging people to cut their contacts. Family "I want households to stay in households and forget the rest of their family for the next few weeks to get this under control. The family unit is within the one household." There were 42 new infections in Donegal, 34 in Cork, 13 in Monaghan, 12 in Kildare, eight in Cavan, six in Limerick, six in Meath, six in Roscommon and five in Wicklow, with the remaining 25 cases in 11 counties. More than half of the cases were linked to outbreaks. But 81 were due to community transmission which are the most worrying because the source cannot be found. Dr Glynn said: "Public health doctors are coming across more cases arising from people who are close contacts of confirmed cases and are not restricting the movements. "Remember that Covid-19 is highly contagious and you can be infectious without symptoms. "If you are a close contact of a confirmed case, please follow the guidelines and restrict your movements for 14 days - do not go to school or work, do not have visitors to your home, do not go to the shop or pharmacy unless it is absolutely necessary. "Please avail of a test when it is offered. Last week, one in 10 close contacts who had a test were found to be positive - many had no symptoms." Meanwhile, the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) warned Ireland has a concerning trend for Covid-19. The overall risk to the population from the virus remained moderate, the watchdog said. Sustained increases in cases of more than 10pc have been seen this month in Ireland and 12 other European countries. The impact of the disease is still low. Ireland is in a group of countries where high and increasing infections are reported due to high testing rates. Cases mostly involved young people, with a low proportion of severe cases. Visit our Covid-19 vaccine dashboard for updates on the roll out of the vaccination program and the rate of Coronavirus cases Ireland Ihor KLymenko, The Head of the National Police of Ukraine, Police General of the second rank, PhD (Psychology) Today, September 25, is exactly one year since I was appointed the Head of the National Police of Ukraine. When I am asked how it went, I answer with a smile: "In different ways." Because this period was really rich, complex and unpredictable. But definitely interesting. In my first interview I outlined the main problem areas I planned to focus on. These included improving the response to reports, domestic violence, combating street drug trafficking and generally deepening interaction between the police units. The year passed quickly, but productively. We did realized a lot of what was planned. For example, an updated system for responding to reports and notifications has been launched. Receiving of messages is not only by phone, but also by e-mail or mobile application, which are automatically registered. The information is immediately passed to the dispatcher and the duty officers to organize the response. All duty police squads are displayed on an electronic map, and feedback is maintained with the applicant. This feedback is especially important when reporting domestic violence. And these calls are no longer serviced by the usual duty police squad, but by one of the 45 mobile groups for combating domestic violence, which work in every region of our state. These are police officers with special knowledge and skills. The number of appeals with this problem can indicate the effectiveness of the police. Since the beginning of 2020, 139 thousand of such reports have been registered, and for the same period last year - a little more than 91 thousand. That is, citizens began to turn more often to the police for protection from domestic violence. From a closed "household" issue it became public. And, thus, this problem is gaining publicity. And the more they talk about it, the more people will understand that there is no place for violence at home and that it is abnormal. I wrote separately about the fight against drug trafficking in a blog article. And I really consider it one of the priorities in the police work, which is confirmed by the results of special operations conducted by the relevant unit. Since the beginning of this year, police have seized more than 2.6 million doses of drugs worth more than 300 million hryvnias. These are doses that never reached the consumer. The goal is the fundamental elimination of all drug business pyramids. "Thieves in law." This was probably one of the loudest draft laws. Many did not believe that they would vote for him, we felt strong opposition. But thanks to the support of the majority of people's deputies, it was finally possible to introduce the concepts of "a thief in law" and "criminal influence" into the Criminal Code of Ukraine, defining the appropriate punishments for such activities. Among our other voted initiatives is the strengthening of responsibility for vehicle theft. The criminals will not be able to let go with mere fines anymore. Only restriction of freedom or imprisonment. At the same time, this year was marked by the humanization of the criminal law - many articles of the Criminal Code fell into the category of criminal misdemeanors. The structure of the National Police includes newly created pre-trial inquiry units. Since July 1, the inquiry officers have received about 200,000 criminal proceedings, which have become misdemeanors, which is more than 50% of the total number of the registered criminal proceedings. Thanks to this, it became possible to unload the investigators, who focused on solving serious and especially serious crimes. Unfortunately, there were some shameful stories involving the police officers. The most notorious was violence in the Kaharlyk police unit. My reaction to this dishonest and inadmissible act was publicly visible: we immediately handed over all the materials we collected to the State Bureau of Investigations and condemned the actions of the former law enforcement officers. To prevent this we are currently actively implementing a common monitoring system that will oversee the observance of human rights by police officers. It will combine video recording in police custody centres, police units and chest body cameras video into a single complex. Thus, the "Custody Records" information subsystem has already started operating in the National Police. It provides an opportunity to create a single electronic file of a person under police control and to record all actions referring the detainees. Equipping the police premises with video recording equipment is a clear positive for both parties. On the one hand, it will help to prevent police misconduct towards detainees or visitors of police units. And at the same time, it will protect law enforcement officers from unfounded accusations and provocations. But the most unexpected test during my office was the conditions, in which we all have been living and working for more than six months. The coronavirus pandemic has not only made adjustments to our daily habits, but has significantly added to the work of the police. We have faced new challenges and have become an integral part of the team that has to overcome them. There are still many plans, they need to be implemented. But analyzing the first year in this position, I can already say with confidence: I do not regret any of my decisions. They were all balanced and necessary. Ahead of us is a major restructuring. We are working on creating a new structure of the National Police and will present it in the nearest future. These changes are needed in the context of the ongoing decentralization reform in the country and to improve the efficiency of local policing. All changes are needed only for one purpose: to make people see that the police are always around and let them feel safe every day. Jacksonville: US President Donald Trump campaigned in the battleground states of North Carolina and Florida on Thursday (Friday AEST), saying the country's economic prosperity was riding on the outcome of his November 3 showdown with Democrat Joe Biden. "If you want to save America, you must get out and vote," he told thousands of cheering supporters, most not wearing masks, at the outdoor airport rally in front of Air Force One in Jacksonville, Florida. US President Donald Trump gestures at his campaign rally in Jacksonville, Florida. Credit:AP Trump criticised Biden as too far left for Americans and warned that the Democrat's efforts to battle the coronavirus would endanger the economy. Trump has been criticised for failing to lay out a national strategy to combat the pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States, the most deaths of any country from the virus. Over 100 arrive in Vietnam on first commercial flight in six months A man arriving from South Korea to Hanoi has his papers checked at Noi Bai Airport, September 25, 2020. Photo courtesy of Vietnam Airlines. A total 104 passengers from South Korea, including three children, landed at Hanois Noi Bai International Airport on Friday afternoon, marking the first inbound commercial flight in six months. Passengers onboard the VN417 flight from Incheon International Airport in Seoul were Vietnamese citizens and South Korean investors. All passengers furnished a certificate confirming they had tested negative for the novel coronavirus via real-time reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method three days prior to boarding the flight. Each supplied quarantine registration papers for Vietnam and installed Bluezone, a Bluetooth-based app that helps determine if a person has come into close contact with a Covid-19 patient, Vietnam Airlines stated. This was the first flight permitted by aviation authorities to allow foreign passengers entry to Vietnam since the government last week greenlighted the resumption of commercial flights to seven Asian destinations, including South Korea. South Korea was the fifth biggest investor in Vietnam in the first half of the year with registered capital of nearly $545 million. South Korean businesses operate more than 8,000 projects locally, account for 30 percent of Vietnams total exports, and provide more than 700,000 jobs, according to official statistics. Vo Huy Cuong, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, said the flight served to assess the countrys capability to receive international passengers. "It marked an important recovery for Vietnams aviation industry by ensuring economic development while combating the pandemic," Cuong added. On arrival, all passengers were to be tested for Covid-19 twice via RT-PCR method as per health ministry protocol, paid for by themselves. All had their samples taken for initial testing upon landing in Vietnam. Each would be screened again six days later. Those testing positive for the novel coronavirus will be admitted to medical centers for treatment; while those reporting negative results twice can switch from centralized quarantine camps to isolation at home or their place of work or a hotel until they complete the 14-day quarantine under supervision of local authorities. Though the government allowed the resumption of commercial flights, foreign tourists have yet to be allowed back into the country. The only foreigners currently allowed entry are those carrying diplomatic or official passports, experts, managers, high-skilled workers, and investors, their family members, international students, and family members of Vietnamese citizens. Vietnam suspended all international flights on March 25. It has recorded 1,069 Covid-19 cases, 40 of which remain active. The country has gone over two weeks without domestic infections of the novel coronavirus. Earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor to remind Republicans what Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had said about filling a Supreme Court vacancy during the last year of Barack Obamas presidency in 2016: That the American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. While this no doubt seemed like a clever bit of political gamesmanship, it only served to underscore the weakness of the Democrats position. Clearly, the strategy of shaming Republicans into sticking with their principles failedPresident Trump plans to name a justice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Saturday, and he appears to have the votes necessary to get that nominee confirmed. Advertisement The Democrats were, as my colleague Tom Scocca put it, speaking up in defense of the 2016 Mitch McConnell Rule, against the 2020 Mitch McConnell Rule. The main Democratic message in this fight seems to be that McConnell is being a hypocrite, despite the fact that McConnell plainly does not care at all about being called a hypocrite. In fact, he countered, blocking a nominee is precisely what Democrats had indicated they would do themselves if they were in the majority. Whos a hypocrite, now? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The near-constant accusations of hypocrisy may be a warning sign that something is deeply rotten in U.S. politics. The political theorist Judith Shklar warned 40 years ago about the dangers of a pattern of ideological politics in which charges of hypocrisy are exchanged with unbroken regularity. She described a form of politics in which rather than arguing over principle, political factions instead tried to prove that their opponents didnt actually believe their own principles. Her message is well worth remembering today. Advertisement Advertisement Born in 1928 in Latvia, her family fled to Canada when she was a childescaping both the Nazis and the Soviets. She later moved to the U.S. to study, and became a leading political theorist at Harvard. While less remembered than fellow liberal giants of political theory of her era like Isaiah Berlin and John Rawls, her vision of a liberalism of fearin which preventing cruelty, and the fear it creates, by both public and private actors, is the primary goal of liberal politics, has been garnering some renewed attention lately. In her 1982 book, Ordinary Vices, she makes the case that cruelty is the primary sin of politics, but also devotes a series of essays to several competing political vices, including hypocrisy. Advertisement Advertisement Shklar doesnt defend hypocrisy, exactly, but sees it as inevitable. The supposed egalitarianism of our society, she writes, does not arise from sincerity. It is based on the pretense that we must speak to each other as if social standings were a matter of indifference. She continues: Our manners are just as artificial as those seen at Versailles in Molieres day, but they are infinitely more democratic. In her view, democratic debate itself requires us to be a bit hypocritical. Its less important that we have genuine respect for people with whom we fundamentally disagree than that we act as if we do, and conduct ourselves as if those views are worth of respect. Advertisement Advertisement To Shklar, accusing an opponent of hypocrisy in the course of a political debate is a form of psychic warfare meant to collapse his self-image. Advertisement Advertisement For instance, its common for liberals to accuse evangelical Christians of hypocrisy for supporting Trump despite his numerous documented infidelities, and for conservatives to claim liberals are hypocrites for not taking sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden as seriously as those leveled at Republican politicians. But the debate pretty much ends there. This weapon becomes particularly popular at times when there are fundamental disagreements about the goals of politics and the moral foundations of society. When political actors disagree about right and wrong, and everything else, they can only undermine each other with the revelation that their opponent is not living up to his own professed ideal, she writes. It is, she suggests, easier to dispose of an opponents character by exposing his hypocrisy than to show that his political convictions are wrong. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In other words, its harder to discredit someones values than to prove they dont actually live up to them. This creates a situation where hypocrisy is pervasive, and in which the accusation of hypocrisy is a universally available insult. To Shklar, hypocrisy and the constant policing of hypocrisy are mutually reinforcing: In the unending game of mutual unmasking, the general level of sham rises, she writes. As each side tries to destroy the credibility of its rivals, politics becomes a treadmill of dissimulation and unmasking. To call an opponent evil might boomerang, but he need only be unarmed by charges of hypocrisy. Four decades later, antihypocrisy has become a cottage industry in our current politics. As is often said about President Trump, theres always a tweet showing him taking a position that diametrically opposes his current one. The president, in turn, denounces the liberal hypocrites who drive their cities into the ground while fleeing from the scene of the wreckage, want to eliminate school choice while they enroll their children into the finest private schools and want to defund the police while they have armed guards for themselves. (Not sure how common that last one actually is.) Advertisement Advertisement The current Supreme Court fight exposes the limits of this form of political combat. The hypocrite will always be able to justify him or herself, no matter how blatant the hypocrisy, if the stakes are high enough. As Shklar writes, a cause, if considered vital enough, can be used to purify any sort of conduct. As long as the cause, however remote, is moral, the actors who claim to promote it can do whatever they choose. Mitch McConnell would seem to be the personification of this brand of hypocrite, one who rather than hiding or dissembling the contradictions of his behavior, simply adjusts his moral arguments to suit whatever goal hes pursuing at this moment. As Slates Lilli Loofbourow writes, its a stretch to call this type of behavior hypocrisy at all, and antihypocrisy is uniquely unsuited as a tactic to combating it. Advertisement For less plainly Machiavellian political actors, the ends may justify the means. Controlling the Supreme Court for decades to come is important enough to the Mitt Romneys and Chuck Grassleys of the world to salve their consciences. The most frustrating thing about Shklars deeply skeptical view of liberalism is that she doesnt say much about whats worth fighting for, rather than against. The liberalism of fear is mostly a philosophy of disaster prevention and has little to say about how to build a more equitable society in the absence of disaster. But her admonitions are worth considering at a moment when liberal institutions seem to be on the precipice. At the very least, she suggests, we should focus less on how the enemies of those institutions are inconsistent with their own stated positions, and more on how those positions are actually wrong. More than a dozen Bay Area school districts will have their hands out this election day, asking voters to pay more in property taxes to fund facilities or, in some cases, to keep paying salaries. The parcel tax and bond measures range from a property tax increase of $72 in one low-income San Jose community to an extension of an $836 parcel tax in wealthy Palo Alto. In San Francisco, district officials are hoping two-thirds of city residents will support Proposition J, a $288 parcel tax that would generate about $48 million per year, with the money primarily going toward teacher raises and other benefits, to help retain and attract educators, officials said. The measure is something of a redo, a parcel tax similar to the one nearly 61% of voters approved in 2018, which has since been caught up in a legal dispute over whether the simple-majority threshold is valid. Because Prop. J would replace the 2018 initiative, it would not further increase property taxes. The district has been dipping into its reserves in recent years to cover costs, including skyrocketing pension and special-education obligations, as well as raises and rising health premiums. The pandemic has exacerbated an ongoing budget shortfall, which was expected to reach $57 million this academic year and $95 million next year. State pandemic funding as well as $47 million in spending reductions brought the district back into the black this year. Our city faces unprecedented challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and budget shortfalls that severely hurt our citys schools, said Mayor London Breed and other supporters in the ballot argument. Funds collected through Prop. J will be spent entirely to improve the San Francisco Unified School District. Former San Francisco supervisor and retired Judge Quentin Kopp has publicly opposed the measure, saying parcel taxes are unfair because they charge all parcels the same amount, whether they are a cottage or Salesforce Tower. Parcel tax measures, which can pay for a range of expenses including salaries, typically require a two-thirds majority to pass, while bond measures, which are only for facility expenses, require approval by 55% of voters. Local parcel taxes have long been used to supplement state and federal funding, allowing districts to spend more on teacher pay, art and music, libraries or other school staff, programs or materials. Yet parcel taxes can exacerbate inequities in education, with wealthier communities willing and able to generate significant revenue from them. Parcel taxes are more advantageous for more affluent areas or areas with higher property tax values, said Troy Flint, spokesman for the California School Boards Association. Obviously in an era of scarce resources and rising costs, parcel taxes are a mechanism that school districts are going to use to increase support for students and to pay for compensation and services that are part of education. COVID Resources Coronavirus Map Tracking COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and California. In Marin Countys Tamalpais Union High School District, officials are asking voters to renew a $469 parcel tax that will raise $16.8 million annually or nearly $3,277 per student. The funding, according to the measures official wording, would maintain excellent hands-on science, technology, engineering, math, reading and writing instruction; attract/retain highly qualified teachers; and support music/art. The Franklin-McKinley Elementary School District in San Jose, by comparison, is asking voters to approve a $72 parcel tax, which would raise $1.2 million annually, or $123 per student, and fund small class sizes, retain teachers, enhance reading, math and science programs, and expand access to after-school programs. Measure K would supplement an existing parcel tax of $72. Ultimately, the best answer is for the state to provide a high level of base funding, so every student regardless of ZIP code or background has the resources for high-quality education, Flint said. In the absence of that, we will continue to see districts push parcel taxes if they think their community will support them. Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker Self-esteem does not remain constant through life, but changes as a person develops. A large number of studies conducted on this topic, mainly in the United States, have shown that self-esteem is high in childhood, declines in adolescence, but then continues to increase throughout adulthood, peaking in the 50s and 60s, and declining thereafter. Studies in Japan have also reported that self-liking, which is an aspect of self-esteem, follows a similar trajectory across different ages. However, previous Japanese studies had two main limitations. First, they focused on self-liking, one element of self-esteem. Self-esteem is composed of self-liking (the affective judgment of oneself) and self-competence (the overall sense of oneself as capable and effective). It is important to comprehensively examine self-esteem, including simultaneous investigation of both the aspects of self-liking and self-competence, to clarify the developmental trajectory of self-esteem. Second, the studies did not sufficiently investigate age differences in self-esteem in elderly people aged 70 years and older. Research has indicated that self-esteem does not decline in Japan up to 69 years of age, but it may decline thereafter. Furthermore, a decline in self-esteem itself may be absent in Japan. Reports have consistently demonstrated that levels of self-esteem vary across different cultures, but the differing tendencies of developmental trajectories have not been adequately reported. Thus, it is also necessary to examine the self-esteem of elderly people aged 70 years and older, to elucidate the developmental trajectory of self-esteem in Japan. To address this gap, Assistant professor Yuji Ogihara, from the Faculty of Science Division II, Tokyo University of Science and Professor Takashi Kusumi, from the Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University, conducted a large-scale study comprehensively examining age differences in self-esteem from adolescence to old age, including both self-liking and self-competence, across a wider sample of people, including respondents aged 70 and older. They analyzed six web-based surveys administered to a large and diverse sample of people in Japan from 2009 to 2018. The responses were obtained from 6113 persons (2996 males and 3117 females) between the ages of 16 and 88. Each study used the most commonly used self-esteem scale (10 items) to measure self-esteem. The scale includes items for measuring self-liking, such as "On the whole, I am satisfied with myself", and items for measuring self-competence, such as "I feel that I have a number of good qualities". The participants scored each item on a scale of one to five, from "1: Not applicable" to "5: Applicable". The results showed that self-esteem is low in adolescence but increases gradually from adulthood to old age . The changes from adolescence to middle age were consistent with findings from previous research in Europe and the United States, but unlike observed in previous studies, there was no decline in self-esteem from the 50s onwards. Therefore, the findings in this research suggest that the developmental trajectory of self-esteem may differ in different cultures. Previous research has insisted that one of the causes of the decline in self-esteem after middle age in Europe and the United States is that elderly people come to accept their limitations and faults, leading them to have a more humble, modest, and balanced view of themselves. On the other hand, reports have shown that people in Japan have a humbler view of themselves even before middle age. This may be the reason for the lack of decline in self-esteem in this study." Yuji Ogihara, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science Division II, Tokyo University of Science Other factors that may generate cultural differences, including the seniority system and the culture of respect for the aged, require further detailed examination. Generational effects may obscure the low self-esteem in Japan after middle age. Therefore, further investigation is needed to separate these developmental changes from generational differences, such as conducting a longitudinal survey that tracks people of the same generation. Further work is required owing to the small sample size of participants in their 80s--collecting and analyzing more data and verifying that similar results can be obtained. "Examining the age differences and developmental trajectories of self-esteem is not only academically and theoretically significant, as described above, it also has practical and social significance," explains Dr. Ogihara. "For example, understanding when self-esteem tends to be low can help determine when the adoption of effective preventive measures is more necessary, and allow for timely intervention and response." This study has elucidated the age differences in self-esteem--one of the most basic psychological tendencies. Thus, Ogihara and Kusumi hope that these findings can contribute not only to related academic research in various fields, but also more broadly to clinical and general practice, including prevention and intervention. Competition To our surprise, there aren't many competitors in close proximity to the Moto G9 Play. Most of the phones that are worth considering are a bit more expensive. Still, it's a shame that the phone isn't available in the US, where we believe Motorola is doing pretty okay in the low-end to mid-range markets. So how's competition in Europe and India then? Costing around 160, the handset is a direct competitor to Samsung's Galaxy A21s. Both devices offer similar performance, battery life, and screen quality. However, the Galaxy A21s proves to be the better shooter and the more versatile, too, as it also features an ultra-wide camera too. But some may prefer Motorola's clean Android experience over Samsung's heavily customized One UI. Keep in mind that in India, the Moto G9 (Play) has the price advantage. Samsung Galaxy A21s Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Realme 6i Realme 7i Hovering around the same price tag in India is the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9. It edges out with a slightly better battery endurance score in our tests, but when it comes to performance and camera capabilities, both are pretty similar. Perhaps the Redmi Note 9 takes an extra point for having an ultra-wide camera. The Redmi also impresses with Gorilla Glass 5 and a more premium feel. Not that the G9 Play is built poorly, it just falls behind a little. And again, it boils down to personal preference over the OS - it's either vanilla Android or Xiaomi's MIUI. Another competitor from China is the Realme 6i. Which at this point is an old phone with the Realme 7i already available in Indonesia. But it's clear that they are both the better options mostly because of the insane battery life the 6i offers and the much better camera performance. Whereas the Realme 7i tops that with a 90Hz display, while having with the same HD+ resolution. It's also easy to assume that the battery life of the 7i would be roughly the same as on the Realme 6i since the Snapdragon 662 will theoretically do better than the Helio G80 (11nm vs 12nm) in terms of energy consumption. It's really hard to recommend one device over another as we've reviewed just one of them so if you have the time, we suggest you hold off until the Realme 7i pops up in your area. And there's a good chance it will come to Europe and India as well. Verdict The Motorola G9 (Play) is a low-end phone, and it's unrealistic to expect game-changing performance from it. Still, the handset is equipped well enough to stand its ground against most of its competitors mainly because of its price advantage. We think it would fare much better in the US where competition is even more limited. In any case, if you are in the market for a modest phone with killer battery life and usable camera during the day, the Moto G9 Play should be included on your list of considerations. But if you have the luxury of waiting a bit longer, we suggest waiting for the Realme 7i to launch in your area, which will probably happen with Realme's recent global expansion efforts. We weren't exactly happy with the camera capabilities and the overall performance. And by performance we don't mean benchmarks, but the general feel when navigating through menus and using the device for everyday tasks. Besides, the key selling point of Motorola phones is the snappy, clean Android. We didn't see much of the snappy part in this model, unfortunately. Pros Sturdy and well-built body. Adequate display performance at the given price. Excellent battery life. The main camera does pretty okay in most cases during the day. Clean Android but with a couple of Moto-added features. Cons No ultra-wide camera. Unsatisfactory low-light performance. Operating the phone feels somewhat sluggish. Oman Air, the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman, will return to scheduled service on October 1 with service to 18 cities in 12 countries including two flights per week connecting Muscat to major Tanzanian cities Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam. The flights will depart from Oman on Thursdays and Saturdays, and return on Thursdays and Sundays, while flights to Dar es Salaam will also depart on Thursdays and Saturdays with return flights on Thursdays and Sundays. Oman Air said those travelling to Zanzibar or Dar es Salaam need not take a coronavirus test before they travel or when they arrive at their destination. It will be visa free entry for Omani nationals and also they will not be sent on quarantine when they arrive in the East Afrcian nation. Oman Air pointed out that it will maintain all Covid protocol and its comprehensive safety program throughout all elements of the travel journey to ensure that guests fly confidently. "Masks are required when guests are on board the aircraft and in Omans airports. Distancing is maintained while guests board and exit the aircraft, which are carefully cleaned after each flight and at the end of every day," said a spokesman for the Omani airline. "Cabin crew all wear a full set of personal protective equipment, meal service has been modified to further ensure safety and a number of other steps have been taken to ensure that the airline's guests and crew are safe at all times," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Probe into two men accused of Nazi photo publishing on Immortal Regiment site complete RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov 14:42 25/09/2020 MOSCOW, September 25 (RAPSI) Investigators have completed probe into two Russian men over publishing photos of Nazi criminals on the website of the Immortal Regiment movement, the Investigative Committees press service reports. Cases of Kemerovo resident Dmitry Borodayenko and Perm resident Daniil Shestakov have been sent for indicting to the Prosecutor Generals Office. According to investigators, not later than May 6, Borodayenko published a photo of Adolf Hitler on the website of the Immortal Regiment movement while Shestakov posted a photo of Andrey Vlasov, a Russian Red Army General, who had defected to Nazi Germany after being captured during World War II, there not later than May 5. During pretrial investigation the both men pleaded guilty, the statement reads. In mid-May, investigative authorities opened criminal cases after finding out that photographs of Nazi criminals were published on websites of the Immortal Regiment movement. The photos were published in the framework of a virtual event aimed at preservation and perpetuating of the memory of the generation fighting against Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. According to investigators, on or before May 3 and on or before May 10 unidentified persons published on a freely accessible website a photograph of Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler and that of Adolf Hitler respectively; they were falsely designated as participants of the war against the Nazis. Tory MPs today urged Boris Johnson to be 'smart' and give into their demands for Parliament to be given a vote on new lockdown rules as the PM was told 'controlling the lives of 65 million people by fiat is not sustainable'. Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, has tabled an amendment which would require a vote to be held on any new restrictions 'as soon as reasonably practicable'. Sir Graham has the public backing of at least 40 of his fellow Tory MPs with the rebels hoping the amendment will be put to a vote next Wednesday. However, they are urging the Government to back down before that point and to accept that MPs should be given a say on whether new rules should be imposed. It comes amid growing Tory anger at Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance after the Government's two top scientists set out a doomsday scenario at the start of the week of the UK facing 50,000 new daily cases of coronavirus by mid-October unless drastic action was taken. The Telegraph reported that some Tory MPs have now nicknamed the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser 'Witless and Unbalanced', accusing them of 'scaremongering'. Meanwhile, ministers have been forced to deny claims of a rift between Mr Johnson and Rishi Sunak after the Chancellor said yesterday it was time to 'live without fear' in comments which appeared to contradict the PM's new coronavirus crackdown. Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure from Tory MPs to grant Parliament a vote on any new lockdown measures Mischievous Tory MPs are said to have nicknamed Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance 'Witless and Unbalanced' after they suggested the UK could face 50,000 daily coronavirus cases by mid-October National debt hit ANOTHER record high of more than 2 TRILLION at the end of August National debt hit another record high at the end of August as it continued to climb above 2 trillion as Tory MPs demanded the Government set out how the UK will pay for the coronavirus crisis after Rishi Sunak's latest business bailout. The Chancellor yesterday unveiled his Winter Economy Plan which included a wage subsidy Jobs Support Scheme to replace furlough as well as further VAT cuts for the hospitality and retail sectors and the extension of emergency loan schemes. The Office for National Statistics today revealed that public sector debt continues to rise above 2 trillion Economists estimated the giveaway could cost 5 billion, potentially taking the total cost of the Government's Covid-19 support to approximately 200 billion. Mr Sunak hinted that tax rises will eventually be required to get the public finances back on an even keel as he said he will have to make 'difficult decisions' in the future. But Conservative backbenchers want ministers to urgently set out their plan for paying the money back as they warned the Government it cannot 'keep kicking it into the long grass'. The scale of the Government's coronavirus spending was illustrated in stark terms this morning after the Office for National Statistics said the UK's national debt had hit a record 2.024 trillion at the end of August. That figure is almost 250 billion more than it was at the same time last year as borrowing hit 101.9 per cent of gross domestic product after 36 billion was borrowed by the public sector in August alone. Advertisement There is increasing concern among Tory MPs about the way in which the Government is handling the coronavirus crisis. Sir Graham has previously accused Mr Johnson of 'ruling by decree' by imposing restrictions on daily life without asking Parliament for permission. His amendment is designed to grant MPs a vote on any new measures and with more than 40 Tories publicly backing the move and more expected to break ranks in the coming days the Government could be in danger of having its working majority of 85 overturned. The rebels want the plans to be voted on next Wednesday when the Government asks Parliament to renew its coronavirus powers for another six months. However, there are major questions over whether Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will select the amendment amid claims it would not be legally binding on ministers. Pressure is mounting on the Government to give in on the issue before a potentially damaging vote could be held. Signatories to Sir Graham's plans include Tory former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and former Brexit secretary David Davis. Opposition MPs have also signalled their support for the move. Mr Davis told The Telegraph: 'The smart sense is for the Government to give Brady and all of us what we are after. 'It is a very unwise Conservative government that lets rebellion led by any chairman of the 1922 Committee go the distance.' Sir Graham said he hoped the level of support for his plans will persuade Sir Lindsay to allow a vote on the amendment to take place. Senior Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, today urged the Government to 'enter this conversation' on the plans in order to avoid a rebellion. He told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: 'You can give various blanket permissions in emergency ways but that doesn't mean you don't have to come and ask for permission as soon as is practical. 'The Government needs to enter this conversation and let's see where this conversation goes because what we've seen in the last six months, when we voted in the Coronavirus Act about six months ago, nobody expected it to last this long. 'It's quite clear that there's at least another six months of it as the Government has announced and it may indeed be longer than that depending on whether a vaccine comes or not, so the idea that we can have a permanent state where the Government is making emergency decisions for people and effectively controlling the lives of 65 million people by fiat is not sustainable.' Senior Tory Tom Tugendhat said 'making emergency decisions for people and effectively controlling the lives of 65 million people by fiat is not sustainable' A Number 10 spokesman said: 'We understand MPs and their constituents will be concerned about coronavirus, that is why we continue to work closely with MPs to ensure they are able to hold the Government to account.' The row between Tory MPs and Number 10 came as ministers were forced to deny claims of a rift between Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson. Some interpreted Mr Sunak's statement yesterday that the nation must learn to 'live without fear' as contradicting the Prime Minister's move to impose new restrictions to slow the spread of Covid-19. The Chancellor's remark that 'our lives can no longer be put on hold' as he detailed his latest emergency jobs package was also welcomed by Tory backbenchers uneasy over fresh restrictions. But Chief Secretary to the Treasury Steve Barclay told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are working extremely closely together and I think you can see that in the dovetailing of measures.' He said there is a need to work 'in tandem between both the health measures announced by the Prime Minister and those of the Chancellor'. New York Indirectly, the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg inspired CNN Films' new documentary on the life of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis. The unexpected commercial success of the "RBG" film in theaters two years ago had CNN looking for another contemporary leader whose life could be seen in historical terms. "We knew there was something about the fact that people thought they knew RBG, but our film revealed there was a lot more to know," said Amy Entelis, head of CNN Films. "We wanted to figure out if there was anyone else like that, and we landed on John Lewis." The film, which had a limited release this summer and was part of the Tribeca Film Festival, premieres on television Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern on CNN. As Erika Alexander, a producer of "John Lewis: Good Trouble," put it, he was "more than just someone who crossed a bridge and got hit in the head." The footage that made Lewis a part of history, from the 1965 march in Alabama, is of course a big part of the film. Knocked to the ground and beaten with a nightstick by a police officer for crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma as part of a civil rights march, Lewis thought he was going to die that day. Invited into the movement after writing a letter to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who dubbed him the "boy from Troy" (Alabama), Lewis participated in Freedom Rides. He was leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and spoke from the stage during the historic March on Washington, after elders edited the young firebrand's speech to tone it down. That was all before a 33-year career in Congress that ended with his death in July at age 80. "John Lewis was really a singular figure in politics," said Dawn Porter, the film's director. "He was a person who was able to live his values. There was no doubt where he stood on issues. But where possible, he crossed the aisle" to reach common ground. Lewis said he was arrested 45 times, all for getting into what he called "good trouble," raising a ruckus for a righteous cause. Yet he appeared never to be overcome by cynicism. "He had a mystique," said Alexander, an actor and activist who campaigned with Lewis for Hillary Clinton four years ago. "But when it came down to it, he was a very sweet man." Alexander was working on her own documentary about Lewis before Entelis encouraged her to join forces with Porter, the type of Hollywood arrangement that often doesn't work but did in this case. Their film has some memorable touches. Lewis told the story about how he practiced preaching in front of his family's chickens while growing up so often that cameras caught some congressional staff members silently mouthing the words as he spoke. A staff member answered, "tedious," when asked what it was like to walk through an airport with Lewis, who was frequently stopped by admirers. Another congressman, the late Elijah Cummings, said that "I've had a lot of pictures taken where people think that I'm John Lewis." Lewis treasured a program from the inaugural of Barack Obama, who signed it and wrote that his election as the first Black president "was because of you, John." Four years later when Obama was re-elected, he said "it's still because of you." Porter finished the film late last fall, just before learning that Lewis had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She decided not to update her work with the news, in part because she didn't want to disrupt a powerful closing scene. Porter, a California resident, flew to Washington in February to screen the film for her subject, calling it her "best Valentine's Day ever." D avid Attenborough has devoted his life to documenting and conserving the natural world, and now, the camera will turn on him for a documentary about his career. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet is a new Netflix documentary which looks back at the presenters 94 years on Earth. Following his famed nature documentaries such as Our Planet, the new documentary will continue Attenboroughs rallying cry to save the natural world before its too late. The film was initially due for a cinema release earlier this year, which was of course delayed due to coronavirus. Netflix Now, the documentary is heading to Netflix, where audiences around the world will be able to learn about Attenboroughs life and hear his plea. When is David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet released on Netflix? David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet arrives on Netflix on Sunday, October 4. That premiere follows a one-night-only cinema release in UK theatres on Monday, September 28. What is A Life on Our Planet about? A Life on Our Planet is described as Attenboroughs witness statement as a conservationist who has documented the natural world perhaps more than anyone else. The documentary will find Attenborough reflecting on his career, and the devastating changes he has seen in the natural world as a result of human industrial developments. Netflix The official synopsis describes the film as a powerful first-hand account of humanitys impact on nature and a message of hope for future generations. The film is directed by Alastair Fothergill, Jonnie Hughes and Keith Scholey and was created by natural history filmmakers Silverback Films and global conservation group WWF. The Guardian called the documentary terrifying in a four-star review, saying Attenborough delivers a short, sharp, shocking lesson about how our planet has a chance of survival if we act now. Netflix Is there a trailer? There is. The trailer features Attenborough directly addressing the camera, saying our planet is headed for disaster. The trailer features archival footage of Attenboroughs career, as well as shocking footage of human destruction in the natural world. It ends with a promise from Attenborough that humans need to learn to work with nature, rather than against it. He finishes: and Im going to tell you how. Every year, I look forward to our BILD Awards, the celebration that recognizes the best in the design, building, marketing and sales of new homes in the GTA. The excellence of our industrys work fills me with pride. This year the awards ceremony was virtual, yet even more meaningful. At a time when our communities are reeling from the health and economic effects of COVID-19, each winning company, home and condo development reminded me of the contribution that our industry makes to our region supplying homes, creating jobs and generating revenue. I cannot do justice to all of the winners in the 44 BILD Awards categories in this short column, but I will mention a few. You can see a complete list, as well as images, at bildawards.com. Great Gulf Homes was named Home Builder of the Year, in both the lowrise and mid/highrise categories. This award recognizes builders who set the standard for the industry through professionalism and dedication to excellence. Our Green Builder of the Year Award recognizes builders who best demonstrate outstanding leadership in green building practices. Tridel was named Green Builder of the Year in the mid/highrise category and Acorn Developments in the lowrise category. Acorn Developments Lookout on the Knoll a townhouse development in Richmond Hill won the Peoples Choice Award plus two others: Best Semi-Detached/Townhouse Design and Best Website. The award for Best New Community, Built, recognizes a vibrant, complete community that optimizes its use of land and existing and new infrastructure. This year, the award went to Residences of College Park by Canderel Management. The award for Best New Community, Planned/Under Development, went to the Brightwater community in Mississauga, by DiamondCorp, Dream Asset Management, FRAM Building Group and Kilmer Van Nostrand. Concord Canada House, by Concord Adex, was named Project of the Year, Mid/Highrise, while New Lawrence Heights, by Metropia and Context Development, was Project of the Year, Lowrise. This award category recognizes new projects in the GTA that best combine excellence in design and marketing and best exemplify quality and innovation. Ralph Del Duca, president of Chestnut Hill Developments, received the Riley Brethour Leadership Award, named after the late founder of PMA Brethour Realty. It is presented to the individual who exemplifies outstanding professional achievement in residential building while contributing to the improvement of the profession and the association. Finally, Id like to mention an award that recognizes our members role as true community builders: the Stephen Dupuis CSR Award, named in honour of a beloved president and CEO of BILD who passed away in 2011. This year, Concert Properties was chosen as the BILD member who exemplifies commitment to corporate social responsibility, in recognition of its environmental leadership and its support of organizations working with homeless youth. Visit bildawards.com and be inspired by the creativity, quality and innovation that go into designing, building, marketing and selling new homes in the GTA. David Wilkes is President and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and a contributor for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @bildgta Read more about: New Delhi: Hitting out at Pakistan, India has told the United Nations Human Right Council (UNHRC) that UN listed international terror groups are collecting funds in name of charity to finance terror. India's First Secretary to the United Nations in Geneva Pawan Badhe called the development a "disturbing trend". Badhe said, "Collection of funds by proscribed terrorist outfits ostensibly for undertaking charitable activities, but which, in reality, would be used to finance terror." Live TV The National Investigation Agency (NIA) recently said that Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) founded by UN listed terrorist Hafiz Saeed has been supporting terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Speaking at the debate "Human rights situations that require the Councils attention", Badhe highlighted how "malevolent attempts by terrorists" has been observed whose aim is "to exploit the financial and emotional distress caused by the lock-downs to disturb the cohesiveness of societies". Badhe added, "Terror groups have also exhorted supporters to target security forces and health workers." India also raised the issue of fake news and detailed how "increased presence of people online and on social media has been targeted by terrorists to disseminate misinformation through hate speeches, fake news and doctored videos" with the intent to "entice and establish links with vulnerable individuals and recruit them in their cadres". India called on states to cooperate to fight against terrorism and called it "the grossest affront to the enjoyment of the inalienable human right to life and to live in peace and security". A group of young people are dancing in public in Afghanistans capital, Kabul. The women and men perform a Sufi Islamic dance known as Sema. The groups members hope that dancing in mixed groups changes expectations about gender in the deeply conservative country. Fahima Mirzaie is the groups founder. She is 24 years old and works as an economist. I just wanted to express myself and my feelings with Sema dance, Mirzaie said. Mirzaie recently danced alongside male members of her group at a cultural event held at an Italian restaurant in central Kabul. That night, she was the only woman from her group dancing, although other women watched and read poems. As she spins in circles, one hand reaches toward the sky and the other toward the earth. Her white clothes are flowing, in a familiar image seen across the Middle East and Central Asia. Dancers spin repetitively in prayer as they say Allahs name and gain speed. They seek to lose themselves in a spiritual state that they believe brings them close to God. But Afghanistan is not widely accepting of the activity. The powerful Taliban political group rejects Sufism, dancing and singing. Many Afghan women worry about a return of Taliban rule as part of a future peace deal. They remember the years of oppression under a severe form of Islamic law. But even in todays Afghanistan, most people consider women and men dancing together in public to be a violation of the countrys culture, traditions and religious beliefs. Mirzaies dance group brings men and women together to perform in public. Most of the members are Shiite Muslims. They are a minority in Afghanistan that has been targeted for attacks by the Islamic State group. The militant group considers Shiites including Sufis to be anti-Islam. Mirzaie says she does not think about what people may say about her dancing. She is part of the generation that has grown up during Afghanistans latest war. She remains concerned about the violence in her country. She hopes she can change that through Sufism and the written works of Rumi, possibly the most well-known Sufi. Her group has also used Sufi dance to help them get through the coronavirus crisis. During a lockdown earlier this year, Mirzaie closed her center and provided training to her students online. Now, she is back dancing in person. At the Italian restaurant, Abdul Ahad, a civil rights activist, said he had been to a few private Sufi events in Afghanistan. But this was the first time he had seen women doing the dance. Mirzaies father, her sister and her mother are among her few supporters. But they also worry. Her mother Qamar says she stays awake at night, waiting until Mirzaie returns home after dancing. Theres no security and girls are taunted on their way out to work, she said. Mirzaie says she cannot live by someone elses rules. She said she does not plan to stop performing. I never asked anyones permission for starting it and I will not need anyones permission to end it, so I will never stop or surrender to anyone, she said. I'm Ashley Thompson. The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story gender - n. the state of being male or female spin - v. to turn or cause someone or something to turn around repeatedly lockdown - n. a state of restricted access or movement taunt - v. to say insulting things to (someone) in order to make that person angry (JNS) - The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, better known as HIAS, was for the better part of a century responsible for helping settle generations of Jewish refugees in their new homes in the United States. From 1881 through the release of Jews from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the organization worked not only to resettle the new arrivals, but was involved in assisting them legally as well. Yet in a way, HIAS was a product of its own success and the success of the American Jewish community, whose activism helped bring most Jews over who wanted or needed to leave other countries. Today,... Read Mary Trumps Lawsuit The suit, filed on Thursday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, accused President Trump, his sister Maryanne Trump Barry and their brother Robert Trump of fraud and civil conspiracy. Word of Judy Cashners death came as quite a shock to Judy Cashner. The news came from her bank, Wells Fargo, in a letter last month. The Lincoln City woman was surprised to discover she had been dead since 2019. We are sorry for your loss and understand this is a difficult time for you, Wells Fargo notified Cashner in the August 10 letter addressed to her estate. The letter told Cashner, 76, that credit card payments received after her passing would be applied to transactions made after her death. If this was not your intent, the bank wrote, please call us. Oh, it seemed like a big joke. The kind of computer-generated snafu that plagues modern life. But when Cashner called Wells Fargo to fix the situation, she got some bad news about her death. In addition to notifying Cashner of her own passing, she said that Wells Fargo also had taken it upon itself to tell three credit reporting agencies that she had died. Cashner and her husband were in the process of refinancing their home so they could pay to replace a failing septic tank. Suddenly, their lender said it didnt have the information it needed to approve the loan. My income was not available, Cashner said, because I was deceased. That situation ultimately got resolved, but weeks later thousands of dollars in mysterious non estate charges nominally remain on Cashners credit card bill. And its still not clear how Wells Fargo got the notion that she had died or why it failed to verify that information before acting on it. The bank declined to comment on the situation, citing Cashners privacy, but said it ordinarily requires a Social Security number and an official death certificate to establish that a customer has died. After inquiries from The Oregonian/OregonLive this past week, Wells Fargo said it will investigate Cashners situation. She said the bank called her Thursday and promised to give her answers by Monday. Wells Fargo is among the nations largest banks, and perhaps its most troubled. In February, the company agreed to pay $3 billion to settle civil and criminal investigations into its longstanding practice of opening unauthorized bank accounts for customers to meet sales goals. Wells Fargo has also faced penalties for requiring customers to buy car insurance they didnt need and pay mortgage fees they didnt owe. Since Wells Fargo operates under a federal charter, it is not subject to Oregon banking regulations that apply to state-chartered banks. Oregons Division of Financial Regulation referred questions to the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which did not respond to a request for comment. Susan Grant with the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America said she doesnt know if there are laws that govern what banks must do to verify a customers death. But Grant said she found it confounding that Wells Fargo had messed up such a basic fact about a customer. That is just unbelievable, Grant said. Imagine all the havoc this could wreak in your life. At the least, Grant said that that Cashner and anyone else falsely reported as dead are entitled to the same legal protections as anyone else when erroneous information shows up in their credit file. You certainly have the right to dispute wrong information on your credit report and unauthorized charges on your credit card, Grant said. Youve got a variety of rights if theres misinformation about you. In Cashners case, demonstrating that she remained among the living required a succession of calls to Wells Fargo customer service agents who seemed unimpressed by her evident resurrection. Theyre not amused but they, theyre not horrified either, Cashner said. Theyre just: Oh. " A retired secretary who formerly worked for the California Legislature, Cashner moved to Oregon in 2005 and soon after set up her Wells Fargo account. Cashner said she received various explanations from Wells Fargo about who reported her dead, and the bank repeatedly refused to give her specifics. Does she have any enemies? Not that I know of, Cashner said with a mischievous laugh. Although some non estate charges still appear on her credit card bill, Cashner said the bank now tells her she doesnt owe them. Wells Fargo ultimately summoned Cashner to a local branch where she presented her drivers license and signed a form called a declaration of life. The lady at Wells Fargo told me I looked good, Cashner said. So, I did like her for that. -- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | Team Registration Opens for 21st Annual UW Entrepreneurship Competition The registration period for teams to enter UWs 21st annual John P. Ellbogen $50K Entrepreneurship Competition runs through Friday, Oct. 23. The competition is designed to encourage college students across Wyoming to act on their talents, ideas and energy to produce tomorrows leading businesses. The registration period for teams to enter the University of Wyomings 21st annual John P. Ellbogen $50K Entrepreneurship Competition is now open and runs through Friday, Oct. 23. The UW College of Business hosts the student event. The competition is designed to encourage college students across Wyoming to act on their talents, ideas and energy to produce tomorrows leading businesses. The Ellbogen $50K competition is the premier applied-learning opportunity at the University of Wyoming for students interested in entrepreneurship. We look forward to another excellent group of applicants who are hoping to turn their dreams into reality, says Patrick Kreiser, Rile Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship and Leadership in the UW College of Business. Student teams from the University of Wyoming and Wyoming community colleges are invited to enter for a chance to win cash prizes to help grow their businesses. The competition features three rounds. The first round is the executive summary application; the second is the virtual pitch and written business concept; and the third round is the final presentation. The first two rounds will occur this fall, and round three will take place April 23-24. New this year, the competition will feature two tracks for teams: nascent track and established track. Based on factors of experience, judges will place registered teams into either track. Last spring, seven teams competed in the third round and won more than $65,000 in prize money toward their businesses. Four of the teams participated in a specialized section of Business Model Creation and Launch offered by the UW College of Business. The course assists teams in developing and strengthening their business models, including aspects such as sales channel and marketing strategy; revenue model; cost structure and financials; and competitor analysis in preparation for their final presentations. We were thrilled with the quality of teams competing in last years competition, Kreiser says. It is critical that we support our students in developing innovative business concepts that will help to strengthen the Wyoming economy. The College of Business will host a $50K competition information session Thursday, Oct. 8, at 3 p.m. via Zoom at https://uwyo.zoom.us/j/91035663129. Teams interested in registering to compete should go to www.uwyo.edu/business/entrepreneurship and click the competitor links. For more information, call (307) 766-4197 or email ENTR@uwyo.edu. Photo credit: Donaldson Collection - Getty Images From Veranda Its namewhich comes from ancient Greek and Latin languagesmeans to "perceive a change in color." The opal, one of October's birthstones, was first discovered in a cave in Kenya around 4000 B.C. Opals were commonly used for amulets and jewelry in ancient times, and many cultures (like ancient Rome) associated the mysterious stone with love and hope. Photo credit: Universal History Archive - Getty Images Opals, which have been mined in Hungary and, more recently, Australia, once had a reputation for bringing the wearer bad luck. Empress Eugenie of France refused to wear the stone, but most admirers of the stone (like the ancient Greeks) believed the stone to be lucky and magical because it supposedly bestowed the gifts of prophecy and protection against disease. Arabic legends even went so far as to give the stone supernatural originsthey believed it fell from the heavens among flashes of lighteningand powers. This may be why the opal, with its multitude of colors, was given romantic nicknames like Pandora, Light of the World, and Empress. Photo credit: Santi Visalli - Getty Images Iconic figures throughout history have sported the stone, including Marc Antony, Cleopatra, and Queen Victoria. Emperor Napoleon gifted a large red opal called the Burning of Troy to Empress Josephine, and it is rumored that one Roman emperor traded one-third of his kingdom for a single magnificent opal. Andy Warhol, the New York City artist, film director, and leader of the Pop Art movement in the United States, had his own love affair with this effervescent gemstone. He was known for his collection of opals, and in 1977, he included photographs of the gemstone in his exhibition "Opal the Rainbow Gem" at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. You Might Also Like STRATFORD Bunnell High School will be closed for the next two weeks in an abundance of caution after the district said two more people tested positive for COVID-19. District officials initially said the school would be closed on Tuesday after several teachers had direct exposure with the coronavirus, Superintendent Janet Robinson wrote in the letter earlier Friday Later in the day that closure was extended to two weeks. Any student or staff which has been directly in contact with the positive person will be contacted individually and should remain in quarantine for 14 days, Robinson said in her followup letter Friday evening. The school was already due to be closed Monday due to Yom Kippur. Students will return to hybrid learning - meaning some in person learning - beginning Oct. 12. Earlier in the day, Robinson said a number of students were also among those exposed to the virus. The towns school buildings are closed Wednesdays for all students to participate in distance learning days under the school districts hybrid learning plan. The building will receive a thorough cleaning while closed, Robinson said. The superintendent did not say exactly how many people had been exposed, but said those affected have been told to isolate themselves for 10 days and given instructions on steps to take before returning to school. Anyone who is considered a close contact has been contacted or will be contacted by school or local health officials and provided with instructions on the appropriate steps to take, Robinson said. The news of the closure comes after a staff member at the school tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week. The superintendents letter did not indicate whether officials believed the exposures reported Friday were connected to that case. The superintendent said the last day the staff member who tested positive was in school was Monday. Last week a staff member at Stratford High School tested positive for COVID-19. In that case, officials said they do not believe the staff member was at the school while contagious. The superintendent shared a list of preventative measures for students and staff and reminded anyone who is feeling ill to stay home and report their symptoms to a medical provider. The superintendents letter included a link to an advisory from state officials about what to do if a student or family member has possible coronavirus symptoms. We are closely monitoring this situation and working with the Stratford Public Health Department and will provide you with updates as we know more, Robinson said. LEBANON-SYRIA-US-CONFLICT-MEDIA Marc and Debra Tice, the parents of US journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in Syria more than six years ago, give a press conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut on December 4, 2018. Credit - Joseph Eid AFP/Getty Images I was at the beach with my family when my brother Austin called. His schedule at Georgetown Law School had prevented him from joining us. I slipped into an empty room at the little house we were renting and listened, astonished, as he told me he was planning a trip to Syria that summer of 2012, and he was asking me to come with him. To this day, Im not sure why he asked me. We had been on some adventures together, to Glacier National Park and in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where I have made my home, but nothing approaching these stakes. Maybe he believed I was up for it, that I had the same adventurous spirit burning in him and that I would leap at the chance, fresh out of college with vague plans for the future, to help him change the world. I turned him down. I couldnt imagine myself in those circumstances, untrained, lacking the war zone experience he had as a Marine Corps veteran with three tours behind him. I encouraged him to follow his heart, to bear witness to the escalating conflict in Syria. I believed in his vision, admired his grit and was behind him completely. He left in May. On August 14, 2012, at a checkpoint outside Damascus, he disappeared. That was 2,965 days ago as of this writing. I have not heard from my brother since. No one has claimed responsibility for his detention. Every single one of those days, and every day, my family wakes up hoping, praying, that this will be the last day of his captivity. I think of that call when I read about Austin now, and how easily my name could have been next to his. I think of what he has endured in captivity and of what he has missed all the birthdays, weddings, births, Thanksgivings and Christmases that my family and I have celebrated without him. In dark moments, I wonder if maybe, maybe, I could have been the difference. Maybe I wouldve said, We shouldnt get into this car. Maybe the hairs on the back of my neck wouldve stood up at the offer, and we would have gone another way. Maybe he wouldnt have stayed so long had he felt responsible for keeping me, his scrawny, inexperienced, intellectualized little brother, safe. Story continues I dont dwell on those thoughts, but they have persisted. They grew beneath the slow realization that this would not be resolved quickly, that he wouldnt be home in days, or weeks. Beneath the pride of every award he has received and every column calling for his return, they persist. The thought of what he has endured in eight years is made fresh in each one; I cannot avoid it. I could have been there. No president in our history has been more personally committed than President Donald Trump to bringing home American citizens held abroad. Our President has made it clear, time and again: The return of Americans is a deeply personal priority for him. It was from him, this March, that America first heard Austins name said aloud by a president. My heart leapt that day. My family appreciates the powerful effort this administration is exerting to bring him home. We have felt the progress, centimeter by excruciating centimeter. Now, as we approach a ninth holiday season with an empty seat at our familys Thanksgiving, a ninth Christmas spent wondering if Austin can see the stars, my brothers and sisters and I implore you from the depths of our hearts: Please help. We beg you to reach out to your representatives in Congress. Tell them the story of the brother we love. Tell them it is a priority to see Austins safest and soonest return. Tell them to use their power to urge the president to restore Austin to our Thanksgiving table. Every second he stays in captivity cuts a deeper wound in the hearts of my family, and we can wait no longer. Help us make this summer the last he spends alone, and give 2020 a spark of brightness we so desperately need. Join the campaign. Ask about Austin Tice. Bring him home. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) All confirmed mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients in the country are now required to isolate in government-approved facilities, except those who are vulnerable or have comorbidities as certified by a local health officer. The directive is part of Resolution No. 74 of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases signed on Thursday. Confirmed mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients that are vulnerable or with comorbidities can undergo home isolation that should meet the requirements under Annex F of the Joint Administrative Order No. 2020-0001 issued by the Department of Health and the Department of Interior and Local Government. Also exempted in this rule are confirmed mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients in areas where the government-recognized isolation centers are in full capacity. Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano first floated the proposal of a home quarantine ban for COVID-19 patients in an interview with CNN Philippines last September 8, citing the establishment of numerous quarantine facilities around the country and some hotels also serving as isolation centers. COVID-19 National Task Force chief implementer Carlito Galvez supported Ano's suggestion to disallow home quarantine because of the positive developments in areas implementing a "no home quarantine" policy. Journalists covering the contempt proceedings against Assin Central Member of Parliament, Ken Agyapong have been denied access to the courtroom for no apparent reason. The Land division of the High Court is currently hearing legal arguments on whether it can proceed to hear the charge against the Member of Parliament despite processes filed by his lawyers at the Supreme Court for intervention. Justice Amos Wuntah Wuni is expected to give a ruling on this interlocutory issue, to either proceed to hear the case, or to stand down the proceedings and wait for the Supreme Courts ruling. Members of the Judicial Press Corps present at the Court to cover the proceedings were prevented from entering the courtroom. Police personnel at the court said they were only following instructions from above. It is unclear which above the instructions are coming from and to what end. The journalists after long exchanges with the police were allowed to send in a representative to cover on behalf of all the media houses present at the court. ---citinewsroom When teenagers immigrate to the U.S. and enter middle school and high school, adjusting to another culture and learning a new language isnt always easy. To help these young students adapt to their new country, learn to speak and understand English as a second or third language, and prepare to excel in the classroom, Cal State Fullertons College of Education faculty members started the Summer Language Academy. The program began in Anaheim Union High School District in 2016, and has since expanded in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and Escondido Union High School District. The arts- and literacy-rich summer program has served more than 500 students and involved 80 educators from the three school districts, including district teachers and bilingual instructional assistants, and CSUF teacher candidates. To reach more students new to the U.S., the Spencer Foundation has awarded the university a $400,000 grant for Project LEARN: Language, Equity and Action Research With Newcomer Students, which builds upon the success of the Summer Language Academy. The grant supports incorporating action research students and teachers will collaboratively develop research questions related to the experiences of newcomer students, gather data and use their findings to improve their lives, their classrooms and their communities and academic year activities into the program, said Alison Dover, associate professor of secondary education, who is directing the grant project. In Project LEARN, students, teachers and families will come together to explore how newcomer students themselves can help reenvision schools as sites of affirmation, academic rigor, language exploration and agency, Dover said. Fernando Rodriguez-Valls, professor of secondary education, and Renae Bryant, director of English learner and multilingual services at Anaheim Union High School District, are co-leading the project. Newcomer students who have been in the U.S. for less than one year and emergent bilingual students fluent in a language other than English and are learning English are among the fastest growing populations in the nation, Dover said. Research indicates their schooling experiences are often marred by linguistic barriers and pervasive social and economic pressures, including high levels of poverty, unwelcoming social or political climates, and experiences of racism and discrimination, she added. The goal of the three-year project is to expand the program to up to 10 school sites in the Anaheim school district and serve more than 1,000 students, Dover said. The project also will engage CSUF graduate student researchers, offer professional learning and community engagement activities for district teachers and support 47 teachers in incorporating new strategies with their newcomer students during the academic year. Additionally, project-related findings will direct the development of policy recommendations, new curriculum and training resources related to newcomer and emergent bilingual students. These findings will be shared with district partners, at conferences and through publications. This grant will create the space for Summer Language Academy teachers and students to conduct research, which will reinforce the importance of multiliteracies and multilingualism; increase student achievement; and develop critical consciousness in the teaching of, and learning of, newcomer students, Rodriguez-Valls added. Over the last five years, students entering grades 7-12, representing more than 20 countries, including from Mexico, China, Egypt, Philippines, Guatemala and Myanmar, and speaking such languages as Arabic, Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Burmese, Tagalog and Tirginya, have benefited from the program. Recognized as a model program at the district, county and state levels, program accolades include the 2018 Orange County Department of Education Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness Award and 2018 California School Board Association Golden Bell Award. This summers program in the Anaheim school district was held virtually because of the pandemic and served 59 students who represented 10 countries and spoke eight different languages. A distance-based academy with 19 students who speak Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish also was held in Newport-Mesa Unified School District. Students and teachers used technology to collaboratively explore language, identity and community in multicultural and multilingual virtual classrooms. Racially, culturally and linguistically, the Summer Language Academy students are the present and future of our communities they use the linguistic repertoires born and learnt at home, in their communities and at their school sites, Rodriguez-Valls said. Contact: Debra Cano Ramos, dcanoramos@fullerton.edu Nananom, beginning 1st October 2020, I am happy to announce the award of a new cocoa producer price of GH10,560 per metric ton, equivalent to GH660 per bag for the coming 2020/21 crop year. "This represents a hike of more than 28% over the price obtained in the outgoing crop year of 2019/2020. These were the words of the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Thursday, September 24, 2020, on day 1 of his 3-day tour of the Western North Region, when he launched the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme, in Sefwi Wiawso. The current 2019/20 producer price of GH8,240 per metric ton, i.e. GH514 per bag, was an 8.2% increase over the 2018/2019 price of GH7,615, i.e. GH475 per bag. By this new producer price, we have kept faith with our commitment, under the international arrangement with Cote dIvoire and global stakeholders, by awarding to our farmers the full four hundred United States dollars per metric ton (US$400/MT) Living Income Differential (LID), he said. The President continued, By this substantial increase in the producer price, we are also delivering on our 2016 manifesto promise to reward handsomely the hard work of our cocoa farmers and their unequalled contribution to the economy of Ghana over the years. Living Income Differential Touching on the unstable nature of cocoa prices on the world cocoa market, President Akufo-Addo stated that it remains one of the biggest challenges to ensuring payment of decent farm-gate prices to our cocoa farmers. With Ghana and Cote dIvoire responsible for 65% of the raw cocoa beans used in making chocolates, the President bemoaned the fact that cocoa farmers from the two countries just US$6 billion from an over $100 billion chocolate industry. This, he explained, is the meagre return that hardworking farmers get from their toil. Government believes that value-addition to our cocoa, and the search for new markets, will make us more money than all the aid given to us by all the donor countries. We shall gain some dignity, and spare the donors the fatigue we have all heard about, he added. This, according to President Akufo-Addo, is the rationale for the Strategic Partnership between Cote dIvoire and Ghana, the common initiative of His Excellency President Alassane Ouattara of Cote dIvoire and himself, which is manifesting itself in a joint cocoa production and marketing policy, and which is already paying dividends. Today, I am happy to announce that Ghana and Cote dIvoire are receiving a Living Income Differential (LID) of four hundred United States dollars (US$400) per ton of cocoa, which is an additional earning from the world market price for our farmers. The Living Income Differential is going to guarantee some stability to the producer price of cocoa and sustainability of the industry in Ghana and Cote dIvoire, the President said. Source: Graphic.com.gh 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 WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced Thursday that his administration will send $200 discount cards to 33 million older Americans to help them defray the cost of prescription drugs - appealing to a significant voting constituency weeks before the November elections. The president tucked the announcement into a speech that he portrayed as his health-care vision, without including specifics about how the government would pay for it or which of the nation's Medicare recipients would receive it. White House officials said the price tag, about $7 billion, could be paid through an experimental program to lower Medicare drug prices that remains merely a proposal. The idea of a drug card was not mentioned in a briefing for journalists detailing highlights of the presidents's planned remarks about two hours before his speech to an audience of professionals and supporters in Charlotte, N.C. One White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to be candid, said the idea of a drug discount card was a "last-minute thing that is still being worked out" and originated in the office of White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The president sought to draw attention to his health-care policies - and castigated those of his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, as a "socialist nightmare" - as polls have consistently shown that health care is a dominant issue on voters' minds in the Nov. 3 elections. Older Americans tend to vote in large numbers, and they perennially place a priority on health care. Drug costs, in particular, have been a leading concern in recent years. The coronavirus pandemic has ratcheted up the salience of access to insurance and affordable care as shutdowns to protect people from infection have caused millions of Americans to lose jobs and the health benefits their employers provided. A White House spokesman said the drug discount cards Trump mentioned could be used to offset co-pays for the medicines of people receiving the cards. The spokesman also said funding for the cards would come from savings from a program the administration has proposed. That experimental program would tie the price of some drugs covered by Medicare to the lower prices available in several other countries where those governments have power to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. The president signed an executive order this month for such an experiment in the part of Medicare that covers drugs administered in a doctor's office. He also signed a similar order that would apply the policy to Medicare's much larger Part D program, which covers prescription drugs taken at home. But the orders have not made it through the regulatory process and are unlikely to take effect before the Nov. 3 election, experts said. Details of how they would work and be implemented also remain unclear, because the executive orders did not contain significant detail. They are also certain to be challenged in court by the pharmaceutical industry, which has tried to beat back the proposal. For that reason, the savings that the White House says would cover the expense of the discount cards do not exist, and it remains unclear whether they will in the future. Medicare is the federal insurance program for Americans who are age 65 and older or disabled. It has existed since the mid-1960s and consistently been highly popular, although its financial underpinnings are fragile. Asked for more information about the plan, representatives of the Department of Health and Human Services referred questions to the White House. In his remarks, Trump called the discount cards a "historic provision to benefit our great seniors." He said 33 million people on Medicare "will soon receive a card in the mail containing $200 that they can use to help pay for prescription drugs. Nobody's seen this before." "These cards are incredible," he said, adding that they "will be mailed out in coming weeks." In referring to 33 million people, it is unclear which Medicare beneficiaries the president has in mind. As of two years ago, 43 million people - about three-fourths of everyone on Medicare - had drug benefits, 10 million more than the president cited. The drug manufacturers' main trade group, PhRMA, said it did not have information about the cards the White House has in mind. A spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid, reiterated the industry's position that "one-time savings cards will neither provide lasting help, nor advance the fundamental reforms necessary to help seniors better afford their medicines." A woman and her four dogs were miraculously unharmed after being hit by a car. The unbelievable moment was caught on CCTV outside the Espresso3094 cafe on in Montmorency in Melbourne's north-east. Confronting footage shows the woman being knocked to the ground before the car ploughs into the wall of the coffee shop on Thursday morning. A woman and her four dogs were miraculously unharmed after being hit by a car One of the woman's dogs can be seen crawling out from under the car before the driver manages to reverse out of the way. The dog-walker was taken to Austin Hospital with only minor injuries, while the dogs were taken to a veterinary clinic overnight for observation. Police say the woman accidentally put her foot on accelerator instead of the brakes while she was reversing out of her parking space. The 63-year-old woman was issued with a $397 penalty notice for careless driving. While the coffee shop was open at the time of the collision, due to COVID-19 restrictions no customers were allowed inside. The unbelievable moment was caught on CCTV outside the Espresso3094 cafe on in Montmorency in Melbourne's north-east The workers said they ran out to help when they heard the car smash into the front of the coffee shop. 'We just heard screaming and the glass breaking,' one of the workers told Nine News. Espresso3094 owners Alex and Cathy Kamvissis thanked the community for responding so quickly. Winnebago is well known for making RVs, but it also makes specialty vehicles like food trucks, mobile clinics and bookmobiles. This is where this mobile school fits in.The Winnebago Industries Specialty Vehicle has unveiled the so-called Magic Bus, the worlds first all-electric, mobile school that will be traveling through Colorado, the United States, to offer learning and play experiences to children from low-income families. Not only is this a first of its kind-type of vehicle, but its also good for the planet and for the local communities. That must be a win in anyones book.Based on Winnebagos J33SE electric commercial vehicle with Motiv Power Systems all-electric EPIC Ford F-53 chassis and BMW batteries, the Magic Bus has an estimated range of 100 miles (161 km) per charge. It is expected to save up to 85 percent of operation and maintenance costs.The interior is by Summit Bodyworks and its packed with books, toys, games, building blocks and other learning tools for the kids aged 3 to 5 its supposed to help prepare for kindergarten. Free of charge.The Magic Bus is the result of a partnership between Winnebago and YouthPower365 PwrUp, and its the second vehicle that will hit the road in Colorado this October, four days a week for an hour-and-a-half-long classes. The other one is gas-powered, though.The children and families served by the Magic Bus need to be kindergarten-ready even considering the current crisis, YouthPower365 PwrUp Senior Manager Kendra Cowles says in a statement. The Magic Bus plays a critical role in preparing them to successfully transition to school.While this is a single project and you could probably find a lot of faults with it and the electric bus itself, lets bear in mind that this is how everything starts. It takes but one to carve a path. Sakandar Hayat, a Pakistani whose Uighur wife was detained in Kashgar, in China's Xinjiang region, and sent to prison, hopes to reunite with his family. (Mashal Baloch / For The Times) Sakandar Hayat wanted it to be a special Ramadan. He and his son Arafat left northwestern China and crossed the border into Hayat's native Pakistan. It was a journey to bring father and son closer together. But it would end up tearing their family apart. The two had been in Pakistan for three weeks when they received a phone call from back home in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. Hayat's wife, an ethnic Uighur, had been detained. He and Arafat raced to the border, where Chinese police were waiting. They arrested Arafat, a Uighur like his mother, saying he would be questioned on what he had done in Pakistan. Dont separate us, Hayat begged the police. Question him in front of me. Ill be silent and he will speak truth. "You'll have your son back in a week," the police told him that day in 2017. Arafat would be lost to him for two years. Hayat is one of hundreds of Pakistanis who have suffered from Chinas suppression of Muslims in the Xinjiang territory, which is home to about 10 million ethnic Uighurs. Rich in minerals, gas and oil, the vast region is dotted with concentration camps where Chinese authorities have locked up more than a million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, according to human rights groups, survivors, victims families and United Nations experts. But increasingly, China's campaign against Uighurs has spilled across its borders, entangling men such as Hayat, a Pakistani garment trader who, with his wife, raised three children while trapped between the politics and ambitions of two countries. Hayat's saga reflects how Chinese leader Xi Jinping's hard-line vision of crushing dissent extends beyond consolidation of power at home to blocking criticism from foreign governments, even when their own citizens are mistreated. The silence of Pakistan, which has been outspoken on oppression of Muslims across the world but has refrained from criticizing China a major economic benefactor and potential provider of COVID-19 vaccines reflects how many nations are wary of jeopardizing their ties to Beijing. Story continues President Xi Jinping speaks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sept. 8, 2020. Under Xi, the Chinese government has tried to quell unrest through assimilation and force. (Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press) The Times interviewed four Pakistanis married to Uighurs who have been separated from their families, two Pakistani Uighurs who have been threatened by Pakistani security forces, and one Chinese Uighur who fled abroad via Pakistan after being detained in a camp. Fearing retaliation from authorities in both countries, several of them asked not to be named, although The Times reviewed their marriage and identification documents. "It is very hard to leave your heart, your children, to live in a place worse than a prison," Hayat said. After his wife and Arafat, who was then 19, were detained, Hayat was denied a visa to China for two years. The couple's two daughters, who were 7 and 12 at the time, were sent to an orphanage in Kashgar without his consent. He pleaded with Chinese and Pakistani officials for information on his family with no response until 2019, when Chinese officials said his son was receiving "education, a euphemism for the camps where Beijing says minorities are receiving vocational training to combat extremism, separatism and terrorism. Those who have been inside the camps tell a different story. Mohammed, a Uighur from southern Xinjiang who had been doing business between China and Pakistan since the early 2000s, told The Times that he had been detained for seven months. He was arrested when he crossed the border in June 2018, he said, then held in a camp with his hands chained together in a room of 35 people. Resident line up at the Artux City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center in Xinjiang, China, in 2018. Leaked documents indicate the site is an indoctrination camp. (Ng Han Guan / Associated Press) Every morning, they woke up at 4 for lectures about the Chinese Communist Partys care for Uighurs, he said. The party is feeding you," he remembered being told. "Uighurs are nothing without this party. If there was no Communist Party, Uighurs would have died of hunger. He and others were then forced to sing songs praising the party and Xi. After that they did morning exercise, running in circles as the sun rose. They were fed hot water and a piece of bread, and led to five hours of Chinese-language lessons. No one was allowed to speak Uighur, Mohammed said. Once every month or so, the camp guards would make detainees watch as they burned prayer mats, beads and religious books that theyd confiscated from Uighur homes. You people are not Turks. Uighurs are Chinese. You are one of us, Chinese, they would tell the detainees. He said camp guards beat him with electric batons, questioned why he went to Pakistan and accused him of working for the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an anti-China militant group that has sent fighters to Syria. They asked if he prayed, and when he said no, they beat him and said, Are you not a Muslim? If you talk slowly they will beat you. If you become loud they will beat you more. I asked them: How should I talk? How should I answer? Dont beat me. I will answer everything clearly, Mohammed said. But the beatings persisted. Mohammed was finally released on condition that he bring his wife and children in Pakistan back to Xinjiang and act as an informer for Chinese authorities. His other family members in Xinjiang would be collateral. But I will not go back to China, he told The Times in an interview in Rawalpindi. Scars from the chains, beatings and electric shocks still marked his wrists, arms, back and feet. China is a dungeon, our homes are torture cells, and death or execution is waiting for me and my family there. A few days later, he left Pakistan as well. The Times was not able to confirm what happened to the family members he left behind. Although Pakistan is one of many Muslim nations that has refused to criticize Chinas oppression of Uighurs, its also probably the country with the least room for maneuver, said Andrew Small, a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. China provides Pakistan with tens of billions of dollars in loans and expanding military cooperation. Pakistan buys nearly 40% of Chinas arms exports. It is also the flagship site for Xi's Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative, which includes a 2,000-mile "China-Pakistan Economic Corridor" of roads and railways from Kashgar to the Arabian Sea. Uighur security personnel patrol near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang, in 2017. (Ng Han Guan / Associated Press) Given this relationship, Pakistan has always felt obliged to be accommodating with Chinese requests, even when it wasnt entirely comfortable, Small said. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper recently published a column about how Chinese pressures to quiet criticism of investment projects or the Uighur plight were strengthening authoritarianism in the Muslim nation. Censorship in Pakistan was "already in overdrive" before Chinese influence, the column noted: "But free speech opponents will be grateful for a patron that shares their disdain for dissent." Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has repeatedly denied knowledge of China's actions in Xinjiang. He told the Financial Times, Al Jazeera and the Turkish news channel TRT World in interviews last year that he "doesn't know much" about the Uighurs. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, pictured in November 2019, has repeatedly denied knowledge of China's actions in Xinjiang. (K.M. Chaudary / Associated Press) "I will say one thing about China, he told Al Jazeera. For Pakistan, China has been the best friend." Pakistan also joined 36 other countries including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Syria in signing a letter to the United Nations last year defending China's "education and training centers" and praising China's "remarkable achievements in the field of human rights." China's grip on Xinjiang, which is more than triple the size of California, wasnt always so brutal, said Bacha, a 63-year-old Pakistani trader from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He had lived in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, since 1988 and married a Uighur there in 2001. Security measures had escalated dramatically in 2009, after riots in Urumqi left nearly 200 people dead. Ethnic tensions rose as the Communist Party encouraged Han Chinese people and companies to move to Xinjiang. Many Uighurs viewed them as opportunists who took the best jobs and exploited Xinjiang's resources at the expense of locals. Uighur women grab a police officer as they protest in front of journalists visiting Urumqi, Xinjiang, on July 7, 2009. (Ng Han Guan / Associated Press) The Chinese government tried to quell unrest through assimilation and force, banning religious dress, promoting patriotic education and blanketing the land with checkpoints, police and security cameras. But ethnic violence escalated alongside state violence: Uighur attacks on civilians and police erupted in 2012, 2013, and 2014, including an attempted plane hijacking, knife assaults, bombings, and a car crash into a crowd in Tiananmen Square. In 2016, a party hard-liner named Chen Quanguo, known for cracking down on Tibet, came to Xinjiang. Chen engineered a mass surveillance and detention campaign, implemented through a mandatory state app that collected data from Uighur phones and determined who to put in camps by algorithm. Detainees were chosen for reasons as innocuous as growing beards, using WhatsApp, or communicating with family members abroad, according to reporting by Human Rights Watch and Chinese government documents leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Han cadres were also sent into Uighur homes, often moving in with Uighur women and children while their men were detained, to drill them in loving the Party, rejecting religion and becoming more Chinese. You are being watched and instructed what to do," Bacha said. "Fear looms over your head. Fear travels in the air. In 2016, Bacha's in-laws fled to Turkey with two of his children. Chinese police then detained his wife and three other children, ages 3, 4, and 5. After petitioning the Pakistani Foreign Ministry and Chinese authorities, he was told recently that he could get Pakistani passports to bring his children out but not his wife. She has been sentenced to 6 years in prison. Authorities have not explained why. Members of the Pakistani Uighur community, comprising families who left Xinjiang and became Pakistani citizens in the late 1940s, spoke of similar intimidation inside the Muslim nation. One Pakistani Uighur shop owner in Rawalpindi told The Times that he had been detained for two weeks by plainclothes Pakistani security officers in late 2018. He said he was taken from his home in a black hood, chained in a dark room and questioned if he had connections with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. The interrogators told me, Dont raise a voice against China here, even in personal gatherings,' said the shop owner, 53, who believes his uncle in Yarkand, in Xinjiang, is also in a camp. Fearful of endangering his relatives in Xinjiang further, he has not contacted them for three years. Another Pakistani Uighur, Muhammed Umer Khan, has faced pressure from Pakistani authorities for trying to promote Uighur language and culture. Khan, whose parents migrated to Pakistan from Kashgar in 1967 to escape oppression by the Chinese Communist Party, founded the Umer Uyghur Trust in 2008 and opened a small school near his home in Rawalpindi in 2010. But Pakistani authorities soon visited Khan, ordering him to close the school because it was damaging China-Pakistan relations. When he refused, he said, plainclothes government agents destroyed the school, smashing computers and confiscating study materials. Khan tried to reopen the school in 2015, but it was forcibly closed again within one month. In 2011, he and his brother were temporarily banned from leaving Pakistan. In 2017, he was detained by Pakistani officers for nine days. Since early 2019, an organization funded by the Chinese Embassy called the Ex-Chinese Assn., which runs Mandarin schools for Uighurs in Pakistan, has also begun asking Pakistani Uighur families to register the names and addresses of their family members in China. Pakistani Uighurs were told that the Ex-Chinese Assn. wanted their relatives information to ensure their children were eligible for the schools. But Khan worried the information would be used for surveillance or to arrange the extradition of Pakistani Uighurs to China. I am afraid," said Khan, 47. "Even though we are living in a free Muslim country, China holds so much suppression over the Uighur community here. So then what are they doing with Uighur people living in China? Azeem Khan, the general secretary of the Ex-Chinese Assn., did not respond to requests for comment. Members of the Pakistani-Uighur community say some Uighur families of Pakistanis were released from camps late last year, in part because of pressure from international media and diplomats. The Chinese government also claimed in December 2019 that "students" in the camps had "graduated." Muslim women rally outside the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, in December 2019. Demonstrators called for an end to China's repression of Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang region. (Dita Alangkara / Associated Press) But release doesnt mean freedom. Many move straight from camps to prison or factory labor and are still unable to leave Xinjiang. When a resurgence of the coronavirus hit the region this summer, much of the province was put under an extremely strict lockdown, with residents confined to their homes and forced by local authorities to drink traditional Chinese medicine. In 2019, a Times reporter asked Zhao Lijian, then deputy chief of mission at the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, for comment on the Pakistan-Xinjiang cases. We have been helping these Pakistani husbands in all possible ways, he said in a phone call. The Chinese Embassy is providing assistance to the families. Then he sent separate WhatsApp messages to the reporter, who is Pakistani, asking to not publish The Times story. There are negative stories against China in Western countries. They are mostly propaganda against China. They have an agenda to oppose China, wrote Zhao, who is now a spokesman for Chinas Foreign Ministry. Pls restrain yourself from doing this in Pakistan. Authorities in Xinjiang declined to comment. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in response to further inquiry from The Times in August that "forces with ulterior motive have been nonstop instigating, hyping, creating rumors, and slandering" its policies in Xinjiang, but that "China lauds Pakistan for always firmly supporting the Chinese stance on the Xinjiang question. The two sides have used friendly negotiation on the basis of mutual respect to address related affairs." Hayat, the man who lost his son at the border, is still fighting to reunite with his family. In July 2019, Hayat finally received a visa and went to Kashgar, where he stayed in a hotel because authorities would not allow him to stay at home. His wife, who had been transferred from a camp to a prison, was released that September. She suffered liver and heart problems after detention, but wouldn't talk about what happened inside. Hayats son, Arafat, was also released on condition that he sign a two-year labor contract with a Chinese telecommunications company. He was promised a salary of $250 a month but some months he received less than $200, and others he wasn't paid at all, Hayat said and can only leave two days a week. Hayat said he had visited government officials in Kashgar and asked for his sons release from the work program, but no one responded. He returned to Pakistan in December when his visa expired and is trying to get Pakistani passports for his children so they can leave. There were rumors in the community that other Pakistani spouses had agreed to deals with Pakistani and Chinese intelligence services, in which they promised to not speak about what happened if they could get their families back. They became like Hayat's wife after her release, he said: alive, but silent. (This is the second in a series of occasional articles about the effect Chinas global power is having on nations and peoples lives.) Special correspondent Baloch reported from Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Times staff writers Su and Bengali reported from Beijing and Singapore, respectively. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Hungary's Orban says EU should reverse Russia sanctions, not push Cyprus on Belarus FILE PHOTO: Hungary's PM Orban holds news conference in Budapest By Gabriela Baczynska and John Chalmers BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union should reverse its sanctions on Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Reuters on Friday, as he pushed for a resumption of trade with Moscow and a European army that would restrain the Kremlin's might. Asked if the EU should impose new penalties on Russia over the poisoning of leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the nationalist Hungarian leader said: "From the Hungarian point of view, we don't see why we should do that. But if the European Union would like to initiate that, we are ready to consider." The European Union introduced sanctions on Russia over the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. It stepped them up over Russia's subsequent backing for rebels facing off against government troops in east Ukraine, a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people to date. Those penalties hit Russia's energy, financial and arms sectors. The bloc also has a ban on doing business with Moscow-annexed Crimea and a blacklist of people and firms seen responsible for spreading havoc in ex-Soviet Ukraine. "What we are doing on sanctions to Russia is not a reasonable policy," said Orban, whose country is building a new nuclear power plant with Russian state support. "We should be very, very tough on the military side in relation to Russia and we should be very cooperative on the trade side. We are very weak on military and we are very tough on trade," he said. In late 2017, most EU states signed a defence pact, led by Germany and France, to fund and develop joint military hardware in a show of unity after Britain's vote to quit the bloc. But progress has been slow and results are likely to take a decade or more, meaning the EU is still some way off matching its economic prowess with military muscle. "If we would like to have an equal relationship with Russia we need to have a strong military power in Europe," said Orban, who has pursued relatively close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Story continues BELARUS AND CYPRUS Orban also said the EU must not coerce Cyprus into accepting separate sanctions on Belarus. The bloc vowed weeks ago to impose penalties on Minsk over election fraud and human rights abuses. But any such decision requires unanimity of all the 27 EU member states and Nicosia has blocked the move due to a separate dispute with Turkey. "Don't humiliate Cyprus," Orban said. "They don't like that idea. I disagree on that but that's their position. Sanctions could be negotiated again and again, and if there is a unanimity ... we can do so. But now there is no agreement." The case has embarrassed the EU, highlighting decision-making paralysis in a bloc of 27 countries that in many areas - foreign policy included - require unanimity to act. Orban, who is often at loggerheads with the EU over his hardline migration policies and what the bloc decries as his moves to undercut democratic checks and balances, defended the right of a sole member state to prevent the whole bloc from making decisions. That principle has helped him in the past and his eurosceptic allies ruling in Poland have vowed to protect Budapest from any Brussels punishment. European Commission President Von der Leyen this month pushed to move away from unanimity, which has left the bloc increasingly unable to find joint lines on issues ranging from Venezuela to Mali. But, wearing no tie and sitting on an armchair with his legs wide apart - as Putin himself often does in public appearances - Orban disagreed: "If one member state does not like something on an important issue the others must respect it." Orban said Hungary and three other eastern EU peers on Thursday presented a plan for economic support for Belarus to Von der Leyen. "We would not like to do the same thing as it happened with Ukraine that we had the political concept but we haven't had an economic concept," said the Hungarian premier. The plan envisages economic support from the International Monetary Fund, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which Warsaw has said should be at least a billion euros in total. (Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Andrew Heavens) Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 14:20:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump paid his respects to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court here on Thursday morning amid boos from mourners as a partisan battle over her replacement brews. Trump and first lady Melania Trump, both wearing masks, observed a moment of silence at the top of the steps of the court building, looking down at Ginsburg's coffin draped in the American flag and surrounded by bouquets of white flowers. The brief stay was booed by a nearby crowd waiting in line to pay tribute to the liberal icon, added loud chants of "vote him out" and "honor her wish." Speaking to reporters at the White House before leaving for an event in Charlotte, North Carolina on his health care proposals on Thursday afternoon, Trump called the boos "just a political chant." "We could hardly hear it from where we were. Somebody said there was some chanting. But they were right next to the media. But we really could hardly hear too much. We heard a sound, but it wasn't very strong," he said. A renowned champion of women's rights, Ginsburg died last week at the age of 87 due to complications related to metastatic pancreas cancer. She was appointed to the Supreme Court by then-President Bill Clinton in 1993, becoming the second woman appointed to the highest court in the United States. "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed," Ginsburg reportedly dictated to her granddaughter Clara Spera a few days before her death. Despite this, Trump has said he will announce a pick to fill Ginsburg's seat on Saturday afternoon. On Thursday, he declined to talk about the candidates and only said that he thinks "it's going to be a very monumental -- a very good choice." Five women are on his shortlist. Judges Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa, both conservatives that the Senate confirmed in bipartisan votes, are said to be top contenders. Since mid-2016, when Trump was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, he and Ginsburg had traded barbs. Recently, the president suggested that it was Democratic politicians who wrote her dying wish, a claim that critics have called baseless. Trump successfully appointed two conservatives on the Supreme Court's nine-justice bench, Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, tilting the institution to the right with 5-4 majority. Trump's third nominee would cement a 6-3 conservative advantage. U.S. Supreme Court justices, who have life tenure and can serve until they die, resign, retire, or are impeached and removed from office, and play an enormous role in shaping the country's legislation and policies on issues such as abortion, LGBT rights, gun rights, climate change, and presidential powers. Republicans, who have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, appear to have enough votes to confirm Trump's next Supreme Court nominee. Only two Republican senators have said they would not support taking up a Supreme Court nominee prior to the November election. Democrats oppose moving forward with a vote on Ginsburg's replacement before Election Day, which is only a number of weeks away, pointing to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's decision to block former president Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, because it was an election year, which all but ensures a a fierce confirmation battle on Capitol Hill. McConnell and Senate Republicans have argued that this time is different because the Senate and the White House are held by the same party. "The Senate has never-NEVER-confirmed a Supreme Court nominee this close to the election," Senate Minority Leader and New York Democrat Chuck Schumer tweeted on Thursday. "This is nothing more than a power grab -- and we are fighting it." The role of the Supreme Court is likely to be more important this year, as Trump, who's trailing 2020 Democratic presidential nominee and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in national and swing states polls, has repeatedly tried to cast doubt on the election while refusing to commit to a peaceful transition of power should he lose. "We want to make sure the election is honest and I'm not sure that it can be. I don't know that it can be with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots," Trump told reporters on Thursday afternoon, referring to mail-in ballots, which many parts of the country have expanded so as to allow people to vote safely during the pandemic. For months, the president has claimed that the expansion of mail-in ballots would lead to massive voter fraud, while U.S. election pundits have argued there is no evidence of meaningful fraud in mail voting. Christopher Wray, director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, told a Senate hearing on Thursday that they have "not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise." Trump said Wednesday that he believes the Supreme Court would have to weigh in on the election. "I think this will end up in the Supreme Court," he said during a White House event. "And I think it's very important that we have nine justices." In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in a disputed recount of votes in Florida with a 5-4 ruling, effectively handing that year's presidential election to the Republican presidential candidate and then-governor of Texas George W. Bush, who won 271 electoral votes, one more than a majority. However, Bush lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore. Any election disputes would have to go through lower courts and may not even reach the high court, according to U.S. election and legal experts. Enditem Weekend of special cultural events in Rome for Giornate Europee del Patrimonio. Italy hosts a nationwide programme of cultural events to mark the 2020 edition of European Heritage Days which is held in Rome and across Europe on the weekend of 26-27 September. Dedicated to the theme of education, the 2020 edition of the two-day initiative will include a programme of special happenings at many of Romes museums, galleries, libraries, cultural academies and archaeological sites, many of which are staying open late on 26 September with a symbolic entry fee of 1. The sites opening late include the Roman Forum which will be open from 19.15 until 21.45, with last entry at 21.00. There is no booking required, although visitors must follow the usual covid-19 prevention measures, with the entrance and exit in Largo della Salara Vecchia. Held annually across Europe since 1991, the European Days of Patrimony initiative is designed to emphasise the common cultural heritage shared between Europeans. For full programme details see Beni Culturali website. By Dick Zimmer I joined the Republican party because I believed in its traditional principles: free trade, strong international alliances, civil rights, national unity and the view of immigration that Ronald Reagan expressed in his last speech as president: If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost. In 2016, I ran as a delegate for then-Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and in the general election endorsed the Libertarian ticket of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, stating in September of that year, Donald Trump is neither a conservative nor a Republican. He does not respect the Constitution and does not have the temperament or character to be president. Regrettably, nearly four years of the Trump administration has proved this to be correct. This year I am endorsing Joe Biden because I do not want to endorse a third-party nominee who does not have a realistic chance of becoming president. When Joe Biden and I served in Congress, we hardly agreed on any major issue, and I expect to disagree with him on a lot in the future. However, unlike President Trump, Biden understands the role of the president in our Constitutional system and will try to find common ground. While I wont always agree with everything a President Biden would do, hell act to protect Americans against COVID-19 by listening to and acting on the advice of the scientific experts who report to him. Hell act to rebuild our security alliances and stand against, not with dictators trying to undermine our democracy. Hell embrace a trade policy that actually puts America first, by rolling back import duties, which are a tax on American consumers. Hell do his best to heal our racial divisions by actually listening to minorities rather than claiming without basis that he has been the best president for Blacks since Abraham Lincoln. On immigration, he cant do worse than Trump, who has separated families at the border and disregarded the legitimate rights of asylum seekers. And, rather than polarizing our nation with crazy conspiracy theories, Biden will try to bring us together by seeking to find common ground. Thats the kind of president we have a right to expect. Before serving as a congressman, Dick Zimmer served in the New Jersey State Assembly and State Senate. He was twice the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. New Delhi [India], September 25 (ANI): Bilkis Bano, the 82-year-old who earned the moniker "Dadi of Shaheen Bagh" during the long protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the national capital has now been named among the 100-most influential global personalities by Time magazine. "I am very happy that I was honoured in this manner. Although I did not expect this." said the grandmother speaking to ANI after the recognition. Along with Bilkis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, actor Ayushman Khurrana, biologist Ravindra Gupta and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai were on the list of '100 Most Influential People of 2020' that was released on Wednesday and features pioneers, artists, leaders, icons and titans who have had the most impact in 2020. "I have read only the Quran Sharif and I have never been to school but today I feel excited and happy. I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for also being included in this list. He is also my son. So what if I did not give birth to him, my sister has given birth to him. I pray for his long life and happiness," Bilkis Bano said. Bilkis Dadi, who along with two other grandmothers emerged as the face of NRC-CAA protest, hails from Hapur, Uttar Pradesh. Her husband died about eleven years ago and she currently lives in Shaheen Bagh with her daughters-in-law and grandchildren. On being asked about India's fight against COVID-19, she said: "Our first fight is against coronavirus. The disease should be eliminated from the world." The family of Bilkis Dadi also expressed their excitement on her being recognised among the world's most influential people including Prime Minister Modi. (ANI) LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Shaftesbury Plc (SHB.L) issued a trading update for the period 1 April 2020 to 24 September 2020. Most of the Group's 611 restaurants, cafes, pubs and shops have now reopened. The West End has seen a gradual recovery in footfall with the return of local and domestic leisure visitors and its office-based workforce. However, the Group noted that the Covid-19 measures continue to affect consumer confidence, West End footfall and trading. Shaftesbury recorded 41% of rents due for the six months to 30 September 2020 collected, 10% are expected to be subject to deferred collection arrangements, 23% are being waived and 26% remain outstanding at 11 September 2020. Brian Bickell, Chief Executive, said: 'we remain confident in the long-term prospects for our exceptional portfolio and business.' The Board of Shaftesbury has decided not to declare a final dividend in respect of the year ending 30 September 2020. 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. DALLAS, Sept. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NexPoint Capital, Inc. (the "Company"), a non-traded publicly registered business development company sponsored and managed by NexPoint Advisors, L.P., today announced the expiration and final results for its tender offer (the "Tender Offer") for up to 2.5% of its outstanding common stock ("Shares") at a price of $6.09 per Share (an amount approved by the Company's board of directors on September 24, 2020), plus any unpaid dividends accrued through the expiration date of the Tender Offer. The Fund's Tender Offer expired on September 21, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. 51,384 shares of the Company were tendered for repurchase in the Tender Offer. Any questions regarding the Tender Offer can be directed to the Company's Tender Agent, DST Systems, Inc., at (844) 485-9167. The Company's current offering price for its Shares, as well as other information, including information about management and the healthcare-focused investment strategy, are available at nexpointcapital.com. The information on or accessible through nexpointcapital.com is not incorporated by reference herein. About NexPoint Capital, Inc. NexPoint Capital, Inc. is a non-traded, publicly registered business development company sponsored and managed by NexPoint Advisors, L.P. About NexPoint Advisors, L.P. NexPoint Advisors, L.P. ("NexPoint Advisors") is an SEC-registered adviser on the NexPoint alternative investment platform ("NexPoint"). NexPoint Advisors serves as the adviser to a suite of funds and investment vehicles, including a closed-end fund, interval fund, business development company ("BDC"), and various real estate vehicles. For more information visit www.nexpointadvisors.com. Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements. These statements may involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including the performance of financial markets, the investment performance of NexPoint Advisors, L.P.'s sponsored investment products, general economic conditions, future acquisitions, competitive conditions and government regulations, including changes in tax laws. Readers should carefully consider such factors. Further, such forward-looking statements speak only on the date at which such statements are made. NexPoint Advisors, L.P. undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statement. This material has been distributed for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or investment product. Neither the Company, nor the Company's Board of Directors, nor NexPoint Advisors, L.P., makes any recommendation as to whether to tender or not to tender any Shares in the Tender Offer. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission. For Information on the Tender Offer: Financial Advisors: (855) 498-1580 Shareholders: (844) 485-9167 NexPoint Media Relations: (972) 419-6272 SOURCE NexPoint Capital, Inc. Related Links https://www.nexpointcapital.com With less than six weeks until Election Day, laws governing how Americans vote remain in flux in many battleground states, with the two parties locked in an intensive fight over the rules as President Donald Trump continues to suggest he will challenge any outcome unfavorable to him. The combination of the pandemic, doubts about the capacity of the Postal Service to handle a flood of mail ballots and an aggressive push by Democrats to expand access to voting rights and counter Republican efforts to limit them has fueled litigation and legislative battles across the country that have not been resolved even as early voting has gotten underway. The result is uncertainty that Trump is already seizing on in his extraordinary campaign to cast doubt on the election system and the result. In the latest of a string of remarks on the issue, the president refused Wednesday to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, igniting new concern about his commitment to the Constitution and drawing pushback Thursday from prominent members of his party. After the White House then said that Trump would accept the results of a free and fair election, the president weighed in again, saying that he was not sure the November election could be honest because mail-in ballots were a whole big scam. Even before his comments over the past several days, the confusion surrounding how ballots should be cast and counted had reached a level rarely before seen. In Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, two states pivotal to the outcome of the presidential race between Trump and Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, there are legal fights underway that could affect when voters have to mail in their ballots. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, there are lawsuits about where voters might be able to drop off their ballots. In those states and others, the very means by which the election will be conducted is still being hashed out through legislation, executive actions and consent decrees, as well as litigation. In Michigan, legislation is pending concerning whether voters will have the ability to fix any problems with their mail-in ballots. In North Carolina, elections officials signed an agreement to extend the deadline for receiving mail ballots by six days, and Republicans immediately pledged to try to overturn it. The problem has been exacerbated by the options that states have sought to provide to make voting safer and easier amid the pandemic, changes that have often been met with a flood of lawsuits. A whole bunch of Americans are going to have a different process than they may be used to, said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School who oversaw voting rights in the Obama administration as a deputy assistant attorney general. Levitt has been tracking pandemic-related election law cases across the country, and he said that any change is inevitably going to lead to disruption. No state is more acutely aware of the potential for litigation-caused electoral chaos than Wisconsin. There, state elections and a presidential primary were held in early April during the first serious peak of the coronavirus, and were conducted amid a surge of lawsuits and rules changes that left voters confused. Many felt forced to brave hourslong lines at the few in-person voting centers in cities like Milwaukee and Green Bay to assure that their ballot would count. Now, Wisconsin voters are staring down an almost identical situation. The same federal judge who was in the middle of one of the main cases litigated in the spring, William M. Conley, sided with Democrats in a ruling this week that ballots postmarked by Election Day could be counted if they were received as late as Nov. 9, six days later. But the judge ruled against Democrats in upholding a requirement that absentee voters have a signature from a witness. Conley issued a weeklong stay in his ruling, and Republicans filed notices of appeal on Wednesday, seeking to keep any ballots received after Election Day from being counted. The uncertainty has forced the Wisconsin Elections Commission to plan for multiple regulations even as it sends out 2.7 million pieces of mail to voters with election information. The legal maneuvering has proved difficult for some Wisconsin voters to track. I try to follow, but its hard to keep up, said Paula Bullis, 50, from Washington, Wisconsin, who has already mailed in her ballot but remains concerned about what will happen in November. Im worried about the worst, she said, but Im hopeful that the process and constitutional laws and the powers that be make it run smoothly. In Pennsylvania, Democrats and Republicans fought to a standstill in the General Assembly over elements of the rules for mail voting. The Republicans, who control both houses of the legislature, wanted to ban the use of drop boxes for completed ballots, in return for allowing election officials to begin processing absentee ballots before Election Day. (Democrats wanted to start 21 days before Election Day, and Republicans countered with three.) But Republicans also knew Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, would veto any bill they passed without Democratic support. And Democrats turned to the courts. We have a parallel path, said Jay Costa, the Democratic leader in the Pennsylvania state Senate. We have a series of court cases. This week, the Democrats notched a significant victory in the state Supreme Court, which extended the deadline for when ballots must be received by election officials and paved the way for more drop boxes to be installed. But the court sided with the Republicans on two other issues: limiting efforts by other people and groups to collect completed ballots from voters a practice denounced as ballot harvesting by Republicans who contend it can lead to fraud and rejecting ballots that do not arrive with the required privacy envelope intact. The ruling on the envelopes has led to dire predictions about the potential rejection of tens of thousands of what are being called naked ballots, leading to postelection chaos along the lines of the dispute over so-called hanging chads on Florida ballots that helped decide the 2000 presidential election. (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.) The Trump campaign is seeking to ban drop boxes altogether in Pennsylvania, and a case on that issue is working its way through the federal courts. A judge put that lawsuit on hold to allow related cases to work their way through the state courts. Election officials in Pennsylvania lamented the unsettled situation in a video message to voters, and warned that some deadlines may still change. There is a lot going on in the world of Pennsylvania elections, said Julie Wheeler, a county commissioner in central Pennsylvania. Ongoing lawsuits and legislative activity in Harrisburg may change some of these processes and deadlines, but if they do, well be in touch with you as soon as possible to make sure all voters are aware of the changes, whether youre planning to vote in person or to use a mail-in ballot. On Thursday, the Justice Department announced that it had opened an inquiry into a small number of mail-in ballots from military officials that had been discarded, a rare mid-investigation statement that threatened to further unnerve those voting by mail. (END OPTIONAL TRIM.) Some Pennsylvania voters have been dismayed at the back-and-forth and are opting to vote as they always have rather than trust a new voting system. Denis Lawler, 72, said he was planning to vote on Election Day in Philadelphia to make sure my vote will be counted. But he is growing increasingly uneasy about what will follow. It was one thing to have hanging chads in Florida, Lawler said. But now there are so many different issues being raised in so many different states that you could see, unless there is an overwhelming winner, you could see that there might be a lot of delay caused by lawsuits. In Ohio, the battle over drop boxes has been even more perplexing. The secretary of state, Frank LaRose, a Republican, ruled this month that each county may have only one drop-off location for ballots, saying he was constrained by existing law from expanding the number of sites. A court had issued an opinion this month saying there was no one-box-per-county restriction. But LaRose said that, since it was just an opinion, and not an injunction, he saw no reason to reverse his original decision. Republicans have appealed the judges opinion, and a lawsuit from state Democrats is still pending, but time is running short to install new drop boxes. Having these things in place in October is critical obviously, said David Pepper, the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. Right now, if you mail a ballot application or if you go to the drop box, its going to get there. The drop boxes, he noted, would be needed in the final 10 days of the election. Election experts concur that time is running out to settle these disputes. We are past the point in time where voter-facing changes can be implemented effectively, said David Becker, founder and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, a group created to help election administrators. While Becker said he favored changes to expand access to voting, he said that there are good changes that if implemented too late can have a negative impact and that confusion among voters is a very real thing that has a cost. Traditionally, the likelihood of lawsuits resulting in rulings that order significant changes has diminished as Election Day approaches, with courts generally weighing the potential for disruption as a factor in their decisions. But Wisconsins election in April proved an exception, with the Supreme Court issuing a ruling that changed deadlines on the eve of the election. The Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee have had more money to spend on lawsuits because of a change in campaign finance laws quietly slipped into a spending bill in 2014 that allowed them to raise an extra $97,400 per donor for legal costs. That provision was drafted in large part by Marc Elias, a leading Democratic election lawyer who has brought a range of lawsuits this year seeking to loosen voting regulations in several states on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and other groups, including Priorities USA, the leading super PAC devoted to supporting Bidens campaign. Elias also created a group this year called Democracy Docket Action Fund that says it is raising money for voting rights lawsuits. The Trump campaign, sometimes in concert with the Republican National Committee and its state affiliates, has gone to court to try to block changes sought by Democrats and to challenge new rules expanding access to mail-in voting and moving back ballot deadlines. Republican Party committees have intervened in a number of the cases opposing the Democratic challenges, sometimes with support from conservative nonprofit groups including Honest Elections Project, which has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertisements denouncing mail-in voting as a brazen attempt to manipulate the election system for partisan advantage. For some election experts, the extended uncertainty underscores the fragility of the greatly decentralized American electoral system, something Trump and his allies seem to be suggesting they could exploit in any postelection litigation about the outcome. Even without this explosion, theres been a continued growth of litigation over election rules because, in part, we dont have a baseline set of a federal guarantee of voter access, said Wendy R. Weiser, the director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. Bosses at Boohoo had known about the issues over low pay and poor working conditions at their Leicester clothes factories for months before the scandal was exposed, a new report has revealed. Alison Levitt QC was hired by Boohoo to review its business practices and she says that she found no evidence of any crimes being committed. However, she did say that there was evidence of staff at the Leicester factories working in poor conditions for low pay. Bosses at Boohoo had known about the issues over low pay and poor working conditions at their Leicester clothes factories a new report has said. Pictured: Mahmud Kamani (right), co-founder of Boohoo with his son Umar Kamani (left) Alison Levitt QC (pictured) was hired by Boohoo to review its business practices She said: 'From (at the very latest) December 2019, senior Boohoo directors knew for a fact that there were very serious issues about the treatment of factory workers in Leicester,' Ms Levitt said. 'Whilst it put in place a programme intended to remedy this, it did not move quickly enough.' However, directors were aware of questions over its supply chain much earlier after reporters and politicians raised the issue. In May 2018 the Financial Times published a story about 'labour exploitation in Britain's garment industry' which questioned how Boohoo was able to sell dresses so cheaply. Months later, in November 2018, MPs grilled then co-chief executive Carol Kane about the prices of its goods. Ms Levitt was appointed to review the company's supply chain after worries over Leicester's garment factories resurfaced when the city was put under lock lockdown because of Covid-19. The Sunday Times published a series of claims in July about conditions in Leicester factories during the local lockdown in the city. Issues had also been highlighted as early as 2017 by Channel 4, and the BBC and the Guardian had both reported on problems in Leicester before the Sunday Times's report. Alison Levitt QC was hired by Boohoo to review its business practises and she says that she found no evidence of any crimes being committed. Pictured: Faiza fashion factory in Leicester which used to supply clothes to Boohoo Ms Levitt said that Boohoo 'capitalised on the commercial opportunities offered by lockdown and believed that it was supporting Leicester factories by not cancelling orders, but took no responsibility for the consequences for those who made the clothes they sold'. However, the she also placed a part of the blame away from Boohoo. She said: 'Inaction by the authorities has contributed significantly to the deficiencies... If the law is not enforced, this sends a clear message that the violations are not important and the people affected do not matter.' Responding to the report, Boohoo chief executive John Lyttle said: 'Ms Levitt's Independent Review ... has identified significant and clearly unacceptable issues in our supply chain, and the steps we had taken to address them, but it is clear that we need to go further and faster to improve our governance, oversight and compliance. 'As a result, the Group is implementing necessary enhancements to its supplier audit and compliance procedures, and the board's oversight of these matters will increase significantly. 'As a board, we recognise that we need to rebuild confidence that these matters will be dealt with appropriately and sensitively, and that they will not recur.' In response to the publication of Alison Levitt QC's independent review into the Boohoo group PLC's Leicester supply chain, Liz Kendall, MP for Leicester West, Jon Ashworth, MP for Leicester South, and Claudia Webbe, MP for Leicester East, issued a joint statement which said: 'This damning report shows Boohoo has known about unacceptable working conditions in its Leicester factories for years, but has failed to take the necessary action anywhere quickly enough. Boohoo CEO John Lyttle said Levitt's review identified unacceptable issues in Boohoo's supply chain 'Ms Levitt says the company's processes are well below expected standards, corporate governance is weak and substantial areas of risk have been invisible at a senior level. 'Whilst Boohoo was quick to capitalise on the commercial opportunities offered by lockdown it took no responsibility for the consequences for the people who made their clothes. The report rightly says this is inexcusable. Ms Levitt concludes 'in truth Boohoo has not felt any real responsibility for the factory workers in Leicester'. 'Leicester's MPs and the City Council have repeatedly raised these issues but our concerns have been brushed aside, downplayed or ignored. The Chief Executive of Boohoo is ultimately responsible for these failings and should now resign. Boohoo's board must set out - as a matter of urgency - how it will ensure the poor and even illegal treatment of workers throughout its supply chain never happens again. 'Ministers must also take responsibility for their failure to implement the recommendations of numerous inquiries into worker exploitation and for slashing the budgets of the very enforcement bodies that are supposed to keep workers safe. 'This report must be a turning point for action and we, as the local MPs for Leicester, will be holding the government and Boohoo to account for their response.' Last month, Boohoo was hit with another crisis after audit reports claimed that some workers in at least 18 of the company's supplier factories have been paid below minimum wage. An exclusive Guardian investigation found third-party audit reports claiming that at the time they were written, in parts of the Boohoo supply chain, some workers may have been paid only 3 to 4 per hour. The documents also alleged that workers in the Leicester-based factories were not clocking in and out for shifts; that working hour-records were contradicted by workers in interviews; that hours were given to workers in handwritten notes rather than an automated system and that there were inconsistencies in working-hour records. Boohoo found itself at the centre of another crisis after audit reports seen by the Guardian claimed that some workers at at least 18 of its supplier factories in Leicester were being paid less than minimum wage Responding to the documents seen by the Guardian, Boohoo said it 'appears to be a selection of commentary from a limited number of the third-party audits that have been completed.' However, the company also said that its own investigations had brought to light similar issues among some of its suppliers. They said that trade had been suspended with these suppliers, which include 'some of the manufacturers identified' in the investigation until the issues were resolved. Boohoo has not confirmed which of its suppliers had been suspended. The company said it would be inappropriate to comment any further until its own investigation and another led by QC had been completed. Of the 18 factories identified in the Guardian's investigation, eight denied some or all of the claims while the other 10 did not respond to the paper's requests for comment. Pictured: Leicester High Street on August 10 The audit reports, which date from 2017 to a few months ago, also alleged other concerns including inadequate health and safety policies, a lack of holiday pay records and non-payment of furlough money. Although the reports had been circulated to some factory managers, there is no suggestion that Boohoo had access to the documents. MP for Leicester East Claudia Webbe said that the allegations in the reports are unforgivable and she has called on Boohoo to supply a complete list of its suppliers. Of the 18 factories identified in the Guardian's investigation, eight denied some or all of the claims while the other 10 did not respond to the paper's requests for comment. Nik Hammer, an associate professor in employment studies at the University of Leicester said the audit reports appeared to be a 'smoking gun' on the fashion industry's oversight on minimum wage. By Eric Houghtaling and Joann Downey New Jerseys employees need help - and so do our residents who have lost their jobs due to this global pandemic. Trumps payroll tax cut would help neither. It would just make more of a mess of an already hurting economy and could cause the demise of social security. First of all, the payroll tax is a tax that both the employer and the employee contribute to every year. The money funds Medicare or Social Security. Trumps executive action means both employers and employees would be exempt for a limited time from paying the social security tax (a total of 12.4% split evenly between them) that is taken from the employees paycheck. While this does have the potential of making your paycheck larger by a few dollars, this quick relief for today comes with a much larger cost for the future. In theory, the payroll tax cut is supposed to put more money in the pockets of employees, and in turn boost the economy that is in desperate need of stimulation. However, 1.4 million people in New Jersey alone have filed for unemployment from March to mid-June and do not receive a paycheck that this payroll tax cut would be benefitting. The people who desperately need a quick fix and extra cash immediately to help boost the economy would not receive a dime through this executive action. Eliminating the payroll tax does not help you if youve lost your job and arent getting a paycheck. Implementing a payroll tax cut more than halfway through the year would be incredibly messy. Employers may decide to hold onto the tax they would have paid until they know whether they will have to pay it back when they file their 2020 tax returns next year. As the payroll holiday is currently written, they can choose to give the money to their employees, or hold onto it so they can easily pay it back once the pause is lifted. This means that even though the payroll tax cut seems like it is helping the employee, most will never see the employees 6.2% share as an increase of pay in their paychecks through this four-month period. And they may have to pay it back when they file their 2020 returns. While this is currently just a four-month holiday, Trump has said that if he were to get reelected, he would extend and terminate making this tax cut permanent. Thats a big problem since the payroll tax funds social security and the Social Security Administration Board of Trustees projects program cost to rise by 2035 so that taxes will be enough to pay for only 75% of scheduled benefits. Extending the payroll tax holiday or terminating the tax would in turn terminate Social Security. Thats a great injustice to everyone who has been paying into social security their entire careers and to the millions of seniors who rely on their monthly Social Security check to survive. Your own money that you worked for and have been promised for your retirement years would completely disappear. While the president argues that the government would find the funds elsewhere to keep social security afloat, he hasnt said where. The Trump campaign says it would use general revenue to make up for the losses from the payroll tax cut, but at what cost? Continuing to underfund our infrastructure that is so badly in need of repair? Eliminating aid to schools? Or will he just keep borrowing and plunge our nation into even greater debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay? Not to mention that what the president proposes is not within his power and would take an act of Congress. Finally, it is highly unlikely that eliminating the payroll tax would stimulate enough economic growth to offset the loss of the payroll tax. This tax cut will negatively impact thousands of people in New Jersey alone, and without social security after retirement, some people will not be able to survive without their promised savings. Simply put, while the payroll tax cut may sound like a good idea on the surface, in reality, we cannot afford to have social security underfunded. Its what the people of New Jersey have been promised, and it is what we should intend to keep. President Franklin Roosevelt said he designed Social Security to be funded by a payroll tax so no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program. We owe it to every American to honor that vision. Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling and Assemblywoman Joann Downey represent the 11th Legislative District, which includes parts of Monmouth County. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Heres how to submit an op-ed or Letter to the Editor. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. By PTI GANDHINAGAR: The Gujarat Assembly on Friday passed a bill to discourage local fishermen from straying into Pakistani waters near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) in the Arabian Sea. The bill, which replaced an ordinance issued in July and seeks to amend certain provisions of the Gujarat Fisheries Act, 2003, was passed unanimously on the last day of the monsoon session of the state Assembly. Introducing the Bill in the House, Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja said it was necessary to take strict action against erring fishermen and boat owners who stray into Pakistani waters for 'Lalpari' fish and eventually get caught by the authorities there. Jadeja said not just IMBL, the fishermen are now barred from entering a 'no fishing zone' which is an area 10 nautical miles from the IMBL. To keep a check on fishermen and stop them from indulging in such activities, the bill gave "search and seizure" powers to sub-inspectors or officials above that rank at any marine police station in the state, Jadeja said. Such provisions will also keep a check on drug smuggling through the sea, he said. "We know how RDX that landed on the Gozabara coast was used in the Mumbai blast. In 2008, terrorists captured Kuber fishing boat near IMBL and reached Mumbai. We aim to stop such activities by introducing this bill" said Jadeja. As per the Bill, a fine of Rs 1 lakh will be imposed on boats from other states entering Gujarat's marine boundary, something the present Act did not have, he said. Apart from the Rs 1 lakh fine, the bill also has provisions allowing authorities to sell catch brought in by such boats, and then impose another penalty which will be five times the sale amount of the catch, he added. Nepal's principal opposition party, the Nepali Congress, has slammed the KP Sharma Oli government for making comments over the issue of land encroachment by China before the officials were sent to the claimed site and file a field report. In a statement issued on Thursday, the opposition criticized the government for not waiting for the field report from the concerned Chief District Officer of Humla who had been to the site for three days. "Before the field report about whether there has been an encroachment (by the Chinese) or not, the announcement was made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that "there has been no encroachment by China," Nepali Congress said. Congress also criticised the government for not having the patience to study whether the land has been really encroached or not after finding an 11 number pillar which plays a crucial role in determining the border. "New structures built by China can only be verified after studying whether it falls inside or outside the marking set by pillar no. 12 by a team which is present in the field. The government didn't look into it before making an announcement," the Opposition added. READ | Nepal Citizens Protest At China's Kathmandu Embassy After Spotting Land-grab Backstabbing READ | China Mouthpiece Tries Justifying Why Its Soldiers Are Sobbing While Going To India Border Chinese enroachment say locals, Nepal govt denies Chief District Officer Chiranjibi Giri has toured the area earlier on Wednesday where he was sent back by Chinese forces claiming it to be their land and buildings were constructed on their land. The Chinese side has built buildings at a distance of around one kilometer from the border in the Lapcha Limi area of the Humla District, which also has been mentioned by Nepal's Foreign Minister. The area which has been claimed to be of Nepal by locals, claimed simultaneously by China is also said to offer a view of Kailash Mansarovar which lies in the Tiber Autonomous Region. Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday evening had denied reports of land encroachment by China in the Humla district of Nepal in contrary to claims made by locals of the district. "The Department of Survey, Government of Nepal, based on the official records, reports of the joint field inspection and boundary maps, has verified and confirmed that the said buildings are not located within the Nepali territory," MoFA said in the release where it has mentioned its attention has been drawn over the issue. The release from the Ministry further claimed that the same sort of issue was raised in 2016 which turned down the earlier claims. Local media, since last week, carried reports of land encroachment by China by illegally constructing 9 buildings in the LapchaBagar area of Nepal's Humla District which is only accessible by airways. (With ANI inputs) READ | India Gives Nepal Rs 96 Crore As Post-earthquake Support For Rehabilitation Purposes READ | Nepal And China To Reveal New Height Of Mount Everest After COVID Pandemic Delay European countries will have to cover compensation costs if Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine causes any side effects, as part of the EU's deal to secure the experimental jab at a discounted price, it was claimed today. The European Union is said to have struck a deal with AstraZeneca - which owns the rights to the experimental shot - that diminishes the UK drug giant's liability if people fall ill after being inoculated. EU countries will pay the reduced price of 2.20 per dose of the Covid-19 vaccine once rigorous scientific trials wrap up and the jab is deemed to be safe by health regulators, likely in early 2021. Britain has already secured 100million doses of the jab for an undisclosed fee, but AstraZeneca will be expected to shoulder the costs of any negative side effects among Britons. The EU's deal was struck in August, before late-stage trials of the vaccine were ground to a halt earlier this month when a British volunteer was hospitalised with serious spinal swelling thought to have been triggered by the jab. But investigators ruled there was no evidence the patient's condition was directly caused by the vaccine and trials have restarted in the UK, Brazil, Indian and South Africa. Unexpected side effects after a drug has been green-lit by medical regulators are rare because the process for approval is so rigorous. But the speed at which the vaccine is being pursued - vaccines normally take 10 to 15 years to develop - may increase the likelihood of unforeseen problems. People in the UK are entitled to a one-off tax-free payment of 120,000 if they become 'severely disabled as a result of a vaccination against certain diseases', according to the Government. But patients need to prove in the courts that their condition was a direct result of a vaccine - which can often be difficult. AstraZeneca's candidate vaccine, known as AZD1222, is in phase 3 trials - the final stage before safety and efficacy data can be submitted to regulators. Pictured: A Brazilian volunteer receiving the Oxford vaccine, July 24 Trials for AstraZeneca's shot are underway in the US, UK, Australia, Brazil (pictured) and other nations. Phase 3 testing will now be paused while safety data is reviewed The bloc paid around 300million for 400million doses of Oxford's vaccine in August - but the liability clauses of the deal have not previously been reported. An EU official - who asked not to be named - told Reuters that AstraZeneca would only pay legal costs up to a certain threshold under the terms of the deal. They declined to elaborate on the price cap or explain how the costs would be shared with individual European governments. WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE ORDERED OXFORD'S VACCINE ALREADY? UK The UK is the host of research and development efforts of the vaccine, which has been developed by researchers in Oxford and will be manufactured by AstraZeneca, a company based in Cambridge. The British Government has ordered 100million doses of the jab and has already started manufacturing them so they're ready to go if and when clinical trials are successful. The price paid has not been disclosed. US The US Government has ordered 100million doses of the vaccine and contributed $1.2billion (910m) to the research and development of the jab. European Union (EU) The European Commission has agreed a deal for 300million doses of the vaccine if its clinical trials work, with the option to buy a further 100million. The deal has been made on behalf of countries in the EU. The amount of money spent is unknown. Australia Australia has confirmed it ordered enough doses of the vaccine to give one to its entire population of 25million people. It is not clear how many doses the nation has ordered. The UK - with a population of 66m but an order of 100m - ordered more than it needs. China One company in China has agreed a deal with AstraZeneca to make at least 100million doses of the vaccine. Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products, based in the city of Shenzhen, will increase capacity to 200m per year by the end of 2021. Russia A Russian company, R-Pharm, also has a deal to produce and distribute the vaccine, but it is unclear how many it will make or what it will pay to AstraZeneca. Brazil Brazilian officials have set aside $360million (274m) for at least 100million doses of the vaccine. Brazil is currently in one of the worst Covid-19 crises in the world with more than 3.6million official cases so far and 114,000 deaths. Advertisement The financial shield, it was reported, would cover both legal costs and potential compensation, which is rarer but potentially a much bigger outlay in the event of something going wrong. A European Commission spokesman said advance purchase deals 'provide for member states to indemnify the manufacturer for certain liabilities incurred under specific and strict conditions', but 'liability still remains with the companies'. This means it would be the firm's responsibility to defend its shot in the courts. Drugmakers have called on EU regulators to set up a Europe-wide compensation scheme, while patients' organisations are calling for an EU-wide fund financed by pharmaceutical firms that would compensate for unexpected side-effects. The EU legal regime is among the least favourable to drugmakers on compensation claims. But plaintiffs have rarely managed to win as the law requires them to prove the link between an illness and a vaccine that may have caused it - which is often difficult. The United States has granted immunity from liability for Covid-19 vaccines that received regulatory approval. Meanwhile, Russia has said it would shoulder some of the legal liability should anything go wrong with its vaccine, which became the first in the world to be approved last month. Meanwhile, scientists in the US are calling for answers as to why America's arm of Oxford's Covid-19 vaccine trial is still on hold two weeks after it was first paused. AstraZeneca stopped global trials on September 8 because a British volunteer was hospitalised. She has now been discharged. Uncertainty remains about what happened to the unnamed 37-year-old because of medical confidentiality. But leaked documents claimed she developed 'transverse myelitis' a neurological condition which left her struggling to walk. Doctors restarted trials in the UK on September 12 after an independent safety review committee and the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, investigated and deemed it safe to do so. But US regulators have yet to give it the green light to restart, despite trials of the leading vaccine also continuing in Brazil, India and South Africa. Scientists are racing to find an effective jab, which could put an end to the pandemic, stop the need for more draconian lockdowns, and save millions of lives. Experts have blasted drug giant AstraZeneca based in Cambridge for not being transparent about the side effect. The firm insists there is no proof to say the adverse reaction was caused by the vaccine itself. Professor Terry Nolan from the University of Melbourne, said it was entirely plausible the volunteer had suffered transverse myelitis (TM) as a direct result of the vaccine. The exact cause of TM is unknown, but it has been reported to occur after infections and vaccinations. Medical news site Stat first reported the pause in the study and said the possible side-effect occurred in a testing volunteer in Britain, who was expected to recover. The vaccine, developed by Oxford University, is being tested in thousands of people in Britain and the US, and in smaller study groups in Brazil and South America. An AstraZeneca spokeswoman said the pause is part of a standard review process which occurs in trial if there is a 'potentially unexplained illness' reported in any trial subject, and that the subject's illness could also be coincidental. 'As part of the ongoing randomised, controlled global trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine, our standard review process was triggered and we voluntarily paused vaccination to allow review of safety data by an independent committee,' the spokeswoman said in a statement. 'This is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials. 'In large trials illnesses will happen by chance but must be independently reviewed to check this carefully. 'We are working to expedite the review of the single event to minimise any potential impact on the trial timeline. We are committed to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our trials.' No details about the patient suffering the potential side-effect, or the nature of the reaction, were given. Temporary holds of large medical studies are not uncommon, and looking into any unexpected reactions is a mandatory part of safety testing. It was not immediately clear how long AstraZeneca's pause would last. In a diminished spotlight because of the Covid-19 pandemic, leading human rights defenders on Friday urged people in these fractured times to connect through politics and vote, too. In many places around the world, participation is being denied and civic space is being crushed, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on the sidelines of the annual UN gathering of world leaders, this year held online. People must take part in the decisions that affect their lives, he said, noting new heights of inequalities and and warning: The window to address climate change is almost shut. In the cautious language of diplomacy, no names were named, no governments called out. But around the world, the crack of batons and the tang of pepper spray have been common as some authorities are accused of using the cover of Covid-19 restrictions to commit abuses and limit free speech. In Venezuela, advocates said quarantine was used to erode civil liberties. In Kenya, watchdogs said police enforcing curfew beat or shot dead civilians including a 13-year-old boy. People must push back even in this socially distanced world, speakers said. UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned of a crisis of governance and a marginalization of voices that she said will only deepen grievances and harm all of society. We are witnessing an erosion of public trust in institutions and traditional politics, said Eamon Gilmore, the European Unions special representative for human rights. Young people in particular are feeling increasingly insecure, he said. Economies are crumbling in the pandemic, erasing job opportunities, and millions of students are unable to return to school. Speaking up for youth, the founder of Action for Justice and Human Rights in Liberia, Satta Sheriff, told the gathering that people like her should not be seen as simply waiting for an empty seat at the table. Youth in the West African nation successfully pressed the government to declare rape a national emergency after days of peaceful protests, she said. Despite that win, access to decision-making spaces remains limited for youth, who face the stereotype of constantly being labeled troublemakers, she said. Such frustration is especially potent in Africa, with the worlds youngest population and a median age of 19. The continents population is expected to double by 2050, and already a small corps of young opposition leaders in places like Uganda is challenging heads of state who have spent years, even decades, in power. The Covid-19 pandemic is a crucial chance for governments to fight the urge to impose repressive measures and instead win the trust of citizens thats key to combating the spread of the virus, speakers said. Its the good governance that has kept Latvias confirmed virus case rate relatively low compared to the rest of Europe, said the countrys ambassador to the UN, Andrejs Pildegovics. South Koreas ambassador, Cho Hyun, agreed, citing peoples voluntary wearing of face masks in his countrys relative success in containing the virus. As scores of heads of state this week are making urgent calls to band together to fight the crises of Covid-19, Fridays speakers on human rights stressed that governments must open the political space for everyone. As the global toll closed in on 1 million deaths, the UKs minister for human rights, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, reminded listeners: Its only over when its over for all of us. These families are desperate, he said. They dont know what to do. They may have been told for years that kids can live with it or theyll outgrow it or some nonsense like that. And then they start developing real problems, which are almost inevitable, and then theyre being told they need a liver transplant. So the families are like, Whats going on? I was told for many years theres nothing wrong. Now all of the sudden they need a liver transplant? Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes Two people were injured in a knife attack close to the former offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Friday. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the attack was clearly an act of Islamist terrorism. An 18-year-old man of Pakistani origin, described by officials as the main suspect, was arrested near the scene. Six more people were being questioned. A major trial is taking place in the French capital over the deadly terror attack at the Charlie Hebdo offices in 2015, in which Islamist extremists burst into the building with rifles and killed 12 people. In an interview with France 2, Darmanin didnt explicitly link Friday mornings violence to Charlie Hebdo, which moved offices after the deadly attacks five years ago, but called it a new bloody attack against our country, against journalists. Its the street where Charlie Hebdo used to be. This is the way the Islamist terrorists operate, he said. He said the main suspect came to France three years ago and had a previous arrest for carrying a screwdriver but wasnt known to be radicalized. The two wounded peoplea man and a woman who worked at a TV production companywere smoking outside their office building when they were randomly stabbed with a machete-like knife, colleagues said. They were initially said to be in absolutely urgent condition. The pair worked for documentary film company Premieres Lignes, which took over Charlie Hebdos old office building after the 2015 attack, according to its founder Paul Moreira. One eyewitness to Friday mornings stabbing attacks reportedly told local radio: I was in my office. I heard screams in the road. I looked out of the window and saw a woman who was lying on the floor and had taken a whack in the face from what was possibly a machete. Another eyewitness, named as Kader Alfa, told the Associated Press: I saw a guy that was in his thirties or forties with an axe in his hand who was walking behind a victim covered in blood. Story continues In a statement, Charlie Hebdo wrote: Charlies entire team provides support and solidarity to his former neighbors and colleagues @PLTVfilms and to those affected by this heinous attack. Police cordoned off a large area, including the former Charlie Hebdo offices, due to a suspect package being discovered nearby. However, it was reported that no explosives were found upon inspection. The NYPDs counterterrorism bureau wrote: We are closely monitoring a possible terrorist attack near the office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France. There is no known nexus to New York City at this time. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. Six weeks ahead of the US presidential election that he has been accused of meddling in, Vladimir Putin has unexpectedly proposed a new global non-aggression pact on cyberwarfare. In a four-point plan released on the Kremlins website on Friday, the Russian president suggested that an agreement could be shaped around the principles of a 1972 US-Soviet treaty to prevent escalation of incidents at sea. It could even include electoral processes, he said. Never one to undersell on theatre, Mr Putin concluded by urging the US and other countries not to make cybersecurity a hostage of political disagreement". Mass cyber-confrontation was one of the main threats of the times, he said. "The leading players have a particular responsibility. Cyberwar is not well defined legally, but whatever its nature, Russia and the west have for a long time been keen and active players. We know cyberbattles have been fought since at least 2007 when Russian hackers appeared to overwhelm the Estonian internet with weeks of mass spamming attacks. In the years since, attacks have become angrier and more sophisticated. The west has linked Russia to all kinds of cybercrimes: from hacking power grids in Ukraine to infiltrating US civil infrastructure; from stealing coronavirus vaccine projects to disrupting the 2016 US presidential election. Most recently, on 9 September the US tech giant Microsoft declared that one of Joe Biden's campaign organisations had been targeted by Russian state hackers. The Kremlin has denied all the accusations and has made several claims of its own. In August, Oleg Khramov, deputy secretary of Russia's security council, accused the US of being responsible for three-quarters of global cyberattacks. Whatever the truth, former US president Barack Obama made the unusual move in 2017 of disclosing some of the retaliatory cyber operations he had ordered against Russia. It is unclear what may have prompted Mr Putin to make the proposal and the timing of it. According to Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence officer and cyber-expert, the Russian leader may be alarmed by new western capacities around the globe, and perhaps in Iran. However, it was far from the only factor on the table. Its the kind of thing Putin might float if he was planning something to give it additional plausible deniability, he said. Other factors are the US presidential elections, and Putin's desire to give Donald Trump something to work with. It is not the first time that Russia has raised the prospect of a cybersecurity deal. Three years ago, Sergei Ryabkov, Russias deputy foreign minister, proposed the outlines of a pact, but the proposal was rejected unceremoniously in Washington. Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat and security expert, said Mr Putins statement offered little more than an attempt to rehash the proposals. He predicted nothing would come of the empty rhetoric. Instead, Mr Frolov suggested that Mr Putins international grandstanding was a mitigating tactic, aimed at reducing international isolation following the nerve-agent poisoning of opposition politician Alexei Navalny. The United States has no choice but to enforce the 1991 Chemical Weapons Act, which calls for a downgrade in diplomatic ties, Mr Frolov said. What you are seeing is Putin reminding the world he can still spoil the party. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form The study measures overall traveler satisfaction with mega, large and medium North American airports by examining six factors (in order of importance): terminal facilities; airport arrival/departure; baggage claim; security check; check-in/baggage check; and food, beverage and retail. On a 1,000-point scale, MIA achieved a score of 801 second among mega airports in North America only to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which earned a score of 805. Mega airports are those with 33 million or more passengers per year - the busiest airports in the study. MIA was able to jump from 11th place in last year's study to 2nd place overall in North America, while serving a record-high 46 million passengers in 2019 an increase of nearly one million passengers over the previous year. "MIA's strong showing in J.D. Power's annual ranking of the busiest airports in North America is the latest reason for travelers to have extreme confidence in the safety of traveling to and from our community," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. "Before, during and since the onset of the pandemic, MIA has gone to great lengths to meet or exceed the expectations of its passengers, and the results of this year's study confirm that those efforts are having a profound effect." Nearly one-third of travelers surveyed said their opinion of the airport they traveled through improved after seeing its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this month, MIA became the first airport in Florida, second in the U.S. and third in North America to be accredited under the Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Health Accreditation program. The accreditation is based on evidence that MIA is following best practices and has implemented key measures to prevent further spread of COVID-19. "It is deeply gratifying to see from the J.D. Power study that recent customer service improvements such as our new automated baggage delivery system, expedited passport screening via biometrics, and other enhancements made before receiving record numbers for the winter holiday season and Super Bowl LIV, were noticed and appreciated by our passengers," said Lester Sola, MIA Director and CEO. "We are pleased to see that the aggressive steps we have taken to maintain health and safety at MIA are also resonating with travelers." The J.D. Power North America Airport Satisfaction Study SM, now in its 15th year, covers both departure and arrival experiences (including connecting airports), and includes travelers' evaluations from either a departing or arriving airport from their round-trip experience. J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. Subscribe here for more MIA news Connect with us on: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Linkedin For hi-res images, click here MEDIA CONTACT: Greg Chin 786.251.0588 [email protected] www.miami-airport.com SOURCE Miami International Airport Related Links http://www.miami-airport.com SAN FRANCISCO When Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week that California would ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035, he left no doubt about why he was issuing the order now. Our cars shouldnt make wildfires worse, Newsom, a Democrat, said in his announcement. It was the clearest sign yet that this years destructive wildfire season had shaken up the debate over what to do about climate change. And there may be more change to come, especially if a new sense of determination can carry forward after the season is over. People who have devoted years to climate activism said in interviews that they believed this years devastating wildfires which are far from over in the Western United States have become a turning point in the debate, with residents more energized and politicians such as Newsom feeling compelled to pursue bold policies. That would not have happened if California didnt live on Mars for a day, Mary Creasman, CEO of the California League of Conservation Voters, said after Newsoms announcement. The sky in parts of the West Coast turned orange for a day this month, as wildfire smoke blocked out the sun and left people with a feeling they were on another planet or living through an apocalypse. And that was only one of the dramatic scenes in this years vivid wildfire season that has seen millions of acres burned. People across multiple states have been forced to evacuate by the thousands, and smoke has filled the air for weeks at a time, trapping people in their homes because its too dangerous to be outside. At least 33 people have died, according to the official count, though the number may be in the thousands when the effects of smoke inhalation are considered. Theres this sense of urgency that the time is now. Its happening. Were no longer talking about climate change in the future. Were living it, said Sarah Rose, executive director of the bird-and-wildlife-focused nonprofit Audubon California. Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, a Stanford professor of earth system science, said changing public perception is beginning to show up in surveys. Story continues We are observing a shift, I would say, in terms of what people are attributing these events to, and the shift is more toward climate change, she said. A flurry of action and discussion around climate change following major disasters has become more common in recent years. But some well-earned skepticism persists that this does little to bring about the kind of broad and long-term change necessary to fight climate change. Climate scientists say that global warming is contributing to longer and more intense fire seasons around the world, even though some fires have seemingly unrelated direct causes like unsafe utility equipment. Fires in far-flung spots such as Australia and the U.S. are starting earlier in the year and feed on drier conditions. Image: (Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP) The change in the climate conversation is showing up in the everyday work of environmental groups. California-based advocates report more clicks on their emails about climate change and higher online engagement in other ways, and theyre using reminders of the wildfires in election ads. And environmental advocates said their conversations with politicians will also be different, now that everyone has more direct experience with the effects of wildfires and smoke. It gives us a shared experience with lawmakers and decision-makers, and any time you can take something off the page and make it a lived experience, youre going to have a different kind of conversation, Rose said. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, said this month that her states wildfires were truly the bellwether for climate change and a wake-up call for all of us. Dan Jacobson, state director of Environment California, said he saw a significantly higher response than usual to a recent email call for action. The email pointed people to a website that noted the American West is on fire, and more than 2,700 of them signed an online pledge to become a climate defender. Between the fires and the heat wave and peoples concern over climate, people are standing up and saying they want to do something, whereas previously they might have been happy to leave it up to their neighbor, Jacobson said. Image: Kamala Harris meets with California Governor Gavin Newsom at the site of the Creek Fire in Auberry (Lucy Nicholson / Reuters) The shift in the regions conversation is showing up in local media. Days before Newsoms announcement about gas-powered cars, the editorial board of The Sacramento Bee in the state capital harshly criticized the governor for a lack of zeal on climate action. Is Gov. Gavin Newsom a climate leader or just a climate tweeter? the newspaper asked, specifically noting the recent wildfires. Not everyone believes that natural disasters are especially consequential for public opinion. During the last couple decades, we have had Hurricane Katrina, we have had Hurricane Sandy, we have had wildfires out west various kinds of episodes where people hoped, Thats going to do it, said Jon Krosnick, a Stanford University political scientist who lives a few miles from one of this years fires. None has made a fundamental difference, he said. Krosnick said measures of political activism like donations to environmental groups usually run in cycles, as the perception of threats rises and falls. Regular surveys he has conducted on climate change since 1997 show mostly stable overall views, though there has been a rise in the share of Americans who said global warming was extremely personally important to them, from 13 percent in 2015 to 25 percent this summer. Wong-Parodi, also at Stanford, said peoples reactions seem to depend on the type of environmental cue they pick up on. In surveys of people in hurricane-prone areas, experience with higher winds is not linked to changing views about climate change but experience with higher temperatures is, she said. These types of acute events, if youre unsure, can help provide evidence that climate change is happening and make it seem more real and more vivid, she said. And in that respect it represents a window of opportunity to talk about ways forward. Environmentalists have a list of items theyd like Newsom, the state legislature and regulators to tackle next. Theyre asking for a bigger state budget for forest management, new investments in public transit and a speedup of an existing deadline to reach 100 percent clean electric power, from 2045 to 2030. And they said newly energized activists are poised to make it all happen. Were not going to have to manufacture the urgency on this, said Creasman, of the California League of Conservation Voters. Things are going to get horrible in our state because of our systemic lack of action, and that is going to create the urgency. ZUNI PUEBLO, N.M.: A hand-carved figure held sacred by a Native American community in New Mexico has been returned to the tribe by an Ohio auction house, the company said. The 15-inch wooden war god was returned to Zuni Pueblo authorities in late August after it was discovered in an estate collection that had been consigned to Cowans Auctions, the company said Thursday in statement. The companys director of Native American, prehistoric and tribal art, Danica Farand, said she recognized that the figure was from the Zuni Pueblo and began the process for its return, assisted by the Authentic Tribal Art Dealers Association. The Zuni recognize the war gods as living beings, and their removal from the shrine where they live represents an affront to Zuni cultural traditions, Farnand said in the statement. The war gods are sacred beings that deserve to be at rest. When I explained to our consignor their significance to the Zuni, they were happy and eager to return him to his home. Each winter, members of the tribes Deer and Bear clans carve two figures known as Big Brother and Little Brother. The twin gods are then ceremonially brought to a shrine on tribal land where they are left in an act to protect the tribe and the earth. Over the years, many of the figures have been illegally removed and have made their way into museum and private collections in the U.S. and Europe. Zuni Pueblo has recovered more than 100 of the wooden carvings in recent years. Zuni Pueblo Lt. Governor Carleton R. Bowekaty said in a statement that the return of the war gods known as Ahayu:da are for the protection and well-being of the entire world. Zuni and many other tribes continue to face difficulties in seeking the return of sacred cultural items held in private hands and collection worldwide, he said, adding that the pueblo looks forward to developing its partnership with the art dealers association. Robert Gallegos, a tribal art dealer in Albuquerque and a board member of the dealers association, said the group is committed to working with tribes, private collectors and dealers to help repatriate sensitive cultural property. He said establishing a level of trust between all parties helps resolve issues of cultural patrimony. According to the auction house, the figure recognized by Farnand had been part of a 1930s-1950s traveling show of American Indian artifacts that operated in the southeastern U.S. Its long-deceased owner, a man who claimed he was a Cherokee tribal member from Oklahoma, died with no immediate family and left the contents of the sideshow to a friend and fellow collector in Ohio. The war god was found in the friends estate. The auction house said it has helped in the return of numerous religious masks and other objects for years. 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 Victorian prisoners will have their sentences cut by a combined total of 487 years after being held under strict conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousand of inmates have been granted "emergency management days" in return for measures taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which saw some confined to their cells 24 hours a day. Eligible prisoners will have their prison terms commuted by one day for every day of significant restrictions they faced. Port Phillip Prison, in Truganina. Credit:Craig Abraham By the end of August, 71,020 days had been cut from the sentences of 4313 prisoners, at an average of 16.4 days each. Home sales in Malaysia are sliding and foreign investors are making fewer trips as an investment-for-visa programme is suspended, while a topsy-turvy political environment has given the nation poor publicity overseas. Malaysian real property agents, facing one of the toughest lockdowns during the pandemic, are now clamouring for an overhaul in market policies to revive sagging demand and halt a housing glut. Their wish list includes eliminating or reducing stamp duty on purchases, enhancing support for first-time buyers, and a lower property gains tax, according to a study conducted by property portal Juwai IQI. They are hoping the government will deliver the goodies on November 6, when it presents the budget plan for 2021. Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China. The situation with housing supply did not improve significantly in the first half because of Malaysias relatively long and strict lockdown, said Georg Chmiel, executive chairman at Juwai IQI. New launches dropped even faster than transactions. A model of the Forest City project developed by Country Garden in Johor, Malaysia. The city is said to be one of the popular destinations under the MM2H visa programme. Photo: Bloomberg Home sales fell 25 per cent in the first half to 75,318 units from a year earlier, while the current glut worsened by 31,661 units or 3.3 per cent from the end of 2019, according to government statistics. Some 13,924 new units entered the market, a 44 per cent drop from a year earlier. All told, residential prices are likely to fall by about 5 per cent over the next 12 months, the firm forecasts, as foreign investors appear to have looked elsewhere after the government halted its Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme towards the end of last year. The programme offers 10-year renewable visas to non-Malaysians, with which they are allowed to buy residential property costing at least 600,000 ringgit (US$145,000). Since 2002, fewer than 3,000 MM2H visas per year have been issued on average, Chmiel added. Georg Chmiel, executive chairman at Juwai IQI. Photo: Juwai IQI Foreign purchasers accounted for 14 per cent of Malaysian property sales in the third quarter, compared with 21 per cent in the second quarter, according to Juwai IQIs estimate. Story continues It does not help sentiment that the government of Muhyiddin Yassin, formed by defections from the coalition that won the last general elections, is purportedly facing its own defections. While the pandemic lockdown has affected property launches and sales, the suspension of the MM2H programme has had a bigger impact in eroding demand from investors in Greater China, particularly Hong Kong. Even though the MM2H programme only encompasses a relatively small number of individuals, it is an important driver of foreign buyer demand, Chmiel said. Without it, you would need other factors to be put in place to support foreign demand. The pandemic and the suspension of the MM2H programme pose short-term challenges, according to Asia Bankers Club, a real estate agency which is marketing TRX Residences on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur business district to Hongkongers. The project, jointly developed by Australian developer Lendlease and local firm TRX City, has been promoting it online to reach a wider audience, he said. With this kind of launch event, sales of Malaysian property can start again and we are also planning to host seminars and exhibitions next month to complement their efforts, said Kingston Lai, founder and chief executive officer at the agency. He believes the MM2H will be revived in a new structure that offers better benefits, Lai said. It has not been ended for good, he said. In the meantime, the signs are less than encouraging. Exhibitions for Malaysia property in Hong Kong have declined by about 30 per cent in January to August, compared with a year earlier, said Eli McGeever, vice-president of international property at SohoApp.com. September is set to be worse with an expected drop of 80 per cent, he said. This is not strictly Covid-19 related as UK exhibitions in the city have soared by 94 per cent in the same period, which suggests a change of investor preference. That is in line with the UKs plan for Hongkongers who hold British National (Overseas) passports, offering them and their dependents eventual path to citizenship. The move was triggered by Beijings imposition of national security law in Hong Kong on June 30. The Malaysian government reportedly began rejecting most applicants in late 2019 before suspending the program in 2020, killing a major incentive for Hong Kong residents in 2019. As a result of the uncertainty, many Hong Kong buyers lost interest, McGeever added. This has led to many agents reporting record sales for UK property. This article Malaysian property agents prepare wish list to revive sliding home sales, diminishing interest from Hong Kong buyers first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020. By Ayya Lmahamad Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov has said that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with Asian Development Bank, reminding that the bank has allocated over $5.2 million for the implementation of a number of projects in the country. Jabbarov made the remarks during the meeting with the Head of Azerbaijan Resident Mission of the Asian Development Bank Nariman Mannapbekov on September 24. The minister said that Azerbaijan actively participates in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation program. It was noted during the meeting that the preparation of the project with ADB can be useful as a tool for financing, as well as for the implementation of projects in the field of high technology and innovation, education, small and medium business development, public-private partnership and tax policy. Talking about development priorities of Azerbaijan, Jabbarov informed the head of ADB about economic reforms, diversification of economy, measures on development of non-oil sector and increase of competitiveness in the country. In addition, he emphasized the possibility of cooperation between Asian Development Bank and Azerbaijan Investment Holding. In turn, Mannapbekov expressed satisfaction with the banks activity in the country and shared his opining on the directions of expansion of relations between Azerbaijan and ADB. Azerbaijan has been a member of Asian Development Bank since 1999. Since then, the bank has committed $4.4 billion in loans, $32.28 million technical assistance projects, including ADB-administered co-financing for Azerbaijan. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz New Delhi: In his first conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan's new PM Suga Yoshihide on Friday batted for Quad grouping of Japan, India, Australia and the United States. The Japanese government's read of the talks, that lasted for 25 minutes said, "Prime Minster Suga stated that he would like to promote cooperation in such multilateral mechanism as Japan-Australia-India-US meetings and the United Nations." The comments come even as Tokyo is all set to host Quad foreign ministers meet in October. This will be the second such foreign ministers meeting, the first one happened in 2019 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Both the leaders spoke at length on the Indo-Pacific region. The Indian readout of the meet said both the leaders "emphasized that the economic architecture of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region" must be premised on "resilient supply chains, and in this context, welcomed cooperation between India, Japan and other like-minded countries". During the talks, the bullet train which Japan is helping built was also discussed. The ties between the two countries have seen significant momentum in the last few years, especially under the leadership for former Japanese PM Abe Shinzo who had developed a personal connection with PM Modi. PM Modi is the sixth head of the government that new Japanese PM has spoken to. Since taking charge on September 16, Suga Yoshihide has spoken to US President Donald Trump, Australian PM Scott Morrison, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the European Council Charles Michel and British PM Boris Johnson. Interesting to note, Japan PM has spoken to all the Quad member countries head of government now. Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libyan Defense Minister Salaheddine al-Nemruch of the Government of National Accord (GNA) Friday ordered the dissolution of two conflicting brigades following armed clashes Thursday night to Friday in Tajoura, eastern suburb of Tripoli, an official source said here The province invited candidates with work experience in one of 81 in-demand occupations. Saskatchewan PNP invites 535 immigration candidates The province invited candidates with work experience in one of 81 in-demand occupations. Saskatchewan PNP invites 535 immigration candidates The province invited candidates with work experience in one of 81 in-demand occupations. Saskatchewan PNP invites 535 immigration candidates The province invited candidates with work experience in one of 81 in-demand occupations. Alexandra Miekus Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A A new draw held by Saskatchewan on September 24 invited 535 immigration candidates to apply for permanent residence. The Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) sent out invitations to candidates in the Express Entry and Occupations In-Demand categories. In order to be selected, candidates needed to have submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI) profile with the SINP. The SINP uses an EOI system to invite immigration candidates that have the potential to thrive in the prairie province to apply for a provincial nomination for permanent residence. Find out if you are eligible for Canadian immigration Interested candidates must create an EOI profile and demonstrate their capacity to settle into life in Saskatchewan by listing their work experience, education, language ability, age, and connections to the province. The SINP uses these five factors to assess candidates and give them a score out of 100 on the International Skilled Worker Points Assessment Grid . The highest-scoring candidates are then issued an invitation to apply for a provincial nomination for Canadian permanent residence. The minimum score required in the September 24 draws was 82 for both sub-categories. No job offer is required in order to receive an invitation from Saskatchewan. However, candidates needed at least one year of work experience in an eligible skilled occupation related to their field of study. Invited candidates in both categories also had Educational Credential Assessments, which show how foreign degrees, diplomas, and certificates compare to Canadian credentials. Express Entry sub-category In the latest invitation round, Saskatchewan issued 278 invitations to candidates who had profiles in the federal Express Entry pool. Saskatchewans Express Entry sub-category is linked to the federal Express Entry system, which manages the pool of candidates for three of Canadas main economic-class immigration programs: Federal Skilled Worker Class , Federal Skilled Trades Class , and Canadian Experience Class . If candidates in the federal Express Entry pool also filled out an EOI for Saskatchewan, and they scored 82 on the SINPs Points Assessment Grid they may have been selected during the September 24 draw. Express Entry candidates who apply for and receive a provincial nomination from the province of Saskatchewan are awarded an additional 600 points toward their Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score at the federal level, and are effectively guaranteed an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent residence. Occupations In-Demand sub-category The Occupations In-Demand sub-category is open to immigration candidates who do not have a federal Express Entry profile. There were 257 Occupations In-Demand candidates invited to apply for a provincial nomination, and like the Express Entry sub-category, candidates needed a provincial score of 82 in order to be chosen. The September 24 draw issued invitations to candidates in 81 occupations including senior managers, sales representatives, and machinery operators among others. To see the complete list of occupations included in this draw, consult the government webpage . Find out if you are eligible for Canadian immigration 2020 CIC News All Rights Reserved Gunther Steiner has played down rumours Haas could be about to team up with Renault. The speculation follows Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul admitting that potential team partners "are interested in talking to us again". Haas' current technical partner, Ferrari, is notably struggling in 2020. But boss Steiner said at Sochi: "We are not jumping ship at the first moment of difficulties. Gene (Haas) and I assume that Ferrari can solve its problems." He also said switching to another technical partner would be a huge task. "Our entire infrastructure with Dallara is in Italy," said Steiner. "If we were to work with Renault, we would have to move to England." Another issue for Haas is its driver lineup for 2021. Both Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen are admitting that they may even be forced to leave F1 altogether. "The ovals in America scare me, but there are some interesting options in Europe," Grosjean said. Magnussen added: "I am in the same situation as Romain." There are rumours at Sochi that Haas has already signed a preliminary contract with Sergio Perez. But Steiner said: "I do not doubt that Sergio is a great driver, but is he the best candidate in the long-term? I don't know yet." Haas has plenty of other options, including becoming closer with Ferrari by signing a youngster like Robert Shwartzman or Callum Ilott. Steiner says a Friday practice session this season is even possible. "Ferrari helped us this year when we got into trouble with coronavirus, so if they contact us with a request, I am ready for a discussion," he said. (GMM) A white female passenger on the metro was assaulted and battered by an unhinged Black male who was also a fellow passenger. She was struck 20 times in her face and the suspect showed no signs of stopping until he injured her ribs. This brutal scene of the unprovoked assault and battery by the perpetrator was caught on camera in a Metro train in Dade, Florida. Every moment was caught on the footage as the assailant savagely attacked the defenseless woman, according to Meaww. Victim went 'blank' due to the assault It was shocking and bizarre as the brutal assailant, identified as 25-year-old Joshua James King, jumped on the victim, Andrea Puerta, 29 on September 4. His strong blows on the unsuspecting woman left her with a concussion from multiple strikes with his fist on her face. He also kicked and jostled her like a rag doll that left a broken rib and severe bruising, according to The Sun. The victim was visibly begging for the perpetrator to stop beating her. Instead, he seemed to savor what he was to doing to the defenseless victim. There is no doubt of the accused's guilt in the assault and battery, because the attack was caught on video. Footage distinctly captured the suspect walking in several times, then starts to batter her repeatedly about 20 strikes to the face, kicking her hard, and slamming her head. He was positively identified because of the footage. The victim told Local 10 that she begged the man to stop. In an attempt to protect herself, she covered herself with her hands, yet he was still relentlessly beating her. At one point, the assailant said sorry to her like an awful apology, then resumed beating her furiously. She went blank from the beating and had no idea what happened. Also keep: Russian Ballerina Dismembered, Dissolved in Sulfuric Acid Amid Fears of Lewd Picture Leak She was able to get off the floor after blacking out and went out of the train to alert 911 about the incident. More footage shows that the perpetrator was not done with her. Reports state that King fought with two more male passengers later that day. For his felonies, the assaulter was arrested and charged on three counts of aggravated battery on individuals. He was allowed by the court to be released on September 10 after posting a $1,500-bond. He will be arraigned in court on Friday for the charges against him. Victim raising funds for her hospital bills Law enforcement authorities photographed the victim's severe injuries as evidence in court. Puerta sufferred a black eye with a swollen jaw, with more bruises all over her body, according to WSVN. She said the beating she took could have killed her, but she's also glad she survived the horrible ordeal. Enduring the fear and ordeal of the assault and battery by King, the victim also had to deal with expensive medical bills for her treatment. The family of Andrea started a GoFundMe campaign to provide funds for medical, legal, and therapeutic needs as part of the expenses for her. The page mentioned how the perpetrator attacked Andrea in the Metro Rover. All proceeds will go to her to pay for all expenses caused by the attack, especially medical attention, which is what she needed most. Any help would be appreciated. All needed funds were given by good Samaritans and the Puerta family. The GoFundMe organizer Adela Manotas shared that the goal of $8,500 was exceeded by donors. Related article: Russian Man Arrested for Taking Advantage, Slaying Two Underage Girls @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Even if omicron peak nears, Long Beach cases and hospitalizations will still be up for weeks, official says The "Czech Republic Cards and Payments Opportunities and Risks to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. 'Czech Republic Cards and Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023' report provides detailed analysis of market trends in the Czech cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including cash, cards, credit transfers, direct debits, and cheques during the review-period (2015-19e). The report also analyzes various payment card markets operating in the industry, and provides detailed information on the number of cards in circulation, transaction values and volumes during the review-period and over the forecast-period (2019e-23f). It also offers information on the country's competitive landscape, including the market shares of issuers and schemes. The report brings together the publisher's research, modeling, and analysis expertise to allow banks and card issuers to identify segment dynamics and competitive advantages. The report also covers details of regulatory policy and recent changes in the regulatory structure. This report provides top-level market analysis, information and insights into the Czech cards and payments industry, including: Current and forecast values for each market in the Czech cards and payments industry, including debit, credit, and charge cards. Detailed insights into payment instruments including credit transfers, direct debits, cheques, cash, and cards. It also, includes an overview of the country's key alternative payment instruments. E-commerce market analysis. Analysis of various market drivers and regulations governing the Czech cards and payments industry. Detailed analysis of strategies adopted by banks and other institutions to market debit, credit, and charge cards. Scope Contactless payments are gaining popularity in the Czech Republic. According to the Czech Bank Card Association, the number of contactless cards in the country increased from 8.1 million in 2015 to 11.9 million in 2019 at a review-period CAGR of 9.9%. The number is anticipated to further increase to 12.8 million by 2023. In addition to contactless cards, contactless mobile wallets and wearables are also being used for payments. For instance, Apple Pay users can use compatible Apple watches for purchases and payments. In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, which requires people to avoid close social contact, contactless card holding and usage for payments are anticipated to increase significantly going forward. Payment cards have been embraced by public transport providers to improve the convenience of making payments for journeys, which in turn promotes the attractiveness of using public transport. Visa partnered with The Prague Public Transit Co. to set up contactless payment terminals for Prague Trams, allowing travelers to pay for tickets using payment cards, mobile phones, and wearable technologies. To capitalize on electronic payment growth in the country, Apple Pay was launched in the Czech Republic in February 2019. Apple Pay enables users to make contactless in-store, in-app, and online payments. Users can add their debit and credit cards to Apple Pay by scanning them with their phone's camera or by entering the details manually. Meanwhile, NFC-based mobile wallet RaiPay was launched by Raiffeisen Bank in October 2019. The app enables convenient and contactless in-store payments, as well as cardless ATM withdrawals. However, it only supports Mastercard-branded payment cards issued by Raiffeisen Bank. Companies Mentioned Czech National Bank Erste Bank KBCBank Societe Generale MONETA Money Bank Raiffeisen Bank PayPal Apple Pay Google Pay masterpass RaiPay Paysafecard Poketka For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/dmaxsi View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200925005214/en/ Contacts: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 On Thursday, October 1, at 13.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference entitled "Crimean Depositors against PrivatBank. Study Presentation on Legality of Bank's Actions." The study's presentation on the legality of the bank's actions will take place with the participation of coordinator of the Crimean reception office of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, lawyer Anna Rasamakhina (8/5a Reitarska Street). The press conference will be broadcast on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Additional information at: t.tkharchylava@helsinki.org.ua or by phone: (068) 515 3380. EP Committee greenlights Ukrainian seed certification system 18:00, 25.09.20 578 The relevant resolution is planned to be put to the EP vote. 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The move comes as governments in Asia seek to attract financial firms possibly leaving Hong Kong amid the unrest following China's introduction of a security law there. The government has assigned the Presidential Committee for Balanced National Development to undertake studies on fostering an Asian financial hub, even though the committee's stated focus has been entirely domestic. It states on the committee's website that its aim is "to resolve the imbalance among regions and contribute to the equal improvement of people's lives." This was one of President Moon Jae-in's key election pledges, as there is still a heavy concentration in the capital, despite previous decentralization efforts. President Moon has unveiled plans to relocate public institutions including state-run banks to regional cities as part of these efforts. While the initiatives for balanced development appear reasonable, it is difficult to fathom how the two projects of balanced development and fostering the nation as a financial hub can be tied together. OSLO, Norway, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 25 September 2020 - The Extraordinary General Meeting of Kvrner ASA was held today, 25 September 2020 at Snaryveien 20, 1360 Fornebu, Norway. All proposals on the agenda were adopted, including approval of the merger plan dated 17 July 2020 regarding the contemplated merger with Aker Solutions ASA (the "Merger"). Please refer to previous stock exchange notices published by Kvrner ASA and the Exempted Document dated 4 September 2020 for more information regarding the Merger. Minutes for Extraordinary General Meeting 2020 is attached to this release and are published on www.kvaerner.com. For further information, please contact: Investor contact: yvind Halvorsen, VP Treasury, Kvaerner, +Mob: +47 976 97 620, email: ir@kvaerner.com Media: Torbjrn Andersen, Head of Communications & IR, Kvaerner, Mob: +47 928 85 542, email: torbjorn.andersen@kvaerner.com About Kvaerner Kvaerner is a project execution specialist and a trusted advisor for our customers. We provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services and deliver advanced offshore and onshore installations around the world. We have offices in seven countries and approximately 2 800 employees. Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) has the highest priority in our work, and we aim to deliver technology and solutions in a safe and sustainable way. Our passion, experience and expertise realise values for costumers and societies. Kvrner ASA, through its subsidiaries and affiliates is an international contractor and preferred partner for operators and contractors within oil and gas, renewable energy and in the field of engineering and fabrication. In 2019, Kvaerner's Field Development segment had consolidated annual revenues of NOK 9.4 billion and the company reported an order backlog at 30 June 2020 of NOK 9 billion. Kvaerner is publicly listed with the ticker "KVAER" at the Oslo Stock Exchange. For further information, please visit www.kvaerner.com. To subscribe or unsubscribe to our press releases, please see our web page: https://www.kvaerner.com/investors/news-and-stock-exchange-announcements/subscribe-to-releases/ This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/kvaerner-asa/r/minutes-of-kvaerner-asa-s-extraordinary-general-meeting-25-september-2020,c3203320 The following files are available for download: Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Most of us are stuck at home at the moment, so here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now. New Justice, No Peace During a Wednesday news conference at the White House, President Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election, saying, Well have to see what happens. Well, so much for that Nobel Peace Prize, Jimmy Kimmel joked in his Thursday night monologue. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend: Israel believes that friendship between Azerbaijan and Israel is very important, and finds Azerbaijan a good friend of Israel, Israeli politician Oded Forer told Trend, commenting on prospects of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Israel. Regarding trade-economy issues, we find Azerbaijan as a very important market, said the politician. Forer believes that both countries can deepen the economic relationship and create a good environment for good trade cooperation. Many people born in Azerbaijan live in Israel make it easy for us to develop culture and business relationships between countries. And we hope that these relationships will only deepen. We find it very important for us, Forer noted. The politician also noted that connection between Azerbaijan and Israel can make good for both sides. Regarding prospects for the development in terms of bilateral relations, the politician said that the two countries can develop cooperation in the education sphere as well. This is also a very good opportunity for introducing innovations and new directions for cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan, Israeli politician noted. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @romakayeva David, you have apparently forgotten that President Obamas nominee was submitted nearly 10 months before the election in 2016. The Republicans, who controlled the Senate, could have held hearings, as they were obligated to do, and then could have voted against him. They decided to create a new rule to not even have those confirmation hearings. Now they are twisting themselves into knots trying to explain that their new rule no longer applies to them when only days remain before the election. How do you spell hypocrisy? Mitch McConnell, thats how. One thing that I was able to kind of show in my research is that as schooling became more compulsory, you saw African Americans close the gap in what we call gaps of achievement in school communities, he said. And we also see it with regards to the closing of the gap in terms of educational attainment so, gaining access to high school, gaining access to college degrees. While there appeared to be broad support among educators for lowering the mandatory school age in order to expand access to kindergarten, there was much less support for the one of the other proposals being considered a requirement that students be held back in the third grade if, by the end of that year, they still are not meeting state standards for reading and math skills. It is often said among educators that from kindergarten through third grade, students learn to read, and from fourth grade on, they read to learn. That means students who enter fourth grade without the reading skills needed for fourth-grade work are likely to fall further and further behind for the rest of their time in school. But Dixon and others said mandatory retention policies have been shown to do more harm than good. New Delhi: Indias economy may experience a record contraction in the current financial year mainly due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the real GDP growth is expected to recover from next fiscal onwards, according to a report by gobal rating agency S&P. Indias weak fiscal settings will worsen further this year, constraining the governments ability to aid the economy, it said. However, it said the countrys external settings have improved, helped by the rapid accumulation of foreign exchange reserves. We are affirming our BBB- long-term and A-3 short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on India. The stable outlook reflects our view that Indias contraction in fiscal 2021 will be followed by a significant recovery, which will stabilise the countrys broader credit profile," it said. The sovereign credit ratings on India reflect the economys above-average long-term real GDP growth, sound external profile and evolving monetary settings, it said. Indias economy will experience a record contraction in fiscal 2021 (year ending March 31, 2021), largely owing to the global COVID-19 pandemic. We expect real GDP growth to recover from fiscal 2021 onwards," the global rating agency said. Indias democratic institutions promote policy stability and compromise, and also underpin the ratings, it said. The agency added that these strengths are balanced against vulnerabilities stemming from the countrys low per-capita income and weak fiscal settings, including consistently elevated general government deficits and indebtedness. The report further said it may lower the ratings if Indias economy recovers significantly slower than the expectation from fiscal 2021 onwards or net general government deficits and the associated accumulation of indebtedness materially exceed our forecasts. Observing that Indias worsening COVID-19 situation and the strict measures to contain it have hit the economy hard, the rating agency said productive capacity has been severely disrupted since the start of the pandemic. While Indias economy continues to outperform peers at a similar level of income on a 10-year weighted average real GDP per-capita basis, its performance on this metric has weakened somewhat, it said. Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian economy had already slowed measurably," it said. It added existing vulnerabilities, including a weakened financial sector, rigid labour markets and weak private investment, could hamper the economic recovery, especially in view of the deep downturn this year. S&P noted that the governments reluctance to provide greater direct fiscal support to the economy likely reflects pre-existing fiscal constraints, owing to years of high fiscal deficits. Although additional stimulus may help to avert a steeper downturn this year, it would also further strain the governments weak finances," it said. The rating agency added the increasingly tenuous balance may challenge Indias capacity to maintain sustainable public finances and balanced economic growth, if the recovery is slower than anticipated. The governments ability to deliver and execute additional economic reforms, especially those that spur investment and job creation, will be important for Indias ability to recover from the economic slowdown, it said. Nevertheless, it said fresh fiscal revenue generating measures will be difficult to implement in the face of the current downturn. Should the marketing of a wine jeopardize its quality? If so, something is upside-down. I refer here to the recent popularity of clear glass wine bottles for many white and rose wines. Clear glass bottles, called in the industry flint, are a clever marketing tactic, allowing us all to see the lovely golden color of white wines. Many now have silk-screened labels and are works of art. The problem, however, is that from a wine quality point of view, flint bottles can be problematic. Although the problem isnt very widespread, it can be hard to deal with since problems arise after the wine has been shipped to market. At that stage, poor handling can ruin it. Its one reason so few European white wines show up here in clear bottles. But U.S.-based wine companies love to display the color of their whites and roses and now many roses from the south of France are showing up here in flint glass. In a nutshell, the problem is light. The simple act of incandescent, fluorescent, or sunlight splaying on bottles of white or pink wines in flint bottles can ruin the wine. Some will smell a bit skunky. Kindlier, they smell like shallots or onions. Despite the best efforts of wine and beer producers to protect their products from spoilage, some producers still bottle their liquids in clear glass bottles that have no protectants to ward off problems with ultraviolet light. When hit with as little as a few minutes of direct light, a wine can undergo a photochemical reaction that can turn it smelly. This cannot occur with beverages in cans or cardboard boxes, which, for this purpose, is a better container. The so-called lightstruck aroma is far less well-known than corked wine. Most cases of cork taint have been solved by advances in closures. But lightstruck issues seem to pop up in the strangest of places. Once in a Beverly Hills cafe, I returned such a bottle. Oddly enough, some top wineries are unaware of this problem. One illustration should suffice. About 20 years ago, a prestigious Napa Valley winery staged a luncheon on a patio. To start, guests would sip the winerys Sauvignon Blanc so the catering company pulled corks and put the bottles on sun-bathed tables well before the guests arrived. I arrived early and was handed a glass. It was spoiled. I told an owner, who admitted that the bottle was off, and further admitted that he had no clue that sunlight could negatively affect his flint-bottled SB. Whats strange about this story is that the same producer continued to use that same flint bottle for its Sauvignon Blanc and so do lots of other wineries. Flint is especially questionable for wines that are typically served chilled on patios, where sunlight is hard to avoid. And where it can play havoc with some expensive wines. I first learned about lightstruck issues in the 1990s while attending a brewing seminar at the Center for Brewing Studies in Sonoma, Calif. The president of the center, the late brew-master Dr. Joe Owades, poured a number of commercial beers for attendees. One was badly spoiled with the skunky smell of hydrogen sulfide. Owades had bought this particular Dutch brew, in pale green glass bottles, from an illuminated refrigerator case at a local market. He did so, aware it would be a classic object lesson. Any form of light combined with a clear bottle creates a photochemical degradation and gives you this smell, said Owades, explaining that in beer it is the riboflavin that is the catalyst. He said dark beers or those bottled in brown bottles are less likely to have this skunky smell when exposed to light. He said that just 15 minutes of exposure to light, even sunlight, can ruin a bottle of a delicate beer. Lagers are frequently affected; such brews can smell sort of cat-boxy. A few high-end French Champagnes that come in clear glass bottles are sold here. Buying one out of a refrigerator case could be risky. One of the finest Champagnes is Roederers incomparable Cristal, which was originally made for Russian Tsar Alexander II, who ordered it bottled in clear glass. Even though wine typically has a lot less riboflavin than beer, Cristals owners knew the risks of clear glass. To protect the wine, the company wraps each in colored cellophane to filter out almost all ultraviolet light. Bottles of Cristal usually are accompanied by a leaflet suggesting that buyers keep the cellophane on until its time to open the wine. Of course, this doesnt mean retailers will keep the cellophane on. Cristal bottles look stylish without it. After attending Owades brewing course, I tested the lightstruck effect with two identical bottles of Chardonnay, both purchased at a local shop. The wines had been bottled in clear glass, and were bought from a shop that opened a sealed case to sell me two. One bottle was immediately placed in a bag. The other bottle was placed in my kitchen window in direct sunlight, adjacent to an air-conditioning duct. Later both bottles were chilled to the same temperature. The following day I opened both. The wine that had been exposed to sunlight in the window had a noticeably funky aroma. The bottle from the bag and box was fresh. It had no off odors. Because of their pigmentation, red wines are generally not affected by light. Nor are most wines in dark-colored bottles. Thats why some winemakers use black glass bottles which have a UV protectant. Lightstruck issues in flint bottles remain a small problem for the industry, and in fact, some glassmakers now offer flint bottles that are treated to block UV light. Still, I would avoid buying white wines from stores that display bottles in intense light. Wine of the Week 2018 Mettler Family Albarino, Lodi ($20) This attractive floral white wine was made from a grape variety popular in western Portugal and Spain. Its aroma is delicately floral with nuances of tangerine, nectarine, and pineapple, and although it has a soft entry, the finish is dry. The screw-capped, silk-screened bottle is clear, so keep it out of direct sun. Watch now: Vines on Las Amigas Road before harvest Dan Berger lives in Sonoma County, where he publishes Vintage Experiences, a subscription-only wine newsletter. Write to him at winenut@gmail.com. He is also co-host of California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon on KSRO Radio, 1350 AM. Research shows Brits are among the least likely in Europe to discuss their sex life Over 52 per cent revealed they never discuss what goes on in their bedroom Thornton & Ross conducted the study ahead of World Contraception Day More than 52 per cent of people in Britain avoid discussing their sex life, a recent study has found. Brits are often thought to be quite reserved and new research conducted by Thornton and Ross ahead of World Contraception Day on Saturday 26 September has compared the nation to more broad-minded countries in neighbouring Europe - and confirmed the theory is true. ADVERTISEMENT A study of 24,000 people from 12 European countries found that those who live in Britain are most reluctant to talk about sex, with either their partner or friends. Meanwhile, a surprising 52 per cent confessed that they never discuss what goes on in the bedroom. Research conducted by pharmaceutical firm Thornton & Ross suggests Brits are among the least likely people to discuss their sex life (file image) How much do people talk about sex in the UK? 1 UK - 52 per cent 2 Belgium - 40 per cent 3 France - 39 per cent 4 Germany - 35 per cent 5 Italy - 31 per cent 6 Finland - 27 per cent 7 Switzerland - 26 per cent 8 Austria - 25 per cent 9 Russia - 25 per cent 10 Poland - 22 per cent 11 Serbia - 21 per cent 12 Spain - 20 per cent Spain was revealed as the country with people who are the least shy about discussing their sex lives with others, as just 20 per cent of the participants said they're too bashful to talk about intimacy. The pharmaceutical firm asked 2,000 people from 12 countries to reveal their attitude towards chatting about their sex lives - and then put the findings together in the 2020 Health Report, Click here to resize this module Participants were asked whether they 'talked about sex' with their 'friends or their partner'. Graham Burton, 48, who lives in Harrow, north West London, said he never spoke about sex with his pals and only occasionally with his partner. Mick Cox, who is the vice-president for consumer healthcare at T&R, said the findings about Brits being reluctant to discuss sex and sexual health is worrying (file image) 'I never speak to my friends about my sex life and I hope my partner doesn't speak with her friends about it either. ADVERTISEMENT 'It might be our British reserve, but I just think it's really about respecting the person you are in a relationship with, rather than telling all and sundry about what you get up to in the bedroom,' he said. A spokesman commented: 'More than half of Brits refuse to talk about sex with their partner or friends, the highest figure in 12 European countries.' T&R's vice-president for consumer healthcare Mick Cox, added: 'The fact that Brits don't feel comfortable talking about sex or their sexual health is worrying.' Bilkis Bano, the 82-year-old who earned the moniker "Dadi of Shaheen Bagh" during the long protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the national capital has now been named among the 100-most influential global personalities by Time magazine. "I am very happy that I was honoured in this manner. Although I did not expect this." said the grandmother speaking to ANI after the recognition. Along with Bilkis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, actor Ayushman Khurrana, biologist Ravindra Gupta and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai were on the list of '100 Most Influential People of 2020' that was released on Wednesday and features pioneers, artists, leaders, icons and titans who have had the most impact in 2020. "I have read only the Quran Sharif and I have never been to school but today I feel excited and happy. I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for also being included in this list. He is also my son. So what if I did not give birth to him, my sister has given birth to him. I pray for his long life and happiness," Bilkis Bano said. Bilkis Dadi, who along with two other grandmothers emerged as the face of NRC-CAA protest, hails from Hapur, Uttar Pradesh. Her husband died about eleven years ago and she currently lives in Shaheen Bagh with her daughters-in-law and grandchildren. On being asked about India's fight against COVID-19, she said: "Our first fight is against coronavirus. The disease should be eliminated from the world." The family of Bilkis Dadi also expressed their excitement on her being recognised among the world's most influential people including Prime Minister Modi. This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The NYPD confirmed that a South Shore man has been found after being reported missing from his home in Annadale. Police previously asked via social media for the publics help to locate Anthony Rose Jr. A spokesman for the NYPDs Deputy Commissioner of Public Information said on Friday that the man no longer is missing. Demonstrators demand the release of those arrested during protests in Kentucky - Michael M. Santiago /Getty Images North America At least 24 people have been arrested as more than 1,000 defied a second night of curfew in the US city of Louisville to protest over the lack of criminal charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, with some seeking refuge in a church. Authorities alleged the protesters broke windows at a restaurant, damaged city buses, tried to set a fire and threw a flare into the street. Two officers were shot during clashes in Louisville a day earlier, after authorities announced a grand jury had decided not to charge anyone in connection with the death of Ms Taylor - a 26-year-old black woman shot dead in her apartment by police earlier this year. Both officers are expected to recover. "Until we afford Black people the basic rights promised by our founders - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - and end the rampage of the devil of racism, we will know no peace," her family's lawyer Ben Crump said in an opinion piece in The Washington Post. Over a thousand people protested Thursday evening in the city center, much of which was closed to traffic, with several shops boarded up in anticipation of more violence. "No way we can be peaceful any longer," said Michael Pyles, a 29-year-old black man who said he has been protesting for 120 days, and had a 9mm handgun on his hip. "We're out here to protect our people and the people who support us," he said. "We are under attack." A memorial for Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky - Luke Sharrett /Bloomberg Grace Pennix, 19, who is also African American, said she can't help but place herself in Ms Taylor's shoes. "I often be passing by my front door and thinking, dang, the police could be coming at my door and shoot me and kill me just like they did with Breonna. "It could be me, my friend, cousin, aunt, mom," she said. With a 9:00 pm to 6:30 am curfew in place through the weekend, about a hundred protesters in violation of the rule Thursday sought refuge at the First Unitarian Church late Thursday. Story continues Heavily armed police surrounded the building, and helicopters whirled overhead, but the demonstrators were allowed to leave around 11 pm. Authorities arrested at least 24 people on charges including unlawful assembly, failure to disperse and riot in the first degree, police said, though the city appeared to avoid the violence of the previous evening. Protesters gather on the steps of Metro Hall in downtown Louisville - Jeff Dean/AFP Ms Taylor's death has become a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement and the grand jury decision sent fresh demands for racial justice billowing across the country. Louisville police chief Robert Schroeder said a suspect, Larynzo Johnson, had been arrested and charged with two counts of assault and 14 counts of "wanton endangerment." Mr Schroeder said there had been a total of 127 arrests overnight Wednesday across the city, Kentucky's largest with a population of 600,000, and at least 16 instances of looting. Ms Taylor, an emergency room technician, was shot dead on March 13 after three plainclothes policemen executing a search warrant in the middle of the night burst into the apartment. Ms Taylor's boyfriend exchanged fire with the officers, who he said he thought were intruders. Protesters in Los Angeles called for the police to be defunded - Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/Shutterstock /Shutterstock More than six months later, a grand jury on Wednesday charged detective Brett Hankison with three counts of "wanton endangerment" over shots fired into adjoining apartments. But neither Mr Hankison nor the two officers who fired the shots that killed Taylor were charged in direct connection with her death. President Donald Trump, who is campaigning for reelection on a "law and order" platform and has repeatedly stoked fears about violence, tweeted that he was "praying" for the officers who were shot. Seething protests have rocked America's cities for months, with the movement's anger fed by a stream of deaths of black people at the hands of police, and exacerbated by badly fractured national politics and inflammatory rhetoric by Trump. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said the two officers who had fired the shots that killed Taylor had done so in self-defense, and would therefore not be charged. The city of Louisville settled a wrongful death suit with Taylor's family for $12 million last week. Just received this update from the US Embassy in Bogota: ------------------------------------------------------- Event: International Flights between the United States and Colombia Resuming September 19 The U.S. Embassy is pleased to confirm that flights between the United States and Colombia will resume on Saturday, September 19, operated by Spirit Airlines (between Cartagena and Fort Lauderdale) and Colombia-based Viva Air (between Medellin, Cartagena, and Miami). Regular international commercial service from major airports in Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena, and Cali will reopen on Monday, September 21. Colombias land and sea borders remain closed until at least October 1, although rare exceptions to this rule are possible. The U.S. Embassy will no longer organize humanitarian flights out of Colombia. Questions on booking tickets and other issues related to flights should be directed to the appropriate airline. All passengers traveling to Colombia on an international flight must obtain a negative PCR COVID-19 test result within 96 hours of departing for Colombia. All inbound and outbound passengers must fill out Migracion Colombia's Check-Mig online form no more than 24 hours in advance of departing for Colombia. Travelers are also required to use the mobile application CoronApp to assist with contact tracing while in Colombia. Individuals who comply with these rules will not be required to self-quarantine upon arrival in Colombia. Please monitor media reporting and official announcements from the Colombian government for details and updates to these requirements. IMPORTANT: Due to current travel guidelines in the United States, individuals with visas who have been in Brazil, China, Iran, the United Kingdom (excluding overseas territories outside of Europe), the Republic of Ireland, or the Schengen Area within 14 days prior to the flight will not be allowed to board flights to the United States. U.S. citizens, Legal Permanent Residents, and their immediate family members who are returning home after visiting travel-restricted countries may still reenter by going through a process for enhanced medical screenings at specially designated airports. For the most current information regarding COVID-19, the May 24 Presidential Proclamation, and its impact on travel to the United States, please visit and www.whitehouse.gov. Actions to Take: Consult the CDC website for the most up-to-date information. For the most recent information on what you can do to reduce your risk of contracting COVID-19 please see the CDCs latest recommendations. Visit the COVID-19 crisis page on for the latest information. Visit our Embassy webpage on COVID-19 for information on conditions in Colombia. Visit the Department of Homeland Securitys website on the latest travel restrictions to the U.S. Assistance: U.S. Embassy Bogota, Colombia Tel. +57-1-275-2000 acsbogota@state.gov Subscriber content preview NEW YORK (AP) Three railroad workers have been suspended for turning a storage room under New York's Grand Central Terminal into an unauthorized man cave with a television, a refrigerator, a microwave and a futon couch, officials said Thursday. A Metropolitan Transportation Authority investigation found that managers at Metro-North Railroad were unaware of the hideaway beneath Track 114. . . . MOSCOW - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in Germany recovering from what authorities there determined to be nerve agent poisoning, thanked Russian pilots and paramedics for acting quickly after he fell into a coma on a flight from Siberia. Navalny, who collapsed on a plane to Moscow on Aug. 20 and spent nearly three weeks in a coma, said in an Instagram post on Friday that pilots quickly landed the plane in Omsk and medical workers at the airport jammed a dose of atropine into him, immediately recognizing a toxic poisoning. Thank you, unknown good-hearted friends. You are good people, the 44-year-old politician wrote under a photo of him hugging his wife Yulia. After 48 hours in a hospital in Omsk, where Russian doctors said they found no trace of any poisoning, Navalny was transferred to the Charite hospital in Berlin. German chemical weapons experts determined that he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok findings corroborated by labs in France and Sweden. Navalny, a longtime foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was discharged from the hospital earlier this week. Charite hospital said that based on Navalnys progress, physicians believe a complete recovery is possible. Russian authorities have been resisting the international pressure to launch a criminal investigation, saying no trace of poisonous substances has been found in Navalnys system and demanding Germany, France and Sweden to share their findings. The Russian delegation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons sent a note to Germany on Wednesday, requesting comprehensive information on the so-called Navalny case, including test results, biological materials and other clinical samples to be provided within 10 days. German government spokeswoman Martina Fietz confirmed Friday that the Germany mission to the OPCW received the note. The mission will respond in keeping with rules that provide for a 10-day deadline, Fietz said. But let me repeat again what we have said here repeatedly in the past: Russia already has everything necessary to be able to conduct investigations itself, Fietz added. She once again pointed out that German, Swedish and French labs have confirmed that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, and that the OPCW has taken samples. Navalny has remained in Germany to undergo rehabilitation after being released from the hospital, which may take weeks, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said Thursday. Nevertheless, he planned to return to Russia at some point, according to his allies. Navalnys team blamed the Kremlin for the poisoning, claims which officials brushed off. In Fridays Instagram post, the politician said that a series of happy coincidences and sharp actions by pilots and medical workers sabotaged what Navalny said he thought may have been the plan of the killers. I would fall sick 20 minutes after takeoff, and in another 15 minutes lose consciousness. There was guaranteed to be no access to medical help and in another hour I would continue travelling in a black plastic bag on the last row of seats, scaring all passengers going to the bathroom, the politician wrote. Everything that happened next was very dramatic and deserves a separate story, but there would have been nothing to tell if not for these guys. ___ Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report. Read more about: Muhammed Nasrullah was ready to call it quits. After working as an election judge in every Harris County contest since 2004, the COVID-19 pandemic discouraged the 67-year-old retired mechanical engineer from signing up again. He is in a high-risk age group, and he knew friends who had contracted the virus. Then he began to read news stories about a nationwide shortage of poll workers during the pandemic. And he was worried that delays in the U.S. Postal Service have undermined the publics trust in mail ballots. In such a consequential election Nov. 3, with record turnout expected in Harris County, Nasrullah decided he would serve again. I convinced myself that the election is so important that Im willing to take the risk, he said. I feel like Im doing my civic duty, and its a good feeling. He is one of 11,000 poll workers Harris County Clerk Christopher Hollins hopes to recruit this year, twice as many as in 2016. Hollins ambitious $27.2 million election plan includes nearly tripling the number of early voting sites and an 8 percent increase in poll locations on Election Day. He needs an army of poll workers to staff them. The clerks office in August launched an aggressive social media campaign to recruit workers, and Hollins recorded a commercial. By this week, 29,000 applications had arrived. Rachelle Obakozuwa, polling locations and recruitment manager for the clerks office, attributed part of the increased interest to many residents believing the November presidential election is especially important. And for another, people really need work because of COVID and a lot of layoffs, Obakozuwa said. Were seeing both equally. An increase in pay also may be a driver, she said. In 2016, the gig paid $9 an hour and largely attracted retirees who do not have to worry about finding time off from work. Former County Clerk Diane Trautman increased the hourly wage last year to $17 for clerks and $20 for election judges. With an additional week of early voting, Harris County will have 19 days of balloting, meaning a poll worker potentially could earn more than $2,500. The county pays a lot better than Paul Fuentes old job at Whataburger. The 17-year-old senior at James E. Taylor High School in Katy, who wants to study cybersecurity in college, said he likes working at the polls because he can learn how the system works. The other people who work there are really knowledgeable, said Fuentes, who has worked Harris County elections since last year. Theyve taught me a lot. Fuentes is one of about 2,000 student clerks Harris County recruited from Houston-area schools. As they often are more tech-savvy than older workers, Obakozuwa said one of the students tasks will be to update the clerks wait time app for polling places. That task will be crucial to ensuring a smooth experience for residents, as the clerks office estimates each voter will spend far longer in the booth this year because of the elimination of straight-ticket voting. The hourslong lines to vote at some locations in the March primary election were partly blamed on a failure of poll workers to update the app, leading voters to visit sites that already were crowded. Under the Texas Election Code, counties do not hire most poll workers directly. Rather, county clerks recruit and train poll workers, who are selected by the Democratic and Republican election judges at each polling site. Trace Menchaca said she answered the county Democratic Partys call for election judges because she wanted to ensure voters had easy access to the polls during the pandemic. She said she interacts with the public every day at her familys pet grocery store in northwest Houston and is confident the county can provide a safe, socially distant voting experience for residents and election staff. While Gov. Greg Abbotts statewide mask order exempts polling places, the clerks office election budget includes $2.5 million for personal protective equipment for employees. Knock on wood, I havent gotten sick yet, Menchaca said. Im not nervous at all. Its going to be brief exposure to people. Im sure well have every precaution taken. zach.despart@chron.com DAKAR, Senegal - Dr. Mamadu Baldeh cant forget the 18-year-old who came into his hospital with COVID-19, gasping for air until the day he died. This suffering was all too real for Baldeh, who battles asthma just as that young man did. At the time, Baldeh, 32, was the only physician treating COVID-19 patients at Sierra Leones main public hospital. This moved me significantly and made me very worried at the time, the doctor recalled of the young man, one of dozens who has now died from the virus at Connaught Hospital, in the capital, Freetown. And really I couldnt figure out how or why I kept my composure. The patient was so young, restless and wasnt responding well to any of the attempted treatments, Baldeh said, recounting how difficult it was to watch him struggle. That was May. Now there have been hundreds of cases and the staff at the hospitals COVID-19 unit has swelled to four doctors and 20 nurses. Until the additional doctors arrived, he was sleeping at the hospital practically every night instead of returning to his home where he stays with his sister and nephew, Baldeh said in his calm, matter-of-fact manner. But supplies remain a struggle. Sometimes patients must share oxygen tanks, and often patients cant get or even afford medications they need. COVID-19 is an added burden on Sierra Leones fragile health system, which is still recovering from an 11-year civil war that ended in 2002 and an Ebola outbreak that killed nearly 4,000 people between 2014 and 2016. Sierra Leone, a West African country of 7.6 million people, has reported 2,174 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 72 deaths, according to figures released Wednesday by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Baldeh is the medical officer in charge of the hospitals infectious diseases unit in a hospital that serves the highest number of TB patients in the country. He must disinfect himself several times a day going between the wards to avoid the risk of passing COVID-19 to those among the most vulnerable. He is a general practitioner, looking to specialize in infectious diseases, so he reports to his mentor, the only infectious disease specialist in Sierra Leone, who works elsewhere in Freetown. Baldeh is also the head of the Junior Doctors Association of Sierra Leone, in a nation where more than 80% of doctors are under the age of 35. Many more, like him, trained overseas and are now choosing to return to help support the healthcare system. He makes appearances on talk shows to give advice about COVID-19 and has been campaigning with colleagues for better conditions for healthcare workers and patients. In July doctors went on strike to demand hazard pay for working in the COVID-19 unit. Protective equipment also has been in short supply. Even before the coronavirus, doctors in Sierra Leone often would go on strike for better pay and essential supplies. COVID-19 has once again drawn attention to the pressing needs just four years after the disastrous Ebola epidemic. COVID-19 is ... only pointing out most of the weaknesses, in the system, he said. At the start of the pandemic, Baldeh and his colleagues tried to memorize patients vital statistics to avoid spreading the disease by touching possibly contaminated paperwork. Now, they write the information on a sheet of paper and put it in an area called the hatch, where food is distributed. Doctors and nurses then take photos of the data with their smartphones, he said. Despite all precautions, several colleagues in Freetown have contracted COVID-19 and at least four have died, devastating morale. Two died before test results confirmed they had the disease. Many of the healthcare workers who have died didnt necessarily get it from working in the COVID-19 unit, Baldeh said. To him, COVID-19 is another in a long line of challenges facing Sierra Leones healthcare system, from infrastructure to leadership, which he hopes to help improve. All these undermine the fate of many patients, he said. Despite the challenges, Baldeh said being a doctor has always been his passion. Not a day goes by that he regrets his choice of career. My mantra is and always has been service to others and appreciation for getting to where I am today, he said. I serve because I believe I owe that to everyone I may have come in contact with. COVID-19 has been Baldehs greatest professional test, and he believes he has passed. I dont think Im scared anymore, he said. Sometimes you get used to the situation, even though its not a good thing. ___ Follow APs pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak The Emergency Aid Coalition is no stranger to economic downturns: The interfaith nonprofit was created in 1983 in response to the oil bust. There were people who ended up on the street, hungry and in need of sustenance, said executive director Jean West Evans. When the oil crisis left many Houstonians jobless, poor and homeless individuals often sought help by going from church to church, up and down Main Street, she said. One such man made a lasting impression on the Rev. John Fellers, senior pastor at St. Pauls United Methodist Church. His heart was breaking, West Evans said. He searched through his desk and finally found some cheese crackers. Fellers could not stop thinking of a way to do more. He approached a womens group at St. Pauls with the idea of starting a sandwich ministry. They ran with it, making sack lunches for those in need. Before long, other congregations in the area got on board, a food pantry formed, and the Emergency Aid Coalition was born. Now there are 15 member congregations from United Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist and Unitarian Universalists churches, as well as Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Congregation Emanu El and Beth Yeshuran. How to help Donations and volunteer opportunities are online, as well as the latest items for the scavenger hunt. For more information, visit eachouston.org. The organization has created a new phone appointment line at 713-343-3061. See More Collapse Sandwiches remain a central part of the mission. The nonprofits lunch program provides two meat sandwiches, two doughnuts and fresh fruit, when available, to each person who comes to their door, Sunday through Friday. About 250 to 400 lunches are served each day. If you need a sandwich, no questions asked, you come through our line, West Evans said. Over the past four decades, the organization added a grocery program, giving one sack of items per family, as well as a clothing center, providing two outfits and shoes to individuals, who are invited to return every couple of months for more. In addition, the Emergency Aid Coalitions books and backpack program distributes a backpack, uniform and school supplies for children each August. And the Boots to Work program provides work boots needed for jobs. We had humble beginnings, and were still small and humble, West Evans said. But we do really big things. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, she worked to ensure that Emergency Aid Coalitions services continued. We never stopped, West Evans said. We didnt lose a day of service, even after lockdown. We just figured out how to do it in a distanced and safe manner. We never had to turn a single person away. Sack lunches are still served and groceries distributed. Even the clothing center pivoted. Instead of clients looking through items on-site, clothing is bagged in advance to give away. St. Pauls temporarily allotted the nonprofit with additional space, allowing volunteers to stay at a proper distance while preparing sack lunches or sorting clothes. Recently, Emergency Aid Coalition decided to extend its reach during COVID-19 by purchasing a computer to place in an outdoor kiosk. Well have a perpetual Zoom right outside, West Evans said. The clients can walk up and talk to a volunteer inside the building. Staff and volunteers have been flexible and innovative during this time. The whole weve never done this before doesnt even factor into our conversations, West Evans said. You can find opportunity, even in a pandemic. You have the opportunity to find new ways to do something. For example, the team created a scavenger hunt for needed groceries. When food was harder to find during the pandemic, they turned it into a game for volunteers. They could search for needed items to donate. First, bread was hard to find, then fruit and canned goods, said longtime volunteer Mary Johns. In addition to food, we scavenged bandannas for masks, sanitizer, T-shirts, underwear and hygiene items. While many agencies scaled back, Emergency Aid Coalition scaled up, Johns said. Their sack-lunch service went from hundreds a week to thousands and they are one of the few agencies that serve on Sundays. Staff worked extra when volunteer hours were reduced by COVID-19. West Evans is not surprised by how staff and volunteers have risen to the occasion during the coronavirus. After all, she assumed her role 19 years ago, just one week before Tropical Storm Allison hit Houston. At the time, the nonprofit was operating from St. Pauls basement and a nearby rental space, both of which flooded in the storm. Our staff and volunteers were operating out of their cars, using their cellphones, West Evans said. They got out there and were still giving our clients sandwiches and lemonade. We did that for about three months. She was impressed by their dedication. It gave me this incredible opportunity to see what our people were made of, she said. Now, West Evans knows that spirit is par for the course. Marian Bryant started as volunteer coordinator in 2007, after volunteering with St. Pauls, where she attends church. Its a real blessing to be a part of it, she said. Our clients have such a tremendous need. You cant help but be moved by hearing their stories. During the pandemic, even when more at-risk volunteers could not work, they still found ways to help, Bryant added. They donated fresh fruit for lunches or purchased new socks and underwear for the clothing program. They are supporting us in new ways, and its a real testament to their commitment, Bryant said. Through innovation, Bryant and West Evans are able to serve more and more clients in a time of increasing need, Johns added. Theyve been cheerfully creative in a time of great stress for the city, she said. Theyve gradually allowed clients in need to make appointments and have been allowing a few volunteers to return to work. Because in a time of crisis, with bad news surrounding us, we all need to feel needed and useful. West Evans anticipates that the need for food and clothes will remain high through the coronavirus and job loss that has resulted. Already, the Emergency Aid Coalition has served 11,000 more lunches this year than in all of 2019. Houstonians were facing challenges and hardships before the pandemic. In 2019, a survey of the nonprofits sack-lunch clients reported that 75 percent did not have breakfast that day and did not know where their next meal would come. They are the true definition of food insecure, West Evans said. People dont choose to be homeless, but they end up in these circumstances. West Evans explained that individuals who have never asked for help before are now looking for food for their families. And she expects that more people will lose their homes or face eviction. People who previously had employment, who could buy cars before, now they can scarcely even buy food, she said. Weve helped a lot of people, but I see the need increasing. Were going to have a tough winter. Lindsay Peyton is a Houston-based freelance writer. In this Feb. 28, 2019, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un answers a question from reporters during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi. North Korea has stayed mum on its brutal killing of a South Korean government official. AP North Korea stayed mum on its brutal killing of a South Korean fisheries official drifting near the western inter-Korean sea border, a day after Seoul demanded the North apologize amid mounting public anger. On Thursday, South Korea's defense ministry confirmed that North Korean soldiers fatally shot the 47-year-old South Korean official drifting in their waters and burned his body in waters near the Yellow Sea border between the two sides. The revelations sparked strong public outrage. President Moon Jae-in called the killing a "shocking incident that cannot be tolerated for any reason." His office demanded the North apologize and punish those responsible. As of Friday morning, however, North Korean state media, including the Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central News Agency, have stayed silent with regard to the incident. The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's ruling party, ran several reports on the country's nationwide efforts aimed at warding off an outbreak of COVID-19 but did not make any mention of the killing. "Preventing infectious diseases is the frontline for safeguarding our people and our fatherland," the paper said. "All workers should do their best and strengthen our antivirus walls like iron." It is not clear whether North Korea will make any response this time given that inter-Korean relations remain stalled since the no-deal summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump early last year. The relations chilled further recently after the North blew up a joint liaison office in its border town of Kaesong and cut off cross-border communication in protest of the sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets by activists in the South. This is the first time that a South Korean citizen has been killed by North Korea since a female tourist was shot dead by a North Korean guard in 2008 as she strayed into a restricted zone at the Mount Kumgang resort on the North's east coast. North Korea was relatively quick in responding to the 2008 killing. It issued a statement a day after the incident and expressed regrets over her death, though Pyongyang hasn't made any apology. (Yonhap) The Centre on Thursday gave permission to five states to borrow an additional 9,913 crore through open market borrowings on an aggregate to expedite reforms at the state level. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Goa, and Tripura were given the green signal for borrowing under the scheme announced in May to raise the borrowing ceiling of the states from 3% of gross state domestic product (GSDP) to 5%. However, the states will have to implement reforms under the One Nation One Ration Card system, which aims to benefit migrant workers, improve ease of doing business, and reform urban local bodies and power utilities. The riders, however, turned out to be controversial as states have been looking forward to additional resources to meet a humanitarian and economic crisis at a time when revenue collections have fallen sharply. States will have only two resources to bank on, borrowings or grants from the central government, to tide over the fiscal crisis, said experts. The central government is trying to incentivize reforms. Fair enough. However, the question is if this is the right time to do it. In this situation, at the national level, for national reasons, you need states to spend more. The reason for raising the borrowing limit is that states could spend more. However, the legislative and regular government process could take time. The intent (of incentivizing reforms with conditions) is right, but I am afraid this is not the right time for it," said Pronab Sen, a former chief statistician of India. These riders are linked to one percentage point of the extra borrowing allowed, said the Union finance ministry. It had granted permission to states to avail extra borrowings to the extent of half a percentage point of GSDP that is not linked to any reforms. Another half percentage point of extra borrowing ability is linked to the state meeting at least three of the four riders on reforms. In May, Keralas finance minister Thomas Isaac had welcomed the higher borrowing ceiling of 5% of GSDP, but was not happy with the riders. The Centre has set a bad precedent. In future, severe conditions may be imposed on even normal loans," Isaac had tweeted on 17 May. States need money there is no economic sense in the central governments policies when the economy was having its worst contraction", Isaac had said in an interview with Mint earlier this month. States are now staring at mounting debt as the coronavirus crisis has dealt a severe blow to their goods and services tax (GST) collections. States have now been offered extra borrowing capacity outside the enhanced borrowing window of 5% GSDP to cover this. However, states such as Kerala, West Bengal, and Punjab, which are not ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are putting pressure on the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to borrow and compensate them. The combined debt of central and state governments is set to breach 90% of gross domestic product (GDP) for this fiscal year, Moodys Investors Service had said. The tension between the ruling BJP and the opposition was evident in the just concluded Parliament session, which also cleared farm sector reforms amid protests by farmer bodies and opposition parties. The Modi government has been nudging states to carry out reforms and even ranking states in terms of their progress in areas such as achieving sustainable development goals and ease of doing business. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics DENVER, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Denver Business Journal has named ad-tech managed services platform Strategus to its 2020 Fast 50 list of fastest growing private companies in Colorado. With dramatic 250-percent year-over-year revenue gains, Strategus recently achieved similar recognition in the national spotlight with its inclusion on the Inc. 5000 for the third year in a row. Strategus has risen quickly into the top-third tier of the prestigious nationwide listing. "Being recognized as one of the fastest-growing businesses by The Denver Business Journal is especially satisfying since Colorado leads the nation in producing outstanding entrepreneurs and some of the most innovative companies in the world," said David Miles, Strategus CEO. "Building value for our clients through programmatic Over-the-Top Connected Television (OTT/CTV) advertising campaigns a service that didn't exist five years ago reflects that rare ability to identify opportunities, take the risks to pursue them, and execute a successful business plan." Almost 30 years ago, Miles started MilesBrand, a real estate marketing agency in Denver. In 2012, he teamed up with Joel Cox, who had been fast-tracking his career as one of the advertising industry's leading digital strategists. Together, they founded Strategus in 2014 and ran that first programmatic OTT/CTV campaign the following year. "We started the revolution right here in our hometown of Denver, so we're honored to be recognized as one of Colorado's fastest-growing companies," said EVP Cox. "After only five years, we have more experience running state-of-the art programmatic, data-driven CTV campaigns than anyone in the world. With our great team, technology and industry partnerships, we expect to gain even more ground in 2021 and in the years to come." About Strategus Strategus was founded in Denver in 2014. The Strategus Managed Services Platform produces real-time automated campaigns that instantly deliver custom, audience-targeted messages to CTVs and other internet-connected devices. Strategus leads innovation in data-driven OTT targeting, attribution, optimization, reporting and analysis across all advertising inventories including display, paid search, paid social and email. Serving clients coast to coast, the Inc. 5000 company's strategic team combines proprietary algorithms, AI and high-touch personal service to ensure that brands and agencies achieve maximum reach and results with the highest standards of brand safety and consumer trust. For more information, please visit www.strategus.com. Media contact: John Metzger, [email protected]. SOURCE Strategus Canada aims to process 6,000 spousal sponsorship applications per month between October and December 2020. Canada to speed up spousal sponsorship application processing Canada aims to process 6,000 spousal sponsorship applications per month between October and December 2020. Canada to speed up spousal sponsorship application processing Canada aims to process 6,000 spousal sponsorship applications per month between October and December 2020. Canada to speed up spousal sponsorship application processing Canada aims to process 6,000 spousal sponsorship applications per month between October and December 2020. Kara Crudo Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Canada is seeking to process and finalize 6,000 spousal sponsorship applications each month between October and December 2020. This major news has just been announced by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). IRCC has increased the number of staff that will review spousal sponsorship applications by 66 per cent in order to reduce wait times and process applications more quickly. In addition, IRCC is going to utilize new technology in a pilot to digitize paper applications. This is to allow IRCC employees working remotely and at various work settings to be able to quickly process applications. Looking to sponsor your spouse? Complete a free assessment form so we can help you! IRCC said it will implement facilitative biometrics measures, but did not offer specifics. In the coming weeks, it will also pilot technology to conduct interviews with applicants remotely. These initiatives are aimed at accelerating, prioritizing, and finalizing about 6,000 spousal applications each month through to the end of 2020. In all, this will result in 49,000 applications receiving decisions by the end of this year. IRCC noted that the coronavirus pandemic has created uncertainty for Canadian citizens and permanent residents looking to sponsor their spouse. It will continue to seek innovative and compassionate ways to bring families together. Looking to sponsor your spouse? Please complete an eligibility assessment form now. Spousal sponsorship application processing has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in recent protests. Immigration minister Marco Mendicino recognized the challenges that slower processing has caused for families, stating: We understand that the last few months have not been easy for those who are far from their loved ones in these difficult times. This is why we are accelerating the approval of spousal applications as much as possible. Our government will continue to find new ways to keep families together. Under its Immigration Levels Plan 2020-2022, Canada targeted 70,000 spouses, partners, and children to be among the overall 341,000 immigrants it aimed to welcome in 2020. This plan and these targets were set prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Complete a free spousal sponsorship assessment form to receive our assistance. 2020 CIC News All Rights Reserved Dear Bel, I seem to be an emotional crutch for my family who contact me only with tales of woe and leave me feeling drained and unhappy. I was told my parents kept trying until they had a baby girl, as they wanted someone to look after them when they were older. We grew up in a household where spare the rod, spoil the child was the mantra. The discipline and beatings were all handled by my mother. I think even my father was scared of her. Yet I was also over-protected. I was not allowed on school trips, as they were too risky. My brothers had fun on holidays while I had to sit and watch, as most activities were too dangerous for me. Yet the boys felt I was the princess who received special attention which caused resentment. To cut a long story short, I played my part in the family until my own children grew and I couldnt just drop everything and rush to granny. (My father had died.) This caused major fallout I realised I was scared of disobeying my mother. One day I said I couldnt visit and my mother phoned my brothers and the Samaritans threatening suicide. I now receive hour-long phone calls where she cries, tells me how lonely she is, how shed rather be dead. A few years ago my husband was offered a job at the other end of the country and we relocated. Weve made many friends and have a wonderful social life. My son stayed in our original town after university and we thought hed be fine living on his own. But he became clinically depressed. Now much better, he also says he is lonely and that he is a complete failure. I get very worried after these conversations sometimes unable to eat. But once, after worrying for hours because I couldnt contact him, he told me hed felt much better after our chat and gone out. Im at the stage where if my phone rings or beeps with a message, I go straight to panic. If its my mother or son, I dread whats coming next. We have just retired and had plans to stay in our new location, but Im starting to feel theres no point as I cant cope with the fear of them harming themselves. Do you have any advice? PAM This week Bel answers a question about a daughter who wonders if she should be her family's shoulder to cry on Like so many women you were (almost literally) bred to be a carer, and that role is so embedded within your DNA you feel you can never be free. To compound the problem, you were also bullied by your mother, both physically and mentally, and (under the guise of protection) allowed no autonomy. When you had to put your own family first, your mother continued the emotional bullying and is still doing so. Had you not mentioned those childhood beatings, Id have more compassion for her right now. As it is, I see her as a manipulative woman who will not be happy until she has you living around the corner and ministering to her every whim once more. You dont mention how your husband feels, but since you two have created a wonderful life together, far from your mother, I doubt he would be very happy to uproot once again. Your son presents a different problem, so lets just lay that to one side for a moment. In my opinion, it would be a terrible mistake to sacrifice your own happiness and that of your husband on your mothers altar. I would set in place all the local help you can for her, in the form of a carer and maybe a befriending service? Only you can find out what is possible, especially at the moment. Id also like to know if your brothers can help with any of the heavy lifting here. They should. THOUGHT OF THE DAY Come let us pity those who are better off than we are Come my friend and remember That the rich have butlers and no friends, And we have friends and no butlers. Ezra Pound (U.S. poet and critic, 1885-1972) Advertisement Tell them frankly that you cant take these phone calls, and ask whether each of them could make a set time to call her. It is vital that you protect yourself from the mental strain of these telephone sessions. You cant stop her phoning, but you can limit the time you give. Letting your phone go to voicemail now and then might seem harsh but she is being cruel to you, just as she was years ago. Your son is a different (and in my view, more important) worry. You give no information about his work or friendship groups, but I would find out just what/who he has and how important those connections are. If he was diagnosed as clinically depressed, did he get the right treatment. Instead of worrying so much and feeling so helpless and overwhelmed, you need to find out all these things and be as upbeat as you can on the phone. My big question is, could he move to be near you? Would there be work for him? You can be proactive here and need to curtail your mother to save energy for your son. Dear Bel, I Am 59 and my wife is 57. Its a second marriage for both of us (20 years) and we dont have children together. As men, we all joke that we cannot fathom a female mind and, true to form, Im totally flummoxed by my wifes. Weve always had a problem with sex in that we are a mismatch of desire levels. She has always (apart from the very beginning of our relationship) proudly claimed that she has no sex drive/ desire. In fact, she says she never has. She has told me frankly that her lack of interest in sex was a problem in her first marriage and she seems perfectly comfortable for it to be a problem in our marriage as well. She refuses to try to get any help/checks from her doctor. Now heres the twist. Recently, she admitted to me a string of one-night stands after her first marriage collapsed, including some risky sex situations outdoors. Yet I know her only as an almost prudish, very straight and (almost totally) sexually uptight woman. Whats going on, Bel? Im very confused and dont know what to think. JOHN Often Im asked about common problems not hard, since certain issues come up repeatedly. This is one. Sometimes I dare to generalise that women are interested in relationships and men are interested in sex knowing thats far too simplistic. Still, your letter reminds me of the uncomfortable kernel of truth. An old truth, too. This is a short Japanese poem dating back to the 6th century AD: Oh yes, she says, were married, Very much so, says she Wedging the bed-clothes under her hip Turning her back on me. That long-ago man in his silk robes was just as confused, sad and irritated as you feel now. If people ask if sex is very important in a marriage I always say, It depends though most advice-givers and therapists tend to answer: Of course it is. Yet if sex between a long-married couple fizzles out to be replaced by deep companionship and mutual need, then it need not matter at all but only if both feel the same. I find it rather limited when people make the assumption that sex is always absolutely essential to closeness. It isnt. What most matters, and cannot be skipped, is communication and understanding especially if there is a problem. For you, your wifes lack of interest in sex is a disappointment. You complain, She refuses to try to get any help/checks from her doctor but I hope you realise that, post-menopause, it is quite normal for a woman to lose her libido. Some dont, but a far greater number do. She is unlikely to get help if she is quite happy with the situation. I can see its sad for you and Id happily suggest you (separately or together) talk to Relate. But if your wife doesnt accept she has a physical problem, shes hardly likely to be keen. Now for her confession that after her first marriage ended she had a lot of sex. I guess you think she must have changed from her former not bothered attitude and enjoyed it. Contact Bel Bel answers readers' questions on emotional and relationship problems each week. Write to Bel Mooney, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT, or email bel.mooney@dailymail.co.uk. A pseudonym will be used if you wish. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Advertisement But perhaps she didnt not really. Maybe she was just going along with it all because she was afraid of ending up alone. Maybe she hated it and felt cheap. Have you asked her about this with genuine curiosity? Have you sought to explore her feelings, not as a cunning plan to get her into bed, but because you are genuinely interested? The last time I wrote something like that on this page I got some angry emails from guys who said theyve tried all that talking stuff and it got them nowhere! They seemed to think me unfeeling, but thats wrong. I do understand its just that I can do nothing about it. You, John, are confused and I sympathise with you because I know it matters to you. But the only way forward is to try to explore your wifes feelings, and her memories, and be tenderly open about your own. Only you can try unravelling that confusion. As you both move into your 60s you (and all of us) have to come to terms with changes in our bodies as well as the shortfall in happiness within our minds and hearts. Its normal to remain angrily puzzled by life until we die but wiser to talk to your partner and work out how you can accommodate each others needs, probably with little sacrifices and mutual acts of generosity. And finally...Forget texts write a proper letter It was a strange coincidence to receive a helpful email from Vera on the same day my latest video appeared on Mail Plus, in the Tuesday health section. (For the link, see the bottom of this page.) My video is about letters used as therapy or healing. I tell a story about a letter I received many years ago and the advice I gave, which worked. Vera writes: When my partner of 45 years died last year within seven weeks of being diagnosed with cancer, I had some extremely helpful sessions with an excellent counsellor who suggested I write a letter to him expressing all my feelings. I remember thinking it sounded a bit daft and I wouldnt be doing it! However, I owed it to her to try, and once I started I was able to get it all down. I cannot state strongly enough how much it helped. I have it safely tucked away I would certainly recommend writing a letter in these or similar circumstances. Thanks, Vera Ive been saying this for years. Of course texts or email will not do; you need paper to set important words down properly. If the letter is full of pain, it can be destroyed as a release. If it is full of love, it can be treasured. Currently, we are entering another difficult time for all of us. Id like letters to come into their own. Try writing one (or a lovely notecard) to a dear person a distance away. Getting an envelope in the post is always cheering. But because of texts and emails people are unused to expressing themselves on paper. Just read the beautiful letters sent in both World Wars from (often) uneducated soldiers at the front, to see what we have lost. Bring back the intimate magic of the pen! Next week, this column wont be here, as Im having my first week off this year. But do keep sending your letters and emails. When life feels hard, it really can be helpful to set feelings down in words. CHICAGO - Law enforcement across the country tightened their tactics against racial justice protesters who have again taken to the streets in anger and exhaustion after a grand jury decided against homicide charges for the officers involved in the death of Louisville resident Breonna Taylor. Around the country, protesters said they were feeling despair and outrage that the police officers responsible for the deaths of Black people - such as Eric Garner in New York, Philando Castile in Minnesota and a host of others - would not be held accountable. Crystal McGee, a housing and voter registration activist in Chicago, said the result of the Taylor case left her feeling disgusted and depressed, but not surprised. "It could easily put me in the position of no hope for my family. But I refuse to do that," said McGee, who is Black. "I have to believe that there's going to be an answer soon, because if I don't, I'm going to crack up." A night of bruising dissent, chaos and looting in Louisville after the grand jury announcement on Wednesday culminated with the shooting of two police officers - one has been released from the hospital and the other remains there in stable condition - and 127 arrests. The state's Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, had announced Wednesday that two officers executing a warrant at Taylor's home March 13 were justified in using force. Taylor's boyfriend fired a shot at them after they broke through the door of Taylor's apartment with a battering ram after midnight. A third officer was indicted on charges of wanton endangerment for blindly firing his weapon during the raid, causing the bullets to enter neighboring apartments. At a news conference Thursday, Louisville's interim police chief Robert Schroeder appealed for calm, with the city bracing for protests to keep "going on for some time." In the months since the death of George Floyd in police custody prompted nationwide protests and spurred a national reckoning on race, the name of Breonna Taylor - a 26-year-old emergency room technician - has become synonymous with Floyd's as a rallying cry. Protesters chanted "Say her name" and "Breonna Taylor" as unrest spread to several major cities Wednesday and Thursday. In Buffalo, a man drove a pickup truck into a crowd of protesters. In Seattle, 13 people were arrested Wednesday evening andmultiple officers were injured, according to the Seattle Police Department. A video circulating on Twitter appears to show a Seattle officer riding a bike over the head of someone lying in the street In Chicago, four separate protests unfolded during a long night - mostly peacefully - that culminated with marchers spray-painting the iconic 1918 Illinois Centennial Memorial Column with Taylor's name and other graffiti. NaSeita Luckett, 24, decided to join the Chicago marchers for the first time Wednesday after she left her job as an aesthetician at a spa. Luckett, who is Black, said she had one reason: "I'm tired, like every Black American." "I'm exhausted that Black people are not getting the justice we deserve," she said. "I'm so tired of turning on the TV; it keeps going and it is never going to stop. . . . This is my time to try to make a difference." In Portland, Ore., more than 300 demonstrators blocked off the street in front of the Portland Police Bureau's headquarters Wednesday night, shouting Taylor's name and proclaiming, "Black lives matter." The demonstration took place despite a cold rain that drenched protesters. Portland has seen nearly four months of protests since the death of Floyd, a string only broken when smoke from wildfires made outdoor activities hazardous. Authorities are expecting another tense stretch in Portland. In a few days, thousands of members of the Proud Boys - a self-identified "western chauvinist" group that the FBI has said has ties to white nationalism - are expected to arrive in the City of Roses and engage in clashes with local activists. Danialle James, a grandmother who has been protesting since Floyd was killed, said Portland demonstrators have coalesced around several concerns. Many want the police to be defunded, and for that money to be used to address homelessness, public schools and other issues that affect people of color. Others have called for Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, to resign, saying he is complicit in the city's systemic racism and has not done enough to stop police brutality. "It's like we never get a chance to get in and make a change," James said. "This is something that I care enough about that I want it to be consistent. I make it my business to educate myself and others around me about what the real issues are because I'm in it for the long haul." Most of all, she said she hopes the multicultural outpouring of outrage continues. "It's a bit of a slap in the face being a Black woman in America and in Portland, Oregon," she said. "When I see these non people of color come out in support of Black lives, I expect a certain level of consistency. The momentum has slowed down." In Minneapolis, a city that has been on edge since Floyd was killed there, around 3,000 people gathered Wednesday night outside the state capitol building in neighboring St. Paul. The demonstrators later marched across the city, briefly blocking traffic on Interstate 94. On the streets here, where demonstrations have been held at least twice a week since early June, organizers have been trying to keep people motivated by likening their struggle to the civil rights movements of the 1960s, which went on for years. And after the charging decision in the Taylor case, they urged them to continue marching. "Although we are all devastated and many of us are tired, we must find a way to press forward until significant change comes," said civil rights attorney and protest organizer Nekima Levy Armstrong in a Facebook post. "Please keep showing up, standing up against police violence and oppression." Despite fears that momentum was slowing elsewhere, Schroeder said officers in Louisville would be out in force in riot gear Thursday evening. Russell Coleman, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, issued a terse warning that his office will charge those engaged in criminal conduct rather than peacefully protesting. "Shooting this city's law enforcement officers, looting its businesses, and committing arson at the front door of its state courthouse is far from peaceable," Coleman said in a statement, insisting that Louisville had "endured enough loss of life." Jefferson Square Park in Louisville remains a gathering spot for demonstrators, and it is filled with memorials to Taylor, including portraits, a handmade sign that said "Grannies for justice for Breonna" and banners calling the area the "Breeway." Mathew Ballard, 33, a Louisville, Ky., resident who has been documenting the protests on Facebook for months, said police have deployed tear gas and pepper balls to control crowds during past protests. But he said authorities had a higher degree of coordination Wednesday and more physical barriers to contain the protests. "This is a lot more serious," he said. "They have locked it down." - - - The Washington Post's Holly Bailey in Minneapolis and Mark Berman in Washington contributed to this report. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 19:22:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LONDON, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A British police officer was shot dead by a young man in south London early morning Friday, the city's Metropolitan Police has said. The incident occurred at Croydon Custody Centre at around 2:15 a.m. local time (0115 GMT) Friday, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement, adding that a 23-year-old man has been detained. The police officer was treated at the scene and subsequently died of his injuries at hospital. The suspect was also taken to hospital with a gunshot wound and remains in a critical condition, the Metropolitan Police said. There were no police firearms discharged during the incident, while the incident has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which will "lead an independent investigation," it added. "This is a truly shocking incident in which one of our colleagues has lost his life in the most tragic circumstances," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said. The investigation is currently in the early stages, she said, adding that police are working to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and will provide further updates as they arrive. Enditem Veteran GOP Sen. Susan Collins remains in a tight contest with her Democratic challenger in the closely watched Maine Senate race, according to a poll released Friday by Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Democrat Sara Gideon, the speaker of the Maine House, leads with 45% among the 847 registered voters who were asked for their first ranked choice. Collins was viewed as the first choice for 41% of the respondents with 6% indicating they remain undecided with a 3.4% margin of error. "It's tight, and it's going to be nip and tuck right down to the wire if you ask me," said Dan Shea, a Colby College political science professor and lead researcher on the poll. But the survey found a dramatic partisan gulf on the question of giving President Donald Trump's third nomination to the high court a vote in the Senate. Ninety-two percent of Democrats said Collins should wait, and 60% of independents agreed, but among Republicans just 24% said the four-term senator should wait until either Trump or Biden takes office in January. Seventy-percent of Maine GOP voters said Collins should vote as soon as possible on Trump's nominee, whom the president said he will name Saturday. The Pine Tree State contest is coveted by Democrats as a seat to flip in their mission to win back the Senate in 2020. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority. "Collins was once one of the most well-liked senators in the country dropping from a 68% approval rating to the mid-40s," Shea told USA TODAY. "The question is has Susan changed or has Maine changed, and it's a little bit of both as she's shifted more to the Republican side." This pair of 2020 photos shows incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, left, and Maine Democrat House Speaker, right, candidates for U.S. Senate in the Nov. 3 election. Collins, who was first elected in 1996, is considered one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbent senators on the 2020 map largely due to Trump's unpopularity in the state. She has been critical of the president at times in the past, but Democrats have anchored her to high-profile votes such as confirming Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in 2017 and voting to acquit Trump in his impeachment trial earlier this year. Story continues Other snapshots of the race in recent weeks have shown Gideon with a significantly larger lead over Collins. A Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month showed Gideon up by 12% with more than half of likely voters polled backing her bid. That double-digit margin was the largest lead for the House speaker in any publicly released survey during the race. But Shea said that should be considered an outlier given other surveys, adding that their research has shown a race within the three to four percentage point range for months. Collins, for her part, has long cast herself as an independent voice who values common sense and compromise. But her brand of moderate Republican politics has lost favor in Washington. "She is the last of the Yankee Republicans at the federal level," Shea said. Biden comfortably ahead in Maine The Colby College poll showed Collins' biggest problem is in the White House as multiple surveys have shown views of Trump are the number one predictor for who voters prefer in the Senate race. Asked to use a school grading system, 48% of Maine voters rated the president's handling of the response to the coronavirus as an "F" for failing. That's compared to 10% who gave Trump a "C" for average and 18% who rated it as an "A" for excellent. Trump is also being battered in the head-to-head presidential race against Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who holds a comfortable 50-39 statewide lead according to the survey. A bright spot for Republicans is that Maine is one of two states in the country where it awards its Electoral College votes based on who wins in each congressional district. The Colby poll showed Biden and Trump in a dead heat for the state's 2nd Congressional District, which covers a vast rural area in northern Maine. There, the former vice president is netting support from 46% of the respondents versus 43% for Trump. Trump won that district's lone electoral vote in 2016, and he has been making overtures to the seafood industry to court voters in the region. But the Biden campaign has also been making investments in the area to try to flip the district given the possibility of an Electoral College nail-biter on November 3. "There are a number of scenarios where one electoral vote could actually make the difference and decide the presidency," Shea said. Maine wants to wait to fill RBG's seat Collins was one of only two GOP senators along with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska who rejected the idea of voting on a nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the Nov. 3 election. "She's a real tough spot with the ire from the right by opposing this," Shea said. "But more importantly I'm convinced that if Collins didn't make that statement there would have been such an outpouring of anger among the left that she would have been in very deep trouble." A day after Ginsburg's death last week Collins issued a statement saying Republicans should apply the same standard when they blocked former President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court months before the 2016 presidential election. "Given the proximity of the presidential election... I do not believe that the Senate should vote on the nominee prior to the election," she said. Senate Republicans are coalescing around filling the seat with a more conservative justice, which seems more than likely after Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he supports a confirmation vote before the election. The polling shows a lot of Mainers think Collins works too hard to be on both sides of controversial issues, he said, and that she comes off as "too calculating" to many voters. Collins is losing independents and swing Democrats while being unable to attract the bulk of Maines Trump loyalists, Shea said. "She is a bellwether of the advent of hyper-partisanship that is transforming our country," he said. "Now she's hanging on because it is the end of the swing voters, and as they disappear moderate legislators disappear." Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at pbailey@USAToday.com or 502-582-4475 This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Poll: Susan Collins trails Sara Gideon, voters want delay on RBG seat New Delhi/Chandigarh/Meerut Farmers across several states protested over key farm reform laws passed by Parliament this week, leading to disruption of life in Punjab, Haryana and parts of western Uttar Pradesh, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the opposition parties of spreading lies and misleading the farmers for their own political benefit in a video message, the third time he has had to defend the legislations. In the truncated session, Parliament approved the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, leading to a protest by farmer bodies and opposition political parties. The primary points of contention are the absence of any mention of a minimum support price (the government-decided floor) and the freedom given to private players and others to operate in areas beyond the physical boundaries of Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs). Also read: Farmers have lost all faith in PM Modi-led govt, says Rahul Gandhi Close to 250 farmer bodies came together under the banner of All India Kisan Sangharsh Committee on Friday for a national strike between 10am and 4pm, terming the laws as anti-farmers and asked the government either to withdraw these legislations or at least provide minimum support price (MSP) protection in them. The government has maintained that MSPs will stay and there was no reason for farmers to worry. It has already announced MSPs for some winter-sown crops to reassure farmers who continue to insist that the support price protection be written into the law. Farmers blocked road traffic at several places in Punjab, Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh, only allowing movement of emergency services such as ambulances. Road blockades in several places forced people to walk long distances to reach their destinations. The protest called by 185 farmer bodies was more or less peaceful with no major untoward incident reported from anywhere. According to Punjab government officials, a complete bandh was observed in all 22 districts, except the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stronghold of Pathankot, with business establishments and public transport not functioning. Railways had already suspended about two dozen trains originating from or passing through the state in view of the three-day rail blockade observed by farmer groups from September 24 to 26. Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh said he will not allow implementation of the laws in Punjab and directed the police not to book farmers for violation of Section 144 of CrPC imposed across the state for Covid management. Also read: Congress, NCP say no to farm bills in Maharashtra. Shiv Sena to decide In Haryana, a near complete bandh was observed in farmer dominated districts of western and central parts of the state with not much impact seen in the northern parts. Traffic was blocked on the Rohtak-Chandigarh, Rohtak-Delhi, Jind-Chandigarh and Ambala-Hisar highways. Additional police force was deployed at Ambala and Panipat railway stations, officials said. In western UP, farmer organisations blocked major highways including the Yamuna Expressway in the national capital region and Agra-Lucknow expressway. Road blocks were also reported from Ayodhya and some parts of eastern UP. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (KMS) and Rashtriya Kisan Sabha members demonstrated at various places. Political parties such as the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Trinamool Congress and the Left parties supported the strike and their workers participated in the bandh. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told reporters in Jaipur that the Modi government has launched a brutal attack on the livelihood of 620 million people linked with farming at the time the country has been attacked by the Corona virus and China . Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav said the laws would enslave farmers to corporates and claimed that farm incomes have fallen in recent years instead of increasing as promised by the Prime Minister. PM Modi asked the BJP workers to reach out to farmers on the ground and inform them about details and benefits of the new agriculture reforms and how these will empower them. They (Opposition) are spreading rumours. Saving farmers from such rumours and explaining the importance of the agriculture reforms is the responsibility and duty of all BJP workers because we have to make the future of farmers bright, Modi said at a function organised to celebrate the birth anniversary of partys ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay. The PM said small and marginal farmers, who constitute 85% of the peasant community, will benefit the most from these reforms as they would get better price for their produce. BJP leaders also held press conferences at various states capitals saying that farmers were being misled by the Opposition. The Rabi crop has not been harvested yet and they are saying farmers will not get the minimum support price, said BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra in Kolkata. This kind of smear campaign will not work. The BJP government is committed to protecting the interest of farmers. Outside the food bowl of northern India, protests were also reported from West Bengal and Bihar. The ruling Trinamool Congress and the Left partied led the protests in West Bengal. Traffic was blocked in Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, Nadia, South 24 Parganas, Burdwan, East Midnapore and other districts where farming is the main source of income for the rural population. In Bihar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav led a protest in Patna. Roads were blocked at Ara, Purnia, Samastipur, Bhagalpur, Begusarai and Hajipur districts, officials said. However, there was not much impact of the bandh in states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, from where only sporadic protests were reported. Farmer bodies burnt copies of the laws at several locations and in Karnataka, entry of traffic into Bengaluru was blocked. (With inputs from agencies) A mural honouring the late Chadwick Boseman has been unveiled at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The artwork shows the Black Panther star giving the famous Wakanda salute to a young fan dressed in a hospital gown. In his life, the actor who inspired audiences around the world in his titular role in Marvels first film centred on a black superhero regularly made time to visit sick children in hospitals, while undergoing cancer treatment himself. The mural was created by Nikkolas Smith, an artist and former Disney Imagineer the companys job title for its theme park designers and engineers. Smith shared photographs of the mural and a video of its unveiling on his Instagram yesterday (24 September). In a caption, Smith wrote: This one is special. My King Chad tribute is now on a wall on display at Downtown Disney. It is a full circle moment for me: my final two projects as a Disney Imagineer last summer were working on the Childrens Hospital project and the Avengers Campus. He also spoke about the late actors huge influence and legacy: To millions of kids, T'Challa [Bosemans character in Black Panther] was a legend larger than life, and there was no one more worthy to fill those shoes than Chadwick Boseman. Im so thankful to be able to honour Chadwicks life and purpose in this way. Boseman died of colon cancer aged 43 on 29 August. He had been diagnosed four years earlier but chose not to make the news public. By Trend It is necessary to create a mechanism for implementation of the UN Security Councils (UNSC) resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Domenico Letizia, Italian journalist and geopolitical analyst, told Trend. The UNSC resolutions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have no time limit. Those resolutions are in force until fulfillment and their distortion is unacceptable. It is necessary to create mechanisms for the implementation of these resolutions. Non-fulfillment of the UNSC resolutions undermines the reputation of the organization. In some cases, steps are taken against certain countries in a short time, but no actions are taken to ensure the fulfillment of the UNSC resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he said. He pointed out that Armenia's efforts are focused on maintaining the status quo. It is necessary to take real steps against Armenia. Armenias Azerbaijanophobic statements and the provocations staged by this country show that it is preparing for a new war with Azerbaijan. UN and the international community should prevent Armenia from another military aggression. Regretfully, the activity of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs hasnt brought any results. The statements about unacceptability of the status quo are not enough. There is a need for real steps, Letizia concluded. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Carsten Koall/Getty Images Google will help employees pay off their student loans beginning in 2021. The company announced Thursday that it will match up to $2,500 per employee per year, beginning with Googlers in the US. The student loan crisis in the US disproportionately affects Black borrowers, who are likely to be saddled with more debt than white borrowers. Employee groups for Black Googlers helped bring the new program to fruition, CNBC reports. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Google is going to start helping its employees pay off their student loans, the company announced Thursday. Beginning in 2021, Google will match up to $2,500 in loan payments per employee each year, beginning with US employees and expanding to its global workforce in the future. According to CNBC, the program will only be available to full-time employees, not contractors or temporary workers. Google said the goal of the program is to help employees pay off their loans more quickly so they can save for retirement, start a family, or buy a home. As Google noted in its blog post, the burden of high student loan debt is more prevalent in the US than in other countries. Total student loan debt in the US has surpassed $1.5 trillion, with people from marginalized groups typically taking on more student loan debt than other borrowers. The issue disproportionately affects Black borrowers, who are more likely to have to take out loans, owe more upon graduation, and earn less than their white peers after graduating, making it hard to pay the loans off. Eliminating more student loan debt would help narrow wealth gaps between Black and white families, according to analysis by the liberal think tank the Roosevelt Institute. John Casey, Google's director of Global Benefits, told employees in an email that two of the company's employee resource groups, Black Googler Network and Black Leadership Advisory Group, helped the company institute the new student loan program, CNBC reports. The new program is one of a few new benefits Google has added over the last six months as employees continue working from home. While Google is known for its generous employee perks, like onsite wellness services, free snacks, and financial advisers, it's had to add new benefits to support a remote workforce. In April, Google added eight extra week to its carers leave policy, which now allows employees to take up to 14 weeks a year to care for family members. And in May, Google supplied employees with a $1,000 allowance to set up a home office. Read the original article on Business Insider Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is battling a double infection of COVID-19 and dengue, has been administered a convalescent plasma therapy, said an official on Friday. According to news agency PTI, an official from his office said that his condition is better now. "Plasma therapy has been administered to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who is suffering from dengue & COVID-19 at Max hospital, Saket," read an official statement. Sisodia was shifted to Max Hospital, Saket, from Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital in the national capital on September 25. Live TV Sisodia was earlier admitted to LNJP hospital after he complained of fever and low oxygen levels. Earlier on September 14, the Deputy Chief Minister had informed about his positive test results for COVID-19, following which he had isolated himself. Sisodia was admitted to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital from being under home-isolation after he had contracted the infection. A senior doctor from LNJP Hospital had said, "He is still in ICU since yesterday, but his condition is stable. The minister has been put on oxygen support as per requirement and under constant observation. The Deputy CM will be administered an RT-PCR test in a couple of days." Asked if the minister has any co-morbidities, the doctor, also a senior official had said, "He has hypertension." Notably, the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital is a dedicated COVID-19 facility. The 48-year-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader was admitted to the hospital after he complained of fever and low oxygen levels. Sisodia was unable to attend the one-day Delhi Assembly session on September 14 since he had tested positive for the disease. He is the second Cabinet minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government to contract COVID-19 infection after Health Minister Satyendar Jain. Jain tested positive for COVID-19 in June and was administered plasma therapy. There are understandable reasons why people support President Donald Trump, but to do so requires them to suspend/ignore the many profound reasons why no one should support him. To gain office and win re-election, Trump like Mussolini promotes racism, anger, and hate with the conviction, practiced by the regime of Hitler and Goebbels, that if you tell a lie three times, it actually becomes accepted as the truth. President Trump lies daily, and often, and to our nations obvious detriment, as the deaths of more than 200,000 COVID-19 American citizens and residence attest. I have often wondered how could the Italian people become such easy prey to fascism, and even more disturbing, how could the German people accept the likes of Hitler, until it was too late to stop him. Trump like many demagogues before him, loves a crowd. And like demagogues before him, is willing, in fact eager, to say whatever vile observation is required to energize a deeply receptive audience, no matter how much it harms the fabric of our nation. I never thought that was possible in the United States, but now I know differently. I was taught that democracy is very fragile. I never believed that, but now I know differently. I was also taught that a politician who plays to our darker angels can actually succeed in bringing out the worst in us, and become president. I never believed that either, but now I know differently. We have a president today, before the votes are all cast, claim it is an unfair rigged election. Already he is claiming that he will have won, but the Democrats will do everything they can to steal it from him. And many of his supporters have already said, even if former Vice President Joe Biden is deemed the winner by a wide margin, that they will never accept the outcome. Why would they if their leader has said he wont? Vice President Richard Nixon was strongly encouraged to contest the presidential election of 1960 when he lost Illinois and Texas by small margins to then U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, under serious accusations of voter fraud in both states. With Illinois and Texas in the Nixon column he would have become president, but he didnt contest the outcome, and for good reason. Our democracy is fragile. And just think what damage Vice President Al Gore could have done in the presidential election of 2000, with the questionable 500-vote margin for Gov. George Bush in Florida, if Gore and his supporters refused to accept the verdict of the court, but he didnt, and for good reason. Our democracy is fragile. And now think what damage President Trump is doing. Unlike presidents before, and with the election still weeks away, Trump is inciting his numerous followers to accept only a win by him When I served in Congress, I was one of a few, who after witnessing the inauguration ceremony, rushed to the east side of the Capitol Building, to witness the extraordinary exchange, as the new president ushered the now former president and his family, to the waiting helicopter to take them from Washington to their home as private citizens, with the newly elected president waving goodbye, and beginning four years of unimaginable power and responsibility. What a remarkable moment. What a magnificent declaration of the peaceful transfer of immense power and responsibility from one person to another. No nation can match it. The fact that President Donald Trump cannot, or chooses not, to appreciate the sacred significance of this moment, and the fragile nature of our democracy, is just one more of so many reasons why he is not fit to be our president. Christopher Shays, a Republican elected office-holder for 34 years, was a Connecticut state representative for 13 years from 1974 to 1987, and a member of Congress from Connecticut from 1987 to 2009. Dhaka, Sep 25 : Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought robust international collaboration as she placed a five-point proposal to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to protect the planet from the adverse impact of climate change. "To protect the planet and ourselves from the adverse impact of climate change, I would suggest that political leadership must encourage robust international collaboration," she said. The Bangladesh premier made the first proposal on Thursday through a video message at a high-level virtua roundtable on climate action on the sidelines of the 75th session of the UNGA. In her second proposal, Hasina said the global temperature increase must be limited up to 1.5 degree Celsius and all Paris provisions must be implemented. Thirdly, she said the promised funds have to be made available to the vulnerable countries. In the fourth proposal, Hasina said polluting countries must increase their NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) through necessary mitigation measures. "Recognize that rehabilitation of the climate refugees is a global responsibility," she said in the fifth proposal. Thanking the UN Secretary-General for his concern regarding the impacts of climate change, Hasina pointed out that Bangladesh had some ideas and experiences to share on adaptation and resilience. "We've prepared the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 to deal with the challenges of climate change and water management," she said. The premier further said that her government has built 4, 291 cyclone and 523 flood shelters in the country, while 56,000 volunteers were available to facilitate preparation prior to any natural disasters. "That's why we've joined the 'REAP' (Risk-informed Early Action Partnership) initiative which aims to make one billion people around the world safer from disasters by 2025," Hasina said. In this context, she mentioned Bangladesh is the current Chair of thr Climate Vulnerable Forum, while thr Global Center of Adaptation's regional office was established in Dhaka recently. Thursday's meeting was convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, while UK journalist Femi Oke moderated the roundtable. Guterres delivered the introductory remarks at the 90-minute event that featured a roundtable discussion with around 20 global climate leaders from governments, the private sector and civil society. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The European Union may expand the list of persons against whom sanctions may be imposed for undermining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, the European Council told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday. It is expected that this decision can be approved on Monday, September 28 at the level of ambassadors of the EU member states, the so-called Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR). "CRP is due to green light the launch of a written procedure with a view to adoption few days later," the European Council noted. The point is that new persons will be added to the existing sanctions list for actions that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Ukraine. It is known that earlier the Ukrainian side spoke in favor of imposing sanctions against persons associated with the construction of the Kerch Bridge. As much of the United States moves toward reopening in phases, some people are enjoying little bites of pre-pandemic life, such as dining in restaurants, exercising in gyms and learning in classrooms. With the gradual return comes a set of intrusive health questions: Are you experiencing any symptoms? Have you been exposed to anyone who has tested positive for the coronavirus? Answering those questions is where it gets tricky. People usually tell one to two lies a day, according to a 1996 university study. Consistent with the belief that lying is an everyday social interaction, participants said they did not view their lies as serious and did not worry about being caught, the researchers said. But what about lying during a pandemic that has brought widespread economic damage and produced a national health crisis? Incidents in which people were dishonest about their health have been well documented over the last several months. In March, a New York man lied about his Covid-19 symptoms to gain access to a maternity ward to see his wife, who later developed flulike symptoms. The same month, a woman who flew from Massachusetts to Los Angeles and then to Beijing was placed under investigation after she was accused of lying about her symptoms. In August, a woman in Washington State was shamed for lying to her manicurist about testing positive for the virus. Robert Feldman, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the author of The Liar in Your Life: The Way to Truthful Relationships, said that his research showed that people typically tell three lies within the first 10 minutes of meeting someone else. Its part of what we do as members of society, Professor Feldman said. We tell people that were feeling well when were not feeling so well. Another common example of lying, he said, is saying that you liked a gift you didnt like. Society operates on lies in many ways, Professor Feldman said. Most of these lies are probably fairly trivial in the grand scheme of things, but they are lies. Professor Feldman said that he believed the number of lies people tell had gone up during the pandemic and that there were incentives to being dishonest. Its important, during the course of this pandemic, to be honest, stay at home and to wear a mask, to do social distancing, he said. But I also think there are a lot of subtle pressures that push people to not be totally truthful. When people do lie, he said, they sometimes give themselves excuses that its OK because theyre just trying to cope with the pandemic. Read the whole story: The New York Times Europe should become self-sufficient in the production of drugs needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Polish President Andrzej Duda said at the infectious diseases agency Spallanzani Institute in Rome on Wednesday. Andrzej Duda started his official three-day visit to Italy on Wednesday, his first foreign trip in his second term of office. He is accompanied by his wife, Agata Kornhauser-Duda. In an address delivered at the Spallanzani Institute, which conducts research into a coronavirus vaccine, the president recalled a Polish medical mission that visited Italy's virus-hit region of Lombardy in the first months of the pandemic. The Polish head of state expressed "respect and gratitude" to Italian medical staff for their "heroic fight" with the coronavirus that had taken the lives of more than 200 Italian doctors. Duda expressed satisfaction that in the worst period of the coronavirus pandemic in Lombardy, "the fight of Italian doctors was also supported by our doctors from the Military Institute of Medicine." Andrzej Duda also stressed the Institute's role in fighting the coronavirus and said that a Wednesday-signed agreement between the Italian researcher and Poland's National Institute of Public Health is an example of joining forces in the fight. Stressing the importance of European agreements to ensure the health and safety of Europe's citizens, including accords related to protective materials and disinfectants, Duda said that "thanks to joint activities and agreements, we as Europe should become self-sufficient and be able to produce and secure for ourselves the drugs that are needed during the pandemic so that we don't have to look for them outside Europe." (PAP) Bengaluru: Police detains members of various farmer organisations protesting against the three contentious agriculture-related Bills that have led to agitation by farmers in many states, in Bengaluru on Sep 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Bengaluru: Members of various farmer organisations stage a demonstration against the three contentious agriculture-related Bills that have led to agitation by farmers in many states, in Bengaluru on Sep 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Bengaluru: Members of various farmer organisations stage a demonstration against the three contentious agriculture-related Bills that have led to agitation by farmers in many states, in Bengaluru on Sep 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Bengaluru, Sep 25 : Thousands of farmers blocked roads, held huge rallies and staged demonstrations in cities and towns across Karnataka on Friday against the farm Bills of the Centre and the Bills the state government has proposed to amend the APMC Act and Land Reforms Act. "We have participated in 'Bharat bandh' to protest against the farm Bills of the Centre and the Bills of the state government to amend the APMC Act and the Land Reforms Act as they are against our welfare," Federation of Farmers Associations' president Kuruburu Shanthakumar said here. Police, however, whisked away the agitating farmers and others from main road junctions and check posts, as they were blocking the vehicular traffic and causing gridlocks in cities and towns. Hundreds of farm labourers, trade unions, workers and members of the Left parties joined the protesting farmers and courted arrest in Bengaluru, Mandya, Mysuru and other cities and towns across the southern state. Sugarcane growers blocked the state and national highways by parking tractors and trucks across roads to prevent vehicular movement for hours during the day till police rushed to the troubled spots and rounded them up. Police had a tough time in clearing the grid locks by diverting and regulating the vehicular traffic on a working day around Bengaluru and taking the protestors into preventive custody. As a dozen state farmers' associations have called for a Karnataka shutdown on September 28 in protest against the Bills, Chief Minister B.S. Yedyiurappa held talks with their representatives at the state secretariat here and urged them to withdraw the state bandh call. "The Chief Minister has agreed to amend a provision in the Bill to amend the Land Reforms Act on the ceiling of landholding per individual. But we told him that the Bills should be withdrawn in toto," Shanthakumar reiterated. Vehicular traffic was also blocked on the Bengaluru-Mysuru state highway at Mandya for hours by farmers in protest against the Bills. Additional police personnel were deployed at road junctions and check posts to prevent untoward incidents and ensure law and order across the state. Protests were also held at Santhemarahalli in Chamarajanagar district, which affected traffic as hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the main roads. Similar protests were staged at Hanur, Gundluet and Kollegal taluks in the border district. TikTok user @cloudoda shared a screenshot of her teacher's outrageous reply to her email, which was titled: 'Regarding homework due on the 18/09' A college student has revealed her professor sent her a sexually-charged email suggesting he 'take her top and hijab off' after she messaged him about a homework assignment. In a recent video, TikTok user @cloudoda shared a screenshot of her teacher's outrageous reply to her email, which was titled: 'Regarding homework due on the 18/09.' The professor simply wrote back: '*Starts to take your top and hijab off*' without any explanation or context. Scroll down for video Say what? ikTok user @cloudoda shared a screenshot of her teacher's outrageous reply to her email, which was titled: 'Regarding homework due on the 18/09' Inappropriate: The professor wrote back: '*Starts to take your top and hijab off*' without context. She also shared his follow-up in which he asked her to 'delete' his previous message In the video, @cloudoda is standing in front of the email with a confused expression on her face, and an audio clip of women chanting in Spanish is playing in the background. She also shared a screenshot of his equally bizarre follow-up email suggesting the inappropriate message wasn't actually meant for her. The professor offered her an apology, but he also asked her to delete the incriminating email. Huh? The professor suggested that the original email wasn't meant for her, saying it was an 'honest mistake' 'Please ignore and delete that last email I sent you, it was an honest mistake and I'm truly beyond sorry,' he wrote. 'I will get back to you with your questions about the homework as soon as possible.' 'HELP,' she captioned the TikTok, which has been viewed more than 1.8 million times. A number of TikTok users were admittedly confused as to why he was writing the message in the first place if he didn't mean to send it to her. 'Wait...was he writing fanfiction about u?' one person asked, while another added: 'WHAT IN THE WATTPAD.' Thoughts: The TikTok video has been viewed more than 1.8 million times, and commenters insisted she should press charges, blackmail him, or both 'Why would he event send this by accident,' another wrote. 'I don't understand.' A majority of commenters insisted that she press charges, blackmail him, or both. 'GET THAT A+ AND THEN PRESS CHARGES,' one TikTok user wrote. 'You realize you can now have ANYTHING you want... Grades, money, cheese on toast. The world is yours and I'm cackling,' someone else joked. 'GIRRRRLLLLL GET THE A AND SUE,' another shared. DailyMail.com has reached out to @cloudoda. SPRINGFIELD U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, said it is imperative that another relief package be approved in order to keep the economy moving forward as the nation continues to address the coronavirus pandemic. Much of this is based upon the urgency of the moment for sure, but the understanding that the resurgence of the virus as we head into fall and winter would make for a slow pace of recovery, Neal said during a press conference on the steps of the U.S. Courthouse on State Street Friday afternoon. Its important to point out that there will be no full scale economic recovery until we defeat the virus." Neal, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have discussed the parameters of what the next bill could look like. We have made it clear that if the administration and Secretary (Steven) Mnuchin are interested in an agreement, we think we can find one," he said. Its also clear that the Heroes Act that was passed on May 15 has never had a response from the United States Senate. So what we are suggesting is that we go back into negotiations and try to find a path forward," Neal said. Democrats and Republicans have not been able to agree on how much funding to provide and what areas to prioritize in this new relief package. The latest proposal would reduce the Houses original $3.4 trillion package down to $2.4 trillion, but would also require a shorter time frame, he said. The parameters would be to shorten the period of time into mid-January. We cant emphasize enough the need for unemployment insurance, hospital funding, expansion of the (employment) retention tax credit and another stimulus check round so that people are going to be able to pay for the sustenance of daily life, Neal said. Neal said the pandemic has had a serious affect on housing. If renters have trouble making the rent payments, that means people that own the properties are going to have trouble making their mortgage and tax payments, which then will offer a contagion to community bankers, credit unions and midsized banks who overwhelmingly are the originators of mortgages in America, he said. He also highlighted the need to fund the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses, with a special emphasis on restaurants. We think that program worked extraordinarily well. There were 10,400 businesses in the 1st Congressional District in western and central Massachusetts took advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program and have been able to keep the lights on and their employees working, he said. As customers move inside to eat in the fall and winter its going to be a challenge... and we think we are going to have to come to the aid of restaurants. Neal said the Cares Act made a significant difference for Americans and he hopes an agreement can be made soon on this second relief package. We think the Cares Act saved the American economy and we believe that its imperative that we proceed now with another round of relief, with a plan in place as we prepare to defeat the virus, he said. Related content: Kim Jong-un offered a rare apology today after a South Korean fisheries official was killed at sea while seemingly trying to defect to the North. The 47-year-old man was shot dead by North Korean soldiers and his body allegedly set on fire as a precaution against coronavirus. It was the first known killing of a South Korean by the North's forces for a decade, prompting outrage in the South. In a letter, Kim said he was sorry for 'disappointing President Moon and South Koreans' rather than helping them in the face of the 'malicious coronavirus', adding that the incident should not have happened. I'm sorry: Kim Jong-un (pictured) offered a rare apology to South Korea after a fisheries official was shot dead while apparently trying to defect to the North The letter sent by the North's ruling party acknowledged that around 10 shots were fired at the man who had 'illegally entered our waters' and failed to identify himself. Border guards fired on him in accordance with standing instructions, the letter said. However, the North denied setting his body on fire - claiming it was no longer visible and that guards had burned his flotation device as a precaution against the virus. 'The troops could not locate the unidentified trespasser during a search after firing the shots, and burned the device under national emergency disease prevention measures,' the letter said, according to the South's top security adviser Suh Hoon. Seoul military officials say the man was interrogated while in the water over several hours and expressed a desire to defect, but was killed after an 'order from superior authority'. The man - who was wearing a life jacket - disappeared from a patrol vessel near the western border island of Yeonpyeong on Monday. North Korean forces located him in their waters more than 24 hours later, and he was killed around six hours after being found. Reports said his shoes were found on board the patrol vessel, suggesting he had gone in the water in an attempt to defect to the North. 'He was shot dead in the water,' an official from the South said. 'North Korean soldiers poured oil over his body and burnt it in the water. 'We assess it was carried out under the North's anti-coronavirus measure,' he added. Pyongyang has closed its borders and declared an emergency to try to protect itself against the virus which first emerged in neighbouring China. However, the North has not admitted to a single case of the disease, which could cause havoc in the country's under-equipped health system. South Korean media reports said the man was in his forties with two children, but had recently divorced and had financial problems. Defecting to the North is rare, but not unheard of. A fisheries patrol vessel is anchored off the western border island of Yeonpyeong today after the deadly incident at sea Apologies from the North - let alone attributed to Kim himself - are extremely rare, but the shooting was the first time since 2010 that North Korean forces have killed a citizen of the South. In November 2010, Pyongyang's military bombarded Yeonpyeong island - close to this week's incident - killing two civilians and two marines. The North accused Seoul of firing first but the bombardment was described as one of the worst clashes since the Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953. It came months after a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sank South Korea's Cheonan warship, killing 46 seamen, although Pyongyang denies responsibility. In 2008, a North Korean soldier gunned down a female South Korean tourist who walked into a forbidden area at the North's Mount Kumgang resort. The shooting prompted Seoul to suspend the money-spinning visits, which have yet to resume. In July, a man who had defected to South Korea three years ago triggered a coronavirus scare when he crossed back over the heavily monitored border. His arrival prompted North Korean officials to lock down a border city and quarantine thousands of people over fears he may have had the coronavirus. An infection was never confirmed and the World Health Organisation later said his test results were inconclusive. Last week, South Korean police arrested a defector who they said had tried to return to North Korea by breaking into a military training site in the border town of Cheorwon. Inter-Korean relations have been strained in recent months with nuclear talks at a stalemate between Pyongyang and Washington. In June, the North blew up a liaison office set up in a border town in 2018 which was meant to foster better ties between the two countries. Pork rib prices in China increase following German pork imports ban Prices for China's pork rib dishes in restaurants have gone up after China banned German pork imports, affecting restaurants trying to recover from the impact of COVID-19, Reuters reported. While pork ribs in China are very popular, restaurants usually rely on imports that are usually 10 times cheaper than domestic supplies. Germany was one of China's biggest pork rib suppliers until China imposed a ban on German pork imports following the discovery of African swine fever (ASF) there. Restaurant owners said frozen pork ribs prices have increased after the ban, eating into profits even after customers have returned to normal levels. China's domestic pork prices have risen to record levels following its own ASF outbreaks, which decimated local herds. To offset dwindling domestic pork stocks, China has increased its imports of the meat by 134%. According to a manager of an Inner Mongolia-based ribs restaurant chain, imported pork ribs prices have doubled to CNY 11 (~US$1.62; CNY 1 = US$0.15) per kg in May compared to last year. The restaurant uses half a tonne of ribs weekly for its CNY 29 (~US$4.25) pork ribs set meal. Half of their pork ribs are sourced from Germany, with the rest from Denmark, Spain, or other countries. The manager said prices have gone up to CNY 14 (~US 2.05) this week, and possibly CNY 16 (~US2.35) next week, adding that this has resulted in an additional CNY 300 (~US$44) in costs daily or the cost of three extra staff. Liu Xiaofeng, managing director at consultancy Meat International Group, said imported ribs have gone up in price higher than other cuts because Germany is a major exporter. He said Germany exported close to 20,000 tonnes of spare ribs to China. Prices of spare ribs last week have increased to CNY 44 (~US6.45) from CNY 38 (~US5.57). While the United States is China's biggest pork supplier, it consumes more pork ribs domestically compared to Europe. The higher pork rib prices will benefit Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. Even though prices for pork from China are steadily decreasing, prices are still higher compared to Europe. Domestic back ribs cost CNY 52 (~US$7.63) per kg last week. - Reuters Sept. 25, 2020 PORTLAND, Ore. COVID-19 has claimed three more lives in Oregon, raising the states death toll to 542, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today. Oregon Health Authority reported 457 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today bringing the state total to 32,314. This is the highest daily case count since the beginning of the pandemic in Oregon. The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Benton (11), Clackamas (33), Clatsop (73), Columbia (7), Coos (3), Deschutes (17), Jackson (14), Jefferson (4), Josephine (2), Klamath (1), Lake (3), Lane (50), Lincoln (2), Linn (12), Malheur (20), Marion (58), Morrow (4), Multnomah (62), Polk (8), Tillamook (1), Umatilla (9), Union (4), Wasco (3), Washington (51), and Yamhill (5). Oregons 540th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Lane County who died on Sept. 1. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. Place of death is being confirmed. Oregons 541st COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Sept. 15 and died on Sept. 23 at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center. He had underlying conditions. Oregons 542nd COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Sept. 10 and died on Sept. 18 at Providence Medford Medical Center. He had underlying conditions. Workplace outbreak An outbreak of 79 cases of COVID-19 has been reported at Pacific Seafood in Clatsop County. The case count includes all persons linked to the outbreak, which may include household members and other close contacts to an employee. The outbreak investigation started on Sept. 15, but the initial case count was below the threshold for public disclosure. Processing error causes increase in negative case counts Due to an error with electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) processing, there is an increase in the number of negative cases in OHAs negative case counts. The increase is more than 7,000 negative cases. This has no bearing on the presumed and confirmed cases of COVID 19 being reported today. OHA apologizes for this error and has updated our ELR processing protocol. Weekly media briefing scheduled for 1 p.m. today Media are invited to attend a media briefing at 1 p.m. today, Thursday, Sept. 25, with OHA Director Patrick Allen, Oregon State Health Officer Dean Sidelinger and Leann Johnson, OHAs director of the equity and inclusion division. In addition to updates about the pandemic in Oregon, OHA will discuss newly released health equity grants to address the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Oregons tribal communities and communities of color. Media should call 877-226-8164. The access code is 9785572. Stay informed about COVID-19: Oregon response: The Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Office of Emergency Management lead the state response leads the state response. United States response: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads the U.S. response. Global response: The World Health Organization guides the global response. Spring may have finally sprung for Victoria with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declaring the state is winning the battle against the coronavirus. Overnight, the state recorded just 14 new cases and eight more deaths. The 14-day average has dropped to an encouraging 25.1. The Premier is preparing to ease more lockdown restrictions from this weekend. At this stage, the second step of restrictions being eased are minor with more significant lockdown measures being eased in late October at the earliest and even then only if the number of mystery cases with an unknown source over the previous 14 days is fewer than five. Right now, that measure is at 35. In this episode, senior culture writer Nathanael Cooper is joined by The Ages City editor Bianca Hall to talk us through the mood in Melbourne as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews prepares to relax some of the coronavirus restrictions this weekend. A home burns in Vacaville, CA during the LNU Lightning Complex fire on August 19 A home burns in Vacaville, CA during the LNU Lightning Complex fire on Aug. 19 Credit - Josh EdelsonAFP/Getty Images Early last week, as wildfires approached her neighborhood in Rogue Valley, Ore., Virginia Camberos evacuated her home. After a brief stay at her sons residence, about an hours drive up the mountains, authorities gave the all-clear to return two days later. Im fortunate I have a home to come back to, says Camberos, a regional director for Unite Oregon, a non-profit serving the valleys mostly-Latino community. Two blocks down, everything is just burned to the ground. Camberos and her neighbors are not alone. Sweeping wildfires in Oregon and California have burned through millions of acres of land in recent weeksresulting in mass evacuations, a few dozen deaths and the destruction of hundreds of homes. Ten active wildfires in Oregon continue to burn and have already torn through more than 976,000 acres. About 20 active wildfires in California are burning through more than 2.3 million acres of land. This years fire season, according to Cal Fire, resulted in 26 times the number of acres burned over the same period in 2019. But amidst the devastation, national politics loom. Less than six weeks before the general election, non-profits and advocacy groups that help communities access voting, including Camberos, face an outsized challenge. With at least 500,000 Oregonians under some sort of evacuation notice and upwards of 400,000 Californians living in areas under a mandatory evacuation order at some point during this years fire season, its unclear whether many of these residents will end up casting a ballot. Although both states offer flexible voting options for in-person and mail-in voting, many face significant logistical and emotional challenges. Right now, were in a daze, Camberos says. People are not even thinking about (voting) right now because of what weve been through. Story continues Camberos is working on changing that. She believes that the Latino and other minority communities, which have faced discrimination by the Trump Administration, have a duty to vote for the government they want. Even if that means prioritizing voting when their worlds are literally on fire. I have to figure out, how do I still relay that message to my community, she says, without sounding like I dont give a crap about them and what theyre going through? The answer, so far, is a combination of disaster aid and gentle voter education, Camberos says. She and her team are checking in on community members affected by the fires and planning to hand out emergency $200 Visa gift cards to those in need. But Camberos says shes also beginning to broach the topic of the November election, helping those eligible to vote access the necessary information. Those conversations, she says, require a balancing act: Just wanted to check in on you again and hey, by the way, did you already register to vote? Unite Oregon has also posted flyers in English and Spanish to help community members navigate how to get their ballots if they were displaced by wildfires, Camberos says. California and Oregon state election laws are flexible, and both states have issued specific guidance for voters displaced because of wildfires. Oregons deadline to register to vote or update voter registration is Oct. 13. Displaced voters can also cast a provisional ballot in any Oregon county election office, even if its not their own. California, which has same-day voter registration, also allows voters in some counties to cast ballots at any county voting center. In other counties, voters are assigned a specific location, but if they show up at the wrong one, they can still cast a provisional ballot. Those who wish to vote by mail in both California and Oregon have flexible options, too. In both states, voters can simply update their mailing address onlineeven if its a temporary switchand then receive a ballot in the mail. (Heres where you do it in Oregon, and heres where you do it in California.) Temporary addresses can be homeless shelters or an advocacy organization. Californians and Oregonians arent required to re-register to vote if they change their address. Displaced Californians whove forgotten to prepare for the election can register and cast a ballot in-person on Election Day. Californians can also opt for a slightly more complicated remote voting process that will allow them to print out their own ballot and choose to drop off a completed vote-by-mail ballot to any voting location or elections office. For now, the tools are already in place for people who want to vote to be able to vote, says Julia Gomez, an attorney with ACLU of Southern California. In terms of voting by mail, its just an issue of refocusing voter education to let them know what their options are. USPS will not mail ballots to a forwarding address, so displaced people must notify officials directly about any change in address if they intend to vote by mail. But in Oregon, the U.S. Postal Service will hold onto any ballots that were intended to be directed to mailboxes that have been destroyed by the fires; displaced residents can collect them from their local post office. (California law does not specify how the Postal Service should handle ballots addressed to mailboxes that have been destroyed, according to the office of Californias Secretary of State.) The states official guidance notes that USPS should put out public service announcements and Service Alerts letting the public know where they can go and pick up their mail if regular delivery is disrupted. Weve had elections in wartime, in peacetime, during pandemics, during recessions throughout this countrys history, says Sam Mahood, a spokesperson for Californias Secretary of State. Our democracy is resilient. But its also why its important to have flexibility and options for voters, particularly in a time of crisis. State Sen. Anna Caballero, a Democrat who represents Salinas, a rural, agricultural district in Monterey County that is home to a sizeable low-income Latino community, says the problem is not complicated state election laws that prevent people from voting; its that voters themselves, who are enduring difficult and traumatic period, may not prioritize the election. The problem is, quite frankly, when youve lost everythingI gotta think the last thing youre thinking about is voting, Caballero says. We need to get the message out so voters know they have lots of options. Kate Titus, executive director of Common Cause Oregon, says another problem is just the uncertainty of the period. Someone whose home has just burned down doesnt necessarily know they will be living more than five weeks from now. A lot of people in this chaotic situation arent sure yet where they will be on Election Day, she says. (Common Cause supports the voter registration deadline being moved to as close as election day so people can re register new addresses as needed.) A U.S. flag flies at a burnt home in a neighborhood destroyed by wildfire on Sept. 13 in Talent, OR David RyderGetty Images Navigating even basic rules can be daunting for people who speak or read other languages, says Kayse Jama, executive director of Unite Oregon. The things that you and I take for grantedlike calling the elections office to get the right information about how this process works for a displaced personits a tall order for someone who doesnt speak English, he says. In Santa Cruz, Calif., County Clerk Gail Pellerin has been hosting biweekly Zoom sessions to inform voters about their options. Her recent sessions have included information on voting for fire evacuees and one was held in Spanish. Santa Cruz will also soon have its own mobile voting unit, thanks to money allocated under the federal CARES Act, which passed Congress in March. The mobile voting unita trailer that hooks up to a truck, decorated in a patriotic red, white, and bluewill travel around the county, including to shelters and areas devastated by wildfires, helping people to register, vote, and access replacement ballots. Were going to be going anywhere needed in the county to make sure people have access, Pellerin says. We can take it to pretty much any parking lot and set it up. Its a full service stop. A lot of the time, she says, what voters need isnt complicated. She recalls receiving a phone call from a California resident who went to a vacation home in New Mexico after their house burned down. The resident asked how they could still vote. I said, Piece of cake, Im going to mail your ballot to New Mexico. Whats the address? Boom, done. Our hearts go out to people. They have lost so much but they will not lose their right to vote, Pellerin says. Its a sentiment that resonates with Amy Osterberg, a teacher at Pine Ridge Elementary School in Auberry, Calif. Among students and staff at her school, 18 familiesincluding her ownhave lost their homes, she says. Theres nothing left of my house or any of our out-buildings but my chicken coup stands with four chickens still alive, Osterberg says, adding, Our whole little community, the whole ridge that we live on has been wiped out. Losing a home is not just about losing the material possessions, Osterberg says. Its emotionally wrought. You can get new stuff and put new stuff into a home, she says, beginning to cry, but you cant replace the memories. The stuff from when [my children] were little. I saved all their art projects or everything with their handprint on it. Still, Osterberg plans to vote, in-person, this year. As these politicians are coming here to get their pictures taken, we want to know: how are you going to help and make sure this is not going to happen to anyone else, Osterberg says. These are questions that are absolutely on our minds. How can you help us come back from this? Were going to be looking for leaders who can possibly do that. Ramon Lopez Ruelas, 35, a correctional officer at a prison in Soledad, was battling wildfires in California as a volunteer last month when he learned that the Carmel fireone of dozens of wildfires ravaging the statehad destroyed his own familys 15-acre ranch house. He and his wife had saved to buy the home, and dreamed of raising their three kids under the stars and around horses, goats and sheeps. That house meant the world to us, he says. A GoFundMe fundraiser for Ruelass family has raised more than $51,000, but he and his wife are still processing the lossand the election seems far away. Ruelas says he is already registered and hopes to vote. But like thousands of his fellow Americans whose lives have been overturned this fire season, hes not yet sure how hell pull it off. "Every second he stays in captivity cuts a deeper wound in the hearts of my family, and we can wait no longer As we approach a ninth holiday season with an empty chair at our family's Thanksgiving, a ninth Christmas spent wondering if Austin can see the stars, my brothers and sisters and I implore you from the depths of our hearts: Please help," writes Jacob Tice, in an excerpt from the op-ed. In collaboration with the National Press Club Journalism Institute, McClatchy enlisted the support of the media industry to elevate the call for Austin's release so that Americans can urge their elected officials to make his safe return a top priority. News publishers representing hundreds of news outlets have joined the effort, including, Gannett, Tribune, Hearst, CNN, Fox News, Time, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Military Times and many others. "I'm proud to join with the Tice family, the National Press Club Journalism Institute and media industry leaders to combine forces to work for Austin's long overdue freedom," said Tony Hunter, CEO of McClatchy. "I am grateful for the outpouring of support among our industry peers and hope that together, we are able to create a groundswell of awareness and action that will allow Austin to join his family for Thanksgiving." As part of this coordinated campaign, the National Press Club Journalism Institute is mobilizing people around the country to urge their Members of Congress to send a letter to President Trump reminding him to keep Austin's safe return a top priority. The Institute has asked the 173 members of Congress who signed a letter to President Trump last year on Austin's behalf, to send another message urging the administration to bring Austin home by Thanksgiving. "No journalist should be detained for doing their job, and no family should have to suffer as the Tices have, worrying about when they will see their child again," said Angela Greiling Keane, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute and managing editor, States and Canada, POLITICO. "We join the Tices in urging the White House and State Department to continue to use every diplomatic resource to secure Austin's safe release and return by Thanksgiving." For media outlets interested in joining the campaign to #FreeAustinTice and publishing Jacob Tice's op-ed, please contact [email protected] or [email protected]. McClatchy We help people and communities thrive. Through our deeply-rooted commitment to the role of local journalism, McClatchy is a catalyst for informed engagement, greater understanding, and deeper community connections. We ensure delivery of news and information essential to enhancing individual lives and improving the 30 distinct communities that are home to our journalists and iconic brands, including the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star, The Sacramento Bee, The Charlotte Observer, The (Raleigh) News and Observer, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. We extend our unique local and regional reach, relevance and resources to our advertising partners through fully-integrated marketing solutions. McClatchy is privately held by the investment firm, Chatham Asset Management. #ReadLocal National Press Club Journalism Institute 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. The Institute is proud to be the nonprofit affiliate of the National Press Club. Contacts: Jeanne Segal [email protected] 1+202-271-8880 Julie Moos [email protected] 1+727-656-3059 SOURCE McClatchy Related Links http://www.mcclatchy.com The Trump administration proposed a new rule on Thursday that would prevent students from certain countries from staying in the U.S. for more than two years, likely barring them from completing four-year degrees. Under the Department of Homeland Security proposal, F-1 visas for students and J-1 visas for researchers, scholars, and other exchange roles will be given a strict four-year timeline, regardless of program or purpose. (Currently, these visa-holders can stay in the country for the duration of their programs.) If a visa-holder needs more time to complete their program, there are minimal exceptions that allow for an extension, including a documented illness, a natural disaster, or inability to take required classes due to over-enrollment. The proposal also reduces the amount of time students can stay in the U.S. after completing their program from 60 to 30 days and limits the number of times students can change majors or transfer schools. Its not clear what happens to visa-holders, such as foreign medical residents, whose programs often require more than four years to complete. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the proposed rules are even harsher for some: They bar students from 59 countriesmany among what President Donald Trump once referred to as shithole countriesfrom staying in the country longer than two years, regardless of program and visa type. Four of the countriesIran, Syria, North Korea, and Sudanare on the state sponsors of terrorism list. Students born in these countries, regardless of where they grew up, are automatically limited to two years. The rest are countries that have a 10 percent or greater U.S. visa overstay rate. Thirty-six of those are in Africa. Under DHS's new proposed rule, if you were born in, or are a citizen of, one of the countries on this map, you would be banned from getting a four-year degree in the United States, with a student visa limited to two years maximum. The thread has all the countries. https://t.co/MHwS7MyzO0 pic.twitter.com/Qsl3ltJtzi Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) September 24, 2020 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement, acting DHS Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said that changing the current regulations is crucial to preventing foreign adversaries from exploiting the countrys education environment and properly enforcing U.S. immigration laws. But according to data from DHS, F-1- and J-1 visas make up only 3 percent of overstays. And according to a report from NAFSA, an association of international educators, the 1.1 million international students enrolled in U.S. colleges contributed more than $41 billion to the U.S. economy in 2019. Most international students come from China, accounting for 33.7 percent of total enrollment, with India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Canada rounding out the top five. Vietnam, Nigeria, Nepal, and Iran would be the most affected countries under the new proposal, according to data from OpenDoors. Since 2015, international student enrollment in the U.S. has fallen by 10 percent, which analysts have attributed in part to sharper immigration restrictions by the Trump administration. The change also threatens to exacerbate the coronavirus-driven budget crisis already threatening many higher education institutions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This isnt the first time the Trump administration has targeted students and exchange visitors or visa overstays. In July, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced international students must take in-person classes to remain in the country, even though most universities had moved classes online due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Harvard and MIT filed a lawsuit to block the restrictions, and the administration rescinded the policy.) That same month, foreign journalists working at Voice of America were told their J-1 visas would not be renewed when they expired, some as early as that month. And last year, the White House ordered the secretaries of state and the homeland security to implement punishments for countries with visitor visa overstay rates of more than 10 percent, targeting mostly Africa and Asia. A 30-day public comment period opens to the public beginning Friday. Although its unclear when the rule could take effect, the Trump administration has little time to finalize the rule before the election. But with the U.S. being the top destination for international students, its certain this rule would send shock waves across U.S. higher education institutions and those who aspire to study on their campuses. The event supported by the company brought together participants from all over the world. The 7th international womENcourage virtual meeting, which promotes the role of women in computer science, kicked off today with the motto "Equality has two sides". This year's meeting, organized and hosted by ADA University, ACM-W European Organization, Azercell Telecom LLC which acts as a Gold Sponsor and digital partner of the event, with the support of the Azerbaijan Congress Bureau, was attended by hundreds of participants from all over the world. The womENcourage International Meeting was launched with the welcoming speeches delivered by the newly elected ACM President, Professor Gabriele Kotsis, ADA University Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Vafa Kazdal and ACM-W Europe Chair Ruth Lennon. After the opening ceremony, the conference started. On the first day of the event, representatives of the world's largest telecommunications companies presented reports on "Big promises of big data analytics." The next days of the four-day international conference will include panel discussions and presentations on "Artificial Intelligence: From Algorithms to Ethics". The conference agenda also includes presentations of research works of bachelors, masters and doctoral students. Thus, womENcourage will present 30 posters of students from 17 countries on 5 continents. A career fair will be organized for the participants of womENcourage 2020 on the third day of the event. Students will be able to take advantage of existing vacancies by meeting with representatives of various technology companies in a private office. Azercell, in turn, will provide participants with information on available vacancies. At the end of the conference, which promotes diversity and balance among people in computer science, about 100 participants will compete in a hackathon. During the hackathon, hacker teams will struggle to create a functional prototype that will provide a technological solution to a real-life problem. Rahim Akhmadov, Head of Data Engineering Unit of Big Data and Analytics Department at Azercell, will participate as a judge in this competition. This year's womENcourage, held with Azercell's Digital Partnership and Gold Sponsorship, is organized in different countries around the world. Previous meetings of the international event took place in Italy, Serbia, Spain, Austria, Sweden and the United Kingdom. WomENcourage helps women who are studying or working in technical fields to support their personal development by bringing together everyone who wants to be more involved in computer science. The participants of this conference will get acquainted with the experience of world-renowned experts in the field of computer science, gain practical knowledge, as well as have the opportunity to present themselves. Besides, the conference helps women in this field to land a job. It should be noted that Azercell Telecom has always been the initiator and executor of projects aimed at increasing the knowledge and skills of schoolchildren and students in Azerbaijan in various fields, especially in computer science. Azerbaijani schoolchildren, closely supported by Azercell Telecom, successfully participated in the Asian Pacific Informatics Olympiad (APIO) held in a virtual format on August 14-21 and won a bronze medal in this prestigious competition. Moreover, Azercell supports the participation of Azerbaijani students in the International Informatics Olympiad, one of the most prestigious IT competitions held on an annual basis. The Student Scholarship program held by the company has been offering monthly scholarships to young people who have studied and excelled in ICT at local universities. Hundreds of projects have been implemented with the support of Azercell to help young people specialize in information and communication technologies. The company has also been a regular sponsor of the Hackathon competition organized by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The 7th international womENcourage virtual meeting will last until September 27. Please, visit https://womencourage.acm.org/2020/ for more information about the event. 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 A 33-year-old man was airlifted to hospital with critical injuries Friday after being stabbed in north St. Catharines. Niagara Regional Police were called to assist paramedics just before 10:30 a.m. on Geneva Street, north of Scott Street. Police said they attended a multi-unit residence where they found the man with life-threatening stab sounds. The man was transported by Niagara Emergency Medical Services to a local hospital in critical condition and then airlifted by Ornge air ambulance to an out-of-region hospital. The suspects identify is unknown. Detectives from 1 District St. Catharines are investigating with assistance from the forensic services unit. Police said the stabbing is believed to have happened inside one of the apartments between 10 and 10:25 a.m. Detectives canvassed the area for more information and are asking any residents or businesses with security cameras in the area to review footage for anything suspicious. Police are asking anyone with information to contact detectives at 905-688-4111, ext. 9964. Police said they are not releasing information about the victim at this time. MOSCOW, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia's sovereign wealth fund, and LAXISAM, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the Republic of Uzbekistan, have agreed to supply to the country up to 35 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, which is based on a well-studied human adenoviral vectors platform with proven safety and efficacy. Upon approval by Uzbekistan's regulators up to 10 million doses will be delivered in 2020 and up to 25 million doses in 2021. 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 Russia and became the world's first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on the human adenoviral vectors platform. Detailed information on the Sputnik V vaccine, the technological platform of human adenoviral vectors, and other details are available at sputnikvaccine.com On September 4, a research paper on the results of Phase I and Phase II clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine was published in The Lancet, one of the leading international medical journals, demonstrating no serious adverse effects and a stable immune response in 100% of participants. Post-registration clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine involving 40,000 volunteers are currently ongoing. More than 60,000 volunteers have applied to take part in post-registration trials. The first results of these trials are expected to be published in October-November 2020. Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said: "Russia's Sputnik V vaccine has several key advantages compared with foreign vaccines, especially experimental vaccines by Western producers based on monkey adenovirus of mRNA. Sputnik V is based on the human adenoviral vector platform, which has been studied over decades and in more than 250 clinical studies, proving its safety and effectiveness. Supplies of the vaccine will ensure that medical specialists in the Republic of Uzbekistan have an advanced tool to combat the new coronavirus infection. It enables the formation of a long-term immunity to protect citizens, as well as ensuring a diversified portfolio of vaccines against coronavirus." RDIF has received orders for more than 1.2 billion doses of the Sputnik V vaccine for 2020-2021. More than 50 countries in CIS, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Latin America have applied for Sputnik V. RDIF has announced earlier supply agreements with Mexico for 32 million doses, with Brazil for up to 50 million doses and India 100 million doses. Shavkat Ismailov, Chairman of LAXISAM Group of Companies, noted: "The World Health Organization and leading medical experts in the epidemiology of infectious diseases point out that vaccination is an effective way to create lasting immunity to prevent COVID-19. In this regard, cooperation on the Sputnik V vaccine with RDIF plays an important role. The vaccine was created by Russian scientists based on advanced scientific and clinical research." Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russia's sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 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. RDIF's management company is based in Moscow. Currently, RDIF has experience of the successful joint implementation of more than 80 projects with foreign partners totaling more than RUB1.9 tn and covering 95% of the regions of the Russian Federation. RDIF portfolio companies employ more than 800,000 people and generate revenues which equate to more than 6% of Russia's GDP. RDIF has established joint strategic partnerships with leading international co-investors from more than 18 countries that total more than $40 bn. Further information can be found at www.rdif.ru LAXISAM has been known as one of the largest suppliers and manufacturers of a wide range of medicines in the Uzbek market for 26 years. Cooperation with the leading global and domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers and a wide network of branches, pharmaceutical warehouses in all regions of Uzbekistan provide suppliers, medical institutions, a pharmacy network and the country's population with all categories of drugs. LAXISAM has created and now operates a large pharmaceutical plant LAXISAM PHARMACEUTICALS in Tashkent producing about 100 drugs in various forms: tablets, capsules, ointments, suspensions, ampoules. The company operates in strict accordance with national and international quality standards for the production and distribution of medicines. Additional information can be found at lahisam.uz/ and lapharma.uz Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1140939/Russian_Direct_Investment_Fund_Logo.jpg SOURCE Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) A Belfast solicitor firm has been hired by "concerned citizens" considering taking legal action against the UK Government over its Internal Market Bill. O Muirigh Solicitors will act alongside the Hampshire-based Hackett & Dabbs Solicitors and will be led by renowned QC Michael Mansfield in potential legal action at the High Court in Belfast and London. Read More Human rights lawyer Mr Mansfield has been involved in some of the UK's most high-profile legal cases and previously represented both the Bloody Sunday families and the Birmingham Six. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has argued the Internal Market Bill is needed to prevent Brussels carving up the UK, as trade negotiations threatened to become deadlocked. NI Secretary Brandon Lewis admitted the bill would breach international law and thus undermine the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, agreed with the EU last year. Northern Ireland's pro-Remain parties have argued the bill would threaten the Good Friday Agreement, while unionists have given it a warm, but cautious welcome. In a joint statement O Muirigh Solicitors and Hackett & Dabbs Solicitors said the citizens considering taking legal action are "gravely concerned". "It is simply not the case that this is a breach of international law in a specific and limited way'. The consequences are neither specific nor limited, and it is vital that the government is challenged in the courts in order to account for this breach of international law," the statement read. Director of O Muirigh Solcitors, Padraig O Muirigh, said those behind the legal action come from both unionist and nationalist communities. "The Irish Protocol found a way maintaining a frictionless border in Ireland which is a key component of the peace process and the proposals in this Bill, if enacted, could jeopardise the gains made by the Good Friday Agreement," he said. "We have been instructed by citizens from unionist and nationalist backgrounds, in particular, concerned members of the business sector and residents of the border communities who will adversely affected by the creation of a hard border on the island. "These citizens do not intend to stand idly by whilst the rule of law and the fragile peace process is undermined and will not hesitate to challenge the British government if the Bill is passed in its current form." Expand Close Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Dominic Lipinski/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Earlier this week the Prime Minister was forced to compromise to give MPs a vote before the Government can use the powers conferred from the Internal Market Bill. It comes as Downing Street dropped suggestions that Brussels could block food exports from Britain to Northern Ireland as it signalled optimism over trade deal negotiations with the EU. Asked about a report suggesting Downing Street was growing optimistic that a deal could be reached, a spokesman said: Weve had useful exchanges with the EU over the past couple of weeks and progress has been made in certain areas. For example, the EU has now confirmed that normal processes will be followed on third country listings. But weve always been clear that a number of challenging areas remain, which is why we continue to be committed to working hard to reach an agreement and we look forward to the next negotiating round in Brussels. Ten Rakhine civilians were released Thursday after being detained and interrogated overnight by Myanmar troops, with several villagers saying they were kicked and beaten by soldiers in what a local lawmaker called a common occurrence in the war-torn state. The detainees, who ranged from 16 to 40 years old and included a school teacher, were from two villages in Rakhines Kyauktaw township, one of the main theaters in the 21-month-long conflict between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA). They were detained by a column of Light Infantry Battalion No.376, villagers said. Yesterday morning, the government troops entered Thayetpin village and questioned 19 villagers. Nine were released in evening and other 10 were taken along with the troops, said a villager who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. He said that many villagers from Thayetpin, home of nine of the 10 detained villagers, fled as soon as government troops entered the villages in fear of beatings during questioning about the AA, a rebel group that champions ethnic Rakhine autonomy in Myanmars western-most state. There were some physical assaults like punching and kicking but no bloody incidents during interrogation, said one of the villagers who were released by the troops Thursday but was afraid to give his name. But we do not want to tell everything for fear of repercussion. The father of the detained teacher said, My son was faultless, and he did not do anything. I was worried the troops would beat or kill him. RFAs Myanmar Service tried to reach military spokesman Major GeneralGen Zaw Min Tun for comment on the villagers claims, but he did not answer telephone calls. In previous cases in which abuses against civilians have been alleged, Zaw Min Tun has said the army arrests and questions those suspected of having ties to the Arakan Army a policy he said was based on security reasons and did not target ethnic Rakhines. A boat carrying villagers fleeing conflict in Myanmar's Rakhine State at the state capital Sittwe, Sept 23, 2020 Credit: RFA But Tun Tun Win, a lower house MP for Kyaukphyu constituency in Rakhine said that mistreatment of civilians was common in northern Rakhine state, where RFA has recorded 30 civilian deaths in army detention and interrogation from the beginning of 2019 to Aug. 8. In Rakhine state, many villagers were arrested and tortured during interrogation. We filed complaints, but relevant government departments ignored them, he told RFA. Villagers came to me and filed complaints. We investigated them and found out they were only civilians and have no relation to any troops or organizations, added Tun Tun Win. According to a local activist group, Rakhine Human Rights Protection and Promotion, more than 200 villagers in the northern part of the state have been arrested by the army. The overnight incident in Kyauktaw came 10 days after the U.N. human rights chief told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that the Myanmar militarys brutal tactics in Rakhine state, including widespread arbitrary arrests and detention of civilians, were producing possible war crimes. Use of torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment against detainees has also been alleged, said a report submitted by Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, using the Burmese name for the military. Following Bachelets statement, Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmars permanent representative to the U.N., said in prerecorded remarks that terrorist attacks in Rakhine were to blame for the humanitarian crisis there. The AA has been engaged in hostilities with Myanmar forces since late 2018 as the rebels fight for greater autonomy for ethnic Rakhine people in what they consider to be its historic homeland on the Bay of Bengal coast. The war has killed nearly 300 civilians and injured more than 640 while displacing more than 220,000 civilians. Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Khin Ei. Written in English by Paul Eckert. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: The aim pursued by Armenia is to maintain the current status-quo of occupation and to annex the occupied territories, President Ilham Aliyev said during his speech at general debates of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly held in video format, Trend reports. Contrary to the constructive engagement of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of Armenia deliberately undermines the format and substance of the negotiation process. His statement that Karabakh is Armenia seriously damages the negotiations process. His unacceptable and groundless so-called seven conditions to Azerbaijan have been rejected by us. We have put forward only one condition to achieve peace. The armed forces of Armenia must withdraw from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The entire world recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan. The Armenian Prime Minister announced the establishment of a civilian militia consisting of tens of thousands of civilians who will be forced to undertake military actions against Azerbaijan. The minister of defense of Armenia calls for new war for new territories, the head of state said. How to Rake Leaves and Do Yard Work When You Have Seasonal Allergies You can still get the job done. Fall is here, which means it's only matter of time until you need to break out your rake and compostable yard waste bags as you deal with fallen leaves. While autumn's backyard cleanup is always backbreaking, those who suffer from seasonal allergies find it particularly burdensome: Pollen and mold can turn raking into a sneeze-filled nightmare. That's why we checked in with Dr. Sanjeev Jain, a board-certified allergist and immunologist and the founder of Columbia Asthma & Allergy Clinic, to find out what you can do to minimize any reactions while you are out and about in the yard this fall. Related: How to Clean Your Home to Avoid Allergies Getty / Cavan Images Understand why leaves cause such an intense reaction. Leaves are loaded with mold, which is the root cause of allergy symptoms come fall, explains Dr. Jain. "Weed pollen is also prevalent during autumn, and individuals with allergy to weeds, such as ragweed, are particularly prone to symptoms while in the yard," he says. Take medication ahead of time. As for the best ways to mitigate these types of allergies? Get ahead of the symptoms and mask up. "Pre-medicate with antihistamines and nasal steroids at least one hour before doing yard work and wear a mask with HEPA filter," Dr. Jain says. "If allergies are severe or chronic, then allergy testing and allergy shots is the preferred option; these can eliminate the need for other interventions." When you come in from raking, use a nasal rinse with a saline solution, Dr. Jain adds, to remove pollen from your breathing pathway. Go outside later in the day. Raking leaves isn't the only fall activity that can cause unpleasant reactionspulling weeds and mowing the lawn can also illicit an allergic response, since you are exposing yourself to the very same pollen and mold you come into contact with while you rake. To lessen the impact, Dr. Jain suggests timing your chores appropriately. "Another important consideration is that pollen counts are higher in the morning and on windy days," he says. "It may be preferable to perform these activities in late afternoon and when it is not that windy." Story continues Raking leaves can irritate anyone's system. You don't have to be a seasonal allergy sufferer to feel uncomfortable while raking leavescongestion and watery eyes are common. Luckily, you can still benefit from the same interventions, notes Dr. Jain. You may also be suffering from another timely condition called "non-allergic" or "vasomotor" rhinitis. "This condition is best treated by wearing warm clothing and using prescription nasal sprays," he says. "A board-certified allergist can determine the root cause of the symptoms and them treat appropriately." Seek out professional help. Though allergies can be very restrictive, Dr. Jain says that, in most cases, they are treatable and shouldn't stop you from tackling those autumn chores. "With a three-pronged approach, namely reduction of exposure, medications, and allergen immunotherapy under the guidance of a board-certified allergist, almost all allergy-sufferers can achieve dramatic improvement in their symptoms," he says. "Allergen immunotherapy is performed by incremental exposure to the allergen, which in turn can lead to long-term tolerance and reduced need for medications or other interventions." MAASTRICHT, Netherlands, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mosa Meat, the European food technology company which introduced the world's first cultured beef hamburger in 2013, announced the first closing of $55M as part of a larger Series B funding round. Mosa Meat will use the funds to extend its current pilot production facility at its home in Maastricht, develop an industrial-sized production line, expand its team, and introduce delicious cultivated beef to consumers. While no date has been announced for an introduction to consumers, the company will work with regulators to demonstrate the safety of cultivated beef, in order to achieve regulatory approval to serve consumers in Europe who are craving change. The Series B funding round is led by Luxembourg-based Blue Horizon Ventures, the food technology fund that aims to support and promote a positive global impact on the environment, human health, and animal welfare. Dr. Regina Hecker is joining the board with special focus on science, scaling and regulatory. They are joined by Bell Food Group, M Ventures and other mission-based investors and advisors. Mosa Meat, which now has a team of 50 scientists, engineers and food-lovers, has reached critical technical milestones in 2019 and 2020 including an 88x reduction in growth medium cost, and removing Fetal Bovine Serum from the production process. "We are very excited to welcome our new partners and see existing partners continue our journey together" said Maarten Bosch, CEO of Mosa Meat. "With their support and capabilities, we have the opportunity to take the next concrete steps to scale production, make progress towards a cleaner, kinder way of making real beef, and ultimately increase the resilience, sustainability, and safety of our global food system". "We are excited to be joining Mosa Meat as lead investor in this round" said Dr. Regina Hecker, Partner at Blue Horizon Ventures. "Following a thorough investigation of its technology and team, we are convinced that Mosa Meat is strongly placed to pioneer the scale-up of cultured meat". This funding round follows a successful Series A round in 2018, which included investments by M Ventures, Bell Food Group, Nutreco and Lowercarbon Capital. PRESS CONTACT For more information and interview requests, please contact: [English] Sarah Lucas: +44 7828 362 223, sarah@mosameat.com [Dutch] Tim van de Rijdt: +316 1241 2434, tim@mosameat.com Photographs and videos are available for media use at Mosa Meat's press kit, and in highest resolution in this folder. ABOUT MOSA MEAT Mosa Meat is a Netherlands-based food technology company pioneering a cleaner, kinder way of making real beef. Mosa Meat's founders, Mark Post and Peter Verstrate, introduced the world's first cultivated beef hamburger in 2013, by growing it naturally from cow cells. Founded in 2016, Mosa Meat is now scaling up production of the same beef that people love, but that's kinder to animals, better for the environment, and safer to eat. A diverse and growing team of food-loving problem-solvers, they are united in their mission to fundamentally reshape the global food system. '' Learn more at www.mosameat.com. ABOUT BLUE HORIZON VENTURES Blue Horizon Ventures was founded in 2018 by serial entrepreneurs and investors Roger Lienhard and Michael Kleindl with 150M assets under management. The fund aims to support the movement towards a more sustainable food system through innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. It puts special focus on plant-based, cultured meat, synthetic biology, and sustainability. The underlying mission of the fund is to promote a positive global impact on the environment, human health and animal welfare. One of its requirements is that all its portfolio companies contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 set by the UN General Assembly. Learn more at www.bluehorizonventures.com. ABOUT M VENTURES M Ventures is the strategic, corporate venture capital arm of Merck. Its mandate is to invest in innovative technologies and products with the potential to significantly impact Merck's core business areas. From our headquarters in Amsterdam and offices in the US and Israel we invest globally in transformational ideas driven by great entrepreneurs. M Ventures takes an active role in its portfolio companies and teams up with entrepreneurs and co-investors to translate innovation towards commercial success. M Ventures has a significant focus on early stage investing and company creation including the creation of spin-offs to leverage Merck's science and technology base. Learn more at www.m-ventures.com ABOUT BELL FOOD GROUP The Bell Food Group is one of the leading meat processors and convenience specialists in Europe. Its range of products includes meat, poultry, charcuterie, seafood as well as fresh and non-perishable convenience products. With the brands Bell, Hilcona, Eisberg and Hugli, the Group meets a diversity of customer needs. Its customers include the retail trade as well as the food service sector and the food processing industry. More than 12,000 employees generate annual revenues of around CHF 4 billion. The Bell Food Group is listed on the Swiss stock exchange. Learn more at www.bellfoodgroup.com United Airlines will offer COVID-19 testing to passengers, making it the first airline to offer such service. This is just in time for Hawaii's pre-travel testing program. Starting Oct. 15, United passengers flying from San Francisco to Hawaii will be given the option to take a rapid COVID-19 test. The airline will offer COVID-19 rapid tests, which will be done either at the airport or mail-in at home, prior to travel. The testing will cost $250 and will provide results in approximately 15 minutes. Those who will choose the $80 mail-in test will be asked to request the test 10 days before their trip. They will also be asked to submit their sample within 72 hours of their flight. Officials said the rapid test meets the standard of the state's pre-travel testing program, which is also set to begin on Oct. 15. This would allow visitors who test negative for COVID-19 to avoid the 14-day quarantine period. Meanwhile, the mail-in test is still being evaluated. Aaron McMillan of United Airlines' operations policy and support division said they see this as a great opportunity to provide access to testing for their customers and get them back in the air and travel as safely as possible. United offers more flights to Hawaii than any other major carrier. However, it plans to start the testing program with flights from San Francisco. For months, Hawaii's tourism industry has been one of the many affected due to the coronavirus pandemic with the mandatory quarantine in place. The pre-travel program would allow tourism and allow visitors to avoid the quarantine period if they test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of landing. Lt. Gov. Josh Green collaborated and worked with United officials to create the testing guidelines. "That nucleic acid amplification test is consistent with what our standards. It's certified lab approved, so that will be a help and that will mean that that rapid test can get people cleared," Green said in a report. The reported cost of $250 might be costly compared to the $140 tests offered by CVS and Walgreens. However, it is more convenient. United aims to expand testing nationwide. It is currently only available in San Francisco right now. Green said having COVID-19 testing in airports is good. "Lufthansa is now doing it, other airlines are certainly gonna do it and United has already been doing it for their pilots and crew," he noted. Many airline jobs have been protected by $25 billion in federal payroll support. However, more than 75,000 U.S. airline employees have been warned that their jobs are at risk on Oct. 1, when the terms expire on a $25 billion federal aid package that keeps airline workers in their jobs. The Department of Labor earlier said that 16.3 million Americans are out of employment. The airline industry supports some 10 million jobs, according to Airlines for America. David Lebovitz, a global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, said they recognize that there is fairly significant spillover into the economy from the pandemic. Check these out: Los Cabos: Mexico's Tourism Jewel Amid COVID-19 Mexican Caribbean Regarded as a Safe Travel Destination by the WTTC Is Coronavirus the Greatest Tourism Threat Since World War II? South Africa: Shift to level 1 a 'welcomed move' South Africas move to lockdown level 1 has been welcomed by all sectors of society including labour, business, civil society and political formations, says Cabinet. According to a Cabinet statement released on Thursday, the further opening of businesses will contribute immensely to rebuilding the economy, restoring growth and creating much-needed jobs. The National State of Disaster regulations, which give effect to the announcements by the President, were gazetted on Friday, 18 September 2020. The new regulations eased certain restrictions implemented since March 2020 to prevent the spread of the virus, said the Executive. These include the permissible number of people at public gatherings, events and funerals, as well as the opening of borders for travel within Africa and internationally, effective from 1 October 2020, among others. Funerals can now have 100 people, up from the 50 allowed under level 2. Religious gatherings such as churches are now allowed to house a maximum of 250 congregants no matter how big the venue is and this goes for other social gatherings too, such as weddings. For outdoor gatherings, venues are not allowed to have more than 500 people, while gyms are now allowed to have 50% of the capacity of the venue. South Africa moved to level 1 of the lockdown from midnight on Sunday, 20 September 2020. Cabinet members have encouraged more engagement with traditional leadership to address issues related to initiation schools and practices that are still prohibited during level 1 of the lockdown. Cabinet has urged all people in South Africa to continue observing COVID-19 health protocols such as maintaining social distancing, wearing a mask in public and regularly washing hands with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitiser. To date, South Africa has 667 049 COVID-19 cases and 16 283 deaths. Cabinet has also urged the public to download the COVID Alert mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. The app, which has been zero-rated by mobile networks, can be downloaded without any data costs and is aimed at improving contact tracing by alerting users if they have been in close contact with others who have tested positive for the virus in the past 14 days. The app does not gather any personal information or track a users location. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-09-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Danbury Police Department DANBURY A city man is facing a slew of charges after allegedly assaulting a man and woman in their home and kidnapping one of them at gunpoint during the overnight hours of Tuesday into Wednesday. Officers were called to a disturbance at a Danbury residence around 11:30 p.m., where a man said 32-year-old Francisco J. Fontanez-Trinidad had forced his way into the residence, assaulted the man, brandished a pistol and threatened him, police said. Back in 2011, Congress took a rare positive step to rein in wasteful and politically motivated spending by ending the disgraceful practice of earmarks. Unfortunately, some members of Congress want to undoprogress made in treating taxpayer dollars with the respect they deserve by bringing back wasteful pet projects. Prior to the ban, earmarks were a favorite tool of the political establishment to corral the votes needed to pass major legislation. On-the-fence legislators could be provided with sweeteners, like a major infrastructure project in their districts to assist in their re-election efforts, in return for their votes. While some have argued that this greases the wheels of the legislative process and reduces gridlock, taxpayers should see right through this line of reasoning. After all, the argument is that legislation that cant cross the needed vote threshold on its own merits can be pushed over the finish line through thinly-veiled bribery. Thats no way to run a government. And weve seen how this form of pork-barrel spending works out in practice. The most (in)famous example of an earmark came in the form of the 2005 Bridge to Nowhere, a project which would have required a bridge as long as the Golden Gate Bridge to replace a ferry system in a remote section of Alaska. For a cost of $450 million, this bridge would have connected just 8,000 Alaskans to a small local airport. The project was eventually cancelled, but only after being exposed and generating massive public backlash. Not all earmarks are as egregious as the Bridge to Nowhere, but its hardly uncommon for them to have such a clear purpose as a vote-sweetener. Earmarks regularly were directed towards districts whose representatives had more difficult reelection fights ahead of them, handing them with something to brag about to their constituents in the reelection battle to come. Taxpayer dollars should not be available to Congressional leadership as a slush fund to be passed around to encourage a yea vote. Idealistic as it may sound, members of Congress should vote for or against legislation based on whether they approve of it or not on its own merits. And earmarks may not be the incentive towards groupthink in the rank-and-file that leadership seems to believe they are. After all, members of Congress aware of the availability of earmark dollars could withhold support for legislation they would otherwise vote for in order to maximize funds going to their districts. The ability of Congress to push money towards specific districts likewise created ample opportunities for corruption. Lobbyist Jack Abramoff was infamous for using the earmarks process in his clients favor, calling earmarks the favor factory. Harvard researchers found that when a state had a senator take up a position as chair of an important committee, earmarks to that state shot up by 50 percent. And earmarks can encourage even more direct forms of corruption. Representatives Benny Thompson (D-MS) and Dennis Hastert (R-IL) each became the targets of scandals when they used the earmark process to improve the roads or highways near their homes, and Representatives Duke Cunningham (R-CA) andWilliam Jefferson (D-LA) went to prison for earmark-related corruption. This isnt the first time that Congress has floated the idea of bringing back earmarks. Just like every other time, Congress should ensure that earmarks remain where they belong in the dustbin of history. Phil Temples, K9HI, appointed as New England Division Vice Director ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, has appointed Phil Temples, K9HI, of Watertown, Massachusetts, as New England Division Vice Director. He succeeds Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF, who was elected earlier this year as ARRL First Vice President. President Roderick made the appointment after consulting with New England Director Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, and the region's Section Managers. "I want to thank all of those who forwarded their recommendations to Director Hopengarten," Temples said. "Mike Raisbeck left some big shoes to fill. I look forward to working with Fred, and to advise and assist him with various tasks and board committee assignments. One task I'm especially eager to tackle is launching a New England Division website." An ARRL Life Member, Temples has been licensed for 50 years, initially as WN9EAY in Indiana. He has written articles for QST and contributed articles for the ARRL website. He also recently co-authored a chapter in the Amateur Radio Public Service Handbook. Temples served three terms as Eastern Massachusetts Section Manager and now is an Assistant SM and an Assistant New England Division Director. He's also held ARRL field appointments as Affiliated Club Coordinator and Public Information Officer and currently serves as program chair for the ARRL New England Division Convention. Temples has been active in MARS, the National Traffic System, and as an Emergency Coordinator, and he enjoys CW. He holds a degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University. Temples has actively promoted instruction and licensing and is a Volunteer Examiner under the ARRL, W5YI, and Greater Los Angeles ARG Volunteer Examiner Coordinators. He's currently involved with New England Amateur Radio, Inc. in administering remote exam sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Temples is employed at Boston College as a computer systems administrator. TORONTO, Sept. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Gowling WLG is delighted to announce that Toronto-based partners Selena Kim and Malcolm Ruby have been selected for inclusion in Canadian Lawyer's 2020 "Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers" list. This distinction is not only a testament to both lawyers' ability to achieve successful outcomes in highly complex matters, but also serves as meaningful recognition of their clients' significant success in recent years. "Congratulations to both of them on this tremendous achievement." - Mark Ledwell, managing partner of Gowling WLG's Toronto office. "From managing global intellectual property portfolios to spearheading landmark class action suits, Selena and Malcolm pair fresh perspectives with strategic insights to generate highly successful outcomes for their clients," said Mark Ledwell, managing partner of Gowling WLG's Toronto office. "Congratulations to both of them on this tremendous achievement." Selena Kim Selena Kim is a Law Society of Ontario Certified Specialist in intellectual property (patents, trademarks and copyright) and is the first woman in the law society's history to hold the designation for patents. She focuses her practice on helping clients manage, protect, enforce and commercialize a range of intangible assets including patents, designs, copyright, and trademarks. Whether being represented in court or making inroads into new jurisdictions, Selena's clients deeply value her strategic approach to the multifaceted challenges they face as they grow their business and expand their IP portfolios. Malcolm Ruby A senior member of the litigation bar who is routinely ranked among the country's top litigators, Malcolm Ruby focuses his practice on class actions, securities litigation, and cross-border disputes. Over the course of his career, he has successfully represented clients in a number of high-stakes and high-profile matters, all of which demand a keen ability to navigate intricate, and oftentimes uncharted, legal territory. Early last year, Malcolm led Gowling WLG's litigation team in working alongside Colonel Michel Drapeau to achieve a remarkable victory on behalf of a class of disabled Canadian Forces veterans in the nationally certified class proceeding Raymond Michael Toth v. Her Majesty the Queen (2019 FC 125). The Federal Court approved an all-inclusive "mega-fund" settlement of $100 million for disabled veterans and their families, along with funds to cover legal fees and disbursements. More recently, Malcolm, again in collaboration with Colonel Drapeau, commenced a proposed class proceeding against gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson Corp. on behalf of the victims of the 2018 Danforth Avenue shooting in Toronto and their families. View the full list of this year's Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers. PR Contact James Hatch Media Relations & Communications Specialist T +1 905 540 2478 [email protected] Related Images mark-ledwell.jpg Mark Ledwell "Congratulations to both of them on this tremendous achievement." - Mark Ledwell, managing partner of Gowling WLG's Toronto office. SOURCE Gowling WLG Ron Paul, the 12-term former congressman, three-time presidential candidate and staunch libertarian advocate, was hospitalized Friday after suffering a medical incident during a live taping of his talk show. A video clip of the livestream of "Ron Paul Liberty Report" shows Paul, 85, discussing the economy and then suddenly slurring his speech and speaking unintelligibly. The video, which was widely circulated on Twitter, cuts to another speaker on the call, who asks, "Dr. Paul?" without receiving a response. Later Friday afternoon, Paul's official Twitter account tweeted a photo of Paul in a hospital bed. "I am doing fine. Thank you for your concern," Paul said, according to the tweet. An operator at a hospital in Lake Jackson, Texas, told CNBC that a person named Ron Paul was being treated in the emergency room. When transferred to the ER, CNBC was told that no information on any patients could be provided because of federal disclosure laws. "Thank God, Dad is doing well. Thank you for all your prayers today," tweeted Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., one of Ron Paul's five children. Kelley Paul, Rand Paul's wife, in a tweet thanked "everyone who has been praying and sending support for our beloved Grandaddy Ron!" "He is doing better and we are so grateful," she tweeted. In a statement to NBC News, Paul's oldest son, Ronnie Paul, said, "Thank you to all the friends and well wishers that reached out. My Dad is walking, talking and in good spirits while he seeks medical attention. Health scares like this are always concerning, but Dad is in great shape and grateful for everyone's concern." The Ron Paul Institute did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Paul was a flight surgeon in the Air Force and an obstetrician before entering politics as a Republican in the mid-1970s. As a Texas congressman, he quickly carved out a reputation as a strict adherent of limited-government principles and a narrow interpretation of the powers of the Constitution. During his first term in 1976, Paul founded the nonprofit think tank the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education, or FREE. Paul ran in the 1988 presidential election on the Libertarian Party ticket. He ran as a Republican in the 2008 and 2012 elections. Paul has been a longtime critic of the Federal Reserve's monetary policies and has advocated a return to the gold standard. With a political appointment also being a public office, there is the need to work out which aspects of political campaigning should be sponsored by the state. This will help de-monitize electoral politics and ensure that the right people truly capable of steering the nation towards success were voted to power. Mr Alban Bagbin, Member of Parliament for the Nadowli West Constituency, and also the Second deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, said this in Accra at a forum dubbed, "De-Monitizing Electoral Politics, Strengthening Accountable Governance, Which Way Forward for Ghana?" He said the electorate also needed to be well educated on the responsibilities of those whose appointment depended on their votes, in a manner that made them(The Electorate) know and appreciate the fact that voting people to public positions of responsibility was not about any one giving out money to be voted. Mr Bagbin observed that clearly, Ghanaians had grown to prefer multi-party democracy, saying, "I would prefer to see a third political force so we do not continue to have this intense economic competition as we have now between the NPP and the NDC." The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, urged political parties to introduce their representatives to the electorate in a manner that showed that promises made by these representatives, reflected the agenda of the parties they stood for, and not their individual or personal initiative. He suggested the setting up of a democracy commission, which would contain state agencies like IDEG and the National Commission for Civic Education, to ensure that the country reaped the full gains of democratic governance. Mr Bagbin touched on the scourge of political vigilantism and said it was a term he found absolutely unacceptable because it represented mere violent lawlessness. "It is time to have some serenity," he said. Organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), the forum was moderated by Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director, IDEG. 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 European countries summoned Iranian ambassadors this week over Irans treatment of prisoners, including European citizens. The British news outlet The Guardian reported that the United Kingdoms Foreign Office summoned Iranian Ambassador Hamid Baeidinejad on Tuesday. France and Germany also called on the Iranian ambassadors to their countries this week. The three European states acted together, according to the outlet. Reuters also reported that France summoned the Iranian ambassador in Paris on Thursday in coordination with the United Kingdom and Germany. Both the United Kingdom and France have citizens in Iranian detention facilities, a source of tensions with the Islamic Republic. Charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual citizen of Iran and the United Kingdom, has been held in Iran since 2016. Earlier this month, the government announced new charges against her. She was originally detained for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. She says she was only visiting family. Academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian-British citizen, has been in prison since 2018 on espionage charges. She was in the country to conduct research and attend a conference. In July, authorities transferred her to the Qarchak womens prison, which is notorious for disease and violence. In 2019, Iranian-French anthropologist Fariba Adelkhah was arrested on national security grounds. In June, French President Emmanuel Macron demanded her release. France, Germany and the United Kingdom have a less tense relationship with Iran than their ally the United States does, but pressure is turning up on Iran over its detention practices. The recent execution of wrestler Navid Afkari was condemned both within Iran and abroad. Additional sanctions the United States placed on Iran Thursday also addressed human rights concerns. US special envoy for Iran Elliott Abrams told Congress the US sanctions include the judge who ordered Afkaris execution. The United States has had some success retrieving its citizens from Iran with Swiss mediation. Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said this week that Tehran is open to further prisoner exchanges with Washington. PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) A convicted bank robber from Rhode Island fraudulently obtained $600,000 in forgivable federal business loans and spent $30,000 in Las Vegas before being caught, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Michael Moller, 41, of Middletown, was held without bail pending trial at an appearance Tuesday in federal court. Moller in April filed for $4.7 million in loans through the Paycheck Protection Program to pay employees at businesses he said were based in Fall River, Massachusetts, prosecutors said. There was no evidence those businesses existed, authorities said. In addition to filing for loans in his own name, he applied for loans using his father's name, his girlfriend's brother's name, and his girlfriend's son's name, authorities said. The federal programs funds are intended for businesses struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic. He actually received $600,000 through the program, and spent $30,000 of it on a trip to Las Vegas, authorities said. Moller, who also goes by Michael Robinson, is charged with making false statements and bank fraud. According to court records, Moller remains on probation stemming from previous bank robbery convictions in Massachusetts. At the time of the robberies, he was on probation for a fraud conviction. An email and phone call seeking comment was left with his federal public defender. For years, a third rule was that the state Supreme Court would not declare a legislative act unconstitutional unless satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of its unconstitutionality. This rule has undergone several modifications, the most important being that when a law burdens the exercise of fundamental rights (e.g., freedom of speech or religion), any presumption in its favor falls away. This is, however, problematic because courts can bestow, by whatever criteria they prefer criteria not found in texts of the U.S. Constitution or state constitutions fundamental status on some rights but not on others. With the possibility of a 63 originalist Supreme Court on the table, the Left is freaking out that the justices will finally kill Obamacare. At the same time, the Trump administration has announced its intention to protect people with preexisting conditions if the law falls. Everyone can calm down. The likelihood that the Supreme Court will strike down the law on the basis of the ridiculously weak lawsuit before it is vanishingly small. And even if that did happen, political pressure would probably force Congress to put the law back into effect, which it could achieve by removing a block of text that doesnt even do anything. That said, if both those layers of protection failed, Trumps new executive order would be unlikely to save the day. * * * The lawsuit, which the Court should hear in November and rule on in the spring or summer of next year, is silly in the extreme. (Im going to retread some ground here, so if youre already familiar with it, skip to the next set of asterisks.) When Obamacare originally passed, it contained a mandate that Americans buy insurance, a penalty for those who failed to do so, and a finding that the mandate was needed to make the rest of the law work. But expert thinking evolved as to whether the mandate was really necessary, and conservatives hated the infringement on personal freedom either way. A previous round of legal wrangling over the law ended with Chief Justice John Robertss upholding its constitutionality on the grounds that the mandate was a tax. Increasingly frustrated Republican lawmakers took aim at the provision when they got the chance. Owing to arcane rules in the Senate, however, all they could technically do was reduce the penalty to $0. So now, the law basically says that Americans have to buy insurance, and if they dont, they must suffer the fearsome punishment of a $0 penalty. Republicans bragged that theyd repealed the mandate, and just this week the president said they got rid of it, because that was the effect the change had. Story continues Putting all that together, the lawsuits argument is that since a $0 penalty cant be a tax (as it raises no money), per Robertss decision in the older case, the remaining command to buy insurance is unconstitutional. Thats no big deal, as the command isnt even being enforced. But the lawsuit further claims that the mandate is so crucial to the law that if the mandate is struck down, the rest of the law has to go too. There are numerous legal problems with this argument, as Jonathan Adler and others have laid out. But the core obstacle is that no one on this entire planet sincerely believes that a mandate backed up by a $0 penalty is necessary to the operation of the rest of the law. Even people whove supported previous lawsuits against Obamacare, including Adler, have come out against this claptrap. Several conservatives on the Court are on the record saying judges shouldnt throw out entire laws on the basis of small flaws, as well, as the New York Times recently explained: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito have ruled in several recent cases that courts should try to preserve existing laws as much as possible when eliminating problematic provisions. And Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a majority opinion this term while the Texas case was pending agreeing with such reasoning. The court presumes that an unconstitutional provision in a law is severable from the remainder of the law or statute, Justice Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion upholding a congressional ban on robocalls. (He was joined by Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts.) His opinion says the courts duty should be to salvage rather than destroy the rest of the law passed by Congress and signed by the president. Not to mention the intense pressure these folks are under right now to preserve the Courts legitimacy. * * * For all of the above reasons, I would be utterly stunned if the Court struck down or even substantially weakened the law. But say it does. What then? If Obamacare abruptly disappears, there will be chaos in the individual health-insurance market. Tens of millions of people will lose coverage and subsidies. Insurers will lose business. States will lose Medicaid money. Preexisting-condition protections will be gone. The public will be furious, not just because of the chaos in itself but also because the law now has majority support. That should all add up to a ton of political pressure more than enough, I would wager, to break through any partisan acrimony standing in the way. The simplest solution for Congress would be to just delete the offending command to buy health insurance, which, again, isnt even being enforced. Republican hardliners might refuse to save Obamacare, but enough people in both parties would probably get on board, possibly with some extra sweeteners or reforms tossed in to attract members who are on the fence. Such a legislative fix will become even more likely if the Democrats gain ground in November and theres a threat to kill the legislative filibuster looming. You might wonder at this point: What if Congress doesnt step in? Well, then, yeah: We are in deep trouble. President Trump signed an executive order on preexisting conditions Thursday. The order says that its the policy of the United States to ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions can obtain the insurance of their choice at affordable rates even if Obamacare is struck down and instructs cabinet secretaries to keep working on ways to improve health-care access. The thing is, if push comes to shove, its not clear what legal authority the executive branch could use to reinstate protections for those with preexisting conditions. Federal law is complicated and full of provisions that give the president too much discretion, but the simple fact is that it was often legal, especially in the individual market, to discriminate against people with preexisting conditions before Obamacare. If the law goes, the protections it affords such people will too, unless the executive branch can actually point to a different law giving it the authority to recreate the protections via regulation. The health-law expert Nicholas Bagley has flatly stated that Congress hasnt delegated to President Trump the power to prohibit discrimination against the sick; other analysts have been similarly dismissive. And of course, no change to how we treat preexisting conditions will fix the other problems that overturning the law would create, including throwing countless people off of subsidized insurance plans. The order could be valuable, however, in the event that the Court invalidates the preexisting-condition protections but not the rest of the law. (The preexisting-condition rules are the part of Obamacare most tied to the mandate because, back when the law was passed, many feared the protections would cause too many people to wait until they got sick before signing up for coverage unless a mandate was in place.) In that case, the executive branch might be able to reinstate the protections on the still-standing Obamacare exchanges, as Josh Blackman has suggested. Anyhow, its pretty embarrassing for the administration to support this lawsuit . . . and then scramble to come up with a long-shot plan for what happens if the justices actually rule for the plaintiffs. Thats probably not going to happen, though. More from National Review An unarmed homeless black man was shot dead by two California deputies after they allegedly stopped him for jaywalking, and authorities have released a photo they said shows the man reaching for a deputy's firearm during the struggle. Video surfaced to social media on Wednesday that showed Kurt Andras Reinhold, 42, being shot dead by two Orange County Sheriff's deputies at an intersection in San Clemente. Witnesses said deputies stopped Reinhold, who has been in San Clemente for about a month, for reportedly jaywalking and subsequently tackled him. Sheriff Don Barnes said the released photo was a frame of a video taken by a hotel surveillance camera that captured the incident Wednesday afternoon. He said surveillance video showed that Reinhold appeared to try to release the gun from a deputys holster during the struggle. Protests broke in Orange County on Thursday night as much of the country was left reeling after no charges were brought against Louisville police in the death of Breonna Taylor. The Orange County Sheriff's Department released a photo that they said showed Reinhold reaching for a deputy's gun Footage shared online begins with the unidentified deputies, who are part of the homeless outreach team, in a verbal confrontation with Reinhold near a busy street. He is seen trying to walk past the deputies as they stand in the middle of a street. The deputies tell Reinhold to get out of the street and attempt to make contact with him, but Reinhold repeatedly tells them to 'Stop touching me.' 'Where did I jaywalk? Why did you stop me?' Reinhold is heard saying and he pushes away the hand of a deputy who orders him to sit on the curb. The deputies continue to ask Reinhold to vacate the street, while Reinhold questions why he is being asked to leave. Video shared to social media on Wednesday showed Kurt Andras Reinhold (left) being shot dead by two Orange County Sheriff's Department deputies Witnesses claimed that the deputies approached and stopped Reinhold, a homeless man in San Clemente, for 'jaywalking' 'For what?' Reinhold asks. 'Because Im telling you to,' the deputy replies. Then, one deputy repeatedly shoves Reinhold, and both deputies tackled him to the sidewalk, where all three begin to wrestle. Vehicles driving along the street block the cameras view of the struggle as one shot rings out, then another about five seconds later. The sounds of sirens wail the background. Another video shows authorities performing chest compressions in an effort to save Reinhold. All three men (pictured) were seen on video wrestling with each other on a San Clemente sidewalk before Reinhold is shot dead Sheriff Barnes said the grainy photo released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department showed Reinhold reaching for one deputy's weapon, though the sheriff said it's not clear if he was able to get it out. Video from a witness recorded a deputy yelling 'hes got my gun!' four times during the altercation. But Barnes declined to release any video, saying he didnt want to influence witnesses who had yet to be interviewed by investigators. He also said he didn't yet know why the two veteran officers on the departments homeless outreach unit tried to stop Reinhold on the street. Police made multiple attempts to get him help but he declined, Barnes said. Deputies performed chest compressions on Reinhold after he was shot, but he was pronounced dead later on Wednesday Sheriff Don Barnes (pictured) said the grainy photo released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department showed Reinhold reaching for one deputy's weapon, though the sheriff said it's not clear if he was able to get it out Investigators bag evidence in front of Hotel Miramar in San Clemente, California on Wednesday, where Orange County sheriff's deputies shot and killed a Black man after he allegedly tried to grab one of their guns during a struggle, authorities said Barnes added that he was not aware of any operations specifically targeting jaywalkers in San Clemente on Wednesday. The two deputies are eight- and 13-year veterans who are part of a 25-member unit that attempts to engage with the homeless people and get them into service programs for mental health, drug addiction or other issues. They are trained in de-escalation and crisis intervention. Barnes said deputies are taught to try to gain compliance without violence. He said the tackling of Reinhold was 'not something we want to see happen.' The deputies have been placed on leave and the Orange County district attorney is investigating. Reinholds death came the same day as the decision not to charge Kentucky police officers for Breonna Taylors death. Taylor, a black woman and an emergency medical worker, was shot multiple times by white officers in Louisville after one of them was shot while bursting into her home during a narcotics investigation in March. A Kentuck grand jury determined that no charges would be brought against the Louisville police in the killing of Breonna Taylor (pictured), a black woman who was shot dead inside her home in March Elijah McClain (left) and Trayvon Martin (right) are among a grim list of black Americans who have died by law enforcement She was one of several black Americans to be killed by police, including George Floyd, Eric Garner, Elijah McClain, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin and others. The decision prompted protests in many cities, including Los Angeles. On Thursday morning, about 50 people protested Reinholds killing and tried to block traffic in San Clemente, about 60 miles south of LA . Four were arrested after they refused to get out of the street and a fifth was booked on a vandalism charge for scratching a sheriffs vehicle, Barnes said. Barnes acknowledged Reinholds death came at a tenuous time for the country. 'Given the current climate of police and community relations, I understand that this conversation is going to be a difficult one around this incident,' he said at a news conference. 'However, it is vitally important that we reserve judgement until a full and complete investigation has been complete by the Orange County District Attorneys Office. 'We will protect the First Amendment rights of those who want to publicly mourn Mr. Reinhold. What we as a community should not tolerate is commentary or action that serves to divide. 'Spreading rumors and misinformation about the identity of the decedent or the reason he was he was contact by deputies is irresponsible and dangerous.' An Orange County Sheriff's deputy directs a protester stay on the sidewalk on S. El Camino Real after Reinhold was shot dead on Wednesday One of the protest speaker at the Hotel Miramar on S. El Camino Real on Wednesday after demonstrations sparked over the death of Reinhold Pictured: Protesters march and hold signs in San Clemente, California, on Thursday in a protest for Reinhold He offered condolences to Reinholds family and asked anyone who plans to protest or mourn to do so peacefully. Ed Obayashi, a use-of-force consultant to law enforcement agencies and a deputy sheriff in Plumas County, said Reinhold appeared to be aggressive and unwilling to comply with the deputies' commands. To Obayashi, Reinhold seemed to be advancing toward the deputies in a hostile manner and it looked like one deputy kept touching him to keep a safe distance between them. Demonstrators protest the death of Kurt Reinhold. The 42yo black man was shot & killed by deputies with the departments homeless outreach team. Witnesses say the deputies accused Reinhold of jaywalking @NBCLA pic.twitter.com/XfBmvnIrVw Darsha Philips (@DarshaPhilips) September 25, 2020 'Hes just trying to keep him at bay and also at the same time, guide him toward the sidewalk and out of the street,' Obayashi said after watching the social media video. 'Theres no more reasoning or rationalizing, trying to convince this individual.' When Reinhold allegedly grabbed the deputy's gun, 'thats life and death,' Obayashi said, noting that it made sense that the other deputy would fire his weapon in response. 'There are no absolute solutions or law enforcement responses that fit every situation,' he said. 'Theres no one-size-fits-all.' But local Orange County residents differed with Obayashi's opinion and called for the arrest - and dismissal - of both deputies involved in the incident. Terri Plunkett, one of the demonstrators on Thursday, told The Orange County Register that Reinhold's death left her feeling overwhelmed. Four people were arrested in Orange County on Thursday as demonstrations over the death of Reinhold took place Several people were arrested in San Clemente Thursday as dozens of protesters gathered to demonstrate the fatal shooting of a homeless man by Orange County Sheriff's deputies the day before 'Im so outraged, I didnt know if I should fight or cry. I knew this is where I need to be,' she told the publication, Signs reading 'Blue lives do not exist. Being a cop is a choice, the color of your skin is not,' and 'Stop killing black people' were waved by protesters. Other demonstrators shared similar sentiments with OCR regarding their grief, pain and sadness over another black American killed by law enforcement. 'Im just so sad,' Danielle Marvin told OCR. She drove around an hour from her home in La Habra to attend the protest. 'I feel like they should better know how to handle these situations. They need to know how to care for someone instead of just pulling the trigger.' Pujay Robinson, a former San Clemente resident, said: 'Just so you know, San Clemente, the revolution has come to your doorstep. Breaking: San Clemente small rally at the scene of deputy involved shooting. The man allegedly grabbed a deputys gun during a struggle. He was killed. His name is Kurt Reinhold, 42, last known address LA @cbsla #cbsla pic.twitter.com/I6jxBVmWfF michele gile (@michelegiletv) September 24, 2020 'This gentleman was failed on so many fronts. He was homeless, and homeless outreach killed him.' The OCR reports that the protest was largely peaceful except on occasions that Blue Lives Matter supporters heckled demonstrators. Around 5pm, dozens of people gathered outside a closed sheriff substation while reportedly chanting, 'Black lives they matter here' and 'homeless they matter here.' 'There was no need for force, no need for that man to be killed,' protester Carla Acosta told OCR. 'It is happening way too much'. Najee Ali, an activist who attended a demonstration, said he was friends with Reinhold's family, OCR reports. 'They are devastated and distraught,' Ali said, adding that Rienhold did not have a history of violent outbursts. 'He was a loving and kind person,' he said. Automotive industry workers with profiles in the Express Entry system were invited to apply for a provincial nomination from Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia PNP invites automotive industry workers Automotive industry workers with profiles in the Express Entry system were invited to apply for a provincial nomination from Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia PNP invites automotive industry workers Automotive industry workers with profiles in the Express Entry system were invited to apply for a provincial nomination from Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia PNP invites automotive industry workers Automotive industry workers with profiles in the Express Entry system were invited to apply for a provincial nomination from Nova Scotia. Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Nova Scotia invited immigration candidates to apply for a provincial nomination on September 24. The Nova Scotia Nominee Program (NSNP) released the draws eligibility criteria for Express Entry candidates. A spokesperson with the province said 47 invitations were issued. Candidates needed to have a primary occupation in one of the following two National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes: motor vehicle body repairs (NOC 7322) or automotive service technicians, truck and bus mechanics and mechanical repairers (NOC 7321). Of the invitations issued, six went to body repairers, and 41 went to service technicians. Invited candidates also need to demonstrate that they have two or more years of full-time, or equivalent part-time experience, in these occupations within the five years preceding the application. They also needed a Canadian Language Benchmark of at least five in all English language abilities. They must include copies of language tests and proof of education with their application for the provincial nomination. Proof of education must include an Educational Credential Assessment report issued by an organization designated by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada if your educational credential was obtained outside of Canada. Find out if you are eligible for Canadian immigration In addition, candidates also must have completed a program of two or more years at a post-secondary institution, such as a university, college or trade school. Invited candidates have until October 24 to send in their application for the provincial nomination for Canadian permanent residence. Nova Scotias Labour Market Priorities Stream invites immigration candidates based on the needs of the provinces labour market. This is the first Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draw out of Nova Scotia since May, when the province invited nurses who had profiles in the Express Entry pool. Express Entry candidates invited In order to be considered for a provincial nomination from Nova Scotia through the Labour Market Priorities Stream, candidates first need to have a profile in the Express Entry system. Express Entry manages applications for Canadian permanent residence through three federal immigration programs: Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), and Canadian Experience Class (CEC). Express Entry candidates are ranked on the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). They are awarded points based on factors such as their age, work experience, education, and language ability in English or French. Now that Nova Scotia has issued invitations, also known as Letters of Interest, invited candidates now have 60 calendar days to complete their application for a provincial nomination. If they receive the provincial nomination from Nova Scotia, they will automatically be awarded an additional 600 CRS points, which will effectively guarantee that they will receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) in a subsequent Express Entry draw. Find out if you are eligible for Canadian immigration 2020 CIC News All Rights Reserved Lucknow, Sep 25 : UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked officials to start the process to link medical institutes with virtual ICUs by using technology in such a way that the serious patients may get treatment from experienced doctors. He also asked the officials to keep ventilators/high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) functional in all districts. At a meeting of Team 11, the Chief Minister has directed officials to adopt an effective strategy to control spread of Coronavirus in districts where 100 or more positive cases are being found every day for the last one week. He asked the Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretaries of Home (health and medical education) along with medical experts to hold a detailed discussion to finalise the action plan in this regard. The Chief Minister reiterated that nodal officers be nominated in these districts with deployment of special secretary-rank officers with each of nodal officer. Yogi also asked officials to maximise contact tracing for effective control on Corona infection. He asked them to target high risk groups and put them to tests. He stressed on taking up enforcement exercise to check observance of social distancing and use of masks by people. "Create micro-containment zones as and where required. Public address systems should be functional all the time to spread awareness about protection from Corona virus and the prevailing traffic rules," he said. He said one-third of the total Covid tests per day should be conducted through RT-PCR and the rest by rapid antigen method. He further directed officials to increase the number of beds in Covid Level-2 and Level-3 hospitals. The Chief Minister said that the people should be sensitized about protection from Covid-19 in view of coming festivals. He said the festivals had to be celebrated at home and no public functions should be organised and all the norms of social distancing and use of masks should be followed strictly. Gandhinagar: Opposition Congress on Friday staged a walkout from the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, seeking withdrawal of a bill introduced by the BJP government in the state to amend certain provisions of the existing APMCs in the state. Although the government tried hard to convince the opposition that the bill has nothing to do with the farm reform bills passed recently by the Parliament, around 40 Congress MLAs walked out of the House just before voting on it began. The Gujarat Agricultural Produce Markets (Amendment) Bill was passed with majority vote on the last day of the monsoon session of the assembly. This bill will pave the way for creation of monopoly of multinational companies in our APMCs. The BJP government wants to give permission to the MNCs to loot farmers and people. This bill will eventually destroy the market yards. We want the government to withdraw it," Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani said before walking out with party MLAs. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel clarified in the House that this bill was completely different from what was introduced and passed by the Parliament recently. Under this proposed law, traders holding licence issued by an Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) can now purchase agricultural produce from any market yard in Gujarat. Now, a trader registered with one APMC and holding licence of that market yard can purchase agricultural produce from any APMC in the state using one licence, which is barred under the present law. Another amendment allows traders to buy agricultural produce directly from farmers by visiting their fields. Traders will not be required to pay any market fee to the APMCs if they buy directly from farmers, stated the ordinance. The bill proposes to increase farmers representation in market committees from present eight members to 10 members. It also provides that no elected person shall be Chairman or a vice Chairman of market committee continuously for more than two years," the bill document 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 When the CARES Act was enacted, we were hopeful that the financial package would sustain struggling businesses through the worst of the crisis. But now it is clear that the pandemics impacts to business and Chicagoans are outlasting original expectations and businesses across our region and our employees need more help. We have already begun to see the impact this will have, with thousands of businesses reportedly closing for good and half of Chicago residents experiencing significant financial challenges. Without further relief, these numbers will only increase, leading to additional jobless numbers and struggling families across Chicago. Emgage PAC, a bi-partisan group that many consider to be the largest Muslim political action committee in the U.S., recently announced they will not offer an endorsement in District 22. Democratic congressional candidate Sri Preston Kulkarni nor his Republican opponent Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls will receive an endorsement in the upcoming November election. The candidates are seeking to replace Congressman Pete Olson as the House District 22 Representative, a seat which includes a large portion of Fort Bend County. Olson, who announced he was retiring earlier this year, defeated Kulkarni in a hard-fought campaign during the 2018 election, during which time Emgage PAC offered Kulkari their support. Since then, group officials decided things had apparently changed. After careful consideration, we have decided not to make an endorsement in this race as we believe neither candidate is sufficiently aligned with the interests and values of the Texas Muslim community, Emgage officials said in a release posted online. Group officials said they endorsed Kulkarni in the 2018 election because of his significant outreach to the Muslim community in CD-22. Since then, Emgage has discovered that some of Kulkarnis largest donors and closest supporters are leaders of organizations promoting Hindutva. This far-right ideology, whose early founders openly praised Nazism, is completely antithetical to the inclusive and pluralistic values espoused by Emgage. During meetings leading up to the 2018 endorsement, group officials said Kullkarni claim he was without ties to any foreign ideology. But has since then declined to publicly denounce his ties the organizations or repudiate donations from Hindutva-inspired organizations such as RSS, HSS, and BJP, or repudiate his donors linked to these organizations. In the upcoming November presidential election, Emgage PAC has endorsed Joe Biden and point to his public denouncement of the BJP-led Modi government in India against the Muslim minority population, including the passage of the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA), the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and the abrogation of statehood for Kashmir as a reason for their support, a stance they say isnt publicly shared by Kulkharni. Group officials say they didnt receive a completed endorsement questionnaire from Nehls, who was also reportedly unavailable to meet with group members seeking to evaluate the possibility of an endorsement. In addition, his support for President Trump and the border wall and a long list of violations that led to his firing from the Richmond police, show there are many issues with his candidacy that would be of concern to the Texas Muslim community, group officials said. Kulkarni responds In a statement posted to his campaign website, Kulkarni argued nothing had changed since he first met with group leaders in 2018 and instead blamed actions by nefarious actors. While none of these things have changed, I am saddened that Emgage as an organization has been under attack by nefarious actors to the point that they dont feel they can safely stand by their own past assessment. I want to make it clear that I am, and always have been, an ally to the Muslim community, he wrote. Throughout my life, my career, and both our past and current campaign, I have consistently spoken out against Islamophobia and bigotry and in support of human rights for the Muslim community and all minorities, both here in the United States and abroad. I disavow any Islamophobic or bigoted comments or ideas, no matter where or who they come from. I believe in creating a big tent coalition, and that communicating with one another is the key to creating real change. Many of our Muslim constituents have specifically expressed human rights concerns about minority rights within India. I have committed to publicly opposing any actions to strip citizenship away from the Muslim community in India. I would like to take this moment to restate that, with regards to the Muslim communitys concerns around the wording of the CAA and NRC, I promise that I will publicly oppose any use of these legislations to strip citizenship from the Muslim community in India. I will continue to speak out against human rights violations, as I have done regarding the situation in Kashmir and the violence in Delhi, and any acts of Islamophobia, the promotion of nationalism, and/or fascism. knix@hcnonline.com Macmillan Publishers U.S. Trade will raise its entry-level salary to $42,000 a year. The raise will apply to all incoming and existing employees. It marks a $7,000 increase from what was reported to be Macmillan's baseline salary prior to the change, and makes Macmillan's entry-level salary among the highest, if not the highest, at the Big Five trade houses. We expect this change will help us expand our applicant pool by attracting candidates who have, up to now, found our starting salary too low," said Don Weisberg, CEO of Macmillan Trade Publishing. Weisberg added that increase is part of Macmillans broader diversity and inclusion program and commitment to pay equity. News of the increase comes nearly six months after the announcement that Macmillan would temporarily cut some salaries across the company as part of a cost-saving initiative to combat the anticipated impact of the new coronavirus pandemic on the publisher's parent company Holtzbrinck's overall businesses. (The hiring freeze has since been lifted and salary cuts restored, and employees impacted by the salary reductions have since been repaid the full reduction amount.) It also comes one week after incoming CEO Don Weisberg told PW that Macmillan is having a really good year financially, and that it has been growing steadily over the last four years. The salary increase goes into effect on December 27. This story has been updated for clarity. Thomas is a trustworthy businesswoman To the editor: We are proud to wholeheartedly support Stephanie Thomas for state representative for the 143rd District. We have gotten to know Stephanie as trustworthy and committed to public service, and she is just the kind of person wed like to see in a position of political responsibility representing us in Hartford. She wants to be there, and we need her there. There are other candidates certainly, but Stephanie is the real deal. As a businesswoman she understands the art of listening and negotiating, seeing more than one side of any issue. We know shell do an excellent job for the people she will work with and serve. So vote for Stephanie Thomas this Nov. 3. Sandy and Larry Lefkowitz Westport Steinberg A champion for the environment To the editor: I am writing in support of state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg and to let your readers knows some of the ways he fights for Westport and the state of Connecticut. My company Lodestar Energy is a solar developer, headquartered in Connecticut, that builds 5 to 15 acre solar farms across the state. These projects save towns money, create quality jobs, increase tax revenue, and improve the stability of our electric grid. Steinberg sits on the Energy and Technology Committee for the state and has consistently been a champion of renewable and clean energy. He pushes back against Eversource when they tilt the playing field against renewable energy and against the consumer. He demands transparency and fights for us when Eversource inefficiently add costs and tries to recover them through rate increases. This was on full display at the hearings on tropical storm Isaias, when Steinberg held Eversource executives accountable for their slow, inefficient response and poor communication. I have the great pleasure to serve on the board of Wakeman Town Farm, one of the jewels of Westport. Steinberg was the first elected official to support the farm. He spoke in support of funding needed to renovate the farmhouse, which has transformed the uses of the farm. He comes to every event and volunteers every year to serve guests at our annual Harvestfest fundraiser. He is simply a great friend of the farm. Steinberg is a fantastic champion of Westport and I would encourage all of you to vote for him. Thanks in advance for your support. Jaime A. Smith Westport Representative image Iran and Russia's sovereign wealth fund RDIF are discussing the joint production of a vaccine against COVID-19, Russian news agencies cited the Iranian ambassador to Moscow as saying on Friday. "We are holding talks, I spoke with the head of RDIF Kirill Dmitriev, our officials have held several rounds of consultations and we announced that we will co-operate," Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali was cited as saying. Thus far, Russia has struck a manufacturing partnership deal with India, which is due to produce 300 million doses of the 'Sputnik-V' vaccine domestically. It is also discussing such partnerships with several other countries, including Brazil. COLUMBUS, Ohio Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Friday that the states upcoming presidential election should be accepted by all candidates as legitimate, a response of sorts to President Donald Trumps suggestion earlier this week that he may not leave office if loses if he doesnt view the election results as legitimate. LaRose, a Republican, when asked about the presidents comments said he wasnt going to get into what Trump said exactly. Ill say this. Ohioans know the results will be an honest result, he said during a public appearance in Columbus during which Anheuser-Busch announced it would donate nearly 3,000 gallons of hand sanitizer to Ohio polling places. Ninety-six percent of Ohioans say that its easy to vote. Large, massive numbers of Ohioans know they can trust their election result. When this thing is over, people will know its a true reflection of the will of the people of Ohio. And if a candidate chooses to not accept the results, I think that will look ridiculous. Trump has spent months calling into question voting by mail, generally focusing on states that send unsolicited ballots to voters. (In Ohio, voters must request an absentee ballot in order to get one.) Trump also has a history of baselessly declaring election results fraudulent, like saying in November 2016 that he would have won the national popular vote had millions of undocumented immigrants not illegally voted. (A commission Trump formed to investigate voter fraud found no evidence it had occurred on a widespread basis. Then-Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican who is now lieutenant governor, testified before the commission in 2017 that only a few hundred votes out of millions cast since 2012 in Ohio had been flagged as problematic.) Trumps history, combined with his refusal earlier this week to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, has prompted some Republican and Democratic leaders to vow they would respect the results of the election. Were going to have to see what happens, Trump said Wednesday. You know that Ive been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. Biden, meanwhile, has predicted Trump will try to steal the election by making a case against mail-in voting. But he has said he will accept the results if votes are fully counted. Another factor adding to the uncertainty is the likelihood of record mail ballots being cast, which could cause a delay in knowing who won the election if the race is close. For instance, in Ohio, mail ballots are still counted as long as they are postmarked the day before the election, and as long as they arrive within 10 days after the election. This allows for ballots to still count if there are delays in delivering the mail. If the margin of outstanding ballots on election night is significantly larger than the leading candidates margin of victory, it would mean the decisive results may not be known until Nov. 24, when the states final election results are certified. Ohio boards of elections already have received at least 1.8 million absentee applications, compared to 805,000 at the same time in 2016. Thats why LaRose said he decided to prominently display the number of outstanding absentee ballots when the state reports election results after polls close at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3. With that kind of transparency, if someone is ahead by 100,000 votes and there are 200,000 outstanding absentee ballots and someone declares victory, thats ridiculous on its face because you cant tell yet because theres still too many ballots to count, LaRose said Friday. So thats why were making sure this is completely transparent. Gov Mike DeWine, a Republican, on Thursday expressed confidence that Trump would not refuse to leave office if he loses. That is not going to happen, said DeWine, a Republican who is an honorary co-chair of Trumps Ohio campaign. Whoever loses, once the votes are counted and if any recounts or anything are done...and its determined that we have a winner, then the loser goes off stage. Thats the way our system works. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has executed a Black inmate for the first time since the federal death penalty was resumed this year after a 17-year-pause. Christopher Vialva, 40, died by lethal injection on Thursday for a double murder he committed when he was 19. Vialva was pronounced dead at 6:46 p.m. in Terre Haute, Indiana, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Vialva was sentenced to death in 2000, after being convicted for carjacking, first degree murder on a government reservation, aiding and abetting, and conspiracy to commit murder, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. This undated image taken from video provided by attorney Susan Otto shows Christopher Vialva in the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. / Credit: Susan Otto / AP The crime in question occurred in 1999, when an Iowa couple, Todd and Stacie Bagley, agreed to give Vialva and two others a ride in Killeen, Texas, according to The Associated Press. At some point, Vialva pulled out a gun and forced the couple into the trunk of the car, authorities said. He then drove around for several hours, withdrew cash from ATMs and tried to pawn the female victim's wedding ring. Vialva later shot the couple in the head and set the car on fire, The AP reported. Vialva practiced Messianic Judaism, according to Reuters. His last words were a call to God to comfort the families of the couple he had killed, according to a reporter serving as a media witness at the execution. "Father...heal their hearts with grace and love," he said. "I'm ready, father." Another man who was convicted in the incident, Brandon Bernard, also received a death sentence. His execution date has not been set. Vialva was the seventh person to be federally executed this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The last time six or more people were killed in a single year was in 1942, according to Reuters. Vialva's attorney, Susan Otto, has said Vialva's race played a part in his sentence, according to the Associated Press. Black people make up nearly half of the 56 inmates currently on federal death row, The AP reported. Story continues In a report published last week, the Death Penalty Information Center concluded that Black defendants are significantly more likely to be executed than White defendants are for murdering people of another race. Since 1977, 295 Black defendants were executed for murdering a White victim, while 21 White defendants were executed for murdering a Black victim, the report found. Police release body camera video of an officer shooting teen with autism Louisville police prepare city for an upcoming decision in Breonna Taylor case Jeff Daniels on new series "The Comey Rule" and playing former FBI director Ivanka Trump and Mike Pence have paid a surprise visit to a hair salon in Minneapolis that was destroyed by rioting in the city in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. The Vice President and President's daughter met with owner Flora Westbrooks to show their support and hammer home Trump's 'law and order' election message. Approaching tears as she surveyed the ruins of her store - Flora's Hair Design - Wesbrook told the pair: 'I never thought this would happen. Not to me.' 'We're with you,' Pence told her. The meeting took place against the backdrop of more unrest in cities across America as one police officer was indicted over the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, though was not charged for the shots that killed her. Ivanka Trump and Mike Pence made a surprise visit to a Minneapolis hair salon on Thursday that was destroyed by rioting in the wake of George Floyd's death Ivanka and Pence spoke with owner Flora Westbrooks (second left), hammering home Donald Trump's 'law and order' election message by telling her 'we're with you' Westbrooks, near tears, told Ivanka and Pence that she 'never thought this would happen... to me' as they surveyed the remains of her store Ivanka and Pence then attended a scheduled 'Cops for Trump' event to discuss law enforcement in America as more protests erupted around the country .@IvankaTrump at Midwest Manufacturing Countertops: "I came from a building background, I grew up many generations -- so I've seen a lot of laminates. This is unbelievable." pic.twitter.com/D1b5RUYt2b The Hill (@thehill) September 24, 2020 Protests turned to violence in several cities, including in LA where an activist was hit by a truck, while riots were declared in Louisville. After the meeting in Minneapolis, Ivanka and Pence made their way to a listening session with a 'Cops for Trump' group and business owners. Trump has been campaigning on a law-and-order message for weeks and is eager to put Minnesota in play four years after he narrowly lost the state to Hillary Clinton. 'I want to be clear: There's no excuse for what happened to George Floyd, and justice will be served,' Pence told the crowd at an airport hotel. 'But there's also no excuse for the rioting and looting and violence that ensued. And those who engaged in acts like these will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.' Floyd died May 25 after a white police officer pressed his knee into the handcuffed Black man's neck during an arrest captured on bystander video. His death set off protests around the world, including some that became violent. Property damage in Minneapolis alone is estimated at roughly $100 million. After Floyd's death, a majority of Minneapolis City Council members pledged to abolish the police department and replace it with a new agency that would take a more socially minded approach. Their hopes of taking the idea to voters in November was blocked by a city commission and won't happen before 2021, if ever. The talk of abolishing police came as Minneapolis saw spiking violent crime, as many other big cities did, and also as some residents complained that police response times had slowed. Morale in the department has been down, and dozens of officers have retired or are seeking disability leave. 'We are expected to be the handyman that fixes everything, and it's not possible,' Matthew Hagan, a Hennepin County sheriff's deputy and president of the Minnesota chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, told Pence. Pence said men and women in law enforcement deserve respect every day, and if people want better-trained officers, they need more funding. 'We're not going to defund the police - not now, not ever,' Pence said. 'The American people want us to stand by law enforcement and stand by our African American neighbors and all of our neighbors whove been impacted by the violence in our cities.' Matt Seyko Thao, a 30-year-old from West St. Paul, said he thinks the Trump campaign is using law-and-order messaging to court those who were unsure about calls to defund the police earlier this summer. Vice President Mike Pence waves to an audience as he arrives at a 'Cops for Trump' listening session inside of the Intercontinental Hotel at Minneapolis Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a 'Cops for Trump' listening session with Ivanka Trump, third from left, moderator Scott Turner, fourth from left, business owner Flora Westbrooks, third from right, and other panelists Current and former law enforcement officers stand after being recognized by Vice President Mike Pence during a 'Cops for Trump' listening sessions 'He's here to give relief to the people who go support the police, people who say 'what happens if the police are gotten rid of,' he said. 'It's all a political ploy ... and he's here for the wrong reasons.' Pence's visit to the city where Floyd died prompted Minneapolis leaders to ask Gov. Tim Walz to activate the National Guard as a precaution. The governor's office said 100 guard members were made ready out of what Walz called 'an abundance of caution.' The Trump campaigns visit came a day after several hundred demonstrators rallied at the state Capitol in St. Paul before marching onto an interstate to protest a Kentucky grand jury's decision not to bring homicide charges against Louisville police officers who fatally shot Breonna Taylor, who was Black and unarmed. Kate Bedingfield, deputy campaign manager for Joe Biden, said in a statement: 'Nothing Vice President Pence says today will distract voters from the truth: four years of the Trump-Pence Administrations chaos and division has made Minnesotans lives worse.' Pence told business owners that he sensed their feeling of helplessness as they watched the unrest unfold in May. He said that shouldn't happen. 'It was hard to stand there and see your business burn. Everything you worked for,' Westbrooks said. 'I just want my business back. I just want another start.' Ivanka Trump said the Trump administration will do what America does best 'and help you and others like you rebuild, because thats what we need to do.' A few years ago when it only sold the Model S, Tesla promised a new electric car that would be better and more affordable than the Nissan Leaf. That project became the Model 3, but even though it is better than the Leaf, its not more affordable. Originally targeted to start from around $30,000, the Model 3 was priced from $35,000, and it currently retails from almost $38,000. Come 2020 and Elon Musk promises that Tesla will make a $25,000 car in three years. A $25,000 EV sounds good, but will Tesla deliver? Musk made the announced at a presentation at Teslas California factory. Called Battery Day, the presentation included announcements that the company is working on cheaper and more powerful batteries for its electric car. These new batteries would be some 50-percent cheaper to build and they could also increase range by at least 50 percent. The cheaper, more efficient batteries would enable Tesla to make a new electric car that would cost around $25,000, Musk said. However, he did point out that many of the innovations are still works in progress and that the said EV will take three years to develop. On paper, this is great news. Most affordable EVs you can buy now cost more than $30,000, so an electric car that costs $25,000 in base trim would be a major breakthrough. However, Tesla has a reputation for missing its deadlines, so if this $25,000 EV happens, expect it to take longer than three years to hit the market. Elon Musk didnt provide additional information about this upcoming EV, but the price suggest that it will slot under the Model 3. This likely means a subcompact sedan or hatchback, or maybe a vehicle available in both body styles. But while Tesla aims to keep the base model at around $25,000, trims with longer range and performance upgrades will probably cost well in excess of $30,000. Meanwhile, Tesla is setting new benchmarks with the Plaid During the same presentation Elon Musk announced the Model S Plaid, the new range-topping model of the series. Powered by a three-motor powertrain and a bigger battery, its capable of hitting 60 mph from a standing start in less than two seconds, while charging toward a top speed of 200 mph. Its also supposed to run for more than 520 miles on a single charge. Which is the most affordable Tesla right now? The Model 3 is the cheapest Tesla you can buy in 2020. The range begins with the Model 3 Standard Range Plus, which comes in at $37,990. Its range is rated at 250 miles, while sprinting from 0 to 60 mph takes 5.3 seconds. The compact four-door hits a top speed of 140 mph. Tesla also offers more expensive variants of the Model 3 with better performance and greater range. The Long Range trim comes in at $46,990, while the Performance version starts from $54,990. For reference, the Model Y comes in at $49,990, the Model S starts from $74,990, while the Model X retails from $79,990. Source: NY Times As members of the dissolved Partnership for Connecticut Board, wed like to express our thoughts in response to comments made recently by U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and others about the role of philanthropy as it pertains to education in Connecticut. We did not accept our positions on the board lightly. At AFT-CT, the pros and cons were debated, and the final decision made by the Pre K-12 (education) Council was based on two things: Barbara Dalios history with members over the past six years, and the inequity in educational funding in Connecticut. And for Sheena, who is a member of the CEA, due to her interactions with Barbara, she joined the board because she knew it would be kid focused and a place where an educators opinion mattered. We agree with Sen. Murphys comments made recently about the need to raise taxes in order to more fully and equitably fund public education. However, that is the work of the Connecticut General Assembly. The current legislature too often refuses to even bring the issue of fuller and fairer funding to a vote. The unwillingness of the legislature to address educational funding has left us with the option of accepting philanthropic funding or nothing. The impression left by those comments is that philanthropy should be avoided in education. Given the failure of the Connecticut General Assembly to fully fund education or promote a more progressive tax structure, should we refuse Barbaras willingness to try to fill funding needs? The problems in New Jersey with Mark Zuckerbergs gift are described in the book The Prize. We took those lessons seriously, and everyone on the Partnership Board was given a copy of the book to read so we would not make the same mistakes. The goals and processes we used were as different from what is described in The Prize as Barbara Dalio is different from Mark Zuckerberg. We have known and worked alongside Barbara for many years to support educators and help students across Connecticut. We have toured classrooms and public schools together. We have spent countless hours talking with Barbara about public education and ways to help students, especially those young people who most need and deserve our support. We know her goals and intentions, and we stand in solidarity with Barbara seeking to improve outcomes for Connecticuts young people. Thats why the recent, published mischaracterization of Barbara is unfair; these harmful mistruths are distractions when we must focus on working together to improve our public education system. In comments made recently it was suggested that Barbara, her husband, and her familys foundation aim to use their wealth to have an out-sized influence in public education without listening to anyone. For those of us who have worked with her, who believe in the value of public education for everyone, we can say emphatically that nothing could be further from the truth, and we seek to respectfully address this and put it in proper context. Barbara listens to everyone in the education community with a big heart and open mind. Not once let us repeat, not once has Barbara told us what do to with her generous philanthropic dollars. As educators, we have learned to be suspicious when people with no educational background insist their money be tied to their personal initiatives. Barbara, conversely, asks questions, respects our experience and expertise, and is willing to trust us to be responsible with her donations. We welcome that trust and confidence. Barbaras collaborative approach has led to wonderful results for Connecticuts educators and students. Here are just a few of the ways that Barbara has helped over the last few years: Every educator and school staff person in the state almost 100,000 school-based professionals have free access to social and emotional learning resources; 60,000 low-income high school students have a laptop and all residents with school-aged children in Hartford and Norwalk have free access to the internet; More than 30,000 low-income children have received winter coats; Thousands of educators have received resources and supplies that they have requested for their classrooms and schools; Thousands of our states most struggling young people have access to caring adults, whether at high school or in the community; and Hundreds of educators have pursued self-designed professional development opportunities. There is a great deal in what has been said recently with which we completely agree. We believe that our reliance on philanthropy is the result of a broken system. We agree that a wealthy persons opinion should be no more important than that of a poor parent. But until and unless the State of Connecticut spends more money on education, we will continue to be overly reliant on the philanthropy of people like Barbara. And to be clear: We are grateful for her help. Jan Hochadel is the President of AFT-CT, Sheena Graham is a CEA member, and was Connecticuts Teacher of the Year in 2019, from Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport. Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that from now on no one from his PML-N party will hold individual, private or delegation-level meetings with the countrys military leadership. Taking to Twitter on Thursday, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo said that if necessitated by national security or constitutional requirements, such meetings in the future will be approved by the partys leadership and will be made public, reports Dawn news. Sharifs tweet comes a day after the Pakistan Army disclosed that former senior PML-N leader and Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair had twice reached out to Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and discussed political and legal issues of the former premier and his daughter Maryam Nawaz in the past few weeks. Recent events once again prove how some meetings remain hidden behind seven veils while others are given the colour of choice through publicising them. This game should now stop," his tweet further said. Wednesdays disclosure came just hours after PML-Ns senior vice-president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the media that none of the party members had held one-on-one meeting with the army chief in the recent past. Monday Economy Series: Recovering Industries: Webinar. Noon-1 p.m. Patrick Jankowski, the Greater Houston Partnership's senior vice president of research, will explore what industries are closest to full recovery and which have a long way to go in his monthly economic update. Information: www.houston.org/events. Small Business Updates: Payroll Protection Program Loan Forgiveness: Virtual event hosted by the UH Bauer College SBDC. 11 a.m.-noon. Information: www.sbdc.uh.edu. Tuesday One Houston Together Webinar Series: The Business Community's Role in Addressing Racial Inequities: Virtual event hosted by the Greater Houston Partnership. Noon-1 p.m. Information: www.houston.org/events. Chapter 11 and Restructuring: Key Developments in the Energy Sector: Webinar hosted by the French-American Chamber of Commerce. 11 a.m.-noon. Gil Porter, partner, finance practice, Haynes and Boone, will moderate a panel of speakers from EY and Haynes and Boone. Information: www.facchouston.org. Small Business Updates: Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Main Street Lending Program: Virtual event hosted by the UH Bauer College SBDC. 11 a.m.-noon. Information: www.sbdc.uh.edu. CARES Act 2020 - Payroll Protection Program Loan Application: Virtual event hosted by the UH Bauer College SBDC. 2:30-3:30 p.m. Information: www.sbdc.uh.edu. Energy Evening Event: Live broadcast hosted by KCA. 5 p.m. Speaker: Dan Eberhart, CEO, Canary, an oilfield services providers. Registration: www.kca-us.com. Wednesday Holiday Sales for Food Producers: Virtual event hosted by the UH Bauer College SBDC. 9:30-10:30 a.m. Information: www.sbdc.uh.edu. Thursday Texas Conference for Women: Online event. Cost: $150. Information: txconferenceforwomen.org. Friday Small Business Updates: Payroll Protection Program Loan Forgiveness: Virtual event hosted by the UH Bauer College SBDC. 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Information: www.sbdc.uh.edu. Oct. 14 AVDA (Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse) Home Safe Gala: 4 p.m., meal pickup at Minute Maid Park. 7 p.m., virtual program. Patrons will dine at home on a four-course dinner created by Potentes executive chef Danny Trace while attending a virtual gala program and online auction. ADVA provides services to victims of abuse and their families in Austin, Fort Bend, Grimes, Harris, Waller and Washington counties. All proceeds benefit AVDA in its mission to end family abuse. Information: www.bidpal.net/homesafehome. Fort Bend Chambers Education Division: State of the Schools: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. The annual event brings together the superintendents from Stafford Municipal School District, Lamar Consolidated Independent School District and Fort Bend Independent School District to present their plans for the future of more than 110,000 students in their respective districts. Information: www.fortbendchamber.com. katherine.feser@chron.com twitter.com/kfeser Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Global SSL VPN market rising trends are end-to-end encryption, rising BYOD, tool effectiveness, user satisfaction, and improvements in usability.Global SSL VPN market was valued US$ 4.76 Bn in 2017 and is expected to reach US$ 8.68 Bn by 2026, at a CAGR of 7.8% during a forecast period. The objective of the report is to present a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, industry-validated market data and projections with a suitable set of assumptions and methodology. The report also helps in understanding SSL VPN market dynamics, structure by identifying and analyzing the market segments by mode of remote access, component, organization size, and Region and, project the global market size. Further, report also focuses on competitive analysis of key players by product, price, financial position, product portfolio, growth strategies, and regional presence. The report also provides PEST analysis, PORTERas analysis, SWOT analysis to address question of shareholders to prioritizing the efforts and investment in near future to particular market segment. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/4029 Secure socket layer virtual private network (SSL VPN) enables devices with an internet connection to found a secure remote-access VPN connection with a web browser. An SSL VPN connection uses end-to-end encryption to protect data transmitted between the endpoint device client software and the SSL VPN server through which the client connects safely to the internet. Growing demand for secure remote access for employees, customers, & business partners, an increasing number of cyber-attacks, rise in demand for cloud-based security solutions, and an increase in demand for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend are boosting the global SSL VPN market growth. Other factors of SSL VPN market over traditional VPN protocols contain ease of use, outbound connection security, the rise in awareness about data security among organizations and increase in need to offer secure portals of expanding businesses to overseas employees, business partners, and customers. However, Lack of host security software installments on endpoint devices and the vulnerability of SSL protocol to external threats are hampering the market growth. Clientless SSL VPN enables end users to securely access resources on the corporate network from everywhere using an SSL-enabled Web browser. Clientless SSL VPN creates a secure, remote-access VPN tunnel to an ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance) using a Web browser without requiring a software or hardware client. It provides secure and easy access to a broad range of Web resources. The large-scale organization segment is expected to highest share of global SSL VPN market during the forecast period. North America is the highest revenue provider to the market in 2017, owing to infrastructural development and rise in adoption of SSL VPN. Asia-Pacific is estimated to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period, owing to considerable economic growth in developing economies and surge in bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend. Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/4029 Some of the key players in the global SSL VPN market are Oracle Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Citrix Systems, Inc., Pulse Secure, LLC, Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd., F5 Networks, Inc., Barracuda Networks, Inc., H3C Technologies Co., Limited, Array Networks, Inc., QNO Technology, Inc., and Symantec Corporation. Scope of the Global SSL VPN Market Global SSL VPN Market by Mode of Remote Access Clientless Thin-client Tunnel Global SSL VPN Market by Component Software Services Global SSL VPN Market by Organization Size LargeEnterprises Small and Medium Sized Business Global SSL VPN Market by Geography North America Europe Asia-Pacific Middle East & Africa South America Key Players operating in the Global SSL VPN Market Oracle Corporation Cisco Systems, Inc. Citrix Systems, Inc. Pulse Secure, LLC Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd. F5 Networks, Inc. Barracuda Networks, Inc. H3C Technologies Co. QNO Technology, Inc. Symantec Corporation Array Networks, Inc. SonicWALL AEP Sangfor Beijing NetentSec LeadSec More Info of Impact Covid19@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/covid-19-analysis/4029 Staff at the Northern Trust held a pizza party involving up to 15 people in a room designed to hold only five, it has been reported. The trust said it was investigating and would take the appropriate action if necessary. A whistleblower told the BBCs Nolan Show that the leftovers were then shared with other staff around the building. Its claimed that the staff involved are social workers, involved in visiting homes to check on the welfare of children. Ive been working in Ballymena. These are teams that work with children where there are obviously concerns about their welfare at home, the whistleblower said. It covers a large area, right out to Carnlough and all of Ballymena town... Some of the concerns I have are around the protection of staff, but also the risk of staff actually bringing Covid to families doors. The whistleblower said social distancing in their office is difficult due to space restrictions, and staff have had to buy their own sanitising wipes. Just to highlight something that happened last week. A member of staff was leaving - in childrens services we get social workers that are burnt out, theyre tired and working through Covid and people are leaving left, right and centre, the whistleblower said. There was a bit of a leaving do in the office and there was around 12 to 15 people crammed in and sharing pizzas and I was going all these people are going out to visit families. People were sharing food and then the leftover food was shared around the building. The point that I really want to make is that, if I was a family, at the minute, receiving a service - and this is coming from a social worker - I would not be allowing a social worker through my door if I was aware of what was actually going on. The Northern Trust said it was carrying out a full investigation and, where there is evidence of inappropriate behaviour or failings, they will take the necessary corrective action. A spokesperson added that guidance is in place covering all Covid protection measures, including guidance on home visits. ANKARA, Turkey - Turkeys foreign minister on Friday accused US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of blatant ignorance over her comments that questioned U.S. President Donald Trumps commitment to democracy and his alleged admiration of Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other leaders accused of authoritarian rule. Pelosi criticized Trumps refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses elections in November, and called on the U.S. president to honour his oath of office and the U.S. Constitution. We do know who he admires. He admires (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, he admires Kim Jong Un, he admires Erdogan in Turkey, Pelosi said. She added: But I remind him, you are not in North Korea, you are not in Turkey, you are not in Russia, Mr. President. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu took to Twitter to admonish Pelosi over her remarks. (Pelosis) rise to become Speaker of the House is what is truly worrisome for American democracy, given her blatant ignorance, Cavusoglu wrote. You will learn to respect the Turkish peoples will. Trump has been fanning uncertainty as he floats theories the election may be rigged if he loses, echoing warnings he made ahead of the 2016 voting even though past elections have not shown substantial evidence of fraud from mail-in voting. Despite troubled relations between Turkey and the United States over a series of issues, Trump has frequently praised Erdogan and their bond has helped to keep ties between the NATO allies afloat. Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has ordered an inquiry after a minister of his complained that a senior IAS officer V Shanmugam was missing from office. Others say that the officer had applied for leave and was under home quarantine. The direction came after the minister for women empowerment and child development Rekha Arya on September 22 wrote to deputy inspector general Dehradun to find Shanmugam. The minister feared that the officer was abducted as she could not contact him for two full days. Arya, in the letter, also alleged that the IAS officer may have also gone underground to save himself from the irregularities found in the ongoing recruitment process in her department. She had claimed that the bureaucrat couldnt be contacted. However, later it was found that he was in home quarantine at his residence. Media coordinator of the CM, Darshan Singh Rawat, confirmed the development and said, The CM ordered the inquiry in the whole matter after speaking to chief secretary (CS) Om Prakash on Thursday evening. Additional chief secretary Manisha Panwar will oversee the inquiry. As per the directions, I have started the inquiry. However, I cannot reveal the details of it before the media and would submit the inquiry report only to the CS (chief secretary), Panwar told reporters. Cabinet minister and government spokesperson Madan Kaushik said, The minister has raised some issues pertaining to irregularities in her department which she has every right to do so. An inquiry will be done in that and action would be taken against any officer found guilty. When contacted, Saujanya (only uses first name), secretary women empowerment and child development department, said that Shanmugam, who is the director women empowerment and child development, had applied for leave before going under home quarantine. He had applied for leave as per the operational procedure before going under home quarantine citing health grounds, she said. V Shanmugam could not be contacted despite several attempts. The episode has come into light amid the allegations by ruling party MLAs and ministers in the last few months that bureaucrats dont listen to them. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In the years after its release, the Canadian director David Cronenberg used to look back with bemusement on the frenzied British reaction to his 1996 film, Crash, adapted from JG Ballards novel. The 1973 book, which Ballard proudly described as the first pornographic novel based on technology, explores the erotic fascination of car crashes. It is set, as its author later wrote, at a point where sex and death intersect. In spite of the provocative subject matter, Ballard claimed his novel created little stir when it first appeared in the UK. True, a reader at his publishing company had described him as beyond psychiatric help and had strongly recommended that the book shouldnt be published. However, the novel did appear. Whatever revulsion certain critics showed towards Ballards writing, nobody called for it to be banned. (Newser) The battleground state of Pennsylvania is dealing with two controversies related to mail votingone involving "naked ballots" and the other involving nine absentee ballots sent in by members of the military that were opened by mistake. Seven in the latter group were later found in a dumpster, and all were for President Trump. Coverage on both: Naked ballots: Pennsylvania requires people voting by mail to use two envelopesthey stuff their ballot into a "secrecy envelope," then put that envelope into a larger one to be mailed back, reports the AP. If people neglect to use the inner "secrecy" envelope, the returned ballot is known as a "naked ballot." Pennsylvania requires people voting by mail to use two envelopesthey stuff their ballot into a "secrecy envelope," then put that envelope into a larger one to be mailed back, reports the AP. If people neglect to use the inner "secrecy" envelope, the returned ballot is known as a "naked ballot." Court ruling: The state's Supreme Court ruled last week that "naked ballots" must be discarded. Because so many people are voting by mail for the first time in 2020 and unfamiliar with the process, a top state election election is warning that up to 100,000 votes might end up being tossed, reports the Washington Post. The newspaper notes that Trump won the state by only 44,000 votes in 2016. Generally, more Democrats than Republicans are expected to vote by mail. story continues below Remember those? A post at Axios says "naked ballots" might become the "hanging chads" of the 2020 election, a reference to the ballot chaos that engulfed the 2000 election. The Democratic National Committee is so worried that it released a video detailing how people should handle their mail ballots. A post at Axios says "naked ballots" might become the "hanging chads" of the 2020 election, a reference to the ballot chaos that engulfed the 2000 election. The Democratic National Committee is so worried that it released a video detailing how people should handle their mail ballots. Other issue: The second controversy is taking place in Luzerne County, where nine military ballots sent in by mail were mistakenly opened. They're supposed to stay sealed until Election Day. An investigation is underway, but one theory is that workers apparently mistook them for requests for absentee ballots, because the envelopes are similar, reports NPR. The second controversy is taking place in Luzerne County, where nine military ballots sent in by mail were mistakenly opened. They're supposed to stay sealed until Election Day. An investigation is underway, but one theory is that workers apparently mistook them for requests for absentee ballots, because the envelopes are similar, reports NPR. In the trash: However it happened, seven of the nine ballots were found in a dumpster outside the office. The other two were re-sealed inside their envelopes. The US Attorney's Office of the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the FBI's Scranton Office are investigating, reports ABC News. In announcing the inquiry, US Attorney David Freed said the seven in the garbage were for Trump. One critic quoted by NPR says it was "quite improper" for Freed to go into such detail in a pending investigation, and another at ABC agrees, calling it a political move. Because the remaining two ballots were resealed, it's not clear whether they were for Trump or Joe Biden. However it happened, seven of the nine ballots were found in a dumpster outside the office. The other two were re-sealed inside their envelopes. The US Attorney's Office of the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the FBI's Scranton Office are investigating, reports ABC News. In announcing the inquiry, US Attorney David Freed said the seven in the garbage were for Trump. One critic quoted by NPR says it was "quite improper" for Freed to go into such detail in a pending investigation, and another at ABC agrees, calling it a political move. Because the remaining two ballots were resealed, it's not clear whether they were for Trump or Joe Biden. Trump takes note: The president mentioned the incident to a Fox radio host on Wednesday, calling it a "scam" and suggesting it was proof that mail balloting is vulnerable to fraud. "We want to make sure the election is honest, and I'm not sure that it can be," he said. (Read more Election 2020 stories.) BRIDGEPORT The Connecticut Attorney Generals office said it has been probing the private nonprofit Orcutt Club for boys and girls on the East Side, run by former state Rep. Bob Keeley, for months. We have received complaints regarding governance and management of the Orcutt youth center and are investigating matters there, Elizabeth Benton, spokesperson for the Attorney General, told The Connecticut Post. We appreciate the important opportunities the center provides to many Bridgeport youth. Beyond that, we cannot share details of our ongoing investigation. The case was opened sometime in 2018 under statutes allowing the states lawyer, Benton said, to ensure that charitable gifts are used for the purposes for which they were given. The revelation about the probe comes as the city prepares to spend $655,000 on Orcutt $615,000 for facility improvements and $40,000 for services. Those funds were earlier this summer approved by the City Council as part of an annual process when various non-profits compete for federal Community Development Block Grants distributed through municipalities. Mayor Joe Ganims administration did not reply to a request for comment about the Attorney Generals investigation of Orcutt. The CDBG funds come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Rhonda Siciliano, a spokeswoman for that agency, said it would be premature for HUD to weigh in. The city submits their plan (for the grants), HUD approves, but the funds dont actually get released from HUD until the work is completed, Siciliano said. The city pays for the work up front and then submits to HUD for reimbursement. ... Then HUD reviews, approves or asks for more documentation. Once HUD approves, reimbursement is provided to the city. Keeley, who took over as director of Orcutt five years ago, said he has only had positive communications with the Attorney Generals office in the past and was unaware of any open case. Keeley has publicly disparaged many local and state elected officials, often accusing them of either not doing enough to raise money for Orcutt or withholding dollars. After learning about the probe, Keeley said, Im not scared of them. The Attorney Generals office is full of garbage. ... We have nothing out of line. READ MORE: Youth club director, ex-state legislator under fire for using racial stereotypes on Facebook READ MORE: National org. challenges Orcutt Boys & Girls Club in Bridgeport over name Reginald Walker, who joined Orcutts board a year ago, said he was not surprised to learn there was a state investigation. I wouldnt doubt it, Walker said, adding, I think it (Orcutt) needs new leadership, without a doubt. Walker until recently was the boards chairman and in a July 17 letter to Keeley asked him to step down as director. Walker has claimed that most other board members had resigned and in that same letter admitted that situation made it difficult for him alone to force Keeley out. Walker also criticized Keeley for not being responsive to his requests for information about the youth organizations finances and management structure and took issue with racial comments Keeley allegedly posted on social media. On Facebook in late June Keeley, who is white, attacked all you rich white politicians for your collective lack of empathy for poor kids and Black and Latino maggot politicians who will not stand up to these white decision-makers. Keeley's post also made derogatory references to Black people and Mexican people. Come over to Orcutt so I can spit in all your collective faces, Keeley continued. Although I am just a youth worker, I am also Irish, who was taught by my family to go for the jugular when the odds were against me. Heed my warning, you fing a--holes, Im picking up my pace and none of you can outrun me. Try me. Save our kids! Walker, who is Black, in his July letter wrote, I am deeply concerned about the future sustainability of the club after the insensitive comments you made in Facebook. ... Embarrassed is how I feel as a board member and boys club alumni. Keeley stands behind what he wrote online. If Im keeping those doors open with my own money, Ill say whatever the hell I want to say. You dont like it, too bad. ... We do great work, Keeley told The Post for this story. I could walk away tomorrow but these kids are like my second family. ... These kids have problems. They have needs. Keeley also said Orcutt has new board members and Walker is out. Walker, however, said to his knowledge he is still on the board, although he is boycotting meetings until Keeley responds to his requests for information. One of the new board additions, however, is former state legislator, former City Councilwoman and current Bridgeport City Clerk Lydia Martinez, who confirmed she now has a seat on the board. She said that many years ago, when she was a teacher, she helped out at Orcutt and also knew Keeley from the Connecticut General Assembly. She said it was too soon for her to conclude whether Keeley was doing a good job running the youth organization. Let me be there one or two months and see whats going on, Martinez said. I joined to support him. If I can guide him with something and he wants to listen to me, Ill try that, too. We need a good place for our kids. Travel software firm Datalex has retained all its clients and "remain focused on potential wins", according to chief executive Sean Corkery. Mr Corkery was speaking at the embattled company's annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday, which was held remotely. Chairman David Hargaden said the company continues to face financial challenges, however. Following the AGM, an extraordinary general meeting was held where shareholders approved the maturity extension of a debt facility provided to the company by billionaire financier Dermot Desmond, who owns just under 30pc of Datalex. His Tireragh vehicle has also expanded the debt made available to the firm to 10m. Mr Desmond stepped in last year to give Datalex a financial parachute after it was engulfed by an accounting scandal. Last week, Datalex's former chief financial officer, David Kennedy launched High Court proceedings against the company and Mr Corkery. The action relates to comments made at the company's annual meeting last year by Mr Corkery in relation to Datalex's past accounting issues. Mr Desmond's firm has agreed to extend the maturity on the debt facility it's providing to Datalex to November next year. Amounts drawn on the facility are charged 10pc interest. Tireragh will also receive a 2.74m fee when the facility matures next year. Datalex, which saw its shares start trading again during the summer after an extended suspension, had initially hoped to raise equity to repay the debt facility. It was originally due to be repaid next November. "We have great confidence in the business, which has been reset and stabilised," insisted Mr Hargaden yesterday. He added that the company has an "ambitious growth strategy". "After much deliberation, the board considered that now is not the appropriate time to complete an equity fundraising," he said. "The group continues to face financial challenges exacerbated by the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic." Below Deck Mediterranean star Malia White has responded after Captain Sandy Yawn recently suggested she's secretly gay. Yawn, who is an openly gay woman, claimed on Cameo that White's sexuality is the reason she split from Tom Checketts and that the crew suspected White was gay. In a selfie video shared to her Instagram on Wednesday, White, 30, first confirmed her split from Checketts and then expressed her shock that Yawn would talk about such a personal issue. 'Shocked': Below Deck Mediterranean's Malia White has addressed Captain Sandy's comments about her being secretly gay 'Hey guys, it's Malia. My personal life seems to be quite the topic at the moment. I am not on Twitter, I don't do a lot of Instagram Lives, so I thought that I would send out a message in my own words. 'So, first off, yes, Tom and I have split. The details surrounding all of it, I am trying to keep a little private, just out of respect to him and I. But yes, I am single, 'Second, Captain Sandy's Cameo - I was just as shocked as everyone else. I'm not sure why my sexual orientation is being discussed in Cameos. 'First off, if I was gay, I would just like to say it should be my decision when and if to out it to the entire internet,' she continued. 'I'm not, but if I was, I would be openly proud to be gay. I'm a huge supporter of the community and, yeah, I'll just leave it at that.' White, 30, explained in an Instagram video on Wednesday 'But no, I'm not, but if I was, I would be openly proud to be gay. I'm a huge supporter of the community and, yeah, I'll just leave it at that.' In Yawn's video, she said, 'MaliaI think she's secretly gay, to be honest. That's my opinion. Everybody in production thinks that.' She immediately then appeared to regret her words as she covered her mouth and said, 'Oh! That's gonna be public isn't it! Okay so maybewho knows!' She later apologized for the comment and attempted to blame editing, saying on Instagram on Wednesday, 'I was wrong for making that comment. In a cameo video this week Captain Sandy Yawn said, 'MaliaI think she's secretly gay, to be honest. That's my opinion. Everybody in production thinks that.' Not her place: She immediately then appeared to regret her words as she covered her mouth and said, 'Oh! That's gonna be public isn't it! Okay so maybewho knows!' 'That clip was taken out of context, it was sliced to make it into something it was not. My apologies to Malia!' she insisted. It's a strange turn for the duo's friendship as they have always been close, with Malia looking to Captain Sandy, 55, as a mentor. The post came just a day after Malia hinted at her new single status. She shared a glowing selfie where she held up a glass of white wine and toasted to good times, writing: 'Cheers to all the ladies out there in their 30s, single, focused on their careers & that give zero f**ks!' Cheers to that! White has confirmed she's now single after splitting from Tom Checketts White followed with several empowering hashtags, adding: #stayfocused #dirtythirty #bossbabes and, the most telling, #thankyounext - the title of Ariana Grande's ever-popular breakup song. Making it very, very clear she was done with Checketts, Malia completely scrubbed her Instagram of any of his photos. She had comments turned off for her entire account, however, not letting fans speculate about what exactly went down during the breakup. Keeping up appearances? While White made it pretty clear she was flying solo, Tom muddied the waters by sharing some shots from a romantic vacation just one week ago Confusing: 'A very brief trip to London with this one X' he wrote along with a fun set of pictures from a trip across the pond While White made it pretty clear she was flying solo, a look at Tom's page seemed to muddy the waters a bit. Just one week ago, the chef shared a loved-up photo of the then-couple on a romantic vacation. 'A very brief trip to London with this one X' he wrote along with a fun set of pictures from a trip across the pond. Making it work: One month ago during a stop by Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens Live Malia said she and Tom were still dating But... There she did reveal that their relationship had gone 'back to long distance' Cooking up drama: Checketts came aboard the reality series to replace chef Hindrigo 'Kiko' Lorran on season five of the show And one month ago during a stop by Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens Live Malia said she and Tom were still dating, but explained their relationship had gone 'back to long distance.' Checketts came aboard the reality series to replace chef Hindrigo 'Kiko' Lorran on season five of the show. White's love life has already been featured on Below Deck Mediterranean. The dive master-turned-bosun was embroiled in a love triangle between chef Adam Glick and bosun Wesley Walton on season two of the show. Macomb Township firefighter Joe Warne took off on his second walk across Michigan on Thursday to raise funds for fellow firefighters fighting with cancer. Warne, 40, did a similar walk in June 2019 from Macomb Townships Fire Station 2 on 21 Mile Road, west of Romeo Plank Road, to a fire station in Kentwood outside of Grand Rapids. Warne occasionally had company for portions of his walk, including followers in a car, family, friends, firefighters and a state representative. He reached the Kentwood station on June 8 and earned $13,680 for firefighters with cancer through his non-profit, Neighbors United. The funds were later matched by rocker Bob Seger and Chevy Trucks. Warne planned to repeat the charitable feat for firefighters with cancer this year from May 21-24, following a similar route but ending in Cascade Township, about 10 miles southeast of Grand Rapids. Unfortunately, catching a case of COVID-19 in March threw a curve into the plan. On March 17 I had a migraine, which is not uncommon for me, at work. For the next three days I had very, very mild symptoms. I woke up that Saturday feeling fine. On Saturday night I had my first fever and several back cramps. I was able to go get tested the following Wednesday and I tested positive, Warne said. He resumed his training for the walk in May, walking about a mile a day. Warne said that in June his walking schedule was less regulated as he remained a little tired, but in July he got back on track, working his way back up to six or 10 miles per day. He began his second 140-mile walk in full fire gear early Thursday morning. He plans to arrive at the Cascade Township Fire Station 2 on Sept. 27. Warne plans to have other firefighters join him occasionally on this years walk, as well as his team of volunteers following in a vehicle. His goal is to raise funds for about 14 firefighters with cancer or their surviving family members, from all across the state. Donations can be made online through wedontjudge.org by clicking the #WalkForTheRed140 button. Warne founded Neighbors United with the goal of assisting individuals and families in need on an individual basis. One important fundraiser for the organization has been returnables drives, Warne said. More information and updates on the walk for firefighters with cancer and Neighbors United can be found via facebook.com/neighborsunitedmi. Development trajectory: PM to interact with DMs of various districts today Kerala man tests positive for Covid-19 thrice in 6 months India oi-Briti Roy Barman Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 25: A thirty-eight year old man in Trissur has tested positive for coronavirus thrice in the past six months in RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) tests. Meanwhile, the health department has launched an in-depth analysis of the case, according to a report of Times Now. Palavelil Savio Joseph of Ponnukkara was working as a service supervisor with an event management firm in Oman when he was infected of the fatal viru first time. "I tested positive in March after I got infected from a colleague who visited China. I was admitted to a private hospital in Muscat with complaints of chest pain and breathing difficulty. I was discharged after a week," Joseph said. Joseph's wife in April gave birth to twin daughters in Kozhikode but the father has not been able to visit them due to the repeated infections. He returned to the state in June as the pandemic situation worsening in Oman that time. In July, Joseph tested positive for the virus again and was admitted to Thrissur medical college Hospital on July 22 and discharged on August 11. However, he tested positive again after two weeks and was readmitted to the hospital on September 5 and discharged on September 11 based on a negitive antigen test. However, healthcare experts dismissed chances of a reinfection. "It could be a case of false positive or viral litter and it and it might not be infectious. We need a detailed analysis", said the head of the state-level experts' committee. Bihar poll dates, Sunil Gavaskar stokes controversy & more news | Oneindia News Notably, there are some instances of being COVID positive twice in the country earlier. Twio days back, a 25-year-old woman in Pune has tested positive for Covid-19 again, after first contracting it in July. In early September, a 27-year-old Bengaluru woman re-infected with the virus. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, September 25, 2020, 13:10 [IST] Chinas grain output will likely increase this year as autumn production is generally guaranteed, and the annual grain output is expected to stabilize at around 650 million tons for the sixth consecutive year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Aerial photo taken on Sept. 23, 2020 shows villagers harvesting peanuts in a field in Sanglin Village, Anshan City, northeast China's Liaoning Province. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng) This years good harvest has special significance considering the COVID-19 pandemic and the occurrence of severe natural disasters, such as floods in south China, drought and typhoons in northeast China, as well as pest swarms, said Han Changfu, minister of agriculture and rural affairs. The good harvest will effectively ensure food security in China, as well as its overall economic and social stability, while helping to ensure Chinas strategic initiative amid the current complicated international situation. Food crises are widely anticipated because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic - which has had a tremendous impact on global trade - along with natural disasters including severe drought and pest swarms in some countries, as well as some countries restrictions on food exports, Han said. Under these circumstances, its urgent for China to ensure a good domestic agricultural harvest to cope with the uncertainty of the global market, he added. The harvest will also lay a solid foundation for realizing the countrys goals of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and having victory over the battle against poverty. According to Han, the increase of growing areas for autumn grain and the generally good condition of the crop has helped lay a solid foundation for a bumper harvest. Multiple factors have contributed to a bumper harvest this year, such as favorable policies by the central government to encourage grain production. China has the ability to guarantee food security, Han said, explaining that the country has achieved a bumper grain harvest for 16 consecutive years. Chinas grain inventory has been kept at a high level, he said, adding that the countrys reserves of rice and wheat are sufficient to meet its domestic consumer market demand for one year. PHOENIX, Ore. Niria Alicia was visiting Eugene, Ore., on Labor Day, several hours north of her family home in the Rogue Valley, when her phone chirped with an alert warning of high winds expected in the state. But the next day, when those winds blew a firestorm through her neighborhood, her phone stayed silent. Ms. Alicia, 28, and thousands of others in the path of the Almeda Fire on Sept. 8 had no clear direction from the authorities on how and when to flee. As the fire raced across Jackson County, local officials declined to activate their Emergency Alert System, leaving television and radio programs uninterrupted and sending emergency alerts only to residents who had signed up for an online notification system. The patchwork of official notices fed confusion for those who lived and worked in the fires path, including older residents who are distrustful of government or technology, or both, and immigrants who speak little or no English. Many residents said that they had had to search for information on social media and that not all of what they had found was accurate. As they begin a review of their response to the fires, emergency officials are starting with the hard truth that Americas far-reaching advancements in connectivity have most likely saved lives during wildfires but only if local governments choose to use them. With that working number in mind, we can talk about what we want to bring to the table, said Tina Rongers, the founder and CEO of Karnerblue Era, who, along with Small and Michaline Tomich, the president and executive creative director of Mixdesign, served as part of the consulting team working with the community to envision a new use for the building. Two former leaders of the Holyoke Soldiers' Home in Massachusetts have been indicted in connection with the COVID-19 deaths of nearly a dozen veterans, Attorney General Maura Healey announced Friday. Former Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former Medical Director Dr. David Clinton each have been charged with criminal neglect following an investigation into the facility, where at least 76 residents died of COVID-19. Each defendant is facing five counts of charges of caretaker who wantonly or recklessly commits or permits bodily injury to an elder or disabled person, and five counts of caretaker who wantonly or recklessly commits or permits abuse, neglect or mistreatment to an elder or disabled person. Walsh and Clinton will be arraigned in Hampden County Superior Court at a later date. "This was an outbreak at the home that we know claimed at least 76 lives ... the lives of veterans who served our country bravely and with honor. They risked their lives from the beaches of Normandy to the jungles of Vietnam, and to know that they died under the most horrific circumstances is truly shocking," Healey said. PHOTO: In this Sept. 11, 2019 photo, Bennett Walsh, superintendent of the Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, speaks at a 9/11 ceremony in West Springfield, Mass. (Don Treeger/AP) The prosecution focused on a March 27, 2020, decision to consolidate two dementia units into one, which resulted in the placement of symptomatic residents, including confirmed COVID-19-positive residents, and asymptomatic residents, within feet of each other, increasing their exposure to each other. Healey alleged that Walsh and Clinton were "ultimately responsible for the decision on March 27 that led to tragic and deadly results," of combining the 42 veterans into a single unit that usually accommodates 25 beds. Six or seven veterans were placed in rooms meant to hold only four people. Because of overcrowding, nine beds also were placed in a dining room. MORE: 'Substantial errors,' 'utterly baffling' decisions led to COVID tragedy at Holyoke Soldiers' Home "Some of the residents in the dining room had symptoms of COVID-19, some did not. The beds of these veterans in the dining room were just a few feet apart from each other," Healey said. "Some were next to the room where confirmed positive residents were located, and residents in the unit were mingling together regardless of their COVID-19 status." Story continues Healey said that these "reckless" decisions placed asymptomatic veterans at greater risk of contracting the virus -- and a greater risk of death. "While this criminal indictment cannot bring back their loved ones, I do hope, sincerely, that it provides those affected by this tragedy some solace that we are doing everything we can to hold accountable the individuals who we believe are responsible here," Healey said. PHOTO: Laurie Beaudette holds the remains of her father, Jim Mandeville, who died April 14 at 83 of coronavirus after 16 years at Holyoke Soldiers' Home, on May 1, 2020 in Springfield, Mass. (Boston Globe via Getty Images, FILE) In a statement, an attorney for Walsh wrote that "the Attorney General is blaming the effects of a deadly virus that our state and federal governments have not been able to stop on Bennett Walsh. He, like other nursing home administrators throughout the Commonwealth and nation could not prevent the virus from coming to the Home or stop its spread once it arrived there. At all times, Mr. Walsh relied on the medical professionals to do what was best for the veterans given the tragic circumstances of a virus in a home with veterans in close quarters, severe staffing shortages and the lack of outside help from state officials." An attorney for Walsh told ABC News he intends to plead not guilty and to vigorously defend himself against the allegations. An attorney for Clinton didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News. MORE: Suspended superintendent at Holyoke Soldiers' Home did not keep officials in the dark, attorney says Over 90 families of Holyoke Soldiers' Home veterans have been consulted and interviewed as a part of the investigation. "I think that Bennett Walsh and Dr. Clinton should have to dig every grave that hasn't been dug yet -- as well as whatever time they receive if they're found guilty," said Susan Kenney, whose father, Charles Lowell, served in the Air Force from 1960 to 1965 during the Vietnam War and died at the facility earlier this year. "They need to accept responsibility and account for their behaviors and the actions that they took." The Holyoke Soldiers' Home coalition, on behalf of family members, also released a statement that read, in part: "Our Veterans and senior citizens deserve the greatest respect and should always receive care with the greatest honor and dignity as is the mission of our state for the Soldiers' Home. We now hope that justice will prevail and that the state builds a new Home in Holyoke as a lasting memorial to all those who have died." The attorney general's report is the second of four investigations into failures at the facility. Earlier this summer, an investigation lead by former federal prosecutor Mark Pearlstein also found that the facility's leadership team made substantial errors in responding to the outbreak. PHOTO: The Holyoke Soldier's Home in Holyoke, Mass., April 30, 2020, where the COVID-19 pandemic left at least 76 dead. (Boston Globe via Getty Images) The two other investigations, which are still ongoing, include a federal investigation led U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew E. Lelling and an investigation conducted by the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General Glenn A. Cunha. Healey confirmed that her office is actively investigating several other facilities that suffered high numbers of coronavirus-related deaths. Since the beginning of the pandemic, over 6,000 probable or confirmed deaths have been reported in long-term care facilities in Massachusetts -- approximately two-thirds of the state's total reported death count. 2 former leaders of Holyoke Soldiers' Home charged in COVID-19 deaths originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) The Philippines cannot afford to ignore the call of some lawmakers in the United States to stop providing aid to local security forces over alleged human rights violations, Senator Franklin Drilon said Friday. "I do not know how serious it is... But certainly, the government should not just brush this aside," Drilon told CNN Philippines' The Source. "It only means that the Congress of the United States is conscious and is aware of what is happening here." Dozens of lawmakers have supported a resolution filed before the US Congress seeking to withdraw funding granted to the Philippine national police and the armed forces for abuses and for targeting dissenters of the Duterte administration. Rep. Susan Wild from Pennsylvania authored and filed the Philippine Human Rights Act on September 17, which has been co-sponsored by 24 other Democrat lawmakers. In question are the Anti-Terrorism Law, which Wild said may be used to ramp up efforts "targeting labor organizers, workers, and political opponents." The measure blocks US funding for police or military assistance to the Philippines until the country can meet a series of basic criteria set by the proposed measure to be entitled to America's budgetary support. "Whether or not it will pass through Congress and will be signed by the US President, I do not know, but certainly we cannot brush this aside," Drilon added. Among the requirements are to investigate and charge uniformed personnel found to have violated human rights; take the military out of domestic policy; and protect the rights of human rights defenders, activists, small farmers, journalists, indigenous persons, and critics of the government. Manila should also comply with audits and investigations regarding the use of security aid, and should ensure that the judicial system can properly probe and prosecute those who committed abuses. The military has called the proposal "unfair," saying that they allow due process for any complaints. The US and Philippine armies have close ties, mainly due to the Visiting Forces Agreement which President Rodrigo Duterte earlier wanted to revoke. READ: PH suspends termination of Visiting Forces Agreement with US DFA Separately, the European Parliament also wanted to sanction Manila for human rights violations and the bloody drug war with a proposal to remove preferential trade and tariff agreements for Philippine products sold in the regional bloc. In his first-ever address before the United Nations General Assembly, Duterte said the Philippines "will continue to protect the human rights of its people, especially from the scourge of illegal drugs, criminality, and terrorism." Government data show at least 6,600 people have been killed in anti-illegal drug operations since Duterte took office in July 2016. The Philippine Commission on Human Rights and international human rights groups have pegged the deaths at more than 27,000 that are filed by the police as "homicides under investigation." Amanda Householder received an urgent Facebook message in early March about her dad from a man she hadnt talked to in years. Her father, Boyd Householder, ran a religious boarding school in rural Missouri called Circle of Hope Girls Ranch that aimed to help young ladies stop making poor choices. And the man who messaged her, Joseph Askins, who had viewed Boyd as a friend and mentor, was disturbed by what he had seen on a recent visit. At the ranch, Askins later told NBC News, he saw Boyd smack a child in the mouth and force a girl to chug water and then drink her own vomit. Askins said he heard Boyd order teenage girls to assault one another. Knock her out, I mean it, the voice of a man whom Amanda, Askins and others identified as Boyd is heard saying in a video Askins captured. The video disturbed Amanda, 29, but it was far from the first time people had raised concerns about what was happening at her parents ranch. Since Circle of Hope opened in 2006, at least 15 people said they reported abuse at the ranch to at least six local, state and federal agencies in Missouri, an NBC News investigation found, based on a review of court records, text messages and emails and interviews with 15 former residents, seven parents and two former staff members. Related: At a Missouri Christian school for troubled teens, alumni say a gap in state law prevented inspections, enabling abuse to continue for decades. Parents and former residents said they reported that Boyd used physical restraints as punishments, placing girls face down for as long as an hour, while he pressed a knee into their necks and other residents were forced to squeeze the targets pressure points. Boyd, 71, and his wife, Stephanie, 55, withheld food as punishment or if they thought a girl was overweight, and forced children to stand and stare at a wall for hours at a time for days in a row if they didnt follow the ever-changing rules, the parents and former residents said. Story continues Yet despite these complaints, the boarding school continued to operate. Image: Amanda Householder in a family portrait with her parents, Boyd and Stephanie Householder, who founded Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch in Missouri. (Courtesy of Amanda Householder) Circle of Hope is part of a national landscape of institutions referred to as the troubled teen industry, which has received increased attention since celebrity Paris Hilton began talking about her time at one such facility. Parents place their children in these programs hoping to correct behaviors ranging from talking back and skipping school to drug abuse. But in many states, the industry has little to no regulation. No state agency in Missouri licensed or accredited Circle of Hope, and former residents and parents believe thats partly why the abuse went unchecked at the ranch for more than a decade. Cedar County Sheriff James McCrary said his office had received multiple calls about Circle of Hope over the years; he declined to go into details but said that since he became sheriff in 2017, he made sure his staff investigated every complaint. A sheriffs deputy told Amanda in a Facebook message this year that they had not had enough evidence. A federal prosecutor had turned down the case in 2019, a state highway patrol sergeant told Amanda in an email. The states education department told a parent in 2008 that it had no authority over the ranch because it operated as a private boarding school. And although the Missouri Department of Social Services determined in a preliminary finding two years ago that Boyd physically abused a minor, according to court documents a finding Boyd disputed; the case is still pending the agency said it didnt have power to force the ranch to close because it did not have licensing authority. Amanda had been uneasy about what she said shed witnessed at her parents ranch for years. After seeing the video from Askins, she decided to start talking publicly. I told everyone, I cant be silent anymore, Amanda said. No one can deny us, no one can tell us it wasn't true anymore. Amanda set up a TikTok account in May carrying the bio: My parents own an abusive boarding school for girls. This is my page exposing it. Videos by Amanda and former residents describing abuse at the ranch amassed more than 33 million views and finally prompted action. The Cedar County Sheriffs Department and the state Department of Social Services opened an investigation, which is ongoing, and in August the state removed two dozen girls from the ranch, effectively closing it. The Householders decided this month not to reopen their school rather than deal with the government. On Wednesday, two former residents, both anonymous, filed lawsuits against the Householders: One accused Boyd of raping her as a minor multiple times in 2015 and said that Stephanie was aware of the abuse and did nothing to stop it. The other alleges that Boyd threw her into a wall and to the ground, and the Householders fed her so little that she lost 40 pounds in two months when she was placed there in 2014. The suits did not state whether the alleged abuse had been reported to state or local authorities. In an email, Stephanie denied the allegations of abuse, which she said came from a few girls [who] have no credibility. It is a fact that the accusations will not withstand the scrutiny of examination and the testimony of others as to the truth, Stephanie said in an email. She said she and her husband would not discuss the allegations further. Jay Kirksey, a lawyer for the Householders, did not respond to requests for comment. I dont care what kind of laws they fall under, what they're doing is wrong - it's abuse." For the ranchs former residents and their parents, the states action is gratifying, but they argued it shouldn't have taken viral TikTok videos to reach this point. Teresa Tucker said when she tried to report that her 15-year-old daughter, Ashley, was restrained and fed nothing but soup at Circle of Hope in 2015, the social services department claimed there was little it could do since the ranch was classified as a private religious school. I dont care what kind of laws they fall under, Tucker said. What theyre doing is wrong its abuse. The states social services department said that it could not comment on individual cases but that it continues to fulfill its role and work with child welfare community partners to keep children in Missouri safe, and that it responds to all hotline reports of child abuse and neglect. The department also noted that allegations are often co-investigated with local law enforcement. Ty Gaither, the Cedar County prosecutor, said that various agencies in Missouri had been trying to look into Circle of Hope for two years, but that investigation has run into some difficulty due to not being able to have full contact with those girls. 'They were afraid we'd tell the truth' The Householders opened Circle of Hope in July 2006 after Boyd, a Vietnam veteran, worked at similar reform schools in Missouri and Florida. They set up shop on a 35-acre property outside of Humansville, a town of about 1,000 residents in western Missouri. A long driveway led up to a two-story, four-bedroom house that former residents remember had an industrial kitchen and flat office carpeting, and the Householders lived in a house across the street. They welcomed girls as young as 6 years old, according to a news report. Girls spent most of their days working outside, tending to chickens, dogs and horses, and cleaning the house. Twice a week, they were allowed to change their clothes, which were all donated, according to four parents and three former residents. Boyd punished girls if they took more than five minutes to take a shower, including undressing and shaving, seven former residents said. Education consisted of Christian homeschooling packets from Accelerated Christian Education, and often did not count toward high school credits in public school districts, several parents and residents said. He made it sound like it was a place for praising God. But it wasnt, really, it was about praising him. The ranch averaged 20 to 30 youth at a time, collecting $284,430 in tuition last year, tax returns show. Tuition fluctuated; one parent said she paid $300 a month, while three others said it cost over $1,000. Circle of Hope never had more than a handful of staff, who received very little pay. Aimee Groves, who said she worked there in 2009, said she didnt receive any wages, just room and board and some clothing. Adria Keim, who said she worked there from 2009 to 2011, said she was paid $350 a month. Last year, the school spent $51,375 on staff salaries, with $13,495 going to Boyd, according to a tax return. Boyd, who had girls call him Brother House, required children to stay for at least two years, and said he would determine if they were ready to go home, according to former residents and a copy of the parent handbook shared with NBC News. He made it sound like it was a place for praising God, said Chanel Mare, who was at Circle of Hope from 2006, when she was 14, until she ran away in 2010. But it wasnt, really, it was about praising him. Image: The Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch in Missouri. Videos by Amanda and other former residents describing abuse at the ranch amassed more than 33 million views, and prompted a sheriff's department investigation that remains ongoing. (Miles Brite / Cedar County Republican) During Blaze Lutwinksys first night at the ranch in 2011, she said, a medical condition caused her to vomit a bologna sandwich Boyd and Stephanie ordered her to eat. I ate the bologna, I threw up, immediately I was restrained in my own vomit, Lutwinksy, who was 16 at the time, said. He told me I better get used to following rules or this was going to be my life. The Householders permitted residents to call their parents once every other week for 15 minutes on speakerphone. If girls said they wanted to come home or complained about their treatment at the ranch, 17 former residents and staff members said, the Householders would end the call immediately. Letters home were also censored by Boyd, they said. For more of NBC News' in-depth reporting, download the NBC News app Dajah Potter, 20, said social services employees came to the ranch four times when she was there from 2016 through 2018. If they came when the girls were outside, she said, the Householders would instruct everyone to come inside and into a secluded room to keep them out of sight of the social workers. They were afraid wed tell the truth, which is me being abused, Potter said. She said Boyd once sprayed her with a hose outside in the winter because he thought she was faking being sick. Stephanie said there are witnesses who can refute the abuse allegations, but declined to share their names. There are hundreds of girls who have been helped and chosen to make better decisions and become better persons in society, Stephanie said in an email. Unfortunately, there are a few girls who choose to continue their past acts and some are now making false accusations. Complaints started the year the ranch opened Amanda Householders relationship with her parents deteriorated as she got older. As a teenager, she often filled in as a staff member, but she said her parents also placed her in the program as a punishment. She said the extent of her bad behavior consisted of thinking boys were cute and listening to Green Day. She moved in with other family members in 2009, at 17, and the next year moved to California. For the first few years on her own, Amanda pushed back on many of the stories from former residents. She antagonized them on internet forums when they spoke negatively about Circle of Hope. But after having a child, and once she began talking directly with former residents, she began to reevaluate. She said she noticed their stories lined up. Amanda apologized for not believing them earlier, and for not intervening when she still lived at the ranch. I knew the restraining was bad, said Amanda, who is now a stay-at-home mom, but I just kick myself in the ass for not standing up against it back then. I felt guilty, I felt like it was my fault, but thats one of the things I worked through in therapy. I had to get over that. In 2018, Amanda connected with Michelle Nickerson, who had been trying to report concerns about Circle of Hope to the Missouri Department of Social Services because her 16-year-old sister was at the ranch. Nickerson had been in touch with the Missouri Highway Patrol, and together, they began referring former residents to speak with the officers. Image: Girls work at the Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch in Missouri. (Courtesy of Amanda Householder) The state highway patrol gave a report on its Circle of Hope investigation to an assistant U.S. attorney, who declined last year to prosecute, according to an email from the sergeant who handled the investigation. The highway patrol refused to release a copy of the report because its being used in the current investigation, and the sergeant declined to comment to avoid interfering with it. A spokesman for the U.S. attorneys office also declined to comment. Complaints about Circle of Hope date back to the year it opened. Genevieve Dean said she called the sheriffs department and social services in 2006 and asked them to perform a welfare check at the ranch because she worried her 15-year-old daughter, Amanda, was being abused. In a letter home, Amanda had included a secret safe word she had with her mother to signal someone was hurting her. Amanda said in an interview she was only fed quarter portions of meals, her medication was withheld and she saw Boyd smack girls. Both the sheriffs department and social services declined to conduct a welfare check, Dean said, and she pulled her daughter out of Circle of Hope. The following year, in 2007, Donna Maddox said she pulled her daughter, Kelsey, then 14, out of the ranch after her first visit, when she saw bruises on her that Kelsey said came from restraints. Maddox said she reported the school to several state agencies, including a consumer complaint to the Missouri Attorney Generals Office because Circle of Hope had falsely claimed to be registered with the states education department. The Missouri Attorney Generals Office said it received three consumer complaints regarding Circle of Hope, and each one had been referred to the local prosecutor or proper authority. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said it received three complaints about Circle of Hope since 2008, but has no oversight of private schools. The Missouri Department of Social Services said there were four reports of misconduct at Circle of Hope since 2006 that the agency substantiated: one of neglect, one of physical abuse and neglect, and two regarding sexual abuse. The social services department said it cannot reveal when those reports were filed, who was accused or what action, if any, was taken. "I wouldnt think to ask, 'Are you providing water to the girls?'" Parents said its unacceptable that those complaints were not disclosed by the state. Why is that not a public record or known? asked Brian Stoddard, a pastor in Washington state, who placed his daughter Emily at Circle of Hope in late 2017 when she was 15 and struggling with anger issues. If I had seen that, I certainly wouldve changed my mind. Brian and his wife, Michelle, removed Emily in July this year after learning more about the ranch from former residents online. On the way out, Emily said, several girls gave her phone numbers for their families on slips of paper that she stuck in the sole of her shoe. They asked me to shut the place down or get them in a safer place, she said. The Stoddard family went to the sheriffs department to give a statement before leaving town, they said. Emily said that Boyd handcuffed girls frequently as a punishment, and performed what he called swats, which were spankings with a leather belt or paddle. The girls often did manual labor outside in 90-degree heat with no sunscreen and only one water bottle among 24 girls, Emily said. I wouldnt think to ask, Are you providing water to the girls? Michelle Stoddard said. Its just cruelty. Emily had a pretty bad sunburn and they sent her back out to work the next day, and now she has scars from sunburn. Its ridiculous. Its evil. Brian said before they left the ranch, Boyd requested that Emily sign a letter stating she had not been abused in any way. Brian refused, but two other parents and two former residents said they did sign similar forms, fearful Boyd wouldnt let them leave otherwise. Getting action on TikTok The video Amanda Householder received from Askins does not show Boyd on screen, but she and several former residents said they instantly recognized his voice. The man is heard advising residents to attack a girl: Knock her out. Emily Stoddard, who was still at the ranch then, said Boyd was speaking to them in their dorm through an intercom system, and he was chastising a girl for drinking water without permission. Askins said he called child protective services when he left the ranch. Amanda posted the video on Facebook and Twitter in March. Miranda Sullivan, a co-host of the podcast Troubled, about the troubled teen industry, saw it, and invited her on the show. Later, Sullivan suggested that Amanda start posting on TikTok, where others had been sharing their experiences at troubled teen programs. The benefit of TikTok is the kids who get activated and are amazingly useful, Sullivan said. With Circle of Hope, it got enough random people who were highly motivated to nag the local offices in Missouri who are not used to this much attention. As Amanda and former Circle of Hope residents began to post their own TikTok videos, a Cedar County sheriffs deputy messaged her on Facebook on May 17 and said their office wanted to talk. The sheriffs department told NBC News an investigation remains ongoing, and is being led by the states social services department. Gaither said his office is still waiting for them to complete their investigation and present a report to him. "If theyre not careful, they can kill you." Multiple former residents said they felt an urgency to try to shut down Circle of Hope after seeing a video of Cornelius Frederick, 16, being restrained at a youth facility in Michigan in April. Cornelius died two days later. That was always what I feared could happen, said Carrie Reeves, who was a resident at Circle of Hope in 2014 when she was 14 and recalled Boyd and Stephanie restraining her with help from six other girls. They are sitting on you, they are inflicting so much pain on you. If theyre not careful, they can kill you. After the state removed all the girls from Circle of Hope in August, the Householders told the Kansas City Star that they would not reopen because they didnt want to deal with a corrupt sheriffs department. This week, the ranch property appeared listed for sale on several real estate websites. The Householders have also taken down the Circle of Hope website. Amanda said she hasnt spoken with her parents since 2016. She said she feels relieved the ranch is closed, but she worries her parents will try to open another school, so she intends to continue pressing for criminal charges. I do know that what Im doing is right, Amanda said, and it makes it easier because I know my parents hate me for it. Television crews set up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, June 8, 2020. As President Donald Trump moves forward with his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, the other justices are about to get back to work. The court is scheduled to hold its end-of-summer conference on Tuesday, where they will consider new cases to hear in the coming year. The following Monday, Oct. 5, the court will start hearing arguments, the first without the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a member of the court in nearly three decades. Already, a number of high-profile cases are on the docket, with potential impacts that stretch deep into American life. The justices may also be called to address emergency litigation over the Nov. 3 presidential contest, as they did in 2000. Trump has said that such a possibility is driving him to get a justice confirmed by Election Day. In one of the most significant disputes of the term so far, the justices will again consider the legality of the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama's signature health-care legislation. Arguments over the law will take place Nov. 10. In its third go-round at the top court, the law, known as Obamacare, is being challenged by a slate of Republican-led states backed by the Trump administration, who argue that the law's individual mandate is unlawful. The top court upheld the individual mandate in 2012 under Congress's power to tax. But in 2017, Congress set the individual mandate penalty to $0. The red states argue that, on that basis, the individual mandate is no longer a tax, and is therefore illegal. They have said that as a result, the whole law must fall. A ruling striking down the health-care legislation would be catastrophic for millions of Americans. More than 11 million people who enrolled or re-enrolled in an Obamacare exchange plan last year would be expected to lose their coverage, and the law's protections for those with preexisting conditions and young Americans on their parents' plans would also disappear. The coverage for more than 12 million low-income Americans who have relied on the law's expansion of the Medicaid program would also be in jeopardy. Trump has repeatedly pledged to produce a health-care plan that would replace the Affordable Care Act, but has not yet done so, despite frequently claiming that such an agenda would be unveiled within weeks. It is not clear how the Supreme Court will rule on the matter, but both of the lower federal appeals courts that examined the question found the individual mandate provision to be unconstitutional. If the court decides the matter with just eight justices, a possible 4-4 tie would leave the lower court rulings standing. Another major case concerns the Constitution's religious liberty protections, and the government's ability to limit discrimination against LGBT people. In Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, the court will consider a challenge brought by a Catholic foster care agency against a Philadelphia policy that says the agency must not reject prospective same-sex foster parents on the basis of their sexual orientation. Arguments in the case are set for Nov. 4. The city has argued that it has a legitimate interest in protecting LGBT couples from discrimination, but the agency, Catholic Social Services, alleges that the policy amounts to discrimination and hostility against its religious beliefs because it "refuses to embrace the City's beliefs about marriage." A federal appeals court sided with the city. The case is significant because the agency is asking the court to strike down a longstanding precedent that has applied to laws affecting religious liberty for three decades. The court decided in Employment Division v. Smith in 1990 that generally applicable laws that do not specifically target religion do not violate the Constitution. After the top court ruled in the Employment Division case, Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which heightened scrutiny on laws affecting religious liberty. According to Katherine Franke, a law professor at Columbia University, in the years since the passage of that law the Supreme Court has interpreted it in a way that has "expanded religious liberty rights well beyond where they were in 1990." Franke said it was quite possible the court would revisit Employment Division v. Smith and "read those RFRA rights back into the Constitution." Even before Ginsburg's death, the Roberts court was particularly deferential to religion, but it is likely to grow even more so. Just last term, the court ruled that Trump could allow employers with sincerely held religious beliefs to bar their workers from receiving free contraceptive coverage under Obamacare, shielded religious schools from discrimination suits brought by teachers, and struck down a decision from a Montana court that had eliminated a scholarship program indirectly funding religious schools with taxpayer money. A third potentially consequential case resuscitates issues that may feel to be from a different political era. On Dec. 2, the court will hear arguments in a case between the Department of Justice and the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee that concerns a potential new impeachment of the president and former special counsel Robert Mueller. The Justice Department in that case is asking the justices to overturn a lower court ruling that would force the Trump administration to turn over secret Mueller grand jury documents that were compiled during the former FBI director's investigation of the president's 2016 campaign. Grand jury materials are normally closely guarded, but an exception exists when they are sought as part of a "judicial proceeding." The Democrats on the Judiciary Committee have said they need the documents in order to determine whether the president should be impeached again he was acquitted on separate impeachment charges in February and argue that an impeachment qualifies as a judicial proceeding. The federal appeals court in Washington sided with the Democratic committee, but the justices put that ruling on hold while they consider the matter. If Biden wins the election, it's possible the case will be dismissed. 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Contact: Jakub Fojtik, VP Business Development, [email protected] About IMSAR LLC IMSAR LLC is a privately owned research, development, and manufacturing company located in Springville, UT, that specializes in lightweight, low-power Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) devices and radar image processing. The first version of IMSAR's NanoSAR system was developed in 2008. Since then, IMSAR has continued to enhance the capability and reduce the size of its flagship radar system. For more information, visit www.imsar.com. Contact: [email protected] , 1-801-798-8440 SOURCE IMSAR, LLC Related Links http://www.imsar.com P rime Minister Boris Johnson, London mayor Sadiq Khan and Scotland Yard chief Cressida Dick are among those who have paid tribute to the police officer who was shot dead in Croydon. The officer was shot in a south London police station in the early hours of Friday morning and later died in hospital, police said. Mr Johnson said he offered his "deepest condolences" to the family, friends and colleagues of the officer who died. "We owe a huge debt to those who risk their own lives to keep us safe," he added. Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was "deeply shocked and saddened" by the "tragic event". She added in a statement: My thoughts today are with his family, friends and policing colleagues in London and across the country. This morning I spoke to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to express my condolences and to offer whatever support is needed as this tragic event is investigated. This is a sad day for our country and another terrible reminder of how our police officers put themselves in danger each and every day to keep the rest of us safe. Mr Khan said he was "devastated" by the killing and paid tribute to the "brave officer" who "paid the ultimate price for helping to keep Londoners safe." Tragic incidents like this are terrible reminders of the dangers our police officers face every single day, he said. He added: "My thoughts are also with the entire Metropolitan Police family, who I know will be deeply mourning their colleague at this extremely difficult time. "I remain in close contact with the Commissioner to offer her and our Met officers and staff my support." The man's fellow officers also shared their sadness at his death. Stuart Hutson said he was one of the officers that responded first to the incident. He added in a tweet: "This morning my team and I responded to the worst possible radio transmission from custody, words and scenes I shall never forget. "The unimaginable happened to our police family. We have lost not only a good skipper but also a real gentleman. One of the best. RIP brother". Sir Keir said in a tweet: "Horrific to hear of a police officer being shot and killed in Croydon. Our police put themselves in harms way every day to keep us safe. All my thoughts are with the officers family, friends and colleagues. Justice Secretary Robert Buckland added his condolences, tweeting: "My thoughts are with the officers loved ones, colleagues and the wider police community. Policing minister Kit Malthouse updated MPs in the House of Commons about the attack on Friday morning. Raising a point of order Mr Malthouse said: We ask our police officers to do an extraordinary job. The fact that one of them has fallen in the line of performing that duty is a tragedy for the entire nation. Appalling news that a police officer has been shot dead in Croydon. I know the entire House will offer their condolences to his family and friends and colleagues. May he rest in peace and may justice follow this heinous crime. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle added: It is shocking news. This should never happen to the people that protect us and make us safe. All our thoughts and prayers go with the family and friends and the police community. Shadow Home Secretary David Lammy said: It is tragic when an officer loses their life in the line of duty while doing their job keeping the public safe. My thoughts and condolences are with the officers family, colleagues and friends. Yvette Cooper, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said: It is truly awful news that a brave police officer has been killed. My thoughts and deep sympathies go out to the family, friends and colleagues of this brave officer and also to everyone in policing who will be feeling this loss deeply. Every day our police put themselves in harms way to keep us all safe it is devastating for this to happen to someone working to protect others. Croydon Central MP and shadow policing minister Sarah Jones called the attack "absolutely devastating." The Labour politician told Times Radio: I just feel so sorry for the family of the officer who has been shot dead and so sorry for the community of our police in Croydon who are obviously a family of people who work together every day, who put themselves out in danger every day, drive into danger and are a really close family and they are going to be absolutely devastated and Im just so sorry. Of course there are going to be questions asked about what happened and well get to the bottom of what happened and why. But today, its an absolute tragedy and not something you ever think is going to happen. Steve Reed, another local MP, joined his parliamentary colleagues to pay tribute to the officer and his family after the "horrific" attack. The Labour MP for Croydon North said in a tweet: "All of us in Croydon are in shock at this heartbreaking tragic news. Met Police commissioner Ms Dick condemned the "tragic" attack and added her condolences, which she said had sent "shockwaves and sadness" through the force. She said: This is a truly shocking incident in which one of our colleagues has lost his life in the most tragic circumstances. My heart goes out to his family, direct colleagues and friends. We are currently supporting his family and also have a dedicated team providing support to the officers and those in the custody centre who witnessed the shooting. When a colleague dies in the line of duty the shockwaves and sadness reverberates throughout the Met and our communities. Policing is a family, within London and nationally, and we will all deeply mourn our colleague. The investigation into the officer's death is ongoing, she said. The investigation is ongoing / Jeremy Selwyn Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said that officers were "sick to the stomach" from the "devastating" news. He added in a statement: `All our thoughts and that of all our members are with his family, friends and close colleagues at this time. We and all members of the police family across the country are all utterly heartbroken at this news. Officers put themselves in danger every day to protect the public. Sadly, on very rare occasions officers make the ultimate sacrifice whilst fulfilling their role. When that happens we will ensure their bravery and sacrifice is never forgotten. Colleagues involved in the incident will have our full support for as long as is needed. John Apter, national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank-and-file officers, said: This is utterly devastating and heartbreaking news that a colleague from the Metropolitan Police has been shot and killed. Croydon Custody Centre shooting - In pictures 1 /61 Croydon Custody Centre shooting - In pictures Jeremy Selwyn Forensics at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn General view of the scene at Croydon Custody Centre Sky News Flowers at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Police tape cordon inside Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer has been shot dead by a suspect being booked into custody at a south London police station today Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Nigel Howard A Forensic ServiCes van at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer stands guard at Croydon Custody Centre Getty Images Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Nigel Howard Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Forensics at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Flowers are laid down outside the custody centre where a British police officer has been shot dead in Croydon, south London REUTERS Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours of Friday morning PA The scene at Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer beside flowers left outside Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA REUTERS REUTERS AFP via Getty Images PA AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images REUTERS PA AFP via Getty Images Nigel Howard AFP via Getty Images PA Nigel Howard Nigel Howard PA PA AFP via Getty Images PA REUTERS Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick paid tribute to the "wonderful" officer known to colleagues and friends as Matt, in a ceremony at the National Police Memorial in central London on Sunday also attended by Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan PA Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan pay tribute to the "wonderful" officer known to colleagues and friends as Matt, in a ceremony at the National Police Memorial in central London PA "Our thoughts are with the officers family, friends and colleagues at this most terrible time. Policing is a family and when we lose one of our own in such a devastating way it affects us all. The dangers police officers face every day are very real and sadly, as we have seen, can result in officers making the ultimate sacrifice. There will now be an investigation and therefore it would be wrong to say any more at this time or to speculate, other than to say that our hearts are with the family of our officer who has been killed and all involved in this horrific incident. Martin Hewitt, head of the National Police Chiefs Council, which coordinates forces across the country, said: This is a truly terrible incident and my thoughts and condolences go out to the officer, his family, friends and colleagues at what is a deeply distressing time. It is another tragic reminder of the risks police officers take on a daily basis to keep the public safe. Policing is a family and I join my colleagues across the country in mourning the senseless death of one of our own in the line of duty. Croydon Custody Centre, where the attack took place / Jeremy Selwyn Meanwhile police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct has said it is investigating the incident. Regional director Sal Naseem said: "Our deepest sympathies go out to all those affected by this terrible event. We were notified by the [Metropolitan Police] of the shooting incident at Croydon Custody Centre early this morning. We understand a police officer has since sadly died and a man is in a critical condition in hospital. A murder investigation by the force is under way. Our investigators are at the scene and police post incident procedure to begin our independent enquiries. The officer died at around 2.15 on Friday morning, Scotland Yard said in a statement. Officers and paramedics treated him at the scene and he was taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service. Very tragically he subsequently died at hospital," the force added. Officers at the scene / Jeremy Selwyn We are in the process of informing all of the officers family and are supporting them with specialist officers. A 23-year-old man was detained by officers at the scene. He was also taken to hospital with a gunshot wound and remains in a critical condition. No police firearms were discharged during the incident. More follows... Public relations and marketing firm Cork Tree Creative, Inc. announced the firms new fall intern, Makenzie Bellaver. Bellaver, a Hillsboro native, recently began her junior year at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville majoring in applied communication studies with a focus in public relations and marketing. She has held leadership roles in both the Marketing and Recruitment departments for her sorority, Alpha Phi, and brings extensive customer service experience from working in the retail industry for over four years. Most recently, her sorority team successfully executed the first-ever fully-virtual Formal Recruitment. She also likes to stay very active in her local church. Currently, she serves as a Youth Ministry Leader and is part of the welcome team for her campus ministry. In these positions, she mentors high school students, assists with outreach events and works to improve the guest experience for attendees. Some of Bellavers most valued experiences have been international and local mission trips, specifically those at an orphanage in Mexico. Her love for people drives her to stay involved and make a difference in her community. As an intern at Cork Tree Creative, Bellaver will be able to expand her skill set as she gains hands-on industry experience in public relations, marketing, advertising and graphic design. We are thrilled to welcome Makenzie as our fall intern at Cork Tree Creative, Laura, co-owner and chief marketing officer, said. Internships are an excellent way for students to learn how to work collaboratively in an office setting and gain valuable experience to take back to the classroom. At Cork Tree, we pride ourselves in our ability to empower our clients to achieve results. Makenzies passionate and go-getter attitude will make her an excellent addition to our experienced team. Fotis Dulos' attorney has reached a settlement of $140,000 in a legal fee dispute with his estate, but the deal is being blocked by the mother of his missing wife Jennifer Dulos. Defense attorney Norm Pattis agreed to repay $137,500 in legal fees to Dulos' estate eight months after the suspected killer committed suicide while on trial for the murder of his estranged wife Jennifer. The administrator of Dulos' estate said Pattis should reimburse the money because Dulos killed himself before the defense team went to trial. The estate and Pattis have now agreed on a sum but Jennifer's mother Gloria Farber is contesting it saying it is not enough. Jennifer disappeared in May 2019 after dropping their children off at school, in the midst of an ugly divorce and custody battle over their five children. Dulos is suspected of murdering Jennifer before disposing of evidence with the help of his then-girlfriend Michelle Troconis. Her body has never been found. Jennifer's husband tried to take his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning while on bail for her murder and died a few days later in hopital in January. Fotis Dulos' (left) attorney Norm Pattis (right) has reached a settlement of $140,000 in a legal fee dispute with his estate, but the deal is being blocked by the mother of missing mom Jennifer Dulos Under the settlement, Pattis has agreed to pay back more than half of the $250,000 retainer Dulos paid him for legal fees before he died. Dulos gave Pattis and his colleague Kevin Smith a retainer on January 16 to represent him after he was charged with Jennifer's murder and kidnapping on January 7. Farber, a trustee of Dulos' estate who has custody of her daughter's five children with the suspected killer, has opposed the deal saying the settlement is not enough. Farber's attorney Mark Dean filed a lawsuit against Pattis in August claiming he wrongfully kept the retainer months after Dulos' death and should have returned the full amount to the estate. The administrator of the estate, attorney Christopher Hug, filed to intervene in the suit and filed his own complaint on August 25. Hug's suit also said the retainer money should go to the estate, claiming Pattis and Smith broke their June 2019 agreement with Dulos by failing to reimburse any unused funds and spending some of it on things not related to his defense. Jennifer (pictured) disappeared in May 2019 Dulos is suspected of murdering Jennifer before disposing of evidence with the help of his then-girlfriend Michelle Troconis Jennifer and Fotis were embroiled in a bitter divorce and legal battle over the custody of their children (pictured with Jennifer) at the time of her disappearance Hug later negotiated with Pattis agreeing to accept $137,500 of the $250,000 sum and has asked a judge to accept the agreement despite opposition from Farber. Without Farber's support, the settlement cannot go ahead. 'At this time, the Trustee has expressed an unwillingness to support this settlement, which would prevent the settlement from fully and finally reaching fruition,' Hug wrote in a filing Tuesday in probate court in Farmington. 'The Administrator is hopeful that the Trustee and Mrs. Farber will see the prudence in this settlement and that it is in the best interests of the Estate and their own interest.' If all parties sign the agreement, the suits brought by Farber and Hug against Pattis would also be dismissed. Pattis' attorney John Williams argued against returning the full amount of the retainer, saying Pattis had already earned some of the money providing a legal service to Dulos after he was arrested three times in connection to Jennifer's disappearance. The administrator of Dulos' estate said Pattis should reimburse the money because Dulos killed himself before the defense team went to trial. The estate and Pattis have now agreed on a sum but Jennifer's mother Gloria Farber (pictured) is contesting it Dulos was first arrested in June 2019 on charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and hindering prosecution, after police found Jennifers bloodstained clothing dumped in various locations. He hired Pattis and Smith soon after to represent him in the case, paying them $50,000 at the time, according to Hug's lawsuit. Dulos then paid another lump sum of $155,000 before his second arrest on a tampering with evidence charge three months later in September. Pattis also argued he made some money fighting a gag order which he had said made it impossible for Dulos to defend himself over the highly-publicized case. 'It was an understanding from these parties from day one that a lot of the payment would be down the road,' Williams said of Pattis' agreement with Dulos over legal fees. 'It was for all of the work over the course of the entire litigation with Mr. Dulos. It took Mr. Dulos a long time to get the money together.' Probate Judge Evelyn Daly is expected to schedule a hearing to decide on the settlement. Farber, who was granted custody of the Dulos' five children after she filed a motion the same day Dulos was arrested for evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in relation to Jennifer's disappearance, was previously awarded about $2 million in a lawsuit she filed against her son-in-law for unpaid loans to his real estate development business. Dulos tried to take his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning while on bail for her murder and died a few days later in January Farmington Police along with Connecticut State Police execute a search warrant on Dulos' home in January after he didn't show up for a court appearance Dulos died three days later in a New York hospital. He maintained his innocence until the end TIMELINE OF THE FOTIS DULOS CASE 2004: Fotis Dulos and Jennifer Farber get married. It is his second marriage In the same year, her father Hilliard starts loaning him money for his property business, Fore Group. 2015: Fotis and Michelle Troconis start taking trips he paid for which he claimed were for business. They later start an affair. January 2017: Hilliard Farber dies March 2017: Gloria Farber takes over his estate June 2017: Jennifer files for divorce, saying she is afraid of her husband February 2018: Gloria Farber sues Fotis Dulos for unpaid loans May 24 2019: Jennifer vanishes after dropping off her five children at school June 2019: Fotis and Michelle Troconis are arrested for evidence tampering Gloria Farber files an order for custody of the children. House in Avon is briefly searched but not extensively. August 2019: Troconis 'turns' on Dulos in police interviews, admits she lied when she said she had an alibi for him September 2019: Fotis is arrested again for evidence tampering January 2020: Dulos and Troconis are charged with murder January 28: Dulos is found unresponsive at his Farmington home January 30: Fotis dies in hospital June 11: Police search house in Avon, CT Advertisement Her attorneys are trying to recover money through his estate, which is largely insolvent. Farber was also given possession to Dulos' home in Farmington. Jennifer vanished on May 24 2019 after the school run and driving back to her home in New Canaan, Connecticut. Police believe she is dead and that Dulos, with whom she was going through a bitter divorce battle, murdered her the day she disappeared. In arrest affidavits, police say Dulos lay in wait for her before attacking her in the garage of her home. Blood spatters were later found on the walls and in a car in the garage. They think her killer then transported her body out of the home in her own Chevy Suburban. The car was found abandoned not far from the property later that day, but there was no sign of her with police suspecting Dulos disposed of her body in New Canaan area or Farmington, where he lived. Surveillance footage shows two people who looked like Dulos and Troconis depositing garbage bags at various locations that night that. The bags were recovered and were found to contain a Vineyard Vines shirt Jennifer Farber was said to be wearing the day she vanished. Tests also found found blood containing Jennifer's DNA and Dulos' DNA, warrants said. Jennifer had said in divorce papers that she was afraid of her husband, and their children's former nanny said she once witnessed him 'chase her through the house'. Dulos and Troconis were both charged twice with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution, first in June of that year. Then, in September 2019, Dulos was arrested for murder and Troconis for conspiracy to commit murder. Dulos, however, gave interviews protesting his innocence. He said he never harmed her and, at one stage, his attorney suggested Jennifer had killed herself in a Gone Girl style plot to blame it on him. Michelle Troconis (left) is now due in court in October for a pre-trial hearing over Jennifer's disappearance. Kent Mawhinney (right), a former attorney for Dulos, has also been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and is in prison Dulos was free on a $6 million bond and was due to appear in court for a bond hearing on January 28 where his bond was going to be revoked and he would be sent back to jail. Dulos didn't show in court and, when police visited his home, they found he ha attempted to take his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning in his garage. He left a handwritten suicide note reading: 'If it takes my head to end this, so be it.' Dulos died three days later in a New York hospital. With Dulos now dead and Jennifer still missing, Troconis is now due in court in October for a pre-trial hearing over Jennifer's disappearance. She is currently free on a $2.1 million bond. Kent Mawhinney, a former attorney for Dulos, has also been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and is in prison. They both plead not guilty to the charges. Two Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) commanders were killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, police said. Photograph: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com IMAGE: Security forces in action during an encounter in Anantnag. Based on specific information about the presence of terrorists in Sirhama area of the south Kashmir district, security forces launched a cordon and search operation on Thursday evening, a police officer said. He said the search operation turned into an encounter after the terrorists fired upon the forces, who retaliated. A tight cordon was maintained throughout the night to prevent the two terrorists from escaping. They were killed in the exchange of fire on Friday morning, the officer said. Incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition, were recovered from the encounter site, he said. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said the two terrorists were Lashkar commanders. "One of the terrorists has been identified as Abu Rehan from Pakistan, who was active since March 2019. "The second one has been identified as Adil Rashid Bhat, who was also a Lashkar commander," he said. "Bhat was involved in an attack on two policemen at Nowgam on August 14," the IGP said, adding that he had decamped with an INSAS rifle which was recovered from the encounter site. The killing of the two terrorists is a huge success for the forces, he said. Kumar said LeT terrorists were also behind the killing of Bhupinder Singh, Block Development Council chairman, Khag, in central Kashmir's Budgam district. Singh was shot dead by terrorists on Wednesday evening. After touring his area, Singh dropped his two personal security officers (PSOs) at Khag police station and left for his home, the IGP said. "He then went to his village, about 10 to 12 kilometres from there, in his private car without informing the police. We have suspended the two PSOs," he said. "Investigations are on and two suspects have been called. SP Budgam is himself investigating the matter. "Perhaps the terrorists had known that he was coming home. We have taken all the details and will solve this case soon," Kumar said. Prima facie, from his call and location details, names of two Lashkar terrorists have come up -- LeT commander Yousuf Kandroo and Abrar from Narbal, he said. On the killing of an assistant sub-inspector of the Central Reserve Police Force in Wadipora, Budgam, Kumar said the attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) as M-4 cartridges were found at the spot. "M-4 is usually used by JeM terrorists," he said. Responding to a question, Kumar said 170 to 200 terrorists are active in Kashmir. On the alleged custodial death of a man, Irfan Ahmad Dar, in Sopore area of Baramulla last week, the IGP said the matter is being investigated even as a magisterial inquiry is on. He said two policemen have been suspended because Dar had fled from their custody. Protests erupted in north Kashmir's Sopore town after Dar (23) allegedly died in police custody on Tuesday. While the police claim Dar was an overground worker and his body was found after he escaped from custody, his family claims it was a 'murder in custody'. Asked about the recent spike in terrorists attacks, Kumar said Pakistan is trying to create a 'fear psychosis' by asking terrorists to carry out killings of innocent people. For the last few months, especially since March, Pakistan has been instigating a lot through digital media and sending arms and ammunition through drones or manually, he said. "We should not be worried about such incidents," the IGP said. When there is some action by militants, there is a proactive action from the side of security forces as well, he said. On the hit list released by The Resistance Front (TRF), a new militant outfit, comprising names of police officers, activists and others, Kumar said the police will conduct a security review of those named in it. "The TRF is not a real organisation, but a virtual one. It is an offshoot of the LeT. The police will undertake a security review of all the people mentioned in the list prepared by the TRF," he said. Even when the pandemic ends, New Yorkers will not have to give up dining by the curb. As many of New York Citys 25,000 restaurants and bars fight to survive, Mayor Bill de Blasio extended a lifeline to them on Friday by making a popular outdoor dining program permanent. In a crowded city where space on the streets and sidewalks is at a premium, the decision underscores how the pandemic has rapidly upended urban life. The Open Restaurants program has allowed more than 10,300 restaurants citywide to offer outdoor dining by setting up tables on sidewalks, in streets and in other public spaces. The outdoor dining program, introduced in June, had been scheduled to end on Oct. 31. Open Restaurants was a big, bold experiment in supporting a vital industry and reimagining our public space and it worked, Mr. de Blasio said. As we begin a long-term recovery, were proud to extend and expand this effort to keep New York City the most vibrant city in the world. Its time for a new tradition. WASHINGTON Many Republicans have hailed Amy Coney Barrett, President Trumps apparent nominee to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as a dream candidate: a relatively young woman of impeccable conservative credentials. The federal circuit court judge believes that life begins at conception. She is a critic of the Affordable Care Act, the Obama-era health care law that Trump wants badly to dismantle. She has upheld restrictive immigration statutes while protecting corporations from lawsuits. But she has also been consistently against injecting politics into the business of judging, presenting a potential problem for those who see the Supreme Court as a means of achieving ends not possible through legislation. Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals is a law professor at Notre Dame University. (Matt Cashore/Notre Dame University/Handout via Reuters) I would have had no interest in the job if the job was about policymaking and about making policy decisions, she said last year in an address at conservative Hillsdale College. If we reduce the courts to mere politics, then why do we need them? We already have politicians, Barrett added a little later. Courts are not arenas for politics. If she is indeed nominated as multiple news outlets reported Friday night she would be, and if that conviction expressed long before she became a Supreme Court favorite holds, Barretts tenure could lead to a profound disenchantment. Progressives are not so sure about Barretts aversion to politics. Candidates dont get on the Trump shortlist without having passed all the litmus tests, which boil down to I will rule for the Republican Party, a staffer for a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee told Yahoo News. Barrett was recommended to Trump by the Federalist Society, a conservative judicial activist organization. Her backers include the Susan B. Anthony List, which fervently opposes abortion rights. Yet lifetime tenure comes with immunity to political pressure. That, and the enormous import of each case heard by the Supreme Court, can uncouple judges from the very political forces that helped install them on the high court. Story continues The right has recently fallen out of love with Chief Justice John Roberts, whom George W. Bush nominated to the Supreme Court in 2005. Chief Justice John Roberts at a private ceremony for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. (Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images) Writing in the New York Times shortly after the nomination, legal scholar Jeffrey Rosen described how Republicans hoped Roberts would use his intelligence and charm on behalf of his deeply conservative views to move the court far to the right. It didnt turn out that way. On abortion, immigration and health care, he has issued opinions that handed victories to the courts liberals. Each time he has done so, the howls from the right have grown louder, despite the fact that he has sided with conservatives in major cases on voting rights and campaign finance. Chief Justice John Roberts has been a disappointment to conservatives, Vice President Mike Pence said in August. There is no way to know whether Barrett would be a similar disappointment. Trump said he will announce his selection on Saturday afternoon, but past is rarely prologue for the Supreme Court, whose uncommon pressures can reshape seemingly solid convictions. Much as progressives may loathe Brett Kavanaugh, who won a seat to the high court in 2018 despite testimony accusing him of sexual assault, some now see him as a backfield tackle keeping an emboldened conservative bloc at bay. This much is clear: Barrett plainly believes that judging is a sacrosanct business upon which the unseemly reality of politics should never intrude. It is a belief she held long before she appeared on President Trumps list of potential Supreme Court nominees. And she has maintained that belief even after being one of the finalists for the nomination that eventually went to Kavanaugh. (Trump was especially impressed by Kavanaughs pedigree, which includes degrees from both Yale University and Yale Law School. Barrett earned her law degree from Notre Dame; people familiar with the matter say her interview with Trump in 2018 was a disastrous affair, with the president apparently unconvinced that she looked the part. That has been an important criterion in his nominations to top government posts.) I conceive of justices as being driven by first-order commitments to constitutional methods rather than solely by partisan political preference, she wrote in a 2013 article for the Texas Law Review. Later in the same article, she wrote that partisan politics are not a good reason for overturning precedent. But neither are they a good reason for deciding a case of first impression. The word precedent is especially loaded when it comes to abortion. Precedent, on that issue, is Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania, both of which outlined conditions under which an abortion could be performed. Republicans judicial nominees worried that they will be depicted as abortion foes often make overtures about respecting precedent. They usually do so when pressed in a congressional hearing room, not in their own academic writings. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in 2014. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Barrett clerked for two conservative legal icons: Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, often known as the second-most-important court in the country. The careers of both men are marked by an adherence to conservative principle but not necessarily to conservative politics. (Scalia died in 2016; Silberman is now a senior judge on the D.C. circuit court.) Barrett has written and spoken admiringly of Scalias conservatism on many occasions. Paradoxically, that could prove a problem to conservatives, since that conservatism was rooted in a philosophical understanding of the law, not a desire to achieve the policy goals of political conservatives. David M. Dorsen, the author of a book on Scalias liberal undercurrents, wrote in the Washington Post in 2017 that Scalia was personally a committed conservative and originalist, much as Barrett is. Yet Scalias commitment to his jurisprudence led him to write many important liberal opinions, although they are less well-known than his conservative decisions, with their often provocative language. An attorney who was formerly a senior staffer in the West Wing argued that it was liberals, not conservatives, who sought to import questions of politics into the task of judging. He said Barrett has displayed a commitment to a conservative jurisprudential approach. Some of the presidents supporters have pushed him to instead select Barbara Lagoa, a conservative judge on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But others on the right worry that Lagoa has not shown a sufficient commitment to overturning Roe. Barrett has not issued major abortion-related opinions in her brief time as a circuit court judge. But she has said that Roe is unlikely to be overturned, while at the same time allowing that greater state-level restrictions are possible. The question is how any personal beliefs she has would translate into a judicial philosophy, as some hope and others fear. More than most other judges, Barrett has thought deeply about the intersection of belief and jurisprudence. In 1998, she co-authored a Marquette Law Review article titled Catholic Judges in Capital Cases, in which she discussed how Catholic judges could square the opposition of the church to the death penalty with their duty to rule fairly in a death penalty case. She noted that Jewish and Quaker jurists could have the same objections. In a complex argument that touched on Catholic doctrine, legal history and moral philosophy, Barrett concluded that judges cannot nor should they try to align our legal system with the Churchs moral teachings whenever the two diverge. The complicated and sometimes contradictory ways in which political realities, judicial arguments and personal beliefs overlap have continued to consume Barrett in recent years. In 2016, for example, she presented a complex argument in the Penn Law Review that drew a distinction between the courts, which may well decide to leave precedent alone, and Congress, whose political actors can take legislative action whenever they sense the will of the people pressuring them to do so. The courts are immune to such pressure, she suggested. President Barack Obama nominates Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in March 2016. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) That same year, she spoke at a symposium at Jacksonville University. The presidential election was then a week away. There was an empty seat on the Supreme Court, that of her mentor Scalia, who had died unexpectedly earlier that year. President Barack Obama had tried to nominate Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the D.C. circuit court a colleague of Silberman, for whom Barrett clerked to that seat, but congressional Republicans prevented him from doing so. (Speaking shortly after Scalias death, Barrett argued on CBS News that it would be improper to have his seat go to a left-leaning Obama nominee. Now, of course, Barrett herself stands to take the seat of the consistently liberal Ginsburg.) Barrett was asked to comment on the ideological requirements for a potential justice that both Trump and Hillary Clinton had outlined. Such requirements are whats wrong with our nomination process, Barrett answered, criticizing politicians who she said were eager to appoint judges who would accomplish their policy objectives, whether on abortion or racial matters. The candidates are talking to the bases and talking to the electorate and saying, Signal: Im going to put people on the court who share your policy preferences. That, Barrett said, is not the right qualification for a justice. We shouldnt be putting people on the court that share our policy preferences. We should be putting people on the court who want to apply the Constitution. For progressives, an originalist or textualist approach to the Constitution espoused by Barrett would accomplish precisely the same conservative policy goals she says have no business in the courtroom. Trump and others have a belief that they will deliver for them, said Lena Zwarensteyn, who directs judicial campaigns at the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights. If theyre on that list, its because of that. That is what theyre being put there to do. Barretts supporters insist that is not the case, denying that she is merely espousing the careful arguments every judge has learned to deploy since the failed nomination of Robert Bork. President Ronald Reagan at a press conference in 1987 with his Supreme Court Justice nominee Robert Bork. (Diana Walker/The Life Images Collection via Getty Images) Any of President Trumps three Supreme Court finalists have a proven track record of following the law, without fear or favor, said conservative activist Mike Davis of the Article III Project, which works to confirm conservatives to federal judgeships. The other two finalists are Lagoa, a Florida judge of Cuban heritage, and Joan Larsen, a former University of Michigan legal scholar who now sits on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Barrett has continued to voice her no-room-for-politics stance even after coming close to being nominated in 2018. The law simply does not align with a judges political preference, or personal preference, in every case, she said last year at Hillsdale, in remarks she likely knew would be scrutinized were she to be eventually nominated to the Supreme Court. And so it will be the case that judges have to make hard decisions, and that they have to decide cases in ways that yield outcomes that are not the outcomes they would prefer. Progressives were steadfastly unimpressed by Barretts assurances of intellectual independence. If I had a nickel for every Republican nominee who made a similar promise and then went on to overturn precedent, says Alliance for Justice founder Nan Aron, Id be one rich lady. Cover thumbnail photo: Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Reuters, Getty Images _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 17:43:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chinese engineer Zhang Yuxian (L) works with an Iraqi colleague at Wassit Thermal Power Plant in Wassit province, Iraq, on Sept. 16, 2020. (Xinhua) BAGHDAD, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Situated on the bank of the Tigris in southern Iraq's Wassit province, a Chinese-built power plant has stabilized Iraq's electricity supply amid the extreme heat of summer and continued crises of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wassit Thermal Power Plant, constructed and operated by Shanghai Electric Group, is the largest thermal power plant in Iraq. It has become the backbone of the power supply to Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, securing approximately 20 percent of Iraq's national power grid. The country was gripped by summer heat with mounting pressure on the power supply. Meanwhile, Iraq witnessed the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Arabic world due to easing of restrictions and noncompliance with prevention measures. "The highest temperature at the power plant reached 53 Celsius degrees," Lu Guoqing, a 57-year-old senior engineer at the plant, told Xinhua. "We are challenged by the pandemic and high temperatures, but we have successfully completed our task." Lu has worked at the site for 14 consecutive months. As of Sept. 15, the power plant has produced 10.06 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity this year to play an important role in the reopening of Iraq's economy, according to Lu. Meanwhile, China helps provide more than electricity at the plant. "The number of Iraqi staff from the Ministry of Electricity was greatly reduced during lockdowns," Lu said. "When Iraqi staff faced shortages of masks, the Chinese side donated 100,000 masks to them." Zhan Yuxian, a 33-year-old engineer from Chinese city of Wuhan, has been working at the plant site since 2012. "The COVID-19 pandemic teaches us how to stick to our duties in a tough situation," Zhan said. Currently, 310 Chinese personnels work at the project site. Most have been unable to visit their families in China for more than a year. Many Iraqis who work with the Shanghai Electric Group have praised the company and its personnel for their efforts in providing electric power, job opportunities, and support to Iraq. "I hope the Iraqi government could reach an agreement with China to build more power plants in Iraq," said Omer Hammoud, an Iraqi employee of Shanghai Electric. "The project is huge and successful, and such projects can solve the problem of power shortages in Iraq." Another engineer Amir Jasim said the Chinese company is applying strict COVID-19 preventive measures at the plant's site, including social distancing, sterilization, and adherence to health instructions. "The company is doing a wonderful job working on providing electricity in Iraq despite difficult circumstances," Jasim added. "I hope that Shanghai Electric will implement more electric power projects in Iraq." Enditem With global cases of COVID-19 topping 32 million this week and the disease having so far claimed more than 984,000 lives, the urgency of producing a vaccine has never been clearer. Yet in the United States, where vaccine skepticism has long been brewing, the Trump administrations rush to secure an effective vaccine, dubbed Operation Warp Speed, has added to doubts about whether the eventual remedy will be safe. According to the Pew Research Center, 51 percent of Americans now say they would definitely or probably get a coronavirus vaccine a significant drop from only four months ago, when 72 percent of Americans said they intended to be vaccinated for COVID-19. Three-quarters of Americans cited concerns about the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine and said the approval process for it was moving too fast. Depending on how contagious a disease is, between 50 and 90 percent of a population generally needs immunity in order to achieve herd immunity to a virus, according to Johns Hopkins University. But natural herd immunity acquiring immunity by naturally contracting the disease and recovering from it is considered a risky and potentially dangerous approach that could result in another 1 million American deaths from COVID-19. As a result, many public health experts are attempting to encourage public confidence in a vaccine as the solution to returning to normal life. One economist at the Brookings Institution even suggests paying people to get a vaccine. Yahoo News medical contributor Dr. Dara Kass and others emphasize that data transparency from the vaccine trials could help Americans feel more confident in a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. What happens if tomorrow somebody announces that theres a safe and effective vaccine and you should take it? What do you do? Well, first and foremost, you need to look and say, is there any data to back that up? Are the phase III trials completed? Kass advised. Story continues In order to have good public confidence that the vaccine recommended by the FDA, the one thats approved, is safe and effective, the best process is for the company that makes the vaccine to publish their phase III clinical trials for that to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, for that data to be interpreted by scientists and vaccine specialists, and for us to listen to what they say and communicate it to you, Kass said. A lab technician sorts blood samples for a COVID-19 vaccine study at the Research Centers of America in Hollywood, Fla., on Aug. 13. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images) Much of the coronavirus vaccine hesitation in the U.S. has stemmed from the perceived politicization of the process by President Trump, who has repeatedly contradicted experts by promising a vaccine before Election Day. In reality, most experts say the best-case scenario would be a vaccine in limited supply by the end of this year or early 2021, with most Americans having access to a vaccine by mid- to late 2021. Still, Trumps insistence that a vaccine could be available earlier has fueled speculation and fear that he could attempt to force a vaccine approval before its ready. According to a recent ABC News poll, 69 percent of Americans dont have confidence in Trump vouching for a vaccine. Kass says Americans shouldnt be looking to any politicians for vaccine assurance. A pretty reliable rule of thumb is that vaccine confidence and safety should be communicated by scientists and doctors, not by politicians and elected leaders, she said, stressing that a coronavirus vaccine shouldnt be correlated to an election timeline. But when public trust in the scientists and doctors is also called into question, that further deepens vaccine skepticism. Saying vaccine hesitancy is just about safety understates the issue, said Julia Wu, a research scientist in the department of epidemiology at Harvards T.H. Chan School of Public Health who recently co-authored an essay on vaccine confidence during COVID-19. I believe that public trust is a key factor in vaccine confidence. If people dont have trust in health authorities, it doesnt matter how safe and effective a vaccine is. They are less likely to accept it, she continued. Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Wednesday. (Graeme Jennings Pool/Getty Images) Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert on the presidents coronavirus task force, is keenly aware of the skepticism over a COVID-19 vaccine, calling public concerns that a vaccine will be carelessly rushed through completion the elephant in the room during a Facebook Live conversation on Thursday. Fauci sought to assure Americans that those responsible for assessing the vaccine trial data have no political affiliations, and that the data from an approved vaccine will then be available for public review. People are always saying, How do I know its safe, and how do I know its effective? Theres a lot of confusion because there are mixed messages that are coming, Fauci said. So here is the message that people need to appreciate. With every vaccine trial, theres a thing called a data and safety monitoring board, which is an independent group of scientists, vaccinologists, ethicists and statisticians. ... That group is not beholden to the company [that produced the vaccine], not beholden to the FDA, not beholden to the president and not beholden to me. Theyre independent. One of the problems is that there already is a reluctance in this country to get vaccinated, Fauci continued. So weve got to build the trust and outreach to the community that what were doing is completely transparent so that they believe us when we say this is safe, this is effective. For some, trust in public health agencies and their coronavirus response has already been eroding, thanks to a series of back-and-forth guidance changes. In June, the FDA revoked emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine a drug frequently touted by the president as a coronavirus therapy citing the drugs known and potential risks. Last Friday, the CDC added guidance on airborne transmission to its coronavirus webpage, only to abruptly remove the guidance on Monday and revert to its previous recommendations, with a federal official telling CNN, It was posted by mistake. It wasnt ready to be posted. We need to realize that every time one of these recommendations gets put forward and then taken back, we see that it undermines public confidence not just in that process but in every decision made afterwards, Kass observed. Of course, some degree of stop-and-go is normal and to be expected in vaccine trials and research and is actually a sign that the process is working effectively. Last week, Oxford University announced that a promising vaccine its developing with AstraZeneca would resume vaccine trials after it paused the study in response to a reported possible side effect in a U.K. patient. Experts say the halted study is science at work, and would hopefully inspire more confidence in the safety and prudence of the vaccine process and perhaps eventually a finished vaccine product. This pause shows we will always put safety first, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said of the resuming trials. Yet even before the coronavirus pandemic shed light on the vaccine approval process, there was already a general wariness of vaccines in the U.S. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, over 30 percent of parents delay one or more recommended childhood vaccines, and less than 45 percent of adults get the recommended seasonal flu vaccine. Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, holds up a model of the coronavirus during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing in July on the plan to develop a coronavirus vaccine. (Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images) This has been an issue for our country not just in this season of COVID-19, but before that, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins said of vaccine hesitancy at a Senate Health Committee hearing on Sept. 9. One has seen the consequences of that with measles. In the year 2000, we declared that the U.S. succeeded effectively in getting rid of measles, and last year we had more than 1,000 cases. And suspicion of vaccines isnt just an American phenomenon. Last year, the World Health Organization listed vaccine hesitancy among the top 10 significant global health threats the world could expect in 2019. A study published this month, which mapped vaccine confidence across 149 countries between 2015 and 2019, found that it remained low across Europe compared with other continents, despite some signs that confidence was increasing. Heidi Larson leads the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is one of the authors of the study. She said that while anti-vaxxers are one extreme in the battle for public vaccine confidence, she is more worried about the 80% or so who are in the middle and increasingly sceptical and doubtful about vaccines, partly fuelled by digital technology and excessive information at their fingertips. Larson told the Guardian that in order to boost public confidence in a COVID-19 vaccine, more empathy is needed from doctors and scientists as vaccine research continues. Keeping people in the loop is important, she said. From a confidence perspective, I think we have not done, as a scientific community, a very good job of explaining why things are moving faster. A protester at a Trump rally to reopen California amid the coronavirus pandemic on May 16. (David McNew/Getty Images) The anticipated arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine (albeit in limited amounts) by the end of this year or early 2021 is indeed years ahead of any other vaccine development timelines. But public health experts say this expedited timeline is not a reason for concern; its the result of a concerted effort to reach a single goal. In the U.S., Operation Warp Speed a partnership announced on May 15 between the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense and the private sector has been implemented to accelerate the development and eventual distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine on a level that is unprecedented. Some people are looking at this process, at the timeline, and thats making them hesitant. How could a vaccine that is generated this quickly possibly be safe or effective? And the truth is, the investment of resources, both by the federal government and private industry, are allowing us to move faster than ever before, Kass said. We have never had such a large investment in multiple vaccines for a single virus at one time in this country. So although the process does seem very fast warp speed, if you will thats not a reason not to trust it. Its just a reason to say wed like to see the data when its ready. Trumps timeline for a COVID-19 vaccine also has some high-profile skeptics, with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden saying last week, I trust vaccines. I trust scientists. But I dont trust Donald Trump. And at this point, the American people cant, either. Bidens running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, likewise said she would not trust Donald Trump on vaccine safety, prompting Trump to accuse his opponents of anti-vaccine rhetoric. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention, which was held virtually amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images) But Kass believes theres an important difference between being anti-vaccine, questioning the validity of any vaccine, versus healthy skepticism of a process thats moving with unprecedented speed. The best way to know if youre getting misinformation or disinformation, or just listening to somebody that is appropriately skeptical of a process that seems to be going very, very quickly, is to look at the other things that they have said, Kass said. Are they a trusted voice in this space? Are they someone that otherwise encourages you to wear a mask and stay distanced and follow the science? Or are they somebody thats telling you a vaccine is never going to work and you shouldnt wear a mask and this is all a hoax? But while healthy skepticism can be productive, Kass said that ultimately confidence in a vaccine needs to come from trusting and listening to experts. Its not the time for everyone in the world to become a vaccine specialist or to try to interpret intermittent data themselves before the trials are completed, she said. The idea that regular people ... are trying to interpret vaccine data, trial data, or even understand how a vaccine is generated, is kind of like figuring out how the sausage is made rather than just going to the store and buying it after its done, Kass added. Remember that when the vaccine finishes its trials and the science is published, there are people that are qualified, people that are experts in whether or not a vaccine is safe and effective, and they will tell us when this is ready. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Statement by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan at the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly: "Honorable General Assembly President, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, This year we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the United Nations, which was born out of the ashes of the Second World War. We remember the sacrifice of our grandparents, their tribulations for peace and the future of humankind. Today, the first time ever the UN General Assembly is being held in a virtual format. No matter how uncomfortable and undesirable it is, the meeting in this format proves the determination of humankind to continue cooperation; it shows our dedication and commitment to the UN and multilateral cooperation. Indeed, the pandemic has an unprecedented impact on all aspects of human life. Addressing global challenges requires recommitment of all states to effective multilateralism and international cooperation with the central role of the United Nations. We appreciate the primary role of the UN, in particular the World Health Organization and the UNDP, in the global response to Covid-19. We are grateful to all our partner countries who supported Armenia and on our part, we extended our share of help to our friends. This collective effort is an important manifestation of international solidarity. In the spirit of our collective pledge to leave no one behind, we share the conviction that equitable access to all essential health technologies and products to combat the virus is a global priority, and no one, including those living in conflict areas, should be denied or be limited in access to remedies to mitigate the impact of Covid-19. Likewise, vaccines against COVID-19 are a global public good and should be accessible and affordable to all peoples without any discrimination. I want to once again stress Armenia's unequivocal support to the Secretary-Generals appeal for a global ceasefire and UN Security Council Resolution 2532 on COVID-19, demanding general and immediate cessation of hostilities in all situations. Ladies and gentlemen, While global efforts were directed at coping with Covid-19, we have been witnessing deplorable attempts to destabilize peace and security in our region. This July Azerbaijan ventured yet another act of aggression. The armed forces of Azerbaijan initiated a military offensive in the borderline Tavush region of Armenia. As Armenia had called for an immediate de-escalation and agreed to end hostilities of hours after their outbreak, Azerbaijan continued targeting civilian population and infrastructure, and attacking Armenias borderline areas by employing artillery, heavy weaponry, UAVs, and large infantry units. Moreover, the Azerbaijani authorities had also escalated their war threats, which crossed all the imaginable boundaries of a civilized world. Azerbaijans Ministry of Defense even threatened to launch a missile strike at the Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia, which is tantamount to a threat of nuclear terrorism. The July battles shattered the myth of Azerbaijans military superiority and validated the obvious that there is no military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is long overdue for the Azerbaijani leadership to acknowledge this fact and renounce the use of force and threat of force in the context of the conflict resolution. Armenia reaffirms its commitment to the exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The right of self-determination of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh is a basis of the peace process, which is recognized by the international community and the international mediators, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, in particular. By virtue of this right, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh should be able to determine their status without limitation. To this end their elected authorities should be able to take part in the negotiations. The aspirations and needs of people living in the conflict zone should become the priority of the negotiation agenda. Ensuring comprehensive security of the people of Artsakh who have been exposed to existential physical security threats is another key priority for Armenia. Freedom, democracy and respect for basic human rights are integral requisites of an environment conducive to achieving a lasting and comprehensive settlement of the conflict. Only legitimately elected governments can genuinely express the interests of their people and move towards a compromise. The authorities of Azerbaijan have been consistently using the conflict for legitimizing their long grip on power. For decades, Armenia and the Armenians have been useful enemies for the leadership of Azerbaijan to justify low living standards, the absence of democracy and systematic violations of human rights in their country. The ceasefire must be strengthened by concrete actions on the ground. Renouncing bellicose rhetoric and hate speech, expanding OSCE monitors on the line of contact and the borders, establishing an investigative mechanism into ceasefire violations and setting up direct communication lines between commanders on the ground are essential in this regard. Ladies and gentlemen, During the July escalation, calls from the international community were mostly about the respect of the ceasefire, dialogue and restraint. Turkey, however, much in line with its destabilizing policies of power projection in its other neighboring regions, including the East Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East, spared no effort to fuel tensions in the South Caucasus, as well. With its unilateral support to Azerbaijan and the expansion of military presence there, Turkey undermines efforts to peace and stability in the region, as well as the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to this end. Turkey directly threatens Armenia and puts on show aggressive military posturing by way of provocative joint military drills with Azerbaijan in close vicinity of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey builds its policies in our region on traditions of kinship, on exploiting conflicts, on the justification of the Armenian Genocide and on the impunity for that crime. Turkey poses a security threat to Armenia and the region. In this context, Armenia will continue to actively engage in regional and international efforts to maintain peace and security through dialogue and cooperation. Excellencies, Despite the challenges we have been facing this year, Armenia continues its engagement with international operations of preserving international peace and security. Armenian peacekeepers serving in Lebanon, Mali, Kosovo, and Afghanistan have contributed to the security and stability there. We are ready to expand our participation in peacekeeping operations under the auspices of the UN. Ladies and gentlemen, Armenia prioritizes the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. On July 10, 2020, Armenia presented its Second Voluntary National Review (VNR) of the Sustainable Development Goals. The theme of this years High-Level Political forum - Accelerated action and transformative pathways - perfectly reflects Armenias national priorities and policies of the past two years since the non-violent Velvet Revolution in 2018. Powered with the strong popular mandate, our Government is very determined to advance ambitious reforms, aimed at building a competitive and inclusive democratic society with strong institutions. The reform agenda embraces every area of public life and puts a strong emphasis on human rights, the rule of law, combating corruption, independent judiciary and improved public administration. We pursue large-scale economic and social development and rely on technological, environmental and educational high standards. This week our Government launched the Armenia Transformation Strategy 2050 with 16 mega goals, based on a bold vision for modernity and progress. Ladies and gentlemen, On the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, we are compelled to recognize the many existing challenges to human dignity and human rights. As a member of the Human Rights Council, Armenia will continue to strongly contribute to international cooperation for the protection and promotion of all human rights. Both in its domestic policies and the foreign policy agenda, Armenia underlines the important priority of promoting equal rights and active participation of women and youth in political and public life. The protection of womens rights in conflict zones and their participation in all stages of conflict resolution are critical. Practical implementation of the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 is amongst the important priorities of our Government. Prevention of genocides has been an unwavering priority of Armenia. As a nation to have endured its horrors, we have a moral responsibility before humanity to preserve the memory of the victims of genocides and to contribute to the efforts of the international community to prevent the recurrence of horrendous crimes. We appreciate the strong international support expressed also in the Human Rights Council to Armenias efforts to advance an effective international prevention agenda. Armenia promotes platforms for inclusive dialogue among governments, parliaments, international organizations, academia and civil society on the genocide prevention agenda. The Global Forum against the Crime of Genocide Held in Armenia, has become one such regular platform for dialogue. Excellencies, The 75th anniversary of the United Nations is a fitting occasion to reaffirm the strength of its three interconnected pillars of peace, development and human rights. The ongoing conflicts, persistence of radicalism and intolerance, transnational and global challenges continuously reveal our collective vulnerabilities and interdependence. As ever, we need effective multilateralism and therefore a strong and reformed United Nations for a better future, peace and security for generations to come. Thank you." Artist Vincent Namatjira has won this year's Archibald Prize with a portrait of himself and Adam Goodes titled Stand Strong for Who You Are. Namatjira is the first Indigenous artist to win in the prize's almost 100-year history. "It only took 99 years," he said in an acceptance speech livestreamed from his home in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands of South Australia where he had been caught by border shutdowns. Archibald Prize winner Vincent Namatjira's portrait of Adam Goodes and himself. Credit:Mim Stirling Namatjira had long admired Goodes, but the pair met only in 2018 when Goodes visited a school in Indulkana where Namatjira lives. They reconnected after Namatjira watched the 2019 documentary The Final Quarter, which followed the circumstances of Goodes' retirement from AFL. Remarks (via videoconference) by Mr John C Williams , President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the Economic Inequality Policy Forum: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Communities of Color and Policy Insights for an Equitable Economic Recovery, 24 September 2020. Hello everyone, and welcome to the New York Fed's third Economic Inequality Policy Forum. It's a pleasure to speak with all of you who are joining us for this conversation. For me, today's event is about sharing research and hearing your recommendations, so I'm going to keep my opening remarks brief. Before I continue, let me give the disclaimer that the views I express are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Open Market Committee or anyone else in the Federal Reserve System. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we've seen severe economic pain, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and enormous uncertainty about the future. The health and economic effects of COVID-19 have created tremendous hardship for many Americans across the country, but they have been especially painful for communities of color. We know that people of color and Black people in particular have experienced higher rates of illness and death. Significant representation in essential services work and insufficient access to healthcare are key factors that have contributed to these outcomes. The pandemic's convergence with a moment of reckoning for the United States around racial justice makes conversations on issues like equitable growth even more important and relevant. When I think about equitable growth, I think about an economy where everyone can realize their full economic potential. While today's conversation is about equitable recovery, everyone here is aware that an equitable economy did not exist before the pandemic. Another important dimension of equitable growth is equal access. And the pandemic exposed just how dramatic the fault lines in racial disparities are, for access to things like healthcare, credit, and housing. Recent research by the New York Fed revealed that Black-owned businesses are almost twice as likely to shutter during COVID-19 as white-owned firms. Black-owned businesses are also more likely to be located in coronavirus hot spots. I'm hearing about how these statistics are playing out for families through regular conversations with community leaders like many of you in our district and beyond. Far too many are facing unemployment, losing access to their healthcare, and dealing with the threat of eviction. Structural inequality stifles growth, but there is no single silver bullet that can solve the problems laid bare by the pandemic. As we look ahead to a full recovery from the downturn, we need to set a stronger foundation. We need more investment in health, in education-especially in the earliest years-in infrastructure, and in training and skills for well-paying jobs. There is so much work that needs to be done to make sure that we are fostering an equitable recovery and ensuring that everyone is able to fulfill their economic potential. That's why at the New York Fed and across the Federal Reserve System, a key area of focus is to better understand what contributes to economic inequities and to finding solutions. Our economic research and analysis, which my colleagues will share shortly, highlights many of these stark disparities. In addition, hosting conversations like this one creates dialogue around these issues and builds connections between those working for change. Another important role the Federal Reserve plays in promoting economic equity and access is supervising banks with respect to the Community Reinvestment Act. This law requires banks to lend, invest, and offer services to low- and moderate-income communities in areas where the banks operate. To emphasize all of our work in this space, the New York Fed recently published a statement reinforcing our commitment to fostering a more equitable economy and society: The New York Fed stands in unity with all those who oppose racism, hate, and violence. We join them in a shared desire to root out the intolerable inequities and injustice grounded in systemic racism that persist in our society. We are firm in the belief that economic equality is a critical component for social justice and that we will never have the truly inclusive and strong economy we seek until access to health, education, safety, and justice knows no racial or other boundaries. We are dedicated to understanding and finding solutions to the numerous forms of inequality that communities of color experience and working with communities in our District to address deep-seated inequities. We are steadfast in our commitment to work for a more equitable economy and society for all, and will redouble our efforts in pursuit of this essential mission. The pandemic painfully demonstrates the need for us to redouble our efforts in working with stakeholders from the community, business, nonprofits, and governments to build a stronger, more equitable foundation for our economy's future. This makes conversations like the ones we are having today so important for us to listen to and learn from. Our shared commitment to an equitable recovery is needed now more than ever. At HUAWEI CONNECT 2020, Huawei announced the Intelligent Twins, which is the first time a systematic reference architecture is proposed for the intelligent upgrade of governments and enterprises. Customers and partners of Huawei can build their own intelligent solutions based on the Intelligent Twins to enable intelligent transformation across industries for all-scenario intelligence. Intelligent Twins leverage cloud as the foundation and AI as the core. With collaboration across the cloud, network, edge, and device, Intelligent Twins enable an intelligent, open system that is capable of all-dimensional perception, all-domain collaboration, precise judgment, and continuous evolution, delivering a smart experience for people, cities, and enterprises in all scenarios. At this event, Shenzhen and Huawei announced Shenzhen Intelligent Twins. The project aims to build an integrated deep learning system for citywide coordination, enabling a smart city that is perceptive, conscious, evolvable, and familiar. This will turbocharge the intelligent transformation of Shenzhen to new levels. The event was also attended by China University of Petroleum and China FAW Group, with their success cases of Intelligent Twins for the oil and gas industry and manufacturing. Industries need to overcome multiple challenges before going digital and intelligent. The challenges include disparate terminals, diversified connection requirements, coexistence of old and new IT applications, and AI talent shortage. Combining industry applications with technologies such as connectivity, cloud, AI, and computing helps industries tackle these challenges. This idea is echoed by Hou Jinlong, President of Cloud & AI BG, Huawei. In his keynote speech Intelligent Twins: Building an Intelligent World Together, Hou said, Industries are upgrading from go cloud to go intelligent. AI innovation is no longer confined to one single scenario, and bringing intelligence to all scenarios is an irreversible trend. Hou continued, The Intelligent Twins are an integrated system with synergy across five tech domains, integrating the cloud, network, edge, and device. It is perceptive, conscious, actionable, and evolvable. Building on the Intelligent Twins, Huawei will work with partners to accelerate the intelligent upgrade of governments and enterprises, expand the industry market, advance the software and service industries, and unlock the blue ocean of the edge computing industry. A four-layer architecture for intelligent interaction, connection, hub, and applications The Intelligent Twins provide a reference architecture that consists of four layers, including intelligent interaction, connection, hub, and applications. All of these form an intelligent system capable of collaboration across the cloud, network, edge, and device. Intelligent interaction: Figuratively speaking, this layer is like the outstretched arms of Intelligent Twins. It connects the physical and digital worlds, allowing software, data, and AI algorithms to flow freely across the cloud, edge, and device. The intelligent interaction layer uses the Intelligent EdgeFabric (IEF), an operating system across the edge and cloud, to make the Intelligent Twins perceptive and actionable. IEF can interconnect with various operating systems, such as HarmonyOS, so that the HarmonyOS ecosystem can be easily connected to HUAWEI CLOUD. Intelligent connection: This layer is the trunk of Intelligent Twins, connecting the intelligent hub and intelligent interaction layers. It helps the Intelligent Twins cover all scenarios, connect all things, and achieve the collaboration of applications, data, and organizations. Intelligent hub: This layer is the brain and decision-making system of the Intelligent Twins. It is built on cloud infrastructure to enable applications, data, and inclusive AI, and support smart applications for all scenarios. The intelligent hub layer is empowered by hybrid cloud, the best foundation for intelligent upgrade, and AI technologies that catalyze innovation across main business processes with industry know-how. Intelligent applications: This layer is the best showcase of the value of the Intelligent Twins. Huawei innovates together with customers and partners to combine ICT technologies with industry expertise, reconstruct user experience, optimize processes, and enable innovation. Three keys to the Intelligent Twins: Hybrid cloud base, AI enablement, and open ecosystem Hou Jinlong also shared Huaweis approach to building Intelligent Twins. Huawei believes that the hybrid cloud base, AI enablement, and open ecosystem are the three keys to building robust Intelligent Twins. Inside the Intelligent Twins, cloud and AI are technologies essential for the intelligent hub. Hybrid cloud base: In the intelligent upgrade, many customers want to access rich advanced services, but also wish they have local deployment for data security and regulation compliance, meanwhile retaining their O&M habits. However, traditional private cloud and public cloud solutions cannot fully meet such requirements. The HUAWEI CLOUD hybrid cloud solution synchronizes public cloud capabilities and can be deployed locally. From mixed resources to hybrid capabilities, the solution is aligned with the organization architecture and service processes of governments and enterprises, implementing one cloud from the perspective of users. AI enablement: This is the core of the Intelligent Twins. HUAWEI CLOUD makes AI application development easier. HUAWEI CLOUD has released a full-lifecycle knowledge computing solution based on the AI development platform ModelArts, enabling enterprises to build a knowledge computing platform. It uses a series of AI technologies to extract, represent, and collaboratively compute knowledge, and then generates more accurate models and methods to enable machines and people, efficiently combining AI with industry know-how to drive AI into enterprises core service systems. Open ecosystem: To achieve the goal of all-scenario intelligence through Intelligent Twins, the key is to build a prosperous ecosystem that facilitates all stakeholders to better collaborate. HUAWEI CLOUD is positioned as a neutral cloud service provider. It is committed to building HUAWEI CLOUD into the best SaaS-based service development and operations platform, helping partners achieve business success, and advancing a sustainable software and service industry. Shenzhen and Huawei announced the Shenzhen Intelligent Twins, advancing Intelligent Twins to more industries Nowadays enterprises across industries are expediting their intelligent transformation to sharpen their edge in the future. At the event, Shenzhen and Huawei announce the Shenzhen Intelligent Twins. Driven by data as the foundation, Shenzhen Intelligent Twins will leverage emerging technologies such as 5G, cloud computing, IoT, big data, AI, and blockchain to build a system including an intelligent service network, applications, intelligent hub, data interaction system, and intelligent infrastructure. This will build an integrated, data-driven deep learning system for citywide coordination, setting the gold standard for Digital China. Looking ahead, Shenzhen will work with enterprises to build the benchmark smart city, bringing the benefits of a fully smart society to people, businesses, and organizations. Dr. Xiao Lizhi, Dean of the College of Artificial Intelligence at China University of Petroleum, introduced the latest application of the Oil and Gas Intelligent Twins. He said, The Oil and Gas Intelligent Twins will reimagine the industry chain. The Intelligent Twins will enable intelligent oil and gas fields in the upstream phases for exploration, development, and production; enable intelligent logistics and warehousing in the pipeline and transportation phases; and enable intelligent refineries and gas stations in the downstream of the industry chain. Guo Yongfeng, General Manager of the Digital Department from China FAW Group, said that digital transformation plays a critical role in propelling the Group to new heights. According to Guo, China FAW Group harnesses the HUAWEI CLOUD knowledge computing solution to transform the relationship between people and knowledge, making it easier, more efficient, and more effective to empower people with knowledge. Knowledge computing has helped FAW upskill employees into domain experts, which translates into greater productivity. So far, Huawei and partners have put Intelligent Twins into practice in more than 600 projects and are advancing Intelligent Twins to a wide range of industries, such as government and public utilities, transportation, industry, energy, finance, healthcare, and scientific research. AI technologies have been incorporated into 11 major business processes of Huawei and applied in 200 scenarios, including R&D, manufacturing, sales, and supply. Huawei has also fostered 8,000 digital employees to deal with scenarios of mass data volumes, repetitive operations, and complex requirements. Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists were killed after a night long encounter in Sirhama area in Bijbhera in Kashmir division of Jammu and Kashmir, said police. On Thursday evening, J&K police, army and the CRPF launched a joint operation in Sirhama village after receiving specific inputs about the presence of terrorists. The operation continued throughout the night and in the morning two terrorists were killed. Police spokesman said the killed terrorists were affiliated with Lashkar. A search operation is still underway to find the remaining terrorists. One of the killed terrorists has been identified as Irfan-ul-Haq Dar of village Gadikhal Charsoo, Awantipora. As per the police records, Haq had a long history of criminal involvement. He was involved in a grenade lobbing incident on Awantipora police station in April 2019, for which, a case vide FIR No. 54/2019 under relevant sections of law was registered. He was arrested later and subsequently sent to Kot Balwal Jail in Jammu. Also Read: Kashmiri lawyer shot dead in Srinagar by unidentified gunmen Police spokesman said that after his release in April 2020, Irfan-ul-Haq was secretly involved in terror activities which included Al-Badr related recruitment in Awantipora and Tral areas. He was an important motivator and influenced young minds into joining terror ranks in Awantipora/Tral areas. On Thursday, a local Albadr terrorist was killed in an encounter at Machama Tral. Nothing better symbolizes the peacemaking achievements of President Donald Trump than the reported agreement of Serbia and Kosovo to name a disputed lake on their border after the man who brought them together, overcoming centuries of conflict between a Christian-majority and a Muslim-majority nation. First reported in the English-language version of Gazeta Express, a Kosovo-based publication, the naming emerged out the successful discussions mediated by Ric Grenell to normalize economic relations between the two nations. That agreement, which also resulted in Kosovo's agreement to normalize relations with Israel and Serbia's agreement to move its embassy to Jerusalem, resulted in Trump's second nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize. Gazeta Express writes: An idea that started as a joke for the Ujman Lake, which Serbs refer to as Gazivoda, to find a compromise name seems to be taking shape. During the negotiations at the White House, the US Presidential envoy for the dialogue, Richard Grenell, gave the idea to name the lake after Trump. Initially everybody laughed with the idea. But not today. Gazeta Express has learned that Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti expressed his readiness to support Grenell's idea at a meeting with him. The same idea was endorsed also by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at another meeting. The debate, and later the Agreement, about Ujman Lake have triggered a wave of reactions in Kosovo. Kosovo has reached an agreement with the US for the State Department to carry out a feasibility study on how to share the lake's resources. Here is Ric Grenell's tweet celebrating the agreement to adopt his suggestion: What to call the lake that is in Kosovo and Serbia has been a serious sticking point despite the U.S. forged compromise to launch a feasibility study to create jobs and more energy for the region....so both sides have agreed to a new name: Lake Trump. https://t.co/AgeDNZ4aBd Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) September 24, 2020 If President Obama had accomplished something like this (please stop laughing!), the media would celebrate him nonstop for a week. But because they are dishonest and corrupt, they will ignore it or bury any notice. On the other hand, where it counts, this will be noticed: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9 Photo credit: Twitter. CHRISTIANSBURG Voting wasnt exactly in Lisa Broydens plans, but an unexpected convenience prompted her to go ahead and complete her civic duty early. I was at Kohls, and I had talked to a friend on the internet, and she said Oh yeah, I just voted, and Im like what? Broyden said while at the Uptown Christiansburg mall. So I decided Ill just walk right over. So that was easy. Broyden, a Blacksburg resident and occupational therapist, was one of several Wednesday who quickly filed in and out of a space at the rear of mall tenant Wonder Universe: A Childrens Museum. The space is one of two locations that Montgomery County election officials established for early in-person voting this year. The other early voting spot is a spacious multipurpose room behind the registrars office, which is located inside the County Government Center on Roanoke Street in Christiansburg and is otherwise the usual place for casting early in-person ballots. Montgomery Countys two early voting locations, which will remain open until Oct. 31, were established as elected officials projected a surge in absentee balloting for this years Nov. 3 election. The locations also aim to help voters avoid crowds amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The early voting activity in Montgomery County reflects a statewide trend. Slightly more than 100,000 Virginians had cast ballots in person as of Wednesday, after just a few days of early voting a figure that is about a third as many as were cast in 2016, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. The newspaper reported that 884,032 people had been issued absentee ballots as of Wednesday, more than three times the number of Virginians who applied for mailed ballots in 2016. Montgomery County election workers this week said the process of casting ballots has remained relatively the same at the two early voting locations, but the new additions help streamline the work. This is something they should consider for every presidential election, Sam Van Curen, an election officer at the mall, said, adding that it cuts down lines and overall wait times. Roughly 9,100 mailed ballots were mailed to Montgomery County voters Sept. 18, which was the start of absentee voting, according to figures provided by Registrar Connie Viar. Just under 350 of those ballots have been mailed back as of Thursday, Viar said. Another 2,482 ballots so far have been cast early and in person, she said. The number of ballots mailed out to Montgomery County voters last week was nearly three times the number of total absentee ballots cast during the 2016 election. Viar said her office has steadily continued to send out ballots. She said it sent out just under 300 Wednesday and approximately 95 as of early Thursday afternoon. As far as some of the in-person volumes, nearly 300 people showed up to the Christiansburg mall location Tuesday, said election worker Angela Sills. In addition to the convenience, Broyden said the early voting location alleviated previous concerns she had about voting on Election Day itself, which is what she usually does as she lives next to her precinct in Blacksburg. Yeah, I just think in general ventilation isnt all that great, even with precautions, she said. This is crowd free. This is great, lots of space and good ventilation. Fellow Blacksburg resident Lloyd Blevins said he also voted out of convenience Wednesday Well I had no specific reason about today, but I was going to be in the hood anyway, so I figured why not? He said. Once I knew that I could vote here, it seemed like the right thing to do. Blevins said he initially planned to mail in an absentee ballot before he learned about the early voting options. In fact, he said he brought his absentee ballot to the mall location where it was voided. Blevins said he hopes some of the new measures established this year remain in place for future elections. Ive lived in places where you could vote early and that way the need for having to mail in the ballot is kind of moot, he said. I think most people could go if it was convenient. As long as you can go do it early, Im all for that. As long as its safely processed. While several voters are touting the benefits of early voting this year, the process has ran into some early complications. For example, Roanoke County resident Kerry Edmonds said on the first day of in-person voting at her county voter registrars office she was given a ballot with the box next to President Donald Trumps name already filled in with ink. She said she realized it immediately and took it back to a volunteer, who got her another ballot. I was just so shocked, Edmonds said. I was just thinking, is this really happening? Roanoke County Registrar Anna Cloeter explained the mishap as a one-time mistake. She said sometimes voters will begin to fill out a ballot, realize they selected the wrong candidate or made a stray mark and come back up for a new ballot. Cloeter said this happened with the ballot that was issued to Edmonds. The ballot had previously been voided and instead of being put into a bag with other voided ballots, it was set aside by a clerk to continue to help the long line of voters that formed that morning. It was later mistakenly issued to Edmonds when she arrived to vote that morning. No one is nefariously marking ballots, Cloeter said. We caught the mistake pretty quickly and the mistake wont be made again. Cloeter said ballots are kept in a locked storage room when they are not used. Only 100 ballots are at the check-in counters at a time and are restocked once the staff runs out. Ballots received by the registrars office are also wrapped in plastic, which would indicate whether they had been opened. Staff writer Alison Graham contributed to this report. 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. A retail company has warned that more than 350 of its stores could close if landlords don't negotiate rental prices after COVID-19. Premier Investments Limited, which has brands including Just Jeans and Jay Jays, revealed on Friday a profit of $137.8million in the last financial year, which is a 29 per cent increase on the year before. But despite the profit the company says 350 out of its 1040 stores might have to close in Australia and New Zealand. Premier Investments Limited warns that more than 350 Just Jeans, Peter Alexander and Jay Jays stores could close after COVID-19 downturn if landlords aren't willing to negotiate rent (pictured, one of their brands Just Jeans) This is due to the changing nature of shopping due to restrictions such as social distancing and store capacity limits (pictured, quiet shopping centre in Melbourne on September 12) This is due to the changing nature of shopping due to restrictions such as social distancing and store capacity limits. Rental agreements also play a major part in the possibility of store closures. 'While it is not Premier Retail's objective to close any stores, should landlords not accept the major shift in consumer shopping behaviour and adjust their rents according to consumer shopping preferences, store closures will be inevitable, the ASX report read. During April 2020 the company paid no rent due to COVID-19 shutdowns, and paid $59.2million for the rest of the year. Many rental agreements are in the midst of re-negotiations. Over the last seven years Premier Investments Limited has closed 137 stores. The company said this demonstrates 'its willingness to walk away from stores with unrealistic rents that deliver unprofitable sales'. Rental agreements also play a major part in the possibility of store closures (pictured, one of their brands Jay Jays) Over the last seven years Premier Investments Limited has closed 137 stores (pictured, one of their brands Peter Alexander) CEO Mark McInnes said that in the first half of the year record sales were a contributor to the rise in profits while in the second-half, which was impacted by COVID-19, it was a flexible and dedicated sales team. 'Premier Retail's highly profitable online capability and the flexibility of our property portfolio, combined with the decisions we have taken in response to COVID-19, leave the Group best placed to maximise our position in the accelerating retail industry restructure,' Mr Innes said. The company stood down 9,000 employees on March 26 due to COVID-19 shut downs, with staff eligible for JobKeeper subsidies. A month ago, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron walked across a red carpet in D.C. and into the national spotlight. Good evening, Cameron said to the Republican National Convention audience, beaming in a sharp blue suit. My name is Daniel Cameron. Im 34 years old, and the first African American attorney general in Kentucky history. Back home in Kentucky, Cameron was facing pressure to charge three Louisville police officers in the killing of Breonna Taylor. But onstage at the RNC, Cameron was triumphant, singing the praises of President Donald Trump and helping the GOP in its effort to portray itself as inclusive and diverse. Republicans will never turn a blind eye to unjust acts, Cameron said, in a brief nod to the turmoil in his home state. Advertisement Those words rang especially hollow Wednesday afternoon, when Cameron announced that a Kentucky grand jury indicted one officer on charges of endangering Taylors neighbors with reckless gunfire, but that no one would be charged for killing Taylor. In a 52-minute news conference, Camerons words, meant to justify the unsatisfying charges, actually did more to explain his meteoric rise through the ranks of Republican politics. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Subscribe to the Slatest newsletter A daily email update of the stories you need to read right now. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. There will be celebrities, influencers, and activists who, having never lived in Kentucky, would try to tell us how to feel, suggesting they understand the facts of this case and that they know our community and the commonwealth better than we do. But they dont, he said, belittling those who dared suggest killing a woman in her own apartment merited a stronger legal response.* Do we really want the truth, or do we want a truth that fits our narrative? he asked, implying that those who believe police officers should have been charged for killing an unarmed woman were somehow manipulating the facts. Advertisement Advertisement Cameron returned again and again to his interpretation of the facts Wednesday, echoing the officers claims that they identified themselves when they approached Taylors apartment shortly after midnight on March 13. That police account has been confirmed by only one witness, while Taylors boyfriend Kenneth Walker and many other neighbors have said they heard no such thing. Cameron apparently didnt find it suspicious there was no body camera footage of the raid, even though reporting suggests that at least one of the officers was wearing a body camera. Cameron could understand the fear officers said they felt when they fired their weapons multiple times into the apartment after Walker fired his gun. But the attorney general said little about the fear Walker must have felt, as a man who was woken in the middle of the night by armed intruders at his front door. To Cameron, it was all an unavoidable tragedy. The truth is now before us, he said, with conviction, even though it wasnt. Advertisement Advertisement In many ways, Cameron is the fulfillment of Trump and the GOPs vision of American justice. To them, the pretense of fairness is more important than its presence. To them, the real outrage of Taylors killing is the public dissent. To them, Black and brown people in an urban area like Louisville have no legitimate claim to justice. The criminal law is not meant to respond to every sorrow and grief, Cameron said, as if Taylors death was just a sad thing that happened. On the surface, he was speaking to reporters, activists, and to Black people dismayed by the lack of charges. But it was just as easy to hear his words as an attempt to please the white Republicans who put him in powerto deliver what they expected. As a local political journalist told the New York Times of Camerons standing with those Republicans and the national party, This was a big test and he has largely passed it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As recently as a year ago, Cameron was defending himself against accusations that he wasnt experienced enough to run for attorney general in Kentucky. A Louisville judge rejected that claim, paving the way for Cameron to remain on the ballot and win his election last November. But what Cameron lacked in experience he made up for in fealty to Republicans, calling, for example, for a halt on abortions due to the pandemic while at the same time taking legal action to try to stop coronavirus orders from the states Democratic governor. Advertisement Advertisement Cameron has proudly talked about growing up with GOP-supporting parents, a rarity among Black voters. He said his mother often joked that the last Democratic presidential candidate she voted for was Jimmy Carter in 1976. She will tell you she hasnt made a mistake since. He went on to earn his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Louisville, then served as a clerk for a conservative U.S. District Court judge. But it was Camerons next job that elevated his profile: working as general counsel in Mitch McConnells Senate office, and helping in the effort to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Advertisement McConnell returned the favor last year by supporting Camerons bid for attorney general, rallying financial support to help him win the GOP primary. Trump was on board too. After Cameron won his election, Trump shouted him out on Twitter: Great going Daniel, proud of you! And just two weeks ago, even before the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Camerons name appeared on Trumps short list of potential nominees to the court. Though Trump has now said he will nominate a woman and most reports have him primed to replace Ginsburg with Judge Amy Coney Barrett, it is a testament to Camerons usefulness to the Republican Party that he even made it that far. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In fact, Cameron is nothing if not useful. At Camerons swearing-in ceremony in January, McConnell talked about being constantly irritated by the suggestion that since President Obama never did well here, that Kentucky was a bunch of racists. It irritated the living hell out of me for eight years. Now, though, he could point to Cameron as a rebuttal. Would a racist state really elect this guy? And what good fortune for Republicans who would rather talk about chaos in the streets than police brutality against Black people to have a Black man deliver news like Wednesdaysthat a young Black woman was killed in her home and no one will suffer any consequences. I understand that as a Black man, how painful this is, Cameron said on Wednesdaya pretty good trick for a guy who talked about anarchists mindlessly tear[ing] up American cities while attacking police and innocent bystanders at the RNC. Its no wonder that Trump took notice of Cameron early, introducing him at a rally of Kentucky Republicans by saying, A star is born. Advertisement Its impossible to know if Cameron is a true believer like Ben Carson or an opportunist like Omarosa Manigault Newman or someone in the middle like JaRon Smith. His background implies the former. But I suspect that doesnt matter much in a party whose leader is known for humiliating those no longer deemed useful (Manigault Newman, for example, was reportedly physically dragged and escorted off campus on her final day) and didnt bother to attend his great friend and Black allys funeral, and whose convention featured Black people tricked into appearing. In the end, Cameron should know he is as expendable to Trump, McConnell, and the white Republicans who have embraced him as Breonna Taylor apparently was to him. Actors Rakul Preet Singh and Deepika Padukones manager Karishma Prakash reached Mumbai Port Trusts guest house at Colaba on Friday morning, where the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) authorities are questioning people linked to the drug angle in actor Sushant Singh Rajputs death case. Rajput was found dead in his Bandra apartment on June 14. NCB officials visited the house of Kshitij Ravi Prasad, executive producer, Dharma Productions, again on Friday morning and took him for questioning to the Colaba guest house. Prasad was asked to be present at the NCB office on Friday morning after he was summoned a day ago, according to Sameer Wankhede, zonal director, Mumbai, NCB. On Thursday, NCB had questioned designer Simone Khambatta and Rajputs former businesses manager Shruti Modi for around six hours. The agency has also issued summons to actors Padukone, Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor to join the probe. They will appear before the NCB authorities on Saturday. An NCB officer said Padukones name had emerged in WhatsApp chats during the central agencys probe. - A funeral poster for Barbara Tommey, a young Ghanaian lady who was shot by her husband Pastor Sylvester Ofori, has popped up - The poster confirms YEN.com.gh's earlier report that she will be buried on September 26, 2020 - It also gives other details about the funeral of Tommey which will be held Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Ghana Details of the funeral for Barbra Tommey, the lady who was killed by her husband, Sylvester Ofori, in the United States have popped up. A funeral poster sighted by YEN.com.gh has indicated that Tommey will be buried on Saturday, September 26, 2020. Tommey was killed by her husband, Pastor Ofori, who is the head of Floodgates of Heaven International Ministries in Orlando in the United States. Photo source: Instagram/Sweet Maame Adwoa Source: Instagram READ ALSO: 19-year-old Ghanaian Tik Tok star Jackline Mensah appears on Chinese TV channel As earlier reported by YEN.com.gh, Orlando police indicated that the shooting happened on September 8, 2020, outside the Navy Federal Credit Union branch where Tommey worked. The circumstance of the death of the 27-year-old by her husband of five years has sent shockwaves across social media. From the accounts of some of the people who know Tommey and her husband, the marriage had been a toxic one with Ofori exhibiting violence and issuing threats on the life of Tommey. Elizabeth Sophia Russell, an elder sister to the deceased, had revealed in an interview monitored by YEN.com.gh that the family had decided to lay the deceased to rest on Saturday, September 26, 2020. The funeral poster confirms Russell's date and gives further details on the final funeral rites of Tommey. According to the poster, Tommey will be laid in state for public viewing at the Kingdom Church in Orlando, Florida. The viewing will be between the hours of 10:00 and 11:00 in the morning. After the viewing, a funeral service will be held at the same venue for the deceased. The funeral is expected to start immediately after the viewing. Apart from revealing the details for Tommey's funeral, the poster also shows the deceased was born on May 14, 1994, was thus 27 years old. Meanwhile, the family and friends of Tommey earlier held a memorial to observe the one-week of her passing. As previously reported by YEN.com.gh, a video from the one-week memorial popped up showing it was a very emotional moment for the family and friends. Earlier, YEN.com.gh had reported that Dr. Bernard Taylor, a friend of Tommey, had revealed more details about the deceased's death. In a post sighted on social media, Taylor disclosed that Tommey refused to report her husband, Pastor Ofori, to the police despite many threats on her life. According to Taylor, Tommey was unwilling to report Ofori because she did not want his application for a US citizenship revoked. 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 Patna, Sep 25 : With the announcement of the election dates for the Bihar Assembly polls some people, alleged to be BJP supporters, reportedly assaulted a member of the Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) in Patna on Friday. The attack allegedly took place when JAP leader Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav was taking out a tractor rally in Patna to oppose the agriculture Bills. During the rally, one of his supporters who was in a jeep, was going past the BJP office located on Veerchand Patel road in Patna. As the vehicle got stuck in a traffic jam, some people began beating him with batons. They also chanted slogans of "Narendra Modi Zindabad", "BJP Zindabad". However, BJP state chief Sanjay Jaiswal said that JAP leaders allegedly attacked the BJP office. "In support of RJD, JAP supporters have attacked BJP office in Patna. It is highly condemnable. RJD has touched a new low while attacking us," he said. Following the attack on the Jan Adhikar Party supporters by alleged supporters of the BJP, the JAP official spokesperson said: "Former MLA Ram Chandra and two youth leaders Vishal Kumar and Manish received injuries and were admitted in hospital. Party chief Rajesh Ranjan who is popularly known as Pappu Yadav condemned the attack. He has also cancelled the pre-scheduled programme in Muzaffarpur and Vaishali. We clearly saw the frustration of the BJP for taking a violent path." The detained included six former lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), as well as current and former party executives Turkish prosecutors on Friday issued arrest warrants for 82 people, including a mayor, suspected of involvement in 2014 pro-Kurdish protests that left 37 dead. State news agency Anadolu said 19 people had already been detained on suspicion of involvement in the unrest, which spread to Turkey after Islamic State (IS) jihadists fought to capture the mainly Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane. The detained included six former lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), as well as current and former party executives, Anadolu said. The HDP is Turkey's second-largest opposition group in the parliament and has two co-leaders, Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar. The party's mayor of the eastern city of Kars, Ayhan Bilgen, was also detained, Anadolu said. Bilgen won the city in 2019 local elections. Of the 65 HDP mayors returned in those elections, 47 have now been replaced by unelected officials, with some detained on terror charges, the party said last month. Police were on the hunt for the remaining suspects in the Turkish capital and six other provinces after the Ankara chief public prosecutor's office issued the warrants. The prosecutor's office failed to specify what offences the 82 are alleged to have committed. But it said crimes committed during the protests included murder, attempted murder, theft, damaging property, looting, burning the Turkish flag and injuring 326 security officials and 435 citizens. "This operation is not just assault on the HDP, but on democratic politics and the determination to fight against fascism," the HDP's Sancar told reporters in Ankara. 'HDP not to blame' The Turkish government accuses the HDP of being a political front for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- which has waged an insurgency against the state since 1984 -- but the party denies this. After the party first entered parliament in June 2015, the collapse of a ceasefire saw clashes resume between the PKK and Turkish security forces. The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies. Former HDP co-leaders, Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas, were named in the investigation, but both have been in jail since 2016 pending multiple trials. The government accuses the HDP of urging people to take part in the protests across Turkey, but the HDP blames Turkish police for the violence. "The HDP is not responsible for the October 6-8 Kobane protests," Sancar said. "Ob the contrary, it is the ruling power that is responsible in terms of their attitude to what happened in Kobane and attacks on those reacting to (IS) attacks." There had been particular outrage over Ankara's failure to intervene to stop the militants from taking over the town. IS jihadists were driven out of Kobane in January 2015 by US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters. Sancar accused the government of trying to "neutralise and if possible finish off" the HDP, but insisted "the people support us". The party launched the hashtag on social media: #HDPSusturulamaz, (meaning "HDP cannot be silenced" in Turkish). Search Keywords: Short link: Gov. Whitmer Urges U.S. Air Force to Comply With Michigan PFAS Standards During Wurtsmith Air Force Base Cleanup Gov. Whitmer Urges U.S. Air Force to Comply With Michigan PFAS Standards During Wurtsmith Air Force Base Cleanup FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 22, 2020 Media Contact: Press@Michigan.gov LANSING, Mich. -- Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer sent a letter to Assistant Secretary of the Air Force John Henderson urging the United States Air Force to comply with State of Michigan standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the clean-up efforts at the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base near Oscoda, Michigan. The letter comes after the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) sent a letter to the Air Force identifying the States PFAS clean-up standards that EGLE expects the Air Force to meet. Like all Michiganders, residents living around Wurtsmith deserve to know we are prioritizing their health and safety. Since EGLE first identified PFAS concentrations in groundwater at the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, the State been committed to protecting the Oscoda community and working to clean up PFAS contamination, said Governor Whitmer. While I am encouraged by the recent willingness of the Air Force to implement interim actions that begin to address concerns that the State and the Oscoda community have long expressed, the Air Force must comply with state standards to prove to the community that they are focused on protecting public health. I am also committed to working with our strong partners in the Michigan Congressional delegation to ensure that the Air Force is accountable and adequately funded to accomplish these goals. Since taking office in January of 2019, Governor Whitmer has prioritized cleaning up Michigans drinking water and protecting public health and the environment. She strengthened the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART), a multi-agency effort to identify and remediate PFAS contamination throughout Michigan, and increased state funding for drinking water projects, including PFAS research and remediation. In the absence of federal drinking water regulations for any PFAS, Governor Whitmer directed EGLE to set Michigans own science-based drinking water standards. The resulting standards represent input from a diverse group of stakeholders who helped EGLE shape regulations that are practical, science-driven and, protective of public health. The regulations, which also strengthen Michigans existing groundwater clean-up criteria for the two most frequently detected PFAS, are some of the nations most comprehensive regulations limiting PFAS contamination. To view the governors letter and EGLE's, click the links below: By Trend Armenia is a country where Islamophobia is perceived as a state policy, Pakistani expert on geopolitics and international relations, Malik Eyub Sumbal, told Trend. The Armenians are destroying mosques in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and keeping animals, including pigs and cows, in the destroyed mosques, Sumbal noted. The expert emphasized that the Armenian government is abusing religion and demonstrating its fascist character to the whole world. In countries, where religion is used as a tool against other peoples, internal religious extremism is growing, which keeps them away from the world. Armenia also uses this kind of tactic. Toying with the religious sentiments of any people is a shame and a crime. Disrespect for religious values and sacred sites is unacceptable, he said. Unlike Armenia, freedom of religion, multiculturalism, and respect for other religions are one of the priorities of Azerbaijan's state policy, stressed the Pakistani expert. I witnessed how tolerant the Azerbaijani society is in relation to other religions, representatives of each religion freely perform their religious rites in Azerbaijan, Sumbal added. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz A county lines drugs lord who used 12 children as slaves in a 2million crack cocaine racket has been jailed for 11 years. Zain Khan, 21, boasted to police, 'I earn more than you in my sleep', as detectives cracked down on his gang. Khan and his brother Junaid, 20, forced children as young as 14 to push drugs on the streets - often just after they had finished school and were still in their uniforms. But when police began dismantled the pair's 15-month drug operation known as the 'AK Line,' remorseless Zain shamelessly turned up at the home of one of his team during a raid and began taunting police claiming he and brother were 'untouchable.' Zain Khan (left), 21, and his brother Junaid (right), 20, of Burnley, Lancashire, forced children as young as 14 to push drugs on the streets - often just after they had finished school and were still in their uniforms In a rant at officers he bragged: 'Yeah, you know you can't touch us. Search us, do what you want I don't carry nothing' whilst Junaid boasted: 'I run these blocks and have done since I was about 15.' Both were arrested later following a major police operation against them. Today the pair both of Burnley, Lancashire, were each jailed for 11 and a half years after admitting conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine. Seven other members of their gang were locked away for a total of 37 years. The children used in the racket are now being counselled over their ordeals. Officers recovered a silver Mercedes 'stash car', parked close to properties associated with the Khans, filled with drugs and money (pictured) Officers also seized a Volkswagen Polo car used to store drugs and found 10,000 in cash. Pictured: Seized cash from the organised crime group Sergeant Andrew Osbaldeston, of Lancashire Police, said after the hearing: 'The Khan brothers thought they were untouchable and above the law but through dedicated police work and excellent surveillance, we have managed to bring them to justice and take the AK Line permanently offline. 'I welcome today's sentences and they send out a clear message that Lancashire Police will not tolerate organised crime groups operating in our communities and targeting and exploiting the most vulnerable in society. 'What makes this case particularly abhorrent is that the gang not only knew they were using children to pedal their drugs, but they recruited them because of their age and vulnerability and the fact they were easy to exploit. 'We need our communities across Lancashire to continue to alert us to potential drugs activity in their area so that we can investigate and bring organised gangs to justice, as well as safeguarding people, particularly children, who have been exploited and are victims.' Alan Pickard (right), 49, was jailed for three years, Darren Catlow (left), 36, was jailed for four years Preston Crown Court heard the Khan brothers directed a team of street dealers, including children, to sell crack cocaine and heroin on their behalf between May 2018 to August 2019. During the conspiracy, drugs were distributed from Zain's home to foot soldiers who in turn would bring back cash - at times stuffing bundles through his letter box. Their gang also had a team of 'lieutenants' who were responsible for directing dealers where to sell drugs and ensuring they always had a ready supply. Two women and three men were recruited to supervise the children. The teenagers, three aged just 14 and sometimes still in school uniform would arrive at a base used by the gang to collect drugs and then be dispatched by taxi to locations elsewhere in the Burnley area in order to conduct drug deals. Preston Crown Court heard the Khan brothers directed a team of street dealers, including children, to sell crack cocaine and heroin on their behalf between May 2018 to August 2019. Pictured are drugs found in the 'stash car' The gang were placed under surveillance in an investigation named Operation Croatia. But whenever phones were seized, they would either quickly buy a new handset and register it under the same number or register a new number for the AK Line and then send out a message to customers advertising that they were 'back in business'. Significant quantities of heroin, crack cocaine and cash, as well as drug paraphernalia, drug dealer lists and mobile phones were seized from addresses and vehicles connected to the group. On one occasion officers recovered a silver Mercedes 'stash car', parked close to properties associated with the Khans, filled with drugs and money. Officers also seized a Volkswagen Polo car used to store drugs and found 10,000 in cash, as well as various amounts of crack cocaine and heroin pre-packaged for street deals. When police arrested an associate of the Khan brothers, both defendants turned up at the scene and began taunting officers. Significant quantities of heroin, crack cocaine and cash (pictured), as well as drug paraphernalia, drug dealer lists and mobile phones were seized from addresses and vehicles connected to the group Zain himself was arrested a few months later, on August 22, 2019, when officers conducted a series of raids at addresses across Burnley. He was found in possession of what was established to be the 'AK line' dealer phone and in excess of 10,000 cash in several packages. Junaid was arrested on the same day at the home of a female member of the gang and a number of mobile phones were seized. Experts said at least 20kg of Class A drugs were peddled onto the streets of Burnley with an estimated value of 2million. Police later contacted the local taxi licensing department over concerns about cabs being used to ferry youngsters to their drugs turf. Drivers were also warned to report suspected criminality and concerns about child criminal exploitation and told they could face prosecution if they knowingly played an active role in criminal activity. Morgan Ellis (left), 21 and Gemma Jackson (right), 25, were each jailed for five and a half years Sentencing Judge Simon Medland QC said: 'It is plain to me on the general facts of this case that the impact of this offending has been both deep and very grave.' Mohammed Jabbar, 22, was jailed for nine and a half years whilst Shohib Safdar, 20, got seven and a half years. They both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine. Morgan Ellis, 21 and Gemma Jackson, 25, were each jailed for five and a half years. Alan Pickard, 49, was jailed for three years, Darren Catlow, 36, was jailed for four years and Josh Jackson, 20, got two years. All five were convicted of conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine. A warrant was issued for Tracey Brown, 49, who failed to come to court. The gang, all from Burnley, either admitted drugs offences or were convicted by a jury. They will face a Proceeds of Crime hearing in March 2021. Pictured: Drugs hidden in stash car and found by officers during a raid Zain was found in possession of what was established to be the 'AK line' dealer phone Clive Grunshaw, Lancashire's Police and Crime Commissioner, said: 'This is a great example of the excellent work being done by Lancashire officers to keep drugs off our streets and keep vulnerable people safe. 'This operation has led to dangerous criminals who were blighting our streets and exploiting young people facing the justice they deserve. I hope this sends a clear message to those who are getting involved organised crime that the police have the resources, skills and determination to crack organisations like this and bring their members to justice. 'The public should be re-assured that this type of high level investigation work is taking place. While it is not always visible it is happening and achieving real results like those we have seen in court today. I want to pay tribute to the hard work and determination of Lancashire investigators that have helped remove this criminal gang from our streets.' Consumers always look for good quality products, above all in fresh food like vegetables. But how do we measure the quality of fresh spinach before it gets on the market nowadays? The most commonly used methods to analyze vegetable quality are slow, costly and destructive. They require choosing several samples from the same batch, to be analyzed later at a laboratory. In order to carry out different kinds of analyses, the product must be destroyed, so an entire harvest cannot be used. A University of Cordoba team sought to find a solution to this issue by proposing the use of a non-invasive kind of technology: near infrared spectroscopy, abbreviated to NIRS. Though its use is widespread in many fields, such as in the food sector, it is also used in the fields of chemistry, pharmaceutics and even biomedicine. "This technique is based on light interacting with a product in order to gather information about its physical-chemical make-up, its structure and even parameters related to its sensorial characteristics", explains researcher Dolores Perez Marin who, along with Maria Teresa Sanchez, leads a line of research studying the use of NIRS sensors as applied to fruit and vegetables. Research groups PAIDI AGR-128 and AGR-193 have been working together on this line of research for years. In particular, this study was performed within the framework of Irina Torres Rodriguez's doctoral thesis research, in partnership with the industrial sector. The aim of this study was to develop prediction models for parameters linked to food quality and safety of spinach, by means of using a portable NIRS micro instrument, which is very small in size, that allows researchers to analyze the product directly in the field, as well as at reception and processing points the product passes through. "The results are very positive", says Dolores Perez Marin. "They show this technology's ability to directly analyze vegetables in the farm field or within the industry, in order to determine the characteristics related to quality as well as food safety". As far as quality is concerned, the product's soluble solid content was studied, which helps plan the best harvest date at the point when a suitable level has been reached. Also, nitrate content was analyzed as well, which allows farmers to set appropriate fertilizer amounts for each crop. This is of utmost interest for the product's food safety, given that European regulations have established a maximum level of nitrates that can be present in vegetables depending on if they will be used for baby food, consumed fresh or will be processed. The study concludes, therefore, that NIRS spectroscopy offers ideal features in order to provide answers to current needs in quality control in the food sector. It is fast, accurate, environmentally friendly, affordable and non-destructive. "In fact, this knowledge is receiving quite a lot of interest within the sector. There is already a company that is using this technology provided by UCO", the researcher comments. This research team continues to make progress in the use of new instruments and applications on other food products. The use of NIRS technology within the food industry is a very new topic that could revolutionize quality control systems. Specifically, its use as a non-directed method, an approach that does not look for a particular component, as traditional lab analyses do, but rather tries to find out if the product is different from set standards, will undoubtedly enable us to stay one step ahead of future food crises. ### Irina Torres, Maria Teresa Sanchez, Dolores Perez Marin. Integrated soluble solid and nitrate content assessment of spinach plants using portable NIRS sensors along the supply chain. Postharvest Biology and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2020.111273 Nikolai Miller was a lovable, normal kid like so many others across Michigan. He played the viola in the orchestra, enjoyed tinkering with cars and trucks, and loved fishing. He was also quietly struggling. On June 20, 2019, the 15-year-old hanged himself in his Oakland County bedroom. It left our community brokenhearted and wondering what we could do to help kids cope with the depression, anxiety and stress that affects so many at such a young age. It was not the first time, and sadly, not the last we have felt this overwhelming sense of loss and helplessness. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among Michigan young people aged 10 to 24. The rate among teens has risen in recent years. Soon after Nikolais death, I met his parents, Kris and Joe Miller. They had an excellent idea about how to help. Together, we worked with our community schools in Clarkston and Waterford to put stickers with a suicide and crisis hotline number on every one of the roughly 10,000 student identification cards issued to kids in grades 6 through 12. Its an idea that could help young people not just in our community but throughout Oakland County, and the entire state of Michigan. Thats why I introduced House Bill 5482 the Save Our Students plan. This plan would require schools that issue student identification cards to include a crisis and suicide prevention hotline on each card for students grades 6-12. The hotlines must be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week and can be local, statewide, or national depending on the needs of the school district. Its not a mandate; it would apply only to schools already choosing to issue ID cards. The plan also would encourage schools to post information about preventative services around their buildings and on their websites. The idea behind the legislation is simple get the resources communities already have available into the hands of kids so they literally have it at their fingertips when they need help the most. This plan would help kids realize they have options and places to turn for help. It could start conversations that might provide positive turning points for families. The Save Our Students plan has made significant progress. The legislation was unanimously approved in the Legislature this week, and is awaiting review by the governor. State Rep. Andrea Schroeder of Independence Township represents District 43. Shoppers in central London, as the number of UK coronavirus cases rose to 6,874. (David Cliff/NurPhoto via Getty Images) The number of daily confirmed coronavirus cases has risen again, with 6,874 recorded on Friday. Its up 240 from the 6,634 infections recorded on Thursday. It follows a week of warnings about the resurgence of COVID-19 which started with Sir Patrick Vallance, the governments chief scientific adviser, saying the virus is doubling every seven days. The government then introduced a raft of new rules for England including encouraging office staff to work from home, pubs closing at 10pm and wedding attendance being cut from 30 to 15 aimed at restricting the spread of the virus. Watch: Can the coronavirus affect the brain? However, Boris Johnson has also hinted at a second national lockdown, saying the government reserves the right to go further if infections dont fall. Meanwhile, the government also said a further 34 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19 as of Friday. This brings the UK total to 41,936. However, this figure did not include deaths in Scotland, with a message on the data dashboard reading: Due to a power outage at National Records of Scotland we have not been able to update the deaths figures for Scotland. The latest figures come after the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) announced the UKs COVID reproduction R rate has risen again, now ranging between 1.2 and 1.5. R represents the average number of people each COVID-19 positive person goes on to infect. When the figure is above 1, an outbreak can grow exponentially. An R between 1.2 and 1.5 means that on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 15 other people. Further local social distancing measures have been announced, including lockdowns in Swansea and Cardiff and reimposed restrictions in Stockport banning mixing between households. Meanwhile, a scientist advising the government said university students may have to be told to stay on campus over Christmas in the event of coronavirus outbreaks. Story continues Sir Mark Walport, who is on SAGE, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Universities are very large communities, they bring together people from across the country and theyre far from monastic communities these days. The one thing that we dont want is for an outbreak of coronavirus in a university to then result in students going home and spreading that infection to other parts of the country and other communities, to their parents, to their grandparents. If students are infected when it comes near to the end of term they may have to remain where they are. Coronavirus: what happened today Click here to sign up to the latest news and information with our daily Catch-up newsletter A California firefighter killed while battling a blaze in the mountains east of Los Angeles was identified Tuesday as a member of an elite Hotshot crew dedicated to fighting wildfires. Charles Morton, 39, a San Diego native, was a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service and a squad boss for the Big Bear Interagency Hotshots in San Bernardino National Forest, officials said. He was married and had a daughter. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen said Morton was a well-respected leader who was always there for his squad and his crew at the toughest times. "Our hearts go out to Charlies loved ones, coworkers, friends and the Big Bear Hotshots," she said. "We will keep them in our thoughts and prayers." On Tuesday, a procession escorted Mortons body from San Bernardino to an Orange County mortuary. Ramon Herrera, also with the U.S. Forest Service, told KTLA he had worked with Morton. "He always had my back," Herrera said. "I mean, to lose such a good man, not just a firefighter, but he was a good person, and I'm going to miss him terribly." The California Highway Patrol leads the procession along with U.S. Forest Service vehicles as they escort fallen firefighter Charles Morton, killed while battling a blaze in the mountains east of Los Angeles, along Hewes Street in Orange, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, from San Bernardino to the Ferrara Colonial Mortuary in Orange. Morton, 39, a San Diego native, was a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service and a squad boss for the Big Bear Interagency Hotshots in San Bernardino National Forest, officials said. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP) The U.S. Hotshots Association posted a photo of a belt buckle on social media after Mortons death, writing: "Rest easy brother, may the wind be at your back." Hotshots, according to the Forest Service, are highly skilled hand crews and often assigned to work on the most challenging parts of wildfires. They must meet stringent standards for physical fitness and training. Toni Atkins, president pro tempore of the California Senate said, "San Diego, and the state, lost a true hero last week." Patrick Gaines, who served on a Wyoming Hotshot crew in the 1990s, said the work is not for people that hold desk jobs during the week. "This is arduous. Its serious." he said. "Its very strenuous. Its very demanding - not just physically, but mentally." Morton died Thursday while fighting the El Dorado fire some 80 miles (129 kilometers) east of Los Angeles. On Tuesday, it had burned more than 22,000 acres and was 60% contained. It was sparked when a couple used a device that was supposed to emit blue or pink smoke to reveal their babys gender. Fire officials said the couple fired off the device in a field and it ignited grasses and quickly spread with sweltering temperatures, low humidity and a stiff breeze. The couple tried to put out the flames but couldn't and called 911. It was one of more than two dozen fires in the state. ___ Associated Press writer Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed this report. This photo provided by the family via the U.S. Forest Service shows Charles Morton, a squad boss with the Big Bear Interagency Hotshot Crew of the San Bernardino National Forest, in San Bernardino, Calif. Morton died Sept. 17, 2020, in San Bernardino National Forest as crews battled the El Dorado Fire about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement. (Family Photo/Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service via AP) As family and members of the Big Bear Hotshots stand by, U.S. Forest Service pallbearers move the casket of the fallen Big Bear Interagency Hotshot Charles Morton at the Ferrara Colonia Mortuary in Orange, Calif., following a procession from San Bernardino on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. Morton died on September 17 while battling the El Dorado Fire in the San Bernardino National Forest. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP) Members of the Big Bear Hotshots are embraced by one of the U.S. Forest Service pallbearers following the procession carrying fallen firefighter Charles Morton, killed while battling a blaze in the mountains east of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, from San Bernardino to the Ferrara Colonial Mortuary in Orange, Calif. Morton, 39, a San Diego native, was a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service and a squad boss for the Big Bear Interagency Hotshots in San Bernardino National Forest, officials said. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP) We say that while reminding our readers: This editorial board has not spent the past four years stricken by every Trump tweet or off-the-cuff remark. On issues of the day, we have opined on the specifics of his record while refraining from overwrought, knee-jerk criticism, recognizing the disenfranchisement felt among the 63 million Americans who elected him. We understand that millions of voters were drawn to him precisely because he is unconventional and pugilistic, and that is not necessarily a drawback. An example: Trumps decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem did not start a war; it preceded diplomatic progress in the Middle East. Northern Irish processors have been encouraged to consider forward pricing milk to give farmers greater certainty and more scope to plan for their businesses. The Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) and Holstein Northern Ireland have called for the move, saying dairy farmers in the region were presently 'price takers'. The groups said now was the time for a change of approach to put dairy producers in a more sustainable position. UFU dairy chair Mervyn Gordon said the industry had to be built on a pricing structure that would allow farmers and processors to work together in a better way. "Put simply, farmers need to know in mid-September the price they will receive for their milk in October. That is not much to ask of an industry that fully understands its market, he said. The position in NI contrasts with the rest of the UK and much of Europe. Retrospective payments mean farmers do not know what they will be paid for the milk they are producing today. The UFU said this can leave dairy farming businesses in some instances unable to manage cash flow effectively. It can be up to six weeks before farmers know the price for milk produced today. We cannot continue being price takers," Mr Gordon said. "We need a modern pricing structure for a modern industry not one that has its roots in the past. "This is an important first step to a more modern industry and one that would do a lot to improve transparency, he said. Holstein Northern Ireland chairman Charlie Weir added that his group would welcome a move away from retrospective pricing by milk processors. He said other sectors all received a price for their produce before it leaves the farm: "A price for next months milk will enable dairy farmers to make management decisions which should increase the profitability of their business. "This would also bring dairy farmers here into line with common practise throughout the rest of the UK, Mr Weir said. Congress leader Tarun Gogois condition is stable, Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday a day after the 85-year-old former chief minister was admitted to Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH)s intensive care unit (ICU). Sarma said experts were constantly monitoring Gogoi and his health parameters are better than they were on Thursday. Gogoi was recovering from Covid-19 at GMCH after testing negative for the disease when he was admitted to the ICU as his oxygen saturation level dropped. On Friday morning, we had a video conference with [New Delhi]s AIIMS [All India Institute of Medical Sciences]... director Dr Randeep Guleria... Gogois son, Lok Sabha MP [member of Parliament] Gaurav Gogoi, and a team of doctors from GMCH were present and detailed discussions were held on the former CMs health, Sarma said. He added GMCH doctors gave a detailed presentation on the line of treatment. Dr Guleria expressed satisfaction and suggested some more tests. ...Gogois oxygen saturation level is at 94% and his condition is stable. Sarma said a specialist from AIIMS will visit Guwahati in the next couple of days to take a stock of Gogois health. Gogoi, a three-time chief minister from 2001 to 2016, was tested Covid-19 positive on August 26. The Assam government constituted an eight-member team of doctors to monitor his health after he was admitted to GMCH. There was a sudden drop in his oxygen saturation level on August 31. It returned to normal later. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON No farmer has been rendered any worse-off pursuant to these farm bills. They can not only continue availing benefits under the old system, but can also simultaneously engage in direct trade It is an obvious fact of life that more choices means more empowerment. The three laws recently enacted by the Parliament of India amidst much protest and controversy collectively called the farm bills do exactly that for farmers. The less choices one has, the more helpless one feels. That was the system until June this year when the Modi government brought ordinance effectively removing the shackles that rendered our nations farmers helpless to middlemen who effectively determined the supply and demand of much of the farm produce. The ordinance is now a law. Under the old Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee(APMC) system, farmers could only sell their produce through mandis (markets) designated by State governments. This led to the rise of middlemen who, through political patronage or undue influence, were able to squeeze the farmers revenue as well as control market prices. This thwarted the development of a competitive marketing system. Farmers neither got help nor the incentive to engage in direct marketing and organized retailing. Agro-processing industries werent assured smooth supply of produce nor did the system encourage adoption of innovative technologies. In 2003, the BJP-led NDA government under PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee introduced the Model APMC Act which aimed to break many shackles which hitherto chained farmers to be the golden birds for politically connected middlemen. It gave growers, local authorities as well as entities the authority to apply for establishment of not just one mandi per market area, but several such mandis. It sought to permit growers to sell their produce outside of such mandis. It also introduced contract farming enabling direct sale of farm produce to agri-firms, exporters and other buyer groups at a pre-agreed price. This was aimed at enabling direct marketing farmers could reach wholesalers or traders and vice versa, understand each others demands directly, dynamically take advantage of favorable prices and undertake sorting, grading as well as quality marking at the growers farm instead of by the middlemen. The Model APMC Act, however, was, as its name suggests, a model, a suggestion provided to State governments to reform their own laws. Not all States adopted the model APMC Act. Those who did, didnt do so in a uniform manner resulting in alack of homogeneity and ad-hocism which, in turn, resulted in an obstruction to a competitive pricing environment for farmers as well as an impediment to the evolution of a modern trading system which could effectively compete on a global scale. This led to the farm bills which, with one stroke, effectively made available the intent of the APMC Act, 2003 all over the country while adding more aspects to revolutionize the agricultural trade system. Notably, it isnt as if the farmers have been thrown directly into the deep end of these reforms. The existing APMC system remains. Farmers can still choose to sell their produce through the mandis. The Minimum Support Price (MSP) system which guarantees a minimum price for produce remains in effect when produce is sold through mandis. In fact, some MSP prices increased. Government procurement of farm produce continues. Therefore, not only has no farmer has been rendered any worse-off pursuant to these farm bills in that they can continue availing benefits under the old system, they can migrate or, even better, simultaneously engage in direct trade and marketing should they so wish. What, instead, do we hear from the Opposition? That the farmers will be taken advantage of by the big industrialist groups which have more bargaining power. That these big houses will strong arm them into taking the produce as they wish and pay what they wish. Yogendra Yadav, the founder of Swaraj Abhiyan, even quipped that poor farmers will not understand contracts that buyer entities send over to the growers to sign. He went on to compare such contracts to Terms and Conditions that one agrees to when creating an account on YouTube or WhatsApp. His rhetoric was who reads them; who knows what all one is agreeing to when one clicks I Agree. This fear mongering is, frankly, infantilizing farmers. It is denying them agency. It is effectively telling them that, since they are getting one fish a day, they must not get sucked into the temptation of learning how to fish. Undoubtedly, with choice and empowerment comes responsibilities. Those responsibilities are, however, opportunities for our countrys kisaan to develop entrepreneurial skills, to finally savour the freedom to willingly enter into a contract, to exercise a choice based on an understanding of whats best for him. The kisaan has a tremendous opportunity to enjoy the fruits of a free market. He can join hands with other farmers to increase bargaining power, technology and other farming practices can be shared, costs can be optimized. Cooperation, as opposed to competition an example of Bihars farmers contracting with a major rice buyer which PM Modi alluded to in his address to the nations farmers. This has tremendous positive consequences for the entire industry. Private entities can now be incentivized to invest their hard-earned capital in construction of market yards as well as cold storage facilities, warehouses and other logistical infrastructure, thereby opening up many paths for the entrepreneurial-kisaan. This can also encourage the advent of many startups in consonance with Modis desire for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India). The Opposition, however, wants to deny agency to our kisaan. Just as it denied agency to our Muslims, SCs, STs, OBCs and other groups for the past seven decades. Back in the 1960s, Indias second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri coined the slogan Jai Jawaan Jai Kisaan (Hail the soldier, Hail the farmer). Since PM Modi has assumed power, he has empowered our jawaan our soldier. Earlier this week, he empowered our kisaan too. Photo: BC Liberals BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson The BC Liberal Party is recommitting to ending B.C.s current speculation tax, pledging to instead target the resale of pre-built condominiums. The NDPs speculation tax is a complete mislabeling of a greedy tax designed to hurt homeowners, said Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson in a Facebook town hall Thursday in Maple Ridge. The tax is currently 0.5 per cent of the assessed value of a home in certain communities for Canadians, or two per cent for foreign owners and satellite families. A home that is not a principal residence must be rented out for at least six months per year to be exempt from the tax. There are several other exemptions available. We will get rid of their phoney speculation tax and bring in a real tax on speculation, which is the flipping of paper contracts for condominiums, Wilkinson said, explaining they will tax resale of condos before they are built. That is a capital gains tax, it's not just an asset tax like the NDPs version, he added. The BC NDP fired back Friday, noting that the tax is not paid by people who put their homes on the rental market. The party also cited a poll from earlier this year by Research Co. that found 76 per cent of British Columbians are in favour of the tax. The NDP says the tax will bring in $80M in 2020/21 that will be funnelled back into new housing. Long-term condo rental housing stock increased by 11,118 units in B.C. in 2019, something the NDP is attributing to the spec tax. Within the Okanagan, the tax only applies to empty residences in Kelowna and West Kelowna, both cities that vigorously opposed its implementation. The Syrian regime has said that Syrians arriving at the border, will be allowed entry, regardless of whether or not they have the 100 dollars to exchange writes Alsouria Net. Prime Minister Hussein Arnous in the Assad government, announced that his government has issued new instructions regarding the obligation for every Syrian citizen to exchange 100 dollars to be allowed to enter the Syrian territories. Arnous said during a session of the Peoples Assembly on Thursday that his government had instructed the border crossings to allow any citizen who did not have the required amount to enter the country. He added, We will look into the requirement to spend a 100 dollars at the border when the circumstances permit. Those who do not have the amount will be automatically allowed to enter, which the Minister of Interior has been informed about. Arnous denied the presence of any Syrian stranded at the border due to their inability to exchange the required amount, mentioning that 24 people who did not have the money were allowed to enter in the past few days. Arnous statements come a day after a Human Rights Watch report criticized the Assad governments decision and accused it of obstructing the return of Syrians to their homes. Arnous addressed the Peoples Assembly on Thursday, saying that hundreds of dollars are spent abroad, but when it comes to exchanging 100 dollars at home, the issue becomes fodder for the media. The cabinet issued a decision last July whereby every Syrian citizen wishing to enter Syria is obligated to exchange the amount of 100 dollars or the equivalent in foreign currencies into local currency, at the rate set by the Central Bank of Syria. The decision sparked resentment and anger on the part of Syrians, who demanded its abolition, based on the fact that any Syrian has the right to enter their country without restrictions, according to the text of the constitution. Photos of Syrians stranded on the Lebanese-Syrian borders have been spreading on social media recently. Those people were unable to exchange 100 dollars, which the Director of the Syrian Immigration and Passports Department in the Assad government, Naji al-Numair, denied. 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. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Bears ruled the street as Nifty nosedived 326 points on September 24. The bullish setup was under threat on the back of multiple bearish divergences and rising trendline breakdown. The six days of continuous fall have placed the index near short-term support levels and a mild pullback can be expected in the coming trading sessions though the selling pressure cannot be ruled out at higher levels. As per the Fibonacci theory, the key low of August 3 at 10,882 has been touched on the lower side which indicates that the medium-term trend is favouring the bears and any pullback is likely to see supply pressure. The level of 10,737 is likely to act as a support for the next few days and a bounceback till 10,980 can be expected. The index is trading near 261.8 percent Fibonacci projected level, based on the previous week's trading range, suggesting that bears might take a breather. Traders can wait for a bounce till 10,980 to create short potions in the index. Here are three buy calls for the next 2-3 weeks: Apollo Hospitals Enterprises | Buy | LTP: Rs 1,949.90 | Target price: Rs 2,102 | Stop loss: Rs 1,870 | Upside: 8% Untouched by bears, this stock has hit the fresh all-time high. The recent positive crossover in the momentum indicators suggests that the stock is likely to maintain its bullish bias and higher levels can be expected in the coming days. The RSI has bounced back from the significant support levels and the prices are trading above all short-term and medium-term moving averages. Wipro | Buy | LTP: Rs 304 | Target price: Rs 328 | Stop loss: Rs 288 | Upside: 8% After a recent breakout, the stock has retraced mildly and is trading near the support level. The momentum indicators in the monthly and weekly timeframe are trading in a bullish zone and daily RSI is trading at an important support level. The upward slope of medium-term moving averages ribbon suggests that the current fall is likely to generate buying interest and higher levels can be expected. Granules India | Buy | LTP: Rs 359.40 | Target price: Rs 397 | Stop loss: Rs 342 | Upside: 10% The stock is trading with a higher top and higher bottom cycle and has gone through mild retracement recently. The current fall has been arrested at a 20-day simple moving average with the formation of a hammer candlestick pattern and the price has also taken support at the previous top. The momentum indicators are trading at support levels which indicates that bulls might take the charge once again. (The author is Senior Technical Analyst at Rudra Shares & Stock Brokers) 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. On matters of life and death, such as the coronavirus pandemic, it is important that data be in the public domain Information is power. We rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But what do we do when the numbers go missing? What do gaps in data reveal? These questions go to the heart of social and political battles raging in India today. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, no data means no justice for the uncounted dead, nor to their families. India has over 5.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases -- the worlds second worst case load after the United States. Official estimates show it has already killed over 91,000 Indians. Who among the dead remain invisible as we are simply not counting them? As the pandemic rages, that question exposes our faultlines and remains the story to watch because it pivots around inclusion-exclusion in official data. In May, 16 migrant labourers who were trying to get back home to Madhya Pradesh on foot were killed when a freight train ran over them between Jalna and Aurangabad districts in Maharashtra. The same month, a video clip which went viral showed a toddler trying to wake up his dead mother at a railway platform in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. In what must be one of the most poignant visuals of the pandemic, the child is seen tugging at a sheet covering his mothers body. The woman, 35-year-old Avreena Khatoon, died while travelling in the Ahmedabad-Katihar (Bihar) Shramik Special train. News reports, quoting family members, said the woman had died of hunger, thirst and severe heat while travelling for four days. The Muzaffarpur district administration, as well as the Railways, say that she died because of a pre-existing ailment. The heartbreak of these unforgettable images and that of many other reported instances of migrant deaths cant be captured in a phrase or in a statistic. But numbers matter in gauging the magnitude of the tragedy and in determining compensation for the families of the dead. Even if we concede that all migrants did not die of hunger, the fact is that they died. We dont have an official number of how many of them died in all. This invisibility in official statistics, whether alive or dead, lies at the core of the vulnerability of these informal workers. Its not that the government doesnt furnish any data. It has told us, for example, that the Indian Railways operated over 4,611 Shramik Special trains for the convenience of workers, that over 63.07 lakh guest workers have been shifted to various destinations in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and other states, that it had arranged to provide food and water to the workers during their journey. But the Union Labour Ministry also recently told Parliament there is no data on migrant deaths so the question doesnt arise of compensation. This was in response to a question relating to compensation for families of those who had lost their lives while trying to reach home in the wake of the nationwide lockdown imposed by the government to contain the pandemics spread. The government's written response in the Lok Sabha on the first day of the monsoon session on the numbers it has, and the numbers it chooses to be silent about, has triggered a charged debate. The Railway Ministry subsequently told the Lok Sabha that 97 people had died on board Shramik Specials, conceding perhaps for the first time that guest workers had died on the trains taking them to their villages and home towns during the lockdown. Meanwhile, a public database maintained voluntarily by an independent technologist and scholars, including from Jindal Global Law School, Emory University and Syracuse University, point to at least 972 deaths among guest workers till July 4 during the various lockdowns across the country. Rajendran Narayanan, who teaches at Bengalurus Azim Premji University, and is associated with Stranded Workers Action Network (Swan), which has been following these issues, says the argument of no data touches on the critical issue of accountability. He argues that even if the government didnt have its own figures for the deaths during the lockdown, it had access to estimates by volunteer networks and researchers who were closely following the issue. Narayanan says Swans data was shared with the Home Ministry, the National Disaster Management Authority and other government agencies. Why did the government not follow these leads? Equally puzzling is the governments response to a question in Parliament on Covid-19 related fatalities among the countrys health workers. Asked about the number of healthcare staff, including doctors, nurses, support staff and Asha workers who have been affected by and died from Covid-19, the Health Ministry said: Health is a state subject. Such data is not maintained at the Central level by the ministry of health and family welfare. A government that has repeatedly lauded doctors and other health workers as Covid warriors says it has no data of the frontline health workers who have fallen prey to the virus. The Indian Medical Association is furious and has released a list of 382 doctors who have already died due to the coronavirus. The doctors body has demanded that the dead medicos be treated as martyrs. The IMA said: If the government doesnt 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. Asked in Parliament whether the Union government maintains data on the number of safai karmacharis who have died due to safety hazards related to their work of cleaning hospitals and handling medical waste during the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said: Hospitals and dispensaries being a state subject, no data is maintained by the Union government on the issue. These are just three of the lists that the government says it does not have and where its position pivots around no data. This is by no means comprehensive. The no data argument extends to many other areas where there has been no action or scant action. Should this be an acceptable answer? Data is a public good. What we are not tracking is easily forgotten and turned invisible. In this pandemic, it has become a matter of life and death. It is critical that we now talk about data justice, which means data that needs to be in the public domain in public interest, for better accountability and inclusion. Celebrity spotting has been taken to a whole new level during the pandemic thanks to Deuxmoi, a viral Instagram handle all about Hollywood gossip. The ultra-popular page is a crowd-sourced hub of celebrity spottings and detailed reports about how stars behave in person from their coffee orders to fan interactions to their quirky preferences in the bedroom. What makes the page even more tantalizing, the account is managed by an anonymous admin who gave DailyMailTV a rare look behind the curtain in an exclusive phone interview. Spotted! The anonymous administrator behind the addictive celebrity gossip Instagram Deuxmoi gave DailyMailTV an exclusive peak into how the viral sensation works 'It has to amuse me or else it gets boring,' the mysterious founder said of how she chooses her viral content. A passing glance at Deuxmoi's Instagram Stories will tell a new follower everything they need to know about what the page is all about. Anonymous morsels of celebrity gossip are submitted to the account via direct message and then, with the permission of the sender, screen grabbed and shared. Some of the tid-bits are blind items meaning the names of the celebrities they're about are omitted - and the admin is adamant about never revealing those names. 'There are certain salacious things I will post but I try not to cross the line,' she told DailyMailTV. 'Obviously, I don't know these people but it try to think about what they wouldn't want me to say based on what they put out there [themselves]. A lot of things I can't post.' Deuxmoi has carved out a clear niche for itself in the last few months and the account has kind of taken on a life of its own. The brand has gone through a major transformation since its launch in 2013. It originally set out to be a lifestyle website run by two friends but sort of 'fizzled' out. The site was shuttered but the Instagram handle maintained, and then in the early stages of the pandemic everything changed. How it works: Anonymous morsels of celebrity gossip are submitted to the account via direct message and then, with the permission of the sender, screen grabbed and shared; The antecdotes are completely unverified 'It just happened,' Deuxmoi's founder said about the brand's swift metamorphosis. 'I was going through what the rest of the country was going through at the same time. I was doing this to distract myself.' In March, Deuxmoi posted a request on their Insta Story to crowd source celebrity gossip from a pool of about 45K followers. Buried in the responses was one particular nugget of (unverified) information about Leonardo DiCaprio, a pair of headphones and his preferences in the bedroom and, for Deuxmoi, the rest is history. 'I was living in NYC at the time and it was scary here,' she said. 'It made the days go by faster.' Adding that just like the IG's followers, 'It's a form as escapism for me too.' Now, at over 232K followers and growing, the page is a favorite among celebrity obsessed, gossip hungry social media users and eagle eyed followers ready to dish their own tales about Hollywood. 'There are certain salacious things I will post but I try not to cross the line,' she told DailyMailTV. 'Obviously, I don't know these people but it try to think about what they wouldn't want me to say based on what they put out there [themselves]. A lot of things I can't post.' The meteoric rise of the handle has been a surprise for the admin who made the decision early on to remain anonymous. 'There's a lot of different reasons,' she said of her choice to leave her identity shrouded in mystery. 'I do have a job. Nobody at work really knows that I do this and I don't want them to. It's almost like living two different lives.' 'It's not really about me. I'm not an influencer, I'm really a vessel.' She added that she has thought about unmasking herself 'maybe in the future' if the page continues to grow. These days there are so many tips that Deuxmoi does a sort of 'phone roulette' to randomly pick what will go up.' It's such a roll of the dice,' she said of deciding what to share. 'There kind of isn't really a rhyme or reason to it.' 'It is really important to me to honor everyone who submits,' the social media mystery said. 'Without them it wouldn't have grown.' How it works: These days there are so many tips that Deuxmoi does a sort of 'phone roulette' to randomly pick what will go up.' It's such a roll of the dice,' she said of deciding what to share. 'There kind of isn't really a rhyme or reason to it.' Mostly what is being shared are real people's stories of their interactions with celebrities. For someone famous like a Chris Evans or an Emma Roberts (two names currently being featured on Deuxmoi), they meet thousands and thousands of fans but for each of those fans that could be a once-in-a-lifetime moment. 'I started to feel like a therapist who specialized in celebrity relations,' she joked. At first, the brand was only posting negative stories about celebrity interactions. The founder went that route to give everyday folks a place to say their piece. She explained that a negative 'two second run in' for a regular person with a celebrity who they admires or love can leave a fan feeling 'like sh*t.' 'I wanted to give them a voice.' For the most part, when it comes to the content, anything goes and the posts are comprised of rumors, anecdotes and conjecture. Nothing is vetted or verified, however, the admin does try to be 'sensitive about sensitive things.' Love it or hate it: when it comes to the page's haters she doesn't 'give a sh*t.' 'This isn't Instagram by jury,' she said. 'I'm not asking, right now, for anyone's opinion. I'm just running an IG for free. The main Instagram will always be a free open account.' 'I try to be fair and show both sides. The reason I do that is because I want people to form their own opinions.' As for why she doesn't verify what she's posting, the admin says she simply doesn't 'have time.' 'I'm not a reporter. I'm not claiming to be a reporter,' she said. 'It's a curation of information.' True or not, the stories range from the mundane (which the founder loves) to the more salacious. 'Most of the A-listers are pretty nice,' she said. Adding that where celebs fall on the spectrum of naught and nice is nuanced and 'ever changing.' 'I'm always getting new followers submitting new information. I was singing Luke Wilson's praises and then someone sent in a story about him at a bar and he had said something rude to her.' 'Most of the A-listers are pretty nice,' she said. Adding that where celebs fall on the spectrum of naught and nice is nuanced and 'ever changing.'; Amy Adams is consistently on the nice list The people have spoken: Anna Kendrick, Chris Noth (pictured), Owen Wilson, Jennifer Lopez, Lea Michele and Marissa Tomei are regularly dubbed by followers either difficult to work with or unpleasant to fans At the end of the day, the creator knows that 'people are human' and bad interactions can happen to anyone. With that caveat, there are a few names that have pretty consistent stories. Adam Sandler, Amy Adams, Drew Barrymore, Julianne Moore, Steve Carell, Pink and Hugh Jackman are constantly praised for being delightful to fans and great to work with. On the flip side, Anna Kendrick, Chris Noth, Owen Wilson, Jennifer Lopez, Lea Michele and Marissa Tomei are regularly dubbed difficult to work with or unpleasant to fans. And, while Deuxmoi's hundreds of thousands of followers clamor to read about these unfiltered moments with celebrities that are divorced from PR spin or the star's own carefully strategized and sanitized social media not everyone thinks the account is a good thing. 'The feedback I personally get I would say is 90% positive but I know that there are certain groups other place on the internet who are negative,' the admin said. At the end of the day she says, when it comes to the page's haters she doesn't 'give a sh*t.' 'This isn't Instagram by jury,' she said. 'I'm not asking, right now, for anyone's opinion. I'm just running an IG for free. The main Instagram will always be a free open account.' This is much more than providing new technology to students its an opportunity to provide outstanding service to our school community and help ensure a safe environment for all," said Bob Valenti, Associate Vice President of Auxiliary Services at FDU. To support its Plan for Reopening, Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) is partnering with Transact Campus Inc. to roll out mobile ordering capabilities on its two New Jersey campuses. The mobile ordering solution supports food, book, and other supplies ordering and capacity management, for retail, dining and vending locations, and local restaurants. Prior to the pandemic, FDU was already working to update our technology and processes COVID-19 only accelerated our plans and overall approach to how we can best serve students, faculty and staff, said Bob Valenti, Associate Vice President of Auxiliary Services at FDU. This is much more than providing new technology to students its an opportunity to provide outstanding service to our school community and help ensure a safe environment for all. Transacts Mobile Ordering solution lets students order food from on-campus dining halls and facilities, plus nearby eateries via Transacts off-campus merchant program. FDU will use a wide range of the solutions capabilities, including using the mobile ordering app to track and maintain dining hall capacity limits to help facilitate social distancing requirements. As institutions plan for this semester and beyond, were all-in on supporting our clients, and were partnering with them to help with a safe return to campus, said Erica Bass, VP of Product Management at Transact. The landscape of higher education continues to change in response to COVID-19, and Transact is committed to continually innovating on our solutions to exceed the market expectations. FDUs fall 2020 semester began on August 17, with courses being delivered remotely. A limited number of in-person courses began September 14 on FDUs Metropolitan Campus in Teaneck and the Florham Campus in Madison. Most of FDUs courses will be delivered remotely or fully online for the entirety of the fall 2020 semester. For more information about Transacts Campus Commerce offerings, please visit https://transactcampus.com/campus-commerce. About Transact Through market-leading credential-driven transactions and privileges, and innovative payment solutions, Transact enables a connected experience across the spectrum of student life. We partner with institutions to deliver a mobile-centric, personalized student and family experience both on and off-campus. Our cloud platform and open APIs deliver mission-critical capabilities that support student successfacilitating meaningful student engagement and rich data for keen institutional insight. Transact is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona and has served the education community for over 35 years. Visit http://www.transactcampus.com About Fairleigh Dickinson University Devoted to the preparation of world citizens, Fairleigh Dickinson University offers over 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including doctoral programs in pharmacy, nursing practice, clinical psychology and school psychology; and an AACSB-accredited business school. Degree programs are offered on two New Jersey campuses and at two international campuses: Wroxton College, in Oxfordshire in England, and the Vancouver Campus, in British Columbia, Canada. For more information, visit FDU.edu. A man was struck by an MBTA Orange Line train at the Massachusetts Avenue station just prior to noon on Friday, according to WHDH. The MBTA confirmed via Twitter that a person at the station was requiring medical assistance. MassLive has reached out to the MTBA Transit Police for more information. The man was taken to Boston Medical with serious injuries, according to WHDH. No information was provide on the status of the man. The station was closed briefly and the Orange Line was delayed about 20 minutes, according to the MBTA. The station reopened around 12:45 p.m. The left was always going to riot in Louisville no matter how the Breonna Taylor shooting case turned out. The grand jury could have brought 1st Degree Murder charges against all three of the officers, and those two policemen would have still suffered "mostly peaceful" gunshot wounds during the riots. Bathetically, the "edge of your seat" media reportage warned of violence that anyone who has been paying attention these previous months knew was coming regardless of what the grand jury decided. It is the same with the Democrats and RBG; for years they have been promising to pack the Supreme Court, do away with the filibuster, eliminate the Electoral College, make Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. states, split California into as many as five states. It is not much of a threat if it was going to be done anyway. Yet they think Americans will believe that it could have been avoided had the orange man just allowed the next president to fill the seat. This works for them because they fully intend to steal this election one way or another, even if they must devolve into outright rebellion. In addition, another conservative on the court will hurt their plans should the election come down to a Supreme Court decision as it did in 2000. Democrats deserve respect for their audacity. They are gaslighting Americans through a cacophonous Democrat/media echo chamber of veiled promises including a potential "will of the people" insurrection purportedly forced upon them by an "outlaw" president exercising his constitutional prerogative of naming a successor to the "Notorious" Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Democrats have shown they cannot be trusted. They are willing to dispense with all norms to get what they want. Their minions have been in open and violent rebellion for months without repercussions. They have needlessly quarantined the healthy to protect those at risk whom through their eldercare home policies they killed anyway. They have crippled the most dynamic economy in the world merely to blame the misery on a political opponent with little consideration for the families destroyed and lives lost. Their threats to dispense with convention and incite violence should Trump successfully get his third Supreme Court Justice ring hollow. It has always been their plan. Most people have concluded that it was unlucky for the Democrats that Ginsburg perished before January 20, 2021. But that is not true. Her death is nothing more than an excuse. "It was Merrick Garland's seat" is the common refrain you hear on every channel and see in every leftist screed. They tell the nation that the Republicans established a precedent when Senate leader Mitch McConnell refused to even allow a vote on Merrick Garland, whom Barack Obama nominated to the court after the death of Antonin Scalia in 2016. But Merrick Garland did not get a vote because the Republicans controlled the Senate and decided not to give him a vote. Does anyone seriously believe that, had the Democrats controlled the Senate when Trump nominated Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, the Democrats would have given either one a vote? So now they threaten apocalypse, while the termagant Nancy Pelosi talks about her quiver. They have intimated that renewed and targeted "organic" rioting will become endemic as the Senate takes up Trump's pick for RBG's replacement. It is not as if they were not already rioting. They will, however, utilize a new tactic, to "take and hold ground." The way it works is that protestors seize strategic areas nonviolently, issue demands, and dare police to evict them blocking a key intersection or two will suffice. The "where" will be chosen by its ability to inconvenience as many people as possible with the smallest footprint nothing as grand as what was tried in Seattle. No rioting is needed. They will organize and just take over, blocking all entrances and exits. They will then hunker down and arm up, letting authorities know they will not be removed by anything short of outright battle with many casualties. So here we are. Unlike in days gone by when Republicans were so afraid of media wrath and opprobrium, they would cede their power to the Democrats on most issues, thereby choosing to lose gracefully. Trump and today's Republicans (mostly, at least) are not averse to winning ugly. A Republican president and a Republican Senate are going to seat Ginsburg's replacement whether the Democrats like it or not. As for their threats, the Democrats have taken the low road so many times that threatening actions already promised as part of the plan, as it happens, is not very threatening. The Democrats and their propaganda allies in the media can squawk all they like, but if McConnell has the votes, there is not a damn thing they can do about it. The author can be found on Twitter @williamlgensert. Amethi (UP): Notwithstanding its alliance with Samajwadi Party, Congress will contest all the 10 Assembly seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituencies represented by Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, respectively, in Uttar Pradesh, the party announced Amethi on Saturday. According to the party high command, Congress will contest all the 10 seats in Amethi and Rae Bareli, said Congress leader Sanjay Singh, who heads the campaign committee of the party.Fielding of candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli was one of the issues of contention between Congress and SP during their talks to forge the pre-poll alliance. Singh claimed that Samajwadi Party had assured Congress that it (Congress) will contest on all the 10 seats in these Lok Sabha constituencies of the Congress vice president and the party president, respectively. Congress will contest on all the seats and the party is firm on this resolve, he stressed. To a question on BJP fielding his estranged first wife Garima Singh from Amethi, Singh said the saffron party has ignored its committed workers and given ticket to a candidate who is neither recognised nor has had any relation with the people of Amethi. He went on to add that Amethi has only one Rani (queen) who is Amita Singh (his present wife) and had long been preparing ground for contesting from Amethi Assembly seat. As per its alliance pact with SP, Congress will contest 105 out of 403 seats of the UP Assembly. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 20:50:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Policemen work near the site of a knife assault in Paris, France, Sept. 25, 2020. Two suspects in connection with a knife assault that injured four people earlier Friday near the former offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo have been arrested, reported local media. (Xinhua/Gao Jing) PARIS, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Two suspects in connection with a knife assault that injured four people earlier Friday near the former offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo have been arrested, reported local media. France's National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office announced an investigation was opened for "attempted assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise." In January 2015, a terrorist attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo left 12 people killed. In the following days, a policewoman was shot dead and there was also an attack on a Jewish supermarket. The main perpetrators of these shootings had been killed in police raids. Earlier this September, a trial of 14 suspects charged in connection with these attacks has begun in Paris. Jaipur, Sep 25 : : At a time when farmers all across the state staged major protests in different cities against the three farm bills passed in Parliament recently, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, veteran leader Randeep Surjewala and Chhattisgarh minister TS Singh also launched a scathing attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. Surjewala, on this occasion, said that Corona in the country, China on borders and Modi on the farms has been making attacks. The anti-farmer agenda of the Modi government started in 2006 from Bihar where farmers lost their earnings. Now this draconian law has been brought in , he said. Gehlot said that the entire country is on the streets because of the vicious situation created by the NDA government. The kinds of decisions taken by this NDA government are known to people, be it demonetisation, GST or to bring in farm bills. The farming mandis formed in the last 40 years have been uprooted in one day. However, the big industrialists are getting major discounts. They can do whatever they want, he added. Gehlot said that the farmer is intelligent and he understands how his interest can be retained safely. "Now the government is talking about MSP for its defence. The situation is quite serious. The way in which all three bills were passed is shameful. No one talked. Therefore, our leaders have spoken to the President in the matter," he added. Gehlot said that in case there was a dispute between farmer and a trader, it was resolved in the kisaan Mandi. "Now, the farmer will have to go to an SDM to resolve this fight. All the provisions are anti-farmer. Mandis shall be scrapped soon. Signs of great ruin are visible," he added. Surjewala further said that the Congress party stands with the farmer in the bandh (strike) called by farmers on Friday. "The BJP is conspiring to end the success story of the Green Revolution. Today, 62 crore farmers and farm labourers are protesting the draconian laws passed in the country while Modi remains busy fooling the nation," he added. Meanwhile, protests were staged in different cities of the desert state. Bandh, Raasta Roko, Protest meetings were organised in different cities including Shri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Churu, Bikaner, Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Nagaur, Jodhpur, Pali, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Kota, Bundi, Baran, Chittaurgarh, Bhilwara and Jaipur, among othr places. Roads were blocked in many towns, said Sanjay Madhav, spokesperson of Akhil Bharatiya Kisaan Sangharsh Samiti, Rajasthan. Madhav said that the Samiti and Left front stands with over 200 associations of farmers, labourers, tribal organisations and other such associations. "We have decided that these draconian laws shall never be implemented in the nation," he said. In Shri Ganganagar thousands of farmers blocked roads for close to two hours. Private and government buses did not ply on roads to avert any mishap and more than 1,000 police personnel were deputed to manage law and order on the streets. The 12th China-South Korea Media High-level Dialogue is held online in Beijing and Seoul on Sept 25, 2020. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] The 12th China-South Korea Media High-level Dialogue was held online in Beijing and Seoul on Friday. Representatives from almost 30 mainstream media outlets of China and the Republic of Korea attended the event and conducted discussions surrounding topics including the cooperation on trade, commerce and global public health governance between the two countries in the post-pandemic era. Xu Lin, minister of the State Council Information Office, urged media professionals from the two countries to report on the innovative cooperation between China and South Korea in fields including health, medical treatment, intelligent manufacturing, big data and 5G. Especially against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, he suggested that media professionals should pay more attention to the joint efforts by the two countries to fight against the virus to boost mutual understanding and deepen mutual trust. The forum was held jointly by China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration and the 21st Century ROK-China Exchange Association in South Korea. Established in 2009, the China-South Korea Media High-level Dialogue aims to boost mutual trust and cooperation between media of the two sides, which take turns to host the annual forum. BRUSSELS : EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager on Friday appealed a court ruling dismissing her order to iPhone maker Apple to pay 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in Irish back taxes, a landmark case in the European Commission's crackdown against sweetheart tax deals. The Luxembourg-based General Court in July scrapped the Commission's 2016 ruling, saying that EU competition enforcers had not met the requisite legal standard to show that Apple had enjoyed an unfair advantage. Vestager said the case was important, a sign that her drive to get multinationals pay their fair share of taxes would continue unabated. "The General Court judgment raises important legal issues that are of relevance to the Commission in its application of State aid rules to tax planning cases," she said in a statement. "The Commission also respectfully considers that in its judgment the General Court has made a number of errors of law," Vestager said. She said legislation is required to close the tax loopholes and ensure transparency, in a call to EU countries to revamp rules. Apple said the court judgment proved it has always complied with Irish laws and that the issue was more about where it should pay taxes rather than the amount. Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said Ireland has always been clear that the correct amount of Irish tax was paid and that the country provided no state aid to Apple. The Commission's case centred on two Irish tax rulings that it said artificially reduced Apple's tax burden for over two decades, which in 2014 was as low as 0.005%. Vestager has three ongoing tax cases, Ikea's and Nike's deals with the Netherlands, as well as Huhtamaki's agreement with Luxembourg. This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics There is a case in the United States today that exist as two realities. One is the absolute belief in Donald Trump and the other is absolute belief that the country is heading for a possible calamity the likes of which have never been seen nor experienced in the democratic country we live. The normal checks and balances for government have been put aside for what is likely to be , already present, the emergence of a "dictator", as president of the United States. Considerable political reach by this administration into all branches of the government quite possibly assuming authoritative control of our government. The Republican Party of Chuck and our elected senator remain silent and largely hiding out. The GOP of reasonable have vanished under a cloak of "our way or the highway..." November 3 might very well be the most important national election in American history. It is my sincere hope that a few of those that exist in that other reality receive news that might be contrary to now accepted beliefs .. The country sorely needs leadership that can and will speak the truth. The GOP of reasonable have vanished under a cloak of "our way or the highway..." November 3 might very well be the most important national election in American history. It is my sincere hope that a few of those that exist in that other reality receive news that might be contrary to now accepted beliefs .. The country sorely needs leadership that can and will speak the truth. The leadership of today occupying the White House is not concerned about you me and all the 205,000 deaths. He is concerned about staying in power and advancing a platform for the nation that has nothing in it. Yes, the GOP party platform has been given over to Donald Trump.. Have we lost reason? Robert Brooks Hes 12 years old, and he has just started his sophomore year at Chattahoochee Technical College, majoring in aerospace engineering. According to a report by 11Alive News, this milestone is just another in a string of exceptional accomplishments for Caleb Anderson. The Marietta, Georgia boy learned sign language before he could verbally communicate; could read the United States Constitution at age two; and qualified for MENSA at age three, the report said. And, while learning English as his first language, the report said he learned Spanish, French and Mandarin, too. According to Calebs family, By nine months old, he was able to sign over 250 words, and by 11 months old, he was speaking and reading, the report cited. So, it didnt take long for his parents to realize their first child was special. Calebs dad, Kobi explained: As we started to interact with other parents, and had other children, then we started to realize how exceptional this experience was, because we had no other frame of reference, the report quoted. According to the report, at age three, Caleb qualified for MENSA, and when he joined at age five, his family said they were told he was the youngest African-American boy to be accepted at the time. After flying through elementary, middle and high school, the report said Caleb felt he was ready for college. The report cited Calebs mom, Claire, who said she recalled her son saying: Mom Im bored. This is not challenging. Its really not helping me grow in my learning, and I think Im ready for college. Caleb, who has just started his sophomore year, is majoring in aerospace engineering. at Chattahoochee Technical College, the report said. What was it like being a college freshman at his age? Calebs dad, Kobi chaperones him on campus, because of his age, the report said. When asked by 11Alive what it was like being a college freshman at his age, Caleb replied, It was exactly how I expected it to be like, if I were 18 or something, the report quoted. The Andersons, who have two other gifted children, Aaron and Hannah, wanted others to know that there are more like Caleb than they might think, the report said. I think people have a negative perspective when it comes to African-American boys. There are many other Calebs out there. African-American boys like him, Claire explained. From being a teacher - I really believe that. But they dont have the opportunity or the resources, the report quoted. Whats on the horizon for Caleb? Caleb, who is on track to graduate at age 14, hopes to go on to Georgia Tech, and, maybe, MIT, the report said. READ MORE: RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday that he and his wife have both tested positive for the coronavirus, though he said he is showing no symptoms. Hes among four governors around the country who have tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, but one of the others turned out to be a false positive. Northam and his wife, who has mild symptoms, plan to isolate for the next 10 days, and the governor will fulfil his duties while working remotely, according to a statement from his office. The Democrat, the countrys only governor who is also a doctor, has previously been criticized by some Republican lawmakers who say his restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the viru s are too stringent. Northam said in a statement that his test result shows that the virus is very real and very contagious. We are grateful for your thoughts and support, but the best thing you can do for us and most importantly, for your fellow Virginians is to take this seriously, Northam said. Both the governor and first lady Pam Northam have kept a full schedule recently. On Tuesday, the governor made public appearances at events in Hampton and Fairfax, while the first lady went on several back to school tours. The governor and his wife are working with state and local health officials to trace their close contacts, Northams office said. The Northams usually wear masks in public, and the governor has issued a statewide mask mandate. The governor and first lady were notified Wednesday that a member of the Executive Mansion staff developed COVID-19 symptoms and that the staff members virus test came back positive. The staff member worked in the couples living quarters. The Executive Mansion and a nearby state office building were closed Friday morning for a deep cleaning. Three other governors also have tested positive for COVID-19. Earlier this week, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican who has steadfastly refused to require residents to wear masks, announced hed tested positive. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt in July became the first governor to announce hed tested positive. He recovered and returned to work less than two weeks later. In August, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that a rapid test was positive. But a short time later, DeWine said a more sensitive test was negative. Northams announcement comes on the same day as a planned rally by President Donald Trump in Newport News, an event the governors staff has asked to be cancelled, re-scheduled or scaled down because of concerns about the virus. The rally is expected to draw 4,000 people, which would violate Northams executive order generally banning gatherings of more than 250 people. The Trump campaign has routinely flouted public health guidelines intended to halt the spread of COVID-19 with its events. OTTAWA - The minority Liberal government has reached a deal with the New Democrats over legislation to support workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, securing the backing needed to survive a confidence vote on the throne speech. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/9/2020 (483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Conservative House Leader Gerard Deltell arrives at a party caucus meeting in Ottawa on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA - The minority Liberal government has reached a deal with the New Democrats over legislation to support workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, securing the backing needed to survive a confidence vote on the throne speech. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh touted the deal as "historic" and said changes demanded by his party to Bill C-2 will ensure that millions of Canadians will be entitled to two weeks of paid sick leave, rather than just the thousands he claimed would have benefited under the government's original proposal. "Today is a historic moment," he told a hastily called news conference on Parliament Hill late Friday. "Because this is the first time ever in the history of our country that we have a federal program now for paid sick leave we believe this is a first step towards creating a permanent program that should be a part of our Canadian social safety net." Singh declined to give details of the changes the NDP has won to the legislation until they are formally tabled in the House of Commons on Monday. But if they reflect the deal struck Friday, Singh said the NDP will support fast-tracking the bill through the Commons in "one or two days" and will also support the throne speech, which must be put to an eventual confidence vote. The minority Liberals need the backing of at least one of the main opposition parties to avoid defeat on the confidence vote, which would plunge the country into an election just as a second wave of COVID-19 is surging across the country. Gov. Gen. Julie Payette, followed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, arrives for the throne speech in the Senate chamber in Ottawa, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang The government had already agreed earlier in the week to another key NDP demand: that Canadians who've been left without jobs or fewer hours of work due to the pandemic will continue to receive $500 a week in benefits. That is the same as they have been receiving under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit which ends Saturday. The government had originally proposed payments at $400 a week. With the end of the CERB, which has been used by almost nine million Canadians to stay afloat during the pandemic, the government is transitioning recipients back to a more robust, generous employment insurance regime. For those who don't qualify for EI, Bill C-2 will create a temporary new Canada Recovery Benefit as well as a sick leave benefit and another benefit for caregivers who are forced to stay home to care for a dependant who falls ill or is forced to self-isolate. Applications for the recovery benefit are to open Oct. 11 and, for the other two benefits, on Oct. 4. To avoid leaving some Canadians in the lurch without any financial support, Singh acknowledged the urgent need to get the bill passed swiftly. He blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the "time crunch," nothing that he prorogued Parliament in August, preventing it from dealing with anything until after the new session opened this week. Nevertheless, Singh said the NDP will support the government in getting the bill passed quickly next week, bypassing the normal legislative process that can take months or even years. "We need to speed up the passage of this legislation so that it gets in place quickly and so that there's not a break in support for families that need the support," he said. The Liberals also cheered the deal. "We are entering the second wave and millions of Canadians are still struggling to make ends meet," government House leader Pablo Rodriguez said Friday on Twitter. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "We now have an agreement with the NDP on a bill that will deliver the help that Canadians need. It's by working together that we will get through this pandemic." The government has set aside Monday and Tuesday for debate on the bill. Earlier Friday, the Conservatives attempted to win support for a motion calling for the Commons to sit on Sunday as well so that MPs could have more time to debate Bill C-2. While they agreed that Canadians need support, they argued that MPs also have a duty to scrutinize legislation that will cost the federal treasury billions. They did not get the unanimous consent needed to pass the motion. The Conservatives have already said they will vote against the throne speech and the Bloc Quebecois say they are leaning that way unless the Liberals meet demands from the provinces to add billions to annual federal health transfers by next week. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2020. Jorge Fernandez Diaz first stepped into his new office inside Spains Interior Ministry on December 22, 2011, just a few days after the Popular Party (PP)'s victory at the general election under the leadership of Mariano Rajoy. The first thing that the veteran conservative politician did, even before accepting the leather portfolio from his predecessor, Antonio Camacho of the Socialist Party (PSOE), was to ask an odd question: Did you guys ever commit any irregularities? Camacho says that he was surprised at the question, and that he answered no. A few minutes later, Fernandez Diaz solemnly made the following statement to reporters: I want everyone to know that I have evidence that the Interior Ministry has never at any time put the rule of law on hold. And it will not do so in future, either. Perhaps that was truly his intention, but the fact remains that just a few months later, a series of apocryphal police reports began to emerge disseminating false information about Catalan politicians involved in separatist activities. Over the course of the five years that followed, other similarly covert operations were carried out by a group of high-ranking members of the National Police working for the Interior Ministry under the PP administration, without judicial authorization or oversight. Fernandez Diaz, his secretary of state for security Francisco Martinez and half-a-dozen police officials are now the targets of a court investigation into an alleged illegal spying operation against the PPs former party treasurer Luis Barcenas. A judge at Spains High Court, the Audiencia Nacional, recently lifted the seal on an inquiry into a covert operation paid with fondos reservados state funds earmarked for national security that are not held up to public scrutiny. Operation Kitchen, as it was codenamed, aimed to find and destroy any incriminating evidence that Barcenas might be holding against members of the Rajoy administration. Barcenas was a key figure in a long-running scandal involving allegations of illegal corporate donations and under-the-table cash bonuses for top PP officials, including Rajoy himself. In early 2013, this newspaper revealed the existence of handwritten ledgers, known as los papeles de Barcenas (the Barcenas papers), suggesting a parallel bookkeeping system for undeclared party funds. The former treasurer was also found to have millions of euros stashed away in Swiss bank accounts . The Barcenas case was part of an even larger scandal known as the Gurtel case involving kickbacks, fraud and money laundering. Dozens of people were convicted in May 2018, and the public outcry helped pave the way for a successful no-confidence vote against Rajoy led by Pedro Sanchez of the Socialist Party (PSOE). But spying on Barcenas was just one of the covert operations that went on under Fernandez Diazs tenure at the Interior Ministry. All the police operations shared several traits: for one, they were never authorized by a judge and therefore there was no judicial oversight; in many cases they fabricated evidence against adversaries of the PP executive, then leaked that information to certain media outlets. Sometimes documents against Catalan separatist leaders were obtained through extortion, while other times information that might be damaging to the government would get stolen. EL PAIS has reconstructed 10 of these operations based on testimony from their victims. 1. Spicing up a report to sink a Catalan premier (October 2012) Left to right: Jorge Fernandez Diaz, Artur Mas and Mariano Rajoy. MARTA PEREZ (EFE) The Catalan premier at the time, Artur Mas, had called regional elections on November 25, 2012 in the hopes of securing a pro-independence majority. In the months leading up to the polls, some members of the police launched a disinformation campaign using alleged reports that contained serious accusations against Mas and other political leaders. I woke up one day to a headline in El Mundo claiming that I had money stashed away in Switzerland. It was absolutely false, says Mas. I spent the rest of the campaign trying to prove something that I could not prove: my innocence, because it was all a pack of lies. Nobody would believe me. Im sure it cost us quite a few lawmakers, we lost 12 seats. At a personal level, this was shattering for my father during the last few months of his life. Mas is convinced that it all happened with consent from La Moncloa [the seat of Spanish government]. Mas filed a complaint against the newspaper, but the case was shelved. The judge said that the reporters had contacted the Interior Ministry to determine whether the report was credible, and the reply had been affirmative. Mas took his case to the European courts, and he is still awaiting a decision. The feeling you get is that anything goes, that heres a brazen breach of the rule of law and that the courts, instead of protecting you, shelve the case. It was a campaign run by a political apparatus the PP along with a media apparatus and a parapolice apparatus, adds Mas, under whose term in office Catalonia held a non-binding independence vote in November 2014 that predates the unauthorized referendum of October 1, 2017. In early 2017, Mas was tried for disobedience and barred from office for two years for authorizing a vote ruled unconstitutional under Spanish legislation. The charges against Mas were based on a police report that bore no date, no signature and no seal. The resulting scandal led the ministry to launch an internal investigation. The man in charge of the probe, Internal Affairs police chief Marcelino Martin Blas, said the following inside Catalan parliament: We discovered that the report was a cut-and-paste of other official reports and that somebody, and we never found out who, had added a bit of spice to the text by introducing accusations of tax evasion against Mas and others. None of it turned out to be true. 2. The penthouse that ended a Madrid premiers career (November 2011-March 2015) Former Madrid premier Ignacio Gonzalez in a file photo. Samuel Sanchez Then-interior minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told his top aide Francisco Martinez to go talk to veteran police chief Jose Manuel Villarejo about a matter that was making life complicated for Ignacio Gonzalez, a fellow PP politician who was then serving as the deputy premier of the Madrid region. In the fall of 2012, the media reported on a luxury penthouse used by Gonzalez in Estepona, on Spains Costa del Sol, which he and his wife first rented and later purchased at what was described as below market prices. Before that, in November 2011, Gonzalez himself had met with Villarejo, who is currently at the center of a huge investigation involving 20 years' worth of phone taps, undercover recordings and other invasions of privacy against scores of politicians, business people, judges and journalists. At that 2011 meeting, held inside a cafeteria in Madrids Puerta del Sol, Villarejo offered to solve Gonzalezs problems. But true to form, Villarejo also secretly recorded the conversation, and produced it four years later, on March 9, 2015, three months ahead of regional elections, in order to ruin Gonzalezs political career. The latter had been serving as Madrid premier since September 2012. Villarejo boasted to his friends about having personally caused Gonzalezs downfall by deliberately leaking that conversation. Top PP officials were aware of this operation against Gonzalez, according to Villarejos testimony, although they allegedly had last-minute regrets. Eight years after the scandal broke, a judge shelved the case on the basis that there was not enough evidence to prove that someone had gifted the attic to Gonzalez in exchange for favors. 3. Villarejos mission to undermine the Gurtel case (July 2009) Former PP treasurer Luis Barcenas during a statement from Soto del Real prison. ULY MARTIN Villarejo, who describes himself as an undercover agent on his own resume, had been getting jobs from the PP ever since the conservative party began suffering from the effects of the Gurtel case, a sprawling kickbacks-for-contracts scandal that ultimately ended the career of Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote in June 2018. In July 2009, a few months after the case broke, Villarejo met with Dolores de Cospedal, then the partys secretary general, inside her office at PP headquarters in Madrid. There, he told Cospedal and the latters husband, Ignacio Lopez del Hierro, that he and other police officers were at their disposal to obstruct the Gurtel investigation and try to minimize damage to the party. As usual, Villarejo secretly recorded the conversation. Ive got my wallet on one side and my heart on the other, he is heard saying. My heart is yours. Every time you guys are in power, I never make money, but every time the Socialist Party (PSOE) is in power, theyre so disastrous that they always end up giving me jobs. Villarejo told Cospedal and her husband of the attempt to eliminate a pen drive in the possession of party treasurer Luis Barcenas; he also said that top PP officials had been warned ahead of time about impending raids and other operations. Lopez del Hierro is heard saying: Would you be willing, for instance, to do the occasional job on specific matters? Cospedal adds: Dont worry about discretion issues. 4. A botched search for Barcenas' secrets (June 2013-June 2015) Four years after that semi-secret meeting at PP headquarters, Villarejo and Inspector Andres Gomez Gordo, a former official in the government of Castilla-La Mancha when Cospedal was its regional premier, took charge of Operation Kitchen, which a judicial inquiry has described as an attempt to steal incriminating information from the disgraced PP treasurer Luis Barcenas. Villarejo and Gomez Gordo persuaded Sergio Rios, Barcenas chauffeur, to work for them. He was paid 2,000 a month between June 2013 and June 2015 to pass on information about where the couple kept sensitive information about the party. In the meantime, nearly 70 officers were sent out to trail Barcenass wife, Rosalia Iglesias. Amateurism was always a significant element in this spying work by the PPs political police. On one occasion, Villarejo tasked Barcenas chauffeur with obtaining the wifes cellphone number so they could tap it. One day, when Rosalia Iglesias momentarily left the phone inside the car, Rios grabbed it and placed a call to his own phone, so the number would be registered. But then he did not know how to delete the record of the outgoing call from Iglesiass device. The chauffeur was eventually offered a position with the National Police as a reward for his efforts. Ultimately, the stolen documents lacked any real relevance, and in any case they were leaked to the media even before a court could get its hands on them. 5. Jordi Pujols accounts in Andorra (June 2014) Former Catalan premier Jordi Pujol and his wife Marta Ferrusola. In late 2012, a line of investigation against the family of Jordi Pujol, who served as Catalan premier between 1980 and 2003, made significant headway. The Pujols had already been targeted by ghost reports published by El Mundo with headlines such as: The Pujols have 137 million in Geneva, according to the police. But the investigation really came together when Maria Victoria Alvarez, a former girlfriend of the eldest son, also named Jordi Pujol, told the police what she personally knew about the familys accounts in Andorra, a microstate between Spain and France that is considered a tax haven. She later gave the same information to a judge. The police were on the case but the money had not turned up. Then, in the spring of 2014, officers working under Eugenio Pino, who was the head of the police department Direccion Adjunta Operativa (DAO) and a high-ranking official within the Interior Ministry, decided to target Banca Privada dAndorra (BPA). Bank executives were told to cooperate with information about the Pujols accounts or prepare for action against the lenders Spanish affiliate, Banco de Madrid, according to testimony from the bank owners. Joan Pau Miquel, the CEO of BPA, met with Internal Affairs police chief Marcelino Martin Blas at Villamagna Hotel in Madrid in June 2014, and handed him a slip of paper showing a bank account, the names of Jordi Pujol, his wife Marta Ferrusola and one of their daughters, and several amounts. Another police officer who went to Andorra managed to save a screenshot of the Pujols account, showing a balance of 3.4 million. But Pino did not go straight to the judge with the information, which was published a few days later by El Mundo. Jordi Pujol was forced to admit two weeks later that he had funds in foreign bank accounts, leading to a public scandal. A former Banco de Madrid official remembers those events: The police did not believe that thats all there was [the money]; they believed there was over 100 million and that the bank was not cooperating fully. In the middle of that pressure, somebody informed US authorities about alleged money laundering at BPA. In March 2015, the FinCen [the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the US Treasury Department, an anti-money-laundering unit] named BPA a foreign financial institution of primary money-laundering concern based on information suggesting that it knowingly facilitated transactions on behalf of third-party money launderers acting on behalf of transnational criminal organizations. That same month, the Bank of Spain stepped in to take control of Banco de Madrid and the latter has since been involved in insolvency procedures. They took down a bank in good financial health for nothing, says the same ex-official. They based it on a report by Sepblac [Executive Service of the Committee for Prevention and Money Laundering, which answers to the Economy Ministry] that was inconsistent and leaked to the media. There were four trials and nothing was ever proven. The US later pulled its own report. More than 200 employees lost their jobs; we went to court and were told to pay the legal fees. They covered things up. It was injustice on a galactic scale. Bank executives took legal action in Andorra against police officials over coercion claims in a case that is still open. 6. The non-existent Swiss account that brought down the mayor of Barcelona (October 2014) Xavier Trias (l) is congratulated by his precedessor, Jordi Hereu, in 2008. CARLES RIBAS In late 2014, the situation in Catalonia became tense again when the regional government headed by Artur Mas announced an unauthorized independence referendum for November 9 of that year. Before that, on October 2 and 16, Jorge Fernandez Diaz had met with Catalonias anti-fraud chief, Daniel de Alfonso, inside the formers office. The conversation was recorded with the ministers authorization (as he himself later admitted) and it was revealed in 2016 by the online daily Publico. At this meeting, both men conspired to set up a new operation against the mayor of Barcelona at the time, Xavier Trias of the moderately nationalist coalition Convergence and Union (CiU), now defunct. Fernandez Diaz and De Alfonso discussed an alleged Swiss bank account held by Trias, and noted how well the operation against Jordi Pujol had turned out. Just days later, on October 27, El Mundo ran a story about an alleged Swiss bank account in Triass name holding 12.9 million. It was totally false. It happened six months before the municipal elections of May 2015. My wife said to me, No matter what you manage to prove, the damage is done, youve lost the election. And so it was, recalls Trias. The most astounding thing is that, at the time, the parties did not do much about it. Later, when more information began to emerge about the cesspit of the state, they did, but when it happened to me, nobody paid attention. Three days later, the Swiss bank UBS sent a statement denying the veracity of the claim: they did not have a client with that name, and the account number did not match any at the lender. The Spanish police, who presumably leaked the document in the first place, then filed a complaint with prosecutors, but the claim was shelved. A top police aide travelled to Switzerland to find out why theyd been given false information, but came back empty-handed. Trias took legal action against El Mundo but lost the case. The judge said that the reporters were not to blame because the source was credible: it was the Interior Ministry. It seems unreal that such things can happen under a rule of law. They say: Were going to take this guy down, they achieve their goal, and nothing happens. 7. Media weapons to politically destroy Podemos (January 2016) Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias, head of the Podemos party. EFE At the general election of December 2015, Podemos secured 69 seats and became the third-largest force in the lower house of parliament, the Congress of Deputies. Its lawmakers were now in a position to obstruct the formation of a new PP government. Just a few days later, DAO chief Eugenio Pino, who was as loyal to the interior minister as the latter was to Mariano Rajoy, ordered his most trusted officers to send the Audit Court a damning report on Podemos and its leader, Pablo Iglesias. The report bore no signature, its authorship was unclear, and it appeared to have been hastily put together. Just 23 days after the elections, it was published by the online daily Ok Diario, which claimed that a police document proved that the Iranian government had funded Iglesias political career. Manos Limpias, a union created by far-right figure Miguel Bernad, used this document as the basis for filing a crime report that was shelved. Weeks later, the police used the same document to file a complaint with the Audit Court, which also shelved it. Pablo Iglesias says that he spoke on several occasions with Fernandez Diaz and the latter always said he had nothing to do with it. He wasnt going to say yes, as a matter of fact Ive sent some guys over to tear you to pieces, notes Iglesias in conversation. One of the chief characteristics of the report against me is how crudely it was crafted. Not even the most receptive judge could possibly have taken it into account as evidence. The goal was not to put me in jail, since they had obtained no proof of any illegal activities. The so-called PISA report [for Pablo Iglesias S. A., but also a play on the international educational assessment report] was meant to provide fodder to tabloids and even allegedly respectable media outlets in order to establish a lingering lie about illegal financing by Podemos. Iglesias underscored the media value of the police operation that targeted him. Villarejo built up his media clout. This police officer is who he is thanks to his contacts in the media world, and it is unacceptable that we should take in stride statements such as a journalists job is to meet individuals like Villarejo over dinner. I think that signals the beginning of the end of democracy. The campaign was not solely aimed at Iglesias. Another Podemos leader, Juan Carlos Monedero, recalls how he was the target of the same strategy. False reports get drafted by the state apparatus and leaked to specific media outlets to create a social construct about you being a criminal. At one point I was dealing with up to 12 private criminal complaints, and for three days there were reporters stationed outside my house 24/7. In the end all the complaints got shelved, but it doesnt matter, people already think that you are a criminal. Monedero adds that it was a very intense period in his life. They create a very hostile environment and point you out as though you were public enemy number one. And the only thing youve done is found a party that might hurt them. Yes, there was a moment when they managed to rattle me. 8. A new life for a former minister of Venezuela in exchange for evidence against Iglesias (April 2016) Rafael Isea in Washington DC. XAVIER DUSSAQ On the first week of April 2016, the online dailies El Confidencial and Ok Diario ran stories saying that Venezuela had paid 7 million to Podemos leaders Pablo Iglesias and Juan Carlos Monedero, and to Jorge Verstrynge, a former politician and political scientist who helped found the party. The latter recalls that at first he dismissed the story, but later became concerned. Someone from intelligence [services] warned me that they were going after Pablo, he says. [The source] said that they were going to metaphorically kill him. I warned him. He had been expecting it. The news story was based on an alleged document signed by Rafael Isea, a former finance minister under Venezuelas Hugo Chavez. Three officers from the Spanish National Police travelled to New York a few days later to meet with Isea to verify the authenticity of the document. The meeting took place inside the Spanish consulate, and the police officers, who said they represented the government, promised to get Iseas family out of Venezuela and offer them a new life in exchange for testimony against Podemos. A police officer named Fuentes Gago reportedly said: If you help us prevent the Podemos people from making it [to power], goddammit, it will be better for everyone. Chavezs former minister agreed to the deal despite noticing odd things about the document: I dont usually write in that style; the dates and names didnt sound familiar, and nobody ever used Chavezs second surname, recalls Isea. A month after that meeting, his statement appeared in print in the conservative newspaper Abc, but the promises vanished. In June 2019, Isea told his story to EL PAIS: They manipulated me with a very delicate matter, they placed my family at risk. For several months I was under tough pressure, waiting for the reaction by the Venezuelan government. That is why I never spoke up until now. Were talking about lives at stake. Were talking about an 80-year-old lady whom I cant even see. I trusted in a government that told me it could get my mother out of there. But Isea never again heard from the police officers who had made that promise. 9. A phony payment order in the Grenadine islands (May 2016)In May 2016, the police leaked information to Ok Diario regarding a payment order worth $272,325 (229,000) made by the Venezuela government to the name of Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias at a branch office of Euro Pacific Bank in the Grenadine islands. The date on the order, March 11, 2014, coincided with the date when Podemos registered to run in the European elections of May 25, 2014. A Venezuelan citizen named Carlos Alberto Arias secured a residency permit from the Spanish Interior Ministry in exchange for cooperating with the police by producing documents regarding payments by the Venezuelan executive to Podemos and Pablo Iglesias, as Arias himself later admitted. The document turned out to be phony, as confirmed by the Euro Pacific Bank. 10. A telephone theft turns into a smear campaign (June 2016) Former Podemos advisor Dina Bousselham outside the High Court in Madrid. Luca Piergiovanni (EFE) Dina Bousselham, an advisor to Pablo Iglesias in the European Parliament, filed a police report on November 1, 2015 stating that her cellphone had been stolen. Two months later, the phones memory card, which contained sensitive information, made it to the newsroom of Interviu magazine, allegedly inside an envelope with no return address. The card ended up in the hands of the police chief Villarejo, who asked the magazine director to hand it over because, as he said, his bosses at the Interior Ministry were interested in its contents. The contents that were most likely to damage Iglesias reputation some sexist remarks he made about a female reporter were published in Ok Diario a few days after Villarejo, as his agenda reflects, had met with reporters from that media outlet. Villarejo, who has been in preventive prison since 2017, has been charged in connection with that incident. What really makes Villarejo great is that he is a media professional, notes Iglesias. What we went through was not the cesspits ability to produce fake evidence, but its tremendous ability to produce fake news. A disregard for the truth has become the norm, not the exception. I think that in the media wars, a wartime logic has been adopted in that anything goes; the goal of the headline, of the conversation topic, is never to see the truth or the facts in a specific manner, but to wage war on the adversary. And that leaves our democracy in a very vulnerable position. English version by Susana Urra. The Liberal National Party is promising to turn Bowen from Australia's mango capital into its space capital by building a $15 million rocket launch pad near the central Queensland city. LNP leader Deb Frecklington has pledged the funds for the Abbot Point facility, with Queensland firm Gilmour Space Technologies to be the anchor tenant, if she's elected as premier at the October 31 state election. The firm already has contracts with customers who need to launch in an easterly direction and Abbot Point is the safest place to do that in Australia. 'This means we can launch satellites into space from right here in Queensland,' Ms Frecklington said on Friday. 'Make no mistake, if these rockets with their satellites aren't launched from Queensland, they's going to be launched out of Cape Canaveral in the US. 'I want to see these rockets launched from right here in Queensland because it's all about high-tech, high-paid, secure jobs for Queensland.' Gilmour Space Technologies will be the anchor tenant at the space facility at Abbot Point which is currently home to one of Australia's biggest coal export terminals (pictured) Federal LNP member George Christensen said the launch pad would 'fire a rocket up local job creation' with 300 construction-phase jobs and 200 ongoing jobs at the site. He said as a Star Trek fanatic, he had always wanted to say at a press conference: 'Space: the final frontier.' 'Now it's Bowen: the final frontier,' Mr Christiansen grinned. 'The LNP are taking Bowen from the mango capital of Australia to the space capital of Australia.' Gilmour Space Technologies founder Adam Gilmour believes Australia has the both workforce and the programs to be able to train locals for jobs in his high-tech industry He's confident almost all of the jobs at both his company and the launch pad project will be filled by Australians. 'We've had people in the company for four or five years now who understand all the components of rocket technologies,' Mr Gilmour said. Mr Gilmour said the investment would help bring about 'the trifecta' of Australia's first satellite, being launched on an Australian rocket, from an Australian launch pad. He said satellite technology was extremely important for day-to-day life, enabling things such as ATM and payWave transactions and weather forecasts. LNP leader Deb Frecklington (pictured) has promised to fund the new facility if she's elected as premier of Queensland at the October 31 state election. Gilmour Space Technologies' first launches from the proposed site would be satellites used to monitor bushfires. 'Once you have a constellation of these satellites in space you can basically within about five minutes spot a new bushfire, you can monitor when the bushfires are moving, and the great thing about satellites is that they're always up there, they're always watching,' Mr Gilmour said. He also said public interest in watching rocket launches would help create new tourism opportunities in the region. 'I would estimate that 20,000 people would come to our first launch,' Mr Gilmour said. 'It will be spectacular.' A woman who asked a Manitoba judge to drop her criminal charges, arguing she had been denied reasonable bail, has died. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/9/2020 (483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A woman who asked a Manitoba judge to drop her criminal charges, arguing she had been denied reasonable bail, has died. Shayna Kelly-White, 27, died July 7. She had been awaiting a sentencing decision from provincial court Judge Lindy Choy on whether Kelly-White's charter rights were violated after she was charged with drug offences in May 2018. Kelly-White spent more than six months in jail after she was deemed eligible for release, because she couldn't afford to pay the $500 cash bail. As a result of Kelly-White's death, the judge decided not to issue the ruling. "Her death was untimely and unexpected. It is a great tragedy. While the offences themselves were not the most serious, very significant legal and systemic issues regarding denial of reasonable bail were raised in the sentencing," Choy said during a Sept. 16 hearing in Winnipeg. Despite those systemic issues which Kelly-White's defence lawyer suggested could have a broader impact on bail procedures in Manitoba if Choy were to release her ruling the judge said provincial court cases end when an accused dies. "I must unfortunately conclude that I am without jurisdiction to issue a decision on sentence," said Choy, who had reserved her decision following a June 3 hearing at which Kelly-White was present. At the time, Kelly-White said she had nothing to say to the judge. Kelly-White pleaded guilty to simple possession of crack cocaine and breach charges more than a year ago. However, her defence lawyer, Rohit Gupta, filed a constitutional challenge asking for a judicial stay of proceedings, which would drop the case if the judge ruled in favour. He argued Kelly-White's right not to be arbitrarily detained, her right to liberty and her right to reasonable bail were all violated following her arrest in Norway House more than two years ago. Gupta, who wasn't present at the Sept. 16 hearing and instead took part via telephone, had pushed for Choy to issue the decision even after Kelly-White's death. He told court he filed a legal brief arguing releasing the decision would be a proper use of court resources but Choy said she didn't receive it. Although she was never sentenced, Kelly-White served nearly seven times the jail sentence the Crown prosecutor was seeking. The federal Crown asked the judge to impose a 36-day sentence; Kelly-White spent a total of 251 days in custody. She died at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre of an infection, leaving behind family in Northern Ontario. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In a February 2019 interview with the Free Press about systemic bail problems in northern Manitoba, the First Nations woman was open about her struggles with drug addiction, which she said were rooted in past trauma. She said she felt the justice system didn't treat her as innocent until proven guilty. "I did what I had to do to get by in life, and the consequences for it were my charges. Some of the people dont understand weve gotten left alone, abandoned in life, and so theres trauma in our life that drives us into doing stuff like this, so we felt like we have nobody," she said, while out on bail. "They dont understand the fact that like, if we had the help of other people, instead of them judging us the way they do, theyd actually probably have a lot of changed people in the world." After her 2018 arrest, a treatment bed opened for her at the Behavioural Health Foundation, but the spot was given away because she couldn't raise the $500 the court imposed to allow her to get out on bail. A Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench judge later ruled it was illegal to impose cash bail on someone who can't afford to pay. katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay Security Analyst, Colonel Festus Aboagye believes dialogue with leaders of the secessionist group, Homeland Study Foundation, is the best way government could resolve the recent reprehensible actions taken by the group. The group wants the Volta Region and parts of northern Ghana to be an autonomous country with the name, Western Togoland. Members of the secessionist group in the early hours of Friday, September 25, 2020, blocked major entries into the Volta Region. Most passengers travelling to areas in the Volta Region including Tefle, Tsopoli and Juapong were stranded as a result of the roadblock. This the Security Analyst in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show said the government needs to be proactive in dealing with the issue. He, however, added that the issue cannot be resolved through the barrel of the gun. He thus urged the government to proactively engage the leaders of the group and have a mutual agreement. The government hasnt told Ghanaians or informed Ghanaians as to what it is that it is doing to resolve this issue. Is it through diplomacy, is it having a dialogue with this group? Where is it having the dialogue and with whom is it having the dialogue with? Indeed I am of the opinion that this issue will be resolved not through the barrel of the gun from either side. In the long run, we will have to sit around the table. So the earlier we proactively dialogue with the group in order to arrive at some mutual agreement as to how things are going to go, the better for us. But it doesnt mean that Ghana must not resolutely defend the sovereignty of this land. That is not part of the debate but the government needs to tell us what it is that it is doing to solve this issue. ---citinewsroom The Marine Corps is considering a plan in which it could close its two existing boot camp locations and funnel all recruits to a new base where men and women would train together. Marine entry-level training is a long way off from being able to meet a congressional mandate to make its East and West coast training bases both able to support gender-integrated training in the coming years, the Corps' top general said on Thursday. That is leading the service to study the option of opening a third training base in a new location to which all new recruits would ship, rather than spending cash on construction projects at aging training bases. "Nothing, the way we're organized right now, lends itself to integrated recruit training," Commandant Gen. David Berger said on Thursday. "If that's our start point -- and it is -- we have to get to a place on both coasts, or at third location or whatever we end up with, that ... there are male and female recruits around." Read Next: Female Marine Drill Instructors Are Headed to All-Male San Diego Boot Camp Both the Marine Corps' recruit training depots have storied pasts -- particularly Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina, which was first used by Marines in the 1890s. Hundreds of thousands of Marines have stood on the famous yellow footprints on each base at the start of their careers before earning the coveted eagle, globe and anchor and title of Marine. But with a new law bearing down on the service to make both locations support coed training -- within five years at Parris Island and eight at San Diego -- the Marine Corps is exploring different options, Maj. Eric Flanagan, Berger's spokesman told Military.com. "The question becomes, 'Are we better off just using [military construction] dollars to create a new third site, or put that money into our existing sites?'" he said. "No decisions have been made. We're not investing any money anywhere else. It's just an option we're talking about." The Marine Corps hasn't yet identified a state where the new boot camp location might be located, Flanagan said. In assessing the possible change though, he said they're considering a lot more than just the need for coed squad bays and other facility changes to support gender-integrated boot camp. Parris Island sits on South Carolina's coast, just north of Hilton Head, leaving it susceptible to hurricanes. And in California, recruits leave the recruit depot, which butts up against San Diego International Airport, to complete some of their needed training at nearby Camp Pendleton. Related: 4 of the Funniest Boot Camp Stories We've Ever Heard Having two boot camp sites also creates redundancies, Flanagan said. Historically, all female recruits and men who live east of the Mississippi River train at Parris Island. Male recruits west of the Mississippi ship to San Diego. "If you have to update a lot anyway, do you save manpower, resources and personnel by just combining the two into one?" Flanagan said. If the Marine Corps were to move boot camp away from its fabled training bases, Kate Germano, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel who led Parris Island's female 4th Recruit Training Battalion, said leaders must explain their reasoning in full. Otherwise, she said she worries male Marines would blame women for the loss of tradition. "There would be so much animus there, as if there isn't already enough," Germano said. Women first began training at Parris Island in the 1940s, but it wasn't until last year that the training base saw the first-ever coed company graduate. The Marine Corps continues to fight to keep its platoons segregated by gender, though it has trained several more coed companies. Germano said she's concerned plans to create an all-new training base would slow boot camp gender-integration efforts. "The way the Marine Corps has kicked this can down the road consistently, it's a delay tactic in my view," Germano said. She was relieved of command in 2015 for what she says was an effort to push for better, more equitable training for women. Marine officials contended at the time she was relieved because she was a toxic leader. There can be a years-long lag between a planned military construction project, Germano said, and "shovels in the dirt." "The big question that I have is, where is this on the Marine Corps' list of priorities, and why isn't it at the top?" she said. A Marine Corps memo on the service's plans to make boot camp gender-neutral released last month referred to it as such. "Gender integration at Marine Corps Recruit Training remains a top priority," the plan submitted to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services states. "The outcome the Marine Corps desires for gender integration is for every male recruit to train alongside a female recruit within the same company." But for a service that has struggled to embrace coed training, Richard Kohn, a history professor who studies the U.S. military at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said a new training site could serve as a fresh start. "If they build something from the ground up, they'll be able to make it exactly as they want to facilitate integrated training," Kohn added. "And second of all, if they get rid of Parris Island, it might dilute the traditionalist emotions." Kohn said the move is likely to face pushback from members of Congress interested in keeping the bases -- along with their associated workforces -- in their states. Flanagan said it's too early to say whether a new boot camp site would mean the Marine Corps would get rid of its two coastal-area bases. Closing military bases can take years, but the real estate in California and South Carolina could prove valuable. Ultimately, Kohn said, the decision could come down to cost. "The bean counters usually [decide] these things," he said. -- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins. Related: Here's the Marine Corps' Plan to End Gender Segregation at Boot Camp Stay on Top of Your Military 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. CHICAGO, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- August was a challenging month for hospitals nationwide as margins declined across the board, reflecting continued volatility in the sixth month of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Kaufman Hall September National Hospital Flash Report. Operating Margin is down 7.9 percentage points since the start of the year compared to the first eight months of 2019, not including federal funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Factoring in the federal aid, Operating Margin is down 2.3 percentage points year-to-date. In August, Operating Margin fell 18% (1.8 percentage points) year-over-year, 12% (1.2 percentage points) month-over-month, and 8% (0.7 percentage point) below budget without CARES relief. With the federal aid, Operating Margin was down 3% (0.4 percentage point) year-over-year and 28% (2.9 percentage points) month-over-month, but 3% (0.4 percentage point) above budget for the month. Margin results have consistently fallen below 2019 levels since the start of the pandemic, but the August declines follow three months of moderate month-over-month gains after the most devastating losses in March and April. "While the August numbers are concerning, they are not surprising," said Jim Blake, managing director, Kaufman Hall. "The latest results clearly illustrate the long road ahead for hospitals as they weather the ups and downs of a difficult recovery." Multiple factors contributed to the August declines, including continued low volumes and revenues, and high per-patient expenses. Hospitals nationwide saw volumes decline across most measures in August, marking the sixth consecutive month of volumes falling below 2019 performance and below budget. Adjusted Discharges are down 13% year-to-date, and fell 12% year-over-year and 8% below budget in August. Adjusted Patient Days are down 10% year-to-date, and declined 6% year-over-year and 4% below budget for the month. Emergency Department (ED) Visits continue to be hit particularly hard, declining 16% year-to-date compared to the same period in 2019. ED Visits saw the greatest year-over-year declines in August, falling 16% compared to both prior year performance and to budget. Operating Room Minutes are down 14% year-to-date and fell 6% year-over-year in August, but were less than 1% below budget expectations. Hospitals continued to see revenue declines in August. Not including CARES funding, Gross Operating Revenue is down 7% year-to-date compared to the first eight months of 2019. In August, Gross Operating Revenue fell 2% year-over-year and 4% below budget. Fewer outpatient visits have led to revenue declines, with Outpatient Revenue down 10% year-to-date compared to January-August 2019. Inpatient Revenue has fallen 4% over the same period. Meanwhile, per-patient expenses continue to rise, as hospitals struggle to control costs relative to lower patient volumes. Total Expense per Adjusted Discharge and Labor Expense per Adjusted Discharge both are up 17% year-to-date over the first eight months of 2019. In August, Total Expense per Adjusted Discharge jumped 15% year-over-year and 7% above budget. Labor Expense per Adjusted Discharge increased 14% compared to August 2019 and was 6% above budget. Non-Labor Expense per Adjusted Discharge is up 15% from January-August compared to the same period in 2019, and rose 14% year-over-year and 6% above budget for the month. The National Hospital Flash Report draws on data from more than 800 hospitals. Contact Philip Anast at [email protected] to connect with Kaufman Hall experts for comment. About Kaufman Hall Kaufman Hall provides management consulting solutions to help society's foundational institutions realize sustained success amid changing market conditions. Since 1985, Kaufman Hall has been a trusted advisor to boards and executive management teams, helping them incorporate proven methods, rigorous analytics and industry-leading solutions into their strategic planning and financial management processes, with a focus on achieving their most challenging goals. Kaufman Hall services use a rigorous, disciplined, and structured approach that is based on the principles of corporate finance. The breadth and integration of Kaufman Hall advisory services are unparalleled, encompassing strategy; financial and capital planning; cost transformation; treasury and capital markets management; and mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and joint ventures. Press Contact: Philip Anast Amendola Communications (for Kaufman Hall) Email: [email protected] Phone: 312-576-6990 SOURCE Kaufman Hall Related Links https://www.kaufmanhall.com Opera Grand Rapids sings Christmas carols in front of DeVos Place on Friday, Dec. 20, 2019, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Brian Hayes | MLive.com Mr John Mahama, as president of Ghana, ruined the economy to the extent that his government could not even buy chalk for basic schools, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said. Speaking to Nimdee FM in Sunyani on Thursday, 24 September 2020, as part of his tour of the Bono Region, Dr Bawumia said in contrast to the Mahama administration which was replete with economic hardships, the Akufo-Addo government has been able to change things for the better and still doing more. Dr Bawumia said: Mr Mahama gave Ghana five years of dumsor. He messed up Ghanas economy badly. His government couldnt pay for a lot of things, Dr Bawumia said. In his view, Dumsor was brought about as a result of the mismanagement of the economy by Mr Mahama. While in opposition, we said that dumsor was a financial problem rather than a technical one, the Vice President recalled. Again, he noted that the Mahama government couldnt pay just GHS70 million as allowance for teacher trainees and, so, had to cancel it. They also cancelled nurse trainee allowance because they couldnt pay, he added. Further, Dr Bawumia said: Every year, there was an average 45 per cent increase in electricity tariffs under the Mahama administration. Taxes, the Vice President note, also kept rising. Additionally, he recalled that teachers who had worked for three or four years were paid just three months of their arrears. Dr Bawumia said the situation was so bad to the extent that even the provision of chalk for basic schools was a problem for the Mahama government. In the financial sector, Dr Bawumia said 82 microfinance companies, including DKM, went bust under the Mahama government because they could not pay depositors. While in opposition, I warned that there was a looming banking crisis, the Vice President said. Now, since 2017, we have changed things for the better, he said. Im not saying we have achieved 100 per cent, but, at least, a lot of things have changed, the Vice President asserted. Dumsor is no more. Teacher and nurse trainee allowances are being paid. Arabic teachers allowance is being paid. Debts owed the National Health Insurance Scheme have been cleared. Electricity tariffs have been reduced. We are spending GHS2.2 billion every year on free senior high school education which has enabled 1.2 million students to gain access to second-cycle education even though Mr Mahama said if he had GHS2.2 billion he will never spend it on free SHS, Dr Bawumia said. Watch video below: ---classfm Member of the White House's coronavirus task force Dr. Scott Atlas speaks to the press as President Donald Trump looks on during a news conference at the White House in Washington, on Sept. 16, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) White House Adviser Scott Atlas Says CDC Director Misstated COVID-19 Data Trump adviser Scott Atlas recently accused U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield of misstating CCP virus data during a news conference on Wednesday. According to Atlas, Redfield had not been referring to the most recent CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus data when making his testimony. I think that Dr. Redfield misstated something there, Atlas said. The data on susceptible that he was talking about was his surveillance data that showed that roughly nine percent of the country has antibodies. But when you look at the CDC data state by state, much of that data is old, some of it goes back to March or April, before many of these states have the cases. Furthermore, Atlas claimed that Redfield had based his data and information solely on the population of people with antibodies. Atlas introduced the idea of T cellspart of the immune system that deals with foreign particles that enter the bodyplaying a critical role in immunity, although the part it plays is different than that of an antibody. Moreover, there are various scientific papers out there that indicate that there are other ways that an individual can have immunity. The immunity to the infection is not solely determined by the percent of people who have antibodies. If you look at the research, and theres been 24 papers, at least, on the immunity from T-cell, thats the different type of immunity than antibodies, Atlas said. The reality is that according to the papers from Sweden, Singapore, and elsewhere, there is cross-immunity highly likely from other infections, and there is also T-cell immunity. And the combination of those makes the antibodies a small fraction of the people that have immunity. The Epoch Times reached out to the CDC but has not received a response to a request for comment. According to Redfield, who spoke at the CCP virus Senate Testimony on Wednesday, the preliminary results from the antibody testing indicated that the majority of the population in the United States, as much as 90 percent, remains susceptible to the CCP virus, meaning that roughly 10 percent of the people in the United States have been infected by the CCP virus. Redfield also noted during his testimony that the numbers of infected are different in various different parts of the country. It varies in different geographic parts from states that have less than one percent with evidence of previous infection, to some that have more than 15, 20, and one as high as 24 percent. Well have that finalized and probably published in the next week or so, but it does show that a majority of Americans are still susceptible to this virus, Redfield said. By PTI ITANAGAR: A couple in Arunachal Pradesh has donated 22,000 square metres of land for the establishment of a model village. The land donated by Gibi Tato and Minli Tato is located below the Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) Road between Kerang and Keak villages near Aalo, in West Siang district, an official said. The village is to be named as Minli-Gibi or MG village after the generous couple. The couple's efforts for three years to turn the place into a model village has resulted in road connectivity, children's park, playground and nine uniform dwelling houses, the official said. "A drainage system, rearing of livestock away from the dwelling places, granary at a planned location, improvised toilets and electrification are being worked out from various sources," Minli Tato said. He, however, lamented that many things remain to be done despite the village having been notified. "The jungle land above the roadside which belongs to us will also be spared for the villagers for the construction of a prayer centre and mitigate forest material needs of the people. The village will formally be inaugurated at an appropriate time after fulfilling all the basic needs," he said. The efforts of the couple also drew the attention of Chief Minister Pema Khandu who in a tweet appreciated the gesture. The couple, along with the village committee, observed the third foundation day of the village as part of 'Seva Saptah' with a wide range of programmes on September 23. Nine students of the village were given notebooks, pens, pencils and a bicycle each to help them go to school at Kaying and Keak. Saplings of ornamental trees were also planted from the roadside till the village. Rebom Nguso Lendo, the districts food and civil supply officer, and Gijum Tali, the information and public relations officer, who attended the programme, praised the generosity of the couple. Marion County authorities on Friday downgraded mandatory evacuation orders for three communities, allowing residents to return to their homes as firefighters make progress against Oregon wildfires. Detroit, Idanha and the Elkhorn community along North Fork Road are now under Level 2 (be set) evacuation notices. Breitenbush and part of Crooked Finger Road are among the areas that remain under mandatory evacuation orders. Pilot cars will lead residents through closed parts of Oregon 22 between Gates and Detroit, according to the Marion County Sheriffs Office. Residents should expect one-way trips to take at least one hour, the agency said. The daily pilot car schedule is as follows: 9 a.m. Pilot car departs Gates to Detroit 11 a.m. Pilot car returns from Detroit to Gates 1 p.m. Pilot car departs Gates to Detroit 5 p.m. Pilot car returns from Detroit to Gates Residents can travel freely between Detroit and Idanha, but theres no access to Santiam Pass from those areas. Deputies ask non-residents not to travel to the area. Fire-damaged trees that could topple at any time remain near roads and properties, according to the sheriffs office. The agency urged residents to be vigilant and prepared to find down trees on roads. People should keep away from septic tanks and other buried structures that may have sustained fire damage, deputies said. People should also stay away from downed power lines. -- Jim Ryan jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense [Photo/mod.gov.cn] Ministry clarifies that so-called median line in Taiwan Straits has never existed China will do "whatever it takes" to thwart any effort aimed at Taiwan seceding from China, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, said on Thursday. The recent exercise by the People's Liberation Army near the Taiwan Straits was meant to target foreign interference and Taiwan separatists, and has demonstrated that China is determined and capable of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said in a regular news briefing. "The island's ruling Democratic Progressive Party has disregarded the safety and well-being of Taiwan compatriots in its efforts to secede and stir up confrontation between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan," he said. "This scheme for secession has damaged peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, and it is doomed to fail," he added."If Taiwan separatist forces dare to attempt Taiwan's secession under any circumstances, we will do whatever it takes to thwart their efforts." Tan's remark came after China's Foreign Ministry clarified on Monday that the "median line" in the Taiwan Straits has never existed. Experts said this move is a solemn wake-up call for Taiwan separatists and the United States, and this arbitrary line created by the US military in the mid-20th century does not obstruct the activities of the Chinese military and the nation's march toward reunification. It is a grievous mistake for anyone to doubt China's resolve and capability to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, experts said. If Taiwan separatists continue to collude with some forces in the US, including in the form of official interaction and arms deals, China will take more tenacious countermeasures to protect its core interests, they added. When asked about warplanes of the PLA Eastern Theater Command crossing the "median line" during its recent exercise near the Taiwan Straits, Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said on Monday that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and there is no such thing as a "median line". Wang's remark came following the visit of US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach to the island last week. It is the second visit by a senior US official to the island in two months, prompting strong protests from China. Last week, the Pentagon was reported to be planning to sell up to seven major weapons systems, including mines, missiles and drones, to Taiwan under an initiative called "Fortress Taiwan". The $7 billion arms deal is poised to be approved by the administration of US President Donald Trump, which has already approved an arms package to Taiwan valued at over $13 billion. US Republican Senator Rick Scott introduced a bill last week that seeks to authorize the US to counter China militarily over Taiwan. The bill also advocates visits between top officials from the US and the island. Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies, told China Central Television that the US and Taiwan separatists are changing the status quo and "tipping the scale" in the region toward their goal of separating the island from China. 'Rebalancing scale' China officially denying the so-called median line is an act of "rebalancing the scale" and a solemn warning to the US and Taiwan separatists not to play with fire, Su said."The next time the US wants to play the Taiwan card, it will have to consider whether it can accept more tenacious countermeasures from China." The concept of the "median line" was created around 1955 by US General Benjamin Davis Jr, commander of the US Air Force Air Task Force 13, which was then based in Taipei, after Taiwan signed a mutual defense treaty with the US. The line was later redrawn by Taiwan defense officials and the latest coordinates were published in 2004. The line's original intent was to deter warplanes from the Chinese mainland, but it did not limit the range of operations for warplanes from Taiwan as evident when several surveillance aircraft from the island, including the Lockheed U-2 spy plane, crossed the line in the 1960s to spy on the mainland, according to the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution. Though the "median line" was never officially recognized by the international community and therefore was not governed by any law over the decades, the line gradually became a barometer of cross-Straits relations, according to a Beijing-based military historian who requested anonymity. In a gentlemen's agreement, militaries from both sides of the Straits generally stuck to their half of the strategic waterway, which helped reduce friction and the risk of accidents, he said. However, when cross-Straits relations sour, typically triggered when Taiwan leans toward secession, Chinese military aircraft and vessels sometimes would approach the "median line" to send a strong warning. This tactic has been regularly deployed since the 1990s, with a notable development on March 31, 2019, when two J-11 fighters of the PLA Air Force crossed the "median line" after the US signed a law to enhance relations with Taiwan and encourage other nations to do the same. "Some Taiwan separatists and US strategists have grown complacent and believed the arbitrary 'median line' is a red line that China dare not cross. They are sorely mistaken," the historian said. "China's official rejection of the existence of the 'median line' will shatter the illusion that the PLA does not have the capability or the will to conduct routine exercises in the region and reunify the country by force," he said. Song Xiaojun, a military commentator for China Central Television, said the recent live combat drill by the PLA Eastern Theater Command is a test of China's ability to fight a war involving multiple branches of the military, and a warning to Taiwan separatists and the US. "If the situation in the Taiwan Straits keeps deteriorating, China may take more extensive, necessary measures to safeguard national sovereignty," he said. By Azernews By Aisha Jabbarova President Ilham Aliyev has said that in line with the UN Security Council resolution 853, updated timetable for withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijans occupied territories must be prepared. Alieyev made the remarks while addressing the general debates of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly in a video format, Azertag reported on September 25. Appropriate UN institutions must contribute to the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions and return of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons to their native lands. The UN Security Council resolutions are not time-specific. These resolutions are valid until they are implemented. Misinterpretation of UN Security Council resolutions is unacceptable, Aliyev said. Fruitless negotiations Aliyev reminded that the work of the OSCE Minsk Group that has been meditating the negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia has not yielded any results, stressing that negotiations must not be conducted just for the sake of negotiations, they must be target-oriented and meaningful. Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair countries France, Russia, United States - in their statements stressed that the status-quo is unacceptable. We welcome these statements, but statements are not enough. We need actions. Our involvement in the negotiation process for almost 30 years is a clear demonstration of our commitment to peace. All 11 members of Minsk Group should be actively involved in the process, Aliyev said. The president underlined that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved on the basis of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijans territorial integrity has never been and will never be a subject of negotiations. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be completely restored. Nagorno-Karabakh is ancient and historical Azerbaijani lands. Karabakh is Azerbaijan! the president said. Arms supply to Armenia The president also expressed concerns over increased arms supply to Armenia, especially right after Armenias military provocation on border Tovuz region in July. "Active military clashes at the state border stopped on July 16. Next day starting from July 17 until September, we witnessed delivery of more than one thousand tons of military equipment to Armenia by military cargo planes. Taking into account that Armenia is one of the poorest countries of the world and can not afford paying for weapons billions of US dollars, we assume that it gets weapons free of charge, Aliyev said. The president urged all countries to refrain from supplying arms to Armenia. Supply of weapons to an aggressor and a country that perpetrated ethnic cleansing significantly undermines the peace negotiations and encourage the occupying state to instigate new military provocations. When Houston Walgreens cashier Rita Burns offered her last $20 to pay for a customer's purchase, it was a sacrifice from the heart that reverberated out from her Stella Link store into her community. It was also something of gamble. The money was literally the last $20 in Burns' bank accountenough to cover Rina Liou's items. The two had never met before. "Rina came into the store, and she forgot a wallet," Burns said. "I just said, 'I'll go ahead and pay.' I found the items were on sale. That was a good day!" 'UNCONDITIONAL LOVE': Community gives back to support Houston-area ice cream shop hard-hit by pandemic The act moved Liou, a local Houston realtor who found herself on a tight schedule that day. "When I went into Walgreens, I was in such a time constraint," Liou said. "When I didn't have a wallet, I was trying to figure out a way to pay. I really felt like it was a dead end. When she told me she would pay for me, it was like a bright light that shined upon me. I thought, 'You could actually help me, that would be so amazing.'" Liou accepted the Burns' generosity and returned quickly to pay her back. But Liou wanted to do so much more after that experience. So she decided to give shout to Burns on Nextdoor, and that turned into much more as neighbors inspired by Burns' act organized a fundraiser for the lady they call "Miss Rita." "I wanted to let the whole world know what Rita did for me," Liou said. "It was a true act of kindness. When a stranger who [barely has] $20 dollars in her account is willing to take a financial bet and give over all she had to a complete stranger. This was just amazing. Mind-boggling." Beloved by her customers as a "rock," this act of giving back is something Burns does whenever she has an opportunity, according to the neighbors on Nextdoor. Burns has served as a cashier for Walgreens for 38 years. "I try to treat people the way I want to be treated," Burns said. "I'm just so glad I had enough in my account to help her out. I just did it from the heart. I wanted her to have this. You've got to have faith that it'll work out." The response to the Nextdoor post and all the contributions for Burns has been overwhelming. As of this writing, over $10,000 has been raised for Miss Rita. "When she gives a smile to customers, starts a friendship with a customer, or make them feel better during the day, that's really the most important thing for Rita," Liou said. Burns credits her aunt for teaching her about living in the moment and giving of your heart. "Today, I'm just gonna give my whole heart today at whatever I do. Just give it away," Burns said. Photo: The Canadian Press Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan announces that the federal government of Canada will purchase new Airbus C295 airplane for Search and Recuse missing at CFB Trenton in Ontario, on Thursday Dec. 8, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg Canada's long search for new rescue planes for the military is nearly over as the federal government showed off the first of 16 new aircraft on Canadian soil Friday. The unveiling at Canadian Forces Base Comox, B.C., follows more than 15 years of controversy and start-stop effort to buy replacements for the ancient Buffalo and older-model Hercules aircraft used by the military to save Canadians every year. That included Stephen Harper's Conservative government restarting the search for a new plane more than a decade ago after the military was accused of stacking the deck for the multibillion-dollar contract in favour of one particular plane. The government receives about 10,000 distress calls a year, and while most are handled by the provinces or territories, with police and volunteers tasked with responding, the military answers about 750 of the highest-risk calls. Military search-and-rescue personnel often use specialized airplanes and helicopters to parachute or rappel into remote areas, such as mountains, the High Arctic or one of Canadas three oceans to respond to plane crashes and sinking ships. Airbus is really proud to be able to celebrate this important milestone: the arrival of the first out of 16 fixed wing search and rescue C295 at Canadian Forces Base Comox," said Airbus Defence and Space CEO Dirk Hoke in a statement. "Despite the current pandemic, we are confident of achieving the program target of six deliveries by the end of this year." Yet the arrival of the first of the planes, a model the government is dubbing the Kingfisher, does not mark the end of the ride: the Royal Canadian Air Force must still do months of tests on the new aircraft and train search-and-rescue crews. Troy Crosbie, who oversees military procurement at the Department of National Defence, says the Kingfisher fleet won't start to fly full missions until mid-2022 two years later than planned. "It was going to be earlier than that," said Crosbie "It's a delay from what we had originally anticipated." As a result, the current fleet of six DHC-5 Buffalo aircraft and seven CC-130H Hercules planes all of which are around 50 years old will continue to fly even though the two fleets were supposed to be retired five and three years ago, respectively. Maintenance requirements for the aircraft have grown with age and spare parts have become harder to find, with officials getting parts from a museum in Trenton, Ont., in 2014 to fix one broken Hercules. Canada's auditor general also raised concerns about the state of the aircraft in a scathing report in 2013, noting the Buffalo aircraft were unavailable on 119 occasions in 2011. In five of those cases, no other airplane was available. While the military had planned to have the Kingfisher flying missions by the end of this year, procurement officials in April 2019 expressed concern that schedule was too aggressive because of the complexities involved in transitioning from the Buffaloes and Hercules to the Kingfishers. Crosbie said the schedule was set several years ago, before the scope and potential challenges of getting the aircraft in service were clearly understood. There was also a disagreement between the Royal Canadian Air Force and Airbus late last year over the plane's manuals. The COVID-19 pandemic led to further problems as the Air Force sought to do checks and certifications before flying the plane from Spain, where it was built, back to Canada for the official unveiling. The hope in January was for that to happen by the end of spring. Despite the delays, Crosbie said the project which includes an option to pay Airbus $2.4 billion more to have the company maintain the plane for another 15 years remains on budget and the hope is for two more Kingfishers to make the journey to Canada by the end of the year. 'It's a big milestone with that first operational aircraft coming across from Spain," he said. "And the airplanes are going to be ready for us at a pretty steady rate." Malis new interim President Bah Ndaw was sworn in on Friday, nearly five weeks after military coup detat. The former defence minister was selected by junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita, who will serve as vice president. At the inauguration, Ndaw, 70, said he would aim for "a stable, calm and successful transition, in the agreed conditions and timeframe," referring to the 18-month term limit before the country goes to elections. The junta and regional body the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS) agreed to the terms, which also included the appointment of a civilian as interim president. The retired colonel perhaps is not particularly civilian-like he began his career as a helicopter pilot who was trained by the Soviet Union, and held various positions in the Malian Air Force, including, ultimately, Chief of Staff. Ndaw served as director of the Veterans Administration from 2008 to 2012. His training included a stint in France, graduating from the prestigious Ecole de Guerre. The interim president was also aide to late President Moussa Traore, who also grabbed power in a coup detat in 1968. It would not be the last time he entered politics, however. After the Malian armed forces defeated the Tuareg militia in Kidal, he was given the post of defense minister in 2014, but only stayed in his post for a few months. He was reportedly against re-incorporating deserters into the armed forces, and resigned. Before he left, however, he inked a defence deal with France, who had come to Malis aid in fighting Islamists in the centre of the country in 2013. Next steps In his inauguration speech, Ndaw said he would uphold Malis international commitments, but what is not clear is whether he will truly be at the helm or will Goita be running the country. Opposition group M5-RFP, who spearheaded the original protests in June against then-president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, will also be watching to see how the interim period plays out. The group called for Malians to go to the street to protest against what they said was massive corruption, as well as in issue over parliamentary elections earlier this year. Many Malians hope that by installing Ndaw as transitional president will be enough for ECOWAS to call off its crippling sanctions on the country, put in place after the coup. New Delhi: Actress Deepika Padukone and husband Ranveer Singh flew back to Mumbai from Goa amid a media frenzy, chaos and flashlights taping their every move. The actress has been summoned by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) along with other A-listers from Bollywood in the drugs case related to late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death. Deepika's name emerged after her 2017 WhatsApp chats with manager Karishma Prakash were retrieved where the actress is allegedly seen asking for hash. Soon after that, chats of Jaya Saha, an employee of KWAN talent management agency also surfaced. She was probed and later admitted to having arranged CBD oil for Shraddha Kapoor, Madhu Mantena and a few others. The NCB noose has tightened on these celebs and more names are expected to come out in the drugs conspiracy. Deepika Padukone will be questioned by the federal agency on September 26, 2020 (Saturday). According to sources, Ranveer has formally asked the NCB officials if he can accompany wife during her probe. Ranveer in his application has stated that since Deepika at times suffers anxiety issues and gets panicked, can he be permitted to be present with her. Ranveer further said that since he is a law-abiding citizen and knows that he cannot be present at the time of interrogation, but can he be allowed inside the NCB office. However, no decision has been taken by the NCB on it yet. On September 26, besides Deepika, Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor are also expected to be questioned by the federal agency. Libreville, Gabon (PANA) - Former Gabonese Minister of the Economy Magloire Ngambia, detained since January 10, 2017 for alleged embezzlement of public funds, regained his freedom Friday, an official source told PANA here Friday Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Increase in awareness about hospital acquired infections and growing incidences of surgical site infections supports the growth of antiseptic bathing market. According to a latest research by the company, the global antiseptic bathing market is anticipated to account for over US $ 549.3 Mn in terms of value, by 2026 end. Antiseptic Bathing Market: Overview Globally there are a number of organizations and regulatory bodies that recommend the use of antiseptic bathing products for pre-operative skin cleansing. Regulatory authorities such as the Care Bundles in the UK and the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland that recommend the use of soap for preoperative skin cleansing. Get Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/25045 Company Profiles Ecolab Inc. 3M Co Reynard Health Supplies Becton, Dickinson & Company Clorox Company Air Liquide (Schulke Australia Pyt Ltd) Molnlycke Health Care AB Medline Industries Stryker Corporation HiCare Health Others. Recommendations by other organizations such as the United States of America (USA) Institute for Healthcare Improvement include preoperative antiseptic bathing using CHG soap specifically. Although, in the APAC regulatory region, the recommendation for using antiseptic bathing products by bodies is not that stringent, some organizations such as the Ministry of Health, Malaysia, recommends the use of 2% CHG for preoperative cleansing. Furthermore, over 75% of healthcare professionals prefer and recommend the adoption of CHG Solutions for preoperative antiseptic bathing. Get To Know Methodology of Report @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/25045 This is one of the main driving force for the growth of the CHG solutions in the global antiseptic bathing market. Antiseptic Bathing Market: Insights CHG wipes are another fast growing segment of the antiseptic bathing market. These are products that have Chlorhexidine Gluconate (CHG) impregnated into wash cloths, wipes, towels and sponges. These products do not need to be dipped in water, however, they need to be warmed in an industrial warmer for patient comfort. Although the CHG wipes are more expensive and increases the cost per bath, these are well adopted in the developed regions for antiseptic bathing since they are easy to use especially for patients who are bed ridden for a long time. Other types of antiseptic bathing products include, antiseptic wipes such as include alcohol wipes and BZK wipes, antiseptic solutions such as BZK solution and antiseptic shampoo caps. Antiseptic Bathing Market: Regional Analysis Asia Pacific is one of the most lucrative regions for the growth of the antiseptic bathing market. This is mainly driven by the increase in geriatric population and increase in the disposable income in Japan is expected to aid the increased demand for more advanced Antiseptic Bathing solutions. Favorable changes in regulatory recommendation towards antiseptic bathing in the region is expected to boost the antiseptic bathing market growth. Other factors that support the growth of the antiseptic bathing market in the APAC region is the prolonged length of stay in hospitals and increasing number of hospital beds over the years. Japan is expected hold a largest value share in the antiseptic bathing market. Access Full Report @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/25045 However, China is expected to be the most lucrative region for antiseptic bathing market since it has a large number of hospitals that have more than 500 beds each which follows bathing protocol to prevent hospital acquired infections. The company has segmented the global antiseptic bathing market based on product type as CHG Bath Towels / Wipes, CHG Solution, Antiseptic Wipes, Antiseptic Bathing Solution, and Antiseptic Shampoo Caps. In terms of revenue, the CHG solution in Antiseptic Bathing will hold significant share over the forecast period. In contrary, the antiseptic shampoo caps segment in Antiseptic Bathing market will exhibit limited investment opportunities, in terms of revenue, through 2026. About us: Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes. Our client success stories feature a range of clients from Fortune 500 companies to fast-growing startups. PMR's collaborative environment is committed to building industry-specific solutions by transforming data from multiple streams into a strategic asset. Contact us: 305 Broadway, 7th Floor New York City, NY 10007 United States Ph.no. + 1-646-568-7751 E-mail id- sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Website: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Her incredible story has been documented in books, newspapers and even in a stage musical, and now the village where she was born wants to honour Jennie Hodgers in a more permanent way. A committee has formed to erect a mural in the main street to the remarkable women, who enlisted as a man called Albert Cashier in the Union Army during the American Civil War. 'The idea is to attract tourists to our village using Jennie Hodgers' incredible story,' says local Robert Gargan, who is chairing the committee. 'A mural would be achievable at a reasonable cost and would create a focal point to potential visitors to the village.' Albert D.J. Cashier was born Jennie Irene Hodgers om Christmas Day 1843, to Clogherhead couple Sallie and Patrick Hodgers. Cashier served in the Union Army during the American Civil War after adopting the identity of a man before enlisting, and maintained it until death. She became famous as one of a number of women soldiers who served as men during the Civil War. 'This is the start of a project to create several murals and points of interest around the village and the development of a historic walking trail in Clogherhead,' adds Robert. 'I've joined forces with Damian Kierans from the Smuggler's Rest, who was behind the Seafood Rocks festival and has a big interest in bringing tourism to the village, as well as Cllrs Tom Cunningham and Declan Power, who will try to bring council support.' There had already been plans for local artist Ciaran Dunlevy to create three murals in the heart of the village, which were shelved, however, Robert thought it would be the ideal time to resurrect them. 'We are just looking for 2,500, which is a very reasonable amount for such an important attraction,' adds Robert. 'We will be asking the residents of the village what they would like to see, and people can donate what they can to the Go Fund Me page for Jennie Hodgers Mural. Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Laurentian Bank of Canada (TSE:LB) is about to go ex-dividend in just four days. You will need to purchase shares before the 30th of September to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 1st of November. Laurentian Bank of Canada's next dividend payment will be CA$0.40 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of CA$1.60 per share. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Laurentian Bank of Canada has a trailing yield of approximately 5.8% on its current stock price of CA$27.46. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to investigate whether Laurentian Bank of Canada can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow. Check out our latest analysis for Laurentian Bank of Canada Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Laurentian Bank of Canada paid out 97% of its earnings, which is more than we're comfortable with, unless there are mitigating circumstances. When the dividend payout ratio is high, as it is in this case, the dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut in the future. Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends. Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing? Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. Laurentian Bank of Canada's earnings per share have fallen at approximately 11% a year over the previous five years. Ultimately, when earnings per share decline, the size of the pie from which dividends can be paid, shrinks. The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the last 10 years, Laurentian Bank of Canada has lifted its dividend by approximately 1.1% a year on average. Story continues Final Takeaway From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Laurentian Bank of Canada? Not only are earnings per share shrinking, but Laurentian Bank of Canada is paying out a disconcertingly high percentage of its profit as dividends. Generally we think dividend investors should avoid businesses in this situation, as high payout ratios and declining earnings can lead to the dividend being cut. These characteristics don't generally lead to outstanding dividend performance, and investors may not be happy with the results of owning this stock for its dividend. So if you're still interested in Laurentian Bank of Canada despite it's poor dividend qualities, you should be well informed on some of the risks facing this stock. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Laurentian Bank of Canada you should know about. If you're in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. All I knew about Aswan before I visited Egypt was that it had a dam, and that much is certainly true. But there is so much else there to discover that by the time we left, my husband and I had decided it was our favorite Egyptian city. The Aswan High Dam is without doubt the place to begin exploring, since its construction has had such an impact on local life and culture. Our guide, Sameh Samir, remembers when his father was one of the 30,000 engineers and other workers on the round-the-clock operation that lasted for 11 years. Made up of 17 times more granite than was used in the Great Pyramid, it is the largest embankment dam in the world. It created Lake Nasserone of the largest lakes in the worldwhich extends into Sudan, where it is known as Lake Nubia. When the dam opened in 1970, it provided water for irrigation, controlled flooding, improved traffic on the Nile, and doubled the amount of electricity available to Egyptiansbut at a price. Where the lake was created had once been the ancestral home of the Nubians, who now had to be relocated. A Nubian woman displaced from her homeland by the building of the Aswan High Dam and the flooding of Lake Nasser displays her handmade artwork and crafts. (Courtesy of Phil Allen) These are a people descended from an ancient civilization thought to be as old as Egypt itself. The men are largely fishermen and sailors, and the women are artisans who craft pieces to sell. They speak a language of their own that is neither written nor taught. They are known to be honest, big-hearted people who find security in cooperative ownership. We first met some of them when they were crew members on our felucca. This is a traditional wooden sailboat that provides a way to experience the Nile that is largely tranquilexcept for the cheerful boys who paddled up to ours in small rowboats and sang with such pure, melodious voices that we were happy to pay the tips for which they were hoping. Midway through our felucca ride, a crew member whipped the covering off a large table at the front of the boat, revealing handmade Nubian jewelry and sandalwood ankhs that we flocked forward to see and buy. Back at the pier, others had laid out brightly hued pieces of art and clothing. Some of the men were playing Happy Birthday on stringed instruments called rababas. Traditional wooden sailboats called feluccas provide a peaceful way to ply the waters of the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt. (Courtesy of Phil Allen) Later we learned how self-sufficient Nubians are when we had dinner in the home of Ahmed Gahlan and his family. They had grown everything on our platesfrom tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, okra, and garlic to the chicken that was our meat. Gahlans sister had made our cheese after she milked a water buffalo. Gahlan demonstrated how he makes baskets out of fronds from the palm tree in the front yard. His family uses the baskets for shopping and laundry, then feeds them to their goats when theyre worn out. While we had been out on the water, we passed the Old Cataract Hotel, a leftover from British colonial times, where the likes of Winston Churchill, Jimmy Carter, Princess Diana, and Egypts own King Farouk have stayed. It was here that Agatha Christie, who was married to an Egyptologist, was inspired to write Death on the Nile. Our tour group operator had chosen to put us up at the nearby Movenpick Resort on Elephantine Island, which required that we shuttle to the mainland by boat, also great fun. From there we were able to visit several other Aswan attractions, including the Unfinished Obelisk at the oldest quarry in Egypt. The pharaoh Akhenaten believed obelisks to be petrified rays of the sun god Ras light, and this one would have been a third larger than any other in existence, weighing 1,700 tons on its completion. Unfortunately, it cracked before it could be extricated and so remains here for visitors to see in its still partially buried state. We also stopped at a shop that sold Egyptian cotton. While tourism is Egypts main source of income, cotton is one of the primary components of its economy. The fibers are especially long and soft, creating high-quality fabrics for everything from tablecloths and wall hangings to shirts and scarves. This was a good place to purchase gifts to take home since the items were easy to pack. The most significant of our outings was to Abu Simbel, three hours away by bus or a short flight. This is where Ramses II built a temple in his own honor. It had been buried in sand for centuries and was only rediscovered in 1813. The massive structure is guarded by four huge statues of Ramses on the outside with smaller statues of his wives at his feet and baboons to greet the sun along the frieze. The temple was engineered so that sunbeams would reach far inside to a figure of him on the dates of his birth and coronation. A nearby temple built for his wife was the first to be erected for a woman. Knowing that the temples would have been submerged when Lake Nasser was filled, UNESCO partnered with the Egyptian Department of Antiquities and some 52 contributing countries to cut them apart and rebuild them on higher ground to save theman engineering marvel and yet another consequence of the Aswan High Dam. When You Go In order to see and learn about everything Egypt has to offer, a guide is an absolute must. Google tours of Egypt, and youll find many at several different price points. We decided on Smithsonian Journeys and recommend them highly: SmithsonianJourneys.org Glenda Winders is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at Creators.com. Copyright 2020 Creators.com BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.25 By Zhale Qasimova - Trend: To resume domestic tourism in Azerbaijan, the buses of travel companies should be allowed to leave Baku on weekends, tourism expert Fariz Hajiyev told Trend. Following the recent significant softening of quarantine rules, communication between Baku and the districts has been restored. However, since the ban on passenger transportation remains in force, minibuses and buses are prohibited from leaving Baku. This, in turn, is a serious obstacle to the resumption of domestic tours, the expert said. There are enough people who travel to the districts in private cars. People who regularly travel in groups dont benefit from the current situation because individual travel is expensive and individual tours arent as fun as group tours. I propose to allow buses to leave Baku on weekends only for excursions by travel companies, said Hajiyev. The expert added that all the sanitary and hygienic norms and rules in this regard were developed and approved by the State Tourism Agency a few months ago. Unlike public transport in Baku, tourist buses should be allowed to be filled only by 50 percent, which means a safer journey for everyone, said Hajiyev. When passing the posts, the official travel document of the company will indicate the list of tour participants, the hotel to which they will go and the period of the tour, he said. This can help avoid tax evasion by some businessmen. At the same time, in some cases tours are organized by persons who dont have official registration. In most cases, massive complaints are associated with them. Organization of tours with the provision of certain official documents means that this issue will be solved, said the agency. The Indian stock market ended over 2 per cent higher on Friday due to across-the-board buying. The S&P BSE Sensex ended 835 points, or 2.28 per cent higher at 37,389 levels with all the 30 constituents ending in the green. Bajaj Finserv (up 6.6 per cent) was the top gainer on the index, followed by HCL Tech (up over 5 per cent), and Bharti Airtel (up 5 per cent). NSE's Nifty, meanwhile, reclaimed the crucial 11,000 level to settle at 11,050, up 245 points, or 2.26 per cent. India VIX dropped nearly 12 per cent to 20.76 levels. On a weekly basis, both Sensex and Nifty declined nearly 4 per cent. All the Nifty sectoral indices ended in the green, led by Nifty IT and FMCG indexes, both up nearly 3.5 per cent, each. In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index gained around 3 per cent to 14,337 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index added 2.31 per cent to 14,496 levels. Buzzing stocks IT stocks rallied in the trade post Accenture's Q4FY20 earnings. While the company missed estimates for fourth-quarter sales and projected current-quarter revenue below Wall Street expectations, strong traction in the outsourcing business, strong order bookings, and encouraging management commentary were the key positives from the industry's standpoint. Nifty IT ended nearly 3.5 per cent higher at 19,629 levels. GMR Infrastructure gained over 11 per cent to Rs 23.55 on the BSE after the company said the GMR Group would divest its entire 51 per cent stake in Kakinada SEZ to reduce debt. Shares of Granules India ended over 4 per cent higher at Rs 376 on the BSE after US health regulator USFDA gave its approval for Naproxen Sodium and Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride Tablets, 220 mg/25 mg (OTC) Thomas Charlton, CEO of Goliath Technologies Named Leader in MedTech "Goliaths success is a direct result of the efforts of our team who are passionate about helping alleviate the pains Health IT experience daily," says Thomas Charlton, Chairman and CEO of Goliath Technologies. Improving Clinician Experience with EHR applications has made Goliath the Standard in Health IT Goliath Technologies, with technology that is purpose-built to improve clinician experience and patient care when using EHR applications, announced today that Insight Success, a leading business magazine for entrepreneurs and technology, named Thomas Charlton, Chairman and CEO, one of the top ten influential leaders in MedTech. Under Charltons leadership, Goliath has become a standard in Health IT, with technical and/or business relationships with all four major Electronic Health Record (EHR) providers (Cerner, Epic, MEDITECH, and Allscripts). Health systems improve clinician experience by leveraging the performance metrics Goliath correlates into a single view from their EHR application, end-user experience, and the Citrix or VMware Horizon delivery infrastructure. IT Pros can then anticipate, troubleshoot, and document end-user experience issues more effectively to improve system performance for the medical staff. The ultimate impact to health systems is improved patient care. Healthcare clients require purpose-built technology to solve very specific issues faced by todays Health IT departments, shares Charlton. An enterprise IT department will have twice the budget and people to support the same number of users as the health system does. And, in Health IT, patient care is ultimately in the balance if IT systems dont perform optimally. At Goliath, we have developed technology that has built-in automation and intelligence to address these challenges and has proven to have the net effect of adding three full-time employees to a health systems staff. With Goliaths embedded intelligence and automation, health systems can easily discover their entire Citrix or VMware Horizon environment and identify what to monitor, the thresholds to set, and then alert when thresholds are exceeded. The software does this for all potential events, conditions, and failure points regarding end-user performance issues when accessing and using their EHR systems along with other business and clinical applications. In Insights Success latest edition, The 10 Most Influential Leaders in MedTech, we focus on the vital contribution of exceptional technology leaders in the area of healthcare. Thomas Charlton, Chairman and CEO of Goliath Technologies, is an innovator and leader in MedTech. With Goliath, he has brought disruptive changes to healthcare IT, helping them deliver on their ultimate mission of delivering high-quality patient care. Insights Success recognizes and appreciates his contribution, and is honored to feature him in this issue, states Pooja M. Bansal, Editor-in-Chief at Insight Success. I am honored to be recognized by Insights Success in leading the area of MedTech. Once the right market and product has been established, my focus is on building the right team to bring that technology into market and continue to ensure its value is recognized across all health systems. Goliaths growth and success is a direct result of the efforts of our team who are passionate about helping alleviate the pains Health IT experience daily, says Charlton. About Goliath Technologies Goliath Technologies offers end-user experience monitoring and troubleshooting software, with embedded intelligence and automation, that enables IT pros to anticipate, troubleshoot, and document performance issues regardless of where workloads, applications, or users are located. By doing so, Goliath helps IT break out of reactive mode, and into proactive mode. Customers include Universal Health Services, Ascension, CommonSpirit, Penn National Insurance, American Airlines, Office Depot, Tech Mahindra, Pacific Life, Xerox, HCL, and others. Learn more about how we empower proactive IT at goliathtechnologies.com. Credit: CC0 Public Domain The deadly new coronavirus is spreading faster in America's jails and prisons than it did on the Princess Diamond cruise ship or at the pandemic's outbreak in Wuhan, China, according to a new study co-authored by Stanford Engineering researchers. The research, detailed on Sept. 9 in the journal Annals of Epidemiology, is based on day-by-day data from a large urban jail and highlights the health risk that correctional institutions pose during the current crisisnot just to inmates and staff but also to surrounding communities. We spoke to two of the Stanford co-authors about the broader implications. Margaret L. Brandeau, a professor of management sciences and engineering, has spent much of her career analyzing strategies to slow the spread of diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C. Giovanni Malloy is a Ph.D. candidate who works on infectious disease models. How was this study conducted? We knew that prisons and jails had become hot spots for the novel coronavirus because there's very little opportunity for social distancingit's common to have two or more people per celland sanitary conditions are comparatively low. But we wanted to know precisely how fast it was spreading. We teamed up with Lisa Puglisi at the Yale School of Medicine, who has long specialized in the health issues of people who are incarcerated. We worked with a large urban jail, which is remaining anonymous, to analyze the daily tallies of people who were testing positive, as well as of people who did and did not become sick, and of people who recovered or died. After running roughly 1,000 computer simulations based on those numbers, we concluded that each infected person was spreading the virus to 8.44 other people at the very beginning of the outbreak. To put that in perspective, the virus spread 3.6 times faster in this jail than it did aboard the Princess Diamond in February and over 4 times faster than in Wuhan. Do you think this is typical for other jails and prisons? This study may actually understate the speed of infection at these institutions. That's because this jail was unusually quick in taking steps to slow the virus's spread. Very soon after the first person became sick, for example, the jail began releasing about 1% of inmates per day in order to have more room to separate those who had become infected, which we estimate reduced transmission by 56% as compared to the initial outbreak. At the many correctional facilities that haven't moved as quickly, the virus is very likely spreading faster. There is no question that jails are an epicenter of COVID-19 transmission in the United States, and it's essential that we take measures to control its spread in these settings. Cook County Jail in Illinois had one of the largest known outbreaks in the country, and the infection rate at Rikers Island is nearly five times that of New York City. Across Texas, 70% of inmates and staff who were tested in April turned out to be positive. At the state prison in Marion, Ohio, 73% of those tested were positive. Do jails and prisons pose a risk outside their own walls? Most certainly. The people who work there enter and leave every day. They can take the virus out into the community when they go home at night. It's also important to remember that correctional institutions have been exempted from current federal guidelines aimed at protecting people in workplaces and in large housing complexes. There are many reasons to be concerned about this, beyond the dangers to the people inside. What measures can correctional facilities take to limit the danger? After our initial report on calculating the basic reproduction number of the initial outbreak, we continued to work with the jail to identify the effectiveness of three different interventions they implemented on top of CDC interim guidelines. These interventions include depopulation, increased single celling and widespread testing of asymptomatic people who are incarcerated. Using data from our jail partner, we estimated that each of these interventions can individually reduce transmission by over 50%. In combination, they will effectively lead to the end of an outbreak. Depopulation is an important measure to attempt to achieve a higher degree of socially distancing in jails and prisons. Jails, which generally hold people while they await trial, have more flexibility in releasing people than prisons. But even for jails, these are difficult decisions. Depopulation requires a coordinated effort on the part of police departments, judges, correctional departments, lawyers, and community bail funds to reduce jail intakes and/or increase releases. Depopulation efforts pave the way to make single celling more feasible such that a greater portion of people who are incarcerated will be assigned to their own cell. Finally, asymptomatic testing is critical to COVID-19 mitigation. A very high percentage of those who are infectedperhaps 40% don't show any symptoms at all. Without sufficient testing, a jail won't know how serious its problems are and it won't know which people to prioritize for single-person cells and isolate from the rest of the population. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak More information: Lisa B. Puglisi et al. Estimation of COVID-19 Basic Reproduction Ratio in a Large Urban Jail in the United States, Annals of Epidemiology (2020). Journal information: Annals of Epidemiology Lisa B. Puglisi et al. Estimation of COVID-19 Basic Reproduction Ratio in a Large Urban Jail in the United States,(2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2020.09.002 About 18,528 foreigners, who are experts, skilled workers, and managers, expect to come back Vietnam, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA) reported. The ministry added that as of early September, there were 93,720 foreign laborers in Viet Nam.Of these, 11,211 foreign workers are not subject to labor permits, accounting for 12% while 82,509 others are required to apply for work permits, of whom 77,021 have already got work permits.The MOLISA asked local authorities to direct departments of labor, invalids, and social affairs and management boards of industrial parks and processing zones to complete issuance of work permits to foreign workers in a convenient manner in order to help them get back to work quickly.Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Viet Nam suspended the entry of all foreign visitors from March 22.As the pandemic has been brought under control, the Vietnamese Government has allowed diplomatic and official passport holders, foreign experts, skilled workers, and students to be back to the country.Last week, the Government decided to resume international commercial flights to/from Guangzhou, Seoul, Tokyo, Chinese Taipei, Cambodia and Laos in a bid to facilitate entry of the aforesaid people.As of 6: 05 pm on September 24, Viet Nam confirmed 1,069 COVID-19 patients, including 991 recoveries cases and 35 deaths.The country has gone 22 days without community infection case of COVID-19, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. VGP Former Regent Ward Connerly, who rose to national prominence opposing affirmative action decades ago, waded into the University of Californias admissions scandal Friday, saying a current regent like Richard Blum, who admits using clout to help a family member get into college, engaged in nepotism. Connerly and other education advocates spoke to The Chronicle about the controversy now enveloping Blum, husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Blum is the unnamed regent accused in a state audit of improperly using his influence to help an applicant get into UC Berkeley. But on Thursday, Blum told The Chronicle that he has been writing letters on behalf of family and friends for years, and sending them directly to chancellors at many UC campuses, rather than providing them to the admissions office as required under the regents ethics policy. He said he didnt believe he was doing anything wrong. If its your family, its nepotism, said Connerly, president of the No on 16 campaign that is fighting a measure on the November ballot to repeal Proposition 209, the anti-affirmative action law he wrote that has been state law since 1997. Prop. 209 outlaws affirmative action in the states admissions and public hiring decisions. Although regents are allowed to write recommendations on behalf of anyone, they may not bypass the methods available to anyone else. The rules are set forth in the regents policy 2201, which since 1996 has said regents should not seek to influence inappropriately the outcome of admissions decisions beyond sending letters of recommendation, where appropriate, through the regular admissions process and officers. I did it a bunch of times, Blum told The Chronicle. Usually friends. My cousins brother wanted to get into Davis. Theyd send me a letter and tell me why its a good kid, and Ill send it on to the chancellor. Been doing it forever. Blum has been a regent since 2002. On Friday, Connerly, who was a regent from 1993 to 2005, said the reason regents are prohibited from going directly to chancellors with their recommendations is that it feeds the impression that the admissions process is not fair. Connerly said UC gets taxpayer money, so its admission system has a duty to treat everybody fairly, equally, and on the basis of merit. Theres no way you can define merit as the highest bidder, or for a friend or as nepotism. Blum did not respond to a request for comment. Regents Chair John Perez said Friday that he stands by a statement he issued Thursday saying the UC Board of Regents takes these matters very seriously, and any violations will be promptly and appropriately addressed. He said that UCs ethics and audit compliance office is reviewing the information to determine whether the alleged conduct violates the regents policy, in place since 1996. Feinsteins office on Thursday declined to comment. Applicants to UC who are the least likely to have access to a powerful regents admissions help include low-income, hardworking Black, Latinx (and) Native Americans, said Michele Siqueiros, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, a statewide advocacy group, noting that they are significantly underrepresented in the UC. All Californians lose when only those in power with privilege, wealth and connections, game admissions in order to cheat their way into a coveted spot, Siqueiros said. The public deserves more than an apology from the UC or Regent Blum. We need to ensure that this behavior will not be tolerated, that those involved will suffer consequences and that reparations are made to students denied access as a result. Black students represented 3.6% of applicants admitted to UC Berkeley as freshmen in fall 2019, and 5.4% of those admitted to UCLA. Latinos made up about 16% of freshmen admitted at each campus. Both Siqueiros and Connerly used the admissions scandal to fuel their opposing positions on Proposition 16, the ballot measure to overturn Prop. 209. The issue that ties all of this together is public trust, Connerly told news outlets at a Friday news conference he held to oppose Prop. 16. Faith in the institution. Faith that the process is fair. Siqueiros said ignoring affirmative action is not the way to instill fairness. Ward Connerly and the Proposition 16 opposition are under a delusion that the status quo is working, she said. The truth is our educational system does work for those with wealth and privilege who can buy their way into a university. But it is not working for the thousands of qualified, talented Black, Latinx, Asian American, Native American students kept out by systemic racism. Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov Authorities of state in have expressed doubts about completing the undergraduate curriculum of the 2020-21 academic year within nine months from November 1, as recommended by the UGC. The 2021-22 academic year is likely to begin from August 30 next year. The authorities, however, said they will have to chalk out a way to complete the curriculum after the final semester examinations scheduled in October. The (UGC), in a recent advisory, recommended that admissions to first year undergraduate courses be completed by October 31 and classes positively start from November 1 for the 2020-21 academic year. "Even if classes are held six days a week, it will be difficult to complete the entire curriculum within nine months in the present semester-based system," a senior official told PTI on Friday. Holidays and vacations will have to be factored in before chalking out the academic calendar, he said. "We are currently preoccupied with conducting supplementary examinations for earlier semesters, laboratory projects, besides preparing for holding the final semester examinations from October 1. "Implementing the UGC advisory to complete admission to first year by October 31 will not be much of a problem. But we have to find a way to complete the 2020-21 academic schedule," the official said. A Calcutta University official said its decision- making body, the Senate, will sit with the vice chancellor to discuss implementation of the UGC guidelines and decide on how to start the classes, in which format and how to complete the curriculum. Rabindra Bharati University Vice Chancellor Sabyasachi Basu Roychowdhury said, "As the assembly elections are due in April-May next year, many educational institutions will become polling centres. That will certainly impede the process of holding classes during that period." Teachers' Association (JUTA) general secretary Partha Pratim Roy said, "Personally, I think the entire 2020-21 academic calendar could have been deferred by one year, instead of taking hasty decisions which will create confusion among students." "As an organisation, the JUTA will speak on the issue later. We will give our views as stakeholders and in the interest of the students," he said. The All Bengal University Teachers' Association (ABUTA), in a statement, said the UGC advisory to start classes is "irresponsible" and endangers the lives of the students "when the Centre has failed to control the COVID-19 outbreak". (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.) Tucker Carlson Tucker Carlson Getty Images Fox News got to claim victory on Thursday after a new ruling in a lawsuit brought against the company came out in its favor, but the win arrived at a steep cost. To deflect an allegation of defamation, the network was forced to claim that one of its highest-profile personalities can't reasonably be expected to consistently provide accurate information to viewers. Here's the background. Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, was paid for her silence about an affair she said she had with Donald Trump during the 2016 election by America Media, Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, on the Republican campaign's behalf these details were exposed and confirmed in the case against former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to participating in the illegal campaign finance scheme. The story became national news, so leading Fox News host Tucker Carlson discussed the case. But he didn't present it accurately. Discussing the McDougal case alongside the similar story of Stormy Daniels, Carlson said: Remember the facts of the story. These are undisputed. Two women approached Donald Trump and threatened to ruin his career and humiliate his family if he doesn't give them money. Now, that sounds like a classic case of extortion. McDougal decided to sue Fox News because these facts are not correct. She did not approach Trump, threaten him, or extort him for money. She sold her story to AMI, which promptly buried it. Carlson grossly misrepresented the facts, a point that Fox News did not dispute in the case. McDougal said since Carlson willfully distorted the factual record, he defamed her. To defend Carlson, however, Fox News had to make a damning claim. The host with the highest-rated show on cable news cannot be trusted, his own network said. In fact, it's even worse than that. Federal Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil found: This "general tenor" of the show should then inform a viewer that he is not "stating actual facts" about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in "exaggeration" and "non-literal commentary." . . . Fox persuasively argues . . . that given Mr. Carlson's reputation, any reasonable viewer "arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism" about the statements he makes. Story continues So the top-rated program on a news station cannot be reasonably expected to be taken seriously and "reasonable" viewers will be skeptical that his claims are not "actual facts." Perhaps this is a good legal argument to make, but it's a dreadful position to be in as a news organization. The judge argued that Carlson's defense is bolstered because he started out saying: "We're going to start by stipulating that everything Michael Cohen has told the feds is absolutely true. Now, assuming honesty isn't usually a wise idea with Michael Cohen, but for the sake of argument, let's do it in this case, everything he says is true[.]" But this actually should cut against Carlson's defense. His point is that the account he's giving is based off the claims in the Cohen case. That's a perfectly reasonable stance to take in an argument. But then he goes on to misrepresent those claims claims which are a matter of the factual record. So this isn't a part of his show where he's clearly being non-literal it's a part when he's explicitly said he's trying to convey the facts as the Cohen case presents them. And he patently failed to do that. This failure arguably, from McDougal's point of view, arose out of actual malice. Given that Carlson's show doubtless has the resources to do basic fact-checking and that his commentary displayed open contempt for McDougal, her legal claim seems eminently plausible. And in the portion of the monologue that McDougal alleged is defamatory, Carlson explicitly said: "Remember the facts of the story. These are undisputed." Again, the remarks were clearly couched to make it clear they were not opinion, but facts. Carlson even repeated his remarks about the extortion later in the show, but the judge found these considerations unpersuasive: It is true that Mr. Carlson repeatedly asserted that the conduct was extortion during a debate with a guest commentator in which Mr. Carlson also described the payment from Cohen to McDougal as "paying off someone who is extorting you, threatening to make public details of your personal life, if she doesn't get paid." See Episode Transcript. But there can be no doubt that Mr. Carlson did so as hyperbole to promote debate on a matter of public concern. Putting aside the merits of the lawsuit, however, it's worth dwelling on the fact that Fox News' official position is that its lead commentator cannot be counted on to be accurate when discussing the news of the day, even when he says he's simply stating the facts of a case. The fact is, Carlson is a liar, and from all appearances, he often intentionally lies to his audience to get them to buy into his warped ideological view of the world. For example, he recently misrepresented a government report suggesting it helped cast doubt on climate change, when in fact it reached precisely the opposite conclusion. But of course, people like me are always accusing Carlson of being a liar, and his viewers surely don't care what I think. How would his viewers feel, though, if they knew Carlson's own network thought he couldn't reasonably be trusted? Perhaps the worst thing for the outlet is that not only did it have to make this damning admission in a legal case, but a judge agreed. Related Articles With the unsolicited millions of ballots that theyre sending, its a scam, its a hoax . . . so youre going to need nine justices up there. I think its going to be very important, Trump told reporters outside the White House on Tuesday. Filling the seat before the election would be a very good thing, Trump added, because youre going to probably see it . . . They will be able to do something here because paper ballots are very simple, whether they counterfeit them, forge them, do whatever you want. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 17:59:10|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will on Saturday attend and chair a high-level virtual conference on poverty alleviation and South-South cooperation, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced Friday. China will co-organize the conference with the United Nations (UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme, spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily press briefing. This year marks the 75th anniversary of UN's founding. Enditem A clapper marks the beginning of a scene during a long-ago taping of "Dexter." (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times) During the COVID-19 pandemic, actors have been forced to audition almost exclusively remotely via video chat and self-tapes, filmed from home and submitted online. The Los Angeles Times recently spoke with casting directors Zora DeHorter, Carla Hool and Julia Kim about the keys to a successful self-tape audition, as well as common mistakes to avoid. Here's what the casting experts had to say. "Keep the background as simple as possible. I dont want to be distracted by seeing your bedroom and things like that. Dedicate a wall, a simple wall ... muted colors are actually probably a little better because it pops your skin more." DeHorter "Get creative on how to find someone to read opposite you. I would say that most casting directors would not favor having the same actor record themselves reading the other role, but it's a way to go. When you have no other options, you could have somebody call and be on the phone reading opposite you. You could ... have a reader on Zoom opposite you." Kim "Good lighting and good sound. Sometimes actors will send tapes where they have echo, and it's not good sound. So they need a space where they can find that and have someone read with them out of frame, of course. Sometimes I get self-tapes where the actor who's reading is in the tape with the actor, and that's not good. Hool "It's a fine line between being too close, where you're just a talking head, and too far that I can't see the expressions on your face. So a mid-shot from like right below the shoulder on up so that we sort of have a sense of your body language." Kim "Check your self-tape. Dont just tape it and then send it off. Thats irresponsible. You have an opportunity now. Its your tape. Watch it. Make sure it looks good. Make sure the sound is great. And then send it off. DeHorter By John Chalmers and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain's decision to leave the European Union was a brave one that demonstrated the country's "greatness" but it is not a path that Hungary will follow, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. Orban told Reuters in an interview in Brussels that the EU only had itself to blame for the British referendum vote in 2016 to leave the bloc because of the way it had treated the country. The vote for leave had safeguarded the "the good reputation" of the British people, he said. "Brexit is a brave decision of the British people about their own lives...we consider it as evidence of the greatness of the British," he said. Britain left the EU at the end of January, and it has been in difficult negotiations since then to agree on a new trade relationship with the 27-nation bloc that will kick in when a standstill transition ends on Dec. 31. Orban said Hungary was not an island and was too closely economically integrated with the EU to follow Britain out. "We can't afford to follow that track," he said. "It's reasonable for Hungary to be part of the European Union." He said there was a high level of support for the EU in Hungary despite the country's many disputes with other member states over issues such as migration and the rule of law. Orban said one mistake the EU made was to press on with the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission from 2014 in the face of opposition from Britain, which was backed by Hungary. "I think Brexit was mainly a mistake of the European Union," Orban said. "We made mistakes, terrible mistakes," he said, stressing the point that the EU was not embodied by its central institutions in Brussels but rather a club of sovereign member states whose wishes could only be ignored with the gravest of consequences, like Brexit. (Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Angus MacSwan) Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has said that he has been receiving various emails from students abroad, who have complained that they are not able to access both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites. The statement from Ramesh comes amid allegations by Opposition parties, including Congress and Trinamool Congress, that the government tried to block Parliament coverage as members were discussing crucial bills like agri reform bills and labour codes in the House. Ramesh claimed that he has found that both the websites have been "geofenced for a month" till mid-October due to "contentious suspicious attacks". "I have been receiving emails from students abroad that the Rajya Sabha website can't be accessed. On checking I'm informed both LS & RS websites have been geofenced for a month, till mid-October, due to 'continuous suspicious attacks', and therefore can be accessed only from India," the Congress leader tweeted. Former union minister of law and justice Ashwani Kumar also reacted to the tweet, indicating it was not "surprising", to which Jairam agreed. The Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha are yet to come out with a statement on whether it's technical glitch or the website has been blocked for access abroad. Meanwhile, this has caused a massive social media uproar amid allegations that the government is trying to censor Parliament coverage to pass controversial laws. Upon checking, some users from outside India have claimed that the Rajya Sabha website is not accessible in countries including the United Kingdom and the United States. Some users also claimed that it's accessible in Canada. Some said that though the RS TV is accessible in the US, the website says it 'can't connect to the server'. I have been receiving emails from students abroad that Rajya Sabha website can't be accessed. On checking Im informed both LS & RS websites have been geofenced for a month, till mid-October, due to continuous suspicious attacks', and therefore can be accessed only from India. Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 24, 2020 https://t.co/yEMkVy5UhI (@AalasHiG1Hai) September 24, 2020 Not so quickly. From US,https://t.co/f5my33u1zh is accessible https://t.co/eSt1XESd9u is not. The clarification could be genuine and restrictions might be necessary to prevent some malicious activities. pic.twitter.com/eZVTKL85Vl Srujal Patel (@SrujalP) September 24, 2020 Some Twitter users hailed the government decision, saying China is using cyber attacks against India amid escalating border tensions along the Line of Actual Control. However, some said banning the government websites access can't be the solution and instead, the Centre should focus on improving tech infrastructure. TMC MP Derek O'Brien, during the passing of the key farm bills in the Upper House on September 20, had also accused the government of censoring the Parliament hearing. He accused the BJP of breaking "every rule of Parliament". "It was a historic day, in the worst sense of the word. They cut RSTV feed so the country couldn't see. They censored RSTV," he said. What is geo-fencing Geo-fencing is a location-based service that allows an app to use GPS, Wi-Fi and RFID or radio-frequency identification to carry out a pre-determined action. Its main applications are blocking access to websites, mobile push notifications, sending timely alters and tracking of activities. Apart from security, it's also used in telemedics, smart appliances and social networking. Chinese cyber attacks on the rise There have also been multiple reports of Chinese hackers trying to attack Indian government websites. The United States Department of Justice in a report this week said that five Chinese hackers wanted to target Indian government websites. The accused, who were charged in the US, also targetted over 100 companies in the US and various activists in Hong Kong. These concerns have raised suspicions that the Chinese may be using their tech capabilities to dismantle critical digital infrastructure in India. The Twitter account of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's website was hacked this month with a series of cryptic tweets being posted on the account by a group claiming to be John Wick. The account has now been restored. Parliament adjourned sine die The Upper House of Parliament was adjourned sine die on Wednesday this week. The Upper House was adjourned eight days ahead of the scheduled end of the Monsoon Session amid concerns of the spread of coronavirus among lawmakers. The Monsoon Session, which started on September 14, was set to continue till October 1. In total, the Upper House had to hold 18 sittings but only 10 could be held. Despite fears of coronavirus, the 10-day session was productive and as many as 25 bills were passed. The MPs also introduced a total of six bills. Also read: Monsoon session: 10 days, 25 bills passed Also read: Farm bills passed in Rajya Sabha amid protests by opposition MPs (Newser) Kim Jong Un has offered a rare apology for what the BBC describes as the first killing of a South Korean citizen by the North in a decade. The South Korean government official may have been trying to defect to North Korea when he disappeared from a government ship, leaving behind his shoes. He turned up, alive and in a life jacket, in North Korean waters on Tuesday. The South says North Korean troops then fatally shot the 47-year-old fisheries department employee and set his body on fire. A letter sent to South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday said Kim felt "very sorry" for the "disgraceful affair," which never should have happened, and for "disappointing" the South Korean people, according to South Korea's presidential office. The letter stated that more than 10 shots were fired at the man, who'd failed to identify himself and then tried to flee. story continues below The North claimed only to have burned the floating material that the man had been clutching, which it says was some distance from the body. South Korea's director of national security, Suh Hoon, said North Korea said this was done "under national emergency disease prevention measures." Suh noted it wasn't the first letter sent by Kim this month. In a letter to Moon dated Sept. 12, Kim referred to the pandemic, adding it was his "sincere intent to share the hardships and sufferings South Korea is experiencing" and "earnest wishes for the health and welfare of South Koreans." The Washington Post's take: "Seouls release of the North Korean letter expressing sympathies over the coronavirus suggested that neither side was willing to risk an extended rupture in relations as a result of the officials killing." (Read more North Korea stories.) The YPG have been accused of supplying the regime with hundreds of trucks of oil, despite the practise being sanctioned by the US writes Nadaa Syria. Media sources revealed that the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) militia has been supplying the Assad regime with 500 trucks of oil per day, despite the Caesar Act, under which the US imposed sanctions on the Assad regime last June. According to Anadolu Agency, 500 trucks loaded with oil leave daily from the areas controlled by the YPG in northeastern Syria and head to Assad regime-controlled areas. According to the source, the trucks are owned by Syrian businessperson, Hossam al-Qatirji, who is loyal to the regime. The trucks are filled with oil from fields in Deir ez-Zor and Rmelan in Hassakeh. The trucks are assembled in the al-Shaddadi and al-Mwasalat areas in Hassakeh and are then sent to the regime-controlled areas via the Abyad Raqqa road, thus avoiding using the M4 international highway, so the operation remains secretive. Anadolu Agency reported that the trucks crossed over into areas under the control of the regime via the al-Houra crossing in Raqqa, and reached the regimes oil refineries in Homs. The Caesar Act imposes sanctions on those who sell or provide services, technology, or critical information that facilitate or expand the local oil production of the regime, and on those who sell aircraft, parts, or related services to the regimes military forces. It also sanctions those who provide construction or engineering services for the Syrian government, in addition to services related to reconstruction. 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. Larynzo D. Johnson, 26, was charged with 14 counts of wanton endangerment and two counts of assault on a police officer Police advocates are questioning the 'light' charges brought against the man who allegedly shot and wounded two Louisville cops during a demonstration, demanding to know why the suspect doesn't face an attempted murder charge. Larynzo D. Johnson, 26, was charged with 14 counts of wanton endangerment and two counts of assault on a police officer after the shooting on Wednesday night in Louisville. Injured were Major Aubrey Gregory, who was shot in the hip and has been released from the hospital, and Officer Robinson Desroches, who was shot in the abdomen and required emergency surgery, but is expected to survive. 'A police officer shot in the gut, and a police officer shot in the hip, in the middle of violent riots and looting would indicate to me that that should be - at a minimum - attempted murder,' said retired police Sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith, a spokeswoman for the National Police Association, in an interview with DailyMail.com on Thursday. Louisville police officers are seen running for cover immediately after a shooting that injured two officers on Wednesday night Major Aubrey Gregory, (left) was shot in the hip and has been released from the hospital, and Officer Robinson Desroches (right) was shot in the abdomen and required emergency surgery, but is expected to survive Brantner Smith noted that Johnson's arrest citation says he 'intentionally used a handgun to fire multiple bullets at officers'. 'I don't know why that wouldn't be at least, with the one officer shot in the gut, attempted murder,' she said. A spokesman for the Jefferson County Office of the Commonwealths Attorney said that the charges against Johnson had been filed by arresting officers, and could be upgraded if appropriate. 'I am sure that officers investigating the case filed what charges they felt appropriate at the time,' Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Jeffrey Cooke told DailyMail.com in a statement. 'If the case makes its way to our office for presentation to a grand jury, the assigned prosecutor will review the facts and can add additional charges, including attempted murder, if the facts support it,' he added. 'Ordinarily if someone intentionally shoots at someone with a firearm and hits them the shooter would be charged with Assault in the First Degree. Depending on the facts, Attempted Murder could also be charged,' Cooke said. The Louisville Metro Police department did not immediately respond to inquiries from DailyMail.com on Thursday night about the charges against Johnson. In Kentucky, people who fire shots at police officers have regularly been charged with attempted murder - even when the bullets miss. In December, Jason William Marsee pleaded guilty to attempted murder after firing eight rounds from a .22 caliber rifle through the side of a house in Knox County, narrowly missing cops who were investigating an assault complaint. He was sentenced to 11 years. Brantner Smith, who served for 29 years in the Naperville Police Department in Illinois, pointed out that so far prosecutors have released little evidence in the case, calling for more transparency. The NPA is a non-profit advocacy and educational group founded to build public support for law enforcement. National Police Association spokeswoman Betsy Brantner Smith (left) questioned why Johnson was not charged with attempted murder. A spokesman for Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas B. Wine (right) said that the charges were filed by arresting officers, and could be upgraded at a later date if the facts support it A burning trash can is seen as protesters clash with police after a grand jury considering the March killing of Breonna Taylor did not directly charge officers in her death Police officers guard the location near where an officer was shot on Wednesday Wednesday's shootings unfolded against the tense backdrop of demonstrations against the grand jury decision in the police shooting death of Breonna Taylor in March. Louisville Interim Police Chief Robert Schroeder said Wednesday's shooting of the two officers took place at Brook Street and Broadway about 8.30pm when officers were responding to a large crowd of demonstrators. Bystander video showed a group of people walking down a street when gunfire erupted several hundred yards away where police cars were parked with their lights flashing. At least 14 shots rang out as the person holding the camera started running away from the scene. Johnson was arrested at 8.40pm, according to his arrest citation, which says the suspect 'showed an extreme indifference to the value of human life' and put officers at risk of death or serious injury. Witnesses identified him as the man seen firing a gun at the cops and running from the scene and he was armed at the time of his arrest, the citation reads. Authorities expect ballistics to prove the shots fired came from the handgun in his possession. A police officer stands in an alley after an officer was shot, Wednesday in Louisville Police survey an area after a police officer was shot. Police advocates are questioning the 'light' charges brought against the man who allegedly shot and wounded two Louisville cops Brantner Smith slammed the shooting, saying that it negatively impacts those who wish to peacefully protest as well as police. 'It increases the tensions between the officers and the protesters, and that's never good,' she said. 'It's petrifying, it's frightening,' she added, speaking of cops who are assigned to work at protests. 'It's incredibly frightening for them to have to stand the line while people are protesting, and now they're thinking "is someone going to come back tonight and shoot me?"' she said. The grand jury had declined to directly charge three officers in Taylor's death, saying the shooting was justified after Taylor's boyfriend opened fire first, striking one cop as they executed a search warrant at her home. However, one officer was charged with wanton endangerment for alleged wild shots that went through the wall of a neighboring apartment. It led some to question whether the wanton endangerment charges against Johnson were a political statement of some kind. 'Charging him with wanton endangerment, I would say sounds a little light,' remarked Brantner Smith of the charges against Johnson. Johnson has no previous arrests for violent crimes or felony convictions. He is being held at Louisville Metro Corrections and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning. Ronaldo Munck. Rethinking Global Labour: Towards a New Social Settlement. Newcastle upon Tyne: Agenda Publishing, 2018. 288 pp. $30.00 (paper), ISBN 978-1-78821-105-5; $90.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-78821-104-8. Reviewed by Ingo Schmidt (Athabasca University) Published on H-Socialisms (September, 2020) Commissioned by Gary Roth (Rutgers University - Newark) Global Labor Writing about global labor at a time of escalating nationalism, trade wars, and anti-immigration policies seems like bad timing, unlike during the heyday of neoliberal globalization when some currents in unions and pro-labor academics pondered about laboras possible contributions to an alternative globalization. Many contributions to this debate saw globalization as the trigger of a race to the bottom in which nation-states lost their ability to intervene on the side of workers. A final showdown between Seattle Man and Davos Man, to use Paul Krugmanas memorable labels, seemed imminent. Less dramatic interpretations pointed to states as architects of global governance structures in which capital could operate without interference from tax authorities, safety inspectors, and unions. According to this view, states were by no means powerless but, under pressure from corporate lobby groups, had chosen to turn from welfare state expansion to neoliberal rollback. If this was so, many adherents of this view concluded, labor, possibly collaborating with other social movements, could build countervailing powers to regain influence over the state. In Globalisation and Labour: The New aGreat Transformation,a published in 2002, shortly after the dot.com crash, Ronaldo Munck offered a synthesis of alter-globalist and statist views. He recognized that states play a role in driving globalization forward but was skeptical about the possibilities of building countervailing powers on the national level. In terms of strategy, he sided with the alter-globalists but rejected the race-to-the-bottom thesis. Instead of viewing market forces as creating a homogenous global workforce, working under equally deplorable conditions everywhere on earth, he saw globalization as a process of remaking divisions between workers North and South and between different segments of the workforces within the North and South. Uneven and combined development poses greater challenges for global movement builders than does downward convergence as it invites segments of the global workforce to seek advancement at the expense of other segments, rather than uniting with all other workers of the world. Which is exactly what happened since Globalisation and Labor was published. Ongoing wars and recurrent crises have destroyed the widespread belief that markets would coordinate individual economic activities efficiently and distribute rewards in a just manner. Disappointment that markets did not live up to their promise, inequalities, insecurities, and a growing sense of powerlessness allowed a new right to prosper and government policies to turn to more and more protectionist measures. Under these new circumstances, the challenge for labor and other social movements is no longer to seek a more socially just kind of globalization and/or a return to the welfare state but also to fight back against the new rightaa good reason for Rethinking Global Labour: Towards a New Social Settlement indeed. However, there is not much in this regard in Munckas new book. This is all the more surprising as in an earlier book, Globalization and Contestation, published in 2006, he makes very clear that athe new great counter-movementa could come from the left but also from the right. His latest book is more update than rethinking. For readers unfamiliar with the debates around labor and globalization from the turn of the century, this is valuable enough but certainly not sufficient. The good heirs of Seattle men and women are not only up against the bad World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, etc., but also against an ugly new right. Munck does not offer any clues in this respect, but his book does help to understand how neoliberal globalization created highly fragmented worlds of labor that can breed alternatives from the left and the right. To this end, the first part of the book provides a brief sketch of the history of labor in different parts of the world, while the second part portrays the fragmentation within the working classes of the Global North and South with a special focus on precariously employed workers all over the world. Against this background, Munck discusses the challenges of migrant labor, social movements other than labor, and internationalism in advancing a global strategy for labor. In his historical sketch, Munck points to the complementary developments of the nation-state system, global capitalism, industrialization, and colonization. This implies that primitive accumulation is more than a phase leading to the polarization between capitalists and paid labor. Instead, it is a permanent part of capitalist development, which means that labor under capitalism includes not only wageworkers but also slaves, coolies, and indentured laborers, in other words, workers just recently forced off their land or out of independent artisan production without being free to contract with capitalist employers or to earn the right to unionize and vote as they see fit. The making of these highly diverse working classes included migrations, on the local level from rural areas to emerging industrial districts, but also, as in the case of the slave trade, across continents. This sketch does not offer anything new to readers familiar with global history but might still be a necessary and useful corrective to widespread images of factory workers, mostly male, muscled, and white, representing the age of industrial capitalism, and an assemblage of service, household, and agricultural workers, mostly female, nonwhite, and sometimes unpaid, epitomizing globalization. Contrary to such views, happily spread by liberals but also fairly common on the left, todayas diversity is not the result of liberalism overcoming the uniformity of industrial capitalism, created by big government, big labor, maybe even big business, but a remaking of older forms of diversity driven by big business seeking to escape whichever fetters unions and governments had imposed on it during the age of welfarism and developmentalism. Blindness to older forms of working-class diversity, or fragmentation, also means blindness to forms of working-class organizing that do not fit the male, muscled, and white image pinned on industrial unionism. Munck presents the mutualism of artisan workers moving from job to job and often across country and co-operatives as examples. Mutualism played a significant role in organizing the First International, and the culture of solidarity it fostered was markedly different from the exclusionary practices of much craft unionism beginning around the same time. Co-operatives existed in many forms in many places around the world but fell very much into oblivion, though, arguably, they constituted, next to unions and political parties, the third pillar of labor movements in the past. These are just two examples of working-class experiences of the past that could broaden the outlook on building labor movements for the future. Writing about work and workers today, Munck shows that the triad of relocations, reorganization, and automation exerted massive pressure on wages and social standards around the world but did not lead to the near disappearance of work and downward convergence of wages. Against the deindustrialization thesis with its narrow focus on rust belts and high-tech clusters, he shows that, on a global scale, industrial production and employment have massively increased, not decreased, over the period commonly associated with neoliberal globalization. Although import-substitution, the developmentalist way to industrialization, was dropped, partly under pressure from corporate elites in the capitalist centers, partly because the class alliances in the South that had pursued import-substitution fell apart, industrialization per se did not stop. It turned to production for world markets. Most notable in this regard is certainly Chinaas market-turn. In this regard, Munck reminds readers of the doubling of the labor force available to capitalist employers following the collapse of Soviet Communism and the subsequent turn of Sino Communism. His brief discussion of the failures of bureaucratic socialism that led to the Second Worldas disappearance adds to the understanding of neoliberal globalization and to the debate about advancing alternatives to it, not in the sense of bringing back the good old Soviet days or bemoaning missed opportunities of making them better than they actually were but in the sense of an urgently needed self-critique of todayas left that cannot escape its past. Munckas critique of the precariat as a new dangerous class can certainly be understood as an effort to overcome the delinking of the present and the future from the past that imbues a lot of left theorizing and strategizing. This thesis, according to Munck, only makes sense against the background of the so-called golden era of welfarism in the West that saw rising real wages, shorter hours, and social protections for most layers of the Westas working classes. However, as is clear from Munckas historical sketch, these improvements were the exception rather than the rule. In other parts of the world, despite some progress that developmentalism meant for workers in the South, working and living conditions were precarious for most of the workers of the world during the golden era. And even in the West, workersamostly women, migrants, and ethnic minorities employed in the lower tiers of the labor marketadid not enjoy the incomes and protections gained by upper-tier workers. Using the upper-tier experience as a benchmark against which precarious employment today can be measured is misleading as it leaves precarious employment during the golden era, which might have been inextricably linked to the happy few working in better paid and more secure jobs, in the shade. Moreover, paired with analyses that see globalization and automation as outcomes of more or less iron laws of development, golden era welfarism does not offer much hope for the future. Despite only benefiting some segments of the worldas working classes, welfarism and developmentalism were at some point seen as a threat by capital. However, the same institutions that locked in the gains that these segments had won turned out to constrain workersa efforts to fight back against capitalas neoliberal offensive. These limitations were even more obvious in the Second World where capitalists had been pushed out of power. The ruling bureaucracies that replaced them caused plenty of discontent but were resilient enough to ward off any grassroots movement to the point where the economic system fractured and allowed the restoration of capitalist rule. Another limitation of laboras partial or complete integration into state structures is that these structures, by definition governing limited territories and demarcating them from others, are an impediment to global organizing. This was the starting point for alter-globalistsa efforts to organize beyond the nation-state. Munck reviews these efforts, adds to them experiences from the new social movements that mobilized around issues neglected by most of the statist labor movements and also earlier labor experiences that were not integrated into state apparatuses, and then suggests a strategy for global labor that is as diverse in terms of issues and organizing practices as the fragmented working classes of todayas world. He does not suggest that rank-and-file organizing beyond nation-states is the alternative to state-oriented organizing, and is certainly not blind to the fact that new social movements ended up in top-down structures when they moved from a period of grassroots mobilizations to NGOism, but he does insist that such movements are necessary complements to state-oriented unions and parties. In terms of strategic vision, he casts the net wide but also remains fairly vague. Successful organizing certainly needs to be more focused, but to determine promising foci it might be a good idea to start with the net wide open rather than stuffing it into one small pond. Citation: Ingo Schmidt. Review of Munck, Ronaldo, Rethinking Global Labour: Towards a New Social Settlement. H-Socialisms, H-Net Reviews. September, 2020. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. The cell membrane, the wall-like boundary between the cell interior and its outside environment, is primarily made up of two kinds of biomolecules: lipids and proteins. Different lipid species closely pack together to form a double layer, or "bilayer," the membrane's fundamental structure, while proteins are embedded within or attached to the bilayer. Membrane proteins are responsible for various important cellular activities, and their dysfunction can lead to serious health issues. Studying membrane protein structures and how they behave will help scientists better understand their connection to diseases and aid in developing therapeutics. A team of researchers led by Vanderbilt University has recently shed light on how membrane proteins could be influenced by the lipids around them. By developing a novel type of membrane model, the scientists were able to show that the shape and behavior of a protein can be altered by exposure to different lipid compositions. The researchers confirmed the artificial membrane's structure using x-ray and neutron scattering at the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Brookhaven (BNL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL). Their findings were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. This work showed that a protein can change quite profoundly in different membrane lipid environments, and we think this opens up a whole new area of research." Charles Sanders, professor of biochemistry at Vanderbilt University and corresponding author of the new study Lipid layouts and cell membrane models Cell membranes are composed of a variety of lipid molecules. Recently, studies have shown that certain lipids in cell membranes can come together to form clusters, also known as rafts. Some scientists suggest that rafts may move throughout the membrane and co-exist with ungrouped molecules. "A lipid raft is like a clique at a party," said Sanders. "They may move around the party, but it's always the same people talking to each other." His lab is exploring how rafts might impact membrane proteins and cellular activities associated with them. In the new work, Sanders and a team of researchers have created a synthetic membrane capable of incorporating abundant quantities of two lipid molecules thought to make up rafts in cell membranes: cholesterol and sphingomyelin. Their approach involved developing disc-shaped biological structures, known as bicelles, that can produce a simplified model of a cell membrane's lipid bilayer. "Cholesterol and sphingomyelin are ubiquitous in cell membranes but have not been present together in previous versions of bicelles," said John Katsaras, a biophysicist and neutron scattering scientist at ORNL and study co-author. "This new class of bicelles has a lipid composition that we believe is more biologically relevant." Complementary techniques give comprehensive analysis After developing the bicelles, the researchers used small-angle neutron and x-ray scattering techniques to precisely determine the material's shape and structural organization. "It's really hard to confirm the actual morphology of bicelles. Small-angle neutron and small-angle x-ray scattering are the only ways to get a good overall characterization of these particles," said James Hutchison, a Vanderbilt University researcher and study co-author. The team used a joint-access program for small-angle neutron and x-ray scattering that allows researchers to more conveniently request beam time at the Bio-SANS instrument at ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and the Bio-SAXS instrument (LiX) at BNL's National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II). Neutrons can detect light elements like hydrogen, whereas x-rays are more sensitive to heavier elements, which means each scattering technique can reveal unique information about the same material. By using both methods, the researchers built a more accurate model of the membrane system. "Neutron and x-ray scattering are very complementary to each other," said Shuo Qian, a neutron scattering scientist at ORNL and study co-author. "Together, those techniques were able to provide a full picture of the bicelle structure." Complementary bicelle measurements were also performed using transmission cryo-electron microscopy at Vanderbilt University. Uncovering new protein properties To assess how the new model membrane could be used to understand lipid composition and membrane protein relationships, the scientists introduced their bicelles to a well-studied protein fragment, referred to as C99. This fragment makes up one region of a membrane protein called amyloid precursor protein, which experts believe is connected to Alzheimer's disease. Using various characterization methods, the team pinpointed differences in the protein fragment's structure and dynamics when embedded in the new membrane model. Notably, they observed the C99 fragments self-associate with one another in regions that had not previously been reported in other model membranes. The researchers hypothesize these newly uncovered binding sites could play a role in regulating other protein interactions with this fragment. The team aims to run additional experiments to confirm whether the new bicelle system possesses a lipid raft environment. Scientists have already identified lipid raft properties in artificial vesicles, a spherical hollow biological structure that is enveloped by a lipid bilayer, but not in other small particles, such as bicelles "There is no known non-vesicle small particle that has lipid raft-like properties," said Hutchison. "It would be a slam dunk to prove it." It's worth repeating that talk of a quick recovery from the plague is nothing more than an empty political promise. Meanwhile, a quick drive around town will reveal a vast number of empty storefronts as locals continue to lose jobs and economic opportunity amid dire forecasts of a second wave of illness and death on the horizon. Take a look: A high-ranking Vatican official has resigned from his post amid 180million financial scandal following purchase of London apartment block using Church funds. Cardinal Angelo Becciu's resignation was accepted by Pope Francis in a statement issued by the Vatican late on Thursday. In the one-sentence announcement, the Holy See said that the Pope had accepted Mr Becciu's resignation as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints 'and his rights connected to the cardinalate'. High-ranking Vatican official Cardinal Angelo Becciu (pictured) has resigned from his post and renounced his rights amid a financial scandal that has reportedly implicated him indirectly Mr Becciu, the former deputy in the Vatican's secretariat of state, has been reportedly implicated in the scandal involving the 200m (180m) purchase of a London property with Church funds through offshore funds and companies. The money was used to buy an apartment block in Sloane Avenue during the cardinal's time as Substitute for General Affairs. The deal is thought to have lost the Holy See millions of pounds in fees paid to middlemen. The Vatican prosecutor has placed several Vatican officials under investigation, as well as the middlemen, but not Mr Becciu. In June, Italian businessman Gianluigi Torzi was arrested by Vatican police on suspicion of extortion and embezzlement. Cardinal Angelo Becciu's resignation was accepted by Pope Francis (pictured earlier today) in a statement issued by the Vatican late on Thursday Mr Becciu, 72, has defended the soundness of the original investment and denied any wrongdoing. He told Italian website Domani he was being forced out because he was suspected of giving Church money to his brothers. 'I didn't steal even one euro. I am not under investigation but if they send me to trial, I will defend myself,' he was quoted as saying. 'I said to the Pope: why are you doing this to me, in front of the whole world?' Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 17:53:52|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Thursday announced an expanded coronavirus-related support scheme for the city's Latino community, a group which has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. With a total fund of 28.5 million U.S. dollars, Breed has allocated an initial 22.5 million dollars toward supporting the Latino community with a focus on health, housing, food access, and small businesses. "Our Latino community has borne the brunt of the COVID pandemic -- not just here in San Francisco, but across the country," Breed said in her announcement. Latinos make up 50 percent of reported cases of COVID-19 in San Francisco, despite the demographic making up just 15 percent of the city's population, according to the city's health department. The disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on the Latino community can be traced back to crowded living conditions and the high number of Latino frontline workers, according to Breed's announcement. Enditem A retired sergeant from the Los Angeles Police Department sparked outrage on social media when she told MSNBC on Wednesday that Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is black, is 'skinfolk but he is not kinfolk.' Cheryl Dorsey spoke to MSNBC shortly after Cameron, a conservative Republican and the first black man ever elected attorney general in Kentucky, announced that a Louisville grand jury would not indict any of the three police officers directly for the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. 'Let me say this as a black woman,' Dorsey told MSNBC. is there a Black conservative that doesn't get these types of comments, or worse, said about them? TasCachetrophy (@cachetrophy) September 23, 2020 Daniel Cameron (left), the first black man ever elected attorney general in Kentucky, was denounced by retired LAPD Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey (right) as 'skinfolk but not kinfolk' Cameron, a Republican, has come under fire after he announced on Wednesday that none of the three police officers involved in the fatal March 13 shooting of Breonna Taylor (above) would be directly charged 'He does not speak for black folks. He's skinfolk but not he is not kinfolk. 'He does not speak for all of us. This was not a tragedy, this was a murder. 'He should be ashamed of himself.' The remark drew condemnation on Twitter, with some comparing it to the 'Uncle Tom' slur. 'I guess the world isn't used to this saying,' Tia Ewing tweeted. 'Black people have been saying this amongst one another forever. 'Remember Uncle Tom, that's where the ideology comes from.' Radio host Mark Levin tweeted: 'MSNBC promotes race-baiting guest attacking black Kentucky AG.' Bill Iannacci tweeted: 'Shameful statement and not acceptable. Radio host Mark Levin tweeted: 'MSNBC promotes race-baiting guest attacking black Kentucky AG.' 'I guess the world isn't used to this saying,' Tia Ewing tweeted. 'Black people have been saying this amongst one another forever. Remember Uncle Tom, that's where the ideology comes from.' Another Twitter user wrote: 'Is there a Black conservative that doesn't get these types of comments, or worse, said about them?' Another Twitter user commented about Dorsey's statement: 'Well that doesn't sound super racist or anything.' Nan Hayworth tweeted: 'So that's the new racist nomenclature: 'skinfolk'? Bill Iannacci tweeted: 'Shameful statement and not acceptable.' 'Anyone who watched that full press conference could see how emotional and difficult it was for the AG. 'He spoke facts while also having the compassion and concern deserved for Breonna Taylor.' Another Twitter user commented: 'This guy (Cameron) is really impressive. Fired Louisville detective Brett Hankison (above in his mugshot) was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in connection to the police raid on the night of March 13 'So to the left because he's not on their team that means he has to be destroyed immediately.' Nan Hayworth tweeted: 'So that's the new racist nomenclature: 'skinfolk'? 'Have you let Mr. Biden know he has to say 'If you ain't votin' for me, then you ain't kinfolk, just skinfolk'?' Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, sparked controversy in May when he told a radio host that 'you ain't black' if you are undecided on who to vote for in November. Another Twitter user commented about Dorsey's statement: 'Well that doesn't sound super racist or anything.' Another Twitter user wrote: 'Is there a Black conservative that doesn't get these types of comments, or worse, said about them?' Prosecutors said two officers who fired their weapons at Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman, were justified in using force to protect themselves after they faced gunfire from her boyfriend. The only charges were three counts of wanton endangerment against fired Officer Brett Hankison for shooting into a home next to Taylor's with people inside. Taylor, an emergency medical worker, was shot multiple times by white officers who entered her home during a narcotics investigation in the early morning hours of March 13. The decision not to indict the officers for murder sparked massive protests nationwide. Demonstrators are seen above marching in Detroit on Wednesday She was killed after police fired in response to a gunshot from her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who discharged his weapon because he thought he was being robbed. Cameron said that while the officers had a no-knock warrant, the investigation showed they announced themselves before entering. The warrant used to search her home was connected to a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside. Cameron's contention that the police officers announced who they were when they knocked on the door contradicts reporting by The New York Times, which says nearly a dozen neighbors did not recall hearing the police identify themselves. Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, urged Cameron to post online all the evidence that could be released without affecting the charges filed. 'Those that are currently feeling frustration, feeling hurt, they deserve to know more,' he said. Officers Myles Cosgrove (left) and John Mattingly (right) who were present during the police raid on March 13, were not charged on Wednesday. Hankison was fired from the LMPD while the other two officers were placed on administrative assignment The case exposed the wide gulf between public opinion on justice for those who kill black Americans and the laws under which those officers are charged, which regularly favor police and do not often result in steep criminal accusations. At a news conference, Cameron spoke to that disconnect: 'Criminal law is not meant to respond to every sorrow and grief.' 'But my heart breaks for the loss of Miss Taylor. ... My mother, if something was to happen to me, would find it very hard,' he added, choking up. But Cameron, who is the state's first Black attorney general, said the officers acted in self-defense after Taylor's boyfriend fired at them. He added that Hankison and the two other officers who entered Taylor's apartment announced themselves before entering and so did not execute the warrant as 'no knock,' according to the investigation. The city has since' banned such warrants. 'According to Kentucky law, the use of force by (Officers Jonathan) Mattingly and (Myles) Cosgrove was justified to protect themselves,' Cameron said. 'This justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges in Miss Breonna Taylor's death.' Multiple studies show the occurrence of various mutations defining different clades of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is essential to keep watch over the newly emerging mutations and the fitness of the new strains to maintain an effective response to the pandemic. Now, a new study by researchers at the University of Hong Kong and published on the preprint server medRxiv* in September 2020 shows that a significant variant characterized by the D614G mutation has higher infectivity, which may account for its rapid rise to the dominant position in all regions where it has emerged. The D614G mutation is one where the aspartic acid residue at position 614 is replaced by glycine. This is at the carboxy-terminal end of the S1 domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This mutant occupies an increasing proportion of detected variants since the end of February 2020, which has made it the most commonly identified variant in many parts of the world at present. This has led many researchers to hypothesize that it is capable of faster or easier spread compared to the wildtype virus D614, perhaps due to more rapid growth or faster viral replication, or a more significant reproduction number. Global phylogeny of SARS-CoV-2. The maximum likelihood tree was inferred from the alignment of 26,244 worldwide SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences with high sequencing coverage, using GTR+CAT substitution model in FastTree program. Multiple clades are highlighted, and their associated mutations are indicated within parenthesis. Tree tips corresponding to the viral sequences from different continents are annotated in different colors as shown in the color legend box. Many studies in vitro confirm the increased infectivity of this model. Phylogenetic analyses also show a phenomenon called diversifying selection at position 614, again suggesting that D614G is more infectious. The current study aims to assess its epidemiological fitness of this variant in quantitative terms, using data acquired from COVID-19 surveillance and RNA sequencing data to get an idea of how infectious it is in relation to other strains. D614 and G614 in Co-Circulation Global phylogenetic relationship tracing shows that the G614 mutation is found in the clade with the largest number of strains. The researchers made a crucial assumption that this is the only mutation in this clade that is associated with higher viral transmission rates. On this basis, they analyzed over 35,000 viral sequences from the period between 24 December 2019 and 8 June 2020, all of which included the position of interest in the spike encoding gene. They identified the phylogenetic clusters of local transmission on a country-wise basis using the global viral sequencing patterns. They defined clusters which began with one or a small number of viral introductions, with at least two sequences fitting the study criteria. In some countries, both the variants were circulating together in local clusters for two weeks or more. This would include at least two generations of the virus if the generation time is taken to be 5-7 days on average. All the ten countries included in this analysis had a hundred circulating sequences at least during this period when two or more strains were in circulating at the same time in one cluster. This analysis, therefore, included ~500 D614 clusters and ~1,400 G614 clusters among ~11,000 sequences. The investigators found that over time the ratio of the G614 strain to the D614 strain increased to become the dominant strain in every country. G614 Transmission Fitness The researchers also compared the basic reproduction number and the mean generation time of both strains. Given the assumption that the D614 strain has a mean generation time of ~5 days, the researchers calculated that the G614 strain has a reproduction number 31% times higher than the D614 strain. The estimate above is based on the number of confirmed cases, but if deaths are used instead, the result would be a 23% higher reproduction number. The basic mean generation time is similar for both strains, however, in terms of both confirmed cases and confirmed deaths. This fits the hypothesis perfectly and agrees with the observations gathered concerning the proportion of G614 isolates over all the countries in the study. The researchers also looked at differences in reproduction number by geographical locations. They found that the estimates were 1.13 for the US, 1.53 for the UK, and 1.30 for other locations. They then adjusted their analysis to ignore imported sequences that did not cause significant secondary infections. The global phylogenetic tree shows that it is possible that large numbers of imported G614 cases during the study period arrived from countries where the outbreak had gone mostly undetected, but this was the dominant strain. Thus, the researchers next integrated the imported G614 cases into their fitness analysis on the assumption that all importations consisted solely of G614. They then estimated the imported force of G614 infection in terms of its ratio to the local incidence of COVID-19 which was below 0.0012 in the UK. The significance of this is its suggestion that the increase in the proportion of G614 was not due to imported cases in the UK. If so, the overall estimate of 0.0172 for all ten countries indicates that the increase in number and size of G614 clusters was due to the more efficient replication and spread of this strain relative to D614. This was so even after adjusting for cluster size or the exact definition used to trace phylogeny. How G614 Fitness Affects SARS-CoV-2 Transmission The estimations above indicate that the threshold for herd immunity would be higher for G614 relative to D614, since, at the basic reproduction number ratio of 1.31 it would move up from 50% to 62% for an R0 of 2, and from 67% to 75% for R0 of 3. If mobility, susceptibility, and infectivity are accounted for, this will result in a more accurate estimate of the herd immunity threshold. In short, the increased infectivity of the G614 strain is solely responsible for its higher transmission rate. Earlier studies show that the G614 strain entered European countries earlier relative to Australia or the US, and made up from ~20% to 75% of all infections by early March. Again, New York had an earlier importation of this strain compared to Washington State. Assuming the same generation time, this indicates that the basic reproduction number was 25% higher for Washington State. However, the lack of co-circulation did not allow G614 fitness estimation for New York State. The study thus suggests that the G614 strain has a transmission rate about a third higher than the D614 strain, which has driven its dominance in every country it has reached so far. In fact, it became the predominant SARS-CoV-2 strain in Europe within two months of its introduction. The growth rate of G614 is 21% faster than that of D614, and this also matches the rate of resurgence of the G614-dominant virus in Beijing relative to the spread of the original D614-dominated virus in the first wave, at 325 vs. 156 local cases for the second wave compared to the first wave, within the same number of days, and despite the tight containment measures prevailing in the city. However, there is a possibility that a more significant number of mild cases were picked up the second time around because of the higher rate of community testing from June onward. There is no evidence of higher virulence, however, and in fact, crude analyses show a higher percentage of asymptomatic, mild, or moderate cases in the second wave. Implications The higher infectivity and reproduction number means that preventive measures against the D614 strain will be only 70% as efficient against the G614 strain. This means that both the vaccine coverage and the herd immunity threshold will rise significantly with the G614 strain. Of course, it could be that the R0 remained the same, but the G614 strain has a shorter doubling time by about 20%, requiring 20% faster contact tracing and control to prevent future outbreaks. This will not change the vaccine coverage required to stop the pandemic, however, due to the unchanged R0. More research will be required to understand how other mutations in strains with the D614G mutation affect transmissibility and generation time. The fitness estimates apply only with co-circulation of both these strains and not if only one new strain is emerging or is already the dominant strain, nor if three or more strains are circulating simultaneously. The scientists conclude, The G614 mutation confers a transmission advantage over the wildtype D614. Our method can be readily integrated into the current COVID-19 surveillance system, to provide efficient epidemiological assessment of the transmission potential of emerging mutants for early alert. *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. Source A prestigious fine arts college in China has sparked a public outcry after telling students that women get sexually assaulted when they are beautiful and flirtatious in its textbook. The claims were included in a Freshman Safety Knowledge Handbook published by China Academy of Arts, the first arts university in Chinese history. The safety guide angered hundreds of thousands of angered users who slammed the reputable Chinese college for suggesting women were responsible for sexual assault. A prestigious fine arts college in China has sparked a public outcry after telling students that women get sexually assaulted when they are beautiful and flirtatious in its textbook. The file photo shows a Chinese woman walking under an umbrella in Beijing on August 12 The incident has sparked a heated discussion online after pictures of the handbook have been widely shared on Chinese Twitter-like Weibo since Thursday. Students are pictured queuing at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan on August 29 The incident has sparked a heated discussion online after pictures of the handbook have been widely shared on Chinese Twitter-like Weibo since Thursday. A paragraph from the safety guide, titled Causes of Sexual Assault, said the primal reason is the girls personal influences. [She] cares about maintaining physical appearances and blindly pursues materialistic pleasures, the handbook read. [She] has beautiful looks and a flirtatious manner; has a timid nature and is unable to defend herself. The university also branded sexual assault victims as introverted and weak-willed women who have a poor sense of self-protection. The controversial claims were included in a Freshman Safety Knowledge Handbook published by China Academy of Arts, the first arts university in Chinese history Outraged social media users called for a formal apology from the fine arts college which told Chinese media that they were investigating the matter. One commenter wrote: Stop all the excuses, you need to come out and apologise. Another said: Was this handbook written by rapists? Are you blaming the victims for sexual assault? The university has yet released any formal statements following the incident. Earlier this month, another Chinese university's guidelines warning women students not to wear 'revealing' clothes on campus 'to prevent arousing temptation' whipped up online fury in the socially conservative country. 'Do not wear clothing and skirts that are overly revealing, low-cut, exposing your waist, or showing your back, so as to prevent arousing temptation,' the advisory note for new female students read. China has taken some steps towards key demands from its nascent #MeToo movement, with its first-ever civil code - passed in May - expanding the definition of sexual harassment. A group of graduate students is pictured in the file photo attending an opening ceremony at Huazhong University of Science and Technology at the university's stadium on September 4 The recommendations were included in a 50-point safety guide issued by Guangxi University, which also urged women to avoid going out alone. China has taken some steps towards key demands from its nascent #MeToo movement, with its first-ever civil code - passed in May - expanding the definition of sexual harassment. But it remains difficult to get justice for many sexual assault crimes due to conservative attitudes and many women reluctant to come forward. Hyderabad, Sep 25 : The Telangana government on Friday permitted re-opening of bars, clubs and parks, with immediate effect. A Government Order (GO) was issued on Friday, permitting re-opening of bars, clubs and tourism bars, subject to certain conditions. However, permit rooms of 'A4' shops will remain closed until further orders. Bars, clubs and tourism bars will have to adhere to Covid-19 regulations. There will be a ban on gatherings, musical events and dance floors. The government has also asked them to ensure thermal screening at entrance, proper queue management and hygiene conditions and provision of hand sanitisers. The bar staff and crew will have to wear masks. Deep cleaning and sanitization of entire bar premises has to be done morning and evening every day, says the GO. Sanitisation has to be done before a new customer occupies a seat. Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar also clarified that parks belonging to local bodies and Forest Department are not covered under the prohibited list of activities under the GO issued on August 31. He stated that the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Commissioner, Panchayat Raj & Rural Development and Municipal Commissioners shall take appropriate action accordingly. System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
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The components are similar to what Xiaomi has used in its previous Android TV players, the Mi Box and Mi Box S , but it has half as much RAM as those devices, and it doesnt support 4K video. In the same vein as Amazons Fire TV Stick and Rokus Streaming Stick+, the Mi TV Stick is a finger-length device that plugs directly into the HDMI slot on modern televisions. Depending on the arrangement of your TVs HDMI ports, you may need a short HDMI extender cable to make the Mi TV Stick fit; fortunately Xiaomi now includes one in the box. But all that is undermined by the Mi TV Sticks performance, which ranges from just average (in apps like Netflix and HBO) to unusable (in Hulu). Combined with a chintzy remote and the likelihood of a much more interesting Android TV device just around the cornerthat is, Googles own Sabrina streaming dongle the Xiaomi Mi TV Stick doesnt offer much in its favor. With a $50 list price, the Xiaomi Mi TV Stick aims to be a relatively cheap Android TV streaming dongle for 1080p televisions. Like other Android TV devices, it offers Google Assistant voice controls, Chromecast support, and a slick menu for recommending things to watch. In practice, the hardware results in a sluggish experience. The system routinely vacillates between smooth and choppy frame rates while scrolling through menus, and the home screen can take upwards of five seconds to reload after exiting an app. Even just pressing a button on the remote often fails to produce an immediate response. Hulu, for whatever reason, seems to bring out the worst of these issues. Scrolling around the app causes the Mi TV Stick to freeze for seconds at a time, and it occasionally becomes so tripped up that it just crashes back to the home screen. Crashing also occurred during media playback, usually while trying to fast forward or adjust the devices volume. The fact that Xiaomi hasnt fixed issues with one of the most popular streaming services doesnt instill confidence, especially since some early adopters of the Mi TV Stick have been complaining about the matter since last August. Xiaomi says the performance issues in apps like Hulu may have to do with it being an EU version of the hardware, rather than the U.S. version thats launching later this year. Well reevaluate once that version is available, but in the meantime, buyers will need to exercise caution as the EU model is selling on Amazon right now. The remote, meanwhile, is also a letdown, though not a surprising one since its nearly identical to what shipped with 2018s Mi Box S. (The only difference: It now has a shortcut button for Amazon Prime Video.) The minimalist remote has a hollow, cheap feel to it; more importantly, it lacks an infrared emitter for direct control of TV volume and power. The best you can do is control the Mi TV Sticks internal volume level (which tops out at whatever maximum youve set on the TV itself), or use HDMI-CEC to control a connected sound system. In 2020, theres really no excuse for this omission. Jared Newman / IDG The Xiaomi Mi TV Stick remote has volume buttons, but the lack of IR support means it cant directly control a TVs volume. Also worth noting: There are no additional ports on the Mi TV Stick, aside from Micro-USB for power. While some Android TV devices can gain a USB port through a USB-OTG cable, this didnt work with the Mi TV Stick. Both an Xbox One controller and a USB thumb drive failed to register through the USB-OTG cable, and plugging in a USB keyboard caused the device to reboot. Android TV Jared Newman / IDG The Xiaomi Mi TV Stick runs Android 9.0. The Mi TV Sticks hardware is especially disappointing because the underlying Android TV software has gotten quite good. App availabilityonce the Achilles heel of Android TVis no longer an issue, as the platform now offers pretty much every streaming service you might want. With Amazon continuing to fight with WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal over money, the presence of HBO Max and Peacock on Android TV even gives the platform something of an edge. (You can finally get Peacock on Roku devices.) The Android TV home screen takes some getting used to, but it can be really useful if you spend some time tailoring it to your liking. At the top of the screenbeyond a now-obligatory row of teaser contentis a customizable row of quick-launch app shortcuts. Underneath that are a series of channel rows from different apps, providing recommendations on what to watch. By scrolling to the left of any channel row, you can remove it or rearrange its order on the home screen. Jared Newman / IDG Android TV offers customizable home screen rows, each with recommendations from different apps. While youll still have to dig into individual apps to see their full catalogs, being able to glance at suggestions from across Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Disney+, and other streaming sources is pretty handy. The only problem is with Android TVs Play Next row, which is supposed to help you quickly resume any shows youre already watching. Many streaming sources continue to ignore this feature of Android TV, rendering it largely useless. As the only Black female representative in the Kentucky Capitol, Democratic state Rep. Attica Scott took action after the death of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by police raiding her home in March. In August, Scott proposed Breonna's Law, a bill that would end no-knock warrants statewide. And when a grand jury decided not to indict the officers for Taylor's death, Scott joined hundreds of protesters in the streets of Louisville. On Thursday night, Louisville police arrested Scott along with a handful of other protesters near First Unitarian Church and the Louisville Free Public Library, which had allegedly been set on fire, according to a police report reviewed by WAVE. The state representative received a felony charge of first-degree rioting and two misdemeanors for failure to disperse and unlawful assembly, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported. The paper reported Scott was released from jail Friday morning. Louisville police arrested at least 24 people Thursday night, the department said in a Facebook post. In a news conference on Thursday, interim police chief Robert Schroeder said authorities arrested 127 people on Wednesday night. The protests began on Wednesday after the three officers involved in the Taylor's fatal shooting were not indicted for her death. A grand jury in Jefferson County, Ky., instead indicted Brett Hankison, a former Louisville police detective who was fired in June, with three charges of wanton endangerment in the first degree. The verdict meant the former detective endangered the lives of Taylor's neighbors by firing the rounds. The verdict came as a blow to activists and protesters, who have spent months demanding that the officers who fired on Taylor be charged in her death. Scott has been among the loudest political voices in Kentucky calling for police accountability. In an interview with NPR this week, she said that justice "is hardly ever served when it's police officers murdering Black people." "Our call to action is to continue to make sure that the city of Louisville understands that we will not go away, that we will continue to demand the defunding of police and the dismantling of this police department because it's corrupt from the inside out, from the bottom to the top," Scott added. "And it cannot continue to function in the way that it does." Scott, who has been a state representative since 2017, pre-filed a bill to end no-knock search warrants on Aug. 16. "Breonna's Law," which would force police to knock and verbally announce themselves, also requires a judge to approve the use of violent entry when issuing the warrant. Additionally, officers would have to activate their body cameras when serving the warrant. "Five minutes before you serve that warrant, and five minutes after, those body cameras better be on," Scott said when announcing the bill in August. Scott also included a provision that police must be screened for drug and alcohol following a deadly incident or after firing their gun while on duty. "Frankly, I'm surprised this is not already standard operating procedure," Scott said in a news release announcing Breonna's Law. It is unclear if, or when, the Kentucky House will vote on "Breonna's Law." Two months before Scott brought the legislation to the state level, Louisville city council unanimously voted to ban no-knock warrants. "The bill that I have filed, Breonna's Law for Kentucky, has to pass," Scott said to NPR. "It has to pass so that what happened in the case of Breonna Taylor does not happen again - that we have to get policy change because this system will not change unless the policies reflect what the people are demanding." Attorney General Dana Nessel and Enbridge Energy have reached a deal regarding the controversial pipeline that runs, in part, under the Straits of Mackinac. This comes after Enbridge revealed damage to Line 5 earlier this spring. But this by no means ends Nessels quest to get the 67-year-old pipeline out of the water. The recent legal action, does not in any way change the Attorney Generals position in the lawsuit she filed last year," said Attorney General Press Secretary Ryan Jarvi in an email. The pipelines are a clear and present danger, Jarvi said. This recent incident, along with the anchor strike in 2018, demonstrate the continuing risk that a catastrophic accident could occur. The parties agreed to a stipulation regarding damage to the line first revealed on May 26. There were spots on the pipeline where protective coating had worn away and bare metal was exposed. Further damage was discovered in June, this time to an anchor support. This isnt a settlement of the ongoing legal battle between the two parties. However, as part of the stipulation, Enbridge has agreed to additional safety measures for vessels that operate around the line. Enbridge is committed to keeping the community and the Straits safe while we provide essential transportation fuel and propane to Michigan and the region, said Enbridge Spokesman Ryan Duffy. One June 25, an Ingham County Circuit Court judge ordered the entire line be shut down. In his order, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge James Jamo wrote that the risk of harm to the Great Lakes and various communities and businesses that rely on the lakes would be not only substantial but also in some respects irreparable. Jamo later ruled on July 1, that the west leg of the line could reopen while an in-line investigation was conducted on the east leg of the line. An in-line investigation involves sending a device into the pipe to determine if there is any evidence of internal damage. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration conducted the investigation and found, no integrity issues and stated it has no objection to Enbridge restarting the east leg of Line 5 according to an exhibit in court filings. The U.S. Coast Guard recently sent a letter to environmental groups stating that the damage came from vessels contracted by Enbridge. Enbridge had previously stated that this was a possibility it was exploring. The stipulation also requires Enbridge to provide the state with a final report for the in-line inspection performed on the east leg of the line when the final results are available. Enbridge will also update its protocols for its Coordinated Plan to reduce anchor strike risk for vessels transitioning the Straits. That update is expected to be finished by November. We have learned from what happened and have added safety measures at the Straits, Duffy said. Those new measures, in addition to those that will stem from the stipulation, include patrol boats on the water at all times, weather permitting, directly over Line 5, and weather monitoring tools for tracking wind speed and wave heights, Duffy said. The state and Enbridge have been in a contentious legal battle over the life of Line 5 for more than a year. In 2018, Enbridge struck a deal with then-governor Rick Snyder to build a tunnel under the straits, and house a new section of line in the tunnel. Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a lawsuit in June 2019, asking that the line be shut down immediately. The lawsuit claims that the continued operation of Line 5 violates the public trust doctrine, is a common law public nuisance, and violates the Michigan Environmental Protection Act because it is likely to cause pollution impairment and destruction of water and other natural resources. Enbridge has always maintained that the 65-year old line is operating safely and in accordance with its 1953 Easement with the state. More From MLive: You cant turn the lights on for 10 people: Banquet halls sit idle with few answers from state Michigan health department issues coronavirus guidelines for trick-or-treating, other Halloween events One person tested positive for coronavirus after Saginaw-area Trump rally, state health officials say Gov. Ned Lamont on Friday called the General Assembly into special session next week to give local election officials extra time to deal with the expected blizzard of absentee ballots on Election Day, as well as hold the states electric utilities more accountable for multi-day outages caused by inadequate responses to weather events. Lawmakers may also make it easier to buy, sell and clean up so-called brownfield properties that have long been contaminated by industrial waste. Its about getting our economy moving again, Lamont said outside the State Capitol shortly before 4 oclock. The legislature, which will gavel in on Tuesday to adopt rules but wont vote until later in the week, will also elevate four judges; and approve half a billion dollars in school construction projects. But a fight over the extent of the session is likely brewing among Republicans who say the Democratic-controlled legislature is biting off more than it can chew with a wide-ranging agenda that could amount to electioneering. I have significant concerns about some of these bills, said Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven. A lot of these bills do not have to be done. They have nothing to do with COVID, nothing to do with the public health emergency. I call these 5-by-7 bills, which is the size of political postcards sent to voters before the election. This is how legislation gets passed with unintended consequences. Lets do this right. Fasano questioned the logic of calling both chambers into the Capitol for non-emergency bills, while at the same time keeping the building closed for smaller meetings. The governor said that it was important to not only take up issues that are timely, but also the subjects that can be done without affecting the state budget, which has the school projects built-in. Lawmakers want to establish penalties against the electric utilities for failing to restore power in a timely way. The bill could force Eversource and United Illuminating, the states two chief distributors of electricity, to pay customers for the value of spoiled food and medicines in future storms. Lamont told reporters that minor adjustments to the absentee-ballot process would give more time for local election officials to prepare mail-in ballots for counting on Election Day, and allow ballot counts to begin earlier than usual. It is certain to be a record number of absentee ballots, following the summer special session in which lawmakers agreed to change state law to allow people to vote by absentee ballots if they have concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. For me, I thought it was very important, given the fact that we have a very high-profile election coming up in a little over a month, there is going to be 10, 20 times more absentee ballots than weve ever had before, and I want to put everybodys mind at ease, and give the registrars all the flexibility they need to make sure we can count these votes on a timely and accurate basis, Lamont said. They can start processing the ABs earlier, the Friday before election day, checking signatures, the outside envelops, making sure that they are ready to go, ready to be counted when the time is right. The governor said that an army of volunteers from state government will be on hand to help local election officials assure an accurate count. With Novembers election just six weeks away, its just as vital to ensure every vote is counted and the outcome cannot be questioned, said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, in a joint statement. We will make sure every absentee ballot mailed will be accepted and counted according to state law. Looney and Duff said they are looking forward to making important strides next week, including the so-called Take Back Our Grid Act to ensure the people of our state receive the services they pay for, ensuring that corporations focus on the people they serve instead of the profits they earn. Gov. Lamonts call for a special session includes: Creating performance-based regulations for state utilities including electricity, gas, and water. Giving local election officials flexibility to prepare for counting a record number of mail-in ballots on Election Day. Okaying half a billion dollars in school construction projects throughout the state. Updating state law on the purchase and sales of contaminated properties. Rewrite state law on the growing of hemp program to align with federal regulations. Updating the state's laws on environmental issues, requiring better public notice and so-called community-benefit agreements. Create better protections for workers on some non-residential building, or highway projects. Allow condominium associations to get loans through the state loan program for owners of houses with foundations that contain a mineral in 1980s era construction that has failed and ruined home value in eastern Connecticut. Allowing overdue property-tax exemptions to be filed with towns. Allowing state marshals to recover costs for time spent searching DMV records. See More Collapse State Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, deputy House leader for the GOP, said Friday that the list of bills is very ambitious and he thinks that changing election procedures could be dangerous. An anticipated one-day special session on major changes to utility accountability seems too ambitious and might be better left to the next General Assembly, which opens its 2021 session on Jan. 6. Five weeks before an election we should be as expeditious as possible, and the phrase do no harm should be the guide post, Candelora said in a phone interview. The energy policy is a very emotional issue and I think its dangerous to take up an issue like that, which could be more driven by the politics five weeks from election. I am also concerned about procedural changes to the election five weeks before the election, regardless of the merit. It could create an appearance of impropriety. Candelora said that the ambitious agenda could easily surpass the estimated single-day session in the 151-member House of Representatives. Lamonts call for the session includes variety of minor issues as well, including the alignment of hemp-growing regulations with federal rules; creating some better protections for highway workers; and to allow condominium owners to join the group of eastern Connecticut homeowners whose building foundations are crumbling away because of a locally mined mineral created flaws in 1980s home construction. On Tuesday, the legislative Judiciary Committee is expected to meet and vote on four judicial nominations, including Appellate Judge Christine E. Keller of Hartford the mother of House Majority Leader Matt Ritter to the state Supreme Court. Appellate Court nominations include Superior Judge Joan Alexander of Cromwell, Superior Court Judge Melanie Cradle of Durham and Superior Judge Jose A. Suarez of Chester. Lawmakers have been asked to leave Wednesday, Sept. 30 open for a House session, and the next day for the Senate to debate and act on bills, but by late-afternoon Friday, a date had not been settled for the Senate to meet. It is likely to be the swan song for Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, and Fasano, who are retiring from elective office. It will be the final session for House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, who has said that she has goals for more public service, and has not ruled out a 2022 run for governor. kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT Farm Bills: Samajwadi Party to protest in Uttar Pradesh against farm and labour reform laws India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P Lucknow, Sep 25: Samajwadi Party is all set to hold simultaneous demonstrations on Friday in Uttar Pradesh against alleged anti-farmer and anti-labourer laws supported by BJP governments at the state and centre to coincide with the nationwide protest call against the three farm reform bills passed by the Parliament in the Monsoon session. In a statement, the party said that on the instruction of the party's national president Akhilesh Yadav, the party cadre in all districts would submit a memorandum against the "anti-farmer", "anti-labourer" laws passed by the government on Friday, while maintaining social distancing. After farmers, govt targeting workers: Rahul Gandhi on labour bills "The bills passed by the BJP government have ignored the interests of farmers and labourers and would make the former lose ownership of land and become labourers in their own farms. Agriculture mandis will be wiped out and farmers would be forced to sell their produce at lesser prices because of uncertain MSP or minimum support price offered by the government," the statement said. Bihar poll dates, Sunil Gavaskar stokes controversy & more news | Oneindia News PM Modi addresses BJP workers from all over India on Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya's birth anniversary Taking about labour laws, the statement said that the new laws would badly affect workers and labourers. Till now, an industry with 100 employees had no provision to retrench staff without government permission while the new law would give the right to industries, with even 300 employees, to retrench whenever they wanted. However, the central government has said that the reforms are meant to allow farmers greater freedom in selling produce and the MSP regime was not going away. It has accused the Opposition of misleading the farmers. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, September 25, 2020, 11:36 [IST] Meghan Markle would 'seriously consider running for president' if she and Prince Harry ever 'gave up their titles,' a source close to the royal has claimed. The Duchess of Sussex, 39, and Prince Harry, 35, now ensconced in an L.A. mansion, recently recorded a video message for Times 100 urging Americans to vote, hinting they support Democrat Joe Biden. They made their remarks just weeks before the November 3 elections with Americans in some states already going to the polls. 'One of the reasons she was so keen not to give up her American citizenship was so she had the option to go into politics,' a source close to the couple claimed, speaking to Vanity Fair's Katie Nicholl. 'I think if Meghan and Harry ever gave up their titles she would seriously consider running for president.' Meghan Markle (pictured), 39, would 'seriously consider running for President,' a source close to the royal has claimed. Pictured, during a surprise appearance on America's Got Talent The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, 35, now ensconced in an L.A. mansion, recently recorded a video message for Times 100 urging Americans to vote, hinting they support Democrat Joe Biden (pictured) However, others working closely with Meghan claimed that she has no intentions of a career in politics. 'While there's no denying she is interested and engaged in politics as a topic, she harbors no ambition to enter a career in politics herself,' a well-placed source told the publication. Harry and Meghan made their comments in a Time 100 video to go with the publication of this year's list of the most influential people, which does not include the royal couple. During the video message, the Duke of Sussex urged people to 'reject hate speech' while the Duchess called it the 'most important election of our lifetime' in remarks which made waves on both sides of the Atlantic. Others working closely with Meghan claimed that she has no intentions of a career in politics. Pictured, attending the Commonwealth Day Service 2020 on March 9, 2020 in London 'As we approach this November, it's vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity,' said Harry in a line some observers in Britain and the U.S. immediately took to be a plug for Joe Biden and a slap at President Trump. Said the California-born Markle, 39: 'We're six weeks out from the election, and today is Voter Registration Day. 'Every four years, we're told the same thing, 'This is the most important election of our lifetime. But this one is. When we vote, our values are put into action, and our voices are heard.' Royal insiders voiced concern in Britain where the Queen and her family are expected to remain politically neutral at all times. Buckingham Palace also distanced itself from Harry's remarks by saying that 'the Duke is not a working member of the royal family' and describing his comments as 'made in a personal capacity'. Meghan Markle's political message Over the past few weeks, Meghan has taken part in multiple interviews and summits - having reportedly grown 'frustrated' at her inability to get involved in politics while she was working as a senior royal. This week, feminist activist Gloria Steinem revealed that Markle had joined her in cold-calling Americans and urging them to vote. Steinem told Access Hollywood: 'She came home to vote. The first thing we did, and why she came to see me, was we sat at the dining room table where I am right now and we cold-called voters.' 'Said 'hello I'm Meg' and 'hello I'm Gloria' and 'are you going to vote?' That was her initiative.' Meghan also told Steinem she was 'so excited' to see fellow mixed-race woman Kamala Harris nominated for vice president, in another strong hint that she is backing the Democratic ticket. Meanwhile, she has also taken in voter appeals, at which she made a bold plea to women across the US to take part in the 2020 presidential election, speaking out about the need for 'change' at an online voter summit, while telling participants: 'If we aren't part of the solution, we are part of the problem.' Advertisement Bu while many viewers saw Harry and Meghan's comments as a thinly-veiled endorsement of Biden, a source close to Harry insisted the Duke was not referring to Trump or any other individual. 'The duke was talking about the tone of debate in the run-up to an election which is already quite febrile,' they said. 'He is not talking about any candidate or specific campaign. He is building on a lot of stuff that he's said before about online communities, how we engage with each other online, rather than specifically making any political points.' Meanwhile, President Donald Trump slammed Meghan Markle from the White House podium following the video message. 'I'm not a fan of hers,' Trump said Wednesday to a question posed by DailyMail.com. 'I would say this - and she has probably heard that - I wish a lot of luck to Harry because he's going to need it.' BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 25 By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend: Turkmenistan will provide additional benefits to health workers, said Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Trend reports with reference to Turkmenistans State News Agency. The president said these words at a meeting of the Halk Maslahaty (People's Council) of Turkmenistan. The benefits will be issued in order to encourage health workers to fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, from the first days of the spread of COVID-19 in the world, the country organized work to regularly provide basic medical supplies to the population free of charge. Furthermore, a plan was adopted to ensure preparedness to counteract and respond to the pandemic and a plan of operational socio-economic measures to counteract the pandemic at the state level. As reported, to date, there are no registered cases of coronavirus infection in Turkmenistan, but all necessary sanitary measures are being taken in the country to prevent the spread of the virus. Earlier, the country adopted the mandatory wearing of masks in public places, as well as the need to provide a certificate of absence of coronavirus infection when boarding a flight. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva Border control posts at Northern Irelands ports will almost certainly not be ready in time, Stormont minister Edwin Poots said (Liam, McBurney/PA) Border control posts at Northern Irelands ports will almost certainly not be ready in time due to a dispute over IT with the EU, Stormont minister Edwin Poots has said. Environment Secretary George Eustice has written to the devolved agriculture department pressing for action. When the Brexit transition period ends on December 31, some checks will be needed on goods like animal products entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain. Expand Close Environment Secretary George Eustice has written to the devolved agriculture department pressing for action (Kirsty OConnor/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Environment Secretary George Eustice has written to the devolved agriculture department pressing for action (Kirsty OConnor/PA) That is because it will continue to follow the EUs regulatory rules after Brexit unless a wider trade deal is secured with the UK. Mr Poots said: One of the issues that is outstanding relates to IT. There seems to be a bit of an issue between an IT system used in the UK for many years and the EUs non-acceptance of that, which will almost certainly ensure that we are not operationally ready. Mr Poots wanted to pause the work following the Governments legislative move to guarantee unfettered access throughout the UKs internal market. On Tuesday, he told Stormonts Assembly Mr Eustice had given a clear expectation to the senior civil servant in his department, who was taking it forward. Mr Poots said: I have no legal remit to stop it, in that all of the advice from the departmental solicitors office, and indeed the advice from the attorney general, would indicate that a ministerial direction to an official that would oblige an official to break the law is not a direction that would have any standing. The Northern Ireland Protocol, part of the Brexit divorce deal, will see the country continue to enforce the EUs customs rules and follow its rules on product standards. It is designed as a fallback option should a deal not be reached with the EU and is intended to ensure the Irish border remains free-flowing. By AFP UNITED NATIONS: China on Thursday lashed out at the United States at a high-level UN meeting over its criticism on the coronavirus, with its envoy declaring, "Enough is enough!" Two days after President Donald Trump used his annual address to the General Assembly to attack China's record, the US ambassador to the United Nations also took an outraged tone -- after which her Chinese counterpart showed palpable anger. "I must say, enough is enough! You have created enough troubles for the world already," Chinese envoy Zhang Jun told a Security Council meeting on global governance attended through videoconference by several heads of state. "The US has nearly seven million confirmed cases and over 200,000 deaths by now. With the most advanced medical technologies and system in the world, why has the US turned out to have the most confirmed cases and fatalities? If someone should be held accountable, it should be a few US politicians themselves," he said in English. Using a phrase often told by US leaders to China, Zhang said, "The US should understand that a major power should behave like a major power." The United States "is completely isolated," he said in remarks enthusiastically backed by his Russian counterpart. 'Shame on each of you' His remarks came after the US ambassador, Kelly Craft, opened with angry words that took diplomats off-guard. "You know, shame on each of you. I am astonished and I am disgusted by the content of today's discussion. I am actually really quite ashamed of this Council -- members of the Council who took this opportunity to focus on political grudges rather than the critical issue at hand. My goodness," Craft said. Diplomats said they were puzzled at the tone of Craft, who had left by the time the Chinese ambassador spoke. Craft was "very aggressive" after a session that had been "more or less full of consensus," one diplomat said on condition of anonymity. With world leaders asked to send speeches in advance for a virtual General Assembly, Chinese President Xi Jinping could not reply Tuesday to Trump and delivered a mild-mannered speech in which he unveiled more ambitious targets on climate change. But the spokesman for the General Assembly, Brenden Varma, said China had requested to speak next Tuesday, the day set up for any nation to reply to statements. Trump in his speech had demanded action against China for spreading the "plague" of COVID-19 to the world. China suppressed news of the respiratory disease when it first emerged last year in Wuhan and initial advice played down the risks of transmission. China's communist leaders have more recently tried to transform the narrative into one of the country's success in stopping the virus. Trump's response to the pandemic -- which he has provocatively called the "China virus" -- has emerged as a major political issue as he seeks a new term in the November 3 election. Africans seek debt relief Several African leaders used their virtual addresses to the General Assembly to plead for more international assistance, fearing that Covid will impede development. "Our nations are asking for financial support that rises to the level of the economic crisis they're witnessing," said Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou. "Just a debt moratorium will not be enough faced with the challenges that have arisen. We simply have to cancel the debt completely," he said, reiterating a call made Tuesday by his counterpart from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi. The Group of 20 major economies in mid-April suspended debt payments for the poorest nations through the end of the year as they face major budget shortfalls due to the Covid shutdown. The African Union is seeking to extend the moratorium through 2021, warning of dire economic effects from the health crisis. "This pandemic could erase more than a decade of economic growth and social progress achieved by the African continent," Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said. Despite the economic concerns, Africa has been one of the regions least affected in health terms by COVID-19, with the continent reporting 1.8 million cases and 34,500 deaths. STAMFORD Police have made an arrest in last weekends shooting at an outdoor party that left a Stamford mother dead and two people wounded. Ian Easy Evans was arrested on a court warrant Thursday on charges of first-degree assault, criminal attempt at first-degree assault, criminal use of a firearm and reckless endangerment. He is being held on $1 million bond. The charges are related to the wounding of a man at the party, police said. Police are calling the arrest the first that they plan to make in relation to the incident. Detectives are still are looking to make an arrest in the killing of Shernetta Dunmore, 35. Capt. Richard Conklin said information was developed that established Evans as a person of interest in the case. Stamford police requested the service of U.S. Marshals, who located Evans in a Bridgeport residence on Thursday, police said. Stamford police then executed a search and seizure warrant at the residence. They are among the very best in finding people and very quickly the marshals tracked him down and we were not surprised, having worked with them so often, Conklin said. The police captain said the case remains very active. This investigation has clearly established that there were many witnesses, Conklin said. We would like people to come forward. We have to implore them because an innocent mother lost her life during this situation, he said. We really want to seek justice for her and her family and the community. On Sept. 20, Dunmore, who lived on Henry Street, joined a group of city residents celebrating the end of summer at Cummings Park. When the park closed, people moved to a parking lot of the Ursula Place Housing Complex just off Cove Road. Just after midnight, gunfire erupted at the party. Dunmore was shot numerous times. She was rushed to Stamford Hospital, but died from her injuries. Two Stamford men, ages 43 and 27, were also struck by bullets in the shooting. One of those men turned up at Bridgeport Hospital and the other at Stamford Hospital. Conklin said there were upwards of 30 people in the parking lot early Sunday when the shooting took place. There are witnesses that are starting to come in and talk to us, but there are many others that we need to speak to, he said. We are identifying people who were there and cars that were there and it is just a matter of time before we are going to be knocking on their door. We would rather they get a hold of us. Police said about 30 shots were fired in the incident. Dunmore was born and raised in Stamford, she ended up graduating from Bassick High School in Bridgeport and then went to Maine where she became a Jobs Corps graduate and learned about the culinary arts, her brother Jamal, said. Before she died, Dunmore was working a security job to make ends meet and create a good life for her son, he said, adding his sister will be greatly missed in the Stamford community where she had a ton of friends. Jamal Dunmore has echoed police officials call for witnesses to come forward and cooperate in the investigation. The city has a confident mentality and if Stamford is the stand-up town as we believe, we are asking as a family for them to step up, he said earlier this week. Im believing the community will stand up for our family and I believe the individuals will be brought to justice. I pray their hearts will be softened, and I know this is faithful thinking, but I think people will step up and turn in those individuals who are responsible. Anyone with information about this case, to include the identity of those who witnessed the shooting, should contact the Major Crime Squad at 203-977-4417. Our local election officials were forced to deal with setting up drop boxes for no reason other than to facilitate ballot harvesting by Democrats; making arrangements for prepaid postage on all envelopes; and setting up a process for voters to cure errors in their absentee ballots, the party said in a statement. With all that additional work, its no wonder mistakes were made. YEREVAN. Gagik Tsarukyanchairman of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), MP, and business tycooncame out of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan, where the National Security Services (NSS) petition to remand him in custody was being heard (PHOTOS). But he did not answer the journalists' questions. "The lawyers will answer," the PAP leader said. But when asked whether he continues to demand the resignation of the government, Tsarukyan said: "I demand [the resignation of the] 100 percent [of the government members]." The court hearing on whether to remand him in custody was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but the defense was not in the courtroom, reasoning that it had not been properly notified, and therefore the court session was rescheduled for Friday. As reported earlier, Gagik Tsarukyan has been charged with orchestrating vote buying. But he does not accept the charge and says it as illegal. Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan had submitted to the National Assembly a petition to strip Tsarukyan of his parliamentary immunity in order to prosecute him, and the legislature had granted this petition. However, the Yerevan court of first instance had denied the NSSs petition to remand Tsarukyan in custody. According to the respective court decision, there was a reasonable doubt. Both sides appealed this decision to the Criminal Court of Appeal. The prosecution demanded to overturn the aforesaid decision of the court of first instance and remand Tsarukyan in custody, whereas his lawyers filed several complaints, one of which was that according to the law, this case should have been investigated by the Special Investigation Service. The Criminal Court of Appeal denied the lawyers' appeal, whereas partially granted the prosecutions appeal, overturning the decision of the first instance and sending the case for a new examination. Then, Gagik Tsarukyan's legal defense team and the Prosecutor General's Office filed a cassation appeal. But it became known on Tuesday that the Court of Cassation did not accept the appeals of the parties for proceedings. Several former MPs are also defendants in this criminal case. For two years, falling sales seemed to spell the end for Chinas time as the worlds most vital car market. Then came the coronavirus, followed by a swift recovery thats left Europe and the U. S. in its dust. Now more than ever China is the focus of the hopes of automakers around the globe. Sales of passenger cars in Asias largest economy have increased for two months, while the other major markets have continued to shrink, with Europe slumping 18% in August. And China is set to be the first to bounce back to 2019 volume levels, albeit as late ... Haiti - COVID-19 : The Cuban brigade Henry Reeve will leave Haiti Thursday, the Cuban Medical Brigade "Henry Reeve", composed of 22 health specialists, including doctors, nurses and technicians who came to reinforce last April to a Haitian medical team in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-31304-haiti-health-the-cuban-medical-brigade-fights-against-the-epidemic-in-haiti.html is preparing to leave Haiti, announced Rangel Carmenates, Head of the Brigade. More than 150 patients have been treated at the IPEC hospital in Port-au-Prince, with satisfactory results and high cure rates, Rangel Carmenates said, noting that since the end of June, Covid-19 transmission rates weaknesses allowed major economic and commercial activities to resume in Haiti. For her part, Elizabeth Segura, Vice-Coordinator of the Cuban Medical Brigade, clarified that the most complex pathologies were treated by Haitian doctors, in particular co-morbid factors such as hypertension and diabetes. Recall that the "Henry Reeve" Brigade has already been deployed four times in Haiti : in 2010 during the earthquake, then during the Cholera epidemic, after the passage of Hurricane Mathew and since last April to fight against the Covid-19. Read also: https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-31304-haiti-health-the-cuban-medical-brigade-fights-against-the-epidemic-in-haiti.html S/ HaitiLibre Tunisia: half of young people work in informal sector Strategy requested for inclusion in organised economy (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, SEPTEMBER 25 - Half of Tunisian young people work under the table in the "informal sector", said the president of the Union of Maghreb Banks (UBM), Ahmed El Karam, speaking at the annual UBM conference in Tunis. "This represents a value of nearly 16.5 billion dinars in Tunisia," El Karam said. "An amount like this is not available in our banks or in our postal network and is often spent outside the organised economic sphere," he said. El Karam argued for a "national strategy" and "a clear plan" to succeed in integrating marginalised sectors in the organised economy, which he said could help to encourage people engaged in these parallel activities to open bank accounts. He insisted on the imperative of finding solutions to integrate part of the money circulating in the informal sector into the organised monetary system. In countries of the Maghreb, 40% of people do not have bank accounts. This imposes mobilising mechanisms for a better financial inclusion of these groups, especially professionals affected by the coronavirus pandemic, El Karam said. He said they could therefore benefit from bank credits and called for the development of programmes "to increase liquidity in Maghrebi and Tunisian banks, so that they can help the affected businesses to overcome this crisis". El Karam recommended that the various players in the banking sector review the strategy of public-private partnership, support start-ups and opt for the digitisation of banks. UBM and universities in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania, on Thursday, signed a series of agreements on the sidelines of the conference to create a dynamic in the field of scientific research and economic and financial activities, to promote the financial sector and banks in the Maghreb. (ANSAmed) (ANSA). To the editor: While most of the attention and interest regarding the forthcoming election is appropriately focused on the presidency and both the national and state legislative offices, I want to make your readers aware of the important ballot proposal to permit Delta College to continue its millage levy for general operations including instructional programs, workforce training, equipment, and facility maintenance. The college is asking voters to renew its current authorization to levy 0.4864 mills per $1,000 of their propertys State Equalized Value. The ballot proposal also requests authority to levy an additional 0.0136 mills to restore the original .5 mills authorized in 1990 that was reduced by the Headlee Amendment. Approval of this total millage request of .5 mills will allow Delta College to continue to provide a quality education at an affordable cost to the students of the Great Lakes Bay Area. Current tuition is $117 per contact hour which is less than half the cost of a university. More than 10,000 students attend Delta annually and 83% of graduates stay in the region with 97% staying in Michigan. In addition to its college preparation curriculum, Delta offers 140 career associate and certificate programs closely aligned with the projected 545,000 high-demand high-pay skilled trades jobs in Michigan mostly in the fields of construction, manufacturing, healthcare, automotive, and information technology. A vote to approve this millage request also supports Deltas estimated annual impact on the local economy of more than $400 million, about 2.2% of the total regional economy. I invite you to join me and vote Yes for this vital millage request to allow Delta College to continue operating as one of Americas leading Community Colleges. Richard Dolinski Midland [This article was first published in 2017] Mental strength isn't often reflected in what you do. It's usually seen in what you don't do. In her book "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," psychotherapist Amy Morin writes that developing mental strength is a "three-pronged approach." It's about controlling your thoughts, behaviours, and emotions. Following are 13 things that mentally strong people do not do, according to Morin. 1. They don't waste time feeling sorry for themselves "Feeling sorry for yourself is self-destructive," Morin writes. Indulging in self-pity hinders living a full life. It wastes time, creates negative emotions, and hurts your relationships. The key is to "affirm the good in the world, and you will begin to appreciate what you have," she writes. The end goal is to be able to swap self-pity with gratitude. 2. They don't give away their power People give away their power when they lack physical and emotional boundaries, Morin writes. You need to stand up for yourself and draw the line when necessary. It's important that you keep track of your goals and work toward them. Morin uses Oprah Winfrey as an example of someone with a strong grip on their power, "she chose to define who she was going to be in life by not giving away her power." 3. They don't shy away from change There are five stages of change, Morin writes: pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. Following through with each of the five steps is crucial. Making changes can be frightening, but shying away from them prevents growth. "The longer you wait, the harder it gets," she says. 4. They don't focus on things they can't control "It feels so safe to have everything under control, but thinking we have the power to always pull the strings can become problematic," Morin writes. Trying to be in control of everything is likely a response to anxiety. "Rather than focusing on managing your anxiety, you try controlling your environment," she says. Shifting your focus off the things you can't control can create increased happiness, less stress, better relationships, new opportunities, and more success. 5. They don't worry about pleasing everyone Often we judge ourselves by considering what other people think of us, which is the opposite of mental toughness. Morin lists four facts about constantly trying to be a people-pleaser: It's a waste of time; people-pleasers are easily manipulated; it's OK for others to feel angry or disappointed; and you can't please everyone. Dropping your people-pleasing mindset will make you stronger and more self-confident. 6. They don't fear taking calculated risks People are often afraid to take risks, whether it's financial, physical, emotional, social, or business-related, Morin says. But it comes down to knowledge. "A lack of knowledge about how to calculate risk leads to increased fear," Morin writes. To better analyse a risk, ask yourself the following questions. What are the potential costs? What are the potential benefits? How will this help me achieve my goal? What are the alternatives? How good would it be if the best-case scenario came true? What is the worst thing that could happen, and how could I reduce the risk it will occur? How bad would it be if the worst-case scenario did come true? How much will this decision matter in five years? 7. They don't dwell on the past The past is in the past. There's no way to change what happened, and "dwelling can be self-destructive, preventing you from enjoying the present and planning for the future," Morin writes. There can be a benefit to thinking about the past, though. Reflecting on the lessons learned, considering the facts rather than the emotions, and looking at a situation from a new perspective can be helpful, she says. 8. They don't make the same mistakes over and over Reflecting can ensure you don't repeat your mistakes. It's important to study what went wrong, what you could have done better, and how to do it differently next time, Morin writes. Mentally strong people accept responsibility for the mistake and create a thoughtful, written plan to avoid making the same mistake in the future. 9. They don't resent other people's success Resentment is like anger that remains hidden and bottled up, Morin writes. Focusing on another person's success will not pave the way to your own, since it distracts you from your path. Even if you become successful, you may never be content if you're always focusing on others. You may also overlook your talents and abandon your values and relationships. 10. They don't give up after the first failure Success isn't immediate, and failure is almost always an obstacle you will have to overcome. "Take, for example, Theodor Giesel also known as Dr. Seuss whose first book was rejected by more than 20 publishers," Morin says. Dr. Seuss is now a household name. Thinking that failure is unacceptable or that it means you aren't good enough does not reflect mental strength. In fact, "bouncing back after failure will make you stronger," Morin writes. 11. They don't fear alone time "Creating time to be alone with your thoughts can be a powerful experience, instrumental in helping you reach your goals," Morin writes. Becoming mentally strong "requires you to take time out from the busyness of daily life to focus on growth." Here are some of the benefits of solitude Morin lists in her book: Alone time may increase your empathy Spending time alone sparks creativity Solitude offers restoration 12. They don't feel the world owes them anything It's easy to get angry at the world for your failures or lack of success, but the truth is no one is entitled to anything. It must be earned. "Life isn't meant to be fair," Morin says. If some people experience more happiness or success than others, "that's life but it doesn't mean you're owed anything." The key is to focus on your efforts, accept criticism, acknowledge your flaws, and don't keep score, Morin writes. Comparing yourself to others will only set you up for disappointment if you don't receive what you think you're owed. 13. They don't expect immediate results "A willingness to develop realistic expectations and an understanding that success doesn't happen overnight is necessary if you want to reach your full potential," Morin writes. Mentally weak people are often impatient. They overestimate their abilities and underestimate how long change takes, she says, so they expect immediate results. It's important to "keep your eyes on the prize" and relentlessly work toward your long-term goals. There will be failures along the way, but if you measure your progress and look at the big picture, success will become attainable. Read more: This chart is easy to interpret: It says we're screwed How Uber became the world's most valuable startup These 4 things could trigger the next crisis in Europe Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. On the other hand, we'd be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Auckland International Airport Limited (NZSE:AIA). Do Insider Transactions Matter? 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, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market. 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'. View our latest analysis for Auckland International Airport Auckland International Airport Insider Transactions Over The Last Year While no particular insider transaction stood out, we can still look at the overall trading. Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 56.38k shares worth NZ$281k. But they sold 9.50k shares for NZ$68k. Overall, Auckland International Airport insiders were net buyers during the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! Auckland International Airport is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying. Insider Ownership of Auckland International Airport Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. From looking at our data, insiders own NZ$3.9m worth of Auckland International Airport stock, about 0.04% of the company. I generally like to see higher levels of ownership. Story continues So What Do The Auckland International Airport Insider Transactions Indicate? There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. We'd like to see bigger individual holdings. However, we don't see anything to make us think Auckland International Airport insiders are doubting the company. 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. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Auckland International Airport you should know about. 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. Ontario is closing strip clubs and clamping down on bars and restaurants as COVID-19 cases continue to climb, with 409 new infections reported Friday. The measures take effect Saturday, with bars and restaurants ordered to stop serving alcohol at 11 p.m. and to shut their doors by midnight, except for takeout and delivery. Staff are also not allowed to drink on the premises after midnight. I dont think its the end of the world that people stop drinking at 11 and close at 12, Premier Doug Ford told a news conference. We just cant have these places open until 3 in the morning. Health Minister Christine Elliott said outbreak clusters in the establishments, particularly among people in the 20-39 age group that accounts for the majority of new infections, are driving the growth of COVID-19, along with private social gatherings. Some of the transmission has been between staff members. It is evident that despite the tremendous efforts of Ontarians, further action is required to prevent the spread of the virus, Elliott said. The announcement came as infections have been rising for five weeks amid growing calls from health experts for the province to take firm action to prevent the need for lockdowns later should cases get further out of hand. They have been more reactive than proactive, said Wilfrid Laurier University epidemiologist Todd Coleman, a former public health official with the health unit in Middlesex-London. In the last seven days, 2,828 Ontarians have tested positive for the virus, up 41 per cent from the previous seven-day period. Mayor John Tory asked the province to limit bar hours and alcohol sales in July before the region moved to Stage 3 reopenings, fearing people would let their guard down. Some modest change to the hours of these establishments, as much as theyre having business challenges, is an appropriate thing to do as part of a tool box of measures you can take to stop these numbers from going the wrong way, Tory said on CP24. In Toronto, strip clubs have been the source of documented outbreaks, most recently with seven cases connected to Club Paradise on Bloor St. W. and previously at the Brass Rail on Yonge St., where some patrons gave false names for contact tracing purposes. Half of the 409 new cases reported in Ontario on Friday were in Toronto, while the 6,351 new infections recorded across the province so far this month are more than double the tally from the entire month of August. Toronto accounted for 204 infections up from 151 the previous day while Peel had 66 and Ottawa 40, making the three areas responsible for 75 per cent of new cases, the Ministry of Health reported based on reports from health units at 4 p.m. the previous day. It was the second day in a row the province reported 409 cases as a September surge continued with students back in school and Ford now limiting eligibility for tests at assessment centres to alleviate long lines and long waits for test results. We have to be nimble, Ford said of the change in policy, which steers most people without symptoms to pharmacies for testing by appointment. Another 18 will be open in Niagara and southwestern Ontario starting Tuesday. That leaves assessment centres mainly for people with symptoms or who have had close contact with a confirmed case, those who are part of a public health investigation as part of an outbreak or who have been notified of an exposure by the COVID Alert smartphone app, and those who are in contact with people in long-term care. Elliott said the province is adding 139 critical care beds and 1,349 hospital beds across the province to get ready for a second wave, as well as extending MRI and CT hours to help ease waits that built up when procedures were cancelled in case hospitals were overwhelmed in the first wave. Almost $284 million is earmarked to clear a backlog of surgeries and a centralized waiting list is being created for operating rooms to maximize their use. Regional health units in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area accounted for 329 or 80 per cent of the new cases Friday and 12 of the 34 health units across the province had no new cases, a proportion about one-third lower than a month ago as the virus spreads more widely. There were 29 new infections reported among students, teachers and staff in schools. Twenty more schools reported outbreaks, bringing the total to 198. The number of patients in hospital for COVID-19 fell slightly to 88, with 25 patients requiring intensive care. Thirteen ICU patients were on ventilators, an increase of two from the previous day. Labs across the province processed 41,865 tests Thursday on the way to a goal of 50,000 daily in early October, with officials hoping to double that capacity in the coming months. Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Bern, 25.09.2020 - Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, met on 25 September 2020 with Liechtenstein's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Justice and Culture Katrin Eggenberger during an official visit to the Principality of Liechtenstein. The two foreign ministers discussed cross-border and bilateral relations as well as European and international issues. That evening, Mr Ignazio Cassis will give a speech on Swiss foreign policy to a group of business leaders. Mr Ignazio Cassis also met with H.S.H. Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein. During his meeting with Ms Eggenberger, Mr Cassis paid tribute to the close and friendly relations between their two countries. "The COVID pandemic has amply demonstrated the importance of close cooperation with neighbouring countries. Cultivating and strengthening such relations is a central pillar of Switzerland's foreign policy strategy," noted Cassis. The two foreign ministers expressed their intention to step up cross-border and bilateral cooperation. Their talks also focused on Switzerland's and Liechtenstein's European policies. The Principality of Liechtenstein forms part of the Swiss economic and monetary area and has been a member of the European Economic Area for 25 years. Mr Cassis and Ms Eggenberger also discussed Switzerland's and Liechtenstein's future relations with the United Kingdom after Brexit. Speech on Swiss foreign policy Following the official talks, Mr Cassis gave a speech to business leaders and local dignitaries on Switzerland's foreign policy strategy and vision at an event marking the 30th anniversary of Liechtenstein's membership of the UN. In addition to his working meeting with Foreign Minister Katrin Eggenberger, Mr Ignazio Cassis also paid a courtesy visit to H.S.H. Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein. Address for enquiries FDFA Communication Federal Palace West Wing CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53 Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55 E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch Twitter: @SwissMFA Publisher Federal Department of Foreign Affairs https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html While Rakul Preet Singh has been called today on 25 September, Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, and Sara Ali Khan will be questioned tomorrow on 26 September. Actress Rakul Preet Singh and talent manager Karishma Prakash arrived at the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) SIT office in Mumbai on Friday morning for questioning in the drug probe linked with Sushant Singh Rajput. While Singh had denied on Thursday morning she received the NCB summons, her lawyer acknowledged it later in the day and agreed to appear before the probe team on Friday. While actress Deepika Padukone is scheduled to appear for questioning on Friday, her manager Karishma Prakash was summoned to appear on Thursday. Padukone and Sara Ali Khan, who have been summoned by the NCB in the same drug probe arrived in Mumbai from Goa on Thursday evening. Padukone, who was shooting for director Shakun Batra's next film in Goa, was accompanied by actor-husband Ranveer Singh. The couple arrived at Mumbai airport around 9.15 PM. They reportedly boarded a chartered flight from Goa at around 8 PM. Khan, who too was in Goa, reached Mumbai with her mother, actor Amrita Singh, and brother, Ibrahim Ali Khan, around 5 PM, and headed to their suburban Juhu residence. Khan made her acting debut opposite Rajput in the 2018 film Kedarnath. Khan is set to appear before the NCB on 26 September (Saturday), along with Padukone and Shraddha Kapoor. The bureau has also asked Dharma Productions' executive producer Kshitiz Ravi to appear before it in the case, an official said. Dharma Productions is owned by filmmaker Karan Johar. Ravi was asked to appear on Friday. His name surfaced during the probe, the official said. The NCB, which began the probe after a drug angle came to light in connection with Rajput's alleged suicide, has now widened its investigation and called film celebrities for questioning. Meanwhile, statements of fashion designer Simone Khambatta and Shruti Modi, Rajput's former manager, were recorded by the NCB probe team in connection with the drugs case, the official said. Rajput (34) was found dead in his Bandra apartment on 14 June. His death has sparked a lot of controversy in the media and the case is currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the NCB. His girlfriend, actor Rhea Chakraborty, who has been accused of abetting Rajput's suicide by his family, has been arrested in a drug case linked to his death. (With inputs from Press Trust of India) Prev 1 of 6 Next Craig Varjabedian has been conducting a visual symphony of New Mexico for 45 years. Among moonlit moradas, horse silhouettes and sand-cast shadows, the photographer has crafted measure after measure in a palette of color and light. His new book, Craig Varjabedian: The Light of Days Gone By (Eloquent Light Editions) features a nearly comprehensive gallery of the photographers work. The work complements a virtual exhibition of the same title at Converge Las Cruces Fine Arts online show at convergelascruces.com in a 3D virtual walk through 30 images. The period extends from the early 1980s to 2018. I think the camera allowed me to find my way in the world, Varjabedian said in a telephone interview from Santa Fe. Its one of the greatest joys Ive ever had. His images have prompted fan letters now emails from across the globe, including Australia, New Zealand, Russia and countries in Africa. They often tell me their story, about being in Alaska and growing up in New Mexico, he said. Im really quite honored and humbled, too. The book was almost a fait accompli. Varjabedian credits a Michigan high school art teacher with gestating his career. He realized early on that the best way he could be a teacher was to get out of the way, he said. The photographer first visited Santa Fe on the way home from an Ansel Adams workshop in California. He was so broke he slept in his car in front of the Plaza Restaurant. I didnt have the money for a hotel room, Varjabedian said. I remember looking up at that pre-dawn light and thinking to myself, My God, this is miraculous. You could almost reach out and catch the light in a Mason jar. When he returned to his graduate studies in Rochester, New York, Varjabedian asked his adviser if he could complete his thesis work in New Mexico. He did, and he never left. Ironically, the book cover leads with Illuminated Stream, Dawn, Plymouth, Vermont, taken on a 1982 camping trip. The photograph marked the first time Varjabedian felt he married his technical skills with his emotions. I was able to make a print with the sense of awe I was feeling when I was staying there, the photographer said. Its a quiet moment, and youre looking at it just as the sun comes up. Red Sky and Dunes, Sunset, Autumn, White Sands National Park, 2015, captures more familiar New Mexico territory with a lipstick sunset painting the clouds. Varjabedian had been visiting the site for five years. When you do that, you really get to know a place, he said. I just happened to be out and climbed to the top of this dune and watched the whole sunset. I was looking for an image that summed up the entirety of the place. His Native American portraits reflect a more recent series. Varjabedian shot the floral-bedecked Tanysha With Flowers in Her Hair, Keres, Kewa Pueblo in 2018. Everything that you see except the flowers were part of what a Native American woman would wear for a wedding, he said. His assistant had brought hanging baskets of flowers for Mothers Day when Varjabedian realized his sitter needed some floral embellishment. He approaches portraits as collaboration. Varjabedian shot Chuugaa Hoewii (Red Hawk), Tewa, Ohkay Owengeh in 2018. Red Hawk was known for performing a Comanche ceremonial dance. He came out of the dressing room with that paint on his face, Varjabedian said. It was so transformative. For me, it was almost ghostly. Thats why I intuitively asked him to cross his arms that way. I love it when the people Im photographing bring their sense of things to the process. In 1990, the photographer captured Moonrise Over Penitente Morada in northern New Mexico. The structures bell tilts toward a trio of wooden crosses. The idea for the picture started as a dream, he said. I dreamed of the building and watching the moonrise. The dream was powerful; it wouldnt disappear. There were a lot of astromechanics involved in getting that picture made, he continued. I ended up using the Farmers Almanac. I was going up every moonrise for almost a year. Now Ive got an app on my phone that would tell me exactly when the moon comes up. In 2006, he photographed a horse grazing in the sunrise at Bell Ranch as he led a photography workshop. We went out every morning with their horses, Varjabedian said. I just happened to be walking toward the sun and the horse was doing the same thing. It was a real challenge to make because it happened so quickly. I got three frames out of it because the horse dropped out. The Native American portraits offer a glimpse of his next book. I think Native Americans have not been well represented historically from Hollywood to Zane Gray and so forth, Varjabedian said. Im making these pictures as a way for these people to tell their stories. Rumer Willis did not shy away from heaping on the PDA while out and about with Armie Hammer earlier this month. But on Thursday the daughter of screen legends Bruce Willis and Demi Moore opted to go about her day solo while out taking care of some personal business in West Hollywood. And like most days the actress was all about showcasing her fit figure in black skin-tight shorts and a tan sleeveless crop top. Rock solid: Rumer Willis, 32, showed off her fit figure while out taking care of some errands in Los Angeles on Thursday The actress appeared to ooze confidence when she stepped out of her SUV just as she was securing a black protective mask on her face amid the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. She also donned white socks, white sneakers and carried a small black purse over her left shoulder. In the early part of her day, Willis wore her wavy raven tresses long and flowing well past the middle of her back. Four-legged family time: The actress dropped off her pet pooch at a doggie daycare in West Hollywood dressed in skin-tight black shorts and a tan crop top For her first stop, Willis dropped her pet pooch to Healthy Spot, which is doggie daycare and groomer. From there, the Once Upon a Time In Hollywood actress went to pick up a snack and a smoothie at Kreation Organic Juicery in West Hollywood. Eventually her day took her to Hair By Violet in Beverly Hills, where she spent about four hours with the celebrity stylist. On the go: The daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis also dropped by to pick up a snack and a smoothie before heading to Beverly Hills to get her hair done By late afternoon, close to the early evening hours, Willis took to Instagram and shared a photo of herself decked out in her sporty ensemble. 'Anyone else feeling super weird today?' she headlined the snap that was taken in front of lush green trees. Willis, who won the 20th season of Dancing With The Stars in 2015, is the oldest of five sisters that includes Scout, 29, and Tallulah, 26. They also has two half-sisters Mabel, eight, and Evelyn, six, from father Bruce Willis' current marriage to Emma Heming. Canadas national air traffic controller is laying off 720 people and shuttering flight information centres in at least two major airports, including Winnipeg, because of the coronavirus pandemic. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/9/2020 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Canadas national air traffic controller is laying off 720 people and shuttering flight information centres in at least two major airports, including Winnipeg, because of the coronavirus pandemic. The job cuts amounting to nearly 15 per cent of the corporations workforce come as the countrys entire aviation industry collapses "like a wildfire" amid COVID-19 lockdowns and dwindling air activity, increasing demands for emergency aid from the federal government. Canadian airline revenues in 2020 will fall by $14.6 billion or 43 per cent from last year, according to estimates from the International Air Transport Association. In Manitoba, Nav Canada is also assessing whether further cost-cutting measures will be enforced in four other locations: Brandon, Churchill, Flin Flon and The Pas. "The layoffs affect all departments across the company," Nav Canada spokesperson Brian Boudreau confirmed in a statement to the Free Press Thursday. That includes advisory services, weather safety assessment, aeronautical operations and student trainees who work for Nav Canada. "We continue to monitor the impact of the pandemic," he said. "And will continue to take steps as they are necessary to align service with traffic levels while maintaining the integrity of the air navigation system." RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Winnipeg Richardson International Airport. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press files) But as two out of Canadas seven flight information centres close in Winnipeg and Halifax, it remains to be seen how vital air safety and navigation data will be provided to pilots or dispatchers in those areas. The closest centre to Winnipegs Richardson International Airport is two provinces away, in Alberta. Services in Kamloops, Whitehorse, Edmonton, London and Quebec City continue in the meantime, said Boudreau, adding the responsibility will fall on them to fulfill the role of centres that have shuttered. As a non-profit organization, Nav Canadas revenue comes from its aviation customers such as regional or international airliners, helicopter businesses and charter or cargo operators. While income from cargo operations has sustained pre-pandemic levels, revenue expected from all other sources has come to a standstill. Dan Rutherford, manager of business development at Fast Air Ltd., said he's "confident these cuts will create a very unsafe environment for airlines" such as his Winnipeg-based aviation company. "But Im not entirely surprised to see these cuts because the industry is staffed for a reality that doesnt exist right now," he said. "The fact is, this is adding on top of the pressure were already seeing with increased operator and airliner fees at airports while we struggle to make any ends meet." The closures and layoffs as a result of revenue declines have renewed a sense of urgency to demands for relief dedicated to the aviation sector, as the Liberals throne speech mentioned "support for regional routes for airlines" without sharing any other details on Wednesday. The governor-generals address in Ottawa was the first time since late May when then-finance minister Bill Morneau announced the waiving of ground lease rents for airports until the end of 2020. Since then, there has been no direct financial aid from the federal government. But Im not entirely surprised to see these cuts because the industry is staffed for a reality that doesnt exist right now." Dan Rutherford, manager of business development at Fast Air Ltd. A joint-statement issued Thursday by Conservative MPs Marty Morantz (Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley), James Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman and shadow minister for national defence), and Stephanie Kusie (Calgary Midnapore and shadow minister for transport) said: "When Canada had a shortage of personal protective equipment at the start of this pandemic, it was aviation workers who stepped up and worked to bring shipments of PPE to frontline workers. When Canadians were stranded abroad, it was aviation workers who helped bring them back to Canada to be reunited with their families. Aviation workers have stepped up when Canadians needed them. "The Trudeau government must step up and deliver a plan to help these workers get back on their feet." "Were all nibbling around the bits to cut any costs wherever we can," said Tyler MacAfee, speaking on behalf of Winnipeg Airports Authority in an interview. "But our core costs will remain the same no matter what, and we arent hearing anything concrete from the government." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Currently at a staggering average of about 10 per cent activity, most Canadian airports from St. John's to Vancouver continue to voice concerns heading into the fall. "It's great to see a mention from the government for once," said McAfee, "but now it's time to step up and give us something concrete." Twitter: @temurdur Temur.Durrani@freepress.mb.ca President Donald Trump will fly back to Washington, D.C. to visit his hotel for just 85 minutes for a campaign fundraiser on a day that takes him to three swing states. The president woke up in Florida at his Trump National Doral Miami and hosted a 'Latinos for Trump' roundtable before heading to Georgia, back to D.C., and then onto Virginia for a Friday night rally. 'So I'm thrilled to be back in Doral, I never knew if I was gonna even see it again, this is nice,' he told a crowd at his a.m. campaign event. President Donald Trump will hit three swing states on Friday: Florida, Georgia and Virginia - and stop back in Washington, D.C. for a fundraiser. He started his day at his Miami Doral property participating in a 'Latinos for Trump' event After a stop in Atlanta, Georgia Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump is scheduled to spend 85 minutes at his Washington, D.C. hotel to participate in a roundtable with supporters before heading to Virginia for a rally Friday night The president hit his political rival, Joe Biden, telling the crowd the Democrat 'sold out the Hispanic American community' by offshoring jobs. Trump referred to himself as a 'wall' - like the wall he's trying to construct between the United States and Mexico. 'I'm like a wall between the American dream ... between the American dream and chaos, and a horror show,' the president said. He also predicted that he would win the 2020 presidential election, citing a number of polls at the top of his remarks. 'I think we're going to win it big,' Trump said. Nationally, Biden has a 6.6 point edge, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average. In Florida, polling shows the race extremely tight, with the RCP average giving Biden a slight edge of 1.3 points. Playing to his audience, he called the Russia investigation into his 2016 campaign a 'coup.' 'And you know, you never think of this country as a coup,' Trump said. 'You think of certain South American countries for coups.' From Miami the president will travel to Atlanta, Georgia - a state Democrats want to flip this cycle - where he'll deliver remarks on 'Black Economic Empowerment.' He then returns to Washington, D.C., and is scheduled to spent 85 minutes at his Pennsylvania Avenue hotel. He's slated to attend a roundtable with supporters. And the schedule seemingly gives him time to eat dinner as well. Biden and the Democrats significanly outraised the president and Republicans last month. The president will then get back on Air Force One to fly to Newport News, Virginia for a 9 p.m. campaign rally. While Virginia is likely to stay blue, Newport News is close enough to the North Carolina media market, for the president to benefit there too. President Donald Trump held a rally in Jacksonville, Florida Thursday night where he mocked Joe Biden for having a lighter campaign schedule than the president, who's held large rallies despite the coronavirus pandemic He made a stop in Charlotte, North Carolina Thursday to give a speech on healthcare before his Thursday night rally in Jacksonville, Florida. He held rallies on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, travels to Virginia Friday night, and then heads to Pennsylvania Saturday night after nominating a new Supreme Court justice. Biden, on the other hand, has kept his campaign events small, his schedule light and continues to greet donors virtually, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The president has interpreted Biden's caution as evidence the candidate is 'low energy.' 'Did you see he did a lid this morning again? Lid. Lid. Do you know what a lid is?' Trump asked his crowd Thursday night in Jacksonville. 'A lid is when you put out the word that you're not going to be campaigning today. That he won't be working today.' The former vice president was prepping for his Tuesday debate with Trump. Trump suggested Biden could be 'right' when it came to this tactic. 'Think of it, supposing he never campaigns and he wins, do you know how badly I'm going to feel?' he asked the audience. 'I'm working hard.' Flash Thomas Cook relaunches as an online-only travel business on September 16, following the acquisition of one of the best-known names in travel by international leisure company Fosun Tourism Group. The new 'Covid-ready' travel company will initially sell holidays to destinations on the Government's safe travel corridor list. Licensed by the CAA and Atol-protected, the new Thomas Cook will launch as a purely online business via a new website www.thomascook.com, offering customers thousands of hotels and flight routes so they can design their own holidays. At launch, holidays will be available in popular beach destinations and cities in countries including Italy, Greece and Turkey, in line with the current travel corridors. Customers will be able to choose from room-only to all-inclusive options, across three, four and five-star hotels. Examples include a three-night break in Rome in November at the four-star Grand Hotel Fleming for 252 for two adults flying from Gatwick. Or a family of four can stay for a week all-inclusive at the five-star Crystal Green Bay Resort & Spa outside Bodrum on 11th October for 1,250 flying from Liverpool. The new website 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. Over the coming months, 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. Further destinations will be added when Government restrictions are lifted. Fosun Tourism Group one of the world's largest leisure companies which also owns Club Med acquired the brand and online assets of Thomas Cook in November last year. The new company will retain the brand's familiar 'Sunny Heart' logo. Alan French, Thomas Cook's UK CEO, 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 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. "Our passion is travel and we're focussed on providing great hotels at destinations holidaymakers love, so our customers can design their own break, all at great prices. With flexibility, 24/7 on-holiday care and Atol protection, customers can book a Thomas Cook holiday with confidence. "We will offer customers choice and a better booking experience. Our website is designed to be fast and simple to use and our priority is to ensure customers can book their holiday with absolute confidence. Thanks to new ownership and a new robust financial structure, customers can be reassured their money is protected. "We will use a trust model to ring-fence customers' payments, meaning Thomas Cook only receives customers money once theyve returned from holiday." Jim Qian, Chairman and CEO 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. " Alan French added: "Re-launching Thomas Cook as a business designed for today's holidaymaker is an honour. 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." WASHINGTON The sudden vacancy on the Supreme Court has both energized and divided white evangelicals some of President Donald Trump's most loyal supporters who have been making different cases to the White House about the type of nominee he should put forward and the timing for Senate confirmation. The disagreement has come down to a fight over two candidates who are federal appeals court judges Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa. Trump has heard from evangelical leaders who argue that his religious supporters might be less enthusiastic about a nominee like Lagoa who they say doesn't have enough of a paper trail to demonstrate conservative credentials but who say they'll turn out to vote for the president's choice anyway. Others have told Trump that they'll accept only a nominee like Barrett, who they say has a clear conservative and anti-abortion record, and that without such a pick he'll lose critical support. "Not all on the list are acceptable, and that's being communicated," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, who has told the White House that nominating Lagoa wouldn't go over well with him and other evangelicals. While some of the president's allies have pointed to the Senate's bipartisan 80-15 vote last year to confirm Lagoa to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as an advantage, Perkins said that's actually a significant drawback, because it shows she's not hard-line enough. "In this Senate, in this environment, that itself raises questions," he said. By contrast, Barrett was confirmed to the 4th Circuit Court on a party-line vote of 55-43 in 2017. Trump has said that he'll announce his nominee Saturday and that he wants the Senate to confirm his pick before the Nov. 3 election. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas, expressed concern about holding a confirmation vote before Election Day. Story continues "You never want to give a child their dessert before they eat their meat or vegetables. So I've had a concern that it could possibly spoil the appetite of conservatives," Jeffress said. But first, he said, the president has to navigate the divergent demands from evangelicals. "Some want an absolute purist like Judge Barrett, who they think can be counted on, versus a conservative who they can't fully get a read on," he said. Trump can't afford to alienate white evangelical voters as he faces re-election. Four states that were key to his victory in 2016 had large concentrations of white Christians (encompassing evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics): Pennsylvania (57 percent), Wisconsin (63 percent), Ohio (58 percent) and Iowa (64 percent), according to polling from the Public Religion Research Institute. In the battleground state of North Carolina, where both Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden campaigned this week, 60 percent of white voters unaffiliated with a party identify as evangelical, according to an Elon University Poll this year. A series of 2020 polls have shown Trump's backing among evangelicals slipping, despite his aggressive efforts since he took office to keep their support. Trump's support among white evangelical voters this summer 69 percent lagged behind the support he enjoyed four years ago 78 percent according to a survey conducted by the American Enterprise Institute, or AEI, a conservative think tank based in Washington. A Fox News poll over the summer also found that Trump was underperforming among white evangelicals. Vote Common Good, a Christian group that opposes Trump, released a survey this month of voters in five battleground states Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Michigan that found an 11 percent swing in evangelical and Catholic voters from Trump to Biden. The survey also found that 8 percent of evangelicals who didn't vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton in 2016 support Biden. The shift, said Doug Pagitt, who founded the group, is driven by their views of Trump's conduct, not his policies, so he said a Supreme Court fight is unlikely to move these voters. "I haven't heard anyone say, 'I wasn't going to vote in this presidential election, but now that Donald Trump is going to appoint a Supreme Court nominee 40 days before an election, now I'm going to vote,'" Pagitt said. Trump's drop in support among evangelicals has been in part because of disapproval of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused more than 200,000 deaths. And it mirrors a broader gender gap in his support, according to the AEI survey of registered voters, which found that 63 percent of white evangelical women are backing Trump, compared to 76 percent of white evangelical men. Trump's promise to fill the seat vacated by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a woman is a clear attempt to appeal to women voters. But the effort is being challenged by other religious groups that are reaching out to voters in battleground states to make the case that the women on the president's shortlist for the court would pose a risk to abortion rights and access to health care. "For our women, including pro-life and pro-choice religious women, they are concerned about the Affordable Care Act," said Jennifer Butler, the executive director of Faith in Public Life, which advocates for a coalition of progressive religious voters. "We're awake to the fact that what conservatives want to do with the Supreme Court pick is roll back civil rights, our economic power as women and our health care access. That will only hurt women and hurt families." IMAGE: Amy Coney Barrett (Julian Velasco / Notre Dame Law School) The president's political allies broadly hope the unexpected opportunity for him to nominate a third Supreme Court justice can shore up evangelical voters and win back disaffected women. "This nomination fight could be the turn-out-the-vote key to the entire election for Trump," said evangelical activist Joel Rosenberg, editor of All Israel News. "The Trump base is very worried, and this nomination is going to remind them: If you sit home and let your friends sit home, everything you believe in is going to be washed away." Ken Farnaso, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, noted the importance evangelicals have long put on Supreme Court nominees. "Historically, the evangelical community has always seen the Supreme Court as a top-three issue during presidential elections," Farnaso said in a statement. "President Trump will be nominating a constitutional conservative and extremely qualified woman to the bench. Evangelicals, and most people of faith, value life, freedom, and limited government, and we are looking forward to introducing the president's nominee to the American people when he announces the nomination on Saturday." But to the extent that a Supreme Court fight motivates voters to back Trump at all, the nominee he chooses could be decisive. Josh Hammer, a lawyer at First Liberty Institute, a legal group that identifies as defending religious freedom, said a nominee should have a clear record of opposing Roe v. Wade. He said religious conservatives are fearful that a nominee would follow the trajectory of David Souter, a justice appointed by President George H.W. Bush, who reliably sided with the more liberal-leaning justices toward the end of his tenure. Lagoa, he said, has "zero record whatsoever on Roe." Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., echoed that view, expressing concern that Republicans have appointed the majority of Supreme Court justices and yet "many, many of those turned out not to be very conservative, because people didn't do their due diligence and bought into the 'trust us' mentality." The president, whose campaign launched the Evangelicals for Trump coalition in January, has been making political calculations as he navigates one of his final transactions with his most ardent supporters before Election Day. Trump has talked about Lagoa's potential importance to his political goals, noting that she's from the critical battleground state of Florida and pointing to her Cuban American roots. And he has met with Barrett at the urging of religious conservatives. "This Supreme Court vacancy is a stark reminder of what this election is all about, and I think it may help evangelicals who may be on the fence remember why they voted for him in 2016," Jeffress said. "The bottom line is we did not vote for this president for his piety but for his public policies." Rosenberg said evangelical voters have tried to overlook some of his rhetoric or actions because, "overall, the agenda has been so positive." "Many evangelicals are frustrated, discouraged by things the president says, tweets," Rosenberg said. "Watching the president in motion sometimes is like watching sausage get made. You really don't want to watch the process. It's not pleasant. However, if you sit down and have a nice sausage as a meal, it's a good meal. You just don't want to see it get made." At first glance, it may seem like an odd pairing a president with no deep allegiance to faith and a profoundly religious community. But it has been a productive match. Evangelical leaders argue that Trump has more than delivered on their agenda from signing executive orders aimed at championing their causes to moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem to nominating hundreds of conservative judges. But the president's first two Supreme Court nominees have gotten mixed reviews from religious conservatives who have felt that they didn't deliver on some key decisions. For Perkins, the bigger the fight this time, the bigger the motivation for Trump's voters to turn out. "If the president picks one you're going to have to fight for, that actually raises the intensity," Perkins said. "If you pick someone who is a question mark, you don't get that intensity. ... You get indifference." The coronavirus has forced students of all ages from 2,852 classrooms across Spain to go into quarantine since the beginning of the school year, according to data provided by regional authorities to the Education Ministry. This represents less than 1% of the total, but the percentage of affected classes varies greatly between Spains 17 regions. Education authorities say that the number of classes in quarantine is at a manageable level where schools can continue to operate relatively normally, given the exceptional circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. But the confinement of classes is a serious problem for thousands of families. Only a few regions have responded to EL PAISs questions about how many students have been affected, and the Education Ministry has not yet offered a total figure. But if an average class has 15 students, which is a conservative estimate, it means that more than 40,000 students have been quarantined since the beginning of the school year. This includes pupils of all ages, including teenagers who can stay home alone and study remotely with relative guarantees of success. But many other students are small children who need to be looked after by a parent or adult during their isolation period. This has led to difficulties with parents work and sparked concerns about the impact of quarantines on childrens education. I am also worried about my daughters education, especially since I think this is going to happen again Carme Domenech, mother of six-year-old in quarantine In my case, it has been disruptive because both of us work, says Carme Domenech, the mother of a six-year-old student at a public school in Valencia who has been in quarantine since Wednesday. I work remotely and my husband has the afternoon shift, so only part of my working day is affected, when I have to juggle my job with my role as mother. While Domenech says that she is much less productive because of the situation, she recognizes that there are worse cases in the class, such as parents who have to work in offices and do not know whether they can ask for sick leave. And I am also worried about my daughters education, especially since I think this is going to happen again and this will not be a normal school year, says Domenech, who works as an accountant. Primary school students in San Sebastian at the beginning of the school year. JAVIER HERNANDEZ First quarantined classes return to school Regional authorities believe that the number of classes in quarantine is at a reasonable level. In some regions, such as Navarre and Aragon, authorities point out that classes that were placed in isolation when schools first reopened have now begun to return. Others, such as the Basque Country, say the rate of quarantined classes has slowed down. And in general, education authorities say the goal is still to maintain the greatest number of face-to--face classes possible. This is despite the fact that restrictions may be introduced in other social contexts if the virus continues to spread. Based on available information, which has largely come from other countries that reopened schools before summer or at the beginning of August, public health experts such as Salvador Peiro believe that schools are unlikely to be major hotspots for transmission. But schools are not islands, and if a region has a high transmission rate, this is likely to be reflected in its schools, explains Peiro, who is a member of Fisabio, a health research foundation run by the regional government of Valencia. This could make it difficult for schools to continue the normal academic year as planned. For example, the Madrid region, which has the highest incidence rate of Covid-19 in Spain, also has the highest number of classes in quarantine since the beginning of the school year. Last Friday, 168 classes were in isolation, a figure that jumped to 832 on Wednesday. Differences between the regions EL PAIS asked regional authorities for the number of classes that have been quarantined since schools reopened. Only 13 replied. None of them specified the age of the students, and only a few of them indicated the number of affected classes as a percentage of the total. In Madrid, 832 classes have been quarantined (1.4% of the total) since students returned to school. The region with the second-highest number of quarantined classes is Catalonia with 602, followed by the Basque Country (268, 1.5%), Castilla-La Mancha (180, 1%), Andalusia (168, 0.2%), Aragon (148, 1.7%), Navarre (142), Castilla y Leon (141, 1%), Valencia (130, 0.3%), Extremadura (73), the Balearic Islands (49, 0.7%), La Rioja (33) and Galicia (27). The difference is a reflection of several factors. First, the transmission rate of the disease varies greatly between the regions: in Madrid, the 14-day cumulative incidence of Covid-19 was 742.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 114.4 in Galicia, according to Tuesdays epidemiological report. Secondly, some regions delayed the start of the school year, with some classes returning up to two weeks later than others. And lastly, some regions update their figures every day while others do so every week: in Andalusia and Valencia, for example, the latest figures are from Monday. Regional authorities in the Canary Islands, Asturias and Cantabria did not reply to EL PAISs request. Murcia only offered the number of students and teachers in quarantine, 187 and 43 respectively, but not the number of classes. In the case of Madrid, unions argue that transmission rates in schools are higher than what is being reported by the regional government in the official statistics. English version by Melissa Kitson. Australian Government Minister Supports Recognition of Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides Michael Sukkar, Australia's Minister for Housing and Assistant Treasurer. In a major announcement for the the Joint Justice Initiative of the Armenian-Australian, Assyrian-Australian and Greek-Australian communities, Australia's Minister for Housing and Assistant Treasurer, Michael Sukkar MP has added his voice to growing calls for national recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides. The February 2020 launch of the Joint Justice Initiative at Australia's Parliament House featured the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU), Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) and Australian Hellenic Council (AHC), which declares Australia's recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides as a priority on behalf of their communities. The Federal Member for the Melbourne seat of Deakin, who is of Lebanese heritage, addressed Australia's position appeasing Armenian Genocide denial during a December 2018 House of Representatives debate honouring the 70th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. "No amount of economic consequences and no amount of diplomacy should ever stop us from doing the decent thing as Australians and calling out the genocide for what it is," Sukkar said. "If the consequences with governments and countries like Turkey or Azerbaijan mean that economic consequences flow, I say so be it--and I know the Australian people will back this parliament all the way when taking that approach." Following the 2019 Federal Election, Sukkar was named the Morrison Government's Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Housing. He joined the Joint Justice Initiative this year, in 2020. "The addition of a Government Minister to our calls for Australian recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides is further evidence that Turkey's exported denialism is unwelcome in our country's foreign policy," said Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) Executive Director, Haig Kayserian. "We thank Minister Sukkar for his support and conviction on this important issue on human rights." The Joint Justice Initiative has so far announced the support of Sukkar, Senator Louise Pratt, Warren Entsch, Joel Fitzgibbon MP, Andrew Wilkie MP, Julian Leeser MP, Michelle Rowland MP, Senator Paul Scarr, Tony Zappia MP, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Senator Hollie Hughes, Senator Rex Patrick, Mike Freelander MP, Senator Eric Abetz, Senator Larissa Waters, Senator Pat Dodson, Jason Falinski MP, Josh Burns MP, John Alexander MP, Senator Andrew Bragg and Bob Katter MP, with a promise of more announcements to come. On 25th February 2020, over 100 Federal Australian parliamentarians, diplomats, departmental officials, political staffers, academics, media and community leaders were treated to cultural performances, food, wine and brandy, as well as the historic signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, which affirmed that the signatory public affairs representatives of the three communities were jointly committed to seeing Australia recognize the Turkish-committed Genocide against the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian citizens of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ardila Syakriah and Moch. Fiqih Prawira Adjie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, September 26 2020 Indonesias coronavirus response has once again become clouded by confusion after the government appeared to attempt to rework the definition of COVID-19 deaths, evoking criticism that it was focusing on anything but the most essential efforts to contain the virus. East Java Governor Khofifah Indah Parawansa has reportedly told the Health Ministry that deaths among patients with comorbidity factors should be categorized differently from the deaths of patients without preexisting conditions, which would affect the death toll. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Students at an elite private girls' school in Sydney have been encouraged to perform vulgar acts as part of a 'Scavenger Hunt' for school leavers. The tasks were allegedly written by graduating students from Pymble Ladies' College, on the city's upper north shore, for a muck-up day challenge. A leaked document appeared to encourage the girls to perform varying levels of sex acts and embarrassing dares to score points for their team. Tasks encouraged girls from the $33,000-a-year school to 'eat someone else's vomit', 'get arrested' and 'have sex in a public bathroom', 7NEWS reported. Graduating students at elite private girls' school Pymble Ladies' College (pictured), on Sydney's north shore, allegedly created a vulgar muck-up day challenge Other challenges included 'streaking across the Pacific Highway' and 'blindfold boyfriend guess whose t*** are who for everyone in the team'. The unladylike list also asked students to 'order a stripper and enjoy his/her presence', 'get with someone's brother' and 'go into a brothel and ask for a job'. Sending a 'group photo' to specific teachers, inking a 'PYMBLE' tattoo or getting a face piercing was worth 100 points. The 'God tier' level of challenges also included 'ring parent and explain in depth how you lost your virginity' and 'meet up with someone' from LGBTQ dating app Grindr. A spokesperson from Pymble Ladies' College said muck-up day activities were against school policy and students had been warned of the consequences. 'We are horrified and disappointed that any student would have their name associated with what was apparently a competitive list between students at a number of schools,' the spokesperson said. The 'Scavenger Hunt' required girls to divide into teams and perform a variety of sexual and illegal acts in order to score points (Pymble Ladies' College pictured) Daily Mail Australia has contacted Pymble Ladies College for comment. A similar scavenger hunt was also organised as part of a muck-up challenge for the elite Shore School on Sydney's lower north shore. The 'official rule and challenge book' - created by students in a PDF document - revealed they planned to meet between 5pm and 6pm on Wednesday at Waverton Park for the series of 'treacherous' challenges. The school leavers would then be split into teams of five or six before carrying out a series of tasks to compete for points. Students from elite private boys' school Shore, in Sydney's lower north shore, also attempted to complete a controversial challenge named the 'Triwizard Shorenament' (pictured) The school is among the top ranked in New South Wales and regularly features impressive Year 12 results The rule book stated all participants from the $33,000-a-year school were required to chip in $10 and the team who gathers the most points would be awarded the total cash prize. Before starting the challenges, the groups would be required to finish a case of 30 beers in 15 minutes. The competitors would then be given seven hours of 'hunting' from 6pm to 1am. There were more than 150 challenges listed in the scavenger hunt rule book and the tasks range in difficulty. One challenge called the 'Pakistan Sacrifice' read: 'Eat two laxatives and a Phaal Curry (spicy curry) from Lavender Bay Curry. 'Warning: Will be s***ing all night and probably will want to die.' Another challenge was dubbed the 'trifecta spit' which included a 'spit roast', spitting on a homeless man and jumping off the Spit Bridge. For 10,000 points, students could 'get on a plane to Melbourne'. The federal carbon fee is a win-win for us all, Letters, Sept. 20 Noting how billionaires have become more prosperous during the pandemic, letter writer Cathy Lacroix mentioned the federal carbon pricing plan as one way of helping reduce income inequality, a deficiency brought into full view over the past several months. The recent report by the Task Force for a Resilient Recovery addresses that need using the broad themes of greenhouse gas reduction, clean energy and conservation. One key element is the creation of sustainable, well-paying jobs with a particular attention to youth, women, Indigenous peoples and vulnerable groups. Its going to help us meet our Paris climate targets and reach net-zero by 2050 things that all of us will benefit from. The European Union knows that a green recovery is the path forward and is making significant investments for at least a decade. In the U.S., Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is proposing a $2.7-trillion investment should he win. We must invest to remain competitive, and this plan proposes a five-year commitment of $55 billion to do so, well in line on a per-captia basis with our competitors. The five core strategies of the plan are practical and well thought out. Its worth reading and advocating for by those concerned with jobs, social equity and climate change and is the best way to ensure that all of us non-billionaires get something out of this, too. John Gerant has played several roles in his life Miami police officer, pilot, Realtor, drug trafficker and informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration. His latest act: alleged facilitator in a multimillion-dollar global Ponzi scheme. Leaked documents from the U.S. Treasury Department show that Gerant and his son, Sean, actively recruited people to invest in OneCoin, an allegedly fraudulent cryptocurrency firm tied to a Bulgarian, Ruja Ignatova, who has been branded with the intriguing nickname Queen of Cryptocurrency. Recent federal indictments and testimony given in a Manhattan federal court describe Ignatovas investment scheme as worth $4 billion, $400 million of which was allegedly laundered by two South Florida men, Gilbert Armenta and Coral Gables attorney Mark S. Scott, with the help of shell companies they set up in the state. Court testimony described Armenta as the queens lover-turned-FBI informant. Among the leaked documents was also a February 2017 report to the Treasury from the Bank of New York Mellon about suspicious transactions worth roughly $360 million involving OneCoin-related shell companies and private investment firms set up by Scott in the British Virgin Islands. These same firms are at the heart of federal bank fraud and money-laundering charges brought against Scott and Armenta. Ignatova herself faces charges of wire and securities fraud and money laundering but has absconded. She and her company are also being investigated by law enforcement in multiple countries. The Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and their parent, McClatchy, obtained Suspicious Activity Reports, or SARs, that detail OneCoins activities. The reports are part of a cache of secret banking documents leaked to the online news outlet BuzzFeed News. It shared them with the Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which assembled a team of partners for a 16-month global collaborative investigation. Story continues The FinCEN Files: Money laundering is a dirty, even deadly business. Miami plays a huge role The secret bank documents often draw a straight line between the failure of banks and other financial institutions to keep money laundering in check and the unrelenting pace of criminal activity on a global scale. The project is based on 2,100 unique documents, reported on by 110 news outlets from 88 countries. It identifies more than $2 trillion in transactions flagged by banks as suspicious and includes reports sent to the Treasury Departments Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), charged with sniffing out money laundering, terror financing and other financial crimes. The stories based on those documents were published this past week around the globe under the common banner The FinCEN Files. BuzzFeed News will not comment on the identity of its source. An extract from one of the leaked SARs shows how the Bank of New York Mellon flagged as suspicious OneCoin-related transactions worth $360 million. The production of a SAR is not in and of itself evidence of a crime. Four years ago, the Panama Papers, a massive leak of documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealed how the rich and devious evade taxes and launder profits through opaque offshore shell companies. The FinCEN Files show how banks remain vital conduits in moving illicit money out of reach. And South Florida is continuing to play an important role. A SAR from December 2015 shows that Wells Fargo branches in and around Pompano Beach had flagged suspicious OneCoin-related transactions involving Belletide LLC, a Florida incorporated firm in Deerfield Beach. Belletide is owned by John Gerant, the former Miami cop, and his son, Sean, state incorporation records and SARs show. OneCoin is not a scam, said Sean Gerant, adding that thousands of people are using the [OneCoin] app. The app is not available online, and OneCoin websites are blocked in the United States. As Venezuela spiraled into impoverished hellscape, rich expats cashed in, records reveal Their intent is not to scam and rip people off, Gerant said of the company. Their intent is to give people power back, financial power and growth, that we havent had because the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. John Gerant declined to comment. The Gerants have not been charged with any OneCoin-related crime. While the Justice Department has charged the founders and top leadership of OneCoin, which it described as a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme based on lies and deceit, the firm itself is based in Bulgaria and has not been charged. The department declined to comment on OneCoins activities, citing ongoing investigations and court proceedings. OneCoin did not respond to requests for comment. Money, reimagined Cryptocurrency is a form of digital money that is decentralized and not tied to any central bank. Common currency like the U.S. dollar is issued by a central bank but its value versus Japans yen or Mexicos peso is determined by underlying economic indicators. The value of cryptocurrency, however, is based on available supply and its demand. It is secured by a technology called blockchain, which is essentially a ledger of all transactions, enforced by disparate servers that make it nearly impossible to counterfeit or manipulate the value. In recent years some cryptocurrencies have provided scammers with a platform to trick people into investing, and federal authorities have been closely watching the nascent digital currency market with an eye toward protecting U.S. consumers. Many digital coin offerings are being shut down by regulators as unregistered securities. Bad actors count on the lack of transparency around cryptocurrency and the opaque world of shell companies to commit crimes, said Dennis Lormel, a former section chief of the FBIs Financial Crimes Unit who specialized in investigating money laundering, terror funding and fraud. Lormels advice to consumers is simple: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. Controversial past Long before his association with OneCoin, John Gerant knew controversy. As a Miami police officer, he testified against four white Metro-Dade cops in the trial over the killing of Black insurance executive and retired Marine Arthur McDuffie. The four were accused of beating him to death with their department-issued flashlights after a short motorcycle chase. Their acquittal sparked the Liberty City riots in 1980, which left 18 dead and swaths of the city torched. John Gerant left the force and turned to drug smuggling. When police arrested him with 22 pounds of cocaine in his car in 1983, he returned home to his wife in Boca Raton. Facing charges in Baltimore for smuggling in 1,700 pounds of Colombian cocaine, he cut a deal, testified against the other conspirators and agreed to become an informant. In return, he escaped prosecution. As Venezuela spiraled into impoverished hellscape, rich expats cashed in, records reveal The ex-Miami cop bought a plane and flew undercover missions to Colombia and the Caribbean islands for the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, helping them nab dozens of smugglers. He was also allowed to keep around $1.5 million from his drug sales and bought luxury cars and incorporated several firms in Florida. But in 1991, federal agents charged him with lying and continuing to traffic drugs. He was put behind bars and, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records, released in July 2011. Today he lives in a house in a senior-living community in Broward County. According to real-estate website Zillow, it is worth roughly $167,000. Only one of his neighbors an older woman answered her door. She said she knew him, not as a former police officer but as a pilot. Screenshot of a photo of Ruja Ignatovas brother, Konstantin Ignatov, from his Facebook account. Behind him is a banner of OneLife, a known proxy of OneCoin. The leaked bank report from Wells Fargo states that the account held by Belletide LLC, the Gerants firm, received roughly $56,000 in suspicious transactions from June to September 2015. The account also wired out $73,500 to One Network Services, a OneCoin-related Bulgarian entity, from August to September that year. In return, it received $3,100 marked as commission in November 2015. Interviewed by the Herald and McClatchy, his son described finding OneCoin through ads he saw on social media and YouTube. He said he made investments himself and didnt lose any money. The value went up, he said, but declined to provide numbers. I havent done much with it because Im waiting for them to open up more territories. Gerant said he was signed up by someone who went by the name Rick Crypto, a friend of someone named Sal who oversaw all Florida signatories and who signed up around 30,000 Americans. Court records in the Mark Scott case suggest that man was probably Sal Leto, currently a Tennessee resident. Leto is also named as a U.S. representative of OneCoin in a class-action lawsuit against the company. I know he [Sal] made millions and millions of dollars and he had direct contact with Ruja, Gerant said, adding that he himself became a recruiter and signed up probably 20 people. According to the SAR, roughly $20,000 received by the Gerants firms account during the period it was transacting with OneCoin-related firms in 2015 came from an account tied to Tropical Treeworks, a Miami nursery owned by Bartholomew Coia. Coia is also a cannabis farmer in Colorado. Why did Fla. womans account wire $97K to a Syrian later tied to chemical weapons program? Coia said that he came to OneCoin through the Gerants Sean was his brothers friend and that he invested $10,000 more after the initial $20,000. Millions, multiple millions, said Coia, when asked how much he was promised as returns. I didnt get anything. It was a f---ing scam. But the Gerants were only a small cog in a much bigger, well-oiled overseas machine. Queen of diamonds The daughter of Bulgarian emigres to Germany, Ruja Ignatova burst into the cryptocurrency scene in August 2014 after co-founding OneCoin with Sebastian Greenwood, a serial entrepreneur with a string of failed businesses in digital payment systems. Ignatova promised her investors millions of dollars in returns. She announced a financial revolution that would democratize money and bring unimaginable wealth to the poor and the marginalized. Court records show that OneCoin has around 3.5 million investors and pulls in billions of dollars in revenue. OneCoin organizes promotional events all over the world and pulls in thousands of investors. Those records also show that from 2015 to 2017 Ignatova bought mansions in Dubai and Frankfurt, a penthouse in London and a yacht in Bulgaria. She also has multimillion-dollar properties in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, where OneCoin is based. Screenshot of a promotional poster of a OneCoin event in Macau from the companys Facebook page. Marketers for OneCoin get a cut of the investments they bring in. They also often turn some of the investors into marketers who recruit more people, which can be the telltale sign of a Ponzi scheme, i.e., a structure that relies on new investors to pay off past ones. While the investors-turned-marketers receive commissions on the people they recruit, the initial marketers get a bigger commission on all the people in the levels below them a classic pyramid where those at the bottom see small returns while those at the top rake in millions. Unlike with BitCoin or other more mainstream cryptocurrencies, investors have reportedly been unable to cash in on their OneCoin investments. There is no global exchange system and investors also cannot buy anything solely with OneCoin. In 2017, the company launched Dealshaker, an e-commerce website that accepted OneCoin. But even Dealshaker accepted only part of the payment in OneCoins. The rest had to be paid in regular currency, generating more revenue for the firm. An investigation by the British Broadcasting Corp. found that OneCoin also falsely stated that it had a blockchain the decentralized technology that regulates the value of a cryptocurrency when it had none, and was secretly manipulating the value of the currency. In the trial of Mark Scott, the Florida attorney charged with laundering money for Ignatova, a 76-year-old Tennessean, William Horn, testified that he had attended a big OneCoin conference in Nashville organized by a couple of young fellows from South Florida by the name of Maurice Katz and Sal Leto in 2015. Leto and Katz did not respond to requests for comment. Horn told the court that attendees were not allowed to carry their phones or record any form of audio or video. They were told that this was because the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had not authorized OneCoin because the agency viewed it as selling unsecured securities. The fraud charges against Ignatova say that OneCoin had used manipulative and deceptive devices in the sale of securities, which violates SEC rules. Horn sent roughly $20,000 to a bank account of a German firm, IMS Gmbh, in 2016. Horn told his own bank that the money was for educational purposes, educational documents and training. But by this time banks across the world had already become suspicious of OneCoin and were shutting down its accounts. We were told that the wire would probably not take place if the true nature of the money being spent was said to the bank, Horn told the court. According to leaked SARs and court records, a shell company called IMS was one of several set up by top leadership in OneCoin to receive funds from investors and launder that money without banks or law enforcement getting wind. Prosecutors alleged that private equity investment funds set up by Scott, the Coral Gables attorney, in 2016 in the British Virgin Islands, received around $400 million from these shell companies, including IMS. He cleaned the fraud money that he knew was dirty by setting up phony investment funds and lying to banks and other financial institutions to make it look like the OneCoin fraud proceeds were actually profits from legitimate businesses that had nothing to do with OneCoin, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julieta V. Lozano told the jury in opening arguments. These firms all had the word Fenero in their names and federal prosecutors referred to them as the Fenero Funds. Two of them, Fenero Equity Investments LP and Fenero Financial Switzerland LP, are flagged in the SAR from the Bank of New York Mellon for transactions worth $360 million. All of the Fenero Funds were administered by another BVI offshore firm that was owned and controlled by a Florida entity, MSS International Consultants LLC. MSS International Consultants was owned by Scott, Florida state records show. A screenshot of Coral Gables attorney Mark S. Scotts LinkedIn profile identifies him as the CEO of MSS International Consultants (BVI) Ltd. one of the firms at the heart of the $400 million money-laundering scheme. Lozano alleged that Scott made numerous transfers out of the bank accounts held by the firms in investments that were actually dummy transactions used as cover for moving OneCoin fraud money back to Ruja [Ignatova]. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Folly alleged that Ruja paid Mark Scott $50 million for his services. Lozano told the court that Scott used the money to purchase several multi million-dollar homes in Cape Cod, a 57-foot luxury yacht, and several luxury cars, including at least three different Porsches. A jury found Scott guilty of bank fraud and money laundering in November 2019. Following postponements due to COVID-19, he is scheduled to be sentenced in December. Mr. Scott maintains his innocence, and has filed post-trial motions challenging his conviction that are currently pending before a federal judge in Manhattan, said Arlo Devlin-Brown, Scotts attorney. Some of the OneCoin-connected money received by Scotts Fenero Funds also came from a private investment company, Fates Group, and a limited liability company called Zala Group, both based out of Fort Lauderdale and incorporated by one of Scotts clients, Gilbert Armenta. According to witness testimony by Ignatovas brother, Konstantin Ignatov who had pleaded guilty to wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering and was a cooperating witness Armenta was one of his sisters business partners and main money launderers. A screenshot from the website of Gilbert Armentas firm Fates Group, one of the Fort Lauderdale companies at the center of the money-laundering charges. According to court testimony, Armenta was one of OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatovas chief money launderers. OneCoin was reportedly banking with JSC Capital Bank in the former Soviet republic of Georgia at least for some time in 2015. According to a report by consulting firm KPMG, the National Bank of Georgia revoked its license in 2016 after an audit found that it had ignored requirements for prevention of legalizing illegal revenues. The report also notes that the bank was fully owned and controlled by Armenta through a firm, ESOL B.V. LLC. It is unclear when and where that company was incorporated. One of the SARs notes 13 OneCoin-related payments in 2016 totaling roughly $50,000 from an Australian individual to a U.S.-based entity called One EUX, LLC. Florida corporation records show that One EUX is another Fort Lauderdale firm, incorporated in 2015 by Armenta. Ignatovas brother, Konstantin, testified in Mark Scotts trial that his sister had been having an affair with Armenta. He said that she had her associates plant a recording device in Armentas apartment. In September 2017, she found out through the bug that Armenta had been apprehended by the FBI and was an informant. Prosecutors said that by that time, Scott had transferred almost all of the money in the so-called investment funds back to Ruja and other OneCoin-related entities. A few weeks later, Ruja Ignatova disappeared. Her last known footprint was a flight from Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, to Athens, Greece. Konstantin testified in court that a bodyguard who had accompanied her to the Athens airport told him that she met and continued traveling with people who spoke Russian. Armentas attorneys did not respond to requests for comment. He is scheduled to be sentenced for wire fraud, money laundering and extortion in October. Konstantin Ignatovs sentencing is scheduled for November. OneCoins co-founder, Sebastian Greenwood, was arrested in Thailand and extradited to the United States in 2018. He faces charges of extortion and wire and securities fraud. Meanwhile, OneCoin still hums along and continues to attract investors. Where the incoming millions go is unknown, as are the whereabouts of Ruja Ignatova, the Queen of Cryptocurrency, now possibly dethroned. McClatchy Washington Bureaus Kevin G. Hall and Ben Wieder, and the Miami Heralds Jay Weaver and Monika Leal contributed to this story. WASHINGTON The House may pursue a constitutional lawsuit challenging President Trumps use of emergency powers to spend more public funds on a southwestern border wall than Congress was willing to appropriate, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the House had claimed a sufficient injury to give lawmakers legal standing to pursue a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The 24-page ruling partly reversed a decision by a district court judge in June 2019. That ruling had thrown out the lawsuit on the grounds that the House had no legal standing to sue the executive branch over a claimed threat to its constitutionally authorized control over federal spending. That earlier ruling, by Judge Trevor N. McFadden of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, whom Mr. Trump appointed to the bench, was wrong, the appeals court said. It would undermine the ironclad constitutional rule that the president has no power to spend money without the approval of both the House and the Senate, the panel said. Former SSA to President Buhari on National Assembly House of Representatives Matters Kawu Sumaila, has said that Governor Hope Uzodinma cannot speak for the All Progressives Congress (APC) because he lacks knowledge of what the party stands for. Sumaila who said that Uzodinma did not know why APC was formed and was not there when the ruling party struggled in all its campaigns, told reporters in Kano that Uzodinmas alleged comment about the just concluded Edo state governorship election is unjust. The former SSA also called on the APC to look inwards and bring all those who brought the party into disrepute to book. Sumaila also accused former national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole of leading the party to near collapse. He said; An Italian couple has become known as the "Romeo and Juliet" of the coronavirus lockdown. In true Shakespearean style, their romantic story began on their respective balconies this year while Italians were forced to sequester in their homes because of the pandemic. It was in Verona - the same city where "Romeo and Juliet" took place. But the love story of this pandemic couple does not have a tragic ending like Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers. In fact, six months after they met from afar, the covid-19 sweethearts are engaged to be married. Michele D'Alpaos, 38, first laid eyes on Paola Agnelli, 40, in mid-March when she walked out on her balcony. Agnelli spotted D'Alpaos that night on his terrace, and said it was love at first sight. "I was immediately struck by the beauty of this girl, by her smile," D'Alpaos said. "I had to know her." Agnelli stood directly across from him on her sixth-floor balcony while her sister performed a violin rendition of "We Are The Champions" as part of a nightly 6 p.m. musical performance, intended to uplift the quarantined neighborhood. A few minutes into the song, Agnelli caught D'Alpaos' gaze. "It was a magical moment," said Agnelli, who has lived in the same apartment complex since she was 5 years old. She had never met D'Alpaos before, even though he has lived opposite her, on the seventh floor, for most of his life. "I immediately thought, 'What a beautiful boy,' " she continued. It just so happened that D'Alpaos' sister knew Agnelli - the two had exercised at the same gym before lockdown began. She gave him Agnelli's name. "I started looking on all possible social networks," D'Alpaos said. "I saw that she had an Instagram profile, but I didn't. In five minutes, I created an account." "He followed me on Instagram, and from there we started writing until late at night," said Agnelli, adding that they initially communicated on the app and then switched to texting. "When he contacted me, I was happy, but I didn't want to deceive myself." To her surprise, the conversation stretched past 3 a.m. Their connection was immediate, she said, and for the days and weeks that followed, the pair continued to talk constantly, often losing track of time. Although they longed for an in-person date, Italy remained in a mandated lockdown. For 10 weeks, the blossoming relationship was confined to hours-long telephone calls and daily cross-balcony flirtation. Still, their bond strengthened. From a distance, the couple got to know each other, and learned they share similar ideas: "The values you could build a relationship on," Agnelli said. For one, they are both professionally driven, she said. Agnelli is a lawyer and D'Alpaos works in computers. But more importantly, she said, "Michele has a good heart." Barred from stepping closer than 200 meters away (about 220 yards), a smitten D'Alpaos was desperate to show his affection to Agnelli. He started by sending multiple bouquets of flowers, but then decided that wasn't enough. In an effort to put his love on full display, D'Alpaos hung an old bedsheet with "Paola" emblazoned in big, bold bubble letters from his apartment complex in late March. The romantic gesture drew the attention of local news and social media, and that's when the couple became known as the modern-day "Romeo and Juliet." "It was such a lovely surprise," said Agnelli, adding that the banner made her even more excited to meet her very own "Romeo" face to face. In early May, she finally did. They met at a local park, and at long last, removed their masks to share a kiss. "We are very much in love," Agnelli said. The relationship got off to a strong start, and by July, the couple had met each other's families, and began discussing the prospect of spending the rest of their lives together. D'Alpaos now shares an apartment with his parents and Agnelli lives with her mother and sister, though they are planning to move in to another apartment D'Alpaos owns in the city when they eventually tie the knot. In keeping with their beginnings, the couple continues to have nightly phone calls, sitting across from each other on their respective balconies. As a nod to their fated first encounter, "it would be a dream to be able to do the wedding ceremony on the terrace of my building," D'Alpaos said. The coronavirus pandemic has yielded few silver linings, but for this Italian couple, the lockdown led them to each other. "Such a thing has never happened to either of us. The sensations we are experiencing in this period is something we never felt before," D'Alpaos said. "We are more in love than ever." Agnelli agreed, adding that she believes they were destined to meet, as Michele is also the name of her late grandfather. "Many times, I think that it was he who sent me Michele, with the same name, the same kindness, the same sympathy and intelligence," she said. Although their tale of sudden and dedicated love bears similarities to Shakespeare's classic script set in Verona, the ending is quite the opposite. "Our goal is to make a beautiful family together," Agnelli said. Former President John Dramani Mahama, and the leadership of the NDC, on Friday, September 25 called on former President Jerry John Rawlings to commiserate with him following the passing of his mother, madam Victoria Agbotui. Mr. Mahama, in a brief remark, described the loss of madam Agbotui as a shared one because she was always on hand to give wise counsel whenever she interacted with him and other party members. He consoled Jerry John Rawlings and encouraged him to take heart as his mother has lived a full life and had seen it all. The NDC flagbearer said, Mama was the kind of person one would assume would live forever He also assured the NDC Founder that the party will participate fully in the funeral activities of the late madam Agbotui. He [Mr. Mahama] was accompanied by the Vice Chairman of the NDC Council of Elders, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, National Chairman Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia and other national executives of the party. Madam Victoria Agbotui died in the early hours of Thursday, September 24 at the age of 101. Rawlings request privacy as family mourns late mother Meanwhile, Former President Jerry John Rawlings and his family have asked the public to respect their privacy as the family mourns the death of Victoria Agbotui, the mother of the former president. This was contained in a press statement issued by the office of the former president on Friday, September 25, 2020. The family also urged persons wanting to pay courtesy visits to the family to secure an appointment. The family kindly requests all to respect their privacy during this difficult period. All who wish to pay courtesy visits should kindly call 0264444464 to secure appointments, the statement noted. ---citinewsroom Former congressman Ron Paul hospitalized: Former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul, 85, said he was okay Friday after a video circulated online of him struggling to speak during an interview. The former Texas congressman, who ran for president three times, posted a picture on Facebook showing him smiling in a hospital gown and giving a thumbs-up after a video took off on social media showing Paul having trouble speaking during an appearance on his live-streamed show. The video cuts away to the interviewer as Paul struggles. Paul is the father of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Signal app privacy encryption Signal's logo Credit - Lam Yik/Bloomberg via Getty Images Ama Russell and Evamelo Oleita had never been to a protest before June. But as demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality began to spread across the U.S. earlier this year, the two 17 year-olds from Michigan, both of whom are Black, were inspired to organize one of their own. Seeking practical help, Oleita reached out to Michigan Liberation, a local civil rights group. The activist who replied told her to download the messaging app Signal. They were saying that to be safe, they were using Signal now, Oleita tells TIME. It turned out to be useful advice. I think Signal became the most important tool for protesting for us, she says. Within a month, Oleita and Russell had arranged a nonviolent overnight occupation at a detention center on the outskirts of Detroit, in protest against a case where a judge had put a 15 year-old Black schoolgirl in juvenile detention for failing to complete her schoolwork while on probation. The pair used Signal to discuss tactics, and to communicate with their teams marshalling protestors and liaising with the police. I dont think anything we say is incriminating, but we definitely dont trust the authorities, says Russell. We dont want them to know where we are, so they cant stop us at any point. On Signal, being able to communicate efficiently, and knowing that nothing is being tracked, definitely makes me feel very secure. Signal is an end-to-end encrypted messaging service, similar to WhatsApp or iMessage, but owned and operated by a non-profit foundation rather than a corporation, and with more wide-ranging security protections. One of the first things you see when you visit its website is a 2015 quote from the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: I use Signal every day. Now, its clear that increasing numbers of ordinary people are using it too. Story continues Any time there is some form of unrest or a contentious election, there seems to be an opportunity for us to build our audience, says Brian Acton, the Signal Foundations co-founder and executive chairman, in an interview with TIME. Its a little bit bittersweet, because a lot of times our spikes come from bad events. Its like, woohoo, were doing great but the worlds on fire. Indeed, just as protests against systemic racism and police brutality intensified this year, downloads of Signal surged across the country. Downloads rose by 50% in the U.S. between March and August compared to the prior six months, according to data shared with TIME by the analysis firm App Annie, which tracks information from the Apple and Google app stores. In Hong Kong they rose by 1,000% over the same period, coinciding with Beijings imposition of a controversial national security law. (The Signal Foundation, the non-profit that runs the app, doesnt share official download numbers for what it says are privacy reasons.) Were seeing a lot more people attending their first actions or protests this yearand one of the first things I tell them to do is download Signal, says Jacky Brooks, a Chicago-based activist who leads security and safety for Kairos, a group that trains people of color to use digital tools to organize for social change. Signal and other end-to-end encryption technology have become vital tools in protecting organizers and activists. Read more: Young Activists Drive Peaceful Protests Across the U.S. In June, Signal took its most explicitly activist stance yet, rolling out a new feature allowing users to blur peoples faces in photos of crowds. Days later, in a blog post titled Encrypt your face, the Signal Foundation announced it would begin distributing face masks to protesters, to help support everyone self-organizing for change in the streets. Asked if the chaos of 2020 has pushed Signal to become a more outwardly activist organization, Acton pauses. I dont know if I would say more, he says. I would say that right now its just congruent. Its a continuation of our ongoing mission to protect privacy. Brian Acton speaks at the WIRED25 Summit November 08, 2019 in San Francisco, California. Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for WIRED What makes Signal different Signals user base somewhere in the tens of millions, according to app store data is still a fraction of its main competitor WhatsApps, which has some 2 billion users and is owned by Facebook. But it is increasingly clear that among protesters, dissidents and investigative journalists, Signal is the new gold standard because of how little data it keeps about its users. At their core, both apps use cryptography to make sure that the messages, images and videos they carry can only be seen by the sender and the recipient not governments, spies, nor even the designers of the app itself. But on Signal, unlike on WhatsApp, your messages metadata are encrypted, meaning that even authorities with a warrant cannot obtain your address book, nor see who youre talking to and when, nor see your messages. Historically, when an investigative journalists source is prosecuted in retaliation for something they have printed, prosecutors will go after metadata logs and call logs about whos been calling whom, says Harlo Holmes, the director of newsroom digital security at the Freedom of the Press Foundation. WhatsApp states on its website that it does not store logs of who is messaging who, in the ordinary course of providing our service. Yet it does have the technical capacity to do so. In some cases including when they believe its necessary to keep users safe or comply with legal processes, they state, we may collect, use, preserve, and share user information including information about how some users interact with others on our service. Signal, by contrast, cannot comply with law enforcement even if it wanted to. (Its not clear that it does: in early June, Signals founder and CEO Moxie Marlinspike tweeted ACAB All Cops Are Bastards in response to allegations that police had stockpiled personal protective equipment amid the pandemic.) In 2016, a Virginia grand jury subpoenaed Signal for data about a user, but because it encrypts virtually all its metadata, the only information Signal was able to provide in response was the date and time the user downloaded the app, and when they had last used it. Signal works very, very hard in order to protect their users by limiting the amount of metadata that is available in the event of a subpoena, Holmes says. The approach has not won Signal fans in the Justice Department, which is supporting a new bill that would require purveyors of encrypted software to insert backdoors to make it possible for authorities to access peoples messages. Opponents say the bill would undermine both democracy and the very principles that make the app so secure in the first place. Ironically, Signal is commonly used by senior Trump Administration officials and those in the intelligence services, who consider it one of the most secure options available, according to reporters in TIMEs Washington bureau. Signals value system aligns neatly with the belief, popular in Silicon Valleys early days, that encryption is the sole key to individual liberty in a world where authorities will use technology to further their inevitably authoritarian goals. Known as crypto-anarchism, this philosophy emerged in the late 1980s among libertarian computer scientists and influenced the thinking of many programmers, including Marlinspike. Crypto-anarchists thought that the one thing you can rely on to guarantee freedom is basically physics, which in the mid 1990s finally allowed you to build systems that governments couldnt monitor and couldnt control, says Jamie Bartlett, the author of The People vs Tech, referring to the mathematical rules that make good encryption so secure. They were looking at the Internet that they loved but they could see where it was going. Governments would be using it to monitor people, businesses would be using it to collect data about people. And unless they made powerful encryption available to ordinary people, this would turn into a dystopian nightmare. Signal's founder Moxie Marlinspike during a TechCrunch event on September 18, 2017 in San Francisco, California. Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch As a young adult in the 1990s, Marlinspike who declined to be interviewed for this story spent his life on the fringes of society, teaching himself computer science, messing with friends machines, and illegally hitching rides on freight trains across the United States. A tall white man with dreadlocks, he always had a distrust for authority, but Snowdens leaks appeared to crystallize his views. In a post published on his blog in June 2013, which is no longer accessible online, Marlinspike wrote about the danger these new surveillance capabilities posed when exercised by a state that you could not trust. Police already abuse the immense power they have, but if everyones every action were being monitored then punishment becomes purely selective, he wrote. Those in power will essentially have what they need to punish anyone theyd like, whenever they choose, as if there were no rules at all. But, Marlinspike argued, this problem was not unsolvable. It is possible to develop user-friendly technical solutions that would stymie this type of surveillance, he wrote. By the time hed written that blog post, Marlinspike had already made an effort to build such a user-friendly technical solution. Called the Textsecure Protocol (later the Signal Protocol), it was a sort of recipe for strong end-to-end encryption that could ensure only the sender and recipient of a message were able to read its contents, and not authorities or bad actors wishing to pry. In 2010 Marlinspike launched two appsone for text messaging and another for phone callsbased on the protocol. In 2014 he merged them, and Signal was born. The app was kept afloat thanks to nearly $3 million in funding from the Open Technology Fund, a Congress-funded nonprofit that finances projects aimed at countering censorship and surveillance. In keeping with security best practices, the Signal Protocol is open source, meaning that its publicly available for analysts around the world to audit and suggest improvements. (Signals other main competitor, Telegram, is not end-to-end encrypted by default, and security researchers have raised concerns about its encryption protocol, which unlike Signals is not open source.) But although by all accounts secure, Signal back in 2014 was hardly user-friendly. It had a relatively small user base, mostly made up of digital security geeks. It wasnt the kind of influence Marlinspike wanted. Read more: How the Trump Administration is Undermining the Open Technology Fund So Marlinspike sought out Acton, who had co-founded WhatsApp in 2009 along with Jan Koum. The pair had since grown it into the largest messaging app in the world, and in 2014 Facebook snapped it up for a record-setting $19 billion. Marlinspikes views on privacy aligned with theirs (Koum had grown up under the ever-present surveillance of Soviet Ukraine) and in 2016, with Facebooks blessing, they worked to integrate the Signal Protocol into WhatsApp, encrypting billions of conversations globally. It was a huge step toward Marlinspikes dream of an Internet that rejected, rather than enabled, surveillance. The big win is when a billion people are using WhatsApp and dont even know its encrypted, he told Wired magazine in 2016. I think weve already won the future. But Acton, who was by now a billionaire thanks to the buyout, would soon get into an acrimonious dispute with Facebooks executives. When he and Koum agreed to the sale in 2014, Acton scrawled a note to Koum stipulating the ways WhatsApp would remain separate from its new parent company: No ads! No games! No gimmicks! Even so, while Acton was still at the company in 2016, WhatsApp introduced new terms of service that forced users, if they wanted to keep using the app, to agree that their WhatsApp data could be accessed by Facebook. It was Facebooks first step toward monetizing the app, which at the time was barely profitable. Acton was growing alarmed at what he saw as Facebooks plans to add advertisements and track even more user data. In Sept. 2017, he walked away from the company, leaving behind $850 million in Facebook stock that would have vested in the coming months had he stayed. (As of September 2020, Facebook still hasnt inserted ads into the app.) Im at peace with that, Acton says of his decision to leave. Im happier doing what Im doing in this environment, and with the people that Im working with, he says. Building a Foundation Soon after quitting, Acton teamed up with Marlinspike once again. Each of them knew that while encrypting all messages sent via WhatsApp had been a great achievement, it wasnt the end. They wanted to create an app that encrypted everything. So Acton poured $50 million of his Facebook fortune into setting up the Signal Foundation, a non-profit that could support the development of Signal as a direct rival to WhatsApp. Actons millions allowed Signal to more than treble its staff, many of whom now focus on making the app more user-friendly. They recently added the ability to react to messages with emojis, for example, just in time to entice a new generation of protesters like Oleita and Russell. And unlike others who had approached Signal offering funding, Actons money came with no requirements to monetize the app by adding trackers that might compromise user privacy. Signal the app is like the purest form of what Moxie and his team envisioned for the Signal Protocol, Holmes says. WhatsApp is the example of how that protocol can be placed into other like environments where the developers around that client have other goals in mind. Although it was meant to be an alternative business model to the one normally followed in Silicon Valley, Signals approach bears a striking similarity to the unprofitable startups that rely on billions of venture capital dollars to build themselves up into a position where theyre able to bring in revenue. It hasnt been forefront in our minds to focus on donations right now, primarily because we have a lot of money in the bank, Acton says. And secondarily, because weve also gotten additional large-ish donations from external donors. So thats given us a pretty long runway where we can just focus on growth, and our ambition is to get a much larger population before doing more to solicit and engender donations. (Signal declined to share any information about the identities of its major donors, other than Acton, with TIME.) Still, one important difference is that this business model doesnt rely on what the author Shoshana Zuboff calls Surveillance Capitalism: the blueprint by which tech companies offer free services in return for swaths of your personal data, which allow those companies to target personalized ads at you, lucratively. In 2018, as the Cambridge Analytica scandal was revealing new information about Facebooks questionable history of sharing user data, Acton tweeted: It is time. #deletefacebook. He says he still doesnt have a Facebook or Instagram account, mainly because of the way they target ads. To me, the more standard monetization strategies of tracking users and tracking user activity, and targeting ads, that all generally feels like an exploitation of the user, Acton says. Marketing is a form of mind control. Youre affecting peoples decision-making capabilities and youre affecting their choices. And that can have negative consequences. Grafitti urging people to use Signal is spray-painted on a wall during a protest on February 1, 2017 at UC Berkeley, California. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images An even more sinister side effect of Surveillance Capitalism is the data trail it leaves behindand the ways authorities can utilize it for their own type of surveillance. Marlinspike wrote in 2013 that instead of tapping into phone conversations, changes in the nature of the Internet meant that [now,] the government more often just goes to the places where information has been accumulating on its own, such as email providers, search engines, social networks. It was a surveillance technique Marlinspike and Acton knew WhatsApp was still vulnerable to because of its unencrypted metadata, and one they both wanted to disrupt. Its impossible to know how much user data WhatsApp alone provides to authorities, because Facebook only makes such data available for all its services combined bundling WhatsApp together with Instagram and the Facebook platform itself. (WhatsApps director of communications, Carl Woog, declined to provide TIME with data relating to how often WhatsApp alone provides user data to authorities.) Still, those aggregate data show that in the second half of 2019, Facebook received more than 51,000 requests from U.S. authorities for data concerning more than 82,000 users, and produced some data in response to 88% of those requests. By contrast, Signal tells TIME it has received no requests from law enforcement for user data since the one from the Virginia grand jury in 2016. I think most governments and lawyers know that we really dont know anything, a Signal spokesperson tells TIME. So why bother? Another reason, of course, is that Signal has far, far fewer users than WhatsApp. But Acton also puts it down to Signals broader application of encryption. They can do that type of stuff on WhatsApp because they have access to the sender, the receiver, the timestamp, you know of these messages, Acton says. We dont have access to that on Signal. We dont want to know who you are, what youre doing on our system. And so we either dont collect the information, dont store the information, or if we have to, we encrypt it. And when we encrypt it, we encrypt it in a way that were unable to reverse it. Despite those inbuilt protections, Signal has still come under criticism from security researchers for what some have called a privacy flaw: the fact that when you download Signal for the first time, your contacts who also have the app installed get a notification. Its an example of one tradeoff between growth and privacy where despite its privacy-focused image Signal has come down on the side of growth. After all, youre more likely to use the app, and keep using it, if you know which of your friends are on there too. But the approach has been questioned by domestic violence support groups, who say it presents a possible privacy violation. Tools such as Signal can be incredibly helpful when used strategically, but when the design creates an immediate sharing of information without the informed consent of the user, that can raise potentially harmful risks, says Erica Olsen of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Survivors may be in a position where they are looking for a secure communication tool, but dont want to share that fact with other people in their lives. Signal says that its possible to block users to solve problems like this. Its also working on a more long-term fix: allowing a user to connect with others without sharing their numberthough theyll still need a phone number to sign up to the app. The encryption dilemma Since the 1990s, encryption has faced threats from government agencies seeking to maintain (or strengthen) their surveillance powers in the face of increasingly secure code. But though it appeared these so-called crypto wars were won when strong encryption became widely accessible, Signal is now under threat from a new salvo in that battle. The Justice Department wants to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which currently allows tech companies to avoid legal liability for the things users say on their platform. The proposed change is in part a retaliation by President Trump against what he sees as social media platforms unfairly censoring conservatives, but could threaten encrypted services too. The amendment would mean companies would have to earn Section 230s protections by following a set of best practices that Signal says are extraordinarily unlikely to allow end-to-end encryption. Read more: Facebook Cannot Fix Itself. But Trumps Effort to Reform Section 230 Is Wrong Even if that amendment doesnt pass, the Justice Department is supporting a different bill that would force outfits like Signal to build backdoors into their software, to allow authorities with a warrant their own special key to decrypt suspects messages. While strong encryption provides enormous benefits to society and is undoubtedly necessary for the security and privacy of Americans, end-to-end encryption technology is being abused by child predators, terrorists, drug traffickers, and even hackers to perpetrate their crimes and avoid detection, said Attorney General William Barr on June 23. Warrant-proof encryption allows these criminals to operate with impunity. This is dangerous and unacceptable. Theres no denying that encrypted apps are used for evil as well as good, says Jeff Wilbur, the senior director for online trust at the Internet Society, a nonprofit that campaigns for an open Internet. But, he says, the quirk of mathematics that guarantees security for end-to-end encryptions everyday usersincluding vulnerable groups like marginalized minorities, protesters and victims of domestic abuseis only so powerful because it works the same for all users. The concept of only seeing one suspected criminals data, with a warrant, sounds great, Wilbur says. But the technical mechanism youd have to build into the service to see one persons data can potentially let you see any persons data. Its like having a master key. And what if a criminal or a nation state got a hold of that same master key? Thats the danger. Even in a world with perfect corporations and unimpeachable law enforcement, it would be a difficult tradeoff between privacy and the rule of law. Add distrust of authorities and Surveillance Capitalism into the mix, and you arrive at an even trickier calculation about where to draw the line. The problem is, ordinary people rely on rules and laws to protect them, says Bartlett, the author of The People vs Tech. The amount of times people get convicted on the basis of the government being able to legally acquire communications that prove guilt its absolutely crucial. But at the same time, governments have regularly proved themselves willing and able to abuse those powers. I do blame the government for bringing it on themselves, Bartlett says. The revelations about what governments have been doing have obviously helped stimulate a new generation of encrypted messaging systems that people, rightly, would want. And it ends up causing the government a massive headache. And its their fault because they shouldnt have been doing what they were doing. Still, despite the existential risk that a law undermining encryption would pose for Signal, Acton says he sees the possibility as just a low medium threat. Id be really surprised if the American public were to pass a law like this that stood the test of time, he says. If that were to happen, he adds, Signal would try to find ways around the law possibly including leaving the U.S. We would continue to seek to own and operate our service. That might mean having to reincorporate somewhere. In the meantime, Signal is more focused on attracting new users. In August, the nonprofit rolled out a test version of its desktop app that would allow encrypted video calling an attempt to move into the lucrative space opened up by the rise in home working due to the pandemic. I try to use it to conduct my interview with Acton, but the call fails to connect. When I get through on Google Hangouts instead, I see him scribbling notes at his desk. Just this interaction alone gave me a couple ideas for improvements, he says excitedly. The episode reveals something about how Acton sees Signals priorities. Our responsibility is first to maintain the highest level of privacy, and then the highest quality product experience, he says. Our attempt to connect on Signal desktop was to me, thats a fail. So its like, okay, well go figure it out. Correction: Sept. 28 The original version of this story misstated Marlinspikes 1990s-era computer activity. He did not hack into insecure servers, he messed with friends computers as a prank. It also misstated an upcoming Signal feature. Signal is working on a way for users to contact others without providing their phone number, but users will still need to provide a phone number to sign up for the app. CHICAGO, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Breathable Films Market by Type (Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Polyurethane), End-Use Industry (Hygiene, Medical, Food Packaging, Construction, Fabric), And Region (North America, South America, Europe, APAC, ME&A) Global Forecast To 2025", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Breathable Films Market is estimated to be USD 2.4 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 3.6 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 8.2% between 2020 to 2025. The Breathable Films Market is driven by growing awareness regarding health and hygiene and increasing usage of breathable films in premium hygiene products in both developed and developing countries. PDF Download: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=208493214 Browse in-depth TOC on "Breathable Films Market" 548 - Market Data Tables 57 - Figures 335 - Pages View detailed Table of Content here - https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/breathable-film-market-208493214.html Polyethylene-based breathable film type estimated to be the largest type of breathable films Polyethylene-based breathable films type accounts for the largest of the total Breathable Films Market in 2019, in terms of value. Polyethylene-based breathable films will remain the dominant type during the forecast period due to their lower cost as compared to other types of polyolefin films. The major application of polyethylene breathable films is in hygiene applications in products such as baby diapers, adult incontinence, and sanitary napkins. Medical application: the fastest-growing application for breathable films The Breathable Films Market size in the medical application is projected to register the highest growth during the forecast period. The consumption of breathable films in this application is growing due to the increased use of breathable films in the manufacturing of surgical drapes, surgical gowns, patient gowns, back-table covers, operation bed covers, mayo stand covers, and gloves. This is fuelled by rising demand for healthcare facilities and increasing per capita spending in healthcare in the developing countries and increasing old age population and increased usage of disposable drapes and gowns in the developed countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has further strengthened the growth of breathable films in the medical application. The pandemic has created large scale shortages of medical supplies such as masks, gloves, personal protective equipment (PPE) kit and other medical products. Many of the developed countries have to rely on China to meet the essential medical supplies. The countries are expected to be better prepared for a next time and is expected to increase the investments into the production of medical supplies locally. Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=208493214 APAC is estimated to be the largest market for breathable films. China is estimated to be the leading market for breathable films in APAC. India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and South Korea are other major countries contributing to the growth of the Breathable Films Market in the region. The increasing demand for breathable films from applications such as medical, hygiene & personal care, food packaging, and construction is expected to drive the Breathable Films Market in these countries. The key companies profiled in the Breathable Films Market research report are Toray Industries (Japan), Mitsui Chemicals (Japan), Berry Global Group (US), Arkema (France), RKW Group (Germany), and Schweitzer-Mauduit International (US). Other prominent players in the Breathable Films Market are Covestro (Germany), Nitto Denko (Japan), Trioplast Industries AB (Sweden), Rahil Foam Pvt Ltd. (India), Skymark Packaging (UK), Daika Kogyo (Japan), American Polyfilm (US), and Innovia Films (UK). Get 10% Free Customization on this Report @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomizationNew.asp?id=208493214 Browse Adjacent Market: Resins and Polymers Market Research Report & consulting Related Reports: Industrial Films Market by Film Type (LLDPE, LDPE, HDPE, PET/BOPET, PP/BOPP, CPP, PVC, Polyamide/BOPA), End-use Industry (Transportation, Construction, Industrial Packaging, Agriculture, Medical), Region Global Forecast to 2025 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/industrial-film-market-227835863.html Non-Woven - Industrial Membrane Market by Module Type (Spiral Wound, Hollow Fiber, Tubular, Plate & Frame), Application (Water & Wastewater Treatment, Pharmaceutical & Medical, Food & Beverage, Chemical, Industrial Gas), and Region https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/nonwoven-fabric-market-in-industrial-membrane-257165275.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. 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Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Roads Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: 1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/breathable-film-market.asp Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/breathable-film.asp SOURCE MarketsandMarkets President Donald Trump promised that tens of millions of seniors and other Americans on Medicare will get $200 toward prescription costs as part of the pair of healthcare executive orders he signed on Thursday. 'Under my plan 33 million Medicare beneficiaries will soon receive a card in the mail containing $200 that they can use to help pay for prescription drugs,' Trump said, describing part the program under his new healthcare executive orders. Lawyers said the orders will carry little weight, as the president seeks to boost his flagging credibility with voters on the hot-button issue ahead of the November 3 presidential election. And Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) chief of staff Brian Harrison told reporters that not all beneficiaries would receive the cards before Election Day. 'All the cards will not be going out prior to the election, and it is not timed that way,' Harrison said, during a press call attended by Bloomberg. The initiative will cost the US government $6.6 billion. It's unclear under what department it falls or why only 33 out of approximately 44 million Medicare beneficiaries are slated to receive the cards. Specific plans and intents for the cards and their funding apparently remain unclear to health officials, as well. 'Details around the offset for the $200 cards are still being worked out,' Harrison said. In addition to the two executive orders aimed at protecting Americans with pre-existing conditions, Trump announced a plan to send $200 cards to help pay for prescription drugs to 33 million Americans on Medicare on Thursday The hope is that the cost will be balanced out by cuts to the prices of drugs purchased by Medicare ordered by President Trump and money those price reductions will theoretically save the US government down the road. Trump's plan promises to end 'shadowy system of kickbacks by middlemen that lurks behind the high out-of-pocket costs many Americans face at the pharmacy counters,' and to redirect the funds from these kickbacks seniors as discounts on their prescriptions. Americans pay substantially more for their prescription drugs than do people in comparably wealthy nations, a pattern which Trump's executive orders claim they will end. Trump leaned heavily on promises to go to war with Big Pharma and lower prescription drug prices during his 2016 campaign. Thursday's executive orders appear to be an eleventh hour effort to make good on those promises. Trump signed the twin orders implementing his 'America First Healthcare Plan' in an airport hangar in Charlotte, North Carolina, amid an audience that included medical professionals. The Trump administration also set out new rules allowing US states and territories to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada. Trump said he expected an even deeper reduction in drug prices from an earlier executive order capping Medicare drug prices at the lowest level paid by other rich nations. Drug companies and experts have questioned whether that executive order is practical and can withstand expected legal challenges. One of Thursday's executive orders is aimed at ensuring Americans with pre-existing conditions retain healthcare coverage, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters, even as his own administration seeks to end the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which protects the same right. Azar also said Trump was directing him via the second executive order to work with Congress to pass legislation banning surprise healthcare bills by the beginning of next year, and explore executive action if the legislative bid fails. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, labeled the effort 'bogus,' as she called on the president to 'drop his lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic.' While Trump heralded his actions, some lawyers expressed skepticism that he had the authority to make the move by executive order. Nicholas Bagley, a professor at University of Michigan's law school, said: 'Unless there's a law that prohibits the conduct in question, or unless the president is exercising a power that's been delegated to him by Congress, his statements have no more legal weight than a tweet.' 'It's as if I was walking around with a memo that was titled 'Executive Order,' and claimed that the policy of the United States is that everybody gets a cheeseburger on Tuesdays,' he added. Trump lags Democratic rival and former Vice President Joe Biden in national opinion polls, especially on the question of who would better handle healthcare. The president's action, unveiled less than six weeks before Election Day on Nov. 3, also comes amid long-standing criticisms that he has failed to follow through on promises to propose an alternative to Obamacare even as he works to dismantle that program. Trump also has drawn fire for his administration's response to the deadly coronavirus, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans. In June, the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate the Obamacare law that added millions to the healthcare safety net. The Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, prohibited health insurers from denying coverage to Americans with known health conditions. Surprise bills occur when patients visit a hospital they believe is in their health insurance network but then are seen by a doctor or specialist who is out of network. Trump previously called on Congress to address the issue in 2019. 'What the president is saying is that all the relevant players - hospitals, doctors, insurance companies - had better get their act together, and get legislation passed through Congress that protects patients against surprise medical bills,' Azar said. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington, Michael Erman in New York and Steve Holland in Charlotte; editing by Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker) Small things are easily overlooked. At the end of July, a very small box, decorated with very small writing and made by a very small man went under the hammer at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in England. At 7.5cm x 6cm, it was roughly matchbox sized, small enough to be held in the palm of the hand. The lower side was inscribed as follows: "Dublin febr. the 8 d 1720/21. This is Written by Mathew Buchinger born Without Hands or feet in Germany June the 3 d 1674." The box carried an estimate of 700 to 1,000 (780 to 1,114). It sold for 8,000 (8,908). "It came from a very large collection from a deceased vendor," says Chris Albury of Dominic Winter Auctioneers. "It was a one-off oddity in one of many glass cabinets and so small that nobody really noticed it until it was in the hand. It didn't even make it on to the probate form." The little box came from the estate of Jack Webb (1923-2019), a famous London dealer, and it was overshadowed by more glamorous pieces in his collection. "It went to a colleague and she looked at it in detail, and realised that it was absolutely amazing! But we didn't have a guide to give us a sense of what prices might be paid for it." The box sold to a private archive in the UK, where it will not be on public view, but may be made available for research. The question remains: are there more of them out there? "It's a question well worth asking," says Albury. "Very often, things like this will slip through in a job lot." Matthew or Matthias Buchinger was a fascinating man. He was 74cm tall (smaller than the height of the average table) and was born without legs and with truncated arms. It's thought that he had a rare congenital condition known as phocomelia. His childhood can't have been easy. He travelled widely - nobody knows how he managed the practicalities - and formed a strong connection with Ireland. His first visit to Dublin was in 1720, the occasion on which the box was made, but he returned to live in Ireland and died in Cork in 1739, leaving many Irish descendants. He had four wives, one of whom outlived him, and a total of 14 children. If undiscovered artworks by Buchinger exist, they may well be in Ireland. In any case, he left some good stories behind. He certainly didn't let his physical difference hold him back. Despite his lack of fingers - he had small nubs with which he could hold a pen - he became a calligrapher, proficient in the ancient Jewish art of micrography, in which pictures are composed of flowing lines of tiny words. He was also a musician and performed on modified versions of the dulcimer, hautboy, trumpet and flute. He played nine-pin bowling, performed magical tricks and could conjure a live bird from a cup and balls. The Irish historian, Turtle Bunbury, quotes a ditty by Robert Harrison, a student at Trinity College, Dublin, who saw Buchinger perform at the Crown and Anchor in Temple Bar in 1720: "Walks without legs, & without feet can stand, / Tho' void of hands performs the sleight of hand. / From what was but a lifeless ball before, / At his command a living bird will soar." It may have been this that attracted the attention of the American sleight-of-hand artist, Ricky Jay (1946-2018). Jay was the author of Matthias Buchinger: "The Greatest German Living" and curated an exhibition of his works, Wordplay, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2016. That he was so effectively championed by an illusionist has led to the question: is Matthias Buchinger real? Apparently, he was. The Dublin Penny Journal of April 27, 1833, records that Buchinger was "rather of a sportive humour, and had great liveliness of spirits". It also mentions "some very beautiful specimens of his drawing and writing, many of which were preserved by the curious. One is to be found in the museum of the Royal Dublin Society." The RDS Museum no longer has Buchinger's drawing and their archivist, Natasha Serne, suggested it could be with either the National Museum or the National Gallery, as the RDS collections transferred to the State around 1877. But neither institution has it on record, nor does the National Library. The 'Little Man from Nuremberg' has slipped through the net again. See dominicwinter.co.uk. In the Salerooms Lev Mitchell The Four Sisters houses on the square at Slane Village, Co Meath, are a local landmark with many stories attached. The complete contents of one of them, Regina House, will be auctioned on the premises by Lev Mitchell & Sons Auctioneers on Tuesday, October 6, at 11am. Expect fine art, antiques, collectibles and modern furniture, as well as many items from the Brazen Head pub in Dublin. The contents are being sold by the representatives of the late Tom and Eileen Cooney, former owners of the famous pub. Tom was also a cabinet maker and the sale includes a number of his pieces. Viewing is from October 1 to the morning of the sale. See milltownauctionrooms.com and easyliveauctions.com. Gormleys The inaugural Gormleys Auctions jewellery auction takes place on Tuesday, September 29, from 7.30pm, with lots ranging from an Edwardian diamond and pearl necklace lavaliere (est 25,000 to 30,000) to a Bulgari gold sapphire diamond necklace (est 20,000 to 25,000). The necklace is centred on a shield-shaped 11.62 carat cornflower blue sapphire suspended from a geometric diamond-set connector on a heavy graduated filed curb link chain, and probably dates from the 1980s. The sale also includes a Pierre Sterle yellow gold emerald diamond ring, with a 12-carat oval cabochon emerald set at its centre (est 16,000 to 20,000) and a Georgian emerald diamond cluster ring (est 2,500 to 3,200). Bidding will take place by telephone, proxy or online. Viewing is available by appointment. See gormleysartauctions.com. Fonsie Mealy Youve probably seen a ship in a bottle. How about a museum in a bottle? An early 18th century miniature Dutch museum in a bottle (Lot 1551: est 3,000 to 4,000) is going under the hammer as part of Fonsie Mealys Chatsworth Autumn Fine Art Sale, which takes place in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, on September 28, 29 and 30. The bottle (33cm high) contains a scaled-down version of the Felix Meritis Building in Amsterdam and was formerly part of the Taras Palace Museum of Childhood at Powerscourt House in Wicklow. Viewing continues by appointment today from 10am to 5pm and over the weekend from 1pm to 5pm each day. The sale begins at 11am. See fonsiemealy.ie. Bottle it: An 18th century Dutch museum in a bottle is estimated to sell for between 3,000-4,000 and (inset left) a Georgian emerald diamond cluster ring has a guide price of 2,500-3,200 WASHINGTON President Donald Trump can't expect military aid from the Pentagon if he disputes the election results, according to the military's top officer and the leading Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Trump has twice in recent days declined to promise a peaceful transition if he loses the Nov. 3 election. Democrats blasted him for the comments, and some Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have promised an "orderly" handover of power should former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, win the election. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated in an Aug. 28 letter in response to questions from members of Congress that he views no role for the military in the election. The Constitution and laws of the U.S. and the states establish procedures for carrying out elections, and for resolving disputes over the outcome of elections, Milley wrote. State and Federal governments have qualified officials who oversee these processes according to those laws. We are a nation of laws. We follow the rule of law and have done so with regard to past elections, and will continue to do so in the future. I do not see the U.S. Military as part of this process; this is the responsibility of Congress, the Supreme Court, and components of the Executive Branch. President Donald Trump and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. On Thursday, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told CNN that he had been assured by military leaders that they would disregard illegal orders to interfere in the election. "The military has made clear to me they will not follow an unlawful order, period," Smith said. Smith added that military leaders, this summer, resisted Trump's call for federal troops to deal with unrest following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by police in Minneapolis. But Defense Secretary Mark Esper pushed back against invoking the Insurrection Act that would have allowed active-duty troops, some poised in June on the outskirts of Washington, to quell disturbances. Story continues Military officials were prepared to defy what was considered an unlawful order to confront protesters, Smith said. "Their oath is to the Constitution, much to Donald Trump's chagrin," Smith said. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, in a statement Friday challenged his Republican colleagues to rebuke Trump more forcefully. He singled out Trump's disparagement of mail-in ballots. President Trump is wrong and Republicans need to do more than just say they support a peaceful transition of power," Reed said. "They need to reject Trumps sabotage of the U.S. Postal Service and repeated attacks on free and fair elections. President Trumps game is to cast doubt on the process and therefore the results. Its a cynical move that hurts the country and does serious, long-term damage to our democracy. BERNIE SANDERS: It's 'an election between Donald Trump and democracy' itself OPINION: Ignore Trump's strongman fantasies DEBATE: Counting mail-in ballots shouldn't wait for Election Day This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: If Trump disputes a Biden win, military unlikely to swoop in Greenko Energy Holdings and AES Corp. of the US have emerged as front-runners to acquire Massachusetts, US-based NEC Energy Solutions in a deal potentially valued at around $300 million, said two people aware of the development. Hyderabad-based Greenkos interest in the company owned by Japans NEC Corp. comes against the backdrop of Greenko investing in Silicon Valley-based Keracel, a maker of solid-state batteries with 3D printing technology. NEC Energy holds the intellectual property rights for megawatt-scale lithium-ion batteries. The due diligence on NEC Energy Solutions is taking place. AES and Greenko are the ones left in the race to acquire it, with the deal having an enterprise value of around $300 million. It shall be announced shortly," said one of the two people cited above, seeking anonymity. Im afraid we are not able to comment on market speculation on potential agreements," an NEC Corp. spokesperson said in an emailed response. Queries emailed to the spokespersons of Greenko, AES Corp., and Keracel on Wednesday afternoon remained unanswered. The Economic Timesreported on 17 August about Greenko looking to buy out NECs US battery unit. Greenko, which is backed by sovereign funds GIC Holdings and ADIA, has been preparing to pivot towards battery storage. Mint reported on 13 September about its plan to invest around $1 billion in a new battery storage business that also includes a plan to produce lithium-ion batteries in India for power grid-scale applications and electric vehicles. The fresh capital for these new renewables vertical investment will be used by Greenko to buy and develop lithium-ion battery technology, and for manufacturing and developing applications. This follows the single-largest foreign clean energy investment in India so far of $980 million for a 17% stake in Greenko announced by Japans ORIX Corp on 11 September. The Keracel investment was made to accelerate cost reduction and faster localization of battery production for the EV market," said the first person mentioned above. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics A man died at the hospital on Friday after an overnight shooting in Southeast Albuquerque. Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said the man was hospitalized in critical condition but has since succumbed to his injuries. He said officers responded around 12:45 a.m. to the In and Out Market at Pennsylvania and Central after a woman called 911 to report her son had been shot. The victim was transported to UNMH where he did not survive his injuries, Gallegos said. Detectives are continuing their investigation and additional information will be released as it becomes available. Farmers' unions have called for a 'Bharat Bandh' today in protest against contentious farm bills that were passed in Parliament this week. Leading farmers' unions like All Indias Kisan Sabha (AIKS), All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), All India Kisan Mahasangh (AIKM) and Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and at least 18 opposition parties, including Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Left, Trinamool Congress, DMK and TRS will join the farm unions' 'Bharat Bandh' call. "The Congress and Rahul Gandhi stand solidly with farmers and support the Bharat Bandh. Congress workers and leaders will join farmers' dharna and protests," Chief Congress spokesperson Randeep Sujewala said yesterday. Delhi Congress chief Anil Chaudhary said the party workers in Delhi will launch a plan to raise the voice of farmers and farm labourers from Parliament to panchayats. He said workers will take to the streets against the farm bills. The Congress has decided to take out marches in every state after which memorandums will be submitted to the respective governors on September 28 against these farm bills. On October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri, Congress will observe 'Save farmers and farm labourers day'. On October 10, the party's state units will organise 'kisaan sammelans'. Additionally, between October 2 and 31, Congress workers will go to villages and collect two crore signatures from farmers against the contentious bills, which will be submitted to the President. The 10 central trade unions such as CITU, AITUC and Hind Mazdoor Sabha are also expected to show solidarity with the farmers. It is likely that highways and rail tracks will be blocked, which may cause huge inconvenience to commuters. Farmers started a three-day rail blockade against the bills and squatted on tracks at many places in Punjab on Thursday. The farmer outfits have also decided to go for an indefinite rail blockade from October 1. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh appealed to the farmers to ensure that the citizens are not inconvenienced, and lives and property of people are not endangered due to the agitations. Punjab's leading opposition party and ally of NDA has also announced 'Chakka jam' for three hours across Punjab. In Haryana, BKU has given a call to seize the highways. BKU general secretary Sukhdev Singh appealed to the people, including shopkeepers and commercial establishments, to keep their shop shut in support of the strike. In Uttar Pradesh, BKU has asked farmers to block their villages, towns, and highways. The farmers' outfit will also stage demonstrations in the Delhi-NCR border as well. All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) will organise "mass resistance" in Bengal by blocking roads and highways at several locations. The Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity, an independent union of agricultural workers, sharecroppers, marginal peasants, and plantation workers, is also supporting the bandh. The AIKS will hold protests in 21 districts of Maharashtra. In southern states, Farmers' organisation will also hold protests. Taxi and lorry drivers' associations have also extended support to the farmers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Samyuktha Karshaka Samiti (SKS) will stage protests outside central government offices across Kerala. The protesters have expressed apprehension that the Centre's farm reforms would pave the way for dismantling of the minimum support price system and they would be at the "mercy" of big corporates. The farmers said they would continue their fight until the three farm bills are revoked. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill were passed by the Parliament earlier this week. Also read: Farm bills 2020: Farmer groups denounce MSP announcement, terms it 'diversionary' Also read: Farm bills 2020: Opposition parties plan nationwide protest; Congress to collect signatures of 2 crore farmers Also read: PM Modi defends farm bills once again; says will change economic condition of farmers One in ten city dwellers who are working from home are planning to move to rural areas or the coast, new figures reveal. Office for National Statistics data shows people with office jobs are looking to leave built-up areas for the countryside. The news will be another nail in the coffin for the embattled high street as potential customers plan their exodus. The report, made up of surveys tracking the impact of Covid-19, found 29 per cent of adults in employment have 'changed their work location during the pandemic and are planning on continuing to work from home at least some of the time'. It added: 'Among those planning to work from home all or part of the time, 12 per cent said they have considered moving to a different location in the UK, most commonly to rural or coastal areas.' Office for National Statistics data shows people with office jobs are looking to leave built-up areas for the countryside (pictured, Shaftesbury in Dorset) Meanwhile about 1.15million are debating leaving city residences to escape to the country or coast (pictured, Port Isaac in Cornwall) It means a staggering 9.5million working Britons - out of a possible 33million - are not in the office. Meanwhile about 1.15million are debating leaving city residences to escape to the country or coast. An estimated 60 per cent of them are looking to move to rural areas, while 40 per cent want to live by the sea. Elsewhere in the ONS report, 64 per cent of workers restarted commuting last week - before Boris Johnson's latest coronavirus measures. The Prime Minister this week U-turned on his back to the office message in the wake of rising Covid cases. It comes as official data shows Britain's coronavirus outbreak appears to be speeding up again. Today saw another 6,874 Covid-19 cases recorded, meaning the seven-day rolling average is 54 per cent higher than it was a week ago Some top scientists had insisted there was not a true rise in cases because the test positivity rate - how many cases are found for every swab completed - had not changed wildly Today saw another 6,874 Covid-19 cases recorded, meaning the seven-day rolling average is 54 per cent higher than it was a week ago. MailOnline analysis shows this is the sixth consecutive day the average compared to the week before has risen. Before last Saturday, the weekly coronavirus growth rate had dropped every day for an entire week. It had plummeted from the high of 84 per cent on September 12 to 20 per cent on September 19. Meanwhile chief scientific advisors to the Government, Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, terrified the nation by their gloomy prediction that cases may reach 50,000 per day by mid-October, if nothing is done. They claimed infections were doubling every week, in line with growing outbreaks in Spain and France. But scientists shot down the claims, warning it was based on old data that relied on just a few hundred positive cases. Yesterday saw another 6,634 Covid-19 cases recorded, meaning the average number of daily infections is 48 per cent higher than it was a week ago Even Boris Johnson distanced himself from the claims, saying the outbreak could be doubling up to every 20 days. Other figures from NHS Test and Trace also suggest cases had dwindled last week. But the newest statistics - released yesterday - only go up until September 16, meaning any spike in the past week has yet to be confirmed in another dataset. Department of Health figures show the doubling rate of cases is around two weeks. Almost 5,000 people are being diagnosed with Covid-19 every day at the moment, up from 2,500 on September 10. But this is based on lab-confirmed infections, and thousands of patients won't ever develop any symptoms. The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which tracks the size of the outbreak by carrying out thousands of random swab tests, estimates cases have risen 60 per cent in a week to 9,600 a day. While King's College London researchers, who are behind a symptom-tracking app, say it has doubled over the same time-frame to around 16,000. Karachi: Sixty Indian fishermen have been arrested and their boats seized by Pakistani maritime authorities for allegedly straying into the countrys territorial waters. The fishermen were arrested by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) on Thursday but their detention was not made public. They will be presented before a judicial magistrate on Saturday. A spokesman for the PMSA said that the arrests came after the Indian fishermen were found fishing in Pakistani waters and did not leave despite warnings from the officials. Earlier this month, Pakistan had released some 219 Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture. Both Pakistan and India often arrest fishermen from the other country for violation of their territorial waters in the Arabian Sea. These poor fishermen spent months and sometimes years in jails before released and repatriated back to their countries. The PMSA had arrested 66 Indian fishermen on December 31 and sent them to jail for illegally fishing in Pakistans territorial waters in the Arabian sea. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh urged that demonstrators planning to protest a Kentucky grand jury decision in the killing of Breonna Taylor on Friday and over the weekend do so peacefully following an activation order of the states National Guard. All across our country people are reacting to the news of Breonna Taylor and the grand jury not indicting any police officer in that shooting, Walsh said during a press conference outside City Hall on Friday. We need to recognize the root of the pain. Most of the demonstrations weve seen around the country have been peaceful, but in Louisville two police officers have been shot. Those families were impacted by violence as well. Walsh urged protestors to stay united and be a model for peace to young generations, adding that there is a "unique opportunity to make real change. Im asking people who are planning to demonstrate in Boston tonight and over the weekend to respect the city, he said. Im asking you to respect each other; Im asking you to keep it safe; Im asking you to keep it peaceful; Im asking you to keep it powerful; were still in the middle of a pandemic. There is a protest planned for 6 p.m. in Bostons Nubian Square by Solidarity Against Hate Boston. SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE LOCATION CHANGE FOR TOMORROWS PROTEST BY @Bos_Solidarity! FRIDAY 9/25 @ 6pm @ NUBIAN SQUARE ~~~do not go to BPD HQ @ 7~~~#bostonprotests #bostonprotest #BreonnaTaylor #JusticeforBreonnaTalyor pic.twitter.com/FDK9Vk3JIx Boston 2k20 Protest Updates (@Red_Elmos) September 24, 2020 The demonstration comes a day Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed an executive order activating up to 1,000 members of the National Guard to help cities and towns in the event of large scale demonstrations. Sources told MassLive the activation came as protests are being planned across Massachusetts after the Breonna Taylor grand jury decision. On Wednesday, a Kentucky grand jury indicted a former Louisville police officer for shooting into Taylors neighboring apartment but did not move forward with charges against any officers for Taylors death. Walsh said Guardsmen will be around on Friday. Im hoping we wont need them, Walsh said. Related Content: President Trump has put Americans on notice: The constitutional democracy they have cherished and taken for granted is in peril. He has spent the past 3 years belittling and undermining the institutions that have defined and upheld the great American experiment for 244 years. Now he is threatening to defy the most sacred convention of all: the peaceful transition of power after a presidential election. The question was put to Trump point-blank at a Wednesday news conference. Were going to see what happens, he replied. The president then went a step further by suggesting that authorities get rid of the ballots, alluding to his unfounded drumbeat that voting by mail is rife with fraud. If they do so, he said, there wont be a transfer (of power) frankly. There will be a continuation. Get rid of the ballots? In the United States of America? In case there was any doubt about Trumps disdain for the efforts to allow Americans to vote amid a global pandemic through the expansion of mail-in voting, he told Fox News Radio the following night that the vote count would become a horror show because of widespread fraud. We want to make sure the election is honest, and Im not sure that it can be, he also told reporters Thursday as he left for a rally in North Carolina. Its important to note that, even before the pandemic, Oregon, Colorado, Washington and Utah had gone to voting by mail with no evidence of significant fraud. The Trump-appointed director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, told the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday: We have not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether its by mail or otherwise. He all but dismissed the conspiracy theory by Trump and some of his supporters that a foreign interest could interfere with the election by creating and submitting counterfeit ballots. Such a scheme, he said, would be a major challenge for an adversary. There seems little doubt that Trump is prepared to try to delegitimize the result if Joe Biden were to prevail in anything less than a landslide. He and Vice President Mike Pence said as much Wednesday. Said Trump: We need nine justices. You need that. With the unsolicited millions of ballots that theyre sending, its a scam, its a hoax, everybody knows that. And the Democrats know it better than anybody else. So youre going to need nine justices up there, I think its going to be very important. Because what theyre doing is a hoax, with the ballots. Pence said with all the talk about universal, unsolicited mail-in balloting it is all the more reason that we should have nine justices on the Supreme Court to be able to resolve any issue that may arise. Trump is expected Saturday to announce his choice to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, which would give him a third appointment and solidify a 6-3 conservative majority. Its highly disturbing that Republicans on Capitol Hill have responded so tepidly to Trumps craven attempt to not only shake public confidence in the election process, but now to raise the prospect of overriding the will of the voters. Remember, this is the president who lost the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes, then claimed utterly without evidence that he would have won if not for millions of illegal votes. This is well beyond shameless. It is dangerous to democracy, a constitutional crisis in the making. This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters. A Montgomery County assistant district attorney has been awarded in part for her efforts at diversifying the training of Texas prosecutors. Tiana Sanford, misdemeanor division chief at the DAs Office, is the training committee chair at the Texas District & County Attorneys Association, which serves more than 3,300 prosecutors. Sanford said prosecutors serve their communities better since the TDCAA updated its training. The training updates, she said, brought in a diversity of faculty and speakers and diversified the curriculums approach and philosophy. The subject matters may be the same but the way that we approach those subject matters and the impacts that they have on our community changes and evolves just because our communities change and evolve, Sanford said about updating TDCAAs training to better focus on differences in gender and ethnic and racial backgrounds, as well as other differences in life experiences. Last week, Sanford received a wooden plaque for having earned this years C. Chris Marshall Distinguished Faculty Award, which honors those providing an outstanding education to prosecutors. She was nominated by other TDCAA members. The recognition was approved by the organizations board. Every single time we pick up a case, we are using our discretion to determine and recommend what we believe justice is in that case, Sanford said about the role of prosecutors. Because prosecutorial discretion is essential to what we do, that also means that diversifying the way that we do it is important as well. Commitment to diversity A native of Fort Worth and a Texas A&M University grad, Sanford, 38, received her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center in 2008. She joined the DAs Office in 2009 as the first group of prosecutors to start with a newly elected District Attorney Brett Ligon. In her time there, she has worked prosecuting police misconduct and corruption by elected officials and public educators. Since a year ago, Sanford oversees 11 prosecutors, along with legal assistants and investigators in the county and justice courts. In 2014, Sanford became Montgomery Countys first Black chief prosecutor at the District Attorneys Office. Her commitment to diversity in the criminal justice system is rooted in personal experience. She describes herself as a nontraditional prosecutor who never made it a career goal to do this line of work. I came into the profession after learning more about the impact that the role of a district attorney has on criminal justice and has on the community, Sanford said. When I was in law school, and even as a new prosecutor, I did not see people that looked like me and I did not hear my voice in criminal prosecution. Sanford said she has remained passionate about promoting an inclusive environment for people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds and genders. A member of the TDCAAs diversity, recruitment and retention committee, she said a diversity of perspectives ensures equitable justice is carried out. This includes diversifying the perspectives of prosecutors, jurors, defense attorneys and judges, she added. Especially in prosecution, making sure that if anybody wants to sit at our table, that I grab them a chair, she said. I want them to know that when they arrive in that space, that they can use their voice and that they can impact and that they can inspire. Sanford and others at TDCAA two years ago started to develop a curriculum on cognitive and implicit bias for Texas prosecutors. About 2,000 Texas prosecutors have received this training. Bias is a reality and it was important to me that Texas prosecutors knew and recognized what cognitive and implicit bias is and how it can impact the decisions that we make, Sanford said. Recognizing what bias is and how it impacts people and how it impacts systems, makes us more effective at seeking justice. Desire to train This past summer has proven just how essential Sanfords bias and diversity training is for criminal justice professionals. The country has faced a reckoning on racial justice following the death of former Houston resident George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. In response, Sanford organized about 100 Black prosecutors for a three-hour Zoom meeting to discuss their thoughts. Reflecting on Louisville, Ky. police shooting victim Breonna Taylor, Sanford echoed the words of recently departed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg about how lasting change comes gradually. Real, enduring change happens one step at a time, one moment at a time, one minute at a time. We have 1,440 minutes in every day and each one of those minutes is one we have to influence, impact and inspire, Sanford said. That is how I choose to honor Justice Ginsburg, Breonna Taylor and all of those we have lost this year. She recently conducted a class at TDCAA on how to manage officer-involved shooting cases. And her work expands to outside the classroom, assured Rob Kepple, executive director at TDCAA. Were striving really hard to make sure that we continue to grow the number of minority prosecutors we have in Texas. Tianas been kind of leading that effort and making sure that we stay organized around that, Kepple said. Sanfords awarding has been a point of pride for the District Attorneys Office, in particular, her boss. I am glad that TDCAA has finally recognized what we here in Montgomery County have known for years, Brett Ligon said. Tianas capacity to love everyone and remain optimistic in difficult times and in challenging cases is clearly reflected in her desire to train a new generation of prosecutors across the state. Sanford accepted the award recognizing the responsibility she has been afforded by TDCAA to instruct Texas prosecutors. The award is more so about the opportunity that Ive been given to really contribute to what were thinking about, what were focusing on, what were improving upon in our profession, she said. Especially in a time where we know the impact that we have on our communities, that we have to commit ourselves to being better all of the time. jose.gonzalez@chron.com twitter.com/jrgzztx Three detained activists in Vietnam are said to have recently begun a hunger strike to protest conditions in prison, sources in the country told RFA. According to the wife of one of the activists, the three prisoners in the Xuan Loc detention camp in Vietnams southeastern Dong Nai province began their strike Sept. 5 to call attention to human rights violations there. My husbands fellow inmate told me that he has been on a hunger strike for 18 days in an attempt to claim benefits for himself and other prisoners, Nguyen Thi Chau, wife of detained environmental activist and blogger Nguyen Ngoc Anh, told RFAs Vietnamese Service Wednesday. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, a shrimp farming engineer, was arrested in August 2018 in nearby Ben Tre province for criticizing the government on Facebook. He was convicted on charges of making, storing, spreading, and declaring transmitted information and documents to combat the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, under Article 117 of Vietnams 2015 Criminal Code and is now serving a six-year term. Authorities said his writings had slandered Vietnams one-party communist government and state. They included criticisms of the governments handling environmental damage resulting from a massive toxic waste spill in 2016 that left thousands without work in three coastal provinces. I asked about my husbands health and [the inmate] said my husband was being held separately, but he and two others held in another cell joined the hunger strike together, said Nguyen Thi Chau. Since my husband was sent to Xuan Loc, he has never left his cell. The prison guards hate him because he was always trying to claim his rights, so they hold him there all day. They wont allow him to have any outdoor activities like other prisoners, she said. Now that he is on a hunger strike, I am getting more and more worried about his situation, she added. News from Facebook Earlier on Wednesday, Nguyen Thi Chau posted about the hunger strike on her Facebook account, detailing the conversation she had with the inmate, who was recently released from Xuan Loc. She named the two other hunger striking prisoners, Nguyen Van Duc Do and Huynh Duc Than Binh, who were held separately from her husband along with another prisoner, Pham Long Dai, who did not join the strike. Nguyen Ngoc Anh and Nguyen Van Duc Do are continuing their hunger strike, while Huynh is believed to have stopped according to the Facebook post. I wonder whether I should go to the camp right now, but I am afraid that if I do, the prison guards will not allow me to meet with my husband because of COVID-19. But I think I have to go there for further information about my husbands situation, Nguyen Thi Chau said. If I stay at home, I wont be able to know about his situation, so Id rather go whether I can or cant meet my husband. I can at least fight for his rights instead of staying home, she said. Huynhs mother Nguyen Thi Hue told RFA that she saw Nguyen Thi Chaus Facebook post, which seemingly confirmed information she had learned earlier this month. In early September, I received information from Nguyen Van Duc Dos family that my son and the two Nguyens went on a hunger strike lasting a week, but my son was tired and stopped. Maybe Nguyen Van Duc Do and Nguyen Ngoc Anh are still striking, she said. Huynh is serving a 10-year sentence after he was convicted of activities against the people's government for attending a peaceful demonstration against the Draft Law on Special Economic Zones in Ho Chi Minh City. Nguyen Van Duc Do, meanwhile, is serving an 11-year sentence for activities aimed at overthrowing the government, as he protested the same 2016 chemical spill as Nguyen Ngoc Anh. Nguyen Van Duc Do had himself begun a hunger strike with other prisoners in October last year to protest inflated prices being charged to political prisoners for food at the prison cafeteria. Legal rights Nguyen Ngoc Anhs lawyer Dang Dinh Manh told RFA that he was trying to find out why the prisoners were staging a hunger strike. I am planning to meet with the state agencies to learn about this issue. Normally if prisoners start a hunger strike, the guards will not share any information or explain the reason, he said. Dang said that this was the case for Trinh Ba Tu, another of his clients, held at a detention camp in Hoa Binh province, in the northern part of the country near the capital Hanoi. I sent documents asking them to clarify and answer about [Trinhs] case, but they said they did not want to share any information under the jurisdiction of the investigating police, Dang said. As a lawyer I make all efforts, but I cant really expect results, he added. Trinh Ba Tu, his brother Trinh Ba Phuong and mother Can Thi Theu were all arrested June 24 for critical social media postings about the Jan. 9 Dong Tam clash, in which 3,000 police stormed barricaded protesters homes at an airport construction site about 25 miles south of the capital, killing a village elder. Three police officers died in the battle. Trinh Ba Tu is said to have been on hunger strike since early August. RFA reported in late August that his family learned of the strike 20 days after the fact. Trinh Ba Khiem, the family patriarch had attempted to learn more about the situation and meet with his hunger-striking son, but bureaucracy got in the way, with the Hoa Binh detention camp and two separate police jurisdictions pointing to each other as responsible for Trinh Ba Tus visitation rights. Hoa Binh detention camp commissary records show that Trinh Ba Tu and his mother stopped buying food on Aug. 6. The family has not heard any information about the hunger strike since first learning about it. Vietnam, with a population of 92 million people, of which 55 million are estimated to be users of Facebook, has been consistently rated not free in the areas of internet and press freedom by Freedom House, a U.S.-based watchdog group. Dissent is not tolerated in the communist nation, and authorities routinely use a set of vague provisions in the penal code to detain dozens of writers and bloggers. Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Huy Le, Written in English by Eugene Whong. Officer rolls bike over protesters head (Twitter) A Seattle police officer caught on video rolling his bicycle over the head of a protester lying in the middle of a road during protests over the killing of Breonna Taylor is facing a criminal probe, authorities have said. The officer, part of a group of police attempting to disperse crowds during unrest in the city on Wednesday night, has been placed on administrative leave while officials investigate the incident. Seattle's Office of Police Accountability (OPA) said in a statement on Thursday the officer's conduct would be investigated independently by the King County Sheriff's Office at the request of Seattle Police Department (SPD). SPD had earlier on Thursday said that it was "aware" of the video and referred it to the OPA. "After further analysing the video and observing the interviews... [We] requested that a criminal investigation be conducted," the OPA statement added. Video of the incident shared on social media showed a group of officers riding bikes towards demonstrators who had been protesting against Kentucky prosecutors' decision not to charge any officer with the killing of Taylor, who was shot multiple times during a bungled raid on her home. The police at the #seattleprotests just ran over an injured mans head with their bikes. @SeattlePD is this how you train your officers? pic.twitter.com/c4e146tsmi Martin Banks (@WarlockBranis) September 24, 2020 As the group of police approached, one officer appeared to push his bike over the protester's head, apparently instead of veering around him. It was not immediately clear if the man had been injured or whether he was attempting to block officers' paths; video appeared to show him being apprehended shortly after the incident. Story continues Protests over the Taylor decision also erupted in Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia and Washington as activists called for more serious charges against the officers involved. One of the officers, Brett Hankinson, has been charged with first-degree "wanton endangerment" for firing rounds into a neighbouring house. Sergeant John Mattingly and detective Myles Cosgrove, the two other cops, will face no charges, a grand jury decided. Taylor, whose name has become a rallying cry for Black Lives Matter protesters, was shot at least six times after officers burst through her door searching for drugs. The warrant used was connected to a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside. The use of no-knock warrants have since been banned by Louisville's Metro Council. When the officers entered the property, reportedly without announcing themselves as police, Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, discharged a firearm. He later told authorities he thought he and his partner were being burgled. After Mr Walker fired, officers returned gunshots. Delivering the grand jury decision on Wednesday, Kentucky attorney general, David Cameron, said the fatal bullet was fired by Mr Cosgrove, but added that Mr Cosgrove and Mr Mattingly were justified in the use of force because they were shot at first. Mr Cameron said state law bars us from seeking charges in Breonna Taylors death. Taylor's family condemned the "sham proceedings". Speaking to NBC Today on Thursday, family lawyer Ben Crump said nothing seems to say Breonna mattered, adding that the Kentucky grand jury carried-out a probe that did not give "Breonna Taylor a voice". The verdict, delivered on Wednesday, led to protests in Louisville, Kentucky, overnight, where police arrested 127 people. Read more Say her name: Democrats denounce Breonna Taylor ruling as clear example of systemic injustice In despair, protesters take to streets for Breonna Taylor Kentucky Senate candidates take up Breonna Taylor case WASHINGTON - President Donald Trumps refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses drew swift blowback Thursday from both parties in Congress, and lawmakers turned to unprecedented steps to ensure he cant ignore the vote of the people. Amid the uproar, Trump said anew hes not sure the election will be honest. Congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, rejected Trumps assertion that hell see what happens before agreeing to any election outcome. Many other lawmakers -- including from Trumps own Republican Party -- vowed to make sure voters wishes are followed ahead of Inauguration Day in January. And some Democrats were taking action, including formally asking Trumps defence secretary, homeland security adviser and attorney general to declare theyll support the Nov. 3 results, whoever wins. Asked as he departed the White House for a campaign rally if the election is only legitimate if he is the winner, Trump said, Well see. The president said he wants to make sure the election is honest, and Im not sure that it can be. Trumps attacks on the upcoming vote -- almost without modern precedent in the U.S. -- are hitting amid the tumult of the campaign, as partisan tensions rage and more Americans than ever are planning to vote by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic. Its not the first time he has sowed doubts about the voting process. But his increased questioning before any result is setting off alarms ahead of an Election Day like no other. Even without signs of illegality, results could be delayed because of the pandemic, leaving the nation exposed to groups or foreign countries seeking to provoke discord. McConnell, the GOP Senate leader, said in a tweet, The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. He said, There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792. Said Pelosi, Calm down, Mr. President. You are in the United States of America. It is a democracy, she said, reminding Trump this is not North Korea, Russia or other countries with strongman leaders he admires. So why dont you just try for a moment to honour our oath of office to the Constitution of the United States. Trump is fanning the uncertainty as he floats theories the election may be rigged if he loses, echoing warnings he made ahead of the 2016 voting even though past elections have not shown substantial evidence of fraud from mail-in voting. During a Wednesday news conference, Trump said, Were going to have to see what happens, responding to a question about committing to the results. You know that Ive been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. Reaction to his comment was strong from Capitol Hill from both parties. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally and the GOP chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox & Friends on Thursday: If Republicans lose we will accept the result. If the Supreme Court rules in favour of Joe Biden, I will accept that result. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a member of the House GOP leadership, tweeted: The peaceful transfer of power is enshrined in our Constitution and fundamental to the survival of our Republic. Americas leaders swear an oath to the Constitution. We will uphold that oath. Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, was incredulous, What country are we in? he said late Wednesday of Trumps comment. Look, he says the most irrational things. I dont know what to say about it. But it doesnt surprise me. On Capitol Hill, Trumps possible refusal to accept the election results has been discussed privately for weeks as lawmakers consider options. One senator said recently it was the biggest topic of private discussions. Two House Democrats, Reps. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan both members of the Armed Services Committee are formally asking members of Trumps Cabinet to go on record and commit to upholding the Constitution and peaceful transition. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded in a letter to the lawmakers last month that he sees no role for the military to intervene in a disputed election. But Defence Secretary Mark Esper declined to respond to the lawmakers questions. Similar queries have been sent to Attorney General William Barr and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf. They have yet to respond. The president cant successfully refuse to accept the results of the election without a number of very senior officials aiding him, said Slotkin, a former CIA analyst. Sherill, a former Navy pilot, said peaceful transition really relies a lot on the Cabinet officers turning over their departments to the next administration. She told The Associated Press recently she wants to hear from all of them. Meanwhile, Republicans are rushing to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by Ruth Bader Ginsburgs death, partly to ensure a Trump-friendly court majority to resolve any post-election lawsuits by their party or Trump himself. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is among leading Republicans pushing the importance of the courts role. And Graham suggested on Fox that the Supreme Court could end up all but declaring the winner. Democrats object strongly. He wants to be named president for life? Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., exclaimed at the Capitol. Thats how a dictator operates, she said. Thats not how a democracy works. Earlier Thursday, the White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany sought to clarify Trumps words, saying he will accept the results of a free and fair election. But the press secretary added that Trump wants to get rid of mass, mail-out voting. The president, who uses mail-in voting himself, has tried to distinguish between states that automatically send ballots to all registered voters and those, like Florida, that send only to voters who request them. Five states that routinely send mail ballots to all voters have seen no significant fraud. Of the nine states with universal ballots this year, only Nevada is a battleground, and likely pivotal only in a total national presidential deadlock. Before the 2016 election, much as now, Trump refused to commit to accepting the results during the summer. I have to see, Trump said two months ago on Fox News Sunday. No, Im not going to just say yes. Im not going to say no, and I didnt last time either. ___ Madhani reported from Chicago. Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor and Laurie Kellman in Washington, Alexandra Jaffe in Wilmington, Del. and Jonathan Lemire in New York contributed to this report. Prev 1 of 4 Next For 15 years, Globalquerque! has brought the world to Albuquerque. This year, its crossing cultures for a global audience to see. I realized very early on that I wasnt going to do Globalquerque! in the way that we have been accustomed to, says Tom Frouge, producer. I couldnt re-create the experience online, so we had to do something different. After months of planning, Frouge is unveiling Globalquerque! Cross-Cultural Crossover at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30. The event will be streamed for free on Facebook, YouTube and Twitch. Frouge is putting together two amazing female vocalists one Angolan, one Honduran with a renowned Iraqi oud virtuoso, a master world-beat drummer and percussionist, a sizzling Brazil-meets-NOLA-meets-NYC horn section, a deadly Latin guitarist/string wizard and a fabuloso New Mexican bassist. Rahim AlHaj, Nation Beat, Vivalda Ndula and Nohe & Sus Santos will all perform during the one-hour special broadcast. The four acts have all played Globalquerque! previously. I was talking to Nohelia (Sosa), and they released an album in May, Frouge says. She was telling me of artists taking their songs and putting a different spin on it during their time in quarantine. I realized what I needed to do is bring past Globalquerque artists together and take one anothers songs to deconstruct them with other members and bringing the cultural influences. Frouge sat down with Scot Kettner from Nation Beat to co-produce the audio. He really rose to the occasion, Frouge says. We had separate meetings, and we chose the songs to perform. It became a really special process. Frouge says the mission statement is to promote cross-cultural understanding through the music and arts. Were hoping to give people a break from the screen fatigue, he says. This is an event you can cuddle up with your family and watch. Or you can dance and sing along. The event will be hosted by National Public Radios Catalina Maria Johnson and Albuquerques Mel Minter. Other highlights will include conversations with the artists on the collaborative process and an introduction to the National Hispanic Cultural Center by Executive Director Josefa Gonzalez Mariscal. SPRINGFIELD A Belchertown man who operated a South Hadley gunsmithing shop has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that he illegally made and sold guns, falsified sales records, illegally obtained two machine guns and illegally manufactured a third. Max T. Gaj, a part owner of Dark Horse Gunsmithing in South Hadley, accepted a deal and entered a guilty plea Thursday in U.S. District Court in Springfield. Judge Mark Mastroianni is scheduled to sentence him in January. Gaj, 29, was charged with illegal receipt and possession of unregistered firearm, selling firearms in violation of state and federal law, and failing to properly maintain records. He was also charged with two violations of the National Firearms Act: possessing firearms not identifiable by serial number and illegal manufacture of a firearm. According to prosecutors with the U.S. attorneys office in Boston, Gaj, a federal firearms licensee, illegally obtained two machine guns, including one that had no serial number and was untraceable, and a shotgun. He also manufactured a machine gun, which is not permissible under the National Firearms Act. He also sold two Glock handguns in violation of state law, and falsified records. He faces up to 10 years in prison, three years' probation and fines up to $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 21. Four people have been arrested after police seized cocaine and cash at Belfast International Airport on Friday. Detectives from the Paramilitary Crime Task Force (PCTF) conducted searches as part of a proactive operation into suspected drugs criminality liked to the INLA in Belfast. Two men and two women were arrested on suspicion of possession of a class A drug, possession of class A drug with intent to supply and attempting to export class A Drugs. They are currently in custody. PSNI Detective Inspector Hamilton said the searches "are further evidence that PCTF are proactively investigating drugs criminality linked to paramilitaries". Todays operation shows the hypocrisy of these drug criminals who claim to be defenders of their communities, but in actual fact are destroying their own community by preying on vulnerable members of society and making a profit from the harm caused by illegal drugs. The PCTF will continue to robustly and proactively pursue those drug criminals who hide behind the guise of paramilitaries," he said. We will continue to target those criminals who are involved in the sale and supply of illegal drugs and will continue to disrupt their activities at every opportunity. I would encourage members of the community who may have information that could assist our efforts, to please get in touch. "We will listen to you and we will act on information you provide. You can call 101, or you can submit a report online using our non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/. "The independent charity Crimestoppers can also be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/. The moratorium on evictions in Massachusetts will remain in effect following a ruling by a federal judge issued Friday. The order was challenged by landlords who filed suit seeking the order to be rescinded immediately. This is an unusually complex and challenging case, U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf began his 102-page opinion published Friday. Wolf addressed each of the counts laid out in the lawsuit challenging the orders legality. While he warned the moratorium should not go on too long - a pandemic is not a blank check for state elected officials, Wolf said from the bench two weeks ago - he ruled it did not merit being immediately. The halt on evictions is set to expire next month. The eviction moratorium took effect in April and was originally set to expire Aug. 18. Gov. Charlie Baker extended the eviction moratorium in July so that it remains in place until Oct. 17. He has signaled that it will not be extended past mid-October. The moratorium puts a pause on non-essential evictions, including those for non-payment of rent, resulting from a foreclosure or for a cause other than allegations of criminal activity or lease violations threatening public safety. The moratorium is believed to have stayed thousands of eviction proceedings, but housing court administrators estimated they could be flooded with 20,000 eviction cases as soon as the moratorium expires. I am confident that this action, coupled with federal assistance, helped to slow the spread of COVID-19 while minimizing the impact to date on vulnerable families and on our housing market, Baker wrote in a letter to House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka in July. The state announced millions in housing financial support, including a a $20 million program for rental and mortgage assistance, since the start of the public health crisis. Related Content: A facility belonging to Chinese tech major Huawei Technologies caught fire on Friday. Local authorities now report that the fire has been put out and that there were no casualties in the mishap. Located in the southern city of Dongguan, the building was an under construction steel structure close to a Huawei research lab. As per the management committee of Dongguans Songshan Lake area, the building was not being used when the fire broke out. Fire erupts at Huawei facility in South China. (Image: Twitter/ Disclose) A report by Reuters quotes the committees statement, mentioning that the fire was put out by firefighters on Friday afternoon. As per the fire rescue department of Dongguan city, stated that the main material which was burning in fire was sound-absorbing cotton. Huawei is yet to release an official statement on the incident. Several videos of the incident have been captured and are now doing the rounds on the Internet. Plumes of dark grey smoke can be seen rising from the building. You can check out one of these videos below. BREAKING - Huawei's research lab in Dongguan City, China is on fire.pic.twitter.com/q9T9irtYyS Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 25, 2020 The Huawei research lab adjacent to the building that caught fire mainly conducts research of materials in addition to testing for 4G and 5G antennas related to Huaweis base station business, the report by Reuters quotes a source familiar with the matter. The building is part of a larger Huawei manufacturing facility, which is adjacent to another European-themed campus in the area that serves as an office to 25,000 Huawei employees. LONDON, ONTARIO - For patients with kidney stones, ureteral stents (hollow devices placed in the ureter - the tube between the kidney and bladder) can be used temporarily to relieve urinary obstruction. Despite the use of antibiotics, ureteral stents often become encrusted with minerals and coated with bacteria. This can lead to complications like infection and the need for replacement surgery. Published today in Cell Reports Medicine, researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University conducted a novel microbiome study to examine bacteria associated with ureteral stents. They found that nearly all the stents, whether visibly coated or not, had unique bacterial profiles that were most associated with a patient's medical condition rather than antibiotic use. For patients with ureteral stents, they may benefit from a personalized approach to care and antibiotic treatment. The study included 241 patients from St. Joseph's Health Care London. The research team collected and analyzed patient urine samples and ureteral stents following surgical removal, as well as relevant patient information such as antibiotic use and history of infections. "We wanted to know which bacteria were present and whether the bacteria found in urine samples corresponded to the bacteria found on a patient's stent," explains Dr. Kait Al, Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawson and at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. "We found that there was a bacterial community present on almost all stents, even if they were not visibly affected, and that it differed from the bacterial community found in a patient's urine." These findings challenge long-held beliefs that the urinary tract is a sterile environment devoid of bacteria. The study revealed that the bacteria present were determined by an individual patient's medical condition. They differed significantly based on comorbidities like irritable bowel syndrome, obesity and hypertension. Antibiotic use within the past 30 days did not seem to have an effect on the types of bacteria detected on the stents. "While more research is needed, our study suggests that antibiotic use during the placement of these stents could one day be more conservative or targeted based on each patient's condition," says Dr. Jeremy Burton, Lawson Scientist and Associate Professor at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. The team also discovered that in patients needing multiple stents, the bacterial community remained stable over time, suggesting that infections on a patient's previous stent could direct the course of treatment for their future device placements. "This is the largest study of its kind, investigating bacteria both in urine and adhered to ureteral stents," states Dr. Hassan Razvi, Urologist at St. Joseph's, Lawson Associate Scientist and Professor at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. "We hope this will be the first step towards personalized care, ultimately leading to fewer stent-associated infections." ### The study was made possible through the generous support of The W. Garfield Weston Foundation and St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation. MEDIA CONTACT: Robert DeLaet, Communications Consultant, Lawson Health Research Institute, t. 519.619.3872, robert.delaet@lawsonresearch.com ABOUT LAWSON HEALTH RESEARCH INSTITUTE Lawson Health Research Institute is one of Canada's top hospital-based research institutes, tackling the most pressing challenges in health care. As the research institute of London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care London, our innovation happens where care is delivered. Lawson research teams are at the leading-edge of science with the goal of improving health and the delivery of care for patients. Working in partnership with Western University, our researchers are encouraged to pursue their curiosity, collaborate often and share their discoveries widely. Research conducted through Lawson makes a difference in the lives of patients, families and communities around the world. ABOUT WESTERN UNIVERSITY Western University delivers an academic experience second to none. Since 1878, The Western Experience has combined academic excellence with life-long opportunities for intellectual, social and cultural growth in order to better serve our communities. Our research excellence expands knowledge and drives discovery with real-world application. Western attracts individuals with a broad worldview, seeking to study, influence and lead in the international community. ABOUT SCHULICH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE & DENTISTRY The Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University is one of Canada's preeminent medical and dental schools. Established in 1881, it was one of the founding schools of Western University and is known for being the birthplace of family medicine in Canada. For more than 130 years, the School has demonstrated a commitment to academic excellence and a passion for scientific discovery. September traditionally is when students armed with new backpacks and school supplies returned to the classroom to start another academic year. But legislative changes and the coronavirus pandemic have upended that tradition. But the major change this year is that most classrooms remain empty as students, faculty and staff attempt another round of virtual learning. It didnt go well in the spring after Gov. Ralph Northams coronavirus lockdown closed the schools. Many teachers failed to understand that the way they taught in person did not translate well on a computer. Parents were stressed, kids zoned out, and many failed to keep up with their lessons. But educators now have had all summer to come up with a better way to teach kids online. After interviewing charter school board members, educators and parents, Gregg Vanourek, co-founder of the Fordham Institute, found that some of these independent public schools were able to make the transition from in-person to virtual learning much easier than their traditional school counterparts. They did so by: Creating and enforcing a typical school day, mixing live and recorded lessons with time for independent work. Setting priorities for students well-being by communicating with students and their families on a regular basis. Employing a team approach to instruction using a common curriculum. However, the new challenges of online education are in addition to the old challenges of providing a quality public education for all children, including low-income, minority and disabled students. And the nation hasnt been all that successful doing that. According to the EdWeek Research Center, the U.S. earned a C on its Quality Counts 2020 index, which uses data and a range of academic and socioeconomic indicators to grade each state. The nations academic achievement remains stalled, with a baseline of uneven performance among both low- and high-achieving states, researchers concluded. Virginia received an overall B- grade, slightly higher than the national average, in the three main categories: Chance for Success, K-12 Achievement and School Finance. However, the coronavirus pandemic has adversely affected all of these categories. For example, the Chance for Success Index uses information from the U.S. Census Bureaus 2018 American Community Survey to determine a hypothetical pre-K students future ability to achieve success as an adult. Virginia got a B in preparing students for the workforce or postsecondary education. But the COVID-19 lockdown has set the commonwealth back, as family income and economic stability plunged for many residents who lost their jobs. Likewise, Virginia got a C grade on the K-12 Achievement Index, which uses the 2019 National Assessment of Education Progress tests to measure 18 specific areas of academic performance. But the inability of most school districts to provide the same level and quality of instruction during the past several months as they did pre-COVID-19 likely will result in lower test scores when the NAEP is administered next year. On the School Finance index, Virginia got a C+ for spending and equity patterns, based on 2017 federal data. The study looked at per-pupil expenditures adjusted for regional cost differences, the percentage of total taxes spent on education and whether those resources are equitably distributed. Again, the pandemic has wreaked havoc with local and state government finances, and the added costs of virtual education were not factored into most local school districts budgets. An overall B- is not a bad grade and the fact that all the other states faced the same challenges this year means that Virginia is not likely to fall in the rankings. But the index exposed quality issues that were present before the pandemic, such as the minority achievement gap and discrepancies in special education, which now are being exacerbated. Preventing further learning losses should be at the top of the agenda. Educators in Virginia also should use this unexpected crisis as an opportunity to take a deeper look at how we are educating our children and figure out how to do it better. The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg New bodycam footage reveals the tense moments in which a Louisville cop involved in Breonna Taylor's fatal shooting was moved from the scene after being injured by gunfire. Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly was struck in the femoral artery and later had to undergo surgery following the shooting that killed the 26-year-old black EMT in March, according to Fox News. Mattingly had been shot by Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker who claimed he only fired because the cops didn't identify themselves. His lawyer posted the video to Twitter, hitting out that Mattingly had been branded 'a "murderer," when all he did was defend himself'. Scroll down for video Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly is allegedly seen on the ground outside Breonna Taylor's apartment after being shot in the leg by her boyfriend Kenneth Walker in the raid that killed her An officer pulls him injured from the ground to bring him for medical treatment Mattingly's lawyer Todd McMurtry threatened those who continue to call the cop a 'murderer' Earlier this week, a Kentucky grand jury decided not to indict Mattingly of any crime in relation to the shooting. His attorney Todd McMurtry claimed those who still branded him a murderer after the decision needed to 'retract and apologize immediately'. McMurty told Fox News that he represents 'John in his affirmative claims against people who slandered him by calling him a "murderer"'. In the bodycam footage, which McMurtry says he received from the officer, Mattingly can be seen lying on the ground while his colleagues purportedly escort him away from the scene of the shooting for medical attention. Other cops can be saying to 'grab under his arms' and 'cover him, let's go' as they attempt to move the injured Mattingly. 'Go a little faster', another officer says, although no ambulance is seen. The cops attempt to bring the bleeding Mattingly to the top of a vehicle's trunk to get him away from the scene. The car then drives away toward the exit of the apartment complex. According to Wave 3, the footage picks up just after officers had applied a tourniquet on Mattinglys leg. Officers seemed to be unaware if there was still any danger. An officer is seen helping Mattingly from the ground as he is bleeding heavily The cop then brings Mattingly to a vehicle to bring for treatment for his injury As they moved Mattingly, Taylor was lying inside her apartment after being struck six times and EMS crews had not yet responded. On Wednesday, as he announced the grand jury's decision on her death, Attorney General Daniel Cameron said that she likely died within a minute or two of being shot. Wave 3 reported that Mattingly's wife said hed undergone surgery for five hours while doctors attempted to repair his femoral artery after the shooting. Louisville Police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly He allegedly had to receive multiple blood transfusions because he lost so much blood. The Louisville Metro Police Department has not previously denied that there was bodycam footage from the night but claimed that there is none of Taylor's shooting. Protests gathered across America on Wednesday as soon as the Kentucky grand jury's decision over Taylor's death were revealed as thousands - including her family - voiced outrage over the cops not facing murder charges. Taylor, 26, was killed on March 13 when Sgt Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison burst down the door to her home in Louisville while executing a botched late-night raid and shot her six times. The black EMT died in the bungled raid after officers fired 32 rounds into her home and neighboring addresses. Taylor's boyfriend Walker first fired a shot at officers when they entered her apartment with a 'no knock' warrant. Charges of attempted murder and assault against Walker were dropped earlier this year. Walker was never the target of the probe and had no criminal record. He had a license to carry fire arms and had fired a single shot that struck Mattingly. Breonna Taylor is pictured above with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker. He opened fire on the officers who stormed into Taylor's apartment and the officers returned fire Breonna Taylor was shot six times in the late-night raid in March The search warrant for Taylor's home related to a drugs investigation over her ex-boyfriend who was not present at the property and who had been arrested at a different address earlier that night. Officer Brett Hankison, who was fired in the aftermath of the shooting, was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, Attorney General Daniel Cameron said at a news conference Wednesday. When he was fired in June, his letter of termination said he showed 'an extreme indifference to the value of human life'. The first-degree charge, a Class D felony which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, relates to Hankison shooting into the neighboring apartments during the incident. They do not relate to the shooting death of Taylor. Hankison's two colleagues, Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove, were not charged because the investigation found their actions were justified, the attorney general said. Fired Louisville detective Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in connection to the police raid on the night of March 13 Officers Myles Cosgrove (left) and John Mattingly who were present during the police raid on March 13, were not charged on Wednesday. Brett Hankison (pictured left) was fired from the LMPD while the other two officers were placed on administrative assignment Those two other officers were reassigned to administrative duties in the aftermath of the shooting. In creating his account of Taylor's death, the attorney general said his investigators had no video footage from the shooting. 'Therefore, the sequence of events had to be pieced together through ballistics evidence, 911 calls, police radio traffic and interviews,' Cameron said. The three officers involved did not take part in the obtaining of the warrant, he said. They knocked on Taylor's apartment door and announced their presence outside, which Cameron said was corroborated by a neighbor who witnessed the arrival. Getting no answer, they 'breached the door.' Mattingly entered first, and at the end of a corridor saw Taylor and her boyfriend, with Walker pointing a gun. Walker fired, injuring Mattingly in the thigh. Mattingly returned fire, and his colleagues began shooting soon after, Cameron said. Hankison fired 10 bullets. Six bullets hit Taylor but there is no 'conclusive' evidence that any came from Hankinson's gun, Cameron said. Bullets fired by Hankison traveled into a neighboring apartment which led to the charges against him. 26 Arrested as Demonstration Turns Violent in Louisville A demonstration in Louisville on Thursday turned violent, leading to the arrest of 26 people. People upset that only one officer was charged in relation to Breonna Taylors death gathered and began causing damage, breaking windows at Jeff Rubys Steak house before inflicting further damage at various locations as they moved through downtown, the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) said in an incident summary. At one point, people tossed a flare into the downtown library in an attempt to start a fire, which was not successful. Just before the curfew hour arrived, the crowd entered the property of the First Unitarian Church on Fourth Street. People gathered on the property of the church, which allowed them to stay there as the curfew had expired, LMPD stated. Protesters march through downtown Louisville, Ky., Sept. 23, 2020. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images) After police officers secured the area around the library so the broken windows could be addressed, officers left the area. Protesters were given directions on how to leave the church and were able to walk back to their vehicles, police said. Twenty-six people were arrested for charges including unlawful assembly, failure to disperse, and riot in the first degree. Of the 24 whose addresses were listed, all were from Louisville except for one, who hailed from Prospect, Kentucky. Rioting on Wednesday started hours after Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, announced that one of the three police officers involved in executing a search warrant on Taylors home in March was being charged. Brett Hankison, who was fired in June, was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing shots into a neighboring apartment, Cameron said. But no officers were charged with Taylors death because they were responding to shots fired at them by her boyfriend. People prepare plywood shields for a march in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 24, 2020. (Bryan Woolston/Reuters) Sgt. Jon Mattingly, and Detective Myles Cosgrove were justified in their use of force after having been fired upon, Cameron told a news conference, adding later: This justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges in Ms. Breonna Taylors death. Activists hoped that the officers would face murder charges. Weve got to take it lying down that the law wont protect us, that they can get away with killing us, Lavel White, who regularly protests in Louisville, told the Associated Press. If we cant get justice for Breonna Taylor, can we get justice for anybody? City and state officials have urged protesters to remain peaceful. I do know this violence is not the answer. And destruction is not the answer, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, a Democrat, told reporters at a briefing earlier Thursday. Demonstrators march through the streets in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 24, 2020. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) Two police officers shot during demonstrations on Wednesday are expected to recover, Interim Police Chief Robert Schroeder told reporters. The suspect, Larynzo Johnson, 26, was arrested and charged with two counts of assault and 14 counts of wanton endangerment. Attempted murder charges are possible down the road, officials said. Wednesdays rioting included 16 different instances of looting. Kentuckys National Guard is assisting police with trying to keep the peace. For now, Kentucky officials are not taking up President Donald Trump on his offer to send federal forces. Daiichi Sankyo will strive to further enhance its business platform in Asia Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited has announced the establishment of DAIICHI SANKYO VIETNAM COMPANY LIMITED, as a wholly owned subsidiary. Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo established a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in 2014, to provide support activities for the sale and promotion of its pharmaceutical products, such as Cravit. In order to better respond to the changing business environment of the pharmaceutical industry in Vietnam and to strengthen its business operations, focusing on forthcoming products, Daiichi Sankyo has established a local legal entity to conduct sales activities. Daiichi Sankyo will strive to further enhance its business platform in Asia while contributing to the healthcare in the country through Daiichi Sankyo Vietnam. [Corporate Profile of New Subsidiary in Vietnam] 1Corporate Name: DAIICHI SANKYO VIETNAM COMPANY LIMITED 2Date of Establishment: September 18, 2020 3Legal Representative: Yukinori Tominaga (General Director) 4Business Category: Wholesale of household goods etc. 5Capital: USD $8 million About Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2020, October 17th-25th, this year it still has street processions, in a style of cars parade not walking parade. And some activities will be cancelled such as walking through the fire and oil bathing because of COVID-19. More information about Phuket Vegetarian Festival Phuket Vegetarian Festival (or Jia Chai in local) began in 1825 at Kathu Village. The festival is also known as Nine Emperor Gods Festival, it is an annual festival which starts from 1st 9th of the ninth Chinese-lunar month. This is one of the famous festivals of Phuket. In Phuket Vegetarian Festival, there are Ma Song or Medium, they will manifest supernatural powers that they get from gods as perform self-tortures to bring the community good luck. Throughout the festival fireworks and drums are sounded, especially during ceremonies. Believe that louder bring luckier, the noise will drive away evil spirits. A procession is including 1. Big palanquin or Tua Lien, it is a place of Kew Ong Tai Te (Nine Emperor Gods) 2. Colorful flags with Chinese letters, Kew Ong Tai Te 3. Black Flag or Ong Leng, it is a holy flag of Ma Song, to chase bad luck away from the people and also use for invite god come and out from Ma Song too. 4. The bodyguard, 4 Ma Song beside Tau Lien 5. Ma Song or Medium 10 traditional rules for the Phuket Vegetarian Festival 1. Clean body 2. Clean kitchen, use separately kitchenware just for vegetarian 3. White costume 4. Observe the precepts 5. No meat-eating 6. No sex 7. No alcoholic drinks 8. People at mourning period should not attend the festival 9. Pregnant ladies should not watch any ritual 10. Ladies with period should not attend any ritual One day after US President Donald Trump declared that he would not accept a peaceful transfer of power in the event he loses the upcoming presidential election, the president doubled down on his attempts to transform the election into a coup detat. On Thursday, Trump reaffirmed his earlier threat to ignore the results of the election, declaring, We want to make sure that the election is honest, and Im not sure that it can be. Trump sees the Supreme Court as a central arena of political struggle, which is the principal motivation behind his effort to ram through a replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg before November 3. He is expected to announce his pick over the weekend. Trumps efforts to prepare an electoral coup are a clear statement of intent on what he would do if he managed to hold onto power, which he would take as a mandate to transform the United States into a presidential dictatorship. But the response from Trumps nominal political opponents is a combination of fecklessness and prostration. Far from calling for Trumps immediate removal from office or the convocation of a congressional investigation into Trumps coup plots, the Democrats have offered nothing but pathetic moral appeals to Trump and the Republicans, while dropping all opposition to his efforts to pack the court ahead of the election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi practically begged Trump, asking, Why dont you just try for a moment to honor your oath of office to the Constitution of the United States. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, for his part, directed his appeal to the Republican Party. At this perilous moment," he said, "every Republican in this chamber should stand up. Pelosi and Schumer know full well that neither Trump nor his Republican co-conspirators are going to have a change of heart as a result of their moral exhortations. Such statements constitute an abandonment of any effort to oppose Trumps preparations to launch an Election Day putsch. The only speech-length response from any Democrat yesterday came from Senator Bernie Sanders, whose primary concern was to ensure that none of his supporters concluded that Trumps coup attempts required a political struggle outside the framework of the Democratic Party. Last night Donald Trump went even further down the path of authoritarianism by being the first president in the history of this country to refuse to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election, Sanders said. But in response to what is clearly a breakdown of the entire electoral system, Sanders only recourse was to exhort his supporters to subordinate all social demands to the election of Biden. First, it is absolutely imperative that we have, by far, the largest voter turnout in American history and that people vote as early as possible, Sanders said. As someone who is strongly supporting Joe Biden, lets be clear: A landslide victory for Biden will make it virtually impossible for Trump to deny the results and is our best means for defending democracy. To even put the issue in this way is to concede to Trump. The legitimate winner of the presidential election does not need to win by a landslide. He just needs to win by one vote in the Electoral College. Under the narrow electoral framework set out by Sanders, Trump is free to interpret anything short of a landslide for Biden as an excuse to halt the counting of ballots and claim himself the victor. Sanders speech was a continuation of his central strategy of divorcing the election from all social questions. As Sanders made clear, the fight for an agenda that works for all, and not just a few must wait until the day after we elect Joe Biden as president. In this vein, Sanders opened his speech by noting Trumps disastrous response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality. However, he said: Today, Im not going to talk about any of those issues, as if the struggle against dictatorship could somehow be divorced from the struggle against the policies supported by the would-be dictator. This line is developed in varying forms by the publications and organizations that operate in and around the Democratic Party. Jacobin magazine, affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, published an article headlined To Fight Trumps Rising Authoritarianism, Dems Must Drop Their Learned Helplessness, as if the Democrats are not opposing Trump simply because they are following a mistaken policy. No, the Democrats failure to oppose Trump is dictated by the class interests they represent. The Democratic Party is a party of Wall Street, in alliance with sections of the affluent upper-middle class and sections of the military-intelligence apparatus. The Democrats are determined above all to prevent the intervention of the broad mass of the population in opposition to Trump, which would challenge the interests of the financial oligarchy and the geopolitical imperatives of American imperialism. When it comes to mobilizing the police and National Guard to beat and arrest protesters, Democratic governors and mayors are vicious. But when it comes to opposing Trump, the Democrats are suddenly powerless. The financial oligarchy does not fear Trump. But they do fear that in opposing him, they may set into motion social and political forces that they cannot control. From the beginning, the central aim of the Democratic Party has been to suppress and demobilize mass popular opposition to Trump and channel it into support for militarism and the intelligence agencies. In June 2017, the Socialist Equality Party Political Committee published the statement Palace coup or class struggle: The political crisis in Washington and the strategy of the working class, which warned: The working class must oppose this government and seek its removal. But this task must not be entrusted to Trumps factional opponents in the ruling class. The working class cannot remain a bystander in the fight between Trump and the Democrats. Rather, it must develop its struggle against Trump under its own banner and with its own program. The ensuing period has only confirmed this analysis. Last year, following the collapse of the Democrats Russia narrative, the World Socialist Web Site wrote: Trump is kept in office largely through the Democratic Party. From the start, the Democrats efforts to foment a palace coup have been aimed at demobilizing and disarming the mass opposition that exists to the Trump administration. If Trump appears strong, it is only because of the fecklessness and cowardice of his opponents. But Trump remains broadly despised in the working class, which rightly sees him as responsible for a homicidal policy that has led to the deaths of over 200,000 people. While still politically undeveloped, the level of class conflict in the United States has risen immensely during the last two years. The industrial strikes in 2019 marked a break in the long period during which class conflict was entirely suppressed. This year saw the largest mass protests in American history, in thousands of cities and towns, in response to a wave of police killings throughout the country. These demonstrations were accompanied by strikes and social struggles by workers determined to resist the ruling classs homicidal back-to-work campaign. The turn by the ruling elite toward authoritarianism is its response to working class resistance. Trump's actions are a decisive turning point. Regardless of the outcome of the election, the tendency toward dictatorship will continue. No one should underestimate the danger posed by Trumps efforts to prepare a coup. He is rapidly seeking to consolidate all the levers of state power in his own hands in order to impose a dictatorship in the United States, which would have devastating consequences for the ability of the working class to organize resistance. That is why it is all the more urgent for workers and young people to take action now! Preparations must be made for a political general strike by the entire US working class, in solidarity with all workers of the world, and based on the demand for a socialist transformation of society. Samsung on Thursday said it has partnered with Walmart-owned Flipkart to launch Galaxy F series smartphones in India as the Korean tech giant looks to further strengthen its position in the online retail segment. The F series of devices, which is being launched in India first, will make its debut during Flipkart's Big Billion Days (BBD) sale and help Samsung cash in on the festive demand. The dates of BBD sale are yet to be announced. Samsung had launched its India-first 'M' series last year in the country with Amazon. "Galaxy F has been designed in India in collaboration with Flipkart and will offer a feature-loaded option for young consumers. Galaxy F's proposition is 'full on' - the lifestyle that defines today's young Gen Z consumers," Asim Warsi, Senior Vice President and Head of eCommerce Business at Samsung India, told PTI. The F series will include devices priced in the USD 200-250 (about Rs 14,700-18,500) range, he added. Warsi said the F series, which will be launched during Flipkart's BBD sales, will play a key role in helping Samsung's online sales grow more than 50 per cent during this year's festive season as compared to last year's festive sale. The company is looking at exiting the year with a market share of 30 per cent in online channel in value terms as compared to 15 per cent last year, he noted. Hoping to re-capture its pole position from rival Xiaomi, Samsung had launched the 'Galaxy M' series in India in February last year. Xiaomi has a dominant position in online smartphone sales and has been aggressively expanding its offline presence over the last many quarters. Samsung expects its online business in India to grow at 35 per cent in 2020 over the last year, driven by strong overall demand and success of its M series of devices. of 2020, in less than 2 years, the M series franchise would be in excess of USD 3.5 billion in consumer-facing merchandise value, it had said. The M series, which has been expanded to many other markets since its debut in India, is expected to touch 20 million units in cumulative sales (from February last year to the end of 2020) in India. According to research firm Counterpoint, Xiaomi led the tally with a 29 per cent share of the smartphone market, followed by Samsung (26 per cent), Vivo (17 per cent), Realme (11 per cent), Oppo (9 per cent) and others (8 per cent) in the June quarter. In a separate report, the research firm had said online channels accounted for 43 per cent share of the Indian smartphone sales in the June 2020 quarter and attributed the increase in online channels' share to a shift in consumer behaviour, who are now preferring contactless shopping experience and practising social distancing. Samsung has been aggressive on online channels and increased its share to 25 per cent, its highest ever on digital platforms, the report had said. Talking about the F series, Warsi said the series is built on Flipkart's deep consumer understanding and Samsung's innovation prowess. Galaxy F41 will be the first smartphone to be launched in the F Series. Specifications and pricing details are expected to be provided at Samsung's 'Full On Festival', scheduled for October 8. "Our strategic partnership with Samsung reinforces our commitment to make the latest in technology accessible to over 250 million customers across Bharat, during a time when smartphones are bringing immense value to people's lives," Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said. E-commerce companies see a large chunk of their business coming in during the festive sales and they make significant investments ahead of time to ramp up their capacity to be able to handle the spike in orders. Electronics, fashion and home furnishing are some of the categories that see a huge demand during the festive season. As per a report by RedSeer, festive sales are expected to almost double this year and touch USD 7 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) as compared to USD 3.8 billion in the same period last year. GMV is a term used in online retailing to indicate the gross merchandise value of products sold through the marketplace over a certain period. A woman has been left with partially severed fingers after a dog attack at a shopping centre in Sydneys south. The woman was reportedly shopping in Cronulla with her small dog on a lead around 12pm when another dog attacked hers, according to Nine News. When she attempted to stop the fight, the womans hand became clamped inside one of the dogs mouths and her fingers were partially severed, the publication reported. The woman was reportedly shopping with her small dog on a lead around 12pm when another dog attacked hers. Source: Nine News Paramedics treated a 55-year-old woman for serious hand injuries and transported her to Sydney Hospital, a NSW Ambulance spokesman told NCA NewsWire. There was heaps of blood Witnesses described hearing absolutely blood curdling screaming and said there was visible blood at the scene. "One lady came in looking for ice and a plastic bag which made me think maybe she lost a finger or something, because there was a fair bit of blood," Witness Michael McCammon told Nine News. A 55-year-old woman has had her fingers partially severed as she tried to save her dog from being attacked in an horrific ordeal at Cronulla Mall. @Natalia_Cooper9 #9News pic.twitter.com/UH56Cc519g 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) September 25, 2020 Another witness told NCA NewsWire the woman was left with a messed up hand People came from everywhere, so I didnt see much more until someone emerged with her little dog covered in blood. Then I saw the lady who was attacked. Her hand was really messed up. There was heaps of blood and some misshapen fingers I dont know if theyll be able to save them all, the local said. NSW police confirmed the womans injured dog was taken to a local vet and the other dog was seized by Sutherland Council. The woman was taken to hospital with serious injures. Source: Nine News A Sutherland Shire Council spokesman told The Leader staff had responded to an incident in Cronulla Plaza and had seized the animal believed to be responsible for the attack. Story continues "This incident is currently under investigation by NSW Police, and council staff will continue to support this investigation as required," he said. "Sutherland Shire Council requires all dog owners to keep their pets on a leash at all times when in public areas, unless they are in one of council's designated off-leash areas. "Council has the power to take action against those who fail to fulfil their responsibilities as a pet owner, including imposing financial penalties, animal management orders or the seizure of any animals that have attacked a person or animals." 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. OTTAWA The Canadian government does not feel pressure from the United States to lift border restrictions despite comments by President Donald Trump that he expects the border to reopen soon, says Public Safety Minister Bill Blair. In an interview with the Star, Blair said he is aware of Trumps remarks after the two countries agreed to extend restrictions on cross-border traffic for another month, to Oct. 21, but suggested there is no appetite in Canada to reopen the border soon. Asked how much pressure the Trump administration is exerting on Canadian officials to relax controls and resume the flow of non-essential traffic, Blair said, None, none. Other than that one comment he made, and I saw it too, that was the first Ive heard from the federal government of the United States any suggestion they wanted to change the existing practice at the border, Blair said. Blair said hes heard complaints by state governors and other officials that the closure is hard on border communities, but the minister responsible for the border agency said there is a consensus among the provinces that the border should remain locked down to all but essential traffic, and Ottawa agrees for now. Premier Doug Ford is lobbying Ottawa for the restrictions to continue, fearing an influx of COVID-19 just as cases in Canada are beginning to spike again. Blair noted that in Atlantic Canada, where rules require all travellers including Canadians to quarantine for 14 days, there are almost no active cases. (Newfoundland and Labradors ban is even tougher, barring all non-essential travel.) Health Canada is reporting a total of nine active cases in the four provinces. Blair said only three per cent of COVID-19 transmission in Canada is related to travel, and not all those cases are from international travel. Health Canada reports that in Canadian cases of COVID-19, one per cent came from contact with a traveller, and in 3.9 per cent of cases, the patient had travelled outside of Canada. He doesnt think the low percentage of infections related to foreign travel means it is OK to reopen the border, but rather that it argues for the effectiveness of the measures weve taken. Asked if it then makes sense to keep the restrictions in place for a long time, Blair replied, Forever? No but while the threat remains from this pandemic and while there is, I think, very legitimate concerns about increasing number of cases. On Sept. 18, Trump told reporters at the White House that, we're looking at the border with Canada. Canada would like it open, and, you know, we want to get back to normal business. But Blair denied that Canada is seeking to reopen the border, noting that the restrictions are still allowing essential goods and workers to cross, he said. There have not been shortages on grocery shelves or any significant impact on pharmaceuticals or other goods that Canadians need, he said, and essential cross-border truck traffic is almost back to 2019 levels after a 30 per cent reduction last spring, largely because the auto manufacturing sector has resumed operations. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signalled Friday that essential trade includes U.S. imports from Canada of low-cost prescription drugs. He said any moves by the United States to increase those imports will be taken into account as we develop our capacity to first and foremost help Canadians and cover Canadians' needs here at home, but also be there to help other countries in need as well as we always will. In mid-March, more than two months after the coronavirus began to spread outside Chinas borders and around the world, Canada and the United States struck a deal to limit all but non-essential traffic in goods and workers crossing the border. Each month they have agreed to extend it for 30 days. It is now due to expire Oct. 21, and while Blair would not say how long that might continue, he said Canadian premiers overwhelmingly support maintaining current limits and remain concerned by the risk posed if people come in from other jurisdictions. The picture south of the border remains grim. America has led the world in COVID-19 infections and deaths, with cases Friday topping the 7 million mark, and more than 203,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to updated figures published Friday by Johns Hopkins University. That same tracker reported Canada has had 152,004 confirmed cases and 9,304 deaths a slightly higher tally than Health Canadas report, which tallies day-old data. Blair acknowledged there have been significant economic and social impacts of the border shutdown, not just on border towns but on individuals who are separated from those they love, and they are tough cases. He said he is working with B.C. officials to deal with concerns in Point Roberts, Washington, a peninsula town of 1,000 whose American residents have been cut off from the rest of their country because they must pass through Canadian territory to get there. Blair said the challenge is children want to go to school on the Canadian side, but theres a real concern that in going back and forth, their parents will go shopping in Vancouver. Were not indifferent to the difficulty that community is facing but our priority has to be the safety of Canadians, he said. Public polling research has shown a majority of Canadians do not want to see the border reopened soon. Read more about: For generations, snow days meant sleeping in, loafing in front of the TV with hot cocoa, and hours of sledding and snowball fights. Now, they are likely to mean logging into a laptop for a Zoom lesson on long division. As the weather cools and winter looms, many school leaders in snow-prone states are preparing teachers, parents and students to say goodbye to snow days. This month, New York City, the nations largest school system, canceled them for the year, citing the pandemic, which has forced districts everywhere to look for ways to make up lost days. [Read live coverage of the noreaster here.] New Yorks decision followed moves that other administrators have been making since March, when schools were forced to transition to online learning and officials realized they could do the same during hazardous weather. We said, Wow, this could really be a solution for us for snow days in the future, said Robb Malay, a school superintendent who oversees seven districts in southern New Hampshire, where a new policy will replace snow days with virtual learning. 'Government is saying I will not be responsible for ensuring you get MSP but traders and large corporate will be responsible.' 'India now is the only country that is saying such things.' IMAGE: Members of various farmers organisations stage a protest over the government's agriculture reforms in Patiala. Photograph: PTI Photo Farmers across India staged a protest on Friday, September 25, against the Agricultural Produce Market Committee reforms ushered in by the Narendra Damodardas Modi government through two farming bills that have been approved by Parliament. The reforms have divided the farming community like never before, with some farmers saying the measures are good for the agricultural community as they are now freed of mandi politics and can market their produce anywhere while others fear that they will become fodder for predatory corporates. Speaking to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com, Avik Saha, national convenor, Hai Kisan Andolan, asks, "On what basis is the government saying that these laws will work? Do they have an iota of evidence to prove it?" The country seems to be divided over the farming bills. Will they do any good to farmers or will they harm the farmers? I don't think it has divided the country. On the contrary, it has brought the country together. Yes, there are two sides to it. One is a very small side representing the monopolists who want these laws to come so that their monopoly over food production, logistics, supply and consumption is completed. It goes unchallenged and they are a miniscule minority while the rest of the country is on the other side. They are on the other side because they do not want 70 percent of the population (to become) jobless and worthless. We do not want some monopolist to get control over the food supply chain and then to have the power to do whatever they want with that food chain. The country has come together to protest against the creation of a behemoth monopolistic people. What kind of future do you foresee, say, 10 years after these reforms? One thing that should not be 'business' in the strict sense of the word is food because food is a survival essential. It is all right to be very modern about food and to say that it should be traded, should be in commodity exchanges, demand and supply, free market should play etc. I am not against any of that, neither am I against corporates. Enterprise is nothing to be worried or ashamed about, but most developed countries in the world also realise that corporations need to compete and not create a monopoly. What is happening here is that laws are actually a breeding ground to create food monopolies. But is it not a fact that only six percent of the farmers get minimum support price while the others are left behind? You are absolutely right and therefore there the system needs to be corrected. And the correction does not mean that nobody will get it. You think of a classroom; if a classroom is not studying and the teacher is not good will you change the teacher or will you say because the teacher is not able to teach, let us abandon the class and so the students do not learn anything? That is the solution the government is talking of. But 94 percent of the farmers don't get MSP. That is a huge number. This 94 percent logic is wrong. When they say six percent farmers get MSP it means the government purchases at MSP from 6 percent of the farmers. It has never been any farmer's demand that the government must purchase all of his crops. Remember, the food basket of India has more than 100 crops and the MSP is for only 23 crops. We have been asking and the logic of it is unbeatable, the government should declare MSP for all crops. The government should enforce MSP as a legal guarantee to farmers. It is very easy for the government to do so because in 100 percent of the country the government enforces MRP on every product. If you go to any shop, all the shopkeepers have to display the MRP and there are so many provisions to punish them if they sell above the MRP. There are consumer cells and so many punishments for shopkeepers if they sell above the MRP. The government has the mechanism to enforce MRP, so they must have a mechanism to enforce MSP too. The government buying cauliflower at public cost and letting it rot is not a good thing for any citizen. The government has created a huge public cost in these APMC mandis and left it to the whims of traders. Now the government is saying that if we disband these mandis and these same traders go out of the mandis, then the farmers will get a good price. How illogical can that be? But these mandis have become the political base of local thugs and monopolists and they don't hold elections as a result of which the farmers suffer. Mandis are under the control of a government department. Mandis are democratic bodies according to law and if they are not following democratic practices, then mandis can be democratised through the process of law. Because they are not acting democratically you want to shut them down, that is the logic of this law. On Sunday, when the Opposition was out of the Rajya Sabha the government passed these bills in the absence of the Opposition, so the Rajya Sabha acted undemocratically. Does it mean we should shut down the Rajya Sabha too? The government says a misinformation campaign is going on against them, thus misleading farmers. Very well. Let us say the government is right but I want the government to answer two of their partners. The Akali Dal and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, both of them are saying three things may be in different words. They are saying three things: 1. There has not been adequate consultation with regard to these laws with the people who this law will affect. 2. These laws ought to have been studied by the legislature, that is Parliament, before being passed. The government is the political executive and not Parliament. And normally, in such large structural change laws, you often refer it to the standing committee of Parliament. There is a standing committee of agri trade or refer it to the select committee. You seek opinions. You seek objections and then finalise the law of this magnitude. 3. When you change a structure, you work on data. You do modulation. You do simulation. You do pilot scale study and then say this looks like it will work. So, let us make a law to work. You don't make a law and treat 70 percent of your farmer population as guinea pigs to find out if it works. On what basis is the government saying that these laws will work? Do they have an iota of evidence to prove it? Agricultural economist Ashok Gulati said this is like de-licensing of industries of 1991 and these acts are good for farmers as they have a better choice to sell their produce. He is wrong. The moment you compare non-food industry with food industry and farmers, you are wrong. They are not comparable. Food is not an optional item. You cannot play with food unless you are very sure. How many Indians are ready to buy food at very high price? Say, double the existing price while the government does its experiments and Mr Gulati holds fort. That is a problem. Experimentation on food is very serious as we have seen famines in India primarily because of experimentation. The Bengal famine of 1942 was because stocks of food were allotted to war and not for public consumption. It led to a massive famine and lakhs of people died. Food cannot be compared to iron, steel or computers. Mr Gulati's foundational logic is incorrect as he is comparing apples to oranges. The government is saying MSP is not going away, but many farmers are not believing it. Let the government announce, but the farmers do not get MSP despite the announcement. The government announces MSP as a regulator. The government has enacted a law called the APMC act where the government expects farmers to get MSP. The APMC is not giving farmers MSP and therefore the government needs to tighten the APMC and ensure that MSP, which is not a legal right today, becomes a legal right just like MRP is. Instead of that, the government is saying that I will not be responsible for ensuring you get MSP, but traders and large corporate will be responsible. India now is the only country that is saying such things. In every country the government protects its farmers as they understand food security is of as much importance as border security and they protect farmers from predatory corporates. And I go back to my original statement. I am not against corporations, but we must understand the dharma of corporations and that is to buy cheap and sell dear so there is a profit. Why else would I be in business then? For the government to say that this person whose religion is to buy cheap and sell dear for profit is actually going to buy at the right price and do fair trade, and he will not be concerned about profit, how ridiculous can this be! A Derry school has been shortlisted for a major award. St Cecilia's College is now in the running to be named Secondary School of the Year in the prestigious TES School Awards 2020. The TES (Times Educational Supplement) awards are held each year to recognise the work and commitment of schools and teachers. They are regarded as among the most important accolades within the education sector. There are a total of 18 categories each year. Among the shortlist, there are a number of schools and teachers from throughout Northern Ireland. However, St Cecilia's College is the only school from Derry city to make it on to any of the shortlists. The local school is up against seven schools from England in the Secondary School of the Year category. The winners are usually announced at a special awards night in London. However, due to the pandemic, this year the winners will be announced during a virtual awards event on Friday, November 13. TES editor Ann Mroz paid tribute to all the shortlisted schools and teachers. It is always a highlight of the education calendar to see the best ideas and people lauded at the TES Schools Awards, she said. But this year, it felt more important than ever to run an event that showcased and celebrated the hard work that teachers and school staff do for children and their local community every single day. This has been one of the most difficult years in education, but as ever teachers continue to rise to the challenge. "We had a record number of entries this year and the standard was very high, so all those shortlisted should be very proud: it's an extraordinary achievement to be on this shortlist." Making the TES awards shortlist comes just weeks after another honour for St Cecilia's. Earlier this month, the school received a Silver Award in The Award for Making a Difference - Secondary School of the Year for their outstanding commitment to changing the lives of the children they work with every day. St Cecilia's is now in the running for one of just 14 Gold Awards later in the year, in a programme which will be broadcast on the BBC. Reinforcements for the U.S. Army will be coming soon after troubling clashes with Russian troops, and ISIS rearing its ugly head. American soldiers currently stationed in Syria face rising tensions that will cause concerns about keeping everything in check. The environment that U.S. troops operate in has been volatile of late, and the reported activity of ISIS does not make it any easier. In the eastern part of Syria, troops were deployed after a Russian military vehicle rammed an American armored vehicle. Several of the troops inside were injured from the impact, reported The Sun UK. According to Captain Bill Urban, U.S. Central Command stated that radar has been erected with more fighter patrols in the air. He added that these extra acquisitions protect both American and coalition members from harassment courtesy of hostile forces. Stating that the United States is not looking for conflicts with other nations in Syria, though he said coalition forces will not stand by idly if attacked. This is meant for parties hostile to the coalition in Syria. Concern for growing concerns over the up-tempo activities of ISIS in Syria. Several incidences of suicide bombing and assaults on prisons free held ISIS militants who are still alive. It is common knowledge that the Islamic death cult got obliterated a year ago after they were forced to run away from Baghuz located in the northeastern part of Syria. But due to COVID-19 outbreaks in the region, they have reactivated sleeper cells and gathered the past months. ISIS is starting its activities again. Also read: 33 Turkish Soldiers Killed in Syrian Air Strike in the Idlib Province as Hostilities Escalate The Syrian prisons are in the control of the Kurd forces in the country, but inside it is 14,000 more or less unidentified Islamic State (ISIS) fighters who are not identified yet. One of the reasons why ISIS is re-asserting itself is that the U.S. is pulling out its troops little by little in the war infested country of Syria. The lessened presence of the Americans is better for ISIS in the long run. One senior U.S. official said that several Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle will be sent with an additional 100 troopers who will be going back to Syria. The anonymous official stressed that the added troops are a hint to Russia that the U.S. will not tolerate any more actions that are hostile. Also, the U.S. and its allies will not be pushed around by anyone. In Syria, both countries have been involved in several incidents that have occurred with their patrolling units in eastern Syria, cited AP News. But the most serious incident to date is the sideswiping of Russian vehicles that prompted sending more IFVs and U.S. troops. The accident injures four American troops inside the IFV. Other infuriating actions include two Russian helicopters that unsafely buzzed a U.S. vehicle in just 70 feet. This is considered a highly dangerous action and unprovoked on the Russian's part. Russia has been supporting the Syrian government and has always made its objection to the U.S. in the country. All these skirmishes have already upturned a volatile situation that has become a world war and finger-pointing between the powerful nations. Related topic: US Says No to Death Penalty for Beatles ISIS Members @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. China is cautiously increasing its role in South Asia by rejuvenating economic interests in Pakistan and forging closer ties to Afghanistan with peace talks between Afghan officials and the Taliban under way. The enhanced footprint for Beijing in the region comes amid a flurry of activity this summer centered around breathing new life into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an estimated $62 billion bundle of projects that forms the cornerstone of China's sweeping Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to build infrastructure, expand trade links, and deepen ties across Eurasia and Africa. "The Chinese want to do business, they don't want to be fighting wars," Ayesha Siddiqa, a research associate at London's School of Oriental and African Studies, told RFE/RL. "They want to control the region financially and benefit from that." But while China's renewed push in the region shows the parties' willingness to move forward, Beijing faces tremendous obstacles as it tries to navigate the notoriously troubled political situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The problems include the uncertain peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha and a series of corruption scandals within CPEC. Meanwhile, Chinese BRI projects increasingly find themselves to be the target of Baluch and Sindhi separatist groups in Pakistan. "This is China's neighborhood, it isn't some far-off area. So, there is a strong interest for Beijing to be involved," Rafaello Pantucci, a senior associate fellow at London's Royal United Services Institute, told RFE/RL. "But this region has long-standing issues and there is a reason why international donors aren't there. China now finds itself increasingly embroiled in these difficulties." A Busy Summer CPEC forms the backbone of China's presence in Pakistan and the recent spate of new deals marks a new phase in its development after years of delays and implementation problems that slowed down the pace of the initiative. In June and July, Beijing inked $11 billion worth of deals with Islamabad, agreeing to finance two hydropower projects in the Pakistan-administered Kashmir region and an upgrade for the country's railways -- the most expensive Chinese project to date in Pakistan. Beijing has also made moves to extend CPEC to Afghanistan, with experts saying China is looking to stabilize the country and improve its political and economic links to the country as U.S. troops look to leave Afghanistan, potentially by May 2021. In August, China began pushing Pakistan to open key border crossings with Afghanistan to allow bilateral and transit trade that remain closed due to security concerns and Kabul recently signed a $2.2 billion contract to help export Afghan pine nuts to global markets. The daily Financial Times also reported this month that Beijing has proposed "sizeable investments in energy and infrastructure projects" and offered to build a road network for the Taliban in hopes of ensuring a peaceful transition if there is a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Kick-Starting The Restart While Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's government worries about the long-term implications of becoming dependent on China, proponents hope the CPEC will give Pakistan the infrastructure boost needed to kick-start its economy at a time when Islamabad is struggling to attract international investors. In addition to a growing array of projects, CPEC will grant Beijing access to the Gwadar port in southern Pakistan, which is close to the Strait of Hormuz -- the world's most vital route for shipping oil. But the Chinese-financed project has also become embroiled in Pakistan's own tense domestic politics, with the country's influential military and civilian government jostling for control of the lucrative initiative. The Pakistani military has so far managed to wrestle greater control through the creation of the CPEC Authority last year, a government body authorized to oversee BRI projects in Pakistan. Under a proposed law put forward this month by supporters of the army, the government would cede further ground to the military, granting it wide-ranging autonomy to implement CPEC with limited oversight. According to Siddiqa, an expert on the Pakistani military, Beijing prefers to partner with the army as they are seen as more reliable and can guarantee the timely completion of projects that elected officials have failed to deliver. Moreover, Siddiqa says military control helps ease concerns within the Pakistani elite that strategic territory could be given to China under the guise of CPEC. "Contracts with China by the previous government were drawn up in a very nontransparent way and it made the military nervous," she said. "It's not just about what kind of a share the military will get, it's about how much is being conceded to Beijing." Navigating Pushback But while CPEC has new momentum and Beijing is looking to extend it to Afghanistan, the project faces new obstacles from various forces inside Pakistan. In August, a report was published alleging that Asim Saleem Bajwa, the retired general who heads the CPEC Authority and also serves as special assistant to Khan, used his influential position to help his family amass huge wealth. The report led to a backlash on social media and calls for his resignation along with a further investigation. Bajwa offered his resignation as special assistant to the prime minister -- which was later rejected by Khan -- and has stayed on as chairman of the CPEC Authority. There are several other developments inside Pakistan that could greatly slow down China's ambitions in the country. The Tehrik-e Taliban, Pakistan's leading Taliban group, which operates out of Afghanistan, has announced the reunification of various splintered factions, leading some analysts to believe that Pakistan's internal security problems could threaten BRI projects. Similarly, Baluch and Sindhi separatist groups in Pakistan announced an alliance in July aimed at attacking CPEC and Chinese interests in the country. That development is likely to increase the security costs for BRI projects in Pakistan. Baluch insurgents claiming to be aided by Sindhi separatists attacked Pakistan's stock exchange in June and, in 2018, three gunmen tried to enter the Chinese Consulate in Karachi before being killed in a shoot-out. The attack was later claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist group. "Sindh and Balochistan are equally affected by the 'expansionist' and 'oppressive' resolve of China," said a statement from the Baloch Raji Ajoi Sangar, a merger of several Baluch separatist groups, and the Sindudesh Revolutionary Army, another separatist organization. "Through [CPEC], China aims to subjugate Sindh and Balochistan and occupy the coasts and resources from Badin to Gwadar. "Increasingly, China risks becoming a target in the region," Abdul Basit, an expert on South Asian insurgent groups at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, told RFE/RL. "But China has the support of the Pakistani military and its own channels in the region, so these types of threats are unlikely to stop Beijing from [pursuing] its goals." There is something inevitable about the premiere of Ratched, the latest campy limited series from producer Ryan Murphy, the impresario behind American Horror Story and Glee. This chronicles the earlier years of the tyrannical Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest played here by Murphy favourite Sarah Paulson, and unforgettably by Louise Fletcher in Milos Forman's 1975 film, adapted from Ken Kesey's 1962 novel. Sarah Paulson revisits the ogre of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in Ratched. Credit:Netflix In recent years, writers and filmmakers have been falling over each other to create spin-offs from already famous texts. This includes expanding on the "origin stories" of villains, who are often revealed as more sympathetic than we previously thought, as in Gregory Maguire's trendsetting 1995 novel Wicked, about the Wicked Witch of the West, which found equal success as a Broadway musical. Other maligned figures given the same treatment since include the evil fairy from Cinderella, played by Angelina Jolie in the Maleficent films; Batman's most famous foe in last year's Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix; and Psycho's troubled Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) in the TV series Bates Motel. Taking a broad view, the phenomenon stretches back to the greatest work of fan-fiction in English literature, Paradise Lost, a recasting of the book of Genesis in which John Milton made a case of sorts for Satan himself. 1. Two final firsts. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the liberal jurist and trailblazer for women, became the first woman and first Jewish American to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol. The honor brought to a close a week of public memorials. Justice did not arrive like a lightning bolt, but rather through dogged persistence, all the days of her life, Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt said. Women led the tribute to the justices work and life. Democratic and Republican female lawmakers stood on the steps of the Capitol as her coffin left the building. President Trump has selected Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative favorite, to succeed Justice Ginsburg. He plans to announce that she is his choice on Saturday, according to people close to the process. The president met with Judge Barrett, pictured below, at the White House this week. Mark James Miller is an Associate English Instructor at Allan Hancock College and President of the Part-Time Faculty Association. He can be reached at mark@pfaofahc.com. He dumped Bella Varelis for Irena Srbinovska in the gut-wrenching Bachelor finale on Thursday night. And now Locky Gilbert has hit back at his critics, after they slammed him on Instagram for leading on his runner-up by saying 'I'm falling in love with you'. The former Australian Survivor star, 31, labelled one follower a 'Karen' after they described the show as 'sad' and accused him of doing it for fame. Hitting back: On Thursday night, defiant Bachelor star Locky Gilbert hit back at critics and called one follower a 'Karen' after being slammed for leading on runner-up Bella Varelis 'I've concluded, I think you are perhaps a very good actor and some of the girls, perhaps good actresses,' the troll commented. 'It's sad to me this show and some of the people in it have not acted authentically... why? For ratings, fame, notoriety? All the best in such a disingenuous world.' Locky responded: 'Haha ok Karen.' 'Karen' has become a popular slang term referring to someone who is snobby and self-important. It originated from a meme featuring a middle-aged woman with an asymmetrical bob haircut who was demanding to speak to a store manager. Ouch: The former Australian Survivor star, 31, labelled one follower a 'Karen' after they described the show as 'sad' and accused him of doing it for fame Hitting back: He told another follower they needed a 'hobby' after they'd called him a bogan Another follower accused Locky of already being 'bored' of his relationship with winner Irena Srbinovska, and said that Bella 'dodged a big bogan bullet'. Locky replied: 'Haha but you are the one invested in my life so much. You need a hobby.' One critic said that the show was 'terrible' and that it 'goes against everything Australia is trying to improve, respect towards women'. In response, Locky wrote: 'But still you watch it and follow my adventure. I'll just set up my camping chair in your head and settle in.' Not having it: One critic said that the show was 'terrible' and that it 'goes against everything Australia is trying to improve, respect towards women'. In response, Locky wrote: 'But still you watch it and follow my adventure. I'll just set up my camping chair in your head and settle in' Brutal: It comes after Locky brutally dumped Bella for Irena in the shocking Bachelor finale on Thursday night It comes after Locky brutally dumped Bella for Irena in the shocking Bachelor finale on Thursday night. Despite telling her earlier in the episode he was 'falling in love' with her, he changed his mind and said he could no longer see a future with her. After having her heart broken, Bella stormed off and said: 'Can I leave? I'm going.' Locky is still dating Irena, 31, two months after filming the finale, and they plan to live together in Perth once they've finished promotional duties for The Bachelor. Heartbreaking: Locky burst into tears and gasped for air as he delivered the bad news to Bella, saying he needed 'more certainty' in a relationship. She soon stormed off Leading lady: Locky chose Irena Srbinovska (pictured) as his winner during Thursday's finale The Trial of the Chicago 7 Even if you already know the basic story of the Chicago Seven, Sorkins movie is so richly layered with detail that you'll surely find something new Credit - NIKO TAVERNISE/NETFLIX 2020 Netflix, Inc Though its tempting to view the courtroom sketch as a quaint relic of legal decorum, the physicality of drawing is urgent in a way that camerawork cant always match. If youre so inclined, you can Google a color-crayon courtroom drawing from October 29, 1969 showing Bobby Sealecofounder of the Black Panthers and one of eight men put on trial that year for staging anti-war demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicagogagged and bound to a chair. Earlier, in a fit of justified anger, hed verbally interrupted the proceedings; the judge responded by ordering court officers to remove him from the court and restrain him. The drawing, by Howard Brodie and preserved in the Library of Congress, shows Seale holding his strong posture to the degree its physically possible, as he strains to write something on a legal pad; a Stravinsky-like stanza of strokes, slashes and loops, the sketch is an urgent, evocative work of reportage. That this could happen in an American court of law was and still is unthinkable, yet not unbelievable. Brodies drawing challenges a nation to face its own shame. To look at it more than 50 years later is to recognize how slow weve been in taking that shame to heart. Brodies drawing comes to life, with all its somber weight, in a key scene in writer-director Aaron Sorkins The Trial of the Chicago 7, a movie as simultaneously entertaining and galvanizing as anything youll see this year. (It opens in select theaters on September 25 and will be available on Netflix beginning October 16.) Sorkin has detailed for us the half-circuslike, half-solemn drama of this intense pocket of American history, during which eight anti-war activists were tried for conspiring to incite violence at the convention. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is Sorkin at his Sorkinniest, in the good way, a work attuned to civic responsibility and small-d democratic ideals. Its as lively as other Sorkin-scripted pictures like Moneyball (2011) and Charlie Wilsons War (2007), and as astute as The Social Network (2010) was: we couldnt have known at the time, though maybe we should have, that this story about the rise of opportunistic iconoclast Mark Zuckerberg was really a warning from the future. Story continues Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Fred Hampton, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Bobby Seale, Mark Rylance as William Kuntsler. Niko Tavernise/NETFLIX 2020 2020 Netflix, Inc. And although The Trial of the Chicago 7 is only the second picture Sorkin has directedthe first was Mollys Game, from 2017in its construction, pacing and casting, its the work of an old soul. Sorkin takes a rather dense, complicated court caseone peopled with figures who clung to stubborn differences even in the context of their shared idealsand keeps it aloft every minute, as if he were following the aerodynamic principles of hang-gliding rather than moviemaking. Best of all, he brings out the best each actor in this enormous ensemble cast has to offer; every character is rendered with jewelers-loupe clarity. Read More: The Violence Was Inevitable. How 7 Key Players Remember the Chaos of 1968s Democratic National Convention Protests You need that gift of specificity to tell this story properly. These eight men were anything but a homogenous group, though that didnt stop the nations conservative forces at the time from lumping them into one: Tom Hayden (here played by Eddie Redmayne) and Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp) were clean-cut, crew-neck-sweater-wearing members of the Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS, a left-wing group active since 1960. Staid dad and Boy Scout troop leader Dave Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch) was a longtime pacifist and a member of MOBE, the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), members of the Youth International Party, or Yippies, were the Abbott-and-Costello wild card, a virtual comedy team steeped in marijuana vapors and leftist ideals. John Froines and Lee Weiner (played by Danny Flaherty and Noah Robbins) were two less-notable figures who were nonetheless happy to stand up for their ideals with the rest of the group. (One of them likens the trial to the Academy Awards. Its an honor just to be nominated.) The eighth defendant, Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), of the Panthers, had never even met the others: he had arrived in Chicago to give a speech and departed within just a few hours. Even so, he was tossed in handily with this group, because the authorities believed the inclusion of a Black Panther in the proceedings would prove to the American people just how menacing this assemblage of citizens who had sought to exercise their right to protest truly was. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Ben Shenkman, Mark Rylance, Eddie Redmayne and Alex Sharp. NICO TAVERNISE/NETFLIX 2020 2020 Netflix, Inc. Theres a lot of talking in The Trial of the Chicago 7; its a courtroom drama, after all. But as fixated on words as Sorkin is, he knows theyre only part of the language of movies. The federal governments prosecuting attorneys, Thomas Foran (J.C. MacKenzie) and Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), show up to court in dark suits so crisp they could stand up by themselves. Meanwhile, one of the two lawyers enlisted to defend the seven, William Kunstlerplayed with the perfect degree of low-key bull-doggishness by Mark Rylance shambles in wearing a rumpled tweed suit, a fake-leather glasses case peeking out of the breast pocket. You know just by his rushed, shambling carriage where hes coming from. (Kunstler did not represent Seale, who had unsuccessfully sought to delay the trial because his own lawyer was undergoing a medical procedure.) And when Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) sweeps in, the silent rustle of his robes suggest that he thinks hes jurisprudence royalty. The rest of the movie shows him up as a pompous, vindictive serpent, and sort of a boob to boot. Watching The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a little like reading Dickens: much of the fun lies in picking up on the signals of individual characters. Even if you already know the basic story of the Chicago Sevenalso commonly referred to as the Chicago Eight, to include Seale, although his case was severed from that of the others after a mistrial was declared on his behalfSorkins movie is so richly layered with detail that youll surely find something new. The Chicago DNC protests began peacefully and erupted into stunningly brutal violence, and Sorkin captures its horror here, weaving in some archival footage in the mode of Haskell Wexlers groundbreaking 1969 fiction-nonfiction blend Medium Cool. The trial, instigated by newly installed Nixon attorney general and flunky John Mitchell, applied as gospel the assumption that the riots couldnt possibly have been started by police; surely, law enforcement would never instigate a public disturbance. But when Sorkin shows us the young, bespectacled, somewhat fragile Rennie Davis being cracked across the back of the skull with a police batonand the unfiltered, visceral response of his best friend, Tom Haydenit strikes like lightning. Even the simmering distrust between certain members of the groupfor example, the disdain preppy-proper Hayden shows for goofball-intellectual Abbie Hoffmanis woven firmly into the movies fabric. Every detail has meaning in the end. I can hear what some of you are thinking: This movie is just two-hours-plus of men talking; who wants to watch that? I, too, dread movies about talking men, but the Trial of the Chicago 7 won me over in its first, fleet 10 minutes. In places, its unapologetically charming, particularly when it focuses on Hoffman and his sidekick, Jerry Rubin. As the two saunter into the courthouse, dressed in their usual hippie gear of tunics and headbands, Rubin handily catches an egg that one of the many bystanderssome supportive, but many angryhas thrown. Its a neat trick, and Hoffman expresses his awe, before asking, But now what do you do with it? The small shadow of sadness that crosses Rubins facewhat do you do with it? is as perfect as the smooth surface of his rescued egg. Later, the two will show up in court draped in judges robes. When Judge Hoffman angrily demands that they remove their phoney-baloney costumes, they comply, revealing the Chicago police uniforms theyre wearing underneath. Sacha Baron Cohen and Jeremy Strong as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Niko Tavernise/NETFLIX 2020 2020 Netflix, Inc. That really happened, because just about everything in The Trial of the Chicago 7 really happened. Including the shackling of Seale. From the moment Seale is led away by officers, Sorkin is careful with this scene. He shows the beating of Seale in flashes of fast cutting; the suggestion is that the officers kicks and punches were calibrated so theyd leave no visible marks on Seales body. But the moment Seale is led back to his seat, his limbs constrained, his mouth bound by a wide lashing of white tape, the very texture of the air in the courtroom changes. Sorkin somehow conveys this invisible yet shattering atmospheric shift; its hard to map exactly how, even beyond the fact that Gordon-Levitts prosecutor Schultzwhos shown from the start to be a semi-sympathetic foeverbally expresses dismay at the sight of Seales condition, and not just because he knows it will damage his case. Sometimes a great scene induces a kind of synesthesia in a viewer; an image you see onscreen summons a metallic taste in your mouth, or some other weird, specifically physical sensation. I felt that way watching Seale being led back to his chair. The Trial of the Chicago 7 reminds us of the chant that arose from the Chicago protestors as the police descended upon them with batons and, some sources have indicated, gloved fists fortified with metal: The whole world is watching. At what point do you look away? The Trial of the Chicago 7 details events that happened more than 50 years ago. The time to look away is never. Jasmine Tookes has announced that she's engaged to her boyfriend of four years Juan David Borrero, 30. The Victoria's Secret model, 29, revealed her exciting news on her Instagram on Thursday, where she shared a snap of her whopping 190k diamond ring. Captioning the snaps, which were taken at Lake Powell between Utah and Arizona, the thrilled beauty penned: 'Si, mi amor! Were engaged!!!' alongside love and crying emojis. Congratulations: Jasmine Tookes has announced that she's engaged to her boyfriend of four years Juan David Borrero Stunning: The Victoria's Secret model, 29, revealed her exciting news on her Instagram on Thursday, where she shared a snap of her whopping 190k diamond ring Jasmine also shared a photo of rocks on the sand, which were arranged to spell out 'WYMM', which stands for will you marry me. The stunner also uploaded a moment of the happy couple clinking glasses as they celebrated their big news. It is said that Jasmine's Snapchat executive beau shocked her with the proposal after whisking her away for a surprise trip to Lake Powell, a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona. So sweet: Jasmine also shared a photo of rocks on the sand, which were arranged to spell out 'WYMM', which stands for will you marry me Speaking to Vogue about her big moment, which happened on Monday, Jasmine revealed: 'It was a complete surprise!' She explained that her Ecuador-born beau announced that he was taking her away following her day of meetings and that she had two hours to pack. Describing her unexpected trip, she said: 'We hopped on a helicopter which flew us to the most beautiful, otherworldly-like secluded place in the middle of the desert rocks in Utah. It was just us.' The model described how they had sipped champagne before her beau brought her to the rocks where 'WYMM' was spelled out on the ground. Thrilled: Captioning the snaps, which were taken at Lake Powell between Utah and Arizona, the thrilled beauty penned: 'Si, mi amor! Were engaged!!!' alongside love and crying emojis Romantic: It is said that Jasmine's Snapchat executive beau surprised her with the proposal after whisking her away for a surprise trip to Lake Powell (pictured in 2017) After realising what it had meant, Jasmine then recalled the unique way in which Juan presented the ring. She continued: 'I heard a drone flying from above which had a string hanging from it with a small black pouch below. This is how the ring was delivered to him. As the drone approached, he reached into the pouch pulled out the box and went on one knee.' She added that she cried many 'happy tears' and said the proposal was 'the best day I couldve ever imagined.' Wow: 'We hopped on a helicopter which flew us to the most beautiful, otherworldly-like secluded place in the middle of the desert rocks in Utah. It was just us' According to reports, Juan popped the question with a fabulous 7-carat oval-cut ring by Ritani, which is valued at an eye-watering $250,000 or 188,967. Jasmine started dating Juan in 2016, shortly after her split from model Tobias Sorensen. Since getting together with the businessman, who is a Partnerships Manager at Snapchat, Jasmine has shared several loved-up images of the pair on her social media. Jasmine's career began at 15, with a little help from her mother. Loved up: Jasmine started dating Juan in 2016, shortly after her split from model Tobias Sorensen (pictured in 2016) Romance: Since getting together with the businessman, who is a Partnerships Manager at Snapchat, Jasmine has shared several loved-up images of the pair on her social media Her mum was a celebrity stylist, and Jasmine was discovered in her mother's showroom. In a 2011 interview with The Cut, the star detailed her beginning. 'I always had an interest in fashion because my mom is a celebrity fashion stylist. I grew up being on set or in showrooms,' she began. 'I was actually discovered while at a showroom appointment and was immediately sent over to an agency in L.A. I was about 15 years old at that time.' Protestors take refuge at First Unitarian Church of Louisville in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 24, 2020. (Jeff Dean/AFP via Getty Images) Kentucky Representative Arrested During Louisville Protests Calls Charges Bogus A state lawmaker in Kentucky who was arrested on several charges late Thursday told The Epoch Times on Friday that the charges were trumped up. I want people to know that theyre bogus charges, they were trumped up, state Rep. Attica Scott, a Democrat, said. To try to claim that my teenage daughter and I, who was arrested with me, were trying to set fire to our beloved main library thats in my district, that I have fought in Frankfurt for funding for, is absurd, and I want folks to know that we must continue the movement for justice for Breonna Taylor. So keep showing up, keep speaking out, and keep standing up. Scott was one of 26 arrested after police declared an unlawful assembly because rabble rousers in the crowd smashed windows at various buildings and tried lighting the downtown library on fire. According to arrest records obtained by The Epoch Times, Scott, 48, and her daughter, Ashanti Scott, were booked on riot and unlawful assembly charges. Scott said she and her daughter were on their way to First Unitarian Church on Fourth Street, and had almost made it there, before she was taken into custody at 8:58 p.m., two minutes before the 9 p.m. curfew. People who made it onto church property were not arrested, the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) said. Kentucky Rep. Attica Scott in an undated photograph. (Rep. Attica Scotts Office) I was literally across the street from the church, Scott said. A Louisville police spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email that Scott as not arrested for a curfew violation. And curfew does not apply once an unlawful assembly is declared, the spokesperson added, in response to questions about when the lawmaker was arrested and whether charges would be dropped. Police officers who arrested her didnt recognize her but officers at the police station did, Scott told The Epoch Times. She was placed in isolation because of her status as a state representative. Attica has been in office since 2017. She proposed Breonnas Law, which would require police to knock and announce their presence when executing a search warrant. Reports for months suggested police officers executed a no-knock warrant on Taylors apartment in March but an investigation found they knocked and announced themselves before breaching the door, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said this week. Lonita Baker, one of the attorneys representing Taylors family, called the arrest of Scott despicable. Scott said she has an attorney and is working on getting the charges dropped. If you want an oversight board done right, you have to launch it yourself, Facebook's critics have evidently decided. Facebook is launching an independent oversight board, a so-called "Supreme Court" to which moderation decisions can be appealed, but on Friday, 25 experts and outspoken Facebook critics announced they're forming the "Real Facebook Oversight Board," their own group that will "analyze and critique Facebook's content moderation decisions, policies and other platform issues in the run-up to the presidential election and beyond," NBC News reports. The advocacy group The Citizens is behind the Real Facebook Oversight Board, which consists of civil rights leaders and academics among other experts who reportedly plan to meet weekly over Zoom. The Citizens' founder, journalist Carole Cadwalladr, described this as an "emergency response." "We know there are going to be a series of incidents leading up to the election and beyond in which Facebook is crucial," Cadwalladr told NBC News. "This is a real-time response from an authoritative group of experts to counter the spin Facebook is putting out." Though Facebook's oversight board is launching in October, according to The Verge, given how long the process is expected to take, "that will be too late to hear cases related to the U.S. election." Facebook, according to NBC News, "isn't welcoming the outside board" and has expressed disappointment over its formation, and The Verge notes the board "will hold no power and is largely meant as a symbolic gesture." An apparent pitch deck for the project reported on by Axios, though, says it plans to use "stunts, viral video, celebrity endorsement and skillful media management to throw a spotlight on the real-time threats to democracy," adding, "Democracy needs its own PR team and creative agency. We are it." More stories from theweek.com 5 outrageously funny cartoons about Trump's election scheming Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin backs Supreme Court delay tactics since 'we don't do anything around here anyway' Trump apparently paid 200 times more in taxes to India and the Philippines than U.S. income tax in 2017 Firm response to the North's actions must follow The government gave a shocking announcement on Thursday that North Korea killed and burned the body of a South Korean civil servant who went missing Monday while on duty in the West Sea. Even if the North has raised its alert against the coronavirus to the extreme, to kill an unarmed civilian is an unacceptable act. The act violates the Geneva Conventions, as well as the Sept. 19 Military Agreement between the two Koreas. The presidential office demanded that the North explain what happened and take appropriate measures over the incident. On Friday, North Korea's United Front Department sent a formal notice delivering North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's message that he feels "very sorry" for disappointing the President and other South Koreans in connection with the case. The North also delivered the results of the probe that its troops near the western sea border fired more than 10 shots as the man intruded in the North's territorial waters. The North said it burned the flotsam but could not find the body. The letter met one of Seoul's demands. Now, the two Koreas must find a way to take appropriate action on those responsible and pledge non-recurrence of such an incident. They should also confirm the discrepancies between the South's initial findings and the North's probe especially regarding why and how the civil servant arrived in the North's waters and the facts of the burning. The North has been imposing "shoot-to-kill orders" in border areas to prevent any coronavirus outbreaks. There is no excuse however for the deplorable killing at sea. It is also hard to shake off the feeling that the South's military authorities and the government may have responded with lethargy to saving the life of its national. The government's explanations to date are wanting; further investigations must yield a clearer picture. Family members and colleagues of the 47-year-old civil servant rebuked the Joint Chiefs of Staff's claim that he may have been attempting to defect to the North. The military gave a confounding explanation that they did not expect the North would commit such an atrocity, as a way of defending its own inaction even after learning that he was in the North's custody. There is also skepticism about the government announcing the incident Thursday. Officials said that they needed that time to verify the facts, and President Moon Jae-in's pre-recorded message of goodwill with his proposal to end the Korean War was aired in the meantime. The last time an unarmed South Korean civilian was shot and killed by North Korea was in 2008 when a female tourist walked into off-limits area in the Mount Geumgang resort. The inter-Korean tourism project remains closed to this day. The government should not sit on the North's formal notice as it did on initial information regarding the civil servant but follow through on its demands. Our military must be more vigilant, and reaffirm its pledge to protect the country and serve its people. Tarek El Moussa of "Flip or Flop" fame has helped many novice flippers on his show Flipping 101 with Tarek El Moussa. And after all those years in the business, you'd think he's seen it all. But then the coronavirus pandemic hit. On the episode titled Bad Energy BoHo, El Moussa helps Amber and Carlos with a house in Playa del Rey, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. The renovation is going well, but they're thrown a curveball as they hear news of COVID-19 cases popping up in Southern California. El Moussa says they need to finish this project ASAP, before the pandemic gets bigger. Read on to find out how they manage to finish remodeling this house under immense pressure, and learn some tips about how to save time and money when renovating your kitchen, bathroom, and beyond. Custom cabinets aren't always necessary This galley kitchen definitely needed a new look. HGTV Right away, Amber explains that she wants to give the house a minimalist, Scandinavian style. When touring the kitchen, she asks El Moussa if he thinks custom cabinets could help accomplish this look. If you spend that money for custom cabinets, youll never get it back, El Moussa says. He says that skipping the custom cabinets, and going with stock cabinetry, is an easy way to save money and timewhich is important since the clock is ticking. Wood cabinets make this Scandinavian-style kitchen look lovely. HGTV El Moussa then suggests installing matte white cabinets, but Amber doesn't take his advice. Instead, she chooses a light wood grain. Its going to go better with my Scandinavian boho style, she explains. In the end, the stock wood grain cabinets are the right choice. Not only do they save money, but they also bring an earthy element to the kitchen. ___ Watch: Exclusive: HGTV's Orlando Soria Gives Us a Tour of His Home ___ Paint the fireplace for an easy makeover This fireplace is large and dated. HGTV This house has a beautiful brick fireplace, but El Moussa knows theyll need to update it before putting the house on the market. Amber wants the fireplace to be white, but she isnt sure if she should whitewash it or use simple white paint. White paint was certainly the right choice. HGTV El Moussas advice: Stick to the home's theme. This house is going to be pretty much a brand-new house kind of when its all done, right? he says. If you whitewash the bricks, its going to have that older feel, an older look to it, versus, like, a high, bright white modern gloss paint. Since the rest of the place will look new and modern, the fireplace should match. Accent tile can add visual interest on a budget This all-white bathroom was bland. HGTV Renovating a bathroom can be an expensive and tedious task, so Amber gets creative in order to save time and cash. In one of the bathrooms, rather than replacing all of the white tile, she keeps it but adds bands of accent tile. This creative tile repurposing ends up saving $2,500 and, perhaps more importantly, it impresses El Moussa. This is exactly how you need to think when youre flipping houses, he says. With these bands of accent tile, the bathroom has a new look. HGTV The bathroom ends up with a fun, boho style, and Amber and Carlos get to pocket their savings. All around, this tile solution is a big success. An office space is a must during a pandemic Sometimes staging is everything. HGTV When Amber and Carlos started this project, working from home wasn't quite so ubiquitous, but with COVID-19 hitting midrenovation, a home office space has suddenly become a hot commodity. So, its lucky that Carlos and Amber stage the living room with a small desk. A black fence creates a modern look This pool is great, but the fence needs an update. HGTV One of the best features of this house is the pool. Surrounded by a fence and beautiful trees, this pool is a sweet oasis in the backyard. Still, it needs some updates if its going to impress buyersand one of those updates has to be painting the fence. While Amber likes the original green color of the fencing, she and Carlos end up painting it black for a modern look. Now, the pool has a stylish, modern lool. HGTV The new coat of paint makes the pool area look modern, and buyers love it. Its perfect, one buyer says when she sees the pool area. Is this 'Flipping 101' tutorial a success? Amber and Carlos know from the beginning that they have a high-risk flip on their hands. They'd bought the house for $1,030,000, and put $127,000 into the renovation. After paying $38,000 in interest and $70,000 in closing costs and commission, these flippers have to sell the house for $1,265,000 to break even. When it comes time to choose a list price, El Moussa explains that these flippers are in luck: The pandemic has surprisingly boosted housing prices. He explains that they can list the house at $1.5 million, which means they have the potential to make a big profit. Amber and Carlos end up accepting an offer for $1,535,000, which means they made a $270,000 profit. Thats an incredible return for this risky flipduring a pandemic no less. The post Tarek El Moussa Reveals How To Renovate During a Pandemic appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 00:53:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HONG KONG, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government will require new civil servants employed from July 1 to pledge to uphold the Basic Law and swear allegiance to the HKSAR, an official said on Friday. Patrick Nip, secretary for the civil service of the HKSAR government, said the government plans to issue notice to different departments in October to arrange those new civil servants to take an oath or make a written declaration. Allegiance is a consistent responsibility and requirement of civil servants, which is in line with the Basic Law, the national security law and the Civil Service Code, Nip said. The Basic Law protects the freedom of speech of every Hong Kong resident, but civil servants should keep in mind their special status and avoid misleading words and deeds, he said. Nip said that civil servants will be dismissed if they violate their oaths or breach the national security law. Enditem BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: The US embassy in Azerbaijan urges US citizens to reconsider non-essential travel outside of the Azerbaijan's Absheron Peninsula due to heightened tensions and recent violence along portions of the Azerbaijan-Armenia border, Trend reports with reference to the embassy. "The US embassy in Baku has instructed US embassy employees and their family members not to travel outside of the Absheron Peninsula. The US citizens throughout Azerbaijan are encouraged to continue to monitor local news reporting for any new developments. The US embassy encourages US citizens to exercise caution in public spaces and avoid any public demonstrations that develop. The embassy will continue to monitor the security situation and provide additional information as needed," the embassy said. She's been an ambassador for Myer department stores since 2015. And it was just another day at the office for model Rachael Finch on Thursday as she took part in a beach photo shoot in Sydney. The mother of two, 32, flaunted her toned physique in a Tommy Hilfiger bikini while shooting content for the retail giant's Spring-Summer campaign. Looking good! Mother-of-two Rachael Finch flaunted her incredible body in a Tommy Hilfiger bikini while shooting a campaign for Myer in Sydney on Thursday Documenting the shoot on Instagram Stories, she arrived in a white bathrobe with her entourage. She then changed into a stylish two-piece, before later swapping it for a green pleated dress. Elsewhere during the shoot, she modelled a leaf-print dress - and was even wearing the chic number when she stopped for lunch. Another day at the office: She was shooting content for Myer's Spring-Summer campaign On set: Documenting the shoot on Instagram Stories, she arrived in a white bathrobe (left) before changing into a green pleated dress (right) Rushing off: After the shoot, Rachael told her Instagram followers she was looking forward to getting home to celebrate her daughter Violet's seventh birthday 'Just wrapped on a day with @myer! Picture perfect,' she told her Instagram followers afterwards. Rachael added that she was looking forward to getting home to celebrate her daughter Violet's seventh birthday. 'Minus the wind, but not complaining one bit. Currently on my way home for Violet's birthday dinner celebrations!' she wrote. Children: The former Miss Universe Australia shares Violet (pictured) and her three-year-old son, Dominic, with her husband, professional dancer Michael Miziner The former Miss Universe Australia shares Violet and her three-year-old son, Dominic, with her husband, professional dancer Michael Miziner. The couple met as partners on the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars in 2010 and married in January 2013. In addition to modelling, she also runs the Body By Finch fitness program. T he Met Commissioner said the police are all "mourning a great loss" as she paid tribute to the "long-serving" custody sergeant who was shot dead by a suspect in Croydon. Paramedics were scrambled to Croydon custody centre in Windmill Road at 2.15am. Officers who witnessed the shooting battled to save their colleagues life. The alleged killer, 23, is then believed to have turned the firearm on himself. He was arrested and taken to hospital in a critical condition with a gunshot wound. Met Commissioner Cressida Dick thanked her colleagues and workers from the London Ambulance Service and the London Air Ambulance, who she said "did everything they could" to save the sergeant's life. Today, we police are all mourning a great loss," she said. A murder investigation is under way and officers are working at several crime scenes to secure evidence and to establish the facts of what happened. We are working closely with the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Early indications are that the suspect shot himself. This has not yet, of course, been established as a fact. The man, I can tell you, remains in a critical condition in hospital. Croydon Custody Centre shooting - In pictures 1 /61 Croydon Custody Centre shooting - In pictures Jeremy Selwyn Forensics at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn General view of the scene at Croydon Custody Centre Sky News Flowers at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Police tape cordon inside Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer has been shot dead by a suspect being booked into custody at a south London police station today Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Nigel Howard A Forensic ServiCes van at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer stands guard at Croydon Custody Centre Getty Images Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Croydon Custody Centre Nigel Howard Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Forensics at Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Flowers are laid down outside the custody centre where a British police officer has been shot dead in Croydon, south London REUTERS Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours of Friday morning PA The scene at Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA Croydon Custody Centre Jeremy Selwyn A police officer beside flowers left outside Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a police officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours PA REUTERS REUTERS AFP via Getty Images PA AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images REUTERS PA AFP via Getty Images Nigel Howard AFP via Getty Images PA Nigel Howard Nigel Howard PA PA AFP via Getty Images PA REUTERS Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick paid tribute to the "wonderful" officer known to colleagues and friends as Matt, in a ceremony at the National Police Memorial in central London on Sunday also attended by Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan PA Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan pay tribute to the "wonderful" officer known to colleagues and friends as Matt, in a ceremony at the National Police Memorial in central London PA The investigations will establish the full facts of what has happened and I would ask you as far as is possible to show restraint in speculation at this time. She continued: This terrible incident underlines again how police officers face danger every single day, 24/7, 365, in their work to protect our public. Thank you all for your thoughts and I will issue more information when I can later today. The Met Commissioner added that the identity of the sergeant can not yet be revealed as police are still in the process of informing all of his close family. In a statement, she said: "This morning we learnt of the shocking death of a much loved colleague, a long-serving sergeant in the Metropolitan Police who was working last night in our Croydon custody suite. Flowers have been left outside the custody centre in tributes for the officer / REUTERS I have visited and spoken to our officers partner together with other colleagues. We are giving her the best support we can. My heartfelt condolences go to her, their family, colleagues and wide circle of friends. I am thinking of everyone who has been involved and affected by this terrible event. We are all deeply shocked and saddened." Community police officer Jacqueline Kufuor burst into tears after laying flowers outside the centre in tribute to her colleague. Officers at the scene of the shooting in Croydon / Jeremy Selwyn She said that the deceased officer was a lovely guy and the nicest man I have ever met. You never expect this to happen when you go to work. For him to have been in custody and for this to have happened, it is just so sad," said Ms Kufuor. He was a very lovely man. He was such a nice man. When he sees you, he would just stand and talk to you. He would ask you about your job and how your are coping and how you are doing out there. So when I ever had issues, I would just talk to him. Policing minister and Commons Speaker react to death of police officer in Croydon The incident has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct watchdog which will lead an independent investigation. The Metropolitan Police continues to investigate the officers murder. Lissie Harper, the widow of Pc Andrew Harper who was killed on duty last year, said in a statement : This is devastating news. No person should go to work never to return. No human being should be stripped of their life in a barbaric act of crime. Another hero has been taken from us in unwarranted violence. They protect us but who protects them? Another life is gone in a disgraceful act that reminds us of the danger our police officers face with every shift they begin. My heart is broken for yet another member of our blue line family, and all of his family, friends and colleagues who must now accept a life without him in it. My thoughts and love are resolutely with them. Additional reporting by PA Media. In his interview, Barnett was particularly critical of Jeannie Rhee, a prosecutor on Muellers team. He said that in one briefing, she wanted to drill down on the fees Flynn was paid for a speech in Russia, and seemed dismissive of Barnetts assessment that there were logical reasons for the payments, according to the court documents released this week. Barnett alleged that Rhee seemed obsessed with Flynn and that she had an agenda, the documents say, without specifying what that agenda was. KAMPALA Finance Minister Matia Kasaija has on Friday applauded the decision to admit Uganda as the 54th member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) by the Board based on Oslo, Norway. EITI is a global standard aimed at promoting transparent management, accountability and good governance of petroleum and mineral resources. Kasaija was speaking at the 8th meeting of the Multi-Stakeholder group of EITI. EITI implementation in Uganda will be overseen by this group comprised of 26 members representing Government, Industry and Civil society. He said Uganda as member of EITI will disclose information relating to contracts and licenses, exploration and production, exports, revenue from extractives as well as the benefits and use of revenues accruing to Ugandans from the resources. Ugandas membership comes at an opportune time for the Country, when the final investment decision for the Oil project is expected within the financial year, said the Minister. Kasaija called upon all Stakeholders to join hands and ensure that our natural resource benefits all Ugandans, and supports the country in the journey to middle income status. Other EITI member countries in Africa include: Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia. Uganda is the 26th Country in Africa to be admitted to EITI. Uganda as a newly inducted member has 18 months to publish information on the sector in its first national EITI report and then submit to the International EITI board for validation. Related Plenty of ambitious professional couples endure a period of long-distance romance in their relationship, but Drs. Janelle Nassim and Eric Smuclovisky, who became a couple in 2016, began living in the same city for the first time in June. They were married on Sept. 9 in Maine, after years of seeing each other just every three weeks or so. Never underestimate the power of sending flowers, Dr. Smuclovisky said. The two first met in 2008 at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, from which both graduated. A close friend of hers was a lab partner of his, and the friend suggested that the two might be a match. But both were focused on their studies, and their introduction fizzled. Years later, in 2016, she was living in Boston during a rotation in her final year of medical school, and was celebrating her birthday with the same college friend who had initially introduced her to Dr. Smuclovisky. The topic of the good-looking lab partner came up, and her friend revealed that he was now a medical resident in Houston. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi. (File Photo) New Delhi [India], September 25 (ANI): Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are fully prepared for the upcoming state elections which will be held in three phases with polling starting on October 28. The Deputy Chief Minister said that the votes will be appealed for on the basis of the work done by the central and state governments. "BJP and NDA are fully prepared. Those who wanted to postpone elections are being forced to welcome. PM-CM will appeal to vote on the basis of face and work of Center and State. #BiharElections2020," he said in a tweet. Earlier on Friday, the Election Commission of India announced that the Bihar Assembly elections will be held in three phases with polling to take place on October 28, and November 3 and 7, and the counting of votes to take place on November 10. The Assembly elections will be held for 243 seats in Bihar. ANI) Suh Hoon, director of the National Security Office, announces Pyongyang's notice of apology to South Korea regarding the killing of its official in the North's waters during a press briefing at Cheong Wa Dae, Friday. / Yonhap By Park Han-sol Controversy has risen over the huge differences between Seoul's and Pyongyang's accounts regarding a South Korean maritime official's disappearance, his alleged attempt to defect to the North and his death. If North Korea's account is correct, the intelligence capabilities of South Korea could be called into question. South Korean authorities have said the 47-year-old official surnamed Lee went missing at 11:30 a.m., Monday, while on duty on a patrol ship off the west coast, and was found by North Korean military personnel in the sea off Yeonpyeong Island near the maritime border at around 3:30 p.m., Tuesday. According to the South Korean version of the story, Lee was on an unidentified floating item and expressed his willingness to defect to the North Koreans, who questioned him from a distance while leaving him in the water. About six hours later, the North Koreans shot him to death, then doused the body with oil and burned it. Pyongyang's account, however, differed in many crucial parts of the story. In a notice it sent to the South, Friday, the North said an "unidentified man" who illegally intruded into its territorial waters on a floating item failed to properly respond to their verbal security checks when he was about 80 meters away. Approaching the man, the North Koreans shot two blanks, and he was seen as attempting to flee. They then fired more than 10 gunshots at a distance of 40 to 50 meters as allowed under the related rules of maritime border security. When they approached for closer inspection, they were unable to find any trace of the body other than a large pool of blood, which led them to believe he had died from bullet wounds and sunk into the water. They subsequently set the floating item not the body on fire following the quarantine rules, according to the North's account. According to the notice, Lee did not express his willingness to defect. The North continued to express regret that South Korea's military authorities have chosen "profane and confrontational language" to describe its act as "brutality," simply based on wild speculation without asking for its account of a "crackdown on an illegal intruder." Pyongyang's notice did not provide a detailed timeline of the finding and killing of Lee. Suh Hoon, South Korea's national security adviser, said in a Friday briefing that the government would continue investigating the differences in the two Koreas' accounts. Mugunghwa No. 10, a patrol ship boarded by the South Korean official who went missing on Monday and was shot dead by North Koreans the next day / Yonhap A commander in the Louisville Metro Police Department was relieved of her duties after she sent a derogatory email about antifa and Black Lives Matter to her colleagues. The email that was made public by a Louisville journalist was sent by Maj. Bridget Hallahan, reportedly in August, as protests continued over the deadly shooting of Breonna Taylor. Interim Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert Schroeder addressed the email during Friday's briefing on protests in the wake of the decision in the attorney general's criminal investigation. None of the officers were charged in the actual killing of Taylor during the March raid at her Louisville apartment. Screenshots of Hallahan's email made the rounds on social media Tuesday, a day before Attorney General Daniel Cameron's announcement. "I know it is hard to keep our thoughts and opinions to ourselves sometimes, especially when we, as a whole or as an individual, become the target of people in the public who criticize what we do without even knowing the facts," Hallahan wrote. Hallahan's email was mainly critical of antifa and members of the Black Lives Matter movement whom she said have "jumped on the bandwagon." Daily protests in the wake of Taylor's shooting have gone on for 120 days. Much of the demonstrations have centered downtown in the city's Jefferson Square Park. Hallahan's email then turns derogatory, telling her fellow officers that they have more character and moral in their "little pinky toe nails" than "these punks have in their entire body." Schroeder said he and the department were made aware of the email, saying the administration was still reviewing them. He said Hallahan acknowledged the email, calling it her own personal opinions that "do not represent the views of this department." "They will be the ones washing our cars, cashing us out at the Walmart, or living in their parents' basement playing (Call of Duty) for their entire life," Hallahan said in her email. Schroeder said that Hallahan was relieved of her commands at the Fifth Division, which includes the Highlands and surrounding neighborhoods. Hallahan took responsibility for sending the email and will retire at the end of the month, Schroeder said during his Friday briefing. Her email comes as the LMPD faces continued criticism from the public and Metro Council officials about their response to ongoing protests in Louisville. Community activists and organizations have called on Metro Government and LMPD officials to enact a series of reforms in the wake of the Taylor shooting. When it comes to the attorney general's investigation, the two other officers involved -- Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove -- were cleared of any wrongdoing and were found justified in the shooting at Taylor's apartment. Former officer Brett Hankison was indicted on three counts of wanton endangerment, but those charges stem from him opening fire and the shots going into a neighboring apartment. Click here to read more about the investigation. UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The Latest from the U.N. General Assembly (all times EDT): 8:15 p.m. The president of Africas most populous country, Nigeria, is calling for the "uninhibited supply of safe and effective coronavirus vaccines for all." African nations have been outspoken in seeking the equitable distribution of any COVID-19 vaccine, while watching anxiously as some of the worlds richest countries strike deals with pharmaceutical companies to secure millions of doses of potential vaccines. President Muhammadu Buhari warns that if the United Nations cant marshal an inclusive response to the pandemic, then it "would have failed in its core mission of giving expression, direction and solution to the yearnings of the international community." The U.N.s health agency, the World Health Organization, has said Africa should receive at least 220 million doses through an international effort to develop and distribute a vaccine known as COVAX. In this image made from UNTV video, Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria, speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at UN headquarters in New York. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (UNTV via AP) But Africas top public health official has said the continent needs at least 1.5 billion doses, enough to cover 60% of the population for "herd immunity" with the two likely required doses. ___ 6:55 p.m. Argentine President Alberto Fernandez is asking the world to think beyond creating a vaccine that will help end the coronavirus pandemic. In his prerecorded speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, he challenged leaders to use the health crisis as a moment of inflection to find solutions for other scourges as well. He says the world needs to "be capable of dreaming and creating a vaccine against social injustice, environmental destruction and discrimination." The center-left president also urged leaders to treat an eventual COVID-19 vaccine as a global public good accessible equitably to all countries. Fernandez said the planet is facing an "historic opportunity" to unite and that international cooperation "like we once knew how to do" is the only path forward. His call echoes that of other Latin American leaders pressing for more solidarity among nations that have largely faced the pandemic on their own. Argentina ranks 10th worldwide in the total number of COVID-19 cases. Some 640,000 have been diagnosed, and nearly 13,500 have died. ___ 5:40 p.m. As the worlds leaders gather remotely this year for the U.N. General Assembly, something else looks unusual: All of the speakers on the first day are men. As the schedule goes, it will take some 50 speakers before President Zuzana Caputova of Slovakia gives prerecorded remarks Wednesday afternoon. According to tradition, Brazil speaks first and the United States second at the U.N. gathering. After that, the world body says, "the speaking order is based on the level of representation, preference and other criteria such as geographic balance." Just two other women are set to speak Wednesday: Bolivias interim president, Jeanine Anez, and Simonetta Sommaruga, president of the Swiss Confederation. Incidentally, the U.N. has never had a female secretary-general, though a spirited campaign pressed for one ahead of the selection of current U.N. chief Antonio Guterres. ___ 5:10 p.m. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi used his speech to the U.N. General Assembly to call for reforms at the world body, including finding new ways for countries to adhere to its resolutions and expanding the Security Council to better represent African nations. In prerecorded remarks Tuesday, the leader of the Arab worlds most populous nation also slammed the international community for continuing to "turn a blind eye" to countries that support terrorism. While not naming any nation specifically, he accused countries of sending foreign fighters to neighboring Libya under the aim of "colonial illusions." In the past, El-Sissi has threatened military action against Turkish-backed forces in Libya. He again threatened to intervene to protect Egypts western border, warning that any breach "will be fiercely faced by Egypt in defense of its people." Libya has been plagued by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country is split west to east with its major cities controlled by rival governments. ___ 4:30 p.m. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has defended his drug crackdown and dismissed criticism from human rights advocates as he addressed the U.N.s annual gathering of world leaders for the first time. With the coronavirus taking a toll on the Philippines, the often brash Duterte struck a somewhat conciliatory tone about the organization hes often criticized and at times threatened to leave. Duterte said in a prerecorded video Tuesday for the U.N. General Assembly that "the Philippines values the role that the United Nations plays in its fight against the pandemic." He welcomed the U.N.s launch of a relief fund and called on the international community to ensure potential vaccines are accessible to all. He also expressed openness to "constructive engagement" with the U.N. Duterte often lashes out at what he decries as international meddling in Philippine domestic affairs. Western governments and human rights groups call it justifiable alarm about an anti-drug crusade thats left over 5,700 mostly poor suspects dead. ___ 4:05 p.m. Colombian President Ivan Duque is calling on the international community to reject Venezuelas plans to hold a legislative election in December. In a prerecorded speech for the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Duque called the vote a "manufactured orchestra" that "looks to legitimize the dictatorship." He also highlighted a recent U.N. Human Rights Council report accusing Nicolas Maduros government of committing crimes against humanity, including torture and killings blamed on security forces. U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on Venezuelans not to participate in the planned election to replace National Assembly lawmakers. Maduros government has taken over several prominent opposition parties and barred numerous anti-government leaders from running. The socialist Venezuelan leader is expected to address the U.N. gathering Wednesday. He is calling on the U.N. to send a mission to observe the vote. Though about 60 U.N. members back Guaido, the majority recognize Maduro. ___ 3:45 p.m. Frances president says the coronavirus pandemic should shock nations into working together - and resisting a world order dominated by the U.S. and China. Speaking Tuesday to the annual U.N. General Assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron decried the United Nations failure to vanquish the virus. In a video recording from Paris, he said, "No country will come out of this ordeal on its own." He says the pandemic should be an "an electric shock" to encourage more multilateral action. Otherwise the world will be "collectively condemned to a pas de deux" by the U.S. and China in which everyone else is "reduced to being nothing but the sorry spectators of a collective impotence." Macron also warned Russia to reveal what happened to opposition leader Alexey Navalny and called for a U.N. mission to the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims have been held in camps. ___ 11:50 a.m. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is the first world leader at the United Nations'' annual gathering to mention the Black Lives Matter movement. "As a country that has known too well the anguish of institutional racism, South Africa supports the demands for swift actions against racism" whether it be perpetrated by companies, states or others, he said in his pre-recorded message to the U.N. General Assembly. South Africa last year marked a quarter-century since the end of the racist system of apartheid, and Ramaphosa worked closely with Nelson Mandela, the countrys first Black president. South Africa remains one of the most unequal countries in the world. Like many African nations, it has not escaped the problem of police brutality. ___ 10 a.m. President Donald Trump says the United Nations must hold China "accountable" for failing to contain the coronavirus, which has killed about 200,000 Americans and nearly 1 million around the world. Trump is accusing China of not sharing timely information with the world on the new disease in a taped address to the virtually gathered United Nations General Assembly. Trump says: "The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions." Trump is also using his address to tout a pair of recent international accords he helped to broker- one between Kosovo and Serbia and the other between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Israel - as the United States "fulfilling our destiny as peacemaker." Trump has repeatedly used his appearances at the international gathering to oppose "globalization" and promote his "America First" foreign policy. His 2020 address is not different, as he admonished other nations that "only when you take care of your own citizens, will you find a true basis for cooperation." Member state flags fly outside the United Nations headquarters during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. This year's annual gathering of world leaders at U.N. headquarters will be almost entirely "virtual." Leaders have been asked to pre-record their speeches, which will be shown in the General Assembly chamber, where each of the 193 U.N. member nations are allowed to have one diplomat present. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) In this photo provided by the United Nations, President, Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani's pre-recorded message is played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (Manuel Elias/UN Photo via AP) In this image made from UNTV video, Alberto Fernandez, President of Argentina, speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at UN headquarters. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (UNTV via AP) In this image made from UNTV video, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, President of Egypt, speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters in New York. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (UNTV via AP) In this image made from UNTV video, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, president of the Philippines, speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at UN headquarters. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (UNTV via AP) In this image made from UNTV video, French President Emmanuel Macron speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at UN headquarters in New York. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (UNTV via AP) In this image made from UNTV video, Colombia President Ivan Duque Marquez speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at UN headquarters in New York. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (UNTV via AP) In this image made from UNTV, representatives of different countries listen to speakers during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters in New York. This year's annual gathering of world leaders at U.N. headquarters is almost entirely "virtual." Leaders have been asked to pre-record their speeches, which are being shown in the General Assembly chamber, where each of the 193 U.N. member nations are allowed to have one diplomat present. (UNTV via AP ) In this image made from UNTV, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters in New York. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (UNTV via AP ) In this image made from UNTV video, Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters in New York. The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (UNTV via AP) The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a school district can't be forced to pay more than $300,000 total to the victims or their families in the Parkland high school massacre that left 17 people dead and another 17 wounded. Justices unanimously sided with Broward County Public Schools, agreeing that the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was a single incident. The victims and their families had argued that each pull of the trigger was a separate occurrence for which the school district should be held liable and pay $200,000 for each plaintiff, the Miami Herald reports. Justices unanimously sided with Broward County Public Schools, agreeing that the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was a single incident After a trial judge agreed with the Broward County School Board, an appeals court asked the Supreme Court to answer the question of whether each victim represents a separate occurrence. There were 33 legal complaints faced by the school board that stemmed from the shooting at the time of the Supreme Court arguments, an attorney for the school board shared. Each victim or family in the Parkland shooting would receive an average of less than $9,000 Nikolas Cruz is awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges for the shooting and faces a possible death sentence State law caps government agencies liability in civil lawsuits at $200,000 per individual and $300,000 per incident. Each victim or family in the Parkland shooting would receive an average of less than $9,000. Parents could receive damages that exceed the overall cap, under the Supreme Court decision, but would have to convince the Legislature to pass 'claim' bills. These bills allow the Legislature to direct government agencies to pay more that what is allowed under sovereign-immunity law. Nikolas Cruz is awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges for the shooting and faces a possible death sentence. I personally feel its really important to have as many of the monitoring wells as possible because once (the contaminants) get out, they get onto other peoples property, Mayor Sue Lynch said during the meeting. There could be in the future even more monitoring wells in place because tracking those plumes is very important. Two parties - Congress and the NCP - of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi coalition have declared that they will not implement the farm laws which were passed amid huge protests in Parliament on Sunday. The Shiv Sena, whose chief minister Uddhav Thackeray heads the government, is yet to make its position public on the issue, though it has been criticising the central government over the bills. Deputy chief minister and Nationalist Congress leader Ajit Pawar said that the farm as well as the labour bills will not be implemented in the state. State revenue minister and Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat said that all ruling parties are against the newly enacted laws and the decision of not implementing them in the state will be taken collectively after due deliberation. The Congress and the NCP supported the nationwide protest by farmers to oppose the passage of three farm bills. Various farmer organisations like Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Lok Sangharsh Morcha held protest marches, blocked highways, burnt copies of the bills and formed human chains in at least 21 districts in Maharashtra on Friday to oppose the bills. The farmer organisations have announced to intensify the protest if the bills are not withdrawn by the central government. These bills were passed in the haste. We are studying the legalities of the bills. Have taken a call to not implement them in the state, said Ajit Pawar. His cabinet colleague Balasaheb Thorat also spoke against the bills. We have been opposing them tooth and nail. We will discuss the laws among us to take steps against their implementation in the state, said Thorat. The Shiv Sena has invited criticism by Maharashtra BJP leaders for its hypocritical stance of supporting the bills in the Lok Sabha and walking out in the Rajya Sabha. The issue will be discussed in the coordination committee of three parties. Our stand this time was similar to the one taken during the CAA debate in Parliament early this year. But on farm issues we would not support the bills and their implementation in Maharashtra. The stand will be clarified in due course, said a Sena functionary requesting anonymity. The Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, led by former MP Raju Shetti, burnt the copies of the bills in Kolhapur. Shetkari Sanghatana has always been against the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and our leader late Sharad Joshi used to call these committees abattoirs of the farmers. However we do not endorse the way the existing system of farm produce marketing is being thrashed out by the central government. This is nothing but an attempt of making farmers slaves in the hands of industrialists, Shetti said. He said that it is the step towards privatization of the Food Corporation of India and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed), who purchase about 30% of the farm produce. Ajit Nawale, general secretary, ABKS, said that the protests were held in 21 districts of the state by farmers. At least the farmers have some mechanism in place to market their produce at a reasonable price in the form of APMCs today. The bills passed in Parliament are the first step towards handing over farm marketing to a few industrial houses who will decide the prices of the produce. Though the Centre has been claiming these bills are a way to free farmers from the clutches of APMCs, the government has freed itself from the responsibilities of fair and remunerative prices to the farmers. In Maharashtra, the Fadnavis government had brought bills to regularise APMCs, but it could not set up an alternative mechanism to the APMCs to give farmers remunerative prices for their produce. It was a failed attempt, he said. Farmers from Thane, Palghar, Nashik held rasta roko on national highways, including Mumbai-Jaipur-Delhi. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress announced a programme to be implemented over next five weeks to oppose the farm bills. The party has announced to organise a drive #SpekaUpForFarmers on social media to garner support against bills, virtual farmer rally and gather signatures from 1 crore farmers opposing the bills. Senior Congress leader HK Patil, who has been recently appointed as Maharashtra Congress in-charge, said in a press conference in Mumbai, Under pressure from big industries, Modi government passed the farm and labour bills which will uproot and destroy farmers and workers in the country. The bills will bring back the feudal zamindari system in the country. The laws should be immediately repealed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Every Friday, The Citizen features a pet available for adoption from the Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York. This week, we spotlight Simba. AGE: 4-5 months old BREED: Domestic shorthair, orange tabby COMMENTS: Simba and his litter mates came to the shelter as tiny kittens. They were all in need of some intensive care, which they got and are now, and have been, looking for their new homes. They are all very sweet and would love just a little bit of extra room in which to run and play. Simba has been brought up to date on his vaccinations (feline kennel cough, rabies, distemper). He has been tested for FIV/FeLV and is negative. He was recently neutered. Simba is good to go whenever his new family finds him. He would love to take his brother (and roommate) Grayson with him. If you are looking to give a second chance to two kittens, they would be a perfect choice. Stop by to check them out! Q. Who is your best friend? A. That doesn't take much thought! My BFF is my brother and roommate, Grayson. He came here with me along with our other siblings after we were abandoned. Grayson and I room together, so we have a special bond. If possible, we would like to go home together and I'll bet that my shelter people would let that happen at a special adoption fee. Come by and check us out then talk to the nice ladies at the desk. They will be happy to help you, and us! Q. If you could visit any place in the world where would that be? A. Well, I think I would like to visit the beautiful continent of Africa. You know, I am named after Simba (Swahili for "lion"), from "The Lion King," and he lived in a place called the Pride Lands, which is in Africa. I think that might be a made-up place, but it wouldn't hurt to go on a safari and try to find it. I might be gone for a while. Q. How would you describe yourself? A. I am very cute, for starters. I am intense check out that gaze. And I am intensely lovable. I am very fond of people and I do get along with my roommates. I am also a neat and clean kind of guy. I try to keep my room as neat as possible, but sometimes Grayson messes me up. Finally, I am working on being regal. It's the right thing to do, since I am named after a king. Finger Lakes SPCA: Young cat Bentley was made for the showroom Every Friday, The Citizen features a pet available for adoption from the Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York. This week, we spotlight Bentley. Q. If you could have a job, what would that be? A. Here we go again. Last week, Bentley told you to dump this question, but you persist. I don't want a job. Well, I have a job, and that's being cute and irresistible. Doesn't do much to pay the rent and other kinds of things, but it might get me a new home. Please ask your readers if they have any suggestions for a replacement for this question. We are all tired of it! Q. Do you have an interesting fact to share today? A. I do! Last week, my buddy Bentley told you about Merlin the cat with the loudest purr on record. What he didn't tell you is that we cats have the power to sometimes heal ourselves by purring. This is true. A domestic cat's purr has a frequency of between 25 and 150 hertz, which happens to be the frequency at which muscles and bones best grow and repair. I believe this is a real fact. I read it in The Purrington Post! Q. Do you have any advice for our Citizen readers? A. I'm not sure if it's too early to talk about cold weather care for your pets, but I'm going to do it anyway. Please, good Citizen readers! Do not leave your dogs outside for any length of time during the upcoming cold and wintry days. If they are outdoors, please provide them with appropriate and adequate shelter, but that's good for only a short time. If you feed feral or stray cats, please provide some kind of shelter for them. I worry about all of the homeless cats in our community. Please be good to them. I got lucky and came here to my shelter home, otherwise Grayson and I could be out on the mean streets, too. Thank you and many kisses, licks and purrs, Simba and friends. The Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York is a New York state-registered shelter/rescue, registration No. RR-181. Pursuant to Article 26-A, Section 408 of the Agriculture and Markets Law, the registrant is authorized to operate as a registered pet rescue, in compliance with such law. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Scientists are planning for Phase 1 human trials of a vaccine they developed by using CRISPR gene-editing technology to mutate the parasite that causes leishmaniasis, a skin disease common in tropical regions of the world and gaining ground in the United States. In a series of animal studies, the vaccine protected mice against the disease - including mice with compromised immune systems and mice exposed to the parasite in the same way humans are, through the bite of infected sand flies. If you assure protection in the sand fly model, then you have a good shot at a real vaccine." Abhay Satoskar, Study Co-Lead Investigator and Professor, Pathology and Microbiology, The Ohio State University The team applied the new technology to the century-old Middle Eastern practice of leishmanization - deliberately introducing the live parasite to the skin to create a small infection that, once healed, leads to life-long immunity against further disease. "Live vaccines like that are the best vaccines, but there's a potential risk of causing serious disease in some people," Satoskar said. "We refined the concept using modern technology, making a parasite that does not cause clinical disease but allows for induction of immunity." The research was published recently in Nature Communications. An estimated 1.5 million new cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis, caused by the Leishmania major parasite, are diagnosed worldwide each year, primarily in tropical and subtropical regions of the world - but also in southern Texas. Leishmania in all of its forms is considered a neglected disease, mostly affecting populations in warm-weather developing countries - currently infecting about 12 million in all. But Satoskar noted that with global warming, it's only a matter of time until the southern United States is considered a subtropical region. "As the warmth moves up toward the United States, the disease will move up," he said. The standard treatment of more severe cases can be expensive, require multiple daily drug injections and cause unpleasant side effects, leading to poor patient compliance that allows parasites to develop resistance to the drugs. To develop the vaccine, the researchers set out to use CRISPR to edit the genome of Leishmania major. The precision technology enabled the researchers to delete centrin, the gene for a protein that supports the parasite's physical structure, as well as remove an antibiotic resistance marker gene that is needed to be introduced into the parasite for removal of the centrin gene. To cause infection, these parasites hijack immune cells and use those host cells to replicate indefinitely. The study showed that the mutant parasite lacking centrin can still find its way into cells and make copies of itself, but for only a limited amount of time and not at a pace that leads to clinical disease. "So we're essentially using leishmanization. CRISPR allowed us to do that," Satoskar said. "The parasites are unable to proliferate, so they die. But they persist in the body for eight or nine months, which is long enough to generate acquired immunity." Numerous studies in mice, including immune-deficient animals, showed the mutant parasites did not cause skin lesions, but natural parasites did. In additional experiments, vaccinated and unvaccinated mice were subjected to injections of live parasites and bites from infected sand flies seven weeks after their shots. Ten weeks later, most non-immunized mice developed large skin lesions, but only one vaccinated mouse developed a visible lesion. "The multiple animal tests also made sure the genome didn't revert back to normal," Satoskar said. "And we found that if a sand fly were to bite at the site of the vaccine and take mutated parasites into the wild, the parasites cannot survive. So it is environmentally safe." The international team of researchers from the United States, Japan, Canada and India is identifying partners to manufacture the vaccine, aiming to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial within two years. Satoskar said the vaccine is likely to cost less than $5 a dose - compared to the $100 to $200 cost for treatment in the hardest-hit countries. A much more severe form of the disease, visceral leishmaniasis, affects organs and is fatal if left untreated. The team has been using the same CRISPR technique to mutate the genome of the Leishmania donovani strain that causes visceral leishmaniasis, and preliminary data suggest a safe vaccine could be on the horizon. BRUSSELS, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Inside and Regulated information - Free condensed translation of the official French version [https://www.emakina.group/en-US/News/Press/fr_FR] -- H1 consolidated revenues +3%EUR 48,769,421 compared with EUR 47,425,059 for 2019 (identical at constant scope) -- H1 EBITDA +27%EUR 3,502,205 compared with EUR 2,750,789 for 2019 (% of total sales from 5,8% to 7,2%) -- H1 profit before taxes -10,5% EUR 455,285 compared with EUR 508,782 in 2019. The international expansion of Emakina Group [http://www.emakina.group/] (ALEMK: BBK) gathered pace in 2020. International income now accounts for 66% of the half-yearly consolidated income, compared with 62% during the same period last year. This trend is underpinned by the good business performance in Central Europe, Asia and the Netherlands, especially in e-commerce services. Emakina is now present in 16 countries on 3 continents and continues to invest in integration within its network. In a context heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the group moved up a gear in developing its e-commerce services, with the implementation of multiple online commerce platforms to enable clients to ensure their business continuity. Many new national and international clients chose an Emakina group agency as their partner. These include Aurep, Beaulieu, Bestseller, Bugaboo, Constellium, DGZ, Faces, Full Life, Givaudan, Goody, Hartlauer, Hudson, Joolz, Mise au Green, Rotra, Swedish Pension Office, Tory Burch, Union Mart, Visit Qatar, Yves Saint Laurent and Walibi. Emakina Group's management maintains its forecast of a single-figure impact on the consolidated annual income in 2020, given the volumes of work on projects in progress and the commercial indicators. High-performance video conferencing and online collaboration tools have made it possible to ensure the continuity and quality of services despite the lockdown. Emakina Group [http://www.emakina.group/] (ALEMK [https://www.euronext.com/en/products/equities/BE0003843605-A...]) is a leading independent digital agency group with global reach. Over 1,000technology and marketing experts in 16 countrieswork in concert with their clients to grow their business and brand value.Together, they gain the necessary user insights to develop highly effective strategies and creations. These include cutting-edge applications, websites, e-commerce projects, impactful content and campaigns. Emakina Group is listed on Euronext Growth Brussels (ISIN BE0003843605) and reported sales of EUR 96,6 million in 2019. www.emakina.group [http://www.emakina.group/] Read the full official release [https://www.emakina.group/en-US/News/Press/fr_FR] and the half-year report [https://www.emakina.group/en-US/InvestorRelations/RegulatedN...] Contact: Frederic Desonnay CFO Emakina Group fds@emakina.com[mailto:fds@emakina.com]+3224004000 The NATO Representation to Ukraine and the Kherson Regional State Administration will deepen cooperation on humanitarian projects. Head of the NATO Representation to Ukraine Alexander Vinnikov noted this during a briefing at the Kherson Regional State Administration on Thursday, talking about the establishment of cooperation with NATO, Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration, as well as the results of military exercises in Kherson region, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "Together with Mr. Husev [Chairman of the Kherson Regional State Administration Yuriy Husev], we considered the possibilities for further cooperation and the activities that we can jointly conduct. For example, we discussed the possibility of holding additional events to raise awareness among citizens about NATO and Euro-Atlantic integration, as well as the importance of cooperation between Ukraine and NATO," Vinnikov said. He added that programs to help servicemen and journalists are already being implemented in Kherson region. In addition, Husev and Vinnikov discussed deepening cooperation between Kherson region and the North Atlantic Alliance in the implementation of various humanitarian, educational and information projects. Husev also invited the head of the NATO Representation to Ukraine to visit Kherson region again, possibly in a few months, together with a new head of the NATO Information and Documentation Centre in Ukraine (NIDC), in order to plan joint projects between the Kherson Regional State Administration and the NATO Representation to Ukraine. ish BarcelonaSpains Public Prosecutors Office has launched a preliminary probe to gather information and shed light on the alleged strong-arm tactics used on the Supreme Courts deputy prosecutor, Luis Navajas, who claims that some colleagues tried to pressure him into accusing the Spanish government of mismanaging the covid health crisis. Sources within the Prosecutors Office have confirmed that much, following a recent statement on Spains Onda Cero radio by Navajas himself. The deputy prosecutor revealed that Consuelo Madrigal, Spains former Chief Public Prosecutor with the PP administration, and another Supreme Court prosecutor met him in his office last May intending to influence his report and to warn him that failing to prosecute the incumbent PSOE government would put a stain on his professional record. This preliminary investigation, which has only just begun, may ultimately lead to disciplinary measures. The backdrop of the story is Navajas refusal to endorse about twenty lawsuits against the Spanish government filed by associations, political parties and other conservative groups for crimes such as neglect of duty, manslaughter, inflicting bodily harm, failing to provide assistance and crimes against public safety and hygiene, all in the context of the covid-19 pandemic in Spain. Navajas was tasked with writing the indictment report for the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court and the 300 page document that he eventually produced advised the court to dismiss the lawsuits because there were no grounds whatsoever to claim that the Spanish government was liable for any crime. Current Print Subscribers will be prompted to either login to their current site user account or to create a new one. A confirmation email will be sent when a new user account is created, which must be confirmed within three days in order to provide uninterrupted online access through your Print Subscription. Once the email address is confirmed please provide your Account Number to activate your Print Subscription Service. By Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Colombia's largest unions lead protests on Monday against the social and economic policies of President Ivan Duque, seeking to revive mass demonstrations after recent incidents of police brutality in which 13 people died and hundreds were injured. Protesters rode to the labor ministry on bicycles, motorcycles and in cars decorated with green balloons and signs. The caravan was an attempt by demonstrators to comply with coronavirus restrictions which mandate face masks and ban large crowds. "I'm here to demand respect for life, respect of the rights of workers, an end to worsening police violence against protesters," said 38-year-old lawyer Diana Amezquita, as she waved a white flag outside the ministry. The death this month of a man detained and repeatedly stun-gunned by police lead to several nights of protests in the capital Bogota and satellite city Soacha. The deaths and injuries during the demonstrations stoked anger among some Colombians already distraught at mass murders and assassinations of human right activists. On Monday, Bogota's mayor Claudia Lopez said public transport would shut at 8 p.m. and encouraged people to return home as early as possible. Union and student leaders hope to rejuvenate widespread protests which took place in November and December last year. Isolated looting associated with the protests lead to the first curfew declarations in a generation in Bogota and Cali, but demonstrations fizzled ahead of the Christmas holidays. Earlier this year, the coronavirus pandemic stymied supporters of the protests, as more than 765,000 Colombians were infected and more than 24,000 died. The country gradually loosened lockdown measures between March and the end of August. The economy took a big hit from the lockdown. Urban unemployment surged to nearly 25% and the government predicts economic contraction of 5.5% this year. The downturn could galvanize protesters who believe potential pension and tax reforms will hurt workers. The government has not yet announced specific reform plans. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by David Gregorio) Main Content Goal 3: MCMs to Combat Influenza In addition to seasonal influenza, which causes 290,000-650,000 deaths worldwide annually, influenza viruses with pandemic potential are of global concern. Pandemic strains of influenza emerge unpredictably and can cause even more extensive morbidity and mortality than seasonal strains. Influenza vaccines limit morbidity and mortality; however, changes in circulating viruses require that vaccines be formulated and administered annually, and do not convey protection against emerging subtypes. On September 19, 2019, the White House issued Executive Order 13887 on Modernizing Influenza Vaccines in the United States to Promote National Security and Public Health. HHSthrough efforts across Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a component of ASPR; CDC; NIH; and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)has prioritized the development of rapidly available influenza vaccines that offer greater protection. This work is complex and requires cutting-edge science and an iterative, multi-year interagency process. For example, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is a component of NIH, leads HHSs work in developing a universal influenza vaccine that would eventually protect against all influenza viruses and launched the first clinical trial of a universal vaccine candidate. CDCs systems provide the scientific basis for vaccine virus selection for each years seasonal influenza vaccine, as well as for pandemic influenza vaccine stockpiling. In addition to vaccines, antiviral drugs are available for prophylaxis and treatment of influenza infection. The federal government supports research on anti-influenza therapies to reduce the human costs of seasonal influenza epidemics, to mitigate potential influenza pandemics before vaccines can be developed and made available, and to increase the publics access to antiviral drugs. To safeguard people in America from seasonal and pandemic influenza, HHS agencies have madeprogress in influenza treatment and prevention: NIAIDs Vaccine Research Center launched the first human clinical trial for a universal influenza vaccine candidate. FDA approved the first new influenza therapeutic with a novel mechanism of action in more than 20 years. BARDA supported two clinical trials of an influenza drug, which found that it reduced or prevented viral shedding and transmission among household members. CDC, in partnership with private hospitals and pharmacies nationwide, launched the website MedFinder to help people find pharmacies that have antiviral drugs available making it easier to know where to go to get your prescription filled. NIAID launched the Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers, a new network of multi-disciplinary research teams that will work together in a coordinated, focused effort to develop next generation influenza vaccines. Goal 3: Improving Emergency Public Health Capabilities A State-Level Example From 2016 through 2018, a large, multistate outbreak of hepatitis A swept the United States. Hepatitis A is a vaccine-preventable, contagious liver disease that is usually contracted by consuming contaminated food or water. By November 2018, Michigan alone had seen 907 cases, 728 hospitalizations, and 28 deaths. 7 To combat this outbreak, health department staff funded by CDCs Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) program worked with state communicable disease and immunization programs to decrease the amount of time to report new cases, conduct public health follow-up investigations, and provide public information. The immunization programs of local health departments increased vaccination outreach and, as of November 2018, provided more than 250,000 doses of hepatitis A vaccine in areas affected by the outbreak. To prepare for and support these activities, Michigan uses PHEP funds for a community health emergency coordination center, which enables coordination of efforts among multiple program areas across the department. When an emergency occurs, the pre-established relationships between preparedness staff and experts who provide services to high-risk populations allow more rapid response to incidents. All of these activities, made possible through years of building preparedness capacity and partnerships with program areas, have positive outcomes. Michigan, for example, has reported a consistent decline in the number of new cases each month since December 2017, demonstrating the utility of PHEP support across yet another response/public health event. Goal 3: Preparedness to Protect U.S. Citizens in the Event of a Highly Pathogenic Infectious Disease (HPID) Outbreak Led by the NSC staff, the Department of State (DOS), HHS, DHS, DOD, and the Department of Transportation coordinated the adoption of a Federal Aero-Medical Evacuation Notification protocol, identifying roles and responsibilities to coordinate evacuation of U.S. citizens and other specified individuals, who have been exposed to or infected by a HPID, to appropriate treatment facilities within the United States from both overseas and within the United States. The protocol addresses federal coordination with SLTT public health officials. In addition, DOS coordinates with DOD on acceptance of an upgraded Generation 2 Containerized Bio-Containment System to improve biosecurity and safety during the aeromedical evacuation of such patients and to mitigate the risk to responders from HPID outbreaks. DOD has also performed the first in-human testing of the now FDA-licensed vaccine used in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Ebola outbreaks, in which, as of 2019 more than 90,000 people have been vaccinated. DOD also performed significant numbers of preclinical/animal studies with Ebola virus to evaluate trial samples for this vaccine across the globe. Additionally, DOD implemented its Agile Medical Paradigm strategic framework to optimize MCM delivery by including policy and technology-based solutions to address the root causes of MCM development inefficiencies, as well as indicators for assessing solution execution progress. Overall, DODs investment and broad portfolio in global health and infectious disease research, including contributions to combating AMR, provided foundational information, infrastructure, and subject matter expert and partnership networks to rapidly respond to unanticipated biothreats and protect Americans from the dangers that these biothreats pose. Goal 3: Improving Preparedness, Response, and Recovery to Lessen the Impacts of Bioincidents in the Underground Transportation System (UTR) The EPA has a primary role in providing emergency response for natural, accidental, and intentional incidents. For certain bioincidents, EPA assists in determining the extent of contamination and risk-based cleanup levels, decontamination, and waste management, as seen following the attacks on 9/11. One week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, letters containing Bacillus anthracis spores, the bacterium that causes anthrax, were mailed to various locations throughout the United States. Response to the incidents and the resulting cleanup required cross-government efforts and illustrated a critical need for improved methods to lessen the impact of future bioterrorism incidents. If a bioincident occurred in a transportation hub, like a subway system, it would require fast and effective remediation to return to normal operations. To address this critical need, EPAs Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Consequence Management Advisory Division and Homeland Security Research Program collaborated with DHS on the UTR project, which involved multiple federal agencies and national laboratories.8, 9, 10 Figure 7: Sampling of a biological contaminant in a mock subway system The EPA led several lab-based studies to address capability gaps in sampling, decontamination, and waste management capabilities. This project culminated in the Operational Technology Demonstration conducted in a mock subway station and tunnel at the U.S. Army Fort A.P. Hills Asymmetric Warfare Training Center, which identified specific tools and tactics that would be essential for first responders and other national agencies if a subway system were contaminated and a response was required. Knowledge gained from the research and demonstrations enhance EPAs ability to assist EPA Regional On-scene Coordinators and SLTT decision makers in the preparation for and recovery from a bioterrorism incident. Decision support tools and methodologies created from this UTR project help improve the nations preparedness and capability to respond to a biological incident over a wide area. Figure 8: Decontamination of a mock subway station << Previous --------- Top of Page --------- Next >> A teenage killer who did a dance of death after stabbing a pupil on a bus to settle a school beef has been jailed for life at the Old Bailey today. Marvin Dyer, 16, plunged a combat knife through the heart and lungs of 15-year-old Baptista Adjei as revenge for jokes told about him on Snapchat. The killer boarded the 241 bus in Stratford, east London, after a friend on the top deck tipped him off that Baptista was about to get off. Wearing a balaclava and a single blue latex glove he confronted Baptista as he came down the stairs and stabbed him twice. Read Full Story .... dailymail.co.uk >>> : Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Kochi on Friday found a man from Kerala, Subahani Haja Moideen (34), guilty of waging war against a friendly country. His punishment will be announced on Monday. The man is said to have links with Islamic State and recently returned to the country. Legal experts said this is the first case wherein Section 125 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) - for waging a war against a friendly government - was invoked in a terror case in south India. Besides Section 125, Moideen was found guilty under various sections including 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). For the first time, a senior Indian Foreign Service official was also called as a witness in the case. Moideen was earlier questioned by French intelligence agencies in connection with the Paris attacks. While in Iraq, he told agencies that he worked with Abdel Hamid Abaaoud, a Belgian-Moroccan militant, who was the mastermind behind the November 2015 Paris attacks. The NIA had arrested him from Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu in 2016 where he was living discreetly after his return to the country. According to the prosecution, Moideen, who hails from a small town in Keralas Idukki district, had left for Jeddah in 2015 and later reached Turkey. Later he was taken to Syrian borders by his handlers before he was moved to Raqqa for an intense arms training. Also read: Bihar to vote on October 28, November 3, 7; results on November 10 After three weeks of training, he told investigators that he was sent to Mosul (Iraq) and enrolled in a team led by a French-speaking leader. During one of the attacks, he said he saw one his aides burned alive after which he fled the battle scene but was captured by other IS militants. He told the probe team that he was let off only after assuring the IS leadership that he will carry out terror activities in India. The prosecution said when he was arrested he was planning attacks against some judges and senior political leaders. According to the NIA, Moideen, belonging to a middle-class family, worked in a family-run cloth shop in Thodupuzha after dropping out from college. When he turned to drinking alcohol, his family forced him to marry. To wean him from alcohol, his wife later advised him to take up religious studies and he turned a small-time religious scholar. He told interrogators that he later was attracted to teachings of Anwar al Awlaki, one of the mentors of Al Qaeda, and started chatting with others through encrypted Telegram app and was soon radicalised. Before his trip to Iraq, he also participated in Kanakamala terror plot in Kannur in 2015. During the investigation, it was also found that after leaving IS-ruled areas, Moideen came to Turkey and gave a wrong affidavit in the Indian Embassy saying that his travel papers were stolen during a religious trip. The NIA got a whiff of him while it was investigating another IS-returnee from Maharashtra, Areeb Majeed, who is under judicial custody now. DETROIT Detroits last-standing chip manufacturer is 90 years old. Better Made Snack Foods is marking its 90th anniversary this year with a continued commitment to the city where it was founded, quality products and constant innovation to bring new flavors to customers, according to a company news release. The family-owned company was founded in 1930, as the Great Depression was taking hold on the nation. Founded by Cross Moceri and Peter Cipriano, it was initially named Cross and Peters Company. At the time, there were 20 chip manufacturers in Detroit. Better Made is the only one remaining. Weve tried to make the best product possible, and that hard work paid off as were the last one standing, said CEO Salvatore Cipriano, a descendant of one of the founders. Ive always said, were not trying to be the biggest, were trying to be the best. Better Made racked up new accolades this year when it took first place in Best Original Potato Chip and best Wavy Potato Chip from Kitchn, a U.S.-based online daily food magazine. The companys BBQ chips also won recognition when they were named the best BBQ-flavored Potato Chip in the United States by The Wonderful World of Chips & Crisps 2020, a UK-based publication. RELATED: Better Made chips win gold medals for two flavors in national snack competition Constant innovation resulting in several new product releases every year has also contributed to the companys longevity, the release said. So far in 2020, Better Made released jalapeno cheddar-flavored popcorn and peanut butter-filled pretzels and dill pickle chips - with more coming before the years end. Introducing the newest potato chip family member: Dill Pickle! We know you are going to love them! Posted by Better Made Snack Foods on Thursday, September 24, 2020 RELATED: 85 years and counting, Better Made keeps churning out chips in Detroit READ MORE: Pumpkin spice Kraft Mac and Cheese is actually a thing and its coming to the US Family Video closing, liquidating 20 stores across Michigan Michigan mom and son open Freakin' Pickles, a pickle palace for pickle connoisseurs Iconic Dublin General Store reopens with customer line out the door Northern Michigan downtown to get $2.5M event plaza with state help On average, Lok Sabha discussed a Bill for 1.5 hours, and Rajya Sabha discussed a Bill for just about an hour before passing it On Wednesday, the Parliament concluded its one of the shortest but most productive Monsoon Sessions in 20 years, as contentious bills were steamrolled through both houses while an indignant Opposition protested inside and outside Parliament. The Parliament passed as many as 25 Bills in the short monsoon session (excluding the appropriation bills), of which 17 were new legislations introduced during the same session. Both Houses had also cut out the Question Hour and only written replies were given to unstarred questions. The Question Hour is usually held during the first hour of the sitting where members can ask the government questions related to any department and the concerned ministers are obliged to reply. The Zero Hour, where members raise matters of urgent public importance or make special mentions, was curtailed to 30 minutes only. This is the space on the Parliament forum where MPs usually raise issues related to their constituencies. During the session, private members' business which is usually taken up on Friday evenings was done away with in both the Houses to save time. During private members' business, Bills brought by individual members (not necessarily from the Treasury benches) are introduced and debated. Most productive session in 20 years or 'murder of democracy'? The Lok Sabha could hold only 10 sittings as against the 18 planned, yet it clocked a 145 percent productivity while working over the weekend as well and sitting beyond midnight on two consecutive days during the session. The Rajya Sabha likewise reported a 99 percent productivity, in what was perhaps one of the stormiest sessions it has seen in recent years. During this session, while the Rajya Sabha met in the first half of the day, the Lok Sabha assembled at 3 pm. A total of 25 bills were passed in both Houses, while one draft law, the Major Port Authorities Bill, 2020 was passed in Lok Sabha on the last day but could not be taken up in the Upper House. However, the impressive productivity figures were in stark contrast to the atmosphere in the House and how the Opposition perceived it. For example, this was the first time in history that a no-confidence motion was brought in against the Deputy Chairman of the Upper House. The motion, however, was rejected by Chairman Venkaiah Naidu. Besides, more isn't always better. Productivity statistics are in essence a calculation of the number of hours the House functioned against the total working hours during the Session. But more bills being crammed into the tiny 10-day session also meant less deliberation and debate on matters of key public importance and policy reforms, many of which will upend status quo and impact citizens in a big way. On average, Lok Sabha discussed a Bill for 1.5 hours, and Rajya Sabha discussed a Bill for just about an hour before passing it, according to PRS Legislative. In the Monsoon session, 20 new Bills were introduced (excluding the Appropriation Bills). Of these, 17 Bills (85 percent of the introduced Bills) were passed within the same Session, which meant that Opposition MPs got that much lesser time to study those legislations and offer valid criticism of the government's proposals. A major bone of contention in the current session were three farm-sector bills that have now replaced ordinances promulgated earlier in the year. Read more about the key farm-sector bills here The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Law, The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Law and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Prices Assurance and Farm Services Bill, saw farmers' organisations blocking highways in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal, one of oldest National Democratic Alliance ally exited the government over the issue. But the government impelled the legislations in both houses the same day they were introduced. Lok Sabha discussed and passed the three labour codes within a total duration of three hours, and Rajya Sabha did so in 1 hour 45 minutes. In Lok Sabha, where the government enjoys a brute majority, the bill was passed by a voice vote despite appeals from various Opposition MPs to refer the bills to a Standing Committee. Rajya Sabha, where the distribution between Treasury and Opposition benches is more equal, witnessed bedlam as two of the three bills were introduced on Sunday; but the bills were passed nonetheless by a voice vote amid unprecedented drama. The telecast of proceedings was put on mute on the Chair's instructions. The opposition cried murder as demand for division of votes (or a physical vote) was denied despite the long-standing tradition that the Chair obliges even if a single MP challenges its verdict on a voice vote. The pretext for the decision was that the House was not in order. Soon after the decision, agitated Opposition MPs rushed to the Well, attempted to tear up the rule book and tried to snatch the Deputy Chairman's microphone. Eight MPs were suspended for "unruly behaviour" following the ruckus. Read more about Sunday's proceedings here Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien termed the events 'murder of democracy' while the Congress insisted the day would be marked as a 'black day' in history of Indian democracy. They cheated. They broke every rule in Parliament. It was a historic day. In the worst sense of the word. They cut RSTV feed so the country couldn't see. They censored RSTV. Dont spread propaganda. We have evidence. But first watch this pic.twitter.com/y4Nh9Vu9DA Derek O'Brien | ' (@derekobrienmp) September 20, 2020 "Suspension won't silence us. We will stand with farmers in their fight. Deputy chairman throttled parliamentary procedures yesterday. Suspension of MPs exposed the coward face of the BJP. People will see through the attempt to divert attention from their undemocratic actions," said CPM MP Elamaram Kareem, who is among those suspended. Opposition parties like the Congress, CPIM, Shiv Sena, JDS, TMC, CPI, and the Samajwadi Party held a protest on the Parliament premises with placards that read "Murder of Democracy", "Death of Parliament" and "Shame, shame". Here are the 7 reasons why the Congress and like-minded parties are boycotting rest of the Monsoon session of Rajya Sabha: pic.twitter.com/PsfGtnXqGc Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 22, 2020 The Opposition insists that a physical vote was avoided because the government knew it did not have the numbers in the Upper House to pass the bills. O'Brien claimed to have proof of the 'cheating' in the Upper House. However, there exists an alternative theory to the Opposition's behaviour in the Upper House. An India Today article suggests there may have been a "method to the madness" that ensued in the Upper House. The article cited the Rajya Sabha's attendance diary and the various political parties' stated positions to conclude that the government could have had more numbers than the Opposition in Rajya Sabha. The reasons for this varied from fence-sitters among the Opposition ranks to absentee MPs who were avoiding Parliament due to old age or COVID-19. Nonetheless, if such were the case, the number crunchers in the Opposition benches surely must have realised that too and hence they orchestrated the chaos to ensure a physical vote could not be conducted. So, the bedlam, in essence, served more than one political purposes in the House of Elders. For the Opposition, the pandemonium ensured that their numerical weakness is not exposed, while the government not only passed the bill but also scored a political point as the dramatic visuals of the Opposition MPs jostling the Chair may not be easily forgotten by the public. The fence-sitters, meanwhile, were the biggest gainers as they escaped a vote which would have definitely demystified their stance to the public and robbed them of the opportunity to play on both sides. The India Today article quoted above also mentioned that Opposition MPs introduced three dozen-odd amendments to the Bills but the Opposition did not even move more than 30 of these amendments. If the Opposition had the strength and the will, the better route would have been to remain seated in their places and force the Chair to hold a physical vote for each of those amendments. In the best-case scenario, some of these could have stuck with the third front's support and changed the bill for the better. In the worst case, the Opposition would have tested the government's strength every step of the way on contentious legislation. Instead, it played into the government's hands by boycotting the Session, when other big-ticket reforms were still pending for discussion. The Opposition's boycott ensured that the passage of another controversial reform, the three labour code bills, was a smooth sail for the government. In total, the Rajya Sabha passed 15 bills in the last two sittings, and seven of these were passed just on the last day within three hours. Monsoon Session highlights a withering trend of sending bills for expert review under Modi govt Away from the public eye and the drama around Opposition boycott, a more subtle point that went under-reported was the government's reluctance to allow further scrutiny of the bills through Parliamentary Standing Committees. "Parliamentary Committees are basically miniature parliaments in themselves, comprising members across party lines from both the Houses. But they are so much more committees can call for and examine witnesses, look into the minutiae of an issue, and give detailed recommendations, but most important, they allow a member to speak her mind on an issue without the need to toe the party line," according to an article in Hindustan Times. According to PRS Legislative, no bill was referred to a standing committee in the Monsoon Session. In fact in the 17th Lok Sabha, so far only 10 percent of the introduced Bills have been referred to a committee even when the list entailed contentious issues like amendment to RTI and UAPA acts, labour code and farm sector reforms. The Narendra Modi-lead NDA's record was equally abysmal in the 16th Lok Sabha when only 27 percent of the Bills were sent to the standing committee. The UPA, by contrast, sent 60 percent bills for review in the 14th Lok Sabha and 71 percent bills in the 15th Lok Sabha. This seems to be a direct result of a majoritarian government ruling the country. Heavy-duty reforms can be pushed through easily, with or without the Opposition's support and with little scrutiny. The BJP does not even need its own allies in the Lok Sabha to power through a bill, which grants it the imperium to pass all money bills without hiccups. Consensus-building among parties, an important function in Parliamentary democracies, has lost its currency. Even though the report of these committees are not binding on the Centre, for a majoritarian government, the scrutiny and time involved in referring bills to a committee may seem both tedious and disadvantageous. But a trend to completely bypass that procedure is inimical to the health of democracy, especially in important matters where threadbare discussion is simply not possible on the floor of the House. No Question Hour The Lok Sabha website describes the Question Hour, as an important parliamentary tradition that allows the government to sense the pulse of the nation. "Questions enable Ministries to gauge the popular reaction to their policy and administration. Questions bring to the notice of the Ministers many loopholes which otherwise would have gone unnoticed. Sometimes questions may lead to the appointment of a Commission, a Court of Enquiry or even Legislation when matters raised by Members are grave enough to agitate the public mind and are of wide public importance Executive accountability to the legislature is enforced through questions in Parliament," the Lok Sabha website states. It is also deemed as a way to enforce the Executive's accountability to the legislature. However, this year, citing paucity of time, the Centre decided to do away with the tradition completely. Needless to say, the move drew criticism from Opposition MPs who have time and again accused the government of stomping on the Parliamentary traditions. Trinamool Congress MP and Floor Leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien said Opposition MPs will lose the right to question the government. "Pandemic an excuse to murder democracy," he said in a tweet while alleging that the government did not even give the MPs enough time to draft pertinent questions. MPs required to submit Qs for Question Hour in #Parliament 15 days in advance. Session starts 14 Sept. So Q Hour cancelled ? Oppn MPs lose right to Q govt. A first since 1950 ? Parliament overall working hours remain same so why cancel Q Hour?Pandemic excuse to murder democracy Derek O'Brien | ' (@derekobrienmp) September 2, 2020 Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, "I said four months ago that strongmen leaders would use the excuse of the pandemic to stifle democracy and dissent. The notification for the delayed Parliament Session blandly announces there will be no Question Hour. How can this be justified in the name of keeping us safe? Questioning the government is the oxygen of parliamentary democracy. This government seeks to reduce Parliament to a noticeboard and uses its crushing majority as a rubber-stamp for whatever it wants to pass. The one mechanism to promote accountability has now been done away with." DMK MP Kanimozhi said, "The BJP government's decision to suspend the Question Hour for an entire session conveys just one message 'Even elected representatives have no right to question the government'." With inputs from PRS Legislative Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The global aircraft health monitoring system market size is anticipated to reach USD 7.55 billion by 2026, according to a new research published by Polaris Market Research. In 2017, the hardware segment dominated the global aircraft health monitoring system (AHMS) industry, in terms of revenue. North America accounted for the majority share in the global market in 2017. The increasing government regulations regarding safety, along with growing instances of aviation accidents majorly drive the market growth. The increasing volume of air traffic and rising safety concerns, especially from the defense sector, have increased the demand for real-time fault management, predictive maintenance, performance monitoring, thereby supporting the growth of Aircraft health monitoring system industry. Other factors driving the market growth include growing adoption of connected aircraft solutions, growing need of automation and reduction in operation costs, technological advancements, and increasing adoption of IOT. New emerging markets, upgradation and replacement of old aircraft with new generation aircrafts, and significant investments in research and development would provide numerous growth opportunities in the aircraft health monitoring system industry during the forecast period. Get Sample Copy : https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/aircraft-health-monitoring-systems-market/request-for-sample The well-known companies profiled in the aircraft health monitoring systems report include Rolls-Royce plc, Airbus S.A.S., Rockwell Collins, Ultra Electronics Holdings PLC, Boeing Company, Honeywell International Inc., General Electric Company, RSL Electronics Ltd., Meggitt PLC, and Lufthansa Technik. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers. The aircraft health monitoring system is a collection of various tools and techniques which work together to monitor the lifecycle of the aircraft parts. This technology is also able to predict when a particular part or process might fail. Over-heating of engines, high vibrations, low oil pressure, hard landings are some examples of situations that require investigation and attendance. The technology enables proactive maintenance of the aircraft along with its engine and other intricate parts. North America is expected to dominate the global Aircraft health monitoring system market during the forecast period. This is due to rising number of commercial aircrafts and increasing air traffic in the region. Increasing safety concerns, and growing demand for safe travel experience boosts the aircraft health monitoring system industry growth in the region. Presence of global players in this region taps market potential and boosts the market growth. Increasing technological advancements and significant investments in research and development for development of advanced aircraft health monitoring solutions support the market growth in this region. The government regulations regarding aircraft safety, increasing adoption of connected aircraft solutions, and upgradation of old aircrafts further supports aircraft health monitoring solutions market growth. Discount Offer : https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/aircraft-health-monitoring-systems-market/request-for-discount-pricing V K Sasikala: File photo Almost four years ago, the visuals of VK Sasikala, close aide of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, thumping at the grave of her close friend thrice, in a dramatic manner were beamed repeatedly by television channels. There were different interpretations to the theatrics she enacted before setting off for jail in Bengaluru, where she is currently serving time in a case of amassing wealth beyond her known sources of income. As her release from prison is expected any day now, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagams (AIADMKs) top brass, including Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and party co-ordinator O Panneerselvam, are waiting to find the real meaning of her actions then, and whether the intensity of her emotions retain the same vigour, since much water has flown down the Cauvery since then. Sasikalas lawyers say she can walk free by the end of September, or the beginning of October. According to the answer to an RTI query, she would be released on January 27, provided she pays a fine of Rs 10 crore as per the judgment against her. While her supporters who are part of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), a party formed by her nephew TTV Dhinakaran, assert that she would bring the AIADMK back to her control, there are people within the ruling party, such as former MP Anwar Raja, who openly say that her comeback will transform Tamil Nadu politics. Barring the lone voice of a minister, the reaction to the speculations and assertions is muted and none of the top leaders of the AIADMK are ready to rule out her re-entry into the party which unanimously elected her as the general secretary, a few weeks before her imprisonment. The AIADMKs executive meeting on September 28 and the general council later is likely to discuss more on Sasikalas re-entry. To a pointed question to Palaniswami on September 21 on whether Sasikala will be re-admitted into the AIADMK, he cautiously said As of now, the question does not arise, implying that her re-entry will be considered at the right time. Palaniswamis careful reply is a subtle reminder of his gratefulness to Chinnamma, who made him the Chief Minister, ensuring an AIADMK majority through the Koovathur resort politics. In fact, Palaniswami has never spoken a word against Sasikala, even though he had lashed out at Dhinakaran a few times. However, it is doubtful if Palaniswami will be ready to hand over the reins of power fully to Chinnamma and restore the status quo before her imprisonment. He is not the same man which he used to be bowing respectfully with folded hands before Sasikala four years ago. He has faced numerous challenges, remained in power for four years and has his own followers reverently calling him EPS. Palaniswami has made known his ambitions of becoming the AIADMKs chief ministerial candidate for the 2021 assembly elections. However, he may not be against the idea of giving the partys control to Sasikala, if such a deal helps him to overcome the challenge of Panneerselvam who stands in his way of becoming CM again. However, the place of Dhinakaran, who has stood by Sasikala when ministers and AIADMK leaders deserted her, must be decided in such an arrangement. Dhinakaran has refused to accept Palaniswami as the Chief Minister or the party leader so far and wants the AIADMK to return to Sasikalas control unconditionally. Panneerselvam, known to switch his loyalties in the past, too has the option of coming to an understanding with Sasikala to win his battle against Palaniswami. Since, his position in the party and government is weak, he may be willing to accept Sasikala or even Dhinakaran as his leader. After all, it was Sasikala who made Panneerselvam the Chief Minister in 2001, when Jayalalithaa had to resign following a Supreme Court verdict. Panneerselvam was a first time legislator then. However, it is doubtful if Sasikala or Dhinakaran, who consider Panneerselvam as a traitor, will accept his olive branch. The major hurdle for Sasikala will be the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership which does not want her to come back into the AIADMK since it feels that she cannot be controlled like Palaniswami or Panneerselvam. It is expected to use everything in its armoury to stop her from meddling in AIADMK affairs. She has supporters like Subramanian Swamy in the BJP. It is to be seen if Sasikala has the shrewdness and sagacity to defeat the saffron partys game plan or work out a patch up to re-enter the AIADMK. Attorneys for a Montana real estate agent are eyeing the assets of a neo-Nazi website operator to collect a $14 million court judgment against the man for an anti-Semitic online troll storm that he orchestrated against the Jewish woman and her family, court filings show. More than a year has passed since a federal judge in Montana entered a default judgment against Andrew Anglin, the Daily Stormers founder and publisher. Plaintiffs lawyers say the Ohio native has failed to pay any of the monetary award to Tanya Gersh. Gershs attorneys from the Southern Poverty Law Center say they intend to identify any of Anglins assets that could be used to satisfy the judgment. Trying to seize Anglins assets will be time-consuming and extremely complex given his lack of cooperation and history of holding assets in cryptocurrency rather than more traditional forms, law center lawyers wrote in a filing last month. In August 2019, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ordered Anglin to pay $4 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages to Gersh. The judge also ordered Anglin to permanently remove from his website the posts in which he encouraged readers to contact Gersh and her family. Anglin eventually complied with that part of the judges order, according to Gershs lawyers. Other targets of Anglins online harassment campaigns also secured default judgments against him after he failed to respond to their respective lawsuits. In June 2019, a federal judge in Ohio awarded $4.1 million in damages to Muslim-American radio host Dean Obeidallah, who filed a libel lawsuit against Anglin for falsely accusing him of terrorism. Obeidallah said he received death threats after Anglin published an article that tricked readers into believing he took responsibility for the May 2017 terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert Muslim Advocates staff attorney Matt Callahan said the group, which represents Obeidallah, remains dedicated to collecting the judgment and holding Anglin accountable. Mr. Anglin cannot hide forever from the consequences of his false and hateful statements, Callahan said in a statement. In August 2019, a federal judge in Washington entered another default judgment against Anglin and awarded just over $600,000 in compensatory and punitive damages to the first Black woman to serve as American Universitys student government president. Taylor Dumpsons lawsuit said Anglin directed his readers to troll storm her after someone hung bananas with hateful messages from nooses on the universitys campus a day after her May 2017 inauguration as student government president. Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law executive director Kristen Clarke, whose organization represents Dumpson, said they are working closely with the Alabama-based SPLC and others to collect on the judgments. Collection of these judgments is a critical part of our ongoing work to confront and diminish the footprint of white supremacy in our country, Clarke said in a statement. Anglin and some other defendants also face a possible default judgment in a federal lawsuit filed in Virginia by victims of violence that erupted at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. The judge presiding over the case, which is set for trial next year against several other far-right extremist groups and rally organizers, hasnt settled on an amount of money for Anglin or the others to pay. We are prepared to follow these defendants around for the rest of their lives to collect on these judgments. That includes seizing any assets, putting liens on their homes, garnishing wages, said Integrity First for America executive director Amy Spitalnick, whose civil rights group is backing the Charlottesville lawsuit. Anglins whereabouts have been a mystery, although he has claimed to be living outside the U.S. The federal court in Montana entered a default order against Anglin after he failed to appear for his scheduled deposition by Gershs attorneys. At the time, Anglin claimed it was too dangerous for him to travel to the U.S. Anglins site takes its name from Der Sturmer, a newspaper that published Nazi propaganda. The site includes sections called Jewish Problem and Race War. For months, the site struggled to stay online after Anglin published a post mocking the woman who was killed when a man plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville three years ago. In the lawsuit she filed in Montana against Anglin in April 2017, Gersh says anonymous internet trolls bombarded her family with hateful and threatening messages after Anglin published their personal information, including a photo of her young son. In a string of posts, Anglin accused Gersh and other Jewish residents of Whitefish, Montana, of engaging in an extortion racket against the mother of white nationalist Richard Spencer. Gersh says she had agreed to help Spencers mother sell commercial property she owns in Whitefish amid talk of a protest outside the building. Sherry Spencer, however, later accused Gersh of threatening and harassing her into agreeing to sell the property Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 15:58 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c473bc15 1 City anies-baswedan,COVID-19,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,COVID-19-Jakarta,#COVID19,Jakarta-administration,coronavirus,capital-city Free As the Jakarta administration extends large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) for another two weeks, Governor Anies Baswedan has claimed that without the policy, the capital city would see 20,000 active COVID-19 cases by November. "Without stricter restrictions and with the current testing rate, we estimate that Jakarta would see 2,000 daily new cases by mid-October and 20,000 active cases by November," Anies said in a statement on Thursday, as reported by kompas.com. Anies previously said the capital had seen a decline in active cases since it reimposed strict PSBB on Sept. 14. In the first 12 days of September, he said, Jakarta had recorded a 49 percent spike in new COVID-19 cases 3,864 additional patients In the 12 days after the implementation of strict PSBB, the city managed to bring down the growth to 12 percent 1,453 additional cases. "The fatality rate has also decreased to 2.5 percent. However, despite the decline, we still saw a high number of new cases [in the capital]," he said. With the extension, strict PSBB will last until Oct. 11. Anies said flattening the curve was not the final goal of PSBB. The policy ultimately sought to end COVID-19 transmission altogether, he added. Read also: Gravediggers under strain as COVID-19 burials surge in Jakarta He expressed hope that Jakartans would limit activities outside of their homes to curb the spread of the virus. "We need to work together to cut off chains of COVID-19 transmission. The government needs to improve its testing, tracing and treatment, while residents need to stay at home as much as possible and follow health protocols," the governor said. In addition to the rising trend of new confirmed cases, Jakarta, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia, has also seen clusters in novel places. Epidemiologist Dewi Nur Aisyah, a member of the national COVID-19 task forces expert team, said authorities had recently found new transmission clusters. "Some new types of COVID-19 clusters have appeared from places with high transmission risk, such as hotels, Islamic boarding schools, night clubs and wedding receptions," Dewi said on Wednesday. The task force found three new cases from the Sari Pacific hotel in Central Jakarta, 20 new cases from two wedding receptions in Kebon Pala and Penggilingan and four new cases from Minhajjurrosyidin Islamic Boarding School in Cipayung. Dewi added that authorities had found six new cases from nightclubs and five new cases from a cooking competition celebrating Indonesia's Independence Day in August. (nal) Egypts Alexandria Shipyard Company officially announced the start of the implementation of a contract for the local manufacturing of the first Egyptian Meko A-200EN class frigate next year. On Sept. 17, the company stated on its official website that the frigate has a displacement capacity of 3,400 tons, with a length of 118 meters (387 feet), a beam of 14.8 meters (48.5 feet), a draught of 4.3 meters (14 feet) and a maximum speed up to 32 knots. The company said that it will built the frigate in cooperation with the German naval shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), as per the contract signed between the two sides, which also stipulates that the Egyptian naval force would acquire four Meko A-200EN frigates. In April 2019, the German parliament approved the sale of four frigates of the same type to Egypt, including one that was to be built locally. In November 2018, Germany and Egypt had signed a 2.3 billion euro (about $2.7 billion) deal to initially provide the Egyptian navy with six Meko A-200EN frigates, which was later amended to four frigates. Gamil Afifi, an expert on military affairs and managing editor at the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, said that the local manufacturing of a frigate is a quantum leap for the Egyptian navy. He noted that this frigate is part of a contract concluded between Egypt and the German TKMS, with the support of the German federal government, for the procurement of four frigates of Meko-A200 class. In 2019, Egypt ranked as the largest importer of German arms among the Arab countries, with imports worth 802 million euros (about $934 million). The Meko-A200 frigate is a German multi-tasking frigate of medium displacement and heavy armament. It can accommodate 50 members of the navy forces. It can be in the water before it needs to be replenished for 28 days. The warship is capable of deterring attacks by enemy vessels. Egypt is now facing an irregular terrorist war, in which ships are being used to transport terrorists from one country to another, and are being secured by the intelligence of major countries at sea, Afifi told Al-Monitor. Over the past five years, the Egyptian navy has been comprehensively developing its weapons systems by acquiring arms since 2015, the latest of which was the S-43 attack submarine acquired from Germany in May. The Middle East region is on the verge of explosion. There are threats from all strategic directions. Egypt has a large maritime zone in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. It also plays a major role in securing the Mediterranean given the war going on in the western part of Libya. There are no naval forces or border guards in Libya able to control the situation, Afifi explained. According to the Global Firepower Index for the global military strength ranking, Egypt ranked among the 10 most powerful armies for the year 2020, going up from last years 12th position to the 9th. At the regional level, it went from the second to the first place. Thus, the Egyptian army has surpassed large armies in the world, including the Turkish army, which fell from the 9th to the 11th place at the global level, and ranked first in the Middle East, according to Global Firepower. The Egyptian army also topped the Iranian army, which came in 14th and the Israeli army, which ranked 18 in the 2020 index. Global Firepower bases its assessment of more than 50 armies around the world on manpower, air power, land forces, naval forces, natural resources, logistics, financials and geography. According to the detailed assessment, the Egyptian armys strength lies mainly in the large number of its land forces, with 920,000 soldiers, 440,000 of whom are on active duty. The Egyptian army also had high scores in other classifications such as the strength of tanks, the number of armored vehicles, the number of self-artillery weapons and missile bases. At the naval level, the Egyptian army received a high score for the power of its naval mines, which came second in the world. Egypt ranked third at the global level for the power of its aircraft carriers. Rear Adm. Ahmed Mohamed al-Sadiq, former head of the Port Said Port Authority, told Al-Monitor that the Egyptian armed forces current policy is to diversify its sources of weapons, as part of efforts to counter any security chaos, whether inside Egypt or outside its borders. The first challenge lies in the ongoing unrest in the Sinai Peninsula, where the Egyptian army is trying to keep things under control. The situation in Sinai is an important factor to determine the size and the type of weapons [the government] needs, Sadiq said. At the regional level, Libya is seen as Egypts backyard. The unrest and security chaos in next-door Libya are sources of military and security concern for Egypt. As long as there are no peaceful solutions in the offing, Egypt will continue to fear that violence might spill over into its western borders, he added. Sadiq further explained that Egypt has been developing its armament to confront any threats of this kind, and to defend its economic interests in the Mediterranean, including the Zohr gas field among others. He added that Egypt also faces another threat, which is the illegal immigration that poses a danger to the northern Mediterranean countries, as well as drugs smuggling. In May, Egypt announced a plan to boost the local manufacturing of weapons to strengthen the capacities of its army and with the ultimate aim to export them to Africa. On Feb. 17, Egypt inaugurated the Abu Zaabal Company for Specialized Industries, also known as Military Factory 300, which represents a huge breakthrough in military capabilities, with state-of-the-art technologies and production lines that fully rely on electronic control for design modification. The factory also produces individual weapons and high-quality ammunition. - Learners could go back to school between October 4 and 19 depending on how fast teachers will prepare learning institutions - The Teachers Service Commission recently asked teachers to report to work on September 28 ahead of reopening of schools - A sample survey by Kenyans saw Kenyans on social media list a number of reasons either to support of oppose resumption of physical learning PAY ATTENTION: Click 'See First' under 'Follow' Tab to see Tuko.co.ke news on your FB feed Kenyans have expressed their reservations concerning the government plans to reopening of learning institutions later in October. A sample survey by Kenyans saw Kenyans on social media list a number of reasons why they thought the resumption of physical learning was either for the good or bad. READ ALSO: Huduma Namba: Govt tells off Ruto allies over claims it plans to steal 2022 election using biometric data Education CS Magoha inside an exam room during the 2019 national exams. Schools may reopening between October 4 and 19 Photo: Ministry of Education. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Nairobi: Woman dies after spending night at lodging with husband's brother The reasons ranged from safety of students and teachers to availability of school fees owing to economic impacts of coronavirus in Kenya. "Leave alone reopening of schools. Teachers going to school on Monday. Did anyone consider the transport fee from where they are living to school? Its not like they camped in school since the closing. They also went to their various homes," stated Alfred Molina. Whereas they were those who welcomed the Education Ministry's directive, others pointed out the country was ill-prepared to handle a surge in COVID-19 cases thus should go slow on reopening. READ ALSO: Wavinya Ndeti pens emotional message to late husband: "My love is still strong" TSC boss Nancy Macharia asked teachers to report to work on September 28. Photo: Citizen TV. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Coronavirus: 13 more people succumb to disease, 218 test positive "I don't support the reopening of the school because children are not safe at all,,, there's no way a pupil will kip social distancing. no enough learning material more so during class assignment how will they do it?" added Ben Firstyear. Others on the other hand said the school environment could be safer to learners based on belief that teachers play a big role in developing a good character out of a students. "Yes, why not?? There is a big evidence that teachers play big role to develop good character to our young girls and boys things are getting worse let these children to go back to school," noted David Kubasu. Here are some of the reactions as sampled by TUKO.co.ke on Friday, September 23. It emerged that learners could go back to school between October 4 and 19 depending on how fast teachers will prepare learning institutions. The Teachers Service Commission recently asked teachers to report to work on September 28 ahead of resumption of learning. In a press briefing on Monday, September 21, the commission's boss Nancy Macharia encouraged teachers who are ready to start reporting to work any time. "I want to ask teachers to report to work as from September 28. I believe our teachers are ready and can start even reporting from today," she said. Help us change more lives, join TUKO.co.kes Patreon programme. My mother abandoned me with two holes in my heart - Baby Petra's story | Tuko TV. Source: TUKO.co.ke New York, US (PANA) - President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger on Thursday addressed the general debate of the UN General Assemblys 75th session stressing that only international action can restore security in the strife-torn African regions of the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, and expressed serious concern about the situation in Mali Saleh, who died in 2014 athe age of 50, was one of Egypt's most respected actors of his generation, with an impressive list of cinema and television productions under his belt 25 September marks the sixth anniversary of the passing of the renowned Egyptian actor Khaled Saleh who died at the age of 50 in 2014 from complications of open heart surgery at the Magdy Yacoub Facility in Aswan. Born in Giza on 23 January 1964, Saleh was one of Egypt's most respected actors of his generation, with an impressive list of cinema and television productions under his belt. During his law studies, he participated in several university theatre performances. Upon the opening of Hanager Theatre in the 1990s at the Cairo Opera House grounds he joined independent and amateur theatre troupes at the venue. Saleh was cast in several roles during this time, including his first main role in a theatre play Ehtefal Khas Ala Sharaf El A'ela (1992), written by Sayed Haggag, which brought much attention to his unique acting skills. After continuing for several years to take part in theatrical performances, film directors started noticing his skills and potential for cinema and that was when his film career began. Saleh's first cinematic appearance was in 1999 in the film Gamal Abdel-Nasser directed by Anwar El-Quadry where he played an intelligence officer. During the same year, he also appeared in the television production Om Kalthoum, which received a wide following during Ramadan. His cinema career took off in the early 2000s through his roles as a villain or tyrant in films such as Malaki Eskendereya and Tito. During this time, he was performing supporting roles in up to four films a year, working in a variety of genres from comedy to drama and romantic comedies. His role in Tarek El-Eryan's Tito, with Ahmed El-Saqqa, was considered the real launching point of his cinematic career. The film was one of the highest grossing films in Egyptian cinema history and Saleh was awarded the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Egyptian National Theatre Festival in 2005. Some of his other most memorable performances in cinema include the role of a corrupt government official in the 2006 adaptation of Alaa Al-Aswany's The Yacoubian Building, and a corrupt police officer in Youssef Chahine's last feature film, Heya Fawda. Besides cinema, his television career was also thriving, with almost yearly performances. In 2009 he won the Best Actor Award for his role in the television series Tager El-Saada at the General Media Festival. His most important roles in television include Al-Rayan, with director Khaled Youssef, and Faroan (The Pharaoh). Saleh was known for his charitable work with Egyptian non-governmental organisations. He also donated money to the Luxor African Film Festival's fourth edition along with the Seventh National Theatre Festival. Moreover, Salah actively adopted and trained other younger actors despite his busy schedule. His last cinematic role was in the El-Gezira 2 directed by Sherif Arafa, where he appeared alongside Ahmed El-Saqqa and Hend Sabry. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: Representative image The number of novel coronavirus cases in the United States topped 7 million on Thursday - more than 20% of the world's total - as Midwest states reported spikes in COVID-19 infections in September, according to a Reuters tally. The latest milestone comes just days after the nation surpassed over 200,000 COVID-19 deaths, the world's highest death toll from the virus. Each day, over 700 people die in the United States from COVID-19. All Midwest states except Ohio reported more cases in the past four weeks as compared with the prior four weeks, led by South Dakota and North Dakota. South Dakota had the biggest percentage increase at 166% with 8,129 new cases, while North Dakotas new cases doubled to 8,752 as compared to 4,243 during the same time in August. Many cases in those two states have been linked to the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, that annually attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show According to a Reuters analysis, positive cases rose in half of the 50 U.S. states this month. Ten states have reported a record one-day increase in COVID-19 cases in September. New cases rose last week after falling for eight consecutive weeks. Health experts believe this spike was due to reopening schools and universities as well as parties over the recent Labor Day holiday. A study by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Indiana University, the University of Washington and Davidson College said recent reopening of college and university campuses for in-person instruction during late summer this year could be associated with more than 3,000 additional cases of COVID-19 per day in the United States in recent weeks. U.S. confirmed cases are the highest in the world followed by India with 5.7 million cases and Brazil with 4.6 million. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/363tab5) The United states is currently averaging 40,000 new infections per day. Top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has said he would like to see the number to fall below 10,000 per day before flu season starts in October. Health officials and President Donald Trump have presented different views about the nation's health crisis. Trump, who is seeking re-election to a second term on Nov. 3, early this month had claimed that the United States was rounding the corner on the crisis. Fauci contradicted the claim the next day, saying the statistics were disturbing. A woman whose 19-year-old son was killed by a farm trailer with faulty brakes is warning others to ensure trailers are properly maintained and serviced. Jane Gurney lost her son Harry when he was working as a seasonal farm worker, transporting grain by tractor for during the 2014 harvest. At the court case following the tractor crash caused by the trailer, the trailer's brakes were judged to be ineffective. The company involved was found guilty of having a poorly maintained trailer. In Britain, agriculture has the worst rate of worker fatal injury per 100,000 of the main industrial sectors, with overturning vehicles or being struck by vehicles being the chief cause. Jane was contacted by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) about doing a webinar to help reduce similar accidents happening in the future. In the two years following the court case, Jane, who farms on the Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire border, has been the driving force behind a vital trailer safety campaign. The Tilly Your Trailer initiative has was won widespread support from farmers, tractor manufacturers, health and safety experts and the police. The campaign, named after Harrys Beagle dog, established an 18-point inspection procedure, certificate and Head to Tow app to ensure trailers are properly maintained. Jane, who does a lot of work with the Farm Safety Partnership, sees the Monday 28 September IOSH webinar as another key opportunity to raise the profile of farm safety. My campaign is all about helping and encouraging those working in agriculture to face up to their responsibilities on transport and farm safety and make sure that the vehicles and equipment they use are checked continuously, not just once a year, she said We have to do everything we can to help all those working on farms to keep themselves - and others safe. The free webinar will commence on Monday 28 September at 18:00 BST. Anyone wishing to attend have been asked to register. By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - France's foreign ministry this week summoned Iran's envoy over the country's human rights record, three sources aware of the matter said, signalling concern about what Paris calls "serious and constant violations". Separately, Germany on Friday issued a critical statement on Iran to the United Nations Human Rights Council on behalf of 47 countries, while U.N. rights experts demanded Tehran release imprisoned prominent rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh for medical treatment. France rarely comments publicly on human rights in Iran, but on Sept. 22 Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said more needed to be done over what he said was worsening human rights violations in Iran following anti-government protests in 2019. When asked whether France, in conjunction with Britain and Germany had acted collectively, to warn Iran over its treatment of political prisoners and dual nationals held in the country, a foreign ministry official sidestepped the question. "The French authorities regularly express their concerns about the serious and constant violations of human rights in Iran," spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said. "These concerns are shared by many partners, including Germany and the United Kingdom." One source said the three European powers had acted jointly and warned Iran that its actions were harming relations. Two sources said the envoy had been summoned on Thursday. The move by the three powers comes as they strive to keep alive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, while confronting U.S. efforts to raise pressure on Tehran and kill the accord. Washington on Thursday blacklisted several Iranian officials and entities over alleged gross violations of human rights. The European Union has not imposed sanctions over rights violations in Iran since 2013. Responding to a report on the European summonings in Britain's Guardian newspaper, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh, rejected what he called interference in the country's internal affairs. Story continues "Iran believes the politically motivated behaviour and selective moves of the U.S. and certain European governments have always dealt the heaviest blow to the principle of human rights," he said in a statement. Germany's statement on behalf of 47 countries said: "We remain deeply concerned about the persistent human rights violations in Iran especially related to the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. "Credible Reports of arbitrary detentions, unfair trials, forced confessions and practices of torture and ill-treatment of detainees in the context of the recent protests are particularly concerning, the statement said. (Reporting by John Irish, additional reporting by Stephanie Ulmer-Nebehay in Geneva and Dubai newsroom; Editing by William Maclean) As the attacks against US and other foreign missions and bases in Iraq continue, the United States is warning the Iraqi government that it will take action against the militias involved in the attacks if it fails to do so itself. A source attending a meeting called by Iraqi President Barham Salih, attended by many Iraqi political and faction leaders, told Al-Monitor that Salih told the participants that he had received a letter from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warning Iraq that if the attacks against the United States do not stop, it will close its embassy in Baghdad and target all involved militias without distinction. Former Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari confirmed what the source had told Al-Monitor, when he wrote on Twitter Sep. 24, Recent stern warning by @SecPompeo to #Iraq-presidency is the most serious threat to Iraq stability. #Iraqi leaders have to rise to the challenges posed by armed militia to target #US diplomatic & military installations. Iraq has to stop this carnage & act responsibly. Following the meeting, a fierce debate took place between a group of militias supporting the attacks against the United States and other foreign missions, on the one hand, and head of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Falih al-Fayadh and head of PMUs Fatah bloc Hadi al-Amiri, on the other. Fayadh and Amiri took strong action against the militias, asking them to stop all attacks, since the United States has already started withdrawing its troops from Iraq. They warned them that US actions might include bombing the militias' bases. Moreover, it seems that Fayadh and Amiri are both afraid of getting on the US blacklist, especially as Prime MInister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is gaining traction at home and internationally for cracking down on militias not under state control. In a positive response to the US message, the Fatah bloc issued a statement condemning the attacks against US and British convoys, demanding providing full protection to the foreign missions in Iraq. Fayadh also issued a statement condemning any attacks in the name of the PMU, assuring that the PMU is a legal security force under full supervision of the commander in chief of the armed forces. In addition, he fired two prominent PMU leaders Sep. 24, replacing them with new faces. According to Fayadh's statement, the leader of the 18th Brigade known as Saraya al-Khorasani, Sayyed Hamed al-Jazaeri, has been fired; Ahmed al-Yaseri has replaced him. In addition, leader of the 30th Brigade, for the Shabak in the Ninevah Plains, Waad Qaddo, has been replaced with Zain al-Abedin Kheder. The two factions have been accused of attacking the protectors and minorities in the Ninevah Plains, respectively. Kadhimi has been making a series of changes in the governments security bodies, including the appointment of former Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi as head of the operations center in the inteligence service and former Interior Minister Qasim al-Araji as the new national security adviser. Kadhimi also started cracking down on corrupt figures funding the militias. Bahaa Abdul-Hussein, director of Qi Card company, was arrested attempting to leave the country with the help of Shebl al-Zaidi, secretary-general of Kataib al-Imam Ali. Following the arrest, two top officials at Baghdad airport including the head of the passport section were fired and arrested by security forces. More arrests in this case are expected in the near future. However, these actions do not seem to be enough to stop the militias from attacking foreign convoys and bases, which is happening on a daily basis currently. For the first time, the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned Sep. 17 the attack on its rivals diplomatic missions after the attack on the British convoy. It seems that some of the elements within the militias are no longer under the control of Iran, as was the case during the rule of Iran's top commander Qasem Soleimani. In fact, the absence of Soleimani was not only the removal of a commander, but it was the collapse of an entire system that relied on him personally. However, Iran needs to regain control over its elements in Iraq in order to use them as a card in future negotiations with the United States. On the other hand, closing down the US Embassy in Baghdad would definitely create a vacuum that can be used by Iranians in Iraq, similar to what happened in 2018 when the United States decided to close its consulate in Basra. In fact, there are many political and diplomatic tools for the United States in the current circumstances that can be used to put an end to the militias' attacks. Among them, opening a dialogue with some of the leaders close to the militias like Amiri and Fayadh is an important step that should not be disregarded. Figures like them with one foot in politics and the other in the PMU know very well the consequences of the closing of the US Embassy, especially in this very difficult economic situation. Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal For now, Harold Medina is Albuquerques interim police chief while the city conducts a nationwide search, but he wants the permanent position. I fully intend to apply for the job and I will use this time to show the direction I want to move this department, he said. Some, including the president of the police union, have brought up the question of whether the city can find a chief from the outside at this time, given that Mayor Tim Keller will be up for reelection next year and potential candidates might not want to uproot their lives if the leadership could change. The job has been posted on the citys website, and will be sent out nationally to relevant national organizations. Medina said he wants to put the focus back on crime and wants to make sure officers are doing warrant round-up operations throughout the city, not just certain neighborhoods. We started this anti-crime campaign about 28 days ago and we started with looking for individuals with warrants, Medina said. I think one of the things I bring to this position that a lot of people havent brought is Im actually a street cop that actually did this my entire career. He said he also wants to strengthen investigators relationships with other agencies, including the Attorney Generals Office, the New Mexico State Police and the 2nd Judicial District Attorneys Office. I want to create a focus of our officers having a goal in mind, having a mission and a purpose , Medina said. We all became officers to make the community safer. Medina, 48, was hired by the Albuquerque Police Department in 1995 and worked his way up through the ranks to commander. He was a sergeant and lieutenant over patrol units and then a commanding officer overseeing the special operations division, which included SWAT, the K9 unit and the bomb squad. Medina left APD in 2014 and went to the Laguna Pueblo, where he eventually became chief of police. He said that in 2017 when Michael Geier called and asked him if he wanted to be deputy chief, he said yes. For the past couple of years he has been the deputy chief over the field services bureau. During the summer the command staff was restructured and he was made first deputy chief. Medina said at one point he had considered retiring, running for Bernalillo County Sheriff, or taking a job in a bigger city in another state. Last Thursday, when the Journal met with Medina at the Downtown headquarters, all four deputy chiefs and the deputy chief of staff filed into a fifth-floor conference room before a meeting of the departments Force Review Board. Were unified together, said Michael Smathers, now the first deputy chief. Theres a lot of white noise out there that might give you a different impression that is not factual and not true. Were unified behind Chief Medina, unified in support of Mayor (Tim) Keller. We all live here were highly dedicated and I think that message is lost sometimes. (ANSA) - ROME, SEP 25 - Italy and the United States on Friday signed a declaration of intent for exploration of the moon linked to the Artemis programme. The deal was signed in Rome by Cabinet Secretary Riccardo Fraccaro in video link with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Italy is the first European country to sign a bilateral agreement of this kind with the US. "See you on the moon," said Fraccaro. "That would be fantastic," replied Bridenstine. The Artemis programme aims to take humans back to the moon by 2024. (ANSA). Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Research Future (MRFR), in its report on the global soft covering flooring market 2020, states different factor that can control the market dynamics. A complete evaluation of the short term and long term consequences on the soft covering flooring market is done by MRFR analysts. As per MRFR study, the soft covering flooring global market is likely to rise at about 3.0% CAGR between 2019 and 2024. ALSO READ: https://www.openpr.com/news/2099669/covid-19-pandemic-impact-on-soft-covering-flooring-market-2020 The expansion of the global soft covering flooring market is mainly driven by the increase in implementation of construction projects by governments and private sectors across the world. The ease of procuring raw materials for the fabrication of soft covering flooring, such as polyester, nylon, polypropylene, and triexta can impel the rise of the market through the analysis period. Moreover, the growing popularity carpets and rugs and surge in their demand in the flooring industry can promote the soft covering flooring global market. The rise in utility of recycled nylon material can also support the expansion of the soft covering flooring market. Market Segmentation The segment evaluation of the global soft covering flooring market is done by product and application. The product based segment of the soft covering flooring market are carpet tiles and broadloom. The broadloom segment can garner the highest revenue for the market across the assessment period. The increase in the adoption of broadloom applications across hospitality spaces, in healthcare facilities, and educational & institutions, along with airport can promote the expansion of the soft covering flooring market across the review period. The increase in the production and sales of soft covering flooring products can promote the expansion of the market in the assessment period. The carpet tiles segment can experience the highest rise in the forecast period The application based segment of the soft covering flooring market are residential and commercial. The growing residential application of soft covering flooring can prompt the market in the analysis period. Moreover, the rise of the soft covering market can attributed to increase in replacement and refurbishing activities, across the world. Regional Analysis The soft covering flooring in North America is likely to thrive across the review period due to increase in the expansion of the construction sector. North America soft covering flooring market is expected to garner the highest share of the market in the assessment period. Other factors such as, sustained investments in commercial real estate and high demand for green buildings can support the expansion of the regional market through the assessment period. The high application of soft covering flooring in the residential and commercial sectors in the US can also contribute to the expansion of the soft covering flooring market in the analysis period. In Asia Pacific, the rise of the soft covering flooring market can be credited to the increase in urban migrants and early adoption of modern technologies. In addition, rapid development in the construction industry in emerging economies of APAC region can prompt the expansion of the market in APAC. The presence of notable supplier of soft covering flooring raw materials can also fuel the soft covering flooring market in the analysis period. Key Players Trinseo S.A. (US), Bentley Mills, Inc. (US), Beaulieu International Group (Belgium), Abbey Carpet & Floor (US), Cargill, Incorporated (US), Engineered Floors LLC (US), The Dixie Group, Inc. (US), Milliken & Company (US), Mannington Mills, Inc. (US), Mohawk Industries (US), and Interface, Inc. (US) among others are some reputed players functioning in the soft covering flooring market listed by MRFR. FOR MORE DETAILS https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/soft-covering-flooring-market-7670 The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic cannot be overstated. In Connecticut, only about 85 percent of the thousands of jobs lost in the spring have returned as the service sector, in particular, has yet to rebound. Its hard to make the rent without a paycheck and with only unemployment benefits to cover food and everything else. Considering the serious effect on otherwise working families, it is appalling and inexcusable that the state program designed to help those struggling to pay the rent has given aid to only two families. With a backlog of nearly 7,400 applications a total of two have been helped in the five months of the program, as of last week. The lack is staggering. The need is there. Nearly 30,000 applied for the program, which would give $4,000 for rent payments, but the majority were rejected in the pre-approval process. So many people applied that the state Department of Labor stopped taking applications on Aug. 28, six weeks after the program started. As it is, the state has enough funding $20 million from the federal CARES Act to provide aid to only 5,000 families. In every way, resources in the program are inadequate to protect renters and, by extension, help landlords. The solutions are obvious, but not readily achieved provide more workers in DOL to review the applications and allocate more funding. The situation is so dire that nine Democratic state senators wrote to Gov. Ned Lamont on Sept. 18 urging another $10 million be earmarked for the Temporary Rental Housing Assistance Program. This backlog is causing families to be harmed, said state Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, who signed the letter and is co-chairman of the General Assemblys Housing Committee. We should take care of the vulnerable first, and I am not seeing that from the administration. The Democratic governors spokesman said the administration intends to put more money into the program and is working to speed up the process. We need more definitive information. The administration should have gone into action sooner with the early closing of applications a warning sign of a large problem brewing. Halting applications does not make the reality of people unable to make the rent go away. As it is, some of the requirements to receive rent relief are arduous. Though likely intended to discourage fraud, they make it difficult for those who truly need help. For example, they must provide a promise from the landlord that the $4,000 would wipe away outstanding rent. The nine senators suggested in their letter to reassess and ease the requirements for tenants to access homelessness prevention resources. Last month the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 20 percent of the tenants in Connecticut were behind on their rent; renters typically earn less than half that of homeowners. The coronavirus pandemic has wrought extraordinary times and challenges. But efforts must be stepped up to help families maintain the basic necessity of shelter. A massive drive-in is bringing classic Halloween flicks, a virtual concert and special events to Six Flags Fiesta Texas this fall. The pop-up was originally supposed to stop on July 5, but Los Angeles-based Rooftop Cinema Club has extended its stay several times since then. The company announced another lineup of movies on Friday. Rooftop Cinema Club, known for its unique rooftop venues and movie-watching experiences, previously told mySA.com it will keep screening movies as long as the city continues to show interest. READ ALSO: San Antonio billionaire wants to test every student in the city for COVID-19 The latest lineup, covering Oct. 5 through Oct. 18, celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with "Autocine en Espanol" on Wednesdays. The series of Spanish-language films - with no English subtitles - kicks off with "Grease/Vaselina" on Oct. 7. Tickets range between $24 to $32 per vehicle, depending on seating preference. Click here to purchase tickets. Scroll below for Rooftop Cinema Club's new lineup in San Antonio. I am so livid about the findings of the grand jury that looked into Breonna Taylors murder that its hard to put it into words. Im also reminded of a much-repeated Malcolm X quote from 1962: The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman. His words resonate when you consider that no one will be held responsible for Taylors death. As a nation, we should be outraged. Her life mattered. Taylor wasnt just collateral damage that we should just shrug off. So dont you dare come at me with any lame excuses, such as She was dating a drug dealer or When the police are shot at they tend to shoot back. Nothing justifies what happened to her in the wee hours of March 13. Please pause for a moment and put yourself in the place of the 26-year-old emergency room technician. Imagine being asleep, like she was in her bed, and waking up to what sounds like intruders breaking into your apartment. You are understandably terrified and scream loudly. Suddenly your front door bursts open. Your boyfriend thinks Taylors drug-dealing ex has returned, so he shoots and strikes one of the officers in a leg. READ MORE: Protesters march through Philadelphia in the wake of the grand jury ruling in Breonna Taylors death Police, who were in plainclothes, respond by firing a hail of bullets into your apartment, mortally wounding you. You are confused as you lie on the floor in your hallway coughing and struggling to breathe. No one bothers to provide you with any medical attention yet they assist one of their own in getting to a hospital. Authorities search your place but find no drugs. Its too late for you, though. All of your hopes and dreams die right there on the floor along with you. You will never marry. You will never have children. You will never own a home. At first, your story is mostly ignored as the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the country. But your relatives in April file a wrongful-death lawsuit. The following month, authorities release your boyfriends frantic 911 call its just three days after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Demonstrators around the country are chanting not just his name, but yours as well. Breonna Taylor: say her name" becomes a rallying cry against racial injustice in America. Attempted murder charges against your boyfriend are dropped and on June 11 Louisville bans no-knock warrants. Beyonce reaches out to state Attorney General Daniel Cameron on your behalf. Authorities fire Officer Brett Hankison on June 23 for blindly firing into your apartment. You become a cause celebre. Your face adorns the covers of O magazine and Vanity Fair. Your name is on the lips of people around the world as they cry out, Say her name: Breonna Taylor! READ MORE: Police officers not charged for killing Breonna Taylor; 1 ex-officer indicted on endangerment charges On Sept. 15, Louisville officials announce a $12 million settlement with your relatives. It doesnt come close to replacing what they lost in you. Supporters hope for justice but it is denied when a grand jury fails to indict any of the officers involved in your murder. Its a crushing blow, especially since the only person charged is the already-fired officer, who now faces three counts of wanton endangerment because of shots, not directed at you, but into your neighbors apartment. Demonstrators take to the streets shouting your name. Two Louisville police officers are shot but are expected to survive. They are luckier than you. The criminal justice system takes care of its own. The rest of us, particularly African Americans, get what we get. And though more than half a century has passed, Malcolms damning assessment still rings true: The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned a judges approval of a novel plan by lawyers representing cities and counties suing drug companies over the U.S. opioid crisis that would bring every community nationally into their settlement talks. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by a 2-1 vote declined to approve an unprecedented negotiation class of 33,000 cities, towns and counties which could have a vote on whether to accept any settlements proposed with drug manufacturers and distributors. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland, who oversees 2,900 opioid lawsuits, to promote global settlement talks approved a proposal that could bind cities and counties that have not sued and allow them to participate in the talks. Any settlement would need the support of at least 75% of class members. While companies did not need to use the negotiation class to settle cases, many, including the drug distributors McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp., objected. Many state attorneys general also argued that Polsters ruling could complicate settlement talks and interfere with states rights over their political subdivisions. U.S. Circuit Judge Eric Clay said the federal rule governing class actions does not authorize the framework. However well-intentioned the district courts actions might be, the fact of the matter is that the court, when it certified the negotiation class, exercised power it did not have, he wrote. The local governments lead lawyers Paul Farrell, Paul Hanly and Joe Rice in a statement said they are working to develop other models to allow companies to resolve the cases. Some companies have proposed deals that do not use the negotiation class, including the three distributors and drugmakers Johnson & Johnson and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, which in October 2019 proposed deals worth a collective $48 billion. Negotiations are ongoing and dollar amounts have been shifting. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston Editing by Bill Berkrot and Jonathan Oatis) Topics Lawsuits USA Daniil Kvyat has played down concerns about the presence of spectators this weekend at Sochi. Sebastian Vettel has travelled to Russia contrary to the official advice of the German government, as the number of covid infections in the country has grown from under 5000 per day a month ago to almost 7000 today. At the same time, Sochi will be the first mass-attended race of 2020, with observers reporting that - outside the track - mask-wearing and social distancing is rare. "It's a difficult situation," said Vettel, "but obviously we have to trust the local organisers and the FIA and FOM to take care of us. "I don't have much to add," the German said. It also emerges that Will Buxton, a well known F1 broadcaster, is not in the paddock this weekend as he has tested positive for the virus. When asked if he is worried about the level of daily infections in Russia in the context of his home race this weekend, Daniil Kvyat said: "This is the tenth race weekend of this season, and the safety concept has been shown to work. "I am sure that when Formula 1 and the FIA looked at whether Sochi should be attended by fans, the experts looked closely at how everyone will be properly protected," he added. (GMM) Mosa Meat, a Maastricht, Netherlands-based food technology company, held first closing of $55M as part of a larger Series B funding round. The round was led by Blue Horizon Ventures and Dr. Regina Hecker is joining the board with special focus on science, scaling and regulatory. They are joined by Bell Food Group, M Ventures and other mission-based investors and advisors. The company intends to use the funds to extend its current pilot production facility at its home in Maastricht, develop an industrial-sized production line, expand its team, and introduce delicious cultivated beef to consumers. Co-founded by Mark Post and Peter Verstrate and led by Maarten Bosch, CEO, Mosa Meat is a food technology company which introduced a cultivated beef hamburger in 2013, by growing it naturally from cow cells. The company is now scaling up production of the same beef that people love, but thats kinder to animals, better for the environment, and safer to eat. Mosa Meat now has a team of 50 people. FinSMEs 25/09/2020 Dolly Everett's parents have spoken candidly about the day their teenage daughter tragically took her own life. The 14-year-old's shocking death in 2018 sparked an outpouring of grief across Australia and shone a spotlight on cyber-bullying in schools. Dolly's parents said the warning signs were there after she asked her mother a difficult question, but the schoolgirl seemed 'good' the day of her suicide. It was a hot Summer's day on January 3 at the family's Northern Territory cattle station. Dolly Everett's (pictured) shocking death in 2018 sparked an outpouring of grief across Australia and raised major concerns about cyber-bullying in schools 'She was good. We raced around doing jobs and had races on the bikes. We were fixing fences and stuff like that. It was a good day. It didn't really seem like anything was any different,' Dolly's older sister Meg told the Courier Mail. During the day Dolly asked her mother if she had plans for her to return to school. Hours later, after sitting down with her family for a steak dinner with coleslaw and potato salad, Dolly ended her life. Although her real name was Amy, Australia would come to know the sweet-looking country girl as Dolly. She was the face of an Akubra hat advertising campaign that circulated every year at around Christmas time. But Dolly's mental state unraveled after she was relentlessly bullied at a country boarding school. It was revealed at the time she had been suspended for drinking, blackmailed to send candid pictures to a boy and brawled with other students. She was also the target of cruel verbal, physical and social media attacks. Dolly and her sister were both excited by the prospect of high school in 2015 after doing distance learning throughout primary school. 'It was just little bits early in the piece and probably not enough to red flag I suppose,' her mother Kate said. Dolly's mental state unraveled after she was relentlessly bullied at a country boarding school Dolly Everett's parents Kate and Tick have spoken candidly about the day their teenage daughter tragically took her own life Her father Tick said the bullying was like a snowball and progressively became worse. 'It started off as something that could have been fixed relatively easy and it just got away from everyone and once it got that momentum on, it just got out of hand. 'Nobody really knew how to fix it or what to do and unfortunately it didn't go away.' In the wake of their daughter's death, Kate and Tick launched and anti-bully organisation in Dolly's memory. Dolly's Dream facilitates a cyber safety school programs and acts as a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. The organisation also provides bullying and wellbeing advice for parents whose children maybe in the grips of a similar situation. In 2018, the NSW government introduced legislation that would see cyberbullies face a maximum of five years' in jail for sending abusive messages online. The following year, her parents were named 2019 Australia's Local Hero of the Year. Dolly would have turned 18 and graduated high school at the end of this year. If you or anyone you know is in need of mental health support, you can contact Lifeline 13 11 14, Beyondblue 1300 22 4636 or Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800. The issue received bids for 5.42 crore shares as against 1.37 crore shares on offer. The initial public offer (IPO) of Angel Broking received bids for 5.42 crore shares as against 1.37 crore shares on offer, as per the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) website. The issue was subscribed 3.94 times. The qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) category was subscribed 5.74 times. The retail individual investors (RIIs) category was subscribed 4.31 times. The non-institutional investors category was subscribed 0.69 times. The issue opened for bidding on Tuesday, 22 September 2020 and closed on Thursday, 24 September 2020. The price band for the IPO was set at Rs 305-306 per share. The IPO comprised of a fresh issue worth Rs 300 crore by the company and an offer for sale aggregating Rs 300 crore (including anchor portion of 52.82 lakh equity shares). Ahead of the IPO, the company raised over Rs 180 crore from anchor investors on Monday, 21 September 2020. The company allotted 58.82 lakh shares at Rs 306 each to a total of 12 anchor investors. The net proceeds from the fresh issue will be utilised towards meeting working capital requirements and general corporate purposes. The company proposes to utilise Rs 230 crore of the net proceeds to meet working capital requirements. The company expects to achieve the benefits of listing of the equity shares on the stock exchanges through enhancement of company's brand name and the creation of a public market for the equity shares in India. The company recorded sales of Rs 238.42 crore and profit after tax of Rs 48.26 crore in the quarter ended on 30 June 2020. Angel Broking is one of the largest retail broking houses in India in terms of active clients on NSE. Its a technology-led financial services company providing broking and advisory services, margin funding, loans against shares and financial products distribution to clients. Angel Broking is the fourth largest broker in terms of active clients on NSE with a market share of 6.29% end June 2020. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In their mutual interest in doing good while also doing well, Gabriela Berrospi and Anthony Delgado fell in love. Mr. Delgado, 34, has the easygoing supportive spirit of a big brother, and the I-did-it-and-you-can-too unflappability of a true optimist. So Ms. Gabriela Berrospi, 30, was inspired when he described his entrepreneurial education effort in Puerto Rico at a leadership-development seminar both had attended in New York in 2018. I thought, wow, that sounds like something I would like to do, she said. A year or so later, when she was starting a Spanish-language online educational organization to help women learn the basics of investments, she asked if she could hire him, for $1,500. She needed someone to manage the technology-development aspects. He remembered her well from their course together. Ive always been looking for a powerful woman who was motivated, he said. Shes so animated and energetic, so smart and sweet. Viruses occur in Herculean statistics throughout Earth from the atmosphere to the oceans. Despite the opulence and nutrient-richness of viruses, no organism uses them as food. Fortunately, protists are virus eaters. The First Organisms to Eat Viruses Small, single-cell creatures floating in the ocean could be the first organisms confirmed to chow down on viruses. Scientists scooped up such organisms named protists from the Gulf of Maine's waters and the Mediterranean Sea off the Catalonian coast of Spain. The amount of biomass of viruses on Earth is equivalent to an estimated 25 billion human beings. Scientists have not yet pinpointed a species that purposefully eats viruses for energy, reported ABS-CBN News. In "Frontiers in Microbiology," scientists publish the initial remarkable evidence that two clusters of ecologically important marine protists namely choanozoans and picozoans are virus eaters. They catch their prey through phagocytosis such as engulfing. On protists as virus eaters, "Our data show that many protist cells contain DNA of a wide variety of non-infectious viruses but not bacteria, strong evidence that they are feeding on viruses rather than on bacteria. That came as a big surprise, as these findings go against the currently predominant views of the role of viruses and protists in the marine food webs," according to author Dr. Ramunas Stepanauskas, Director of the Single Cell Genomics Center at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine, US, reported Phys.org. Also Read: How Could COVID-19 Affect Global Road Deaths? The scientists pointed out that they detected a series of viral DNA linked with the two diverse groups of protists; the same DNA sequences occurring in numerous members of the two groups, notwithstanding some of the single-cell organisms not being closely related. According to lead author Julia Brown, a bioinformatician at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine, "It would be like organisms as distantly related as trees and humans, or even more distantly related than that. It's very, very unlikely that those viruses are capable of infecting all the organisms we found them in," reported Live Science. Like viruses, protists simmer in seawater by the billions and trillions and a number might chow down on marine viruses, according to the study published on Thursday. If the findings succeed, it is said that they could help centuries-old dogma turn a 180. Instead of acting merely as illness-causing agents, viruses could in some cases help in bolstering and sustaining it. Link Between Protists and Viruses? Mere new studies cannot reveal a consumptive association between protists and viruses, according to Rika Anderson, a microbial ecologist at Carlton University in Minnesota who was not involved in the research study. But protists have been discovered in numerous habitats ranging from rotten tree stumps to animal intestines and could have transformed at least many techniques to feed themselves. Two Sites To prove that protists are virus eaters, Stepanauskas and his colleagues sampled seawater from two locations: the Mediterranean off Catalonia, Spain in January and July 2016 and the Northwestern Atlantic in the Gulf of Maine, US in July 2009. Related Article: Taj Mahal Reopens as COVID-19 Cases in India Skyrocket @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Pink Dome Priority: Order Show Me The Money Session Medicaid Expansion, Schools To Be Debated Local Control Fights Mums The Word On COVID Precautions (TNS) The pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus is setting the stage for one of the most unusual and high-stakes sessions of the Texas Legislature ever.The COVID-19 outbreak crippled the states high-flying economy, making for severe budget woes ahead.A fight over what programs are cut when lawmakers convene in January will play out amid a bipartisan desire to maintain over the next two years the increased funding of public schools approved last year. Then, lawmakers enjoyed a big enough surplus and a sufficiently robust economy that they could boost schools' budget and pay to lower property taxes, at least temporarily, without raising state taxes.With passions running high over mask requirements and COVID-19 closure orders, some GOP lawmakers are expected to try to spank local leaders in blue bastions they believe have overreached by trimming their authority in emergencies. Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to push through bills punishing cities such as Dallas and Austin that at least have flirted with lowering their police spending.Its unclear if the other major initiative passed in 2019 revenue caps, which require local governments to get voter approval if they want to raise their annual haul from property tax more than 3.5 percent will spark another high-drama debate.Even some diehard conservatives acknowledge there probably wont be enough bandwidth to consider a lot of hot-button issues, be it eliminating the requirement to have a license to carry a handgun in Texas or granting protections that social conservatives want so child placing and adoption agencies may exclude LGBTQ Texans on religious grounds.Thats because, given uncertainty about safety during the pandemic, the Senate appears likely to press for a slimmed-down agenda.Ive heard theres going to be only two committee rooms where legislation will be heard on the Senate side, said Austin lobbyist and consultant Bill Miller, a tall order for a chamber that has 16 committees.Chairmen will have to reserve the two rooms in advance, he said. That will ratchet up pressure for senators to avoid requesting hearings on outlier bills, and focus only on priority measures that have broad support, Miller said.Itll be very orderly, he said. Referring to the Senates presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Miller added, Patricks in charge in the Senate. That will influence what the House does.Neither Patrick nor Abbott granted requests to discuss the upcoming session withIn early September, Patrick spokeswoman Sherry Sylvester toldthat Patrick and senators have always been clear that we must find a safe and efficient way to ensure that the public can come to the Capitol, as they have always done, and testify in-person on legislation.Miller, cofounder of the Austin lobbying firm Hillco Partners, said he understands that under the Senates tentative game plan, theyll do everything by Zoom. Youre not going to be able to get in the Capitol unless youre a witness. Members of the public presumably will be allowed to sign up to testify in advance, he said.Common sense is going to rule, and efficiency will rule and safety will rule, Miller said. Everything that follows will follow those guidelines.House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, the other Republican in the Capitols Big 3, is retiring after a political scandal last year in which he was caught making demeaning remarks about individual House members and breaking his own rule about staying out of colleagues' re-election bids.House Administration Committee Chairman Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, said few decisions about House operations amid the pandemic have been made.The House is equipping 15 committee rooms with plexiglass dividers. But it abandoned the idea of installing such dividers on the House floor because theyd interfere with the ultraviolet light used by new sanitizing machines, Geren said.In a joint statement, he and his Senate counterpart, Mineola GOP Sen. Bryan Hughes, said each chamber will use five mobile sanitizing machines made by San Antonio-based Xenex Disinfection Services Inc. in Capitol Complex buildings.These disinfection systems, combined with additional sanitization measures in all public spaces, will better protect the health and safety of all Capitol occupants and visitors through the remainder of this pandemic, they said.On issues, experts agree that the 2021 sessions biggest focus will be writing a two-year state budget just months after millions of Texans lost their jobs during the COVID-19 lockdown last winter and spring.In July, near the midpoint of the current two-year budget written last session, Comptroller Glenn Hegar shrank his estimate of how much general-purpose revenue the state would have this cycle by $11.6 billion, or 9.5 percent. Offsets such as federal coronavirus aid, higher property values that shrink the states IOU for schools and improved collections of sales tax on e-commerce reduced the net hit to the budget to $7.5 billion.And last session, lawmakers didnt spend everything. Hegar estimated they left $2.9 billion on the table, which means the shortfall in discretionary dollars for the current cycle, which ends next August, is only $4.6 billion.But absent vaccines or effective treatments, the recession could linger. That could force Hegar to dramatically cut his revenue estimate for 2021-2022, which would force spending cuts. Some say the revenue shortfall for the next cycle could be almost as big as the $27 billion lawmakers faced in 2011 during the Great Recession.This is a show me the money session, said Sherri Greenberg, professor of practice at the University of Texas' Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.Greenberg, who held a Travis County House seat as a Democrat in the 1990s, said during recessions, domestic violence and abuse and neglect of children increase. This time, demands on the treasury have multiplied, with school children needing internet access and many state-funded institutions needing personal protective equipment, she said.When revenues are declining, people need services the most, Greenberg said.Theres little appetite among Republicans, however, for raising taxes. The last time the Legislature significantly raised taxes for anything beside lowering existing taxes, was the early 1990s.Last year, the House Democratic Caucus created a special committee to look at outdated tax loopholes, exclusions from the sales tax and other tax breaks.Caucus Chairman Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, said Texas cannot go backwards on the progress we made last session on school funding. New revenue to forestall deep cuts to health care and social programs will be needed, he said.The time has come to look at those exemptions, he said.Almost every exempted product or service has a powerful lobby that will seek to preserve it, though.And while some expect a more serious debate of revenue enhancing moves such as allowing casino gambling, legalizing marijuana or increasing excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco Bettencourt said theyll probably not advance.They just dont generate lots of money, he said.Lobbyist Miller agreed that GOP leaders are unlikely to risk possibly big political fallout for small sums.Bettencourt, though a staunch conservative, acknowledged theres a possibility Texas might seek a waiver to pull down federal Affordable Care Act money for adding low-income working adults without children to Medicaid. That assumes the law, after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, survives a Texas-led challenge to be argued before the Supreme Court in November.My back of the napkin analysis shows thats a $1.6 billion item, like that boom, he said. Im pretty sure we dont have that falling out of trees. You can put Medicaid expansion up at the top of the list. There will be a debate.Placating suburban voters who have been trending Democratic by keeping the Legislatures 2019 commitment to better-funded public schools will be another tough assignment next session, said Robert Lowry, a political scientist at UT-Dallas.For the previous decade, the state let its share of the school tab decline as districts' haul from the property tax increased with ever-creeping appraisals, he noted.They allegedly, sort of fixed that by increasing the state share last time but there was no actual revenue source, Lowry said. They just took advantage of the fact the budget was in good shape. So next time, the budgets going to be in really bad shape, and the states contribution will probably go way down, which means were back to relying mostly on local property taxes.If Democrats seize control of the House, which they can do by gaining nine seats in the 150-member chamber, the budget fight will be even more intense, legislative veterans agreed. Democrats' priorities will be different, especially on social welfare programs.Many expect spirited debates of whether mayors and county judges should have their powers in a public-health emergency pared back; whether to loosen or keep the property tax limits passed in 2019; and whether to ban taxpayer-funded lobbying by school districts and local governments.Were of course all about local control and maintaining that and I think its going to be under fire this next session, said the North Texas Commissions Wallace.His group, which represents 102 chambers of commerce, opposes the prohibition of lobbying by localities and favors loosening the 3.5 percent revenue cap to allow cities and counties to raise at least 6 percent more from the property tax each year.Bettencourt, author of the revenue cap legislation, said hell vigorously oppose any loosening.Its just not needed, mathematically, with appraised values still slightly increasing, he said. I dont think thats going to fly with the public.In the last two years, Bettencourt said, theres been continuing rate reductions on the school side. Quite frankly, why should we let the other side run everybodys tax bills up?On the powers that state law confers to county judges to issue local edicts during a pandemic, Bettencourt said it was never designed to last six months. Some have abused the authority, and lawmakers should narrow it, he said.That debates going to happen, he said.Certain staunch conservatives, such as Dallas hair salon owner Shelley Luther, wholl have a vote if she wins an open Senate seat in a special election Tuesday, have grumbled that Abbott has exceeded his authority with back-to-back disaster declarations and more than 20 pandemic-related executive orders.As many as a half-dozen GOP senators, and even more House members, are working on bills to rein in a governors emergency powers, said Bettencourt, who declined to identify the lawmakers.Miller, the lobbyist, said there will be noise, but predicts no actions. Theyll trim the powers of local governments, but not Abbotts, not at all, he said.Several lobbyists for business and local governments said they expect a renewed slugfest over Edgewood GOP Sen. Bob Halls bill to ban use of taxpayer money to hire lobbyists. Last session, it passed the Senate but died in the House -- and then figured in the Bonnen scandal, when the speaker promised next years session will be miserable for mayors and county judges.Adam Haynes, policy director for the Texas Conference of Urban Counties, which strongly opposes the ban, said many of his 35 counties have budgets and operations comparable to those of Fortune 500 companies.Do you want the CEO of Fortune 500 company not to have a governmental affairs office, he said. No, you dont. Thats called good leadership.In next years session, which begins Jan. 12, lawmakers could pass a lot fewer bills than the average number passed in recent sessions about 1,400.Wallace, the North Texas Commission official, said hes assuming the Legislature will make an even more plodding start than usual, with a faster-than-normal pace in April and May, the final two months of the 140-day session.It may be treated like its a series of special sessions, he said. That would be my guess.Redistricting could be delayed until a summer special session, because of COVID-driven delays in the Census Bureaus completion of household surveys.Turner, the Democratic House leader, though, said members need to press for a broader agenda for the regular session than some contemplate to include gun safety, a state response to white supremacist terror and broader access to health care by low-income Texans.Lawmakers must realize their power to get things done for their home districts is at its peak in a regular session, Turner said.In a special session, the governor has the leverage because he can limit the agenda, he said. In a regular, all 181 members are empowered.After the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in late May, Democrats are pushing for comprehensive overhauls of criminal justice. Abbott has said he could envision passing more limited fixes, such as changes to police training. Miller, the lobbyist, said that he can see action on overhauling bail procedures, as the topic was vetted last session, but little else.Business groups are seeking reauthorization of Texas' single biggest economic development incentive program, Chapter 313 abatements of school property taxes for corporations. Land condemnation powers for a proposed Dallas-to-Houston high-speed train, managed toll lanes and expanded broadband service for both rural and inner-city Texas also are North Texas businesses' priorities, Wallace said.How the public will be allowed to engage during the session remains unclear.Already, Abbott, Patrick and Bonnen have sidelined the advice of some public health experts and pushed for the earliest possible reopening of Texas, including a resumption of school. But the Capitol in Austin and the surrounding grounds are still closed, off limits to all but a skeleton crew of state workers.Miller predicted a brouhaha after COVID operating rules for the session get publicized.Teachers are going to go ape if kids are being forced down their throat but legislators wont let the public in the Capitol, he said. Theyre going to flip, and they do flip. They know how to do gymnastics. (Photo : Google) (Photo : Google Blog) (Photo : Google Blog) The world's most recognizable web search engine, software developer, and technology company, Google, LLC, will soon roll an update that will bring a new feature on Google Maps, featuring the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 statistics and case counts of an area. Google envisions its Map application to give people an idea regarding COVID-cases in a room. Google, LLC has been working to provide the world COVID-19 updates and news through the search function that prioritizes the coronavirus's statistics and update in the user's respective area. Google's efforts have helped provide the world online safety and aid through the information that focuses on helping people with the current global crisis. Now, Google adds another safety feature for the public that concerns travel and transportation through Google Maps. According to Google's blog post, the update wil soon roll out anytime this week, showing off a "COVID Layer" that can be toggled and used whenever a user wishes to do so. The new COVID-layer will help users to determine which places have a considerable number of cases and may opt to stay away from there. This feature will be a safety and assistive aid from Google, who will gather all the information and statistics present in the world and area the company aims to provide. Google claims that people turn to the Google Maps application for information regarding live businesses, COVID-19 alerts in transportation, and COVID-19 checkpoints that can disrupt a person's travel agenda. ALSO READ: Spotify Partners With Prod Co. Behind 'New Girl,' Epic Games, and Tile for Two Reasons--'Creating Coalition for App Fairness' Against Apple and Turn Original Podcasts into Movies Google Maps for COVID-19 The all-new Google Maps aims to help people navigate through the 'new normal' that currently still has restrictions and limitations when it comes to traveling from one place to another. Google promises to give relevant alerts that it has gathered from authorities, to provide users an idea about the place they are headed. Google will make the update available using the 'COVID Layer' option in the map application's upper-right hand corner. The 'COVID-19 Info' tool will display the areas' seven-day coronavirus cases per 100,000 people. The trending statistics will also be shown, giving the users knowledge of whether a rising or falling case is happening in an area. The tech company also promises to show color-coded statistics that will help users to distinguish and know the severity of a case in an area. Google boasts that it will provide data for the 220 countries that the company supports, adding several local cities and provincial data on the application. Will COVID Layer be Discriminative for Google Maps? Google Maps' new update aims to provide users with sufficient data and information whenever they travel and journey in the 'new normal.' However, pressing concerns still arise when discrimination affects the data and statistics offered by Google. Discrimination cannot be helped when providing COVID-19 statistics regarding a particular place. People who are unaffected or safe from the virus will tend to look down on the areas with vast cases. This new feature by Google will be used for different purposes and should only be intended for everyone's safety and well-being. Google's data and pursuit of providing an application that aids the 'new normal' and the world through this global pandemic should be used wisely and cautiously. Travel restrictions are still observed in some states or cities to slow the spread of the virus. ALSO READ: New Emojis 2021: 200 Times More to Express Yourself with COVID-19 Theme Such As Mending Heart and Quarantine Beard! More Skin Tones Too! This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Isaiah Alonzo 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 25, 2020 / Stillcanna Inc. (CSE:STIL) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that as part of the Sativa Group PLC's ("Sativa") ongoing commitment to continually deliver the highest level of regulatory compliance and substantiate 'CBD you can trust', Sativa has become a member of the Association for the Cannabinoid Industry (the "ACI") Novel Food consortium and it's landmark toxicology study, which will augment the submission of its own Novel Food application dossier. The toxicology study will provide safety data that is required for Novel Food dossiers validated by the FSA, and for products to remain available on the market after March 31, 2021. Sativa and the Company's team of scientists and quality/compliance professionals in the United Kingdom and Poland have worked with the ACI to ensure its CBD products meet their rigorous quality management criteria. As part of this regulatory process, the raw CBD ingredients and final products are tested by a leading third-party laboratory, and cultivation, extraction and manufacturing processes and standards are scrutinised, to ensure that Sativa is meeting safety and regulatory standards from seed through to shelf. The Company is submitting its own novel food application for its portfolio of products and brands, and on behalf of White Label customers. Henry Lees-Buckley, Chief Executive Office of Sativa, said: "At Sativa, producing the highest quality and compliant products is our number one objective! We welcome the FSA Novel Foods accreditation process and are very pleased to be associated with the ACI in our compliance efforts". On Behalf of the Board of Directors, Jason Dussault, Director For further information, please contact: Jason Dussault info@stillcanna.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Company's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Stillcanna's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "will", "expects", "continues to", "plans", "expects", "expects to", or "does not expect", "is expected", "expects", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, the submission of the Novel Foods Application, the membership in the ACI toxicology study, the availability of products beyond March 2021 and the timing of such products, the testing of certain products, the relationships with third parties, the creation of a fully integrated European seed to consumer offering, our supply chain, compliance with European industry regulation, the Novel Foods Accreditation, various unforeseen events could make this statement no longer valid. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. In particular, there is no guarantee that that the merger solidifies both companies position as a leader across the entire supply chain, and that they are in a unique position to produce and supply the highest quality products with the lowest possible costs. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this press release, and Stillcanna does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities. SOURCE: Stillcanna Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/607781/Sativa-Group-PLC-Joins-the-ACI-Toxicology-Study-to-Further-its-Commitment-to-Novel-Food-Compliance A vaccine for Covid-19 by the end of the year will be the fastest pace for a novel pathogen in history, the White House said on Thursday, asserting that it has been the goal of the administration and it is still on track for that. "We do expect to have a vaccine by the end of the year. That has always been the goal and we are still on track for that," White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters at a news conference here. It is very important what US President Donald Trump has done with regard to commercial-level manufacturing, she said. "The fact that you have scaled up to manufacture these vaccines in advance is something that this president has done, as he is a businessman and thinks through exactly how to get a safe and effective vaccine delivered at a record speed. And part of that has entailed manufacturing in advance," McEnany said. "To do this, it normally takes years to scale up to commercial-level production. But this president has done it in just a few short months. If we have this vaccine by the end of the year, it will be the fastest pace for a vaccine for a novel pathogen in history," she added. In response to another question on the president's suggestion a day before that he might overrule stricter standards at the FDA on the coronavirus vaccine, McEnany said the Food and Drug Administration does have strict standards. "They are the gold standard with regard to vaccines. The president was referring to the normal interagency process that happens with guidance and that includes running through the office of management and budget, so that is standard operating procedure," she said. In a separate statement, Al Mason, co-chair of the Trump Victory Indian American Finance Committee, praised the president for his successful fight against the coronavirus. "President Trump has done an extraordinary job, fighting the made in China virus on all fronts every single day," he said. Also read: Bharat Biotech signs pact with Washington University School of Medicine for COVID-19 vaccine During the pandemic, live music festivals are rare, and when they do happen, the shows are different than what we are used to. Hometown Heroes, a live music business, is hosting several socially distanced festivals in Austin, Dallas and Lubbock on Friday and Saturday. Attendees will see live acts at their respective venues and artists streamed from the other two locations in between sets for more than five hours of music. RELATED: Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Randy Rogers to headline socially distanced Austin music festival The venue will separate groups of guests with fences around an 8-by-8 foot area and yards from other groups of four to six people. On Friday in Austin , artists like Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Stoney LaRue, Randy Rogers Band, Josh Abbott Band and Mike Ryan will perform live on stage at the Brushy Creek Amphitheater. Scroll below to see photos of what the socially distanced concert will look like. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) experts in Uzbekistan actively supported the development of the country's first Agricultural Development Strategy for 2020-2030, Trend reports with reference to the Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO Regional Representative for Europe, and Central Asia Vladimir Rakhmanin. Being the FAO Regional Representative not only in Europe but also in Central Asia, I drew special attention to the fact that the head of Uzbekistan in this speech at the UN General Assembly session made important statements about the priority of interaction with the states of this region in Uzbekistan's foreign policy for the sake of common prosperity, said Rakhmanin. FAO together with the Uzbek side initiated and held the first regular virtual meeting of agriculture ministers of five states, giving rise to a new format of cooperation. During the meeting, the representatives of FAO, EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), Eurasian Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Islamic Development Bank, and World Bank discussed the issues of ensuring food security and agricultural development in Uzbekistan during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was noted, for the first time in history, Uzbekistan, as a Central Asian country, will chair the session of one of the most important structural decision-making bodies of FAO, the Regional Conference for Europe, on November 2-4, 2020. I am confident that this event will become significant both for Uzbekistan and the entire region in terms of determining the vector of further cooperation and a program for the development of agriculture, Rakhmanin noted. Rakhmanin stressed that FAO welcomes the impressive large-scale reforms that are ongoing in Uzbekistan today in all areas, especially in the agricultural sector, which makes up 34 percent of the Uzbek economy. Given that one of the priority areas is the modernization and intensive development of agriculture, FAO works together with Uzbekistan in three main areas: strategic support of the Ministry of Agriculture and other government agencies; development of the food supply chain and market access; sustainable management of natural resources, climate change, and biodiversity. We attach great importance to the implementation of a new system of knowledge and innovation in agriculture - Agricultural Knowledge and Innovations System (AKIS), which is being developed with the assistance of FAO and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) as part of the above-mentioned Agricultural Strategy, said the FAO representative. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @romakayeva Two Lebanese children who died on their way to the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus earlier this month were laid to rest in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Friday. Their bodies washed up on Lebanon's coast days after they died of hunger and thirst on the boat that was carrying more than 40 people. Other passengers also died or are missing. Around three dozen of those on board the boat were rescued by U.N. peacekeepers who brought them back to Lebanon. In recent weeks, scores have tried to make the same illicit sea crossing, attempting to flee a country facing multiple crises and an unprecedented economic and financial collapse. Generations of Lebanese have emigrated due to war and conflict, including waves of Lebanese who traveled by boat legally to Cyprus during the country's 1975-90 war. But this new flight - people risking their lives to make illegal crossings in rickety fishing boats to escape poverty - reflects a level of desperation the country has not seen before. Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs in the past months. The local currency has lost 80% of its value, eradicating the purchasing power of many in this tiny country of 5 million where corruption and mismanagement are widespread. Unemployment has reached a soaring 35% and poverty is skyrocketing. Luzerne County officials maintain that the integrity of the 2020 election is intact and that the most recent investigation into improperly discarded ballots is proof of that. The U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, David J. Freed, broke from traditional protocol and issued two press releases about an ongoing investigation over the ballots on Sept. 24. One press release was vague on details and had to be amended at one point over a factual error. It did say that nine ballots had been discarded. Seven of those had been votes for President Donald J. Trump for the 2020 election. The announcement over the investigation led at least two election experts to question whether or not the decision to make the information public was politically motivated, as President Trump has claimed multiple times that the election is rigged against him. This is clear politicization of the Justice Departments work in the middle of an active general election, Kristen Clarke, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told the Associated Press. It seemed like a thinly veiled attempt to breathe life into President Trumps false claims about mail ballot fraud. When asked about accusations that the information release was politically motivated, Freeds office said: At this point, we will rely on our issued statement and the letter and the facts within to speak for themselves. Luzerne County issued its own statement on Sept. 25 in response to Freeds announcement. In its statement, the county detailed the events leading up to the investigation, providing greater context for how the ballots were discarded and affirming that the states system for election security works -- as evidenced by the fact that a problem arose, was addressed and now ballots have been recovered. It also encouraged everyone who has mailed in ballots to check on its status using the Pennsylvania Department of State Website. According to the county, the ballots were Uniformed Military and Overseas Voter ballots, which are given to all U.S. citizens who live abroad as well as military voters. The county board of elections began transmitting the ballots on Aug. 25. The county had brought in several temporary and independent contractors to help it with the workload as the election neared. One of these contractors was tasked with sorting the mail. They began work on Sept. 14. On Sept. 16, the countys elections director, Shelby Watchilla, discovered that this contractor had incorrectly discarded the ballots and began an internal inquiry. That contractor was dismissed and told not to return. The statement goes on to say that it was Watchillla who contacted the Luzerne County Office of Law over the matter and then the district attorneys office to start the investigation. In the meantime, the board of elections staff had retained all of the trash from the days when the contractor was working, which was then examined by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Pennsylvania State Police, Luzerne County District Attorneys Office and Luzerne County staff. The items that were collected are currently in the custody of the FBI. Election officials were unaware of the contents of the ballots at this point and had no idea that several were votes for President Trump, according to the statement. They were only made aware of this upon reading Freeds press release on Sept. 24. The county also went on to say it will do its best to contact the voters involved and make sure their votes are counted. It urged everyone to check the status of their ballot by going to the Pennsylvania Department of State website. The county is also undertaking measures to ensure this doesnt happen again, including providing additional training to its temporary workers. A security camera is set up in the office as well to ensure that all staff follow proper procedures. It has also reached out to the Pennsylvania Department of State to get additional guidance on the best way to train employees. The statement concludes by emphasizing the fact that this case proves the system in place to protect the integrity of the election works. An error was made, a public servant discovered it and reported it to law enforcement at the local, State and Federal level who took over to ensure the integrity of the system in place, the statement said. The Luzerne County voters should be assured that the election will move forward with transparency and integrity. Every properly cast vote will be counted. Freeds office said that they are currently reviewing the statement from Luzerne County. You can read the full statement from Luzerne County below. HOLYOKE The City Councils Charter and Rules Committee recommended passage of a Home Rule Petition that would let voters recall elected officials. The City Council will take up the order at its Oct. 6 regular session. If passed by the City Council and signed by Mayor Alex B. Morse, the Massachusetts Legislature must approve the proposed charter change. Morse responded to the committees invitation to join Thursdays virtual meeting as City Hall remains closed during the pandemic: I will not be in attendance. At this time, I will not be signing any charter changes into law, and as the Council knows, no home rule petition moves forward without the approval and consent of the chief executive, Morse replied. In 2017, a ballot question extended the term for mayor from two to four years. However, several attempts by the City Council to enact a recall mechanism went unsigned by Morse. The mayor, who benefited from the two-year term extension, has around 14 months left on his current term. The latest Home Rule petition was filed by Councilors Mike Sullivan, David Bartley, Howard Greaney and Linda Vacon, the committees chair. The group also supported a resolution introduced by Vacon and Sullivan during the Sept. 15 City Council meeting. condemning Morse for his reported involvement with college-age students while serving as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. During the public comment portion of the Sept. 15 meeting, resident after resident strongly criticized the resolution, with many citing homophobia, intolerance, and political and personal motivations behind the revelations unveiled only weeks before the Sept. 1 congressional primary. Morse continues to assert the allegations were part of an orchestrated smear effort by U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neals campaign, which the congressman denies. Ward 4 Councilor Libby Hernandez filed an order of censure against Sullivan for his inappropriate remark which were an abuse of his position and which caused an embarrassment t to the City of Holyoke and this body. Hernandezs order called for Sullivan to apologize and for Vacon, Bartley and Greaney to retract their endorsement of a petition to initiate an investigation, void of any factual basis of Mayor Morses personal life. The resolution against Morse and Hernandezs censure order were withdrawn for consideration. The university hired an outside attorney to look into the matter and Morses time at the school. The council agreed to review the investigations findings. Councilor Joseph McGiverin said the council should look at its legal options, but he was not a huge fan of recall petitions, citing misuse. McGiverin suggested amending the order requiring anyone filing a recall petition to collect 500 or more signatures rather than the proposed 250. The committee adopted McGiverins amendment. A recall affidavit must name the elected official and the grounds for recall. The City Clerk must review and certify the affidavit before sending a copy to the City Council. The elected official must have at least 12 months remaining on their term. The collected names on the petition must be from the city at-large. The City Clerk shall deliver to said voters petition blanks demanding said recall printer forms of which they shall keep available, Vacon outlined. The completed recall documents would go to the City Council and contain the names of persons who have filed the affidavit along with the reason for the recall, as stated in the affidavit. The petitioners would then demand an election. The signed petition must be returned to the City Clerks Office within 30 days following the date the petitions were issued and signed by at least 10% of the total number of persons registered to vote at the preceding city election. The City Clerk would have 24 hours to submit the filing to the Registrar of Voters who shall forthwith certify thereon the number of signatures and names of voters. Once certified, the City Council must give written notice of the petition and certificate to the person whose recall is sought. The elected official would remain in office throughout the election process. If the elected official does not resign their office within 10 days following delivery of the notice, the City Council would order a recall for the next November election, excluding the November election of the officers final term. The named official cannot run as a candidate in the recall election. All candidates would abide by current election laws and regulations. The candidate whose vote count exceeds the no ballots cast would take office. If the recall failed, the incumbent would stay in office until the term expires. The Home Rule Petition would guard against sour grapes actions in the first six months of an officeholders new term. Greaney and Murphy said a recall would prove difficult for elected officials who serve two-year terms. Bartley asked, If you start carving out four-year elected officials, does that not get us into targeting a specific elected official? He added, I dont see the rationale, and I think any four-year elected official would understand the gravity of their office. Bartley noted that an at-large School Committee member skipped meetings for one year straight, while collecting a paycheck and covered under the citys health plan. Thats disgraceful conduct by an elected official, Bartley said. That should warrant consideration for recall. He added the recall would affect the mayor, two at-large School Committee members, the City Clerk and City Treasurer. Bartley wants a formula that any recall petition bears signatures from the citys seven wards and not heavily concentrated in one area. Greaney proposed a minimum of 25 signatures from each ward to move a recall petition forward. The committee adopted Greaneys amendment. Nine of 13 councilors need to approve the order at the Oct. 6 meeting. Related: A man accused of slashing a police officer across the head with a knife has been found dead in his prison cell. Frederick Fadi Elrezz was arrested on Wednesday, September 2, after he allegedly attacked two officers with a knife and biting a third on York Street in the Sydney CBD. He was being held at Parklea Correctional Centre after being charged with attempted murder. Elrezz was found dead in his cell on at 8.15am on Friday morning. It is understood he had a long battled mental health issues. He had claimed he was beaten by prison guards over the attack. Frederick Fadi Elrezz was arrested on Wednesday after he allegedly attacked two officers with a knife and biting a third on York Street in the Sydney CBD A policeman (pictured), 40, was allegedly slashed in the head and shoulder by a Lakemba man, 32, on York Street in the Sydney CBD at 12:20am on Wednesday, September 2 A spokeswoman from MTC Broadspectrum, which runs the prison, said Corrective Services NSW and NSW Police are investigating the death. She would not go into further details as all deaths in custody are subject to a coronial inquest. The 32-year-old was accused of attacking the three officers after they confronted him after he allegedly harassed a food delivery rider in Sydney's George street. A male senior constable, 40, was slashed across his head and shoulder while his male acting sergeant, 39, was slashed on the hand. A male probationary constable, 20, was bitten on his tricep. Elrezz was then disarmed and arrested, before being taken to St Vincent's Hospital for assessment. The injured officers were also taken to St Vincent's Hospital, where the 40-year-old officer (pictured)underwent treatment for lacerations on the left side of his head and another on his upper arm and shoulder area Pictures from after the attack show blood pouring from the senior constable's head, covering most of his face. A bite mark and blood can also be seen on the youngest officer's tricep. The injured officers were also taken to St Vincent's Hospital, where the 40-year-old officer underwent treatment for lacerations on the left side of his head and another on his upper arm and shoulder. Meanwhile, the 39-year-old was treated for a laceration to his finger and a knee injury and the youngest officer was treated for his bite. Soon after the attack, Elrezz allegedly told officers: 'I wanted to kill a cop in the name of Allah', The Australian reported. A male probationary constable (left), 20, was bitten on his tricep with a bite mark (right) and blood visible He also allegedly said 'Allahu Akhbar' during his subsequent interview. There is nothing in the 32-year-old's history that indicates he supports extremist agendas or that he has been radicalised. Anti-terror teams were investigating his background to assess any potential links to terror organisations. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Corrections NSW for further comment. KYIV, Ukraine - A lawyer representing a top opposition activist was freed after a court imposed a fine Friday, a day after she was detained by police, and three journalists who have covered weeks of mass protests against the countrys authoritarian president were sentenced to about two weeks in jail. The lawyer, Lyudmila Kazak, went missing Thursday, with police confirming later in the day that she had been detained. On Friday, she was found guilty of failing to obey police and fined 675 rubles ($260). Kazak has defended Maria Kolesnikova, a key member of a council Belarus political opposition set up to push for a new presidential election in the wake of the Aug. 9 vote that officials said gave President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office; opponents and some poll workers claim the results were manipulated. Kolesnikova is facing charges of undermining state security that could bring a five-year prison term if she is convicted. Kazak relayed several messages Kolsenikova sent from jail, including allegations that law enforcement officers threatened to kill Kolesnikova and encouragement for protesters to continue anti-government rallies that have rocked Belarus for nearly seven weeks. Freedom is worth fighting for. Do not be afraid to be free, one such message said. I do not regret anything and would do the same again. Kolsenikova has said Belarusian security forces drove her to the border with Ukraine to try to make her leave the country, but that she tore up her passport. Her lawyers detention followed the arrest of Yegor Martinovich, chief editor of popular independent news outlet Nasha Niva. Martinovich is accused of slander against a government official and faces up to three years in prison. On Friday, two journalists of the Polish-funded Belsat TV channel that covers Belarus were sentenced to 12 days in jail and fined 810 rubles ($310) for working without accreditation and a Belarusian video journalist was sentenced to 15 days for involvement in mass disorder, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians have been protesting daily since the Aug. 9 presidential election. Both opposition members and some poll workers say the vote was rigged, and the United States and the European Union condemned the election as neither free nor fair. Many European countries refused to recognize Lukashenko as the legitimate leader after his unexpected inauguration earlier this week. The EU has been weighing sanctions against the Belarusian leadership but failed to agree on imposing them this week. U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Thursday that Britain would prepare targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights abuses in Belarus. The Baltic nations Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania expanded their own sanctions list on Friday, adding 98 more Belarusian officials, including judges and law enforcement officers, that are considered responsible for vote-rigging and violence against peaceful protesters. Officials on the list arent allowed to enter the three countries. Anti-Lukashenko protests have rocked the country for almost seven weeks, with the largest rallies in Minsk attracting up to 200,000 people. During the first days after the election, police used tear gas, truncheons and rubber bullets to disperse crowds. Several protesters died, many were injured and nearly 7,000 were detained. The response to street demonstrators intensified again this week, with police detaining hundreds and injuring many. Despite the crackdown, protests continued in Minsk on Friday, with groups of people in different parts of the capital forming human chains of solidarity and singing songs. Opposition blogs on the Telegram messaging app have called for a big rally in Minsk and other cities Sunday, referring to it as the peoples inauguration of the real president, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. In a video statement released on Friday, Tsikhanouskaya said she supports everyone who will take to the streets of their cities this Sunday. Together, well be able to achieve our goal: a new fair election. And as a result, an official, lawful inauguration, Tsikhanoskaya said. ___ Daria Litvinova and Jim Heintz in Moscow, and Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, contributed to this report. ___ Follow APs coverage of the protests in Belarus at https://apnews.com/hub/belarus Read more about: A federal judge in California ruled that the Trump administration cannot retract its pandemic-era deadline to complete the 2020 census, giving the states until Oct. 31 to complete the once-a-decade population count. Lawyers for the government immediately appealed the late Thursday ruling, which remains in effect unless a higher court intervenes. U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the census from enforcing its revised Sept. 30 deadline. Thomas Wolf of the Brennan Center for Justice, which represents plaintiffs, said the ruling marked a significant victory in the ongoing fight to save the 2020 Census from a critical undercount of our countrys communities of color. The census must count everyone, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or citizenship status, he said. To do that in the face of COVID-19, hurricanes and wildfires, the Census Bureau needs all the time it asked and planned for in the spring. Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who is among the named plaintiffs in the case, said an undercount in Harris Countys multiracial and multiethnic neighborhoods would perpetuate the inequities already faced by these communities. Justice Department lawyers and Census Bureau officials did not respond to requests for comment. The California case, one of several legal challenges to census policy around the country, was initiated by the National Urban League along with Harris County and an array of civil rights groups, civic organizations, and tribal and local governments. It specifically challenges the decision by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Census Director Steven Dillingham in early August to bump up their own revised deadline. Attorney Melissa Arbus Sherry argued at a virtual hearing Tuesday in San Jose, Calif., that the government never provided a reason for speeding up the process. They said shortening the deadline amid the pandemic was arbitrary and capricious and would cause irreparable harm to the accuracy of the count. They said it was perfectly lawful to break the statutory deadline for the census in response to COVID-19, citing the governments own revised plan introduced as the pandemic was taking hold in mid-April and subsequent internal documents between officials saying they could not complete data collection within the original timeline. The Justice Department lawyer, Alexander V. Sverdlov, called the lawsuit a bait and switch. Officials had weighed the risks of changing the dates, she said, and it was deeply, deeply troubling to call it arbitrary and capricious for the government to try to meet the statutory deadline. The judge found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits that the government had been arbitrary and capricious in changing the deadlines a second time. Experts, civil rights groups, local and tribal entities and President Donald Trump all backed the COVID-19 plan and, according to court documents, the president himself had said meeting the statutory deadlines amid a pandemic was impossible: I dont know that you even have to ask (Congress). This is called an act of God. This is called a situation that has to be. They have to give it. I think 120 days isnt nearly enough. Within two days of the hearing, the judge delivered a 78-page opinion laying out how Trump officials in the months that followed the initial extension failed to consider their constitutional and statutory obligations to produce an accurate census. They did not adequately explain their reasoning for changing the plan and the new deadline was delivered without considering any alternatives, Koh wrote. The explanation for the altered date also ran counter to the evidence before them. Natalia Cornelio, legal affairs director for Ellis, said at the point the federal government yanked back the deadline in early August, only 63 percent of households nationwide and 54 percent in Houston had responded to the census. Despite those numbers, on Aug. 3, the census director abruptly announced what the court is calling the re-plan, which shortened the timeline for households to respond by Sept. 30. Cornelio said the accuracy of the census count is critical to Harris Countys future. Its outcome determines political representation and billions of dollars of funding for healthcare, education, disaster relief, and housing, she said. Right now, in Harris County up to 600,000 households have not filled out their census form, based on data from Civis Analytics, the company the county has partnered with to track its census outreach, she said. One area likely to suffer from an undercount is the southern portion of the county, a pie-slice-shaped region extending from downtown Houston to Bellaire to League City, according to Steven Romalewski, who maps census data for the Center for Urban Research at CUNY. In that area, 11 percent of the door-knocking has yet to be completed, a feat that would likely would have been impossible with less than a week to spare to the Sept. 30 deadline, he said. In parts of Fort Bend and Galveston counties, nearly 18 percent of the door-knocking needs to be finished. And in Montgomery County 12 percent of homes have yet to be documented. Romalewski said the ruling could have a major impact on areas with a relatively low completion rate for the door-knocking operation thats meant to visit every household that has not responded. With more time to complete the process, census enumerators can attempt to visit households more than once and will be likelier to talk with someone in-person or determine that a unit is vacant. The fallback, which census officials consider less accurate, is to to count residents through administrative records. gabrielle.banks@chron.com The Biden-Harris ticket is the first with a woman vice-presidential running mate, and recently the Harris-Biden misstep brought the question if he can complete a full term, with everything intact. Biden did pick a woman as his vice-presidential running mate for the 2020 Presidential Elections. He chooses Kamala Harris who challenged him in the primaries to select a candidate from the Democrats. She decided to give up in favor of the ex-Obama VP early in the race too. The elder Dems is already 77-years old if he does beat Trump in the race. He will be 78 and one of the oldest world leader. Previous president elects were much younger, Trump is in his 70s, but is still in full control. If the Democrat wins, it will be a single term president. Kamala Harris in the VP position will be crucial, reported Meaww. Another is that the California senator is hoped to be the first female president of the United States, but only if Biden cannot continue his duties as POTUS. The Democrats winning have never been so crucial as they have a built-in replacement whatever happens. On September 23 last Wednesday, Biden indicated that Harris is being groomed for a special role by the Dems should he win this election. Guesting on the Steve Harvey's radio show, Obama's VP said several statements about the future of the Biden-Harris administration. Biden said that Harris will have to be ready anytime if President Biden is will not be able to continue his duties. One example, he gave was if an unseen accident like getting pushed off a roof. Also read: Ex- White House Stenographer Said Joe Biden Cannot Keep Up, Relies on Scripts He spoke of Kamala on the Radio Show as having what it takes, despite her 20-years less than the elder Democrat. Adding words like so good, bright, and very intelligent as the adjectives for her, giving glowing assessments on what she is capable of that included getting in the presidential seat on day one if needed. Stressing that Harris is the best amongst the women candidates from the Democratic party. Biden says he is a transition or transitional candidate Last May Biden cryptically has called himself a transition candidate during an online fundraiser, with praises for former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg who has been an ex-presidential candidate before and adding that he was interested in bringing him into the administration. In a recent interview with ABC News, Biden said enthusiastically that he will be able to serve two terms if he wins in November. If it does happen and his term stretches dual terms, then his age will be 86 years old if it does occur. He told ABC 27 News in Pennsylvania just this month that he indulges in exercises daily and claims to be in excellent shape too. Stressing that good health is a prerequisite for running for president. A Rasmussen survey was done recently to reveal numbers manifesting what voters think of important electoral issues. Those who answered said that 59% of voters and 49% Dems think Harris will fill in for Biden's failure to finish his first term. Trump has said his opponent is too old and not fit to run. The Democrat has made many mistake statements too. Related article: Biden Messes Up with Numbers Again Saying 200 M Died From COVID-19, Teleprompter Needed? @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain In her ongoing research about Americans' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, Northern Arizona University anthropology professor Lisa Hardy and her collaborators have talked to dozens of people. A couple of them stand out to the researchers. Hardy spoke to a man who had polio as a child and had to live in a home with an iron lung away from his family. He said he was not in good health but he was not afraid of COVID-19 because he has seen all of this. A woman told anthropology lecturer Leah Mundell that she was the only Spanish-speaking contact tracer in her county, and she took on the responsibility of helping clients with much more than their physical health, connecting them with services and translating for them as they struggled to access resources. Hardy's research, to which Mundell contributed, was published this week in Medical Anthropology. "Connection, Contagion, and COVID-19" looks at how Americans' attitudes and responses have changed during the time of the pandemic and how to many people, the virus is not a biological agent but instead a malicious actor. This perception may play a role in the various responses Hardy's team heard, including comments about racism, social justice and mistrust of information. "Social scientists have done an excellent job of exploring past pandemics with regard to xenophobiathe 'Spanish Flu,' for instanceand how people understand bodies and illness," Hardy said. "This work builds on that by examining the COVID-19 pandemic in the current political moment. The results of this and other research can help to inform areas where collaborative interventions could potentially help to slow the spread of the virus and support well-being for people living through this time." The research project, which is a collaboration as part of the Social Science Community Engagement Lab, started six months ago, in the early days of the pandemic in the United States. Researchers, including Hardy, Mundell and two others, conducted semi-structured conversational phone interviews with 50 diverse participants. They asked open-ended questions about how people are dealing with the pandemic and their experiences of social and political responses. Then they transcribe the recorded interviews and apply codes to the transcripts to identify patterns. Hardy said this qualitative strategy is ideal for exploring a situation that is rapidly changing and unfolding over time. As they've called more people, the researchers have seen the interview content change. In more recent interviews, people talked about social uprisings like Black Lives Matter. They're analyzing the relationship between these social movements and perceptions of COVID-19. Researchers also are talking to more people who have had COVID-19 or had loved ones who got sick. Recent data includes how people reflect on medical care and contact tracing; that information will be useful for pandemic response. They also will continue interviewing after the Nov. 3 election, which will offer insight into the politicization of the pandemics and its effects. Tracing the logic of different groups also is important for the group's research. Hardy said they've seen an increase in conspiracy theories in more recent interviews, as people across the political spectrum develop unfounded theories about the virus and its reach. "We want to understand where these ideas are coming from and see how they influence behavior like vaccine uptake, health practices and voting patterns," she said. The article includes specific responses researchers have collected as they describe their experiences. They run the gamut; interviewees shared fears, concerns and conspiracy theories. Other interviewees talked at length about new connections and circles of care they have formed to help others and to accept help when needed. "The strength of some of the people who are having to live through hardships is really heartwarming to us," Hardy said. "It gives us hope in this time of tragic loss and tension in the United States." While the long-term effects of the pandemic are impossible to predict at this point, Hardy anticipates ongoing effects from the loss of loved ones and inability to grieve together as well as long-term health effects in people who survive COVID-19 but continue to have symptoms. But, she added, the country is seeing the development of creative and dynamic strategies for connection and resilience that will hopefully persist through generations. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak More information: Lisa J. Hardy, Connection, Contagion, and COVID-19, Medical Anthropology (2020). Lisa J. Hardy, Connection, Contagion, and COVID-19,(2020). DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2020.1814773 First Secretary Mijito Vinito, who was on the second seat on the first row of the Assembly chamber, stood up and left as Khan turned on India by focusing on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). United Nations, Sep 25 (IANS) The Indian delegate at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session on Friday walked out when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan began his diatribe in his speech at the high-level meeting of the UNGA. Khan also declared a thinly veiled support for the attacks on India by the militants. "The government and the people of Pakistan are committed to standing by and supporting the Kashmiri brothers and sisters in their legitimate struggle for self-determination," Khan said. To preemptively deny the involvement in any Pakistan-sponsored attacks on India, Khan said, "We have consistently sensitised the world community about a false flag operation." India's Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti decried Khan's attacks as "warmongering and obfuscation". In a tweet, he said, "PM of Pakistan's statement a new diplomatic low - at 75th UN General Assembly. Another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, war mongering and obfuscation of Pakistan's persecution of its own minorities & of its cross-border terrorism. Befitting Right of Reply awaits." The Prime Minister of the Islamic republic, which constitutionally denies full citizenship rights to non-Muslims as well as Muslims of the Ahamadhya sect, said that India is giving up on secularism of Mahatma Gandhi and is moving towards a "Hindutva" state. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis) --IANS al/arm Only the Big Survive Will Audiences Come Back? The Opera House in Newberry, S.C., was built back in 1881 but shut down for decades after serving as a movie palace. Since undergoing a $5.5 million renovation during the 1990s, its been a prime stop for concerts and touring shows. Its success has led to increased occupancy in nearby housing developments and helped attract employers such as Samsung Electronics and M.M. Technics, a German metal supply company.Its just been a great catalyst, said Newberry Mayor Foster Senn. Its not that easy being a small town, but the Opera House has given us a flagship and been vital to our rebound.Its long been common for mayors and other elected officials to tout the arts as an essential component of their economic development strategies. But it turns out that when the arts fall into depression, they represent a drag on local economies.Like theaters all over the country, the Newberry Opera House went dark for months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Losing the venue as a draw has hurt neighboring restaurants and other businesses. It is tough being a downtown shop right now, Senn said. These are some difficult days for a lot of them.A recent analysis by the Brookings Institution found that fine and performing arts organizations lost almost 1.4 million jobs and $42.5 billion in sales between April and July alone. Thats 50 percent of the jobs and a quarter of their sales. Things have gotten so bad that the Association of Art Museum Directors has lifted its normal taboo on members selling works to pay for operating expenses.Theater and concert sales took less of a nosedive than employment in large part because many patrons were willing to donate the value of their tickets to canceled performances. Some are still buying subscriptions for seasons that may or may not ever happen. However, people wont keep buying tickets to non-existent shows forever.If theaters cant come back on a fully functional basis, then thats actually going to hurt businesses quite a bit, said Deb Clapp, executive director of the League of Chicago Theatres. Thats all over Chicago. Its not just about downtown.Presenting organizations around the country are hosting countless online events. That may entertain audiences and donors, but they arent doing anything to bring people out of their homes to spend money. In normal times, the average patron spends more than $30 on top of any admission price when attending a cultural event, according to Americans for the Arts, an advocacy and research group.In St. Louis, a group called Grand Center Inc. was started 40 years ago to help revitalize the citys long-neglected midtown. The 60 arts organizations located on or around Grand Boulevard normally bring in 2 million people a year, not only helping restaurants draw customers, but prompting renewed investment in hotels and apartments.Over the past six months, however, the number of visitors has dwindled down to almost nothing.We employ thousands of people in this district who pay a 1 percent earnings tax, said Rich Simmons, Grand Centers executive director. For those jobs that have been downsized, perhaps permanently, those are taxes that are not going to go to the city.The Brookings study found, unsurprisingly, that job losses in the arts have been most severe in New York and Los Angeles. On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Opera the nation's largest performing arts company announced that it was canceling its entire season and won't reopen until September 2021 at the earliest.But the pain has been felt all over. There are over 100,000 small nonprofit arts organizations around the country, said Michael Seman, a professor of arts management at Colorado State University and co-author of the Brookings study.For the past 123 years, the last week of July has meant Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyo., a celebration of western roots (think: rodeo). Over seven days, the event typically draws 250,000 people, who fill hotels, shops and restaurants to capacity. This year, it was canceled due to COVID-19.It really is the heartstring of our community, said Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr. It was truly heartbreaking and it was very surreal to have it canceled. This event has survived world wars, its survived depressions and recessions and it wasnt until this pandemic that brought us down and broke the horse.The cancellation represented a huge economic hit for the city, but Orr notes that planning is already well underway for next years Frontier Days, the 125th anniversary edition. People in the arts world predict that a lot of big events, as well as large organizations such as symphonies and major theater companies, should be able to survive past the pandemic, thanks to deep-pocketed donors. Tiny nonprofits that have always operated on a shoestring may pull through as well. Theyre used to not having any money.But many middle-sized groups the ones that normally employ about five to 10 people and have overhead to meet may not make it. If this continues, I do see the possibility of some of the organizations not being around, said Simmons, of Grand Center in St. Louis.After plummeting in the spring, crowdsourced funding for arts projects has recovered robustly and is now higher than it was a year ago at this time, according to Doug Noonan, research director at a cultural affairs center at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. But the character of giving has changed, he said.The crowd money is funding larger arts projects rather than smaller ones, he said.For people wary of the virus, entering an enclosed space and spending hours among hundreds of other people may well be one of the last things theyll feel comfortable doing. And the arts, for all their value, are inherently an optional activity.There is a hit economically for communities that have been relying on all this spending coming in for their arts events, Seman said. Thats not going to change in a meaningful way until sometime in 2021, if all goes well with a vaccine.Noonan counters that, while theres a lot of talk about catastrophe in the arts sector, he believes arts districts will rise from the ashes, in time. Theres a lot of pent-up demand for live performances, he said. People really do crave rubbing shoulders and shared experiences.Clapp, of the Chicago theater league, is also optimistic about the long-term yearning for theater among those who miss it. Patrons will be ready and willing to attend when they can, she predicts, given precautions such as wearing masks. Already, presentations such as patio concerts or small-scale theater productions presented in parks are filled to capacity, though that's usually limited.Still, Clapp doesnt downplay the current challenge. Many of her members have laid off 80 percent of their staffs. Thousands of people in Chicago are out of work, she said.Out of 230 theater companies that belonged to the league when the year began, five have closed for good. Clapp notes that the number is smaller than she would have predicted back in March, if shed known that everything would go dark for at least six months.They'll have to wait more than six months, though. In Chicago, theaters arent expected to open until the spring, at the earliest. That means a full year of closures. Not many businesses of any kind can last that long without any real revenue coming in.Performing arts venues are hoping that the feds will fund more aid to small businesses, but Congress has kept its pandemic checkbook shut for months now. As more presenting organizations close, artists and employees are having to look elsewhere for sustenance.We were a big industry in Chicago, Clapp said. It took 50 years to build the industry to where it was. Its going to take a very long time to build it back. Askia Asmar has filled out request after request - roughly 15 in all - asking officials at Virginia's Deerfield Corrections Center for proper care for health problems including lung and liver cancer, diabetes and hepatitis C, according to a sworn statement. Not only does Asmar say his treatment has been scattershot, but the 67-year-old prisoner, who is in a high-risk category for covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, claims in the statement provided to the ACLU that he was left in a unit where there was a coronavirus outbreak earlier this month. Asmar soon tested positive for the coronavirus, adding yet another life-threatening condition to a laundry list of issues. He's been suffering from sweats, diahrrea and body aches. "I can only pray," Asmar said. "That is all I have." Asmar is part of a massive coronavirus outbreak at the southeastern Virginia facility that houses many of Virginia's geriatric prisoners. The Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) reports 723 have contracted covid-19 and 12 have died - a staggering toll that is higher than the count of cases in a number of states' prison systems. The ACLU of Virginia highlighted the plight of Deerfield in a notice to the state this week, claiming the VADOC has violated for a second time a May settlement of a lawsuit by inmates in the state over conditions related to the coronavirus at prisons. They claim the corrections department has failed to provide basic safeguards against the coronavirus like water to wash hands and social distancing at a number of facilities, and is continuing to move too slowly to release inmates to stem the spread of covid-19. The ACLU is calling for an independent expert to oversee the prison system's response to the coronavirus because of what they see as repeated failings. The number of active coronavirus cases in Virginia's prison system has doubled since June. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 3,600 cases. A total of 26 prisoners have died. "The numbers themselves show Virginia's ability to manage the infection's spread right now is pretty dismal," said Eden Heilman, the legal director of the ACLU of Virginia. Virginia corrections officials declined to discuss Asmar's case, but wrote in a news release this week they were moving aggressively to combat the coronavirus at Deerfield, which houses 925 inmates. Officials said they performed mass testing on inmates and staff, and distributed thousands of bars of soap and masks since mid-March among other measures. "The department's pandemic response plan consists of more than 900 pages of documents addressing every situation we have faced during this pandemic," said VADOC Director Harold Clarke. "We responded to the outbreak at Deerfield with months of knowledge and best practices that we've developed since the beginning of the pandemic." VADOC spokeswoman Lisa Kinney wrote in an email the department had "worked overtime" to try to release inmates eligible for early release, but the cases are complicated since officials have to weigh public safety concerns, investigate a prisoner's record and ensure inmates have an after-release plan. The VADOC has approved 1,094 prisoners for early release and 816 have been released. But the ACLU says the corrections department should do much more. The ACLU points to a Marshall Project analysis from July that found at the time Virginia had only released 2% of its nearly 28,600 prisoners, a lower percentage than any other state in the country. The ACLU's first notice of noncompliance with the settlement in June also accused the VADOC of reviewing cases for early release too slowly and failing to accurately inform prisoners of their eligibility for early release. VADOC disputed those claims, but agreed to begin reviewing at least 60 petitions for early release each week. The ACLU claims approval is still too slow, leaving medically vulnerable people who are eligible for early release lingering behind bars during a deadly pandemic. Asmar wrote in his filing that he submitted a request for information about early release in June, but the Deerfield warden replied by telling him he had already been given the information in April. The ACLU says Asmar has not been given the information since his request. The ACLU has also been critical of Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, saying he should be aggressively using conditional pardons to release inmates during the health crisis. Heilman said Northam has declined to release any information about whether his office has approved any conditional pardons related to the coronavirus, citing executive privilege. Northam's office did not respond to requests for comment, but in an April radio interview Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran was cool to the idea of conditional pardons. "They don't have any place to go," Moran said of inmates after a conditional pardon. "So what are you going to do about that? That really kind of reinforces the position we have taken that we're not going to irresponsibly release people without a successful home plan, someplace to go." Meanwhile, the ACLU says inmates like Asmar are being forced to contend with life-threatening conditions. Asmar said in his sworn statement it is difficult to remain socially distant in the dormitory-style, geriatric unit. "I do my best to stay away from people," Asmar said. Asmar said prison officials have failed to inform him about medical appointments at a local hospital and he was not given care despite complaining of severe pain in an area where he had surgery for his liver cancer, according to his statement. Asmar, who said in his statement he is serving a six-year sentence for a nonviolent offense, is eligible to be released in December. Court records could not be located listing his specific crime or crimes. In sworn statements, other inmates at Deerfield have complained their covid-19-like symptoms have been dismissed as allergies and inmates have to beg for hand sanitizer to be replaced. A private attorney filed the lawsuit against the VADOC in April on behalf of 27 inmates and the ACLU later joined the suit. The suit accused VADOC of violating the Constitution by failing to protect inmates from the coronavirus and freeing the medically vulnerable. Heilman said the VADOC is expected to respond to the notice of noncompliance with the settlement on Monday. The income-tax (I-T) department on Friday launched a faceless appeal system, which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 13 to eliminate discretionary powers of the taxman, curb corrupt practices and provide ease of compliance to taxpayers, an official statement said. The new process will help in quick resolution of about 4.6 lakh appeals pending at various levels in the I-T department. Of the total pending appeals, about 85% cases will be handled under the faceless appeal mechanism, it said. The Prime Minister last month announced three key structural tax reforms under the Transparent Taxation - Honouring the Honest platformfaceless assessment, faceless appeal and taxpayers charter. While faceless assessment and taxpayers charter were formally implemented immediately, faceless appeal was scheduled to be launched on September 25. The technology-driven faceless assessment system also aims to end overreach by officials and the charter defines the rights and responsibilities of taxpayers. Also Read: CBI raids 3 in 2019 Vellore Lok Sabha cash-for-vote case Now, I-T appeals will be finalised in a faceless manner with the exception of appeals related to serious fraud, major tax evasion, search matters, international tax issues and matters pertaining to black money, a finance ministry statement said. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said that now all income tax appeals, ranging from e-allocation of appeals, to e-communication of notices, e-verification, e-enquiry and e-hearing will take place online without the need for any physical interface between the appellant and the department. There will be no physical interface between the taxpayers or their counsel/s and the Income Tax Department. The taxpayers can make submissions from the comfort of their home and save their time and resources, it said. According to CBDT, the faceless appeal system will include the allocation of cases through data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) under a dynamic jurisdiction. Also Read: Tax refunds worth over Rs 1.06 lakh cr issued to 30.92 lakh taxpayers till Sep 15: CBDT As part of the dynamic jurisdiction, the draft appellate order will be prepared in one city and will be reviewed in some other city, resulting in an objective, fair and just order, it said. The faceless appeal will provide taxpayers with not only great convenience, but will also ensure just and fair appeal orders and minimise any further litigation. The new system will also be instrumental in imparting greater efficiency, transparency and accountability in the functioning of the Income Tax Department, it said. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/25/2020 -- The global retort pouch market is characterized by intense competition owing to the presence of numerous prominent participants trying to outshine one another. In order to thrive in the market, keen players are seen resorting to cost-reduction and product innovations to better cater to the need of customers. Browse the Research Report@ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/retort-pouches-market.html Some of the prominent participants in the global retort pouch market are Sealed Air Corporation, Huhtamaki Group, Amcor Ltd., Mondi Group, Bemis Company, Inc., Clifton Packaging Group Ltd., Foshan Nanhai LD Packaging Co., Ltd., Sonoco Products Company, Constantia Flexibles International GmbH, ProAmpac, Alliedflex Technologies Ltd., Paharpur 3P, Flexi-Pack Ltd., Flair Flexible Packaging, Tong Yuan Packaging Co. Ltd., Purity Flexipack Ltd., MST Packaging Co., Ltd., and Avonflex. A report by Transparency Market Research finds that the global retort pouch market, which was worth US$4.29 bn in 2016 will likely attain a value of US$7.51 bn by 2025-end by clocking a steady CAGR of 6.5%. Depending upon the type of products, the global retort pouch market can be segmented into stand up pouches, spouted pouches, pillow pack, zipper pouches, and 3-side sealed pouches. Of them, the stand-up pouches segment leads the market with maximum share. By 2025, the segment will account for a 30% share in the market. This is because of their widespread use in processed foods. Request Sample For More Information@ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=33044 Geographically, the key segments of the global retort pouch market are North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. At present, Asia Pacific market is witnessing maximum growth on account of the high demand for properly packaged ready-to-eat meals and pet foods in the region. The region is expected to rise at a CAGR of 7.5% from 2017 to 2025. A fast paced life worldwide on account of demanding jobs and long commutes has led to people opting for easy-peasy ready-to-eat food products. This trend is now fast catching up in highly populated developing nations of India and China, where average disposable income is rising. This in turn is providing a solid boost to the global retort pouch market. A noticeable trend in the market is the emergence and subsequent popularity of stand-up retort pouches which further drives the consumer interest in this market. "Companies are focusing on elevating their brand image through value added products which are also eye-catching. This is proving beneficial to the market as well," explains the lead analyst of the TMR report. Request For COVID-19 Impact Analysis Across Industries@ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=covid19&rep_id=33044 Factors posing a roadblock to the market, on the other hand, are recyclability and handling issues of retort pouches. The multi-layer materials used for the production of retort pouches take more time to biodegrade and thus harm the environment. This review is based on the findings of a TMR report, titled, "Retort Pouches Market (Capacity - 0 ml- 350 ml, 351 ml- 500 ml, 501 ml- 1000 ml, 1000 ml- 3000 ml, and Above 3001 ml; Material Type - Aluminum, Polypropylene, Food Cast PP, Polyamide, and Polyethylene; Product - Stand Up Pouches, Spouted Pouches, Zipper Pouches, Pillow Pack, and 3-Side Sealed; Closure Type - With Cap and Without Cap; Application - Food and Pharmaceuticals) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025." SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California will ban the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks in 15 years, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, establishing a timeline in the nation's most populous state that could force U.S. automakers to shift their zero-emission efforts into overdrive. The plan won't stop people from owning gas-powered cars or selling them on the used car market. But in 2035 it would end the sale of all new such vehicles in the state of nearly 40 million people that accounts for more than one out of every 10 new cars sold in the U.S. California would be the first state with such a mandate while at least 15 other countries have already made similar commitments, including Germany, France and Norway. Newsom used the hood of a red, electric-powered Ford Mustang Mach-E to sign an executive order directing state regulators to develop new regulations to meet the deadline. He urged Californians to pull away from the gas pumps" and encouraged other states to join California for the good of the environment and public health. If you want to reduce asthma, if you want to mitigate the rise of sea level, if you want to mitigate a loss of ice sheets around the globe, then this is a policy for other states to follow, Newsom said. While environmental groups cheered the announcement, the oil industry panned it and the automakers' industry group sought a middle ground, saying it's committed to increasing zero-emission vehicles but through cooperation among governments and businesses, not by mandates. Meantime, White House spokesman Judd Deere said flatly: President Trump wont stand for it. And Larry Kudlow, Trump's economic adviser, labeled it a very extreme" position that he doesn't think other states will follow. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Bidens campaign didnt comment directly on Newsoms plan. But spokesman Matt Hill said Biden believes electric vehicles can create good-paying union jobs, dominate a fast-growing market worldwide, and meet the demands of the climate crisis. Story continues Tailpipe exhaust from cars, pickups, tractor-trailer rigs and other transportation are the single largest source of air pollution, and California has by far the most cars on the road than any other state. In 2017, the federal government said California emitted 266.5 million tons (241.8 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide from the burning of petroleum. That's about the same as the total emissions from Egypt, which has 2.5 times the population. Newsom says his order will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35%. But he stressed the benefits went beyond the environment, saying electric cars and trucks are the next big global industry and California wants to dominate it. California is already home to 34 companies that make either electric vehicles or chargers and components for those vehicles. Those companies include Tesla, the world's top-selling electric vehicle maker. Some auto industry analysts warned the timeline could be too fast for technology to catch up to customer's expectations. Battery life and manufacturing costs are still issues that haven't been resolved, said IHS Markit principal analyst Stephanie Brinley, who studies the North and South American auto markets. On Tuesday, Tesla announced plans for cheaper batteries with higher energy density, but they are well into the future, she said. Even if you get a battery like Tesla is talking about, it's going to take time and money to get there, Brinley said. Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights at the Edmunds.com auto pricing site, said Newsoms announcement does seem like this is a significant shot fired against the internal combustion engine that is likely to trigger high-level meetings at all the auto companies, which were moving toward electric vehicles but didnt expect a zero-emissions mandate in 15 years. Ford Motor Company said it agreed with Newsom that it's time to take action to address climate change. But the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents Ford and most other automakers, said markets can't be built with mandates and bans. The oil and gas industry, meanwhile, criticized Newsom for holding a news conference on Wednesday in front of nearly $200,000 worth of electric cars as he told Californians that their reliable and affordable cars and trucks would soon be unwelcome in our state. Big and bold ideas are only better if they are affordable for us all, said Cathy Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association. Our industry and the energy we provide will be the part of any solution. Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources board tasked with writing regulations for the plan, said electric vehicles will be more affordable in 15 years and everyone will benefit from cleaner air. California already has some of the most progressive climate laws in the country, putting it at odds with the Trump administration and it's more relaxed regulatory approach to environmental policy. The federal government has tried to end California's authority to set emission standards for cars and trucks, a move the state is fighting in court. About a dozen states follow Californias lead on auto emissions standards that are more restrictive than federal rules. If those states follow suit on zero-emission vehicles, it could have a huge impact on the U.S. automobile industry. Governors from many of those states appeared with Newsom at an event on Wednesday sponsored by the U.S. Climate Alliance. They praised California's move, but they gave no immediate indication they would join it. Were going to be with you, the auto industry is going to be with you, as we move to zero emissions vehicles, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said. Newsom's order on Wednesday also targeted medium and heavy duty commercial trucks, saying he wants those to be 100% zero-emission vehicles by 2045 where feasible. On the oil production side, Newsom called on the state Legislature to end new fracking licenses by 2024. Fracking is a technique that allows energy companies to extract huge volumes of oil and gas from shale rock deep underground. It involves injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals into rock. Fracking opponents says the chemicals involved threaten water supplies and public health. Newsom can't claim climate leadership while handing out permits to oil companies to drill and frack, said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversitys Climate Law Institute. He has the power to protect Californians from oil industry pollution, and he needs to use it, not pass the buck. ___ Associated Press writers Tom Krisher in Detroit, Ellen Knickmeyer in Oklahoma City and Seth Borenstein and Kevin Freking in Washington, D.C., in contributed to this report. A new group calling itself, The Western Togoland Restoration Front has claimed responsibility for Fridays disturbances in the Volta Region. The group on Friday blocked all major entry points into the Volta region in a bid to fight for the Independence of the Volta Region. The group members said to be wielding guns and sticks and chanting war songs mounted the roadblock around 3:00am Friday turning away vehicles as they claim ownership of the area. The situation created a massive gridlock on major routes into the Volta region. Armed Police and Military officers were deployed to the scene to maintain order and prevent an escalation of the situation. Two people were reportedly shot dead during a standoff between the group and military personnel deployed to maintain order. Starrfm.com.gh has gathered that the group that claimed responsibility for Fridays chaos in the Volta region is different from Homeland Study Foundation, the group that has recently been campaigning for the secession of the Volta region. Some 25 members of the secessionist group have been picked up by the Ghana Armed Force and the Ghana Police Service at Abortia near Joapong where they had earlier mounted their roadblock. Currently, there is heavy military and police presence currently at the area. ---starrfm Photo: (Photo : Wendy Wei from Pexels) A Texas dad dances outside the hospital every week. His purpose was to make sure his teen son is happy and entertained while having his chemo inside the hospital. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Texas dad, Chuck Yielding, is not allowed to come inside the hospital to visit his son. That is why he decided to find a way to still connect with his teen son. READ ALSO: 5 Unique and Interesting Dad and Son Bonding Ideas The teen son's condition According to ABC7, the teen son of the Texas dad, Aiden Yielding, is receiving chemotherapy treatment at the hospital. He is suffering from leukemia. The hospital is not allowing two parents to join the teen son during chemo. This protocol was implemented due to the coronavirus. Since Aiden's mom is working at the hospital, she was the clear choice for the family. However, this situation did not stop the Texas dad to cheer up his son. READ ALSO: Father and Daughter Relationship: Stronger Through California Fires Texas dad dances outside the hospital Even without loud music, the Texas dad continues dancing outside the hospital. He makes sure that his son sees him from the hospital window giving his all-out moves. Chuck told KTVT, it is his was to ensure that they can still communicate in the best way that they can. The Texas dad dances outside the hospital every Tuesday. He shows off his routines in between the teen son's treatment breaks. Chuck said that this creative way is his part in ensuring that his son knows they are supporting his battle, "Just anything to bring his spirits up a little bit, and let him know he is not alone." READ ALSO: Hero Father Wrestled with a Stranger Who Attempted to Kidnap His Son The teen son's reaction In an interview with KTVT, Aiden said that his dad's effort is something that he looks forward to every week. He said, "It's funny watching him figuring out all that he is going to do." The teen son also affirms that his father dancing outside the hospital cheers him up. That is the Texas dad's main goal. When Aiden is not feeling too tired from receiving the chemo treatment, he dances along with his father. He said, "It makes me feel like he is there, ya know? And I dunno, he's just a funny guy." Aside from the cheering up for their son, the Texas dad, and his wife are also inviting friends to support their son's plight against cancer by donating blood. According to Aiden's mom's Facebook page, a blood donation drive is set for Aiden on October 3. In the post, Aiden's mom is asking for interested people to register for an available slot in the blood donation drive for their teen son. READ ALSO: New York Hero Dad Shields Three Children from Gunman, Gets Shot in the Thigh Finance Mininstry sources have said that the government will be carefully examining the options it has after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague decided in favour of Vodafone in the retrospective tax case. The sources said that the government is seeking legal opinion on its future course of action, including challenging the award by filing of an application before the appropriate court in Singapore, which is the seat of the arbitration. The ministry sources acknowledged that the Arbitration Tribunal in September 25, 2020 order has held that the tax demand raised by the Indian Income Tax Department on the basis of the retrospective amendment is in violation India-Netherlands Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement. ALSO READ: What options does govt have in Vodafone tax dispute after adverse Hague verdict? They refuted reports that India will be losing Rs 20,000 crore in Vodafone tax case. They said since Vodafone had not paid the tax demand of Rs 7,900 crore, and interest and penalty on it, the question of India losing Rs 20,000 crore does not arise. Also, the tribunal has not accepted the claim of Vodafone for award of damages. The tribunal has directed India to bear 60 per cent of cost incurred by Vodafone towards legal representation and assistance, which comes to 43,27,294.50 pounds, plus 50 per cent of the fees paid by Vodafone to the appointing authority, which comes to 3,000 euros. Thus, the total cost of reimbursement works out in Indian rupees to around Rs 40 crores. In addition, an amount of Rs 44.74 crore collected from Vodafone needs to be refunded in pursuance of the order of the Arbitration Tribunal. Thus, the total outgo on account of this award is estimated to be around Rs 85 crore. ALSO READ: Vodafone's arbitration victory could haunt Modi government It may be noted here that in February 2007, Vodafone International Holding (a Netherland Company) had purchased 100 per cent shares of CGP Investments (Holding) Ltd (CGP Ltd) (a Cayman Islands Company) for $11.1 billion from Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited. CGP Ltd indirectly controlled 67 per cent of Hutchison Essar Limited (HEL Ltd) - an Indian Company. Hence, through this acquisition, Vodafone got control over an Indian company, i.e., Hutchison Essar Limited. Sources said that it was argued by the Vodafone that this transaction is not liable for taxation in India as the asset transferred, i.e. shares of CGP Ltd, are the shares of a Cayman Island company, not an Indian company. The Income Tax Department felt that such indirect transfer was designed only to avoid capital gain tax in India, and raised a demand of around Rs 7,900 crore by holding that the said transfer of shares of CGP Ltd involves indirect transfer of Indian assets, i.e., shares of an Indian company (HEL Ltd). ALSO READ: Vodafone Idea share zooms 15% after parent wins arbitration against govt in Rs 20K-crore retro tax case Karl Hasenstein, the principal investigator for the Plant Habitat-02, or PH-02, plants radish seeds in seed carriers for the Addvanced Plant Habitat (APH) in the Space Life Sciences Lab at Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 23, 2020. The carriers will fly aboard Northrop Grumman's 14th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. The launch, aboard Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft, is targeted for Sept. 29 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Astronauts will grow radish plants in the APH, NASA's largest and most advanced growth chamber on station. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson KSC-20200923-PH-GEB01_0046 Larger image Space Biology, Astrobiology, Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. Japanese Prime Minister told (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that will continue to cooperate with the UN and the community to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In a 20-minute teleconference, Guterres said he appreciated Japan's commitment and resolve as part of the community's efforts in fighting the global pandemic, foreign ministry officials here said, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. Earlier in the week, Guterres appealed for global solidarity to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. During the talks Thursday, the pair also committed to continuing cooperation in a number of areas, spanning climate change and peace building activities. The teleconference marked the first talks between Suga and Guterres since Suga took over from Shinzo Abe as prime minister. Guterres congratulated Suga on becoming Japan's prime minister, foreign ministry officials said. Suga, for his part, while thanking Guterres, reportedly told the UN chief that continues to place a great deal of importance on multilateralism. --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.) Chinas $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund posted a 17.4% return on overseas investments last year as global stocks rallied, boosting its finances as it combats volatile markets amid the pandemic. Net income, which also includes profits from holdings in the nations state banks, jumped 70% to $110.3 billion, according to China Investment Corp.s 2019 annual report, posted on its website on Friday. The overseas return, reversing a loss in the previous year, was in line with an unaudited result of about 17% disclosed by Executive Vice President Zhao Haiying in an interview in May. The solid 2019 returns would lift CICs 10-year performance metrics and ease pressure on Chairman Peng Chun as the company adjusts investment strategies amid short-term volatility and loss of talent. The company is looking for more resilient assets this year while pressing ahead with a shift toward alternative and direct investments for more stable returns, according to Zhao. 2020 is also the most testing year for CIC since its establishment in 2007, the company said, citing the pandemic, fluctuations in global financial markets, tightening overseas regulations and deteriorating global trade and investment environments. Outbound investment risks have increased notably. With Covid-19, this year is set to be more challenging for sovereign wealth funds. Temasek Holdings Pte, the Singapore investor, reported its worst annual performance since 2016 for the year through March 31. The worlds largest wealth fund in Norway has embarked on an historic asset sale to generate cash, while Panamas savings fund in July had to make its first cash withdrawal to fight the virus. CIC shifted to emergency management mode for overseas investments this year, cutting its portfolio risk guidance in a timely fashion, the company said. The fund captured some opportunities from market misalignments and increased exposure to the digital-economy and credit assets. That enabled its returns to beat benchmarks in the first half, it said without providing details. Alternative assets, the biggest category including hedge funds and direct investments, fell by almost 2 percentage points last year to 42.2% as of Dec. 31, reversing an increase in 2018. Fixed-income assets expanded by 2.5 percentage points to 17.7%, according to the annual report. The funds asset allocation strategies had been kept largely stable this year but the company did tilt a little bit to avoid excessive short-term volatility and permanent losses, Zhao said in May. Its private portfolio, including real estate and private equity, avoided serious damage even as cash flows slowed, she said. CIC has lost some of its most experienced investment professionals over the past few months as a string of senior departures from a few years ago extended, eroding its ability to bolster performance amid tumult. Among others, Susan Gao, who resigned in April, had consistently beaten the MSCI All-Country World Index with her Global Large Cap Value Equity Portfolio over the past 10 years, Bloomberg reported earlier. Last years results raised CICs 10-year annualized net return to 6.6%, 92 basis points above its target, according to the report. Besides making overseas investments to boost returns on Chinas foreign reserves, CIC also holds major stakes in 18 Chinese financial institutions including banks and securities firms through unit Central Huijin Investment Ltd. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size The death of liberal US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has huge implications for the future of law and life in the United States, giving Republican President Donald Trump the chance to cement a 6-3 conservative majority on the court. The United States was barrelling along a rollercoaster of an election campaign already, with its divisive partisan politics, a faltering economy, race riots and a worsening COVID death toll soaring past 200,000. Now the departure of Ginsburg, a cultural and feminist icon in the US (nicknamed RBG), will see both sides mobilising in an increasingly fractious environment to maximise possible political benefits. Why is the Supreme Court such a huge deal in the US? How are judges chosen? And what difference would a new face on the bench make to life in America? What's the US Supreme Court and why is the choice of judges such a huge deal? They are colloquially known as the Supremes not a new super-hero franchise nor a reworked version of the '60s all-female singing group, but a bunch of superstars in the US judicial firmament. Advertisement Article III of the Constitution established the federal judiciary, with the first meeting of the court in 1790. Nine judges, known as justices, sit on the highest court in the US and often provide the final word on highly contentious laws, disputes between states and the federal government, and final appeals to stay executions. They make landmark decisions, says Jared Mondschein, a US Studies Centre senior adviser at the University of Sydney, adding that these decisions can fundamentally transform the country, such as its 1954 ruling that the segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. That decision meant that students could no longer be excluded on the basis of race. A Supreme Court justice is a lifetime appointment. Australian justices have to retire at the age of 70. Its a role similar to the one performed by the Australian High Court, but it's a much more partisan body. There are three crucial factors driving this partisanship. One, the US president provides a nomination for any vacancy that arises in the court, which is reviewed and approved by the Senate. In Australia, it's the Governor-General who appoints a new justice on the advice of the Commonwealth Attorney-General and the federal cabinet. Advertisement Second, becoming a Supreme Court justice is a lifetime appointment. Australian justices have to retire at the age of 70. Third, the court, as in Australia, can deem laws unconstitutional. In the US, that can shape up as striking down progressive legislation enacted by Congress in the event Democrats have the votes to pass major bills on issues such as climate change. A conservative court would be even less likely to embrace liberal causes, such as ending the death penalty, although its recent 6-3 ruling in favour of LGBT worker rights suggests that issue could be an exception in certain circumstances. As a result, the elevation of a new US justice is a hotly contested political space, subject to the combative pulling and pushing of the political representatives of the time. Ruth Bader Ginsburg chats with John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, before a ceremony at the White House in 2018. Credit:Getty Images; image altered Why are the Republicans in such a hurry to replace RBG? With Trump trailing in the polls, Politico's Tim Alberta says the Trump team has a view that they can "lock down" the judicial branch of the federal government and energise their supporter base in the ensuing protest. In 2016, exit polling showed that Supreme Court judge nominations were the most important issue for 26 per cent of the people who voted for Trump, particularly for conservatives who want to impose a religious agenda. Only 18 per cent of Clinton supporters said the same. Advertisement Update: Senate committee backs Amy Coney Barrett nomination The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on October 22 to approve Donald Trump's nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, with majority Republicans pushing past a Democratic boycott and the panel's rules to recommend her confirmation. The lopsided 12-0 tally set the stage for a consequential vote to confirm Barrett on October 26, a month to the day after the president announced her nomination to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Democrats, livid over the speedy process, spurned the vote altogether and forced Republicans to bypass their own long-standing committee rules requiring at least two members of the minority to be present to transact business. The New York Times At the same time, the Republican Party knows they dont have much time. Supreme Court nominations have taken about 70 days to move through the Senate and the most recent, for Brett Kavanaugh, took 89 days. The election is on November 3. Yet there are no set rules for how long the process should take; some have moved more quickly. Ginsburgs was 42 days, but not in an election year. It will come down to election campaign politics and the arcane workings of the US Senate. And thats where it gets interesting. Trumps nomination for the court can still be approved even if he loses the election. Congress has met in lame-duck sessions, which could include choosing a new Supreme Court justice after the 2020 election. In a quirk of the US system, the Senate sits after the November election and before the beginning of the new Congress for at least two months, in what is known as lame-duck sessions. Before the adoption of the 20th amendment to the Constitution in 1933, these lame-duck sessions could last for more than a year. Since that time, Congress has met in lame-duck sessions to conclude urgent or unfinished business, which could include choosing a new Supreme Court justice after the 2020 election. For some Republicans who currently control the US Senate, this opportunity is more important than a Trump victory because they can impose their world viewpoint for generations through a successful court nomination. Advertisement What does it take to confirm a nominee? Only a majority vote of the Senate. Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 margin, meaning they could lose up to three votes and still confirm a justice, if Vice-President Mike Pence were to break a 50-50 tie. Supreme Court nominations used to need 60 votes for confirmation if any senator objected, but Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell changed Senate rules in 2017 to allow the confirmation of justices with 51 votes. Are nominations always so controversial? The death of Ginsburg, at the age of 87, left an opening on the Supreme Court 46 days before the presidential election. There have been 16 Supreme Court vacancies in US presidential election years that came up before election day only one other happened closer to the election. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney died 27 days before the 1864 presidential election and president Abraham Lincoln delayed his nomination until after Lincoln had won re-election. Throughout history, presidents have nominated Supreme Court candidates regardless of whether it was an election year. However, the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016 saw the Republican-controlled Senate led by McConnell refuse to consider then president Barack Obamas nomination of Merrick Garland to the court, saying that not since 1932 had the Senate confirmed in a presidential election year a Supreme Court nominee to a vacancy arising in that year. Advertisement A Boil Water Notice still remains in place for customers supplied by Dunkerrin Public Water Scheme in Offaly. The notice, which was issued on Tuesday, September 22 last, remains in place until further notice to protect public health. Following consultation with the Health Service Executive (HSE), Irish Water and Offaly County Council issued the Boil Water Notice as a precaution to protect approximately 1,200 customers following a mechanical failure at the water treatment plant that resulted in the disinfection process being compromised. Customers in Dunkerrin, Lisryan and surrounding areas are advised to boil water before use until further notice. Moneygall Village is on a separate supply and is not impacted by this notice. Please view the attached map for more information on the areas affected. As part of the process to lift the Boil Water Notice, Irish Water and Offaly County Council are progressing with flushing of the network and sampling and monitoring of water supplies. The results of a number of water samples are required to confirm adequate disinfection of the public water supply. Irish Waters priority is the provision of safe, clean drinking water and safeguarding that water supply for the future is a vital focus. We would like to reassure customers that our drinking water compliance and operational experts are working with our colleagues in Offaly County Council and in consultation with the HSE to lift the Boil Water Notice as quickly and as safely as possible. Vulnerable customers registered on this supply have been notified. John Gavin, Irish Water engineer, said: Irish Water understands the inconvenience caused as a result of this Boil Water Notice and apologises to all customers affected. Public health is our number one priority and it is important that people adhere to the boil water notice. We will continue to work closely with Offaly County Council and the HSE to monitor the supply and lift the notice as quickly as it is safe to do so and safeguard the supply for the future. Irish Water would like to remind customers to follow the HSE COVID-19 advice and ensure frequent handwashing. For queries regarding this Boil Water Notice, customers should contact Irish Water directly on our customer care helpline, open 24/7, on 1850 278 278. Updates will be available on the Water Supply Updates section of the Irish Water website and via Twitter @IWCare. Further information on using water during a Boil Water Notice can be found on our website at www.water.ie/water-supply/ water-quality/boil-water- notice. Boil Water Notice advice Water must be boiled for: Drinking Drinks made with water Preparation of salads and similar foods, which are not cooked prior to eating Brushing of teeth Making of ice - discard ice cubes in fridges and freezers and filtered water in fridges. Make ice from cooled boiled water. What actions should be taken: Use water prepared for drinking when preparing foods that will not be cooked (e.g. washing salads) Water can be used for personal hygiene, bathing and flushing of toilets but not for brushing teeth or gargling Boil water by bringing to a vigorous, rolling boil (e.g. with an automatic kettle) and allow to cool. Cover and store in a refrigerator or cold place. Water from the hot tap is not safe to drink. Domestic water filters will not render water safe to drink Caution should be taken when bathing children to ensure that they do not swallow the bathing water Prepare infant feeds with water that has been brought to the boil once and cooled. Do not use water that has been re-boiled several times. If bottled water is used for the preparation of infant feeds it should be boiled once and cooled. If you are using bottled water for preparing baby food, be aware that some natural mineral water may have high sodium content. The legal limit for sodium in drinking water is 200mg per litre. Check the label on the bottled water to make sure the sodium or `Na' is not greater than 200mg per litre. If it is, then it is advisable to use a different type of bottled water. If no other water is available, then use this water for as short a time as possible. It is important to keep babies hydrated. Great care should be taken with boiled water to avoid burns and scalds as accidents can easily happen, especially with children. NASA observations aid efforts to track California's wildfire smoke from space Wildfires have been burning across the state of California for weeks - some of them becoming larger complexes as different fires merge. One of those was the August Complex Fire, which reportedly began as 37 distinct fires caused by lightning strikes in northern California on Aug. 17. That fire is still burning over a month later. The August Complex Fire and others this fire season have been sending far-reaching plumes of wildfire smoke into the atmosphere that worsen air quality in California and beyond. Predicting where that smoke will travel and how bad the air will be downwind is a challenge, but Earth-observing satellites can help. Included among them are NASA's Terra and CALIPSO satellites, and the joint NASA-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Suomi NPP satellite. Together, the instruments on these satellites provide glimpses at the smoke over time, which can help improve air quality predictions. "The satellite instruments have the advantage of providing broad coverage and consistent measurement accuracy over time, as well as making their observations without any risk to the people taking the data," said Ralph Kahn, a senior research scientist with the Earth Sciences Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who studies aerosols. Kahn and other atmospheric scientists at NASA collect data about the fires from Earth-observing satellites used to improve models that predict how wildfire smoke will affect air quality downwind of the fires. MISR: Assessing the Situation from Different Angles One of the instruments on NASA's Terra satellite is the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), which has nine different cameras pointing toward Earth at different angles. As Terra passed over the August Complex Fire on Aug. 31, MISR collected snapshots of the smoke plume from different angles. Scientists look at those different perspectives to calculate the extent and height of the smoke plume downwind, as well as the height nearest the source of the fire, called the injection height. That information is essential for determining how far the smoke will travel. "Smoke tends to stay aloft longer, travel farther and have a larger environmental impact, perhaps far downwind, if it's injected higher into the atmosphere," said Kahn. On Aug. 31, the highest parts of the plume from the August Complex Fire reached approximately 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) into the air - putting it above the boundary layer of the atmosphere, which is the layer of the atmosphere nearest to the Earth's surface. The fresh smoke plume extended at least 30 miles (45 kilometers) east of the burning area near Mendocino National Forest in northern California. Over the previous few days, smoke from this fire had already traveled more than 310 miles (500 kilometers) to the west and over 460 miles (750 kilometers) east of the source, crossing into Utah and out over the Pacific Ocean. The MISR instrument also collected information about the amount, size, and brightness of the particles within the smoke plume based on how the particles scatter light at different angles and wavelengths. These data give researchers information about the characteristics of the wildfire smoke in order to predict how it will move and affect air quality. For example, the southern part of the smoke plume emitted by the August Complex Fire on Aug. 31 was made of mostly small, dark particles usually released when a fire is burning intensely. But as the plume moved downwind, the particles became larger and brighter, possibly because water or other gases emitted by the fires condensed on the smoke particles. MODIS: A Snapshot of Wildfire Hotspots Individual wildfires and large conflagrations of merged fires burning throughout the state - and the accumulated smoke they produce - make it difficult to see the actual flaming hotspots from space. But the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Terra satellite can see the longer wavelengths of nonvisible light, or infrared radiation produced by the heat coming from actively burning wildfires. In other words, MODIS can sometimes see through smoke even when our eyes can't by comparing the higher infrared radiation from hotspots to the lower radiation coming from the surrounding area. As it passes over the Western U.S., MODIS can see a swath about 1,430 miles (2,300 kilometers) wide - about the distance from central Utah to almost 70 miles into the Pacific Ocean - providing valuable context about what's going on with the fires and smoke over the Western U.S. MODIS pinpointed multiple clusters of fire hotspots in the August Complex Fire, which had consumed over 240,000 acres by Sept. 2. "The fire extent is huge in this case, and the smoke plumes can travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometers," said Kahn. "The satellites provide not only context, but also information about the relationships between different fires." During its pass overhead on Aug. 31, MODIS captured the August Complex Fire as well as several other fires and larger complexes of fires burning to the north, south, and east. Seeing the relationships between the fires offers clues to which fires are likely to merge in subsequent days. CALIPSO and Suomi NPP: Seeing the Extent of the Smoke The smoke plumes from California's wildfires have engulfed many cities and towns throughout the state, turning the sky an apocalyptic shade of burnt orange. In other areas, the sky is a hazy gray, and flecks of ash float through the air. But in some regions of the West Coast, the sky looks relatively normal - even if there are smoke particles in the air - because there are too few smoke particles for our eyes to detect. That's where NASA's CALIPSO satellite comes in. CALIPSO has a laser onboard that shoots bursts of laser light toward Earth. When that light hits something, such as particles in a wildfire smoke plume, it is reflected back to sensors on CALIPSO. Although the laser light is too weak to cause any sort of damage, the light reflected back to the satellite by smoke particles tells scientists a lot about the smoke even when the plume is too transparent for them to see with their eyes. As the plume from the August Complex Fire was carried west, CALIPSO detected smoke several days old descending from about 2.5 miles above land to within a mile of the ocean's surface as it crossed the California coastline. CALIPSO can tell the difference between clouds and smoke, which can sometimes be hard to do by looking at a satellite image. Knowing where the smoke is in relation to clouds allows researchers to see the interactions between clouds and smoke, which can affect the characteristics and spread of the smoke. For example, sometimes clouds ingest and modify smoke particles, and can even remove them from the air when it rains. Other times, dark wildfire smoke particles can absorb sunlight, becoming warm and heating the atmosphere, which can cause clouds to evaporate. NASA's CALIPSO satellite captures detailed data, but it has a narrow field of vision. The satellite observes along a two-dimensional vertical "curtain" that slices through the smoke plume as it passes overhead, collecting detailed measurements of the type and position of wildfire smoke aerosols in the atmosphere. Scientists then turn to three sensors aboard Suomi NPP, collectively called the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS), for context. Those sensors get a broader but less detailed view of what's going on with the smoke particles in Earth's atmosphere, which allows scientists to figure out what CALIPSO is homing in on and make better extrapolations based on CALIPSO's data. The instruments aboard satellites in NASA's Earth-observing fleet provide extensive data, unavailable from any other source, enabling researchers to gain a better understanding of wildfire smoke and how it affects air quality. In cases like the current wildfires across California, NASA's atmospheric scientists studying the fires collaborate with the NASA Earth Science Disasters program to share their findings with firefighters and public health officials. NASA Disasters program partners with local and regional agencies on the ground, helping get the data from NASA's satellites into the hands of those who need it most. "Our work is primarily helpful in improving the models that forecast air quality," said Kahn. "This is a team effort and when we can help, we certainly do." ### This story has been published on: 2020-09-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. New Delhi: Taking umbrage to certain union ministries failing to seek its concurrence before taking decisions which can affect level playing field during Assembly polls in five states, the Election Commission has asked Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha to ensure that its guidelines on the model code are adhered to strictly. The Commission specifically mentioned that the Finance Ministry, Niti Aayog and the Defence Ministry failed to refer important matters to it during the model code period. The code came into force on January 4 and will last till polls are over. The Commission has noted that in certain cases, the ministries/departments took decisions, which have effect of disturbing level playing field of poll-bound states, without referring the matter to the Commission, particularly by Niti Aayog, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Finance, the letter said. Sources in the Commission said the reason behind the January 27 missive to the government was the decision of the Finance Ministry to fix Budget date without seeking its clearance when it was clear that as per the new date, the union budget will be presented when election process in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa will be on. The poll panel had on January 20 pulled up Niti Aayog for holding special gram sabhas in the five poll-bound states without seeking its permission and said such events can only be organised after the elections are over. On the same day, it had allowed the Defence Ministry to hold Combined Commanders Conference in Uttarakhand with a rider that the Prime Minister, who inaugurated it, would not combine the event with an election rally in the poll-bound state. Congress had complained to the Commission that BJP may use the event to influence former and serving defence personnel to gain an upper hand in the five poll-bound states. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Speaking like a representative of corporate management, Unifor President Jerry Dias claimed Tuesday that the tentative agreement reached with Ford Canada was historic. He bragged about the home run hit by his negotiating team in securing $1.8 billion Canadian dollars in corporate investment and government handouts to retool the threatened Oakville Assembly Plant for eventual electric car productioneven though there is as of yet no final deal between Ford and the provincial and federal governments. Behind all the hype, the most striking thing about Tuesdays press conference was Unifors failure to provide even the most basic information about the tentative agreement. Unifor President Jerry Dias at Tuesday's press conference to announce the union's tentative contract with Ford Canada. All the ducks, dives and pirouettes performed by Dias during his announcement were a desperate effort to conceal the fact that Unifor negotiators have agreed to wage restraint, concessions on benefits and work rules, the continuation of the hated two-tier system (with at best a few tweaks) and the proliferation of temporary part-time employees combined with continuing permanent job losses at the cornerstone Oakville operation. If Unifor and Dias get their way, the 6,300 Ford Canada workers will not be allowed to even lay eyes on a copy of the contract before being herded onto the electronic voting page at this Sundays online ratification meeting. Instead, in line with the unions long-standing anti-democratic procedures, workers will be provided a presentation of contract highlights by way of a self-serving slide show. Workers, watching at home on their smart phones and laptops, will not have any opportunity to reflect on the deal and discuss it with workmates, let alone see the hundreds of pages of fine print. Autoworkers must act now to ensure that such a travesty does not occur! They should oppose Unifors sham ratification process, demand that the contract be released in full, and insist workers be accorded a period of at least one week to study and discuss the contract before any vote is held. To fight for these demands, workers in every plant should establish a rank-and-file committee independently of and in opposition to the pro-corporate Unifor to advance their own demands and unify their struggle with their class brothers and sisters in the United States and Mexico. Such a struggle would find broad support among autoworkers across the Detroit Threes operations in Canada and beyond. In the United States, autoworkers have already begun establishing such committees to combat the corrupt UAWs connivance with corporate management to return the auto plants to normal production amid a raging pandemic. Mexican workers, meanwhile, played a major role in the rank-and-file protests that swept North America in the early stages of the pandemic and forced a temporary shutdown of production. About 1,800 autoworkers have already signed a petition demanding Unifor release the tentative contract in full and provide workers ample time to study it before voting. Dias, in a recent interview with Automotive News, arrogantly dismissed both this legitimate demand and his own membership. I dont chase mice when Im hunting elephants, he said when asked for his view of the petition. If Unifor persists with its plans to ram through its Ford Canada deal this weekend, workers should massively vote No. Unifors refusal to allow workers to even see the proposed contractdenying them the democratic right to know what they are voting onis itself reason enough to vote the agreement down. What do we know so far about the deal, and what is Unifor hiding? Nothing was said by Dias or in Unifors press release about the economic package, which the union ultimately wants to foist not just on workers at Ford, but also on those at Fiat-Chrysler (which Dias has selected as the next bargaining target) and General Motors. This silence testifies to the fact that Unifor has agreed to three more years of wage restraint. Ford management has already made clear that any new investments in their Canadian facilities must leave the company operationally competitive in a period of a global economic downturn. In plain language, this means that the company has to be able to continue raking in bumper profits while workers are made to pay for the capitalist crisis with wage and benefit reductions. Workers also have every right to be concerned about job security, under conditions where no new internal combustion product is scheduled in Oakville after 2023. According to the Unifor president, Ford Canada and the federal Liberal and Ontario Conservative governments will invest CA$1.95 billion in the automakers operations. Of this, according to Dias, a significant amount will be spent in converting the Oakville Assembly Plant to a facility that, starting in 2025, will be capable of producing up to five electric vehicle models. However, the fifth model is only scheduled to roll off the assembly line in 2028. Dias did his best to keep Tuesdays press conference focused on his heralding of the electric car investment plan in Oakville and a modest 2022 initiative to stabilize employment levels at Fords Windsor engine plants. He backed this up with reactionary calls for economic nationalism and corporatism, urging workers to tie their fate to Canadian producers of aluminum, nickel and other materials in a global scramble for competitiveness and market share in battery and electric vehicle production. But near the end of the press conference question and answer period, he admitted that in Oakville the historic e-car conversion plan would result in a further reduction of jobs. Currently, 3,400 autoworkers are employed at Oakville, more than a thousand less than last year. Due to electric car technology, it is estimated that at least 400 more jobs will eventually be lost. Responding to a question about the retooling of the plant, Dias admitted, Theres no doubt the plant will be down for a period of time. He refused to say specifically how long this would be, and he did not elaborate on whether it would take until 2028 for the full promised contingent of 3,000 workers to be employed at Oakville. Dias also refused to provide any details on the fate of 200 workers at the Bramalea parts distribution center. That facility is slated to close and be replaced by two small regional depots. Another major area of concern is Unifors drive to permanently lower wages by forcing older, better-paid veterans to retire in favour of low-paid, second-tier workers. The period of downtime at the Oakville facility for retooling will no doubt be seized upon to carry out this goal, which will secure a further windfall for Ford and its super-rich shareholders. In a naked appeal for a contract Yes vote from young, low-seniority workers, many of whom are still on layoff, Dias conjured up a utopian future replete with home ownership and life-long employment. But Unifors ruthless defence of the hated multi-tier wage system makes such promises a cruel joke, given that the workers lucky enough to keep their jobs will be working for far less money and under more oppressive and exploitative conditions. The work rules Unifor has agreed to, which will go a long way to determining these working conditions, is yet another area where no details have been provided. Given Fords insistence on remaining globally competitive, however, there is every reason to believe that Unifor has acceded to stepped-up production targets and other measures to boost labour productivity. These unanswered questions underline the fact that any tentative contract that is not provided to the membership with ample time to read and discuss prior to voting must not be accepted. Workers must instead demand that the tentative agreement, together with any side letters and memorandums of understanding, be released in full and provided to all members well in advance of any meeting to discuss the agreement and ratification vote. In response to the global offensive being waged by automakers to cut costs, restrain wages, increase the pace of work and threaten jobs, workers at the Detroit Threes Canadian operations need to establish independent rank-and-file committees to take the contract struggle into their own hands and demand the restoration of all concessions and job security for all. This struggle can only go forward in unity with the fight of autoworkers in the United States, Mexico and internationally for secure, decent-paying jobs and an end to the reactionary race to the bottom incited by the nationalist, pro-capitalist UAW and Unifor unions. Jim Parsons, left, Robin De Jesus, Michael Benjamin Washington and Andrew Rannells are among the cast of "The Boys in the Band." (Scott Everett White / Netflix) When Mart Crowleys The Boys in the Band, the granddaddy of gay plays, first appeared off-Broadway, it offered an inside peek into what had been consigned to the shadows: gay male life as it is experienced outside the closet. The characters in this 1968 drama, New York friends gathered for a birthday celebration, slurp cocktails, trade bitchy repartee, assemble into a chorus line, flirt, flame out and throw fits. The psychodrama is relentless, but no one commits suicide, the traditional end for homosexuals in plays and movies, so it was considered progress. A year after The Boys in the Band debuted onstage, the Stonewall riots would usher in the gay liberation movement. As groundbreaking as Crowleys play was in bringing visibility to a subculture that was ridiculed when not being ignored, the work was already being dismissed as retrograde by the time the film version came out in 1970. Crowley's campy wisecracks resounded in gay bars across America for years, but an ambivalence prevailed. Between the indulgence of flamboyant stereotypes and the internalized homophobia of Michael, the alcoholic protagonist and psychological arsonist, the drama only seemed to compound unflattering caricatures. But Crowley was actually condemning society for making love between men the dirtiest secret of all. Vito Russo went so far as to declare in The Celluloid Closet, his irreplaceable 1981 book on homosexuality in the movies, that The Boys in the Band made the best and most potent argument for gay liberation ever offered in a popular art form. As I said to my gay BFF after watching the new Netflix version of The Boys in the Band, which reunites the cast of Joe Mantellos Tony-winning 2018 Broadway revival, Crowleys landmark work is both dated and eternal, a period piece that still has something urgent to say. The conditions have improved for LGBTQ people in the last half-century, but discrimination and homophobia persist. Crowleys work maps out the internalization of this toxic brew of intolerance, the way it seeps into the fabric of gay identity and corrodes from within. Story continues With a screenplay by Crowley and Ned Martel, this handsome remake is directed by Mantello at an entertaining clip. Jim Parsons stars as Michael, the host of the all-male soiree who tries to conceal his self-hatred under Hermes cashmere that still isn't paid off. Zachary Quinto plays Harold, the birthday boy, who forthrightly describes himself as a "32-year-old, ugly, pock-marked Jew fairy," making clear that no one, not even sharp-tongued Michael, is going to be able to wound him with a cutting remark. Lighting up a joint as he settles into the festive turbulence, Harold presides as a choral counterweight, parrying Michael's caustic thrusts with his own savage truths. Michael has fallen off the wagon after a surprise visit from his supposedly straight college friend, Alan (played with sorrowful gruffness by Brian Hutchison). Agitated and embarrassed, Michael unleashes his rancor on his guests in a manner that could give Martha a run for her money in Edward Albees Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? a palpable influence on Crowleys drama. The hostility in "The Boys in the Band" is not only ugly but also dramatically confining. Michaels viciousness loses some of its psychological nuance when it kicks into high gear. The character begins to resemble a plot device as he works feverishly to intensify the static situation of a birthday party gone awry. Parsons doesn't always seem perfectly cast but he gives us a powerful glimpse of Michaels horror of aging, when, catching sight of himself in the mirror, he turns his head as though he were a vampire sensing glimmers of dawn. He subtly connects Michaels accommodating friendship with Alan, who makes no bones about his distaste for male effeminacy, to Michael's own self-loathing. Yet the behavior of this divided, semilapsed Catholic gay man grows contrived when he's awash in gin. Crowleys somewhat monotonous writing needs more subtle delineation in performance. In the 1996 off-Broadway revival of "The Boys in the Band," the inimitable Obie-winning theater artist David Greenspan played Harold as though he were an extraterrestrial draped in an exaggerated 1960s zeitgeist. The portrayal offered a bracing jolt of weirdness that awakened the play for a new era. Quintos performance brought to mind Greenspans bizarre daring, except the camera isnt as welcoming of this Harolds drawn-out speech pattern, hyena laugh and gravity-slowed movements. At times it seems as if were viewing Harold through the jaundice hue of his tinted glasses. The character, a cynic with a knowing heart, is an outsider. But Quinto's portrayal, while fascinating in its eccentricity, disconnects Harold from the one group to which he'll always belong. One advantage of the original Boys in the Band film, directed by William Friedkin (who would go on to direct a slightly less scary movie called The Exorcist), is that the actors were not widely known, making it easy to mistake the originators of the roles for their characters. Mantello's starry cast doesn't allow for the same confusion. Beyond the marquee names of Parsons and Quinto, this deluxe Ryan Murphy-produced offering features the recognizable faces of Andrew Rannells, who plays sexually prolific Larry, and Matt Bomer, who brings a chiseled beauty and hushed grace (along with a flash of nakedness) to Donald's neurotic dithering. Although he sometimes looks as though hes wearing Boys in the Band drag, Rannells breathes bickering life into Larrys relationship with Hank (an impeccably natural Tuc Watkins), the math teacher who left his wife for Larry and doesn't understand his partner's compulsive cruising. Michael Benjamin Washington lends bookish Bernard a poignant dignity as the character shrugs off a battery of racist put-downs. As the Cowboy, one of Harolds birthday presents, Charlie Carver imbues the slow-witted hustler with an affectionate sweetness that only throws into relief Michael's gratuitous cruelty. Emory, the most flamboyant in Crowley's taxonomic set, is described by a disgusted Alan as a butterfly in heat. But hes given wings of steel by Robin De Jesus in the films freshest characterization. Mincing about the apartment with the lasagna hes specially prepared, he puckishly mixes up pronouns, tosses out ribald quips like confetti, delights in Harolds approval of his Cowboy gift and doesnt flee after hes assaulted by Alan and verbally assailed by Michael. Emorys strength, however, is most evident during the sadistic party game, in which the men are bullied by Michael to telephone the one person they truly loved and confess their secret before hanging up. In De Jesus grounded portrayal, Emorys hurtful memory of an older boy from his Bronx childhood with whom he just wanted to be closer humanizes without sentimentalizing a character who has been separated from the herd for as long as he can remember. Even Alan, who has hung around out of a combination of shell-shock and sexual curiosity, develops compassion for the flouncing impish id he only a short time earlier punched in the mouth. Michaels game might have had malicious motives behind it, but a single theme emerges to unite the disparate stories that are shared: how different life would have been had love innocent, boyish, uncalculated love not been made a source of shame. Any revival of The Boys in the Band is forced to recognize the lingering traces of the past in the present. The film, dedicated to Crowley, who died this year, beautifully summons a vintage gay New York that was building inexorably to Stonewall. If some of the character subtleties get lost in the drunken shuffle, Mantello's dedicated company honors the communal bonds that have transformed characters from such different backgrounds into a family. These raucous friends inhabit Michaels stylish apartment as if its their home too. And they bear with one another because they understand the rage of backlogged pain. Perhaps the most remembered line from the play is Michaels desperate crack at the end: Who was it that used to always say, You show me a happy homosexual, and Ill show you a gay corpse.' But the most moving is Harold's parting remark to Michael, spoken after pointing out the self-hatred at the root of his friend's animosity: Call you tomorrow. CAIRO Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a letter Sept. 19 from the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Felix Tshisekedi, that included the DRCs expression of support for the Egyptian terms of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue and aspirations to develop bilateral ties with Egypt and tap into its experience in infrastructure and large development projects, according to an Egyptian presidency statement. Sisi expressed his appreciation for the DRCs stance in support of Egypt regarding the Nile dam issue. He added, Egypts hand is extended to the DRC and to all countries of the continent for cooperation, construction, development and peace to benefit from the massive capacities and rich resources of the DRC and other friendly African states, to develop them and capitalize on them economically in the best way possible for the current and future African generations. In this context, Hatem Bashat, member of the parliamentary African Affairs Commission, told Al-Monitor over the phone, The DRCs support for the Egyptian stance in the GERD file is the fruit of Sisis political [moves] to cement ties with African countries after years of disregard, since he took office in 2014. Bashat noted, This stance is not new for the DRC, which has had special ties with Egypt for years, compared to its African counterparts. We hope the impact will be positive to mobilize African public opinion and convince people with Egypts vision for the GERD negotiations. We are expecting more from the remaining African countries, which know Egypts real intentions toward this issue. He added, Egypt worked on several courses of action to explain its stance vis-a-vis the GERD crisis, amid the continuing Ethiopian obstinacy throughout the years of negotiations. These courses of action included visits of Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to several African, Arab and European countries to get a feel of the Arab stance. I believe one of the outcomes was the DRCs support for our stance in the crisis. In March, Shoukry went on a regional tour to gather support for Cairo in the negotiations, during which he informed several African state leaders, including Tshisekedi and Rwanda President Paul Kagame, of the developments of the GERD negotiations. The dispute between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the filling and operation of the GERD continues although the filling process started in July. The latest round of tripartite negotiations began under the African Union auspices Aug. 28, but it failed to combine the suggestions of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan regarding a binding agreement for the GERD. The Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources mentioned in a statement Aug. 28 that the round of negotiations ended without determining a new date for their resumption. The statement noted that the ongoing negotiations in their current format will not result in practical outcomes. Sisi reiterated in his video speech during the 75th session of the UN General Assembly Sept. 22 that the Nile River is not for one party only. Its water is essential for Egypt to sustain itself without jeopardizing the rights of our fellows [in Ethiopia and Sudan]. The negotiations should not go on forever in an attempt to impose a de facto situation because our people want stability, development, and a new and promising phase of cooperation. Abbas Sharaky, chief of the Natural Resources Department at the Institute for African Research and Studies, told Al-Monitor, Egypts interest in the DRC and the Nile Basin countries in particular contributes to increasing Egypts standing when discussing any issues related to the river and the historical water shares of [the concerned] countries. Sharaky argued that Egypt had a special interest in explaining the GERD issue to the Nile Basin countries to establish a general supportive stance during the course of the tripartite negotiations with Ethiopia and Sudan. Currently the tense relations with African countries are being mended to achieve common gain between Egypt and the rest of the continent. He said, The DRC is a large state in the Nile Basin and ties with it are strong. Besides, it is one of the countries that have not yet signed the Entebbe Agreement. This is positive for the DRC, as it is also among the countries that have huge natural resources and needs Egyptian cooperation in all fields, especially the water sector. The Entebbe Agreement is a framework agreement that the upstream countries in the Nile Basin Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania signed in 2010 in order to request an additional Nile water share. Egypt and Sudan (downstream countries) objected to the agreement because it affected their historical share of the Nile water estimated at 55.5 billion cubic meters for Egypt and 18.5 billion cubic meters for Sudan. The DRC also refused to sign the agreement since there was no consensus due to the refusal of Egypt and Sudan to sign the Entebbe Agreement. Sharaky added, Egypt is expected to cooperate with the DRC on the Grand Inga Dam project, in addition to the economic cooperation in the issues of water, agriculture and animal wealth. Egypt will not wait for the water to come to it, but will take preemptive steps to ensure its food and water security. On Sept. 21, Egyptian Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker met with a high-level delegation from the DRC, where the special investment adviser to the DRC president, Jean-Claude Kabongo, expressed his desire to make use of the Egyptian experience to develop the power sector in his country and discuss ways to facilitate Egyptian partnership in the Inga dams through Egyptian private sector companies and support from the Egyptian government. Atiya Issawi, expert on African affairs at Al-Ahram Center for Studies, downplayed the importance of the DRCs support for Egypt in the GERD crisis. He told Al-Monitor, The DRCs stance is not that influential on the developments of the GERD file. But what is important in the relations between the two countries is that the DRC constitutes support for the Egpyptian stance, when it comes to the issue of water quota since the DRC did not sign the Entebbe Agreement. He added, The Entebbe Agreement threatens Egypt's historical rights that it acquired in the Nile waters, as the agreement states that the water shares must be redistributed among the countries. The DRC benefits from Egypts help in the civilian field or military aid and Egypts participation in the peacekeeping forces. Therefore, the DRC believed maintaining good ties with Egypt was in its interest. Sharaky concluded, If we had strong ties with African countries, we wouldnt have reached this faltering phase of negotiations over the GERD. We hope the Egyptian rapprochement with the Nile Basin will end the crisis and open new cooperation horizons. Pancreatic cancer cells grown in culture, SEM. Credit: Anne Weston, Francis Crick Institute. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) A treatment combination involving the addition of a form of vitamin A to the current standard treatment regimen for pancreatic cancer is safe for patients, according to an early phase clinical trial led by Queen Mary University of London. Following the encouraging results of this phase I trial (STARPAC), published today in Nature Communications, a second clinical trial called STARPAC2 will now investigate whether the addition of this form of vitamin A, called ATRA, to standard chemotherapy can enhance the efficacy of treatment in patients with pancreatic cancer. There are around 10,300 new pancreatic cancer cases diagnosed in the UK each year and although this accounts for only 3 percent of the total cancer cases, pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of all common cancers. It sadly claims the lives of approximately 9,200 people each year, and only around 7 percent of those diagnosed with this cancer type survive for five years or more. It is believed that pancreatic cancer will be the second most common cause of cancer mortality (after lung cancer) by 2030. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy alone are relatively unsuccessful in treating pancreatic cancer, and while surgery to remove the tumor offers the best chance of survival, a lack of symptoms in the early stages of the disease means most patients are diagnosed when the cancer is advanced. A novel approach that is able to target the cancer more effectively is urgently required. Vitamin A in the fight against pancreatic cancer STARPAC was launched following research conducted by Professor Kocher's laboratory, which found that using ATRA to treat a particular type of cell, known as stellate cells, within pancreatic tumors, restricted tumor growth. Stellate cells have an important role in normal tissue formation; however, they become corrupted in cancer and help to form an impenetrable barrier, known as the stroma, around the pancreatic tumor. Treating stellate cells with ATRA (a pre-existing drug used for the treatment of acne and some types of leukemia) was found to restore the vitamin A content of the cells, converting them from tumor-promoting cells to cells which have an anti-cancer effect. By combining this drug with chemotherapy in preclinical models, the team were able to disrupt the communication between the cancer cells and the surrounding stromal cells, leading to a reduction in cancer cell proliferation and invasion. Trial to determine safety To determine the safety of this treatment combination in the clinic, patients were recruited to the phase I STARPAC trial from Barts Health NHS Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Guys and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The trial showed that the addition of ATRA to standard chemotherapy had no additional harmful effects in patients when compared with the standard chemotherapy alone, and also demonstrated that the combination does seem to modify the pancreatic cancer stroma in patients. Hemant Kocher, Professor of Liver and Pancreas Surgery at Queen Mary's Barts Cancer Institute (BCI) and Consultant Liver and Pancreas Surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust, said: "It is pleasing to demonstrate that changes in the stroma (or scar tissue) surrounding cancer can be used to potentially change pancreatic cancer behavior. This proof-of-principle that the stroma can be targeted in patients is a novel and exciting discovery, and this approach may also be able to be applied to other cancers and diseases where the stroma performs a critical role in disease progression." The trial was performed in collaboration with the Institute of Cancer Research, London and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, and funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) with support from Celgene Corporation. New phase II clinical trial for pancreatic cancer Following on from STARPAC, the MRC is to award 1.5million to fund a phase II clinical trial that will set out to determine whether the addition of ATRA to current standard chemotherapy can improve the treatment outcome in pancreatic cancer. The MRC grant will be accompanied by approximately 1million worth of "drugs in kind" provided by Celgene. Led by Professor Kocher, the team hope that the STARPAC2 trial could lead to the realization of a vital new treatment option for patients with pancreatic cancer. The team endeavor for STARPAC2 to be open in at least 16 UK centers to recruit patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, i.e. cases in which the cancer is too advanced for surgical removal but has not yet spread to other organs. Ultimately, the team hope that for some patients this new treatment combination will shrink the tumor to the point where surgery to remove the remaining tumor is possible. Explore further Vitamin A may help improve pancreatic cancer chemotherapy More information: Hemant M. Kocher et al. Phase I clinical trial repurposing all-trans retinoic acid as a stromal targeting agent for pancreatic cancer, Nature Communications (2020). Journal information: Nature Communications Hemant M. Kocher et al. Phase I clinical trial repurposing all-trans retinoic acid as a stromal targeting agent for pancreatic cancer,(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18636-w Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle TROY Troy Police are investigating a shooting on O'Neil Street that sent one person to the hospital Thursday afternoon. At 4:12 p.m., Troy police tweeted that shots had been fired in the area of 33 O'Neil St. between Delaware and Madison avenues, urging people to steer clear of the area. An Indian national, trained by Islamic State in Iraq in 2015, was found guilty by a court in Kochi on Friday for hatching a criminal conspiracy to wage war against the Governments of India and Iraq. Subahani Haja Moideen, a Keralite, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in 2016 following a crackdown in Tamil Nadu with the help of central security agencies and other state police, foiling designs of Islamic State operatives to attack or eliminate certain prominent persons and target places of public importance. The special NIA court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Monday. The court convicted Moideen under IPC Sections 120(B) (Criminal Conspiracy), Section 125 (waging war against Asiatic power in alliance with the Government of India) andUnlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Section 20 (Punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organisation). It also held him guilty under Section 38 (Offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) and 39 (Offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation). According to the chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency, Moideen, hailing from Idukki district, intentionally and knowingly became an Islamic State member in April 2015. To further the activities of Islamic State, he proceeded to Iraq during April-September 2015, joined the terrorist organization and waged war against the Government of Iraq, an Asiatic Power in alliance with the Government of India. During custodial interrogation, he had disclosed that he had knowingly and intentionally communicated with co-conspirators in Islamic State within and outside India over online social media platforms like Facebook and Telegram to wage war against the Governments of Iraq and India. Based on his disclosures, the contents of his email and social media accounts were extracted in the presence of independent witnesses, during custody. The government has accused Labour of being unpatriotic for opposing planned Brexit legislation that breaches international law. In an angry parliamentary exchange Suella Braverman, the attorney general, said Labour's stance, which aligns with that of all living former prime ministers, was "anything but patriotic". The government has admitted its Internal Market Bill would break international law in a "limited and specific" way, given it beaches the Brexit withdrawal agreement signed by Boris Johnson earlier this year. Shadow solicitor general Ellie Reeves accused attorney general Ms Braverman of having "betrayed" defenders of the rule of the law in the Commons on Thursday morning. "As a barrister she knows the role of the government law officers: they must uphold the rule of law without fear or favour. As her own political hero Margaret Thatcher once said: 'In order to be considered truly free, countries must have an abiding respect for the rule of law.'," she said. "Yet there's a universal view amongst those who look to the attorney general to defend the rule of law that she has betrayed them." But Ms Braverman replied: "I prefer to take a less emotional approach than the honourable lady. I'm extremely proud to be supporting this bill: it protects our country and safeguards the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. "The honourable lady's leader [Keir Starmer] called for patriotism this week but their opposition to this bill is anything but patriotic. "How she can call herself an MP who sits in the United Kingdom parliament and at the same time vote against a bill that defends the unity of our country, maintains peace in Northern Ireland, and enables the United Kingdom, her country, to thrive - is not only illogical - but does a grave disservice to the nation's interests." Sir Keir said this week he wanted the party to be "proud of being patriotic", telling voters: "We love this country as you do." The internal market bill overrides aspects of the Brexit withdrawal agreement which impose new controls on goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain, which Boris Johnson signed up to. Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Show all 66 1 /66 Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A message projected onto the White Cliffs of Dover Sky News/AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Big Ben, shows the hands at eleven o'clock at night AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Nigel Farage speaks to pro-Brexit supporters PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-Brexit demonstrators celebrate on Parliament Square REUTERS Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU The Union flag is taken down outside the European Parliament in Brussels PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU campaigners outside the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A pro-Brexit supporter jumps on an EU flag in Parliament Square PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU EU Council staff removed the Union Jack-British flag from the European Council in Brussels, Belgium EPA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A pro-Brexit supporter pours beer onto an EU flag PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pedestrians pass in front of the Ministry of Defence Building on Whitehall, illuminated by red, white and blue lights in central London AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A Brexit supporter shouts during a rally in London AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU campaigners outside the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU campaigners take part in a 'Missing EU Already' rally outside the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A large pro-EU banner is projected onto Ramsgate cliff in Kent PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU supporters light candles in Smith Square in Westminster PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man waves Union flags from a small car as he drives past Brexit supporters gathering in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU The five-year old Elisa Saemann, left, and her seven-year old sister Katie hold a placard during a rally by anti-Brexit protesters outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Europe supporters gather on Brexit day near the British embassy in Berlin, Germany EPA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Anti-Brexit protester hugs a man while holding a placard REUTERS Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A decorated, old fashioned fire pump in Parliament Square PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit Elvis impersonator performs at Parliament Square Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU An anti-Brexiteers stands with his dog in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Paddy from Bournemouth wears Union colours as he sits next to an EU flag decorated bag in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A pro-EU activist plays a guitar decorated with the EU flag during a protest organised by civil rights group New Europeans outside Europe House, central London AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU People celebrate Britain leaving the EU REUTERS Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A Pro Brexit supporter has a Union Jack painted onto his face at Parliament Square Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Men hold placards celebrating Britain leaving the EU REUTERS Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit supporters dance in the street draped with Union Jack flags at Parliament Square Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU An anti-Brexit demonstrator spreads his wings during a gathering near Downing Street AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro EU supporters display a banner ' Here to Stay, Here to Fight, Migrants In, Tories Out' from Westminster bridge EPA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-Brexit supporters burn European Union flags at Parliament Square Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man poses for a picture on Parliament Square in a 'Brexit Day' t-shirt Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU People celebrate Britain leaving the EU Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man wears a pro-Brexit t-shirt Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Anti-Brexit demonstrators visit Europe House to give flowers to the staff on Brexit day Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit supporter wears a novelty Union Jack top hat outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Customers Scott Jones and Laura Jones at the Sawmill Bar in South Elmsall, Yorkshire, where a Brexit party is being held throughout the day PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU activists protest Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A pro-Brexit demonstrator burns a European Union flag AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit supporters Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit supporters Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A Brexit supports holds a sign in Parliament Square AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man carries an EU themed wreath Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Ann Widdecombe reacts with other members of the Brexit party as they leave en masse from the European Parliament PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Anti-Brexit demonstrators in Parliament Square PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro EU supporters let off flares from Westminster Bridge Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU British MEPs Jonathan Bullock, holding the Union Jack flag and Jake Pugh leave the European Parliament, in Brussels on the Brexit day AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Newspapers and other souvenirs at a store, near Parliament Square Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Brexit supporters hold signs in Parliament Square AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU protesters hold placards in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU French newspapers PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald with a Border Communities Against Brexit poster before its unveiling in Carrickcarnon on the Irish border PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU National growers organisation British Apples & Pears has renamed a British apple to EOS, the Greek goddess of dawn, to commemorate Brexit day AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU protesters hold placards in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Britain's departure from the European Union was set in law on January 29, amid emotional scenes, as the bloc's parliament voted to ratify the divorce papers. After half a century of membership and three years of tense withdrawal talks, the UK will leave the EU at midnight Brussels time (23.00 GMT) on January 31 Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man poses with paintings on Parliament Square Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU People sporting Union Flags gather in Parliament Square Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man walks with a St. George's flag at Westminster bridge on Brexit day Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A British bulldog toy and other souvenirs at a souvenir store Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU British pro-brexit Members of the European Parliament leave the EU Parliament for the last time Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Jonathan Bullock waves the Union Jack as he leaves the European Parliament EPA The checks, known as exit summary declarations, are part of the EU customs code, which applies to Northern Ireland under the treaty but the UK now says they should not apply. Kierra Coles was three months pregnant with her first child when she went missing on Oct. 2, 2018, near her apartment at 81st Street and Vernon Avenue in the Chatham neighborhood. Her father said authorities are not doing enough to find her and begged neighbors to speak up, offering a nearly $50,000 reward to anyone who leads to her whereabouts. Councillor Emma Coffey (Left), Cathaoirleach Dundalk Municipal District, Councillor Dolores Minogue, Cathaoirleach Louth County Council, Breda Marron, Artist Heart Space at the official opening of the Clanbrassil Street and St. Nicholas Quarter rejuvenation development Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, Councillor Dolores Minogue unveils the plaque at the official opening of the Clanbrassil Street and St. Nicholas Quarter. Picture Ken Finegan Louth County Council officially opened the Clanbrassil Street and Saint Nicholas' Quarter Rejuvenation Scheme in Dundalk last week. The much-anticipated rejuvenation works in the centre of town were opened by Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, Councillor Dolores Minogue, with Cathaoirleach of Dundalk Municipal District, Emma Coffey in attendance. The works have transformed the historic centre of the town, covering Clanbrassil Street, Church Street and part of Bridge Street, up to St Nicholas' Church. The project comprised the provision of wider granite footpaths, asphalt parking bays, planting and seating areas, an upgrading of public lighting, improved pedestrian crossings and a decluttering of footpaths. The works also involved the undergrounding of overhead ESB cables, refurbishment of water services and the provision of a new 500mm water main, in partnership with Irish Water. A new bronze sculpture 'Heart Space', by Drogheda-based artist, Breda Marron, complements the rejuvenation project, and is installed at the new plaza on Church Street. Speaking at the official opening, Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, Councillor Dolores Minogue, said: "I am delighted to officially open the Clanbrassil Street and Saint Nicholas' Quarter Rejuvenation Scheme, which has been designed and constructed to the highest standards and will bring new life to the centre of the town." Chief Executive of Louth County Council, Joan Martin commented: "This is a great day for the town of Dundalk. The completed scheme is very welcome, and it has transformed the main spine of the town, as well as making it more attractive for investment, and increasing visitors to the town. The scheme has been a catalyst for the redevelopment of existing buildings along the street, and the recent painting of shop fronts has complimented the rejuvenation scheme. "The project, with a value of approximately 5.5m, represents a considerable investment in the town by Louth County Council, and by the European Regional Development Fund, which is part-funding the works. I want to acknowledge the co-operation and assistance from the Dundalk BIDS Office, the Dundalk Chamber of Commerce, the traders, and all the businesses and residents in the area." Cathaoirleach of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, David Maxwell, commented: "I am delighted to see the successful completion of the Clanbrassil Street and Saint Nicholas' Quarter Rejuvenation Scheme, which is a result of the partnership between the Northern and Western Regional Assembly and Louth County Council, with European Regional Development Fund assistance through the BMW Regional Operational Programme 2014-2020. "Projects such as the rejuvenation in Dundalk are an excellent example of how important European funding is to our country and our region, and how it can directly benefit towns and local communities. The project builds on Dundalk's rich heritage and we welcome this reinvigoration to the centre of the town that the European Regional Development Fund co-funded development is enabling". MOSCOW, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia's sovereign wealth fund, and LAXISAM, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the Republic of Uzbekistan, have agreed to supply to the country up to 35 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, which is based on a well-studied human adenoviral vectors platform with proven safety and efficacy. Upon approval by Uzbekistan's regulators up to 10 million doses will be delivered in 2020 and up to 25 million doses in 2021. 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 Russia and became the world's first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on the human adenoviral vectors platform. Detailed information on the Sputnik V vaccine, the technological platform of human adenoviral vectors, and other details are available at sputnikvaccine.com On September 4, a research paper on the results of Phase I and Phase II clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine was published in The Lancet, one of the leading international medical journals, demonstrating no serious adverse effects and a stable immune response in 100% of participants. Post-registration clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine involving 40,000 volunteers are currently ongoing. More than 60,000 volunteers have applied to take part in post-registration trials. The first results of these trials are expected to be published in October-November 2020. Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said: "Russia's Sputnik V vaccine has several key advantages compared with foreign vaccines, especially experimental vaccines by Western producers based on monkey adenovirus of mRNA. Sputnik V is based on the human adenoviral vector platform, which has been studied over decades and in more than 250 clinical studies, proving its safety and effectiveness. Supplies of the vaccine will ensure that medical specialists in the Republic of Uzbekistan have an advanced tool to combat the new coronavirus infection. It enables the formation of a long-term immunity to protect citizens, as well as ensuring a diversified portfolio of vaccines against coronavirus." RDIF has received orders for more than 1.2 billion doses of the Sputnik V vaccine for 2020-2021. More than 50 countries in CIS, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Latin America have applied for Sputnik V. RDIF has announced earlier supply agreements with Mexico for 32 million doses, with Brazil for up to 50 million doses and India - 100 million doses. Shavkat Ismailov, Chairman of LAXISAM Group of Companies, noted: "The World Health Organization and leading medical experts in the epidemiology of infectious diseases point out that vaccination is an effective way to create lasting immunity to prevent COVID-19. In this regard, cooperation on the Sputnik V vaccine with RDIF plays an important role. The vaccine was created by Russian scientists based on advanced scientific and clinical research." Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russia's sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 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. RDIF's management company is based in Moscow. Currently, RDIF has experience of the successful joint implementation of more than 80 projects with foreign partners totaling more than RUB1.9 tn and covering 95% of the regions of the Russian Federation. RDIF portfolio companies employ more than 800,000 people and generate revenues which equate to more than 6% of Russia's GDP. RDIF has established joint strategic partnerships with leading international co-investors from more than 18 countries that total more than $40 bn. Further information can be found at www.rdif.ru LAXISAM has been known as one of the largest suppliers and manufacturers of a wide range of medicines in the Uzbek market for 26 years. Cooperation with the leading global and domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers and a wide network of branches, pharmaceutical warehouses in all regions of Uzbekistan provide suppliers, medical institutions, a pharmacy network and the country's population with all categories of drugs. LAXISAM has created and now operates a large pharmaceutical plant LAXISAM PHARMACEUTICALS in Tashkent producing about 100 drugs in various forms: tablets, capsules, ointments, suspensions, ampoules. The company operates in strict accordance with national and international quality standards for the production and distribution of medicines. Additional information can be found at lahisam.uz/ and lapharma.uz Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1140939/Russian_Direct_Investment_Fund_Logo.jpg Less than two per cent of Nigerias 2019 budget was allocated to fund capital projects in the agricultural sector, an official has said. The budget officer, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development(FMARD), Okosor Oyere, disclosed this in his presentation during the just concluded two-day stakeholders consultative meeting on the 2021 Agricultural Budget. The meeting, which held in Lagos from September 23 to 24, was jointly organised by ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), ONE Campaign, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and the Department of Agriculture & Water Resources of the ECOWAS Commission. It featured 163 participants. Inadequate Mr Oyere said the inadequate capital funding has resulted in huge outstanding liabilities committed on critical projects. He added that the development is at variance with the 10 per cent agreed upon by African Heads of State in the 2014 Malabo Declaration. According to the organisers, the meeting was called to help the public understand Nigerias agriculture promotion policy and its connection to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) targets. It is also to strengthen citizens participation towards making 2021 Agriculture budget responsive towards food security and wealth creation and to support effective biennial reporting by Nigeria to the African Union Heads of States and Government in line with the Malabo Declaration and Commitments of 2014, a communique endorsed by fifty organisations at the end of the programme stated. Malabo Declaration In June 2014, Heads of State and Governments adopted a set of concrete agriculture goals during the 23rd ordinary session of the African Union Assembly in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, to be attained by 2025. According to the AU, the Malabo Declaration on accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods is a set of new goals showing a more targeted approach to achieve the agricultural vision for the continent, which is shared prosperity and improved livelihoods. The summit reconfirmed that agriculture should remain high on the development agenda of the continent, and that it is a critical policy initiative for African economic growth and poverty reduction. Low funding A PREMIUM TIMES analysis had shown that despite repeated assurances by successive governments, Nigeria has consistently underfunded its agricultural sector, leaving the country at the risk of food insufficiency and slow economic growth. The country has the largest number of people living in extreme poverty, according to the world poverty clock in 2018. With very low income and insufficient food, Nigeria also has a high number of malnourished children. Agriculture is recognised globally as one of the most effective tools of reversing this trend. With proper financing, more people can be lifted out of poverty, the countrys GDP will grow faster and the country can easily meet its food needs for its over 200 million people. However, successive Nigerian governments have failed to invest substantially in agriculture despite calls by experts and international organisations. Between 2000 and date, Nigerias agriculture financing was at its best only during the Yaradua government, the review by PREMIUM TIMES shows. In 2008, that administration budgeted N2.92 billion for agriculture which was 5.41 per cent of the total budget, and in 2009, it budgeted N3.101 billion again for agriculture, about 5.38 per cent of the total budget. Scourge Untimely release of allocations is a hindrance to timely provision of inputs to farmers for effective yield, since agriculture is a time-bound activity, late planting of crops will result in a poor harvest, Mr Oyere said. He said the overhead cost in 2019 is 0.26 per cent of the total budget which is not adequate to implement the capital budget and pick up operation bills of the ministry. While also presenting, FMARD Director, Agricultural Land & Climate Change Department, Ibrahim Mohammed, recalled that Nigeria carried out the 2019 Second Biennial Review on the implementation of the Malabo Commitments and the Africa agricultural transformation scorecard which was presented at an AU summit in February 2020. He said the review was carried out to evaluate the countrys performance in achieving agricultural growth and transformation goals in Africa based on 47 indicators under seven thematic areas and 23 performance categories Mr Mohammed said 49 Member States including Nigeria reported on progress in implementing the Malabo declaration during the 2019 biennial review cycle, and that the benchmark set for the 2019 BR cycle for a country to be on track is 6.66. He said Nigerias overall country score was 5.18 and the overall progress was tagged Not on track. Advertisements In his remarks, Innocent Edache, One Campaigns Communications and Advocacy Manager, said we have seen increasing public attention towards agriculture and the food system, and there has been a boost in local rice production. He added that the development of another policy that will replace and improve on the agricultural promotion policy is in progress. ALSO READ: Nigerian govt deploys directors of revenue to agencies to reverse budget deficit Mr Edache also said with the incidence of COVID-19, the state of food security could get worse, as new challenges have emerged for the countrys agri-food system. Observations According to the endorsed communique, some of the key issues observed which needs to be addressed in the 2021 agriculture budget include; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on access to markets, as farmers experienced massive post-harvest losses on fruits, vegetables, fresh products, and other perishables. Parts of the observations made were that those engaged in livestock farming, especially poultry, were faced with lack of access to poultry feeds while fisheries and aquaculture farmers were also affected by the closure or low patronage of hotels and skeletal operations of restaurants. It was observed that before the emergence of COVID-19, smallholder women farmers were already faced with low and difficult access to credit, essential inputs, improved seeds and seedlings, organic and non-organic fertilisers. By implication, the spread of COVID-19 has now further compounded the situation as many now have no access at all. Recommendations The organisers said with the widespread of the COVID-19, and with Nigeria being a signatory to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), there is an urgent need for massive and unprecedented investment in the agriculture sector for domestic consumption, rural infrastructural development and export promotion. They also recommended that for 2021 and subsequent years, agriculture budgeting and other policymaking processes, leaders of women farmer organisations and other smallholder farmers, vulnerable groups such as farmers living with disabilities, and CSOs should be invited to every stage of the budget. The organisers noted that there should be a political will to allocate at least 10 per cent of annual budgets and actuals of revenues to the agriculture sector with appropriate budget lines in order for Nigeria to be on track in the next biennial report to the AU, among others. From incorrect data about beneficiary students to non-utilisation of kitchen equipment, the CAG has found a host of gaps in implementation of the centrally-sponsored mid-day meal scheme in Gujarat. In its report tabled in the Assembly here on Friday, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) noted that there was higher reporting in respect of coverage of students to the Centre." As the state government showed more students against actual number of students covered under the scheme, food grains and cooking cost were being allocated more than the actual ground-level requirement, leading to increase in closing stock of food grains", the CAG noted. The compliance audit report for 2017-18 on Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme implementation in Gujarat was tabled on the last day of monsoon session of the Assembly. One of the components of the MDM in Gujarat is Doodh Sanjivani Scheme", started in 2014-15 to address the issue of malnutrition among school children, who are given Amul milk as part of the scheme. In Banaskantha, one of the test-checked district, the CAG observed that the daily average number of students covered under the scheme decreased from 1.25 lakh to 91,489 students between 2016 and 2018." A similar drop in beneficiary students was recorded in tribal-dominated Panchmahal district, the national auditor said. During a field visit in Sehra taluka of Panchmahal district, the report observed, out of 270 milk pouches delivered to five schools, 142 pouches were found lying unused and schools had no facility to store the same so that it can be used next day". As per Union government norms, food delivered to schools from centralised kitchens run by NGOs should have a minimum temperature of 65 degrees centigrade at the time of serving". However, during field visits in Valsad and Vadodara, audit teams observed that food was not hot", the watchdog said. Moreover, a report by Joint Review Mission which visited schools of Vadodara in March 2018 pointed out that the food served by the NGO did not meet the nutritional value prescribed under MDM", the CAG noted. To upgrade kitchens, the state education department provided equipment worth Rs 53.42 crore to 756 schools during 2014-15 and to 500 schools in 2015-16. However, the CAG observed that cooking equipment provided to 64 schools in seven test-checked talukas were not put to use and were lying idle since their supply". The scheme was started by the Centre with a view to enhance enrolment, retention and attendance, and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children. It is implemented at every government and government-aided primary school. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Adisti Sukma Sawitri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 08:47 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4716e13 1 Opinion omnibus-bill,omnibus-law,omnibus-bill-on-job-creation,forestry,REDD Free Indonesia has recently been rewarded for its forest policies. The government has secured US$124.1 million from the United Nations Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Norwegian government through the results-based payment of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) initiative, the fruits of a decade of efforts to curb deforestation and carbon emissions. Amid disputes about the governments claims regarding reduced deforestation and forest fires, the grants demonstrate faith among the international community in the countrys forest-governance capability despite pressure for rapid agroforestry expansion. But the government still has a lot to do to prove that it can live up to local and international expectations. Not only do deforestation and land disputes still occur, the omnibus bill on job creation, which is currently being deliberated at the House of Representatives, may undermine future forest management in the country. The bill, which will amend 79 prevailing laws, seeks to centralize environmental management and licensing, stripping local administrations of control over natural resources, including land and forests. The law will overturn current forest governance regimes in which licensing authority and oversight are shared between the central and local governments. Among the critical changes that will be made through the legislation is Article 18, which will revise Law No. 26/2007 on spatial planning. The article says the central government will be the only authority to settle overlapping claims and permits relating to land and forests. The bill also eliminates the Environmental Impact Analysis (Amdal) and other environmental permits that are requirements for the issuance of a business license. Through article 23 on changes to Law No. 32/2009 on environmental protection and management, the bill proposes that environmental feasibility studies will be conducted by the central government and become the basis of issuing a business license. All the mechanisms that allow people to challenge environmental permits in court, therefore, will be removed, leaving the central government as the single supervisor and law enforcer in the natural resources sector. Companies need only respond to the central government if they are deemed to have violated environmental rules and agreements. Such great power vested in the central government should give cause for concern since, despite its recent achievement in REDD+ financing, it has yet to show that it can achieve a fair and peaceful resolution to conflicts between corporations and ordinary citizens. The Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) recorded at least nine land conflicts during the pandemic, mostly involving local residents accused of intruding on company concessions. More than just legal affairs, the disputes show that land and forest concessions have marginalized people living nearby, forcing them, when deprived of land rights, to take matters into their own hands to defend their livelihoods. A collaborative investigation by Tempo magazine, Betahita, Mongabay, Malaysiakini and Auriga Nusantara revealed that pulp and palm oil companies contributed to forest fires in 2019. Satellite imagery analyses and field visits to the concession sites found that the companies had drained peat forests to start plantations, causing fires that quickly spread. Current regulations ban the opening up and cultivating of peatlands because of the risk of ensuing wildfires. Peat swamps that are drained before being planted usually become very dry and burn easily during the dry season. The impacts of fires in former peat swamps are usually worse than those of other forest fires because of the rich amount of carbon contained in peat forests. But due to weak law enforcement against companies that have started fires, most of them evaded justice last year. Farmers that intruded the forest concessions, however, have been arrested and punished. With this apparent bias toward corporations and the history of reluctance to create a fair regime of forest governance, the centralization of authority under the omnibus bill could lead to even greater exploitation of the countrys natural resources. Oversight capability is actually not a major problem today. Technology and the large amount of data presented on the countrys forests make supervision easier today than a decade ago. With the availability of satellite imagery and resources to inspect and put out fires, a fair land tenure system and good practice in plantations sector are possible. What has been hard to achieve is the governments commitment to upholding sustainable practices and taking the side of the people in disputes. The government can take forest management to the next level if it can set up a dispute-resolution mechanism that ensures recognition of local peoples rights to land and forests. It should also require companies to use more sustainable methods in cultivating lands so that deforestation and forest fires can be avoided. Replanting and reusing idle land should be encouraged rather than opening protected forests and draining peat swamps. Beneficial partnerships with local people should become the norm in business practices. Rather than simply contributing to the central government, a company should improve the welfare of people living in its area of operation. Despite becoming embroiled in corruption that has resulted in a high-cost economy in the forestry sector, local administrations should still play a role in forest oversight. While no longer in charge of issuing permits and licenses, local authorities should help the central government supervise companies and make sure sustainable business practices are in place. After all, local officials and the people are the ones who can directly safeguard their own forests. Without improving its game in forest management, the central government will only cause more economic losses as a result of uncontrolled deforestation and forest fires and deprive the people of future prosperity. ---------- Staff writer at The Jakarta Post JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 By Fredrik Logevall Random House. 792 pp. $40 - - - In December 1941, when the United States entered World War II, Jack Kennedy was in the midst of an affair with a married Danish former beauty queen who was under investigation by the FBI as a German spy. Her name was Inga Arvad; he called her "Inga Binga." (She had been seen sitting in Adolf Hitler's box at the 1936 Olympics.) Kennedy was an officer in Naval Intelligence at the time, a job arranged by his father, Ambassador Joseph Kennedy. Bored by desk duty, he was pulling strings to get into a more glamorous posting - PT boats - despite debilitating back pain and a history of poor health. Young Kennedy was not exactly spit polished or squared away. At prep school, he had dressed in whatever clothes he found lying on the floor; at college, he had a valet to pick them up. Those are all facts, but, of course, not the whole truth. Arvad was clever and perceptive, and she saw in Kennedy his abiding desire to serve and to do good. JFK was tender and adoring toward Arvad even after she stopped sleeping with him. (And she was no German spy, as the FBI wiretaps eventually showed.) JFK did use political favors to get a better post in the Navy, but, as one of his commanders noted, "there are a lot of people in America who use political influence to keep out of combat, but Jack Kennedy used it to get into combat." He may have been an entitled Harvard boy, but his men worshiped him, especially when, after his PT boat was cut in half by a Japanese destroyer, he repeatedly risked his life to save them. Jack Kennedy was a spoiled and occasionally reckless young man, and he had a habit of treating women - and, sometimes, his male friends - badly. But as Fredrik Logevall shows in his superb "JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956," Kennedy was a far deeper, worthier, more interesting character than the familiar revisionist cliche. He was endlessly curious, usually solicitous, often savvy and self-aware, and, when he wanted to be, careful. He was hardly callow. He had a premature sense of his own doom, which he faced with bravery and good cheer, albeit cloaked at times in prep school cynicism. "Detachment" might be a better word. Kennedy's cool bordered on coldness. His father was overbearing and over-involved, and his mother (partly because she had been hurt by her husband's infidelities) was remote. She was constantly organizing the lives of her nine children, but when Jack was a sickly boy and teenager an hour or two away at school, she visited him only once. Jack's seemingly effortless grace, so seductive to women and men alike, was a kind of armor. But it was much more than that. Jack loved and listened to his domineering father, yet at key moments he also resisted his will. He had the ability to step back and not be swept away - not by his father's desperate need to appease Hitler on the eve of World War II, not by any political fad of the moment. As he grew into a politician, eventually to become a statesman, he was able to maintain a critical distance. He was passionate about politics - an honorable profession, he believed - but he was never polemical or even terribly partisan. He knew that it could take courage to be a moderate, to find the middle way. His heroes were the politicians who compromised on policy but not principle. He didn't always live up to his own ideals. The Kennedy family was close to Joe McCarthy, a witch-hunting demagogue who thrived during the Red Scare of the early 1950s. JFK privately scorned McCarthy's bullyboy tactics, but (like a lot of politicians) he shied from calling him out. JFK's record on civil rights was cagey; like most Democrats, he did not want to offend the party's base in the Deep South. He was an early skeptic on U.S. intervention in Vietnam. Ever inquiring, he had gone there himself as a young lawmaker and seen the potential for quagmire. The lesson, of course, did not entirely stick. It is hard, in the Age of Trump, not to feel nostalgic about the Age of Kennedy - to remember that once there was a leader who read avidly, who believed in the power of words not to divide and inflame but to call on our better angels. It has become conventional wisdom that Kennedy's best speeches - and indeed, his 1956 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Profiles in Courage" - were ghostwritten by his gifted aide, Theodore Sorensen. Logevall convincingly shows that although Sorensen certainly improved Kennedy's prose (and his poor spelling and grammar), the overarching themes and insights came from Kennedy. Kennedy mocked pieties, but he was a deep romantic, in a dangerous sort of way. His wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, was right to have been wary when Jack came courting. She knew from her philandering father not to trust in handsome men with wandering eyes. But she saw an intelligence in Kennedy that matched her own, and she was, demurely but fiercely, ambitious for him. When the couple met in the early 1950s, Jackie sensed immediately, she later told a friend, that Jack "would have a profound, perhaps disturbing" influence on her life. "Jackie told a friend she was frightened, envisioning heartbreak for herself, but swiftly determined that such heartbreak would be worth it," Logevall writes. ("Kennedy's recollection was plainer: 'I leaned across the asparagus and asked for a date.' ") Why should you read the umpteenth book about the most famous of Kennedys? Whole forests have been cut down to explain the Kennedy myth. The short answer is that Logevall's book is smart and very readable. A professor of history at Harvard who won the Pulitzer Prize for a book on the United States' early engagement in Vietnam, Logevall has a gifted historian's grasp of the times as well as the life of JFK. At more than 600 pages of text, his book is long and ends four years before Kennedy is elected president. But this reader had trouble putting it down. - - - Thomas is the author of "Robert Kennedy: His Life" and, most recently, "First: Sandra Day O'Connor." FP Trending Sony has launched a new model of truly wireless earphones, the WF-H800, in India. The latest addition to Sonys wireless earphone lineup comes with an ergonomic structure that will fit nicely inside the ears and not fall off easily. The Sony WF-H800 TWS earphones are priced at Rs 14,990. The earphones are exclusively available on Flipkart and on select Sony retail stores in India. The sale for the WF-H800 earphones kicked off on Thursday, 24 September. The Sony WF-H800 TWS earphones are powered by the in-brand Digital Sound Enhancement Engine HX. This engine reproduces digital files of songs without compressing them. The earphones feature a tri-hold structure that remains in contact with three different points on the users ear. The latest offering comes with an automatic auto-power off technology that can turn the device off by sensing if a user is currently wearing the product or not. This also gets on automatically as soon as it has been taken out of the case and into the ear. The device can reportedly offer up to 16 hours of battery life. Of this, users will get eight hours on the earphones and the other additional eight in the charging case. Sony is also promising 70 minutes of playback time with a 10-minute quick charge in the handy charging case. The lightweight earphones (7.6 grams each) come with low latency Bluetooth support for a stable connection and a USB-C port. On the other hand, it can be connected with Google Assistant, Alexa and Siri to get a taste of any show, news or music. You can also set a reminder, get notifications and connect with friends on the go. The product will come with different variants of Long Hybrid silicone rubber earbuds, with SS, S, M, L being the available sizes. The government's new labour legislations, pushed through when the opposition was not in the House, will impact the lives of over 50 crore workers. The Industrial Relations Code 2020, the Code on Social Security 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020, along with the code on wages, already enacted, subsume and replace 29 central laws that governed the countrys industrial relations. The Industrial Relations Code now says a company cannot retrench and/or close its establishments without government approval if it has more than 300 employees. That number used to be 100. The law essentially throws workers' job security into the wilderness, but has been welcomed by industry because it makes hiring and firing easy. The code also redefines the sole negotiating union in an establishment as the one in which more than 51 per cent of the workers are members. Establishments now need not heed the voice of smaller unions. The Code on Social Security provides for universal social security to workers, including unorganised and gig and platform workers who account for over 90 per cent of the workforce. The Bill also mandates the governments to set up social security funds for them and fixes the maximum hours of work at eight per day. It remains to be seen how the provision to allow men to work in hazardous industries, albeit with safety measures, will benefit them. A redeeming feature of the legislation is the attention it gives to inter-state guest workers: the government will now have to maintain a database on them online. They can also avail the benefits of the Public Distribution System either in their native state or their state of employment, and also access insurance and provident fund benefits available to other workers. Critics have noted an alarming and unusual feature in the bills: it gives the government wide powers to frame rules that will form the operational part of the legislation. They include the conditions for increasing the threshold for lay-offs, retrenchment, and closure, for applicability of different social security schemes to establishments, and specifying safety standards, and working conditions to be provided by establishments under the occupational safety code. The government has made its intention clear when it said the purpose of labour reforms is to provide a transparent system to suit the changed business environment. The codes also empower state governments to offer relaxations in provisions on labour security, with an aim to trigger a race to attract capital. That the codes cleared parliamentary scrutiny in less than three hours of discussion, that too when the opposition was boycotting the proceedings, reflects the disdain the government has not only for parliamentary practices but also to the people whose lives they will impact. The government showed a similar high-handedness when it got the farm bills passed. Every trade union, including the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh affiliated to the Sangh Parivar, has voiced their protest against the anti-labour provisions in the codes. It remains to be seen how the government will tackle the disaffection within Indias workforce. Ernakulam, Sep 25 : A special NIA court on Friday convicted Islamic State terrorist Subahani Haja Mohideen, one of the few who returned to India after joining the terror outfit, in connection with the ISIS Omar Al-Hindi module case. An NIA spokesperson said that Mohideen, 35, a resident of Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district, was convicted under several sections of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The quantum of punishment would be pronounced on September 28. The anti-terror probe agency had registered a case on October 1, 2016, based on credible information that certain youth had entered into a conspiracy and were making preparations to carry out terrorist attacks in India in order to further the objectives of proscribed terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)/Daesh. After registering the case, the NIA carried out searches on October 3 in same year at his house which led to seizure of incriminating material indicating his travel to the theatre of conflict in West Asia. Mohideen was arrested on October 5. During investigation, it was that Mohideen had exited India in April 2015 and joined the Islamic State in Iraq, where he had fought for the proscribed terrorist organisation, the official said. "In September 2015, he returned to India and continued activities in support of the terrorist organisation.A He had also attempted to procure explosive material from Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu to make IEDs," the official said. The official said that after thorough and comprehensive investigation, a charge sheet was filed against Mohideen on March 29, 2017. During his custody, Mohideen was also questioned by French investigators in December 2018 as he was in touch with one of the 2015 Paris attack terrorists. Google's search engine, one of the most-profitable businesses in history, is about to face its biggest challenge as the U.S. government readies an antitrust lawsuit accusing the company of crushing competition to protect and extend its monopoly. After a 14-month investigation, the Justice Department is homing in on whether Google skews search results to favor its own products and whether it uses an iron fist over access to users to shut out rivals, according to people familiar with the matter. Google, which controls about 90% of the online search market in the U.S., has long been a target of rivals that complain it's used that power to snuff out competition across the internet. What started out as a college research project in the late 1990s now generates about $100 billion in highly-profitable revenue each year. The search engine decides the fates of thousands of businesses online and has funded Google's expansion into email, online video, smartphone software, maps, cloud computing, autonomous vehicles and other forms of digital ads. European competition regulators have fined Google billions of euros for breaking antitrust laws. But U.S. enforcers have left the company mostly untouched since the Federal Trade Commission closed a probe in early 2013 with no action. Now, Attorney General William Barr is on the cusp of what could be the biggest U.S. monopoly case since Microsoft was sued by the government more than two decades ago. Barr has been a key ally in President Donald Trump's crackdown on technology giants. The U.S. president has railed against internet companies for allegedly censoring conservative viewpoints online. While some involved in the Google case expected it to be filed as soon as next week, that timing will likely be pushed back, possibly to the following week, according to two people familiar with the matter. State attorneys general and Justice Department lawyers have been discussing final preparations for the case this week in Washington. The people asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Senior Justice Department officials met with Google representatives this week to discuss two prongs of the investigation: search bias and search distribution, according to one of the people. Search bias is the allegation that Google skews results to favor its own properties, such as a shopping service, travel bookings and local business listings. Search distribution centers on agreements with device makers and other partners to provide Google search as a default to users. In 2018, Goldman Sachs estimated Google paid Apple $9 billion to get its search engine on Apple's Safari web browser and other prime spots on Apple devices. It's impossible for small search engine competitors to compete with Google's deep pockets and outbid it for valuable placements like Apple's browser, according to Gabriel Weinberg, chief executive officer of DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused search provider that has complained to the DOJ about Google. During a recent congressional hearing, Google executive Don Harrison argued that the company doesn't dominate the markets it operates in. Google may lead when it comes to general searches, but for product queries and other commercial searches consumers are more likely to start on Amazon.com Inc., he noted. The Justice Department and states also are investigating Google's conduct in the advertising-technology market, where Google owns many of the systems that deliver display ads across the web. Some Democratic attorneys general briefed on the case want the Justice Department to include ad-tech in the lawsuit and may file their own complaint after the November election, one of the people said. The Justice Department declined to comment. Competitors have complained that Google funnels excess search marketing dollars to its display ad network. That extra money can account for large portions of digital publisher revenue, making them less likely to drop Google for a rival ad-tech provider. U.S. investigators have asked detailed questions about how to limit Google's power in the search market, according to DuckDuckGo. In Europe, regulators have forced Google to give consumers a choice over which search engine they use on Android phones. "We're pleased it seems like the DOJ -- unlike any other government in the world -- is going to finally address the elephant in the room: Google's obvious, overwhelming, and anti-competitive dominance in search," a spokesman for DuckDuckGo said. "Consumers would benefit from a world without search defaults, where they could easily choose their preferred search engine." Google has engaged in an array of practices aimed at maintaining its control over the search market and preventing competitors from gaining scale, said Gene Kimmelman, a senior advisor at Public Knowledge, which urged the Justice Department this summer to investigate Google's conduct around search. Consumers have lost out as a result because rivals are effectively shut out from competing to build better search offerings, he said. "Search is the fundamental motivator for the pattern of behavior by Google, and all of it appears designed to maintain a monopoly," Kimmelman said. A research paper published in June by the Omidyar Network, an organization that advocates for more aggressive antitrust enforcement against tech giants, outlined several scenarios where Google may have violated antitrust laws. The exclusive deal with Apple has helped solidify its monopoly by preventing competitors from reaching consumers, the paper argued. Google created a similar effect with its Android mobile operating system and agreements that effectively forced handset makers to pre-install Google's search engine and browser on their phones. Those restrictions made Google the default search service and further prevented rivals from gaining market share, according to the Omidyar paper. The EU also fined Google over this. "This is a classic tale of a likely monopolization strategy premised on denying scale to rivals," the paper said. The allegations echo those made against Microsoft in 1998 when the Justice Department and a group of states sued the software maker for antitrust violations. Back then, Microsoft forced computer manufacturers to bundle its Windows operating system with its Internet Explorer browser, making it harder for rivals such as Netscape to compete. Even though other browsers didn't pose a direct threat to Microsoft's monopoly in computer operating systems, the risk was that they could one day grow to challenge its dominance. The Justice Department could make a similar argument about Google today, said William Kovacic, a law professor at George Washington University and a former FTC chairman. "The arguments about demanding exclusivity as a way of excluding rivals are arguments that were very successful in the Microsoft case," he said. A Personnel of the Department of the State Security (DSS), Barrister Muktar Moddibo has been killed in an exchange of fire between security personnel and gun runners in Kalong village of Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State. The incident occurred during a joint operation of the Nigeria Military and the DSS in Kalong Village. The security operatives including the DSS, stormed the village in search of the leader of a gun running group and other armed syndicates following intelligence reports of some gun dealers in the area. Moddibo was hit by a bullet during a gun battle with the syndicates. The incident is coming amidst the on-going operation by the DSS to track down kidnappers, armed bandits, and gun runners terrorising different parts of the state. We are proud that our technologies not only bring clean water to communities, but also hope, health and resilience." said HP Nanda, global vice president and general manager, DuPont Water Solutions The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation named DuPont Water Solutions a finalist in the 21st Annual Citizens Awards, a longstanding program that honors businesses for the impact they make in communities around the world. DuPont was nominated for the Best Corporate Steward category for its efforts to help global communities thrive through increased access to safe, clean water. As pressures on global water supplies intensify, our team is energized by a shared purpose to solve global water challenges for the purification, conservation, and reuse of water, said HP Nanda, global vice president and general manager, DuPont Water Solutions. We are proud that our technologies not only bring clean water to communities, but also hope, health and resilience. And we are optimistic about our global water future, as current technologies are already enabling water scarce regions to achieve greater water security and resiliency. Now in its 21st year, the annual awards program recognizes the most innovative and impactful corporate citizenship initiatives raising the bar on social responsibility and spearheading the transformation to a strong, healthy and sustainable future. DuPont is being honored for the social impact of its products, operations, and community partnerships in support of clean water and water stewardship. A leader in water purification and separation technologies, DuPonts products purify, conserve, or reuse more than 25 million gallons of water every minute around the world. Its projects have, among other outcomes, helped a U.S. auto company convert 90 percent of wastewater into reusable water, dramatically reduced clean water costs in a Kenyan community, and ended the need for women to walk hours to collect safe drinking water in Serdo, Ethiopia. DuPont Water Solutions products, which include ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis (RO) membranes and ion exchange resins, help communities and industries reduce water scarcity, capture pollution, recover resources (like salt), minimize energy consumption, and adapt to the forces of climate change. DuPonts community partnerships and programs include professional development for water operators, opportunities to engage students in STEM coursework around a clean water future, and campaigns to increase water knowledge and conservations. Most recently, DuPont partnered with charity: water to support their work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in vulnerable communities and to collaborate toward the shared goal of increased access to clean, safe water worldwide. Influenced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, DuPonts 2030 Sustainability Goals aim to create sustainable innovations that help customers and the world thrive; increase sustainability throughout operations; and ensure the inclusiveness, wellbeing, and health of people and communities. DuPont recently shared how it is empowering the world with essential innovations to thrive in its recent 2020 Sustainability Report. The winners of the 2020 Citizens Awards will be announced during the U.S. Chamber Foundations annual Corporate Citizenship Conference & Awards on November 17-19. Learn more about the awards program and register to attend the event at http://www.uschamberfoundation.org/citizens-awards-1. About DuPont Safety & Construction DuPont Safety & Construction is a global leader in delivering innovation for lifes essential needs in water, shelter and safety; enabling its customers to win through unique capabilities, global scale and iconic brands including DuPont Corian, Kevlar, Nomex, Tyvek GreatStuff, Styrofoam, and FilmTec. More on DuPont Water Solutions can be found at https://www.dupont.com/water About DuPont DuPont (NYSE: DD) is a global innovation leader with technology-based materials, ingredients and solutions that help transform industries and everyday life. Our employees apply diverse science and expertise to help customers advance their best ideas and deliver essential innovations in key markets including electronics, transportation, construction, water, health and wellness, food and worker safety. More information can be found at http://www.dupont.com. About Corporate Citizenship Center The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizenship Center is a leading resource for businesses dedicated to making a difference. For more than 20 years, our programs, events, research, and relationships with key NGO and governments have helped businesses make the world a better place. About U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is dedicated to strengthening Americas long-term competitiveness. We educate the public on the conditions necessary for business and communities to thrive, how business positively impacts communities, and emerging issues and creative solutions that will shape the future. # # # 9/24/20 DuPont, the DuPont Oval Logo, and all trademarks and service marks denoted with , or are owned by affiliates of DuPont de Nemours, Inc. unless otherwise noted. Niagara Falls city council cracked open a cold one earlier this week over the topic of allowing alcohol consumption in public parks, but other municipalities in south Niagara dont appear to be sipping on that conversation just yet. In the Falls, staff was directed to prepare a report on potential spaces drinking could be permitted a result of Premier Doug Ford saying last year that local governments should be given the power to make their own decisions on whether this is a step they want to take. City of Welland parks manager Peter Boyce said council seems to be more focused on infrastructure and development than booze in parks. It hasnt really been talked about, said Boyce, asked about whether Welland might follow the Falls lead. I guess Niagara Falls is being proactive. Outdoor events, like the Rose Festival, apply for permits to serve beer and spirits. Due to COVID-19, pavilions at sites like Merritt Island, St. George Park and Chippawa Park are not being used as much, but are normally booked up solid, said Boyce. Although drinking at parks without a special occasion permit is prohibited, he said he would be naive to think it doesnt still occur on a small scale. We dont go out and police that stuff, he said, adding people getting drunk and stupid in parks isnt an issue for the city. A non-drinker in his personal life, Boyce said he doesnt see the need for alcohol at family-geared events and that you always have to be careful when dealing with alcohol consumption in public spaces. But if a member of council brings a recommendation forward similar to the one tabled by Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, he will get to work and prepare a report. If council did request this, I would do my research and do what needs to be done, said Boyce. Niagara Regional Police spokesman Const. Phil Gavin said Thursday the Ontario liquor licence act allows for individual municipalities to determine whether possession of alcohol outside of a residence, licenced premise or a private place can occur in a designated recreational location. As the police, our role is to conduct enforcement and education as required as it pertains to legislation, laws and bylaws created by the various levels of government, he said, adding police welcome the opportunity to provide input during the process. Port Colborne Mayor Bill Steele said he is open to the idea. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down local watering holes in March, but many have reopened with a patio expansion program in the city. This has given Port Colborne a bit of a taste in regard to how that could work here, said Steele, using a promenade along the canal on West Street as an example of how alcohol consumption can be enjoyed responsibly outside of homes and licensed establishments. On a 2018 trip to Europe, Steele said, he witnessed alcohol being served and pulled out of coolers at municipal parks. The Europeans have been doing it for quite a while. It can be done, he said. He said he doesnt have an issue with the idea if it was proposed, although nothing has been brought forward on the matter to date. RELATED STORIES Niagara Region Niagara Falls to look at rules around drinking in parks I think we need to loosen our grip in some areas, but we dont want to see people go crazy with it, said Steele. Itll be interesting to see what Niagara Falls comes up with. In Pelham, people could be handed a $250 fine if found in possession of alcoholic beverages in parks without a permit. Whats happening in Niagara Falls could prompt the issue to come to Pelham council, but at this time there is nothing to suggest it will be on an agenda any time soon, said spokesman Marc MacDonald on Thursday. The Township of Wainfleet approved a bylaw in 2005 to restrict alcoholic beverages at parks and municipal properties, unless a permit is obtained. Permits within municipalities are administered by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Amber Dashwood, administrative assistant to the Wainfleet CAO and Mayor, said the matter has not been revisited by council. Farmers in staged demonstrations across the state on Friday as part of a 'bandh' call given by several outfits to protest the 'anti-farmer' policies of the central and state governments. A large number of ryots from various parts of the state flocked to the state capital to take part in the protests against the amendments to the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act and the Land Reforms Act. Amendment to APMC Act would allow farmers to sell their produce directly to any purchaser outside APMC or in other APMCs. The agitators blocked highways and staged road rokos in many places affecting the traffic flow. Terming the amendments as 'anti-farmer', they alleged that some people in power brought them to convert their black money into white. A group of farmers blocked the busy Tumakuru road near Yashwantpur in the city and engaged in sloganeering against the recent amendments. As the police arrived at the spot to clear the blockade, the farmers courted arrest and were taken away in buses. Demonstrations were also held in other districts, including Mysuru and Davangere. In Mangaluru, workers of Congress, other non-BJP parties and farmers' outfits gathered at the Nanthoor circle in the morning and staged the blockade. A large number of police personnel were deployed at major junctions to avert any chock-a-block. Peasant leader Kuruburu Shanthakumar, who is among those leading the agitation, said all the highways to Bengaluru will be blocked. He said more than 34 outfits have come together to stage agitations across the city. Shanthakumar alleged that the government did not take the farmers into confidence while bringing amendments to the law pertaining to the (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.) - Shadrach Dare has recounted his journey to becoming both a doctor and a nurse - According to him, it all started with a dilemma he faced in 2007 when he was granted admission to two tertiary institutions - In an interesting turn of events, he pursued nursing at UCC and later got a doctorate degree in public health upon winning a Commonwealth Scholarship PAY ATTENTION: Click 'See First' under 'Follow' Tab to see Tuko.co.ke news on your FB Feed Shadrach Dare, a gentleman who was born and bred in Ghana, has revealed that he became both a doctor and a nurse in an interesting turn of events. Shadrach indicated that his journey to becoming a nurse and a doctor started with confusion back in 2007 as shared on his Facebook page. READ ALSO: Nyeri firm making speed governors set to locally manufacture smartphones A Ghanaian who was confused about whether to become a doctor or nurse ended up becoming both. Source: Shadrach Dare / Facebook Source: UGC READ ALSO: US elections: First presidential debate between Trump, Biden slated for September 29 According to Dare, he got admission to both the University of Ghana (UG) and the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in 2007 when he became unsure which way to turn. UG offered Shadrach Biological Sciences which could have led him into medicine depending on his performance after the first year whilst UCC gave him nursing. "So I 'settled' for using at UCC. But in nursing school, I made a resolution: to be the best nurse possible," he said. READ ALSO: First-ever electric Rolls-Royce to be called Silent Shadow Subsequently, Shadrach graduated top of his class and won a Commonwealth Scholarship to pursue a Master of Public Health at Glasgow after his national service. Right after the Master's degree, the young man, who graduated top of his class yet again, won another Commonwealth Scholarship for a PhD Public Health and graduated at the age of 28. "Today I am a nurse and a doctor of public health. I did not have to choose to be a nurse or doctor. I became both," he added. READ ALSO: Kenyatta National Hospital healthcare workers down tools over delayed salaries In other news about successful medical professionals, a young doctor gushed over mentor who helped her achieve her success. Thandiwe Sithole recently took to her Facebook page to post a heartwarming and lengthy appreciation post to the man who helped shaped her into the successful young woman she is. She began her post by explaining how she had lost hope in becoming an engineer after she failed a module at the Tswane University of Technology. READ ALSO: Cyrus Oguna says he was unable to brush his teeth for 14 days while battling COVID-19 Soon, however, everything changed when she met a professor who became her mentor. She went on to share how she and Professor Cele from the Tshwane University of Technology would celebrate every time she excelled in her exams. He even bought her an expensive pen set as a good luck gift. Thereafter he pushed Thandiwe to get her BTech, Masters and PhD. Help us change more lives, join TUKO.co.kes Patreon programme Source: TUKO.co.ke By PTI NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to deliver a virtual address at the annual UN General Assembly on Saturday, official sources said. The UN General Assembly this year is largely being held online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Majority of world leaders are delivering pre-recorded speeches at the summit in New York. The sources said Modi's pre-recorded video statement is expected to be broadcast at the UN General Assembly hall in New York around 9 am local time (6:30 PM IST) and added that he is scheduled as the first speaker in the forenoon. Some of the priority issues for India at the ongoing 75th session of UN General Assembly will be to push for strengthening global action against terrorism, they said. The sources said that India will pitch for more transparency in the process of listing and delisting of terror entities and individuals by the UN sanction committees. Being one of the largest troops contributing nations to the UN, India will also seek to engage intensively in finalising of mandates for the UN peacekeeping mission, they said. The sources said that continuing with active engagement on issues relating to sustainable development and climate change will be another priority for India. India will also highlight its role as a "pharmacy to the world" while elaborating on its contribution to global cooperation against COVID-19 by aiding more than 150 countries, they said. The sources said India's role as a South-South development partner, especially in the context of the India-UN development partnership fund will also be explained at the summit. India will also reiterate its commitment to the idea of global partnership under the sustainable development goals, including on climate change. The sources said India's priorities will be to ensure inclusive and responsible solutions for international peace and security, effective response to international terrorism, new orientation for a reformed multilateral system, technology for all and streamlining of UN peacekeeping. External Article 25 September 2020 As the city-state looks to salvage its battered tourism industry which contributes around 4% to its economy it's hoped that artificial intelligence can help the sector bring back visitors safely. Local start-ups like Vouch and Travelstop are betting their AI-powered systems can help the country navigate new security standards. Advertisements Singapore is gradually reopening its borders again after months of coronavirus travel restrictions. As the city-state looks to salvage its battered tourism industry which contributes around 4% to its economy it's hoped that artificial intelligence (AI) can help the sector bring back visitors safely. Official data shows monthly visitor arrivals were down by 76% between January to July, compared to a year ago. Visitor arrivals in July alone were down more than 99% year-on-year. Even though the Southeast Asian nation remains closed off to most foreigners, officials are now considering lifting restrictions for select groups of visitors. Local start-ups like Vouch and Travelstop are betting on their AI-powered systems as the country navigates new security measures. Launched in 2017, Vouch sells an AI-enabled digital concierge that's designed to answer guest inquiries, make bookings and take room service orders. The company says its chatbots used by hotels including Andaz Singapore and the Pan Pacific in Singapore can conduct health declarations, facilitate contactless ordering for dine-in services and manage crowd control. LOUISVILLE, Ky.: A civil rights lawyer representing Breonna Taylors family on Friday demanded Kentuckys state attorney general release the evidence presented to a grand jury that decided against charging police officers with homicide in her death during a botched raid. Release the transcripts!" Ben Crump said, leading Taylors relatives and others in a chant outside the grand jury building and questioning whether Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron presented the grand jury with enough evidence against the white officers. There seems to be two justice systems in America. One for Black America and one for white America," Crump said. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has also called on Cameron to make evidence in the case public. In the U.S. justice system, prosecutors present findings in secret to a panel known as a grand jury that must decide if the evidence is sufficient to charge a suspect. Since there are no presentations by attorneys for the suspect, the system gives prosecutors wide leeway in guiding the grand jurys decisions. Protests erupted in Louisville and other American cities following Wednesdays announcement that the grand jury would not bring homicide charges against police officers involved in the fatal March 13 shooting of Taylor, who was Black, in her home during the execution of a search warrant. Instead, one officer was charged with wanton endangerment for stray bullets that struck a neighboring apartment. At a news conference on Friday, Interim Louisville Police Chief Robert Schroeder said he expected the crowds of protesters to grow over the weekend, and expressed concern about reports that several militia groups were planning to come to the city. Many of them say they are coming to help us. Let me be clear: That is not help we need, that is not help we want, and it does not help the situation," Schroeder said. Taylors slaying initially drew little national attention. But it was thrust into prominence after George Floyd, a Black man arrested for a non-violent offense in Minneapolis, died under the knee of a white police officer on May 25, igniting a summer of protests against racial injustice and excessive police force. Taylor, 26, an emergency medical technician and aspiring nurse, was struck by six bullets moments after she and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were roused from bed in the commotion of the raid. Walker fired one shot, wounding a police officer, saying he did not hear police identify themselves. Three officers responded by firing 32 rounds. I AM ANGRY I am angry. The system as a whole has failed her," Taylors mother, Tamika Palmer, said in a statement read aloud by her sister. You robbed the world of a queen," the statement said. Crump, who has represented several families in high-profile cases of police killings, helped Taylors family win a $12 million settlement from the city of Louisville in a wrongful death lawsuit. He questioned whether Cameron, a Black Republican who was praised by U.S. President Donald Trump for his handling of the case, was attempting to protect the police. Did he (Cameron) present any evidence on Breonna Taylors behalf or did he try to justify the killing of Breonna Taylor by these police officers?" Crump asked. Cameron has declined to release the grand jury evidence, in part because a separate federal investigation was ongoing. Camerons office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday about Crumps remarks. But on Thursday, Camerons spokeswoman, Elizabeth Kuhn, said: Releasing that information now would compromise the federal investigation and violate a prosecutors ethical duties." In the second night of Louisville protests following the decision, Thursday night and Friday morning were relatively calm after two police officers were shot and wounded on Wednesday. The officers were recovering. Police said on Friday they had arrested 24 protesters including state Representative Attica Scott, the only Black woman in the Kentucky legislature. She is also a sponsor of the proposed Breonnas Law," which would end no-knock" warrants and require police to wear body cameras while warrants are served. The bill is due to come up in the 2021 session. Police also arrested Scotts daughter, Ashanti Scott, and Shameka Parrish-Wright, a prominent activist. The three were charged with felony first-degree rioting and the misdemeanors of failure to disperse and unlawful assembly. They were released Friday morning after spending the night in jail, said Ted Shouse, an attorney for Parrish-Wright. They were arrested together when somebody nearby broke the window of a library and threw a flare into the building, but neither Parrish-Wright nor the Scotts were involved, Shouse said. Attica Scott said the charges against her and her daughter were ridiculous" and that she was detained before the curfew went into effect at 9 p.m. Larynzo Johnson, 26, the suspect in the shooting of the two police officers on Wednesday night, pleaded not guilty on Friday to two counts of assault and multiple counts of wanton endangerment, according to Josh Abner, a spokesman for the Jefferson County attorneys office. Bail was set at $1 million and he was assigned a public defender, according to a court filing. 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 GUILFORD, CT As its neighbor school district announced its first positive case of coronavirus, there is also a confirmed case at Guilford High School, according to superintendent Dr. Paul Freeman. In a letter to families Wednesday, Freeman wrote that a GHS student has tested positive for COVID-19. Freeman said the student was told by the Guilford Health Department to "remain home in isolation for 10 days, and has been provided with additional instructions to follow prior to returning to school. Family members have also been instructed to self-quarantine and get tested." Freeman said the student was last in school Friday. He said after contract tracing, town health officials "identified a small number of people" the student was in contact with and all are being contacted by the health department. They will be told to stay home for 14 days since the last time they were around the student in person to see if they develop symptoms. If they do get symptoms they are advised to call their healthcare provider and the Guilford Health Department to discuss being tested for COVID-19. Close contact is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as being within 6 feet of someone with COVID-19 for more than 15 minutes. Freeman said the student has no siblings in other schools, did not ride a school bus and did not participate in any after-school activities. "Because of the limited number of people who came in close contact with the student and following guidance from the Guilford Health Department and the school districts advising physician, Guilford High School and all of our schools will remain open in the hybrid learning model as planned," Freeman said adding schools will "closely monitor this situation" and work with the health department and the district's advising physician. This article originally appeared on the Guilford Patch U.S. Border Patrol agents found 31 people during an inspection of a belly dump trailer at the U.S. 83 checkpoint, authorities said. A tractor hauling the trailer approached the U.S. 83 checkpoint early Wednesday. A K-9 unit allegedly alerted to possible contraband within the vehicle during the immigration inspection of the driver. In its audit report of government accounts, the Comptroller and Auditor General flagged that the amount was to be credited to the non-lapsable fund for payment to states for loss of revenue New Delhi: The CAG has found that the Union government in the very first two years of the GST implementation wrongly retained Rs 47,272 crore of GST compensation cess that was meant to be used specifically to compensate states for loss of revenue. In its audit report of government accounts, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) flagged that the amount was to be credited to the non-lapsable GST Compensation Cess collection fund for payment to states for loss of revenue due to implementation of GST since 2017, but the government did not do so, and thus violated the GST law. "The GST Compensation Cess Act, 2017 provides for levy of cess for the purpose of providing compensation to the states for loss of revenue arising due to implementation of GST for a period specified in the Act," CAG said. As per the Act and the accounting procedure, the entire cess collected during the year is required to be credited to a non-lapsable Fund (the GST Compensation Cess Fund) which shall form part of the Public Account and shall be used for the purpose mentioned i.e., for providing compensation to states for loss of revenue. CAG said out of the Rs 62,612 crore GST Compensation Cess collected in 2017-18, Rs 56,146 crore was transferred to the non-lapsable fund. In the following year (2018-19), Rs 54,275 crore out of Rs 95,081 crore collected was transferred to the fund. The short transfer in 2017-18 was Rs 6,466 crore and in 2018-19 it was Rs 40,806 crore, CAG said adding the Centre used this money for "other purposes" which "led to an overstatement of revenue receipts and understatement of fiscal deficit for the year". The short-crediting was a violation of the GST Compensation Cess Act, 2017. The issue of compensation cess is driving a wedge between the Centre and states at the GST Council - the highest decision making body of the GST regime that had subsumed 17 different central and state taxes such as excise duty and VAT. States have not been paid their promised compensation for letting go their powers to levy taxes on goods and services since last fiscal. The Centre says a slowdown in the economy has meant that not enough money is being collected by way of cess that is levied on luxury and sin goods. The Centre has asked states to borrow for meeting the revenue shortfall. States ruled by Congress, Left, TMC and AAP have opposed the move completely arguing that the Centre should borrow and provide to states, since states have given majority of their taxation powers to the Centre under GST regime introduced in July 2017. The CAG findings run contrary to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's submissions in Parliament last week that states could not be compensated for revenue shortfall from the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) relying on an opinion from the Attorney General of India which stated that there was no such provision in the law. "Audit examination of information in Statements 8, 9 and 13 with regard to the collection of the cess and its transfer to the GST Compensation Cess Fund, shows that there was short crediting to the Fund of the GST Compensation Cess collections totalling to Rs 47,272 crore during 2017-18 and 2018-19," CAG said in the audit report. The short-crediting, CAG said, was a violation of the GST Compensation Cess Act, 2017. "The amount by which the cess was short credited was also retained in the CFI and became available for use for purposes other than what was provided in the Act," it said. According to CAG, the Finance Ministry accepted the audit observation and stated in February 2020 that the proceeds of cess collected and not transferred to Public Account would be transferred in the subsequent year. "Short crediting of cess collected during the year led to an overstatement of revenue receipts and understatement of fiscal deficit for the year," CAG said. Further, any transfer in the subsequent year would become an appropriation from the resources of that year and would require Parliamentary authorisation, it said asking the Finance Ministry to take immediate corrective action. As per the approved accounting procedure, GST Compensation cess was to be transferred to the Public Account by debit to Major Head '2047-Other fiscal services'. Instead, theMinistry of Finance operated the Major Head '3601-Transfer of Grants in aid to States'. "The wrongful operation has implications on the reporting of Grants in aid since the GST Compensation Cess is the right of the states and is not a Grant in aid," CAG said. The GST (Compensation to States) Act guarantees all states an annual growth rate of 14 per cent in their GST revenue in the first five years of implementation of GST beginning July 2017. It was introduced as a relief for states for the loss of revenues arising from the implementation of GST. If a state's revenue grows slower than 14 per cent, it is supposed to be compensated by the Centre using the funds specifically collected as compensation cess. To provide these grants, a GST compensation cess is levied on certain luxury and sin goods. The collected compensation cess flows into the CFI, and is then transferred to the Public Account of India, where a GST compensation cess account has been created. States are compensated bi-monthly from the accumulated funds in this account. However, instead of transferring the entire GST cess amount to the GST compensation fund, the CAG found that the Centre retained these funds in the CFI and used it for other purposes. She was left devastated after being brutally dumped by Locky Gilbert during The Bachelor finale on Thursday, but Bella Varelis said she's since moved on, thanks to some cheeky encouragement from her mum, Kim. During an interview with The Kyle & Jackie O Show on Friday, the 25-year-old shared the shock advice her mother gave her after her heartbreaking split with Locky. 'My mum actually did say to me, she was like, "The way to get over someone is to get under someone else." And I was like, "Mum! You shouldn't be saying that to me!"' Bella revealed. Over it: She was left devastated after being brutally dumped by Locky Gilbert during The Bachelor finale on Thursday, but Bella Varelis said she's since moved on Confessing she's since hooked up with other guys, she laughed: 'I've had some fun! But I haven't gotten around Sydney.' It wasn't the only wisdom Kim imparted on her daughter, telling a heartbroken Bella that Locky, 31, simply was 'not your person'. Bella admitted she was apprehensive about watching the show's finale, but was glad she did, because it gave her 'closure' on her relationship with Locky. 'My mum actually did say to me, she was like, "The way to get over someone is to get under someone else,"' Bella revealed. Pictured with her mum, Kim She said she watched the emotional episode with her mum by her side, and they 'had a bit of a sleepover'. 'It was really sweet! So, I didn't wake up with a boy, I woke up with my mum. Not how I planned it,' she added. Bella admitted she was shocked that Locky didn't choose her, and said their relationship was filled with 'passion' and they had an 'electric connection'. So in love: Bella admitted she was shocked that Locky didn't choose her, and said their relationship was filled with 'passion' and they had an 'electric connection' 'I wasn't going to sit there and sell myself to him,' she added, speaking about their split. 'Looking back last night, I was kind of like, "I deserve someone who knows they want to be with me. I don't want someone who's going to question it up until the very last second."' Throughout the show's climatic finale, Locky repeatedly admitted he was torn between Bella and winner Irena Srbinovska, telling both women he loved them. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) More Filipinos working from home meant more business for Wilcon Depot, as people embark on home improvement projects amid the pandemic. Sales have zoomed since the home furnishing one-stop shop reopened after two months of lockdown, its founder and chairman emeritus William Belo disclosed. He is also the 19th richest in the country, according to Forbes. "Actually, a blessing in disguise with all these lockdowns, people started working from home," Belo told CNN Philippines' Rico Hizon. "When you stay at home, you see a lot of things that you need to make changes on or improve. When we started opening again, business really picked up very, very well." He said all stores enjoyed a lift in sales ever since. READ: 90% of employers say working remotely hasn't hurt productivity The rebound in sales was good enough for Wilcon to continue building new stores, having opened four outlets so far and looking to add two more before the end of the year. The brand opened a new branch in Laguna just last week, and Belo said the company is building four more stores to be opened in early 2021. The listed firm has been in the business for 43 years, but Belo said the COVID-19 crisis was definitely the most "epic" of all. Wilcon eked out a 352.4 million net income in January-June, which is just a third of the 994.6 million it made during the same period in 2019, according to regulatory filings. Second quarter gross revenues were halved to 3.5 million versus last year, factoring in shutdowns in April to May. Sales are up, but Belo pointed out that a prevailing issue now is how their workers can commute to work due to limited public transportation. The Wilcon brand is not stopping here, as Belo revealed that the shop is working on its own online portal to reach more customers. "We are actually getting into the digital platform, but most of the products that Wilcon is selling are more on the things that people need to see, touch, and feel before you can really decide what to buy," he said. "We are already in the process of getting into internet selling," he added. "It would be ready by the end of the year." Soon, buying a new tile, chair, or door could be one "add to cart" button away. Slowly and steadily states across the country are opening for tourism and travel junkies can now be excited to get back on track. Even though traveling to all the places amid a pandemic comes with its cons. Now the Sikkim government has allowed hotels and home-stays and other tourism-related services to re-open operations from October 10, 2020. BCCL Not only this, but the Himalayan state has also decided to finally open its border with West Bengal for unrestricted movement of Vehicles from October 1. Also, the tourists can now make hotel bookings from September 27. A Standard Operating Procedure for the hotels and the tourism sector will also get released by the government soon. The already existing odd-even road rationing rule for public vehicles will be discontinued from October 1, but will continue for private vehicles. BCCL The odd-even rule, which was initially implemented in Delhi to curb air pollution by limiting the number of cars on road and a similar rule was imposed in Sikkim to reduce movement amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Heres what people have to say about the re-opening of Sikkim for tourism as travel junkies are already excited- - Sikkim to reopen for tourists from October 10. - Indias travel bubble extends to 13 countries which includes United Kingdom, United States of America, Germany, France, United Arab Emirates, Canada, the Maldives, Nigeria, Qatar, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Japan. Travel Exotico (@travelexotico) September 22, 2020 #PositiveNews Sikkim To Reopen For Tourists From October 10; Border With West Bengal To Also Open From Oct 1. Sikkim government has allowed hotels, homestays and other tourism-related services to restart operations from October 10 pic.twitter.com/AiVbYzWje8 ektainlove (@ektainlove) September 25, 2020 The #Sikkim government has allowed hotels, homestays and other tourism-related services to restart operations from 10 October, officials said on Saturday.https://t.co/Ygj5JqmhJJ Firstpost (@firstpost) September 20, 2020 Sikkim to reopen borders for tourists from October 10, an amazing news for all the travel junkies. https://t.co/DBpsMDalJh Vaibhav Suri (@VaibhavStreams) September 22, 2020 Recently, 64 new Coronavirus cases in Sikkim were reported on Friday and one more death was reported due to Coronavirus. An 82-year-old male from Jorethang with some comorbidities succumbed to the virus. The total COVID deaths in the state now stand at 31. James Christopher, president of TM Insight Asia TM Insight has recently launched operations in Asia in July. Why did you decide to strengthen TM Insights position in the region? With a population of over 4.4 billion and fragmented supply chain networks, we recognised a significant opportunity for us to help our customers build a stronger and more efficient supply chain in Asia. Our focus markets in the region are Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand markets which form critical links in the supply of goods not only across the region but globally, and have opportunities for further development and growth. Could you shed some light on the acquisition of XAct Solutions? What makes XAct Solutions a good vehicle for TM Insight to expand your footprint in the region? XAct Solutions has a presence in Australia and across Asia with a team of over 50 specialists who have designed and delivered supply chain transformations across the Asia-Pacific region. By joining forces, TM Insight will have access to XAct Solutions strong in-house supply chain expertise and its presence in Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan. The acquisition will also see TM Insights team and revenue double in size and firmly secures its position as the largest independent supply chain and property consultancy across the Asia-Pacific region. Why have TM Insight chosen Xact Solutions to be its partner instead of other companies? What were the criteria considered? How long did it take to finalise this deal? Discussions to finalise the acquisition deal took about six months. TM Insight has always respected XAct Solutions approach in business and both our businesses are complementary in nature. XAct Solutions have strong in-house supply chain expertise and a presence in Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan, whereas TM Insight have a strong integrated offering in supply chain, property and project management. By joining forces, we become a powerful consultancy with a balanced capability across Australia and will be better equipped to service our clients and expand into Asia as a joint venture. XAct Solutions has a firm presence in Vietnam. What role does the Vietnamese market play in TM Insights expansion plans? As we look to expand in the region, Vietnam was identified as a key focus market because it is one of the fastest-growing markets in Southeast Asia and had the regions highest increase of the global market share in the past five years in manufacturing. Vietnam is also one of the most promising e-commerce players in the region, driven by its young population, growing middle-class, as well as high internet and smartphone penetration. At a time when supply chains have never been more challenged with global restrictions and the acceleration in e-commerce, we see a big opportunity in Vietnam. XAct Solutions Vietnam warehouse project How has Vietnams supply chain changed/developed in recent years? What are the upcoming opportunities for TM Insight in the Vietnamese market? Many businesses are today considering a shift from supply chains in China in a bid to diversify their supply chains, and Vietnam is a natural candidate to lessen this dependency on one country. With the pandemic, we have also seen changing consumer demands and behaviours with the rise of ecommerce. With these, we see the opportunity for TM Insight to work with businesses to transform and future-proof their supply chains to enable them to meet new trends and demands. For example, we are seeing a trend towards e-commerce in Vietnam in 2018, e-commerce in the country grew 30 per cent to reach a new high of about $8 billion, a higher growth rate than that of Thailand and Malaysia in the same year. With the growth of e-commerce players like Sendo in Vietnam, there is an accelerated drive towards optimising supply chains to accommodate the digital economy. Our core expertise of supply chain optimisation and industrial property development will serve as an advantage here. What key solutions will you introduce to local and foreign businesses in Vietnam to recover and grow after the COVID-19 crisis? As businesses recover from the impact of COVID-19, supply chains will become smarter and more automated, and businesses need to jump onto this bandwagon to better meet consumer demands and behaviour change to remain competitive and relevant. With regards to this, some of the solutions with which we will support businesses in Vietnam can include working with them to diversify sourcing. Diversification mitigates supply challenges and provides the safety net that businesses need to ensure that they can receive the goods their consumers need regardless of the circumstances in certain geographies. With Vietnam now becoming a location of choice for businesses seeking manufacturing capabilities outside of China, we see the opportunity to work with businesses here to leverage this situation. With social distancing across all environments likely to prevail for some time, we also see the opportunity to work with businesses to look into how they can repurpose underutilised retail spaces into micro-fulfilment centres to see distribution move to urban areas and making delivery times even faster. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:14:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LUSAKA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- As unemployment levels continue to soar, some youths in Zambia are seizing opportunities created by the influx of motor vehicles into the country to engage in informal car washing businesses. For these young people, the car washing business is one of the easiest undertakings because it requires very minimum investment capital. All that one needs as start-up capital is a bucket, a piece of cleaning cloth, and a pack of detergent. The majority of youths involved in this business earn an average of ZMW 80 (about 4 U.S. dollars) every day just from washing vehicles that are parked around busy workplaces and trading areas as well as designated motor vehicle parking spaces. "The most important thing is to find a place that usually has a lot of motor vehicle as that increases one's chances of having more clients," said Zachariah Kalupeteka, a motor vehicle cleaner. Kalupeteka explained that a lack of formal employment opportunities compelled him and other youths to venture into car cleaning where they could earn some income. He said that offering car cleaning services has been his main source of income and that he has through earnings from this initiative, been able to provide for all his family's needs. Compared to well-established car washing businesses, informal car cleaners offer affordable and competitive rates for their services. It is for this reason that many vehicle owners prefer the services by informal car cleaners particularly now that people have less disposable income. "Our fees range from ZMW 10 to ZMW 20 per vehicle regardless of the type of cleaning needed. On the other hand, established car washing businesses charge not less than ZMW 40 just for basic exterior cleaning works," explained Jones Nyirenda. According to Nyirenda, informal car washing services have not only provided many youths who would otherwise be unemployed with some source of income but also helps vehicle owners to reduce their expenses, particularly in the prevailing harsh economic times. His sentiments were echoed by another youth Bright Banda who added that more youths need to be encouraged to be innovative and creative and to seek employment opportunities. According to him, youths are slowly realizing that job creation need not be the task of government alone but that they too can play an active role in the employment creation process and help counter high unemployment levels. Banda who is employed as a car park manager around the Lusaka central business district revealed that he also turn himself into a car washer after work. "During lunchtime and after work hours, I wash vehicles to earn extra income. I realized that being choosy could make one lose out on opportunities that could provide great financial independence," he said. Enditem Find all of the most important pandemic education news on Educating N.J., a special resource guide created for parents, students and educators. As schools reopen across N.J., we want to know what is and isnt working. Tell us about it here. About 20 schools across the state have halted in-person learning, just over two weeks into the school year, because of students and teachers testing positive for the coronavirus. The High Court has stopped Chief Justice David Maragas advisory on the dissolution of Parliament for failing to enact laws on gender parity. Justice Weldon Korir issued the conservatory orders pending hearing and determination of a petition filed by two Kenyans on Wednesday. The petitioners; Leina Konchela and Abdula Munsar, challenged the advisory and questioned its implementation terming it unreasonable, irrational and irresponsible. Through lawyer Muturi Mwangi, the duo argued that Maragas action is beyond his authority and that the two-thirds gender rule can only be implemented through extensive amendments to the Constitution. According to Leina and Abdul, the gender rule is not about women only, and as such construing the Constitution to create more seats for women is discriminatory and absurd. The Chief Justice has mischievously attempted to shield his act by fashioning the advisory as a judicial decision while no such proceedings can competently exist in the Kenyan court system, the petitioners said. Should the President dissolve Parliament as advised, the realisation of the two-thirds gender rule will be in jeopardy. In his ruling on Thursday, Justice Korir said the case filed by the pair is extremely urgent and raises weighty constitutional issues. It is also important to observe that it is in the public interest not to subject the country to parliamentary elections before exhaustively interrogating the constitutionality of the decision of the chief justice. The public interest therefore supports the issuance of conservatory orders, the order reads in part. It is therefore clear that failure to issue orders will highly prejudice the applicants. Justice Korir ruled: In the circumstances of this case, I, therefore, find the petitioners notice of motion dated September 23 merited. I allow it in terms of prayer so that a conservatory order issued for the preservation of the status quo of the Advice of the Chief Justice dated September 21 to the president pending interparteis hearing and determination of the petition. BAY CITY, MI - Families will want to use the warm early fall weather to check out Bay Citys newest state-of-the-art playground now that its officially open. The City of Bay City officially announced on Thursday, Sept. 24 that the Play City destination playground in Veterans Memorial park is now ready for youngsters to explore and enjoy. The new playground is designed to be inclusive so that children of all abilities are able to use it to safely play. According to the City of Bay City, the construction barricades have been removed except for in one area that needs some repair work being done. There is a repair that needs to be made and we are evaluating our options. This may include a temporary closure while the fix is completed, but well let you know when we make a decision, said a statement from the city. But until then, the City of Bay City is enthusiastically encouraging kids to get outside in the nice weather to play. Kids and families are reminded to stay off of the seeded grass area covered by straw around the playground. Construction on the playground began in July of 2020.The Bay City Commission unanimously awarded a construction contract June 1 for the new destination playground in the northern end of Veterans Memorial Park. The approved contract went to Sinclair Recreation of Holland, Michigan for the amount of $446,940. Coordination between area volunteers and community organizations were key to getting the playground built and ready to go. The Playground Committee partnered up with the Bay Area Community Foundation and the City of Bay City to make the playground a reality as a way to replace the former Imagination Station playground on the southern side of Veterans Bridge, which had to be torn down due to contamination concerns. Related news: Construction begins on new Bay City fitness park Artists add a splash of color to Downtown Bay Citys road-closure barricades New economic recovery plan for Bay County aims to make the community stronger Teen paving path to become Saginaw Countys first female Eagle Scout Bay City Commission considers Neighborhood Enterprise Zone for North Grant Street area Bay Citys First Street closes for two weeks due to sinkhole repair work By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a curious case, a Covid-recovered patient in Thrissur has shown prolonged RT-PCR positivity, with viral RNA found in clinical specimens even after his recovery. Savio Joseph, an NRI, who had arrived here in June, is now unable to get back to work in Oman where he was employed or seek medical treatment for another condition on account of the prolonged positivity. Savio from Ponnukara in Thrissur, who was employed as a cleaning supervisor in Oman, is keen on returning to his work place. But prior to that, he has to undergo a surgery for a shoulder injury. However, his prolonged positivity has come in the way. According to Savio, he had first tested positive for the virus on March 15 while still in Oman. But the authorities there did not issue him any Covid certificate. He arrived in Kochi on June 28 and tested negative in the antigen test conducted at the airport. But three weeks later, he developed Covid symptoms and approached the district hospital on July 18. In the subsequent RT-PCR test, he tested positive for the virus and was admitted to hospital. Later, he was discharged when his antigen test proved negative. In the meantime, he was subjected to the RT-PCR test three times and the results turned out to be positive in all of them. After his discharge on August 1, he again developed symptoms and visited the outpatient wing at the General Hospital on September 1. In the RT-PCR test, he again tested positive for the virus and was admitted to the Medical College Hospital on September 3. Later, when his antigen test turned out to be negative on September 11, he was discharged from hospital. Though he had tested positive last time round, his mother who was staying with him, tested negative. Sumesh, Covid nodal officer, Thrissur General Hospital, who attended to Savio told Express, Normally, Covid patients who recover will remain RT-PCR positive for the virus even after discharge. In some cases, the prolonged RT-PCR positivity will last about 42 days. But this is an exceptional case and his genome has to be subjected to a detailed study, he said. Though viral RNA remains can be found in clinical specimens even after discharge, it does not mean that the virus can be passed on to others, he added. P Gopikumar, secretary, IMA, said the state is yet to put together a comprehensive data of Covid patients for analysis. Only data of around 500 patients have been compiled for analysis. We need to focus more on the data analysis of Covid patients as there are several such cases across the state, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:40:15|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BELGRADE, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Serbia hopes to attract more China's leading companies in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) and innovation and other fields, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said Friday. She made the remarks at a video conference attended by the Chinese ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo, Serbian minister Nenad Popovic who is in charge of innovations, and representatives of the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which is in charge of the construction of the Mihajlo Pupin industrial park. The Serbian government and the CRBC signed an investment agreement last year for the establishment of the 3.2-square-kilometer industrial park in the suburb of Belgrade, with a vision for it to become a platform for overseas, high-tech companies to enter Serbia and the region. Brnabic said that the Serbian government is already discussing special incentives for the companies interested to do business at the soon-to-be-built high-tech park. She announced the possibility of Serbia's strategic cooperation with the China COSCO SHIPPING, saying it could be of "key significance and vital importance." The prime minister also stressed her desire to attract Alibaba. "I hope that this industrial park will help Serbia to attract additional Chinese companies in the field of information and communication technologies and innovations, such as the Alibaba Group. Serbia is ready to offer them the best possible conditions, not only in Europe, but in the whole world in case they wished to come and open their development centers here in Serbia," she said. Brnabic highlighted Serbia's positive experience with Chinese companies, such as HBIS Serbia, Zijin Mining as well as Huawei, which recently opened a new innovation center in Belgrade. "We will strive in our foreign and economic policy to keep those doors open, because we fully share the vision... an open world without protectionism, with cooperation instead of trade wars, a world where competitiveness is promoted," she said. Enditem Newborn babies born to surrogate mothers were stranded in Ukraine as their foreign parents cannot collect them due to border closures imposed during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic Cherry Lin wistfully strokes a babygrow, fretting it may be too small for a son she is yet to meet -- one of hundreds of Chinese mothers estranged from babies born to commercial surrogates overseas after the coronavirus forced border closures. China banned all forms of surrogacy -- both commercial and altruistic -- in 2001 due to concerns poor women were being exploited. But for $35-75,000 couples can seek women abroad, from Laos and Russia, to Ukraine, Georgia and the US, to carry their babies. The system has been tipped into chaos by the pandemic, which has seen borders closed, flights cancelled and visas pulled, creating a 'pile-up' of newborns waiting to be picked up by their biological Chinese parents. It has also revived the black market for surrogacy inside China. 'Baby dens' with dozens of newborns in orphanages or apartments have been found as the backlog builds, according to surrogacy agencies in Russia and Ukraine. "I can't sleep at night thinking my baby is stuck in an orphanage," Lin, who opted for surrogacy after suffering several miscarriages, told AFP from southern city of Chengdu. Surrogacy Her baby was born in St Petersburg in June, three months after Russia closed its border with China to curb the spread of the coronavirus. "We don't know how long we have to wait," she concedes. Rising incomes, high rates of infertility and the desire for older couples -- well past their reproductive age -- to have a son after China scrapped its one-child rule in 2016 has fuelled the demand for foreign surrogates. Lin, a 38-year-old lawyer, and her husband travelled to Russia last year for IVF and to sign a contract with a surrogacy company. Once the pregnancy was confirmed she shopped for baby products, and even took an infant first aid course. But her plans unravelled as the virus swept the globe, dropping her into "a nightmare", where she receives fragments of her newborn's first weeks through photos and video clips sent by the surrogacy agency. - Losing precious time - China's foreign ministry and the Russian embassy in Beijing did not respond to AFP queries about what they were doing to help Chinese parents bring their babies home. And there are no official figures on how many Chinese babies born to surrogates are stranded abroad. But a video posted in June by surrogacy service BioTexCom in Ukraine showing rows of babies in cribs in a hotel pointed to the scale of the crisis. Nearly half of the 46 babies belonged to Chinese clients, a BioTexCom spokesperson told AFP. Authorities have since issued special permits for biological parents to claim their children despite border closures. Ukraine is one of the few countries that allows international surrogacy But that is not enough for Li Mingxia, whose son was born in May in Kiev. Quarantine requirements and infrequent flights means she is still unlikely to reach him until late November. "I will miss the first six months of his life," Li explains, adding: "I can't get that back." Most babies born abroad do not have birth certificates since their parents are unable to travel to take the DNA tests needed to prove parentage. Russian and Ukranian police have also started raiding the baby dens -- apartments where five or six undocumented babies are being looked after by one nanny -- amid fears of human trafficking, Russian state media reported. "When the police find several Chinese babies without any identification papers, living in a house with a stranger it looks like you are selling babies for organ harvesting," according to Dmitriy Sitzko, China Marketing Manager for Vera Surrogacy Center in Saint Petersburg, who worked with Lin. Lin's agency found a spot at a state-run orphanage to care for her baby for free. But some agencies in Russia charge parents anywhere between 7,000 to 21,000 yuan ($1,000 to $3,000) per month, Sitzko said. - Celebrities normalise surrogacy - Nearly one in four couples of reproductive age in China suffer from infertility, according to the Global Burden of Disease study published in medical journal The Lancet in 2017. Some studies have linked high levels of pollution to declining male fertility, while women are choosing to delay motherhood due to the high costs of living, restrictive maternity policies, and high childcare costs. Surrogacy is sometimes chosen when fertility treatments, such as IVF, don't work for the couple or if they are unable to carry a child. Stars such as Elton John, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nicole Kidman, and Kim Kardashian West, have said they used surrogates to expand their families, raising the profile of the practice -- but it remains controversial. The UN has warned commercial surrogacy risked turning children into "commodities" and called for better regulation in places where it is legal. "There is no right to have a child under international law. Children are not goods or services that the State can guarantee or provide. They are human beings with rights," Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, said in a 2018 report. Only a handful of countries allow international surrogacy. AFP interviews with 15 surrogacy service providers found it costs about $35,000 - $50,000 for surrogacy in Ukraine and Georgia, $73,000 in Russia and $200,000 in California, one of the few US states where it is legal. Russia and former soviet countries including Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus are the top destinations for Chinese couples looking for a birth mother. The sector was displaced from Asia, with Laos the only remaining nation to allow international surrogacy after Thailand and India -- long time hotspots -- banned it. - Black market babies - Even in Russia and Ukraine a backlash against foreign surrogacy is building with politicians and activists warning that women and children are being exploited by wealthy foreigners. But as global travel restrictions have brought the industry to a halt, people are instead turning to the local black market. Shenzhou Zhongtai, an agency in the southern city of Gaungzhou, told AFP that it costs 600,000 yuan ($87,000) for "successful transplanting and delivery." "Add another 200,000 yuan (about $30,000) for sex selection, and another 200,000 yuan for Dragon and Phoenix twins," an agent said -- referring to a package that allowed couples to have a boy and a girl. Army officers, communist party cadres or judges who can't travel abroad because of their sensitive jobs are the main clients for China's underground surrogacy agencies that go unpunished because of their official connections. "If there are any legal problems, we can fix it," said Ye Danni, an agent for Laos Baby International Reproductive Clinic that had to pause their operations abroad due to travel restrictions. Lin, who gave up her law practice to have a baby, says she was too afraid to turn to the Chinese black market -- but the pandemic has made her rue that choice. She says: "If I'd taken that risk, I'd be holding my baby today." Eight organizations announced today that they will change their demonstration plans scheduled for tomorrow night, Sept. 26, according to social distancing regulations so that the government will have no excuse to ban the protests. The organizations said that instead of gathering en mass outside the Jerusalem residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they have been doing for several months they will drive to Jerusalem in a vehicle protest convoy. Once in Jerusalem, anti-Netanyahu groups Crime-Minister and Kumi-Israel plan to stage a demonstration in another open space, in accordance with the rules set by the government last night. The Movement of Quality of Government in Israel said it will organize a vehicle convoy to the prime ministers private residence in Caesarea. The announcement came after reports emerged that Netanyahu might seek to ban tomorrows protests citing emergency regulations. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and Defense Minister Benny Gantz objected yesterday to using emergency regulations to block demonstrations. Hundreds of people participated this morning in anti-Netanyahu protest convoys across the country as Israel entered a complete lockdown that will last at least through the high holiday season. Israel entered a second nationwide lockdown on Sept. 18, the eve of the Jewish New Year, but with coronavirus infections increasing, the government decided to tighten the rules further as of today at 2 p.m. local time. The tightened nationwide lockdown includes the closure of all non-essential industry and businesses, strict restrictions on travel and gatherings and the closure of houses of prayer. Worship is allowed only outdoors in groups of no more than 20 people. Only 2,000 people would be allowed to demonstrate outside Netanyahus Jerusalem home, in keeping with social distancing rules. The lockdown is slated to last two weeks, including the holiday of Sukkot. Health Ministry officials warned that it may be extended if infection rates do not slow considerably. The decision earlier this week to tighten the isolation rules generated much anger in large swaths of the population. Business and restaurant owners say that wont survive this second strict lockdown. Restrictions against demonstrations and praying at synagogues also sparked strident objections. Netanyahus ultra-Orthodox partners pressured the government to enable community prayers on Yom Kippur (Sept. 27-28). Opposition members and members of the Blue and White Party pushed for the preservation of the civil right to demonstrate. The government is expected to revisit the issue of demonstrations. This morning Israels Health Ministry reported that more than 8,000 new cases had been registered yesterday, a new record. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 15:30:58|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BRUSSELS, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced an ambitious climate target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, which is expected to accelerate the world's transition to green and low-carbon development. China aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, Xi said Tuesday at the General Debate of the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly via video. Experts worldwide have hailed the Chinese move as realistic and important, saying China's pledge will lead collective actions on global warming and encourage the rest of the world to progress on climate action. REALISTIC GOAL The new ambition marks two significant changes to China's climate pledge under the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to Refinitiv, a global provider of financial market data and infrastructure. Firstly, China has previously committed to peak emissions "around" 2030, which is now replaced by "before" 2030; Secondly, the ambitious goal of carbon neutrality with a specific time-stamp is revealed to the public for the first time. "The sheer size of China's energy consumption and emissions will require significant efforts to reach the goal," said Yuan Lin, senior analyst at Refinitiv Carbon Research. "This is a landmark announcement as China has set out an ultimate end-point emissions target," said Helen Clarkson, CEO of the London-based Climate Group, an international non-profit organization. On China's pledge to take more vigorous and effective approaches when pursuing green and sustainable development, Clarkson said "Leaders from across the world will be keen to understand the details of how China will progress in achieving these actions." Jarl Krausing, international head of the Green think tank Concito, believes the goal is realistic. Tree planting will become part of China's strategy, Krausing told Denmark's newspaper Politiken, adding that China expects to replant an area equivalent to four times the size of England through its "existing plan." "Here in Europe, we reach for the stars, aim high and do what we can to get there. In China, there is a tradition of setting lower goals, and then you over-implement it. That history reassures me that they take it seriously," Krausing was quoted as saying by Politiken. Jeffrey Sachs, an economics professor at Columbia University and a senior UN advisor, said he expects China will achieve the goal even ahead of the date, "as China is in the process of establishing world-class technologies" in green energy and high-tech industries. According to Climate Action Tracker (CAT), if China's goal is achieved, it will lower global warming projections by around 0.2 to 0.3 degrees Celsius alone, the biggest single reduction ever estimated by CAT. "I welcome China's ambition to curb emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. It's an important step in our global fight against climate change under the Paris Agreement," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Wednesday. "We will work with China on this goal," she added. INSPIRING PLEDGE China's pledge was announced days after the European Commission updated its Green Deal that envisions climate neutrality by 2050, which will inspire more countries to contribute to higher emission reduction targets. "These commitments from China and the EU could raise the pressure on other large emitters and benefit the climate negotiations at the COP 26 in Glasgow in 2021," said Refinitiv. "With the EU also looking to increase its target, this is helping to ensure the world stays aligned to the goals of the Paris Agreement," Clarkson said. "There is no doubt that efforts from China will play a major role in shaping how the rest of the world progresses on climate action, especially in the absence of U.S. federal leadership," she said. Noting that President Xi said major countries have a greater responsibility, William Jones, Washington bureau chief of the U.S. publication Executive Intelligence Review, said "that was also a telling remark with regard to the United States, which has been talking about what they're going to do for their own country, but not what they're going to do for the other countries." Speaking of China's actions to fulfill its international responsibilities for climate change and environmental protection, the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations said Wednesday that China attained its 2020 climate action targets two years ahead of schedule, a major contribution to the global response to climate change. Non-fossil fuels now take up nearly 15 percent in China's total energy consumption. China has 30 percent of the world's installed capacity of renewable energy, accounting for 44 percent of the world increase. Its new energy vehicle stock is more than half the world's total. China has contributed 25 percent to the increased afforestation areas worldwide since 2000, it said. Xi's pledge to update and enhance its nationally determined contribution targets, introduce stronger policies and measures and strive for the peaking of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 are consistent with China's vision of a vibrant, clean and beautiful world through joint efforts and its commitment to fostering a community with a shared future for mankind, it said. "We need decisive action from every country to keep temperatures under control, tackle climate change, and keep our planet inhabitable," Frans Timmermans, European Commission's executive vice president responsible for the European Green Deal, tweeted late on Tuesday. Enditem By Kim Bo-eun The Industrial Bank of Korea's headquarters in central Seoul. / Korea Times file A photo of Ka Mauri Harrison. The attorney general for Louisiana launched an investigation Friday into a public elementary school for suspending a Black fourth-grader after his teacher noticed a BB gun in his room during an online class. I am alarmed by what appears to not only be multiple violations of both the state and federal Constitutions, but also blatant government overreach by the school system, Attorney General Jeff Landry said in a statement. For anyone to conclude that a students home is now school property because of connectivity through video conferencing is absurd." The Jefferson Parish Public school system said Ka Mauri Harrison brandished the BB gun during the virtual class on Sept. 11 and was suspended because he violated an in-class instruction policy. But Ka Mauris family said the school district violated their privacy and didnt give the child due process. Ka Mauri is a student at Woodmere Elementary in Harvey, Louisiana. A school behavior report obtained by the Associated Press said Ka Mauri was taking a test with his computer muted when his brother walked into the room and tripped over the BB gun that was lying on the floor. The brothers share a room. The report said Ka Mauri left his seat, out of view of the teacher, and returned with what appeared to be a full-sized rifle in his possession. The teacher tried waving at him to get his attention, but his computer was muted because he was taking a test. He was then kicked out of the class video conference. He faced expulsion, but was ultimately forced to spend nearly two weeks in at-home suspension. Harrisons family is fighting the suspension on his record, arguing that he was unjustly punished for an act that did not take place within school grounds. Chelsea Cusimano, a lawyer hired by the family, told USA TODAY that the school violated multiple due process violations in suspending him. She said that the school did not have distance learning-specific rules in place, instead basing their suspension on on-campus policies that should not apply to distance-learning students. Story continues "Everything about this was so robotic in nature and unilaterally applied to Ka Mauri, almost as if to make him an example," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. Landry said the child's punishment is out of line. It is ludicrous for this All-American kid to be punished for taking responsible actions just as it is for his parents to be accused of neglect, the attorney general said. Harrisons case has also gained support from prominent community members. A member of the school board, Simeon Dickerson, argued against the schools decision, saying that the school should have withheld punishment as soon as they realized it was a BB gun. Walter Kimbrough, president of Dillard University, a historically Black college in New Orleans, also took the school to task in a letter calling on Jefferson Parish schools superintendent James Gray to revoke Harrisons suspension, arguing that his punishment did not fit the offense and may harm his future. Having a suspension on his record, as well as having to engage with a social worker, begins to track him in a way that we both know disproportionately harms Black male children, Kimbrough wrote in the letter. A representative from the Jefferson Parish public school system declined to make a statement to USA TODAY regarding Harrison, saying that they "do not comment on student records." "It is our policy that teachers and administrators may employ reasonable disciplinary and corrective measures to maintain order," said the spokeswoman. Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Louisiana 9-year-old suspended for having BB gun in room during class [Follow our live analysis of the Biden inauguration.] Love it or hate it, the Electoral College is the turnstile to the White House, and that means that a handful of states will swallow up most of the attention on Election Day and, if necessary, in the days that follow as ballots are counted. Here are some key cities and counties in four states that will play a crucial role in determining the winner. These states and municipalities will also be closely watched for how they handle what is expected to be historic turnout, including unprecedented numbers of mail ballots. Of course, not all will swiftly meet the surge of mail ballots. Florida and Arizona, for example, will begin counting those ballots well before Election Day, and are expected to report results more quickly. Pennsylvania and Michigan cannot begin counting until Election Day. Technavio has been monitoring the kiteboarding equipment market and it is poised to grow by USD 367.01 mn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost 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/20200925005209/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Kiteboarding Equipment 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: What are the major trends in the market? Increased participation and inclusion of kiteboarding in Olympics is a major trend driving the growth of the market Increased participation and inclusion of kiteboarding in Olympics is a major trend driving the growth of the market At what rate is the market projected to grow? The year-over-year growth for 2020 is estimated at 7.29% and the incremental growth of the market is anticipated to be 367.01 mn The year-over-year growth for 2020 is estimated at 7.29% and the incremental growth of the market is anticipated to be 367.01 mn Who are the top players in the market? Best Kiteboarding S.L., BOARDS MORE GmbH, Cabrinhakites Inc. F-ONE, Litewave Kiteboards, Naish International, North Kiteboarding, Pryde Group, RICCI INTERNATIONAL S.R.L, and Switch Kiteboarding, are some of the major market participants. Best Kiteboarding S.L., BOARDS MORE GmbH, Cabrinhakites Inc. F-ONE, Litewave Kiteboards, Naish International, North Kiteboarding, Pryde Group, RICCI INTERNATIONAL S.R.L, and Switch Kiteboarding, are some of the major market participants. What is the key market driver? The launch of innovative products is one of the major factors driving the market The launch of innovative products is one of the major factors driving the market How big is the Europe market? The Europe region will contribute 50% of the market share The market is concentrated, and the degree of concentration will accelerate during the forecast period. Best Kiteboarding S.L., BOARDS MORE GmbH, Cabrinhakites Inc. F-ONE, Litewave Kiteboards, Naish International, North Kiteboarding, Pryde Group, RICCI INTERNATIONAL S.R.L, and Switch Kiteboarding are some of the major market participants. The launch of innovative products 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. Kiteboarding Equipment Market 2020-2024: Segmentation Kiteboarding Equipment Market is segmented as below: Product Kites Accessories Boards Distribution Channel Retail And Others (Distributors Kiteboard Training Centers And Schools) Geography Europe North America APAC South America MEA To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40903 Kiteboarding Equipment 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 kiteboarding equipment market report covers the following areas: Kiteboarding Equipment Market Size Kiteboarding Equipment Market Trends Kiteboarding Equipment Market Industry Analysis This study identifies increased participation and inclusion of kiteboarding in Olympics as one of the prime reasons driving the kiteboarding equipment 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. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Kiteboarding Equipment Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist kiteboarding equipment market growth during the next five years Estimation of the kiteboarding equipment market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the kiteboarding equipment market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of kiteboarding equipment market vendors Table of Contents: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem 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 Kites Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Accessories Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Boards Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by Product Market Segmentation by Distribution channel Market segments Comparison by Distribution channel Retail Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Others Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by Distribution channel Customer landscape 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 South America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Volume driver Demand led growth Volume driver External factors Market challenges Market trends Vendor Landscape Vendor landscape Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors Best Kiteboarding S.L. BOARDS MORE GmbH Cabrinhakites Inc. F-ONE Litewave Kiteboards Naish International North Kiteboarding Pryde Group RICCI INTERNATIONAL S.R.L Switch Kiteboarding 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/20200925005209/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ As the initial shock of the coronavirus pandemic subsides, South Africa's small business leaders must now pick themselves up and begin to rebuild. For many businesses, working remotely and with reduced staff has been incredibly challenging, but technology has played a fundamental role in allowing work to continue. Colin Timmis, General Country Manager at Xero South Africa Investing for the future Knowing where to start Bring the team on the journey Building the right toolkit Looking to the future One positive to come from this crisis is that lockdown compelled businesses to adopt more advanced technologies than they may otherwise have considered.Many businesses have spent months focusing on the immediate term and making decisions necessary for their survival. As government restrictions loosen and the community begins to consider medium- and long-term priorities, this is the perfect time to reconsider the technology you use and how it will help you to reach your goals.Technology can be expensive, and at a time when businesses have already slashed spending, its understandable that theres hesitance to spend on new tech. However, having the right tools in place is an investment in the businesss future, and can be the key to building back faster and stronger.This crisis has shown that businesses who have been traditional at the core are now discovering that digital processes offer far greater scalability and resilience. Many will struggle to thrive in the long-term if they continue using traditional resource-intensive methods.Consider the price of new technology not based solely on its price tag, but on whether or not it will pay for itself over time. Technology that automates tasks, for instance, will save you time, reduce mistakes, streamline processes, and ultimately cut costs in the longer-term. Half (53%) of small business owners we surveyed before Covid hit found that adopting technology resulted in somewhat big or big increases to their profitability.For instance, cloud technology often works out to be cheaper in the long run than running computing locally. The software as a service (SaaS) model also typically uses fixed monthly payments rather than large sums upfront and is easier to trial before making the investment.With so many choices out there, picking the right technology for your business can feel impossible. Once you start looking more closely, however, a small number of solutions usually stand out from the crowd. Youll quickly recoup the time you take to think through your requirements, research solutions, pick a provider, and implement it.One of our accounting partners, Nicole Rousseau head and co-founder of PKF Ignite explains: it is important to understand exactly what you are trying to achieve through adopting new technology. Once you have defined your goals and objectives, you should contact an expert in the field who can assist and help find the right solution for your business. You should map out the process properly and develop an implementation plan which is realistic and achievable. I would also recommend keeping it simple and using a phased approach.There has been great progress in tech adoption our annual small business survey shows an increase of nearly 50% in cloud accounting adoption over the last three years. Despite this, half of small businesses said they could do more with their current IT set-up.Adopting new technology is the first step, teams need to embrace it too. New technology isnt something that business leaders can implement unilaterally; the reasoning should be explained to employees. Make sure the whole team knows what success looks like from the start.Learning a new system can be frustrating, so keep things simple, ditch the jargon and invest in the right support and training to help staff get the most from it. Create some champions in your business to help train-up and support other employees in using new technology. There will inevitably be some disruption in the very short term when transitioning, but remember the longer-term savings and boost in efficiency.Another way to increase buy-in is by encouraging ownership. Give employees the confidence to experiment with the latest technology and make recommendations.There are cloud-based tools to support almost every area of business, from estimating and quoting to resource management, recruiting and marketing the list goes on. In fact, our app marketplace includes over 800 apps for improving efficiency.Its more important than ever that our technology enables us to collaborate and share information easily. Embracing cloud technology allows you to work with a community of partners that all integrate seamlessly to support your business.Kristen Buttress, Owner of Kristens Kick Ass Ice Cream near Cape Town, has used an ecosystem of cloud tech to help her business through the crisis: I converted all of my systems to be cloud-based before Covid using tools like Xero, Vend, Shopify and Simple Pay that all connect with each other. This has given me more time to focus on the future of my business, as well as instant updates on my finances. Having this clear financial picture allowed me to safely spend the money needed to increase my online presence.Its evident that technology is, and will remain, at the heart of businesses bouncing back from the pandemic. Some SMEs have embraced digital and technology for the first time, and others have built on pre-existing offerings. But in most cases, this period has been a time of uncovering a radical new approach to work and it has proved that faced with any situation, we can always find ways to adapt. Pursuing the Seven-Fold Path of Blackness: Practicing Principles of Life and Struggle Part 1. As we continue to mark, celebrate and commemorate the 55th Anniversary of the founding of our organization Us, 6205 | September 7 | 1965, I want to continue to draw from some of our early ideas and practices and discuss and demonstrate their current and enduring relevance. This is especially important for these troubled, troubling and trying times in which we live and die such undeserved deaths from both biological and social disease. For in this context of such pervasive oppression, there is no sanctuary for us outside ourselves and thus, we are our own sanctuary and source of self-conscious strength and continuing of struggle. And in the midst of this devastating illness and ongoing racist oppression, as we say, there is no remedy except resistance, no real testing except in struggle, and no reliable vaccine except a decisive victory that ends our oppression. Thus, we must be self-consciously community and people focused, deeply committed and active in our caring and, resolute and unrelenting in our commitment to struggle until we achieve victory. In dealing with life and any issue, we always move to the center of ourselves, into the depths of that which defines us, grounds us and serves as an infinitely rich and rewarding resource for the way we live our lives, do our work, and wage our struggles. We speak here of grounding in our culture, that ancient and ever flowing well-spring of life and goodness for us, if we learn it, embrace it and live it in the most ethical, effective and expansive ways. We are talking here about a life of Blackness, Africanness, as culture and consciousness. That is to say, self-conscious practice of principles that undergird, anchor and orient our lives and serves as an active means and inspiration for us to direct our lives toward good and expansive ends. Today, then, I want to pose a path of principle and practice called the Seven-Fold Path of Blackness. It was to define Blackness in terms of our practice how we actually live our lives, do our work and wage our struggles. ADVERTISEMENT That Seven-Fold Path of Blackness is: Think Black, Talk Black, Act Black, Create Black, Buy Black, Vote Black, and Live Black. We begin with thinking Black. To think Black, African, is to think in culturally grounded, ethical, relational, communitarian, life-enhancing, dignity-affirming and world-preserving ways. It is to think good, positive and in uplifting and liberating ways. It is to think collectively as well as personally and to strive always to create and maintain a balance between the two. It is to think of oneself as part of a larger whole relationally rich and with reciprocal responsibilities, to give what is given, return the good deed done, and the love and understanding shared. To think Black is to think deeply about the good of our people, human good and the well-being of the world. And to ask what can I, personally and together, do to bring, increase, and sustain good in the community, society and the world? And then dare to do it. It is to think of the past, present and future and commit ourselves to know our past and honor it, engage the present and improve it, and imagine a whole new future and forge it in the most ethical, effective and expansive ways. Secondly, we say we must talk Black, talk African. Talk Black to our people is to talk all kinds of good to our people. So, talk truth, talk freedom, justice, love and caring. Talk possibility, power and righteous and relentless struggle to our people. Talk Black. Talk the beauty, goodness and inherent worthiness of Blackness, the people and the principles, the culture, and the self-conscious practice of it. Talk the dignity and divine image and endowment of Black people. Talk Black to our people. Talk to them in liberated and liberating ways, ways that free the heart and mind, and cause their spirits to soar and their will to become unbreakable in this good and beautiful, righteous and relentless struggle we wage to be ourselves and free ourselves, expand the realm of African and human good, and secure and ensure the well-being of all the world. Talk struggle to the people; expose the evil, injustice and vulnerability of the oppressor. Tell them he is as weak as he wants to be strong and that in the end, he will be defeated and a new history and hope for humanity will be brought into being. Thirdly, we must act Black, always striving to be and become the best of ourselves. To act Black is more than a single act or a series of episodic acts. Rather, it is a self-conscious and persistent practice of doing good in the world. It is to engage this pursuit of goodness as an ethical imperative and an urgent and ongoing social need. And it is to constantly strive to be and become the best of ourselves by the good we do and share. Here, to act Black, to act African, is to act within the Black value system of the Nguzo Saba which is essential to our struggle to be ourselves and free ourselves. For it offers values and views deeply rooted in African culture and represents and invites us to practice a communitarian African way of life. By this we mean, a way of life that stresses and seeks to strengthen communitarian togetherness as an anchoring principle in the way we understand and assert ourselves in the world. The stress on community reminds us that we come into being in relationship. And the quality of those relations can either make our day or ruin it, either causes us to live and flourish, or fail and waste or lose our lives. ADVERTISEMENT The Nguzo Saba teach us the principle and practice of Umoja (unity); Kujichagulia (self-determination); Ujima (collective work and responsibility); Ujamaa (cooperative economics); Nia (purpose); Kuumba (creativity); and Imani (faith) as the ancestors taught, faith in that which endures in the midst of that which is overthrown. And it calls on us to hold high the ancestral given light that lasts, i.e., our moral and spiritual principles, and pursue practices that make these living and transformative principles in our lives and the world. Also, we must create Black, that is to say, create good and beauty and human possibility and promise in the world. Do Kuumba, do always as much as we can in the way we can in order to leave our community, and by extension the world, more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it. We must remember and practice the teachings of our ancestors in the Odu Ifa that says: if we are given birth, we must bring ourselves into being again. In a word, we must recreate ourselves out of the best of our cultural ideas and practices, making ourselves into the models and mirrors for the next generation as those before did for us. And we must always link this self-transformative practice with the struggle to repair, renew and remake the world as our foremother, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, taught and urged us. Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach; Executive Director, African American Cultural Center (Us); Creator of Kwanzaa; and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture and Essays on Struggle: Position and Analysis, www.AfricanAmericanCulturalCenter-LA.org www.OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org www.MaulanaKarenga.org When delivering pizzas for Papa Johns, 89-year-old Derlin Newey always greets his customers the same way: Hello! Are you looking for some pizza? Neweys enthusiasm for his job recently won the heart of Carlos Valdez and after Valdez shared Neweys joy with his TikTok followers, they fell in love too, so much so that they banded together to raise $12,000 for him. Its insane, Valdez told NBC affiliate KSL. Everybody loves him. Valdezs friendship with Newey began on Sept. 14, when he first shared a video to TikTok of Newey delivering a pizza to his home in Roy, Utah and chatting for several minutes about the neighborhood. The comments from his 61,000 followers were extremely positive, and when several people suggested a Venmo challenge to raise money for Newey, Valdez happily accepted. Somebody at that age should not be working that much, he told KSL of Neweys 30 hours-a-week gig. RELATED: Starbucks Barista Gets $47K in Tips After San Diego Woman Shames Him for Telling Her to Wear Mask After sharing a second video in which Newey delivered yet another pizza to his house, Valdezs plan was put in motion, and soon, hed raised $12,000 for Newey, who lives alone and works so that he can afford to pay his bills, according to KSL. This week, Valdez and his wife dropped by Neweys house to deliver not only the substantial check, but a T-shirt with his signature pizza delivery greeting on it. How do I ever say thank you? an emotional Newey said, according to KSL. I dont know what to say. RELATED: Cleveland Cavaliers' Andre Drummond Gave Florida Waitress 'Tears of Happiness' with $1,000 Tip For Valdez, the surprise was a success, and he remains inspired by his newfound friendship. This couldnt have gone any better. He needed this, he told KSL. Im just glad we could help him. We just need to treat people with kindness and respect the way he does. He stole our hearts. His TikTok followers were just as pleased with the results, with one person who claimed to know Newey personally thanking Valdez for his efforts. Derlin is a regular at the institution I work at, the TikTok commenter wrote. Hes the MOST amazing man and our favorite too. I cried when he told me about this, Thank you guys. SRINAGAR: The security forces on Friday killed two terrorists belonging to banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in an encounter that began in in Sirhama village in Anantnag district in South Kashmir. The IGP Kashmir confirmed the killing to two terrorists and said, two LeT terrorists were killed. Incriminating materials including arms & ammunition have been recovered. Search is going on. The identity of the slain terrorists is being ascertained, the IGP added. The encounter broke out on Thursday evening in Sirhama village but the operation was put on hold for the night. However, the entire area was cordoned off and the operation resumed this morning. Live TV After a fresh exchange of fire, the house where the two terrorists were holed up was blasted by the security forces A police officer earlier said that after receiving the inputs from J&K Police about the presence of terrorists in the area, a joint operation by the Anantnag Police, the local unit of army and CRPF was launched along with a cordon-and-search-operation in Sirhama village. He said as the joint search team cordoned off the suspected spot, terrorists fired upon them and a gunbattle erupted. This is the second encounter in south Kashmir in two days. Earlier, one terrorist of Al-badar terror outfit was killed in Tral area in the Awantipora area of south Kashmir and huge arms and ammunition was recovered from the spot. Who can forget that heart-stopping day when there was a school shooting in our own backyard? A troubled boy brought a kill list and a gun to Cleveland High School on Valentines Day last year, but thanks to a combination of quick action, school district safety protocols, and law enforcement professionals, the shooter was soon apprehended, and no one was physically injured. What happened next was unexpected and unthinkable. The shooter, because of a loophole in our laws, was recently freed. He will not be getting the behavioral health treatment he desperately needs, and our families will not be getting any justice, closure, or peace of mind. How could this happen? Its because of a little-known law that states that if minors are unable to be found mentally competent to stand trial, the state must release them. There is no legal mandate that can require an adolescent to be involuntarily treated to competency, like we can require adults. Although the perpetrator was arrested and initially charged with three felony counts of attempted murder, all those charges were dropped. This youth now walks among us, freed from all legal consequences, simply because we do not have the proper treatment centers, and the laws, to address this kind of situation. But there were clues. This struggling boy admitted to hearing voices nearly a year before this incident. But help was not there for him. We have to ask ourselves: how many others are in this same tragic boat? How many other dangerous situations might we prevent, if we act now and make some changes? The better solution, for a better New Mexico, is two-pronged: we need to provide more behavioral health resources for prevention and help, in addition to passing new laws to prevent violent individuals from getting a free pass back into our neighborhoods. For the past six years, I have sponsored legislation to create something called Mental Health Community Engagement Teams. These teams would connect people with the behavioral health services they need, before things boil over into a crisis. Sadly, my legislation was repeatedly ignored, and not signed into law. But the health, safety, and welfare of New Mexicans deserves to be respected and addressed. This is why I will be carrying a bill to the next legislative session in January, to push again for Mental Health Community Engagement Teams, as well as new laws to close this appalling legal loophole. Both the justice system, and the behavioral health system, failed our students at Cleveland High School that terrible day. This must not happen again. (New Mexico Rep. Jason Harper is a Republican representing District 57, which encompasses much of Rio Rancho.) Queer Eye star Karamo Brown has called it quits from his fiance Ian Jordan after 10 years together. Karamo, 39, shared details from the split during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he revealed they parted ways three months ago. The couple became engaged in 2018 after eight years together, but Karamo realized a separation was necessary after a recent re-evaluation of their busy relationship. It's over: Queer Eye star Karamo Brown has called it quits from his fiance Ian Jordan after 10 years together (pictured February 2020 in West Hollywood) Initially, Karamo and Ian were set to wed this summer, but the coronavirus crisis forced them to delay the nuptials. 'It was postponed because of the pandemic, but now it's actually postponed officially, 'cause my fiance and I, we were together for 10 years, and we broke up about three and a half months ago,' Karamo explained to guest host Stephen 'tWitch' Boss. 'We were distracted by so much with the kids, and our careers that during that time, I had to really say, "How is our communication? How is other parts of our lives? Are we growing in the same place?" 'You know, we're not 20 anymore, so it wasn't just, "Oh, I'm not going to text you anymore" it was like, we have a family and a home. How do we separate this? And it was hard. We went to virtual counseling, we did a lot of things. 'But eventually I was like, this is a moment where I need to decide, is my happiness important? And once I made that decision, I said, you know, we are going to have to break up.' Open book: Brown shed light on the split during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show The host with the most: Guest host Stephen 'tWitch' Boss sat in for Ellen The exes remain good friends after their unfortunate split, which was not brought on by infidelity. 'There was luckily no cheating, so we're good friends,' the Netflix star clarified. 'It's very nice when it's like, "I still love you and support you," and I want him to be happy, he wants me to be happy,' he continued. 'But yeah, no more wedding... so if y'all got any friends! I'm lying, I'm not ready to move on that quick, I'm not ready.' He put it a ring on it! Brown popped the question to Jordan in 2018 He said yes! Ian was beside himself as Karamo asked for his hand in marriage during a surprise birthday party Karamo proposed to Ian during a surprise birthday party in 2018. The couple were celebrating Ian's 40th birthday in West Hollywood when Karamo dropped down to one knee and popped the question. 'You are the funniest man I know, the kindest man, my biggest cheerleader,' Brown told Jordan, according to ET. 'You make me feel like I can do anything. I hope that we can conquer the world together for the rest of our lives.' A father of two, Brown has son Jason, 23, with high school friend Stephanie Brooks, whom he had a single sexual encounter with at age 15. Brown has also adopted Jason's half-brother Christian, 20, Stephanie's son with another man. GRAND RAPIDS, MI Police have not determined if a Tuesday, Sept. 22, report of shots fired from a vehicle on U.S. 131 is related to shootings on the expressway earlier this month. Either way, the shooting from a vehicle this week marks the third time over 12 days that motorists traveling along a part of the expressway through Grand Rapids have reportedly been shot at. Arab leaders voiced fears Wednesday before the United Nations of new conflict in the region as tensions soar between Iran and the United States. The annual extravaganza of international diplomacy at the UN General Assembly has been turned into a virtual affair this year, with leaders sending in recorded speeches due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Two days after US President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Iran in a widely contested move, the leaders of Iraq and Saudi Arabia voiced concerns about the region. "We do not want Iraq to become a sort of playground for other forces that will kill each other on our territory," President Barham Saleh said in his address. "We have witnessed enough wars and enough attacks on our sovereignty," he said. Iraq has attempted a delicate balancing act between neighboring Iran, which shares the Shiite faith of the majority in its Arab neighbor, and the United States, which invaded and toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. President Donald Trump in January ordered a drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iran's most prominent general, Qasem Soleimani, as well as an Iraqi Shiite paramilitary leader, raising calls in Baghdad for the expulsion of US forces. Trump rejected the calls for a withdrawal but this month ordered a sharp cutback of troops in Iraq as part of his election promise to stop "endless" wars. Saleh hinted at frustration in Iraq with "anarchic" groups, whose rocket fire on US forces had prompted the drone strike. "Weapons must remain in the hands of Iraqi state institutions," Saleh said. He also vowed to tackle rampant corruption, a key priority for Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who came to power after sweeping nationwide protests. - Saudis criticize Iran - Trump has vowed to squeeze Iran, imposing sweeping economic sanctions and leaving a 2015 nuclear accord that was negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama. On Monday, Trump said he was enforcing "UN" sanctions for Iranian violations of an arms embargo -- despite wide skepticism at the world body that the United States has such authority. Story continues Saudi Arabia's King Salman used his address to voice concern about Iran and pointed to drone attacks last year on the kingdom's oil fields, which Washington says were carried out by Tehran in violation of the arms embargo. "The kingdom's hands were extended to Iran in peace with a positive and open attitude over the past decades, but to no avail," Salman said. "The kingdom welcomed the international efforts to deal with Iran's nuclear program, but time and again, the entire world witnessed how the Iranian regime exploited these efforts in order to intensify its expansionist activities," he said, accusing Iran of "terrorism." Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a bloody campaign against Iranian-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen, where multiple air strikes have killed civilians and contributed to a humanitarian crisis. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, speaking to the United Nations on Monday, pointed to Saudi Arabia as he denounced the unsuccessful US efforts to extend an arms embargo on Tehran. "They have sold hundreds of billions of dollars of weapons to their clients turning our region into a powder keg," Rouhani said. "Yet they try in vain to deprive Iran of its minimum defense requirements." - Hopes in Afghanistan - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has renewed calls for a global halt to conflicts so the world can confront Covid-19, which has claimed more than 970,000 lives. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani voiced guarded hopes for negotiations that his government has opened with the Taliban to end two decades of war. "In those talks the Afghan people have a clear and urgent priority -- a ceasefire," Ghani said. "An urgent end to the violence will, more than anything else, give us a chance to progress." France seized on the UN General Assembly to drum up international support to form a government in Lebanon, which remains at an impasse nearly two months after a massive blast at the Beirut port. But pro-Iran Shiite militant groups Hezbollah and Amal are insisting on the finance ministry, a prize opposed by the United States and Saudi Arabia. sct/sst Imagine you die. You wake up in a world only made up of people you remember. All your old lovers. Your boss, your grandmothers, and the waitress who served your food each day at lunch It is a blissful opportunity to spend quality time with your 1,000 connections, to renew fading ties, to catch up with those you let slip away. It is only after several weeks of this that you begin to feel forlorn. You wonder whats different as you saunter through the vast quiet parks with a friend or two. No strangers grace the empty park benches. No family unknown to you throws breadcrumbs for the ducks and makes you smile because of their laughter. This scenario of a potential afterlife was envisaged by novelist and neuroscientist David Eagleman in his short story Circle of Friends, which he wrote over a decade ago. Eagleman told me there have been multiple shared readings of this tale about missing strangers during the Covid-19 pandemic. As we have retreated into the cocoons of our family and friends to stay safe, the glaring absence of those on the periphery of our lives has prompted more people to reflect on the significance of strangers. Anti-social paradox When I was a reporter in South Africa, I was travelling along a remote country road in the Free State with a BBC colleague, Milton Nkosi who is from South Africa. We were lost. Milton, who has a reputation for knowing someone in every corner of the country, wound down the window and embarked upon a conversation with a woman standing outside. How are you, how is your family, how are your parents? The woman then gave us directions. I laughed as Miltons reputation was enhanced, only to find the woman was a total stranger. Milton explained it would have been impolite and disrespectful to ask for directions without establishing a proper connection. However, in much of the developed world people consistently overestimate the level of discomfort they would feel if they were to reach out to someone they dont know, even in pre-Covid times. Nick Epley at the University of Chicago has devoted much of his academic life to investigating our relationship with strangers. Epley became intrigued by his fellow commuters attitudes. Why did they ignore each other every morning? Was it that family and friends are beneficial but strangers are dangerous, or rather we expect them to be? Epley conducted an experiment, pre-Covid-19, in which participants were told to either talk to no one, carry on as usual or make conversation with whoever sat next to them. He discovered what he termed an anti-social paradox, where people consistently underestimated how much they would enjoy talking to strangers. For one day in June 2019 I hosted a BBC Crossing Divides On The Move day with eight UK public transport companies encouraging their passengers to strike up a conversation with a stranger. Posters and public announcements helped give the passengers an excuse to reach out and strike up a conversation with a stranger. British people are famously reserved, but Epley replicated his Chicago experiment that day and found Brits enjoyed talking to strangers just as our American participants did. The longer people had talked the better they felt, even if they expected to be happier in solitude or thought themselves introverts. Many people may feel hesitant about striking up a conversation, not knowing what to say. They could take advice from a book, the Art of Conversation, written in 1867. Prepare for conversation by storing the mind with interesting matter: history, not forgetting the history going on at the present time, remarkable crimes and trials, and biography particularly of celebrities. That advice was for people taking journeys in a shared carriage with strangers. At the time individuals couldnt imagine joining a carriage without speaking to the people with whom they were sharing the journey. Beyond the mask Wearing a mask, vital to protect the health of ourselves and those around us, alters the way we make a connection. New York University neuroscientist Jay Van Bavel tells me that our brain processes faces within a few hundred milliseconds of seeing someone. In that micro time, we determine if the face is a friend or foe, if they look friendly or menacing. In cultures that arent used to face coverings, learning to communicate effectively could take some adjustment. (Read more about how masks affect our interactions.) Van Bavel suggests the need for a powerful marketing campaign to help people understand the function of masks and enable us all to see them in a new light. Indeed, thousands of commuters in Japan wore masks every day pre-Covid, not because they were hypochondriacs, but because they had a cold and wanted to protect the needs of the people around them. Reframing mask wearers as people who have chosen to be considerate of those around them can make us feel a measure of generosity and warmth to them. Read the whole story: BBC The government is considering banning the import of wild animal fur in Britain. According to a report in The Times, ministers are planning to impose rules that would effectively prohibit the sale of fur clothing in the UK once we leave the European Unions single market and customs union, which will take place on 1 January 2021. The ban would cover fur imports from all species, but there might be exemptions for fur used in religious ceremonies or for the sale of vintage fur, Politico reports. It is expected that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) will publish a consultation paper on the matter in December. During the transition period, it is not possible to introduce restriction relating to the fur trade," said Victoria Prentis, undersecretary of state at DEFRA. "Once our future relationship with the EU has been established there will be an opportunity for the government to consider further steps it could take in relation to fur sales. Recommended 10 best faux fur rugs that look and feel like the real deal Zac Goldsmith, who is the Defra minister with responsibility for animal welfare, is said to be advocating for the change, having previously described the fur trade as "one of the grimmest of human activities. The British Fur Trade Association has described the proposed change as irrational, illiberal and misjudged. It is entirely the wrong time to move forward with a potential ban that would close a legitimate trade, which is worth some 200 million in the UK every year and employs thousands of people, a spokesman for the British Fur Trade Association told Politico. It would have significant consequences for the U.K. because it sends out an entirely wrong signal at a time when it is trying to make free-trade deals with the EU, Canada and the US. The proposed changed come after it was revealed that the Queen will no longer wear fur. Her Majestys official dresser, Angela Kelly, shared the detail about the Queens updated wardrobe in her new memoir, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe. According to Kelly, Queen Elizabeths dresser of 25 years and personal advisor, the move away from real fur started this year. If Her Majesty is due to attend an engagement in particularly cold weather, from 2019 onwards fake fur will be used to make sure she stays warm, she wrote. Antonov, the Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer, rolled out the first Ukrainian manufactured An-178 cargo transport in August 2020. This aircraft contained no Russian components, with American components as substitutes. Antonov found that the American components were not only of better quality but were also cheaper than the Russian ones. The An-178 was a big deal because Antonov, one of the three main Russian commercial aircraft manufacturers during the Cold War, became a Ukrainian company after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 and Ukraine became independent. Throughout the 1990s neither Russia or Ukraine were buying many aircraft. The Soviet Union collapsed in part because it was bankrupt. What commercial aircraft Russian and Ukrainian airlines bought were Western, which everyone agreed were more efficient, comfortable and safer than Soviet era designs. Antonov hoped to change that and came up with new designs similar to the most popular and numerous Western airliners. One of these was the An-148, a competitor for the Boeing 737. Orders were obtained, mainly from Russian airliners and some of the An-148s were to be assembled in Russian plants. The An-178 is the stretched cargo version of the An-148. Most of the components for the An-148 came from Russia and that became a major problem after 2014, when Russia invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea. The invasion failed but Russia is still fighting in eastern Ukraine. This was condemned by most nations and sanctions were imposed on Russia. Trade between Ukraine and Russia eventually came to a halt. This hurt Russian manufacturers the most because Ukraine could obtain equivalent goods from Western suppliers while Russia could not. It took several years for all these Russia-Ukraine supplier connections to be severed and that hurt production, and the reputation, of the An-148. The Russian components were part of the problem, as was the sloppy assembly work for the An-148s built in Russia. The An-148 entered service in 2009. Foreign buyers, like Cuba, complained of the poor construction quality and slow delivery of spare parts that had to be purchased from Russian firms at high prices. Production ceased in 2015. Russia was the major customer, buying 27 of 37 aircraft, most for government use. Antonov believed there was a market for a well-built An-178. Ukraine sought non-Russian components for the An-178 transport version of the An-148 and finally made that work. The An-148 was a twin jet commercial transport that normally carries up to 80 passengers or nine tons of cargo. Max range is 2,100 kilometers. The high-wing design means that the stretched An-178 cargo version can carry up to 15 tons and have a rear door for quickly loading and unloading. Antonov introduced the An-148 as a competitor for the American Boeing 737. Although Antonov soon had orders for over 200 of the new aircraft, the first operators reported that the An-148 was more expensive to operate than a comparable model of the 737. The 737s had been in service since the 1960s with over 6,000 built. Sensing that competing with the 737, which costs more than 50 percent more, on price alone might not work, Antonov announced a military version of the An-148, the An-178. This was designed to be a cargo aircraft, with a max payload of 15 tons. But that segment of the market is already being served by aircraft like the Western AN-295 and C-27J. The basic problem here is that once mighty Soviet civil aviation industry has been shriveling away since 1991, and has few viable opportunities to make a comeback. Antonov had to overcome the bad reputation of Soviet era aircraft. The disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 not only destroyed centuries of Russian empire building but ruined the Russian civil aviation industry. For decades Soviet commercial aircraft manufacturers had guaranteed customers for their second-rate, compared to Western models, aircraft. Russian and East European airlines had to buy the Russian models, and many poor countries that could not afford Western aircraft accepted the Russian planes as better than nothing. After 1991, the Soviet Union was replaced by a much-diminished Russia and 14 new nations that had been reluctant components of the old empire. No longer was anyone forced to buy second-best Russian airliners anymore. The dissolution deal had whatever Soviet assets were in the new nation belonging to it. Most of the civil aircraft manufacturing facilities were outside of Russia (in Ukraine and Uzbekistan). Of the three major aircraft manufacturing firms, Antonov was headquartered in Ukraine, Ilyushin in Uzbekistan, and only Tupolev in Russia. Russia managed to persuade, via cash and help with sales, Ilyushin to move a lot of manufacturing back to Russia. Tupolev is being merged with several military aircraft manufacturers, as part of the United Aircraft Corporation. Antonov was in danger of being forced to reconnect with Mother Russia as well, given their inability to design and manufacture aircraft that could compete with AirBus and Boeing, (not to mention many smaller Western firms. In the 1990s new Russian commercial aircraft designs kept coming up short compared to what the West was offering. Its not just Boeing and AirBus, but also smaller manufacturers in Europe and the Americas. Even China was entering the commercial aircraft market and is poised to beat the Russian efforts as well. But the Russian government was still determined to pay the price of staying in the market. As long as the subsidies, in the form of cash and government purchases, kept coming, the Russian firms will keep trying. The Ukrainian situation was different. There were no subsidies or large domestic demand for commercial aircraft. As a result Antonov has gone through bankruptcy and several reorganizations since 1991. Now it is mainly an aircraft maintenance and design operation with a current capability to produce about twelve aircraft a year. That can be expanded and might happen with the An-178. The Ukrainian military has ordered twenty and Peru has ordered several. How well these An-178s perform in regular service will determine if Antonov survives as an aircraft manufacturer. The An-178 is cheaper than Western equivalents and designed to be cheaper to maintain and operate. There is a demand for that sort of thing and Russia can no longer support it, especially with the 2014 sanctions still in place. China is the most likely new aircraft producer to grab the old Soviet era market for cheaper, rugged and easier to maintain air transports. Ukraine has an opportunity to grab some of this market and it all depends on the An-178. A statue of former US President Bill Clinton is pictured at a boulevard named after him, in Pristina, Kosovo, June 23, 2020. With streets named after U.S. presidents and stars and stripes flying in the capital, Kosovars do not wear their love of America lightly. (JTA) - For Flori Dedoni, a member of the tiny Jewish community of Kosovo, the news that his country is establishing formal diplomatic ties with Israel is cause for celebration. Until last week, Israel was among the dozens of countries that had not recognized the Muslim-majority territory sandwiched between Albania and Serbia. "When someone learns I'm Jewish, they usually ask sometime during the conversation why Israel doesn't recognize us," Dedoni said. "Now, finally it's happening and the feeling is just festive. Plus, I don't have to explain anymore." Israel's implied recognition of Koso... South Africa: KZN man gets two life sentences for raping nieces A KwaZulu-Natal man has been handed two life sentences and 20 years imprisonment in the Estcourt Regional Court for raping and assaulting his two nieces. According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the two victims, aged 13 and 14, went to live with their maternal grandmother from 2016 to 2018 after their mother passed away. From then on, their mothers brother raped them at various occasions. Once, he tied the hands of one of the victims with a rope and suspended her from the roof of the house. He then used a pair of pliers to pinch her all over her torso, said the NPA. The 23-year-old man hails from Winterton. The abuse came to light when one sister fell pregnant and told her father about the abuse that she and her sister suffered at the hands of their uncle. Regional Court Prosecutor, Advocate Zwelethu Mata, led the testimonies of the two victims, as well as the DNA linking the accused to the offences and victim impact statements. Both the victims said the trauma they endured haunted them every day. They had become withdrawn and wary of men. Also, their performance at school had been severely affected. The accused maintained in court that the sexual intercourse was consensual and has since been found guilty and sentenced. His name will also be enrolled in the Sexual Offenders Register and will be declared unfit to work with children. The Director of Public Prosecutions in KwaZulu-Natal, Advocate Elaine Zungu, has welcomed the sentence and conviction. The accused was in a position of trust and it was his responsibility to care of the children, not abuse them in such a heinous manner. This sentence is indicative that the State is actively dealing with cases of this nature, Zungu said. In his Heritage Day speech on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke out against gender-based violence (GBV). So long as this countrys women and children live in fear from violence, we cannot regard ourselves as totally free. "So long as women are being harassed, abused, beaten, raped and murdered, we cannot say we are a civilised society, said the President. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-09-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. WASHINGTON, Sept. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Family Research Council President Tony Perkins called out the ongoing anti-Christian smear campaign against prospective Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett, currently under consideration for Justice Ginsburg's vacant seat. Among others, members of the Left and the media have attacked Judge Barrett in the last few days for her religious beliefs. Barrett has made clear in multiple statements that her Catholic faith does not dictate her duties as a judge, but this still has not stopped those on the Left from imposing what amounts to a religious test. Family Research Council Tony Perkins responded to the attacks on Judge Barrett: "While the confirmation processes for Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were not tame by any means, what we will most likely see in the coming weeks, given the stakes of this nomination, will make those earlier confirmation battles look like a dispute in small claims court. The startling level of anti-Christian bias already on display against Barrett reveals how far outside of the mainstream the Left has become and how determined they are to oppose whoever President Trump nominates to fill this vacancy. "Whoever the Supreme Court nominee is, she must be prepared to defend her religious beliefs under intense scrutiny. But she should also know that she will not stand alone. In fact, 'Remember the dogma' like 'Remember the Alamo' may become an enduring battle cry for religious liberty," Perkins concluded. Travis Weber, Vice President for Policy & Government Affairs at Family Research Council, added: "No person should be forced to undergo the smears that Amy Coney Barrett has undergone just because they want to remain faithful to their beliefs and serve the public in our nation's judiciary. What she went through during her confirmation for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and what she is already facing again, is a total disgrace. I thought we were past unconstitutional religious tests a long time ago. Based on what Judge Barrett has undergone, I was mistaken." SOURCE Family Research Council Related Links http://www.frc.org Leveraging resources in Taiwan to revolutionize the way care is delivered BE Capital, a startup accelerator and venture capital firm, together with Taiwan Tech Arena and Startup Island, has launched a virtual cross-border collaboration platform, HealthForAll, connecting the international healthcare ecosystem with Taiwan's dominant industries. The platform provides a unique opportunity for corporate-startup engagement across the areas of medical data, research & development, clinical trials, manufacturing, supply chain, and information & communications technology. Startup companies interested in leveraging the resources in Taiwan to transform the future of healthcare are encouraged to apply until 31 October, 2020. This platform is the first step in fostering closer corporate-startup relations between Taiwan and the international healthcare community. The corporates have an opportunity to provide a "reverse pitch" for startups to better understand how they could potentially collaborate. The initial phase of the platform will culminate in a virtual meeting with corporates and selected startups as they seek ways to work together. The platform has been well received by many corporate partners in Taiwan, including Acer Healthcare, Asus Cloud, Might Electronics, Advantech, Leosys, Wiltrom, JAG, and the OmniHealth Group. The initial interest is indicative of the eagerness for corporates to engage with startup talent. The platform will continue to engage with numerous corporate players and strengthen the HealthForAll network. The platform focuses on building closer collaboration between Taiwanese corporates and international startup communities to help drive a new era of innovation. Taiwan has long been established as a global powerhouse in ICT and manufacturing and to maintain its competitive advantage there is a collective interest in starting a dialogue with promising startup companies. The platform will continue to work closely with preexisting hospital and clinical partners, including Show Chwan Healthcare System, Taipei Medical University, SEQPRO and VCRO in a bid to bridge the gap between clinical expertise and technology application. New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) More than 5 million people have been infected with coronavirus but the healthcare system of India has shown great efficiency in providing diagnostic and management facilities as well as keeping the mortality at minimum and recovery at maximum, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday. He was speaking at an event to mark the 65th Foundation Day of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He said the countrys continuously rising Covid-19 recovery rate and progressively falling case fatality rate have proven the success of the containment strategy followed by all states/UTs, the health ministry said in a statement. We have successfully ramped up our testing capacity which has touched nearly 15 lakh milestone today with more than 1,800 testing labs spread across the country. I have confidence in the scientific developments taking place in the field of treatment and vaccines for Covid-19 and soon India will achieve more success in our fight against coronavirus infection, the statement quoted Vardhan as saying. Congratulating the AIMS fraternity for being ranked as number one among medical institutions by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) under the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Vardhan expressed satisfaction that AIIMS has fulfilled the objectives of its establishment by the Indian Parliament in 1956. He also hailed the institutions huge contribution during the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 5 million patients have been infected with coronavirus but the healthcare system of India has shown great efficiency in not only providing diagnostic and management facilities but also keeping the mortality at minimum and recovery at maximum. I appreciate that in the last six months, AIIMS has taken a huge responsibility of providing care to patients suffering from Covid-19, for innovating in areas of research, guiding colleagues across the country and developing new methods of teaching and communication, the statement said. Speaking at the event, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey praised the medical community for their endless and selfless efforts during COVID times. AIIMS has established high reputation and has contributed significantly in academic, research and patient care. It has attracted students from various other countries like the US, UK, Australia, Germany, among others. It is a huge achievement, he was quoted as saying in a statement. Choubey added that the central government was making efforts to spread the services of AIIMS to every nook and corner of the country. Vardhan and Choubey also gave away awards and medals to faculty members and graduating students during the event. This is the dream of every medical student to become a student of AIIMS. On this 65th foundation Day, I request all of you to aggressively and meticulously brainstorm some ideas which will be helpful in strengthening the medical services in India and in positioning India among the top scientific nations, Vardhan said. The health minister also released a manual and inaugurated an exhibition titled AIIMS in COVID Times which highlighted the contribution of AIIMS in dealing with public health emergency, the statement added. Scores of farmers took to the streets on Friday to air their anger against the contentious farm legislations, passed by the Parliament earlier this week, and blocked state and national highways for over eight hours as part of a nationwide agitation. The Ladhowal Toll Plaza, on National Highway-44, which was the epicentre of the protest in Ludhiana, was blocked with tractors between 9am to 4pm, leaving the commuters hassled. Police personnel remained on their toes, trying to divert the traffic towards the Sidhwan Bet Area. Besides farmers, others involved directly or indirectly with the agricultural sector, including small businessmen and arhtiyas, joined the protest and shouted slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government. Interestingly, youngsters outnumbered the elderly, and marched through the roads, holding black flags and demanding the roll back of the new farm legislations. Many were even seen chanting Wahe Guru Ji Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Fateh as they marched on. Some others were seen serving water and tea to the elderly who had come for the protest. A sizeable number was also seen capturing photos and videos of the protest and uploading it on social media platforms. Shaheed Bhagat Singhs nephew, Prof Jagmohan Singh, who addressing the gathering, said, Earlier, the farmers protest was considered a protest by the elderly, but today, youngsters have outshined the old. If youngsters continue to support the protest, then the government will be compelled to withdraw the bill. Rail Roko from October 1 Addressing the gathering, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Balbir Singh Rajewal announced that farmers unions will lay siege to the railway tracks from October 1 and stop the movement of trains for an indefinite period if the legislations are not rolled back. He said, If the Centre does not agree to our demands, we will ask Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to call a special assembly session and pass an act in the state to stall the implementation of these draconian laws. BKU general secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal said, The country is being sold to corporate houses, which are taking over the Food Cooperation of India (FCI) also. We had asked the government to provide us a copy of the legislations but it was not shown to us. We are going to translate the legislations in Punjabi so that farmers can understand how the Centre is planning to rob them of their land. Bollywood drugs issue being raked up to divert agitators Meanwhile, the agitators rued that the government was trying to divert attention from real issues, such as those of the farm sector, by raking up the Bollywood drug issue. Amarinder Singh of Sadhugarh village in Anandpur Sahib, who returned from United States (US) to join his father in progressive farming, said the concepts of contract farming have failed badly in the US and Europe. Now, the same concept is being implemented in India which is going to completely ruin the farming sector of our state. As we are protesting, the government is diverting the attention by raking up the silly issue of Bollywood celebs taking drugs, he said. Mahinder Singh Grewal, a progressive farmer who has been honoured by PAU on several occasions, said the Centre is misguiding people. Earlier too, farmers could sell their crop anywhere in the county through National Agriculture Market (eNAM) and other methods. And many farmers are still doing contract farming. With the new Act, the corporates have got more power to hoard the crop as the law has also been made favourable for them and there is hardly anything to benefit the farmers, said Grewal. UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A politically engaged electorate is key to any thriving democracy, but not everyone participates in elections and other political activities. New research found that people who are narcissistic may also be more politically active. In a series of studies performed in the United States and Denmark, researchers found that people with higher levels of narcissism -- a trait combining selfishness, entitlement and a need for admiration -- were also more likely to participate in politics. This could include contacting politicians, signing petitions, donating money, and voting in midterm elections, among other things. Peter Hatemi, distinguished professor of political science at Penn State, said the findings may give insight into how and why certain political candidates succeed in elections. "It is hard not to think that those high in narcissism taking part in the political process appears to have some role in the current state of our democracy," Hatemi said. "If people who are more interested in their own personal gain and status take a greater part in elections, then we can expect candidates to emerge who reflect their desires -- narcissism begets narcissism." According to the researchers, previous work has shown that higher levels of narcissism are linked with behaviors that could be harmful to functioning democracies -- for example, shifting focus from civic responsibility toward a person's own self-interest and gratification. Higher narcissism in the general public has been connected with more conflict and civic strife, in addition to less cooperation, compromise, and forgiveness. Hatemi said that in the current political climate in the U.S., more people are becoming politically active -- but this mobilization is not evenly distributed among personality types. For their studies, the researchers gathered a variety of data. They conducted two nationally representative surveys: one in the U.S. and one in Denmark, with 500 and 2,450 participants in each, respectively. There was a third, web-based U.S. study with 2,280 participants. In all three studies, participants were asked about their voting history and political participation, which included attending demonstrations or meetings, contacting politicians or the media, and donating money. Narcissism was measured with a questionnaire in which participants were asked to choose between two statements that could apply to them. For example, "I insist upon getting the respect that is due me" vs. "I usually get the respect that I deserve." The researchers found that narcissism was associated with higher participation in early politics, like contacting decision makers and publicizing their opinions. People with higher narcissism were also more likely to vote in midterm elections. The researchers said that because people with higher levels of narcissism are literally speaking out more, their voices could be more likely to be heard. Breaking the results down further, the researchers found that the traits of superiority and authority/leadership were related to higher participation. Self-sufficiency, however, was associated with less participation. "The general picture is that individuals who believe in themselves, and believe that they are better than others, engage in the political process more," Hatemi said. "At the same time, those individuals who are more self-sufficient are also less likely to take part in the political process. This means that policies and electoral outcomes could increasingly be guided by those who both want more but give less." Hatemi said that while it's difficult to pinpoint a solution, finding ways to increase political engagement among a more diverse electorate while reducing an overrepresentation of narcissism would be a good start. "Successful democratic functioning requires trust in institutions, efficacy, and engagement in the democratic process," Hatemi said. "If those who are more narcissistic are the most engaged, and the political process itself is driving up narcissism in the public, in my opinion, the future of our democracy could be in jeopardy." ### Zolta?n Fazekas, associate professor of business and politics at Copenhagen Business School, also participated in this work. BOGOTA, Colombia, Sept. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- GNB Sudameris S.A. (" GNB ") announced today that it is extending the Expiration Date of the previously announced offer to purchase any and all of the outstanding 7.50% Subordinated Notes due 2022 issued by GNB (the "Notes"), for a purchase price for the Notes equal to the Purchase Price plus Accrued Interest (as defined in the Offer to Purchase) (the "Tender Offer"). The terms and conditions of the Tender Offer are described in the offer to purchase, dated September 18, 2020 (the "Offer to Purchase") and the related letter of transmittal (the "Letter of Transmittal") and notice of guaranteed delivery (the "Notice of Guaranteed Delivery" and, together with the Offer to Purchase and the Letter of Transmittal, the "Offer Documents"). The expiration date applicable to the Tender Offer, previously scheduled for 5.00 p.m., New York City Time, on September 24, 2020, has been extended to 5.00 p.m., New York City Time, on October 1, 2020 (such time and date, as it may be further extended, the "Expiration Date"), unless further extended or earlier terminated. The deadline for holders to withdraw their validly tendered Notes has also been extended to 5.00 p.m., New York City Time, on October 1, 2020, unless further extended or earlier terminated. The deadline for delivery of a Notice of Guaranteed Delivery has also been extended to 5:00 p.m., New York City Time, on October 5, 2020, unless further extended or earlier terminated, and the settlement date and guaranteed delivery settlement date applicable to the Tender Offer are now currently expected to be October 6, 2020. As of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on September 24, 2020, the aggregate principal amount of Notes tendered under the Tender Offer was U.S.$89,276,000. Accordingly, holders of the Notes who (i) validly tender and do not validly withdraw their Notes on or prior to the Expiration Date or (ii) deliver a properly completed and duly executed Notice of Guaranteed Delivery and all other required documents on or prior to the Expiration Date and tender their Notes prior to the Deadline for Delivery of Notice of Guaranteed Delivery, and whose Notes are accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer will be able to receive the previously announced tender offer consideration for the Notes. Holders of Notes who previously tendered their Notes do not need to retender such Notes or take any other action in response to this announcement in order to receive the tender offer consideration. Except as described in this press release, all terms and conditions of the Tender Offer as described in the Offer to Purchase remain unchanged. The consummation of the Tender Offer is subject to, and conditioned upon, the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions described in the Offer to Purchase. GNB may, in its sole discretion, terminate, extend or amend the Tender Offer at any time as described in the Offer to Purchase. The information and tender agent for the Tender Offer is D.F. King & Co., Inc. To contact the information and tender agent, banks and brokers may call +1 (212) 269-5550, and others may call U.S. toll-free: +1 (800) 967-7510 or email [email protected]. Additional contact information is set forth below. By Mail, Hand or Overnight Courier: 48 Wall Street New York, New York 10005 United States of America Attn: Andrew Beck By Facsimile Transmission: (for eligible institutions only) +1 (212) 709-3328 Attention: Andrew Beck Confirmation by Telephone +1 (212) 269-5552 Copies of each of the Offer Documents are available at the following web address: www.dfking.com/gnb. Any questions or requests for assistance or for additional copies of this notice may be directed to the dealer managers at their respective telephone numbers set forth below or, if by any Holder, to such Holder's broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee for assistance concerning the Tender Offer. The Dealer Managers for the Tender Offer are: BofA Securities Citigroup Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC One Bryant Park, 9th Floor New York, NY 10036 Attn: Liability Management Group 388 Greenwich Street, 7th Floor New York, New York 10013 Attention: Liability Management Group 200 West Street New York, New York 10282 Attn: Liability Management Group Collect: +1 (646) 855-8988 Toll Free: +1 (888) 292-0070 Collect: +1 (212) 723-6106 Toll Free: +1 (800) 558-3745 Collect: +1 (212) 357-1452 Toll-Free: +1 (800) 828-3182 Email: [email protected] This notice does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to purchase, or any solicitation of any offer to sell, the Notes or any other securities in the United States or any other country, nor shall it or any part of it, or the fact of its release, form the basis of, or be relied on or in connection with, any contract therefor. The Tender Offer is made only by and pursuant to the terms of the Offer Documents, and the information in this notice is qualified by reference to the Offer to Purchase and the related Letter of Transmittal and Notice of Guaranteed Delivery. None of GNB, the Dealer Managers or the information and tender agent makes any recommendation as to whether Holders should tender their Notes pursuant to the Tender Offer. SOURCE GNB Sudameris S.A. A 43-year-old Inkster man apparently pressed his luck after he allegedly walked out of two downtown bars without paying his tab. Two Wyandotte officers were sent to the area of Biddle Avenue and Maple Street at about 8:20 p.m. Sept. 15 and were met by a group of people who pointed to a man who matched the description police were given of the thief. According to police, the man admitted to the officers that he had been to Gizzmos, 3225 Biddle Ave., and walked out on his tab without paying. Police spoke with the owner of Firehouse Pub, 232 Maple, who said that between 4 and 5 p.m. the man had been eating and drinking, building up a tab of about $40 before he walked away without paying. The owner posted a screenshot of the man on Facebook, asking for information about the man. Someone phoned the owner to say a man who matched the photo was at Gizzmos. The caller sent a photo of the man to the Firehouse Pub owner, who showed it to his bartender. She confirmed it was the same person who walked away without paying his bill. The caller said the suspect ordered a beer at Gizzmos, placed a napkin on top, and walked toward the door while talking on his cell phone, following the same pattern of behavior at Firehouse Pub. The reporting person at Gizzmos told police the man ordered two shots of Jameson Irish whiskey, four Bud Light beers and a bag of potato chips. His bill at Gizzmos came to $28. Police arrested the man for retail fraud. The ex-boyfriend of chef and restaurateur Sylvia Casares, known by some as Houston's "Enchilada Queen," pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and now is awaiting his sentencing hearing. In March 2012, police say Michael Warren, 60, assaulted and shot Casares in the stomach in her car outside her Fulshear home in Fort Bend County. Warren then stole money from her home and fled in Casares' truck to Louisiana while she was flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital before she was transported elsewhere and underwent surgery, police say. The following week, Warren returned to Fort Bend County with the help of a relative, and police found him in a Rosenberg motel thanks to an anonymous tip. Oji Fibre Solutions Breaks Ground for Construction of New Corrugated Packaging Plant in New Zealand When completed in 2021, the Christchurch facility will be the South Island hub for Oji Fibre Solutions' packaging operations. Sept. 25, 2020 - In November of 2019, Oji Fibre Solutions (OjiFS) announced that it would invest over $100 million to develop a new fit-for-purpose corrugated cardboard packaging facility in Christchurch, located on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. All the "behind the scenes work" has been completed and the company is now breaking ground and entering the building construction phase. The new facility will consist of bespoke buildings designed to house state-of-the-art production machines, material handling and peripheral equipment that will significantly improve safety, quality and food safety, while reducing waste. "The new Christchurch facility will replace our existing Shands Road operation," said Grant Fitzgibbon, Chief Operating Officer, Packaging. "By investing in the best available equipment, we will improve product quality and productivity, deliver environmental improvements and provide a safer operation than is possible in the current facility." When completed in 2021, this site will be the South Island hub for OjiFS' packaging operations; producing sustainable packaging products for South Island businesses, primarily used for meat, dairy, fish, and horticulture, as well as the industrial industry, all of which use OjiFS boxes for shipping produce to local and export markets. Oji Fibre Solutions, a subsidiary of the Oji Group, is a leading producer of market pulp, paper and fibre-based packaging. To learn more, visit: www.ojifs.com . SOURCE: Oji Fibre Solutions Britain said Thursday it was preparing sanctions against those in Belarus responsible for "rigging" the August 9 presidential election and for the subsequent crackdown on protests against President Alexander Lukashenko. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK was initiating its own sanctions, in coordination with the United States and Canada, after the European Union's measures were delayed by Cyprus. "Given that delay, given Lukashenko's fraudulent inauguration, I have directed the FCDO sanction team to prepare Magnitsky sanctions for those responsible for the serious human rights violations," he told parliament. Kremlin-critic lawyer Sergei Magnitsky's 2009 death in a Moscow prison from an untreated illness led several Western countries to impose sanctions on Russian officials, which have since been mirrored against other countries. Raab added London was working with Washington and Ottawa "to prepare appropriate listings as matter of urgency" against Belarusian authorities. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets since the August 9 elections which opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya says she won, despite Lukashenko's insistence he won a landslide victory. The embattled leader has launched a brutal crackdown against them, drawing condemnation from the West but support from Moscow. He triggered new demonstrations and fresh Western criticism this week after holding a secret inauguration for himself. Saying Lukashenko has a "wholesale lack of legitimacy", Raab told the House of Commons: "We do not accept the results of this rigged election". Several other European countries, including Germany, and the US have also responded by refusing to recognise him as the president of the ex-Soviet state. Meanwhile Washington said last week it would impose new sanctions on Belarusian figures imminently. It is pressing Cyprus to lift its veto on proposed EU sanctions to allow a "coherent" response to the crisis there, a senior official said Tuesday. Story continues The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have already blacklisted Lukashenko and 29 other high-ranking officials from the Belarusian election commission, ministries and police. Raab noted the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) -- a global security body of 57 states, including Belarus -- had been instructed to initiate "a full and independent investigation" into the events. "If the authorities in Belarus fail to respond, based on the outcome of the OSCE investigation, which we have triggered, we will consider further actions with our international partners," he added. jj/jwp/tgb As Kawartha Downs concludes its 2020 season of harness racing on Saturday (Sept. 26) the track's president is confident that racing will return to the Peterborough-area oval in 2021. Kawartha Downs was one of two tracks, along with Hiawatha Horse Park, that signed two-year funding agreements with Ontario Racing (OR) in 2018. Despite all the hardships that accompanied any business in 2020 through the COVID-19 pandemic, Kawartha's president Richard Weldon feels the track is in a good position to negotiate a new deal with OR for 2021 and beyond. "We're at an early stage of discussions to keep going," Weldon told the Peterborough Examiner. "We're pretty confident but we don't have anything concrete." On Monday, Great Canadian Gaming will reopen the Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs. Weldon takes the reopening of the facility that's been closed since March due to the coronavirus as a positive sign. "It was very important for the racing community to continue this year so for them to stop with the smaller tracks would be a huge mistake and I think the province knows that," said Weldon. "I think they have other priorities given the COVID health crisis but I think it's something we're certainly going to be discussing over the next weeks and months. I don't think it makes any sense to stop it. A lot of the province's horse racing industry depends on it." Before the calendar flipped to 2020, Kawartha Downs was one of the province's racetracks that sported the majority of its handle from on-track patrons and would often surpass $30,000 in handle. When the track resumed racing in 2020 and relied solely on simulcast and online wagering, that number dipped to the $13-$18,000 range but rose to between $20,000 and $27,000 once the province eased public gathering restrictions to allow up to 100 patrons. "We were pleasantly surprised," stated Weldon. "It shows the support we have with such a small number of people." Weldon also noted that the short-term deal with Ontario Racing handcuffed long-term planning and the track is considering "a whole bunch of different options" to make it a year-round destination venue. A company held responsible for an oil spill in Liberty County last year has again drawn the attention of the Railroad Commission of Texas, this time for wells in Jefferson County. Kody Petroleum, a now defunct company that sold its assets to a pipeline company called Petro-Smith, was fined around $71,600 and ordered this week by the commission to plug some of its inactive wells. Railroad Commission spokesman Andrew Keese said the entity was fined for having seven inactive wells left unplugged and failing to conduct injection pressure tests for two disposal wells, all of which are near Nome. The company has other cases pending. The operator had two prior orders, but they were not final at the time this most recent complaint was drafted; therefore the prior orders were not used to enhance the penalty, Keese said in an email. Last June, the former owner of the wells came under scrutiny for a spill of about 20 barrels, or 840 gallons, of oil into wetlands in Daisetta. The Railroad Commission ordered Kody to clean up the spill, but contractors paid by a fund supported with industry fees ultimately cleaned the spill after the company reported it couldnt afford to. Since then, citations against Kody for a handful of violations related to the spill have been gradually processed by the commission even after the wells have changed hands. Keese said Kodys organizational report is currently out-of-date and delinquent. Petro-Smith representative Sebastian Smith said in an email that the Kody wells have been an ongoing issue, but he couldnt be reached for further details by publication time. The wells involved in the most recent fines are just west of FM 365, south of the Riceland Veterinary Clinic. Nome Mayor Kerry Abney said the regions relationships with oil companies have chanced since some of those wells were first drilled in the mid-1950s and 60s. There was once a boom here, but now it seems theyve all been tapped, he said. County Commissioner Eddie Arnold of Precinct 1 said he hasnt personally heard of issues from residents about an abundance of abandoned wells in the western part of the county. But he said the county government does keep an eye on the remaining activity there to make sure companies using its roads to transport their product take out the proper bonds to pay for any potential damage. The ones that are still actively producing, we monitor those very closely, Arnold said. They can have overweight issues from time to time, and when we identify those, we go to the company. jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com twitter.com/jd_journalism He's making his mark on the music world. And Vin Diesel stepped away from his usual scene of muscle cars and mayhem with the release of his debut single, Feel Like I Do, on Friday. The 53-year-old action star hoped to make his fans 'proud' as he sings a ballad to a familiar person he just met at a bar in the three-minute bop. Big time: Vin Diesel stepped away from his usual scene of muscle cars and mayhem with the release of his debut single, Feel Like I Do, on Friday 'For so long, I have been promising to release music... encouraged by you, to step out of my comfort zone,' he wrote on Instagram. 'Thank you for believing in me. As always, I hope to make you proud.' A gradient graphic of Vin smiling with the song name etched vertically down the side accompanied the post. Diesel who's real name is Mark Sinclair admitted he buckled down in the studio amid the global pandemic. Music! The 53-year-old action star hoped to make his fans 'proud' as he sings a ballad to a familiar person he just met at a bar in the three-minute bop; seen on Instagram 'Find your creativity, step out of your comfort zone. One never knows what treasures you may find... within,' he captioned another snap. 'I just heard a master of a song that's coming out that I was able to do during these unprecedented COVID times,' he told his 65million followers last month. 'I am so excited for you all to hear it. 'Shout out to all of you who encouraged me to continue my passion for singing. Boy did that outlet come in handy during these past six months.' Diesel's foray into the music world follows his beginnings as a break dancer in New York. His voice has been used for a Kygo song with Selena Gomez, It Ain't Me, and he also rapped on stage with Nicky Jam during the Billboard Latin Music Awards in 2017. Member Benefits Manage your personalised Watchlist. Set up an online Virtual Portfolio. Participate in Share Chat. See more trades and director dealings. Play the Fantasy Share Trading Game. Register for FREE Now Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 07:23:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Growers harvest saline soil rice paddies in the field at Bayiawati Township, Yopurga County in Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sept. 25, 2020. A public yield monitoring was conducted Friday in the saline soil rice paddies on the western margin of the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The saline soil rice, developed by the R&D team of Yuan Longping, the pioneer of hybrid rice, achieved a theoretical yield of 548.53 kg per mu (about 0.07 hectares). (Xinhua/Gao Han) India and Japan will kick off three-day maritime drills in the northern Arabia Sea from Saturday, an Indian Navy spokesperson said on Friday, days after India conducted an exercise with Australia in the Indian Ocean. The India-Japan maritime bilateral exercise (JIMEX) is conducted biennially. Its last edition was conducted off the coast of Visakhapatnam in October 2018. JIMEX-20 will showcase a high degree of inter-operability and joint operational skills through conduct of a multitude of advanced exercises, across the spectrum of maritime operations. Multi-faceted tactical exercises involving weapon firing, cross-deck helicopter operations and complex surface, anti-submarine and air warfare drills will consolidate the coordination developed by the two navies, the navy said in a statement. The drills come after Indian and Australian navies conducted a passage exercise in the eastern Indian Ocean Region (IOR) from September 23-24. A passage exercise is normally undertaken whenever an opportunity arises, in contrast to pre-planned maritime drills. Just like the Indo-Australian drills, JIMEX-20 is being conducted in a non-contact at-sea-only format, in view of Covid-19 restrictions. Indian warships Chennai, Teg, Tarkash and fleet tanker Deepak will represent the Indian Navy at JIMEX-20, while Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force is sending its warships Kaga and Ikazuchi for the drills, the statement said, adding that P8-I long range maritime patrol aircraft, integral helicopters and fighter jets will also take part in the exercise. JIMEX-20 will further enhance the cooperation and mutual confidence between the two navies and fortify the long-standing bond of friendship between the two countries, it added. The stage is also set for Australia to be part of the next Malabar naval exercise conducted by India with the US and Japan. The next edition of Malabar, already delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, is set to be held by the end of the year. China has also been wary of the Quadrilateral security dialogue or Quad that was revived in late 2017 by India, the US, Australia and Japan, and these suspicions have increased since the four countries upgraded the forum to the ministerial level last year. The navy has been on an operational alert in the Indian Ocean where scores of warships are ready for any task in the aftermath of the border row with China in the Ladakh sector. India has positioned warships along critical sea lanes of communications and choke points under its mission-based deployment and the vessels could be diverted for any mission. Indian warships are deployed from as far as the Persian Gulf to the Malacca Strait and northern Bay of Bengal to the southeast coast of Africa. Some 25 members of the secessionist group, Homeland Study Foundation, also known as Western Togoland have been arrested by the security personnel. They were picked up at Abortia near Joapong where they had earlier mounted a roadblock. There is heavy military and police presence in the area. Members of the secessionist group in the early hours of Friday, September 25 blocked major entries into the Volta Region. Most passengers travelling to areas in the Volta Region including Tefle, Tsopoli and Juapong were left stranded. ---citinewsroom According to police, the woman's relatives kidnapped the couple, who got married against the wishes of her family three months ago, and then strangled the 28-year-old man Hyderabad: A 28-year-old man was allegedly kidnapped and killed by his wife's family members who belong to another caste, with the help of hired goons, police said on Friday. The Cyberabad police arrested 14 people, including the parents of the woman, in connection with the crime and are on the lookout for four more people. According to Cyberabad Police, relatives of C Avanthi Reddy kidnapped her and her husband Y Hemanth Kumar, who got married against the wishes of her family (about three months ago), on Thursday and killed the man by strangulation the same night. The couple got suspicious when the car took a different direction and they managed to alight from the vehicle. However, Hemanth was taken away in another vehicle and killed at the outskirts of Kistaigudem village, in neighbouring Sangareddy district, the police said in a press release. The press release added that en route Avanthi got down and escaped, whereas Hemanth was taken by Guduru Yugender Reddy and three others and was strangled to death at about 7.30 pm, the release said. "We received a complaint at around 6.30 pm from the man's father on Thursday and immediately alerted all check posts and toll gates...," a police official said in the morning dismissing reports that they acted slow after they received the information about the abduction. "My cousins and my uncle took me and my husband forcibly in a vehicle and I managed to escape from the vehicle. I immediately alerted my in-laws and police," she told reporters. According to police, Hemanths father after receiving the information that his son was kidnapped informed the police. Avanthi said she and Hemanth were in love for the past several years and got married in June. Earlier the couple and the parents were counselled by Chandanagar Police. In a diminished spotlight because of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading human rights defenders on Friday urged people in these fractured times to connect through politics and vote, too. In many places around the world, participation is being denied and civic space is being crushed, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on the sidelines of the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, this year held online. People must take part in the decisions that affect their lives, he said, noting new heights of inequalities and and warning: The window to address climate change is almost shut. In the cautious language of diplomacy, no names were named, no governments called out. But around the world, the crack of batons and the tang of pepper spray have been common as some authorities are accused of using the cover of COVID-19 restrictions to commit abuses and limit free speech. In Venezuela, advocates said quarantine was used to erode civil liberties. In Kenya, watchdogs said police enforcing curfew beat or shot dead civilians including a 13-year-old boy. People must push back even in this socially distanced world, speakers said. U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned of a crisis of governance and a marginalization of voices that she said will only deepen grievances and harm all of society. We are witnessing an erosion of public trust in institutions and traditional politics, said Eamon Gilmore, the European Unions special representative for human rights. Young people in particular are feeling increasingly insecure, he said. Economies are crumbling in the pandemic, erasing job opportunities, and millions of students are unable to return to school. Speaking up for youth, the founder of Action for Justice and Human Rights in Liberia, Satta Sheriff, told the gathering that people like her should not be seen as simply waiting for an empty seat at the table. Youth in the West African nation successfully pressed the government to declare rape a national emergency after days of peaceful protests, she said. Despite that win, access to decision-making spaces remains limited for youth, who face the stereotype of constantly being labeled troublemakers, she said. Such frustration is especially potent in Africa, with the worlds youngest population and a median age of 19. The continents population is expected to double by 2050, and already a small corps of young opposition leaders in places like Uganda is challenging heads of state who have spent years, even decades, in power. The COVID-19 pandemic is a crucial chance for governments to fight the urge to impose repressive measures and instead win the trust of citizens that's key to combating the spread of the virus, speakers said. Its the good governance that has kept Latvias confirmed virus case rate relatively low compared to the rest of Europe, said the countrys ambassador to the U.N., Andrejs Pildegovics. South Koreas ambassador, Cho Hyun, agreed, citing peoples voluntary wearing of face masks in his countrys relative success in containing the virus. As scores of heads of state this week are making urgent calls to band together to fight the crises of COVID-19, Fridays speakers on human rights stressed that governments must open the political space for everyone. As the global toll closed in on 1 million deaths, the U.K.s minister for human rights, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, reminded listeners: Its only over when its over for all of us. Advertisement Between 9,000 and 16,000 Britons are getting infected with coronavirus every day, according to researchers monitoring the UK's outbreak. King's College London (KCL) scientists behind the COVID Symptom Tracker mobile app estimate there were at least 16,310 daily cases of the disease in the last week, more than double the 7,536 estimated last week. The Office for National Statistics, a Government-run agency, has made a more modest estimate today, saying it thinks around 9,600 people are contracting the virus every day, a 60 per cent rise from the 6,000 a week prior. Both surveillance projects are picking up far more than the Government's official testing programme, which recorded 6,000-plus cases on Thursday and Wednesday. KCL collects its data by sending tests to people who report tell-tale symptoms of Covid-19 into the mobile app, while the ONS study sends tests to random households regardless of their health status. Data from the symptom-tracking app, which has seen millions of Brits sign up, suggests there are nearly 150,000 people currently suffering symptomatic Covid-19, although many more will have no symptoms. This figure has more than doubled since last week, when there were about 70,000 symptomatic patients. The chief scientist behind the app said it was fresh evidence the crisis was 'rising at an alarming rate'. The ONS, on the other hand, estimates that about 113,000 people are currently carrying the virus - equating to around one in 500 people - although the number-crunching body only looks at England and Wales. It comes as Matt Hancock yesterday suggested the true number of cases occurring each day was in the region of 10,000. And the Health Secretary pointed out that the spike now is nowhere near levels seen during the darkest days of the crisis in March and April, when 100,000 people were getting infected every 24 hours. The Office for National Statistics, a Government-run agency, estimates 9,600 people are contracting the virus every day in England, a 60 per cent rise from the 6,000 a week prior. King's College London (KCL) scientists behind the COVID Symptom Tracker mobile app estimate there were at least 16,310 daily cases of the disease in the last week, more than double the 7,536 estimated last week The ONS has spotted a rise in infections among all age groups in England - although the steepest increase was observed in 17 to 24-year-olds The North West is still bearing most of the brunt of the second wave, but Yorkshire, London and the North East are seeing significant outbreaks Both the ONS and KCL surveillance studies are picking up far more than the Government's official testing programme, which recorded 6,000-plus cases on Thursday and Wednesday Data from the King College London's app, which has seen millions of Brits sign up and report their symptoms, suggests there are nearly 150,000 people currently suffering symptomatic Covid-19, although many more will have no symptoms KCL has based its latest estimates on nearly 7,000 tests this week, of which 151 were positive - about three times more than the ONS. More positive tests improves the accuracy of the data but the study may have a slight bias because it only swabs people who are already ill. The ONS study sends tests to random groups of people, which may give a better indication of the true scale of the virus. But the real number of infections is likely to lie somewhere in the middle, and both data-sets are being fed into Government to help steer it through the crisis. Broken down, the North of England is being battered hardest by the latest surge in infections, but London, Glasgow and Belfast are also seeing 'worrying' rises, according to the KCL team KCL's fresh batch of data was based on 6,847 swab tests done between September 7 and September 20 from people right across the UK, during which 151 people tested positive for the virus. Researchers then extrapolate this data to the general population to make estimates about the virus's trajectory. The app estimates 147,498 people have symptomatic Covid-19 in the UK right now, with 55,201 patients in England, 14,319 in Scotland and 9,075 in Wales. They did not make estimates for Northern Ireland. Almost half of the new daily infections are occurring in the North of England (7,778) but London, Glasgow and Belfast are also seeing 'worrying' rises, according to the KCL team. Broken down, the North West of England is being battered hardest by the latest surge in infections, with estimated cases tripling in the last seven days from 12,544 to 36,316. In the North East and Yorkshire and London, infections have more than doubled from 12,916 to 27,731 and 9,291 to 18,200, respectively. The researchers now predict the reproduction 'R' rate - the average number of people each Covid-19 patient infects - is dangerously high across the UK - 1.4 in England and Wales and 1.3 in Scotland. Experts say keeping the R squashed below 1.0 is essential to prevent the outbreak from growing exponentially and spiralling out of control. Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London and the brains behind the app, said: 'The number of cases in the UK continues to rise at an alarming rate as we are seeing figures doubling weekly across the country, in particular we are worried about places like London and other major cities like Manchester, Belfast and Glasgow where cases are surging and the R value is around 1.4.' The ONS estimated that the number of cases of coronavirus across England jumped 60 per cent in a week, new data shows. The survey, based on 248,030 swab tests, and a total of 282 positive tests, in 226 people from 188 households - found an estimated 103,600 people had Covid-19 from September 13 to 19, equating to around one in 500 people. The ONS said: 'The estimate shows the number of infections has increased in recent weeks. In recent weeks, there has been clear evidence of an increase in the number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in all age groups, with the current rates highest in the 17 to 24 age group. There is evidence of higher infection rates in the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, London and North East.' The ONS also estimated that during the week of September 13 to 19, 10,800 people in Wales had Covid-19, equating to one in 300 people. An estimated 0.35 per cent of people in Northern Ireland had Covid-19, which is around one in 300 people. The ONS did not put an exact figure on how many infections. Katherine Kent, co-head of analysis for the Covid-19 Infection Survey, said there had been a 'marked' increase in cases across England. She added: 'Every week we are sending out new letters to houses across the UK to ask them to take part in the Covid-19 Infection Survey to help us get more information about how the virus is spreading. If you receive a letter from us, please take the time to register and help control the spread of this virus.' Yesterday, Britain recorded 6,634 more cases of coronavirus in the highest daily toll on record. It took the official infection toll to 416,363, although millions of Brits went undiagnosed during the first wave of the pandemic due the government's lacklustre testing regime. Top experts say more than 100,000 people were actually catching the virus every day during the darkest days of the first wave. The 6,634 new infections in the last 24 hours mark a twofold rise compared to last Thursday, when 3,395 people were diagnosed with the disease. Yesterday saw another 6,178 infections recorded. Data shows the rolling seven-day average of daily cases has jumped 48 per cent in a week. Infections were squashed well below 1,000 from late June until early August following the lockdown in spring, but Covid-19 cases have been on the rise ever since. The Sheriffs Office will never ask you to pay fines in the form of gift cards. If you receive any call from someone purporting to be in the government and requesting money, you should be suspicious. Call the agency to check the validity of the call, and if you feel if you have been scammed, call police. CAMBRIDGE Waterloo Regional Police are looking to identify the driver of a pickup truck after a woman reported a suspicious man while she was jogging. Police said the woman was in the area of King Street East and Bishop Street South in Cambridge on Thursday evening at about 7 p.m. when she was repeatedly followed by a white man driving a red Ford Ranger pickup truck equipped with a red topper. The man is described as about 70 years old. Anyone who saw a suspicious vehicle in the area is asked to call police at 519-570-9777 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. The show chronicles the peak of the Rock en Espanol music movement during the turbulent mid-1990s in Mexico City. Sama will direct the series, to be filmed on location in Mexico City. It follows a foreign record label executive who arrives in Mexico City to spearhead the A&R Rock division at a record label. What begins as an escape from her past becomes an opportunity to rebuild her life and capitalize on the Rock en Espanol scene. She discovers a transcendent young band and guides them through the treacherous path to stardom, a journey that also forces her to face her darkest demons. Los Ultimos Analogos has been created by Max Zunino (Tijuana, Los Banistas), and Hari Sama (Sunka Raku: Alegria Evanescente, El sueno de Lu), the award-winning team behind This is not Berlin, who will co-write the series. Gaumonts Christian Gabela, SVP, creative executive, head of Latin American and Spain, commented: In their acclaimed film This is not Berlin, Hari and Max showcased their ability to craft a compelling and personal coming-of-age story set in the authentically depicted underground music scene of CDMX [Mexico City] in the 1980s. This, coupled with the fact that they each experienced their own personal journeys as musicians and artists, provides us with the confidence in the opportunity for Los Ultimos Analogos to be an original, genuine, and entertaining story of adolescent life in the burgeoning rock scene of 1990s CDMX. Added Sama: Los Ultimos Analogos is a personal and joyous journey to a time that I lived intensely and was surrounded by music, yet it also allows me to perform an urgent revision of issues like homophobia, sexism, my own addiction to drugs, and how our search for happiness is driving us crazy. Zunino said: Los Ultimos Analogos represents an explosive and melancholic stamp on the 90s, the time of my own coming of age; and incidentally, it serves as a personal exploration that helps me follow the footprints of my past and those of my generation. Community and city leaders showed up Wednesday to clean up 15 headstones that had been vandalized in blue spray paint at a historically Black cemetery in Austin. One of the graves at Evergreen Cemetery were tainted with the word "Kirk," others appeared to say "AIDS" and one was ruined by a sideways 8, according to Jordan Bontke with CBS Austin affiliate KEYE-TV. John Nixon, a spokesman for Austin Parks and Recreation Department, said the damage was discovered and reported Monday, prompting people to check in on their loved ones' graves. "This is not just a random act of vandalism, there is a purpose, there is a purpose behind this," Natalie Marshall, who has relatives buried in the cemetery, told KEYE-TV. SAY THEIR NAMES: From Trayvon Martin to Breonna Taylor, other names besides George Floyd that make the case for Black Lives Matter Established in 1926 as the first cemetery for Austin's Black community, athletes, educators, civil rights and business leaders are among the almost 12,000 inhabitants. Nyeka Arnold, a co-founder of Black Austin Coalition, told the Austin American-Stateman's Hojun Choi that the organization has been taking care of the cemetery since August and this was "like a slap in the face," adding that they want to install security cameras to keep something like this from happening again. When this incident happened, it brought East Austin out," she said. "Were still here, you just dont see us because were surrounded by white people and white buildings, but were still here." Parks and recreation division manager Tonja Walls-Davis told Choi she's been in talks with the community and Black Austin Coalition for increased security, but is not allowing them to put their own cameras up right now, adding that "if you put them up, they would only be allowed to be put up on the monument that you own. So you cant have surveillance of the whole cemetery." Nixon said the damage does not appear to be racially motivated, but the Austin Police Department is investigating the incident. Mainstream US reporters silent about being spied on by apparent CIA contractor that targeted Assange Despite being spied on and having their privacy invaded by the UC Global firm that targeted Assange, reporters from major US news outlets have said nothing in protest. Meanwhile, new evidence of that firms CIA links has emerged. By Max Blumenthal September 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - A Spanish security firm apparently contracted by US intelligence to carry out a campaign of black operations against Julian Assange and his associates spied on several US reporters including Ellen Nakashima, the top national security reporter of the Washington Post, and Lowell Bergman, a New York Times and PBS veteran. To date, Nakashima and her employers at the Washington Post have said nothing about the flagrant assault on their constitutional rights by UC Global, the security company in charge of Ecuadorian embassy in London, which seemingly operated under the watch of the CIAs then-director, Mike Pompeo. PBS, the New York Times, and other mainstream US outlets have also remained silent about the US government intrusion into reporters personal devices and private records. The Grayzone has learned that several correspondents from a major US newspaper rebuffed appeals by Wikileaks to report on the illegal spying campaign by UC Global, privately justifying the contractors actions on national security grounds. UC Global spied on numerous journalists with the aim of sending their information to US intelligence through an FTP server placed at the company headquarters and through hand-delivered hard drives. Nearly all of those reporters have so far ignored or refused invitations to join a criminal complaint to be filed in Spanish court by Stefania Maurizi, an Italian journalist whose devices were invaded and compromised during a visit to Assange. Proof of UC Globals illegal spying campaign and the firms relationship with the CIA emerged following the September 2019 arrest of the companys CEO, David Morales. Spanish police had enacted a secret operation called Operation Tabanco under a criminal case managed by the same National Court that orchestrated the arrest of former Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet years before. Morales was charged in October 2019 by the Spanish court with violating the privacy of Assange and abusing his attorney-client privileges, as well as money laundering and bribery. A mercenary former Spanish special forces officer, Morales also stood accused of illegal weapons possession after two guns with the serial numbers filed off were found during a search of his property. The documents and testimony revealed in court have exposed shocking details of UC Globals campaign against Assange, his lawyers, friends, and reporters. Evidence of crimes ranging from spying to robberies to kidnapping and even a proposed plot to eliminate Assange by poisoning has emerged from the ongoing trial. In an investigation for The Grayzone this May, this reporter detailed how the Las Vegas Sands corporation of Trump mega-donor Sheldon Adelson functioned as an apparent liaison between UC Global and Pompeos CIA, presumably contracting the former on behalf of the latter. It was the second time Adelsons company had been identified as a CIA asset. (The first was in 2010, when a private intelligence report sponsored by gambling competitors alleged that his casino in Macau was sending footage of Chinese officials gambling so they could be blackmailed into serving as CIA informants). The story placed the Trump organization at the center of a global campaign of surveillance and sabotage that ruthlessly targeted journalists, including Assange and virtually every reporter he came into contact with since 2017. For the past four years, the Washington press corps has howled about Trumps angry browbeating of the White House press pool, treating his resentful outbursts as a grave threat to press freedom. At the same time, it has reacted with a collective shrug to revelations that a firm that was, by all indications, contracted by the Trump administrations CIA to destroy Assange had spied on prominent American national security reporters. More revealingly, some of the reporters who had their personal information and notes stolen by UC Global, the apparent CIA contractor, have not said a word about it. Maurizi, the Italian reporter who is filing a lawsuit against UC Global and serving as a witness in the current case before the Spanish judge, told this reporter she was stunned by the mainstream US medias passive attitude. Imagine if Putin had done anything like this. Just imagine what a scandal this would be, she remarked to the Grayzone. It would be a giant scandal all around the world. But instead, [US media] is saying nothing. Randy Credico, a comedian, social justice activist, and longtime advocate for Assanges freedom, also attempted to generate media interest in the spying scandal when he learned that UC Global had snooped on him in the embassy. I went to everybody, I went to MSNBC, to the Wall Street Journal, CNN, to journalists I knew, and I couldnt get anyone interested, Credico complained to The Grayzone. The agency of the stars and stripes wants to see us In his first public address as CIA director, Mike Pompeo branded Assanges Wikileaks as a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia and outlined a long term campaign of counter-measures against the crusading media organization. At the time, Assange was trapped in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and hosting regular visits there from his legal team, friends, and an array of reporters. Continued here. President Donald Trumps call for getting rid of ballots so there will be no transfer of power to former Vice President Joe Biden should he lose the election could end up backfiring on him by motivating Democratic turnout and alienating key voting blocs in must-win states, election experts and insiders say. Trump has, on numerous occasions, railed against the possibility of letting Americans vote by mail without going through the often complicated process of requesting an absentee ballot. He frequently claims without evidence that voting by mail is rife with fraud, often by citing anecdotal evidence to suggest that the push for more mail-in voting which is meant to mitigate the risk of voters contracting Covid-19 is a Democratic plot to commit election fraud. Asked whether hed commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the election this week, Trump declined to do so and instead began renewing his baseless complaints about voting by mail. Ive been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster. We want to have get rid of the ballots and youll have a very trans- well have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer, frankly; there'll be a continuation. The ballots are out of control, he said while addressing reporters in the White House briefing room. Surprisingly enough, this kind of talk could end up giving his opponents a boost heading into the election. Rachel Bitecofer, a political scientist whose voter turnout modeling gained significant attention in the wake of 2018s blue wave election, said Trumps attacks on voting by mail including his handpicked Postmaster Generals push to slow down mail service in key swing states has already caused Democratic grassroots groups to begin to pivot to early in-person voting, and predicted this latest attack will only accelerate that trend. You know, we're already seeing conversations happen due to the sabotage of the post office in the grassroots groups and within the more engaged part of the electorate, she said. I think there's going to be a greater intensity now, of people pushing voters away from vote-by-mail. And Trumps latest foray into authoritarian language could be even more costly when it comes to his chances of winning a second term. In must-win states like Arizona, Florida, and Texas, Trumps re-election campaign has put significant effort into engaging with Latin American voters, and has seen that effort rewarded with strong poll numbers especially among Florida-based Latinos. But veterans of Florida politics and Latino political outreach say Trump very well may have undone all that effort, and given those voters who were on the fence between him and Biden a reason to cast their lot with the Democrat in 40 days. This is one of those statements that, for voters who are still open to both candidates, could really be a difference maker, said ex-Florida Republican Representative Carlos Curbelo. Curbelo, the Miami-born son of Cuban exiles, opined that Trumps vow to get rid of the ballots would not play well with Latin American voters whose families fled places where leaders did exactly that. This is something that could push a lot of these centrist or center-right, younger Hispanic voters away from the President because they are familiar with the history of the type of regimes out there that their parents and grandparents fled, and they take very seriously the issue of having free and fair elections, he said. The people who will decide the election are still movable a few weeks out, and it's those kinds of voters that could say: Wait, hold on a minute, this is a bridge too far I may not be thrilled about Joe Biden, but we need to have free and fair elections in this country, he continued, before adding that people who either fled authoritarian regimes or are the children and grandchildren of those people are very sensitive to hints of authoritarianism because many of them including him had relatives imprisoned arbitrarily. The absence of the rule of law of what we call in Latin America the democratic order is very scary, very ugly, and it's the reason why so many people found a happy home here in the United States, he said. So for the President to raise this possibility at this juncture is very risky. The bad news for Trump does not end there. Mike Madrid, a California-based Republican political consultant and co-founder of The Lincoln Project who specializes in outreach to Latino voters, said the Presidents rejection of a peaceful transfer of power has given his group an opening to reverse all the Trump campaigns gains with Latino voters with what he described as some really harsh pushback. They [the Trump campaign] are running against socialism, but the real threat here is a dictator, he said. Madrid explained that exploiting Latino voters particularly Cuban Americans concerns over socialism has always worked because many of the extant authoritarian regimes in Latin America stemmed from left-wing governments. But that [socialism] doesnt mean being a caudillo, or a strongman, he said. Thats what theyre concerned about theyre not concerned about the ideology, theyre concerned about dictatorship, theyre worried about government control and intrusion, and its ability to do things like remove elections not just take your property, but take your right to vote away. Trumps push against mail-in voting and frequent baseless claims of voter fraud will also hurt him in Arizona and possibly even Texas, Madrid predicted. Mexican Americans are going to respond to the idea that ballots will be tossed because it's an inherently believable idea and message with Republicans, and with Donald Trump specifically, he said, recalling how Orange County, California Republicans obsession with ballot security really catalyzed the collapse of the Republican Party in California. When you hear Republicans saying this, especially a Republican like Donald Trump, who has been for years saying things that the community responds negatively to, it's a very believable argument, Madrid said. He's been claiming voter fraud in California since the day he got elected. Mexican Americans, they all know who hes talking about when he says illegal aliens are voting. Shown here (l-r): Bahraini foreign minister Abdullatif Al Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump and Emirati foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan participate in the signing of the 'Abraham Accords.' WASHINGTON (JTA) - Benjamin Netanyahu has complained for years about Arab leaders telling their people one thing in Arabic and diplomats saying another to Western audiences in English. Not on Tuesday. Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, was on the White House lawn speaking - in Arabic - about the "innate principle" of peace and thanking the Israeli prime minister for helping to bring it about. If the agreements signed Tuesday by leaders of the UAE, Israel, the United States and Bahrain were historic, it was because of this: Two Arab lea... Jaipur, Sep 25 : Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday took to Twitter and appealed to the agitating people to maintain peace, law and order in the state as violent protests, which erupted on Thursday in Dungarpur district, escalated on Friday. The protestors torched police vehicles and pelted stones at the policemen, injuring many of them. On Thursday, thousands of applicants for the 2018 teacher recruitment exam turned violent in Dungarpur district demanding that the 1,167 general category posts be filled with Scheduled Tribe candidates. They torched police vehicles and pelted stones at the policemen. A 10-km stretch of the NH8 highway connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad was blocked and taken over by the protestors. The presence of the police did not deter the protestors who continued to march ahead, forcing the police to retreat. In his tweet Ashok Gehlot said, "The protest and violence in Dungarpur is quite unfortunate. Constitutional measures should be used to voice protests and the protests should be peaceful. No one has the right to take the law in their hands. I appeal to protestors to maintain peace and help in maintaining law and order." Officials said that the situation was tense on NH-8 near Bhuwali as the protestors have damaged a hotel and burnt police vehicles. They also used slingshots to target the police with stones. Drones have now been pressed into service to monitor the movements of the protestors from the sky. The administration was trying to open a dialogue with the protestors at the time of filing this report. The protestors had earlier warned the administration to fill the posts by September 24. However, when no heed was paid to their demands, they came out on to the streets with stones and rods in their hands. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said that colleges and libraries will remain open while restrictions are in place. Third-level and higher education colleges are to deliver lectures remotely after the Irish Government extended restrictions country-wide. Higher education institutions are to adopt the same health measures already in place in Dublin for the next two to three weeks. Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said that colleges and libraries will remain open. Students can visit college grounds when attending practical classes, laboratories and carrying out research work that cannot be done online. Mr Harris said the decision comes after the acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn proposed similar restrictions at higher level institutions across the country. This will mean more learning will take place online and on-site activity will be minimised over the coming weeks Simon Harris What this effectively means, for the next two or three weeks we are asking our higher level education institutions to provide their learning largely online if possible, Mr Harris added. They can remain open, their libraries will remain open, they will remain open for providing practical classes, using labs and research and also for bringing in small cohorts and groups of priority students. He warned that the next two to three weeks represent a critical juncture. The Higher Education sector has put in place robust plans and protective measures, he added. However, at the request of the Department of Health, it has been agreed to intensify protective measures across the higher level institutions to ensure safe continuation or beginning of the academic term. Expand Close Trinity College Dublin has been delivering many of its lectures online (Brian Lawless/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Trinity College Dublin has been delivering many of its lectures online (Brian Lawless/PA) This will mean more learning will take place online and on-site activity will be minimised over the coming weeks. This is disappointing, I know, but absolutely necessary if we are to stop the spread of this virus. We are also asking students to minimise travel and to minimise the number of social contacts on and off campus. We must do everything possible over the next few weeks to stop its spread and give students the best chance of resuming on site activity. Please stay safe and hold firm. JOHANNESBURG - In a diminished spotlight because of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading human rights defenders on Friday urged people in these fractured times to connect through politics and vote, too. In many places around the world, participation is being denied and civic space is being crushed, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on the sidelines of the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, this year held online. People must take part in the decisions that affect their lives, he said, noting new heights of inequalities and and warning: The window to address climate change is almost shut. In the cautious language of diplomacy, no names were named, no governments called out. But around the world, the crack of batons and the tang of pepper spray have been common as some authorities are accused of using the cover of COVID-19 restrictions to commit abuses and limit free speech. In Venezuela, advocates said quarantine was used to erode civil liberties. In Kenya, watchdogs said police enforcing curfew beat or shot dead civilians including a 13-year-old boy. People must push back even in this socially distanced world, speakers said. U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned of a crisis of governance and a marginalization of voices that she said will only deepen grievances and harm all of society. We are witnessing an erosion of public trust in institutions and traditional politics, said Eamon Gilmore, the European Unions special representative for human rights. Young people in particular are feeling increasingly insecure, he said. Economies are crumbling in the pandemic, erasing job opportunities, and millions of students are unable to return to school. Speaking up for youth, the founder of Action for Justice and Human Rights in Liberia, Satta Sheriff, told the gathering that people like her should not be seen as simply waiting for an empty seat at the table. Youth in the West African nation successfully pressed the government to declare rape a national emergency after days of peaceful protests, she said. Despite that win, access to decision-making spaces remains limited for youth, who face the stereotype of constantly being labeled troublemakers, she said. Such frustration is especially potent in Africa, with the worlds youngest population and a median age of 19. The continents population is expected to double by 2050, and already a small corps of young opposition leaders in places like Uganda is challenging heads of state who have spent years, even decades, in power. The COVID-19 pandemic is a crucial chance for governments to fight the urge to impose repressive measures and instead win the trust of citizens thats key to combating the spread of the virus, speakers said. Its the good governance that has kept Latvias confirmed virus case rate relatively low compared to the rest of Europe, said the countrys ambassador to the U.N., Andrejs Pildegovics. South Koreas ambassador, Cho Hyun, agreed, citing peoples voluntary wearing of face masks in his countrys relative success in containing the virus. As scores of heads of state this week are making urgent calls to band together to fight the crises of COVID-19, Fridays speakers on human rights stressed that governments must open the political space for everyone. As the global toll closed in on 1 million deaths, the U.K.s minister for human rights, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, reminded listeners: Its only over when its over for all of us. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 17:17 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c47436e9 4 National dangdut,concert,crowd-puller,konser-dangdut,DPRD,Tegal,deputy-speaker,wakil-ketua-DPRD-tegal,police,COVID-19-in-Indonesia Free Tegal Legislative Council (DPRD) deputy speaker Wasmad Edi Susilo held a dangdut concert in the Central Java city on Wednesday that attracted a huge crowd in violation of COVID-19 protocols. The concert, held in South Tegal Field, was reportedly to celebrate a marriage and a circumcision in Wasmads family. Before the concert took place, a pamphlet promoting the event went viral on social media. Thousands of people gathered in front of a stage equipped with a large sound system and big screens, kompas.com reported. Audience members did not maintain their distance, and many were not wearing masks. South Tegal Police head Comr. Joeharno said the organizers had applied for a permit but had said the event would have a limited number of guests. After learning that the event had attracted a big crowd, the police revoked the permit. This means that their action was against the law because they did not comply with the initial permit proposed, Joeharno said, adding that they had agreed not to have the police or military guard the event. Read also: Bogor regent to report Rhoma Irama over alleged PSBB violation after local performance But the police did not disband the event. We couldnt get close to the site considering we did not have enough personnel. Besides, we felt it would be unethical to go on stage to forcibly stop them, he said. Tegal Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Rita Wulandari Wibowo said the police were summoning the organizers for questioning. She said the police would not issue permits for similar activities in the future. Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo said he had called Tegal Mayor Dedi Yon Supriyono to reprimand him for holding the event. Dedi had apologized, he said. We need sensitivity from leaders. [Events] like that are being limited, not totally prohibited. Lets adapt. If we ignore [regulations], people will act irresponsibly, Ganjar said. Ganjar said he regretted that a DPRD executive had held such an event and that Wasmad had set a poor example for members of the community. (syk) Northern Ireland is at a crossroads. Currently 46 people are in hospital being treated for Covid-19, with five patients critically ill in intensive care. Read More Meanwhile, the Department of Health revealed on Friday that a further 273 people have tested positive with the virus. This means there have been 1,236 confirmed cases here in the last seven days. Of these, 160 are older than 60 and the bleak reality of these statistics is that more people will become seriously ill with Covid-19 and die in the coming weeks. However, as we saw earlier this year, it is possible to flatten the curve by adhering to the public health guidance. Now, more than ever, it is vital that our government advisers and Executive respond quickly and deliver straightforward policies, backed up with scientific evidence - something that is lacking at the moment. For example, we are told the majority of infections are happening in domestic settings - hence the need to stop household visits - but what is the actual figure and how is this information being gathered when we know the test and trace system is not working as it should? Consider also the rules around pubs and restaurants - while household visits were banned, six people from any number of households were allowed to sit together at a table at a pub or restaurant. The politicians and officials argued that measures, such as hand sanitising stations, were in place in pubs and restaurants, which help to mitigate the dangers posed by the virus. But it does not take a genius to work out that it doesn't matter how clean your hands are if you are breathing infected droplets over the person sitting next to you - so it was little wonder the public was left confused. Then, on Thursday night, the Executive performed a quiet U-turn, publishing updated guidance stating that the six people at a restaurant or pub table can only live in two households. It seems a sensible approach, but it is unclear why it was not implemented at the same time as the restrictions on domestic visits. Expand Close Prime Minister Boris Johnson Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Prime Minister Boris Johnson And now it seems that they are dragging their feet on the matter of a proposed curfew for licensed premises. The measure has been put into place in England, Scotland and Wales, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson stating that "we must stop the virus being transmitted in bars and restaurants". But here in Northern Ireland, the Executive is yet to reveal its decision. Worse still, it has transpired that ministers have agreed on the best course of action but they will not announce the decision until next week. This coming at a time that the message from the Executive is that we are heading towards a crisis and it is vital that everyone adheres to the public health messages to prevent further tragedy, a decimated economy and a shattered NHS. Moreover, the experts are clear - the time to act is now. As it stands, Covid-19 is going to remain a considerable threat for some time and the battle to keep it under control is clearly going to involve further significant sacrifice. This will require a public that trusts those making the decisions - but with all the questions and confusion over the handling of the pandemic, the Executive may find winning that trust is the biggest battle of all. In a broadcast on October 1, 1939, Winston Churchill spoke of Russia as "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." The same comment has been made about the individual who began life as Ioseb Jughashvili and evolved as Soso and Koba into Joseph Stalin. In his new book, Stalin: Passage to Revolution (Princeton University Press), Ronald Grigor Suny, professor at the University of Michigan, unwraps the mystery, penetrates the character, and proves a clear and elaborate analysis of the Russian leader as a young man and tells the story of the transformation of a poor boy from the provincial Georgian town of Gori, on the borderland of the Russian empire, into a ruthless dictator, the most powerful man in the world. Other writers have produced their versions and interpretations of Stalin. Professor Suny warns in this first full explication of the early life of Stalin that human choices are not fixed one-dimensionally by context or institutions or environment. Explanations of Stalin should take account of complexity, skepticism, uncertainty, accident, and chance. Stalin is exceptional because of what he became. The mystery is why a revolutionary supposedly committed to human emancipation and an opponent of injustice ended up as the epitome of dictatorship and terror. In this 800-page book, Suny, using an abundance of newly available archival material, though there was no secret diary or introspective documents, provides an extraordinary telling, a detailed account, well written and engrossing, of the obscure and multiple layers of experience in Stalin's early life: church school, seminary, outlaw, exile, prison, attraction to Marxism. In addition, this book places Stalin in the context, political, economic and intellectual, in which he lived in Georgia and Russia. Moreover, Suny provides us with a fresh and elaborate reading of Russian and Georgian revolutionary movements, guiding readers through the complexities of the heated revolutionary, Bolshevik and Menshevik party disputes over their doctrine and practice, of the personnel and machinations of the socialist groups after they split in 1903, the nature and function of the party, and questions such as whether the socialist parties should engage in parliamentary election, the use of violence, and tactics to achieve a successful revolution. In view of the sad experience of dissenters in the Soviet Union, it is fascinating to recall the heated open, often fractious, hair-splitting debates and controversies among the strong-willed revolutionary activists before 1918. Even Vladimir Lenin never had complete domination over his Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. Stalin is said to have been born in Gori, Georgia, on December 9, 1879, though Suny indicates that there is some dispute about the actual date. He was the son of a cobbler who became a craftsman, a weak man who was often drunk, a brute who beat him, and a strong, religious, obstinate mother who promoted her son, nicknamed Soso, and wanted him to be a Greek Orthodox priest. Stalin contracted smallpox, which left his face scarred for life, and also suffered an injury that shortened his left arm. At the church school in Gori, though treated as an inferior, he took part in activities, was an inveterate reader and a poet, and showed musical talent. He had a circle of friends, but his relationship with them, as always throughout his life, mostly depended on their usefulness to him. He learned Russian, though he always spoke with a Georgian accent. He was at the time a devoted believer in Orthodoxy and a Georgian nationalist. At the religious seminary in Tiflis to which he went in 1894, he was a competitive figure, a wrestler who loved fighting and singing, a romantic and patriotic poet. He continued his study of Russian; began reading sociology and political economy including Engels and Karl Kautsky, illegal books; and attended secret workers' meetings. He attempted to balance attachment to Georgian culture and official Russian culture. He spoke of the proletarian virtues of courage and steadfastness, using the plain language of ordinary people. He always wore simple clothes. He was expelled from the seminary in May 1899; it is not clear if it was because of reading Marxist propaganda. Though educated for the priesthood, he had no interest in the Church. He had rejected first the religion of his mother and teachers and then the nationalism of his Georgian compatriots, shifting allegiance from concepts of honor and respect in Georgia to the arbitrary power of Russia. Without a school diploma, he worked for a while as a meteorologist but mostly taught in Baku and St. Petersburg in workers' circles and organized mass meetings of workers. He helped organize demonstrations on May Day 1901 and a strike in Batumi. He wrote a steady stream of articles for radical papers and became "a journeyman for the revolution." Stalin reinvented himself. By the time he was 21, he was a professional revolutionary, an advocate of partisan actions, terrorism, and expropriation. Soso became Koba, a name taken from the protagonist of a novella by a Georgian writer, Alexander Qazbege. Koba had no permanent home, lived outside the law, depended for help on his circle of associates, and became a self-styled professional revolutionary, a semi- intellectual of proletarian origin who lived as a bohemian. In his party underground activity with workers, he was polemical, speaking in plain language, endlessly repeating simple ideas. However, from early years, he was hostile to or would deceive and act callously toward those he considered political enemies, even boyhood friends like Lev Kamenev (Leo Rozenfeld) and Grigol Orjonikidze or Stepan Shuhumian, or those of whom he was jealous, such as Georgi Plekhanov, founder of the SD movement in Russia, or Noe Zhordania, important revolutionary in Georgia. But Koba did adhere to Vladimir Lenin, a "mountain eagle." He had strong opinions, and he was dogmatic, unwilling to compromise, an intriguer displaying an exaggerated sense of his own importance. Even in early years, Koba displayed those qualities that led Lenin in his Testament to speak of Stalin's rude manners, excessive power, and ambition. Yet Stalin was appointed to the Bolshevik Central Committee. In his underground years, Koba was named in police reports, starting in November 1901, as an important figure in the local anti-government movement. He was always ambitious, self-confident, even arrogant, contemptuous of intellectuals, dogmatic, and an embittered young man, always resentful. He was an activist, helping secret disciplined groups and armed bands, organizing strikes in the port city of Batumi. He was accused of being involved in a bank robbery in Tiflis on June 26, 1907, though he tried to distance himself from the robbery. Suny suggests doubt that Koba was responsible. In the 1905 revolution, he played a minimal role, but he organized and armed Bolshevik militias across Georgia and waged guerrilla attacks on the Cossacks. Koba was captured by the tsarist police and sentenced in November 1903 to prison in Siberia, from which he escaped. He was again sentenced to Siberia, 191317. Suny argues that he was not an agent of Okhrana, the secret police, in spite of allegations that he was able to escape because he was an agent. In his evolution to Marxism, and practical activity, starting from his membership in November 1901 in the Tiflis committee of the Russian Social Democratic party, Koba, who sided with the Bolshevik wing of the SD party, was concerned with a number of issues. One was the nature of the revolutionary party, whether it should be a "cadre" party with disciplined leaders or whether it should attempt to infuse "socialist consciousness" among workers and their organizations, ally with them, and not simply observe the spontaneous labor movement from the outside. Stalin's attitude was that the labor movement without socialism was a "ship without a compass." Equally important, he was always vocal about the need for party unity. On this party issue, Koba was influenced by Lenin's 1902 work, What Is to Be Done, which called for a highly centralized party of professional revolutionaries. In the Leninist-Stalinist view, the proletariat on its own can achieve only "trade union consciousness," thus a party must imbue that class with revolutionary consciousness and be its vanguard. This position was upheld by Koba, who was no orator but a good organizer, and also an intriguer who repeated his ideas with clarity and simplicity. Koba understood, before Joseph Goebbels, the value of incessant repetition of simple themes and words. From early years, Stalin was involved in the question of nationality and in the wars between Georgian and Russian Marxists. Born in the borderland of the empire, he believed that Russian culture and society were more modern and superior than cultures on the periphery such as that of Georgia. It was at the 1906 Fourth Congress of the RSDW party in Stockholm that he first spoke on the nationality issue, which would be a major concern. In 1913, he published the short article "Marxism and the Nationality Question," his only significant contribution to Marxist theory, which established his reputation as an expert on the subject. After the 1917 October Revolution, Stalin was appointed commissar of nationality affairs. Another controversial issue, which became a dividing line among revolutionaries, was the question of whether Russia should be the country that blazed the trail to socialism and would lead Europe and the world to become socialist, or whether Russia should concentrate on building socialism in one country and not wait for a permanent revolution. Stalin was clear. It was possible to strive for and have a socialist society in a separate country. For him, the victory of socialism was possible in individual countries. The question remains open. Was Stalin the dictator a continuation of Lenin and his policies or a perversion of them? Professor Suny helps provide an answer through his outstanding presentation of the early life of this tyrant. He shows the man Stalin, formed by 1917, disciplined, tough, violent, a man who hid his ambition, who governed his emotions, a dogmatist who had no doubts. If he had any empathy for others, it was replaced by an instrumental cruelty. The man who died was identified as Tavon Brown, 20, who lived in Northwest Baltimore. He was found at the location of the shooting and died at a hospital. Police said he was shot in the right side of his back. Photo: Contributed A recent poll from Insights West indicates British Columbians aren't happy with NDP leader John Horgan's snap election call, but the BC NDP is out front in the early days of the provincial election. The poll indicates 58 per cent of British Columbia residents oppose Horgans decision to call a snap election, but despite that, the BC NDP holds an early lead with 42 per cent of decided voters, ahead of the BC Liberals at 29 per cent. The BC Greens have 16 per cent and the BC Conservative party sits at 12 per cent in the early going. In total, 30 per cent of respondents say they are strongly opposed to the election, while 27 per cent say they are somewhat opposed. According to Insights, 20 per cent of all eligible voters are still undecided, with weeks of the election campaign still remaining. In the early stages of this race, it appears that despite public opposition to the snap election, voter intentions have not shifted dramatically, said Steve Mossop, president of Insights West in a release Thursday. Approval ratings for Horgan are among the highest of any sitting premier, and our previous government report card (June) indicated that his government has received top marks for its handling of COVID-19 as well as many other government files, he said. The question is whether Horgan will be forgiven for calling an early election and whether COVID-19 infection levels can be contained during the election period. Results are based on an online study conducted from September 22 23, 2020 among a sample of 1000 B.C. residents. The margin of errorwhich measures sample variabilityis +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: According to our intelligence, very serious military training is under way, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said when receiving EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar, Trend reports. It is beyond doubt that the decision to hold the swearing-in ceremony for the so-called leader of the criminal junta in Shusha, an ancient historical city of Azerbaijan, was another deliberate act of provocation. You are also aware that Azerbaijan has already raised the issue of illegal settlement of Armenians in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan with many international organizations. This is a flagrant violation of international law. This is a violation of the Geneva Convention and it is a crime. They are moving Armenians from Lebanon to Shusha and other occupied territories. They demonstrate it, they show it on TV and on the Internet. As a matter of fact, they completely ignore the norms of international law and commit crimes. The reason they are able to do this is that there is no-one to stop them. The Minsk Group co-chairs do not stop them. The statements by the Minsk Group are not directly aimed at anyone. Because Azerbaijan has not taken any provocative steps. We did not attack them at the state border, we did not send a sabotage group, we did not announce the creation of a volunteer army, we did not commit any other provocations. All provocations are committed by Armenia, and they are doing it deliberately, they are demonstrating it. The lack of international pressure on them which I have repeatedly raised in meetings with the Minsk Group co-chairs leads to very dangerous steps and may have unpredictable consequences, the head of state said. We have other information. According to our intelligence, very serious military training is under way, their armed forces are being concentrated on the line of contact, on the state border. We are monitoring the situation and will defend ourselves, as we have already done in Tovuz and in many other cases. If they attack us, they will regret it. I just want you to know about this and convey this message to the European Commission. I want to see what the European Commission will do to contain the new provocations of the aggressor, Azerbaijani president said. Last evening (September 25, 2020), when Sara Ali Khan along with her mom Amrita Singh arrived at the Mumbai airport from Goa, they witnessed some media personnel creating a chaos at the exit gate. Several videos of Sara and Amrita being mobbed by media are going viral on the internet, and netizens are anything but impressed. For the unversed, Sara has been summoned by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with the drugs nexus in Bollywood. Rakul Preet Singh And Deepika Padukone's manager Karishma Prakash Arrive At NCB Office It all started when the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's manager Jaya Saha's WhatsApp chat was retrieved by the NCB, and four actresses' name was allegedly found in the chat i.e., Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh. Sara Ali Khan has been asked to appear before the NCB on September 26. Coming back to Sara's viral video, netizens have been shaming the media channels, who are violating all the rules of journalism just for the TRPs. Many netizens wrote, "Shame on media" on the viral videos' comment section. While some are upset with media's behaviour at the public place, others slam the reporters for treating Sara as a criminal even before she has appeared before the NCB. "I wish real criminals were treated this way by the Indian media She doesn't deserve all of this I'm so sorry that any of this is happening to you Sara," wrote a user, while feeling sorry for the Kedarnath actress. Another user wrote, "Exactly!! Really it's disgusting to see how they are treating her this way!!! Shame on them ." "Media are no human being. They don't understand human feelings. Shame on media," wrote another user, while blasting media personnel. Meanwhile, many netizens have also come out in support of the Simmba actress and asked others to be patient and let the NCB do their job. Ranveer Singh Asks NCB To Let Him Join Deepika Padukone During Probe As She Suffers From Anxiety leader Charles Michel used the virtual pulpit of the UN General Assembly on Friday to lash out at for its threats to renege on parts of the withdrawal treaty it signed with the EU and warned that the 27-nation bloc won't back down in the final weeks of acrimonious talks on a free-trade deal. Michel made unmistakable references to the United Kingdom when he said that respect for treaties, a basic principle of law, comes to be considered optional even by those who, until recently, were its historical guarantors." All this in the name of partisan interests." he said in reference to the government of British Prime Minister The United Kingdom is a founding nation of the United Nations and a member of the Security Council, and the country has been a global diplomatic juggernaut for centuries. Michel's ire was raised when Johnson said he would contemplate breaking an agreement he himself signed with the EU. Johnson's proposed a bill earlier this month that would disregard part of the Brexit withdrawal treaty dealing with trade between the EU's Ireland and the United Kingdom. The withdrawal agreement officially allowed the United Kingdom to leave the bloc last January 31. The EU insists the full withdrawal bill must be respected for fear that it otherwise might re-ignite tensions on the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland has special status in the withdrawal agreement because it is the only part of the U.K. that shares a land border with an EU country. and the EU jointly promised in the Brexit divorce agreement to ensure there are no customs posts or other obstacles on the Northern Ireland-Ireland border. The open border is key to the stability that underpins the 1998 peace settlement that ended decades of violence between Irish nationalists and British unionists. At the same time, Michel also buttressed the position of the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, in his talks with the U.K. on a free trade deal by insisting the EU won't bend to unreasonable compromises. The talks have stalled over several issues, and the EU insists the U.K.'s negotiating strategy is to to hold on to the privileges it had as a member of the bloc without having to carry the burdens of that membership. The U.K. is seeking far-reaching access to the wealthy EU market, but doesn't want to live by the rules that underpin trade with the bloc. Access to our large market the second-largest economic zone in the world, and the first in terms of trade will no longer be sold off," Michel said. From now on, we will better enforce the level playing field, in a market open to those who respect its standards. Whether they leave our Union or want to move closer to it. (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.) Gramma used to tell me, You will be judged by the company you keep. I have proof she was right. Wed lived in Bentwater about 30 minutes when my bride learned of an event coming up at the Yacht Club. In her official capacity as social director, she called for reservations. Not knowing anyone in Bentwater (and only a few in all of Texas), when asked whether wed like to sit with anyone in particular she said, Just put us with the fun people. Turns out, Betty and Terry Bowie were a whole lotta fun, and theyve been amongst our bestest of friends ever since. Back then, the official POA Board was appointed by the developer, with a few residents pitching in as an Advisory Board. No votes, just opinions. Terry was active on that Advisory Board and, when another member resigned, at Terrys urging I accepted their appointment to temporarily fill in. Temporary? No way. Later, again at Terrys urging, I ran and was elected to a full term. In all, I had the pleasure of serving with Terry for five years. Eventually, as control of the POA transitioned from the developer to the residents, Board members began being duly elected by the residents of Bentwater. Having had years to learn the character of the man, I knew it was right when the first member elected was, who else, Terry Bowie. I also knew it was time for me to step away. Terry? Not so much. I never said he was smart, just dedicated. He continued to serve in that capacity through the full transition as, per the bylaws, the full Board became elected by the residents. They gracefully absorbed all the responsibility that was heaped on them and, like every great CEO, Terry was a calming force for an efficient and thorough transition. As a part of the latest trend on social media, a man from Uttar Pradesh shared his couple challenge post online. He manipulated his post on Twitter by including Hollywood actress Alexandra Daddario. The user by the name Akash Barnabas photoshopped the selfie in a bid to express his wishful thinking of the actress as his girlfriend. The Bareilly resident hopped on the trend and placed an imagery of him next to Daddario who is standing in a farm. Haters will say this is photoshopped #couplechallenge," Akash Barnabas tweeted, tagging the actress. The special edit of Daddario in the middle of a paddy field got the attention from none other but the actress herself. The American actress left the man in an utterly starstruck state by replying to his tag she received on social media. After she came across the picture, the 34-year-old retweeted it saying, This was such a fun weekend. This was such a fun weekend https://t.co/R7vpWA9CfH Alexandra Daddario (@AADaddario) September 24, 2020 Barnabas who was overjoyed reacted to the actress reply on his Twitter page. Many users of the micro-blogging site reacted to the surprising reply comment sent by Daddario to the man. Several people mentioned how lucky he is to get a reply directly from her. Others also expressed their jealousy but were happy for him. For those unversed, the latest trend that is taking the internet by storm is the couple challenge in which people in a relationship post pictures of themselves together with their partners with the hashtag #coupleschallenge. From romantic poses to fun memes, the latest trend is viral not just Twitter, but also Facebook, entertaining netizens. Alexandra Daddario is known for essaying the role of Annabeth Chase in the Percy Jackson film series. She is also popular for playing Blake Gaines in San Andreas, Summer Quinn in Baywatch, Emma Corrigan in Can You Keep a Secret? and Alexis Butler in We Summon the Darkness. She has also appeared in television series like White Collar, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, True Detective and American Horror Story: Hotel. Lucknow, Sep 25 (UNI) Abdullah Azam, son of Samajwadi Party MP from Rampur Azam Khan and disqualified from the membership of Suar assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh could be debarred from contesting elections for six years. Uttar Pradesh Assembly Secretariat has written a letter to the President of India to bar Abdullah from contesting any election due to his corrupt conduct. Abdullah was disqualified from UP assembly for submitting forged birth certificate during the election. Presently, Abdullah along with his father Azam Khan and MLA mother Tanzim Fatima were lodged in Sitapur jail over the fraud. According to sources here on Friday, UP Assembly Secretariat wrote a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind recommending that Abdullah Azam Khan should be barred from contesting elections under Section 8-A of the Representation of People Act, 1951, as he was convicted of corrupt conduct. On the basis of the letter sent by the Assembly Secretariat, the President would now get the consent of the Election Commission of India and after their approval will issue an order to bar him from contesting any election. The letter have cited that Allahabad High Court had rejected the election of Abdullah Azam Khan from Suar Assembly constituency in Rampur district for misrepresentation of facts related to his date of birth. Notably, a by-election is proposed on the Swar Assembly seat, which will be held along with 7 other assembly seats in UP very soon. Earlier in December 2019, Allahabad High Court had canceled the election of Abdullah Azam to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. His election was set aside for producing fake documents about his age during the 2017 Assembly elections. The court's ruling said that Abdullah was below the age of 25 when elections were held in 2017 and he forged documents to contest the election. According to Election Commission rules, a candidate has to be of a minimum age of 25 to contest elections in any form. On January 17 this year, the Supreme Court had issued a notice on a plea moved by Abdullah Azam but refused to stay the Allahabad High Court order or any other order to protect Abdullah from any coercive steps. UNI MB ASN 0923 Written by ACM *Strasbourg/Angelo Marcopolo/- In the Only quasi-Unanimously Adopted point, at EU Parliament's latest Resolution on Turkey, MEPs "Condemned" a New Aggressive "Turkeys Decision of 15 September" to issue another "NAFTEX" Sending its "Yavuz Drilling Ship" (escorted by WarShips, as usual) illegaly into EU Member Cyprus' Energy Resources Rich EEZ, "Until 12 October", (i.e. During almost a Month !). This Key Last-Minute Amendment (Tabled by Russo-German Jewish atypical "Green" MEP Sergey Lagodinsky, a USA's Harvard "Master" and Berlin's Humbold University "PhD" holder in Public Law on Human Rights) Succeeded to Get as much as 668 Votes in Favor, against Only 22 and 3 Abstentions, While, on the Contrary, During All Other Votes, on Various Other Aspects of that Issue about Turkey's Bullying at Eastern Mediterranean, and Violently Disputing to the EU the apparently Important Energy Resources that have Already Started to be Discovered there, (Particularly around EU Member Cyprus, as well as in Neighbouring and Friendly Cooperating Egypt and Israel, etc.), the EU Parliament appeared, More or Less, Divided... The Political Importance of that Unique quasi-Unanimously Adopted point, is Obviously, that it Reveals that Turkey, Instead of having, at last, Started to Play the Game according to Peaceful Negotiations with EU Members Greece and Cyprus, as the Initial Version of the Draft Resolution Supposed, f.ex., when it "Welcomed Turkeys Decision on 12 September ... to withdraw its seismic research vessel Oruc Reis, thus taking a 1st Step to Easing the Tensions", (as Ankara had been Repeatedly Urged by the EU to do), on the Contrary, it had, with such Dilatory Manouvers, Waited until EU Parliament's Vote, before Showing Ankara's Real Face, by Committing a New (and Even Longer than Before) Blatant Violation of International Law, Based on escorting Turkish WarShips' Brutal Force, Against Europe's Natural Energy Resources, located around EU Member Cyprus. Greece Might, probably, have Important Oil/Gas Resources at the Aegean Sea, and/or around Creta Mediterranean Island. However, this has Not Yet been clearly Proven. But Near Cyprus' Southern Coasts, the Existence of Important Gas Energy Resources has Already been Proven Recently, so that, Added to those Found by Israel and Egypt at the Proximity, the Total could, certainly Boost Europe's Economy for a Long Time in the Future. Thus, at least as things stand until Now, Cyprus' EEZ is the Biggest Issue for the EU. => As a Consequence, the Main Points where EU Parliament appeared mostly Divided on Turkey, were 3 Other Amendments which, succesively, Asked to : (1) At last "Irrevocably Terminate" Turkey's Controversial and UnPopular EU bid, as former so-called "Candidate to Accesion"; (2) Put an "End" to "All Fundings" earmarked for Turkey, either as "Pre-Accession" Funds, or on Pretext of so-called "Refugees" and irregular "Migrants", as well as "EIB's Loans"; (3) Freeze, (at least for 6 Months, Reconductible) the Controversial EU - Turkey "Customs Union" of 1996, - from which Everything had Started, Curiously the 1st Time that ECHR Revealed, on 12/1995 in Strasbourg that Turkey had been Torturing and Murdering Dissidents, or Submitting Poor Families to Inhuman/Degrading Treatments (12/2015), and was Immediately Followed, inter alia, also by the "News" that Turkish Forces, (Shortly After the Customs Union had Started to Enter into Force from 1/1996), had Killed a Young Dissident by ...Crushing his Head. (Respectively : "Aksoy", "Akdivar", and "Goktepe" landmark Affairs). - The Reasoning behind that 1st Point was that "Turkey ...is Not a European Country", and "does Not Behave according to European Values, mainly those which aim to preserve a Peaceful Europe, so that it Must Not become an EU Member". Therefore the Amendment "Call(ed) ... the Turkish Government to Put an End to the Repeated Violations of the Greek and Cypriot Air Space and Territorial Waters", as well as "to Respect the Territorial Integrity of its Neighbours", (as Syria and Irak, in Addition to Cyprus and Greece, as well as Armenia, etc). Initially Tabled by several Rightist MEPs of the "ID" Group, from Various EU Member Countries, those 3 Amendments on Key Issues Attracted Votes Also from the "Conservative" Group, the "ChristianDemocrats/EPP" Group, the "Independents", Even the "Left", etc. Among the Mainstream "ChristianDemocrats/EPP" were also French Young Philospher Bellamy (Head of the French Delegation there), former Many Times Minister Hortefeux (a Sarkozy Faithful), former President of EU Parliament's Defense Committee Danjean, former Minister Morano from Nearby Lorraine, and Strasbourg's MEP Sander. Among the "Left"'s MEPs, Support was given by Villumsen, Vice-President of the Group, (and an Experienced, former Long-Time Top MEP at CoE's PanEuropean Assembly in Strasbourg), Member of Denmark's Governing Coalition. Among the "Independent" MEPs, for Cutting all EU Funds to Turkey Voted also Popular former Anti-Corruption Judge Miroslav Radacovsky from Slovakia, Famous for having Dared Face a former Head of State and Win the case, who was Elected for the 1st Time in EU Parliament. Around 150 MEPs were Constantly Involved in those 3 Critical Amendments for the Strongest ever Sanctions against Turkey, (f.ex. 107 Voting in Favour and 36 Abstaining, etc), and that was the Main Disagreement in this case, as they Obviously thought that EU did Not yet put Enough Sanctions on Ankara, as it should. The comparatively Most Popular for MEPs among those 3 Critical Amendments was that about immediately Cutting All EU Funds and other Economic Facilities to Turkey, (Comp. Supra). This (Obviously Important) Point Attracted Even the MEPs of the Italian co-Governing Party of "5 Stars" (created by Famous Bepe Grillo), inter alia. Such a Fact is, objectively, a kind of indirect Hommage to the just Tragically Deaceased Franco-Armenian Top Politician Patrick Devedjian, from a Family of Refugees, former Many Times Minister, Head of Governing Party, close Friend to Popular former President Sarkozy, and in charge of a Succesful Economic Revival Policy for France and Europe, at the Previous, 2008-2011 Crisis : Surprizingly, the Last Press Article Published by Devedjian in his Life, Just Before he was Killed by an (UnKnown Origin) Virus' Infection, Curiously almost Immediately after Entering a Hospital, was Titled : -"Oppose Turkey and Support Europe !", and, Practicaly, Focused mainly on Calling to Stop EU Funding for Ankara, as a Sanction for a Long List of WrongDoings against EU Countries and Europe itself, which Needs to be Stengthened, (See : ..., etc). ----------------------- - On the Contrary, MEPs' Votes showed that the Less Backed concrete Point, in this Resolution, was a Strange Call for ...Trans-Atlantic NATO (sic !) to "Mediate" in "Eastern Mediterranean", between EU Countries and Turkey, (sic !), as if Europe could Not Defend itself vis a vis Ankara, - Not Even some ...450 Years After the 1st Victory of a European Army in History, which was the Famous Naval Battle at "Lepanto", Already as Early as Back on 1.571, when Many European Countries had United Together in order to Succesfully Face the Ottoman-Turks, as a Sanction for their Brutal Aggressions ...in Cyprus ! (See : ..., etc). The Move was Notoriously Followed, at the Aftermath, by More European Armies' Historic Victories against Ottoman-Turks at Wien (1.683), Budapest (1.696), Navarino (1.827), the last 2 Together with Russians, etc., until the Greek Revolution of 1.821 (whose Centenary Anniversary is due to be Celebated Next Year, on 2021), through the Dismantlement of the Declining Former Ottoman-Turk Empire also in Arab Countries, which Gained their National Independence, (under the Brillant Guidance of Young, then, Winston Churchil), just After the Armenian Genocide of 1.908-1.915, up to the Landmark "Treaty of Sevres" (near Paris), on 1.920, when "the Turkish Problem" had been Definitively Solved, for Ever, (Liberating All National Minorities in Anatolia Plateau : Armenians, Greeks, Kurds, Assyrians, etc), ... IF Trotski's Cynical but "Real-Politics" Move to practicaly Save from Total Ruins a Residue of Turks, at the Last Minute on 1.922, (when the Greek Army had arrived just ...40 Km from Ankara !), in order to Throw Against the rest of a Divided Europe a TroubleMaker "Turkey", from which it still Suffers Nowadays (NATO's "Brain Death" included), had Not "met", objectively, Also a Trans-Atlantic Canada-USA Emerging Selfish Power, Both DisRegarding, then, a Divided Rest of Europe..., Suddenly Weakened as Never, Suffering by 2nd World War Destructions and Global Competition, ...Unless the right Development of a Brand New "European Union" might, Hopefully, Mark a real "Renaissance" Now. ----------------------- + For the Rest, EU Parliament's Resolution, Officialy Destinated to "the preparation of the Special" EU Heads of State/Government Summit in Brussels, (24-25 September 2020), "Focusing on the Dangerous Escalation and the role of Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean" Energy Sources, Adopted by a Strong Majority, Reminds, among others, Also the "Situation in Turkey", including "the Removal of Elected Mayors", the "Turkish Actions Creating Tensions in the EEZ of Cyprus", the "Negative Role of Turkey" against "Stability and Securiy in Eastern Mediterranean", the "illegal Drilling activities of Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean", the "Ajaccio Declaration after the ...MED-7 Summit of 10/9/2020" (Calling to "Use All adequate Means Available to the EU" in order to Face Turkey's Bullying; See .., etc), the "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)", etc. - The Resolution Denounces, from the outset, the Fact that "escalating Tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean ("an area of Strategic Importance for the EU") are Fuelled by Unilateral steps by Turkey, including Military action, the Lack of inclusive diplomatic Dialogue", and the Fact that "Turkey has Challenged its Neighbours with regard to international Law and the Delimitation of their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs)", "whereas Turkey has Not signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which Greece and Cyprus are parties", so that a "Dispute over the Delimitation of EEZs and ontinental shelf between Turkey on the one side and Greece on the other side has remained Unresolved Since November 1973", (i.e. Just at the Eve of Turkey's Military Invasion and -still persising- Occupation of Cyprus on 1974 !). + Significantly, more Tension Started to Grow "Since the Discovery of offshore natural Gas reserves in the early 2000s, ... whereas the discoveries of significant gas reserves in the Mediterranean, including the discovery of the Leviathan field in 2010, followed by the Zohr gas field, the Largest ever natural gas discovery in the Mediterranean Sea, off Egypt in 2015, sparked Interest in the region and led to Further Exploration and Drilling in 2018 and 2019", EU Parliament observes. - But, "the EU is clear and determined in Defending the European Unions Interests, demonstrating its unwavering Support and Solidarity with Greece and Cyprus and upholding international Law", according to that Resolution. - Meanwhile, "the illegal exploration and Drilling activities by Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean are Resulting in an intense and Dangerous Militarisation of the Eastern Mediterranean, ;...whereas to support Greece and Cyprus, France deployed two naval vessels and fighter jets on 12 August in the area, and took part in military exercises together with Greece, Cyprus and Italy, on 26 August" 2020, it notes, (as far as Concrete Efforts to Protect common European Interests are concerned. + In Addition, on 10 June a French naval vessel was met with an extremely hostile reaction by Turkish warships when it was, in the framework of the Sea Guardian NATO mission, requesting to inspect a Turkish vessel suspected of violating the UN arms embargo on LIBYA; whereas Greece has recorded over 600 VIOLATIONS OF its AIR SPACE by the Turkish Air Force since January 2020; whereas these activities by Turkey are accompanied by increasingly HOSTILE RHETORIC against both Greece and Cyprus, other EU Member States, and the EU itself", MEPs Denounced. - When, "in January 2019, the governments of Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority established" a ..."Gas Forum", at South-Eastern Mediterranean, "a multinational body tasked with developing a regional Gas Market and a mechanism for Resource Development", then, "this has been Criticised by Turkeys Ministry of Foreign Affairs", Seeking to Impose its troublesome and Unrelated Interference..., (Despite the Fact that Ankara is Not Located in the SOUTH-Eastern Mediterranean, is Neither Producing, Nor Transporting Mediterannean Gas from/to Any of those Countries, and Refuses Even to Recognize a Key Country among them, But, on the Contrary, has notoriously sent its Military Troops to Invade and still Occupy a Large Part of its National Territory !). - Obviously Isolated, "Turkey" found Only ..."the (Notoriously Controversial) Libyan GNA", Tripoli's so-called "Government", (which does Not Control the 2/3 of the Country, Neither its Parliament, Nor the Libyan Army, while being Threatened Even up to Tripoli's Outskirts themselves, its Airport having been Bombed Out of Order since long), in order to "Sign... a MoU, in Nov. 2019, determining a ...Delimitation between the two Countries, Despite having No Adjacent or opposite Coasts". But, such a "Turkey-Libya MoU on the Delimitation of Maritime jurisdictions in the Mediterranean Sea Infringes the Sovereign rights of third Countries, does Not Comply with the Law of the Sea, and canNot Produce Any Legal Consequences for third countries", "whereas; IF Applied, this MoU would ...Threaten Mritime Security", MEPs Warn. + In Addition, "on 20 April 2020, Turkey sent the Drill ship Yavuz, accompanied by a Turkish (Military) navy vessel, into Cypruss EEZ", and "on 30 July 2020, ...the seismic research vessel Barbaros, accompanied by a Turkish Warship and a second support ship, into Cypruss EEZ"; on 10 August 2020, Turkey sent the Oruc Reis research vessel accompanied by 17 naval vessels (sic !) into Greek waters to map out sea territory for possible oil and gas drilling in an area where Turkey also claims jurisdiction; whereas Greece responded by dispatching its own warships to track the Turkish vessels, one of which collided with a Greek ship; ... on 31 August 2020 Turkey again extended its exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean by the Oruc Reis until 12 September; ... Turkeys naval alert (Navtex) concerns an area that is within Greeces continental shelf; ... these activities by Turkey have led to a significant deterioration in relations" with affected Countries", EU Parliament Critically Observed. => However, Until Now, the Only so-called "Sanction" by the EU on such a TroubleMaker Turkey, (and Despite the fact that EU Council "Repeatedly Expressed its Concerns, and Strongly Condemned the (illegal) drilling activities, in various sets of Conclusions, including the European Council conclusions of 22 March 2018 and 20 June 2019 : See ..., etc), was; More than 2 whole Years Later, "on 27 February 2020", to Merely "Put Two Executives (sic !) of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) on the EU Sanctions List, imposing a Travel Ban and an Asset Freeze, following Turkeys illegal Drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean"... In Other Words, Turkey may Hinder Europe from Peacefully Exploiting huge Energy Resources located a its EU Member States' EEZ, During More than 2 or 3 whole Years, while Also Dangerously Pushing at the Brink of War 2, 3, 4, 5 or More European Countries, if not EU in itself, as a whole, Adding, at the Same Time, a lot of Grosses Provocations, Slandering, and/or Insults, as well as Threats (including of War), etc., But, Nevertheless, an apparently Toothless EU Bureaucracy, (and/or a Fishy, "Fake European" Politician), simply does Nothing Serious vis a vis troublemaker Turkey, All these Years Long, But ...Only eyes 2 Obscure Staffers' Improbable Holidays in the EU, and/or their Private Assets, most probably in Turkey and, thus, untouchable by EU Services ! => In this Context, it was Obviously Inevitable that, at least "on 28 August 2020 the informal Council (Gymnich) meeting [NDLR : at Berlin]Called for +Further targeted Sanctions against Turkey, in the event that it does Not De-escalate Tensions in the region; whereas these restrictive Measures would be Discussed at the Special European Council Summit, on 24 and 25 September 2020". + But, in the Middle of that Road, "on 10 September 2020, national leaders at the MED-7 Summit of Mediterranean States ...expressed Regret that Turkey had Not Responded to the EUs repeated Calls to End its Unilateral and llegal Actions in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean", EU Parliament Denounced. Already, Meanwhile, "Mediation Attempts, led by the German Council Presidency ("Togetehr With" the "BP/HR Borrell") over the months of July and August, Regrettably Failed", MEPs Regret. - The main Reason is that, "in order to allow the Dialogue to advance, Turkey has to Refrain from Unilateral Actions", EU Parliament's Resolution Reminds. + Even "NATO has also proposed various Initiatives for Dialogue between Greece and Turkey and brokered Talks between them", (But Not Cyprus, which is Not NATO Member, Despite of the Fact that, until Now, the Main Issue is that of Cyprus-related Energy Resources). - Indeed, also "Article 1 of the NATO Treaty provides that the parties ... undertake to Settle any international Disputes in which they may be involved by Peaceful means", "and to Refrain in their international relations from the Threat or use of Force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the UN". And the "UN Charter provides that States must undertake to Settle any international Disputes in which they may be involved by Peaceful means, in such a manner that international Peace and Security and justice are Not EnDangered, and to Refrain in their international relations from the Threat or use of Force", MEPs Reminded. ---------------------- >>> - At the Main part of EU Parliament's Resolution, it "is Highly Concerned by the ongoing Dispute and related Risk of further Mlitary Escalation in the Eastern Mediterranean". It "is firmly Convinced that a sustainable conflict reSolution can only be found through Dialogue, Diplomacy, and Negotiations, in a spirit of Good Will, and in line with International Law". - A Strong Majority of MEPs "Condemns Turkeys illegal activities in the continental shelf/EEZ of Greece and Cyprus, which Violate the Sovereign rights of EU Member States, and expresses its full Solidarity with Greece and Cyprus; Urges Turkey to engage in the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes, and to Refrain from any Unilateral and illegal action or Threat. - MEPS anew "Urge... Turkey to show Restraint, and to proactively contribute to De-escalating the situation, including by Respecting the territorial Integrity and Sovereignty of all of its neighbours, by Immediately Ending any further illegal Exploration and Drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, by Refraining from Violating Greek Airspace and Greek and Cypriot territorial Waters, and by distancing itself from nationalistic Warmongering rhetoric; Rejects the use of Threats and Abusive language towards Member States and the EU as Unacceptable". => On the Contrary, EU Parliament "expresses the Need to find a Solution by Diplomatic means, Mediation, and international Law, and strongly supports the return to the Dialogue between the parties". It "reiterates its Call on the Turkish Government to Sign and Ratify the UNCLOS (Treaty), and recalls that Even though Turkey is Not a Signatory" yet; Nevertheless, Internatonal "Customary Law", Already, provides for EEZs, Even for UnInhabited Islands"... - But, it "Deplores the fact that the increasing escalation of Tension, Undermines prospects for the resumption of direct Talks on the comprehensive reSolution of the Cyprus Issue", (which were just "Dynamitized", by Turkey's Latest "NAFTEX" of 15/9, for.illegal Drillings at Nicosia's EEZ, until Middle October, as Both Presidents of Greece and Cyprus' Parliaments just Denounced) ; and "Urges all parties concerned to actively support the Negotiations for a fair, comprehensive and viable Settlement of the Cyprus issue within the UN Framework, as defined by the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, in accordance with international Law, the EU Acquis, and on the basis of respect for the Principles on which the (European) Union is founded". - In this regard, MEPs "Welcome the Invitation made by the Governments of Cyprus and Greece to Turkey to Negotiate in good faith the maritime Delimitation between their respective Coasts", and "Urge... the Parties to Bring the relevant Disputes to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, or to resort to International Arbitration, in the event a Settlement canNot be Reached though Mediation". - Concerning "all (EU) Member States"' "Dialogue with Turkey", in general, the Resolution "Calls" (Also "on EU Commission") to be "Firmly Committed ...to the Fundamental Values and Principles of the (European) Union, including Respect for Human Rights, Democracy, the Rule of Law, and the principle of Solidarity". An Obviously Long Overdue, Key Point, at least Since the 2015 Massacres of Kurds inside Turkey, the 2016 Killings, even of Disarmed and Helpless Young Conscrits, Massive Jailings, Massive Oustings Even of Judges, Universitarians, etc, Added to the 2018 Bloody Turkish Military Invasion and Occupation of Peaceful "Afrin" Region in Syria, and the 2019 Bombings, Killings (even Torturing and Murdering "Future Syria"s Head, Hevrin Khalaf, a young Woman who notoriously struggled for Unity and Frienship : See ..., etc), and Turkish Military Invasion and Occupation of Most of Syria's Kurdish Region, (which was the Only one to Greatly Help the International Coalition to Fight against ISIS' Deadly Terrorists, Cowardly Targetting even Inocent Civilian People), make on 2020 an UnPrecedented Military Intervention inside Divided and Civil War torn Libya, Exporting there Extremist Islamist Armed Gangs (Dangerous for Europe, and Already Denounced by the UN for Grave Brutalities and Human Rights Violations against Civilian People), push a desperate Jailed Woman Lawyer to Die after a long Hunger Strike, reportedly Throw 2 poor Kurdish Farmers out of a Turkish Military Helicopter these days, (from whom 1 Barely Survived, almost Losing Conscience and Memory), etc+++... => In such Circumstances, no wonder why EU Paliament's Resolution also "expresses Serious Concerns about the current state of EU-Turkey Relations, mainly regarding the Dire Human Rights situation in Turkey and the Erosion of Democracy and the rule of Law; underlines the past and present Negative impacts of Turkeys unilateral Foreign Policy initiatives in the wider Region, and that Turkeys illegal exploration and Drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean further Add to the Deterioration of EU-Turkey relations in general, ... Deplores the Negative impact that current Turkish ... Actions in the Mediterranean" against "the stability of the region", in Addition to the 2 or 3 Turkish Military Invasions/Occupations inside Syria (at Afrin, Idlib, North-East, etc) and their "Consequences", (Comp. Supra). => For All those Reasons, in Concluding, an EU Parliament's Strong Majority Warns Turkey for "Sanctions", (which might "Only be Avoided through Dialogue, Sincere Cooperation, and concrete Progress on the ground", as it Asks, Otherwise, Threatening Ankara with "Restricitive Measures", "Sectoral and Targeted", "in the Absence of any Significant Progress". ----------------------------------------------- However, at the same time, the Last Paragraph of that Long Text, Curiously does Not Yet "Call" or "Urge" the forthcoming EU Summit to, Effectively, Impose, at last, Such "Sanctions" on an already Recalcitrant and Wrongdoing Turkey, But Only to ..."develop a List" (sic !) of Sanctions, and Even Less : Just to "Stand (re-sic !!) Ready" to (Eventualy) do so ! + Moreover, Majority MEPs Exclude Sanctions with any "Adverse impact on the People of Turkey, (or) on (EU's) Support to Turkey's Independent Civil Society", (Here Goes Most of EU's "Pre-Accession" Aid...), "or on the Refugees residing within Turkey", (There go the 3 Billions Each Year, in full Grants)... One Wonders IF it Remains Anything for Sanction, (and Whether EU did Alike in Sanctions to Russia, etc)... ++ In Addition, Many MEPs (and Even More EU Citizens) would certainly be Negatively Surprized, Fed Up, and Dismayed, by an UnTimely, UnExpected, and UnPrecedented ...Repetition, Too Many Times (More than 5 !), of a Long-Forgotten Wording, Naming "Turkey (as) n EU Canditate Country" (sic !) If the Real Authors of Such a Text have really "Forgotten" the 3 Loud "NO !" to Euro-Referenda in France, the Netherlands and Ireland, Already since 2005-2007, (the Last Ever, since then, with the Only "Exception" of Tiny Luxembourg, where Juncker had Threatened to Resign !), and Even Numerous Polls throughout Most European Countries, Since then, which Consistenly Show a Growing Refusal, by EU Citizens, of Any such eventual "Horror", or, perhaps, they do Not intend to participate in any Democratic Election in the foreseable Future... - In Fact, "Nowadays, Nobody dares, No More, to Plead for Turkey's Entry into the EU. But No State dares (yet) to Really Close the Door (to Ankara), anxious not to indispose the Sultan", Denounced French former Head of Governing Party, Many Times Minister, close Sarkozy's Faithful, and Succesful F. Minister responsible for Economic ReVival at the Previous Economic Crisis of 2008-2011, Patrick Devedjian, from a Family of Armenian Refugees rescapees of the Genocide, in his Last Published Press Article, just Before he was Suddenly Infected (by an UnKnown cause) and Killed with the Virus, a few Months ago... (See: ..., etc). +++ Moreover, Instead of Supporting a Crystal-clear Stance on the International Law of the Sea, at least in its more Substantial Principles, on the Contrary, that Text, Astonishingly, almost ...Pulverises the UNCLOS Treaty, by Multiplying, in a Key Paragraph, Relativistic Obscurantism's Wording of the kind : - "Developing (sic !) Law of the Sea" (NDLR: SInce the Early 1980ies...), which would be "Inherently Complex" (re-sic !!), and "Interpreted Differently by Greece and Turkey", with almost Equal "Mutual Claims", ("that the Interpretation of maritime Law by the Other Side is Against international Law and that the Activities of the Other Side are illegal"), resulting in a Mere "Dispute ...Between Turkey, on the One Side, and Greece, on the Other Side", (with ...Europe Condemned to Stay ...Out-Side, of unique European Natural Energy Resources !), which, Fataly, "has Remained UnreSolved since November 1973", (i.e. Just at the Eve of Turkey's Military Invasion/Occupation of the Northern Territories of Cyprus on July 1974)... ++++ Last, but not least, Instead of Launching a (too much Delayed) Call to all EU's 27 Member States to Urgently Send any Defense Support for the Protection of Frontline EU Members Greece and Cyprus, for Guarding EU's External Borders and precious European Natural Energy Resources, notoriously Threatened by Turkey's WarShips, on the Contrary, that partialy Strange Resolution, after Observing that France (Succefully) send its Army Airplanes and its Navy, Both in Cyprus and in Greece, while Italy "participated in Military Exercises" near the Greco-TurkIsh Coasts, on the Contrary, it Even "Calls on All (sic !) Actors involved ... to ... Withdraw Their Military Presence in the Region"... In Other Words, while Turkey would be Always Ready to Bring Back its Military WarShips just in a Few Minutes Time, on the Contrary, Europeans would have to ...Wait for French and/or Italian Navies to Travel All the Way Long from ...Havre, Bordeau, Marseille, Genoa or Venice, etc, up to the Aegean Sea ! Are they Suicide Maniaks, or Too Lazy to simply Read a (Long) Paper probably Drafted by some Corrupted Apparatchiks ? -------------------------------- Such Weak, Negative Points (which are Not the Only ones..) do Not Cancell the Different, above-mentioned, Strong Points in this EU Parliament's Resolution, (Comp. Supra). >>> Nevertheless, Obviously, IF Europe gets Trapped, and/or Hindered to Act Swiftly and Efficiently enough, in such a Landmark Case, (and After so Many toothless "Warnings" to Turkey repeatedly issued by Numerous EU Summits, during the Last 2 Years : 2018-2020), then, Inevitably, Nobody in the World (among the Many who are now Watching) would Ever take Seriously Any EU's Official Statement at all, in the Future ! => Hopefully, the forthcoming Exceptional EU Heads of State/Governments Summit, Focusing, precisely, on Sanctions for Turkey's Provocations and insults, WarMongering and Bullying by WarShips, in South-Eastern Mediterranean, (particularly After this Exceptional EU Parliament's quasi-Unanimity to Strongly Condemn Ankara's Latest NAFTEX for illegal Drillings in EU Member Cyprus' EEZ, Dated 15 September and Applicable until October 12 : Comp. Supra), is due to Arrive in Less than 1 Week's Time (September 24-25) ... (../..) ("DraftNews") There is no "church-like silence" in the NSW Drug Court, Senior Judge Roger Dive says. The court thrums with industry, with buzzing phones and pinging emails, and it is not unusual to hear a round of applause ring out. "Visitors might be surprised at how informal the judges' interactions with the participants are," Judge Dive said. NSW Drug Court Senior Judge Roger Dive. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer "I will tend to know the name of their dog and what team they support, if they follow rugby league. I'll tend to know ... if they are caring for their grandmother or their mother is in hospital." The specialist Drug Court, an Australian-first when it was established in 1999, sits in the Sydney CBD, Parramatta and the Hunter region. A popular supermarket has pulled strawberries from its shelves after a customer found a needle in the fruit. Anne Lentakis had purchased the punnet of Berry Indulgence from a Foodland in Stirling, Adelaide Hills, on Thursday. Ms Lentakis told ABC Radio she and her 11-year-old son had been cutting the fruit for an afternoon snack when they came across the contaminated strawberry. 'He cut one strawberry and found a pin deep inside the strawberry,' she said. 'He said to me, 'Mum, I think there's a pin in my strawberry'.' The distraught mother said her eight-year-old son later found another needle planted in a different strawberry. A popular supermarket has pulled strawberries from its shelves after a customer found a needle in the fruit Anne Lentakis had purchased the punnet of Berry Indulgence from a Foodland in Stirling, Adelaide Hills, on Thursday Ms Lentakis has since notified the fruit and vegetable store of the find and it has pulled the Berry Indulgence brand from its shelves. 'I think there have been things put in place since this happened before with metal scanning, so that was a bit confusing to wonder how and why this could happen but [he was] very appreciative that I had called him,' she said. 'He had jumped on the phone and activated their procedures.' South Australia police are reportedly investigating the incident. The harrowing find comes after several needles and thumbtacks were found in groceries at South Australian supermarkets in June and July. A metal needle was found in a punnet of strawberries and avocado and a thumbtack discovered in a loaf of bread after three different customers purchased the groceries from a Woolworths at Golden Grove, in north-Adelaide. Woolworths provided police with CCTV footage and also launched their own investigation. Ms Lentakis told ABC Radio she and her 11-year-old son had been cutting the fruit for an afternoon snack when they came across the contaminated strawberry The distraught mother said her eight-year-old son later found another needle planted in a different strawberry 'We've also commenced our own investigation with the assistance of our suppliers, in line with our established food safety procedures,' a supermarket spokesperson said at the time. Another customer also discovered a thumbtack planted in a strawberry after she purchased the fruit from a Foodland supermarket at Goolwa, south of Adelaide. A national health crisis was sparked in September 2018 when sewing needles were discovered inside strawberries on sale at major supermarkets. The contamination scare saw supermarkets pull punnets from their shelves and farmers dump the fruit by the truckload. Some consumers were reluctant to purchase strawberries and the decline in demand had a significant impact on producers. The estimated farm gate value of Queensland strawberries had declined by 8 per cent for 2018 to 2019, worth around $12million. New Delhi, Sep 25 : Cloud-based video conferencing service BlueJeans by Verizon has unveiled new features and upgrades for the next generation of Microsoft-certified BlueJeans Gateway for Teams. Organisations can now use their existing standards-based room systems to join Microsoft Teams Live Events via BlueJeans Gateway. The BlueJeans Gateway now uses the location of the call to automatically serve up appropriate in-language content for Japanese, German, Italian, Spanish, and French-speaking regions, the company said in a statement. "In-room participants will be able to see up to 49 attendees on the VTC monitor at one time". Additionally, the BlueJeans Gateway will support Microsoft's Together mode in Teams, which places participants together on a shared virtual background to replicate the feeling of being in the same physical space. The BlueJeans Gateway will also present in-room attendees with clear notifications when meeting recording and transcription are enabled. "Microsoft 365 admins can now visit the BlueJeans Gateway eCommerce store to procure their license and deploy the solution in 4 easy steps - entirely online," the company said. The BlueJeans Gateway for Microsoft Teams has been deployed globally to more than 400 organisations. "For organisations using Teams and plan to return to the office, the BlueJeans Gateway provides the ability to use existing conference room systems to join Teams quickly while minimizing the need for additional IT resources," it added. The 7x7 Gallery View with Together mode and the Enhanced Management features are scheduled to be released later this year. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The House, the most democratic institution in the three branches of government, has no role in selecting Supreme Court justices. Thats the purview of the president and the Senate, which means that the composition of the high court has a minoritarian, rural-state bias built into it as well. (According to a Washington Post-ABC News Poll, only 38 percent of Americans say the replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg should be nominated by Trump and confirmed by the current Senate; 57 percent say the nomination should be left to the winner of the presidential election, and put to a Senate vote next year.) Should a Trump nominee be confirmed, the Supreme Court will consist of six justices appointed by Republicans, even though the party has won the popular presidential vote only once in the past seven elections (George W. Bush, in 2004). BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks closed broadly lower on Friday as worries about surging coronavirus cases across several parts of the region and fresh lockdown restrictions, and continued uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery weighed on sentiment. Stocks regained some ground after a sharp setback, but still ended mostly lower. In Spain, authorities have warned of tougher times as the country's cumulative tally of confirmed coronavirus infections passed 700,000 on Thursday. The U.K. reported the highest number of new coronavirus cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic. France also reported a record number of Covid-19 cases, a day after the government announced new restrictions on bars and restaurants in major cities. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.1%. Germany's DAX slid 1.09%, France's CAC 40 shed 069%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100, which tumbled to a four-month low at one stage, recovered to close 0.34% up. Switzerland's SMI edged up marginally. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Portugal, Russia and Spain ended weak. Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Poland, Sweden and Turkey closed higher, while Iceland, Netherlands and Norway settled flat. Travel-related stocks were falling again. In the UK market, Carnival gained more than 4.5% and Avast ended higher by about 4%. Centrica, ITV, Pearson, Meggit, United Utilities and National Grid also ended sharply higher. Standard Chartered, Admiral Group, Smiths, Smurfit Kappa Group, J Sainsbury, Rolls-Royce Holdings and BHP closed lower by 1.6 to 3%. In the German market, Thyssenkrupp ended more than 5% down. Lufthansa, BMW, Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, Siemens, Bayer and Infineon Technologies also ended with sharp losses. In France, Credit Agricole, Total and BNP Paribas lost 3.3 to 4.5%. Societe Generale, Peugeot, STMicroElectronics, Pernod Ricard and Renault declined 2 to 3%. On the other hand, Safran and Veolia gained about 2.6% and 2%, respectively. Essilor, Sodexo and Atos also closed notably higher. Data released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed UK car production declined sharply in August as ongoing coronavirus crisis stalled efforts to ramp up output. Output fell 44.6% on yearly basis in August, the data said. Data from the Office for National Statistics said the UK budget deficit widened to the highest on record in August due to lower income and government's coronavirus relief schemes. Meanwhile, UK consumer confidence improved in September despite fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections, survey data from the market research group Gfk showed. The consumer confidence index rose unexpectedly to -25 in September from -27 in August. The score was forecast to remain at -27. A report from the European Central Bank said Eurozone money supply increased at a slower pace in August and credit to the private sector logged a steady growth. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Wrexham high school students celebrating after winning top award in global environmental competition This article is old - Published: Friday, Sep 25th, 2020 Students at a Wrexham high school are celebrating after scooping the top International Collaboration prize in the final of a global environmental reporting competition. Ysgol Clywedogs Eco-Action Taskforce Group, made up of twenty five students from year 7 through to 11, have been working for the past year on their video entry to the International Collaboration category of the Young Reporter for The Environment (YRE) Competition, in conjunction with their partner school, Colegio Enriquez Soler in Melilla in Spain. The students winning video entitled Plastic Waste An Intercontinental Problem highlights the damaging and long-term impact of single use plastics on the environment. Dr Christian Dunn from Bangor University, one of the countrys leading experts in micro plastics, and Helen Tandy, Chair, Chester & District Friends of the Earth, both lent their support to the video. The shortlisted entries were assessed virtually by the competitions International Jury, comprising experts from across the spheres of environmental journalism, corporate social responsibility, and Education for Sustainable Development. Nicholas Brown, head of geography, said: Qualifying as a finalist after winning the nationals earlier this month, where they were up against 182 entries from 31 countries, was an amazing achievement in itself, so to win in the finals really is a triumph. At the start of the project, our students looked back at last years competition winner and were doubtful about doing a similar or better job, but they have proved to themselves that they absolutely can do it, and win! They have competed on the world stage against students from all backgrounds which is a real confidence boost and I have no doubt that this experience, and working in collaboration with overseas students, will stand them in good stead for their future. Im looking forward to getting everyone back together and planning our entry for next years competition. We have developed a solid relationship with the students in Spain who are keen to continue working with us, so I am excited to see what we can achieve next. To get the project off the ground, students communicated their ideas to each other using web chats, mainly via Zoom. Fortunately, both teams had Spanish and English-speaking students. After creating a storyboard for the video, the teams filmed their respective pieces and the Ysgol Clywedog students undertook the editing. The Young Reporter for The Environment (YRE) Competition forms part of the schools Eco-Action Taskforce Groups wider Tyfu (Grow) project which has achieved numerous other accolades since it started in September 2019, including: the Woodland Trust Green Tree Gold School Award; Jane Goodalls Roots and Shoots Silver Award; The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) School Bronze Award and the Eco-Schools Bronze Award, as well as securing funding from MBNA and Airbus UK. Having already planted 250 trees in a nearby field, the group has ambitious plans for the coming year involving the completion of the schools allotment area, planting heritage apple, pear and cherry trees in conjunction with Brymbo Heritage Orchard Project, and working towards the schools first Green Flag Award as part of Eco-Schools. You can view the students winning video, here. NEW DELHI (dpa-AFX) - Oil inched higher on Friday, but remained on track for a weekly fall on concerns about the global resurgence of coronavirus infections and its effects on fuel demand. Benchmark Brent crude edged up 11 cents, or 0.25 percent, to $42.05 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 5 cents, or 0.1 percent, at $40.36. Brent is on track for a 3 percent loss this week, while U.S. crude is heading for a drop of nearly 2 percent on growth worries and amid expectations that the prospect of the return of Libyan barrels to the market will add to supply. U.S. coronavirus cases topped 7 million, accounting for more than 20 percent of the world's total. In Europe, health officials warned of the risk of a potentially lethal 'twindemic of Covid-19 and the flu.' Authorities have warned of tougher times in Spain as the country's cumulative tally of confirmed coronavirus infections passed 700,000 on Thursday. The U.K. reported the highest number of new coronavirus cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic. France also reported a record number of Covid-19 cases, a day after the government announced new restrictions on bars and restaurants in major cities. 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. Main Content Goal 5: Central Veterinary Laboratories (CVLs) Diagnostic Capability Restoration in West Africa In 2018, USAID funded the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to renovate the CVLs in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. These laboratories provide animal diagnostic services and had been abandoned due to in-country unrest and economic decline. In collaboration with their Ministries of Agriculture, USAID and FAO refurbished the facilities to ensure animal disease testing could be conducted securely and effectively. Skills acquired through USAID-provided trainings for the staff of these laboratories enable them to detect and respond to zoonotic disease threats (diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans). As these CVLs serve as the governments only diagnostic veterinary laboratories in-country, they are essential to reviving the animal health sector and to protecting people from zoonotic diseases. These CVLs will diagnose diseases such as rabies, anthrax, avian influenzas, and brucellosis, which all have the potential to not only cause illness in humans but also greatly impact the economy through the loss of infected livestock. This international capacity-building activity will increase partner countries capabilities for timely detection and diagnosis of dangerous pathogens, which in turn will lessen the chances of these dangerous pathogens entering U.S. borders. Goal 5: Bioincident Recovery Stakeholder Engagement and Guidance Development Coordinating recovery support and long-term mitigation activities across all levels of governmentas well as international, nongovernmental, and private sector partners drives effective and efficient recovery operations and promotes resilience within communities affected by disasters. To that end, during FY 2019, ASPR hosted a national recovery summit and a series of workshops across the country with the focus on postbioincident recovery. ASPRs Division of Recovery used information gathered during the summit and the workshops, along with available publications, to develop national bioincident recovery guidance to advance national, state, and community-based planning for recovery from bioincidents. To improve bioincident recovery, stakeholder engagement workshops focused on the following primary areas : Coordination with emergency management; Healthcare delivery system impacts; State and local public health recovery challenges; Support for vulnerable populations; Legal considerations; Tribal and rural perspectives; Inclusion of other disciplines, partners, and core missions (environmental, behavioral health, and social services); Risk communications; Reconstitution of healthcare workforce; and Value of expert networks in recovery. The national summit, hosted on October 26, 2018, framed national-level issues and engaged stakeholders from all levels of government and partners outside of the government. The stakeholders identified two primary challenges to recovering from a bioincident: the lack of an intergovernmental standardized framework or organizing structure for bioincident recovery and the difficulty in prioritizing recovery resources to target the greatest areas of impact and need due to the complexity of bioincidents. The national summit also identified two best practices for bioincident recovery: ensuring inclusiveness of a broad array of stakeholders from across the community, and developing guidance for local decision makers, particularly for institutions that will play a major role following a bioincident, to improve coordination during recovery. The national summit also provided a framework for the design of five regional workshops on bioincident recovery. By engaging more than 200 stakeholders on recovery best practices, needs, considerations, and lessons learned, the regional workshops demonstrated successful collaboration with SLTT public health professionals, non-government partners, and other entities in the private sector. << Previous --------- Top of Page --------- Next >> BOGOTA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Deadly violence against community leaders and human rights activists in Colombia increased in the first half of the year compared to the first six months of 2019, despite a national quarantine to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report published on Tuesday. Between January and June this year, 81 social, political and community leaders were killed in Colombia, up from 61 in the first half of last year even though incidents of violence and attacks fell 2%, according to a study by local civil rights group the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE). The report did not specify which armed groups were responsible for the murders, attacks and threats. The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. The government accuses left-wing guerrillas from the National Liberation Army, ex-members of the FARC rebels who reject a 2016 peace deal and criminal groups of former right-wing paramilitaries of attacking activists as the groups seek to control drug trafficking and illegal mining areas. Though the South American country of 50 million people had a national quarantine in place from late March until the end of August, violence in remote areas against social, political and community leaders did not let up, the report said. The attacks have become one of the main challenges for the government of President Ivan Duque, with advocacy groups and critics in the international community calling for action. "Local leaders continue to be victims of violence at the hands of armed groups and other actors who hold different economic, political, social and environmental interests," MOE director Alejandra Barrios said in the report. "If urgent measures for individual and collective protection are not taken, we will be left without democratic leadership." Authorities said troops were being sent to restore calm to a rural part of Cauca province after six people were killed in an attack on Sunday that army Commander Marco Mayorga blamed on dissident FARC guerrillas. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta Additional reporting by Nelson Bocanegra Writing by Oliver Griffin) Ask Dr. Land: Is it OK for people's religious faith to influence their role in public office? Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Question: How should a persons religious faith, or lack thereof factor into their fitness for office? As we anticipate President Trumps nomination of a candidate to replace the late Associate Justice Ruth Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, this is a valid and relevant question to ask. Odds are high that the nominee will be a Roman Catholic, although at least one of the final five is an Evangelical. In the case of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the question of her devout Catholic faith was raised rather infamously by Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) when she said, Whatever a religion is the dogma lives loudly within you and thats of concern. That, of course is a highly inappropriate question to ask an American jurist. Judges in the American constitutional system are supposed to interpret the law as it is, not as they would like for it to be. That is the fundamental, thumb-nail definition of what a strict-constructionist, original intent jurist is as opposed to those judges who feel free to look upon the Constitution as a living, breathing document that judges are free to treat as a legal Rorschach test they can see however they like. If Judge Barrett is a strict constructionist (and she and the other four finalists are), then personal religious faith is irrelevant to their fitness to sit as a judge. Now, when it comes to politicians running for elected office, the calculus is somewhat different. If their faith is important to them and will impact their positions on public policy issues, they should tell the voters the what, when, and how of what that impact would be. Then the voters can decide if that is the Congressman, Senator, Governor, or President they desire. Perhaps the best example of handling this issue I have witnessed involves Senator John F. Kennedy and his presidential run in 1960. Then Senator Kennedy would have been, if elected, the first Roman Catholic president in the U.S. history. Many people were fearful that the pre-Vatican II Catholic hierarchy would wield influence over a Catholic president that a majority of Americans would find unacceptable. Sen. Kennedy decided to address the issue directly and forthrightly. In September 1960 Senator Kennedy came to Houston, Texas to address the Greater Houston Ministerial Association (a broad range of Protestant denominations). It was treated as a big deal by the candidate, the ministers, and the media. (Many years later I became friends with the newspaper publisher John Seigenthaler, who was a Kennedy aide there in attendance at this meeting. I asked him how the Senator and the staff viewed the event. He replied that the atmosphere was tense and that the Senator and his staff felt this could very well be a deal maker or a deal breaker. JFK wasted no time getting down to the issue at hand. With a hint of irritation in his voice, JFK said, Because I am a Catholic and no Catholic has ever been elected president, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured. . . . so it is apparently necessary for me to state once again not what kind of church I believe in, for that should be important only to me but what kind of America I believe in. He then declares his strong belief in separation of church and state. JFK declares, I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be a Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote. . . . After declaring his vision of an America where religious intolerance would someday end where all men and all churches are treated as equal . . . , JFK once again stresses, I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Partys candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic. He then declares, I do not speak for my church on public matters and the church does not speak for me. At this point JFK threads the needle as well as it can be threaded, declaring his religion informs his conscience, but I will make my decision . . . in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise. Then JFK delivers the ultimate point of his defense. He explains, If the time should ever come . . . when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same. Frankly, as a Baptist, I could not have asked for a better answer. The pastors were by and large convinced, and the issue of JFKs Catholicism receded in the public eye, and he won the election a little over a month later. JFKs words offer wise guidance for Americans today. Syracuse, N.Y. Mayor Ben Walsh today appointed Common Councilor Tim Rudd to a top job in his administration. Rudd will start as director of the Office of Budget and Management on Thursday, Oct. 1. Rudd, a Democrat, has sparred often with Walsh, an independent, and members of his administration. He led an effort to reject Walshs proposed contract deal with the police union, arguing the deal was too expensive for the city. Hes often been critical of legislation regarding city finances. In a statement Friday, Walsh acknowledged past tension with Rudd, but said Rudds persistence will be an asset to City Hall. As common councilor, Tim Rudd has proven to be a relentless advocate for the citys fiscal stability," Walsh said. "He challenges the status quo, and in these extraordinary times, thats a perspective that can be helpful to government. We havent always seen eye-to-eye, but we share the same passion to protect the citys financial health and achieve long-term fiscal sustainability. I am pleased to welcome him to our team. Rudd has been chair of the councils finance committee since he took office in 2018. Prior to that, Rudd spent three years as an analyst in the New York City budget office under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He oversaw the $1 billion budget for the citys corrections department. After that, he worked for MDRC, a non-for-profit that analyzes the fiscal impacts of government policies. He has also worked as a teacher in the Syracuse City School District and at Manlius Pebble Hill. He lives on Glenwood Avenue with his wife and children. Rudds salary will be $89,557. Rudds appointment will leave a vacant at-large seat on the Common Council. The council has the option to appoint a new member to fill that seat until the 2021 election. As laid out by legislation last year, the council will solicit resumes from anyone interested in the position and conduct a public interview. Councilor Khalid Bey said he expects the council to fill the vacant seat within the next two to four weeks. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.25 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Azerbaijan transported over 1.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey in July, thereby maintaining its leading position among natural gas exporters to this country, Trend reports citing the Energy Markets Regulatory Authority (EPDK). Azerbaijan is followed by Russia with 843 million cubic meters and Iran with 664 million cubic meters. Imports from Azerbaijan and Iran increased by 21.5 percent and 9.5 percent respectively as Russia sent 28.4 percent less gas to Turkey compared to last year. Turkeys natural gas imports decreased by 4.5 percent in July compared to the same month of last year. Over 2.6 bcm were transported to Turkey via pipelines and 508 million cubic meters (mcm) by the liquified natural gas (LNG) facilities. During this period, imports by pipelines dropped by 3.1 percent compared to the figures reported in July of last year and LNG imports fell by 11.2 percent. With that said, natural gas imports dropped to just over 3.1 billion cubic meters, indicating a 4.5 percent decrease compared to the same month of 2019. Turkey imports gas from Azerbaijan through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Gas Pipeline. Under the contract, Turkey annually buys from Azerbaijan 6.6 billion cubic meters of gas produced at the Shah Deniz field. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn BASEL, Switzerland Sept. 24, 2020 Hisham Hamadeh Othmar Pfannes Switzerland Germany Japan Singapore Miles Fisher-Pollard /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Genedata, the leading provider of enterprise software solutions for biopharmaceutical R&D, today announced the release of Genedata Profiler 15.0, the latest version of its enterprise software that makes translational and clinical research data more accessible, enabling scientists to make data-informed decisions through all stages of biopharma development. The latest release adds a highly intuitive portal that enables researchers and clinical scientists to find, access, and integrate the most relevant data for their specific application in a secure, high-performance, validation-ready environment.Genedata Profiler 15.0 is the result of a development project in close collaboration between Genedata and Genmab, an international biotechnology company specializing in the creation and development of differentiated antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer."We have the brightest data scientists in the industry working on advancing our products through all stages of development with the goal of bringing effective therapies to patients as quickly as possible," said, Ph.D., Vice President, Global Head of Data Sciences at Genmab. "The Genedata Profiler platform is used productively in a validated environment and is helping to democratize access to integrated data in the translational research and clinical settings."New features in Genedata Profiler include a new Data Portal with an interactive interface for secure self-service data access across all available studies and experiments, automated Data Ingestion Workflows with a wizard-like interface to load, structure, and quality-control data, and the improvement of interoperability with third-party tools to ingest, process, quality-control, and analyze data programmatically."We are excited about the success of our partnership with Genmab, a pioneer in the field of innovative biopharmaceuticals," said, Ph.D., CEO of Genedata. "The latest release of Genedata Profiler addresses key requirements of innovative biopharmaceutical R&D organizations. As the single source of truth for all translational and clinical research data, Genedata Profiler fuels innovationa big step in biopharma digitalization. We look forward to expanding the Genedata Profiler platform over the next few years with our partners, to enable them to bring innovative biotherapeutics to the market even faster."About Genedata Genedata transforms data into intelligence with innovative software solutions and domain-specific consulting services that automate complex, large-scale experimental processes and enable organizations to maximize the ROI in their R&D, spanning early discovery all the way to the clinic. Founded in 1997, Genedata is headquartered inwith additional offices in, the UK, and the US.http://www.genedata.com LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTubeContactGenedata Public Relations Phone: +41 61 511 85 61 pr@genedata.comDisclaimer The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties related to contract cancellations, developing risks, competitive factors, uncertainties pertaining to customer orders, demand for products and services, development of markets for the Company's products and services. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.All product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.SOURCE Genedata AG The head of the parliamentary Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, Danylo Hetmantsev (Servant of the People faction) expects the presidential bill on tax amnesty to be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada in the coming days. "The goals are clear. The tasks are defined. The text has been agreed," the head of the committee wrote on Facebook on Friday night. According to him, the amnesty has several tasks: to enable people to come out of the shadows before the introduction of automatic exchange of tax information, to attract money to the economy and the budget, although the latter goal is not the main one. "If we talk about the amount of grey money in the savings of citizens, of course, no one knows the exact amount. According to our calculations, it is about $50 billion. If we manage to withdraw at least 10, it will be a victory, in my opinion," Hetmantsev said. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in May that he expects the introduction of a capital amnesty in 2020, announcing the early registration of the relevant legislative initiatives in the Rada. "We will introduce an amnesty this year - we must do it, we agreed and promised to people. True, now there were proposals for a percentage of 5% both for money and for real estate [...] I think today the situation in the country is difficult, we have to think about these percent. If a person has some kind of real estate or other objects, this percentage should be diminished," the head of state said. "Perhaps real estate can be amnestied at a lower percentage or even zero," he said. Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko reported two weeks ago that the bill on one-time declaration and tax amnesty developed by the Finance Ministry had been sent to the President's Office. (Photo : resourc.ly/YouTube) Geologists Mining for Gold Discover 100-Million-Years-Old-Meteorite Crater Five Times the Worlds Second Largest Crater (Photo : resourc.ly/YouTube) Geologist and geophysicist Dr. Jayson Meyers (Photo : resourc.ly/YouTube) Exciting finds in Ora Banda (Photo : resourc.ly/YouTube) Exciting finds in Ora Banda (Photo : Unesco) Vredefort Dome Geologists spotted rocks while digging up near the historic Goldfields mining town of Ora Banda in north-west of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. They searched in the place and found a massive meteorite crater. Researchers used electromagnetic surveys to create images of the impact site below the surface. The now called Ora Banda Crater stretches three mile across and is believed to be around 100 million years old. Geologist and geophysicist Dr. Jayson Meyers who led the Evolution Mining team told ABC that they estimate the crater is around 100 million years old based on its position and levels of erosion as well as some of the soil that filled the sides. Researchers also suggest it was formed from a large impacting object like a meteorite based on recovered shoot cones, which were created from the high velocity, high pressure shock waves produced. They also found ancient plant material in sediments, which will be analyzed by paleontologists for microscopic pollen to get a more accurate age of the hole. Dr. Meyers take the Ora Banda crater as a gift for geologists who were merely drilling holes for gold, but discovered "some very unusual rocks." He added that these geologists believe they have not seen anything like these rocks and "thought this could be a result of a meteorite impact." Curtin University assists Meyers in investigating droplets of glass along with zircons and other minerals found in the shoot cones to find a more exact date when the impact happened. Meyers told resource.ly that the energy released from an asteroid crash would be more powerful than "the combined energy from every atomic test ever conducted." While the team believes the crater is created about 100 million years ago, it is also possible that could be around 250 million to 400 million years old. If the asteroid hit during the Cretaceous period, it would not have an effect on dinosaurs, which were casualties of an asteroid that hit about 66 million years ago and left a huge crater about 90 miles across in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Read also: NASA Says Asteroid SW 2020 Will Pass Really Close to Earth Tonight! Here's How to Watch This could be the second largest crater Dr. Meyer described their discoveries in Or Banda is highly rare that can only be seen perhaps "one every 20 years." Meyers also described the gold they found on site. "The gold is about 2.6 billion years old," said Meyers adding that perhaps the asteroid has smashed it into pieces and displaced some of it. Researchers believe that Ora banda crater is five times bigger than the famous Wolfe Creek Crater in Northern Australia, which was formed by a meteorite that crashed into Earth about 300,000 years ago. The massive Wolfe Creek measures 875 metres in diameter and is believed to be the second largest crater in the world while Ora Banda is estimated to be around 5 kilometres wide. However, unlike Wolfe Creek that is visible in the surface, Ora Banda was filled with younger sediments to form a flat landscape. Meanwhile, the world's largest crater remains Vredefort Dome located approximately 120 km south-west of Johannesburg in South Africa. It is believed to be left by an astrobleme, which is a larger meteorite structure dated 2,023 million years old. It has a radius of 190 km, which is the largest and the most deeply eroded surface on Earth. In 2005, the crater was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Read also: Asteroid Flyby Alert: NASA Warns of Two Asteroids Making Their First Near-Earth Approach; Are We Safe? This is owned by Tech Times Written by CJ Robles 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Senior Tamil Nadu BJP leaders including former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan on Friday flayed the DMK for criticising the Centre's farm bills adopted by Parliament recently, wondering what more than Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance on MSP was required. Another leader, H Raja, took a dig at DMK president M K Stalin on his "basic knowledge on agriculture will suffice" remark. DMK has strongly opposed the three bills, saying they will lead to farmers being "enslaved" to corporte houses. The party and its allies will stage state-wide protests against the bills on Monday. Lashing out at the opposition parties for their scheduled protests, Radhakrishnan accused the DMK and Congress of "attempting to derail development." "The Congress could not deliver upon its promise to farmers while its ally the DMK needlessly opposes the farmer-friendly legislations," Radhakrishnan told PTI. He claimed only the DMK in Tamil Nadu and the Congress-ruled states were opposed to the three Bills on agriculture reforms. The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 were introduced in the Parliament on September 14 to replace the ordinances issued during the lockdown. Radhakrishnan further said the Prime Minister has already assured that the MSP will be ensured. "What more does the DMK and Congress want than the Prime Minister's assurance on MSP " he asked. Modi had earlier asserted that the farm sector reform bills passed by Parliament were the need of 21st century India and reassured farmers that the government purchase of their produce coupled with minimum support price (MSP) mechanism will continue. On the DMK leader pointing to Punjab and north Indian states opposing the legislations, Radhakrishnan shot back, "who is ruling Punjab," where the Congress is in power. These legislations, the former minister argued, were brought by the Modi government as part of the PM's vision to double farmers' income by 2022. "These are central to farmer's welfare and would reduce agrarian distress and bring parity between income of farmers and those working in non-agriculture professions," Radhakrishnan said. H Raja, another senior leader, pointed out Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said farmers will be freed from the restrictions of having to sell their produce at designated places only, and the procurement at MSP will continue and mandis established under state laws will also continue to operate. Referring to Stalin's remark that one need not be a farmer to comment on the bills but basic knowledge on agriculture and concern for farmers will suffice, Raja stated it only reminded him of the parable of "five visually impaired men who describe an elephant." During the course of exchange of words on the matter, Chief Minister K Palaniswami had remarked that the DMK leader lacked knowledge on agriculture and hence his opposition to the bills. Unlike Stalin, he was a farmer, the chief minister had said recently. Retorting, the DMK chief had said one need not be a farmer to express opinion on the bills but basic knowledge on agriculture and concern for farmers would suffice. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:00:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SHANGHAI, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The third China International Import Expo (CIIE) scheduled for November in Shanghai has opened for media registration, organizers said. The registration, which began on Sept. 24, will be open until Oct. 20 on the CIIE website, app and official WeChat account. Due to COVID-19 control, only Chinese mainland journalists, and journalists from China's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as well as foreign media, who are based on the Chinese mainland are invited to cover the event. Journalists are required to follow epidemic control measures while reporting at the expo venue. The CIIE will be held from Nov. 5 to 10 this year. Enditem CANBERRA, Australia: China appeared to be expanding its network of secret detention centers in Xinjiang, where Muslim minorities are targeted in a forced assimilation campaign, and more of the facilities resemble prisons, an Australian think tank found. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute used satellite images and official construction tender documents to map more than 380 suspected detention facilities in the remote Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, highlighting reeducation camps, detention centers and prisons that have been newly build or expanded since 2017. The report builds on evidence that China has made a policy shift from detaining Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in makeshift public buildings to constructing permanent mass detention facilities. This is despite Chinese state news agency Xinhua reporting late last year that trainees attending vocational education and training centers" meant to deradicalize them had all graduated. Regional government chairman Shohrat Zakir was quoted as saying foreign media reports of 1 million or 2 million people attending these centers were fabricated. Predominantly Muslim minorities in the remote Xinjiang region have been locked in camps as part of a government assimilation campaign launched in response to decades of sometimes violent struggle against Chinese rule. Some have been subjected to forced sterilization and abortion, and in recent months, ordered to drink traditional Chinese medicines to combat the coronavirus. Australian Strategic Policy Institute researcher Nathan Ruser wrote in a report released late Thursday: Available evidence suggests that many extrajudicial detainees in Xinjiangs vast re-education network are now being formally charged and locked up in higher security facilities, including newly built or expanded prisons, or sent to walled factory compounds for coerced labor assignments. At least 61 detention sites had undergone new construction and expansion work in a year to July 2020, the report said. These included at least 14 facilities still under construction this year. Of these, about 50% are higher security facilities, which may suggest a shift in usage from the lower-security, re-education centers toward higher-security prison-style facilities, Ruser wrote. At least 70 facilities appeared to have lesser security by the removal of internal fencing or perimeter walls, the report said. These included eight camps that showed signs of decommissioning, and had possibly been closed. Of the camps stripped of security infrastructure, 90% were lower security facilities, the report 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 The head of a Kosovo war veterans group was arrested on Friday and sent to The Hague on accusations of witness intimidation, a war crimes court said, days after his association said it had received classified court files. The arrest was carried out in a raid of the veterans headquarters in Pristina with the help of heavily armed EU security police from the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX). The veterans had said they received three anonymous packages of confidential files from the Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers. The documents included information about protected witnesses and upcoming indictments, they said. The leader of the veterans group, Hysni Gucati, was detained and transferred to The Hague under an arrest warrant for offences against the administration of justice, namely intimidation of witnesses, retaliation and violation of secrecy of proceedings, the specialist court said in a statement. Gucati and the other veterans were members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian guerrilla group that waged a 1998-99 independence struggle against Serbia. Several of their former top commanders are under investigation by the Hague tribunal for war crimes from that conflict. The court operates under Kosovo law but is based in the Netherlands to shield witnesses from intimidation in Kosovo, where former KLA commanders have long dominated political life. Kosovo President Hashim Thaci the rebels former political chief was the first to face accusations from the court prosecutors earlier this year. He was accused of being criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders in an indictment filed to the court. Many KLA veterans fiercely oppose the tribunals mandate, defending their just liberation war against Belgrades oppression of Kosovos ethnic Albanian population. The conflict left 13,000 people dead, mainly ethnic Albanians, and saw several top Serbian officers and police later jailed for war crimes. The KSC is investigating claims that the Kosovo rebels waged a campaign of revenge attacks on Serbs, Roma and ethnic Albanian rivals during and after the war. For Will Bradley, a first-year history undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh, Thursday was a day when the bad news kept coming. First, the 18-year-old heard Scotlands 300,000 students were being banned from visiting pubs and restaurants this weekend as part of a coronavirus clampdown. Then came the announcement that returning home to visit family was to be classed as mixing with other households and, as such, illegalised for the foreseeable future. Finally, at 10pm, he received an email from the university. Someone in his halls had been displaying Covid-19 symptoms and Bradley would be required to stay alone in his own bedroom with a bed, a desk, a sink until that person had taken a test. Its not exactly how I imagined my first few weeks at uni going, he tells The Independent today. Ive got a packet sandwich and a couple of cans of beer. So thats my Friday night. The weekend without pubs and the brief period of isolation, he says, he can live with. But the thought he cannot see his family back home in Worcester, possibly until Christmas, is harder. 'Not exactly how I imagined my first few weeks at uni', says Will Bradley (Will Bradley) This is my first time ever living away from home, he says. Its pretty scary to get here and then be told, actually, now you cant go back. Im okay personally but, if you have issues or youre homesick, its not a nice thought This, then, is the new reality of life as a student in Scotland. The new measures agreed between Holyrood and the countrys university leaders have been introduced amid growing concerns about the sheer number of coronavirus outbreaks associated with educational institutions since students started returning a fortnight ago. Among those have been a cluster of 120 cases identified at Edinburgh Napier University on Thursday and another one of about 100 in Glasgow. Speaking on Friday when it was revealed the country had recorded 558 new positive cases the highest daily total since the outbreak began Nicola Sturgeon said she was sorry for what students were going through. When you take a decision over here to reduce harm, in one way inevitably you are creating problems in another area, the first minister said. It is just the invidious nature of being faced with a virus. Yet many of those young scholars affected do not appear willing to accept the apology. They are angry at being targeted with the new rules and confused by what exactly they mean. They ultimately feel, it seems, that they are being unfairly stigmatised and implicitly blamed, as well as unjustly punished, for an issue that both UK and Scottish governments should have foreseen and been prepared for. This is one of the biggest failings of the state Ive known in my lifetime, says Eve Simpson, a third year politics student originally from South Shields and now living in Edinburgh. The lack of care for what are really young people, 17 and 18-year-olds, who have moved away from home for the first time, its inhumane. They are being physically cut off from what, for most, will be their main or only support system, their family, at one of the hardest times in their lives. Students are panicking. This is not a mental health crisis in waiting, it is one happening right now. The measures impacting students in Scotland are one of the biggest failings of the state Ive known in my lifetime, according to Eve Simpson, a University of Edinburgh third year politics student (Eve Simpson) An email sent out by the university has angered many here. The communication explaining the governments new rules did not explicitly say the spiking infection rate was down to the actions of students but there is a feeling that was the inference, says Simpson. The implication was that we have all been breaking the rules when the majority of young people are being extremely responsible, the 21-year-old continues. We are being pigeon-holed as the problem and punished when the fault is, in my opinion, completely down to the Scottish governments lack of foresight and planning for what happens when you have hundreds of thousands of people moving cities. This surge was not impossible to predict. Its not rocket science. Of course, cases were going to rise. Why was there nothing in place to counter that or deal with it? The only silver lining, the youngster reckons, is that the policy of not letting students visit home is so insidious, a U-turn seems a distinct possibility. Just like exam grading before it, she says, it has to be put right quickly. Over in Paisley, meanwhile, Dan Hutchison, a social sciences student at the University of the West of Scotland, is just about to start his shift at a Glasgow restaurant when he speaks to The Independent. New coronavirus rules dont make any sense, says Dan Hutchison (Dan Hutchison) Im allowed to be there all day serving behind the bar, talking to a hundred people, the 26-year-old says. But when I finish, Im not allowed to sit in there and have a socially distanced drink. It doesnt make any sense. Before the new rules were announced on Thursday, he had arranged to meet a friend for lunch this coming Sunday. Will they still go ahead? Well, Im not going to a tell a journalist, am I? laughs the third year from Fife. But I dont see how they can enforce that rule anyway. How can you ID if someone is or isnt a student? Its ridiculous. The whole thing is ridiculous and damaging. SPRINGFIELD Family members of veterans impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak at the Soldiers' Home in Holyoke say Fridays criminal charges against top staff triggered very difficult memories and support ongoing hopes for reform. This morning, state Attorney General Maura Healey announced that a statewide grand jury indicted Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former medical director Dr. David Clinton on 10 criminal charges each linked to the the deaths of at least 76 veterans at the long-term care facility. Each was charged with multiple counts of criminal neglect of patients at the state-run nursing home. Healey said it is plausible the pair could face decades in prison if convicted. Healey said veterans who succumbed to the pandemic at the Soldiers' Home included those who fought on the beaches of Normandy and in the jungles of Vietnam. The Holyoke Soldiers' Home Coalition a grassroots network of former administrators, families, veterans and other advocates released a statement Friday afternoon on behalf of relatives of affected veterans. We were briefed on todays charges and will closely follow the progress of the proceedings in court. This is another event that brings up some very difficult memories for all of us, and todays announcement causes each of us to pause and reflect on what happened to our loved ones, the statement read. We now want our state to move forward and to do the right thing to ensure this never happens again to any other Veteran, it continued. Our Veterans and senior citizens deserve the greatest respect and should always receive care with the greatest honor and dignity as is the mission of our state for the Soldiers' Home. We now hope that justice will prevail and that the state builds a new Home in Holyoke as a lasting memorial to all those who have died. We will remain active in our community in ensuring all current and future Veterans get the best care they have earned. The coalition was assembled around a common goal of pushing for increased funding and staffing, arguing deficiencies in those areas have been perennial woes for the home and contributed to the staggering loss of life during the pandemic. Members of the coalition also have been granted statewide and national audiences to argue for renovations and enhancements to the facility on top of a hill on Cherry Street. The 247-bed facility was built in the early 1950s. Overcrowding and outdated patient rooms also may have exacerbated the death toll during the pandemic, advocates say. Gov. Charlie Baker in August initiated an Expedited Capital Project to improve the Soldiers Home, which began with a Rapid Planning Phase and prompted the hiring of an architectural firm. Coalition members and other stakeholders have recently met with that design firm to provide input. Fallout from the coronavirus outbreak essentially gutted the top management tier at the Soldiers' Home and resulted in the professional demise of Veterans Services Secretary Francisco Urena. Walsh was suspended on March 30 as the Baker administration sent in an emergency management team including the National Guard which Walsh has argued he called for, but was initially rebuffed by the state. He was fired by Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders on June 24. But his attorney, William Bennett, recently won a challenge to the firing in Hampden Superior Court. Walshs termination now lies with the Soldiers' Home board of trustees. Clinton resigned on June 24. Chairman Kevin Jourdain did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the charges Friday. Walsh, 50, and Clinton, 71, will be arraigned in Hampden Superior Court at a future date, Healey said. An attorney for Walsh said her client intends to plea not guilty, and is being scapegoated by the attorney general. A lawyer for Clinton has yet to respond to a request for comment. Above normal day temperatures will impact all of northwest India as monsoon begins withdrawing from west Rajasthan next week. Monsoon withdrawal this year is set to be 11 days late as September 17 is the normal date of its commencement. While withdrawal will begin from northwest India; eastern parts of central India, parts of east India, including Bihar and West Bengal, northeastern states like Assam and Meghalaya will continue to receive above normal rains in the first week of October, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its weekly weather report released on Friday morning. Also read: Delhi sees driest September in 16 years We had an intense rain producing system which invigorated the monsoon in the past week. A remnant low moved from west Pacific which merged on Bay of Bengal which strengthened the westerlies and caused rain all along the west coast and path of low-pressure area. So, a lot of heavy and extremely heavy rain was recorded during the past week which is likely to gradually reduce, said Sunitha Devi, scientist at IMD who presented the weekly weather report. She added that for the past five years, monsoon withdrawal has been late, beginning only after September 15. During the first week of September, there was a 30% deficiency in rain but it was covered in the next week, recording 7% excess rain and in the third week, 40% excess rain was recorded. Monsoon rain over the country since June 1 is 9% excess with 29% excess over south peninsula, 17% excess over central India, 15% excess over northwest India, and 4% excess over east and northeast India. The normal date for complete withdrawal of monsoon from the country is October 15 as per the new monsoon onset and withdrawal dates issued by IMD in April this year. Until last year, the normal date for commencement of withdrawal was September 1 and October 15 for complete withdrawal. The new onset dates are based on monsoon data from 1961 to 2019 and withdrawal dates are based on data from 1971 to 2019 analysed by scientists in IMD, Pune. The Local Government Inspectorate is investigating a complaint alleging Melbourne lord mayor Sally Capp misused council resources on the first day of the race for Town Hall. Acting Chief Municipal Inspector John Lynch confirmed the LGI was investigating a complaint "relating to Melbourne City Council," but was tight-lipped on the details of the investigation. Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp. Credit:Arsineh Houspian His office would not confirm whether the complaint was made by a rival candidate or by members of the council's administration. "Leading up to and during general council elections, the inspectorate receives a large volume of complaints and prioritises matters that could seriously impact the integrity of elections or council operations," Dr Lynch said in a statement. (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday. FTSE 100 - WINNERS BP, up 2.1% and Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and 'B' shares, both up 1.5%. The oil majors were tracking the price of North Sea benchmark Brent higher, quoted at USD42.29 Friday morning from USD41.52 late Thursday. "Oil prices bounced overnight as investors turned optimistic that Congress may resume stimulus discussions that have been stuck in the swap," said AxiCorp's Stephen Innes. FTSE 250 - WINNERS Cineworld, up 5.2%. The cinema chain operator was rebounding after shedding 15% on Thursday in the wake of a USD1.6 billion interim loss. FTSE 250 - LOSERS Wizz Air, down 1.7%. The central and eastern Europe-focused airline said it will operate just 50% of last year's capacity in October in light of ongoing government-led travel restrictions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and a subsequent drop in demand for travel during the winter period. The firm also warned that it will not to operate at a higher level of capacity during winter months than its projection for October should the virus restrictions remain at current levels. "The protection of its solid balance sheet and excellent liquidity position as well as minimising cost across all areas of the business remain Wizz Air's top priority. While conditions continue to be challenging, the relentless focus on creating a competitive advantage and strong liquidity will allow Wizz Air to emerge from this crisis as a structural winner," the Budapest, Hungary-based company noted. Earlier in September, rival Ryanair Holdings also cut its capacity for October beyond a reduction already announced in mid-August. OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS Bahamas Petroluem, up 24%. The Caribbean and Atlantic Margin-focused oil and gas company said it hopes to spud the Perseverance No 1 well in the Bahamas before Christmas after securing a drilling rig. The company said Stena Drilling has nominated the Stena IceMAX as the intended drill rig for the Perseverance No 1 well drilling campaign. The rig is expected to arrive on site by December 15, and the well will be spudded after three to four days. The well is targeting recoverable P50 oil resources of 0.77 billion barrels, with an upside of 1.44 billion barrels. Boohoo, up 9.7%. The online clothing retailer laid out a series of changes it plans to make after an independent review found "significant and clearly unacceptable issues" in its supply chain. The review was launched by Boohoo in July following claims it sold clothes made in factories where staff were paid less than the minimum wage. The review identified "many failings" in the Leicester supply chain and recommended improvements to Boohoo's corporate governance, compliance and monitoring processes. Alison Levitt, who was appointed to run the review, was satisfied that Boohoo did not deliberately allow poor conditions and low pay to exist within its supply chain, however. Following the review and its recommendations, Boohoo said it will enhance corporate governance and oversight, and will appoint two new non-executive directors to strengthen the board. It plans for one of these director roles to be filled by someone experienced in dealing with environmental, social and governance matters. OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS Integumen, down 18% and Modern Water, down 14%. Integumen said it has secured approval to extend the deadline for publication of the offer document in relation to its all-share acquisition of Modern Water. In August, the York-based skin product test services company said it had agreed terms for the acquisition of Modern Water in an all-share deal that values the London-based wastewater firm at around GBP21.3 million. The acquisition deal will see every 10 existing Integumen shares consolidated into 1 new Integumen share. After the consolidation, Modern Water shareholders will receive 1 new Integumen share for each 10 Modern Water shares. The merged company will be renamed DeepVerge. Under Rule 24.1 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, the offer document - which contains further information about the offer and the form of acceptance - are required to be published within 28 days of the firm intention to make an offer, which in this case, sets the deadline to Friday today. However, with the agreement of Modern Water directors, Integumen has sought and been granted approval to extend the date to October 9. By Lucy Heming;A lucyheming@alliancenews.com Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. It's not every day that an airline reschedules a flight following a customer's complaint but United Airlines is making an exception. United representative Robert Einhorn confirmed in an email to USA TODAY that the airline changed the departure time for one of its Tel Aviv flights after a customer expressed concern about missing the flight due to her religious obligations for Yom Kippur. "After some coordination with the network team and the TLV airport authorities, the adjustment has been made," Einhorn said, adding that the Monday night departure was pushed back from 8:05 p.m. to 10:50 p.m. "The customer was very happy and sent a follow-up thank you note to the leadership team," he added. United Airlines has changed the departure time of one of its Tel Aviv flights on Monday night after a Jewish customer expressed concern about missing the flight due to her religious obligations for Yom Kippur. The flight blog DansDeals first reported the news, noting that the customer, whom the outlet identifies as Miriam W., was planning to fly from Newark, New Jersey, to Tel Aviv after the end of Yom Kippur on Monday night. Jews traditionally observe Yom Kippur, considered the holiest day of the Jewish year, by fasting and reflecting on sins from sundown Sunday until sundown Monday. But the sun won't set on Monday in Newark until around 7 which doesn't give Miriam and other Jewish travelers much time to make an 8:05 flight. United Airlines to make COVID-19 rapid tests available to passengers, starting on Hawaii route Rather than give up on her travel plans, however, DansDeals reports that Miriam made the airline's leadership aware of the conflict by writing directly to United's CEO Scott Kirby and executive chairman Oscar Munoz. And it turns out they listened. According to the website, Miriam got a call from United's executive offices last week, thanking her for the email and assuring her that the flight would be rescheduled. "Im surprised United didnt realize this when they made their COVID-19 schedule changes, but kudos to United for changing the flight time a week before the flight in order to accommodate religious passengers!" wrote DansDeals CEO Daniel Eleff. Fall travel: United adding and restoring October flights for leisure travelers This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: United Airlines reschedules flight for customers observing Yom Kippur The RJD leader said that the Mahagathbandhan's (Grand Alliance's) fight is against the BJP and not against the Janata Dal United (JDU). Yadav further welcomed the decision of the Election Commission. We welcome the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing the poll dates for Bihar Assembly and the Mahagathbandhan will come to power this time, said RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Friday. The RJD leader said that the Mahagathbandhans (Grand Alliances) fight is against the BJP and not against the Janata Dal United (JDU), which according to him stands no chance. We welcome the decision of the Election Commission. We are assured as people of Bihar want to get rid of this government. JD(U) does not matter in the election, our fight is against BJP, Yadav told ANI here. The people of Bihar are ready, be it the poor, jobless, farmers, workers, they are ready for a change. They have exploited the public and humiliated the workers. Many jobs are lying vacant but they were not given. A murder every four hours, rapes happening, these questions will have to be answered. Why was Bihar not given special status, or a special package, they will ask these questions this time, he added. Yadav further said that the people also remember Chief Minister Nitish Kumar disrespecting the mandate given by the voters in 2015 Assembly elections by reuniting with BJP in 2017. The Bihar Assembly elections will be held in three phases with polling to take place on October 28, and November 3 and 7, with the counting of votes to take place on November 10, according to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora. Also Read: Bihar readies for polls amid pandemic; EC announces dates and safety measures Also Read: Bharat Bandh 2020 live news updates: Farmers protest against new farm bills In the previous Assembly elections held in the state in 2015, JDU, RJD and Congress had fought the elections together under the Mahagathbandhan banner. On the other hand, BJP-led NDA had fought the elections with Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and other allies. RJD with 80 seats had emerged as the single largest party in the 2015 Assembly elections, followed by JDU (71), and BJP (53). However, BJP got the largest vote share (24.42 per cent), followed by RJD with 18.35 per cent and JDU (16.83 per cent). After the polls, however, a rift emerged between JDU and the RJD in 2017, leading to CM Nitish Kumar snapping ties and rejoining ties with the BJP-led NDA to retain power in Bihar. (ANI) Also Read: Bihar Elections 2020 Date: EC to announce poll dates at 12:30 pm today WASHINGTON Federal prosecutors announced they're investigating "potential issues" with a handful of mail-in ballots found in a Pennsylvania county, including several cast for President Donald Trump, who earlier seized on the probe as a sign of voting troubles ahead. Prosecutors with the Middle District of Pennsylvania said Thursday that investigators recovered nine military ballots that had been "discarded and then recovered" at the Luzerne County Board of Elections. "Of the nine ballots that were discarded and then recovered, 7 were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump," according to the statement. "Two of the discarded ballots had been resealed inside their appropriate envelopes by Luzerne elections staff prior to recovery by the FBI and the contents of those 2 ballots are unknown." The announcement was unusual because U.S. attorneys don't typically confirm ongoing investigations. The statement came hours after Trump, during a Fox News interview, said eight ballots were found to have been thrown in a garbage can "in a certain state." Trump said they had his name written on them. Increasingly hostile rhetoric from Beijing, and a growing number of incursions by the Chinese air force and navy into Taiwanese territory, point to Chinas determination to occupy the self-proclaimed island state. Will the US honour promises to Taipei and come to the rescue if push comes to shove? Chinese military exercises "are rehearsals for taking over Taiwan, said the Beijing-controlled Global Times newspaper in an editorial published on 18 September. What is needed is a political reason that can turn them into a real battle to smash Taiwan independence forces. According to Taiwan News, the exercises by the mainlands Peoples Liberation Army involved dozens of transgressions into Taiwanese territory. The online newspaper claims that PLA Airforce Shaanxi Yun-8 anti-submarine propeller planes entered the Taiwanese Air Defence Identification Zone (Adiz), followed by submarines. Over the following days, dozens of incursions ensued, obliging the Taiwanese air force to scramble jet fighters in response. As a result, Taiwan said China had "threatened regional peace and stability". And Taiwan elevated its air defence alert level. The Chinese exercises lasted for two days. Incursions into Taiwanese territory took place mainly in the south-western corner of the islands Adiz with some planes approaching Taiwan as close as 166 kilometers, according to estimates of the Taiwanese Defense Ministry. Apart from the Yun-8 planes, single engine Chengdu J-10 jet fighters, and Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft purchased from Russia, also took part in the exercises. Transgressions into Taiwan territory continued after the main exercises had been completed. Chinas exercises seem to have been an impromptu reaction to the visit of US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, Keith Krach, the highest-ranking American official to make such visit in 40 years, on September 17. That visit took place during an increasingly harsh war of words between Washington and Beijing, with US President Donald Trump accusing China of, at least, mismanaging the Covid-19 crisis. The two superpowers are locked in a vicious trade war; the US suspects China of human rights violations in Xinjiang, and there is a US-Chinese standoff over the South China Sea. Story continues Staggering amounts of military hardware In the annual report on Military and Security Developments Involving the Peoples Republic of China 2020, presented to Congress by US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on 1 September, it is noted that China, with 350 ships and submarines, has the largest navy in the world, compared to the US with 293 vessels. The report also mentions that China has staggering amounts of new military hardware, including over 1,250 ground-launched ballistic missiles, and one of the worlds largest forces of advanced long-range surface-to-air systems, including Russian-built S-300s and S-400s. Citing military incursions into Taiwans air- and sea space in 2019, the report says that the PLA continues to prepare for contingencies in the Taiwan Strait to deter, and if necessary, compel Taiwan to abandon moves toward independence. The PLA also is likely preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the mainland by force, while simultaneously deterring, delaying, or denying any third-party intervention on Taiwans behalf." Smearing and slandering China Wu Qian, the spokesperson for the Chinese Department of Defence, reacted to the US report in an angry speech on 13 September, saying that Washington was wantonly distorting the relationship between the CCP and the military, while exaggerating the so-called Chinese military threat making it another example of the US smearing and slandering of China and the Chinese military. The speech also reiterated that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China," adding that if anyone dares to try to separate Taiwan from China, the PLA will take all necessary measures to resolutely defeat attempts and actions that interfere in China's internal affairs. The question now is: will the US stand up to any eventual Chinese military aggression? In several policy documents based on the Taiwan Relations Act, Washington has promised to support Taipei and increase arms sales. But in the increasing chaos surrounding the US presidential election and the uncertain outcome of that poll, it is likely that Washington will have other priorities than whats happening in the East China Sea. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) conducted raids at three different locations in Mumbai on Friday morning, sources informed Republic Media Network. The NCB raids are being carried out in Andheri, Oshiwara and in Powai. As per sources, during the investigation of drug peddlers, the team arrived at a list of 10 Bollywood actors who had procured contraband from them. The agency is currently probing the details. Case registered against Sanam & Abigail Apart from this, the NCB is also raiding actor-choreographer couple Abigail Pande and Sanam Johars residence. Yesterday the duo was called in for questioning by the agency after their names emerged in the alleged celebrity drug cartel that the NCB is probing. The Mumbai NCB has registered a case against Sanam and Abigail for drug consumption under Section 20 of NDPS. As per sources, notable amounts of 'charas' had allegedly been found at Johar and Pande's residence. The NCB had conducted a raid at their home in Juhu on Wednesday while they were summoned for interrogation. This popular couple from the television industry allegedly had connections with drug peddler Anuj Keswani. During their questioning, Abigail Pande revealed the names of other TV actors involved in the drugs business allegedly including Sara Khan and Angad Hasija. They haven't been arrested but will be called again for further questioning. Read: Ranveer Singh Asks NCB To Let Him Join Deepika Padukone During Probe; Cites Her 'anxiety' Read: NCB Drug Probe Widens: Abigail Pande Drops Names, Actors Sara Khan & Angad Hasija Summoned Meanwhile, Rakul Preet Singh and Padukone's manager Karishma Prakash are all set to appear before the NCB on Friday. Actor Sara Ali Khan, who has been summoned by the NCB in the case arrived in the city from Goa. Deepika Padukone, who will join the NCB probe into alleged Bollywood-drugs nexus on Saturday, was spotted leaving Goa airport on Thursday evening. Deepika was accompanied by her husband and actor Ranveer Singh. Sara Ali Khan is set to appear before the NCB on September 26, along with actors Deepika Padukone and Shraddha Kapoor. Read: Deepika Padukone Strategising For NCB Summons; Lawyers, Chartered Flight, Ranveer In Plan Read: NCB To Quiz Deepika Padukone On Saturday Over Drug Payments, 2017 Chats And More: Sources Lithuania calls for halt to Nord Stream 2 project 13:40, 25.09.20 1092 In total, 47 parliamentarians voted in favor of the relevant resolution, while one abstained. By PTI PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad, whose party faces an insurmountable handicap because of its ailing founding chief being behind bars, on Friday came out with a subdued war cry for the Assembly polls in Bihar. A five-line tweet which displayed his fondness for verse but lacked his trademark flamboyance, was all that came from the septuagenarian after the EC announced the poll schedule. "Utho Bihari, karo taiyari/ Janta ka shasan abki bari/ Bihar mein badlaav hoga/ Afsar raj khatm hoga/ Ab Janta ka raaj hoga", ran the tweet. Asking the people of Bihar to bring their own government to power, the post made a veiled reference to the alleged high handedness of bureaucracy under the JD(U)-BJP rule but fell shy of a frontal attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his arch rival, or the near hegemonic saffron party which considers him a bete noire. Considered invincible when the undivided Bihar was ruled by Prasad, and later his wife Rabri Devi, the RJD has witnessed its fortunes dwindle since 2005 when it was ousted from power. ALSO READ | Bihar polls to write 'new story' of state's betterment: Chirag Paswan The 2015 Assembly polls brought a new lease of life to the party as Prasad and Kumar took all by surprise as they buried the hatchet and formed the Grand Alliance taking the Congress - a spent force in the state - on board. Prasad, who had been disqualified two years ago following his first conviction in a fodder scam case, canvassed with fire and the new coalition won hands down, halting the BJP juggernaut set in motion with Narendra Modi's ascent. The elections saw Kumar returning as the CM for the first time while both sons of Prasad occupied cabinet berths with a swagger that stemmed from the RJD emerging as the single largest party with 80 seats under its belt. However, the party was left high and dry when the chief minister in July 2017 made an abrupt exit from the Grand Alliance and returned to the NDA, unable to take the heat generated by a money laundering case in which the name of Tejashwi Yadav, his then deputy and Prasad's younger son, had cropped up. Attempts by the RJD to politically milk Kumar's "betrayal of mandate" have born no fruit so far. The party's tally in the 243-strong Assembly has nosedived to under 70, thanks to a few defeats in by-polls and a significant number of defections by sitting MLAs in the recent past. ALSO READ | Over 7 crore single-use gloves for Bihar voters in polls amid COVID-19 pandemic Those turning their backs on the RJD in recent times included Parsa MLA Chandrika Rai whose daughter's nasty marital dispute with Tej Pratap Yadav, the mercurial elder son of the proverbial "first couple" of RJD, has become a major embarrassment for the party. The NDA has also made its intentions clear to make the "injustice" meted out to newly-married Aishwarya Rai a poll issue. The younger son Tejashwi Yadav has been anointed by the father as heir apparent and approaches the Assembly elections as the RJD's chief ministerial candidate. He, however, is faced with an unenviable situation with many in the party, like late founding member Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, having questioned his leadership skills. Recently, former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha president Jitan Ram Manjhi too walked out of the Grand Alliance, which had come to be helmed by the RJD with Congress and three smaller parties in tow. Manjhi has since been training his guns at Yadav while singing paeans to Kumar against whom he had raised a banner of revolt when asked to step down as CM to make way for the return of his mentor. Yet another blow has come into the form of open rebellion from Upendra Kushwaha, chief of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, who is said to have made up his mind to quit the Grand Alliance and return to the NDA, notwithstanding the cold vibes he shares with Nitish Kumar. "Tejashwi Yadav is not yet ripe to take on Nitish Kumar. We do not wish to fight a lost battle. We may consider continuing in the Grand Alliance if a more suitable face is projected," Kushwaha said here on Thursday at a party meeting in which he was authorized to take a decision on the RLSPs future move. The 30-year-old Tejashwi Yadav, admired even by critics for his composure, could barely conceal his frustration when reporters posed before him questions, shortly before he hit the streets driving a tractor in solidarity with the "Bharat Bandh" called by farmers' bodies. "This is a strange demand. How can other parties expect the RJD to decide its leadership as per their wishes? We never ask them to consult us while deciding their office- bearers. And I wonder why everybody is so curious about seat- sharing in the Grand Alliance. Even the NDA has not been able to announce its own formula," Yadav snapped. The NDA faces a challenge in the form of rebellion from Chirag Paswan-led LJP, but the party is unlikely to boost the RJDs prospects. Its proclamation of fielding candidates against the JD(U) may, at the most, cause some problems for the party headed by the Chief Minister. Such a situation could be advantage BJP, which has been desperate to gain an upper hand in the state but wary of rubbing Kumar the wrong way for fear of his again joining hands with Prasad and give rise to a lethal combination. On March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor was in her apartment sleeping when police banged on the door, broke the door off its hinges, shooting. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot back once at the invaders, hitting one in the thigh. Breonna was shot 5 times by the police. She never made it to the hospital. She died there. Why were the police there? They were looking for two suspected drug dealers whose homes were nowhere near Breonnas. They ended up at her apartment because one of the suspects was someone she used to date. (Read: What We Know About Breonna Taylors Case and Death NYTimes) Let me simplify this story: Breonna Taylor was killed in her home because police thought her ex-boyfriend was a drug dealer, barging into her apartment at midnight unannounced. Lets make it even simpler: Breonna Taylor died because the police are the thugs that theyre afraid Black people are. It has been 6 months since she lost her life, and Breonnas killers are still walking free and will continue to do so. Officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove committed murder, and will face very little consequence for it. This week, the Kentucky Attorney General, Daniel Cameron, announced the indictments, and the only charge put forward was for wanton endangerment because one of the cops bullets entered a neighbors apartment. Let me further clarify this: a Black woman was killed and the only thing the lawmaker in charge thought was worth getting justice for was the shots he missed, the wall he pierced and the white neighbors he scared. We are stuck in the groundhog day of the Stages of What Happens When Theres Injustice Against Black People. I AM ENRAGED, down to my toes. Because even after the constant heartbreak of Americas boldness in showing us over and over again that Black bodies dont matter, even I am shocked that WALLS can get more justice than people. I AM ENRAGED because how much more peaceful can you be than be sleeping, in your own home? It is the ultimate in minding your own business and even in your own bed, you aint safe if youre Black. We know were not safe outside, but where is our sanctuary when bullets can meet us in our dreams to cut our lives short? I AM ENRAGED, because people are killing us with impunity and even our rage is policed. Because even when our rage is justified, were being asked to be polite. If this isnt a time to be angry, when will it be? There is no time where RAGE is more justified than now. Breonna deserves that, at the minimum. To be anything but saddened or infuriated is to say this womans life deserved to be cut short. In June, the largest civil unrest demonstrations ever went on in the United States, spurred by the deaths of Breonna and George Floyd. Some of these demonstrations turned into property damage, and fires. Some people sat in their homes, tsk tsking. As we rage for Breonna, people are telling us to be calm. When every single urge to BURN EVERYTHING DOWN is valid. As Breonna Taylors name trended for the past few months and rang from sea to corrupt sea, her killers are walking free. This week, the walls of her neighbors home got more justice than her. Black girl, you deserve to be RAGED over. Fires that trail you were ignited by smoke they refused to put out in your honor. Here is to Breonna Taylor and others like her who have died at the hands of white supremacy. Call me angry. Every ounce of rage has been earned. EVERY OUNCE. In the process of being loud with my anger, Ive received DMs and comments from white women followers talking about we need to not be divisive and we need to be peaceful. If you are more angry about my rage than the injustice, get the fuck off my page. Do not be fooled by TED talk Luvvie in the cute yellow blazer. Dont be fooled by Luvvie who got jokes. Dont be fooled by Lets be kind Luvvie. I will cuss you and your whole ancestry the fuck out without remorse. Some of yall got me fucked up about 5 ways because youve seen me in these white adjacent spaces. I am a Black woman first and your weak ass lets be nice stance is trash and you are part of the problem and you are not welcome here or on any spaces I moderate. This goes for anyone who thinks what I, or any other Black woman, owe you in this moment is niceness. Caucasity is truly at an all time high cuz the privilege and the AUDACITY is running rampant. I am a Black woman first and your weak ass lets be nice stance is trash and you are part of the problem and you are not welcome here. We are past this. Now we must use our rage to fuel our passion and our purpose. No Black woman should have to fear she will get shot while she is SLEEPING IN HER OWN HOME. No Black woman should fear walking down the sidewalk at night. BLACK WOMEN SHOULD NOT HAVE TO FEAR THEIR LIFE. The fact that all people do is HEAR our rage and not FEEL it is a product of us giving grace. What I know is that if anything happens to me, I dont wanna hear Luvvie would want us to be peaceful. Nope. I would want rage in my honor. I would want my ancestors to hear the voices of those who wail for my life. I would want no peace for those responsible for cutting breath short. Justice eludes us. Our rage is what we have. It is righteous. Advertisement London's Covid-19 hotspots could be linked by the city's bustling underground network, according to a striking map based on government data. Coronavirus cases are spreading across the capital and ministers are now said to be mulling a decision to place more than 9million people in the city. MailOnline can reveal the cluster of cases appear to be centered along the 11 Tube-lines used by some 2million people every day before the pandemic struck. It means areas in the north west and north east of London may be suffering from bigger outbreaks than the south, simply because they have more public transport links. Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, and Sutton none of which have a Tube station have the lowest infection rates across the entire city. The connection has previously been discovered by experts looking at other contagious respiratory diseases that spread via droplets, such as the coronavirus. British scientists have previously linked busy Tube stations to worse flu outbreaks. The more changes passengers needed to make on their journey, the more contact they were likely to have with other people. This would potentially be the case with London's three top hotspots Redbridge, Hounslow, and Barking and Dagenham all of which are only served by one Tube line. Nine of 32 boroughs which were found to have higher cases of the flu, based solely on their London underground connections, now also have higher Covid-19 infection rates. Scientists say the Tube is the 'perfect environment' for a virus to spread because of crowding, poor ventilation and dirty surfaces touched by millions. But experts say the pattern may be more complicated than that it may be more key workers, who are vulnerable to picking up the virus because they come into close contact with lots of people, choose to live near a Tube line in order to get around easier, while those able to work from home live further out in the suburban commuter belt. Infection rates may also be heavily influenced by the borough's deprivation, as Government studies have shown poorer areas have been shown to have more Covid-19 deaths, and ethnic diversity, as Black, Asian and ethnic minorities have been harder hit by the pandemic for a multitude of reasons. Millions of travellers were put off the tube during the peak of the first wave of the coronavirus because the Government ruled against any travel other than essential. But since restrictions have been lifted in response to the outbreak dwindling, hundreds of thousands more journeys are now being made. Tube capacity has risen to around 35 per cent, up from four per cent in April and May. Cases also appear to keep rising in London alongside the uptick in journeys. It comes as MailOnline yesterday revealed that cases have actually started to plateau across London and are now only rising in a handful of boroughs, including Redbridge. Hospital admissions have tripled in a fortnight but are still a far cry from the 400-plus being recorded a day back in March, before the national lockdown was imposed. London's Covid-19 hotspots could be linked by the Underground network, a striking map reveals. Pictured are the infection rates in London's boroughs, given by the Public Health England report on Friday 18 The London Underground in closer detail: The colours show different tube lines and where they do and don't extend to Scientists have speculated numerous reasons that could explain why some boroughs are being hit harder than others. And one could be how integrated public transport is in those boroughs. When University College London (UCL) and University of Bristol speculated this for flu-like illnesses in 2018, their theory turned out to be correct. The researchers compared Oyster card route information and Public Health England data on flu-like illnesses over six months in 2013/14. YOU CAN AVOID COVID-19 ON THE TUBE WITH MASKS, EXPERTS CLAIM Doctors have previously warned the London Underground could be a hotbed for the spread of coronavirus because Covid-19 thrives in enclosed indoor spaces with little ventilation and densely packed crowds of people. But research suggests that, if masks are worn and social distancing is adhered to, the chance of the virus spreading on public transport is minimal. Contact tracing studies looking into hundreds of Covid-19 clusters in France, Austria and Japan linked fewer than 1 per cent of 'super-spreader' events back to public transport. The likelihood of catching the virus was found to be far higher when working in an office, eating at a restaurant or drinking in a bar. A cluster is defined as more than three cases that can be traced to a common event or venue. The study was conducted by researchers at Sante Publique France, the country's national public health agency. Scientists say people tend to stay on trains or buses for relatively short periods of time and often do not talk to anyone, reducing the amount of aerosols they dispel. Masks are also compulsory on public transport in most countries, which reduces the spreading risk further, whereas in most work environments and restaurants they are not. However, researchers concede that the data will be skewed by the fact fewer people are using public transport, even in a post-lockdown climate. And public health officials say tracking infection clusters to precise train carriages and buses is difficult, which may mean they are not appearing in the figures. Advertisement Boroughs with fewer stations had higher infection rates as these tend to be more crowded, the academics wrote in the paper, published in the Environmental Health journal. 'Higher rates [of influenza-like cases] can be observed in boroughs served by a small number of underground lines,' said lead author Dr Lara Gosce said at the time. 'Passengers starting their journey in these boroughs usually have to change lines once or more in crowded junctions... in order to reach their final destination.' Commuters in boroughs further from central London spend longer on the underground potentially coming into contact with more infected people. Having to change at a busy stop increases the danger. There are 32 boroughs in London. Nine which were found to have higher cases of the flu, based on their London Underground connections, now also have higher Covid-19 infection rates. These are Barking and Dagenham (29.3), Enfield (27.3), Newham (27), Hackney (25.7), Tower Hamlets (25.5), Harrow (24.4), Wandsworth (23), Brent (22.7) and Waltham Forest (21). Some of these boroughs on London's outskirts and commuters must pass through stations such as Waterloo, the busiest underground in the capital, which serves 100.3million passengers every year. On the other hand, commuters in the five areas with no Tube stations at all Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton saw fewer cases of flu-like illnesses over the six-month period. Lewisham was an exception, which the researchers who published their original flu study in 2018 said may be because it has a number of railway stations. The same pattern has now clearly presented itself with Covid-19. Infection rates in Lewisham (15.8), Kingston upon Thames (14.3), Croydon (14), Bexley (12.1), Bromley (11.8) and Sutton (9.3) are among the lowest in the city. They are joined by Merton (13.6), the last stop of the Northern line in the south, Westminster (14.9), which is more central and has two lines passing through, Hillingdon (16.1), at the end of both the Metropolitan line and the Piccadilly line, and Islington (15.9), on the Victoria line and Overground. If a borough that is well connected, and often crowded, has lower rates of flu-like illnesses, it could be because people living in those boroughs don't actually use the tube to get around, Dr Gosce and colleagues said. They may simply walk (such as in Westminster), or use a car (in Merton). Keith Neal, an emeritus professor of the epidemiology of infectious diseases, University of Nottingham, told MailOnline: 'For some of the very central boroughs people would not need to use the tube to get to work. 'Clearly mass transport could pose risks, but how many of these residents use the Tube rather than buses? On a bus your droplets hit the seat in front of you, on a tube they go in all directions. 'It would not surprise me if it is a risk factor; look at other major cities that got hit with Covid-19 many were financial centres.' Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, said studies linking flu and the London Underground are 'pretty low down the hierarchy of evidence and cannot be used to prove anything' because they cannot prove causation. 'Nevertheless its conclusions are probably not surprising and I doubt anyone would argue against the suggestion that flu spread on the underground especially when the trains were crowded,' he told MailOnline. TOP BOROUGHS WITH THE MOST FLU CASES Places in bold also have high Covid-19 rates Flu cases per 100,000, as listed by the UCL study, 2018: Greenwich 17.23 Harrow 16.98 Southwark 16.83 Tower Hamlets 16.66 Newham 15.67 Islington 15.37 Brent 15.18 Barking and Dagenham 13.65 Hackney 13.16 Lambeth 12.84 Camden 12 Lewisham 11.75 Wandsworth 11.04 Enfield 10.81 Barnet 10.35 Waltham Forest 10.35 Advertisement TOP BOROUGHS WITH THE MOST COVID CASES Places in bold also have high flu rates Covid-19 cases per 100,000, as listed by PHE: Redbridge 34.2 Hounslow 32.5 Barking and Dagenham 29.3 Enfield 27.3 Newham 27 Ealing 26.9 Hackney 25.7 Tower Hamlets 25.5 Hammersmith and Fulham 24.8 Harrow 24.4 Havering 24.4 Kensington and Chelsea 23.7 Wandsworth 23 Brent 22.7 Haringey 21.4 Waltham Forest 21 Advertisement London's Covid-19 hotspots may be explained by deprivation. This map shows the areas where poverty affects more than 30 per cent (light blue) and 40 to 45 per cent (dark blue) of residents There are, as expected, some boroughs that buck the observed trend. Greenwich, in south-east London, was noted by the original UCL study as an area with the highest flu-like influenza cases. However, Covid-19 infections are on the lower end of the scale, with a rate of 16.1. The borough is served by the Jubilee line and the DLR, but commuters generally have to change line at least once to reach their end destination. Residents in Redbridge and Hounslow, with the first (34.2) and second (32.5) highest Covid-19 rates in the capital, were not noted by UCL as being at risk of respiratory illness due to their tube stations. Redbridge is served by the Central line, while Hounslow is on the Piccadilly line, and the data showed commuters did not come into contact with high numbers of people in their journeys. However both will be used by thousands per day. Therefore, other factors that influence an area's Covid-19 infection rate may be at play there. For example, Hounslow and Redbridge both have some of the most ethnically diverse populations in London and it has been found that people of Black, Asian and ethnic minorities (BAME) are at higher risk of catching Covid-19. Experts blame this on the fact they are more likely to work key worker jobs, such as in hospitals, live in areas with crowded housing where contact with Covid-19 cases may be more likely, and have more underlying health conditions that exacerbate infection. Figures show infections have tripled in Redbridge since September 4, when the rate was 11.2 per 100,000 per week, and have risen by tenfold since the start of August (3.3) The east London borough of Barking and Dagenham is suffering 29.3 infections per 100,000, having more than doubled since the start of the month, when the case rate was 12.3 per 100,000, and quadrupling since August 1 (5.9 per 100,000) The west London borough of Hounslow has been the second worst-hit region in the capital, with a weekly case rate of 32.5 per 100,000 in the week ending September 18 London is thought to be on the brink of a localised lockdown after public health chiefs warned of a 'rising tide' of the virus in the capital. More than 500 people are being diagnosed in London every day, more than double the number in August Covid-19 hospital admissions in the capital have tripled in a fortnight, with the seven-day average rising from 11 on September 2 to 33.4 by September 18. But the number of hospitalisations in the city is still a far cry from the 700-plus at the height of the pandemic in spring and only slightly higher than they were the start of July (around 25), when the country was deemed safe to reopen again HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS TRIPLE IN LONDON IN A FORTNIGHT BUT ARE STILL 13 TIMES LOWER THAN IN MARCH - AND CASES ARE SLOWING London is thought to be on the brink of a localised lockdown but official figures show the outbreak may finally be slowing down, despite hospital admissions for coronavirus having tripled in a fortnight and public health chiefs warning of a 'rising tide' of the virus in the capital. During a behind-closed-doors briefing this week, Kevin Fenton, director of Public Health England in the capital, told London mayor Sadiq Khan and the leaders of all 32 boroughs that all signs indicated the disease was making a rapid resurgence in the city. Ministers are now said to be mulling a decision to place more than 9million people in the city under even tighter restrictions, if the new suite of national social distancing measures announced by the Government this week fail to curb climbing numbers. Infections across the city has more than doubled since August, with the seven-day weekly average number of cases rising from 86 per 100,000 to 262 per 100,000. But official figures show that upticks in cases have ground to a halt across the capital, with only a handful of boroughs now seeing a sustained rise in infections including Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham, two of the three worst-hit parts of the capital. It's true that Covid-19 hospital admissions in the capital have tripled in a fortnight, with the rolling average rising from 11 on September 2 to 33.4 by September 18. But the number of hospitalisations in the city is still a far cry from the 700-plus at the height of the pandemic in spring and only slightly higher than they were the start of July (around 25), when the country was deemed safe to reopen again. For comparison, 13 times as many admissions were being recorded in March (425 on March 22) before the national lockdown was imposed. And the most up-to-date statistics released by Public Health England, which cover the week ending September 18, reveal that just a single borough in the capital Redbridge ranks among the top 40 worst-hit regions of the country. The Government will publish its latest batch of figures on infections tomorrow. However, Professor Fenton argued testing infrastructure had been stripped out of the capital and reallocated to hotspots in the north, meaning many Londoners may have gone undiagnosed. But the latest Department of Health figures show testing in London has actually increased week-on-week. There were 85,000 tests done across the capital in the week up to September 16, up from 75,000 the previous seven days. Even the capital's hotspots are enjoying more access to swabs - Barking carried out 2,669 tests in the week ending September 16, 25 per cent more than the week before, when 2,036 swabs were done. In Redbridge, 3,370 residents were checked for the virus in the latest reporting period, compared to 3,046 the week prior, a rise of nearly 10 per cent. Advertisement Experts blame this on the fact they are more likely to work key worker jobs, such as in hospitals, live in areas with crowded housing where contact with Covid-19 cases may be more likely, and have more underlying health conditions that exacerbate infection. London's Covid-19 hotspots may be connected by various other factors. For example, research has shown that Covid-19 is hitting the poorer areas harder, with residents in Brent, Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Harrow and Hounslow all earning less than the London average wage, and being at higher risk of Covid-19. Professor Seif Shaheen, an respiratory epidemiologist at Queen Mary University, highlighted to MailOnline London's hotspots bared similarities to a map of deprivation in the capital, provided by Trust for London. While Dr Saffron Karlsen, who teaches about ethnicity and citizenship at the University of Bristol, said she did not think too much blame could be placed on the Tube. She told MailOnline: 'I think the tube might exacerbate the problem, but it probably doesn't cause it. I suspect it's more likely down to job or other health inequalities. 'It would also make sense to consider the people who might be (still) using the tube. I would imagine that tube use has gone back up recently for everyone in London, but there are still some people who are more able to work from home than others (or use their cars if they have to travel). 'As such, it may simply be that those more at risk of getting the virus - key workers - are also more likely to be those using the tube. 'That said, there could be grounds to suggest that the tube could facilitate the spread of the virus. 'Closed spaces, a lack of ventilation and limited social distancing - common experiences on the tube - are key to transmission. 'I would also imagine that the pressure of the timetable make it difficult for surfaces to be cleaned very regularly. So, the tube would probably be a good place to spread it.' It's also important to note that the 'hotspots' of London change when looking at cumulative cases compared with cases right now, but not by all that much. South-London borough Croydon has had the most Covid-19 cases of all London boroughs, at 2,179 until September 21. Bromley is also on the higher end of the scale, with 1,800 cases. But neither location has an Underground station. Brent and Ealing have had more than 2,000 cumulative cases and are both have infection rates on the higher end of the scale, over 20 cases per 100,000. But due to testing restraints early in the pandemic, prioritising only those in hospitals and seriously sick, and therefore the elderly, the case numbers will be somewhat skewed due to different age, ethnicity and other demographics in each area. Although to what extent is difficult to assess. Britons were told to avoid using public transport unless absolutely essential during the strictest days of lockdown, resulting in its use plummeting by around 90 per cent. Now, people in the UK can use the services whenever they please as long as they wear a mask or face covering. But they are advised to travel at off-peak times, take less busy routes, use contactless payment to avoid touching others and keep one metre apart from other commuters. Research suggests that, if masks are worn and social distancing is adhered to, the chance of the virus spreading on public transport is minimal. PITTSFIELD A Pike County man charged with attempted murder in the 2019 shooting of a family member has been found not guilty by reason of insanity. Chaz W. Carter, 34, was charged in the April 30, 2019, shooting of family member Victor Delong in front of law enforcement officials who had responded to a disturbance on West Fayette Street. A sheriffs department report said deputies were investigating when Carter ran outside and shot Delong twice with a .40-caliber handgun. Court records said Delong was shot once in the chest and again as he turned away. A law enforcement officer fired at Carter, but he was not hit. He was caught after a Taser was used. Carter was charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery and possession of a weapon by a felon. Carters mental fitness has been a focal point for both the defense and prosecution since early in the case. His attorney, Mark Wykoff, asked the court in August 2019 to pay for a psychiatric evaluation and States Attorney Zach Boren did not object. Two psychologists subsequently agreed Carter was mentally unfit at the time of the shooting. Carter and his attorney appeared in court Tuesday and Carter waived a jury trial; the court then held a stipulated bench trial. The court finds that defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity of attempted first degree murder and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon (and) orders the (Illinois Department of Human Services) to conduct an evaluation on an inpatient basis, according to court records. I was watching that fine Wizard of Oz performance last week that is Dublin City Council debating its Local Property Tax rate and as ever it never fails to both illuminate and entertain. You've got to love the showmanship, as parties of the self-declared left fall over themselves to avoid doing that central kernel of the left, transferring wealth openly from the Haves to the Would Like To Haves. I get Fianna Fail and Fine Gael opposing tax rises. That's what they're for. But Sinn Fein and the Alphabet Left are taking the mickey. Credit to Labour and the Greens who put their money where their proverbial mouths are, although it should be remembered that Labour refused to push through radical local government reform in government (actually blocking it) and the Greens in government have agreed to a possible endless delaying of meaningful local government reform. We can't really be surprised. Sinn Fein operates - both North and south - on the argument that someone else will always pay for things. In the North it's the Brits; in the south it's more subtle. They tell every county that every other county should pay for their stuff, but not this county. In the county next door, Sinn Fein are telling those good people the exact same except pointing at the other county. Same in the one beside it. The wizard behind the curtain will pay for everything. The Alphabet Left aren't even that subtle. They just claim everything will be paid by evil, wax-moustachioed, silk-lined cloak-wearing wealthsters (I'm thinking The Hooded Claw from The Perils of Penelope Pitstop) once they can be caught and pried away from deflowering the virginal young Rosa Luxembourgs of the working class, the rotters. Then, two months from now, the council will meet to draw up the 2021 budget and how they voted not to increase council revenues will be dismissed as they launch into a Shakespearean defence of every increase in public spending ever yearned for by even the most casual of passing advocates. The finger will point at Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens as the keepers of the national couch and what yokes they are not to reach down the back and pull out a few quid for the hungry children. Every bloody year we go through this nonsense and you have to ask yourself why. The answer is very simple: most of our councillors (and variations of this time-wasting happens in most councils) are not that interested in changing this. Some are the real deal, but they're at best a modest minority. Most councillors see the council as a pre-Dail, vote-winning proving ground with a chance of getting a year wearing a chain like the pampered poodle of some divorced Manhattan socialite and with similar levels of responsibility and cholesterol. It's political theatre: we have councils that don't have identifiable political leadership and so are never held to account. Nobody knows who to blame because nobody elected is in charge, and more importantly, nobody wants to be. A political shell game. Looking at this system, you realise the British missed a trick in Ireland. If they'd brought in Home Rule but kept the executive power in the hands of the appointed chief secretary, we'd probably still be in the UK today, with Irish politicians puffing out their chests and denouncing the administration and never having to be on the unpopular side of an argument by making decisions. This is pretty much how we run all our counties. It's the weirdness at the heart of Irish politics: so many people who seek elected office merely want to win elections and hold office with curiously little desire to shape the future of the place they represent. Sure, they'll read this and get indignant and say different, but most councillors are members of parties that have actually governed or are governing the country in the past 10 years, so if they'd wanted to reform the system, they could have. Did they? No. If anything, they blocked change. We've the only political class that effectively campaigns on the slogan "What do we want? Less power!" "When do we want it? Now's fine, if it's no trouble?" The current Fianna Fail/Fine Gael/Green programme for government promises a citizen assembly on an elected mayor for Dublin for next year. Remember the assembly on the Local Property Tax? Or water charges? No. Apparently we didn't need them. This is a delaying tactic, to push back the decision on elected mayors. Wait and see: the assembly will probably be delayed, then eventually produce a report too late to implement for the next local elections in 2024, so that's the elected mayor pushed back again, possibly to 2029. You know when we first put an elected mayor in Irish legislation (and took it out again at the request of councillors)? 1999. Does this sound like an issue our political leaders are pursuing with urgency? I voted to abolish the Seanad in the October 2013 referendum (three Taoisigh ago) because I believed meaningful wide-scale reform of the Seanad would be perennially blocked by politicians. I've yet to be proven wrong. If you asked me to vote now to abolish the elected councils and just have the local authorities as branches of the Department of the Environment, I'd struggle to find a reason to vote No. Dublin City Council did nothing last week to convince me otherwise. SEARCH A minimum of 3 characters are required to be typed in the search bar in order to perform a search. Written for Fethiye Times and with photographs by Mike Vickers. 2020 has been designated the Year of Patara by President Erdogan in a bid to both promote and honour of the importance of this ancient city. Patara was and I suppose technically, still is the main port city of the Lycians. Located near Kalkan at the southern end of Patara Beach, the longest beach in Turkey, its harbour was the only significantly sized safe haven on this stretch of coastline, and as a consequence Pataras size and prosperity grew. Then, as time went by, the shifting dunes blocked this vital harbour, reducing it to a mosquito-infested swamp. The city dwindled and lost the people that kept it going, no doubt helped along by the occasional earthquake and numerous Arab pirate raids. Its believed Patara was finally abandoned some time in the 13th century and over half a millennium of natures gentle touch has finally reduced it to the ruins we see today. The triumphal arch of Mettius Modestus, the main gateway into Patara, taken a few years ago at the peak of the spring flowers. Ive been visiting Patara for many years and its one of my most favourite places in Turkey. I always approach with a growing sense of anticipation and amazement at its grandeur and quiet dignity. This place is huge and the city ruins actually begin to appear once you reach the little village of Gelemis. Since Patara is under the protection of the Turkish government, there is an entrance fee, currently 30tl per person, and having paid at the barrier, the road passes through a substantial necropolis of excavated tombs before approaching the first major monument, the triumphal arch of Mettius Modestus, the citys impressive three-arched main entrance gate. Also at this end of the site are the Palm Baths, named for the nearby grove of magnificent palm trees, without doubt some of the largest Ive ever seen. The Palm Baths. As you drive further on into the site, a large number of skeletal grey-stoned buildings dot the valley floor. To the right, the silted up harbour, once the lifeblood of the city, has dwindled to a reedy marsh-fringed lake. Several structures can be seen on the far bank, notably the impressive granary of Hadrian. Thats the same Hadrian who built the wall we all know up Newcastle way. Must have spent a lot of time in the saddle, that boy! The expansive site takes a full day to examine in detail. I did so with my sister some years ago, walking in from the village and doing an ambling but continuously argumentative circuit of the harbour before walking out along the old Roman highway which runs parallel and below the current modern access road. Actually, as well as disagreeing on our interpretation of almost everything we saw, we also both suffer from vertigo and having rashly climbed a tomb near the granary, discovered the descent was at the very limits of what we could manage without having to call the itfaiye to come and rescue us! Bit of a moment there Hadrians Granary on the far side of the harbour. You have to fight through the undergrowth to get close its a bit wild over there. So, theres plenty here to investigate, depending on your level of archaeological enthusiasm, but heres my recommended list of must-see buildings: The Corinthian Temple Located near the harbour beyond the end of the main street, this small square temple is perfectly formed with an intricately carved doorway and a large tree growing in its middle. The Corinthian Temple. The door lintel definitely needs support nowadays. The Bouleuterion, or council building Beautifully restored some years ago, this building is as historically important as youll find anywhere. It was here that the leaders of the Lycian League met, with each member city apportioned a number of votes to represent its interests. The league was the earliest known example of a representational democracy and was noted and admired as such by the writers of the United States constitution, who examined the system as a possible model for their own government. Yes, it really was that important and you can pop down to Patara any time, walk into the bouletarion, stand on its glass-protected marble floor and breathe in all that remarkable history. The bouleuterion back in 2007 as it was before restoration. The only way inside was to scramble over the back wall. Restoration was well on its way when I visited in 2010. Big stones need big cranes. The craftsmen who worked on this were masters of their art. The bouleuterion as it is now, with its marble floor protected by glass. The Theatre Built around the 2nd century BC and with a capacity of around 15,000, this grand structure was finally liberated from the sands in 2002. Standing adjacent to the bouletarion and very recently renovated, it is now concert ready. The stage and orchestra have new panelled flooring, there are safety rails on the stairs and some chunky steel supports to stabilize one of the massive end walls. More musical concerts are planned, subject to Covid, of course. The theatre in 2006, still full of sand and with the stage in a state of disrepair, but still a wonderful location for an afternoon picnic with friends. The theatre now, recently tidied up and renovated with a new floor, access staircase, safety bannisters and some reinforcements for the external wall. The Main Street A wide, colonnaded street, complete with camber and drains. In a nod to 2nd century BC health and safety, many of the flagstones have been dimpled with chisels to create a non-slip surface in the rain. How considerate is that. Lined by columns, the street dips down beneath the water table, but recent restoration work now means the far end should remain dry. This was once a commercial hub lined with shops and businesses, including a brothel. How can you tell? Well, theres an eye-wateringly large, unfeasibly jaunty rock-cut phallus pointing the way to an evening of paid-for pleasure. The main street, lined with granite columns and capped with an Ionic capital. The street dips gently down and floods at the far end, but the water has now been held back and workmen were cleaning away the last of the mud. The main street is the home of the infamous Cock On The Rock. To find the brothel, just follow the er, you know, the pointy thing! I remember getting the call to model this The Lighthouse The most important project at the moment is the restoration of the lighthouse. Originally located at the entrance to the harbour, the lighthouse now sits far from the sea in a shifting sea of dunes. The structure succumbed to earthquakes and the fallen stones were eventually covered by the ever-moving sands. This was not a bad thing as it turned out, because the lighthouse masonry remained protected for centuries before excavations uncovered the stones once again, and now the lighthouse is in the process of being reconstructed to its former glory. Commissioned by the Roman Emperor Nero in AD 54, the lighthouse incorporates a circular stair to allow access to the fire chamber at its crown. Standing 24 metres in height, it is 60 years older than the Tower of Hercules in Corunna, Spain, and so when fully restored will be the oldest working lighthouse in the world. The stump of the lighthouse sitting on its foundation, exposed after a major removal of sand. The first renovation achieved ..this, and now the big tower crane has moved in as work is in full swing to fully rebuild the lighthouse. At 24 metres high, itll be at least half the height of the crane and visible for kilometres. This was the closest we got because of the face-melting heat. I cant wait to see the final result. So, Patara not only contains the oldest lighthouse on the planet but also the building where the first ever democracy flourished. Well worth a visit, dont you think, even if youre only dropping in for a quick peep while on your way to the beach. Finally A word on when to visit. Although open all year round, unless you have a particular fetish for wobbling around in perspiration-soaked clothing with your eyelashes weighed down by droplets of sweat, its probably best not to visit the site in the peak summer months. The place is a furnace. Literally! All that masonry reflects and amplifies the heat. I visited with friends a few weeks ago and I can honestly say it was so unpleasantly hot we had to curtail our visit. Drinking lots of water made no impact. Every square inch of my body was leaking uncontrollably. In fact, I got a bit light-headed as I staggered back to the car. We were planning to walk the kilometre or so out to the lighthouse to see what was going on, but this was obviously way beyond our physical capabilities and so we had to reluctantly give it a miss. When we got back to the car, I burnt my hand on the seat belt buckle. Never have I been in the company of such flushed, neon-hued companions. Theres a new colour on the block and its Patara Pink! LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 25, 2020 / Cheapquotesautoinsurance.com (https://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com) has launched a new guide for drivers that are required to negotiate with an auto insurance claim adjuster. After a car accident, the insurance company will dispatch a claim adjuster to investigate and settle the case. It is important for drivers to know how to negotiate a claim with the claim adjuster. In order to be better negotiators, drivers should follow the next tips: Decide to a minimum settlement . Before having the first talks regarding the claims with their adjusters, drivers should settle to a minimum amount. That minimum amount is only in the policyholder's head and it should never be disclosed to the adjuster. By doing so, drivers will be prevented from making a rushed decision if the adjuster is having a "take it or leave it" approach. Wait for the first offer. If the adjuster's first offer is close to the minimum settlement the driver is willing to accept, then that means the adjuster has more money to negotiate. In this case, the drivers are advised to raise the minimum amounts they are willing to accept. Never take the first offer. This is a dumb thing to do. The claims adjusters will offer their lowest settlements first. They do that to find out if the policyholder knows how much his claim is worth and see if he's desperate to settle the claim quickly. Ask the adjuster to justify his low offer. If the offer is too low, then the policyholder should demand an explanation from the adjuster. After hearing the explanation, the policyholder should analyze if there are things that he overlooked when he settled for a minimum amount. If so, the policyholder should lower his claims. Gradually decrease the settlement. To show that they are willing to negotiate, drivers should decrease their claims with 10-2o%. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com Story continues Cheapquotesautoinsurance.com is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Negotiating with a claim adjuster can be difficult for persons that never dealt with them before. However, drives can learn some tricks that can help them become better negotiators", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing Company Person for contact Name: Daniel C Phone Number: (818) 359-3898 Email: cgurgu@internetmarketingcompany.biz Website: https://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com SOURCE: Internet Marketing Company View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/607788/How-To-Handle-Negotiations-With-Car-Insurance-Claim-Adjuster AKRON, Ohio, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As states face a predicted shortage of election workers, Kisling, Nestico & Redick (KNR) has announced that it will give paid time off to its employees who volunteer to work the polls on Election Day in November. The law firm is offering the opportunity to its employees statewide, encouraging them to serve in their communities, as well as giving them time off to vote. It was the idea of the partners at KNR to extend the law firm's Volunteer Day, part of KNR's year-long KNR Cares campaign, to include Election Day volunteering. KNR Cares Volunteer Day is an effort at the firm to give back to the community by encouraging staff to volunteer at their favorite charity. "KNR recognizes importance of voting in our democracy," said John Reagan, managing partner of KNR. "Every single person's vote counts. We want to make sure that polls are properly staffed. If polls are properly staffed, in a safe and reliable manner, our election and our democracy works. The voices of the people are heard in our government. And our employees are a valued part of that process." KNR will provide eight hours of paid time off to employees who volunteer as poll workers. In addition, KNR will provide employees with four hours of paid time off for poll worker training and four hours of paid time off to vote in this year's general election. Employees who vote will also have the opportunity to share their civic pride by taking a photo with KNR's "I Voted 2020" sign. Michael Saltzer, a KNR attorney, shared: "Because of COVID-19, I had concerns that without enough poll workers, polling places would close making it harder for people to vote. With that concern in mind, I filled out an application to work the polls in November. I just want to pay it forward and do my part. Working the polls is only a small part, but it allows me to feel that I'm doing my part in helping so that we as citizens can continue to vote." Kimberly Lubrani, also an attorney at KNR concurred: "This election presents a novel obstacle to voting: many of the senior citizens and retirees who have historically served as volunteer poll workers are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19, and may be deterred from serving as a poll worker in this election. By volunteering to work the polls this election, I am taking a step towards eliminating obstacles to voting." KNR has a long history of supporting individual rights and supporting the public. KNR Cares is a campaign that began in January 2018 with a commitment to give back to the community in a big way each month for 12 months in celebration of the firm's 12-year anniversary. The initiative is an extension of that community support. "Our employees find a great deal of satisfaction helping our clients navigate the legal system every day at work," Reagan added. "The KNR Cares Volunteer Day is a natural extension of that giving spirit of service, extending that characteristic of our firm outside the walls of our offices and into neighborhoods and communities where we live and work. Giving is more than just donating money, it's about acts of service and a spirit of gratitude. We are here to serve and are grateful we are able to do so every day, whether at work or in the public." For more information, visit the Kisling, Nestico & Redick website or call 1-800-HURT-NOW. About Kisling, Nestico & Redick Kisling, Nestico & Redick provides sophisticated injury law representation to clients throughout Ohio. The firm has gained a reputation as one of the state's leading personal injury firms due to a combination of personal service, inside knowledge of the insurance industry, and extensive legal experience. Founded in 2005, the firm has 11 locations, 28 attorneys and 94 support staff dedicated to seeking justice for victims injured in accidents. SOURCE Kisling, Nestico & Redick Related Links https://www.knrlegal.com Ive been called many things in my life many delivered with colorful metaphors that would make a farmer blush. Most were delivered when I sat in an editors chair and a reader was upset and emotional about a story in the paper. I never took it personally. But now I can add a title to my name that would have made those callers heads explode: Lord. Yes, I have been officially proclaimed Lord Christian Hardie because I am a Scottish landowner. I do have Scottish ancestry. My great-great-great grandparents James and Margaret Hardie came from Scotland to Maryland in 1852 and two years later settled in southern Trempealeau County, Wis., east of Galesville along the Black River to the area now known as Hardies Creek. I did not inherit a Scottish estate that gave me the title of lord. Grandpa James parents died when he was a boy and he was skint, having to work as a herd-boy and farmer until coming to this country. No, my new title comes from the time-honored tradition especially in politics that what you dont have you can always buy. Well, actually we bought it lest I forget that it was Lady Sherry Hardies idea. I may wear a kilt at times, but I wont forget who wears the pants. We are now the proud owners of a swath of titled land in the northeastern Scottish countryside that stretches the horizon for a grand total of two square feet. By virtue of purchasing this vast estate, we are entitled. It says so in an official proclamation that proudly hangs on our wall. Know ye therefore that, Lord Christian Hardie and Lady Sherry Hardie, by the virtue of the ownership of land in Scotland, by way of a dedication, upon the effect and receipt of this proclamation, in particular regarding the land described as Plot E516946 by Established Titles, may henceforth and in perpetuity be known by the style and title of Lord and Lady and shall hereafter, to all and sundry, be known as Lord Christian Hardie & Lady Sherry Hardie. This wasnt an entirely selfish purchase. We also helped pay for a tree being planted to preserve and protect woodland areas of Scotland. Our land is located in the county of Aberdeenshire and is classified under Scottish land law as a souvenir plot too small to be registered with the Scottish Land Registry. It is part of a larger area that forms a part of a merkland, or eight ouncelands. A merkland is an old Scottish land unit measurement that was once tied to the value of a coin. In some places, eight ouncelands were equal to one merkland not to be confused with the pennylands or hide, league, link, chain, pole and rods. Its about as clear as the peat on the bottom of a bog. A 1929 legal document says: In almost all townships, merklands came to have a stereotyped relation to the pennylands (so many marks going to the pennyland without any odd fraction over), despite all fluctuations in the value of land. As the usual number of merks per pennyland was four (outside the North Isles), merklands frequently became confused with farthing lands. Legal or not, the traditional upper class in Scotland doesnt take too kindly to folks who think they can make themselves a peer of the realm. Scots common law allows for anyone to call themselves anything they like. A true lord (or laird, as the Scots say) in the view of the Court of the Lord Lyon is applied to the owner of an estate or someone living and working on the estate. It is a description, not a title, and not appropriate for the owner of a normal residential property far less the owner of a small souvenir plot of land. For those keeping score, a laird ranks below a baron and above an esquire. And dont even try to register a coat of arms. Anyone wanting that without living on real estate will be rejected. The ownership of souvenir plots of land of a few square feet or thereby is insufficient to bring anyone within the jurisdiction of the Lord Lyon King of Arms. Being a lord and lady has some cachet that may score us better seats in restaurants. It certainly fits with our Scottish themed inn, winery and wedding venue. Someday we hope to visit our land, which contains rowan and ash trees, along with white wildflowers and purple thistles. Well have a picnic with a flask of Speyside whiskey. I hope the neighbors are gone that day as our picnic blanket will likely invade several estates. But we wont be trespassing, as the land is kept open under Scottish law that grants public right of way over certain privately owned land for recreational enjoyment. I think Im going to like being a lord. But Ill try to keep perspective. Milady just reminded me that the chicken coop needs cleaning. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 18:53:05|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BANGKOK, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Friday said the thai government and the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) will discuss whether to extend the emergency decree designed to stem the COVID-19 outbreak. The prime minister said his team will be reviewing regulations for visiting business representatives and tourists ahead of the cabinet meeting on Tuesday. "I strongly believe that the emergency law is useful in preventing outbreaks as normal laws were not adequate to the task," Prayut said, adding that as long as the pandemic is prevalent, emergency laws should be in place. In regards to opening the Thai skies to foreign visitors, Prayut said he believes that quarantine period should be shorted for business visitors if they pass the COVID-19 test at Thai airport upon arrival. "As you know, Thailand is facing a very challenging time economically with the COVID-19 outbreak. We need tourists visiting Thailand to spend money," said Prayut, "International companies also need to send people here to supervise their production bases in Thailand." Though the prime minister did not spell out exactly whether the emergency law would be extended by month end, the CCSA team on Friday said it will convince Prayut to rubber stamp approval to extend the law for the sixth time. The CCSA has reported 3,519 COVID-19 infections in the country since the outbreak began in January. Enditem The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) is at the final stage of the processes to gazette its sanitation bye-laws. Mr Osei Assibey-Antwi, the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), said the Assemblys Waste Management Department was playing a lead role to finally get the bye-laws duly recognized. The aim, he said, was to deal promptly with sanitation-related offences, to engender a cleaner environment for the wellbeing of the people. KMA had prosecuted 250 sanitation-related cases since the advent of the project dubbed Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Drive, which aimed to name, shame and prosecute culprits of sanitation-related offences. Mr Assibey-Antwi, who was addressing the first ordinary meeting of the first session of the Eighth Assembly, said the prosecutions yielded GH90,000, which had since been paid into the Consolidated Fund of the Central Government. The Assembly, he said, had established a Food Hygiene Unit with the intent to screen and certify food vendors for the safety of the public. So far, over 11, 179 food vendors had gone through the process, according to the MCE, explaining that the Unit was expected to do monitoring, supervision, education and enforcement to create the needed awareness on food safety. On the Compound Sanitation Project, he indicated that the idea was to increase household toilets within the metropolis by assisting those without toilets to acquire some. Over five hundred toilets had for some time now, he noted, been constructed for the benefit of over 3, 700 persons. This has indeed reduced open defecation in the metropolis, he told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, on the sidelines of the programme. 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 Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily newsletters. To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now. Nine parents of Los Angeles Unified students are filing a class action lawsuit against the state's largest school district over how it handles distance learning, arguing the district's online offerings fall short and violate their children's right to an education. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Black and Latino parents, parents of students with special needs, and parents of students learning English. Surveys of parents and the district's own data have shown that students in these groups, in particular, have struggled with distance learning. "It was a really hard time for the spring for [my son], in a place where he was so discouraged that he didn't want to do anything school related," said Keshara Shaw, a plaintiff and mother of a sixth grader in the district. We are not using Shaw's son's name or naming the LAUSD school he attends to protect his privacy, as he is a minor. When schools first closed to slow the spread of coronavirus in the spring, the district did not require its teachers to provide live instruction, per an agreement with the union representing LAUSD teachers. icon DON'T MISS ANY L.A. CORONAVIRUS NEWS Get our daily newsletters for the latest on COVID-19 and other top local headlines. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Since then, the California legislature passed Senate Bill 98, which set a minimum number of instructional minutes, ranging from three hours a day for kindergarteners, to four hours a day for fourth graders and older. It also called for "daily live interaction" with teachers and classmates. So this school year, LAUSD teachers are required to provide at least an hour and a half of "synchronous" instruction - meaning they're interacting live with students - each day. The rest of the "asynchronous" time is supposed to be spent doing independent work or watching pre-recorded lessons. But Shaw said in her experience, the fall has been inconsistent, too. She said her son's teacher sometimes experiences internet connectivity problems. At times, her son logs onto Zoom at 9 a.m. and is done by 10 a.m. She said she's resorted to printing out math, science, and vocabulary worksheets to keep her son engaged with learning, and she worries for his future - in seventh grade and beyond - if things continue as they are. "For him to already have struggled before, I feel like this will be a step into him really not wanting to further his education," Shaw said. "And with that can come so many other problems." The lawyers and plaintiffs held a press conference this afternoon in downtown Los Angeles. Vicenta Martinez told LAist she and her husband provided most of the instruction for her daughter, a second-grader. We're not naming her daughter to protect her privacy as a minor. "We're not teachers," Martinez said in Spanish. "We don't really know the material that my daughter should be learning and we're concerned that we won't be able to help her." Martinez said before the pandemic her daughter was very motivated to do well in school, and had dreams of becoming an astronaut when she grows up. But Martinez says she's noticed a change. "Now during the pandemic, she's become very unmotivated towards school and very discouraged," Martinez said. Martinez said she believes her daughter should have more time interacting with her teachers online, and that her school should have ways to support parents like her, who speak Spanish. "All of the material that they send out is an English and I've called and asked my school questions, and they tell me that they don't speak Spanish," Martinez said. The parents suing the district were brought together by two advocacy organizations - Innovate Public Schools and Parent Revolution. Innovate Public Schools regional vice president Hannah Gravettte said they're pursuing a lawsuit because "there's really no other mechanism left" for changing the district's Distance Learning Plan. "Before, when you weren't getting your needs met at school, you could march down to the school ... and see what's happening to your kid in their class ... you could stand in the office and refuse to leave until you were heard or your problem was addressed," explained Gravette. "But there's nothing that parents can do now" - with school campuses closed to students - "if a teacher or a principal chooses not to respond," Gravette added. In a statement, an LAUSD spokesperson said: "Many of the challenges society faces present themselves in schools including the impact of COVID-19. School districts like Los Angeles Unified have to balance the sometimes conflicting priorities of the learning needs of students and the health and safety of all in the school community. "Since school closed in March, LA Unified has been working to bridge the digital divide ensuring all students have devices and access to the internet. It has also sought innovative ways to engage students online. Los Angeles Unified will continue to provide the best possible education to all students." FOR MORE OF OUR COVERAGE OF LAUSD AND DISTANCE LEARNING: An elderly delivery driver has been presented with a $12,000 tip after a TikTok star started a fundraiser for the cash-strapped senior citizen. Derlin Newey, 89, works 30 hours a week at a Papa John's Pizza in Roy, Utah in order to make ends meet. Earlier this month, he delivered a pizza to the home of popular TikTok creator Carlos Valdez - an event which unexpectedly changed his life forever. Valdez recorded his family's interaction with Newey - who stood at the doorstep and enjoyed a friendly conversation with the clan. The footage was later posted to Valdez's TikTok page, where it quickly went viral. Elderly pizza delivery driver Derlin Newey (left) has been presented with a $12,000 tip after TikTok star Carlos Valdez (right) started a fundraiser for the cash-strapped senior citizen. Earlier this month, Newey delivered a pizza to the home of popular TikTok creator Carlos Valdez - an event which unexpectedly changed his life forever. Newey didn't know he was being recorded, and the video went viral Fans fell in love with kind-hearted Newey, and many wondered why he was still working as he neared the age of 90. Valdez then came up with the idea to start a fundraiser for the elderly worker. The TikTok star set up the fundraiser via Venmo, and people all across the country sent through donations. Valdez raised $12,069 in the span of several days. On Tuesday, Valdez and his wife set off to Newey's mobile home to deliver the $12,069 'tip' to America's new favorite pizza delivery driver. 'We collectively collected a gift for you, and I'm here to deliver that gift to you on behalf of the TikTok community,' Vadez told Newey. On Tuesday, Valdez and his wife set off to Newey's mobile home to deliver the $12,069 'tip' to America's new favorite pizza delivery driver Footage filmed by local news station KSL shows Newey reduced to tears when presented with the money Footage filmed by local news station KSL shows Newey reduced to tears when presented with the money. 'How do I ever say thank you? I don't know what to say,' he sobbed. The Valdez family hope Newey will use the money for bills and medical expenses so he won't have to work so hard. 'This couldn't have gone any better,' Valdez told KSL. 'He needed this. I'm just glad we could help him. We just need to treat people with kindness and respect - the way he does. He stole our hearts.' Please register or log in to keep reading. No credit card required! Stay logged in to skip the surveys. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey will cut the ribbon Monday opening U.S. 231 in Morgan County after a seven-month shutdown caused when a landslide washed away the highways foundation. The ceremony is set for 2:30 p.m. Heavy rain in February caused the landslide that closed the highway on the side of Brindlee Mountain between Laceys Spring and Morgan City. Ivey declared a state of emergency allowing the Alabama Department of Transportation to award a contract quickly for the repair. That repair included two new deep-foundation bridges. The problem began with large cracks in the highway that eventually washed dirt and rock from under the road. Brasfield & Gorrie of Birmingham was awarded the contract to build the twin bridges for a low bid of $14.6 million, and the contractor was offered up to about $2.5 million in incentives to complete the bridges two months ahead of the target date of Dec. 2. The closed section of the road is about 7 miles south of Huntsville, and the detour created traffic headaches for commuters. Instead of their normal four-lane highway, motorists had to travel a series of two-lane roads with temporary traffic lights at two intersections on Alabama Highway 36. The state is asking all who attend the event to practice social distancing. New Delhi, Sep 25 : An Australian think tank has once again nailed Chinas lies on the human rights violations being committed in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) by releasing a comprehensive data, including latest satellite imagery, of more than 380 detention facilities still operating in the countrys far west. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released the first of its two-part study, 'The Xinjiang Data Project,' today which has extensively mapped Xinjiang's detention system with 380 sites of 're-education' camps, detention centres and high-security prisons that have been built or expanded since 2017. ASPI researchers believe that this is the largest database of Xinjiang's detention facilities in existence with the findings of the research contradicting Chinese officials' claims that all "trainees" from so-called vocational training centres had "graduated" by late 2019. The detailed research suggests that many extrajudicial detainees in Xinjiang's vast "re-education" network are now being formally charged and locked up in higher security facilities, including newly built or expanded prisons, or sent to walled factory compounds for coerced labor assignments. "We present satellite imagery evidence that shows newly constructed detention facilities, along with extensions to several existing facilities, that occurred across 2019 and 2020. At least 61 detention sites have seen new construction and expansion work between July 2019 and July 2020. This includes at least 14 facilities still under construction in 2020, according to the latest satellite imagery available. Of these, about 50 per cent are higher security facilities, which may suggest a shift in usage from the lower-security, 're-education centres' toward higher-security prison-style facilities," said researcher Nathan Ruser. ASPI has put the precise coordinates and images for all 380 sites in an interactive map for public view online. The researcher's efforts to find as many of the detention facilities in Xinjiang as possible has spanned over two years and involved eyewitness accounts, media reports, scouring satellite images and official construction tender documents. "One of the most effective methods was the examination of night-time satellite imagery from Xinjiang. Because the vast majority of the camps that we located were built on previously unused land in remote or peri-urban areas, it was possible to compare illuminated areas in the first few months of 2017 -- before most of those camps had been constructed -- with presently illuminated areas. The new areas of night-time light emissions were cross-referenced against high-resolution daytime satellite imagery that showed much greater detail. We discovered that many of the newly illuminated areas in these parts of Xinjiang were either newly constructed detention facilities or significant new highway checkpoints used to monitor the movement of people across Xinjiang," says Ruser. Human rights organizations believe that the Chinese government has detained over a million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs and people from other Turkic Muslim nationalities in these camps over the last three years. Not just that, the minority community, which practices a moderate form of Sufi Islam and leads predominantly secular lives, has seen massive destruction of its places of worship. China, however, claims that these camps in Xinjiang are nothing but vocational education and training centers established to teach skills in accordance with the law as the province faced a severe situation of frequent violent and terrorist activities. "Foreign media reports claiming that there were up to one million or even two million trainees at the centers are purely fabricated and totally groundless," China's official state-run press agency Xinhua quoted Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the regional government, as saying last December after the 'graduation ceremony' of the trainees. Just like the rest of its propaganda, China failed miserably here too. Last month, the United States, Britain and Germany had slammed the Xi Jinping regime at a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting for gross human rights abuses being committed against ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the province. The United Nations' independent experts have also repeatedly communicated with the Chinese government their alarm regarding the repression of fundamental freedoms in China-from the collective repression of the population, especially religious and ethnic minorities, in Xinjiang and Tibet, to the detention of lawyers and prosecution and disappearances of human rights defenders across the country, allegations of forced labor in various sectors of the formal and the informal economy, as well as arbitrary interferences with the right to privacy, to cybersecurity laws that authorize censorship and the broadly worrying anti-terrorism and sedition laws applicable in Hong Kong. "The world has known about the Chinese Communist Party's gross and systematic abuses of human rights for decades, but too often turned a blind eye. The PRC's human rights record is deplorable, and its efforts to disguise that record must be countered with more transparency, more discussion, and more truth, as the UN's founders envisioned. The Trump administration will continue to lead those efforts, and will take every opportunity to give voice to those in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and elsewhere who are prevented from using theirs," Kelly Craft, the US Permanent Representative to the UN had said a couple of months ago. In spite of the huge criticism, protests and warnings from all corners of the globe, Xi remains defiant. As IndiaNarrative.com had reported yesterday, China is now pursuing a Xinjiang-style system of forced labor in Tibet, a region which, though suffering from suppression, until now has not been subjected to such atrocities. The satellite imageries, the investigations, the reports of special rapporteurs, have all been brushed aside by the country which rubbishes expansionist remarks and claims being "a builder of global peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of international order". (This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text (Natural News) Big Techs reckoning may have finally arrived. The White House hosted a roundtable calling for the overhaul of Section 230, a change which has massive implications for Big Tech and online speech. (Article by Alexander Hall republished from NewsBusters.org) No more bad faith moderation! The Department of Justice has proposed a bill to overhaul Section 230 and punish companies for political censorship. Every year, countless Americans are banned, blacklisted, and silenced through arbitrary or malicious enforcement of ever-shifting rules, President Donald Trump declared at a September 23 roundtable including Attorney General William Barr, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), and nine other conservative leaders. Trump then described his response: In May, I directed Attorney General Barr to work with the state attorneys general as they enforce the state laws against deceptive business practices. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen explained how this legislation will ensure that when Big Tech companies moderate content in bad faith, they will risk their Section 230 protections. This roundtable discussed an entirely new approach to wrangling with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects Big Tech platforms from legal liability from lawsuits for content that appears on their platforms. The discussions declared purpose was to focus on concrete legal steps to protect an open Internet and a free society, including steps to ensure the social media companies cannot deceive their users with hidden efforts to manipulate the spread of information. Barr has delivered: Im pleased to report that, earlier today, the Department, on behalf of the administration, has sent to Congress proposed legislation to reform Section 230. And that legislation addresses concerns about online censorship by requiring greater transparency and accountability when platforms remove lawful speech. Google whistleblower Zach Vorhies summarized the Section 230 reform legislation in a Twitter thread: companies like Google and Facebook will get stripped of immunity if they moderate content in bad faith. He featured numerous purported screenshots of the legislation. In one tweet, Vorhies summarized how Good faith terms are defined. This will make Google/YouTube, Facebook, Twitters lives very difficult. They will now have to tell you why they are restricting your content. The DOJ press release explained that the legislation has a series of reforms to promote transparency and open discourse and ensure that platforms are fairer to the public when removing lawful speech from their services. It went on to explain why, after years of moderation in bad faith, its high time for a complete overhaul: The current interpretations of Section 230 have enabled online platforms to hide behind the immunity to censor lawful speech in bad faith and is inconsistent with their own terms of service. To remedy this, Barr explained, the departments legislative proposal revises and clarifies the existing language of Section 230 and replaces vague terms replacing them with more concrete language. The prime example of Big Tech tyranny discussed was how platforms have been censoring leaders for expressing valid concerns about mail-in voter fraud. In late May, Twitter fact-checked Trump for suggesting that mail-in ballots could lead to voter fraud, a concern even The New York Times has acknowledged to be valid. But the initial fact-check of Trump proved to be only the beginning. In August Twitter placed an interstitial, or filter, over Trumps August 23 tweet criticizing Mail Drop Boxes as a voter security disaster. In September, Twitter announced in a September 10 company blog update that We will label or remove false or misleading information intended to undermine public confidence in an election or other civic process. Twitter followed through on this threat a few days later. Trump warned North Carolina voters: To make sure your Ballot COUNTS, sign & send it in EARLY, and urged them to go to your Polling Place to see if it was COUNTED. He followed up by suggesting IF NOT, VOTE! Trump claimed that Your signed Ballot will not count because your vote has been posted, and warned: Dont let them illegally take your vote away from you! Twitter responded by labeling the tweet with an interstitial, or filter: This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about civic and election integrity. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the publics interest for the Tweet to remain accessible. Learn more. State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R-WV) discussed that Trumps concerns about censorship about electoral fraud have since been validated. He recounted how, When you were being criticized by Twitter, related to absentee ballots, that very same day, we concluded an investigation of West Virginia, which affirmed a lot of the very things you were saying. Morrisey later added that I thought youd appreciate the irony of that very day, that irony being how That person is going to go to jail now. And, meanwhile, Twitter continues to engage and pretend that whats true is not. Read more at: NewsBusters.org The distress of migrant workers, gut-wrenchingly captured by this photograph of a child trying to wake its dead mother at a railway station in Bihar, surpassed even the horrors of the coronavirus pandemic itself. Data is the new oil, OK?. Even if our finance minister poured scorn on the modern maxim in her budget speech, saying it is just a cliche. Cliche or not, the importance of data in modern admin may have dawned on the government when it confessed in Parliament last week that it had no data on the deaths of guest workers who were forced by Narendra Modi's sudden lockdown back in March to flee the cities. This human tragedy, which was gut-wrenchingly captured by a photograph of a child trying to wake its dead mother at a railway station, surpassed even the horrors of the coronavirus pandemic itself. In the absence of credible data gathering, the figure of one crore migrant workers displaced can only be taken as a ballpark figure conjured up to satisfy questions tabled in Parliament. If indeed the government did not collate any data from the states on the number of returning migrants or their fatalities, then it can only be said that this is a careless government. But if the real reason is that data is being withheld because of the embarrassment it would cause, then the government stands condemned by its own callousness. The suspicion is that data media sources put guest worker deaths near about 300 is a tool to be manipulated in the hands of the current dispensation as amply proved in several debates over statistics regarding job losses in economy in the past couple of years. The government has also said in Parliament that it has no data on farmer suicides in the last three years. The fact that its own national crime database reveals 10,281 farmer suicides in 2019 and 10,357 in 2018, besides counting 42,480 deaths by suicide of farmers and daily wage workers last year, shows up the rulers as shying away from the truth when it comes to keeping the elected reps informed in Parliament. In refusing to address inconvenient data, the government is proving unworthy of the people it governs. The number of coronavirus cases in the US has topped seven million - more than 20 percent of the world's total - as Midwest states reported surges in infections. The latest milestone comes just three days after the nation surpassed 200,000 COVID-19 fatalities, the highest toll from the virus than any country. California leads the US with more than 800,000 total cases, followed by Texas, Florida and New York, respectively. The highly infectious disease first struck New York City, and then the Sun Belt, but is now devastating communities in America's heartland that have been slower to implement restrictions or mandate masks. On Friday, the US topped more than 7 million coronavirus cases, making up 20% of the world's total. Pictured: Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health nurses Crys Kuntz (left)and Sara Nelson confer inside the Bismarck Event Center in Bismarck, North Dakota, September 8 Recently, there has been a surge in the Midwest in states such as Utah, Wisconsin, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota. Pictured: Members of the medical staff treat a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, July 28 Every Midwestern state, except Ohio, reported more cases over the past four weeks compared with the prior four weeks, led by South Dakota and North Dakota. South Dakota had the biggest percentage increase at 166 percent with 8,129 new cases over the last month compared to nearly 4,900 cases from the month prior. According to the Rapid City Journal, the state set new records on cases, current hospitalizations and deaths on Thursday. The state's Department of Health reported 463 new cases and a new high of 194 current COVID-19 hospitalizations. Eight deaths were reported on Thursday, which has only occurred on one other occasion, about 10 days ago. South Dakota health secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon said it is too soon to know if the state has reached its peak. Meanwhile Gov Kristi Noem tweeted on Tuesday that South Dakota is 'in good shape' with only five percent of ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. Meanwhile North Dakota's new cases doubled to 8,752 as compared to 4,243 during the same time in August. The Bismarck Tribune reported that active cases in the state have risen to an all-time high during the pandemic. On Thursday, the state's Department of Health reported 471 cases of COVID-19, bringing the states's active case total to 3,483. Currently, 26 patients are in ICU beds, making up almost 10 percent of North Dakota's ICU capacity. Meanwhile one-third of all North Dakota's counties are classified as 'moderate-risk' with some 'approaching high-risk.' Despite the record, interim State Health Officer Paul Mariani broke with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and rescinded an order requiring close contacts of known COVID-19 patients to quarantine for 14 days. California leads the country with more than 800,000 total infections, followed by Texas, Florida and New York. Pictured: A woman swabs her mouth for a coronavirus test at a testing site in Los Angeles, California, September 4 Cases in North and South Dakota are linked to the 80th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which was held in Deadwood, August 8 Many cases in those two states have been linked to the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, that annually attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. According to a Reuters analysis, positive cases rose in half of the 50 US states this month. Ten states have reported a record one-day increase in COVID-19 cases in September, including Montana, South Dakota and Utah on Thursday. PBS reported that Wisconsin has been averaging more than 2,000 cases per day over the last week but, just three weeks earlier, it was averaging 675. On Thursday, the state revealed a record high 528 people were hospitalized due to coronavirus, the first time this figure has ever broken 500. In Utah, daily infections have more than doubled while, in Missouri, health officials are recording more than 1,000 new cases every day, according to PBS. New cases rose last week after falling for eight consecutive weeks. Health experts believe this spike was due to reopening schools and universities as well as parties over the recent Labor Day holiday. A pre-peer review study by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Indiana University, the University of Washington and Davidson College said recent reopenings of college and university campuses could be linked to more than 3,000 additional cases of COVID-19 per day in the US in recent weeks. The US has the highest number of confirmed cases in the world followed by India with 5.7 million cases and Brazil with 4.6 million infections. Currently, the US is averaging 40,000 new infections per day with about 700 people dying daily. Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, has said he would like to see the number to fall below 10,000 per day before flu season starts in October. Health officials and President Donald Trump have presented different views about the nation's health crisis. Trump, who is seeking re-election to a second term on November 3, early this month had claimed that the US was 'rounding the corner' on the crisis. Fauci contradicted the claim the next day, saying the statistics were disturbing. Meanwhile, numerous companies are racing to have a vaccine approved with 10 around the world in final Phase III large-scale clinical trials, testing in humans. Along with skunks, bats rank among the most likely species in the state to be carrying rabies. Ordinarily, it wouldnt raise much alarm for a couple of infected bats to show up near Bell Cow Lake in central Oklahoma. This year, however, has seen a rise in the number of rabies cases among animals that dont usually carry the disease, including domesticated livestock that can have close contact with humans. Thats why the state Health Department recently issued a public caution after a second infected bat in six weeks turned up near Bell Cow Lake in Lincoln County, an hour southwest of Tulsa. Oklahoma is seeing more cases of rabies in the state this year than previous years, said state public health veterinarian LeMac Morris. With more sightings of skunks and bats, this is the perfect time to remind pet owners about the importance of vaccinating family pets, and even livestock. Oklahoma veterinarians have noticed more cases of rabies this year among cattle, sheep, horses and other barnyard animals. Clashes between the Syrian government forces and rebels in Idlib have significantly increased following Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs visit to Syria early September, marking a turning point for the Russian-Turkish cease-fire deal in the last rebel bastion. The Syrian government forces and Russian fighter jets have intensified their attacks on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other jihadist groups positions in and around Idlib province. In the past two weeks, Zawiyah Mountain between Idlib and Hama, Gap Plains to the southwest of Idlib and the Latakia countryside have been witnessing unprecedented heavy bombardments since the Russian-brokered cease-fire deal on March 5. In response, HTS and other jihadist groups are trying to stop the advance of the Syrian troops by mortar fire and rocket attacks on Saraqib and Kafr Nabl along the M5 highway that links the countrys north and south. Meanwhile, the foreign jihadist groups deployed in Jabal Akrad are increasing their attacks on the Latakia countryside. HTS, the dominant group controlling Idlib, is considered a terrorist organization by many Western powers and Russia. A Turkish checkpoint near Jisr al-Shughour also came under attack during the clashes, prompting a retaliation attack by the Turkish armed forces. The escalation has taken a dangerous turn after the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria at the Khmeimim air base accused HTS of plotting a conspiracy by using chemical weapons in an effort to provoke the international community. Turkey, in turn, has scaled up its military deployments to Idlibs de-escalation zone that was set up as part of the March 5 deal that also calls for the reopening of the critical M4 highway linking the countrys east and west and cleansing the Idlib area from radical elements. The number of Turkish military vehicles dispatched to the area has exceeded 9,750 over the past seven months. The Syrian government, meanwhile, has reinforced its positions in southern Idlib and western Aleppo with dispatching its troops to eastern and southern Idlib from Deir ez-Zor where they became idle after the fighting in the area mainly abated. Damascus patience with Idlib has worn thin as now it wants to concentrate its force on the eastern Euphrates where American troops are deployed along with Turkish and Kurdish forces. Intensifying clashes are the latest sign that the technical talks between the Turkish and Russian militaries are stumbling. In the last round of the talks Sept. 16 in Ankara, Russia reportedly asked Turkey to disband its checkpoints in the Syrian-government controlled areas of Idlibs de-escalation zone, decrease the number of its troops, withdraw its heavy weapons in the region, and remove the armed rebels from the vicinity of the M4 highway. Aiming to counter the Russian pressure, Turkey demanded Syrian government forces and the Kurdish groups to leave control of Manbij and Tel Rifaat to the Turkish forces and elimination of the People's Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey considers a terrorist organization. Both sides refused to accept each other's demands. Forced out of Afrin during Turkeys Operation Olive Branch in 2018, the YPG relocated its forces in the Tel Rifaat countryside until the Syrian government forces took over the control of the region. The situation in Manbij city, which is currently under the control of the Manbij Military Council, has changed after the American troops withdrew from the area in 2019. The city has mainly come under control of the Syrian troops and Russian military police, with the latter conducting patrols on the citys streets. In Idlib, crowds organized a series of protests against the Turkish military presence in the areas controlled by the Syrian government troops including in Morek and Surman, demanding Turkey to pull out from Syria completely. The Turkish Defense Ministry said, Some civilian-looking groups led by [the Syrian government gathered around the Turkish] observation points 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 in the Idlib de-escalation zone. The protesters attacked observation post 7 before being dispersed by the Turkish forces, the ministry added in a tweet. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans position on withdrawal demands is intransigent. If Turkey withdraws from Syria, would Syria suddenly regain its peace and prosperity?" Erdogan said Sep. 17, in response to criticism about Turkeys ongoing crossborder military operations in Syria. Turkey's insistence on holding its ground in Syria has also reshaped the military calculations on the ground. Briefing the Syrian opposition groups about the content of the technical meetings with Russia, Turkey warned them against a possibility of a new battle in Idlib. Ankara has also intensified the training programs it is providing to the rebels in more than 150 military training camps and reinforced more than 140 positions where the Turkish troops are located. The financial collapse triggered by the American sanctions, impeding political talks and reconstruction process have fueled the fears of Damascus and Moscow that the three-way territorial split of Syria could become permanent. Although both parties want to break the deadlock in Idlib, Damascus is troubled with Moscows slow-moving game plan. During his visit to Damascus Sept. 7, Lavrov stressed the need for the elimination of all the obstacles to the political process, as he was introducing a new economic aid package that is crucial for the reconstruction of critical electricity plants and hydrocarbon refineries in Syria. Responding to criticism of the perceived Russian leniency toward Turkey, Lavrov said, The government-controlled part of the Idlib de-escalation zone has increased considerably since the signing of the Russian-Turkish agreements. Although one of the most important obstacles before the political process is the stagnant constitutional talks in Geneva, the ongoing process doesnt rule out the military option in Idlib. Turkey has failed to implement the provisions of the March 5 deal including the reopening of the M4 highway and setting up a 6-kilometer-long (4-mile) buffer zone on both sides of the road. So far joint Turkish-Russian patrols on the M4 highway have failed to achieve anything other than buying time for the deal. On July 22, the Turkish-Russian troops completed after 22 attempts the joint patrol along the M4 stretching from Tarnaba west of Saraqib to Ain Hur village in the Latakia countryside. But in August, Russia decided to suspend the patrols after radical groups in the area targeted the Turkish and Russian troops on Aug. 18 and Aug. 25. Accusing HTS of the attacks, Lavrov said the patrols would resume shortly, as soon as the situation has calmed down, in an interview with Al-Arabiya Sept. 21. After Turkey failed to reopen the M5 highway as called for in the Sochi deal between Ankara and Moscow, the Syrian government forces stepped in and seized control of the road through a military operation in June 2019. The recent escalation on the Idlib front is turning the heat on Turkey by hinting at a similar military operation for the M4 highway. The recent bombardments show that Damascus may be planning to seize control of the highway through capturing Zawiyah Mountain and Gap Plain. Jisr al-Shughour, a stronghold of the jihadist groups dominating Idlib, stands as the most challenging point on the way to the M4 highway. The mountainous, forested terrain between Jisr al-Shughour and Latakia portends a fierce battle. Aside from setting off new tensions between Turkey and Russia, such a battle would also trap the armed jihadist groups in a narrow line between Idlib city and the Turkish border. Wary of a new round of escalation with Turkey, Moscow continues its coordination with Ankara. The delegations are expected to meet for a new round of talks following the joint Russian-Turkish military exercise on the M4 highway on Sep. 21, aimed at increasing the efficiency of coordination in emergencies. In sum, although Ankaras game plan is to maintain the status quo in Idlib through military deterrence, further escalation in Idlib seems likely. Russia is dragging along Turkey to a new turning point at a time when Ankara has already been disturbed by its inefficacious Libya policy abroad and deepening financial woes at home. Gordon Murray entered his pub, An Bothar Rua on Saturday night while waiting for the results of his test, where there was an 18th birthday party being held according to The Irish Times. The pub in Elphin is now closed after Mr Murray subsequently tested positive for the virus, saying there were about 50-60 people in the pub when he entered at the weekend. I will put my hands up and say I didnt know I had to self-isolate. If I knew I was supposed to, I would not have been at the bar on Saturday, he said. Close contacts of those who have tested positive in the area are now being traced and public health officers have examined the situation in the community. Following a spike in cases in the area, the town has cancelled First Holy Communion celebrations that were due to take place this Saturday, as reported in the Roscommon Herald. Advertisement Parish priest, Fr John Joe Gannon urged the community to follow public health guidelines "to the letter of the law" while a restaurant owner in the town called for people to "put the blame game aside. Conal Tiernan of the Elf Inn Restaurant said: It is actually getting us nowhere starting this blame game. We want to rally everyone together and learn from mistakes." By Sam Mednick MOAGA, Burkina Faso, Sept 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - H ealth worker Estelle Sanon looked on helplessly as a woman tried to make her squirming baby drink a mug of malaria medicine outside their house in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou. Normally Sanon would hold the 18-month-old and administer the dose herself, but because of coronavirus she has to keep a distance from her patients. "If I am standing and watching the mother do it, it's as if I'm not doing my work," said Sanon, a community health volunteer assisting in a seasonal campaign to protect children in the West African country from the deadly mosquito-borne disease. Burkina Faso is one of the 10 worst malaria-affected nations in the world, accounting for 3% of the estimated 405,000 malaria deaths globally in 2018, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). More than two-thirds of victims are children under five. Now there are fears malaria cases could rise in Burkina Faso as restrictions due to coronavirus slow down a mass treatment campaign and rumours over the virus causing parents to hide their children, according to health workers and aid officials. "COVID-19 has the potential to worsen Burkina Faso's malaria burden," said Donald Brooks, head of the U.S. aid group Initiative: Eau, who has worked on several public health campaigns in the country. "If preventative campaigns can't be thoroughly carried out and if people are too scared to come to health centres ... it could certainly increase the number of severe cases and the risk of poor outcomes," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Eliminating malaria by 2030 was one of the global goals agreed by world leaders at the United Nations five years ago, but while it has been eradicated in Europe the number of cases is still rising in Africa, according to the WHO's latest report. Earlier this year, the U.N. agency warned that the disruption to malaria prevention programmes caused by the coronavirus could increase the number of deaths to 770,000 across sub-Saharan Africa, twice the figure in 2018. OBSTACLES During peak malaria season, from July to November, community health workers deploy across Burkina Faso to treat children with seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), a drug the WHO says is 75% effective at preventing malaria in children under five. This is the second year the campaign will cover the whole country with more than 50,000 volunteers going door-to-door, said Gauthier Tougri, coordinator for the country's anti-malaria programme. Logistics were already challenging. Violence linked to jihadists and local militias has forced more than one million people to flee their homes, shuttered health clinics and made large swathes of land inaccessible. Now the coronavirus has made the task even harder, health workers said. "It hinders our work," said Daniel Sorgho, a volunteer in the remote village of Moaga in the centre-eastern region. Instead of giving children the medicine directly, volunteers have to stand back and teach parents how to do it, as well as how to measure children's arms to check for malnutrition. Children are less likely to swallow the medicine when their parents give it to them, and more children are vomiting this year compared to last, Sorgho said. As a result, visits are taking three times as long and he's reaching 30% fewer people a day, he said. People have also become sceptical about taking the medicine because of the rumours swirling around the coronavirus, said Esther Traore, head nurse of a health clinic in Ouagadougou. "There are a lot of things that circulate on social media saying that it is not good to vaccinate children, it is not good to take the tablets," she said. As a supervisor, she's made an effort to visit reluctant families and explain that the treatment is safe, she said. LASTING EFFECTS It is too soon to measure the impact of coronavirus on malaria numbers, said Johanna Stenstrom, former Burkina Faso country director for the Malaria Consortium, an international aid group. An analysis on the impact of COVID will be conducted immediately after the prevention campaign, she said. But Stenstrom warned that the long-term consequences of malaria are severe, including children not being able to go to school, parents missing work to take care of them and the added financial burden on families and communities, she said. " hits countries harder than we see reported. It has a long list of knock-on effects on the individual kids and those are lasting," Stenstrom said. Health experts said the risks of not conducting the campaign would be worse than forging ahead under difficult conditions. Globally, progress against malaria has stalled in recent years. After falling to 217 million in 2014 from 251 million in 2010, cases rose to 228 million in 2018, according to the WHO. To increase safety, Burkina Faso's government and aid organisations have added money to the campaign for coronavirus protective equipment. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, one of the main donors for malaria programmes in the country, invested an additional $1.5 million, said Jean-Thomas Nouboussi, the group's senior fund portfolio manager for Burkina Faso. Other major donors include the U.S. government, the World Bank and the Malaria Consortium while health volunteers are putting in extra hours to reach everyone. "The rate of uncomplicated malaria has fallen a lot," said Burkina Faso's Health Minister Leonie Claudine Lougue on a visit to Moaga this month, praising volunteers for establishing trust within communities despite the difficult conditions. But some villagers remained sceptical. Moaga resident Virginie Nion said she was reluctant to let her daughter have treatment after seeing comments on Facebook in relation to the coronavirus, warning Africans to be wary of having drugs tested on them. While Nion, 48, still believes in the malaria treatment, she said some of her neighbours hide their children when health workers come door-to-door. "A lot of people are more reluctant," said Nion. "People aren't open like before." (Reporting by Sam Mednick; Editing by Nellie Peyton and Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org) Campus News A pathfinder on the remote learning frontier UB senior Amanda Hart stands next to a mural she painted on an exterior wall of the Matt Urban Hope Center on the East Side of Buffalo. Photo: Courtesy of Amanda Hart By CHARLES ANZALONE Our generation has the opportunity to shape the future of further online learning and opportunities simply by engaging and making the most out of whats offered to us. Some of Amanda Harts most vivid memories of in-person courses are the distractions. There is always one squeaky chair, she says, and someone usually plays on a laptop, watching movies instead of listening to the lecture. Hart often found a line of students waiting to talk to the professor, and by the time she got her turn, the teacher was walking out the door. Hart has a disability, and found it hazardous walking up steps between classes because so many people pushed to get past. Then there was commuting from her Hamburg home, parking and fitting her schedule around static classes. Hart is now a devotee of remote learning, a pathfinder in the new higher education order. She partnered with a Nigerian organization while taking the SUNY Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Global Commons course this summer, making a 21-page full color magazine in less than two weeks to further what Nigerians call elderly friendliness. By taking on more than what is expected of me, I am able to push myself past my safety net, says Hart, a senior psychology major graduating in December. I honestly believe online learning is all about capitalizing on opportunity when its presented. Putting the magazine together was a grueling process, taking 100 hours to complete. But when it was done, the experience left her with a sense of purpose that blew away her typical classroom time. Not only was I able to experience something new, she says, I was also able to help someone else. Hart was so enthralled with virtual study abroad that she signed up within minutes for the Tanzania Virtual Study Abroad course led by Mara Huber, associate dean for undergraduate research and experiential learning, who worked with Harts COIL group. Each week this semester, Hart, Huber and three other students attend a Zoom meeting and talk about Tanzania. Mara has shared her experiences about visiting Tanzania, says Hart. And in a way, all of us are vicariously living her experiences while she shares them. We have had the opportunity to meet incredible people involved with sustainability projects in Tanzania, and are actually in the midst of creating our own womens empowerment project. Seventy-five percent of Harts college classes have been online. She earned the SUNY Chancellors Award for Student Excellence while attending Erie Community College, and numerous scholarships. She has a 3.6 GPA and time to run her own grass-roots organization, Buffalo Custom Art, a public art project that has earned her extensive local media attention. She says she can budget her time better with online classes. She gets more attention from teachers and can concentrate better. She saves gas sidestepping her 45-minute commute each way, reducing her carbon footprint. And she has schedule flexibility that gives her the independence she always thought was a hallmark of a college student. I earned my way to a college degree sitting at my kitchen table, for the most part, says Hart. By PTI NEW DELHI: The pace of CBI probe into Sushant Singh Rajput's death has suddenly slowed down and all attention is being diverted to drugs-related issues with the NCB conducting "fashion parade" of Bollywood stars, the actor's family lawyer Vikas Singh alleged on Friday. "Today, we are helpless as we don't know which direction the case is going in. Normally a press briefing is done by CBI. But in this case, till today, CBI has not done a press briefing on what they have found out. This is a very serious issue," Singh alleged at a press conference. He also claimed that a doctor, who is part of AIIMS team, had told him "long back" that Rajput's photos -- sent by the lawyer himself -- indicated that it was allegedly death by strangulation, not suicide. As far as the narcotics angle is concerned, the senior advocate further claimed that such a case can be made only if certain quantity of drugs is seized from someone. Singh further alleged that Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is conducting a "fashion parade" of Bollywood stars to divert media attention. ALSO READ | AIIMS doctor alleged Sushant's photos indicate death by strangulation, claims family lawyer "An offence can not be proved until some quantity of contraband is recovered. The only case made out is that of casual consumer and proving anyone guilty is almost impossible," he told reporters. Singh had earlier in the day taken to Twitter saying he was getting "frustrated" by the delay in CBI taking a decision in the case. "Getting frustrated by the delay in CBI taking a decision to convert abetment to suicide to Murder of SSR (Sushant Singh Rajput). "The Doctor who is part of AIIMS team had told me long back that the photos sent by me indicated 200 per cent that it's death by strangulation and not suicide," Singh tweeted. Rajput, 34, was found hanging in his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14 following which the Mumbai Police had lodged an Accidental Death Report (ADR). ASLO READ | Sushant Singh Rajput case: Court allows NCB to question Showik Chakraborty, Deepesh Sawant in jail On July 25, Rajput's father K K Singh lodged a complaint in the matter with Patna police against Sushant's actor-friend Rhea Chakraborty, her parents Indrajit and Sandhya, her brother Showik, the late actor's then manager Shruti Modi and his house manager Samuel Miranda. He accused them of cheating and abetting his son's suicide. He also claimed that the accused persons had siphoned off Rs 15 crore from his son's bank accounts. Based on this allegation, the Enforcement Directorate is probing money laundering charges. The FIR lodged by Patna police was later transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), while the NCB is probing drugs angle in the case. ALSO WATCH: Tamika Palmer, right, the mother of Breonna Taylor, listens to a news conference Friday in downtown Louisville, Ky. (Darron Cummings / Associated Press) In a somber and at times rousing gathering Friday, family members of Breonna Taylor, as well as their attorneys, castigated a justice system in which no criminal charges will be brought against police for shooting and killing the 26-year-old Black woman six months ago inside her own apartment. What kind of sham grand jury proceeding was this? Benjamin Crump, the familys attorney, said from a park in downtown Louisville, Ky., which has been the main staging area for protests here. Crump, flanked by Taylors mother, called on Kentucky Atty. Gen. Daniel Cameron to make public all documents pertaining to the investigation of the March 13 incident, in which Louisville police officers stormed into Taylors apartment with a no knock warrant and fired multiple times after her boyfriend, who did not know who was entering the home, shot and wounded one of the officers. Say her name! Crump yelled. Breonna Taylor! protesters shouted back, their voices echoing off the canyon of buildings surrounding the park. Crump, calling Taylors death a form of police terrorism, predicted that the city would continue to be gripped in unrest in the months ahead. Both Crump and another family attorney, Lonita Baker, have said a special investigator needs to be appointed to assess the case. There seems to be two justice systems in America: one for Black America, and one for white America, Crump said, before leading the crowd in chants of Release the transcripts. "You can't pawn this off on the grand jury if your office made that decision," Baker said of Cameron. "Don't tell us that the grand jury made this determination if it was truly your determination." Officials from the FBI are investigating whether police violated Taylors civil rights, but there is no timetable on when a determination will be made. Taylors aunt Bianca Austin read a statement on behalf of Taylors mother, Tamika Palmer, who was too emotional to speak. Story continues I was reassured Wednesday of why I have no faith in the legal system, the statement said. The police and law were not made to protect us Black and brown women. I knew Daniel Cameron would never do his job. The system as a whole has failed Breonna. Earlier this week, Cameron announced that police officers would not be charged in Taylors death, spawning protests in Louisville and elsewhere in the country. For more than 100 days, protesters have gathered in Jefferson Square Park, demanding justice for Taylor. On Friday, streets around the downtown area remained barricaded and businesses shuttered as hundreds of people gathered, some holding signs that read "Say her name" and "A Black woman's life matters." Some came alone; others were in groups: a city bus driver on break, parents with children, groups of college friends. "Every weekend for the past month we have come here to pray, to find answers, and we need truth, and that's not what we are getting," Candice Conner, who arrived with her three children and sister, said Friday evening. "Breonna looked like me. Does my life matter? Her life did." Jamar Reason came alone. He lives a few blocks from downtown and rode his bicycle to the gathering. He has tried to come to protests for a few hours at least once a week. "Before this week, there was hope," he said. "That's gone somewhat, but we can still march, still make the leaders of this city remain on edge ... and see us." Helicopters buzzed overhead. National Guard Humvees were stationed on a nearby corner, guardsmen gripping rifles. Some protesters also openly carried firearms, their legal right in this city tucked along the banks of the Ohio River. A 9 p.m. curfew remains in effect throughout the weekend. At nightfall, some protesters have pushed back on the curfew, leading to tensions with police. The protests have been mainly peaceful, with small marches across the city during the daytime hours. But on Wednesday night, following the grand jury announcement, two police officers were shot. One of the officers has been released from the hospital; the other is in stable condition. Larynzo Johnson, 26, has been charged in the shootings. The next night, state Rep. Attica Scott, a Louisville Democrat, was arrested minutes before the curfew started. She was with a group of protesters marching toward a church that, like many around the city, has become a safe house of sorts. At the news conference Friday, Crump, who has represented dozens of families of unarmed Black people shot by police across the nation, was joined by several of those relatives. Michael Brown Sr., whose son Michael Brown was killed in 2014 in Ferguson, Mo., stood near Taylors mother. So did Jacob Blake Sr., whose son Jacob was shot by police multiple times in the back last month in Kenosha, Wis., leading to unrest nationwide. Jacob Blake survived, but he remains unable to walk. I had to be here with this fraternity, Blake said. "We did not choose this fraternity this fraternity chose us. As the march began making its way through downtown Friday evening, a man on a megaphone, like an emcee, began to preach to the protesters. "What do we want?" he yelled. "Justice!" the crowd shouted. "When do we want it?" "Now!" This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The lack of action or even the historic laziness of the public administrations in providing adequate sewage treatment facilities has not only a high environmental cost but also an economic one. And it is very sizeable. In Malaga province alone the authorities - and therefore the taxpayers - are paying 4.46 million euros a year towards the fine imposed by the EU on Spain in July 2018 for three places which were still failing to treat their waste: Coin, Alhaurin el Grande and Nerja. The historic court decision that highlighted the shameful situation in a total of 17 areas of the country dates back to 2011, although the fine came seven years later, when the European Commission got tired of waiting for Spain to make progress. Estepona and part of Marbella were also on the black list, but by the time the fine was imposed the Guadalmansa plant and the collectors at San Pedro Alcantara had come into operation. That meant there was no sanction for delay, but there was still the original sum of 738,290.98 euros to be paid. Between the four cases, the accumulated amount so far has risen to 10.61 million euros, of which 5.11 correspond to the two projects which are the responsibility of the State (Estepona and Nerja) and the remaining 5.49 million for the Junta de Andalucia's projects in Coin and Alhaurin el Grande. It could be worse, because Cartama was not included in this judicial process. It is the fourth largest municipality in Malaga with no sewage treatment, but the sentence was for failing to comply with the EU regulation which made 2001 the deadline for populations greater than 15,000 to treat their waste. At that time, Cartama had 13,400 inhabitants, which is half of its present population. The meter is still ticking away For Spain as a whole, the fine was 12 million euros, plus another 10.35 million for every six months of failure to comply after being notified of the sentence. The State has now paid 32.7 million euros to the European Commission (the initial fine, plus the period between July 2018 and July 2019) to which another 20.6 million will have to be added for the second half of 2019 and the first of 2020. As far as Malaga province is concerned, the government has paid the first 6.1 million euros, although it is demanding that the Junta de Andalucia pays for the part for which it is to blame. According to a decision in parliament on 10 March, Andalucia will have to pay three million euros: 1.53 for Alhaurin and 1.47 for Coin, and the sum will keep increasing until the treatment plant for the Malaga metropolitan area comes into operation. It will treat the waste from Alhaurin el Grande and Cartama, but will not be ready before 2024. Until then, an extra 634,320.36 euros will be due every six months. So far, since the initial fine, the amount has built up to 2.8 million euros. The Junta de Andalucia says it plans to go to the Supreme Court to overturn the government's decision to make it pay three million euros of the fine for the lack of sewage treatment in Alhaurin el Grande and Coin, but has not released any further details. 14 Arrested Amid Rioting in Portland; Crowd Dispersed in Seattle Rioters set fires, vandalized property, and clashed with police officers in Portland and Seattle late Thursday for the second consecutive night. Ostensibly upset that only one police officer was charged in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, protests started in the Pacific Northwest cities, only to devolve into violence again. In Portland, a crowd gathered around 9:10 p.m. and set fire to the Portland Police Association, a police union building that rioters have frequently targeted. Police officers began dispersing the crowd and making arrests. Officers disengaged from the crowd, enabling rioters to climb onto the roof of the union building. Officers then returned and made more arrests, according to the Portland Police Bureau. By 1 a.m., most of the crowd had dispersed. People move away from police officers amid rioting in Portland, Ore., Sept. 23, 2020. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images) Officers ultimately arrested 14 people, including one from New York and another from South Carolina. The previous night, video footage showed a rioter hurling a Molotov cocktail at a group of police officers, injuring one, who was caught on fire. This type of violence accomplishes nothing. These attacks on police officers, this destruction of property, does nothing to advance the goals of the community, the values of the community, and what were trying to accomplish as a police organization together with the community, Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell told reporters at a briefing. Rioters in Seattle created barricades blocking street traffic and lit them on fire, creating a dangerous situation that prompted a police response. After officers forced the crowd to leave the area, firefighters moved in to douse the flames. Unrest has shaken both Portland and Seattle since late May, as city, county, and state officials struggle to quell the violence and refuse help from the federal government. Rioters try to break into an Amazon store in Seattle in a July 19, 2020, file photograph. (Katie Daviscourt via Reuters) The Trump administration said this week that officials are permitting violence and anarchy, in a step toward revoking federal funding to the cities. Taylor, an emergency medical technician, died from gunshot wounds at her home in May. In announcing charges against one officer involved in the execution of a search warrant on her residence, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron revealed that officers announced themselves and knocked on the door before one entered the home and was fired upon by Taylors boyfriend. Officers responded by firing on the boyfriend, but some of the shots hit Taylor. Others went through the apartment walls, putting neighbors at risk. Brett Hankison, who was fired over the summer, was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. A person sits in a police vehicle after being detained amid rioting in Louisville, Ky., on Sept. 24, 2020. (John Minchillo/AP Photo) Activists wanted the officers charged with murder. But Cameron said their actions were justified because Taylor fired first. This justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges in Ms. Breonna Taylors death, the law enforcement official said. A riot in Louisville on Wednesday included the shooting of two police officers. The suspect was arrested and identified. The officers are expected to recover. Rioters in the city on Thursday smashed windows at businesses and a library before gathering on the grounds of a church to avoid being arrested for curfew violations, the Louisville Metro Police Department announced. At least 24 people were arrested throughout the evening for charges including unlawful assembly, failure to disperse, and riot in the first degree Oh, you dont want to spend two days prepping Thanksgiving dinner and another whole day cooking it...followed by another 24 hours of cleaning? To be honest, we get it and we can think of many things wed rather dolike saving our energy for Black Friday shopping. Last year you managed to avoid doing any cooking because Thanksgiving was limited to just you and your immediate family, but this year, everyone is coming over and expectations are super high. But dont worry, you can mitigate some of that imminent Thanksgiving anxiety by getting delicious holiday food delivered straight to your doorstep. Were not talking about the greasy takeout you order on a typical Friday night, but rather a full Thanksgiving spread that tastes like you made it yourself. Below, 20 top-rated Thanksgiving meal-delivery options. From a complete menu (turkey included) to just the sides, plus a few vegan alternatives as well as alcohol options, these websites make it easy to order a Thanksgiving dinner that requires practically no effort on your behalf (and might even score you some points from hard-to-please Aunt Sally). RELATED: 65 Thanksgiving Appetizers That Will Blow Your Relatives 1. Martha and Marley Spoon Martha Stewarts Thanksgiving meal delivery kit comes with a 12- to 14- pound turkey, ingredients to make gravy, four side dishes, and one dessert. Zero menu planning, zero shopping and you still get to serve up cheesy sausage stuffing, roasted root vegetables with brown butter, herbs and almonds, and spiced apple oat crisp for just $50 to $120, depending on what you order. Sounds divinewe mean she is Martha Stewart, after all. Buy it 2. Fresh Direct So, you want full control over your Thanksgiving menu, even if youre not actually cooking it? We totally get itand so does this food delivery service. We use Fresh Direct weekly for our produce fix, but well also be ordering our whole Thanksgiving dinner from their site. Choose everything from appetizers and sides to mains and dessert (yes, including kid-friendly chicken fingers), all completely prepared. Just heat and serve. (Psst: This one only delivers in select areas of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and D.C., find more info here). Story continues Buy It 3. Whole Foods and Amazon Even the most prepared chefs can miss a few ingredients in the shuffle. If you prefer to make your holiday dinner at home, but accidentally forgot the bacon for that Brussels sprouts side, just order it via Whole Foods on Amazon and it could be at your doorstep in two hours flat. Actually, just order everything on Amazon and save yourself the grocery store rush while youre at it. Buy It 4. Home Chef Love a home-cooked meal but hate standing over a hot stove all day? Last Thanksgiving, Home Chef made all of its sides available as express meals, so they only take a few minutes to put together. As for the menu? It consisted of an oven-ready Thanksgiving turkey breast roast, and three optional sides: mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, classic stuffing and mac and cheese and sweet potato casserole with creamed corn, which fed up to six people (with enough for leftovers). Buy It 5. Butcher Box While it may be hard to imagine, turkey isnt the number one meat choice for everyone on Thanksgiving. And when you sign up for Butcher Box, you get a choice of three different meats, plus a free 10- to 14- pound turkey in your first box. Not going to cook it all right away? Freeze it to use for the upcoming holiday season. Buy It 6. Harry & David Enjoy all the delicious home-cooked food with none of the stress thanks to Harry & Davids gourmet turkey feast. And feast you will, thanks to the massive menu of mains, sides and dessert. You can get everything from a 10-pound ready-to-heat oven-roasted turkey, apple sausage stuffing, Parmesan creamed spinach, brown sugar sweet potatoes, New York-style pumpkin layered cheesecake, classic turkey gravy and cranberry relish with orange zest. OK, were already hungry. Buy It 7. Omaha Steaks Thats rightOmaha Steaks doesnt just serve steaks. Turkeys are fair game, too (sorry, had to). If youre responsible for multiple people with differing tastes, opt for this meat delivery service, which offers several poultry options and even ham. Last year, the retailer added sides to its selection like roasted garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. Buy It 8. Williams Sonoma If youre a purist who loves nothing more than a classic spread, Williams Sonomas assortmentturkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pieis the way to go. Bonus: Its turkeys are free-range. Double bonus: Grab some serving ware for an IG-worthy presentation. Buy It 9. Goldbelly From Cajun fried whole turkeys to a whole smoked turkey breast with all the fixings, this site delivers quality, just-like-home-cooked food without the guesswork. Just heat the turkey in the oven for 60 to 75 minutes before serving and everyone will think you tediously tended to the bird all morning. Buy It 10. Purple Carrot Calling all vegans: You don't have to restrict yourself to a few lame side dishes this Thanksgiving. Dig into some ultra delish roasted brussels sprouts with oyster mushrooms and garlic kimchi butter, rustic ciabatta stuffing with root vegetables and herb sausage or quinoa stuffed delicata squash with garlicky kale and golden raisins. Its only $75 for a plant-based feast that serves four people and will be delivered the week of November 22. Win-win. Buy It 11. HelloFresh This year, HelloFreshs Thanksgiving box once again brings the full monty. Were talking a roast turkey with a garlic herb butter rub, ciabatta stuffing with chicken sausage and cranberries, classic gravy, creamy mashed potatoes with garlic and sour cream and so much more. The best part for those of us with a vicious sweet tooth is the apple ginger crisp with cinnamon pecan crumble. Oh, and there is roast beef option for those who cant get down with turkey. Buy It 12. Instacart We're all pros at using Instacart at this point, so it's a no-brainer to also place an order for Thanksgiving dinner, if you insist on cooking your own spread (hey, more power to ya). Haven't tried the grocery delivery service yet? Go to the website, enter your zip code and it will automatically populate with grocery stores closest to you. Just choose your go-to spot, select all your necessary ingredients and set a delivery window (usually within two hours). Buy It 13. Sun Basket Looking for variety? The company added three festive vegetable dishes to its menu for Thanksgiving, with the option to choose one, two or three sides as part of your order. Buy it 14. Blue Apron Subscribers can get a slew of family favorites with this holiday meal kit that feeds up to eight people. You can choose between a full turkey dinner or the mix-and-match option, which allows you to select each dish. Buy it 15. Dinnerly Dinnerlys Thanksgiving dishes currently feature both side options (herbed sausage stuffing anyone?) and desserts (spiced apple oat crisp FTW), but its worth noting that they may change before the big day. Buy it 16. Green Chef For those who have switched diets to cleaner eating and are not about to derail 11 months of hard work in one night, Green Chefs got your back. This healthy meal kit delivery service offers delicious options for people on paleo, keto and plant-based diets so you dont have to graze on just sauteed spinach and quinoa while everyone gobbles their turkey. Buy it 17. Drizly Lets be honest, Thanksgiving is not complete unless Uncle Harry is a little tipsy and telling embellished stories about how he was quite the Casanova back in the day. Thats why its important to have a solid selection of wine ready to go for Turkey Day and thats where Drizly comes in. The service delivers beer, wine and liquor right to your doorsteps and even has a special selection for Thanksgiving. Let the party begin! Buy it 18. Bob Evans Restaurant Thanksgiving is all about having the classics at your table and thats what Bob Evans is all about. Choose one of their boxesopt for turkey and ham as the main stars, just turkey or just ham. All three offer popular sides such as green beans with ham, corn, mashed potatoes with gravy and some delicious cherry pie. Buy it 19. Cracker Barrel So, you werent going to do anything for Thanksgiving, but the spirit of the season hit you at the last minute and now Friendsgivings at your house. Dont panic, Cracker Barrels got you covered. Choose one of their delicious meals and youll have a full spread ready in no time. Their Heat n' Serve Feast feeds eight to 10 people, while their Family Dinner serves four to six. Just be sure you order 24-hours ahead since they wont be doing same-day delivery. Buy it 20. Denny's For the non-celebrators out there who feel like Thanksgiving is just another Thursday in the month, but are bummed because most restaurants are closed, you can turn to Denny's. The chain restaurant prides itself for being open 24/7 all year round and Thanksgiving is no exception. They'll have their regular takeout menu available, but should you have a hankering for turkey, they'll also have some special to-go options for Thanksgiving." Last year's dinner pack consisted of carved turkey breast, bread stuffing, red-skinned mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, cranberry sauce and your choice of broccoli or corn. (We strongly advise you to place your order in advance since they're likely to be super busy). Buy it RELATED: 63 Non-Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas (Because Not Everyone Loves Turkey) PureWow may receive a portion of sales from products purchased from this article, which was created independently from PureWow's editorial and sales departments. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) More international companies are coordinating with Philippine officials to hold clinical trials in the country for the COVID-19 vaccines they are developing, Department of Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato dela Pena said on Friday. At least six companies from Russia, China, Australia, and Taipei have inked confidentiality data agreements with the Philippines, allowing experts to look at their research to determine if it's safe to be tested on Filipinos. However, only five of those are interested to conduct trials in the country, dela Pena said. Russia's Sputnik V and China's Sinovac are interested to hold medical research and tap into locally manufacturing their vaccines in the Philippines. China's ZFSW is also looking to have Filipino volunteers try their product. The University of Queensland in Australia and Adimmune from Taipei, which are still both on Phase 1, also want to hold Phase 3 trials in the country. "Because of their interest to do clinical trials in the Philippines, they are willing to show us their data and information on the results of their trials in their country," he said in a media forum. Meanwhile, China's Sinopharm is only interested to supply its vaccine to the Philippines, the official said. All applications for independent trials have to undergo evaluation by the DOST, ethics board, and the country's vaccine experts panel. If they pass the standards, companies need to obtain a regulatory certificate from the Food and Drug Administration. The DOST chief said vaccines selected to be part of the World Health Organization's Solidarity Trial cannot conduct independent clinical trials in the country since the Philippines is already joining the global initiative. Medical experts have said it's better to hold clinical trials in the country to find out if a vaccine is safe and effective for Filipinos as results may vary per ethnicity. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kate Kelland (Reuters) London, United Kingdom Fri, September 25, 2020 07:54 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4712e73 2 World Europe,coronavirus,COVID-19,COVID-19-infection,pandemic,flu,SARS-CoV-2,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus Free A surge in COVID-19 cases in Europe risks becoming a deadly double epidemic of flu and coronavirus infections, EU health officials warned on Thursday as they urged Europeans and their governments not to let their guard down. "It is abundantly clear that this crisis is not behind us. We are at a decisive moment," the EU's commissioner for health, Stella Kyriakides, told a media briefing. With winter approaching in the region, she warned of the risk of a potentially lethal "twindemic of COVID-19 and the flu" and urged governments to encourage people to get seasonal flu vaccines and adhere to social distancing measures to reduce transmission of the novel coronavirus. "This might be our last chance to prevent a repeat of last spring," Kyriakides said. Adults at high risk from flu are also most at risk from COVID-19. Research by scientists at Public Health England (PHE) released this week suggested the risk of death more than doubled for people who tested positive for both flu and COVID-19, compared to those with COVID-19 alone. Seasonal flu viruses cause between 4 and 50 million infections each year across the European region - depending on whether the region experiences a severe or relatively mild flu season - and an estimated 15,000 to 70,000 Europeans die each year of causes linked to flu. Kyriakides and Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which monitors disease across the European region, said there had been a worrying increase in COVID-19 cases since August, with some countries already seeing higher case numbers than during the March peak. "This can partly be explained by improved testing strategies," Ammon said. "However, several countries appear to be now progressing again from limited local transmission towards sustained community transmission. "The pandemic is far from over and we must not drop our guard." By Express News Service CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered for maintaining status quo on the Over The Top (OTT) release of actor Vishals latest flick Chakra till September 30. Justice N Sathish Kumar passed the interim order while directing the actor and director Anandan to file a detailed counter affidavit with relevant documents. The petitioners counsel contended that as per agreement between producer Ravindran and the director in August 2018, it was decided that Vishal will lead his film as a military officer, and a token advance of `1 lakh was given through cheque. However, the project failed to take off. He also filed a pen drive containing the movie trailer and requested judge to watch it. The judge after taking note of the trailer ordered for a status quo. Weapons, tactical gear seized in south of state Allende, Q.R. Quintana Roo Police agents seized high-powered weapons, bulletproof vests, clothing and tactical equipment during an operation deployed along a riverbank of the Rio Hondo. While there were no arrests, police confiscated five firearms, three tactical vests, an SUV, a helmet and other various pieces of tactical clothing. The finding of the items was made in the community of Allende in the municipality of Othon P. Blanco Wednesday afternoon after an Emergency 911 report of the presence of armed people inside a dark colored SUV. The caller detailed the group were dressed in National Guard gear and were attempting to abduct a man. Police responded to that call, which is when they located the guns, gear and vehicle. A search for the abducted man was implemented. He was discovered in the town of Nachicocom after being abandoned by the group. Those responsible for the alleged abduction were not located. - A police report showed John Kisongona Mareko arrived in Nairobi on the evening of Wednesday, September 23 - The man invited his brother's wife, Jesca Sibwe, who travelled from Kasarani and joined him for a night session at a lodging located along Dubois Road in Nairobi - The woman started coughing the following morning and he hired a taxi to take her to KNH where doctors confirmed she was no more upon arrival PAY ATTENTION: Click 'See First' under 'Follow' Tab to see Tuko.co.ke news on your FB feed Police officers in Nairobi are investigating circumstances under which a 42-year-old woman died after spending a night at a city lodging. The deceased woman, Jesca Sibwe, who hails from Kasarani, was said to have developed complications and she was rushed to Kenyatta National Hospital. READ ALSO: Wavinya Ndeti pens emotional message to late husband: "My love is still strong" The two spent a night at a city lodging. Photo: MakeMyTrip. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Coronavirus: 13 more people succumb to disease, 218 test positive According to a police report, Jesca was invited by her brother-in-law named John Kisongona Mareko for a night session at a lodging in Dubois Road on Wednesday, September 23. Mareko had just arrived in Nairobi from Malindi at around 7pm on that fateful evening and they both checked in at Graceland Hotel where they stayed until the following morning. The woman started coughing and he hired a taxi to take her to KNH where doctors confirmed she was no more upon arrival at the national referral facility. READ ALSO: Woman narrates organising birthday party for lover only for his other girlfriend to show up A similar incident was reported at Amazon Hotel in Kakamega in June. Photo: Amazon Hotel. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Actress Wilbroda says her ex-lover asked her to pack and leave while their baby was months old The body was taken to KNH morgue awaiting an autopsy as detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation continued to pursue the incident. On June 23, a similar incident was reported at a lodging in Kakamega involving a man and a suspected female lover. Officer commanding Kakamega central police division David Kabena said Manala had checked into the facility in the company of a woman simply identified as Anyango. The two ordered dinner before leaving for their room at Amazon Hotel. It was only the lady who ate," the police boss explained. Records at the facility showed the 31-year-old woman checked in on the afternoon and proceeded to book a room at the hotel where they spent the night. However, the blissful moment took an ugly twist when she attempted to wake up her man who was unresponsive and could not wake up to prepare for breakfast. The deceased was reportedly married and had a family. Help us change more lives, join TUKO.co.kes Patreon programme. My mother abandoned me with two holes in my heart - Baby Petra's story | Tuko TV. Source: TUKO.co.ke In 1980, after a fall in onion prices due to an export ban, Sharad Joshi (45), burst on to the political scene by mobilising farmers to block the busy Pune-Nashik highway at Chakan in protest. The agitation, which continued for days, and also saw villagers holdup traffic with their bullock carts, led to tremors in Delhi. The government declared that the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) would purchase onions. Earlier, in March 1978, Joshi had similarly mobilised farmers against depressed onion prices due to an export ban. This agitation led to the Shetkari Sanghatana being launched on 8 August 1979. Joshi, an Indian Postal Service official who worked at the Universal Postal Union in Switzerland, had returned to India to become a farmer and get a first-hand understanding of problems in agriculture. In January 1977, he bought 23.5 acre of rain-fed land at Ambethan near Pune, renamed it Angarmala based on a poem by Marathi poet V.V. Shirwadkar Kusumagraj, and started farming. As his associates recall, Joshi, a former lecturer in economics and a devotee of free-market economist Adam Smith, wanted to experience dry-land farming as he felt that poverty in India could not be eradicated without bettering the lot of rain-fed farmers. According to him, the roots of poverty and impoverishment in India lay in the lack of remunerative returns in farming. The realisation about farming being an uncertain occupation dawned on Joshi soon. Upset at being forced to sell his onion crop at prices lower than the cost of production, Joshi advertised in a newspaper asking people to take onions from his farm for free. After the Chakan protest, farmers who cultivated crops like cotton, sugarcane, tobacco and onions, coalesced around Joshi. The Shetkari Sanghatana received wide-spread support from farmers despite the attempts of some politicians from the dominant Maratha community to weaponise Joshis Brahmin origins against him. A prolific writer in English and Marathi, Joshi gave an economic paradigm to agriculture, arguing for the right of the farmers to determine the prices of their produce. The Sanghatana and its political arm, the Swatantra Bharat Paksha (SBP), which was pitched as the ideological successor of the Swatantra Party, sought greater economic freedom for farmers based on access to markets and technologies like BT modified seeds. While bringing these issues into the mainstream discourse, the liberal farmer movement advocated a free market, sans any interventions by the government. Joshi welcomed the Dunkel draft and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and hailed Arthur Dunkel as a liberator of farmers. This was a bold departure from the prevailing intellectual order of the day, which stressed allegiance to Leftist, socialist or Nehruvian economics and their models of over-arching statism. However, some of his former associates gradually came around to the opinion that the concept of an open market, free of any intervention by the state was a mirage. Government intervention in agricultural markets was necessary in times of a slump and the Shetkari Sanghatana itself had sought such measures like loan waivers. Joshi birthed slogans and terminologies which resonate in political lexicon even today. For instance, India vs Bharat (to denote the economic and cultural divide between urban and rural parts of the country), bheek nako, have ghamache daam (we farmers dont want alms, but the fruits of our labour) and sarkar kya samasya sulzhayegi, sarkar khud ek samasya hai! (the government cant solve problems, it is a part of the problem). With his protest for tobacco farmers in Karnataka and collaboration with Bhupinder Singh Mann of the Bharati Kisan Union and Mahendra Singh Tikait in the 1980s, Joshi emerged as a pan-India farmer leader. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar recalled that when he went to Punjab as the agriculture minister during the UPA regime (2004-2014), he was often confused with his namesake Sharad Joshi! One of the major demands of the Shetkari Sanghatana was shattering the monopoly of the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) in Maharashtra and doing away with the Essential Commodities Act. It also pointed to a major dichotomythe farmer was the only producer who was unable to determine the price of his produce, shackled as he was by statist interventions. The organisations agitations ensured that restrictive regulations like those compelling farmers to sell their sugarcane to mills in a certain geographical zone, were removed. As the Centre controversially bulldozed the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, Joshis supporters assert this is the culmination of the movement started by the Sanghatana. While farmers in Punjab and Haryana are protesting against these laws, the Shetkari Sanghatana will celebrate the passage of these legislations, which they claim will do away with the present exploitative regime and give peasants an additional channel to sell their produce. However, the Shetkari Sanghatana is a pale shadow of its former self, a long cry from the days when its activists with the trademark red badges on their chest and economic ideology of Joshi saheb on their lips, were a common feature in rural areas. Reacting to the passage of these bills, some of Joshis erstwhile comrades like Vijay Javandhia and former Lok Sabha MP Raju Shetti, have pointed to concerns about a takeover of agriculture by big business and fears of the MSP regime being dismantled. But, even staunch supporters of Joshi and the Sanghatanas ethos admit that despite his support for reforms, their leader, who passed away in 2015, would have been upset at the way in which these legislations were bulldozed by the government in Parliament. Joshi, who was a Rajya Sabha MP (2004-10) elected with support from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was a stickler for Parliamentary convention. In 2007, speaking at an event in Mumbai where the biography of Swatantra Party leader Minoo Masani was launched, Joshi had recalled how he never entered the well of the house. Even as the Narendra Modi government pushed these three bills through, claiming they would benefit farmers, it also imposed a ban on export of onions, reportedly to pull down prices with an eye on the Bihar assembly elections. Maharashtra produces an estimated 40 per cent of onions grown in India and Lasalgaon in Nashik is reputed as one of the largest spot markets in Asia. But, despite the export ban, and the consequent fall in prices which have hurt them, protests by farmer groups in the state are largely muted. The reasons for this drift in Maharashtras once-robust farmer movement are not hard to discern. Once lauded by Mahatma Gandhi as a beehive of workers, the socio-political movements in the state have either been broken by the system or co-opted by the mainstream. Many of Joshis followers have either floated their own fronts or fallen in with established parties, thus weakening the larger peasant struggle. So, even while the prices of onions in Maharashtra continue to head south, farmers rue that there is no organised pushback to the move. A far cry from the days when the falling rates of the humble vegetable led to a former civil servant catalysing a mass movement. The ANC did not go to Zimbabwe for a joyride, Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu told an online seminar organised by the ANCs OR Tambo School of Leadership on Wednesday night. There was no other way that we could have gone there, she said, seeming irritated by criticism from opposition parties that ANC members had abused state resources. The criticism of an ANC delegation hitching a ride on an Air Force jet earlier this month to meet their counterparts in Zanu-PF did not specifically arise during the seminar, which was addressed by party stalwart and academic Pallo Jordan and veteran Zimbabwe analyst Ibbo Mandaza, but Zulu commented during the question and answer session. Zulu said the ANCs team had been mandated by the National Executive Committee to go, and hinted that, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, it had no other means to get to Harare. The officials met with Zanu-PF over challenges (most have called it a crisis) in Zimbabwe, but Zulu, with Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, apparently went there primarily in their official capacity to meet their counterparts over government matters. President Cyril Ramaphosa has asked for a report on how it came to be that party officials benefited from a flight paid for by the taxpayer, while the ANC has vowed to pay back the money even as the partys study group in Parliament found the trip was justified. Its very unfortunate that there is all this drama of the media and statements being made, Zulu said. I can tell you right now that we had one of the most open, honest, frank both ways meetings, to the point that the secretary-general of Zanu-PF himself [most likely a reference to Obert Mpofu] said this is almost the first meeting we have ever had of this nature where comrades said, Yes we are liberation movements, yes we have been in the trenches, but how relevant are we today as liberation movements? Do we really see the opportunities for us to unite and respond to the needs of our people? Mandaza, however, didnt think so. Lindiwe is exaggerating the role of the former liberation movements, he said, unnecessarily so, especially with regards to Zimbabwe. He speculated that it could be a public relations stunt on her part to make peace with Zanu-PF. Following the ANCs meeting, Zulu has been backtracking from her much more critical stance the month before, when she said there was a crisis in Zimbabwe. Mandaza continued: She must know, as we all know, Zanu-PF is heavily dented as a party, it is dependent on the military, but most important of all, it is completely naive and self-indulgent on the part of anybody, including herself, to think that Zanu-PF can turn around the fortunes of Zimbabwe. Mandaza also commented on the fact that the ANC had failed to meet anybody outside Zanu-PF, as Ramaphosa, in an ANC briefing the week before, had promised the party would, and as his envoys tried to do during their visit the month before. I think it is very important in the interests of the national dialogue that South Africas mediation must encourage whatever is left of Zanu-PF, whatever is left of the Zimbabwean state, which is in decline, to engage other political parties and civil society in national dialogue towards resolving the crisis in Zimbabwe, he said. Zanu-PF does not resemble in any way a liberation movement, notwithstanding its claims to the contrary. It has lost its soul long ago. Mandaza also said that from South Africas side, it is naive to expect that the ANC on its own can resolve the problems that are here and so real in our countries. As former liberation movements we should not indulge in the self-denialism of the kind that was seen in Harare. It is time for introspection like never before. He said talks between South Africa and Zimbabwe should also touch on issues such as the trade imbalance, the illicit export of minerals to South Africa some through elite collusion and the exodus of skilled workers from Zimbabwe to South Africa. Jordan, who has kept a low profile after his resignation from leadership positions in 2014 after lying about having a doctorate, was also critical of the ANCs softly-softly approach towards Zanu-PF, as well as remarks by Zanu-PF officials accusing the ANC of interference. You dont have to be asked to help where your neighbours house is on fire. Your neighbour might well say, No, no, no, I can handle this, no need for you to come and help me, but the neighbour should never interpret the offer to help as an attempt to interfere, and I think, unfortunately, that is the spirit in which the comrades in Zimbabwe have received interventions on the part of the ANC. The ANC is not perfect and it doesnt pretend to be perfect, and Ill never suggest they are perfect. But I think the spirit in which the ANC delegation came to Zimbabwe was not to interfere in Zimbabwes affairs, but as a good neighbour that sees the house on fire and is coming to help. And in any case, even when your neighbour says, I can handle this, it is in your self-interest to help your neighbour to put out the fire, because that fire might spread to your house, he said. In the same vein, Jordan said, it was important that the region do something about the insurgency in Mozambique and treat it as an issue that affects the whole region, rather than a national issue. In terms of the region, we need to start that framework in which countries act collectively, he said. The difficulties we face are far tougher than each country can handle on its own. Daily Maverick New Delhi, Sep 25 : Giving pace to the ambitious 508 km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor project, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) on Friday said that it has opened technical bids for 28 steel bridges and 88 km of viaducts between Vadodara and Ahmedabad in which eight companies participated including a consortium of Indian and Japanese companies. NHSRCL spokesperson Sushma Gaur said that with the tenders floated for works, the demand for 70,000 MT of steel will boost the steel industry in the country. She said, "NHSRCL opened technical bids for two packages today for Mumbai Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor for procurement and fabrication of 28 steel bridges for crossing over railway lines, rivers, highways, road crossings and other structures and for the design and construction of 88 km of viaduct between Vadodara and Ahmedabad in Gujarat including construction of elevated HSR station at Anand/Nadiad, five bridges and 25 crossings." According to Gaur, for the fabrication of 28 steel bridges there are companies like Tata Projects Ltd., Afcons Infrastructure Ltd., Braithwaite & Co. Ltd.Consortium, Bridge & Roof Co. (India) Ltd., NCC Ltd., JMC Projects (India) Ltd. & Rahee Infratech Ltd., ISGEC Heavy Engineering Ltd. - M & B Engineering Ltd. Consortium and Larsen & Toubro - IHI Infrastructure Systems Consortium. Gaur said that L&T-IHI Infrastructure System is a consortium between Indian and Japanese companies. Bidders for the design and construction of 88 kms viaducts and Anand/Nadiad station included Afcons Infrastructure Limited, IRCON International Limited - JMC Projects India Ltd- Consortium, NCC Limited - Tata Project Ltd.- J. Kumar Infra Projects Ltd. - HSR Consortium, Larsen & Toubro Ltd. She said that it is estimated that about 70,000 MT of steel will be used for the fabrication of 28 steel bridges. The spokesperson said that NHSRCL has already sensitized the steel industries to cater to such a huge demand for India's first Bullet train project. She said, "With the opening of these bids, the technical bids covering 64 per cent (325 km out of 508 km) of the total MAHSR alignment including five HSR stations at Vapi, Billimora, Surat, Bharuch and Anand/Nadiad out of 12 stations and one train depot at Surat are under consideration." Earlier this week, NHSRCL has opened the technical bids for 237 km of viaduct between Vapi and Vadodara in Gujarat including four elevated HSR stations and one train depot at Surat where all the three bidders comprising seven leading Indian infrastructure companies had participated. The Indian steel and cement industries and their allied supply chains will get a big boost from these tenders. Modi and then Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe on September 14, 2017 had laid the foundation stone for the ambitious Rs 1.08 lakh crore ($17 billion) project. The initial deadline to complete the ambitious project was December 2023. The bullet trains are expected to run at 350 kms per hour covering the 508-km stretch in about two hours. In comparison, trains currently plying on the route take over seven hours to travel the distance, whereas flights take about an hour. Earlier this month, Railways CEO V.K. Yadav said that the bullet train project was progressing well but the real timeframe for the completion of the project can be gauged within the next three to six months when the status of land acquisition will be ascertained. Congressman Dan Crenshaw has a new political ad out, and he's not pulling any punches. The Republican congressman from Katy brought together a whole crew of fellow Texans in one action-packed, movie-trailer-like television spot for a mission to "save Texas." Candidates Wesley Hunt, Genevieve Collins, Beth Van Duyne, Tony Gonzales and August Pfluger all make appearances. I won't bother trying to sum it up; you really just have to watch it and experience it for yourself. If you need to be persuaded, Crenshaw jumps out of a plane. 'CACTUS JACK SENT ME': I tried the McDonald's Travis Scott meal, and it didn't even taste like him Honestly, this is so wild that it works. Crenshaw bypassed the usual Texan politician's way of listing a bunch of problems he hopes to fix in a voiceover over scenes of him riding horses, driving a truck in a wide-open Texan prairie, and petting a cattle dog on from a wooden rocking chair on his ranch-style porch. You know, like all us Texans do. I have no idea how much this cost, who originally pitched it, or whether this is an online exclusive ad, but Crenshaw is right: It's definitely not boring. I sincerely hope Crenshaw has just ushered in a new age of political ads more akin to movie trailers. I want to see my next congresswoman recreate the trailer to "Legally Blonde" or my next senator deliver Aragorn's final battle monologue from "The Return of the King." Why not? It would catch my attention. Here's to what is hopefully a new era of political ads. I never want to see a politician on a horse ever again. Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - New Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye said here Friday that normalization of relations with Rwanda would depend on the extradition of alleged perpetrators of the failed military coup attempt in 2015 The governor of Virginia announced on Friday that he and his wife have have both tested positive for the coronavirus. The governor's office said in a statement that Ralph Northam is showing no symptoms, while those of Pam Northam are mild. Northam and his wife plan to isolate for the next 10 days while working remotely. Northam, a Democrat, is the only governor in the United States who is also a doctor. Ralph Northam, the Democrat governor of Virginia, and his wife Pamela tested positive Some Republican politicians have criticized his restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, calling them too stringent. Northam said in a statement that the positive test result shows that the virus is 'very real and very contagious.' 'We are grateful for your thoughts and support, but the best thing you can do for us and most importantly, for your fellow Virginians is to take this seriously,' Northam said. The governor and first lady were notified Wednesday that a member of the Executive Mansion staff also had tested positive for the virus. Three other governors also have tested positive for COVID-19, though one of those turned out to be a false positive. Northam, a qualified doctor, confirmed his diagnosis on Friday morning Northam is not showing any symptoms, and Pamela Northam is only suffering mild effects Earlier this week, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, a Republican who has steadfastly refused to require residents to wear masks, announced he'd tested positive. Kevin Stitt, governor of Oklahoma, in July became the first governor to announce he'd tested positive. He recovered and returned to work less than two weeks later. In August, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that a rapid test was positive. But a short time later, DeWine said a more sensitive test was negative. Northam's announcement that he tested positive for the virus comes on the same day as a planned rally by President Donald Trump in Newport News, an event the governor's staff has asked to be canceled, re-scheduled or scaled down because of concerns about the virus. The event is expected to draw 4,000 people, which would violate Northam's executive order generally banning gatherings of more than 250 people. The Trump campaign has routinely flouted public health guidelines intended to halt the spread of COVID-19. Besides job loss, the exit of the American cult bike maker would also lead to a loss of up to Rs 130 crore for the brand's dealer partners in the country. Automobile dealer body FADA on Friday said the closure of Harley Davidson's operations in India would lead to job loss for up to 2,000 workers across the brand's 35 dealerships. Harley Davidson on Thursday said it is discontinuing sales and manufacturing operations in the country. The India action will include an associated workforce reduction of around 70 employees, it had said in a SEC filing. The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) said that besides job loss, the exit of the American cult bike maker would also lead to a loss of up to Rs 130 crore for the brand's dealer partners in the country. "Harley Davidson has not informed any of its dealer partners about its closure plans and dealers are yet to receive any official communication," FADA President Vinkesh Gulati said. It goes without saying that dealers who have invested their hard-earned capital in this iconic brand are left like an abandoned baby without any compensation package, he added. With a luxury brand like Harley, setting up its dealership costs anywhere between Rs 3-4 crore, and with a total of 35 dealerships, Rs 110-130 crore will go down the drain, Gulati said. "Luxury two-wheeler dealership on an average employs 50 people. With 35 Harley dealers, around 1,800-2,000 people at dealerships will lose their jobs," he added. Moreover, there will be customers who will not receive glitch-free service as spares will now be in shortage, thus leading to harassment of dealers from customers, he noted. India's capital goes down the drain with the closure of every single brand in the country, Gulati said. After General Motors, MAN Trucks and UM Lohia, Harley Davidson is the fourth automobile brand shutting shop in the last three years in India, he added. "Had there been a Franchise Protection Act in India, brands like these would not have abruptly closed their operations, leaving their channel partners and customers in a fix," Gulati said. In a statement issued on Thursday, Harley said its dealer network will continue to serve customers through the contract term, adding it is communicating with its customers in India and will keep them updated on future support. It, however, said that it plans to close its manufacturing facility in Bawal (Haryana) and significantly reduce the size of its sales office in Gurugram. The company's exit from India is part of its global "2020 Restructuring Activities". In the second quarter of 2020, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based company had initiated restructuring activities, including workforce reduction and termination of certain contracts that would result in elimination of around 700 positions globally, including termination of close to 500 employees. From its entry to exit, Harley Davidson's journey in the country witnessed the governments of India and the US using the company as a bargaining chip. In April 2007, the then Indian government relaxed emission and testing norms, paving way for import of Harley Davidson bikes to India in return for allowing mango exports from the country to the US. The import relaxation was restricted to import of motorcycles up to 800cc engine capacity or above, subject to compliance to Euro-III emission norms. Later in 2009, the company announced establishment of its operations in India, followed by starting of sales of its bikes a year later. Then, the company set up its completely knocked down assembly plant in Haryana and started rolling out assembled bikes from the unit in early part of 2011. The company's assembly plant at Bawal in Haryana was its second facility outside the US after Brazil, and it planned to use the unit to export to Europe and Southeast Asian markets. In the recent past, US President Donald Trump criticised India's high import tariffs on Harley Davidson motorcycles as "unacceptable" as the two countries negotiated for an elusive trade deal. Harley Davidson's portfolio in India comprised bikes like Street 750 and Iron 883, among others, with prices starting from Rs 4.69 lakh and going up over Rs 18 lakh. Photograph: Philippe Wojazer/Reuters A Chinese citizen journalist who went missing in February while reporting the escalating coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan has been found staying with his parents under the Chinese government's close watch, reports say. Chen Qiushi, a 34-year-old former lawyer, had vanished soon after he arrived in Wuhan in late January and shared dispatches online to inform the world about the true scale of the central Chinese city's COVID-19 outbreak. Nearly eight months after Chen's disappearance, his close friend has reportedly revealed that the independent reporter is being held under 'supervised surveillance at designated residence' in the eastern Chinese city Qingdao. Chen Qiushi, a 34-year-old former lawyer, had vanished soon after he arrived in Wuhan in late January and shared dispatches online to inform the true scale of Wuhan's COVID-19 outbreak Chen arrived in Wuhan just before the city went into lockdown in hopes of providing the world with the truth of the epidemic, as he said himself. This file photo taken on January 25 shows medics arrive with a coronavirus patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Hubei province The news comes as an outspoken Chinese tycoon who called President Xi a 'clown' over his handling of the country's coronavirus outbreak has been jailed for 18 years this week. Chen arrived in Wuhan just before the city went into lockdown in hopes of providing the world with the truth of the epidemic, as he said himself. His reports detailed horrific scenes - including a woman frantically calling family on her phone as she sits next to a relative lying dead in a wheelchair - and the helpless situation of patients in the overstretched hospitals. His disappearance was revealed by a post on his Twitter account, which has been managed by a friend authorised to speak on his behalf. His mother has posted a video calling for his safe return. Chen's reports detailed horrific scenes including a woman frantically calling family on her phone as she sits next to a relative lying dead in a wheelchair. This file photo shows people waiting to be treated at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital on January 24 during the outbreak Medical workers are pictured in this file photo taken on January 30 standing around a patient as he is treated for the COVID-19 coronavirus in a hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province One post on his Twitter, posted in April, read: 'Who can tell us where and how Chen Qiushi is right now? When will anyone get to speak with him again? Chen Qiushi has been out of contact for 68 days after covering coronavirus in Wuhan. Please save him!!!' On Thursday, Xu Xiaodong, Chen's friend and Chinese mixed-martial-arts star, said in a live-streamed YouTube video that Chen was 'in good health' but was still under supervision by a 'certain government department', according to South China Morning Post. 'The authorities have investigated his activities on the mainland, Hong Kong and Japan,' Xu said in the video. 'They are satisfied that he has no financial links with 'foreign forces', was not responsible for any subversive activities [and as a result decided] not to prosecute him.' An anonymous human right lawyer also confirmed the citizen journalist's current location with the Hong Kong newspaper. '[Chen] Qiushi, who is together with his parents, is under strict supervision by the authorities,' the lawyer said. Another unnamed friend of Chen's told the Guardian that they were sure only that Chen was not free. Fang Bin (pictured), a Wuhan resident, went missing on February 9 after releasing a series of videos, including one showing piles of bodies being loaded into a bus (below) Li Zehua (pictured) vanished on February 26 before re-appearing at the end of April. Li was likely targeted by secret police after visiting the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a report said Zhang Zhan, (pictured) who uploaded coronavirus reports from Wuhan onto social media to criticise the city's handling of the outbreak, has reportedly been arrested in June Chen is among the four Chinese citizen journalists who had vanished for publishing reports about Wuhan's epidemic on international social media outlets. Fang Bin, a businessman, disappeared in early February and is believed to have been taken into state custody. Li Zehua, 25, also went missing in late February before re-appearing in late April. Zhang Zhan, reportedly to be 40, was allegedly removed by police in June on suspicion of 'picking quarrels and provoking trouble', a broad-brush charge often used against activists. China has reportedly harassed, threatened and silenced multiple citizens who vowed to hold the government responsible for its perceived missteps in dealing with the new coronavirus outbreak. Dr Li Wenliang, 34, died of the coronavirus in February after being punished for sounding the alarm over the outbreak. The police accused Dr Li and other medics of spreading fake news Ren Zhiqiang, a prominent Communist party member who criticised Xi Jinping's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, is jailed for 18 years this week over corruptionIn charges. In this file photo from 2012, the then real estate mogul is seen in his office in Beijing Other grieving Wuhan residents were allegedly hassled, intimidated and hushed by authorities after planning to draw up petitions against officials over their response to the health crisis. Li Wenliang, an eye doctor in Wuhan, was given severe oral warnings by his boss and police officers after sending a message onto social media to warn other medics of a 'SARS-like' disease. The 34-year-old later died of COVID-19 after contracting it from a patient. Ren Zhiqiang, an outspoken Chinese Communist Party critic and millionaire property tycoon, received a sentence of 18 years for corruption, bribery and embezzlement of public funds after he penned an essay fiercely critical of Xi's response to the outbreak, calling the leader 'a clown'. BEIJING -- China's candidate coronavirus vaccine caused no side effects among recruits in Moscow as part of large-scale clinical trials, reported Russian English-language newspaper The Moscow Times. Russia approved Phase 3 trials of the Chinese vaccine developed by CanSino Biologics, a Chinese high-tech biopharmaceutical company, and a research team with the Academy of Military Sciences last month. "At the moment, the volunteers are doing well. None of them have shown any side effects," Petrovax, the Russian pharmaceutical company working with the vaccine's Chinese developers, announced Monday in a press release. Petrovax said it has received more than 3,000 applications to get the Ad5-nCoV vaccine so far. The study's participants will be under direct supervision for nearly a month, with four interim face-to-face examinations, and will undergo a control examination after six months, Petrovax said. The Russian company said it expects preliminary results sometime in November, according to the Interfax news agency. Once Russia registers the Chinese vaccine, Petrovax said it will be able to produce more than 4 million doses per month this year and 10 million doses per month in 2021. China is actively conducting international cooperation on the development of drugs and vaccines against COVID-19. CanSino announced plans last month to launch Phase 3 trials of the vaccine in Saudi Arabia involving about 5,000 subjects. New Delhi: Making it easier for the residents of Delhi to apply for high-security number plates, the Delhi governments transport department has started online registration for the process. Now, the car owners can register for number plates by visiting the official website of Delhi's transport ministry and filling in the required credentials. The decision is taken to avoid the rush of people during the coronavirus pandemic. The user needs to visit bookmyhsrp.com/index.aspx for registration. According to the information received from the transport department, the car owners will have to visit website and need to choose between the option of private and public transport. The owner will further have to mark the fuel type- petrol, diesel, CNG, electric, CNG cum petro and proceed with marking the vehicle category. Live TV The car owner will also have to fill the brand details of their vehicle. The vehicle information to be filled during the process includes the registration number, registration date, engine number, chassis number. The user then needs to enter his/her personal details like mobile number, address. On completing the process an OTP will be sent to the registered mobile number and the process will be generated. However, some dealers are also making the service available offline where customers will be charged Rs 600-1100 for the four-wheeler, Rs 300-400 for the two-wheelers. Meanwhile, the Delhi government's transport department has said that vehicles registered in Delhi before April 2019 will have to install High Security Registration Number Plate (HSRP) and color-coded fuel stickers. Currently, there are 30 lakh vehicles in the capital that need HSRP and stickers. The department said that the government is going to start a campaign soon for this. A Norwegian court on Friday approved an extradition request from France for a suspect linked to an attack in a Jewish neighbourhood in Paris in 1982. Friday's ruling, which can be appealed, concerns only whether the legal grounds are met for an extradition. The decision of whether or not to extradite Walid Abdulrahman Abou Zayed is up to Norway's justice ministry, or government. Six people were killed when a group of men threw a grenade into the Jo Goldenberg restaurant and opened fire, setting off decades of legal wrangling and frustration for families of the victims. F ur sales could be banned after Britain leaves the EU single market and customs union under proposals being drawn up by ministers. Lord Goldsmith, a minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and close friend of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds, is understood to be spearheading the plans. Ms Symonds, an animal rights campaigner, said last year that people who wanted to buy fur were "really sick", adding that that clothes brands were "nuts" to sell it. The Government is considering plans to ban importing wild animal fur into the UK to mark its departure from the EU. This would essentially ban the sale of clothes containing fur in shops. Fur farming was banned in 2003 but the UK still allows the product to be imported from overseas and France is one of the biggest suppliers. Lord Goldsmith argued that Brexit meant "whatever barriers may have prevented us from raising standards on imports at the point of entry will have gone". Leaked Defra documents seen by The Daily Telegraph showed Lord Goldsmith met with the executive director of anti-fur organisation, Humane Society International, on May 12 in which he asked if there were any areas related to the fur trade that the Government should research. The British fur trade association will lobby against the reported ban which it described as "irrational, illiberal and misjudged". In a report on its website, the group said: "Sales of natural fur in the UK have increased in recent years and are popular among younger age groups, as environmentally conscious consumers increasingly reject the mass-produced non-renewables epitomised by the fast fashion crisis and search out long lasting, sustainable natural materials. "Yet, animal rights groups are now actively and vocally lobbying the British Government for fur sales to be banned in the UK using selective data, arguments and anecdotal evidence. "Such shrill voices, of course, do not represent the 'silent majority' who do not support such a ban; opinions that should not be 'cancelled' but recognised and respected. "Those that shout the loudest seldom have the support of the majority or their moral backing. "Although they would never admit it, such groups would achieve their aims far better by working with the organised fur sector to drive up standards as cooperative models in other sectors have shown." Defra said in a statement: We have some of the highest welfare standards in the world, and that is both a source of pride and a clear reflection of UK attitudes towards animals. Fur farming has rightly been banned in this country for nearly 20 years. Once our future relationship with the EU has been established there will be an opportunity for the government to consider further steps it could take in relation to fur sales. This week marked 75 years since the establishment of the United Nations. Founded in the final days of the Second World War in 1945, the organization was heralded as a body to bring about global peace, security and cooperation in a new era avoiding mistakes of the past and ensuring the well-being of the international community. The benefits it brings to the world are indispensable, yet that does not mean it is without its challenges. Over the past several days, world leaders have delivered speeches to the organization celebrating this anniversary. However, U.S. President Donald Trump sought to use the platform as a vehicle for attacking China, blaming it for the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus and demanding that the United Nations hold China "responsible" for the pandemic. This reveals more to us about how the White House views the U.N. and the respective values of multilateralism. Against a backdrop of four years of attacking the U.N., negating its treaties and withdrawing from its organizations, the Trump administration believes strongly in a foreign policy of "unilateralism" that is, America's interests should be forced on other countries and bodies rather than engaging in politics of compromise and consensus. This poses a threat to the United Nations and the cause of cooperative global governance. What do we mean by "unilateralism" and "multilateralism"? The former refers to when a country acts alone in establishing its foreign policy goals, while the latter refers to when a group of countries work together in a given international body to establish common positions and interests. As a result, organizations such as the United Nations are often referred to as "multilateral bodies" because they are institutions where large numbers of countries work together under a common set of rules and principles, as opposed to acting alone and imposing their will on others. As it stands, the current American administration is opposed to multilateralism as a foreign policy strategy, primarily because it forces America to compromise on its core interests with other countries. Instead, the White House believes in a doctrine of "America First." This means not working with the rest of the international community, but prioritizing its own interests at the expense of others. As a result, it utilizes a foreign policy of unilateralism where it weaponizes its superpower status and dominance to get what it wants against weaker countries, rather than having to negotiate and compromise through international institutions. Therefore, the Trump administration seeks to dismiss bodies such as the U.N., overrule them and instead force its will on others based on a belief that "might makes right." Over the tenure of the Trump administration, it has done this extensively: withdrawing from the United Nations Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Treaty (JCPOA) and forced other countries to comply with unilateral sanctions through leveraging the U.S. dollar. It has also withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNCHR), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as well as the World Health Organization, the Paris Climate Accords, and many more international treaties. It has also sought to oppose institutions such as the European Union, branding them a threat to national interests. When an international body gets in the way of Trump's foreign policy, his response is to simply ignore it, break its rules and cut its funding. Against this backdrop, it is misleading for the administration to brand other countries as a threat to the global system of norms and rules when it is in the process of doing so itself in the name of "America First." Given this, the 75th anniversary of the United Nations gives the world the opportunity to remember why this institution is important and why a system whereby countries work together as equal members of an organization, rather than divided on metrics of power, is ultimately crucial for global peace and stability. Undoubtedly, it is necessary and crucial for countries across the world to value and uphold multilateral cooperation, rather than utilizing it as a platform to attack and smear others for political gain. Tom Fowdy is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/TomFowdy.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. New Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in talks on Friday to work closely together by holding high-level meetings including summits, but did not discuss the possibility of a visit by Xi to I told (Xi) that the stability of Japan- relations is crucial, not only for the two countries but also for the region and for society, Suga told reporters after their phone conversation. His talks with Xi late Friday were his first since taking office just over a week ago, replacing Shinzo Abe, who resigned due to poor health. A planned visit by Xi to last April was indefinitely postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The plan had triggered protests even within Japan's governing party because of China's tightening of controls over Hong Kong and its assertive actions in regional seas. We did not discuss (Xi's) possible visit to Japan, Suga said. However, the leaders agreed to hold summits and other high-level meetings to cooperate in bilateral, regional and issues, he said. Relations between the two Asian rivals have improved recently as faces heightened tensions with the United States. But sees China's military development and increasingly assertive stance in the East and South Seas as a major security threat. Chinese coast guard vessels routinely violate territorial waters around the Japanese-controlled southern islands of Senkaku, which China calls Diaoyu and also claims. Earlier Friday, Suga also held talks by phone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed his intention to work together to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific aimed at checking China's maritime assertiveness. On Thursday, Suga held talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and urged him to take actions to mend bilateral relations badly damaged by war compensation issues. (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 Yakima County, Wash., some fruit orchard owners declined on-site testing of workers by health departments at the height of harvest season even as coronavirus infections spiked. In Monterey, Calif., workers at some farms claimed foremen asked them to hide positive diagnoses from other crew members. And in Collier County, Fla., health officials did not begin widespread testing of farmworkers until the end of harvest, at which point the workers had already migrated northward. At the height of harvest season, growers supplying some of America's biggest agricultural companies and grocery store chains flouted public health guidelines to limit testing and obscure coronavirus outbreaks, according to thousands of pages of state and local records reviewed by The Washington Post. At the same time, state agencies and growers were slow to determine how and when to test workers, what protocols to adopt when workers tested positive, and how to institute contact tracing, advocates say. They say that there should have been mandatory personal protective equipment and clear guidance on worker safety at the federal and state levels. Worker advocates say the failures put millions of workers at greater risk of contracting and spreading the virus among themselves and to other Americans as they crossed state lines to move with the harvest season. The struggles to contain the virus among migrant farmworkers are documented in internal state and county agriculture and health department records, as well as email exchanges with farm bureaus, grower associations, and public health and worker advocacy groups that were obtained by the Documenting COVID-19 project at Columbia University's Brown Institute for Media Innovation through public records requests and shared with The Post. These documents and additional interviews by The Post show a pattern that extended across more than a dozen agricultural counties in 10 states - and that largely withstood officials' attempts to stop the spread of the virus among agricultural workers. "If this is an essential industry, why is it we can't at least take the kind of steps needed to figure out where we need to do interventions?" asked Don Villarejo, a former researcher at the California Institute for Rural Studies who has been analyzing coronavirus data on farmworkers. "My mantra is that all pandemics are local; if you don't track every aspect of people's lives including where they work and where they live, then you can never do a proper intervention." But the nature of America's migrant labor system, which relies on approximately 220,000 workers on seasonal H-2A work visas and another estimated 1.5 million undocumented workers largely from Mexico and other Latin American countries, leaves workers with few protections and exposed to the virus, advocates say. Planting, harvesting and packing produce typically put farmworkers in proximity with co-workers. Laborers often rely on employers for transport, usually in vans and buses, and accommodation in crowded, camp-style housing, according to Ed Kissam, a former California farm labor researcher who has been tracking the impact of the coronavirus on farmworker communities. And workers' very transience, harvesting six weeks here and eight weeks there, presents problems for tracing and disincentives for local governments to invest in solutions; wait long enough and seasonal workers become someone else's problem. The effects of the coronavirus frequently overlay a system in which growers have routinely failed to protect workers while on the job - offering them substandard transportation, housing and access to health care and testing, Kissam said. "Virtually all are housed in congregate living situations, making them extremely vulnerable to covid-19 transmission," he said. "Typically, 40 to 80 percent of the people living in crowded living quarters - congregate housing or individual crowded housing - will be infected by others they live with once the infection is introduced from workplace or community infection." Tracking the spread of the coronavirus among farmworkers is further complicated by language barriers and worker mistrust of authorities, Villarejo said. In addition, farm laborers are often afraid to get tested for fear of being deported, losing their jobs or of being left with large hospital bills. Using Monterey County's official coronavirus dashboard, Villarejo found that as of July 1, agricultural workers in the county had 1,410 positive cases per 100,000 population, about three times the rate for other workers, which was 455 cases per 100,000. He said he anticipates the prevalence among farmworkers has increased substantially since then. The Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, in collaboration with Microsoft, estimates 128,000 farmworkers nationwide have tested positive for the coronavirus, as of Sept. 24. But Jayson Lusk, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue, says their dashboard could be a dramatic undercount as it does not include part-time and temporary workers. By comparison, 42,988 meatpacking workers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in 498 meat plants as of Sept. 24, according to an analysis by the Food and Environment Reporting Network, a nonprofit investigative news organization. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued detailed reports on coronavirus outbreaks in meatpacking plants, the agency has no immediate plans to monitor infections among farmworkers. "At this time we are not tracking outbreaks in farmworkers or on farms," CDC spokeswoman Jasmine Reed said in July. Eleven states (California, Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin) have introduced mandatory protections for farmworkers during the pandemic that include providing PPE and requiring physical distancing, workplace disinfection and worker testing. Many issued recommendations only after seeing significant outbreaks among farmworkers in their states. Twenty states have issued nonenforceable guidance, and 19 states, including Florida and Texas, have issued no recommendations. In early May, Washington state's Yakima County, one of the nation's biggest suppliers of sweet cherries, apples and pears, had the highest case rate on the West Coast, and state officials urged several farms experiencing outbreaks to test all employees. Yet growers resisted widespread coronavirus testing, according to internal emails between Yakima Health District chief executive Ryan Ibach and Environmental Health Director Shawn Magee. "Our people aren't interested in being tested," Jeannette Evans, owner of Evans Fruit, one of the biggest apple orchards in the state, told The Washington Post, adding that health officials "didn't like it because an old lady stood up to them." She said her workers are "good Spanish people," many of whom have worked for the farm for years. Evans was blunt when Magee inquired about testing by email, a certified letter and phone calls between June 4 and June 17. "She said we are not to enter her properties and will not participate in site visits or testing . . . then [she] hung up on me," Magee wrote. Magee told The Washington Post he reported Evans Fruit to the state labor department, which enforces workplace safety rules. Evans, who began farming in 1949 with her late husband, told The Post only 10 of her workers had been infected with the virus by mid-July. However, Yakima Health District records of coronavirus cases among her farmworkers showed 72 positive cases out of a workforce of 350 people across three locations as of Aug. 12. On July 13, Evans allowed health officials to inspect the farms. They found workers wearing masks incorrectly, no hand-washing stations outside the bathrooms and no daily health screenings of employees, public records show. The Yakima Health District report said: "Received anonymous complaint from worker on day of consultation that they were being told to wear a mask because of the inspection even though they had not been wearing one for 4 months." The Yakima Health District set up a free testing site across from the Evans Fruit location in Cowiche, "as they have a very high case count of covid-19, Magee wrote in a July 23 email. "Only one employee out of over 300 showed up for testing." Some farms tried to minimize the extent of coronavirus outbreaks among their workers. Other farms asked health officials to attribute outbreaks to other units of their company. According to Yakima Health District internal emails, Allan Bros. has had 42 cases of coronavirus among its workers as of Aug. 12. The company requested that a subset of cases be listed instead under the name Sagemoor Group Management Services, the company's vineyard. Allen Bros. did not respond to requests for comment. - - - Florida's spring harvest made the state the earliest test ground for vulnerabilities among fruit and vegetable pickers. Farmworker advocacy groups say county health officials were slow to grasp the spread of infection and fatalities in farmworker populations, in part because hospital officials and medical examiners did not consistently collect data by occupation or race. The medical examiner's office for the heavily agricultural Lee, Hendry and Glades counties identified only four deaths in the Hispanic racial group in March and April, despite many Hispanic surnames among the list of dead. The counties recorded 188 coronavirus deaths between March 5 and July 16. When asked why race/ethnicity and occupation are not tracked, the medical examiner's office for Lee, Hendry and Glades counties said in a statement: "The information entered into the medical examiner's database is based on information the medical examiner's office receives from the reporters of the death." Advocates say Hispanics were also undercounted in neighboring Collier County, a heavily agricultural area. By the end of May, Immokalee, a farming community in the county, had more than 1,000 positive cases, one of the highest infection rates in the state, according to state health department statistics. "Since we have been using the medical examiner's data to confirm known individuals who have died, we know that just about everyone we've confirmed in Immokalee is in fact Indigenous Mayan or Latino, but they are listed as White," said Marley Monacello, a staff member with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. According to Gerardo Reyes Chavez, a coalition leader, the organization wrote to the Collier County Board of County Commissioners on March 23 and to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and 14 others on April 2, laying out the risks to farmworkers. There was no response from the governor or board; they heard back only from a staff member of one state representative, Monacello said. "Nearly every suggestion we gave about how to meet the needs of the farmworker community - from early community-wide testing, to effective health education, the need for contact tracing and isolation areas apart from overcrowded housing - was met with initial rejection and delay," Reyes Chavez said. "The Governor's Office receives correspondence from dozens of groups and organizations daily. Responding to each and every one is simply not feasible," the governor's press secretary, Cody McCloud, said in an email. "The DeSantis Administration has supported Florida's farmworkers throughout the covid-19 pandemic." County commissioner Bill McDaniel Jr. says a lack of testing has been less of a problem than the county's ability to deal with positive cases, which he said frequently hinges on a worker's documentation status. "If they test positive, they know they are staring at quarantining and self-isolation and they need to have that paycheck," he said. "We've had 300 people slip back to whatever crack they came from, off to parts unknown. They don't give the right phone number or the right address." Collier County health officials twice turned down offers from Partners in Health, a Boston-based nonprofit health-care organization, to conduct contact tracing in Immokalee, according to Matthew Hing, a doctor with the organization that has had success in contact tracing in Massachusetts. Kristine Hollingsworth, public information officer for the Florida Department of Health in Collier County, said the offers were declined because any group that assisted in contact-tracing efforts would need to become a background-screened volunteer of the agency or a contracted agency approved by the Florida Department of Health. Testing of farmworkers did not ramp up until June. By that time, much of the Florida growing season was over and many seasonal farmworkers were on the move. "By then the state had successfully sent the problem up north," said Robin Lewy of the Rural Women's Health Project. "It was shushed and covered up. We didn't think about the farmworkers because it's convenient to forget them." - - - In California, some growers threatened to retaliate against workers who complained about a lack of masks and other PPE or overcrowding in hotels, according to emails between the Monterey County Health Department and advocacy groups. A. Irene de Barraicua, a spokesperson for Lideres Campesinas, a California women's farmworker network, says very few workers want to be publicly identified because "they are scared of retaliation, of losing work and of being deported. If they show up in a news story they are losing their jobs." She said she has spoken to workers who have been threatened with firing or eviction after speaking up about a lack of PPE, and that workers have been told to hide positive diagnoses from fellow workers. Hundreds of growers continued to operate through April without seeking PPE for their workers, according to a spreadsheet and memo sent by the California Department of Food and Agriculture to the state's county governments in early May. The state later partnered with county agriculture commissioners to distribute millions of surgical masks and other PPE to agricultural workers. As wildfires raged early in September, resulting in hazardous air quality, farmworkers kept working. The state distributed millions of N95 masks. Some farms that supply major name-brand fruit and vegetable companies threatened to fire or deport workers who complained about safety and asked for better screening and temperature checks, said Hazel Davalos, the community organizing director at the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) who has interviewed multiple farmworkers. In early May, about 100 farmworkers at Rancho Laguna Farms in Santa Maria, a farming community near Santa Barbara that houses approximately 2,000 H-2A visa workers each summer to pick strawberries and other crops, went on strike to complain about pandemic work safety and insufficient hazard pay. On May 11, CAUSE filed an unfair labor practice charge with the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board on behalf of the workers, alleging that the company fired some of the striking workers and threatened to call immigration officials, Davalos said. The Agricultural Labor Relations Board is investigating complaints that Rancho Laguna Farms laid off workers who complained, according to Franchesca Herrera, the board's regional director. Like many smaller strawberry growers in Santa Maria, Rancho Laguna Farms sells its fruit to Driscoll's, which controls about one-third of the $6 billion U.S. berry market. "We cannot comment on any ongoing and pending investigations," said Rancho Laguna Farms spokeswoman Jesse Rojas by email. She said that as of Aug. 28, 20 workers had tested positive for the coronavirus, and 18 of them had returned to work with written authorization from a medical professional or the county health department. "All employees who were under test result waiting period or who tested positive were eligible for leave under the Federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act," she wrote. On July 7, Leodegario Chavez, 51, a driver for Alco Harvesting, which contracts to bring in about 1,000 of the area's guest workers, died of covid-19. Residing in Alco Harvesting's housing accommodations for their H-2A workers in a Motel 6, he was the first agricultural worker in Santa Maria to die of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Another coronavirus-positive guest worker for Alco Harvesting, who spoke to advocates on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, posted on a site called Tu Tiempo Digital that more than 20 coronavirus-positive workers were being quarantined at the motel and that he had been in the room next to the deceased. The day after his posts, he said, he was fired and kicked out of the motel. By July 29, there were 85 confirmed cases linked to the outbreak at Alco Harvesting in Santa Maria, according to the county health department. Alco Harvesting did not respond to requests for comment. Driscoll's said in a statement that it has helped growers access PPE including masks, and that its growers have been responsive to input from the company as well as county officials on meeting the CDC agriculture guidelines. To date, there hasn't been a circumstance that has resulted in a need to terminate a grower relationship, the company said. "Our independent grower network has not had any significant problems with outbreaks," the statement said. "We've been proactive and worked diligently to help our independent growers first and foremost meet the CDC's agriculture guidelines." - - - Georgia Gee, a data journalist for the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School, contributed research to this report. After going over a maritime border into the Hermit Kingdom, a government worker from South Korea was shot dead by a North Korean patrol vessel, Thursday. According to CNN, an official from the Joint Chief of Staff in South Korea, Lt. Gen. Ahn Young-ho stated that a Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries worker has been reported missing about 1.9 kilometers to the south of Yeonpyeong Islands amid the vast waters on the 21st of September. In a statement from an official of South Korea's Defense Ministry, the missing South Korean worker was discovered by a North Korean fisheries organization vessel in the waters near Yeonpyeong Islands. The man found floating on a large flotsam, still wearing a life jacket, and looked very exhausted. The said government worker was said to be in the process of defecting to the rogue nation. Based on the statement of the Defense Ministry officials, the man was allowed by a member of the crew from the North Korean vessel to give his testimony. However, shortly after giving his statement, the man was shot at by a North Korean patrol vessel, killing him. It was also stated that a soldier who was wearing a gas mask approached the body of the attempted defector and burned it down. Read also: Iran President Asserts Resistance from US Imposing Sanctions South Korea Condemns the North's Actions Following the incident, the South Korean military released a statement strongly condemning the atrocities of the North. They also called Pyongyang to investigate the matter and come up with an explanation of the incident, demanding punishment for the responsible parties. The statement also emphasized that it will hold North Korea accountable for the cruel act done to the South Korean worker. Moreover, Daily Express reported that Yoh Sang-key, spokesman of the Unification Ministry labeled the incident as a 'cold water' thrown over the consistent efforts by the ministry to create an inter-Korean reconciliation and peace. He also added that it is the exact opposite of the peace that people in the Korean Peninsula is yearning. Tensions between the Korean nations have been rising since the two parties decided to cut off their communication lines in June. Pyongyang initiated the cutting off of communications after it blew up a joint liaison office on their side of the border. The stain in the relations between the two nations comes after years of rapprochement which was led by President Moon Jae-in of South Korea. The said rapprochement has resulted in several summits between US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. However, the meetings between the leaders did not reap significant results. Instead, the North has taken a more strident tone towards its southern counterpart. The stance shifted after the dictator's sister was given additional powers in the regime. This is not the first time that a South Korean citizen was killed in the North. Back in 2008, a South Korean tourist was shot at a ski resort at Mt. Kumgang. In addition, in 2010, 50 people were killed by the North in separate incidents, including 46 sailors, two marines and two civilians. Related article: 'I Might Not See You Again, ' Trump Reportedly Kissed Melania Goodbye Before Leaving to Visit Kim Jong Un @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday he spoke with his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga and that they agreed stronger ties between the two countries will help meet the challenges of the current regional and global situation. Had a very good conversation with PM Yoshihide Suga. We exchanged views on the tremendous progress in our relationship in the last few years, and the future direction of our Special Strategic and Global Partnership. @sugawitter, PM Modi tweeted We agreed that stronger India-Japan ties would help meet the challenges of the current regional and global situation. I look forward to working with PM Suga to further strengthen our all-round partnership, he added. It was their first phone call since Suga took office last week. The Prime Ministers Office (PMO) had said earlier that the two leaders expressed their intention to further strengthen the Special Strategic and Global Partnership between the two countries based upon mutual trust and shared values. PM Narendra Modi had a phone call today with Yoshihide Suga, Prime Minister of Japan. The Prime Minister congratulated Prime Minister Suga on his appointment as the Prime Minister of Japan and wished him success in achieving his goals, the PMO said in a statement. The two leaders agreed that the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership has made great advances over the last few years and expressed their intention to further strengthen this relationship based upon mutual trust and shared values, it said. We agreed that stronger India-Japan ties would help meet the challenges of the current regional and global situation. I look forward to working with PM Suga to further strengthen our all-round partnership. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 25, 2020 Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 25, 2020 They concurred that the partnership between the two countries is even more relevant in todays times given the global challenges, including that of the coronavirus pandemic. They emphasised that the economic architecture of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region must be premised on resilient supply chains, and in this context, welcomed cooperation between India, Japan and other like-minded countries, the statement said. Prime Minister Modi also extended an invitation to Suga to visit India for the Annual Bilateral Summit, after improvement of the situation caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic, it said. Fridays phone call marks the first-ever conversation between the two leaders. In recent days, Suga has called US president Donald Trump and also spoken with South Koreas Moon Jae In. Suga, previously Japans longest-serving chief cabinet secretary, was elected as the prime minister by the Japanese parliament on September 16, two days after being elected as the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. He is also Japans first new prime minister in almost eight years after his predecessor, Shinzo Abe, resigned on August 28 due to health reasons. Nearly all SPACs based in California have at least one woman on their boards, complying with a new state law. Why it matters: Access to opportunities for wealth generation can help close the gender gap. The big picture: SPACs are publicly-traded shell companies that acquire a business for the purpose of taking them public. They've been around for years, but have proliferated in 2020. By the numbers: Only five out of 26 California-based SPACs trading on the market do not currently have a woman on their board. Sixteen have just one women on their boards, four of them have two, and one (Panacea Acquisition Corp.) has three. A number of newly-formed SPACs are still missing women directors, per SEC filings, although they haven't yet hit the public markets. The law does not have transition provisions for companies planning to go public, but it only requires a female director "for at least a portion of the year." Enforcement is based on 10-K forms, giving companies more wiggle room to fulfill the requirement. "A lot of these deals go from the organization meeting to closing in eight to 10 weeks," points out lawyer Jocelyn Arel, a partner Goodwin who specializes in SPACs, adding that often new board members are added subsequently. The law is also facing a couple of ongoing lawsuits. The bigger picture: Other states are already following suit, with Washington passing a bill earlier this year and Massachusetts considering similar legislation. California lawmakers also recently passed a bill that would require publicly-held companies to add board members from other underrepresented groups, such as Black, Latino, Asian, Native American, and LGBTQ. Gov. Newson has until Sept. 30 to make a decision. Go deeper: California's "woman quota" law seems to be working Syrian army reinforcements have arrived in the key town of Ayn Issa, while a bridge has been deployed across the Euphrates to help civilians cross writes Al-Masdar. The Syrian army has been moving in reinforcements to Raqqa Governorate over the last 48 hours, with several convoys deploying to the frontlines, facing the Turkish military and their allies. According to reports from Raqqa, the Syrian Arab Army sent reinforcements to the key town of Ayn Issa, which has been targeted on a number of occasions by the Turkish-backed forces. The reason for the deployments is not known at this time; however, the Turkish-backed forces have been increasing their hostilities east of the Euphrates, which threatens government troops. In a different region, the army has opened a crossing along the Euphrates River this week, a new report from Deir ez-Zor said. The army opened the crossing linking the towns of Hatla and al-Uthmaniyah in Deir ez-Zor Governorate. A source from the Syrian army said that they built a floating bridge between the two areas in order to allow civilians access to both sides of the Euphrates River. Furthermore, the source said the new crossing will allow for civilians to go back and forth from areas controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and the government. 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. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Home Regional News East The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Public Health are warning residents that water conditions remain ideal for blue-green algae blooms in Illinois waterways. While most are harmless, some blue-green algae can produce toxins that may cause sickness or other health effects in people or pets. Blue-green algae blooms can form into late fall months. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (UN) and the 30th year since China's armed forces first participated in UN peacekeeping operations (UNPKOs). A white paper entitled "China's Armed Forces: 30 Years of UN Peacekeeping Operations" was released by the State Council Information Office on Sept. 18, a key document detailing how China's armed forces have become a key force in serving the cause of world peace. Service and Sacrifice From Sudan's West Darfur and South Sudan to Mali, every mission undertaken by Chinese peacekeeper Liu Yong has been in a dangerous armed conflict environment. He recalled: "When I was on a mission in the South Sudan as a member of an infantry battalion in 2015, the government and anti-government forces frequently exchanged fire and gunfights erupted less than 100 meters away from our base. We clearly heard the deafening explosions and smelt the gunpowder." "Luckily, we handled it properly. We managed to protect ourselves from being drawn into the conflict and protected the local residents from being hurt." Mi Xiugang was once a member of the first, third, and fifth batches of Chinese peacekeeping infantry battalions dispatched to South Sudan. On July 10, 2016, two of his comrades, Li Lei and Yang Shupeng, were killed during a mission when their armored vehicle was hit by a shell. Mi Xiugang said: "Now, the infantry fighting vehicle they once took is still quietly parked in a corner of the Chinese peacekeeping infantry base in South Sudan. We often lay floral tributes. They are our role models who support us emotionally when we are confronted with threats and dangers." Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-11 03:36:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN secretary-general's special representative for children and armed conflict, Virginia Gamba, on Thursday rang the alarm over attacks on schools and education personnel. Attacks on schools do not decrease over the years. On the contrary, there seems to be an emerging tactic of war, particularly in the Sahel, where schools are targeted precisely because they are schools, and even more if they cater to girls, she said. In the last two years in Mali, teachers were threatened and killed; education facilities demolished and learning material burnt, leading to the closure of over 1,260 schools, even before COVID-19, she told a Security Council open debate on attacks against schools. The last 12 months have seen a rise in attacks against schools and education personnel in Burkina Faso, including the burning of schools and the kidnapping of teachers, forcing 2,500 schools to shut down, depriving hundreds of thousands of children from education. In other parts of the world, such as Asia and Latin America, there is also an increase in attacks on education in indigenous communities, she said. The present pandemic has made things much worse. Closed schools and crumbling economies generate push-and-pull factors that favor recruitment and use, sexual exploitation and child marriage. Lockdowns have restrained and diminished children's access to essential services. Empty schools may be an incentive for parties to conflict to loot or use schools for military purposes, she warned. Cycles of violence against schools affect students, teachers, parents and communities alike. Parents are fearful of sending children to school; teachers leave schools due to insecurity; children are denied an education, which is the single most important tool they need to overcome despair and build a future, she said. "This must stop." Gamba urged all parties to conflict to protect students and education personnel and to respect the civilian nature of school infrastructures. She also reminded governments that they have a duty to protect education, even at times of war and pandemics. Enditem Gurugram, Sep 25 : : A gun fight incident took place on Friday between two rival groups over the parking of a garbage truck at the Bandhwari treatment plant located on the Gurugram-Faridabad road. The statements of the victims are yet to be recorded as the doctors at the hospital declared them unfit for giving statements as of now. The police are yet to register a case till the filing of this report. The police had received information about the incident at around 9.30 am on Friday. "The incident took place when Mohit (27) and Yogesh (30) had a heated argument with Pawan and Manoj over the parking of a garbage truck at the treatment plant. All of them are residents of Mangar village in Faridabad," said Sub-Inspector Praveen, IO of the case. During the exchange of fire, the victims received bullet injuries and were admitted to a private hospital in Faridabad where their conditions are said to be stable. The Preliminary probe suggests that both groups have a contract of collecting the garbage and dropping it at the treatment plant. It could be possible that one group wanted to grab the second group's contract, which led to this incident. "The actual reason behind the incident will be cleared once we record the statements of the victims.A Further probe is on, action against the guilty will be initiated as per the prescribed law," Kumar said. All the government and its aided schools of Tripura would be reopened from October 5 that were closed since March due to Covid-19 pandemic. The decision was taken in a high-power committee meeting of Education Department at Civil Secretariat where vice chancellors of Tripura University ( Central) and Maharaja Bir Bikram University, and officials of Elementary and Higher Education departments took part. As per the decision, 50 percent teachers would attend schools rotation-wise every day. The students of Class 9 to 12 could attend classes only after getting written consent of their parents. We have decided to reopen schools from October 05. Students of Class 9 to 12 can come to schools to consult with teachers about their subject-related queries, but they need to get written consent of their parents first, said Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath after the meeting on Thursday. There are nearly 4,400 government schools in the state. The Education Department launched online classes, video lecture sessions in local TV channels, Students Helpline Call Centre, SMS based classes for the students during the pandemic. The department also started neighbourhood classes from August 20 with 1:5 teacher-student ratio for all students especially for those who cannot access online classes due to lack of gadgets. But it was suspended within a week due to rise in Covid-19 cases and its related deaths. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON French restaurant owners protest new closures in virus fight A protester with a sign that reads "Save bars and restaurants" during a demonstration in Marseille, southern France, on Friday. Hundreds of restaurant and bar owners protested in the southern French city of Marseille on Friday against new shutdown orders to curb surging coronavirus numbers, as the country recorded nearly 16,000 new cases. Health Minister Olivier Veran announced the closures for Marseille and the surrounding region this week after contagion rates jumped, while bars and restaurants in Paris and 10 other cities will have to shut by 10:00 pm starting Monday. "We cannot allow ourselves to dither," Veran told reporters in Marseille Friday. "I am fully aware that some of these measures are controversial", sparking worry "and even anger", he said, but "they are not arbitrary". France's public health agency warned that epidemic is in an "ascending phase", announcing that 15,797 new infections were registered on Friday, slightly down from the previous day's record of 16,096. Over the past 24 hours, 56 people had died of the virus in hospital -- four more than Thursday. New virus deaths rose by 25 percent last week, and cases among the elderly were also accelerating again, the agency said. "These numbers worry us because they raise the prospect of more admissions to hospital, more need for intensive care, and possibly more deaths," Sophie Vaux, an epidemiologist at the agency, told reporters. Officials are hoping to get ahead of the flare-up before hospitals are overwhelmed, but critics accuse the government of taking arbitrary measures that will take a huge economic toll. "This is the last straw -- We were starting to get back on our feet," said Patrick Labourrasse, a restaurant owner in Aix-en-Provence, a city near Marseille which is also affected by the order. The Marseille demonstration took place outside the Mediterranean port city's commercial courthouse, "because this is where we'll probably come to declare bankruptcy," said Bernard Marty, president of the regional hospitality association. Story continues "Stay open -- don't close!" several supporters yelled, while booing the name of Veran. The regional UPE 13 employers' federation denounced a "new economic lockdown" and called for a 10-day moratorium on the Marseille closures, to give social distancing and other measures a chance to work. Otherwise, the shutdowns "will seriously endanger the economy and jobs across the territory," it said in a statement. But regional president Renaud Muselier said bars and restaurants would shut from Sunday evening. According to French health authorities, Marseille has the highest infection rate in mainland France with 281 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants. Some 50 local lawmakers signed an open letter Thursday accusing the central government of a "fundamental strategic mistake -- you are worsening the economic crisis and creating a social crisis, without doing anything to halt the health crisis." But Prime Minister Jean Castex defended the new restrictions, promising financial aid for affected businesses, while warning that "it's a race against the clock" in Marseille. "What I don't want is for us to go back to March," when a two-month nationwide lockdown sent the economy into a tailspin as Covid-19 deaths soared, Castex said in a prime-time interview Thursday. burs-mbx/dl/tgb Lone BJP MLA in Mizoram Dr BD Chakma has asked the state government to refer him to some hospital outside the state for COVID-19 testing after his re-test sample tested positive despite him being asymptomatic for more than a week. Chakma wrote to Mizoram Health minister Dr R Lalthangliana and Health and Family Welfare board vicechairman Dr ZR Thiamsanga urging them that he should be referred to either Kolkata or Guwahati to cross-check his swab samples after attending doctor informed him that he tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. I have written to the health minister and health and family welfare board vice chairman on Thursday. I think state-level COVID-19 expert team is discussing about it, he told PTI. Chakma said he was in a fix as his sample, which was collected on Tuesday for re-test has come out as positive on Thursday, despite no symptoms of COVID-19. I am very much in a fix. My RT-PCR test is still positive but without any signs and symptoms of COVID-19. Let the government decide on it then I will give a second thought after hearing the government opinion, he said. Chakma had first tested positive for COVID-19 on September 13 and was initially under observation at Zoram Medical College (ZMC), the only dedicated COVID-19 hospital in the state located about 16 km from Aizawl. He was discharged from ZMC on September 17 to be under home isolation at MLA hostel, a designated Covid-19 care centre at Aizawls Khatla locality. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) The Department of Education (DepEd) said about P40 billion is needed per school year to be able to print self-learning modules as education sector shifts to its new normal. During the Senate hearing on the proposed 2021 budget of the department, Sen. Francis Pangilinan asked DepEd how much budget is needed to be able to produce printed modules. Education Usec. Annalyn Sevilla said assuming that the pandemic will continue, they will be needing P20 billion for the first two quarters of the upcoming school year, and P40 billion for its last two quarters and the first two quarters of school year 2021-2022. Under the proposed P605.74 billion budget of DepEd, P15 billion was allotted for this purpose, with another P5 billion under unprogrammed funds. The department added since the school year was only rescheduled from August to October, there were already printed modules good for one to two weeks that were already distributed to learners. However, Education Sec. Leonor Briones said they intend to rationalize this to gradually lessen dependence on printed modules, despite being it being the preferred mode of learning for students and parents. "We are gradually going to face that out because aside from the horrible impact on the environment, baka (maybe) we will be having books but no trees. It's more expensive to produce printed material than to transmit by radio or TV or by other means," she explained. The health crisis led to implementation of alternative modes of learning to do away with the usual face-to-face setup. School year for basic education students will resume on October 5 after it was moved from August 24 due to President Rodrigo Duterte's order for a six-week postponement due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian questioned the zero allocation for DepEd's special education (SPED) program despite the country having about 439,000 SPED students. Under the 2021 budget of the department, budget for SPED was totally slashed from a P300 million budget in 2020. Sevilla explained that the budget was used for the government's COVID-19 response so they were not able to use it this year as well. Briones also assured that schools have funds to cover SPED students. However, Gatchalian appealed to revive the budget that will solely be used for these students since "it will be very difficult for them to fight for these funds" if they will rely on schools' regular funds. If there were a distinction between members of the Council gathering as community representatives rather than as legislators, it would be a distinction without a difference aldermen represent their constituents in the community by virtue of their positions as elected members of the Council, which is a legislative body, the ruling said. On Thursday, the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Department of State Health Services released data on confirmed COVID-19 cases at the public school district level for the first time. Public schools are required to report positive COVID-19 cases on school campuses. The data is updated each week on the DSHS website. READ ALSO: Coronavirus updates: 155 new cases, no new COVID-19 deaths in Bexar County Since Aug. 2 through the week ending Sept. 20, DSHS and TEA reported 3,445 cumulative positive student cases and 2,850 positive staff cases statewide. In San Antonio, three of the largest school districts reported more than 80 COVID-19 cases combined for students and staff. In Bexar County, public schools were allowed to return to in-person instruction starting Sept. 8. However, virtual learning is still an option. Scroll below for a breakdown of the COVID-19 cases for all the major San Antonio-area public schools. Districts are listed in alphabetical order. There was no data on Brooks Academy of Science & Engineering, Lackland ISD and School of Science & Technology Discover. The All India Mask Manufacturers Association on Friday urged the government to remove restrictions on the exports of N-95 masks, saying the country currently possesses a production capacity of 20 crore pieces a month as against the monthly export quota of 50 lakh units. Recently, the government relaxed curbs on exporting of masks and medical coveralls, which are used to control the spread of COVID-19. A monthly export quota of 50 lakh units has been fixed for N-95/FFP2 masks or its equivalent for issuance of export licences to eligible applicants, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said last month. "We would request the government to please open up the export of N-95 masks without any restrictions. Currently, there is a limit of 50 lakh per month on its exports which has been imposed by the government," said All India Mask Manufacturers Association Vice-President Anshumali Jain at a virtual conference to announce the Nonwoven Tech Expo. He said the 50 lakh monthly export quota is a small number as India's present manufacturing capacity of N-95 masks is 20 crore pieces a month. The world's first virtual Nonwoven Tech Expo, an exhibition on non-wovens and hygiene technology, will be held from October 19 to 25. The Expo aims to prepare the road map for the non-woven industry to enter the new normal by transforming and building businesses through a digital culture. The Nonwoven Federation of India, which represents more than 250 non-woven manufacturers, said theExpo will focus onusage of non-woven products for medical, hygiene, packaging protective, agriculture, geo-textile, filtration, automobiles, and other industries. (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.) Republican Michael L. Haueisen, left, and Democrat Terry Sabo, right, will face off on Nov. 3, 2020, in the 92nd Michigan House of Representatives general election. MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI Two candidates are vying to represent Michigans 92nd state House district. Incumbent state Rep. Terry Sabo, D-Muskegon, and Republican challenger Michael Haueisen, of Muskegon, will appear on the Tuesday, Nov. 3, general election ballot. Sabo has served as a state representative since 2017. Michigans 92nd House district includes the cities of Muskegon, Muskegon Heights and North Muskegon and the townships of Muskegon, Laketon, Whitehall and Fruitland. Michigan House terms are for two years. State representatives may serve a maximum of three full terms. Here is some background information on the 92nd House candidates: Sabo, 53, a retired Muskegon Heights firefighter and U.S. Air Force security officer, is seeking reelection to represent the 92nd state House district. He previously served on the Muskegon County Board of Commissioners from 2013-16, and as its chairman beginning in 2015. Sabo also served as a Muskegon County road commissioner from 2011-12. Haueisen, 66, describes himself as an event specialist who works part time in retail. He has attended some college and says he has experience dealing with both city and county commissions and from serving on the city income tax review board. This year, 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 will be available at Vote411.org, an online voter guide created by the League of Women Voters. The candidates submitted responses to questions posed by the League of Women Voters, which are included in its online voter guide. 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. Heres a look at how the candidates responded to questions on some key issues in Michigan: EDUCATION: 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? Sabo: Every child deserves a quality education with an equal opportunity for success. Michigans funding of schools has been insufficient to meet the rising education standards and it shows in national education rankings and teacher recruitment/retention. Properly funding schools to get more into the classroom should be a priority. I support policies that allow teachers to teach to meet higher standards and meet individual student needs. Challenges loom for schools as a result of the pandemic and it will take a collaborative effort among all stakeholders, including federal partnerships, with partisan politics pushed aside. Haueisen: All of our schools need a better curriculum on true black history so that every child can understand where we came from. The funding needs to improve ECONOMIC SECURITY: What policies do you support to increase jobs and help Michigan residents improve their economic positions, in general and given the pandemic? Sabo: Michigan needs to address the rebuild of our middle-class. Wage disparities are becoming more prevalent leaving many with the inability to provide for their families and earn even a modest retirement. The pandemic has highlighted the need to invest in ourselves by using Michigan products, labor and services. It has also brought attention to fixing the states unemployment insurance system so that those who lose their jobs through no fault of their own will have prompt financial security until they can get back to work. The federal C.A.R.E.S. Act will need more flexibility to allow states to address their own needs. Haueisen: This pandemic has kicked our backsides. Jobs lost forever. We need to get open and increase the emphasis on trade schools The trades will be better paying jobs and we need trades to rebuild the safe way. ELECTIONS: What state policies do you support regarding Michigan elections, voting and campaign funding? Do you support mailing ballots to all eligible voters? Sabo: I support policies that make it easier for voters to participate in elections and not more restrictive. I supported 2018s Proposal 3 that did that by making it easier to register, vote straight-party and vote by absentee ballot with no reason needed. Having secure elections with fraud prevention that contains strict penalties should always be pursued as it maintains citizen confidence in our election system. I support mailing absentee ballot applications and ballots to all eligible voters. We are in an changing world and must adapt to ensure everyone has the ability to participate safely in elections. Haueisen: The campaign finance reporting is a mess. It needs a complete rebuild so that funds can be seen by all.on the mail ballot. No... I can see the needs for some to have mail in. But it should be their request. Mail in ballots cannot not be verified on a mass mail. ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY: 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? Sabo: We were once a leader in environmental protection/conservation, but were steadily falling behind while families and communities are suffering as a result. Laws have been weakened over the years leaving our water, air and land vulnerable to contaminant exposure. Policies/law need to be strengthened to provide for pollution/environmental control, greater oversight of natural resources and making polluters, not taxpayers, pay for the damage they cause. We need to seek more energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, but still ensure we have the energy sources needed to keep our state powered and remain affordable. Haueisen: Wind and solar are not up th o meeting all of our needs yet. We will have to keep fossil fuel a little longer. Improving our mass transit especially between cities will help here on demand. Better fuel mileage is a must.they need to look into hydrogenated motors more. SOCIAL JUSTICE: How would you address the racial, economic, health, education, etc. inequities, including Michigans 20% of children and 17% of seniors living in poverty? Sabo: The first step is recognizing that we have these inequities. Many dont believe it or they just turn away thinking that it doesnt affect them. It saddens me to see poverty in our community, especially in children/seniors, unfortunately some have been twisted into generations of poverty and cant find their way out. We must ensure that equality is not just a word but a real action. Providing opportunities to earn a livable wage/secure retirement, the right to quality healthcare/education, and breaking down racial barriers by talking/listening/understanding each other are needed if we truly want to address poverty. Haueisen: Better education leads to better income. Get better jobs for the families. On the seniors get them good free health care to give them better income and raise social security rates. They earned it. GUNS: Do you believe that Michigan has a gun violence problem? If so, what measures would you support to alleviate this problem? Sabo: From a family of gun-owners and hunters, I support the 2nd Amendment. That means I also support responsible gun ownership w/background checks and improved mental health services. That ensures those choosing to exercise their rights are also not a danger to society as a result. Michigan is about average among the states with deaths related to gun violence which tells me we have work to do to address gun violence. This should not be a political issue, but more so a safety issue to be evaluated/discussed. Putting political differences aside/keeping outside special interest groups from interfering, we find common ground. Haueisen: Gun education needs to be taught in school. For those that have legally bought and own guns, leave alone. But those that have use or have guns illegally, when caught need big fines and big jail terms. More on MLive: Drive-thru voting in Muskegon a possibility with $433K elections grant Muskegon County state representative faces Nov. 3 challenge from assistant prosecutor Probe to explore $500K in alleged unapproved spending on concerts by Muskegon city staff Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 18:44:42|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export volume kept falling for five straight months owing to an economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak, central bank data showed Friday. In terms of volume, the outbound shipment shrank 3.6 percent in August from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It continued to slide for six months since April. Export volume for coal and oil products slumped 18.4 percent, and transport equipment shipment declined 17.0 percent. The export value retreated 9.2 percent in August from a year ago, keeping a downward trend for six months in a row. The continued fall in export came as the COVID-19 outbreak roiled the global economy and cross-border trade. Import volume slipped 4.8 percent in August from a year earlier. In terms of value, imports dropped 15.9 percent on a lower price for mining products. Enditem A new ice cream shop in Icelands Perlan museum is getting a lot of buzz for its eye-catching, stalagtite-like interiors. Taking inspiration from the countrys natural beauty, as well as from the museum itself, interior design company Atelier Tobia Zambotti imagined the space as a glacial cavern adorned with blue and white conceptual icicles. The Tobia Zambotti-designed interiors of this Icelandic ice cream store are defined by fun blue and white foam These foam pyramids alternate in a polychromatic pattern of columns, beginning at the ceiling and cascading boldly down the wall. The effect draws the observers eye down into the stores icy man-made grotto, and of course, to the ice cream counter that features frosty treats in shades of mint, chestnut, and peony pink. Close-up shot of the Perlan ice cream shop's signature blue and white foam The idea was to create an abstract ice cave, says the design firms founder and namesake Tobia Zambotti in an interview with mbl.is. He adds that the project description was very simple. What I had to do was design something Instagram-friendly and iconic with a strong ID. The design certainly accomplishes those goals with its use of dramatic shapes and colors, making it ultra-popular on social media platforms around the world. That exactlys what Gunnar Gunnarsson, managing director of the Perlan, was hoping for when he commissioned the project to change Icelandic ice culture. His aim is for the ice cream, produced on site, to entice patrons to linger longer at the museum, delving deeper into its geological displays. The Tobia Zambotti-designed interiors of this Icelandic ice cream store are defined by fun blue and white foam Young employee helps a couple at the shop's sleek Corian ice cream counter. To have the installation fit into the landscape of those exhibits, including the ground floors 330-foot real ice cave made from 350 tons of snow, Zambotti wanted the art to be an immersive experience. He had the triangular icicles constructed of sound-dampening foam that hushes the mechanical drone of the nearby freezer. I decided to use this material because the ice machine is very loud, he explains succinctly. The insulated design acoustically adds to the cave-like feel of the ice cream parlor. Story continues The 540-square-foot shop also features a stainless-steel shelf at the back that highlights the menu and is illuminated with LED light strips that reflect the cool, glacial hues of the ceiling. On top of that, the main counter is constructed of sleek white Corian, producing the visual effect of a polar wall of ice. A stainless steel shelf at the back of the ice cream shop displays all the tasty flavor options. Originally from Italy, Zambotti studied architecture in Vienna and interior design in Milan. Upon graduation, he got a position in Shanghai working with award-winning design firm Alberto Caiola Studio. After a year in China, Zambotti traded his chaotic life for a very quiet one in Reykjavik where his wife already lived. That transfer put him in connection with the Perlan and director Gunnarsson. One of the countrys most popular museums, the Perlan sits on a hill 200 feet above sea level and is built on top of six giant water tanks, each containing over 1,000,000 gallons of water pulled from underground hot springs. The objective of the buildings exhibits, according to the Perlan website, is to let guests see, hear, and feel the power of volcanoes, earthquakes, and geothermal energy. It features planetarium shows of the northern lights, a cinematic underwater tour of Iceland, and an augmented reality cliff-face experience. Main ice cream counter at the new shop in Iceland's Perlan museum. The onset of the COVID-19 crisis diminished initial public exposure of the ice cream shop installation after its June grand opening. However, Gunnarsson is pleased that foot traffic is increasing now, allowing the shops innovative Zambotti design to gain more widespread notice. They said it was locked for security reasons, but you cant both lock something for security reasons and call it the accessible entrance, Ms. Ladau, 29, said. Small things like this add up and send a message that people who are working the polls dont really care about giving people with disabilities the same kind of access as nondisabled voters. The barriers dont stop at the door. Polling sites are required to have accessible voting machines for instance, ones that can read text aloud for people with visual disabilities but several voters recalled showing up for past elections and being told that the only accessible machine was broken, or that poll workers didnt know how to operate it. Stacy Cervenka and her husband, who live in Lincoln, Neb., are blind and normally vote in person using accessible machines. But Ms. Cervenka, 40, said they were hesitant this year because their son has a metabolic disorder that puts him at high risk for Covid-19. And because they only recently moved to Nebraska, they dont have family or friends nearby to help them complete mail-in ballots. There really is no great option, Ms. Cervenka said. We want to be able to vote in person as much as anyone else, but we want it to be safe. Its really going to depend where the numbers are in November if we do that, and if not, were going to have to find a trusted person who we feel comfortable reading us all the ballot measures and marking them correctly. Historically, disability rights were a bipartisan issue. The Americans with Disabilities Act was introduced by Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, a Democrat, and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican, in 1990. But recent discussions of disability policy have come overwhelmingly from Democrats. During the presidential primary, more than 10 Democratic candidates released disability-related plans, many of them more sweeping than anything proposed in previous campaigns. (President Trump has not published such a plan.) Several advocates said that surge in attention had made the obstacles to voting this year harder to swallow. Rebecca Cokley, director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress, said it had been thrilling to see Democrats engage with people with disabilities on Twitter and include them in the process of writing policies, and to watch candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Julian Castro turn broad debate questions into ones specific to the disability community. Judiciary workers, under the aegis of Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, have said they would shut down courts nationwide on Monday in compliance with the directive by the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union to embark on strike The NLC and the TUC had jointly declared the industrial action to press for the reversal of the recent hike in petrol pump price and electricity tariff. The President of JUSUN, Marwan Adamu, told Punch today that as an affiliate of NLC, the union of judiciary workers was bound by the umbrella bodys directive to Nigerian workers to proceed on strike from Monday. The strike is not JUSUN strike. It is NLC strike. As an affiliate of NLC, we are bound by the strike declaration. So, we are joining the strike, Adamu said. Asked if the Wedneasays order issued by the National Industrial Court in Abuja stopping the planned strike would not be complied with, Adamu said, the order has not been served on us, so the strike is going on. Adamu confirmed that the notice for the strike had been circulated in various courts and judiciary institutions across the country. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates On Thursday, Sept. 24, Ontario and Quebec once again reported worrisome case updates, as health officials try to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their situations within their communities have had an impact in their schools, with the two provinces reporting a combined 143 new infections among students and staff. In Manitoba, there are now 449 currently infected patients, a new record-high. The majority are in Winnipeg, as health officials warn against a worrisome trend that has been developing in the citys bars, pubs and restaurants among those in their 20s. At a COVID-19 press briefing, Dr. Deena Hinshaw disagreed with Justin Trudeaus claim that Alberta is among the provinces that is currently experiencing a second wave. In addition, 13 school outbreak alerts have now been declared over. In British Columbia, health officials announced 148 new cases, which marks the second largest spike in daily COVID-19 cases the province has recorded since the start of the pandemic. For more on Thursdays top stories, and on how the novel coronavirus continues to spread across the nation, please refer to our live updates below on Yahoo News Canada. 11,138 active COVID-19 cases in Canada: 149,094 diagnoses, 9,249 deaths and 128,707 recoveries (as of Sept. 24, 6:30 p.m. ET) Alberta - 1,462 active cases (17,190 total cases, including 261 deaths, 15,467 resolved) British Columbia - 1,371 active cases (8,543 total cases, 229 deaths, 6,917 resolved) Manitoba - 449 active cases (1,711 total cases, 19 deaths, 1,243 resolved) New Brunswick - 6 active cases (199 cases, 2 deaths, 191 resolved) Newfoundland and Labrador - 1 active case (272 total cases, 3 deaths, 268 resolved) Northwest Territories - 0 active cases (5 total cases, 5 resolved) Nova Scotia - 1 active cases (1,087 total cases, 65 deaths 1,021 resolved) Ontario - 3,774 active cases (48,496 total cases, 2,836 deaths, 41,886 resolved) Prince Edward Island - 1 active case (58 total cases, 57 resolved) Quebec - 3,917 active cases (69,670 total cases, 5,810 deaths, 59,943 resolved) Saskatchewan - 130 active cases (1,835 total cases, 24 deaths, 1,681 resolved) Yukon - 0 active cases (15 total cases, 15 resolved) Nunavut - 0 active cases (4 false positive cases) CFB Trenton - 0 active cases (13 total cases, 13 resolved) Story continues Dr. Hinshaw doesnt agree with Trudeaus assessment that Alberta is in its second wave Albertas chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, did not agree with Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus claim that the province is in its second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. During a public address on Wednesday, the prime minister said in our four biggest provinces, the second wave isnt just starting, its already underway. However, Hinshaw said there are some key differences to consider between Alberta and other provinces when trying to define what exactly is a second wave. The concept of a second wave implies that we don't have any control or influence over the circulation of the virus, said Hinshaw. In Alberta, I don't think that that's where we're at right now. Hinshaw noted that the province has seen an increase in daily case counts for the last few months, but they have remained relatively stable. Alberta also hasnt seen a very large spike of uncontrolled spread. The chief medical officer noted that the province doesnt necessarily need to have a second wave in its future. Instead, they can see a stable, relatively slow burn of a constant case count over time, or even small ripples that go up and down. To date we have not seen any single factor that seems to be driving the majority of cases, and therefore we have not imposed any additional restrictions, said Hinshaw. Again, whether or not we have a steep sharp second wave is entirely within our hands, and we can prevent that without any additional formal restrictions. Hinshaw announced Thursday that the provinces labs have identified 158 new cases of COVID-19. One more person has died, while 215 patients have recovered, setting Albertas active case count to 1,462. The most recent victim is part of the outbreak at the Foothills Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. So far, the outbreak at the hospital has led to 29 linked cases, including 17 patients and three deaths. Hinshaw also provided an update about the developing COVID-19 situation in schools. There are now active alerts in 97 schools with 163 active cases among them. Throughout Alberta, that means there are only four per cent of schools that have a case. Alerts at 13 schools have been declared over, with no signs of transmission being identified after all close contacts among students and teachers were forced to self-isolate. Thirty-two schools have had outbreaks, meaning there have been at least two cases within a 14-day period. Seven of those outbreaks have seen likely transmission between individuals in the school setting. I remind everyone that although two confirmed cases in a school may qualify as an outbreak, said Hinshaw. It is not a sign that a school is unsafe Hinshaw says all throughout the pandemic, theyve noticed a consistent correlation between the amount of cases in the community and the amount of cases among people 5-19 years old. During the provinces peak week in April, labs tested 2,257 school aged children, resulting in 216 cases. Since school started in Alberta on Sept. 1, the province has actually seen a week over week decrease, among school aged children, despite consistent testing outputs. Top Manitoba doctor shares troubling trend as province reaches new record-high for active cases Manitoba's top doctor is pleading with the public to follow COVID-19 protocols when visiting restaurants, pubs and bars, as cases continue to spike in the province's largest city. (Getty Images) Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitobas chief public health officer, said the province is seeing an increasing number of COVID-19 cases among people in their 20s who were in bars, pubs and restaurants in Winnipeg. In recent weeks, about half of the patients in Winnipeg have been linked to those venues. "It doesn't mean they necessarily acquired it there, but that's a staggeringly high number of people who were at these sites during their acquisition period," said Roussin on Thursday. Crowding and the number of people in attendance have been common problems that have raised concerns for health officials. Roussin said there have been individuals who have visited more than one bar in a single evening. In one instance, an individual visited multiple bars while symptomatic, which resulted in 36 close contacts. We know that we should be decreasing our time in enclosed spaces, crowded places and reducing prolonged contact, said Roussin. We certainly shouldn't be out and about when were symptomatic. Throughout Manitoba, there are now a record-high 449 active cases of COVID-19. Of those currently infected individuals, 364 of them are in the Winnipeg health region, according to provincial data. Of the remaining 37 new cases, four were identified in the Interlake-Eastern health region, two in Southern Health and one in Prairie Mountain, which used to be the provinces epicentre in August. In addition, Roussin announced a case of COVID-19 in connection to Grant Park High School in Winnipeg, involving an individual who was at the school between Sept. 15-17. The risk of further spread is considered low. The outbreak at Winnipegs John Pritchard School in Winnipeg has now been linked to 26 cases. However, not all the individuals were necessarily at the school. On Thursday, Roussin also announced one more COVID-19 related fatality, involving a woman in her 90s who lived at the Parkview Place personal care home in Winnipeg. Nineteen people have now died in Manitoba in connection to the virus. Another day with over 400 cases in Ontario, 31 new infections in schools Ontario reported 409 new cases on Thursday, which marks the fifth time over the past seven days that it has surpassed the 400 daily cases mark. Before the recent stretch, Ontario had not recorded over 400 cases in a 24-hour stretch since June 2. The latest patients were identified after the province completed 30,634 tests for COVID-19, leading to a positivity rate of 1.3 per cent tied for its second highest output since late-June. Of the 409 new cases, 151 were identified in Toronto, 82 in Ottawa, 46 in Peel, 34 in York, 26 in Waterloo, 12 in Middlesex-London and 11 in Halton. All the other 27 public health units reported fewer than 10, while 15 reported no new patients at all. Thirty-one new cases were identified in schools across Ontario in the provinces latest 24-hour stretch. Twenty-four of those include students, three involve staff, while the other four have not yet been identified by the Ministry of Health. Of the provinces 4,828 schools, there are now 178 that have had a case of COVID-19, with 210 total cases among them. Of the most recent 409 cases, 195 of them were among people 20-39 years old, the most of any age group. There were also 91 cases among those 40-59, and 64 among those 19 and under. Thirteen new cases were identified among long-term care residents and five among health-care workers. Throughout Ontario, one more person has died and 286 more patients have recovered from the respiratory virus. There are now 3,774 active cases, the most since June 9. Of those currently infected patients, there are 88 in hospital, which includes 27 in intensive care and 11 who require a ventilator. On Thursday, Doug Ford and his provincial government announced that theyll invest $1 billion on COVID-19 testing and contact tracing efforts as cases continue to rise around Ontario. In an effort to contain the spread and shorten wait times, Ford has asked people without COVID-19 symptoms, who are not at risk, to avoid getting tested. As of Thursday, there are 53,840 tests that are in the provinces backlog. Quebec reports one of its largest spikes since May, 89 new cases in schools Quebec reported 582 new cases on Thursday, the second most in a 24-hour stretch since May 27. Earlier this week on Monday, the province announced 586 cases of COVID-19. Its now the sixth straight time that the province has recorded more than 400 cases, and the 13th straight time that it has reported more than 200. The last time Quebec had a similar stretch was in late-May to early-June; since then it has enjoyed multiple stretches where it consistently reported fewer than 100 daily cases as it contained the spread of COVID-19 within the province. Of the most recent cases, 247 were identified in Montreal, 103 in Quebec City, 53 in Monteregie, 36 in Outaouais, 29 in Laval and 25 in Estrie. Of the 18 regions, eight of them reported fewer than 10 cases, while four reported no new patients at all. Throughout Quebec schools, 89 new cases were identified among students and 23 among staff. Since 29 more school cases have recovered, there are now 576 currently infected students and 72 staff in the province. So far, at least 359 class bubbles have been sent home and asked to learn remotely, up by 34 since Wednesdays report. Of the provinces 3,089 schools, 457 of them have had a case of COVID-19, up by 30. Quebecs testing numbers are reflective of its output from two days prior. Most recently, it completed 25,553 tests for COVID-19, as it continues to push its capacity. No one has died in the provinces latest 24-hour stretch, but one more fatality was added to its death toll (5,810) that occurred between Sept. 17-22. Instead, the province noted that 257 more patients have recovered, meaning there are now 3,917 currently infected patients in Quebec, which 184 people in hospital and 31 in intensive care. Quebec currently leads the way in active and total cases, as well as COVID-19-related deaths throughout the pandemic. British Columbia records its second largest spike in cases, 30 exposure events so far in schools Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbias provincial health officer, announced 148 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, which marks the second largest one-day spike since the start of the pandemic. On Sept. 17, 165 cases were announced for a record-high. With the latest increase in cases, Henry was asked if the province plans on taking further precautions to limit gatherings around the province. Since late-August, officials have increased fines for party organizers, and have also closed nightclubs and banquets. Henry said the province has taken necessary enforcement measures for some of the university parties that have taken place as of late, but that the measures they have in place have been relatively successful in the last few weeks. It's not the number [of cases], in and of itself, that's the issue, said Hinshaw. What is important for us is to say, Can we manage this outbreak, this pandemic? Make sure that we're doing everything we can to prevent transmission. Obviously, I would prefer if we had far fewer people being infected, because we know every time somebody transmits it to somebody else, there's a risk that is going to be somebody who gets very sick or dies. In the provinces latest 24-hour stretch, two more people have passed away in Fraser Health, which increases B.C.s death toll to 229. In addition, 148 people have recently recovered. Throughout the province there are now 1,371 active cases of COVID-19, the fewest since Sept. 7. There are also 3,417 people who are self-isolating and are being actively monitored by B.C. public health, since they were in contact with a known COVID-19 patient. Henry said there have been 30 school exposure events throughout its more than 2,000 schools. However, by B.C.s definition, there have been no outbreaks that have identified so far. That is not surprising to me, said Henry. With millions of children going back into the schools in the last few weeks, this is to be expected. Updates from across Canada No new cases were identified in Nova Scotia or Newfoundland and Labrador, which continue to have one active case of COVID-19 each. As of Prince Edward Islands last update on Wednesday, there remains one active case in its province as well. Two new cases were identified in New Brunswick. One of the cases involves an individual in their 40s, who is currently in Ontario and will stay there until they have recovered. They live permanently in the Fredecition region. The other patient is in their 60s in the Moncton region, and their reason for transmission is believed to be travel related. In addition, health officials notified the public that there is a Quebec resident in the Campbellton region who has tested positive; they will stay in N.B. until they recovered. However, they are not counted among the provinces six active cases. Saskatchewan reported five new cases of COVID-19, but that also eight more patients have recovered. Of the recently diagnosed, two are in Saskatoon, while there is one each in the Central West, Regina and South Central zones. Of the provinces total cases, 130 are considered active. The Saskatoon region is home to 75 of those currently infected patients, while throughout Saskatchewan there are eight people in hospital. Timelines of cases prior to August: NASA has earmarked October 20 as the date it will endeavour to land the first human craft on an asteroid. The space agency announced its OSIRIS-REx craft will touch down for a handful of seconds on asteroid Bennu following a carefully orchestrated 4.5 hour descent. NASA has already picked its landing site, dubbed Nightingale, a rocky area 52 ft (16 m) in diameter in Bennu's northern hemisphere. The van-sized craft is fitted with a robotic arm which will attempt to collect samples of the surface. Scientists hope the mission will deepen our understanding of how planets formed and life began and provide insight on asteroids that could impact Earth. The space agency announced its OSIRIS-REx craft will touch down for a handful of seconds on asteroid Bennu following a carefully orchestrated 4.5 hour descent. Pictured, artist's impression The Nightingale site has been chosen because it poses one of the clearest areas on the asteroid's surface with best access to fine-grained material. However, there are building-sized boulders surrounding the site, leaving a spot the size of only a few parking spots in which to land. If the landing goes even slightly awry, OSIRIS-REx will find itself in treacherous territory. Bennu sits between Earth and Mars at a distance approximately 207 million miles (334 million kilometers) from our planet. Because of this, it will take about 18.5 minutes for signals to travel between OSIRIS-REx and NASA headquarters. This means a manual landing is impossible, with all hopes of a successful landing hinging on the on-board autonomous system. OSIRIS-REx is supposed to collect at least 2 ounces (57 grams) of Bennu's rocky material to bring back to Earth. This will be the largest sample selection since the Apollo missions, which had the bonus of much more funding and humans on the surface to aid collection. Should the collection of Bennu's surface material be successful, it will be returned to Earth on September 24, 2023. NASA revealed some details on how the OSIRIS-Rex craft will land on Bennu. The 4.5-hour ordeal will be broken down into three distinct maneuvers. The first will involve a firing of the thrusters on OSIRIS-REx to take it out of orbit, around 2,500 feet (770 meters) above the surface. This low altitude is due to the tiny gravitational pull of the asteroid, which is less than a third of a mile across. At this point, the robotic sampling arm, the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), will unfurl and point down towards Bennu. Its fragile solar panels will move into a Y-wing orientation above the spacecraft, safely out the way of any hazards. The TAG head is the only part of the spacecraft that will come into contact with Bennu's surface. 'Years of planning and hard work by this team are essentially coming down to putting the TAGSAM (Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) into contact with the surface for just five to 10 seconds,' said Mike Moreau, OSIRIS-REx deputy project manager. NASA revealed some details on how the OSIRIS-Rex craft will land on Bennu and the 4.5 hour ordeal will be broken down into three distinct maneuvers. The first will involve a firing of the thrusters on OSIRIS-REx to take it out of orbit, around 2,500 feet (770 meters) above the surface NASA previously spotted pieces of asteroid Vesta ranging in size from five to 14 feet scattered across Bennu's southern hemisphere and near its center (pictured) NASA images of asteroid Bennu reveal 'extremely bright' chunks of another asteroid on the surface NASA spotted pieces of asteroid Vesta ranging in size from five to 14 feet scattered across Bennu's southern hemisphere and near its center. The boulders were detected in images from the OSIRIS-Rex and appear much brighter than the surrounding area of dark, rich carbon. The team analyzed the chunks using an on-board spectrometer and found signs of the mineral pyroxene - a known compound on Vesta. NASA theorizes the material came from Bennu's parent asteroid that was struck by a fragment from Vesta. Hannah Kaplan of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said: 'Our leading hypothesis is that Bennu inherited this material from its parent asteroid after a vestoid (a fragment from Vesta) struck the parent.' 'Then, when the parent asteroid was catastrophically disrupted, a portion of its debris accumulated under its own gravity into Bennu, including some of the pyroxene from Vesta.' Advertisement NASA will authorise the descent and allow OSIRIS-REx to take control of its own landing, using a system called Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) navigation system. This uses all the detailed images the mission has taken of the asteroid's surface and turns it into a map, pointing out all potential hazards. It is pre-programmed to abort the mission if it strays outside of various pre-defined limits which may put it at risk. Should this happen, NASA will regroup and attempt the mission again at a later date, it said. A slow and steady descent will take around four hours, before a so-called 'Checkpoint' maneuver at an approximate altitude of 410 ft (125 m). The gradual decline will be replaced with a steeper and faster approach to the surface following yet another blast from the thrusters. Around 11 minutes later, the third and final maneuver, called 'Matchpoint', will occur. Here, the computer system will use the thrusters and attempt to stabilise the craft just 177 ft (54 m) above the landing site. OSIRIS-Rex will again slow down and attempt to match the spin of the asteroid before its approach. It will touch down on the surface for no more than 16 seconds, NASA predicts. It will then eject gas from an on-board nitrogen bottle to fling up debris from Bennu's surface. The spacecraft will try and collect some of this detritus before firing, yet again, its thrusters to retreat back to the safety of orbit. NASA will not know until the week after the landmark landing if it was successful in obtaining the target of 2 ounces (60 grams) of material. On October 22, an on-board camera will take photos of the extendable arm to see if any material was collected. On October 24, OSIRIS-REx will try and determine the mass of the material. If it is deemed adequate, it will be safely packaged up in the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) for a trip to Earth. If NASA is displeased, it will simply go back and try again, as OSIRIS-REx has enough nitrogen for three total attempts. If this should happen, NASA would ditch Nightingale and target the back-up site, Osprey, and not go again until January 2021 at the earliest. HOW WILL NASA'S OSIRIS-REX MISSION TO TAKE SAMPLES FROM AN ASTEROID WORK? Osiris-Rex is the first US mission designed to return a piece of an asteroid to Earth. Scientists say the ancient asteroid could hold clues to the origin of life. It's believed to have formed 4.5 billion years ago, a remnant of the solar system's building blocks. The spacecraft launched on September 8, 2016 at 19:05 EST aboard an Atlas V rocket. After a careful survey of Bennu to characterise the asteroid and locate the most promising sample sites, Osiris-Rex will collect between 2 and 70 ounces (about 60 to 2,000 grams) of surface material with its robotic arm and return the sample to Earth via a detachable capsule in 2023. To capture samples on the surface, the craft will hover over a specific area and 'will be sent down at a very slow and gently' 4 inches (10 cm) per second. The spacecraft will also carry a laser altimeter, a suite of cameras provided by the University of Arizona, spectrometers and lidar, which is similar to radar, using light instead of radio waves to measure distance. Advertisement NEW HAVEN - After hearing a tearful statement from the parents of Alyssa Guerrero, who was stabbed to death shortly after she turned 21, and an emotional apology from defendant Mateus Nascimento-Dacosta, a judge Friday sentenced him to serve 29 years in prison. This was a heinous and cowardly act, Superior Court Judge Gerald L. Harmon told the defendant. She had a promising future. She was a light that shined for a lot of people. Nascimento-Dacosta, 21, of Danbury, had admitted to police he killed Guerrero, who was his girlfriend. During an argument he stabbed her while they were in her Meriden apartment on May 2, 2018. After Nascimento-Dacosta was charged with murder, he and his attorney worked out an agreement under which he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and violating a protective order. The 29-year sentence, which specified 20 years for manslaughter and nine years for the second count, was part of the plea deal. This enabled the state not to have to put him on trial. The defendant, who had not had a chance to make any statement during two years of pre-trial hearings, came to the courtroom Friday morning carrying a written message several pages long. He was dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and a protective mask. The victims parents, Ciro and Jeannie Guerrero, were also there with a written statement they had composed together. He sat by his wifes side as she read the statement in court while struggling with her emotions. Our daughter Alyssa turned 21 years old on April 29, 2018, the statement began. Four days later she was (killed) and left to die by Mateus Nascimento-Dacosta. They noted their daughter was beginning to find her way in life. She had graduated from college and was pursuing a career in engineering. She landed a job at Floyd Manufacturing in Cromwell and was advancing rapidly there. Alyssa had a big heart, her parents said. She was caring, devoted, funny and a good friend. She loved her siblings, especially her two younger sisters. Alyssa was selfless and thoughtful. She was beautiful and stunning. She had a thirst for life. They added, She was our heart and soul. The parents noted their daughter was a good friend to Mateus. She helped him get a job, helped him get off drugs and even put up bail for him. She tried to help Mateus stay out of trouble. She fed him when he was hungry and had no money. But they said he betrayed her. They recalled alleged incidents that led to the protective orders: trapping Guerrero in his residence, pushing her to the ground in front of neighbors. The parents said they noticed bruises on her body. But they said their daughter was a forgiving person. They recalled the defendant telling her: If I cant have you, no one can. They said he stuck to his word. He doesnt deserve to have a life or have a family of his own, they said. Alyssa will never have the opportunity to have a life. Mateus does deserve the death penalty. To us Mateus will always be a murderer. The victims sister, Marierla Guerrero, had her statement read by Victim Services Advocate Christie Ciancola. Alyssa was like a second mom to me, she said. She was my best friend when no one else wanted to be. She added, I lost something that cant get brought back: my best friend, my sister, my second mom and a piece of my heart. Claude Blouin, who was the victims supervisor at Floyd Manufacturing, read a statement calling her a gifted person. He noted she had been selected to be sent to California to enroll in an engineering program. A few weeks after her death, one of the teachers said she had been accepted into the program. Defense attorney John Bowdren told Harmon that Nascimento-Dacosta, a Brazilian national, came to America on a raft when he was 5. Then his parents got separated. Without any siblings, he felt lost and lonely. He was not high on anybodys priority list. By age 13, Bowdren said, Nascimento-Dacosta was using illicit substances and after that became addicted to narcotics. He had no guidance, no direction, no coping mechanism. According to Bowdren, Nascimento-Dacosta and Guerrero were attracted to each other and felt a common bond. But Bowdren added, As good as she was for him for substance abuse, there was a toxic co-dependency. Bowdren described the defendant as a young man who doesnt really know what the definition of love is or a healthy relationship. Mateus didnt set out to take Alyssas life, Bowdren added. He snapped. He lost his cool. Hes not a monster. Hes not a murderer. But Assistant States Attorney Reed Durham cited Nascimento-Dacostas series of previous arrests for larceny, probation violations and violations of protective orders. She was beginning her life, Durham said. She was headed in the right direction. The defendant was not. Durham called the plea agreement fair, although the victims family wishes the defendant was getting more prison time or the death penalty. When Nascimento-Dacosta got his opportunity to speak, he pulled out his statement and began by saying: I apologize for what I have done. Words cannot take back from what I have done to your daughter. No words will take away the pain and suffering I have caused. I have so much regret that Ive taken Alyssas life, he said. I hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me one day. Echoing the words of the victims parents, he said: Alyssa was my heart and my soul. Nothing will be the same without her. While the parents listened with their heads bowed, Nascimento-Dacosta said, Alyssa did not deserve this. No one deserves this. Ill have to live with shame and guilt for the rest of my life. I miss Alyssa every single day. Before Harmon imposed the sentence, he told the defendant: Youre going to have to live with this for the rest of your life. There shouldnt be a day when you dont think about this. Harmon said the sentence is fair, although he acknowledged the Guerrero family is not satisfied. He cited Nascimento-Dacostas young age and legal guidelines about sentencing young defendants. Its a sad day for everyone in this courtroom, Harmon said. After court was adjourned, Ciro Guerrero said, Homeland Security dropped the ball. Police (in Brookfield) had him in custody more than three times. The police called Homeland Security to tell them and they told police to let him go and to stay out of trouble. If Homeland Security had done their job, our daughter would still be alive. A message seeking comment was left with the public affairs department of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Nascimento-Dacosta will face a deportation hearing when he is released from prison. Were trying to move on, Ciro Guerrero said, but without assurances hell be deported. (Contact Randall Beach at randall.beach@hearstmediact.com). Brendan Smialowski/Getty A group tied to the Republican Partys top state-level political outfit has done something almost unheard of in a close presidential election: Theyve taken out an ad attacking a key policy plank of their own partys president. The ad doesnt mention Donald Trump by name. But the target is clear: a new drug-price proposal that the president has made a cornerstone of his pitch to elderly voters. So too is the sponsors allegiance. In airing the spot, the State Government Leadership Foundation doesnt hide the fact that theyve taken the side of a top pharmaceutical trade groupone that happens to have given their network millions of dollars in supportin its dispute with Trump over the measure. The new digital ad was released on Friday by SGLF, a dark money affiliate of the Republican State Leadership Committee, a political action committee that works to elect Republicans to state legislatures and other state-level positions. The 30-second video levels a broadside against Trumps most favored nations executive order that would require Medicare to pay for certain drugs only if they are priced comparably to prices paid in other developed nations. America is leading the world in medical research and innovation, working around the clock for groundbreaking cures and vaccines, the groups new ad declares. But now a foreign price setting executive order threatens all that, letting foreign governments decide when, and which drugs, Americans get access to, delaying critical treatments right when we need them most. President Trump unveiled the executive order at issue this month. And he has pointed to the measure on the campaign trail as evidence that he is taking on the pharmaceutical industry in an effort to reduce drug prices for seniors in particular. Asked to comment on the SGLF ad, White House spokesman Judd Deere told The Daily Beast that the president is not going to be intimidated out of also delivering lower prices to seniors by this embarrassing attempt to confuse the public. Deere said the administration has invested billions in the development of therapeutics and vaccines to respond to COVID-19. Story continues Trump Says Hell Send $200 Prescription Gift Cards to Seniors in Coming Weeks The SGLF ad aligns the groups position with that of the drug industry, which vehemently opposes Trumps executive order. The White House has doubled down on a reckless attack on the very companies working around the clock to beat COVID-19, declared Stephen Ubl, the president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the industrys largest trade group, in a statement on the executive order. In the spat between Trump and PhRMA, the SGLF has come down firmly on the industrys side. In addition to the first ad, it released a second digital ad on Friday hailing Americas pharmaceutical companies as hidden heroes for their efforts to devise a COVID vaccine. The group even tagged PhRMAs official Twitter account in a Friday tweet promoting the ad attacking Trumps executive order. via Twitter After The Daily Beast reached out to the SGLF for comment, it deleted that tweet and sent a new version without the @PhRMA handle. In tagging the group in that tweet, the SGLF was shouting out a high-dollar donor to its sister political organization. (The RSLC and the SGLF share an executive director, and the nonprofits deputy director is also the PACs political director. Internal Revenue Service filings for the SGLF list RSLC as a related organization.) PhRMA has contributed more than $4.2 million to the RSLC since 2003, according to Internal Revenue Service records compiled by the website GovPredict. That includes $250,000 donated to the group in June. The RSLCs high-dollar donors since last year also include a number of PhRMA member companies, including AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, Sunovion, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Asked to comment on the SGLF ad, its inconsistency with the presidents agenda, and the groups ties to PhRMA, an SGLF spokesperson emailed a statement defending it in general terms. Americas researchers and pharmaceutical manufacturers are hidden heroes, working around the clock to develop the cures and vaccines we need to get our country back to work and school safely, the spokesperson said. They need every Americans support and were happy to encourage Washington to stand with them. Trump has specifically targeted the pharmaceutical industry in recent public attacks, blaming them for negative television advertising about his drug price proposals. The drug companies are spending millions of dollars in advertising against me, only because I am lowering drug prices massively he tweeted in June. Another tweet last week blamed the industry for hitting me with Fake Ads, just like sleepy Joe. The drug price issue has become a frequent Trump talking point on the campaign trail. Hes alluded to his new executive order during a number of recent campaign rallies, frequently portraying himself as the scourge of greedy pharmaceutical companies. A number of those companies negotiated for weeks with top White House aides in an effort to find a drug price compromise. But those negotiations fell apart after the White House reportedly demanded that the companies finance $100 payments to Medicare recipients prior to the November election. The Trump administration has since upped its hoped-for payments to $200, which it claims will be paid for by savings in Medicare costs that will come from its Favored Nations prescription drug program. The new SGLF ad is not just a departure from the administrations messaging on the drug pricing issue; it takes the precise opposite side on a major Trump policy and campaign theme. Our leaders need to stand with researchers and pharmaceutical manufacturers who are developing a cure, not in the way of them, the tweet promoting the ad declared. Prior to its deletion, the groups initial tweet had been retweeted just twice, by the RSLCs caucus director and by Austin Chambers, who leads both the RSLC and the SGLF. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. A 28-year old man from Hyderabad was allegedly abducted and killed by relatives of his wife late on Thursday night, the police said. The incident is being viewed as a hate crime. The scarred body of the victim, said police, was found at an isolated place in Telanganas Sangareddy district in the early hours of Friday. Madhapur deputy commissioner of police M Venkateshwarlu told reporters that the victim was beaten up by the relatives of his wife and his body was dumped in the fields. Though the couple is from an upper caste, the victim was not financially strong. The girls parents, on the other hand, are rich, the police said. The couple had known each other for four years. On June 10, the girl left her parents house and married the victim at a temple. The couple had been staying independently, Venkateshwarlu said. Later, the girl filed a complaint with the Cyberabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar, claiming threat to her husbands life from her parents. The Chandanagar police called the girls father and his relatives and counselled them against causing any harm to the man and his parents, the DCP said. On Thursday evening, around 10 people came in three different vehicles to the victims house and forced the couple to come with them for negotiations with his parents, said the police. However, the girl managed to escape and immediately alerted her in-laws and they, in turn, alerted the police. We booked a case of abduction at Gachibowli police station in the evening and started searching for the man and the abductors. Finally, we found his body on Friday morning, the DCP said. He said the police had arrested 13 persons, including teh girls maternal uncle, who had confessed to have committed the murder. The victims father said that the girls family was against the match. But we had to accept their marriage after they convinced us. But her family resisted the affair and she was forced to marry him secretly, said the victims father. The girl lamented that her parents had chosen to kill her husband. They had a problem with me and so they should have killed me. I did not expect anything from parents, the girl claimed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Advertisement President Donald Trump went full 'law and order' at his rally Thursday night in Jacksonville, Florida accusing his rival Democratic Joe Biden of going on an 'anti-police crusade' and calling law enforcement the 'enemy.' The president's comments come on the heels of another night of violence in the United States, as two police officers in Louisville, Kentucky were shot during demonstrations after a Kentucky grand jury brought no charges against Louisville police for Breonna Taylors death. 'Biden's anti-police crusade must stop,' the president demanded. 'I will always stand with the heroes of law enforcement.' President Donald Trump blasted Democrat Joe Biden for going on an 'anti-police crusade' during his rally Thursday night in Jacksonville, Florida Trump described his opponent as 'weak as hell,' accused him of surrendering to a party of 'flag burners, rioters and anti-police radicals' and again claimed Biden was on drugs Trump claimed his crowd in Jacksonville was 30,000 strong, while mocking Biden for holding small events due to the coronavirus pandemic Trump described the Democratic ex-vice president as being 'weak as hell.' 'He surrendered his party to flag burners, rioters and anti-police radicals,' the president said. Trump brought up Wednesday night's chaos in Kentucky - actually complimenting the state's Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear for calling up the national guard. But then accused Biden of backing the unrest. 'Joe, they're not peaceful!' Trump yelled. 'I think he believes it,' the president smirked. Biden has condemned violence and destruction related to this summer's Black Lives Matter protests getting out of control. Biden tweeted Wednesday, 'Even amidst the profound grief & anger today's decision generated, violence is never & can never be the answer.' 'Those who engage in it must be held accountable,' he said. 'Jill & I are keeping the officers shot tonight in Louisville in our prayers. We wish them both a swift & full recovery,' Biden added. Trump, photographed with an American flag above him, mocked Biden for saying that the Black Lives Matter protests have been peaceful. 'Joe, they're not peaceful!' Trump yelled While Trump claimed Biden was on an 'anti-police crusade,' the Democratic nominee tweeted Wednesday night taht 'violence is and never can be the answer.' Biden added that the two officers shot were in his and wife Jill's prayers Trump supporters pose for photos before Thursday night's rally, with one fan sporting a shirt that says 'Trump Rallies Matter' A Trump supporter waits for the president's arrival Thursday night in Jacksonville, Florida sporting a stars and stripes suit But Trump continued to say that he was candidate of law enforcement, while Biden was the candidate of Black Lives Matter - portraying the broader movement as violent and unhinged. 'He even described law enforcement as the enemy,' Trump said of Biden Thursday night, taking Biden's words warning of the overmilitarization of the police out of context. On July 8, the former vice president said, 'Surplus military equipment for law enforcement: they dont need that. The last thing you need is an up-armored Humvee coming into a neighborhood - its like the military invading.' 'They dont know anybody; they become the enemy. Theyre supposed to be protecting these people,' Biden said. The president has made the claim before, with fact checkers rating it a distortion. Trump spent Monday, Tuesday and now Thursday doing campaign rallies - with rallies planned for Friday and Saturday night as well. Trump supporter Jonathan Riches waits for the arrival of the president Thursday night in Jacksonville, Florida sporting some Trump-branded eyewear Trump's supporters cheer for the president at his Thursday night rally in Jacksonville, Florida, which marked the second swing state he traveled to that day One supporter wore Trump 2020 shoes and Trump 2020 socks to Thursday night's rally in Jacksonville, Florida He had traveled to North Carolina - another swing state - earlier to give an address on healthcare before traveling to Florida, his adopted homestate. Trump, of course, brought up this fact with the audience - which he suggested was 30,000 strong, while Biden - who's limited campaigning due to the coronavirus pandemic - can't even fill his 'circles,' used at the Democrat's events to ensure proper social distancing. Biden has also kept a lighter campaign schedule. 'Did you see he did a lid this morning again? Lid. Lid. Do you know what a lid is?' Trump asked the crowd. 'A lid is when you put out the word that you're not going to be campaigning today. That he won't be working today.' Trump suggested Biden could be 'right' when it came to this tactic. 'Think of it, supposing he never campaigns and he wins, do you know how badly I'm going to feel?' he asked the audience. 'I'm working hard.' Trump again hammered Biden for being a 'low energy individual,' which echoed the nickname he gave to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in 2016 during the GOP primary. 'He's the lowest energy individual I've ever seen,' Trump said of 77-year-old Biden. The president then turned his attention to the first presidential debate, which will take place Tuesday night in Cleveland, Ohio. And like he has for weeks, Trump accused Biden of being on drugs. 'They'll give him a big shot of something,' Trump said looking ahead to the debate. 'He'll be Superman for about 15 minutes.' The president lashed out at other familiar targets too. He, again, went after Rep. Ilhan Omar, two days after he suggested that the U.S. wasn't her country, as she was born in Somalia before becoming a U.S. citizen. On Thursday, Trump sarcastically said, 'She loves our country very much.' 'She has total disrespect for our country and I think she has hatred for our country,' he said, being serious now. 'I would say Omar is a big reason we're going to win. They're not too fond of her in Minnesota.' Trump's campaign has targeted Minnestoa as a state Hillary Clinton won that the president might be able to flip in 2020. The president also pointed to the unrest in Minneapolis following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd as a reason the state could switch parties. Trump also rehashed - inaccurately - journalist Ali Velshi getting hit with a rubber bullet during unrest in Minneapolis after Floyd's death at the hands of a white police officer. 'Behind him the entire city was burning down,' Trump said, ridiculing the MSNBC reporter for calling it a peaceful protests. 'He got his on the knee with a cannister of teargas,' the president said, mixing up the projectile. 'They say it hurts. That is only going 52 miles per hour. A bullet goes about 2000 miles per hour,' Trump said. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 00:15:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities on Friday announced measures aimed at encouraging people to establish private wildlife zoos, ranches and farms. Aloyce Nzuki, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, said the measures included reduction of prices for wildlife breeding stock. Nzuki said the price for a parent buffalo has been reduced from 4.1 million Tanzanian shillings (about 1,760 U.S. dollars) to 210,000 shillings, adding that the price for a parent grant's gazelle has been reduced from 300,000 shillings to 90,000 shillings. In January 2020, President John Magufuli urged his countrymen to invest in the wildlife sector by establishing wildlife zoos, ranches and farms as one way of enhancing conservation of the animals and subsequently promoting tourism. Currently, Tanzania has 23 wildlife zoos, 20 wildlife farms and six wildlife ranches. Enditem President Trump on Thursday declined for a second day to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost the election, repeating baseless assertions that the voting would be a big scam, even as leading Republicans scrambled to assure the public that their party would respect the Constitution. We want to make sure that the election is honest, and Im not sure that it can be, Mr. Trump told reporters before leaving the White House for North Carolina. The president doubled down on his stance just hours after prominent Republicans made it clear that they were committed to the orderly transfer of power, without directly rebuking him. The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, wrote on Twitter early Thursday. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792. Democrats were far less restrained, comparing Mr. Trumps comments to those of an authoritarian leader and warning Americans to take his stance seriously. Kyle Rittenhouse, left, with backwards cap, walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha, Wis., with another armed civilian, on Aug. 25, 2020. (Adam Rogan/The Journal Times via AP, File) Kyle Rittenhouse, Accused Kenosha Shooter, to Fight Extradition to Wisconsin The 17-year-old accused of shooting two men dead in Wisconsin last month is fighting extradition from Illinois. Kyle Rittenhouses lawyers said during a court hearing on Friday that they havent received extradition papers from Illinois or Wisconsin and need time to review them. We need to review those, and we are entitled as a matter of law to challenge those by writ of habeas corpus, which we intend to do, John Pierce, one of the lawyers, told a Lake County judge in a virtual hearing. A writ of habeas corpus is used to challenge whether a persons detention is lawful. A prosecutor told the judge that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzkers warrant had been sent to the Lake County Sheriffs Office but Rittenhouses lawyers said they hadnt yet seen it. Rittenhouses attorneys can challenge extradition on four different angles, a Lake County spokesman told reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing. One is are the documents in order on their face, which again, weve just received those and they appear to certainly be. The other is was a crime committed, is he wanted on a warrant from another state, which we certainly know he is. The third is, is he the person wanted on that warrant? And the fourth is, is he a fugitive? So those are really the only issues that can be contested. Were ready to proceed as soon as the defense and the court grants us a hearing on that, he said. The extradition hearing was originally scheduled for Aug. 28 but was delayed nearly a month at the request of a public defender, who said the boy needed time to meet with private lawyers who wanted to represent him. The group that ended up taking over includes John Pierce and Lin Wood. The attorneys have argued Rittenhouse acted in self-defense. Rittenhouse, of Antioch, was arrested in late August after video footage showed him shooting three men, two of whom died from their wounds, prosecutors said in charging documents. In this still image obtained from a social media video, a man is shot in his arm during unrest in Kenosha, Wis., on Aug. 25, 2020. (Brendan Gutenschwager/via Reuters) According to a criminal complaint, Rittenhouse was clearly seen holding a long gun, later identified as a Smith & Wesson AR-15 style .223 rifle. A series of events started when Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, approached the teen in a parking lot in Kenosha, leading to Rittenhouse firing several times, prosecutors said. Video footage showed Rittenhouse start running down a road and several people hit or attempt to hit him, prompting him to fire at them. He struck two, killing one. Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, 26, were identified as the men who died. Gaige Grosskreutz, 22, who held a gun as he approached Rittenhouse, was hit in the arm. Grosskreutz told CNN earlier this month that he did not fire his gun and was carrying it legally. Im going through a tough day but like I said, Im a strong person, he said. But everybodys hurting from this in one way or another. I walked away with my life that night but two people didnt. If convicted of first-degree homicide, Rittenhouse would get life in prison. Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1853. Crouch was a fervent American who was an even more fervent African American. He loved to perturb all comers by arguing that in the end the Middle Passage was good for Africans, but nowhere near as much as he loved to praise the richness and diversity of the Black cultures that the horrors of slavery made possible. For him, the peak of these cultures was jazz from Armstrong to bebop, please, post-60s not so much. Los Angeles Times Donald Trumps campaign has been accused of running ads with Republican political operatives posing as real people. In one advert an unnamed woman calls Trump the greatest president ever for small business owners, and claimed Joe Biden had never achieved anything in 47 years in politics. The woman, Kim Sherk, is actually the president of the Georgia Federation of Republican Women, according to gizmodo.com. As a small business owner, President Trump has been the greatest president we have seen, said Kim Sherk in the video. He has increased jobs. I know there are more women who have been employed and minorities than ever before. The adverts featuring Ms Sherk are running places like California, Mississippi and Illinois and not her home state of Georgia, Gizmodo states. The Cobb County Republican website identifies Ms Sherk as its vice-chair and former political director and secretary. And beside Ms Sherks profile is a picture of her on a visit to the White House. Kim Sherk has served in numerous positions in the Republican Party and the Republican Women, it states. She is currently the President of the Georgia Federation of Republican Women and immediate past President of the Cobb County Republican Womens Club. The Georgia Federation of Republican Women is also encouraging its members to monitor polling stations on Election Day to protect your vote. Another Facebook advert features Fern Smith, a woman running as a candidate for the Minnesota legislature. And according to Ms Smiths campaign website she has endorsements from the Minnesota Gun Owners PAC, the Minnesota Police, and Peace Officers Association, according to her campaign website. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 00:10:18|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LANZHOU, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- David Osborn, an Australian expert raising sheep for meat, has 35 years of experience in sheep breeding and management. In recent years, he has brought his expertise to a county in northwest China's Gansu Province, expecting to facilitate the development of the sheep breeding industry there. Huanxian County has suffered poverty for decades due to the harsh environment. In the past, the local government supported the sheep industry as an economic pillar, but outdated technologies and management style hampered the efforts. In June 2018, Osborn, 58, attended an international conference in Gansu, and his speech about sheep breeding technologies fascinated attendees, among whom was Li Guozhi, a local businessman. "Quality breeds of sheep, enabled by advanced technologies, could mean more lambs with more meat, hence more money. By introducing them to the breeders, we could accelerate the timeline for local anti-poverty efforts," said Li, who decided to invite Osborn as a chief technology officer for his sheep meat breeding company in Huanxian. Since the sheep that local sheepherders raise come from Li's company, the improvement of sheep quality in Li's company means that sheepherders can purchase higher standard sheep and make higher profits. Osborn took advantage of the offer. In addition, he promised the aid of more foreign talent. "The lack of technology would be the main factor affecting the success of helping small farmers out of poverty," Osborn said after visiting local sheep farms in Huanxian, adding that he believed the poverty-reduction scheme was a very worthy project and one which they should ensure be successful. Two months later, Osborn's team arrived in Huanxian County with advanced technology such as the operation of laparoscopic artificial insemination with frozen semen and the introduction of quality genetics. A hybrid lamb of a local Hu breed and an Australia breed was finally born in June 2019. It weighed 6.2 kg, more than three times that of a Hu lamb. The good news cheered people up, including Li and local sheep breeders. "Last April, the Australian expert team had laparoscopic surgery on 4,000 breeding sheep with the imported frozen semen, and the conception rate reached 88 percent," Li said. In the past two years, Osborn has paid over 10 visits to Huanxian and introduced local farms to over 20 experts from countries like Australia and Britain in sheep feeding, nutrition and health management. Osborn also offered to assist 10 poverty-hit households in sheep techniques. "Now when I come to Gansu it feels like I am coming home," Osborn said. In 2019, Osborn was given an award by the provincial government for his contribution to the local anti-poverty project. "This is one of the greatest things a government can do by investing money and resources to help those in poverty," he said. Enditem Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has apologised for his government's disastrous decision to use private security guards at quarantine hotels. His apology came at the conclusion to his giving of evidence at an inquiry into the COVID-19 hotel quarantine fiasco in which he still couldn't say who made the actual decision. 'Mistakes have been made in this program and answers are required,' Mr Andrews said. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has sworn on the bible to tell an inquiry that he has no idea who decided to use private security to guard returned travellers Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, police chief Graham Ashton, health minister Jenny Mikakos and Victoria Police and Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp Police minister Lisa Neville said she had not been consulted about the plan to use private security at Melbourne hotels 'Those mistakes are unacceptable to me ... I want to make it very clear to each and every member of the Victorian community that I am sorry for what has occurred here and I want to issue an unreserved apology to all Victorians.' Quarantine breaches involving private security guards seeded 99 per cent of Victoria's deadly second wave of COVID infections, which in turn has led to more than 700 deaths of the elderly. The bungle is estimated to be costing Victoria anywhere up to $400 million a day with fears the current lockdown could run as high as $25 billion. Dozens of security guards ended up catching coronavirus from quarantined returned travellers while working in the hotels. Hours earlier, Mr Andrews swore on the bible and told the inquiry that he too did not know who made the decision to employ the private security guards. His appearance concludes the airing of weeks of evidence by a series of bumbling bureaucrats and ministers who have all failed to reveal who made the critical decision to employ private security guards to police returned travellers in March. 'I do not know who made that decision,' he stated. Mr Andrews will be the last to appear before the inquiry, which has turned into a complete farce amid calls for a royal commission. Asked if he ought know, Mr Andrews said it was one of the main reasons he called on the governor to hold an inquiry. 'Yes, it's one of a number of very important questions,' he said. Mr Andrews said it was disappointing that if the decision was - as has been suggested during the inquiry - made by a 'collective' of government officials, no-one who has appeared before the inquiry seemed to know they were part of that collective. 'After National Cabinet made its decision, I expected there that there would be a mix of different personnel playing different roles in the Program, including members of Victoria Police,' Mr Andrews said in his statement to the inquiry. 'But the way in which that decision was to be implemented, including the mix of personnel that would be engaged and their respective roles, was an operational matter. 'The decision to engage private security contractors, and many decisions like it, were of an operational nature. That is similarly so in the management of other disasters.' The premier has told the inquiry that he maintains he was not aware of any offer of Australian Defence Force support for the hotels at the time the program began. 'After the National Cabinet meeting on 27 March 2020, I understood that any ADF support for any State or Territorys implementation of the mandatory self-quarantine decision would be provided where necessary and according to need,' he stated. 'I understood that New South Wales was seen as having the greater need at that time. I did not understand, on the basis of the meeting, that Victoria would be receiving extensive ADF support in its implementation of the decision.' The inquiry has heard repeatedly that ADF support had been on offer before a single traveller stepped foot into a Melbourne hotel. The inquiry has seen text messages referring to them, emails, scribbled notes and minutes from meetings. An outbreak at Rydges in May was the first time Victoria's health minister Jenny Mikakos even made an effort to find out who was running security at the COVID plagued hotels Security at the Stamford was infected about three weeks after the Rydges, prompting the health minister to take urgent action to replace the workforce with prison guards Private security has been accused of bungling the hotel quarantine operation and causing Victoria's deadly second wave of COVID-19 'I heard the Prime Ministers comments in his press conference on the afternoon of 27 March 2020,' Mr Andrews told the inquiry. 'Those comments advanced a more generous position regarding the allocation of ADF personnel than had earlier been indicated. Later, in my press conference, I acknowledged that gesture, but I did not see that it necessarily changed what had been settled in National Cabinet. 'I was not aware of any other offer of ADF personnel for the operation of the Program at its inception.' On Monday, the inquiry heard that the Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Chris Eccles was directly offered ADF support in April, but he could not recall whether he acted upon the offer or forwarded it up the chain of command. Instead, the Victorian Government appeared more interested in obtaining cash from the Commonwealth to support it's army of bungling rent-a-cops. The premier told the inquiry he had not received information on the offer and had only become aware of it during the inquiry. Mr Andrews said he could not be certain why he told Victorians that he would be using private security at a press conference on March 27. 'I'm not certain why I mentioned police, private security and our health team. Those three groups of people and not a fourth or a fifth group,' he said. 'On the specifics I can't clarify for you our outline for you or why I chose those three groups. I'm afraid I've tried to search my recall of this and I simply can't, I can't provide you detail.' The inquiry had earlier seen text messages from former Victoria Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton declaring he had been told of the private security decision by someone within the Department of Premier and Cabinet that day. But Mr Andrews told the inquiry Mr Ashton did not receive the information from him. 'No I'm not aware of anything personally that would have given rise to Graham Ashton drawing those conclusions, ah no,' Mr Andrews said. Premier Daniel Andrews told the inquiry he regarded his health minister Jenny Mikakos (pictured) and jobs minister Martin Pakula as responsible for the hotel program when it began that weekend in March. Former police chief Grahan Ashton (in green) tells a colleague on March 27 that the premier's department had told him private security had got the hotel quarantine gig Former police chief Graham Ashton swears on the bible to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth The premier told the inquiry he regarded his health minister Jenny Mikakos and jobs minister Martin Pakula as responsible for the hotel program when it began that weekend in March. 'At the start of the Program, I regarded Minister Mikakos and Minister Pakula as responsible for informing Cabinet about, and seeking Cabinets endorsement of, the initial overall service model and costings that had been determined for the Program,' he stated. But the premier said it was he who ultimately held responsibility for the debacle. 'As Premier and chair of the (crisis council), I regard myself as being ultimately accountable for the Victorian Government and any decisions made about the structure and operation of the Program,' he stated. On Thursday, Ms Mikakos fronted the inquiry where she too failed to enlighten the nation as to who made the fateful error in deciding to employ private security firms as the frontline force against COVID-19. The board of inquiry, headed by former Family Court judge Jennifer Coate, was established to determine what went so drastically wrong with the hotel program. Mr Andrews called the inquiry in June after genomic sequencing revealed a number of coronavirus cases could be linked to 'staff members in hotel quarantine breaching well known and well understood infection control protocols'. The inquiry has been running since August 17, but as it draws to an end, not a single person involved in the debacle has been able to pinpoint who came up with the idea to use private security. One after the other, police, ministers, public servants and patsies have fronted the inquiry to declare how little they know about how the crucial decision was made. And if they ever did know, they had now forgotten. Even former police chief Mr Ashton appeared to suffer from memory loss at the inquiry. Someone from the premier's department had told him the decision had been made, but he can't recall who it was. On Thursday, the health minister said she would not even try to offer an opinion on who might be to blame. Ms Mikakos had copped a battering from barristers acting on behalf of the security companies that actually worked at the hotels. ADF personnel were used successfully to police returning travellers at hotels in NSW, but were rejected in Victoria amid fears they had no real authority to detain people Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews faced the hotel inquiry on Friday. His colleagues have failed to remember crucial details about how the plan came together Ms Mikakos told the inquiry she did not burden herself with who was running security until two months later when she was told an outbreak at Rydges on Swanston in Melbourne had been spread by a security guard. Until then, Ms Mikakos had not even bothered to read the plan established to protect Victorians from the threat of COVID-19 infection from returning travellers. 'I explained at the outset of my evidence, that ministers play a high-level policy and decision-making role,' she said. 'I wouldn't expect to be provided a huge amount of detail around specific operational matters. They were matters that sit appropriately with my officials.' Ms Mikakos was asked if she believed it was a dereliction of her duty as a minister not to have read the operational plan for the response of her department to the pandemic. 'Not at all,' she said. 'In fact, my department did not formally provide me with a brief on it. It's something that I have sourced because I wanted to familiarise myself with it.' Ms Mikakos said that once the first security guard caught COVID-19 while working in the Stamford Plaza three weeks after the case in the Rydges on Swanston in late May she formed a view to replace the security guard workforce. The inquiry has heard from the heath department secretary Kym Peake, the secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet Chris Eccles and of course the Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. Jobs minister Martin Pakula's department had contracted the private security companies to perform the job, but claims he did not make the decision to use them The quarantine disaster in Victoria allowed COVID-19 enter aged care facilities resulting in hundreds of deaths. Many Victorians fear no-one will ever be held accountable None were able to shed any light on who made the decision to employ the private security guards. They all agreed it was probably a bad idea in hindsight. For one, they were the 'wrong cohorts' for the job, Dr Sutton noted. Documents tendered to the inquiry revealed some of the security guards had expressed concerns about something as simple as using hand sanitiser because it was against their religion. 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 one's family if unwell,' Dr Sutton wrote in his submission to the inquiry. In August, the premier told a Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing that claims Australia Defence Force personnel had been offered to man Victoria's hotels was wrong. '[It's] fundamentally incorrect to assert that there were hundreds of ADF staff on offer and somehow, someone said no,' he said. 'Wrong cohorts': Security guards working at hotels have been blamed for Victoria's deadly second COVID-19 wave The use of ADF personnel was noted by the police minister before the program even kicked off This week, police minister Lisa Neville said she had not been consulted either and was surprised when during a March 27 meeting with Victoria Police and Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp the decision to employ private security appeared to have been set. At that meeting, Mr Crisp told the top bureaucrats involved in the coordination of the hotel program that 'at this stage we can manage this, the ADF can do exactly what they're doing and that's helping us with logistics'. He also mentioned there would be no need for 'boots on the ground'. While Mr Ashton claimed while he did not make the final decision, he had no issue with private security being used at the hotels. 'It made sense at the time,' Mr Ashton told the inquiry. While a decision of the board cannot be predicted, that crucial March 27 meeting held on the day the premier announced the use of private security guards provides frustrated Victorians with the best chance of working out what exactly happened. At the State Control Centre, Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Mick Grainger told Mr Crisp it was the preference of Victoria Police that private security get the hotel gig. Victoria Police has argued since that they were simply expressing a preference, not a direction. Whatever the case, after that meeting the decision appeared to be set in stone. 'I take that as a clear direction we should go off and do it,' Jobs department secretary Simon Phemister told the inquiry. WINNIPEG - Manitoba's chief public health officer is making masks mandatory in indoor public spaces in Winnipeg as cases of COVID-19 continue to surge in the city. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/9/2020 (483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us Manitoba Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin speaks during the daily briefing at the Manitoba Legislative Building, in Winnipeg, Thursday Aug. 27, 2020. Manitoba's chief provincial public health officer has mandated masks are mandatory in indoor spaces in Winnipeg as cases of COVID-19 continue to surge in the capital city. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski WINNIPEG - Manitoba's chief public health officer is making masks mandatory in indoor public spaces in Winnipeg as cases of COVID-19 continue to surge in the city. Dr. Brent Roussin announced Friday that Winnipeg and most surrounding municipalities have been moved up to a Code Orange classification in the province's pandemic response system. The move will also restrict indoor and outdoor gatherings to 10 people. It comes after he shared concerns over an increasing number of new infections where people attended a slew of bars, restaurants and pubs. "The more contacts each of us has puts each of us at risk," Roussin said. "We need to ensure we are making careful choices about who we are spending time with, the nature of that time, as well as the amount of people." In one instance a person who was symptomatic went to multiple bars and ended up with more than 36 contacts that had to be traced. Manitoba had some of the lowest numbers of COVID-19 cases in the country for months but they began to rise last month. Winnipeg saw a significant increase in cases over the last few weeks. Friday there were 54 new cases of the virus in the province 44 were in the Winnipeg health region. "I am very pleased today to see the province leading on this," Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said. Masks became mandatory in city facilities and on Winnipeg public transit at the end of August. Bowman had previously spoken about a need for a province-wide mask mandate. "Im asking Winnipeggers to embrace this challenge," Bowman said. The mask mandate for Winnipeg comes into effect on Monday but the mayor urged people to start wearing them immediately. Health officials said the restrictions will be in place for at least a month. Public health officials are consulting with the restaurant industry and further restrictions could be coming, Roussin added. For now, restaurants and bars can be open but people must wear a mask when they aren't seated at a table eating or drinking. Roussin said rules for schools will not be affected. There have been positive cases in schools since students returned to classes earlier this month. The largest outbreak includes a cluster of 28 cases at John Pritchard School in Winnipeg's northeast. There have been 1,764 COVID-19 cases in Manitoba and 487 are currently active. Thirteen people are in hospital and six are in intensive care. Nineteen people have died. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2020. President Muhammadu Buhari says his single desire is to make sure that innocent Nigerians do not suffer regardless of party affiliation. ... President Muhammadu Buhari says his single desire is to make sure that innocent Nigerians do not suffer regardless of party affiliation. He made the remarks on Friday when Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State led his Deputy, Philip Shuaibu and other party supporters to the State House on a thank-you-visit. I thank you for bringing your Deputy and supporters to come and see me after beating my party. I am supposed to preside over all Nigerian interests whether I like it or not, but my single desire is to make sure that innocent people dont suffer. That message I got across to the Inspector General of Police, that elections must be free and fair. According to the President, If contestants have too much money and they decide to spray, so be it. But what I insist is, nobody should go and raise a counterforce to the government, arm heavily-drugged thugs to go and humiliate people. I want Nigerians to appreciate that I respect them as Nigerians and that I am bound by the oath I have taken, that their security is in the hands of God and in the hands of the government, which I am leading. President Buhari noted that as the leader of the governing party said he wished to leave behind a political culture based on integrity despite his party losing the election. We have lost states across the country. Now I do not like to escape the responsibility, seeing as the leader of the country, I am also the leader of my party, that I am not leading the party very well. I am trying to make sure that the party is built on a civilised basis, rule of law and respect for human rights and human beings, right from polling units to local governments, to states up to Abuja and thats what I have been insisting as my contribution to the National Working Committee and executive of the party. I know we are a developing country, a developing economy and trying to develop our political culture. I want the development of political culture to be based on integrity and accountability. Let people work very hard and earn what they are looking for through their hard work and fair competition, the President said. He added jocularly that he was congratulating the Edo governor reluctantly because he defeated the candidate of his party, the All Progressives Congress. In his remarks, Governor Obaseki thanked the President for ensuring that fair play reigned during the election which saw him victorious. You would recall a couple of weeks before the election, I came to see you and you assured me that we were going to have a free, peaceful and credible election. That is what we had during the election of 19th September and the whole world has acclaimed that the Edo election was perhaps one of the best conducted in recent times in Nigeria. This could not have been possible without your insistence that the right things be done and for that, we want to say thank you very much. He also thanked the President for his congratulatory message, assuring him that the message has been internalised. It is God that made this election possible, therefore, I should be humble about the election and also magnanimous in victory. He pledged his unalloyed loyalty and support and that of the people of Edo State to the President and the federal government. The Louisville, Kentucky, Metro Police Department is looking into a derogatory email a police major sent to her colleagues in August that said people who are part of antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement are "punks" who are not important, a spokesman said. The email was written by Maj. Bridget Hallahan, who commands the police department's Fifth Division. Hallahan, 47, confirmed to NBC News on Thursday that she sent the email and said fellow officers have been supportive. She also said she retires in six days. Phillip Bailey, a journalist in Louisville, tweeted screenshots of the email Tuesday evening. He said it had been provided to him by an unnamed law enforcement source. IMAGE: Bridget Hallahan (Louisville Metro Police Department) A police spokesman, Sgt. Lamont Washington, said the department was made aware of the email and is looking into it. At a news conference Friday, Interim Louisville police Chief Robert Schroeder said Hallahan's email contained her "personal opinions and do not represent the views of this department." Schroeder said Hallahan has been relieved of her command and "has accepted responsibility" for her email. He said she will retire Oct. 1. The email begins by saying: "I know it is hard to keep our thoughts and opinions to ourselves sometimes, especially when we, as a whole or as an individual, become the target of people in the public who criticize what we do without even knowing the facts. "These ANTIFA and BLM people, especially the ones who just jumped on the bandwagon 'yesterday' because they became 'woke' (insert eye roll here), do not deserve a second glance or thought from us," it continues. "Our little pinky toenails have more character, morals, and ethics, than these punks have in their entire body." "Do not stoop to their level. Do not respond to them. If we do, we only validate what they did. Don't make them important, because they are not. They will be the ones washing our cars, cashing us out at the Walmart, or living in their parents' basement playing COD for their entire life." Story continues "COD" refers to the video game "Call of Duty." Hallahan goes on to say, "If you need to bitch about it and get it off your chest, come to my office and we can vent together." She also claimed that officers "are being doxed merely because people just don't like being told what to do or what not to do by police." Hallahan's email was met with backlash, some of it from Louisville residents. Nicole Griffin of Louisville wrote on Twitter: "I live in Louisville & I'm hurt & disgusted by this email from Major Bridget Hallahan @LMPD Why does she view the community like this. How is this helpful? I don't know one soul who is in Antifa??? And if they wash cars or cash someone out at Walmart there's no shame in that!" Anti-fascist activists are often known as "antifa." Another Twitter user, who identified himself as a retail worker, wrote: "She can say whatever she wants. If we in retail don't do our jobs correctly we get fired. They get a slap on the wrist and a free job in another county. Mind you if we in retail all don't do our jobs they don't eat. no one eats." Lonita Baker, one of three lawyers representing Breonna Taylor's family, addressed the email without naming Hallahan at a news conference Friday. "I want LMPD majors who say that we're the ones out here washing cars or checking you out at Walmart, no we're not. We're lawyers. We're business people. We're city employees just like you," Baker said. "And guess what? Even if I was washing your car, it doesn't matter. I have a right to use my voice." Baker said the police department must change its "mentality of who you're fighting." "We know that we need healing. We know that this city needs healing and we're willing to do our part," she said. "But you have to do your part. And until you start doing your part, we won't heal." "We're here," Baker added. "We're here when you're ready to listen to us. " Screenshots of Hallahan's email were posted to Twitter the same day an email from one of the wounded officers at the center of the Taylor case, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, surfaced. In the email, Mattingly apologized to his fellow officers and their families, defended his actions during the raid of Taylor's home and said Mayor Greg Fischer and others "failed all of us in epic proportions for their own gain and to cover their asses." Mattingly was shot in the thigh by Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, a licensed gun owner, during the fatal drug raid March 13, which recovered no drugs or money. Mattingly and Officer Myles Cosgrove returned fire, and a third officer, Brett Hankison, began blindly shooting through Taylor's window and patio door, according to Hankison's termination letter. Taylor, who was struck six times, died. None of the rounds fired by Hankison struck Taylor, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said at a news conference Wednesday. Hankison was fired in June. On Wednesday, Hankison was charged with three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment. None of the officers were charged in Taylor's killing. Mattingly and Cosgrove face no charges. Cameron said his investigation showed that Cosgrove and Mattingly "were justified in their return of deadly fire after having been fired upon." Cameron said a grand jury agreed. Walker has said that police did not identify themselves before they burst into the apartment and that he mistook them for intruders. He has said he would never knowingly fire at police. Cameron said Wednesday that officers had properly "knocked and identified themselves." Mattingly told his colleagues in the email, which was sent a day before the grand jury's decision was announced: "I don't know a lot of you guys/gals but I've felt the love." "I know we did the legal, moral and ethical thing that night," he wrote. STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Finacity Corporation ("Finacity"), a member of the Greensill family of companies, announces the closing of a trade receivables securitization program for Kongsberg Automotive ASA [OB: KOA] ("Kongsberg Automotive"), the Norwegian supplier to the global automotive industry. The securitization program finances trade receivables originated by the company's businesses in the US, Canada, France, Poland and Slovakia. The securitization program will allow Kongsberg Automotive up to EUR 60 million in senior funding and up to EUR 3 million in junior funding to further enhance the company's liquidity position. Finacity provided analytic and structuring support, as well as serving as the ongoing transaction administrator, junior investor and control party. Norbert Loers, the CFO and interim Co-CEO of Kongsberg Automotive, commented: "This complements our liquidity improvement projects and provides to us very efficient and flexible additional funding on top of the previously reported increase in our Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) and the successfully completed raise of new equity earlier this year." About Kongsberg Automotive ASA Kongsberg Automotive provides world-class products to the global vehicle industry. Kongsberg Automotive's business has a global presence. With revenues of more than EUR 1 billion and approximately 11,000 employees in 19 countries, Kongsberg Automotive is a global supplier to the passenger car and commercial vehicle industries. The company is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. The parent company is based in Norway and our stock is publicly traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange. To learn more about Kongsberg Automotive, please visit https://www.kongsbergautomotive.com. About Finacity Finacity, a member of the Greensill family of companies, specializes in the structuring and provision of efficient capital markets receivables funding programs, supplier and payables finance, back-up servicing, and program administration. Finacity currently facilitates the financing and administration of an annual receivables volume of approximately $100 billion. With resources in the USA, Europe, Singapore and Latin America, Finacity conducts business throughout the world with obligors in 175 countries. For further information, please visit www.finacity.com. About Greensill Reformers at heart, Greensill challenges the status quo by working to make global finance fairer and levelling the playing field for all businesses and people alike. The company unlocks capital so the world can put it to work. Founded in 2011, Greensill is headquartered in London with offices in New York, Frankfurt, Chicago, Miami, Singapore, Bogota, Shenzhen, Abu Dhabi, Johannesburg, Sydney, Warrington and Bundaberg. Greensill provides innovative financing solutions to customers across Europe, North America, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, and Asia injecting more than $143 billion of financing in 2019 to more than 8 million customers and suppliers across more than 175 countries. SOURCE Finacity Corporation Related Links http://www.finacity.com GPs are urging the Victorian Health Department to consult with them before coronavirus patients are released into the community, claiming potentially infectious people are being cleared to leave isolation while others without symptoms languish at home. Dr Hanna El-Khoury, a Newport GP who has treated dozens of COVID-19 patients, said the department recently sent a clearance certificate to a young man with coronavirus just five days after the onset of his symptoms. Newport GP Dr Hanna El-Khoury said the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services recently sent a clearance certificate to a young man with coronavirus just five days after the onset of his symptoms. Credit:Scott McNaughton The man, who was a patient at Dr El-Khourys clinic, lied to the department about when he developed symptoms so he could receive the all-clear days earlier than permitted under the rules. Under the departments criteria, most COVID-19 cases are considered recovered if the patient has not had symptoms for the previous 72 hours, and at least 10 days have elapsed since the onset of acute illness. Most patients are not required to produce a negative test result. I think we have a long way before we get there, the president responded. These ballots are a horror show. They found six ballots in an office yesterday in a garbage can. They were Trump ballots eight ballots in an office yesterday in but in a certain state and they were they had Trump written on it, and they were thrown in a garbage can. Do you reckon Australia can make the leap safely to renewable energy without bothering to shore things up with gas during the transition? Happy to bet the livelihoods of manufacturing workers youre right? Its easy for white-collar urbanites to take this gamble. In fact, many inner city environmentalists would consider it a win-win proposition. If the hard switch to renewables worked wed get a fully functioning economy powered by windmills and solar panels. If it fell short the privileged could afford the power bill rises and wed get rid of those unsightly steel mills and aluminium smelters into the bargain. It's easy for inner-city types to reject gas. Credit:Ben Rushton What I don't understand, however, is how such a bet can look remotely appealing to the Australian Labor Party a party founded to represent the interests of workers. To be fair to my friends in Labor, I think many are not seeing things clearly. They've been suckered by the extreme left and the extreme right into believing there's a hard fork in the road: should we pick the path of industry-loving climate vandals or the path of pure-spirited planet saviours? Hopes of a Brexit deal by next month were put at 50/50 yesterday as No 10 said the EU had a 'more constructive' attitude but still had not bridged significant gaps. A deal or no deal are both still possible outcomes ahead of a European Council summit in mid-October, British officials said. They warned there was still no agreement over the key issues of fisheries and 'level playing field' rules on areas such as competition and state aid. The comments appeared to scotch reports from Brussels that the 'tide is turning' and that Downing Street was 'cautiously optimistic' a deal would be done. Both sides have agreed that the European Council summit on October 15 is the last opportunity to agree a trade deal. A Government official said yesterday: 'We are in the final period of negotiations. Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, returned to Brussels from London yesterday after another round of informal talks ended without a breakthrough 'There remains a lot of work to do and either outcome is still possible. In particular, the differences on fisheries and the level playing field remain significant. 'If the gaps in these areas are to be bridged, the EU's more constructive attitude will need to be translated into more realistic policy positions.' Talks between the two sides have been deadlocked for months because of disagreements on key issues. Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, returned to Brussels from London yesterday after another round of informal talks ended without a breakthrough. EU diplomats also suggested significant progress was yet to be made. It came after reports overnight that there was a 'cautious but growing optimism in Whitehall'. The Times reported that there was now a 'more positive attitude' surrounding negotiations and that a 'deal is coming into view'. Earlier yesterday, Downing Street said there had been 'useful exchanges' with Brussels in recent weeks. The Prime Minister's deputy official spokesman said: 'Progress has been made in certain areas but we've always been clear that a number of challenging areas remain, which is why we continue to be committed to working hard to reach an agreement and we look forward to the next negotiating round in Brussels.' The comments from No 10 came after an EU official told the Politico website 'it seems like the tide is turning'. A deal or no deal are both still possible outcomes ahead of a European Council summit in mid-October, British officials said Relations between Britain and the bloc plummeted in recent weeks after Mr Johnson published plans to override parts of the Brexit divorce deal, but tensions appear to be easing. However, European Council president Charles Michel suggested the EU would not give in yesterday in his speech to the UN General Assembly. 'From now on, we will better enforce the level playing field in a market open to those who respect its standards, whether they leave our union or want to move closer to it,' he said. In a clear swipe at Mr Johnson, he added: 'Respect for treaties, basic principle of international law, comes to be considered optional even by those who, until recently, were its historical guarantors.' Yesterday, EU diplomats said the UK needs to provide 'more detailed, concrete proposals' on the main sticking points. One suggested there would be an increased risk of no deal if there was no major progress on key issues in next week's negotiating round. A spokesman for Mr Barnier said he 'is neither optimistic nor pessimistic but he is determined to reach a deal'. Shoppers are warned of 3.1BILLION EU food bill as experts claim our weekly shop will get more expensive unless the UK strikes free trade deal The weekly food shop will get more expensive unless a free trade deal is reached with the EU, experts warn. The British Retail Consortium said supermarkets would face an annual 3.1billion tariff bill for food and drink. The BRC said retailers would have 'nowhere to go other than to raise the price of food' to mitigate the trade tariffs if there is no deal before Christmas. It added that many non-food retailers would also face large tariff bills for EU-sourced products. Andrew Opie, from the BRC, said: 'Unless we negotiate a zero-tariff deal with the EU, the public will face higher prices for their weekly shop. 'This would prevent harm to shoppers, retailers and the wider economy.' The EU is the UK's largest trading partner and represents four-fifths of food imports, the BRC said. In May, the UK published its new tariff schedule, which will be implemented by January 1 next year if a deal is not agreed. Under this, 85 per cent of foods imported from the EU will face tariffs of more than five per cent, while the average tariff on food imported from the continent will top 20 per cent. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: 'We continue to work hard to reach a deal with the EU and our aim has been to have a zero-tariff, zero-quota Free Trade Agreement and we look forward to continuing those discussions next week.' HTMLCountry1 Dubravka Simonovic, former Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences (2015-2021) Ms. Dubravka Simonovic was appointed as United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences in June 2015 by the UN Human Rights Council for an initial three years' tenure (maximum tenure of six years). She started her tenure on 1 August 2015 and had her mandate renewed in 2018 for three additional years. Ms. Simonovic was a member of the CEDAW Committee between 2002 and 2014, and served as its Chairperson in 2007 and 2008, its follow-up Rapporteur from 2009 to 2011 and as the Chairperson of the Optional Protocol Working Group in 2011. At the regional level, in 2006 and 2007, she was the Chair and Vice Chair of the Council of Europes Task Force to combat violence against women, including domestic violence, that proposed the adoption of the new Council of Europe Convention on violence against women. Between 2008 and 2010, she co-chaired the Ad hoc Committee (CAHVIO) that elaborated the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention). For a number of years she headed the Human Rights Department at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia and was posted as the Minister Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Mission of Croatia to the United Nations in New York. She was also the Ambassador to the OSCE and United Nations in Vienna, Austria. She was the Chairperson of the UN Commission on the Status of Women between 2001 and 2002 and also worked as a member of the UNIFEM Consultative Committee. Ms. Simonovic holds a PhD in family law from the University of Zagreb. She is the author of several books and articles on womens rights and violence against women. She also lectured at the Harvard Law School, Nottingham University, Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights (University of Cincinnati) and at the Womens Human Rights Training Institute organized by the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation. Dr. Dubravka Simonovic was a Visiting Professor in Practice in the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at LSE from 2016 to 2018. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson listens to a media question during a press conference to discuss the status of license renewal for the St. Louis Planned Parenthood facility in Jefferson City, Mo., on May 29, 2019. (Jacob Moscovitch/Getty Images) Governor Declares State of Emergency, Activates Missouri National Guard as Precaution Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard ahead of possible protests and riots in the wake of a decision that was handed down in the Breonna Taylor case. Describing the move as a precaution, Parson said his office is saddened by recent acts of violence that have occurred in some cities across the nation. We fully support the right of citizens to peacefully protest and are committed to protecting that right. At this time, we are taking a proactive approach in the event that assistance is needed to support local law enforcement in protecting Missouri and its people, he added. The executive order declares a state of emergency exists in Missouri over civil unrest, calling on the state adjutant general take such action and employ such equipment as may be necessary in support of civilian authorities and provide such assistance as may be authorized and directed by the governors office. There were riots, unrest, and protests in St. Louis and other Missouri cities in the wake of George Floyds police-involved death over the summer. In one instance of looting in the midst of rioting, former officer David Dorn was shot and killed in a live-streamed incident as he was guarding a friends pawn shop. A spokeswoman for Missouris governors office told FOX2 that the order was signed due to civil unrest in other cities, including Louisville, Kentucky. A grand jury in the state decided against charging police in Taylors death, although an officer faces charges for firing shots indiscriminately into her home and her neighbors house. People prepare plywood shields for a march in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 24, 2020. (Bryan Woolston/Reuters) This week, Louisville police arrested several-dozen people for rioting and vandalism in the city. Kentucky Attorney General David Cameron announced that a grand jury indicted fired Officer Brett Hankison on three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting indiscriminately into Taylors home as well as into a home next to Taylors after police entered her house on March 13. The FBI is still investigating potential violations of federal law in the case. I understand that as a Black man, how painful this is which is why it was so incredibly important to make sure that we did everything we possibly could to uncover every fact, Cameron told a news conference in the capital of Frankfort. But Cameron said that under the law, the officers who fired their weapons at Taylor were justified in using force to protect themselves after they were shot at by her boyfriend. If we simply act on emotion or outrage, there is no justice, he said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A leading Pakistani journalist has revealed that the countrys Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has registered cases against 49 mediapersons and social media activists under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). Biggest crackdown against journalists & social media activists to date in Pakistan. FIA register cases against 49 journalists & social media activists under PECA. Names include @UmarCheema1 @AzazSyed @murtazasolang @ammarmasood3 @AsadAToor @bilalfqi etc, Mubashir Zaidi tweeted on Thursday night. Zaidi, who hosts the popular talk show, Zara Hat Kay, didnt give more details. Journalist bodies have condemned the move and have demanded that the cases be withdrawn. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists in a tweet vowed to hold countrywide protests if the government didnt withdraw the cases. In a statement, the FIA said the agency has received complaints against 49 social media activists from a few complainants with evidence. Cases have been registered against these activists and the FIA is issuing notices to these activists shortly, the agency said. The FIA said strict action was likely to be taken against the individuals based on evidence that would be found to be detrimental to state institutions, especially the countrys security forces. In a tweet after the FIAs announcement, Murtaza Solangi, one of the journalists charged, said he would continue to fight for constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. We shall not bow before fascist thuggery, he tweeted, adding, We shall not surrender our fundamental rights. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) condemned the FIAs move, tweeting, The HRCP is alarmed by the news in circulation that the FIA is registering cases against 49 journalists and social media activists under PECA regulations. We demand that the state refrain from such action and stop using the FIA to curb political dissent. A fortnight ago, global monitor Human Rights Watch (HRW) had stated in a report critical of the government that a week prior to that, Prime Minister Imran Khan had asserted there is no media crackdown in Pakistan, and that he and his government are far more unprotected than the media. "This is our way of better aligning our team members with the company's shareholders. We want to recognize and reward the integral role our employees have had in building this great company and support them as they work towards financial independence and save for retirement." Al Hartman, CEO Houston based real estate investment trust, Hartman Short Term Income Properties XX(Hartman) will pay $8 Million in employee profit-sharing and retention award bonuses to its employees. Hartman(refers to Allen R. Hartman and affiliated companies), which owns and operates over $750 Million in commercial real estate assets across Texas, announced its profit-sharing and retention plan to its employees following the completion of the merger of Hartman Income REIT (HI-REIT), Hartman Short Term Income Properties XIX, Inc. (Hartman XIX), and Hartman Short Term Properties XX, Inc. (Hartman XX). The purpose of the retention plan is to provide a means for eligible employees, under conditions set out, to participate in the current profits of the company. The plan offers an incentive for current employees to continue delivering exceptional service in the future. President and CEO Allen Hartman explains, "This is our way of better aligning our team members with the company's shareholders. We want to recognize and reward the integral role our employees have had in building this great company and support them as they work towards financial independence and save for retirement." When announced to employees on September 1, 2020 employees were both surprised and overjoyed. The profit-sharing plan announcement made the offices buzz. Employees received awards ranging in value from $25,000 to $800,000 based on tenure and position within the company and will receive an increase in their monthly income as a result of the award as well as a payment at the end of their retention period. One employee, who has been with the company 8 years and has been promoted 6 times, received an award for $400,000 which amounts to receiving an additional $25,000 each year in addition to their salary. After receiving the award, the employee shared, "It is humbling to work for a company that considers its employees its number one asset and rewards accordingly. One of our core values states, we acknowledge and celebrate our achievements, and the company has certainly done that. The fact that Mr. Hartman is concerned about his employees' long-term financial well-being is a testament to his faith." The companys advisory committee and board of directors began discussions on this program in 2013 and began working through the details several months ago. The company recently celebrated surpassing $750 million in assets, well on its way to achieving its goal of $2 billion by 2025. Another employee, who has been with the company 18 years, shared in the excitement stating, Hartman offers many opportunities for its employees to grow and gives them the support and tools to do so. I appreciate working for a company that acknowledges and rewards its employees for their hard work and effort. Others expressed satisfaction that the company had implemented the profit-sharing plan and retention plan to share the profits with the employees. Hartman views the profit-sharing and retention plan as a way to provide an extra incentive for current employees to go above and beyond in delivering exceptional service in all that they do for the company throughout their individualized retention period. Hartman Income REIT Management employs nearly 200 people from across Texas with offices in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Employee average tenure is 3 years. After being named one of the best places to work in Houston in 2019 by Zippia.com, Hartman continues to prove it is deserving of the title. 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 over 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. LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A collection of prominent business and labor leaders have come together to announce their support of the proposed Hollywood Center project at Hollywood and Vine. Citing the far-reaching economic benefits that the mixed-use development will provide for Hollywood and the City of Los Angeles and highlighting the project's market-rate and affordable housing options, members of the business and labor communities forcefully expressed their endorsement of the LEED Gold certified project, which is estimated to exceed a $1 billion impact locally. Poised to positively impact the community in a sustainable and endurable way, Hollywood Center will create 7,452 total full-time and part-time jobs within the City of Los Angeles, of which 4,284 will be during construction of the project. "With unemployment in the LA region potentially approaching 25 percent, these additional jobs for our community are vital and will make a meaningful difference for thousands of Angelenos currently out of work," said William C. Allen, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation. "Overall, the Hollywood Center is an exemplary project. As a triple bottom-line organization, the LAEDC believes that the elements of equity, environment, and economy are all met by this project." "On behalf of over 100,000 skilled and trained members men and women in the buildings, I am proud to express my support for Hollywood Center," said Ron Miller, executive secretary of the Los Angeles-Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council. "This project promises to be transformative on many levels, the most important from our perspective being the number of jobs that will be created. Now more than ever, jobs are vital to our communities and our economy, and we must take into consideration the positive impact these jobs will have on Los Angeles' hard-working residents." "This project means thousands upon thousands of construction jobs during the building of this project," said Gene Hale, chairman of the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce. "Hollywood Center will also provide a good chunk of operational jobs through the ground floor commercial and restaurant space planned." In addition to the project's construction-related economic benefits, annual operation of the project will create approximately 937 full-time and part-time jobs plus new household spending that would occur both on-site and throughout the region. "On behalf of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the 840 members we represent, we are proud to announce our strong support for the proposed Hollywood Center project," said Rana Ghandban, president/CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. "This transformative and forward-thinking urban development would revitalize the heart of the Hollywood community. Simply put, it checks every box we look for in terms of housing, investment, job creation, community-oriented design, and overall vision." In addition to creating solid living-wage jobs, Hollywood Center addresses Los Angeles' severe housing shortage and provides for vulnerable populations by including much-needed very low- and extremely low-income affordable housing set aside expressly for older adults. These units constitute the largest provision of privately financed senior affordable units in the City's history. "We thank business and labor community members who have expressed enthusiastic support for Hollywood Center, and look forward to bringing increased employment opportunities to an area that has seen significant job losses since the coronavirus pandemic began," said Mario Palumbo, managing partner, MP Los Angeles. "This project is progressive not only in its concern for the environment, but also in its commitment to advancing the livelihoods of members of the Los Angeles community and providing for the City's most housing-insecure senior citizens." About Hollywood Center Hollywood Center is a proposed $1 billion mixed-use development located in the heart of Hollywood adjacent to Los Angeles' famed intersection of Hollywood and Vine. Hollywood Center will introduce 872 market-rate units and a senior affordable housing component to the community through two buildings, 35 stories and 46 stories tall, and two mid-rise buildings, each 11 stories. With a total of 1,005 residential units, 133 will be set aside for very low- and extremely low-income seniors and split between the two 11-story buildings. Hollywood Center will enliven the site with the introduction of two civic plazas, new pedestrian walkways connecting Argyle Avenue and Ivar Avenue, and 30,000 square feet of ground floor shops and restaurants, all located 600 feet from convenient public transportation options. For more information, please visit https://hollywoodctr.com/. SOURCE Hollywood Center Related Links https://hollywoodctr.com I was under the impression that police are just doing their job, they usually have a split second to make their decision," Lindsey, now 23, said in an interview with the Tribune. "I felt like a lot of people were over-exaggerating the stops. (But) in that moment, right after that moment, I was like, its not an exaggeration. This really does happen. The way it happened to me. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 23:20:53|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BUJUMBURA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye on Friday said the COVID-19 pandemic has been brought under control in the east African nation and no new cases have been found for several weeks. "We have seriously fought against the COVID-19 pandemic and we have won the fight. The pandemic is no longer a problem here. For several weeks, there are no new infections," said Ndayishimiye in a live public conference held in the political capital Gitega, central Burundi. The president said he had been thinking about combating the pandemic before taking office in June, and that all citizens supported him in the battle. Although Burundi is said to be the "poorest" country in the world, it has shown its powerfulness in combating COVID-19, where testing centers have been set up on borders to screen people entering the nation from neighboring countries, he said. Ndayishimiye said a decision to reopen Melchior Ndadaye International Airport, Burundi's main airport, will be taken at the "appropriate" time. Burundi now has only 11 active COVID-19 cases, and all the patients, under treatment at their homes, are in stable condition, health minister Thaddee Ndikumana told a press conference on Tuesday. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Burundi in late March, 474 positive cases in total were confirmed as of Sept. 20, of which 462 have recovered and one passed away, the minister said. Burundi launched a three-month mass COVID-19 screening campaign in July. It also announced a halving of soap prices to boost hygiene, supported by government subsidies. The price of water supply is also cut in some parts of the country, including major towns. Enditem First lady Melania Trump attends the International Women of Courage Awards in 2019 (Getty Images) The Trump administration rescinded an award given to a journalist in Finland after they discovered she had criticised the president on social media, a report by the State Departments internal watchdog has found. The report, filed by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), also found that the administration also gave a false explanation for withdrawing the honor from journalist Jessikka Aro. Ms Aro, a Finnish investigative journalist who broke stories on Russian propaganda and misinformation efforts was selected for an International Woman of Courage Award in March 2019. The award was later withdrawn by the administration and Ms Aro was told that the notification of her selection had been a mistake. The report, conducted after eight senators requested an investigation into Ms Aros situation found that the administration revoked it on the basis of social media posts she had previously made. "Indeed, every person OIG interviewed in connection with this matter acknowledged that had (the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues) not highlighted her social media posts as problematic, Ms Aro would have received the IWOC Award," the report said. The social media posts discovered by the administration made by Ms Aro that they considered controversial included some which were critical of the current president. In one tweet from 2018, Ms Aro said Mr Trump constantly labels journalists as enemy and fake news.,'" the report said. In another from the same year Ms Aro said it would be sweet that Mr Trump and Mr Putin would be meeting in Helsinki, Finland, so that Finnish people can protest them both. According to the exchanges documented, certain US officials feared that the media could highlight the tweets and Facebook posts during the ceremony, causing potential embarrassment to the department and first lady Melania Trump, who attended the ceremony. The OIG also found that while the administration was within its broad discretion to deny her award, they had also subsequently lied to Ms Aro and the public about whether her award was rescinded and why. Story continues OIG found, however, that department officials made subsequent statements to the public and to congressional staff that inaccurately asserted that Ms Aro was erroneously notified that she had been selected for the award and that factors other than Ms Aros social media posts formed the basis of the decision not to give her the IWOC Award," the report read. In light of the findings of the report Ms Aro told CNN: "In my heart I feel like an international woman of courage. That the Trump administration can't take away from me." Sen Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of the eight senators who requested the investigation condemned the findings as a reflection of wider issues in the Trump administration. The Inspector Generals report is another somber example of how fear and partisanship have permeated our nations foreign policy and diplomacy under the Trump administration, he said in a statement. Additional reporting by the Associated Press Read more Jessikka Aro: Trump administration cancels journalists award 'for criticising US president' Legendary journalist Sir Harold Evans dies aged 92 I assume at some point I will be injured or arrested: Portland video journalist on challenge of covering 100 days of protests I was arrested, jailed and assaulted by a guard. My crime? Being a journalist in Trumps America Trump hits battleground states courting key voters The Imo State Government has disbanded its task force on state emblem for causing the death of over 3,000 day-old chicks driven from Kaduna into the state. The government also disbanded all other task forces in the state. The states commissioner for transport, Rex Anunobi, who confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES, Friday, said Governor Hope Uzodinma ordered the disbandment of the task forces during the state executive council meeting after listening to the submission on the incident from the states commissioner for livestock development. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Imo task force officials and some police officers in Owerri impounded a Toyota Sienna which had 8,000 day-old chicks inside it. Over 3,000 of the chicks died inside the vehicle because of their exposure to the heat from the sun. The police officers and the task force officials demanded the Imo State emblem from the minivan driver, even though the vehicle had a consolidated emblem, which is said to be a permit for vehicles that often travel through different states in the country. Various states in Nigeria, for the purposes of revenue-generation, require commercial vehicle owners to affix a state emblem on their vehicle. Is the day-old chicks you are carrying more important than the (police) uniform I am wearing? the driver said one of the officers told him, when he informed him that the chicks could die because of the heat from the sun. The governor took exception to all those things (the incident), the commissioner for transport, Mr Anunobi, said. All task forces have been banned in the state. Mr Anunobi, whose ministry supervised the task force on emblem, said task force officials in the state had constituted themselves into nuisance. The commissioner thanked PREMIUM TIMES for its reporting on the incident. There is always a human factor in government, you send people out, you give people mandate and they can be overzealous. But the most important thing is the government taking responsibility, finding amicable resolution, and equally taking further steps to stop such an incident and now be able to regulate the conduct of. Even if we are going to drive revenue. As a matter of fact, our revenue now is on treasury single account. Nothing like a task force collecting money or molesting people again, the commissioner said. Chijioke Nicholas, the chairman, Poultry Association of Nigeria, Imo State, said the Imo State government has agreed to pay compensation to the owner of the dead chicks. Mr Nicholas described Governor Uzodinmas response to the incident as being quick. I think its a good step in the right direction, he added. There have been reports of harassment of farmers transporting produce across different Nigerian states, despite the looming food shortage in the country. As measures designed to protect physical health continue to affect daily life, the disruption to routine and increased isolation are taking a psychological toll. A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the number of Americans reporting issues with mental health, substance abuse and suicidal thoughts has increased significantly since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Young adults and children, the study found, are particularly at risk. Rob Rhodes, director of counseling for Greenville County Schools, said he and the districts counselors have confirmed that trend during interactions with students since the beginning of the year. There's greater distress and anxiety, fear of getting sick, and we know things like insomnia and depression are happening at a higher rate, he said. The shock of suddenly leaving school in spring, a long separation from teachers and classmates characterized by uncertainty, and the challenge of adjusting to a new and ever-changing hybrid class schedule has left many students overwhelmed, Rhodes said. But with most of Greenville Countys students only back two days out of the week, and a third learning from home entirely, theres been a decline in kids seeking counseling services. Students aren't there at school, so the ease of going by the office or requesting to see someone looks different, he said. "We're receiving less because the kids are scattered." The district is pivoting to increase outreach. Greenville County Schools now offers more digital services and a 24-hour crisis hotline through Greater Greenville Mental Health that's open to students. Rhodes said while students reaching out for services has dropped, the frequency of counselors reaching out to students is rising. Counseling venues have also changed to allow social distancing. Large rooms where social distancing can be maintained have been designated for counseling appointments in school buildings. Much of the counseling is now done through virtual appointments. While officials work to expand student access to counseling, Rhodes said parents and teachers also play an important role in promoting mental health and identifying problems. His department offers training to help them understand how to identify and address mental health problems. In partnership with Greenville County First Steps, more than 20 of his counselors have been teaching the Positive Parenting Program, an initiative that started shortly before coronavirus began to spread in the United States. "We added it just as a coincidence right before the pandemic hit," he said. "We're so happy that we have this new resource in place now." With kids home more than ever, it is important parents have the tools to recognize symptoms and tap resources as necessary. Rhodes said some of the main signs that a child or teen is struggling with mental health issues are: Changes in appetite Disruptions in sleep schedule Loss of interest in things they previously enjoyed Drop in energy or listlessness Self isolating Difficulty concentrating or drop in academic performance Signs of self harm If you see any of these symptoms in your child, Rhodes said, the best thing to do is to begin a nonjudgmental dialogue. "Always say that it's OK, because a lot of times young people feel guilty for struggling, or that they're not supposed to feel a certain way, or that there's shame in it," he said. "Open conversation and unconditional love and acceptance are the most important things that any parent can do." To reach the 24-hour mental health crisis line, call or text 864-467-8336. ETU organiser Nick Bligh spent last week at the Wellington Solar Farm near Dubbo in western NSW where about 560 workers are rapidly building a solar farm that will power up to 70,000 homes on 316 hectares of farmland. The union's concerns with the solar industry dovetail with fears elsewhere in Labor that pushing for a rapid take up of renewable energy is a vote-loser in some parts of the country. Justin Page, NSW secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, and Nick Bligh, a union official who has been organising workers at the Wellington solar farm. Credit:Louise Kennerley At one massive solar farm under construction in western NSW, a union official was taken to the police station after he raised safety issues with wiring, water supply and amenities. The Electrical Trades Union has taken aim at the solar industry for its treatment of construction workers, saying the industry's employment and safety practices undermine its progressive reputation. He found facilities on the site did not have properly safety-tested electrical wiring, disposal of waste water and enough room for workers to store protective equipment. Safe Work NSW, the regulator, agreed, issuing three notices telling the company building the farm, Sterling & Wilson, to improve. The solar industry requires large workforces to build its farms but each provides very few ongoing jobs. "To give you an example, my family is in coal mining in the Mudgee region, there's no way they're gonna go to renewables because one, its [jobs are] only there for a period of 12 months in the construction phase and then where are you gonna go?" Mr Bligh said. Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed there were 26,850 full-time equivalent jobs in renewable energy in 2018-19, a record level and up more than a quarter from the previous year but still lower than the number of people working in coal mining. The ETU sent Mr Bligh to the Wellington site, which is the first in Australia being built by the Indian-based Sterling & Wilson, after reports a bore drilling machine had almost hit high voltage power lines. After inspecting the site on Monday, September 14, Mr Bligh was denied entry the next day and allowed onto site briefly on Wednesday afternoon. Afterwards, he was taken by a site manager to the Wellington police station against his will when he tried to raise more safety concerns, he said, but later dropped back at the solar farm by police. Billionaire retailer Solomon Lew has blasted efforts by Myer management to restructure its board and said the company is headed for administration in a further escalation of tensions between the struggling department store and its shareholders. Mr Lew told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that this week's move to cut two directors and reduce board fees was a "drop in the ocean" in the context of Myer's $172 million loss earlier this month. Solomon Lew, Myer's largest shareholder. Credit:Eddie Jim Myer chairman Garry Hounsell made the changes following pressure from Myer's second-largest shareholder Geoff Wilson, but Mr Lew said his issues with the board were not to do with fees but rather with their contribution, "or lack thereof", to running the business. "The ship is sinking. What does it matter if you pay the captain a bit less on the way to the bottom?" he said. Not anymore. Two months before the 2000 election, 21% of likely voters said they might change their mind about their preferred candidate. Last month, however, that figure was just 5%. In this debate, the candidates wont have the opportunity to appeal to a lot of Americans who are wrestling with their decision. The vast majority of minds are already closed, and no burst of eloquence from either candidate is going to unlock them. Bayern Munich have asserted their dominance in Europe beating Spanish side Sevilla to become UEFA Super Cup champions. The German giants didnt have it easy, however, they prevailed over the Europa Cup winners 2-1 in a fierce contest. Sevilla got the early lead in the match from a Lucas Ocampos penalty in the 13th minute after Ivan Rakitic was fouled by David Alaba. Bayern leveled things up before the break courtesy of Leon Goretzkas calm finish. The German club had two goals ruled out in the second half, one for offside and the other for a foul in the build-up. The match ended 1-1 in full time until Bayern through a sublime header from Javier Martinez got a second goal to retain their dominance as Europe Champions. With Bayern Munichs win today, the German side have won their second Uefa Super Cup Trophy after winning their first against Chelsea in 2013. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates DALLAS, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Securus Technologies today released its weekly update detailing the total number of free calls, video connections, and JPay stamps it has provided since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The offerings are part of an emergency program Securus deployed with its correctional partners on March 13, when the pandemic was declared a national emergency. It was developed to help incarcerated individuals stay connected with loved ones during this challenging time. To date, those free offerings total: 26.6 million free call credits for incarcerated individuals and their families, resulting in 206.0 million free minutes of phone connections; 5.2 million free video connections to friends and families of incarcerated individuals; 13.6 million free JPay Stamps for electronic messaging; Total accommodations for 399 agencies and 740 sites across the United States . In addition to this ongoing assistance, Securus is offering compassion credits designed to accommodate incarcerated individuals who fall ill with COVID-19. Those credits, which are uploaded onto prepaid cards and distributed by correctional facilities, allow additional free access to Securus phone calls and video connections throughout an individual's medical care. The company is also making free calls available to public defenders at many locations. For those facilities enabled with Securus tablet technology, the company has introduced select free movie and game titles during the COVID-19 pandemic, which have been downloaded almost 2 million times. This expanded assistance is in addition to the no-cost resources, including educational offerings, free eBooks, podcasts and other self-help tools that are always available free of charge. "The spread of the COVID-19 virus continues to make it difficult for incarcerated individuals to maintain communication with their loved ones during these challenging times," said Dave Abel, president and CEO of Aventiv Technologies, parent company of Securus Technologies. "That's why Aventiv is proud to offer free and reduced rates on phone calls, video connections, and other services that keep families connected. We will continue working to make our products as affordable and accessible as possible." The program is an element of an ongoing transformation effort by Securus Technologies to improve access to its services and provide greater support for those impacted by incarceration. The company continues to work with its partners to garner feedback about the situation on the ground. All support from Securus will be in accordance with the latest public health guidelines to ensure that the support is tailored and responsive to the unique needs of the incarcerated community. ABOUT SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Aventiv Technologies serves more than 3,450 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and over 1,100,000 incarcerated individuals across North America, Aventiv is committed to serve and connect by providing emergency response, incident management, public information, investigation, biometric analysis, communication, information management, incarcerated self-service, and monitoring products and services in order to make our world a safer place to live. For more information, please visit www.Aventiv.com. Aventiv is a portfolio company of Platinum Equity. Founded in 1995 by Tom Gores, Platinum Equity is a global investment firm with a portfolio of approximately 40 operating companies that serve customers around the world. SOURCE Securus Technologies Related Links http://www.Aventiv.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Phil Stewart (Reuters) Fri, September 25, 2020 11:30 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4728eda 2 World US-presidential-election,US-presidential-race,Donald-Trump,Joe-Biden,endorsement Free Retired General Paul Selva, once one of President Donald Trump's most senior military advisers, is joining a large group of former Pentagon leaders to publicly endorse Democratic candidate Joe Biden for the Nov. 3 presidential election, according to a letter seen by Reuters. Selva, who served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until July 2019, appears on a list of 489 national security experts - including former military leaders, ambassadors and White House officials - who signed a letter being released on Thursday that declares Trump "not equal to the enormous responsibilities of his office." "Thanks to his disdainful attitude and his failures, our allies no longer trust or respect us, and our enemies no longer fear us," reads the letter by the group, called National Security Leaders For Biden. Selva could not be reached for comment. Other groups of former national security leaders have endorsed Biden and criticized Trump, but it is remarkable that a recently retired four-star general like Selva - who was the Pentagon's No. 2 military officer - would publicly endorse any candidate and sign onto a letter condemning a president he served. Beyond Selva, retired Admiral Paul Zukunft, who served as commandant of the Coast Guard from 2014 until 2018, also appears on the long list of signatories. "I'm not a Republican and I'm not a Democrat," Zukunft told Reuters in explaining his decision. "It really comes down to the fundamental values of our nation and our concern that those values are being compromised." Like Zukunft, Selva was not initially selected for his position by Trump, who inherited military leaders picked by his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. Trump renewed Selva for a second, two-year term in 2017. Other prominent retired military officers endorsing Biden in the letter include: Samuel Locklear, a retired Navy admiral who led the US Pacific Command until 2015, and Peter Chiarelli, who retired in 2012 after serving as the Army's vice chief of staff. Strained ties with pentagon Although Trump describes himself as a champion of the US military and boasts of hefty military spending, his relationship with the Pentagon has been strained. He has ridiculed top generals, ignored their advice on some key issues, and questioned their commitment to their soldiers. Earlier this month, Trump sought to underscore his support among rank-and-file soldiers. "I'm not saying the military's in love with me. The soldiers are," Trump told reporters. "The top people in the Pentagon probably arent because they want to do nothing but fight wars so all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy." Asked about Selva's endorsement of Biden, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said she could not speak to one individual and defended Trump's support for US troops. "The rank and file of this military love this president," she told reporters at the White House. Biden's campaign has been trying to build a broad coalition of liberals, moderate Republicans and independents. When he accepted the Democratic nomination at his party's convention in August, Biden said that, if elected, he would be a president for all Americans, not just for the Democratic base. Susan Rice, former US national security adviser under the Obama administration, told Reuters many more prominent former officials wanted to join the list but missed a deadline ahead of the letter's public release. She attributed the strong turnout to deep concerns among former US military, diplomatic, and intelligence officials. "On the military side, there were many who felt strongly that this was a moment in our history when our democracy and our Constitution was on the line," said Rice, co-chair of National Security Leaders for Biden. Bengaluru, Sep 25 : In just three hours, the Karnataka Assembly passed nine Bills including crucial ones like Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill on Friday. The ruling BJP, did not encounter much of a resistance, as it was assured by the Opposition parties that they would not create hurdle in passage of Bills except for the controversial ones, which are being opposed by the farmers across the country. The Revenue Minister, R. Ashoka tabled the Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which is dubbed as death knell to farmers in the state by both Civil Activists as well the opposition parties. While tabling the Bill, Ashoka said, "This Bill is not a demon. In reality, this will usher in new era in farming sector in the state. Unnecessarily opponents are trying to assert that this amendment was to help industrialists. It is not the truth at all." According to him, industries across the state are sitting on less than one per cent of the total land available in the state. "Such being the case, how can all land be taken away by the industries in future?" he questioned. He further added that the very main objective of this Bill is to get rid of the clause 79 A and 79 B, which have become more impediments to the state's agriculture sector's growth than a boon. "If a person wants to be a farmer in our state, it is far easier for person belonging to other state. Whereas, our own people can't become farmers if they wish to," he said. Quoting later vice-president, B. D. Jatti headed committee report, Ashoka said that of the 195 lakh hectare land, 30 lakh hectares is forest land, 22 lakh hectares is agriculture land and 11.79 lakh hectare fallow land is there with us. "This amendment will help to cultivate, fallow land and not to help industrialists," he argued. (JTA) - On the border of Belarus and Ukraine, Avremi Vitman tried to shake off the morning chill as he prayed earlier this week. Vitman was hungry and uncomfortable after yet another night sleeping in his coat, two weeks after arriving in Belarus en route, he hoped, to Uman, the Ukrainian city that is the site of an annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage for followers of Rabbi Nachman, founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement. "Nights are cold here, we sleep in our coats," Vitman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He arrived at the border crossing on Monday after spending two weeks in Pinsk, sleep... By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijan accounts for 60.4 percent of the total import of bitumen to neighbouring Georgia during the period of January- August 2020, local media has reported. The country accounts for 44,000 tons of bitumen import out of total 72,900 tons of bitumen imported to Georgia during the reporting period. Thus, Azerbaijan ranks first among imported of bitumen to Georgia. It should be noted that next in the list are Iraq with 16,200 tons, Iran with 7,600 tons, Russia with 3,200 tons of bitumen exported to Georgia. At the same time, Azerbaijan exported 489.5 tons of tea worth $3 million to Georgia during the reporting period. Georgia increased import of tea from Azerbaijan by 6.4 tons compared to the same period of 2091. Moreover, Azerbaijans import of tea from Georgia amounted to 167.5 tons worth $1.2 million during the reporting period. Likewise, during the first eight months of the year Georgia imported 371.3 million kWh of electricity from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan accounted for 59.7 percent of total electricity imports of Georgia, while Russia for 40.3 percent. Additionally, Georgia exported 15.3 million kWh of electricity to Azerbaijan during the period of January-August 2020. Earlier it was reported that Georgia accounted to 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas exports from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan was the fourth largest trading partner of neighboring Georgia in the period between January and August this year with the trade turnover between the two countries amounting to $594 million in the reporting period. Azerbaijan's share in Georgia's total trade turnover was 8.5 percent. During the reporting period, Azerbaijan exported goods to Georgia worth $309.5 million, which is by 15.7 percent less compared to the same period of 2019. In the meantime, $284.2 million worth goods were exported from Georgia to Azerbaijan, which is by 11.9 percent less compared to the period of January-August 2019. 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. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The son of a bashing victim has slammed public prosecutors after two Irish tradies were acquitted of his father's murder and allowed to return home despite agreeing to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Nathan Kelly, 23, and Christopher McLaughlin, 25, agreed to plead guilty for manslaughter following the death of cancer patient Paul Tavelardis who was left bloodied and beaten in Summer Hill, in Sydney's inner west, on December 29, 2018. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions rejected the plea, which would have led to a prison sentence, and pursued the more severe charge of murder which on Monday they were found not guilty of. On Monday, the pair was released from custody and flew home to Donegal in Ireland - a move which sparked fury in the pensioner's son Bradley Tavelardis. Tradesmen Christopher McLaughlin (left), 25, and Nathan Kelly (right), 23, have been cleared of murdering pensioner Paul Tavelardis Paul Tavelardis (pictured) died nine days after an altercation with the Irishmen in Grosvenor Crescent, Summer Hill on December 29, 2018 'It pains me to think that as a society, Australia has decided that if you are drunk you are no longer accountable for your crimes,' he told The Daily Telegraph. 'The bare fact remains that my father, a 66-year-old man who suffered from leukaemia, was beaten by two physically fit men in their early 20s and subsequently died from the related injuries.' Prosecutors had argued the flatmates had repeatedly hit the pensioner after he fell to the ground - a claim denied by both men. The victim survived in hospital for nine days before he died. Nathan Kelly (pictured) and Christopher McLaughlin have been acquitted of murder after a drunken night out Paul Tavelardis spent nine days on life support after the brutal attack on December 29 Mr Tavelardis said seeing the extent of his father's injuries and deciding to turn life support off was the most harrowing moment of his life. Kelly and McLaughlin offered the guilty plea on the basis of excessive self-defence, claiming the victim tried to break into their ute and attacked them with a pole when they approached him. Mr Tavelardis rejected the claim and explained that his father, who had $90,000 in his bank account at the time of the assault, was 'not a thief' and had no reason to start stealing cars as a senior citizen. He said to have all charges dropped was 'inconceivable'. Kelly and McLaughlin spent more than 20 months on remand and have since had their working holiday visas revoked. CCTV images of Nathan Kelly, 23, and Christopher McLaughlin, 25, laying on the floor of Summer Hill train station Over the three-week trial, the jury had heard the two men had been drinking heavily throughout the afternoon and evening before the 12.30am incident. After lying down in Summer Hill railway station and stumbling around the suburb, they got in a car and loudly drove laps of the suburb. On their return to Grosvenor Cresent, where they also lived, the two men said they found Mr Tavelardis trying to break into Mr McLaughlin's ute. Both men's barristers said, after a short conversation, the older man struck out at Mr Kelly with a metal pipe. CCTV images of Nathan Kelly, 23, in Summer Hill train station in the hour before getting into an altercation with Paul Tavelardis In earlier evidence, the court heard one witness who watched the bashing yelled out for them to stop, to which one of the men responded 'I don't care'. A neighbour recalled hearing a loud scream of 'fear' and peering out his window to see Mr Tavelardis run around his car with a large item in his hand towards the tradesmen. But the other men began viciously beating him, the neighbour told the jury. Police arriving on scene a minute later found Mr McLaughlin standing in the middle of the street, with bloodied knuckles, fingers and ankles. In a later police interview, Mr Kelly lifted his top to show a welt on his back where he said Mr Tavelardis had struck him on the back. Mr Kelly had been kicked out of the pub before the attack while McLaughlin was described by a witness as 'blind drunk' about 11pm. NEW BRAUNFELS The scene at the Rockin R tube rental parking lot across the Guadalupe River from the Gruene historic district had the feel of a tailgate party before a big game Thursday evening a festive, flag-waving atmosphere. The similarities stopped with the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem. This was no sporting event. This was politics, conveyed by banners bearing President Donald Trumps name and image, a prayer over the public address system and a fiery speech that sketched the stakes of the upcoming election in stark terms. The man giving the speech was organizer Steve Ceh, who later estimated that around 1,000 people had shown up. They milled around booths where caps and other items were for sale, a generally middle-aged to older crowd, mostly white. Very few wore masks. Officers in two police cruisers watched the event. And then the New Braunfels Trump Train headed out, a wheeled display of partisan enthusiasm that again had assembled hundreds of vehicles, most of them pickups. Now in its third month, the weekly parade is beloved by most people in this Republican-dominated city and welcomed on its occasional forays out of town, participants say. But other New Braunfelsers have become irritated by the noise, traffic holdups and the parades ugly edge the racist taunting of Black and Hispanic residents encountered along the way. And the resulting fear, anger and pushback has some worried that Americas bitter political divide is damaging the towns self-image as a friendly, prosperous destination for those seeking the good life. Reports of Trump Train behavior early this month moved Mayor Rusty Brockman to issue a statement saying the hurt being inflicted or perceived was not the New Braunfels that I know and love. Tom Reel /Staff photographer One man was accused of harassing local African Americans by posting their photos on social media and suggesting that the rallys participants arm themselves in case of a confrontation. The approval that greeted another motorist who dragged Black Lives Matter and antifa flags on the street from his pickup and laughingly took credit for it in a Facebook post also drew outrage. It was like a dragging an African American. They wanted to drag an African American behind those of Black Lives Matter, they want to drive them, drag them behind a pickup truck, said Henry Ford, vice president of the New Braunfels MLK Association. The abuse of the flag and the hatred on display really scared a lot of us African Americans here in town to wondering if we actually were welcome, said Dr. Jessica Edwards, a family physician in New Braunfels. Are our lives in danger due to these events? Tom Reel /Staff photographer The driver of the truck, Nils Ruona of San Antonio, said he regretted dragging the Black Lives Matter flag he considers the movement Marxist, but it was not a good message to put out there, I suppose especially because the resulting brickbats on social media included a screen grab from a post he wrote three years ago that said, Im not apart of the kkk just hate black people. Ruona, 31, said he was not a racist but failed to think before he acted. Tom Reel /Staff photographer New Braunfels Police Chief Tom Wibert acknowledged that the bad civic chemistry from the parade could lead to violence thats always a concern, he said but a recent meeting with organizers was more focused on traffic safety and noise. The atmosphere of racism being stoked by a few people is not at all what the organizers said they intended, Wibert said. Ive not seen anything comparable to this in New Braunfels in the 10 years Ive been chief, he added. If someone uses the N-word, we dont condone racism, but we have to stick to what we can enforce. If it were combined with a threat, we could definitely take action. Assault by threat most likely. But stupidity is not against the law. New Braunfels City Councilman Matthew Hoyt said more than 40 residents had contacted him after a previous parade, some likely staunch Trump conservatives who have soured on the Trump Train because of the bad behavior. Theyre turned off by this because, again, one of the words that some of them are using is theyre being terrorized by this. They cant get out of their driveway, Hoyt said. God, I dont even like using the term N-word. Other terms, Go back on the boat or Take a boat back from where you came from or something to that effect these kinds of things are not welcome in this district. Terri Truitt, a local attorney, said her client, Andrae Blissett, was one of four African American men targeted in a social media post that contained their photos and advised those joining an upcoming Trump Train rally to be strapped in case of trouble. Truitt said she filed reports with the FBI and New Braunfels police. Police confirmed the report was made but were unable to provide a copy this week. Tom Reel /Staff photographer Organizer Ceh, a leader of Trump Train NB, the group putting on the rally, met with the mayor, the city manager, Wibert and police command staff this month to discuss reports that Trump Train participants had blocked intersections, stood in the beds of their pickups and didnt wear seat belts. We also asked them to work with us on their routes, Wibert said. Theyve been going through residential areas, and some are blowing actual train horns they have on their trucks. Its against the law for actual trains to use train horns in New Braunfels. The chief said that Ceh gave assurances that the negative element, displaying racism, had nothing to do with them and they would be self-policing their rally. Cehs wife, Randi, said participants had been asked to avoid disturbing residents but that she wasnt aware of anyone using racial insults and didnt think there was evidence for it. The group did put out a statement warning, Anyone that joins this organization with the purpose of spreading a message of hate is not welcome and will be identified and advertised as an impostor that is attempting to stain this organization as something it is not. Participants get a route map and a rules sheet, and my husband gets up and pumps everybody up, you know, for our country, not be crazy but, you know, gives quotes from founders, from our founding fathers or like a little message of hope, Ceh said. Before the caravans headed out Thursday this time riders were given a choice of four routes Steve Ceh made a point of admonishing those in the crowd to mind their manners. At one point in his speech, he predicted the motorists would encounter anti-Trump protesters and referred to them as evil. Tom Reel /Staff photographer We get a lot of threats, we drive around town and get a lot of middle fingers, we have a lot of people running us off the road, some have come head on at us, Ceh said in a brief interview. They cuss at us, they call us racists, so its a very evil element that comes at us. The Trump Train first met at a strip center with about 10 cars, Randi Ceh said. Wibert likened the group in its early stages to the jeep club going out for coffee. Then it started doubling every week, he said. Until the night a few weeks ago that the honking cars drew a much-publicized rebuke from a sleeping infants mother, it was a 100 percent patriotic, energetic event, Comal County Republican Party chair Sue Piner said. (The babys father told a local online news outlet that someone in the caravan called his wife a communist and someone else threatened to burn the house down.) As for dragging a Black Lives Matter flag, Piner said it was sad to see something that is controversial was brought into this. The whole movement of the Trump Train is patriotism for America, she said. Its not against black or white, gray or green, its not against race or culture or creed, its not against any of that because Americas the melting pot and were for everybody. Equal. Equal opportunity for all. Republicans hold every elective office in Comal County, where Trump took 72.6 percent of the vote in 2016. Piner said the GOP registered 26 new voters at a recent Trump Train rally and will continue that effort. Tom Reel /Staff photographer The obnoxiousness of Trumps most fervent local supporters has driven people away from the Republican Party, said Gloria Meehan, the Comal County Democratic Party chair. A steady stream of visitors have been picking up Joe Biden yard signs at the partys New Braunfels headquarters, and they are routinely heckled by Trump supporters who blare music from their vehicles and shout insults, Meehan said. We can call the police, and we have when theyre yelling obscenities at people coming into our offices, but theres nothing we can really do about it. Thats the First Amendment, Meehan said. But folks in our office are highly concerned and afraid of them. None of them have actually done anything yet. They just roll up with their flags flying. Amy Parks, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan in 2010 as a combat medic, had enough familiarity with local pro-Trump activists to dread the Trump Trains scheduled arrival on a recent Saturday in her subdivision northwest of New Braunfels. Ive been at Black Lives Matter protests in New Braunfels and watched how they came armed across the street from us, said Parks, who is white and has biracial children. They want to portray that theyre peaceful, but theyre not. News researcher Misty Harris contributed to this report. Sig Christenson covers the military and its impact in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Sig, become a subscriber. sigc@express-news.net | Twitter: @saddamscribe New Jersey and New York ports love big boats and they cannot lie. And by the increased number of ultra-large container ships that came to the port last year, supersized ships might love bringing goods to the port. In 2016, only 34 ultra-large container ships came to the Port. That number jumped to 271 of the mammoth ships last year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officials said. The largest ship to call on the port, the 1,200-foot-long CMA CGM Brazil sailed under the Bayonne Bridge on Sept. 12, making it the biggest container ship to visit any eastern U.S. port. The capacity to handle such gigantic vessels is increasingly important to the ports competitive future, Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said during a Thursday board meeting. The first mammoth container ship sailed under the raised Bayonne Bridge deck in September 2017. The future is highly dependent on the shipping industries shift to big ship operations, he said. The agency prepared for that future by spending $5.3 billion in port improvements, that included a $1.7 billion raising of the Bayonne Bridge roadway, a $2.1 billion deepening of harbor channels, and a $600 million ship-to-rail container transport system. They were necessary to accommodate and attract ultra-large container vessels such as the Brazil, Cotton said. So the percentage of vessels calling on our ports in the ultra-large vessel category increased from 1.4% (in 2016) to 12.3%. It also gave the Port Authority bragging rights, taking the title for second busiest port in the nation away from the Port of Long Beach, California last year. It (arrival of the Brazil) symbolized the payoff of the Port Authoritys investment and underscores the ports 2019 achievement of being the second busiest port in the nations, surpassing Long Beach for the first time in over two decades, Cotton said. The Brazil can carry 7,536 of the standard 40-foot shipping containers that can be seen mounted one at a time on truck chassis typically seen on the nations highways. But except for the containers being trucked to distribution centers and warehouses off the New Jersey Turnpike in Central Jersey, the authorities ship-to-rail container facility will put those with inland U.S. destinations on trains, Cotton said. The efficiency which goods can be moved from our terminal on to rail transport to the marketplaces in the interior of the country is playing a major role to increase the ports container volume," Cotton said. The ports provided the one bright spot in an otherwise dismal revenue report for August and September. While traditional revenue earners such as the airports and to a lesser extension, the authoritys bridges and tunnels were down because of traffic declines due to the coronavirus, the ports have bounced back to 2019 levels, Cotton said. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters The controversial data-mining-software company Palantir Technologies could be valued at as much as $22bn when it goes public next week. Bankers told the Wall Street Journal that the companys shares could start trading at $10 each when it begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, giving the company a value of $22bn. The sale will be a direct listing, an alternative to a traditional initial public offering in which bankers underwrite new shares to raise capital. Related: UK awards border contract to firm criticised over role in US deportations Instead, no new shares are issued and current investors, including the billionaire Peter Thiel, will be able to place their shares on the open market when trading begins. The sale has raised questions about Palantirs valuation: this month, the research firm PitchBook valued Palantir at $8.8bn, less than half what bankers anticipate will be its opening, or reference, price. In previous direct market listings, such as Spotify and Slack, opening prices significantly exceeded the reference prices, increasing the market value of the companies and offered investors an immediate cash return. A typical IPO restricts existing shareholders and employees from selling shares for 180 days after a company goes public. Like many tech companies going public, Palantir has never turned a profit. It lost $580m in 2019. The first six months of 2020 showed improvement, with a $164m loss compared with a $274m deficit in the same period last year. Earlier this week, the company said it anticipates revenue growth of 42% to about $1.1bn. The company, which was founded in 2003 and named for the all-seeing stones in JRR Tolkiens Lord of the Rings, has other mysterious qualities: one of its first customers was In-Q-Tel, the venture investing arm of the CIA. Palantir has also been a target of criticism over the use of its predictive surveillance technology by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency to assist in deportations as well as by a handful of domestic and international law enforcement agencies. Story continues Aside from the CIA, Palantirs US client list has included the FBI, the NSA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the marine corps, the air force, Special Operations Command, West Point and the IRS. According to a 2017 Guardian report, Palantir helped convict Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff. Palantirs multibillion-dollar valuation comes despite an unusual governance structure: the shares of its three co-founders, including Thiel, are structured in a way that concentrates the power of executives should they offload their stakes. Through Palantirs voting structure, according to securities filings, its president, Stephen Cohen, could effectively control the company by owning just 0.5% of the shares. The company has also been criticized for making multimillion loans to executives, including Cohen, that were later paid down using company shares. That has raised comparisons to WeWork, the work-share company whose IPO flamed out after the generous benefits and outsized company control of the co-founder and former CEO Adam Neumann came to light. Palantirs structure takes it to another level with concentrating power with the founders, Anita Dorett, the associate program director at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, told the Wall Street Journal. But despite these concerns, and amid a broader economy thats struggling to finding a footing in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Palantir is going public amid surging demand by investors for technology stocks. This year is looking to be one of the busiest years for IPOs on record. New public shares are mostly soaring, rising an average of 22% on their first day of trading. Issuers of US IPO listings have taken in $95bn listings through the end of Wednesday, exceeding the $84bn raised in September 2000, according to Dealogic, just as the dot-com bubble began to burst. Actor Rakul Preet Singh has arrived at the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) office after the agency summoned her in connection with the investigation into the drug angle in Sushant Singh Rajputs death. The NCB has widened its investigation and asked some A-list celebrities of the Mumbai film industry, to join the probe, an official said on Wednesday. Deepika Padukone is expected to be questioned on Saturday after having acknowledged the summons sent to her on Thursday, NCB officials said. The agency on Wednesday summoned actors Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh, among others, for questioning. Rajputs former manager Shruti Modi was also questioned. The NCB is one of the three central agencies investigating a case in connection with Rajputs death. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing Rajputs death, while Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating money laundering allegations made by the Rajputs family against actor Rhea Chakraborty, who has been arrested in the drugs case. Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund was last night said to be in talks about buying a stake in Rolls-Royce. The struggling British engineering giant reported a record annual loss of 5.4billion last month and is looking at ways to drum up 2.5billion from investors. Among its options are raising cash by issuing new shares or debt, with the Kuwait Investment Office said to be interested in buying shares, according to Sky News. Struggling British engineering giant Rolls-Royce reported a record annual loss of 5.4bn last month and is looking at ways to drum up 2.5bn from investors The talks have emerged after Singapore's Government Investment Corporation was also said to have expressed an interest. Rolls-Royce denied any decisions had been taken yet 'as to whether or when to proceed with any such options, the precise amount that may be raised, or any allotment of shares to any investor including any sovereign wealth fund'. The coronavirus pandemic has plunged the global aviation industry into crisis, with international travel still heavily restricted. That has prompted financial trouble for Rolls, which gets paid according to how many hours planes using its engines are flown. And it has been hit particularly hard because it only makes engines for larger aircraft that fly long-haul routes, which have been worst-hit in the crisis. Rolls believes business will not pick back up to 2019 levels until 2025. It has already announced plans to cut 9,000 jobs and said factories in Nottinghamshire and Lancashire will close. Experts have warned the Government could be forced to step in to save the 114-year-old firm from collapse. ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) announced yesterday that Capital Impact Partners was awarded $3.5 million in grants through the 2020 round of the CDFI Program. The organization was the 4th highest awardee among the 357 organizations recognized. The awards will enable Capital Impact Partners to expand its efforts to create new lending products for emerging developers of color in Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia (DMV), expand support for healthy food entrepreneurs across California, and increase supportive housing in the San Francisco Bay Area. "The disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 and racial injustices we have witnessed this year on communities of color require a dedicated and focused response to ensure that these communities do not lose additional assets that they bring to the table in support of strong, vibrant communities," said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners. "We are grateful for the support of the CDFI Fund to advance our work to champion equitable access to capital and opportunity through these programs." A $557,000 Financial Assistance (FA) grant was awarded to help Capital Impact Partners expand its efforts to provide acquisition and predevelopment loans to developers of color in the DMV for affordable housing projects and community facilities. It is the organization's goal to utilize the new loan products to create pathways of success for developers who have not been able to enter the real estate industry due to lack of capital, equity, and experience as a result of systemic barriers and disinvestment. This will build upon the organization's recently launched loan product called the Diversity in Development - Detroit Loan Fund. In addition, Capital Impact Partners received a $2.75 million Healthy Food Financing Initiative Financial Assistance (HFFI-FA) award to support equitable access to capital for healthy food entrepreneurs and retailers operating across California. This will build upon the organization's Michigan Good Food Fund work targeting independent grocers, local wholesalers, food hubs, processors, and mobile fresh food marts and farm stands across that state. Capital Impact Partners also received a $268,750 Disability Funds-Financial Assistance (DF-FA) award for supportive housing in the San Francisco Bay Area for people with disabilities. This will expand on the organization's focus on housing issues in the region through its participation in the Bay's Future Fund. About Capital Impact Partners: Through capital and commitment, Capital Impact Partners helps people build communities of opportunity that break barriers to success. Through mission-driven financing, social innovation programs, capacity building, and impact investing, we champion social and economic justice issues. Through this work, we help increase equitable access to quality health care and education, healthy foods, affordable housing, cooperative development, and the ability to age with dignity. Capital Impact has disbursed more than $2.8 billion since 1982. Our leadership in delivering financial and social impact has resulted in being rated by S&P Global and recognized by Aeris for our performance. Headquartered in Arlington, VA, Capital Impact Partners operates nationally, with local offices in Austin, TX, Detroit, MI, New York, NY, and Oakland, CA. Learn more at www.capitalimpact.org. SOURCE Capital Impact Partners Related Links www.ncbcapitalimpact.org Kelly Craft also hit out at Russia over virus (AP/Seth Wenig) US-China relations took another blow on Thursday when an American diplomat accused China of covering up the origins of the coronavirus pandemic during a heated United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting. Kelly Craft, US ambassador to the UN, said Communist Party officials actively suppressed knowledge of the virus, which has gone on to claim hundreds of thousands of lives and cripple economies across the globe. The Chinese Communist Partys decision to hide the origins of this virus, minimize its danger, and suppress scientific cooperation ... transformed a local epidemic into a global pandemic, she said. In a sharp rebuke, Chinas UN ambassador, Zhang Jun, accused the US of using the UN and its Security Council of spreading a "political virus and disinformation". "The US should understand that its failure in handling Covid-19 is totally its fault," he added. Ms Craft, 58, was appointed to her role by President Donald Trump, who has come under fire for his handling of the pandemic. This week, US fatalities topped 200,000, while millions of Americans remain out of work. Mr Trump, 74, has repeatedly blamed China for the pandemic as he attempts to fire up his base ahead of November's election. "We must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague on to the world - China," the US president told the UN General Assembly earlier this week. "In the earliest days of the virus China locked down travel domestically, while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world. He added: China condemned my travel ban on their country, even as they cancelled domestic flights and locked citizens in their homes. Beijing has refuted the claims, calling the US attacks an unfounded distraction. Relations between the two countries have been at their lowest ebb in decades, with continuing tensions over trade, Beijings claims in the South China Sea and its treatment of its Muslim Uighur minority. Story continues More recently, the two economic powerhouses have clashed over the social media app TikTok, which the US claims poses a threat to its national security. Chinese president Xi Jinping told the UN General Assembly his country had no intention to enter a Cold War with any country. During Thursday's Security Council meeting, Ms Craft also hit out at Russia after its diplomat suggested the US was blaming other countries for its internal woes. Shame on each of you. I am astonished and disgusted by the content of todays discussion, Ms Craft said. Some representatives were squandering this opportunity for political purposes, she added. The UN's annual New York summit was largely held online, with world leaders providing pre-recorded speeches. Read more Pompeo warns of China influence in state, local governments China blasts US House bill, denies forced labor in Xinjiang Facebook: Fake pages from China tried to disrupt US politics (Newser) A cloud of uncertainty that has hung over Rio de Janeiro throughout the pandemic has been lifted, but gloom remainsthe annual Carnival parade of flamboyant samba schools, known as the "world's biggest party," wont be held in February. And while the decision is being characterized as a postponement of the event, no new date has been set. Rios League of Samba Schools announced Thursday night that the spread of the coronavirus has made it impossible to safely hold the traditional parades that are a cultural mainstay and, for many, a source of livelihood. Rios City Hall has yet to announce a decision about the Carnival street parties that also take place across the city. But its tourism promotion agency said Sept. 17 that without a coronavirus vaccine, it is uncertain when large public events can resume. story continues below Carnival is a party upon which many humble workers depend. The samba schools are community institutions, and the parades are just one detail of all that, historian Luiz Antonio Simas tells the AP. An entire cultural and productive chain was disrupted by COVID. Brazils first confirmed coronavirus case was Feb. 26, one day after this years Carnival ended. The last year Rios Carnival was suspended was 1912, following the death of the foreign relations minister. The mayor of Rio, at the time Brazils capital, postponed by two months all licenses for the popular dance associations Carnival parties. The mayor also voiced opposition to unregulated celebrations, but many Rio residents partied in the streets anyway. (Read more Brazil stories.) When MaKiya Congious wore her Black Lives Matter mask to work at a Fort Worth Whataburger, she said the covering drew compliments from customers. According to The Washington Posts' Teo Armos, Congious reported to work on August 3 and was confronted by a white customer who took objection to her mask. The customer threatened to call Whataburger's corporate office over the covering, and Congious was told by Whataburger supervisors her mask displayed a political message and could not be worn while working. "It's not a political thing," Congious said. "It's just a statement that says, 'Black Lives Matter,' because we do matter." OUTRAGE OVER BREONNA TAYLOR RULING: Trae Tha Truth, activists speak out after Breonna Taylor ruling Congious claims she was let go from the company and had the police called on her by her while she remained inside the store, according to The Washington Post. "I asked for them to provide me details on why my mask was inappropriate. It's a solid color. It doesn't have any gang-related anything on it," she told KDFW's Lyannane Nguyen. "I asked for them to explain it to me. They couldn't explain it to me." During the dispute with her supervisor, Congious asked how to request her two-week's notice, according to Fort Worth Star Telegram's Brian Lopez. "You want to put your two weeks notice in?" a supervisor said. "We accept it, and you don't have to come back at all." Congious filed discrimination complaint Wednesday to the Texas Workforce Commission Rights Division, alleging she was let go from the company due to her race and message on her mask. In a video obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Congious captured the tense moments between her and her Whataburger managers. "Youre entitled to your personal opinions, thats fine," A supervisor said. "But at Whataburger we dont want to portray them because some people may be offended." According to a statement from Whataburger, Congious "voluntarily resigned due to a disagreement over our company uniform policy." "If we allow a non-Whataburger slogans as part of our uniforms, we have to allow all slogans," Whataburger said in a statement to KDFW on Wednesday. "This could create tension and conflict among our employees and customers. It is our job as a responsible brand to proactively keep our employees and customers safe." 'KIND OF HEARTBREAKING': Texas teacher says she was fired for wearing masks supporting Black Lives Matter In the complaint filed with the State of Texas, Congious asked for five steps of action. According to KDFW, her attorney wants to give Whataburger a chance to make things right before moving forward with a possible lawsuit. The public should boycott Whataburger for 90 days to see what actions the company takes to show that Black Lives Matter. The company should allow Black Lives Matter masks. The CEO should say Black Lives Matter to Whataburger on social media. The company should provide more implicit bias training. The company should celebrate Juneteenth starting next year. "I want other people to realize small things like this, she told KDFW. It matters because its a place, an environment were in. Congious is not the only Texan who has a lost a job over wearing a Black Lives Matter mask. Earlier this week San Antonio teacher Lillian White made news after refusing her superiors' instruction to stop wearing her Black Lives Matter mask in class. "It was stressful because I have financial obligation to help support my family," White told KENS. "It's also kind of heartbreaking that this is the kind of this is the reason I lost my job." I was at the beach with my family when my brother Austin called. His schedule at Georgetown Law School had prevented him from joining us. I slipped into an empty room at the little house we were renting and listened, astonished, as he told me he was planning a trip to Syria that summer of 2012, and he was asking me to come with him. To this day Im not sure why he asked me. We had been on some adventures together, to Glacier National Park, and in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where I have made my home, but nothing approaching these stakes. Maybe he believed that I was up for it, that I had the same adventurous spirit burning in him, and that I would leap at the chance, fresh out of college with vague plans for the future, to help him change the world. I turned him down. I couldnt imagine myself in those circumstances, untrained, lacking the war zone experience he had as a Marine Corps veteran with three tours behind him. I encouraged him to follow his heart, to bear witness to the escalating conflict in Syria. I believed in his vision, admired his grit and was behind him completely. He left in May. On Aug. 14, 2012, at a checkpoint outside Damascus, he disappeared. My family has lost eight years ... That was 2,974 days ago. I have not heard from my brother since. No one has claimed responsibility for his detention. Every single one of those days, and every day, my family wakes up hoping, praying, that this will be the last day of his captivity. Jacob, left, and Austin Tice, at Glacier National Park in Montana. I think of that call when I read about Austin now, and how easily my name could have been next to his. I think of what he has endured in captivity and of what he has missed all the birthdays, weddings and births, Thanksgivings and Christmases, that my family and I have celebrated without him. In dark moments I wonder whether maybe, maybe, I could have been the difference. Maybe I wouldve said, We shouldnt get into this car, maybe the hairs on the back of my neck wouldve stood up at the offer, and we would have gone another way. Maybe he wouldnt have stayed so long had he felt responsible for keeping me, his scrawny, inexperienced, intellectualized little brother, safe. Story continues Debra Tice and Marc Tice in 2019: How many more birthdays will our journalist son, Austin Tice, spend captive in Syria? I dont dwell on those thoughts, but they have persisted. They grew beneath the slow realization that this would not be resolved quickly, that he wouldnt be home in days, or weeks. Beneath the pride of every award he has received and every column calling for his return, they persist. The thought of what he has endured in eight years is made fresh in each one; I cannot avoid it. I could have been there. ... Don't let us lose a ninth No president in our history has been more personally committed than President Donald Trump to bringing home American citizens held abroad. Our president has made it clear, time and again: The return of Americans is a deeply personal priority for him. It was from him, this March, that America first heard Austins name said aloud by a president. My heart leapt that day. My family appreciates the powerful effort this administration is exerting to bring him home. We have felt the progress, centimeter by excruciating centimeter. Jacob Tice Now, as we approach a ninth holiday season with an empty seat at our familys Thanksgiving, a ninth Christmas spent wondering whether Austin can see the stars, my brothers and sisters and I implore you from the depths of our hearts: Please help. We beg you to reach out to your representatives in Congress. Tell them the story of the brother we love. Tell them it is a priority to see Austins safest and soonest return. Tell them to use their power to urge the president to restore Austin to our Thanksgiving table. Every second he stays in captivity cuts a deeper wound in the hearts of my family, and we can wait no longer. Help us make this summer the last he spends alone, and give 2020 a spark of brightness we so desperately need. Join the campaign. Ask about Austin Tice. Bring him home. Jacob Tice is the middle son of seven siblings. You can learn more about Austin at AustinTiceFamily.com. 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 The Ledger: Austin Tice disappearance: Bring him home from Syria by Thanksgiving Kolkata, Sep 25 : Trinamool Congress West Bengal secretary and ex-Maoist sympathiser Chhatradhar Mahato, along with 26 others, appeared before a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday in connection with the murder of CPI-M leader Prabir Mahato and holding up the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express for hours in 2009. The Rajdhani Express was detained at the Banshtala station in Jhargram on September 26, 2009 to demand the release of Chhatradhar Mahato, then a jailed leader of the Lalgarh People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA). The NIA had summoned Mahato and others for interrogation on August 28 and 29 at the Cobra Camp at Shalboni in West Midnapore district. But they did not get satisfactory answers from the Trinamool leader. According to Chhatradhar's counsel Kaushik Sinha, the former PCAPA leader was summoned in connection with two cases of 2009. "The NIA took over the case and re-registered it against Mahato, along with 30 others. Today 27 people, including Chhatradhar, came to appear before a special NIA court in Kolkata," Sinha told media persons. When asked, Chhatradhar told reporters: "The NIA special court has summoned me in connection with two old cases. I have come here to appear before the court. I shall be able to share details only after the proceedings get over." Sources said that the NIA hearing was held in a closed-door courtroom in Kolkata. In a deft political move, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inducted Chhatradhar Mahato, who was jailed in 2009 for suspected Maoist links but was released after a decade, as a secretary in the TMC. Mamata made the move to stall the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state's Jungalmahal belt, which was once Maoist dominated. Mahato was given a key Trinamool post in the district in July this year. The scientific head of the US government program designed to speed development of COVID-19 vaccines said on Thursday he supports stricter rules to grant emergency use of new inoculations against the novel coronavirus. Speaking at a meeting with Black physicians and community leaders, Operation Warp Speed scientific lead Dr Moncef Slaoui said he supports recommendations being drafted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that companies wait two months after the last administration of their vaccine before seeking emergency use authorization (EUA) of their products. Operation Warp Speed already has recommended the vaccine candidates it is supporting observe 'a two-months follow-up after completion of the immunization process before the company will consider filing for an emergency use authorization,' Slaoui said. Operation Warp Speed head Dr Moncef Slaoui said on Thursday that he and his colleagues 'completely agree with' the FDA's leaked plans to make stricter rules for giving emergency approval to a coronavirus vaccine (file) Concern is rising among public health experts and citizens that a vaccine could be rushed without proper safety checks, especially as the November presidential election nears. Dr Leon McDougle, president of the National Medical Association, on the call raised concern that the White House might block new, stricter FDA recommendations. US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he may or may not approve any new, more stringent FDA standards for an EUA of a COVID-19 vaccine. Trump has repeatedly said a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, could be ready for distribution ahead of the election. 'We completely agree with it,' Dr Slaoui said, referring to the stricter FDA regulations during a virtual Town Hall event on Thursday organized by the Rainbow Push Coalition in Atlanta. The draft FDA regulations were reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday as a way to boost transparency and public trust in the face of rising fears that the Trump administration might be interfering in the approval process, the newspaper said. According to a Pew Research Center survey earlier this month, only 32 percent of Black adults said they would definitely or probably get a COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 52 percent of White adults, 56 percent of Hispanics and 72 percent of Asian Americans. The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Dr Slaoui's statements. Pfizer Inc, which expects to have vaccine data as early as late October, said in an email that the company is committed to providing regulators with sufficient data, including the median of two months' safety data after the second dose, to be submitted on a rolling basis. Moderna Inc did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the two-month waiting period. The company has said it expects to have data on whether its vaccine works by November or possibly late October. FDA may make it HARDER to get a coronavirus vaccine approved in a move that could block Trump's plan to have a shot before Election Day FDA MAY MAKE IT HARDER TO GET A CORONAVIRUS VACCINE APPROVED IN A MOVE THAT COULD BLOCK TRUMP'S PLAN TO HAVE A SHOT BY ELECTION DAY The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to issue new, tougher requirements for its approval of a coronavirus vaccine, a move that could obliterate the chances of a shot getting emergency use authorization before Election Day, according to the Washington Post. Regulators could publish the new approval standards as early as this week, and will do so publicly in an effort to bolster Americans' eroded trust in the US to ensure the safety a COVID-19 vaccine. President Trump and his Operation Warp Speed initiative have been pushing for months to have a coronavirus vaccine approved ahead of the November 3. But according to a new Axios poll, less that less than 40 percent of Americans now say they would get a coronavirus vaccine, with most citing fears over its safety, driven by the Trump administration's concerted effort to expedite the development process. Shoring up the standards for emergency use authorization (EUA) that allowed hydroxychloroquine to slip through to the market, the FDA will now require that companies making vaccines continue to follow trial participants for at least two months after they get a second dose of a shot (if one is required), an anonymous source told the Post. That stipulation alone could easily push the timeline for submitting data for EUA back until after the election for both Pfizer and Moderna, which only began enrolling participants in their late-stage trials in late July. FDA regulators are expected to shore up approval requirements for a COVID-19 vaccine, which could make it impossible to get emergency use authorization before Election Day A source close to the matter, but who asked to remain anonymous, said that the FDA plans to add a requirement that a vaccine trial's data will only be sufficiently complete for the agency to consider approval if at least five participants in the placebo group develop severe COVID-19. That will be a key metric for the the efficacy of a vaccine against a virus that has not only spread like wildfire to nearly seven million people in the US and more than 31 million worldwide, but has killed more than 200,000 Americans. And the death toll weight heaviest upon older people. The sources also told the Post that the FDA's updated guidance will require trials to include cases of coronavirus in older Americans. Previously, the FDA's primary requirement to consider emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine was that it be at least 50 percent more effective at preventing infection than a placebo. In the simplest sense, that means that there should be at least 50 percent fewer infections in the group that got the vaccine, compared to those who were given a placebo shot. Vaccine trials require that participants go about their normal lives while scientists track how many catch the disease the shot is meant to protect them against - in this case, coronavirus. President Trump (left) has been pushing for a coronavirus vaccine to be ready by Election Day and said Thursday he may block efforts by the FDA to make vaccine approval harder. He appointed Dr Stephen Hahn (right) as commissioner of the FDA, but the agency is now attempting to reassure Americans that an expedited vaccine will still be a safe one (file) Late-stage trials being run by Moderna and Pfizer initially aimed to recruit 30,000 participants each. Both companies decided earlier this month to expand their trials by about 50 percent, to 44,000 participants. The two companies launched phase 3 testing on the same day, July 27. Pfizer currently has 29,481 participants enrolled while Moderna announced Friday that it has enrolled nearly 26,000 participants, of whom 11,879 have received both doses of vaccine. It's not clear whether the FDA's new guidance will require the companies to have followed every participant for two months after vaccination in order to get emergency use authorization, or just a portion of the participants. Moderna and Pfizer each reached the halfway mark for enrollment of their respective studies around the end of August. Still just under half of the participants in it is stud have received the second dose of Moderna's shot. At that rate, it seems nearly impossible either company's shot could get approval before the election, although Moderna anticipates it will know whether its shot works by November, and Pfizer plans to announce its results in late-October. FDA Commissioner Dr Stephen Hahn, has not addressed the possibility of new vaccine approval standards. Trump himself handpicked Dr Hahn to ascend to the head of the FDA, over-stepping presumptive commissioner Ned Sharpless. Dr Hahn, plucked from his position as an executive at Texas's renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center, has since found himself caught between politicians and scientists with regularity. He's been in Trump's crosshairs after refusing to endorse the president's claims that most coronavirus case are 'harmless,' while drawing the ire of scientists after his agency gave emergency approval to the use of coronavirus survivors' plasma to treat those who were still sick, against the National Institutes of Health's advice. After that controversial approval, Dr Hahn inaccurately pulled the statistic that plasma saved more than a third of people treated with it from an unpublished, poorly-designed study and had to apologize. Mangaluru: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police of Mangaluru on Thursday issued summons to famous Kannada TV anchor Anushree for her alleged connection in a drugs case involving choreographer Kishore Aman Shetty. "Mangaluru police arrived late in the night around 9.30 p.m. and served her the summons personally and she will be leaving going to Managaluru tomorrow morning," a senior police officer disclosed to reporters. Coastal region's famous celebrity Choreographer Kishore Shetty was arrested last week for allegedly possessing and consuming drugs. From him, the police had recovered MDMA tablets as well as LSD strips from him. Kishore Shetty rose to fame, after he acted in Bollywood super hit movie - ABCD (Anybody Can Dance) - directed by dancing sensation Prabhu Deva, He has won many TV reality dance shows too in Kannada as well as in Hindi. Mangaluru police who have dug deep into the alleged drug case involving, famous choreographer, Kishore Shetty, has already made some progress by arresting his Aska originally hails from Nagaland but now based in Dakshin Kannada, and his close aide, Tarun two days ago. The police claimed that Aska, an employee of a spa in the city, who allegedly partied with Shetty was arrested later. Based on their inputs, the Mangaluru police seem to have summoned Anushree as she used to be a star attraction in parties hosted by the Kishore various parts of Coastal region. The police believe that she knew antecedents of Kishore and his dealings, therefore, they want to interrogate her to know more details. The police added that Tarun was arrested after subjecting him to a drug test which proved positive, they said. Earlier in the day, rumours about the notice being served to Anushree via WhatsApp did round but she consistently declined it. Therefore, the Mangaluru police sent a special team to serve her the summons in person, an officer disclosed. Shetty and his aide Aqeel Nausheel were arrested on September 19 under charges of drug consumption and peddling. Boris Johnson received advice from Swedens chief epidemiologist who devised the countrys controversial approach to coronavirus just days before announcing new restrictions in an attempt to combat surging infections. According to The Spectator, Anders Tegnell attended a virtual discussion, hosted by No 10 alongside other scientists, with both the prime minister and chancellor Rishi Sunak in attendance. On Thursday, Downing Street confirmed Mr Johnson had received the briefing on Sunday, with the prime ministers official spokesman adding: "The PM has canvassed a wide variety of scientific opinion over the course of the weekend and it was part of that discussion." It comes after Mr Johnsons new measures, including a 10pm curfew on pubs, restaurants and bars, were criticised by a member of the governments Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) for not going far enough. Despite lockdowns imposed across Europe at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, Sweden rejected the approach in favour of less severe restrictions in a strategy Mr Tegnell was an architect of. The country instead placed emphasis on personal responsibility to socially distance and kept shops, bars and restaurants open. According to the European Centre for Disease Control, Sweden, a country with a population of 10 million, has recorded 5,800 Covid-19 deaths so far. The latest figures also show, as of 24 September, Sweden has a 14-day cumulative number of cases of 36.8 per 100,000, compared to 81.8 in the UK and 28.7 in neighbouring country Norway. Speaking on Wednesday, scientist Carl Heneghan director of the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine at Oxford University claimed a shift in policy was emerging from the government with the latest restrictions outlined by the prime minister. Mr Heneghan, who was also reported to have attended the No 10 meeting, told the BBC: If you look at some of the policies, what youre starting to see is a move towards Sweden. When you look at bars and restaurants, thats the policy there they have table service. However, the foreign secretary Dominic Raab dismissed suggestions the UK was shifting towards Swedens controversial approach to the pandemic, insisting: I dont accept that characterisation. And in his address to the nation earlier this week, the prime minister made clear he was still considering the prospect of a second lockdown, adding: If people dont follow the rules we have set out, then we must reserve the right to go further. Pressed on the governments approach by BBC Radio 4s Today programme and whether the Mr Johnson had lost faith in chief medical officer Chris Whitty following reports No 10 had consulted with Swedens virus expert, Matt Hancock, said: No, on the contrary I listened to your programme yesterday [it] included both John Edmunds and Carl Heneghan two scientists, both of whom I rate one arguing that we were doing too much and one arguing that we werent doing enough. The health secretary added: So thats what I always talk about being guided by the science because there are reasonable disagreements between scientists and the role of Chris Whitty as chief medical officer is to try to synthesise all that scientific advice and present what he thinks is the best possible scientific analysis and then we take decisions based on that advice. And of course listening to voices right across the board, its only natural that we should. The comments also follow warnings from Stockholms top health officials about worrying signs in the Swedish capital over a rise in cases. The downwards trend is broken, said Bjorn Eriksson, the Stockholm director of health and medical services. We can only hope that this is a blip, that the spread start decreasing again. That depends on how well we follow the guidelines. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which brought the case in June against eight insurers including Hiscox, RSA, QBE and Zurich said last week that the court had ruled in favour of policyholders arguments on a majority of key issues. When asked at a conference held by insurance buyers association Airmic if he expected the judgement to be appealed, Neal said yes, and added that cases run for a period of time because of the complexity of disputes over policy wordings, Reuters reported. Zurich and Ecclesiastical, a specialist insurer, said that the recent judgement proved they were right to deny claims, Reuters reported. But the FCA and other insurers, many of which have operations in the Lloyds market, have not yet announced formal plans to appeal on the points they lost. Both sides will have a chance to present appeal requests at a hearing on October 02. The FCA said the case could impact more than 60 insurers, 700 different types of policies and 370,000 policyholders. Meanwhile, businesses, their lawyers and insurance brokers have called on insurers to pay claims as soon as possible. Law firm Mishcon de Reya, which represents the Hiscox Action Group of small businesses, said Thursday that it had contacted the FCA to demand it use its regulatory powers if insurers are dilatory in making payments. The FCA has told insurers to make interim payments on policies where the legal process is complete, or if the claim has been accepted in full or in part, Reuters reported. CAIRO Bitcoin daily value skyrocketed Sept. 16, according to the CoinDesk website specialized in tracking cryptocurrency news. It ranged between $10,662 and $11,099, with an increase of 32% compared to its value in September 2019, when it stood at $8,085. These rapid surges may lure many Egyptians toward Bitcoin trading as a means of achieving wealth. Al-Monitor spoke to Muhammad Abd el-Baseer, Bitcoin mining and trading expert and a leading member of the Bitcoin Egypt Community, one of Egypt's professional online communities for those interested in cryptocurrency courses, advice and consultancy. Baseer confirmed a recent hike in the number of community members, considering it a sign of high demand of Bitcoin mining and trading in Egypt. He argued that the huge business shift to online work from home along with reduced working hours and curfews are encouraging thousands of Egyptians to invest their spare time in unusual online businesses like mining and trading of cryptocurrenices, most notably the bitcoin. Online work from home, reduced working hours and curfews have been imposed since March as precautionary measures against the outbreak of COVID-19 in Egypt. "The increasing number of Bitcoin miners and traders is a global phenomenon that has been one of multiple factors behind an increase in demand for bitcoins, and by extension the rise in the price of the currency itself. This allowed those who obtained it during the past year or the first months of this year at prices lower than the current one to reap unprecedented profits, and many Egyptians are eyeing these levels of profits through their investment in cryptocurrencies, he added. A Bitcoin miner, who is a member of many Bitcoin and cryptocurrency communities like Bitcoin Egypt, told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that he opted for this business after losing his job in a contracting company due to a downsizing amid the coronavirus outbreak. He invested in this trade what he managed to save over the past years. Wael al-Nahhas, economist and financial adviser to a number of investment institutions in Egypt, told Al-Monitor that he thinks unemployment and recession resulting from the spread of the coronavirus and the precautionary measures taken are the main reasons behind the youths' inclination toward Bitcoin trading and mining. Unemployment in Egypt jumped from 7.7% during the first quarter of 2020 to 9.6% during the second quarter; more than half a million Egyptians have lost their jobs. The Bitcoin miner noted that the Bitcoin mining and trading business fields are attracting thousands of Egyptians, since they do not require huge capitals to start, while the savings and the capitals of millions of Egyptians are very few in light of the country's recession. Many young Egyptians started investing in small amounts despite the increase in the value of the bitcoin. They started mining Satochi, which is 100 millionth of a bitcoin, and on a daily basis they are making profits of 4% to 5% from the difference between buying rates during the timing of demand decline and selling rates at the time of peak demand, besides some quarterly or yearly profits from unexpected hikes in bitcoin rates, he noted. Ahmed Shuair, a lecturer of economics at Cairo University, told Al-Monitor that many Egyptians have been encouraged to mine and invest in cryptocurrencies after the brokers of cryptocurrencies had been able to provide guarantees on miners' balances protection by giving electronic payment cards to all their global customers, through which any amount can be withdrawn from ATMs at any moment. These are balances linked to databases of giant companies such as VISA or Mastercard and cannot be tampered with by any broker, he said. Baseer pointed out that the steps to order a payment card, have it shipped, delivered and set to a security key, besides the steps of using it to cash out the balance of the cryptocurrency wallet into traditional currencies (like the Egyptian pound) that can be withdrawn from ATMs, are very simple and that many Egyptians have already done this. The availability of those cards and the miners ability to withdraw in real time any part of their balances have encouraged more Egyptians to join Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining and trading businesses, as it is granting its whole virtual and digitalized process of investment an easy materialistic result represented in the cash money outcome, he said. Al-Monitor searched for studies on the number of Bitcoin miners and traders in Egypt, but to no avail. However, Baseer said that more than 16,000 Egyptians have joined the community. But the number of miners in Egypt should be greater, since each one of the 16,000 may train and guide many of their friends, family and neighborhood zones, he added. However, Nahhas warned that investing in bitcoins is not safe because brokerage offices do not provide the central bank of any country, including the Central Bank of Egypt, with a cash cover or gold reserve equal to the balances deposited with it. In this case miners cannot recover their deposits and their balances from brokers if they go bankrupt or abstain from paying, he said. This is not the only risk to Egypt. There are many risks of currency encryption and the inability to track digital currency ownership, even through brokerage offices and so, some may exploit this secrecy in financing terrorism or illegal trade. This is why the Egyptian authorities are arresting and trying miners and traders of cryptocurrencies, he added. Mohamed Mohsen, an Egyptian lawyer specialized in financial lawsuits and a Bitcoin miner, told Al-Monitor that the Egyptian laws of the Central Bank or public funds are not criminalizing the dealing in cryptocurrencies, and that arresting or legally trying any Egyptian for dealing in cryptocurrencies was due to the use of cryptocurrencies in a crime such as financing terrorism or fraud. In June 2016, the authorities arrested a dentist for scamming groups of citizens by taking their money under the claim that they will invest for them in the mining of bitcoins and Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency platform. A programmer was arrested on similar charges in June 2020. Shuair said that the main danger of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies business in Egypt is the absence of a clear law that states the cases of considering mining and trading of them as a legal act and the cases of considering them fraud. On the future of Bitcoin in Egypt, he pointed out that the Central Bank of Egypt is expected to legalize cryptocurrencies soon. According to him, the Central Bank was preparing to issue a law for it in January, but the coronavirus outbreak may have changed the priorities of the bank. But Shuair noted that many Egyptians will withdraw from this business once they feel the decline of profits when cryptocurrencies markets reach customer saturation. This will make the jumps in the value of bitcoins less profitable like those of any fiat currency, he concluded. U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomefield Hills, and Republican opponent John James are waging a bitter battle in Michigan for control of a Senate seat with wide-ranging implications for the countrys future. Peters is one of two Senate Democrats up for reelection in states President Donald Trump won in 2016 -- the other being Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, challenged by Republican Tommy Tuberville. Trump won Michigan by the smallest margin of any state, making it one of the most closely watched states in the 2020 presidential election. Polls of Michigan voters consistently found Peters with an edge over James, though a tight margin between the candidates indicates the race will be competitive. Meanwhile, a statistically significant number of voters remain undecided. Poll: Trump trails Biden in Midwest battlegrounds, but undecided voters could make the difference Both candidates are backed by big-money donors who have funneled millions into attack ads this year, with a Senate majority and possibly a Supreme Court seat on the line. Its unclear whether the candidates will debate face-to-face; James and Peters committed to separate events hosted by different television stations. Based on the candidates' descriptions of each other, the 2020 election is a race between an invisible senator and a challenger with no substance. MLive arranged interviews with both candidates to get a better sense of why they should be trusted to serve as one of two U.S. Senators representing Michigan. 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 says he is one of the most bipartisan and productive senators in Congress, citing accolades from the Center for Effective Lawmaking and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The freshman senator, a U.S. Navy Reserve veteran, wants another term to lead Michigans economic recovery, reduce the cost of prescription drugs and clean up environmental contamination. I have passed more bills out of the Senate than any other senator, either Democratic or Republican; you dont normally see that from a freshman senator, Peters said in an interview. I plan to continue that robust action of getting things done, getting bills passed -- and do it in a bipartisan way. James describes himself to voters as a personification of the American dream, retelling his familys generational triumph over slavery, sharecropping and segregation to eventually build a business in Detroit. James served in the U.S. Army before becoming president of James Group International, an auto supply chain management business. James argues Peters has failed to produce much for constituents and is running to fix issues that he could have addressed during his first term in the Senate. Much of James' policy agenda deals with bringing economic independence to neglected corners of the state, including rural areas and urban communities. We need to be able to make America a more hospitable place to do business, not by increasing the tax rate, but increasing the tax base, James said. I think the way you do that is by creating a regulatory, tort and tax environment that is conducive to doing business and entrepreneurship. Trump offered James his total and complete endorsement during a September rally in Saginaw County. Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris endorsed Peters during their visits to Michigan this month. Former President Barack Obama endorsed Peters on Friday. Health care The fate of the Affordable Care Act and pre-existing conditions protections have been a major talking point in Michigans Senate race. James wanted to repeal and replace the ACA during his 2018 campaign. In 2020, James said he favors fixing aspects of the Obama-era law that prohibit individual choice and drive up costs, while keeping protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Democrats have criticized James for not being specific about what this means, especially if the ACA is struck down through a legal challenge set to come before the Supreme Court in November. James told MLive he supports a market-based, patient-centered approach. James has frequently used that phrase when asked by reporters to clarify his position. All that means is your healthcare should belong to you, like your healthcare or your house, and should follow you, he said. I think patients should have the choice and power, not the federal government or insurance companies. I think through tort and regulatory reform, we can increase quality and increased choice. We can decrease cost by increasing competition and transparency for both." James declined to answer whether he supports the lawsuit, which asks the court to deem the ACA unconstitutional. Well, it sounds to me like this is out of my hands, certainly as a candidate running for U.S. Senate, but what I can say is I will always support protecting people with pre-existing conditions, James said. Peters has acknowledged the ACA has issues and expressed support to make improvements through legislation, lowering the cost of prescription drugs being one example. Peters said he does not support a government-run Medicare for All" system, instead favoring an option letting people obtain Medicare coverage. Peters introduced legislation this year to reduce the nations reliance on foreign drug manufacturers. After being in a pandemic and understanding the gaps that exist in health care, we need to fill those gaps, make sure that everybody in this country, no matter who they are, no matter where they live, have access to quality, affordable health care, Peters said. Federal COVID-19 relief Both candidates have stressed the need for bipartisan action to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Peters voted for, and James supported, the $2 trillion CARES Act passed in March with broad bipartisan support. Peters joined Senate Democrats in blocking a $500 billion relief package earlier this month. The Republican-backed bill was a scaled-down version of a $1 trillion relief package Senate Republicans proposed in July, and Democrats said the cuts failed to help state and local governments or provide other assistance to individuals. Tuesday, Peters called on his colleagues to pass meaningful legislation in a speech on the Senate floor. Peters said the pandemic should take priority over filling a Supreme Court vacancy. James also cited pandemic relief as a top priority the U.S. Senate should focus its remaining time on. However, he did not take a position on whether a Supreme Court nominee should be filled before the election. Peters told MLive any relief bill must include support for schools, small businesses, state and local governments; a boosted $600 monthly unemployment benefit and expanded testing. The bill Peters voted against this month included a $300 unemployment benefit. Theres no way we get a robust recovery in the economy of small businesses dont survive the pandemic, Peters said. James said hes pandemic funding should be directly tied to COVID-caused concerns, and not be sued to bail out states that already faced budget issues. James also said funds for small businesses, childcare and nutrition assistance should be a part of the next relief bill. James said he also favors offering a $600 monthly unemployment benefit as a way to incentivize good faith negotiations with Democrats in Congress. Workers are concerned for their lives and people are going to make the best economic decisions for themselves and their families," James said. Those people who keep our economy running, small businesses, entrepreneurs, farmers are squeezed. We have to figure out how to accommodate people who feed us and the people who keep us healthy and safe. Meanwhile, James said Americans are being punished for inaction in Washington. We need to have solutions now, James added. Actually, we needed to have solutions a couple of months ago. We cant act quickly enough. Peters didnt commit to a funding total for the next round of federal aid, but said the money is well spent. When you have to weigh the price tag with doing nothing, and if the economy continues to falter and continues to go down and continues to dig a hole, it ends up being a whole lot more expensive to try to get out, Peters said. The Senator noted the 2017 Republican-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated $2 trillion in federal revenue, which could have been used during the pandemic. "When times are good you put some money in savings and when times are bad you draw on your savings, Peters said. "We did not see that kind of fiscal management from President Trump and Republicans with the passage of that tax bill. Peters said the bill created a huge tax break for wealthy Americans. He expressed support for rolling back the tax cuts to a certain extent" but didnt commit to scrapping the entire bill, something suggested by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. U.S. Postal Service Peters has taken a leading role in scrutinizing the impact of new operational policies implemented by the U.S. Postal Service this year. He launched an investigation that concluded mail service across the country was delayed starting in July and hasnt fully recovered. In a hearing convened at Peters' request, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said operational changes were implemented to cut costs. The USPS has faced significant financial issues for more than a decade, with $11 billion in losses estimated for this year. Its no secret that the USPS has is in an unsustainable financial condition. Peters was briefed on the situation and acknowledged the need for reforms in committee hearings held years before the more recent controversy. James criticized Peters for doing little to fix the cash-strapped Postal Service in recent months. He noted that Peters said issues with the Postal Service should be fixed in months, not years, during a 2016 committee hearing. Senator Gary Peters himself has had the job of oversight for years, and when briefed on some of the issues that the U.S. Postal Service had failed to act," James said. Peters said Republicans walked away from negotiations to reform USPS last year, but he wants to give it another shot. We want to be as flexible as possible going into negotiations with folks and I think there is a core group of Republicans that I can work with, Peters said. One of the key elements is ending a requirement that the USPS pre-fund retiree health benefits, Peters said. The postmaster general also said the requirement is a major financial liability. Peters said he supports making investments in new delivery vehicles and other capital needs to improve efficiency. The senator said the deferred investment is costing the Postal Service every day. READ MORE ON MLIVE: Michigans U.S. Senate candidates talk COVID recovery, police reform in town hall Gary Peters starts motorcycle campaign road trip to tout achievements in U.S. Senate How Michigans U.S. Senate candidates are fighting to earn the votes of their fellow military veterans More Michigan candidate and voting information can be found here: Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has ordered a vigilance probe into the allegation of commission in connection with the Life Mission project at Wadakkanchery. "The state government has decided to order a vigilance probe. Vigilance director will conduct a preliminary enquiry into the allegation that middlemen took a commission in connection with Wadakkanchery Life Mission project," said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. It was during the probe into the gold smuggling case that the corruption in Wadakkanchery Life Mission project came to the fore with a statement of the accused Swapna Suresh opening up a new controversy. Allegations were raised by the opposition that huge amount was paid as commission in the project to build 140 apartments in Wadakkanchery with the help of Red Crescent. The opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala who demanded that MoU with Red Crescent be made public today said he is resigning from the post of special invitee in the Life Mission task force. Demanding a CBI probe, Chennithala said that a Vigilance probe by the state government would not bring out the truth. "The opposition had demanded a CBI probe into the incident and we stick to the demand. Vigilance has its limitation to probe a case with international links," he said. Netflix India has released the first trailer for Ginny Weds Sunny, a new wedding-themed comedy acquired by the streaming service for release on October 9. The film stars Yami Gautam and Vikrant Massey as a couple looking for suitable life partners. The two-and-a-half minute trailer introduces Ginny and Sunny, who meet for a potential arranged marriage, but when Ginny turns him down, Sunny embarks on a journey to win her affections by teaming up with her mother. The trailer features several song-and-dance numbers, slice-of-life comedy, and the easy chemistry of its leads. There are also cameos by Mika Singh and Badshah, perhaps, playing themselves in a music sequence. It was a blast playing Ginny as she is a headstrong girl, not letting anyone or anything ever let her down, Yami said in a statement. Vikrant, describing himself as a quintessential Punjabi boy from Delhi, said, While he cooks great dishes in the kitchen, life does not have the perfect recipe in story for Sunny. He wants to get married but the challenge of winning over Ginny is more formidable than he signs up for. Also read: Vikrant Massey on star kids: They dont have to sit in the sun, they dont have to audition Ginny Weds Sunny is directed by Puneet Khanna, written by Navjot Gulati and Sumit Arora; and also stars Ayesha Raza, among others. This is Vikrants third Netflix project in a row, after the sci-fi drama Cargo and Alankrita Shrivastavas Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare. Among Netflixs recent Hindi releases were Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Raat Akeli Hai and Janhvi Kapoors Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl. Nawaz will return with Sudhir Mishras Serious Men on October 2. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.25 Trend: Azerbaijani Ambassador to Mexico Mammad Talibov presented his credentials to the countrys President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Embassy in Mexico. Noting that the main task set by the leadership of Azerbaijan is the further development of relations between the two countries, Talibov emphasized the existence of traditionally friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Mexico. He reminded that the first Azerbaijani embassy in the Latin American region was established in Mexico, and the only diplomatic mission of this country in the South Caucasus region operates in Azerbaijan. The ambassador said that mutually beneficial cooperation exists between the two countries, both in a bilateral format and within the framework of international organizations. Speaking about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Talibov stressed that this is currently the most important issue for Azerbaijan. The position of Mexico on the conflict, based on international law, support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan is highly appreciated by our country, he added. Noting the interest of Azerbaijan in developing economic and trade relations with Mexico, the ambassador said that Azerbaijan has extensive experience in the field of energy production and is ready to cooperate with Mexico in this area. Talibov pointed out that Azerbaijan is the initiator and main participant of global energy and infrastructure projects, including the construction of the largest oil refinery in Turkey and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. The ambassador also added that Azerbaijan is ready to share its experience in the construction of the Dos Bocas oil refinery, which is very important for Mexico, and the construction of the Tren Maya railway. The Mexican President Obrador stated that all-round opportunities exist for expanding relations between the two countries in many areas, and instructed Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrara, who was present at the meeting, to ensure familiarizing the ambassador with the implementation of both above-mentioned projects. Ebrara noted the successful experience of cooperation between the two countries in various fields and stressed Azerbaijan's support to Mexico's candidacy for non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council for 2021-2022, as well as his country's support for Azerbaijan's initiative to convene a special session of the UN General Assembly dedicated to the coronavirus pandemic. During the meeting, the Azerbaijani diplomat informed the president of Mexico about the Alat Free Economic Zone. He noted that its creation opens up wide opportunities for Mexican companies in terms of increasing business activity in the region where Azerbaijan is located. Talibov added that opportunities for cooperation between the two countries also exist in the fields of culture, tourism, education, science, and agriculture. Voting for Bihar assembly elections will be held in three phases first on October 28, second on November 3 and the third on November 7 while counting of all votes will take place on November 10, the Election Commission announced on Friday. Announcing the poll schedule for the 243-member Bihar assembly, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said, There was no end to the battle against coronavirus, thus some way had to be found a way to balance the democratic rights of people to elect a public representative and also keep public health in place. Check full schedule here. He said these will be one of the biggest elections globally to be held during the prevailing Covid-19 situation. He said the world has changed significantly since the last elections which were held for Delhi assembly and the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a new normal in every aspect of our life. Arora said polling will be held on 71 seats in the first phase, 94 seats in second phase, 78 seats in third phase. The term for the Bihar assembly ends on November 29. Defending the elections being held in the middle of the pandemic, Arora called it a leap of faith" and said it was not a leap in the dark, pointing out that medical and engineering exams JEE and NEET also took place recently. Life has to go on," he told reporters. He said a number of crucial steps have been taken keeping Covid-19 situation in mind. Compared to 2015 where there were 65,337 polling booths, there are more than a lakh polling booths this time around, and not more than 1,000 voters per booth will be allowed compared to 1,500 earlier. Bihar has recorded an electorate count of 7.29 crore for these polls. He said the number of phases have been reduced this time around. We tried to make sure there is minimum travel of security personnel from other parts of the country to cut down infection risk. Also period of election and phases shortened. We have also kept festival season in mind before finalising the dates," he said. Among the steps taken are an extra voting hour, separate voting for Covid-19 patients, suspects and those in quarantine, and no physical contact during the campaign, he announced. Polling time has been increased to 7am to 6pm, he said, except in areas affected by left-wing extremism. Here are some of the precautionary steps taken by the EC: - Covid-19 patients can vote at booths in the last one hour that too under the supervision of a health officer. - Nodal health officials will be appointed at all districts. - Candidates can file nomination both online and offline, security money can also be submitted digitally. Election certificate can be procured digitally. - All election Meetings must be held with social distancing following health protocol. It will be monitored at all levels. - All physical contact has been prohibited. - All door-to-door meeting should be restricted to 5 persons, including candidate. Not more than two can be present with candidate during nomination. - Seven lakh hand sanitisers, 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh face shields and 23 lakh pairs of hand gloves have been arranged for Bihar polls, - Postal ballot facility will be provided wherever required and requested. My message to younger adults is to understand that they may play a role in the transmission of COVID-19 to family and friends and others in their communities, and they play an important role in our ability to contain the pandemic, said Tegan K. Boehmer, an epidemiologist and lead author of the CDC study. When close to half the companies in the United Kingdom have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 17x, you may consider John Wood Group PLC (LON:WG.) as a stock to avoid entirely with its 40.3x P/E ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so lofty. With earnings that are retreating more than the market's of late, John Wood Group has been very sluggish. It might be that many expect the dismal earnings performance to recover substantially, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason. Check out our latest analysis for John Wood Group pe If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on John Wood Group. Does Growth Match The High P/E? John Wood Group's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very strong growth, and importantly, perform much better than the market. Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 26% 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. Therefore, it's fair to say that earnings growth has been inconsistent recently for the company. Shifting to the future, estimates from the analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 68% each year over the next three years. With the market only predicted to deliver 15% per year, the company is positioned for a stronger earnings result. In light of this, it's understandable that John Wood Group's P/E sits above the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock. The Final Word We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations. Story continues We've established that John Wood Group maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/E as they are quite confident future earnings aren't under threat. It's hard to see the share price falling strongly in the near future under these circumstances. Plus, you should also learn about these 2 warning signs we've spotted with John Wood Group (including 1 which doesn't sit too well with us). You might be able to find a better investment than John Wood Group. If you want a selection of possible candidates, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a P/E below 20x (but have proven they can grow earnings). 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. Photo-Illustration: CBS Television Distributor One of our first jobs in writing A Very Special 90210 Book: 93 Absolutely Essential Episodes From TVs Most Notorious Zip Code was to whittle down the seminal teen dramas 292 (!) episodes to the truly indispensable outings everyone remembers. This wasnt all that arduous a task once we chucked most of the last three seasons and their soapy pill addictions and gambling rings. Plus, a handful of the core Bev Niner gangs adventures have lodged in the collective cultural memory like poppy seeds at the gumline. Such moments as: a betrayed Brenda (Shannen Doherty) hollering at Kelly (Jennie Garth) and Dylan (the late Luke Perry) that she hates them both, then Brenda-stomping to the horizon; the shows golden boy, Brandon (Jason Priestley), getting dosed with U4EA at a rave while Steve (Ian Ziering) and Andrea (Gabrielle Carteris) drive all over the 213 trying to exchange an egg. Even some of David Silvers (Brian Austin Green) terrible music has become iconic. But one episodes cheese stands alone as the most emblematic of the series at its best and worst the episode nearly everyone who was alive at the time recalls, even if they arent sure why. Its such a classic that its the prototype recap we included in the books proposal: Season Three, Episode 28, officially titled Something in the Air but known to a generation as Donna Martin Graduates. Why this one? What makes Donna Martin Graduates a legend? The plot in a nutshell, in case youre under 35, is that Donna Martin (bosss daughter, Tori Spelling) got wasted on Champagne at the prom in the previous episode, and despite her friends best efforts, shes busted by the principal and told she cant walk in graduation with her classmates. Something in the Air turns that sentence into a cause duh-lebre for not just Brandon and the Gang but the entire school. The episode aired during May sweeps in 1993; it features the core gang in their senior year, during the shows popularity peak; it lets Brandon show off his leadership skills; and it throws Tori Spelling a bit of serious-acting meat, while also kicking off the characterization of Saint Donna, Universally Beloved Virgin (Until She Isnt). If you want even more Beverly Hills, 90210, join us tonight, September 25, at 7 p.m. ET for a virtual trivia night with McNally Jackson. But for now, return with us to simpler times, before smartphones and hashtags (#TeamEphardt), when the fate of a ditz with no tolerance riveted a nation. Following her disastrous failure to carbo-load before booze in A Night to Remember, Donna is suspended from school. Theres a disciplinary hearing yet to contend with although this pales in comparison to the Ire of Felice, directed as it is not only at Donna but also at Mel Silver for giving the kids the goof juice in the first place. And we live for the logicproof dudgeon of Felice Martin not least because theres still lingering awk between Brandon and Andrea after they totally didnt Do It, again, at prom, and Felice strapping her bitch on is just easier to watch. But it looks like Donna wont get to graduate with her classmates, and this is a fair and fitting outcome! Donna should have gone to summer school and picked up her diploma on some anonymous August morning because she broke the rules, and rules apply to everyone, even dumb babies! Donna herself seems to agree, but this is not how it shakes out, for two reasons: The actor playing Donna is the bosss daughter, and Beverly Hills, 90210, could seldom resist positioning golden boy Brandon as a defender of the downtrodden. The rationale for his entering the bray er, fray this time is more baffling than the customary Brandon learns two things about an issue, then takes it up with the humorless zealotry of the convert M.O. of his activism. Here, hes taking up Donnas cause in part because the rising seniors on the Blaze razz Brandon and the rest of the Class of 1993 for their alleged slacker attitude toward capital-I Issues, inspiring Ace to show them he really does care, especially about his friends. If that rationale sounds weird and tortured, well, it is, but the writers have to find some reason to turn Donnas situation into A Movement when she broke clearly stated rules. A Very Special 90210 Book: 93 Absolutely Essential Episodes from TVs Most Notorious Zip Code, by Tara Ariano and Sarah D. Bunting. Given Brandons 99-percenter attitude toward his twins trip-to-Paris reward for acting out earlier this season, its a bit weird that hed lead a literal March on the School Board on behalf of Donna, the fellow Gangster hes probably least close with. Also, Donnas so-called martyrdom is horseshit. First of all, as putative villain Superintendent Ephardt points out during Donnas hearing, The no-drinking rule was passed unanimously by this board. What kind of message do you think it sends when the first student who breaks it gets off? WELL, REALLY. Donna knew the rule; she broke the rule. But no, after Gil makes yet another unnecessary appeal to Brandons innate leadership (barf), it turns into A Whole Movement, with future disgraced Senator Seldom Right and Wrong Again at its obnoxious and self-congratulatory helm, and it has the following repellent outcomes: (1) Even though he changes his mind later thanks to peer pressure, Dylan initially points out that nobody is going to (read: should) care about a poor little rich girl puking at prom, and hes going to focus on getting into Berkeley, and the fact that we agree with Dylan on anything is disorienting; (2) the Donna Martin Graduates episode is ground zero for the Donna-fluffing (shes so pretty! Her fashion designs kick ass!) that came to dominate the postcollege era of the show, kicked off here with a clonky line from Brenda about how she never knew how much everyone at West Beverly loved Donna; (3) it inflates Brandons already metastatic sense of self-importance the junior editors on the paper, Mrs. Teasley, everyone defers to him as the point man, an impression hes happy to further by holding up his hand to silence the 500 people in the board meeting. (He also compares his father to Spiro Agnew, a reference that would have gotten these authors sent to their rooms had it made sense; reader, it does not.) Ephardt threatens to call parents and police and to get college recs and acceptances revoked, and to this day we dont understand why he doesnt. But: He doesnt, and the board votes in Donnas favor. The juniors get the dress-code repeal they backroom-dealt for with Brandon. Donna gets to pin a mortarboard to the back of her overprocessed head like its Jersey in the 80s. Great meritocracying, everyone! Excerpt from the new book A Very Special 90210 Book: 93 Absolutely Essential Episodes from TVs Most Notorious Zip Code, by Tara Ariano and Sarah D. Bunting, published by Abrams Image 2020 Tara Ariano and Sarah D. Bunting. Tolentino bats for online Bar examinations amid pandemic Amid uncertain times due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Senator Francis "Tol" Tolentino is pushing for the conduct of the Bar Examination via online for the safety of the examinees. Tolentino made his proposal to Supreme Court Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta during the hearing on the judiciary's 2021 budget. The senator, who is also a lawyer, said online Bar examinations are being considered in various places in the United States, such as Michigan, District of Columbia, Louisiana and New York. The Chief Magistrate said the High Court is also looking into the possibility of implementing an online Bar examination for next scheduled test on November 2021, which will be held simultaneously in Manila and two other sites in Visayas and Mindanao. "Next year probably, not this year, wala na this year," Peralta told Tolentino. Currently, Peralta said the judiciary allows fourth year law students to appear in Court with the assistance of a supervising lawyer, but insisted that one has to pass the Bar exam before becoming a full-fledged lawyer. Oklahoma has announced the procurement of a statewide threat intelligence sharing platform, giving its Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) a new tool by which to improve its overall cybersecurity posture.OMES's new partnership is with security vendor Anomali, whose flagship platform ThreatStream will help share threat data with public agencies, municipal offices, and police departments throughout the state.All public organizations are targeted by nefarious actors with extreme frequency, Oklahoma is no exception. Since the beginning of the current global health crisis, weve experienced a spike in related attacks, said Matt Singleton, the state's CISO, in a statement. Anomali will show us who the attackers are, when they are coming after us, and provide context needed to prioritize and speed our response to the most serious threats we face.Threat sharing has long been a crucial part of cybersecurity, but it hasn't always been an easy process to streamline. Sharing information effectively requires the ability to cut through the noise to sort through large amounts of data, identify what is relevant (and what isn't), and convert it into actionable intelligence. Threat intelligence platforms (TIPs) have become popular in recent years showing how automation and algorithms can be leveraged to aid human cyberanalysts in their quest for greater clarity.Like a lot of companies in its industry, Anomali promises its platform can solve some of the persistent issues that thwart analysts, allowing them to more effectively collect, organize and manipulate large amounts of threat data and operationalize it towards their strategic security goals.ThreatStream can ingest raw Threat Intelligence data from a wide variety of sources, including hundreds of commercial and community Threat Intelligence feeds, structured documents such as spreadsheets and databases, and unstructured documents, said Anomali CEO Hugh Njemanze, in an email. Among other things, it makes it easy to ingest Intelligence from disparate sources into one system, while taking advantage of machine learning algorithms to weed out false positives or 'red herrings' from the data, greatly improving signal to noise.Oklahoma's Cyber Command, which operates from within the Information Services Division of OMES, includes a Security Operations Center (SOC) which is responsible for monitoring threats throughout its environment. With ThreatStream, the SOC will be able to more effectively communicate about those threats to entities throughout the state. That's a good thing, given the new challenges the novel coronavirus has created for secure governance.Njemanze explained that as indicated by Anomali's new partnership with Oklahoma, his company had seen a definite rise in interest since the beginning of the pandemic. The public health crisis has "resulted in several new threats," he said, noting the uptick in unemployment fraud and phishing schemes that have pervaded the public sector in recent months.Like a lot of other states, Oklahoma has had its share of cybersecurity issues this year. Just two weeks ago, hackers wormed their way into a public school data system operated by OMES, managing to deface the system's landing page (while no data was apparently compromised, it was surely an unsettling incident for security staff, nonetheless). At the same time, the state has also struggled with its fair share of COVID-related security issues, including ransomware attacks and unemployment fraud via a notorious Nigerian hacker ring "Invariably, when we start talking about intelligence sharing I get asked the question, 'Does it really matter?'" said Singleton, speaking Thursday at a webinar about the new partnership. Singleton launched into an explanation of why it does: a critical element in the fight against the recent COVID-related cyberschemes has been threat intel, he said. "Every state has been struggling with this, but we're actually using intelligence to better inform our defense, our preventative efforts and [security] controls we've put in place, and really to inform our investigations," said Singleton, explaining that to combat such new threats, knowing who the bad actors are and how they are operating is critical. China is allowing full foreign ownership of life insurers, futures and mutual fund companies this year -- in stages. Foreign ownership caps for securities firms came off April 1 as part of the trade agreement signed with the U.S. in January. China also pledged to take no longer than 90 days to decide on applications from electronic-payment service providers, including for wholly foreign-owned operations. Regulators cleared the way for full takeovers of local banks by foreigners in 2019, a year after it eased ownership caps. Foreign companies can now also be lead underwriters for all types of bonds, and can control wealth management firms, pension fund managers and inter-dealer brokers. The Shanghai-London Stock Connect officially kicked off in June 2019, allowing companies listed on one bourse to trade shares on the other. (Almost a year later, however, only a single company had taken advantage of it.) An earlier program linked Hong Kong with the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges. Is it really a surprise that people were frustrated and abusive while waiting in ridiculously long lineups for COVID-19 testing this week? No one condones bad behaviour. But when people are so desperate for a test whether they need it for their child to return to school, or for themselves to be able to work that they start lining up at 2:30 a.m., something is badly wrong. And when that centre closes for the day 15 minutes before its scheduled 7:30 a.m. opening time as happened this week because the centre is overwhelmed with people needing tests something is even more wrong. Grand River Hospital, which operates the Kitchener drive-thru testing centre on Glasgow Street, is rightly concerned about a significant amount of abuse being inflicted on staff from the frustrated people waiting for tests. Staff are doing the best they can to get the most people seen as quickly as possible, said Cheryl Evans, hospital representative. The volume is just too high. Well, no. The volume isnt too high. Instead, the service is too low. That, of course, isnt the fault of the staff at the facility. Nor is it the fault of the people whose already difficult lives require having a negative test result so that they can return to work, school or daycare. They have a right to services. The blame for this problem belongs squarely to the health authorities and particularly the Ontario government, which manages and funds health care. Last spring, at the beginning of the pandemic, we didnt know what we were dealing with. We didnt know how the virus would behave. We hadnt yet built the test infrastructure. We were scrambling for test capacity and trying to make sure results came back in a timely manner. A delay was completely understandable. But now there are no excuses for not being prepared. We knew this was coming. We knew that with students returning to school, and with more indoor events, there would be a new surge of the disease. And the government of Premier Doug Ford has done something about it. Just not for us. The government has made arrangements for 53 drugstores to offer free COVID tests, starting Friday, to ease some of the pressure. Its only for people who dont have symptoms, but should cut wait times in the other testing centres. But the drugstores, including Shoppers Drug Mart and Rexall, are all located in Toronto, Ottawa, their suburbs, and Huntsville (this last cottage-country community was presumably chosen so as not to inconvenience any Toronto-based cottage owners). There are nine such drugstores in Brampton, eight each in Toronto and Mississauga, seven in Ottawa, six in Scarborough and four in Orleans. By contrast, there are none in Waterloo Region or anywhere in southwestern Ontario. None in Niagara or Hamilton. None in Northern Ontario. What a cruel form of geographic discrimination. Its possible that there is a reasonable explanation for this, but the government doesnt appear to be anxious to discuss it. I emailed Alexandra Hilkene, representative of Health Minister Christine Elliott and the person listed under Media Contacts in the press release, to ask why there were no new test sites for Waterloo Region, and what the plan was to increase capacity for us. Three hours later I was sent a note advising that I should ask another email address. There wasnt even the name of a person to talk to. I sent my questions and was not surprised when I got no answer by my deadline. During this pandemic, Ford has earned a lot of trust from the people of Ontario with his compassionate yet common-sense-based response. A move like this corrodes that relationship. He needs to fix it, pronto. The California Horse Racing Board conducted a meeting by teleconference on Thursday, September 24. The public participated by dialing into the teleconference and/or listening through the audio webcast link on the CHRB website. Chairman Gregory Ferraro chaired the meeting, joined by Vice Chairman Oscar Gonzales and Commissioners Dennis Alfieri, Damascus Castellanos, Brenda Washington Davis, and Wendy Mitchell. The audio of this entire Board meeting is available on the CHRB Website (www.chrb.ca.gov) under the Webcast link. In brief: Chairman Ferraro and others welcomed Commissioner Davis to her first meeting since her August 26 appointment to the Board by Governor Gavin Newsom. The Board approved license applications for four race meets, all of which are scheduled to be run without fans in attendance due to COVID-19 and under strict protocols established by local health officials designed to protect all racing participants. As approved: The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club will run its fall meet beginning October 31 through November 29 with mostly three-day racing weeks, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Watchandwager.com will run a harness meet at Cal Expo beginning November 21 through December 19 with mostly two-day racing weeks, Fridays and Saturdays. Pacific Racing Association II will run an extended thoroughbred meet at Golden Gate Fields (GGF) due to the reallocation of race dates that have been relinquished by the Big Fresno Fair. The additional two weeks extend the current race meet to October 18. After the conclusion of the current meet, including the additional dates relinquished by the Big Fresno Fair, Pacific Racing Association will run a separate thoroughbred meet at GGF beginning October 22 through December 13, all four-day race weeks, Thursday through Sunday. The Board approved agreements between the Thoroughbred Owners of California and the racing secretaries at GGF and Del Mar regarding entry conditions limiting specific drug substances for entered horses. Dr. Rick Arthur, equine medical director, advised he was in constant contact with management at Los Alamitos, GGF, and Del Mar and with safety personnel at those locations pertaining to heat conditions and also air quality issues created by widespread fires. There were no heat-related problems with horses during the recent heat wave throughout California, but air quality conditions caused a major reduction in training and also prompted GGF to cancel one weekend of racing. Santa Anita postponed the start of its fall meet by one week to September 25. Dr. Arthur stressed the relationship between racehorse injury and rider safety, an issue he raised due to the serious injuries sustained by jockey Vinnie Bednar. He reminded the Board that research at the University of California, Davis, confirmed the relationship between horse injury and jockey injury and noted that a video on Racing Injury Prevention can be viewed on the CHRB website. He also advised that a GoFundMe account has been established for Bednar. Executive Director Scott Chaney reported serious concerns with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act that is moving swiftly through Congress. These concerns were echoed by some commissioners. Chaney said safety rules and protocols in California are the strictest in the nation. Therefore, national standards, as called for in HISA, may actually be less strict. Chaney reminded everyone that a revised rule governing use of the riding crop will go into effect October 1. The CHRB issued a news release earlier on this subject. He also noted improvements to the CHRB website pertaining to the listing of equine fatalities and a list of reforms that are either completed or in process for the protection of horses and riders. For continuity purposes, the Board temporarily suspended through December 25 the new rule prohibiting Lasix in two-year-olds, which will only impact quarter horses. In compliance with a procedural matter raised by the Office of Administrative Law, the Board re-approved a rule strictly limiting the use of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) on racehorses. The Board suspended Rule 1845(h), which required syringes used to administer Lasix on race day be retained. An amendment permanently eliminating the requirement will be heard in October. In two separate but related actions, the Board authorized Los Alamitos to distribute a total of $26,580 in race day charity proceeds to four beneficiaries. The Board authorized Los Alamitos Equine Horse Sale, LLC, to conduct horse sales at Los Alamitos on October 3 and 4. Public comments made during the meeting can be accessed through the meeting audio archive on the CHRB website (CHRB) Jennifer Hosten Misbehaviour Jennifer Hosten (center) after being crowned Miss World in 1970 Credit - Courtesy of Jennifer Hosten & Sutherland House Books When Jennifer Hosten first arrived in the U.K. from Grenada for the 1970 Miss World contest, she had no idea there would be such a media frenzy around the competitionand its participants. She quickly realized that she would have to do the best she could to stand out. Women from small countries, and particularly women of color, like myself, really were not expected to be more than a number in the contest, she tells TIME, looking back 50 years later. But Hosten not only stood outshe went on to take home the top honors, becoming the first Black woman to win the international beauty pageant since it was established in 1951. But that wasnt the only thing that made the 1970 competition, which took place in Londons Royal Albert Hall, different from years past. It also featured two contestants from South Africa at the height of apartheid: Pearl Janssen, a Black woman who came in second in the competition behind Hosten, and Jillian Jessup, a white woman. And it was disrupted on the night of the competition by British womens liberation protesters. Those events, as well as Hostens experience, are the subject of a new film by director Philippa Lowthorpe, Misbehaviour, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Hosten and Keira Knightley and Jessie Buckley as real-life feminist activists Sally Alexander and Jo Robinson. The contest was watched by more than 22 million people in the U.K., and more than 100 million people worldwide, and has since been considered a touchstone in the womens liberation movement in the U.K.. Just four months later, in March 1971, thousands of women, men and children took part in the movements first major demonstration in London. Very pragmatic expectations Jennifer Hosten and Bob Hope Courtesy of Jennifer Hosten & Sutherland House Books Hosten grew up under British rule in Grenada, then a colonial island in the West Indies, which gained independence in 1974. In her autobiography published earlier this year, Miss World 1970: How I Entered a Pageant and Wound Up Making History, Hosten describes how she worked as an airline attendant and had an interest in broadcast journalism as a young woman, before a friend encouraged her to enter the Miss Grenada competition, which was a stepping stone to the Miss World contest. Story continues But not everyone had such favorable views of Miss World. That competition is one big fat celebration of oppression, says Buckleys character Jo Robinson in the film, as the British feminist activists prepare to protest the contest on the grounds that it was antiquated, sexist and objectified women. Hosten says she was familiar with the womens liberation movement and shared an affinity on one level with the protesters around the universal struggles that women still face today, such as equal pay and opportunities. But looking back, their actions around the contest were hard to understand; Hosten, who was 23 at the time, saw her participation in the contest as her own choice, not one that was being made for her, nor one that was exploitative. I saw [the contest] as an opportunity, to travel, to represent Grenada, and to make some money if I won. I had some very pragmatic expectations. I saw it less as objectification, but I think that some of the experiences during the contest made us think that way for sure, she says. When I first arrived, it wasnt my thought that I was being exploited. If I had thought that, I wouldnt have taken part. The contest also took place against the political backdrop of the Vietnam War, and one of the prizes for the newly crowned Miss World was a tour of Vietnam with Bob Hope to entertain U.S. troops, which Hosten did later in 1970. There was also the fact that Pearl Janssen, the Black representative from South Africa (who was given the title Miss Africa South), had been sent almost as a totem from her country, says Hosten. For Hosten, that should have been the issue for the womens liberation movement to focus on instead, and she says the protesters never reached out to the contestants to explain what they were trying to do. A huge step forward Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Jennifer Hosten in 'Misbehaviour' Pathe The night of the competition saw the womens liberation protesters, including Alexander and Robinson, sneak into the Royal Albert Hall venue incognito, with flour, vegetables and flyers in their handbags, ready to launch the protest when all the Miss World contestants were on-stage. In an interview earlier this year, the women said that their intention was to criticize the contest organizers, not the contestants, and that staging the protest that way would have maximum impact on the night. Yet the protesters became infuriated when host Bob Hope started telling misogynistic jokes, and they decided to launch the protest early while Hope was doing his bit, putting a pause to the proceedings for about 15 minutes. It was a shock when we looked through the curtain and saw what was going on, says Hosten. Our initial reaction was wondering whether the contest was going to continue, or whether that would be the end and if all our preparations had been for nothing. It was another shock when the event regrouped and Hosten was announced the winner. I was happy that I had reached the finals, but then I was elated to win, she says. She was awakened the next day by a loud knock at the door from the housekeeper, who said that she wanted to see what Miss World looked like without make-up on. Hosten had immediately become a superstar, but pride was quickly dampened by the medias reaction. I had expected the newspapers to say, Grenada has won, or something quite flattering. Instead, the headline said, Miss World is Black, and is she the most beautiful girl in the world? Less than positive headlines over Hostens win and Janssens second place, and lamentations that competition favorite Miss Sweden hadnt won, dominated in the immediate aftermath. That was rather sad, because that took away quite a lot from the feeling of elation that I would have felt otherwise, says Hosten. But the impact of the win would have longer-lasting impacts, says Mbatha-Raw, the actor who plays Hosten in Misbehaviour. Looking at representations of beauty at the time, there werent really many opportunities for women of color to be perceived as a beauty icon. Thats really changed in leaps and bounds, and in not just beauty, she says. It is symbolic optically in terms of what little girls can look at, and see who gets to win, who gets to be center-stage, and who gets to be celebrated in that way. For Jennifer to win the competition, that was a huge step forward for Grenada, for Jennifer on a personal level, and for women of color as a whole at that time. We have much further to go Jennifer Hosten and Gugu Mbatha-Raw attend the World Premiere of "Misbehaviour" on March 09, 2020 in London, England. Dave Benett/WireImage2020 David M. Benett Looking back on old diaries from the 1970 competition prompted Hosten to write her autobiography. I thought it was important to show that my life didnt end at the end of my year as Miss World, she says. The competition really was a springboard for Hosten to move onto other adventures; after traveling with Hope and fulfilling her duties as Miss World on an international tour, she later became a senior diplomat for Grenada, worked in international development, started her own business, and trained as a psychotherapist. Although the experience of winning Miss World helped shape her, she says, it didnt define her. I have made an effort throughout my life to define my own life, and to show that women can do all sorts of things. In 2010, Jennifer received a call from the BBC, asking if she would participate in a radio broadcast interviewing all the key participants of the 1970 pageant, including Alexander and Robinson. It was the first time she had met the activists, and while she writes that she found them intense during the interview, despite decades of being placed in opposition to one another in the narrative that resulted from the 1970 pageant, we found we had more in common than expected. It was that reunion program that caught the attention of producers, and led to the making of Misbehaviour. This year marks not only half a century since Hostens historic win, but also the first time that Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA are all women of color. While theres still much to be debated about the purpose of pageants in the first place, Hosten says the current state of the contests feels bittersweet. Women should not just be thinking of ways in which physical beauty can benefit them. There are many other ways in which women can shine. And theres plenty of room for improvement in terms of representation, as well. The fact that were still talking about [women of color winning pageants] as if its an anomaly tells me that we have much further to go, she says. DGAP Voting Rights Announcement: Epigenomics AG Epigenomics AG: Release according to Article 40, Section 1 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act] with the objective of Europe-wide distribution 25.09.2020 / 17:13 Dissemination of a Voting Rights Announcement transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Epigenomics AG Geneststrae 5 10829 Berlin Deutschland Notification pursuant to Sec. 43 of the German Securities Trading Act 25th September 2020 Dear Sirs, Referring to the voting rights notification dated 02/09/2020 notifying that Morgan Stanley, Wilmington, Delaware, USA, has exceeded the threshold of 10% of the voting rights in Epigenomics AG, we hereby make the following notification pursuant to Sec. 43 of the German Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz): 1. The acquisition of voting rights resulting in Morgan Stanley exceeding the notification threshold of 10% of the voting rights in Epigenomics AG did not serve the purpose of strategic goals; rather it was made in the context of client facilitation. 2. Morgan Stanley may in the next 12 months acquire further voting rights in Epigenomics AG, in particular in the context of client facilitation. 3. Morgan Stanley does not intend to influence the composition of the management board, supervisory board or any other administrative body of Epigenomics AG. 4. Morgan Stanley does not intend to cause a significant change in the capital structure of of Epigenomics AG, in particular not of the ratio between equity and debt financing and the dividend policy. 5. The acquisition of voting rights resulting in Morgan Stanley exceeding the notification threshold of 10% of the voting rights in Epigenomics AG resulted from and/or was made in the context of client facilitation. The acquisition was financed by a combination of external and Morgan Stanley own funds. 25.09.2020 The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de The ultimate goal of the Chinese government is to completely eliminate the culture, language and identity of the Uyghurs, said Gulchehra Hoja, a journalist working for the US-based organisation called Radio Free Asia (RFA). Speaking at a human rights foundation named Oslo Freedom Forum, Hoja said since she started working for RFA, she has not been able to return to her home. She used to work at state-run Xinjiang TV, but following her bitter realisation about the Chinese-run propaganda about Uyghurs, she left her job and moved to the US. Talking about her journey, she said, When I travelled to Europe in 2001, I heard real and uncensored Uyghur history on Radio Free Asia for the first time. I suddenly realised about my job that I loved, which had little do with Journalism, and everything to do with Chinas state-run propaganda. I felt guilty for lying to my own people and I felt used by the Chinese government. I decided then to escape China and work for Radio Free Asia in the United States. It was the most painful decision that I ever made in my life as I was warned that it would put my family at risk but I couldnt lie anymore, Hoja added. She said nearly 1.8 million people are believed to be held in internment camps in China. Further talking about her journey, she said, When I first started in the US, I had nobody and I had lost all my achievements in China. I went from being somebody to being nobody. But deep inside, I was happy. And I would never again contribute to the structure of lies that keep the Chinese tyranny in power. After the Chinese government got to know about her Radio programme in the US, they started harassing her family and friends. Chinese security agencies tried to take my American freedom and wanted to ensure silence by holding members of the family hostage. They wanted me to stop reporting and wanted me to return to my homeland to be silenced, she said. Hoja, who didnt get subdued by the Chinese government, continued her reporting with more vigour in the US, telling stories about the Uyghurs in China. My focus became the enforced disappearances and crackdown on religious freedom. Also, mass surveillance in the Xinjiang province like an Orwellian-state. I even testified in the US Congress. As a result, they took my parents off along with my family members to the camps in 2018, she said. After my testimony in Congress, several leaders wrote to China demanding the release of my parents. Thanks to several legislators, most of the family members are free today, she added. Hoja further said her story is not unique and there are millions of Uyghurs like her, who are separated from their families. I am trying to tell their stories as a Journalist. The ultimate goal of the Chinese government is to completely eliminate the culture, language and the identity of the Uyghurs in China, she said. She said the onus is on the world to recognise this fact and come forward to help the Uyghurs in China. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan participated in the 65th foundation day celebrations of All India institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi on Friday. This was the day when AIIMS had started the first batch of its Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) classes. The premier healthcare institution and medical college has devised new ways of teaching because of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. Dr Harsh Vardhan urged the students to aggressively and meticulously brainstorm ideas that would help strengthen the medical services and in positioning the country among top scientific nations. Also read: NMC to function as top medical education regulator operational from today I appreciate that in the last six months AIIMS has taken a huge responsibility in providing care to patients suffering from Covid-19, innovating in areas of research, guiding colleagues across the country and developing new methods of teaching and communication. It has fulfilled the objectives of its establishment by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Act, 1956. It has always sought to achieve a high standard in healthcare services, education and research, said Harsh Vardhan on the occasion. AIIMS was recently ranked first among the medical institutions in the country by the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) under the Ministry of Education. AIIMS has established a high reputation and has contributed significantly in academic, research and patient care. It has attracted students from various other countries like the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK), Australia, Germany, etc. It is a huge achievement. It is a one-of-its-kind institution that has state-of-the-art facilities. Our government is making efforts to spread the services of AIIMS to every nook and corner of the country, said Ashwini Kumar Choubey, minister of state (MOS), health & family welfare. The ministers also released a research section manual and inaugurated an exhibition titled AIIMS in Covid-19 Times that highlighted the contribution of the healthcare institution in dealing with the ongoing public health emergency. AIIMS, Delhi, was one among the first few government-run hospitals, which was declared a dedicated Covid-19 facility in March, including its campus in Jhajjar, Haryana. . Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev received Toivo Klaar, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, APA reported, citing the presidential press service. Klaar said there have been many worrying developments in recent months, and that was his special reason for being in Baku. He added that the EU High Representative was in contact with both the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan and the Foreign Minister of Armenia. Klaar noted that the European Union was very interested in security, stability, and peace in the South Caucasus, and was in region to study the situation. Earlier, Toivo Klaar announced on Twitter that he was in Baku for meetings that would last two days. The EU has a strong interest in peace and stability in the South Caucasus. Important to reduce tensions and return to process of substantial negotiations without preconditions led by OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, he had noted. New Delhi: Senior officials of India, the US, Japan and Australia on Friday held a virtual meeting under the framework of Quadrilateral coalition or Quad", focusing on ways to promote peace, security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. The meeting took place in the backdrop of Chinas growing military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region. The foreign ministers of the four member nations of the Quad" are set to hold talks in Tokyo next month to further boost their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the officials reaffirmed their commitment towards a free, open, prosperous and inclusive" Indo-Pacific region based on shared values and principles and respect for international law. It said the officials exchanged views on ongoing and proposed practical cooperation in the areas of maritime security, counter-terrorism, connectivity and infrastructure development with the objective of promoting peace, security and stability in the Indo-Pacific. The MEA said the officials reiterated their firm support for ASEAN-centrality and ASEAN-led mechanisms for the Indo-Pacific, and their readiness to work with ASEAN and all other countries towards realising a common and promising vision for the Indo-Pacific. Ten-nation regional grouping Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a major stakeholder in the Indo-Pacific region. In the context of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, the officials underscored the importance of enhancing the resilience of supply chains and sharing best practices on how to combat the pandemic," it said. A statement by the US said the four countries explored ways to work together in the Mekong sub-region, in the South China Sea, and across the Indo-Pacific to support international law, pluralism, regional stability, and post-pandemic recovery efforts. Noting the importance of digital connectivity and secure networks, the officials discussed ways to promote the use of trusted vendors, particularly for fifth generation (5G) networks," it said. They explored ways to enhance coordination on counterterrorism, maritime security, cyber security, and regional connectivity, as well as quality infrastructure based upon international best practices," it added. In November 2017, the four countries gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quadrilateral" coalition or Quad" to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence. India is also expanding bilateral cooperation with Japan, the US and Australia in the Indo-Pacific region. On its part, the US has been pushing for a greater role for India in the Indo-Pacific which is seen by many countries as an effort to contain Chinas growing clout in the region. News Latest guidelines for medical surveillance of arrivals to Vietnam Police in Langata area of Nairobi are probing an incident where a 15-year-old girl reportedly killed her boyfriend, 19, at Southlands slum on Wednesday afternoon. Witnesses who spoke to the police said the pair had an argument after the girl accused the Form Two student of talking to another girl. Neighbours said they heard screams from the home of the deceaseds parents and rushed there, only to find teenage boy writhing in pain in a pool of blood. Neighbours rushed the victim to St. Marys Mission Hospital in Langata, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Confirming the incident, Langata OCPD Gregory Mutiso said the girl stabbed the deceased two times in the chest. Following her arrest on Wednesday, the girl reportedly told police that during the argument, her boyfriend surged forward to hit her, forcing her to defend herself. It was at that point that she picked a kitchen knife and stabbed him two times in the chest, leaving him bleeding profusely, said Mutiso on Thursday, adding: That is what she claims happened. However, we are still investigating the matter to ascertain the genesis of the fatal fight. Mutiso said the suspect is being held at Langata Police Station. Well take her to court tomorrow (Friday, September 25) and request for more time to detain her as we complete investigations into the boys death. We have recovered the kitchen knife that was used in the killing, added the police boss. Mutiso also said that: The girls mother is, expectedly, worried about what would happen to her daughter once her prosecution kicks off. On the other hand, the boys parents are devastated by his death. We are expecting to interview parents of either parties today (Thursday, September 24). The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, has assured of intensified investigations into the alleged dehumanising treatment of staff of Signatious Hotel in Warri, Delta. In a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, Adamu said he has ordered immediate commencement of discrete investigations into the matter. The IGP, while noting that the Delta State Police Command has since commenced discrete investigations into the matter with appreciable progress made, assures that justice will prevail no matter whose ox is gored, the statement read. Four staff were allegedly stripped naked by proprietor of the hotel, who is a former Minister, over missing N5, 000 last Friday. Protests from various quarters had trailed the development. Three females and one man were held hostage, stripped naked in the hotel room, photographed and put on video cameras by the management of the hotel. Last Friday, the management of hotel stripped the lady and the others naked, filmed them in the presence of the police at gun point. Cash was also withdrawn from the victims accounts through their ATM cards before the police bundled them into a waiting van, a group known as the Young Nigerian Rights Organisation (YNRO) had protested. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates EDMONTONAlbertas chief medical officer of health says the province is not in a second wave of COVID-19 despite increased daily case numbers in recent months. Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Thursday that Alberta had identified 158 new cases in the province. She said that doesnt mean Alberta is seeing a surge in infections, although some provinces may have determined their second wave has begun. In Alberta, I dont think thats where were at right now. We have seen increased daily case counts for the past few months, but those have remained relatively stable, Hinshaw told a news conference. When I think about a second wave, I think about a very large spike of uncontrolled spread and thats not our only possible future. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau painted a bleaker picture in a national address Wednesday, saying a second wave is already underway in Canadas four largest provinces, referring to Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta. Were on the brink of a fall that could be much worse than the spring, Trudeau said. Its all too likely we wont be gathering for Thanksgiving, but we still have a shot at Christmas. Hinshaw said Thanksgiving in Alberta is not going to be the same as it would be pre-pandemic but it can still happen as long as people show a proper amount of caution. Its natural for people to want to come together and celebrate Thanksgiving with a new level of appreciation. We all want Thanksgiving to be a safe holiday that keeps everyone healthy, Hinshaw said. Its best to keep gatherings within your established cohorts of up to 15 people outside your household. Smaller is safer. This is not the time for large gatherings. Hinshaw said there are currently active alerts or outbreaks at 97 Alberta schools, including 163 active cases. She said the peak of weekly cases for students aged five to 19 was 216 back in April. But since the current school year began at the beginning of September, the numbers have dropped. We have actually seen a week-over-week decrease from 205 to 183 to 122 cases per week in school-aged children. This is despite a significant increase in testing. Read more about: Donald Trump and Joe Biden met for the second and last presidential debate with less than two weeks before Election Day. Here The Independents US team have their say on who they think came out best. John Bennett, Washington Bureau Chief Joe Biden came out swinging tonight and Donald Trump never recovered. The former vice president made a strong case that over 222,000 Americans have died from coronavirus, in large part, because of the Trump administration's response to the deadly disease. Time and again, the president deflected blame and floated unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. Perhaps the night's most powerful moment came when Mr Biden objected to the president's repeated claims that he and son Hunter Biden improperly benefited from the father's tenure as VP. "It's not about his family or my family. It's about your family," Mr Biden said, pointing directly at the camera. "They're (families) in trouble. We should be talking about your families. But that's the last thing he wants to talk about." It's doubtful the debate changed many minds, but if undecided voters and former Republicans who have left the president's orbit since 2016 are turned off by Mr Trump's antics, they probably made up their minds by 10.30pm ET. Louise Boyle, Senior Climate Correspondent On climate change, it's no contest: between a president who has derided the scientific community and repeatedly espouses climate denial talking points, and Mr Biden who accepts the opinion of the overwhelming majority of climate scientists that the planet is facing an "existential threat". For Trump it was the same word salad as the first debate: a "trillion" trees, clean air, clean water, "loving the environment". Climate change in Trump's view means "bird-killing" windmills, and "tiny windows". Biden also repeated much of what he's been saying since the summer and reverts to plan: climate change equals millions of "good-paying jobs". Holly Baxter, US Voices Editor Ultimately, this election comes down to two rich and extraordinary people trying their hardest to position themselves as the American everyman. It's disingenuous from them both, but it's especially disingenuous from Trump - and that's why he lost tonight. Like his claims about Biden's "shady family", the hypocrisy is laughable and only reflects badly on him. "He's a very confused guy. He thinks he's running against someone else," said Biden, about halfway into the debate, when Trump had just delivered a tirade about socialism and Bernie Sanders. He was right in more than one sense: When Trump doesn't attack the ghost of Bernie, he attacks the ghost of Hillary Clinton with claims about political dynasties and DC bureaucrats. It doesn't work. Polling shows it hasn't been working for a good few months. Biden, who has been civil but uninspiring through a lot of the public performances thus far, came out swinging today. The soundbites he had prepared and the ones that were clearly off-the-cuff were well-timed and effective. A clearly rehearsed speech about the soul of the nation and choosing "science over fiction, hope over fear" rounded off the debate much better than Trump's word salad about the "China plague". It would be unfair to say Trump disgraced himself tonight. He came to the podium with a lot more specificity and a lot more to say on policy than he has previously. Nevertheless, as Biden grew in confidence throughout the hour and a half, Trump fell apart. He can only sustain a presidential show for about 10 minutes before he feels the need to convert into rally mode, and rally mode is badly suited for a debate with a silent, invisible audience and a list of hard-hitting questions. It's also badly suited to reconciling a divided country and it feels like a lot of undecided voters who watched tonight may have come to that conclusion. Lucy Gray, US Audience Editor Tonight's debate was far calmer than the previous Trump-Biden showdown we saw, perhaps even more so than Pence-Harris. This more sedate, mature environment allowed the candidates to get their teeth into the big election issues and show their true colors. Joe Biden took the president to task over immigration, coronavirus, international relations; the more measured setup allowed the Democrat to bring some real politics to the table - finally. Donald Trump was not completely trounced, but his election messages were often unclear, and certainly tired seeming. Overall tonight's winner? Joe Biden. Griffin Connolly, US Political Reporter While both candidates mostly held their tongues on Thursday while the other was speaking a refreshing change from the first presidential debate Mr Biden and Mr Trump both derailed several conversations about foreign policy by alluding to allegations of corruption. Mr Biden dinged Mr Trump for paying more in federal taxes to the Chinese government than the US government, while Mr Trump repeatedly dredged up convoluted conspiracy theories about the former vice president and his son Hunter Biden, who has had several overseas business ventures. Anyone who thinks Mr Biden is a loopy old geriatric incapable of deep policy thought can take a seat, as he laid out detailed policy positions on climate change, fracking, health care, and nuclear deterrance on the Korean peninsula. Richard Hall, Senior US Correspondent It took this long, 12 days before Election Day, for the two candidates running for president of the United States to have anything close to a substantial discussion about the most important issue facing the country: the coronavirus pandemic. For more than 15 minutes, Donald Trump and Joe Biden set out their respective pitches on how they would deal with the coronavirus. On the substance, Mr Biden said he would back the scientists. Mr Trump said he disagreed with scientists on the need for lockdowns, and criticised America's foremost expert in infectious diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci. On this issue, Mr Biden is polling far ahead of Mr Trump. The president needed to win over elderly voters who are switching to Mr Biden, but he said nothing today that will convince undecideds that he is prepared to handle the cold winter ahead. The main source used by former British spy Christopher Steele to compile a dossier that included salacious details about President Trump's ties to Russia was investigated by the FBI for suspicious contacts with the Kremlin, it has been reported. From 2009 to 2011, this source was the subject of a counterintelligence investigation for alleged contact with Russian spies, according to Fox News. The revelation was made in a letter sent by Attorney General William Barr to Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina. Barr was responding to requests from Graham's committee as it relates to the ongoing investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation. Christopher Steele (left), the former British spy who compiled a salacious dossier that included unverified claims about President Trump's (right) ties to the Kremlin, used a source that was subject of a counterintelligence investigation into alleged contacts with Russian spies, according to a report The claim about a counterintelligence probe into the source of the Steele Dossier was made in a letter written on Thursday by Attorney General Bill Barr President Trump has long denied allegations that his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 elections. 'In connection with your Committee's investigation of these matters and ongoing hearings, you have been asking us to accelerate this process and to provide any additional information relating to the reliability of the work of Christopher Steele and the so-called 'Steele dossier,' as long as its release would not compromise U.S. Attorney John Durham's ongoing criminal investigation,' Barr wrote. 'A footnote in the Inspector General's report contains information, which up till now has been classified and redacted, bearing on the reliability of the Steele dossier,' Barr wrote. 'The FBI has declassified the relevant portion of the footnote, number 334, which states that 'the Primary Sub-source was the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation from 2009 to 2011 that assessed his or her contacts with suspected Russian intelligence officers'.' Barr wrote that he asked the FBI to prepare a declassified summary of information from that same counterintelligence investigation. 'I have consulted with Mr. Durham, who originally brought this information to my attention in the course of his investigation, and he has informed me that the disclosure of the information will not interfere with his criminal investigation,' Barr wrote. The counterintelligence investigation, which took place between 2009 and 2011, was discovered by US Attorney John Durham (pictured), who is probing the origins of the Russia investigation The attorney general added that he informed John Ratcliffe, the Director of National Intelligence, of 'certain classified information in possession of the intelligence community' which 'bears upon the FBI's knowledge of the reliability of the dossier.' 'Mr. Durham confirms that the disclosure of that information would not interfere with his investigation, and the Department otherwise defers to the DNI concerning the handling of this information,' Barr wrote. Durham, the US attorney from Connecticut, was appointed last year to lead an investigation into how the FBI and other federal agencies set out to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with the Kremlin. Robert Mueller, who was appointed special counsel, concluded a two-year investigation at the end of which he found insufficient evidence pointing to a conspiracy. The dossier of information was compiled during the course of the 2016 presidential campaign by Steele, a former MI6 spy whose research into ties between Trump and Russia was financed by Democrats. The FBI relied in part on information from the dossier during multiple applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2016 and 2017 to monitor the communications of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide, on suspicion that he was an agent of a foreign power. Page has denied any wrongdoing and was never charged. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a report last December that, though there was no evidence that the FBI was motivated by political bias during the investigation, the bureau made serious errors during the application process, including by omitting information that called into question the reliability of certain reporting included in the dossier. The inspector general report said the FBI had contemplated the possibility 'that Russia was funneling disinformation to Steele, and the possibility that disinformation was included in his election reports.' But, Horowitz said, more should have been done by the FBI to determine if that was the case. The dossier famously alleges Trump and his campaign were blackmailed by the Russian government because it had obtained a video of Trump watching prostitutes urinate on a hotel bed in Moscow in 2013 when he traveled there for the Miss Universe pageant The FBI did not rely on the dossier when it opened the Russia investigation in July 2016, instead using other information about possible Trump campaign links to Russia. But it did rely in part on the document a couple months later when it applied for a warrant to monitor the communications of Page. The fact that the dossier was used at all is one of the main points of contention Trump supporters cite in challenging the legitimacy of the probe. Graham said last month that the FBI 'misled' the Senate Intelligence Committee during a March 2018 briefing where they bolstered up the reliability of the dossier even though the primary sub-source said most of the information is 'hearsay.' Last month, redacted documents released by the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that the primary sub-source of the dossier told the FBI that all the information included came from 'word of mouth and hearsay.' This runs contrary to what the FBI represented to the panel during the 2018 briefing, when the committee was told there was no reason to doubt the dossier. Graham said Horowitz decided to call the FBI in to brief the Senate Intelligence Committee during the Russian election interference investigation after lawmakers became suspicious about the sub-source information. 'And they did to the Senate Intel Committee what they did to the FISA court,' the South Carolina Republican said in reference to the FBI's briefing to his colleagues. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said last month that the FBI 'misled' the Senate Intelligence Committee during a March 2018 briefing where they bolstered up the reliability of the dossier even though the primary sub-source said most of the information is 'hearsay.' 'They misled the hell out of them.' 'They said there's no evidence from the sub-source to suggest that Steele fabricated anything in the dossier,' Graham, a Trump ally, continued. This was contrary to what the FBI told the committee in the spring of 2018, when they were told that the primary sub-source 'maintains trusted relationships with individuals who are capable of reporting on the material he collected for Steele.' The redacted documents also bring doubt over the 'golden showers' aspect of the dossier. The dossier claimed that the president was being blackmailed by Russia because Moscow had video proof of an alleged incident where Trump apparently watched prostitutes pee on a hotel bed in Moscow while he was there for the Miss Universe Pageant in 2013. The sub-source revealed to the FBI, the newly released document shows, that much of the conversation he had were 'with friends over beers.' The individual also claimed some of the information, including allegations about Trump's sexual activities, were comments made in 'jest.' Despite the primary sub-source telling the FBI that Christopher Steele the former British spy and author of the dossier that contributed to the launch of the Russia probe made claims based on his own 'analytical conclusions' and 'judgements,' the FBI still told the Intelligence Committee the dossier was 'reliable.' A truck parked amid a stand of trees in Berry Creek, where most of the victims of the North Complex fire lived. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times ) Authorities released the name of the 15th victim of the North Complex fire Friday, meaning all those confirmed to have perished in one of California's deadliest blazes have now been identified. The body of Linda Longenbach, a 71-year-old Berry Creek resident, was located on Handkirk Lane on Sept. 10, according to the Butte County Sheriff's Office. Both she and another previously identified victim 68-year-old Paul Winer of Berry Creek were found in the roadway. One of them was inside a vehicle and the other was approximately 10 feet away from an ATV, authorities said, though they didn't specify who was where. "During the investigation, detectives determined Paul and Linda spoke with a relative in the afternoon on Sept. 8, and said they were aware of the fire and chose not to immediately evacuate at that time," sheriff's officials wrote in a statement Friday morning. "We extend our sincerest condolences to the family of Linda Longenbach and the families of all the victims in this devastating fire." Authorities have previously identified the other fire victims as: Larry Holder, 61; Suzan Zurz, 76; Mark Delagardie, 61; Kin Lee, 64; Jacob Albright, 74; Randy Harrell, 67; John Butler, 79; Sandra Butler, 75; Jorge Hernandez-Juarez, 26; Philip Rubel, 68; Khawar Bhatti, 58; Millicent Catarancuic, 77; and Josiah Williams, 16. Most of the fire's victims lived in Berry Creek, while two were from nearby Feather Falls. Both towns are located northeast of Oroville. The North Complex ranks among the biggest and most devastating fires the state has ever seen. Only four California fires have killed more people. At more than 304,000 acres, the fire is the fifth-largest ever recorded in the state. It's also destroyed the sixth-highest number of structures of any fire, 1,784, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Firefighters have made significant progress toward controlling the blaze. Containment was at 78% as of Friday morning, allowing an evacuation order to be reduced to a warning in parts of Butte County. Story continues However, those battling the fire will be challenged in the coming days by unseasonably warm temperatures, dry conditions and gusty winds. Cal Fire crews have lit preventive burns throughout the week to clear away fuels and keep the fire from moving into Forbestown, a small village nestled in the mountains east of Oroville. To the north, in Feather Falls, the sky shone a brilliant blue Thursday a welcome change for those accustomed to the ghastly gray the North Complex had cast over the region as crews felled trees and cleared brush. Times staff writer Faith E. Pinho contributed to this report. European airlines are aiming to give passengers quick, pre-flight coronavirus tests in an effort to get more travelers to start flying again. The tests could produce results in as little as 15 minutes. The airlines hope the effort will help convince passengers that flying is safe during the continuing health crisis. Germanys Lufthansa is in talks with Swiss drug company Roche over deploying the so-called antigen tests, the Reuters news agency reported. Several airlines are planning to make the tests available to passengers as early as next month, Reuters said. Officials for Italys Alitalia told Reuters that the airline had added two flights from Milan to Rome that only accept passengers with negative coronavirus tests. Those flights are in addition to two it is already offering from Rome to Milan. Alitalia says health officials give the tests at the airport. The tests are included in ticket prices. The airline also said it plans to offer more antigen-tested flights within Italy and internationally if they prove to be popular and safe. Unlike the more commonly used laboratory-based molecular tests for COVID-19, antigen tests do not require machines to process. Much like pregnancy tests, they can produce results in about 15 minutes. However, the tests require collection of a nasal sample that can be unpleasant. They also have higher error rates than the molecular, or PCR, tests. Antigen tests generally produce more false negatives, which could lead to some sick people getting on planes. An increasing number of antigen tests are becoming available from companies including Abbott Laboratories, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Quidel and Roche. Quick antigen tests that can be given by non-medical workers are expected to be available in the coming weeks, said Alexandre de Juniac. He is head of the International Air Transport Association. He added that the tests could cost as little as $7 each. Airlines have been pressing governments to come up with new safety measures to ease widespread travel restrictions that were put in place after Europe started seeing a rise in cases. Even though the tests are not perfect, airline companies hope they can help people feel safer about flying. It is to give ... confidence, at a specific point in time, that the result is positive or negative, said Christian Paulus, a Roche research and development manager. He added that because of possible errors with antigen tests, results would need to be confirmed in some cases using the PCR method. A spokesman for Alitalia said none of its passengers who took the pre-flight antigen tests were positive. The airline said it plans to examine findings from its testing experiment in the middle of October before deciding whether to expand the program. Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr recently told employees that the airline was in talks with Roche over deploying the tests. A Lufthansa spokeswoman told Reuters the airline believes the tests would be a better solution than putting somebody into quarantine. Germany is considering wider antigen test use starting in October, including in nursing homes where older patients have been hardest hit by COVID-19. Im Bryan Lynn. Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story negative adj. in a medical test, negative means the person being tested does not have a disease or condition sample n. a small amount of something that gives you information about the thing it was taken from confidence n. a feeling of being sure in one's ability to do something positive adj. in a medical test, positive means the person being tested has a disease or condition quarantine n. to keep (a person or animal) away from others to prevent a disease from spreading A Long March 5B rocket lifts off from the Wenchang launch site on China's southern in May; Chinese state media reported the "successful" launch, a major test of its ambitions to operate a permanent space station and send astronauts to the Moon NASA chief Jim Bridenstine told lawmakers Wednesday it was crucial for the US to maintain a presence in Earth's orbit after the International Space Station is decommissioned so that China does not gain a strategic advantage. The first parts of the ISS were launched in 1998 and it has been continuously lived in since 2000. The station, which serves as a space science lab and is a partnership between the US, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada, is currently expected to be operated until 2030. "I'll tell you one thing that has me very concerned -- and that is that a day is coming when the International Space Station comes to the end of its useful life," said Bridenstine. "In order to be able to have the United States of America have a presence in low Earth orbit, we have to be prepared for what comes next," he added. To that end, NASA has requested $150 million for the 2021 fiscal year to help develop the commercialization of low Earth orbit, defined as 2,000 km (1,200 miles) or less from the planet's surface. "We want to see a public-private partnership where NASA can deal with commercial space station providers, so that we can keep a permanent uninterrupted human presence in low Earth orbit," said Bridenstine. "I don't think it's in the interest of the nation to build another International Space Station -- I do think it's in the interest of the nation to support commercial industry, where NASA is a customer." Bridenstine warned the lawmakers this was critical to maintain US space supremacy in the face of a planned Chinese space station that Beijing hopes will be operational by 2022. The station is named Tiangong, meaning Heavenly Palace, and in June Chinese state media announced it was partnering with 23 entities from 17 countries to carry out scientific experiments on board. These countries included both developed and developing countries, such as France, Germany and Japan, as well as Kenya and Peru, according to Xinhua news agency. Story continues "China is rapidly building what they call the 'Chinese International Space Station,' and they're rapidly marketing that space station to all of our international partners," said Bridenstine. "It would be a tragedy, if, after all of his time, and all of this effort, we were to abandon low Earth orbit and cede that territory." He explained that the microgravity of ISS offered great potential for scientific advances, from innovations in pharmaceuticals to printing 3D human organs to the creation of artificial retinas to treat people with macular degeneration. Bridenstine said that it was therefore necessary to fund NASA to pay companies to set up a space station, where it would be one of several customers in order to drive down its own costs. This, he added, was vital to "ultimately not cede that territory to another country that doesn't have our interests at heart." ia/ch Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. San Francisco, 25 Sep 2020: The Report Antibiotics Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Action Mechanism (Protein, DNA, RNA, Cell Wall Synthesis Inhibitors), By Drug Class (Penicillin, Cephalosporins, Fluoroquinolones), And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2026 The global antibiotics market size is expected to reach USD 62.06 billion by 2026 expanding at a CAGR of 4.0%, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising prevalence of infectious diseases, especially in developing regions like Asia Pacific and Middle East, is anticipated to contribute to the market growth. More than 15.0% of the deaths in children below the age of five years, are estimated to be due to pneumonia and according to the statistics provided by the WHO about 9.2 million deaths were recorded in 2015. Similar to tuberculosis, the disease is highly prevalent in the South Asian and Sub-Saharan regions. Currently, the required antibiotic treatment is available only to one-third of the infected population, thereby increasing the disease burden. Government reforms specific to antibiotics, such as the Generating Antibiotics Incentives Now (GAIN) Act in U.S., are projected to help boost the market growth over the forecast period. This is further expected to facilitate development of advanced drugs. According to an article published by the Pew Charitable Trusts, nearly 30% of the outpatient oral antibiotics prescriptions are unnecessary and majority of these are prescribed for disease conditions, such as non-bacterial infections and acute respiratory conditions, against which antibiotics are not significantly effective. Such indiscriminate use of antibiotics is anticipated to increase the risk of difficult-to-treat antibiotic-resistant infections, thereby increasing the economic burden. Access Research Report of Antibiotics Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/antibiotic-market Further key findings from the study suggest: RNA and folic acid synthesis inhibitors are anticipated to witness healthy CAGRs over the forecast period Development of several antiviral drugs, which inhibit transcription and reverse transcription process are anticipated to support this growth Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness the highest CAGR over the forecast period on account of large population base, prevalence of infectious diseases, regulation reforms, and wide usage of generic medicine Latin America, especially Brazil, is also projected to exhibit remunerative growth due to strong growth in pharmaceutical sector Outbreak of certain viruses, such as Ebola, in African region contributed to the regions growth Some of the key companies in the market are Pfizer, Inc; Janssen Pharmaceuticals; Abbott laboratories; GlaxoSmithKline plc; Sanofi S.A.; Novartis AG; Bayer AG; Bristol Myers Squibb Company; Eli Lilly & Company, and Astellas Pharma, Inc. Browse more reports of this category by Grand View Research at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/pharmaceuticals Grand View Research has segmented the global antibiotics market on the basis of action mechanism, drug class, and region: Antibiotics Action Mechanism Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2026) Cell Wall Synthesis Inhibitors Protein Synthesis Inhibitors DNA Synthesis Inhibitors RNA Synthesis Inhibitors Mycolic Acid Inhibitors Antibiotics Drug Class Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2026) Cephalosporin Penicillin Fluoroquinolone Macrolides Carbapenems Aminoglycosides Sulfonamide Other Antibiotics Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2026) North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America MEA Access Press Release of Antibiotics Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-antibiotic-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 Ronald Devon "Reds" Young was born on July 29, 1973 in Leonardtown, Maryland. Devon departed this earthly realm to be with the Lord on Thursday, September 17, 2020. Devon was raised in Loveville, Maryland by his grandparents John P. Young, Sr. and Agnes Lillian Young and attended local schools in St. Mary's County. He worked various jobs as a laborer, fork-lift operator, concrete finisher, and painter throughout the years. His passion was caring for others, such as his grandfather John Young and cousin Derrick Gross prior to their passing. He enjoyed preparing meals for his friends who were in the nursing home and also cared for the homeless. Devon was a people person and they seem to love his personality and gravitated towards him. No matter where he travelled, he would run into someone he knew. Devon accepted Christ as his Savior. He attended Kettering Baptist Church, Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Joyce Meyer was one of his favorite Christian Ministers along with Bishop T.D Jakes. He enjoyed listening to their sermons and reading their books. He even travelled to Hershey, PA to a Joyce Meyer Conference. One of Devon's favorite songs was "He Saw the Best in Me" by Marvin Sapp and would sing it to the best of his vocal ability word-for-word. Devon was an advocate for his children. Making sure they were treated fairly, and that no harm would come to them. He enjoyed spending time with them as well as with his family and friends. There was nothing he would not do for them. He loved them unconditionally with all of his heart. Devon had many life experiences. He once told a story of the times when the police would recognize his 1989 white Chevrolet Caprice with a burgundy soft top and stop him for no reason. He grew tired of the harassment and decided to take matters in his own hands. He purchased a pair of glasses and a wig with long flowing black hair and wore it while driving. He said "although wearing the wig was hot, this stopped the issue." Devon's favorite past times were playing the Maryland Lottery, cooking, eating array of seafood especially crabs and oysters, and watching the "Million Dollar Listings" show. He was a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan and a sneaker connoisseur. He loved to wear a fresh pair of kicks. Devon leaves to cherish his memory his grandmother/mother, Agnes Lillian Young; mother, Ida Goodwin and step-father Joseph Goodwin; father, Ronald Thomas (Joyce); children, Dylan Brumback, Christine Young, and Phillippe Young; siblings, Nicole Wade, Travis Goodwin, and LaTarah Goodwin; and a host of uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by his grandfather/daddy John Pinkney Young, Sr., grandfather John P. Mugg, grandmother Roseanna Thomas, uncles Darrell Young and Michael Mugg, aunt Gertrude Jones, and cousin Derrick Gross. Family will receive friends for a visitation on Monday, September 28, 2020 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. with a funeral service at 11:00 a.m. at Brinsfield Funeral Home & Crematory, P.A., 30195 Three Notch Road, Charlotte Hall, MD 20622. Interment will follow at Queen of Peace cemetery. Devon will be deeply missed but not forgotten. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Reuters) Santiago, Chile Fri, September 25, 2020 10:03 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c472185d 2 Environment Chile,frogs,animals,conservation Free Chilean scientists have rediscovered a species of frog last seen more than 80 years ago, prompting new calls for the conservation of its habitat in the far-flung Chilean desert. Scientists relocated the diminutive Hall's water frog, named for the American researcher and collector Frank Gregory Hall who discovered the species in 1935, in a tiny hot spring oasis near Ollague in Chile's Atacama desert. The discovery, scientists told Reuters, prompted a mad rush to confirm that the so-called ghost species was indeed the same one Hall had discovered decades ago. "We asked the museum where Hall's (discovery) is registered.... They sent us photographs of the larvae, photographs, comparisons, drawings," said Cesar Cuevas, a researcher with the Catholic University of Temuco. Read also: International team of scientists to preserve Lake Titicaca giant frog The journal Zootaxa published the tale of the rediscovery this year. Researchers continue to work to establish the frog's taxanomic ties to other species found in the region in order to determine how different, and therefore, how rare, it really is, Cuevas said. Meanwhile, protecting its habitat is key, he said. Mining, tourism development and expanding cities in Chile's north, home to the worlds largest copper industry, all compete for water with the tiny amphibian. "These animals are strictly aquatic. In just five minutes out of the water, they die," Cuevas said, in a call to protect its habitat before it is too late. Topics : Chile frogs animals conservation The day after Facebook announced it will launch its Oversight Board in October to determine what's allowed on the site, critics launched their own alternative. The Citizens, a UK nonprofit, unveiled the 'Real Facebook Oversight Board' on Friday to address the social media giant's policies and practices ahead of the US presidential election. The group warned that Facebook was already being used to suppress minority votes. 'Its tools are being used to spread lies and to enable private militias to organize voting station protests,' the group said in a statement on its website. Decisions by Citizens' panel of experts are not binding on Facebook, but the group hopes putting the platform under public scrutiny will have an impact. Scroll down for video The day after the announcement of the official Facebook Oversight Board, a UK nonprofit unveiled 'the Real Facebook Oversight Board,' which aims to hold the social media platform accountable for its policies and practices 'In 2016, we didn't understand how Facebook was being used to subvert the presidential election. This time, there's no excuse,' the organization says. 'A single, unelected man rules Facebook's vast empire and is accountable to no one.' The Citizens complain that, even if the official Facebook Oversight Board starts hearing appeals in mid-October as planned, it can take up to 90 days to reach a decision - far too late to have an impact on the US presidential race. 'We're not waiting for another election to go wrong. We believe accountability in real-time is vital.' 'Facebook is a weapon,' Citizens founder Carole Cadwallad tweeted on Friday. 'A private company, controlled by one man, being used to undermine democracy. We urgently need to hold it to account. Before it's too late.' UK journalist Carole Cadwalladr says she launched the Real Facebook Oversight Board to hold the platform to account as the presidential election nears. 'We know there are going to be a series of incidents leading up to the election and beyond in which Facebook is crucial,' she told NBC News Cadwalladr, a prominent UK journalist, previously broke the story on how Cambridge Analytica used Facebook user data to target voters in the 2016 presidential election and Brexit vote. 'We know there are going to be a series of incidents leading up to the election and beyond in which Facebook is crucial,' she told NBC News. She called the Real Facebook Oversight Board a 'real-time response from an authoritative group of experts to counter the spin Facebook is putting out.' The board is composed of some two dozen academics, politicians, civil rights advocates, and journalists, including NAACP president Derrick Johnson, MP Damian Collins former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Algorithms of Oppression author Safiya Noble and Lincoln Project co-founder Reed Galen. Also on the board are Yael Eisenstat, an ex- CIA officer and Facebook's former head of election integrity operations for political ads, and Marietje Schaake, director for international policy at Stanford University's Cyber Policy Center. The group will hold weekly Facebook Live meetings covering everything from political ads to Facebook events encouraging militia groups to intimidate voters. The first meeting, on October 1, will be hosted by Recode founder Kara Swisher and will focus on voter suppression and misinformation campaigns On its website, The Citizens describes itself as a volunteer group operated by journalists, filmmakers, advertising creatives, data scientists, artists, students, lawyers and others. Prominent members include Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist Iain McHardy Overton, Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff, and former intelligence officer Christopher Steele, author of a controversial dossier on President Donald Trump. Funding comes from Patreon donations, a GoFundMe campaign, an award from the Stieg Larsson foundation and the Luminate Foundation, an offshoot of the Omidyar Network, a self-styled 'philanthropic investment firm.' 'It's good to have an alternative point of view, and we hope that the Real Facebook Oversight Board will strengthen the hand of Facebook's actual oversight board and push them to do more,' Martin Tisne, managing director of Luminate, told NBC News. The news of Facebook's 'Supreme Court' comes amid rising concerns about misinformation and manipulation around the US election. The news of Facebook's 'Supreme Court' comes amid rising concerns about misinformation and manipulation around the US election It will be able to make binding rulings on whether posts or ads violate Facebook standards, weighing factors such as severity, scale and public discourse. Once a decision has been made, Facebook will 'promptly implement' it, the company said. 'We are currently testing the newly deployed technical systems that will allow users to appeal and the board to review cases,' a board spokesperson said in a statement to AFP. 'Assuming those tests go to plan, we expect to open user appeals in mid to late October. Building a process that is thorough, principled and globally effective takes time and our members have been working aggressively to launch as soon as possible.' Members of the official Facebook Oversight Board include former U.S. federal circuit judge Michael McConnell, former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman, Columbia Law professor Jamal Greene and former Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger. Twenty members were appointed in May, though the panel is expected to grow to 40. The Congressional Budget Office reports the U.S. government will soon have a debt burden equal to Americas entire gross domestic product. That will put the U.S. in the company of a handful of nations with debt loads that exceed their economies, including Japan, Italy and Greece. CBO announced the lockdown coronavirus recession and explosion of spending this year will increase the budget deficit for fiscal year 2020 ending Sept. 30, to $3.3 trillion. Thats the largest annual deficit since 1945, during World War ll. The surge in borrowing has increased dramatically in recent years. In 2007, before the financial panic and crash, public debt was 35% of GDP. While spending increased in the George W. Bush years, the debt stayed under control. Barack Obama and a Democratic Congress addressed the 2008-09 recession with a spending blowout and the slowest economic recovery since the 1930s. Public debt exceeded 76% of GDP by the time President Obama left office. In 2016, Donald Trump promised to eliminate the national debt within eight years, pleasing Tea Party Republicans who railed about the trillion-dollar deficits run up by the Obama administration. Instead of reducing deficits, government deficits have increased for five years in a row. When Trump took office, the debt was at $19.9 trillion. It has now grown to $26.5 trillion. The current fiscal year record deficit of $3.3 trillion is a result of severe contraction in the economy caused by Covid-19 and massive federal spending to counter it. As in wartime, the government needed to spend freely. Notable, however, the federal deficit was $984 billion in fiscal year 2019, before the virus hit and with a booming full employment U.S. economy. If government spending cannot be brought under control during good times, what chance is there in a crisis? The major drivers of federal spending are Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and national security. President Trump has ruled out-of-hand any Social Security and Medicare reforms. These are very popular entitlements, but their future cost trajectory must be addressed to make them fiscally sustainable. While Trump is the self-proclaimed King of Debt, his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, is proposing a staggering $11 trillion in new spending over the next decade, according to a Manhattan Institute study. Biden has a $1.4 trillion health care plan to expand the Affordable Care Act, bringing a public option to health exchanges. He advocates reducing Medicare eligibility to age 60 costing $300 billion. He also proposes new spending on climate and infrastructure ($2 trillion), Social Security and Supplemental Security Income ($1 trillion), college, K-12 education, and preschool aid ($1.5 trillion), family leave assistance ($550 billion), Buy America investments ($700 billion), housing aid ($640 billion), and combating opioid addiction ($125 billion). Finally, Biden has endorsed the $3 trillion in stimulus spending passed by House Democrats. Bidens portrayal as a moderate during the Democratic primary is a testament to how far left the Democratic Party has moved. While his proposed $11 trillion in new spending is significantly less than that proposed by Elizabeth Warren and Biden running mate Kamala Harris (a fanciful $40 trillion each), or Bernie Sanders (an unfathomable $97 trillion), Bidens plans still represent a near 20% spending hike over the already-accelerating spending baseline. It also dwarfs the previous three Democratic presidential nominees John Kerry, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton who each proposed federal spending expansions of between $1 and $2 trillion over the subsequent decade. Cynics say nobody cares about the deficit. Thats not true, but even if true, nobody cared about subprime mortgages until they had to. Washingtons spendthrift ways are setting the U.S. government up for an eventual fiscal crisis. Its past time for Washington to sober up and buckle down. But politically, in the race between Trump and Biden, the deficit unfortunately hardly seems to matter. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 After several days of building up to it by saying he needs to confirm a Supreme Court justice who will rule in his favor on potential election-related cases, Donald Trump put a cap on things Wednesday night by taking a reporters bait and declining to say that he will leave office in a peaceful manner if he loses the November election. Get rid of the ballots and youll have a very peacefulthere wont be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation, he said, in what was at best a reference to his belief that million of mail-in ballots submitted by Democrats will be fraudulent. Advertisement President Implies He Might Try to Hold Office by Force If He Loses Election is a story that will get peoples attention, and you can bet that a majority of independent voters are going to answer the poll question, Should there be a huge disruption to the way the United States conducts the transition of presidential power, with No. So Republican damage control is underway: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792. Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 24, 2020 Advertisement Advertisement Okay, but as Slate alum Jamelle Bouie points out, theres something a little off there about McConnells specific phrasing of the November 3rd election, given how many completed ballots may still be in the mail and Trumps frequent insistence, despite that fact, that a winner needs to be declared on election night. Other prominent Republicans weighed in with statements about respecting results too. Mitt Romneys was notably direct and is bolstered by his previous demonstration that he will vote against Trump and McConnell if he feels like it. The rest were useless, particularly coming from people who have just shown that they were lying for four years about what they would do if another Supreme Court vacancy came up in an election year. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman: Advertisement Advertisement Throughout Americas history, the peaceful transition of power has been a hallmark of our democracy. This year, both candidates must commit to abiding by the results, no matter the outcome. Thank you, Rob, for getting Joe Biden in there too. Hes got a 40-year record of being committed, often to a fault, to bipartisan, multi-branch government, but you never know what kind of strongman aspirations he might have been keeping quiet about that whole time. Heres South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham: Advertisement Advertisement If Republicans lose we will accept the result. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Joe Biden, I will accept that result. Is everyone reassured by that? No. Did Grahams statement, or any others, say the president should stop his campaigns lawyers from pursuing lawsuits whose goal is to make the election process more confusing by complicating the process of voting by mail during a time when going to the polls would be a dangerous risk for older and otherwise vulnerable citizens? No, none of the statements got into that whole business. Advertisement Advertisement What the president said on Wednesday was the same thing the rest of his party has been saying since Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. He just wasnt sealing it with the centrist-pleasing topcoats of plausible deniability and smarm that his peers used. Advertisement Advertisement Heres Ted Cruz on ABC this weekend, for example, describing why Ginsburgs seat needs to be filled: An equally divided court, 4-4, cant decide anything. That could make this presidential election drag on weeks and months and well into next year. That is an intolerable situation for the country. We need a full court on Election Day, given the very high likelihood that were going to see litigation that goes to the court. We need a Supreme Court that can give a definitive answer for the country. Advertisement Why is there a high likelihood of the Supreme Court getting involved in this election? Cruz had previously given an explanation to Fox of what he claims that litgation will be about: Democrats and Joe Biden have made clear they intend to challenge this election, they intend to fight the legitimacy of the election. As you know, Hillary Clinton has told Joe Biden, under no circumstances should you concede. You should challenge this election. Advertisement This is, in the typical Ted Cruz style, a backward and self-serving account of things. Clinton, in fact, said in August that Biden should be prepared to contest not the election, but what she believed would be Trump campaign efforts toward suppressing or stopping voting. The Republican Party, she said, would try to mess up absentee balloting. Trump has since said repeatedly that vote counting should stop on election night and that Democrats should not be allowed to vote by mail, so Clintons prediction was correct. (Please note, also, that Hillary Clinton is not going to make the decisions about what Joe Bidens campaign does after the election.) Advertisement Advertisement Cruz is using sophisticated language that seems to put him in the neighborhood of traditional norms. Trump is not. But both are arguing that if Biden wins the electoral college, it will be illegitimate and Trump shouldnt have to leave office. The premise that both their statements operate from is that voting by mail is cheating when Democrats do it, despite many millions of Republicans and Democrats alike having voted by mail already for years. The president and the rest of his party have different theories about whether to use the words peaceful transfer of power, but they are united in attacking the democratic process by which a peaceful transfer of power would take place. A coalition of advocacy and social service groups launched a campaign encouraging early voting Thursday with the help of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. In-person issuance and submission of absentee ballots began at local clerks offices Thursday, Sept. 24. Ballots were also being mailed to Michigan voters who submitted absentee applications by post. The 40 Days of Early Voting campaign was kicked off with a press conference outside the offices of ACLU Michigan in Detroit. The MichiganVoting.org Coalition says the effort is focused on urging historically disenfranchised communities across the state to vote early. I encourage all voters to act as soon as possible to request and return their ballot, or to vote early at their clerks office, Benson said. This will ensure they avoid postal delays and can safely and securely cast their ballot. The coalition of groups plans to coordinate volunteer efforts to boost voter turnout by informing voters of all mail-in and in-person voting options with a combination of virtual and in-person engagement efforts, organizers said. The efforts will take place throughout both Upper and Lower peninsulas, with a particular focus on women, younger voters, first-time voters and communities of color, the group said. It has never been easier to cast your vote in Michigan, but we must make sure all eligible voters know that they have the right to vote early, in person at their local clerks office starting today, and that they can register to vote until polls close on Election Day, said Dave Noble, ACLU of Michigan executive director. "... We hope to educate anyone who historically has been left out of the system so they make their votes count. The more people who participate in our elections, the stronger our democracy is. Groups involved in the effort include the ACLU of Michigan, NAACP Detroit, Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), Michigan League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, and LGBT Detroit. Citizens can register to vote by mail or online through Oct. 19. Absentee ballots can also be obtained by mail or in person at clerks offices. Starting Oct. 20, registration must be done in person at local clerks offices and ballots can be cast during the same visit right up to the day of the election, Nov. 3. The coalition is offering further guidance on how to vote via the website michiganvoting.org The Thursday press conference took place in front of a large voting mural that reads VOTE. Seven more murals encouraging voting will be painted in six cities across Michigan as part of the effort, the group said. Further voting and candidate information can also be found at Vote411.org. (Natural News) Republican members of the House of Representatives have penned a letter urging Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Christopher Wray to investigate who is funding the Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters that have been terrorizing the country since late May. In a letter penned by Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona and signed by 23 other House Republicans, the lawmakers urged Wray to use all of the tools at his disposal to uncover the hierarchies behind the local, state and national organizations and movements that are fueling the riots. Many cities across our country have been rocked by rioters associated with Antifa and other organizations. These individuals seem to be using cowardly efforts to commandeer otherwise peaceful protests. These actions constitute domestic terrorism and federal charges must be brought against those who are aiding and abetting the criminal actions of these organizations. Biggs and the other congressmen mentioned that last month, they asked Attorney General William Bar to conduct an investigation into who is funding the riots. Now, they are requesting that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI work together in order to get to the bottom of this nationwide conspiracy, in order to arrest and convict all of the main financiers and organizers of the engineered riots. This, they said, will give justice to the people whose lives have been devastated by the civil unrest. (Related: Trumps secret weapon revealed: Fourteenth Amendment allows the President to strip Electoral College votes from states supporting censorship against voters; enables mass arrests of mayors, governors and judges who support BLM.) Republicans working tirelessly to uncover the leadership of Antifa Many Republican legislators congressmen and senators alike have been zeroing in on militant left-wing groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter for several months now. They understand that many of the genuine and peaceful demonstrations advocating for meaningful change and police reform are being hijacked by these domestic terrorist organizations and that their leaders and main financiers need to be uncovered in order to finally stop them. Last month, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas held a hearing to discuss Antifas role in the riots. Biggs is planning to hold a special order on the House floor to allow him and several of his colleagues to speak regarding the rioting and to demand an investigation to figure out who is funding it. It will be about law and order and attacks on police in neighborhood communities, said Biggs during a phone interview. The Arizona congressman plans to get at least a full hour and a diverse group of speakers to talk about the issues relating to left-wing extremist violence. Biggs is hoping that this special order can help raise awareness regarding the nefarious entities that are funneling money into organizations that start riots and spread civil unrest through otherwise peaceful communities. Attorney General William Barr has also spoken out against Antifa and its many affiliate left-wing extremist organizations for their role in instigating and participating in violent activity. Barrs DOJ has even identified the three Democrat-controlled cities of Seattle, Portland and New York as municipal governments that, through their inaction and ineffective governance, allow anarchy and violence to fester. Senate Republicans believe continued rioting and civil unrest will help Trump win reelection Many Republican senators believe that the rioting and the looting is pushing even more people to vote for President Donald Trump. Cruz told the Daily Caller that Americans have not been blind to the fact that the Democrats have been ignoring the violence that is occurring in the cities that they have controlled for decades. He said that those who are undecided need only look to the ideas espoused by Trump and the Democrats to see that one is advocating for the rule of law and the other for anarchy and violence. Georgia Sen. David Perdue lamented the fact that many peaceful protests are turning into violent riots, thanks in part to the local and state Democratic officials that have allowed left-wing infiltrators to agitate crowds into violence. Perdue, who is up for reelection in November, mentioned how his opponent, Jon Ossoff, wants to defund the police. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton mentioned that many of the rioters support former vice president and current Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. This, he says, shows that only Trump can put a definitive stop to the rioting. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said that law and order is necessary for Americans to be able to have justice, peace and prosperity. Kennedy believes that Americans will not forget who was on the side of law and order and who supported the violent rioting. Montana Sen. Steve Daines, who is also up for reelection, said that voters have a clear choice in November between Biden and socialism or Trump and freedom. Some polls still put Biden ahead of Trump, but these surveys will no doubt shift soon as more Americans become aware of the atrocities being perpetrated in cities controlled by the Democratic Party. Sources include: FoxNews.com 1 Biggs.House.gov FoxNews.com 2 DailyCaller.com A forum featuring candidates running for three contested positions on the Montgomery Independent School Districts Board of Trustees has been set for Oct. 6 at Lake Creek High School. The Voter Awareness Council, which aims to encourage and equip citizens to vote, announced it plans to host the non-partisan and unbiased forum in partnership with the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce at the high school, which is located at 20639 FM 2854 in Montgomery. Early voting is Oct. 13-30. Election Day is November 3. Chamber and VAC officials will be co-hosting and introducing the session but will have no role in the actual forum. Position 1 incumbent Jim Dossey and challenger Mike Hopkins, Position 2 incumbent Adam Simmons and challenger Shawn Denison, and Position 3, currently held by David Eargle, candidates Ron Herridge and Laurie Turner have all been invited. There are no bonds or propositions for this election. The candidates will make opening and closing remarks, answer questions in a round robin question format, and will have a chance to comment on all questions. Reasonable time constraints will apply throughout the session. VAC officials will be co-hosting and introducing the session but will have no role in the actual forum, the release stated. Event information stated Community Impact Newspaper Editor, Anna Lotz, will act as forum moderator and will use questions based on the medias overall awareness of Montgomery area and Montgomery ISD issues, questions submitted to her from anyone prior to the session via email at info@montgomeryareachamber.com, and written questions submitted by the audience during the early stages of the forum. We are pleased to be working with the Chamber, Community Impact Newspaper and VAC on this opportunity for our residents to gain first-hand information and input from candidates for the MISD Board of Trustees Montgomery ISD Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Communications Dr. Sonja Lopez stated in the release. Hopefully a large number of people will take advantage of this unbiased forum to aid them in reaching their own voting decisions Lopez stated. Questions about this forum can be directed to Shannan Reid at info@montgomeryareachamber.com or VAC President Steve Leakey at spleakey@yahoo.com. Voter Awareness Council, Inc., c/o David Matos Treasurer, 250 Ed English Dr., Building 3 Unit C, Shenandoah, TX 77385 For more information, visit www.vactx.org, https://www.montgomerytexas.gov/elections or https://elections.mctx.org/. mellsworth@hcnonline.com President Trump has chosen Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee to fill the vacancy left on the Supreme Court by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, according to a new report. The New York Times reported on Friday that the president had selected Barrett, a conservative favorite, ahead of Trumps official announcement which is expected to come on Saturday. Some of the presidents aides warned that Trump may still change his mind ahead of Saturdays official announcement, but he does not appear to have interviewed any other candidates for the role, the Times reported. More from National Review Support for Black Lives Matter protests has plunged since June, new poll shows Those who support the protests are now in the minority, with just 39% in favour It comes as both black and white Americans are more likely to view marches as violence, though opinion has shifted much faster among whites Political scientist Christian Davenport put shift down to 'compassion fatigue' Support for Black Lives Matter protests is falling across the country after months of unrest that has seen people killed, shops burned, and frequent clashes between activists and police. A new poll shows that just 39 per cent of Americans now approve of the protests, down from 54 per cent in June, while 44 per cent of now disapprove of them. ADVERTISEMENT University of Michigan political scientist Christian Davenport put the change down to 'compassion fatigue', as outrage over videos such as the one of George Floyd has faded, with people now wanting a return to their everyday lives. The shift also appears to have been driven by perceptions of violence, with almost a third of Americans saying the protest are now 'mostly or always violent', up from 22 per cent three months ago. Meanwhile the number of people who said the protests were 'always peaceful' fell from 27 per cent to 23 per cent, and the number who said they were 'sometimes violent' also fell, from 51 per cent to 47 per cent now. The figures will be watched closely by politicians on both sides of the aisle, with both Joe Biden and Donald Trump presenting themselves as the 'law and order' candidate with the November election looming. It also comes amid fresh unrest across the country following the indictment of one police officer over the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, though not for the shots that killed her, which sparked fresh unrest. Support for Black Lives Matter protests has fallen across the country in the last three months, as perceptions around violence at the marches has shifted In June, after the death of George Floyd, 54 per cent of Americans said they supported the protests, while just 39 per cent do now - with support falling among blacks and whites Americans were also more likely to see the protests as 'all violent', with the biggest shift coming among whites, though opinion is also shifting among black Americans The shift in support for the protesters was most pronounced among white Americans, 20 per cent of whom believed protests were mostly or all violent back in June, rising to 33 per cent now. White Americans were also less likely to view the protests as all peaceful - down from 27 per cent to 23 per cent - and also less likely to view them as sometimes violent - down from 51 per cent to 47 per cent. ADVERTISEMENT A similar shift was observed among black Americans, though to a much lesser extent - seven per cent saw protests as 'all or mostly violent' back in June, compared to 10 per cent now. Click here to resize this module The number of black Americans who saw the protests as 'almost all peaceful' also fell, from 44 per cent in June to 35 per cent now. The number who saw the demonstrations as 'sometimes violent' grew from 47 per cent to 54 per cent. The poll was conducted by The Associated Press along with the University of Chicago's NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, between September 11 and 14. That means the survey was carried out before the decision to charge one police officer over the death of Breonna Taylor was announced, which sparked more unrest and violence across the country. Overnight, demonstrators in cities from New York to Las Vegas marched through streets and chanted Taylor's name. Americans were also much less likely to agree with the statement that violence against the public is a 'very serious problem', with the largest shift coming among whites Meanwhile, Americans were much more concerned with violence against the police in September than three months previously Two officers were wounded by gunfire at protests in Louisville, where authorities made close to 100 arrests on charges of damaging businesses, refusing to disperse after curfew and unlawful assembly. The poll finds the percentage of Americans who believe police violence unequally targets Black Americans and that greater consequences for police brutality are necessary have also fallen from June, when an AP-NORC survey found sweeping changes in how Americans view these issues. The June survey followed the late May killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, which renewed focus on Taylor's earlier death, in March. On Wednesday, a Kentucky grand jury declined to charge any officers for their role in Taylor's killing; she was shot multiple times after officers entered her home using a no-knock warrant during a narcotics investigation. ADVERTISEMENT Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said an investigation of the case yielded evidence that officers announced themselves before entering. It was Floyd's death in Minneapolis - captured on video by witnesses - that sparked several months of nationwide unrest in which hundreds of thousands of Americans protested against systemic racism and police brutality. Others, including President Donald Trump, expressed solidarity with police and law enforcement officers. The new poll finds the recent shift in opinion is pronounced among white Americans and Republicans, whose views on police violence and racial inequity in policing look closer to the way they did in 2015, before Trump was elected. Just 35% of white Americans approve of the protests now, while 50% disapprove. In June, 53% approved, while 34% disapproved. However, a majority of Americans still agree that police who cause death and injury are still treated too lightly by the justice system Opinion is now evenly split between those who feel police are more likely to use deadly force against black people, and those who feel they are not Among Latinos, 31% approve, compared with 44% in June; 63% of Black Americans support the protests, down from 81%, with more now saying they neither approve nor disapprove. 'I was supportive back in June, but after seeing everything up until now, I'm almost dead against them,' said Dave Hipelious, 63, of New Lenox, Illinois, who is a retired pipe fitter in the energy industry. Hipelious, who is white, said his support for the protests soured when he saw violent unrest, arson and looting that marred the largely peaceful demonstrations following Floyd's death. 'I was a pretty wild young man,' Hipelious said. 'Every time the police stopped me, and every issue I had with them, I was completely in the wrong. I do believe they are doing their job right.' Eighty-four percent of Black Americans, but just 42% of white Americans and 50% of Latinos, say police more often use deadly force against a Black person than a white person. While 74% of Black Americans say the criminal justice system is too lenient when officers cause injury or death, 47% of white Americans and 50% of Latinos say the same. University of Michigan political scientist Christian Davenport said the nation has historically seen public support wane among white Americans for social justice movements - what he calls 'compassion fatigue.' 'When this was all about the video and the visceral response to seeing someone's life get squeezed out of them, that's fine,' Davenport said. 'But from the moment that topic is raised to awareness, the clock starts ticking with regards to, `How quickly can we resolve this so I can get back to my normal life?'' Donald Trump Joe Biden A majority of Americans believe that Trump is doing a bad job of both race relations and policing, though the President holds a narrow lead among whites on the issue of policing The change also comes after months of political sparring between Democrats and Republicans, including Trump. Both sides hope to use the protests to their advantage in the upcoming general election. Among Republicans, 75% say they disapprove of the protests, up from 56% in June. Just 9% approve, down from 29% then. And more Republicans now describe protests as mostly or all violent, 52% vs. 36%. Among Democrats, 70% approve, and close to half describe them as mostly or all peaceful. Still, roughly as many describe them as a mix of both. BriAndia Andrews, 21, of Bloomington, Illinois, who is Black, said she believes most of the protests have been done 'correctly.' Still, she feels 'our voices are not going to be heard once you have people looting and stuff like that.' Given how race in America has become a key focus of politics this year, Andrews said she believes opinions about the protests among white Americans and Republicans only changed because of Trump's rhetoric. 'If you're a Trump supporter and you were also protesting, that could have influenced your opinion of the protests,' she said. Overall, Americans are less likely than they were in June to say deadly force is more commonly used against a Black person than a white person, 50% vs. 61%. And fewer now say that officers who cause injury or death on the job are treated too leniently by the justice system, 52% vs. 65%. The poll reflects a reality that, despite an unprecedented show of support for the movement over the summer, a majority have not participated, said the Rev. Starsky Wilson, the incoming president of the Children's Defense Fund. 'We have malformed memory about what peaceful assembly and public protest has always looked like,' said Wilson, who served as co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, a group that recommended reforms after the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. ADVERTISEMENT 'Many of the things that we remember fondly now are things that were reviled in the moment,' he said. A mum and her baby have died after her estranged husband allegedly poisoned her food and the tot drank the toxins through her breast milk. Josieli Lopes, 36, breast fed her son after eating meat which is claimed to have been poisoned by her estranged husband who plotted to kill her when he discovered she had a lover she was planning to move in with. The estranged husband, who has not been named, was supposed to move out of their apartment in the seaside resort city of Itapema, Brazil, but he is said to have decided to kill her when he discovered her affair. When the nursing mum collapsed with a mystery illness caused by the poison the 34-year-old is said to have offered to take her and the baby to hospital. But instead he drove them to a remote jungle location and buried them both in the ground when he was sure they were dead. The victims were reported missing on September 15 and he was arrested when he confessed to murdering them a week later. Their bodies were then found buried in the wooded jungle in Rio dos Cedros, Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil, on September 22. The suspected killer told police that he poisoned her with a piece of meat, but had not anticipated that this would then be transferred to the baby through her breast milk when she fed the child soon after, ND+ reports. He cynically offered to help them by driving them to hospital, but instead drove them 72 miles (115km) into the jungle and buried them. Under questioning, he had stressed that the childs murder was accidental and later showed the cops where the bodies were buried. Suspicions rose after the suspect sent messages to the victims family from her phone after the murder making mysterious comments about her moving to Rio Grande do Sul. When the family tried to call her back she was no longer available. Ms Lopes teenage son raised the alarm after deciding that the message looked like it was written by someone else. Chief of Police, Diogo Medeiros, said the suspects testimony was confusing and that there were gaps in his story during interrogation. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates In the coming years and decades, various nations want to explore the moon, and plan to send astronauts there again for this purpose. But on our inhospitable satellite, space radiation poses a significant risk. The Apollo astronauts carried so-called dosimeters with them, which performed rudimentary measurements of the total radiation exposure during their entire expedition to the moon and back again. In the current issue (25 September) of the prestigious journal Science Advances, Chinese and German scientists report for the first time on time-resolved measurements of the radiation on the moon. The "Lunar Lander Neutron and Dosimetry" (LND) was developed and built at Kiel University, on behalf of the Space Administration at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), with funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). The measurements taken by the LND allow the calculation of the so-called equivalent dose. This is important to estimate the biological effects of space radiation on humans. "The radiation exposure we have measured is a good benchmark for the radiation within an astronaut suit," said Thomas Berger of the German Aerospace Center in Cologne, co-author of the publication. The measurements show an equivalent dose rate of about 60 microsieverts per hour. In comparison, on a long-haul flight from Frankfurt to New York, it is about 5 to 10 times lower, and on the ground well over 200 times lower. Since astronauts would be on the moon for much longer than passengers flying to New York and back, this represents considerable exposure for humans, said Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber from Kiel University, whose team developed and built the instrument. "We humans are not really made to withstand space radiation. However, astronauts can and should shield themselves as far as possible during longer stays on the moon, for example by covering their habitat with a thick layer of lunar soil," explained second author Wimmer-Schweingruber. "During long-term stays on the moon, the astronauts' risk of getting cancer and other diseases could thus be reduced," added co-author Christine Hellweg from the German Aerospace Center. The measurements were taken on board the Chinese lunar lander Chang'e-4, which landed on the far side of the moon on 3 January 2019. The device from Kiel takes measurements during the lunar "daylight", and like all other scientific equipment, switches off during the very cold and nearly two-week-long lunar night, to conserve battery power. The device and lander were scheduled to take measurements for at least a year, and have now already exceeded this goal. The data from the device and the lander is transmitted back to earth via the relay satellite Queqiao, which is located behind the moon. The data obtained also has some relevance with respect to future interplanetary missions. Since the moon has neither a protective magnetic field nor an atmosphere, the radiation field on the surface of the moon is similar to that in interplanetary space, apart from the shielding by the moon itself. "This is why the measurements taken by the LND will also be used to review and further develop models that can be used for future missions. For example, if a manned mission departs to Mars, the new findings enable us to reliably estimate the anticipated radiation exposure in advance. That's why it is important that our detector also allows us to measure the composition of the radiation," said Wimmer-Schweingruber. ### Original publication: S. Zhang, R.F. Wimmer-Schweingruber, J. Yu, C. Wang, Q. Fu, Z. Yxhas, Y. Sun, W. C, D. Hou, S. I. Bottcher, S. Burmeister, L. Seimetz, B. Schuster, V. Knierim, G. Shen, B. Yuan, H. Lohf, J. Guo, Z. Xu, J. von Forstner, S.R. Kulkarni, H. Xu, C. Xue, J. Li, Z. Zhang, H. Zhang, T. Berger, C. Hellweg, D. Matthia, X. Hou, B. Ren, Z. Chang, B. Zhang, Y. Chen, H. Geng, Z. Quan, Sci. Adv. (2020, Sept. 25). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz1334 The work on the LND was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) under funding code 50JR1604, based on a decision by the German Bundestag (federal parliament). Photos are available to download: http://www.uni-kiel.de/de/pressemitteilungen/2020/203-LND-accommodation.png http://www.uni-kiel.de/de/pressemitteilungen/2020/203-CE4-Lander.jpg Illustration: The Chang'e-4 lunar probe, photographed from the Yutu-2 rover. The measuring device from Kiel is located on the left behind the antenna. CNSA/CLEP http://www.uni-kiel.de/de/pressemitteilungen/2020/203-LND.jpg The LND in the laboratory in Kiel before the launch. Stefan Kolbe, Kiel University Comparison of the radiation dose on Earth, Moon and Mars: http://www.uni-kiel.de/de/pressemitteilungen/2020/203-radiation-levels-earth-moon-mars.PPTX Copyright information in the presentation Background information: Kiel tradition: For over 50 years, Kiel University has investigated to origin of space radiation, how it spreads through space, and how dangerous it is for astronauts or possible extraterrestrial life. In addition to the device from Kiel on the moon, another instrument from Kiel has been measuring the radiation on Mars since 6 August 2012. On 10 February 2020, three more devices from Kiel were launched on the ESA space probe Solar Orbiter, which measure the origin and spread of the radiation. These measurements are important for understanding space weather, and over much longer time periods also so-called "astrobiology". In this scientific field, scientists investigate if and how life could emerge and spread on other celestial bodies. Scientific contact: Prof. Dr Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber Kiel University E-mail: wimmer@physik.uni-kiel.de Telephone: +49 431/880-3964 Mobile: +49 173/951 3332 Dr Sonke Burmeister Kiel University E-mail: burmeister@physik.uni-kiel.de Telephone: +49 431/880-2545 Dr Thomas Berger German Aerospace Center (DLR) Cologne E-mail: Thomas.Berger@dlr.de Telephone: +49 2203/601-3135 PD Dr. Christine E. Hellweg German Aerospace Center (DLR) Cologne E-Mail: Christine.Hellweg@dlr.de Phone: +49 2203/601-3243 Kiel University Press, Communication and Marketing, Claudia Eulitz Postal address: D-24098 Kiel, Germany, Telephone: +49 431 880-2104, Fax: +49 431 880-1355 E-mail: presse@uv.uni-kiel.de, Internet: http://www.uni-kiel.de Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kieluni Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kieluni Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/kieluni The Coyote Saloon In Las Lagunas is leading the way with the reactivation of the live music scene on the Costa del Sol. The popular American theme venue and bowling alley has announced a series of concerts that will take place every Friday and Saturday through to the end of October. The concerts begin tonight (Friday) with local rockers Limite 80; while Saturday will present rhythm and blues outfit Bayaplan. The series of concerts includes a performance by ZZ Rated, a Malaga-based trio that perform a tribute to celebrated 80s rockers ZZ Top (10 October). The band has built up a strong following on the Costa live music circuit and their show consists of classic songs like Gimme All Your Loving and Sharp Dressed Man, along with songs from other rock legends like Jimmy Hendrix and Eric Clapton. Also on the bill are the Costa's only punk rock revival band, the Reinfected, whose explosive show includes hits of the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned (16 October). The series also includes some of the coasts' most celebrated pop bands, like Stereo 80 (17th), The Money Makers (23rd) and The Lost Boys (30 October). Reservations are advised as capacity restrictions will be enforced. For more information, see the Coyote Bowling Saloon Facebook page. Sir Malcolm Rifkind is an aloof grandee who never took much trouble making friends or remembering names. Jack Straw has spent 35 years in the Commons being friendly and keeping his enemies to a minimum. Both, it is assumed, have destroyed their chances of being elevated to the House of Lords after the latest lobbying scandal, but Straw can take some comfort from the reactions of other MPs when he made a reappearance in Parliament today. As he was speaking in the Commons, the maverick right-wing Tory, Jacob Rees Mogg, interrupted to pay tribute to Straws amazing chairmanship of a committee set up to sort out the fractious argument over the appointment of a new Clerk of the Commons. It was amazing to see so sophisticated and capable an operator steer us through... I hope he doesnt mind me interrupting him to put that on the record, said Mogg. Meanwhile, as one of Rifkinds former Cabinet colleagues, Lord King, was interviewed by the BBCs World at One, the kindest thing he could find to say was that Rifkind may have been acting out of character because the undercover journalists interviewing him were young women. I think hes not the only elderly statesman who actually gets a bit carried away in conversation, egged on, as you could hear, by their invitation to talk about his influence and abilities, he said. In politics, as in showbiz, be kind to those you meet on the way up, you may pass them on the way down. Hounded by the media One of the funniest recent memories for those of us who watch the political parade is of the day the publisher Iain Dale lost his cool with a homeless protester, Stuart Holmes, who had placed himself in camera shot, disrupting an interview. As Dale wrestled him to the ground, Holmess dog took alarm and seemingly tried to bite Dale, but missed and bit his owner instead. Holmes and his dog were in shot again on Monday when the cameras caught Straw in Whitehall. Once again, the dog took alarm, but this time he sank his teeth into the left leg of an already beleaguered former foreign secretary. Sir Malcolm got the hump Scotlands first Private Finance Initiative project was completed during Rifkinds time as Scottish secretary. It was the toll bridge linking the Isle of Skye to the mainland, which was the cause of furious protests and more than 100 arrests before the toll was abolished. Rifkind was one of the first to cross the bridge, to stay at the Skye home of the businessman Sir Iain Noble, which could be reached along a single road over a humpback bridge. One protester, a certain Robbie the Pict nipped in and erected his own toll booth on the humpback bridge, trapping Sir Malcolm. End of the peer show Three years ago, Lord James of Blackheath, a Tory peer ennobled by David Cameron, told the Lords he had evidence that the worlds richest man had $15 trillion dollars stashed in the Royal Bank of Scotland. Two years earlier, he claimed he was in touch with a Foundation X, who wanted to lend the British government 75 million. On Monday, the peer, 77, announced that he used to work for the Australian civil service in London, and oversaw the transportation of 2,500 children across the world. I was accused of being worse than Jimmy Savile, he announced. Jimmy Saville might have been quite offended at that because he is being accused in relation to 300 children, whereas I have about 2,500 on my slate. He had been talking for about 20 minutes when very unusually for the House of Lords another peer interrupted to suggest that he shut up. 2021 Kia Forte GT logo on front grille blue paint The 2021 Kia Forte has recently arrived at the Performance Kia dealership to replace the 2020 Kia Forte. The Kia Forte is a compact sedan known for its fuel efficiency, interior technology and budget-friendly price. Those who are looking to lease a 2021 Kia Forte will find four different advertised lease offers to choose from. One advertised lease offer allows qualified lessees to lease the 2021 Kia Forte LXS for 36 months. Under the terms for this offer, lessees would owe $179 per month after paying $2,499 at signing. This offer ends on September 30, 2020. Another advertised lease offer similarly allows a qualified lessee to lease the 2021 Kia Forte GT-Line for a period of 36 months. This lease requires the monthly payments of $189 after $2,499 due at signing. This offer also ends on September 30, 2020. The third advertised lease offer for the 2021 Kia Forte also relates to the 2021 Kia Forte LXS trim, but the term of the lease is 24 months instead of 36. Qualified Lessees must pay $179 per month after paying $2,499 at lease signing. This offer expires on September 30, 2020. The fourth advertised lease offer for the 2021 Kia Forte is for the 2021 Kia Forte GT-Line. A qualified lessee would have to pay $2,499 at signing and $189 each month afterward for 24 months according to the terms of this lease. Shoppers interested in this lease offer must apply by September 30, 2020. Similar offers are available to qualified lessees for new 2020 model year of the Kia Forte. Other models have advertised lease offers like these at Performance Kia. Drivers interested in qualifying for any of these advertised lease offers should contact the Performance Kia dealership by calling 833-336-1172 or by visiting their location at 4225 Birney Avenue, Moosic, Pennsylvania, 18507. This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. The NPP Member of Parliament for Assin Central , Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has pleaded not guilty to contempt of court . Mr Agyapong who allegedly described a High Court judge as stupid, foolish and an Animal pleaded guilty after he was charged for scandalising the court and bring the name of the court into disrepute. The MP took the dock after more than six attempts by his lawyers for him not to appear in the dock. The presiding judge, Justice Amos Wuni , however, insisted that the MP must appear in the dock and plead tie charge and also for the video to be played in court. The video which lasted close to four minutes was also played in court. Hearing continues on Monday, September 28 for the MP to present his defence and subsequently for the court to give his ruling. Source: graphic.com.gh 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 15:25 | Lima, Sep. 23. KOICA Peru, in collaboration with the Korea Food for Hungry International (KFHI) , launched the "Cocina para la Comunidad" (Cooking for the Community) project, which will distribute an amount of food equivalent to two daily meals (breakfast and lunch), taking into account the calories and essential nutrients required under the Sphere standards. PHILIPSBURG:--- On the 25th of September 2015, all 193 UN Member States adopted the 2030 SDG Agenda, with at its core the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is a non-binding declaration that addresses all current global ecological, social and economic challenges from multidimensional poverty and intersectional inequality to climate change, responsible consumption and production, and conflict prevention. The SDGs are 17 goals with 169 targets. The overarching principle of the SDGs is to Leave No One Behind (LNOB). The SDG-flag campaign is themed Together for the SDGs. On the 25th of September 2020, it is exactly five years since the SDGs were adopted. There are 10 years left to reach the goals, so we have entered the Decade of Action. To celebrate the birthday of the SDGs and highlight the Decade of Action, an SDG-flag will be hoisted on at the Government Building in Philipsburg and throughout the Netherlands (at municipalities, libraries, universities, companies, government buildings, CSOs). As a government, we join this initiative to commemorate the SDGs by hoisting the SDG flag, to draw attention to the importance of the SDGs and of partnerships for the 2030 agenda. The current realities facing not only St. Maarten but the world, underlines the importance of achieving the SDGs, but also threatens to limit their progress. Five years after their adoption, it is therefore important to show our commitment to continue our efforts to reach the goals. Let this moment be the kick-off for a Decade of Action to reach the goals in 2030. To highlight specific SDGs and the work that is being done throughout the community in achieving the SDGs, SDGs champions have been selected and will be presented with a certificate of appreciation by the Prime Minister of St. Maarten Silveria E. Jacobs after the flag hoisting ceremony which will take place at 8 AM. Nearly four years ago, Lily Snyder (left) had agreed to be introduced to Marcela Sapone by a mutual friend who was sure they would hit it off. When three months had passed and Ms. Sapone had still not reached out, their mutual friend inquired about the delay. Im pretty focused on building a company from scratch, said Ms. Sapone, who is now the co-founder and chief executive of Hello Alfred, a Manhattan-based real-estate technology firm that connects consumers to household services. Their mutual friend, who went to the University of Pennsylvania with Ms. Snyder, 36, and to Harvard with Ms. Sapone, 34, would not relent. He enlisted the help of several mutual friends from Harvard to help give Ms. Sapone a gentle nudge in the direction of Ms. Snyder, who until January was a vice president at Sothebys Auction House in New York, and now advises art collectors on purchases and sales. Brad Pitt reportedly had newfound love in German model Nicole Poturalski. When Poturalski made a comment regarding Angelina Jolie on Instagram, he did not find it problematic. He even found it flattering. 'Happy People Don't Hate' The 27-year-old model made her position clear her feelings towards Jolie in a candid response to a comment on Instagram. "Happy people don't hate," she wrote as a caption on a photo of herself on the 15th of September. According to the 56-year-old actor, he was not angry or upset Nicole made a remark that 'happy people don't hate,'" reported Coulerz. The "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" actor does not want to get dragged down into drama. According to a source, "For it to become this thing that suddenly everyone was talking about should have been surprising to Brad. At this time in his life, Brad is just happy that he has found someone that makes him feel cherished and loved." 'Loved and Cherished' The Hollywood actor is cool regarding the situation because he reportedly feels loved and cherished. Pitt recently took his reported flame to his French chateau the previous month for a holiday. He typically maintains his personal life's privacy and decided not to drag on the issue between his current girlfriend and his former wife. The issue started when one social media user commented on Brad Pitt's girlfriend Nicole Poturalski's photo of her donning orange, "If so, then why [do] you & Brad hate Angelina. Practice what you preach, girl," reported Republic World. Also Read: Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston Reunion: Flirty Scene in 'Fast Times' Table Read Poturalski promptly responded to the comment, "Not hating [on] anyone." In response to another follower who acknowledged her comment, the model wrote, "WE LOVE. WE SUPPORT. WE SMILE. LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. BIGGEST KISS," reported World News Era. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie's Arrangement The former married couple remains to not be on the same page over their divorce agreement's details. The former married couple share children Maddox, 19, Pax, 16, Zahara, 15, Shiloh, 14, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 12. They have not yet settled on a custody arrangement for their children after their separation in September 2016. Brad Pitt, Nicole Poturalski May Have Been Secretly Dating Before The pair was spotted at a Kanye West concert in November. Pitt has denied all the dating rumors involving him and Poturalski in the previous months, but several news outlets have just confirmed that he and Poturalski are an item. In August, the couple appeared to have arrived at Le Bourget airport outside of Paris. Both then went to his France castle in its south. According to a source, "It's currently a go-with-the-flow situation, and Nicole's not running around yelling about her love for Brad from the rooftops." Brad Pitt and Nicole Poturalski mostly see each other in Los Angeles. "Nicole is there a lot for work. That's where the bulk of her dates with Brad have been." Related Article: Brad Pitt's New Flame Nicole Poturalski Addresses Angelina Jolie Rumor With Cryptic Instagram Post @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Washington: US President Donald Trump spoke by phone on Saturday with various world leaders, amid growing international alarm and a legal challenge over his moves to drastically limit Muslim immigration to the United States. In a flurry of calls that started early in the morning and rounded out an already frantically paced week, Trump spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has calls planned for later in the day with French President Francois Hollande and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The conversations gave the US president an early opportunity to explain new policies that have baffled and unnerved much of the rest of the worldparticularly his order to temporarily halt all refugee arrivals and those of travellers from seven mainly Muslim countries including war-wracked Syria. The calls also allow him to start developing ties with countries that have been close allies with the United States in recent history, as well as Russiaa perennial foe, but a country with which Trump has said he is keen to improve relations. Trumps pronouncement on Muslim immigration makes good on one of his most controversial campaign promises to subject travellers from Islamic countries to extreme vetting, which he declared would make America safe from radical Islamic terrorists. This is big stuff, the new US president declared at the Pentagon yesterday, after signing an executive order entitled Protection of the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States. The decree suspends the entire US refugee resettlement program for at least 120 days while tough vetting rules are established. The new protocols ensure that those approved for refugee admission do not pose a threat to the security and welfare of the United States. In addition, they specifically bar Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely, or until the president himself decides that they no longer pose a threat. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A garda maintaining one of the checkpoints at Glendalough and the Sally Gap over the weekend An Garda Siochana's Operation Fanacht will re-commence tonight in Donegal. As the county joins Dublin in local lockdown from midnight, the force's Operation Fanacht, which focuses on public compliance with public health measures, will also recommence. "High level of visibility of members of An Garda Siochana" will be in Donegal to ensure guidelines in relation to social distancing and gatherings in large groups are adhered to. Checkpoints will also be established as only essential travel is advised in and out of the county. Read More "Garda activity in Donegal will be supplemented by Garda personnel from nearby counties, particularly Leitrim and Sligo, who will focus on patrols of destination public amenities and open spaces in those counties. This activity will consist of targeted patrols and checkpoints to check compliance with public health regulations," said a garda spokesperson. An Garda Siochana will work in co-operation with the Police Service of Northern Ireland. While regulations and travel restrictions are not Penal Regulations, "under Operation Fanacht An Garda Siochana will use the approach of the three Es which will see gardai engage, educate and encourage, only, compliance with travel regulations." An Garda Siochana's Operation Navigation, which focuses on compliance with public health regulations by licensed premises, is also in place nationwide. "We all have a role individually and collectively in protecting ourselves, our families, our communities and the most vulnerable," said Deputy Commissioner, Policing and Security, John Twomey. "It is vital that we all play our part to help reduce the spread of Covid-19 by adhering to the public health regulations and guidelines. An Garda Siochana will do its part in keeping people safe. Operation Fanacht is intended to work with communities to support public health measures. He said that local gardai will support individuals and local communities. "If you are feeling isolated or need help with shopping, collecting your prescription or anything else similar, please contact your local Garda station," he said. Commissioner Twomey also encouraged victims of domestic abuse to seek help. "An Garda Siochana is fully aware of the impact increased restrictions may have on those who are subject to domestic abuse and do not feel safe in their homes. An Garda Siochana takes domestic abuse very seriously. "If you are in danger call 999 at any time. If you feel you are not in immediate danger and you require advice and assistance, you can visit or call your local Garda Station and ask to speak with a Garda in private. If you know of someone who cannot speak for themselves please contact your local garda station. The government plans to sponsor a challenge study set to begin in January, and may announce it to the public next week. The British government says it may take part in a study that tries to deliberately infect volunteers who have been given an experimental vaccine against the coronavirus in an effort to more quickly determine if the vaccine works. The approach, called a challenge study, is risky but proponents think it may produce results faster than typical studies, which wait to see if volunteers who have been given an experimental treatment or a dummy version get sick. We are working with partners to understand how we might collaborate on the potential development of a COVID-19 vaccine through human challenge studies, the UK Department for Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy said in a prepared statement. These discussions are part of our work to research ways of treating, limiting and hopefully preventing the virus so we can end the pandemic sooner. Challenge studies are typically used to test vaccines against mild diseases to avoid exposing volunteers to a serious illness if the vaccine doesnt work. While the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms in most people and seems to be especially mild in young, healthy people, the long-term effects of the disease arent well understood, and there have been reports of lingering problems in the heart and other organs even in those who dont ever feel sick. In the U.S., the National Institutes of Health has downplayed the need for challenge studies given the speed with which vaccines are being developed, but said Thursday it is taking some preliminary steps in case the more controversial approach eventually is required. Those preliminary steps include examining the ethics of a challenge study, and funding research to create lab-grown virus strains that potentially could be used. But even if needed, human challenge trials would not replace Phase 3 trials of COVID-19 vaccines, according to a statement from NIH that called the standard, rigorous studies its priority. Tens of thousands of volunteers have already signed up around the world to test leading candidates and the coronavirus still is spreading widely enough in many locations that manufacturers are confident of answers by years end about at least some of the shots. In July, the NIHs vaccine working group published a paper in The New England Journal of Medicine pointing out the risks of doing a challenge study with a virus that so far has no good treatment and is wildly unpredictable, occasionally killing even some young, otherwise healthy people. A single death or severe illness in an otherwise healthy volunteer would be unconscionable and would halt progress toward a vaccine, the group warned. To minimize chances of that happening, scientists planning a challenge study first would have to grow in a high-security lab a strain of the new virus thats not very strong. Then theyd have to determine a dose that wouldnt make volunteers too sick, which the NIH group warned would be laborious and time-consuming. The Financial Times newspaper reported Wednesday that the government planned to sponsor a challenge study that is set to begin in January. The FT said the government will announce the trial next week, citing people involved in the project without naming them. Dr. Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at the University of Oxford, says he supports the idea. The concept stretches back to 1796, when scientist Edward Jenner found that exposing patients to cowpox disease protected them against future infections of smallpox, the first step in eradicating the deadly disease. He told the BBC that there was a long history of challenge studies and that the risk to young and healthy people is low. Besides that, Horby said that there are now some treatments for COVID-19 in the event a person in the challenge becomes unwell. It has real potential to advance science and get us to a better understanding of the disease and vaccines faster, Horby said. In May, the World Health Organization issued a report on the ethical considerations for conducting a challenge study. The U.N. health agency laid out criteria necessary for justifying such research, including minimizing all potential risks to participants by, among other things, making sure participants were young and healthy, providing supportive care if things went wrong, and mandating rigorous informed consent. Alastair Fraser-Urquhart, an 18-year-old volunteer organizer at 1Day Sooner, a group that advocates for challenge study volunteers, told the BBC he wanted to take part because of the potential to save thousands of lives and bring the world out of the pandemic. It was just something that made instant sense to me really, he said. By PTI KOLKATA: Members of farmers' bodies loyal to the Left parties Friday staged protests in various parts of West Bengal as part of the nationwide stir demanding the withdrawal of the "anti-people" farm bills passed in the Parliament. CPI(M) farmers wing 'Sara Bharat Krishak Sabha' and those of other left partners such as CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP took out rallies in the districts and blocked roads for some time. Participants in the processions at some places carried vegetables and agricultural produce and shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. Alleging that the BJP government at the Centre was opening up the farm sector to big corporate houses and pushing small and marginal farmers to starvation, the agitators took out processions in the rural belts of Hooghly, Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas, Bankura and Nadia districts among others. The Left Front and its fraternal organisations had on September 22 called for a strong movement against the passage of the "anti-farmer" bill in an "undemocratic manner". The LF rallies are part of the country-wide protests by 'Sara Bharat Krishak Sangharsha Samannoy Committee', which comprises the Krishak Sabha, CPI-M''s farmers wing, against the "draconian" Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020. The ruling Trinamool Congress farmers' wing also brought out protest rallies across the state on Thursday and Friday. Describing the farm sector reform bills as the "death knell" for farmers and agricultural workers of the country, hundreds of activists of the TMC's 'Kisaan Khet Mazdoor' cell organised protest marches in various parts of the state. The activists shouted slogans and burnt copies of the bill. At Bongaon in North 24 Parganas the TMC farmers' wing donned headgeras worn by cultivators working in fields to escape the sun and rain and burnt an effigy of the prime minister. The two bills were passed by voice vote in Rajya Sabha on Sunday amid chaotic scenes by the opposition who had demanded that the bills be referred to a House panel for greater scrutiny. The bills were passed by the Lok Sabha earlier. The highly volatile U.S. natural gas benchmark prices are set to trend higher in the coming months amid lower domestic production, higher demand in the winter, and recovering global gas prices in Europe and AsiaAmericas key export destinations for liquefied natural gas (LNG). The coming winter season and the end of the hurricane season that has disrupted LNG operations and exports along the U.S. Gulf Coast, coupled with recovering gas demand for industrial activities in Asia and Europe, are likely to send natural gas prices to above $3 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in the winter months, the natural gas futures curve and EIA estimates show. This summer, Henry Hub benchmark prices have been extremely volatile, with domestic demand and storage numbers serving as key drivers in the absence of major incentives for LNG exports amid depressed demand and gas prices elsewhere due to the pandemic that hit industrial activities. The coming of the winter heating season, however, is about to change the fundamentals. Demand is expected to rise with the fall in temperatures in the northern hemisphere, supporting U.S. and global natural gas prices. Higher prices at the key European and Asian hubs will make LNG exports to those destinations viable and profitable again. This weeks rollercoaster ride of U.S. natural gas prices was indicative of a demand/supply picture in a so-called shoulder season when power demand for air conditioning begins to wane, but demand for heating is not there yet. So prices reacted to the immediate driversstorage, feed supply for LNG, and storm-induced shut-ins. Related: The Debt Crisis Is Mounting For Oil Economies After surging more than 15 percent to over $2/MMBtu on Wednesday, U.S. front-month natural gas futures jumped by another 5 percent by mid-day on Thursday, after the EIA reported a smaller-than-expected natural gas injection into storage. This week, natural gas prices have seen some extreme volatility, from a 10-percent plunge on Monday to a 15-percent surge on Wednesday, also due to the rollover of the October futures contract expiring on September 28, with traders rolling out of the October contract to the November contract of higher prices. While the October contract settled at $2.227/MMBtu on Thursday, the November contract settled at $2.856/MMBtu, while the futures December through March are all trading at above $3.20/MMBtu, with the January futures at $3.44/MMBtu, data from CME Group shows. Prices for the coming months above $3 are not surprising as winter is the peak demand season for gas in the U.S., Europe, and northern Asia. While demand is expected to be high, U.S. natural gas production is now much lower than last year due to the low production in the Permian, where low crude oil prices are reducing associated natural gas output from oil-directed rigs, the EIA said in its September Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). In addition, U.S. LNG suppliers will now have more incentive to export, with spot LNG prices Asia jumping to multi-month highs on increased demand and lower supply amid maintenance in Australia and shut-in terminals due to storms and hurricanes in the U.S. Gulf Coast. There may not be any cancelations of U.S. LNG cargoes for November, trade sources told Reuters, compared to peak cancelations of up to 45 cargoes in July. Related: The World's Most Expensive Crudes Get Expensive Again Spot natural gas prices at the Dutch TTF hub are also at multi-month highs at over $3/MMBtu, compared to a low of below $1/MMBtu in May, opening the window for profitable U.S. LNG exports to the region again. Having plunged by more than 50 percent between January and July, U.S. LNG exports are set to pick up the pace, and the increase already started in August. As per EIA estimates, U.S. LNG exports averaged 3.7 Bcf/d in August, up by 19 percent from July amid rising spot and forward natural gas prices in Europe and Asia. Higher global forward prices indicate improving netbacks for buyers of U.S. LNG in European and Asian markets for the upcoming fall and winter seasons amid expectations of natural gas demand recovery and potential LNG supply reduction because of maintenance at the Gorgon LNG plant in Australia, the EIA said, expecting U.S. LNG exports to return to pre-COVID levels by November 2020 and to average more than 9 Bcf/d from December 2020 through February 2021. The EIA expects that lower U.S. gas production, coupled with rising domestic demand and demand for LNG exports in the winter, will send Henry Hub spot prices jumping to a monthly average of $3.40/MMBtu in January 2021. Monthly average spot prices are set to remain above $3.00/MMBtu for all of next year, averaging $3.19/MMBtu in 2021, up from a forecast average of $2.16/MMBtu in 2020. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Nearly half of the investments by various US-based investors have been made in Reliance subsidiary Jio. The United States continues to be the biggest source of Venture Capital, Private Equity investment in India in 2020 with investments almost doubling to $12.26 billion during January to September from $5.56 billion a year ago. Nearly half of the investments by various US-based investors have been made in Reliance subsidiary Jio. Experts say, the dominance of the US investors will probably grow in the coming decade, including in filling the gap created by the withdrawal of Chinese investors, who have lost their second position to the UAE, followed by Saudi Arabia, thanks to Reliance Jio deals. Investments from the UAE rose to $1.995 billion during January to September from $581 million a year ago. "Canadian, Japanese and Singaporean investors will continue to play a significant role. "It remains to be seen if the role of Middle Eastern investors will grow significantly beyond the infrastructure sectors. "At this point it looks like they will largely participate as co-investors when it comes to emerging sectors, especially in the larger, late stage deals," says Arun Natarajan, Founder, Venture Intelligence. It may be noted that investors from Saudi have not been a big participant, via direct investments, in the Indian PE-VC space. They have to some extent made indirect investments - i.e served as LPs - in PE-VC funds investing in India. Investors from Saudi Arabia have directly invested $1.5 billion in 2020. Until 2010, with the notable exception of Singapore (via Temasek and GIC), the Indian PE-VC investing landscape was largely led by US-based/linked investors. With Warburg Pincus and Carlyle leading the way in the PE segment and Sequoia Capital and later, Tiger Global, in the VC segment. Japanese investments - led by SoftBank and strategic investors like Mitsui - kicked off in 2011 and continued to pick up momentum during the decade, led by financial investors especially in the VC segment. Mainland China-based investors like Alibaba, Tencent and Fosun Group started to make investments in 2015 and over the next few years became an important source of large sized capital to Internet & Mobile companies. While there was a steadily growing interest to invest in India from the Middle East SWFs, their main preference (until 2019) was on the infrastructure segments. Their role has been somewhat overshadowed by Canadian investors - like CDPQ, CPPIB and Brookfield - came in with more fire power and conviction, not to speak of Fairfax Holdings. Featured stories Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Trump potentially refusing to peacefully transfer power: That is not going to happen (cleveland.com) Rob Portman says candidates must commit to accepting election results after Donald Trump says he might not do so (cleveland.com) One dead after highway sign falls onto truck following crash on I-480 in Cleveland (cleveland.com) Coronavirus in Ohio Ohio's county-by-county coronavirus alert map.Governor's office 9 Ohio counties now on coronavirus red alert; Cuyahoga County stays orange for 6th straight week (cleveland.com) Ohio reports 71 more coronavirus nursing home deaths; total reaches 2,988 (cleveland.com) Ohio reports weekly increase of 394 coronavirus cases in K-12 schools (cleveland.com) Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine still getting strong support for coronavirus response, although its softening, new poll shows (cleveland.com) DeWine promises veto of latest bill to limit his authority to impose coronavirus restrictions (cleveland.com) Coronavirus may be mutating to easily infect more people, but not becoming deadlier, study finds (cleveland.com) Indoor nursing-home visits in Ohio will be again allowed starting Oct. 12 (cleveland.com) Ohio recommends colleges test 3% of population weekly for coronavirus (cleveland.com) Update: Some self-serve restrictions loosened in Ohio; restrictions remain for restaurants, bars (cleveland.com) Crime Ohio Supreme Court orders new trial for man convicted of rape in Cleveland (cleveland.com) Man in mental health crisis shot by CMHA police in Cleveland charged with assaulting a police officer (cleveland.com) Argument preceded fatal shooting during home-invasion in Cleveland, police say (cleveland.com) Akron police find explosive device in vehicle after pursuit (cleveland.com) Cleveland / Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County elections director explains erroneous email sent to prospective poll workers (cleveland.com) 19 new cases of COVID-19 coronavirus confirmed in Cleveland, no new deaths reported: Thursday update (cleveland.com) Art-based Super PAC posts anti-Trump billboards and street posters around Cleveland in run-up to first presidential debate (cleveland.com) Cleveland approves tax breaks topping $100,000 a year for new apartment building (cleveland.com) 16 Ohio schools receive National Blue Ribbon School honors (cleveland.com) Local news East Kent State University takes steps to restore pay after enrollment better than expected (cleveland.com) Crash involving Mentor school bus injures 2 students (cleveland.com) Local news West Lorain County husband who killed wife before shooting himself wrote I Snapped, in letter left at scene, records say (cleveland.com) Lakewood City School District enjoys smooth remote learning start, anticipates hybrid learning model beginning Oct. 19 (cleveland.com) Akron / Canton area Akron Schools, police agree to fewer officers in schools (Akron Beacon Journal) State In the second poll of likely voters in Ohio released Thursday, Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden were virtually tied.Associated Press Quinnipiac Poll of Ohio likely voters shows toss-up race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump (cleveland.com) Ohio voters like Gov. DeWine a lot, lean slightly toward Joe Biden over Donald Trump, and split on social justice protests - New Great Lakes poll (cleveland.com) State Rep. Dave Greenspan is unnamed representative who spoke with the FBI about House Bill 6, records show (cleveland.com) Most Ohioans support Black Lives Matter, feel whites are privileged but often misunderstood, poll finds (cleveland.com) DeWine offers support for Trump on Supreme Court issue, says both parties switch positions in nomination process (cleveland.com) Ohio unemployment claims went up last week (cleveland.com) Many voters in Ohio and other Great Lakes states plan to vote by mail, poll says (cleveland.com) How does vote-by-mail work in Ohio, and why is it safe? Election Truth (cleveland.com) Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine planning extra funding for mental health services (cleveland.com) Former Buckeyes star Anthony Gonzalez introduces bill to let college athletes make endorsement deals (cleveland.com) Copley police officer chosen to lead new state agency dedicated to recruiting women, minority officers (cleveland.com) Komodo dragons are the largest species of lizard, growing up to 10 feet long They are classified as vulnerable with only around 4,000 left living in the wild Australian experts modelled the likely fate of the iconic species in the future They predict extinctions on the islands of Gili Dasami, Gili Montang and Flores The Komodo dragon the world's largest species of lizard could be driven to extinction by global warming and rising sea levels, a study has warned. Numbers of the iconic reptiles also known as 'Komodo monitors' are in rapid decline, with only around 4,000 left on the five Indonesian islands they call home. ADVERTISEMENT Experts from Australia used Komodo dragon monitoring data and climate statistics to model how the species, classified as vulnerable, will likely fare in the future. By 2050. the lizards will be extinct on three islands Gili Dasami, Gili Montang and Flores on which they have lived for more than a million years, the team said. Climate change is expected to reduce the Komodo dragon's habitat by shifting local temperatures and degrading the forests in which they and their insect prey live. The Komodo dragon, pictured the world's largest species of lizard could be driven to extinction by global warming and rising sea levels, a study has warned (stock image) 'Climate change is likely to cause a sharp decline in the availability of habitat for Komodo dragons, severely reducing their abundance in a matter of decades,' said paper author and spatial ecologist Alice Jones of the University of Adelaide. 'Our models predict local extinction on three of the five island habitats where Komodo dragons are found today,' she added. Komodo dragons which can grow to 10 feet (3 metres) long are endemic to the five Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Gili Dasami, Gili Motang and Flores, the latter of which has seen numbers of the lizard plummet to new lows. Click here to resize this module 'Current-day conservation strategies are not enough to avoid species decline in the face of climate change,' Dr Jones explained. 'This is because climate change will compound the negative effects of already small, isolated populations.' 'Interventions such as establishing new reserves in areas that are predicted to sustain high-quality habitats in the future, despite global warming, could work to lessen the effects of climate change on Komodo dragons,' she concluded. ADVERTISEMENT 'The severity and extent of human actions impacting Komodo dragon populations, especially on Flores Island, are only just being realised,' said Komodo Survival Program Coordinator Deni Purwandana. 'Having an insight into future impacts of climate change provides new possibilities to work with conservation agencies and local communities to find on-ground solutions that will limit climate and other threats to Komodo dragons and their habitats.' Numbers of the iconic reptiles, pictured also known as 'Komodo monitors' are in rapid decline, with only 4,000 left on the five Indonesian islands they call home (stock image) 'Using this data and knowledge in conservation models has provided a rare opportunity to understand climate change impacts on Indonesia's exceptional but highly vulnerable biodiversity,' said paper author Tim Jessop of Deakin University. According to their models, the team added, Komodo dragons may need to be relocated in the future if they are unable to survive in their traditional habitats. 'Our conservation models show that Komodo dragons on two protected large islands are less vulnerable to climate change,' added paper author and ecologist Damien Fordham of the University of Adelaide. 'However, even these island habitats might not provide an adequate insurance policy for the survival of the species.' 'Conservation managers in coming decades may need to consider translocating animals to sites where Komodo dragons have not been found for many decades.' 'This scenario can be tested easily using our approach.' 'Our research shows that without taking immediate action to mitigate climatic change, we risk committing many range-restricted species like Komodo dragons to extinction.' ADVERTISEMENT The full findings of the study were published in the journal Ecology and Evolution. Komodo dragons which can grow to 10 feet (3 metres) long are endemic t o the five Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Gili Dasami, Gili Motang and Flores, the latter of which has seen numbers of the lizard plummet to new lows Your browser does not support the audio element. While most of his peers get hooked on pop music and other contemporary genres, this young boy is only interested in traditional music and his infatuation has been fueled by his grandmother and mother who run a food vendor cart in the central province of Quang Nam to support his passion. Eleven-year-old Nguyen Ngoc Thien Thanhs taste for traditional music took hold as his maternal grandmother lulled him to sleep with folk songs during one of his hospital stays. Obsessed with the music since his very first encounter, the boy insisted on accompanying his grandmother to parties where he performed folk songs on stage. Before social distancing was enforced in Da Nang City and neighboring Quang Nam Province from late July to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus during its second outbreak, Thanhs mother Nguyen Tuong Van had never taken a single day off from pushing her vendor cart from which she earns her familys income. The 38-year-old woman, who left her hometown for Cam Kim Commune in Hoi An City the capital of Quang Nam ten years ago to earn a living, soon noticed her sons fondness for the long-standing genre. Concerned that Thanh might slip into depression and neglect for schoolwork over an unquenched thirst for music, Van enrolled him in folk singing and 'dan bau' (monochord) classes, despite the instructors home being located in Da Nang, around 30 kilometers away. A smartphone may come in handy for Nguyen Ngoc Thien Thanh (right) in keeping the tempo while playing 'dan bau,' or Vietnamese monochord, and keeping him entertained with gigs in other traditional musical instruments in this supplied photo. Van was elated that the training made her son himself again. He even made his way to Da Nang Culture and Art College following his enthralling gigs at a local talent-seeking competition earlier this year. Thanhs instructor held practice sessions at the instructors home at night and on weekends to help the boy fit his daytime school schedule. As Van already struggled to fend for the whole family, she found it quite a challenge to cover Thanhs and his elder brothers tuition fees. She and her own mother began their daily routines predawn, heading to a local market and preparing breakfast portions, fast food and soft drinks for sale. Their cart has to be up and running early in the morning to catch the early-bird customers. Nguyen Tuong Van, Nguyen Ngoc Thien Thanhs mother, bursts into tears as he pocketed a prize at the Quang Nam Music Got Talent Competitions Final Round, which took place in the namesake province in central Vietnam in July 2020 in this supplied photo. Things are much more difficult for them in recent months than in years past following the second outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the government-mandated social distancing policy in place in Da Nang and Quang Nam Province, where hundreds of community transmission cases and most virus-related deaths were recorded starting late July. As food stalls were shut down during the outbreak, the family hunkered down the pandemic crafting souvenirs which they would sell later on. They also knitted and donated ear relief cushions to frontliners at Da Nang-based hospitals to help relieve their pain after wearing masks for extended periods in recognition of their efforts in combating the second outbreak in Vietnam. Vietnam has documented 1,069 COVID-19 cases, with 991 having recovered and 35 deaths as of Friday, according to Ministry of Health statistics. The country has gone over three weeks without recording any community-based transmission. Nguyen Tuong Van carries her son Nguyen Ngoc Thien Thanh across a bridge in Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province in central Vietnam towards neighboring Da Nang in this supplied photo. Nguyen Ngoc Thien Thanh helps clean things so that his grandmother and mother can get their food cart back on track in Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province in central Vietnam following a pandemic-caused disruption in this supplied photo. Nguyen Tuong Van (second left), her mother and two sons knit cushions that relieve mask wearers of discomfort in this supplied photo. The family donated more than 300 knitted cushions to frontliners during the lockdown in place to curb the second coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak that hit Da Nang in central Vietnam and neighboring Quang Nam Province in July 2020. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! People on TikTok were reportedly overdosing on over-the-counter drugs while participating in the "Benadryl Challenge." Now, The Food and Drug Administration is issuing a warning about it. The FDA said Thursday that "serious problems" could occur if high doses of the allergy medication Benadryl are ingested. The agency's warning was brought on by reports centered around one of the latest social media challenges to catch the attention of teenagers. "We are aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the 'Benadryl Challenge' encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok," the FDA said. The health agency is investigating reports to determine if additional cases have happened. Taking too much Benadryl can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma, or even death, the FDA warns. TikTok has moved to remove videos related to the challenge, which featured young people encouraging others to ingest high doses of the antihistamine to induce hallucinations, according to Healthline. Apple Watch Series 6: Is it worth it to upgrade? If you search TikTok for Benadryl Challenge, you'll get a notice saying that "this phrase may be associated with behavior or content that violates our guidelines." No video results will populate. TikTok. The social media-spawned call to action would be the latest in what has been a number of challenges that pose serious health risks to people trying to get attention online. The most infamous was 2018's Tide Pod Challenge which saw teens daring others to put packets of detergent in their mouths. In another example, the Bird Box Challenge took off in 2019. Named after the widely popular film on Netflix, the challenge pushed people to shoot videos of themselves stumbling around outside with blindfolds on. Netflix issued a statement urging people not to do that. Follow Dalvin Brown on Twitter: @Dalvin_Brown. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: TikTok's 'Benadryl Challenge' can cause 'serious problems,' FDA warns PARIS A knife-wielding assailant wounded two people in Paris on Friday near the site of the former Charlie Hebdo office the scene of a 2015 terrorist attack targeting the satirical newspaper that is now the focus of a criminal trial. A primary suspect was arrested a short time later. Gerald Darmanin, the French interior minister, said Friday evening that the suspect, believed to be an 18-year-old Pakistani, had not been previously identified by the authorities as a possible extremist. But he called the attack an act of Islamist terrorism because of its location in front of the building where Charlie Hebdo had its offices at the time of the January 2015 attack that left 12 dead and because of the nature of the assault, against random bystanders. French prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation. It is a new, bloody attack against our country, Mr. Darmanin told France 2 television. Prime Minister Jean Castex, who cut short a scheduled speech after the attack occurred, told reporters that it happened in a symbolic location, not far from a mural that pays tribute to the victims of the 2015 massacre. Authorities also pointed to the timing of the attack, which came amid the ongoing trial of several people accused of aiding the 2015 assailants. Does mail-in voting help U.S. Democrats, Republicans, or no one? WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- At a time when a large chunk of the U.S. electorate is expected to vote by mail, there is a major fight in Washington over whether mail-in voting will impact the elections. But it remains unknown whether mail-in ballots help or hurt Democrats, Republicans or no one. In the lead-up to the tightest U.S. elections in recent memory, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing for as many voters as possible to cast their ballots via mail, in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. But U.S. President Donald Trump believes a massive uptick in mail-in voting could leave the elections open to fraud, and often reiterates his concerns. DEMOCRATS HURT? Recent presidential primaries have seen massive problems with mail-in voting, resulting in half a million mail-in ballots being tossed out. New York's June 23 primaries saw more than 100,000 mail-in ballots rejected, mainly due to the postal service's inability to handle such a large uptick in volume, as well as forms not being filled out correctly. Other elections, such as Patterson, New Jersey's completely mail-in election in May, was wrought with fraud, according to the county's election board. Some believe that could impact Democrats, as nearly half of Democratic challenger Joe Biden's supporters will vote by mail. That is nearly twice as many as the 23 percent of Trump's supporters who say they'll vote for the president by mail, according to a recent survey from the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape project. Ford O'Connell, adjunct professor at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, told Xinhua that the Democrats' push for mail in ballots will end up backfiring and hurting their own candidate. Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua that this could be an issue in battleground states. REPUBLICANS IMPAIRED? At a rally earlier this month, Trump charged Democrats with trying to "rig the election," reiterating his argument that mail-in voting leaves the process open to widespread fraud. He said that the only way he would not beat Biden "is if they screw around with the ballots, which they will do in my opinion." The president often points to the fiasco in Patterson, New Jersey -- an all mail-in election during Gov. Phil Murphy's draconian lockdown -- as evidence that fraud can easily occur. Mail-in votes -- separate from absentee ballots in which one requests a mailed ballot -- are automatically mailed to recipients using their last known address. But in some cases, the intended recipient may no longer reside at the address on file. The current resident could theoretically use that ballot to vote twice, and Trump believes Democrats will take advantage of this, although he has never explained why Democrats would commit fraud and Republicans would not. Mail-in voting differs from in-person voting, where people show up, show their ID cards to officials, and usually tap in their choice on an electronic machine. Trump's attitude toward mail-in voting mirrors that of many other Republicans, 76 percent of whom said mail-in voting would lead to fraud, as opposed to 27 percent of Democrats, according to a Gallup poll in May. MAIL-IN VOTING HARMLESS? Despite the battle in Washington over mail-in voting, some data suggests that mail-in voting will have no impact at all. In states that conduct voting by mail, there is a slight uptick in voter turnout, according to researchers who combed through more than 40 million state-level voting records, as well as three decades of nationwide data. The findings were published in Science Advances, an academic journal. The data suggests that one form of voting does not favor one political group over another, according to political scientist Michael Barber of Brigham Young University. Indeed, some experts believe that the elections should go smoothly, despite an expected uptick in mail-in votes. Clay Ramsay, a senior research associate at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua the pandemic has pushed states to set up online systems for checking one's registration and registering there if needed, which is more voter-friendly. Massachusetts officials announced Wednesday that the states annual STEM week is running from Oct. 19 to 23 with a mix of virtual and in-person events. STEM week will feature lessons, speaker panels and design challenges that have adapted for new school and work environments amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. This year made it abundantly clear how important STEM professions are to all our lives, and we hope that more young people will explore the opportunities that exist in STEM fields and pursue those careers that benefit us all, Baker said. STEM week is a collaborative effort between the Executive Office of Education; the STEM Advisory Council, which works to generate interest and support from the business community for STEM Week activities and is co-chaired by Polito, Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Executive Chairman Jeffrey Leiden; and the Commonwealths nine Regional STEM Networks, which plan and coordinate activities with local school communities, community leaders and business partners. Across our Commonwealth, nurses and doctors are saving lives, scientists are working furiously to develop a vaccine, and advanced manufacturers quickly shifted gears to produce personal protective equipment, said Polito. Battling COVID-19 highlighted how crucial the need is for young people to study science, technology, engineering and math, and our administration remains committed to paving pathways to STEM careers and education for students in and out of the classroom. Teachers and employers are being encouraged to develop new, creative ways to host STEM week events, highlighting opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math. Getting kids hooked on science is all about creating fun, hands-on experiences where they can explore these topics in the real world alongside scientists and mentors, said Leiden. Those experiences might look different during a pandemic, but as leaders and educators, we have an opportunity to innovate in how we deliver them to students. At Vertex, we created an all-virtual summer internship experience for our Boston Public School partners, and well continue to work with the community to ensure students particularly women and those who are underrepresented in STEM have the opportunities they need to succeed, Leiden continued. This year, the STEM Advisory Council is coordinating with programs including Kids In Tech: Cybersecurity - Keeping Our Networks Secure Challenge; Museum of Science - Supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals; Gale Force Education - Power Grid Explorations; FitMoney - STEM Business Plan Challenge; MIND Research Institute in partnership with STMath - Math Maker Project - Play, Create, Share; WPI STEM Education Center - I Am STEM, STEM I Am!; and the Wade Institute for Science Education partnered with the National Marine Life Center and the Lloyd Center for the Environment to hold the Survivor Island STEM Week Challenge.' More information is available online. Related Content: BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: Armenia is preparing for war, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said when receiving EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar, Trend reports. Further evidence of their deliberate disruption of the negotiating process was their consistent efforts to involve separatists from Nagorno-Karabakh in the talks. This was immediately rejected by us and not supported by the Minsk Group co-chairs. In other words, they have wanted to change the existing format of negotiations for many years. As you know, after the July provocations, in August they sent a sabotage group to the contact line, the leader of which was detained by our servicemen. He confessed and testified that he and his sabotage group were sent to attack the civilian population, commit terrorist acts and attack our military personnel. This suggests that the aggressive policy of Armenia against Azerbaijan continues. This also indicates that Armenia is preparing for war. Another indicator of this is that they have announced the establishment of an army of volunteers and, according to their own statements, these groups will consist of tens of thousands of people. If Armenia wants peace, as it sometimes claims, if they want negotiations, then what is this for? Why are these false and ridiculous statements and specific steps? The volunteer army consisting of tens of thousands of people pursues one goal to attack Azerbaijan. They include old men and even women in this volunteer army. They are conducting so-called military exercises in the occupied territories, which is another provocation against us, the head of state said. In 1964, the presidential candidacy of the staunchly conservative Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater culminated socio-politically with, among other things, a seminal essay by the preeminent historian Richard Hofstadter. Titled The Paranoid Style in American Politics, Hofstadter claimed that while not clinically paranoid, many Goldwater-ites viewed communism and the rapid and expansive growth of government as the thinly veiled battering ram of a vast and gigantic conspiracy threatening a nation, a culture, and a way of life. More than 50 years later, Donald Trump has made Hofstadter seem prescient. As Thomas B. Edsall alarmingly proclaimed in The New York Times in 2016, The Paranoid Style in American politics is Back. In fact, Hofstadters observations are more applicable today than when he wrote the widely influential essay, when Southern California was a hotbed for paranoid extremist groups. As the Republican presidential nominee, Goldwater warned that Americans didnt grasp the enormity of the (communist) conspiracy created to destroy us. That message proved critical in Goldwaters California Republican Primary win, which clinched his nomination. Among Goldwaters California supporters, none were more fervently opposed to communism and the welfare state than members of the John Birch Society (JBS). Established in 1958 to fight an alleged conspiratorial threat from communism and its subversives in America who operated under the guise of liberalism, the groups founder called President Dwight Eisenhower a dedicated, conscious agent of the communist conspiracy. By the early 1960s, Orange and Los Angeles counties were urban strongholds for the JBS and other right-wing groups, and they clearly helped Goldwater win the California primary and the nomination. However, unlike many of his prominent Republican colleagues who had publicly repudiated the JBS, Goldwater not only refused to do so but also referred to the groups members as fine, responsible people and helped reinforce the image of conservatives as zealous extremists. He lost in a landslide the same month Hofstadters essay was published. While Goldwater did believe that communists operated conspiratorially in the heart of our defenses, he also maintained that the Soviet Unions effort to win American converts is almost a complete failure. In addition, outside of his targeted anti-communist fervor, Goldwater did not promote or otherwise circulate conspiracy theories. Nor did his prominent supporter, Ronald Reagan, during his successful gubernatorial campaign in 1966, when his opponent, Gov. Pat Brown, depicted him as a Goldwater-ite and extremist collaborator. Reagan understood the need to keep the kooks quiet and campaigned accordingly. Half a century later, Donald Trump appropriated Reagans 1980 presidential campaign slogan (Make America Great Again), but, unlike Goldwater or Reagan, paranoid political rants are the currency of his realm. Not only does Trump not want to keep the kooks quiet; he encourages and embraces them. Most notably, Trump has declared that members of QAnon people who believe the U.S. government is run by deep state conspirators who are Satan-worshiping pedophiles like me very much and love America. When asked about QAnons belief that hes been anointed to save the world from this satanic cabal, Trump declared: If I can help save the world from problems Im willing to do it, especially from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country. As Hofstadter asserted, the paranoid disposition is marked by the megalomaniac view of oneself as the Elect, wholly good, (and) abominably persecuted yet assured of ultimate triumph. Attributing gigantic and demonic powers to the adversary, the paranoid spokesman does not need factual evidence for effective two-way communication with the world outside his group. He has all the evidence he needs; he is not a receiver, he is a transmitter. And he is running for re-election as president of the United States. Kurt Schuparra served in the administrations of California governors Gray Davis and Jerry Brown. He is the author of Triumph of the Right: The Rise of the California Conservative Movement, 1945-1966. According to Spanish property expert and author Sean Woolley, "It's time to talk about Brexit" The COVID-19 pandemic has been all that we have been thinking about since March, but as we enter the final quarter of 2020, the end of the transition period for the UK to leave Europe is fast approaching and things are going to change. To support UK buyers planning to buy property in Spain who are concerned about how the withdrawal will affect them, Sean has compiled and answered buyers questions about Brexit and buying a property in Spain. What are the implications for those wanting to invest in Spanish property as the transition period deadline of December 31st draws closer? As we know, the transition period ends on December 31st 2020. Until then, British citizens have the same rights in the EU as previously. Nothing changes until January 1st 2021. The withdrawal agreement allows British citizens to continue to live, work or study in Spain with the same rights as an EU citizen, but only if they register as a resident in Spain before December 31st. Does Brexit mean that the British cant buy property in Spain? No, not at all. All foreigners are allowed to buy property in Spain regardless of their nationality. It doesnt matter whether your home country is inside or outside of the EU. Has Brexit impacted the Spanish property market? Since the UK announced its decision to leave the EU, there has been a slight drop in the number of British buyers (especially due to sterlings weakness against the euro since the Brexit referendum result), but purchases from other countries have remained steady, thereby balancing out the impact. Has Brexit affected property prices in Spain? According to the Association of Property Registrars, Spanish property prices went up by 4% in Q1 2020 compared to Q4 2019, and by 6.96% year on year. Since prices bottomed out in Q4 2014 (prior to Brexit), they have gone up by 40.85%, suggesting that Brexit has had no effect on prices at all. Of course, we are currently faced with another crisis with the COVID-19 pandemic, but this has predominantly caused a series of welcome pricing corrections rather than a full-scale collapse of the market. Buyer interest remains strong, new vendor instructions are not flooding the market, and mortgage funding is readily available. Has Brexit made it more expensive to buy property in Spain? Sterling has been weaker since the Brexit referendum result, thereby making it more expensive for Brits to purchase in Spain. However, by using a currency company you can minimise the costs of transferring money and take advantage of the best rate possible for your purchase. Will I be able to get a mortgage in Spain after Brexit? As a non-resident and provided you can provide proof of income and a sound credit record, you can take out a mortgage in Spain, usually up to a maximum of 70% loan to value or purchase price, whichever is lower. There is a possibility that from 2021, British buyers may only be eligible for a lower LTV of perhaps 60%-65% - on a par with other non-EU applicants, however, Spanish banks regularly approve 70% LTV for Swiss (non-EU) nationals, and considering that British buyers continue to account for a large proportion of transactions, a tightening of lending seems unlikely. What about property purchase taxes? Everyone who buys a property in Spain is liable for the same purchase costs and taxes, and there are no plans to change it. Will I be able to let my Spanish property after December 31st? Foreigners are freely permitted to let their properties in Spain for holidays and longer-term rentals. This is not set to change. What about rental income tax? Once the transition period ends on 31st December, British owners in Spain will probably be liable for a slightly higher tax on rental income. At the moment, EU citizens pay 19% while non-EU citizens pay 24%. Brit owners may therefore fall into the higher bracket by default at the end of the year. However, this law is currently being challenged in the European courts as unfair discrimination, so could well be overturned. For how long will I be able to stay and live in Spain? Now were getting to the crux of the matter. No firm decision has been made by the UK and Spanish governments regarding visas for British nationals travelling to Spain. Bearing in mind that the Spanish government are especially eager to attract foreign tourism and investment, it is widely expected that tourist visas will not be required for British nationals entering Spain. Currently, the rules are that non-EU visitors to Spain may stay for up to 90 days within a 6-month period without needing a visa and this seems likely to apply to British visitors as well. The cloudy issue surrounds those who wish to stay for longer than 90 days at a time. This needs to be decided, and there is a possibility that a residence visa of some sort will need to be applied for. So, how could I obtain a residence visa after December 31st? At the moment, non-EU buyers have the chance to apply for a Golden Visa which includes resident permits for the buyer and their dependents in exchange for making an investment of at least 500,000 in property. One of the advantages of this scheme is that you do not actually have to live in Spain or pay taxes here, although you will need to visit once a year if you want to renew it. It, therefore, seems that the only sure route to residency for British buyers post-Brexit will be to apply for a Golden Visa, but with the current rules, this would restrict the visas to those spending 500k+ on property. Perhaps this figure will be lowered to accommodate more buyers and investment? Can I obtain residency if I buy a property before 31st December 2020? Under the withdrawal agreement, all British citizens who register as a resident in Spain before 31st December have the right to live in the country with the same rights as EU citizens. You will need to have either the title deeds to property here OR a long-term rental contract in place to provide evidence that you were here before the deadline and are planning to be here long-term. The process is straightforward but it needs to be done before 31st December. Thats just over 3 months away! live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Markets regulator Sebi on September 25 imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on Rana Kapoor, former MD and CEO of Yes Bank, for not making disclosures about Morgan Credit's transaction. By not disclosing about the transaction to Yes Bank's board of directors, Kapoor has created an opaque layer between him and stakeholders, Sebi said in an order. Morgan Credits, which was an unlisted promoter entity of Yes Bank, raised Rs 950 crore from Reliance Mutual Fund, now Nippon India Mutual Fund, through unlisted Zero Coupon Non-Convertible Debentures (ZCNCDs)in April 2018. Kapoor, who was also the promoter of Yes Bank, entered into an agreement as a 'guarantor' with Morgan and Milestone Trusteeship Services with respect to the transaction through a trust deed. Kapoor being a 'guarantor' of the agreement has provided "personal guarantee for the obligations of Morgan to the extent of Rs 410 crore and provided his shares in the company as a security for the outstanding amounts equal to Rs 820 crore, Sebi noted. According to the regulator, Kapoor has hidden the material information of him being a 'guarantor' to the transaction from the board of directors of the bank and the same has directly impacted the lender in terms of the market capitalisation. In addition, he failed to inform the board of directors of Yes Bank about his material interests in the transaction. "The transaction carried out by the noticee via Trust Deed dated November 14, 2018 by way of providing 'personal guarantee' for the obligations of the Morgan issued ZCNCDs was an event involving substantial material interest and was having direct bearing on the company," the regulator said. By not disclosing the same to the board of directors of the company, the noticee (Rana Kapoor) has violated the provision of the LODR (Listing Obligations and Dislcosure Requirements) Regulation, Sebi noted. Further, Kapoor has failed in maintaining expected operational transparency towards the company and stakeholder. Accordingly, the regulator imposed a "consolidated monetary penalty of total Rs 1 crore on the noticee,Rana Kapoor, for the violations of the LODR (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations". Eric Trump weighed in on his father's comments on a peaceful transfer of power, saying President Trump would relinquish control of the government if he lost to Joe Biden in a blowout. But Eric, who helps run the Trump Organization, said his father would contest the election results if there were indications of 'massive fraud.' 'I think my father's just saying listen, if he got blown out of the water, of course he'd concede,' Trump said on a campaign swing in Las Vegas Thursday. 'If he thought there was massive fraud, then he'd go and try and address that,' he said, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. Eric Trump says his father would concede the election 'if he got blown out of the water' He said that would apply in cases such as if there were 'tens of thousands of ballots are found in a dumpster.' He spoke a day after the president forced Republicans to issue a flurry of statements asserting the nation would honor the peaceful transfer of authority after the elections after Trump failed to do so when asked point-blank. Like some Republicans on Capitol Hill, he pointed to an August comment by Hillary Clinton that Biden shouldn't concede under any circumstances. 'I think my father's saying the same thing: I'll have to look at what happens,' Eric Trump said. Clinton's comment, to Showtime's 'The Circus' was: 'Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances, because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don't give an inch, and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is.' His son's comment about conceding in a 'blowout' came on a day when the president said he isn't sure the election could be 'honest,' just minutes after his press secretary asserted that he would accept the results of the election so long as it was 'free and fair.' Several top Democrats have also said their party should aim for a blowout, fearing Trump could try to exploit any situation with recounts or contested ballots to immediately claim victory and claim a rigged election. Trump's comments which once again raised unproven charges about mail-in ballots came as the White House and congressional Republicans sought to explain his refusal Wednesday to commit to a peaceful transfer of power following the elections. 'We want to make sure the election is honest but I'm not sure that it can be,' Trump said. It came after White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany provided a conditional statement to the press saying Trump 'will accept the results of a free and fair election.' Trump was asked as he left the White House on a trip to North Carolina and Florida whether the election was only legitimate if he wins. 'We want to make sure the election is honest but I'm not sure that it can be,' President Donald Trump said Thursday, a day after refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. The White House said he would accept the results of a 'free and fair' election 'We have to be very careful with the ballots. The ballots that's a whole big scam. They found I understand eight ballots in a wastepaper basket in some location,' Trump said. He was likely referencing an FBI announcement about an investigation into potential irregularities at the Luzerne County Board of Elections. Investigators said they have uncovered nine discarded mail-in ballots. 'Some of those ballots can be attributed to specific voters and some cannot. All nine ballots were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump,' said U.S. Attorney David J. Freed. Trump also mentioned 'a lot of ballots in a river,' and said: 'They throw them out if they have the name trump on it, I guess. But they had ballots.' The stakes are high both for President Trump and for the company he spent years expanding. On Wednesday, a New York judge ruled that Eric Trump must comply with a subpoena in a probe that extends to Trump Organization statements when obtaining financing for projects. It is one of several areas where the president could face legal exposure if he is no longer in office. The president continued his attack on mail-in ballots Thursday, using the latest information from the FBI as fuel. 'The other ones had the Trump name on it and they were thrown into a waste paper basket. We want to make sure the election is honest but I'm not sure that it can be,' he said. 'I don't know that it can be with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots. They're unsolicited millions being sent to everybody. We'll see.' Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump will accept the results of a 'free and fair' election a day after the president refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. McEnany was grilled repeatedly Thursday about the president's statement which raised enough concerns that it prompted early pushback from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, and Sen. Marco Rubio. 'The president will accept the results of a free and fair election, he will accept the will of the American people,' McEnany repeated. 'The president will accept the results of a free and fair election he will accept the will of the American people,' said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Thursday Asked if Trump would accept the results even in the event that he loses, McEnany refused to engage. 'I've answered your question. He will accept the results of a free and fair election,' she said. She also sought to help dig the president out of his comments from Wednesday by taking swipes at the reporter who asked it, Brian Kerem of 'Playboy' magazine, a CNN contributor. 'You are referring to the q asked by the Playboy reporter, right?' McEnany said, quizzed by an ABC reporter Thursday. She noted that the reporter had asked Trump if he would accept a peaceful transfer 'win, lose or draw.' 'I'm not entirely sure if he won why he would accept a transfer of power,' she quipped. 'That is mainly the deranged with of that reporter,' she said. McEnany also blasted the use of mail-in ballots raising questions about what type of elections Trump considers free and fair. Her comments on the topic which she raised at the top of her briefing Thursday, came after Republicans asserted Thursday that if Joe Biden is elected president in November there will be an 'orderly transition' after Donald Trump refused to commit to 'peacefully' leaving office if he loses. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted early Thursday that 'The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th.' 'There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792,' he continued. Even amid McEnany and Trump's attacks on mail-in voting, which Trump says is filled with fraud, FBI Director Chris Wray testified Thursday: 'We have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise.' McEnany and Senate Republicans who all were forced to comment on the president's statement pointed to comments by Hillary Clinton in August where he urged Biden not to concede the election. 'Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances, because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don't give an inch, and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is,' she told her former communications director Jennifer Palmieri in an interview with Showtime's 'The Circus.' Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances, because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don't give an inch, and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is,' GOP lawmakers were forced to speak out in defense of U.S. election integrity after the president would not directly answer a question on if he intends to peacefully transition power in January should he be elected out of office after his first term. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said Thursday that 'we will peacefully swear in the President' as per the usual timeline for swearing in a new president after an election year. 'As we have done for over two centuries we will have a legitimate & fair election,' the Republican senator tweeted the morning after Trump made the questionable comments. 'It may take longer than usual to know the outcome,but it will be a valid one,' he continued, in a likely reference to mail-in ballots holding up the outcome. 'And at noon on Jan 20,2021 we will peacefully swear in the President.' Senate Republicans had to defend U.S. election after Donald Trump refused to commit Wednesday to peacefully transfer power if he loses in November Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed 'there will be an orderly transition' Republican Senator's Marco Rubio of Florida (left) and Mitt Romney of Utah (right) also weighed in on the questionable comments '[W]e will have a legitimate & fair election,' Rubio tweeted. 'It may take longer than usual to know the outcome,but it will be a valid one,' he said in reference to mail-in ballots potentially holding up the results 'Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power,' Romney said Wednesday evening. 'Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable' Mitt Romney also lashed out on Twitter Wednesday evening. 'Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus,' the Utah Republican said in reference to the European country experiencing mass protests as its president sought a sixth term and was secretly sworn in despite the opposition candidate claiming they received 60-70 per cent of the votes. 'Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable,' Romney continued in his tweet. He told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday that 'there's no question' Republicans would step up and make sure the transition followed through if Trump resisted. 'All the people who have sworn to support the Constitution would assure there would be a peaceful transition of power including the president,' he said. Romney added that he doesn't believe there is 'any scenario' where Trump would not peacefully step aside and hand power over if elected out. 'I'm absolutely confident there will be a peaceful transition if there's a new president or if not, we'll have a continuation,' he said. President Trump was asked during a press briefing Wednesday evening if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power after the November election and declined to do so. 'Well, we'll have to see what happens,' said Trump, when pressed on the matter at the White House. It was a similar comment to those he made in 2016 when asked similar questions. Romney's comments about the refusal came just days after he said he would agree to vote to confirm whomever Trump nomination to take the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Ruth Bader Ginsburg instead of waiting until after the election. Trump would not say if he would leave office peacefully if he loses. '[W]e'll have to see what happens,' he said. 'Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer frankly, there'll be a continuation,' he continued Many worried Romney's criticism of the president and the fact that he was the only Republican to indict the president on one article of impeachment would lead him to defect from the rank and file of the Party. After refusing to go along with a pledge to vacate the Oval Office if he loses the election, the president attacked Democrats Wednesday and delivered swipes that appeared to be directed at mail-in voting, the subject of his frequent attacks at the White House and at campaign rallies. Wyoming's at-large Republican Representative Liz Cheney vowed to 'uphold' her oath to the Constitution as she defended U.S. election integrity. 'The peaceful transfer of power is enshrined in our Constitution and fundamental to the survival of our Republic,' she tweeted Thursday. 'America's leaders swear an oath to the Constitution. We will uphold that oath.' 'Win lose or draw in this election will you commit here today for a peaceful transferal of power after the election?' Trump was asked at the top of his press briefing. 'Well, we'll have to see what happens,' Trump replied entertaining the question, but also refusing to commit. His questioner pointed to 'rioting' in U.S. cities, and asked if Trump would commit to making sure there is a peaceful transfer of power after the election. 'You know that. I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster,' he said, in a likely reference to mail-in ballots. Trump regularly says they are rife with fraud, although a handful of states use them for elections. Trump was asked about a peaceful transfer as police clashed with protesters marching through the streets of Louisville after a grand jury chose not to indict three officers in the death of Breonna Taylor on Wednesday afternoon 'Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer frankly, there'll be a continuation,' Trump said. He continued: 'The ballots are out of control. You know if. And you know who knows it better than anybody else, the Democrats,' he said. Trump's refusal for a straight answer came the same day The Atlantic published an article titled 'The Election that Could Break America,' which played out scenarios where Trump would refuse to accept results amid court cases and recounts, and rejects the outcome even if rival Joe Biden appears to have won or be within sight of prevailing in the Electoral College. Trump's campaign is 'discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority,' according to the piece, by author and former Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman. Biden was at a loss for words when asked how he felt about the president's comments. 'What country are we in?' the former vice president queried to reporters. 'I'm being facetious,' he clarified. 'I said, what country are we in? Look, he says the most irrational things. I don't know what to say.' 'Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful there won't be a transfer frankly, there'll be a continuation.' - President Donald Trump The president made the comment as some of his fiercest critics have accused him of making moves toward authoritarianism. Biden said this summer trump will 'try to steal' but said he is convinced the military 'will escort him from the White House with great dispatch.' The president faces the backdrop of ongoing investigations by prosecutors in New York that could implicate the president if he were to leave office. McEnany began her briefing with an attack on Democrats: 'Make no mistake. Democrat radicals want to shatter norms and disregard precedent for the sake of the very norms and precedent they claim must be safeguarded.' She brought up 'court-packing,' impeachment, and calls to abolish the Electoral College. She called them 'tactics they are using to sow chaos and discord' and said they are endorsing a 'mass mail-out ballot system' that would likely lead to a 'week long delay.' She said they are doing so because 'they cannot win on the merits.' The clash over a peaceful and orderly transfer comes as Biden leads Trump by 7 percentage points nationally, according to a Real Clear Politics average of multiple polls. A man in the United States illegally has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a massive insurance fraud scheme where he and others secured $4.7million by filing falsified bodily injury claims. Misael Reyes-Tajimaroa, a 36-year-old from Michoacan, Mexico, pleaded guilty to one count of healthcare fraud conspiracy, one count of mail and wire fraud conspiracy, eight counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of money laundering. In addition to the prison sentence, United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Reyes-Tajimaroa to three years of court supervision after he is released. He also has to pay restitution in the amount of $500,000, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Washington. Misael Reyes-Tajimaroa, a 36-year-old from Michoacan, Mexico, pleaded guilty to one count of healthcare fraud conspiracy, one count of mail and wire fraud conspiracy, eight counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of money laundering, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Washington 'Reyes-Tajimaroa was involved in a sophisticated and elaborate fraud and money laundering scheme that operated in four different states,' United States Attorney Hyslop. 'Fraud schemes like these ultimately increase insurance premiums and health care costs for law-abiding citizens. At various times, Reyes-Tajimaroa was residing in Spokane County, Washington, and Clark County, Nevada. He was an integral member of an extensive scheme that staged automobile, boating and slip and fall accidents in various states throughout the west. Reyes-Tajimaroa is said to have played 'injured' victim, 'getaway' driver or 'lookout' in approximately 16 phony accidents, also receiving medical attention for self inflicted injuries. At one point, he used pliers to break his own teeth (stock) Reyes-Tajimaroa is said to have played 'injured' victim, 'getaway' driver or 'lookout' in approximately 16 phony accidents and received medical treatment for fictitious or intentionally inflicted injuries to different parts of his body. At one point, Reyes-Tajimaroa used pliers to break his teeth off in an effort to stage an incident. He also had to be airlifted via helicopter to a hospital by first responders during one phony accident. The man was also working with others to launder money from the fraudulent claims, according to the release. 'Greed tempts people to do many things, and in this case, even causing self-harm. However, the harm inflicted on honest consumers did not seem to be of any concern to him or his co-conspirators,' FBI Special Agent in Charge Raymond Duda said. 'Mr. Reyes-Tajimaroa will now have the next 42 months to consider whether his participation in this scheme was worth it.' WATERLOO A 23-year-old Waterloo man is facing voyeurism charges after a woman found a recording device in her bathroom. Waterloo Regional Police said they were called to the Lincoln Village neighbourhood of Waterloo on Thursday after the victim discovered a recording device in the bathroom of her residence. The man was charged with two counts of voyeurism. People wearing face masks walk their dog in a park in Melbourne, Australia, Sept. 27, 2020. EPA Actor Suchitra Krishnamoorthi has addressed the controversy around alleged drug nexus in Bollywood and the silence of leading stars on it. Suchitra, who made her debut with Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, also spoke about the advice she received from the representative of a celeb management company about making her comeback. Bollywood is largely silent on most things except when it becomes an I-scratch-your-back-and-you-scratch-mine-scenario, Suchitra said as she spoke about the lack of any leading face speaking about the issue. She also claimed that when the film industry displays its social conscience, it is agenda-driven. Suchitra was speaking to India Today TV. Talking about her own experience with Kwan, she said that she was told to make appearances at Karan Johars parties if she wanted to make a comeback in films. As I was talking to the book agent, this lady who also handles acting, she said that maam why arent you acting and so I said my daughter is too small, and we will see. She said no maam its easy and you just have to do a few things to come back into the limelight because you are too silent. One of the main things is that you need to be seen at Karan Johars parties. Suchitra said she was dismayed that young stars allowed themselves to be led by such reps. Kwans CEO Dhruv Chitgopekar was summoned by the NCB on Wednesday for questioning in the case. Earlier, Kwans talent manager Jaya Saha has been questioned and employee Karishma Prakash, who is Deepika Padukones manager, was asked to join probe. The NCB had also summoned Shruti Modi, former business manager of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, to join the investigation as well. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON By Nancy Lapid (Reuters) - The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. J&J's COVID-19 vaccine produces strong immune response A single dose of Johnson & Johnson's experimental COVID-19 vaccine produced a strong immune response against the novel coronavirus, according to interim results from an early-to-mid stage clinical trial released on Friday. The study, backed by the U.S. government, involves about 1,000 adults. The results were published on the medical website medRxiv in advance of peer review. Of the several hundred participants with data available for the interim analysis, the results showed that 98% had neutralizing antibodies, which defend cells from pathogens, 29 days after vaccination. However, immune response results were available from only 15 participants over age 65, leaving open the question of whether elderly people, one of the populations most at risk, will be protected as effectively as others. In participants older than 65, the rate of adverse reactions such as fatigue and muscle aches was 36%, much lower than the 64% seen in younger participants, the results showed, suggesting the immune response in older people may not be as strong. The researchers said more details on safety and effectiveness will follow when the study is completed. But there were no serious side effects, and based on the results so far, J&J kicked off a 60,000-person trial of the vaccine on Wednesday. A single shot, versus a rival two-dose approach being tested by Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc, could simplify distribution of the vaccine. (https://bit.ly/334iHdH) COVID-19 burden on U.S. minorities extends to children Minority groups in the United States are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and the disparities extend to children, doctors in Washington reported Thursday in the journal Pediatrics. In March and April, they tested 1,000 children for the novel coronavirus. Overall, roughly one in five children tested positive. But while 7% of white children tested positive, 30% of Black children and 46% of Hispanic children did so. After accounting for age, sex and family income, compared to white children, Black children had more than twice the odds of a positive COVID-19 test, and Hispanic had more than six times the odds. Black and Hispanic children were also far more likely to have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. The study could not identify causes of these disparities. But study co-author Monika Goyal of Children's National Health System in Washington told Reuters the differences "appear to be driven by greater exposure to the virus. There's nothing to indicate any type of genetic predisposition to COVID-19 based on race or ethnicity." In many minority families, parents or caregivers may not have the luxury of telecommuting or staying home from work if they are sick, Goyal said, adding, "Our societal structures and policies that differentially impact communities based on economic and racial/ethnic lines in turn impact health outcomes. It is all connected." (https://bit.ly/3ibxSpX) Story continues Greasy creams help protect skin from PPE wounds Greasy lubricants are best for protecting the skin from friction and tear injuries caused by hours of wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), according to researchers. Frontline healthcare workers and others who wear PPE for extended periods of time have been experiencing painful effects including skin tears, blistering, ulcers and hives. Workers have been advised to apply lubricants every half hour, but that is impractical during shift work and can increase the risk of infection for healthcare personnel. In a study published on Thursday in the journal PLoS One, scientists at Imperial College London found the best lubricants to use are those that do not absorb into the skin, creating a long-lasting layer of protection between skin and masks. In particular, they said, non-absorptive creams like coconut oil-cocoa butter beeswax mixtures and powders like talcum powder are most likely to provide PPE wearers with long-lasting skin protection. Study co-author Marc Masen said in a news release that commercial skin creams are often designed to absorb into the skin, but "a greasy residue is precisely what's needed to protect skin from PPE friction." (https://bit.ly/2G9hg4M) Children with croup may need COVID-19 testing During the pandemic, children with croup should probably be tested for COVID-19, according to doctors in Virginia, based on their experience with three youngsters with difficult-to-treat croup that was most likely due to infection with the novel coronavirus. All three children had the typical barky cough and difficulty breathing that characterize croup and required hospitalization. They were tested for 21 respiratory viruses and were positive only for the novel coronavirus. The croup was hard to treat. None of the children responded to the usual treatment. They did improve when they were treated with steroids, but improvement took much longer than expected. All three children eventually recovered. In a report published last week in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, Paul Mullan of Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk and colleagues pointed out that the cause of croup is not usually investigated. But these days, they said, COVID-19 testing "should be considered given the prognostic significance and prolonged quarantine implications." (https://bit.ly/2FT497W) Open https://tmsnrt.rs/3a5EyDh in an external browser for a Reuters graphic on vaccines and treatments in development. (Reporting by Nancy Lapid, Vishwadha Chander and Will Boggs; Editing by Will Dunham) DUP chief Arlene Foster has denied she is a weak leader when she was challenged over disciplining Sammy Wilson after a photograph emerged showing him on public transport without a face mask. A picture circulated online on Thursday showed Mr Wilson reading Private Eye magazine on the London Underground. Read More The East Antrim MP said he had momentarily removed his mask to answer a phone call and had travelled for a short part of his journey from Westminster to Heathrow without a covering. He denied witness claims that he did not wear a mask at all. Questioned at Thursday's Stormont Covid briefing, First Minister Mrs Foster said she had not had an opportunity to speak to her party colleague yet. "I was only made aware of it at the Executive, but I do repeat the point that everyone has to abide by the laws and take the consequences as well as not abiding by those laws and everyone is equal under the law so it's important everyone recognises that," she said, and also denied a claim in a question that she was "too weak" as DUP leader to discipline party members. "I am not a weak leader, I am a leader that is leading this country through a very difficult time in terms of Covid, in terms of the challenges around leaving the European Union as well as all of the other things we need to focus on in terms of economic development and societal issues." Expand Close First Minister Arlene Foster and Finance Minister Conor Murphy at a press conference in Parliament Buildings, Stormont (Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp First Minister Arlene Foster and Finance Minister Conor Murphy at a press conference in Parliament Buildings, Stormont (Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye/PA) Mr Wilson has previously been outspoken about the wearing of face coverings, but today admitted he "should have had it on and am offering no excuse". In July he tweeted a photograph of himself in an ice cream shop in Co Antrim not wearing a mask, with the message "you can't eat ice cream when you're muzzled!" He told the Belfast Telegraph: "I wore a mask before getting on the train, while on the train, in the airport and on the plane. I took a call and you can't talk through a mask as you are muffled, so I took it off but put it on again soon after. "There were others in the carriage not wearing a mask." Mr Wilson also pointed out it was easy to forget to wear a mask and said there needed to be more debate about the new rules in Parliament. He added, however: "But the rules are in place and, regardless, they should be followed." A man from Northern Ireland who asked not to be named said the DUP MP got on a District line Tube train at Westminster at around 8.30am and sat opposite him. Read More The man claimed Mr Wilson did not wear a mask at any point during the journey. "Living in London, I would be on the Tube a lot. Until they changed the rules, very few people wore a mask. Now, you never see anyone without one," he added. Responding to the episode on social media, South Belfast MP Claire Hanna posted the words "the Tube". North Down MP Stephen Farry posted a photograph on himself wearing a mask while using the Underground. "Most NI MPs do acknowledge, understand and respect rules re face masks," he wrote. Transport for London (TFL) says face coverings must be worn on the Tube for the full duration of journeys. "If you do not, you could be denied travel, or receive a minimum 200 fine, which will double each time you are caught not wearing a face covering, up to 6,400," its website warns. A hearse carrying the casket of the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg arrives at the U.S. Capitol, where her body will lie in state in Statuary Hall in Washington, U.S., September 25, 2020. The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday made history once more as the first woman and first Jewish person to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. The honor is considered one of the nation's highest distinctions for government and military leaders. A pioneering champion of gender equality, Ginsburg was the second female to serve on the nation's highest court and the leader of its liberal wing. She died last Friday at age 87 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Read more: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at age 87 On Wednesday and Thursday, Ginsburg had lain in repose at the top of the Supreme Court's front steps. Friday's ceremony, spearheaded by Democratic leader Speaker Nancy Pelosi, included a small circle of invited members of Congress and Ginsburg's family. Democratic nominee Joe Biden and running mate Sen. Kamala Harris were among those in attendance. Notably absent from the Capitol service were top congressional Republicans Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Following the services, a private interment ceremony will be held next week at Arlington National Cemetery, where her husband, Martin, was buried in 2010. As the nation remembers the late justice, a contentious political struggle continues, with Republicans racing to fill the empty Supreme Court seat before the 2020 election. President Donald Trump plans to announce his nominee on Saturday. Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that he had an hour-long phone conversation with his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto on bilateral trade and the contentious wall issue, a day after the two had a blowup over who would foot the bill for the proposed border. I will say that we had a very good call. I have been very strong on Mexico. I have great respect for Mexico. I love the Mexican people. I work with the Mexican people all the time. Great relationships. But Mexico has out negotiated us and beat us to a pulp through our past leaders, Trump told reporters yesterday at a joint news conference with visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May. Theyve made us look foolish. We have a trade deficit of USD 60 billion with Mexico. On top of that, the border is soft and weak, drugs are pouring in, and Im not going to let that happen, he said, adding that he talked with his Mexican counterpart for about an hour this morning. We are going to be working on a fair relationship and a new relationship. But the United States cannot continue to lose vast amounts of business, vast amounts of companies, and millions and millions of people losing their jobs. That wont happen with me. Were no longer going to be the country that doesnt know what its doing, Trump said in response to a question. We are going to renegotiate our trade deals and we are going to renegotiate other aspects of our relationship with Mexico, and in the end, I think itll be good for both countries, he asserted. Trump described the call as very, very friendly, and said he looks forward to the negotiations over the coming months. But Im representing the people of the United States and Im going to represent them as somebody should represent them, not how theyve been represented in the past where we lose to every single country, Trump said. Meanwhile, the Mexican government said that President Pena Nieto and Trump had agreed to stop making public statements about the US leaders border wall plan and will seek to resolve differences as part of bilateral talks. With regard to the payment of the border wall, both Presidents acknowledged their clear and very public differences in position on this sensitive issue, the Mexican statement said. The Presidents also agreed at this point not to speak publicly about this controversial issue, it added. The White House statement included near identical language on the border wall, but didnt mention a pledge not to speak publicly about the issue. On Thursday, Trump had tweeted that If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting between him and Pena Nieto. The Mexican President reacted, saying, Ive said time and again: Mexico wont pay for any wall. He later canceled his trip to Washington planned for January 31. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. We use a range of cookies to give you the best possible browsing experience. By continuing to use this website, you agree to our use of cookies. You can learn more about our cookie policy here, or by following the link at the bottom of any page on our site. See our updated Privacy Policy here. Biden, 78, who would be the oldest sitting president if elected, has leads ranging from five to eight points in battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan With little over a month to go for the US presidential election, the pundits seem to be in agreement: While nationwide polls indicate a comfortable lead for Joe Biden over Donald Trump the battleground states are pointing to the Democratic challenger handing the US president a defeat. This is no surprise. Over the past few months, Biden has been hovering around the 50 percent mark and the president has been perennially trapped in the low-to-mid 40s (not being able to clear the 50 percent mark has, historically, been considered a danger sign for an incumbent). As per the CNN poll of polls, Biden currently leads Trump 51 percent to 44 percent. Teflon Don versus Steady Joe This year has been quite the decade. A pandemic, protests, floods and fires. But throughout the year, with all its ups and downs, Trump and Biden's positions in national polling have remained unchanged. In 2016, we saw the advent of Teflon Don. In 2020, we're seeing the wonders of sleepy steady Joe. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds Biden holding an eight point lead over Trump among registered voters (51 to 43 percent) as more than a plurality give the president a thumbs-down on his job performance. So far, despite major upheavals in the country, little has changed, Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff, told NBC News. In 2020, the fundamentals of our country have been shaken to our core, while the fundamentals of the election have not, Horwitt added. Trump continues to hold an edge when it comes to the economy, while Biden is overwhelmingly favoured when it comes to dealing with COVID. Trumps summer swoon is over, added McInturff, the GOP pollster. While the challenger's national lead has been both comfortable and consistent throughout the year, one must remember that an edge in national polling, as Hillary Clinton discovered to her chagrin in 2016, does not translate to victory on election night. Clinton, though she maintained a lead over Trump for the entirety of the 2016 campaign, and received nearly three million more votes in the general election, found her presidential bid undone thanks to the electoral college. Remember, the United States picks its president via the electoral college system, where each state is allotted a number of electors. While there are 538 electoral votes up for grabs, the magic number is 270. Trump, who ran up victories in the so-called Rust Belt states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, ultimately received 304 votes and Clinton, with 227, fell way short of the mark. The difference between Trump and Clinton ultimately came down to just 78,000 votes in the three aforementioned Rust Belt States. But 2020 is not 2016. And with Trump as the incumbent and America gripped by the coronavirus (200,000 dead and counting) and witnessing inflamed racial tensions in the aftermath of the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, things are playing out a little differently on the ground, particularly where it matters the most. Battlegrounds favour Biden Biden, who would be the oldest sitting president if elected, has leads ranging from five to eight points in battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, as per CNN Politics analyst Harry Enten. Those are the very states that carried Trump to victory in 2016. Add those to the states Hillary Clinton carried in 2016 totalling 227 electoral votes and Biden's tally touches 290, Enten points out. (remember, the magic number is 270). And if Biden picks up Florida and North Carolina (both states in which he is leading that are usually solidly Republican) that brings his electoral college figure to 330 votes. "The thing to keep in mind is that it is possible one candidate runs the board because polling errors are correlated across states. That's exactly what happened in 2016, when Trump won most of the close states," Enten writes. "This year we just don't know how it's going to play out. Just keep in mind that the potential change in this race could go to Biden's benefit as well as Trump's." Trump erosion with White voters Trump rode to victory in 2016 on the backs of White voters, particularly the wealthy and voters without college degrees. And while Trump is, relatively speaking, doing well with Latino voters and garnering a bit more Black support than he did last time, he is doing nowhere near as well with noncollege educated White voters as he did in 2016. While there's little chance that Biden will actually win the non-college White vote, which usually goes Republican by a healthy margin, all he has to do is keep things as close as he can. In 2016, exit polls showed Trump with a 37 point edge over Clinton in that demographic, while in 2020 that lead is down to 23 points over Biden. While that number may look comforting to the president, it might prove to be nowhere near enough to keep him in office. Let's take a closer look at the states that matter. In Wisconsin, Trump stomped Clinton when it came to non-college educated White women in 2016, but is now trailing Biden by nine points as per an ABC News/Washington Post poll. That's a whopping swing of 25 points! And worse news is still to come for the president. Pennsylvania, which is Biden country (the former US vice-president was born in Scranton) where Trump won non college-educated white women by 16 percent four years ago but is now losing them by nine percentage points, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll. Biden, a favoured son of Pennsylvania, has pulled even with Trump among White voters overall, according to an NBC News/Marist Poll. Its a big, big swing, said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, told Politico. What [Bidens] doing among Whites is more than offsetting the slippage among non-Whites The recipe is very different this time, right now anyway, in terms of White voters. That's quite the understatement. If Trump can't get his numbers back to the 2016 levels among White voters, his goose is cooked. Perhaps that's why he hasn't yet committed to peacefully transferring power were he to lose the 3 November election The Ginsburg effect In what is sure to come as a surprise to Trump, a majority of Americans (including Republicans!) want the winner of the 2020 election to pick Ruth Bader Ginsburg's replacement on the US Supreme Court. As per a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Sunday, in the aftermath of Ginsburg's death, 62 percent of Americans surveyed stated that the winner of the 3 November polls ought to pick her replacement. Only 23 percent disagreed with that notion, and the rest were unsure. And then there was this eye popping number: Eight in 10 Democrats surveyed and 5 in 10 Republicans agreed that the nomination should wait after the election! While Trump is eager to plough ahead, and has already dismissed Ginsburg's dying wish that he not pick her replacement as a 'liberal concoction', pundits warn that he should be worried. Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney and currently a contributor for The Daily Beast, writes for CNN, "If you don't think these events have the potential to energise Democrats to possibly record election turnouts in November, you probably haven't seen what's going in the Democratic base." Obeidallah in his piece, points to the record-breaking haul achieved by the Democrats in donations after RBG's demise. "The polls between Trump and Joe Biden might not move right away to reflect Trump and the Senate GOP's hypocritical push to fill RBG's seat before a possible Biden administration takes office next year. But the impact will likely be felt in terms of the intensity of the supporters on each side. So far, the evidence shows that voters want to honor RBG's legacy by supporting Democrats to defeat Trump and his GOP enablers," Obeidallah writes. That sudden influx of cash for Democrats, combined with reports that the Trump campaign has blown through a billion dollar war chest, could lead to an extremely long night on 3 November for the incumbent. September 25, 2020 The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) announced the launch of a behavioral health outreach and education effort and new helpline for Oregonians. These new resources will help support increased behavioral health needs in our communities due to the broad impacts of COVID-19 and the once-in-a-lifetime wildfire season. "The ongoing pandemic along with multiple other stressors are affecting Oregonians mental health," said OHA Director Patrick Allen. "Over the past seven months, we have seen incredible resilience from communities across the state, as we have come together to support each other in powerful ways. We hope Oregonians will reach out to get the support they need and share resources with others in their communities. Its OK to ask for support, and we want to make it as easy as possible to take the first step to get help." Oregon-based nonprofit Lines for Life and OHA have launched the Safe + Strong Helpline at 800-923-4357 (800-923-HELP). The line offers free, 24-7 emotional support and resource referral to anyone who needs it -- not only those experiencing a mental health crisis. The Safe + Strong Helpline is a response to needs for emotional support around disasters like COVID-19 and wildfires and was funded by the CARES Act. Callers are routed to a counselor who can provide emotional support, mental health triage, drug and alcohol counseling, crisis counseling or just connection. "This line is for anyone who doesnt know who to turn to, or who might be wavering about what type of support they need," said Dwight Holton, CEO of Lines for Life. "Data shows that warmlines help people who feel isolated or overwhelmed get back to their lives and reduce the need for emergency services. By talking through it, we can keep this need from turning into a crisis." OHA has also expanded its Safe + Strong education and outreach campaign to include behavioral health resources. Safe + Strong is a statewide outreach effort in 12 languages aimed at reaching communities most impacted by health disparities with culturally relevant, linguistically responsive resources. A behavioral health landing page at https://www.safestrongoregon.org offers mental and emotional support information and resources as well as guidance for how to have conversations with loved ones who may be struggling. OHA will also launch digital, print, radio and community outreach to ensure as many Oregonians as possible know that help is available for them. Target audiences for the campaign include Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, LGBTQIA+ communities and families with young children, with messaging and materials developed in partnership with community-based organizations. Next month OHA will add a community care resource guide, providing information about a variety of mental health resources that are responsive to community needs. Resources: Safe + Strong Helpline: 800-923-4357 (HELP). Safe + Strong: https://www.safestrongoregon.org/. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255. Lines for Life is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to preventing substance abuse and suicide and promoting mental wellness, founded in 1993. The organization operates 24-hour helpline and prevention programs around these topics and more. Their highly trained counselors now answer over 100,000 calls per year, with many lines serving the nation. The Oregon Health Authority is the state agency at the forefront of lowering and containing costs, improving quality and increasing access to health care in order to improve the lifelong health of Oregonians. OHA is overseen by the nine-member citizen Oregon Health Policy Board working toward comprehensive health reform in our state. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 12:55:00|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WELLINGTON, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand reported two new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. One is an imported case detected in a managed isolation facility and the other is a community case, a female in her late teens who was already self-isolating. This person is a household contact, epidemiologically linked to the Auckland August cluster bereavement sub-group, according to the Ministry of Health. The imported case is a man in his 40s who returned from Russia on a flight via Turkey and Malaysia on Sept. 19. He returned a positive result to day 3 testing and is now at the quarantine facility in Auckland, said a ministry statement. There are 35 people isolating in the Auckland quarantine facility from the community, which includes 15 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and their household contacts, it said. Three people are in hospital with COVID-19, none in ICU. New Zealand's total number of active cases is 60, of which 29 are imported cases in managed isolation facilities, and 31 are community cases, according to the ministry. The country's total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is 1,473, with 25 related deaths, it said. Enditem An Argentinian MP has resigned his seat after being suspended for kissing a woman's breasts during an online parliamentary session. Married father-of-three Juan Emilio Ameri shocked fellow lawmakers by letting a pretty blonde sit on his knee and appear to fondle him before bending down and kissing her right nipple after pulling down her black top. Footage of the extraordinary moment led to the ruling Frente de Todos coalition in the north-west province of Salta expelling the 47-year-old pending an investigation and demanding his resignation as an MP. An Argentinian MP has resigned his seat after being suspended for kissing a woman's breasts during an online parliamentary session The blonde at the centre of the shocking episode has been named as Ameri's 'girlfriend and political advisor' Celeste Burgos (pictured) Moments after the sex scene was played out on a large screen during a debate about provincial debt, fellow MPs unanimously voted in favour of Ameri's suspension after Chamber of Deputies president Sergio Massa halted the session. A parliamentary commission was planning on determining the final sanction, with his expulsion as an MP being openly discussed. But on Thursday night Ameri offered to step down. Ameri, accused of sexually harassing a teenager around the time he first became an MP last December, initially tried to play down the incident with a bizarre explanation linking his behaviour to the woman's recent boob job after his suspension. Married father-of-three Juan Emilio Ameri shocked fellow lawmakers by letting the blonde sit on his knee The politician said he and his partner Celeste (pictured) are 'really suffering because of this' and he is 'ashamed' The blonde at the centre of the shocking episode has been named as Ameri's 'girlfriend and political advisor' Celeste Burgos after it emerged the MP had separated from his wife Alejandra Escudero. He told a local radio station about the sex gaffe: 'My partner and I are really suffering because of this. 'I'm very ashamed about what happened and I'm very sorry. 'The internet connection in the area where I'm based is very bad. Moments after the sex scene was played out on a large screen during a debate about provincial debt, fellow MPs unanimously voted in favour of Ameri's suspension 'My partner was coming out of the bathroom when I thought the connection had gone. 'Ten days ago she had breast enlargement and I asked her about her silicone implants. 'I asked her if I could give her a kiss and I kissed her on the boobs. That was it.' In a statement he sent on Thursday night to Mr Massa after initially refusing to resign his seat, he said: 'I'm offering my resignation as an MP. 'I'd like to offer my apologies for what happened. It wasn't my intention to demonstrate this lack of respect.' Ameri initially tried to play down the incident with a bizarre explanation linking his behaviour to the woman's recent boob job Salta senator Nora del Valle Gimenez, announcing the decision of the Frente de Todos coalition which Ameri represents in Argentina's equivalent of the House of Commons to suspend him ahead of his quit decision, said: 'We are expelling Juan Ameri immediately following his serious misconduct during a parliamentary session. 'We are also asking him to resign his seat as a representative of the coalition.' Mr Massa, one of a handful of MPs thought to have been in Argentina's Lower House when the incident occurred, added: 'During the online sessions that have been taking place, a situation occurred that is totally at odds with the normal decorum of this House. 'We have experienced situations over the past few months in which an MP fell asleep during one remote session but this is an incident that goes well beyond the normal House rules. It emerged after the incident that the MP had separated from his wife Alejandra Escudero In June a Spanish councillor was criticised after taking part in a Zoom council meeting from a sun lounger on the beach. Paola Moreno turned heads by opting to appear on camera with her head resting on a towel and her eyes hidden behind shades. Mrs Moreno, deputy mayoress and finance councillor in the Costa del Sol resort of Torrox east of Malaga, was accused at the time of damaging the local authority's image by the rival left-wing PSOE party. She responded by claiming she was at the beach because of a promise she had made to her children after they had been banned for so long because of the Spanish Covid-19 lockdown - and insisted she was able to focus 100 per cent on what was being said because her husband took charge of the kids. New Delhi: Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday addressed a rally at Phillaur of Jalandhar in Punjab ahead of state assembly elections 2017. This comes just a day after he addressed joint public rallies in Punjab's Majitha and Bhatinda. Congress has been eyeing seats in crucial Punjab by focusing on uprooting drug menace. Earlier, Rahul Gandhis programme for January 29 was rescheduled to February 2, the last day for electioneering in Punjab. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Hindus expressed their outrage over an IKEA advert showing a woman in a yoga pose they allege is cultural appropriation and mocking the ancient practice. A representative for a global Hindu group is urging the global furniture behemoth to withdraw the recently launched Australian campaign video 'IKEA product pose Yoga' and apologise. The video features a woman dressed in white fitness clothes and doing various poses while a voiceover gives yoga instructions asking viewers to 'follow Eve as she takes you through product pose yoga by IKEA.' The video (pictured) features a woman dressed in white fitness clothes and doing various poses while a voiceover gives yoga instructions asking viewers to 'follow Eve as she takes you through product pose yoga by IKEA' Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement from Nevada on Thursday, said the video 'trivialized the ancient and serious discipline of yoga' The model then displays 15 yoga-asanas associating each with an IKEA product, like 'barbecue tongs'; with a background voice explaining 'to quieten the internal fire we have awakened'; ending in Namaste with folded hands. Another advert features the woman pose matched with a cocktail martini glass. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, said in a statement from Nevada on Thursday, the video 'trivialized the ancient and serious discipline of yoga.' Mr Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said comparing one of the woman's poses to a martini glass was 'highly inappropriate.' He claimed that the use Hindu traditions for commercial purposes was an insult to devotees of the practice because it was 'religious appropriation' and was 'mocking serious spiritual practices.' Mr Zed wants to see the advert withdrawn and apology from IKEA's global management based in the Netherlands. Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents, Mr Zed explains, adding its 'rich philosophical thought should not be taken frivolously or ridiculed.' 'In the Hindu faith, yoga is considered union with God and one of the six systems of Hindu philosophy, and mean for transforming consciousness and purification of the Self and attaining liberation,' Mr Zed explains. In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, a spokesperson for IKEA said the company did not intend to offend Hindus with the advert. 'IKEA Australia did not intend for any offence to be caused as a result of the creative of this campaign,' the spokesperson said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he has spoken with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for more than 15 times to revive talks on the "CARES Act" or a new stimulus package that has been in a stalemate for nearly two months. Mnuchin confirmed Thursday that he has spoken to Pelosi, and they both agreed to revive negotiations over the CARES Act or another coronavirus stimulus package. That means another round of stimulus checks could be coming soon. "I've probably spoken to Speaker Pelosi 15 or 20 times in the last few days on the CR, and we've agreed to continue to have discussions about the CARES Act," Mnuchin told the Senate Banking Committee during a hearing with Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell. Pelosi, on the other hand, said she expects a discussion with President Donald Trump's top negotiators in the days to come, as per The Hill report. "We'll be hopefully soon to the table with them," Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol. The comments of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top negotiators of both parties for the second round of stimulus payments, came amid months of partisan stalemate over another CARES Act. It's a good thing that after months of disagreements and Pelosi's rejections on the Trump's administration proposal for a new stimulus package, they now finally arrived to have strong bipartisan support on certain components. That could mean that Republicans and Democrats are about to strike a deal any time soon as both parties try to fix some of their concerns. The Democrats want the federal government to approve trillions of dollars, while the Republicans are quite worried about the amount. But President Donald Trump has already signaled that he is open to approving a larger amount. Trump even appreciated the effort of a bipartisan group in the Congress who offered roughly $1.5 trillion. He encouraged the Republicans to embrace the proposal with a bigger price tag. Trump wanted to make sure that millions of Americans will receive the financial aid they need amid the pandemic. Meanwhile, Mnuchin urged the Democrats to come back to the table for a bill built around areas of wide bipartisan agreement such as revamping the Paycheck Protection Program to aid small businesses and relief payments. "Let's pass things that we agree on quickly, and we can always come back and do more. It's less of the issue of what the absolute number is," Mnuchin said. Senate Democrats had critized the Republican offerings for allegedly failing to meet the minimum necessary to bolster a fragile economy. But Trump is fixing it by issuing orders to release billions of funds in varoius sectors such as agriculture and education. Both the Republicans and Democrats are expected to come up and agree with more than roughly $1 trillion stimulus package that will include PPP loans, direct stimulus checks, and more. Millions of eligible Americans will likely receive it before the election. Powell and several well-known economists also asked for a second round of stimulus payments. They firmly believed it is one way of getting the country's economy moving again. NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney Advertising-- Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC reminds investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil ("UCO" or "the Company") (NYSE: UCO) and certain of its officers, on behalf of shareholders who purchased or otherwise acquired UCO between March 6, 2020 and April 27, 2020, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm's site: www.bgandg.com/uco. This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants failed to disclose that: (1) extraordinary market volatility caused by decreased demand for oil from the coronavirus pandemic and increased oil supply and diminished oil prices caused by the Russia/Saudi oil price war; (2) a massive influx of investor capital into the Fund, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, in a matter of days, which increased Fund inefficiencies, heightened illiquidity in the WTI futures contract markets in which the Fund invested, and caused the Fund to approach positional and regulatory limits (adverse trends exacerbated by the Offering itself); (3) a sharp divergence between spot and future prices in the WTI oil markets, leading to a super contango market dynamic as oil storage space in Cushing, Oklahoma dwindled and was insufficient to account for the excess supply expected to be delivered pursuant to the WTI May 2020 futures contract. As a result, UCO could not continue to pursue the passive investment strategy represented in the Registration Statement, causing its results to significantly deviate from its purported benchmark. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint you can visit the firm's site: www.bgandg.com/uco or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Investor Relations Analyst, Yael Hurwitz of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484. If you suffered a loss in UCO you have until September 28, 2020 to request that the Court appoint you as co-lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firm's expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Contact: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC Peretz Bronstein or Yael Hurwitz 212-697-6484 | [email protected] SOURCE Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC Related Links https://www.bgandg.com/ India on Friday criticised Pakistan for its poor record in providing safety and security to religious and ethnic minorities during the 45th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Senthil Kumar, first secretary Permanent Mission of India, while exercising the countrys right to reply said that India does not need to take lessons on human rights from a nation that nurtures terrorism and is well-known around the world for being the epicentre of terrorism, news agency ANI reported. Before preaching to others Pakistan must remember that terrorism is the worst form of human rights abuse and crime against humanity. The world doesnt need lessons on human rights from a country which has been known as nursery and epicentre of terrorism, he said, according to ANI. Pakistan exploited our youth, ordered killing of fellow Kashmiris: EFSAS director Kumar also highlighted the atrocities Balochs have to suffer in Pakistan. Enforced disappearances, state violence and forced mass displacements, harassment, extrajudicial killings, army operations, torture, kill-and-dumps, torture camps, detention centres, military camps are regular features in Balochistan, he said, according to ANI. The Free Balochistan Movement (FBM) issued a statement on September 20, saying Pakistan continues to promote unhindered religious extremism in occupied areas of Balochistan, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to ANI. India targets Pakistan at UN body over counter-terrorism record The organisations spokesperson Gamshaad Baloch said that on September 13, the armed wing of Jamaat-e-Islami attacked Baloch and Sindhi human rights activists who were peacefully protesting against the disappearances of their loved ones. FBM believes that Pakistan has adopted the policy of religious extremism, ANI reported citing its statement said. Kumar also pointed out that in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the neighbouring country has driven the original Kashmiris out. He said Pakistan is attempting to change the demography of the region by driving its real inhabitants out. He also pointed out that since 1947 the percentage of minorities has decreased in Pakistan. He said, Its a matter of great concern that the population of religious minorities in Pak which was 23% in 1947 has reduced to an insignificant number. In PoK, Pakistan has affected demographic change by reducing & driving real Kashmiris out. Jessie Wong had a big problem. At the start of the coronavirus shutdown in March, she had shut down operations at Autism Behavioral Health in Danbury, the company she founded in 2016, and furloughed staff. She needed to get back to helping families even before the shutdown rules eased, and she could, as an essential business if she could make it work. In Norwalk, Sunil Reddy had a very different problem. Criterion, the software firm where hes CEO and a partner, was fully online and operating, never having missed a beat as employees worked from home. But in times of uncertainty, he had to calm fears. Reddy assured everyone on his staff there would be no furloughs, no pay cuts, no layoffs during the crisis no matter what. Both companies solved their problems under established employee cultures designed to beat back uncertainty and just about any adversity. And its that culture that catapulted them to No. 1 and No. 2 in the highly competitive small employers category of the Hearst Connecticut Media Top Workplaces contest for 2020. The No. 3 winner in the small employers category, Greenwich Emergency Medical Service, deals with uncertainty every day and had to make dramatic changes with lives in the balance. Criterion and Autism Behavioral Health are both new to the 10-year-old list of Hearst Top Workplaces, and both are startups, in a sense. Criterion, No. 1, was founded in 1984 but Reddy and his group that bought it in 2014 changed the name and totally rebuilt from scratch. Reddy also won the Top Leadership award for 2020 in the small employers category. Autism Behavioral Health, the No. 2 finisher, which Wong launched in 2016, is the only company on the list founded in the last seven years. It works with children who have autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities. When Gov. Ned Lamont issued his public health emergency directives this past March, Wong elected to suspend services until she could work out a new telehealth model for the company. Wong and her staff got the platform in place in April and resumed services. But when it comes to working with children who have autism spectrum disorders, telehealth is no substitute for in-person support. She eased Autism Behavioral Health staff back onto the job with three weeks of paid training on new protocols. She says that moment remains the most rewarding for her during the pandemic, being able to bring back her people and as importantly get them doing again what they do best helping families that have pandemic stresses to deal with on top of everything else. After a whole month of no services, their child has regressed significantly, both in terms of their skills and also their behavior, she said. We are seeing families in homes and also at [our] center, but each case has only one therapist. Criterion, which specializes in human resources applications for midsize companies, was already virtual, spread around the world with more than half of its 50 employees, when coronavirus hit. And as a developer of cloud-based systems that clients depend on 24/7/365, the company was already prepared for any emergency. But revenues were threatened as clients business slowed. Thats when Criterion guaranteed employees they would not face job disruption. We had to reassure them and assure them to take care of their health, the last thing you want to worry about is your job, Reddy said. The company did call on a relatively modest federal Paycheck Protection Program loan, listed on a federald database as $150,000 to $350,000. But its job guarantee was made long before the PPP, and it is the company culture of aligned values in customer focus, efficiency and enthusiasm that underlie its success, Reddy said. There is uncertainty but we survived, we did well, Reddy said. Criterion maintains a sharp focus on product development. About 15 employees work regularly when there is no pandemic at the Merritt 7 office park in Norwalk, where the company provides perks such as free lunch in the buildings expansive cafeteria. A large group of developers work in Ukraine and others are spread out widely, Reddy said. He describes a culture of open discussion and debate, whether in person or in virtual meetings - an intensity thats needed as Criterion competes with companies much larger in the same space. Although being purely remote is not a huge liability, hes looking forward to a return. Were going to wait for the vaccine to come, Reddy said. Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman On his first voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus encountered an ingenious people called the Tainos, who warned the explorer of dangerous windstorms that often brewed in their home waters of the Caribbean Sea. They believed the cyclones to be earthly manifestations of a wrathful god known as Huracan, and on his second voyage to the Americas, Columbus and his sailors were the first-ever Europeans to encounter such a storm what is now, referred to in English as a hurricane. Columbus' flagship, the Nina, survived the tropical storm of 1495 just as a modern-day replica of the Nina survived a near shipwreck when Hurricane Sally struck its mooring in Pensacola last week. The quick action of her crew is all that saved the ship from the rocks of Pensacola Bay. The Nina is a floating museum that was constructed out of Brazil hardwood in 1992 and has been touring up and down the East and West Coasts of the U.S. and through the Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes for decades. The attraction is billed as the most historically accurate Columbus replica ship ever built, and according to her captain, Capt. Stephen Sanger, she weighs upwards of 70 tons. Tours of the Nina in Pensacola were scheduled to be available from Sept. 11-15 as the ship was docked at the Palafox Pier. When Hurricane Sally hit the Florida Panhandle on the morning of Sept. 16, Sanger was not there. I was over on our other ship, the Pinta, in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, thinking that the worst of Sally was going to come that way, he explained. "But, we all know, the storm crept more east at the last minute before landfall, intensified and put Pensacola right in the bullseye. At 5 a.m. Sept. 16, the captain got a phone call from one of the Ninas crew saying that the docks in Pensacola were starting to buckle. I told them to get that anchor ready, Sanger said. With its captain miles away in Alabama, it was up to the crew members still aboard and the ships first mate, David Zenk, to save the vessel. I was down on the dock trying to keep all of our lines secured to cleats, Zenk said. "Put in the storm surge and the wind, the waves were breaking over the seawall out there. The docks were pitching up and down. The dock was articulated, so they bent and everything, but the boards were pitching from the ships cover board up to its cap rail. It was about a 7-foot ride up and down on the thing while trying to hold the lines. The Ninas crew called the U.S. Coast Guard to see what the best case scenario would be if the ships dock were to break and send the ship to the mercy of the storm, Sanger said. The Guard said, We cant come out now in the eye of a hurricane, Sanger said. Obviously, they would help the crew get off the ship, if they needed to. But it wasnt a life or death situation. The crew had the choice to get off the ship if they wanted to and run to shore. At 5:30 a.m., Sanger got a second phone call from a crew member. She said that the corner dock, where they were, was starting to break loose, and a catamaran had already drifted out of the marina, he said. Around 6 a.m., the dock that the Nina was tied to finally broke away from its pilons, and the Nina started spinning out into the Pensacola Bay. The wooden planks of a long section of the dock were still tied to the ship and clung and hung down off its starboard in a jumble. An approximately 50-foot sailboat that had been docked near the Nina became temporarily entangled with the ship on its portside. A northwestern current was pulling the Nina toward a rock jetty at the base of a seawall located at the shoreline on the outside edge of the peninsula that holds Community Maritime Park. We had to drop the anchor, Zenk remembered. But we had to time it perfectly. We had a boat on one side and the dock was still tied to us on the other side. If we dropped the anchor off the ship without looking, it wouldnt hit the water. Zenk waited until the waves' movement created an opening on one side of the Nina and successfully dropped the anchor through the gap into the water below. It took a moment, but the anchor caught the bottom of the bay. The force slingshot the ship out into Pensacola Bay, away from the rocks, before looping the ships trajectory back toward the north. It was 15-foot waves. So the anchor line just snapped, Sanger said. But it was enough to get her away from the rocks and drift her down here, where we were pounded against the seawall for about six to eight hours. The Nina was slung into a small cove directly to the west of Maritime Park. Under normal conditions, the cove is shallow with about 2 to 3 feet of water with a line of rocks crossing its entrance. However, Hurricane Sallys storm surge lifted the Nina above the coves rocks and the current pushed her against a low-lying seawall at the back of the cove. The dock that was still attached to the Ninas starboard side acted as a cushion between the ships haul and the seawall potentially saving her. The Nina requires 7 feet of water to float, and when the storm surge receded, the vessel sat in less than a foot of water in the shallow coves mud with her starboard side parallel to the seawall. It looks like we parallel parked here on purpose, Sanger said. But it was the current that placed us here. He added, Thank God, we didnt come in bow first. The captain knows that getting out of the shallow cove is going to be tricky. The insurance company is still working on how were going to be getting out of here, but its going to involve, definitely, a crane and of some sort of tug boat, Sanger said. 2020 The St. Augustine Record, Fla. Visit The St. Augustine Record, Fla. at www.staugustine.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. KKR to invest Rs5,550 cr in Reliance Retail Ventures Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) on Wednesday announced that global investment firm KKR will invest Rs5,550 crore into RRVL, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. This investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs4.21 lakh crore. KKRs investment will translate into a 1.28 per cent equity stake in RRVL on a fully diluted basis. This marks the second investment by KKR in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, following a Rs11,367-crore investment in Jio Platforms announced earlier this year. Reliance Retail Limited, a subsidiary of RRVL, operates India's largest, fastest growing and most profitable retail business, which claims close to 640 million footfalls across its 12,000-odd stores nationwide. Reliance Retail aims at galvanising the Indian retail sector through an inclusive strategy empowering millions of farmers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and working closely with global and domestic companies as a preferred partner, to deliver immense benefits to Indian society, while protecting and generating employment for millions of Indians. Reliance Retail, through its New Commerce strategy, has started a transformational digitization of small and unorganized merchants and is committed to expanding the network to over 20 million of these merchants. This will enable the merchants to use technology tools and an efficient supply chain infrastructure to deliver a superior value proposition to their own customers. KKR has $222 billion in assets under management as of 30 June 2020 and a long history of building leading global enterprises, including many companies at the forefront of technology and digital transformation, including in areas of consumer retail and ecommerce, such as investments in Epic Games, Out Systems, Internet Brands, Go-jerk and Voyager Innovations. I am pleased to welcome KKR as an investor in Reliance Retail Ventures as we continue our onward march to growing and transforming the Indian Retail ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians. KKR has a proven track record of being a valuable partner to industry-leading franchises and has been committed to India for many years. We look forward to working with KKRs global platform, industry knowledge and operational expertise across our digital services and retail businesses, Makes Amana, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, said. We are pleased to deepen our relationship with Reliance Industries through this investment in Reliance Retail Ventures, which is empowering merchants of all sizes and fundamentally changing the retail experience for Indian consumers. Reliance Retails new commerce platform is filling an important need for both consumers and small businesses as more Indian consumers move to shopping online and the company offers tools for Karanas to be a critical part of the value chain. We are thrilled to support Reliance Retail in its mission to become Indias leading omnichannel retailer and ultimately to build a more inclusive Indian retail economy, Henry Kravis, co-founder and Co-CEO of KKR, said. KKR is making its investment from its Asia private equity funds. The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals. RIL, with a consolidated turnover of Rs6,59,205 crore ($87.1 billion), cash profit of Rs71,446 crore ($9.4 billion), and net profit of Rs39,880 crore ($5.3 billion) for the year ended 31 March 2020. For months, complaints from tech companies against Apple's and Google's power have grown louder. Spotify, the music streaming app, criticised Apple for the rules it imposed in the App Store. A founder of the software company Basecamp attacked Apple's "highway robbery rates" on apps. And last month, Epic Games, maker of the popular game Fortnite, sued Apple and Google, claiming they violated antitrust rules. Complaints about the market power of Apple and Google have been getting louder in recent times. Credit:AP Now these app makers are uniting in an unusual show of opposition against Apple and Google and the power they have over their app stores. On Thursday, the smaller companies said they had formed the Coalition for App Fairness, a nonprofit group that plans to push for changes in the app stores and "protect the app economy." The 13 initial members include Spotify, Basecamp, Epic and Match Group, which has apps like Tinder and Hinge. "They've collectively decided, 'We're not alone in this, and maybe what we should do is advocate on behalf of everybody,'" said Sarah Maxwell, a spokeswoman for the group. She added that the new nonprofit would be "a voice for many." SAN DIEGO, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Genelux Corporation, a privately-held clinical-stage immunotherapy company, today announced that it has entered into a convertible note and warrant financing transaction with Woodward Diversified Capital (WDC). Genelux and WDC have completed the first close of a private placement of unsecured convertible notes of up to $20M and associated warrants. The transaction underscores the strength and promise of Olvi-Vec, Genelux's lead oncolytic immunotherapy candidate. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the financing primarily to finalize preparations for and initiate its planned Phase 3 (registration) trial of Olvi-Vec in platinum refractory/resistant ovarian cancer and to fund further expansion of our clinical program, and for general corporate purposes. Gabe Woodward, Partner at WDC, commented, "We were attracted to Genelux because of the caliber of the team and because they meet our criteria of having a breakthrough and innovative approach to address a significant unmet medical need." "Genelux is fortunate to have the financial and sophisticated strategic support of WDC as we successfully advance Olvi-Vec towards its first registration trial," said Thomas Zindrick, J.D., President and CEO of Genelux. About Olvimulogene Nanivacirepvec (Olvi-Vec) Olvi-Vec is a proprietary, non-pathogenic oncolytic vaccinia virus, modified to increase its safety, tumor selectivity and anti-tumor activity. Virus-mediated oncolysis results in immunogenic cell death and triggers immune activation and memory for long-term immunotherapy against cancer. Clinical results in more than 150 subjects have shown Olvi-Vec is well tolerated with documented clinical benefits. About Woodward Diversified Capital Woodward Diversified Capital provides advanced investment strategies and wealth management solutions to high net worth individuals and family offices. The Partners of Woodward Diversified Capital have an established reputation as innovative and responsive investors, with broad transaction capabilities and a long entrepreneurial tradition of investments in a diverse range of industries. For more information please visit www.woodwarddiversifiedcapital.com. About Genelux Corporation Headquartered in San Diego, California, Genelux Corporation is a leader in oncolytic immunotherapy, utilizing its potent CHOICE discovery platform to develop a library of proprietary, oncolytic vaccinia virus-based diagnostic and therapeutic candidates. For more information please visit www.genelux.com. Contacts Investor Relations Kim Duffy [email protected] (909) 307-9300 Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc. Miriam Miller (Investors) [email protected] 212-375-2694 Ingrid Mezo (Media) [email protected] 646-604-5150 SOURCE Genelux Corporation Related Links http://www.genelux.com File image The finance ministry on Friday said that public sector banks (PSBs) have on-boarded about one crore customers on digital payment modes in just one month of the launch of ''Digital Apnayen'' campaign. The campaign, aimed at encouraging customers to use digital banking channels, was launched on August 15 under the aegis of the government''s Digital India initiative. The Department of Financial Services (DFS) said in a tweet, "DFS''s #DigitalApnayen campaign gets off to a roaring start! PSBs on-board 1 Cr A/c holders on digital payment modes in 31 days of campaign launch. Committed to transform India into a digitally empowered society!" Under the campaign, banks were asked to on-board a minimum 100 new customers including merchants and financial inclusion account holders by each branch on digital payment mode. Banks were also advised to consider reward and recognistion programme for their branches and business correspondents and other field functionaries for promoting the campaign. CALLS have been made on the Environment Minister to confirm there's no intention to demolish the Shannonbridge and Lough Ree power plans until a study into their future potential has been conducted. This follows the opening of a tendering process for the demolition of the plants by the ESB. Both plants are scheduled to close at the end of 2020 and were to be demolished, in accordance with planning strictures. Both plants are of recent construction and considered state of the art with Shannonbridge costing in excess of 200 million to build. However, the interim report of Just Transition Commissioner Kieran Mulvey - delivered to Government in April - advised against the planned demolition and recommended that the plants be maintained for up to a year to explore other possible or potential uses. The Just Transition Commissioners report specifically recommended: Before the decommissioning and dismantling operation begins, I recommend that the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, the ESB and other relevant interests in the renewable energy sector should conduct a study of the future potential of these plants and sites for the establishment of a dedicated Energy Hub in the Midlands. The report said the study could focus on how the plants could be utilised in terms of energy storage or exploring new technologies in energy provision which could create high quality employment in the area, to replace jobs already lost in the ongoing transition to low carbon. The Commissioner also recommended consultation with An Bord Pleanala on the planned demolitions. Speaking on behalf of the Congress Energy Sector Group, Coordinator Macdara Doyle said: We need Minister Eamon Ryan, TD., to clarify whether this crucial study has been carried out, as recommended and, if so, what the conclusions and findings are in respect of the future of the two plants. Both the previous and current government committed to implementing in full the recommendations of the Just Transition Commissioners report - including exploring the potential of these state of the art power plants, rather than proceeding with their wholesale demolition. Speaking on behalf of the Bord na Mona Group of Unions, Willie Noone said: We have already seen over 1000 jobs lost in BnM and the Midlands as a result of the transition process. We have heard lots of promises but very little evidence of Just Transition on the ground, in terms of replacement jobs and new opportunities. If we act on the reports recommendation we may have a chance of creating some new employment in the area. Razing these plants to the ground at this point, makes no sense. Padraig Mooney, the Congress nominee on the Midlands Regional Transition Team (MRTT) - the regional body charged by government with overseeing the transition process - said: It is our understanding that the Commissioners report was to be implemented in full, not partially. It makes no sense to demolish these vital pieces of energy infrastructure ahead of a full evaluation of how they might contribute to a low carbon economy, renewable energy creation and new jobs in the Midlands region. In addition, the advice we have heard from EU transition experts working with the MRTT is for a review of BnM and ESB assets that could be beneficial to local development, so we need to see the study recommended by the Just Transition Commissioner carried out with some urgency, he said. Republican lawmakers vowed that the presidential transition after Novembers election will occur without disruption, in a rebuke to President Donald Trumps refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted Thursday morning. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792. Trump said Wednesday that were going to have to see what happens, in response to a reporters question at a White House news conference about a peaceful transfer of power. You know that Ive been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. The president has raised questions about the security and legitimacy of mass mailed-in ballots, without offering evidence. FBI Director Christopher Wray told a Senate Homeland panel hearing Thursday that the FBI has seen no evidence of an organized voter fraud effort that could change the results of a presidential election. Certainly to change a federal election outcome by mounting that kind of fraud at scale would be a major challenge for an adversary, Wray said. Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed alarm at Trumps comments, with Schumer calling the president the gravest threat to American democracy. Its very sad that you even have to ask that question, Pelosi said at a news conference Thursday on whether there would be a peaceful transfer of power. It would not be a good thing in our country for our election to be ignored by the president. Schumer accused Trump of saying that if he wins, the election is legitimate and if he loses its rigged, and he might just stay in office and not count the ballots. Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the Republican Partys 2012 presidential nominee, said in a Twitter post on Wednesday. Senator Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, didnt directly criticize Trump for his remarks but told reporters hes confident there would be a peaceful transfer. Weve always had a peaceful transfer of power, Shelby said. Thats one of our hallmarks. And I think this year will be no exception. Senator Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, said the real issue is whether supporters of Democratic nominee Joe Biden will accept the outcome when Trump wins a second term. I think his message was crystal clear, he expects to win so he doesnt have to worry about that, Rounds said, who dismissed the idea that Republicans need to send the president a message calling in him to respect the electoral process. Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming tweeted Thursday: The peaceful transfer of power is enshrined in our Constitution and fundamental to the survival of our Republic. Americas leaders swear an oath to the Constitution. We will uphold that oath. Watana sentenced to 99 years in jail, allowed bail THAILAND: The Supreme Courts Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions has sentenced former social development and human security minister Watana Muangsook to 99 years in jail for demanding bribes in a low-cost housing project. corruption By Bangkok Post Friday 25 September 2020, 08:58AM Watana Muangsook talks to reporters after the court ruling yesterday (Sept 24). Photo: Apichart Jinakul. He was later allowed bail on a surety of B10 million on the condition he must not go abroad without court approval. If convicted after the appeal, the key member of the Pheu Thai Party will serve 50 years, the longest possible prison term under Thai law. The court found Watana guilty of demanding bribes from a multi-billion-baht Eua Arthorn housing project initiated by the National Housing Authority, an organisation under the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. He was found guilty of 11 counts, which carried a jail term of nine years each. There were 14 defendants in the case. The case was among several handled by the Asset Scrutiny Committee set up after the 2006 coup. It was picked up after the 2014 coup by the NACC, which decided the case had ground. Prosecutors later charged Mr Watana with soliciting and accepting bribes while being a state official. Mr Watana and nine others were accused of demanding kickbacks from developers who built houses for the low-cost housing project. Watana posted on Facebook his was the first case with the maximum 50-year jail term that was allowed bail. He added he was preparing to go to Parliament to follow the vote on six constitution amendment bills. An Oklahoma home explosion has killed a 14-year-old teen and hospitalized three family members. The Oklahoma City Fire Department reported that on Thursday, the fatal incident happened in northeast Oklahoma City shortly before seven in the morning. Officials saw severe damage when they arrived at the scene. Later, they confirmed that four people were involved: three were injured and one died. The OCFD said that they transferred the injured members to a hospital. OCFD Chief Benny Fulkerson told NBC affiliate KFOR how big the blast was. He said that it could have been heard for more than 30 miles away from the point of explosion. Neighbors said that the disoriented father was shocked when it happened. They said that he was plugging in a coffee maker during that time. See also: Massachusetts Mom Warns Other Parents After Son Got Strangled by Seat Belt Completely leveled home with debris all over Based on NBC affiliate KTEN, Fulkerson said that there was no active fire when they arrived at the scene. He noted that what they saw was a completely leveled home with debris all over down the street. The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office has identified who the 14-year-old teen was to PEOPLE. It said that the young victim was Berklee McGuire. According to KFOR, her mother, Tanda, and brother, Hayden, both suffered burns. See also: Connecticut Teen Selflessly Saves Mom and 3 Children from Burning Car The teen's father, Shawn, was listed in serious condition in the hospital. The outlet reported that Oklahoma Corporation Commission with the Officials is currently investigating what happened. Authorities looked into preliminary information and had hypothesized what had caused the blast. Propane leak could have been the cause It is believed that a propane leak could have caused the fatal incident. It was installed from an uncoded line in a wood-burning fireplace. Liquefied Petroleum Gas Administration Enforcement Officer, Nicholas Nadeau, explained how the blast happened. Nadeau suspected that a log lighter with an open valve has caused the explosion. He noted that any ignition could spark a blast if there is a propane gas vapor released into the home. Some examples of ignition include plugging a coffee pot or even turning on a light. See also: 5-Year-Old Illinois Boy Tragically Dies After Granite Tabletop Caused Head Injury KFOR and KTEN reported that apart from the family's home, three other houses from the area were affected by the blast. Those three homes also suffered damage from the tragic event. The Governor shares his heartbreak Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt posted a statement on his Twitter account in the wake of the incident. On behalf of him and his wife, Sarah, Gov. Stitt is sharing his heartbreak for the family. He wrote that both he and his wife are heartbroken by the blast of a home in Edmond that morning. Apart from that, they are also saddened by the tragic loss of a child. He also wrote that he is monitoring what had happened. Also, he has offered his full support to the investigation of the incident. He is asking people to keep the family and first responders in their prayers at this time. Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong in the video message to the High-level General Debate of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (Photo: VNA) Hanoi - Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong on September 25 (Vietnam time) sent an important message to the High-level General Debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The following is the full text of the message. Your Excellency Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Your Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to congratulate Your Excellency Volkan Bozkir upon your election as the President of the 75th United Nations General Assembly. I am fully confident that under your experienced and able leadership, our session will be a success. Let me also voice my appreciation for the important contributions that His Excellency Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have made despite the tremendous challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. President, We are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and entering the third decade of the 21st century in extraordinary circumstances. For the first time in history, the Leaders of Member States are unable to gather at the UNGA General Debate. This, however, does not diminish our resolve and ability to deliberate and seek solutions for issues of common concern. I echo the Secretary-General's assessment that we are facing the most formidable challenges since the birth of the UN, in particular, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, society, politics and, most of all, human life. Mr. President, Against this backdrop, I welcome the theme of our Session: The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism confronting COVID-19 through effective multilateral action. Allow me to share some of my thoughts along that line. First, global and regional multilateral mechanisms must be strengthened. We need a United Nations that is truly cohesive and inclusive, where every member, large or small, rich or poor, can have a voice in deciding matters of common concern. The UN must serve as the incubator for multilateral cooperation initiatives for peace, development and prosperity.Further reforms should be undertaken to transform the UN into a stronger and more effective organisation that can fulfill its role of harmonizing the interests and behaviours of states in the face of the monumental changes of our time. Second, the United Nations Charter and the fundamental principles of international law must be upheld and advanced as the norms of behavior for all countries in contemporary international relations. We must be resolute and perseverant in advancing cooperation and friendship to counter conflict and hostility. We must choose dialogue over confrontation, and peaceful settlement of disputes over unilateral acts of imposition. In this spirit, Viet Nam calls for the removal of unilateral sanctions that adversely affect countries socio-economic development and peoples livelihoods, especially the embargo imposed upon Cuba. Third, the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a stern warning to us all, requiring our stronger commitments and stronger actions to promote sustainable, inclusive and human-centered development. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development should continue to be the framework for our cooperation to overcome this pandemic for sustainable recovery. Our policies and actions should have the interest of our people at the heart, so that no one, and no country, will be left behind. Developing countries should receive financial assistance, technological and commercial facilitation to realize the Sustainable Development Goals. Mr. President, Seventy-five years ago, on 02 September 1945, President Ho Chi Minh delivered the Declaration of Independence that proclaimed the birth of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (now the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam). Since those early days, President Ho Chi Minh, on multiple occasions, sent letters to the founding members of the UN, expressing Viet Nam's desire to become a member of the Organization. While it was not until 1977 that this aspiration became reality, the long and tenacious struggle of Viet Nam to win and defend national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity served as a concrete contribution to the worldwide movement for peace, democracy and social progress ultimately the same noble goals to which the UN aspires. Let me take this occasion, on behalf of the Vietnamese people, to express our deepest gratitude to countries and international friends for your generous support towards our past righteous struggle for national independence and present national development. Viet Nam was once a poor and backward country ravaged by war, strangled by embargo. After thirty-five years of Doi Moi reform, Viet Nam has emerged as a middle-income developing country and is aiming to be a high-income industrial country by 2045. In the fight against COVID-19, difficulties notwithstanding, Viet Nam has recorded positive and noteworthy outcomes. We have successfully contained the pandemic while promoting social and economic development. Out of international solidarity and with the understanding thatthe pandemic is only defeated when we all win, Viet Nam has engaged in cooperation and experience sharing with many countries, including support provided to those worst affected by the pandemic and to the common international efforts. Viet Nam pursues a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization and persification of relations. As a reliable partner and an active, responsible member of the international community, Viet Nam attaches importance to the work of the UN and has been expanding our comprehensive cooperation with the Organization. Viet Nam will work with member states to make the UN more democratic, transparent and effective. As a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the term 2020 2021, Viet Nam promotes dialogue, de-escalation of tension and confrontation, and fair and reasonable solutions to regional and global peace and security issues. We champion multilateralism and the respect for international law and the UN Charter, and strengthen relations between the UN and regional organizations, especially ASEAN. As the 2020 ASEAN Chair, Viet Nam is working with fellow member states to build a region of peace, friendship and cooperation, in order to realize the vision of ASEAN as a politically cohesive, economically integrated and socially responsible community. Together with countries within and outside the region, we are committed to the maintenance and promotion of peace, stability, maritime security and safety and freedom of navigation in the East Sea (South China Sea), in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. We call on all concerned parties to exercise restraint, avoid unilateral acts that would complicate the situation, and settle disputes and differences through peaceful means with due respect for diplomatic and legal processes. Mr. President, Over the last 75 years, member states have painstakingly built a United Nations for peace, cooperation and development. We are duty-bound to strengthen and reinvigorate the worlds largest multilateral organization, particularly in face of the immense challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. Thank you for your kind attention. Hennessy X.O gets Frank Gehry makeover to mark 150th anniversary World-famous cognac house Hennessy is marking the 150th anniversary of its X.O with a celebration befitting its flagship blend. First created by Maurice Hennessy and cellar master Emile Fillioux in 1870, the "extra old" blend was only intended for Hennessy's inner circle of family and friends - but went on to win hearts worldwide. As the Maison Hennessy's emblematic blend, the X.O contributed to defining a family of cognacs and was quickly embraced around the globe, starting with the US in 1870, then Shanghai and Hong Kong in 1872. In 1947 Gerald de Geoffre, a member of the Hennessy family, further enshrined the X.O in the cognac cannon by creating a distinctive carafe for it, far removed from the charentaises that were the most popular bottles at the time. Renaud Fillioux de Gironde, the eighth-generation master blender for the Maison Hennessy, said: "Hennessy X.O is the cognac for every occasion. Its timelessness - the fact that its inspiration never changes and never bends to the whims of trends - means that it exists in a realm beyond fashion. As time goes by, we've noticed that people are appreciating a wider array of moments for tasting than they ever have before." To mark the 150th anniversary of the Hennessy X.O, the bottle has become the focal point for a special partnership with world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, who has used his signature sculptural style to reinterpret the bottle. The end result marries gold and glass, to showcase the rich legacy of the Maison Hennessy, with Gehry's charcteristic flair. A limited run of 150 of these numbered decanters will be released, entitled Masterpiece and imprinted with Frank Gehry's signature. In addition, a wider-release limited-edition Hennessy X.O bottle has also been created by Gehry and will be available in markets worldwide. On the collaboration, Gehry said: "It was an honour to be asked to celebrate this milestone for Hennessy X.O. While I was excited, it was also daunting because a bottle of cognac is already a work of art - one you can smell, taste and feel. There's such a powerful history and a serious emotional commitment from the people that make this product. It has a resonance that's interesting to tie into and become a part of." The Masterpiece and limited-edition Frank Gehry X.O decanters will be available exclusively from Harrods and Clos19.com from 28 September, priced at 15,000 and 178 respectively. Hennessy will also be celebrating the 150th anniversary with a series of festivities in Cognac on 25 September. 25 September 2020 - Bethany Whymark Parents, students and education activists hold a news conference to announce a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) The Los Angeles Unified School District's distance learning plan has caused enormous learning losses and left tens of thousands of Black and Latino students without a basic education, according to allegations in a class action lawsuit filed against the district Thursday. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Los Angles public school parents, alleges that the district is failing students by offering less instructional time to students compared with other large districts in California and cutting the hours that teachers are required to work My daughter and the children of my community...theyve been failed by the district, said Judith Larson, a plaintiff in the suit whose daughter is in seventh grade at South Gate Middle School. The poor education our students receive this year is going to have an impact for years to come. Some of the nine parents who filed the suit said teachers frequently dismiss class early, sometimes soon after taking attendance. Others said they received nonfunctioning computers from the district, including ones that crashed every time they tried to access online meetings. And others said their children are not learning anything new and are only reviewing old material. The plaintiffs were organized by two advocacy groups, Innovate Public Schools and Parent Revolution, which have been critical of the districts approach to distance learning. The suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, asks for an injunction to stop the district from further depriving plaintiffs of their constitutional rights, as well as a declaration that the district is violating students rights. In a statement, L.A. Unified spokeswoman Shannon Haber said that the district had not yet been served with the lawsuit but that districts like Los Angeles "have to balance the sometimes conflicting priorities of the learning needs of students and the health and safety of all in the school community." "Since school closed in March, L.A. Unified has been working to bridge the digital divide ensuring all students have devices and access to the internet. It has also sought innovative ways to engage students online," Haber said. "Los Angeles Unified will continue to provide the best possible education to all students." Story continues In a statement, Sierra Elizabeth, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said "LAUSD's distance learning plan is woefully inadequate." Not only does the plan deny all public school children in our city the basic rights guaranteed to them by the California Constitution, it disproportionately harms the poorest and most vulnerable children in this school district and that is unacceptable, she said. Larson, 52, said her daughter, an honor roll student, only received about two or three hours of instruction per week in the spring. Things improved slightly in the fall, but nowhere near enough for her daughter to catch up, she said. Her 12-year-olds schedule shows she is supposed to be in class from 9 a.m. until 2:15 p.m. with a 30-minute lunch break. Instead, she has a 90-minute lunch break and teachers often dismiss class early, sometimes soon after taking attendance and asking whether students have completed their homework. She was given five textbooks, but has yet to open them because theres no need, Larson said. My biggest worry is that shes not going to be ready for eighth grade and this is like a domino effect because my dream is that she can get to college, Larson said. And I dont see that thats going to happen that easily... Shes being left behind. The suit puts much of the blame for the failures it alleges on two agreements between the district and the teachers union one that was signed in April and another in August. Under the August agreement, teachers are expected to work six hours a day. Several plaintiffs also described their lack of adequate technology to access education. District officials have said that they have all the technology that students need. Some plaintiffs, however, said they have requested wireless hot spots but have not received them. And one parent said his 16-year-old son attends his online classes by cellphone because he has not received a computer from the district. Akela Wroten, Jr. has three children in LAUSD schools, ages 4, 6 and 8. He has internet access at home but the bandwidth is not adequate. He said he was put on a waiting list for a hot spot but has not received one. He joined the suit because he sees how his children are struggling, he said. This experience is pretty much chaos," Wroten said. "If Wi-Fi is not working, Zoom isnt working or the apps that they have arent working...we were not prepared at all and our babies are suffering from it." A tiny Chinese 'tea pot' found during lockdown in a garage clear-out has sold for 390,000 at auction. The historic peony-patterned jug, believed to be one of four in existence, was destined for a charity shop after gathering dust in a Derbyshire home. Measuring just 15cm, the teapot-shaped wine ewer attracted an opening bid of 100,000 and took just 11 minutes to sell for almost 10 times its original guide price. Hansons Auctioneers had initially hoped the 18th century 'treasure' would fetch between 20,000 and 40,000, before upping its pre-sale estimate to 150,000. A tiny 15cm Chinese 'tea pot' found during lockdown in a garage clear-out has fetched 390,000 at auction in Derbyshire Experts at Hansons dated the jug, which they believe may have been handled by Chinese Emperor Qianlong, to the 18th century, after it was brought into the firm's Etwall premises, near Derby, for a free valuation earlier this year. The jug's vendor, a semi-retired manual worker from Swadlincote, near Burton-on-Trent, believes it was brought back from the Far East by his grandfather during the Second World War. The 51-year-old admitted he had considered sending the jug to a charity shop. He said: 'We believe it was brought back to England from China by my grandfather who was stationed in the Far East during the Second World War and was awarded a Burma Star. Hansons' owner Charles Hanson said the sum received would be potentially life-changing 'Mum passed away 17 years ago, then dad nine years ago and the teapot ended up in a loft in Newhall. Later it was boxed up and moved to a relative's garage in Church Gresley.' The owner added: 'But then lockdown came along and I finally had time to go through the boxes in the garage.' The winning bidder was not named during the auction on Thursday, but Hansons' owner Charles Hanson said the 390,000 would be potentially life-changing. Experts at Hansons dated the jug, which they believe may have been handled by Chinese Emperor Qianlong Eight phone bidders from around the world, including China and America, battled to own the item which was eventually secured by a London buyer. Speaking after a telephone bidder declined to up the bidding to 400,000, Mr Hanson told those present in the sale room: 'A wonderful result and congratulations to the vendor. 'What a find, destined for a charity shop and destined to not be noticed, and destined now to make national news.' The historic peony-patterned jug, believed to be one of four in existence, was destined for a charity shop after gathering dust in a Derbyshire home Mr Hanson added: 'I am absolutely delighted for our vendor. When objects achieve results like this, it's a potentially life-changing sum for their owners. 'This is one of the most important objects I've ever had the privilege of selling. It has to be the best lockdown find ever.' In a post-auction statement issued through Hansons, the seller said: 'This will change a few things for us all. It's come at a really good time. 'I sat and watched the auction live at home with my brother and family. It was tense. I got a few cans of Guinness in beforehand. We'll be going for a drink tonight and toasting grandad.' To receive Steve Gutterman's Week In Russia each week via e-mail, subscribe by clicking here. Alyaksandr Lukashenka's rushed, hushed-up inauguration ceremony in Belarus may evoke memories for Vladimir Putin, and contain a warning about the future as Russia hurtles toward 2024. Also, a COVID-19 surge, Kremlin contortions over the poisoning of Aleksei Navalny, and a UN speech "rehearsing the defense of a nation in decline." Here are some of the key developments in Russia over the past week and some of the takeaways going forward. Surprise Inauguration Lukashenka often takes things a step or two further than Vladimir Putin. The Russian president, for example, once famously called the Soviet breakup the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century --- or, by an alternative translation, one of the greatest. Asked during a reelection campaign in 2018 what historical event he would like to change, Putin immediately responded: "The collapse of the Soviet Union." For his part, Lukashenka used more forceful language when this reporter interviewed him for Reuters in 2010: "Only an idiot would not regret the collapse of the Soviet Union," he said -- though he then added that an American also might not regret it. Ten years later, Lukashenka's inauguration ceremony was certainly striking: It was held virtually unannounced, known about by only a few people until after he had been sworn in and reportedly known to some of the few who attended only moments before that, after they had been told to dress up, met at a designated Minsk location, and been bused to the venue for the swearing-in ceremony that, in the eyes of the state, started the former Soviet-farm chief's sixth term in office. The reason for the secrecy, of course, was the bitter dispute over the August 9 election, which Lukashenka claims to have won with 80 percent of the vote but opponents -- and large numbers of Belarusians who have defied a brutal crackdown and taken to the streets for near-daily protests calling for his departure -- contend was rigged from beginning to end. After the ceremony, Belarusian police and security forces cracked down harder on protesters as Western countries and institutions made it clear that they -- like the citizens who have called him a "usurper" since the election -- no longer recognize Lukashenka as president of Belarus. For Putin, the nightmare of nonrecognition has not occurred, and there has been nothing secret about his inauguration ceremonies -- they have come like clockwork on May 7 of 2000, 2004, 2012, and 2018. But the events in Minsk on September 23 may have held something familiar for Putin, who rode to his 2012 Kremlin swearing-in down main Moscow streets that were virtually empty because police had cordoned them off to keep protesters away. The ceremony came hours after hundreds of people had been arrested in and around Bolotnaya Square, the epicenter of a wave of protests by Russians eager for change and dismayed by his decision to return to the presidency after stepping down to the prime minister's post for four years to avoid violating constitutional term limits. Legitimacy Issues That dismay could grow much deeper if Putin takes the straightest path that he has cut himself for retaining power after his current term ends in 2024: seeking another one. The constitutional amendment he pushed through this year to create that option has already sapped his legitimacy in the eyes of many inside and outside Russia; to exercise it would be to risk losing further damage to his image and his legacy at home and abroad. That's still almost four years down the road, though. At the moment, as a result of the poisoning of one of his fiercest critics, Aleksei Navalny, Putin faces a substantial image problem in the West -- and so far he has done little or nothing to make it go away. With German authorities citing labs in three countries as finding that Navalny was poisoned with a toxin from the Novichok group of nerve agents, leading experts to conclude that the chances that the Russian state was involved are high, the Kremlin has declined to provide what might be taken in Brussels and Washington as a serious explanation. Instead, as was the case in the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain in 2018 and other apparent or alleged attacks that Western governments have blamed on Moscow, critics say that Russian officials, Kremlin-aligned pundits, and state media outlets have come forward with a sometimes contradictory mix of denials, non-denial denials, and outlandish theories without evidence to back them. One of those came from Putin, according to Le Monde. Citing unnamed sources, the French newspaper reported that, in a phone call on September 14, Putin had suggested that Navalny could have poisoned himself, speaking "with contempt" about the opposition politician and "considering him atroublemaker who had simulated diseases in the past" -- a remark steeped in Soviet-style disdain for alleged shirkers. 'I Cooked Up Novichok In The Kitchen' The Le Monde report provoked a lively response from Navalny -- "I cooked up Novichok in the kitchen" and "quietly sipped it from a flask on the plane," he joked on Instagram -- whose recovery is partial for now but raises the prospect that he may continue to challenge the Kremlin as before -- and the question of whether and when he will return to Russia. The authorities are not making it easy for him -- court officers have put a freeze on his Moscow apartment in connection with a defamation lawsuit that was lodged -- and, not surprisingly, won -- by a businessman with close ties to Putin, meaning that he and his family can technically still go there but cannot sell the property, give it away, or use it to borrow money against a loan. Another phenomenon that has affected the Kremlin's image at home and abroad has been its response to the coronavirus pandemic, which Putin appeared to initially hope would essentially bypass his country, delivering a minimal blow. That did not happen, and with the country's official tally at more than 1.1 million cases and nearly 20,000 deaths -- a figure that remains in question -- Russia has also been unable to avoid a recent spike that has hit Eastern Europe and other regions. COVID Comeback New cases nationwide have crept back up above 7,000 per day, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin urged seniors and the chronically ill to restrict their movements, staying at home as much as possible and refraining from going to work or visiting relatives who live separately. Putin's reported remarks to Macron about Navalny, which the Kremlin did not quite deny -- overshadowed his address to the UN General Assembly, which included mention of the COVID-19 vaccine that Russia registered, becoming the first country to do so but drawing controversy because it did not first conduct wide-scale "Phase III" testing. Amid mounting Western criticism and calls for punishing Moscow for Navalny's poisoning and for its support for Lukashenka, Putin indicated that the need for cooperation against the coronavirus was an argument against "illegitimate sanctions." Calling for collaboration on a number of global challenges, Putin seemed to strike a business-as-usual tone and accentuate what he suggested was the need for Russia to maintain the clout it commands thanks to its status as one of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council. In the address, Putin was "pretending that he was not considered a problem rather than a partner by many nations of the world," Russia analyst Mark Galeotti, a senior associate fellow at the Moral United Services Institute in Britain, wrote in The Moscow Times. "Who knows how far he is consciously aware of it," Galeotti wrote, but "while presenting Russia as a world leader in everything from vaccine research to controlling cyberweapons, Putin was actually rehearsing the defense of a nation in decline." The Member of Parliament for Manhyia South constituency in the Ashanti Region, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has donated 613 pieces of LED street light bulbs to his constituents. Also, he donated 10,000 pieces of energy-saving bulbs, which are to be shared with every household in the constituency. The MP, who is the Minister of Education, also absorbed the cost of fixing the street lights bulbs during the presentation on Saturday, September 19, 2020, at the Abbeys Park at Ashanti New Town. The donation followed appeals made to the MP by the Assembly members for street light bulbs to improve the lighting and security situations in their areas. Present at the short ceremony were Assembly members, constituency executives, polling station executives and coordinators, and party supporters. NAPO, as he is called, said the street light bulbs will beef up security in the areas to protect lives and properties, and called on the Assembly members to take steps to ensure that the bulbs are distributed accordingly. This donation is not made to win votes for myself or the party, but as part of my responsibility as an MP, seeking the good welfare of my people. I will continue to serve my people with all my will, who I cherish so much, NAPO said. Adding "I will make sure I fix all the challenges facing the constituency. Those areas which their challenges are yet to be addressed, I promise to assist these areas to have them solved. The bulbs were handed over to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to be distributed to the six electoral areas in the constituency. The electoral areas are Krobo Odumase, which received 85 street light bulbs, CPC had 95, and Afia Kobi, 75. Others are Odumasi (Ashtwown), 105, Manhyia, 70, and Dichemso, 100. Per the calculation, there will be an excess of 83 street light bulbs, which will be kept as stand-by. The MCE of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Hon Osei Assibey Antwi, on behalf of the Assembly, thanked the MP, and believed, the presentation will go a long way to solve the insecurity in the areas because of the dark nature in some areas. The Assembly is grateful to Hon. NAPO and we believe that these bulbs have solved the darkness challenge situation in the electoral areas to save the people from armed robbery attacks, Assibey Antwi gleefully said. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President Moon Jae-in applauds special warfare troops during a ceremony to mark the 72nd Armed Forces Day at the Special Warfare Command in Icheon, Friday. The anniversary falls on Oct. 1. / Yonhap By Kang Seung-woo A belated report on the killing of a South Korean by North Korean soldiers to President Moon Jae-in is placing him in an unexpected situation, similar to that faced by his disgraced predecessor Park Geun-hye after the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry, with the opposition side stepping up criticism of the President. According to the Ministry of National Defense, Thursday, the 47-year-old South Korean official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries went missing while on duty aboard an inspection vessel in waters off the western border island of Yeonpyeong, Monday. The South Korean was found drifting in North Korean waters by a North Korean vessel at around 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, was shot dead at 9:40 p.m. and his body was burned at 10:10 p.m., according to the South Korean military and intelligence agency. They claimed the South Korean official may have tried to defect to the North. Cheong Wa Dae said it received the report about the shooting at 10:30 p.m., Tuesday, and held a ministerial meeting at 1:30 a.m., Wednesday, in which the information's reliability was discussed by National Security Adviser Suh Hoon, Presidential Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, National Intelligence Service chief Park Jie-won, Unification Minister Lee In-young and Defense Minister Suh Wook. However, Moon did not participate in the meeting and they did not report the information to the President immediately after their meeting; Moon was briefed on the killing at 8:30 a.m., Wednesday, meaning he learned about the killing about 10 hours later. The outbreak of COVID-19 has changed the lives of people across the globe and so has their portfolio allocation. Smart money is moving into stocks or sectors that are likely to benefit from COVID or could be recovery plays, suggest experts. The time has come for investors to tweak their allocation towards BHARATH stocks and slowly lower their allocation from HRITHIK stocks. HRITHIK is an acronym used for stocks like HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys, TCS, HDFC, ITC, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Meanwhile, BHARATH, coined by BNP Paribas includes Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank/Life, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, Avenue Supermarts, Tata Consultancy Services, and Hindustan Unilever. It is ideal to stick with BHARATH kind of portfolio as it consists of companies with stable outlook and better consistency in earnings estimates. Given the rich valuations of the market it is safe to be with defensives, Rusmik Oza, Executive Vice President, Head of Fundamental Research at Kotak Securities told Moneycontrol. Most of the names in BHARATH look safe from a one to two-year perspective even though some of them are rich in valuations. Based on sectoral outlook also the mix of telecom, paints, IT, FMCG, and banking looks quite attractive, he said. Most of the stocks in the BHARATH pack have given positive returns so far in the year 2020. Meanwhile, four out of 7 stocks in HRITHIK portfolio gave negative returns, data from Ace Equity showed. While BHARATH AND HRITHIK portfolio acronyms might be different, but the underlying stocks seem to have a common ideology quality and large-cap. This highlights the fact that investors choosing either of the portfolios would end up holding a motley group of stocks, across diversified sectors, trusted and revered most times, suggest experts. Creating a portfolio of these stocks will stand the test of time. The companies have good cash flows, higher profitability, dependable balance sheets, management capabilities to wither downtrends, etc, mark the reasons for choosing these stocks, Gopal Kavalireddi, Head of research, FYERS told Moneycontrol. While a 40-50 percent of portfolio allocation to these stocks will prove to be a winners ace, a sizable allocation can be made to marquee midcaps holding similar qualities. With Indochina issues taking center stage, trade and commerce policies aligning to Made in India, Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and other domestic initiatives, PSUs as well as economy facing companies are expected to get a leg up, he said. Kavalireddi further added that a dynamic portfolio is the need of the hour. Growth Investing has overshadowed value investing for the better part of the last two decades. Investors are urged to pay attention to stocks and sectors that offer value and which possibly will emerge in a larger role that defines the new India. What should investors do? Both the HRITHIK portfolio and BHARATH portfolio have stocks that have good pedigree and robust track record. But, because of the outbreak of COVID, some companies might attract additional flows either they are COVID beneficiaries or recovery play. Experts are of the view that both the portfolio can do well, but BHARAT stocks could fare slightly better as everyone is eyeing recovery in the economy. BHARATH stocks also include certain new-age sectors as well, whereas HRITHIK stocks over the years have proven to have a strong past track record. We believe both these portfolios can do well, considering all these companies are the market leader in the respective industry and have strong fundamentals, Ajit Mishra, VP Research, Religare Broking told Moneycontrol. Most of them also have a strong promoter track record. Even if COVID could impact some of the companies, we believe these would be able to withstand the storm due to their strong balance sheet and decent long term growth prospects, he said. Gaurav Garg, Head of Research at CapitalVia Global Research Ltd is of the view that BHARATH, as technology-telecom- consumption might drive broader markets in coming years and expects growth and earnings to add momentum in these stocks. Lower expense with improved bottom line might trigger a growth story. However, valuations of stocks at higher-end, and in my opinion aggressive buying should be avoided especially in the consumption sector, he said. Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. : The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 20:34:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chinese and Zimbabwean officials attend the opening ceremony of the Zimbabwe-China Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Acupuncture Center in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Sept. 25, 2020. The Zimbabwe-China Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Acupuncture Center, the first of its kind to open in the country, was inaugurated Friday in Harare. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang) By Tafara Mugwara, Zhang Yuliang HARARE, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwe-China Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Acupuncture Center, the first of its kind to open in the country, was inaugurated Friday in the capital Harare. Speaking through a video conference platform at the official opening of the center at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Zimbabwe's Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care Constantino Chiwenga said the new center will complement Zimbabwe's health care system. "Experience has shown that including traditional Chinese medicine in a health care protocol improves outcome for patients, for example, traditional Chinese medicine can provide good support to patients who suffer from some conditions, particularly those that are chronic and degenerative, for example, low back pain," he said. "I am therefore confident that the new facilities here at the hospital will radically improve the quality of service and infrastructure for patients and staff both in the immediate future and in the years to come," Chiwenga said. Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun said the opening of the center marks a new chapter of cooperation in the health sector between China and Zimbabwe. Guo said cooperation between the two countries in the field of public health demonstrates the mutual desire to promote the China-Africa community with a shared future between the two sides. "Under the framework of building a community of common health for both China and Africa, China and Zimbabwe will be campaigning to strengthen cooperation on health and give full play to the unique advantages of TCM," he said through a video conference platform. Guo said despite the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides managed to complete construction of the center successfully. "This is another outcome of our joint efforts to promote the health of Zimbabwean people and has shown the determination of Chinese and Zimbabwean people to enhance health cooperation and to fight against COVID-19 together," he said. Guo said in the future, the center will become a TCM medical institution with full diagnosis and treatment capacities. Speaking to the media, Director of Pathological Services in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Maxwell Hove said the opening of the clinic was a very important development for Zimbabwe's healthcare system. "This is a very important development for us, that we have a place where our patients can have their pain relieved without being operated, without going into invasive procedures. Even if we have a shortage of medicine, a shortage of analgesic pharmaceuticals then we know there is an alternative place where they can go and have their pain relieved," he said. In an interview with Xinhua, Director for Traditional Complementary and Integrative medicine in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Onias Ndoro said China's traditional health care system provides valuable lessons to Zimbabwe. "We are already in the process of trying to standardize our traditional medicine practices and products so this is an opportunity for us to learn and improve our practices," Ndoro said. The establishment of the new TCM center follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between China and Zimbabwe on cooperation in the field of TCM and acupuncture. Zimbabwe and China share a long history of cooperation in the health sector. Since 1985, China has dispatched 17 medical teams to Zimbabwe. Enditem The National Medical Commission (NMC), in place of the Medical Council of India (MCI), as the countrys apex regulator of medical education and profession has come into existence from Friday. With the NMC coming into being, the Board of Governors (BoG) which superseded the MCI on September 26, 2018, to perform its functions, has been dissolved and the nearly 64-year-old Indian Medical Council Act abolished. Former head of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences ENT department here, Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma has been appointed as chairman for a period of three years with effect from Friday, while Rakesh Kumar Vats, who was Secretary General in the Board of Governors of the MCI, is the secretary of the commission. The NMC Act, which seeks to usher in mega reforms in the medical education sector, received the assent of the president on August 8, 2019 and was published the same day. The Act provided for setting up of an NMC in place of the scam-tainted Medical Council of India. The four autonomous boards under the NMC Act -- the Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB), Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB), Medical Assessment and Rating Board and the Ethics and Medical Registration Board -- have also been constituted and comes into existence from Friday, according to the notifications issued by Nipun Vinayak, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health on Thursday. "In pursuance of the provisions of sub-section (1) of the section 60 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 is hereby repealed with effect from the 25th day of September, 2020. "The Board of Governors appointed under section 3A of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 in supersession of the Medical Council of India constituted under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the said Act shall stand dissolved," one of the notifications read. The NMC comprises a chairman, 10 ex-officio members and 22 part-time members. The ex-officio members include presidents of the four autonomous boards. "In pursuance of the provisions...of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 , the central government hereby constitutes the National Medical Commission," another notification read. "Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers...the central government hereby notifies that all the remaining provisions of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, shall come into force with effect from the 25th day of September, 2020," another one read. Dr Sharma, was on January 2, appointed the chairman of the NMC after the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved his appointment for a period of three years. "Under sub-section (2) of section 4, the Chairperson of the National Medical Commission (Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma) is appointed for a period of three years with effect from September 25," according to a notification said. Vats, the Secretary General in the Board of Governors of the MCI,was appointed as the secretary of the commission for a similar term on January 2. This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics The Metropolitan Health District reported 177 new cases of the novel coronavirus in Bexar County on Thursday, 22 more than reported the day before. This brings the countys total case count to 53,971. Of those, 20 are students and 32 are staff in area schools, including 15 teachers, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Thursday. Schools are not yet to full occupancy, so these numbers are low and they could be encouraging, Nirenberg said. Its not surprising to see some level of transmission there, but we want to make sure we keep an eye on that data. Metro Health Medical Director Dr. Junda Woo also described the school numbers as promising. I mean, its not zero risk, but it is maybe not as high a risk to go into a school as some people had feared, she said. Five deaths that occurred within the last two weeks also were reported Thursday, bringing the countys death toll to 1,073. The deceased included a white girl younger than 19; a Hispanic man in his 40s; two women in their 80s, one Hispanic and one white; and a man in his 60s whose ethnicity was not identified. Each was reported to have underlying medical conditions. San Antonio hospitals were treating 231 coronavirus patients Thursday three fewer than the previous day with 25 of those being new admissions. There were 87 patients in intensive care, the same as Wednesday, with 36 using ventilators to breathe, five fewer patients than Wednesday. The Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce hosted a webinar Thursday that included a briefing by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading expert on the coronavirus. Speaking at the webinar, District 4 Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia said three council districts in San Antonio have been disproportionately affected by the virus: Districts 3, 4 and 5. The populations for Districts 3 and 4 are 80 percent Hispanic, while District 5 is almost 95 percent Hispanic, according to data from www.SA2020.org. Unfortunately, our local community is also following national trends with people of color contracting and dying of COVID-19 at higher rates compared to non-Hispanic whites, Rocha Garcia said. Rocha Garcia has personal knowledge of how virulent the disease can be. She has had six cousins die of COVID-19 and at least 16 family members have had to be hospitalized because of the virus. She said its urgent to focus virus-fighting efforts in areas where the disease is hitting the hardest. That is why it is so crucial for our city to have targeted efforts focused on outreach and intervention in communities that have been dramatically impacted by COVID-19, the councilwoman said. Advocating and supporting funding opportunities to make this possible will continue to be a priority even as the number of cases continues to decline and we enter a safer phase of our resilience and recovery plan. City Council passed the city budget last week, giving Metro Health about $3 million more last year, bringing its total budget to $45.8 million. Some of this money will go toward building health infrastructure in areas that are lacking, Nirenberg said Thursday. Bexar County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez reminded residents to get their flu shots. The county-hosted flu shot event Saturday already is filled. The county will host a similar event on the West Side on Oct. 10, Rodriguez said. Bexar County is also distributing 250,000 face masks to small businesses from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Freeman Coliseum. Businesses can receive up to 100 face masks each. To participate in either event, registration in advance is required by going to: www.Bexar.org. Comal report Comal County reported 49 additional coronavirus cases Thursday, 11 of those being new cases with the remainder being backlogged. This brings the countys total cases to 3,410. Of those, 235 are active cases. Twenty coronavirus patients are in Comal County hospitals, with two in intensive care and on ventilators. With no new deaths Thursday, the death toll in the county remained at 116. Liz Hardaway is a staff writer covering San Antonio government and politics. To read more from Liz, become a subscriber. liz.hardaway@hearst.com | Twitter: @liz_hardaway NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Portable Medical Devices Market Research Report by Product (Fitness & Wellness, Medical Imaging/Diagnostic Imaging, Medical Monitoring, and Medical Therapeutics), by Application (Cardiology, Gastrointestinal, Gynecology, Neurology, and Orthopedics), by End-User - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19 Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05941686/?utm_source=PRN The Global Portable Medical Devices Market is expected to grow from USD 29,886.56 Million in 2019 to USD 54,947.05 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.68%. Market Segmentation & Coverage: This research report categorizes the Portable Medical Devices to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets: "The Fitness & Wellness is projected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period" Based on Product, the Portable Medical Devices Market studied across Fitness & Wellness, Medical Imaging/Diagnostic Imaging, Medical Monitoring, and Medical Therapeutics. The Medical Monitoring further studied across Cardiac Monitoring, Hemodynamic Monitoring, Neonatal & Fetal Monitoring, Neurological Monitoring, Respiratory Monitoring, and Vital Sign Monitoring. The Medical Monitoring commanded the largest size in the Portable Medical Devices Market in 2019. On the other hand, the Fitness & Wellness is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. "The Gynecology is projected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period" Based on Application, the Portable Medical Devices Market studied across Cardiology, Gastrointestinal, Gynecology, Neurology, Orthopedics, Respiratory, and Urology. The Cardiology commanded the largest size in the Portable Medical Devices Market in 2019. On the other hand, the Gynecology is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. "The Hospitals & Clinics is projected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period" Based on End-User, the Portable Medical Devices Market studied across Ambulatory Care Centers and Hospitals & Clinics. The Hospitals & Clinics commanded the largest size in the Portable Medical Devices Market in 2019, and it is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. "The Asia-Pacific is projected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period" Based on Geography, the Portable Medical Devices Market studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region surveyed across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region surveyed across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region surveyed across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom. The Americas commanded the largest size in the Portable Medical Devices Market in 2019. On the other hand, the Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. Company Usability Profiles: The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Portable Medical Devices Market including Abbott Laboratories, GE Healthcare, Infineon Technologies, Medtronic, Natus Medical Incorporated, Omron Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Qualcomm, Spacelabs Healthcare, and Texas Instruments. FPNV Positioning Matrix: The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Portable Medical Devices Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape. Competitive Strategic Window: The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth. Cumulative Impact of COVID-19: COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market. The report provides insights on the following pointers: 1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players 2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets 3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments 4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players 5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments The report answers questions such as: 1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Portable Medical Devices Market? 2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Portable Medical Devices Market during the forecast period? 3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Portable Medical Devices Market? 4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Portable Medical Devices Market? 5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Portable Medical Devices Market? 6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Portable Medical Devices Market? Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05941686/?utm_source=PRN About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links www.reportlinker.com The accountancy profession must play a key role in helping Mauritian businesses recover from the impact of COVID-19, according to professional accountancy bodies ICAEW (the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales) and the Mauritius Institute for Professional Accountants (MIPA). ICAEW and MIPA stressed the importance of chartered accountants to economic recovery at a joint event they held virtually on Thursday 17 September, which brought together more than 300 \professionals working in accountancy and in business, to discuss the effect the coronavirus pandemic has had on the Mauritian economy. ICAEW and MIPA highlighted how accountants were essential in helping to advise businesses and people about what government support was available and ensure they received the help they were entitled to. The two professional bodies will support their members in continuing to give businesses and the government the best guidance on how to face the challenges created by the pandemic. Speakers during the event included MIPA Chief Executive Officer Sudhir Newaj, ICAEW President David Matihews, PwC Mauritius Senior Partner Anthony Leung Shing, EY Mauritius Managing Partner Gerald Lincoln, and Pierre Dinan Economic Consultant. David Matihews, ICAEW President, said: The COVID-19 pandemic is primarily a global health crisis, but it is also an economic crisis, the likes of which none of us have ever seen before. The economies which will have the best chances of strong recoveries will be those where people can trust data, leaders can make well-informed decisions, public finances are transparent, and businesses are accountable. Accountants and their measuring and analysing skills will be key to ensuring this, and we are pleased to work with MIPA to make sure accountants in Mauritius are well-prepared. Sudhir Newaj, MIPA Chief Executive Officer, said: MIPA is delighted to have collaborated with the ICAEW to organise this event. The discussions provided participants with pertinent insights on the impact of COVID 19 on the economy and the country as a whole, and it was very fruitiul, constructive and productive. The speakers also discussed the consequences of the Mauritian Government-ordered lockdown, how the countrys tourism sector will recover, and how auditors have been able to adapt audit procedures which required them to be physically present in businesses. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires The bandh call by farmers protesting the Centres three contentious legislations earned a mixed response in the major retail markets here as quite a few shops opened on Friday. Even so, it was far from business as usual with patrons staying indoors while the agitated farmers claimed the city streets. Towards the afternoon, as farm unions marched past Chaura Bazaar, Model Town, Dugri and Ghumar Mandi,where most shops were open early in the day, these markets started to look more deserted. Traders stated that slight tension was witnessed at these markets when protesters asked them to down their shutters, but they opened their shops again in the evening. While wholesale garment stores, including those in Akalgarh and AC markets, were closed the whole day, majority of the shops on Gill Road too remained shut in support of the farmers. Other shopkeepers who had to close down said they did it on the request of the farmers and no scuffle was reported over the same. One of the shopkeepers in Ghumar mandi market, Taranjit Singh, said, Retailers followed the normal routine and opened their shops in the morning. But they had to close down around 2pm after protesting farm union members came by and asked to keep the market shut to avoid any untoward incidents. Later in the evening, however, a section of the traders again opened their stores. Similar scenes were witnessed in the Model Town area. Amarjit Singh, the president of Model Town market body, said, Traders had to shut shops after the members of farmers bodies came to the market and requested to do so. We support the farmers, but shopkeepers too need to earn a living in these tough financial times. However, shopkeepers at AC and Akalgarh markets showed solidarity with the ongoing farm bills protest by keeping their shutters down for the day. Gurcharan Singh and Manpreet Singh Bunti, the heads of respective market associations, said shops remained closed in their trading domain as a mark of support to the farmers. As per Model Town SHO Amritpal Singh and Division 8 SHO Jarnail Singh, no police complaints were reported from shopkeepers who were asked to close their stores by farm unions. Low footfall adds to traders woes The markets which opened on Friday wore a deserted look with city residents staying indoors amid the farmers protest on Friday. Shopkeepers rued that they were already reeling under losses and the protests further decreased the customer footfall. President of Chaura Bazar shopkeepers association, Parampal Singh, said, The markets are already witnessing low footfall due to the ongoing pandemic and shopkeepers on Friday received only 5-10 percent response. By Jack Stubbs LONDON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Thursday it has dismantled three networks of fake accounts which could be used by Russia's intelligence services to leak hacked documents as part of efforts to disrupt the upcoming U.S. election. The company said the accounts, which it suspended for using fake identities and other types of "coordinated inauthentic behaviour," were linked to Russian intelligence and people associated with a St. Petersburg-based organisation accused by U.S. officials of working to sway the 2016 presidential vote. The Russian ... What Else Do You Expect With Leader like Rahul Gandhi? Pralhad Joshi on Misconduct of MP Over Farm Bills Taking a stern view of over the chaos that erupted in the Parliament during the passing of the farm bills on September 20, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi lambasted the Congress and termed the incident a blot on the conduct of the Opposition. In an interview to CNN-News18, Joshi talks about the misconduct of MPs and the downfall of Congress and says the NDA had numbers all along to pass the Bill. Edited Excerpts: What is your take on the misconduct of MPs in the Parliament during the passing of controversial farm bills on September 20? Chairman of the House, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, said they tarnished the image of the House of Elders. The incident was clearly a blot on the conduct of the Opposition. The way Congress and parties behaved on that day it is clearly a black day in the history of Indian democracy. The way in which MPs behaved with Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh shows their sheer frustration, it shows they dont respect any position or institution. They knew they cannot attack the government so they chose to target him. Harivansh took a stand to tell them to go to their seats. It was not good on the part of the grand old party to do this, it was a knee-jerk reaction. They moved a no-confidence motion without realising that one needs to move motion for it it showed they were rattled. Why did you rush the session? The proposal to reduce the session came the MPs of opposition parties. I dont want to take any names but if you ask them privately without quoting them they will agree to it. Quite a few opposition leaders told us they were ready to sit over and above the stipulated time to finish the work and were largely in the favour of curtailing the session. Opposition leaders have claimed that you passed the Bill in the middle of the din because you realised the numbers were not in your favour. This is a blatant misconception by the opposition parties. The numbers for NDA were over 100 that day in Rajya Sabha. Opposition was not more than 75, BJP had 82 out of 86 MPs present, four were absent, including the vacancy created due to Ashok Gastis death. We had our ally JDU which had three out of five MPs present. The AIADMK has nine MPs, out of which four were present. The YSRCP also supported us out of six its members, five were present for the Bill. Two MPs of PDP and one TDP MP was to support us. Also, support of smaller parties along with independent and nominated members we had another 15 MPS in support. If you look at the Congress and the TMC, both had many MPs missing from the proceedings that day. Out of 40, only 28 MPS from the Congress were present. This includes 10 who had excused themselves for the whole of the session. The TMC had a total of just five out of the 13 MPs. Six of DMK MPs were present and the TRS had a strength of four out of seven MPS. If we add other parties such as SP, RJD, AAP, NCP, Shiv Sena, IUML and others, the strength of opposition MPs would still not have crossed 70 that day. Leaders like Sharad Pawar were absent and both NCP and Shiv Sena walked out after the discussion on the Bill. I am not making these claims myself; these numbers are from the attendance record on that day. Parties such as the BJD wanted the Bill to be sent to select committee and may not have voted against it even then. If we assume they would have supported the Opposition, it still wouldnt have reached anywhere close to our numbers. All the nine MPs of the BJD supporting the Opposition wouldve still taken them the number to not more than 80. They called their MPs from galleries and other chambers to gather in rgw Rajya Sabha chamber to create this sort of scenario. Our people stood quietly because we knew the numbers were with us. Creating ruckus in the House is another thing, the Opposition must realise that the mandate is clearly with the NDA. Eight Bills were passed in two days without Opposition. Is that justified? We did not ask the Opposition to boycott the session. Nor did we ask them to go out of the House. Also, the fact that these Bills which were ordinances were due to be passed was known to everyone. It was widely discussed in our interactions with the Opposition and also in the business advisory committee. We did not throw any surprises at them by bringing up the Bills all of a sudden. The Opposition has also claimed that the days of dialogue and discussion are over. Do you think the Parliament has now become a place of autocracy? This is yet another lie. We had a discussion with the Congress leadership and we told the likes of Jairam Ramesh that we would like to finish the Bill discussion and passage on the same day, and told them we may need to extend the House timings by another hour or so. So all these claims, such as, no consensus was sought to extend the House are bogus. Also, the Congress party must come on record to explain why it insisted that we bring this Bill only on Monday and not on Sunday. They gave us various excuses, including that if it was on Monday, one of their members, Deepender Hooda, would test negative for Covid-19 and possibly be available. Is this expected from a party like Congress which has been in power for so long to behave in such fashion? The Congress has been in power for a much longer duration than us but the way in which their conduct has been going shows they have lost their balance. What else do you expect when you have a leader like Rahul Gandhi? Any democracy can thrive on a strong Opposition, but it looks like Congress is pretty non-serious. I dont want to talk about anybodys health we all know Congress President Sonia Gandhi had to travel abroad for health reasons. But if Rahul Gandhi was so serious, why did he miss out on the entire Parliament session? Those who do not have any faith in the Gandhian principles are sitting in front of the Gandhi statue in protest by the orders of the nakli (fake) Gandhis. Didnt you agree to discuss and send some Bills for further Parliamentary scrutiny? None of that was witnessed. What do you think was the reason for it? We had a number of meetings, including the BAC and an informal meeting, for nearly three hours. They came back and wanted to send ordinance to a select committee. Where is the logic in that? Why would we bring an ordinance if it was not urgent enough? After so much bitterness between both sides, do you think there is scope for you to establish a dialogue again? As a government, we will continue to talk to them and keep the dialogue chain open. Also, the Opposition needs to know that the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2019 with peoples blessings and with a bigger mandate from the last time. We will work for people and their interests. Any attempt to block that will sink the Opposition further. M ore than 1 million worth of Class A drugs were seized in a week-long crackdown on county lines gangs, police said. Authorities said the activity last week, involving all 43 regional forces in England and Wales, the British Transport Police and National Crime Agency, was the most successful of its kind. About 10 per cents of the countrys county lines drug networks were shut down, more than 1,000 people were arrested, with 18 guns, more than 500,000 in cash was seized. The operation targeted county lines, a gang model which often sees young and vulnerable people used as couriers to move drugs and cash between cities and smaller towns. Some 102 deal lines, linked to unique phone numbers dialled by users to buy drugs, were shut down. More than 1 million worth of Class A drugs seized / NPCC/PA Wire It amounts to at least a tenth of the estimated 800 to 1,100 active county lines currently believed to be operating in the UK. Each line can make about 25,000 a week and police are still unsure where much of the money ends up. Investigators said restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic and a better understanding of mobile phone data had helped them target the drug dealers operating the lines. Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty, the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) lead for county lines, said: We know now what a county lines phone looks like. 60 weapons were seized including 40 knives, five firearms, and two machetes / NPCC And we know what the activity looks like on that phone. From all the cases we have dealt with, which have gone to court, we know its pay as you go, we know its unregistered, we know theres bulk text message usage, selling your wares. We know the average recipient list and we know about the incoming activity on that phone, which is helping us to really focus on county lines. Senior police officers have previously said they are in talks with the Home Office and the telecoms industry to find a way to stop phones being used for county lines. About a third of all lines are thought to operate out of London, with between 12 per cent and 15 per cent run from both Liverpool and Birmingham. The operation targeted county lines / NPCC/PA The Mets Detective Superintendent Mike West said 30 vulnerable youngsters found at significant risk across the country have been taken back to the capital since November, with some drug runners found to be as young as 14. His force also saw the most line holders arrested in a single week, with 23 held during the latest crackdown. The officer said many of the criminals running drug lines are linked to serious violence in the capital, including murder and firearms possession. Around two-thirds or so are linked to London gangs. That is a particular lifestyle and so the cash is spent sometimes very quickly as well, he added. The operation was the Mets largest crackdown on County Lines in a single week / NPCC The crackdown was part of fresh efforts to tackle county lines drug dealing from last November, which has seen a 25 million commitment from the Home Office. Home Secretary Priti Patel said: I will not tolerate county lines drugs gangs terrorising our communities and exploiting young people, which is why I have made tackling this threat a priority. I saw first-hand one of the operations last week and the results of this latest crackdown are hugely impressive. They send a clear message to criminals that law enforcement is coming after them. Additional reporting by PA Media. -- China has strengthened its commitment to establishing a development pattern of "dual circulation," in which domestic and overseas markets complement and reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay. -- The policy made a big splash in boosting economic rebound. Retail sales of consumer goods, the main gauge of China's consumption, turned from negative growth to positive for the first time this year, with an increase of 0.5 percent year on year in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Photo taken on Aug. 23, 2019 shows an intelligent shirt-making workshop of Hodo Group in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Xinhua) NANJING, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- In a packed mall run by Chinese retail giant Suning Holdings Group in downtown Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Bao Xunlin finally found a desirable smartphone after carefully comparing the prices. "The product display is rather tempting, and I've got a much better price with the vouchers," said Bao, a chef in a barbecue restaurant. The five-story mall resumed both online and offline services on April 30, and the daily sales volume surpassed 200 million yuan (about 29.38 million U.S. dollars) on its opening day, said Ji Liping, vice manager of the mall. Suning has been managing to buck the trend of global economic recession by digging out the potential of the domestic market, an effort echoing the country's new development pattern of "dual circulation," in which domestic and overseas markets complement and reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay. "Our offline sales were greatly affected when the epidemic situation was severe," said Ji. "But we have adopted live streaming and community marketing to attract new customers while tapping the full potential of offline chain stores by optimizing product display and improving services." Suning's sales volume topped 194 billion yuan in the first half of this year, of which about 134.8 billion yuan came from online sales, up 20.19 percent year on year, the company's financial data showed. Dual circulation is seen as a strategic and win-win choice for China to reshape its international cooperation and new competitive edge, said renowned economist Justin Yifu Lin, honorary dean of the National School of Development, Peking University. GROWTH IN CRISIS The policy made a big splash in boosting economic rebound. Hodo Group, a major apparel manufacturer based in Jiangsu's Wuxi City, registered an export growth of 47 percent in H1 from a year ago, while its profit during the same period soared 110 percent year on year. "Catering to various customer demands in different countries and time zones, we scheduled 40 live shows each featuring categories such as men's wear and hosiery, which lasted about 12 hours," said Dai Minjun, president of Hodo International Development Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of Hodo Group. "We could promptly answer customer queries during the live streams, thanks to the multi-language translator," said Dai. While the COVID-19 pandemic exerted great pressure on the company's production and sales, it blazed a trail by exporting medical supplies, developing new products, and adopting live streaming to tide over the crisis, said Zhou Haijiang, board chairman and CEO of Hodo Group. Hodo Group is among the large number of Chinese private enterprises that took the initiative to innovate and explore new markets during the pandemic. People dine at a restaurant in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Sept. 16, 2020. (Xinhua/Lu Huadong) In the workshop of Sierbang Petrochemical in the coastal city of Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, bags of EVA photovoltaic (PV) materials are being loaded on trucks. They are slated to be delivered to Changzhou, which hosts a number of PV enterprises. Chinese PV firms used to import the materials from countries such as the Republic of Korea and Thailand, but due to the impact of the pandemic, many turned to domestic suppliers in a bid to resume production. Sierbang, therefore, strengthened the research and development of related products and increased production output to stabilize the supply chain. "With steady supply in domestic enterprises, the operation of the entire PV industrial chain has been relatively smooth," said a procurement person at a PV manufacturer. CONCERTED EFFORTS Amid the country's efforts to ensure stability on six fronts -- employment, financial sector, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment and expectations -- different departments are strengthening measures to stimulate the vitality of market entities so they not only survive but also thrive. The provincial government of Jiangsu released a circular in August to boost domestic market sales amid the pandemic, and support foreign trade companies to reduce inventory and recoup losses. Workers make protective suits at a workshop of Hodo Group in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Bo) According to Jiangsu's provincial department of commerce, the province has built 10 national-level cross-border e-commerce pilot areas and established 14 provincial-level overseas warehouses to help trade companies. "We have set up warehouses in countries like Japan and the United States during the pandemic, and they have not only helped avoid overstock in ports but generated faster delivery of products," said Zhao Mingquan, CEO of a clothing company based in Changshu City. Jiangsu Nature Biotechnology Co., Ltd., an agricultural company, saw its export revenue exceed 14 million U.S. dollars in H1, up 7.7 million U.S. dollars from last year. "We've received a credit loan worth 7 million yuan that has significantly eased our financial burden," said Fu Baohua, founder of the company, adding that they have exported over 30,000 tonnes of products this year. Retail sales of consumer goods, the main gauge of China's consumption, turned from negative growth to positive for the first time this year, with an increase of 0.5 percent year on year in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. In the first eight months, industrial output expanded 0.4 percent from last year, and fixed-asset investment edged down 0.3 percent year on year, with the decline narrowing from the 1.6-percent in the first seven months. "Dual circulation will help enterprises establish a flexible industrial chain and form coordination and complementarity between internal and external markets, thus helping develop a resilient, low-risk growth pattern and nurture new growth prospects," said Yang Jijun, vice president of the School of International Economics and Trade, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics. One person was killed and another was injured after a fire erupted at a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City early Friday morning. The flames broke out on the fifth floor of a hotel on Cach Mang Thang Tam Street in Ward 12, District 10 at around 5:20 am, according to preliminary information. People inside the hotel and local residents tried to put out the blaze but the situation spiraled out of control. Tens of firefighting officers and many fire engines were dispatched to the scene and they eventually extinguished the fire. L.T.T.T., 25, who was from the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, was killed, and P.T.S., 50, who hails from the central city of Da Nang, was wounded following the incident. A 12-square-meter room and many assets were burned down. Local authorities are working to determine the cause of the fire. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Sunak has announced a new jobs support program to succeed the furlough policy, which was due to end on Oct. 31 and has supported more than 9 million jobs at a cost of 39 billion pounds ($50 billion). Under the furlough program, the government paid people who were unable to return to their workplaces because of Covid restrictions as much as 80% of their wages. The replacement policy will provide subsidies to workers who can return to their jobs for at least a third of their normal hours. Their employer will pay the hours they work, and the government and employer will each pay a share of wages for the hours they dont work. It means that people on the new program will be guaranteed at least 77% of their normal wages. But it also leaves employers potentially on the hook for 55% of wages for an employee working just a third of their normal hours. Bloomberg economists Dan Hanson and Jamie Rush said a spike in unemployment appeared inevitable, with the risk of employers shunning the scheme rather than paying for employees on reduced hours. As Covid-19 infections in Odisha touched 2 lakh on Friday on the back of 42,000 new cases in the last 10 days alone, the state swiftly climbed to the eighth position among the top 10 states with Covid patients, overtaking Telangana and Bihar. On Friday, Odisha recorded 4,208 new cases taking the total to 2,01,096 and 15 more deaths taking the total fatalities to 767. While the first lakh cases came in 169 days, the next lakh came in 27 days due to rising positivity rate and increased testing. The positivity rate on Friday was around 8 per cent higher than Indias rate of 5.7 per cent. The average positivity rate over the last 10 days has been 8.6 per cent. Officials said the districts of Khurda, Cuttack and Puri alone have registered more than 32,000 cases this month as they continued to be the hotspots while the infection was fast spreading in 15 other districts - Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Balasore, Angul, Kandhamal, Nabarangpur, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Mayurbhanj, Kendrapara, Bargarh, Bhadrak and Nuapada. The rising infections in these districts have taken the total number of active cases to 34,844, but health department officials said there is little cause for worry as more than 75 per cent of the infected were in home isolation. The health teams of respective districts are in regular touch with the patients in home isolation. However, we are shifting serious patients to hospitals. We have enough beds for people who need ICU and ventilators. We expect the cases to plateau by the beginning of October, said PK Mohapatra, additional chief secretary of the health department. Though the state government claimed that the situation was well under control, opposition leaders questioned the state governments statistics on Covid death toll. With at least 30-40 bodies being cremated at Bhubaneswars only crematorium everyday, opposition leaders alleged that the actual Covid death toll may be higher. Whenever you visit the crematorium, you can find cremations underway. The government should come clean, said Choudhury. Similarly, BJP leader Bhrigu Buxipatra alleged that the state government is putting up false data. Ganjam, which used to be the epicentre of Covid a month ago, has not recorded many deaths due to Covid, though patients had tested positive for the virus. The government simply attributed the deaths to some other reasons. If you see the government statistics, the death toll due to Covid is mostly within 10-15 on an average. This is data management, he alleged. Buxipatra and Choudhury said the recent government directive on not subjecting all dead bodies to Covid test was a ploy to keep the death toll low. Why could not the government conduct Covid test on the dead patients? Many persons have died showing Covid like symptoms over the last 3 months, said Choudhury. Well-known microbiologist Dr TM Mohapatra said the state government directive on not conducting Covid tests on dead bodies was baffling. There is no such guideline from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on not conducting the Covid tests on the dead. It seems the state government is exploiting the silence of the ICMR on it, he said. However, commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Prem Chandra Choudhury, said the rise in cremation in Bhubaneswar was due to diversion of bodies to the city instead of Swargadwar crematorium in Puri. Many of the bodies that are being cremated are from nearby districts and not all deaths are due to Covid, he said. Meanwhile, the Jharsuguda district administration banned selling of roadside fast food from Friday due to lack of social distancing by consumers. District Collector Saroj Kumar Samal said roadside vending of fast food and other joints will not be allowed for 15 days in Jharsuguda district as people were not adhering to social distancing and mask guidelines. In Nayagarh district, the district collector on Friday ordered a two-day lockdown on September 29 and 30 for complete sanitisation. In Bolangir town, the local traders started a week-long shutdown from Friday as Covid-19 cases went up. Though the district administration said it is not going to impose any shutdown as per the Central Governments guidelines, the traders association appealed to the businessmen to down their shutters during this period. Suga released his second mixtape, D-2, on May 22. Like his first mixtape from 2016, he released the mixtape under the pseudonym Agust D to differentiate it from his work as Suga in BTS. The mixtape featured collaborations from RM of BTS, Kim Jong-wan, MAX, and Niihwa. Recently, Suga revealed that he hoped to collaborate with rapper T.I. on D-2, but it ended up not working out. Suga of BTS | Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia BTS on their new album On Sept. 14, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook appeared on the radio show Bae Chul Soos Music Camp. On the radio show, the BTS members discussed the success of their single Dynamite and their upcoming album. Its coming out this year. Theres not much time left, Suga said about the groups future album according to Soompi. Were almost done working on it. I think it will come out around the end of the year. Jimin added. This is exclusive information but the musics a bit better than Dynamite.' V then jokingly spoiled, To give a surprising spoiler, the songs are about three to four minutes long. RELATED: BTS Are Taking Over The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for an Entire Week Suga wanted to collaborate with T.I. During the MBC FM4U radio show, BTS were also asked about their musical influences. Suga said that Epik High and T.I. were two of his. I was originally going to do a remix with T.I. for my mixtape, but it didnt work out, Suga said. Jin then said the BTS members were his biggest influence. The people whove really been a big influence on me are the members of BTS. It was thanks to them that I started doing music and was able to write songs too, he said. Also, since theyre the ones who are most often singing by my side, theyve been the biggest influence on me. What MAX thought about working with BTS Suga While Suga ended up not collaborating with T.I. on D-2, he did collaborate with MAX on the song Burn It. The two also collaborated on Blueberry Eyes from MAXs album Colour Vision. In an interview with Buzzfeed, MAX detailed what it was like to collaborate on Blueberry Eyes with Suga. I just sent him the whole album. I basically said, Heres all the songs, you tell me what you want to be on, and Ill make it work. Im grateful to have you on any song. And he liked Blueberry Eyes. Id already written the song, so I think that probably helped the message, because it was very clear that there was a sweet, loving, dream world to it,' he told Buzzfeed. RELATED: BTS: How MAX Found a Way to Include Suga in the Blueberry Eyes Music Video He also said that working with Suga helped him learn that music transcends language. with Suga Having language not be a hindrance, because youre coming from the same emotive place. Going to Korea that whole trip changed my life. It made me realise which songs people connect with, not necessarily because of the specific lyrics, but because of whats behind it, MAX said. That transcends language. That collaboration taught me so much, and that was so special. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 23:26:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Zambian Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya (R) and Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Li Jie attend a donation ceremony of COVID-19 preventative materials in Lusaka, capital of Zambia, on Sept. 25, 2020. China on Friday delivered more COVID-19 preventative materials to Zambia. (Photo by Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua) LUSAKA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday delivered more COVID-19 preventative materials to Zambia. Li Jie, Chinese Ambassador to Zambia, said the international community still needs to support Zambia as the country has continued to see a rise in both new cases and deaths. He said the two countries have been all-weather friends for a long time and that the two sides have been united in fighting the pandemic since it broke out in the southern African nation. "These supplies have just arrived in Zambia by air. I am handing over them to the Ministry of Health. I believe they will play a positive role in the treatment of critically ill patients and the protection of medical staff," he said. The Chinese envoy noted that despite the difficulties in face-to-face communication caused by the pandemic, the China-Zambia cooperation has been advancing. He pledged that China was ready to support Zambia and other African countries as soon as the COVID-19 vaccine was put into use. On his part, Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya said China was taking the lead in supporting Zambia not only in the fight against the pandemic but in the health sector in general. Zambia, he said, will remain indebted to the support rendered by China not only in the provision of health materials but infrastructure in the health sector. He noted that the donation will change the landscape in the way Zambia was managing COVID-19 cases. Meanwhile, the country recorded 24 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours out of 1,737 tests done. This brings the cumulative cases to 14,515 while deaths stand at 332. Enditem - A Nigerian lady has graduated from the Kazan National Research Technological University with a 5.0 CGPA - The lady, Ogechukwu Ozoani, who is from Enugu state, has been given scholarship for her masters and PhD - Ozoani is one of the Nigerians in the diaspora, who in recent times, have been excelling academically and bringing home several accolades Trending topics on the go: How we write news at YEN.com.gh A Nigerian lady identified as Ogechukwu Ozoani has made the country proud by bagging a first class degree from a Russian University. According to @Coal_City on Twitter, the young lady graduated from Kazan National Research Technological University with a 5.0 CGPA. YEN.com.gh gathers that Ozoani has been granted a scholarship for her masters and PhD in Nuclear Science. The young lady, who is from Ngwo in Enugu state, has joined other Nigerians in the diaspora making the country proud with their academic achievements. READ ALSO: Zanetor Rawlings steals show at NDC rally with wild dance to Sarkodie's Oofeetso Ogechukwu Ozoani. Photo credit: @Coal_City/Twitter Source: UGC Ozoani has further proven that Nigeria has a lot of intelligent students scattered all over the world. Nigerians took to the comment section of the post to congratulate Ozoani for her great achievements. Twitter user with the handle @N_Stephenator wrote: "Igbo Amaka...Congratulations Miss Ogechukwu Ozoani." READ ALSO: I didn't marry Selassie because she was pregnant - Joe Mettle speaks in video Another Twitter user with the handle @arsefab wrote: "I know for sure it must be outside Nigeria. Weldone young girl. Kudos." Below are other reactions: In other news, as the 2020 December presidential and parliamentary election keeps drawing closer, different political topics keep occupying top trends on social media. The latest with the hashtag AllGhanaiansMatter has not been in favour of the sitting President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at all. The thread has been filled with comments regarding different projects undertaken or promised by Mahama that show that he has the interest of all Ghanaians at heart. Kofi Adoli cited Mahama's promise to give a four-month maternity leave period to women, indicating it shows the former president has all Ghanaians' interests. Enjoy reading our stories? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news! Ghanaian multi-instrumentalist Dela Jackson has charged the youth in Africa to wake up | #Yencomgh Share your stories and news by getting interactive on our Facebook page! Source: YEN.com.gh (Newser) It had the usual trappings of a man cave: couch, fridge, TV, microwave, etc. But the location of this one sets it apart: below Track 114 of New York City's Grand Central Terminal, tucked behind the wall of an unused locksmith shop, reports the New York Post. An investigation by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority uncovered the secret room and led to the suspension of three MTA workers accused of using it to hang out while on the clock, per the AP. The anonymous tip that set off the investigation said the three mena wireman, a carpenter foreman, and an electrical foremanused the room to "hang out and get drunk and party." story continues below The men have denied being in the room, but investigators say they have all kinds of evidence to prove otherwise, including fingerprints. Oh, and the streaming device for the TV was registered to one of the men, while the list of available WiFi networks included the mobile hot spot of another. The MTA's inspector general sums it up: "Many a New Yorker has fantasized about kicking back with a cold beer in a prime piece of Manhattan real estateespecially one this close to good transportation," states a news release. "But few would have the chutzpah to commandeer a secret room beneath Grand Central Terminal." (Read more strange stuff stories.) TORONTO - Thanksgiving fanatic Genna Buck is used to going all-out with an elaborate turkey spread for as many as 30 friends. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/9/2020 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A Thanksgiving turkey dinner is shown in Toronto on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette TORONTO - Thanksgiving fanatic Genna Buck is used to going all-out with an elaborate turkey spread for as many as 30 friends. But this year, COVID-19 will force her annual "friendsgiving" potluck bash to move online, where the avid party host plans to dine with pals over videoconference -- on a turkey meal she'll prepare the day before and drop off at "guests"' homes that morning. Genna Buck (far right) poses with friends (left to right) Odette Hutchings, Beth McNeil, and Hilary Holden Straus at Buck's fifth annual Friendsgiving celebration in Toronto the last in-person Friendsgiving before the COVID-19 pandemic, in a handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Genna Buck MANDATORY CREDIT Buck says the pandemic has scuttled an annual Thanksgiving dinner with her parents, brother and grandparents in Belleville, Ont., but she refuses to cancel the friends version she typically hosts the weekend before or after the holiday. Even a scaled-back version wouldn't be the same, says Buck, whose guestlist has grown over six years to include co-workers, former classmates, and childhood camp friends. "There's no such thing as a 10-person friendsgiving at my house, I can never do that," says Buck, referring to the 10-person bubble Ontario has imposed to contain COVID-19 spread. "It's my way of showing love to the people that I love." Still, she says surging cases of COVID-19 in Toronto and other parts of Canada demand a drastic rethink of treasured traditions, which she admits may very well include Christmas for her. With a little over two weeks before Thanksgiving on Oct. 12, a growing chorus of public health and political leaders are urging Canadians to scale back any plans for a sprawling dinner party. The pleas started with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's sobering national address Wednesday, and were amplified Thursday by officials in Ontario and Quebec -- where the bulk of infections and deaths have occurred. Health Minister Christian Dube urged Quebecers to avoid parties over the next few weeks including the Thanksgiving long weekend -- while Quebec's public health director suggested private gatherings are driving infections rather than restaurants, where restrictions are in place. "Which is very different from a party where ... we forget (to maintain) your two metres," said Dr. Horacio Arruda, referring to social distancing guidance. Earlier on Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford also acknowledged the temptation to gather with extended friends and family but stressed the importance of maintaining precautions. "Nothing is more important than family and loved ones getting together," said Ford. "But in saying that, we've got to keep it under 10." Albertas chief medical health officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said Thursday that Thanksgiving can still happen as long as people practice caution and stick to gathering within their "cohorts," which in the province is a bubble of up to 15 people."Smaller is safer. This is not the time for large gatherings," Hinshaw said. Infectious disease specialists warned any relaxation of the rules could undo months of sacrifice. Dr. Gerald Evans, chair of the division of infectious diseases at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., advised against travel and merging bubbles that share extended family members, even if it's for just one night. "Some families there might be a bubble of them in Toronto, a bubble of them in Ottawa, a bubble of them in Kingston," notes Evans. "But if at Thanksgiving they're sort of saying well you know winter's coming this is our last chance (so) let's all get together, then all of a sudden you've got a conglomeration of what could be up to 30 people, and whatever other little connections they have." Infectious disease epidemiologist Ashleigh Tuite cautioned against the temptation to expand bubbles by even one friend. "If everybody thinks like that, you've really increased the number of contacts that people have and that really increases the potential for disease to spread in networks," says Tuite, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. "Ultimately, this is all about networks and how we're connected." Tuite welcomed clear directives around Thanksgiving, noting many Canadians may be confused by restrictions on private indoor gatherings while bars and restaurants can allow far more guests. "There's not a lot of consistency there, which can be cognitively really hard to figure out," she says. A group of physicians and infectious diseases experts are calling on the Ontario government to shut down restaurants, bars, places of worship and other non-essential businesses in regional hotspots including Toronto and Ottawa, arguing they are especially vulnerable to outbreaks that can spread to schools, long-term care homes, and other congregate settings. While agreeing that individual actions play a key role in containing COVID-19 spread, infections disease doctor Andrew Morris says the group believes social restrictions and increased testing is not enough. He says more aggressive measures are needed now if we hope to see the pandemic's trajectory shift in coming weeks. "Because cases grow exponentially, every delay magnifies the problem even more," says Morris, a U of T professor and physician at Sinai Health and University Health Network. "It's very clear they're doing everything at the moment to avoid changing how society is functioning in terms of the economy." Trudeau warned of a fall "that could be much worse than the spring but suggested quick action now could give Canadians "a shot at Christmas. Evans was skeptical the pandemic could be reined in by Dec. 25, and suggests Trudeau dangled the prospect of a holly jolly gathering as a way to counter bad news "with a hopeful message." Earlier this week, Toronto Mayor John Tory told the city to expect fall and winter events to be cancelled, including a popular six-week Christmas market that draws hundreds of thousands of revelers and New Year's Eve celebrations at Nathan Phillips Square. Morris, too, doubted much would change without a significant clampdown. 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. "Things can change a lot but certainly the provinces that are being hard hit in Canada -- B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec -- are absolutely trying to take a wait-and-see approach in hoping that things will simmer down. "And as you know, so far it hasn't been very successful." It's really difficult to ask people to curtail their community ties, says Buck, who is reluctant to judge others for taking risks she may not be comfortable with. She says every individual will have their own health factors to consider. "I've also had people that have really struggled with mental health during this time and just need to be around other people and I understand that urge so much," says Buck, who is asking her Thanksgiving guests to donate money to the social services agency where she works, West Neighbourhood House. "But at the same time, this thing is real and it's super serious and you shouldn't take unnecessary risks." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2020. These realizations transformed my spiritual life: awareness of Gods love, participation in grace, awareness that each person is made in Gods image. Faith offered an image of a way of being, an ultimate allegiance. But when it came to forming opinions or writing columns, I was still in the same business. Sure, my style of thinking changed a bit. I spent more time listening, trying to discern how I was being called. I began to think with my heart as much as my head. (That could just be male middle age.) But my basic moral values derived from the biblical metaphysic were already in place and didnt change that much now that the biblical stories had come alive. My point is there is no neat relationship between the spiritual consciousness and the moral and prudential consciousnesses. When it comes to thinking and acting in the public square, we believers and nonbelievers are all in the same boat trying to apply our moral frameworks to present realities. Faith itself doesnt make you wiser or better. When it comes to judges, I dont believe any operate without a moral framework, like perfect legal automatons. I dont believe faith alone points any of them to concrete answers. Look at how judges from the same faith come out all over the map on all issues. Look at how, deep down, the anti-abortion Catholics you know are driven by intellectual and moral conviction, not by mindless submission to Rome. And to be honest about it, our worldly connections are usually more influential than our faith commitments when it comes to our political and professional decisions. If you want to know how Amy Coney Barrett is going to rule, pay more attention to the Federalist Society than to People of Praise, her Christian community. In a society that is growing radically more secular every day, Id say we have more to fear from political dogmatism than religious dogmatism. We have more to fear from those who let their politics determine their faith practices and who turn their religious communities into political armies. We have more to fear from people who look to politics as a substitute for faith. And we have most to fear from the possibility that the biblical metaphysic, which has been a coherent value system for believers and nonbelievers for centuries, will fade from our culture, the stories will go untold, and young people will grow up in a society without any coherent moral ecology at all. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. Right now the promo hotness of Sophie & her friend Katie inspire this quick peek at pop culture, community news and some of the top headlines worth a glimpse for our early bird pals. Kansas City Crash Course Kansas City police urging safe driving as deadly crashes happen at record-breaking pace KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City police say they're not only investigating homicides at a record-breaking pace, but also deadly crashes. The Kansas City Police Department reports 80 deadly crashes around the city compared to 53 at this time last year. In all of 2019, there were 78 fatalities, according to KCPD data. Council Cares About Hair Legislation introduced to end hair discrimination in KC Hide Transcript Show Transcript AND MISSOURI, KMBC 9 NEWS LEADING THE WAY. HALEY: NEW TONIGHT A PUSH TO ADDRESS RACIAL AND HAIR DISSEMINATION. THEY'VE INTRODUCED THE CROWN ACT, IT WOULD PROHIBIT THIS TERMINATION BASED ON HAIRSTYLE AND TEXTURE. Golden Ghetto Voter Rush Johnson County Expects Near-Record Turnout For The 2020 Election Johnson County Election Commissioner Connie Schmidt is predicting very high voter turnout for the presidential election, with mail-in ballot applications likely to surpass the record just set in August. With 40 days to go before the Nov. 3 election, the county has already received more than 100,000 applications for mail-in ballots, Schmidt told the commission Thursday. Pr0n Loves Insta-Comments Ranking Porn Bot Comments On Our Insta Posts By How Worthy They Are Of Hanging In The Louvre Porn bots. Always the first to comment on our Instagram posts, always full of mystery, and a lot of the time, very creative with their requests. However, who (or what) has the most Louvre-worthy comment of them all? Civil Unrest Persists Breonna Taylor decision: fresh protests expected across US Fresh protests were expected in Louisville and elsewhere in America on Thursday as public anger and sadness continued to ripple out from the Kentucky city in the wake of the announcement that no police officers would be charged directly with the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in March. Supreme Democracy Rewrite Democrats to unveil bill limiting Supreme Court justice terms Democrats plan to introduce legislation that would limit the length of a term a Supreme Court justice could serve to less than two decades as President Trump prepares to announce a candidate to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat this weekend. Rep. Tucker Is All Talk Fox News won a court case by 'persuasively' arguing that no 'reasonable viewer' takes Tucker Carlson seriously A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Fox News this week after lawyers for the network argued that no "reasonable viewer" would take the network's primetime star Tucker Carlson seriously. The former Playboy model Karen McDougal filed a defamation suit against Fox alleging that Carlson slandered her during a December 2018 episode of his show, "Tucker Carlson Tonight." Feds Doubt Voter Fraud Christopher Wray: FBI has not seen evidence of national voter fraud effort by mail FBI Director Christopher Wray responded to a question on the security of mail-in voting to the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday by saying that the agency has "not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise." MASKS FOREVER!!! Fauci cautions that a Covid-19 vaccine won't eliminate the need for masks and public health measures Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday that even an effective Covid-19 vaccine won't replace the need for other public health measures, such as wearing a mask, social distancing and washing hands. Driving Safely Amid COVID Uber changes mask protocol to protect drivers, customers KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Uber is making a change to their mask protocol in order to protect drivers and future customers. The new change, which started today, will force customers who don't wear masks to have to smile for the camera. Cowtown Enjoys Outdoor Ambience Amid Pandemic Outdoor dining boosts KCMO restaurants during pandemic KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Amid a global pandemic that has closed many local restaurants and left more struggling to survive, the great outdoors may be the answer. In Kansas City, Missouri, an ordinance enacted during the summer created a way to allow for physical distancing while serving customers. Fired Up For Friday Toasty temps for your Friday Hide Transcript Show Transcript WITH 84 DEGREES YOUR EVENING PLANNER IN A WORD IDEAL 79 DEGREES BY 5:00 O'CLOCK SEVEN O'CLOCK. IT'LL BE KIND OF SPOTLESS LIKE IT'S BEEN RIGHT NOW AND A LOT OF STARS OUT THERE AT 9 P.M. AS WE DROP DOWN TO 71 DEGREES. Alicia Keys - Love Looks Better is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now . . . Getting the flu shot this year is going to look different in Illinois as patients and medical facilities adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes come as experts stress the importance of getting the flu shot this year, both to keep people healthy during the pandemic and to preserve health care resources in case COVID-19 surges again during the winter. Get back to class. Thats the urgent all hands on deck plea from the Ontario College of Teachers to retired and non-practising educators, in the hopes of alleviating a teacher shortage that has arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic. The province is currently experiencing a shortage of certified teachers, which has been magnified by smaller class sizes during the pandemic to improve physical distancing and reduce the risks of spreading the COVID-19 virus, said the college in an email sent to 132,000 members on Wednesday. In short, you are needed. Your significant and specialized knowledge and skills are needed. The message was sent by the regulatory body to retired teachers and those who have been suspended from the college for nonpayment of fees but remain in good standing, as well as to new graduates who may not yet be certified. Its a sudden change for a profession which has recently seen a glut of teachers, many of whom spend years trying to land positions with school boards. For students everywhere, life has changed drastically in recent months, the email said. If you have always wanted to make an impact in the lives of children and young adults, now is the time. Late Thursday night, the Toronto District School Board apologized to parents for the delays with virtual learning. We simply cannot hire teachers fast enough to meet the demand for virtual learning, a difficulty that other school boards in Toronto and across Ontario have also faced, the TDSB said in a statement. The board said the teacher numbers are changing on an hourly basis. The most recent information available indicates that approximately 400 teachers have been hired since the beginning of the week, with fewer than 100 remaining, the statement read. We anticipate these remaining positions will be filled over the next few days. Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association, said we are looking for teachers as many boards have exhausted their supply lists. She said some smaller or northern boards may have particular trouble recruiting supply teachers. Anne Vinet-Roy, president of the AEFO union representing teachers in French boards, said it is interesting that the college refers to that need by saying class sizes are smaller to make sure physical distancing is abided by. Well, they obviously havent been into an Ontario classroom, Vinet-Roy. A lot of those classrooms are overpopulated and the two-metre rule is not being respected and in some cases, not even one metre so the reason behind it is kind of odd. While finding French teachers is a challenge that existed before the pandemic, this situation is not helping. And if the government and the ministers plan is to reopen schools is not adequate and does not really protect people, then the situation is obviously going to be aggravated, she said. You dont want to lose the people that are already there. The York Region District School Board had some trouble filling occasional teacher openings, but says it now has a sufficient number of educators, but it is requiring daily efforts to ensure classes are filled. In the past, a school might have merged two classes if a supply teacher could not be found, but that can no longer happen. In Peel, schools are experiencing shortages of teachers for day-to-day and (long-term occasional) positions, said spokesperson Ryan Reyes, adding an aggressive recruitment plan is in place. The board has experienced a higher than usual number of retirements that came in during the summer and early September. Additionally, a high number of regular teachers have recently gone onto unpaid leave, he said. The vacancies that have resulted are filled from our occasional teachers pool. Additionally, occasional teachers also are choosing to not work at this time. This situation is occurring at our neighbouring boards also and many occasional teachers work for more than one school board. Torontos Catholic board has yet to fill 40 elementary teacher positions, and says that finding French teachers remains a challenge. Danforth to discuss diplomacy, politics and role of religion in public affairs by Pete Rosenbery CARBONDALE, Ill. John C. Danforth, a former U.S. senator and ambassador to the United Nations, will discuss his career in politics, diplomacy, and the role of religion in public affairs during a virtual conversation next week hosted by Southern Illinois University Carbondales Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. John T. Shaw, Institute director, will also discuss with Danforth the public health, economic, political and social challenges facing the United States. The virtual conversation is at 2 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 30. The presentation is part of the Institutes Understanding Our New World series via Zoom. Known for civility, public policy Shaw noted that Danforth, who served as Missouris U.S. senator from December 1976 to January 1995 is one of the most respected statesmen in the United States. Danforth opted to not seek a fourth term in 1994; he later served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from July 2004 to January 2005. His career as Attorney General of Missouri, United States senator, special envoy to Sudan, and the American ambassador to the United Nations is deeply impressive, Shaw said. An attorney and ordained Episcopal priest, Danforth was one of the first speakers at the fledgling Institute in May 1997 when he, along with former U.S. senators Alan Simpson, R-Wyoming and David Pryor, D-Arkansas, visited SIU Carbondale and joined Institute founder and former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon in advocating for Social Security reform. Senator Danforths commitment to civility and sound public policy won the admiration and friendship of Paul Simon, Shaw said. Author of three books A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Danforth graduated from Princeton University, Yale University Law School and Yale Divinity School. In addition to his public service, Danforth is a partner with the St. Louis-based Dowd Bennett legal firm. He is also the author of three books: The Relevance of Religion: How Faithful People Can Change Politics, Faith and Politics: How the Moral Values Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together, and Resurrection: The Confirmation of Clarence Thomas. Registration is open for Danforths conversation Registration for the free ZOOM meeting is available in advance. After completing registration, participants will receive an email confirmation with information about joining the meeting, along with the meeting ID and password. Participants have an opportunity when they register to submit a question to Danforth by email at paulsimoninstitute@siu.edu or by including it in the Questions and Comments section on the registration form. More information on the Institutes events is available at paulsimoninstitute.siu.edu/event-information/. (CNN) "Cake Boss" star Buddy Valastro is on the mend. A "terrible accident" has landed the baker and television personality in the hospital and with one hand in rough shape, according to a photo he shared on Instagram on Wednesday. "I was involved in a terrible accident a few days ago," he wrote. "What do you think of my new accessory?" The accompanying photo showed Valastro in a hospital gown with his right hand heavily bandaged. A representative for the "Cake Boss" star said Valastro's hand was injured at home when he tried to repair a malfunctioning bowling pin setter in his bowling alley. "After trying to release the bowling pin from the cage mechanism, his right hand became lodged and compressed inside the unit," his representative told CNN. The representative said Valastro's hand was impaled three times by a 1-1/2" metal rod between his ring and middle fingers. Valastro's sons helped cut through the metal rod to release Valastro, the rep added. Valastro received emergency surgery Sunday at Morristown Memorial Hospital and a second surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. "It will be an uphill battle as it's Buddy's dominant right hand and he will need prolonged recovery & therapy," the representative said. Valastro is a renowned baker and a staple on several food-related reality and competition TV programs. This story was first published on CNN.com "'Cake Boss' star Buddy Valastro recovering from 'terrible' at-home accident" Twinkle Khanna wished her daughter, Nitara, a happy birthday with a sweet Instagram post and remarked that she was growing up too fast. The actor-turned-author shared two photos of her little one - in the first, she could be seen surrounded by books and in the other, she is playing outdoors. My little one turns 8! Along with all the strange and wonderful bits and bobs that seem to permeate her universe, the first copy of our childrens book-When I Grow Up I Want To Be.. has also been presented to her-for a review:) I dont know what she wants to be when she grows up, all I know is that its happening too fast. #BirthdayGirl, Twinkle wrote. Wishes poured in for the birthday girl in the comments section. Happy bday darling nitara, Malaika Arora wrote. Happy happy 8th birthday Beta, Bobby Deol commented. A fan wrote, Aapki beti h to kuchh unique hi karegi, priya twinkle. Janmdin ki dher saari shubhkamnayen aur aashirwad (Your daughter will surely do something unique, Twinkle ji. Sending her my best wishes and blessings on her birthday). Also read: Shah Rukh Khans daughter Suhana shares cryptic post about misogyny, says the double standards are scary Currently, Twinkle and Nitara are in Glasgow, where Akshay Kumar is shooting for his upcoming film Bell Bottom. Earlier this month, Akshay celebrated his 53rd birthday with his family and Twinkle shared photos. In one of the pictures, a handmade birthday card, presumably made by Nitara, could be seen. It said I love you, daddy. Earlier, on Koffee With Karan, Akshay said that Twinkle was responsible for his changed approach to films and sensibilities as an actor. I told him I wont have a second child if he doesnt start doing sensible movies, she revealed. Nitara is their younger child; they also have a son named Aarav, who was born in 2002. Follow @htshowbiz for more Representatives of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Strategic Industries and Ukroboronprom and their Brazilian colleagues have discussed the possibility of implementing joint projects. This issue was discussed during an international video conference on key areas of cooperation between Ukraine and Brazil in the defense industry, Ukroboronprom's press service reported. "The current state of cooperation between the defense industries and ways to intensify it were discussed during the conference. Each side presented its vision of potential topics for further dialogue. The SpetsTechnoExport director, in addition to proposals for the supply of modern weapons and military equipment, spoke about the prospects of cooperation in the field of joint developments and voiced the proposals of the Ukrainian side on possible areas of such cooperation," the report reads. According to the report, both parties agreed to further sign two memoranda - on mutual understanding on the development of production and commercial use of defense production and on mutual understanding on scientific and technical cooperation in the defense sector. The documents are to be signed as part of the next stage of the dialogue, which will take place during the visit of the Brazilian delegation to Ukraine in October this year. The company's press service also said that representatives of Brazil will visit Ukrainian manufacturing plants and test sites. op Vietnamese police have seized hundreds of thousands of used condoms which had reportedly been doused in boiling water and reshaped on a wooden phallus to be resold as new. More than 360 kilograms of second-hand contraceptives - equivalent to 345,000 condoms - were confiscated from a warehouse near Ho Chi Minh City, following a tip-off from a resident. Footage broadcast by state outlet Vietnam Television (VTV) showed dozens of large bags containing the used prophylactics scattered across the floor of the building in Binh Duong. The person renting the warehouse said they had received a monthly input of used condoms from an unknown person, state newspaper Tuoi Tre reported. A woman arrested during the raid told police that the used prophylactics were first boiled in water then dried and reshaped on a wooden phallus before being repackaged and resold. 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 detained woman said she had received $0.17 (13p) for every kilogram of recycled condoms she produced. It was not clear how many of the recycled condoms had already been sold, VTV reported, but it has been claimed that they were being traded in local markets. The provincial market management director said the condoms had been confiscated as evidence but would be disposed of immediately after as they are considered hazardous medical waste. Condoms are classified as medical items, so we will take a look at the several laws that the owner has broken, Tran Van Tung was reported as saying. It follows previous warnings of an abundance of counterfeit and low-quality condoms in Vietnam. Notably, in 2014, a United Nations Population Fund report warned that some 40 per cent of condoms for sale - some of which used counterfeit branding to dupe customers - failed quality control tests, leaving users more open to infection and pregnancy. Additional reporting by agencies German prosecutors probing an Algarve rape linked to Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner have been handed a sketch of a 'distinctive' mark on a sex attacker's right leg. An Irish mother-of-two has described a man with a German accent and piercing blue eyes attacking her in Praia da Rocha, a half-hour drive from Praia da Luz where Madeleine vanished. The cross-shaped image, drawn by the victim, was sent to German authorities after she asked detectives investigating the toddler's disappearance to review her case. Case files which Portuguese prosecutors have made available also include her sketches of the machete-style knife and whip used by her masked rapist, along with descriptions of his rucksack and a camera he filmed the horrific sex attack with. German prosecutors probing an Algarve rape linked to Christian Brueckner (left), the German criminal suspected of kidnapping Madeleine McCann (right) Braunschweig-based prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters confirmed earlier this week he had re-opened an investigation into the June 2004 rape. The victim asked detectives probing Madeleine's disappearance to review her case in June after discovering Brueckner had been convicted last year in Germany of the August 2005 rape of an American OAP in Praia da Luz. She told police her masked attacker spoke English with a German accent and had piercing blue eyes like the 43-year-old drifter being probed over Madeleine's disappearance. And she also recalled a mark on top of his right thigh, describing it as a 'pull in the tights, a birthmark or a tattoo' in an interview about the attack in Praia da Rocha. Brueckner, convicted of the 2005 rape through a hair found at the crime scene which Portuguese investigators had failed to test, is said to have birthmarks on his upper right thigh. Portuguese court files make it clear DNA was obtained but no match was made at the time. The DNA samples including blood and semen collected from the crime scene by Portuguese police were later destroyed on the orders of prosecutors, leaving question marks over whether a successful prosecution can ever be mounted. Portuguese authorities agreed to hand over the archive material, and new police statements the Irish rape victim made to Gardai in June which were forwarded to them, following an official German request for cooperation. The request reached the court in the Algarve town of Portimao which is probing Madeleine McCann's disappearance on August 24. Prosecutor Joana Ribeiro Garcia sent the case files to German authorities on September 9. The Irish woman was attacked in Praia da Rocha, not far from Praia da Luz where Madeleine disappeared in 2007 The rape victim has previously told how she 'puked' when she read about Brueckner's rape of an American pensioner. The woman told the Guardian in June: 'Reading about it took me back to my experience.' She revealed she woke up to find the attacker in her apartment with a '12 inch long machete' in his hand and recalled how he set up a video camera to film the 'planned-out' attack and used scissors to remove her clothes and ropes to tie her up. She also criticised the Portuguese police response in the interview, claiming she was told at the time to keep quiet to avoid putting off tourists and revealing she had been asked to strip off by the crime scene while officers left her feeling 'humiliated' by taking pictures of her in a 'star jump-like stance.' Explaining she had contacted police in Ireland because she 'knew in her gut it was the right thing to do', she added: 'I think if the police had done their job investigating what happened to me, if this is indeed the same man that attacked the American and abducted Madeleine McCann, they might have prevented the attack on her, and Madeleine would now be at home with her parents.' Algarve prosecutors are letting Germany take the lead in the case, as they did with the OAP sex attack Brueckner was convicted of last year. German authorities are also investigating Brueckner over a sex crime on a beach near Praia da Luz a month before Madeleine vanished. The German paedophile was held on suspicion of exposing himself to four young children at the playground in Sao Bartomoleu de Messines a 40-minute drive from Praia da Luz. The Irish woman was raped in apartment in Praia da Rocha, Portugal, in 2004 (building exterior pictured) Despite protests from their parents, Brueckner was never prosecuted in Portugal after police discovered he was wanted in his homeland for child sex abuse and possession of child pornography and he was extradited without facing charges. Mr Wolters admitted last week there was still no 'smoking gun' evidence enabling charges to be brought against the 43-year-old paedophile over Madeleine's disappearance. But he told investigative reporter Sandra Felgueiras on RTP show Sexta as 9 there were 'many pieces' of the Madeleine McCann 'puzzle' pointing towards Brueckner. Brueckner's lawyer Friedrich Fulscher has insisted his client, currently serving a 21-month drug sentence in prison in the German city of Kiel, has nothing to do with the rape or Madeleine's disappearance. Last week he claimed to have found bombshell information he said would clear the German. Yesterday Brueckner was told he would remain in jail after losing a legal challenge against an earlier extradition from Italy to Germany which he insisted should lead to him being freed early. The ruling means he will now stay in jail until 2024 at least. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:55:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MOSCOW, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed on Friday to the United States to improve cooperation on international information security. "One of the main strategic challenges today is the risk of a large-scale confrontation in the digital sphere. A special responsibility for its prevention lies with the key players in the field of international information security," Putin said in a statement published by the Kremlin. In his four-point proposal, Putin suggested restoring full-scale, regular, inter-agency dialogue between Russia and the United States at a high level on key issues of ensuring international information security. He said the two countries should support uninterrupted and effective functioning of communication channels via nuclear risk reduction centers, teams of rapid response to computer incidents, and high-level officials in charge of information security. He also proposed an intergovernmental agreement on the prevention of incidents in the information space by analogy with the 1972 Soviet-U.S. Agreement on the Prevention of Incidents On and Over the High Seas. Fourthly, Putin said the countries should exchange guarantees of non-intervention in each other's internal affairs, including in elections, by using information and communication technologies (ICT) as well as other high-tech methods. "We call on the United States to launch Russian-American professional expert dialogue on issues of international information security, without making it hostage to our political differences," he added. According to the Russian leader, these measures are aimed at increasing the level of trust between the two countries and ensuring the security and prosperity of their people. "Addressing all countries, including the United States, I propose a global agreement on a political commitment not to be the first to strike others using ICT," Putin said. Enditem Three more people have been charged in relation to the killing of 27-year-old Raymond Harris in Surfers Paradise on Wednesday, as friends took to social media to pay tribute to the victim. Mr Harris was from Beenleigh in Logan and was with friends when the confrontation took place between two groups who knew each other. Credit:Facebook Mr Harris, who lived in the Logan suburb of Beenleigh, was allegedly stabbed in the torso with a hunting knife about 9pm in Cavill Avenue and died shortly after in Gold Coast University Hospital. A 21-year-old man from Maryborough and 18-year-old man from Pimpama on the Gold Coast were each charged with one count of murder and three counts of assault on Thursday. Both appeared in the Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday. On Friday morning, detectives charged a 24-year-old Surfers Paradise man with one count of murder and three counts of assault. A 19-year-old Surfers Paradise woman and 32-year-old man from Rocklea in Brisbane's south were also charged with accessory after the fact to murder. MANILA, Philippines, Sept. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Globe Telecom (Globe) announces its largest network upgrade to date, 10 years after it introduced data with its nationwide network transformation program. The network upgrades come at the heels of the government asking telcos to improve internet services especially at these times when connectivity is a critical need. Globe laid out a 3-pronged strategy to improve voice and data experience of its customers. The first is to accelerate cell site builds to expand coverage and increase capacity for data. With the strong support of ARTA and the recently signed Bayanihan to Recover As One or Bayanihan 2, the faster processing and release of various national and LGU permits are crucial to jumpstart the infrastructure builds to improve the country's overall state of connectivity. The second is to upgrade all its sites to have 4G/LTE using many different frequencies, which are important for both coverage and speeds. With 4G everywhere, the whole country will be data-ready and capable to meet the increasing demands of customers for bandwidth and faster speeds. The third is to fast track the fiberization of Filipino homes to improve data experience using wireline connectivity. As Filipinos spend more time at home because of the lockdowns, Globe hopes to address the growing demand for home broadband with a much larger fiber footprint, using only the most advanced technologies. All the network upgrades are expected to be completed by 2021. Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said, "Globe is in a much better position now to fulfill the demands of its customers. In doing network upgrades at this time, we will be able to provide our customers with much improved network performance and quality of service. We look towards the future when the country is fueled by a strong digital economy that is enabled by resilient and reliable connectivity." Globe is the country's leader in mobile and hopes to cement its leadership in the broadband category. For 2020, the company committed to spend Php 50.3 billion in capex, majority of which will be spent on its network upgrade initiatives. The company previously released a series of network related updates including the build of 900 cellsites with five shared independent tower companies (towercos), securing 190 permits from 85 local government units (LGU), network upgrades in eight key areas of Visayas and Mindanao, as well as putting up 32 new towers in several key barangays in Quezon City. Globe is also rolling out fiber lines in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, Cebu and Davao del Sur. The telco's fiber roll out during the last 8 months already represents a 51.4% increase over full year 2019. To date, the company is proactively migrating customers from copper lines to fiber free of charge. Even as Globe undertakes a massive network upgrade, it is also firing up its 5G network, targetting areas in key locations such as Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Makati CBD, Rockwell Center, Ortigas CBD, strategic areas along EDSA and C5, Taguig, Pasig, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Paranaque, Muntinlupa, Las Pinas, Valenzuela, and Caloocan. Globe is committed to support 10 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, such as UNSDG No. 9 on building resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation. To know more visit www.globe.com.ph . Globe Press Room: https://www.globe.com.ph/about-us/newsroom.html Twitter: @talk2GLOBE | Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/globeph SOURCE Globe Telecom Related Links http://www.globe.com.ph WINDSOR Easterseals Capital Region & Eastern Connecticuts Board of Directors announced appointment of Robin G. Sharp to serve as the organizations new president and CEO, effective Nov. 2. Sharp brings more than 15 years of experience of executive-level leadership, including fundraising and strategic planning, to her new role. Most recently Executive Director of the Connecticut chapter of Alzheimers Association, she also served as Executive Director at YWCA New Britain. She will succeed Dr. Allen Gouse who, earlier this year after 26 years of building one of the regions foremost health and human service organizations, informed the Board of his desire to retire. We are very pleased to have Robin join our organization, bringing her talents in relationship building, fundraising and strategic planning to Easterseals Capital Region & Eastern Connecticut. Under the leadership of Dr. Gouse, Easterseals has been positioned for major growth across all of its programmatic offerings to respond to the increasing needs of people with disabilities, veterans and seniors in the communities we serve, said Mrs. V. Vanessa Williams, Chair of the organizations Board of Directors. Robin joins us at an especially exciting time as we expand our programs and services while exploring new opportunities to impact the lives and families who need them to live, learn, work and play in their communities. Sharps most recent work with Alzheimers Association also provides a strong platform to expand Easterseals Capital Region & Eastern Connecticuts enhanced commitment to serving seniors in the region who are experiencing age-related cognitive conditions including dementia and Alzheimers disease. Angela Williams, president and CEO of Easterseals, Inc., the national organization with which this 72-year-old Hartford-based organization is affiliated, commented, Once again, we see Easterseals Capital Region & Eastern Connecticut demonstrating the vision and leadership needed to create and deliver resources needed in the region. Sharp will be the fourth person to lead the organization. A resident of Wethersfield, she earned a bachelors degree in psychology from Brandeis University. Visit www.easterseals.com/hartford and www.veteransrallypoint.com to learn more. CMHC banks combine charters LITCHFIELD The three bank subsidiaries of Connecticut Mutual Holding Company (CMHC), Northwest Community Bank, Litchfield Bancorp, and Collinsville Bank, have filed applications with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Connecticut Department of Banking to combine the charters of the three banks into a single bank charter. The resulting bank will continue to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of CMHC and will continue to operate all of the offices of each of the three banks. The resulting bank will retain all of the employees of each of the three banks and preserve the community bank culture that has been the foundation of each of the banks, according to a statement. The three banks have been operating under the common ownership of CMHC for more than a decade and have already combined many back-office functions, according to the statement. However, the combination of the charters will generate significant savings, improve efficiency, and add greater convenience for customers. The combined bank will offer more advancement opportunities for employees as well as resources and support to the communities currently served by each of the banks, members said. In connection with this transaction, CMHC and the banks plan to create and fund a charitable foundation, which will support charitable activities and organizations throughout the combined service area. The proposal has been approved by the boards of directors of each of the three banks as well as CMHC as the shareholder of the banks. CMHCs resulting bank will retain the name of Northwest Community Bank, however, each of the existing branches of Collinsville Bank and Litchfield Bancorp will continue to operate under their current brand names. The resulting bank will have total assets of nearly $1 billion and will be well-capitalized and better positioned to more competitively deliver an expansive array of products and services throughout a growing branch network in Hartford and Litchfield Counties, according to the statement. Collinsville Bank, Litchfield Bancorp and Northwest Community Bank have very deep and long-standing community roots dating back 150+ years. We will maintain and preserve that commitment to community with all branches remaining open and brands staying intact while providing our customers with expanded products and services. Our most prized asset, our employees, will all remain in place and will be afforded increased employment opportunities. This combination is a natural progression of our alliance and will allow us to remain pillars of the community for generations to come, said Stephen Reilly, President and CEO of CMHC and Northwest Community Bank. It is anticipated that the proposed transaction will be consummated in January 2021 subject to approval by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Connecticut Department of Banking. Main Street Community Foundation announces grants Main Street Community Foundation has listened to the nonprofits struggling during the pandemic in many local communities and adapted its grantmaking guidelines to provide funding for what is needed the most: unrestricted operating support. This month, $465,226 in general operating support grants were awarded to help sustain nonprofit organizations in Bristol, Burlington, Plainville, Plymouth, Southington and Wolcott, according to a statement. The Board of Directors took action and recognized the challenges facing our local nonprofits during this extraordinary time, said Susan Sadecki, president & CEO of the foundation. Back in March, we joined hundreds of foundations throughout the country in partnership with the Council on Foundations to pledge our commitment to more flexible funding to help grantee partners meet emerging needs prompted by the COVID-19 crisis. Unrestricted operating support grants totaling $112,353 were awarded to 18 organizations from the COVID-19 Response Fund, the Bristol Brass General Grant Fund, the KAWFY Memorial Fund and several donor advised funds: the Clement Family Fund, the Hamzy Family Charitable Fund and the Pat & Bob Wollenberg Charitable Fund. The grants ranged from $2,000 to $20,000 and the organizations awarded are: American Clock & Watch Museum; Animal Rescue Foundation, Inc.; Boys & Girls Club of Bristol; Brians Angels Homeless Outreach Center; Bristol Preschool Childcare Center, Inc.; Bristol Recovery Club; Community Counseling Centers of Central Connecticut, Inc.; Environmental Learning Centers of Connecticut, Inc.; Imagine Nation, A Museum Early Learning Center; Lock Museum of America, Inc. ; New England Carousel Museum; Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra, Inc.; Plainville Community Food Pantry ; Shepard Meadows Therapeutic Riding Center, Inc.; St. Vincent DePaul Mission of Bristol; Tabernacle Christian Church - Giving Back Food Pantry; United Way of West Central Connecticut; and Veterans Strong Community Center Contributions may be made at mainstreetfoundation.org/covid19-fund California Snack Foods has always been a community-focused business. From its inception in 1961 by Murl Nelson Senior who sold caramel apples out of his family home in El Monte, to 2020 where the third-generation family business still operates in the same location and employees mostly residents of South El Monte, the last six months have proved an unusual time. Like many businesses affected by COVID-19, California Snack Foods made the tough decision at the beginning of March to not only close its doors to the public but to close operations entirely for six weeks. As a family-run business that proudly employees many people who are also related, our priority was first the safety of our employees and families, shares Chad Nelson, Vice President. During those six weeks, California Snack Foods continued to pay its employees out of pocket with the hopes that their loyal employees and their families would remain healthy, and that life would soon return back to normal. We had no idea, just like everyone, how long this would last and how much life would change in these short months. We have prioritized the safety of our community by keeping our retail desk closed to the public but as restrictions lift and the needs of our individual and retail customers continue to come in, we have decided, with caution, to reopen it, says Nelson. This Thursday, the retail desk will reopen and online ordering will be made available for the first time ever for the distributor of popcorn, cotton candy, popsicles and its beloved Karml dapples. Awesome! I used to love [when] the bread man would come to my Grandmas house in South El Monte and the apples would be on the truck. As a child, I just knew these were the REAL caramel apples, one Instagram follower replied to the news of the reopening. As California Snack Foods heads into its busiest time of the year, the Halloween season, the hope is to continue spreading fresh family fun to the community, while protecting the health of its employees. Things will look a little different. Masks will be required. Employees will be wearing gloves and masks at the desk. We are prepared to have guests stand six feet apart while waiting for their orders. We are committed to keeping everyone healthy but we cannot wait to get back to business and to share our familys products with a community who also shares our love for them, says Nelson. About California Snack Foods Since 1961, California Snack Foods has been manufacturing quality snack foods in the heart of Southern California. We produce quality snack foods for retail & wholesale by creating lasting relationships with our customers, employees & suppliers, while enriching our community. As a third generation family business, we pride ourselves on being happy people making happy snacks. Contact us at http://www.californiasnackfoods.com for more information or media opportunities, please email amanda@californiasnackfoods. A pregnant woman who went missing was found lifeless in Washington. One of the suspects is her paramour who might have killed the victim and disposed her corpse. The corpse found in Pierce County is thought to be Kassandra Cantrell who disappeared more than a month ago. On Tuesday, her remains were finally found and the authorities are still looking for leads in the crime scene. When the victim died, she was 3-months pregnant according to sources. Soon after the remains was located, the main suspect for the cruel murder is sought after. The police got GPS information from the truck of her ex, based on the GPS coordinates that guided the search for areas near Chambers Creek Road W. in University Place, mentioned by Pierce County Det. Ed Troyer reported Meaww. On the day of the search at 2:00 p.m., authorities discovered the remains all wrapped and thrown over a hill near Chambers Creek. According to the detective, the search teams involved had to do a high-angle-ropes operation to get to the remains. They identified the corpse as Kassandra Cantrell. Tacoma police went the residence of Colin Patrick Dudley, 37, who went along peacefully with the arresting officers. He was brought to the Pierce County Jail as a murder suspect, told the Sheriff's office. Sources say that the investigators were confident of their success, expressing their work will lead to closure for the bereaved. Troyer added that the loss was regretful as well. Also read: Jealous Boyfriend Burned His Fiancee to Death Because She Exposed Her Body on the Beach It was the morning of August 25 when the 33-year-old pregnant victim was last seen by her family. Her loved ones saw her on that day, in their Parkland residence. However, she was nowhere to be found after that. They reported a missing person's bulletin for her. Her remains were disposed on a lonely hillside after a thorough investigation. Other details were provided by her mother, Marie Smith, saying the victim was supposed to have an ultrasound at the doctors. The victim planned to pick up food at the grocery before heading home. But her mother said that her daughter never got home, adding that her daughter had no cash, and her debit card was unused, cited Daily Mail. Last September 1, the detectives received a warrant to scour the ex-boyfriend's home for any evidence or leads. Troyer said they found a video of the suspected killer parking the victim's white Mazda car at Tacoma Dome, noted Daily Star Post. The detective informed that the case will be considered homicide until no evidence to refute it. Authorities were not sure if the suspect was indeed the culprit. They wanted to move one faster to clear him or consider him the key suspect. The mother told the detectives about the car's whereabouts but she had doubts and was not convinced, stating her daughter valued her safety. She said that she knew her daughter and she was convinced that there is something fishy about her disappearance, adding that her dogs would never be left behind since her pooches were like her kids. Her mother told Q13 that she missed her daughter a lot. Related article: Russian Ballerina Dismembered, Dissolved in Sulfuric Acid Amid Fears of Lewd Picture Leak @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Desire sits like a sort of time-bomb, at the heart of Alankrita Shrivastavas films. It ticks away, a cause of the underlying restlessness in the women of all ages that people her stories; its the catalyst that moves the plot along; the prism through which we see their struggles with their choices, or lack of choice. All of which makes her films unusual, in some ways unique, even if they are far from flawless. There have been three so far Turning 30 (2011), Lipstick Under My Burkha (2016), and now Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, released on Netflix earlier this month. Chamakte Sitare has received mixed reviews and been criticised for its superficial takes on trans identity, child abandonment and sexual abuse within the family (among other issues tossed about). Yet, there is an allure to the film that comes largely from its female gaze; the conversations, affections and sudden viciousness of its women towards each other and towards the others in their lives. The industry needs to be making more films about women, says Shrivastava, 41. For me, its personal. Our stories have not been told. In this one, which she has written and directed, two cousins (Konkona Sen Sharma; Bhumi Pednekar) from Darbhanga, Bihar, now living in Greater Noida one married and a mother, the other young, single and trying to find her way play off each other as they start to reassess the choices theyve made, and rethink what they want from their lives. The characters are messy and flawed; they can shock you with how casually they steal, cheat, lie. You can see early on that there will likely be no happy endings. Its nice to play characters who are in some kind of transition... growth, who are not necessarily always making the correct and perfect choices, Konkona Sen Sharma said, in a recent conversation with the film critic Rajeev Masand. Dolly is a badass living a very prescribed life. She has forgotten to ask am I happy with it? Am I happy with it is a running theme in Shrivastavas work a revolutionary idea in itself, for an industry that tends to use women characters as barely-there accessories. In Turning 30, Gul Panag suffered a crisis and began to question who she was and what she wanted. Lipstick (2016) was about four women of varied age groups in Bhopal, exploring their ambitions and desires at different stages in their lives. These ideas can feel so revolutionary that, despite there being no nudity involved, Indias censor board refused to certify Lipstick It said at the time that the story was lady oriented, their fantasy above life. There are contagious sexual scenes, abusive words, audio pornography Some of this possibly applied to the scenes in which a 55-year-old widow (Ratna Pathak Shah) fantasised, enjoyed an erotic novel and had phone sex with a young swim instructor. It took a social media uproar and an appeal to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal to have the film released, with a few cuts. Alankritas strength as a filmmaker is to pose a question that not too many filmmakers are posing, which is, what do women want? says film critic Anupama Chopra. I think she really gets into the core of that. Her characters are messy, problematic and flawed. She is saying, in her cinema, this is who women are. Women, like men, are complicated. Shrivastava grew up between Bihar, Noida and the Welham boarding school in Dehradun. It was in school that she decided she wanted to make movies. She studied journalism in at Delhis Lady Shri Ram college, and got a Masters in mass communication from Jamia Millia Islamia. In 2003, while studying, she began working with director Prakash Jha. She assisted him on films such as Gangaajal (2003), Apaharan (2005) and Rajneeti (2010). Thered be 200 people on set, and only a handful of other women, she noted then. Jha would go on to produce Shrivastavas first two films. As a country of 1.3 billion, making so much cinema for so long, its important for us to create a diverse culture of filmmaking, Shrivastava says. You see hardly any Dalit filmmakers. So few women filmmakers. So few stories that delve into the LGBTQI space. The cinema culture we have perpetuates the status quo. That is problematic to me. Hindi cinema has a long way to go, she adds, before we reach a point where half the movies released on a Friday are about women and by women. As for her characters, they usually have a long way to go too. They dont often end up happy, but they end up questioning. And thats a start. WhatsApp has regularly been regarded as one of the safer messaging apps, thanks to the services offering of end-to-end encryption in its chats. Now, however, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)s drug probe in the Bollywood film industry has raised a narrative that was unlikely to be linked in any way to actor Sushant Singh Rajputs demise online privacy. Given how the NCB has succeeded in recovering old, deleted messages that were also seemingly end-to-end encrypted, this has raised questions regarding how safe WhatsApp conversations really are, and what privacy risks do you really have, even after WhatsApps encryption promise. Forensic traces of deleted messages While WhatsApp gives you an option to delete a message forever, it so happens that the messages in question are, in fact, not entirely deleted forever from everywhere. According to reports, WhatsApp keeps a log of your conversations locally on your device, which works as a forensic trace to log data, according to cyber security service provider, McAfee. It is this log that is regularly exploited by numerous third party apps, which offer a way for you to see messages that have been deleted. It is this log that is reportedly not encrypted, and this represents a security flaw that can be exploited by malicious spyware tools. Last year, the Israeli Pegasus cyber espionage tool wreaked havoc by tapping into peoples phones, breaching privacy and tracking all WhatsApp conversations. One of the factors that allowed Pegasus to enforce such a breach is the fact that WhatsApps end-to-end encryption works between when a message is sent, and when it is received. This protects your conversations from being intercepted in transit in other words, your chats cannot be tapped. However, once the source devices are corrupted, there is a strong chance of your message being read. Across the world, numerous investigation agencies and legal bodies have been known to use such undisclosed tactics. In the wrong hands, this can prove to be catastrophic for the privacy of users. It is also important to note that no messaging service, even the venerable Signal, would be entirely un-hackable. In WhatsApps case, its massive popularity makes it an even greater target for spyware tools. What you can do As a user, the best you can do is implement general cyber hygiene protocol. Do not click on any unknown link, which you are not sure about. Even if you receive a random link from a familiar contact, attempt to verify why you have been sent the link first. This is the very first step to ensure that you do not accidentally download malicious tools such as spyware on your phone. You can also turn on security notifications on your phone. This is a WhatsApp feature that you can turn on from accessing the Security tab under Account in Settings. Using this allows you to verify that your conversation with your contact is encrypted, and you will also be notified in case the contacts linked number or device changes. This can essentially allow you to preemptively find out if your contacts WhatsApp account may have been compromised. You should also turn on two-factor authentication, which will ask for an extra verification code when your WhatsApp account is being set up. Additionally, add biometric authentication to restrict direct access to your messages by third party applications. Beyond this, set up your profile as a private account, and as general good practice, avoid sharing any information that may later come back to compromise you. What WhatsApp is saying In a statement issued by a WhatsApp spokesperson, the company said about the recent private debate, WhatsApp protects your messages with end-to-end encryption so that only you and the person youre communicating with can read what is sent, and nobody in between can access it, not even WhatsApp. Its important to remember that people sign up on WhatsApp using only a phone number, and WhatsApp doesnt have access to your message content. WhatsApp follows guidance provided by operating system manufacturers for on-device storage and we encourage people to take advantage of all the security features provided by operating systems such as strong passwords or biometric IDs to prevent third parties from accessing content stored on device. Appointment 25 September 2020 InterContinental Hotels Group announced the appointment of Mr. Christoph Hoeflich as General Manager of InterContinental Shanghai Hongqiao NECC. Born and raised in Germany, he has over 25 years of experience in operational management of world-class hotels and has worked in 10 countries within 4 continents. Prior to his new appointment, he had been the General Manager of the 500-room Langham Place Guangzhou. Mr. Hoeflich brings a wealth of hospitality management experiences with major international hotel companies and iconic luxury brands such as the Brenner's Park hotel in Baden Baden, Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich and the Waldorf Astoria Jeddah-Qasr al Sharq. Mr. Hoeflich began his hospitality career in China with a cluster hotel assignment in Hong Kong with the Marco Polo Hotel Group followed by postings as General Manager in the group's hotel properties in Shenzhen and Changzhou. Located within National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), InterContinental Shanghai Hongqiao NECC offers 536 elegantly designed rooms and suites. The hotel also features four showpiece restaurants and lounges, plus more than 2,200 sqm of stylish event space perfect for hosting high-level meetings, banquets, business galas and magical weddings. This is the shocking moment a woman's fingers were partially severed after she tried to break up a dogfight. The unnamed 55-year-old left a clothing alteration store in Cronulla Mall, in south Sydney, on Friday with her white fluffy lapdog. As they walked away from the shopping centre an unleashed dog runs over and starts to attack woman's terrified pooch. The crazed dog's owner runs over but his other dog quickly joins the fight and as the woman tries to free her pet, her fingers are almost bitten off. Emergency services were called and the woman was treated for serious injuries to her hands. Emergency services were called to Cronulla Mall, in Sydney's south, just before midday on Friday over reports a woman had been attacked by a dog CCTV footage shows an aggressive dog run up to the small white fluffy lapdog and latch on She was taken to Sydney Hand Hospital for treatment. One of the attacking dogs is believed to be a pit bull terrier while the other is a cane corso. Both dogs are now in custody of the Sutherland Shire Council. Michael McCammon said he heard a lot of screaming after the woman was bitten. 'One lady came in looking for ice and a plastic bag which made me think maybe she lost a finger or something, because there was a fair bit of blood,' he told Nine News. The two dogs began to fights and the woman tried to break them up and she was bitten on the hand (pictured, one of the dogs believed to be involved) 'Another guy came in looking for ice, a [firefighter] came in looking for ice, and everything was going a bit wild.' Sutherland Shire Council requires dog owners to keep their pets on a leash at all times when in public areas. A spokesperson for Sutherland Shire Council said two dogs had been seized and were now being held at a special facility. 'One of the dogs believed to be responsible for the attack, a Pit Bull Terrier from the Georges River Council area, was found to be unregistered,' they said. The dog was seized by Sutherland Shire Council and as staff investigate the incident 'This dog will now be declared as a Restricted Dangerous Dog by Sutherland Shire Council and will not be released until Georges River Council confirm that strict control measures will be met in accordance with the prescribed enclosure requirements. 'A second dog, a Cane Corso from Inner West Council area, was also found to be unregistered. 'This dog will also be declared a Restricted Dangerous Dog and will be subject to similar control measures, to be enforced by Inner West Council. 'Sutherland Shire Council will liaise with representatives of both the Georges River and Inner West Councils to ensure public safety is achieved across Council boundaries in relation to these animals. 'Councils Public Safety Unit is continuing its investigation into this incident.' Daycare was hands-down the big winner from this weeks throne speech, and thats a victory for parents, kids, pandemic-stricken workplaces and the labour force of the future. The persuading has been done. Now the hard work begins. The Liberals have committed to a significant, long-term sustained investment to create a Canada-wide early-learning and child-care system. Vague, ambitious words, but the minister whose job it is to turn the rhetoric into reality already has some solid ideas on how to make it happen. Ahmed Hussen says Ottawa is ready to pour money and political heft into a national child-care system by training up educators and creating more daycare spots now and in the coming years. But tax incentives or handing out more money to families to pay for child care? Thats not on, according to Hussen, setting himself up instead for many years of policy-making and some tough negotiations with the provinces to deliver on a longtime Liberal ambition. It doesnt address the issue of quality, Hussen said in an interview with the Star. When you give people money and say, Go look for child care, you compromise quality. Giving people money for child care either directly, or through tax deductions has the benefit of being immediate and hands-off. But Canadas experience with those types of incentives hasnt always helped low-income families access high-quality spots, with the tax measures inadvertently favouring higher-income earners. Hussen has been consulting heavily for a few months now, and looking hard at the experience of Quebec and research done by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He has picked a lane. Instead of tax incentives or benefits, he would rather the federal government be directly involved. He wants to see the federal government set national standards for daycare, complete with proper enforcement mechanisms. He wants more and better data on what works and what doesnt. He wants to significantly bolster training and support for early childhood educators a point he mentioned several times in the interview. He wants to boost the infrastructure that allows the educators and the kids to get together in a nurturing environment. There is a need for national leadership, he said. The first stage, he says, is already underway: saving daycares from closure during the pandemic. Many are barely surviving after having shut down for months and now facing surges in demand as people head back to work, as well as stiff requirements for extra space and lots of personal protective equipment. In response, the federal government has rushed out previously budgeted child-care funding to the provinces and made it clear that it will be flexible on how its used. Ottawa has also included $625 million in emergency funding for provinces to spend on child care over the next six months, making for about $1 billion available right now, Hussen said. Still, child-care advocates, experts and economists have urged Ottawa to do much more and over the longer term. They argue that daycare funding pays for itself in increased economic activity, healthier children and a more permanent standing for women in the workplace. Theres no more efficient way for the federal government to ease the strain that middle- and lower-income families feel in making ends meet than to expand affordable daycare. Hussen agrees wholeheartedly, pointing to analysis that shows more women join the workforce when good daycare is readily available, and women who work part time are able to take on more hours. Thats been especially true in Quebec. We want to emulate that, of course, he said. And so the next stage is to redesign the federal involvement in early childhood education and ramp up its involvement starting with a down-payment in the mini-budget expected this fall to demonstrate early momentum. From there, hell buckle down to talk to the provinces, again, to implement a cost-sharing plan complete with enforced federal standards and a firm plan to funnel the federal money toward educators and daycare spots. Theres no doubt hes in for a long haul, especially as the provinces loudly condemn the thought of the federal government telling them how to implement policy. The cynics among us will say weve heard it all before and were still waiting. Fifty years ago, a royal commission recommended affordable daycare across the country as the path to womens equality. The Liberals promised a national daycare plan in 1993, but it languished until Paul Martin resurrected the idea when he became prime minister in 2003. Then it died in the election of 2005-06. Hussen bristles at the cynics and blames the NDP for killing Martins plan by siding with Stephen Harpers Conservatives and bringing down the minority Liberal government more than a decade ago. We hope that the NDP doesnt do what they did in 2006 and sink a system that will help parents across the country, he said. Now is the right time to do this. Theres many a harried parent who would argue that, actually, six months ago was the time to do this. But now will do. Read more about: ISABELLA COUNTY, MI -- A 36-year-old man is dead after a two-vehicle crash Thursday afternoon in rural Isabella County. Deputies with the Isabella County Sheriffs Office were dispatched around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24 to Mission and Herrick roads in Vernon Township, south of Clare, for a personal injury crash. An initial investigation by the sheriffs office has revealed a Pontiac Vibe driven by a 72-year-old Vernon man was headed east on Herrick Road. The vehicle stopped at a stop sign and proceeded to turn left, or northbound, onto Mission Road when it pulled into the path of a motorcycle driven by a 36-year-old Clare man that headed south on Mission Road, police said. The motorcycle collided head on with the vehicle. The driver of the motorcycle, whose name has not been released, was transported to MidMichigan Medical Center in Clare where he was later pronounced deceased. No additional injuries were reported by police. The fatal crash remains under investigation. Mobile Medical Response and the Clare Fire Department assisted deputies at the scene. Read more: Mother of missing Flint woman makes plea for answers in case Missing 71-year-old man with Alzheimers found safe 2 injured, 1 critically, in Flint shooting Protestors march in downtown Flint after Breonna Taylor grand jury decision Man arraigned in shooting death of 11-year-old stepson during youth hunt Drowning victim remembered as jokester, loving family man Preliminary exam delayed for alleged accomplices in Flint murder case involving mask dispute Woman struck by vehicle while standing in Flint yard dies NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pneumococcal Vaccine Market Research Report by Type (Conjugate Vaccines and Polysaccharide Vaccines), by Indication (Bronchitis, Meningitis, Pneumonia, and Sepsis), by Product, by Distribution - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19 Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05941655/?utm_source=PRN The Global Pneumococcal Vaccine Market is expected to grow from USD 7,622.14 Million in 2019 to USD 11,905.54 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.71%. Market Segmentation & Coverage: This research report categorizes the Pneumococcal Vaccine to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets: "The Conjugate Vaccines is projected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period" Based on Type, the Pneumococcal Vaccine Market studied across Conjugate Vaccines and Polysaccharide Vaccines. The Polysaccharide Vaccines commanded the largest size in the Pneumococcal Vaccine Market in 2019. On the other hand, the Conjugate Vaccines is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. "The Pneumonia is projected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period" Based on Indication, the Pneumococcal Vaccine Market studied across Bronchitis, Meningitis, Pneumonia, and Sepsis. The Meningitis commanded the largest size in the Pneumococcal Vaccine Market in 2019. On the other hand, the Pneumonia is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. "The Pneumovax23 is projected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period" Based on Product, the Pneumococcal Vaccine Market studied across Pneumovax23, Prevnar 13, and Synflorix. The Prevnar 13 commanded the largest size in the Pneumococcal Vaccine Market in 2019. On the other hand, the Pneumovax23 is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. "The Non-governmental Organizations is projected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period" Based on Distribution, the Pneumococcal Vaccine Market studied across Government Authorities and Non-governmental Organizations. The Government Authorities commanded the largest size in the Pneumococcal Vaccine Market in 2019. On the other hand, the Non-governmental Organizations is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. "The Asia-Pacific is projected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period" Based on Geography, the Pneumococcal Vaccine Market studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region surveyed across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region surveyed across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region surveyed across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom. The Europe, Middle East & Africa commanded the largest size in the Pneumococcal Vaccine Market in 2019. On the other hand, the Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. Company Usability Profiles: The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Pneumococcal Vaccine Market including Astellas Pharma Inc., AstraZeneca PLC, CSL Limited, Emergent BioSolutions Inc., GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer Inc., Sanofi S.A., and Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd.. FPNV Positioning Matrix: The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Pneumococcal Vaccine Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape. Competitive Strategic Window: The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth. Cumulative Impact of COVID-19: COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market. The report provides insights on the following pointers: 1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players 2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets 3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments 4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players 5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments The report answers questions such as: 1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Pneumococcal Vaccine Market? 2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Pneumococcal Vaccine Market during the forecast period? 3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Pneumococcal Vaccine Market? 4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Pneumococcal Vaccine Market? 5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Pneumococcal Vaccine Market? 6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Pneumococcal Vaccine Market? Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05941655/?utm_source=PRN About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links www.reportlinker.com Susan Collins U.S. Sen. Susan Collins talks to reporters during a campaign stop at Blackie's Farm Fresh Produce on Thursday. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images According to in-depth interviews with Maine voters, Sen. Susan Collins (R) has a lot of damage control to do in her home state if she has any hope of hanging on to her seat on Nov. 3. With Collins trailing in the polls to Democrat Sara Gideon, Politico dispatched Kathryn Miles to the state to interview voters and what she found was an assortment of voters who have become disenchanted with the formerly popular senator mainly due to her bowing to the whims of President Donald Trump. According to Merlene Sanborn of Skowhegan, who has voted for Collins in the past, "There's such an atmosphere of disrespect in the campaigning. I feel like both candidates have forgotten about what matters to Maine." Sanborn pointed to the Republican rush to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg while noting Collins has given no assurances about a vote after the election but before a new Senate is seated saying, "It's just too important to rush the process. The Senate needs to take the appropriate amount of time to really consider the candidates. I want to see Susan Collins be a true leader and publicly advocate for that." One-time Collins voter Cheryl Staples, 63, echoed Sanborn's comments about the Supreme Court vacancy, stating: "We expect Collins to go with her conscience not her party. It's going to take more than saying she won't vote until the election to demonstrate that." The Politico report notes that a recent polls shows that 59% of Maine voters want Collins to "delay voting on the nomination and approval process until a new president is sworn in in January," with one Maine resident saying he doesn't trust her after she voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. "He's a bad person and not fit for the court. I trusted her to take a stand on his fitness," explained retired Air Force medic Dick Enright who said he supported Collins until the Kavanaugh vote. Story continues As for the push to replace Ginsburg, Enright wants it held off until after Inauguration Day, explaining, "Fair is fair. [Mitch] McConnell blocked Obama when he had the reins. What's good for the goose is good for the gander." As for Collins, he stated, "She's just playing a game and trying to gain votes by saying as little as possible. If there was a chance she'd really turn around and take a real stand on this issue, I'd be happy. But I don't see her doing that." According to one voter who would only identify himself as Mike, Collins is ". . . screwing us up with all of her flip-flopping. You can no longer trust anything she says. She needs to smarten up and correct herself. If she got a spine and proved she's really going to do what she says, then maybe I'd vote for her." Dan Shea, author of the local poll on Collins said the responses should come as no surprise. "A lot of Mainers think the senator works too hard to be on both sides. They want some clarity; they want Susan to take a side. If she is too calculating on the nomination question, she'll threaten her brand as a moderate, lose independents and swing Democrats, and maybe even end her career in the Senate," he remarked. You can read more here. Related Articles He's one of Hollywood's most sought after actors. And Brad Pitt isn't looking to put a ring on anything anytime soon after two marriages under his belt, according to reports from US Weekly. The 56-year-old star has been married to Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie, but doesn't think wedded bliss is in the cards for his future. Star power: Brad Pitt isn't looking to put a ring on anything anytime soon after two marriages under his belt, according to reports from US Weekly; seen in February Despite beginning a new romance, a source told the publication: 'It's doubtful Brad will ever get married again.' Pitt was married to Aniston, 51, from 2000-2005. Nearly nine years later, he married Jolie in 2014, but she filed for divorce in September 2016. Brad and Nicole sparked relationship rumors when they were spotted arriving in the South of France on a private jet and visited Chateau Miraval, where he produces $390 rose Champagne. 'They make each other happy, and it's an arrangement that is working for both of them,' the source said of Pitt's new relationship with model Nicole Poturalski An insider revealed that Pitt remains 'realistic about the relationship' since she 'lives in Germany' and he 'has a very complicated family situation that he is trying to get sorted out. 'They make each other happy, and it's an arrangement that is working for both of them,' the source said. Fans were delighted to see the Pitt-Aniston reunion during a star-studded virtual table read for Fast Times at Ridgemont High last week. Friends forever: Fans were delighted to see the Pitt-Aniston reunion during a star-studded virtual table read for Fast Times at Ridgemont High last week In the past: Pitt was married to Aniston, 51, from 2000-2005; seen in 2004 The exes 'are on good terms and both agreed to play their respective roles and have fun with it,' a source said. Tensions have escalated between Brad and Angelina, with family therapy no longer taking place,' a source told US. 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. Britain could avoid another full-blown lockdown by cocooning the elderly, scientists advising the Government say. The strategy would see ministers encourage those most at-risk of coronavirus, including patients with underlying health conditions, to stay home and shield. It would allow young and healthy Brits to continue enjoying freedoms like going to restaurants and pubs - which would also bolster the flailing economy. Documents released today by the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) shows experts advising Number 10 are considering the tactic. Scientists admit the move would be ethically questionable but say 'there are 'no easy options' when trying to juggle saving lives and keeping the economy afloat. The idea was pondered in a scientific report handed to SAGE, which then presents the findings to the Government to help inform public health policy. Other scientific documents suggested forcing businesses to have to earn a 'Covid secure' mark of approval before opening their premises. Britain could avoid another full-blown lockdown by cooping away the elderly, scientists advising the Government say (file) The scientific papers handed to SAGE in recent months found: Britain could run out of PPE again if its hit with a bad bout of flu PPE shortages could once again wreak havoc across the NHS, SAGE warned in its 47th meeting on July 16. Minutes said with high certainty 'there will be co-infection with influenza over the winter', confirming fears of a 'double whammy'. And with both illnesses rife in the community, this could cause 'logistical challenges around PPE usage'. PPE, which includes face masks, goggles and gloves, are vital for protecting hospital staff and patients from outbreaks. PPE shortages could once again wreak havoc across the NHS, SAGE warned in its 47th meeting on July 16 (file) The disposable, one-use items are thrown away between patients to avoid viruses spreading from one patient to another. But shortages crippled the NHS during the height of the pandemic due to a sheer lack of preparedness to stock up by the Government. A repeat of the chaos could be even more dangerous this winter with two viruses both of which can be fatal in hospitals. Children and young people could be exempt from restrictions, advice suggests but not adults The idea of Covid-19 rules based on age was pushed further in the 47th and 48th SAGE meetings, on July 16 and July 23 , respectively. Scientists said there was 'merit' in giving out different rules to abide by depending on people's age, but gave no examples. The most vulnerable in society, and their closest friends or family, would most likely face stricter guidelines than those who are young and healthy, its suggested. SAGE acknowledged that, given houses are made up of parents, teenagers, children and the elderly, most families in England would have to continue being careful anyway for the sake of the higher-risk individuals in their home. Children and young people could be exempt from restrictions, advice suggests. Pictured, a group of revellers in Leeds South Asian population driving new wave of cases, SAGE says A 'significant and growing' proportion of the new Covid-19 cases are among the South Asian population, SAGE said in July. South Asians make up eight per cent of the population in England, but the data suggests cases are disproportionately high in these communities. It's been previously speculated why this may be, including if English is not someone's first language, they may not be aware of the symptoms of Covid-19 or the guidelines on self isolation. The minutes said: 'SAGE noted Covid-19 has followed a familiar path to previous large epidemics in which is proves challenging to reduce incidence among harder-to-reach populations.' It could also be because those of ethnic minorities are more likely to work in key worker roles, have underlying health conditions and live in crowded houses all risk factors of Covid-19. But SAGE warned of a stigmatisation towards these groups if they are blamed for the Covid-19 crisis. It said ensuring 'culturally appropriate' messaging would be vital to help drive down cases before the winter hit. Ministers told AGAIN that visors are useless Ministers were told again that visors (like the one pictured) are useless ARE FACE SHIELDS PROTECTIVE? In a scramble to find ways to protect people from catching the coronavirus, masks, goggles, visors and gloves have all been touted as possible layers of protection. Some people have even been seen with homemade attempts, such as wearing lunchboxes or water bottles over their faces. But do visors work? Some research has shown that people are at risk of becoming more seriously ill with COVID-19 if they receive a larger 'viral load' - the first dose of viruses that they are infected with. Epidemiologist Dr Eli Perencevich and a team of scientists at the University of Iowa said a visor could reduce the amount of virus someone inhaled by up to 92 per cent form 2m away from the source. They said: 'Face shields... should be included as part of strategies to safely and significantly reduce transmission in the community setting.' Dr Robert Glatter, a doctor at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said that early data was 'promising'. But research carried out before the pandemic does not show any clear benefits of using visors on their own, other scientists say. A study by the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) done in 2016 found there is no proof to back up claims that face shields work on their own. He said viruses or bacteria could come in through around the edges of the visor and still cause infection and said they should only be used in addition to other PPE. Lawrence Young, a virologist and oncologist, University of Warwick, told MailOnline: 'I dont know of any systematic studies properly evaluating the benefits of face shields.' He noted an 'interesting' review led by the University of Hong which comprehensively explored the different types of facial protection measures, including masks. The team highlighted the fact that strong evidence is lacking in terms of the effectiveness of face shields against the transmission of viral respiratory diseases'. Writing in the journal Oral Diseases, the team add: 'Because most face shields do not form a tight seal around the side of the face and chin area, they do not offer protection against aerosols leaking in from the margins of the face shields.' Advertisement SAGE warned that face visors, worn by hairdressers, beauticians and barbers, are useless at protecting against Covid-19 - and its not the first time. These workers have been told by the government that clear visors are adequate enough to protect against Covid-19. It is not clear what this guidance was based on. Face visors are 'likely' to protect the wearer against large droplets the most common route of Covid-19 transmission but there is no hard proof that this is the case, SAGE has previously said. Similarly, there is no evidence and it is 'unlikely' that face shields are an effective control against aerosol transmission. Findings from the SAGE Environment and Modelling Group, whose research recently said there were limitations of face shields. This week a study by the Riken Centre in Japan found plastic face shields allow nearly 100 per cent of tiny airborne droplets released when talking or breathing escape through visors. And half of larger droplets measuring 50 micrometres in size given off by coughs and sneezes found their way into the air, posing a risk to others. One micrometre is one millionth of a metre. Virus may be evolving and immunity lasts just four months but having a common cold in past may offer some protection Immunity against the coronavirus may last just four months after infection, scientists warned in an update of the research given to SAGE. When someone is infected with the bug, they build an immune response against it. It is unclear how long this lasts for the coronavirus, whether that be weeks, months or years. Professor Wendy Barclay and colleagues discussed a recent report of a 33-year-old man in Hong Kong who caught the coronavirus twice. He was found to test positive the second time after returning from a holiday abroad. They said it could either be explained by two things; the first is that the man's antibody status waned in the four months between the two bouts of illness. Research has suggested that antibodies decline three months after infection meaning only a fraction of true cases during the peak of the crisis in March and April may have been spotted with antibody testing, and people are still vulnerable to the disease. The second possibility is that the coronavirus has evolved and therefore human's can have immunity against one strain, but still be infected by another, possibly in another country. This could be problematic or vaccine development. It would mean jabs needed to be changed to reflect what strains are circulating like the flu jab. The paper also concluded there may some 'cross-over' in protection from Covid-19 from other coronaviruses, such as the common cold. T-cells, white blood cells that help clear viruses from the body, that were triggered in response to another coronavirus may recognise SARS-CoV-2 as a threat and immediately start to attack it. Mortality rate of patients in hospital may now be three times lower than it was in the peak The mortality rate of Covid-19 in Britain has been slashed over the past six months, evidence suggests. The COVID-19 Clinical Information Network (CO-CIN) collates information from NHS hospitals across England, Wales and Scotland to give an idea of the symptoms, characteristics and outcomes of the sickest patients. A report dated September 16 states that of those admitted after August 1, 12 per cent died compared with 31 per cent over the course of the pandemic. 'However this may be falsely low given the number of patients still receiving on-going care (could rise to maximum of 29 per cent),' the paper said. Fewer people are needing mechanical ventilation now (left) compared to the pandemic as a whole (right) Experts believe it is becoming clear doctors are getting better at treating the disease, and note medics are less keen on putting patients on ventilators amid concerns they could make the illness worse. It's hoped survival rates will improve further still after a number of cheap steroids, including dexamethasone and hydrocortisone, were proven to treat severe Covid. Hospitals are also far less busy than they were in April and May, meaning doctors and nurses can spend more time with virus patients. Staff sickness rates are also lower. Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist and oncologist at the University of Warwick, told MailOnline earlier this month that although cases are on an upward trajectory, 'it is becoming increasingly clear that people are less likely to die if they get Covid-19 now compared with earlier in the pandemic, at least in Europe'. He said: 'Possible explanations include that a larger number of younger people 15 to 44 year olds are now being infected compared to the first peak in cases in April and this group are less likely to get severe disease. 'Two; there is now more effective treatment for patients with Covid-19 with far fewer needing mechanical ventilation; and three; less aggressive variants of SARS-CoV-2, particularly the D614G variant, are more prevalent these remain very infectious but are less likely to cause severe disease.' Indeed the CO-CIN report said: 'Patients admitted to hospital with Covid-19 after 1st August are younger than the overall cohort. There are fewer patients requiring non-invasive/invasive ventilation.' It backs reports from the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC) shows that survival rates for the sickest Covid-19 patients in England have improved by 10 per cent. Its most recent analysis of NHS records shows that, in July, 34 per cent of ICU patients with Covid-19 were dying. This was a considerably higher 44 per cent in March. Co-infection with flu does NOT raise risk of dying despite health chiefs saying it does Co-infection with Covid-19 and flu does not raise the risk of dying, data suggests, despite Public Health England warning it does this week. The CO-CIN looked at whether hospital patients who had a positive test for both flu and SARS-CoV-2 had worse outcomes than those who just had one virus. In both groups, a quarter of patients died, suggesting neither infection exacerbated the other. However, the researchers noted a number of caveats that could have affected results; they stressed that during the time of data collection between February and June the flu was not circulating at high levels and most elderly people would have been vaccinated against it. Thomas Drake and colleagues did point out in their paper, dated September 23, that patients struck with both bugs had more than twice the length of hospital stay 16 days on average compared to seven days for those only had Covid-19. Mortality rates in women (left) and men (right) who had either Covid-19 alone (red line), or Covid-19 with flu (blue line). There were no differences in death rates It comes after Public Health England warned people who catch Covid-19 and flu at the same time are in 'serious trouble' after analysing data in almost 20,000 people who were tested for both Covid-19 and flu in the UK between January 20 and April 25. Findings from the government agency's research showed the risk of death was 2.3 times higher for patients who had caught both viruses, compared to being infected with Covid-19 alone. Analysis also showed the handful of hospitalised patients who had both infections simultaneously during the pandemic were around six times more likely to die than those who tested negative for both infections. Officials have urged the public 'not to be complacent' over the flu by declining the offer of a free vaccination this autumn. Is shortness of breath the most common symptom? Analysis of hospitalised patients show it is more common than a cough or fever Shortness of breath appears to be the most common Covid-19 symptom among those infected who need hospital care, data shows. The COVID-19 Clinical Information Network (CO-CIN) database reveals just over half (51 per cent) of 990 patients who attended hospital with the disease complained of breathing difficulties. This was more than fever (about 50 per cent) and cough (about 45 per cent) the two main symptoms of the disease listed by the NHS, along with a loss of smell and taste, which was not noted by the report at all. When looking closer at age brackets, only those under the age of 50 did not report shortness of breath as the top symptom. It was third, following fever first and cough second. The COVID-19 Clinical Information Network (CO-CIN) database reveals just over half (51 per cent) of hospital patients complained of breathing difficulties The World Health Organization says Covid-19 affects different people in different ways. Most infected people will develop mild to moderate illness and recover without hospitalization. But 'serious' symptoms include shortness of breath, as Covid-19 is a disease that affects the lungs and airways. In the most critical cases, it can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which can be fatal and needs mechanical ventilation, The NHS does not mention breathing difficulties on its coronavirus symptom page at all, and has chosen to keep its list very short in comparison to other major health agencies. According to King's College Symptom Study app, the most common symptoms of Covid-19 in adults both mild and severe together are fatigue (87 per cent), headache (72 per cent), loss of smell (60 per cent), persistent cough (54 per cent) and sore throat (49 per cent). 'Covid secure' marks of approval for premises could come into action At SAGE's meeting on July 17, scientists pondered the idea of forcing businesses to earn a 'Covid secure' mark of approval before being allowed to open. Since May, the UK Government has warned only premises that can keep people socially distanced and supply clean, fresh air are allowed to be open. But there are fears that some businesses - such as pubs - have not been enforcing the rules. SAGE pondered the idea of a mark of approval but admitted it is 'not straightforward'. Scientists said at the time: 'It is theoretically possible to quantify relative risk for particular settings/environments, but this may not be meaningful given the complex and varied interactions and activities of people in those settings.' Britain could avoid another lockdown if shielders are kept safe and people who come into contact with them are regularly tested A second devastating lockdown may not be needed if the most vulnerable people of society and their closest contacts are protected. The strategy would work by first identifying each 'high risk individual' using an algorithm accounting for age, ethnicity, and health conditions. Then, a relative or carer of the high-risk person nominates themselves to be their 'shielder'. This person is trusted to avoid places they could pick up the coronavirus as much as possible, whether that be a hospital, large indoor social gathering or town that has a high infection rate. A team at Edinburgh University led by Mark Woolhouse, a professor of, proposed the idea to SAGE on August 4. It's called 'segmentation and protection'. The benefits are that the whole of society do not need to go into lockdown if cases rise, leaving those who are healthy and of working age to keep contributing to the economy, while high-risk individuals do not need to completely lock themselves away in isolation. However, it depends almost entirely on the shielder remaining free from infection. And it would be ethically difficult to tell one part of society to carry on shielding while allowing others to go back to normality, after everyone's' lives were so drastically impacted by the lockdown. Professor Woolhouse write: 'Segmentation and protection raises ethical questions as some measures are targeted at subsets of the population. 'However, lockdown also raises ethical questions as the benefits are felt mainly by those same subsets of the population. It needs to be understood that here are no easy options available.' Local lockdowns may need to turn into regional ones In SAGE's 50th meeting, on August 6, the Government's scientists endorsed the idea that local lockdowns may need to be broadened to truly keep a lid on outbreaks. As it stands, the Government is putting certain towns and cities under harsher measures on a weekly basis if their case rates get too high. But there are concerns that people in these places can simply venture to the neighbouring town and enjoy more freedoms - potentially spreading the virus further. SAGE suggested broadening local measures to cover larger parts of counties, regions or boroughs to counteract the problem. Gov. Phil Scott says he will take a look at the legislation when it reaches his desk before he decides what to do. His choices include signing the bill, vetoing it or allowing it to become law without his signature. file image Farmers across the country are going on a strike today and have announced a Bharat Bandh to register their protest against three farm bills that were passed in the Parliament in the Monsoon Session. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill were passed by the Parliament earlier this week. The farmers said they would continue their fight till the three farm bills were revoked. The protesters have expressed apprehensions that the Centre's farm reforms would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system and they would be at the "mercy" of big corporates. On September 24, farmers started a three-day rail blockade against the bills and squatted on railway tracks at many places in Punjab. The farmer groups have also decided to go for an indefinite rail blockade from October 1. Ahead of the protest, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has appealed to the farmers to maintain law and order, and adhere to all coronavirus-safety protocols during the strike. As many as 31 farmers' organisations came together for a complete shutdown of the state. Among farmers' unions supporting the bandh call are the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Kirti Kisan Union and factions of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). 7:01 pm: The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee has announced that it would be extending its 'rail roko' agitation in Punjab against three farm Bills till September 29. The three-day agitation was scheduled to end on September 26. 5:04 pm: Punjab CM should call an immediate cabinet meeting & pass an ordinance to declare the State as one 'Mandi' to ensure recently passed agricultural Bills not enforceable in Punjab, says Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir S Badal while addressing a rally at Lambi Village in Muktsar. 4:36 pm: Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee continues their 'rail roko' agitation in Amritsar, Punjab, in protest against the farm bills. The Committee is holding the 'rail roko' agitation from September 24 to 26 against the Bills. 4:21 pm: Farmers under the aegis of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) are staging widespread protests in Kerala against the Farm Bills, alleging that the new legislations will hand over the country's agriculture sector to corporate giants. Senior CPI(M) leader and Vice President of AIKS, S Ramachandran Pillai launched the protest in front of the Raj Bhavan and said the new agri bills will turn farmers into labourers of corporate giants. 2:30 pm: Maharashtra Congress president and minister in the state Cabinet has said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, consisting of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress oppose the farm bills, and they will not be implemented in Maharashtra. 12.54 pm: Scores of farmers gathered on a key road in Noida in Uttar Pradesh in a protest demonstration today, prompting deployment of police in riot gear that kept them from proceeding towards Delhi. Around 150-200 farmers were at the Noida Gate in Sector 14A near Chilla, at the UP-Delhi border, where they were stopped by the Gautam Buddh Nagar police around 12 noon, officials said. 12.24 pm: Farmers in Karnataka staged demonstrations across the state today as part of a 'bandh' call given to protest the 'anti-farmer' policies of the central and state governments. 12.13 pm: Congress' chief spokesperson Surjewala said the party joins farmers in their struggle. "Farmers are protesting with Bharat Bandh. Their livelihood is being snatched away and the Modi government has attacked their farms," he said in a video message. "There is chaos everywhere. Modi ji swears by farmers, but stays true to his friendship with crony capitalist friends," Surjewala alleged. 12.01 pm: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi hit out at the government, saying the three farm bills brought by it are reminiscent of the "East India Company rule". The MSP (minimum support price) of the farmers will be "snatched away" and they will be forced to become slaves of billionaires through contract farming, Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi. 11.50 am: Voicing support for the Bharat Bandh call given by farmer organisations to protest the farm bills, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the new agriculture laws will "enslave" farmers. "A flawed GST destroyed MSMEs. The new agriculture laws will enslave our farmers," former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted with the hashtag 'I Support Bharat Bandh'. 11.40 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi: All BJP Karyakartas should reach out to the farmers on the ground and inform them in very simplified language about the importance and intricacies of the new farm reforms, how these will empower them. Our ground connect will bust the propaganda being spread in the virtual world. 11.28 am: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav participated in the protest against the three farm bills passed in the Monsson Session of the Parliament, in Patna, Bihar. 11.04 am: As part of a nationwide shutdown, more farmers are likely to hit the streets in states such as Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh where opposition parties are likely to join them. Authorities today had to cancel several train services on some routes, as farmers started blocking highways and railway tracks. 10.53 am: Farmers have begun their protest as part of the 'Punjab Bandh' call against the contentious farm bills that were recently passed in the Parliament. They started gathering at roads at several places in the state for stopping the movement of traffic. 10.42 am: As many as 31 farmer organisations, under aegis of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) have joined hands for the complete shutdown of Punjab. Among farmers' unions which are supporting the bandh call included Bharti Kisan Union Krantikari, Kirti Kisan Union, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and BKU (Lakhowal). 10.30 am: The Congress has supported the 'Bharat Bandh' call given by farmer organisations, saying millions of party workers stand in solidarity with the farmers' cause and will participate in their dharnas. Chief Congress spokesperson Randeep Sujewala had yesterday said that while farmers and farm labourers fill the stomachs of countrymen with their hard labour, the Modi government is attacking them and their fields. Bihar: RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) workers protest in Darbhanga, against #FarmBills, while riding buffaloes. pic.twitter.com/cKA2wpXa6B ANI (@ANI) September 25, 2020 Haryana BJP leaders Parminder Singh Dhull and Rampal Majra have dubbed the Centre's farm bills "anti-farmer", claiming that the apprehensions about the minimum support price were not unfounded. The two former legislators said many farmer outfits were protesting against the Centre's farm reforms and their voices should be heard. 10.00 am: The government has made our 'annadaata' a puppet through its 'fund daata'. Farm bills are anti-farmer and have left them dejected. The government had said that they'll double farmers' income by 2022 but these bills will make them poorer. The agriculture sector has been corporatised, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav told news agency ANI. 9.50 am: Police personnel deployed in Amritsar city in the wake of farmers protest today, against farm bills passed in the Monsson Session of the Parliament. ACP told news agency ANI, "Security forces have been deployed at every crossroad and level crossing in the entire city so that no untoward incident takes place." 9.30 am: Police personnel being deployed around Ladowal Toll Plaza in Ludhiana, in the wake of the nationwide protest by farmers today, over farm bills. SHO Ladowal told news agency ANI, "All preparations made, additional forces deployed. Farmer leaders have assured us that protest will be peaceful." (With inputs from agencies) Laredo police said they are looking for a woman whose son tested positive for cocaine at a local hospital. Elaine Salsberry, 29, has active warrants of arrest for abandon, endanger child and assault, family violence. The grand jury in Breonna Taylor's case decided to not directly indict the officers involved in her death, sparking outrage and bringing Americans to the streets in cities across the country. Houston was no exception. Calls for justice have been ringing since details of Taylor's death made national headlines in March. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician living in Louisville, Kentucky, was at home, sleeping in her bed, when police executed a "no-knock warrant" and fired six bullets into her body, killing her. None of the Louisville police officers in the botched raid were charged for Taylor's death. The lone charge handed down Wednesday was for endangering nearby residences in the course of shooting. Officer Brett Hankison was indicted for wanton endangerment for firing into a neighboring apartment on the night Taylor was killed. Community leaders and activists are calling the ruling "absurd." Houston rapper and activist Trae tha Truth spoke to KHOU 11 to express his feelings on the matter, saying that this was "no less than a slap in the face." The rapper flew to Louisville yesterday to protest, after helping rescue families in the wake of Tropical Storm Beta. HOMETOWN HEROES: Trae tha Truth and his Relief Gang are helping victims of Topical Storm Beta Trae tha Truth has been forthright about his feelings in regards to social justice, and shared multiple posts on Instagram regarding the ruling. In another post, he shares the indictment document. In the caption he writes, "Nothing on this indictment even acknowledge Breonna Taylor... Wtf!!" Attorneys in Taylor's case called the ruling "outrageous and offensive," and "someone should be held accountable because an innocent woman was shot in her own home, " as reported by Jemima McEvoy with Forbes. Declining church attendance causing depression in some pastors, Global United Fellowship is pushing back Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment When the annual gathering of the Global United Fellowship kicks off at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas on Tuesday, a big discussion on what makes a healthy church is expected to ensue. And for the fellowships leader, Presiding Bishop Neil C. Ellis, there will be some focus on how declining church attendance has been causing mental turmoil for members worldwide. First of all, we have to protect the emotions of our church leaders. There has been a global decline in church attendance in the last five to seven years. And so a lot of pastors now are becoming depressed because their numbers are smaller, Ellis told The Christian Post in an interview last week. One of the things we have to get them to look at when we talk about a healthy church is size because everything thats big is not mature. And everything thats grown is not fully developed. You could be big and unhealthy, you could be smaller and more healthy. Weve got to make sure more and more pastors arent becoming depressed because they are seeing a decline, said Ellis, who is an author and leader of Mount Tabor Union Baptist Church in the Bahamas, where GUF is headquartered. Launched in October 2013 under Ellis leadership, the GUF has grown from a group of 41 to more than 1,400 churches in 42 countries today. And the rise of the organization, which has attracted high profile American preachers such as New Birth Missionary Baptist Churchs Jamal Bryant, is being driven in part because of the leadership Ellis provides as a pastors pastor. One of the reasons why the fellowship has grown so rapidly is for this very reason. A lot of them see me as a pastors pastor. And many of them over the years have not really had a pastor. Theyve been pastoring without a pastor. Theyve not been accountable to anybody. Theres nobody holding their feet to the fire. And so as these guys mature and become older and wiser in the things of God, they are beginning to recognize that they cant make it on their own, Ellis explained. The GUFs five-pronged mandate to unite churches; equip leaders; enhance marriages; resurrect the dying discipline of prayer and build covenant relationships among church leaders was strategically developed to respond to the evolving needs of pastors in a culture that is rapidly introducing new challenges. Increasingly, explains Ellis, covenant relationships among pastors is increasingly proving to be an important ingredient in helping them stay healthy. There are a lot of pastors in ministry who are very lonely people. They might be doing a good work, they might be pastoring a great church, but they are lonely. And so they have a wonderful public image and a detrimental private life. [They] preach some of the greatest sermons and go home and want to die, Ellis explained. And that, too, has come as a result of a lot of pain, a lot of hurt, and a lot of backstabbing and disappointment that theyve had from other relationships with the clergy. Some whove worked with pastors have been abused and let down. Ellis explained that when he sat down with leaders to form the fellowship in 2013, they were not interested in creating a group to respond to problems that already had a solution. The focus was on missing pieces. What we are saying is, when you become a part of Global United Fellowship, as a pastor, we should even be accountable to one another and our goal should be to strengthen who we are and build relationships that are lasting and prevalent, he said. One of the slogans I have in the fellowship is: Were not just a fellowship, were endeavoring to be a family. And so I have developed some relationships on a personal level who prior to the development of Global, I didnt know these guys. Now, we talk in some cases two- to-three times a week, he said. Pastors are longing for real relationships and when we talk about covenant relationships, thats what we are talking about, he added. He explained that the emphasis on building covenant relationships among the clergy was also inspired by the results of a mental health exercise conducted during a pastors conference two years ago. We did a pastors conference two years ago, and one of the things we did at the conference was we brought in three Christian psychologists. Each of them was asked over the three-day period to see a minimum of 20 pastors. In order for you to get an appointment to see the psychologist, all you had was a number, he explained. At the end of the day, we had three pastors who publicly stood up before that group and said, I was considering suicide. Now that intensified my desire to really push this whole issue of covenant relationship among the brethren, because I believe nobody who committed suicide, if they were in covenant relationship, I dont believe it would have happened, he said. The Gathering of the GUF will be held July 912 and more than 1,700 people are expected to travel to the Bahamas for the event which is expected to attract 3,500 participants from ministries located in the U.S., the Bahamas, Pakistan, England, South Africa, Ghana, Cuba, Haiti, the Philippines and other countries. While I know there is no one person or no one group that can unite the Body of Christ, I believe God raises up people and organizations to bring certain elements of the churches closer together. In our case, I believe it is our responsibility to better unite Protestants, Apostolics, charismatics, independents and Pentecostals. Thats our group. And I believe it is an assignment from God to bring these people closer together, Ellis explained about his groups mission. On July 10, breakout sessions at the conference will include The Community Within the Community, which will be facilitated by the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team to help leaders respond to the many personal crises that affect congregants. The conference will feature speaking slots with Devon Franklin and Meagan Goode, Jamal Bryant and Bishop Marvin Sapp, as well as Ellis and other well-known figures in the Christian community. While participants will be allowed time to relax and enjoy the island, Ellis said there will also be a focus on increasing prayer which is part of the fellowships mission. I believe that the Church, the Body of Christ no longer prays as much today as it prayed 30 years ago. Consequently, we are seeing churches with less power, and less influence. When you remove the lifeblood from the church which is prayer because thats what Jesus said I want it to be known as when you remove the lifeblood from the church or you scale it down, you remove or scale down the power and influence that that church has, Ellis said. Now in the 21st century church, prayer has been replaced with praise. So you can have 20, 30 minutes of praise going on in a service for two hours and maybe five minutes of prayer, he continued. I believe if were gonna get the church back into rescuing the perishing, caring for the dying, seeing signs and wonders and miracles follow the work of our leaders, then prayer has to be resurrected, he said. Trump Plans to Designate Antifa, KKK as Terrorist Organizations President Donald Trump is slated to announce a measure that designates far-left movement Antifa and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as terrorist organizations, calling for lynching to be made a federal hate crime. Trump on Friday said he will provide details about his plan for black America, including a pledge to access capital in black communities by about $500 billion. The move is likely an attempt for Trump to further try and peel away black voters support from Democratic nominee Joe Biden. For decades, Democrat politicians like Joe Biden have taken black voters for granted. They made you big promises before every electionand then the moment they got to Washington, they abandoned you and sold you out, Trump said in an event in Florida. The Democrats will always take Black voters for granted until large numbers of black Americans vote Republican. Trump will also make Juneteenth a national holiday, or a celebration of the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States, according to Trumps speech, reported Fox News. The president will also designate Antifa, which is described as an anarcho-communist movement, a terrorist organization, the report said. Earlier this summer, amid far-left unrest and riots, Trump announced on Twitter that he would declare it as such, although action has yet to be taken by his administration. Instead of fighting for public safety for these communities, the Democrats are attacking our police and empowering far-left rioters, looters, and anarchists, the president said. In the Republican Party, we believe in protecting all black livesincluding the unborn. A protester taunts police as they disperse a crowd of about 150 people from around Portland City Hall, in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 25, 2020. Protests and riots have been a nightly occurrence in the city since May. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images) It added: Every child, of every raceborn and unbornis made in the Holy image of God. Republicans believe that all human life is sacred at no time before has there been a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, and two agendas for the future. Meanwhile, according to a copy of his speech, he will promise to increase safety in black communities. Trumps move to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization came after FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress that those who engaged in recent violent protests are targets of serious FBI investigations. We have seen Antifa adherence coalescing and working together in what I would describe as small groups and nodes, Wray has said. Wray added that the bureau is conducting multiple investigations into some anarchist violent extremists, some of whom operate through these nodes. Before that, Attorney General William Barr in August said Antifa is a revolutionary group that is bent on establishing communism or socialism in the United States. They are a revolutionary group that is interested in some form of socialism, communism. Theyre essentially Bolsheviks. Their tactics are fascistic, Barr said in an interview with Fox News on Aug. 9. Kyle Shideler, director and senior analyst for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, told The Epoch Times that Barr and other federal officials need to treat the group as the subversive and insurrectionist force it is. Antifas distributed and non-hierarchical network structure requires better intelligence to counter, he said, noting that the federal government has a unique responsibility to address this threat. Reuters and Bowen Xiao contributed to this report. Major Australia bank stocks surge Onshore Chinese yuan strengthens Investors monitored Chinese assets after FTSE Russell announced Thursday that Chinese government bonds are scheduled to be included in the FTSE World Government Bond Index starting October 2021. Following the announcement, the onshore Chinese yuan strengthened to 6.8193 per dollar, but was still off levels below 6.78 against the greenback seen earlier this week. The offshore Chinese yuan was at 6.8263 per dollar, also weaker than levels below 6.8 seen earlier in the trading week. "I think even before the inclusion or the announcement of the inclusion, we are optimistic on Chinese bonds," Tai Hui, Asia chief market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Friday. "We are in a zero-yield world and you know, Chinese bonds do offer somewhere between 2.5% to 3% when it comes to government bonds," he said. "From that perspective, especially given the fact that we've seen the (Chinese yuan) on a stronger footing in the past few months, it does offer a pretty attractive proposition." Overnight on Wall Street, stocks eked out small gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 52.31 points higher, or 0.2%, at 26,815.44. The S&P 500 added 0.3% to finish its trading day at 3,246.59 while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.4% to close at 10,672.27. The moves stateside came in a wild session that saw the Dow down more than 200 points at its session low and up more than 300 points at one point. Currencies and oil Shopian: A group of unidentified terrorists attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) patrol party deployed in South Kashmir`s mini secretariat on Friday. However, no casualties or injuries were reported so far. After the attack on the CRPF patrol party, the entire area has been cordoned off and a massive search and cordon operation has been launched. Live TV Additional reinforcement has also been rushed to the attack site. On Thursday morning, a CRPF personnel succumbed to injuries sustained after terrorists attacked a CRPF party in Kaisermulla area at Chadoora in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. The ASI rank officer was admitted to the 92 Army Base hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries. Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday, appealed to the farmers to strictly maintain law and order, and adhere to all Covid-19 safety protocols, during Bharat Bandh against the Agriculture Bills scheduled for Friday. According to the official release, Singh said, while the state government is fully in support with the farmers in their fight against the Bills, and no FIRs will be registered for violation of Section 144, there should be no disturbance of the law and order during the Bandh. The chief minister also urged the farmers, and other organisations supporting the Bandh, to maintain social distancing and wear masks at all times. The state is already in the midst of a surge in Covid-19 cases, and any violation of precautionary norms could lead to the situation spiralling out of control, he said. As per media reports, several farmer organisations have announced Bharat Bandh on September 25 to protest against farm Bills passed by Parliament. On September 20, the Rajya Sabha passed the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill amid protest from Opposition parties. As per the bills, farmers can take their produce anywhere -- inter-state or intra-state -- beyond Agricultural produce market committees (APMCs). The state governments cannot levy any fee or cess on farmers. According to the Centre, these bills will help small and marginal farms by allowing them to sell produce outside mandis and sign agreements with agri-business firms; and doing away with stock-holding limits on key commodities. In a last-minute move that could stave off an election, the federal government has tweaked its replacement for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to pay recipients $500 a week instead of $400. The announcement on Thursday came a day after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh signalled his partys support for the Liberal minority governments throne speech which is potentially crucial for avoiding an election was contingent on this kind of a move. Singh called the funding boost a major victory for people, but has yet to commit his party to voting in support of the throne speech. Without that support, the minority Liberal government could fall. While the bill that boosts the benefit increase also includes a paid sick-leave plan, Singh said he still has reservations around access that he wouldnt detail while negotiations about the legislation were ongoing. However, he said, Things look really positive. CERB provides $500 per week to those who lost their jobs during the pandemic, but is set to expire this week. The increase to the proposed Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) would make it equivalent to what CERB now pays. The CRB plan was included in an economic recovery bill that was tabled in Parliament on Thursday. If the legislation passes, Canadians who qualify could receive $500 a week for up to 26 weeks between Sept. 27 and Sept. 25, 2021. The bill also includes: A Canada Recovery Sickness benefit, which would provide $500 a week for two weeks to workers who fall ill or need to self-isolate due to COVID-19; A Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit, which would provide $500 a week per household for up to 26 weeks when someone must take a leave from work to care for a family member. Combined, these three new benefits would create a safe bridge to help Canadians span the gap between the complete lockdown of last spring and a safe and gradual reopening of the economy this fall and winter, Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough told a news conference on Thursday. Labour Minister Filomena Tassi said the bill would also amend the labour code, allowing people to leave work for up to two weeks if theyve contracted COVID-19, been exposed to it or had to go into self-isolation. These are temporary measures to help Canadians overcome the challenges that they are facing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tassi said. We want to ensure that Canadians know that their job is protected if they stay at home to keep themselves and other Canadians safe. When the CRB plan was first announced last month, the government said it would provide $400 a week to people who didnt qualify for Employment Insurance when the CERB ended. It also said EI would be modified to allow more people to access it. As of Sept. 27, workers who become eligible for EI will receive a minimum benefit of $500 per week. Those who arent eligible could apply for one of the three new benefits unveiled Thursday. The legislation would also allow the government to have its emergency spending powers extended until December. Asked if political considerations led to the CRB increase, Qualtrough said the government had always intended to be flexible in how much money it would provide under the program. We landed here because this is where the country is now in terms of the support workers need, she said. Wednesdays throne speech was criticized by the Bloc Quebecois, which wants increased funding for provinces, and the federal Conservatives, who said it ignored the plight of oil and gas workers. Premiers Doug Ford and Jason Kenney were also disappointed to see no commitment had been made by the Liberals to boost health-care funding for provinces. Conservative MP Peter Kent called Thursdays legislation unacceptable, and questioned the governments motives for unveiling the changes days after locking out MPs and shutting down Parliament to block investigations into their ethical scandals. Now they are trying to ram through their legislation to distract from a throne speech that left millions of Canadians behind, Kent said in a written statement. Read more about: The Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) has just released a report reviewing the 10-year implementation of the Law on Gender Equality, assessing the conformity of the Law on Gender Equality with international standards, the consistency between legal documents and the Law on Gender Equality; and the efficiency of the implementation of the Law on Gender Equality. Diverse policies issued to help women boost economic development (Photo: VGP) According to MOLISA Deputy Minister and Standing Vice Chairwoman of the National Committee for the Advancement of Vietnam Women Nguyen Thi Ha, after 10 years of implementing the Law on Gender Equality, many proud achievements in Vietnam's gender equality have been recognized and appreciated by the world. Notable is the proportion of female deputies of the 14th National Assembly of 26.8%, higher than the average rate of 19% in Asian countries and 25% globally. The ratio of male and female students at all educational levels is always equal. The gender structure of Vietnam's labor force is relatively balanced with the proportion of 52.7% men and 47.3% women. A number of improved development indicators puts Vietnam at a higher rank in the international community for gender equality. According to the Human Development Report 2019, Vietnam's human development index (HDI) is 0.63, ranking 118 out of 189 countries. With a gender development index of 1.003, Vietnam ranked 68th out of 166 countries worldwide in 2018. However, Ms Ha also said that the implementation of gender equality in Vietnam was facing many difficulties and challenges. In fact, both men and women are affected by gender inequality, but women and girls are still the more disadvantaged groups. Challenges in Vietnam are brought about by the impact of the global economy, the strong development of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, natural disasters and climate change, and changes in demography. Ms. Naomi Kitahara, Chief Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam, said that during the 10 years of implementing the Law on Gender Equality, Vietnam has become one of the countries in the Asia-Pacific region which has made great progress in terms of gender equality. She appreciated achievements in promoting women's rights and leadership, particularly in health and education. According to Ms Kitahara, as one of the 17 goals for sustainable development, gender equality and women's empowerment is indispensable in all aspects of socio-economic life. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but also a necessary foundation for a peaceful and prosperous Vietnamese society./. Lok Sabha passes 3 landmark Labour Codes The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed three New Labour Codes that seeks to ensure that half a billion workers, including those in the organised, unorganised and self employed are guaranteed minimum wages and social security. The new legislation seeks to widen social security net of ESIC and EPFO to open it up for all workers and self-employed. The three bills passed in the Lok Sabha include: Industrial Relations Code 2020; Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020; and Social Security Code, 2020. Bringing workers in the unorganised sector under the labour laws has been part of the governments efforts to bring much needed labour welfare reforms in the country. The decision was taken after consultations with many multi-stakeholders, including trade unions, employers, state governments and experts of labour sector. He labour ministry also held nine tripartite consultations, four sub-committee meetings and 10 regional conferences, 10 inter-ministerial consultations and views of citizens. The Codes provide for setting up of `Social Security Fund for 400 million workers in the unorganised sector along with gig and platform workers that will help in widening universal social security coverage, minister of state for labour and employment Santosh Gangwar said while elaborating on the welfare provisions in the Labour Codes. The highlights: The codes seeks to bring pay parity to women workers vis-a-vis their male counterparts; Fixed term employee will be entitled to get same service condition, gratuity, leave and social security as regular employee; The codes provide that 50 per cent of the penalty in case of an accident will go to workers along with other dues; A `National Occupational Safety and Health Board is to be set up for providing international level safety environment; The definition of working journalists has been expanded to include digital and electronic media; Plantation workers to also get ESIC benefits along with gig and platform workers All migrant workers will be covered instead of only those brought in by contactors earlier; Data base on migrant workers through law to help better targeting, skill mapping and utilisation of government schemes by workers; Migrant workers to get journey allowance from employer, to visit home town once a year; Helpline to redress grievances of migrant workers; Codes to promote harmonious industrial relations for higher productivity and more employment generation; Labour Codes will establish transparent, answerable and simple mechanism reducing to one registration, one licence and one return for all codes; Inspector to be now made as Inspector-cum-facilitator and introduction of random, web-based inspection system to remove Inspector Raj. Gangwar, while responding to the debate in the Lok Sabha, stated that the three bills will prove to be a Game Changer in the labour welfare reforms covering more than 50 crores organized and unorganized workers in the country. This also includes gig, platform and also opens up the doors for social security to those in the self-employment sector. The minister, while replying to the issues raised by the members of Lok Sabha, said the bills aim at holistic development of the country by keeping labour interest uppermost in the mind. He said these are the people who have suffered most by having multiple laws on labour which involved procedural complexities thereby hindering implementation of various welfare and safeguard provisions. He further said that 29 labour laws are being subsumed in the simplified, easy to understand transparent 4 labour codes. Out of the 4 labour codes, Code on Wages has already been passed by Parliament and have become the law of the land. All the labour laws (29 in number) being amalgamated into 4 labour codes are: The Wage Code includes four legislations :- The Payment of Wages Act, 1936; The Minimum Wages Act, 1948; The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; and The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976. IR Code includes three legislations: - The Trade Unions Act, 1926; The Industrial Employment (Standing orders) Act, 1946; and the The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. OSH Code includes 13 legislations :- The Factories Act, 1948; The Plantations Labour Act, 1951; The Mines Act, 1952; The Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955; The Working Journalists (Fixation of Rates of Wages) Act, 1958; The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961; The Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966; The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970; The Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976; The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979; The Cine-Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1981; The Dock Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Act, 1986; and The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 Social Security Code includes nine legislations: - The Employees Compensation Act, 1923; The Employees State Insurance Act, 1948; The Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952; The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959; The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961; The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972; The Cine Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1981; The Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996; and The Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008 The government also earlier repealed 12 Labour Acts since 2014. New Delhi, Sep 25 : After the Election Commission announced dates for the three-phase elections in Bihar, the Congress has claimed that talks with allies are on the right track on the seat-sharing deal which has not yet finalised. Congress Bihar in-charge Shakti Singh Gohil said,"There is no harm in any party propagating its leader's name for Chief Minister but we will sit and decide on the issue that which way we will go with CM face or no face." The comments come after the RJD pushing Tejashwi Yadav as the CM face ahead of elections which is not going well with the allies, specially the RLSP. Alliance partner RLSP is upset over the delay in the seat-sharing agreement and has conveyed it to the Congress leadership. Gohil said that there is no problem within the alliance and everything is going on smoothly. But the RLSP, in its resolution on Thursday, said that there are differences over the leadership in the alliance and the delay in seat sharing is not good for the health of the alliance. The party has authorised Upendra Kushwaha to take decisions on the alliance. But sources say that there are major hiccups within the alliance as the RJD is claiming all the seats which could be won by the alliance leaving seats which are tough-to-win for its partners. The RJD is keen to contest 145 out of the 243 seats leaving the burden on the Congress to adjust the RLSP, Left parties,JMMA and other smaller parties. The Congress is likely to contest 70 seats and the RLSP is claiming more than 40 seats. But the bone of contention is not the number of seats but the quality of seats which are considered a stronghold of the alliance. The fate of the alliance depends on how fast the final agreement is reached on both the issues since HAM leader Jitan Ram Manjhi has already joined the NDA citing differences. The Congress,RJD ,RLSP ,VIP and Left parties are set to challenge the NDA in Bihar if things go on track. Elections for the 243 Assembly seats in Bihar will take place in three phases between October 28 and November 7. The counting of votes will be on November 10, the Election Commission said on Friday. The term of the Bihar Assembly comes to an end on November 29. According to the poll panel, there are 7.29 crore voters in the state, including 3.85 crore male and 3.4 crore female voters and 1.6 lakh service voters. In the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) emerged as the largest party by winning 80 seats while the ruling Janata Dal-United won 71 seats, the Congress 27. The BJP managed to win 53 seats, followed by two seats by the LJP and one seat by Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular, even as other candidates emerged victorious on 10 seats. The BJP, despite winning only 53 seats, got the maximum percentage of vote share with 24 per cent, followed by the RJD with 18 per cent and JD-U 17 per cent. The Congress managed to get seven per cent vote share and the LJP around 4.8 per cent. Plascencia said the data-based approach used by McCall Principal Carol May was instrumental in closing the achievement gap. May, who is in her eighth year at the school, said the WIN or What I Need, program, uses information on student performance to help youngsters advance whether they are behind grade-level standards or ahead of them. The agitation by the nursing staff of North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run Kasturba Hospital to demand pending salaries entered into its 12th day on Friday, with over 100 staffers sitting under shade within the hospital premises to register a silent protest. The nursing staff have been abstaining from work for two hours daily since September 14 to demand pending salaries, which they claim have been due since June this year. Earlier this week, the nursing staff were joined by paramedics and sanitation staff in their agitation. We last got paid in May. Many people have taken loans from moneylenders to pay the education fees of their children or to clear their EMIs. In so many months, we havent got a single assurance from either the administration or the political wing. How long can we survive like this? said BL Sharma, president, Nursing Staff Union, Kasturba Hospital. Saroj Bala, a senior nursing staff, working at the hospital for the last 15 years said that this is the first time and that too in the middle of a raging pandemic that the staff has not been paid for so long. Many people have gone into depression, as they are finding it difficult to make ends meet. We sit in protest for just two hours so that patients do not have to suffer,s, said Bala. Earlier in July, the hospital staff had called a strike over delay in payment of salaries and later called it off after the civic body assured that their dues will be cleared soon. In May, the doctors too had protested the non-payment of salaries and had approached the Delhi High Court on the same after which their salaries were paid till June. Salaries of the sanitation workers too were last paid in June. The 450-bed Kasturba Hospital is a maternity and child specialty hospital of the North corporation located near Jama Masjid. Contacted, North corporation mayor Jai Prakash admitted that there was a delay in payment of dues and he had called a meeting with the agitating staff on Monday. I will ask them for some more time to resolve the problem. I have already approached the Central government to help us with this situation. Also we have requested Delhi government for disbursal of funds to pay the salary of staff . We will find a solution to this problem soon, said Prakash. He added that the Delhi government has to release funds to the tune of Rs 1200 crore taht is due to the civic body, which has been pending for long. At present, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the finances of the corporation have been drastically hit and in absence of funds being released by the Delhi government, it has become difficult to pay off the salaries of employees, he said, adding, that the corporation needs at least Rs 350 crore to pay its 58,000 employees. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON California's move to restrict sales of gas-powered cars will help accelerate the electric vehicle market. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times) For years, automakers have pleaded that, much as they'd love to lead the way to a zero-emissions vehicular future, they just can't wean Americans from their love of SUVs and other gas-guzzlers. California just called their bluff. An executive order signed Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom aims to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars and light trucks in the state by 2035. What we're sending is a demand signal...The last piece of the puzzle for the automobile manufacturers is that they need the certainty that the demand will be there in the largest domestic auto market in America. Gov. Gavin Newsom The first-in-the-nation policy is far more stringent than anything the state has implemented before. But given that a dozen states accounting for 40% of the American market already conform to California's auto rules, the policy could spread quickly. Newsom placed his order firmly in the context of the crisis of climate change, which is on vivid display via California's ferocious wildfires. "Why now? With 3.7 million acres burning, to date, after the hottest August in history, a five-year historic drought? Enough I feel a deep intellectual and emotional need to address this moment head-on by being much more proactive," Newsom told me. But let's not overlook the political context. Newsom's order is also a shot fired at the nation's number-one climate change denier, President Trump, whose administration has been rolling back existing emissions standards and has revoked California's decades-old authority to set its own rules. (Both steps are vulnerable to legal challenge.) The order takes aim at auto emissions because they're still the largest single source of air pollution in the state, accounting for nearly 50% of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Moreover, vehicular emissions have been rising in recent years. It comes against the backdrop of the split within the auto industry in the battle between Trump and California. Story continues After the administration proposed its rollback of emission rules and the revocation of a waiver granting California the authority to set its own emissions rules, five international automakers Ford, Honda, BMW of North America, Volkswagen Group of America and Volvo signed agreements to meet California standards. Also included in the deal were Rolls-Royce, which was represented by BMW, and Audi, which is owned by Volkswagen. The agreement called for the companies to reach average fuel efficiency across their fleets of about 50 miles per gallon by 2026. That's marginally more lenient than the rules set under the Obama administration which Trump proposed to roll back, but much more demanding than Trump's proposal, which would freeze the auto mileage standard at 36.9 mpg by 2025. Several companies, including General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota, threw in their lot with Trump in the dispute. Newsom calls their position "shameful," given that they must know that the course of technology is moving inexorably away from the gasoline engine. "They know better, because they know where the rest of the world is going," he told me. "It goes to the nature of politics at this moment, and the threat that they've received from the Trump administration if they buck him." Indeed, while acceding to Trump's effort to make auto emissions dirtier, some of those companies have launched efforts to electrify their product offerings. GM, for instance, has announced its intention to "make a meaningful impact toward building a zero-emissions future." Its CEO, Mary Barra, says on the company's website that "we want to put everyone in an EV, and we believe we have what it takes to do it." Despite all that, industry lobbyists and political conservatives wrung their hands over Newsom's initiative. "Neither mandates nor bans build successful markets," groused John Bozella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry group that confirms the impression that the last place to look for real innovation is in any organization or department with "innovation" in its name. Bozella stepped on his own applause line, however, as he also acknowledged that increasing consumer demand for zero-emission vehicles "will require increased infrastructure, incentives, fleet requirements, building codes and much more" in other words, mandates and bans. My favorite response came from the climate change-denying Heartland Institute, a right-wing outfit with ties to the Koch network. Heartland's commentary sounded like a parody of know-nothing policy: "Real Americans, and all true Californians, love gasoline-powered vehicles," said Tim Benson, a policy analyst at the institute. "This is the state that gave us ... surfin woodies, low-riding 64 Impalas, and the Bullitt chase; songs about little deuce coupes, Bucket Ts, ... old Pasadena biddies hauling ass in shiny red Super Stock Dodges," Benson continued. "It is every Californians God-given right to drive a loud, throaty, ballsy piece of gas-guzzling Detroit muscle." Never mind that the '60s were, er, 60 years ago. Newsom's order doesn't impose a hard stop on sales of gas-powered vehicles, but sets a goal that "100% of in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks will be zero-emission by 2035." At that point, existing vehicles could still be driven in the state and bought and sold in the used car market. Sales of new medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses would have to meet the 100% zero-emission standard by 2045. The order gives responsibility for developing the necessary regulations to the state Air Resources Board, which has carried the state's flag in the emissions battle with the Trump administration. That points to one possible obstacle to executing Newsom's order: It may require approval from the federal government in the form of a new waiver from the Clean Air Act. That wouldn't be forthcoming from Trump if he's reelected. The auto industry is correct in observing that American consumers have been slow to embrace alternatives to the gasoline engine, much less lead the movement. As my colleague Russ Mitchell reports, electric vehicles comprised only about 2% of the 17 million cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. last year. In California, which accounts for about half of all domestic EV sales, the share was still less than 10%. The auto industry mostly blames consumers, citing their concerns about the cost of EVs, the lack of EV charging infrastructure contributing to "range anxiety" (fear of running out of juice miles from a charging station), and contentment with low-priced gasoline. "Automakers are also victims of our own success" in having made the internal combustion engine "much more efficient across all vehicle segments," Mitch Bainwol, then the CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, told a House Committee in 2018. That sounds a bit like the old joke about the job candidate who answers an interviewer's question about his biggest character flaw by saying, "It must be that I'm a perfectionist." The truth is, however, that the auto industry is addicted to sales of big, heavy gas-fueled SUVs and pickups, which are only becoming brawnier with every model year. "You can't turn a page in a magazine or turn on the TV without seeing an ad for a gas-guzzler," remarks Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign at the Center for Biological Diversity. "I understand that they make a lot of money selling those. The technology is antiquated, it doesn't cost them very much to make them and they can charge a huge premium." Dealers aren't enamored of EVs, Becker asserts, because they have fewer moving parts than conventional vehicles and therefore could break down less often, which might cut into service department revenue. "This is not the consumers' fault," Becker says, "but the fault of an industry that is continuing to look in a rear-view mirror and not into the future. They have the technology" to build EVs. "They're missing the will." Underlying Newsom's order is an effort to provide the will. "We have to change the demand paradigm," he says. "What we're sending is a demand signal, by definition. The last piece of the puzzle for the automobile manufacturers is that they need the certainty that the demand will be there in the largest domestic auto market in America." There's no reason to doubt that Newsom's order has the potential to remake the auto market in California and by extension the rest of the country. It doesn't require of automakers more than they acknowledge they can achieve by 2035. Auto executives believe the EV market may be on the cusp of exploding, as manufacturers are about to start flooding the market with electrified vehicles along their whole range of offerings. As the technology matures especially battery technology, which must improve to give EVs a driving range comparable to gasoline vehicles EV prices will come down, possibly to the point where they don't cost significantly more than gasoline vehicles. If and when California's initiative takes root, charging stations should become almost as ubiquitous as gas stations today. "Theres going to be an inflection point in the mid-2020s where suddenly people are going to be buying these at a faster rate than anybody expects," Ken Morris, GM's EV chief, said as recently as May. With conventional cars and SUVs currently enjoying a lifespan of 10 to 15 years, the shift to zero emissions could be complete by 2050. That's how technology often works the take-up moves slowly, then all at once. The important elements are price, infrastructure and government support, all of which are just over the horizon. It may even turn out, when we look back at this moment, that California's vision of a zero-emission car market by 2035 wasn't overly ambitious, but too modest. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Twenty-six people are believed to have been killed in the accident, including one person who survived the crash but later died at the intensive care. The only remaining survivor is undergoing treatment at the hospital. A military transport plane, an An-26, has crashed in Chuhuiv, Kharkiv region, in eastern Ukraine, just two kilometers from the local military airfield, by the highway. Massive fire was seen at the crash site after the plane fell. According to "Ukraine Now" Telegram channel, the plane with cadets of the Kharkiv Air Force University on board was conducting a training flight before it crashed in the area of Chihuiv at about 20:50 local time. The Ministry of Internal Affairs says two people reportedly survived. The report was as of 21:45 local time. Head of regional administration Oleksiy Kucher said two cadets survived. The State Emergencies Service late Friday said 28 people were on board, adding that 22 bodies had already been found at the crash site along with two survivors. Oleksiy Kucher said seven crew and 21 cadets were on board, according to Ukrainian Pravda. Later, the Air Force Command corrected the information about the number of people on board. It turned out one of the cadets assigned for the flight was called off so the final number is 27. Later, the Office of the Prosecutor General in an update said 25 people died in the crash. On Saturday, the report came from the Kharkiv hospital that one of the two crash survivors died in intensive care, according to Hromadske citing Kharkiv City Council spox Olha Myroshnychenko. The President's Office has expressed condolences to the families and friends of victims in the crash and wished speedy recovery to survivors. The investigative team has been set up to probe the cause of the crash. President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the tragic accident via Telegram: "An-26 has crashed. Apart from the crew, there were Ukrainian cadets on board. There are dead and wounded." The president added he would come to the region on Saturday. Massive fire at the crash scene was put out at 21:55. As the plane was descending, it almost hit one of the cars driving on the highway, an eyewitness of the tragedy, police lieutenant colonel Oleh Nahaitsev has told News One. He also reportedly saw a driver providing first aid to survivors who were ablaze after the plane crashed. The man used his car extinguisher to put out a fire. As of Saturday noon, two more bodies were retrieved from under the wreckage. "The following versions are being verified: technical malfunction of aircraft units; improper performance by crew; improper performance by those responsible for ground control; improper aircraft maintenance and preparation for flight," the State Bureau of Investigation said. What's An-26 The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986, as per Wikipedia. The story has been updated to include incoming reports from government agencies and news outlets. Sudan's acting foreign minister said Thursday that a compensation agreement for the families of victims of two 1998 attacks on US embassies in Africa is within sight. "We are very close to getting that signed and done with," Omer Gamareldin Ismail told reporters during a visit to Geneva to meet United Nations refugees and human rights chiefs. "As Sudanese we think that if we can do it yesterday, it is better for us, because we can move on to something else." Ismail stressed that he was not aware of any deadline set by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, although the US administration is pressed for time ahead of the November 3 presidential election. With a deal finalised, Khartoum will be better placed to say to Washington "let's end this once and for all", and lift Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, he added. The sanctions -- source of an investment drought for the country -- date back to 1993, when Sudan under president Omar al-Bashir become an outcast for having hosted Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The crisis worsened with the 1998 embassy attacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which killed more than 200 people. Washington has changed its tone in recent years, as Bashir began to cooperate in the fight against terrorism and played the peace game in South Sudan. The United States reconnected with Khartoum under former president Barack Obama, and talks have been moving towards striking Sudan from its blacklist. The 2019 revolution that swept Bashir from power sped up the progress. "Now we are to get ourselves out of that list, which the United States is using as leverage to get some benefits of the relationship that it has with Sudan, which is completely legitimate," Ismail said. "That is why we are engaging with the rest of the world and trying to call on the country's friends to call on the United States to end that embargo and to get Sudan lifted off 'state sponsors of terrorism'," he said. Ismail said that without a compensation deal, subsequent Sudanese governments could find themselves embroiled in court cases that could drag on "indefinitely". His plan would see Khartoum pay into a blocked account from which the funds would only be paid under certain conditions -- including Sudan's removal from the blacklist -- to the United States to compensate the plaintiffs. US media cited the total amount as being $335 million. CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian and NZ dollars strengthened against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Friday, as most Asian markets rose following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street and on optimism about a U.S. stimulus package as House Democrats reportedly plan to unveil a new $2.4 trillion relief bill in the coming days. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated that she is ready to negotiate with the White House to find an agreement. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that the new economic relief package could help households and businesses. 'If Democrats are willing to sit down, I'm willing to sit down any time for bipartisan legislation. Let's pass something quickly,' Mnuchin said. News that Australia's three major states - New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria - plan to further ease coronavirus restrictions also boosted sentiment. The aussie climbed to a 2-day high of 0.7086 against the greenback, after falling to 0.7043 at 5:00 pm ET. The next possible resistance for the aussie is seen around the 0.72 region. The aussie recovered from near a 3-month low 0.9395 against the loonie, with the pair trading at 0.9455. The aussie is likely to challenge resistance around the 0.96 level, should it rises further. The aussie advanced to 74.63 against the yen and 1.6478 against the euro, off its early lows of 74.23 and 1.6564, respectively. If the aussie rises further, it may find resistance around 76.00 against the yen and 1.62 against the euro. The NZ currency appreciated to 2-day highs of 0.6592 against the greenback, 69.42 against the yen and 1.7709 against the euro, from its early lows of 0.6540, 68.94 and 1.7830, respectively. The kiwi is seen finding resistance around 0.68 against the greenback, 72.00 against the yen and 1.73 against the euro, The kiwi hit 1.0738 against the aussie, its strongest level since August 3. The kiwi is poised to find resistance around the 1.06 level. Looking ahead, U.S. durable goods orders for August will be out in the New York session. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de The husband of Tiger King star Carole Baskin has said it is nonsense that she had anything to do with the disappearance of her former husband and claimed the couple received death threats that led to them carrying a gun in the car. Howard Baskin said they felt enormous disappointment over the Netflix docu-series, which follows Joe Exotic, a mulleted, gun-toting, polygamist who presides over an Oklahoma zoo. He is now serving a 22-year sentence in prison for plotting the murder of Ms Baskin, who is an animal rights activist and owner of Big Cat Rescue. Howard Baskin defends his wife, Carole Baskin and explains why the online obsession with her post Tiger King made things 'difficult' for them. Watch the chat https://t.co/fgaVn7pGBC pic.twitter.com/pBPjZrWs3D Loose Women (@loosewomen) September 25, 2020 Her former husband Don Lewis went missing six years after the couple married in 1991 and he was legally declared dead in 2002. Ms Baskin has repeatedly denied she had any involvement in his disappearance. Mr Baskin told ITVs Loose Women: Initially it was extremely difficult. In my mind Tiger King had three overarching lies associated with it; one was that Joe is a sympathetic figure, whos a victim. Another one was the way that mistreated Carole, made her to be the villain, and that sanctuaries like Big Cat Rescue are just like roadside zoos. Initially we were overwhelmed with hate mail to a degree that I would never have imagined. 'I don't even want to talk about him being released from prison, he belongs in prison.' Carole Baskin's husband, Howard, can't contemplate the idea of Tiger King's Joe Exotic being released from prison. Watch the chat https://t.co/GkDeOTR2Rg pic.twitter.com/mJF23p4Afb Loose Women (@loosewomen) September 25, 2020 He added: (We felt) enormous disappointment, and a feeling of betrayal, the people that told us they were making a (programme) that would expose the animal abuse, not something that was going to portray Carole the way they portrayed her. Story continues Theyd even shown us a trailer and a sizzle reel where Carole was the hero. There was a text screen that said, The one woman battling all these horrible men kind of a thing and thats not the way it turned out. We had to organise our people to deal with massive social media negativity, really crazy stuff. Gradually that subsided and theres been some real silver linings, despite its lack of effort to talk about the animal abuse, people became aware theres been some benefits from it and some fun things since. Hey all you cool cats and kittens We've got a special message from Carole Baskin (and two very cool cats ) about Friday's #LooseWomen! Join us from 12.30pm on @itv, @wearestv and @itvhub Watch the show https://t.co/fgaVn7pGBC pic.twitter.com/LhM2bD4X75 Loose Women (@loosewomen) September 24, 2020 Discussing how Ms Baskin was portrayed in the series, Mr Baskin said: They made her out to be a homewrecker and that she supposedly broke up this marriage and was a gold digger, and that she wants to be the last one standing. Which is ridiculous, weve always said we want to put ourselves out of business. And the nonsense about whether she was involved in the disappearance of her husband, they just turned everything to point toward that so people believed that. It was just very difficult. Were sitting there watching episode three saying, What the hell happened here? So it was a total shock. Asked about the death threats, he said: Theres always been that issue, dealing with these people and of course there was the very serious threats from Joe trying to hire someone to kill Carole. We put on security around the house, we started carrying a pistol in our car when we drove around you would be careful about the cars around you. South Wales set for more local lockdowns as a mixed situation develops in North Wales This article is old - Published: Friday, Sep 25th, 2020 More areas of South Wales will go into lockdown this weekend in an attempt to slow the spread of Coronavirus, with the picture in North Wales being mixed. Health minister Vaughan Gething announced during todays Welsh government briefing that Llanelli will go lockdown on Saturday, Cardiff and Swansea will follow on Sunday. It means that almost half of the Welsh population are now facing new tougher restrictions. People living in Caerphilly, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil and Newport are already subject to local lockdown regulations Mr Gething said North Wales is currently seeing lower levels of coronavirus infections, but theres evidence of an increase in positive cases and positive proportions from testing. The Health Minister will meet local authority leaders from North Wales next week. He said: We continue to keep a close watch on the situation in North Wales where the picture is mixed, cases overall are much lower than were seeing in South Wales at present. There is evidence that COVID is increasing in some parts of North Wales. So we will be meeting North Wales local authority leaders next week to discuss the developing situation. Mr Gething added: Weve seen a more significant spread around the South, so we have to consider again whether we can take a local, regional approach or national approach. Well be having meetings with colleagues across the government but also with local authority leaders through the weekend and well have to make choices. Because the pattern of coronavirus can change so significant so quickly it is possible that the decision we make on one day may change by the next day. It was revealed earlier this week that Flintshire, along with Denbighshire, Anglesey and Conway are now on the Welsh Governments daily watch list. Thats because the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 over a seven day period has reached a key boundary of cases per 100,000 population. On Tuesday Dr Giri Shankar, Incident Director for the Coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales said the four north Wales counties were now in the amber zone and the number of cases is being closely monitored. Today we asked about the mixed picture across North Wales and asked for detail on the comments, if it was closed settings or community transmission, and asked which areas were causing concern. Mr Gething said: You will have seen from the figures that weve published the local authorities giving us more cause for concern than others are in the middle of north Wales, Conwy and Denbighshire at present. We are still testing regularly, our care homes in north Wales were picking up our positive cases within the staff cohort. The good news is very low rates of staff members testing positive, less than 1 percent of all being tested, were not seeing a take-off from the community going in with staff into care home. Our understanding is, we are seeing a similar pattern to South Wales where increases are primarily driven by personal contact by people not following the rules on household contact, or indeed if theyre going out and seeing people in indoor venues. It is still the same message, reduce your household contacts, make sure you follow the rules and make sure that you dont have people who dont need to be in your own home, because thats a bigger risk for you, your friends, and your family Follow the rules if youre going up for a drink or a meal as well. We want businesses to do the right thing. But we need customers to do the right thing, as well. You can view the briefing and Q&A session below: Eight (8) University College Dublin research projects been awarded just under 1.5 million in funding by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under the COVID-19 Rapid Response Research and Innovation Programme. The projects are among 41 projects from accross Ireland that received a total of 5.5 million in new investment announced today by Simon Harris TD, the Irish Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. Welcoming today's announcement Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact said, "We are very proud of the response by UCD academics and clinicians to the Covid-19 crisis, having come to together rapidly and across numerous disciplines to produce effective, innovative solutions to the many challenges posed by the pandemic. The diversity and interdisciplinarity of the Covid Rapid Response projects demonstrates the breadth and depth of expertise across a range of fields from molecular biology to computer science, as well as the creative and collaborative spirit of UCD's academic community." Among the 8 UCD funded projects is a project entitled, 'The COCOON study: COVID-19 coagulopathy and thrombosis: Novel prognostic and therapeutic opportunities' led by Dr Barry Kevane, Consultant Haematologist at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, UCD Conway Institute and UCD School of Medicine. In this multi-disciplinary clinical and translational research study, which has been awarded just under 294,000 in funding, Dr Kevane will work with key collaborators, Professor Patricia Maguire, UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science and Professor Fionnuala Ni ainle, UCD School of Medicine and co-directors of the UCD Conway SPHERE research group. The Cocoon Study is an international project which will examine blood coagulation in Covid-19 patients and its interplay with inflammation. The study aims to address urgent clinical dilemmas and to develop novel solutions for existing diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.Using advanced artificial intelligence and genomics technologies, the project will deliver enhanced thrombotic prevention strategies and a rapid diagnostic platform for personalised risk assessment. Using technologies which have been developed by my colleagues Professor Fionnuala Ni ainle and Professor Patricia Maguire in theUCD Conway SPHERE research group, we intend to characterize the molecular mechanisms underlying clotting derangements in COVID-19. A deeper understanding of this problem would help inform clinical decisions relating to clot prevention and treatment in this disease and would be of major clinical benefit." Dr Barry Kevane, Consultant Hematologist at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, UCD Conway Institute and UCD School of Medicine Further information on this project and details on the project partners available via: https://www.ucd.ie/research/covid19response/news/thecocoonstudy/#d.en.509147 The COVID-19 Rapid Response Research, Development and Innovation programme was established by SFI, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, the Health Research Board and Irish Research Council. Minister Simon Harris TD, said, "Research, development and innovation will play a significant role in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. The 41 projects announced today are part of a national drive to find solutions to the challenges we face now, and to help us prepare to live in a changing environment that requires new thinking and innovative approaches. I would like to congratulate all of the researchers receiving funding today and thank them for their efforts in Ireland's collective response to COVID-19." Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government, said, "The COVID-19 Rapid Response Research and Innovation funding is critical to supporting Ireland's National Action Plan in response to the pandemic. The projects announced today will play a pivotal role in developing societal and economic solutions to challenges we face.As a nation, we are stronger when we work together, and we will continue to generate solutions to the many challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic." Today's announcement builds on SFI's previous investment of 8 million across 17 COVID-19 research and innovation projects. All of the projects funded have been internationally peer reviewed at the assessment stage. Further information on the 41 funded projects available via https://www.sfi.ie/research-news/news/minister-harris-covid-19/index.xml KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court in Kochi has found Subahani Haja Moideen, the accused in the Islamic State joining case, guilty. The court will pronounce the sentence on Monday. P. Krishnakumar, the NIA special judge, convicted Haja under Section 125 (waging war against Asiatic power in alliance with the Government of India), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), and several relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. As per the NIA charge sheet, he travelled to Iraq via Turkey to join the IS and got military training from the terrorist outfit in 2015. He was deployed in Mosul during the war against the Iraqi government, according to reports. Haja returned to India in October 2016 and was arrested by the NIA that same month. He was taken into custody during the probe into Kanakamala IS training case. He was kept at Viyyur central jail. The NIA in its report contended that Haja, a native of Thodupuzha in Idukki district was responsible for procuring explosives and chemicals for IS operations in India. The investigation agency also suspected that he may have had details about the 2015 terror attacks in Paris. A French investigation team recently visited the Viyyur central prison to quiz him over the 2015 attacks. A man accused of organising a protest against coronavirus restrictions will fight criminal charges and believes the law prevents him leaving home to express a political view. Tony Pecora, 43, was charged this month with two counts of incitement over allegations he organised and encouraged others to defy Victoria's stay-at-home orders and attend a September 12 protest at The Tan running track in Melbourne. Tony Pecora. Credit:United Australia Party Mr Pecora plans to plead not guilty to the charges, defence lawyer Joel Tito told Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday. Mr Tito said his client would "challenge the validity of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act ... in terms of people leaving their home and expressing their political views". PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa edgy administration, battling to contain a restive populace amid a worsening economic crisis, has engaged the Israeli government for possible deployment of security experts to Harare to train local forces in public order enforcement, among other security services, it emerged this week. This comes at a time Zimbabwes human rights record has deteriorated sharply largely due to Harares heavy-handed approach when dealing with dissent. Since grabbing power through a military coup that toppled long time ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017, Mnangagwas embattled administration has resorted to brute force to contain swelling civil unrest, which has resulted in the death of scores of civilians at the hands of state security agents. In the aftermath of the disputed 2018 elections, state security agents shot dead six civilians while injuring a dozen others as they battled to contain protesters who were demanding the immediate announcement of results of the hotly contested polls. Early last year, state security agents also killed 12 civilians as they battled to quash nationwide protests which flared up after government increased the price of fuel by 150%. Zimbabwes honorary consul in Israel, Ronny Levvy Musan, this week told the Zimbabwe Independent from his base in Tel Aviv that following his consultations with Mnangagwa, efforts were underway to bring in the highly acclaimed Israeli security experts to train Zimbabwes military, police and intelligence on how to effectively contain civil disobedience. Musan was appointed honorary consul in Israel by Mnangagwa in August as Harare sought to build cordial relations with Jerusalem. Musan said: Zimbabweans have a bit of problems on human rights because of lack of training of security forces. I am in touch with highly trained security professionals in Israel. We are working on plans to bring them. We will put our proposal to the Israeli security institutions. For now, I cannot mention them (institutions) by name. But the Israeli defence force has many departments. I spoke with His Excellency (Mnangagwa) about defence and we observed what we can do.We need approval from Israeli institutions. There are security professionals I am in touch with. I would like to bring them to Zimbabwe to train the police on how to control civilians, Musan said. The centrepiece of the envisaged training of local security forces by Israeli military and intelligence experts, Musan said, would crystallise with the establishment of a defence academy in Harare. Harare already has a state-of-the-art defence college built at a cost of US$98 million from funds availed by China. Plans are underway to set up a special forces training school in Kariba by the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA). The school will help members of the army to undergo rigorous training in various fields. We are thinking of establishing a defence academy that will serve Zimbabwe and other countries in the region for purposes of training. This will create jobs for the people of Zimbabwe, the diplomat told the Independent this week. For example, you have the Special Forces and army. They tend to use extra force on citizens. We have vast experience in that respect. We would like to bring them to (share their) knowledge. When you have security you have stability. Last week, Musan, while touring a military training site in Israel, said on microblogging site Twitter, he was working towards bolstering Zimbabwes security apparatus by tapping into the Israeli system. Greetings from somewhere in Israel. I cannot tell you where I am because it is classified. I can only tell you I am in a special army base somewhere in Israel. I came here to see up close how Israels Special Forces are training by the legendary trainer Ehud Dribben who is considered the number one trainer in Israel when it comes to counter terrorism, security and Special Forces and all kind of defence. We are actually examining this area in order to bring the knowledge and capacity to provide the citizens and institutions of Zimbabwe with all security services we can bring them from Israel. State Security minister Owen Ncube did not respond to questions sent by this newspaper on the nature of security assistance Harare is seeking from Jerusalem, despite reading questions sent to him via WhatsApp. He initially asked this reporter to identify himself, but did not respond to subsequent messages despite having read them as evidenced by the applications double blue ticks which indicate that the recipient would have read the message. Presidential spokesperson George Charambas mobile phone was not reachable. Information minister Monica Mutsvangwas mobile phone was being answered by an aide, who kept saying she was in meetings yesterday. In what has become Harares landmark diplomatic stance towards thawing relations with Jerusalem, Mnangagwa met with Israeli Foreign Affairs minister Israel Katz last year on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly where the President was invited to visit the Middle East country. The meeting, the first such high-level engagement between the two countries, followed two decades of Harares unflinching support to Palestines quest for independence. Though Zimbabwes re-engagement agenda is off the rails as Harare dithers on rolling out sweeping economic and political reforms, Mnangagwas meeting with Katz was meant to reset frosty relations with the West. Currently, government is rolling out a reform exercise within the file and rank of the Zimbabwe Republic Police broadly meant to equip officers with the latest policing trends and management systems that include crowd control skills. In the aftermath of the deadly 2019 protests, Charamba told this newspaper as reported on February 1 that Zimbabwes police officers would undergo extensive re-orientation and retraining after the government realised that they are incapable of handling precarious situations such as violent protests. At that time, a combination of police officers and the military had to be deployed to quell violent protests that had been triggered by the steep fuel price increase. The valid question is how we deal with the Chihuri (former police commissioner general, Augustine) legacy where there was a reorientation of the police force from their core mandate. They need to be stronger. A weak police force wielding arms becomes the quartermaster of hooligans. These are assault rifles. You do not want those arms in soft hands. You do not want a situation where arms are in the wrong hands, never. That is why you are seeing the state getting robust in its quest, Charamba said at the time. Zimbabwe Independent The number of coronavirus-infected inmates at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center has dropped significantly since an outbreak took hold there six weeks ago. But the Gretna jail was still on lockdown Thursday as a precaution. "We are evaluating things daily," said Capt. Jason Rivarde, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office. Jefferson Parish Correctional Center placed on lockdown after coronavirus outbreak The Jefferson Parish Correctional Center was placed on lockdown Friday morning because of an outbreak of coronavirus infections in the Gretna jail. As of Thursday there were 990 inmates in the jail. Seventeen were being quarantined: 16 with positive tests for COVID-19 and one awaiting test results, said health services director Jean Llovet of CorrectHealth Jefferson, the medical care contractor at the jail. Thats down from the 50 inmates 44 with positive tests -- who were quarantined on Aug. 14, the day the lockdown was instituted. Weve had no new cases in two weeks, Llovet said Monday after being called to testify in a bond reduction hearing for a defendant accused of murder. Llovets testimony provided a bit more information about the lockdown and how it has affected medical care at the jail. Defense attorney Jim Williams had asked the court to reduce the $750,000 bond set for Mark Jones, 58, who is accused of fatally shooting his stepson, Tyrell Washington Sr., 40, and wounding his step-grandson, 21, with a shotgun blast to the neck. Williams argued that the jails medical staff hadnt taken adequate care of Jones chronic conditions, which could prove fatal if he contracts coronavirus. I have a lot of clients in jail, and its terrible back there right now. Everybodys scared to death of COVID, Williams told the court. +3 Grieving family left divided after west bank man booked with killing stepson, shooting step-grandson A bitter divide has emerged among the members of a west bank family left grieving after authorities say the patriarch gunned down his 40-year- Llovet testified that three inmates have been hospitalized for coronavirus complications. But none of the three had to be intubated, and all three have since returned to the jail. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up No inmate has died due to a COVID-19 infection, she testified. The Sheriffs Office hasnt released any statistics on the rate of infection for corrections officers at the Gretna jail. But at least one officer, Rose Goudy, 61, has died, succumbing April 25 after battling the virus for a week. During the lockdown, officials have restricted movement in the jail and confined inmates to their housing pods. Anyone who tests positive is sent to a unit that houses only COVID-positive inmates, Llovet said. They may not return to general jail population until theyve twice tested negative. Williams argued that his client hadnt been receiving medication for his medical conditions, nor had he been seen by a physician. This man is going to die if he doesnt receive some treatment. Hes received none, Williams said. Jones was scheduled to meet with a physician from the jails chronic care clinic to evaluate what sort of care was needed, Llovet said. But that appointment has twice been rescheduled because of the lockdown. Inmates with chronic conditions, such as Jones, arent being moved around the jail unless theyre having an acute issue. Jones hasn't reported having any such problem, thus far, Llovet said. But she couldnt guarantee that the lockdown would be lifted in time for Jones new chronic care appointment in two weeks. The doctor is waiting until we have a minimum of 10 positive people as a precaution to ensure the safety of the inmate population, Llovet told the court. Magistrate Commissioner Patricia Joyce ultimately denied the motion to reduce Jones bond. Queen Sonja of Norway visited husband King Harald in hospital today after he was admitted with breathing difficulties. King Harald, 83, was admitted earlier today but tested negative for Covid-19, the palace announced in a statement. Queen Sonja, also 83, wasted no time in visiting her husband and was seen driving herself out of the hospital car park this morning, accompanied by a friend. The queen looked elegant in sunglasses and a printed jacket as she left Rikshospitalet. King Harald was also admitted to hospital earlier this year after suffering from dizziness. Pictured: Queen Sonja driving out of Rikshospitalet Queen Sonja of Norway visited husband King Harald in hospital today after he was admitted with breathing difficulties. Pictured, Sonja (right) leaving the hospital today The couple's eldest son, Crown Prince Haakon, 47, has stepped in and taken over his father's duties, including a scheduled meeting with the Norwegian government, the palace announced. The statement said: 'The king is now being examined. Covid-19 is already excluded.' King Harald who ascended to the throne after the death of his father King Olav on January 17 1991, was also admitted to hospital earlier this year and underwent two weeks sick leave. Speaking at the time Crown Prince Haakon, said it was a difficult period for the family and his father was recovering from dizziness but no serious illness was found. Queen Sonja and King Harald of Norway at an official gala dinner to mark their 80th birthdays in 2017 Crown Prince Haakon has stepped in for his father on several previous occasions including, when he became ill in April 2018 with congestion and pain in one foot. King Harald who is the country's first native-born king since the 14th century, won the nation's hearts when he married a commoner and led the mourning in 2011 for the victims of mass killer Anders Behring Breivik. He was also praised globally for a 2016 speech showing support for gay rights, saying: 'Norwegians are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and girls and boys who love each other.' This may be the first newspaper column I have ever begun with a personal appeal to my readers. My defence is that we are living in such strange times. Unprecedented even. And for once Im not referring to the Covid crisis. Some of you may disagree with what I write. In normal times that wouldnt worry me in the slightest. Any columnist who shrinks from an argument should start looking for another job. Some of you might even be offended. This may be the first newspaper column I have ever begun with a personal appeal to my readers. My defence is that we are living in such strange times. Unprecedented even. And for once Im not referring to the Covid crisis. Police are seen in London enforcing 10pm pub closing time That would obviously not be my intention, but occasionally I have been known to let my rhetoric cloud my judgment. And, finally, some of you I assume at least half will be women. It is to you I make my appeal. Please do not accuse me of being a misogynist. Its not that I have anything to hide. Like any other reasonably civilised human being, I regard misogynists as both contemptible and very, very stupid. But it was revealed this week that the Law Commission wants to make misogyny illegal. It wants to make it a hate crime. And thats what scares me. Because there is a terrible failing in the very concept of hate crime that should scare all of us. The most senior police officer in the land is a woman: Dame Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. She is seriously worried Lets assume that the Law Commission gets its way (it usually does) and someone did accuse me of misogyny. Obviously I would plead innocent and claim that there is not a shred of evidence against me. I would point to the oldest and proudest belief underpinning our system of justice. It came into being millennia ago and has stood the test of time in every country that dares lay claim to democratic credentials. We are innocent until we are proven guilty. But the way hate crime is interpreted has taken us into an Alice In Wonderland world. That towering principle has faded like the face of the Cheshire Cat, leaving just the grin. It is the grin on the faces of those who seemingly dont give a fig about what justice means. It says: who needs proof of guilt when were talking hate crime? When the College of Policing published its new Hate Crime Operational Guidance five years ago, it was sent to every police force in England and Wales. It remains in force to this day. It states that a comment reported as hateful by a victim must be recorded irrespective of whether there is any evidence to identify the hate element. In other words, you no longer have to do anything as old-fashioned as provide some proof that you have actually been harmed in any way. All you have to do is perceive that you have been. And that word victim is crucial. If you perceive you are a victim, that is enough for the police to come calling. The same police, perhaps, as those who destroyed the reputations of some of the most respected public servants in this land on the word of Carl Beech, a paedophile and fantasist now serving a long prison sentence. Beech had claimed he was a victim and the police had believed him. The latest figures show that 34 police forces recorded 120,000 non-crime hate incidents in the five years since the Mad Hatter took over our penal policy. Recorded is another seemingly innocuous little word there that packs a mighty punch. Try getting a job in, say, teaching or (God forbid) the police force if your name crops up when the obligatory search of the criminal records is made. No chance. And now imagine the amount of time spent on each of those incidents. And then set that against police protestations that they are so hard-pressed they dont have the time to deal with such tiresome events as burglaries. Misogyny will be the latest in a growing list of so-called non-crime incidents. They already include race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and disability. The most senior police officer in the land is a woman: Dame Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. She is seriously worried. Heres how she put it when misogyny was first mooted as a hate crime: We should be focusing on what the public tell me they care about . . . My officers are very busy, very stretched. We have young people in London subject to gang violence, drug-dealing, stabbings . . . lots of priorities. You can say that again. According to the latest Home Office statistics, the number of criminal offences solved in England and Wales has halved in the past five years to 7.8 per cent. Violent crime is on the rise. There were more than 44,000 offences involving knives in the 12 months up to June 2019. In my middle-class corner of West London, its hard to find a single parent of a teenage boy who does not breathe a sigh of relief when he comes home unscathed. But perhaps, in spite of my protests at the top of this column, I am, indeed, displaying misogynistic tendencies when I argue against these latest hate crime proposals. Surely women need protection from men who hate women and try to harm them? Yes, of course they do. Which is why we already have laws that do precisely that. If my daughter is attacked in the street by a woman-hating moron, he will, I hope, be locked up. If you perceive you are a victim, that is enough for the police to come calling. The same police, perhaps, as those who destroyed the reputations of some of the most respected public servants in this land on the word of Carl Beech, a paedophile and fantasist now serving a long prison sentence If my son is attacked by another moron who happens to hate those he regards as posh boys, he should be locked up, too. But if the law changes, my daughters attacker would get a harsher sentence for the same crime. Is that justice? Hate crime legislation was born from a wish to protect persecuted minorities. Women are not a persecuted minority. They happen to be a majority. The next step the Law Commission is considering is including older people. What about vulnerable younger men? What about the entire population? But perhaps I am underplaying the reality of hate crime in this country. Remember how the nation was shamed by violence against foreigners in the aftermath of the EU referendum in 2016? It was widely reported at the time. But it never happened. As this newspapers peerless investigative reporter Guy Adams has painstakingly demonstrated over recent years, what does exist is a powerful lobby insisting that the nation is suffering from a crippling level of hate crime. At one of the regular conferences organised by Capita, a company that has grown rich on lucrative government contracts, a senior police officer made the preposterous claim that there is more hate crime in London than in the whole of the United States. Perhaps he believed it. The crime statistics tell a very different story. One bright note to end on. Harry Miller is a retired police officer who set up a successful company. He posted a number of tweets between November 2018 and January 2019 about transgender issues as part of the debate about reforming the Gender Recognition Act. In one of them he wrote: I was assigned mammal at birth, but my orientation is fish. Dont mis-species me. Big mistake. A complaint was made and he was visited by Humberside Police at his work. He was told he had not committed a crime, but it would be recorded as a non-crime hate incident. He would have a police record. He says the constable added that the police wanted to check his thinking. Mr Miller was both angry and deeply worried. He took the police to court. And he won. Last year the court found the forces actions were a disproportionate interference with his right to freedom of expression. The judge said the police had undervalued a cardinal democratic freedom. And he added these words: In this country we have never had a Cheka, a Gestapo or a Stasi. We have never lived in an Orwellian society. Long may it remain so. Misogyny is moronic. Lets not make it a crime. The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini has expressed his love for Speaker of the House Professor Mike Oquaye. Mr. Fuseini, who has served under four speakers since 2006, explained that the current Speaker exhibits a high level of democracy by giving the opposition members equal chances to comment on initiatives during proceedings. In an interview on 'Joy News', the MP noted that although Prof. Oquaye may sometimes disagree with the opinions of the Minority, he still makes room for the opposition members to share their views. This, according to him, propels the democracy of the country. It is not that he is not partisan; he was my professor and he taught me Political Science. And secondly, because Prof. Mike Oquaye is an academic, he appreciates intellectual contributions in the House so he helps advance the tendency of democracy during sittings, Mr. Fuseini pointed out. Because you can be the holder of fantastic ideas, if you don't get called by the Speaker, you can't express your ideas. So if the Speaker gives some people (the opposition) the opportunity to express whatever views they have, irrespective of the fact that he might disagree with them, then that is good, he added. Mr. Fuseini is one of the long-serving parliamentarians in Ghana's legislative body. He first won the Tamale Central seat in a by-election in 2006 and has since retained the seat. But the National Democratic Congress (NDC) politician has decided to resign from active politics; hence, he will not be contesting in the 2020 general election. Speaking about his 14-year journey in the law-making institution of Ghana, Mr. Fuseini said he went to Parliament to serve the country and his constituents, adding that he had to make a lot of friends from both sides to ensure that good laws that favour his constituency and Ghanaians are passed. I have tried to get my colleagues on the other side and even on the Minority to appreciate and ensure that this country passes good laws, because we suffer the consequences of bad laws, he indicated. Mr. Fuseini says he is looking forward to his retirement as an MP. ---Daily Guide In the words of Woody Allen, 'If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans'. With this in mind, the team behind the Drogheda Classical Music series will present a number of concerts in an imaginative way so audiences can still enjoy some of the country's finest musicians during COVID restrictions. The new Autumn series for 2020 will include four concerts live and streamed from September - December 2020 in the stunning setting of St Peter's Church of Ireland, Drogheda. 'It is a privilege to present a re-imagined series of concerts this autumn, which will give audiences a chance to experience exceptional chamber music by some of our leading musicians,' says Director Pauline Ashwood. 'All artists are Irish or Irish-based and where permissible, concerts will be in the presence of a limited and socially distanced audience, but concerts will also be broadcast online for those unable to attend'. The first concert this Thursday September 24th at 7.30pm, will see pianist Barry Douglas, violinists Mia Cooper and Keith Pascoe, Joachim Roewer on viola and William Butt on cello, performing Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34. 'We're delighted that Barry Douglas is returning to Drogheda for the opening concert in this re-imagined series,' adds Pauline. 'Barry will be joined by the Esposito Quartet for Brahms' epic Piano Quintet. This concert will be approximately 45 mins in duration, without an interval Tickets to attend the live concert will be 20 and with the restricted numbers, priority will be given to previous season ticket holders and Benefactors. It will be streamed via Vimeo and available to watch from Friday 25 September for 10. The other concerts planned are pianists John O'Conor on October 16th with Beethoven Sonata in c minor Op. 13 Pathetique, Fionnuala Moynihan with Beethoven Piano Trio No. 7 in B-flat major Op. 97 Archduke on November 13th and Gary Beecher piano with Gavan Ring tenor for an evening of opera, song and seasonal favourites on December 10th. The series is funded by the Arts Council and Louth County Council and run in partnership with Droichead Arts Centre with sponsorship from the d Hotel and RTE Supporting the Arts. More information and link to watch will be available from www.droghedaclassicalmusic.com. Here are todays top news, analysis and opinion. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times. Monsoon begins withdrawing next week, above normal day temperatures likely over NW India Above normal day temperatures will impact all of northwest India as monsoon begins withdrawing from west Rajasthan next week. Monsoon withdrawal this year is set to be 11 days late as September 17 is the normal date of its commencement. Read more Northeast-based insurgent groups forced to relocate by Myanmar army action: Intel agencies Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) operating from Myanmar, particularly ULFA-I, NSCN-K, led by its current chairman Yung Aung, and NSCN-IM, are trying to relocate their bases near the border due to persistent action by the Myanmar Army over the last few months, according to an assessment by central intelligence agencies. Read more Rushdie, Chomsky, Mira Nair, among 200 personalities demanding Khalids release More than 200 national and international scholars, academicians and artists issued a statementon Thursday, demanding the release of former JNU student Umar Khalid, who is under arrest for his alleged role in the north-east Delhi riots. Read more IPL 2020, KXIP vs RCB: KL Rahul shatters two huge records during epic knock of 132* KL Rahul produced the first century of the IPL 2020 plundering an unbeaten knock of 132 against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday. What made the knock even more special was not only the fact that it was Rahuls IPL hundred, but the couple of impressive feats he registered during his epic inning. Read more Deepika Padukone to appear before NCB on Sept 26, Rakul Preet Singh to record statement today in drug case Actor Deepika Padukone will appear before the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Saturday to record her statement in a drug probe linked to Sushant Singh Rajputs death. Earlier, the NCB had summoned Padukone on September 25 in the drug case. On Thursday, the actor acknowledged the summon sent to her by the central agency and will join the probe on Saturday. Read more BMW to pay $18 million fine to resolve inflated sales probe BMW AG and two US subsidiaries agreed Thursday to pay an $18 million (14.1 million) US fine to resolve accusations that they disclosed misleading information about the German luxury automakers retail sales volume in the United States while raising approximately $18 billion from investors in corporate bond offerings. Read more This amazing kinetic sculpture video will leave you mesmerised Hypnotic, mesmerising, and amazing are few among the many adjectives that people used while describing the video of a kinetic sculpture. The video, though old, is again grabbing peoples attention after being shared by YouTube on their official Twitter handle. Read more MAYFIELD VILLAGE, Ohio Suspicious activity: Wilson Mills Road A Mayfield High School student reported Sept. 21 that he got a threatening text message from an unknown sender. The message stated there would be a protest in the schools parking lot sometime during the week and there could be violence. Officers could not determine who sent the message. Special attention was given. Juvenile complaint: Beta Drive Officers responded to the Holiday Inn at 1:47 a.m. Sept. 17 for a report of youths causing a disturbance in a second-floor room. A large group was leaving as they arrived, but officers were called back a second time for a report of the youths drinking in the parking lot. The situation was adjusted, and the renter of the room was advised he would be asked to leave if there were any further disturbances. Disturbance: North Commons Boulevard A prior employee of a cleaning company arrived at Progressive Insurance Sept. 17 to pick up his paycheck and then refused to leave when told it would be mailed to him. Responding officers advised the man it was a civil matter and he was no longer permitted on the property. He left without further incident. Welfare check: Beta Drive Officers assisted paramedics Sept. 18 with a woman who passed out at a table at a restaurant at the Holiday Inn. They found she was alone and highly intoxicated. She denied witness statements about her arguing with her boyfriend, who was not at the scene. As she was too drunk to drive, she was allowed to stay in a room at the hotel, where she had been staying for the past three days. Welfare check: Hickory Hill Drive A resident said Sept. 18 that a Mayfield Heights woman, 30, was at his home and had made comments about harming herself. Officers and paramedics found her to be highly intoxicated. She denied any intentions of harming herself and was taken to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Reports indicate there have been similar incidents involving the woman. Suspicion: Aintree Park Drive A caller reported Sept. 19 that she heard a female screaming stop somewhere at the Village Park apartments. Officers could not find the origin of the voice but believed it may have come from a residents TV. Psychiatric situation: Wilson Mills Road A man approached an officer at True North Shell Sept. 22 and asked that he be arrested. The officer engaged the man in a conversation, and it was determined the 24-year-old resident was having a psychological episode. He was taken to the hospital for an evaluation. Read more news from the Sun Messenger here. The Canadian Press TORONTO The sex assault trial of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard is set to begin in May after it was postponed multiple times due to COVID-19 restrictions. The trial, which will be heard by a jury, is now scheduled to start May 2 and continue until early June. Hoggard, the frontman for the band Hedley, was initially set to stand trial in January of last year but it was postponed by several months, and then again to this month. The trial was delayed again because new jury trials have been put o Scholars say the administrations effort to take advantage of its power over the census to advance its agenda is largely unprecedented in modern times, where the national count has been valued for its accuracy and nonpartisanship. Here as elsewhere, however, Mr. Trump has chosen to push where other presidents would not. Judges and civil servants have generally done a good job of safeguarding democratic institutions and procedures that are specifically grounded in law or, as in the case of the census, in the Constitution, said Larry Bartels, a Vanderbilt University political science professor. They are less well-equipped to safeguard informal norms. Mr. Trump, he said, has accelerated a decades-long process of political leaders pushing against norms that were thought to be enforced by public opinion and elite propriety, and finding those safeguards pretty toothless. The administrations tactics to achieve its goals last-minute changes to the census questionnaire and schedule, with implausible rationales would appear contrary to Mr. Trumps reputation for bluntness. But one expert in federal policymaking, Cary Coglianese of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, said a more upfront approach might have carried even greater legal risks. Saying now that the agency wants to cut short collection to leave out immigrants would just be a slapdash way of managing a census, he said. And hence, it would also be arbitrary and capricious the standard by which courts judge the legality of federal agencies actions. The census ruling on Thursday suggested the approach did not work. Judge Lucy H. Koh of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction preventing the administration from winding down the count by Sept. 30, a month before the scheduled completion date of Oct. 31. She also barred officials from delivering completed population data to the White House on Dec. 31 rather than the April 2021 delivery date that had previously been set out. Judge Koh, who had temporarily stayed the early completion of the census count on Sept. 5, said Mr. Ross had ignored the basics of federal policymaking law in trying to cut back the time for a head count. His decision, she said, was made without public input, without studying alternatives, without a credible reason for acting and over the protest of experts at the Census Bureau, who warned it would lead to a census that could not meet constitutional standards for accuracy. Americans take time out of their busy schedules Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 to reflect on the ways Hispanics have influenced and enriched our nation and society. Hopefully, it is not just because its a congressional order, but because people in the U.S. sincerely recognize and value the contributions made by this large segment of our society more than 60 million people to our nations character and moral compass. When we talk about Hispanics some prefer the term Latinos we are referring to much more than the Mexican or Mexican American component that, for its size and historical circumstances, deserves distinct consideration. The congressional order also is intended to recognize and appreciate the talents and contributions gifted to our nation by those from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Central and South America, and Spain. This much was recognized by retired Col. Gil Coronado, a native San Antonian who was the driving force behind the expansion of this celebration from a week to a month, which was signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. Coronado went on to become deputy assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs and later director of the Selective Service System. Texas Take: Get the latest news on Texas politics sent directly to your inbox every weekday Interestingly enough, the celebration highlights the cultural legacy left in place by the Spaniards after almost four centuries of dominance over a vast portion of the Western Hemisphere. The dominions of the Spanish crown included a significant segment of todays U.S. territory. No wonder then, even after Spains forced departure from the area, its legacy remains vibrant and influential throughout the continent, including in our country. University of Notre Dame professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, in his book Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States, postulates that the history of this country unfolded in a twofold-directional track, with the Anglo East-West expansionist trajectory intersecting with the North-South axis formed by the colonization movement of the Spaniards, who had been in this part of America even before the British subjects war for independence from England. Spain supported the revolutionaries. Hence, the author insists, the Hispanic presence on this territory is not the result of immigrants in search of a country with a fully formed culture on its eastern seaboard. Much to the contrary, Hispanics belong in the entire story of the country as part of its origins and part of every important episode in its unfolding. 2020 Voter Guide: A roadmap of the races, candidates and issues on the ballot Perhaps more than any other city in Texas, San Antonio has become a cultural melting pot for Hispanics. Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, Panamanians, Colombians, Peruvians, Argentines, Uruguayans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Chileans, Ecuadorians, Venezuelans, Bolivians and, again, Spaniards offer the city an enviable cultural kaleidoscope of meaningful contributions. The beauty of Hispanic heritage resides in its diversity and the symbolism we use individually to capture the essence of history, beliefs, customs and traditions. This differs idiosyncratically from group to group. In the aggregate, however, we form an enriching and compelling force in the arts, education, music and gastronomy of our city. Equally significant is the fact that here in Military City, USA, in addition to the respectable number of Mexican American service members, there is a large population of active and retired military men and women from these culturally aligned groups that have and still serve this country with pride and distinction. In 2014, five local Puerto Rican military veterans who served in the U.S. Armys 65th Infantry Regiment, also known as The Borinqueneers, along with other members of the regiment, were presented the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. This is the highest civilian honor the Congress can bestow, and lawmakers recognized and honored these veterans, as a unit, for pioneering military service, devotion to duty and their many acts of valor during the Korean War. Indeed, their proud gallantry resonates loudly with this years theme for the celebration: Hispanic: Be Proud of Your Past, Embrace the Future. Our nations character is anchored in diversity. We would not be the leading country we are today if it werent for the incredible resourcefulness of our diverse population. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, lets embrace and appreciate its sociocultural value at its fullest. Viva la Hispanidad! Jaime Vazquez is a retired Air Force colonel who served as the commandant of the Inter-American Air Forces Academy (IAAFA) at Lackland AFB. The behavior of cells is controlled by their environment. Besides biological factors or chemical substances, physical forces such as pressure or tension are also involved. Researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Heidelberg University developed a method that enables them to analyze the influence of external forces on individual cells. Using a 3D printing process, they produced micro-scaffolds, each of which has four pillars on which a cell is located. Triggered by an external signal, a hydrogel inside the scaffold swells and pushes the pillars apart, so that the cell must "stretch." The work is part of the "3D Matter Made to Order" (3DMM2O) Cluster of Excellence. The researchers report on their results in Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc2648). Many cellular biological processes, such as wound healing or the development of tissue, are strongly influenced by the properties of their environment. Cells react, for example, to biological factors or chemical substances. However, research is increasingly focusing on physical forces acting on the cells: How exactly do the cells adapt to these forces? Within the framework of the German-Japanese University Consortium HeKKSaGOn and in cooperation with Australian scientists, the 3DMM2O team has taken a particularly ingenious approach to this question. For the production of their cell "stretching racks" they used "direct laser writing", a special 3D printing process in which a computer-controlled laser beam is focused into a special printer ink liquid. Its molecules react only at the exposed areas and form a solid material there. All other areas remain liquid and can be washed away. "This is an established method in our Cluster of Excellence for building three-dimensional structures - on the micrometer scale and below," explains Marc Hippler from the KIT Institute of Applied Physics, lead author of the publication. In the current case, the researchers used three different printer inks: The first ink, made of protein-repellent material, was used to form the actual micro-scaffold. Using a second ink of protein-attracting material, they then produced four horizontal bars that are connected to one of the scaffold pillars each. The cell is anchored to these four bars. The real showstopper, however, is the third ink: The scientists used it to "print" a mass inside the scaffold. If they then add a special liquid, the hydrogel swells. It thus develops a force sufficient to move the pillars - and the bars with them. This, in turn, has the effect of stretching the cell that is fixed to the bars. Cells counteract deformation The scientists of the Cluster of Excellence placed two completely different cell types on their micro stretching rack: human bone tu-mor cells and embryonic mouse cells. They found that the cells counteract the external forces with motor proteins and thus greatly increase their tensile forces. When the external stretching force is removed, the cells relax and return to their original state. "This be-havior is an impressive demonstration of the ability to adapt to a dynamic environment. If the cells were unable to recover, they would no longer fulfill their original function - for example wound closure," says Professor Martin Bastmeyer from the Zoological Institute of KIT. As the team further discovered, a protein called NM2A (non-muscle myosin 2A) plays a decisive role in the cells' response to mechani-cal stimulation: Genetically modified bone tumor cells that cannot produce NM2A were barely able to counteract the external defor-mation. Work in the cluster of excellence was carried out by Heidelberg scientists from the field of biophysical chemistry as well as physics and cell- and neurobiology from KIT. Members of the German-Japanese University Consortium HeKKSaGOn include, among oth-ers, Heidelberg University, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Osaka University. Cluster of Excellence 3D Matter Made to Order In the 3D Matter Made to Order (3DMM2O) Cluster of Excellence, scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Heidelberg Uni-versity conduct interdisciplinary research into innovative technolo-gies and materials for digital scalable additive manufacture to en-hance the precision, speed, and performance of 3D printing. Work is aimed at completely digitizing 3D manufacture and materials pro-cessing from the molecule to the microstructure. In addition to fund-ing as a cluster of excellence under the Excellence Strategy compe-tition launched by the federation and the federal states, 3DMM3O is financed by Carl Zeiss Foundation. ### More information: http://www.3dmm2o.de Original publication: Marc Hippler, Kai Weienbruch, Kai Richler, Enrico D. Lemma, Ma-saki Nakahata, Benjamin Richter, Christopher Barner-Kowollik, Yoshinori Takashima, Akira Harada, Eva Blasco, Martin Wegener, Motomu Tanaka, Martin Bastmeyer. Mechanical Stimulation of Single Cells by Reversible Host-Guest Interactions in 3D Micro-Scaffolds, Science Advances, 2020, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc2648 https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/39/eabc2648 For further information, please contact: Dr Felix Mescoli, Editor/Press Officer, Phone: +49 721 608-41171, Email: felix.mescoli@kit.edu Founded in 1386, Ruperto Carola is an internationally oriented research university whose subject spectrum includes the humanities, the social sciences, law, the natural and life sciences, and medicine. As one of the Universities of Excellence in Germany, Heidelberg University's successes in the Excellence Competitions and its standing in international rankings confirm its leading role in the academic landscape. It is part of Heidelberg University's self-concept to further develop outstanding individual disciplines, to strengthen interdisciplinary cooperation, and to carry research results over into society. With a research-oriented course of study in more than 180 programmes, its nearly 30,000 students can choose from a virtually singular array of subject combinations and individual qualification pathways. 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. SPRINGFIELD A 38-year-old Chestnut Street resident is charged with kidnapping after police say he attempted to abduct a woman he did not know from a Boylston Street sidewalk near The Republican building. Jason Goodwin is charged with kidnapping, failure to stop for a police officer, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, resisting arrested and driving a vehicle without a license. According to police spokesman Ryan Walsh, officers were dispatched to the location at around 1 p.m. for a report of an attempted abduction. A woman reported a man she did not know accosted her on the sidewalk and tried to grab her. She broke free and escaped. She was not injured, Walsh said. She told police her assailant took off in a car, and a vehicle matching the description was spotted on nearby Emery Street, which is off Main Street between the newspaper and Freedom Credit Union. Police pulled the car over on Congress Street, but when officers approached the car, Goodwin accelerated and they had to jump out of the way. Another cruiser moved in to block the car from leaving, Walsh said. Walsh said Goodwin sat in the car with the engine running and would not get out. Police smashed the side windows with their batons and pulled him from the vehicle to place him in custody. Goodwin is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Springfield District Court. Major countries should have the audacity to shoulder their due responsibilities. However, the U.S. leaders speech at the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 22 brought the only superpower in todays world into disrepute. Mentioning China 11 times, President Donald Trump accused China of spreading the COVID-19 pandemic in the seven-minute speech, which is being sarcastically referred to as seven minutes of nonsense by the media. Trumps speech came at a time when the U.S. coronavirus death toll passed 200,000. New York, which was supposed to be the host city for the UN General Assembly, is mired in the COVID-19 epidemic. China promptly reported the epidemic to the World Health Organization, the U.S. and other countries and shared the genetic sequence of the virus. However, for more than half a year, the U.S. government chose to ignore the detailed information released by China. Those in power in the U.S. are ignoring peoples lives and showing no respect for science, which well explains the American failure that led to 200,000 COVID-19 deaths. For the interests involving the election, a few U.S. politicians frequently fabricated rumors to discredit China in an attempt to duck responsibility. Trumps speech at the UN General Assembly is part of his blame game, with the BBC pointing out that Trump targeted U.S. voters in his speech. This was a stump speech by President Trump, who faces re-election, a BBC article shared, adding that President Trump is trying to deflect attention from his own handling of the pandemic by casting the blame on China. The lies of the U.S. at the UN General Assembly are groundless and have nothing new to offer. The superpower unscrupulously staged a political show at the UN, reflecting its hegemonic mindset. Seventy-five years ago, with the determination to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, people from all over the world founded the UN as the most universal, representative and authoritative international organization. Now, at a moment when the world urgently needs unity and cooperation again, the U.S. didnt assume its responsibility as a major country. Whats worse, it advocated unilateralism and sanctions, while provoking conflicts at the UN General Assembly. On Sept. 11, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a wide-ranging resolution on tackling the coronavirus pandemic through international cooperation over objection from the U.S., with 169 countries casting affirmative votes. Just seven minutes long, the U.S. leaders speech spread a political virus in order to pressure other countries. No country has the right to dominate global affairs or control the destiny of others. The law of the jungle has long been refuted by the international community, the U.S. should wake up from its dream. A disdain for the solemn platform of the UN is never allowed, and other countries around the world are unwilling to endure bullying from the U.S. (People's Daily Online) The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance announced federal approval this week to distribute more than $40 million to families with school-aged children across the state under Pandemic EBT, a relief program created out of the CARES Act for families whose children qualify for free and reduced lunch. This followed more than $200 million going to families across the state to cover the cost of meals for children learning remotely in the spring while schools were closed due to COVID-19. In Massachusetts, about half of all public school students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch. Heres what to know about the P-EBT program in Massachusetts: What is P-EBT? Pandemic EBT is a program that sends funds to families to feed schoolchildren who qualify for free and reduced lunch and are spending most of their instruction tine outside of school. The program was designed to provide an alternative for families who benefit from the National School Lunch Program since their children wouldnt be in school to get free or reduced lunch. Eligible families get $5.86 per student per day, or $29.30 per student per week. The money is deposited in a P-EBT card or, for families who have a traditional EBT card through other assistance programs, the money is deposited in their existing card. Who gets P-EBT? Families who qualify for free or reduced lunch are eligible for P-EBT, as are families who attend schools that provide free or reduced meals for all students. Its not only for public school students. Using P-EBT funds will not affect a family members immigration status, according to the state. The public charge rule, which states certain immigrants seeking green card status will be rejected if they use public assistance, does not apply to this pandemic program. Families who already receive benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or other financial assistance programs qualify for P-EBT and it will not impact their benefits. The state Department of Transitional Assistance estimates close to 470,000 children could benefit from a collective $40 million in federal funds. This includes students who qualify individually due to demonstrated need and students enrolled in districts where all students are eligible for breakfast and lunch at no cost. Student eligibility is dependent for the recently approved federal funds on their schedule, with the program requiring a student to learn remotely for five consecutive school days to qualify. A child who is completely remote is eligible, as is a child who has class Monday and Tuesday one week but is remote until Wednesday and Thursday of the next week. The state determines who is eligible based on information parents and guardians provide to the school district regarding free and reduced lunch. The Department of Transitional Assistance is sending letters out to eligible families over the next month to notify them of their eligibility. Eligibility could vary from student to student, even within a family, according to MAP-EBT.org. Families who think their student qualified but do not receive a card or letter by mid-October should call DTAs assistance line at 877-382-2363. How do I use the P-EBT card? A parent or guardian will have to activate the card by calling the states EBT Hotline at 800-997-2555 and creating a PIN. The caller will be asked for the childs Social Security number and date of birth. Once the card is activated, families can use the P-EBT card at certain grocery stores, convenience stores and other shops, just as families use the traditional EBT card. Families can find out which stores accept the P-EBT and EBT card by searching on the U.S. Department of Agricultures SNAP retailer locator. What if I lost my card? Families who lost their card can request a new one starting Oct. 1 through DTAConnect.com/pebt. Why is it only for September? When Congress created the P-EBT program, it authorized funding for the program for this fiscal year. The federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30. While Massachusetts and other states across the country have remote learning past September, the USDA wont have the authority to approve benefits in the new fiscal year. Congress would have to pass legislation to extend or renew the P-EBT program and allow states to apply to participate. Related Content: Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust Limited (an authorised closed ended company incorporated in Guernsey with registration number 41959) LEI Number: 549300ZIJJTMTIIQJP67 (The "Company") 25 September 2020 RESULT OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING At the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 25 September 2020, all Resolutions set out in the Annual General Meeting Notice sent to Shareholders dated 8 June 2020 were duly passed. Details of the proxy voting results which should be read along side the Notice are noted below: Ordinary Resolution For Discretion (voted in favour) Against Abstain 1 215,049,468 144 257,183 353,748 2 214,923,442 144 736,957 0 3 214,285,660 144 969,739 405,000 4 214,951,165 144 304,234 405,000 5 214,951,165 144 304,234 405,000 6 214,951,165 144 304,234 405,000 7 214,946,404 144 544,095 169,900 8 214,946,126 144 707,273 7,000 9 215,391,881 144 257,183 11,335 Special Resolution For Discretion (voted in favour) Against Abstain 1 215,184,941 144 394,679 80,779 2 201,849,626 33,872 13,777,044 0 Note -A vote withheld is not a vote in law and has not been counted in the votes for and against a resolution. The Special Resolutions were as follows: Special Resolution 1 That the Company be authorised, in accordance with section 315 of The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008, as amended (the 'Companies Law'), to make market acquisitions (within the meaning of section 316 of the Companies Law) of ordinary shares in the capital of the Company ('Ordinary Shares'), provided that: a. the maximum number of ordinary shares hereby authorised to be purchased shall be 14.99% of the issued ordinary shares on the date on which this resolution is passed; b. the minimum price which may be paid for an ordinary share shall be 0.01; c. the maximum price (exclusive of expenses) which may be paid for an ordinary share shall be the higher of (i) 105% of the average of the mid-market value of the ordinary shares for the five business days immediately preceding the date of the purchase; and (ii) that stipulated by the regulatory technical standards adopted by the European Union pursuant to the Market Abuse Regulation; d. such authority shall expire at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2021 unless such authority is varied, revoked or renewed prior to such date of the general meeting; and e. the Company may make a contract to purchase ordinary shares under such authority prior to its expiry which will or may be executed wholly or partly after its expiration and the Company may make a purchase of ordinary shares pursuant to any such contract. Special Resolution 2 That the Directors of the Company be and are hereby empowered to allot ordinary shares of the Company for cash as if the pre-emption provisions contained under Article 13 of the Articles of Incorporation did not apply to any such allotments and to sell ordinary shares which are held by the Company in treasury for cash on a non-pre-emptive basis provided that this power shall be limited to the allotment and sales of ordinary shares: a. up to such number of ordinary shares as is equal to 10% of the ordinary shares in issue (including treasury shares) on the date on which this resolution is passed; b. at a price of not less than the net asset value per share as close as practicable to the allotment or sale; provided that such power shall expire on the earlier of the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2021 or on the expiry of 15 months from the passing of this Special Resolution, except that the Company may before such expiry make offers or agreements which would or might require ordinary shares to be allotted or sold after such expiry and notwithstanding such expiry the Directors may allot or sell ordinary shares in pursuance of such offers or agreements as if the power conferred hereby had not expired. Enquiries: Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited The Company Secretary Trafalgar Court Les Banques St Peter Port Guernsey GY1 3QL Tel: 01481 745001 END Queensland Singled Out Over Border Policy: Premier Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has urged the Australian federal government to keep army forces in place at state COVID-19 border checkpoints ahead of the states agreement with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) expiring on Sept. 30. Palaszczuk says her state is being singled out as the ADF will remain in place at the New South Wales (NSW), South Australia, and the Northern Territory until Oct. 19. I urge the Commonwealth to reconsider and treat Queensland like everyone else; stop singling Queensland out, the premier said on Sept. 25. Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg during a press conference in the Mural Hall at Parliament House on June 11, 2020 in Canberra, Australia ( Sam Mooy/Getty Images) Following the premiers comments, Deputy Premier Steven Miles accused federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg of lying about Queenslands request for an extension of ADF support. Speaking to reporters on Sept. 25, Miles said that Frydenberg had told the media that Queensland did not request an extension and said Frydenberg owed him an apology. However, Frydenberg pushed back against the comments on 4CB radio on Sept. 25 declaring: This bloke is a bumbling, stumbling, lightweight whos completely out of his depth. Hes making it up as he goes. This is amateur hour. Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles speaks to the media during a press conference in Brisbane, Australia, on June 30, 2020. (AAP Image/Glenn Hunt) Responding to the remarks, Miles said: They can call me all the names in the world they want to, but that is not going to affect my resolve or Queenslanders resolve to address this virus. The premier closed Queenslands borders in response to an outbreak of COVID-19 in July. Since then, the federal government has criticised Palaszczuk for the decision, suggesting that it is a political move ahead of state elections in October, and have asked for transparency around the medical advice relied upon to close the borders. The premier has rebuffed these criticisms, asserting that she is putting the health and safety of 5 million Queenslanders first. The ADF was provided to Queensland to help state authorities at ground border crossings as well as at airports. ADF told The Epoch Times that they advised Queensland authorities Sept. 11 of the need to transition ADF support on borders to alternative arrangements when the current agreement with ADF expires at the end of the month. The ADF will reallocate its resources toward support for mandatory quarantine arrangements and to prepare for the high-risk weather season. The day after the ADF is due to withdraw, Queensland will open its borders to allow 152,000 NSW residents into Queensland if they live within 100 kilometres of the border. Queensland has gone 15 days without a new case of community-transmitted COVID-19 and has only five active cases. For two years, Jason Muzzicato terrorized his ex-girlfriend, according to a federal prosecutor. He used a drone to try to drop bombs on her Washington Township, Northampton County, property even though she had a protection-from-abuse order against him, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kishan Nair. Electronic license plates may be gaining interest, with nearly 2,700 on cars in California and Arizona.The plates, produced by the company Reviver , function as an electronic screen capable of altering its message such as the cars license plate number as well as messaging, and even a find my vehicle feature, thanks to the technologys wireless connectivity.Reviver representatives say the technology is set to evolve with a host of other features, like handling parking and toll payments, said Neville Boston, CEO and co-founder of Reviver Auto. Tolling features could be added by the end of the year, with parking payment features available in the near future.What weve done, and what weve continued to do, is work with states as partners, said Boston.The plates have been available in California and Arizona , while Reviver plans to announce new partnerships with about four other states in the next month. The company is currently in the pilot phase with Maryland and Pennsylvania. Maryland is in the middle of a two-year pilot study to test the plates on 20 state fleet vehicles.How excited the public is about the e-plates may still be an open question. Fewer than 100 of the plates have been issued in Arizona, while some 2,600 have been issued in California, state officials say.Reviver has two plate technologies available: a wired version, which connects to the cars electrical system, and a new battery-powered version, which can go about five years before the battery has to be replaced. The battery-powered plate went on sale in early September.We believe the battery version is the one that we will really scale with because its one that a consumer can put on themselves. It takes about five minutes to install it, and theyre basically good to go, said Boston.The electronic license plates retail starting at $499 and cost $55 a year. The company plans to build in new features like tolling and parking payment abilities, and they have been touted as yet one more item to enable contactless interactions a bonus in the time of COVID-19.Our work with various states, over the past few years, is really bearing fruit right now. Because everyones needing a way in which you can lessen the amount of time that youre spending in large groups. And to be able to update your registration from your app securely is tremendously important, said Boston.Department of motor vehicle officials stress that online registration renewals which can limit trips to a DMV office are widely available.There are several options available to renew registration including online, at a kiosk and through the mail, said Ivette Burch, public information officer in the Office of Public Affairs at the California Department of Motor Vehicles.Online registration renewal is a service thats been available to Arizona customers for many years, echoed Doug Nick, assistant communications director for Public Information at the Arizona Department of Transportation.However, those trips to the DMV aside, Boston said any opportunity to develop contactless features is a welcome one.With everything happening with COVID, its actually been a boom for our business in a positive way because we now can be an extension of allowing compliance to happen in a safe environment, he added. A Hawaiian airlines A330 flies over the islands. (Hawaiian Airlines) As Hawaii prepares to ease its pandemic quarantine rules on Oct. 15, Hawaiian Airlines says it will offer pre-flight COVID-19 testing to passengers flying from LAX and San Francisco International Airport. The tests, which will cost $90-$150, are intended to give passengers an easier way to show island authorities a fresh negative result. Starting Oct. 15, Hawaii will waive its 14-day quarantine requirement for passengers who can show negative results from an approved COVID test within 72 hours of departure. In announcing the tests, Hawaiian joins United Airlines, which Thursday unveiled a similar plan for passengers flying to Hawaii from San Francisco. As airlines seek to revive traffic to the islands, they have been offering round-trip fares as low as $300. Under the Hawaiian Airlines plan, it will team with Long Beach-based Worksite Labs to offer drive-through Droplet Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) shallow nasal swab testing, which meets Hawaii's requirements. The companies haven't announced testing locations, except to say that they will be convenient to LAX and SFO, and that testing will cost $90 for results within three days or $150 for day-of-travel express service. The airlines said it will fly at no more than 70% cabin capacity through October to allow for greater distancing in flight. The United Airlines testing plan, first of its kind among major carriers, gives passengers the option of taking "a rapid test at the airport or a self-collected, mail-in test ahead of their trip." The airport tests will be Abbott ID NOW molecular tests, administered by GoHealth Urgent Care and partner Dignity Health at a site inside the SFO international terminal, with results promised in "approximately 15 minutes." The airline said it has been using the same test on its international flight crews since July. United did not cite prices in its announcement or respond to questions about the cost of testing. The Washington Post and SFGate.com have reported that the rapid tests will cost $250, the mail-in test $80. Story continues United's mail-in tests are self-collected and administered by Color, which texts or emails the results to travelers. The airline recommends that travelers buy the test at least 10 days ahead of their trip and collect their sample within 72 hours of departure time, then send test results by overnight mail or an SFO dropbox. Hawaii state officials have released a chart to help passengers understand how passing a COVID test can help them avoid a quarantine. The state has said it will work with "approved trusted testing partners" Kaiser Permanente and CVS pharmacies and noted that it requires FDA-approved nucleic acid amplification testing by nasal swab. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. America can be proud of many things: our innovation, generosity and entrepreneurial spirit are unsurpassed. Yet when it comes to our nation understanding one of the greatest gifts ever given to humanitythe Biblewe're moving from dumb to dumber, and it's no laughing matter. Presentation Focused on the Importance of Self-Service Analytics in Higher Education Our users continually find creative ways to put self-service analytics to improve decision-making at their institutions. This presentation was a showcase of institutions successfully making full use of their data to support outcomes. On September 17th, Rapid Insight presented to the U.S. Department of Education on how the Federal Student Aid offices business experts can enhance data-driven decision-making using advanced analytics. The presentation, titled Improving Institutional and Student Outcomes with Self-Service Analytics, was delivered to over 150 D.O.E. attendees as part of the Federal Student Aid Center of Excellence Keynote Series. The talk featured several co-presenters (in addition to Michael Laracy, Founder and President of Rapid Insight) who spoke to the benefits of self-service analytics at their institutions. The speakers included: The presentation covered how data analytics evolved from a highly-specialized field into one accessible to organizations of all sizes and professionals of all backgrounds. It emphasized the importance and effectiveness of self-service analytics and highlighted successful implementation at the three partner institutions. We were pleased to present to the Department of Education alongside some of our most impressive partner institutions, said Mike Laracy, Founder and President of Rapid Insight. Our users continually find creative ways to put self-service analytics to work in improving outcomes and decision-making at their institutions. This presentation was a showcase of institutions successfully making full use of their data to support outcomes. This talk focused on a topic that is timely and urgent. Todays employers expect data literacy from their employees, and self-service analytics tools enable professionals to be flexible and efficient when working with data. Additionally, as higher education institutions adjust to a remote work environment, the ability to access and apply data to enrollment, retention, and student success initiatives is critical to success. About Rapid Insight: Rapid Insight is a leading provider of business intelligence and automated predictive analytics software. With a specialty in higher education and a focus on ease of use and efficiency, Rapid Insight products enable users to turn their raw data into actionable information. The companys analytic software simplifies the extraction and analysis of data, enabling institutions with student populations of all sizes to fully utilize their information for data-informed decision making. For more information, visit http://www.rapidinsight.com. ### Advertisement Carrie Symonds has arrived back in chilly Britain after enjoying a luxury seaside retreat to Italy with baby Wilfred. Boris Johnson's fiancee battled the blustery weather in a red beanie hat as she left Downing Street by the back exit this afternoon. The new mother strapped her four-month-old son into a government people carrier before being whisked on to the street in the direction of The Mall. Earlier in the week MailOnline revealed Ms Symonds, 32, to be relaxing in the exclusive resort of Lake Como with three girlfriends at the 600-a-night Grand Hotel Tremezzo. There, she was pictured strolling along the promenade with Wilfred and cruising around the coast on a boat trip. But she returns to choppy political waters in Westminster as the Prime Minister faces a backbench revolt over the Government's coronavirus emergency powers. Carrie Symonds has arrived back in chilly England after enjoying a luxury seaside retreat to Italy with baby Wilfred. Boris Johnson's fiancee battled the blustery weather in a red beanie hat as she left Downing Street by the back exit this afternoon Carrie Symonds, 32, was seen strolling along a waterfront promenade with a friend while carrying son Wilfred in a baby sling Ms Symonds, a former Conservative Party communications director, complemented her striking bobble hat with an autumnal yellow jumper as she left Downing Street. Slung around her shoulder was a black bag which she clutched with her right hand, partially revealing the jewel-encrusted engagement ring on her finger. Downing Street's first couple announced their engagement in February, but in the following months the country was plunged into lockdown and the PM endured his own Covid-19 fight. The PM was pictured in his constituency of Uxbridge in West London where he donned a face mask to meet shoppers. During her luxury getaway Mr Symonds was seen cutting a casual figure in a 325 blue checked cotton gingham dress by Ganni and black Superga trainers as she wandered along the waterside esplanade with a friend while carrying Wilfred in a baby sling. A British holidaymaker told MailOnline: 'Carrie seemed very relaxed. She was smiling and laughing with her friends. It was as if she didn't have a care in the world.' Mr Johnson's fiancee didn't appear to have any worries as she enjoyed her holiday at a hotel which is considered one of the finest in Europe, popular with wealthy Americans. This was despite Mr Johnson's grave warning to the nation in a televised address that he will impose more restrictions if the infection rate does not slow. On Tuesday when the PM tightened the coronavirus laws around pubs - including a 10pm curfew which kicked in last night - Ms Symonds stayed up until well after 10pm as she ate at the hotel restaurant where Mediterranean-style sea bass with tomatoes, capers and Taggia olives costs 28. Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets shoppers and shopkeepers during a visit to his constituency in Uxbridge, west London Boris Johnson's fiancee looked happy and relaxed on her Italian getaway with four-month old Wilfred wearing a red baby grow Carrie appeared to share a joke with her female friend as she looked at her phone while the friend adjusted Wilfred's hair Boris Johnson (pictured visiting his Uxbridge constituency today) borrowed more in five months to tackle coronavirus than the Government did in the entire year after the 2008 financial crash Carrie and her friends used the hotels 300-an-hour launch to see the various castles, stately homes and waterside villages that have made this Alpine location one of the worlds most prestigious holiday destinations Carrie was seen wearing a 325 blue checked gingham dress, black canvas shoes, with her blonde hair tied up in a bun as she strolled with her son. After their stroll, the friends were seen enjoying a late night supper at an exclusive hotel Carry, seen on her afternoon walk, is staying in one of the finest hotels in northern Italy, which is popular with rich Americans Carrie and her friends were seated on the terrace at an outside table. The tables were spaced apart in line with appropriate social distancing. The waiters and all hotel staff were wearing masks. Guests are also required to wear masks in the public areas of the hotel and can only remove them when eating and drinking. Before dinner the Prime Minister's partner strolled along the promenade where she was able to take off her mask outside, taking in the view with Wilfred dressed in a red and white baby grow. Mr Johnson's son, with his distinctive shock of blonde hair like his father, took a lively interest in the scenery before dozing in his sling. The onlooker said: 'It's such a beautiful hotel, I'm not surprised that she was having a good time. It was a surprise to see her on holiday, particularly as we are in the grip of a pandemic. 'You notice it even if you are on holiday. The waiters and other staff wear face masks all the time. In the whole of the country they are being very strict.' Mr Johnson is trying to see off a rebellion from some Tory MPs who want Parliament to have the final say on emergency coronavirus powers. Carrie smiled and chatted to her female friend while the group and baby Wilfred too a boat road during her Lake Como stay The new mother wore a red gingham dress, navy woolen cardigan and black canvas shoes while baby Wilfred wore a red trousers, a red-stripped top, white socks and a bright orange sun hat for their two-hour boat ride UPDATE: The John J. Beades Bridge is now operational and open to traffic, Massachusetts State Police tweeted. Mechanical issues with a bridge on Morrissey Boulevard in Boston are causing significant traffic delays Friday morning, authorities said. The John J. Beades Bridge on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester is stuck in the upright position due to mechanical issues, causing the delays, according to a tweet from Massachusetts State Police. Traffic is particularly bad on Interstate 93 northbound near the Morrissey exit, state police said. State police patrols are diverting the traffic, while the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is working to resolve the problem. WASHINGTON, D.C. - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has a 5% lead over incumbent Republican President Donald Trump in Ohio, according to a newly released Fox News poll of the candidates' standing in the battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada. Released a day after a Baldwin-Wallace University poll of Ohio voters showed the former vice president with less than a one percentage point edge over Trump - indicating a toss-up race - Fridays poll showed BIden with 50% support in Ohio, compared with 45% backing for Trump. The latest poll indicated that 47% of voters in the state approve of how Trump has handled the presidency, while 51% disapprove. The Fox News poll attributed Bidens advantage to his 75-point lead among non-white voters, noting that white voters back Trump by 7%. White voters without a college degree pick Trump by 18 points, the network reported, while white college graduates support Biden by 7%. Biden was also ahead by 14% among Ohio women, while Trump enjoys a 4% lead among men. Suburbanites in Ohio prefer Biden by a 10% margin, while the states rural voters support Trump by 17 points. The poll indicated that 59% of Ohioans who plan to cast their ballot in person back Trump, while 67% of those who plan to vote by mail back Biden. The poll said that 52% of Ohio voters thought Biden would do the best job handling coronavirus, compared with 38% who preferred Trump. Forty-nine percent said they want to Biden nominate the next Supreme Court Justice, while 43% said they want Trump to do it. Ohio voters favored Trumps handling of the economy by 5% over Biden, and gave Biden a 2% edge over Trump on policing and criminal justice. The Fox News poll interviewed a random sample of 907 Ohio votes contacted via cellphones and landlines from Sept. 20 to Sept. 23. The poll listed a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. In 2016, Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in Ohio by 8.5% after winning strong support in the states Appalachian regions. Read More: Ohio voters like Gov. DeWine a lot, lean slightly toward Joe Biden over Donald Trump, and split on social justice protests - New Great Lakes poll Poll of Ohio voters shows toss-up race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden Swing state voters say 2020 general election is causing strain on personal, family relationships When it comes to racial segregation and poverty gaps, Albany is one of the worst cities in America for people of color, according to a report from the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research group. Of the 274 large cities that the institute measured for how adept they were at including low-income and minority residents in the city's economic prosperity, Albany placed near the bottom at 234. Albany's ranking plummeted between 2016 and 2013, when it fared better at number 174. As for the other large New York cities looked at by the Urban Institute, Rochester and Buffalo ranked worse than Albany, at 241 and 249 in the survey, respectively. New York City ranked 189th for racial inclusion nationwide. Though Albanys racial diversity has increased throughout the years around 50 percent of the citys population are now people of color, compared to 30 percent in the 1980s the study shows that in nearly every metric of inclusion, Albany fares worse than the national average. People have repeatedly pointed out to our local government officials that were a deeply unequal city, said Alice Green, executive director of The Center for Law and Justice. They say, This is going on all around the country. But the study shows its very severe here. The Urban Institutes dashboard was first published in 2018, but updated on Sept. 15 with new data. The statistics were crunched largely from U.S. Census data, and racial segregation research done by Brown University. The rankings looked at income and racial segregation; the percentage of people of color; working-poor families; rent-burdened residents; high school dropouts, and the gap between poverty, education and homeownership rates of minority versus white non-Hispanic residents. PREVIOUSLY: Bullet holes and mother's love shape the life of an Albany teen A list of shootings, violence and homicides in 2020 in Albany Grondahl: Black chamber of commerce harnesses capitalism, fights racism The average index score for racial segregation across all cities was 35. The institute pegged Albany with a score of 42, indicating more segregation in the city than there is nationwide. The racial homeownership gap was 31 percent in Albany, compared to 21 percent across all cities measured. Albanys racial poverty gap was 17 percent; the 274 cities averaged at 11 percent. The average index score for income segregation was 0.11 and Albanys is 0.18, one of the highest among all cities included in the study. Its of great concern to see these numbers, Green said. It just shows yet again how much inequity exists here. Christina Stacy, a senior researcher at the organization, said the report was created in order for cities to have a useful resource to reference. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. The institute defines inclusion as the ability of all residents particularly those who have been historically excluded to contribute to, and benefit from, economic prosperity. Stacy said the institute hopes city leaders and community organizers can use the data to identify areas where the city is struggling. Weve heard from cities that have recovered economically that bold public leadership is really important, Stacy said. Weve also heard that building voice and power with people who havent traditionally and historically been included in decision making is super important. Stacy said high-ranking cities in the report tend to think of inclusion and economic growth as going hand in hand not as alternatives. Some people think, Well just grow first and then later worry about inclusion. But that really cant be the way that it is, Stacy said. Inclusion and equity has to be central in decision making, particularly at times like this when were in a recovery period. Green said she hopes this report makes the inequality in the city even more clear. We need to acknowledge the historical role of white supremacy, and not only its harmful effects on people of color, but the general community and the economy, Green said. I hope that we seriously pay attention to this data and what it means for the city of Albany. The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) has today launched Irelands Competitiveness Challenge 2020 report. The NCC has noted Irish businesses face a period of extreme stress due to the fallout from Covid-19 and Brexit and it flagged four broad challenges that need to be addressed to support the recovery and maintain competitiveness. Support Irelands workers and leverage opportunities for upskilling Address climate action in a competitiveness context Invest strategically in Irelands physical infrastructure Resolve long-standing issues. On launching the report, Chair of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), Dr Frances Ruane, warned that COVID-19 has brought about an exceptional level of global uncertainty, which is compounded in the Irish case by the approaching deadline for negotiating the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU, as well as heightened international trade tensions. The NCC has warned that as a small, highly open and concentrated economy, Ireland is heavily exposed to external shocks, making it vital that the economy retains its competitive position. Launching the report, Dr Frances Ruane said, "At the heart of Irelands national competitiveness is creating an environment in which Irish businesses are able to compete successfully in international markets." Source: www.businessworld.ie 5. Submissions should be grounded in fact and buttressed by reliable sources. Though you dont need to footnote your comments sentence by sentence, at a time when the reliability of news is more in question than ever, we will reject comments that post controversial claims without sources. 6. Submissions should show evidence of listening and attempting to understand other points of view. Possible questions to address: Why does this topic interest you? How have your experiences shaped your opinions? What questions or concerns does this topic raise for you? Do you feel you are receiving a high-quality education? Why? Did you feel appropriately challenged and supported by your teachers before the pandemic? How about now? How do you think your school compares with others in your community, in terms of educational quality? What measures need to be taken to make sure more students dont fall behind? How do you think the pandemic is affecting childrens ability to get a high-quality education? How is the crisis affecting your educational experience? What strengths and weaknesses do you think it is exposing about Americas schools? What ideas do you have to make sure more students dont fall behind? What role do you think public education should have in our country? Do you think its the backbone of democracy? Is it the best path to make this country a meritocracy, where all children can have a chance at success? Is it something we should invest more in: for example, by updating older facilities, providing teachers with more resources, and paying them competitive salaries? Do you think charter, private and religious schools offer better opportunities for addressing the achievement gap rather than public schools? President Trump sees school choice, supported by taxpayer-funded vouchers and tax credits, as the answer to what he refers to as failing government schools. Critics argue, however, that these school choice programs only drain funding from already financially strapped districts and schools. What do you think? What do you think are the countrys most pressing education issues besides equity? Do we need smaller classes, more mental health care, more or fewer A.P. classes, better school facilities? Do you agree with President Trump that left-wing rioting and mayhem are the direct result of decades of left-wing indoctrination in our schools? Like him, do you think American schoolchildren are in need of a new pro-American curriculum? Or do you think that children deserve an honest accounting of our countrys past, including learning about the darker chapters of American history, such as slavery and its legacy? Do you agree with Mr. Biden that gun legislation is needed to make schools safer? What education priorities would you address first if you were in a leadership position? What are your beliefs about college? Should everyone be able to go? Should college be free? Should some or all of Americans nearly $1.6 trillion in college debt be forgiven? What about the college admissions process should it be changed? When you consider the biggest roadblocks to a more fair admissions process, do you worry that prestigious colleges like Yale University discriminate against white and Asian-American applicants as the Trump administration asserts? Or do you worry that first-generation college students and poorer students dont have the same access to college as wealthier students? What are your college-related priorities? How should we reimagine our schools so that all students receive a high-quality education? What lessons can we take away from this current crisis so we can improve our schools? What proposals and ideas do you have? In your opinion, how could school be better for everyone? Spain's employment minister, Yolanda Diaz, said on Thursday that there will be benefit for employees with 'fijo discontinuo' contracts due to the loss of much of the tourism season and that ERTE benefit will remain at 70% even after six months. These are among issues which have been agreed, the minister stated, with the ERTE furlough scheme - as it currently stands - due to end in under a week's time. Diaz insisted that agreement on the ERTE extension is "close" and that her ministry "is not going to leave the table" until the agreement is reached. "It seems to me that we are close. It is true that there are nuances, but I believe we are close." All companies which need protection will have it, she added. It is already well understood which sectors have been most affected, especially those in the tourism industry, but companies which "surround" these sectors also need protection. In this regard, she referred to supermarkets, bookshops, shoe shops, among others. "The perimeter must be protected. It is very difficult, as there is a risk that some activity might be left out." Diaz stressed that it has never been the intention to only protect certain sectors, and she expressed her particular solidarity for the nightlife sector, "which is having a terrible time". She has asked for plans to be designed for the leisure and culture sectors, which form "a fundamental part of the economy and of our lives". The minister made clear that there is enough money to maintain ERTE, thanks to European funds. Congress continues its attack on the BJP government by throwing its weight behind farmer organisations in protest against the recently passed amedments to Farm Bills. Several farmers organisations including the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (ICCFM) called for Bharat Bandh. Hundreds of farmers led by 35 farmers' outfits blocked major highways and State Highways in and around Bengaluru. Small, marginal farmers, who are 86 per cent, will benefit the most from agriculture reforms, said PM Modi at virtual address to BJP leaders. He also asked partymen to counter rumours regarding the Farm Bills. Farmers in Tamil Nadu protested in human skulls, chained hands. Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee decided to extend 'rail roko' agitation in Punjab. C ardiff and Swansea will go into local lockdown from 6pm on Sunday, the Welsh Government has said. The southern town of Llanelli will go into local lockdown a day earlier, on Saturday at 6pm. The new restrictions mean that about 1.5 million, or half of the Welsh population, will be under lockdown. Under the new rules, people in the areas that have locked down cannot leave without a reasonable excuse. They will also not be able to meet indoors with anyone they do not live with. 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 Health minister Vaughan Gething told a press conference in Cardiff that people must work from home when possible. On Thursday there were 25 new coronavirus cases in Carmarthenshire, where Llanelli is located, 39 in Cardiff and 41 in Swansea. And Mr Gething warned people in Cardiff and Swansea not to have a big blowout over the weekend before restrictions come into force. He said the Welsh government was acting on a more localised basis for the first time in Llanelli because the transmission of coronavirus is concentrated on the town itself, rather than Carmarthenshire as a whole. Children at a school in Cardiff earlier this year / PA Introducing restrictions in any parts of Wales is always an incredibly difficult decision for us to make having to introduce these restrictions in our biggest cities, including our capital, is another sombre milestone in a difficult year, Mr Gething said. Were acting to protect peoples health and to try and break the chain of transmission and stop the situation from getting worse. 25.09.2020 LISTEN As part of celebrating its 10th anniversary of impacting the lives of vulnerable children, Street Children Empowerment Foundation (SCEF) has held a virtual stakeholder conference on children to discussed ways of improving the welfare of children in street situations. The conference was on the Theme: Social protection during a crisis; leaving no child behind. According to the foundation, many vulnerable Street children are yet to benefit from the government's initiatives and policies. "In the last few decades, the government of Ghana has strived to reform child welfare and protection systems, including the ratification of many international treaties and protocols such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The government has also developed internal policies aimed at improving access to quality education for children at the primary, basic and secondary levels". "However, many vulnerable children are yet to feel the impact of these initiatives and policies. Street children who are the most vulnerable seem to be the forgotten population among children in Ghana. It is estimated that, as at 2014, Ghana had about 90,000 children on her streets, which was a significant increase from the 33,000 recorded in 2011", SCEF revealed. It went on to add that apart from the lack of educational opportunities for these children in street situations, 87% of street-connected children surveyed in 2015 exhibited moderate to severe psychosocial symptoms, including emotional, conduct, hyperactivity, and peer relationship problems. With an increase in the number of street children, how do we get them to benefit from the governments children's welfare initiatives? How do we also ensure that a lot more children do not end up on the streets? In search of answers to these critical questions, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), representatives of all the arms of government, and political parties who have an interest in promoting and improving the welfare of these vulnerable children are convening at a virtual conference to deliberate on how to work together to give these children the childhood they deserve. The conference will also serve as a platform to present a petition dubbed the children manifesto (which has been signed by individuals and organizations) to the three arms of government and political parties on what children and other interest groups expect of their leaders in transforming the lives of the vulnerable children. The platform also leverages the upcoming general elections to advocate for clear and realistic policy commitments from political on their plans for these children and demand for these commitments to be added to their manifestos for accountability. Christiana Baafuo-Awuah, a Board member of SCEF, urged all participants and partners to work collaboratively to push children manifesto to real life-changing experiences. "I would like to take this opportunity to challenge all of us to come together and take a collective action to take control, of our destinies and that of the children we work with. Lets agree to this petition as a way forward in supporting street-connected children and also agree in principle to work collaboratively with our partners to achieve positive outcomes for vulnerable children whiles we also work towards becoming self-sustainable as independent NGOs", she stated. About Street Children Empowerment Foundation: The Street Children Empowerment Foundation (SCEF) is a registered non-governmental organization in Ghana (CG123552014), founded in September 2010 that seeks to rescue, rehabilitate and reintegrate children in street situations in James Town and Accra Central, Ghana. We are also registered in the U.S.A, Germany, and Finland. Up in the mountains of Fugong County, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the village of Laomudeng presents an idyllic countryside scene, with its pleasant natural landscape and well-preserved ethnic culture. [For China Daily/Cheng Yuezhu] Ethnic hospitality, music and art spark a burgeoning agritourism industry in the mountains of Yunnan, Cheng Yuezhu and Li Yingqing report. Up in the mountains of Fugong County, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the village of Laomudeng presents an idyllic countryside scene, with its pleasant natural landscape and well-preserved ethnic culture. The name Laomudeng, transliterated from the local language of the Nu ethnic group, means "where people like to go" which is the reason that the village has been able to shake off the shackles of poverty through agritourism. One of the village's leading figures in the development of its tourism offerings is Yu Wulin. His 150 Inn has become a landmark in the village. The 44-year-old was born and raised in Laomudeng and, because of his skills in ethnic singing and dancing, in 1996 he was selected by a performance troupe and went to work in Shanghai for several years. After returning to the village, because Yu was among the few residents who could speak mandarin at the time, the villagers often introduced passing backpackers, who came to the area attracted by its natural beauty, to his house. "In our Nu culture, we have this custom that the more guests, the more fortunate the household. So we frequently accommodated tourists with a makeshift bed in our living room," Yu recalls. "Many insisted on leaving us some money. And some guests suggested to me that I should open up an inn to increase our income," Yu says. Therefore, in 2001, he built a crude single-story house with eight bunks to accommodate tourists. Without any experience or knowledge of the tourism industry, the construction of his inn was mostly based on the requests of his guests. Up in the mountains of Fugong County, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the village of Laomudeng presents an idyllic countryside scene, with its pleasant natural landscape and well-preserved ethnic culture. [For China Daily/Cheng Yuezhu] As time went on, more visitors started asking if the inn offered rooms with en-suite facilities, so the hostelry was refurbished and has gradually evolved into a three-story building with en-suite rooms and a courtyard. Yu has also built a second inn in the village. His annual earnings from the original has increased from just several hundred yuan in the beginning to over 200,000 yuan ($29,500) last year. Apart from being an innkeeper, Yu is now also a provincial-level inheritor of intangible cultural heritage with his mastery in odede (exclamation in Nu language), a Nu ethnic song style that incorporates the music of the dabiya, a plucked, stringed instrument, with dancing. The inn has now become a base for local artists and music lovers. Many guests will invite local artists to perform at the inn, and Yu will often join in. During school holidays, children living nearby often come to the inn to learn how to play ethnic instruments, and performance skills, such as singing and dancing, from the artists. Yu Wulin, inn keeper and inheritor of intangible cultural heritage [For China Daily/Cheng Yuezhu] The regular performers include 67-year-old Bo Jinshan, a provincial-level inheritor in dabiya. He explains that odede is often used among the Nu ethnic group to express love, and he voluntarily comes to the inn and visits the local kindergarten to teach children. "As long as they want to learn, we will never turn them away. Any children interested in learning the traditional arts can come here, and we will offer them free board and lodging," Yu says. "The learning is very flexible. We simply want the youngsters to learn about the existence of these ethnic cultural elements as early as possible. If they are still interested when they grow up, they might carry on learning." The 150 Inn set an example for the locals, and after 2004, other homestays were established, and the village now has over 20 inns. These, in turn, drove the development of the village's agricultural industry, as the hotels depend on the local farmers for food supplies and the tourists purchase their products as local specialities, including matsutake mushrooms and honey. One such product that is particularly popular among tourists is tea. In 2010, a farmers' cooperative was established in the village, purchasing and growing over two million tea seedlings. Up in the mountains of Fugong County, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the village of Laomudeng presents an idyllic countryside scene, with its pleasant natural landscape and well-preserved ethnic culture. [For China Daily/Cheng Yuezhu] According to local government statistics, by the end of 2019, the cooperative's tea growing area has exceeded 132 hectares and its members have increased to 125 households. The cooperative has also been working with external companies in developing their own tea brand, the Laomudeng mountain tea, which produced revenues of four million yuan last year. Facing a growing market demand, the cooperative is now planning to expand its factory and upgrade its production line in order to produce tea more efficiently. (Source: China Daily) Biocytogen, a Chinese clinical stage company, completed its series D1 funding raising USD 142m. The round was led by CMB International, with participation from investor partners PICC Capital, SDIC Ventures, China Life Equity, 3E Bioventures, Cowin Capital, and Baifu Capital. The company intends to use the funds to further secure the implementation of Project Integrum, a humanitarian effort to discover, develop, and bring to market novel therapeutic antibody candidates against all notoriously difficult druggable targets. Taking full advantage of Biocytogens integrated technology platforms for antibody discovery, Project Integrum will launch pre-clinical efforts into over 1,000 human diseases currently affecting countless lives. In August, Beijing Biocytogen Biotechnology Co., Ltd. had announced acquisition of Eucure Biopharma, which established Biocytogen as a clinical stage company. Whether its with RenMab-based target knockout mice, customized target humanized mouse models, in vivo pharmacology screening platforms, or even companion dog translational medicine, Biocytogen is determined to find antibodies with clinical translative value. Led by Chairman and CEO Dr. Yuelei Shen, Biocytogen is a global biotech company that drives the research and development of new drugs with innovative technologies. The company works jointly with global partners to accelerate new drug discovery and development. FinSMEs 25/09/2020 A comprehensive search of genetic variation databases has revealed no significant differences across populations and ethnic groups in seven genes associated with viral entry of SARS-CoV-2. African Americans and Latinos in the United States and ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. They are more likely to develop severe symptoms and also show significantly higher mortality compared with other regional and ethnic groups. To investigate if this disparity could be caused by genetic variation, a team of three researchers - including Assistant Professor Ji-Won Lee of Hokkaido University's Graduate School of Dental Medicine - surveyed publicly available databases of genomic variants, including gnomAD, the Korean Reference Genome Database, TogoVar (a Japanese genetic variation database) and the 1000 Genomes Project. They studied variants across multiple regional and ethnic groups in seven genes known to play roles in viral entry into host cells and recognition of viral RNA in host cells. SARS-CoV-2 has spiked protein (S protein) on its envelope, which encloses the virus. Before the virus can enter host cells, the S protein has to bind with the ACE2 receptor on the cell surface. It is then broken into two pieces by the enzymes TMPRSS2 and cathepsin B and L. After the virus enters the cells, the viral RNA binds with proteins such as TLR3, TLR7 and TLR8, triggering an innate immune response. According to the results, there were genetic variants in these seven proteins, with the largest number of variants in ACE2. However, very few of these variations alter the functions of these proteins. Since the overall variation frequency was extremely low (less than 0.01 percent), the scientists determined there is no significant difference across populations or ethnic groups in the functions of the seven proteins involved in infection. The team's findings suggest that differences in morbidity and mortality are not the result of genetic variations in genes for viral entry across populations. Rather, it is more likely that preexisting medical conditions, individual medical histories, environmental factors and healthcare disparities play a significant role in affecting the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19. However, due to the limited size of the population databases used in this study, additional research using more diverse human genome databases is required. Additionally, other studies have shown that genetic factors may contribute to serious cases. Also taking part in the study were In-Hee Lee of Boston Children's Hospital (Computational Health Informatics Program) and Sek Won Kong of Harvard Medical School (Department of Pediatrics). The team's findings were published online on August 25, 2020, in the medical journal Infection, Genetics and Evolution. BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks edged higher in choppy trade on Friday, but were on track to post their second straight weekly declines on concerns about new coronavirus restrictions and worries about a prolonged recovery. The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 0.15 percent at 5,832 after losing 1.3 percent the previous day amid some disappointment over the scaling back of support for business. Travel-related stocks were falling again, with British Airways operator International Consolidated Airlines falling 5 percent, Ryanair Holdings losing 4.5 percent and easyJet declining 2.4 percent. Wizz Air Holdings lost about 2 percent. The low-cost carrier said it now expects to operate 50 percent of capacity in October compared to last year. Real estate investment trust Shaftesbury rallied 2.2 percent after issuing a trading update for the period 1 April 2020 to 24 September 2020. Retailer Mothercare surged 26 percent after it reported a narrowed pretax loss for fiscal 2020. In economic releases, the U.K. budget deficit widened to the highest on record in August due to lower income and government's coronavirus relief schemes. Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks, increased by GBP 30.5 billion from last year to GBP 35.9 billion in August, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. U.K. consumer confidence improved in September despite fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections, survey data from the market research group Gfk revealed. The consumer confidence index rose unexpectedly to -25 in September from -27 in August. The score was forecast to remain at -27. 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. A homicide investigation is underway after a man was found dead inside a burning apartment early Friday. Birmingham police said the victim appears to have been shot and killed before the fire started. The blaze, investigators believe, was likely set to cover up the crime. The Jefferson County Coroners Office identified the victim as Ladarrius Jamiel Brooks. He was 27. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service and Birmingham police responded shortly after 4 a.m. to 6 Watertown Circle off Roebuck Parkway after receiving a 911 call from a neighbor reporting smoke coming from the unit. That is Watertown Lodge Apartments adjacent to Ascott Place apartments. Both are off Gadsden Highway and managed by the same company. Battalion Chief Jackie Hicks said crews arrived to find light smoke, but no fire, showing in one of the first-floor units. They extinguished several hotspots and, after doing so, discovered the homicide victim. An investigation is underway after one person was found dead in a burning apartment Friday, Sept. 25, 2020, on Watertown Circle in east Birmingham. The fire, he said, appears to have started in multiple spots inside the apartment. Yellow crime tape was put up around the building and both fire and police investigators are on the scene. The Birmingham police Crime Scene Unit also responded. Hicks said the fire was contained to that one apartment, and no other residents were injured or displaced. Shortly after 6:30 a.m., Birmingham police spokesman Sgt. Rod Mauldin confirmed the death is being investigated as a homicide. He said its not clear whether anyone heard the shot or if Shot Spotter detective the gunfire. The body was slightly burned, Mauldin said, and fire officials said others things, such as paper and materials, were set on fire. "We do not have any suspects in custody so were asking for assistance,'' he said. If you heard anything last night coming from that apartment, please give us a call. Mauldin said its fortunate the fire did not spread and injure others. "Anytime we get a structure fire, we all know they can spread quickly,'' he said. Birmingham Fire and Rescue responded and did an amazing job. Brooks is Birminghams 90th homicide so far this year. Of those, 14 have been ruled justifiable and once accident and therefore arent deemed criminal. In all of Jefferson County, there have been 129 homicides including the 90 in Birmingham. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. Protesters and drivers clashed in two separate incidents in Hollywood Thursday night, as demonstrations continued nationwide in the wake of the grand jury decision to not bring murder charges against officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. In one shocking incident, a pickup truck driver struck a female Black Lives Matter protester and then drove over her after demonstrators surrounded and blocked the front of his vehicle. Meanwhile a separate encounter saw another car driving through a crowd of protesters and being chased down and attacked by people in another vehicle. The chaos unfolded after nightfall Thursday in Hollywood, where demonstrators were trying to march to an LAPD substation. Aerial helicopter footage shows protesters surrounding and blocking the front of a pickup truck before the driver plowed into a woman and ran over her The pickup truck accelerated and struck a woman on Thursday night during BLM protests in Hollywood sending her flying back onto the road The protester who was hit and then run over by the car is attended to as paramedics arrive on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood Thursday Footage from the ground as well as a KTLA-TV news chopper shows a black pickup truck plowing into a crowd of demonstrators, striking a woman and throwing her to the pavement. The violent attack occurred as a large crowd of demonstrators were marching down Sunset Boulevard around 9 p.m. chanting 'no justice, no peace' and holding signs. Aerial helicopter footage shows protesters appearing to surround and block the front of the vehicle. The driver then hits the protester and drives over her as he speeds off. Footage from the ground provides another angle. The pickup truck accelerates into the crowd, striking the woman who was holding up a sign. The woman is thrown backward onto the road as screams ring out. As the protesters begin to swarm around the truck, trying to open the driver's side door, the truck accelerates and speeds off. Paramedics assist a protester who was run over by a car on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood The woman was transported to a hospital and her condition was unclear late on Thursday Police followed the driver and took him into custody without incident, as seen above The car appears to drive over the injured protester and narrowly misses a street medic who rushed to attend to her. Protesters are heard shouting 'oh my god' and calling for medical assistance. An LAPD helicopter that was tracking the protest was able to then follow the truck as it sped off, directing ground units which pulled over the driver. The truck driver was seen being taken into police custody, but his name has not been released and charging information was not immediately available. Fox News reported that the unidentified male driver was later released by cops. A second incident at the Hollywood protest was also caught on camera by the KTLA news chopper, in which a white Prius drove through a crowd of protesters and sped off chased by protesters in a pickup truck The drive drove the Prius through the crowd, weaving around protesters to cross the intersection, while other cars stopped A truck that was escorting the protesters then chased down the Prius and cut it off. Protesters got out the pickup and stormed the car, reaching through the drivers' window The Prius is seen driving through protesters as they marched along the road at Cahuenga and Hollywood boulevard A second incident at the Hollywood protest was also caught on camera by the KTLA news chopper, in which a white Prius drove through a crowd of protesters and sped off chased by protesters in a pickup truck. The incident took place in Hollywood around 9:30 p.m. when several hundred protesters blocked off the road at Cahuenga and Hollywood boulevard as they marched through the area. The driver drove the Prius through the crowd, weaving around protesters to cross the intersection, while other cars stopped. A truck that was escorting the protesters then chased down the Prius and cut it off. Protesters got out the pickup and stormed the car, reaching through the drivers' window. Protesters march along Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood Thursday night Thousands have taken to the streets of America since Wednesday to voice outrage over the verdict of Kentucky authorities about charges relating to Taylor's death A green Mustang then pulled up behind the Prius and the occupants also got out and began striking the Prius. The driver in the Prius managed to escape, reversing out the way of the protesters and then driving off again, running a red light. The Prius was later pulled over by police on Santa Monica Boulevard and the driver was detained. There did not appear to be any injuries from the incident. Thousands have taken to the streets of America since Wednesday to voice outrage over the verdict of Kentucky authorities about charges relating to Taylor's death. Taylor, 26, (pictured) was killed on March 13 when Sgt Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison burst down the door to her home in Louisville, Kentucky, while executing a botched late-night raid and shot her six times Fired Louisville detective Brett Hankison (left) was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in connection to the police raid that killed Taylor (right) on March 13 Officers Myles Cosgrove (left) and John Mattingly (right) who were present during the police raid on March 13, were not charged on Wednesday Taylor, 26, was killed on March 13 when Sgt Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison burst down the door to her home in Louisville, Kentucky, while executing a botched late-night raid and shot her six times. More than six months on from her killing, a grand jury returned a decision Wednesday on possible charges against the three cops, choosing to indict just one of the officers - Brett Hankison - on the lesser charges of wanton endangerment. The first-degree charge, a Class D felony which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, relates to Hankison shooting into the neighboring apartments during the incident. No charges were brought against him in relation to the death of Taylor and the other two officers that fired a total of 22 shots into the black EMT's home were not charged at all. The move stoked renewed outrage over Taylor's death and the handling of the case with Ben Crump, the attorney for Taylor's family, saying the charge of wanton endangerment 'doesn't make sense'. Crump blasted that the indictment was in connection to bullets shot into a white neighbor's apartment and 'not for the bullets going in Breonna Taylor's body'. 'Nothing seems to say Breonna mattered,' he told NBC. New Delhi, Sep 26 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday said that it has filed a case against then Joint Secretary, two Assistant Secretaries, and one more official of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on charges of alleged irregularities in recruitment. CBI officials said that the case was registered against four former officers of CBSE on charges of misusing their official position, circumventing reservation provisions, and using forged and fake documents to get jobs in the CBSE. One of the accused is also charged with paying a consultant Rs 26.92 lakh for which no contract document could be located. The CBI named S.P. Rana, a Joint Secretary, who retired while on suspension, dismissed Assistant Secretary Babita Rani, Assistant Secretary Shikha Tomar and Assistant Programmer Ruchin Tomar in the case. According to the FIR, Rana is accused of appointing Rani and Shikha Tomar, who belong to the Jat community, between 2012 and 2014 under the OBC quota though the community was not eligible for reservation at that time. The FIR alleged that Rana facilitated the selection of Shikha Tomar, the daughter-in-law of his brother, as Assistant Secretary on the basis of a fake and invalid experience certificate. The FIR also charges Rana with allowing overpayment of Rs 26.92 lakh to KPMG for its outsourced services for processing of an application for affiliation and upgradation of schools. "During enquiry, the CBSE was not able to provide the original file for the payments," it said. The case was registered after a preliminary inquiry by the CBI revealed that Rana made repeated recommendations for Rani's appointment in 2012. "Rani was selected under the OBC category despite the fact that she was not a bonafide OBC candidate," the FIR said adding that the government had included the 'Jat' community in the OBC list only in March 2014. "At the time of the interview, Rana was holding the charge of Joint Secretary (Administration and Legal), CBSE under whose supervision, the selection was made. Rana further facilitated Rani by approving the request made by her for not verifying her credentials i.e. caste certificate, experience certificate, etc," the FIR said. Rani was dismissed from service on January 31 this year. The CBI FIR also alleged that Shikha Tomar was appointed as Assistant Secretary in 2013 on the basis of a fake experience certificate issued from Ozark Global Information Services (OGIS), whose Director Atul Goel said that she never worked with the organisation and the certificate issued to her is a forged one. A charge sheet dated November 12, 2018 for major penalty proceedings has been issued by the CBSE but she has not joined duty for long and not responding to the CBSE's correspondence. Meanwhile, Ruchin Tomar is accused of producing a forged and fake degree certificate and mark sheets of Bachelor of Engineering in 2014 to land a job in the CBSE. He was also terminated from the job after he did not provide the original mark sheets. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text KABUL, Sept 21 (Reuters) - At least 57 members of the Afghan security forces were killed and dozens injured in overnight clashes with Taliban fighters across Afghanistan, security officials said on Monday, in the bloodiest day of fighting since government and insurgent forces began peace talks in Doha over a week ago. Negotiating teams representing the Taliban and the Afghan government have been meeting in the Qatari capital since talks started on Sept. 12. But little headway has been made, particularly on a ceasefire, which many international capitals have called for but which the insurgent group has rejected. Sunday night's bloodiest clashes were in the central province of Uruzgan, where 24 members of the Afghan security forces were killed when Taliban fighters attacked security checkpoints, Deputy Governor of the province Sayed Mohammad Sadat said. Clashes and casualties were also reported in the provinces of Takhar, Helmand, Kapisa, Balkh, Maidan Wardak and Kunduz, provincial officials told Reuters. In Balkh, the Taliban took hostage three members of Afghanistan's spy organization, the National Directorate of Security, according to Monir Ahmad Farhad, spokesman for Balkh provincial governor. The Taliban did not confirm casualties on their side, but according to a spokesman for the Pamir military corps, Abdul Hadi Jamal, 54 of the insurgents were killed in clashes in Kunduz, Takhar and Baghlan provinces on Sunday night. A spokesman for the provincial government of Maidan Wardak, Muhibullah Sharifzai, said 26 Taliban fighters were killed in clashes there. Interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said Taliban attacks had killed 98 civilians and injured 230 others in the last two weeks across 24 provinces. At least 12 civilians were killed on Saturday in airstrikes on a Taliban base in the northeastern province of Kunduz. Defense ministry officials said 40 Taliban fighters were killed, but they did not confirm civilian casualties. Despite international pressure, particularly from Washington, the Taliban continue to reject a ceasefire until the two sides reach an agreement. The almost daily meetings in Doha have been unable to make it past debating rules and regulations of the process, and the sides remain far apart on most matters. (Reporting by Abdul Qadir Sediqi in Kabul, Sardar Razmal in Kunduz, Abdul Matin Sahak in Balkh, Ahmad Sultan in Nangarhar and Zainullah Stanekzai in Helmand; Writing by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Hugh Lawson) Bengaluru: Farmers under the banners of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and Hasiru Sene participate in a protest march against the Amendment in the Land Reforms Act, from City Railway station to Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Sep 21, 2020. (Photo: Image Source: IANS News Bengaluru: Farmers under the banners of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and Hasiru Sene participate in a protest march against the Amendment in the Land Reforms Act, from City Railway station to Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Sep 21, 2020. (Photo: Image Source: IANS News Bengaluru, Sep 25 : Farmers leaders led by the Hasiru Sene (Green Brigade), Kodihalli Chandrashekhar on Friday asserted that their talks to call off Karnataka Bandh on September 28, failed with the Karnataka Chief Minister, B. S. Yediyurappa refusing to withdraw controversial Bills. Speaking to reporters after their meeting with the CM and ministers concerned in Vidhana Soudha here, Chandrashekhar quipped that Yediyurappa and his cabinet seem to be more interested in impressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi than protecting the farmers' interests in the state. Veteran communist leader and the Karnataka Pranta Raita Sangha (KPRS) president Maruti Manpade asserted that Yediyurappa was rather more interested in giving sermon how these Bills would change the lives of farmers rather than his commitment to protect farmers interest, has forced us to call of discussion with the state government. While Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) state president Badagalapura Nagendra asserted that across the state famers are upset with the BJP's flawed Acts, which are nothing but a death knell to the entire agriculture itself. "We have already educated farmers across the state, we will show what our might is on September 28," he said. Meanwhile highly placed sources in the meeting asserted that the CM was aware of the fact that all these (controversial) bills would be passed by Assembly on Saturday and in Legislative Council it would get rejected and sent back. "Even if the Council rejects it tomorrow, it has to come back to the Assembly again. Once it comes to the Assembly it can be passed and then it need not be sent again for the Council's approval. Hence, even if the farmers associations call for bandh on Monday, it may not have much impact. Therefore, he did not argue with them," the source explained. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 22:08:39|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Colonel Assimi Goita is sworn in as Mali's transitional vice president in Bamako, Mali, Sept. 25, 2020. Mali's transitional president Bah N'Daw and vice president Colonel Assimi Goita were sworn in on Friday following a military mutiny in August. (Photo by Habib Kouyate/Xinhua) BAMAKO, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Mali's transitional president Bah N'Daw and vice president Colonel Assimi Goita were sworn in on Friday following a military munity in August. "To serve Mali is a privilege, an honor for each of us", N'Daw said in his sworn-in speech in the presence of the mediator of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Goodluck Jonathan, and the only Head of State attending the ceremony, the President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo. The new Malian president thanked the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) for its "patriotic spirit, its sense of listening and discernment". He also expressed his gratitude to the commission of 17 members for the choice of electing him as transitional president of Mali. President N'Daw welcomed the involvement of ECOWAS in the resolution of Mali's socio-political crisis since June and the return to constitutional order since the mutiny on Aug. 18. The president and the vice president were sworn in on the basis of the Transition Charter adopted during the national consultations held from Sept. 10 to 12 in Bamako. The architecture of this 18-month transition must be completed by a transitional government, with a maximum of 25 members, headed by a prime minister appointed by the transitional president. A National Transitional Council, composed of 121 members, is also to be set up as Mali's legislative body. After taking the oath, the Attorney General of the Supreme Court asked the president and his vice president to release all civilian and military figures arrested since Aug. 18 or to bring them to justice. With today's investiture, according to many observers, Mali has truly begun its march towards the return to constitutional order. But for them, the task of the transitional president will not be easy, because the challenges are immense. The ECOWAS mediator Goodluck Jonathan has been in Bamako for three days to follow up on the recommendations of the ECOWAS mini-summit on Mali held in Accra, Ghana. According to the final press release of this mini-summit, all the sanctions imposed against Mali would be lifted upon the effective appointment of the president and the transitional prime minister. Between May 2014 and January 2015, N'Daw was Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs under the presidency of former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita who resigned following the mutiny of August 18 this year. Enditem A NSW cyclist has been left dumbfounded over a fine received after a car overtook them on a road. Video obtained by Cycliq, which makes cameras for cyclists, was shared on Facebook and shows a cyclist being overtaken by a Toyota. It was filmed on August 9 at whats believed to be Macmasters Beach on the Central Coast but shared to Facebook on Thursday. The cyclist showed the video to police presumably concerned about how close the Toyota was passing them. But it turns out, the cyclist was in the wrong. I ended up getting booked for not riding as near to the left of the road as possible, Cycliq wrote on Facebook. A cyclist claims they were fined after showing this video to NSW Police. Source: Facebook/ Cycliq Descending down an un-guttered road with blind driveways at 50km/h, and I was as close to the left of the road that was safe in the circumstances. In NSW, drivers can receive a $349 fine and two demerit points for failing to pass give enough space to cyclists. Its one metre for areas 60km/h below and 1.5m for speeds above. According to Transport for NSWs Centre for Road Safety, bicycle riders are entitled to use a full lane when riding on the road and are allowed to ride two abreast in one lane. NSW Police told Yahoo News Australia the fine for the offence is $116. On Facebook, the outcome of the video had people divided. Some people called the fine disgraceful and called for the cyclist to dispute it. That is ridiculous, one man wrote. Another man added its unbelievable the way we're treated. However, others believe the cyclist could have done more with their positioning on the road. I think the cyclist could have moved left. The roadway seem clean, one man wrote. Another man added we all need to work together to make roads safe. Yes drivers need to be more careful, but bike riders need to take some responsibility as well and not leave all of it to car drivers, he wrote. Story continues 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. (Alliance News) - Bahamas Petroleum Co PLC on Friday said it hopes to spud the Perseverance No 1 well in the Bahamas before Christmas after securing a drilling rig. Shares in the company were up 25% at 2.95 pence each in London. Year-to-date the stock has gained 50% in value. The Caribbean and Atlantic Margin focused oil and gas company said Stena Drilling has nominated the Stena IceMAX as the intended drill rig for the Perseverance No 1 well drilling campaign. The rig is expected to arrive on site by December 15, and the well will be spudded after three to four days. The well is targeting recoverable P50 oil resources of 0.77 billion barrels, with an upside of 1.44 billion barrels. Chief Executive Officer Simon Potter said: "In March 2020, the company was within weeks of commencing the drilling of the Perseverance No 1 well when compelled to defer operations due to the anticipated impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. As might be expected when such an advanced well plan is halted so close to final implementation, major elements were already in train or sufficiently well established such that reactivation is a relatively straightforward matter. With the clarity of the anticipated delivery date of the Stena IceMAX into the field this work can now be reactivated against a detailed timetable and progressed." By Tapan Panchal; tapanpanchal@alliancenews.com Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. NEWS PROVIDED BY Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights Sept. 25, 2020 NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2020 /Christian Newswire/ -- Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on reaction to President Trump's "Born Alive" executive order: President Trump announced this week that he will sign an executive order mandating that doctors attend to babies born alive, "no matter what the circumstances." The proximate cause of his order is the practice of denying medical care to babies born alive as a result of a botched abortion. The American people are overwhelmingly opposed to late-term abortions. What Trump plans to do goes beyond partial-birth abortion: His executive order is targeted at prohibiting infanticide. Astonishingly, he is being criticized in some quarters for doing so. Some maintain that infanticide is not a problem. Dr. Kristyn Brandi is a board member of Physicians for Reproductive Health. She opposed a legislative effort earlier this year that would provide sanctions for doctors who refused to provide medical care for babies born alive following a botched abortion. "The bill maligns and vilifies providers and patients to push a false narrative about abortion later in pregnancy." "States can and do punish people for killing children who are born alive," opines Florida State University law professor Mary Ziegler. Journalist Danielle Campoamor says it is a "lie" to say babies born alive after a failed abortion need protection, saying such a scenario is "incredibly unlikely." Yet the Associated Press, which quotes critics of Trump's proposed order, says there were "143 deaths between 2003 and 2014 involving infants born alive during attempted abortions." NARAL, the pro-abortion giant, even says, "The term 'born alive' is not a term rooted in science or reality (my italic)." Brett Samuels, writing for The Hill, says Trump's order is a "solution to a nonexistent problem," yet he undercuts his own position by offering a quote from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. Northam has said that it is up to the mother to decide whether a baby born alive after a third trimester abortion should receive medical care. He added that in the meantime, while she is figuring out what to do, "the infant would be kept comfortable." It is not just Northam who allows infanticide. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo does as well. In 2019, he removed all criminal penalties for medical personnel who intentionally allow an innocent baby to die. Lying about infanticide is the natural progression of a mindset that justifies partial-birth abortion. Indeed, the lying became publicly known in 1997 when Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, admitted on national TV that he "lied through [his] teeth" when he "just went out there and spouted the party line" about how rare partial-birth abortion is. All the health professionals, journalists, activists, and politicians who deny the reality of babies being born alive after a failed abortion need to tell that to Gianna Jessen. She survived an abortion. And so have many others. They should look at her in the face and say she has no business being alive. In 1994, Mother Teresa said, "The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion." Now her acute observation has to be amended to include infanticide. Kudos to President Trump for opposing these barbaric acts. (Newser) The Food and Drug Administration has posted the voluntary recall of another metforminthe ninth brand pulled since May. Riomet ER, a Type 2 diabetes medicine marketed by Sun Pharmaceutical, was found in tests to contain too much N-nitrosodimethylamine, a carcinogen, the Miami Herald reports. The recall applies to Lot AB06381: 500mg tablets of metformin hydrochloride labeled for extended-release oral suspension, with an expiration date of October 2021. The FDA posts a roundup of its NDMA announcements here. (NDMA also was a concern when retail chains dropped Zantac last year.) Woke, liberal Big Tech firms trying to influence election against Trump, Sen. Hawley warns Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Big Tech companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter are operated by woke capitalists who are intent on using their enormous power to influence the outcome of the 2020 elections and censor conservative voices, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley from Missouri warned Thursday. Hawley, who is well-known for his activism against Big Tech companies, made the allegations in an unsuccessful attempt to force a vote on the Senate floor for his Limiting Section 230 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act. In introducing the bill, Hawley accused the Big Tech platforms of trying to use their power to shape the outcome of the election and engaging in escalating acts of censorship against conservatives. Lets just cut to the chase, the Big Tech platforms are owned and operated by woke capitalists. They are leftists. They are liberals. They are not conservatives. They are no friends to conservatives. They fervently opposed the election of Donald Trump and other conservatives in 2016. They fervently oppose it this year and now they are trying to use their power to shape the outcome of an election, Hawley said. For months, the tech platforms have been engaging in escalating acts of censorship political censorship aimed at conservatives. Theyve censored the president of the United States, they have banned pro-life groups from their sites. They have tried to silence independent conservative journalists like the Federalist, he said. No such action has been taken, he said, against liberal news organizations or Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Hawley called his bill a simple, straightforward solution to the censorship power of these digital platforms. It would have impacted platforms with more than 30 million users in the U.S. or 300 million users worldwide and revenues of more than $1.5 billion. The senators allegations comes on the heels of a move by the Department of Justice Wednesday to send draft legislation to Congress that seeks to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The draft legislative text implements reforms that the DOJ said was necessary in its June Recommendations and follows a yearlong review of the outdated statute. It also executes President Trumps directive from the Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship. For too long Section 230 has provided a shield for online platforms to operate with impunity, Attorney General William P. Barr said in a statement. Ensuring that the internet is a safe, but also vibrant, open and competitive environment is vitally important to America. We therefore urge Congress to make these necessary reforms to Section 230 and begin to hold online platforms accountable both when they unlawfully censor speech and when they knowingly facilitate criminal activity online. The DOJs draft legislation includes a series of reforms to promote transparency and open discourse and ensure that platforms are fairer to the public when removing lawful speech from their services. The proposal revises and clarifies the existing language of Section 230 and replaces vague terms that may be used to shield arbitrary content moderation decisions with more concrete language that gives greater guidance to platforms, users, and courts, the DOJ said. It also adds language to the definition of information content provider to clarify when platforms should be responsible for speech that they affirmatively and substantively contribute to or modify. The Departments proposal is an important step in reforming Section 230 to further its original goal: providing liability protection to encourage good behavior online, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen added. The proposal makes clear that, when interactive computer services willfully distribute illegal material or moderate content in bad faith, Section 230 should not shield them from the consequences of their actions. In the introduction of his bill Thursday, Hawley argued that Big Tech firms currently have too much power and control and they need to be reined in. These platforms control our social communication, the way we talk to each other when and how, where and on what terms. They control what news we read. What news we see. They control more and more journalism in America right down to whats in new articles and how the headlines are written. They control how elected officials communicate with their constituencies, when they can run advertisements, what their messages can say and cant and they want to control us, he argued. The Big Tech platforms relentlessly spy on their customers, you and me. They track us around the web, monitor our every move online and even when were offline. They track our location, whether were in a car or riding a bike or on the street. They track the websites we visit and when. They track the things that we buy, they track the videos that we watch, they track what our children are doing. They track everything all with the purpose of getting enough information on each one of us to influence us, to shape our preferences and opinions and viewpoints. This is enormous power, unheard of power and the Big Tech platforms are intent on using it. KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii, Sept. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- United Country Real Estate announced its expansion to the Hawaiian islands with a new mobile franchise in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. The new franchise, United Country Real Estate | Hawaii Lifestyle Properties, will provide full real estate services for lifestyle properties for sale on The Big Island. The franchise is owned by Laura Lunn, an experienced real estate professional based in Henderson, Nev., and will be run by award-winning broker Astrid Armani, a Rising Star award winner, given to a broker who significantly increases their sales in their first year. Armani has specifically used social media marketing to continue to close sales and drive success. Armani previously resided for many years on the island and lived the island life to the fullest from living aboard a scuba diving yacht to running a coffee farm in Holualoa. She is also a photographer and journalist who has authored numerous books and articles describing Hawaii's underwater world, flora and fauna and island history. Armani is a licensed drone operator and puts her photography skills to use by capturing the beauty of Hawaiian properties. After running a successful real estate business on the mainland, my goal was to always come back to Hawaii, said Armani. I have a lot of experience in Hawaii. I lived here for 10 years and back on and off after. I have a knowledge of Hawaii that goes beyond what most people have through owning a business, writing books, doing the research and as a property owner myself. And with all of the lifestyle property types Hawaii offers, United Country is the perfect fit. United Country | Hawaii Lifestyle Properties offers an advertising reach unmatched by other local real estate offices, including a unique website strategy of local office and agent websites, plus hundreds of national, state and regional top rated, exclusive property type websites. This strategy achieves top-ranking (first page) results on Google searches when buyers from all over the world are searching for property in Hawaii. In addition, this marketing program offers the only national real estate catalog, print advertising in hundreds of national newspapers and magazines, direct mail programs for individual listings, innovative e-marketing and custom brochures showcasing selected communities and properties. Finally, the new system is centered on the only national real estate buyer database of nearly one million opt-in buyers who can be contacted as local listings become available. United Country | Hawaii Lifestyle Properties specializes in sustainable living properties, including fruit farms, coffee farms, hobby farms, homes with acreage, as well as ocean front and view properties and horse properties. To learn more about the United Country | Hawaii Lifestyle Properties, call 808-444-FARM or visit www.Hawaii-Lifestyle-Properties.com and www.ArmaniHawaii.com Attachment The torrent of writings excoriating Trump is unlike that which has accompanied any other sitting US president, but this wave of exposes has not shaken Trumps electoral base I hope Im not exaggerating when I say that Donald Trump is the most written about first term US president. Generally, you have to wait until after a president has left office for the flood of books to come out, chronicling and analysing the events of his era. Sometimes, the former president, members of his administration or, perhaps, the former first lady get the ball rolling with their memoirs of their times in office. Trump is different. Readers were already thirsting for books about him after his first months in office and the journalist Michael Wolff satisfied that market in January 2018 with Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Before the year was up, the famous investigative journalist Bob Woodward came out with Fear: Trump in the White House and the former FBI director James Comey (2013-2017) produced A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership. As it turned out, Comey set the precedent for the tell-alls by former members of the Trump administration or his close associates. Comeys book was quickly followed by Unhinged: An Insiders Account of the Trump White House by Omarosa Manigault Newman, who served as director of communications for the Trump administrations Public Liaison Office from 2017 through 2018. More and more books appeared as the presidential election campaigns moved into their final stretch. This September, two books appeared one right after the other: Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J Trump by Michael Cohen and another expose by Bob Woodward called Rage which, like his other works, was based in innumerable interviews with White House staff, including the president who gave the veteran journalist nine hours of his precious time (over different periods of time, of course) even though he knew in advance that the book would not paint him in a favourable light. In fact, none of the books that were written about this president by individuals who were famous in their own right were at all kind about him, which begs the question as to why Americans, an educated, technologically and economically advanced people with liberal democratic traditions and revered institutions of government, elected Trump in the first place, choosing him over Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state, senator and first lady. In the abovementioned books, we read descriptions ranging from unhinged, a Russian mole, to a cheat, a liar and fraud, a sexist and dissolute womaniser to a person who has no moral compass or genuine feelings for others, who is connected with the big crime families and who is manipulative and abusive towards all who work with him. All these traits and others are bundled up in that package that is leading the US as well as the rest of the world one way or another. Shortly before Rage and Disloyal appeared, The Atlantic, citing first-hand sources, reported that Trump called soldiers who lost their lives fighting for their country losers and suckers. As other examples of the presidents disdain for the military, the article discussed his contempt for Senator John McCain, a decorated war hero who suffered more than five years as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese, and Trumps attack against the Gold Star parents of Humayun Khan who was killed in Iraq in 2004. Bob Woodwards last book cites damning quotes from his interviewees, including Trump, himself, who told the reporter that he knew the coronavirus was deadly but he wanted to play it down, so he did not take measures to prevent its spread. On another occasion, Trump boasted to Woodward that the US had developed a new nuclear weapons system superior to anything ever made before. The implication in both cases is that the president was remiss in the performance of his constitutional duties. He failed to safeguard the lives of American citizens and he blurted out a national security secret. There is something off kilter in this relationship between authors, the president and readers who will draw certain deductions about politics and society in the US. Perhaps more surprising, the revelations by Jeffrey Goldberg, the author of The Atlantic article, by Woodward and by all the other authors who preceded them is that none of this appears have made a big dent in Trumps popularity or, more precisely, the electoral base he had in 2016 and, accordingly, his prospects of winning the November elections. Moreover, he is closing the gap between him and Joe Biden even as his campaign tactics continue to rely on packed rallies and indoor conventions in defiance of Covid-19 and social distancing and face mask precautions. He even defended himself, saying, they wanted me to come out and scream, people are dying, were dying. But, he said, he refused to spread panic. In brief, regardless of the many details in the various books about Trump, they reflect an American narrative that differs from that more familiar to us. It has its roots in Americas Eastern seaboard establishment which no longer is confined to just the Atlantic seaboard but has long since spread to the Western seaboard, namely to California, Oregon and Washington state, homes to the USs high-tech aerospace, communications and information technology industries and to high concentrations of the intellectuals of globalisation. These people have a global narrative that is shared in Europe and in what we call the West, in general. It focuses on liberalism, globalisation and the certainty of progress under stable and democratic institutions, free and periodic elections and, of course, an open market. The Trump narrative, on the other hand, suddenly showed its face to the world in 2016. Like other major narratives that have emerged recently, this one is ultranationalist and unabashedly White, and it echoes the isolationist calls of opponents to US involvement overseas, from the two world wars and the Korean and Vietnamese wars to the wars in the Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan. This new wave of narrative inherently conflicts with the other humanitarian narrative. Instead of the human family, the individual person or human being takes the fore and his passions, egotistic drives and chauvinisms not only take priority but define divides in behavioural mores and political slogans. The fact that the tell-alls about Trump, the articles in the press about his attitude towards soldiers and other revelations do not seem to have an impact on Trumps electoral prospects, should not lead us to believe that he already has a second term in the bag. The night is still young, as they say, so well have to wait until 3 November to find out whether Trump or Biden is the winner, and/or whether the US will explode between two narratives that have failed to find common ground. *The writer is chairman of the board, CEO and director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies *A version of this article appears in print in the 24 September, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: (Natural News) Texas Gov. Greg Abbott unveiled a series of legislative proposals in a press conference in Dallas on Thursday that would make the states penalties for rioters and their organizational and financial backers a lot stronger. One of the proposals includes a mandatory six-month jail sentence for anybody convicted of striking a law enforcement officer. Today, we are announcing more legislative proposals to do even more to protect our law enforcement officers as well as do more to keep our community safe, said Abbott at a press conference announcing his plans. The governor emphasized that the legislative proposals will not prevent people from protesting. Texas will always defend the First Amendment right to peacefully protest, but Texas is not going to tolerate violence, vandalism or rioting. Abbotts proposals will either enhance the punishment for existing crimes, or criminalize new acts not covered by previous legislation. Some of the actions covered in Abbotts proposals include pointing lasers at police, using fireworks during a riot, causing injury to others, destroying property and blocking the entrances and exits of hospitals. Any rioter caught doing any of these will be charged with a felony that carries with it mandatory jail time. The governor also stressed that anybody who tries to harm police officers will be charged with a felony and be given a mandatory sentence of six months in jail. Abbotts proposal will also target anybody who is caught aiding rioters either through organizational or financial assistance. They will face a felony with mandatory jail time. Furthermore, the Attorney General of Texas, currently Republican Ken Paxton, and his office will be given the ability to pursue civil penalties against these organizers and financiers if they so choose. (Related: Gov. DeSantis proposes new law introducing harsh punishments for rioters, riot organizers and their financiers.) Currently, participating in a riot, defined as a gathering of seven or more people that, at least partially, creates a danger to a person or property, is a misdemeanor offense with a maximum jail sentence of six months. As state governments like Texas and Florida prepare to roll out harsher punishments against rioters and their backers, the federal government is doing the same. Listen to this episode of the Health Ranger Report, a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he talks about how Attorney General William Barr and the Department of Justice are planning to charge rioters with sedition or insurrection. Abbotts legislative proposals come after witnessing lackluster response to rioters in Dallas Abbott is reportedly pursuing these harsher punishments against rioters after what he witnessed in Dallas when the city erupted in rioting. When many people were arrested, Abbott says they were released back out into the streets where they could engage in more criminal behavior. This will prevent the mockery of the revolving-door arrests, said the governor. Abbott made his announcement regarding the legislative proposals with Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Dennis Bonnen. What Gov. Abbotts laying out today brings honor and dignity and respect to the cause, said Bonnen to reporters. When someone is peacefully, respectfully and passionately protesting, they should not have that belief destroyed by people who have ill intent. Abbott also took the opportunity to criticize the Dallas City Council, who just voted to defund their police department by cutting the Dallas PDs overtime budget by $7 million and redistributing it to hiring more civilians in the police department or for other public safety programs. The governor said that not having enough money to pay for overtime fees will result in fewer officers on the street, and thus higher crime rates for the city. The president of the Dallas Police Association, Michael Mata, was also present during the announcement. He used his time in front of the press to talk about how the changes and reforms that Texas police departments need to pass must be done in a constructive manner. Do we have to change our profession? Are there things that we need to fix? Absolutely. But they need to be done in constructive ways. If were going to take money from police departments, we should not be taking money because somebody is yelling and screaming telling us we should. If were going to fix problems, lets fix the problems of homelessness. Lets fix the problems of drug addiction. Lets fix the problems of alcoholism, mental health care. These are the problems that officers are having to deal with that we are not trained to do, not adequately enough. Fix those problems, and if youre going to use money, use money directly for those causes. In recent weeks, Abbott has also released policy proposals that are intended to deter local governments from decreasing the budgets of their police departments, including by freezing property tax rates forever and by limiting their ability to annex unincorporated areas into their territory. Abbotts legislative proposals are expected to be voted on during the Texas Legislatures next session in 2021. State governments in conservative states like Texas and Florida are working hard to make sure rioters can no longer terrorize innocent Americans for much longer. Learn more about their efforts and other ways governments are fighting back against crime by reading the articles at Rioting.news. Sources include: TheEpochTimes.com NBCDFW.com TexasTribune.org DFW.CBSLocal.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 13:00:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TIANJIN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The fifth World Intelligence Congress (WIC) will be held in north China's Tianjin Municipality in May 2021, according to the municipal government. The WIC is a high-level, national expo focusing on the artificial intelligence sector. Over the past four years, more than 10,000 scientists, entrepreneurs, educators and financiers from home and abroad have participated in the event to discuss the trends and future of smart technology. The fourth World Intelligence Congress was held in June in Tianjin, with 148 project agreements inked online. Enditem NEW MILFORD Angela Chastain has seen firsthand how the coronavirus has made communities even more insecure when it comes to food. Chastain, who is also New Milfords school board chairwoman, created Camellas Cupboard two years ago to help students get meals when school isnt in session and has offered hundreds of meals this summer alone. She said shes thrilled the federal government expanded its programs so students can get free meals and serve even more families as the need only grows. I believe there are many families we aren't reaching that free meals in the schools will provide for, Chastain said. Camella's Cupboard was serving about 125 children before schools closed in March. It peaked just over 400 this summer and has plateaued around 360 for the past few weeks with new families signing up each week. Hunger is so easily hidden and so many families are experiencing continued layoffs and job loss due to COVID, Chastain said. Many families, especially those that are experiencing financial hardship for the first time, may be hesitant to reach out to social service agencies to seek assistance. These free meals for everyone allow families that may have never experienced hunger before to get the assistance they need. The free breakfasts and lunches are offered through the Seamless Summer Option and Summer Food Service Program, which were recently expanded and extended by the federal government through the end of the calendar year. Many schools were using these programs this spring to ensure their students were able to access food when districts switched to distance learning. Connecticut has 113 districts participating in the Seamless Summer Option, including Bethel, New Milford, New Fairfield, Brookfield, Easton, Redding and Region 9. Thirty-two districts are offering the Summer Food Service Program, according to the state Department of Education. Under the programs, all students from pre-K through 12th grade are able to get free lunch and breakfast, regardless of income or if they already qualify for free or reduced lunch. Students order meals and the district is then reimbursed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the state. Families are able to pick up meals if they are virtually learning. All free meals must meet nutritional criteria outlined by the federal government. Lunches must have at least three of the five components, including a serving of fruits or vegetables. The other components include certain milks, whole grains and protein. Because of this program, our students, whether learning at school or learning at home, will have access to healthy and nutritious meals at no cost, said Rydell Harrison, superintendent for Easton, Redding and Region 9. In these times of uncertainty, I am grateful that we are able to go beyond the academic and social/emotional needs of our students. This uncertainty was the main reason for the USDA expanding its program. This extension of summer program authority will employ summer program sponsors to ensure meals are reaching all children - whether they are learning in the classroom or virtually - so they are fed and ready to learn, even in new and ever-changing learning environments, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said. It is available until Dec. 31 or until funding runs out. Chastain said she hopes the extension is continued for the whole school year because she expects the need to rise as the moratoriums on rent, foreclosures and utilities end but layoffs continue due to the coronavirus. The free school meals will be a vital part of keeping children in the New Milford community fed, she said. Studies show schools have lower absentee rates, fewer student discipline issues and better overall student health when children receive proper nutrition, Chastain said. I have long been a believer that the benefits of providing universal free school meals all the time far outweigh the cost of doing so, she said. I believe many of the issues schools struggle with would be resolved if students begin the day with full bellies. Peter Yazbak, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said the USDA sends money to the state monthly to then reimburse the districts. He said there hasnt been an indication there would be a maximum number of meals or cost under this program expansion. The reimbursement rates do not typically cover the full costs of program administration, he said. The higher participation, the more reimbursement the district receives. The district operates these programs using the nonprofit food service account, which must be made whole on an annual basis. Districts often use general funds to cover any deficits in the account. Districts had to apply for the program through the state. There are also slight differences in how each offers the program, with some also providing meals for students siblings who are 18 and younger and other towns extending it to all residents 18 and younger. Meals are generally not offered on days school isnt in session, including holidays or weather-related closures. Brookfield Superintendent John Barile said the district wanted to participate in the program because it might mean more students will be able to get meals. While the program is available to everyone regardless of income, Bethel Superintendent Christine Carver is encouraging families who qualify for the traditional free and reduced meal program to still apply for them. This is because students will once again be charged for meals once the program lapses. In the meantime, we are happy to provide good, nutritious meals to all at no charge, she said in a note to parents. kkoerting@newstimes.com Chaotic drink-driving laws, which open the door to legal challenges and appeals, are expected to be overhauled following a damning report from the body advising the Government on law reform. The manner in which road-traffic legislation has been developed in Ireland means it is now extremely difficult to know what the law is at any given time, the Law Reform Commission warned. It said the law on drink driving was "complex", "arguably chaotic", and "the subject of ongoing criticism". In a report published today, the commission highlights how several "piecemeal" legislative changes down through the years have led to a situation where convictions for drink-driving offences were among the most likely to be legally challenged or appealed. Since the 1961 Road Traffic Act was introduced to consolidate the law in the area at the time, 20 further road traffic acts had been introduced. "This makes it extremely difficult to ascertain what the law on road traffic is at any given time. Users have to examine over 900 statutory instruments made under these Acts to get a complete picture of the road traffic code," the commission said. It has recommended the consolidation of various pieces of legislation, so the law can be more easily followed and understood. Consolidation has also been recommended for legislation in the areas of employment, gambling control, the sale of alcohol, consumer protection, landlord and tenancy issues, and monuments and archaeological heritage. The commission's 'Report on Accessibility of Legislation in the Digital Age' said there were over 3,000 Acts in force, more than one-third of which pre-date the foundation of the State. The vast majority have been amended many times but are not available in their up-to-date, as-amended format. The report said this was "not satisfactory" from a constitutional or rule-of-law perspective. "It is vital that all citizens have access to the law as it currently stands," it said. In a 2016 ruling, the late Supreme Court judge Adrian Hardiman said drink-driving laws had been repeatedly amended in a piecemeal manner to the point that this area of the statute book had become "positively misleading". While the commission previously published a revised version of the 1961 Road Traffic Act, removing some of the complexity in tracing the law, many experienced lawyers have called for the consolidation of road-traffic legislation as a matter of priority. The report said it was difficult to trace the current position concerning drink-driving offences. These offences have been governed at various times by different sections in several different acts, some of which have since been repealed or amended. The report makes a wide range of recommendations as to how legislation can be made available online in a more consolidated and comprehensive way. It said from an economic and digital policy perspective, improved online access to up-to-date legislation was in line with the State's policy on reducing the cost of doing business and improving public services. The report recommended the setting-up of a multi-agency group to oversee this work. The commission said it favoured the approach being adopted in New Zealand and Wales, where planned programmes of consolidation must be presented to parliament. But it said a "possible long-term goal" would be to move to a model mirroring the American system where all federal law can be found online under 54 subject-headings, called Titles. One of the best known is Title 11, which is the US bankruptcy code. MUMBAI: Some of Bollywoods biggest actors are being questioned in a widening drug probe by federal agencies that has sent shockwaves through Indias beleaguered film industry and dominated prime time news headlines. Officials from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have been investigating alleged drug use in Bollywood for the last month in connection with the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, a popular actor who was found dead at his residence in June. The NCB is scheduled to question actress Deepika Padukone, one of the industrys most well-known names, on Saturday, Indian media reported. Officials at NCBs Mumbai office did not respond to calls from Reuters. Padukone, 34, among the industrys highest paid stars, was seen landing in Mumbai late on Thursday, ahead of her questioning on Saturday, according to local TV news. Padukone or her representatives were not immediately available to comment. The NCB has already questioned several well-known persons connected to the industry this week in Mumbai, including producers, talent managers and a fashion designer. The investigation is aimed at unearthing a possible nexus between the film industry and the drug trade, an Indian law enforcement official told Reuters. We dont know who is next. Its scary," said a Bollywood producer, who did not want to be named, adding that there were fears that more big names could feature in the probe. The 191 billion rupee ($2.59 billion) Indian film industry, of which Mumbai-based Bollywood forms a major part, has been struggling with a lean year, as theatres continue to remain shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mumbai police initially reported Rajputs death as accidental and local media called it a suicide, but the federal police agency is now investigating if there was any foul play. Earlier this month, the NCB arrested actress Rhea Chakraborty, who had been dating Rajput at the time of his death, for being active in a drug syndicate connected with drug supplies", according to a copy of her bail order. Chakraborty and her brother Showik are currently in jail in Mumbai. President Donald Trump announced Thursday a health policy that he said will give money to certain people to help pay their prescriptions. According to Trump and his administration, 33 million Medicare beneficiaries will soon receive the card in the mail containing $200. I will always take care of our wonderful senior citizens," he promised. It's unclear whether that "will come to fruition," according to the news outlet Stat. Politico reported the money would come through "projected savings." The New York Times reported last week that the White House tried to reach a deal with drug makers to lower prices, but the deal fell through when the administration wanted those businesses to pay for $100 cards to seniors. The administration said an executive order signed Thursday will send prescription drug discount cards. Trump said the card would be mailed in coming weeks. Trump delivered the news speaking at a health care event in North Carolina. In his speech the president highlighted an executive order directing Medicare to pay no more than what other nations pay for medications, but it remains yet to be seen how that policy will work in practice, if it can overcome fierce opposition from the drug industry. Trump was unveiling his agenda in Charlotte, ahead of a two-day swing to several battleground states. More than three-and-a-half years into his presidency and 40 days from an election, Trump on Thursday launched what aides termed a vision for health care heavy on unfulfilled aspirations. It is affirmed, signed and done, so we can put that to rest, Trump said. He signed an executive order on a range of issues, including protecting people with preexisting medical conditions from insurance discrimination. But that right is already guaranteed in the Obama-era health law his administration is asking the Supreme Court to overturn. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissively said Trump's bogus executive order on pre-existing conditions isnt worth the paper its signed on. Democrats are betting heavily that they have the edge on health care this election season. Trump spoke at an airport hangar in swing-state North Carolina to a crowd that included white-coated, mask-wearing health care workers. He stood on a podium in front of a blue background emblazoned with America First Healthcare Plan. His latest health care pitch won accolades from administration officials and political supporters but failed to impress others. Executive orders issued close to elections are not the same thing as actual policies, said Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy adviser with the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which works on a range of health care issues, from coverage to quality. Trump's speech served up a clear political attack, as he accused Democrats of wanting to unleash a socialist nightmare on the U.S. health care system, complete with rationing. But Democratic nominee Joe Biden has rejected calls from his party's left for a government-run plan for all. Instead, the former vice president wants to expand the Affordable Care Act, and add a new public program as an option. Trump returned to health care amid disapproval of his administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and growing uncertainty about the future of the Obama-era law. In his speech, he promised quality health care at affordable prices, lower prescription drug costs, more consumer choice and greater transparency. His executive order would also to try to end surprise medical bills. 'If we win we will have a better and less expensive plan that will always protect people with preexisting conditions, Trump declared. But while his administration has made some progress on its health care goals, the sweeping changes Trump promised as a candidate in 2016 have eluded him. The clock has all but run out in Congress for major legislation on lowering drug costs or ending surprise bills, much less replacing the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Pre-election bill signing ceremonies on prescription drugs and surprise medical charges were once seen as achievable if challenging goals for the president. No longer. Trump's speech Thursday conflated some of his administration's achievements with policies that are in stages of implementation and ones that remain aspirational. Democrats are warning Trump would turn back the clock if given another four years in the White House, and they're promising coverage for all and lower drug prices. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Trump's executive order would declare it the policy of the U.S. government to protect people with preexisting conditions, even if the ACA is declared unconstitutional. However, such protections are already the law, and Trump would have to go to Congress to cement a new policy. On surprise billing, Azar said the president's order will direct him to work with Congress on legislation, and if there's no progress, move ahead with regulatory action. However, despite widespread support among lawmakers for ending surprise bills, the White House has been unable to forge a compromise that steers around determined lobbying by interest groups affected. Health care consultant and commentator Robert Laszewski said he's particularly puzzled by Trump's order on preexisting conditions. For more than twenty years we debated ways to protect people from preexisting conditions limitations, said Laszewski. Former President Barack Obama's landmark legislation finally established protections, he continued. So, after 20 years of national public policy debate and hard-fought congressional and presidential approval, how does Trump conclude he can restore these protections, should the Republican Supreme Court suit overturn them, with a simple executive order? For Trump, health care represents a major piece of unfinished business. More broadly, the number of uninsured Americans started edging up under Trump even before job losses in the economic shutdown to try to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Various studies have tried to estimate the additional coverage losses this year, but the most authoritative government statistics have a long time lag. Larry Levitt of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation says his best guess is several million. Meanwhile, Trump is pressing the Supreme Court to invalidate the entire Obama health law, which provides coverage to more than 20 million people and protects Americans with medical problems from insurance discrimination. That case will be argued a week after Election Day. The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has added another layer of uncertainty. Without Ginsburg, there's no longer a majority of five justices who previously had voted to uphold the ACA. Democrats, unable to slow the Republican march to Senate confirmation of a replacement for Ginsburg, are ramping up their election-year health care messaging. It's a strategy that helped them win the House in 2018. A recent Kaiser Foundation poll found Biden had an edge over Trump among registered voters as the candidate with the better approach on making sure everyone has access to health care and insurance, 52% to 40%. The gap narrowed for lowering costs of health care: 48% named Biden, while 42% picked Trump. Trump was unveiled his agenda ahead of a two-day swing to several battleground states, including the all-important Florida. There, he will hold a rally in Jacksonville and later court Latino voters at a roundtable in Doral on Friday. Then he'll fly to Atlanta, Georgia, to deliver a speech on black economic empowerment. Hell end the day with another rally in Newport News, Virginia. The scramble to show concrete accomplishments on health care comes as Trump is chafing under criticism that he never delivered a Republican alternative to Obamacare. Trump had repeatedly insisted his plan would be coming. Weve really become the health care party the Republican Party, he said Thursday. And nobody talks about that. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain PARP inhibitors are rapidly transforming the treatment of ovarian, breast, prostate and other types of cancer. To develop these drugs, researchers supported by Cancer Research UK had to decipher how blocking DNA repair could expose a weak point in the biology of cancer cells. In the early 1990s, Steve Jackson seemed to have his career all planned out. Freshly recruited to the University of Cambridge as a group leader at the Gurdon Institute, he was going to keep doing what he'd done so successfully as a postdocstudy the fundamentals of gene transcription. But then came an experiment that changed everything. His lab's first graduate student, Tanya Gottlieb, was given the task of investigating the function of an enzyme Jackson had "stumbled across" during his postdoc. This enzyme was activated when it bound to DNA, but Gottlieb and Jackson discovered that it wasn't activated by DNA aloneit was stimulated by DNA breakages. The finding swept Jackson into the emerging field of DNA repair, and, from there, into cancer research. Jackson soon hit upon an ideacould inhibiting DNA repair enzymes aid in killing cancerous cells? The thinking is counterintuitive. Within the cells of a human body, DNA is constantly breakingremarkably, the genome of each cell sustains around 100,000 ruptures a day. By restoring the integrity of broken DNAand, so, preventing mutationsthe body's DNA repair mechanisms protect us from cancer. Blocking repair would, therefore, seem to be a highly dangerous thing to do. However, Jackson drew on the fact that chemo- and radiotherapy are partly predicated on the increased susceptibility of rapidly dividing cancer cells to DNA damage. Moreover, such therapies massively activate DNA repair systems, and the cancer cells that survive such treatments rely heavily on these systems. It seemed plausible, therefore, that suppressing DNA repair might make existing cancer therapies more effective. Two hundred miles north of Cambridge, researchers at Newcastle University were working on the same concept. They were focusing specifically on a previously discovered DNA repair enzyme called PARP. This protein binds to, and is activated by, single-stranded breaks in DNA, synthesizing a chain of ADP-ribose molecules that recruit the enzymatic machinery that will repair that breakage. Based on a growing body of academic work, the Newcastle team believed that a PARP inhibitor administered alongside either chemotherapy or ionizing radiation would help destroy tumors. Soon, Jackson's attention also turned to PARP and, in parallel, these two research groups pushed forward drug discovery programs that led to the clinical approval of PARP inhibitors for cancer treatment. The drug born of Jackson's research is olaparib, which is marketed as Lynparza by AstraZeneca. The Newcastle team developed rucaparib, initially developed by Agouron Pharmaceuticals and now sold as Rubraca by Clovis Oncology. After the promise of these two pioneering medicines became apparent, two other drugsniraparib and talazoparibwere developed by other pharmaceutical companies. To get here, however, the Cambridge and Newcastle groups had to overcome a problem: no matter how appealing their idea was in theory, pharmaceutical companies were too wary of the dangers of interfering with DNA repair to invest heavily in this approach. Each group succeeded through partnering with The Cancer Research Campaignone of the two charities that merged to form Cancer Research UK (CRUK) in 2002. The charity was willing to invest in the type of risky, blue skies research that makes big pharma nervous. Independently, the two groups made a vital discovery that led them to fully realize the potential of PARP inhibitors. In collaboration with other academic groups (including Alan Ashworth's team at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, which is part-funded by CRUK), they found that PARP inhibitors can target a particular weakness of cancers driven by mutations in BRCA genes. Currently, PARP inhibitors are approved for treating BRCA-mutation-associated ovarian, breast, Fallopian tube, pancreatic and prostate cancers as second-line and, increasingly, as first-line treatments. It is also becoming increasingly clear that olaparib and rucaparib are effective in treating certain forms of BRCA-mutation-negative cancers, and research is ongoing to further explore such promising opportunities. Today, over 30,000 patients have been treated with olaparib and that number is growing rapidly. Jackson is therefore able to say that his basic researchand his drive to commercialize ithas saved and extended people's lives. Looking back, he says of his relationship with the Newcastle group that "some friendly competition is a good thingyou know you're in an exciting place when there's competition." "But," he adds purposefully, "this isn't about two antagonistic groups. It's all about academic groups translating their science to make the world a better place." Newcastle and the idea of a sensitizer Ruth Plummer is a consultant medical oncologist at Newcastle University. In 2003, she wrote the first ever prescription for a patient to receive a drug designed to suppress DNA repair. That moment came eight years after Plummer had joined the Newcastle team and got excited by the promise of their nascent PARP inhibitor project. It was an appointment that marked a turnaround in her career. Plummer had done a Ph.D. in neuroscience while completing her medical degree, but she clicked with cancer specialist Hilary Calvert, the head of Newcastle's clinical trials unit, and she felt strongly that "in oncology, things were changingor had the potential to change." Research into PARP at Newcastle, Plummer says, was inspired largely by a 1980 paper showing that cells in a dish treated with a DNA-damaging agent died in greater numbers if PARP was simultaneously inhibited than in the absence of PARP inhibition. The compound used in that paper was a weak inhibitor of PARP with no prospects of becoming a clinically useful drug. But it was good enough to conduct experiments that supported the hypothesis that more cancer cells died if PARP was inhibited during chemo- or radiotherapy. The Newcastle team looked to The Cancer Research Campaign for support and together they searched around to see if anyone was developing drugs that blocked PARP. They weren't. Therefore, The Cancer Research Campaign funded Newcastle's initial work and then financed the creation of a Drug Discovery Unit there. That unit was led by Herbie Newell and Calvert, and included an in-house medicinal chemistry team, headed by Bernard Golding and Roger Griffin, which developed a panel of promising PARP inhibitors. The emergence of these compounds led to a partnership with Agouron Pharmaceuticals, a small San Diego biotech startup specializing in early drug development. In 1999, as Plummer and colleagues pushed toward a first test of these drug in patients, a subsidiary of Pfizer bought Agouron Pharmaceuticals. The Cancer Research Campaign commercial team had a crucial role in this acquisition and in shepherding the drugs toward clinical testing. They led negotiations and after the deal they continued to work with Pfizer in various ways, including the management of patents. Despite these investments from Pfizer, however, there were still cold feet about the drug's safety when time came to run the first PARP inhibitor clinical trial. So, the Center for Drug Development at the newly forged CRUKestablished to take risky projects through early phase clinical researchstepped in to sponsor the trial. This trial, which began in 2003, tested rucaparib in combination with a chemotherapeutic agent in patients with various tumors including late-stage melanoma. The hope was that inhibiting PARP would heighten the effects of chemotherapy. But, as with any Phase 1 trial, the priority was to determine if rucaparib was safe and tolerated by patients. By examining biopsies of the patients' tumors, Plummer also wanted to confirm that the drug was able to get into human tumors and inhibit PARP there. "We were very cautious when we went into the clinic," Plummer says. "We thought it would be alright, but nobody had done it We built a big safety factor into the trial." Dosing started low and she was also open and clear with the patients about both the risks involved and the wider goals. "I did what I do in clinical practice all the time," she says. "I told the patients, 'We hope we might have a new and better drug, but we don't know.'" The study showed that the drug was, indeed, safe andas Plummer puts it"that it does what it says on the tin." The question was now how best to use it. Frustratingly, it became apparent that although a PARP inhibitor was fairly safe when used alone, it was difficult to use in combination with another chemotherapy agent, as together the two drugs caused serious side-effects at doses below those needed for cancer treatment. Furthermore, in this first trial, the gains in slowing tumor growth were inconsistent and only weak to moderate, and overall survival did not improve. However, while this clinical work proceeded, two pivotal meetingsone in a seminar room, one in a barchanged everything. BRCA to the Future In the early 2000s, at a conference in Oxford, Jackson had a late-night conversation with Ashworth, who was then working at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. Jackson had by then helped develop an effective PARP inhibitor. Ashworth was an expert on BRCA-mutation-associated cancers. Their chat led to a groundbreaking experiment. Jackson had sought an industrial partner to explore his idea that blocking repair enzymes would help treat cancer. However, as had happened with the Newcastle team, the big drug companies Jackson spoke to weren't interested; the risk was perceived as too great. So, with the support of the University of Cambridge, Jackson turned to The Cancer Research Campaign to help him spin out his own company. In addition to working with the university's Technical Transfer Office to file patents, the charity provided seed funding and support to Jackson, and in December 1997 KuDOS Pharmaceuticals was born. The founders then worked together to secure significant venture capital funding, so that by mid-1999 the company was up and running. Using the Jackson lab's biological expertise and the various assays it had developed, KuDOS quickly identified promising molecules for inhibiting PARP and other repair enzymes. Jackson says KuDOS's early reasoning was similar to Newcastle'sthat PARP inhibition might sensitize cancer cells to existing DNA-targeting therapies. However, his thinking was also strongly shaped by the concept of synthetic lethality. As Jackson explains, many fundamental cellular functions are achieved by two or more pathways working towards essentially the same endpoint. Such functional overlap makes biological systems robust to genetic or drug-induced disruption of a single pathway. This means that disrupting one of the functionally overlapping pathways often has no obvious effect on a cell. But if all the pathways are halted, the cell dies. Jackson speculated that this principle would apply to drugs disrupting the vital task of DNA repair, which involves multiple partially overlapping pathways. After all, PARP inhibitors were relatively safeevidence that inhibiting this specific DNA repair pathway alone didn't have overtly deleterious effects on human cells. But what if two pathways were disrupted? That night in Oxford, Ashworth told Jackson about his work on BRCA mutations. Inheriting a faulty copy of either BRCA1 or BRCA2 drastically increases a person's risk of developing cancer, particularly breast or ovarianalthough disease only occurs when cells undergo mutations that compromise or delete the patient's remaining functional copy of BRCA1 or BRCA2. BRCA1 and BRCA2 encode DNA repair proteins that help repair double-stranded breaks. Jackson and Ashworth speculated that cells lacking a functional BRCA-dependent repair pathway might be relying more heavily on PARP-mediated DNA repair to survive. These cells might therefore be killed by a drug that took out this second pathway. The two scientists realized they had perfectly complementary resources: Ashworth had cell lines lacking BRCA genes and Jackson had PARP inhibitors. A powerful collaboration was immediately struck, and straight after the conference Jackson and his colleagues at KuDOS had the drugs sent to Ashworth's lab. Plummer recalls a near identical exchange at Newcastle. Thomas Helleday, who was then at Sheffield University, visited Newcastle to give a seminar about his work on BRCA genes and used essentially the same logic to lay out the case for why cells lacking BRCA1 or BRCA2 might be killed by a PARP inhibitor. Nicola Curtin, the leader of Newcastle's drug development biology program, immediately offered Helleday the drugs he needed to test the idea. The two sets of collaborators were aware of each other's research but worked independently. First using cultured cells, then using tumors lacking BRCA genes grafted into mice, both groups found that their PARP inhibitor given at certain doses killed cells without a BRCA gene, whereas cells containing either one or two copies of that BRCA gene survived. These research findings suggested that PARP inhibitorsat least for certain patients with certain cancersmight achieve that goal. The two groups agreed to submit their work nearly simultaneously and their papers came out back-to-back in the 14 April 2005 issue of Nature. Into the clinic "Within six weeks of the papers coming out we'd gone back to CRUK," Plummer says, "requesting support to test rucaparib in patients with BRCA mutations." The trial was quickly agreed, although some delays meant it didn't commence until 2007. Excitingly, Plummer saw the tumor of the second patient she treated shrink. KuDOS's Phase 1 clinical trial of olaparib started in mid-2005 and then was taken forth by AstraZeneca, which acquired KuDOS in December that year. That trial involved 60 patients with late-stage breast, ovarian or prostate cancer22 of whom were carriers of BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. The drug was found to be safe in all patients. Much more strikingly, olaparib clearly reduced tumor size in around half of the BRCA mutation carriersespecially in people with ovarian cancer. Jackson recalls vividly KuDOS's development director, Peter Harris, announcing at a board meeting that one of the first treated patients had a dramatic reduction in tumor size, calling it "a real eureka moment." Subsequent work homed in on BRCA mutation carriers and on ovarian cancer, with Phase 2 and 3 trials confirming the effectiveness of olaparib and rucaparib against these tumors. In December 2014, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved olaparib for treating ovarian cancer in carriers of BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations who've previously undergone chemotherapy. Two years later, the FDA gave rucaparib accelerated approval for similar indications. Other pharmaceutical companies developed different PARP inhibitors, two of which have now been FDA-approved. Zejula (niraparib), developed by Tesaro, was approved for ovarian and Fallopian tube cancers in 2017. Talzenna (talazoparib), developed by Pfizer, was approved in 2018 for the treatment of patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated HER2-mutation-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. In December 2019 and June 2020, respectively, the FDA and EMA approved olaparib for BRCA1- and BRCA2-mutated metastatic pancreatic cancers, and in May 2020 the FDA approved olaparib for BRCA1- and BRCA2-deficient metastatic prostate cancers. Jackson is excited by the use of PARP inhibitors as first-line treatments. In his office, he brings up on screen the Kaplan-Meier curves from three successive trials of olaparib for BRCA-mutation-associated ovarian cancer. As the drug was given earlier and earlier to patients, the further apart the survival curves of the drug and placebo groups became. Pointing to the third one, he beams, "that includes cures!" Plummer says she too has several patients she treated with PARP inhibitors who have gone into complete remission. "Not many," she says, "but it can happen and that is fantastic." Where to now? As clinicians increasingly refine the use of PARP inhibitors in patients with inherited BRCA mutations, there is also a drive to identify people who don't carry germline BRCA mutations but whose cancers might also be sensitive to PARP inhibitors. These include tumors with somatic loss of BRCA gene function and tumors that don't lack BRCA function but which have deficits in this DNA repair pathway via some other meansa concept termed "BRCAness." An important research focus now is therefore to develop better biomarkers and other tests for identifying tumors that will be sensitive to PARP inhibitors. And that includes discovering signals that might say if a cancer from a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carrier will be resistant to this drug class. Plummer is also currently running trials to test whether combining a PARP inhibitor with cancer immunotherapy is useful. These were inspired by work from other groups showing that blocking PARP can increase the immunogenicity of tumor cells and, so, enhance the effectiveness of the rapidly evolving immunotherapy approach to cancer. Jackson remains focused on discovery science, while forever seeking ways in which his work might inform clinical medicine. Among numerous projects in his lab, he's particularly interested in the mechanisms of resistance to PARP inhibitors, and how they might be overcome. "Resistance to one drug can give you sensitivity to another drug," he says. That potential second drug might target another aspect of DNA repair, he says, noting that two of his old colleagues at KuDOS, Niall Martin and Graeme Smith, now lead a company called Artios Pharma, which is developing such drugs. "But that's all for the future," he says. Explore further Building bridges: PARP enzymes bring broken DNA together Whatever you do, dont call it an extension. Having insisted for months that the furlough scheme would end in November come what may, Rishi Sunak was never going to stand up in the House of Commons to announce a simple rollover of the emergency jobs support system established earlier this year. Thats not the way politics works. But is the distinction between the chancellors new Jobs Support Scheme announced on Thursday and the Job Retention Scheme really that large? In some ways the answer is no. Changes to the furlough scheme since August had already required employers to make a rising contribution to the wages of furloughed workers. They could also bring back workers part time, while continuing to claim the subsidy for the hours not worked. Any objective observer asked to place this new scheme on a policy continuum between what the chancellor unveiled in July a 1,000 bonus for each worker brought back and furlough would put it much closer to furlough. To that extent, the shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, is justified in saying that the chancellor has performed a U-turn. Yet there are material differences between this and furlough. The level of support from the state to the payrolls of eligible companies is significantly lower. Under the new programme, the governments maximum contribution to a workers wages falls to 22 per cent, down from 60 per cent under furlough. And only employees who are working at least a third of their normal hours will be eligible. The important question is, of course, whether it succeeds in stemming a steep rise in unemployment over the winter. Even before the latest restrictions, official forecasts were projecting a possibility of joblessness shooting up to 4 million by early next year as the furlough scheme ended. Will the new system help avert such a disaster for the jobs market? The answer is that its impossible to know for sure. The new wage subsidy might persuade managers, facing downsizing decisions, to wait until the economic outlook is clearer. The extension and rolling-over of the business loan support also announced by the chancellor will probably help on that front. But other employers might look at the size of the financial support on offer from November and the considerably darkened economic outlook and decide that holding on to workers whom they cant employ full-time would simply be to delay the inevitable. The sad fact is that many employers will already have made their decisions, having started their redundancy consultation processes in recent weeks. Its pretty hard to see how this scheme would make a material difference to employers decisions in the event of another national lockdown, which ministers have warned might be needed if the spread of the virus is not arrested by the new measures implemented this week. If the Treasury has a plan to protect jobs in those circumstances, its keeping it very well hidden. But that might be overly pessimistic. Theres some evidence that new coronavirus infection cases in Spain and France, which have been a few weeks ahead of the UK on the curve of this second wave of the epidemic, are slowing. Good news on a vaccine might arrive and brighten the economic outlook. And the fact that the new short-time working scheme has the broad support of the trade unions and the business lobby groups and seems to have been designed with their input, as was the original furlough scheme is a hopeful sign. Such groups are almost certainly closer to the thinking of private-sector decision-makers than ministers and Whitehall civil servants. Yet the bottom line is that the outlook on employment is as clouded and uncertain as that future of the pandemic. The proof of this wage-subsidy pudding will be in the eating this winter. A knifeman who stabbed five people over three days in a reign of terror must remain detained in a high-security psychiatric hospital, a judge has ruled. Jason Kakaire, 31, carried out random stabbing attacks on four men and a woman in Edmonton, north London, in spring last year. The four male victims suffered life-threatening injuries, and the female victim was left paralysed after being stabbed in the back so fiercely that the knife handle snapped and the blade was embedded in her. The stabbings were all carried out near Kakaires home in Cameron Close, north London, in March and April last year. Forensics teams work at the scene of a stabbing in Edmonton, north London, in March last year / Getty Images Kakaire, who had been held in Broadmoor Hospital, denied five counts of attempted murder. However, he plead guilty to five charges of wounding with intent, and five charges of having a blade in public - which the prosecution accepted on the first day of his trial. At a sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday, Judge Anne Molyneux ordered Kakaire to remain detained at Broadmoor under a hospital order, with restrictions, to protect the public from serious harm. She said Kakaire had carried out a reign of terror that had caused immeasurable harm to his victims. The judge described the stabbings as five unprovoked attacks on lone people. This was a reign of terror causing devastation to many lives," she said. "Four of your victims suffered life-threatening and life-changing injuries. Their lives and their families have been traumatised. The harm you have caused is in the highest category and is immeasurable. The judge added: You walked the streets and targeted vulnerable victims. You stalked them and chose your moment before you stabbed them from behind and then ran away. You knew what you were doing was wrong." The judge also highlighted that Kakaire had two previous convictions for carrying a knife. Before the sentencing, the court heard how a mother of two who was undergoing treatment for breast cancer will never be able to walk again, after she was knifed by Kakaire as she went for a walk near her home on the evening of March 30 last year. Ayfer Bektas, from Edmonton, said she struggles to leave her home and cannot sleep, after suffering substantial injuries including a severed spinal cord. I am too fearful to venture outside unless I absolutely have to. I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety, she said in a victim impact statement. My life has in one moment been turned upside down. Suleyman Karayapi, who was stabbed after leaving his house at 5am on April 2 to buy his son some medication, said he kept reliving the incident in his mind and had to be looked after by his heavily pregnant wife. He said: I am now living in fear. When Im walking outside and someone walks past me, I feel frightened." The judge told the court that Kakaires life had been overshadowed by mental illness since his teenage years and he had been plagued by paranoid ideas and auditory hallucinations. She said four doctors had concluded that Kakaire had chronic, treatment-resistant paranoid schizophrenia". She added that Kakaire had been hearing threatening voices that warned him he would be harmed. You believed you had been ordered to carry out the attack, the judge said. A pre-sentence report noted Kakaire was clearly unwell and that his offending was directly attributable to his mental illness. Judge Molyneux said: The court has no doubt that you are a dangerous offender. The court has no doubt that your sentence must protect the public from any further offending and must be one which ensures you remain detained unless and until it is considered safe for you to be released. The court concludes that a hospital order with a restriction order is necessary to protect the public from serious harm. Additional reporting by PA media On Wednesday, Black Lives Matter protesters in Louisville and around the world waited with bated breath for an announcement from Daniel Cameron, Kentuckys attorney general: a charging decision, or lack thereof, in the case of Breonna Taylor, an emergency medical technician who was killed by police at her home. Cameron called Taylors killing a tragedy, then revealed that none of the officers involved would face criminal charges for it. A grand jury in Taylors case did indict one of the officers, Brett Hankison, on three charges of wanton endangermentrelated not to Taylor, but to Hankisons spraying bullets into a neighboring apartment. (None of the occupants of that apartment were harmed; a federal investigation into Taylors killing has yet to be concluded.) In our system, criminal justice isnt the quest for revenge, Cameron said. Its the quest for truth, evidence, and facts. On the streets of Louisville and other cities, where protesters have massed every day for months to demand justice for Taylor, the announcement triggered a fresh outpouring of shock, sorrow, and anger. Initial coverage on MSNBC, in particular, channeled similar emotionsJoy Reid called the decision a Black Lives Dont Matter rulingand chyrons and headlines accurately communicated, sometimes in pained terms, that no officers had been charged. The coverage wasnt uniform, though. In push notifications and breaking-news tweets, numerous major news outlets linked the indictment to Taylors killing without mentioning the crucial detail about her neighbors apartment; at least one tweet (by Axios) inaccurately stated that the grand jury indicted the officer who killed Taylor. (According to a ballistics analysis, it was a different cop, Myles Cosgrove, who fired the fatal shot.) New from CJR: Deconstructing the News Desert Subsequent coverage was mostly about protesters reaction and Taylors life, but many cable hosts and news reports dwelled in the weeds of what Cameron said had happened in Taylors apartment the night that she was killed. I wish they hadnt. We dont know exactly what evidence Cameron gave the grand jury; publicly, key claims officials have provided about Taylors killing remain in dispute. Cameron said that a civilian witness heard officers identify themselves before they raided her apartmentbut a lawyer for Kenneth Walker, Taylors partner, claims that the witness initially told police that he didnt hear any identification, an account that matches those of many other witnesses in Taylors building. There are big question marks, too, over the legal basis for the warrant that the officers used to justify entering Taylors apartment. Some coverageon CNN, for exampleraised queries; other coverage glossed over them. But theres a bigger problem here: focusing on the legalese instead of the human tragedy. Since Camerons announcement, reporting has also highlighted unrestin particular, the shooting, on Wednesday night, of two Louisville police officers; the news came in a flurry of push alerts. (Both officers survived and are recovering.) Even before any protests got goingbefore Camerons announcement, in factcoverage fed ominous warnings: downtown Louisville was being boarded up; the mayor had declared a state of emergency; a curfew would be enforced. These were all statements of factbut they also adopted the narrative framing devices of law enforcement. Militaristic police tactics have become so commonplace in America that, too often, we fail to note how inappropriate they are. As the hours went on, I saw much less reportingand received no push alertsabout the incidents of police aggression: officers in Louisville threatening to deploy tear gas; cops in Minneapolis and Atlanta actually deploying tear gas; an officer in Seattle rolling his bike over the head of a protester lying on the ground. In Denver, Buffalo, and, last night, LA, members of the public drove their vehicles into the crowds. Yesterday, business owners in Louisville told the local Courier-Journal that, although they had anticipated property damage and violence on Wednesday night, they hadnt actually seen much. (Dont believe what the news says, a restaurant worker told the Courier-Journal. It wasnt bad at all.) That is often true of protests, and yet, as Fabiola Cineas has reported for Vox, all summer long, coverage has tended to overemphasize isolated incidents of violence and vandalism while peaceful demonstrations have struggled to receive press attention. Which, of course, plays right into the hands of President Trump, who believes that conjuring the impression of devastation in cities run by Democrats will help his chances for reelection. Sign up for CJR 's daily email On Wednesday, as news of the Cameron announcement started to circulate, Brian Karem, a White House correspondent for Playboy, asked Trump whetherin light of the rioting in Louisville and elsewherehed commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transferral of power after the election. Trump refused to do so; yesterday, he refused again. The idea that Trump might foment violence for political gain is, of course, not hypotheticalhes already done it. (Lest we forget a recent example: in response to protests in Portland, Oregon, federal agents fired weapons at protesters.) Media coverage needs to train its focus on the actors who have the greatest institutional power to inflict violence, be they Trump or a local police department. Interrogating power imbalances is at the heart of our job, and essential to seeking justice for Breonna Taylor. Below, more on Breonna Taylor, the protests, and Trump: Other notable stories: ICYMI: TikTok, a political football, is still up in the air Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop. Novel neuroimaging study on dissociative symptoms reveals wounds of childhood trauma Being traumatized can cause what are known as dissociative symptoms--such as experiencing amnesia, an out-of-body experience, feeling emotionally numb--which may help people cope. Experiencing these symptoms intensely or for a long time, however, can negatively impact an individual's ability to function. A team led by investigators at McLean Hospital has now found that brain imaging analyses can uncover changes in functional connections between brain regions linked to a specific individual's dissociative symptoms following trauma. The findings, which have been published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, may be useful for tailoring treatments for affected patients. For the study, the researchers applied a novel machine-learning (artificial intelligence) technique to functional magnetic resonance imaging tests of 65 women with histories of childhood abuse and current post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The technique, developed by one of the lead authors, Meiling Li, PhD, from Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, showed that measurements related to connections between different regions of the brain correlated with dissociative symptoms in the women. "This moves us one step closer to identifying a 'fingerprint' of dissociation in the brain that could be used as an objective diagnostic tool," said one of the lead authors, Lauren A.M.Lebois, PhD, director of neuroimaging in the Dissociative Disorders and Trauma Research Program at McLean Hospital. "In the future, once brain-based measures reach high levels of sensitivity and specificity, we could use these assessments in individuals who are unable to effectively talk about their symptoms--for example, those who might intentionally or unintentionally minimize or exaggerate their symptoms--or in situations like court proceedings where objective corroborating evidence is requested." Lebois noted that the existence of dissociative symptoms and dissociative disorders is often doubted, and people are rarely asked about them. "This doubt in the lay and medical communities fuels a vicious cycle: New generations of clinicians aren't educated about these experiences; these symptoms are misunderstood, stigmatized, and underdiagnosed; and funding isn't prioritized in this area of research." Consequently, people who suffer from these symptoms and disorders caused by childhood trauma don't have access to existing mental health interventions. "It's a global ethical issue--children are abused or neglected, and then on top of that injustice, they can't receive treatments that would help them as adults," said Lebois. The study may help to address this issue by showing that dissociative symptoms in the brain can be objectively measured, making some of the invisible wounds of childhood trauma visible. "We hope that this biological evidence will be particularly compelling regarding the legitimacy of these psychiatric symptoms," said Lebois. Increased awareness and acceptance surrounding dissociative symptoms may motivate patients to seek help, medical practitioners to provide adequate care, and insurance providers to cover treatment. A better understanding of the biology behind dissociative symptoms and disorders may also point to new therapeutic strategies. "The important findings from this study have steered us toward the next step in our research quest," said one of the senior authors on the study, Milissa Kaufman, MD, PhD, director of the Dissociative Disorders and Trauma Research Program at McLean Hospital. Kaufman's team recently received a five-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study how dissociation may affect one's ability to benefit from current, standardized treatments for PTSD. "This new work may help us to establish a new standard of care for traumatized patients with PTSD who struggle with significant symptoms of dissociation," said Kaufman. ### FUNDING INFO: Dr. Kaufman was supported by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grant R21MH112956, the O'Keefe Family Foundation, the Trauma Scholars Fund, the Barlow Family Fund, and the Julia Kasparian Fund for Neuroscience Research at McLean Hospital. Dr. Liu was supported by NIH grants 1R01NS091604, P50MH106435, Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission grant No. Z161100002616009, National Natural Science Foundation of China grants No. 81790650 & 81790652. Dr. Ressler was supported by the Frazier Foundation Grant for Mood and Anxiety Research. Dr. Lebois was supported by NIMH grant F32MH109274 and K01MH118467. Dr. Wang was supported by NIH grant K01MH111802. ABOUT McLEAN HOSPITAL: McLean Hospital has a continuous commitment to put people first in patient care, innovation and discovery, and shared knowledge related to mental health. It is consistently named the #1 freestanding psychiatric hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. McLean Hospital is the largest psychiatric affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a member of Mass General Brigham. To stay up to date on McLean, follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. This story has been published on: 2020-09-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Friday farmers do not trust the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as thousands of agriculturists participated in a Bharat Bandh to protest the farm bills that were recently passed by Parliament. One thing was clear after talking to the farmers - they do not have any faith in the Modi government. All our voices are also together with the loud voices of the peasant brothers and today the whole country is opposing these agricultural laws, Gandhis tweet roughly translated from Hindi read. - #ISupportBharatBandh pic.twitter.com/r2Xhuy10wf Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 25, 2020 The former Congress president also shared a three-and-a-half-minute video speaking to farmers from several states via a video conference call. Gandhi, who was hosting the talk, was heard asking farmers to explain how the new farm bills would affect them. Farmers were heard explaining their apprehensions regarding the minimum support price (MSP) and food procurement practices. A flawed GST destroyed MSMEs. The new agriculture laws will enslave our Farmers, the Congress lawmaker from Keralas Wayanad had tweeted earlier in the day with a hashtag ISupportBharatBandh. Farmers from Bihar, Maharashtra, Haryana and other states who joined Gandhi for the discussion also highlighted that they will have no recourse when private players, who they fear that the bills empower, take over the agricultural sector. Farmer groups across the nation have called for strikes against the three bills passed by both the Houses of Parliament during the Covid-19 hit monsoon session. The three bills which were passed are Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The Congress has announced it will stage marches in every state after which memorandums will be submitted to the respective governors on September 28 against these farm bills, which it says are against the interests of farmers and farm labourers. By Chau An September 25, 2020 | 04:45 am PT FPT.AI's Natural Language Processing performs best in English, Vietnamese and Korean at the SHINRA2020-ML project. Photo courtesy of FPT. Vietnam's artificial intelligence platform FPT.AI ranked first at SHINRA2020-ML, a contest to classify 30 Wikipedia language entities in fine-grained categories, in Japan. The project is organized by Japan's RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project and Tohoku University at NTCIR - an annual workshop designed to enhance research into information-access technologies including cross-lingual information retrieval, text summarization etc. earlier this week. The contest attracted the participation of universities, laboratories and research centers from five countries - Australia, India, Japan, Portugal and Vietnam - with the aim of building an open knowledge base with optimal artificial intelligence (AI) models to share with the technology community. One of the institutes attending the event was Studio Ousia, a world-leading natural language AI in Japan famed for its LUKE model, its natural language processing ability surpassing models from Google and Facebook. Participants had to classify 25 million articles in 30 different languages into 219 categories defined in Extended Named Entity, using categorized Japanese Wikipedia pages and interlanguage links to corresponding pages in target languages. FPT.AI won the highest honors in three categories - English, Vietnamese, and Korean - in the Natural Language Processing (NLP) model competition for its advanced accuracy. NLP technology focuses on studying language interactions between computers and humans, thereby offering solutions to increase human productivity, optimizing business operations. The FPT.AI platform includes a solution ecosystem based on AI, featuring the multilingual chatbot system FPT.AI Conversation and virtual assistant of the Vietnamese voice-based interactive switchboard FPT.AI Virtual Agent For Call Center. The mere possibility of the Marine Corps shaking up where it trains new recruits has drawn swift backlash -- at least in one state. Political leaders in South Carolina are "activating" a task force to meet next week following Military.com's exclusive Thursday report that the Marine Corps is weighing the option of opening a new boot camp site. Such a move would mean a big change for the service, which has historically sent new enlistees to its legendary recruit depots in San Diego and Parris Island, South Carolina. "It ain't gonna happen!" Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, tweeted on Friday. "If you're looking to save money -- let's start with cutting those people who think closing Parris Island is a good idea. "Anyone in the Navy or Marine Corps thinking about closing Parris Island has limited growth potential," Graham, a retired Air Force Reserve colonel, added. Read Next: Marines Weigh Closing Parris Island and San Diego to Open New Coed Boot Camp Marine leaders have stressed that no decisions about changing training sites have been made. The Post and Courier newspaper in South Carolina reported that leaders in the state said they'd still been blindsided by the news that a change was even possible. "The heart of the United States Marine Corps beats on Parris Island, and Beaufort County has proudly welcomed recruits from all over the country for generations," Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, said in a statement to Military.com. "I am confident that as they review plans for consolidated training, the Marine Corps will determine that Parris Island makes the most sense both financially and logistically to train Marines for decades to come. Parris Island will not close." Rep. Joe Cunningham, a South Carolina Democrat, tweeted on Friday, that he'll "fight like hell" to keep Parris Island open. "Our Lowcountry military bases are so important to our culture, economy, and national security," he said, referring to the state's coastal region. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, also stressed the importance of the training depot's historic and economic ties to the state. "Simply put, there is nothing Governor McMaster won't do to protect Parris Island and its status as one of the best military training installations in the world," Brian Symmes, McMaster's spokesman, said. Capt. Joe Butterfield, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon, said the service is "simply exploring all options" as it faces a congressional mandate to make its entry-level enlisted training coed. The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act directs the Marine Corps to implement gender-integrated training at Parris Island within five years and at San Diego within eight. Female recruits currently only ship to Parris Island, and have historically trained in separate companies from men. That changed last year when the first-ever coed company graduated from Parris Island. The Marine Corps has since trained more coed companies, but Commandant Gen. David Berger said on Thursday that the service's aging training facilities at its depots won't support it year-round. "Nothing, the way we're organized right now, lends itself to integrated recruit training," Berger said, adding that they'd need to make changes on both coasts or look at a "third location." Butterfield added on Friday that, due to a variety of limitations, "neither Marine Corps Recruit Depots Parris Island nor San Diego are currently able to optimally train recruits in an integrated environment." "We are exploring all options to accomplish this integration, while also realizing the vision of the 38th Commandant's Planning Guidance related to modernization of our training facilities to ensure our Marines remain capable, relevant and lethal in the future," he said. McMaster announced on Friday that the South Carolina Military Base Task Force "has been activated." Next week, the governor tweeted, "federal, state and local officials will convene for a commanders briefing on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island." The task force, according to the state's website, coordinates with public and private sectors "to maintain a significant U.S. Department of Defense presence in South Carolina." The task force also addresses quality-of-life issues for service members and their families in the state. The governor's office did not respond to questions about how much revenue Parris Island brings to the state annually. Though boot camp graduations have been halted during the coronavirus pandemic, they typically bring people from across the country to South Carolina. -- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins. Related: Here's the Marine Corps' Plan to End Gender Segregation at Boot Camp Burma Clothing Factories Forced to Close in Myanmars Ayeyarwady Region After COVID-19 Cases Workers at Myanmar Knitting Garment Factory in Pathein. / Salai Thant Zin / The Irrawaddy Pathein, Ayeyarwady Region Ayeyarwady Regions COVID-19 committee has ordered all garment factories to close for two weeks after four employees tested positive for coronavirus at two factories in the regional capital. The two factories in Pathein Industrial Zone, one of which has around 700 employees and the other with over 2,000, were found to have four staff who tested positive earlier this week. The committee for prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19 led by the regional chief minister, U Hla Moe Aung, has now ordered that all clothing factories close until Oct. 7. We inspected after COVID-19 cases were reported in the garment factories. We will have the factories temporarily close to prevent the spread of the virus. All the workers will have to stay at home, regional industry minister U Win Htay told The Irrawaddy. The regional government was late in informing the factory owners about the closure order and operations continued on Thursday, said factory managers in Pathein Industrial Zone. As the government was late in informing us about the closure, we allowed staff to work today. We will close tomorrow and reopen on Oct. 8, U Thet Naing, manager of Myanmar Knitting Factory, the biggest garment factory in the industrial zone, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. The regional government will make sure factory employees receive social security benefits during the closure, according to U Aung Nyein, director of the Ayeyarwady Region Directorate of Labor. Factories were ordered to suspend operations to prevent the spread of coronavirus. I heard the regional government will report to the social security board headquarters in Naypyitaw for employees to be able to receive social security benefits, he said. A 33-year-old woman from one of the factories tested positive for coronavirus last Saturday and the following day two more staff from the same factory and one from another factory tested positive. The four are at Pathein Peoples Hospital and colleagues who came into contact with them and their relatives have been placed in quarantine and tested. There are 12 clothing factories with investment from China, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Taiwan in Pathein, Kangyidaunt and Dedaye townships in Ayeyarwady Region. The total workforce was previously around 12,000 but COVID-19 has halved the number of jobs available. In April, all Ayeyarwady garment factories were ordered to close for five days to contain coronavirus. The region on Thursday morning reported 148 COVID-19 patients, with 21 of 26 townships reporting cases. Most of the cases were reported in Pathein, followed by Pyapon and Maubin. Twenty-eight patients have recovered and 120 others are still receiving hospital treatment. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko You may also like these stories: Staff Test COVID-19 Positive at Hotel in Myanmars Second-Biggest City Myanmar Overtakes Malaysias COVID-19 Death Toll Myanmars Ayeyarwady Region Prepares Temporary Hospitals to Tackle Rise in COVID-19 Cases DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Listen to the founder of sugarshirts discuss the launch of her line of shirts to be worn bra-free on Word of Mom Radio: [click here] Sugar created her line of shirts out of a desire for all women to have choice. "A lifelong bra-depiser, I longed for something I could throw on bra-free to open the door to pizza delivery, have friends and friends of my children around without embarrassing the entire family, taking me from the first coffee of the day through meetings, errands, dinner and drinks, in style; all without the need to strap myself into the hated bra." sugarshirts is based in Florida and the shirts are designed, made and sold exclusively in the USA. After years of perfecting the design, Sugar has just launched sugarshirts. Both the Classic Oxford and Classic Sweatshirt provide supersoft comfort and are cut to flatter every shape - bra free. The patent pending design cleverly camouflages the breast area while creating an attractive silhouette, regardless of size, and only you know you're not wearing a bra! The Nautical Sweatshirt comes in two designs, both emblazoned with the semaphore 'your navigation lights are no longer visible'! The sleeveless and three quarter sleeve are perfect for both landlubbers and seafarers. The Classic Oxford Shirts have smart contrast stitching and are cut to create a flattering waistline. The handy pockets are perfect for keeping phones and glasses readily to hand! All sugarshirts are easycare. And while you're looking good and feeling good, you're doing good. 10 percent of profits from all sugarshirts sold is donated to the Caridad Centre (caridad.org), founded in 1989 by two women, Connie Barry and Caridad Ascensia, who were determined to bring healthcare services to the working poor in Palm Beach County. It is now the largest provider of free health care services in Florida. Contacts IG @sugarshirtsbysugar Website https://sugarshirtsbysugar.com What women are saying about sugarshirts 'Not only good on your body, but good to your body' Laura 'Cool, comfortable and never wrinkles. My new everyday favorite!' Lucy 'Love this shirt! Strong women making shirts for strong women' Caitlin 'Friends with boobs! This is the most comfortable shirt I own!' Jasi 'My dream...a shirt I can fly in and NOT HAVE TO WEAR A BRA!' Anna 'The freedom to choose - my sugarshirt allows me to go bra-free with confidence' Ella SOURCE Sugarshirts LLC Related Links sugarshirtsbysugar.com CNBC.com's MacKenzie Sigalos brings you the day's top business news headlines. A second wave of coronavirus infection overtakes Europe as the United States mourns 200,000 Covid-19 deaths the most of any country in the world. The 'After Hours' team asks public health experts and epidemiologists what notes Americans should be taking as Europe tries to tamp down on infection, and flu season approaches. U.S. coronavirus death toll tops 200,000 as cases jump in more than half of states Colder temperatures are setting in around the world, and nations are bracing for a spike in coronavirus transmission. With fewer outdoor activities available, and a simultaneous seasonal flu season, health experts warn infection rates are likely to tick up. European nations are preparing for the shift with curfews on pubs and bars, and with tighter restrictions on residents. JPMorgan traders complain that bank doesn't inform all staff of coronavirus cases at headquarters Some JPMorgan Chase traders are upset that they only learned about a coronavirus case in their building last week from press reports, CNBC has learned. When the bank discovered that an employee on the fifth floor of its Manhattan headquarters had caught Covid-19, it quickly told those who had contact with the worker to quarantine for two weeks. It also fired off a memo on Sept. 13 to workers on that floor letting them know about the case. But it didn't tell workers elsewhere in its 47-floor tower at 383 Madison Ave. about the illness, and that irked some of the bank's traders, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation. This originally appeared as part of our daily coronavirus newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. COVID-19 has put us in a state of zugzwang. Its a chess term, applied to the pandemic by British public health expert Raj Bhopal. It means a situation in which there are no good answers or, as Bhopal says, a position in chess where every move is disadvantageous where we must examine every plan, however unpalatable. We cant keep everything locked down because the economy cant handle it. We cant rely on herd immunity (Bhopal prefers to use the term population immunity) because many thousands of people will die. We certainly cant allow the pandemic to just unfold naturally. Yes, there are vaccines in the works (four of them in late-stage testing in the U.S. at last count) but thats still months away at least, with a fall and winter flu season in between. Look at the facts, as Bhopal wrote them: If 60 to 80 percent of the worlds population was infected without interventions there could be about 5-6 billion people infected with COVID-19, one billion seriously sick and up to 30 million dead prematurely, Bhopal wrote. Seasonal change is still an unknown with regard to COVID-19, and while pandemics can fizzle out and we hope this will happen with COVID-19, thats not an actual strategy. This is not a public health intervention Lockdowns are not viable long-term solutions, first because of the conomic impact but also, as Bhopal said, because fot he public health implications: Prolonged lockdowns may cause more morbidity and mortality than COVID-19, especially in the poorest countries, where the populations are relatively young on average and at little risk of death. Attempting herd immunity through natural infection is a recipe for disaster, and we cannot, unfortunately, pin all hopes on vaccines as they may only work for a short time especially if the virus evolves new strains, Bhopal wrote. A vaccine that is effective, proven to be safe, manufacturable in billions of doses and available globally is unlikely this year, and may take years, even decades. Bhopals solution to the state of zugzwang is to apprach the pandemic like one would a game of chess: COVID-19 has placed us in zugzwang so we need precise and detailed plans and well-calculated series of moves that minimise the harms, tailored for each country and region according to their context and resources. Wizz Air has warned it may be forced to park more of its planes over the coming months as coronavirus travel restrictions will continue to depress demand for travel. The Hungarian low-cost airline said in October it expects to fly half the planes compared to last year. That's a reduction from the 60 per cent it had announced at the beginning of the month, which was itself a reduction from a previous 80 per cent target. Fewer take-offs: Wizz Air has warned it may be forced to park more of its planes next month The FTSE 250 listed company added that it does not expect to increase its capacity over the winter months if the current travel restrictions remain in place. Shares in the airline have fallen 3 per cent to 30. Other airlines and travel companies have slashed capacity in recent weeks as rising number of Covid-19 cases in Europe and tougher travel restrictions have put holidaymakers off from travelling. This week, Ryanair cut its October's capacity from 50 per cent to 40 per cent of last year's levels. Meanwhile, Tui cut its winter schedule by a further 20 per cent to around 40 per cent of last year's capacity because of the 'continuous changes in travel advice'. Wizz Air has been particularly hit by Hungary's decision to stop foreign citizens from entering the country from the 1st of September. David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets, thinks Wizz Air is better positioned than rivals to survive the crisis. 'The airline has a strong balance sheet so it should be able to ride out the difficult environment better than most in the sector,' he said. In August, Wizz Air opened a new base at Gatwick airport, which has become its third base, alongside London Luton and Doncaster Sheffield. It has been flying routes in and out of Gatwick since 2016 but only set up a base there last month, which however allows it to keep just one plane at the airport. So, despite expecting to fly fewer planes in the coming months, Wizz Air has been pushing for more landing slots at Gatwick, insisting it would be able to create 5,000 jobs. Chief executive Jozsef Varadi is pressing for more take-off and landing slots to be taken away from larger airlines if they are not able to use them due to the coronavirus crisis. Tosha Waggoner, 33, would love to land a job, but she wasn't sure that depositing a $6,000 check that arrived out of the blue was the right way to get one. Admittedly, her job hunting prospects have been bleak after she gave birth to a daughter in April, when many businesses had closed their doors during the pandemic. Her fiance isn't working either, but he's going to a union trade school for masonry. They could use the money, like most people during the economic downturn. "It was a straight up check," Waggoner said. The instructions, sent in August by a supervisor named Michael, indicated that she'd need to deposit the $6,000 check to buy gift cards, take photos of the numbers on the gift cards and send them to Michael. There was something involving a Bitcoin account, too. After all was said and done, Waggoner was told she would get to keep about $330 of the $6,000 for her pay. Scammers told Tracy Taschereau to put money on Best Buy gift cards after they deposited fake checks into her account to make it seem like she had money and could qualify for a loan. She read off the numbers on the phone, enabling scammers to have quick access to the cash. Still no relief check? Remember an Oct. 15 deadline is coming up Saw recall: Kobalt cordless saws sold at Lowe's recalled for 'laceration hazard' More than a few things about that check made her think twice: Who, after all, sends $6,000 checks out of the blue? And who needs a Bitcoin account to hold a job? Fake job offers are flooding email accounts and mailboxes, according to consumers looking for work. Many typically involve better-than-expected pay, gift cards, a quick online interview and yes, a check out of the blue. One hot scam asks mystery shoppers to see whether COVID-19 safety procedures are being practiced at Walmart and elsewhere. Consumers report being sent checks of $1,475 and being told they'll make $425 for shopping at two Walmart stores and a bank. The checks look like they've cleared the bank in a couple of days but weeks later, they're discovered to be fakes, long after the consumer has lost hundreds of dollars to the scam. No legitimate business is going to pay in advance, then ask you to return some of the money or buy gift cards or pay for supplies. Story continues "These kind of job scams have always been popular, but criminals are doubling down when they know millions of people have lost their jobs during the pandemic," said Amy Nofziger, director of the AARP Fraud Watch Network. Fake jobs look like a perfect fit Someone looking for a job shouldn't overlook the possibility that a con artist can create the perfect job, based on a target's education and skill set before sending a text or email. "A lot of time when people are looking for jobs, they will publicly post their resumes," Nofziger said. The fraudsters know if a person just graduated with an arts degree or is interested in the social services field. "When they target you with a tighter arrow, you're more likely to think they really want me because they did their research on me," Nofziger said. Some offers sound like they're from real nonprofit organizations, government agencies or actual businesses. The con artists are only impersonating the real deal. Students report getting an email that looks like it's from their college's Job Placement and Student Services office. People might be offered a chance to work remotely or take advantage of flexible hours, something that can sound quite tempting if they're short on cash and must play hall monitor for school-age children taking online classes at home. Many lose big money after phony promises The employment scam can be one of the riskiest for students, young consumers, military spouses and others, given the level of monetary losses and percentage of reports that involve victims, according to the Better Business Bureau. The median loss was $1,500 for employment scams, according to a BBB report in 2019. The losses are about half of those for romance scams but often far greater than those for online shopping scams, tech support scams, and scams involving advance fees for loans. The employment scam made up 9.3% of all scams reported to BBB Scam Tracker in 2019. Beware of the Google Hangouts job interview Julie Graham, a graduate of the University of Michigan-Flint with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, said she thought she had a possible interview on Google Hangouts with a man who claimed to be Samuel Galvan, hiring manager for the GEA Group. He emailed her, claiming he found her resume on Indeed. "The whole interview seemed wonky from the start, and I was getting a gut feeling things were not right," said Graham, 44, from Flint. Julie Graham, a graduate from the University of Michigan-Flint, had an interview on Google Hangouts for a job that promised $45 a hour but required that she deposit a check to buy supplies. She fears it was a scam. A promise of $45 an hour for an entry-level graphic designer job seemed too good to be true. The interviewer made unusual statements in a two-hour, text-only interview process, such as: "GEA Group is establishing a branch office in your area in the next couple of months. Hence, we are recruiting via online potential employees who would eventually have an office space." "For now," the interviewer said, "this is going to be an online and work from home job. The working hours are flexible where you could choose to work from anywhere of your choice." Graham, who lost her hearing as an adult, said she appreciated a chance to interview initially by text but found the conversation extremely odd. "Because of my hearing disability," she said, "I never really believe what people say." The interviewer wanted her to hand over personal information so a check could be sent to get programs up and running so she could work from home. She told him she needed more proof that the job was real, and that seemed to be the end of that. She never got a response from him. "I am convinced they were aiming to scam," Graham said. She admitted she has no real proof she was about to be ripped off, but all the signs of a scam were there including that scammers often do interviews chatting via Google Hangouts. When she emailed the company named, she received a response telling her that this was a scam and she shouldn't pay any money or share personal information. Another college-age job hunter in New York received an e-letter out of the blue, promising a work-from-home opportunity at the Center for Disability Services in Albany, New York. The salary range was $400 to $600 a week. The center notes on its website, "The Center for Disability Services does not send unsolicited offers of employment nor does it request candidates to advance or cover expenses on the Centers behalf." As part of the scam, the applicant was asked to buy special paper at an office supply store that could be used to print checks. The applicant was supposed to fill out and deposit one electronically into his account. The job applicant thought something wasn't right, talked with family members and didn't print any checks. Don't cash a check or give bank account info rmation Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office said it's gotten reports that scammers ask for bank account information as part of a job offer. "The obvious concern there is scammers then have access to your finances and can steal your money or potentially use your account for other purposes," said Ryan Jarvi, press secretary for the attorney general. In an old scam, the target is sent a check that looks authentic but is fake. Scammers bank on how the check clearing system works, tricking the target that a check is real because the money is available in a few days. Some scammers say, "As soon as the funds are made available by your bank, withdraw the money" to do a job as a mystery shopper, cover an "accidental overpayment," buy gift cards or follow other steps. The fake check will bounce, but it may be weeks before that sad fact is discovered. And the victim is out whatever money was wired, spent or put on gift cards. Michigan consumers can file complaints with the office's consumer protection team at mi.gov/agcomplaints. People can file complaints about job scams with the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov or the Better Business Bureau's scam tracker at BBB.org/scamtracker. Given all the pressures many people face, some might believe they've got a real job prospect. Waggoner spotted another red flag before she could be taken for big money. Why, she wondered, did this job offer involve a Bitcoin account? Her fiance lost money after getting hit by a scam involving Bitcoin so both of them were hesitant. Good thing she didn't fall for it or else she could have lost up to $6,000 when she deposited that check and it bounced weeks later, leaving her on the hook for the money used to buy gift cards. The scammers could have accessed the cash when she handed over the numbers on the gift cards. "As soon as I saw Bitcoin, I just ripped it up and threw a million pieces into the garbage can," Waggoner said. Waggoner said she gets texts every day about some kind of odd job. "I've been getting these messages ever since this stupid pandemic has been going on," Waggoner said. Contact Susan Tompor via stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @tompor. To subscribe, please go to freep.com/specialoffer. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mystery shopper, fake job offers target people stretched for cash The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has raised questions over the social intervention projects that erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration claoimed to have provided for Ghanaians. He said Ghanaians and the people of Bongase in the Banda district only benefited dumsor from the NDC and nothing else. Dr. Bawumia said this at a durbar organized by the Chiefs of Bongase during his first day visit to the Bono Region. Dr. Bawumia disclosed to the Bongase community, which is a cashew farming community, that government has inaugurated the Tree Crop Development Authority aimed at regulating the crop sector. The Chief of Bongase in the Banda Constituency of the Bono Region, Nana Hayaw Bosom ll asked government to provide the area with cashew processing plant as promised under their One district, One factory. The Chief claimed that the provision of the factory is being delayed by the government. Source: Nana Asempa Asa/Peace News 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 House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff encouraged Trump administration officials to quit on the president in the aftermath of him not committing to a peaceful transfer of power. 'If you have been debating about whether you can continue to serve the country be serving this president, you can't. It is time to resign,' Schiff said Wednesday on MSNBC's 'Rachel Maddow Show.' He also encouraged former administration officials to speak out. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Wednesday that Trump administration officials should 'resign' after hearing the president's comments on a peaceful transfer of power President Donald Trump was asked to commit to a peaceful transfer of power earlier this week and he was non-committal 'And I would say to those who have been on the sidelines maintaining a dignified silence who have served in the administration in the past, you cannot maintain your silence any longer,' the California Democrat said. 'Because if you do wait, knowing what is to come, you will share some of the burden of responsibility for that chaos that comes,' Schiff said. The top Trump foe pointed to the comments Trump made in the briefing room Wednesday, answering a question posed by Playboy columnist Brian Karem. 'Win, lose or draw in this election ... will you commit here today for a peaceful transferal of power after the election?' Karem asked Trump. The president wouldn't give a definitive answer. 'We're going to have to see what happens,' Trump said at the briefing Wednesday. 'You know that. I have been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.' Schiff pointed to the comments and said Trump's 'autocratic intentions are as clear as the writing on the wall.' On Friday, during a campaign stop in Atlanta, the president continued to raise the specter of widespread voter fraud due to mass mail-in voting, which Democrats have pushed due to the coronavirus pandemic. 'You see they found ballots in a wastepaper basket. They found ballots dumped in a stream. Take a look at Iowa, the primaries,' the president said. 'They tried this ballot concept and they still dont know who won. Its a very terrible thing thats happening, very very terrible thing,' Trump said. Schiff has long annoyed Trump, but was increasingly targeted by the president for his role in the impeachment. The president refers to the California lawmaker as 'Shifty Schiff.' By Laman Ismayilova Azerbaijan has been represented at the Second ECO UKRAINE International Environmental Forum. Azerbaijani Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine Elmira Akhundova addressed the event, Azertag reported. In her speech, the Ambassador noted that 150 years ago, industrial production of oil began in Azerbaijan. At that time, there were no metal pipes or tanks to fill the extracted oil. As a result, the oil spread to large areas of Absheron, and for a hundred years completely absorbed into these areas. Akhundova noted that in the early 2000s a large-scale environmental program was adopted on the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev to revitalize the Absheron Peninsula, change the structure and recultivation of lands. "Large areas of swamps and fuel oil have been cleared of oil products and recultivated. Millions of trees have been planted in the place of stinking swamps, as a result of which the Absheron Peninsula, once reminiscent of the desert, has become a green zone," she said. "The green areas were taken under the auspices of various ministries and agencies, who are still responsible for their areas. All officials, including the Azerbaijani President are taking part in the tree-planting activities," she added. In her speech, Akhundova emphasised that Azerbaijan is a country with little greenery and forests. Therefore, the protection and enhancement of the country's green "lungs" is a priority. In 2019, nearly 1,7 million trees were added to Azerbaijan's forest and non-forest fund. In addition, a campaign was held on the eve of the 650th anniversary of the great Azerbaijani poet and thinker Imadeddin Nasimi on the initiative of First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva. It should be noted that Nasimi Park and a bust of the poet were installed in Kiev last year at the initiative of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Ukraine. About 650,000 trees were planted in different parts of Azerbaijan in one day. The action was attended by representatives of the public, educational institutions, diplomatic corps,etc. In total, more than 5,3 million trees have been planted on 4,400 hectares over the past few years. "I think our experience, especially in the field of cleaning and reclamation of oil-contaminated areas of the Absheron Peninsula, may be useful for friendly Ukraine, and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources is ready to cooperate in this direction', said Akhundova. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Actor Deepika Padukone, who has been summoned by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a drug case related to the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, on Thursday arrived in Mumbai from Goa. Padukone, who was shooting for Shakun Batras film with Ananya Panday and Siddhant Chaturvedi in Goa, was accompanied by actor-husband Ranveer Singh. Republic Media Network sources have now informed that in a big move, Ranveer Singh has asked the central anti-drug agency whether he can be present during his wifes questioning on Saturday. Deepika suffers from anxiety: Ranveer Singh In his application to the NCB, Ranveer Singh has stated that Deepika Padukone sometimes suffers from anxiety and gets panic attacks, and hence he should be granted permission to be with her, top sources said. The actor has stated that he is a 'law-abiding citizen' and knows that he cannot be present at the time of Deepika Padukone's questioning but is understood to have requested that he be allowed inside the NCB office, sources confirmed. However, no decision has been taken by the NCB on his application, sources added. Deepika Padukone is set to appear before the NCB on September 26, along with Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor. Actor Rakul Preet Singh and Deepika Padukone's manager Karishma Prakash are summoned on Friday. Meanwhile, statements of fashion designer Simone Khambatta and Shruti Modi, Rajput's former manager, were recorded by the NCB probe team in connection with the drugs case. The NCB on Thursday asked Dharma Productions' executive producer Kshitij Ravi to appear before it in the drugs probe linked to Sushant Singh Rajput's death. Dharma Productions is owned by film-maker Karan Johar. Ravi has been asked to appear on Friday as his name surfaced during the probe. So far, the NCB has arrested actor Rhea Chakraborty in the case among others. NCB's crackdown on drug nexus in Bollywood Republic Media Network sources had earlier reported that six top male Bollywood actors have called their lawyers, fearful of action being taken against them over NCB's massive crackdown on the drug nexus in Bollywood. Sources have told that several stars are doing all they can to plan an escape route. Sources have informed that other talent management agencies have hit the panic button after KWAN came under NCB scanner. READ | When Ranveer Singh & Diljit sported the same red Louis Vuitton hoodie; Who wore it better? READ | Sushant case & drug probe LIVE Updates: Ranveer Singh wants to accompany Deepika to NCB There are at least two angles running in tandem in terms of the NCB's investigation into the link between Bollywood and drugs - regarding the Sushant Singh Rajput-Rhea Chakraborty and associated angle and regarding Manjinder Singh Sirsa's complaint about a 2019 Bollywood party video that had emerged earlier in which a lot of Bollywood stars were present. The video in question had been shared by Karan Johar and had taken place at his house. The NCB has transferred the complaint to Mumbai and is verifying the video. The summons to stars like Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, Rakul Preet Singh and Simone Khambatta, however, are part of two FIRs that are both related to the Sushant Singh Rajput death case drug probe. READ | Ranveer Singh & Rohit Shetty to reunite for another movie after 'Simmba': Reports READ | India's deaf community thanks Ranveer Singh; say, "With your support we felt inspired" A new report has documented the devastation caused to the Syrian economy during the years of conflict reports Sowt Al-Asima. A recently published report estimated the size of the losses suffered by the Syrian economy during the last eight years, at more than 400 billion dollars. The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in cooperation with St. Andrews University in the UK, issued a report in which it said that the losses incurred by the Syrian economy amounted to about 442 billion dollars. Capital losses amounted to about 117.7 billion dollars, while GDP losses were estimated at about 325.5 billion dollars. According to the report, despite the magnitude of the number, it does not quite capture the extent of the suffering of the population, of whom 5.6 million were registered as refugees, 6.4 million were internally displaced, 6.5 million suffer from food insecurity, and 11.7 million are still in need of at least one form of humanitarian assistance. The Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR) published a study about Syrias economic losses, which showed that the countrys total economic losses over nine years amounted to more than 530 billion dollars, an increase of more than 130 billion from the most extreme estimates by UN and Syrian experts two years ago. The study pointed out that 40 percent of the infrastructure was damaged, which caused a loss of about 65 billion dollars, adding that the poverty rate reached 86 percent of Syrian people, who number about 22 million. 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. Meeting quality standards and enjoying preferential tariffs from the new EVFTA, Vietnams key farm produce such as rice, fruit, coffee and seafood are rushing to head for the EU market. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) reported that with export turnover of $4.6 billion worth of farm exports, the EU was the third largest customer of Vietnam in 2019. The EVFTA, which took effect on August 1, 2020, wolill pave the way for more Vietnam farm produce to enter the market. According to Nguyen Do Anh Tuan from the International Cooperation Department, under EVFTA, most farm produce, including coffee, rice, seafood (except canned tuna and fish ball), rice, vegetables and fruit, and products processed from vegetables and fruits, honey, tapioca, and wood and wooden products, have seen the tariff cut to zero percent. The value of farm exports to the EU in August reached $350 million, increasing by 17 percent over July. Coffee exports increased by 34.7 percent over July, while vegetable and fruits increased by 25 percent over July and 6 percent over the same period last year. Rice is the most prominent export item with export value in August increasing by 93.5 percent and 35.6 percent, respectively. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien on September 11 said the EU will remove the tariffs on 86.5 percent of Vietnams seafood export turnover within three years, 90.3 percent within five years, and 100 percent after seven years. As for canned tuna, the EU offers the quota of 11,500 tons. Taking full advantage of the tariff cuts, Vietnams businesses have obtained orders increasing by 10 percent since the beginning of August compared with July 2020, Tien said. Tien said the EU, with 27 member countries, 511 million consumers and GDP of $18,291 trillion in 2019, is a large market with high income level. In trade relations, the EU and Vietnam are mutually complementary, not directly competitive. We consider this an opportunity to penetrate deep into the global market with high value and high quality, he said. According to MARD Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Vietnam exports in the EU proves the production level and quality of Vietnamese products. This will allow Vietnams products to reach choosy markets. The EU market is opening up a wide door for Vietnamese agricultural products. However, in order to satisfy the demands of the market, Vietnam needs to re-organize production by ensuring food safety and traceability. A director of a rice export company in Can Tho said the EU is a choosy marke. It took the enterprise 3-4 years to improve the soil to produce clean organic rice. The company exported 150 tons of scented rice last August. Tam An VN farm produce prices plummet amid oversupply, impact of Covid-19 Booth avocado, the specialty of Dak Lak province, is now selling at VND10,000-20,000 per kilogram, and the price of passion fruit has also fallen dramatically. Virginia landlords can now apply for assistance on behalf of tenants who owe back rent through a state relief program. Gov. Ralph Northam announced the change to the states $50 million rent and mortgage relief program Thursday. Using federal CARES Act money, Northam set up the program at the end of June to quell housing instability stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Expanding this program will provide much needed relief for landlords and property owners facing financial hardship and help ensure that more Virginia families can remain safely in their homes, Northam said in a news release. More than 260,000 households are at risk of eviction across the state, according to an analysis by the RVA Eviction Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University. A federal moratorium offers protection for tenants facing eviction for nonpayment of rent if they sign a declaration affirming they meet certain criteria and give it to their landlord. However, those who do still owe rent. Tenants or landlords who qualify for the state relief program can apply to have payments dating to April 1 covered. Previously, tenants who fell behind had to initiate the process of seeking the rent relief through local housing agencies that partnered with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Now, landlords can apply for the rent relief directly through Virginia Housing (formerly called the Virginia Housing Development Authority). Its a shift the Virginia Apartment Management Association has been lobbying for since July, said Patrick McCloud, the organizations chief executive officer. For multifamily landlords with many tenants who have delinquent balances, the new guidelines will make more efficient the process of getting as many tenants caught up as possible, he said. Before, it relied on the tenant to do everything, and there were no consequences if the tenant didnt do anything, McCloud said. By having the process streamlined, the landlord can initiate the process, follow up with the tenant and take control of the situation. Through Sept. 9, about $7.3 million worth of payments were disbursed to about 3,600 recipients through the program. About 1,900 applications or payments are pending, according to Department of Housing and Community Development. To qualify, a tenants household must demonstrate trouble paying rent due to the economic fallout of the pandemic and make 80% or less of the area median income. That threshold is $71,500 in the Richmond region. In addition, a tenants rent must be less than 150% of the fair market rent. That figure varies by locality. In Richmond, its about $1,600 for a two bedroom, according to figures available through the state. Tenants can check their eligibility at: www.dhcd.virginia.gov/rmrp. Landlords can seek more information at: www.vhda.com/BusinessPartners/PropertyOwnersManagers/Pages/RMRP.aspx. Applications are due Nov. 15. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, quoting the view of the Attorney General of India, ruled out funding the GST revenue shortfall from the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) in the Lok Sabha last week. While replying to a debate on supplementary demands for grants, the minister had said the GST Council would reach a common ground on ways to compensate states for loss of revenue, but maintained that the amount has to be paid from the compensation cess kitty. However, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has discovered that the Centre breached the law by retaining Rs 47,272 crore of GST compensation cess in the CFI during 2017-18 and 2018-19 and employed the funds for other purposes, The Indian Express reported. In its report on the accounts of the Union government, tabled on Wednesday, CAG said that the short-crediting was a violation of the GST Compensation ACT, 2017. Audit examination of information in Statements 8, 9 and 13 with regard to the collection of the cess and its transfer to the GST Compensation Cess Fund, shows that there was short crediting to the Fund of the GST Compensation Cess collections totalling to Rs 47,272 crore during 2017-18 and 2018-19, the CAG said in a report. According to the provisions of the GST Compensation Cess Act, the complete cess collected during a year is needed to be credited to a non-lapsable fund (GST compensation cess fund), which is part of the Public Account, and is intended to be employed to make up for the states loss of revenue. But instead of moving the entire GST cess amount to the GST compensation fund, the government held on to it in the CFI, and employed it for other purposes, the IE reported citing CAG. The national auditor further said that the amount by which the cess was short credited was also retained in the CFI and became available for use for purposes other than what was provided in the act. Short crediting of cess collected during the year led to overstatement of revenue receipts and understatement of fiscal deficit for the year, it added. The report said that during 2018-19, there was a budget provision of Rs 90,000 crore for the transfer to the Fund and an equal amount was budgeted for release to states as compensation. However, though Rs 95,081 crore was collected during the year as GST compensation cess, Department of Revenue transferred only Rs 54,275 crore to the Fund," it added. The states are staring at a Rs 2.35 lakh crore GST revenue shortfall this fiscal. Of this, as per the Centres calculation, Rs 97,000 crore is estimated to be on account of GST implementation, while the remaining Rs 1.38 lakh crore is due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Centre last month provided two options to states to borrow either Rs 97,000 crore from a special window facilitated by the RBI, or Rs 2.35 lakh crore from the market and also proposed extending the compensation cess levied on luxury, demerit and sin goods beyond 2022 to repay the borrowing. The coronavirus pandemic is hitting wounded veterans especially hard, with many reporting deterioration of their mental and physical health, as well as their financial well-being, since the outbreak began, according to a new survey of Wounded Warrior Project members released Friday. These veterans, however, also continue to see improvements in employment opportunities, education, housing and other quality-of-life measures despite having extensive physical injuries and mental health conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder at disproportional rates. Read Next: Female Marine Drill Instructors are Headed for All Male San Diego Boot Camp WWP's 11th annual membership survey, containing responses from 28,282 of the nonprofit's 121,981 members, paints a picture of the challenges facing injured post-9/11 veterans, as well as successes achieved over the past several years. This year's survey shows a population that is seeing home ownership rise, from 55.5% in 2018 to nearly 59.9% in 2020, and educational opportunities increase, with more reporting earning a bachelor's degree in 2020 than previous years, from 35.8% in 2018 to 41.5% in 2020. But unemployment also has skyrocketed among the group this year, and more than a third of the veterans expressed great concern that they "expect to run out of money for myself or my family's necessities" as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The unemployment rate for wounded veterans jumped from 11.5% in 2019 to 16.2% this year, and more than 40% of respondents said they have had issues related to employment as a result of COVID-19. The unemployment rate across the U.S. in May and June -- the months the survey was issued -- was 13.3% and 11.2%, respectively. "This is certainly something we need to take a look at. ... As an institution [WWP] made an $11 million commitment to warriors for that exact reason. We were seeing that warriors were losing jobs, family members were losing jobs, so we needed to step in. We put together a grant process for warriors to apply for emergency funding to help keep their families afloat during this time of uncertainty," said Melanie Mousseau, director of metrics for WWP. Post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses among these veterans remained consistent across the population in the past year, with 82.8% reporting they have the condition -- the same as the previous year. Respondents reported a drop in sleep disturbances from last year, 83.6% down from 87.5%; in anxiety, 76.6% down from 80.7%; and depression, 72.4% from 76.5%. Nearly half -- 48.9% -- said their physical health had worsened, and 51.9% said their mental health was worse during the pandemic, with more than 60% saying they felt more disconnected from family, friends or their community as a result of COVID-19. More than two-thirds of male veterans and three-fourths of female veterans indicated they felt lonely. Nonetheless, nearly 80% said they had people they could depend on if they needed someone. "The survey was administered in May and June when a lot of the physical distancing measures were in place across the country ... but the question specific to social support, that question is asked for them to consider it more long term," Mousseau said. Other challenges facing this veteran population include dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault and harassment when they served in the military, and exposures related to deployments and combat. According to the survey, 10.9% of respondents said they experienced some type of sexual abuse or harassment while serving, including nearly half of all female respondents. Nearly 61% of the women said they had been sexually harassed by another service member, Defense Department employee or contractor; and 44% said they had been sexually assaulted. In contrast, 4% of males said they had been harassed and 2% said they were sexually assaulted. For the second year, the survey contained questions about battlefield exposures to toxic substances such as burn pits, chemical munitions and environmental pollution. Nearly 89% said they were "definitely or probably" exposed to toxic substances during service, and 16.1% reported receiving treatment for their exposure, up from 6.8% last year. For the first time, the WWP survey asked about electronic games, which respondents said they spent hours a day playing. According to the report, male veterans spent 3.5 hours a day playing, while female veterans spent 3.1 hours a day outside work or school. Nearly half said they play because it helps them "forget their problems" or "escape reality." Roughly a third said they play because it calms them when they are angry. Nearly all -- 95% -- of respondents to the survey are receiving disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs and three-quarters have a VA disability rating of 80% or higher. Just 6% of the respondents were active duty, and 20% were women. The survey also found that: The majority of respondents, 71.9%, get their health care through the VA. But during the pandemic, 70% had physical health and 51.1% had mental health appointments canceled. 6.7% have tested positive for COVID-19. Cannabis use declined slightly over the past three years, with 16.3% reporting using it, down from 18% in 2018. Nearly 30% of respondents said they had difficulty getting mental health care, did not get the care they needed or put off care. "We are actively involved in taking a deep dive into the survey as a whole," Mousseau said. "We are actively looking at what we are capturing, how we are capturing it, to make sure we are getting on top of [their] needs." The full report is available on Wounded Warrior Project's website. -- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime. Related: Veteran Suicide Prevention Bills Will Move Forward After Committees Reach Compromise Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 18:08:25|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close GABORONE, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Botswana's anti-pandemic authority on Thursday evening advised the public against traveling during the coming Independence Day holiday, warning of a potential spike in COVID-19 cases. Speaking on national television, Kereng Masupu, the coordinator of the Presidential Task Force for COVID-19 in Botswana, said the country is continuing to register an increasing number of new positive COVID-19 cases as community spread gathers pace. In the past week, the authority has been registering an average daily increase of 60 new cases, which is a high number given the country's population of just over two million people, Kereng said. Next Tuesday marks Botswana's 54th anniversary of independence and is a national holiday, during which people usually travel between cities and towns to celebrate with their families. However, people should consider celebrating the holiday differently this year by staying at their place of residence, as the virus has proved to spread faster when people travel, Masupu said. To date, Botswana has confirmed 1,730 COVID-19 cases. In the past week, the country registered another three deaths from COVID-19 related complications, taking the death toll to 16. Botswana has to date conducted over 170,000 tests, most of which were contact traced from already confirmed cases, while others were detected at entry points. An emergency Parliament meeting is due next week to discuss a possible extension of the state of public emergency as the present emergency state will expire in a month. Enditem Decode, a full-service marketing agency in Houston, Texas, was named #48 on the Houston Business Journals 2020 Fast 100 List. These awards recognize Houston-area private companies with the fastest revenue growth between the 2017 and 2019 fiscal years. Winners were announced at a virtual awards event hosted by the Houston Business Journal on Friday, September 18. Im proud that Decode is featured among such amazing companies, said Kathleen Perley, founder and CEO of Decode. Im extremely grateful for the enduring support of our clients and the hard work of the Decode team. I feel positive that this growth will continue for Decode. Decode, a full-service marketing agency, was founded in 2014 and has since expanded to feature 42 employees. Serving both local and national clients, Decode is proud to be a part of the Houston marketing community and help build up our citys reputation as a hub for both traditional and digital marketing. Decode would like to thank all sponsors and partners of the Houston Business Journals 2020 Fast 100 List for making this event possible. Decode is also thankful for their clients, who let them flex their creative minds, and their entire team, who works eagerly and passionately to get the work done right. About Decode Based in Houston, Texas, Decode began as a digital agency fueled by the possibilities of solving clients problems through the humanization of data. Since that time, they have established themselves as an award-winning, full-service marketing agency that views strategy through a customer-centric digital lens. Due to their analytical insight and focus on results, they have become one of the most awarded agencies in Houstons yearly prestigious marketing award programs, including the AMA Houston Crystal Awards and the AAF-Houston American Advertising Awards. Learn more about Decode by visiting their website at DecodeDigital.co. About the Houston Business Journal The Houston Business Journal is a publication of the American City Business Journals. They provide readers with the latest breaking business news, updated throughout the day. To learn more, visit https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/. ### Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 00:36:34|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HONG KONG, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Violent incidents have declined significantly in Hong Kong, and peace and stability have been gradually restored since the national security law took effect nearly three months ago, representatives of various sectors in Hong Kong said. As the social order is resuming, Hong Kong can continue to maintain a sound business environment, Chan Yung, vice-chairperson of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said, stressing that the law is crucial to pushing Hong Kong back on track. During the past months, the national security department of the Hong Kong police has strictly enforced the law and arrested people suspected of related violations. Wu Yingpeng, a junior counsel in Hong Kong, said human rights are safe and sound under the national security law, which contains a series of articles on the protection of legal rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents. The Hong Kong police carried out their operations strictly in accordance with the law, remained restraint and cautious, and did not abuse their power, Willy Fu, vice chairman of the executive council of the Hong Kong Legal Exchange Foundation, said, adding that the suspects were treated fairly with their rights guaranteed. While some opposition figures claimed that people will be punished for their speech, Ma Ho-man, executive chairman of the Hong Kong Culture Association, said the law clearly stipulates the definition of crimes and urged the public not to be misled by such rumors. With peace and order restored, experts believe the national security law will help sustain stability and prosperity of Hong Kong. As global tourists will no longer worry about their safety in Hong Kong, the tourism sector and the wider economy will gradually recover after the COVID-19 epidemic abates, said Yiu Si-wing, a Hong Kong lawmaker and tourism industry insider. The law, enacted in late June after prolonged social unrest in Hong Kong, is aimed at plugging national security loopholes, restoring the law and order, and protecting the rights and interests of Hong Kong residents. It targets crimes seriously endangering national security, namely secession, subversion, terrorist activities, and collusion with a foreign country or external elements to endanger national security. Enditem AKRON, Ohio, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstComm, a leading technology solutions provider of powerful cloud-based communications, networking and security resources, announced today their Microsoft Teams integration - UC Teams, has officially launched in addition to their already powerful UC packages, elevating the functionality and collaboration between hosted business communications and MS Teams. Customers will now be able to experience the full scope of FirstComm UCaaS telephony features directly through their Teams client, with minimal cost and quick implementation. With UC Teams, clients can seamlessly integrate essential business voice components, such as extension dialing, presence, shared line appearance, etc., into a company's Teams instance, creating an enhanced call experience and optimizing VoIP performance all within the teams instance. "With the massive adoption of MS Teams across the world, we wanted to create a solution that would unify FirstComm's powerful telephony feature sets with the robust collaboration of MS Teams in a simple, easy-to-use offering," said FirstComm's VP of Product & Marketing, Chris Ford. Not only does UC Teams enhance business voice capabilities directly through the Teams client, but given the UCaaS functionality is hosted through the FirstComm infrastructure, customers are able to capitalize on additional benefits, such as: Quick Deployment: Client can access functionality quickly and easily - no training or on-boarding necessary. Client can access functionality quickly and easily - no training or on-boarding necessary. Flexibility: Users have the freedom to control device usability Chose from modern, hybrid, legacy options with no additional licenses needed. Users have the freedom to control device usability Chose from modern, hybrid, legacy options with no additional licenses needed. Exceptional Support: All UC Teams customers get access to the high-touch FirstComm support team, ensuring any issues are resolved quickly. FirstComm's UC Teams offering is yet another valuable solution that allows customers to keep business communications relevant and versatile in an ever-evolving industry. To learn more, connect with us at [email protected]. About FirstComm FirstComm is a leading technology solutions provider offering unparalleled cloud communications, data, voice, security, and managed services to over 35,000 businesses across the nation. From high-end cloud communications solutions to firewall and data networking, FirstComm offers everything a business needs to stay unified, secure and connected. The power of FirstComm stems from a blend of robust managed solutions and world-class customer experience. FirstComm delivers solutions that align with your business objectives, while providing built-in scalability to accommodate any business demand, ensuring a flexible path for future growth. From white-glove support and deployments to valuable training and educational programs, our goal is to ensure our customers are set for success. For more information, Miriam Libonati-Bitton 312-334-1000 [email protected] Related Images image1.png SOURCE FirstComm BALTIMORE, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Transamerica today announces a new retirement plan initiative for small business employees, employers, and third party administrators, to help them better navigate the challenges that today's economy poses for retirement savers. Small businesses have been tested by the economic effects of the pandemic. According to a recent survey by the NFIB Research Center, more than half of small businesses believe it will be sometime in 2021 before the U.S. small business climate returns to normal. "We understand that many small businesses have been especially hard hit by the pandemic and resulting economic conditions," said Kent Callahan, Chief Executive Officer for Transamerica's Workplace Solutions division. "Transamerica has the tools to help small businesses and their employees manage their retirement goals, and we are taking action today to help these employers and their employees better navigate investing in uncertain times." "We have been hearing directly from retirement plan participants about their increased need for support with investment decisions during this unprecedented year," Mr. Callahan added. For participants in qualifying small business retirement plans, Transamerica is offering this new, fee-waived opportunity to experience the support of professional investment selection and ongoing investment allocation services for up to six months (180 days) during 2020 and 2021. Transamerica is enabling participants to receive personalized, fee-waived investment advice through Transamerica's Managed Advice service, along with access to one-on-one support from qualified Transamerica Investment Adviser Representatives. Managed Advice is designed to provide participants with professional asset allocation services throughout up and down markets, to and through retirement. After six months, regular asset-based fees will apply for the Managed Advice service for less than the average cost of an independent financial advisor, as reported by Advisory HQ's Average Financial Advisor Fees in 2020. Participants maintain the freedom to opt out of the Managed Advice service at any time. For small business employers that bring the organization's retirement plan to Transamerica by December 31, 2020, Transamerica will offer certain fee waivers or credits to the plan sponsor through the end of first quarter, 2021, when the qualifying retirement plan is implemented with Transamerica. For example, Transamerica will make the plan's transition easier by providing critical employee communications with waived fees to help onboard the retirement plan and its participants to Transamerica by March 31, 2021. Transamerica is also extending its small business initiative to the independent third party administrator (TPA) firms that provide administration and/or compliance services to the plan. Because many of these third party administration firms are small businesses, Transamerica will support these TPA firms with a marketing allowance of up to $1,000 in order to help the TPAs grow their own businesses. "We appreciate that our TPA business associates are an integral part of delivering professional services to these small business plans," Mr. Callahan noted. "We are dedicated to helping TPAs invest in and expand their companies." For a retirement plan committing to Transamerica by year-end 2020 and onboarding its participants in first quarter, 2021, the plan's TPA, in turn, will receive a first-quarter marketing allowance up to $1,000 from Transamerica that can help enable the TPA's future growth. In addition to today's announcement, earlier this year when the federal CARES Act was enacted, Transamerica demonstrated its support for retirement plans of all sizes by: Waiving all retirement plan fees associated with coronavirus-related distributions to aid coronavirus-impacted employees; Establishing a dedicated team to support participants who are considering accessing their long-term retirement savings to meet their short-term financial challenges related to the coronavirus; and Waiving any plan amendment fees needed to implement federal CARES Act provisions for plan sponsors using Transamerica's pre-approved document. "Transamerica has an enduring commitment to helping people save for a secure retirement," Mr. Callahan continued. "We stand ready to support our customers with the tools to plan for a secure future when they need us the most." About Transamerica With a history that dates back more than 100 years, Transamerica is recognized as a leading provider of life insurance, retirement and investment solutions, serving millions of customers throughout the United States. Recognizing the necessity of health and wellness during peak working life, Transamerica's dedicated professionals work to help people take the steps necessary to live better today so they can worry less about tomorrow. Transamerica serves nearly every customer segment, providing a broad range of quality life insurance and investment products, individual and group pension plans, as well as asset management services. In 2019, Transamerica fulfilled its promises to customers, paying more than $50 billion in insurance, retirement, and annuity claims and benefits, including return of annuity premiums paid by the customer. Transamerica is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, with other major operations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Denver, Colorado. Transamerica is part of the Aegon group of companies. Based in the Netherlands, Aegon is one of the world's largest providers of life insurance, pension solutions and asset management products, operating in more than 20 markets worldwide. For the full year of 2019, Aegon managed over $1 trillion in revenue generating investments. For more information, visit www.transamerica.com. About Managed Advice Managed Advice provides a participant with an asset allocation mix of funds available within the plan. The asset allocation mix will be automatically rebalanced and reallocated, managing risk and return as participants' settings and goals change over time. Additional fees and terms and conditions apply to the Managed Advice service. Participants will continue to bear the fees of the underlying investment options in the Managed Advice account. Managed Advice portfolios are subject to the same risks as the underlying asset classes in which they invest. The higher the portfolio's allocation to stocks the greater the risk. Managed Advice utilizes models, algorithms and/or calculations (Models), which have inherent risks. Models may incorrectly forecast future behavior or produce unexpected results resulting in losses. The success of using Models depends on numerous factors, including the validity, accuracy and completeness of the Model's development, implementation and maintenance, the Model's assumptions, factors, algorithms and methodologies, and the accuracy and reliability of the supplied historical or other data. If incorrect data is entered into even a well-founded Model, the resulting information will be incorrect. Investments selected with the use of Models may perform differently than expected as a result of the design of the Model, inputs into the Model, or other factors. The principal value of the portfolio is never guaranteed. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with market conditions, and participants may lose money. The Managed Advice service is offered through Transamerica Retirement Advisors, LLC (TRA), an SEC registered investment advisor. Transamerica Retirement Solutions and TRA are affiliated companies. Morningstar Investment Management Associates, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Morningstar, is an SEC-registered investment advisor that serves as an independent financial expert and provides the underlying investment advice and portfolio management methodology for the Managed Advice service. Morningstar is not affiliated with any Transamerica companies. Please see the Managed Advice agreement for more information on the terms and conditions that apply. Neither TRA nor the Managed Advice service provides advice for, recommends allocations of, or manages individual stocks, self-directed brokerage accounts, or employer-directed monies, even if they are available for investment in a plan. Neither TRA nor Morningstar, as the independent financial expert, selects or endorses any of the particular investment options available in a plan through the Managed Advice service. The designated plan investment options used within the Managed Advice service portfolios may include Transamerica proprietary investment funds or stable value products offered by Transamerica affiliates. Important: The projections or other information generated by the engine regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of future results. Results derived from the tool may vary with each use and over time. Securities offered through Transamerica Investors Securities Corporation (TISC), member FINRA, 440 Mamaroneck Avenue, Harrison, NY 10528. Media inquiries: [email protected] Hank Williams (319) 355-7789 Julie Quinlan (303) 383-5923 SOURCE Transamerica Related Links http://www.transamerica.com A security analyst, Colonel Festus Aboagye, is warning that Ghana may be plunged into a state of insecurity if the activities of the Western Togoland secessionist group, Homeland Study Group Foundation, are not stopped. His comments follow Friday's mounting of roadblocks on major entry routes to the Volta Region by the group seeking to break away from Ghana to form the Western Togoland. In an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show, Col. Festus Aboagye, warned that the government needs to be proactive in dealing with the matter. Intelligence must try to be as close to the incident as possible. So far, as I have tried to suggest, it doesnt look like our intelligence has been that proactive. So indeed we don't know what may happen tomorrow. The more reason I am concerned is that we have a historical antecedent of how previous governments including the colonial government prior to the granting of independence dealt with this threat. It is better for Ghana's integrity for the government to come out and tell us what its strategy is. Definitely, diplomacy would be involved, the dialogue will be involved but part of the problem in any conflict is first of all to de-escalate and then go and sit around the table or simultaneously use a number of approaches to try and manage the situation. If we allow the situation to continue as we are seeing, we will get to a place where it will be too late to act. He further urged the government to dialogue with leaders of the secessionist group because the issue cannot be resolved through the barrel of the gun. In the long run, we will have to sit around the table. So the earlier we proactively dialogue with the group in order to arrive at some mutual agreement as to how things are going to go, the better for us. Meanwhile, the police are currently conducting a security operation on such roads due to the blockade by members of the secessionist group. Twenty-five members of the secessionist group have also been picked up by the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service. Currently, there is heavy military and police presence currently at the area. ---citinewsroom In conservative Kandahar, new gym creates safe space for Afghan women Afghan women exercise in a fitness gym in Kandahar KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - In Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, rights activist Maryam Durani has found a fresh outlet for her decades of advocacy - a new fitness centre for women. Durani, 36, is a fierce campaigner for women's rights in the conservative stronghold where the Islamist Taliban militant group have major sway and take a conservative stance on the position of women, who mostly wear the burqa in public. She runs a radio station for women, has served on the provincial council and was presented with the International Women of Courage Award by Michelle Obama for in 2012. Last year, Durani switched tack to open a female-only gym, which draws about 50 women attend each day. "The reaction of the ladies was very positive because they needed it," she said, shortly after working out with a group of clients. "What bothered me was the reaction of the men...who reacted negatively to our club and even insulted me because they thought our club was in opposition to Sharia." With a troop withdrawal signed between the United States and the Taliban, who have fought a bloody war for 19 years, many women in Afghanistan worry the militant group may exert its influence through formal political channels. When the Taliban ruled the country between 1996 and 2001, they banned education for females and barred women from leaving the house without a male relative. The group says it has changed but many women remain sceptical. "My only concern is about their view of women's rights and what freedoms and restrictions they will impose on me," said Durani. For now, her focus is on serving the dozens of women who attend the club, whom she describes as a cross-section of society including housewives and women who work outside the home. "My only wish is to be seen as a human in this society," she said. (Reporting by Ismail Samim, Additional reporting by Hameed Farzad; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Sam Holmes) The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a plea seeking directions to the Centre, Delhi government and others not to identify persons based on religion, caste, community and religious identity with regard to COVID-19 related information. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan refused to entertain the plea which had sought directions to the authorities concerned to stop the dissemination of information of coronavirus or other epidemic disease on the basis of religion, caste, community, religious identity or communal classification. The plea, filed by two Delhi-based residents, also sought directions to the authorities to identify persons, organisations, websites and media houses who have either authored, shared and aided in circulation of such information. It said the authorities should immediately block such websites and remove the offending materials on the internet and take action under the Information Technology Act against those who are spreading communal hatred, creating problem for public order. The plea referred to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation here in March this year and said the incident had made national headline and certain section of media, instead of exercising restraint, reported it with communal colour. It was thus apparent that the unfortunate incident of the Tablighi Jamaat was being used to demonise and blame the entire Muslim community and this Tablighi Jamaat story is just another way of the government to distract with its own policy failures, the plea had alleged. At least 9,000 people had participated in the religious gathering at Tablighi Jamaats headquarters in Nizamuddin West here in March and it was alleged that the congregation became a key source for spread of COVID-19 in India as many of the participants had travelled to various parts of the country for missionary works. The plea had also claimed that several videos and fake news were circulated on different social media platforms which resulted in vilification of the Muslim community because of its religious identity. What came as an utter shock was that Arvind Kejriwal in the capacity of chief minister of Delhi supported such reporting by the medium of his tweets and other modes by naming affected cases deliberately as a separate caption Masjid Markaz, it alleged. Details added: the first version posted on 16:02 BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.25 Trend: Sooner Armenia withdraws its armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, sooner the conflict will be resolved, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Jeyhun Bayramov said, Trend reports referring to the ministry. Bayramov made the statement at an unofficial meeting in the format of a videoconference of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member states to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) held within the framework of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly. Noting in his speech that the ongoing spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic has actualized the issue of cooperation in crisis situations, the minister informed the event participants about Azerbaijan's contribution to international efforts to prevent the pandemic spread, including a number of important initiatives, such as convening a special session of the UN General Assembly and the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in the format of the Contact Group. According to him, although the pandemic has much affected not only health issues but also the economy, Azerbaijan plays an active role in the development of the Caspian-Black Sea cooperation as a country that encourages cross-border trade, communications, and innovations to build a comprehensive and sustainable economy. Pointing out that Azerbaijan believes in the Black Sea regions prosperous future, the minister stressed that the main condition for achieving this goal is the need for mutual respect for the independence, territorial integrity, and sovereignty of states the need. Commenting on allegations of the Armenian foreign minister that Azerbaijan has ignored the call of the UN Secretary-General for a global ceasefire, Bayramov stressed that Armenia, grossly violating the norms and principles of international law, ignoring the resolutions of the UN Security Council, for about 30 years, continues to hold the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan under occupation. He reminded that on July 12-16, 2020, Armenia made attempt to commit a new act of aggression against Azerbaijan, in the direction of the Azerbaijani Tovuz district on the state border between the two countries, but failed to achieve its political and military goals. Bayramov informed the meeting participants about the reasons for the pre-planned military provocation of Armenia in the direction of Tovuz district, including its attempt to involve third parties in the conflict, damage important energy and transport infrastructure in the immediate vicinity of the area, and, finally, to divert the attention of the population from internal problems. The minister noted that Armenian armed forces purposefully targeted the civilian population of Azerbaijan and during the July provocation a 76-year-old elderly man was killed in his house. Noting that the ongoing occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan by Armenia remains a serious threat to international peace and security, the minister stressed that the sooner Armenia withdraws its armed forces from the occupied Nagorno Karabakh and other territories of Azerbaijan, the sooner the conflict will be resolved and the opportunities for large-scale cooperation will be opened in the region. According to the ministry, from 12 countries taking part in the meeting of the foreign ministers of the BSEC member states, 7 were represented at the level of ministers, and five at the level of deputy ministers. One of the meeting speakers was also the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi. 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. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said the police did properly announce themselves, though Walker and other witnesses disagree and there is no bodycam video to settle the point. In remarks to the media Wednesday, Cameron said the grand jury concluded that the police had every right under Kentucky law to fire back toward Walker in self-defense, unintentionally and fatally wounding Taylor who was standing near him. This justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges in Miss Breonna Taylors death," Cameron said. The Manila-headquartered Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday said it has approved two loans totalling USD 570 million (about Rs 4,200 crore) for urban sector projects in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. ADB said it has approved a USD 300 million loan to develop Rajasthans secondary towns and a USD 270 million loan for Madhya Pradesh Urban Services Improvement Project. In a statement, ADB said the USD 300 million loan has been approved to finance inclusive water supply and sanitation infrastructure and services in secondary towns of Rajasthan. The project is expected to build citywide access for improved water supply services for around 5,70,000 people and enhanced sanitation services for about 7,20,000 people in at least 14 secondary towns. These localities have 20,0001,00,000 residents, it said. It further said that through the project, water supply systems in at least eight project towns are expected to improve by 2027, with about 1,00,000 households, including all urban poor households, benefiting from five new or rehabilitated water treatment plants and 1,350 kilometres of distribution networks. Citywide sanitation systems based on the most cost-effective solutions will also be developed, it said, adding that the project will build on three earlier related projects and sector reforms funded by ADB in Rajasthan. In another statement, ADB said it has approved a USD 270 million loan for construction of water supply and integrated storm water and sewage management infrastructure in Madhya Pradesh. The loan is an additional financing intended to scale up the scope of the Madhya Pradesh Urban Services Improvement Project, which was approved in 2017 with a USD 275 million loan. It will expand the outcome of the current project by benefiting an additional 1,85,000 households consisting of about 1.3 million people, ADB said. The project will receive support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, specifically for the integration of Citywide Inclusive Sanitation principles into the planning, design, implementation, operation, and maintenance of the sanitation subprojects, it said. As in the previous loan, ADB said, the project will support the continued institutional strengthening and capacity building of the Urban Development and Housing Department and Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Company Limited. New Delhi, Sep 25 : With the announcement of Harley-Davidson to close its India manufacturing facility, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) called for the need for a Franchise Protection Act in the country to avert brands from abruptly closing their operations leaving their channel partners and customers in a fix. On Thursday, the cruiser bikes giant had said that it plans to close its manufacturing facility in Haryana's Bawal and significantly reduce the size of its sales office in Gurugram. "The company has not informed any of its dealer partners about its closure plans and dealers are yet to receive any official communication," the association said in a statement. "It goes without saying that dealers who have invested their hard earned capital in this iconic brand are left like an abandoned baby without any compensation package." Consequently, FADA called for a Franchise Protection Act in India. "With every brand closing its shop in India, India's capital flow goes down the drain. With a luxury brand like Harley, setting up its dealership costs anywhere between Rs 3-4 crore and with a total of 35 dealerships, Rs 110-130 crore will go down the drain," the statement said. "Moreover, there will be customers who will not receive glitch free service as spares will now be in shortage thus leading to cases and harassment to dealers from their customers." The association pointed out that a luxury two-wheeler dealership on an average employs 50 people. "With 35 Harley dealers, around 1,800-2,000 people at dealerships will lose their jobs," FADA said. "After General Motors, MAN Trucks and UM Lohia, Harley Davidson is the 4th Automobile Brand which is shutting shop in last 3 years in India." On its part, Harley-Davidson said that it plans to close its manufacturing facility in Haryana's Bawal and significantly reduce the size of its sales office in Gurugram as part of 'The Rewire' initiative which intends to overhaul the company's operating model and market structure. According to the company, it is changing the business model in India and evaluating options to continue to serve its customers. "Harley-Davidson plans to close its manufacturing facility in Bawal and significantly reduce the size of its sales office in Gurgaon (Gurugram)," the company had said in a statement. "The company is communicating with its customers in India and will keep them updated on future support. The Harley-Davidson dealer network will continue to serve customers through the contract term." It added that these actions are aligned with 'The Rewire' initiative which is planned to continue through the end of 2020, leading to 'The Hardwire', a new strategic plan for 2021-2025 aimed at building desirability for the Harley-Davidson brand and products. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text 94% 923University of Helsinki10 PCR -PCR 92350-1005001 PCRPCR5% -PCR[] -45 []PCR - 923LufthansaRochePCR15PCR Alitalia PCR Ambassador Hoang Van Loi speaks at the meeting. (Photo: VNA) They made the assessment on September 23 during a meeting chaired by Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa Hoang Van Loi, who is also the Chairman of the ASEAN Pretoria Committee (APC), with the participation of 7 ASEAN member countries ambassadors to South Africa, in order to exchange information and discuss APC activities in the coming time. At the meeting, Ambassador Loi informed the APC members of the 53rd ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM-53) and related meetings outcomes, highlighting major achievements in which member countries continued to affirm their determination to maintain a peaceful, secure, neutral and stable Southeast Asia region; consolidate solidarity, resilience and promote the central role of ASEAN; strengthen trust, uphold respect for law; and commit to fully and effectively implementing the goals and cooperation priorities in the spirit of "Cohesive and Responsive". Praising the role of Vietnam as ASEAN President, Thai Ambassador to South Africa Komate Kamalanavin affirmed that as ASEAN President, Vietnam had done a great job in leading the region to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. He also hailed Vietnams support for several ASEAN member countires and dialogue partners in response to the pandemic. Agreeing with Thai Ambassador Kamalanavin, Malaysian Ambassador Mohamad Nizan B. Mohamad said that he was impressed with Vietnam's initiative and responsibility in coordinating and leading ASEAN to overcome common challenges, especially the COVID-19 pandemic, the current global crisis. In addition, the ambassadors highly appreciated Ambassador Hoang Van Loi's contributions as APC Chairman, emphasizing that even though he had just taken over this position for a short time, Ambassador Hoang Van Loi effectively coordinated APC activities, including the successful organization of the first face-to-face meeting after months of social distancing due to COVID-19. Regarding the relationship between ASEAN and South Africa, Ambassador Hoang Van Loi said that the Vietnamese and South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs were actively coordinating for South Africa to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) on the sidelines of the 37th ASEAN Summit in November. On this occasion, Ambassador Hoang Van Loi also hosted the farewell ceremony for Thai Ambassador to South Africa Komate Kamalanavin, who was going to complete his working term. During the ceremony, Ambassador Loi appreciated the positive contributions of Ambassador Komate in strengthening ASEAN-South Africa relations as well as APC's activities in recent years./. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 As the Sumatran rhinoceros inches closer to extinction, conservationists have called for serious intervention to restore a viable wild population. The proposed efforts include a captive breeding program for the solitary creatures. Sumatran rhinos, the smallest living rhinos and the only Asian rhinos with two horns, are critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In the Malaysian section of Borneo, one of the historic habitats of Sumatran rhinos, the species was declared extinct last year. The remaining population is small and dispersed, with fewer than 80 rhinos spread across three habitats in Sumatra and one habitat in East Kalimantan, according to an estimate by the Environment and Forestry Ministry. The largest population is thought to be at Gunung Leuser National Park in Aceh. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is the Bathinda Lok Sabha member and quit the Narendra Modi cabinet over the farm bills recently, led party workers in blocking traffic (chakka jam) at Lambi in Muktsar district. The SAD, an ally in the NDA government, is the only key political party that held road blockades across the state against the Centres move. While Akali activists blocked roads across the state, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders did not join the farmers protests but expressed solidarity with the protesters. Bathinda Congress urban president Arun Wadhawan said the party had appealed to traders and commission agents to shut their establishments in support of the bandh call. Teachers and government employees associated with Left-wing organisations also joined the farmers in their protest. Elections for the presidents and parliaments in six of Italys 18 regions were held on Sunday and Monday. The first election since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic was seen as a test for the government in Rome, a coalition of the Five Star Movement (M5S), Democratic Party (PD), and several smaller parties under the leadership of non-aligned Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. The medias main focus was on Tuscany, which has been governed by the PD and its predecessors for 50 years. The Lega, led by Matteo Salvini, ran the 33-year-old Susanna Ceccardi, a young star in the far-right party, and there was a great deal of speculation that she could win the election. This turned out to be mistaken. The PDs candidate, Eugenio Giani, finished with 48.6 percent of the vote, well ahead of Ceccardi, who received 40.5 percent. Conte and the PD therefore celebrated the election victory as a confirmation of their government and pledged to decisively pursue the policies of reforms. The result was also observed with relief in Brussels. The Conte government is firmly committed to the European Union and has pledged to use the EUs coronavirus bailout package, a large portion of which will flow to Italy, to fundamentally restructure the countrys economy. Reform is a euphemism for social spending cuts, public sector layoffs, tax cuts for the rich, and further attacks on the working class. A closer look at the election results produces a totally different picture to the one painted by Brussels and Rome. Mounting anger and outrage among the population, which can find no outlet in the existing political channels, coincides with a sharp shift of the ruling elite even further to the right. Of the six regions where regional presidents were elected, the right-wing won four, three of which they had previously held. They therefore hold power in 13 out of 18 regions, compared to just three four years ago. It is noteworthy that a landslide victory by a right-wing extremist candidate in Marche, a region between Tuscany and the Adriatic, was hardly noticed by the European media, never mind treated as an alarming development. Francesco Acquaroli, the candidate of a right-wing alliance including the Lega, Berlusconis Forza Italia and the Fratelli dItalia, won the election for the regional president by a wide margin with 49 percent of the vote. The region was previously governed by the centre-left parties. Acquaroli is a member of the Fratelli dItalia (FDI), a right-wing extremist party packed with fascists, neo-Nazis and members of the Identitarian Movement. He is an admirer of Benito Mussolini, who ruled Italy as a fascist dictator for 21 years. Last year, he took part in an official dinner to commemorate the March on Rome organised by the FDIs provincial secretary. Mussolinis March on Rome in October 1922 marked the beginning of the fascist dictatorship. Georgia Meloni, the 43-year-old leader of the FDI, is increasingly emerging as a challenger on the far-right to Lega leader Salvini. He has been weakened politically ever since his decision in the summer of 2019 to leave the governing coalition with M5S in hopes of emerging strengthened from early elections. But instead of agreeing to new elections, M5S reached a coalition deal with the Democrats. Meloni is an ultra-right figure, agitates against immigrants and financial speculators (above all those of Jewish origin, like George Soros), is a professed supporter of god, fatherland, and family, opposes abortion and LGBT rights, and invokes a national identity. Her declared goal is a strong, authoritarian state where security has priority over freedom, an illiberal democracy on the Hungarian model. Meloni began her political career as a 15-year-old in a right-wing youth group and was Youth Minister in Berlusconis government in 2008. She is firmly integrated into the political establishment, which has no problem with her fascist ideas. Berlusconis Forza Italia, which cooperates at the European level with the German governing Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union, stood joint lists of candidates in the regional elections with the Lega and Fratelli dItalia. Berlusconi, who was Italian Prime Minister four times between 1994 and 2011, continues to play only a minor role. The 84-year-old was in hospital with coronavirus and Forza Italia crawled to 6 percent in the polls. His most important service has been to assist in the rise and building the reputations of the fascists, which he has done since forming a coalition for the first time with the Mussolini-successor party MSI in 1994. The Fratelli dItalia stands in this fascist tradition. In contrast to the Lega, which emerged out of the separatist regional party Lega Nord and continues to contain strong regionalist tendencies, it advocates a strong national state. The Lega continues to have a strong presence in the north. In Venetia, regional president Luca Zaia defended his post with a record 76.8 percent share of the vote. He is seen as a strong internal rival to Salvini and is backed by sections of big business, including the Benetton concern. His election victory was in large part thanks to the fact that through the introduction of red zones, widespread testing and contact tracing he was able to contain the pandemic relatively quickly and prevent a catastrophe like in neighbouring Lombardy. The major loser in the regional elections was M5S. In March 2018, it emerged from the parliamentary elections as the strongest party, with almost one-third of the votes. This time around, the party managed to achieve double-digit totals in two of the six regions, and even there it suffered heavy losses. In Apulia, for example, Five Star received 11 percent, compared to 45 percent at the parliamentary elections. The rise of the Five Star Movement was closely bound up with popular anger towards the established parties, which, regardless if they were right or left, took turns in government and always enforced attacks on the working class. The comedian Beppe Grillo, the partys founder, appeared in market squares to denounce and curse the political establishment. Although Five Stars programme was eclectic, it was in essence right-wing. They did not call capitalism into question but instead demanded a downsizing of the state, which ultimately meant massive social spending cuts. They had barely won the election when the right-wing character of M5S was made clear. They formed a coalition with Salvinis Lega, which took over the Interior Minister and played a dominant role in the government. The brutality with which the government treated refugees, its refusal to allow overcrowded ships to land, and its acceptance of the drowning of thousands in the Mediterranean, permanently discredited the Five Star Movement. They are now celebrating as a major victory the fact that 70 percent of the voters supported a proposal in a referendum held simultaneously to reduce the size of parliament. Only 600 deputies will sit in Italys two parliamentary chambers, compared to the current 945, and pay for deputies will be cut. During the 2018 parliamentary election, Five Star promised to reduce waste and the cost of politics, and it campaigned in favour of the referendum. The vote in their favour by over two-thirds expresses the widespread distrust of establishment politics. The vote for a reduction in the size of parliament is a no-confidence vote against the countrys politicians, with whom the Italians have been fed up for years, wrote German daily Die Welt. But this distrust no longer identifies with M5S, as shown by its election results. In addition, a reduction in the size of parliament will do nothing to change the governments reactionary policies. It is instead likely to contribute to the strengthening of the powers of the executive and thus a step in the direction of an authoritarian state. Italy resembles a social powder keg. Over 300,000 people have been infected with coronavirus due to the governments irresponsible policies, and 36,000 have died. Unemployment is at 10 percent, the third highest rate in Europe. Young people in particular cannot find work. The economy is in freefall. Bitter class struggles are inevitable. But they require a political perspective and orientation, without which the rotten social conditions will lead to a rise of fascism. Neither Fratelli dItalia or the Lega yet represents a fascist mass movement. But they pose a genuine threat. Only an independent movement of the working class, fighting to put an end to capitalism and for a socialist programme, can stop this danger. Approved | 1h 22min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir | 25 May 1947 (USA) Out-of-work mining engineer Mike Lambert (Glenn Ford) is going through some hard times and things just got worse. The brakes have partially given out on the commercial truck hes driving, and he struggles with its steering wheel and gears to keep on the winding mountain road. He manages to steer the truck into a small California town, careening through its streets, only to end up colliding with an old pickup truck, which is parked on one of the main streets. The commercial trucks owner shows up (Mike crashed right outside the trucking company), as does the pickup trucks owner, a miner who demands to be compensated for the damage to his vehicle. Mike graciously pays the man out of his own wages and saunters off to a nearby bar to relieve some of his stress via a few stiff drinks. Edgar Buchanan (L) and Glenn Ford in Framed. (Columbia Pictures) Mike finds a stunning blonde, Paula Craig (Janis Carter), behind the bar, who seems a little out of place in the crude, small-town watering hole. Amid some heavy flirting between the two, the local police show up and promptly arrest Mike for his reckless driving, collision, and a few other charges. During the courts proceedings, the judge gives Mike the option of paying a $50 fine or spending 10 days in jail. Since Mike cant afford the fine, he opts to cool his heels in the clink. Miraculously, Paula shows up and pays Mikes fine. From there, she whisks him back to the bar, where he proceeds to get completely hammered. Paula suddenly gives the bar notice that shes quitting and then manages to get a very drunk Mike to a hotel room down the street. After he wakes up the next morning nursing a terrible hangover, he finds that she paid for his stay and even left him a little spending money. Beautiful Paula (Janis Carter) is awfully helpful to down-on-his-luck Mike Lambert (Glenn Ford). (Columbia Pictures) Mike, suspicious of Paulas motives and eager to get back on the right track, throws away the phone number she left for him with the front desk man. He straightens out his hat and tie and proceeds to walk over to the local assay office to look for work. There, he befriends the owner of the pickup truck he crashed into the previous day, a scraggly old codger named Jeff Cunningham (Edgar Buchanan). Jeff just so happens to be working on a hot mining prospect and, remembering Mikes graciousness from the previous day, offers him a job. Mike immediately accepts. Theres only one obstacle in the wayJeff must first obtain a loan from a prominent bank in town. After having breakfast with Mike, Jeff goes to have a meeting with the banks vice president, Steve Price (Barry Sullivan). During their meeting, Paula calls Steve on the phone and tells him not to approve the loan. This, in turn, causes Mikes fortune to sour since Jeffs loan proposal doesnt go through as planned. Mike, back to square one, decides to look past his suspicions about Paula and shows up at her upper-middle-class home. This time, he doesnt turn away her amorous advances and the two proceed to become romantically involved. However, behind Mikes back, Paula is having nocturnal meetings with Steve, which involves him picking her up on the same dark street corner every night. Mike eventually finds out about Paulas seeming infidelities and angrily confronts her about his discovery. Paula turns the tables on Mike and assures him that she was merely trying to persuade Steve to approve Jeffs loan so that Mike would be able to cash in on the prospecting deal. What are these two plotting? Paula (Janis Carter) and Steve (Barry Sullivan), in Framed. (Columbia Pictures) But is Paulas guardian angel facade genuine? Does she truly have Mikes interests at heart, or is there a more dastardly plot afoot? Commendable Acting Under director Richard Wallaces capable guidance, Framed is a surprisingly compact, slow-burn noir picture that gives audiences many different looks. The film starts off as more of a romantic drama than anything else, and then begins to embrace its murky noir moorings during the second and third acts. In fact, the third act delves headfirst into a full-blown tale of shifting allegiances, love and lust, double-crosses, and double-double-crosses. It also involves a you guessed itframe-up. Casting-wise, Glenn Ford, a rising star at the time, plays the desperate drifter Mike Lambert perfectly. Its always a pleasure to see flawed characters handled in unique ways, and Ford drives the film forward in his depiction of Mike as a bitter-yet-good-hearted, strung-out man trying to get his life in order. And although Id heard that Janis Carter possessed some considerable acting chops, seeing her in action was an incredible experience. Her characters opaque motives and shifty countenance had enough nuance to it that I couldnt quite place where her loyalties lie. In fact, I feel as though if I were to look up the term femme fatale, I wouldnt be surprised to find the actresss face next to the description. Framed is a gripping pot-boiler of a noir flick that, once it gets its engine revving, never lets up on the gas. It contains some plot twists I honestly didnt see coming, as well as some interesting character studies by its more-than-capable cast. Framed Director: Richard Wallace Starring: Glenn Ford, Janis Carter, Barry Sullivan Not Rated Running Time: 1 hour, 22 minutes Release Date: May 25, 1947 (USA) Rated: 4 stars out of 5 Ian Kane is a filmmaker and author based out of Los Angeles. To see more, visit DreamFlightEnt.com or contact him at Twitter.com/ImIanKane "Four Seasons Hotel Madrid began with a visionary plan by our owner partner OHL to unite and breathe new life into a collection of historic buildings in the heart of Madrid. Together with recent partners Mohari Hospitality, the result is a modern luxury experience in a magnificently restored property - the perfect debut for Four Seasons in Spain," notes Christian Clerc, President, Global Operations, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Jose Antonio Fernandez Gallar, OHL's Second Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, comments, "OHL is proud to have such a prestigious partner as Four Seasons for our project. We are convinced that its presence will be key in the positioning of Centro Canalejas Madrid as the new icon of luxury in our country, and in the consolidation of Madrid as a reference destination for international shopping tourism, at the same level as large European capitals." Mark Scheinberg, Founder of Mohari Hospitality, which is half owner of the property with OHL since 2017, added, "We're really proud to have partnered with Four Seasons and OHL to develop and open this flagship luxury destination in Madrid, and the first Four Seasons in Spain. Despite the challenging circumstances, we're sure that Centro Canalejas, and its seven beautifully reconceptualised historic buildings, will swiftly become a new social centre for the City of Madrid and a second home for local and global visitors alike." Leading a team of 254 staff is Regional Vice President and General Manager Adrian Messerli, a Swiss born and educated Four Seasons veteran whose most recent assignment was in Shanghai. "We are excited to welcome our first guests to the first Four Seasons in Spain," says Messerli. "In addition to our dedication to providing guests with a memorable experience, our staff are all fully trained and implementing Lead With Care, Four Seasons enhanced global health and safety program. Grounded in healthcare expertise, the program provides the latest information and best practices that will help us keep our guests, residents and employees safe and well." As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve globally, Lead With Care provides hotel teams with access to leading medical experts, technology and tools, instilling the same trust and confidence that Four Seasons is known for around the globe. Unmatched Location Located in the very heart of the capital between Puerta del Sol and Barrio de las Letras and just steps from Kilometro Cero, the central point of the entire country Four Seasons Hotel Madrid is within easy walking distance to most of the city's key attractions. Beginning with the chic shopping and dining accessed directly from the Hotel at the soon-to-be-opened La Galeria de Canalejas, from there it's just a short stroll to the 125 hectare (300 acre) Retiro Park and three of the world's most important museums, the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. Chef Concierge Raul Bermejo and the Hotel's expert concierge team can recommend tailored itineraries to suit all interests. Four Seasons Hotel Madrid is also just 25 minutes by car from Madrid-Barajas International Airport. Introducing Dani by Dani Garcia One of Spain's most celebrated chefs and a champion of the country's culinary heritage, Michelin-starred Dani Garcia introduces a new dining concept so close to his heart that it bears his name. Dani is at once a temple of gastronomic exploration and an easy, informal setting for memorable meals with friends, family and colleagues. Located atop the Hotel, the restaurant and bar offer panoramic views across the city and beyond to its surrounding hills, with both indoor and outdoor seating year round. Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and extending to leisurely evenings over tasty tapas and Spain's incredible wines, it's the newest must-visit destination in a city known for its culinary leadership. Executive Chef Omar Mallen leads an international team offering traditional local fare and exquisite cakes and pastries for immediate enjoyment in the convivial El Patio or to takeaway. The Hotel also offers the option of 24/7 in-room dining for those guests who prefer to dine privately. For a contactless experience while staying at any Four Seasons, guests are encouraged to use the Four Seasons App and Chat, available in 100+ languages, to arrange for in-room dining, restaurant and hotel reservations, luggage pickup and much more. Adding to the restaurant and bar offerings at the Hotel will soon be Isa, a beautifully appointed gastrobar featuring Asian-inspired tapas paired with creative cocktail concoctions crafted by Bar Manager Sophie Larrouture. Joining the team from Four Seasons Hotel Des Bergues, Geneva, Larrouture brings cosmopolitan flair to the bar as she draws upon her experience at leading establishments in Europe and South America. Coming Soon: Wellness at Four Seasons Hotel Madrid Four Seasons Hotel Madrid will soon unveil the city's biggest spa, a 1,400 square metre (15,000 square foot) true urban oasis of wellbeing, The Spa at Four Seasons. The 24-hour, fully-equipped fitness centre is now open, providing a hint of the experience to come. Reached via a soaring, skylit reception area with adjacent spa boutique, guests will escape into a calming sanctuary of wellness and relaxation. Features will include eight spa treatment rooms, including one reserved exclusively for couples; steam room, sauna and lounge; and a salon. Guests can also ascend to the 14-metre (46 foot) indoor pool with its glass walls and oversized skylight bathing the space in sunshine. An adjacent sun terrace on the eighth floor offers views across the city's rooftops as one sips on refreshments from the pool bar. Visual Wonders at Every Turn Throughout the Hotel's public spaces, lively restaurants and bars, expansive spa and show-stopping event spaces, guests will spot more than 3,700 meticulous restored historic artefacts juxtaposed with contemporary Spanish artworks and comfortable furnishings. Many of the Hotel's 200 rooms and suites feature unique configurations and architectural details, while all offer views of the surrounding city. Be Among the First to Experience Madrid's Most Exciting New Destination Four Seasons Hotel Madrid is currently extending an Introductory Offer, featuring 20 percent off the room rate through March 31, 2021 with minimum two-night stay. Travellers and locals seeking a getaway in the city can also take advantage of the Advance Purchase Offer, which extends 20 percent savings on the room rate for up to 30 days when booking at least seven days in advance. Plan an extended adventure through Europe's capitals this fall with The Scenic Route by Four Seasons, featuring concierge-curated recommendations in Madrid, Lisbon, Budapest and Prague. To make a reservation, call (00 800) 6488-6488 or book online. Living with Four Seasons The new Four Seasons in Madrid also includes 22 luxury Private Residences with one to three bedrooms, designed by Luis Bustamante. For more information on Four Seasons Private Residences Madrid, visit here. Lead With Care Four Seasons Hotel Madrid opens with full compliance to local health and safety guidance, with the added benefits of the enhanced Four Seasons global health and safety program, Lead With Care. Combining public health expertise with access to leading technologies and tools, Lead With Care establishes clear procedures that educate and empower employees to take care of guests and each other in the COVID-19 environment. Through the company's work with leading experts, Four Seasons is leveraging world-class medical expertise to focus on enhancing cleanliness, guest comfort and safety and employee training in real time as the current situation evolves. For more information about Four Seasons Lead With Care program, click here. About OHL Obrascon Huarte Lain, S.A. (OHL), as a global infrastructure group, focuses its activity on the construction and development of infrastructures. Founded in 1911, the company has a relevant market share in its key markets in Europe, Latin America and the United States. Precisely in the US, the renowned American publication Engineering News-Record (ENR) 2019 acknowledged OHL as Contractor of the Year and featured it, on 47th position, of this magazine's ranking of the largest international contractors. OHL Desarrollos is subsidiary of OHL, founded in 2001, specialised in developing high end, singular and luxury tourism developments. OHL Desarrollos projects are noted for their distinctive architecture and unique locations, surrounded by nature. Quality in design, engineering and sustainability are essential elements of all the projects developed by this company. About Mohari Hospitality Mohari Hospitality, founded in 2017 by businessman and investor Mark Scheinberg, is a global investment company that engages in a broad range of real estate investment activities, with emphasis on luxury hospitality in prime urban and resort markets. Mohari's existing investments include Peninsula Papagayo, an 890 hectare (2,200 acre) sustainable master development, located in Costa Rica's Guanacaste province and anchored by a Four Seasons luxury resort; The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, a new ultra-luxury cruise line launching in 2020, and the 1 Hotel Toronto, currently under redevelopment as a luxury lifestyle hotel and the brand's first hotel in Canada. Mohari seeks to protect the cultural heritage and natural environments of all areas related to its projects and is committed to identifying and contributing to philanthropic projects in each location where it does business. About Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Founded in 1960, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is dedicated to perfecting the travel experience through continual innovation and the highest standards of hospitality. Currently operating 118 hotels and resorts, and 45 residential properties in major city centres and resort destinations in 48 countries, and with more than 50 projects under planning or development, Four Seasons consistently ranks among the world's best hotels and most prestigious brands in reader polls, traveller reviews and industry awards. For more information and reservations, visit fourseasons.com. For the latest news, visit press.fourseasons.com and follow @FourSeasonsPR on Twitter. Contact: Matthew Levison [email protected] 646-274-3631 SOURCE Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Thailands government lodged complaints with police Thursday against Facebook and Twitter alleging they failed to comply with court orders to block content judged illegal under Thai law. Minister of Digital Economy and Society Buddhipongse Punnakanta said at a news conference that it was the first time his ministry has taken such action against the social media companies under Thailands Computer Crime Act. It has prosecuted website and account owners and users in the past. The ministry filed the complaints at the police Technology Crime Suppression Division, where Buddhipongse said the companies had failed to meet 15-day deadlines issued by the courts to block hundreds of accounts. He said the targeted sites were banned because they contained illegal content related to online gambling, pornography, drugs or the monarchy, a highly sensitive subject. The ministry also filed complaints against parties using five accounts to disseminate material considered offensive during a large anti-government rally this past weekend. Buddhipongse said Facebook had blocked access in Thailand to 215 of the 661 accounts his ministry had requested. Twitter had blocked four of 69 accounts, he said. Police Col. Siriwat Deepor, deputy chief of the Technology Crime Suppression Division, said the two companies could face fines of not more than 200,000 baht ($6,325) and an additional daily fine of 5,000 baht ($158) for each day the accounts remain unblocked. Kate Hayes, a spokeswoman for Facebooks Asia-Pacific operations, said the company did not have any comment for now on the Thai action. A spokesman for Twitter could not be reached. In August, the Ministry of of Digital Economy and Society successfully pressured Facebook to block a popular page about the monarchy. We are protecting our sovereignty, which may not mean protecting physical borders in the traditional sense but rather ... protecting our cyber sovereignty, Buddhipongse said at the time. He declared that such attacks happen fast and are constantly damaging Thais. The Social Dilemma, released on Netflix last August, takes on the modern world's addiction over social media. The series features several tech experts & former employees of the world's most prominent social media, including Facebook, Twitter, & many others. What Is 'The Social Dilemma' About? The premise of Social Dilemma seems promising. The Jeff Orlowski-directed show aims to be the wake-up call on social networking's dangerous human impact. Several Silicon Valley insiders get together to explore the underlying danger behind your screen. Love it or loathe it, your real, psychological behaviors are continually being monitored. The system that was designed to connect us has somewhat become a control power. In their own words, "If you're not paying for a product, you're the product." If you're enjoying The Social Dilemma, feel free to check out these five other mind-boggling shows. Black Mirror Black Mirror is a dystopian anthology series about the consequences of new technologies in the post-industrial society. What makes Black Mirror so great is how relatable it could be, even though it's completely set in the near future. Just like The Social Dilemma, Black Mirror is satirical. The dark tone surrounding the series will keep you questioning whether these events will indeed happen in the real world. Where to watch? Netflix. Her Directed by one and the only Spike Jonze, 2013's Her brings a fresh perspective in a fuse of romantic, sci-fi comedy. It centers around Theodore, a lonely man in the busy world of Los Angeles. He later develops a romantic affection towards Samantha, an AI virtual assistant. Joaquin Phoenix, who's famous for his role as anti-villain Joker, plays Theodore. He shares the stage with Scarlett Johansson, who plays Samantha's voice. Where to watch? Amazon Prime. Unfriended Unlike most of the series on this list, Unfriended is more of a supernatural movie. It follows the story of six high-schoolers who cyberbully their friends until she takes her own life. Later, they're haunted by a 'stalker' who threatens their lives. What makes Unfriended so unique, like The Social Dilemma, is how it's wrapped in video-meeting footage. It's definitely not the first, but it still gives a bit of fresh air to the genre. A sequel, Unfriended: Dark Web, was released in 2018. Dark Web follows the story of a man who finds a laptop and discovers the dark truth behind its owners. Where to watch? Netflix, Amazon Prime Don't F*ck With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer. Have you ever wondered how a group of internet detectives solve a murder case? Don't F*ck With Cats is a real-life based documentary. It follows Luka Rocco Magnotta, a mentally unhinged international serial killer, who murdered an undergrad international student Jun Lin. Even worse, Magnotta mailed his victim's hands & feet to a political party headquarter & elementary school! The international manhunt of Luka Magnotta lasted for months until June 2012. Magnotta was captured in Berlin when he was reading news about him. That said, Don't F*ck With Cats is a must-watch for every Social Dilemma fan. Where to watch? Netflix. Mr. Robot Lastly, we have Mr. Robot. Starring Rami Malek, Mr. Robot is a tech-thriller at the highest peak. Elliot, a cybersecurity engineer at day & a hacker at night, finds himself in a dilemma after a mysterious group recruits him to destroy the same company he's paid to protect. Mr. Robot is directed by a real-life hacker, so the hacking scenes' accuracy in this series is unmatched. With plenty of relatable characters, Mr. Robot is not something to miss. Where to watch? USA Network. Read also: Football Manager Story: How Pedro Maciel Unleashed His FM Skills Into a Real-Life Managerial Job Football Manager 2021 Release Date & New Features Confirmed By Sega Dreamhaven, Michael Morhaime's Brand New Game Studio, Is Officially Launched Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. US, 25 Sep 2020 - In this modern world, the number of individuals accessing the internet is increasing day by day. Due to which marketing sector has been affected in a great way that is now individuals can build up their businesses on several online platforms. In other words, a businessman can now market their goods and services digitally. However, digital marketing has become very common these days, and have made a great place in our lives. More and more individuals are involving themselves in digital marketing because digital marketing is far easy than traditional marketing. As you know, in physical marketing an individual needs to print ads, keep communicating through phone, and need to perform many more activities, whereas, in digital marketing, everything can be performed online. 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In court documents filed this week, Lacey and Larkin demand that federal Judge Susan Brnovich recuse herself from their case, due to the comments made by her husband, who is also Arizonas attorney general, according to a report by The Arizona Republic. Though Lacey, 70, and Larkin, 69, were not charged with sex trafficking, federal authorities seized Backpage and shut down the site, in part due to allegations that sex trafficking activities took place on the site which was known as an online haven for sex workers to advertise their services. In the court documents, lawyers cite a 2018 pamphlet entitled Human Trafficking: Arizonas Not Buying It, published by the state attorney generals office, which specifically names Backpage as a forum for sex trafficking. In the pamphlet, AG Mark Brnovich the judges husband describes sex trafficking as more than just a crime, it is a profound tragedy for all of those who fall victim. The court filing also cites what it says are public comments by Mark Brnovich in which he has explicitly stated that Backpage.com facilitated illegal prostitution the issue at the core of this case, according to the document. He also has publicly claimed Backpage.com facilitated sex trafficking and called on Congress to change federal law so he himself would not be barred from prosecuting Backpage.com and/or defendants, the lawyers for Lacey and Larkin state. He has publicly aligned himself with others who have publicly made similar claims. Though the pamphlet was published in 2018, the court document says that the Lacey-Larkin legal team only recently became aware of its existence. They say that they are not asking the judge to recuse herself simply because she is married to the attorney general, but because he has inserted himself into the mix in this case. Susan Brnovich, 52, is a former Maricopa County Superior Court judge who was named to the federal bench by Donald Trump in 2018. She has been married to Mark Bronovich, 53, for 23 years. He was elected Arizonas attorney general in 2014, and re-elected in 2018. Lacey and Larkin are founders of Arizonas Phoenix New Times weekly newspaper, which they went on to expand into a nationwide chain of muckraking alternative weekly papers. As AVN has reported, they claim that the federal prosecution is retaliation against them for their journalistic activities with The New Times. Lacey has accused the family of late Arizona Senator John McCain of trying to even a score, because their newspaper exposed McCains alleged involvement with the savings-and-loan scandal of the 1980s. Photos by Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, Sacramento County Sheriff's Office The ongoing nationwide voter register exhibition continues to record low turnout in the Abuakwa North Constituency. When the Ghana News Agency visited some polling centres in the constituency on Thursday, the seventh day of the exercise, it observed that the turnout was low and exhibition officers were having a field day. However, the GNA observed that all the centres visited were observing the COVID-19 protocols with veronica buckets provided for washing hands and sanitizers, whiles all the officers were wearing face masks and observing the social distancing protocol. At the Kunkurantumi Town Council Hall polling station, about 51 out of the 557 voters had come to check their names in the register, at Town Council hall polling station 2, 41 voters out of 398 had checked their names in the register, Dobo polling 2 polling station also had 59 out of 402 had checked their names. The other exhibition centres including Christech SRC block, Ayigbe town, Ati New Tafo 2, CMB Shed, Feden Primary School polling centres all at New Tafo had registered low numbers, as at the seventh day of the exercise. None of the centres had recorded any objection, deleting of unqualified or minors from the register by any of the political parties at the time of the visit. 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 Kentucky State Rep. Attica Scott, the states only Black woman legislator, wrote whats known as Breonnas Law. A Kentucky state representative was among two dozen people arrested while protesting in Louisville on Thursday night. Rep. Attica Scott is the author of legislation known as Breonnas Law, which would ensure that officers executing search warrants in the state would have to physically knock and verbally announce themselves. Scott is Kentuckys only Black female legislator. Kentucky State Rep. Attica Scott, the author of legislation known as Breonnas Law, was among two dozen people arrested while protesting in Louisville. She and her daughter, Ashanti, were both charged with first-degree rioting, a Class D felony, as well as failure to disperse and unlawful assembly. WDRB in Louisville is reporting that Louisville Metropolitan Police are accusing Scott of being part of a group that caused damage at multiple locations. According to LMPD Sgt. Lamont Washington, marchers broke windows at a local steakhouse and the Louisville Free Public Library. A window was broken out at the library, and a small fire was started inside. Read More: Truck runs into Breonna Taylor protest in L.A.; 1 person injured The two dozen protesters were arrested near the Louisville Free Public Library. Officials with the LFPLs union, AFSCME Local 3425, posted a statement on Facebook defending Scott and others: Representative Scott has consistently been a vocal supporter of libraries and library workers and has been an ally specifically to our union through many battles. We have seen no proof that the fire thrown into the library has done any major damage, nor that Representative Scott had anything to do with it, the statement continued, and find these accusations inconsistent with her character and the constant support we have received from her. Read More: Breonna Taylors boyfriend devastated he was blamed for her murder by Kentucky AG: lawyer The union wrote that it continues to stand in support with protesters demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, and we send all our love to Representative Attica Scott and the protesters arrested with her. Story continues Activist Shameka Parrish-Wright was also arrested on the same charges. Parrish-Wright is the operations manager of The Bail Project Louisville, which works to combat mass incarceration by paying bail for people in need. Ted Shouse, Parrish-Wrights attorney, said neither she nor Scott had anything to do with damaging the citys main library. Have you subscribed to theGrios Dear Culture podcast? Download our newest episodes now! The post Rep. Scott among 24 protesters arrested in Louisville appeared first on TheGrio. On Thursday, Heights and Leyendecker Elementary Schools were named 2020 National Blue Ribbon award recipients during the 38th year of the program, and they follow four other LISD schools awarded in 2019. The recognition is given to schools that perform highly amongst the numerous numbers of schools across the state and/or help close the achievement gaps between the schools student groups and overall population. Both Leyendecker and Heights were nominated by the Texas Education Agency and are among 367 schools nationwide that were honored. Heights Elementary was presented the Blue Ribbon for the Exemplary High Performing Category and Leyendecekr Elementary the Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools Category. Students and teachers at Heights and Leyendecker are known for their focus and commitment to educational excellence, LISD Superintendent Dr. Sylvia Rios said. Both schools are worthy of the Blue Ribbon for creating a safe and welcoming environment where children can master rigorous and engaging content. At Heights, 524 students and 90 staff members are led by Principal Adriana Padilla. She said that she credits the staff and parents of the students for striving to provide every student with the opportunity to reach their potential and become a productive citizen that is capable of accomplishing any endeavor. LISD states that Principal Maria Oviedo serves 427 students and 72 staff members at Leyendecker. Our mission is always to prepare, empower and inspire students to become engaged in their own learning, their environment and the world in which they live, Oviedo said. At Leyendecker Elementary, we all have one common goal and that is to provide the best learning for our children. Both schools join the list of LISD schools that have been named Blue Ribbon schools. In 2017, Hector J. Garcia Early College High School earned the title as the only high school in Webb County to win the award at the time. J.A. Kawas Elementary followed in 2018, and Dovalina, J.C. Martin, Ryan and Zachry elementary were all titled in 2019 making LISD the only school district in Texas with four Blue Ribbon Schools that year, LISD stated. The LISD Board of Trustees is very proud of your achievements, LISD Board President Hector Noyola said. The students, teachers, administration and parents of Heights and Leyendecker Elementary School are to be commended for their commitment to a world-class education. In every way, Heights and Leyendecker are considered exemplary successes. UISDs Judith Zaffirini Elementary School was also named a Blue Ribbon school for the closing the gap achievement in 2019. Each school is eligible for nomination after five years. Schools will then restart the process for nomination and work to maintain their Blue Ribbon status. Christian Ocampo may be reached at cocampo@lmtonline.com According to Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India (TRAI) data, the number of telephone subscribers in India decreased from 1,163.67 million at the end of May-20 to 1,160.52 million at the end of June-20, thereby showing a monthly decline rate of 0.27%. Urban telephone subscription decreased from 637.85 million at the end of May-20 to 636.83 million at the end of June-20 and the rural subscription also decreased from 525.82 million to 523.69 million during the same period. The overall Tele-density in India decreased from 86.15 at the end of May-20 to 85.85 at the end of June 20. Total wireless subscribers (2G, 3G & 4G) decreased from 1,143.91 million at the end of May-20 to 1,140.71 million at the end of June-20, thereby registering a monthly decline rate of 0.28%. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russian authorities seized Alexei Navalny's Moscow apartment while the opposition leader was still in a coma, his spokeswoman has said. Mr Navalny, the most prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was discharged this week from a Berlin hospital where he was treated for what German authorities determined was nerve agent poisoning. The 44-year-old collapsed on a domestic flight in Russia on August 20 and spent nearly three weeks in a coma. Russian bailiffs announced seizing his share in a Moscow apartment a week after he fell ill on August 27, spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said in a video statement. "It means the apartment can't be sold, gifted, or mortgaged. That's when Alexei's bank accounts were frozen, too," Mr Navalny's spokeswoman added. According to Ms Yarmysh, the seizure was connected to a court ruling in favour of a school catering company reportedly linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a tycoon with ties to Russia's president that earned him the nickname "Putin's chef". Prigozhin was among a dozen Russians indicted in 2018 by a US grand jury in the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, alleging he funded internet trolls involved in interfering with the US presidential election in 2016. Last year, a Moscow court ordered Mr Navalny and his associates to pay 88 million rubles (850,000) in damages to a company reportedly linked to Prigozhin after they accused the company and him of allegedly supplying contaminated food to Moscow kindergartens and sparking an outbreak of dysentery among dozens of children. Prigozhin's spokesman denied he had anything to do with the company. Recommended Alexei Navalny pictured walking down stairs during recovery from novichok poisoning Days after Mr Navalny fell into a coma, Prigozhin announced he had bought the debt from the company, promising to "ruin" the politician if he survived. Mr Navalny has remained in Berlin to undergo rehabilitation after being released from hospital, but his allies said he planned to return to Russia. Mr Navalny's team blamed the Kremlin for the poisoning, claims which officials have denied. Authorities bristled at demands to launch a criminal investigation, blaming Germany for not sharing findings and medical data with Russian law enforcement. Germany has noted that Russian doctors have their own samples from Mr Navalny since he was in their care for 48 hours before being transferred to Berlin for treatment. - Kwame Sefa Kayi has spoken amid rumours that he is leaving Peace FM - According to him, he does not need to respond to every rumour or everything that is thrown at him - The rumours started after the station's management wrote to the NDC to return to Sefa Kayi's Kokrokoo show after a long absence following a misunderstanding Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Ghana Kwame Sefa Kayi, the host of Peace FM's Kokrokoo morning show, has spoken amid reports that he is resigning from the station. Reports surfaced on Thursday, September 24, 2020, that Sefa Kayi who has hosted the show for over 20 years was resigning. The reports had claimed that Chairman General, as Sefa Kayi is popularly known, was displeased by the decision of the station's management to thrash out issues with Ghana's biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Photo source: Instagram/Peace FM Source: Original READ ALSO: McBrown features in American movie Coming To Africa; Trailer drops (video) The NDC's representatives have not been coming to Kokrokoo for some time now after the party's communication officer, Sammy Gyamfi, had issues with Sefa Kayi's style. But since the 2020 elections are fast approaching and Peace FM wants their coverage to be balanced, the station's management decided to settle its difference with the NDC and get them on board. To this end, Fadda Dickson, the MD of Despite Media, owners of the station, wrote a letter to the party to let sleeping dogs lie and return to the show. The management of Despite Media acknowledges responsibility for whatever misunderstanding that has arisen between us and the NDC in recent times. We, therefore, urge the NDC to let sleeping dogs lie and allow harmony to reign and return to the Kokrokoo show. As agents and stakeholders of development, we may agree to disagree, all for the sake of Ghana, our motherland, the letter sighted by YEN.com.gh partly read. READ ALSO: Photos of Prophet Kofi Oduro's beautiful wife pop up as they celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary After the letter came public, reports emerged that Sefa Kayi feels betrayed by the management's decision and was about tendering in his resignation letter. But speaking appearing on his show on Friday, Sefa Kayi poured cold water on those rumours by disregarding them and refusing to glorify them with a response. When you recognise you are working in a public space you dont have to react to everything thrown at you," he said. While stating clearer that he was not willing to comment on the matter, Sefa Kayi indicated that he knows that as a person who works in a public space, he was never going to get a hundred per cent approval rating and was thus not bothered about such things. READ ALSO: Actress Kalsoume Sinare puts her huge mansion on display in new photo; fans react Watch the video of Sefa Kayi speaking on his show on Friday morning: Sefa Kayi is an award-winning broadcaster who has worked on radio and other media for 25 years of his 50-year-old life. 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 CerconeBrown has been named agency of record for Purecane, an all-natural sweetener thats derived from sugarcane grown sustainably in Brazil. The agency will support Purceane on all media initiatives and will help with digital marketing, including social strategy and management across all social channels and thought leadership campaigns on LinkedIn. The company, which touts its products as GMO, vegan, keto-friendly, gluten-free, halal and kosher, is launching several brands this fall, including Purecane Baking Sweetener, Purecane Packets and Purecane Spoonable Family Canister. King + Company has been retained as agency of record by entrepreneurial health and lifestyle brands XED Beverages, Inc. and BrainCool AB. The agency will develop and execute comprehensive public relations campaigns on behalf of each client. It will work with XED Beverages on the launch of SESH, a new product that the company says sits at the intersection of the two fastest-growing segments of the alcohol industry: ready-to-drink cocktails and flavored malt beverage hard seltzers. For Swedish tech company BrainCool AB, King + Company will coordinate the European launch of its Cooral System for the prevention of Oral Mucositis in cancer patients, and will manage strategic public relations initiatives for other devices in oncology, emergency medicine and cardiology. Rainier Communications has been appointed agency of record for OnwardMobility, which has licensed the BlackBerry brand to build secure 5G smartphones. The agency launched OnwardMobility from stealth mode on Aug. 19. Rainier was initially selected to announce the licensing partnerships that allow the company to bring the BlackBerry-branded smartphones to market early next year. In the days leading to and following the launch announcement, Rainier set up 17 interviews, secured nearly 2,000 unique articles, social media posts including influencer posts, and other coverage of the news. From the onset of our relationship with Rainier, we knew they were invested in our success, and they quickly became integral, strategic members of our team, said OnwardMobility CEO Peter Franklin. Two Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists were killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. Two LeT terrorists have been killed. Incriminating material, including arms and ammunition, has been recovered. Search is going on. More details are awaited, Kashmir Zone Police said. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Anantnag districts Sirhama area after receiving a tip-off about the presence of terrorists there. The search operation turned into an encounter after the militants fired upon the forces, who retaliated, police said. A tight cordon was maintained throughout the night to stop the militants from escaping, they added. Glenn Closes cheeks are bruised, her eyes half-closed; a clear oxygen tube snakes out of her nostrils under a mop of disheveled gray hair. The lamp on her night stand casts a long shadow across her face as she lies in bed at her home in Montana, too weak to move. In August, the Tony Award-winning actress served as her own wig master, makeup artist and camera operator (with the help of her niece Seonaid Campbell, a filmmaker) as she transformed into Roy Cohn, the closeted gay lawyer, to shoot a scene from Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. A starry cast that also includes Laura Linney, Patti LuPone, S. Epatha Merkerson and Jeremy O. Harris will present a free hourlong virtual benefit performance of seven scenes from Angels in America, Tony Kushners two-part 1993 play about the AIDS epidemic, on Oct. 8. The show, which can be streamed live at 8:30 p.m. on the Broadway.com YouTube channel, will be a benefit for the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) Fund to Fight Covid-19. Gardai have arrested six people and seized 135,000 in cash during a series of raids across two counties targeting a Vietnamese crime gang. A number of Polish nationals are also in custody following the major operation in which 600,000 worth of cannabis was found stuffed into a suitcase. The arrests were part of an ongoing operation by gardai in Pearse Street targeting drug dealing in the city centre. Yesterday afternoon gardai observed a drugs handover before later intercepting a car in Rathnew, Co Wicklow, at around 3pm. After a search of the car gardai recovered 600,000 worth of cannabis stuffed into a suitcase. A 42-year-old Polish man was detained at the scene and is currently being held at Pearse Street Garda Station under drug trafficking legislation. A short time later a van was intercepted on the Walkinstown Road in Dublin which led to 85,000 worth of cash being recovered. Gardai arrested the 46-year-old Polish driver of the van and he is currently being questioned under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act. A third follow-up search was carried out of a property in the Kilmainham area which led to a small quantity of cannabis and 45,000 in cash being seized. A woman and three men, who are understood to be Vietnamese nationals and were in the apartment at the time, were arrested. They were brought to Pearse Street and Kevin Street garda stations in the capital. Sources said it is being investigated if the drugs are linked to a Vietnamese crime gang operating growhouses around Dublin. Those arrested are not known to gardai and are suspected of being used as gillies by the crime gang. A Garda spokesman said investigations in relation to the incident are ongoing. The Houston Chronicles Live Updates blog documents the latest events in the coronavirus outbreak in the Houston area, the state of Texas and across the U.S. with a focus on health and economic impacts. The Houston Chronicles ongoing coverage is available to subscribers. Subscribe now for full access and to support our work. Total coronavirus cases: 748,508 cases in Texas, including 15,490 deaths. 193,589 in the Houston region, including 3,385 deaths. More than 6.9 million in the U.S., including 202,827 deaths. Click here to see a U.S. map with state-by-state death tolls and the latest coronavirus case counts. More than 32.2 million in the world, with over 983,720 deaths. More than 22.2 million people have recovered. You can view the worldwide totals here. Resources on COVID-19 and Texas' reopening: Use our interactive page to track the spread of cases through Harris County and the rest of Texas. For a detailed look at our state, check out the Chronicle's Texas Coronavirus Map. To get regular updates on our coverage, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter. Latest updates from today: 7:30 p.m. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Texas increased by 6,215 cases Friday, bringing the statewide total to 754,723, according to a Chronicle analysis. Another 110 deaths were confirmed in the state, bringing the total to 15,600. The number of new cases confirmed Friday was higher than 75 percent of all other days of the pandemic. New deaths were higher than 74 percent of all other days of the pandemic. The positive test rate is now at 6.57 percent. In the Houston region,725 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 194,722. There have been 3,399 deaths in the Houston region, up 14 from Thursday. Statewide, there were 3,221 patients hospitalized for lab-confirmed COVID-19 on Firday. There are , 12,046 hospital beds and 1,279 ICU beds available. There are 7,650 ventilators available. -Reporter Matt Dempsey 4:44 p.m. This weekend, the Chronicle will publish its annual Houston Gives section, with information about local non-profits in need of help. And make no mistake, Houston's philanthropic scene has felt the crush of COVID-19. Lisa Gray dives into how 2020 is one of a kind in terms of need. 4:00 p.m. White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx visited Texas A&M Universitys campus Tuesday and praised its COVID-19 positivity rate, saying its one of the lowest shes seen, but is it really low? reports Houston Chronicle's Brittany Britto. The College Station flagship, which has more than 64,000 students and 10,160 faculty, reported that its weekly positivity rate for its random testing program, which includes student test results collected at special testing sites in the area, was 1.6 percent for the week ending on Sept. 12, according to A&Ms online dashboard. Texas A&Ms overall positivity rate, however which includes results of students, faculty and staff was around 10 percent. 1:20 p.m. Readers can now search for coronavirus cases in Texas school districts here. State school districts are now required by the Texas Education Agency to report cases of COVID-positive individuals who have spent time on campuses. Districts are also required to report positive cases to their local health department, teachers, staff, students and families, reports Houston Chronicle's Jacob Carpenter and Rebecca Hennes. 11:45 a.m The coronavirus pandemic caused a number of Houston nonprofits to cancel their in-person fundraising events, though that hasnt stopped the citys most creative charities from raising the big bucks for locals in need, reports Houston Chronicle's Amber Elliot. 11:00 a.m. Coronavirus expert Dr. Peter Hotez is worried Houston is heading toward a 'third peak' this fall, reports Houston Chronicle's Lisa Gray. "Im concerned because were seeing an uptick in the numbers again. After that big summer surge in July and into August, the numbers were starting to go down as we moved into September. Wed hit a low of around 30,000 new cases nationally. Now were over 40,000," said Hotez. 10:30 a.m. Texas public school districts are reporting sporadic cases of students and staff members coming onto campuses while infected with COVID-19, but no major outbreaks in the first few weeks of in-person classes, state data released Thursday shows, reports Houston Chronicle's Jacob Carpenter. The states 1,200-plus school districts, most of which have resumed face-to-face instruction, have tallied about 6,730 cases of COVID-positive individuals spending time on campuses so far in 2020-21, according to data submitted by districts last week. The cases represent a fraction of the estimated 1.9 million students and employees who have visited campuses this school year. 10:00 a.m. A federal judge in California ruled late Thursday that the Trump administration cannot retract its pandemic-era deadline to complete the 2020 census, giving the states until Oct. 31 to complete the once-a-decade population count, reports Houston Chronicle's Gabrielle Banks. Lawyers have indicated the government plans to appeal the ruling, which remains in effect unless a higher court intervenes. 9:25 a.m. The Houston Police Department has postponed National Night Out as a result of covid-19, according to a tweet posted by the department on Wednesday. "The current health crisis would create a potential health risk at a time when state & local leaders are working to contain the spread of the virus in our community," the department posted. 9:00 a.m. Houston appears to have survived the Labor Day weekend without a COVID-19 spike, according to the most recent data, a hopeful sign as the area faces looming challenges posed by children returning to school, more reopening of the economy and cooling temperatures, reports Houston Chronicle's Todd Ackerman. More than 2 weeks after the weekend concluded, the period in which new cases and hospitalizations typically appear, the data shows a continuing slow decline in the key metrics that public health officials monitor case counts, hospital admissions, positive test rates, spread of the disease. Now Playing: A new Houston Chronicle investigation reveals COVID-19 spread faster and farther than the public was told. Top officials were warned years ago we were unprepared for a pandemic. For months, the death toll was distorted. In the end, COVID-19 exposed a cascade of failures that let the virus spread unchecked, killing thousands of Texans. Video: Laura Duclos 8:40 a.m. The number of COVID cases in Texas went from 744,496 to 748,508 Thursday, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of state data. Thats an increase of 4,012 cases (0.54% increase). Texas added 131 newly reported deaths from Wednesday's total, for a total of 15,490 statewide (0.9% increase). For the 198 days weve been doing these counts, Thursday was roughly in the 56th percentile for cases and in the 77th percentile for deaths. This means the new cases were higher than 56 percent of all other days in the pandemic. New deaths were higher than 77 percent of all other days in the pandemic. The state's rolling average for new cases is now at 6610.4. The Houston region count is 193,589, up 725 from Wednesday (0.38% increase). Harris County added 664 new cases, and is now at 139,681 cases total. There have been 3,385 deaths in the Houston region, up 19 from Wednesday. The positive test rate is now at 6.35%. The rolling average of viral tests is now at 73,665. Statewide, there were 3,204 patients hospitalized for lab-confirmed COVID-19. There are 58,188 total staffed hospital beds, 12,052 beds available and 1,271 ICU beds available. There are 7,484 ventilators available. - Stephanie Lamm Is there anything Chuck Schumer wouldnt try to politicize? If so, its not a simple, bipartisan tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Schumer has tried to smuggle his position on filling Ginsburgs spot on the Supreme Court into the tribute to Ginsburg proposed by Republicans. Schumers position might also have been Ginsburgs. Her granddaughter claims that the late Justice expressed a fervent wish that the Supreme Court vacancy not be filled until a new president is installed. Ted Cruz balked at Schumers gambit and blocked his amended resolution. Under the Constitution, Cruz noted, Supreme Court Justices dont get to dictate when and how their successors will be selected. So Ginsburgs wish, whatever it might have been, has no place in a bipartisan Senate resolution. Schumer responded with this non sequitur: All the kind words and lamentations about Justice Ginsburg from the Republican majority about Justice Ginsburg will be totally empty if those Republicans ignore her dying wish and instead move to replace her with someone who will tear down everything she built. Its a good thing Ginsburgs dying wish wasnt that we replace our Constitution with Nigerias. Ginsburg was many things. One of them was a relentless pro-Democrat partisan like Schumer but smarter. Unlike Schumer, Ginsburg was more than just a relentless pro-Democrat partisan. She was a great lawyer, an original thinker, and a pioneering feminist. And she served for decades on a body thats far more respected than the U.S. Senate is. Its these accomplishments that deserve to be honored. The Senate could easily honor Ginsburg without referring to her alleged dying wish. Its tribute to Justice Scalia might serve as a model. In that resolution, the Senate offered its heartfelt sympathy for Scalias family and friends and commended his tenure as a Supreme Court justice. It also acknowledged Scalia as a talented attorney, a learned law professor, a dedicated public servant, a brilliant jurist, and one of the great justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Something along the same lines should have sufficed for Ginsburg. But not with Chuck Schumer around. Members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union on Friday blocked roads in while staging protests near the Delhi border against the recently passed farm Bills. "The government is doing whatever it wants without consulting They have made a joke out of us. The country is riding on the back of farmers, we will not tolerate this. This protest will continue until the government makes a rule for mandatory MSP (minimum support price)," a protesting farmer told ANI. "We are going to march to Delhi and ask the prime minister if he made these laws after consulting or after consulting big corporations," he added. Additional police forces were deployed in the area to control the situation. According to Ranvijay, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Noida, traffic has also been diverted from the area for the convenience of the travellers. According to the Centre, these Bills will help small and marginal farms by allowing them to sell produce outside mandis and sign agreements with large agri-business firms and will do away with stock-holding limits on key commodities. The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 were passed by Parliament recently by voice vote despite objection from opposition parties. (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 was, in no uncertain terms, the embodiment of the dismissive phrase style over substance. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/9/2020 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. It was, in no uncertain terms, the embodiment of the dismissive phrase "style over substance." Speeches from the throne are, as a matter of parliamentary custom, long on esoteric ideological imaginings and short on policy detail and numerical justification. But Wednesdays presentation by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as presented by Governor General Julie Payette in the Senate chamber was of a constitution so gossamery that it would make a wisp of cotton candy seem, by comparison, like a rock-hard jawbreaker. And to reinforce the airy nature of his governments throne-speech aspirations, Mr. Trudeau commandeered the nations airwaves early Wednesday evening to deliver an address that did little more than restate the non-specifics of the earlier oratory. When one considers that the preparation of this throne speech, and the bold plan for Canadas future it was going to be used to unveil, were the justification offered by Mr. Trudeau when he prorogued Parliament in July, one mightnt be surprised if most Canadians went to bed Wednesday night feeling much more betrayed than enlightened. The throne speech was certainly a text-intensive exercise, requiring nearly an hour of out-loud reading by Ms. Payette. And it covered a multitude of subject areas, from generalities related to the requisite pandemic urgencies to such long-since-promised Liberal priorities as a national pharmacare plan, the shift to a green economy, promoting gender equity and addressing systemic racism. But where Mr. Trudeau had an opportunity both in the throne speech and in his rather toplofty subsequent television address to offer Canadians a clearer idea of how his government will help them navigate the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, he fell woefully short. Where pandemic-related reassurances were required, recitations of familiar Liberal talking points were offered. That they were delivered in the prime ministers now-too-familiar sensitive-guy sombre tones was not enough to make the flimsy message of any comfort. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. What remains to be seen is whether the speech will trigger a non-confidence vote that sets Canadians on the path to a pandemic election. Reaction from opposition parties was as swift as it was predictable. The Conservatives represented by deputy leader Candice Bergen of Manitoba, with newly minted leader Erin OToole absent from the chamber owing to a COVID-19 diagnosis immediately rejected the throne speech because, well, thats what Canadas two governing parties do during their times in opposition. ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS The betting is that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be able to finesse his way to an agreement that allows for the continuation of government business. The Bloc Quebecois, in its response, delivered what amounts to a ransom note, demanding a $28-billion increase in federal health-care transfers to provinces within one week under threat of a non-confidence vote. Which leaves, as it inevitably was going to, the New Democrats in the position of deciding whether they will prop up Mr. Trudeaus minority government by supporting the throne speech. That support, it seems, will depend on two deliverables: the introduction of a paid sick leave plan for Canadians during the pandemic already promised by the Liberals and an assurance that the looming end of the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit and its replacement with an enhanced employment-insurance plan wont leave Canadians with less supports in a time of greater need. The betting here is that Mr. Trudeau will be able to finesse his way to an agreement that allows for continuation of government business, but the path ahead will be pocked with other potential non-confidence pitfalls. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was something less than effusive, after all, when he described Wednesdays throne speech as "talk about nice things" that amounts to not much more than "words on paper." Four policemen, including two sub-inspectors (SIs), of the Jahangirpuri police station were suspended for allegedly stealing and selling nearly 159 kilograms of marijuana that they had recovered from a local drug peddler around a fortnight ago, senior police officers said Friday. The suspended policemen, along with other personnel, had seized nearly 160 kilograms of marijuana from a room in Jahangirpuri B-block on September 11. Anil, the alleged drug peddler (identified by his first name), had stored the narcotic substance in the room after procuring it from Odisha, a police officer said, requesting anonymity. The seized marijuana was brought to the local police post (chowki). The policemen in question allegedly took Rs1.5 lakh in bribe from Anils family to settle the matter. Instead of documenting of the entire recovery, the policemen noted they had seized only 920 grams of the contraband and he was let off from the chowki itself, the officer said. Also Read: Delhi man tries to slit throat after bludgeoning wife to death; rescued According to the officer, the policemen in question allegedly sold the remaining 159 kilograms of the seized marijuana in the gray market and distributed the money among themselves. When deputy commissioner of police (north-west) Vijayanta Arya learnt about it, she ordered an enquiry into the matter. During the enquiry, the officer said, the investigating team caught Anil, who revealed everything. Further, all the police personnel involved in the raid were questioned, the officer said. The four policemen were suspected after the enquiry, said DCP Arya. Officials said that the probe is continuing to ascertain the source through which the suspended policemen sold the seized marijuana. For nearly two months, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has on a weekly basis released data showing the risk of coronavirus transmission in every community across the state. Health officials classify each community according to a three-tier system: higher risk (red), moderate risk (yellow), or lower risk (green), which are determined based on the average daily cases per 100,000 residents. So what should you do if community is in or is approaching high risk territory, meaning its at or above an average of eight new cases per 100,000 residents every day? Asked about the level of alarm associated with red communities, Douglas T. Golenbock, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology at UMass Medical School, said cities or towns at or around the floor of the high risk threshold dont necessarily need to shut everything down again only to ensure theyre following the health guidelines with more caution, and keeping watch over the rate of disease in their area. People who live in the red communities should be extra cautious about masking and social distancing, Golenbock said. If you live in a high risk area and need to go shopping, Golenbock suggests spending as little time in indoor environments as possible, particularly grocery stores. Have your grocery list, go pick out what you need and get out of there, he says. Health officials said the three-tiered classification system is weighed based on statewide averages assessments by pandemic experts who helped determine ranges for lower risk. For our community-level assessments, we monitor cases per 100,000 residents, which is a widely used metric by public health experts, Tory Mazzola, a spokesperson for the states COVID Command Center, said in a statement. Golenbock says how the state defines the green, yellow and red thresholds 3, 5 and 8 cases per 100,000, respectively could be somewhat arbitrary, but that measuring the rate of illness using a comparable population size helps health experts keep track of the presence of the virus in communities. He says health experts also monitor COVID-19 in terms of Rt, which is a measure of the average number of people who become infected by an infectious person. If the Rt is higher than one, the virus spreads more quickly. At the height of the crisis in Massachusetts, coronavirus had an Rt of as high as 2.7, meaning an infectious person on average transmitted the virus to 2.7 people. As of late September, the Rt has fallen to about 1.11, according to Rt.live. Golenbock says a red designation may not necessarily indicate that there is community spread of COVID in some communities. Towns will small populations may jump into high risk territory with a small number of new cases that could be associated with an isolated cluster, rather than a full-fledged outbreak. In Boston, which is bordering on high risk, officials say hospitalizations have risen in recent days, and that the rate of positive tests has remained elevated at around 2.7% a sign that the rate of infection is on the rise. We are monitoring the situation extremely closely, Boston Mayor Walsh said on Wednesday, adding that city officials are working to bring testing and resources to neighborhoods most impacted by the disease. Officials began sharing the community-level data as part of a state-led initiative to stem the spread of COVID-19. Those stats the rate of infection per 100,000 residents, as well the positive test rate, positive test results by age group and contact tracing analysis help to inform the states response to communities harder hit by the virus. These data points help in determining the best way to deploy resources, Mazzola said. Related Content: The Climate Action Bill will raise substantial amounts of funding from carbon taxes over the next decade, the Taoiseach has told the public. All fuel bills will go up to reflect their assorted carbon costs, including electricity bills. The Government has already flagged that carbon tax will increase again in the Budget next month. The amount yielded in the future will be potentially up to 9.5 billion over a ten-year period, Micheal Martin said of the legislation, which was promised within 100 days of the three-party coalition being formed. The indications are thus that the overall cost to industry and the individual consumer will be 1 billion annually, with taxes added to all power sources from fossil fuels, including gas, petrol, diesel and peat. Some 3 billion of the vast amounts raised will be re-routed to prevent fuel poverty and ensure a just transition, Mr Martin said, adding that the Bill was now at an advanced level of drafting. It will involve a range of tough new taxes. But the offsets will involve the fuel allowance rate and substantial funding for the national retrofit plan, the Taoiseach said. Funding will also be provided for a rural environment protection scheme, designed to incentivise farmers to embrace biodiversity. It would mean investing in farming practice that would be good for the climate while protecting habitats in the countryside, Mr Martin said. Labour Party leader Alan Kelly said the Bill would miss the 100-day target if it is not brought forward next week, with 88 days elapsed yesterday. He noted that Ministers speaking on his partys sick leave Bill had warned that rushed legislation was bad legislation. It seems that the climate action Bill will be a fairly last-minute one. Mr Martin said the three parties were genuinely committed to the environment and to getting something done on it. Last year, the increase in the carbon tax raised 90 million which was used to protect the vulnerable, he said. It was also used for the just transition and investing in the low-carbon transition. Also last year, 20 million was spent on the fuel allowance and 13 million on energy poverty efficiency upgrades. Mr Martin pledged that it would be published within 100 days, give or take a day or two. The legislation will see the adoption of five-year carbon budgets, setting maximum emissions by sectoral legal requirement. In Government-formation talks with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael during the summer the Greens initially demanded a 7 per cent cut in annual emissions. They eventually accepted that the Climate Action Bill would achieve the same deep cuts, without being tied to annual targets that could be missed in particular years. Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Sinn Fein, pointed out that Electric Ireland price hikes were looming early next month. She said she had sought explanations for the basis of the increase last month, and had yet to receive satisfactory explanations. Mr Martin said the carbon revenues would be ringfenced so the taxpayer is clear that the money raised on a carbon tax will be used with a view to achieving our climate change targets. This would mean protecting those on low incomes and protecting social protection payments through the fuel allowance. The retrofitting of local authority housing would give long-term savings to those in such accommodation, he added. The Bill will also establish a Climate Action Council on an independent statutory footing, with scientific experience and expertise in its membership. WASHINGTON - Attorney General William Barr personally told President Donald Trump this week about an investigation into nine discarded mail ballots in northeastern Pennsylvania that the president later touted as evidence of widespread election fraud, according to a person familiar with the conversation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal administration discussions. The conversation came as Trump has fixated on the subject of voter fraud with aides, administration officials said, asking for information on the topic and updates from his campaign advisers and legal team about voting lawsuits. He has repeatedly lambasted voting by mail as susceptible to widespread fraud, despite evidence to the contrary. The Justice Department made a public announcement about the Pennsylvania case Thursday after the president discussed it in a radio interview. The statement drew sharp criticism from voting-law experts, who questioned the timing and the details released, such as the fact that most of the ballots were cast for Trump. Barr himself has echoed the president's attacks on mail voting and leveled unsubstantiated assertions about the risks of mail ballots. He has suggested without evidence that foreign governments could easily inject counterfeit ballots into the system or that postal workers delivering ballots are susceptible to bribery. Since the Watergate era, attorneys general have notified presidents about criminal cases of national importance, while trying to avoid discussions that would involve the administration in specific investigations, particularly those involving political figures. ABC first reported Barr's conversation with Trump about the Pennsylvania case. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment. A senior White House official said Trump was not "briefed" on the Pennsylvania case, but did not respond to a request for comment on whether the subject came up in a discussion with Barr. At issue are nine ballots that officials said were found in an election office trash can on Sept. 16 in Luzerne County, Pa., in the northeastern corner of the state. Luzerne County Manager David Pedri said in an interview Friday that the ballots were discarded by an independent contractor who has since been fired. All nine were military ballots mailed in from overseas, he said. Pedri said the county elections director discovered the ballots in an office trash can and "immediately began an internal inquiry." Pedri also said he and other local officials were not aware that seven of the nine ballots had been cast for Trump until the statement Thursday by the U.S. attorney's office released that information. Trump's touting of the case and his request that aides inform him of potential irregularities alarmed election lawyers and voting-rights advocates, who emphasized that small mistakes happen every election year and do not prove the existence of widespread fraud. "There's a big difference between what happened in Luzerne County and systemic fraud that says you can't trust the result of the election," said Ben Ginsberg, a longtime election lawyer for Republicans. Ginsberg said the Luzerne irregularities "absolutely" warrant investigation, but he also said officials need to distinguish between willful fraud and a simple mistake. Trump first made an allusion to the Pennsylvania investigation Thursday in an appearance on Fox News Radio's "The Brian Kilmeade Show" when asked about his refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election. "I think we have a long way before we get there," the president responded. "These ballots are a horror show. They found six ballots in an office yesterday in a garbage can. They were Trump ballots - eight ballots in an office yesterday in - but in a certain state and they were - they had Trump written on it, and they were thrown in a garbage can." White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany then told reporters that there would be an announcement about the case. "I can confirm for you that Trump ballots, ballots for the president, were found in Pennsylvania and I believe you should be getting more information on that shortly," she said. David Freed, the U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, subsequently released a statement saying his office was investigating the discarded ballots, initially saying that all nine had been cast for Trump. He later clarified that seven of the ballots had been cast for the president and two were found sealed. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney declined to comment beyond Freed's written statement or explain why he revealed for whom the votes had been cast. Trump's campaign pounced on the announcement. "Democrats are trying to steal the election," one campaign spokesman wrote in a tweet, which went viral before he later deleted it. The president also cited the case again in comments to reporters at the White House, saying, "We want to make sure that the election is honest, and I'm not sure that it can be." Two White House officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions said the White House decided to announce the investigation after Trump mentioned on the air and reporters began making inquiries. Clifford Levine, a Democratic election lawyer from Pittsburgh, noted that Luzerne County voted for Trump by a 20-point margin in 2016, and county government is controlled by Republicans. "It is the position of the Democratic Party that every legitimate vote should count, and we would not be satisfied if in fact a couple of votes were somehow inadvertently set aside. That would be inappropriate," he said. "But there is no evidence of fraud or conspiracy." In a statement, Luzerne County said the contractor began work at the elections bureau on Sept. 14 and was assigned to sort mail. The discarded ballots were discovered two days later by the elections bureau director and the contractor was removed, the county said. "While the actions of this individual has cast a concern, the above statement shows that the system of checks and balances set forth in Pennsylvania elections works," the statement said. "An error was made, a public servant discovered it and reported it to law enforcement." Pedri, the Luzerne County manager, said the matter was referred to the local prosecutor, who in turn called in the U.S. attorney. The FBI, state police and local prosecutors inspected all trash from the elections office for the three days the contractor was on the job. Pedri declined to say why the contractor discarded the ballots or whether any further irregularities had been discovered beyond the nine ballots. In a letter to the Luzerne County election office released Thursday night, Freed also said investigators recovered four "official, bar-coded, absentee ballot envelopes that were empty." Those materials were discovered in an outside dumpster, he said. "It was explained to investigators the envelopes used for official overseas, military, absentee and mail-in ballot requests are so similar, that the staff believed that adhering to the protocol of preserving envelopes unopened would cause them to miss such ballot requests," Freed wrote. "Our interviews further revealed that this issue was a problem in the primary election - therefore a known issue - and that the problem has not been corrected." Asked if he was surprised that the investigation drew national attention, Pedri, the county manager, said: "Nothing surprises me anymore." "Obviously the investigation will uncover if there is any sort of a larger problem, and we're happy to assist," he said. "We are cooperating with that investigation. We are the ones who initiated it." Completed absentee ballots have only just begun to trickle into Pennsylvania counties; according to data provided by the Department of State, fewer than 900 mailed ballots have been returned out of nearly 2 million requests processed so far. - - - The Washington Post's Alice Crites contributed to this report. A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at Cobblestone Elementary School in Paris. In a letter sent to parents Friday afternoon, the Grant Erie District School Board said it had reported a positive case of the novel virus Thursday afternoon and had a second case Thursday evening. An outbreak means the cases are either connected or that a link between the cases cant be ruled out, according to Brant County Public Health. The department says both cases are students. Cobblestone will remain open for those not required to self-isolate, the board told parents. Loading Grand Erie custodians disinfected the school overnight before students and staff returned for classes Friday morning. All Cobblestone students and staff are asked to monitor their health, said Dr. Elizabeth Urbantke, acting medical officer of health. As we would advise any member of our community, if symptoms consistent with COVID-19 develop, please isolate immediately and seek assessment for testing. Other cases have emerged in schools in the Brantford area. On Wednesday, principal Monique Goold of Onondoga-Brant Public School, just east of Brantford, said one staff member tested positive for COVID-19 and was in self-isolation. We contacted the students and staff identified by the Brant County Health Unit as close contacts at this point to the COVID-19 case. We asked these individuals to remain at home today, Goold wrote to families. A student also tested positive at St. Pius X Catholic Elementary School on Wednesday. Students and staff will be identified through contact tracing as we provided the health unit with our class lists and seating charts as well as information related to before- and after- school care, transportation and any other special assignments, Jennifer Rudyk, principal of the school, wrote in a letter to parents. The schools have not indicated how many students or staff have been asked to self-isolate. Three cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in schools in the Hamilton area to date. Twenty-nine persons have been arrested by a joint security deployed to the Juapong township where secessionists reportedly besieged early Friday. The arrested persons have been airlifted to Accra for interrogation. The group is believed to have links to a secessionist group alleged to have seized several towns in the Volta region, mounted road blocks and burnt tyres. TV3s Komla Adom who was in Juapong on Friday and reported that one person was killed during a clash with security operatives Friday morning. The group alleged to be separatists, championing a secession agenda blocked entry points into to Volta Region, causing more than five hours of gridlock along the Adomi -Juapong Akosombo stretch. The group is fighting for the independence of Western Togoland, a part of Ghana which includes the entire of Volta region. They are reported to have burnt car tyres and forcibly removed commuters from vehicles that were locked up due to the confrontations. However, a joint security deployment of police and military personnel from Accra and Ho moved in to deal with the situation. One person was shot dead during the fracas between security operatives and some town folk. Youth president for the Juapong community, Bright Aryetey, said the residents should not be made to pay for the sins of the Homeland Study Group. He condemned the actions of the group while stressing the need for thorough probe into the matter. Meanwhile family of the deceased, 26-year-old Emmanuel Kale says the security personnel must explain why they killed their kinsman.
Source: 3news.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video By Xiong Xing The US has been releasing all kinds of supportive signals to Taiwan this year, with the level and frequency of their so-called interactions flagrantly enhanced. While those in Taiwans green camp jump at such signals, theyd better think long and hard whether the signals are sweet poisons from the US for Taiwan. In view of the political polarization and social divide within the US, how its 2020 presidential election, which will come up in November, will turn out will have far-reaching effects not only on itself, but also on global politics. Faced with superimposed problems including the COVID-19, economic slowdown and racial conflict, certain American politicians are trying to hype up the so-called China issue on the eve of the upcoming election so as to create anxiety among the voters, deflect attention from domestic troubles and secure more votes. The Trump administrations COVID-19 response fiasco and the outbreak of racial conflicts have spurred Trumps election team to highlight the China topic, adopting all kinds of aggressive China policies while desperately trying to scapegoat it. It has taken a series of insidious moves in economy and trade, science and technology, and people-to-people exchanges, and made constant provocations on the Taiwan question in a bid to stimulate the voters anti-China sentiments. Recently Trumps poll numbers have improved and approached his opponent Bidens in some key swing states, making him even more eager to secure more votes by all means in hopes of a so-called October surprise. Although the China topic seems to have drawn a lot of attention, to what extent it will affect the results of the election is still uncertain. In American politics, the constituents are less concerned with diplomatic issues than with domestic issues directly related with their own interests, such as traditional topics like economy, livelihood, tax and gun control, and also this years new additions like public health, racial problems and social order. The Trump administration has made many moves on the diplomatic front since taking office, for example, his so-called achievement of facilitating Israel's diplomatic progress, given the great Jewish influence in American economy and society. Although Trumps election team sees China as an important campaigning strategy, even a life-saving straw, it is barely effective in reality. Trumps aggressive adventures on the China-US relation and the Taiwan question aimed to incur more intense conflict may even be a poison instead of a push for his election, which will exert profoundly negative effects on bilateral relations. The recent intimacy between Washington and Taiwan Regional authorities has invigorated certain people on the island so much that they begin to have the illusion of gaining unprecedented support from the US side. Yet even though the Taiwan authorities have put the island on the forefront of China-US tension and actively followed Americas lead in provoking the mainland, they have never obtained any substantive benefits from Washington. This point has been proven by the TAIPEI Act, a symbolic bill passed by the US House of Representatives unanimously yet never put into practice. The US Under Secretary of State Keith Krachs visit to Taiwan is perhaps not much different. Krach is in charge of Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment in the Department of State, but while in Taiwan, his talks with the local officials are not about the two sides free trade negotiation that Taiwan authorities are most concerned with. Instead, he have been so focused on such topics as the Indo-Pacific strategy, New Southern Policy, 5G Clean Network and industrial chain restructuring, which the US side is more concerned about . Besides, Taiwan authorities recent decision to import American pork and beef regardless of local residents health and wellbeing has met with continuous public opposition. Moreover, in several previous arms deals, Taiwan authorities bowed to the US for political interests, but what they got in return was nothing substantial except oral support and empty promises. It is typical of Washington to pay lip service only. Especially when its own interests are involved, the US would take Taiwan as a pawn at best without second thought. (The author is a research fellow with Center for Taiwan and East Asian Studies, Central China Normal University) Disclaimer: This article is originally published on china.com.cn and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn. NCRTC's modern RRTS trains NCRTC's modern RRTS trains designed locally in India by Bombardier's engineers and designers. NCRTC's modern RRTS trains designed locally in India by Bombardier's engineers and designers. Indias first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) will operate one of the fastest trains in India with a design speed of 180 kilometers per hour reduc ing travel time between Meerut and Delhi to less than 60 minutes Sleek modern train design is inspired by Delhis iconic monument The Lotus Temple BERLIN, Sept. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Note to editors: To view the photo and the PDF document associated with this press release, please visit the following links: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8c798c50-3212-4a90-9e79-f54e76264993 http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/926b9327-4687-40ff-826f-926b616f7b9e Today, global mobility technology leader Bombardier Transportation and Indias National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) celebrated the unveiling of train design for Indias first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). The train design was unveiled by Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India in the presence of Vinay Kumar Singh, Managing Director leading the NCRTC team and Rajeev Joisar, Managing Director leading the Bombardier Transportation team in India. Bombardier was awarded the contract by NCRTC earlier this year to design, build and deliver the regional commuter and intracity transit trains with comprehensive maintenance services for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut semi-high-speed rail corridor under RRTS Phase 1. The fresh, modern and advanced nature of the new train design is inspired by Delhis iconic monument, The Lotus Temple, resonating a unique amalgamation of sustainability and Indias rich heritage. "These energy-efficient trains with exceptional ergonomics and low life cycle costs will contribute towards making Indias first RRTS futuristic and sustainable. Clubbed with state-of-the-art commuter centric features, RRTS is going to transform the way people travel in NCR and set a new benchmark for similar projects in the future," said Vinay Kumar Singh, Managing Director of National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC). Bombardier is proud to be partner for NCRTCs flagship project to deliver the new RRTS trains. These trains are being designed locally and incorporate latest technologies and features. Bombardier will deliver and maintain RRTS trains in accordance with our countrys Make in India guidelines. These energy efficient semi-high-speed trains will enhance passenger experience in terms of comfort, safety, journey time and will be a game-changer in the regional rail segment in India benefitting millions of people and contributing towards socio-economic development, said Rajeev Joisar. Story continues The RRTS feature-packed train design, developed in collaboration with NCRTCs experienced team, will offer a host of safety, security and environmental benefits while keeping passenger comfort at the forefront. The semi-high-speed aerodynamic trainsets will have a 2 + 2 transverse seating arrangement with comfortable seat pitches, standing spaces and automatic plug-in type sliding doors. The air-conditioned trains will also provide space for luggage, CCTV cameras for enhanced security and offer the choice of business class seating as well as a car designated for women in the six-car trainsets for regional services. The interior of the new trains will offer an accessible and welcoming environment for passengers. The new trains will accommodate around 900 passengers in the three-car train configuration for the Meerut local transit services. When configured into six-car trainsets for RRTS, the trains will be able to accommodate as many as 1,790 passengers to significantly increase public transport capacity between Delhi and Meerut. With their modular design, the RRTS trains can be expanded to nine-car trainsets. The design takes inspiration from The Lotus Temple which was developed for sustainability with its natural lighting and natural air circulation to keep the building cool. This sustainable design flows into the new trains as Bombardiers engineers have designed efficient lighting and temperature control systems that will enhance the passengers experience and reduce energy consumption. The 82-kilometre Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS boasts a 180 kmph design speed, one of the fastest in India and it will have 24 stations. The trains will reduce travel time from Meerut to Delhi to less than 60 minutes and expected ridership is around 800,000 passengers daily. Local transit services between Meerut South and Modipuram Depot Station with 13 stations over 21 km on the RRTS infrastructure will provide local mobility services for Meeruts citizens and deliver efficient regional connectivity. RRTS is Indias first project to include maintenance services as part of the rolling stock tender process and Bombardier local teams will provide maintenance services for a period of 15 years through two maintenance depots established by NCRTC in Duhai and Modipuram. About National Capital Region Transport Corporation Established in 2013, National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), a Joint Venture of the Government of India and the State Governments of NCT Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, is mandated to implement the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project across the National Capital Region and will build a 383 km network of semi-high-speed (design speed 180 kmph and maximum operation speed of 160 kmph), high frequency commuter rail lines connecting Delhi with cities in adjoining states, to ensure a balanced and sustainable urban development through better connectivity and access. More information is available on their website: https://www.ncrtc.in/ About Bombardier Transportation in India With around 1,500 employees, Bombardier Transportation in India operates a rail vehicle manufacturing site and bogie assembly hall at Savli, near Vadodara, Gujarat. This is in addition to a propulsion system manufacturing facility at Maneja, near Vadodara, a Rail Control Solutions centre for project delivery and product engineering and an Information Services India hub near Gurugram, Delhi NCR and an Engineering Centre in Hyderabad. Bombardier is Delhi Metro's largest supplier of signalling systems and one of its largest suppliers of rolling stock in India. It is also a long-standing partner of Indian Railways supplying propulsion equipment for their locomotives and Electric Multiple Units (EMUs). Bombardier also exports rail equipment from India to the companys rolling stock projects all over the world. Bombardier helps to move around five million people daily in the cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata and its propulsion systems equip locomotives that travel around 300,000 track kilometres daily on Indian Railways network. Bombardier recently signed the contract to supply 201 metro cars for the Agra-Kanpur metro project. About Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation is a global mobility solution provider leading the way with the rail industrys broadest portfolio. It covers the full spectrum of solutions, ranging from trains to sub-systems and signalling to complete turnkey transport systems, e-mobility technology and data-driven maintenance services. Combining technology and performance with empathy, Bombardier Transportation continuously breaks new ground in sustainable mobility by providing integrated solutions that create substantial benefits for operators, passengers and the environment. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Bombardier Transportation employs around 36,000 people and its products and services operate in over 60 countries. About Bombardier With nearly 60,000 employees across two business segments, Bombardier is a global leader in the transportation industry, creating innovative and game-changing planes and trains. Our products and services provide world-class transportation experiences that set new standards in passenger comfort, energy efficiency, reliability and safety. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Bombardier has production and engineering sites in over 25 countries across the segments of Aviation and Transportation. Bombardier shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, Bombardier posted revenues of $15.8 billion. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier. Notes to Editors For news, related material and photos, visit our newsroom at www.rail.bombardier.com/en/newsroom.html. Please subscribe to our RSS Feed to receive press releases or follow Bombardier Transportation on Twitter @BombardierRail. Bombardier is a trademark of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. For information Media relations, India Harsh Mehta +91 98208 02228 harsh.mehta@rail.bombardier.com Global media relations press@rail.bombardier.com You can also contact one of our worldwide contacts for specific press inquiries. A man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder at a Portland protest does not appear to be the person who threw a Molotov cocktail at police in a now-viral video, a law enforcement source told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Prosecutors declined to file multiple felony charges against Joseph Robert Sipe, who authorities booked into the Multnomah County jail early Thursday, records show. He had been accused of some of the most serious crimes yet to stem from the citys near nightly demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice, which began in late May. Portland police had arrested the 23-year-old on allegations of attempted murder, attempted assault, first-degree arson and unlawful possession of a destructive device during a demonstration in honor of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman fatally shot by police in Louisville, Kentucky. Sipe was arraigned Thursday afternoon on charges of riot and unlawful possession of a destruction device, court records show. Prosecutors allege police saw Sipe lighting the wick to an explosive device moments after protesters threw rocks, fireworks and at least one Molotov cocktail at officers near Southwest Second Avenue and Main Street on Wednesday night, according to a probable cause affidavit. Sipe, who was tackled by police, also told authorities he had thrown an explosive at officers as they moved up Main Street, according to the affidavit. The affidavit did not say whether the explosive detonated. But a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation said Sipe was wearing different attire than the person seen in multiple videos hurling a Molotov cocktail that bursts into flames in front of officers about 10:30 p.m. The Multnomah District Attorneys Office on Thursday night said law enforcement continues to conduct investigative follow up to determine exactly who threw the Molotov cocktail from this incident. Hundreds had filled Southwest Third Avenue in front of the downtown Multnomah County Justice Center on Wednesday night, hours after Kentuckys attorney general announced Louisville officers would not face charges in Taylors death. Police later declared the demonstration a riot after a handful of protesters targeted officers and the bureaus Central Precinct which is housed inside the Justice Center with rocks and fire. At least 13 people were arrested. Sipes next court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 1. -- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632 Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Police have released an image of a man detectives wish to speak to in connection with a house burglary in Belfast. The burglary occurred on the Somerton Road in the early hours of Monday January 20 Detective Inspector Keith Wilson said, The identification of this male is of vital importance to this investigation, as he may have information that can help us. "If you believe you have information that can identify him, please contact police on 101 quoting reference number 400 of 20/1/20, or submit a report online using our non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/. " You can also contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/." Taoiseach Micheal Martin has urged Northern Ireland leaders to harmonise public health measures as the number of Covid-19 cases grows rapidly on both sides of the border. The Fianna Fail leader spoke to First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill after the Irish Government said it is tightening coronavirus restrictions in Co Donegal. Irelands acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn and his Northern Ireland counterpart Michael McBride are speaking about the issue on Friday as part of an effort to reduce travel between border counties. Donegal moved to risk level three of the Governments plan to deal with Covid-19 following advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet). The Govt has decided to move Donegal to Level 3 under the Plan for Living with Covid-19 from midnight tomorrow following public health advice from NPHET. This is in response to rising Covid 19 cases in the county. For more visit: https://t.co/z1gcv7Lo8z pic.twitter.com/GOD90Tf8Hs Micheal Martin (@MichealMartinTD) September 24, 2020 Donegals 14-day incidence rate is now higher than Dublin, with 148.2 positive cases per 100,000 population, and Dublin recording 144.5 positive cases per 100,000. In neighbouring Derry and Strabane council area, the rate in the last seven days is 141.4 positive cases per 100,000 population the highest in Northern Ireland. Mr Martin said on Friday: I spoke to Arlene Foster yesterday evening and Michelle ONeill and I did indicate that on a practical level, it would make sense if we could harmonise as closely as possible respective public health measures. The numbers on the other side of the border are high and worrying for authorities there. Our respective chief medical officers will engage today on that issue. Both are working to different systems and on a local pragmatic basis, it makes sense that there would be coordination, particularly in messaging and communications, and also in terms of testing and contact tracing. That would be enhanced in terms of the interaction between GPs on both sides of the border. It makes sense that there would be coordination, particularly in messaging and communications, and also in terms of testing and contact tracing Taoiseach Micheal Martin He said he is appealing to peoples good sense and common will to adhere to the updated public health measures in Co Donegal. Mr Martin also warned that Nphet could advise the Government to enforce local restrictions in cities including Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. The number of cases is continuing to rise in these areas, sparking concern among public health experts. I was speaking to the CMO (Dr Glynn) over the week and places like Cork city has been going up in a straight line and that is a worry 20 to 30 cases a day. We are flagging that and making people aware those are the danger areas, however Cork is coming from a low base and there is an opportunity to stabilise it. Nphet will advise us on any restrictions that may have to come in for other areas. They are concerned about urban centres, about Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, particularly as universities reopen in the coming weeks. Delighted to announce 100 new jobs over the next 3 years at @workvivo today. The company is a great example of how Irish businesses are making an impact on a global scale pic.twitter.com/K9TxCh2Iqu Micheal Martin (@MichealMartinTD) September 25, 2020 That is a concern where you have high-density populations, Nphet may advise in terms of localised restrictions. To date it has been on a county-by-county basis. Our objective is to say to people living in these locations, we can avoid going to level three, we can stabilise the numbers if we adhere to the guidance. He made the comments as he visited Workvivo headquarters in Douglas, Cork, where 100 new jobs are to be created over the next three years. The Rio de Janeiro Carnival which was set to hit the streets next February has been postponed for the first time in 108-years due to coronavirus. The carnival attracts millions of visitors to Brazil each year. But Brazil has been one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic with 4.5 million infections and more than 138,000 deaths. Samba schools involved in the parade typically spend the entire year preparing for the event. They had warned in July that it would be difficult to organise the carnival, which was to run between Friday, February 12 and Wednesday, February 17, without a vaccine. The famous Rio de Janeiro Carnival attracts millions tot he South American country each year The event has been postponed indefinitely due to the ongoing battle against coronavirus Packed crowds dance through the streets and flock to the iconic Sambadrome for massive parades which feature scantily clad dancers, small armies of drummers and all night partying. This event has now been postponed indefinitely. The is the first time the event has been cancelled since 1912. It was not held then due to the death of the long-time foreign minister Jose Maria da Silva Paranhos Junior. He is reported to have said: 'Only two things exist in Brazil which are really organized: disorder and carnival.' In 1912 the carnival was officially pushed back two months but, in reality, people took the chance to party in both February and April that year. Jorge Castanheira, president of samba league Liesa, which organises the event, said: 'We came to the conclusion that the event had to be postponed. 'It's not a cancellation, it's a postponement. We are looking for an alternative solution, something we can do when it's safe to contribute to the city. 'But we aren't certain enough to set a date.' Authorities are now looking for an alternative event which can be held safely in the city This is the first time that the Rio carnival has been postponed since 1912 The postponement applies to Liesa's formal carnival event but it is not clear if it also applies to local street parties which also take place. There is a fear that the delayed carnival could impact on families who depend on the event for income. Speculation had been mounting that the carnival would be postponed given that Brazil has the second highest death rate from covid-19 - second only to the USA. The spread of the virus has slowed since its July peak but there has still been an average of nearly 30,000 new cases and 735 deaths per day over the last two weeks, according to health ministry figures. Rio de Janeiro has been the state hit second-hardest in Brazil, after Sao Paulo, the country's industrial hub. So far 18,000 people have died from Covid-19 - 104 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has railed against lockdown measures as a catastrophe for the economy. He downplayed the virus as a 'little flu,' despite being forced into quarantine for nearly three weeks when he caught it himself in July. Rio had already announced in July it was cancelling its famous New Year's Eve celebrations on Copacabana beach this year. Sao Paulo's carnival parade has already been delayed by eight months until October 2021. Tourism officials say they are seeking alternative celebrations that would be compatible with social distancing guidelines. The next time you order a meal or ride from Uber, your app will showcase a TV-style commercial for Prop. 22, the California ballot measure aiming to keep its drivers from becoming employees. The video ads show how a consumer-facing company can try to mobilize its customer base for political purposes. They underscore the massive reach of Uber, which says it had more than 1.3 million riders and over 1 million food-delivery customers in California this summer (with potentially some overlap). Ridership has fallen during the pandemic, but meal ordering has surged. What is pernicious is the captive audience in the app, said Jim Newton, who teaches public policy and communications at UCLA. Companies like Uber are in a unique position vis-a-vis their users, said Abbey Stemler, an assistant professor of business law and ethics at Indiana University. This makes their digital advocacy so powerful and potentially dangerous. (They) control everything a user sees in their apps and conversely can see everything a user does in their apps. Uber has already been displaying screen ads for Prop. 22 in the app, but now is adding video. Clicking a link launches a 77-second video ad of drivers reiterating Ubers frequent point that they prefer the flexibility of being independent contractors. Ubers app can help mobilize the tens of thousands of drivers who support Prop. 22 by a 4:1 margin and share their voice with millions of riders in California, the San Francisco company said in a statement. Sharing videos from drivers with riders is one in a series of creative features coming to our app in California. The No on 22 campaign, which is backed by organized labor, scoffed at the move, and said it has heard from users annoyed that the app is being used for political purposes. Theyre spending $184 million to throw everything at the wall and now at the screen, but they cant change the underlying fact that their initiative is a blatant attempt to buy themselves a new law, said Mike Roth, a spokesman for the campaign. Lyft, too, has worked to harness its vast customer base, notably with a mass email and blog post in August starkly announcing that service could soon cease in California. The impetus was a preliminary injunction in a court case that could have forced both Uber and Lyft to immediately reclassify drivers as employees. They won a temporary reprieve from an appeals court so service continues. The tactic is in some ways a throwback to Ubers strategy for entering new markets, where it mobilized passengers and drivers alike to pressure local regulators and politicians to approve the then-new business of app-based rides. In 2015, Uber created a DeBlasio mode in its app to pillory New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio over proposed limits on ride-hail vehicles. Uber said it will disclose the ads as a nonmonetary contribution to the Yes on 22 campaign on Saturday within the 24-hour required period, using a value based on applicable state campaign finance laws. The company has already put in more than $50 million, per campaign finance records. Yes on 22 has an astounding $184.3 million in backing, with Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates also contributing. That includes $3.6 million listed as in-kind contributions from the companies, mostly for their email lists. Prop. 22 would keep the gig drivers and couriers as independent contractors entitled to some benefits and some earnings guarantees, but would exempt them from Californias new gig-work law, AB5. The companies say their business models rely on this flexibility. Their opponents say theyre depriving drivers of the protections and benefits of employment, which would cost the companies hundreds of millions of dollars. Despite all that money and a barrage of advertising on TV and online, to date, Prop. 22 is far from the 50% plus one margin it needs to pass. A poll released this week of 5,900 likely voters showed that 39% would vote yes on Prop. 22, while 36% would vote no, and 25% remain undecided. The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies conducted the survey Sept. 9-15. The No on 22 side, despite being outspent by a margin of 18 to 1 (it has about $10 million), has its own huge constituency: 2.5 million union members in California. It plans to contact every union member six to eight times before the election to urge a No vote on Prop. 22, through phone, texts, worksites and homes, Roth said. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Person-to-person voter contact is the gold standard, and the labor movement does it better than anyone else, he said. Newton said unions usually have been able to marshal their forces to succeed in California ballot battles but the vast disparity in spending could make this an exception. Generally for initiatives of great consequences to labor in California, labor is the dominant spender and producer of boots on the ground, he said. It sounds like here they may have met their match. However, Ubers tactics with the ads could backfire, experts said. The way Uber crafted its message is totally one-sided and makes me highly suspect of the methodology in its survey to drivers about Prop. 22, Stemler said. I dont know if people will like it or be bugged by it, Newton said. I wouldnt be super-inclined to take Ubers word for it that theyre showing a representative sample of their drivers and what they want. Id take it with a pretty heft grain of salt and I suspect others would, too. Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid Amaravati, Sep 25 : Hundreds of Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) workers in Andhra Pradesh are protesting the new farm bills which the Parliament cleared recently, accusing them of being anti-farmer and in favour of business corporations. "The farm bills will cause great injustice to farmers. Though many political parties opposed their passage, the government still passed them forcibly," senior AP Communist Party leader Gorla Ramakrishna told IANS. He said that earlier when people used to hoard agriculture products to manipulate market prices, the government used to raid such hoarders to bring order and protect the farmers. However, he said these farm bills will create massive asymmetry, pitting ordinary farmers against corporate giants armed with the wherewithal, cold storage, transportation facilities and others to literally rule the market. The Left leader said that a farmer always strives to sell his produce and repay the debts he has incurred while cultivating the crops. "A farmer does not have infrastructure to even store his produce for even 10 days. He will be in a hurry to repay his debts. With these new bills, all the powers will now go into the hands of middlemen and corporates," said Ramakrishna. He said the corporates can easily move massive amounts of farm produce from state to state to cash in on market uncertainties. "A real farmer will not benefit with these bills. Not only a farmer, even a buyer will suffer as the middlemen and corporates will create artificial shortage of farm produce to make a killing," the CPM leader observed. Importantly, Ramakrishna alleged that middlemen and other market forces who used to stealthily hoard farm produce until now which do it legitimately with these bills allowing them. "Before the introduction of these bills, hoarders used to illegally store farm produce with fear which will now get legitimised. Now all the people with financial muscle will do it deliberately. Ordinary farmers and buyers will be the losers," he lamented. The senior leader said CPM started resisting these bills right from the time they were proposed. Farm bills aside, Ramakrishna has also expressed his displeasure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies which according to him are benefiting the rich corporates and cronies. "Especially during the Coronavirus time, we have seen how a person rose up in the billionaire rankings. What does it show? See how the fuel prices have increased. It is our anguish that this government is not caring for the farmers and the common man," he said. He disapproved of the farm bills, saying that corporate companies, foreign entities and others will take advantage of the privileges they accord them. He said the country will have to contend with corporate farming in the future when small farmers will be forced to give up their profession for large corporates to emerge and carry out corporate farming. "Nowadays labourers are increasing. There is no truth in the claims made by some people that labourers are not available. What will happen to the farmer who gives up agriculture? He is becoming a labourer," he said. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Authors of a review of policies, based on the experiences of nine high-income countries and regions' easing of lockdown measures, published in The Lancet journal, are urging governments to consider five key factors in lockdown exit strategies. The report analyses nine countries and regions' strategies for easing COVID-19 restrictions from a first wave of infections: five in the Asia Pacific (Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea) and four in Europe (Germany, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom). After instituting full or partial lockdowns, many governments face the challenge of reopening society while balancing health, social, and economic considerations. Meanwhile, WHO has warned that a premature lifting of lockdowns could spark a resurgence of infections and cause worse damage to the economy than caused by lockdowns. Lead author, Dr. Helena Legido-Quigley, National University of Singapore and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, says, "COVID-19 is a serious disease that will be with us for a long time. There is increasing realisation that easing of lockdown is not about returning to a pre-pandemic normal, and governments have to find strategies that will prevent rapid growth of infections in ways that are sustainable and acceptable to the public over many months." Dr. Legido-Quigley adds, "Our review of international experiences identifies lessons governments can learn from each other's successes and failures. We are not advising that the exact same measures should be replicated in different countries, but it is not too late for governments to consider novel policy solutions developed by other countries and adapt them to fit their own context." Co-author on the paper, Professor Martin McKee, London School Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK says, "As some countries around the world begin to see a resurgence in cases and retighten restrictions, it is imperative that countries learn the lessons that we've laid out for the future. There are no simple solutions but great benefits from learning from the experiences of others." The authors identify key learnings from these countries experiences which have implications for lockdown exit strategies worldwide: A clear plan with a transparent decision-making process is essential, ideally explicitly stating the levels or phases of easing restrictions, the criteria for moving to the next level or phase, and the containment measures that each level or phase entails. Governments should have robust systems in place to closely monitor the infection situation before easing measures. The authors point out that the R value is important, but caution that this requires high quality data in real time (like in Hong Kong) to be accurate and needs to be interpreted using epidemiological knowledge. For example, a small localised outbreak can drive a country's R value up but does not require a national lockdown to be controlled. For communities to reopen safely, control measures to reduce transmission will be needed for some time, including face masks and social distancing. New Zealand's social bubbles provide a successful example of sustainable measures, as they allow for social interaction while reducing transmission. For control measures to work, governments must educate and engage with the public, building trust, and selecting appropriate measures that the public are willing to comply with. The public should be directly involved in the process of producing measures appropriate for the local context. Each country must have an effective find, test, trace, isolate, and support system in place before easing lockdown restrictions. Spain and the UK have struggled to achieve this. Drive-through and walk-through screening in South Korea encourage proactive testing of potential case contacts and offers an effective model for expanding case finding. Furthermore, any test, trace, isolate, and support system needs to be supported by sustained investment in public health capacity and health system capacity including facilities, supplies, and workforce. Finally, there is a strong argument for adopting a so-called zero-COVID strategy, like in New Zealand, which aims to eliminate domestic transmission, particularly considering emerging evidence on the effects of long COVID (which occurs in people who have survived COVID-19 but continue to have symptoms for longer than expected). Another co-author on the paper, Professor Yik-Ying Teo, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, says, "In reviewing international experiences, we were concerned about the large divergence in government preparedness. There is an urgent need to understand the contextual differences that have led to such contrasting results, and to identify common principles that governments can follow to protect their people and economy." The authors identify five key areas to consider when easing lockdownsknowledge of infection levels, community engagement, public health capacity, health system capacity, and border control measures. They point out that responses so far have varied significantly across countries. In particular, the methods and success of contact tracing and isolation have varied significantly across countries. Many Asian countries, except Japan, promptly did extensive testing, tracing, and isolating of all cases (ie, not just severe cases) from the start of the outbreak, strengthened by innovative surveillance technology, whereas these processes have been considerably delayed in most of Europe, except Germany (where existing resources were redeployed quickly). Furthermore, confirmed cases are mostly isolated at institutions in Asia rather than at home, such as in Europe. Wearing of face coverings to protect others was, at least initially, adopted to a much greater extent in Asia than in Europe. This is partially to do with greater cultural acceptance. For example, in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea, the habit of wearing face coverings was already widespread before the pandemic. Experience with previous epidemics like SARS and MERS meant that many Asian countries had robust healthcare and public health infrastructure already in place. There has historically been a high level of public acceptance of strict rules in times of crisis, with the majority accepting a trade-off between their personal rights and public health. In Europe, public health systems in Spain and the UK have struggled with the consequences of a decade of austerity. More information: Emeline Han et al, Lessons learnt from easing COVID-19 restrictions: an analysis of countries and regions in Asia Pacific and Europe, The Lancet (2020). Journal information: The Lancet Emeline Han et al, Lessons learnt from easing COVID-19 restrictions: an analysis of countries and regions in Asia Pacific and Europe,(2020). DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32007-9 25.09.2020 LISTEN There is tension on the Kpong-Akosombo road as members of the Western Togoland have mounted roadblocks at Akrade preventing vehicular movement. The group said to be wielding guns and sticks amid chanting of war songs mounted the roadblock around 3:00am Friday. Members of the group attacked two police stations in the Volta region, stripped officers naked and seized their guns. Fridays incident is also happening barely few weeks after the group erected signboards in Somanya claiming authority over the area. The signboards which have since been removed by the Police had inscriptions Welcome to Western Togoland for travellers heading towards Somanya from Accra, and You are leaving Western Togoland for travellers travelling in the opposite direction ---starrfm Formers continue to protest across Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. In Bihar, the protests have been led by RJD while in other states including Karnataka the farmers have blocked the highway. Several train routes are affected since yesterday as several farmers' body have called for sit-in at railway tracks. The picture shows protestors in UP's Barabanki blocking the highway. (Image: News18) President Donald Trumps newest Supreme Court pick will offer conservatives an opportunity to start achieving a long-sought goal: chipping away at the vast administrative state that Americans have known since the New Deal. The rightward shift could imperil much of the agenda of a potential Biden administration or a Democratic Congress, making it easier for the courts to block initiatives such as a "Green New Deal" or vast expansion of Medicare. The addition of a sixth conservative justice expected to be Amy Coney Barrett could provide the final ingredient needed for Republicans to restrict or reverse decades-old precedents that have protected a range of government programs from legal challenges, including regulations on health care, the environment, technology and the financial industry. Some of the right-leaning legal arguments needed to block aggressive government programs have been just a vote or two shy of prevailing on the Supreme Court in recent years. Barrett, now a federal appellate judge, has called on the court to be more ready to overturn its constitutional precedents. Such a change would elate conservatives frustrated by Washingtons growing web of agencies and regulations too often untethered, they say, from any specific directions from Congress. But liberals counter that long-abandoned legal theories shouldnt block elected leaders and their appointees from meeting challenges and carrying out the will of the voters. In this May 19, 2018, photo, Amy Coney Barrett, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit judge, speaks during the University of Notre Dame's Law School commencement ceremony at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. Barrett is on President Donald Trump's list of potential Supreme Court Justice candidates to fill the spot vacated by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP) Without question a 6-3 Court captured by right-wing and corporate interests could shut down much of the progressive agenda, if it could act with impunity, said former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), president of the progressive legal nonprofit the American Constitution Society. Clean water, clean air, food and drug safety, regulation of the health care and health insurance industries, consumer protections and workers rights (up to and including the right to organize) are all on the chopping block in that scenario. Story continues Nicholas Bagley, a law professor at the University of Michigan, said expanding the courts existing five-person conservative bloc makes it all the more likely for once-unorthodox views of government power to prevail. The thing that's different with a 6-3 court versus a 5-4 court is youve just got a bigger margin for crazy, Bagley said, noting that the outcomes of several high-profile Supreme Court cases in recent years have flipped because of just one conservative defection. I just think that people underestimate dramatically the aggressiveness and zealotry of the conservative legal movement. Conservative legal scholar Jonathan Adler agreed that the Supreme Courts new lineup may soon be willing to place more limits on federal power than has been seen in the recent past. But he said its unlikely to bring about one of the worst fears of liberals a return to the early decades of the 20th century, when the high court repeatedly struck down rules and laws regulating wages, work hours and other labor policies. Theyre not going to endorse some kind of broad libertarian theory of the Constitution, said Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University. The attacks on the regulatory state could include two major arguments that conservative lawyers and judges have made in recent decades: Courts have given agencies too much leeway to write rules that go beyond what lawmakers have prescribed. But at the same time, they say, a dysfunctional Congress too often writes vague laws that leave major policy decisions up to the bureaucracy. By placing sharper limits on the agencies, and restricting the amount of power that Congress can delegate to the executive branch, a more conservative SCOTUS could go far beyond just rolling back individual regulations such as the Obama-era climate, air pollution, auto safety and water protection rules that Trump has taken steps to reverse. It could also make it harder for future Democratic administrations to enact new ones, even with lawmakers support. But it could also mean fewer legal fights in the future if Congress started passing laws with clearer directions for agencies, some conservatives contend. There shouldnt be so much litigation over hugely important rules, said Misha Tseytlin, a partner at Troutman Pepper and the former solicitor general of Wisconsin who challenged the Obama administrations EPA regulations. Rules should be to fill in the details of policy that Congress enacted rather than having wild policy swings when you have a change of administration where you have the exact same law on the books. Partying like its 1935 There are two big gorillas in the room when it comes to the legal arguments the Supreme Court could use to rein in the executive branch, Tseytlin said. The first, known as the nondelegation doctrine, allows judges to strike down laws that are too vague about the powers they grant to the executive branch. The court has used it only twice to strike down laws, both times involving New Deal programs in 1935, but five sitting justices have expressed an interest in rejuvenating it. Its a real sleeper area, Tseytlin said. Because if a statute violates the nondelegation doctrine, the statute is invalid, its entirely struck down. The doctrine holds that Congress cannot delegate its lawmaking powers to the executive when it passes laws, at least not without providing an intelligible principle to guide an agency. As recently as 2001, Justice Antonin Scalia rejected an attempt to use the doctrine to strike down Environmental Protection Agency air pollution regulations. But two decades later, the Supreme Courts conservative wing appears to be champing at the bit to go the other direction. The court last year issued a fractured ruling in a challenge to a sex offender registry law that became a test case for nondelegation. With just eight justices participating in the decision, the conservative wing could muster only four who expressed interest in applying the doctrine more aggressively, including Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch. Fellow Trump appointee Brett Kavanaugh, who didnt participate in that decision, later wrote that Gorsuchs argument may warrant further consideration in future cases. And with Trumps upcoming Supreme Court nominee likely to join the court, the way would be paved for action, said Aaron-Andrew Bruhl, a law professor at William and Mary Law School. Liberals have expressed alarm at the potential fallout if the court were to begin rejecting laws that delegate major decisions to the executive branch, because that would cover a lot of laws that Congress has enacted over the decades. The Affordable Care Act, for example, has required thousands of pages of regulations sketching out the details of everything from insurance coverage rules to discrimination protections to Medicaid expansion. In the sex offender case, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that if the law in question were unconstitutional under the nondelegation doctrine, then most of Government is unconstitutional. The difficult thing there is its potentially really disruptive if you want to start imposing serious limits on congressional delegation, Bruhl said. So much of the existing structure of regulation depends on delegation. To avoid the potentially disastrous results that might come with striking down laws wholesale, the Supreme Court might instead interpret those laws as giving the agencies narrow powers. That would strengthen judges ability to reject expansive implementing rules while sidestepping the constitutional concerns, Bruhl said. The end of deference A related conservative argument seeks to undo the Supreme Courts Chevron doctrine, which has been crucial to upholding major federal regulations on issues ranging from climate change to health care to payroll taxes. The doctrine stems from a unanimous 1984 Supreme Court decision, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, that courts have applied to all manner of executive actions under both Republicans and Democrats. It requires judges to consider whether a statute directing agency action is ambiguous and if it is, to defer to the agencys interpretation, so long as it falls within the wide realm of reasonableness. At first, Adler said, the Supreme Courts decision delighted Republican presidents because it reined in the powerful D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which reviews many federal regulations and was seen four decades ago as an activist and progressive bench. Chevron was built upon and advocated and reinforced by the Reagan and first Bush administrations because they saw it as a way of making it easier for a conservative administration to adopt more flexible regulatory policies that would otherwise be blocked by what was initially a fairly progressive D.C. Circuit, Adler said. But in recent years, especially under the Obama administration, conservatives have grown critical of Chevron for ceding judicial interpretive powers to the executive branch. In 2016 and 2017, House Republicans twice passed legislation to end Chevron deference, though it never made it past the Senate. Gorsuch and Justice Clarence Thomas have both criticized the doctrine, while Kavanaugh said during his confirmation that he would strike down any regulation "thats outside the bounds of what the laws passed by Congress have said. Barrett has not spoken specifically about whether or how Chevron deference should be limited. But in a fight this year over the Trump administration's public charge rule, she broke from two other judges and voted to defer to the agency, showing how judges can use Chevron to uphold conservative regulations. Revisiting Chevron is a prime candidate for a change that will make a difference in the way we think about the administrative state, said Randolph May, president of the Free State Foundation, a free-market think tank. Because it limits judicial authority in certain ways, Chevron can lead to a bouncing ball effect as changes in political control of the executive branch mean agencies are frequently reversing themselves on regulatory decisions, May argued. One recent example concerns net neutrality, an effort championed by the Obama administration to prohibit internet service providers from limiting or favoring some types of content on their networks. The Obama-era Federal Communications Commission used an ambiguous statute to classify ISPs as subject to regulation, a move the D.C. Circuit upheld in 2016 while citing Chevron. Under Trump, the FCC reversed that policy call and again, the D.C. Circuit upheld it based on Chevron. Limiting Chevron deference may become even more important if Joe Biden wins the White House but Democrats fail to capture the Senate and cannot pass new laws. In that case, Bruhl argued, Biden would be left to push policies on major issues like climate change via existing statutes but could face a much harder time than Obama did in withstanding the inevitable court challenges. For the moment, Chevron survives, even with the Supreme Courts current conservative majority. Katie Keith, a health law expert at Georgetown University, noted that federal judges including recent Trump appointees have actually shown significant deference to agency actions in several high-stakes cases. Those include decisions in which judges rejected attempts to block the Trump administration from increasing hospital pricing transparency and allowing insurance plans that dont meet Obamacares coverage requirements. But Keith suspects that might change if the White House flips in November. If it's Biden, I think they really push forward on this and do what they can to limit the administrative state, she said. That's been a goal for a very long time. Restricting or even ending Chevron deference could backfire, some experts have warned it could give liberal judges more power to strike down actions by Republican administrations. May conceded that that could happen in specific instances, but said he supports restraining Chevron primarily because of separation-of-power concerns. Revisiting Lochner A more far-reaching question concerns whether a conservative Supreme Court would return the U.S. to the so-called Lochner era, the period from the 1890s to 1937 when the justices repeatedly struck down business and workplace regulations. A Trump-appointed federal judge in Pennsylvania raised eyebrows earlier this month when he struck down the states coronavirus-related shutdown policies while citing the 1905 Lochner case that gave the era its name. In these unprecedented times, courts might revive some limits on government powers that haven't been imposed in some time, Adler said. But that doesnt mean Lochner is back with a vengeance. "Are we going to see what anyone would characterize as a true laissez faire jurisprudence that says no government at any level can regulate certain things? he said. I think thats very unlikely both given whos on the court now and the people who are being talked about as possible Ginsburg replacements." Other court-watchers say the conservatives on the bench simply havent decided yet which route to take in hobbling the governments regulatory authority. There really is a groundswell among conservative jurists to try to undo this strong deference that courts have given to agencies, but thus far they've not yet coalesced around what the alternative should be, said Ryan Owens, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who wants the courts to rein in the power of agencies to set rules and regulations. That's the one thing that's really hanging this up. The home can place where senior citizens experience falls is their home, and with the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people in their homes, that number can increase. Thats why the Illinois Department on Aging has partnered with the National Council on Aging to emphasize Falls Prevention Awareness week. Our job is to keep seniors safe in the community as long as possible through coordination of social services, Nancy Thorsen, executive director for Prairie Council on Aging, said. The partnership goes hand in hand to help seniors living at home. Unfortunately, the home is the number one place where falls occur, and with many older Illinoisans spending more time at home these days, its important to take the steps you can to reduce fall risks in your home, said Paula Basta, director of Illinois Department on Aging. The [National Council on Aging] has a strong history of helping older residents in Illinois, and were proud to be part of this national education and outreach initiative that is helping millions of older adults age well and stay falls free. Thorsen said there are programs the group can help coordinate, such as A Matter of Balance, an eight-week structured group intervention that emphasizes practical strategies to reduce fear of falling and increase activity levels. There is also in-home care aid brought into the home through their Community Care program. Having someone inside the home can help guide seniors to prevent falls and support them through activities in daily living. Prairie Council on Aging is offering courses that can even help the caregivers of Alzheimers and dementia patients like Stress Busters, which is free and web-based. It is so important to prevent falling initially because seniors are more likely to fall again within 90 days of an original fall that actually hurt them, Thorsen said. It doesnt stop with that first fall. Checking around the house for things like loose carpet around the stairs can be one of the ways to prevent falls, she said. You should also consider rearranging your kitchen, so commonly used items are within reach. Remove throw rugs, as they are a tripping hazard, and wrap cords or wires and keep them off the floor if you can. Paying close enough attention to the surfaces that you walk on. Other ways can be through exercise. Physical activity is a great way to prevent falls and there are many exercises that can be done at home. Medication management can be a key factor in all prevention too, Thorsen said. Paying attention to the effects the medication might be having on a senior. Through the Community Care program, Prairie Council on Aging offers an automated medication dispenser. Automated Medication Dispenser service is a portable, mechanical system that can be programmed to dispense or alert the senior to take non-liquid oral medications in the participants residence or other temporary residence in Illinois through auditory, visual or voice reminders. Wear proper-fitting, nonslip footwear, even at home can prevent falls as well. United States (US) President Donald Trump and Democratic contender Joe Bidens campaigns have pitched their candidates as the best bet for US-India relations to court Indian-Americans, who are expected to play an outsized role in what promises to be a close presidential election. Bilateral relations with India have become an issue in the US elections for the first time. Biden has promised that relations with India will get high priority and has bashed Indias regional adversaries China and Pakistan to burnish his credentials as the better custodian of ties with New Delhi. The Trump campaign has released a video of clips spliced together from the Howdy Modi and Namaste Trump events touting close ties between the two leaders. And it has also cited the administrations position on the Kashmir status change and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) as internal matters in sharp contrast to the Biden campaigns criticism of India on these issues. A group of Indian-Americans pressed Biden at a fund-raiser to moderate his position on these issues and dial up the campaigns pitch to Hindus in a bid to staunch the flow of the communitys support towards Trump. They had the candidates attention they believed, and came away with a distinct impression that one of them would get a follow-up call from the campaign. Certifiably reliable election data for the community doesnt go far back enough to evaluate its voting behaviour relative to the highs and lows in the relationship. But did Bill Clinton, a Democrat, drive them towards the Republican Party when he slapped multiple sanctions on India for the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, clearly the lowest point in bilateral ties in recent decades? Or, did George W Bush, a Republican, trigger a rush of Indian-Americans to the party with the civil nuclear deal in 2008, which remains an unparalleled high-point of the relationship? Not really. In a 2008 pre-poll survey by AAPI Data, which has consistently polled the community since then with other Asian-Americans, Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, led his Republican rival John McCain 53% to 13%, among Indian-Americans; 33% were undecided. Its latest poll tells a most consequential story, but one that has received little attention: Indian-Americans dont actually care much about US policy for South Asia. Education was listed by 94% of Indian-American voters as extremely important or very important, followed by jobs and the economy (92% ), health care (92%), environment (88%), racial discrimination (84%), policing reforms (84%), national security (84%), and immigration (80%). US foreign policy in Asia was marked way, way down in comparison (66%). It is unclear if US foreign policy in Asia meant and covered US relations with India specifically. But as Milan Vaishnav, an Indian-American expert on India-US relations at Carnegie, said, India and US-India ties might matter on the margins, but we dont have evidence it is a determining factor yet. yashwant.raj@hindustantimes.com The views expressed are personal The upcoming presidential election has been described with a slew of superlatives most consequential, monumental and high-stakes of this generation. The reason, students said, is that their futures are on the line. The next president will contend with the threats of climate change and the student debt crisis. He will maneuver the pandemic and determine the future of health care while confronting racism and demands for police reform. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 06:12:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DUBLIN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Trade between China and Ireland has maintained a very positive momentum despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Chinese Ambassador to Ireland He Xiangdong while addressing a virtual China Ireland business conference on Friday. He said that bilateral trade reached 10 billion U.S. dollars in the first seven months of this year and China's direct investment in Ireland increased by 40 million U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, more than doubled on a year-on-year basis. Besides, TikTok has recently announced to invest 500 million U.S. dollars to set up its European data center in Ireland, he added. All these "inspiring facts" have demonstrated "the momentum of stable growth of China-Ireland economic exchanges" despite the impact of the pandemic, the ambassador noted. According to He, economic recovery, an ever-deepening friendship between China and Ireland, and a more open China will provide a powerful impetus, a solid foundation and a broader platform for the further development of bilateral economic cooperation. "There is a good chance that economic, trade and investment links between China and Ireland will continue to boost with great stability, strong resilience and vast potential," he said. The Chinese ambassador made the remarks while speaking at the Virtual China Ireland Business Summit 2020, an annual event organized by Asia Matters, a Dublin-based think tank, in partnership with Cork City Council, Cork County Council and Cork Institute of Technology. During the two-day event, which ended on Friday, government officials, business leaders and experts from China, Ireland and other countries held an in-depth discussion and exchanged views over a number of issues relating to the cooperation between China and Ireland in the fields of economy, trade, tourism, higher education, agrifood, technical innovation, etc. Enditem A teenage girl watching a punk-bands gig thinks to herself, If they can do it, I can too. Or maybe, after the final notes ring out, some little dude in the crowd tells his bros as theyre leaving, Man, I want to be up there on that stage. Ah, the power of an all-ages show. Huntsvilles local music history is rich with such underground gigs, at the National Guard Armory, Underground Skatepark and other random places, featuring bands with names like Random Conflict. Jason Ryle and Christine Metz, two of the partners behind a new all-ages venue, called TrashBone, hope to tap into that energy. The young crowd is the crowd that drives creativity, Ryles says. You get a lot of young people around, you get movement, you get birth, you get new stuff and thats kind of what were after. TrashBone is located in a long weathered cinderblock building at 2906 9th Ave., near the Lowe Mill arts center. On a recent afternoon, Ryle and Metz, who are also a couple, are standing next to the stage inside TrashBone. Theyre both wearing Converse Chuck Taylors. The room here oozes DIY grit. Scratched up gray concrete floor. A few old chairs, tables and couches. Walls decorated with empty picture frames. A sculpture assembled from a leaf blower and pressure washer parts. The TrashBone stage is about the square footage of a small bedroom and maybe a foot off the crowd. Behind the stage, a mural, painted by Chase Ocampo, depicts three local musicians whove died: Mike Horgan, drummer from touring band Cancerslug; Justin Isbell and Bill Valentine, drummer and bassist with Chason Jason, a band Ryle played guitar in. Christine Metz and Jason Ryle, two of the partners behind TrashBone, a new all-ages music venue in Huntsville. (Matt Wake/mwake@al.com) The venue held its first show this Labor Day. The bill boasted local bands The Dirty Swagger, Bone Zone, Frankenf---s, Black Mask and Shattered Monsters. During Dirty Swaggers set, the Iggy Pop inspired bands frontman ended up out in the crowd, on top of a table, hanging from the ceiling, licking the walls, ripping his clothes off, Ryle says with a laugh. More than a 100 people attended the debut show here, Metz says. They ranged in age from early 20s to 60s. All of our grass was parked with cars, she says. All the street, up and down, was parked with cars. People in line screaming, Punk rock !, out their car windows and trying to find a spot to come in here. It was pretty cool. She adds the crowd inside TrashBone was very respectful. They didnt leave any kind of mess. When they left it looked like it does now. During shows, a roll-up garage door to the side of the stage is opened to keep the vibe "as COVID aware as possible. " Ryle says the venue will also hand out face masks if needed. TrashBone is operating as a private club. You can buy a membership for $20 a month or a day-pass membership for 10 bucks. For now, theyre planning on doing a show a week or so. Shows will be on Saturdays and start around 4 or 6 p.m. If youre 21 or over and want to drink alcohol, TrashBone is a BYOB (and bring your ID) scenario. Ryle says the building is zoned residential/commercial. (Nearby Gold Spring Coffee has hosted live music, as does, of course, Lowe Mill.) He says they have a business license for TrashBone. Asked if theyre required to have some kind of permit, Ryle says, Its private event, so we dont really have to go that route. Were not selling alcohol. Were just going to sell music. Salina Brilla, whose booked bands at places like local punk spot Copper Top, is another partner in TrashBone. Brilla has a passion for pairing touring bands with local acts, Ryle says. Salina is a huge part of putting this all together, he says. Ryle and Metz are from Orange County, California, also home to one of their favorite bands, reggae punk trio Sublime. The all-ages shows they attended as youths were sometimes held in church cafeterias. The couple has resided in Huntsville for about 10 years now. They came up with name TrashBone after one of their dogs, named Lady Bug, found a bone in the trash. Theyre also planning on using that appellation for a web reality show about competitive dumpster diving. Ryle and Metz also operate a sort of thrift store/eBay store, selling everything from iPhone cases to antique furniture, out of another smaller building on the same lot as their all-ages venue. Allen Birdwell lived across the street and purchased the property about five years ago, Ryle says, and thankfully has a heart for music, and for people in general. Because of his philanthropist outlook on life we were able to bring our idea of TrashBone to fruition. Huntsville musician Michael Kilpatrick played all-ages shows while coming up with bands such as Monster Dog, at the Armory and other spots. In addition to being a place where underaged fans can hear live music, all-ages shows give young bands a place to perform. That was my lifeblood of gigging before I was able to get a show at a bar, Kilpatrick says. Other local groups Patricks played in include the Snob Doctors, Frigidaires and, most recently, The Go-Go Killers. A few years ago, he scored a gig as a touring musician with his favorite all-time bands, seminal Los Angeles punks X. All-ages venues also build a cooperative vibe among local DIY-minded bands, Kilpatrick says. Sharing gear, cobbling together PA systems, and comparing notes on like-minded venues and people in the community to know. Lifelong friendships were forged at these shows. TrashBones next show is Oct. 3. Local combos Casket Kids and the returning FrankenF---s are scheduled to perform, with an opening set by Skeptic?, from Birmingham. Its the first in a series of battle of the bands type gigs, with two local group vying for the prize of street cred and a spot on the venues Halloween show. (An out of town band will be the support act on each of these shows but wont be involved in the battle of the bands.) Ryle and Metz are on a shoestring budget with TrashBone. And theyve pushed every chip they have to the center of the felt. Theyre even temporarily living in a makeshift apartment inside their store on the property. Were just taking a chance, Ryle says, "and going with it. (More info at trashbone.com or by calling 256-947-4314.) MORE ON CULTURE New Huntsville dessert shop is a sweet escape 10 notable debut albums that were also live albums Space & Rocket Center: 9 things to do/see there right now Jason Isbell concerts to use pods, but not Spinal Tap kind Alabama chef picks 5 condiments to shake up your fridge Bugattis first electric vehicle will be heavily inspired by the Vision Le Mans concept. Rumors also claim that it will be a track-only model and that it will be built in extremely limited numbers or might be a one-off. Following rumors that the Volkswagen Group will sell the Bugatti brand to Croatian electric carmaker Rimac, it has now surfaced that the French brand will unveil a Rimac-powered hypercar in October 2020. Bugatti is going all-electric and the first model could have close to 2,000 horsepower LISTEN 04:28 An all-electric Bugatti for the new era The news comes via The Supercar Blog, which claims, quoting undisclosed sources, that "an all-electric track-only hypercar" will be unveiled "as early as October 2020." The source also claims that "this car will serve as a technology showcase for the future." In laymans terms, this hypercar will serve as a test bed for the next-generation Bugatti supercar, which will be fully electric and powered by a Rimac-built drivetrain. The Supercar Blog isnt the only source talking about an electric Bugatti. Car Magazine also reports that the companys CEO "will in late October give green lights to Vision Le Mans, a brand-new one-off zero-emission track-only hypercar." However, "green lights" could mean that the project is only approved, in which case the car will arrive later in 2020 or even in 2021. Either way, it seems that Bugatti is indeed heading under Rimac ownership, as reported earlier this month. How powerful will the first electric Bugatti be? Rimac has developed quite a few powertrains over the years and the one designed for the C_Two supercar is by far the most impressive. An EV that Rimac will put in production soon, the C_Two features a four-motor layout that provides individual all-wheel drive. The motors and the 120-kWh battery deliver a total output of 1,888 horsepower, 311 horses more than the most potent version of the Bugatti Chiron. The C_Two reportedly needs only 1.85 seconds to hit 60 mph from a standing and returns up to 402 miles of range per single charge. These figures will likely change for the Bugatti model, but it should still be quicker than the any Chiron produced to date. On the other hand, its top speed wont be nearly as impressive as the Chiron Super Sport 300+s, the first production car that hit 300 mph. Rimacs drivetrain will probably enable the Bugatti EV to hit around 200 mph. What is the Bugatti Vision Le Mans The Vision Le Mans, the concept that the first electric Bugatti is rumored to be based on, is not a concept built by the French firm. This futuristic car was penned by Max Lask, who completed an internship at Bugatti, which sponsored and endorsed his bachelor degree thesis. The Vision Le Mans is the result of that thesis and brought Lask a job as an exterior designer for the brand. The Vision Le Mans is as radical as futuristic track cars get, but it still employs trademark Bugatti design cues, such as two-tone blue paint, a horseshoe "grille," and a jet fighter-style roof. The production model wont look as aggressive, but it could make the Chiron look tame. Bugatti is being sold off to Rimac A report that surfaced in September 2020 claims that the Volkswagen Group is selling the Bugatti brand to Rimac. Volkswagen is looking to reduce costs by getting rid of the brand, but the plan is to sell it through Porsche, which in return would get a bigger share in Rimac. The German brand is already a secondary shareholder at Rimac, having purchased a 10-percent share in 2018 and another 5.5 percent in 2019. Porsche is reportedly interested in using Rimac drivetrains and technology in its future electric cars. Bugatti will most likely go all-electric under Rimac ownership. The successor to the Chiron will feature battery power only, but the deal could also open the door for other products, like an SUV and maybe even a four-door high-performance sedan. Images courtesy Bugatti designer Max Lask via Instagram Source: The Supercar Blog Latest homelessness figures for the month of August show that the number of people accessing emergency accommodation in the State is now 8,702. This is a slight decrease from Julys number of 8,728, when an increase was reported after months of steadily falling numbers since the beginning of the pandemic. There are now 6,082 homeless adults and 2,620 children in Ireland. Dublin leads the way in the highest numbers of adults seeking emergency accommodation as 4,204 adults were recorded in the capital alone. Cork now has 400 adults homeless and Galway has the third highest number of adult homelessness in the country at 254 people. However, homelessness charities have urged the government to learn lessons from the pandemic, at the start of which emergency measures were put in place to accommodate those without a home. Simon Community said that the government should ensure lessons of the pandemic are learned. The Government has an opportunity to take what we have learned in this period and turn it into sustained action against homelessness. There is a golden opportunity in Budget 2021 and beyond to stop homelessness before it starts, said Wayne Stanley, National Spokesperson for the Simon Communities. As fears for a second surge of the pandemic grows, it is vital that the preventative measures implemented earlier this year are reinstated. Mr Stanley said that vulnerable people are to the forefront of government actions in the coming budget. There must be a sustained resolve to stop homelessness before it starts - prevention will keep people in the homes that they already have. We need to ensure that this vulnerable group are to the forefront of government actions as we face into a budget framed in the context of the economic uncertainty, he added. Inner City Helping the Homeless CEO and Independent Dublin City Councillor Anthony Flynn said that Dublin has seen a rise in homelessness due to the lift on evictions. We saw considerable reductions in figures whilst the eviction ban was in place and that trended, as soon as it was lifted, we see increases. This is a primary indicator that the eviction ban worked and should be sustained into 2021. He also added that rough sleepers are not taken into account in the official figures. We also must consider that we do not count people who sleep rough in these figures, on average nightly there are about 155 people now sleeping rough. The figures also dont include families in womens aid shelters, people living in Direct Provision or people couch surfing. The Minister certainly hasn't got a grip of his portfolio as of yet and more needs to be done, Mr Flynn added. Hope, as they say, is the best breakfast. If you have chosen Bihar after having seen the opportunities, offers and openings outside the state, then this is a breakfast you must have every day. For the myriad prospects and temptations outside the state can shake your commitments and unflinching love for the land. Mitesh Mallick got a call from an official working with the Bihar government soon after the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, in order to discuss the video-consultation telemedicine platform that Mallick and his team had developed. However, his past experience made him take it with a pinch of salt. Over the past two years, we have lost faith in government officials. We dont want to come and sit idle and wait for their approval for anything. We are giving services in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. We are collaborating with district administrations where approvals are quick. In Bihar, approvals wouldnt come at all, says this 38-year-old who belongs to a family of doctors from Bihars Supaul district. Mallicks start-up was among the 90 that got a Rs 10 lakh grant each from the industries department to set up telemedicine centres in Madhepura, Vaishali and Kaimur districts. After completing his Masters in Computer Applications from Madurai Kamaraj University in 2007, Mallick started working in Bengaluru like most people from his batch. But soon, the lingering nostalgia of home would take him back to the roots in 2014, the process for which began in 2012, with the Bihar foundation Bengaluru chapter. In August, Mallick and his friends started Prosperita Medi 360, a healthcare platform with focus on telemedicine. After the initial funding in 2016, no other support followed. We wanted space at primary health centres and community health centres. We wanted a doctors network. We wanted awareness programmes to be managed," says Mallick. He recalls an experience on how they were told to start a telemedicine centre in Mahnar in Hajipur. How, despite trying hard to get an internet connection through BSNL, BBNL, Airtel, nothing worked. Then came the monitoring person and he gave the report that the telemedicine centre wasnt active, while Mallick says he had written six times that there was no internet facility. Disappointed, Mallick then decided to expand his footprint while continuing to have at least one centre in Patna. He even set up a research and development group in Patnas Biscomaun Towers in 2018, but in the absence of the right manpower, as he needed Android and NET developers, he wound it up in July 2020. Bahut dukh hota hai, apne ghar mein kaam nahin kar pa rahe hainhum Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bengaluru, Kerala mein kaam kar rahe hainitna mehnat karne ke baad (One feels sad a not being able to work in the place one calls homewe have been working in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bengaluru, Keralaafter a lot of hard work), he says. Today, he proudly runs 27 centres, including one each in Nigeria and Papua New Guinea, but remains disillusioned with his home state. For young start-up owners, its Kaushlendra Kumar who acts as the light at the end of a dark tunnel. From the time I moved back 13 years ago to now, I can see Bihar has come up in a big way. Today, as I plan my offices in Purnia or Motihari, I dont have to think about having generators for power backup. There is electricity for 20 to 24 hours a day. It means a lot for entrepreneurs, innovators. Some other changes that have come up are in terms of good roads and self-sufficient womens groups, he says. Most Biharis know him as a sabziwala from IIM Ahmedabad. He was among the first to return to Bihar to start a venture. Kaushlendra Kumar moved to Bihar knowing well its challenges and complexities. He says he knew that had he worked in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad or Delhi, he would have done much better in terms of revenue. But he moved keeping Bihar in mind. Holding on to small changes that he can travel to his village Mahmadpur which is 60 km from Patna, in an hour, which was impossible in 2003-2004 when it took him 4 hours to cover that distance. The onus is on each one of us to change the ecosystem as the government alone cannot, he says. Now he wants all political parties to highlight the commitment for education. All parties in their manifesto must talk about colleges in every block. Let there be a BCA, BCom, engineering college in every district of Bihar. Knowledge and innovation economy is the way forward. Unfortunately in Bihar we have a biological factory which produces carpenters and labourers, adds Kumar. While much seems to be changing in the state, young Divyam Sharma, founder of the start-up Code Bucket, says there is still a lot that needs to be addressed. He has ideas that he feels can go a long way in improving the start-up culture in Bihar. I was a student in Kerala before moving to Bihar in 2019. The start-up culture in Kerala was impressive. When we reached Bihar, we discovered there is hardly any state-funded incubation centre. There is also no good infrastructure in place. For example, in Kerala, there was a start-up village where all small and medium-sized start-ups used to work together in a more collaborative fashion. If there was a hardware start-up, then it could collaborate with the software start-up. So people did not have to go out looking for opportunities. One can share all resources, office space and even expertise. There is no serious ecosystem for start-up in Bihar," says Sharma. Along with three other partners, Sharma had set up Code Bucket in 2017 in Keralas Kochi and decided to move to Bihar with a hope to explore its untapped potential". However, Sharma had to face major difficulties from the very start. The process of seed funding in Bihar is extremely slow. It is only the industry department that is responsible for everything pertaining to start-ups. However, when you visit their office, you will not know who to speak to. The Bihar government and industry department does not have a single-window system in place," he says. Sharma also adds that in case of unforeseen circumstances, a start-up is rendered rather helpless in the state. In case a fraud happens, if you are not a big company, you cannot file a case and then keep fighting for years. Start-ups will not be able to take that kind of beating. Even if you go to a local police station to file a complaint, they will not take you seriously. They say such things keep happening with start-ups. There should be a mechanism in place in which we can get civil support from the government as well," says Sharma. He feels that Bihar also lacks the presence of an IT hub. When there are large companies working in the same geography with start-ups, new business ideas get more guidance and support. They get to learn from these tech giants. However, despite the adversities, we are giving our best," says the young start-up founder. According to data provided by Bihar Entrepreneurs Association, around 30 per cent of the start-ups in the state capital have become inactive because of operational and financial challenges posed by Covid-19. However, the flourish of the start-up culture in Bihar, or the lack of it, cannot be entirely credited to the state government. Reluctance to change and absence of the mindset that Bihar has to compete with and be in the top 5 or top 10 states that passion is missing. The industry department needs smart dynamic officials who can market Brand Bihar, both inside the state and outside, says Abhishek Kumar, who along with Kaushlendra and Shashank Kumar started Bihar Entrepreneurs Association in 2011. What began as a small group of enthusiasts has today grown into a 19,000-member association. This group played a pivotal role in drafting the start-up policy of Bihar. Abhishek, who is presently the secretary of the association, fondly remembers his journey from a 150 sq ft cabin to a 36,000 sq ft office in the heart of Patna. You will find IIM Ahmedabad, IIT Roorkee, IIM Indore students running start-ups in Patna. They are working in multiple sectors, from health technology to agriculture to education. Many returned from the US as well before Covid-19. In 2015, Nitish Kumar announced the setting up of a Rs 500 crore corpus for funding start-ups. In the past five, years 90 start-ups have been funded against 15,000 plus applications that were received. The aim was to establish incubation centres, the idea was empowering the youth through entrepreneurship. What was needed was to have regular meetings by officials to screen applications that came through the Startup Bihar website. It was completely dependent on the industry department officials. Four to five industry commissioners were transferred in the last 18 months. If the application is not scrutinised it wont move to the next stage and then to the final stage that approves the grant, says Abhishek. He maintains that his group wasnt invited for any preliminary scrutiny committee meetings since 2017 as they had red- flagged some concerns. Meanwhile, the third founder of Bihar Entrepreneurs Association, Shashank Kumar, saw immense opportunity in the agricultural sector of the state. After graduating from IIT Delhi in 2008, Kumar worked for three years in Haryanas Gurugram before moving back to Bihars Chhapra. I got to work with companies such as Nestle, PepsiCo, Britannia, Unilever, among others. These companies have close links with agriculture because they do a lot of agricultural buying. I discovered that there are a lot of problems in the supply chain: it is not transparent, there is a lot of inefficiency, etc. Because I come from a rural background, I had seen both ends of the food chain. Id also seen back in my village that farmers were not particularly happy. People who did not get to do anything else opted for farming," he says By the time Kumar was 26, he had decided to explore the Rs 400 billion agriculture market, starting from Bihar. He states three reasons why he moved back to his home state. This was back in 2011. The start-up scene in India had just started. Bihar is a state that is dependent on agriculture and has no real irrigation challenges because of it being a part of the Gangetic belt. Farmers grow 3-4 crops in a year. Therefore, there is work throughout the year. Most farmers in the state have small landholdings and we wanted to build a model specifically for them. Finally, the Bihar government in 2006 had abolished the APMC Act, which means anybody could go and source produce from farmers. What the central government is doing now, it had happened in the state 14 years ago," he says. In 2012, Shashank along with Manish Kumar co-founded DeHaat, an agri-tech start-up, that offers end-to-end services to farmers such as the distribution of high-quality agri inputs, customised farm advisory, access to financial services, and market linkages for selling their produce. The start-up has raised more than Rs 100 core in the past one year. Meanwhile, in 2017, Ashutoshs start-up journey began after having to vacate his rented accommodation in Bengaluru. The Karnataka government had set up a start-up cell for which we had applied as well. We had set up a small office in our rented flat. However, since our college was over, our landlord asked us to leave. We faced severe difficulty in finding the logistics to transport our things. It was then that we thought that why dont we explore this area from the perspective of a start-up owner," says Ashutosh. He along with his partner, Sunny Kumar, then gave birth to Road Express. The start-up works for on-demand mini vehicles and truck services in India that intend to move personal and business goods. They were also one of the few who received seed funding from the state government. Ashutosh also recalls an incident when the chief minister had personally encouraged him for his start-up idea. At an exhibition held in Patna, chief minister Nitish Kumar had spent the longest time at our stall. He congratulated us for our idea and we had won the competition that year," he says. Despite being technologically sound and having a robust plan in place, when Ashutosh held meetings with large companies in Bihar, there were no tracking and accountability mechanisms in place". However, while recognising the disadvantages in the state, he paints a hopeful picture for potential entrepreneurs. Bihar has been ranked as one of the leaders in developing a start-up ecosystem for budding entrepreneurs, according to the Centres Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. Funding is never the problem. The policies were the same for me too. The government did not provide crores as funding to me. These can only be enablers. We need to put in the legwork ourselves. The problem in Bihar is that people expect a crore in their bank accountsonly then will they work. That cannot be the ideal way of doing things. We need to first start working," he says. I dream of turning Bihar into the next Silicon Valley," he adds. These bunch of hopefuls see hopelessness as a privilege and seek comfort in each others stories. Hoping that their idealism and love for the state will make Bihar rise for them. President Dr Arif Alvi issued an official notification on Wednesday to fix the date of the elections in Gilgit-Baltistan. Islamabad : Pakistan has announced that the once-postponed election for the legislative assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan will be held on November 15, amidst India's strong objection to Islamabad's move to alter the status of the militarily-occupied region. 'The president of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is pleased to announce Sunday, the 15th November 2020, as the poll day for the general elections to the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Legislative Assembly in terms of Section 57(1) of the Elections Act 2017,' the statement said. Reacting to the development, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said in New Delhi said the Government of Pakistan or its judiciary has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it. "Any action by Pakistan to alter the status of the militarily-occupied so-called 'Gilgit-Baltistan' has no legal basis whatsoever and is totally void ab initio," Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Anurag Srivastava said at a virtual media briefing. Referring to statements by the Pakistani leadership on the issue, he said Pakistan has no locus standi to comment on India's internal matters. "Our position has always been clear and consistent. The entire territories of the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been and are an integral part of India and would remain so," Srivastava said. In a ruling earlier this year, the Pakistan Supreme Court allowed the government to amend a 2018 administrative order to conduct general elections in the region. The Gilgit-Baltistan Order of 2018 provided for administrative changes, including authorising the prime minister of Pakistan to legislate on an array of subjects. Following the verdict, India issued a demarche to a senior Pakistani diplomat in New Delhi and lodged a strong protest over the Pakistan Supreme Court ruling. India also clearly conveyed to Pakistan that the entire Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of the country. The polls in Gilgit-Baltistan were to be held on August 18, but Pakistan's Election Commission on July 11 postponed them due to the coronavirus pandemic. Polling would be held on 24 general seats of the legislative assembly. The five-year term of the previous assembly had ended on June 24, bringing an end to the five-year rule of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). There are a total of 33 seats, but six are reserved for technocrats and three for women. The special seats are filled from nominations by the parties winning the polls according to their representation. The election date has been announced amidst reported consultations to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan's status to that of a full-fledged province. The issue was discussed in a meeting between the Opposition leaders and Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on September 16. Barbados has added the UK to its list of 'high risk' countries, meaning arriving British holidaymakers face a restricted movement period and will be monitored for symptoms for seven days after arrival. New restrictions will be implemented from October 1 after a surge in coronavirus cases in the UK, where another 6,634 infections were recorded yesterday alone. Tourists will be required to show evidence of a negative Covid-19 PCR test on arrival, or risk being refused entry to the idyllic Caribbean country. Those who fly in from Britain will be monitored for seven days and will be initially required to stay at a designated 'holding hotel or approved villa' at their own expense, or at a government facility free of charge. They would not be confined to their rooms, but would have limited access to some hotel amenities. Barbados has added the UK to its list of 'high risk' countries, meaning arriving British holidaymakers will be quarantined for up to a week. Pictured: Bathsheba, Barbados Four to five days after their initial test was taken, they will be retested and can leave their accommodation if they receive a negative result. The monitoring process is self-conducted. It includes daily self-temperature checks and sharing that information with the public health team who check-in via call or text. Monitoring is generally for seven days after arrival or the length of stay, whichever is shorter. Other 'high risk' countries include France, Ireland, Switzerland and the US. Barbados, which reopened its borders to international travel on July 12, is a popular winter sun destination for UK holidaymakers. The country's tourism authorities have issued a message to visitors which states: 'As we welcome you back to our beautiful island there are a number of precautions and safeguards being implemented to protect both locals and visitors.' Barbados is currently recording a seven-day rate of 1.4 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people, while the UK is on 52.1. Travellers arriving in the UK from Barbados are exempt from the nation's own coronavirus quarantine policy. But the 14-day self-isolation requirement will be reimposed on travellers from Denmark, Iceland, Slovakia and the Caribbean island of Curacao from 4am on Saturday due to a rise in cases. It comes as another 6,634 Covid-19 cases were recorded in the UK yesterday, meaning the seven-day rolling average is 48 per cent higher than it was a week ago. MailOnline analysis shows this is the fifth consecutive day the average compared to the week before has risen. Barbados is currently recording a seven-day rate of 1.4 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people, while the UK is on 52.1. Pictured: Rockley beach Before last Saturday, the weekly coronavirus growth rate had dropped every day for an entire week. It had plummeted from the high of 84 per cent on September 12 to 20 per cent on September 19. Chief scientific advisors to the Government, Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance have terrified the nation by their gloomy prediction that cases may reach 50,000 per day by mid-October, if nothing is done. They claimed infections were doubling every week, in line with growing outbreaks in Spain and France. But scientists shot down the claims, warning it was based on old data that relied on just a few hundred positive cases. Even Boris Johnson distanced himself from the claims, saying the outbreak could be doubling up to every 20 days. Other figures from NHS Test and Trace also suggest cases had dwindled last week. But the newest statistics - released yesterday - only go up until September 16, meaning any spike in the past week has yet to be confirmed in another government dataset. Department of Health figures show the doubling rate of cases is around two weeks. Almost 5,000 people are being diagnosed with Covid-19 every day at the moment, up from 2,500 on September 10. But this is based on lab-confirmed infections, and thousands of patients won't ever develop any symptoms. The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which tracks the size of the outbreak by carrying out thousands of random swab tests, estimates cases have risen 60 per cent in a week to 9,600 a day. While King's College London researchers, who are behind a symptom-tracking app, say it has doubled over the same time-frame to around 16,000. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 09:03 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4719137 1 Editorial democracy-in-Indonesia,democracy,Indonesia,demokrasidikorupsi,Jokowi Free Democracy doesnt die in one fell swoop. It is not like a train rolling into town and making an abrupt stop. Gone are the days when soldiers in military fatigue brandishing assault weapons patrol the city in tanks and declare martial law. If and when democracy dies, it is likely the result of thousands cuts and stabs directed at the body politic, cutting its life support and destroying its nerve system. The demise of a liberal democratic regime will likely end up giving birth to an autocrat or a populist leader, but the process to chip away democracy result from collective action taken by a political elite that acts solely on self-interest. To secure patronage networks built around the political party system, elites make efforts to take effective control of political parties, packing their central boards with family members and minions, an act that, in the long run, could blunt political parties effectiveness in performing their work to aggregate voters interests. Political parties, the workhorses of a healthy democracy, now controlled by these self-dealing elites, will only be an accessory in a political system that only resembles a procedural democracy. Also, in the effort to secure their interests, barons of the media, supposedly the fourth pillar of democracy, are willing to join the government and as a result will only give favorable coverage to those in power. And when checks-and-balances mechanisms have become too cumbersome, these same political elites will have no problem launching direct attacks on independent oversight bodies like the antigraft commission or the Constitutional Court. When the public space, both online and offline, has become too crowded with criticism directed at the government, a coalition of political elites that controls the state apparat has no problem unleashing hell on dissenters. On social media, government critics are now subjected to attacks from trolls, bots and influencers while street protests are dealt with the most heavy-handed approach. The blow-by-blow account on how democracy regresses may look and sound like a distant dystopian future, but that was actually how scholars and analysts describe the assault on Indonesias democracy in the recently published book Democracy in Indonesia: From Stagnation to Regression? The irony in Indonesias situation is that the intensified attacks on democratic norms and institutions took place especially in the past five years, during the administration of President Joko Jokowi Widodo, who was once hailed as the new face of Indonesian democracy. Jokowi is by no means responsible for the decline of Indonesian democracy, but he did very little to arrest the regression, while some of his policies have certainly helped members of the elite that helped catapult him into the presidency. The saving grace to Indonesias democracy could be found in civil society and grassroots organizations. Yet, some of the research in the book has less-than-favorable reviews on these civil society organizations. Even some mainstream organizations like Nahdlatul Ulama have tried their hand at illiberal actions. The unraveling has begun, and liberal-minded actors and organizations must work harder to arrest this decline. Ron Paul, the Republican ex-congressman who thrice ran for the White House, suffered some kind of medical emergency in the midst of a livestreamed event Friday. Disturbing video of the event shows Paul talking about the free market and then his speech suddenly turns to gibberish as another participant on the video call asks if he's OK. A number of people sharing the video suspected Paul had a mini stroke or a transient ischemic attack. Former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul was talking about free markets as part of his 'Ron Paul Liberty Report' Friday when his speech suddenly turned to gibberish. He was hospitalized after the incident, which many described as a 'stroke' Another participant on the livestream looked concerned and is heard asking the 85-year-old ex-congressman and father to Sen. Rand Paul if he's OK Shortly before 3 p.m. Friday, Ron Paul's Twitter account tweeted a photo of the ex-congressman giving a thumbs up: 'I am doing fine. Thank you for your concern,' he said Ron Paul's (left) powerhouse fundraising and group of fervent grassroots supporters helped launch his son Rand Paul's (right) Senate career in 2010 Rand Paul tweeted out to supporters, 'Thank God, Dad is doing well. Thank you for all your prayers today,' the Kentucky senator said WHAT IS A TRANSIENT ISCHEMIC ATTACK? Transient ischemic attack (TIA) is a stroke in the brain that lasts only a few minutes. It causes no permanent damage to the brain and scans turn up normal after an episode. An estimated 500,000 people in the United States experience a TIA every year. Because the symptoms go away, most patients don't seek medical attention after suffering from a TIA. But 10 to 15 percent of patients who have a TIA will experience a regular stroke within three months. Symptoms Face: Muscles in the face might droop on one side Arms: Weakness or numbness in the arms can prevent someone from lifting them Speech: Can become slurred or garbled Treatment Treatment depends on the severity of the stroke. Since TIA doesn't have any long-term symptoms, someone might not need any treatment. A doctor might prescribe medication for blood clotting to prevent risk of future strokes. Advertisement The former presidential candidate's Twitter account sent out a 'message from Ron Paul' Friday afternoon to his more than 600,000 followers. 'I am doing fine. Thank you for your concern,' it said with an image of Paul dressed in a hospital gown, smiling and giving a thumbs-up. Fox News reported that Paul was hospitalized for 'precautionary' reasons. Paul is the father of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, whose office didn't have an update on the former Texas congressman right away. The GOP senator later tweeted: 'Thank God, Dad is doing well. Thank you for all your prayers today.' A request for comment from DailyMail.com to the Ron Paul Institute went unreturned. While Paul retired from Congress in 2013, the 85-year-old has remained active in politics, continuing to film episodes of the 'Ron Paul Liberty Report.' It was during filming of an episode Friday that the incident occurred. Paul first ran for the White House in 1988, but his 2008 campaign was notable for the lawmaker's ability to harnass the power of the web. His supporters created viral moments in support of the candidate who represented the more libertarian side of the Republican Party. In one such instance, they raised money for a Ron Paul blimp that flew over several cities in the run-up to the 2008 primaries, which Sen. John McCain ultimately won. Paul again ran for president in 2012, losing the nomination to the more mainstream Mitt Romney. During that cycle, Paul memorably put out a cookbook of family recipes. Paul's success in politics helped launch the Senate career of his son Rand, who was the underdog in a GOP Senate primary in 2010 but was aided financially by money raised online, by many of the same grassroots supporters who wanted to see the elder Paul in the White House. Rand Paul ran unsuccessfully for the White House in 2016, bowing out in early February, after underperforming in the Iowa caucuses. Ron Paul was first elected to represent Texas in 1976 in a special election. He served in Congress during three spans of time throughout his political career representing Texas. Fellow Texan, Sen. Ted Cruz, tweeted about the incident Friday afternoon. 'Heidi & I are lifting up in prayer @RonPaul and @RandPaul and their family. For many decades, he has been an extraordinary warrior for Liberty. May Gods healing hand be upon Dr. Paul, and may Gods Peace and Grace be upon the entire family,' Cruz wrote. (Newser) A man who killed a religious couple visiting Texas from Iowa was executed Thursday, the first Black inmate put to death as part of the Trump administration's resumption of federal executions after a nearly 20-year pause. Christopher Vialva, 40, was pronounced dead shortly before 7pm ET after receiving a lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., per the AP. In a last statement, Vialva asked God to comfort the families of the young white couple he'd killed in 1999. His final words: "I'm ready, Father." Vialva was the seventh federal execution since July and the second this week. After robbing and locking Todd and Stacie Bagley in the trunk of their car, the then-19-year-old Vialva shot them in the head and burned their bodies in the vehicle. Seconds before Vialva shot them, Stacie Bagley said to him, "Jesus loves you," per court filings. story continues below Vialva's lawyer, Susan Otto, has said race played a role in landing her client a death sentence. A report this month by the DC-based Death Penalty Information Center said Black people remain overrepresented on death row. Of the 56 inmates currently on federal death row, 26or nearly 50%are Black, per recent center data. Otto said one Black juror and 11 white jurors recommended the death sentence in 2000 after prosecutors told them Vialva led a Black gang faction and killed to boost his gang status. That claim, Otto said, was false and only served to conjure up menacing stereotypes. In a video statement released by his lawyers earlier, Vialva expressed regret for what he'd done. "I committed a grave wrong when I was a lost kid and took two precious lives from this world," he said. Todd Bagley's mother, Georgia, released her own statement. "I believe when someone deliberately takes the life of another, they suffer the consequences for their actions," she said. (Read more execution stories.) Jim Caviezel says churches in America are at risk of being canceled, defends Christianity Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Actor Jim Caviezel is speaking out against cancel culture, saying religious leaders in America need to rise up because churches are under persecution. Caviezel, best known for his portrayal of Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ, told Fox News that Christians are "being persecuting for their faith." If Christians don't watch out, it will be canceling Christianity as well," he warned. The actor, whose latest film Infidel is a true story about an American Christian who's kidnapped in Cairo, Egypt, and imprisoned in Iran under false spying charges, called on Christian leaders to stand up for their faith. "A lot of our pastors, our bishops, our priests, they're laying right over. They let their churches be burned. How do we know that? Well, it's right there in the news," he said. That's why we're in this situation right now. We can't go to churches. We can't go into our church. Why? Because they could get contaminated, right? So why are we on airplanes?" Listen to Caviezel share his Christian faith, his views on abortion and more on "Edifi With Billy Hallowell," the best Christian podcast for faith news Churches across the country closed their doors beginning in the spring to help curb the spread of COVID-19. With gathering restrictions still in place in many states months later, some churches have chosen to defy orders or file lawsuits, claiming discrimination against places of worship. Caviezel insisted that keeping churches closed during the pandemic is affecting those who need it most in these times. "I have had friends that have committed suicide. I have seven SEAL buddies that lost seven of their friends committing suicide. Would it have helped to get into a church especially during this time? Absolutely. And is it good for mental illness? Yes, it is," he stressed. Speaking to Breitbart News Daily, Caviezel emphasized the "inalienable rights" of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" that the U.S. Constitution guarantees. But he wondered, "Why can't I go to church?" "You know, it's not going to be some communist or Nazi that takes away your freedoms," he warned. "It's going to be you giving them away." Noting that there is no collaboration," the actor urged all Christians "to stand up and fight back, while on "The Ben Shapiro Show." If we are ever going to war, we should go to war with secular extremists. That is a war that needs to be fought and be won now! Christians need to start speaking the truth. The Washington native also compared some church leaders to those who betrayed Jesus in the Bible. He likened them to Pontius Pilate and the Pharisees. "It's a bloody shame if you can't tell the difference between a priest, a bishop or a politician. It's really sad," he lamented. But this is called lukewarmness. And Christ has a very special place for them and they know it." Caviezel has been promoting his new film, Infidel, which draws attention to global Christian persecution. Infidel is now in theaters and topped The New Mutants last Friday, earning $530,000 in 1,724 theaters. The film has since been added to more theaters across the country. On a perfect afternoon, state and local leaders took the ceremonial first step toward returning camping to Lake Manawa State Park. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources held a groundbreaking for a roughly $3.3 million, 40 full-service site campground west of the beach at the Council Bluffs Park. This will be a wonderful campground, said DNR Parks Bureau Chief Todd Coffelt. Were excited. During remarks to a crowd of about 40 people, Coffelt noted Iowa is celebrating 100 years of state parks. The milestone has been marked in a different way than expected as with everything, the COVID-19 pandemic led to event cancelations and changing plans but its been successful nonetheless. Coffelt said during the first six months of the year, parks saw about a million more visitors compared to the same timeframe a year ago. Which has been consistent with every park. This is a busy park, he told the crowd, noting its location in the Council Bluffs-Omaha metro area. Coffelt and others noted the new campground has been years in the making. The old, outdated campground at Manawa closed in November 2015. There were a lot of different options, a lot of obstacles, Friends of Lake Manawa President Tom Braddy said of the effort. It took a while, but in a good way. We considered a few options before deciding on this location. And this is the location that makes the most sense. The campground will be west on the lake of the beach, allowing easy access to not only the beach, but the adjacent Dream Playground, as well. According to project information and specifications from the DNR, the campground will consist entirely of sites with water, electric and sewer hookups available for recreational vehicles, with the sites also offering concrete slabs. The grounds will have a concrete parking lot, along with a bathroom with shower area. And the location provides a space for great views, Braddy said. Beautiful sunsets. And sunrises when you get up in the morning, he told the Nonpareil. Its going to be an absolute gem. Were very excited about what will be happening here behind us, Braddy said during the groundbreaking ceremony. The legend says Manawa means a place of peace and comfort. Were so happy with what weve accomplished here. Friends of Lake Manawa organization works to preserve and continuously improve the park, according to the organizations website. Braddy said the group serves as a voice and advocate for the community in park matters. Iowa DNR Director Kayla Lyon told the crowd this has been a long time coming. Lake Manawa is one of the most popular parks in the state, she said, noting the beach, playground, trails and other amenities, along with the ongoing lake restoration process improving water quality. The combination of features here will make it a destination. This is a great example of work aligning with our mission of protecting and enhancing natural areas. Construction of the campground will begin soon. Coffelt said he expects the space to open in September 2021, slightly later than what he thought possible when discussing the project with the Nonpareil in late August. The cost will be covered by DNR parks infrastructure funds, Iowa Department of Transportation parks, institutional funds and federal funds. Well be able to be here in a year for a ribbon cutting, Coffelt told the crowd. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. But for all the froth spread over social media and television, the permanent sea the slow rise and fall of public opinion has told one story relentlessly. The RealClearPolitics rolling average of countless polls going back for a year long before the start of the pandemic tolls the knell of Trump. Even in January, when the stock market blazed to new records and unemployment fell to rare depths; when the Democratic impeachment project was in shambles and Trump looked triumphant even then, if one ignored the foam and studied only the sea of public opinion, one saw that Trump was four percentage points behind. Video has emerged appearing to show a Seattle cop rolling the wheel of his bicycle over the head of a protester who was lying down in the middle of a road during demonstrations over Kentucky prosecutors' decision not to charge officers over the killing of Breonna Taylor. Livestream footage of Wednesday night's protest, captured by CJTV Media, showed a group of officers riding bikes towards protesters as they attempted to disperse crowds amid unrest in the city over the death of Taylor, who was gunned down by police at her home in Kentucky during a bungled raid. As the group of police approached, one officer apparently proceeded to push his bike over the protester's head, instead of veering around him. It was not immediately clear if the man had been injured or whether he was attempting to block officers' paths; video appeared to show him being apprehended shortly after the incident. Seattle Police Department (SPD) said that it was "aware" of the incident. "This matter will be referred to the Office of Police Accountability for further investigation," the force said in a statement. Some 13 people were arrested during the clashes and "multiple officers" injured, SPD added. Protests also erupted in Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia and Washington after Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron announced no one would be charged with killing Taylor, a 26-year-old hospital worker, who was shot dead when three plainclothes officers stormed her Louisville home. One of the officers, Brett Hankinson, has been charged with first-degree "wanton endangerment" for firing rounds into a neighbouring house. Sergeant John Mattingly and detective Myles Cosgrove, the two other cops, will face no charges, a grand jury decided. Two Lousiville police offers were shot as protests over the decision descended into violence. Their condition has been described as stable. Taylor was shot at least six times on 13 March by officers who entered her home during a narcotics investigation. The warrant used was connected to a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside. The use of no-knock warrants has since been banned by Louisville's Metro Council. Kenneth Walker, Taylor's boyfriend, told police he fired one round after the couple's door was broken down and Mr Mattingly entered. Mr Walker said he thought someone was breaking into the house and didn't know that it was police who were entering. After Mr Walker fired, the officers shot back. In total, police fired 32 gunshots. Delivering the grand jury decision on Wednesday, Mr Cameron, 34, said the fatal bullet was fired by Mr Cosgrove, but added that Mr Cosgrove and Mr Mattingly were justified in the use of force because they were shot at first. Mr Cameron said state law bars us from seeking charges in Breonna Taylors death. In a rare admission of China's continuing smog problems, a top environmental official has signaled that residents should be ready for a return of "heavy air pollution" in Beijing and the surrounding region this fall. The warning of rising emissions from economic development in the near term stands in sharp contrast with President Xi Jinping's pledge this week to make China "carbon neutral" four decades from now. On Tuesday, Xi surprised environmental advocates by setting new goals for China's carbon releases to reach a peak before 2030 and net-zero emissions before 2060. But present-day problems and economic pressures are likely to slow progress toward the climate targets that Xi announced in a taped address to the U.N. General Assembly's annual meeting. "China would need to reverse recent emissions trends," The New York Times said in a commentary. Li Shuo, a Greepeace China policy adviser, said the lack of details "was probably intended to leave the Communist Party leadership flexibility in the short term to pursue an economic rebound following the pandemic," The Times reported. The recent smog warning suggests it could be years before China resolves the conflict between economic and environmental objectives. China's smog and climate problems have been running on separate tracks, but both are affected by economic development. On Sept. 11, Zhao Yingmin, vice-minister for ecology and environment, offered a frank assessment of the causes for poor air quality in the region that includes China's capital, the port city of Tianjin and adjacent Hebei province. "The quantity of most pollutants detected in the region exceeds the environment's capacity by more than half, which is the root cause for heavy air pollution," said Zhao, the official English-language China Daily reported. "Air pollutants per unit of land in the region are two to five times the national average," Zhao said. In response to a reporter's question at a policy briefing, Zhao pointed to "clusters of heavy chemical plants, heavy reliance on coal burning for energy and on road vehicles for freight transport" in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The findings were the result of a three-year investigation into the causes of smog problems and their solutions, particularly in the fall and winter heating seasons, Zhao said. The briefing followed a Sept. 2 decision by the cabinet- level State Council at an executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang to improve air quality efforts on the basis of the investigation. Li said that "controlling air pollution and improving air quality is a matter of concern to the public, and the government must step up science-based treatment measures and promote green development." The government plans "targeted" measures to deal with industrial pollution, small coal furnaces and diesel vehicles in urban areas, state media said. The council called for changes in energy use for industries including steel, petrochemicals and construction materials as well as increased shipment of commodities by rail and the use of new energy vehicles for urban deliveries. Sluggish improvement China has gradually improved air quality in recent years, but the pace of progress has been mixed. The government cited Ministry of Ecology and Environment data showing a 10-percent drop in concentrations of fine airborne particles known as PM2.5 in 337 surveyed cities in the first half of the year and a 16.7-percent cut in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The reports were unclear whether the comparisons were to the comparable year-earlier period or for readings over six months. Another report based on ministry data said the region's average density of PM2.5 particles fell from 89.5 micrograms per cubic meter in 2013 to 42 micrograms per cubic meter last year, still 68 percent higher than levels considered safe by the World Health Organization. In August, Beijing municipal authorities reported that PM2.5 concentrations in January through July were down 6.7 percent year-on-year to 42 micrograms per cubic meter. But beyond the data and policy decisions, there appeared to be an acknowledgment that previous clean air initiatives had fallen short of their goals. The government made a major push to improve Beijing's air quality by banning coal for heating in surrounding cities before the winter of 2017-2018, but the abrupt order backfired when many natural gas connections could not be completed in time and prices for gas soared. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top planning agency, quickly moderated the fuel switching policy midway through the heating season and reduced pressure for conversions in the following year as the economy slowed. Efforts to shore up economic growth became a higher priority in 2019 as the government eased seasonal production restrictions on steel, a major contributor to coal burning and carbon emissions in the industrial northeast. This year, steel production has set monthly records, even as China struggled to recover from the economy's 6.8-percent contraction in the first quarter. Approval of new coal-fired power projects at the provincial level has also continued to spur the economy, raising further doubts about the central government's priority for air quality and climate change goals. The State Council's latest decision and Zhao's statement on the causes of pollution, particularly in fall and winter, leave it unclear whether any tougher steps will be taken in time for this year's heating season, as in 2017. Economic priority The government may only be marking the conclusion of the environment ministry's three-year investigation, postponing major measures until economic recovery becomes clear. Earlier this month, an analysis by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES) concluded that the rapid growth of China's oil demand over the past two decades is set to slow down due to the effects of government policies in support of electric cars and other new energy vehicles (NEVs). Although strong increases in crude buying and refining in the second quarter suggest "an accelerated growth trajectory going forward, the government's recovery package and its focus on electrification will in fact weigh on oil demand in the medium term," wrote Michal Meidan, director of the OIES China Energy Program. This month, the Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau reported that more 350,000 all-electric vehicles were operating in the city out of a total of 6.53 million motor vehicles, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Mobile sources of air pollution account for 45 percent of PM2.5 density, a bureau official said. Beijing is planning to ban high-emission vehicles from major roads, Xinhua reported. Despite the slowdown in oil demand growth, China's refiners are still planning to add capacity, but not for production of fuels. Instead, they are seeking to shift their focus to production of petrochemicals, Meidan said. The plans for upgrading production to petrochemicals could come into conflict with the government's environmental goals following the ministry's pollution investigation, which specifically cited the existing concentrations of chemical plants. In an email message, Meidan suggested that the government is trying to find a way to advance both the economy and environmental controls. "The goal I think remains to move toward more efficient processes both for coal-fired power plants and in chemicals," Meidan said. "Part of the problem remains small chemical plants or dispersed coal, but the plan going forward remains to consolidate into bigger and more efficient plants which emit less," she said. "On balance, the government is likely to prioritize pollution control this winter but likely leaving many of the concrete measures up to provinces," said Meidan. On Sept. 11, Li made clear in a teleconference with Communist Party members that the government is sticking with its policy of promoting economic growth by cutting red tape and delegating power to lower levels. Environmental groups have criticized the policy of delegating authority to the provinces for approving coal- fired power projects since 2015, citing a wave of underutilized and polluting new plants. Philip Andrews-Speed, principal fellow at the National University of Singapore's Energy Studies Institute, said that economic recovery is clearly the Chinese government's overriding concern. "There is no evidence that the environment is high on the agenda in the short-term, nor that China is taking advantage of the crisis to accelerate the low-carbon energy transition," said Andrews-Speed. "Rather, the economy, employment and, more recently, self- sufficiency are the top priorities," he said. On Tuesday, China's top climate change adviser held out hope that the government would announce detailed targets for carbon emissions by the end of the year. "China is definitely going to launch a very powerful low- carbon development target," said Xie Zhenhua, as quoted by Reuters. But China may have inadvertently telegraphed its policy priorities in a Sept. 19 Xinhua report on electricity use in August, which rose 7.7 percent from a year earlier, 5.4 percentage points higher than the increase in July, according to the NDRC. "China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, further improved last month thanks to the country's efforts in boosting growth amid the COVID-19 slowdown," the Xinhua report said. From an environmental standpoint, a big increase in power use could hardly be called an improvement, since about two- thirds of China's electricity is generated from coal. FLINT, MI -- It has been a little over three years since Connie Rau last spoke with her daughter. She talked over the phone with Presley Rau on Aug. 8, 2017. The pair were supposed to go on an outing the following day with Presleys three daughters. She remains missing to this day after last being seen in September 2017 near Fenton and Atherton roads on the Flints south side. Presley Rau stands 5 feet tall, weighs around 110 pounds, and goes by the name Amy Jo. Presley Rau was one of several missing persons highlighted by a group of people who wants them found and gathered Thursday outside of the Flint Police Department in hopes of bringing attention to the cases. Crime Stoppers offers cash reward for info in womans disappearance Connie Rau was joined by members of the Missing People on Genesee County group outside the police department in downtown Flint. The group is seeking a renewed effort in helping find her daughter and others that have gone missing in the Fenton Road area. Connie Rau said the last time she spoke with Flint police around one year ago, she was asked if her daughter had been found. No, she isnt, and they should know that, said Connie Rau. When it first occurred, we would get sightings, said Connie Rau, of Otisville, whod then contact Jennie Stein, the groups leader who lives in Flint, to go check it out. In speaking and keeping in touch with families since the group was founded in 2017, Stein said Theyre losing hope. They feel as though theyre fighting this battle alone, she said. They feel as though theyre not getting anywhere. She called Connie Rau one of the strongest women Ive ever met. She has got Presleys three daughters, Stein said. Shes doing everything she can to keep Presley in the spotlight. Stein commented it hurts her to see the pain in all these peoples eyes. I see the pain her eyes. I see the pain in her granddaughters' eyes, Stein said. When you look at those little girls, especially the oldest, she looks identical to Presley. You can see in her eyes that she wants her mom. She misses her mom. The two oldest girls, ages 10 and 6, do ask about their mother, Connie Rau said. The youngest child, now 3, was just a few months old when Presley Rau went missing. She knows mom through pictures and from the other two talking, Connie Rau said of the 3-year-old. "Its hard on them. Its hard on me because shes my daughter, but to see her daughters without hershe loved them, said Connie Rau. Shed see them two and three times a week. She did stuff with them. She urged anyone with information on any missing person to contact Crime Stoppers of Flint and Genesee County. (The information) might be small to them, but it could be huge to these people, to my daughter, to the rest of them, said Connie Rau. Stein also urged people to step forward. I know theres people that know and at the time (of her disappearance) there were people that were afraid for their own lives, but they can remain anonymous, she said. After the news broke in June on the identities of two women whose bones had been found in Broome Park in November 2017, Stein had some hope the news would revitalize other missing persons cases for Presley Rau as well as Brianna Vibert and Teresa Woolard. A search party went out in March 2018 near Kearsley High School to try and find any clues on the whereabouts of Vibert, a 25-year-old woman who was last seen around 2:45 a.m. July 15, 2017, at the Mobil gas station in the 3800 block of South Saginaw Street, and Woolard, 48. Search party back on to look for missing Genesee County women Woolard was last heard from Dec. 10, 2016, in a text message to her daughter. She was last seen Dec. 5, 2016, at Kings Lane Apartments off Hemphill Road where she lives. Another womans name on the signs held up by group members was 38-year-old Laquandra Shavonne Slater. Slater hasnt been seen by family or friends since Dec. 2, 2016. She is an African-American woman standing 5-foot-4 inches tall, weighs 178 pounds, and has short black hair. Her vehicle was located around Atherton Road and Van Slyke Road in Flint and appeared to be abandoned. A missing person report was filed with Flint Township police Dec. 8. Their families still need that closure, said Stein. "I hopepolice get phone calls. I hope Crime Stoppers gets phone calls. If by chance somebody does say, hey, today is the day I speak up, I hope they do it for Presleys mom, Presleys daughters, or Briannas children, Teresas daughters. All of these women had children. They all have families and just like you or I, if one of our loved ones goes missing, wed want answers and so do all these other families, she said. They just want to know what happened, where is she, heaven forbid if theyre not found with us anymore, these families want to be able to put their loved one to rest respectfully. Anyone with information on Presley Raus is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Flint and Genesee County at 1-800-422-JAIL (5245), on the P3 Tips mobile app, or online at crimestoppersofflint.com. Read more from MLive: Police seek publics help to find missing women Reward offered in missing woman case Families with missing loved ones seek answers at Flint DNA event Senior officials of India, the US, and on Friday held a virtual meeting under the framework of Quadrilateral coalition or "Quad", focusing on ways to promote peace, security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. The meeting took place in the backdrop of China's growing military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region. The foreign ministers of the four member nations of the "Quad" are set to hold talks in Tokyo next month to further boost their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the officials reaffirmed their commitment towards a "free, open, prosperous and inclusive" Indo-Pacific region based on shared values and principles and respect for international law. It said the officials exchanged views on ongoing and proposed practical cooperation in the areas of maritime security, counter-terrorism, connectivity and infrastructure development with the objective of promoting peace, security and stability in the Indo-Pacific. The MEA said the officials reiterated their firm support for ASEAN-centrality and ASEAN-led mechanisms for the Indo-Pacific, and their readiness to work with ASEAN and all other countries towards realising a common and promising vision for the Indo-Pacific. Ten-nation regional grouping Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a major stakeholder in the Indo-Pacific region. "In the context of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, the officials underscored the importance of enhancing the resilience of supply chains and sharing best practices on how to combat the pandemic," it said. A statement by the US said the four countries explored ways to work together in the Mekong sub-region, in the South China Sea, and across the Indo-Pacific to support international law, pluralism, regional stability, and post-pandemic recovery efforts. "Noting the importance of digital connectivity and secure networks, the officials discussed ways to promote the use of trusted vendors, particularly for fifth generation (5G) networks," it said. "They explored ways to enhance coordination on counterterrorism, maritime security, cyber security, and regional connectivity, as well as quality infrastructure based upon international best practices," it added. In November 2017, the four countries gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the "Quadrilateral" coalition or "Quad" to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence. is also expanding bilateral cooperation with Japan, the US and in the Indo-Pacific region. On its part, the US has been pushing for a greater role for in the Indo-Pacific which is seen by many countries as an effort to contain China's growing clout 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.) At the MoU signing ceremony (Photo: HNMO) This event marks the first strategic partnership of the world's largest multilateral organization with a private corporation to help Vietnam achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recognizing the mutual concern of the two sides about promoting youth participation and green growth, as well as protecting and promoting cultural and natural heritage in Vietnam, the MoU establishes a framework for the long term, and calls on all parties to cooperate to expand partnerships with Vietnamese enterprises. Accordingly, Sovico Group will coordinate with UN organizations, including UNESCO, UNIDO and UN-Habitat, to support Hanoi in its goal of becoming a creative city. The title, officially granted by UNESCO in 2019, recognizes and supports activities to preserve and restore cultural heritages, restore craft villages and support creative hubs to nurture the young talents of Hanoi. Speaking at the event, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi city People's Committee Ngo Van Quy affirmed that with the title, Hanoi had the opportunity to rise to become a regional center of creativity. However, it also faces challenges of spreading the title and bringing it into political, cultural and social life, which needs the support and contribution of all related parties, he said./. CALGARY, AB, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - LendingArch Financial Inc. is pleased to announce it placed No. Seventeen (17) on the 2020 Report on Business ranking of Canada's Top Growing Companies. Canada's Top Growing Companies ranks Canadian companies on three-year revenue growth. LendingArch earned its spot with three-year growth of 3,266%. LendingArch provides auto loans, personal loans, insurance and credit card comparison services all online through its platform www.lendingarch.ca . LendingArch has become a leader and premier destination specifically for its auto loan division, with thousands of Canadians applying through LendingArch's platform to obtain an auto loan for a new or used vehicle. "We are about the approval first method to finding a new or used vehicle" says Paul Hadzoglou, LendingArch's President. "Too many consumers look for the vehicle first only to be let down at the approval stage. We help Canadians obtain the approvals required, in a quick and seamless fashion, to get the auto loan they need on their terms allowing them then to pick a vehicle that fits their needs, through one of our trusted and authorized dealership partners. We are happy and proud to be named the Seventeenth (17th) fastest growing company in Canada for 2020, an incredible achievement for LendingArch, and we would like to thank all our valued customers and partners for trusting in our brand and services". Says Paul. Jay Modi, the company's Founder had the original vision to create an online platform for loans in Canada in 2015 without having to fill out endless paperwork or wait in a loan shop or bank. "Its a unique, fully digital application process that can be completed in minutes, along with superior customer service and a relentless focus to place our customers first, that has led to our blistering growth in Canada." Says Jay. "We look forward to serving Canadians for many years to come as the world turns more towards digital means to accomplish what once was once a manual and tedious process. Applying for a loan through the LendingArch platform is a simple, paperless process to obtain the loan you need". Says Mr. Modi. Launched in 2019, the Canada's Top Growing Companies editorial ranking aims to celebrate entrepreneurial achievement in Canada by identifying and amplifying the success of growth-minded, independent businesses in Canada. It is a voluntary program; companies had to complete an in-depth application process in order to qualify. In total, 400 companies earned a spot on this year's ranking. The full list of 2020 winners, and accompanying editorial coverage, is published in the October issue of Report on Business magazineout nowand online at www.tgam.ca/TopGrowing "The stories of Canada's Top Growing Companies are worth telling at any time, but are especially relevant in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic," says James Cowan, Editor of Report on Business magazine. "As businesses work to rebuild the economy, their resilience and innovation make for essential reading." "Any business leader seeking inspiration should look no further than the 400 businesses on this year's Report on Business ranking of Canada's Top Growing Companies," says Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail. "Their growth helps to make Canada a better place, and we are proud to bring their stories to our readers." About The Globe and Mail The Globe and Mail is Canada's foremost news media company, leading the national discussion and causing policy change through brave and independent journalism since 1844. With award-winning coverage of business, politics and national affairs, The Globe and Mail newspaper reaches 5.9 million readers every week in print or digital formats, and Report on Business magazine reaches 2.1 million readers in print and digital every issue. The Globe and Mail's investment in innovative data science means that as the world continues to change, so does The Globe. The Globe and Mail is owned by Woodbridge, the investment arm of the Thomson family. About LendingArch Established in 2015, LendingArch is one of North America's fastest growing loan comparison platforms, that allows borrowers to compare rates from multiple lenders, comparing credit card rates, car loans, personal loans, small business loans and even credit rebuilding services. LendingArch combines expert advice and the best financial tools, empowering its customers to make the smartest financial decisions; LendingArch is dedicated to bringing financial advancement to consumers and businesses who deserve to grow and flourish, at their rate on their terms. SOURCE LendingArch Financial Inc. Related Links https://lendingarch.ca/ Union minister Suresh Angadi succumbs to Covid-19 infection Union minister of state for railways Suresh Angadi passed away on Wednesday. He was suffering from coronavirus (Covid-19) infection and was admitted to AIIMS in Delhi early this month. He was admitted to AIIMS after his swab samples returned positive for Covid-19 on 11 September. Those who came in close contact with him in the last few days were also requested to monitor their health and get tested in case of any symptoms. The MP from Belagavi in Karnataka is the first union minister to succumb to coronavirus infection. Earlier, union home minister Amit Shah, minister of state for agriculture Kailash Choudhary, ayush minister Shripad Nayak, jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, MoS for parliamentary affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal and petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan were diagnoses with Covid-19. President Ram Nath Kovind expressed shock over Angadi's death. The President termed him as an amiable leader and offered his condolences to the deceased's family. "Shocked to know the passing away of Shri Suresh Angadi, Union Minister of State of Railways. An amiable leader Shri Angadi worked tirelessly for the people of his constituency, Belagavi and Karnataka. With his indomitable spirit, he carried out public service with humility and perseverance. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and the loved ones," President Kovind said. Deeply pained to learn about the passing away of MoS Railways and senior BJP leader from Karnataka, Shri Suresh Angadi ji. He will always be remembered for his selfless service to the nation and party. My deepest condolences are with his family. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti, tweeted Amit Shah. Several politicians cutting across party lines condoled Angadi's death. Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Angadi as an 'exceptional karyakarta' while offering condolences to the late minister's family. "Shri Suresh Angadi was an exceptional Karyakarta, who worked hard to make the Party strong in Karnataka. He was a dedicated MP and effective Minister, admired across the spectrum. His demise is saddening. My thoughts are with his family and friends in this sad hour. Om Shanti," PM Modi tweeted. Railway minister Piyush Goyal expressed condolences to the aggrieved family of his cabinet colleague. Terming Angadi as his "brother", Goyal said that he was "deeply anguished". "Deeply anguished at the unfortunate demise of Suresh Angadi ji. He was like my brother. Words fall short to describe his commitment and dedication towards the people. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this hour of need. Om Shanti," Goyal tweeted. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh expressed pain to hear the demise of the union minister. "I remember the ever smiling Angadi-ji. Very pained at hearing this sad news", he tweeted. His lawyers described the ruling as illegal and unfounded, saying that it was ordered by the government. Tsarukian also condemned it as he headed to a prison in downtown Yerevan later in the evening. He was greeted by several dozen supporters outside the prison building. Tsarukian, whose party has the second largest group in the Armenian parliament, again claimed to be persecuted by the authorities when he spoke to journalists in the morning. If Tsarukians arrest improves the plight of the people, then I have no problem, he said sarcastically before attending a court hearing on the arrest warrant sought by the National Security Service (NSS). The tycoon was taken into custody just over three months after the parliament dominated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians allies lifted his legal immunity from prosecution and arrest. The NSS claimed that he created and led an organized group that bought more than 17,000 votes for the BHK during parliamentary elections held in 2017. Tsarukian strongly denies the accusations. He and his party maintain that Pashinian ordered the criminal proceedings in response to the BHK leaders calls for the governments resignation. Pashinian and law-enforcement authorities deny that the case is politically motivated. A Yerevan judge refused to allow Tsarukians pre-trial arrest on June 21. Armenias Court of Appeals overturned that decision on July 8, ordering a lower court to hold new hearings on the matter. Defense lawyers said the investigators kept pushing for Tsarukians arrest despite producing no proof that their client has pressured witnesses or obstructed the NSS investigation otherwise over the past three months. This is simply absurd, one of them, Yerem Sargsian, told journalists. Sargsian and the other lawyers linked the arrest warrant to an anti-government rally which will be held by the BHK and two other opposition parties in Yerevan on October 8. Representatives of the BHK, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and Hayrenik party said on Thursday that the rally will go ahead even if Tsarukian is taken into custody. They said they will demand the holding of snap parliamentary elections. The NSS said that it has also indicted a total of 14 individuals, among them two former BHK parliamentarians, and questioned 162 others as part of the probe. The BHK was part of Pashinians first cabinet formed following the Velvet Revolution of April-May 2018. The prime minister fired his BHK-affiliated ministers in October 2018, accusing Tsarukian of secretly collaborating with the countrys former leadership toppled in the revolution. Addressing senior BHK members on June 5, Tsarukian accused the government of mishandling Armenias coronavirus crisis and failing to mitigate its socioeconomic consequences. CLEVELAND, Ohio One of our biggest spiritual battles is rejection. It can linger for years. It can chew away at our faith in ourselves and God. In this column, the stories are real and came from readers. Ive changed their first names. I remember applying for one job after another, emailed Jason. I would receive emails praising my resume and my interviewing skills, but no job offer. Jason talked with his family. They stood by him. But he also took a realistic view of himself and the job market. I moved to a completely different field, he said. I got a full-time job with benefits. It sounds trite when someone says, God closes one door to open another. There can be some truth in that, but it seldom happens right away. Rejection can lead to redirection, but its usually not a smooth transition. THE LESSON IN SALES People in sales talk about how the faucet was just turned off. For months, they closed deals. They added new clients. They found themselves saying exactly the right thing at the right time. Then it stopped. No one was buying anything they were saying. They were doing the same things the same way, but people didnt seem to be listening. Faithful customers suddenly said, We have to take our business somewhere else. Its nothing personal. Of course its personal! they want to scream. But they dont because that would be unprofessional. So what to do? They send one more email, one more text and make one more call. They talk to others who are selling things for ideas. Finally, they sell something. They dont know why it changed, but it did for the better. Then more sales follow. The faucet was opened. Part of getting past rejection is being persistent and patient. Not easy. Pete sent me an email about being fired unexpectedly for cost cutting. Devastating. Then he faced that big question, Now what? He had to work. He needed a job. He had to humble himself by asking others for help. Pray for wisdom. Rarely are there shortcuts to repositioning ourselves in business or our lives. One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 43:19: (God says) Im doing a new thing! Now it springs up, dont you see it? I am making a way in the wilderness, and streams in the wasteland. THE SCARS OF WAR, THE HOMECOMING John emailed me a story similar to what Ive heard from other friends who served in Vietnam. When he returned home, he said some friends, strangers, seminarians and even a few priests called him a baby killer. It felt like the entire country was rejecting him. When he was belatedly awarded a Bronze Star several years later, it started all up again. He went through counseling. Dealt with PTSD. He later was recalled to active duty, and began to work with others facing the same problems. Im not sure I ever got past it, he said. Its always in the background. I carried around a lot of anger." But he added helping others has helped me get a handle on it. FAMILY REJECTION IS THE HARDEST Rich wrote me: Rejection is a pain that never goes away. Its a festering wound that never heals. Too often we allow family members to define us. We need to pray and ask God to give us the strength to say, Why am I giving that family member so much power over me? Amanda wrote how early in her life, she was very close to her father. But when she was about 10, he rejected her. She had no idea why until years later, she realized he had mental health issues. She said this rejection colored my life like nothing else. She went through counseling. She was unchurched as a child and began reaching out to God. She began to understand it was the mental illness was attacking her. It was nothing she did. I did make peace with him before he died, she said. But understanding how difficult his life was growing up, I see how easily I could have been like him. Thats not excusing what he did, it is explaining it so that she would not be haunted with it for the rest of her life. ACCEPTING HELP IS REQUIRED I received this email from Janice: Many years ago, I was pregnant with twins. My husband (now ex-husband) told me that I was ugly and stupid and he never wanted to be seen with me. That was a shock to Janice. She later discovered he was having an affair. Janice is still grateful to her brother in-law and his family as they stepped in to help. She also had to be willing to accept them rather than transfer her anger about her husband in their direction. They walked me through it, she wrote. My ex sister-in-law was my matron of honor when I remarried. My ex in-laws have been wonderful grandparents to the twins and the three children we later adopted. Its a happy ending, but it took a lot of pain to get there ... and a willingness to see past the rejection and accept love from a different direction. RECENT TERRY PLUTO FAITH & YOU Pioneer Pastor Diana Swoope dies, inspiration to those with cancer. Fighting the Inner Bully The trap of wanting to be liked Feeling stuck in the middle What to say to someone who has cancer Michigans Upper Peninsula: A land of massive rocks, bugs, bears and beauty Shelter In Place is rough on those in Nursing Homes Can you really forgive and forget when its so painful? Stories of parents, kids, pain and hope Are you agonizing over your trouble child? When you go the store, do you see the mask-wearing clerk as a person? Some amazing prayers answered The world today has me feeling like Howard The Duck What do you think when looking at your fathers tombstone? Father Walt Jenne: 50 years on Faiths Frontline What can I say to an African-American friend as anger arises? You want me to change? Hey graduates, lets talk relationships! Patient? What do you mean, Im not patient? Ill tell you who needs to be patient! PM Narendra Modi on Friday had a phone call with his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga and the two leaders agreed that the India-Japan Special Strategic and the global partnership has made great advances and expressed their intention to further strengthen this relationship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday had a phone call with Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga and congratulated him on his appointment as Prime Minister of Japan and wished him success in achieving his goals. According to a statement from Prime Ministers Office, the two leaders agreed that the India-Japan Special Strategic and the global partnership has made great advances over the last few years and expressed their intention to further strengthen this relationship based upon mutual trust and shared values. The two leaders concurred that the partnership between the two countries is even more relevant in todays times given the global challenges, including that of the COVID-19 pandemic. They emphasised that the economic architecture of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region must be premised on resilient supply chains and in this context welcomed cooperation between India, Japan and other like-minded countries. The two leaders appreciated the progress made in the economic partnership between the two countries and welcomed the finalisation of the text of the agreement pertaining to specialised skilled workers. Prime Minister Modi extended an invitation to Prime Minister Suga to visit India for the Annual Bilateral Summit, after the improvement of the situation caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Also Read: Journalist claims that ultimate goal of Chinese government is to eliminate identity of Uyghurs Also Read: Hopefully India, China will be able to work out their differences: Trump Earlier, Japans PM Yoshihide Suga and US President Donald Trump had discussed the importance of pursuing a shared vision of a free and open India-Pacific and agreed to give a further boost to the Japan-US security alliance. This is the first conversation held between Suga and Trump over the phone since the Japanese leader assumed office earlier this week. After the phone talks which went on for 25 minutes, Suga told reporters that he told Trump the Japan-US alliance is the cornerstone of peace and stability in the region, Kyodo News reported. Also Read: Japans PM, Trump discusses free, open India-Pacific vision The Reviews Are In! We're a Great Nonprofit Since we asked for your kudos on the nonprofit-rating site GreatNonprofits.org earlier this month, we've been gratified to see just how much you value the Center's work. You helped make us the third-most reviewed organization on the site, with 1,200 rave reviews by folks across the world, earning us our 2020 five-star rating. "Without this organization, our planet would be in even more trouble than it already is. I am happy to donate to them whenever I can," says one supporter. "You simply couldn't find a better conservation or environmental organization to support and put your faith in," says another. And so many of you love our communications like the newsletter you're reading now. Thank you. Your praise helps fuel our mission to stick up for animals, plants and wild places across the globe. You can read our reviews and review us if you haven't at the Great Nonprofits website. Selected financial information: August 31, 2020 May 31, 2020 February 29, 2020 November 30, 2019 Net asset value (in thousands) $ 701,662 $ 819,823 $ 597,105 $ 623,310 Net asset value per common share $ 5.16 $ 6.00 $ 4.32 $ 4.51 U 3 O 8 spot price(1) (US$) $ 30.65 $ 34.00 $ 24.70 $ 26.00 UF 6 spot price(1) (US$) $ 98.25 $ 102.50 $ 85.95 $ 89.90 Foreign exchange rate (US$ to CAD$) 1.3042 1.3787 1.3429 1.3289 (1) Spot prices as published by UxC, LLC ('UxC'). Overall Performance The net loss for the three months ended August 31, 2020 was mainly driven by unrealized net losses on investments in uranium of $117,417,000 and net operating expenses of $2,048,000, slightly offset by realized gains on the sale of conversion components of $3,459,000 and income from uranium lending and relocation arrangements of $1,297,000. Unrealized net losses on investments in uranium during the three months ended August 31, 2020 were mainly due to the decrease in the spot price of uranium. The spot price decreased during the quarter from US$34.00 per pound U 3 O 8 and US$102.50 per KgU as UF 6 at May 31, 2020 to US$30.65 per pound U 3 O 8 and US$98.25 per KgU as UF 6 at August 31, 2020, as well as the change in the U.S. dollar to Canadian dollar exchange rate, which decreased by 5% during the quarter. Total equity decreased to $701,662,000 at August 31, 2020, from $819,823,000 at May 31, 2020. Taken together, UPC's NAV per share decreased to $5.16 at August 31, 2020, from $6.00 at May 31, 2020. Uranium Sales During the three months ended August 31, 2020, the Corporation completed the sale of 100,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 , in two separate transactions, at a weighted average price of US$32.63, for total cash consideration of $4,425,000 (US$3,263,000). The Corporation recorded a loss on sale of $49,000, which was calculated as the difference between the cash proceeds received and the weighted average historical cost of the U 3 O 8 . The majority of proceeds from the sale of the uranium were used to fund share repurchases under a Normal Course Issuer Bid filed in April 2020 ('2020 NCIB'). Uranium Purchases During October 2019, the Corporation entered into a contract to purchase a total of 230,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 at an average price of US$26.04. The transaction consisted of three tranches of 100,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 , 76,300 pounds of U 3 O 8 , and 53,700 pounds of U 3 O 8 , for delivery in October 2019, January 2020, and June 2020, respectively. During the three months ended August 31, 2020, the Corporation took delivery of the final tranche of 53,700 pounds of U 3 O 8 at a price of US$26.64 per pound U 3 O 8 , resulting in an increase of $1,957,000 (US$1,431,000) in the Corporation's investments in uranium at the time of purchase. Sale of Conversion Components During October 2019, the Corporation entered into commitments to sell the conversion components contained in 300,000 KgU as UF 6 . This transaction resulted in the exchange of 300,000 KgU as UF 6 for 783,856 pounds of U 3 O 8 and cash consideration of US$6,087,000. The transaction consisted of three equal tranches of 100,000 KgU as UF 6 for delivery in January 2020, June 2020, and July 2020. During the three months ended August 31, 2020, the Corporation completed the second and third tranches of this commitment, which resulted in the exchange of 200,000 KgU as UF 6 for 522,572 pounds of U 3 O 8 and cash consideration of $5,522,000 (US$4,058,000). The Corporation recorded a gain on sale of conversion components of $3,459,000, which was calculated as the difference between the cash proceeds received and the historical costs of the conversion components. Uranium Location Swap Agreement In June 2020, the Corporation entered into a location swap with an independent third party whereby the Corporation delivered 200,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 at the counterparty at a storage facility and received 220,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 at an alternate storage facility, including an exchange fee of 20,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 . In the three months ended August 31, 2020, the Corporation recorded income from the relocation swap of $889,000 in income from uranium relocation, which was the fair value of the 20,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 received as consideration. NCIB Share Repurchases In April 2020, the Corporation filed the 2020 NCIB notice with the TSX, which authorizes the Corporation to purchase up to 12,301,750 common shares of the Corporation during the 12-month period ending April 15, 2021. As at August 31, 2020, a total of 2,053,002 shares have been purchased under the 2020 NCIB at an average cost of $4.94 per share for a total cash outflow of $10,164,000, which includes brokers' commissions of $21,000. The Corporation's Share Capital account has been reduced by $3,867,000, which reflects the weighted average per share book value of the repurchased shares. The difference of $6,297,000 between the cash outflow of $10,164,000 for the share repurchases and the weighted average book value of the purchased shares of $3,867,000 has been recorded as a reduction in contributed surplus. The Corporation also incurred $25,000 in other share repurchase expenses related to the 2020 NCIB, which were recorded as a reduction to the Share Capital account. Current Market Conditions The uranium price started the second quarter at US$34.00 per pound U 3 O 8 and softened through the period. While the price remained relatively flat in June and July, trending between USD$32.00 and USD$33.50 per pound of U 3 O 8 , buying weakened as the end of July approached and on July 29, 2020 Cameco Corp. ('Cameco') announced that it would reopen its Cigar Lake mine in September 2020. Production from the Cigar Lake mine was temporarily suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The market understood that the restart of the mine would be driven by commercial factors. Accordingly, the restart news surprised many market participants and moving into August 2020, the uranium price slowly fell from US$32.20 at the beginning of the month, to US$30.65 by month-end. While spot market purchasing in the quarter did remain strong relative to previous years, it has dipped significantly from the preceding quarter's volumes. Earlier in July, National Atomic Company Kazatomprom ('Kazatomprom') indicated that it would extend the period of reduced operational activity at its mines, from the originally disclosed period of three months to four months. At that time, Kazatomprom anticipated gradually increasing staff levels, and production, at the beginning of August 2020, if it was deemed safe to do. Subsequent to that announcement, in August 2020, Kazatomprom announced that it would maintain its 20% production decrease from previously planned levels through calendar year 2022, with no additional production planned to replace volumes lost in 2020 due to the COVID-19-related reduction in operations. In addition, in August 2020, Kazatomprom also publicly confirmed that it has bought uranium in the spot market and may continue to do so through the rest of the calendar year. This buying activity has helped to stabilize general market sentiment. Through the second quarter, the US Department of Commerce ('DOC') continued its negotiations with the Russian government and other interested parties on the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation (also known as the Russian Suspension Agreement or the 'RSA'). The RSA established an annual quota, limiting the delivery of nuclear fuel into the US from Russia. This agreement is set to expire at the end of 2020. In September 2020, a draft amendment was announced that would extend the RSA until 2040 and reduce US reliance on uranium products over the next 20 years by (1) reducing Russian exports of the enrichment component from the current level of approximately 20% of US enrichment demand to an average of 17% over the 20 year period, and (2) limiting Russian uranium concentrates and conversion components contained in the enriched uranium product to an average equivalent of approximately 7% of US enrichment demand. The draft amendment has been released for public comment and the DOC is looking to finalize the amendment in October 2020. There has been positive news regarding new reactor startups over the past quarter. The nuclear industry celebrated the startup of the United Arab Emirates' ('UAE') first nuclear power plant. On August 1, 2020 Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp ('ENEC') achieved initial criticality of its South Korean designed APR-1400 Barakah Unit 1, following fuel loading in March. On August 19, 2020 ENEC announced that Unit 1 had subsequently been connected to the electric power grid in the UAE. Unit 1 is the first of four to be started at the site. Unit 2 is now being prepared for commissioning, with the construction of Unit 3 now 93% complete, and Unit 4 at 86% completion. While the UAE was celebrating its first nuclear reactor, China celebrated a nuclear program that continues to expand. On July 27, 2020, China National Nuclear Corp ('CNNC') reported that Unit 5 at its Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant attained initial criticality. This was followed by an announcement on September 9, 2020 that the power plant had entered commercial operation. Construction of the unit began in December 2015. Unit 6 at the site began construction in September 2016. Both are expected to attain full commercial operation before the end of 2021. China added to this positive nuclear news when it was reported that its State Council approved the construction of two new nuclear power projects. This announcement comes after more than a year in which China granted no new nuclear power project approvals, and sees the country continue to follow its playbook of increasing infrastructure investment to boost the economy and employment, while improving future energy security amid escalating geopolitical tensions. The approved projects were Hainan Changjiang nuclear power plant phase 2 and Zhejiang San'ao nuclear power plant phase 1. Last year, China launched three new nuclear power plants in the provinces of Shandong, Fujian and Guangdong, which marked the end of a moratorium on new projects. In July 2020, it was reported that the China Nuclear Energy Association ('CNEA') said the country will build six to eight nuclear reactors a year between 2020 and 2025 and raise total capacity to 70 gigawatts ('GW'), up 43.5% from the capacity at the end of May 2020. The CNEA was also quoted as saying China's total installed nuclear capacity is expected to be 52 GW by the end of 2020 and that it would soon get back on track to bring total capacity either in operation or under construction to around 200 GW by 2035. Russia also announced positive news, reporting on August 31, 2020 that State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom's ('Rosatom') Unit 2 of the Leningrad II plant successfully reached the minimum controlled power level, meaning that a controlled, self-sustaining reaction had begun in the new reactor. The reactor's commercial operation is set to begin in 2021. Last summer the US nuclear industry gained a significant win when Ohio's state government passed legislation to provide a subsidy of up to $150 million per year to keep the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants operating in Ohio. In July 2020, however, bribery allegations were raised against Ohio's House Speaker and several close advisors related to the nuclear bailout legislation. It is unknown at this time how the operation of these nuclear units will be impacted by this development. In August 2020, Exelon Corporation ('Exelon') announced its intention to retire its Dresden and Byron Generating Stations in the fall of 2021, despite being licensed for another decade, and 20 years, respectively. Exelon pointed to poorly conceived energy policies which favour fossil fuel plants and have made the plants uneconomic to run. Exelon made similar announcements regarding its Clinton and Quad Cities plants before winning subsidies in 2016 to keep them open, so the nuclear industry will continue to closely observe this stalemate. Building on last year's announcement by the provincial governments of Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick, the province of Alberta has joined the group by signing on to the memorandum of understanding to support the development of versatile and scalable small modular reactors ('SMRs'). The Alberta government recognized the potential of the emerging technology to provide needed power to remote communities, to lower emissions and further diversify the province's energy sector. In particular, the government noted the potential use of SMRs within Alberta's oil sands industry, given that the projects are often very remote, off-grid, and require a lot of heat and power to operate. Also in Canada, Ontario Power Generation's ('OPG') Darlington Nuclear Generating Station ('Darlington') reached a significant milestone with reconnection of the fully refurbished Unit 2 to Ontario's electricity grid. Unit 2 represents the first of Darlington's four units to be refurbished under a 10-year project which is expected to be completed in 2026 and is intended to extend the lives of the reactors by 30 years. In September 2020, OPG announced that it had reached another major milestone with work commencing on the refurbishment of Darlington's Unit 3 following the unit's safe shutdown on July 30, 2020. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, OPG postponed the commencement of the Unit 3 refurbishment from its scheduled start in May 2020. In the US, Southern Company ('Southern') added itself to a growing list of US utilities to announce a commitment to a long-term reduction in greenhouse gas ('GHG') emissions to net-zero emissions by 2050. In recent years Southern has reduced its GHG emissions significantly and has set an interim target of a 50% reduction in GHG emissions from 2007 levels by 2030. The company has already successfully reduced its footprint and expects it could meet that target in advance of 2030, perhaps as early as 2025. Southern's ability to reach its goals will be enhanced by the completion of the two new nuclear units that the utility is building in Georgia Vogtle Units 3 and 4 which are projected for startup in November 2021 and November 2022, respectively. As many industries were shut down under the strain of COVID-19 related problems, nuclear electricity generation around the globe remained steadfast, providing the secure, reliable, baseload electricity needed to drive key infrastructure. Building on this and other nuclear energy benefits, a growing dialogue has emerged which is focused on the role nuclear is clearly able to play in helping the world manage through COVID-19 today, and through the economic recovery in the months and years to come. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's ('OECD') Nuclear Energy Agency ('NEA') has drawn further attention to these benefits through a series of policy briefs it recently published that examine nuclear energy's potential. These briefs focus on four areas: (1) nuclear energy's ability to provide cost-effective decarbonization of electricity systems; (2) the high value jobs created with nuclear energy projects; (3) creating policy frameworks within countries that unlock financing to incentivize investment in essential infrastructure that supports low-carbon electricity security; and (4) the importance of building a low-carbon, resilient electricity infrastructure with nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is well positioned to play a critical role in helping strengthen the world's economy as it emerges from COVID-19, while at the same time leveraging its benefits as a non-CO 2 emitting energy source to address ever growing climate concerns. Outstanding Share Data At September 24, 2020, there were 136,007,711 common shares issued and outstanding. There are no stock options or other equity instruments issued and outstanding. About Uranium Participation Corporation Uranium Participation Corporation is a company that invests substantially all of its assets in uranium oxide in concentrates ('U 3 O 8 ') and uranium hexafluoride ('UF 6 ') (collectively 'uranium'), with the primary investment objective of achieving appreciation in the value of its uranium holdings through increases in the uranium price. Additional information about Uranium Participation Corporation is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on Uranium Participation Corporation's website at www.uraniumparticipation.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain information contained in this press release constitutes forward looking statements or forward looking information. These statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as 'may', 'will', 'expect', 'intend', 'estimate', 'anticipate', 'plan', 'should', 'believe' or 'continue' or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information pertaining to the value and objectives of the Corporation's investments, purchases and sales; the NCIB; expectations regarding uranium spot prices and uranium market factors, including expectations regarding uranium production levels, reactor restarts, levels of uncommitted utility reactor requirements, anticipated market supply and demand, the development of new nuclear power projects, the potential impact of international trade actions, and other statements regarding the outlook for the uranium industry and market; and the ability to complete the transactions for which commitments have been made. By their very nature, forward looking statements involve numerous factors, assumptions and estimates. A variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of UPC, may cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in the forward looking statements. For a list of the principal risks of an investment in UPC, please refer to the 'RISK FACTORS' section in the Corporation's Annual Information Form dated May 27, 2020 available under UPC's profile at www.sedar.com. These and other factors should be considered carefully, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward looking statements. Although management reviews the reasonableness of its assumptions and estimates, unusual and unanticipated events may occur which render them inaccurate. Under such circumstances, future performance may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Except where required under applicable securities legislation, UPC does not undertake to update any forward looking information. This press release also contains information relating to third parties, including regulatory agencies, companies and other industry participants, derived from third-party publications and reports which UPC believes are reliable but have not been independently verified by UPC. SOURCE Uranium Participation Corporation For further information: David Cates, President & Chief Executive Officer, (416) 979-1991 Ext. 362; Mac McDonald, Chief Financial Officer, (416) 979-1991 Ext. 242 Related Links http://uraniumparticipation.com/s/Home.asp The meeting between the federal government, labour unions and civil society groups over the increase in petrol price and electricity tariff, again, ended without a resolution. The Thursday meeting ended hours after a court granted an interim order barring the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) from embarking on a protest or strike over the price hike. The Thursday meeting is the second in one week as the government moves to placate the labour unions not to embark on strike over the price increase. A previous meeting held last week was also inconclusive. The latest meeting took place at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa between 3 and 9 p.m. on Thursday. Speaking after the meeting, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, appealed to the unions to put off their planned strike. Some progress was made and both sides had agreed certain palliatives should be put in place to cushion the harsh effect of the increases on the citizenry. Fruitful meeting. They are going back to their organs. When they consult their organs tomorrow, next tomorrow maybe they will take a new decision, he said. He said the meeting has been adjourned to September 28 to allow all parties consult their members over issues raised at the meeting. PREMIUM TIMES reported how labour unions threatened to embark on a nationwide protest on September 28, if the federal government fails to revert the prices of fuel and electricity tariff. Electricity distribution companies hiked their tariffs from about N30.23 to about N62.33 per kWh after the federal government said it would no longer subsidise electricity consumption. The price of petrol also increased from about N145 to about N161 per litre after the removal of subsidy. Altercation During the meeting, Mr Ngige said the President Trade Union Congress (TUC), Quadri Olaleye, did not follow the due process in communicating the resolution of the union to embark on an industrial action. He said that rather than communicate with his office, the unionist did so through social media. I will not sit on this seat and allow this to continue. All correspondence to government, President should come to the Ministry of Labour, that is the channel. If I do not react, you can report me by doing a reportage to a higher authority but as far as Nigeria is concerned, I am the competent authority here on labour matters, he said. So my friend, the new president of TUC, I dont want to start altercation before we start our technical session but I want to put the record straight for you so that in case your Secretary-General has not educated you properly, then let him do so. You have no business with the President of Nigeria. Your place of business is with Ministry of Labour and Employment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he said. In his reaction, the TUC president disagreed with the minister. I want to disagree with you with due respect to your office. We honour your office and we will not do anything to undermine your office but this issue is the issue that Mr President himself has to handle. We are not talking about the minimum wage, increase or any price with government, we are talking about economic issues and we have elected Mr President to lead and that is why we have addressed that issue to him, Mr Olaleye said. The unionist said the governments policy was inflicting hardship on Nigerians. This hardship is getting too much, so whatever solution we are bringing, must be holistic, something that everybody will feel that the country belongs to all of us sir, he said. No more middle class and these are the things we need people to look into if we actually want peace in the country. Nigerian workers are suffering, a lot of people have lost their jobs especially during this COVID-19 and the only solution government could bring to their doorstep is that they should pay more for electricity, they should pay more to buy petrol, he said. NLC speaks Speaking after the meeting, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, simply said: meeting adjourned. Mr Wabba refused to speak on the discussions held and the NLCs next line of action, even though the next meeting has been scheduled for the day the NLC planned to embark on its protest. SGF speaks Earlier, the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, said the removal of subsidy on petrol and electricity was in the interest of Nigerians. He said the decision though perceived as harsh, was never intended to cause great pain or erode the wellbeing of the citizenry. Advertisements He said President Buhari had in 2015 rejected the deregulation of the petroleum sector when it was presented to him by the presidential transition committee. Thereafter the issue was reflected in the final report. There was the need to consider seriously the issues relating to deregulation of the petroleum sector, and the need to look at energy sufficiency and efficiency, within the power on what needed to be done, he said. Five years down the line, that decision has become imperative and cannot be escaped, it is a decision that must have been painfully considered. But little did we know that we will be confronted in one or two years, that was after the implementation of the minimum wage, with a pandemic which hit the entire world and has completely disrupted even the strongest of the economy to the extent of each and every country of the world today are trying to find a solution to the economic disruption COVID-19 has brought to the entire world, he said. Court order While the meeting between the government team and labour leaders was ongoing, the National Industrial Court in Abuja, granted an order of interim injunction restraining the NLC and the TUC from embarking on any strike. The judge, Ibrahim Galadima, also restrained the NLC and TUC from stopping work in whatsoever form as planned from September 28 or any other subsequent date pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice. The court also granted an order of interim injunction restraining the unions from disrupting, restraining, picketing or preventing the workers or its affiliates or ordinary Nigerians from accessing their offices to carry out their legitimate duties on September 28, or any other subsequent date pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice, the News Agency of Nigeria reports. The judge gave the order following an ex-parte application filed by a relatively unknown group called Incorported Trustees of Peace and Unity Ambassadors Association through their counsel, Sanusi Musa. The court ordered the police and the State Security Service to ensure no one seeking to go to work on September 28 is prevented by the two labour unions. The court order was given while the meeting was ongoing and it appeared none of the attenddees at the meeting had been briefed about the order as none of them spoke about it. The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. Joseph Conrad September 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Heres your political puzzler for the day: Which of these two things poses a greater threat to the country: An incompetent and boastful president who has no previous government experience and who is rash and impulsive in his dealings with the media, foreign leaders and his critics? Or a political party that collaborates with senior-level officials in the Intel agencies, the FBI, the DOJ, the media, and former members of the White House to spy on the new administration with the intention of gathering damaging information that can be used to overthrow the elected government? The answer is 2, the greater threat to the country is a political party that engages in subversive activity aimed at toppling the government and seizing power. In fact, thats the greatest danger that any country can face, an enemy from within. Foreign adversaries can be countered by diplomatic engagement and shoring up the nations military defenses, but traitorswho conduct their activities below the radar using a secret network of contacts and connections to inflict maximum damage on the government are nearly unstoppable. What the Russiagate investigation shows, is that high-ranking members of the Democrat party participated in the type of activities that are described above, they were part of an illicit coup detat aimed at removing Donald Trump from office and rolling back the results of the 2016 elections. It is a vast understatement to say that the operation was merely an attack on Donald Trump when, in fact, it was an attack on the system itself, a full-blown assault on the right of ordinary people to choose their own leaders. Thats what Russiagate is really all about; it was an attempt to torpedo democracy by invoking the flimsy and unverifiable claim that Trump was an agent of the Kremlin. None of this, of course, has been discussed in a public forum because those platforms are all privately-owned media that are linked to the people who executed the junta. But for those who followed events closely, and who know what actually happened, there has never been a more serious crime in American history. What we discovered was that the permanent bureaucracy, the media and the Democrat party are riddled with strategically-placed quislings and collaborators that are willing to sabotage their own government if they are so directed. The question that immediately comes to mind is this: Who concocted this plot, who authorized the electronic eavesdropping, the confidential informants, the widespread spying, the improperly obtained warrants, the fake news, and the endless leaks to the media? Who? What we witnessed was not just an attempted coup, it was a window into the inner-workings of a secret government operating independently from within the state. And the sedition was not confined to a few posts at the senior levels of the FBI, CIA, NSA, or DOJ. No. The corruption has saturated the entire structure, seeping down to the lower levels where career bureaucrats eagerly perform tasks that are designed to damage or incriminate elected officials. How did it ever get this bad? And who is calling the shots? We still dont know. Let me pose a theory: The operation might have been concocted by former CIA-Director John Brennan, but Brennan surely is not the prime instigator, nor is Clapper, Comey or even Obama. The real person or persons who initiated the coup will likely never be known. These are the Big Money guys who operate in the shadows and who have a stranglehold on the Intelligence agencies. These are the gilded Mandarins who have their tentacles wrapped firmly around the entire state-power apparatus and who dictate policy from their leather-bound chairs at their high-end mens clubs. These are the people who decided that Donald Trump had to go whatever the cost. They pulled out all the stops, engaged their assets across the bureaucracy, and launched a desperate 3 and half year-long regime change operation that blew up in their faces leaving behind a trail carnage from Washington, DC to Sydney, Australia. In contrast, Trump somehow slipped the noose and escaped largely unscathed. He was pummeled mercilessly in the media, disparaged by his political rivals, and raked over the coals by the chattering classes, but at the end of the day it was Trump who was left standing.. Trump who took on the entire political establishment, the Intel agencies, the FBI, the mainstream media, and the Democratic party had beaten them all at their own game. Go figure?? Keep in mind, the Democrats have known that the Mueller probe was a fraud from as early as 2017 when the President of Crowdstrike, Shawn Henry, (who provided cyber security for the DNC) admitted to Congress that there was no forensic evidence that the DNC emails had been hacked by Russia or anyone else. Think about that for a minute: The entire Mueller investigation was based on the assumption that Russia hacked into the DNC servers and stole the emails. We now know that never happened. The cyber-security team that conducted the investigation of the DNC computers admitted in sworn testimony before Congress that there was no evidence of exfiltration or pilfering of any kind. Repeat: There was no proof of hacking, no proof of Russian involvement, and no proof of foul play. The entire foundation upon which the Russia investigation was built, turned out to be false. More importantly, Democrat members of the Intelligence Committee knew it was false from the get-go, but opted to let the charade continue anyway. Why? Because the truth didnt matter, what mattered was getting rid of Trump by any means necessary. Thats why they used opposition research (Note Oppo research is the hyperbolic nonsense political parties use to smear a political opponent.) to illegally obtain warrants to spy on members of the Trump team. Its because the Democrat leadership will do anything to regain power. By the way, we also have evidence that the warrants that were used to spy on Trump were obtained illegally. The FISA court was deliberately misled so the FBI could carry out its vendetta on Trump. Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith did willfully and knowingly make and use a false writing and document, knowing the same to contain a materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement and entry in a matter before the jurisdiction of the executive branch and judicial branch of the Government of the United States. Bottom line: Clinesmith deliberately altered emails so that FISA applications could be renewed and the spying on the Trump campaign could continue. So, lets summarize: The Democrats knew there was no proof the emails were stolen; thus, they knew the Russia probe was a hoax. The Democrats knew that their fraudulent opposition research was being used to illegally obtain warrants to spy on the Trump camp. This makes them accessory to a crime. Finally, the Democrats continue to spread (virtually) the same Russia-Trump collusion allegations today that they did before the Mueller investigation released its report. The lies and disinformation have persisted as if the nations most expensive and exhaustive investigation had never taken place. What does this tell us about the Democrats? On a superficial level, it tells us that they cant be trusted because they dont tell the truth. But on a deeper level, it expresses the partys Ruling Doctrine, which is to control the public by means of deceit, disinformation, propaganda and lies. Only the powerful and well-connected are entitled to know the truth, everyone else must be subjected to fabrications that are crafted in a way that best coincides with the overall objectives of ruling elites. Thats why the Democrats stick with the shopworn mantra that Trump is in bed with Russia. It doesnt matter that the theory has been thoroughly discredited and disproved. It doesnt even matter that the theory was never the slightest bit believable to begin with. What matters is that party leaders are preventing ordinary people from knowing the truth, which is an essential part of their governing doctrine. Its surprising that this doesnt piss-off more Democrats, after all, its the ultimate expression of contempt and condescension. When someone lies to your face relentlessly, repeatedly and shamelessly, they are expressing their loathing for you. Cant they see that? But maybe you think this is overstating the case? Maybe you think the Dems are just trying to cover their backside on a matter that is purely political? Okay, but answer this: Were the Democrats involved in a plot to overthrow the President of the United States? Yes, they were. Is that treason? Yes, it is. Then, are we really prepared to say that treason is purely political? No, especially since Russiagate was not a one-off, but just the first shocking example of how the Democrats operate. If we examine the Dems approach to the Covid-19 crisis, we see that their policy is actually more destructive than the 4-year Russia fiasco. For example, which party has imposed the most brutal, economy-eviscerating lockdowns and the most punitive mask mandates, while steadily ratcheting up the fearmongering at every opportunity? Which states suffered the most catastrophic economic damage due in large part to the edicts issued by their Democrat governors? Which party is using a public health emergency to advance the global Reset agenda announced at the World Economic Forum (WEF)? Which party is using the Covid-19 fraud to crash the economy, eliminate 40 million jobs, roll-back basic civil liberties and turn the United States into a NWO slave-state ruled by Wall Street bankers, Silicon Valley technocrats and Davos elites? Which party? And which party has aligned itself with Black Lives Matter, the faux-social justice organization that is funded by foreign oligarchs that are working tirelessly to crush the emerging populist movement that supports America First ideals? Which party applauded while American cities burned and small businesses across the country were looted and razed by masses of hooligans engaged in an orgy of destruction? Which partys mayors and governors rejected federal assistance to put down the riots and reestablish order so ordinary people could get back to work to provide for themselves and their families? And which party now is threatening widespread social unrest and anarchy if the upcoming presidential election does not produce the result that they or their globalist puppet-masters seek? To a typical kid, the only thing cooler than a fire truck is somebody who rides in one. Firefighters maneuver through the city at high speeds and climb ladders to sickening heights. These highly trained specialists risk their lives every day fighting fires. It's easy to see why so many people aspire to become firefighters: serving as one is heroic and adventurous. But becoming a firefighter takes more than brute strength and guts of steel. Advertisement In this article, we'll take a closer look at what it takes to become a municipal firefighter and examine different elements of their training. Before you can become an active-duty firefighter, you need to spend about 600 hours in training, over the course of 12 to 14 weeks. That's somewhere between 40 to 48 hours per week, which makes firefighter training a full-time job. Training typically occurs at a fire academy, which is often run by the fire department, a division of the state government or a university. Be at least 18 years old (sometimes 21) Have a high school diploma or equivalent, though many career fire departments now require a college education Be physically fit Have a clean criminal record Have corrected 20/20 vision Firefighting is a highly competitive field. Thousands of applicants apply every year across the country, but most are rejected. Many departments hire every two years, and typically give staff positions to about 30 applicants at a time. While some fire departments only require applicants to hold a high school diploma, many look for applicants with two years of college credits from an accredited college or university. Firefighting is so competitive, in fact, that many applicants obtain EMT or paramedic certification before applying to become a firefighter, making them more desirable to hiring departments. Today, more applicants than ever before have four-year degrees in Fire Science or related fields, which has made the field even more competitive. To enter a training program, applicants take three exams: a written test, a Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT) and an aptitude test. The written exam typically consists of around 100 multiple choice questions and covers spatial awareness, reading comprehension, mechanical reasoning, logic, observation and memory. " " To pass the physical portion of the firefighter exam (CPAT), recruits must be able to quickly climb an extended ladder. The primary focus of the physical ability test is agility, upper body strength and endurance. Each task is timed and tests the applicant's capacity to endure sustained physical activity. These tasks are reflective of what students do in the fire academy throughout their training day in and out. It's unlikely that an applicant who strains to complete the tasks will survive 14 weeks of training, and so is a strong indicator of future success. Physical tests vary from academy to academy, but here are some common tasks: Applicants train for the CPAT in some unusual ways. Often, applicants run up and down stairs or stadiums, lift heavy sacks of sand by rope, or jog in multi-level parking garages. Next, we'll take a look at the most exciting and dangerous aspect of firefighter training. Thank You Thanks to Mike Wieder for his assistance with this article. Breonna Taylor family attorney Ben Crump on Friday morning demanded that Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron release the grand jury transcripts in the case against the officers involved in her shooting, which led to only one officer being charged. If you want us to accept the results, release the transcript.. so we can have transparency, Crump said in a news conference. A grand jury on Wednesday indicted one officer involved the 26-year-olds shooting, officer Brett Hankinsen, who was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment and faces a possible one to five years in prison for each count. Hankinsen was one of three officers who fired their weapons during a botched drug bust on Taylors apartment. Taylors boyfriend claims he thought the police were intruders and fired his licensed handgun at them, striking one officer in the leg. Taylor was killed in the crossfire. No drugs were found at the apartment. The other two officers who fired their weapons, Myles Cosgrove and John Mattingly, were not charged. Violent rioting broke out in Louisville, Ky. after the charges were announced, with police arresting nearly 100 people, one of whom allegedly shot two police officers amid the unrest. More from National Review China is insisting that India vacates strategic heights on the south bank of Pangong Lake ahead of talks on disengagement on the LAC, top Indian Army sources said. During the Corps Commander-level talks, China told India that will not discuss disengagement in eastern Ladakh, where the build-up by both sides has triggered a war- like situation over the last four months, till the time India vacates the strategic positions. Chinese People's Liberation Army troops are adamant on resolving the situation first on the south bank where the Indian troops are in position of strength tactically, but India wants a roadmap for de-escalation all along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern to be drawn out. India stated, during the talks, that all friction areas, including Depsang, should be discussed for disengagement all along the LAC. "Why should discussions be restricted to one or two places when there is a massive build-up all across the LAC," a top Indian Army officer said. India has occupied critical mountain heights on the south bank of the Pangong Lake, including Rechin La, Rezang La, and Mukpari that were unmanned till now. This step, along with some others peaks it holds, allows India to dominate the Spangur Gap under Chinese control and also the Moldo garrison on the Chinese side. This has irked the PLA which has made multiple attempts to dislodge Indian troops, leading to instances of warning gunshots being fired. India had changed the rules of engagement after the Galwan Valley clash of June 15 where 20 Indian soldiers and unknown number of Chinese soldiers were killed. Chinese had attacked Indian troops with medieval barbaric weapons like iron-studded clubs. After that, the Indian Army had empowered its commanders on the ground to take a decision whether to use firearms if their troops face a life-threatening situation and this has been communicated to China as well, sources said. The Indian Army has also put barbed wire obstacles near the heights under its control at the LAC, signalling to the Chinese not to enter its territory. Three days ago, the Indian and Chinese sides, in a joint statement, after the 14-hour-long diplomatic-military talks in Moldo said that both have agreed to implement the consensus reached by their leaders over the border issue. On September 21, senior Indian and Chinese commanders held the 6th round of Military Commander-Level Meeting. "The two sides had candid and in-depth exchanges of views on stabilising the situation along the LAC in the India-China border areas," Indian Army had stated. "They agreed to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthen communication on the ground, avoid misunderstandings and misjudgements, stop sending more troops to the front line, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground, and avoid taking any actions that may complicate the situation." The two sides also agreed to hold the 7th round of the Military Commander-Level Meeting as soon as possible, take practical measures to properly solve problems on the ground, and jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border area. It was for the first time that the Indian delegation had two Lt Generals, two Major Generals and a Joint Secretary from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Headed by Lt Gen Harinder Singh, Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, the Indian delegation also had Lt Gen P.G.K. Menon from the Army headquarters in Delhi. Menon will eventually take over Commander of the 14 Corps in November. Joint Secretary, East Asia, Navin Srivastava was there to ensure that deliberation with China takes place on an agreed five-point roadmap, including quick disengagement of troops, between both the countries. The countries reached he five-point roadmap during the talks between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on September 10. India and China are engaged in a four-month-long standoff at the LAC in Eastern Despite several levels of dialogue, there has not been any breakthrough and the deadlock continues. --IANS sk/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.) New Delhi, Sep 25 : The Centre will take a decision on further course of action including legal remedies among other options after studying the award and consulting with its counsels after Vodafone won the case against India over a retrospective tax demand of more than Rs 20,000 crore The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) has ruled that the conduct of India's tax department is in breach of "fair and equitable" treatment. "The Finance Ministry has said today that it has just been informed that the award in the arbitration case invoked by Vodafone International Holding BV against Government of India has been passed. The Government will be studying the award and all its aspects carefully in consultation with our counsels," it said. "After such consultations, the Government will consider all options and take a decision on further course of action including legal remedies before appropriate fora," the Finance Ministry statement said. Vodafone had moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2016 due to a lack of consensus between the parties' arbitrators in finalising a judge for a tax dispute. Following this, a tribunal was constituted in June 2016 after Vodafone challenged India's use of a 2012 legislation that gave it powers to retrospectively tax deals like Vodafone's $11 billion acquisition of 67 per cent stake in Hutchison Whampoa in 2007. The retrospective tax law had been enacted after a Supreme Court judgement went in Vodafone's favour. Vodafone had challenged the tax department's demand of Rs 7,990 crore as capital gains tax (Rs 22,100 crore after including interest and penalty) under the Netherlands-India Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). In 2007, the Income Tax Department had slapped a demand notice seeking capital gains tax. Established in 1899 to facilitate arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution between states, the PCA has developed into a modern, multi-faceted arbitral institution perfectly situated to meet the evolving dispute resolution needs of the international community. In May 2018, the Delhi High Court had allowed the second arbitration initiated by Vodafone Plc. under the India-UK Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement in the over Rs 20,000 crore retrospective tax case. Justice Manmohan, who was hearing the case in the high court, had said that the Centre can approach the UK arbitration tribunal under the India-UK Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA) for its grievances. Vodafone had initiated two arbitrations against India, one under the India-Netherlands BIPA and the other under the India-UK BIPA. The tax demand had been raised way back in 2007 by the Income Tax Department. The then UPA government had raised a tax demand of Rs 11,000 crore on Vodafone's $11 billion acquisition of Hutchison Telecom stake. In 2012, the Supreme Court quashed the demand. On its part, the government amended its law retrospectively. Vodafone maintained that there was no tax to be paid, and in 2014, it used the BIT to challenge the demand. The two sides could not resolve the matter in negotiations following which Vodafone served an arbitration notice. Mumbai: Buoyed by success in 2014 State Assembly polls where it managed to win two seats, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeens efforts to make strong inroads in the upcoming BMC polls has further widened the possibility of division of Muslim votes, say political experts. Former chief of Mumbai Congress minority cell, Nizamuddin Rayeen, who recently quit the party alleging biases, said, Muslim leaders are themselves divided and very insecure. Therefore, expecting them to do something positive for the community would be like cheating our own selves. A Muslim leader can be either a corporator, MP or an MLA but he can never become leader of the masses, he said. Out of 227 corporators in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), there are 21 Muslim councillors with 10 belonging to Congress, five to Samajwadi Party, two are with NCP, three independent, while one with others. Notably, there are no Muslim corporators in ruling parties BJP and Shiv Sena. Senior journalist Imtiyaz Manzoor Ahmed said the next months election is going to be ambiguous for the voters. Muslim voters were already divided between Congress and Samajwadi Party and to make things more complicated, one more party (referring to Hyderabad-based AIMIM) has entered. Voters have become more confused and this is going to led to further division of votes resulting in less representation of leaders in the state politics, Ahmed said. Voices of people from the community will go unheard and their sorry state is only going to worsen, he lamented.As per 2011 Census, Muslims account for 20 per cent population in the city. Noted Islamic scholar Zeenat Shaukat Ali said that entry of the new party in the run for BMC elections in going to further confuse voters. Entry of one more party is certainly going to put voters in a fix, though, the intention might be to put forth an alternative for them, she said. Muslims are already facing hardships like lack of quality education, unemployment, beside facing discrimination in getting jobs or a house, she said. If you really want to honour him, implement his inclusive ideology: SC Bose's grandnephew At DMs meets, PM calls for direct, emotional connect between administration and public for good governance PM Modi likely to address virtual UNGA General Debate on Saturday India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Sep 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the UN General Assembly on Saturday. PM Modi is presently scheduled as the first speaker at 6:30 pm (NY Time: 9 am). For the first time in the UN's 75-year history, the annual General Assembly session this year will be held virtually and heads of state and government will not be physically attending the annual gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic. World leaders will submit pre-recorded video statements for the session. PM Modi's pre-recorded video statement is expected to be broadcast at the UN General Assembly hall in New York around 9 am local time (6:30 PM IST) and added that he is scheduled as the first speaker in the forenoon. Some of the priority issues for India at the ongoing 75th session of UN General Assembly will be to push for strengthening global action against terrorism, they said. Reports said that India will pitch for more transparency in the process of listing and delisting of terror entities and individuals by the UN sanction committees. Being one of the largest troops contributing nations to the UN, India will also seek to engage intensively in finalising of mandates for the UN peacekeeping mission, they said. In first phone call, PM Modi and Japan's Yoshihide Suga agree to boost ties Reports also said that continuing with active engagement on issues relating to sustainable development and climate change will be another priority for India. India will also highlight its role as a "pharmacy to the world" while elaborating on its contribution to global cooperation against COVID-19 by aiding more than 150 countries, they said. Sunil Gavaskar defends himself, says never blamed Anushka | Oneindia News India's role as a South-South development partner, especially in the context of the India-UN development partnership fund will also be explained at the summit. India will also reiterate its commitment to the idea of global partnership under the sustainable development goals, including on climate change. India's priorities will be to ensure inclusive and responsible solutions for international peace and security, effective response to international terrorism, new orientation for a reformed multilateral system, technology for all and streamlining of UN peacekeeping. The General Assembly session had particular significance this year as it would have commemorated 75 years of the existence of the United Nations and would have seen tremendous participation from leaders of the 193 member states to mark the event. In 2016, St. Jean-Clarke bought a house in Ward 8 through the housing authority and became a DCHA commissioner in 2018, helping families in public housing move toward homeownership, as she had done. In written testimony after St. Jean-Clarke was nominated by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), council member Anita Bonds (D-At Large) said St. Jean-Clarke, 38, will be able to further DCHAs mission and see that others like her will be able to benefit. Police have shut down 10 per cent of phone lines used by county lines drugs gangs in a crackdown which saw more than 1,000 arrests and 1.2million worth of narcotics seized. All 43 police forces in England and Wales, along with the National Crime Agency and British Transport Police, took part in operations last week which saw 18 guns seized along with more than 500,000 in cash. The operation targeted county lines, a gang model which often sees young and vulnerable people used as couriers to move drugs and cash between cities and smaller towns. Officers rescued 30 vulnerable people as part of the investigations, they have been brought back to London and are receiving specialist support. All 43 police forces in England and Wales took part in a crackdown on county lines drug dealers last week, which led to more than 1,000 arrests In London alone, 60 weapons were seized, 85 vulnerable adults and children were made safe and 255 people were arrested. Around 120,000 worth of drugs were seized in Capital, including 60,000 of prescription medicine, 21,000 of cocaine and 40,000 of heroin. Some 102 'deal lines', linked to unique phone numbers dialled by users to buy drugs, were shut down. It amounts to at least a tenth of the estimated 800 to 1,100 active county lines currently believed to be operating in the UK. Each line can make about 25,000 a week and police are still unsure where much of the money ends up. Police seized more than 1.2million of narcotics during raids up and down the country last week, along with 500,000 in cash Investigators said restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic and a better understanding of mobile phone data had helped them target the drug dealers operating the lines. The coronavirus pandemic may also have played a part. Nikki Holland, director of investigations at the NCA, told Radio 4: 'The county lines model needs people to be able to move commodity around, either by road or by rail. 'Drug dealers were a lot more visible on empty trains and on roads that were less busy so it was much easier to spot drug dealers.' Explaining the county lines model, Ms Holland said: 'It relies on running drugs up and down the country, through primarily children and vulnerable adults, to make that model work. Eighteen guns were found nationwide along with knives and a stab proof vest in London, other weapons seized included machetes 'They use violence and exploitation to get people to be in fear to carry out their drug dealing activity.' Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) lead for county lines, said: 'We know now what a county lines phone looks like. 'And we know what the activity looks like on that phone. 'From all the cases we have dealt with, which have gone to court, we know it's pay as you go, we know it's unregistered, we know there's bulk text message usage, selling your wares. 'We know the average recipient list and we know about the incoming activity on that phone, which is helping us to really focus on county lines.' Senior police officers have previously said they are in talks with the Home Office and the telecoms industry to find a way to stop phones being used for county lines. About a third of all lines are thought to operate out of London, with between 12% and 15% run from both Liverpool and Birmingham. The Met's Detective Superintendent Mike West said 30 vulnerable youngsters found 'at significant risk' across the country have been taken back to the capital since November, with some drug runners found to be as young as 14. Cash and drug paraphernalia such as wraps and scales were seized as part of the busts last week His force also saw the most line holders arrested in a single week, with 23 held during the latest crackdown. The officer said many of the criminals running drug lines are linked to serious violence in the capital, including murder and firearms possession. 'Around two-thirds or so are linked to London gangs. That is a particular lifestyle and so the cash is spent sometimes very quickly as well,' he added. The crackdown was part of fresh efforts to tackle county lines drug dealing from last November, which has seen a 25 million commitment from the Home Office. Home Secretary Priti Patel said: 'I will not tolerate county lines drugs gangs terrorising our communities and exploiting young people, which is why I have made tackling this threat a priority. 'I saw first-hand one of the operations last week and the results of this latest crackdown are hugely impressive. 'They send a clear message to criminals that law enforcement is coming after them.' Mali's interim president, Bah Ndaw, was sworn into office on Friday after last month's putsch, vowing to hand over power within 18 months, honour international accords and pursue the fight against jihadist insurgents. But his promises failed to shift post-coup sanctions by Mali's neighbours, which warned their clamp would remain in place until a civilian prime minister is named. Ndaw, a 70-year-old retired colonel, was named interim president by a committee appointed by a military junta that toppled the elected head of state, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, on August 18. Junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita, 37, was also sworn in as vice president of the interim government on Friday. Mali's interim leaders. By Jonathan WALTER (AFP) The ceremony took place in a Bamako conference centre filled with facemask-wearing military officials, senior judges and foreign envoys. Ndaw promised in a speech to strive for "a stable, calm and successful transition, in the agreed conditions and timeframe." Charter 'guidebook' According to a roadmap to civilian rule -- an unpublished "transition charter" endorsed by the junta -- Ndaw will rule for a maximum of 18 months before staging elections. "The charter is my guidebook," he declared. "Mali has given me everything. I am happy to be its submissive slave, willing to do everything for it to return to full constitutional legality, with elected authorities, legitimate representatives," Ndaw said. "The transition period which begins will not dispute any international undertaking by Mali, nor the agreements signed by the government," he said. Ndaw, who briefly served as defence minister, also promised to continue a "merciless war" against "terrorist forces and organised crime" and called for a moment of silence to honour fallen troops -- Malians, French and UN. Mali, supported by France and UN peacekeepers, is struggling with an eight-year-old Islamist insurgency which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives. Men dressed in military fatigues and balaclavas stood behind judges as they performed the inauguration ceremony, which was marked by moments of confusion. Supreme Court Chief Prosecutor Boya Dembele, who was dressed in fur-lined red robes, said the challenges facing both Ndaw and Goita were "enormous". "It will truly require a reformulation of the state," he said, of transforming governance in the poor nation of some 19 million people. Sanctions stay Mali's neighbours have watched the dramatic political upheaval in Bamako with worry, anxious to avoid the fragile country slipping into chaos. Swathes of the vast country already lie outside of government control, due to a lethal jihadist insurgency that first emerged in 2012 and has also inflamed ethnic tensions. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have died in the conflict to date, and hundreds of thousands have had to flee their homes. Keita and other leaders were detained during the coup. He has since flown abroad for medical care after suffering what is described as a mini-stroke. By Ludovic MARIN (POOL/AFP/File) Tensions generated by the conflict -- as well as a dire economy, and corruption -- contributed to mass protests against Keita, culminating in last month's putsch. The 15-nation ECOWAS bloc took a hard line, slapping sanctions on Mali and threatening a "total embargo" should the junta instal military leaders of the interim government. It stood by that approach on Friday. The president of the ECOWAS commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, declared sanctions "will be lifted when a civilian prime minister is named." Brou underlined the importance of publishing the junta-backed charter and warned that ECOWAS could not accept that Goita, as vice president, could potentially replace Ndaw. ECOWAS's "prime concern is maintaining constitutional democracy in the region," he said. Current restrictions ban commercial trade and financial flows, but not basic necessities, drugs, equipment to fight coronavirus, fuel or electricity. On Thursday, former Nigerian president and ECOWAS mediator Goodluck Jonathan, had commented favourably on the upcoming swearing-in. "We are optimistic that this event will signal the beginning of the return to normalcy in Mali," he said on Twitter. The largest-ever study of tree rings from Norilsk in the Russian Arctic has shown that the direct and indirect effects of industrial pollution in the region and beyond are far worse than previously thought. An international team of researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, has combined ring width and wood chemistry measurements from living and dead trees with soil characteristics and computer modelling to show that the damage done by decades of nickel and copper mining has not only devastated local environments, but also affected the global carbon cycle. The extent of damage done to the boreal forest, the largest land biome on Earth, can be seen in the annual growth rings of trees near Norilsk where die off has spread up to 100 kilometres. The results are reported in the journal Ecology Letters. Norilsk, in northern Siberia, is the world's northernmost city with more than 100,000 people, and one of the most polluted places on Earth. Since the 1930s, intensive mining of the area's massive nickel, copper and palladium deposits, combined with few environmental regulations, has led to severe pollution levels. A massive oil spill in May 2020 has added to the extreme level of environmental damage in the area. Not only are the high level of airborne emissions from the Norilsk industrial complex responsible for the direct destruction of around 24,000 square kilometres of boreal forest since the 1960s, surviving trees across much of the high-northern latitudes are suffering as well. The high pollution levels cause declining tree growth, which in turn have an effect of the amount of carbon that can be sequestered in the boreal forest. However, while the link between pollution and forest health is well-known, it has not been able to explain the 'divergence problem' in dendrochronology, or the study of tree rings: a decoupling of tree ring width from rising air temperatures seen since the 1970s. Using the largest-ever dataset of tree rings from both living and dead trees to reconstruct the history and intensity of Norilsk's forest dieback, the researchers have shown how the amount of pollution spewed into the atmosphere by mines and smelters is at least partially responsible for the phenomenon of 'Arctic dimming', providing new evidence to explain the divergence problem. "Using the information stored in thousands of tree rings, we can see the effects of Norilsk's uncontrolled environmental disaster over the past nine decades," said Professor Ulf Buntgen from Cambridge's Department of Geography, who led the research. "While the problem of sulphur emissions and forest dieback has been successfully addressed in much of Europe, for Siberia, we haven't been able to see what the impact has been, largely due to a lack of long-term monitoring data." The expansion of annually-resolved and absolutely dated tree ring width measurements compiled by the paper's first author Alexander Kirdyanov, along with new high-resolution measurements of wood and soil chemistry, allowed the researchers to quantify the extent of Norilsk's devastating ecosystem damage, which peaked in the 1960s. "We can see that the trees near Norilsk started to die off massively in the 1960s due to rising pollution levels," said Buntgen. "Since atmospheric pollution in the Arctic accumulates due to large-scale circulation patterns, we expanded our study far beyond the direct effects of Norilsk's industrial sector and found that trees across the high-northern latitudes are suffering as well." The researchers used a process-based forward model of boreal tree growth, with and without surface irradiance forcing as a proxy for pollutants, to show that Arctic dimming since the 1970s has substantially reduced tree growth. Arctic dimming is a phenomenon caused by increased particulates in the Earth's atmosphere, whether from pollution, dust or volcanic eruptions. The phenomenon partially blocks out sunlight, slowing the process of evaporation and interfering with the hydrological cycle. Global warming should be expected to increase the rate of boreal tree growth, but the researchers found that as the pollution levels peaked, the rate of tree growth in northern Siberia slowed. They found that the pollution levels in the atmosphere diminished the trees' ability to turn sunlight into energy through photosynthesis, and so they were not able to grow as quickly or as strong as they would in areas with lower pollution levels. "What surprised us is just how widespread the effects of industrial pollution are - the scale of the damage shows just how vulnerable and sensitive the boreal forest is," said Buntgen. "Given the ecological importance of this biome, the pollution levels across the high-northern latitudes could have an enormous impact on the entire global carbon cycle." ### The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations By Daniel Yergin Penguin Press. 492 pp. $38 - - - As I type this review, the banner headline in the Los Angeles Times is "California's Climate Apocalypse," dozens are dead across the Pacific Coast and Instagram is filled with grim images of orange skies above San Francisco. This summer has had the highest reliably measured temperature in history (130 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley); record rainfall across large swaths of Africa that has, for instance, destroyed a quarter of Nigeria's rice crop; and blazes across vast areas of Siberia that have poured record amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. We are, in other words, in a climate emergency. But you'd never know that from Daniel Yergin's new book. Like its predecessor "The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power," "The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations" is written in magisterial mode, staring down from the heights of history at the great men who make it. Yergin, who has won the Pulitzer Prize and many other accolades across a storied career, makes a fairly simple argument: Global energy markets have been remade in the past decade by the American fracking surge, which raised the supply and lowered the cost of oil and gas; by Vladimir Putin's canny geopolitics; and by the continued rise of Xi Jinping's China, whose strategic designs on the South China Sea and expansionist aims with its massive international investment strategy known as Belt and Road Initiative across Asia are recasting political influence. We are treated along the way to a variety of potted histories for the uninitiated (the story of Harold Hamm, pioneer fracker, has been told so many times before; but then, so has the story of 15th-century Chinese mariner Zheng He, and the story of Osama bin Laden, and most of the other stories in this book); and colorful details of the rich and powerful (Putin and Xi serving each other pancakes and ice cream at various confabs). But the takeaway is fairly straightforward: The new "international order for petroleum" would no longer be shaped by OPEC. So far, so good - Yergin understands oil markets, and for the past 100 years, that was what you needed to know to understand the future of energy. In 2020, however, you need to understand a lot of other things, too, and I'm not sure Yergin does. In particular, he's behind the curve on the volatile mix of activism, engineering and climate science that seems to be reshaping the energy world in real time. If you want to get a sense of a historian's reach, it's always interesting to read accounts of events that one actually witnessed - several examples are in the book, none of which do Yergin much credit. One of the most egregious concerns the 2016 standoff at Standing Rock, over the Dakota Access pipeline. He believes that the demonstrators who went to the site were "rallied by the environmental group Greenpeace," a distinct misunderstanding. In fact, Indigenous groups from around the continent mustered at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers to take on the pipeline company - and that's important because Indigenous people from Australia to Alberta are emerging as key front-line players in the climate fight. It would have been appropriate to offer a capsule bio of, say, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, one of the pivotal figures in the battle (and by the way, a federal court has now decided that the Standing Rock Sioux were correct that the environmental impact studies for the project were woefully deficient). He's equally dismissive of the massive fossil fuel divestment campaign and other activist movements. That is a shame, because they've helped reshape the energy debate. In fact, they're one half a pincers beginning to close on the fossil fuel industry - the other is the rapid development of cheap renewable power, which is causing many to rethink thoroughly the decades to come. In August, after Yergin's book had gone to press, BP became the first of the oil supermajors to capitulate to this new reality: It announced plans to cut oil and gas production 30 percent to 40 percent this decade and reallocate assets toward clean power. Yergin knows that change like this is coming someday, but he's convinced that it will take a very long time. The "planning case" from his international consulting firm predicts that world oil demand won't peak until the 2030s, but many other analysts disagree. Several recent studies say peak demand may already have occurred in 2019 - the latest (from the Norwegian forecasters DNV GL) came in mid-September, alongside news of the massive western fires. Yergin thinks that growth in plastics will boost oil demand even if electric vehicles cut the gasoline market - and indeed, the New York Times recently obtained emails showing the oil lobby trying to undercut African anti-litter laws so they could grow the use of plastic bags. But more recent analyses show that even growth in plastics has begun to slow. Above all, the plummeting cost of solar and wind is reshaping the energy future, and here Yergin's analysis is undermined by increasingly obsolete arguments about how hard it is to store power when the sun isn't shining; electric grids are coping fine with ever-larger shares of renewable energy. They're not, however, coping well with climate change: Drooping wires in record heat are responsible for many of the blazes now charring the West. Change clearly needs to come fast, and Yergin is so embedded in old patterns of thought that he can't quite recognize the urgency. Even history bends to physics. - - - McKibben, the author most recently of "Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?," is the founder of the global climate campaign 350.org and the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in environmental studies at Middlebury College. The Delhi Police have tightened the security at the border areas in the wake of the Bharat Bandh called by over two dozen farmer organisations on Friday. A high alert has also been sounded in western Uttar Pradesh when farmers groups and opposition political parties have organised Bharat Bandh, against three farm bills passed by Parliament. Barricades have been put in areas bordering Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, and the vehicles entering Delhi are being checked. The Delhi Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed at the Singhu border and Karnal road (Haryana) as a precautionary measure. Our teams are alert and vigilant at the border areas and the staff has been deployed at strategic locations in the wake of farmers protest" said a senior police officer. Deployment has also been made in Ghazipur, New Ashok Nagar, Seemapuri, Anand Vihar in East Delhi and Kalindi Kunj in South east Delhi in view of the farmers protest. Apart from border areas, the Delhi Police is also vigilant for the possible snap protests in Delhi. The Delhi Police earlier said that no demonstrations would be allowed in the national capital till September 30, citing an earlier order of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA). Over two dozen farmer organisations have announced support for the Bandh call on Friday to protest against the Farm Bills passed by Parliament amid protests by 18 political parties. The 31 farmer organisations in Punjab and Haryana are already protesting. All India Farmers Union (AIFU), Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), All India Kisan Mahasangh (AIKM), and All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) and other politically-backed organisations have urged farmers to hold rallies, blockades in various parts of the country to protest against the three Farm bills which were passed by the government during the Parliament session that concluded earlier this week. The agitation has brought together various farmers groups in the region against the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, passed by Parliament during the curtailed monsoon session that ended on Wednesday. A three-day rail blockade is being organised in Punjab that will continue until Saturday to protest against the bills that the government says will liberalise agricultural trade but farmers allege will promote corporate interests over theirs. Though no major farmer organization has given a call for protest in Uttar Pradesh, security has been beefed up along the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi-Punjab-Haryana border as a precautionary measure. Farmer leader Naresh Tikait said cultivators in western Uttar Pradesh on Friday would aggressively" participate in the Bharat Bandh and will block the movement of traffic in their strongholds. The Uttar Pradesh Police have deployed additional security personnel in the western part of the state to maintain law and order, officials said. The Samajwadi Party has asked its cadres to support the protests against the farm bills by submitting memoranda to the Governor though the district magistrates in every district. In a statement, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav asked farmers and labourers to come together on the occasion but maintain social distancing during the agitation. He said that while the farm bills would force the farmers to sell their produce at throwaway prices, the amendment in the labour laws would allow companies with 300 employees or less, to lay off workers. The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress has also announced state-wide protests from Friday to October 31 in support of the farmers. UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu said that Congress workers, along with farmers, will gherao Vidhan Sabha on Monday. He said that the farm bills passed in parliament without debate is the biggest ever act of betrayal of farmers, who have now been left at the mercy of market and capitalist forces". He said that there is no mention of the minimum support price (MSP) in all the three laws, which will ring the death knell for the vegetable and fruit growers and farmers who will be compelled to sell their produce at the rates decided by capitalists. By destroying the existing system of grain, vegetable and fruits market, the government is hell bent upon crippling the farm ecosystem to benefit capitalists. He said the mandis ensure proper rate and weight for farmers, which the BJP wants to dismantle. The Congress party has demanded that under the One Nation, One Support Price, one rate should be fixed for grains, fruits and vegetables for the state and the whole of the country as well. The provision of the MSP should be incorporated in new legislation and should be ensured that farmers do not get less than the MSP against any of their produce. (With inputs from IANS) GRAND RAPIDS, MI A nonprofit housing developer plans to transform a 1930s-era funeral home on Grand Rapids' Northwest Side into a 38-unit apartment building designed to serve people with special needs and low- to moderate-income residents. Genesis Non-Profit Housing Corporation is seeking to finance the estimated $10 million project at 851 Leonard St. NW through the states low-income housing tax credit program, said John Wynbeek, the nonprofits executive director. We have a shortage of housing in this community, he said. We build quality housing for people with limited income. If Genesis' application for the low-income housing tax credits are approved, and other planning activities go as planned, construction could start in 2022, with tenants expected to move into the building the following year. The project calls for renovating the two-story funeral home, removing several additions made to the property, and building a three-story structure surrounding the east, west and north side of the funeral home. The apartments would be included in the new construction. The first floor of the funeral home will be repurposed for a community room, offices for the property manager and resident support coordinator, as well as conference and meeting space. The second-floor of the funeral home will house a two-bedroom apartment and multipurpose room. Genesis is currently using the funeral home at 851 Leonard St. NW as its office. Wynbeek said the apartments are expected to be income-restricted. Fifteen of them would be reserved for people with special needs, a designation that includes physical or developmental disabilities, whose annual income does not exceed 30 percent of Kent Countys area median income, Wynbeek said. For a one-person household, 30 percent of Kent Countys area median income equals $16,860, according to figures compiled by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. There would also be four apartments reserved for residents whose income does not exceed 40 percent of the area median income; 5 units for those whose income does not exceed 60 percent of the area median income; and 15 units for those whose income does not exceed 60 percent of area median income. Wynbeek said his nonprofit has long emphasized providing housing for people with special needs. In addition to physical and developmental disabilities, the group also includes people with mental illness. The goal is to provide project-based section 8 vouchers through MSHDA for the occupants of the 15units reserved for people with special needs. Those vouchers cover the rent of people without income and requires those with income to pay 30 percent of their income toward rent. Its targeting a vulnerable population that is really shut out of housing, he said. Wynbeek said the 15 units for people with special needs is referred to as permanent supportive housing, and allows people to be there on a long-term basis and be supported. The monthly rental rates for the apartments are as follows: One-bedroom unit at 40 percent area median income: $595. One-bedroom at 50 percent area median income: $740. A two-bedroom unit would cost $890 per month. One-bedroom unit at 60 percent area median income: $825. A two-bedroom unit would cost $1,000 per month. On Thursday, the Grand Rapids Planning Commission supported Genesis' request to rezone the property to clear the way for the project to begin. The rezoning request now goes to the Grand Rapids City Commission for final approval. Read more: Kent County provides $5M more to closed businesses, $1M to eviction prevention Drive-thru voting in Muskegon a possibility with $433K elections grant Michigan Democrats push John James to clarify stance on Supreme Court vacancy A panel of inquiry set up to probe the accounts of the 16 local government areas in Kwara State has recommended that the government should ensure monthly publication of wage bill, revenue, and expenditure at the state and local government levels. The governor of the state, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, on August 11, commissioned the panel to investigate the allegations of diversion of local government funds or borrowings from the bank to pay salaries of local government workers. The eight-member panel included retired Justice Adewara, the chairperson; Halimah Bello, who represented the State Security Service and Asmau Apalando, a member of the Nigerian Labour Congress. This update was contained in a statement issued by the chief press secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaye. Mr Adewara, who presented the panel report on Thursday, advised the government to ensure monthly publication of the total wage bill, internally generated revenue, and expenditure at the state and local government levels. This, according to him, would guarantee accountability and transparency which will promote the integrity of the government in the minds of the people. Consequently, that would prevent future recurrence of doubt, allegations of financial misappropriation emanating from the people against the government, Mr Adewara was quoted to have said. This comes days after the former commissioner for special duties, Aisha Pategi, made the same call. Ms Pategi who was previously in charge of the ministry for local government and chieftaincy affairs, on Monday, challenged the state government to publish the local governments financial accounts starting from 2019. She also demanded compliance with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) that states and local governments should not operate joint accounts. #FreeKwaraLGAmoney must be achieved according to the NFIU guidelines; ensuring LG fund are transferred to them directly from JAAC account, she wrote. Vindication The panel, set up to look into the funds allocated to the local governments from May 2019, said it found no evidence that the Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq administration borrowed to pay salary or pension since it was inaugurated. We want to state categorically that there is no evidence either oral or documentary to support the allegation of N300 million monthly deduction from the local government funds by the state government. The allegation of such deductions is therefore baseless, unfounded and false, Mr Adewara said late Wednesday when the panel submitted its report to the governor. According to the statement, Mr Adewara said a total of 35 witnesses testified before the panel while several documents were produced and tendered by them. He said the panel also visited some of the local governments to see what projects they have done as had earlier been submitted by the director of personnel management who appeared before them. The report of the panel meanwhile has found that the state government does not deduct money from the SUBEB account while salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff are paid as and when due from May 29 to date. Mr Adewara said the panel only received a memorandum from the Elite Network for Sustainable Development (ENETSUD), adding that the questions the civic group raised in its memo were all based on incomplete information sourced from the internet and social media. Meanwhile, all the grey areas have been thoroughly thrashed out to the satisfaction of Mr Suleiman Oladimeji (of ENETSUD), having been confronted with the documents earlier submitted to the panel by the Kwara State Ministry of Finance. It was, however, stated that the last administration under former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, took two separate loans in the name of the local governments N4 billion and another N1.6 billion. The past administration obtained a loan of N4 billion from a commercial bank for payment of two months arrears of salaries of local government staff. It was this loan that the local governments were repaying at monthly instalments of N317 million. The loan of N4 billion has been fully repaid in September 2019. There is another loan of N1.6 billion also obtained by the past administration while the repayment of the loan is ongoing and will terminate in August 2022. It means therefore that the present administration inherited the obligation to repay the loan. MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Drs. Solen Feyissa and Senenge T. Andzenge launch 'Jumping In,' a commentary podcast series on teaching, learning, technology and development. Dr. Solen Feyissa, co-host of the Jumping In Podcast, and academic technologist at the University of Minnesota, said, "On Jumping In podcast we go in depth on every aspect of the field of learning technologies and what makes it an important topic in any discussion happening in learning spaces around the world. Our conversations have ranged from the controversial to the most popular." Dr. Senenge T. Andzenge, co-host, and academic technologist at the University of Minnesota, added, "We have spent nearly five decades working with teams and organizations to support learning and growth through thoughtful design. In each episode, we lend our expertise to a variety of topics and areas of promise at the intersection of education, adult and professional learning, and technology." Previous Jumping In podcast series topics have included Open Universities in the African continent; the One Health Workforce project and why multidisciplinary initiatives like it are valuable in the fight against COVID and other zoonotic diseases; opportunities the COVID-19 pandemic presents for online universities; and the Learning Technologies Media Lab at UMN, which was an incubator for the development of thought, theory, and educational technologies. About the presenters Solen Feyissa, Ph.D. is an academic technologist at the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Feyissa does research in technology appropriation and education. An avid photographer, his photos have appeared on national and international news publications including The Independent, Vice, and Yahoo! News. His work in ICT4D and behind the camera strive for balance between humans, technology, and the environment. Solen is a frequent collaborator on international projects in a wide range of fields and disciplines including education, communication technologies and development. Senenge T. Andzenge, PhD is an academic technologist with the Center for Educational Innovation at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Andzenge partners with faculty, administrators, and academic units to develop inclusive and equitable technology-rich learning experiences. He has an interdisciplinary background that blends humanities and liberal arts traditions with experiences that bridge corporate and higher education environments. Senenge speaks, lectures, and consults on online identity and online presence, and is a regular contributor to workshops and webinars on faculty development for online teaching. Subscribe to Jumping In podcast wherever you get your podcasts. SOURCE Solen Feyissa Related Links https://solenfeyissa.com Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) Malacanang dismissed the idea of postponing the 2022 polls because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement on Friday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the Constitution is clear in requiring a national election every three years, done on the second Monday of May. The next general elections must be held on May 9, 2022, ahead of the end of President Rodrigo Duterte's six-year term by June 30 of that year. The national election is still two years away and we still have sufficient time to prepare, Roque said. He said the country can learn from the United States, which is holding presidential polls in November. The US has recorded nearly seven million coronavirus infections more than any country in the world. We must not use the existing global health crisis as a ground to cancel and reschedule the elections as this would not sit well with the public, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement on Friday. During the Commission on Elections budget hearing at the House of Representatives on Thursday, Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo asked the poll commissioner if there are plans to propose the postponement since the risk of infection will be high when the public goes out to vote. Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas said this has not been considered since election is a constitutional mandate. He said only the President and Congress can decide to delay the polls, which can be done by law. Senate President Vicente Tito Sotto III and other lawmakers strongly oppposed any possible attempt to reschedule the elections, saying it runs counter to provisions of the Constitution. Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the only accepted reasons for the postponement of local polls include violence, terrorism, and the destruction of election paraphernalia. READ: Call to postpone 2022 polls won't extend term of elected officials - Drilon Comelec said it is looking into a longer voting period, as long as three days, to limit mass gatherings should the coronavirus last until 2022. The number of new active COVID-19 cases in publicly funded schools across Ontario has jumped by another 17.2 per cent from the previous day for a total of 210. In the latest data released Thursday morning, the province updated the totals of school-related cases with 24 more students infected for a total of 101, three more staff members for a total of 40, and four more individuals who werent identified for a total of 69. In total, there are 178 schools with an active case, which the province notes is 3.69 per cent of the 4,828 publicly funded schools. Two schools are closed Monsignor Paul Baxter elementary school in Ottawa and Fellowes High School in Pembroke. Epidemiologists have told the Star that the numbers in the schools arent a surprise, and that the cases will be proportionate to the amount of COVID-19 cases in the community. There is a lag between the daily provincial data at 10:30 a.m. and news reports about infections in schools. The provincial data is current as of 2 p.m. the previous work day, and doesnt indicate where the place of transmission occurred. The TDSB updates its information on current COVID-19 cases throughout the day on its website. Please note that all schools where there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 who was contagious while at school will receive a letter from Toronto Public Health to inform them about the possible exposure, the website says. Positive cases at private schools arent included in the daily provincial numbers. On Monday, two students at the York School tested positive for COVID-19 as well as a faculty member at Branksome Hall, according to notices put out by the school. REGINASaskatchewan health officials have fined a person $2,000 for not self-isolating while showing symptoms of COVID-19, bringing the total amount of penalties levied in the province to more than $20,000. The Ministry of Health has not released specific details about the recent case, except to say the penalty was imposed after a contact tracing investigation. Public health is confident that all close contacts have been determined and contacted in this case, reads a statement from the Ministry of Health. Public health rules state people must isolate for 14 days if they return from international travel, are diagnosed with COVID-19 or have been close to someone who is positive. Officials said the recent violation was of a section of the provincial public health order that states all symptomatic people who have been directed to get a COVID-19 test, or are awaiting their results, must isolate until they are no longer deemed a risk. The Saskatchewan Health Authority said asymptomatic people being tested are only required to self-monitor. As there is no further public risk, we will not be releasing additional information about this enforcement, said the statement. A spokesperson said officials have issued four fines related to violations around COVID-19 precautions, including the one announced Thursday. Recently, an organizer of a private gathering at a home in Saskatoon, where about 47 people attended, was fined $2,000. Another $2,000 fine was handed to a person who didnt self-isolate, despite being positive for COVID-19. A $10,000 penalty was given to a business that was open when restrictions were in place. Fines are not our first choice; we want people to be responsible and protect their health and the health of the friends, family and community, Colleen Book said in an email. There can be very serious consequences for not following Public Health Orders and we are seeing increasing transmission rates in Saskatchewan and across the country as a result of social gatherings (weddings, parties etc.). This is putting our schools, businesses and health facilities at risk. Saskatchewan reported five new infections on Thursday. Officials said of the more than 1,800 cases reported to date in the province, 130 are believed to be active. There are 24 active infections of children since schools reopened earlier this month. WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA released Friday the results of its first-ever agencywide economic impact report. The report shows that, through all NASA activities, the agency generated more than $64.3 billion in total economic output during fiscal year 2019, supported more than 312,000 jobs nationwide, and generated an estimated $7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes throughout the United States. "In this new era of human spaceflight, NASA is contributing to economies locally and nationally, fueling growth in industries that will define the future, and supporting tens of thousands of new jobs in America," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "With an investment of just one-half of 1% of the federal budget, NASA generates significant total economic output annually. This study confirms, and puts numbers, to what we have long understood that taxpayer investment in America's space program yields tremendous returns that strengthen our nation on several fronts a stronger economy, advances in science and technology, and improvements to humanity." The agency commissioned an economic impact study to better understand how the U.S. economy benefited in FY2019 from America's lunar and Mars exploration efforts. The study found the agency's Moon to Mars exploration approach generated more than $14 billion in total economic output and supported more than 69,000 jobs nationwide in fiscal year 2019. Additional key findings of the study include: Every state in the country benefits economically through NASA activities. Forty-three states have an economic impact of more than $10 million . Of those 43 states, eight have an economic impact of $1 billion or more. . Of those 43 states, eight have an economic impact of or more. The agency's Moon to Mars initiative, which includes the Artemis program, supports more than 69,000 jobs, $14 billion in economic output, and $1.5 billion in tax revenue. The agency's Moon to Mars programs provided about 22 percent of NASA's economic impact. These figures are expected to double in 2021. in economic output, and in tax revenue. The agency's Moon to Mars programs provided about 22 percent of NASA's economic impact. These figures are expected to double in 2021. NASA has more than 700 active international agreements for various scientific research and technology development activities in FY2019. The International Space Station is a significant representative of international partnerships representing 15 nations and five space agencies and has been operating for 20 years. NASA spinoff technologies provide an impact on American lives beyond dollars and jobs. The agency has recorded more than 2,000 spinoffs since 1976. For example, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed, in just 37 days, a ventilator specifically for coronavirus patients and, after securing an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, made the design available to select manufacturers at no cost. Scientific research and development which fuels advancements in science and technology that can help improve daily life on Earth and for humanity enjoys the largest single-sector impact, accounting for 16% of the overall economic impact of NASA's Moon to Mars program. The study was conducted by the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement at the University of Illinois at Chicago. UIC has worked with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on economic impact reports conducted for the center and the Voorhees Center is widely recognized as one of the foremost organizations conducting economic impact studies for corporations, communities, and government agencies. A summary of the study is available at: https://go.nasa.gov/3cxsYlU The full study available at: https://go.nasa.gov/3i2tycr SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov With a focus on state parks and state forests, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has put together a list of some of the most unique spots for viewing fall foliage in the state. Here are the agencys recommendations: Route 44 northwest from its Route 220 through Tiadaghton, Sproul and Susquehannock state forests is one of the prettiest foliage drives in Pennsylvania, according to the guide. The Pennsylvania Grand Canyon in Tioga County offers some of the most spectacular vistas in Pennsylvania. The best views of that area of the Pine Creek Valley are in Leonard Harrison and Colton Point state parks. Kings Gap Environmental Education Center offers a panoramic view of the Cumberland Valley from the stone patio of the 32-room Cameron Mansion, which was built in 1908. The skywalk, with its glass-bottom viewing area, in Kinzua Bridge State Park in McKean County is a top fall foliage destination. Elk State Forest in Cameron and Elk counties offer many breathtaking vistas as well as some of the best places to see parts of Pennsylvanias elk herd. At 3,213 feet above sea level, the highest point in Pennsylvania is Mount Davis in southern Somerset County. Its easily accessible by vehicle. Route 402 through Delaware State Forest in Pike and Monroe counties is rich in fantastic views of fall foliage early in Pennsylvanias leaf-peeping season. The lakes in Promised Land State Park in Pike County are mirrors for the autumn colors of the surrounding beech, birch, cherry, maple and oak trees. In Rothrock State Forest, Route 305 over Stone Mountain and Route 26 over Tussey Mountain, in Centre, Huntingdon and Mifflin counties, are rich in great views. The steep-walled, outcropping- and waterfall-rich Lehigh Gorge State Park are transected by a 26-mile rail-trail. Michaux State Forest in Adams, Cumberland and Franklin counties is rich in vistas along South Mountain like Dark Hollow, Pole Steeple, Snowy Mountain and Valley view. The 75-mile scenic drive along Route 120 from Lock Haven to Emporium known as Bucktail State Park Natural Area offers continuous views of about 16,433 acres of Elk and Sproul state forests as well as several scenic vistas. In southeastern Pennsylvania, French Creek, Tyler, Ridley Creek, Nolde Forest, Nockamixon and Marsh Creek state parks provide wooded oases of fall foliage viewing opportunities close to Pennsylvanias largest urban area. In southwestern Pennsylvania, Kooser, Laurel Hill, Laurel Ridge and Laurel Summit state parks are surrounded by vast woodlands close to the urban/suburban metro area of Pittsburgh. The heavily forested area of 262,000-acre Susquehannock State Forest around Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County is nearly remote and wild today as it was two centuries ago. And, with the added feature of the darkest skies in the East, the park also offers opportunities for stargazing. If youre looking to go leaf-peeping this fall, you can find places to stay in Pennsylvania on VRBO The lake in the deep mountain valley that is Poe Valley State Park in Centre County is surrounded by the forest of Bald Eagle State Forest The dense forest of Rothrock State Forest grows tight along Route 45 in the Spruce Creek area of Huntingdon County. The 95,780-acre Tuscarora State Forest "spans across the heart of southcentral Pennsylvanias distinctive ridges and mountain gaps in Cumberland, Franklin, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin and Perry counties. Miles of scenic beauty await along Route 233, north and south of Route 30, in Franklin and Perry counties. Contact Marcus Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com. Democratic Partys vice presidential candidate for US election 2020, Kamala Harris, the first black woman of Indian-origin to get the major partys ticket and her lawyer husband Douglas Emhoff are worth between $ 1.9- 6 million, according to her personal financial disclosure. Harris has released three books -- Smart on crime, Superheroes are everywhere, The truths we hold: An American journey -- which have proved to be very lucrative, according to a CNBC report. In 1990, she started her career as the deputy district attorney (DA) in Alameda, California. Eight years later, she was appointed assistant DA in San Francisco, California. In 2000, she quit and took a job in city hall and just three years later she beat her former boss to become the first person of colour to become DA, San Francisco. Also read: Barack Obama to join Kamala Harris for two Democratic fundraisers According to her tax returns, her adjusted gross income ranged from $ 144,754 to $ 262,877, the television news channel reported, attributing the rise in income to the release of her first book -- Smart on crime -- during these years. As California attorney general, her salary ranged from $ 151,000 to $ 159,000, according to the council on state governments. In 2014, after marrying attorney Douglas Emhoff, her income grew tenfold to $ 1.2 million. In 2018, her income grew to almost $ 1.9 million. In 2019, the couple had between $ 2.8-6.3 million worth of assets, the report said. In 2015, Harris announced her senate bid after Barbara Boxer announced her retirement plans and won the seat in 2016. Also read: Indians in US raise $3.3mn for Biden in one night, seek moderate positions on Kashmir, CAA In 2018, she signed royalty agreements for two of her books that she released ahead of her presidential candidacy. She made $ 320, 125 that year and $ 277,763 in 2019 through her books Superheroes are everywhere and The truths we hold: An American journey. In January 2019 she announced her presidential candidacy but dropped out of the race in December, 2019. She wrote in an email to her supporters that it was getting difficult for her to raise money for her campaign, I am not a billionaire, I cannot fund my own campaign. In April 2020, Harris entered a join fund raising effort with the DNC that allowed her to raise six-figure donations for the party, fuelling speculation that she was running for the vice president. On August 11, 2020, Joe Biden picked her to be his running mate in US election 2020. European airlines' winter schedules are still "out of touch with reality" as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc in the aviation sector, according to a report from Australian consultancy CAPA. It noted that European airlines have pencilled in schedules operating at 80pc of capacity in the final two months of this year compared to the last two months of 2019. It added that capacity for the first two months of 2021 has been barely cut in the past week and is still running at about 86pc of the capacity during January and February this year. "Significant cuts to this winter outlook are inevitable," said CAPA in the report prepared for Eurocontrol. Eurocontrol, headed by former Irish Aviation Authority CEO Eamonn Brennan, manages airspace across Europe. CAPA said there are 14.2m seats available for travel on European airlines this week. That's 60.1pc lower than a year ago, with the number of seats declining week-on-week as the region grapples with a Covid resurgence. The consultancy noted that domestic and international capacity in Europe has declined this week for the fourth week in a row. Domestic capacity is 4pc lower week-on-week, while international capacity is down 2.5pc. On an annual basis, the number of domestic seats available in Europe is down 32.9pc this week, compared to 32pc last week. The number of international seats available from European carriers is down 68.2pc, compared to a 67.3pc decline last week. Last week, Ryanair said it was cutting capacity for October by an additional 20pc, having already announced in August that it was lowering capacity for September and October by 20pc. It means it's operating capacity in October at just 40pc of the level it had in October last year. Ryanair group chief executive Michael O'Leary described the upcoming winter as a "write-off". Yesterday the carrier launched a 'buy one, get one free' ticket offer for travel on a limited number of routes over the autumn. CAPA said European airlines also continue to be hit hard by the collapse in business travel. It noted the impact is also hitting carrier such as Ryanair. Eurocontrol said yesterday that legacy carriers are currently operating 64pc fewer flights compared to this time last year, while low-cost carriers are flying 60pc less. The number of cargo flights is up 2pc compared to last year. Two women were murdered, allegedly by their husbands, in two separate incidents in Delhi on Thursday. The suspects in both the cases have been arrested, police said. In the first incident, on Thursday afternoon, a 32-year-old man allegedly bludgeoned his 28-year-old wife to death in front of their four-year-old son before trying to die by suicide by slitting his wrist in southwest Delhis Dabri. The man, however, was saved after a police team rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he got immediate medical attention. Police said that marital discord seems to be the reason that led to the murder. The man, identified as Bhanu Pratap, will be arrested and booked for killing his wife once he is discharged from the hospital. Deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Santosh Kumar Meena said a call was received that around 3 pm on Thursday, stating that a person had cut his veins inside his house in Dabri. A police team reached the house and found that a couple lay bleeding on the floor. Both of them were rushed to a nearby hospital, where the woman was declared brought dead, said Meena. The woman, Soni Devi, was attacked on her head with a blunt object that caused her death. Her husband has cut wounds on his wrist that suggests that he tried to kill himself. The couples child, who was in the one-room house at the time of the crime, is now living with a relative, said DCP Meena. The police said that the initial probe into the case has revealed that the couple had strained relations since their wedding five years ago. Their frequent altercations forced them to live separately. The husband, who works as a mechanic, had started living in north-east Delhi while the woman stayed with their child in the Dabri home, a police officer associated with the probe said. On Thursday, Bhanu Pratap visited his wife. Neighbours have told the police that they heard the couple quarrelling but did not intervene since it was a routine affair. Around 2.30pm, they heard Soni Devi screaming and the child crying. They later rushed in to help and found the couple bleeding on the floor. One of them called the police, the officer said. The exact reason behind the fight will be ascertained only after we record Prataps statement, the officer added. Elsewhere, nearly 10 hours before Sonis murder, a 29-year-old woman was strangled to death allegedly by her husband following an altercation over his extra marital affair and her checking his cellphone at their home in central Delhis Multani Dhanda, Paharganj. The 31-year-old husband, Sunny, was arrested later in day from Paharganj area. Sunny was driving an e-rickshaw with a mask covering his face when a police team nabbed him, said DCP (central) Sanjay Bhatia. The womans body was found on the floor of her home by a relative who informed the police. Her two children were at her in-laws home. Her husband Sunny was also missing after Wednesday night. Since Sunny was an e-rickshaw driver, we started stopping and checking all e-rickshaws in the neighbourhood. Sunny tried to flee after seeing the police. But our team caught him and he confessed to having strangled his wife using her dupatta after having an altercation over his extra marital affair, said DCP Bhatia. The woman wanted to check his cellphones call details to confront him on his affair. Sunny refused to hand over his cell phone. It led to an argument and he killed her in a fit of rage, the police said. By Express News Service KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Kochi on Friday found a 36-year-old man from Kerala, who joined the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq, guilty of multiple offences. This is one of the first cases in Kerala in which an accused was charged and found guilty under section IPC 125 for waging war against an Asiatic power which is in alliance with India, officials said. During the final hearing at the NIA court, Subahani Haja Moideen, a native of Thodupuzha in Idukki, submitted that he does not believe in violence. "I believe in peace rather than violence. My age and family situation should be considered while deciding the quantum of punishment. I did not wage war against India or any other country. I am ready to accept the verdict of the court. However, the final judgment is made by almighty God," he deposed. However, Arjun Ambalapatta, senior prosecutor of NIA, said he has no remorse for his actions and should be given maximum punishment of life imprisonment under IPC section 125 and UAPA section 20. "He wanted to do jihad in India before going to Iraq and joined. He wanted to procure a sniper rifle. Violent videos of IS activities were recovered from him. He has no regrets about the offences he committed. Hence maximum punishment should be granted and no lenience should be shown," Arjun said. The case dates back to October 2016, when the NIA arrested Subahani as part of the probe into another case related to IS. During the probe, it was revealed that he had travelled to Iraq via Turkey. He left India in February and entered IS-controlled Iraq in April 2015. According to the NIA, he was trained and deployed at a warzone near Mosul in Iraq. However, seeing his friend die in the war, he decided to return to India. He was jailed by IS at Mosul but they agreed to release him. Later, approaching the Indian Embassy in Istanbul, he managed to return to India in September 2015. However, he allegedly continued his links with IS and allegedly tried to procure explosives from Tamil Nadu. Subahani was charged under the offenses IPC 120 (b) for criminal conspiracy, 125 for waging war against an Asiatic power in alliance with India, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) section 20 for being a member of a terrorist organisation, section 38 for committing an offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation and section 39 for supporting a terrorist organisation. He was found not guilty for an offence under section 122 of the IPC for collecting arms and ammunition to wage war against the nation. The court will announce the sentence on Monday. The NIA judge P Krishnakumars judgment, which runs to 122 pages and 210 paragraphs, discussed 14 points to conclude why the accused was found guilty. In the majority of the portion, he discussed the offence under the section that dealt with waging a war against an Asiatic power thats in a friendly alliance with India. The court said statements of witnesses corroborated by digital, scientific and oral evidence lend support to the finding that the accused had fought for IS. "The accused had transgressed to the soil of IS occupied Iraq with his proved motive to join IS. He had actually started to abet war led by IS against Iraq, an Asiatic power in alliance with the government of India," the court observed. Similarly, the court observed that the accused attempted to collect chlorate, sulphur, aluminum powder and phosphorus -- material used for huge explosions. "But at the same time, none of the said evidence is sufficient to constitute 'preparation to wage war against the government of India' which is the essential ingredient of the offence under section 122 IPC," the court observed. The court also gave space to appreciate NIA investigation officer A P Shoukath Ali claiming that he took painstaking efforts to bring on record all important materials though the offence was committed abroad. There was also a special mention for NIA senior prosecutor Arjun. The court said he exemplified the ideal role of a prosecutor, adding that he took an earnest effort to assist it whenever required. The court also thanked defense counsel V T Raghunath for helping it during the trial as an experienced lawyer. The seven counties of mid-Michigan accounted for 35 new cases of COVID-19 Friday, with 10 in the central core of Isabella, Gratiot and Clare. One county reported nearly half of the sum total number of cases. Five new cases were reported in Isabella County, bringing the countys cumulative total number of cases to 621, with 13 deaths. With a population of 70,000, 8.8 per 1,000 residents have had a confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March. Central Michigan District Health Department reports that 134 have recovered. Recovery is defined as 30 days past onset of symptoms, or referral to medical service, without a death or the person hospitalized. It is an imprecise number, based not on human biology but on the calendar. Some people report still being sick after 30 days. CMDHD reported Friday that the number of cases associated with CMUs return to campus had grown to 318, 302 of which were confirmed and 16 of which were probable. That is 14 confirmed cases in the last week, an average of two per-day, a sign that the campus outbreak that momentarily was the worst in the state has since been contained. CMDHD reported Friday that it was the last update associated with CMUs return to school. Four new cases were reported in Gratiot County, bringing the countys cumulative total number of cases to 231, with 15 deaths. With a population of approximately 40,000, 5.5 per 1,000 residents have had a confirmed case of COVID-19 since March. Mid-Michigan District Health Department, which oversees Gratiot County, does not report recoveries at the county level on its website. Clares confirmed cases increased to 103, where it was Wednesday before being revised down by one on Thursday. Four people have died there, with 77 having recovered. For every 1,000 people living there, 3.4 have had a confirmed case since March. The largest number of cases reported Friday were in Midland County, which saw its confirmed cases increase by 16 to 499, with 11 deaths. Earlier this week, it was reported that an outbreak is ongoing at Northwood University, involving 55 students. Another school-related outbreak was reported at Ferris State University, involving 57 students. Mecosta County, where FSU is located, added another four cases Friday, for a cumulative total of 193, with three deaths. Four more cases were reported in Montcalm County, for a cumulative total of 284 and five deaths. One more case was reported in Gladwin County, for a cumulative total of 84 cases and two deaths. Statewide, another 929 cases were confirmed for a cumulative total of 120,529. Another eight deaths were reported for a cumulative total of 6,708. READ MORE: Max Verstappen is not expecting miracles during the Russian Grand Prix. Verstappen has admitted third is probably the best he can expect but anticipates McLaren and Racing Point to be on his tail. Verstappen wants to go to the stage Verstappen does not leave with good memories of his visit to Italy. The races at Monza and Mugello ended for the Red Bull Racing driver sooner than he would have hoped. No podium, no points, but simply two DNFs behind his name. ''I don't expect a miracle in Russia. Normally third place is the highest possible, but I expect McLaren, Renault and Racing Point to be very close," Verstappen told NOS and others. Honda said earlier that Verstappen's problems have been solved and the Dutchman now confirms that. Conversations with Honda "The problem of Monza had already been solved, that in Mugello was a bit different. I am not going to say exactly what was wrong, because that is nobody's business. It had to do with the software and they solved it. We sat down well together and discussed this at length. Of course, I do not have to tell Honda that dropping out three times in nine races is not great. They know that themselves," said Verstappen, who states that the relationship with Honda is still good. ''You have to be honest with each other and explain things. The noses are in the same direction, because we want to fight for podiums and victories. I hope they continue." Two studies about heart disease should be of significant interest to women shares the director of the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance (AACII). "Heart disease is typically seen as a man's disease," explains Jesse Slome, director of the critical illness insurance group. "Women today are less aware that heart disease is the top killer of women in the United States." About 300,000 women die of heart disease each year according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Heart disease causes one in three deaths for women each year," cites Slome. "That's approximately one woman every minute." According to AACII, heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States, causing more deaths than all forms of cancer combined. In men, the risk for heart attack increases significantly after the age of 45. In women, heart attacks are more likely to occur after the age of 50. Slome shared two recent studies focused on heart disease and women. Speaking to leading insurance professionals, he shared findings from The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. The study found that while the heart attack rates have decreased among older adults, they have risen among those ages 35-54, especially women. A second national survey just released by the American Heart Association (AHA) found that only 44 percent of women knew heart disease is the top killer for females. The percentage is down substantially from their 2009 study where 65 percent understood this important fact. According to the latest AHA survey findings, the awareness decline was concentrated among women younger than age 65, and was greater among Hispanic and Black women than it was for white women. Among women younger than 65, heart disease awareness dropped over the decade. When it came to awareness of heart disease as the leading cause of death, the steepest declines were among women aged 25 to 34 (an 81% decline), Hispanic women (86% decline) and Black women (67% decline). "The good news is that most women will survive a heart attack," Slome notes. "But survival comes at a steep financial price that women are not preparing for." Slome notes that women in particular would benefit from modest amounts of critical illness insurance protection. "A policy that pays a lump-sum cash benefit of $15,000 might cost a 48-year old woman around $20-per month," he acknowledges. To learn more about critical illness insurance rates and planning, visit the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance Website. AACII advocates for the importance of planning and supports insurance professionals who market cancer and ci insurance protection. Citizens wait in long lines to get free flu vaccinations at the Korea Association of Health Promotion's Seoul branch, Thursday, as some vaccine bottles to be used for the government's free flu shot program were found to have been mishandled. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye Concerns are growing over a possible shortage of seasonal influenza vaccines that could result in higher prices, following the distributor's mishandling of some vaccine bottles. Citizens here, who already suffered a face mask supply crisis earlier this year when the COVID-19 outbreak worsened, are expressing worries over the flu vaccine fiasco amid mounting fears of a so-called "twindemic" an overlap of flu season with a possible surge in coronavirus cases this fall and winter. The government was planning to provide free flu shots for some 19 million people, or 37 percent of the country's population, including children and adolescents aged from six months to 18 years, pregnant women and those aged 62 and above. The number of people entitled to free vaccinations increased from 13.8 million last year amid concerns over the public health crisis. Those who are not entitled to free flu shots are required to pay about 40,000 won ($34) to receive a vaccination at a private hospital. Adding to the woes, however, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced the temporary suspension of its free flu shot program, Tuesday, citing that some vaccine bottles had been mishandled during the distribution process. The KDCA said some of the roughly 5 million doses of flu vaccines were exposed to room temperature while being moved between vehicles. Inactivated vaccines should be stored in refrigerators. Exposure to room temperature could reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine and cause other side effects. KDCA Commissioner Jung Eun-kyeong said the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is conducting quality and safety tests on the exposed vaccines to see if they can still be administered to people. "The tests will take about two weeks," Jung said during a media briefing, noting that the government will decide on whether to dispose of the exposed vaccines or resume their use after those tests. "We confirmed that 105 people had already received the exposed vaccines, so we are keenly monitoring their health," she said. She added that the government decided to resume the free flu shot program for children under 12 and pregnant women, beginning Friday, noting that the vaccines to be used for this are not the ones exposed to room temperature. Citizens are raising concerns that vaccine prices could rise if the government decides to dispose of the exposed vaccines as demand is increasing rapidly amid growing concerns over the "twindemic." According to officials in the pharmaceutical industry, additional production of flu vaccines for this year is almost impossible due to time constraints. Even if the government decides to resume the use of the exposed vaccines, concerns still remain as some citizens are expressing distrust, questioning whether they were really safe. Some of those who qualify to receive free flu shots have already appeared to opt for the paid vaccination, resulting in long queues at hospitals. Kim Yoo-mi, 36, the mother of a five-year-old girl, said, "My daughter is entitled to the free flu shot, but I visited a hospital yesterday to get the paid vaccination with my daughter because I was not sure about the safety of the exposed vaccines." Health experts stressed the importance of flu vaccinations in bracing for the possibility of a severe flu season coinciding with a surge in COVID-19 cases, noting that it is not easy to distinguish COVID-19 from the flu because they share similar symptoms such as a sore throat and fever. "If you have received a vaccination, you will need to go through only coronavirus testing when you have a fever. If not, you will need to go through both coronavirus and flu testing," said Kim Woo-joo, a professor at Korea University Guro Hospital. A 16-year-old teenager has been taken to hospital after he was allegedly punched and suffered puncture wounds to his torso and chest in Brisbane's CBD. Paramedics were called to Queen Street Mall just before 11pm on Friday over a disturbance between the boy and three other people. The boy was taken to Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital, where he remains. Police said they were looking for at least two suspects. A crime scene was declared and investigations are continuing. The Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday said that the DNA samples of the three youths mistakenly gunned down in an encounter in July have matched with their family members in Rajouri and that further investigations are underway. The army admitted last week that powers vested under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) were violated in the July killing of three people, who they thought were terrorists. The families of the three had blamed the army for killing them in a fake encounter. The DNA samples of families have been received and they have matched with those killed in the Amshipora encounter. The remaining formalities will be completed and further action will be taken, Vijay Kumar, Inspector General of Police, told reporters in Srinagar. In a statement, the army had said that the inquiry ordered by authorities into the operation at Amshipora in Shopian on July 18 has concluded. The inquiry has brought out prima facie evidence indicating that during the operation, powers vested under the AFSPA 1990 were exceeded and the dos and donts of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) as approved by the Honble Supreme Court have been contravened. Consequently, the competent disciplinary authority has directed initiation of disciplinary proceedings under the Army Act against those found prima-facie answerable, the spokesman had said, adding that the evidence collected showed that the three unidentified men killed in Amshipora are actually Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohd Ibrar -all from Rajouri. Earlier, the families of the three wrote to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, seeking his intervention after the DNA reports were delayed. The three men, related to each other, were gunned down in an encounter on July 18. DNA samples from their families were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) Srinagar, and the FSL at Chandigarh. Our children left for Shopian on July 16, in search of work where one of our relatives, Imtiyaz Ahmed, works in the house of the Lambardar. After a couple of days, we lost contact with the children. So, we decided to lodge a missing complaint, the letter from the families said, adding that on August 10, they came to know, via social media, that all three men were killed in an encounter. We identified them from pictures of the bodies. On August 13, a Shopian police team collected DNA samples from us. We were assured that the DNA report would be out within 10 days. To date, we have not been informed about the reports, the plea to Sinha said. Our children had no connection with militancy. For this, we are demanding an inquiry. They were killed in cold blood, and were merely students and labourers. We are demanding an impartial and fair inquiry into the killings as well as the DNA reports, so that things can be made public, read the letter. The families added in the letter that several of its members are still serving in the army. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 23:39:54|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday he is ready to join hands with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in playing a strategic guiding role to promote new development in the China-Japan relationship. In a telephone conversation with the Japanese leader, Xi stressed that China and Japan are crucial close neighbours and partners for each other. As key players in Asia and the world, the two countries enjoy various common interests and wide cooperative space, he noted, adding that with joint efforts of the two sides, China-Japan relations have gotten back on track and maintained a positive momentum. In line with the principles and spirit of the four China-Japan political documents, China stands ready to work with the new Japanese government to properly handle key sensitive issues including historical ones, continue to enhance political mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and expand people-to-people exchanges amid efforts to build bilateral relations that meet the requirements of the new era, Xi stressed. The Chinese president pointed out that constantly expanding common interests for the benefits of the two peoples is the essential need of the new era for China-Japan relations, saying that at present, amid the raging COVID-19, it has become a common policy choice of all nations to battle the pandemic, stabilize the economy and safeguard people's livelihood. China and Japan can support each other and achieve win-win outcomes, Xi said, adding that economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has pulled off growth despite the pandemic, showcasing strong resilience and great potential. Noting that China is stepping up efforts to foster a new, dual-cycle development architecture with the domestic cycle as the mainstay and with domestic and international development reinforcing each other, he said it is hoped that the two sides will jointly safeguard stable and smooth industrial chains and supply chains, as well as fair and open trade and investment environments, and improve the quality and level of the bilateral cooperation. He added that China supports Japan in hosting a successful Olympic Games in the coming year. China and Japan jointly shoulder the important responsibility of maintaining world peace, stability and development, Xi stressed. In accordance with the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, both sides should actively advocate and practice multilateralism, firmly uphold the international order and system with the United Nations at its core, and strengthen communication, coordination and cooperation under the mechanisms of multilateral institutions and regional cooperation, he said, adding that the two countries should join hands to deal with various global challenges and make positive contributions to Asia's prosperity and development. For his part, Suga said Japan attaches great importance to China and regards Japan-China relations as one of the most important bilateral relations. Noting that the two countries have supported each other in combating the raging pandemic, Suga said a stable Japan-China relationship is not only in the interests of the two peoples, but also indispensable to world peace and prosperity. Suga said he hopes to maintain close contact with President Xi, and commits to strengthening bilateral economic and trade cooperation and deepening cultural and people-to-people exchanges, so as to lift Japan-China relations to a new level. The Japanese side stands ready to keep close communication with China, ensure the signing of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement within the year, accelerate the negotiations on China-Japan-Republic of Korea Free Trade Zone, and work together to safeguard the stability of industrial chains and supply chains in the region, he said. The two sides also exchanged views on issues of mutual concern. Enditem With more than 70 years in the industry and 180 employees across the country, our company is looking to the future, advancing quality products and services, becoming more flexible to meet customer demand and expectations. As we explored options to better serve our customers, Indianas friendly business climate and Merrillvilles location resonated with us as the ideal place for our expanded operations, said Michael Chudacoff,Midwest Trucks business development manager. LOS ANGELESThough many types of sex industry businesses are legal in Japan, and nearly 32,000 sex businesses are registered with the government, when Japan put together its $1 trillion coronavirus pandemic relief package in April, sex businesses were barred from receiving any cash. But this week, one escort-service owner filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government, alleging that she and other sex businesses were victims of discrimination, and should have been included in the aid program all along, according to a report by Japans Kyodo News Service. As is the custom in much Japanese news reporting, the name of the sex business owner was not included in the Kyodo report, which identified her only as a woman who operates her business in Japans Kansai region the area south of Tokyo that is home to several major cities, including Kyoto, and Osaka. The government aid package included stimulus checks sent directly to Japanese residents, but sex workers were initially shut out of that program as well. But the government reversed course in late April and made sex workers eligible for the cash payments after all. Businesses in the countrys $24 billion sex industry, however, continued to be excluded from a program that offered one-time payments of 2 million yen or about $19,000 to small business owners, to help cover expenses during shutdowns due to the pandemic. While the actual act of accepting money in exchange for sexual intercourse remains outlawed in Japan, numerous sexually oriented businesses are legal, including sex worker dispatch businesses escort services love hotels (which rent rooms by the hour, specifically for sexual activity), and fashion health businesses, which are essentially massage parlors also offering patrons oral sex. Lawyers for the woman now suing the government contend that there was no reasonable grounds for the COVID-19 relief program to exclude legal sex businesses, according to Kyodo. The woman said that revenues from her business fell 80 percent in April, and 70 percent in May, compared to 2019. The lawyers say in the suit, filed in Tokyo District Court, that their client operates her business in compliance with all relevant laws and regulations, and pays all required taxes on the operation. About 60 percent of Japans 31,956 registered legal sex businesses are dispatch services, according to the Kyodo report. Photo By meguraw645 / Pixabay We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. 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 KAR Auction Services, Inc. (NYSE:KAR). What Is Insider Buying? It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market. Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year'. Check out our latest analysis for KAR Auction Services The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At KAR Auction Services Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Chairman & CEO James Hallett for US$1.0m worth of shares, at about US$16.88 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than US$13.75 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. In the last twelve months KAR Auction Services insiders were buying shares, but not selling. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below! Story continues There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying. Insider Ownership Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 1.0% of KAR Auction Services shares, worth about US$17m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders. So What Does This Data Suggest About KAR Auction Services Insiders? It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded KAR Auction Services shares in the last quarter. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Overall we don't see anything to make us think KAR Auction Services insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Be aware that KAR Auction Services is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is concerning... 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. No matter how many times I read Gov. Greg Abbotts July 27 proclamation, I cant find anything controversial in it. The governor extended the early voting period for this years general election by six days to reduce crowds and allow for social distancing, mindful that its the best way to protect the health of voters while we grapple with the stealth menace of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also helped mail voters who might want to personally drop off their ballots at an early voting clerks office. Under the Texas Election Code, voters can drop off a mail ballot only on Election Day, but Abbott enabled them to also do so during the early voting period. It is necessary to increase the number of days in which polling locations will be open during the early voting period, such that election officials can implement appropriate social distancing and safe hygiene practices, Abbott said. This statement was about as provocative as saying water is wet or illness is bad. It should be in the interest of everyone in this state, during this unprecedented election cycle, to make the voting process as safe and efficient as possible. Who could object to an emergency measure that does nothing to tamper with the integrity of the voting process, but simply reduces the health risks for poll workers and voters who want to voice their choice? Well, several of Abbotts fellow Republicans objected enough to file a petition Wednesday with the Texas Supreme Court challenging the governors proclamation. This group includes Allen West, the states Republican Party chair, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and six GOP state lawmakers: Sens. Charles Perry and Pat Fallon and Reps. Bill Zedler, Cecil Bell Jr., Steve Toth and Dan Flynn. Donna Campbell, whose state Senate district includes North San Antonio, initially was listed as one of the plaintiffs, but she sent a terse letter Wednesday to attorney Jared Woodfill, demanding that her name be withdrawn. On the surface, this lawsuit is about the election. But its really about resentment within the hard-core conservative base of the Texas GOP about Abbotts handling of the pandemic. While Democrats blame Abbott for moving too slowly on imposing a statewide mask mandate and moving too quickly on a phased reopening of businesses, some of the governors fellow Republicans have the opposite perspective. They believe Abbott has used COVID-19 as an excuse to curb personal liberties. Given the extraordinary circumstances Texans have faced over the past seven months, the court filing states, it is shocking that Gov. Abbott has continued to unilaterally suspend laws while refusing to convene the Texas Legislature. The petition makes the case that if constitutional rights can be restricted whenever a governor declares an emergency, then such rights are wholly illusory. Abbott has based his actions on a Texas law that empowers the governor to declare a state of disaster. The current lawsuit argues, however, that the disaster law does not contain any language expressly allowing Gov. Abbott to amend the Texas Election Code. These are debatable legal nuances. What should not be debatable, however, is the fact that this lawsuit is a pathetic waste of everyones time, an effort to disrupt an already stress-filled voting process that is set to begin in less than three weeks. What great satisfaction can any of these conservative warhorses derive from succeeding in this court fight? If they win, will they pop their champagne corks at the thought of Texas voters having six fewer days to vote during a pandemic? If, like much of their partys base, they regard mail balloting with suspicion, they should want to expand access to in-person this year, not reduce it. Its to this states credit that we were pioneers in the move to allow in-person early voting. After Texas adopted early voting in 1987, other states began to follow. Its now hard to remember a time when it didnt exist. In 2018, 76 percent of the Bexar County election turnout came from early voting. These Republican plaintiffs must know that their own party tends to benefit from early voting, which generally attracts a disproportionate number of older, intensely ideological voters. In 2018, U.S. Rep. Will Hurd lost the Election Day vote in Bexar County to Democratic challenger Gina Ortiz Jones by 423 votes. But Hurd carried the local early vote by 5,097 votes. That allowed him to escape with a narrow election victory. In 2012, Robert Stovall, the Republican candidate for tax assessor-collector, carried the early vote by 6,612 votes, but he lost the race when his Democratic opponent, Albert Uresti, took the Election Day voting by 29,728 votes. It doesnt seem to matter to the plaintiffs in this case whether early voting helps their party or not. Abbotts proclamation was an expansion of voter access and a recognition of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. And theyre allergic to both of those things. Gilbert Garcia is a columnist covering the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Gilbert, become a subscriber. ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470 "We have received the Law on Political Parties Financing; it is one of the regulations that we have also requested and suggested because that is necessary," he expressed. According to the Head of State, this law is very important because it encompasses several proposed aspects and although the Executive Branch would have wanted it to be more precise it constitutes progress. "Therefore, we recognize the law here, and we have already received it signed by Congress Chairman Manuel Merino, as well as by Congress Deputy Chairman Guillermo Aliaga," he said. The top official added that it is a bill promoted two years ago. In this sense, he stressed the fact that Parliament has recently approved it, after noting that this is the way the Executive and Legislative Branches should work. What the law says One of the main amendments to this law is the elimination of the penalty based on annulling the registration of offending parties. Receiving contributions or spending funds through a person other than the main/substitute treasurer or the decentralized treasurers of any political organization constitute very serious infractions. Conferencia de prensa del presidente @MartinVizcarraC para informar sobre las acciones que realiza el Gobierno frente al COVID-19. En vivo: https://t.co/a7RdfDHRMA https://t.co/sW7lLluNEX The Tennessee Attorney Generals Office and the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance announced Friday they are participating in a consolidated nationwide enforcement action to disrupt a fraudulent precious metals scheme that has solicited more than $185 million from seniors and other investors across the United States.This week, the Tennessee Attorney Generals Office on behalf of the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance joined the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and 29 other states to file a complaint in the U.S.District Court for the Northern District of Texas alleging that Metals.com, Had a reckless disregard for the truth that virtually every one of theirinvestorslost the majority of the funds invested in fraudulently overpriced Precious Metals Bullion.The defendants solicited more than $180 million from seniors and other vulnerable investors nationwide by touting precious metals at grossly inflated prices, said Tennessee Commissioner of Commerce & Insurance Hodgen Mainda. They capitalized on investors fear of market instability and economic uncertainty. Many investors suffered substantial losses from retirement savings by relying on the false representations made by the defendants and their sales representatives.This nationwide scheme that targeted many vulnerable Tennesseans was a blatant violation of our states securities laws and resulted in many losing their retirement funds, said Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III. Our Office is going after people who do something like this. We wont hesitate in seeking justice for the victims.We want to protect Tennessee consumers from these alleged fraudsters and other unscrupulous actors. I encourage any Tennessean who believes they were involved with Metals.com or companies and/or individuals like them to let us know immediately, said Assistant Commissioner of Securities Elizabeth Bowling. We know of a couple dozen victims in Tennessee and anticipate more through the discovery process and further reporting from Tennesseans.The complaint names TMTE Inc., also known as Metals.com, Chase Metals Inc., Chase Metals LLC, Barrick Capital Inc., Simon Batashvili, Lucas Asher and Tower Equity LLC. The unregistered Beverly Hills, Ca. based firm and its sales representatives are accused of targeting elderly investors through traditional and social media, providing unregistered investment advisory services designed to instill fear in elderly and retirement-aged investors and build trust with investors based on representations of political or religious affinity, according to the complaint. Investors were advised to liquidate their holdings at registered investment firms to fund investments in precious metals through self-directed individual retirement accounts and bullion coins, the complaint said.The defendants also are accused of failing to disclose, among other things, what Metals.com and Barrick charged investors for their precious metals bullion products and that investors could lose the majority of their funds immediately upon completing a transaction. The defendants charged investors prices for gold or silver bullion averaging from 100 percent to more than 300 percent the melt value or spot price of that gold or silver bullion. In many cases, the market value of the precious metals sold to investors was substantially lower than the value of the securities and other retirement savings investors had liquidated to fund their purchase.The complaint requests the Court order the defendants to cease sales activity, return money to investors and stop defrauding investors and violating federal and state laws going forward. The complaint also requests that a receiver be appointed to take over the companies to marshal funds for the benefit of investors across the country.Metals.com and its agents have been under regulatory scrutiny for the past two years. Prior to Fridays action, 12 states have taken separate enforcement actions against the firm and its sales representatives. Despite these regulatory measures, the firm, in new iterations, continued to prey on elderly investors. Fridays coordinated state and federal action was a result of a multi-state collaboration by members of the North American Securities Administrators Association, of which the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance is a member, and the CFTCs Office of Cooperative Enforcement.The Department of Commerce & Insurance and the Tennessee Attorney Generals Office encourage investors to come forward if they suspect they have been targeted by Metals.com or similar precious metals investment schemes. Contact the Securities Division at the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance at 615-741-5900 to speak with an investigator, or email securities.1@tn.gov or visit https://www.tn.gov/commerce/securities/investors/file-a-complaint.html to file a complaint.Read the Complaint and the Statutory Restraining Order at https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2020/pr20-39-complaint-order.pdf. Turkey: Kurdish protests for Kobane, 82 arrest warrants Raids over 2014 riots, even HDP-party mayor in handcuffs (ANSA) - ISTANBUL, SEPTEMBER 25 - The Ankara prosecutor's office on Friday issued 82 arrest warrants for people accused of having contributed to riots that took place nearly six years ago in southeast Turkey at the border with Syria. The clashes - which began in October 2014 and in which at least 34 people were killed and 761 were injured, including 326 members of security forces - were part of protests over the closure of the border, which blocked Kurdish militants in the country from supporting Syrian ones who were under attack from ISIS in Kobane. Police operations on Friday to carry out the arrest warrants took place in seven provinces, including Ankara. The charges include murder, attempted murder, theft, damage of public and private property, and burning the Turkish flag. Those under arrest include Ayhan Bilgen, the mayor of Kars and a senior member of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, the third-largest political force in the Turkish Parliament.In recent years the party has been bombarded with hundreds of arrests - including that of its former charismatic leader and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas, who was held for nearly four years - as well as the dismissal of mayors and MPs. Authorities accuse HDP of being the political wing of the terrorists of PKK, but the party denies any and all ties.(ANSA). Kim Jong Un offered a rare apology over the fatal shooting of a South Korean national by North Korean military personnel north of the border, a move that could prevent the incident from further raising tension between the rivals. North Korea sent a letter Friday morning over the killing of a 47-year-old man who worked for the fisheries ministry, national security adviser Suh Hoon said in Seoul. The shooting this week was the first such killing in about a decade, coming after Pyongyang taunted its neighbor for months, in June blowing up a liaison office built in 2018 north of the border as a symbol of reconciliation. "Kim gave the order to deliver the message that he is very sorry that the incident gave a major disappointment to South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the South Korean people," the letter -- sent by the United Front Department, a ruling Workers' Party organ handling inter-Korean relations -- said, according to Suh. North Korea's official media had so far made no mention of the incident. South Korea demanded Thursday that North Korea show contrition. The shooting likely took place around the same day Moon urged world leaders at a speech to the United Nations General Assembly to bring the 70-year-old Korean War to a formal end, his latest attempt to resuscitate stalled nuclear talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim. "Kim's apology definitely eased the elevating tension in the Korean Peninsula," said Boo Seung-chan, a former adviser to South Korea's defense minister and now an adjunct professor at the Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies. "Kim may want to portray himself as a rational leader -- not a rogue leader -- to the international community amid his high-stakes nuclear negotiations with the U.S." In a separate briefing that followed, Suh disclosed contents of letters that Moon and Kim exchanged earlier this month, where they praised each other's efforts in maintaining stability. The South Korean government employee went missing Monday from his boat near Yeonpyeong Island, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the nautical border known as the Northern Limit Line. North Korean personnel shot the man and burned his body, the South Korean Defense Ministry said Thursday. He was apparently trying to defect but was treated harshly by the North Koreans because they believed he could have been a carrier of the coronavirus, Yonhap News Agency cited a South Korean military official as saying. North Korea denied that it intended to set the man's body ablaze. The letter included the details of North Korea's investigation, which said the unidentified man crossed the maritime border without authorization and was warned by the firing of two blanks. He didn't respond to commands and when he was trying to flee, more than 10 shots were fired, the letter said. The North Korean patrol found blood in the water but not a body and set fire to floating material in the area as a virus-prevention measure, it said. North Korea also blasted South Korea for making the "unilateral" announcement of this incident a day earlier and saying Pyongyang had taken "anti-humanitarian" actions. Yeonpyeong, near where the shooting took place, was in 2010 the site of the first attack on South Korean soil since the end of the Korean War. North Korea shelled targets for more than an hour, killing two civilians and two marines. The flurry damaged almost 300 structures and set wooded areas ablaze. The incident marked a nadir in ties stemming from a series of incident that began in 2008 when North Korea fatally shot a 53-year-old South Korean woman vacationer who wandered close to a military facility at a resort at North Korea's Mount Kumgang. Pyongyang expressed "regret" the day after the shooting at in the country's eastern mountain resort. South Koreans were then ordered to vacate the facility that was supposed to serve as a place where people from the two Koreas could meet. India's third Covid wave likely to peak on Jan 23, daily cases to stay below 4 lakh: IIT Kanpur scientist India logs over 3.17 lakh new Covid cases in last 24 hours; daily positivity rate up at 16.41 per cent Indian delegate walks out of UN General Assembly hall as Imran Khan begins his speech India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Sep 25: Indian delegate on Friday walked out of the UN General Assembly Hall when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan began his speech. Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations TS Tirumurti took to Twitter and said that Pakistan PM Imran Khan's statement at the 75th UN General Assembly is a "new diplomatic low". "Another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, warmongering and obfuscation of Pakistan's persecution of its own minorities and of its cross-border terrorism. Befitting Right of Reply awaits," he said. Imran Khan virtually addressed the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address on Saturday at 6:30 pm (New York time: 9 am). In his pre-recorded video statement to the General Debate at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly on Friday, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan made references to India's internal affairs, including Jammu and Kashmir. India hits out at Pakistan for raising Kashmir issue at CICA meet The Indian delegate in the general assembly hall walked out when PM Khan started his usual diatribe about India. Sunil Gavaskar defends himself, says never blamed Anushka | Oneindia News India has firmly told Pakistan that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is, and shall continue to be an integral part of India. New Delhi has maintained that issues related to Jammu and Kashmir are internal matters to India. Pakistan has been unsuccessfully trying to drum up international support against India for withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir's special status on August 5 last year and bifurcating it into two union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution was its internal matter. It also advised Pakistan to accept reality and stop all anti-India propaganda. Photograph: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images The US military is making increasing use in Syria of a gruesome and secretive non-explosive drone missile that deploys flying blades to kill its targets. Described as less likely to kill non-combatants, the so-called ninja bomb whose development was first disclosed last year has been used a number of times in the last year to kill militants in Syria, including those linked to aal-Qaida, most recently earlier this month. Officially designated as the Hellfire AGM-114R9X usually shortened to R9X and sometimes know as the Flying Ginsu the weapon has been increasingly deployed in targeted assassinations by the US Joint Special Operations Command. The missile, believed to have been first used in 2017 to kill al-Qaidas then No 2 leader, Abu Khayr al Masri, in Idlib province, first came to wider attention when its existence was disclosed by an article in the Wall Street Journal last year. The weapon uses a combination of the force of 100lb of dense material flying at high speed and six attached blades which deploy before impact to crush and slice its victims. Video that emerged in June this year, posted by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, appeared to show the remains of one of the missiles used in a strike on a vehicle, also in Syrias Idlib that killed a Jordanian and Yemen, both reportedly members of Hurras al-Din, a group affiliated with aal-Qaida. The weapon is believed to have been developed during the administration of Barack Obama at a time when the US policy of targeted drone assassinations attracted considerable criticism for the number of civilian casualties caused by the strikes. Since its deployment it has been used sparingly, apparently most often in Syria. According to the New York Times the most recent use of the missile was on 14 September, when it was reportedly used to kill Sayyaf al-Tunsi, a Tunisian. Observers have speculated that the increasing use of the weapon in Syria which increasingly has targeted leadership members of al-Qaidas affiliates has been driven by the complexities of operations in Syria where the US is required to work around a large Russian engagement. Story continues Related: Deadly clash in Syria a vivid reminder of US troops' ill-defined mission The bladed, non-explosive version of the Hellfire missile is the latest iteration of a weapon that has undergone several variations since it was used to weaponize previously unarmed Predator drones in around 2000. The first Hellfires were designed as tank busters with a powerful shaped charge, used in Afghanistan for which they were regarded as not entirely suitable. A later version was developed that carried a heavier explosive warhead , but which led in turn to issues with civilian casualties, leading to the development of the R9X. Up until May last year, it is believed that the weapon had been used no more than half a dozen times. But since then it appears to have been used increasingly more often. The new missile appears designed for use in circumstances where a more conventional explosive missile might not be considered for fears of killing non-combatants. While conceding that the weapon appeared to be less dangerous to civilians, Iain Overton of Action on Armed Violence warned against the impression that it was a more humanitarian weapon. This weapon, whilst only used only a handful of times, does appear to have less wide-area effects than other air-dropped explosive weapons. However, the vast majority of the US explosive arsenal does, all too often, cause terrible collateral damage. Given Trumps administration also authorised the use of the largest non-nuclear explosion in the history of the world in Afghanistan, its important to be wary of the PR optics that the US military is now using humanitarian weapons. Overton also underlined issues with a targeted assassination campaign using any weapons that had little oversight. This new weapon, framed as an alternative to larger bombs, might be sold as almost ethical, but if it side-steps due judicial process, and is as susceptible to wrong targeting as other strikes, it is no more than an assassins blade wielded by a state rarely held to account for its actions. A Welland man suspected of intentionally striking two St. Catharines pedestrians on Thursday was still being sought by police Friday, but the car he was last seen driving was located. Niagara Regional Police said they found the white, four-door Hyundai Elantra in Niagara Falls on Friday. The location of 21-year-old Gage Young, though, was still unknown. The white vehicle was not the one involved in the crash that saw two men in their 20s injured in downtown St. Catharines on Thursday morning. That car crashed into a tree after striking the pedestrians. It was abandoned at the scene by the driver, who ran away. The incident unfolded just before noon Thursday in the area of Court and Church Streets. Police said a 21-year-old man was driving a black Chevrolet Cobalt when it struck two male pedestrians, ages 23 and 25, before hitting the tree. The driver took off and was seen getting into another vehicle near Church Street. Police said Thursday night the investigation revealed the collision was a deliberate attempt to strike one of the pedestrians. The 25-year-old pedestrian was transported to a hospital outside the region with non life-threatening injuries. The 23 year old suffered minor injuries. Police said they located the female driver who picked up the male suspect. She was unharmed. The male suspect was later seen by police in a white Hyundai Elantra in the Fonthill area. He was then spotted on the QEW Toronto-bound around Appleby Line in Oakville. Police said they were unable to stop the vehicle for safety reasons. On Friday, police tweeted out that they were getting reports of sightings of the suspect in the Elantra in Niagara Falls. The Elantra had significant front-end damage and was missing its front plate. RELATED STORIES Niagara Region Driver wanted for allegedly hitting pedestrians on purpose in St. Catharines They later found the vehicle, but not the driver. Young remains wanted for two counts of assault with a weapon, failing to remain at the scene of an accident, dangerous driving and theft of a motor vehicle. Police said he is white, 5-foot-11, slim with brown hair. Police are asking anyone with information to contact investigators at 905-688-4111, ext. 4322. Ministers considered the early closure of pubs and restaurants (Peter Morrison/PA) Ministers have delayed a concrete decision on early closure of pubs and restaurants in Northern Ireland to finalise outstanding details, the First Minister has said. Medical experts believe it would hamper the spread of coronavirus and 11pm has been considered by Stormont ministers. Bars which do not serve food opened their doors again on Wednesday for the first time in six months. Arlene Foster said: There is a strong unity of purpose on the way forward. We will come to the Assembly at the beginning of the week on that issue. We will finalise more details over the next couple of days. Expand Close First Minister Arlene Foster and Finance Minister Conor Murphy at a press conference in Parliament Buildings, Stormont (Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp First Minister Arlene Foster and Finance Minister Conor Murphy at a press conference in Parliament Buildings, Stormont (Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye/PA) Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill said it was about dotting the Is and crossing the Ts. She added: There is no failure to agree anything. We actually have an agreed way forward. She urged people to act sensibly over the weekend and the Executive would make a firm decision next week. In the rest of the UK, pubs and restaurants must close at 10pm. In the Republic of Ireland it is 11.30pm. In Northern Ireland, off-licences and supermarkets can sell alcohol until 11pm most days. The DUP leader said the virus reproductive rate was 1.5 but the level of infection in Ballymena where movement limitations were implemented had shown encouraging signs. There have been 189 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in the last 24-hour reporting period, the Department of Health said. Mrs Foster was asked for her reaction to a photograph of her party colleague Sammy Wilson sitting on a train without a face covering on. Those caught without wearing a mask on public transport in London can face fines, although some exemptions for medical reasons are in place. The East Antrim MP told PA that he should have had it on and I am offering no excuse. Mrs Foster said: Everyone has to abide by the laws and take the consequences as well as not abiding by those laws. Ms ONeill added: Were very very strongly encouraging people on an ongoing basis, please wear face masks even in places where it is not mandatory, wear them as much as you possibly can. The Executive also disclosed new support for the beleaguered arts sector. Finance Minister Conor Murphy said: I am pleased to announce 29 million for cultural recovery. Theatres, music and other creative venues shut their doors in March as the pandemic gathered speed and the ban on mass gatherings has hit them hard. Expand Close Northern Ireland received 33m for the arts in July (The Playhouse/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Northern Ireland received 33m for the arts in July (The Playhouse/PA) In July, Northern Ireland received 33 million from the UK Government for the arts but had not yet decided how to spend the money. Over 29 million is also being provided for business interventions including support for the tourism industry and a Holiday at Home voucher scheme, as well as investment in skills and youth training. A total of 40 million is being allocated to ensure local councils can continue to provide essential services and support those in need. Recognising the importance of capital projects to stimulating economic recovery, 15 million is being allocated for the A6 Londonderry to Dungiven road, with 15 million being provided to NI Water to accelerate a number of projects. Mr Murphy added: The allocations made today will provide vital help to businesses as well as continuing to protect the vulnerable. Tobolski also admitted in the plea that he extorted or collected bribes from at least four other people by abusing his official position as mayor or county commissioner. The amount of bribes he collected totaled at least $250,000, though the plea does not spell out how many victims were involved. Japan's MonotaRO Co Ltd has invested USD 15 million (about Rs 110.5 crore) in a joint venture with Emtex Engineering to grow the latter's SME (small and medium enterprises) e-commerce business in India. Emtex Engineering operates Industrybuying.com. It has two businesses -- SME e-commerce and large enterprise. MonotaRO will own 51.6 per cent stake in the JV, IB monotaRO Pvt Ltd, while the rest will be held by Emtex Engineering Pvt Ltd. "As part of the deal, Emtex has transferred its SME business into the JV, and continues to grow its large enterprise businesses independently," a statement said. Industrybuying.com now has access to MonotaRO's know-how, product portfolio, supplier network and e-commerce expertise to develop market leadership position in India. MonotaRO gets entry into the large and emerging India B2B e-commerce market via a well established, profitable platform, the statement added. "MonotaRO's deep e-commerce expertise and catalog of over 10 million products can propel India business to a highly profitable, IPOable growth trajectory in a very short time. So, we are excited to be partnering with them in this phase of our growth," Industrybuying.com CEO Swati Gupta said. Parallely, the company will continue to grow its large enterprise and other businesses independently and profitably, she added. (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 man convicted of killing two people was executed on Thursday, marking the first black inmate put to death since the Trump administration's revival of federal executions this year. Christopher Vialva, 40, died at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana after receiving a lethal injection. His execution came more than 20 years after he was sentenced to death in the Texas killing of Todd and Stacie Bagley, a white couple who were youth ministers. Vialva was 19 at the time of the crime; critics noted this was the first time in nearly 70 years that the US has executed a man for a crime he committed as a teenager. Just hours before his death, Vialva's attorney, Susan Otto, said that race was a very strong component in the 2000 trial that landed her client on death row. She claimed prosecutors used inflammatory racial stereotypes against Vialva and falsely portrayed him as a gang leader to the nearly all-white jury. In a video statement released by his lawyers this month, Vialva expressed regret for what he had done. "I committed a grave wrong when I was a lost kid and took two precious lives from this world," he said. "Every day, I wish I could right this wrong." Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department resumed federal executions this year after a 17-year hiatus. Vialva was the seventh inmate to be executed since July and the second this week. Five of the first six were white, while the sixth was Navajo. The executions come amid nationwide protests over the police killings of Black people and growing frustrations over racism in the criminal justice system. The Justice Department has not announced any future executions after Vialva's. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The global hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV) market size is expected to reach USD 28.82 billion by 2026 according to a new study by Polaris Market Research. The report Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report By Technology (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell, Alkaline Fuel cell, Solid Oxide Fuel Cell); By Vehicle Type (Commercial Vehicle, Passenger Car); By Regions, Segments & Forecast, 2020 2026 gives a detailed insight into current market dynamics and provides analysis on future market growth. In contrast to conventional gasoline, petrol or diesel vehicles, a hydrogen fuel cell incorporates oxygen and hydrogen, which in turn produce energy for the car. There are numerous factors affecting the forward momentum of the market. Developing varied technologies in the automotive industry generates new opportunities for growth. Furthermore, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicles enhanced cargo capacity and longer range contribute to its growth. Since hydrogen fuel cell cars can generate their own energy, many eco-conscious clients opt for fuel cell vehicles over domestic electric cars. Growing environmental awareness is expected to increase the global HFCV market during the forecast period. This is because of decreased carbon emissions from HFCVs, unlike conventional vehicles operating on petrol, diesel or petrol. Get sample copy of this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/hydrogen-fuel-cell-vehicle-market/request-for-sample Many government organizations and concerned authorities and industry partners have initiated plans to such advanced infrastructure networks to spur the market at a global level. The leading automakers such as Toyota, Audi, and Honda have developed a range of hydrogen cell-based fuel cars for the global market. Owing to an increase in electric vehicles, there is a large number of such fueling stations being established in the parts of North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. In 2017, there were over 330 hydrogen fueling stations operating across the globe, with over 50 each in California, Germany, and Japan. There is around 35 retail hydrogen fueling station being built in California and nearly 15 hydrogen-fueling stations are operating in the UK in 2017. Moreover, the government authorities such as the US Department of Energy (DOE) are investing public funds for the rollout of hydrogen fueling stations, is further augmenting the growth of the global market. Furthermore, according to the International Energy Agency, Germany has around 23 operating hydrogen fueling stations in 2017. These numbers are to be outnumbered by more than 50 as the country is constructing 25 more such stations, and at the end of 2017 around 60 stations are estimated to be operational. The National Organization Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NOW) coordinated Germanys National Innovation Programme (NIP) to establish 50 stations with $134 million. Public and private stakeholders are convened by the Clean Energy Partnership to create this initial network. H2Mobility, a consortium of Air Liquide, Daimler, Linde, OMV, Shell, and Total, is planning and constructing this network. The consortium plans to have 100 stations by 2019, with around 10 stations each in Hamburg, Berlin, Rhine-Ruhr, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich metropolitan areas, and the remaining 40 as connectors and destination stations. This infrastructure backbone supports both light-duty and light commercial fuel cell vehicles, with the additional stations expected to grow with the rising growth of the global market. Since January 2016, the Research Centre for Gas Innovation (RCGI) has been working to offer technology for obtaining fuel cells in 5 years. The center has the mission to investigate the use of the resource in terms of increasing their partnership in the Brazilian energy matrix. It is also making a contribution to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. They have also emphasized that Brazil along with the US, Japan, and Germany, advanced programs to produce hydrogen-operated buses. Hence, this project will support the development of such vehicles. Browse for full research summary: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/hydrogen-fuel-cell-vehicle-market Polaris Market research has segmented the HFCV market report on the basis of: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles Technology Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015 2026) Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Alkaline Fuel cell Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles Vehicle Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015 2026) Commercial Vehicle Passenger Car Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 2026) North America U.S. Canada Europe UK Germany France Italy Asia Pacific Japan China South Korea Latin America Middle East & Africa Avail discount on this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/hydrogen-fuel-cell-vehicle-market/request-for-discount-pricing About Polaris Market Research Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. We strive to provide our customers with updated information on innovative technologies, high growth markets, emerging business environments and latest business-centric applications, thereby helping them always to make informed decisions and leverage new opportunities. Contact us- Polaris Market Research Phone: 1-646-568-9980 Email: sales@polarismarketresearch.com Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State says there are alleged plans by the All Progressives Congress, APC, to compromise the Ondo governorsh... Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State says there are alleged plans by the All Progressives Congress, APC, to compromise the Ondo governorship election. Wike made the allegation in a post on his Twitter page on Friday morning. The Governor accused the All Progressive Congress, APC, of putting pressure on INEC to rig the election following their defeat in Edo State last Saturday. Recall that incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki defeated his closest challenger and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu in the election. His tweet read: After the defeat of @OfficialAPCNg in Edo State there is enormous pressure on @inecnigeria to compromise the Ondo election for @OfficialAPCNg. I am concerned INEC would cave in to the pressure. The Ondo State governoship election is expected to hold on Oct. 10, 2020. The European Union raised the alarm on Thursday over the coronavirus pandemic, saying it is worse now than at the March peak in several member countries, as governments in Europe and beyond reimpose drastic measures. France reported an all-time high in new daily cases of over 16,000, one day after announcing tougher infection control measures especially for hard-hit Mediterranean city Marseille. And Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned that a new lockdown could be needed in Athens unless the public can help bring down new cases by respecting distancing and mask-wearing measures. Israel, which closed schools and imposed restrictions on workplaces and leisure activities last week in a second nationwide lockdown, toughened its rules still further on Thursday. Most workplaces and markets are to be closed and prayer meetings and demonstrations will be severely restricted, as the country battles the world's worst per-capita infection rate. The strict measures imposed during the earlier phase of the epidemic, which has now infected more than 30 million and killed more than 950,000, crippled businesses and helped to plunge the world into recession. Restrictions tightened after Covid-19 rebound in Europe. By Robin BJALON (AFP) On Thursday, the IMF said the economic outlook was brighter now than it had been in June, with a spokesman suggesting that some parts of the global economy were "beginning to turn the corner". But he added that the outlook remained "very challenging". The economy in the United States, which is battling the world's worst outbreak, also had some rare good news with a 4.8 percent rise in home sales in August. 'No plan, no logic' EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in "some member states, the situation is now even worse than during the peak in March". Spanish soldiers work at a coronavirus patient tracking centre in Palma de Mallorca. By JAIME REINA (AFP) The death rate has not returned to the levels seen earlier this year but new infections are soaring once again, prompting the bloc's disease control agency to flag seven countries of "high concern". The countries, including Spain and several of the EU's eastern states, have "an increased proportion of hospitalised and severe cases" among older people and rising death notification rates. Although France was not among those nations, it has tightened its measures -- closing some restaurants, workplaces and gyms as businesses already hammered by the earlier lockdown struggle to stay afloat. Bars in Paris and 10 other cities will be forced to close early and the southern city of Marseille will see restaurants and bars close completely. Local officials have reacted with anger and frustration. Restaurant workers in Tel Aviv break plates in protest against the new Israeli lockdown. By JACK GUEZ (AFP/File) Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Thursday she had lodged a formal protest, particularly over the closure of gyms. "How will the fact that we can no longer exercise help us, while sport is an important part of keeping us healthy with strong immune systems," she asked. Health experts also warned that governments risked losing the trust of the population. Hagai Levine, an epidemiologist who is part of Israel's anti-coronavirus taskforce, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rush to ease the first lockdown caused the current crisis. "When there is no plan, no logic, the public loses its trust," he said. Vaccine? No thanks For some, that lack of trust also extends to the rush to get out a vaccine, with nine candidates worldwide currently in final clinical trials. Russian cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow. By Andrey SHELEPIN (Russian Space Agency Roscosmos/AFP/File) In Russia, a vaccine has already been approved even though full clinical trials have yet to be completed, raising concerns about its safety. On Thursday, Russian cosmonauts set to blast off for the International Space Station (ISS) said it was too early to get the vaccine touted by President Vladimir Putin. "I'd personally say that I would not get vaccinated because I tread very carefully on this issue," said Sergei Ryzhikov, the leader of the next expedition to the ISS in October. The rollout of a vaccine is seen as crucial in many walks of life, particularly sport, where those events that are taking place are generally behind closed doors. However, Olympic boss Thomas Bach said the postponed Tokyo Games could take place next year even without a vaccine. "A number of big sport events have been successfully organised recently," he said, pointing for instance to the success of the Tour de France. Elsewhere in the world of sport, Swedish striker and AC Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 38, has tested positive for coronavirus, his club announced on Thursday. Meanwhile South Africans took up a "dance challenge" issued by President Cyril Ramaphosa, uploading choreographed videos to the 2019 hit song "Jerusalema" by producer Master KG that has lifted spirits during the pandemic. burs-mbx/tgb/har Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who leads a coalition with the BJP, will fight for a fourth term in these elections, with the opposition RJD and the Congress challenging him. Last week, a team of Deputy Election Commissioners had returned from the state and submitted their report on the feasibility of conducting polls to the Commission. On the impact of Covid-19 on the election, the CEC has highlighted how Covid-19 exigencies and social distancing measures have been introduced to safely conduct the polls. Since Bihar elections will be held during the pandemic, preparations being done are different from the ones done earlier for elections held before Covid. The EC has imposed restrictions on campaigning, saying only five people can campaign door-to-door. It has also restricted candidate convoy for roadshows to five vehicles, among other measures. Guidelines have also been issued for polling day, with the number of polling stations being increased. A maximum of 1,000 voters being allowed to vote at a polling station. Earlier, the maximum number was 1500. All voters will also be asked to wear face masks, which they will be asked to remove briefly for identification at the time of voting. The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly TD has agreed to meet the families of the 23 residents of Dealgan House Nursing Home who died earlier this year during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was confirmed in the Dail last week by Louth TD Fergus O'Dowd, who said that the Minister had agreed to his request to meet the families. Speaking as the Special Committee on COVID-19 response considered the final report by the Nursing Homes Expert Group, Deputy O'Dowd repeated the calls for a public investigation as to what led to the deaths of their loved ones. He noted that while HIQA was carrying out inspections it cannot carry out investigations. 'Consequently the families are really extremely distressed.' 'My key point is that those who have suffered most are the most frustrated by the current process. These people have lost family members and they keep coming up against bureaucracy, which is extremely unhelpful.' He called for an immediate timeframe for recommendation that 'The Department of Health should explore a suitable structure and process for external oversight of individual care concerns arising in nursing homes, once internal processes have been exhausted without satisfaction.' He asked:'What do the members of the panel see as a suitable structure for those aggrieved, for the families who have suffered grievously as a result of deaths which are to date unexplained and unaccounted for to them? How do they see it working?' The California Statewide Fire Summary reported Thursday that 26 major wildfires continue to burn across the state. Currently over 18,000 firefighters from California and elsewhere are battling those fires. Twenty-three new fires were detected Wednesday, all of which were quickly contained, according to Cal Fire. While the weather has tempered, Cal Fire has declared a new Fire Weather Watch for this weekend and next week. Altogether in 2020 there have been eight thousand fires which have burned over 3.6 million acres in California. The number of wildfires massively escalated on August 15, following thunderstorms, high temperatures and high winds. Since then there have been 26 deaths and 6,700 structures destroyed, including homes and apartments. In Northern California the weather is now cooler and rain is expected in the northwest corner of the state. Despite this a Fire Weather Watch has been declared for this weekend across the area in expectation of high winds and low humidity, which are critical fire weather conditions. Compounding this danger, a warming trend has been forecast for this weekend and next week across the state. Included in the latest Cal Fire report is the following warning: A Fire Weather Watch most often precipitates a Red Flag Warning and tells you that critical fire weather is on the way. While the destruction this year exceeds previous records the 2020 fire season is expected to last several more weeks, until the rainy season that generally begins in November. Many Californians now face an uncertain and desperate future. Thousands of homeowners who can no longer afford wildfire insurance risk losing everythingthe 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons provoked massive increases in fire insurance rateswhile others have been flat-out denied coverage. Renters, even those with insurance, face even more dire prospects; from one day to the next many have become homeless under conditions in which the state has a very low housing vacancy rate. While cities across the state have declared moratoriums on evictions, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the destruction of homes automatically cancels lease agreements. Even tenants of damaged homes are often required to move out while repairs are taking place. Many of those affected are the elderly, pushed out of cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles by prohibitive housing costs. When the fires are finally put out, many of these residents will have to begin over again with meager resources and no significant help from state and federal agencies. For those households that have not yet suffered direct damage to their homes, planned and unplanned electricity blackouts and brownouts add another burden to their health and living standards. State fire fighters, currently working an average of 72 hours per week with no days off, and whose pay was cut in July as part of Governor Newsoms COVID-19 austerity measures, have to deal with a lack of sufficient manpower and essential equipment, such as fire trucks, planes and helicopters. California has appealed for, and received, help from firefighters from Australia, Mexico, Texas, New Mexico and other states. According to the San Jose Mercury News, The 50,000-acre CZU Lightning Complex fires raging through Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties, Cal Fire had a firefighter for every 49 acres and engine for every 610 acres the 219,067-acre LNU Lightning Complex in the North Bay, Cal Fire had a firefighter for every 207 acres and engine for every 2,148 acres. And for the even more massive 229,968-acre SCU Lightning Complex, Cal Fire had a firefighter for every 206 acres and engine for every 2,277 acres. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who recently witnessed the exhaustion of the fire crews, remarked, I was down there in Santa Clara yesterday meeting with some San Jose firefighters that looked completely wiped, saying we need more support. They were simply overwhelmed by what they saw. This is nothing but crocodile tears. Newsom is as responsible for the utter inadequacy of resources as the rest of the political establishment in Sacramento for consistent cuts to budgets for social programs and fire prevention. None of these issues are a cause for concern for wealthy homeowners that live in exclusive suburbs and exurbs. Last October it was revealed that millionaire socialite Kim Kardashian had hired a private firefighting service to protect her mansion in Hidden Hills, California. The Kardashians and other wealthy landowners are increasingly taking similar measures. These companies offer on-call services to the well-heeled. Their use has increased as the number and intensity of fires goes up, in areas such as the wealthy areas of suburban Los Angeles and among the mansion owners in the wine-producing region of Northern California. The wealthy can hire one of the more than 330 and growing private firefighting crews that operate across the US. The companies, which work both to fireproof mansions and to protect them when the fires break out, also offer their services to governments and insurance agencies, part of the elite insurance packages afforded by the wealthy elites. One company operator told Reuters: Wealthy people already have their private schools, and they have their private jets. Now, someone with money says, OK, I am going to hire my own private fire department. The wealthy are responding to electricity supply problems by installing their own generators, going off the grid. Just as with the coronavirus pandemic, the wildfires are feeding into the anger of workers, youth and poor people that promises a mass rebellion against inequality and capitalism. While hundreds of homes burn to the ground and essential services are cut, Californias oligarchs save their homes and preserve their quality of life. The 2020 West Coast wildfires confirm what is being exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and by natural and man-caused disasters across the globe: the failure of capitalism and the breakdown of whatever remains of social safety nets for the working class. ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The Canadian government is giving $320 million to Newfoundland and Labrador's struggling offshore oil and gas industry. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/9/2020 (483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Hebron Platform, anchored in Trinity Bay, N.L., is shown on Tuesday, April 18, 2017. The Canadian government is giving Newfoundland and Labrador $320 million to help its struggling oil and gas industry. Natural Resources Minister Seamus ORegan made the funding announcement today at a press conference in St. Johns. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The Canadian government is giving $320 million to Newfoundland and Labrador's struggling offshore oil and gas industry. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan made the funding announcement Friday at a news conference in St. Johns. Premier Andrew Furey told reporters the province is creating an oil and gas sector recovery task force. Furey said the task force will focus on supporting the industry and on figuring out how to best spend the $320 million from Ottawa. Husky Energy said Friday in a news release the money is "a first step," but that it won't keep its $2.2 billion West White Rose project moving. Husky is looking for government investment in the project and announced earlier this month it was reviewing its operations in the province. This report from The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2020. Dr Anne ONeill, incoming president of the Irish Dental Association (IDA), warned that the public service dentistry is facing a resourcing crisis (PA)Picture supplied by Gordon MRM. The public service dentistry is facing a resourcing crisis, the incoming president of the Irish Dental Association (IDA) has warned. Dr Anne ONeill said their resourcing levels have become a full-blown crisis. The HSE Community Dental Service deals with vulnerable special needs patients and children. However, according to the IDA members survey, between 25% and 40% of its skilled staff have been assigned to testing and contact tracing for Covid-19 and have not been replaced. Dr ONeill warned that the needs of patients cannot be met. She also said that services including the annual school assessments have fallen behind, adding that this puts childrens health at risk. Have you registered for the IDA Annual General Meeting? The AGM will be taking place via zoom this Saturday 26th Sept @10.30am. You must pre-register to be able to join. Register by below link: https://t.co/NXFpCaHLQX pic.twitter.com/Ab8X3whKlf Irish Dental Associ (@IrishDentists) September 23, 2020 Usually we would be starting assessments for the new school year at this time, but because of Covid-19 we have a large backlog from last year and are well behind on reaching our target class population, Dr ONeill said. Without the requisite skilled staff and additional resources we cannot make up that gap, and the opportunity to identify problems early is permanently lost. She said that the indirect effects of Covid-19 have also had a significant effect. Covid-19 has slowed the process of providing dental care in many aspects, reducing the number of patients which can be seen in the day, she added. We need to conduct a public health risk assessment before every dental treatment, which impacts on every single appointment, adding greatly to dentists workflow. Our current resourcing levels mean that we are missing early-stage issues in both children and patients with special needs which could have major long-term health effects. Dr Anne O'Neill Dr ONeill said that the loss of skilled staff who treat children and people with special needs could not be solved easily. Last July, the IDA surveyed almost 600 private and public service dentists. It found that prior to the introduction of Covid-19 restrictions, 37% of public dentists reported seeing more than 15 patients per day. According to IDA that number is now 0%, with the vast majority now seeing fewer than 10 patients per day. This has contributed to significantly increased waiting times for non-emergency appointments, which now average 101 days. Dr ONeill also warned that a failure to immediately address a 20% reduction in dentist numbers in recent years will have significant long-term implications. Oral health is a crucial part of a persons overall health. Our current resourcing levels mean that we are missing early-stage issues in both children and patients with special needs which could have major long-term health effects, she added. She called for skilled staff to be moved back into their roles and said there is a need for additional staff who can develop the skills to treat child and adult patients. Elliot Bogod Elliot Bogod is a real estate author, educator and blogger, and Founder and Managing Director of Broadway Realty, a major New York real estate brokerage. Haute Residence is pleased to welcome Elliot Bogod to the exclusive Haute Residence Network as its representative in the real estate market of the Upper West Side area of New York City, New York. Elliot Bogod is a real estate author, educator and blogger, and Founder and Managing Director of Broadway Realty, a major New York real estate brokerage. In the course of his twenty-plus years in real estate, Elliot had personally sold over $2 billion worth of Manhattan residential and commercial real estate, including residences in such prominent buildings as Time Warner Towers, Trump International Tower, Trump Riverside Boulevard, Fifteen Central Park West, 10 West End Avenue and The Plaza Condominium Residences, among many others. A notable thought leader in the real estate industry, Elliot contributes articles to Forbes, NY Real Estate Magazine, and Real Estate Weekly, and is regularly quoted by Brick Underground, Commercial Observer, Apartment Therapy and other prominent publications. Elliots popular luxury real estate blog presents detailed overviews of the most remarkable new and converted buildings, with an abundance of details and rich, high-quality photographic illustrations. A member of the Real Estate Board of New York and the Realtor Association of Miami-Dade County, Elliot was among the first in a group of thirty top Manhattan brokers to receive a NYRS (New York Residential Specialist) designation from the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY). Elliots professional pedigree is certified by New York Real Estate Institute, Real Estate Division at the Academy of Continuing Education and the Gold Coast Real Estate School. Elliot Bogod resides in Manhattan with his wife and two children. He is a continuous contributor to multiple nonprofits and a member of Wall Street Synagogue. His International bestselling book is available on Audible, Barnes& Noble, and Amazon. Visit Elliot Bogod's Haute Residence profile: https://www.hauteresidence.com/member/elliot-bogod/ Visit Elliot Bogod's website: https://broadwayrealty.com/ Designed as a partnership-driven luxury real estate portal, Haute Residence connects its affluent readers with top real estate professionals, while offering the latest in real estate news, showcasing the worlds most extraordinary residences on the market and sharing expert advice from its knowledgeable and experienced real estate partners. The invitation-only luxury real estate network, which partners with just one agent in every market, unites a distinguished collective of leading real estate agents and brokers and highlights the most extravagant properties in leading markets around the globe for affluent buyers, sellers, and real estate enthusiasts. HauteResidence.com has grown to be the number one news source for million-dollar listings, high-end residential developments, celebrity real estate, and more. Access all of this information and more by visiting http://www.hauteresidence.com An NHS nurse was left stranded in Turkey after her teenager daughter took off her face mask to eat a sandwich on the plane out there - resulting in her being banned from the flight home. Charlotte Snook, 35, was flying out her 1,300 all-inclusive holiday to Marmaris when she claims her 14-year-old daughter Olivia was told off by a stewardess. The A&E nurse from Lincolnshire, who worked on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic, says Olivia was told off after removing her face mask to have a sandwich, and was later handed a warning about the firm's rules. Tui has reversed the decision, but claims Ms Snook was 'consistently not wearing her mask on the flight and was told several times by our crew to wear one'. A&E nurse Charlotte Snook said her holiday with two of her three children has been ruined after Tui banned her from flying home with them A day after arriving in the country, she received a letter at her hotel telling her she had been banned from all Tui flights and would need to find her own way back home. The nurse at Scunthorpe General Hospital in North Lincolnshire, told The Sun: 'We weren't given any notice. The stewardess just told Olivia to put her mask on and later slapped a piece of paper down in front of me with their coronavirus rules. 'I pointed out the rules do say you're allowed to eat with your mask off but there were no raised voices, I didn't swear and I told Olivia to put her mask back on.' Tui has reversed its decision and said it told Ms Snook, pictured with her daughter Isabella, nine, 'multiple times,' to put her mask back on Ms Snook told the paper she carried on working at her hospital throughout the pandemic, despite her youngester daughter, nine-year-old Isabella, suffering with health problems. She says her 1,300 stay at four-stay hotel Costa Mare Suites in Marmaris has been ruined by Tui's letter. The letter explained she would be the only one banned from the flight home, but the decision has since been reversed entirely. Describing the experience as a nightmare, she said: 'They told me 'your daughters can still get on the flight' but what were they meant to do when they got there? I didn't know what we were going to do, I can't afford to pay for three or four new flights.' Rules written by Tui state all passengers over six must wear a face mask throughout any flight. TUI apologised to Charlotte and reversed its decision after being contacted by The Sun. Ms Snook received this letter from Tui a day after arriving at her all-inclusive holiday in Turkey Charlotte Snook worked at Scunthorpe General Hospital during the coronavirus pandemic A spokeswoman told MailOnline: 'After receiving further information following the flight, we have decided to allow Ms Snook to travel on her planned inbound flight home and she has been notified of this. 'Our crew report from the flight reported that Ms Snook was given multiple reminders to wear her mask. Were sorry for any confusion caused. 'It is incredibly important for passengers to follow all instructions given by our cabin crew as this is for the health and safety of everyone onboard. Passengers are informed prior to travel and on their flight that they have to wear masks throughout and they are asked to limit movement around the cabin. Masks can only be removed when consuming food and drink or if a customer is medically exempt. The health and safety of our passengers is our highest priority. LINCOLN TOWNSHIP The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is seeking information about a large buck that was found decapitated in Huron County. According to a social media post by the department, the body of the deer was found in a soybean field located near the intersection of Sullivan and Minnick roads in Lincoln Township. Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - Tunisia's Interior ministry has released 22 sub-Saharan migrants who were forcibly held in El Ouardia centre in Tunis, two months after the administrative tribunal's decision to release them The Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong is said to have petitioned Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah on the contempt case against him. According to Citi News sources, Kennedy Agyapong is alleging that the court will be biased against him should Justice Amos Wuntah Wuni be allowed to proceed to hear the case. Mr. Agyapongs lawyers are also said to have filed for a stay of prosecution at the High Court pursuant to the processes initiated at the Supreme Court. The High Court Judge is said to have insisted on prosecuting the legislator despite notice of these actions raising concern on the part of Mr. Agyapongs lawyers for a fair trial. Earlier on Friday, September 25, 2020, journalists covering the contempt proceedings against the Assin Central MP were denied access to the courtroom. The Land division of the High Court is hearing legal arguments on whether it can proceed to hear the charge against the Member of Parliament despite processes filed by his lawyers at the Supreme Court for intervention. Mr. Agyapong is in court for allegedly making a statement deemed contemptuous in the case in which Susan Bandoh and Christopher Akuetteh Kotei had sued him, one Ibrahim Jaja, Nana Yaw Duodu aka Sledge and the Inspector General of Police in a land dispute. On a show aired on Net2 TV, the MP is said to have scandalised and threatened the court. ---citinewsroom New Delhi, Sep 25 : The Indian government may have to pay a total of Rs 85 crore, in case it decides not to take any further legal recourse in the Vodafone arbitration matter of over Rs 20,000 crore retrospective taxation, sources said. Vodafone has won the case against India at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague over the retrospective tax demand, with the court holding that the conduct of India's tax department is in breach of "fair and equitable" treatment. Finance Ministry sources said that the court has asked the Indian government to pay only 4.3 million pounds, or about Rs 40 crore, which is 60 per cent of the tribunal's administrative cost while the rest 40 per cent would be borne by Vodafone. Also, the government may have to refund the tax collected, which is about Rs 45 crore, only if it does not go for appeal against the award. Therefore, the total outgo would be around Rs 85 crore only. The Finance Ministry, in a statement, said that the government will take a decision on further course of action, including legal remedies, among other options after studying the award and consulting with its counsel on the matter. The ministry said it "has just been informed that the award in the arbitration case invoked by Vodafone International Holding BV against Government of India has been passed. The Government will be studying the award and all its aspects carefully in consultation with our counsel". "After such consultations, the Government will consider all options and take a decision on further course of action, including legal remedies before appropriate fora," said the official statement. Voafone had moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2016 due to a lack of consensus between the parties' arbitrators in finalising a judge for a tax dispute. Following this, a tribunal was constituted in June 2016 after Vodafone challenged India's use of a 2012 legislation that gave it powers to retrospectively tax deals like Vodafone's $11 billion acquisition of 67 per cent stake in Hutchison Whampoa in 2007. The retrospective tax law had been enacted after a Supreme Court judgement went in Vodafone's favour. Vodafone had challenged the tax department's demand of Rs 7,990 crore as capital gains tax (Rs 22,100 crore after including interest and penalty) under the Netherlands-India Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). In 2007, the Income Tax Department had slapped a demand notice seeking capital gains tax. Photo: Rebecca Dyok A member of the Williams Lake First Nation is raising awareness surrounding missing and murdered Indigenous women amid the COVID-19 pandemic through face masks. You hear these stories constantly happening, said Dana Alphonse, who lives on reserve at Sugar Cane. Its sad. After purchasing two solid-coloured face masks one for her daughter who is returning to high school and the other for herself, Alphonse created a design of a red hand print across the mouth which has become a symbolic representation of violence affecting Indigenous women. She then reached out to her friends on Facebook to see if there would be enough interest for her to make them. After I posted there were so many messages for them, Alphonse said, adding she began selling the face masks the next morning. Im going to keep selling them because it helps raise awareness for murdered and missing Indigenous women. You see it everywhere across Canada and the statistics are really crazy, and a lot of people dont know, they just dont know. Alphonse intends to donate a portion of the proceeds from the face masks to Chiwid Transition House in Williams Lake a safe haven for women and their children fleeing abuse. She said she received orders from across Canada and the United States in Oregon, Ohio and New York. Im learning shipping, and Im learning shipping is really expensive, she told the Williams Lake Tribune. Primarily through her traditional beadwork Alphonse has attracted a large social media following more than 400 followers on Instagram, 10,000 on Tik Tok and 1,500 on her Facebook group Innovative Indigenous Creations. I just started that a few years ago and people liked what I was doing and I just continued on with it to the point where now I dont even have anything in stock. Im always booked with orders for beadwork, she said, noting her great-grandmother Lily (Ma) raised her children on beadwork. Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE New Mexico reported 263 new coronavirus cases Friday the most in a single day since July, when daily infections hit their peak. Health officials also reported six more deaths, pushing the statewide total to 865 fatalities since March. The new cases reported Friday pushed the seven-day rolling average of reported cases to 163 a day an increase of 85% since Sept. 12. The case average is still below the states goal of 168 or fewer each day. Statistical modeling by the state also estimates the rate of disease spread at 1.27 the fastest COVID-19 has spread since April, in the early days of the pandemic. It means each person infected with the virus would, on average, spread it to 1.27 other people. The surge in cases comes after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham this week urged New Mexicans to double down on mask wearing, testing and other strategies to limit disease transmission. State epidemiologists say travel and social gatherings over Labor Day weekend may be contributing to the increase. The state also has relaxed some public health restrictions, including a decision about a month ago to allow indoor dining at partial capacity in restaurants and breweries. Elementary school students are also returning to campus in some districts on a hybrid schedule that alternates in-person and remote learning. But some of the increase is likely a result of increased testing. The state has been conducting about 6,075 tests a day over the last week, at least 1,000 more than it was conducting in mid-September. The share of tests that come back positive has climbed slightly. The positivity rate for the last seven days is 2.4%, compared with 2.0% in the week that ended last Friday. The six deaths reported Friday were all adults in their 50s or older. Five had an underlying condition of some kind a risk factor for the disease. Dona Ana County in southern New Mexico led the state with 54 new cases, followed by Bernalillo County with 51. SA needs to develop its own perspective on China rather than buying into Western narratives. Many of the Western think-tanks focused on China reflect inbuilt biases and hidden agendas thereby prejudging and super-imposing their own world view on what Africas relationship with China should be, says investment strategist and futurist at Ninety-One, Michael Power. Michael Power All indications are that China will in due course overtake the US as the worlds largest economy. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed growth down for most countries, including China, there are signs that its economic recovery is likely to be faster than most countries. In fact, China is likely to be the only G20 country with a positive GDP outcome for 2020. Power predicts that the new world Asia in particular will, after a period of adjustment and recovery post COVID-19, move into a far more privileged space in terms of its standing in the global economy. SAs challenge will be to re-arrange and re-orient both its economy and its understanding of this new world order and the fact that the centre of economic gravity is moving away from the West to the East and an East which will increasingly be centred on China. In the coming decade, over 90% of middle class growth globally will be in Asia, while middle classes in Europe and the US will decline in terms of their numbers, explains Power. Consumer growth, therefore, will be concentrated on Asia and more immediately, on China. Prior to COVID-19, Power had predicted that the Chinese economy would overtake the US economy in terms of size in the latter part of this decade, between 2028 and 2030, he says. The global economic dynamic has already shifted significantly although it is currently reflected more in trade than in finance, says Power. What will gradually change will be the global financial markets infatuation with the US dollar, a focus which is going to have to expand to include the Renminbi particularly as investment strategies increasingly diversify away from the West to include more exposure to the East. SA too has had an historic bias towards the West, particularly in the world of finance, which persists to this day. But what SA has failed to understand is just how important the Chinese economy will become in the next decade, says Power. Africa will continue to be relevant to China, says Power. Not only is the continent an essential link in Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) but it fits into Chinas long-term vision. In recent years Chinas relationship with Africa has been rebooted. China no longer brings in unskilled labour, rather employing more locals so allowing for a better meeting of minds and a more balanced relationship. Power believes it is in SAs best interests to deepen its relationship with China in the years ahead. Currently the relationship is cordial but not warm. China is certainly not falling over itself to invest in SA although they are always happy to trade with SA, he says. While China ostensibly has no favourites in Africa and will trade with any nation, Power believes that in reality it favours Eastern Africa over the rest of Africa, primarily for geographic and demographic reasons. From a geographic perspective Eastern Africa shares many links with Asia, both being littoral to the Indian Ocean. That makes logistical connections easier, he points out. Chinas interest in Eastern Africa is resulting in an infrastructure overhaul which includes roads, rail, electricity and hydro power. Kenya and Ethiopia are especially favoured. Eastern Africa has had commercial ties with Asia for over a thousand years. This, coupled with the fact that Eastern Africa represents a market of 300 million people and counting given its rapid population growth, makes it a lucrative destination for Chinese products. In addition, the region is starting to offer production facilities which are cheaper than Bangladesh and Vietnam. As such, it seems destined to start producing shoes and textiles for export. SA, he says, needs to decide whether or not it wishes to be part of this re-emerging Indian Ocean trading basin. Chinas involvement in Eastern Africa has been well received. The Chinese have certainly had less push back in this region than that received from SA, he says. The popular narrative that China lures African nations into debt traps is, in large part, sour grapes and a Western narrative, maintains Power. The bottom line is that some African countries have indeed borrowed too much and they will battle to repay their debts, particularly given the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, what in all likelihood will happen once a vaccine is available is that China will launch a charm offensive in Africa and offer very affordable vaccines. This will buy China significant goodwill in Africa and ensure that from a geopolitical perspective Africa becomes more geared towards China than to the US. The author is a free-lance business journalist based in South Africa. Global Watch End of road for Harley in India US-based cruiser motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson will shut down manufacturing and sales operations in India as a part of its restructuring exercise. About 70 of Harley-Davidsons employees will be laid off as a result of the exit. Find out here why the company has decided to down shutters in India. By Sangameswaran S Sept 22 (Reuters) - The death toll from the spread of the coronavirus in the United States exceeded 200,000 on Tuesday, by the far the highest number of any nation. The United States, on a weekly average, is now losing about 800 lives each day to the virus, according to a Reuters tally. That is down from a peak of 2,806 daily deaths recorded on April 15. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ZH76z6) During the early months of the pandemic, 200,000 deaths was regarded by many as the maximum number of lives likely to be lost in the United States to the virus. "The idea of 200,000 deaths is really very sobering and in some respects stunning," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, told CNN. Fauci said that it was not inevitable that the United States will fall into another dire situation with coronavirus cases surging during cold weather months, but that he was worried about parts of the country where public health measures were not being implemented. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had done a phenomenal job on the pandemic that has infected nearly 6.9 million Americans. "It affects virtually nobody. It's an amazing thing," Trump told supporters at a Swanton, Ohio, campaign rally Monday night. "It affects... elderly people with heart problems and other problems - if they have other problems that's what it really affects, that's it." Trump has admitted to playing down the danger of the coronavirus early on because he did not want to "create a panic." With barely six weeks left before the election on Nov. 3, Trump is behind Democratic rival Joe Biden nationally in every major opinion poll and is neck and neck in key swing states. Trump's handling of the pandemic and subsequent economic downturn has battered his standing among many voters. Trump has frequently questioned the advice of scientific experts on everything from the timing of a vaccine to reopening schools and businesses to wearing a mask. He has refused to support a national mask mandate and held large political rallies where few wore masks. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield recently told Congress that a face mask would provide more guaranteed protection than a vaccine, which would only be broadly available by "late second quarter, third quarter 2021." Trump refuted the timeline for the vaccine and said that it may be available in a matter of weeks and ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Biden, who often wears a mask and has said he would require masks nationwide, has warned against a rushed release of a vaccine, saying, "Let me be clear: I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don't trust Donald Trump." The University of Washington's health institute is forecasting coronavirus fatalities reaching 378,000 by the end of 2020, with the daily death toll skyrocketing to 3,000 per day in December. Over 70% of those in the United States who have lost their lives to the virus were over the age of 65, according to CDC data https://bit.ly/32C1doQ. The southern states of Texas and Florida contributed the most deaths in the United States in the past two weeks and were closely followed by California. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/33MNdYD) California, Texas and Florida - the three most populous U.S. states - have recorded the most coronavirus infections and have long surpassed the state of New York, which was the epicenter of the outbreak in early 2020. The country as a whole is reporting over 42,000 new infections on average each day and saw cases last week rise on a weekly basis after falling for eight weeks in a row. Deaths rose 5% last week after falling for four weeks in a row, according to a Reuters analysis. Six out of every 10,000 residents in the United States has died of the virus, according to Reuters data, one of the highest rates among developed nations. Brazil follows the United States in the number of overall deaths due to the virus, with over 137,000 fatalities. India has had the world's highest daily death rate over the last week with total deaths now approaching 100,000. (Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Rosalba O'Brien) CHESHIRE Norton Elementary School was named a 2020 National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education on Thursday, one of just four schools in the state to receive the honor this year. The national award is given to schools that excel in overall academic performance or progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups, according to a DOE announcement Thursday afternoon. We are so proud of Nortons faculty and staff for getting this great honor, said School Superintendent Jeff Solan. People who are not in the academic world dont realize what an honor this truly is. There was a short presentation at Norton on Thursday afternoon to announce the award, which included a short video from U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Congratulations to this years National Blue Ribbon School awardees, said DeVos. Its a privilege to recognize the extraordinary work you do to meet students needs and prepare them for successful careers and meaningful lives. According to the DOE, Norton received the Blue Ribbon high performing school designation, which is determined each year by measuring student results based on the state assessments or national tests. Norton, according to the DOE, exceeded its school performance index targets for all students in English Language Arts and mathematics consistently for the last three administrations of Smarter Balanced. Simultaneously, academic growth measures in both subjects have improved every year. Norton Principal Kelly Grillo held back tears as she addressed her faculty and staff during Thursdays ceremony. I am so proud of what we were able to accomplish. Thank you all for your passion and commitment to being great teachers to our students, she said. We deserve this. The ceremony, which was held for the teachers and staff at Norton, wasnt complete without cake and a toast, using sparkling water, to congratulate them for their hard work. Connecticuts public school teachers are the best in the United States, and the tools they are providing our youngest residents are enabling them to achieve success throughout their careers, said Gov. Ned Lamont, in a statement Thursday afternoon. Every child no matter their familys income or the neighborhood where they live deserves access to a quality education that prepares them for achievement. We no doubt continue to have work to do to close persistent achievement gaps that have lingered far too long, but I firmly believe that the strong work of so many of our educators is having an impact. I congratulate these schools on earning this national distinction and wish them continued success. Norton teachers were hailed for their use of what is described as the gradual release of responsibility approach designed to encourage more complex learning. The three steps utilized in the method are phased in over time, first with the introduction of materials through modeling, then moving on to cooperative learning where students study together, and finally transitioning into the students working individually. This approach requires students to be active participants in the learning process and moves them toward increasingly greater levels of independence. The approach works well in all subject areas and is balanced in mathematics courses with opportunities for students to engage in productive struggle, according to the state Department of Education. Norton joins George Hersey Robertson in Coventry, South Street School in Danbury, and Northeast School in Vernon as the only four schools in Connecticut to be recognized this year. A total of 317 public schools and 50 non-public schools from across the country have been named Blue Ribbon honorees this year. The 2020 National Blue Ribbon Schools Awards Ceremony will be held virtually on Nov. 12 and 13. Never doubt the difference you guys make in the lives of our kids, Grillo added. You are all blue ribbon teachers. This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 569 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser, what weve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, investing in our expanded Links section. By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. Light puffy clouds blanketed the skies over the English Channel yesterday, reminding me of that old saw headline: Fog Over Channel; Continent Cut Off. Now for British passport holders, the coronavirus pandemic is limiting their freedom to roam. Not as seriously as it is constraining U.S. passport holders, who are presently banned entirely from entering most EU states (as well as other places). Yet since the U.K. is still hanging onto E.U. membership by its fingernails, the freedom of movement of its citizens can throughout the E.U. only be limited, not blocked entirely. Nonetheless, according to the Daily Mail, Revealed: There are now just NINE countries including tiny Gibraltar, San Marino and Liechtenstein where Britons can travel freely without quarantine or a Covid test as Denmark, Iceland, Slovakia are latest to be red-flagged: The list of countries that Britons can travel to and return from without quarantining or taking Covid tests reduced to just nine yesterday. Ministers removed four more nations from the safe list Denmark, Iceland, Slovakia and the Caribbean island of Curacao, with quarantine required on return to the UK from tomorrow at 4am. While there are still more than 60 countries on the UKs green list where quarantine is not required on return, many have their own restrictions on arrival or are closed to visitors completely. It means holidays are only currently possible without any restrictions to Germany, Poland, Sweden, Italy, Turkey, mainland Greece, Gibraltar, San Marino and Liechtenstein. The last two are so small they dont have their own airports, meaning just seven true air bridges are in place both ways. Mainland Greece risks slipping off the list next week as infections there have reached about 20.9 cases per 100,000. The UK currently maintains a 14-day, self -solation requirement when travellers return from countries not presently on a green list of safe countries. These draconian requirements are hammering tourism a mainstay of many European economies and have led for calls to replace it with a more nuanced system of flagging infected returning travellers by on-the -spot tests at airports or other border entrances, or requiring prior tests some period before the planned return to the UK: Downing Street remains under intense pressure to change the UKs travel quarantine rules amid growing fears for the future of the aviation and travel industries. Ministers have faced calls for months to replace the current 14 day self-isolation restrictions for people returning to the UK from high risk countries with a more nuanced system of airport testing. Advocates believe testing on arrival could open the door to significantly reducing the two week quarantine period to potentially less than seven days. A double testing approach would see travellers tested on arrival and then told to self-isolate for something like five days when they would then be tested for a second time. Two negative tests would be enough to allow people to end their period in quarantine and return to normal life. However, ministers have been reluctant to approve airport testing because of concerns that the approach could fail to identify some people who have the virus. This is because of the amount of time it can take for the virus to be detectable after the moment of infection. But many MPs believe the current blanket approach to travel quarantine cannot continue for much longer because of the damage it is doing to the aviation sector. The extensive list of no-go destinations means demand for autumn getaways in Turkey and Italy have risen dramatically amid dwindling options for would-be travellers looking for breaks over the October half-term period. Yet with the government announcing tough new restrictions on pubs and restaurants this week, is is unlikely to relax rules on returning tourists anytime soon. Yet continuing carnage in the airline sector and the reality that COVID-19 is here indefinitely and a vaccine is unlikely anytime soon may leave it with little choice than to reconsider its policy. NeuroTherapia, Inc., a Cleveland, OH-based clinical-stage company focused on developing therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, closed its Series A financing of $8.8M. The round was led by Brain Trust Accelerator Fund II, with participation from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Dolby Family Ventures and Alzheimers Drug Discovery Foundation. NeuroTherapia is developing an orally available cannabinoid receptor agonist, NTRX-07, for the treatment of neuroinflammation, which likely plays a critical role in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. The company is currently completing its first-in-human clinical trial using NTRX-07 with funding provided in part by a grant from the Alzheimers Association. They will use the Series A funds to finish this work while also undertaking a number of preclinical studies. The additional studies are designed to support subsequent clinical trials in subjects with neurodegeneration to show safety following longer-term administration, as well as to demonstrate biological activity. Coincident with the financing, the company added Karoly Nikolich, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors. Dr. Nikolich is an experienced scientist and entrepreneur, co-founding a number of biotech companies, and currently serving as CEO of Alkahest. He also led Genentechs entry into neuroscience and served as a venture partner with Pivotal BioVenture Partners. Dr. Nikolich joins Mr. Reher, who will serve as Chairman of the Board, Tony Giordano, Ph.D., NeuroTherapias President and CEO, and Akhil Saklecha, M.D., from Cleveland Clinic on the Board. NeuroTherapia also recently received a $150,000 Technology Validation and Start-up Fund grant from the Ohio Third Frontier program of the Ohio Development Services Agency, which will allow the Company to complete additional research on the biodistribution of NTRX-07 following radiolabeling of the molecule. FinSMEs 25/09/2020 Still. It was the kind of case that could have gone to trial, the kind of case where a different breed of prosecutor might say, well, let the jury sort this out. Harris is far from a model citizen along with his extensive juvenile record he racked up dozens of disciplinary citations while being held in Cook County Jail, according to the sheriffs office, including criminal charges for mob action (fighting) and public indecency (openly masturbating in front of corrections personnel) so lets throw the book and see if it hits him. Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor, who were issued summons by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to join the probe into a drugs case, will join the investigation on Saturday, officials said on Thursday. An NCB official said: Deepika has acknowledged the summon and has agreed to join the investigation on Saturday." Deepika was earlier supposed to join the investigation on Friday. The official further said that on Friday, Bollywood actor Rakul Preet Singh and Deepikas manager Karishma Prakash will join the investigation. The development came a day after the agency issued a summon to Deepika, the daughter of badminton icon Prakash Padukone who is married to Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh, to join the probe after her alleged chats with her manager Karishma Prakash came to the fore during the investigation. Deepika on Thursday arrived in Mumbai from Goa, where she was shooting for an upcoming film along with Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ananya Pandey. Sara is the daughter of actors Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, while Shradhha is the daughter of veteran actor Shakti Kapoor. Earlier in the day, Sara also arrived in Mumbai from Goa along with her mother. Rakul was asked to join the probe on Thursday, but she is now set to be questioned by the agency on Friday. NCB sources said that they all have been summoned after their names surfaced in WhatsApp chats accessed by the NCB and during the questioning of late Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajputs girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty. The source said that these celebrities will be questioned about how and from whom they procured drugs and whether they were meant for personal consumption or for someone else. The source further said that while probing the link of the Kwan Talent Management Agency in the case, Deepikas chats with Karishma surfaced. Karishma handled Deepikas account at Kwan till 2017. According to an NCB official, the names of Sara and Shraddha came up in two drugs cases registered by the agency. The official said that the NCB is presently investigating two separate cases which revolve around the drugs cartel that is active in the tinsel town. The first case was registered on the directions of the top brass of the NCB after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) forwarded a brief note on Rhea and her brother Showiks WhatsApp chats. In its FIR number 15, the NCB claimed, Analysis of WhatsApp chats of Rhea Chakraborty with other entities reflects the angle of conspiracy and abetment in possession, sale, purchase, consumption, transportation and usage of substances covered under NDPS Act." In the second case (FIR number 16), the NCB has so far arrested 19 persons, including Rhea and Showik. Earlier on Thursday, the NCB recorded the statement of fashion designer Simone Khambatta for over four hours and Sushants former manager Shruti Modi for over six hours. The NCB has also recorded the statements of Kwan CEO Dhruv Chitgopekar, producer Madhu Mantena Varma and Sushants talent manager Jaya Saha. Sushant was found dead at his Bandra apartment on June 14. Speaking to IANS, criminal lawyer Jaikush Hoon said, Deepika, Shraddha, Sara and Rakul have been summoned by the NCB for questioning pertaining to its ongoing investigation. The questioning would revolve around various sections of the NDPS Act, 1985." Hoon said that if they are booked under Sections 8(A)(c), 20(b) and 22(a), they would be subjected to one-year rigorous imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine. If the NCB can prepare its case against them under Sections 22(b) and 27(a), then they can be sentenced to 10-year rigorous imprisonment and Rs 1 lakh fine. The lawyer said that the probe of Deepika would revolve around two angles, i.e., Sushant-Rhea drug angle and Manjinder Singh Sirsas complaint about a video of a 2019 Bollywood party. Besides the NCB, the CBI and the ED are also probing Sushants death case. Seagate Technology introduced revolutionary open-source object storage software, a reference architecture powered by it, and a corresponding developer community. All three were built to manage the massive surge and sprawl of unstructured enterprise data. The announcement was part of the companys first annual Datasphere event. We live in a data economy, said Seagates CEO Dave Mosley. The value of enterprise data is too often untapped. Businesses struggle to access their datas full potential. Seagate tailored its offerings to match the new information-hungry reality. The cost-effective, frictionless, and reliable data management innovations that Seagate unveiled will help companies get more value out of their data. Solutions announced today include the 100% open source-based software CORTX: the collaborative open source CORTX Community; and the open, flexible reference architecture deployed as converged infrastructure Lyve Drive Rack, powered by CORTX. The CORTX Software CORTX is hardware-agnostic open-source object storage software that gives developers and partners access to mass capacity-optimized data storage architectures. CORTX use cases include artificial intelligence, machine learning, hybrid cloud, the edge, high-performance computing, and more. Given customers preference for freedom from vendor lock-in, CORTX is open source-based and developed with the community. Several early adopters began testing the software and participating in the CORTX Community ahead of the launch. Scientific communities with mass-scale data storage requirements cheered CORTXs arrival. An early adopter, The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Agency (CEA), has been testing a development version of CORTX for several years. The agency concluded that it is now proving to be very powerful and flexible object storage, which can be used very effectively to implement very large-scale data storage, in the words of Jacques-Charles Lafoucriere, Program Manager, CEA. CORTX can very nicely work with storage tools and many different types of storage interfaces. We have effectively used CORTX to implement a parallel file system interface (pNFS) and hierarchical storage management tools. CORTX architecture is also compatible with artificial intelligence and deep learning (AI/DL) tools such as TensorFlow. Another early adopter, the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), a leader in fusion energy research and development, sees CORTX as a welcome and needed solution. CORTX is novel in its very concept, said Dr. Debasmita Samadder, Exascale Algorithms Specialist at UKAEA. It is very exciting to try our application and explore its performance using this unique object data storage system. As HPC Division Leader at Los Alamos National Lab, I am vigilant for opportunities to reduce the cost and complexity of our distributed data platforms, said Gary Grider. I am very excited to see what Seagate is doing with CORTX and am optimistic about its ability to lower costs for data storage at the exabyte scale. We will be closely following the open source CORTX and will participate in the community built around it, because we share Seagates goal of economically efficient storage optimized for massive scalability and durability. Early adopters of CORTX also include Toyota Motor Corporation and Fujitsu Limited, among other enterprises. The CORTX Community CORTX Community is a group of open source researchers and developers working together to enable mass capacity object storage for the worlds proliferating data sets. CORTX is now available for download and collaboration on GitHub. Seagate delivers an open platform, with all the feature sets and roadmaps driven by the communityfor the community, said Jeff McAffer, Senior Director of Product at GitHub. Its the kind of setting in which innovation happens. While CORTX and CORTX Community are Seagates latest contributions to object storage, the company has long played a key role in its collaborative development. In the late 1990s, Seagate was a pioneering member of the industry consortium that created the very first object storage specification: the SNIA OSD standard. Seagates commitment to innovation and collaboration in object storage continues in CORTX and its many architectural optimizations. Both offerings drew praise from Intel and WekaIO. Open source innovation in high-performance storage is critical to propel cloud, HPC, AI and communications networks to higher levels of performance in the coming data era, said Bryan Jorgensen, Vice President in Intels Data Platforms Group. Intel plans to work within the CORTX Community to enable and optimize this exciting open source technology with our relevant platform features, including Intel Optane persistent memory, Intel QuickAssist accelerators, and the DAOS file system. We will also be working with Seagate to integrate those same technology innovations within the mass capacity-optimized Lyve Drive Rack reference design. Shailesh Manjrekar, Head of AI and Strategic Alliances at WekaIO, weighed in as well: As the provider of the worlds fastest file system, we are thrilled to partner with Seagate to meet our customers demands for high performance and exascale economic storage for use cases like AI/ML, life sciences, and financial services. We appreciate Seagates proven data storage expertise and look forward to participating in the CORTX open source development to create end-to-end solutions leveraging our transformative Weka AI solutions framework, where WekaFS provides the extreme performance and CORTX provides capacity and durability. Lyve Drive Rack Lyve Drive Rack is an open, flexible converged storage infrastructure that provides users with a ready-made reference architecture with which to deploy CORTX and build their own mass capacity-optimized private storage cloud. The solution democratizes hyperscale storage architectures. It offers economical and fast deployment of object storage, enabling discovery of valuable insights through rich data labeling of massive amounts of data. The enclosures capacities start at 1.34PB. The Datasphere event featured a demo for Lyve Drive Rack. It was furnished with Seagates next-gen hardware innovation, the 20TB HAMR hard drives, showing that CORTX and Lyve Drive Rack enable fast adoption of mass-capacity drives for hyperscale applications. Shipments of Lyve Drive Rack and the 20TB HAMR drives are scheduled to begin in December. Another early adopter of CORTX and Lyve Drive Rack, DC BLOX, provides resilient edge-connected colocation, networking, and storage infrastructure. DC BLOX values Seagates leadership in tackling the rapidly increasing challenge of large-scale data storage and management with its CORTX object storage system, said Peyton McNully, Chief Cloud Architect at DC BLOX. Public cloud hyperscale storage infrastructures rely on the cost efficiency of mass-capacity devices to reduce the cost of storage. With todays announcements, Seagate is bringing that same capability and economic benefit to the enterprise in an open architecture modethe open-source data management software coupled with a multi-vendor reference architecture ecosystem. The Datasphere Event The virtual Datasphere event also included two panel discussions centered around tapping more enterprise data and open source solutions. The panels featured industry leaders from Seagate, ServiceNow, RISC-V International, Equinix, GitHub, AT&T, and IDC. Other Seagate and industry experts also led deeper dives into the new technologies and use cases. Reach key decision makers with sales-ready leads that shorten your sales process. Move the needle by delivering funnel qualified leads to your sales team. Learn more While many people have been stuck at home during the pandemic, virtual travel marketing has emerged to help fill the void felt by those who yearn for faraway places. The E-Commerce Times caught up with some virtual travel experts to discover how theyre using augmented and virtual reality, video and other technologies, to give folks the opportunity to explore the world without leaving their homes. As the pandemic has left many stuck indoors, cautious and scared, there is a common need to feel normal, Lynn Kaniper, president of Dana Communications, told the E-Commerce Times. The ability to dream of vacation provides hope and inspiration for the future. Virtual travel marketing provides businesses the advantage of allowing their customers to have an immersive experience by connecting them directly with their products and services, she said. In an increasingly closed-down world, virtual travel opportunities have become more important than ever. We know from our monthly travel sentiment study that people have not stopped dreaming about vacations during COVID, Clayton Reid, CEO of MMGY Global, told the E-Commerce Times. In fact, being anchored to home has pronounced the amount of time people are spending with the inspiration and shopping elements of travel. Strong virtual experiences have helped people stay connected to what an ultimate trip will offer and helped to keep long-term leisure travel intent high, he noted. Experience the Thrill Virtual travel marketing can offer a close-to-reality experience, inspiring people to learn about destinations, dream about journeys, and eventually book trips. Video is one of the top marketing tools that give the ability to experience through sights and sounds, explained Kaniper. Nowadays, 360 tours of destinations or properties allow the audience to experience and set expectations for their travels. Social media has been a way for properties, destinations and travel providers to communicate with their audiences in real time. Virtual travel experiences are beginning to imitate the immediacy and thrill of actual travel, and that kind of authentic experience is important for the success of these new marketing techniques. Virtual travel marketing has become more and more engaging, Kaniper continued. You can have a virtual experience flying in a plane, skydiving, riding a rollercoaster, or simply taking a tour of a resort or hotel. Virtual travel continues to evolve, as people look to have more experiences and to places that they may never get to experience, such as the moon or Mars. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Virtual Success For a virtual travel marketing campaign to be successful, it needs to engage people as much or more than would an actual trip. When its effective, this kind of marketing can inspire people to plan and book a trip, now or in the future. Its all about the wow factor, John Graham, president of Travel World VR, told the E-Commerce Times. It has to be exciting and energetic. 360/VR videos need to have an even flow to keep the audience engaged, wanting to learn and see more. It will also lead to increased travel bookings and shorten the sales cycle dramatically. Virtual travel marketing can be particularly successful when it highlights its many benefits it offers for consumers. Today virtual is more important than ever, Kaniper asserted. Parents are homeschooling and want ways for exploration for their children. Those with wanderlust can have experiences, but in a safe comfortable way.It is also an eco-friendly solution to over-tourism. Whether its vacations, cruises, or meetings, virtual gives the ability to plan and know before you go or the ability to get away from it all. Those who arent able to travel can now go anywhere in the world, making the bucket list more attainable than ever. Its also important for consumers to see and understand the relevance of virtual travel in their daily lives. Virtual and augmented reality programs for theme parks such as Cedar Fair which features immersive living stories, and destinations such as Berlin, where visitors can experience the city in advance of their actual trip, allow a new expression of what travel can now represent, said MMGYs Reid. Tying specific video or animated content to a VR/AR experience brings travel brands to life in new and special ways and allows more relevance for travelers. The Future of Virtual Travel Virtual travel is likely here to stay, indeed long after the pandemic. It offers marketers the chance to reach a wide range of customers, and it gives people the chance to travel from the comfort of their own homes. VR travel is becoming more mainstream each day, said Travel World VRs Graham. Its evolving into the ultimate marketing tool for all categories of travel suppliers, travel sellers and their clients, the consumer. Its changing how travel is being viewed not only now, but in the future. Though spurred on by the crisis of the pandemic, virtual travel marketing is increasingly becoming the norm. A D V E R T I S E M E N T When the pandemic hit, everyone was scrambling, Adam Stoker, president and CEO of Relic, told the E-Commerce Times. How do you market a destination when people are unable to travel? It became immediately apparent to everyone in the tourism industry that while people are unable to travel now, the competition will be fierce when travel opens up again. So many destinations decided to figure out ways to allow people who were cooped up in their homes the opportunity to virtually experience the destination. The theory is that if people can see from their homes how amazing a destination is, they will be more likely to book a physical trip to the destination when its safe. Many of the techniques being used by virtual travel marketers during the pandemic will, in fact, likely permanently transform the world of travel marketing. This phenomenon of virtual travel marketing may have appeared in the pandemic, but I see this as being a kickstart to a new wave of creative execution in the industry, explained Relics Stoker. The success destinations see as a result of this marketing strategy during the pandemic will lead to continuous virtual content creation as time goes on. Its something the industry has needed to invest in for a long time. The pandemic was just an accelerator, he suggested. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Over 360 more people have been detained in Belarus during protests against the country's authoritarian president, who was unexpectedly sworn in to his sixth term in office after an election the opposition says was rigged. Thousands of Belarusians took to the streets of the capital of Minsk and other cities on Wednesday evening to protest President Alexander Lukashenko's morning inauguration, which took place without advance public notice. Police fiercely dispersed the crowds of protesters; in Minsk, officers used truncheons and water cannons, leaving dozens injured. Belarus' Interior Ministry said Thursday that 364 people were detained, including 252 in the capital. The vast majority remained in custody, awaiting court hearings. Anti-government rallies continued Thursday morning despite the previous night's crackdown. Hundreds of people in Minsk formed human chains of solidarity in different parts of the city and obstructed vehicle traffic by driving slowly or stopping altogether, honking in protest. Lukashenko's inauguration before an audience of government officials, lawmakers and other dignitaries hadn't been announced in advance and came as a surprise for many after nearly seven weeks of mass protests against his disputed reelection. Many European officials refused to recognize Lukashenko as the countrys legitimate president. Opposition leaders dismissed the ceremony as a farce." The opposition's Coordination Council, which several leading activists formed to push for a transition of power, said Thursday that the secret inauguration of Alexander Lukashenko brought thousands of peaceful citizens onto the streets of our country's cities. Lukashenko on Thursday argued that the inauguration wasn't prepared in secret and bristled at Western criticism. You know, about 2,000 people, together with the military, were invited to the inauguration. It is practically impossible to keep it secret, he was quoted by the state news agency Belta as saying. Story continues You know, we didn't ask anyone to recognize or not recognize our election, the legitimacy of the newly elected president ... the important thing is that it's in accordance with the Constitution, Lukashenko said. Lukashenko, a 66-year-old former state farm director, has run Belarus, an ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million, with an iron fist for 26 years. Official results of the countrys Aug. 9 presidential election had given him 80% of the vote, with his strongest opponent, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, getting 10% support. But both opposition members and some poll workers say the vote was rigged. Tsikhanouskaya has not accepted the outcome of the election as valid, and neither have the thousands of her supporters who have been demanding Lukashenkos resignation at daily rallies all over the country for nearly seven weeks in a row. The United States and the European Union condemned the election as neither free nor fair and criticized the violent police crackdown on post-election protests in Belarus. The EU has been pondering sanctions against the Belarusian leadership, but failed to agree on imposing them this week. U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Thursday that Britain would prepare targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights abuses in Belarus. Anti-Lukashenko protests have rocked the country daily since the election, with the largest rallies in Minsk attracting up to 200,000 people. In the first days of protests, police used tear gas, truncheons and rubber bullets to disperse crowds. Several protesters died, many were injured and nearly 7,000 were detained. Amid international outrage over the violent suppression of the protests, Belarusian authorities switched to prosecuting top activists. Many members of the Coordination Council have been arrested or forced to leave the country. The response to street demonstrators intensified again this week, with police detaining hundreds and injuring many. The country's prosecutor general, Andrei Shved, threatened protesters Thursday with significant fines and said authorities were seeking to adopt stricter punishments for parents who are involving children in protest actions." Prosecutors in Minsk have already handed 140 warnings to families that took children to anti-government rallies. __ Daria Litvinova in Moscow contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP's coverage of the anti-government protests in Belarus at https://apnews.com/hub/belarus ROME The powerful head of the Vaticans saint-making office, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, resigned suddenly Thursday from the post and renounced his rights as a cardinal amid a financial scandal that has reportedly implicated him indirectly. The Vatican provided no details on why Pope Francis accepted Beccius resignation in a statement late Thursday. In the one-sentence announcement, the Holy See said only that Francis had accepted Beccius resignation as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and his rights connected to the cardinalate. Becciu, the former No. 2 in the Vaticans secretariat of state, has been reportedly implicated in a financial scandal involving the Vaticans investment in a London real estate deal that has lost the Holy See millions of euros in fees paid to middlemen. The Vatican prosecutor has placed several Vatican officials under investigation, as well as the middlemen, but not Becciu. Becciu has denied all wrongdoing and its not clear whether the scandal, which has convulsed the Vatican for a year, is behind his resignation. But the late-breaking news of his resignation, the severity of his apparent sanction, the Vaticans tight-lipped release and the unexpected downfall of one of the most powerful Vatican officials all suggested a shocking new chapter in Francis' already tumultuous seven-year pontificate. The last time a cardinals rights were removed was when American Theodore McCarrick renounced his rights and privileges as a cardinal in July 2018 amid a sexual abuse investigation. He was subsequently defrocked altogether by Francis last year for sexually abusing adults as well as minors. Before him, the late Scottish Cardinal Keith OBrien in 2015 relinquished the rights and privileges of being a cardinal after unidentified priests alleged sexual misconduct. OBrien was, however, allowed to retain the cardinals title and he died a member of the College of Cardinals, the elite group of churchmen whose main job is to elect a pope. In the Vatican statement, the Holy See identified Becciu as His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Becciu, making clear he remained a cardinal but without any rights. At 72, Becciu would have been able to participate in a possible future conclave to elect Francis' successor. Cardinals over age 80 cant vote. But by renouncing his rights as a cardinal, Becciu has relinquished his rights to take part. Becciu was the substitute, or top deputy in the secretariat of state from 2011-2018, when Francis made him a cardinal and moved him into the Vaticans saint-making office. He straddled two pontificates, having been named by Pope Benedict XVI and entrusted with essentially running the Curia, or Vatican bureaucracy, a position that gave him enormous influence and power. The financial problems date from 2014, when the Vatican entered into a real estate venture by investing over $200 million in a fund run by an Italian businessman. The deal gave the Holy See 45% of the luxury building at 60 Sloane Ave. in Londons Chelsea neighborhood. The money came from the secretariat of states asset portfolio, which is funded in large part by the Peters Pence donations of Catholics around the world for the pope to use for charity and Vatican expenses. The Holy See decided in November 2018, after Becciu had left the secretariat of state, to exit the fund, end its relationship with the businessman and buy out the remainder of the building. It did so after Beccius successor determined that the mortgage was too onerous and that the businessman was losing money for the Vatican in some of the funds other investments. The buyout deal, however, cost the Vatican tens of millions of euros more and sparked the Vatican investigation that has so far implicated a half-dozen Vatican employees. Becciu has insisted he wasnt in power during the 2018 buyout deal and always acted in the sole interests of the Holy See. In the Vatican prosecutors initial warrant, Becciu is not named, and it remains unclear if his role in managing the secretariat of states vast asset portfolio was connected with the resignation. Francis would meet regularly with Becciu in the Italians role as prefect of the saint-making office, since every month or two he would present lists of candidates for possible beatification or canonization for Francis to approve. In addition, since the beginning of his pontificate, Francis had an annual luncheon date at Beccius apartment along with 10 priests on the Thursday of Holy Week leading up to Easter. The Vatican always reported the get-togethers were a chance for the pope to chat informally with Becciu and priests of his diocese on the day the church celebrates the institution of the priesthood. The luncheon didnt happen this year amid the Vaticans coronavirus lockdown. -- Nicole Winfield of The Associated Press wrote this story. Since the outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a cartoon, entitled Cheer Up, Hot Dry Noodles (a snack of Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province), has generated positive responses from numerous netizens, who have been impressed by the cartoon's "curing power." Chen Yuting, a young woman whose pen name is "Chen Xiaotao," created the cartoon to encourage Wuhan residents to combat COVID-19. Chen, a native of Tianjin (in North China), graduated from the animation department at Tianjin University in 2016. Last year, she earned her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Beijing Normal University (digital media department). During the past two years, she has done phenomenally well in her animation career. Her Weibo (Chinese equivalent of Twitter) account has attracted more than 300,000 fans. The cartoons warm the hearts of the people throughout the country amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Heartwarming, Loving Cartoon When the epidemic broke out in early 2020, people throughout the country were concerned about the epidemic's development, especially in Wuhan. Chen's many fans and friends suggested she create cartoons to warm the hearts of Wuhan's residents, and especially the doctors and nurses who were serving on the "battlefield." Within a day, Chen received nearly 200,000 positive comments (from netizens) about her cartoon. Many major media outlets published the cartoon, via their online platforms. During the following months, Chen created many cartoons to support Chinese as they fought COVID-19. Many netizens said the heartwarming cartoons had magical "curing power." Says Chen: "That's exactly what I want to achieve through my works." Chen Yuting 'Soul Painter' Chen has enjoyed painting since she was a little girl. When she was a middle school student, she often created cartoons to depict her school life. Encouraged by her teachers and classmates, Chen decided to choose "cartoon creation" as her career. While she studied in university, she continued creating cartoons to record her life. When she was a senior at university, Chen created a series of amusing stickers, called "Mr. Wild & Cute" a panda who was so fond of sleeping that he lost the dark circles under his eyes. Like young people Chen's age, the strong-willed panda enjoyed eating dumplings and distributing hongbao (red envelopes stuffed with crisp yuan notes), or "gift money," through WeChat. The stickers resonated with many of Chen's schoolmates, who called her "soul painter." While she studied a course on digital media (in Beijing Normal University), Chen participated in a VR (virtual reality) competition hosted by the university. In addition to creating cartoons, she puts much effort into studying posters, cartoons and commercial illustrations, which are a rich source of inspiration for her artistic creations. When she looks back at her experiences, Chen concludes she is lucky to live in a good age, when various online platforms offer opportunities for her and other cartoonists to show the artistic charm of their works. Creating More, Better Works As she created the cartoons, with the theme of combating COVID-19, during the past several months, Chen improved her sense of social responsibility. "In addition to doctors and nurses, who work on the front line to combat COVID-19, everyone is obliged to contribute to the prevention and control of the epidemic," says Chen. Inspired by the numerous doctors and nurses, who went to the front line to save people, Chen decided to create more, and better, works to repay society for the care and assistance she had received. "Many seniors said we young people have not inured to hardships and hard work. However, many youths have joined seniors in providing voluntary services to residents (in the epidemic areas), to protect the residents' safety," says Chen. Chen has participated in many public-welfare activities in recent years. During an activity in September 2017 (to promote traditional crafts), conducted by Tencent, several enterprises and nongovernmental organizations, Chen and other participants tried their best to promote creative cultural products, which embodied the artistic elements of various crafts (created by Miao people), including embroideries, silver ornaments and batik items. At the invitation of Xishuangbanna (in Southwest China's Yunnan Province) Tropic Rain Forest Conservation Foundation (XTCF), Chen in June 2020 created a series of cartoons to help people learn about the ecological value of Asian elephants, which are on the verge of extinction. Now, Chen is creating cartoons with the themes of love and growth. She also posts her cartoons via new media. "I'll make greater efforts to improve my painting skills, so I can create more, better works, to voice the heartfelt wishes of young people," says Chen. A cartoon image created by Chen Yuting Photo supplied by Chen Yuting (Women of China English Monthly August 2020 issue) PARIS (Reuters) - France's foreign ministry on Tuesday warned Lebanon's political forces that the country risked collapse if they did not form a government without delay. "At this decisive moment in Lebanese history, Lebanese political forces are faced with a choice between recovery and collapse of the country. It is a heavy responsibility towards the Lebanese," Foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll told reporters in a daily briefing. France is pressing Lebanese politicians to form a new government in a "reasonable timeframe" to lift the nation out of a deep crisis but has not fixed a new deadline after the last one in mid-September was missed, two French diplomatic sources said. Lebanon's Christian president, Michel Aoun, told fractious political leaders on Monday the country was heading "to hell" if a new cabinet was not formed swiftly to dig the nation out of its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. "France regrets that Lebanese officials have not yet managed to keep the commitments made on September 1," Von der Muhll said. "We call on them to reach an agreement without delay on the formation by (Prime Minister) Moustapha Adib of a government of mission, which will then have to implement the necessary reforms." (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Sandra Maler) San Francisco: Ahead of the US election in November, Facebook has tightened its policies around employee communication within the Workplace platform, the company's internal social network, banning political images in the profile photos. The change would prohibit employees from setting their profile pictures to images that promote specific political candidates or express solidarity with causes such as Black Lives Matter, reports Wall Street Journal. The company said on Thursday that the move will be "accompanied by restrictions in the ways employees can express their opinions on controversial social topics on Facebook`s internal Workplace communications tool". "What we have heard from our employees is that they want the option to join debates on social and political issues rather than see them unexpectedly in their work feed," Facebook spokesman Joe Osborne said in a statement. "So we`re updating our policies and work tools to make sure our people have both voice, and choice." Facebook CEO said last week that new measures will ensure that Black employees and other underrepresented communities don`t face a hostile environment when they come to work. Employees will still be able to express themselves through frames around their photos. The new rules will also expand the company`s definition of harassment. "The company will prohibit any communication that is insensitive, degrading or derogatory and could create a hostile work environment for those in a protected class," reports CNBC. The social network said it will also increase its support for moderation of nonofficial Workplace groups. The president stressed that the region is an important part of Ukraine, not just a place on the border with a more developed Europe. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine says it is now very important to support and develop Zakarpattia "politically and geopolitically." Speaking with journalists during a working trip to Zakarpattia region, Zelensky said: "It is politically and geopolitically very important for us to invest, and next year we are completing the construction of a large complex hospital in Berehove," the President's Office reports. "Hungarians are our neighbors, and we need to find mutual understanding, we must always find dialogue. But it is important for us that we are building hospitals there. We are investing money in Ukraine," Zelensky said. In turn, Deputy Head of the President's Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said the Verkhovna Rada adopted amendments to the 2020 state budget, providing for the allocation of UAH 300 million for the construction of a perinatal center in the region. Read alsoSzijjarto: Hungary wants to resolve language issues soon to unblock Ukraine-NATO CommissionZelensky has noted that Zakarpattia is "an important part of Ukraine, not just a place on the border with a more developed Europe." "Zakarpattia is a wonderful part of our unitary state. Indeed, there was no infrastructure, no hospitals. I know that you need about 30 more kindergartens," he said, assuring that all said issues will be resolved in a few years. Zakarpattia and minority row with Hungary Zakarpattia region is home to a massive part of Hungarian national minority in Ukraine. The Hungarians in Ukraine number 156,600 people according to the Ukrainian census of 2001 and are the fifth-largest minority in the country. They are the seventh biggest Hungarian diaspora in the world. In Berehove district and the town of Berehove, they form the largest minority at 12.1% of the population, as per Wikipedia. Hungary has issued tens of thousands of passports to Ukrainian nationals in Zakarpattia, while Ukraine prohibits dual citizenship. Relations between Ukraine and Hungary slid to a chill after the Ukrainian parliament in 2017 passed a new education law. Hungary has since been blocking Ukraine-NATO Commission meetings, claiming alleged violation of rights of Hungarians living in Ukraine due to the provision of the law that determines that the language of command in educational facilities shall be the state language, which is Ukrainian. According to the Venice Commission's conclusion of December 8, 2017, Ukrainian authorities were recommended to balance the provision of the language article of Law on Education. On January 16, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, passed bill No. 0901 on secondary education. Hungary's FM Peter Szijjarto says Budapest asks Kyiv not to increase the number of subjects taught in Ukrainian to the national minorities, which is provided for by the new law. On Sept. 10, Sam Hodder drove the winding highway into Big Basin State Park to see the damage of this seasons vicious wildfires with his own eyes. Approaching the park, he saw plots where homes had been leveled by fire adjacent to houses that appeared untouched by the flames. But Hodder, president of Save the Redwoods League, wasnt there to observe structural damage. He went to survey the damage to redwood forests, which have been particularly hard-hit by the latest series of wildfires sweeping across Northern Californias wooded landscape. He looked for signs of survivors. The canopy above him, he noted, was still intact the fires hadnt burned all the way to the crowns of the magnificent trees, which can rise up to 300 feet tall. He spotted green needles and fire-hardened bark on trees that remained standing positive indicators of the redwoods resilience. As I walked through, I noticed some green pushing through the ashes in some places, and I was reminded again that these redwood trees have seen fires many times before and they will come back again, Hodder said. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag As firefighters work to contain wildfires across the region during Californias worst year of wildfires on record, many believe the state is at a pivotal moment with regard to how it manages its forests. Fires are a normal, natural occurrence for the states ecology. But the scope and scale of the megafires that have wreaked catastrophic damage across the state in recent years are unprecedented. The issue raises difficult questions about how close to nature we can safely live, as well as whether we are taking appropriate actions to curb climate change. Redwoods are capable of sequestering orders of magnitude more carbon from the atmosphere than other species of trees, making them important tools in the struggle to mitigate global warming. In the past year, however, research on the trees has revealed a troubling development: Giant sequoias, among the hardiest of trees on Earth, are beginning to succumb to Californias climate-fueled wildfires. Weve not seen that anywhere in our recorded history, Hodder said. That led us to believe that were facing a whole new moment in the millions of years of history of the sequoia and coast redwood forest. According to Hodder, this seasons fires have torn through 10 giant sequoia groves in the Sierra, which account for about 31% of the trees existing habitat. Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Hodder notes that climate change is not the sole culprit. For more than a century, the United States approach to forest management has centered on extinguishing fires as quickly as possible, rather than allowing some low-impact fires that would help to effectively cleanse the forest floor. That has in turn led to an accumulation of surplus fuel sources in forests across the West. The new fire threat to redwoods is largely due to the fact that weve been suppressing forest fires in a fire-dependent landscape for 160 years, Hodder said. Hodder, like many Californians, would like to see smarter forest management policies put into place and a broader re-examination of our relationship to the natural environment. That starts, he says, with protecting and nurturing Californias redwood stock. Hodder recently discussed his views on the Chronicles Fifth and Mission podcast. The following excerpts from that conversation have been edited for length and clarity. On the fire damage to redwood forests this year: We have not yet been able to get in (to the forests) and do even a modest let alone complete assessment of the impacts of these fires, just because its simply not safe yet. We dont have the data to determine yet whether these were high-intensity fires and are thereby posing more risk to the more vulnerable forests of today or whether they were slow- to moderate-intensity fires, (which) in certain places, ironically enough, could actually be healthy in managing the fuel load and bringing back the natural cycle of fires in these redwood forests. On the circumstances that led to the current megafires and their effect on redwoods: We eliminated that burning that Indigenous people had been doing in these landscapes for thousands of years. All of a sudden, the fuel loads grew up to be mature, and what used to be a slow-burning, low ground fire became catastrophic and got up into the canopy of these giant sequoias and burned every last needle. And, unlike the coast redwood that can sprout again after a fire as long as most of their bark is intact giant sequoias, not so much. If the crown is destroyed, it cant grow back again. So the realization that the fires were not only catastrophic but so catastrophic as to kill giant sequoias that had been through hundreds of fires in their lifetime was a terrible awakening and spoke to the importance of getting the fuel load in the Sierra Nevada under control and getting the forest to a stage where we could reintroduce prescribed fire at times of the year where it can be more controlled and less risky. On his organizations Redwood Genome Project: The redwoods have an incredibly complex genome, so we really had to wait for the science to catch up to us to even make this possible. But now that its been mapped for both the sequoia and coast redwood genome, there are all sorts of opportunities that can grow from that. Part of making sure that the forest has the resilience it needs to withstand the changes that are already here as a result of climate change, we want to be able to restore some of that genetic diversity. Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle On building homes in the wildland-urban interface: Subdivision and development is a very real threat to the redwood forest. As we realize that were not going to nor should we prevent fires from happening we have to figure out how to live with fire. One of the most important ways to do that (is) to stop putting houses where the fires want to be. In many cases its not that simple, where communities have done their very best in establishing defensible space and hardening the edges around the built environment. But in many cases we can make better choices about where we put human infrastructure. Gregory Thomas is the Chronicle's editor of lifestyle and outdoors. Email: gthomas@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @GregRThomas For many decades, he has been an extraordinary warrior for Liberty, Mr. Cruz wrote. A medical doctor trained in obstetrics and gynecology, Mr. Paul, 85, served in the House of Representatives over more than three decades, from 1976 to 1977, from 1979 to 1985 and again from 1997 to 2013. Considered an outsider in the Republican caucus, he became a nationally known figure while running for president as the Libertarian nominee in 1988 and while campaigning unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012. His views on fiscal policy he is an unstinting critic of the Federal Reserve and his staunch opposition to American military policy overseas won him legions of followers, especially among young and libertarian-leaning voters. During his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, he was best remembered for declaring in a debate that the Sept. 11 attacks were the Muslim worlds response to American military intervention around the globe. A fellow candidate, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, interrupted and demanded that he take back the words. Mr. Paul refused. During his years in Congress, Mr. Paul often staked out the lonely end of 434-to-1 votes against legislation that he considered unconstitutional, even on issues as ceremonial as granting Mother Teresa a Congressional Gold Medal. His colleagues nicknamed him Dr. No. Although no one associated with Mr. Paul has given any details of his medical condition, there was broad speculation that he had a stroke, which occurs when a vessel in the brain ruptures or is blocked by a blood clot. Early signs of a stroke include slurred speech, face drooping and arm weakness, according to the American Stroke Association, which recommends calling 911 if a person shows any of these symptoms, even if they go away. Immediate medical treatment is critical, the association says, because it can minimize the long-term effects of a stroke and prevent death. After a debate at the British Medical Association's (BMA) annual representative meeting, a panel of doctors decided that home use of mifepristone should continue to be permitted for early medical abortions. A majority of doctors believed that it was "safe and effective" but some had large concerns about the procedure. The BMA has come under fire for its support of the policy extension. This change allows doctors to prescribe home abortions up to the 10th week of pregnancy. During the discussion, retired obstetrics consultant Professor Wendy Savage claimed that the prescription pills had "benefited women" and that no serious complications had been reported."It is essential that the BMA supports the permanence of this change by all means possible", Professor Savage said. John Chisholm, the BMA medical ethics committee chair, also supported the motion. He said, 'The evidence is very much there that this has been a positive and successful change.' Chisholm defended the decision to extend at-home abortions: 'Robust safeguarding procedures are in place to identify those women and girls who have a safeguarding risk; all under-18s and all vulnerable adults have a safeguarding risk assessment. Marie Stopes UK has seen a 77 percent increase in the number of safeguarding cases identified, which shows that vulnerable women and girls are being protected.' Yorkshire clinical genetics trainee Melody Redman objected, citing cases of women receiving abortion pills after 10 weeks. She argued that "remote services mean a removal of current safeguards.""Face-to-face consultations allow appropriate clinical assessment and risk management. Remote services mean no ultrasound scanning, so no checking for ectopics, no qualification of gestation beyond a woman's last menstrual period." Michael J Robinson of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said it was "shocking" that the BMA would come out in support of such a "dangerous" policy. London sessional GP Naomi Beer also said at the debate that at-home abortions "will not be permanent, and such a change in practice should not become permanent without a robust evidence review and appropriate parliamentary scrutiny." However, a majority of doctors supported the motion to "support the continuation of these remote services post-pandemic, which are in line with best global practice and benefit women." Minister of International Cooperation underscored the strength of Indo-African relations, noting they are developing in a dynamic manner, which reflects a promising future for achieving sustainable development goals India is the third largest export destination for Africa, as 18 percent of its imports of crude oil and liquefied natural gas come from West Africa, and this percentage is expected to rise to 90 percent by 2025, Egypts Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat said. Al-Mashat made the comments during her participation in the 15th session of the CII-EXIM Bank Digital Conclave on the India-Africa Project Partnership, which was attended by state officials from the two regions. The attendees included Minister of State for External Affairs of India Shri Moraldahran, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Zimbabwe Sebusiso Moyo, and the deputy minister of foreign affairs and regional integration of Ghana Charles Ooredoo. During the meeting, Al-Mashat underscored the strength of Indo-African relations, noting that today these relations are developing in a dynamic manner, which reflects a promising future for achieving sustainable development goals. The minister added that recent years have witnessed strong levels of economic growth for both Africa and India, which has contributed to a deepening of relations and an increase in intra-trade, as well as increased interest by Indian companies to invest in the African continent, particularly in agriculture, infrastructure, education, skill development, healthcare, manufacturing and more. She also referred to a report by the World Trade Organisation entitled India and Africa: Trade and Investment between the South and the South, which revealed that intra-regional trade grew by 32 percent annually between 2005 and 2011. More than half of the worlds labour force will come from Africa in the future, and there is no better time to capitalise on partnerships and invest in Africas fast-growing potential, Al-Mashat said in her speech. Al-Mashat highlighted the historical relations between Egypt and India, which extend for about 65 years, stressing that India is one of the most important economic partners for Egypt, as it is the countrys 10th largest export and import destination. She added that more than 540 Indian companies are investing in Egypt with more than $3.5 billion in various fields, such as petrochemical, industry and services. Minister Al-Mashat called on Indian companies to engage more in the Egyptian and African markets and benefit from free trade agreements that can enable India to reach more than 600 million consumers in Africa, Arab countries and Europe via the Suez Canal axis. Egypt is the gateway to Africa, and that she is aspiring to work more to create better opportunities for partnership between India and the countries of the African continent, Al-Mashat said. Search Keywords: Short link: The First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, Mijito Vinito, walked out of the general assembly hall when Imran Khan started his diatribe about India United Nations: India on Friday hit back at Pakistan for raking up Jammu and Kashmir in the UN General Assembly, saying Islamabad peddled another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, war mongering. "PM of Pakistan statement a new diplomatic low -- at 75th UN General Assembly. Another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, war mongering and obfuscation of Pakistan's persecution of its own minorities & of its cross-border terrorism. Befitting Right of Reply awaits," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti tweeted. In his pre-recorded video statement to the General Debate at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly on Friday, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan made references to India's internal affairs, including Jammu and Kashmir. The First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, Mijito Vinito, walked out of the general assembly hall when Khan started his usual diatribe about India. India has firmly told Pakistan that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is, and shall continue to be an integral part of India. New Delhi has maintained that issues related to Jammu and Kashmir are internal matters to India. Pakistan has been unsuccessfully trying to drum up international support against India for withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir's special status on 5 August last year and bifurcating it into two union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution was its internal matter. It also advised Pakistan to accept the reality and stop all anti-India propaganda. Lok Insaf Party (LIP) staged a massive protest at Dhandari Chowk against the anti-farmer legislations approved by the Union government here on Friday. Led by party president Simarjit Singh Bains and patron Jathedar Balwinder Singh Bains, the agitating office-bearers and workers raised slogans against the PM Narendra Modi-led BJP government and demanded the repealing of the law. Addressing the workers, farmers, farm labourers, and other organisations, the LIP chief said it was not an agrarian reform law but a death sentence for the farmers. He said with the implementation of this law, the farmers would remain as bonded labourers in their own fields and would be forced to sow only those crops which the industrial houses like Adani-Ambani would want and they would also decide the price. He added that as per the provisions of the law when the farm land would be taken on lease, the industrial houses would have the right to draw loans on them. Bains said 70-80% of the farmers of Punjab were already in debt and their lands were mortgaged with the banks, under which the industrial houses would first buy their crops at half price and later usurp their land. Effigy burnt outside Jama Masjid Meanwhile, members of the Muslim community here came out in support of the farmers and joined their cause. They also burnt an effigy of the central government outside Jama Masjid on Friday. Maulana Habib-ur-Rehman Sani Ludhianvi, national president and Shahi Imam of the Jamaat Ahle Islam Hind, said people must stand up and save the nation from being sold out to crony capitalists. Earlier during the day, trade unions also joined the protesting farmers and took out a procession from Jagraon Bridge to oppose the agriculture-related bills. Henry Golding has shared details about his intensely physical work on the upcoming GI Joe reboot, describing the first week of shooting as literal hell. The Malaysian-British Crazy Rich Asians star is set to portray the lead ninja commando in Snake Eyes, adapted from the famous US toy and film franchise. The film, which is an origin story, finished filming just before the first coronavirus lockdown, although the pandemic has pushed the films release back to 2021. In an interview with NME, Golding said: To be honest, it was painful. Its definitely much more of a martial arts film than a superhero movie. Its very, very physical. I f***ing hated it in the beginning because I couldnt even squat down and go to the bathroom. The first week was literal hell. I think I cried on the phone to my manager. I was like: I dont know what Im doing!' The role reportedly involved extensive amounts of script work, stunt choreography and personal fitness training. However, despite his initial misgivings, Golding speculated that the film could kick-start its own brand-new franchise. Snake Eyes has just blown me away, he said. Theyve recreated GI Joe into something very cool and a far throw from what weve seen thus far on the big screen. I think theres room for many spin-offs, to be honest. This, I think, will be the launch of a brand-new franchise. (Newser) The FBI and US Attorney's Office for the District of Kansas have launched a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old, who was said to be suicidal. John Albers was backing out of his family's driveway in a Kansas City suburb in January 2018 when an Overland Park police officer opened fire, reports the Kansas City Star. Police had been called to perform a welfare check on the teen, who may not have known officers were present until shots were fired, per the Washington Post. He was reversing a van out of a garage when an officer yelled "stop," per the Star. Officer Clayton Jenison then fired two shots from the side of the van. The van continued backing up, then turned in the direction of Jenison, who fired 11 more times. Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe determined the shooting was justified as Jenison feared he'd be run over. story continues below Officers were then permitted to fire on a moving vehicle for reasons of self-defense, though Jenison was never actually in the path of the van, reports the Post. The officer resigned six weeks later, with the city citing "personal reasons." However, it was revealed this year that Overland Park officials approved a $70,000 severance payment in March 2018. The citywhich says it will cooperate with the probealso paid $2.3 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Albers' mother, Sheila Albers, in 2019. "My first thought was, 'Finally. Finally, there will be some transparency and there will be accountability,'" Albers now tells KMBC of the investigation. "There are too many documents, dash cams, correspondence that nobody has seen," she says. "I think that the fact that the investigation has been opened, that is closure in and of itself." (Read more police shooting stories.) President Donald Trump arrives at the White House in Washington, late Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, following a short trip from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., after attending a rally in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Read more One of the ongoing challenges of the Donald Trump presidency is that there are so many alarms set off by his troubling tweets, dubious claims, and unfounded statements that it is hard to know which alarms should be taken seriously. A number of reports over the past week suggest we are watching a five-alarm fire that threatens to consume American democracy. On Wednesday, Trump said that he believes the result of the upcoming presidential election will end up in the Supreme Court. Avoiding a tie vote in this instance is one reason for his rush to fill the late Ruth Bader Ginsburgs seat ahead of Election Day. While there is precedent for election results to go before the Supreme Court (the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore), it is unprecedented for anyone, including the sitting president, to publicly assume the results will require litigation before a single ballot has been cast. Later that day, when asked whether he will commit to a peaceful transition of power after the election, Trump responded, Were going to have to see what happens, and repeated unsubstantiated concerns over mailed ballots. Having a president who is so dismissive of the very foundation of democracy the peaceful transition of power is frightening enough. That fear becomes exponentially greater when he is backed by a party that is willing to use any tool in its arsenal to bypass the will of the people. Take, for example, this scenario, which could play out in Pennsylvania, a pivotal swing state because of our 20 votes toward the 270 needed to win the electoral college. Each candidate chooses 20 electors. In December, after the popular vote has been calculated, the electors chosen by the winning candidate in each state will cast their ceremonial ballots. READ MORE: Could rogue electors swing the results of a presidential election? An election law attorneys view. | Opinion However, the Republican-controlled General Assembly could argue that the popular vote is not to be trusted and assert its power to appoint an alternative set of electors, loyal to Donald Trump. The Chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, Lawrence Tabas, told The Atlantic that he mentioned this option to Trumps national campaign. Pa. State Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman also acknowledged this as a possibility. This plan would create a lot of problems. It would likely lead to a dispute with the Democratic Governor Tom Wolf about whether his signature to approve such a move is necessary. The issue could end up at the Democratic majority Pennsylvania Supreme Court. If the dispute carries through December 8th, the safe harbor deadline, Congress would have to decide which set of electors from Pennsylvania to count. The logic of this strategy depends on the trustworthiness of the vote count. The integrity of the count has dominated the conversation for months, fueled by Trumps false claims that vote-by-mail is more prone to fraud. His Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, has taken deliberate steps to slow mail. In Pennsylvania, a Republican legislature set the tight deadlines for requesting and submitting mail ballots, and the requirements governing such ballots (such as to have the ballot in an inner secrecy envelope that is placed within a second envelope to avoid a naked ballot" that would be tossed out). READ MORE: How naked ballots in Pennsylvania could cost Joe Biden the election To counter these alarming scenarios, there must be a concerted effort to save American democracy. It requires discipline from elected officials, social media companies, the general public, and the media to recognize there is a good chance that there wont be a definitive result on election night. The election only ends when every vote that was cast has been counted regardless what statements anyone makes or what early returns suggest. Just because results take time doesnt mean they are any less accurate. But the only true vaccine to post-election chaos is to secure a definitive outcome as early as possible. That means that every person who is worried about the future of American democracy should request and mail a ballot early. Those whod rather vote in person, and are able and willing to comply with safety protocols, should ensure they are registered and make a voting plan. It was in Philadelphia where Benjamin Franklin famously said America is a Republic, if we can keep it. The actions that each person takes over the next 40 days will decide if we are able to keep it beyond 2020. Sammy Wilson said he should have had it on and am offering no excuse. A photograph has been posted on Twitter of Mr Wilson on board a train, reading a magazine and not wearing a mask. Everyone is equally subject to the law and equal under the law Asked about the matter at the Stormont Executive press conference, Mrs Foster said: Sammy has made a statement in relation to that matter. But just for clarity, I want to say this as clearly as I can, everyone is subject to the law, everyone is equally subject to the law and equal under the law. So it is important that we remember that, and that is the position of the DUP. She added at the press conference on Thursday evening that she had not had the opportunity to speak to Mr Wilson about the matter yet. Advertisement Everybody has to abide by the law and take the consequences as well as not abiding by those laws, she said. Whoever took the picture didn't approach me or say anything to me which I suppose would have been the proper way to behave In a statement, Mr Wilson queried why the person who took the photograph had not approached him directly on the train. I didnt have a mask on, should have had it on and am offering no excuse but it is sad that we have now become like East Germany under the Stasi where members of the public think it is acceptable to act as snoops, he said. Whoever took the picture didnt approach me or say anything to me which I suppose would have been the proper way to behave. Most NI MPs do acknowledge, understand and respect rules re facemasks on London Undergroun. pic.twitter.com/poXJlYyy0Q Stephen Farry MP (@StephenFarryMP) September 24, 2020 North Down MP Stephen Farry tweeted: Most NI MPs do acknowledge, understand and respect rules re facemasks on public transport. Those caught not wearing a mask on public transport in London can face a 200 fine, which doubles each time a person is caught, up to 6,400. There are exemptions for the rule on the basis of age, health and disability reasons. Earlier this week, Conservative MP Danny Kruger apologised after being spotted without a mask during a public transport journey in London. Mr Kruger, David Camerons former speechwriter, said in a statement: I boarded an almost empty carriage at Hungerford and quite simply forgot to put on my mask. When I got to Paddington I realised my mistake and covered up for the rest of my journey. If the person had reminded me rather than taking a photo and posting it on social media I would of course have put on my mask then and there. I do apologise for my mistake. Mr Wilson has previously been outspoken about the wearing of face coverings. In July he tweeted a photograph of himself in an ice cream shop in Co Antrim not wearing a mask, with the message you cant eat ice cream when youre muzzled! Face coverings in indoor places became compulsory in Northern Ireland on August 10th. 25.09.2020 LISTEN Ghanaian hiplife artiste, Screwface has lamented about how artistes who do not release songs timely are treated. Speaking in an interview with Grandmaster Murphy on Todays Radio's celebrity hour which was monitored by www.newshuntermag.com, the Maabena composer stated that it is not the best for people to conclude that artistes who do not release songs frequently are not fruitful or their time has passed. He was confused about whether this is limited to Ghana or the African continent. Screwface laid emphasis on the style which veteran musicians, Amakye Dede and Daddy Lumba use to release their songs. He explained that they do not rush in releasing songs, but they mostly have hit songs after they come out with new ones. It is only in Ghana that people think your time has passed if you relax in releasing new songs. That is the problemI dont know if it is with Africans or just my country. When you relax a bit they say your time has passed but look at Amakye Dede, Lumba and othersthey stay silent and release one song during November and December and their songs become hit after it has been released, Screwface averred. He also bemoaned over how Ghanaians decline to support themselves. In every aspect, Ghanaians do not love to push or support ourselveswe love to push the negative side instead of the positive side, the musician, known in private life as Jehoshaphat Eshun wailed. When family comes in, you have to look at the family side, now I have two businesses, the family business and music business, if I mix the two there is going to be a problem. He said on his inactiveness in the music scene. Its not all about moneythere is more to life than money. I have four kidsthey come first before my music. ---www.Newshuntermag.com Hong Kong: Pro-democracy Hong Kong politicians staged a brief protest in the city's legislature on Friday to call for the release of 12 activists arrested by Chinese authorities at sea last month as they tried to flee to Taiwan by boat. Chinese police have said the 12, who are all suspected of crimes in Hong Kong related to anti-government protests that erupted last year, were suspected of illegal border crossing. China's foreign ministry has called them "separatists". Chinese flag flies outside the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong. Credit:Getty Images Their detention in the south Chinese city of Shenzhen has become a lightning rod for criticism of Hong Kong's Beijing-backed government. About a dozen opposition members of the city's legislature surrounded Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung before a meeting on mitigating the economic impact of the coronavirus, and demanded he meet the detainees' families and try to bring them back. A few short weeks ago it looked like the Liberal governments throne speech might signal a hopeful new chapter in the countrys recovery from COVID-19. It seemed just possible that the worst was over and we could start to think about moving on. But no. Far from getting better, the pandemic is back with a vengeance in key parts of the country, and what Canadians heard from the government on Wednesday was very much about continuing the fight against COVID-19 and supporting people through the emergency. Thats as it must be. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said flatly in his national address that the long-feared second wave isnt just a possibility, its already here. If we dont mount an effective battle on that front all the ambitious talk about child care, pharmacare and so on will crumble as the economy comes to a standstill. So the government was right to front-load the throne speech with measures on the pandemic on increasing testing capacity and approving new and quicker types of tests, on extending the wage subsidy all the way until summer 2021, on making sure Canada gets a vaccine as soon as a safe and effective one becomes available, and on revamping Employment Insurance to include gig workers and others. All this will cost a lot more money, so it was entirely predictable that the government will continue to spend and spend whatever it takes. As the government put it, this is not the time for austerity. The Liberals will get little pushback on that, given the depth of the ongoing crisis. Beside the immediate threat of the pandemic, its no surprise that the governments long list of agenda items for a better society seems to be as much hope as reality. The most ambitious significant, long-term, sustained investment in national child care and a renewed push for pharmacare have been staples of Liberal election platforms and throne speeches for years. As desirable as they are, Canadians are right to be cynical when the government hauls them out yet again. Of course, those measures and some others, such as establishing national standards for long-term care that might prevent a replay of the mass deaths last spring, require buy-in and co-operation from the provinces. And some of them (Quebec first, of course) are already grumbling about federal interference in their areas of jurisdiction. Pandemic or not, some things in Canada never change. On the federal side, too, there seems to be a growing frustration with other governments after many months of uncharacteristic sweetness in federal-provincial relations. Ottawa has set aside billions, for example, to support the provinces in ramping up COVID-19 testing but Ontario and Quebec are both stumbling on that front. Canadians should not be waiting in line for hours to get a test, the speech said pointedly. All the money in the world, it turns out, doesnt guarantee that local officials will get the job done. How to pay for all this? The government made some positive noises here, saying it will bring forward additional ways to tax extreme wealth inequality, including limits on stock option deductions for executives at big, established companies. Thats welcome, as is the promise to address corporate tax avoidance by the so-called FAANG companies, the digital giants like Google and Facebook. Web giants are taking Canadians money while imposing their own priorities, said the government, promising it will act to ensure their revenue is shared more fairly with our creators and media. Details to come, but that public pledge is, to put it mildly, long overdue. Critics will pick it apart, but there is nothing in this speech that warrants triggering an election. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh bobbed and weaved on Wednesday when asked whether his party will support the government, and no doubt New Democrats will keep pressing for action in a couple of areas, such as guaranteed sick days. Theres plenty of room for the Liberals and NDP to make a deal, and they should. COVID-19 is on the march and the next few weeks will be crucial. Canadians deserve a government focused on that, not an election that no one wants. Rinat Akhmetov's SCM Financial and Industrial Holding has sold its Parallel fuel filling station network, according to Encorr, an online industry publication citing sources. According to the publication, the buyer was not an active player in the retail market, but either a wholesale trader or the owner of a small network wishing to develop this direction. At the same time, the press service of SCM did not comment on the reliability of the report about the sale of their filling stations to the Interfax-Ukraine agency. "We do not comment on rumors and assumptions about any deals," SCM spokesman Yevhen Buzykin said. Parallel sells its fuel at 60 fuel filling stations and gas stations in Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia regions and the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by Ukraine. Parallel-M LTD is controlled by Parallel Nafta Ltd., a subsidiary of Rinat Akhmetov's SCM Group. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has presented letters of credence to three newly appointed High Commissioners and Ambassadors at the Jubilee House, Accra. They were Dr Joseph Nii Sai Cofie Ago, who goes to Canberra, Australia as Ghana's High Commissioner; Mr Asare Damptey Bediako, who heads to Ethiopia as Ghana's Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the African Union; and Mr Samuel Yaw Kuma, appointed Ambassador InSitu. At a short ceremony, the President administered the Oaths of Allegiance, Secrecy and Office to the trio, who are all career diplomats, and said they had been called to an important assignment. He congratulated them on their well-deserved appointments, saying, they were carefully chosen for their assignments because they had distinguished themselves in the foreign service. The President exhorted the diplomats to safeguard, protect and promote the high image of Ghana at all times. "You represent a country that as a result of the commendable conduct of the Ghanaian people, is regarded as one of the most stable on the continent, a beacon of democracy, which is governed by the rule of law and respect for individual liberties, human rights and the principles of democratic accountability. "You are the most visible symbol of our country out there, and in all your actions, you must guard jealousy our country's image. You have the onerous responsibility of preserving and promoting the image of our country whose reputation today amongst the comity of nations is high...I am confident that this is a charge you would uphold," he said. President Akufo-Addo urged them to strive to develop and maintain cordial working relations with the professional foreign service officers they find at their duty post, as their valuable experience and knowledge of the terrain would help their work. "You would need their assistance and they would need your guidance. Mutual respect is the key to harmonious working relations," he emphasized. The President also entreated them to maintain good rapport with Ghanaians in their country of accreditation to gain their respect. "They will be counting and looking up to you to champion not only our nation's interest but theirs as well. Do your best not to disappoint them." He asked the envoys to at all times stay true to the country's objective to achieve a Ghana beyond Aid. To Dr Agoo, the President reminded him that "Your role is to deepen our cooperation with the Commonwealth of Australia and explore other areas of Corporation that would be of benefit to our respective populations." And to Ghana's Deputy Permanent Representative to the AU, the President said Ghana was deeply committed to the aims and purposes of the continental body. "The Pan African vocation of our country, right from the days of our independence remains an unshakable attribute of our nation...I expect you to give full support to our permanent representative to the AU and assist her to function effectively and efficiently." President also spared some words for Mr Yaw Kuma, whom he said: "You have distinguished yourself as a Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and fully deserve the appointment that will enhance your status and enable you to interact on an even keel with members of the Diplomatic Corps." Dr Ago on behalf of his colleagues thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them. He said they were mindful of the huge responsibility placed on them and pledged that they would play their respective roles in achieving the vision of the President towards the wellbeing of all Ghanaians. 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 According to the latest data published by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, so far this year only 6398 businesses have been wound up, a decline of 21 per cent. But the difference is getting worse as time passes: in August, court applications to wind up a company and administrations fell 65 per cent compared to August 2019. In the first week of September just 44 companies went into administration, down 75 per cent from the same week in 2020. Most were voluntary winding up applications. Frydenberg said in September the extension would "help to prevent a further wave of failures before businesses have had the opportunity to recover". ARTIA chief executive John Winter says supporting bad businesses will end up hurting the good ones as well. But the insolvency industry worries company debts could keep growing while protections remain in place. And that the sector could be swamped next year with Deloitte Access economics estimating up to 240,000 companies could fail due to COVID-19, a nearly 3000 per cent increase on a normal year. Chief executive of the Australian Institute of Credit Management, Nick Pilavidis, says the government should not have extended the insolvency protections in September, saying his 2600 members could tell the difference between a zombie and a struggling-yet-viable business. Definitely the extension, we feel, was unnecessary and has a bigger potential downside, he says. One of the issues is that any payments that our members recover [now], could be later clawed back through the insolvency process. While [insolvency] numbers are down, the risks are not down.' His members were now reporting longer payment times and lower cash receipts, he says. As debt builds, this increases the likelihood that small businesses could end up losing assets used in loan collateral, such as the family home, he warned. The longer a non-viable company trades, the deeper it goes into debt. This leaves nothing behind for unsecured creditors and spreads the impact of collapse. Credit:Fairfax Chief executive of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association, John Winter, worries the insolvency industry won't be able to handle next year's stockpile. All the relief designed to help businesses stay frozen meant work for insolvency firms had ''evaporated'' and about half Australias insolvency firms were currently using JobKeeper assistance themselves, he says. There was also a risk debts could could outweigh assets if insolvency went on for too long. By the time an insolvency practitioner is appointed to close that business down, there is less than nothing left. There is no chance to recover anything for any creditors, theres certainly no chance to save the business and the liquidator is unlikely to even get paid themselves, Winter says. If a bad business is being propped up and they are not paying good businesses, what they do is place that good business at risk itself. "If you want to come out of this recession, you want good businesses protected, not the bad ones. Asked why the government couldn't just create a mass grave for 2020s failed companies and move on, Winter says creditors would be left out of pocket. If nobody goes and looks at what has happened to those businesses that have failed we are going to see the amount of phoenixing in this country absolutely explode, he said. He suggests the federal government increase the funding the Assetless Administration Fund that was designed to clean up phoenixing. However, he added it needs about $80 million to clean up 2020's mess, 10 times what is currently available. Director of international insolvency firm Rodgers Reidy, Brent Morgan, says he has not seen any applications from the ATO to wind up a Victorian-based business over unpaid taxes since March. He suspects the tax office was now sitting on a stockpile of statutory demands that could be released in the first half of 2021. Banks and landlords have also been lenient to businesses forced to close by COVID-19 restrictions. And coupled with JobKeeper the ''pressure points'' that normally force un-viable companies to the wall had disappeared. By Ayya Lmahamad State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) will produce 7.2 million tons of oil, including condensate in 2020 in line with OPEC+ deals obligations to reduce oil production, local media reported with reference to the companys Deputy Head of Public Relations Ibrahim Ahmadov. Moreover, the production of oil with condensate this year will amount to about 34.5 million tons of oil taking into account the obligations under OPEC+ agreement. Some 37.5 million tons of oil with condensate were produced in Azerbaijan in 2019, out of which SOCAR accounts for 7.6 million. SOCARs oil production was 4.8 million tons during the period of January- August 2020 with the companys oil exports amounting to 0.8 million tons. In addition, SOCAR has produced 4.9 billion cubic meters of gas during the reporting period. It should be noted that in April 2020, OPEC and non-OPEC countries entered into agreement on reduction of daily oil production by 9.7 million barrels in May-June and 164,000 barrels for Azerbaijan. According to the Declaration on Cooperation, Azerbaijan produced 718,000 barrels of crude oil per day in October 2018, while in May-July 2020, the country had to maintain the average daily production of crude oil at 554,000 barrels. On July 31, the first phase of the OPEC+ agreement of April 12 to reduce daily oil production by 9.7 million barrels was completed. In the second phase of the agreement, covering the period from August 1 to December 31, the daily production of crude oil in OPEC+ countries will be reduced by 7.7 million barrels, which is 18 percent less than in October 2018. During this period, Azerbaijan must reduce daily crude production by 131,000 barrels and keep it at 587,000 barrels. Thus, during this period Azerbaijan's restrictions on daily production of crude oil will be reduced by 33,000 barrels compared to the previous three months. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. Community Perspective Send Community Perspective submissions by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Submissions must be 500 to 750 words. Columns are welcome on a wide range of issues and should be well-written and well-researched with attribution of sources. Include a full name, email address, daytime telephone number and headshot photograph suitable for publication (email jpg or tiff files at 150 dpi.) You may also schedule a photo to be taken at the News-Miner office. The News-Miner reserves the right to edit submissions or to reject those of poor quality or taste without consulting the writer. Letters to the editor Send letters to the editor by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707), by fax (907-452-7917) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Writers are limited to one letter every two weeks (14 days.) All letters must contain no more than 350 words and include a full name (no abbreviation), daytime and evening phone numbers and physical address. (If no phone, then provide a mailing address or email address.) The Daily News-Miner reserves the right to edit or reject letters without consulting the writer. The Congress on Friday termed the agriculture-related bills introduced by the Centre as a "disgusting conspiracy" against the farmers of the country and said it stands firm with them in support of the Bharat Bandh call. At a press conference here, Congress' chief spokesperson described the farm legislations as "black laws". "The Modi government through three black laws has launched a brutal attack on farmers, farm labourers and their livelihoods," Surjewala said on Friday. He said the bills are a "disgusting conspiracy" against the farmers and barns in the country. Surjewala said the country has been attacked by the coronavirus, and by China on the border while "Modi ji has targeted the barns in India". He further said, "Today, farmers and farm labourers have called for a Bharat Bandh across the country and under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Party stands firm with them." Earlier, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot attacked the Modi government, saying "These fascist people do not have faith in democracy, so they keep doing things that divert the attention of the people". He said the way these three bills were passed in Parliament is ''shameful''. Various farmer groups have called for a nationwide shutdown on Friday against the three bills, which were passed by both houses of Parliament during the Monsoon session and await presidential assent. The three bills are the Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020. (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.) US-China relations took another blow on Thursday when an American diplomat accused China of covering up the origins of the coronavirus pandemic during a heated United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting. Kelly Craft, US ambassador to the UN, said Communist Party officials actively suppressed knowledge of the virus, which has gone on to claim hundreds of thousands of lives and cripple economies across the globe. The Chinese Communist Partys decision to hide the origins of this virus, minimize its danger, and suppress scientific cooperation ... transformed a local epidemic into a global pandemic, she said. In a sharp rebuke, Chinas UN ambassador, Zhang Jun, accused the US of using the UN and its Security Council of spreading a "political virus and disinformation". "The US should understand that its failure in handling Covid-19 is totally its fault," he added. Ms Craft, 58, was appointed to her role by President Donald Trump, who has come under fire for his handling of the pandemic. This week, US fatalities topped 200,000, while millions of Americans remain out of work. Mr Trump, 74, has repeatedly blamed China for the pandemic as he attempts to fire up his base ahead of November's election. "We must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague on to the world - China," the US president told the UN General Assembly earlier this week. "In the earliest days of the virus China locked down travel domestically, while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world. He added: China condemned my travel ban on their country, even as they cancelled domestic flights and locked citizens in their homes. Beijing has refuted the claims, calling the US attacks an unfounded distraction. Relations between the two countries have been at their lowest ebb in decades, with continuing tensions over trade, Beijings claims in the South China Sea and its treatment of its Muslim Uighur minority. More recently, the two economic powerhouses have clashed over the social media app TikTok, which the US claims poses a threat to its national security. Chinese president Xi Jinping told the UN General Assembly his country had no intention to enter a Cold War with any country. During Thursday's Security Council meeting, Ms Craft also hit out at Russia after its diplomat suggested the US was blaming other countries for its internal woes. Shame on each of you. I am astonished and disgusted by the content of todays discussion, Ms Craft said. Some representatives were squandering this opportunity for political purposes, she added. The UN's annual New York summit was largely held online, with world leaders providing pre-recorded speeches. TRAVERSE CITY, MICH. -- A Northern Michigan observatory is throwing a star party in honor of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as the park prepares to mark its 50th anniversary next month. Northwestern Michigan Colleges J.H. Rogers Observatory is partnering with the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society to host the virtual night-sky viewing session from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, September 25. For a decade, Sleeping Bear Dunes has worked with GTAS to host in-person star parties, which have become a much-loved summertime tradition at the park. To celebrate the parks anniversary while still observing pandemic restrictions on in-person gatherings, the observatory will share live images from its telescope with virtual guests via Zoom starting at 9 p.m. Astronomers will be available to answer questions; if weather prevents good viewing, backup footage will be shown. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshores official anniversary is October 21, the date that the park was authorized by Congress in 1970. More information and the star party Zoom link can be found at nmc.edu/observatory. We're excited to announce that the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society (GTAS) in collaboration with Northwestern... Posted by Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 RELATED: Details added: the first version posted on 12:50 BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25 Trend: Armenian leaderships demonstrative rejection of proposals put forward to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict makes the negotiations meaningless, the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister, Araz Azimov said. Azimov made the statement during a video meeting of the foreign ministers of member states to the Conference on Interaction & Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held on Sept.24, Trend reports referring to the press service of Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Due to the fact that in 2020-2022 Kazakhstan will chair CICA, the program of this countrys chairmanship and the further development priorities were presented at the meeting. During the meeting, a decision was made to elect Kairat Sarybay, the permanent representative of Kazakhstan to international organizations in Austrias Vienna, as CICAs Executive Director. Speaking at the meeting, Azimov stressed the importance of developing cooperation within the framework of CICA and increasing the effectiveness of the organization's struggle against the threats and challenges faced by the member states of the organization. Touching upon Azerbaijans national, bilateral and multilateral-level efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Azimov pointed out that the steps taken by Azerbaijan on its own initiative within its chairmanship for the Non-Aligned Movement are a good example for cooperation in this area within the framework of CICA. The deputy minister emphasized that Azerbaijan attaches particular importance to encouraging the development and coordination of regional and trans-regional transport infrastructure, adding that cooperation in these areas within CICA has great potential. He said that for the potentials implementation its necessary to continue practical cooperation measures, also adding that, ensuring the security of transport and transit infrastructure is of great importance in this context. Speaking about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azimov noted that it seriously threatens security and stability in the region. He drew the attention of the meeting participants to provocative and aggressive activities of the current leadership of Armenia. The Armenian leadership deliberately escalates the situation and damages the negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the conflict, he noted. "Such behavior and statements of the Armenian leadership, including the demonstrative rejection of the proposals put forward to resolve the conflict, make the negotiations vain." The deputy foreign minister stressed the importance of the principled position and solidarity on the part of the CICA member states. "The international community, including the CICA member states, should take important steps for Armenia to end its occupation policy, Azimov said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts. San Francisco, which found early success in crushing the pandemic curve, is a leader in another key coronavirus measure: It has the lowest COVID-19 death rate among major U.S. cities. San Francisco has by far the lowest number of deaths per 100,000 people, and the lowest number of deaths as a percentage of confirmed cases, compared to Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., Seattle and other large urban U.S. cities, according to figures compiled by Dr. Jim Marks, director of planning at the San Francisco Department of Public Healths COVID Command Center and a doctor at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. The data was shared by UCSF infectious disease experts this month. John Blanchard San Francisco reported 9.7 deaths per 100,000 people the lowest among 10 other major U.S. cities included in the analysis, which includes data as of Sept. 4. The city with the next next lowest rate is Seattle, with 32.5 deaths per 100,000 people. Los Angeles and New York City reported 57.1 and 281.3 deaths per 100,000 people, respectively. San Francisco also has the lowest case fatality rate, defined as the percentage of confirmed cases that resulted in deaths, and is the only city included in the analysis whose fatality rate is less than 1%. The citys case fatality rate is 0.87% compared to the two other cities with the next lowest rates, Miami with 1.63% and Atlanta with 2.09%. New York has a 10.26% case fatality rate, by far the highest by among the cities included in the analysis. Local experts say San Franciscos low death rate is likely because the city started sheltering in place earlier than most other major cities, which helped maintain a relatively low case count overall. San Francisco hospitals never came close to being overwhelmed the way hospitals in other cities did, which led to patients here getting more individualized care in intensive care units. The low death rate is reflected across the Bay Area, according to Chronicle data analysis. All but one of the nine Bay Area counties report lower death rates than the state average of about 40 deaths per 100,000 residents. Marin Countys rate is 45 deaths per 100,000. The United States average is about 65 deaths per 100,000. We had the luxury of not being overwhelmed like New York City, Dr. George Rutherford, an infectious disease expert, said during a UCSF virtual discussion on Thursday. We had shelter-in-place substantially earlier, and we did a much better job keeping the overall morbidity, overall disease transmission rate down, which translated to fewer hospitalized patients, fewer ICU patients so we could do a better job of taking care of them. San Francisco also tests more people per capita than the other cities included in the analysis. The city is testing at a rate of 4.22 per 1,000 people compared to Los Angeles 3.02 and New Yorks 1.12. That would drive down the case fatality ratio, experts noted. San Franciscans have done their part with masking up, social distancing and getting tested, Mayor London Breed said during the UCSF discussion. Breed credited Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the Public Health Department, with alerting her early with data and projections showing that a surge in cases requiring hospitalizations could overwhelm the citys hospital capacity. That led the city to go beyond just limiting large gatherings, and move toward shutting things down altogether. I really think our aggressive early action following the science and data was to act early, Colfax said during the discussion. We looked at the information and saw where things could potentially be headed ... how quickly the virus could get out of control in our city. Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert with UC Berkeley, said historical trust and respect for public health across the Bay Area may have played a role in preventing spread of disease and, in turn, keeping the death toll relatively low. San Francisco, and the halo effect for the rest of the Bay Area, has a culture of looking at public health differently, or at least in a more rigorous fashion than the rest of the state and much of the rest of the country, Swartzberg said. I think weve really benefited from that culture, and that culture translated into making sure we had the ability to care for people. 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 case fatality rate the number determined by dividing total deaths by confirmed cases in the Bay Area and the rest of the country has dropped since March. According to a Chronicle analysis, the percent of confirmed cases that resulted in death fell from about 3.4% to 2.9% nationally from March to September. It dropped from 2.3% to 1.5% in the Bay Area in that time. The case fatality rate is not a precise number and is dependent on a variety of fluid variables, but its a useful metric for looking at trends over time or across locations. Its fallen recently likely due to several factors, including the same things that have kept San Franciscos numbers so low. With fewer hospitals overrun with patients, individuals are getting better, more focused care, which in turn is saving lives. But its more nuanced than that, infectious disease experts said. Widespread masking may also be driving down fatalities one explanation is that face coverings lower the viral dose individuals are exposed to, so even if they get sick they are less likely to be seriously ill and die. Rutherford and Dr. Monica Gandhi, a colleague at UCSF, have led that research. Another likely reason is that more young people are being infected now than were earlier in the pandemic. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released this week, 20-somethings had the highest incidence of infection of all age groups over the summer. Young people are less likely to die than older adults, and more of them being infected may be driving down the overall case fatality rate. Increases in testing also are certainly pushing down case fatality rates, experts said. But perhaps most important is that doctors and nurses have simply gotten much better at treating the disease, which after all was only introduced in humans about 10 months ago. I have confidence that we are getting better at this, said Dr. Junaid Khan, director of cardiovascular services at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland. Our treatment modalities are better, the hospital stays are down. The percent of people wearing masks in the Bay Area were seeing an increase. I think people understand how serious it is now. Catherine Ho and Erin Allday are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com eallday@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho @EAllday Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. The U.S. Forest Service will likely not consider conservation alternatives to a plan that would enable irrigators to draw down New Fork Lake by 22.6 feet, an official said last week. The Bridger-Teton National Forest is awaiting completion of a draft environmental assessment on plans to rebuild a dam and lower the outlet at the popular recreation lake in the national forest near Pinedale. The study likely wont consider a conservation alternative to the drawdown, the acting Pinedale District Ranger told WyoFile. That option lining canals and converting flood irrigation to sprinkler operations has been shown in a study commissioned by the Wyoming Water Development Office to produce more irrigation flows. The district ranger had said previously that the conservation alternatives should be considered as part of the Forest Service review under the National Environmental Policy Act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency backed that assessment in a letter to the Forest Service in April. The conservation alternative, however, is apparently no longer on the table, said Mark Bingman, acting district ranger for the Pinedale Ranger District for the Bridger-Teton. I dont think we are looking at those alternatives as part of that [environmental assessment] process, Bingman said. We are looking at the proposal in front of us what happens on forest lands. A conservation alternative would require irrigators to alter operations on their own property, something we dont have control over, Bingman said. The Forest Service will consider just whats occurring on forest land, he added. The EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Wyoming Game and Fish Department backed examination of conservation, warned about potential adverse effects to downstream fisheries and made other recommendations in official agency comments on the scope of the pending environmental analysis. The EPA also recommended the plan look at additional methods of rectifying the irrigation shortfall. Additional alternatives to consider for agricultural shortages include rotational fallowing, dry year leasing, gravel pit storage, acquiring and utilizing existing storage from reservoir companies, expansion of non-potable supplies, developing wastewater reuse infrastructure, acquisition of additional shares of irrigation company water rights or purchase of additional water rights in ditch companies, its comment reads. The Forest Service also should separate two elements of the project rehabilitating an old, unsafe dam and supplying more irrigation water, the EPA wrote. The environmental analysis also should describe historic impacts to streams and wetlands. Construction of the original dam in the early 1900s appears to have inundated and destroyed wetlands at the lakes east end through repeated flooding and draining. The protection, improvement and restoration of wetlands and other waters of the U.S. are a high priority because they increase landscape and species diversity, support many species of western wildlife and are critical to the protection of water quality and designated beneficial water uses, the EPA wrote. In its comments, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service looked downstream, writing that federal agency actions resulting in water depletions to the Colorado River system may affect the endangered bonytail [chub], Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub and razorback sucker, and their designated critical habitats. The federal wildlife agency also warned against bothering eagles, including bald eagles that nest in the area. Wyoming Game and Fish recommended a minimum in-stream flow for the New Fork River below the reservoir, underscoring how popular the river and lake are and how the project could disrupt fishing, fish habitat and anglers experiences. The operation of the dam will affect the entire length of the New Fork River fishery, Game and Fish wrote. Impacts to the natural reproduction of these species will likely decrease the quality of this popular fishery, the agency comment reads. Operations would affect fish in the lake, too, Game and Fish wrote. Reservoirs that fluctuate a lot have poor recruitment and generally marginal fisheries, the agencys letter to the Forest Service said. Lake-bank erosion could destabilize landslides along the lake shore, the agency wrote. *** The state selected the plan to reconstruct the dam and lower the outlet as its preferred alternative in 2017 after consultants RJH Consultants Inc. recommended that proposal. The state had tasked RJH to study what the state determined was an average annual irrigation shortage of 6,700 acre-feet on 14,613 acres in the New Fork Irrigation District. The $12.7-million project would reconstruct the existing dam at the lakes outlet and build a new, lower outlet. That would enable irrigators to lower the surface of the 1,070-acre lake by 22.6 feet, 7.4 feet lower than could happen today. Lowering the outlet structure effectively increases the amount of water actively stored at New Fork Lake without increasing the surface area of the existing lake, the Forest Service wrote in a March 17 announcement launching the project review. In other words, though it would impound no additional water, the storage project would make more of the lake available to irrigators by lowering the controlling drain at the reservoirs outlet. The result would, nevertheless, divert more water from river flows in the Colorado River basin to be poured on the land. The existing dam, about 10 feet high, is a high-hazard structure that cant safely pass flood waters. It includes a sub-standard bridge used by recreationists. Those deficiencies would be corrected during reconstruction. RJH Consultants 479-page report in 2017 said conservation lining ditches and using sprinklers instead of flood irrigation would do more to reduce the average annual irrigation shortage than reconstructing the dam and lowering the outlet, the study said. Conservation would reduce the shortage from 8% to 3.9%, according to RJHs findings. The proposed plan to lower the lake level would reduce the shortage from 8% to 4.9%. Calculated another way, conservation would reduce shortages by an average of 44% more than the proposed plan. With conservation, youve got more water than with the [lake-lowering] enlargement, Jason Mead, director of the Water Development Offices department of dams and reservoirs, said in 2017. RJH didnt recommend conservation as a preferred alternative, or an alternative at all. Its contract with the state contained sideboards directing the firm toward a preferred alternative calling for new storage. RJHs contract with the state called for making additional storage a priority, beginning with a purpose and need statement the company had to write. That statement is considered critical in federal approvals. The Water Development Office had to approve an RJH purpose-and-need statement for additional storage, according to the contract. After statement approval, RJH had to develop a long list of storage alternatives, and then screen for the top three (3) storage alternatives, the contract reads. In 2016, the Bridger-Teton gave RJH its view of the requisite considerations. All projects proposed on federal lands require full analysis of all possible alternatives located on or off federal lands, the Forest Service wrote the consultant as it prepared its 2017 report. RJH appeared to discount that comment, saying it would be very unlikely that a more rigorous analysis will result in a different alternative being identified as the preferred alternative. *** Nevertheless, Pinedale District Ranger Rob Hoelscher was confident in 2017 that the Forest Service would consider conservation during its own, separate environmental analysis thats underway today. You would want to consider all those other things, like efficiencies, so you could compare the impacts of the project on that wide range of alternatives. Project supporters say theres a question of practically regarding a conservation program. Piping [or lining] all of the ditches you would improve efficiency, [but] the likelihood [is] that would be a very large undertaking, Mead, the WWDO deputy director of dams and reservoirs, told WyoFile in 2017. Its cost-prohibitive, at least through our program, to implement that. Water Development Office Project Manager Andrew Linch in 2017 described the RJH New Fork Lake study as a storage project not a [study to] look at the economics of application efficiency. The Forest Service may not need to consider conservation when it studies the plan in its ongoing environmental analysis, Linch suggested at the time. I dont know if conservation would fit in [the parameters of] their special-use permit that authorizes New Fork Lake use. Bingman, the acting Pinedale District Ranger, said if irrigators were proposing a new reservoir on national forest land, the environmental analysis would have to look at alternative sites on private property. In such an instance, the agency would have a significant voice, he suggested. The Forest Service would not, for example, be able to justify development of public property for a reservoir simply because it would be cheaper than a private option. In studying new reservoir sites, it doesnt matter to us how expensive, a private-property alternative is. But the drawdown plan is different. In this instance, its kind of a challenge. I dont know how you get access to this water except for where it is. As long as the irrigation district is in compliance with its existing permits, we dont have anything else to look at, other than its request to lower the lake level, he said. In a public presentation, forest officials promoted the lake-lowering plan. Lowering the outlet works at New Fork Lake had the least environmental impacts compared to the other options and meets a portion of the New Fork Lake Irrigation Districts identified irrigation needs, a power-point presentation prepared for a public meeting in 2020 reads. The agency took public comment for 30 days, as required by law, beginning March 26. The lake on the northwestern edge of the Wind River Mountains is within 400 feet of the boundary of the Bridger Wilderness, according to maps, and is popular among hikers, campers, boaters, anglers and others. Among the issues the environmental analysis will address are short- and long-term effects on a boat ramp and dock, a scout camp along the lakes shore and other recreational uses. Those are considerations they definitely need to look at, Bingman said. One of those concerns might be with what would be at least a 22.6-foot-high bathtub ring of erosion exposed at the lowest drawdown after reconstruction. Graphs from public presentations show that irrigators would have used a lower outlet more than half the years 21 years out of the 38 years from 1981 to 2018, had it been available. One element of the reconstruction plan would address the narrows a connection between two parts of the lake that becomes shallow at existing low-water levels. Under the reconstruction plan, boats would be blocked from reaching the eastern portion of the hourglass-shaped lake when the lake level approached drawdown. To address that, workers would dredge a deeper channel at the narrows. They would first have to build a road to the site. The Forest Service is in contact with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department regarding the project and its effect on fish, among other things, Bingman said. Game and Fish sets up a kokanee salmon trap at the lake inlet in the fall as part of its salmon rearing and stocking program. The project would aid 94 irrigators and support 530 additional cattle with an overall area agricultural benefit of $496,000 per year, according to RJHs 2017 study. Irrigators might have to pay as much as 35% of the cost of the project, or as little as 10% through low-interest loans, according to scenarios sketched out in the 2017 study. The balance would likely be provided by the state, which could also finance any loans. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- DC based real estate brokerage firm Urban District Realty, LLC announced the launch of their custom real estate listing system. Named PROJETO, the system uses cutting edge virtual reality technology to put clients in a virtual representation of a property - with their real estate agent right beside them. PROJETO, new real estate listing tool from Urban District Realty, LLC PROJETO, a real estate tool used to show the future. The idea for the innovative tool began when the Principal Broker and CEO of Urban District Realty, LLC, Ryan Fiero, wanted more for his clients. "When we went to sell developments before they were built, we had to use blueprints, plans, and renderings. But what they really wanted was to experience the property like a regular showing. However, this type of tool we sought didn't exist, so we developed it ourselves!" After months of planning and development, the patent-pending product is ready to shake up the real estate world in DC and beyond. "There's a huge accessibility barrier to virtual reality right now," says Joel Garcia, Urban District Realty's in-house Virtual Reality Director. "The other solutions we've seen in the field expect clients to navigate complex systems on their own, or they water down the incredible potential of VR to 360 photos you can view on your phone. We went in a different direction, giving our real estate agents control of custom crafted simulations. We're putting the full force of technology behind a traditional showing experience." Any individual, company, or real estate developer interested in using PROJETO to list or purchase real estate are encouraged to contact Urban District Realty, LLC. "Recently, when I mention the VR aspect of [PROJETO], people assume it's a response to COVID-19," says Garcia. "We've been working on this for a long time, and the introduction of social distancing has actually challenged our paradigm of keeping human connection at the center of the experience. And I think it's a testament to the power of VR that we don't have to compromise that vision, and that the system can work in a controlled environment." About Urban District Realty, LLC Located in Washington DC, Urban District Realty, LLC is a licensed and insured real estate brokerage firm that assists clients in buying, selling, and developing luxury properties in Washington DC and Virginia. Founded in 2017, their real estate professionals combine the energy of a tech startup with the personal connection of a small business. PRESS RELEASE CONTACT INFORMATION AT URBAN DISTRICT REALTY, LLC: Grant Bennett, Executive Assistant [email protected] or 202-569-2902 SOURCE Urban District Realty, LLC A US Air Force (USAF) plane changed its aircraft identification code as it flew over the Yellow Sea on Tuesday making it appear like a Philippine aircraft, according to the Beijing-based South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI). Aircraft movement monitoring agency Aircraft Spots made a similar observation on Twitter, saying the plane responded with a different hex code when over the Yellow Sea between the Chinese coast and the Korean peninsula. Hex codes are assigned by the International Civil Aviation Organisation to all aircraft as a means of identifying them. Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China. When it was over the Yellow Sea, the RC-135S reconnaissance aircraft used a hex code allocated to a Philippine aircraft, but reverted back to its original number after completing its mission, the SCSPI said. Last week the SCSPI said American RC-135s electronically disguised themselves as Malaysian civilian aircraft while flying close to Chinese airspace. The switch was also reported by Popular Mechanics magazine and several independent observers. Chinas foreign ministry said earlier the US military had used the same trick more than 100 times this year. Analysts said the incident suggested America was stepping up its surveillance of China and its tactics could stoke tensions between the two sides. Kenneth Wilsbach, head of the USAFs Pacific Air Forces, said the aircraft had followed international rules regarding transponders. I know we follow the rules for international airspace and we were following the rules that day, he said. Ni Lexiong, a Shanghai-based military commentator, said the US reconnaissance missions could target the Peoples Liberation Armys sensitive electronic activities, such as communication and radar signals. If a USAF spy plane is spotted within range, such activities [by the PLA] will be silenced, he said. But if it appears to be a civilian plane, they might go on as normal and be recorded and analysed. Story continues Beijing said flying in disguise put civilian aircraft at risk. In 1983, the Soviet Air Force shot down a Korean Airlines KLA007 passenger flight in its airspace, killing all 269 on board, after misidentifying it as an intruding US spy plane. Ei Sun Oh, principal adviser at Malaysias Pacific Research Centre, said given the fact there were not too many civilian planes in the air at the moment because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the US if it did try to disguise its activities must have taken a calculated gamble. Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said that even with the growing military tension between China and the United States, in peacetime, a country would not use its air defences against an aircraft until its identity had been clearly confirmed. There are clear restrictions on the type of action air defences can take against suspicious aerial activity, he said. The layers of procedures to ascertain the identity of the aircraft, to the set of measures that can be taken, especially in a non-war situation, can be pretty restrictive. Ni said that although the US spy planes were an annoyance for China they always stayed outside its territorial airspace of 12 nautical miles. So technically they are in international airspace and the PLA cant actually shoot them down or do too much, he said. But the PLA has been keeping count, which means they can see through the disguise. More from South China Morning Post: This article US-China tensions: USAF spy plane disguises itself as a Philippine aircraft over Yellow Sea, monitor says first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020. Incheon International Airport Corp. President and CEO Koo Bon-hwan heads to a press room at the airport to hold a press conference, Friday. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) President and CEO Koo Bon-hwan warned of legal actions against the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and its officials for what he claimed was their abuse of power in pushing to remove him from office. In a media conference held at the airport, Friday, Koo said the ministry had resorted to illegal procedures such as housebreaking and illegal search to investigate him, noting that he would take legal action if the government continues to push ahead with his dismissal. The comments came a day after a state committee overseeing public institutions that is under the Ministry of Economy and Finance approved a proposal submitted by the transport ministry to recommend the dismissal of the head of the airport over allegations of negligence and ethical lapse. The transport ministry cited several instances of Koo's misconduct it claims to have found during its inspection, including his alleged abuse of authority over personnel affairs and bungled typhoon response. Koo's dismissal will be finalized once the proposal is approved by President Moon Jae-in. Koo, a career-long aviation bureaucrat, was inaugurated to head the IIAC in April last year. His term is scheduled to end in April 2022. Koo claimed that the transport ministry has been unjustly pressuring him to resign without any justifiable reasons. "I have conducted my duties as CEO in accordance with manuals and procedures," Koo said. "The transport ministry has had no clear evidence, and only relied on testimonies, while carrying ahead with its improper investigation." Koo pointed out that the ministry's move has been seen by many as a means to settle a controversy over the IIAC's decision to give permanent positions to 1,902 contract and part-time security officers working at the airport. 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. Critics said the government attempted to use Koo as a scapegoat to deflect criticism, citing the IIAC's decision was in accordance with President Moon Jae-in's election pledge of "zero irregular jobs" in the public sector. "If the government continues to push for my dismissal, a lot of hidden stories behind the decision to change the status of security officers will be unveiled through media, prosecution investigations and National Assembly inspection," Koo said. Living in a midst of a worldwide pandemic is undoubtedly frightening for everyone. There are lots of places that are partially shut down, while others are struggling to open in a safe way. Some people are living in countries where the coronavirus numbers are getting worse. In other places, the first wave is over, but they are bracing for the second one. Everyone is watching the headlines and are wondering the same thing; when will it come to an end? For most people, the most difficult thing to handle is the uncertainty surrounding coronavirus. People still dont understand fully how they will be impacted, how long it will last and how bad things are going to get. The not knowing makes it all too easy for people to catastrophize and this fear can cause them to spiral out into overwhelming panic and dread. According to Dr. Israel Figa, fears about COVID-19 can take their toll, but there are some things that you can do for managing your fears and anxiety, even in such a unique crisis. Israel Figa suggests that you should stay informed about what is happening in your community because it allows you to follow the advised safety precautions. In this way, you can play your part for slowing down the spread of the coronavirus. However, there is also some misinformation going around and some sensationalistic coverage is being given with the sole purpose of inciting fear. Therefore, it is important to know where to get your information from to judge its accuracy and reliability. Rather than listening to random people, it is better for you to stick to only trustworthy sources like the World Health Organization (WHO), the CDC, and local public health authorities. What are the things you should do? It is suggested by Dr. Israel Figa that you should limit the number of times you check for updates. Constantly monitoring social media feeds and news can turn counterproductive and compulsive rather quickly because it will fuel your anxiety instead of easing it. Everyone has different limits, so you need to pay attention to the way you are feeling and make adjustments accordingly. If you begin to feel overwhelmed, you should take a step back from the media. If anxiety is an ongoing issue for you, it is a good idea to limit your media consumption to a specific time of the day, like listening to it for half an hour in the evening. In case you wish to avoid the media entirely, Dr. Israel Figa suggests that you ask someone reliable to give you important updates. They can pass along any major updates that you should know about and save you from having to check the news on your own. It is also recommended that you be cautious when you are sharing information. Always do your best to verify any information that you are about to share. You dont want to be responsible for spreading rumors and creating unnecessary panic. Focus on things under your control Everything is in massive upheaval at this time. It feels as if nearly everything is outside of our control, including how other people are behaving, how long the pandemic will last and everything else that is happening in our communities. This can be a difficult thing to accept, and most peoples go-to response is to search endlessly on the internet for answers and imagine all the different scenarios that might happen. However, as long as you are focusing on questions that dont have any answers and situations that are outside your control, you will get nowhere. Instead, it will leave you feeling overwhelmed, drained and anxious. If you think you are getting caught up in the fear of what may happen, Israel Figa recommends that you try and shift your focus to things that are actually under your control. For instance, even though you cannot control how severe the coronavirus outbreak is in your town, but you do have the power to take steps that can reduce your personal risk. Some of these things include: Washing your hands regularly (for about 20 seconds) with water and soap or using a hand sanitizer that contains about 60% alcohol. Avoid touching your face, especially your nose, eyes and mouth. Avoid gatherings and crowds of more than 10 people. Stay at home as much as you can, even if you arent feeling sick. Avoid all non-essential travel and shopping. Maintain 6 feet distance between yourself and other people when you go out. Get plenty of sleep because this can give your immune system a boost. Follow all recommendations from health authorities. Make plans for whatever possible It is natural for you to be concerned about what will happen if your workplace closes, if your kids have to stay at home from school, if someone you love gets sick or you do, or if you have to quarantine yourself. Thinking about these possibilities can be scary, but Dr. Israel Figa states that if you be proactive, then you will be able to relieve some of the anxiety you face. Some of the things that you can do are: Write down the concerns you have about how coronavirus may disrupt your life. It is best to take a break if you begin to feel overwhelmed. Come up with possible solutions that you can think of and make a list. Dont try to get hung up on the perfect options because they may not be practical. Add whatever comes to mind and can be helpful in this situation. It is a good idea to focus on concrete things that you can change instead of focusing on things that are beyond your control. Doing the latter will only frustrate you. Once you have evaluated your options, Israel Figa suggests that you come up with a plan of action. When you have done so, it is best to set it aside and only go back to it when it is needed or there is a significant change in your circumstances. Stay connected with others According to the evidence that have been obtained so far, a lot of people suffering from the coronavirus, especially young and seemingly healthy people, dont really show any symptoms. Yet, they are still able to spread the virus. Consequently, the biggest thing that most people can do right now for making a positive difference is to keep up with social distancing. However, this doesnt mean that social distancing doesnt have its own share of risks. Human beings are social animals by nature and have been hardwired for a connection. Loneliness and isolation can exacerbate depression and anxiety, and can even have an impact on your physical health. Therefore, Dr. Israel Figa says that it is essential for people to stay connected, as much as possible and reach out for support when needed, even if in-person socializing is not possible. Some of the things that can be done are: Make it a priority to maintain contact with your friends and family. When anxious or depressed, most people tend to withdraw and in this situation, you should think about scheduling regular chat, phone or Zoom sessions for counteracting this tendency. Since in-person visits have to be limited for safety reasons, video chatting can be used as a substitute. Connecting with someone face-to-face plays the role of vitamin for your mental health. This means it can reduce the risk of depression and can help in easing anxiety and stress. Social media can prove to be an immensely powerful tool, not just for connecting with friends and family, but also for feeling a greater sense of connection with the community, your country and the entire world. It is a way to remind yourself that you are not alone. But, you also need to be careful when using social media, according to Israel Figa. You should mute keywords or anyone who can exacerbate your anxiety. If browsing social media is making you feel worse, there is no harm in logging off. Most importantly, you shouldnt let the coronavirus dominate every single conversation you have. You should take breaks from stressful thoughts regarding the pandemic and just enjoy the company of your family. Laugh with each other, share stories and focus on the other things that are happening in your lives. Attend to your body and spirit These are trying times and completely unprecedented. No one could have imagined such a time would come, but it has and this is when all the tried-and-tested stress management strategies are applicable. This includes getting lots of sleep, eating healthy meals and meditating. Apart from that, Israel Figa explains that there are some other self-care tips that you can practice to combat with the unique disruptions caused by the coronavirus and they are: This is not the time to be hard on yourself. You need to be kind and go easy on yourself, especially when you are experiencing more anxiety and depression than usual. Bear in mind that you are definitely not alone in your struggles. Even though it is difficult, it is a good idea to maintain a proper routine as much as possible. You may not be able to go out, but do try to stick to your regular school, sleep, work or meal schedule. This will go a long way in helping you maintain a degree of normalcy in your life. As per Dr. Israel Figa, this is the perfect time for you to take some time out for activities you enjoy doing. Watch a comedy, read some good books, play a fun video or board game, or even make something, whether it is a craft, recipe or a piece of art. It doesnt matter what activity you do, as long as it takes you away from your worries for a short while. If possible, go out and enjoy some nature. Fresh air and sunshine will do you some good. Even taking a walk around your neighborhood can help you feel better. Just make sure you avoid heavy crowds and keep your distance when you encounter anyone. Follow all the restrictions when you are out and about. Incorporate exercise in your routine. When you stay active, it can help you relieve stress, release anxiety, and also manage your mood. Group classes and gym are not an option, you can still go for a walk, hike or cycle. If you are stuck at home, you can check out online exercise videos. There are a number of things you can do without equipment, such as exercises using your own bodyweight and yoga. It is not a good idea to self-medicate, as per Dr. Israel Figa. Make sure you are not using alcohol or other substances for dealing with depression and anxiety. If you tend to overdo things in the best of times, it is a good idea to avoid them for now. Add a relaxation practice to your routine. Your nervous system can go out of balance due to stress and anxiety and in such situations, relaxation techniques like meditation, deep breathing and yoga can be quite helpful in bringing back a state of equilibrium. You can see the greatest benefits through regular practice, so it is best to set aside a little bit of time every day. In situations like these, it is very easy for people to get caught up in their own fears and concerns. However, amidst all the stories you are coming across, Dr Israel Figa emphasizes that it is important to take a breath and remember that everyone is in this together. During times of crisis, helping others can make you happier and healthier. It makes a difference to your community and even to the world, and it also supports your own wellbeing and mental health. Be kind and helpful to others, as it will add some purpose to your life. Reach out to those in need, be kind to them, be a calming influence and it will help you feel better and deal with your anxiety in an effective manner. Francis speaks to the St Peters Circle charity association, urging them to heart that knows how to 'see' the wounds of society and creative hands in industrious charity. These two elements are important so that a charitable action can always be fruitful ". Vatican City (AsiaNews) The situation created by the current pandemic is exceptional and this requires equally exceptional responses observed Pope Francis in his meeting today with the members of the Circolo San Pietro (St Peters Circle charity association) who also brought the donations collected in Rome for St. Peters Pense. He pointed out how the pandemic has created the need "to respond to the urgencies of many families, who found themselves in economic hardship overnight. And do not take fright: there will be more and more and more, because the effects of the pandemic will be terrible. In order to be able to respond in a new way, Francis continued, "it is necessary to have a heart that knows how to 'see' the wounds of society and creative hands in industrious charity. These two elements are important so that a charitable action can always be fruitful. First of all, it is urgent to identify new forms of poverty in the rapidly changing city. Poverty is usually modest: you have to go and find out where it is ... The new forms of poverty: you know well, there are many: material poverty, human poverty, social poverty. We are tasked with being able to perceive tem with the eyes of the heart. We must know how to look upon human wounds with our heart to "take the life of the other to heart". So this is no longer just a stranger in need of help but, first of all, a brother, a sister begging for love. And only when we take someone to heart can we respond to this expectation. It is the experience of mercy: miseri-cor-dare, give your heart to the poor. Our world, as Saint John Paul II observed forty years ago, "seems to leave no room for mercy" (Enc. Dives in misericordia, 2)". We are all each of us called to reverse course. And this is possible if we allow ourselves to be personally touched by the power of God's mercy. The privileged place to experience this is the sacrament of Reconciliation. In presenting our miseries to the Lord, we are surrounded by the Father's mercy. And it is this mercy that we are called to live and to give. After seeing the plagues of the city in which we live, mercy invites us to have 'creative hands. This is what you have done in this pandemic: having accepted the challenge of responding to a concrete situation, you have been able to adapt your service to the new needs imposed by the virus ". Pope Francis concluded: "I always like to remember that even a small gesture of great importance that the young people of your Circle made towards the older members: a round of phone calls to see if everything was going well and to give them some company. This is the fantasy of mercy. I encourage you to continue with commitment and joy in your works of charity, always attentive and ready to respond boldly to the needs of the poor. Do not tire of asking the Holy Spirit for this grace in personal and community praye The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a Rs 127-crore flat of Yes Bank co-promoter Rana Kapoor in London in connection with a money laundering investigation against him and others, the central agency said on Friday. The agency issued a provisional order for attaching the property Apartment1, 77 South Audley Street, London under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). "The market value of the flat is 13.5 million pound (about Rs 127 crore). The property was purchased by Rana Kapoor in 2017 for 9.9 million pound (Rs 93 crore) in the name of DOIT Creations Jersey Limited and he is the beneficial owner," the ED said in a statement. It claimed that the agency obtained "information from a reliable source that Kapoor was trying to alienate this property in London and that he has hired a reputed property consultant." "Enquiries from open sources confirmed that this property has been listed for sale on several websites," it said. The agency, as per procedure, will now approach their counterparts in the United Kingdom to execute the attachment order and will issue a proclamation that the asset cannot be sold or purchased as it has been seized under the criminal sections of the PMLA. The ED has earlier attached assets in the US, Dubai and Australia in a similar fashion as part of other investigations under the PMLA. The ED had booked Kapoor, his family members and others under the PMLA after studying a CBI FIR that alleged that dubious multi-crore loans were given by Yes Bank to various entities in contravention of the law and in lieu of purported kickbacks given to the Kapoor family. The CBI FIR had stated that during April-June, 2018, Yes Bank Limited had invested Rs 3,700 crore in the short term debentures of DHFL. "Simultaneously, Kapil Wadhawan of DHFL paid kickback of Rs 600 crore to Rana Kapoor and his family members in the garb of loan of Rs 600 crore (given by DHFL) to DOIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd (Rana Kapoor group company)." "In addition to the above, Yes Bank Ltd had also sanctioned a loan of Rs 750 crore to RKW Developers, a group company of DHFL beneficially owned by Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan and their family members," the ED alleged. This loan of Rs 750 crore had been sanctioned to them for their Bandra Reclamation Project, Mumbai, but the entire amount was siphoned off by Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan through their shell companies, it said. Rana Kapoor, Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan have been arrested by the ED in this case and they are in judicial custody at present. The agency had also filed charge sheets before a special court in Mumbai in this case. The ED had earlier attached properties in this case and with this order, the total attachment in this probe stands at Rs 2,011 crore. . By Trend TRT World has aired another documentary about the devastating effects of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict on people's lives, Trend reports. The film tells about the deprivations and sufferings of Azerbaijani IDPs against the background of the hard life of Gulmammad Mammadov, Deputy Chairman of the Azerbaijani community in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, Assistant Professor of Physics at ADA University. It should be noted that Gulmammad Mammadov was an IDP from Lachin region, which was occupied by Armenia. Gulmammad Mammadov entered the Faculty of Physics of Baku State University, continued his education in Italy, and then at the prestigious Syracuse University in the United States, where he rose to the degree of Doctor of Sciences, Professor. In the documentary "The Mountain's Son", intended for an English-speaking audience, Gulmammad Mammadov explains that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict has led to serious consequences and left sad traces in people's lives. The film was shot in Azerbaijan's Baku city, as well as in Agjabadi and Dashkesan districts, where IDPs live. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The South and North Korean flags are seen from Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. The government said it has tightened its military readiness posture to step up monitoring of North Korean military moves in the wake of the North's killing of a South Korean citizen. Yonhap South Korea tightened its military readiness posture to step up monitoring of North Korean military moves particularly near the tense sea border in the wake of the communist country's brutal killing of a South Korean citizen, the defense ministry said Friday. On Tuesday, North Korean troops shot the fisheries official who was adrift in its waters and incinerated his body. He went missing the previous day while on duty near the Yellow Sea border island of Yeonpyeong. "Our military issued the instruction on Thursday that calls for the strengthening of the readiness posture regarding the current situation," the ministry's deputy spokesperson Col. Moon Hong-sik told reporters. "The focus is on closely monitoring North Korean military moves around the clock and to maintain a firm defense posture to swiftly react to all circumstances so as to prevent the escalation of tensions." The National House of Chiefs has condemned the illegal activities of separatists which resulted in some disturbances in parts of the Volta Region on Friday, September 25. According to the President of the House, Togbe Afede XIV, This is not something that any of us (Chiefs) should condone. Furthermore This is something that we(Chiefs) should all support the government to ensure it is nipped in the bud. Togbe Afede made the comments during a meeting with members of the House after news broke that separatists believed to be members of the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) and the Western Togoland Restoration Front blocked roads at the entry points of the region at Near Juapong in the North Tongu District and Sogakoge in the South Tongu District of the Volta region. The separatists also blocked roads at Aveyime and Afife to prevent reinforcements as they attacked the Mefe and Aveyime Police Stations at about 1:00am the same day. They freed inmates and stole guns from the station and also took three officers hostage; who have since been rescued and are receiving treatment. He said from the media reports and briefing from the Minister in charge of National Security, the development was alarming. The Road blockades and closures, attempts at causing destruction of state property, kidnapping; this is something I have not recollected happening in this country, he wondered. Togbe who is also the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State in the Volta region, noted that although the Standing Committee of the House of Chiefs will issue a statement it was important to condemn the group and their activities and also support the government to deal with it entirely. He urged all Ghanaians to support the government saying this Requires the support of all of us (Ghanaians) that this does not escalate any further. That our country will remain the peaceful nation that it has always been. That it will remain the country that we take a lot of pride in. He also prayed that the government will do all in its power to ensure we can continue in peace. As a nation of one people with a common destiny. Meanwhile the Volta Regional House of Chiefs in 2019 distanced itself from activities of the Homeland Study Group Foundation, the separatist group which at the time declared parts of the region and territories stretching to Northern Ghana as an independent Western Togoland state. A statement read by the then President of the house, Nana Soglo Alloh IV said, The membership of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs has received news of the declaration of independence of a Western Togoland that is alleged to include parts of the Volta and the Oti regions and some part of the Northern Region. The Volta Regional House of Chiefs wishes to make it categorically clear that the Volta and the Oti regions and their chiefs and people remain a part of the sovereign state of Ghana, and, as such, continue to be and remain Ghanaians, and will continue to owe their allegiance to the sovereign state of Ghana. The Chiefs further stressed that the group had no basis to declare independence, as some of the areas, such as the southern part of the Volta (Peki, Tongu and Anlo) the Oti regions were not even part of the then Trans Volta Togoland that joined Ghana to become a sovereign state. Those areas had always been part of Ghana. To this end, the separatists could not be the mouthpiece of the region. Background The Homeland Study Group Foundation led by its octogenarian founder, Charles Komi Kudzordzi alias Papavi Hogbedetor on Saturday November 16, 2019, declared Western Togoland as an independent state from Ghana at a public gathering in Ho. Subsequently, seven of the members were arrested and charged with treason felony, while their leader went into hiding. He has still not been found. In September, 2020 another group is reported to have organised a flag hoisting event where the Ghana Flag was lowered and the Western Togoland Flag hosted. Signposts of Western Togoland had also been mounted a few weeks ago near Akuse Junction in the Eastern region and Tsopoli area in the Greater Accra region to claim those areas as part of the new Western Togoland. ---Daily Guide Amy Coney Barrett of South Bend, Indiana, may soon become a household name. The appeals court judge and University of Notre Dame law professor is likely to be President Donald Trumps pick to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Barrett was on the shortlist to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy when he retired in 2018. Trump instead chose conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh. Here's what you need to know about Barrett: A dedicated mother of seven Barrett, 48, was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her mother was a French teacher and her father was a lawyer. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame's law school at the top of her class, she worked as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and other federal court justices before returning to her alma mater as a law teacher. Barrett has been described by colleagues and friends as a dedicated mom of seven children, two of whom were adopted from Haiti. Her youngest child has Down Syndrome. In October 2017, with just an hour to go until she was voted into the 7th District Court of Appeals by the U.S. Senate, Barrett was outside trick-or-treating with her kids. Amy Coney Barrett speaks to graduates during the University of Notre Dame's Law School commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 19, 2018, in South Bend. A lightning rod on abortion issue Barretts strong Catholic faith has placed her firmly in the eye of the national debate over who will replace Ginsburg, and what ideology the new judge will bring. Her confirmation hearing in 2017 became a lightning rod for conservative outcry after California Sen. Dianne Feinstein questioned whether or not Barrett could separate her religious faith from her duty as a judge. "The dogma lives loudly within you," Feinstein said during the hearing. Barrett insisted that her professional beliefs and her religious beliefs would be kept separate. Amy Coney Barrett: What she said about politics in courts Three years later, Barrett's rulings have invited similar questions. But those who know her say it's unfair to narrowly define her. Its been disorienting to see the smartest person I know reduced to how she might vote on [abortion], when she is so much more than that, Alex Blair, an attorney and one of Barrett's former University of Notre Dame students, told the South Bend Tribune. Story continues Active in South Bend community At her home in South Bend, Barrett is far from a polemic figure. She is an active community member who is highly regarded by students and staff at Notre Dame. Barrett was named "Distinguished Professor of the Year" three separate years, a title decided by students. She is also active in the community, having held a board position at South Bend's Trinity School, and a spot on the St. Joseph Catholic Church Parish Pastoral Council. Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins issued a statement on Saturday praising Barrett as a potential pick for the Supreme Court. "The same impressive intellect, character and temperament that made Professor Barrett a successful nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals would serve her equally well as a nominee for the nation's highest court," said Jenkins. Please support the work of IndyStar reporters and visual journalists by becoming a subscriber today. Get unlimited digital access here! Controversy surrounds religious group Barrett is part of a Christian religious group called People of Praise that started in South Bend and now has a presence across the U.S. and in Canada and Jamaica. The group itself is not a church, but its members follow a movement called charismatic renewal and believe in speaking in tongues and miracle healings. They have been scrutinized in the media for using the title handmaiden to describe their women leaders, and for exerting control over the personal lives of their members. Leaders of the group say they mostly function as a support network for their members and deny having any influence over the decisions of members in positions of power, like Barrett. Stands on immigration, abortion In her three years as a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Barrett has authored more than 100 opinions on cases that have come to her desk from across the Midwest. In a case from June 2020 she was the sole voice on a three-judge panel that supported allowing federal enforcement of Trumps public charge immigration law in Illinois, which prevents immigrants from getting legal residency in the United States if they rely on public benefits like food stamps or housing vouchers. She also called for the re-hearing of a case that struck down former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's 2016 abortion law, which prohibited abortions if the fetus was disabled. Contact IndyStar courts reporter Johnny Magdaleno at jmagdaleno@gannett.com or 317-273-3188. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Amy Coney Barrett: What to know about Supreme Court front-runner The Electoral Commission (EC) has revealed that it has detected that about 60,000 registered voters got duplicate voter identification numbers during the last mass registration exercise. This anomaly, the Commission says is across about 100 to 110 districts. It said the problem was generated by the biometric (BVD) kits during the mass registration process and was detected by the system itself when all the data was put together at the national level. The Director of Elections at the EC, Dr Serebour Quaicoe who made this known said the system itself has subsequently generated new voter ID numbers for the about 60,000 registered voters to correct the anomaly and new cards have been printed. He said the anomaly is not something that is new and that it is a historical problem with the process as there were similar challenges in 2012 and 2016. "In 2012, I think that in Central Tongu or so, all the people who registered in that particular district, their ID numbers were replaced. It affected Weija, a lot of them. These are issues that normally occur, the system will detect it at the data centre and the new cards are printed and replaced," he said. Dr Quaicoe made this known in a television interview on Metro TV's Good Evening Ghana programme monitored by Graphic Online on Thursday night [September 24, 2020]. He said in all a total of about 16.9million people were registered in the last exercise, which is the highest ever voters registered in Ghana. "What I want to establish is that, if the Commission had not informed the people, that there has been duplicate of ID card [numbers], they wouldn't have known... the video that was leaked and we said it is misleading, if you listen to the voice over, it said that we are doing registration, that is what the video was saying, [but] the people were not doing registration, they were only laminating, so the misleading part we said was in reference to the voice over that said we were doing new registration. Nobody is denying the fact that the ID cards were being laminated, but it was not new registration." He explained that the EC was in the process of giving out the new ID cards with the new ID numbers to the affected registered voters and that the EC has the residential address and telephone numbers of the affected voters. Dr Serebour, however said everybody who has a voter ID card will vote. He gave this assurance when the host of the programme, Paul Adom Otchere asked what happens if some of the affected persons are unable to collect their new ID cards with the new numbers before the voting day. "I also want to establish that, but because of possible use of the ID card for other purposes [such as bank transactions], for voting the [duplicate] ID numbers will not have any effect, because if you go there [voting centre], your biometrics will be scanned, your picture will appear, you will be verified biometrically and you will vote, it has nothing to do with the ID card, but because people normally use the ID card for other purposes, that is why we decided to change." "I want to explain again that, whether you have an ID card or not, on the 7th December, once you are duly registered, you can still vote," Dr Serebour insisted. Asked about the means by which the EC informed people about the anomaly and when that was done, Dr Serebour said: "Our policy as we have been doing is that we print them, send them to the polling station and contact the people involved and give them the card. We do that during the exhibition." "These are normal things, when the parties change positions, they always come at the Electoral Commission. If you check the previous one, NPP was also doing the same thing so nothing has changed." "They [people] think that when they are in power they are able to do something with the Commission and when they are out of power, they become antagonistic, I don't know. These are not new things... when they are in power it is different ball game," Dr Quaicoe said. Related articles: The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) through its flagbearer, former President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday reiterated that the party will not accept the results of a flawed election. Mr Mahama also mentioned that the Electoral Commission (EC) had taken what he described as "unacceptable steps" which have the potential to disturb Ghana's democracy. Our party the National Democratic Congress and I have unflinching commitment to our democracy and we will do everything in our power to ensure it continues to be an anchor of this country peace and stability. Let me also remind you that in the past few years, we have repeatedly drawn attention to a considerable number of unacceptable steps taken by the Electoral Commission as presently constituted. These steps have the potential to wreak the democratic architecture that has seen the conduct of seven successful elections for the past twenty or more years. The NDC specifically mentioned the duplication of voter ID numbers, same picture for all registered voters in some polling stations and omission of some names in the register which is currently being exhibited as some of its concerns. The NDC has argued that those problems have largely been detected in its strongholds and suspects that it was a deliberate attempt to remove its sympathisers and supporters from the voters register. The part said it would have expected that "in good faith" the EC would have informed the political parties and get them involved in the process of resolving the anomalies. The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) on its part has said those anomalies are administrative issues meant to be resolved and that is why the EC was exhibiting the register for the public to flag the anomalies for resolution. Source: graphic.com.gh 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 If youve paid attention to Houstons tech community for any length of time, you likely know the name Grace Rodriguez. A self-professed serial entrepreneur and social-media presence, shes been starting businesses here since she helped launch a DJ collective known as the Kracker Nuttz in 1999. At 46, shes still at it. Most recently, Rodriguez is co-founder and chief executive of the Houston branch of Impact Hub, an international network of startup accelerators with outposts in more than 100 locations in 50 countries. Impact Hub focuses on helping founders from underrepresented communities, and each operates differently. Prior to starting Impact Hub Houston, she co-founded Station Houston, one of the citys highest profile tech startup accelerators, now owned by Austin-based Capital Factory, where she still serves as a mentor to its startup cohorts. She also serves as an adviser at the TMC Innovation Institute. Oh, and she also co-owns a bar, Deans Downtown, where when its not closed under pandemic-related orders from the governor its a meeting spot for Houstons tech and social-media communities. GREENTOWN LABS: Old Fiesta store gets new life as green-energy accelerator The Chronicle spoke with Rodriguez about Impact Hubs mission in Houston, inclusion and diversity in the citys growing tech community and the challenges it faces as the coronavirus pandemic drags on. The interview was edited for length and clarity. Q: If you were to explain Impact Hub to somebody who knew nothing about it, what would you say? A: Impact Hub is a global network of individually owned and operated hubs around the world that operates something like the United Nations, as a federation of hubs. For instance, Impact Hub Houston is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, but Impact Hub Madrid is for-profit. Each one opts into the protocols of the network and the guidelines and pays a fee to be a part of the network. Impact Hub, the company is based in Vienna, Austria. Q: Whats the mission? A: Impact Hub itself commits to the mission of supporting entrepreneurial solutions towards the United Nations sustainable development goals. Some people call those types of ventures social enterprises, social ventures, impact entrepreneurship or social entrepreneurship. (The ventures goals) range from no hunger, no poverty, gender equality to industry innovation and infrastructure. We have found that we need to do a lot more education on those topics. which means we are more program-driven versus space-driven. The vision of Impact Hub is a just and sustainable world where business and profit are in service of people and planet. Q: Do you operate like other accelerators, where you work with specific entrepreneurs and have startups grouped into cohorts? A: Some Impact Hubs do. APP FOR THAT: Apple touts H-E-B as 'app economy' example Then there are some Impact Hubs that are primarily co-working based. We are kind of a hybrid of where we had just recently launched this Accelerate membership, which is not cohort based. It is more ongoing support, but with an accelerator model. We would like to get to the point where we are partnering with, whether it's a diversity fund or a platform where people can raise funding through, to provide them with capital as well, because we understand that's one of the biggest challenges for diverse entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. So it's kind of like a hyper-local approach to global change. Q: Whats an example of an Impact Hub success that you've been proud of? A: One thing is making sure that more diverse people are on (tech conference) panels. And that our diverse organizations are included in the ecosystem. If you want a specific example for a startup, theres Amazing Bond. Varina Rush is a cofounder of Amazing Bond and they support seniors who need care. She came to Impact Hub at the beginning of their journey. They didn't know exactly how to structure the organization, how to grow it, what kind of tech tools that they needed to use. And through the course of being engaged with Impact Hub, they were tapped into the Acumen Academys social entrepreneurship curriculum. We've provided her with a few mentoring sessions, and I would say weve given her confidence. Q: Do you think in general that Houston's technology and innovation community, as is the case with a lot of others around the country, has a diversity issue? Do startups with founders from underrepresented communities get left out of funding? A: Well, I don't think it's intentional. I've never thought it was. IN HOUSTON: Addidas, Impact Hub partner to mentor founders When we first started Station and I was talking with Bob Harvey from the Greater Houston Partnership, he was explicit that we want to make sure that we have a diverse community, that we are supporting diverse people and startups and organizations, but he didn't know where they were. It's just hard to find because a lot of it is underground or a lot of it's community-driven. It's by relationships. If you think about a lot of the corporate executives or a lot of the leaders in this space and their networks, those networks probably don't look like Houston, because that's just how they grew and that's no fault of their own. I spoke on a panel in Austin for the Black Leadership Forum and you had dozens of Black-centered and (Black-)led organizations at this forum. I said: I challenge every organization in Houston that wants to support entrepreneurs to specifically seek out an organization that is Black-led and Black-centered, and then see how you can partner on something. So with the African American Lawyers Association, how can we work together to hack solutions towards, you know, public safety? Release Notes: Get Dwight Silvermans weekly tech newsletter in your inbox each Monday I think that's what I would challenge a lot of the organizations that exist in Houston where there is a lack of diversity in their leadership. Q: So what have you done to address that? A: It's not just checking off a box, it's really, What about supporting people in this community? Impact Hub Houston is actively working with Baker Ripley because they have great Spanish-language programs for entrepreneurs. We actively work with the Urban League because they specifically have a program for Black entrepreneurs. We work with the East End district because the majority of the businesses in their district, are Hispanic or Latinx owners. If we can role-model it and we can show other organizations how to do it, I am finding that other organizations will do it, they just didn't know how to start. And I think that we're now we're at a good place where we're actually going to see a tsunami of support. Q: How has the pandemic and everything going virtual affected both your efforts at Impact Hub as well as the ongoing growth of Houston's technology community? A: One of the things that was a driving rubric for how we decide on what and how we sell our programs, how we do events for Impact Hub Houston has been: How do we meet people where they are? And that is psychologically and physically. That's one of the reasons why we partnered with (co-working space) The Cannon, to make sure that we could do programs in places around the city where the candidate locations are. Thats also why we partnered with Baker Ripley, so we can do programs at all of the different Baker Ripley community centers around the city. Houston has always had this problem of sprawl. And I feel like one of the opportunities that the pandemic presented was now people have to learn how to use virtual, online programs so that they can connect and they can work together and have meetings and learn. There are a lot of people who don't know how to use tech tools and now they have had to. And one of the benefits of the pandemic has been that we don't have to focus so much effort on doing so many programs a week because now other Impact Hubs around the world are doing programs that we can offer to our members. Q: How has that worked out? A: It has definitely hurt all of the happy hours and the social events, which is a big part of Houston's culture, you know? I'm a partner in a bar and we hosted a lot of the Houston tech meetups and it's kind of sad that we can't get together right now, but we can do virtual happy hours. We just have to rethink how we operate in virtual spaces. How do we still feel connected? It does feel different, but until we can be in spaces together and in ways that are safe for everybody, I don't want have a super-spreader event, right? So until it is safe to convene in physical space, let's get better at doing virtual connections. And if Houston can lead in that, then we will help solve our sprawl problem. And then we can also be a role model for how other large cities like ours or large regions like ours deal with this problem. dwight.silverman@chron.com twitter.com/dsilverman houstonchronicle.com/techburger Actor Rakul Preet Singh who was interrogated by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday in the ongoing Bollywood-drug probe has named four top actors and producer Karan Johar's aide in her statement, sources inform Republic TV. She has denied consuming drugs but has admitted that Kshitij Ravi Prasad was involved in some activities, sources added. "Rakul has also taken the name of Kshitij as the person who supplied drugs to some of her close associates. She has denied consuming drugs herself but has admitted that she is in the know-how of Kshitij's Activities. Rakul has also given several details to NCB after which KPS Malhotra had come down to question Kshitij in the NCB Mumbai Zonal office. Rakul Preet has also given names of 4 celebrities who used to procure drugs from Kshitij Ravi Prasad. Also, Rakul has claimed that Kshitij had approached her to work as his conduit," sources informed in the case that is being probed by the NCB. Rakul (29) was seen entering the NCB guest house, from where the central agency is operating, in Colaba around 10.30 am. She has been summoned by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) as part of its probe into alleged Bollywood-drugs nexus. Her name had cropped up during the interrogation of actress Rhea Chakraborty, Rajput's girlfriend who has been arrested by the NCB in the drugs case along with over a dozen others, the official said. Earlier, Rakul was to record her statement on Thursday, but her team had claimed she had not received summons from the NCB. NCB officials reached out to her on Thursday following which she acknowledged the summons, the official said. Second Karan Johar-Dharma employee grilled by NCB over drugs; Anubhav Chopra after Kshitij Drugs found at Karan Johar aide Kshitij's house during NCB raids Karan Johar's right-hand Kshitij Ravi Prasad was picked up from his Versova residence on Friday after the agency conducted raids there. Marijuana and small amounts of weed have also been seized from Kshitijs place during searches. He was seen being escorted by NCB officials from his residence and is currently on the way to NCB's Ballad Pier Office. The NCB officials have also revealed that so far Kshitij Ravi Prasad has not been detained or arrested. Since Kshitij Prasad was summoned for today, he accompanied the NCB to their office after the raids. However, they also confirmed that the Dharma Productions Executive Producer will be taken into custody after his interrogation. Kshitij had only hours earlier landed in Mumbai from Delhi where he was on Thursday when summons were issued to him. His house was raided by the agency officials on Thursday as well. Drug peddler Ankush Arneja had revealed his name following which he was summoned by the NCB. Ankush had confessed to the agency, many times, that Kshitij procured drugs from him. Ranveer Singh asks NCB to let him join Deepika Padukone during probe; cites her 'anxiety' The relative was scheduled to testify against Jarod Johnson, who was to stand trial the next day in state court on charges alleging he shot the woman's relative and the relative's boyfriend in 2017 in Gary. The number of COVID-19 cases in the jail also delayed a trial last week in Lake Criminal Court for Geremiah R. Erwin, 24, who is facing one count murder in the perpetration of robbery in the 2013 shooting death of Marchello Valliant in the 7500 block of Chestnut Avenue in Hammond. Erwin would not have been able to attend at least several days of his trial because of his quarantine status, attorneys said Tuesday. The number of COVID-positive inmates fell to 10 on Thursday from 15 on Sept. 15, according to Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez and Warden Michael Zenk. However, the number of inmates in quarantine rose to 132 from 78 during the same time period. When one or more inmates in a housing section are placed in isolation for COVID-19 symptoms, other inmates in the section are placed on quarantine status. All COVID-positive inmates are housed in the medical unit on the jail's fourth floor, where they remain until they test negative, officials said. Richard Blum, center, stands with his wife, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), left, and Vice President Mike Pence in Washington on Jan. 3, 2019. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images) Sen. Feinsteins Husband Named in University of California Admissions Scam The husband of longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was named in the state auditors report detailing inappropriate admissions by the University of California (UC) to wealthy and well-connected people. Richard Blum, who graduated from the university, has been a regent since 2002. He was initially appointed by Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, before being reappointed in 2014 by Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat. The situation involving Blum was particularly problematic, state auditor Elaine Howles team wrote in the report. UC Berkeley appears to have admitted this student because of an inappropriate letter of support from a university Regent. University policy states that members of the Board of Regents should not seek to influence inappropriately the outcome of admissions decisions beyond sending letters of recommendation, when appropriate, through the regular admissions process, the report stated. However, the Regent did not submit this letter through the regular admissions process. Rather, after the campus placed this applicant on its waitlist, the Regent wrote a letter to UC Berkeleys chancellor advocating for the applicant, and the chancellors staff sent the letter to UC Berkeleys development office, which in turn forwarded the letter to the admissions office. While the applicant had only a 26 percent chance of being admitted to the school, based on the ratings assigned to the application, their admission appeared to be prioritized because of the intervention of Blum. The report did not identify Blum but a UC spokeswoman told news outlets that he is the regent referenced in it. Blum, 85, told The Mercury News that he didnt recall the incident uncovered by the audit. This is the first time Ive heard that maybe I did something that wasnt right, Blum said. I think its a bunch of nonsense. University of California Regent Richard Blum speaks during a news conference with congressional Democrats in Washington on Oct. 25, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Blum said he never thought the letters he wrote ever had much influence. I find this, to be much ado about nothing, he added. A spokesman for Feinstein declined to comment. Blum told the San Francisco Chronicle that hes been sending letters to various UC campuses for years for both friends and family members. Wherever they were applying. Wherever they wanted to get in, he said. Usually friends. My cousins brother wanted to get into Davis. Theyd send me a letter and tell me why its a good kid, and Ill send it on to the chancellor. Been doing it forever. Im not convinced Ive done anything wrong. It all sounds kind of boring to me, he added. Regents policy says that members of the board should not seek to influence inappropriately the outcome of admissions decisions beyond sending letters of recommendation, where appropriate, through the regular admissions process and officers. Regents Chair John Perez said in a statement to news outlets that the board takes these matters very seriously, and any violations will be promptly and appropriately addressed. Chairing an enlarged government meeting via video link, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov signed decrees granting a pardon to prisoners on the occasion of Independence Day of Turkmenistan. In accordance with the documents, 812 Turkmen and three foreign citizens have been released from serving the remainder of their sentences in prison, as well as from additional custodian penalty of compulsory residence in a specific location. The pardon is timed to coincide with the 29th anniversary of Turkmenistan's independence. Having signed the decrees, the head of state instructed the Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary of the State Security Council Charymyrat Amanov, as well as the heads of law enforcement agencies to ensure that the pardoned citizens get home in the very near future. Addressing the heads of regional, district and city administrations, as well as other officials, the Turkmen leader instructed them to help the pardoned people with finding jobs. TURKMENISTAN.RU, 2022 SPERRYVILLE, Va. - It was two weeks before anyone spoke of the hay bales. This was odd, said Rachel Rowland, of Flint Hill, Va. - because the locals had certainly seen them: The display is 170 feet wide. Wrapped in glinting white plastic, the bales are stacked atop a rolling mountain hillside along Route 211, relaying their message to any nearby resident who drives to the closest grocery store. "Farmers for Trump 2020," the bales read, hand-painted with red and blue capital letters. "Keep America Great." There have been political signs on this particular Rappahannock County hillside for years. But they've always been simple, the locals say, thrown together with spray paint and cardboard. This sign, constructed in mid-August, was something different - professional, several people said - and it quickly amassed over 84,000 likes on ForAmerica, a conservative Facebook page with a national reach. It's "so obnoxiously in your face" that it's become a traffic hazard, said Donna Burge, who lives adjacent to the bales: People are constantly pulling over on the four-lane highway to snap a photo, she says, smiling big with two thumbs up. Surprised that no one in the community beat her to it, Rowland decided to raise the bale issue herself. She posted a photo to the local Facebook group at 7 p.m. on Aug. 31, blurring out the word "Trump." "This isn't about the candidate," wrote Rowland, an independent who plans to vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden. "We have a large, very large, new political campaign sign in our county . . . Are signs this gigantic allowed?" The short answer is no: Rappahannock allows political signs only up to 50 square feet. But for most in the Facebook group, that was just a technicality. The post generated over 100 comments in 24 hours, becoming one of the most active in the group's history. The conversation quickly turned political, and personal, as the majority of commenters came out as staunchly pro-bale. If you don't like the Trump sign, someone wrote, you should "move." Rappahannock County - known for its sweeping mountain vistas, covering the northern stretch of the Shenandoah - leans conservative, with about 57% of the electorate voting for President Donald Trump in 2016. But many residents say the political makeup seems to be shifting. Less than 90 minutes from the District of Columbia, the county is attracting more Patagonia-clad urbanites, easy to spot as their Subarus speed off into the mountains. They buy weekend homes, then eventually settle in the area when they retire, or when the novel coronavirus allows them to work remotely. These "transplants" - or "trust fund hippies," depending on whom you're talking to - tend to be wealthier than the typical Rappahannock residents, mostly working-class families who have lived here for generations. The newcomers are almost always more liberal. Mike Massie, who owns the hay bales, comes from one of Rappahannock's oldest "native families," local parlance for families who have owned farms here for centuries. The Massie family has been here so long that everyone knows the hay-baled hillside as "Massie's Corner." (Massie declined a request for comment.) There has long been quiet tension between the transplants and the "natives," said Bill Fletcher, Massie's third or fourth cousin - no one can quite say for sure - whose family has owned farmland in Rappahannock since 1735. The transplants suggest changes to improve the area, hoping to increase tourism and boost their new small businesses. For many who have been here, the objections to the hay bales were the breaking point. They could tolerate the new wine bar - and the "corner store" that now offers seven kinds of kombucha. But they would not allow a farmer to be told what kind of sign he could erect on his land. Rowland, a chef, moved to Rappahannock in 1978, when she was in elementary school. She was not part of a farming family, but she grew up knowing many. She remembers lively political debates in public spaces in her 20s. When she posted on Facebook, Rowland was not looking for controversy, she said. She just wanted to "start a conversation" with her neighbors about a subject she knew was on everybody's mind. "We should be able to talk to each other," she said. "Why is that so hard?" - - - There is something special about Massie's Corner. Driving out from Warrenton, the town with the nearest grocery store, there hints of mountains here and there. But then drivers swing around a bend and everything opens up, said Daphne Hutchinson, former editor of the Rappahannock News, who has lived in the county for 40 years. "It's when you know you're home," she said. If landscapes could talk, Rowland said, this one would say, "Welcome to Rappahannock County." Any sign on this hillside sends a signal about the county's identity, Rowland said - and she does not want visitors to get the wrong idea. She already struggles to dissociate her beloved Rappahannock from unflattering stereotypes. Whenever she tried to coax her ex-boyfriend, a "D.C. liberal," to come out and see her, he'd always ask her to make the trip instead. "He'd always be like, 'I don't want to go out there. It's all racists, it's all about the Confederacy,' " Rowland said. "I don't want people thinking that of us." The zoning commission really ought to do something about the sign, Hutchinson said, but it will not. "It's a Republican sign - and the zoning commissioners are Republicans," said Hutchinson, who identifies as a "flaming left-leaning liberal." (The Rappahannock zoning commission did not respond to a request for comment.) Others say the sign does accurately represent the county. Rappahannock is a farming community, said Athena Emmans, who has been working as a farmhand since she was laid off from her accounting job in March. She has been butchering cows for farmers during the coronavirus pandemic in exchange for meat to feed her 10 children. Trump's message of economic protectionism resonates with farmers, Emmans said - especially now, when many local farms are struggling during the coronavirus, unable to sell their meat when processing plants closed this year. If the farmers are choosing Trump as their champion, Emmans said, residents should celebrate the sign. "It's spitting in the face of the other party," said Emmans, who plans to vote for Libertarian Party candidate Jo Jorgensen. "But so what?" Many newcomers to the county do not have the same appreciation for farming, Emmans said. In Rappahannock, families with farms or small homesteads wait for their food, growing vegetables and raising their own meat. Most former urbanites, on the other hand, are used to going to the grocery store for everything they need, she said. More so than other rural stretches of Virginia, locals say, Rappahannock has been slow to change. There is still no cellphone service throughout much of the county, and home buyers must purchase at least 25 acres of land if they're buying outside a town, limiting development. Along with "natives," Rowland says, there are "hippie queens," local writers and artists who arrived in the 1960s and '70s. They're also eager to keep things the way they are. "These people come up from D.C., and they want to take over," said Fletcher. "Well there's an ecological balance in this county, just like there is in nature." The "been-heres" do want tourism from big cities. Many recognize that Rappahannock cannot thrive without it, said Hutchinson, 75: They just do not want newcomers coming in and telling them how to change their county, or when that change should come. It's hard to know exactly what proposed changes will be controversial, said Kerry Sutten, a former intelligence official who retired to Rappahannock in 2018, opening a coffee shop that sells $5 turmeric lattes. Sutten identifies himself as "a gay man who sells espresso and expensive wine - exactly the kind of person the locals should hate." But somehow, he says, they've warmed to him and his store. Other new additions have not been so well received. Many Rappahannock residents still bristle when someone mentions the bike path, a contentious proposal to build a one-mile bike route in 2018. Battle lines were drawn, neighbor turned against neighbor, Sutten said, as the region debated the impact that such unbridled development would have on the area. In one particularly memorable letter to the editor, longtime Rappahannock resident Demaris Miller claimed the path would bring "pedophiles and rapists" to the area. "The idyllic rural county we once lived in is being hijacked," Miller wrote. The area has changed over the past 20 years, said Lilla Fletcher, Bill's 27-year-old daughter. Fletcher grew up in the area but left for boarding school and college. By the time she came back, she said, the town of Sperryville, population 342, had turned into a "tourist metropolis," with two breweries, a yoga studio and a boutique apothecary, offering herbal skin care products and incense. And while her father might be wary of some of these changes, Lilla is grateful for them. "Socially, a greater open-mindedness has come to this county," she said. Whatever changes come to Rappahannock must complement the "heart" of the county, Fletcher said. On the matter of the hay bales, she sides firmly with her father, who says the sign should stay "as long as there is freedom of speech in America." "It's beautiful," said Lilla, who is a Republican. "And it's on their personal property." Lilla is hesitant to say too much more about the sign - or about Trump. She considers herself a moderate who appreciates that there are "two sides to every story." But she still treads carefully around political topics. These days, she says, it's so easy to say something politically incorrect. - - - If only there were a place where everyone could come together, says Rowland - where the transplants, the natives, the been-heres and the hippie queens could mingle. Then, maybe, real conversation would be possible. Rappahannock used to have those places, she said, sighing as she leans back in her chair, wearing an oversize T-shirt that says, "Life is good." Rowland is visiting Hutchinson, the newspaper editor, whom she's known since she was a kid. They split a plate of homemade sausage as they talk about the past. "Conversation used to happen on the front porches of the country stores," says Hutchinson. "But we haven't had that in a long time. The country stores have all died." Asked about the Sperryville corner store, Rowland and Hutchinson respond in perfect unison. "That is not a country store." "A country store is not going to sell pesto," says Hutchinson, taking a large swig of white wine. Hutchinson considers herself one of the few "crossovers" in the area, with friends who are transplants and been-heres, liberals and conservatives. For seven years, she's been exercising with the "Water Lilies," a group of women in their 70s and 80s who regularly convene for high-intensity interval training in one member's backyard pool. There used to be Republicans in the group, but now that she's thinking about it, Hutchinson says, every single one of them has left. "They stopped coming," she says. "I don't know why." They sit silently, mulling. Hutchinson has another sip of wine. In the absence of thoughtful conversation, Rowland says, there are political lawn signs. Everyone in town seems to have one. More than any other election in recent memory, she says, stories of their demise have been circulating. Signs for both Biden and Trump have been stolen or defaced with red graffiti. At least one was run over by a truck. To Rowland, all the signs seem "passive aggressive," she says - the 170-foot sign, most of all. There must be a better way to talk to neighbors about politics, she says. For now, there is Facebook. In the bale comments, Rowland said, some of the personal attacks were hard to take. "Could you imagine being so worried about what someone does on their property that you come on to Facebook?" commented Emmans, the farm hand and mother of 10. "Next they're going to be concerned about what we do in our bedroom." Rowland took a deep breath and wrote Emmans a message, thanking her for her point of view. Then she sent her a friend request. Emmans accepted. A US Air Force B-52 bomber has sent out a distress signal after a mid-air emergency over Gloucestershire, it has been reported. The aircraft transmitted a 'squawk code 770, indicating general emergency, near Tewkesbury, UK', according to FlightRadar 24. It is not clear what the incident was but planes regularly send out emergency distress signals for even minor problems. The aircraft transmitted a 'squawk code 770, indicating general emergency, near Tewkesbury, UK', according to FlightRadar 24. Pictured, one of the planes above Gloucestershire Two of the giant planes flew over central Gloucester, towards Hartpury, Ashleworth and Tewkesbury, before coming back round over Up Hatherley, Shurdington, Brockworth Hucclecote and Barnwood. They were Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, with the identities BALOO51 and BALOO52 and flying at an altitude of over 9,000 feet. It is not clear what the incident was but planes regularly send out emergency distress signals for even minor problems The nuclear-capable planes can each deliver 30 tons of bombs, missiles and mines. They're also protected by a remote control cannon. There are six of the planes based at RAF Fairford in the Cotswolds. A spokesman for Minot Air Force Base said: 'A U.S. B-52H Stratofortress from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota was returning to RAF Fairford from a routine training mission. 'While enroute to RAF Fairford, the B-52 experienced a general in flight emergency, which our experienced crews are able to identify and respond to due to their routine training and preparation. 'The squawk was a precaution to ensure they had proper access to the airfield to complete a safe and clear landing which they successfully accomplished.' Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed that President Donald Trump remained committed to send a second round of stimulus checks before the election. Trump has remained committed to send direct stimulus checks to millions of Americans, and he wanted to include it in the next stimulus package. The President wanted to make sure that Americans, especially those heavily affected by the pandemic, will receive the relief aid they need. Mnuchin recently said before the House Financial Services Committee: "The president and I remain committed to providing support for American workers and businesses. I believe a targeted package is still needed and the administration is ready to reach a bipartisan agreement." Mnuchin further noted that Trump wanted to send the same amount or even larger. An amount of $1,200 for individuals, $2,400 for those who jointly filed their taxes, and $500 for dependent payments. It is not only the Treasury Secretary and Trump who push for the second stimulus package, but also Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who testified before Congress and asked lawmakers to act on the second round of relief aid. Powell said: "Both employment and overall economic activity, however, remain well below their pre-pandemic levels, and the path ahead continues to be highly uncertain. The downturn has not fallen equally on all Americans. Those least able to bear the burden have been the most affected." Most well-known economists in the country also believed that there is a need for the next round of stimulus payment. They said it is one of the ways on how to regain the economy in the country. They noted that PPP loans for businesses would help the country's economy moving again. The tension going on within Democratic members' rank in Congress is giving pressure to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to work on a deal on the next stimulus package. It all started when over 100 Democratic representatives sent a letter to Pelosi and asked her to act on a new coronavirus relief bill. A strong bipartisan group even drafted their stimulus bill that worth around $1.5 trillion that includes stimulus checks that were passed in the House. Now, Pelosi is already thinking that a deal on the next stimulus bill must be reached before the election. The call for the second round of stimulus payments is growing as the election nears. The Democratic representatives for reelection and are in a tight race ask Pelosi to act immediately. They are afraid that voters will blame them for not working on the next stimulus payment. It is still not clear as to when Congress will approve such legislation. However, many lawmakers already said that they would make sure to reach an agreement before the election. Despite all these circumstances, Trump is taking all possible ways to deliver the needs of Americans. He recently gave $14 billion to farmers, $5 billion to schools, and is also looking for legal ways to use the unspent $300 billion under the CARES Act to send new stimulus checks to Americans. James Packers private company sent confidential Crown Resorts financial forecasts to Hong Kong group Melco Resorts as they were negotiating the sale of a 19.9 per cent stake in the Australian casino giant for $1.7 billion, an inquiry has heard. The NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority inquiry into Crown also heard on Wednesday that Mr Packer's Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH) explored the idea of selling some of his 46 per cent Crown stake to the notorious casino "junket" operator Suncity, whose owner Alvin Chau has been linked to Triad gangsters. Crown Resorts director and Consolidated Press Holdings executive Michael Johnston giving evidence at the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority probity inquiry into the casino group on Friday, September 25, 2020 Long-time Packer family lieutenant Michael Johnston, who is both a Crown director and CPH executive, told the probity inquiry that CPH sent a report to Melco during their sale negotiations in May last year which revealed Crown's financial forecasts. Mr Packer had demanded the profit outlook from Crown's chief financial officer Ken Barton earlier that month, and Mr Johnston had encouraged Mr Barton to revise his draft forecasts higher, the inquiry heard. Mr Johnston told the inquiry that while information CPH sent to Melco was "confidential", he did not consider it to be "price sensitive" because the forecasts were broadly in line with the consensus forecasts of market analysts. Legend of Suheldev: The King Who Saved India tells the story of a semi-legendary Indian king from Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh, who defeated Mahmud of Ghaznis army in Bahraich in the 11th century. Amish Tripathi's latest novel Legend of Suheldev: The King Who Saved India is now being made into a major feature film. Tripathi will also produce the film under his banner Immortal Studios along with by Wakaoo Films and Casa Media. The novel tells the story of King Suheldev, a semi-legendary Indian king from Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh, who defeated Mahmud of Ghaznis army in Bahraich (in present-day Uttar Pradesh). The story is set in the 11th century when the Turks, led by Ghazni, launched multiple raids on India and razed the Somnath Temple to the ground. It is then that the young warrior Suheldev set out on an adventurous journey and gathered an army of his own, with soldiers from across religions, castes and regions, to fight the Turks and rebuilt the temple. Speaking about the film adaptation, Amish said, Maharaja Suheldev is one of Indias most consequential heroes from the 11th century, who is, sadly, relatively unknown to modern Indians. This tale carries a universal message of unity cutting across class, caste and religious barriers, a message that is particularly relevant for India today. Maharaja Suheldev's story tells us that when we Indians are united, we are unbeatable. I am delighted that my book Legend of Suheldev is being converted into a movie to reach out to an even wider audience. The script is already under preparation, and the producers will soon announce the name of the lead actor to play the role of King Suheldev. The film is directed by debutant director Senthil Kumar. New York Police Department (NYPD) officers walk past a dumpster fire in front of the Hampton Inn in New York City on May 31, 2020. (Justin Heiman/Getty Images) Over 1,000 Shot in NYC Since June, Getting Worse by the Month Violence in New York City is getting worse as NYPD data shows 1,017 people were shot, fatally and otherwise, between June 1 and Sept. 20. The violence has escalated since late May, coinciding with the riots in response to the death of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis. The data indicates the shooting trend is still accelerating compared to the year before. In April, 64 were shot in the city, down from 67 in April 2019. In May, 113 were shot, up nearly 55 percent from the same month in 2019. In June, 270 were shot, making for a year-over-year increase of more than 150 percent. In July, 301 were shot, up nearly 160 percent year over year. In August, 310 were shot, up almost 200 percent year over year. In September, so far, 136 were shot, which is up almost 210 percent year over year. Meanwhile, murder is up 60 percent year over year since May. The city hasnt seen such levels of violence since the mid-1990s. The NYPD has blamed the surge in crime on a series of policies that have complicated the departments work. Last years bail reform banned judges from requiring cash bail for most nonviolent and some lower-level violent crimes, resulting in criminals getting quickly back on the street after arrests. The city also outlawed officers from pressing their knee against a suspects back or chest during an arrest. Police officers and experts have criticized the law for criminalizing martial arts techniques routinely used by police to safely subdue resisting subjects. They warned it will lead police to use more severe methods, such as tasers, or avoid arrests altogether. Some NYPD officers told The Epoch Times on the condition of anonymity that officers are hesitant to arrest resisting suspects, unless they pose a present danger to the officers or the public. Only a small portion of people released due to the reform have been involved in shootings, The New York Post reported. But the officers cited the reform as a demoralizing factor that makes their efforts seem pointless. Filings for retirement from the NYPD increased more than 160 percent between May 25 and Aug. 11, compared to the same period in 2019. Mayor Bill de Blasio blamed the violence on the economic impact of lockdowns related to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic after initially blaming the slowdown of the court system. The Office of Court Administration rejected the blame, saying many of the court proceedings have continued virtually, the New York Daily News reported. On Sept. 24, de Blasio promised that a number of very specific plans will be introduced over the coming weeks to address the violence. The solution is to work with communities, and thats what neighborhood policing is all about, he said, PIX11 reported. The following day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the violence wholly unacceptable, calling on the city government to step up and lead. If none of them want to lead it, I will find someone to lead it, he said. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditaynath on Friday gave orders to turn the Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences into a 300-bed dedicated COVID-19 facility following a meeting with his team 11. However, resident doctors of the RMLIMS expressed concerns over the order as it might affect the treatment of thousands of patients suffering from diseases like cancer and heart-related ailments. The doctors also voiced their concerns about the future of nearly 500 MBBS, 200 additional and 150 PG students as the complete focus on treatment of COVID-19 has led to loss of academic and resident training activities. Speaking to News18 on condition of anonymity, one of the resident doctors at RMLIMS said, Patients scheduled for future workup, interventions and surgeries at RMLIMS will be forced to get reassigned with new dates at other centers despite waiting for many months. Such patients will suffer a lot and will be lost to follow up. Diverting chronically ill, dialysis-dependent, sick and debilitated patients to other already over burdened medical centers would mean huge suffering and loss to patient health." Many specialties like radiation oncology, medical and surgical oncology, urology and gastroenterology and neuro-oncology continued their impeccable services even during lockdown. We also catered to several such patients referred from other hospitals and institutes. Along with COVID-19, there are several other serious and deadly diseases already affecting the existing population. With already scarce tertiary care hospitals, shutting down these services would deal a huge blow to patient care," said the doctor. As per sources, around 500 students are currently pursuing MBBS at RMLIMS and additional 200 students are about to join in the next academic session. Also, there are around 140 PG students along with 41 super- specialty residents. Being a tertiary care center, a large section of population is dependent on RMLIMS for specialty, superspecialty and cancer care, including referred patients from within Uttar Pradesh and nearby states. Meanwhile, another resident doctor at RMLIMS suggested running parallel services to specialties and COVID-19 care with expansion of COVID facilities at Lucknow Cancer Institute and existing 200-bedded RPG mother and child referral centers. We Residents will offer our services at COVID facilities in rotation along with our routine and emergency patient care. Parallel duties to be done by the residents of RMLIMS, similar to residents at other tertiary care centers like SGPGI and KGMU," added one of the senior resident doctors at Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences. The chief minister also gave orders for posting of additional medics in Kanpur City and Lucknow, Awanish Kumar Awasthi, additional chief secretary home, said. This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 574 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser, what weve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, investing in our expanded Links section. By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. Andrew Cuomo has been given kudos for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Inappropriately so. Now, why do I say this? Consider the death counts. Hong Kong, a city of roughly 7 million people, one of the most densely populated in the world, and close to the Wuhan epicentre of COVID-19, has due to its excellent policies and health care, is only showing 104 deaths as of today. No typo. Whereas New York, of which Cuomo is governor, has to this day suffered 32,696 deaths, and New York City, which holds a population of 8 million, making it about the same size as Hong Kong, has seen 23,875 deaths. Ive written about this comparison extensively, often drawing on the insights of Dr. Sarah Borwein, a Hong Kong based doctor with extensive experience going back to at least to SARS outbreak; see here; here; here; here; here; here; here; and here.) When faced with this comparison, theres no way I would call NYs relative performance for which Cuomo is trying to claim credit good. And I will continue to hammer the point every time I see Cuomo trying to take a victory lap for New York state or citys COVID-19 performance. It has been highly deficient, and only seems good in comparison to Trump. But is that any comparison? Now, onto the latest controversy. Using his credit, Cuomo has jumped into the fraught debate over premature emerge of a vaccine, without sufficient design and testing. Everyone knows Trump is counting on an October surprise in the form of a vaccine to goose his re-election chances. And thus, were all primed to be rightfully skeptical of any vaccine the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) might put forward, maybe any day now. Enter stage left, Cuomo. According to the FT: The governor of New York has become the latest figure to cast doubt on the Trump administrations process to authorise a coronavirus vaccine, saying his state would do a separate review because he does not trust the federal government. Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday his officials would review any vaccine licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration, warning that the federal process had become too politicised. Mr Cuomo said: Frankly, Im not going to trust the federal governments opinion, and I wouldnt recommend [a vaccine] to New Yorkers based on the federal governments opinion. Now, state governors such as Cuomo enjoy no regulatory approval over vaccines. But Cuomo seems to have found a loophole and has appointed a 16-member panel to decide on logistics of how a vaccine would be distributed in New York. This ability would extend to go slow on distributing any vaccine it thought unsafe. So as a New Yorker, I might not, after all, have access to that first vaccine that is made available. Over to the FT again: Donald Trump, the US president, has said he expects a vaccine to be ready within weeks, while Stephen Hahn, the head of the FDA, has said he is willing to grant emergency authorisation even before the final phase of clinical trials. This has led Democrats such as Mr Cuomo to warn that Mr Trump is pushing his appointees to rush out a vaccine before one has been proved to be both safe and effective. Mr Trumps advisers reportedly call the idea of securing a vaccine approval before Novembers election the holy grail. The political fallout has found its way to ordinary Americans, only half of whom now would take any vaccine approved before the election, according to the Pew Research Center, as reported by the FT. Although I wont be taking a coronavirus vaccine anytime soon even if I qualify to receive one I think we are entering dangerous territory if state governors appropriate authority to involve themselves in the process of vaccine approval. But I suppose that neither is the president supposed to get involved directly in such decisions either. I mean, that is why separate regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, exist. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The 'Global Solder Mask (Solder Resist) Market Outlook 2019-2024' offers detailed coverage of solder mask industry and presents main market trends. The market research gives historical and forecast market size, demand, end-use details, price trends, and company shares of the leading solder mask producers to provide exhaustive coverage of the market for solder mask. 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More Info of Impact Covid19@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/covid-19-analysis/3832 The Plainview City Council passed the second readings to adopt the 2020-2021 fiscal year budget and tax rate this week. The total budget revenues for the now-approved 2020-2021 fiscal year budget is $23,954,695 and total expenditures is $24,339,375. The citys three major revenue sources are property tax, solid waste collection and disposal and sales tax. Its been noted that theres an expected decline in property tax revenue as a result of a decrease in property valuations. That decrease in valuations will affect the citys and the countys budgets. According to the meeting memo published prior to the Councils meeting, the three largest expenditures for the next fiscal year will be Water (17%), Fire/EMS (16%), and Police/EOC (16%). The budget is smaller than last year but expenditures are about the same, percentage-wise. The Council approved the second reading of the budget with a 6-1 vote officially adopting it for the next fiscal year. Councilman Eric Hastey voted against and Councilwoman Teressa King was absent. Councilmember Evan Weiss attended the meeting virtually. The Council also approved and adopted the ad valorem tax rate of $0.8418 per $100 valuation, which remains unchanged from the previous fiscal year. It was approved unanimously with a 7-0 vote. Of that amount, $0.6312 will go toward maintenance and operations and $0.2106 will go toward debt service. Water and sewer rates are going up. Customers will notice an increase of $0.46 per month for residential and commercial properties that use 5,000 gallons of water per month. This is a part of the Citys water conservation strategy. The Council also passed a budget amendment for the 2019-2020 fiscal year budget that grants a one-time pay incentive for city employees. The payment includes a minimum payout of $750 and maximum of $1,750 for employees as an incentive for the extra duties required of them as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This incentive is equal to 2.5 percent of base pay for employees. The Council also approved the first step in a Texas Community Block Grant Program application process to fund replacement of a water line that spans an area from West 5th Street to Vernon Street. The Council approved signing of an interlocal agreement with the South Plains Association of Governments (SPAG) to set the grant application process in motion. The next step will be to host a public hearing followed by the hire of an engineer, according to Paul Kite, assistant director of utilities for Plainview. The total estimated cost of the project is $431,900 and the potential grant would cover $350,000, which would leave the city to cover $81,900. The due date for the resolution to authorize the submission of the application is in February. The Council began its meeting with a unanimous approval of the consent calendar, which included a $50,000 grant for maintenance of the Plainview/Hale County Airport. The Routine Airport Maintenance Program grant, which is awarded through the Texas Department of Transportation, is a 50/50 grant that provides funding for basic maintenance for airports with the condition that the local entities share half the total costs. The estimated costs for general maintenance for the local airport are $100,000. Since the city and county share ownership of the airport, they split the $50,000 cost that falls on the local entities. The consent calendar also included previous meeting minutes and the financial report for August. Councilmembers later voted 5-2 to pass the amended standing resolution implementing the regulations set forth by Governor Greg Abbott regarding COVID-19. City Attorney Matt Wade noted that the latest resolution allows retail establishments to increase customer capacity to 75% and allows nursing home visitations. Councilmembers Hastey and Weiss voted against. Hastey noted that he believes the city of Slaton has not adopted any of the governors orders. He added that hes not for extending the order any more. Prior to that, the Council made a special presentation recognizing Plainview Police Chief Ken Coughlins years of service and his last City Council meeting as chief. Coughlin, who was joined by his wife, was presented with a key to the city and thanked for his years of service to Plainview by each of the councilmembers present and the city manager. If you love candles and love fall then Wishlisted.com has a job for you. The media company is searching for three people who are fall fanatics to test different candle brands and their scents. In return the candle testers will received a blanket, an assortment of candles based on their preferences, $250 and a $50 Starbucks gift card. According to the National Candle Association, fragrance is by far the most important characteristic impacting candle purchases today, with three-fourths of candle buyers saying it is extremely important or very important in their selection of a candle. Furthermore, consumers are increasingly purchasing candles as a focal point for their home decor, and for aromatherapy-like relaxation and stress reduction. With the increased stress-levels of people nationwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic, its clear that not only are candles a great way to welcome the fall season, but they can also help reduce the anxieties and stress of the times, Wishlisted.com said. Dayne Ford, founder and CEO said, When the temperature outside is lower, people reach for products and experiences that make them feel closer to one another, cozy and warm. At Wishlisted, our goal is to provide people with the best resources to help them make the most of this fall season. And since this year will be a bit different from years past, given the effects of COVID-19, we want to give people the joyful feeling of fall from the comfort of their own homes." The candle testers will report on which candles they think are best and then Wishlisted will use that content for its readers. The candles will be shipped directly to the testers. Candidates must be at least 18 years old, a resident of the U.S., love candles and be are able to receive multiple package deliveries. The deadline to apply is Oct. 14. Winners will be notified within seven days. The application is here. Be prepared to explain why you are best for the job and reveal your favorite brand and scents of candles. READ MORE You can get paid $2,020 to binge watch documentaries - heres how. This story is part of an ongoing series The Road to a Vaccine that looks at Canadas quest to secure a COVID-19 vaccine amid the global pandemic, as well as the hurdles and history it faces to do so. As the race for a COVID-19 vaccine kicks into high gear, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada will chip in $440 million to a global effort to share vaccines and make sure poorer countries arent left behind. Trudeau told reporters Friday said the money for the COVAX Facility will be divided between the global procurement effort which could mean as many as 15 million additional doses for Canadians and the sharing program by which vaccines will be sent to countries that wouldnt otherwise be able to afford them. To eliminate the virus anywhere, we need to eliminate the virus everywhere, Trudeau said. Thats why Canada is helping ensure vaccines are distributed quickly and fairly around the world. There are now more than 100 teams around the world at work on potential vaccines, known as vaccine candidates, a handful of which are moving into the final stages of clinical testing. But its a competition some say is at risk of being overshadowed by the nation-versus-nation battle for doses, as a weakened global response has spurred richer countries to seek out vaccine deals of their own. Listen to Alex Boyd discuss the road to a vaccine COVAX is the major global attempt to try to avoid having all the vaccines go to the highest bidders. Launched this spring by, among others, the World Health Organization and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations Gavi alliance, its since emerged as the only real international effort to get countries to work together on both procuring, manufacturing and distributing vaccines. While Canada had officially signed on as of Monday, details of the financial commitment were unclear until now. For a country such as Canada, which can afford to buy in, the benefits of the program are arguably twofold: Canada gets the option to share in any successful vaccines the group obtains access to, but is also able to support the sending of vaccines to poorer countries. For countries that cant afford vaccines any other way, it could be a lifeline. The fear that countries with shallower pockets are going to be left out when the time comes was back in the spotlight this week at the UN Virtual Summit. Are people to be left to die? asked Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, a COVID-19 survivor, referring to the problems that may lie ahead. If all goes to plan, COVAX is aiming to deliver two billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021 to countries around the world, distributing them based on population and need rather than ability to pay. But that goal is highly dependent on the money they have yet to get from donor countries and philanthropists. Half of Canadas financial commitment, or $220 million, will go to COVAXs financial arm, known as the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, which is in charge of funding vaccines for low and middle-income countries. But it has yet to meet its initial $2-billion goal, raising questions about who will be left out if the needed money isnt raised. The program was dealt some early blows, when major players such as the U.S., China and India all declined to sign on, choosing instead to focus on their own vaccine needs. The United States, for example, has dubbed its own vaccine effort Operation Warp Speed and poured an estimated $10 billion into it while making clear that the fruits of its labour will be for Americans only. Canada hasnt escaped accusations of selfishness either. A public letter signed by more than 100 health and policy experts and released last week accuses the federal government of undercutting efforts such as COVAX by participating in the global jockeying for vaccines. In fact, before announcing the COVAX funding, Trudeau revealed Canadas latest advance purchase agreement, this time with a company called AstraZeneca, which has been working with Oxford University on a potential vaccine. Should it pass clinical trials, Canada will be able to acquire as many as 20 million doses. Canada now has agreements with six different biopharmaceutical companies, in addition to any doses obtained through COVAX. If every vaccine candidate ends up successful (which is admittedly unlikely) and Canada buys the maximum number of doses to which its entitled through these contracts, it could end up with almost 300 million vaccine doses. What happens when COVAX bumps up against all those advance purchase agreements remains murky. Early on in the pandemic, Canada got stung by a general lack of preparation when it came to acquiring personal protective equipment, notes Colin Furness, an infection-control epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto. Now, he says, the government is moving hard to make sure the same thing doesnt happen with vaccines: Aggressively negotiating and throwing around the fact that weve got a currency that has purchasing power and throwing out elbows (to) get in line, thats an understandable thing to do, he said. Though the consequences to those who are then behind us in line, I mean, ethically, that can get a little bit complicated. For Jason Nickerson, a humanitarian affairs adviser with Doctors Without Borders, the litmus test for whether its possible to have these purchase agreements without jettisoning global responsibilities will be whether or not health-care workers and people who are high risk are able to get vaccinated first and in a timely manner no matter where they are in the world. I think the major concern is that vaccines are going to be delivered to high-income countries to use before they are delivered to low-income countries to vaccinate their high risk populations, he said. Karina Gould, Canadas minister of international development, says that vaccine companies have already committed certain doses to COVAX, so its not a matter of Canadas orders bumping them out of the queue. The exact delivery timelines are still under discussion. Canadas position is that we expect vaccines to be affordable, accessible and equitable around the world, she said. And if it looks like funding will be falling short? Well, then, well be on the phone, trying to encourage partners around the world to step up and to make a contribution. I know that were still waiting on announcements from some of significant players, and Im confident that theyre going to deliver. Last spring, Canada assembled a group of experts on everything from public health to pharmaceuticals and charged them with advising the government on how to lock down a safe and effective vaccine as soon as possible. But while members of this Vaccine Task Force maintain that their first job is to get a vaccine for Canadians, they believe in the need for global access, and for Canada to strike a balance between protecting its own while doing its part for the global community. We recognize that if the disease exists anywhere, it exists everywhere. So its also important, and our advice is around that, for Canada to support international global efforts, says co-chair J. Mark Lievonen, who is also the former president of Sanofi Pasteur Ltd., the Canadian vaccine division of global biopharmaceutical company Sanofi. How these vaccine deals start playing out is something that Nickerson, of Doctors Without Borders will be watching closely. If history is any indication of what can happen during a pandemic, I think that we ought to be concerned, he said, nodding to the H1N1 pandemic, when rich countries bought up a lot of the early vaccines, and only donated to other countries once their own needs were met. In the same way that COVID has exposed the cracks in our education and health systems, he said that this pandemic risks underscoring how medication and health care are just easier to come by if youre a richer country: We need better systems of fair distribution and allocation, and pricing. Its just not right. That said, he says COVAX, and Canadas commitment, could be a meaningful step in the right direction. Its clear that countries are striking these bilateral deals because they think that its the quickest way of gaining access, but theres also a momentum behind COVAX that I dont think that weve ever seen before, he said. So if its properly funded, and if there is a fair, equitable allocation process, then I'm hopeful that this is the start of something good. With files from The Associated Press Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 23) Former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales on Wednesday criticized her successor's recent decision to restrict access to government officials' statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth or SALNs, stressing its importance as an evidence against erring public servants. "Testimonial evidence is not the only evidence to build up a case," Morales said in a statement, noting that documents like SALNs and bank records, as well as physical and circumstantial evidence can be used in investigations. Morales was reacting to Ombudsman Samuel Martires' statement Tuesday before a House panel that SALNs were being "weaponized" and used against enemies in politics. He also revealed that he has stopped the conduct of lifestyle checks since assuming office, claiming that a government official with "distorted values or priorities" and lives beyond his means cannot immediately be accused of committing a corrupt act. Through its Memorandum Circular 1, the Office of the Ombudsman declared last week tighter rules for SALN access, including those filed by public officials last August 30. Morales also stressed that abolishing the Office of the Ombudsman will "only open floodgates to corruption," after Martires noted that they have not been making significant progress in certain investigations, with witnesses refusing to come forward and offer evidence. "To abolish the office will open the floodgates to the commission of more corrupt activities. Allegedly, the policy is to dismiss complaints," Morales said. The Office of the Ombudsman is mandated to check on public officials accused of crimes, especially graft and corruption. In June, Martires has issued Office Circular 13 directing graft investigation and prosecution officers and assistant special prosecutors to review their cases before the lower courts and the Sandiganbayan and determine which can be recommended for withdrawal if the case cannot successfully proceed to trial due to lack of evidence, the witnesses can no longer be located, the accused has already been administratively penalized, or when the prosecution's evidence does not strongly support its position. During Tuesday's House hearing, Martires reasoned that there were questionable and "illogical" provisions under Republic Act 6713, also known as the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, which requires public officials and employees to file a SALN. Senator Leila de Lima on Wednesday called Martires' recent pronouncements as "the very antithesis of the Office of the Ombudsman." In a radio interview, Senator Franklin Drilon urged Martires to submit his proposed amendments to the law "to strengthen the principle of transparency." On the other hand, Malacanang expressed support for Martires' directive. "We respect the decision of the Ombudsman," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque told CNN Philippines' The Source. " I think what he considers as more important would be the enforcement of the anti-money laundering law, because that's really the best way to determine if one's income as a government employee can justify his assets that are hidden." CNN Philippines Senior Correspondent AC Nicholls contributed to this report. By Nanchanok Wongsamuth BANGKOK, Sept 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sex workers in Thailand have launched a petition calling for prostitution to be decriminalized and urging authorities to remove all penalties for selling sex. Empower Foundation, a Chiang Mai-based group that supports sex workers, said it hoped to collect 10,000 signatures and present the petition to parliament to help persuade lawmakers to consider changing the country's prostitution law. "The law punishes sex workers - 80% of whom are mothers and the main breadwinner for the whole family," said Mai Junta, a representative from Empower. "It turns us into criminals," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Tuesday. More than 1,000 people had signed the petition since it was launched on Saturday. Thailand is predominantly Buddhist and deeply conservative, but is home to an extensive sex industry, largely catering to Thai men. Hordes of tourists also flock to the bright lights of go-go bars and massage parlors in the Thai capital Bangkok, and the country's main tourist towns. Women and LGBT+ rights activists say the current law, which made prostitution illegal in 1960, does little to protect sex workers, while repeated arrests and fines for doing sex work has driven them further into poverty. The women's affairs department at Thailand's Ministry of Social Development and Human Security said it was in the process of amending the prostitution law and would launch an online public hearing next year, without giving further details. "We are aware of complaints regarding rights violations of sex workers due to this law... and we are not neglecting their suggestions (to repeal the law)," a spokesman said. A 2014 report by the U.N. agency fighting AIDS estimated that there were 123,530 sex workers in Thailand but advocacy groups put the figure at more than twice that number and say it includes tens of thousands of migrants from neighboring Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Prostitution is currently punishable by a fine of up to 40,000 baht ($1,274) or two years in prison, or both. People who pay for sex with underage workers can be jailed for up to six years. More than 24,000 people were arrested, prosecuted and fined for sex work-related offenses in Thailand last year, according to the Royal Thai Police. Surang Janyam, director of the Service Workers in Group, a Thailand-based support organization for sex workers, said the prostitution law should be repealed to allow sex workers to be protected under labor laws. "The sex industry generates massive income (for the country), but there is no mechanism to protect (sex workers)," Surang said. ($1 = 31.4000 baht) (Reporting by Nanchanok Wongsamuth @nanchanokw; Editing by Michael Taylor and Helen Popper. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org) A dedicated police officer has died after being shot inside a police station by a man whod been detained. The officer was shot at Croydon Custody Centre, south London at 2.15am on Friday, the Metropolitan Police said. He was treated at the scene by officers and paramedics and rushed to hospital, but sadly died. In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said a 23-year-old man was detained by officers at the scene and also taken to hospital with a gunshot wound. He is in a critical condition. A police officer stands near flowers placed outside the Croydon Custody Centre in south London on Friday. (Getty) Scotland Yard said no police firearms were discharged during the incident. According to reports, the 23-year-old had turned the gun on himself after shooting the officer. Tributes have poured in to the officer, described as a brave and dedicated family member, who is believed to be the first officer shot and killed on duty since September 2012 when Dale Cregan killed PCs Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes. Tributes have been paid to the officer by colleagues, as well as Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer. The shooting took place at 2.15am on Friday at Croydon Custody Centre in South London. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) Johnson has sent his deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the officer saying: We owe a huge debt to those who risk their own lives to keep us safe. In a statement, Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was: deeply shocked and saddened. She said: This is a sad day for our country and another terrible reminder of how our police officers put themselves in danger each and every day to keep the rest of us safe. One of our police officers has sadly died after being shot by a man who was being detained in police custody in early this morning in Croydon. Officers are in the process of informing members of the officers family.https://t.co/cJryos3UQN Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) September 25, 2020 My statement on the tragic incident in Croydon. pic.twitter.com/5FdDhCNCPt Priti Patel (@pritipatel) September 25, 2020 Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tweeted: Devastated by this news. My heart goes out to the family of this brave officer, who has paid the ultimate price for helping to keep Londoners safe.Tragic incidents like this are terrible reminders of the dangers our police officers face every single day. Story continues Justice Secretary Robert Buckland tweeted he was shocked and saddened by the news. He said: My thoughts are with the officers loved ones, colleagues and the wider police community. Horrific to hear of a police officer being shot and killed in Croydon. Our police put themselves in harm's way every day to keep us safe. All my thoughts are with the officers family, friends and colleagues. Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 25, 2020 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: Horrific to hear of a police officer being shot and killed in Croydon. Our police put themselves in harms way every day to keep us safe.All my thoughts are with the officers family, friends and colleagues. The Met Police in Croydon tweeted: Today we lost an honorable, brave and dedicated family member. Our hearts are with the officers immediate family at this time following this devastating loss. Today we lost an honorable, brave and dedicated family member. Our hearts are with the officers immediate family at this time following this devastating loss.https://t.co/wNq1ZSeo0E Croydon MPS (@MPSCroydon) September 25, 2020 Sarah Jones, MP for Croydon Central, tweeted: Absolutely shocking news. I am speaking to the police on the details of this awful incident. My thoughts are with the family and colleagues of the officer killed. Steve Reed, Labour MP for Croydon North, said his thoughts were with the officers family and colleagues, tweeting: All of us in Croydon are in shock at this heartbreaking tragic news. Absolutely shocking news. I am speaking to the police on the details of this awful incident. My thoughts are with the family and colleagues of the officer killed. https://t.co/g8agUDqX9L Sarah Jones MP (@LabourSJ) September 25, 2020 Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said: This is a truly shocking incident in which one of our colleagues has lost his life in the most tragic circumstances. My heart goes out to his family, direct colleagues and friends. We are currently supporting his family and also have a dedicated team providing support to the officers and those in the custody centre who witnessed the shooting. When a colleague dies in the line of duty the shockwaves and sadness reverberates throughout the Met and our communities. Policing is a family, within London and nationally, and we will all deeply mourn our colleague. We are in the early stages of the investigation and are still working to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and we will provide further updates when we have them. The officer was shot by a man who was being detained at Croydon Police Station. (Google Maps) In a statement, Scotland Yard said: At approximately 0215 on Friday, September 25 the officer was shot by a man who was being detained at Croydon Custody Centre in Windmill Lane. Officers and paramedics treated him at the scene and he was taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service. Very tragically he subsequently died at hospital. We are in the process of informing all of the officers family and are supporting them with specialist officers. A 23-year-old man was detained by officers at the scene. He was also taken to hospital with a gunshot wound and remains in a critical condition. No police firearms were discharged during the incident. People with pale coloured melanomas are more likely to have a gene mutation associated with albinism, University of Queensland research has found. Study lead author Dr Jenna Rayner said albinism, a rare genetic disorder affecting one in 10,000 people, prevented brown pigment from being synthesised in the body and led to fair hair and extremely pale skin that was easily sunburned and prone to skin cancers. "Albinism develops when there are two mutated genes, so people with one mutation usually don't know they have it," Dr Rayner said. "These people may be more prone to developing pale coloured melanomas, called amelanotic, because tumours accumulate new mutations, and they already have a mutated albinism gene." The researchers studied DNA samples from more than 380 volunteers using whole exome sequencing, while looking for rare genetic mutations that cause albinism. Queensland has the highest rate of melanoma in the world and more than 14,000 cases are diagnosed in Australia each year. UQ Dermatology Research Centre Associate Professor Rick Sturm said up to eight per cent of melanomas could be amelanotic, making them difficult to diagnose and easily mistaken for non-cancerous conditions like warts or scars. "Amelanotic melanomas are normally diagnosed in advanced stage, compared with darker melanomas, causing patients to often miss out on early treatment and their best chance of a cure," he said. When funding becomes available, researchers plan to collect amelanotic melanoma samples to compare their genotype with that of the patient. Dr Rayner said it could lead to personalised medicine - where doctors would be alerted to monitor potential amelanotic melanomas in people with one albinism gene mutation. "This could optimise early intervention and consequently improve patient outcomes," she said. ### This research has been conducted as part of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence for the Study of Naevi. Farmers prepare lychee for exports in the northern province of Bac Giang, June 10, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy. Vietnams fruit exports to China are falling after the latter made quality and origin standards more stringent, insiders from both countries said at a conference. Demand for high-quality fruits is rising in China, but the government has raised the bar for packaging and origin, Xu Zhi of the Long Wu fruit and vegetable wholesale market in Shanghai said at the online conference attended by executives from 40 Vietnamese and Chinese companies on Thursday. So his market has been imposing higher requirements for imported fruits, he said. These higher standards and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on border trade resulted in Vietnams fruits and vegetables exports to China falling by over 25 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of this year to $1.31 billion, according to Vietnam Customs. Quality is an issue for Vietnamese produce. Yuan Ya Xiang, general secretary of the Shanghai Fruit Business Association, said there had been occasions when importers found fruits from Vietnam containing harmful bacteria. Besides, despite Vietnams range of fruits and proximity to China, its fruits are less competitive than those from other markets due to high labor and transport costs, he said. Vietnam needs to improve quality control and lower costs to be more competitive in exporting to China, he added. Industry insiders too admitted major improvements were needed to scale and quality for Vietnamese fruit exports to become more competitive. Dang Phuc Nguyen, general secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association, said exporters need to have at least 10 hectares of orchards meeting VietGAP (Vietnamese good agriculture practices) standards to be able to export to China without concerns about quality. But many businesses operate on a small scale and have poor packaging practices, he added. Vietnam exports nine kinds of fruits to China through formal channels, dragonfruit, watermelon, lychee, longan, banana, mango, jackfruit, rambutan, and mangosteen. China is the largest market for Vietnamese agricultural, forestry and seafood products, accounting for 27.8 percent of their exports of almost $8.5 billion last year, according to Vietnam Customs. The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday filed legal opposition to TikTok's request to delay a ban on downloading the app, with a federal judge in Washington scheduling a hearing on the request for Sunday morning. Why it matters: The White House could have simply postponed the ban on its own for another week or two, as it did last Friday. This move suggests it's seeking to use the ban as leverage in ongoing negotiations. Be smart: TikTok has a very good chance of winning its temporary restraining order request, based on a similar and successful petition last week by Chinese messaging app WeChat. The White House threatened bans against both companies via executive orders on the same night, with the companies subsequently arguing that the EOs were improper in terms of process and substance. The state of play: There are two sets of simultaneous talks. One is the hard work of CFIUS negotiations, at this point centered on technical issues. The other is political rhetoric coming from both the White House and Beijing. Those familiar with the CFIUS talks say it's all systems go, with no major changes to things like ownership structure. As one source close to the process told me this morning: "We all know how to go home. If this thing had blown up, you'd have heard it blew up." Anyone watching the politicians gets a very different impression. Trump has insisted that Oracle and Walmart must have "total control" (they won't), and bragged about a $5 billion education fund that doesn't really exist. State-run media in China has called the current deal "a dirty and underhanded trick." Remember, it's Trump and Chinese government officials who need to sign off on any final deal. People like Steve Mnuchin and Larry Ellison and ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming don't get votes. Sources continue to disagree on whether China has quietly given its blessing to the current structure (i.e., ByteDance wouldn't be negotiating otherwise) or if its demands are yet to come. The bottom line: We often talk about how difficult it is to get laws passed heading into an election. This might be the first time that the same applies to a business transaction. The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg began lying in state on Friday, becoming the first woman in U.S. history to do so. After lying in repose in front of the Supreme Court for two days earlier this week, lawmakers and other acquaintances of the justice, who died a week ago, gathered in the Capitols Statuary Hall to say their goodbyes and honor the legacy of the second female justice on the nations highest court. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened the ceremony noting that it was with profound sorrow that she welcomed Ginsburg and her family. Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill, as well as vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris and several of her colleagues who also ran for president this year, were in attendance as well. Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, who led a ceremony for Ginsburg at the court on Wednesday, also eulogized the justice on Friday, which also marked the anniversary that the first female justice on the court, Sandra Day OConnor, was sworn in. As a lawyer, she won equality for women and men not in one swift victory, but brick by brick, case by case, through meticulous, careful lawyering, Holtzblatt said, adding that in doing so, Ginsburg changed the course of American law. Holtzblatt noted that Ginsburg is also the first Jewish woman to lie in state at the Capitol. She relayed anecdotes about Ginsburg and the notoriety she gained for reading dissents from the bench in recent years, arguing that such opinions were not cries of defeat, they were blueprints for the future. Holtzblatt also used Ginsburgs own memories to sum up her trailblazing status. Justice [Sandra Day] O'Connor once said to me, Suppose we had come of age in a time when women lawyers were welcome at the bar. You know what? Today we would have been retired partners from some large law firm. But because the route was not open to us, we had to find another way, and both end up on the United States Supreme Court, Ginsburg once said. Story continues According to a pool report, at this recollection Biden nodded his head. At other points during the ceremony, several women in attendance appeared to be wiping their eyes. Holtzblatt closed her remarks by pointing to Ginsburg's reputation as a cultural icon and a liberal hero, alluding to the importance with which progressives placed on her as a bulwark against President Donald Trump's conservative Supreme Court nominees. Today we stand in sorrow and tomorrow we, the people, must carry on Justice Ginsburg's legacy, even as our hearts are breaking, we must rise with her strength and move forward, she said. She was our prophet, our north star, our strength for so very long. Now she must be permitted to rest after toiling so hard for every single one of us. May the memory of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg forever and ever be a blessing. Ginsburg died at the age of 87 on Sept. 18 and is the first women to lie in state at the Capitol. Despite the magnitude of the occasion, one that would typically draw leaders of both parties together in a moment of bipartisan solidarity, the Republican leaders of either chamber of Congress Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy were not spotted at the ceremony, though aides for both men appeared in the hall, according to pool reports. When the hearse carrying Ginsburgs casket arrived at the Capitol from the Supreme Court, only Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer were waiting atop the steps and accompanied Ginsburgs family into the ceremony. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise was the highest-ranking Republican spotted at the ceremony, which reflected the times with chairs spread throughout the hall to abide by social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic. After lawmakers and other attendees of the private ceremony passed by Ginsburgs casket, the late justices personal trainer, Bryant Johnson, whose workout for Ginsburg has become famous, dropped to the ground and did three push-ups before getting back up and leaving the chamber. Later, Democratic women lawmakers returned to the chamber, led by Pelosi, where they circled Ginsburgs casket, and a handful rested their hands on the casket before leaving. They were followed later by a group of male Democratic lawmakers, who also circled the casket. More members of Congress including some Republicans staffers, journalists, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the Joint Chiefs of Staff continued to trickle into the hall for another few hours to gather in front of Ginsburgs casket before female lawmakers assembled on the steps of the Capitol as the justice was transported out of the building. Speaking to reporters later on Friday, Harris declined to discuss the political ramifications of Ginsburg's death and Senate Republicans' plans to confirm a replacement with the election just weeks away, explaining that "today Im just really thinking about RBG." "I think it's actually really it's very important, I think, that in the midst of being 39 days away from the election that we honor one of the greatest Americans, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in terms of all that she did, all that she inspired, all that she empowered both legally and just in terms of the way she lived her life." The senator told reporters that Ginsburg "absolutely" paved the way for her. "Because she, first of all, made America see what leadership looks like. In the law in terms of public service, and she broke so many barriers, and I know that she did it intentionally knowing that people like me could follow." Fianna Fail Senator for Louth Erin McGreehan has called for action to minimise disruption to Irish haulage post-Brexit. The issue arose after the UK government warned of possible queues of 7,000 lorries in the port of Dover and two-day delays to cross into continental Europe post-Brexit. Senator Erin McGreehan stated, In recent days, concerns have been raised regarding delays that could potentially arise from new restrictions on haulage crossing the channel. Some of the biggest hauliers in Ireland are based in North Louth, so our community is at particular economic risk. The potential delays that have been presented could be disastrous for any haulage involving perishable goods or live exports. "It is not just hauliers that will be affected, it goes far beyond the sector. Many other industries, particularly agriculture and food, are dependent on the haulage industry's ability to bring their produce to Europe in a timely manner. Other small businesses could also be affected. Businesses should engage with the Brexit Readiness Action Plan to ensure that they have taken the actions necessary to minimise disruption. "Fianna Fail and our partners in government will continue to engage with the European Commission and stakeholders on road connectivity to ensure disruption to international road haulage to, from and through the UK is minimised," concluded Senator McGreehan. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 23:51:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that the Chinese side is willing to keep offering assistance to Angola to the best of its ability, and will send an anti-epidemic medical expert group to the country in the near future. During his phone conversation with Angolan President Joao Lourenco, Xi also said China is willing to give priority to sharing with African countries after its vaccine research and development is successful and put into use. Xi said that in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Chinese and Angolan governments have taken resolute and decisive measures, and have effectively contained the epidemic based on the principle of putting people first and putting life first, adding that the two sides have supported and helped each other, and the expatriates of the two countries in each other's countries have been well taken care of. He also said that Angola is China's important partner in Africa, and that China and Angola are good brothers and partners of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, adding that China supports Angola in independently exploring a development path suited to its national conditions and stands ready to work with Angola to steer the direction of bilateral relations and take the China-Angola strategic partnership to a higher level. Noting the economies of China and Angola are highly complementary, Xi said China is willing to promote cooperation on the resumption of work and production with Angola on the basis of sound epidemic prevention and control, encourage competent Chinese enterprises to undertake investment cooperation in Angola, promote new development in practical cooperation between the two countries, and boost Angola's economic and social development. China is ready to closely coordinate with Angola on multilateral occasions and in international affairs to jointly safeguard international fairness and justice, and to defend multilateralism and the common interests of developing countries, he added. For his part, Lourenco wishes the Chinese people a happy National Day holiday, saying that China is the only major country that has put the epidemic under effective control in a short span of time. Angola thanks China for providing help to African countries including Angola in fighting the epidemic, he said, adding that he hopes to strengthen cooperation with China in such fields as vaccines, and that Angola attaches great importance to its high-level relations and profound friendship with China, firmly supports China's position on issues concerning its core interests, and welcomes more investment from Chinese enterprises in Angola and broader bilateral cooperation in such fields as economy and trade. He added that Angola is willing to strengthen mutual support with China in international affairs and to jointly safeguard international fairness and justice. Enditem Borsa Italiana non ha responsabilita per il contenuto del sito a cui sta per accedere e non ha responsabilita per le informazioni contenute. Accedendo a questo link, Borsa Italiana non intende sollecitare acquisti o offerte in alcun paese da parte di nessuno. Sarai automaticamente diretto al link in cinque secondi. Phukets missing tsunami-warning buoy now recovered PHUKET: The tsunami-warning buoy left adrift after presumably being struck by a boat has been recovered and is now in Phuket under inspection to determine which parts need repair. disastersSafety By Tanyaluk Sakoot Friday 25 September 2020, 04:25PM The tsunami-warning buoy has been recovered and brought back to Phuket for repairs. Photo: DDPM The tsunami-warning buoy has been recovered and brought back to Phuket for repairs. Photo: DDPM The tsunami-warning buoy has been recovered and brought back to Phuket for repairs. Photo: DDPM The buoy, designated Station 23461 in the multinational tsunami-warning array west of Phuket, was confirmed last week as missing from its anchored location in the Andaman Sea some 280km northwest of Phuket. Dr Prasong Thammapala, Acting Director of the Information Technology and Communication Center at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), explained to The Phuket News that the buoy was likely set adrift after being struck by a passing boat or ship. However, while buoy was floating aimlessly in the sea, the GPS locator was still functioning and the buoy was still transmitting real-time data, he confirmed. A team of experts from Thailands Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) has now recovered the missing buoy and brought it back to Phuket, Dr Prasong told The Phuket News today (Sept 25). The team departed the Royal Thai Navy base at Thap Lamu in Phang Nga on Monday, Dr Prasong explained. The DDPM team left the port at Thap Lamu at 2pm on Monday. They stayed overnight at Tha Chai island, then continued their journey the next day and found the buoy at 10:30am, he said. The team had the buoy on board by 2pm and began their journey home, he said. They stayed at Koh Tha Chai [on Tuesday night] to avoid the strong wind and waves, and lef there at 5am [Wednesday]. They arrived at Thap Lamu at midday that day, Dr Prasong added. The buoy has now been brought back to Phuket and is being inspected by DDPM experts to determine which repairs need to be made. We have not yet set a date for having the buoy repaired and installed back at its original location, Dr Prasong said. We have to wait for the experts to make their assessment and for the repairs to be made, he said. Meanwhile, Thailands only other tsunami-warning buoy among the international network in the Bay of Bengal array remains silent after being scavenged for parts. The Indian Navy still has the buoy. At this stage we do not know when we will be able to recover it so repairs can be made, and have it returned, fully functioning, Dr Prasong said. Salman Khan questions Panvel neighbour for bringing religion: "My mother is a Hindu, my father is a Muslim" As the U.S.-China competition heats up, sparking talk of a new cold war, Southeast Asia has become a key geopolitical battleground. But as Sebastian Strangio notes in his new book, In the Dragons Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century, Chinas presence and influence in the region is far from new nor are the concerns China can elicit from Southeast Asias peoples and leaders. Below, Strangio, The Diplomats Southeast Asia editor, with more than a decade of experience in the region, discusses China-Southeast Asia dynamics, the role of the United States, and how the pandemic is impacting the geopolitical calculus. The COVID-19 situation was very much in flux when your book went to press (and frankly still is). Based on more recent developments, have you seen any indication that the pandemic will have a lasting impact on Chinas reputation and interests in Southeast Asia for better or for worse? China has clearly suffered some reputational damage for its early bungling in Wuhan. It has also won few friends by pressing maritime claims in the South China Sea while Southeast Asian claimants were distracted by their own COVID-19 outbreaks. In relative terms to that of the United States, however, the picture has since become more complicated. In the early stage of the outbreak, many American officials and pundits argued that the coronavirus outbreak resulted from the authoritarian nature of Chinas political system. This had the unintended effect of inviting a comparison between Chinas relatively effective containment of the virus thereafter, and the Trump administrations shambolic response when the contagion inevitably reached the U.S. The pandemic has thus hastened the erosion of the image of both superpowers, accelerating a trend that was already underway when the pandemic hit. Whether this undermines Beijings long-term interests in Southeast Asia remains to be seen. After all, China was hardly popular in the region before COVID-19, which has done little to dislodge Beijings primary advantage in Southeast Asia: its geographic proximity and economic centrality to the region. With the Southeast Asian nations now grappling with a generational economic crisis due to COVID-19, one which could soon domino into political upheavals, China looms as an unavoidable partner in the regions recovery. The pandemic has also been the catalyst for escalating U.S.-China competition into something more deserving of the name Cold War. You point out that Southeast Asian approaches to China are anguished and complex; how can this complexity survive in an increasingly bipolar Asia? I dont think that the region faces a truly binary choice at least not yet. The original Cold War involved two superpower blocs, each proffering their own universalizing ideology, locked in a struggle that left few regions of the globe untouched. In Southeast Asia, this involved Chinese and Soviet attempts to foment communist takeovers through armed struggle. For many of the regions governments, the Cold War thus had existential stakes. Todays situation is more muddled. China and Southeast Asia are deeply entwined economically; they also share other important common interests. For all its meddling, China is not seeking to export any particular ideology to the region. While the idea of economic decoupling is all the rage in Washington, this is not something that the Southeast Asian nations could easily accomplish, even if they wished to. For instance, Vietnam has long sought to reduce its economic reliance on China, but has found this to be much easier said than done, given the importance of sustained economic growth to the legitimacy of the ruling Communist Party. Even among like-minded powers like the U.S., Japan, India, and Australia, there remain important differences of opinion about how best to meet the China challenge. Todays Southeast Asia is in many ways a naturally multipolar region, where the interests of numerous outside powers overlap. In addition to the U.S. and China, these include India, rising slowly to the regions west, and Japan, which has been the main beneficiary of the loss of trust in the U.S. and China. Other important players include Australia, South Korea, Russia, and Taiwan. This multiplicity of interests offers the Southeast Asian nations vital space for maneuver. The region has become an arena for U.S.-China competition, but is not yet wholly defined by it. You note that the very thing that enables ASEAN to reconcile clashing sovereignties its flexible, consensus-based form of decision-making now threatens to paralyze it. With the regional states approaches to China varying so greatly, what role does ASEAN still play in shaping Southeast Asias foreign policy agenda? During the Cold War, ASEAN enabled the nations of Southeast Asia to retain some measure of autonomy in the midst of a great power competition that ended up ravaging large parts of the region. That ASEAN succeeded where previous attempts at Southeast Asian regionalism failed was no foregone conclusion. Today, it is easy to forget the rancorous disputes that marked the early postcolonial period. Two examples: Konfrontasi, the low-level war that Indonesias first president, Sukarno, waged against the new Federation of Malaysia after 1963; and the spat between Malaysia and the Philippines over the region of Sabah in northeastern Borneo. To a large extent, ASEAN has softened these intra-regional disputes, and prevented a region once termed the Balkans of Asia from going the way of its European counterpart. The price of bridging the divergent interests was to base ASEAN on the principles of sovereignty and consensus-based decision making. Since the end of the Cold War, ASEANs absorption of new members has necessarily diluted its shared interests, opening up spaces into which Beijing has thrust wedges of economic inducement. Even in the best case scenario, ASEAN will never dictate terms to the great powers. But as in the past, the benefits of standing together, even on a threadbare consensus, far outweigh those of going it alone. ASEAN has many shortcomings: some of these are structural, and some can be put down to failures of vision and leadership at the national level. But the region would be much worse off without it. As you explain in the book, there is a contradiction between Beijings self-image (China as a victim of imperial powers) and perception in the region of China as an imperial power or at least possessing that potential. Amid growing accusations of neocolonialism and debt traps, do you see any sign that China is adjusting its approach to Southeast Asia in acknowledgement of these concerns? There are some indications that the Chinese government is aware of its reputational deficit in Southeast Asia. At the Second Belt and Road Forum in April 2019, Xi Jinping promised to address concerns about environmental issues related to Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects, and announced the creation of a debt sustainability framework in order to counter charges of debt trap diplomacy. Whether these efforts will succeed is another question. As I see it, China faces two primary challenges. The first is the vestige of imperial hauteur that has accompanied its reemergence as a great power. Again and again, Chinese officials have shown a tin-ear for criticism even to the idea that Chinese activities or behavior could arouse such criticism in the first place. This makes effective public diplomacy difficult. The second problem is the sheer multiplicity of Chinas engagements with the region. In practice, much Chinese activity exists outside the effective control of the central state, or in tension with Beijings broader interests. A good example is the rash of casino developments that have sprung across mainland Southeast Asia, from Sihanoukville in Cambodia to the rebel zones of eastern Myanmar. In just about every way, these are counterproductive to Beijings goals in the region: they involve the laundering of capital flows from China, and have elicited overwhelmingly negative reactions from locals. In some cases, casino concessionaires have even adopted the branding of the BRI, tarnishing its reputation into the bargain. In many ways, this challenge represents an outgrowth of the governance challenges that pertain within China itself. When we talk about Chinas influence in Southeast Asia, what we often mean is Chinas influence among political elites (for example, Hun Sen and his government in Cambodia or the Duterte administration in the Philippines). Where do you see the biggest schisms between elite and public perceptions of China? Should Beijing be worried about such gaps? The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has always struggled to project an appealing image to the world. Soft power cannot be created by party diktat. The U.S. has excelled in its ability to produce and absorb a cultural and political self-critique, something that is anathema to the CCP. The result is that China has a perpetual image problem in Southeast Asia, on top of the concerns stirred up by its behavior in the region. In terms of public opinion, the greatest gap between public and elite perceptions exists in Vietnam, where anti-Chinese sentiment cuts across every social and political divide. There is also a yawning gulf in the Philippines, where the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte in many ways represents an exception to the nations U.S.-friendly norm. The Diplomat Support for Black Lives Matter protests is falling across the country after months of unrest that has seen people killed, shops burned, and frequent clashes between activists and police. A new poll shows that just 39 per cent of Americans now approve of the protests, down from 54 per cent in June, while 44 per cent of now disapprove of them. University of Michigan political scientist Christian Davenport put the change down to 'compassion fatigue', as outrage over videos such as the one of George Floyd has faded, with people now wanting a return to their everyday lives. The shift also appears to have been driven by perceptions of violence, with almost a third of Americans saying the protest are now 'mostly or always violent', up from 22 per cent three months ago. Meanwhile the number of people who said the protests were 'always peaceful' fell from 27 per cent to 23 per cent, and the number who said they were 'sometimes violent' also fell, from 51 per cent to 47 per cent now. The figures will be watched closely by politicians on both sides of the aisle, with both Joe Biden and Donald Trump presenting themselves as the 'law and order' candidate with the November election looming. It also comes amid fresh unrest across the country following the indictment of one police officer over the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, though not for the shots that killed her, which sparked fresh unrest. Support for Black Lives Matter protests has fallen across the country in the last three months, as perceptions around violence at the marches has shifted In June, after the death of George Floyd, 54 per cent of Americans said they supported the protests, while just 39 per cent do now - with support falling among blacks and whites Americans were also more likely to see the protests as 'all violent', with the biggest shift coming among whites, though opinion is also shifting among black Americans The shift in support for the protesters was most pronounced among white Americans, 20 per cent of whom believed protests were mostly or all violent back in June, rising to 33 per cent now. White Americans were also less likely to view the protests as all peaceful - down from 27 per cent to 23 per cent - and also less likely to view them as sometimes violent - down from 51 per cent to 47 per cent. A similar shift was observed among black Americans, though to a much lesser extent - seven per cent saw protests as 'all or mostly violent' back in June, compared to 10 per cent now. The number of black Americans who saw the protests as 'almost all peaceful' also fell, from 44 per cent in June to 35 per cent now. The number who saw the demonstrations as 'sometimes violent' grew from 47 per cent to 54 per cent. The poll was conducted by The Associated Press along with the University of Chicago's NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, between September 11 and 14. That means the survey was carried out before the decision to charge one police officer over the death of Breonna Taylor was announced, which sparked more unrest and violence across the country. Overnight, demonstrators in cities from New York to Las Vegas marched through streets and chanted Taylor's name. Americans were also much less likely to agree with the statement that violence against the public is a 'very serious problem', with the largest shift coming among whites Meanwhile, Americans were much more concerned with violence against the police in September than three months previously Two officers were wounded by gunfire at protests in Louisville, where authorities made close to 100 arrests on charges of damaging businesses, refusing to disperse after curfew and unlawful assembly. The poll finds the percentage of Americans who believe police violence unequally targets Black Americans and that greater consequences for police brutality are necessary have also fallen from June, when an AP-NORC survey found sweeping changes in how Americans view these issues. The June survey followed the late May killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, which renewed focus on Taylor's earlier death, in March. On Wednesday, a Kentucky grand jury declined to charge any officers for their role in Taylor's killing; she was shot multiple times after officers entered her home using a no-knock warrant during a narcotics investigation. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said an investigation of the case yielded evidence that officers announced themselves before entering. It was Floyd's death in Minneapolis - captured on video by witnesses - that sparked several months of nationwide unrest in which hundreds of thousands of Americans protested against systemic racism and police brutality. Others, including President Donald Trump, expressed solidarity with police and law enforcement officers. The new poll finds the recent shift in opinion is pronounced among white Americans and Republicans, whose views on police violence and racial inequity in policing look closer to the way they did in 2015, before Trump was elected. Just 35% of white Americans approve of the protests now, while 50% disapprove. In June, 53% approved, while 34% disapproved. However, a majority of Americans still agree that police who cause death and injury are still treated too lightly by the justice system Opinion is now evenly split between those who feel police are more likely to use deadly force against black people, and those who feel they are not Among Latinos, 31% approve, compared with 44% in June; 63% of Black Americans support the protests, down from 81%, with more now saying they neither approve nor disapprove. 'I was supportive back in June, but after seeing everything up until now, I'm almost dead against them,' said Dave Hipelious, 63, of New Lenox, Illinois, who is a retired pipe fitter in the energy industry. Hipelious, who is white, said his support for the protests soured when he saw violent unrest, arson and looting that marred the largely peaceful demonstrations following Floyd's death. 'I was a pretty wild young man,' Hipelious said. 'Every time the police stopped me, and every issue I had with them, I was completely in the wrong. I do believe they are doing their job right.' Eighty-four percent of Black Americans, but just 42% of white Americans and 50% of Latinos, say police more often use deadly force against a Black person than a white person. While 74% of Black Americans say the criminal justice system is too lenient when officers cause injury or death, 47% of white Americans and 50% of Latinos say the same. University of Michigan political scientist Christian Davenport said the nation has historically seen public support wane among white Americans for social justice movements - what he calls 'compassion fatigue.' 'When this was all about the video and the visceral response to seeing someone's life get squeezed out of them, that's fine,' Davenport said. 'But from the moment that topic is raised to awareness, the clock starts ticking with regards to, `How quickly can we resolve this so I can get back to my normal life?'' The figures will be watched closely by both Donald Trump and Joe Biden, both of whom are positioning themselves as the 'law and order' candidate at the election A majority of Americans believe that Trump is doing a bad job of both race relations and policing, though the President holds a narrow lead among whites on the issue of policing The change also comes after months of political sparring between Democrats and Republicans, including Trump. Both sides hope to use the protests to their advantage in the upcoming general election. Among Republicans, 75% say they disapprove of the protests, up from 56% in June. Just 9% approve, down from 29% then. And more Republicans now describe protests as mostly or all violent, 52% vs. 36%. Among Democrats, 70% approve, and close to half describe them as mostly or all peaceful. Still, roughly as many describe them as a mix of both. BriAndia Andrews, 21, of Bloomington, Illinois, who is Black, said she believes most of the protests have been done 'correctly.' Still, she feels 'our voices are not going to be heard once you have people looting and stuff like that.' Given how race in America has become a key focus of politics this year, Andrews said she believes opinions about the protests among white Americans and Republicans only changed because of Trump's rhetoric. 'If you're a Trump supporter and you were also protesting, that could have influenced your opinion of the protests,' she said. Overall, Americans are less likely than they were in June to say deadly force is more commonly used against a Black person than a white person, 50% vs. 61%. And fewer now say that officers who cause injury or death on the job are treated too leniently by the justice system, 52% vs. 65%. The poll reflects a reality that, despite an unprecedented show of support for the movement over the summer, a majority have not participated, said the Rev. Starsky Wilson, the incoming president of the Children's Defense Fund. 'We have malformed memory about what peaceful assembly and public protest has always looked like,' said Wilson, who served as co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, a group that recommended reforms after the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. 'Many of the things that we remember fondly now are things that were reviled in the moment,' he said. Image: AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn As tens of thousands of people have gathered for a series of pro-democracy protests in Thailand in recent weeks, their ranks have been dominated by an emerging political force: young women. Many of the earliest and most vocal organizers of the rallies have been female students. At recent protests, women appeared to make up the majority of participants, too. While the demonstrations are aimed at urging Thailands old guard to embrace new ideas, they have also addressed concerns that often dont make it to the national stage. Many of them are specific to women, including abortion, taxes on menstrual products and school rules that force girls to conform to an outdated version of femininity. Most of all, women are increasingly speaking out against a patriarchy that has long controlled the military, the monarchy and the Buddhist monkhood, Thailands most powerful institutions. They have joined a broader range of voices calling for greater say in a country where democracy has been in retreat, though the challenges for women remain steep even within the protest movement. The monarchy and the military have all the power in Thailand, said Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, one of a core of female students who have galvanized the political opposition. I shouldnt be afraid to say that men have almost all the power in Thailand. The protests are rooted in resistance to the military, which most recently carried out a coup in 2014. The generals who led the putsch said that protecting the palace from critics was one of their major reasons for doing so. The governments stance on womens issues in particular has galvanized some activists. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the coup leader, who retained his position after disputed elections last year, has dismissed the idea of gender parity, even though he serves as the head of a national committee dedicated to that ideal. Everyone says that we have to create justice, women and men have equal rights, he said during a speech on vocational training in 2016. Thai society will deteriorate if you think this way. Prayuth, a retired general, said that women had authority over the home. Outside the house, we are big, he added, of men. At work, we have the power. Such notions have irked women. The male supremacy society has been growing since the coup, said Chumaporn Taengkliang, a co-founder of Women for Freedom and Democracy, a political alliance that has helped spearhead the anti-government rallies in Bangkok. That needs to change, Chumaporn added. Women are not taking the back seat, she said. They are the front line. Its a phenomenon happening not just in Thailand. In Belarus, hundreds of women were arrested last week while marching in Minsk to protest the return to power of the countrys strongman, President Alexander Lukashenko. And in the United States, women and girls are often at the forefront of Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality. In some ways, it should not be novel that women are helping to lead the protest movement in Thailand, which by some measures is one of Asias most equitable societies for women. It gave them the right to vote in 1932, one of the first countries in the region to do so. More Thai women than men go to college. They make up 45% of the labor force. About 40% of private enterprises are headed by women, higher than the global average. But women lack a voice in institutions like the military and the palace. Their political representation is paltry. Women occupy just 14% of the seats in parliament. (That, at least, is better than after the 2014 coup, when only 5% of the legislature was female.) Although female warriors in Thailands history were famous for having helped repel foreign invaders, the nations top military academy does not accept women. Last year, the Royal Thai Police Cadet Academy, which had been open to women for about a decade, effectively closed its doors again to female applicants. Women have taken part in previous protest movements. A core of so-called aunties, many from rural areas ignored by Bangkoks ruling elite, were integral to an opposition force called the Red Shirts, who occupied downtown Bangkok for weeks before a bloody crackdown in 2010. But in protest leadership, women had been mostly absent. In previous democracy movements, it was almost all men, said Jutatip Sirikhan, a student at Thammasat University in Bangkok who was arrested this month for her involvement in the current protests. Until now, Thailand has not had a gender political movement. The involvement of social media-savvy young women has shifted the tenor of the current protests. Many are well-educated daughters of the middle and upper-middle classes, and they wonder why the #MeToo movement has bypassed Thailand. They have brought their defiance to some of the countrys fanciest private girls schools, raising their hands during school assemblies in a defiant, three-fingered salute from the Hunger Games books and movies rather than paying respect to the national or royal anthem. Many of them are bound by school rules on hairstyles, uniforms and even underwear that they consider invasive. As the rallies this summer grew bigger, women took to protest stages to criticize a persistent wage gap and denounce what they call rape culture. They decried the governments classification of feminine hygiene products as cosmetics, which could make them liable for higher taxes. They highlighted abortion laws that, in their view, fail to give women control over their own bodies by restricting the procedure to cases in which physical or mental health is compromised. And they spoke out against beauty contests, popular in Thailand, which they said dismissed women as demure, decorative objects. (A beauty queen who expressed support for the pro-democracy rallies was denounced online for having dark skin.) The young generation today has the vocabulary to name whats wrong with society when it comes to gender issues, said Duanghathai Buranajaroenkij, an expert in gender studies at Mahidol University in Bangkok. When I began studying gender, most people in Thailand didnt even know to use a gender lens to look at things. During an overnight rally last weekend, the largest since the 2014 coup, female speakers took aim at the patriarchal traditions of the Thai royal palace. Succession laws specify that the crown must go to a male heir. The Privy Council, a select group of advisers to the monarch, is all male. King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun has been married four times. Two of his previous wives were purged. Last year, the king stripped titles from his royal consort, a position akin to an official mistress that, until he brought it back, had not existed since before the country abolished absolute monarchy in 1932. The consort had been accused of misbehavior and disloyalty against the monarch. But this month, the palace announced that she had been reinstated to her former position. It is not clear why. On a protest stage in front of the Grand Palace on Saturday night, Chumaporn, the co-founder of Women for Freedom and Democracy, raised an issue that is rarely discussed in a country where criticism of the king can earn people up to 15 years in prison. (The king was not at home because he spends most of his time in Germany.) We ask you to add one more point, Chumaporn said, to cheers from the crowd. That is to destroy the male superiority structure under the monarchy. But the weekend rallies also showed that a movement powered by many leaders is now coalescing around fewer individuals and most are men. Of the 18 keynote speakers Saturday, only three were women. (Panusaya did present a protest letter meant for the king, however.) One of the male speakers was Attapon Buapat, an activist who said that women, honestly speaking, are a nosy gender, to even greater applause than Chumaporn received. Thats why God cursed women to have a weak body, in order to effectively reduce their meddlesomeness. In a Facebook post, Attapon later apologized, saying he had not considered the subtlety of this matter. Sirin Mungcharoen, a student leader at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said she had tried to promote feminism, along with LGBTQ rights, as integral to democracy. When she did, some male activists who had been fighting alongside her began mocking her, she said. Meanwhile, online harassers have been making fun of her appearance. They passed around her picture and said that her hair, dyed blond, made her look like a loose woman. She went off social media. They could not see that one person could work on the issue of democracy and womens rights at the same time, Sirin said. Thai society is still very patriarchal. By Hannah Beech and Muktita Suhartono c.2020 The New York Times Company STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With a history of charitable giving, Vincent Theurer, CEO and President of Approved Oil Company in Brooklyn, NY, is proud to support the community he lives and works in. Recently, the Staten Island resident was proud to contribute to the completion of the ECHO Pediatric Emergency Unit at Staten Island University Hospital's Prince's Bay campus. The project, which began construction last fall, will house five treatment areas and a patient care station. The facility will have its own entrance in order to create a safe and appropriate area to care for children, away from the stress of more traumatic adult conditions. The emergency unit became a reality thanks to former New York City Councilman Vincent Ignizio's vision of responding to the growing healthcare needs on the South Shore. He was able to partner with ECHO (The Emergency Children's Help Organization) to secure a $500,000 grant, making it possible to align their common goal: serving children. A fundraising campaign launched by ECHO was crucial in helping to bring the remaining funding to completion. The state-of-the-art facility will enable Staten Island University Hospital to help thousands of young patients per year, in a setting that will keep them more comfortable. In addition to serving a niche community, the project represents the future of efficient medical procedure and care. Mr. Theurer's generous donation has earned him a spot on the facility's Donor Wall, currently being designed to launch in conjunction with the emergency unit. His name will be displayed prominently on a plaque within the facility, commemorating his participation and active involvement in giving back to others. The Emergency Children's Help Organization (ECHO) was created to give back to children during a medical emergency. The organizations dedication to providing financial assistance and emotional support for patients and their families during their time of need is unrivaled. For more information on The Emergency Children's Help Organization (ECHO), please visit https://echoorganization.org/about-us/. SOURCE Vincent Theurer Related Links https://approvedoil.com/ Joe Biden stood on the floor of a Wisconsin aluminum plant this week, shed the trappings of his decades in national politics and then took aim at the billionaire New Yorker he wants to evict from the Oval Office. Ive dealt with guys like Donald Trump my whole life, who would look down on us because we didnt have a lot of money or your parents didnt go to college, Biden said, recalling his boyhood roots. Guys who think theyre better than you. Guys who inherit everything theyve ever gotten in their life and squander it. Biden has long cultivated his persona as Middle-Class Joe with hardscrabble roots, but as he turns to the closing stretch of his third presidential bid, the Scranton, Pennsylvania, native is personalizing his pitch as he tries to undercut one of the presidents core strengths. The truth is, Biden said, he never really respected us. Its at once a demonstration of Bidens personal contempt for Trump and the Democratic challengers pride in his own family history as mostly working-class Irish Catholics. But, most importantly as voters begin casting early ballots, its a carefully tailored message aimed at voters whove abandoned Democrats in recent elections and helped Trump flip a band of Rust Belt states to fashion his own presidential victory map. The strategy goes beyond the headlines from Democrats 2018 midterm success, when college-educated whites in metro areas swelled the congressional ranks of suburban Democrats and handed the party a House majority, new governorships and scores of state legislative seats around the country. Now Biden and his advisers believe his profile, combined with Trumps liabilities, allows Democrats to capitalize on their new base without forsaking their old one. There are so many people in our party who have just said, screw the white working class, they dont matter anymore and we cant get them because theyre all racist, blah, blah, blah, said Paul Maslin, a Democratic pollster based in Wisconsin. But thank God Joe Biden is not running that kind of campaign. He knows better. Trump advisers, for their part, see the president as having enough of an upper hand among the white working class to be reelected. Still, it wouldnt take much of a shift for Biden to win states like Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania that the president carried by less than 1 percentage point in 2016, and Trump certainly seems mindful of that prospect. Joe Bidens devoted his career to offshoring your jobs, throwing open your border, dragging us into endless foreign wars, Trump told a crowd in Wisconsin recently. In Pittsburgh, Trump accused Biden of stealing his proposals to shore up American manufacturing. And in Nevada, he went directly at Bidens biographical pitch, casting the lifetime politician according to his resume and not his roots: I did more in 47 months as president than Joe Biden did in 47 years. Pitting working Americans against the wealthy ruling class in presidential politics didnt start with Trump or Biden. Since Franklin Roosevelts Depression-era New Deal, Democrats have claimed the mantle of the nations labour force, with Biden being the latest nominee boasting a litany of labour union endorsements. From Richard Nixons victories onward, Republicans answered as defenders of a silent majority battling a coastal elite, figures like Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry of Massachusetts and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, whod decamped to New York after her Arkansas-native husband, Bill Clinton, left the White House. President Barack Obama survived GOP attacks on him as an elitist, winning two terms with Biden as his running mate. But Trump accelerated the shift to the GOP and overcame his own Manhattan pedigree with his Make America Great Again slogan and America First pitch on foreign policy, immigration and international trade. His appeal was illuminated in the anti-immigrant cry at his 2016 rallies: Build the wall! Build the wall! He upset Clinton in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by less than 80,000 votes combined, stretched out surprisingly wide victory margins in Ohio and Iowa and made Minnesota uncomfortably close for Democrats. Nationally, 64% of white voters without a college degree backed Trump in 2016, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the electorate, while 28% supported Clinton. Among white college graduates, Clinton led 55% to 38%. In Wisconsin, recent polls suggest Trump is leading modestly among white voters without a college degree. A Washington Post-ABC News survey found white non-college Wisconsinites somewhat more likely to back Trump over Biden, by a 54%-44% margin. A New York Times/Siena poll found a slight advantage for the president, 50%-39%. To be sure, Biden makes policy arguments as he tries to appeal to those voters. The Democrat juxtaposes his tax plans, which would impose higher burdens on the wealthiest Americans, with Trumps calls for more cuts. He casts Trump as judging the economy by the stock market alone. Biden also blasts Trump for trying to dismantle the 2010 health insurance overhaul amid a pandemic and for failing in recent weeks to win congressional approval for additional aid to shore up the economy still reeling from COVID-19. And he chides the president for stoking racial divisions and pitting white workers against nonwhites fighting in the same economy. But those lines of attack dont differ fundamentally from what Clinton tried four years ago. Maslin, the Democratic pollster, pointed to the personal core of Bidens pitch as a key distinction. I really do view this campaign as a campaign between Scranton and Park Avenue, Biden said last week at a CNN town hall, nodding to his Pennsylvania boyhood home and Trumps adult life in Manhattan, where the president built his branding empire, complete with the skyscraper emblazoned with his name. Biden insisted in Wisconsin that his background, so much closer culturally to working-class Americans, means he actually will deliver on what was Trumps initial appeal for so many voters. I know many of you were frustrated. You were angry, Biden said, explicitly addressing Trump supporters. You believed you werent being seen, represented, or heard. I get it. It has to change, and I promise you this: It will change with me. Biden even added a dig at the long list of Ivy League-educated figures spanning both major parties, from Trump and his University of Pennsylvania business degree to the Columbia and Harvard-educated Democrat, Obama, who gave Biden the biggest break of his political life. I say its about time that a state-school president sat in the Oval Office, said Biden, a University of Delaware graduate, in Wisconsin. Because you know what? If Im sitting there, youre gonna be sitting there, too. Washington : Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, who wrote and directed the 2017 Oscar-nominated foreign language film "The Salesman," would not be able to enter the US for the awards under President Donald Trump's recently enacted travel ban. Trump signed the executive order on Friday afternoon to suspend entry of refugees to the US for 120 days, and imposed an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria. 90-day ban was also placed on citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, reported Variety. The 2017 Oscars will take place on February 26. Farhadi's film "A Separation" won an Academy Award for best foreign film in 2012. "The Salesman" the title a reference to Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" tells the story of a young couple who play the lead roles in the play. On Thursday, after Trump proposed the bans, Iranian star of "The Salesman" Taraneh Alidoosti announced that she would not attend the awards as a boycott. "Trump's visa ban for Iranians is racist. Whether this will include a cultural event or not, I won't attend the#AcademyAwards 2017 in protest," she wrote. Although it did not occur under Trump's strict ban, another Academy Award-nominee ran into trouble in 2013. Emad Burnat, the first Palestinian documentary filmmaker to be nominated for an Academy Award, was detained by immigration with his family at LAX, and released after question. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. One more person succumbed to his injuries on Friday morning following the previous nights accident on a busy road in north-east Delhis Nand Nagri, where a speeding cluster bus allegedly ran over around seven people and killed two of them on the spot. The accident, which had occurred at 10 pm on Thursday, had triggered a violent protest in the area. The errant driver, Pushpender Singh, who had fled the accident spot in a bid to escape an irate mob, was arrested from north-east Delhi in the early hours on Friday, Delhi Police said. The mob had vandalised the cluster bus that ran on route number 261 -- between Sarai Kale Khan and Nand Nagri. The agitators shouted slogans against Delhi Police and chased away a police van for arriving late at the accident spot. The third accident victim was identified as Amar Singh (40), who worked as a labourer and lived at Harsh Vihar in north-east Delhi. We have arrested the bus driver and booked him for rash and negligent driving causing death and injuries. A case under sections 279 (rash driving), 304A (causing death by negligence), and 337 (rash or negligent act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at Nand Nagri police station, said Ved Prakash Surya, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (north-east), Delhi Police. DCP Surya said that the arrested driver has claimed that the accident occurred because the brakes of the bus failed while it was coming down from the ITI flyover. The bus had 15 passengers on board when the accident occurred. The driver told the police that after the brakes failed, initially, he had tried to stop the vehicle by hitting a concrete road divider. Later, he rammed into a mini truck, but still failed to stop the moving bus. He lost control of the vehicle and it crashed into an egg vendors cart and ran over some pedestrians, the DCP said, quoting the driver. We are trying to ascertain the drivers claims about the sequence of the events that led to the accident. A mechanical inspection will also be done by experts to verify whether the brakes of the bus indeed failed, added the DCP. Eye-witnesses told the police that after hitting the truck, the bus rammed into a vegetable cart and hit a few more vehicles before coming to a grinding halt. Up to seven people were injured in the accident, among whom a youth and a boy, died on the spot. The accident victims were identified as Ravinder (22) and Karan (12). Three injured persons, including a woman and a boy (16), are still undergoing treatment at a hospital in north-east Delhi, the police said. Over 100 people had gathered at the accident spot and vandalised the cluster bus by pelting stones at it. There was swirling rumour that the accident had claimed five lives. The mob also vented their anger at a police patrolling van that had arrived at the accident spot after receiving an emergency call. The agitated people blocked the main road where the accident took place, staged a protest and shouted slogans against Delhi Police. They also stopped an ambulance from taking an injured person to a hospital. A video made by one of the onlookers showed some angry people were pulling out a stretcher, where an injured and unconscious boy was lying down, from the ambulance. Some people can be heard in the video shouting slogans against Delhi Police and talking about blocking the road. DCP Surya said that around 60 police personnel from three police stations and the reserve battalion were rushed to the accident spot to bring the situation under control and avoid further violence. The agitators dispersed when they were assured of swift police action. A few minutes later, some women also tried to stage a protest and block the road. But we intervened and cleared the spot for vehicular traffic. The situation came under control within half an hour and no untoward incident has been reported since then, he added. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister discussed efforts for a political solution in Syria and the continuation of the work of the Constitutional Committee reports SANA. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin discussed on a phone call with UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, efforts exerted to find a solution to the crisis in Syria. The Russian Foreign Ministry said, in a statement on Thursday, that during the phone call, means of moving towards achieving a long-term political settlement to the crisis in Syria and later continuing the work of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva, based on the rules agreed upon by the relevant parties, have been discussed in full detail. The statement indicated that the importance of committing to the principles of the political process stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution No. 2254, led by the Syrian themselves and under the mediation of the UN, were also emphasized during the call. 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 ACLU is calling for an independent expert to oversee the prison systems response to the coronavirus because of what it sees as repeated failings. The number of active coronavirus cases in Virginias prison system has doubled since June. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 3,600 cases. A total of 26 prisoners have died. COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Novo Seeds, the early stage investment and company creation team of Novo Holdings, today announced that its portfolio company Galecto Inc. (Galecto), a privately-held biotechnology company focused on the development of novel treatments for fibrosis and cancer, successful completed a USD 64 million equity financing. Galecto was first incubated through the pre-seed grant programme of the Novo Nordisk Foundation in 2009, and subsequently Novo Seeds led its first seed investment round in 2010. Novo Seeds was instrumental in recruiting the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hans Schambye who has been driving the progress since the start. Novo Seeds also led the company's last fundraise in 2018, when it became its largest shareholder. Sren Mller, Managing Partner at Novo Seeds, commented: "As the original incubators and first investor in Galecto, we are very proud of the company's accomplishments to date. This solid financing positions this Nordic company as global leader in diseases with high unmet medical need and validates Novo Seeds' investment strategy of building the next-generation of life sciences companies and continue financing as they build value. As one of the largest company creator teams in Europe, we are encouraged by this international syndicated fundraise and we look forward to continuing playing a prominent role in shaping the Nordic biotech ecosystem." Hans Schambye, CEO of Galecto, said: "We are delighted to once again count on Novo Seeds' support and look forward to continue working with this group of renowned investors in shaping the future of the company. Together with our existing cash balance, this raise will enable the continuing development of Galecto, including advancing our promising GB0139 product candidate, which has orphan drug designation in both the U.S. and EU, towards market. This financing will also support the further expansion of our clinical development as we aim to have three Phase 2 studies running by the end of 2020. We are looking forward to advancing our products through clinical development and potentially to market to address significant unmet medical needs." Galecto intends to use the funds to prepare for a potential conditional approval of GB0139 for the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) in the European Union in 2022 and to further expand and advance its clinical development pipeline. Galecto is currently conducting a Phase 2b trial of GB0139 in IPF and intends to initiate Phase 2 studies of GB1211 in liver fibrosis related to Non-Alcoholic SteatoHepatitis (NASH) and GB2064 in Myelofibrosis by the end of this year. The financing was led by Soleus Capital and co-led by Eir Ventures, with the participation of Novo Holdings, and new and existing investors including: OrbiMed, Ysios Capital, HBM Healthcare Investments, Sunstone Capital, Bristol Myers Squibb, Seventure, Maverick Ventures,Cormorant Asset Management, Janus Henderson Investors, Hadean Capital, Sphera, Asymmetry Capital Management and Canica. About Novo Holdings A/S Novo Holdings A/S is a private limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. It is the holding and investment company of the Novo Group, comprising Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, and is responsible for managing the Novo Nordisk Foundation's assets. Novo Holdings is recognized as a leading international life science investor, with a focus on creating long-term value. As a life science investor, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in growth and well-established companies. Novo Holdings also manages a broad portfolio of diversified financial assets. Further information: http://www.novoholdings.dk About Galecto, Inc. Galecto is a clinical stage biotechnology company with advanced programs in fibrosis and cancer centered on galectin-3 and LOXL2. The Company's pipeline includes an inhaled galectin-3 modulator currently in Phase 2b for the potential treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, as well as two assets about to move into Phase 2 targeting NASH and myelofibrosis. The Company is incorporated in the U.S. and has its operating headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. Further information can be found at www.galecto.com SOURCE Novo Holdings DUBLIN, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Transplantation Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product Type (Tissue Products, Immunosuppressive Drugs), By Application Type (Organ, Tissue Transplants), By End Use, And Segment Forecasts, 2020 - 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global transplantation market size is expected to reach USD 25.8 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9.3 Transplantation Market Report Highlights Tissue products was the largest revenue-generating segment due to rising demand for tissue and organ transplant procedures Tissue products segment is expected to expand further at a significant CAGR owing to advancement in transplantation products The transplant centers end-use segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to rising popularity of these centers for transplant procedures The hospitals segment led the market in 2019, in terms of revenue, owing to a large number of transplant procedures performed in hospitals North America was the leading regional market in 2019 and is projected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period owing to well-developed healthcare infrastructure was the leading regional market in 2019 and is projected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period owing to well-developed healthcare infrastructure Moreover, presence of a large number of research laboratories, biotechnology, and medical devices manufacturing companies in North America is projected to contribute to the region's growth Growing cases of organ failure have resulted increased demand for transplantation procedures. Rising demand for tissue products, immunosuppressants, and organ preservation solutions is a major factor anticipated to boost the market growth during forecast period. Thus, many biotechnology and medical device manufacturing companies are concentrating on the development of advanced transplant products. Technological advancement in organ transplantation methods is another key factor supporting the market growth. Introduction of advanced tissue products, such as DeNovo NT Graft, Chondrofix Osteochondral Allograft, and DuraMatrix Collagen Dura Substitute Membrane provides higher benefits during treatment. In addition, computerized support systems with advanced systems and software allow easy & effective maintenance of tissues. Thus, availability of such advanced techniques supports market growth. Key Topics Covered: Chapter 1. Methodology and Scope Chapter 2. Executive Summary Chapter 3. Transplantation Market Variables, Trends & Scope 3.1. Market Lineage Outlook 3.1.1. Parent market outlook 3.1.2. Related/ancillary market outlook 3.2. Penetration & Growth Prospect Mapping 3.3. Industry Value Chain Analysis 3.3.1. Reimbursement framework 3.4. Market Dynamics 3.4.1. Market driver analysis 3.4.1.1. Increasing incidence of organ failure 3.4.1.2. Technological advancement in transplantation method 3.4.1.3. Developed tissue banks 3.4.2. Market restraint analysis 3.4.2.1. Shortage of organ donors 3.4.2.2. Ethical and cultural issues 3.4.3. Key opportunities prioritized 3.4.3.1. Key opportunities prioritized, by Product 3.4.3.2. Key opportunities prioritized, by application 3.4.3.3. Key opportunities prioritized, by end use 3.5. Transplantation Market Analysis Tools 3.5.1. Industry analysis - Porter's 3.5.2. PESTEL analysis Chapter 4. Transplantation Market by Product Type Estimates & Trend Analysis 4.1. Definitions and Scope 4.1.1. Tissue products 4.1.2. Immunosuppressive drugs 4.1.3. Preservation Solutions Chapter 5. Transplantation Market: Application Type Estimates & Trend Analysis 5.1. Definitions and Scope 5.1.1. Organ transplant 5.1.2. Tissue transplant 5.2. Product Market Share, 2019 & 2027 5.3. Segment Dashboard 5.4. Global Transplantation Market by Application Type Outlook 5.4.1. Organ transplant 5.4.2. Tissue transplant Chapter 6. Transplantation Market: End Use Estimates & Trend Analysis 6.1. Definitions and Scope 6.1.1. Hospitals 6.1.2. Transplantation centers 6.1.3. Others 6.2. Product Market Share, 2019 & 2027 6.3. Segment Dashboard 6.4. Global Transplantation Market by End Use Channel Outlook 6.4.1. Hospitals 6.4.2. Transplantation centers 6.4.3. Others Chapter 7. Transplantation Market: Country Estimates & Trend Analysis 7.1. Country Market Share Analysis, 2019 & 2027 7.2. County Market Dashboard 7.3. Regional Market Snapshot 7.4. Regional Market Share and Leading Players, 2019 Chapter 8. Competitive Landscape Stryker Corporation Medtronic AbbVie Inc. Zimmer Biomet Novartis 21st Century Medicine Biolife Solutions Teva Pharmaceutical Veloxis Pharmaceuticals For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/efyfau Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Authorities in the democratic island of Taiwan recently arrested a man for smuggling fish parts used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and health foods. The man was caught with a haul of totoaba fish swim bladders -- the part of the fish that allows it to control the depth at which it swims. Traditional restorative recipes have long called for fish parts, based on TCM principles, but fish parts were until recently sourced closer to home, along the south and eastern China seaboard. But skyrocketing commercialization of TCM ingredients in recent decades effectively wiped out the yellow-lipped fish species that had once been caught in huge numbers in the East and South China Seas. Now, smugglers and black marketeers are plying a roaring trade in the totoaba fish, which is found in the Gulf of California in Mexico. Taiwan authorities, working with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), seized 19 kilograms of totoaba swim bladder in July and August, with an estimated black market value of U.S.$900,000, the island's Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said. The raid followed a tip-off to the CIB from the FBI that the fish would enter Taiwan en route to China using international express courier delivery. The giant totoaba fish was added to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1976, making the trade in its parts illegal. Nonetheless, smuggling continues, fueled by massive profits and high prices for totoaba swim bladders on the black market. Chang Chih-wei, a researcher at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Taiwan, said what is happening to the totoaba has already befallen the yellow-lipped fish native to Chinese waters. "In the 1950s and 1960s, yellow-lipped fish along the southeastern coast of China were caught in large numbers," Chang told RFA. "Then catch numbers fell dramatically during the 1990s, to around one percent of hauls that were seen in the 1960s," he said. "When the yellow-lipped fish was fished to the point of extinction, dealers turned to the totoaba as a replacement," Chang said. Dried swim bladders of endangered totoaba fish, which despite an international ban on trade are still available at a traditional medicine shop in Guangzhou, capital of China's southern Guangdoing province, March 1, 2018. Credit: AFP Sales forced underground Hall Sion Chan, project director at Greenpeace East Asia, said it is very rare to see swim bladders, also known as fish maw, offered for sale openly in Hong Kong, where authorities have been cracking down on the trade in recent years. "There are almost no seafood stores that still sell them publicly, so they are being forced more and more underground," Chan told RFA. "Customs will seize them in smuggling cases from time to time." She added: "Hong Kong is still a smuggling center [for fish parts]. They may not be sold in Hong Kong, but they are just re-exported to mainland China." Demand for fish parts has remained buoyant even during the coronavirus pandemic. In June 2020, Hong Kong Customs seized 160 kilograms of totoaba parts in the biggest haul to date. Greenpeace has also investigated and exposed merchants selling the parts in Hong Kong. Oceanographer Zhao Ning says totoaba populations have been devastated by the trade. "It only lives in the Gulf of California, Mexico, and its swim bladder looks very similar to the yellow-lipped fish along the coast of China," Zhao said. "It is said that it can stop bleeding and strengthen yang energy," he said. "To put it bluntly, it's basically protein." Attempts to crack down Zhao said the Chinese authorities have made some attempts to crack down on the trade, which is run by highly organized criminal gangs. "In 2016, Guangzhou Customs asked me to take a class and teach them how to identify these parts," Zhao said. "They went on to crack a large number of smuggling cases." He said public awareness of the issue is still next to non-existent, however. "They don't care whether they are endangered or not endangered, as long as the fish maw is good and thick," Zhao said. Chang said the craze for fish maw has led to its being sold to investors as a good place to earn a return on their cash. The trend only accelerated the decline of totoaba populations. "Totoaba can grow up to two meters long and weigh 100 kilograms," Chang said. "They live a very long time and grow slowly, only becoming sexually mature at around six or seven years. They only spawn once a year." He added: "Adult fish live in relatively deep water habitats and reproduce in groups, so mixed catches in fishing areas can wipe out all of them." Fishermen prepare their nets at Campo Serena fishing camp, to serve China's black market demand for totoaba bladder in the Gulf of California off northwestern Mexico, March 9, 2018. Credit: AFP Fishermen seize evidence In 2015, the Greenpeace ship Hope cruised to Mexico to collect evidence of illegal fishing and remove nets. "Some of our colleagues were there to take photos and video, and to remove nets," Greenpeace's Chan said. "But their evidence was seized by local fishermen." "Any outsider who tries to get involved could be putting their life in danger," she said. "The illegal fishing and smuggling industries are dominated by the criminal underworld," Chan said. "They control the location and number of fishing nets ... and even pay bribes to Mexican officials." The nets used to catch totoaba have also been responsible for wiping out populations of a local dolphin species, the vaquita, Zhao Ning said. "In 1997, there were more than 600 vaquita, but there were only an estimated six to 22 left this year," Zhao said. "It could end up extinct in 2021." Chan said the issue won't go away unless governments take a more pro-active role in enforcing international regulations governing trade in endangered species under CITES. "Hong Kong needs to step up investigation of underground black market networks, while China must forcefully suppress and curb trade [in fish parts]," Chan said. "Mexico should put strict controls in place to cut off the sources [of the trade], such as banning the use of barbed nets," she said. "This could be the last glimmer of hope for the totoaba and the vaquita." Reported by Mai Xiaotian for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. This year, Jewish communities in Montgomery County had to find new and creative ways of observing the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah, which started Sept. 18, and Yom Kippur on Sunday. Congregations will find different accommodations based on denomination and the needs of their community. In the Jewish religion, Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, and the beginning of a 10-day period of introspection and penitence that ends with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. During Yom Kippur, observers will fast all day, and pray for forgiveness. It is the most important Jewish holiday. Edwin Goldberg, rabbi of the Beth Shalom of The Woodlands, said typically around this time before Yom Kippur he would be spending most of his time preparing for an in-person service with his congregants and working on his sermon. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there wont be an in-person service, and a lot of Goldbergs time has been spent setting up the necessary technology to stream the services over Facebook. Beth Shalom of The Woodlands was not set up to consistently stream services before the pandemic, but by the time April rolled around it became a necessity. Rosh Hashanah services were streamed online and while it wasnt what the congregation was hoping for it did go over well. Its not as if its going to feel like a regular service, just virtual, Goldberg said. One of the Aha moments was to say that I cannot say were going to do something and its going to be just like it was. Instead of focusing on what wouldnt be able to happen this year, he decided instead to focus on what they could create, instead. For his congregants, this means creating a space at home to worship. Its not just about coming to a building, its also about making your home a sacred place, he said. Connecting through technology Over the summer, Beth Shalom tested out various ways to stream services and connect the congregants with the synagogue through technology. Thankfully, the tests that failed happened back in July, not as they were preparing for Rosh Hashanah. One of the adjustments that Goldberg has made under these new circumstances is shortening his sermons. Attention spans seem to be shorter while watching services on a screen than they were in the synagogue. Beth Shalom has been locked down since March and will continue virtual services for the time being. But to celebrate the Jewish New Year they did host a socially distanced gathering in Northshore Park. Were trying to be safe but also recognize that people have spiritual needs and at the end of the day we have to figure out how to get together, Goldberg said. Outdoor services Its a sentiment that Mendel Blecher, rabbi of Chabad of The Woodlands, echoes. As an Orthodox Jewish community, technology like streaming services is not an option. For Yom Kippur, Chabad of The Woodlands will be holding services in a tent outside to allow for people to socially distance. Congregants encouraged him to hold outdoor services for Yom Kippur after outdoor services for Rosh Hashanah were well attended. Were really just coming to pray, primarily, and come together as a community, Blecher said. Like Goldberg, Blecher will be keeping his sermon short, but for slightly different reasons. It was only a few days ago that he decided to hold the service outside because it looks like the weather will be cooperating, but he doesnt want to keep people outside in the potential heat too long while they are fasting. But for congregants who choose to observe at home, Blecher said Chabad of The Woodlands provided the items they need in High Holiday packages, including a collection of readings, prayers, and meditations, as well as a honey cake. As he was reminded by a member of the congregation, the same God that is in the synagogue is also at home. Mercy and compassion The thing about coming to the synagogue, theres that sense of community, togetherness, and synergy of everyone praying together, which creates a whole different atmosphere, Blecher said. But prayer can be done at home too, and should be done at home if a person cannot attend in person. Both congregations have had positive reactions from their members to the different ways they have chosen to observe the High Holy Days. For Goldberg, working around the COVID-19 restrictions is about making the best of a bad situation. Yom Kippur is about praying for mercy and compassion, and he hopes his congregants remember to give those things to themselves. We have choice, but were not in control, he said. The most important part of the High Holy Days, in general, is this idea that you cannot change your fate but you can temper it to the extent that we practice three things: we repent, we pray, and we do acts of charity and goodness and kindness for others. As moral beings, he said, we dont have the freedom and liberty to do whatever we want, but we do have the freedom to do the right thing. This year, while observing Yom Kippur, the right thing means practicing faith while socially distanced. jamie.swinnerton@chron.com More than 7,000 words and many aspirational commitments later, Canadians finally have a full list of pretty much everything the federal government wants to do. What the throne speech left us waiting a bit longer for, however, was the when and the how of Canadas economic recovery from COVID-19. The ingredients are all there, but now it matters deeply how the government prioritizes them. Its like making a good batch of pancake batter: first you put in the dry ingredients, then you add the wet ingredients, and then you stir just a bit so the pancakes turn out light and fluffy instead of hard and flat. If we want to get to the low-carbon future, the just transition, the highly skilled workforce and the comfortable middle-class jobs, we first have to kick the pandemic out the door. The throne speech made that point a few times. Effectively dealing with the health crisis is the best thing we can do for the economy, Governor General Julie Payette said near the beginning, going on to reiterate that point here and there throughout the one-hour speech. The federal Liberals should enlarge the font on that sentence, print it out and hang it on the fridge. Its easy to forget the basics when theyre mixed in with so many other ambitions for the future and yet-to-be-kept promises from the past. In fact, they should also print out a comment made earlier in the day by Canadas chief public health officer. Canada is at a crossroads with the COVID-19 epidemic trajectory, Dr. Theresa Tam said. At the current rate of growth, our epidemiological analysis and modelling studies indicate that unless public health and individual protective measures are strengthened and we work together to slow the spread of the virus, the situation is on track for a big resurgence in a number of provinces. Those are ominous words for anyone hoping for an economic recovery. As the first wave taught us, theres no point in even talking about creating a million jobs or daycare spots if we arent allowed to leave the house or mingle. So the very first ingredient for a recovery, and perhaps the most concrete commitment made in the throne speech, is to beef up testing capacity. If we know who has the virus, public health authorities have a hope of containing its spread, bus drivers will know who to let on the bus, restaurants will know who to let in. The federal government will be there to help the provinces increase their testing capacity. Canadians should not be waiting in line for hours to get a test, Payette said, stating the obvious. The government committed to pushing for fast approval for new types of testing, and deploying the tests across the country, going as far as to create a testing assistance response team to zoom into areas where COVID-19 is spiking. On the business side, it promised direct aid to companies that have temporarily shut down because of local outbreaks. For the economy as a whole, they extended the wage subsidy all the way out to next summer a crucial signal of certainty for businesses scrambling to stay afloat. And for families pulling their hair out trying to get back to work while dealing on-again, off-again with kids at home, theres a commitment to push for the creation of more child-care spots. But will those key ingredients form the basis of an economic recovery? The Canadian Chamber of Commerce sees a scattered list of worthwhile measures that need to be strung together into a coherent national strategy, ensuring that businesses and workers alike can coexist with the virus until we get a vaccine. Were going to have to live with this killer in our midst, said chamber president Perrin Beatty. We know from the first save that the virus thrives in close quarters long-term-care homes, meat-packing plants, migrant workers residences. While the throne speech mentioned some of those people in passing, theres no obvious plan to ensure the pandemic doesnt side-swipe their crowded spaces once again. Add to the mix, we now have kids in the classroom with the windows about to close to keep out the winter. We know and the government tacitly recognizes that countries that control the pandemic efficiently will recover faster. Its true around the world. Capital Economics notes that in South Asia, for example, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will see mild recessions this year and have had mild experiences with coronavirus. India, on track to have the highest number of cases in the world, is set to see its economy contract by 10 per cent. Here in Canada, the immediate lockdown hurt our economy deeply. But it allowed us to reopen gently over the summer and see our job market start to recover more quickly than in the United States, where the COVID cases remained high. In Canada, 63 per cent of the jobs have returned, compared to 48 per cent in the United States. A speech from the throne is meant to lay out a vision, not an action plan. But as the government moves from the abstract to the concrete in the hopes of guiding the economy into a recovery, lets hope it follows its own recipe and gets the ingredients in the right order. Read more about: Rapper Tory Lanez has denied Megan Thee Stallions accusation that he shot her in the feet following a party in the Hollywood Hills. Megan Thee Stallion shared an Instagram video last month claiming Tory Lanez was the one who pulled the trigger and left her needing surgery. Canadian Tory Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, was arrested on suspicion of possession of a concealed weapon on the morning of the incident in July but released on bail. There is a time to stay silent . And a time to speak ..... I said all I could say on this ... ALL PLATFORMS ... ..... #DAYSTAR ... Ill be back to yall soon .... respectfully .... pic.twitter.com/rC7oAotwfR Tory Lanez (@torylanez) September 25, 2020 He has not been charged with an offence relating to the alleged shooting and the Los Angeles Police Department say the case remains under investigation. Peterson, 28, said it was time to break his silence and released a 17-track album titled Daystar on Friday, and on one song accuses Megan Thee Stallion of trying to frame him. The song Money Over Fallouts opens with media commentary over the case and condemnation of Peterson. Im done with this, you gotta know the truth, he raps, before saying Megan Thee Stallions people are trying to frame me for a shooting. He later asks how you get shot in your foot, dont hit no bones or tendons? Peterson was criticised on social media for the timing of his new music. Video of the Day There has been a renewed focus on the mistreatment of black women in the US amid anger over the death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by police. Megan Thee Stallion first directly accused Peterson of shooting her in August, saying in an Instagram Live video: Yes Tory shot me. You shot me and you got your publicist and people to these blogs lying. Stop lying! Black women are so unprotected & we hold so many things in to protect the feelings of others w/o considering our own. It might be funny to yall on the internet and just another messy topic for you to talk about but this is my real life and Im real life hurt and traumatized. TINA SNOW (@theestallion) July 17, 2020 In earlier videos, Megan Thee Stallion had broken down while recalling the incident, telling fans she had to undergo surgery to have the bullets removed from her feet. She described it as the worst experience of my life but said she felt fortunate not to be more seriously hurt. The Houston rapper, 25, has enjoyed a hugely successful year and is one of the brightest rising stars in hip-hop. Her single Savage was an international hit, with Beyonce featuring on a remix in April. This week Megan Thee Stallion featured on Time magazines 100 most influential people in the world list. She is yet to respond to Petersons denial. Europe Strike and rally by Greek doctors Greek doctors staged a 24-hour strike on Thursday. The Federation of Hospital Doctor Associations of Greece (OENGE) members held a rally outside the Ministry of Health in Athens at noon. They are protesting staff shortages and lack of infrastructure in the health system. Doctors point out that 67 percent of intensive care unit beds are being used by COVID-19 patients and this is likely to increase. The doctors say the overwhelming impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, together with the lack of health staff and resources, has meant the Greek health system has become a one-illness system. Other health problems are being neglected. Greece has had 16,627 coronavirus cases with 366 fatalities. Ferry workers stoppage at Greek port Greek seafarers on ferries out of the Port of Piraeus held a 24-hour strike Thursday. The seafarers represented by five unions are seeking a new collective bargaining contract and pay increase. They are also protesting a recent regulation brought in by the Shipping Ministry, which would allow merchant ships over 3,000 tons to sign international agreements covering junior crew, second lieutenants and third engineers. Such agreements would undermine current conditions. UKs London Underground rail drivers vote for industrial action UK drivers working for Londons underground rail system voted last by a 95 percent majority on a 70 percent turnout to take industrial action. The ASLEF union members are opposed to moves by their employer, Transport for London, to change their terms and conditions. The union has not set a date for any industrial action. Irish secondary school teachers to be balloted for strike Irish Secondary school teachers will ballot for strike action in opposition to the unsafe conditions since the reopening of schools. On September 19, the central executive committee of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) agreed to ballot around 15,000 teachers. Their concerns include lack of physical distancing, provision of personal protective equipment (PPE), inadequate testing procedures and the threat to staff with health problems. Other issues include implementation of new work practices without consultation and the insecurity of teachers on temporary contracts. Strike threat by Irish medical staff Public health doctors in Ireland in the frontline fight against the COVID-19 pandemic are threatening to ballot for industrial action including strikes. The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) members want the Irish government to resolve their longstanding pay dispute. A report issued in December 2018 recommended public health doctors be awarded consultant status with commensurate pay. The doctors are calling for a ballot before Christmas if the government does not implement their demands. French hotel cleaning staff strike enters 15th month Around 25 hotel housekeepers at the Ibis Batignolles hotel in Paris have been on strike since July 2019. The hotel is part of the Accor group, but the housekeepers are employed by cleaning contractors SAS-STN. The mainly immigrant workers, CGT-HPE union members, are seeking parity of working conditions with staff directly employed by Accor. Underground protest by Ukrainian miners continues Monday marked the 18th day of an underground protest by 29 iron ore miners at the Oktyabrskaya mine in the Ukraine. They began their protest on September 3 and were followed a few days later by over 350 miners at other mines in the same group. Among their demands are a pay rise, improved pension and safety measures to be enforced. They are also demanding a change of management. Since last week supporters of the miners have been protesting outside state authority buildings in Kiev. Unofficial picket by sacked catering staff in Irish capital Around 10 Irish catering staff at the former Allied Irish Bank (AIB) HQ in Dublin set up an unofficial picket line following notice that their jobs no longer existed. On September 4, they were notified their last day of employment would be September 11. The catering staff at AIB were outsourced to Aramark in 2018. The staff had originally been expecting to be made redundant when the kitchens closed at the end of November this year, but the date was brought forward. The SIPTU trade union members are demanding redundancy terms of two weeks pay per year of service plus four weeks pay rather than the statutory two weeks pay per year plus three weeks pay. Threatened strike by Irish construction workers called off A strike threat by Irish construction workers in the mechanical construction sector was called off after employers agreed a 2.7 percent pay rise. The Unite and Connect trade union members had threatened to walk out if their employers body, the Mechanical Engineering Building Services Contractors Association, failed to honour the agreed rise. Mechanical construction workers are responsible for installing heating, ventilation and air conditioning infrastructure in buildings. The employers initially threatened to break the construction industry Sectional Employment Order (SEO), which included the promised pay rise. In the summer, the Irish High Court ruled SEOs unconstitutional following a legal challenge by employers in the electrical contracting sector. The court also ruled that SEOs covering the mechanical construction and general construction sectors were unconstitutional. However, following an appeal the court put a stay on that decision, leaving two SEOs still legal. General construction workers are threatening to strike if the SEO covering their sector is not implemented on October 1, or if their terms and conditions worsen. Under the agreement the workers are due a 2.7 percent pay increase from October 1. BATU, Connect, OPATSI, SIPTU and Unite members working in the general construction sector previously agreed to strike if the SEO was not honoured. Rehabilitation staff strike in Wigan and Leigh, northwest England Drug and alcohol rehabilitation staff, who provide mental health support in northwest England, began a 10-day strike on Monday, after a 100 percent majority vote in favour. They are staging socially distanced picket lines and are to hold a virtual rally. They work for the We Are With You charity based in Wigan and Leigh. Around 30 Unison union members are fighting to bring their pay and work conditions in line with those of National Health Service staff. The rehab workers previously worked for the NHS and were promised their previous terms of employment would remain when they transferred to the charity. The workers estimate they are likely to lose around a quarter of a million pounds between them under the new contract. They have already taken 16 days of strike action. Third 24-hour strike by biscuit workers in Scottish capital Scottish workers at the Burtons biscuit factory in Edinburgh held their third 24-hour strike on Wednesday. The GMB union members are working to rule and have imposed an overtime ban. They voted by a 91 percent majority to take the action after the company only offered a 1.6 percent pay rise. Burtons make well-known favourites such as Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels. Housing repair staff in Brighton, southeast England plan further strike Workers at Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) Housing Repairs team are to begin a 10-day strike on September 28. They are protesting against minority Green Party-led BHCCs reneging on a promise to implement a pay raise the workers were awarded under their previous employer Mears. The workers were transferred back in-house to BHCC under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations on the understanding they would receive the increased pay and improved sickness and holiday schemes previously negotiated. Dispute at Go North West in Manchester, UK continues as driver representative returns to work Sacked Unite trade union representative Colin Hayden at the Go North West bus company in Manchester in northwest England was due to return to work September 24. The dispute, however, continues. The drivers voted by a 94 percent majority for industrial action in a recent consultative ballot. They are opposing moves by Go North West to attack their pay, terms, and conditions. Go North West is part of the multi-billion-pound Go Ahead group. It intends to fire the whole workforce of 477 workers and then rehire them, forcing them to accept inferior job contracts, including an increase in hours worked that will be unpaid, and reduced sick pay. Go North West have offered a one-off payment of 5,000 to compensate for a cut in drivers pay by an average of 3,500 a year. Last year, Go North West purchased the Queens Road depot from another bus company, First Manchester, along with its fleet of 163 buses. Unite is opposed to industrial action and is appealing to top executives of the Go North Wests group nationally to resolve the dispute. Prior to the strike vote being announced, General Secretary Len McCluskey wrote to CEO David Brown saying the union would expose your companys behaviour to all of your stakeholders, partners and associates. This will include mobilising all of our allies and contacting our significant political network in the Nordic countries, Germany and Australasia. Go Ahead is one of the UKs largest bus and train operators and is seeking to expand operations into Scandinavia. Unite is calling for the firm to get around the negotiating table. Journalists in the Midlands, England withdraw strike threat UK journalists working for the Bullivant media group have withdrawn the threat of a further three days of strike action after concessions from the company. The Bullivant media group publishes 18 newspaper titles in the West Midlands area, including Warwickshire and Worcestershire. After a vote in July, the National Union of Journalist (NUJ) members took two days of strike action in August and two in September. They were protesting unauthorised deductions from wages at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, non-editorial staff being directed to carry out editorial roles and the threat to make five journalists redundant. The Bullivant group agreed to repay the deductions from wages and the number of redundancies was reduced from five to three. Two workers have taken voluntary redundancy while one journalist, the father of the NUJ chapel (branch head), was made compulsorily redundant. Africa South African health workers continue protests over COVID-19 danger and pay Frontline health workers demonstrated Monday outside the Union Buildings, Pretoria, seat of the South African government and the office of ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa. They are still waiting for a response to their petition submitted to parliament earlier in the month, despite police attempts to disperse them with water cannon and stun grenades. The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) members plan to strike nationally alongside other public sector workers if their demands for greater COVID-19 safety and an increase in salary, including risk allowances, are not met. As of September 11, 32,429 health workers had contracted the virus with 257 deaths. There have been 16,206 deaths and 665,188 cases in the country. South African youth in Port Elizabeth shut down mall demanding jobs Young unemployed men and women shut down a renovated shopping centre in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on September 17, demanding employment in the newly opened shops. Over 80 young people protested, preventing shoppers entering the mall until they presented their petition to management. They say they had been promised jobs by a local councillor and if they do not get a positive response will shut down the shopping centre indefinitely. Workers at South African student welfare scheme to strike over pay Office workers at South Africas National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will strike next week after the government funded body refused to award a pay increase. The NSFAS, which runs a support programme for marginalised students, says it cannot afford to pay more because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the NEHAWU members say this is an excuse as its budget was awarded before the onset of lockdown. Communications workers in Johannesburg face intimidation in fight for wage increase Workers at South African ICT distributors Mustek are striking to force their demand for a 20 percent wage increase and housing subsidy. The Communication Workers Union members have been picketing the firms head office in Johannesburg since September 15, despite Mustek using legislation to limit the workers action and security guards in riot gear to intimidate them. Mustek recently posted profits up 9 percent from the previous year. Nigerian unions sell out health workers strike Nigerian health workers, who began striking just as doctors were returning to work, were ordered by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) to end their strike on September 21. The strike had begun at midnight on September 13. The demands included payment of hazard allowances and were similar to those of the doctors. While calling for a suspension of the action, JOHESU accused the Federal Government of having resorted to intimidation and blackmail of JOHESU leaders using all forms of instruments and faceless organisations. Nigeria has recorded 57,724 coronavirus cases and 1,102 deaths. Nigerian bakers strike to protest hike in flour price Nigerian bakers in Lagos and Abuja went on strike on September 18 to protest increases in the price of flour and other bread ingredients. Newspapers reported that flour millers had increased the price of flour several times between March and August 2020 during the pandemic. Most bakers returned to work on September 21, but with prices increased. Nurses and midwives in Ghana strike plans declared illegal As over 80,000 Ghanaian nurses and midwives were preparing to take strike action on September 21, the National Labour Commission (NLC) obtained a court injunction to stop the strike from going ahead on the grounds that nurses are essential workers. The nurses are demanding clothing allowances, increased call credit and risk allowances. The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association and Physician Assistants and Certified Registered Anaesthetics called for action only after a series of negotiation meetings had failed to lead to agreement. Kenyan health workers to strike for pay rise Around 5,000 Kenyan health workers at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi will strike next Monday if they are not paid expected salary increases and extra allowances. The members of three different health workers unions, comprising doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and general hospital workers, are demanding the implementation of a resolution made by Kenyas State Corporations Advisory Committee that upgraded the status of the hospital in 2012 and should have resulted in pay rises. Sacked retail workers in Kenya hold demonstration over unpaid wages Retail staff recently sacked by TuskysKenya's largest retailerheld a demonstration on September 18, to demand unpaid wages. Over 45 former workers, who had been employed as contractors, said the company refused to honour its commitments since terminating their employment three months ago. Some were given post-dated cheques, others unsigned cheques. Liberian government to replace striking health workers with new hires The Liberian government plans to hire strike-breakers against a strike by health workers, The strike began at midnight on September 16 and their demands include salary increases, reclassification of their roles and payment of hazard allowances. The nurses and medical officers of the Armed Forces of Liberia whom the government has called in will be given first preference as the government hires to fill the gaps. The National Health Workers Union of Liberia (NAHWUL) said the strike will continue until the government gives it certification as a union, with the demands that motivated the health workers to strike mentioned only later. China on Thursday lashed out at the United States at a high-level UN meeting over its criticism on the coronavirus, with its envoy declaring, "Enough is enough!" Two days after President Donald Trump used his annual address to the General Assembly to attack China's record, the US ambassador to the United Nations also took an outraged tone -- after which her Chinese counterpart showed palpable anger. "I must say, enough is enough! You have created enough troubles for the world already," Chinese envoy Zhang Jun told a Security Council meeting on global governance attended through videoconference by several heads of state. "The US has nearly seven million confirmed cases and over 200,000 deaths by now. With the most advanced medical technologies and system in the world, why has the US turned out to have the most confirmed cases and fatalities?" he asked in English. "If someone should be held accountable, it should be a few US politicians themselves." Using a phrase often told by US leaders to China, Zhang said, "The US should understand that a major power should behave like a major power." The United States "is completely isolated," he said in remarks enthusiastically backed by his Russian counterpart. - 'Shame on each of you' - His remarks came after the US ambassador, Kelly Craft, opened with angry words that took diplomats off-guard. "You know, shame on each of you. I am astonished and I am disgusted by the content of today's discussion," Craft said. "I am actually really quite ashamed of this Council -- members of the Council who took this opportunity to focus on political grudges rather than the critical issue at hand. My goodness." Diplomats said they were puzzled at the tone of Craft, who had left by the time the Chinese ambassador spoke. Craft was "very aggressive" after a session that had been "more or less full of consensus," one diplomat said on condition of anonymity. With world leaders asked to send speeches in advance for a virtual General Assembly, Chinese President Xi Jinping could not reply Tuesday to Trump and delivered a mild-mannered speech in which he unveiled more ambitious targets on climate change. But the spokesman for the General Assembly, Brenden Varma, said China had requested to speak next Tuesday, the day set up for any nation to reply to statements. Trump in his speech had demanded action against China for spreading the "plague" of Covid-19 to the world. China suppressed news of the respiratory disease when it first emerged last year in Wuhan and initial advice played down the risks of transmission. China's communist leaders have more recently tried to transform the narrative into one of the country's success in stopping the virus. Trump's response to the pandemic -- which he has provocatively called the "China virus" -- has emerged as a major political issue as he seeks a new term in the November 3 election. - Africans seek debt relief - Several African leaders used their virtual addresses to the General Assembly to plead for more international assistance, fearing that Covid will impede development. "Our nations are asking for financial support that rises to the level of the economic crisis they're witnessing," said Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou. "Just a debt moratorium will not be enough faced with the challenges that have arisen. We simply have to cancel the debt completely," he said, reiterating a call made Tuesday by his counterpart from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi. The Group of 20 major economies in mid-April suspended debt payments for the poorest nations through the end of the year as they face major budget shortfalls due to the Covid shutdown. The African Union is seeking to extend the moratorium through 2021, warning of dire economic effects from the health crisis. "This pandemic could erase more than a decade of economic growth and social progress achieved by the African continent," Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said. Despite the economic concerns, Africa has been one of the regions least affected in health terms by Covid-19, with the continent reporting 1.8 million cases and 34,500 deaths. This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics In a time of crisis like this, a government needs its people and politics united. A nation of India's size and diversity can't fight a stronger rival with fraying social cohesion, observes Shekhar Gupta. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi inspects the honour guard at the Red Fort, August 15, 2020. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters It is a nasty truism that the finest political humour is found in dictatorships. It festers nicely in whispers and the thrill of danger. Travels in the generals's Pakistan and the unravelling Eastern Bloc taught me this. The current situation in India brings back to me a familiar story in the Soviet Union's last years. It seems that Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev and Gorbachev are travelling in a luxury saloon on a train across Siberia. At some point in the middle of the vast emptiness, the train stops. There is no track further ahead. So, what to do now? Lenin said, 'Let's collect some villagers from nearby and sing The Internationale and the workers will happily lay the rest of the track.' Stalin said, 'This is stupid. Do get those people, but shoot a few and the rest will do the job, happily or not.' Gorbachev suggested he find a phone to reach his friend Ronald Reagan for advice. Brezhnev, silent so far, looked up and said, 'Lulz! There is so much vodka in the saloon. Keep sipping and presume the train is moving.' Now look at the situation in our country today. With coronavirus numbers and deaths going up and up, all economic indicators crashing down and down and the Chinese being the Chinese, we have the prime minister and his government producing one new slogan after another. Hoping to ride a 'hawa' of grand distraction. It goes from the rediscovery of Atmanirbhar Bharat wrapped in Make-in-India, pisciculture revolution, hiring of a consultant for a $1 trillion Uttar Pradesh economy, ban on Chinese apps, claims of lowest per million cases and deaths from Covid and, of course, an endless celebration of a booming economy when the reality is the opposite. How is it any different from Brezhnev asking his top comrades to presume the train is moving even when there is no track ahead? Just that there is no vodka here. At least not free, sarkari vodka. We are looking at a 23.9 per cent contraction in the first quarter of this year. Economist Arvind Panagariya, who I respect immensely, argues with much merit that the steep decline is mostly Covid-linked. But, two questions follow. What was the GDP growth trend in the two years prior to the novel coronavirus being identified? India had already had four successive quarters of growth decline. It is as if a train rolling down without power or brakes now suddenly hit the end of the track (read pandemic). Before we think the 'day after' the virus, we need to remember where we were headed the day before. The virus didn't reverse our direction. It accelerated our decline. The pandemic has been described as an 'Act of God' and, whether or not it is a justification to deny the states their anticipated share of GST, it is a fact. It is also true that the Modi government, unlike Donald Trump, Boris Johnson or Jair Bolsonaro, can't be accused of taking it too lightly. If anything, you might say it over-reacted. IMAGE: A healthcare worker takes a swab in New Delhi, September 19, 2020. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters That the lockdown was too early and too total and the call of 'jaan hai, toh jahaan hai' contributed to the panic that saw millions of migrant workers walk back home and take the virus to the interiors. But, all of that is now, with the benefit of hindsight. There are other issues with its handling of the crisis. Too much centralisation has probably led to many failures, lack of trust in states, remote-control by the Centre. That power and responsibility should have devolved to the states much earlier. Even now, there is no real justification for the Disaster Management Act to continue. So heady can such unfamiliar powers be that even a usually staid and understated scientific institution like the Indian Council of Medical Research deludes itself into writing firmans with a few weeks's deadlines for a vaccine. The primary diagnosis here has to be, when the medical scientists catch bureaucratitis. Again, you have to be fair to say that it wasn't the Modi government that invited or provoked China. The Chinese decided to move in because they saw India in Covid crisis and with a declining economy at a time when the world, especially the US, is distracted. I have argued that it may be Xi's response to India's changes in Kashmir on August 5, 2019 and the reassertion of the claim on Aksai Chin. It is definitely a possibility and you might argue that it wasn't a risk worth taking. But that's your view. Its handling of the Chinese threat, however, has been realistic. The military has been given reasonable tactical freedom, official and political rhetoric is controlled, and an unwise response like Nehru's in 1962, under pressure or in anger, has been avoided. So, what are we complaining about? IMAGE: Indian soldiers load supplies on a military helicopter at a forward airbase in in Ladakh. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters If India is being strangled by this triple crisis, we have to remember what it started from. Which takes us back to the economy and that 'the day before' question. India's economic growth was looking brilliant until 2017. The recovery post 2011 had been quite significant. What went wrong then? Who shot through the wheels of the economy? Or, who removed the rails in the middle of nowhere while the train was gathering pace nicely? This is what will take you to the most important man-made element of this complex situation. Whatever Covid may have done March onwards, we cannot blame God or the Chinese for the stalling of our own economic growth. It was a series of unthinking, and poorly war-gamed decisions, from demonetisation to instability in the Reserve Bank to indecision PSU banks and more that already had our growth down to levels we thought we had left behind in the 1980s. Then self-defeating return to protectionism. Even Panagariya, no critic of this government, said to me in our conversation that this protectionism would shave off up to two percentage points of our growth. If there is one thing a nation and its government need in times of such intense, multiple and intertwined crises, it is political space and confidence. It needs a reality check internally on whether it has created the best possible environment for itself to deal with these issues. Or, is it so deluded by Mr Modi's cast-in-titanium image that it couldn't care less? I have argued repeatedly over a decade now how India is now at its most secure, internally and externally. To a child of the crisis-ridden 1960s, this has been a wonderful feeling. Does it still feel so? There are important reversals. Externally, India faces an active two-front situation with some of the other neighbours too getting impatient over one thing or the other. Of course, the Chinese are up to their games there, but why wouldn't they? Now, there might be limitations to what any government may be able to do with a hostile neighbourhood and international environment. But, must the constant combat of domestic politics also rage at the same time? India has had a stellar record of closing ranks when faced with an external challenge, except now. This responsibility does not lie with the Opposition. IMAGE: A healthcare worker checks the temperature of a man at a workshop in Gujarat, September 21, 2020. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters When you face a threat at the borders, a much stronger army carrying live ammunition, the first thing you do is suspend hostilities at home. In the old days we would call the National Integration Council. We know there are the Bihar and West Bengal elections and MP by-elections coming up. But, in a time of crisis like this, a government needs its people and politics united. A nation of India's size and diversity can't fight a stronger rival with fraying social cohesion. I know it is virtue signalling, but can we forget our divisive politics for a few months and focus on these crises. The onus is entirely on the prime minister and his government. By Special Arrangement with The Print Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com Summerville, SC (29483) Today Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 41F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mostly clear. Low 21F. Winds light and variable. Wearing black glasses with especially thick lenses, Vialva opened his eyes wide as officials started administering the fatal dose of pentobarbital. He scanned the ceiling lights in the pale green room, furrowed his brows, yawned and then turned his head toward a witness room where his mother was. Within minutes, he no longer moved at all, his head fixed in a tilt toward the witness room, his mouth agape. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) said Friday that Japan has approved Ultomiris or ravulizumab for adults and children living with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome or aHUS. atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome is an ultra-rare disease that can cause progressive injury to vital organs, primarily the kidneys, via damage to the walls of blood vessels and blood clots. atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome or aHUS affects both adults and children and many patients present in critical condition in the hospital setting, often requiring supportive care, including dialysis, in an intensive care unit. The prognosis of aHUS can be poor in many cases, with 56 percent of adults and 29 percent of children developing end-stage renal disease or dying within a year of diagnosis with supportive care alone, so a timely and accurate diagnosis in addition to treatment, is critical to improving patient outcomes, the company said in a statement. 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. Breonna Taylor's grieving mother has admitted she 'never had faith' in Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and accused him of failing to take action against the 'terrorists' who killed her daughter, after just one police officer was charged over the raid that led to her death. The family on Friday responded to the grand jury's decision to only indict Brett Hankison on 'wanton endangerment' charges, as they demanded the state prosecutor publicly release the transcripts of the report. Cameron, a black Republican, was harshly criticized during the press conference at Louisville's Jefferson State Park, where the family's lawyers and supporters accused him of being a 'sellout' for failing to support the black community. They also claimed Cameron had not been forthcoming on the grand jury's decision when he met with Breonna's family ahead of the announcement, saying they learned of the indictment 'at the same time that America did.' Scroll down for video Breonna Taylor's mother Tamika Palmer broke down during an emotional press conference at Louisville's Jefferson Square Park on Friday Palmer did not speak but had her sister read her powerful written statement on her behalf. She is seen above with attorneys Ben Crump and Lonita Baker Palmer's sister and Breonna's aunt, Bianca Austin (pictured wearing her niece's EMT jacket) said Breonna's loss has been 'emotionally draining for her sister' and agreed to speak out on her behalf Palmer was flanked by her relatives and attorneys as they family spoke out against the state's decision to not indict any of the police officers involved in her daughter's death with murder Only one cop is being charged in relation to the police raid which killed Breonna Taylor (pictured), and not directly for killing her Breonna's mother Tamika Palmer wore a shirt that had, 'I (heart) Louisville Police' with the word police crossed out and bullet holes in the heart emoji. She wept quietly at the podium as she was flanked by sister Bianca Austin and younger daughter Juniyah. Bianca, who wore her niece's EMT jacket, told the crowd the loss has been 'emotionally draining for her sister' and agreed to read out Palmer's powerful written statement on her behalf. In her remarks, Palmer took aim at Cameron and said the results of the months-long investigation proved the justice system had failed Breonna and the black community. 'I never had faith in Daniel Cameron to begin with. I knew he had already chosen to be on the wrong side of the law the moment he wanted the grand jury to make the decision,' she said. 'What I hoped is that he knew he had the power to do the right thing. That he had the power to start the healing of this city. 'What he helped me realize is that it will always be us, against them. That we are never safe when it comes to them,' Palmer said. Cameron on Friday said through a spokesperson that he understood the family's pain. 'Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but prosecutors and Grand Jury members are bound by the facts and by the law,' spokeswoman Elizabeth Kuhn said. On Wednesday he had addressed the decision to only indict Hankison over the deadly raid that was conducted under a 'no-knock' search warrant on March 13. Hankison, who was fired in June, was charged with three counts of first-degree 'wanton endangerment' for shooting into the neighboring apartments. Attorney Ben Crump questioned the decisions the attorney general took throughout the investigation process and demanded he release the transcript of the grand jury report Palmer wore a shirt that had, 'I (heart) Louisville Police' with the word police crossed out and bullet holes in the heart emoji emblazoned on the front But neither Hankison nor the two other officers - Sergeant John Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove - who fired the shots that killed Taylor were charged in direct connection with her death. Cameron said the investigation found they had acted in self defense after her boyfriend Kenneth Walker opened fired first. 'It's kinda ironic when you think of the message that is being sent,' family attorney Ben Crump said on Friday. 'It's like they charged the police for missing' but did not charge them for 'shooting bullets in to black bodies,' he added. State Attorney General Daniel Cameron on Wednesday announced the grand jury could not charge the two officers who shot a stream of bullets into Breonna Taylor because they had reacted in self defense The results of the grand jury report were finally announced to the public following a five-month investigation, during which Cameron came under intense pressure from the community to lay charges against the cops. Palmer went on to say that Cameron alone was not only to blame, but the officials involved in the decisions that resulted in the raid that led to Breonna's death as well. 'The officer [who] lied to obtain the search warrant failed her. The judge who signed the search warrant failed her. The terrorists who broke down her door failed her. The system as a whole has failed her,' she said. 'I was reassured Wednesday of why I have no faith in the legal system. The police and the law were not made to protect us black and brown women.' Attorney Lonita Baker speaks at a press conference in Jefferson Square Park for Breonna Taylor TAMIKA PALMER'S FULL STATEMENT ON GRAND JURY DECISION I never had faith in Daniel Cameron to begin with. I knew he was too inexperienced to deal with a job of this caliber. I knew he had already chosen to be on the wrong side of the law the moment he wanted the grand jury to make the decision. What I hoped is that he knew he had the power to do the right thing. That he had the power to start the healing of this city. That he had the power to help mend over 400 years of oppression. What he helped me realize is that it will always be us against them. That we are never safe when it comes to them. In an email [Sgt] Mattingly called us animals and thugs. It is clear that that is the way they will always see us. I was reassured Wednesday of why I have no faith in the legal system. The police and the law were not made to protect us black and brown women. But when I speak on it, I'm considered an angry black woman. But know this, I am angry. I am not angry for the reasons that you want me to be. But angry because our black women and black men keep dying. Angry because our children our dying at the hands of our police officers. I'm angry that this nation is learning that black women are dying at the hands of police officers and this is not okay. You can take the dog out of the fight, but you can't take the fight out of the dog. For lack of better terms, "bark, bark," for being the dog still standing to fight. I knew Cameron would never do his job, but what I do know is that him and countless others will go to bed seeing Breonna's face, still hearing her say her name. Cameron alone didn't fail her, but it ended with a lack of investigation. The officer they told they lied to obtain the search warrant failed her. The judge who signed the search warrant failed her. The terrorists who broke down her door failed her. The system as a whole has failed her. You didn't just rob me and my family, you robbed the world of a queen. A queen willing to do a job that most of us can never stomach to do. A queen willing to build up anyone around her. A queen who was starting to pave her path. I hope you never have to know the pain of knowing your child is in need, in help, and you're not able to hear them. I hope you never hear the sounds of hearing someone cry and beg for your help and she never receives help. Those cries were ignored. I hope you never know the pain of your child being murdered 191 days in a row. Advertisement Crump, who has represented several families in high-profile cases of police killings, helped Taylor's family win a $12million settlement from the city of Louisville in a wrongful death lawsuit. He questioned whether Cameron, the state's first black attorney general, was attempting to protect the cops and called on him to he release the transcripts so the public can know if there was anyone 'who gave a voice to Taylor.' 'Did he present any evidence on Breonna Taylor's behalf, or did he make a unilateral decision to put his thumb on the scales of justice to help try to exonerate and justify the killing [of Taylor] by these police officers?' Crump said. Attorney Lonita Baker, who is also representing the family, also tore into Cameron for failing to disclose whether it was he who was responsible for the decision or the grand jury. She also claimed Cameron had not been 'upfront' with Palmer and her legal team when he met with them ahead of Wednesday's announcement. 'You failed to be fully honest with her [Palmer] when we met with you while the grand jury report was being relayed to the public. 'You told us we would learn in advance. We learned at the same time that America learned - that's unacceptable,' she said. A Jefferson County grand jury on Wednesday chose to indict only former detective Brett Hankinson (left) on wanton endangerment charges. Sgt John Mattingly (right) and Detective Myles Cosgrove, who fired shots at Taylor, were not indicted Detective Joshua Jaynes (left) was identified as the officer who had obtained the controversial 'no-knock' search warrant to Taylor's apartment that resulted in her death. Detective Myles Cosgrove (right) is believed to have fired the fatal shot. Neither have been charged Earlier this week, Kentucky Democratic Governor Andy Beshear also urged the state's top prosecutor to post online all the evidence and facts in the case that can be released without affecting the case against Hankison. 'Everyone can and should be informed,' Beshear said. 'And those that are currently feeling frustration, feeling hurt, they deserve to know more,' he said. Cameron however, said he would not be publicly releasing the report because the case is still being prosecuted. 'Because there's a pending indictment and because there's an ongoing FBI investigation, [I will] revisit that question - but at this point I don't think it's appropriate for us to release any information,' he told reporters. Angry protesters have since taken to the streets of Louisville and several cities across the country to demand justice for the 26-year-old black woman whose name has become a rallying cry of the Black Lives Matter movement. Protests over the killing of Breonna Taylor continued Thursday in the city of Louisville. Pictured is a memorial to Breonna Taylor, that has been set up at Jefferson Square Park Protestors march as they protest the lack of criminal charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, in downtown Louisville, Kentucky last night 'If Brett Hankison's behavior was wanton endangerment to people in neighboring apartments, then it should have been wanton endangerment in Breonna Taylor's apartment too,' Crump said in a statement. 'In fact, it should have been ruled wanton murder!' In a follow-up statement, Crump's office said: 'Today's news falls far short of what constitutes justice. 'But by no means does it define this movement or this moment in our history. 'The Grand Jury may have denied Breonna justice, but this decision cannot take away her legacy as a loving, vibrant young Black woman who served on the front lines in the midst of a devastating pandemic. 'Make no mistake, we will keep fighting this fight in Breonna's memory, and we will never stop saying her name.' Mumbai, Sep 25 : Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal has tested Covid negative. Rampal took to his verified Twitter account on Friday to share the news with netizens. "Good news, I am Covid negative. Have to retest in 4 days according to medical experts as I have been in direct contact with active Covid cases. Thank you all for your love, support and prayers," Rampal tweeted. On Thursday, the actor had informed that his co-actors Manav Kaul and Anand Tiwari have tested Covid-19 positive on the set of their upcoming film "Nail Polish". As a result, shooting has been stopped for time being, and the cast and crew including lead actor Arjun Rampal have been re-tested for the virus. Rampal is currently under home quarantine and has to take another Covid test after four days because he came in direct contact with co-actors Kaul and Tiwari. Rampal had shared in an Instagram post on Thursday: "Bummer quarantined at home, as my co actors #ManavKaul and #AnandTiwari tested Covid positive yesterday on set. Production stopped shoot immediately as is the right thing to do. We all are being retested. Hopeful to resume soon. Testing times but we all have to be brave. Wish them a speedy recovery as I await my results as have been in close contact with them. #nailpolish #willbounceback #fighters #fingerscrossed #zee5." Directed by Bugs Bhargava Krishna, courtroom drama "Nail Polish" is scheduled to premiere on Zee5. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Today Partly cloudy. High 69F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 51F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow A mainly sunny sky. High 73F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Suki Waterhouse turned heads as she led the arrivals for the BOSS Milan Fashion Week show on Friday. The actress, 28, looked the epitome of chic in an all beige ensemble which comprised of an oversized trench coat, form-fitting jumper and flared suit trousers. Suki got a coveted invite to the socially distanced Spring/ Summer 2021 showcase alongside the likes of fashionista Olivia Palermo and German model Caroline Daur. She's got style: Suki Waterhouse turned heads as she led the arrivals for the BOSS Milan Fashion Week show on Friday Suki added a boost to her height with tan pointed heels- the colour of which has been a predominate feature in many collections throughout MFW. She wore her blonde hair in loose curls and complemented her stylish ensemble with silver triangle earrings. After arriving at the venue in a black face mask and posing up a storm outside, Suki flashed a smile for the camera as she took her seat to watch the show. Catching the eye: The actress, 28, looked the epitome of chic in an all beige ensemble which comprised of an oversized trench coat, form-fitting jumper and flared suit trousers Exciting: Suki got a coveted invite to the socially distanced Spring/ Summer 2021 showcase alongside the likes of fashionista Olivia Palermo and German model Caroline Daur On trend: Suki added a boost to her height with tan pointed heels- the colour of which has been a predominate feature in many collections throughout MFW Keeping it simple: She wore her blonde hair in loose curls and complemented her stylish ensemble with silver triangle earrings In her element: Suki flashed a smile for the camera Rubbing shoulders: Suki arrived at the venue in a black face mask and posed with Ingo Wilts Socially-distanced: Milan is only one of the four fashion capitals that is hosting the catwalk showcases with a few adjustments in light of the coronavirus pandemic Olivia also took a leaf out of Suki's book opting for another neutral outfit. The City star, 34, looked every inch the fashion maven in an oversized double breasted blazer, cropped trousers and white heels. Olivia was joined by her husband Johannes Huebl, who looked dapper in a houndstooth coat. In season: Olivia also took a leaf out of Suki's book opting for another neutral outfit Gorgeous: The City star, 34, looked every inch the fashion maven in an oversized double breasted blazer, cropped trousers and white heels Couple goals: Olivia was joined by her husband Johannes Huebl, who looked dapper in a houndstooth coat Daring: Melissa Satta, meanwhile, stood out from the crowd in a bold red power suit Similar: Caroline Daur also opted for a muted outfit like Suki and Olivia Irina Shayk led the models on the catwalk, strutting down the runway in a quirky khaki shirt dress. The upcoming collection was awash with mint green, denim and long coats and suit trousers. Milan is only one of the four fashion capitals that is hosting the catwalk showcases with a few adjustments in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Edgy: Irina Shayk arrived in a leather jacket and biker boots Model behaviour: The model looked ready to take to the catwalk as she flashed a smile to the cameras Here come the girls: Irina Shayk strutted down the runway in a quirky khaki shirt dress, while another model showed off a silk floral number from the collection Spring/ summer: The upcoming collection was awash with mint green, denim and long coats and suit trousers The city are hosting 23 shows over the next five days- a move which sets them apart from New York and London, who have both held virtual fashion weeks. Paris has 20 scheduled shows planned next week but coveted guestlists have been reduced dramatically, in keeping with strict socially distancing guidelines. Milan Fashion Week is being held as a breakthrough for Italy, seven months on from when the country dealt with the devastating effects of coronavirus. Back in February, Georgia Armani cancelled his show in Milan as the virus began to sweep through the country. Saamana, the mouthpiece of Maharashtras ruling Shiv Sena, on Friday hit out at a systematic attempt to discredit the film industry to ensure that prominent film personalities living in Mumbai leave. In an editorial, Saamana said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several states have used the same film personalities when it suited their needs. It added a picture was being painted to show all major film stars are drug addicts and grow ganja in their homes. Is such an environment being created so that the cinema industry and the personalities working in it leave Mumbai? This speculation is gaining ground. In a systematic fashion, a picture is being painted that the actors, directors, cinematographers, etc have left acting and become drug addicts and leaving art, they have started farming ganja and afeem in the galleries, and balconies of their homes, the editorial said. Also read: Glided like snakes, now silent, says Sena, slams BJPs silence on Kanganas terrorist remark The editorial comes as the Narcotics Control Bureau has summoned prominent actors in connection with its probe into the case related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. It said the mudslinging is going on to discredit the industry. Prime Minister Modi and several states have used the artists of this film industry for [enhancing] their political status. In Gujarat, Modi and Salman Khan were flying kites. Amitabh Bachchan was the brand ambassador of Gujarat. Modi had given the responsibility of teaching people how to eat mangoes to Akshay Kumar. Vivek Oberoi has made earnings from the film made on Modi, and Anupam Kher on the film made on Manmohan Singh. The mouthpiece said attempts were being made to finish off the Mumbai industry as Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced a film city in his state. It added that the idea of starting a film city is good but running it is hard as several studios in Mumbai are facing tough times. The editorial said Mumbai as a film city will always stay relevant. It said the Centre should have thought of starting a film city in Kashmir. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON New bill removes cereals, pulses, onion, potatoes from essential commodities list Parliament on Tuesday passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, to remove cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes from the list of essential commodities. The bill, which was approved by the Lok Sabha on 15 September, was approved by a voice vote in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, completing the parliamentary process. The bill replaces an ordinance promulgated in June and will become law after its gets Presidential assent. The bill addresses investor concerns of excessive regulatory interference in their business operations as the freedom to produce, hold, move, distribute and supply are essential to business economics of private investors, especially in case of foreign direct investment into the agriculture sector, according to the government. Replying to a short debate, minister of state for consumer affairs, food and public distribution Danve Raosaheb Dadarao said the stock limit conditions imposed through the law were hindering investment in the agriculture infrastructure. The amendments to the six-and-half-decade law provides that stock holding limit on commodities will only be imposed under exceptional circumstances like national calamities, famine with a surge in prices, the minister said. Also, processors and value chain participants are exempted from the stock limit. The minister said the move will boost investment in the agriculture sector and will also create more storage capacities to reduce post harvest loss of crops. "This amendment is in favour of both farmers and consumers," Dadarao added. According to him, the changes in the 1955 law is an important step to achieve the target of doubling farmers' income and also for ease of doing business. He said the Essential Commodities Act was brought when the country was not a self sufficient in food grains production. But now the situation has changed, therefore the amendment was required, he said. While India has become surplus in most agri-commodities, farmers have been unable to get better prices due to lack of investment in cold storage, warehouses, processing and export. Farmers suffer huge losses when there are bumper harvests, especially of perishable commodities, he said. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Taylor is one of those victims, Battle said. "What these police did was in fact sanctioned by law enforcement," Battle said of the officers involved in the Taylor case. The criminal legal system is not a criminal justice system "because there is no justice there. In that system, what matters is legality, not morality," she said. The system was designed to uphold white supremacy, Battle said. Another speaker, Miranda Jones, an organizer with Hate out of Winston, said that Taylor wouldn't have been killed if she had been a white woman. "If Breonna would have been Becky, we wouldn't be here," Jones said. "The truth is that most of us came here because we don't know what to do. We don't know what to say." Jones urged the attendees to vote in November elections to put an end to genocide. "Our lives are cheap," Jones said. "We don't get justice. We get a painting on a street. So what street, I ask, will you paint now." Taylor was asleep when the officers entered her home, Jones said. MUMBAI: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has raised question on the drug investigation carried out by Narcotics Control Bureau in connection with Sushant Singh Rajput death case. The Sena leader said that since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not find anything in the case, the NCB launched a drug crackdown in the film industry. Raut stated that NCB job is to bust or eliminate drug rackets and consignments coming from outside the country, either via air or any other mode. He said that the NCB, on the other hand, is inquiring person to person in the case. He said that every state and every city police has a department to handle such cases. Live TV Raut further demanded that the current stage of the probe into Sushant death case be made public. Earlier in the day, Raut had questioned the Election Commission's decision to hold assembly elections in Bihar amid the prevailing coronavirus situation in the country. Talking to reporters, Raut said the pandemic has given rise to an 'unprecedented' situation. "Is coronavirus pandemic over now? Is the situation right for elections?" he asked. The Election Commission on Friday announced the dates for the Bihar assembly elections, which will be held in three phases- on October 28, November 3 and November 7- while the counting of votes will take place on November 10. At least 15 security personnel comprising eight policemen, three soldiers and four Civilian-JTF personnel died today after suspected Boko Haram gunmen ambushed a convoy of Borno officials travelling to Baga town. The attacked officials, according to sources familiar with the attack, were heading to Baga town ahead of governments planned return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Maiduguri to the camps. A battery of armed soldiers and police officers, as well as Civilian-JTF personnel, were deployed to provide escort to the officials. The convoy ran into an ambush by Boko Haram at a spot called Korochara, which is about 2km away from the base of the Multi-National Joint Task Force on the way to Baga from Monguno. Seven policemen, four C-JTF members and three soldiers died instantly as the insurgents rained bullets on the unsuspecting members of the convoy, an official of the Borno state government who wouldnt want to be named told our reporter. The source said the attack happened at about 2 pm Borno state governor, Babagana Zulum, who is expected to supervise the arrival of the IDPs at Baga, had left Maiduguri earlier in the day via a military chopper. The Borno State government and the security agencies whose personnel were affected are yet to officially comment on the attack. The attack happened four days after a colonel, D.C. Bako, died after another ambush by Boko Haram terrorists. Mr Bako was until his death the commander of 25 Task Force Brigade in Damboa. He died in a military hospital where he was receiving treatment after the ambush. Details later Auto China 2020 launches in the golden autumn in Beijing 2020 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as the Auto China 2020), which has attracted tremendous attention in both of industry professionals and public, will be held in China International Exhibition Center New Venue and China International Exhibition Center (Old Venue) simultaneously on September 26- October 5, with total exhibition area of 200,000 square meters. Passenger cars will be showcased at the New Venue. Below is the complete schedule of Auto China 2020: Press Days: Sep.26 -27, for media from home and abroad only. Trade Days: Sep. 28-30, for professionals. Public Days: Oct.1 -5, for public. In the meanwhile, auto parts and new energy vehicles will be exhibited at the Old Venue from Sep.28 to 30. With a theme of smart vehicle for the future, Auto China 2020 is sponsored by China Machinery Industry Federation(CMIF), China National Machinery Industry Corporation(SINOMACH), China Council for the Promotion of International Trade(CCPIT) and China Association of Automobile Manufacturers(CAAM); jointly organized by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Automotive Committee(CCPIT-Auto), China National Machinery Industry International Co., Ltd.(SINOMACHINT) , China International Exhibition Center Group Corporation(CIEC) and Society of Automotive Engineers of China(SAE-China). Now, the organizing committee is moving in to top gear as the show approaches. Full brands coverage Auto China 2020 will bring all well-known international and domestic brands, including VW BrandFAW-VWVW ImportSVW, AUDI & FAW-VW AUDI,SKODA& SAIC SKODA, FAW-VW JETTA, MERCEDES-BENZ & DENZA, BMW & MINI,DONGFENG PEUGEOT, DONGFENG CITROEN, FORD, LINCOLN, SGMBUICK, CHEVROLET, CADILLAC, VOLVO, JAGUAR LAND ROVER & CHERY JAGUAR LAND ROVER, TOYOTA & FAW TOYOTA, GAC TOYOTA, LEXUS, HONDA & DONGFENG HONDA, GAC HONDA, GAC ACURA, NISSAN, INFINITI & DONGFENG INFINITI, MAZDA, FAW MAZDA & CHANGAN MAZDA, GAC MITSUBISHI, SUBARU, GAC FIAT, HYUNDAI & BEIJING HYUNDAI, KIA and DONGFENG YUEDA KIA, JIANGLING MOTORS. Many luxury brands will show up at Auto China 2020, the most important auto show this year, such as PORSCHE, LAMBORGHINI, BENTLEY, ROLLS-ROYCE, MASERATI, ASTON MARTIN and etc. Besides, luxury modified vehicles, modified commercial cars and RVs will be exhibited at the show. Six domestic Motor Groups, including FAW GROUPBESTUNE, HONGQI, DONGFENG MOTORAEOLUS, FORTHING, GLORY, VENUCIA, WARRIOR, SAIC MOTORROEWE, MG, MAXUS, NEW BAOJUN, CHANGAN AUTOMOBILE (CHANGAN PASSENGER VEHICLE BRAND, OSHAN ), BAIC GROUP(BEIJING AUTO, BEIJING ORV) and GAC GROUP (GAC MOTOR, GAC NE), bring their full brands and all series models to attend the show. Moreover, GEELY, HAVAL, CHERY, BYD, LYNK&CO, WEY, GWM-PICKUPS, JAC, JETOUR, EXEED & QOROS, will bring their latest technologies and products. Two years later, new energy vehicles, including TESLA, NIO, POLESTAR, WELTMEISTER, ORA, will bring latest achievements to the show. Moreover, XPengFENGON, ENOVATE, HOZON and HIPHI will make their debuts at Auto China 2020. With the upgrading of automotive industry, traditional car makers create new brands for the new energy vehicles. DONGFENG MOTORS will unveil its new energy brand VOYAH, BAIC will launch its new brand ARCFOX, and GEELY will reveal its electronic vehicle brand GEOMETRY at Auto China 2020. 2. Upgrading auto parts area with innovations and technologies. The auto parts area will be divided into 6 divisions, including auto parts and components, electronic and intelligent network, dealership and maintenance, alternative energy and fuel, mobile services autonomous driving, supplies and modifications. Professionals will see many well-known companies, such as BOSCH, BORGWARNER, SUMITOMO BAKELITE,SHANGHAI RI YONG -JEA GATE ELECTRIC, CHINA NORTH INDUSTRIES GROUPLINGYUN, BHAP,APG,ADAYOWONDER CAREWAY,ZHUZHOU GEAR,JONHON,CRRC,SORL, RUIMING, JING- JIN ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGIES, VANJEE TECHNOLOGY, MAGELEC PROPULSION, EVE, E-LEAD ELECTRONIC. HUAWEI, HORIZON, ROBO SENSE and QUECTEL will exhibit their new products at Auto China 2020, too. 3. Fully implementing the epidemic prevention and control work to ensure the health and safety of personnel The organizing committee is ready to cope with the new demands caused by the pandemic, while adhering to regular epidemic prevention and control, making sure the epidemic prevention and control work and safe & health of exhibitors, staffs and visitors. Following The guidelines on COVID-19 prevention for the exhibition industry under the level III emergency response, issued by Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau and adhering to the strategy of guarding against imported cases and preventing a resurgence of the outbreak at home, the organizing committee has cooperated with exhibitions, venue and vendors to make a plan of epidemic prevention and control measures on site, in order to make epidemic prevention and control work more scientific, accurate and effective. To consider the epidemic prevention and control work and economic and social development as a whole, and achieve sustainable economic growth, China is developing large-scale domestic circulation to build a strong domestic market. The ultra large domestic circulation, which is considered as a new comparative advantage for Chinas economic development, will play a significant role, in the meanwhile, domestic and international circulation can be supported each other. Developing automotive industry is the important measure to cope with the severe and complicated international situation in the medium and long term. The automotive industry, with a long upstream and downstream industry chain, involves many industries and fields. It is the most important carrier of domestic economic circulation. On the condition of the global economic downturn caused by the epidemic, the automotive industrial chain and supply chain take a battering accordingly. As a sole A-Level auto show this year, Auto China 2020 has to shoulder new and special missions and responsibilities. It is significant to boost the morale of the global automotive industry, facilitate the steady recovery of Chinese automotive industry and market, and accelerate the strategy of domestic economic circulation and the economic stability abroad. Not only a platform to showcase the innovative technologies and to promote international trade and communication, but Auto China 2020 also will witness the important moment of cooperating and coordinating each other, tiding over the crisis and reviving the automotive industry. The organizing committee sincerely invites auto industry colleagues from home and abroad, media friends and all sectors of the society to attend the Auto China 2020. Lets write a new chapter of special significance to the history of world automotive shows together. Official Websitewww.autochinashow.org A woman has her samples taken for Covid-19 testing upon arriving at Noi Bai International Airport, Hanoi, March 18, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy. With over 20,000 passengers expected to arrive in Vietnam each month as commercial flights resume, manufacturers of test kits are increasing their production. Viet A Technologies Joint Stock Company, the country's biggest producer of the kits, is producing 100,000 a day, both real-time reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) kits and antigen rapid test kits with matching sensitivity, and can increase it to five times if necessary. The company has supplied nearly 90 percent of all Covid-19 test kits to medical centers and hospitals during the two waves of Covid-19. The first began in January and the second in late July after more than three months without local transmission. Vu Dinh Hiep, deputy director of the company, said the company is already storing more than one million test kits to meet the growing demand as Vietnam prepares to restart commercial flights to seven Asian destinations. The government has given the green light for flying to mainland China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, but airlines are grappling with practical issues and have yet to finalize their schedules. Those entering Vietnam for more than 14 days have to be quarantined and tested for Covid-19 at least twice using RT-PCR method, each costing VND734,000 ($31.53), while those coming to the country for less than 14 days are allowed to isolate themselves at their workplace or hotels. Hiep said the company can provide enough kits for RT-PCR tests at airports. "It only takes two to three hours to get the result," he said. All passengers will be tested on arrival and again on the sixth day. Two other local companies Medicon and Sao Thai Duong along with the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology are preparing for the production of antigen test kits to serve flight resumption. Dao Dinh Khoi, director of Medicon, said once completed, its test kits are expected to cost $3.50 apiece, which is 70 percent of the global average price. Medicon is scheduled to register for the circulation of its test kits by the end of October, Khoi said. He said the company is capable of producing between 50,000 and 100,000 kits per day. The health and science-technology ministries are responsible for checking and assessing all antigen detection test kits produced by local firms. Nguyen Thi Huong Lien, deputy director of Sao Thai Duong, said it is in the process of research for producing test kits using the reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) technique that takes shorter time than and is as precise as the RT-PCR method. A commercial flight from South Korea's Seoul is scheduled to land at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi on Friday afternoon, the first routine inbound commercial flight in more than six months. Vietnam suspended all international flights on March 25. The country has recorded 1,069 Covid-19 cases, 40 of which are still active. The country has gone over two weeks without domestic infections of the novel coronavirus. Conor McGregor has unveiled a bold new look just weeks after he was accused of exposing himself to a woman in France. The Irish UFC star, 32, took to Instagram to unveil his new buzzcut and groomed beard while showcasing his muscles following a gym session. Giving his trademark glare to the camera, the controversy-garnering sportsman stood with his hands on his hips and donned garish pastel striped shorts. Changing faces: Conor McGregor has unveiled a bold new look just weeks after he was accused of exposing himself to a woman in France Conor was shocking his fans with his new style as he posed for the snap. Earlier in the week, Conor shared a collection of holiday snaps to Instagram. He posted a slew of photos with his son Conor Jr, 3, onboard a luxury dinghy. The family has been sailing in the Mediterranean on McGregor's 3million yacht The Devocean as he waits to hear whether French prosecutors will press charges. In the snaps, McGregor's eldest child snuggled up to him as he looked into the distance at the nighttime marina. He captioned it with a heart emoji. Changing style: The Irish UFC star, 32, took to Instagram to unveil his new buzzcut and groomed beard while showcasing his muscles following a gym session Family holiday: Earlier in the week, Conor shared a collection of holiday snaps to Instagram. He posted a slew of photos with his son Conor Jr, 3, onboard a luxury dinghy The star also shared a video of himself and Conor Jr being sailed on the dinghy to their luxury yacht. During the clip, McGregor kissed his eldest child on the cheek and said: 'I love you, champ.' McGregor was released without charge earlier this month but could face further action over allegations that he 'exhibited his private parts' to a young married woman in a bar on the French island of Corsica. Since his arrest, the sporting star has posted pictures of his family splashing in the Mediterranean including his mother Margaret and sister Aoife. Just last week, McGregor raged at 'vicious lies' in a now-deleted Facebook post in which he hinted that DNA and CCTV footage could clear his name. Accusations: McGregor was released without charge earlier this month but could face further action over allegations that he 'exhibited his private parts' to a young married woman in a bar on the French island of Corsica (pictured in 2014) 'The truth is the truth and it gives me wings! I know my character! God bless DNA! God bless Cctv! God bless Eye witness! God bless the truth!,' he wrote. 'The truth is power! I am free! 'Never will a dime be paid to anyone coming at me with vicious lies! Not now not f****** ever! I will fight! And I am only beginning my fight! 'I will not allow these people to just accuse me and then disappear into the dark to attempt to ruin someone else's life! No f****** way!' McGregor was released without charge after his arrest, but the criminal case is still active and he could be summoned before a magistrate. Holiday: Since his arrest, the sporting star has posted pictures of his family splashing in the Mediterranean including his mother Margaret The fighter was waiting for the results of 'key physical tests' and 'the examination of film evidence' before learning whether he will be re-arrested. A prosecuting source on Corsica confirmed to MailOnline earlier this month that McGregor was 'free to travel while enquiries continue.' He said test results were 'still being analysed' and evidence including potential camera shots were still being gathered by judicial police supported by gendarmes. Other potential witnesses to the bar incident were also being interviewed, while the alleged victim was also being kept informed of developments. Two albums by Sir Van Morrison have been included in Rolling Stone magazine's updated list of the greatest LPs of all-time. Astral Weeks, the Belfast man's seminal work, is at number 60, while Moondance is at 120. For many artists, staying in the prestigious list is almost as good as being included in the first place, as Rolling Stone has updated what many regard as the definitive rundown twice since it was first published in 2003. Sir Van and the renowned music magazine were in the headlines earlier this week after Health Minister Robin Swann was invited to pen an opinion piece on the veteran musician's new Covid-19 protest songs. Mr Swann had described the 75-year-old's compositions as "dangerous". It was later reported that Sir Van will donate profits from his collection of anti-lockdown songs to musicians impacted by measures he says do "more harm than good". Money from downloads of Born To Be Free, As I Walked Out and No More Lockdown will be distributed by his arts charity, the Van Morrison Rhythm and Blues Foundation. The lofty position of Astral Weeks in the top 500 is no surprise, with Rolling Stone describing the 1968 masterpiece as "the sound of sweet relief" in which Morrison uses "the opportunity to explore the physical and dramatic range of his voice, setting hallucinatory reveries about his native Belfast". As for Moondance (1970), the American publication said: "To listen to the album is to get your passport stamped for Morrison's world of ecstatic visions." The list has new additions from contemporary artists such as Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, Harry Styles, Lana Del Rey and Billie Eilish. And, as usual, it has prompted criticism from fans of the artists not included. However, Rolling Stone said: "No list is definitive - tastes change, new genres emerge, the history of music keeps being rewritten. "So we decided to remake our greatest albums list from scratch." One major surprise was The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band dropping from number one to 24 on the list and being usurped, not by a new album, but by Marvin Gaye's 1971 classic What's Going On. The study shows that Black and Hispanic patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 presented with more pre-existing conditions, also known as comorbidities, as well as other risk factors. However, researchers found that Black and Hispanic patients had survival rates at least as good as their non-Hispanic White counterparts, when controlling for age, sex, socioeconomic status and comorbidities. Similar data trends have been shown in patients hospitalized in other major health systems in Louisiana and the Midwest. "It is well-documented that communities of color have shouldered the heaviest burden of COVID-19 in the United States, and there have been many explanations offered for why that is the case," said Andrew D. Racine, M.D., Ph.D., system senior vice president and chief medical officer at Montefiore and professor of pediatrics at Einstein. "We discovered, somewhat surprisingly, that Black and Hispanic patients, when hospitalized, had similar or slightly better survival outcomes compared to White patients." According to the study's authors, these results are important because they suggest that "access to the services available in comprehensive health care environments may attenuate, if not eliminate, racial/ethnic differentials in COVID-19 mortality rates." The study results suggest that, across racial and ethnic groups, higher mortality rates were primarily driven by older age and the presence of multiple comorbidities, including chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease that are prevalent in Black and Hispanic communities served by Montefiore | Einstein. Black and Hispanic patients were found more likely to require hospital stays than their White counterparts and had a higher proportion of two or more medical comorbidities38% and 43% respectivelycompared to their White counterparts at 34%. "For patients in this study, the influence of race and ethnicity on COVID outcomes stopped at the hospital door," explained Dr. Racine. "The fact that racial disparities may be lessened or eliminated when people with COVID-19 enter a hospital is a stark reminder that we need to increase our focus on what is happening outside our hospitals," said Rafi Kabarriti, M.D., attending physician, Montefiore and assistant professor of radiation oncology at Einstein. "This includes better access to primary care, and education about preventing and effectively managing chronic diseases, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, renal disease, and dementia." About Montefiore Health System Montefiore Health System is one of New York's premier academic health systems and is a recognized leader in providing exceptional quality and personalized, accountable care to approximately three million people in communities across the Bronx, Westchester and the Hudson Valley. It is comprised of 11 hospitals, including the Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and more than 200 outpatient ambulatory care sites. The advanced clinical and translational research at its medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, directly informs patient care and improves outcomes. From the Montefiore-Einstein Centers of Excellence in cancer, cardiology and vascular care, pediatrics, and transplantation, to its preeminent school-based health program, Montefiore is a fully integrated healthcare delivery system providing coordinated, comprehensive care to patients and their families. For more information please visit www.montefiore.org. Follow us on Twitter and view us on Facebook and YouTube. About Albert Einstein College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2019-20 academic year, Einstein is home to 724 M.D. students, 158 Ph.D. students, 106 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and 265 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has more than 1,800 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2019, Einstein received more than $178 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, cancer, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. Einstein runs one of the largest residency and fellowship training programs in the medical and dental professions in the United States through Montefiore and an affiliation network involving hospitals and medical centers in the Bronx, Brooklyn and on Long Island. For more information, please visit www.einstein.yu.edu, read our blog, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook , and view us on YouTube. SOURCE Montefiore Health System; Albert Einstein College of Medicine Related Links http://www.montefiore.org/ Chief Minister on Thursday, appealed to the farmers to strictly maintain law and order, and adhere to all COVID-19 safety protocols, during Bharat Bandh against the Agriculture Bills scheduled for Friday. According to the official release, Singh said, "while the state government is fully in support with the farmers in their fight against the Bills, and no FIRs will be registered for violation of Section 144, there should be no disturbance of the law and order during the Bandh." The Chief Minister also urged the farmers, and other organisations supporting the Bandh, to maintain social distancing and wear masks at all times. "The state is already in the midst of a surge in COVID-19 cases, and any violation of precautionary norms could lead to the situation spiralling out of control," he said. As per media reports, several farmer organisations have announced 'Bharat Bandh' on September 25 to protest against farm Bills passed by Parliament. On September 20, the Rajya Sabha passed the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill amid protest from Opposition parties. As per the bills, farmers can take their produce anywhere -- inter-state or intra-state -- beyond Agricultural produce market committees (APMCs). The state governments cannot levy any fee or cess on farmers. According to the Centre, these bills will help small and marginal farms by allowing them to sell produce outside mandis and sign agreements with agri-business firms; and doing away with stock-holding limits on key commodities. (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 White House came down on the director of the FBI on Friday after he testified there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in a major election. In the Trump administrations latest criticism of Christopher Wray, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said that the director may change his view if he got involved with the investigation of fraud allegations. With all due respect to Director Wray, he has a hard time finding emails in his own FBI let alone figuring out whether there is any kind of voter fraud, Mr Meadows said during an interview with CBS This Morning. This is a very different case, he added. The rules are being changed and so what Im suggesting is, perhaps he can drill down on the investigation that just started, others that were seeing in North Carolina and other places where multiple ballots, duplicate ballots, are being sent out. Perhaps he needs to get involved on the ground and he would change his testimony on Capitol Hill. Mr Meadows comments were the second major rebuke from the White House in the past week after Donald Trump hinted he was looking at a lot of different things when asked if he was looking to replace the FBI director. I did not like his answers yesterday and Im not sure he liked them either. Im sure that he probably would agree with me, Mr Trump said after Mr Wray comments on Russian election interference. The latest criticism comes a day after Mr Wray's testimony before a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee contradicted Donald Trumps claims that widespread mail-in voting would result in widespread voter fraud. We have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether its by mail or otherwise, Mr Wray testified. Mail-in voting returned to focus this week after Mr Trump used the claim of ballot fraud when refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, saying he would only lose the election if there was ballot fraud. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany attempted to clarify the presidents comments on Thursday, saying he was responding to a question of whether he would accept a peaceful transfer of power win, lose or draw. Im not entirely sure why he would accept a transfer a power, maybe thats the deranged wish of that reporter but thats not how governing works, she said. Mr Meadows repeated that sentiment on Friday, saying the president commits to a peaceful transfer as long as its a fair election, but saying the Department of Justice has begun an investigation into military found dumped in Pennsylvania. We now know that we have a Department of Justice investigation in the ballots that were discarded from veterans in Pennsylvania. Thats very troubling. The Department of Justice and the FBI announced that investigation into nine mail-in ballots found discarded the key battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday, seven of which were for Mr Trump while two were unknown as they were sealed. The ballots were found in Luzerne County, which Trump won comfortably in 2016. Mr Trump on Thursday referenced the inquiry, saying they throw them out if they have the name Trump on it, I guess. GUELPH Kitchener-South Hespeler MP Marwan Tabbara is expected to be back in court on October 23. On Friday morning, Tabbaras name was read out in a Guelph courtroom and his matter was adjourned to next month. He faces several charges including two counts of assault, break and enter and criminal harassment. Guelphs Ontario Court of Justice is not open to the public, but matters were heard over a conference call. He was arrested in Guelph on April 9 but neither the Guelph Police Service or Tabbara made these charges known to the public. On June 5, media outlets began reporting the allegations against him and within hours Tabbara announced he would be stepping back from the Liberal caucus. He continues to work as an MP, sitting as an independent. the Prime Ministers Office said it only learned of the charges on the morning of June 5. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 20:52:10|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Nairobi National Park size has increased to 78,000 acres from the previous 29,000 acres, a government official said on Friday. Najib Balala, cabinet secretary of Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, said that the expansion comes after the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Swara Plains Conservancy declared 32,000 and 15,000 acres of land respectively for wildlife conservation while the government added another 2,000 acres of land. "I wish to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the two conservancies on behalf of the government and the people of Kenya for this wonderful gift that will ensure our unique biodiversity thrives for posterity. This will be an essential wildlife corridor, for the animal population in Nairobi National Park," Balala said in a statement. According to the ministry of tourism, about eight percent of the east African nation's landmass is protected for wildlife conservation consisting of 23 national parks, 28 national reserves, four marine parks and six marine reserves. Balala added that the Nairobi National Park is not big enough to meet the ecological requirements of its wildlife populations throughout the year. "On the northern side, we are looking into acquiring 1,500 acres of land to extend the Nairobi National Park to Ngong Forest. We hope that all this will enable Nairobi National Park to be listed and declared a world heritage site," he noted. The government official also inaugurated the task force on wildlife corridor connectivity between Nairobi National Park and the Athi-Kapiti Plains. "Their work is crucial and I expect that this task force will in the next three months clearly indicate where we will create a corridor to enable wildlife to migrate freely from Nairobi National Park to Swara-Kapiti plains," he added. Enditem Just a day after getting her heart broken during The Bachelor finale, Bella Varelis turned her frown upside down. The 25-year-old Bachelor runner-up beamed as she chatted with hunky Studio 10 host Tristan MacManus on Friday. And after being left devastated by Locky Gilbert, it would be understandable if Bella was quietly wishing Tristan, 38, had been single and on The Bachelor instead. Scroll down for video Is Bella wishing he'd been The Bachelor instead? Bella Varelis grinned as she happily chatted with hunky Studio 10 presenter Tristan MacManus on Friday in Sydney after getting dumped by Locky Gilbert Unfortunately for Bella, however, the Irish TV star has been happily married to former actress Tahyna Tozzi for six years, and they have two young children together. Bella couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she chatted with Tristan in between takes of the morning talk show. Wearing a pale blue floral print cropped shirt, which sat off her shoulders and was knotted at her waist, Bella basked in the sunshine as she talked with the TV host. All smiles: The 25-year-old Bachelor runner-up was spotted chatting away with the hunky Studio 10 host on Friday Missed opportunity: After being left devastated by Locky Gilbert, it would be understandable if Bella was quietly wishing Tristan, 38, had been single and on The Bachelor instead Family man: Unfortunately for Bella, the Irish TV star has been happily married to former actress Tahyna Tozzi for six years, and they have two young children together She also wore a pair of high-waisted white jeans, and her shoulder-length brunette hair was styled loose and straight. Standing alongside Tristan in a pair of strappy nude coloured stilettos, Bella listened intently as he spoke to her. The newly-appointed Studio 10 host looked suave in a charcoal grey suit, which he paired with a white shirt, which he wore open at the collar. Top of the crops: Wearing a pale blue floral print cropped shirt, which sat off her shoulders and was knotted at her waist, Bella basked in the sunshine as she talked with the TV host White hot: She also wore a pair of high-waisted white jeans, and her shoulder-length brunette hair was styled loose and straight 'I think, personally, he's a nice guy, don't get me wrong, but I think you dodged a bullet there,' Tristan told Bella of Locky Gilbert (pictured) Speaking to Bella during the show, Tristan assured the former Bachelor hopeful that she was better off without Locky, 31. 'I mean, he was on there and he's telling two people he loved them. That's hard to hear,' he told her. 'I think, personally, he's a nice guy, don't get me wrong, but I think you dodged a bullet there.' At times in behind the scenes pictures, the aspiring influencer appeared visibly upset while discussing her heartbreak on Studio 10. At times in behind the scenes pictures, the aspiring influencer appeared visibly upset while discussing her heartbreak on Studio 10 In photos taken on set of the morning talk show, at one point Bella appeared to wipe away tears while being interviewed. While she seemed emotional in some behind-the-scenes photos, the brunette was far more composed during the official interview that went to air. While chatting to hosts Sarah Harris and Tristan MacManus, Bella was measured and mature as she wished Locky and Irena Srbinovska the best in their relationship. She also confirmed her return to the dating scene, but said she was focusing on loving herself for the time being instead of finding a man. 'I went in there hoping for a soulmate, and I actually did find that in some friendships,' she said optimistically. Marching orders! The brunette beauty was escorted to set to begin the interview alongside host Sarah Harris 'You come out, you learn so much about yourself and I know more about what I want in a man,' she added. 'I want a man who knows that he wants me and knows that he loves me.' Bella also insisted that she genuinely fell in love with Locky during the show. 'Those three months during lockdown when you're on the phone every day, that's a real relationship,' she explained. 'It's not on camera, you're not saying things for production... it's just completely natural and it brings some normality into it, so I completely fell in love with him.' Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today The numbers paint a clear picture of what has happened to immigrants seeking refuge or asylum in the country former President Ronald Reagan once called the shining city on a hill. Immigration attorney Ken Schmitt shared them last week in a webinar for people of faith in the St. Louis area that was sponsored by the Immigration Task Force of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, in connection with interfaith partners who work closely with the regions immigrants. Since 2016, the number of immigrants approved for asylum in the United States, many of them women from Latin American countries fleeing domestic violence, has plummeted to a 26% approval rate in the immigration courts from 48%. In the Kansas City immigration courts, which include cases in the St. Louis area, the story is even worse, with approval rates dropping to a mere 4.5% approval this year, from 36%, Schmitt said. These are our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, said the Right Rev. Deon Johnson, the Missouri Episcopal bishop who gave the opening prayer for the webinar. Johnson is an immigrant from Barbados. His husband is a DREAMER, those children of immigrants brought to the United States as infants, whom the U.S. Supreme Court has protected from President Donald Trumps attempts to deport them. Touch our ears, that we may hear anew the cries of those oppressed, Johnson prayed. Touch our hearts, that we might greet each stranger as a neighbor. In the entire St. Louis region, there is no heart bigger for social justice, nobody I have ever met who more sincerely sees her fellow man and woman as her neighbor, than Marie Kenyon. I first met Kenyon in 2015, shortly after former Archbishop Robert Carlson appointed the diminutive lawyer with a powerful voice as director of the Roman Catholic churchs Peace and Justice Commission, the group given the task of responding to the cries for racial equity in the region. Since then, Kenyon and many social justice warriors in the Catholic church have responded to those cries from local immigrants, particularly since Trumps election, as they grew more afraid of being deported, of being cut off from food and medicine and services, of lacking an ability to support their families. Kenyon helped organize the webinar series in which Schmitt presented his information last week, and because of it, shes been placed on administrative leave by new Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski. She is a victim of the so-called cancel culture that conservatives claim is practiced on the left, but which people on both sides of the political spectrum have wielded as a force. Shortly after the immigration webinar took place, in which people of multiple faiths suggested that what is happening to immigrants should be a voting issue for people of faith, a conservative Catholic online publication called Church Militant blasted the Immigration Task Force in the most Trumpian, partisan way, even though Schmitt and his fellow presenters mentioned neither Trump nor Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden by name. Instead, they shared the statistics and asked people of faith to think about their brothers and sisters. Give us the courage to stand up for justice, they prayed. They were sidelined after conservatives complained to church leaders. Because of an encouragement for people to vote on immigration issues, Rozanski worried that the webinar series would put the churchs nonprofit tax status at risk with the IRS, according to a statement the archdiocese put out. The archbishop and his leadership team were unaware of the content of the webinar series, said archdiocese spokesman Peter Frangie. The review process wasnt followed. Kenyon was placed on administrative leave. The Immigration Task Force Facebook page was shut down. The webinar series was canceled. And now, Catholics in St. Louis who work in the area of social justice are worried about the future. I believe Maries forced leave by the archbishop sends a message of abandonment of our most vulnerable and retribution against those who have had the courage to act on their behalf, says Trent Chambers, a west St. Louis County Catholic who has been active in various church social justice causes. Schmitt said he was shocked when he heard that Kenyon had been placed on leave. A Catholic himself, hes been plenty critical of the previous administrations deportation policies, too. Everybody was very careful about not saying who you should vote for, Schmitt said, but understanding what is happening right now in the immigration system. For the past several years, immigrants in the St. Louis region have depended on the Catholic Church and its various arms to hear their cries of oppression, and the church, through Kenyon and others, has heard them and responded. Frangie says the archbishop remains fully committed to our immigrant brothers and sisters. Putting a tiny lawyer with a huge heart for justice back to work would help. From City Hall to the Capitol, metro columnist Tony Messenger shines light on what public officials are doing, tells stories of the disaffected, and brings voice to the issues that matter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Chiles Mundo Pacifico is looking to climb up the countrys fibre broadband rankings by becoming the second firm in the world to adopt the HyperNET solution. Mundo first deployed the software-defined IP network in July 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to local outlet Pisapapeles. Based on the disaggregated coherent switch and open packet transponder Cassini, the system helps Mundo to increase capacity and thereby improve performance. Network Engineering Manager Marco Alcayaga said: Predicting that Coronavirus was going to require confinement of people in their homes, it was evident that we would face an unprecedented increase in traffic. We decided to expand our capacity with Cassini, rather than the traditional Transport, MPLS and IP stack, because it is much simpler to deploy and operate, and requires reduced infrastructure in our sites. TeleGeography reports that the HyperNET solution was developed in Taiwan and has thus far only been deployed commercially in Japan, with Mundo currently testing its network ahead of a full launch in 2021. Alcayaga noted that Mundo is hoping HyperNETs increased efficiencies allow for reduced transport costs, saying: With this technology we hope to become the second operator for fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and to make our network available so that other companies and operators can use it. Mundo is currently third place in Chiles fibre market according to figures from the countrys regulator Subtel (Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones), behind Movistar and Grupo GTD. On Nov. 24, a Tribune correspondent sent a dispatch from New York. The state of suspense in which we have been in regarding the result of the Presidential election has given rise to considerable uneasiness, he wrote. Many affect to believe that, in the event of Gov. Hayes' being declared lawfully elected, his inauguration will lead to revolution. The Bachelor's Bella Varelis was dumped by Locky Gilbert on the dating show's emotional finale on Thursday night. And on Friday morning, the aspiring influencer appeared visibly upset while discussing her heartbreak on Studio 10. In photos taken on set of the morning talk show, the 25-year-old appeared to wipe away tears while being interviewed. Emotional: The Bachelor's Bella Varelis appeared visibly upset while discussing being dumped by Locky Gilbert on set of Studio 10 on Friday morning While she seemed emotional in some behind-the-scenes photos, the brunette was far more composed during the official interview that went to air. While chatting to hosts Sarah Harris and Tristan MacManus, Bella was measured and mature as she wished Locky and Irena Srbinovska the best in their relationship. She also confirmed her return to the dating scene, but said she was focusing on loving herself for the time being instead of finding a man. Tense? The 25-year-old appeared slightly tense as she waited on set for filming to start 'I went in there hoping for a soulmate, and I actually did find that in some friendships,' she said optimistically. 'You come out, you learn so much about yourself and I know more about what I want in a man,' she added. 'I want a man who knows that he wants me and knows that he loves me.' Bouncing back: While Bella seemed emotional in behind-the-scenes photos, the brunette was far more composed during the official Studio 10 interview that went to air Bella also insisted that she genuinely fell in love with Locky during the show. 'Those three months during lockdown when you're on the phone every day, that's a real relationship,' she explained. 'It's not on camera, you're not saying things for production... it's just completely natural and it brings some normality into it, so I completely fell in love with him.' Every cloud has a silver lining: 'I went in there hoping for a soulmate, and I actually did find that in some friendships,' she said optimistically The Sydneysider also admitted she was no longer friends with rival Irena, but wished the nurse the best in her relationship with Locky. 'Our friendship got tainted a little bit, but at the end of the day we did fall in love with the same man,' she said. 'I wish them the best, and you know what? Love is love and I'm such a hopeless romantic, so I'm like, "Good on him for finding the person he wants to be with."' Is everything okay? Bella looked slightly bewildered as she waited around on set Struggle street: The Sydneysider couldn't hide her stress While viewers saw Locky, 31, tell Bella he was falling in love with her during their final date on the show, things reportedly didn't end there. He allegedly texted the freelance digital creative before filming their last goodbye to 'reassure her' she would be his winner - making his eventual decision all the more hurtful and bewildering for her. Gossip website The Wash quoted an anonymous source, who had been 'present for the majority of filming', as saying: 'Locky gave her a lot of reassurance that it was going to be her at the end. Marching orders! The brunette beauty was escorted to set to begin the interview Tough times: Bella wore a tense expression on her face as she prepared to begin the interview 'He even texted her saying he couldn't wait to make her happy for the rest of her life and talked about engagement rings. It has been heart-shattering for her. Bella really thought this was going to be her happily ever after.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel 10 for comment. During Thursday night's gut-wrenching finale, Locky told both women he was in love with them - but then had the tricky task of sending one home. High road: While chatting to hosts Sarah Harris and Tristan MacManus, Bella was measured and mature as she wished Locky and Irena Srbinovska the best in their relationship A minor adjustment: Bella fixed her top as she waited for the cameras to start rolling He broke down in tears as Bella arrived to face the music, telling her he 'fell in love' the first day he saw her, before coming up with a rather feeble excuse to end things. 'I know you don't, like, sort of see where your future is at the moment. I think I need just a little bit of certainty,' he said, as Bella looked at him in utter disbelief. 'I just don't know if I can see us working,' he added, to which the brunette replied: 'I just don't get it. Yesterday, you told me you were in love with me.' Glowing: Bella's beauty was undeniable as she brushed a strand of hair away from her face That's more like it! The model beamed and flashed her signature smile as she chatted with crew members As Locky tried to explain himself, a furious Bella stormed off and snapped: 'My God... Can I leave? I'm going.' She later told producers: 'Who does that to someone? Who tells them they're in love with them and then... I just want to get out of here.' After this emotional break-up, Locky composed himself then professed his love for Irena, telling her he couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life with her. She's a delight! The reality star proved that she's a breeze to work with as she chatted to a crew member on set Summer stunner: Bella was dressed in a summery ensemble of white pants and a midriff top 'Irena, every time I'm with you, I feel so safe and protected. It's kind of weird, because I'm a pretty big dude, and not many people can make me feel like that,' he told the 31-year-old nurse. 'But just when I'm with you, I feel so calm and comfortable, and it's a pretty new feeling for me. I know you're going to make a beautiful girlfriend, wife, mother, everything. You're the whole package.' Locky teased another blindside when he admitted to Irena that he'd had his doubts about their relationship. What you didn't see: While viewers saw Locky, 31, tell Bella he was falling in love with her during their final date (pictured), things reportedly didn't end there What?! Locky allegedly texted Bella before filming their last goodbye to 'reassure her' she would be his winner - making his eventual decision all the more hurtful and bewildering for her 'However, my biggest fear is that you're not going to be able to put yourself first, or tell me no. And in my partner, I want drive and ambition,' he said. 'And I think you've got that in spades,' he added, much to Irena's relief. 'When I think about our future together, I'm so excited and I can't wait to just travel the world and make all your dreams come true. The end! After his emotional break-up with Bella, Locky composed himself then professed his love for Irena (left), telling her he couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life with her 'Irena, I'm so in love with you. And I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.' 'I love you too!' she replied, as swelling music and a sweeping camera shot marked the dramatic end of Locky's journey to find love. The couple are still together two months after filming the finale, and Irena has packed up her life in Melbourne to live with Locky in Perth. Indian and Japanese navies will hold a three-day mega military exercise beginning Saturday in the North Arabian Sea to further consolidate their operational convergence, officials said. The exercise is taking place in the backdrop of growing concerns over China's military muscle flexing in the Indian Ocean Region as well as in the Indo-Pacific. It will be the first military exercise after the two countries signed a landmark agreement on September 9 that will allow their militaries to access each other's bases for logistics support. The officials said the fourth edition of the India- maritime exercise JIMEX will feature a multitude of advanced exercises across the spectrum of maritime operations, in reflection of high degree of inter-operability and joint operational skills. The JIMEX series of exercises commenced in January 2012 with a special focus on maritime security cooperation. The last edition of JIMEX was conducted in October 2018 off Visakhapatnam coast. "Advanced level of operations and exercises planned during JIMEX-20 are indicative of the continued upswing in Indo-Japanese defence relations and continued efforts by both governments to work closely for a more secure, open and inclusive global commons, in accordance with international regulations," an spokesperson said. He said multi-faceted tactical exercises involving weapon firings, cross deck helicopter operations and complex surface, anti-submarine and air warfare drills will further consolidate coordination between the two navies. Indigenously built stealth destroyer Chennai, Teg Class stealth frigate Tarkash and fleet tanker Deepak will represent the at the exercise. The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force will be represented by ships Kaga, an Izumo class helicopter destroyer and Ikazuchi, a guided missile destroyer. In addition to ships, a fleet of long range maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters and fighter aircraft will also be part of the exercise, officials said. This week, the Indian and Australian navies carried out a two-day mega exercise in the Indian Ocean Region that featured a range of complex naval manoeuvres, anti-aircraft drills and helicopter operations. In July, the carried out a military exercise with a US Navy carrier strike group led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off the coast of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The USS Nimitz is the world's largest warship. In the exercise with the US Navy, four frontline warships of the Indian Navy participated. The US carrier strike group was transiting through the Indian Ocean Region on its way from the South China Sea. The Indian Navy carried out a similar exercise with the Japanese navy in June. India has significantly expanded its deployment in the Indian Ocean Region with a plethora of warships and submarines following the border row to send across a message to Beijing. The maritime space around the Malacca Strait is very critical for China's supply chain through sea routes. (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.) Mido has revealed how he faced backlash from former boss Ronald Koeman when speaking out against Ajax. The former Egypt striker has referred to Lionel Messi's Instagram post, criticising Barcelona for how they've handled Luis Suarez's departure from the club. "I would love to see Koeman's reaction to what Messi said today regarding Suarez," Mido wrote on Twitter. "Koeman slaughtered me and insisted that I had to leave Ajax when I said my honest opinion about the team in public, even [though] I was only 18. "Of course, I'm not comparing myself to Messi, but today's position will confirm many things that I wish time would prove for me." New Delhi, Sep 25 : In a major action against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that it has attached his properties in London valued at Rs 127 crore in London, officials said. An ED official said that the agency has attached one residential flat belonging to Rana Kapoor and having address Apartment 1, 77 South Audley Street, London in UK. The market value of this flat is 13.5 million pound (Rs 127 Crore) and this flat was purchased by Rana Kapoor in 2017 for 9.9 million pound (Rs 93 Crore) in the name of DOIT Creations Jersey Limited, a company beneficially owned by him, the official added. Image Source: IANS News According to the financial probe officials, the agency got the tip-off from a reliable source that Rana Kapoor is striving hard to alienate this property in London and for this purpose, he has hired a reputed property consultant there. {"title":"Enforcement Directorate provisionally attached one residential flat belonging to Mr. Rana Kapoor in London having address Apartment 1, 77 South Audley Street, London, UK. The market value of this flat is 13.5 Million Pound (Rs 127 Crore) and this fl","description":""} "Enquiries from open sources revealed that this property has been listed for sale on several websites," the official said. The ED had registered a case of money laundering on March 7 this year based on the Central Bureau of Investigation FIR registered the same day against 12 people, including Kapoor, his wife and daughters, the Wadhawan brothers and five firms. The Wadhawans were arrested by the CBI from Mahabaleshwar hill station in Maharashtra on April 26 and later in May the ED also arrested them. The ED on July 9 attached Rs 2,203 crore assets, comprising 344 bank accounts, investments and high-end vehicles in India, New York and Australia, of Kapoor and his family, the Wadhawans and others under the PMLA in the Rs 3,700 crore fraud case. With the issuance of the current attachment order, ED has successfully attached whole "proceeds of crime" of Rs 600 crore being enjoyed by Rana Kapoor. Image Source: IANS News Rest of the attachment of Rs 1,411 crore is of properties relating to Wadhawan brothers. In addition to the above attachments, the ED has also attached one more property of Rana Kapoor valued at Rs 307 crore in another PMLA case. Therefore, total attachment of Rana Kapoor is Rs 907 crore. The ED has filed charge sheet against Rana Kapoor, Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan and their associates as accused. -- Syndicated from IANS The witness, who cannot be named by order of the court, insisted under cross examination that the accused told him that he had put the deceased "out of his misery" and that he had "slaughtered him". He also said that the accused is trying to claim insanity, which the witness described as "bullshit". In his direct evidence yesterday the witness said that the accused man Philip Dunbar (20) came to his home shortly after the stabbing carrying a bloody knife. He said Mr Dunbar "boasted" about having stabbed 23-year-old Adam Muldoon, a homeless man with cerebral palsy, and said that he had "put him out of his misery". He also said he was at Sean Walsh Park in Tallaght the following morning when Mr Dunbar disposed of the knife that was allegedly used in the stabbing. Advertisement Mr Dunbar, through his barrister Giollaiosa O'Lideadha SC, has accepted that he must have stabbed Mr Muldoon but said he has no memory of it. He has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Muldoon at Butler Park, Jobstown Park, Tallaght, Dublin 24 on June 22nd or 23rd, 2018. Cross examination Mr O'Lideadha today cross examined the witness at length, asking him why he did not say to gardai in 2018 certain things that he had said in front of the jury. Mr O'Lideadha said the witness did not tell gardai that the accused told him he had put Mr Muldoon "out of his misery" or that he had "slaughtered him". The witness responded that he didn't know why it wasn't in his statement but insisted that Mr Dunbar had used those words. Mr O'Lideadha referenced a part of the statement where the witness called the accused a "scummy bastard". In the stand the accused said: "He is a scummy bastard." Mr O'Lideadha suggested that the witness has a "passionate interest in attacking Philip Dunbar and saying the worst possible things that come into your head." The witness said that wasn't true. Mr O'Lideadha also challenged the witnesses' testimony that the accused had to change hands during the stabbing so that he could keep going. Mr O'Lideadha asked him if he had made this up after reading media reports stating that Mr Muldoon was stabbed more than 180 times. The witness responded that he had no need to make anything up. When asked whether he had done his best to help gardai the witness said that at first he was worried that people would call him a "rat" but later decided he didn't care about that. He said this wasn't "some gangland shite" but was "scummy" and telling the truth was the right thing to do. He said that when he spoke to gardai a second time he told them "nothing but the truth". Mr O'Lideadha also asked the witness if he was sure that he didn't go into the park where Mr Muldoon was stabbed. "One million percent sure," he responded, adding that CCTV would prove he was at home at the time. The cross examination will continue on Monday in front of Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of six men and six women. Gov. Larry Hogan at Board of Public Works virtual meeting July 1. (Governor's Office Photo) COLUMBIA, Md. (Sept. 24, 2020)Gov. Larry Hogan does not appear to be concerned that conservatives may disagree with his recent assertion that it would be a "mistake" for Senate Republicans to rush the confirmation of a successor to the late-Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election."I really wasn't thinking about the politics of it. I was just answering exactly how I felt. That's what I usually do," Hogan told MarylandReporter.com in an interview on Thursday during a walking tour of downtown Frederick.Hogan, who has not ruled out running for president in 2024, was interviewed at the Texas Tribune Festival on Wednesday. He said: "I think it would be a mistake for the Senate to ram through a nominee before the election on a partisan line vote- just as I think it would also be a mistake for the Democrats to question the integrity of the court or any of the nominees or try to pack the court."Ginsburg died from complications related to pancreatic cancer on Friday at age 87. She served on the high court for nearly three decades and was one of its most liberal justices. Shortly after Ginsburg's death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) released a statement saying that whomever President Donald Trump names to fill the vacancy will receive a vote on the Senate floor-possibly even before the election.McConnell has since doubled-down on that position. Senate Democrats have insisted that the vacancy should remain open until after the election. They have accused McConnell of being a hypocrite for opting to confirm a replacement for Ginsburg in an election year when the Kentucky senator refused to hold a vote on President Barack Obama's SCOTUS nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, during the 2016 presidential election cycle. McConnell then said the choice should be left to voters. Trump is expected to announce the nomination of Ginsburg's successor on Saturday.Former Maryland Lt. Gov. and former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said he agrees with Hogan's contention that the Senate should not rush to confirm Ginsburg's successor."Gov. Hogan is right. Let the American people decide. If that argument was good enough for Obama it's good enough for Trump. Since the nomination of Robert Bork, the selection of a Supreme Court justice has become less about the quality of our nation's jurisprudence and more about our narrow-minded politics."Sen. Jill Carter (D-Baltimore City) said she too agrees with Hogan."This will be a critical decision for the future of our nation. These are lifetime appointments and candidates must be thoroughly vetted under the strictest of scrutiny. That takes time and should never be rushed for political purposes."Del. Brian Chisholm (R-Anne Arundel) said Hogan should not have commented on the matter."The governor should focus on Maryland and not worry about the Supreme Court. I don't know why he feels like he needs to weigh in. I think sometimes he just wants to be the anti-Republican. And I don't know if he does that to garner favor with the Democrats in this state or if he is just saying things such as that to stay in the headlines and possibly boost his own personal campaign for whatever he wants to do in 2024."Chisholm added: "I just don't understand with all the things that are still going wrong with Maryland why he feels like he has to be a voice against the Republicans in the U.S. Senate."Richard Vatz, a professor of political persuasion at Towson University, emphasized that the constitution requires that the vacancy be filled."It is the Constitutional duty for the president to nominate a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg and the Senate to provide advice and consent regarding the nomination. The cries by Democrats that to do so is inconsistent with what the Republicans did in 2016 is a valid complaint, but it does not derail the obligation to act per Constitutional requirements."Vatz added: "There is so much hypocrisy on the left and right that it would be difficult to find a major political matter on which there were consistency." United Nations, Sep 25 : The Indian delegate at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session on Friday walked out when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan began his diatribe in his speech at the high-level meeting of the UNGA. First Secretary Mijito Vinito, who was on the second seat on the first row of the Assembly chamber, stood up and left as Khan turned on India by focusing on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Khan also declared a thinly veiled support for the attacks on India by the militants. "The government and the people of Pakistan are committed to standing by and supporting the Kashmiri brothers and sisters in their legitimate struggle for self-determination," Khan said. To preemptively deny the involvement in any Pakistan-sponsored attacks on India, Khan said, "We have consistently sensitised the world community about a false flag operation." India's Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti decried Khan's attacks as "warmongering and obfuscation". In a tweet, he said, "PM of Pakistan's statement a new diplomatic low - at 75th UN General Assembly. Another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, war mongering and obfuscation of Pakistan's persecution of its own minorities & of its cross-border terrorism. Befitting Right of Reply awaits." The Prime Minister of the Islamic republic, which constitutionally denies full citizenship rights to non-Muslims as well as Muslims of the Ahamadhya sect, said that India is giving up on secularism of Mahatma Gandhi and is moving towards a "Hindutva" state. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis) Seventy-two million people will vote in three phases over 11 days in late October and early November to choose a new government in Bihar, the Election Commission of India announced on Friday, setting the stage for Indias first mass poll after the Covid-19 pandemic struck the country. Voting in one of the worlds largest electoral exercises in the Covid-19 era will be conducted on October 28, November 3, and November 7. Results for the 243-member assembly will be announced on November 10. The elections are a leap of faith, not a leap in the dark, said chief election commissioner Sunil Arora, announcing unprecedented guidelines and arrangements to regulate the processes of nomination, campaigning, voting and counting to keep the raging pandemic that has claimed around 900 lives in the state at bay. In the first phase, 71 constituencies will go to the polls with 31,000 polling stations set up. In the second phase, 94 constituencies will vote with 42,000 polling stations dedicated for it. In the third phase, 78 constituencies will have 33,500 polling stations. Arora said 700,000 units of hand sanitisers, 4.6 million masks, 600,000 personal protective equipment suits, 760,000 face shields and 2.3 million gloves would be given to the polling staff. The commission has also acquired 72 million single-use hand gloves for voters. The previous election, held over five phases in 2015, saw 58% of the electorate exercising their franchise. Arora said the commission reduced the number of phases because of large-scale of deployment of security forces and sweeping Covid-19 protocols. As a commission, we dont regard it as a misadventure... it is a very, very meticulously worked exercise from our side, the CEC said, citing the example of the recently-held JEE and NEET and saying thousands of candidates from various district across India attended the examinations. He also referred to a recent Supreme Court observation, saying life had to go on. The Bihar assembly was slated to lapse on November 29. The election will see chief minister Nitish Kumar seek a fourth consecutive term. His Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Lok Janshakti Party, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and smaller parties form the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which will square off against a fractured Grand Alliance led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and comprising the Congress, Left parties and others. In the previous election, when Kumars JD(U) was an ally of the RJD, the Grand Alliance won a thumping victory against the BJP securing 178 seats against the latters 58. But in 2017, Kumar broke away from the alliance and joined hands with the NDA. One of Indias more impoverished states, Bihar is currently battling the aftermath of devastating floods that displaced 8 million people. The return of thousands of migrant workers during the pandemic is also set to change the electoral map in large parts of the state. Arora said 230,000 migrant workers were added to the voter rolls. Polling time was also increased by an hour, from 7am to 6pm. As the pandemic spreads across the world, the first reaction was to postpone elections hoping that the pandemic would lose grip and they can conduct the elections in more conducive environment, Arora said. More than 70 countries initially postponed their elections. He added: However, as days and months passed and the pandemic showed no signs of abating, it became evident that some way will have to be found to balance democratic rights of citizens to choose representatives, while making a systematic effort to protect the health and safety of the electors. Also read| Bihar polls: CEC warns social media firms The CEC said he wanted to dispel doubts that there would only be virtual campaigning and that district election officers had already identified places where gatherings could take place following social distancing norms. The propaganda that only virtual meets will take place during campaigning is way off the mark, he said. The announcement of poll dates was welcomed by all political parties including those that earlier demanded that the election be postponed until the pandemic is over. Senior BJP leader Bhupender Yadav said the NDA will repeat its Lok Sabha performance of winning 39 of the 40 seats from the state. The NDA is going to win this election with a three-fourth majority, he added. RJD MP Manoj Jha welcomed the commissions decision but raised a few concerns. Congress MP and Bihar in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil said the Grand Alliance will form the government. The people of Bihar want freedom from the BJP and JD(U) and today the EC has announced the day on which they will obtain their freedom, Gohil said. With announcement of the election dates, the model code of conduct stands enforced. The EC will stringently enforce the code, especially the declaration of the criminal antecedents for which it has already announced a detailed schedule. The EC has already announced a slew of changes in the processes of nomination, campaigning, voting and counting to ensure distancing to contain the spread of the virus. Candidates can fill nomination forms and pay money online and only two people are allowed to accompany during the process. Door-to-door campaigning is limited to five persons, convoys are restricted to five vehicles and grounds for public meetings need to be have earmarked circles for audience, along with masks, sanitisers and thermal scanning. Nodal officers will be appointed to ensure no overcrowding. On voting day, a maximum of 1,000 electors will be allowed in a polling station, which will need to be sanitised a day before. If during thermal checking, a voter is seen running a high temperature, she will be asked to come back during the last hour of polling. Quarantined voters, disabled, essential workers and those above 80 will be given postal ballots. All, except the latter, will be also be allowed to cast their vote in the last hour of polling day. By Abdul Qadir Sediqi and Ahmad Sultan KABUL/JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Heavily pregnant Taj Bibi prays for her fourth husband as the Afghan soldier sets off to battle the Taliban, hoping his fate won't be the same as that of his three brothers, her first three husbands, all killed fighting the militants. Clashes between Afghan government forces and Taliban insurgents have not died down despite peace talks in Qatar that have raised hopes for an end to Afghanistan's seemingly endless cycle of war. At least 60 members of the Afghan security forces were killed in the past week across the country. Bibi, watching her husband, Aminullah, set off for a three-month stint on the front line, has a simple plea: she hopes the men in power don't make her a widow for a fourth time. "I can't afford to see my five children being orphaned again," said Bibi, 33, who lives in the Sadeqabad area of mountainous Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. Bibi was 18 when she got married for the first time, to Aminullah's oldest brother, who was a soldier. Life was good, Bibi says, until her husband was killed in a battle with the Taliban. Within months, she married her his younger brother, also a soldier. It is common in ethnic Pashtun society for widows to marry their brothers-in-law because of a belief that a widow should not marry outside the family. But even before she came to terms with her new life, a pregnant Bibi had to identify the bloody body of her second husband, who was killed defending a check-point from a Taliban attack. 'BLAME MYSELF' After 90 days of mourning, she agreed to her father-in-law's request that she marry his third son, a police officer. He was killed in a clash with the Taliban in 2017. That same year, Bibi married Aminullah, the fourth brother, who accepted his three-time widowed sister-in-law as his wife along with her children. "Sometimes I blame the Taliban, sometimes I blame the Afghan government, sometimes I blame the foreign forces but mostly I blame myself for all this pain," Bibi told Reuters over the telephone. Bibi is a devout Muslim and prays five times a day. "Islam teaches us not to kill anyone, but here in our land we just kill anyone and everyone," she said. "I don't know if Allah understands my pain and loss." She says she begs Aminullah to quit the army but he promises he'll be back from his tours of duty. She also prays that peace will save him. "My life depends on seeing my husband alive," she said. Bibi spends much of her time sewing clothes for her children, and cares for them and an extended family of 15 people on Aminullah's monthly income of $300, and pension allowances for her dead husbands. She said people die once but after losing three husbands, she felt like she'd already died three times. "Maybe I'm just unlucky." (Writing by Rupam Jain Editing by Robert Birsel) Several Vara Winery & Distillery wines have been recognized at the 2020 Sommeliers Choice Awards. Varas Silverhead Brut Cava was awarded the gold medal by a panel of high-profile sommeliers and wine directors. The gold winning Silverhead Brut Cava has a brilliant light-yellow color with fine well-released bubbles forming a continuous bead and a fantastic crown, according to a Vara news release. The nose is youthful and fresh with pleasant fruity and floral aromas. This bubbly is very pleasant on the palate with a mildly dry fruitiness and a nice persistence of liveliness. The finish is clean and very well balanced, inviting you to another taste. Other award winners include its Vara Garnacha, Garnacha Rosado, Tempranillo, Viura and Albarino. Were really excited that our Vara Silverhead Brut Cava scored so highly on the various factors, making it a great wine for the consumers to enjoy in restaurants, said Doug Diefenthaler, co-owner of Vara Winery & Distillery. We really put a lot of emphasis on creating a wine with broad consumer appeal, and one that wine drinkers will enjoy for a variety of different occasions. This award is really a validation of our winemaking expertise. Medals were awarded to wines that met specific judging criteria, including value, quality, package and how well they pair with foods. The goal was to identify wines that should be added to restaurant wine lists. Would we stock this? and Will the consumer buy the second glass? were the top two questions that the sommeliers tried to answer as they judged the wines. Each wine was scored accordingly. The highest marks were given to wines that provide the best value for their price. More information about the judging process can be found at sommelierschoiceawards.com. Sid Patel, CEO of event organizers Beverage Trade Network, discussed the significance of having world-class sommeliers choose wines they think restaurant patrons will enjoy. The idea of the Sommeliers Choice Awards is to put the best judges forward to evaluate the best on-premise wines for the consumer, Patel states in the news release. We were very pleased with the quality of the wines we received in the first year of the competition. The 2020 Sommeliers Choice Awards are one of a number of recognitions that Vara has received for its wines. Vara is a family of Spanish and American wines that celebrate the origins of the American wine experience because of its historical connection to Spain and New Mexico, according to the news release. Vara wines can be shipped directly to your door or can be enjoyed at its tasting room, at 315 Alameda NE. To order Vara wines or find more information, visit varawines.com There have been no further deaths and 326 new cases of coronavirus in Ireland. There have now been a total of 34,315 cases and 1,797 deaths in the country. The news comes as Donegal is to move into Level 3 restrictions from midnight tonight following a spike in cases in recent days. Of the cases notified today, 162 are men and 152 are women, 69pc are under 45 years of age and 33pc are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case. 49 cases have been identified as community transmission. Read More 152 new cases have been recorded in Dublin, 32 in Cork, 22 in Donegal, 21 in Galway, 15 in Meath, 11 in Kildare, 9 in Kerry, 8 in Louth, 8 in Westmeath, 6 in Limerick, 6 in Mayo, 6 in Tipperary and 5 in Wexford, with the remaining 25 cases in 8 counties. Acting CMO Dr Ronan Glynn has appealed to people in Donegal and Dublin to limit their social contacts. I ask every individual to take personal responsibility to prioritise who you need to see, limit the size of your social network and reduce your social contacts over the coming days and weeks," he said. Dr Glynn said that there is "every chance" that other cities can move to lockdown. Because while there is every chance that other areas will have to move to Level 3, there is nothing inevitable about it. We have seen previously how people working together can turn the tide on this virus and bring increasing trajectories back under control," said Dr Glynn. Know how valuable your individual actions are. Your choices and your actions are part of how we will succeed. The Taoiseach expressed concern at high numbers of cases in Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Cork earlier today. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) Globe announced its largest network upgrade to date, 10 years after it introduced data with its nationwide network transformation program. Set to be completed in 2021, the network upgrade comes at the heels of the government asking telcos to improve internet services especially at these times when connectivity is a critical need. "In heeding the call of the government, we shall endeavor to provide our customers with improved network performance and quality of service," said Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu. "We look towards the future where our country would have a strong digital economy backed by resilient and reliable connectivity." Globe said its first strategy is to accelerate cell site builds to expand coverage and increase capacity for data. With the strong support of the Anti-Red Tape Authority and the recently signed Bayanihan to Recover As One Act or Bayanihan 2, the faster processing and release of various national and LGU permits are crucial to jumpstart the infrastructure upgrade to improve the country's overall state of connectivity. The company previously released a series of network related updates including the construction of 900 cell sites with five shared independent tower companies, securing 190 permits from 85 local government units, and network upgrades in eight key areas in Visayas and Mindanao. The second strategy is to upgrade all its sites to have 4G/LTE using many different frequencies, which are important for both coverage and speeds. With 4G everywhere, the whole country will be data-ready and capable to meet the increasing demands of customers for bandwidth and faster speeds. Even as Globe undertakes a massive network upgrade, it is also firing up its 5G network in key locations such as Bonifacio Global City, Makati CBD (Central Business District), Rockwell Center, Ortigas CBD, strategic areas along EDSA and C5, Taguig, Pasig, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Paranaque, Muntinlupa, Las Pinas, Valenzuela, and Caloocan. The third is to fast track the fiberization of Filipino homes to improve data experience using wireline connectivity. As people spend more time at home because of the lockdowns, Globe said it hopes to address the growing demand for home broadband with a much larger fiber footprint using only the most advanced technologies. To date, the company is proactively migrating customers from copper lines to fiber free of charge. Globe is also rolling out fiber lines in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, Cebu and Davao del Sur. Globe is committed to support 10 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, such as UNSDG No. 9 on building resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation. To know more visit www.globe.com.ph. Syracuse, N.Y. The Upstate New York Poison Center is seeing an increase in reports of Benadryl overdoses that may be linked to a video challenge on social media that encourages people to take large amounts of the antihistamine to induce hallucinations. The center said it has handled 300 cases of abuse, misuse and suicide involving the over-the-counter drug so far this year. The center said it has seen an uptick in cases since the Benadryl Challenge started in May on TikTok. The FDA said it is investigating reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms and dying after participating in the challenge. It also urged TikTok to remove the video. Benadryl is the brand name for diphenhydramine, an over-the-counter antihistamine used to temporarily relieve symptoms due to hay fever, upper respiratory allergies, or the common cold, such as runny nose and sneezing. It works by blocking histamine in the body, which is a substance that causes allergic symptoms. When used as recommended, it is a safe and effective medicine, according to the FDA. Overdosing on diphenhydramine can cause serious heart problems, seizures, coma or death. Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturer of Benadryl, said in a statement, The Benadryl TikTok trend is extremely concerning, dangerous and should be stopped immediately. James T. Mulder covers health and higher education. Have a news tip? Contact him at (315) 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com TROY The Illinois Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for the Metro East at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is celebrating the one-year anniversary and growth of its client Arch Equipment Group (AEG) LLC in Troy. Owner and President Lisa McQuade has worked with the SBDC and Director Jo Ann DiMaggio May since December 2019 to build a fleet sales and service company. The woman-owned business provides professional, comprehensive management solutions for the entire lifecycle of a customers fleet equipment. Their work involves consulting, administration assistance and various fleet services, including selling and servicing heavy-duty trucks, and providing customization to install accessories such as safety items, light kits, required graphics and other mounted equipment. McQuade is no stranger to this business. Her father was a heavy-duty diesel mechanic with his own shop. She recalls getting a commercial drivers license at a young age, as well as taking a high school mechanics class to be able to help her father. After pursuing a different career path, she found herself supervising the fleet department for another company. At that point, she knew this was something she wanted to do on her own. Her passion continued to evolve, and Arch Equipment Group officially opened in September 2019. Like many businesses during this time, Arch Equipment Group has faced its share of challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having only been open for a few short months, the state of Illinois Stay-at-Home order last spring made it difficult to get the business going. It affected marketing and networking opportunities, such as canceled truck shows and business events, and halted the employee hiring process. Despite the difficulties, McQuade is grateful to be on the upswing now. DiMaggio May provided McQuade assistance with a business plan, Small Business Association loan preparation, Women Business Enterprise (WBE) certification, marketing research and networking. Jo Ann has been a great sounding board, especially regarding our challenges with COVID, McQuade shared. She has always been available to talk me through any difficulties and provide a multitude of assistance along the way. Lisa is always willing to learn and ask questions, DiMaggio May says. She is a strong business woman with a sound business plan. I am happy to have offered help when needed and look forward to Arch Equipment Groups future success. McQuade is especially proud to be a WBE certified business. This has provided a wide variety of educational and networking opportunities, business information, and financial assistance she has found extremely beneficial. WBE Certification is important to my customers, and having it has given us an edge over the competition, McQuade said. It has presented numerous opportunities that we otherwise may not have had. McQuade is grateful for the relationships AEG has built with its customers and is proud that their customers are highly satisfied with their work. Building trust with customers is a huge plus for us, as we strive to be a trusted partner for the industries that never sleep, and where days off are not an option, McQuade shared. McQuade strives to maintain a workplace where her mechanics receive the credit and respect they deserve, know they are appreciated and feel as if they are making a difference. She plans on growing AEG by adding implement sales and affiliating with additional heavy duty/medium duty/light duty truck up-fitters. For more information, contact AEG at 618-972-1224 or lisam@archequipmentgroup.com, find AEG on Facebook at Arch Equipment or visit archequipmentgroup.com. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:35:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TEHRAN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) plans to equip its navy with oceangoing warships capable of carrying helicopters, IRGC navy commander was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency on Friday. Rear Admiral Ali Reza Tangsiri said that the indigenous warships, 65 meters in length, will join the IRGC navy fleet in the near future. Tangsiri also unveiled plans to equip the IRGC navy with vessels with a velocity of 94 knots and powerful missile-launching ships. The navy of the IRGC on Wednesday received 188 new combat drones and helicopters. Enditem LEAF Commercial Capital, Inc. (LEAF), a leading U.S. equipment leasing and finance company and subsidiary of Peoples United Bank, N.A., today announced that Michelle Speranza, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been recognized as one of The Cannata Reports Women Influencers for 2020. The Cannata Report, a leading intelligence resource for reseller principals and senior executives within the business technology, managed services, and imaging industry, recently featured Ms. Speranza as part of their recognition of the importance of diversity. The article states, As the imaging industry looks to its future, encouraging diversity and inclusion in the workplace can solidify survival, as its not only a feel-good initiative, but also a necessary business priority. Michelle Speranza stands out in the office technology industry for her accomplishments and her broad expertise, said CJ Cannata, President and CEO of The Cannata Report. Her dedication and commitment to excellence include her understanding of and unwavering passion for diversity as a strategic business imperative, as exemplified only in part by her creation of the Philadelphia chapter of Women in Leadership. Michelle is an inspiration to female executives throughout the industry. It is an honor for The Cannata Report to feature Michelle as one of 2020s Women Influencers." When asked about the recognition, Ms. Speranza said, To be acknowledged as an Influencer by the Cannata Report and the imaging industry is a distinct honor. Diversity and inclusion are essential to achieve innovation and desirable business outcomes. Without conscious, consistent effort to bring in new viewpoints, companies can get so focused on the way things are that they dont see the way things could be. For more than 15 years, Ms. Speranza has led marketing for LEAF and is often recognized as a consistent innovator and ground-breaking executive, while simultaneously focusing on the success of the industries LEAF supports, and the advancement of diversity in the workplace. To read more of The Cannata Report article, click here. About LEAF Commercial Capital, Inc. LEAF Commercial Capital, Inc. (LEAF) is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, with offices in Moberly, MO, Orange, CA, Baltimore, MD, and Dallas, TX. From the office to the factory floor to the server room, wherever customers need equipment, software and services, we make it affordable. Trusted by nearly 250,000 companies of all sizes across the U.S., LEAF Commercial Capital, Inc., backed by the strength of Peoples United Bank, offers customized financing that helps our customers solve real problems. When businesses need financing or need to offer financing, they achieve more with LEAF. Learn more at http://www.LEAFnow.com. About Peoples United Bank Peoples United Bank, N.A. is a subsidiary of Peoples United Financial, Inc., a diversified, community-focused financial services company headquartered in the Northeast with over $61 billion in assets. Founded in 1842, Peoples United Bank offers commercial and retail banking through a network of over 400 retail locations in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, as well as wealth management and insurance solutions. The company also provides specialized commercial services to customers nationwide. (Newser) An abrupt resignation shook Rome Thursday, with a high-ranking Vatican official who was involved in a controversial luxury real estate deal stepping down. "The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the office of Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and from the rights connected to the Cardinalate, presented by His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu," reads the curt statement offered by the Holy See. It offered no elaboration on the sudden and rare move by Becciu, who was head of the Vatican's saint-making office and a close aide to Pope Francis, per the BBC. The New York Times notes that because the terms "eminence" and "cardinal" appeared in the statement, it appears Becciu will hold onto his title, even though it also suggests he won't get a vote in the next conclave, when the next pope is picked. story continues below The 72-year-old Becciu, meanwhile, is speaking out, saying he was pushed out of his role due to allegations that he gave church money to businesses and cooperatives run by his brothers. "I didn't steal even one euro," Becciu told Italian media. "If they send me to trial, I will defend myself." He has also been tied to a financial scandal involving the Vatican's purchase of a London property that was reportedly bought in part with donations from Catholics for charity. The AP notes that Becciu is not himself currently under investigation by the Vatican prosecutor, though he was in charge of administrative duties when the real estate deal, which lost millions of the Vatican's euros to middlemen fees, went through. The meeting between Becciu and Pope Francis Thursday was said to be a tense one, in which Becciu says he pleaded with the pope: "Why are you doing this to me, in front of the whole world?" (Read more Vatican stories.) Demi Lovato and Max Ehrich fell in love quickly. The two seemed to have it all, but behind the scenes, something wasnt right. After a two-month engagement, the pair has called it quits and a fast-paced relationship proved to be their downfall. Demi Lovato | Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Samsung Demi Lovato and Max Ehrich became engaged after four months Ehrich has his eye on Lovato years ago. The Young and the Restless star first tweeted about Lovato back in 2011, saying he wished he could have her for Christmas. Fast forward to 2020, and his wish finally came true. The two started spending time together in March, and in April, Lovato accidentally appeared on his Instagram Live, making it clear that the two were dating. The pandemic struck right at the beginning of the couples relationship, allowing them to spend copious amounts of time together. And with that, things sped up quickly, prompting Ehrich to propose to Lovato in July, after only four months of dating. She said yes, and though people were thrilled for her, some fans were skeptical that the relationship would last, and they made it clear in their comments on her Instagram photo. When I was a little girl, my birth dad always called me his little partner something that mightve sounded strange without his southern cowboy like accent. To me it made perfect sense. And today that word makes perfect sense again but today Im officially going to be someone pic.twitter.com/8IboUPjWcC Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) July 23, 2020 RELATED: Demi Lovato Told Ellen DeGeneres She Doesnt Want Her Romantic Partners to Fix Her Issues The couples accelerated relationship affected their long-term romance Quarantine has seemed to make or break couples these days. But on Sept. 24, a source close to Lovato and Ehrich revealed that the two have decided to call off their engagement. Lovato revealed in early September that her relationship with Ehrich was accelerated due to the pandemic but it might have ended up working against the couple. The two reportedly split because their fast-paced relationship wasnt sustainable outside of quarantine. It was a tough decision, but Demi and Max have decided to go their separate ways to focus on their respective careers, the source revealed to People. Things went downhill after the couple went back to work; Ehrich was filming in Atlanta while Lovato was still in California, and the cracks in their relationship started to show. Max shot up in fame, and its been hard, another source revealed. The distance reportedly caused strain in their relationsip, which didnt make anything easier, and the two ultimately decided to end their engagement. Still, on Sept. 24, Lovato posted an Instagram photo wear her ring was still clearly visible, and neither persons rep has fully confirmed the split. Demi Lovato | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic Who has Demi Lovato previously dated? Lovato was linked to several celebrities prior to meeting Ehrich. She and Joe Jonas first met on the set of Camp Rock back in 2008 but didnt start dating until 2010. Fans loved the Disney Channel romance, but the two only dated for a few months. Theyve remained friends, and Lovato said she was happy when Jonas got engaged to Sophie Turner back in 2017. Lovato had a high-profile relationship with actor Wilmer Valderrama that lasted for six years, and people were shocked when the couple called it quits back in 2016. She referred to him as her rock, and when Lovato went through a difficult time in 2018, Valderrama was there for her. Lovato has been linked to several other people through the years, including Trace Cyrus and former The Bachelor star Mike Johnson. World Health Organization praises Italians for response to covid-19. Italy has been praised by the World Health Organization (WHO) for its response, by the government and the Italian public, to the coronavirus pandemic. WHO has released a video on Twitter telling the story of Italy's harrowing experience and its effective and "strong" reaction to the emergency "across all levels". "Italy was the first Western country to be heavily affected by covid-19. The government & community, across all levels, reacted strongly & turned around the trajectory of the epidemic with a series of science-based measures." Responding to the video, Italy's health minister Roberto Speranza said: "The road is still long. We keep our feet on the ground. We absolutely must not undermine the sacrifices made so far." Photo credit: MikeDotta / Shutterstock.com. Actor Sushant Singh Rajputs US-based sister Shweta Singh Kirti on Friday shared two throwback photos with the late actor from her wedding. She called them her treasured memories. Sharing the pictures, she wrote: Bhai and I dancing at my Sangeet. Treasured Memories. The pictures show the brother and sister dancing and enjoying during the sangeet ceremony. While Shweta is in an onion coloured lehenga choli, Sushant is simply dressed in a while shirt and a pair of jeans. Fans showered love on the post. One said: Memories are the ones SSR left with you all ... Cherish and smile as he would like it .. We all Love Sushant Singh Rajput. Another said: I am so upset how the attention is finding the next drug user rather than his killer. Its devastating to realise he isnt amongst us anymore. A third said: From Egypt , we call for justice for sushant. Also read: Man shames Abhishek Bachchan for having more followers than Prachi Desai, actor has a graceful reply Sushant died on June 14 in his Mumbai flat. The Mumbai Police began investigating the case. In late July, Sushants father KK Singh filed an FIR in Patna and accused Sushants girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty of abetting his suicide, siphoning off his funds and keeping him away from his family. The actors family along with scores of Sushants fans also demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry. After a Supreme Court verdict, the central agency took over the case. In due course, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) also began two separate probes, after the emergence of financial irregularities and drugs angles. In September, Rheas brother Showik and Sushants house help, Samuel Miranda, were arrested for links with drug peddlers. Rhea was arrested too over the charge of procuring drugs for the late actor. The drugs net grew bigger and now top actors such as Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh have been summoned. Deepika returned from Goa on Thursday, where she was to shoot her film with Shakun Batra and will be questioned by NCB on Friday. Meanwhile, actor Shekhar Suman, who has expressed keen interest in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, had spoken about bringing the focus back on Sushants death as attention shifts to big Bollywood stars in drugs net. Follow @htshowbiz on Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A close look at the images already shown reveals that these were not your regular LiveWires , the ones youll be able to get from the neighborhood dealer. They were modified for the task, and the bike maker admitted as much this week, when it announced the launch of a six-part podcast documenting the changes. And with the announcement came, of course, the first details on these modifications.Harley says it established a special team to handle the task of converting the LiveWires to machines that could withstand the rigors of such a journey. And they nearly nailed it, we reckon, as were told the job was ready in just a month, and the results are as real as they get.Were told the LiveWires used for the adventures used the stock Rechargeable Energy Storage System (RESS), the stock chassis, and the stock Revelation powertrain. What wasnt stock were the rotors, wheels, and tires, with these last two pieces of hardware taken from the upcoming Pan America . There were also custom windshield, rear shock, and triple clamps.We are not being told, at least yet, whether the range of the two-wheeler changed as a result of the upgrades."Harley-Davidson stands for the timeless pursuit of adventure, said Jochen Zeitz, Chairman, President and CEO, Harley-Davidson.This podcast series is a premier showcase for how Harley-Davidsons talented staff of engineers and designers go above and beyond in their mission to create motorcycles that unlock adventures wherever they may lead. These efforts can be experienced in the 2020 LiveWire - a shining example of how Harley-Davidson innovates to lead in the electrification of motorcycling. Its an experience that can only be truly understood after riding it.Harley's podcast will be available on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Astronauts returning to the Moon will be exposed to radiation 2.6 times higher than on board the International Space Station (ISS), a new study says. Scientists used data from Chinas 2019 ChangE 4 lander to determine the amount of radiation humans would be exposed to on the lunar surface. An average daily radiation dose is 1,369 microsieverts per day about 2.6 times higher than the daily dose for ISS crew, 200 times higher than on the surface of the Earth and five to 10 times higher 'than on a flight from New York to Frankfurt'. NASA plans to build Moon bases that won't be penetrated by lethal rays when it sends humans back to the Moon in 2024, including the first woman, as part of the Artemis programme. Scroll down for video Scientists have used data from Chinas 2019 ChangE 4 lander mission to determine the amount of radiation that humans would be exposed to on the lunar surface in future crewed missions to the Moon Moon-bound astronauts are up to five times more likely to die from cardiovascular diseases than those who just orbited the Earth, according to a 2016 study. 'Because astronauts would be exposed to these radiation levels longer than passengers or pilots on transatlantic flights, this is a considerable exposure,' said Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber at University of Kiel in Germany, author of the study published in Science Advances. 'We humans are not really made to withstand space radiation. 'However, astronauts can and should shield themselves as far as possible during longer stays on the moon, for example by covering their habitat with a thick layer of lunar soil.' Since the Moon has neither a protective magnetic field nor an atmosphere, the radiation field on the lunar surface is similar to that in interplanetary space. During a stay on the moon humans are exposed to elevated radiation due to this lack of atmospheric shielding. The measurements were taken on board the Chinese lunar lander Chang'e-4, which landed on the far side of the moon in January 2019 Moon-based astronauts would have to contend with multiple radiation sources, including galactic cosmic rays and sporadic solar particle events, when particles emitted by the Sun become accelerated. Neutron radiation and exposure to gamma rays from interactions between space radiation and the lunar soil are other harmful sources, which could raise the risk of cancer and infertility, researchers say. Long-term exposure to galactic cosmic rays is known to cause health problems including cataracts, cancer and degenerative central nervous system diseases. Daily radiation exposure on the Moons surface was not properly reported during the original Apollo missions during the 1960s and 1970s. Apollo astronauts carried 'basic dosimeters' with them devices that read radiation-uptake which only performed rudimentary measurements of the total radiation exposure. Chang'e-4's rover is equipped with a variety of scientific instruments to help it analyse the surface of the Moon. A stack of 10 silicon solid-state detectors mounted in a compartment of the ChangE 4 lander sourced Moon radiation data for this study To learn more, researchers performed calculations using data collected by a stack of 10 silicon solid-state detectors mounted in a compartment of the ChangE 4 lander. ChangE 4 achieved the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon in January 2019 after launching the month prior. It consists of a stationary lander and a smaller wheeled rover, Yutu-2, both of which use solar panels to generate electrical power. This modern dosimeter device takes measurements during the lunar 'daylight' and switches off during the very cold and nearly two-week-long lunar night to conserve battery power. Data from the device and the lander is still being transmitted back to Earth via the relay satellite Queqiao. The measurements taken allow the calculation of an equivalent dose a benchmark for the radiation within an astronaut suit. However, the astronauts' risk of getting cancer and other diseases could be reduced using lunar habitats during long-term stays on the Moon. In April, NASA released a detailed plan for an 'Artemis Base Camp' that will be home to first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024. The 13-page document highlights elements such as a terrain vehicle for transporting the astronauts around the landing zone, a permanent habit and a mobility platform to travel across the lunar surface. Lunar surface on a Saturday night: NASA previously released a detailed plan for an 'Artemis Base Camp' that will be home to first woman and next man on the moon in 2024 The original Apollo astronauts remain the only humans to have been sent into deep space. The celebrated program saw men walk on the moon for the last time in 1972, as part of the Apollo 17 mission. After returning humans to the Moon in 2024, NASA plans to send astronauts to the Moon once per year and establish lunar exploration by 2028. The program will lay the groundwork in NASA's plans to send crewed missions to the Mars in the 2030s. In every corner of the world today, there is a young man, a young woman, looking at their cell phone screen. In the most secluded streets of Naples, in a fish market in Instanbul, in the Zocalo in Mexico City, in the Ecuadorian Amazon or in a market in India. These young people have seen their fathers, their mothers, work ceaselessly, Sanchez said. And maybe these young people wonder why their fathers, their mothers, work ceaselessly if nothing changes around them. India staged a walkout at the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, expressing strong disagreement over Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khans statements about the country. Mijito Vinito, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the UN, walked out of the session after Khan began talking about India in his virtual address. TS Tirumurti, Permanent Representative of India to the UN, described the incident as a new diplomatic low". The Pakistan PMs statement is a new diplomatic low at the 75th UN General Assembly. Another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, war mongering and obfuscation of Pakistans persecution of its own minorities and of its cross-border terrorism. Befitting Right of Reply awaits," he said in a tweet. In his pre-recorded video statement to the General Debate at the 75th session of the UNGA on Friday, Khan made references to Indias internal affairs, including Jammu and Kashmir. Vinito walked out when Khan started his speech. India has firmly told Pakistan that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is, and will continue to be an integral part of India. New Delhi has maintained that issues related to Jammu and Kashmir are internal matters to India. Pakistan has been unsuccessfully trying to drum up international support against India for withdrawing Jammu and Kashmirs special status on August 5 last year and bifurcating it into two union territories Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution was its internal matter. It also advised Pakistan to accept the reality and stop all anti-India propaganda. Khan at the session spoke about the rise of Islamophia in various countries around the world, saying Muslims were being killed, mosques desecrated and religious hatred stoked at the time of Covid-19 pandemic. Targeting India, Khan said it had upped its military ante" against Pakistan to divert attention from its domestic problems", said a report by Pakistani daily Dawn. Earlier on Friday, India at the 45th Session of the Human Rights Council said Pakistan should not preach to others and remember that terrorism was the worst form of human rights abuse and crime against humanity. The world doesnt need lessons on human rights from a country which has been known as nursery and epicenter of terrorism," said Senthil Kumar, First Secretary to the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva, during Indias right to reply at the session. He said enforced disappearances, state violence and forced mass displacements, among other forms of persecution were regular features were Balochistan. Sam and Billie Faiers proved they won't be letting the new government rules stop them from having a good time as they headed out with Francesca and Claudia Allen. The Mummy Diaries stars appeared in jubilant spirits as they enjoyed a belated birthday celebration for Claudia at Cecconi's in Mayfair, London, on Thursday. Sam, 29, shared a video of the women, who were joined by another pal, strutting down the street as she declared: 'Start early, finish early', in accordance with the new 10pm curfew enforced to all bars and restaurants in England. Brunch babes! Sam and Billie Faiers proved they won't be letting the new government rules stop them from having a good time as they headed out with Francesca and Claudia Allen The mother-of-two looked typically stylish in a black blazer dress with a cut-out middle section, which she teamed with a pair of leather knee-high boots. Sam styled her dark blonde locks in a bouncy blown out style and accentuated her pretty features with soft touches of make-up. Meanwhile, Billie, 30, looked equally fashionable in a purple jumpsuit, which was tied around her midriff and enhanced her svelte figure. Girls' time: The Mummy Diaries stars appeared in jubilant spirits as they enjoyed a belated birthday celebration for Claudia at Cecconi's in Mayfair, London, on Thursday. Sizzling: Francesca Allen looked sensational as she flaunted her toned physique while heading out to brunch with friends in London on Thursday Work it: Francesca was sure to work all of her angles as she posed up a storm, adding a pair of knee-high boots to her ensemble The former TOWIE star styled the 70s-inspired look with a pair of platform heels and a green Chanel bag. Mum-of-two Billie wore her bright blonde locks in loose waves and sported a glamorous covering of make-up in a neutral pallet Joining them out the day out, Claudia cut a chic figure in skintight trousers and a structured blazer with gold button detailing. Elsewhere, her sister Francesca looked sensational as she flaunted her toned physique. Style queen: Elsewhere, her sister Francesca looked sensational as she flaunted her toned physique The Love Island star, 24, looked ready for autumn as she showed off her figure in a red mini dress which was covered in a pretty floral pattern for the outing. Francesca posed up a storm in her frock which came in at the waist to accentuate her slim frame and boasted long sleeves. Keeping her accessories to a minimum, the fashion boutique owner only toted a small beige bag with a chic top handle. She added some extra height to her ensemble with a pair of knee-high sueded boots with a brown leather heel. Beauty: The brunette beauty wore her long locks down and perfectly styled into loose waves as well as adding a slick of nude lipstick Poser: Francesca toted a small beige handbag with a top-handle but appeared to keep her other accessories to a minimum To complete her look, the brunette beauty wore her long locks down and perfectly styled into loose waves as well as adding a slick of nude lipstick. The previous day, Billie and her husband Greg Shepherd, 35, celebrated finally getting planning permission to transform their new Essex property. Billie threw a decadent dinner party before the renovations kick off in the home, as she brought in party planners to help her organise the soiree. Giving her followers a glimpse at the dinner party, Billie shared a series of snaps of the decorations as well as a loving snap of herself and Greg sharing a smooch. Happy times: The previous day, Billie and her husband Greg Shepherd, 35, celebrated finally getting planning permission to transform their new Essex property Wow! Billie threw a decadent dinner party before the renovations kick off in the home, as she brought in party planners to help her organise the soiree During the General Audience on Wednesday morning, 23 September, Pope Francis reflected on the principle of subsidiarity and the virtue of hope, as he continued his series of catechesis on healing the world. The following is a translation of the Holy Fathers words which he offered in Italian in the Vaticans Saint Damaso courtyard. Dear Brothers and Sisters, It seems the weather is not so good, but I wish you a good morning all the same! To emerge better from a crisis like the current one, which is a health crisis, and at the same time, a social, political and economic crisis, each one of us is called to assume responsibility for our own part, that is, to share the responsibility. We must respond not only as individual people, but also beginning from the group to which we belong, from the role we have in society, from our principles and, if we are believers, from our faith in God. Often, however, many people cannot participate in the reconstruction of the common good because they are marginalized, they are excluded or ignored; some social groups are not able to make a contribution because they are economically or socially suffocated. In some societies, many people are not free to express their own faith and their own values, their own ideas: if they express them, they are put in jail. Elsewhere, especially in the western world, many people repress their ethical or religious convictions. However, we cannot emerge from the crisis this way, or at least emerge from it better. We would emerge from it worse. So that we might be able to participate in the healing and regeneration of our peoples, it is only right that everyone should have the adequate resources to do so (cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church [CSDC], 186). After the great economic depression of 1929, Pope Pius XI explained how important the principle of subsidiarity was (cf. Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, 79-80). This principle has a double movement: from top to bottom and from bottom to top. Perhaps we do not understand what this means, but it is a social principle that makes us more united. I will try to explain it. On the one hand, and above all in moments of change, when single individuals, families, small associations and local communities are not capable of achieving primary objectives, it is right that the highest levels of society, such as the State, should intervene to provide the resources necessary to progress. For example, because of the coronavirus lockdown, many people, families and economic entities found themselves and still find themselves in serious difficulty. Thus, public institutions are trying to help through appropriate social, economic, health interventions: this is their function, what they need to do. On the other hand, however, societys leaders must respect and promote the intermediate or lower levels. In fact, the contribution of individuals, of families, of associations, of businesses, of every intermediary body, and even of the Church, is decisive. With their own cultural, religious, economic resources, or civil participation, they revitalize and reinforce society (cf. CSDC, 185). That is, there is a collaboration from the top to the bottom, from the central State to the people, and from the bottom to the top: from the institutions of people to the top. And this is precisely how the principle of subsidiarity is exercised. Everyone needs to have the possibility of assuming their own responsibility in the healing processes of the society of which they are a part. When a project is launched that directly or indirectly touches certain social groups, these groups cannot be left out from participating for example: What do you do? I go to work with the poor, Beautiful. And what do you do? I teach the poor, I tell the poor what they have to do. No, this doesnt work. The first step is to allow the poor to tell you how they live, what they need: Let everyone speak! And this is how the principle of subsidiarity works. We cannot leave the people out of participation; their wisdom, the wisdom of the humbler groups cannot be set aside (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazonia [QA], 32; Encyclical Laudato Si, 63). Unfortunately, this injustice often happens in those places where there is a concentration of huge economic and geopolitical interests, such as, for example, certain extractive activities in some areas of the planet (cf. QA, 9.14). The voices of the indigenous peoples, their culture and world view are not taken into consideration. Today, this lack of respect of the principle of subsidiarity has spread like a virus. Let us think of the great financial assistance measures enacted by States. The largest financial companies are listened to more than the people or the ones who really move the economy. Multinational companies are listened to more than social movements. Putting it in everyday language, the powerful are listened to more than the weak, and this is not the way, it is not the human way, it is not the way that Jesus taught us, it is not implementing the principle of subsidiarity. In this way, we do not permit people to be agents in their own redemption (Message for the 106th World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2020, 13 May 2020). There is this motto in the collective unconscious of some politicians or some trade unionists: everything for the people, nothing with the people. From top to bottom, but without listening to the wisdom of the people, without activating this wisdom in resolving problems, in this case in emerging from the crisis. Or let us also think about the way to cure the virus: large pharmaceutical companies are listened to more than the healthcare workers employed on the front lines in hospitals or in refugee camps. This is not a good path. Everyone should be listened to, those who are at the top and those who are at the bottom, everyone. To emerge better from a crisis, the principle of subsidiarity must be implemented, respecting everyones autonomy and capacity to take initiative, especially that of the least. All the parts of a body are necessary, as Saint Paul says, those that may seem the weakest and least important, in reality are the most necessary (cf. 1 Cor 12:22). In light of this image, we can say that the principle of subsidiarity allows everyone to assume his or her own role in the healing and destiny of society. Implementing it, implementing the principle of subsidiarity gives hope, it gives hope in a healthier and more just future; and we build this future together, aspiring to greater things, broadening our horizons. (cf. Discourse to Students at the Fr. Felix Varela Cultural Center, Havana Cuba, 20 September 2015). Either we do it together, or it will not work. Either we work together to emerge from the crisis, at all levels of society, or we will never emerge from it. To emerge from the crisis does not mean to varnish over current situations so that they might appear more just. No. To emerge from the crisis means to change, and true change is done by everyone, all the persons that form a people. All the professions, all of them. And everything together, everyone in the community. If everyone does not contribute, the result will be negative. In a previous catechesis we saw how solidarity is the way out of the crisis: it unites us and allows us to find solid proposals for a healthier world. But this path of solidarity needs subsidiarity. Someone might say to me: But, Father, today you are using difficult words!. This is why I am trying to explain what it means. Showing solidarity because we are taking the path of subsidiarity. In fact, there is no true solidarity without social participation, without the contribution of intermediary bodies: families, associations, cooperatives, small businesses, and other expressions of society. Everyone needs to contribute, everyone. This type of participation helps to prevent and to correct certain negative aspects of globalization and government action, as also occurs in caring for the people affected by the pandemic. These contributions from the bottom should be encouraged. How beautiful it is to see the work of volunteers during the crisis. Volunteers from every part of society, volunteers who come from wealthier families and those from poorer families. But everyone, everyone together to emerge. This is solidarity and this is the principle of subsidiarity. During the lockdown, the gesture of applauding doctors and nurses as a sign of encouragement and hope arose spontaneously. Many risked their lives and many gave their lives. Let us extend this applause to every member of the social body, to each and every one, for their precious contribution, no matter how small. But what can that person over there do? Listen to that person! Give the person space to work, consult him or her. Let us applaud the discarded, those whom culture defines as discarded , this throw-away culture that is, let us applaud the elderly, children, persons with disability; let us applaud workers, all those who dedicate themselves to service; everyone collaborating to emerge from the crisis. But let us not stop only at applause. Hope is audacious, and so, let us encourage one another to dream big. Brothers and sisters, let us learn to dream big! Let us not be afraid to dream big, seeking the ideals of justice and social love that are born of hope. Let us not try to rebuild the past the past is the past. New things await us. The Lord promised: I will make all things new. Let us encourage ourselves to dream big, seeking these ideals, let us not try to rebuild the past, especially the past that was unjust and already ill which I already mentioned as injustice. Let us build a future where the local and global dimensions mutually enrich each other everyone can contribute, everyone has to contribute their share, their culture, their philosophy, their way of thinking where beauty and the wealth of smaller groups, even those that are discarded, might flourish because beauty is there too and where those who have more dedicate themselves to service and give more to those who have less. Special Greetings I cordially greet the English-speaking faithful. As summer draws to a close, I hope that these days of rest will bring peace and serenity to all. Upon you and your families I invoke the joy of our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you! Lastly my thoughts turn as usual to the elderly, young people, the sick and newlyweds. May the witness of faith and charity that animated Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, whose memory we celebrate today, be for each of you an invitation to trust always in Gods kindness, confidently approaching the Sacrament of Reconciliation, of which the Saint from Gargano, tireless dispenser of divine mercy, was an assiduous and faithful minister. President Donald Trump was booed Thursday as he paid respects to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He plans to nominate a replacement this weekend for the liberal justice, best known for her advancement of womens rights. The president and first lady Melania Trump both wearing masks stood silently at the top of the steps of the court and looked down at Ginsburgs flag-draped coffin, which was surrounded by white flowers. Ginsburgs death has sparked a controversy over the political balance of the court just weeks before the November presidential election. Moments after Trump arrived, booing could be heard from spectators about a block away from the court building. They chanted vote him out as the president stood near the coffin. Trump walked back into the court as the chants grew louder. As his motorcade returned to the White House, there were also chants of Breonna Taylor from some spectators standing on the sidewalk. Their calls came one day after it was announced that a Kentucky grand jury had brought no charges against Louisville police for her killing during a drug raid connected to a suspect who did not live at Taylors home. Trump has called Ginsburg an amazing woman. Her body will lie in state at the Capitol on Friday, the first time a woman receives that distinction, and only the second time it will be bestowed on a Supreme Court justice. William Howard Taft, who had also served as president, was also recognized in such a manner. The body of Rosa Parks, a private citizen and not a government official, previously has lain in honour at the Capitol. Ginsburg will be buried alongside her husband, Martin, in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery next week. Martin Ginsburg died in 2010. Meanwhile, the president is expected to announce his nominee to replace Ginsburg on Saturday. He has said he will select from a list of five women. Republicans are working to move quickly to a confirmation vote, possibly even before the Nov. 3 election. Fur sales will be banned after Britain leaves the EU's single market and customs union in December under proposals being drawn up by ministers. Lord Goldsmith, the Government's animal welfare minister and a close friend and political ally of Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds, is understood to be spearheading the move. The Government is considering plans to prohibit the import of wild animal fur into the UK that would essentially forbid the sale of clothes containing fur in shops after the transition period. The change would affect imports of nearly 200million of fur and fur-based products every year, many of which come from mainland Europe. Defra the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is expected to publish a consultation paper after the transition period ends this year. Leaked Defra documents seen by The Daily Telegraph showed Lord Goldsmith met with the executive director of anti-fur organisation, Humane Society International, on May 12 in which he asked if there were any particular areas, in relation to the fur trade, that the Government should research. Lord Goldsmith, the Government's animal welfare minister and a close friend and political ally of Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds, is understood to be spearheading the move Ms Symonds has called people who wanted to buy fur 'sick'. She has also campaigned against whaling, and reportedly swayed Mr Johnson in his decision to axe a proposed badger cull The peer called the fur trade 'one of the grimmest of human activities' in 2018 and said the Government is 'very keen' to take action against it post-Brexit. 'We have some of the highest welfare standards in the world,' Lord Goldsmith told The Mirror last year. 'Fur farming has rightly been banned in this country for nearly 20 years and at the end of the transition period we will be able to properly consider steps to raise our standards still further.' The Defra minister has also argued that Brexit meant that 'whatever barriers may have prevented us from raising standards on imports at the point of entry will have gone'. 'We will be free to decide whether we want to continue to import the proceeds of one of the grimmest of human activities,' he previously said. Last year, Ms Symonds blasted people who wanted to buy fur as 'sick'. She has also campaigned against whaling, and reportedly swayed Mr Johnson in his decision to axe a proposed badger cull in Derbyshire. A Defra spokesman said: 'We have some of the highest welfare standards in the world, and that is both a source of pride and a clear reflection of UK attitudes towards animals. 'Fur farming has rightly been banned in this country for nearly 20 years. Once our future relationship with the EU has been established there will be an opportunity for the government to consider further steps it could take in relation to fur sales. Fur farming was banned in 2003 but the UK still allows the product to be imported from overseas and France is one of the biggest suppliers. Ministers believe a move to ban fur would buy hugely popular, with opinion polls indicating that around 80 per cent of Britons think the trade is unacceptable (pictured, protesters stand in front of British Fashion Council show space during London Fashion Week) Under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, fur could still be imported into Northern Ireland. Ministers believe a move to ban fur would buy hugely popular, with opinion polls indicating that around 80 per cent of Britons think the trade is unacceptable. However, the British Fur Trade Association, which represents importers and sellers, has said it will lobby against the 'irrational, illiberal and misjudged' proposed ban. In a report available on its website, the group said: 'Sales of natural fur in the UK have increased in recent years and are popular among younger age groups, as environmentally conscious consumers increasingly reject the mass-produced non-renewables epitomised by the fast fashion crisis and search out long lasting, sustainable natural materials. 'Yet, animal rights groups are now actively and vocally lobbying the British Government for fur sales to be banned in the UK using selective data, arguments and anecdotal evidence. 'Such shrill voices, of course, do not represent the 'silent majority' who do not support such a ban; opinions that should not be 'cancelled' but recognised and respected. 'Those that shout the loudest seldom have the support of the majority or their moral backing. 'Although they would never admit it, such groups would achieve their aims far better by working with the organised fur sector to drive up standards as cooperative models in other sectors have shown.' Gerald Herbert/AP The state of Louisiana has already suffered through a pair of devastating surges during the coronavirus pandemic. But as Republicans prepare for a special legislative session next week, there is concern they are preparing to take a kamikaze approach, as one Democrat put it, that could send the states fortunes tumbling. Democrats in the conservative state of Louisiana are bracing for Republicans to attempt to drain Gov. John Bel Edwards emergency powers during a special legislative session set to start Monday night, as the executive authority of statewide leaders in a time of crisis continues to be a point of friction across party lines. To Senate Minority Leader Troy Carter theres a potential for a kamikaze flight, where some lawmakers are willing to explode and blow the whole state up for frivolous politics. I mean, anytime youre willing to make a statement that is so grand that youre willing to impact the state constitution, dilute the governors authority as it relates to declarations of emergencies and risk federal dollars, thats tantamount to a pilot flying a kamikaze plane, Carter, a Democrat, told The Daily Beast. Youre going to crash and burn, and youre going to kill a bunch of people that you were sworn to fight for. The coronavirus pandemic has forced governors across the country to utilize their emergency powers as they try to protect their states, with efforts ranging from statewide shutdowns to the mask mandates that have become a key aspect of containing the virus in recent months. Those decisions have been met with varying degrees of opposition, from litigation to legislation, that look to undercut the often broad executive powers that governors have wielded to help control the virus. Republican state lawmakers in places like Louisiana have cried foul about the governor not working with the legislature as emergency orders get extended and more time passes. Rep. Blake Miguez, the Louisiana House Republican delegation chairman, dismissed Carters words as fearmongering, and emphasized that Republicans in both chambers are in agreement they want to reopen the state and its just a matter of discussing exactly how were going to achieve that goal. Story continues Were definitely challenging the governors emergency powers and were definitely looking to cut into them and take some of that power back into the legislature and have a voice and a seat at the table again, Miguez said. I mean, its been seven months. We can understand the first 30 days, but looking back seven months later, we just dont feel that any one person should have that much power. The heads of the GOP-controlled House and Senate made clear in news releases earlier this week that COVID-19 would be a major concern of the special session, along with dealing with the fallout from Hurricane Laura, and Louisianas unemployment trust fund. A significant number of House members have also asked to address the continued proclamations issued by the Governor during the pandemic and what many see as an imbalance of power, Republican House Speaker Clay Schexnayder said in a statement about the upcoming session. This special session will not end without a solution to this problem. The resistance Edwards is continuing to face is similar to the challenges thrown at other Democratic governors throughout the pandemic. President Donald Trump roared with approval on social media at news earlier this month over a federal judge throwing out several of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolfs coronavirus measures as unconstitutional, including gathering restrictions, and measures like the (currently suspended) stay at home order. Kentucky's Attorney General Sabotages Its Covid Response Theres no sense debating a ruling that will be appealed, Wolf said in a statement last week. Two of three federal judges upheld what we did. Other orders in the state remain in place, a spokesperson from the governors office said in an email, including the states mask mandate. In the fellow pivotal swing state of Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers was dealt a blow back in May when a Republican-led court challenge resulted in the state Supreme Court finding his administrations safer-at-home order unlawful, invalid, and unenforceable. He was able to later put in place a statewide mask order. This can have a political valence but it doesnt exclusively have a political valence, said Meryl Chertoff, executive director of the Georgetown Project on State and Local Government Policy and Law. But it is troubling that in so many of these cases it is Republican legislators who are conflicting with Democratic governors and where it appears that part of this has to do with the presidential election, or with statewide elections going on, and not so much to do with the best interests of people in their state, because were seeing second waves. In other cases efforts to undermine executive authority have been less successful, while issues in some states are still pending. Facing a steep challenge in unseating incumbent Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, North Carolinas GOP lieutenant governor Dan Forest sued Coopers administration over his measures. But he later abandoned the effort after losing in court and hes continued to struggle to gain traction against his better funded opponent. In Michigan, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmers use of emergency authority in her state continues to face legal challenges according to The Detroit Free Press. And in Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshears administration is continuing to feud with state Attorney General Daniel Cameron as the GOP official challenges the governors executive orders in the commonwealths supreme court. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has also received vocal rebukes from some fellow Republicans for the public health actions hes taken during the pandemic. But in Louisiana, some Republicans have been very clear about what theyd like to see happen. State Rep. Danny McCormick tweeted earlier this week, I am in favor of a complete and unconditional reopening of our state and will continue pushing for it. In an interview with The Daily Beast, the Republican legislator talked about potential legislation that could go in and take away specific powers of some sort. McCormick has also signed on to a petition effort that he said would need 53 signatures in the House to do away with the governors state of emergency, for a certain period of time with the latest being for 14 days before another one could be made. The Hail Mary effort which he dubbed a bargaining tool has gone through different variations and failed to attract the support it needs. Weve got one man in Baton Rouge making the decision for the whole state, McCormick said. I think were a constitutional Republic and I believe we should trust the people. Im a liberty-minded person. I trust the people to make the decisions where they should go and if they should wear a mask or not when they go. Interviews this week with GOP lawmakers showed little consensus on what exactly Republicans plan to try and push through during the special session, which could go until Oct. 27, when it came to the governors orders and authority. But the governors veto power and the Republican majority in either chamber suggest a difficult road ahead in Louisiana. In an interview Tuesday, Republican House Speaker Tempore Tanner Magee argued that legislators will be more directed at specific executive orders, rather than the governors authority as a whole. The majority view, the high ranking House Republican said, is to make moves with the publics health in mind, that does not cause a third spike in the state. But he said theres also concern from the GOP tied to messages from the business community in the state that theyre struggling, theyre not going to make it any further and they feel like theyre being treated unfairly. I think there will definitely be legislators who are pushing against the governors executive authority, theres no doubt in my mind about that, Magee said. Will we end up there completely by the end? Im not certain about that outcome. When a reporter asked Edwards earlier this week during a press conference if he was worried about the legislature moving to hamper his authority on public health measures and tie the hands of the states response, the governor downplayed the chances of that happening. If they were to be successful in doing that, I would be concerned, Edwards said. I dont stand here concerned because I dont think that they're going to be successful in doing that and Im not sure that that even represents a majority of either bodys wishes on that subject matter. The governor also received a show of public support from Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, who championed the states response to the pandemic recently as its situation has improved from the dire issues it faced roughly two and a half months ago. During an appearance in Louisiana on Wednesday, she said the state made changes that saved peoples lives, and that its improving fortunes, which include a mask mandate, show that masks work. Even as one of Edwards GOP critics during the public health crisis, McCormick didnt show much optimism this week about the legislatures ability to override a veto from the governor on legislation dealing with emergency authority saying we wont override a veto, that wont happen. But Carter, the senate Democratic leader, pointed to questions of constitutionality and predicted the governors not going to just roll over and let his authority be taken away. Still, the potential harm of limiting the governors authority on emergency orders or using legislative action to lift some of the governors restrictions wasnt lost on State Rep. Sam Jenkins, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. It's a domino effect that has some very catastrophic consequences in my opinion, Jenkins said. And its not worth the risk of what some of my Republican friends are trying to do. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. New Sep 25 : Over 50 per cent voters in Bihar want to change the government when the state goes to the polls next month, as per the IANS C-Voter Bihar opinion poll survey. As per the survey, as many as 56.7 per cent of voters are 'unhappy' with the government and want a change, while 29.8 per cent are 'angry' with the government, but don't want to change it. Only 13.5 per cent voters said that they are not angry and do not want to change the government. JDU fought the 2015 state elections in alliance with the RJD and the Congress and swept to power. Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister as the leader of the alliance, but later dumped the RJD and joined hands with the BJP to form government. The sample size of the survey is 25,789 and the period of the survey is September 1 to September 25. The survey covers all 243 Assembly segments and the margin of error is +/- 3 per cent at state level and +/-5 per cent at regional level. Kentucky AG Makes Announcement On Possible Charges In Breonna Taylor's Death A mural of Breonna Taylor reflected on balloons left at her makeshift memorial in Jefferson Square Park on Sept. 24, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. Credit - Michael M. SantiagoGetty Images Before a Kentucky grand jury released its decision in the Breonna Taylor case on Wednesday afternoon, Sadiqa Reynolds, President of the Louisville Urban League, says the citys Black residents had tried to remain hopeful for justice. [We] wanted to believe that our community could actually experience real justicefor all of us. It was very difficult, Reynolds says, speaking of the feeling behind the protests that have erupted in the city since then. The capacity for us as Black people to be oppressed and attempt to uplift ourselves and others takes a heavy toll. The grand jury declined to bring charges directly related to Taylors death against the Louisville officers who shot and killed her during a late-night raid of her apartment in March. The only charge filed was of wanton endangerment, brought against one officer for recklessly shooting into Taylors apartment as well as her neighbors residences. Activists in Louisville say that though people werent surprised by the grand jurys decision, many were still devastated. Taylors death was just one of several high-profile incidents of Black people dying at the hands of police officers this year. Among the many issues these incidents bring to light, activists and legal experts are again questioning why, even amid these circumstances, charges against officers are rarely seen. Sam Aguiar, an attorney for the Taylor family, tells TIME the verdict was a punch in the gut. He says that the family was hoping for an unbiased, well-informed investigation by the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Camerons office. He believes that didnt happen because Camerons political agenda and aspirations unduly influenced proceedings. Story continues The Kentucky Attorney Generals office did not immediately respond to TIMEs request for comment. On the night after the grand jury decision was announced, demonstrators in Louisville and other cities across the U.S. took to the streets to protest Taylors death, the grand jurys decision and the larger criminal justice system. On Wednesday, 217 people were arrested in the city, including a suspect who shot and injured two Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers. Demonstrations continued on Thursday night. Another 24 people were arrested, including Kentucky State Rep. Attica Scott. Attorney Ben Crump (R) leads a chant during a press conference on Sept 25, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. Jon CherryGetty Images On Friday, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, Sam Aguiar and the Taylor family held a press conference, calling for the release of the grand jurys transcripts, among other demands. Did [Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron] present any evidence on Breonna Taylors behalf? Or did he make a unilateral decision to put his thumb on the scales of justice? Crump said at the press conference. If you want us to accept the results, then release the transcript so we can have transparency. Taylors mother Tamika Palmer, in a statement read by a family member, said she did not expect justice from Camerons investigation. The ongoing discussion of what that would entailand how to get therehas exposed shortcomings in both the U.S. legal system and its culture of policing that make finding such justice such a complicated task. What is wanton endangerment? The sole charge brought by the grand jury was against Brett Hankinson, one of the LMPD officers involved in the raid at Taylors apartment. Hankinson was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment. The LMPD fired Hankinson on June 21. In Kentucky, a person is guilty of this charge when, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person. The same charge was also brought against the suspect who shot the two officers during Wednesday nights protest. Read more: A Police Officer Killed Their Mother, and Her Sons Want to Know Why He Hasnt Faced Trial It pretty much means that you do something without regard for how it may harm or affect someone else, Lorenzo Boyd, director of the Center for Advanced Policing at the University of New Haven, explains. The wanton endangerment in this situation is the police officer standing outside just recklessly firing his weapon. Former Louisville, detective Brett Hankison poses for a mug shot on Sept. 23, 2020. Shelby County Detention Center In Taylors case, this charge applied to shots fired by Hankinson that entered adjacent apartments and potentially endangered residents there. It was not applied in any context directly related to her death. Some experts believe that this charge may have been brought by the grand jury to avoid facing a larger backlash in the case of an across-the-board acquittal. [Its possible] they just threw [Hankinson] under the bus in order to keep Louisville from completely erupting, Joe Margulies, a law professor at Cornell University says. The role of no-knock warrants In contrast to earlier reporting and police statements that the raid was undertaken with a no-knock warrant, AG Cameron said during a Wednesday press conference that his investigation had determined officers both knocked on Taylors door and announced themselves before entering and being shot at by Taylors boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Walker, who was initially charged with first-degree assault and attempt to murder a police officer, has said he did not hear any announcement and fired a shot only after the officers barged into the apartment. Several of Taylors neighbors have claimed that officers did knock but did not announce themselves as police. In his speech, Cameron explained that his investigation had found that the officers executed the warrant appropriately and, from a legal standpoint, were justified when they fired their weapons on self-defense grounds. My job as the special prosecutor in this case was to put emotions aside and investigate the facts to determine if criminal violations of state law resulted in the loss of Ms. Taylors life, Cameron said. I know that not everyone will be satisfied with the charges weve reported today. My team set out to investigate the circumstances surrounding Ms. Taylors death. We did it with a singular goal in mind, pursuing the truth. We were told for months [investigators] would turn over every rock, Aguair says, but he now believes compelling evidence was overlookedand that discrepancies among crime scene photos, among other issues, were not addressed. Aguiar tells TIME he has seen police reports and case files not released to the public, and believes details thereinspecifically relating to the number of shots fired inside Taylors apartment, as well as an alleged pause between roundscould not have been justified, and offered clear grounds for greater prosecution under Kentucky law. Part of the problem is when prosecutorswhether its the states attorney, the attorney general or the district attorneyneed investigations to happen, who does those investigations? The police, Boyd tells TIME. To ask law enforcement to essentially investigate law enforcement just doesnt make sense. Unless you have somebody investigating and prosecuting these cases who comes from an independent point of view, youre not going to get thorough and credible investigations, Michael Avery, the president of the National Police Accountability Project, says. AG Camerons investigation only covered the moment when the shooting occurredthere was no investigation into the details on how the officers obtained the warrant. Legal experts also believe the use of no-knock warrants are problematic. I think the police tend to overstate the need for no-knock warrants, Avery says. No-knock warrants should be very rarely employedparticularly at night. I dont think this was one served properly. The Louisville Metro Council banned the use of no-knock warrants in June. Calls for reform in the criminal justice system While there is no consensus on which needs to come first, many experts believe that reforming police behaviorin particular, officers preparation and willingness to use deadly forcemust be aligned with larger changes to the entire criminal justice system. The police are clearly a problem but also the court system is problematic, the way a lot of the laws written are problematic. Its a system-wide thing the whole system needs to be revamped, Boyd says. But the police are the face of it so theyre going to get the brunt of it. Read more: The Problems With Policing the Police Taylors deathand the ensuing investigation, unsatisfactory as it is to so many has also been seen by many as indicative of how the criminal justice system is all too often skewed to negatively impact Black civilians, particularly those in disenfranchised communities and neighborhoods with higher crime rates. The criminal justice system uses the war on drugs as a battering ram against the Black community, Avery argues. There are certain stereotypical assumptions that the police make when they are dealing with Black people. In Louisville, activist Sadiqa Reynolds says the grand jurys decision will only push community leaders and activists to fight harder for justice and to address the root cause problems in the community. (As a part of the settlement reached with the Taylor family, the city of Louisville agreed to make changes to its police department, including drug and alcohol testing for officers involved in shootings and more stringent requirements pertaining to search warrant approval, though when these reform will begin to rollout is unclear.) Reynolds says this moment is an opportunity for the city and the country to address the racial injustices that exist in every system. Its almost like were at this day of reckoning where people are saying were not going back, Reynolds says. Were not going to lay down anymore. We know that there is a better way and we know that our voices and our power matter. with reporting by Alex Rees K ate Garraway has given an update on husband Derek Drapers condition. The 53-year-old looked emotional on todays Good Morning Britain after an interview saw former Prime Minister Gordon Brown send his best wishes to Draper, a former lobbyist and political advisor. My best wishes to you and to Derek as always, he said. I know how brave youre being. Thanking Brown for his support, Garraway said: Its been a tough week, actually, for Derek. The former Prime Minister sent support to Kate / ITV It has been a tough week, but its Friday so we look forward. Garrawayss co-presenter Ben Shephard said, Keep smiling, in a bid to keep his long-time pal strong. Lorraine Kelly, who next featured on the programme, also gave her support to Garraway. Garraway admitted it had been a tough week / ITV Im sorry youve had a rough week, she told her. We love having you on the telly though! Draper, 53, was hospitalised with coronavirus back in March, and was put into a clinically induced coma in a bid to save his life. While he has since tested negative for the virus, he remains in a low state of consciousness. Garraway has since been warned that her husband, who she shares two children with, may remain in this condition for some time. Speaking to Hello! Magazine, she explained: I have been living at the end of the phone 24/7, waiting for news of Derek. PA "But the doctors have warned that his condition could persist for years so I have to get on with life while we are waiting for him to get better. My priority is to make the children feel safe, to not let them see me feeling vulnerable in a world where Derek was my rock. Garraway herself had to pay a visit to hospital this week, after suffering from pain in her eye which transpired to be an old contact lens which had gotten stuck for five days, resulting in a nasty infection. Good Morning Britain continues weekdays from 6am on ITV The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The 67-year-old was nominated for the prestigious award by a group of Russian writers, led by Sergey Komkov. Reuters Nominations can be submitted by anyone who meets the Nobel Committee's criteria, which includes lawmakers anywhere in the world, professors and academic groups. Putin was also nominated for the prize in 2013 and joins US President Donald Trump on this year's list of nominees; the latter was nominated by Christian Tybring-Gjedde - a right wing Norwegian politician - for his work in brokering a deal between Israel and the UAE. Also Read: US President Donald Trump Is Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize 2020 & Internet Goes Bonkers Trump was nominated by Christian Tybring-Gjedde, an ultra-conservative member of the Norwegian Parliament, who praised Trump for brokering a deal between the UAE and Israel. Reality star Gemma Collins was put forward by two YouTube pranksters, who have started 'The Romford Research Institute For Peace' in order to qualify to have the power to nominate. Reuters Any person or organization can be nominated by anyone eligible to nominate," Nobel Committee guidelines state. Nominations come from university chancellors, professors from multiple areas of academia, politicians and individuals and organizations with ties to past award recipients. Also Read: Nobel Prize Winner Describes The 'Best Way Of Breathing' To Fight Viral Infections The Norwegian Nobel Committee has no say in submissions that arrives according to the criteria, strictly in who is actually awarded the prize in October, the committee says. To simply be nominated is therefore not an endorsement or extended honour to imply affiliation with the Nobel Peace Prize or its related institutions. More than 300 people were nominated for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, which the Nobel Committee makes clear should not be mistaken for an honor, in it of itself. Nobel Committee will announce this year's Nobel Laureates on October 9. OK, we all understand whats going on here. Many observers worry that the Trump team, in an effort to influence the election, will announce that we have a safe, effective vaccine against the coronavirus ready to go, even if we dont (and we almost certainly wont have one that soon). So the Food and Drug Administration was trying to reassure the public about the integrity of its approval process. Pub-goers flooded into the streets of London immediately after 10pm on Thursday night after pubs and restaurants had to close their doors under the new coronavirus measures aimed at curbing the spread of infection. Boris Johnson announced the new restrictions on Tuesday, imposing shorter opening hours for pubs, cafes and restaurants in England. A small police presence was seen on pedestrianised streets in Soho, central London, but no problems were reported. According to the Metropolitan Police, Commissioner Cressida Dick was patrolling the streets of Shoreditch with local officers who were engaging with members of the public, to remind them of their responsibility to keep themselves and others safe to minimise the spread. People in London should expect to see police officers stepping up its enforcement of coronavirus regulations in response to the tightened restrictions and rising rates of infection. Working with local authorities and other partners, the focus will be on public spaces with high footfall where people are most likely to come into contact with each other and therefore the risk of transmission is increased, added the force. But many people on social media ridiculed the prime ministers new rule, pointing to the crowded streets and packed public transport after closing time as would-be late night drinkers made their way home or elsewhere. Boris Johnson didnt really think that one through did he? 10pm pub curfew = mass street congestion and transport overload, commented one person on Twitter. Others pointed out that drinkers were seen buying more alcohol from off licenses and bringing groups of people home to continue in their mid-week revelry. One person said: Night one of the 10pm curfew and Im being kept awake by my neighbours who have clearly decided to bring the pub back to theirs for an afters. Cant wait for six months of this. Thanks Bozza. In England, gatherings of more than six people are banned indoors and outdoors. Teams of city inspectors were spotted combing through establishments in Soho to check for illegal speakeasies remaining open after the 10pm curfew. The rules differ in Wales, where drinkers are given an additional 20 minutes to finish their drinks after last orders at 10pm, and licensed premises must close by 10.20pm. NASA's Perseverance rover will reach Mars on February 18th, 2021. The rover will then scan for fossils on the red planet. It'll use advanced scientific instruments to scan the surface. This will explore any sign of microscopic life. The rover will also explore Jezero Crater, which once supported flowing water. The rover will use a Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL). The instrument is located on its 2-meter arm. It will also use a coring drill to obtain samples., which will be recovered by future missions. The rover connects PIXL to its robotic arm. It does this using six mechanical legs. The precision X-ray finds the best targets to study. The arm uses AI to get accurate scans on the surface. PIXL's X-ray can identify small particles on the surface. This allows NASA to tie chemicals to specific textures. The hexapod comprises six mechanical legs. It extends its legs on specific rock targets. READ MORE: NASA and US Space Force Establish Partnership In "human spaceflight" NASA's Perseverance will assess rock textures and determine which ones are of interest. It will then use the PIXL to gauge the distance. This is done using a camera and laser. The hexapod will make movements for the device to scan. Meanwhile, the PIXL instrument will scan the rocks for about nine hours, thus producing a chemical map of the rock's surface. NASA's Perseverance will operate at night. This is because of extreme temperatures on Mars. The changes in temperature cause expansion and contraction. Mars Exploration Program The rover will characterize Mar's geology and climate. This will create room for human exploration. The mission will leave samples in a cache. They'll then be returned in a future mission. Future missions will involve a rover, lander, and orbiter. NASA's Perseverance is part of the Mars Exploration Program. It's also part of NASA's astrobiology, which is concerned with the potential for life's existence beyond Earth. The goal is to find molecular fossils on Mars. NASA's Perseverance will seek the signs of life on Mars. This will advance the Mars Exploration Program. Mars Exploration Program seeks to understand the early evolution of Mars. This will provide information on the geological processes that took place. It will also provide information on the potential for life on Mars. Maybe Mars hosted life at some point. The goal is to explore habitability on the Red Planet. NASA's Perseverance marks a major achievement in space exploration. READ MORE: NASA's Artemis Program to return Humans to the Moon at a Cost of $28 Billion The Mars Exploration Program has four main goals. They include life, climate, geology, and humans. The first goal is to determine if Mars ever supported life. This goal is divided into two objectives. The first objective is to find evidence of past life. The second objective is to find evidence of extant life. Both objectives are concerned with habitability. The second goal is concerned with the climate on Mars. Scientists want to understand how climate evolved on Mars. The third goal seeks to understand the geology of Mars. This involves the geology of the interior and surface of Mars. The last goal is human exploration. This involves robotic flight missions to Mars. READ MORE: Space Debris Force International Space Station to Make Emergency Maneuvers Igor Fruman Sentenced: 'Shame That Will Live With Me Forever' Sophia Loren is easily one of Old Hollywoods most glamorous and recognizable actresses. Born in Rome, Loren overcame an impoverished childhood before establishing herself in Italian cinema, and later, conquering Hollywood. Her career has spanned six decades, earning her an Oscar along the way and roles with Hollywood heavyweights like Cary Grant, Marlon Brando and Gregory Peck. In her 2014 memoir, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life, Loren wrote, When I think back on my life, sometimes Im surprised its actually all true. From her days in war-torn Italy to her red carpet appearances, here is a look at Lorens most significant moments. Sophia Lorens early life Getty Images Despite her glamorous lifestyle later in life, Sophia Lorens childhood, by her own accounts, was an uphill struggle. Loren was born Sofia Villani Scicolone on September 20, 1934, in a charity ward for unwed mothers in Rome, Italy. Without support from her father, Loren and her younger sister grew up in extreme poverty, raised by her mother, Romilda Villani, her grandparents and extended family outside of Naples in a town called Pozzuoli. Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Conditions grew worse during World War II, and Loren would recall in her autobiography that her earliest memories were of bombings and taking refuge in the nearby railway tunnel during air raids. On some days, we wouldnt even have a crumb to eat, she wrote, noting that she was nicknamed 'Toothpick' by her classmates because of how skinny she was. Seemingly transforming overnight, in 1949, Lorens mother entered her in a beauty pageant in Naples. Though she didnt win the title prize, as a finalist, Loren did win what would prove to be a life-changing ticket to Rome - the center of Italian cinema. Getty Images From Italian cinema to Hollywood Loren set out to establish herself in Italian films when she arrived in Rome, earning her first role as an extra in the MGM-produced 1951 film Quo Vadis. By 1953, she had been taken under producer (and future husband) Carlo Pontis wing, changing her screen name to Sophia Loren and landing her first starring role in the film Aida. The following year, Loren worked with renowned Italian director Vittorio De Sica for the first time in the The Gold Of Naples, and the two would go on to make 13 more films together over the course of their 20 year friendship and work relationship. Sophia with Cary Grant / Snap/Shutterstock Without De Sica I would never have become what I am, I would never have found my true voice, Loren has said. De Sica would even direct Loren in his 1960 film about Italy during World War II, Two Women. Her emotional performance required Loren to draw from her own experiences during the war, and it would earn her the 1961 Academy Award for Best Lead Actress - making Loren the first actress to win the Oscar for a non-English-language film. Having established herself in Italian cinema over the course of a few years, Loren set her sights on Hollywood. She hired a language coach to teach her English and landed an impressive first Hollywood picture, starring alongside Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra in the 1957 film The Pride And The Passion. Sophia with Sir Charlie Chaplin / Getty Images Upon her arrival in Hollywood in 1957, Loren would hit the ground running, making films like Houseboat, It Started In Naples and Arabesque. Throughout this time, she remained an international actress, frequently returning to Italy to make films like Two Women, Marriage Italian Style and Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (the latter calling for Lorens character to perform a now famous striptease). The Loren look Getty Images Sometimes called the Italian Marilyn Monroe, Lorens look was distinctly her own, and at first, was seen as more of a hindrance. By her own accounts, Lorens impoverished childhood left her terribly skinny, and it wasnt until her teenage years that the ugly duckling was turning into a swan, as she put it. Evening News/Shutterstock Even so, at the start of her career, cameramen would declare her, impossible to photograph, noting, Her face is too short, her mouth is too big and her nose is too long. When it was suggested that she would find more success after having a nose job, Loren refused, stating, I knew perfectly well that my beauty was the result of a lot of irregularities all blended together in one face, my face. Whether I won or lost, it was going to be in the original version. Getty Images As she began to establish her career, Loren adopted a signature look that included fitted dresses, elegant jewelry (she favored Van Cleef & Arpels) and winged liner to accentuate her eyes. The makeup that was worn back then elongated the eyes in a striking way. I had been the first to use that effect with Goffredo Rocchetti, my makeup artist at the time, she said of the cat eyeliner. Getty Images During her early career, Loren often wore designs by Emilio Schuberth, who dressed her for her red carpet debut, as well as for the London premiere of her 1958 film, The Key. I had chosen a small jewelled headband, a diadem, Loren recalled of her accessory of choice. Unfortunately, the person receiving us really was a queen, Elizabeth, and royal etiquette demanded that no crown could be worn before a member of the royal house. The queen didnt seem to be bothered by it, but the following day the newspapers had a field day publishing some of the most striking and imaginative titles. Globe Photos/Mediapunch/Shutterstock Loren worked with other notable designers both on and off screen. Pierre Balmain was behind the costumes for her 1960 film the Millionairess, and Christian Dior created the costumes for Lorens 1966 film Arabesque. Loren also favored gowns by Valentino, Cristobal Balenciaga, and later in life, she would turn to Giorgio Armani to dress her. Family life Sophia with Carlo Ponti / Getty Images Though Hollywood co-stars would declare their love for her (most notably, Cary Grant, who asked Loren to marry him while working together on The Pride And The Passion), Loren met the love of her life early on. In 1951, while at a restaurant Loren caught the attention of Italian film producer Carlo Ponti, who would impact both her career and personal life. I was not much more than a young girl, and he was already a successful man, Loren recalled of first meeting Ponti and their 22 year age gap. The waiter came over to me with a note from him saying that the producer had noticed me. Then the stroll in the garden, the roses, the scent of acacia, summer as it was coming to a close. That was the start of my adventure. By 1954, Loren and Pontis working relationship turned into romance, and the two would eventually be married in 1957 (and again in 1966, when complications from Pontis annulment from his first wife meant their initial ceremony wasnt legal). Sophia with husband Carlo Ponti / Getty Images Loren and Ponti would have two sons, Carlo Jr. and Edoardo, and the pair remained married until his Pontis death in 2007. Later life and side projects AFP via Getty Images In 1991, Loren received the Academy Honorary Award for her contributions to film, and in the following decades, received several more lifetime achievement awards. The actress has never completely stopped working, appearing in films like Grumpier Old Men in 1995 and the Academy Award-nominated film Nine in 2009. Much to the delight of her four grandchildren, Loren even lent her voice to the non-English versions of Disneys Cars 2, as Mama Topolino. After an 11-year break from film work, it was announced that Loren would make her return in the Netflix film, The Life Ahead. Set for worldwide release in November 2020, the film is also directed by Lorens youngest son, Edoardo, with whom she has worked with twice before. Additionally, Loren channeled her passion for cooking into two books. The actress often turned to preparing recipes from her childhood during moments of happiness and distress (Too nervous to attend the 1961 Academy Award ceremony for which she ended up winning Best Actress, Loren stayed home instead, making sauce). In 1971 she published her first cookbook, In The Kitchen With Love, and in 1998, she published a second cookbook, Sophia Lorens Recipes And Memories. KYODO NEWS - Sep 25, 2020 - 19:28 | All, World South Korea said Friday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has apologized for the shooting death earlier this week of a South Korean fisheries official who drifted into North Korean waters. Kim's rare apology to a foreign government comes amid growing public anger in South Korea toward its northern neighbor over the killing of its unarmed citizen. "We feel very sorry for greatly disappointing South Koreans and the president by causing an unsavory incident unexpectedly on our side," National Security Director Suh Hoon quoted Kim as saying in a letter sent to the South Korean government. The letter came a day after President Moon Jae In condemned North Korea for shooting dead the Oceans and Fisheries Ministry employee and burning his body at sea. He was reported missing on Monday while on patrol for potential illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea near the inter-Korean border. The South Korean government has determined he was shot dead Tuesday by North Korean troops and has demanded punishment for those responsible for his death. The letter from the United Front Department of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea was received by the South Korean government on Friday morning. The letter said that when asked by North Korean troops from a distance of about 80 meters to identify himself, the man aboard a floating material only said he was from South Korea and declined to say more, Suh said during a press briefing. The troops then shot him about 10 times from a distance of 40-50 meters in line with security protocols and approached after the rounds were fired but found only blood, according to the letter. The troops concluded that the man was dead and set fire to the floating object he had been on, in line with quarantine rules, according to the letter. The letter also described the man as an "illegal intruder," Suh said. The South Korean military has said he was likely trying to defect to the North. During the same press briefing held by Moon's office, an official said that given the gravity of the matter, the government will continue weighing what measures to take. The official also said Moon and Kim have recently exchanged friendly letters. Moon sent one to Kim on Sept. 8 and received a reply from him on Sept. 12, In the letters, the two leaders mostly consoled each other's peoples for responding to the coronavirus pandemic and the aftermath of heavy rain in early August, the office said. Inter-Korean relations have soured since June, when North Korea blew up a joint liaison office located near the border with the South. The office, opened in 2018, was a symbol of recent reconciliation between the Koreas. Despite the setback, Moon, during his video speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, called for international support to declare an end to the 1950-1953 Korean War, which began with a North Korean invasion of the South and ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. Related coverage: South Korea says missing official was shot dead by N. Korean troops Jios in-flight service will allow Indian travelers travelling abroad, to stay connected with voice and data services on a flight. Currently, the in-flight services will be available to Indians when they travel abroad. The company claims that once the services are available in the Indian airspace, all Jio customers will have first access to them. View Full Image The new Jio plans for postpaid users HOW TO USE JIOS IN-FLIGHT PACKS: Jio users with valid in-flight connectivity pack can start using the pack, once their flight (supported) reaches 20,000 feet or higher in the following way: 1. Switch on the smartphone and turn-off the Airplane Mode 2. Your phone will automatically connect to the AeroMobile network. The network name may differ dependent on the handset 3. If your phone does not connect to the AeroMobile network automatically, you will need to go to Carrier in your phone settings and manually select AeroMobile 4. Ensure Data Roaming is on to use data services 5. Once connected, you will receive a welcome text and other relevant information 6. You can now use your mobile phone to call, text, email and surf the internet Mr. Akash Ambani, Director, Jio, says: JioPostpaid Plus brings with it industry-defining and highest-quality user experience, and through our partnership with AeroMobile we will now offer in-flight roaming services at an attractive price. We are delighted to bring this new service to our customers, who will be able to enjoy seamless, high-quality and secure roaming at 20,000 feet, keeping every JioPostpaid Plus user connected, always." Kevin Rogers, Sr Director Mobility Panasonic Avionics, CEO AeroMobile, adds: We are pleased to partner with Jio, and broaden the reach of our connectivity services across India. With the new in-flight roaming bundle, JioPostpaid Plus customers no longer need to worry about connectivity whilst traveling. This new market-leading proposition shows continued commitment to providing the very best service to customers." Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal A little fish continues to make a big splash in the Rio Grande. Three agencies will use water from the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority to protect Rio Grande silvery minnow habitat this fall. On Wednesday, the water authority approved a lease of up to 7,000 acre-feet, or about 2.9 billion gallons, of its San Juan-Chama water to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation at a cost not to exceed $700,000. The San Juan-Chama project uses a series of tunnels and reservoirs to route Colorado River water into the Rio Grande Basin. Several cities, counties, pueblos and irrigation districts rely on the project for drinking water and agriculture. The Bureau of Reclamation will pay $350,000 for the water. The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District contributed $250,000 to the lease and the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission contributed $100,000. We are glad that we could rely on our solid partnerships with the State of New Mexico, District and Authority to reach this agreement for additional water to supplement flows in the Rio Grande in this difficult year, said Jennifer Faler, Reclamations Albuquerque Area manager. The lease will supplement the water in the Rio Grande and help (agencies) meet their obligations under the biological opinion, said Elizabeth Anderson, the water authoritys chief planning officer. In 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a new biological opinion regarding water management and endangered and threatened species such as the Rio Grande silvery minnow, southwestern willow flycatcher and the yellow-billed cuckoo. Water agencies now manage the river to improve fish densities, but are not required to maintain certain river flow targets. This years drought and minimal runoff have left water agencies scrambling to supply water to farmers and fish. The MRGCD used 10,000 acre-feet from the water authority in June. The irrigation district had repaid that water to ABCWUA in late 2019 as a payment for a water loan from the early 2000s. But the district was forced to ask for the water payment back after running out of storage water. Another release of stored water from El Vado Reservoir in July helped extend the irrigation season by nearly three months. Now that water is gone, and river flows are again suffering from a lackluster monsoon season and above-average temperatures. MRGCD Chief Engineer and CEO Mike Hamman confirmed that this lease of San Juan-Chama water is the last block of water in the system. State Engineer John DAntonio said the water will supply minnow habitat until early October. September is not good timing for the river to continue drying, DAntonio said at Thursdays Interstate Stream Commission meeting. Fish and Wildlife conducts fish density surveys in October to help determine health of the minnow in the Middle Rio Grande. Under the lease, the water can be released from Abiquiu Reservoir through the end of 2022. Revenue from the lease will help fund the water authoritys program to plan for future water supply and demand. The water authority has a contract with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior for about 15 billion gallons of San Juan-Chama water each year making it the largest user of the project. Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal. A North Country man was sentenced recently to jail time and fined more than $5,500 for illegally shooting a moose cow last fall. Zachary Vaughn, 26, of Saranac, in Clinton County, N.Y. was sentenced in Town of Franklin Criminal Court to 60 days in the county jail and $5,525 in fines and surcharges. The state Department of Environmental Conservation also revoked his hunting privileges for five years. DECs investigation began on Oct. 31 when Environmental Conservation Officer Nathan Favreau received a call from a camp member in the Chateaugay Highlands Easement reporting a dead cow moose on the property. The carcass was taken to DECs Delmar Wildlife Resource Lab for a necropsy. The crime scene investigation continued with the aid of DEC K9 Diesel. Following a series of anonymous calls and an anonymous tip reported to the DEC Environmental Crime Tip-Line, Vaughan was identified as the shooter. While Vaughan initially denied the claims, ECOs obtained a supporting deposition. A search warrant was executed on Nov. 26, 2019, by DECs Division of Law Enforcement at the home of Vaughan and his parents, during which officers obtained a voluntary statement from Vaughan regarding the poaching incident. On Dec. 4, Vaughan was charged with four misdemeanors: taking of a moose; possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle; use of an artificial light in a vehicle while in possession of firearm; and hunting deer with the aid of an artificial light. He also was charged with three violations: hunting during closed hours; illegally taking wildlife in contravention to the state Environmental Conservation Law; and taking wildlife while in or on a motor vehicle. Vaughn had faced a maximum penalty of $9,725 in fines and up to one year imprisonment, reported the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. The moose, a protected mammal in New York State, is the largest member of the deer family and the largest land mammal in New York. Hunting moose in New York State is illegal. Learn more about New York State hunting regulations on DECs website or view the Hunting Seasons and Regulations Guide online. To report suspected environmental violations, including illegal hunting, fill out DECs online form or call DECs Division of Law Enforcement dispatch at 1-844-DEC-ECOS (1-844-332-3267). MORE: The 2020 Fall Salmon Run: Good fishing continues on some waters despite drought-like conditions Two Salmon River guides offer advice on landing a salmon during the fall run (video) Migrating Monarchs at Montezuma: CNY woman photographs more than 400 roosting butterflies HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Police in Vietnam have seized over 300,000 used condoms that were being washed, repackaged and sold as new, according to local reports. Binh Duong provincial market inspectors raided a factory near Ho Chi Minh City over the weekend after receiving a tip from a local resident about its unsanitary practices, the Associated Press reported, citing local, state-owned paper Tuoi Tre. Upon arriving at the factory, inspectors found bags of about 320,000 recycled condoms that had been boiled, dried, reshaped, and then repackaged in plastic bags, the newspaper reported, per the AP and The New York Times. The owner of the factory, a 34-year-old woman, reportedly told inspectors that the factory had bought the used condoms from a man in the area. RELATED: The Coronavirus Pandemic May Cause a Global Condom Shortage She told investigators that she was paid 17 cents for every two pounds of recycled condoms, the Times reported. Footage from local state-owned broadcaster Vietnam Television reportedly showed thousands of condoms at the factory spread out across the floor. The bags filled with recycled contraceptives weighed almost 800 pounds. HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The Times said it remains unclear just how long the business has been in operation or how many condoms have been sold. RELATED: Amazon Is Selling Products That Were Scavenged from the Trash, Report Finds Police will continue to investigate and find others involved in the operation, the AP reported. According to the Times, a woman was arrested in connection with the scheme, though it remains unclear if she has been charged with a crime. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories A health official told the Tuoi Tre newspaper that recycled condoms posed extreme health risks to users. "This must be prevented," the official said. Apples iOS 14 has taken some heat for copying Android features. The most obvious example being the new customizable widgets (iOS had widgets before, but it was limited to the left-most screen of the main menu). Another big change is the introduction of the App Library, a decluttered app screen thats suspiciously similar to Androids app drawer. There are other changes, too, such as a discreet view for Siri that wont take over your whole display, and a new picture-in-picture mode. And yes, these are features that weve seen on Android as well. But for me, the real star of iOS 14 is not quite so obvious (Its so low-key that Apple didnt mention it at its WWDC keynote). Its the fact that, at long last, iOS now lets you pick your own default email and browser apps. This one feature, more than any other, is what I feel is a key factor in preventing me from switching to Android. Thats because, as an iOS user, it is not Android that I find attractive -- its Google. Even though Ive used several Android handsets over the years, Ive always stuck with an iPhone. For one thing, Im so invested in the ecosystem at this point (Ive purchased many apps, several of which are iOS-only) that switching to another platform would be too painful. But the main reason that I still have an iPhone, despite the many advantages of Android, is simply force of habit. Its interface, design language and keyboard feel so much like second nature that I cant get used to anything else. This is a huge reason why Androids widgets and home screens simply dont appeal to me: I just never saw the need for them. Even now, after Ive installed iOS 14, I havent bothered adding a widget or cleaning up my home screen, because I just like it the way it is. I suspect many other iOS users feel the same. PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 04: In this photo illustration, the logo of the Gmail app homepage is seen on the screen of an iPhone in front of a computer screen showing a Google logo on July 04, 2018 in Paris, France. According to the Wall Street Journal dozens of Google partner companies have access to emails from 1.5 billion Gmail users. Gmail is a free email service offered by Google. (Photo Illustration by Chesnot/Getty Images) For me, the main benefit that Android has over iOS has never been its design or its interface or anything like that. The main advantages with Android, in my view, are the features. Specifically, its compatibility with Googles apps and services. Thats because, as much as I like iOS, Google is the world in which I live. I use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps, Google Photos and Chrome literally every day. I find Google services easier and more pleasant to use, and I like that it all syncs together. The fact that Android comes with Gmail, Chrome and all the usual Google services by default, working seamlessly with a single sign-on, is great. Story continues That hasnt been the case with iOS, and one can certainly understand why. Apple obviously wants you to use its own apps and services over the competition. Sure, third-party apps like Gmail and Chrome have been around for a few years now but there were always certain restrictions. The biggest hassle is that tapping on an email link in an app or in Safari would often kick me over the default Apple Mail app rather than Gmail (If you tapped on an email link in the Chrome app, it does let you go to Gmail however). Now, thanks to iOS 14, this is no longer a problem. Of course, its likely that Apple isn't allowing this in iOS 14 out of the goodness of its heart. Instead, it could be a tactical move. The company is already facing serious antitrust scrutiny as well as accusations that it holds an App Store monopoly, partially due to the 30 percent commission it charges developers (This is the basis of Epics recent legal battle with Apple). Perhaps, by ceding ground on default iOS apps, Apple could be heading off concerns that it holds a monopoly over that at the very least. It is not unlike when Microsoft was forced to unbundle Internet Explorer from Windows in 2009 due to European regulations. Be that as it may, this could be a sign of greater things to come. Its given me a glimmer of hope that other Google apps, like Calendar and Maps for example, could be given the default treatment too. Of course, there are many things that Android still does better than iOS, such as managing notifications, app permission handling, Live Transcribe, the ability to sideload apps not from an App Store, and more. But if all I get is greater access to Googles apps and services while still keeping the phone I like, Id be happy. A case that briefly tarnished the image of India as a destination for foreign investors seems to have got closure. The Permanent Court of Arbitration has today ruled in favour of Vodafone Group Plc in the Rs 22,100-crore tax dispute case that started in 2009. The arbitration court reportedly said that the demand for tax is in violation of investment treaty agreement between India and the Netherlands. The court also directed the Indian government to cease the tax demand (of about Rs 7,990 crore) and interest and penalty (Rs 14,110 crore) against Vodafone Group. The order is expected to bring a huge relief to beleaguered Vodafone Idea which was hurtling from one crisis to another. Also, this is the second breather for Vodafone in less than a month. Early this month, the Supreme Court had asked the Vodafone Idea to pay its adjusted gross revenues (AGR) dues over 10 years against a lump-sum payment. Though the retrospective tax matter started in 2009, the seeds of this dispute were sown in the historic 2007 deal between Hutchison Essar and Vodafone in which the latter acquired 67 per cent stake in the former's telecom business in India. Two years later, tax department, under the then UPA regime, decided to impose capital gains tax on Vodafone. The matter went to the Bombay High Court which ruled in favour of the government. ALSO READ: What options does govt have in Vodafone tax dispute after adverse Hague verdict? Later, the apex court quashed the Bombay High Court ruling saying that the transaction took place between two non-resident entities at an offshore location (Cayman Islands). "Shareholding in companies incorporated outside India is property located outside India. Where such shares become subject matter of offshore transfer between two non-residents, there is no liability for capital gains tax," erstwhile Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia and Justice Swatanter Kumar had said. By that time, Vodafone had already paid Rs 2,500 crore to the government in addition to furnishing Rs 8,500 crore bank guarantee. The SC asked the government to return those. A hell-bent government then decided to change the law retrospectively and brought the tax liability back on Vodafone. Not just Vodafone, this decision also affected auto major Nissan and Cairn Energy - all of whom decided to challenge it in the international arbitration courts. The government was against the arbitration process as it argued that the laws passed by Parliament do not fall within the ambit of any international treaty, and such arbitration proceedings would be an abuse of the process of law. But order from the apex court paved the way for Vodafone to initiate proceedings. In 2018, the former finance minister Arun Jaitley had said that the decision taken by previous government to tax Vodafone Group retrospectively was "erroneous" and this is something that the ruling NDA government would be loath to repeat. ALSO READ: Retrospective tax case: Vodafone wins arbitration against Indian govt Experts say that the ruling will surely go a long way in restoring global investors' confidence in India's story. "I think it's fair and should have been handled much earlier. Retrospective taxes are not a good indicator of any economy and had it gone the other way, it would have impacted India's image as a country to attract global investors," says Tarun Pathak, associate director at Counterpoint Research. Also, there could be serious implications for the current government. How? Sonam Chandwani, managing partner at KS Legal & Associates says that while the ruling has stated that the government should stop seeking AGR dues from Vodafone and pay some Rs 40 crore as partial compensation for its legal costs, it would be interesting to observe the implications of this decision on other international arbitration cases over retrospective tax claims and cancellation of contracts against companies like Cairn Energy, and a dozen others if they were to follow suit. "If this were to transpire against the government in dozen other cases, Indian government could end up burning a hole in its treasury for paying damages if it loses," she says. "The arbitration victory is a setback for the Indian government, the ramifications of which might be even worse as there are a number of other pending arbitrations on the same set of issues. Hopefully, the Indian government will learn from this arbitration that an attractive investment climate requires that they respect the rule of law rather than undermine it," says Nigam Nuggehalli, dean of School of Law at BML Munjal University. ALSO READ: Vodafone Idea share zooms 15% after parent wins arbitration against govt in Rs 20K-crore retro tax case Prince Charles' goddaughter has admitted stealing a 680 designer coat from Harrods. Socialite India Hicks, who was a bridesmaid at Princess Diana's wedding in 1981 and is 678th in line to the throne, stole the expensive Max Mara ladies' coat from one of its luxury branches at Heathrow Airport in January. The mother-of-five, who was born in London but moved to the Bahamas with long term partner David Flint Wood in 1996, was taken to court after being charged with theft. Hicks, 53, pleaded guilty at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on Monday and was conditionally discharged for three months. She was also ordered to pay 85 costs and a 22 victim surcharge. Her address was given in court as Schenectady, a US city in New York state. A spokesman for Hicks said she had been 'absent-minded' and had later returned the coat. India Hicks, who was a bridesmaid at Princess Diana's wedding in 1981, stole the expensive Max Mara ladies' coat from one of Harrods' luxury branches at Heathrow Airport in January The mother-of-five, who was born in London but moved to the Bahamas with long term partner David Flint Wood in 1996, was taken to court after being charged with theft (back left, Hicks as a bridesmaid for Prince Charles and Princess Diana at their wedding in 1981) They told The Sun: 'The court accepted that at the time of taking the coat, India had simply been absent-minded and had not intended to leave without paying for it. 'She was full of remorse for this mistake, and was discharged by the District Judge.' Former fashion model Hicks is the daughter of Lady Pamela Mountbatten, a great-great-grandchild to Queen Victoria, and famed interior designer David Nightingale Hicks. She is the granddaughter of Earl Mountbatten, the uncle to Prince Philip and second cousin once removed of the Queen, whose father George VI took over the throne when Edward abdicated. Over recent months Hicks has shared a look at her glamorous life in lockdown in the Bahamas, boasting al fresco meals cooked by her children, painting and homeschooling in their airy library room, beach walks and family games by the beach. She and her long term partner share a sprawling white-washed villa - which boasts a pool and sea views - with their sons Felix, Amory, Conrad, and daughter Domino, and Wesley, who she adopted when he was 15, after his mother died. In a 2016 interview with Business Insider, Hicks cited her grandmother - the last Vicereine of India Edwina Mountbatten- as her professional inspiration. Hicks stole a 680 Max Mara coat, but it is unclear if this is the exact style that was shoplifted India Hicks, who was a bridesmaid at Princess Diana's wedding in 1981, stole the expensive Max Mara ladies' coat from one of Harrods' luxury branches at Heathrow Airport in January Despite being extremely wealthy, Hicks has been labelled 'unusual' as one of the few British heiresses to earn their own income. In 2015 she launched India Hicks Style, an e-commerce business which sells jewellery, accessories, make-up and homeware, with products ranging between 15 to 400 but announced over the summer that it would be closing down. Hicks has described Prince Charles as being a 'caring, considerate and involved' godfather. She was 13 and on holiday in the Bahamas when he asked her to be a bridesmaid. Describing her preparation, she said: 'But first, I had to practise. It was during these rehearsals that I got to know Diana, whom I first met at a dress fitting. 'She always seemed more like a head girl than a princess-in-waiting, with never a shy moment in private.' In a recent interview she also said she had kept the flower wreath from the wedding. Hicks was educated at 40,000-a-year all-girls Gordonstoun School in Scotland. She previously worked for Ralph Lauren and J Crew and is often featured in society magazine Tatler. British car maker Land Rover and US electric vehicle producer Tesla have been named the two most unreliable manufacturers in a poll of thousands of UK drivers. Land Rover, which has for years struggled with reliability issues with its big - and expensive - 4X4s, was named the least dependable brand for cars aged 0 to 3 years old and motors between 3 and 8 years in a survey by Which?. But it has also been joined at the bottom of the list by Elon Musk's car firm, with its pricey plug-in vehicles found to have 'disastrously high fault rates and lengthy garage stays', according to the consumer watchdog. Which?'s Car Survey named Land Rover as the least reliable brand, giving its newer and older cars a one out of five star rating for dependability. The Range Rover Sport was scored particularly lowly by drivers Lowly rating for Land Rover Which?'s Car Survey was conducted between December 2019 and February 2020, with 47,013 motorists giving a detailed 12-month report on a total of 55,833 cars they own and drive. The consumer group found that diesel cars are more fault-prone - particularly older models - than petrol, hybrid and electric vehicles. Diesel owners across all brands often detail faults with the emissions and exhaust systems in their cars. And with new MOT rules announced in 2018 with stricter measures for diesel motors with particulate filters, this issue is not going to go away soon. These combined factors are ultimately bad news for the British 4X4 maker. Of the 35 different manufacturers reviewed, Land Rover is the only brand to score one star out of five for reliability for both newer and older vehicles. Land Rover takes product quality seriously, listening to customers and continuously striving to improve Land Rover spokesman It has historically been a diesel-heavy manufacturer;; supported by the fact that 92 per cent of survey respondents with Land Rover or Range Rover vehicles said their cars use this fuel type. But the manufacturer's reliability goes beyond the fuel it burns, says Which?. One of the most persistent issues raised by Land Rover is recurring gremlins with electronic gadgets in the SUVs. Owners bemoan problems with the cars on-board computer software so often that Which? was forced to raise the issues with the manufacturer. Two models in particular are adversely prone to this issue: Land Rovers current Range Rover Sport (2013-) and the Range Rover Velar (2017-). The most common issues with Land Rover models, like the Range Rover Velar pictured, were related to the in-car infotainment system. The luxury car brand said over-the-air updates to the latest systems should resolve any issues As reported by This is Money last month, so many owners complained about the software that the watchdog recommended to Land Rover than it recalls these models and fix them for free. A spokesman for the brand told us: 'Land Rover takes product quality seriously, listening to customers and continuously striving to improve. To this end, Land Rover is introducing software over the air to its new products allowing remote updates without the need to visit a retailer. 'PIVI, Land Rover's all new infotainment architecture also improves the customer experience which has been recently introduced on our latest products. Furthermore, Land Rover has also offered Apple Car Play and Android Auto free of charge to all customers with compatible infotainment systems. 'Having analysed Which?'s research, Land Rover understands that a sample size of 0.12 per cent of customers owning a Range Rover Velar and 0.22 per cent of owners of a Range Rover Sport have been surveyed. We don't believe this is representative of the vast majority of satisfied customers. 'If any customer would like to talk to our customer services team, they can call: 0370-500-0500.' Which?'s report shows that Land Rover and Teslas are on average more expensive than all but one other car brand included in their survey but have the most disappointing scores for reliability Pricey Tesla electric cars, such as the 80,000 Model S, were found to have 'disastrously high fault rates and lengthy garage stays' Teslas are almost as troublesome, says owners of the luxury electric cars Tesla reliability has been described by the watchdog as 'shocking' after reviewing the reports from UK drivers who own the electric vehicles. 'Teslas seemingly desirable Tesla Model S saloon and Model X SUV both get the poorest possible mark for 0-3-year reliability thanks to disastrously high fault rates and lengthy garage stays,' Which? researchers said. While it was the two bigger cars in the US brand's range that are the cause for most complaints, a surprising number of owners of the latest - and most affordable - Tesla, the Model 3, have already had complaints. The very first owners took delivery of their Model 3s in June 2019 and it's gone on to become the best-selling electric car of 2020, topping the sales charts in April and May when dealerships were closed to the public due to Covid-19. Despite owners only having their cars for six months before completing the latest Which? survey, the consumer champion said it had a big enough sample size to rate the Model 3 for reliability. And plenty of issues have been raised. Tesla's latest car, the compact Model 3 (which is also its cheapest), only arrived in the UK in June 2019, but owners have already reported issues with their new motors A quarter (26 per cent) of Model 3 owners said their car had at least one problem that had to be fixed by a mechanic. Given the age of the car, thats incredibly high. While these faults were predominantly minor issues they suggest a 'general low level of quality', with paintwork and other exterior trim problems most commonly highlighted in the comprehensive Which? driver poll. 'Although not overly frequent, a number of owners also reported problems with the cars rainwater seals,' it said. Tesla owners had experienced some of the highest fault rates and lengthiest average garage stays - making it one of the least reliable brands Harry Rose, Which? editor 'The last thing you expect from your fancy new electric car is for it to let in water. 'Then factor in that 3 per cent of owners we heard from had already seen their car break down. The Model 3 looks destined to go the way of the Model S and Model X in terms of dependability,' researchers added. Harry Rose, editor at Which?, said: 'Motorists might assume that paying a premium for a luxury car like a Tesla would improve their chances of avoiding reliability issues and repeated trips to the garage. 'But our research found that Tesla owners had experienced some of the highest fault rates and lengthiest average garage stays in their first three years - making it one of the least reliable brands out of the 35 included in our survey.' Tesla UK said it did not want to make a comment about the Which? survey but highlighted that the Model 3 was both the most reliable executive car and electric car in another reliability poll by What Car? published earlier this month. However, the same What Car? survey where the Model 3 excelled the Model S was rated the least reliable of all electric vehicles reported on and Tesla came third bottom for brand reliability. Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and West Bengal Cabinet Minister Becharam Manna along with farmers protests against Farm Bills 2020, in front of Gandhi statue, Kolkata on Sep 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and West Bengal Cabinet Minister Becharam Manna along with farmers protests against Farm Bills 2020, in front of Gandhi statue, Kolkata on Sep 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and West Bengal Cabinet Minister Becharam Manna along with farmers protests against Farm Bills 2020, in front of Gandhi statue, Kolkata on Sep 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News K0olkata, Sep 25 : As part of the nationwide stir, members of farmers' bodies belonging to the Left parties and West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress staged sporadic protests in various parts of the state demanding withdrawal of the 'anti-people' farm Bills passed recently in the Parliament. The protests didn't draw large crowds though in the state which was once ruled by the world's longest-serving Communist government and was known as a Red bastion. The Communist Party of India-Marxist's (CPI-M) farmers' wing Sara Bharat Krishak Sabha and Trinamool-backed Kisaan Khet Mazdoor cell activists took out rallies with a handful of people, held sit-in demonstrations and set the farm Bill on fire in Kolkata. Activists of CPI-M students' wing SFI also staged a road blockade in front of the Jadavpur University protesting against the farm Bills. Protests were also witnessed in various districts on Friday as members of the farmers' bodies took out rallies and staged sit-in demonstrations in different parts of the state against the passage of the two agriculture Bills in Parliament. The state's ruling Trinamool Congress staged a sit-in in Kolkata's Mayo Road, while the leaders of the Left parties brought out a rally in the city in the afternoon. Protests were held at Singur in Hooghly district, the place famous for anti-farmland agitation, Rampurhat in Birbhum, Galsi in East Burdwan and Kalyani's Iswaripur crossing in Nadia district. On the other hand, while Trinamool Congress activists staged the sit-in at Mayo Road, the Congress and Left parties took out a protest rally from Esplanade to Shyambazar five-point crossing. State Law Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, Women and Child Development Minister Sashi Panja and South Kolkata MP Mala Roy were among the senior party leaders who had protested against the issue earlier this week. Facing the virus, we should put people and life first. Video and Transcript Mr. President,Colleagues, September 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - This year marks the 75th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War and the founding of the United Nations (UN). Yesterday, the high-level meeting to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the UN was held. The meeting was a significant one, as it reaffirmed our abiding commitment to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter on the basis of reviewing the historical experience and lessons of the World Anti-Fascist War. Mr. President, We humans are battling COVID-19, a virus that has ravaged the world and has kept resurging. In this fight, we have witnessed the efforts of governments, dedication of medical workers, exploration of scientists, and perseverance of the public. People of different countries have come together. With courage, resolve and compassion which lit the dark hour, we have confronted the disaster head on. The virus will be defeated. Humanity will win this battle! - Facing the virus, we should put people and life first. We should mobilize all resources to make a science-based and targeted response. No case should be missed and no patient should be left untreated. The spread of the virus must be contained. - Facing the virus, we should enhance solidarity and get this through together. We should follow the guidance of science, give full play to the leading role of the World Health Organization, and launch a joint international response to beat this pandemic. Any attempt of politicizing the issue or stigmatization must be rejected. - Facing the virus, we should adopt comprehensive and long-term control measures. We should reopen businesses and schools in an orderly way, so as to create jobs, boost the economy, and restore economic and social order and vitality. The major economies need to step up macro policy coordination. We should not only restart our own economies, but also contribute to global recovery. - Facing the virus, we should show concern for and accommodate the need of developing countries, especially African countries. The international community needs to take timely and robust measures in such fields as debt relief and international assistance, ensure the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and help these countries overcome their difficulties. Seventy-five years ago, China made historic contributions to winning the World Anti-Fascist War and supported the founding of the United Nations. Today, with the same sense of responsibility, China is actively involved in the international fight against COVID-19, contributing its share to upholding global public health security. Going forward, we will continue to share our epidemic control practices as well as diagnostics and therapeutics with other countries, provide support and assistance to countries in need, ensure stable global anti-epidemic supply chains, and actively participate in the global research on tracing the source and transmission routes of the virus. At the moment, several COVID-19 vaccines developed by China are in Phase III clinical trials. When their development is completed and they are available for use, these vaccines will be made a global public good, and they will be provided to other developing countries on a priority basis. China will honor its commitment of providing US$2 billion of international assistance over two years, further international cooperation in such fields as agriculture, poverty reduction, education, women and children, and climate change, and support other countries in restoring economic and social development. Mr. President, The history of development of human society is a history of our struggles against all challenges and difficulties and our victories over them. At present, the world is battling the COVID-19 pandemic as it goes through profound changes never seen in a century. Yet, peace and development remain the underlying trend of the times, and people everywhere crave even more strongly for peace, development and win-win cooperation. COVID-19 will not be the last crisis to confront humanity, so we must join hands and be prepared to meet even more global challenges. First, COVID-19 reminds us that we are living in an interconnected global village with a common stake. All countries are closely connected and we share a common future. No country can gain from others' difficulties or maintain stability by taking advantage of others' troubles. To pursue a beggar-thy-neighbor policy or just watch from a safe distance when others are in danger will eventually land one in the same trouble faced by others. This is why we should embrace the vision of a community with a shared future in which everyone is bound together. We should reject attempts to build blocs to keep others out and oppose a zero-sum approach. We should see each other as members of the same big family, pursue win-win cooperation, and rise above ideological disputes and do not fall into the trap of "clash of civilizations". More importantly, we should respect a country's independent choice of development path and model. The world is diverse in nature, and we should turn this diversity into a constant source of inspiration driving human advancement. This will ensure that human civilizations remain colorful and diversified. Second, COVID-19 reminds us that economic globalization is an indisputable reality and a historical trend. Burying one's head in the sand like an ostrich in the face of economic globalization or trying to fight it with Don Quixote's lance goes against the trend of history. Let this be clear: The world will never return to isolation, and no one can sever the ties between countries. We should not dodge the challenges of economic globalization. Instead, we must face up to major issues such as the wealth gap and the development divide. We should strike a proper balance between the government and the market, fairness and efficiency, growth and income distribution, and technology and employment so as to ensure full and balanced development that delivers benefit to people from all countries, sectors and backgrounds in an equitable way. We should pursue open and inclusive development, remain committed to building an open world economy, and uphold the multilateral trading regime with the World Trade Organization as the cornerstone. We should say no to unilateralism and protectionism, and work to ensure the stable and smooth functioning of global industrial and supply chains. Third, COVID-19 reminds us that humankind should launch a green revolution and move faster to create a green way of development and life, preserve the environment and make Mother Earth a better place for all. Humankind can no longer afford to ignore the repeated warnings of Nature and go down the beaten path of extracting resources without investing in conservation, pursuing development at the expense of protection, and exploiting resources without restoration. The Paris Agreement on climate change charts the course for the world to transition to green and low-carbon development. It outlines the minimum steps to be taken to protect the Earth, our shared homeland, and all countries must take decisive steps to honor this Agreement. China will scale up its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions by adopting more vigorous policies and measures. We aim to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. We call on all countries to pursue innovative, coordinated, green and open development for all, seize the historic opportunities presented by the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, achieve a green recovery of the world economy in the post-COVID era and thus create a powerful force driving sustainable development. Fourth, COVID-19 reminds us that the global governance system calls for reform and improvement. COVID-19 is a major test of the governance capacity of countries; it is also a test of the global governance system. We should stay true to multilateralism and safeguard the international system with the UN at its core. Global governance should be based on the principle of extensive consultation, joint cooperation and shared benefits so as to ensure that all countries enjoy equal rights and opportunities and follow the same rules. The global governance system should adapt itself to evolving global political and economic dynamics, meet global challenges and embrace the underlying trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation. It is natural for countries to have differences. What's important is to address them through dialogue and consultation. Countries may engage in competition, but such competition should be positive and healthy in nature. When in competition, countries should not breach the moral standard and should comply with international norms. In particular, major countries should act like major countries. They should provide more global public goods, take up their due responsibilities and live up to people's expectations. Mr. President, Since the start of this year, we, the 1.4 billion Chinese, undaunted by the strike of COVID-19, and with the government and the people united as one, have made all-out efforts to control the virus and speedily restore life and economy to normalcy. We have every confidence to achieve our goals within the set time frame, that is, to finish the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, lift out of poverty all rural residents living below the current poverty line, and meet ten years ahead of schedule the poverty eradication target set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. China is the largest developing country in the world, a country that is committed to peaceful, open, cooperative and common development. We will never seek hegemony, expansion, or sphere of influence. We have no intention to fight either a Cold War or a hot war with any country. We will continue to narrow differences and resolve disputes with others through dialogue and negotiation. We do not seek to develop only ourselves or engage in a zero-sum game. We will not pursue development behind closed doors. Rather, we aim to foster, over time, a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other. This will create more space for China's economic development and add impetus to global economic recovery and growth. China will continue to work as a builder of global peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of international order. To support the UN in playing its central role in international affairs, I hereby announce the following steps to be taken by China: - China will provide another US$50 million to the UN COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan. - China will provide US$50 million to the China-FAO South-South Cooperation Trust Fund (Phase III). - China will extend the Peace and Development Trust Fund between the UN and China by five years after it expires in 2025. - China will set up a UN Global Geospatial Knowledge and Innovation Center and an International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals to facilitate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Mr. President, Colleagues, The baton of history has been passed to our generation, and we must make the right choice, a choice worthy of the people's trust and of our times. Let us join hands to uphold the values of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom shared by all of us and build a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind. Together, we can make the world a better place for everyone. The electorate -the heartbeat of Nigeria- on Saturday 19th September, 2020, made their choice at the poll, barring any unforeseen circumstances. General public opinion shows that one of the reasons for the victory of the Peoples Democratic Partys candidate, Godwin Obaseki, at the Edo state gubernatorial election was the peoples fight against godfatherism and dictatorship. In one of his pre-election interview, Gov. Obaseki was asked about the reason for his rift with Adams Oshiomole, his estranged godfather. In response, he commented that the fall out was as a result of Oshiomoles objection to his next term governorship ambition. This certainly explains the influence of a person or group of persons in determining the candidacy of governorship and election results. To the surprise of many, godfatherism has always been the water that births politics in Nigeria. With no iota of doubt, politics in Nigeria has always been involved in the practice of godfatherism. However, godfatherism in the politics of Nigeria can be seen from two perspectives. The first is often likened to mentoring and sponsoring. In this case, godfathers select and sponsor credible candidates that would be ambassadors of the party ideologies and would be able to present the dividend of democracy to the populace. For instance, during the first republic, the first premier of the western region, the late chief Obafemi Awolowo served as a godfather to late chief Bola Ige, late Chief Anthony Enahoro, and Chief Ayo Adebanjo among others. The late chief mentored and sponsored his godsons towards the execution of his developmental agenda in the western region. Same can also be said of the late Chief Nnamdi Azikwe of the Eastern region and the late Sarduana of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello of the Northern region. However, the second perspective which can be described as capitalist godfatherism can be evidently seen in the actions of the godfathers of the fourth republic. This calibre of godfathers see politics as an avenue for investment and profits as they present and sponsor feeble candidates that would gullibly hearken to their demands at the expense of the masses. Capitalist godfatherism often shows the relationship between godfathers and godsons as a sweet beginning bitter ending kind of relationship where by the godfather will bankroll the godson who would later betray the godfather. For instance, the fight between late chief Lamidi Adedibu, the former chieftain of Oyo State People's Democratic Party, and Chief Adewolu Ladoja, the former governor of the state, still remains vivid in the memory of the populace. Chief Adedibu claimed that Governor Ladoja, his godson, betrayed him and should be removed from his governorship position. Situations like the above example continues to prove to us that since the beginning of the fourth republic, the politics of capitalist godfatherism has become so intense that any attempt to stop this menace is now considered an exercise in futility as the end of one era continue to give rise to another. For instance, in 2008, Adams Oshiomole was elected as the governor of Edo State and most people were jubilant because they believed that his administration would put an end to the political dominance of the late Tony Anenih and other political heavyweights in the state. Although this was achieved, yet, the political and physical death of Tony Anenih gave rise to the rule of Oshiomole. Presently, the people of Edo state are celebrating the victory of Governor Obaseki (a successful attempt at ending the godfatherism of Oshiomole) but it is our view that although Governor Obaseki may have succeeded in halting the current capitalist godfathers in the state, however, we may yet be waiting for the rise of another. Bihar Polls Dates: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced the schedule for Bihar Assembly polls 2020. Voting for Bihar assembly elections will be held in three phases -- first on October 28, second on November 3 and the third on November 7 -- while counting of all votes will take place on November 10, the Election Commission announced on Friday. This is the schedule for Bihar Elections 2020: Bihar elections will be conducted in three phases. In the first phase, 71 seats will be covered. Polls -28th October. Date of issue of gazette notification: Oct 1 Last date of nomination: Oct 8 Scrutiny of nomination: Oct 9 Last date of withdrawal of candidature: Oct 12 Date of polling: Oct 28 In the second phase, 94 seats will be covered. Polls - 3rd November. Date of issue of gazette notification: Oct 9 Last date of nomination: Oct 16 Scrutiny of nomination: Oct 17 Last date of withdrawal of candidature: Oct 19 Date of polling: Nov 3 In the third phase, 78 seats will be covered. Polls- 7th November. Date of issue of gazette notification: Oct 13 Last date of nomination: Oct 20 Scrutiny of nomination: Oct 21 Last date of withdrawal of candidature: Oct 23 Date of polling: Nov 7 The results will be declared on 10th November. Bihar Assembly Elections Dates: Here are the highlights "Elections entail large scale deployment of security forces. We have tried to minimise their movement over long distance," says CEC Arora. This is due to their fatigue as well as Covid-19, he added. "We have reduced the number of phases due to this," says Arora. No of people accompanying a candidate for submission of nomination restricted to 2. No of vehicle restricted to 2. Door to door campaign restricted to five including the candidate. Bihar will have 42,000 polling stations. Model code of conduct has come into immediate force with the announcement, says CEC. Social media platforms should make adequate arrangements to prevent misuse of their platform, says CEC. All elections meetings will be monitored by election and health officials. Public gatherings can take place following social distancing norms. The District Election Officers will decide on the number of people allowed in such gatherings. District election officers to identify grounds for physical campaigning and also ensure circles are marked on the ground to ensure social distancing, says Sunil Arora Apart from postal facility, those with Covid-19 who are quarantined can vote in the last hour of voting. Polling time has been increased by one hour, and will not be held from 7 am to 6 pm. Number of voters per polling station cut to 1,000 to facilitate social distancing, says CEC. "The world has changed, certainly not for the better since Delhi elections, said Sunil Arora, Chief Election Commissioner of India. The total electors in Bihar in 2015 was 67 million. The number has increased to 72 million, says CEC Sunil Arora. This is the biggest election in the world amid Covid-19. Postal ballots has been extended to people above the age of 80 years. Wherever required and asked for, the facility will be extended. Further, voters with disabilities, and who are suffering with Covid-19, will be taken care of, says CEC Sunil Arora. "The term of Assembly in Bihar is expiring on November 29. Bihar Assembly holds a strength of 243 members of which 38 seats are reserved for SCs and two for STs," CEC Sunil Arora said. Over 7 lakh hand sanitiser units, about 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh units of faces-shields, 23 lakh (pairs of) hand gloves arranged, says Sunil Arora The Supreme Court today refused to entertain a plea seeking to postpone the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A team consisting of ECI members had visited the State earlier this month to review poll preparedness and take stock of the situation. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has plans to compile a parallel voter register to verify the credibility of the Electoral Commission's (EC) own electoral roll. Speaking on Eyewitness News, the NDC's General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia said his party was going to make use of its agents who monitored the voter registration exercise. So all that we are going to do is to recall all the print outs from our regional centres and put them together, and we will get a register which is made up of documents that have been supplied by Electoral Commission agents at the registration centres. So if you [the EC] compile another one which is significantly different from what we have complied then there are issues to be resolved at that level, Mr. Asiedu Nketia said. The plan for the NDC is to compare polling station by polling station to see wherever they have manipulated the register. The NDC is already accusing the NDC of deleting names if some of its supporters from the electoral roll. Mr. Asiedu Nketia insisted that the EC will have to accept the register in complies or give reasons why a particular name is not there. He did not give timelines for the completion of this parallel album saying Ghanaians will see it when it is ready. Mr. Asiedu Nketia was speaking after the NDC held a press conference to highlight its concerns with the electoral process so far. The press conference was in response to the challenges NDC supporters say they have been encountering in the voter register exhibition process. The party's flagbearer, John Mahama, called off his tour of the Bono Region to address the press conference. He has called on the international community to pay more attention to the preparations for the polls on December 7. The Commission has already denied the claims put forth by the NDC. In a statement, the EC insisted that at every point, we have provided factual, accurate and evidence-based information to our stakeholders on voter statistics per region, district, gender, age among others. ---citinewsroom DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / September 24, 2020 / Steppe Gold Ltd. (TSX:STGO): The full report can be accessed by clicking on the following link: http://stonegateinc.com/reports/STGO Q2FY20.pdf. Company Description Steppe Gold Ltd. is a precious metals exploration and production Company with current operations in Mongolia. The Company is currently developing its 100% owned Altan Tsaagan Ovoo Gold Project (ATO) acquired from Centerra Gold in September 2017, with production recently beginning in March 2020. The Company's portfolio also contains an 80% ownership in an exploration-stage mineral property called the Uudam Khundii (UK) with a 20% joint venture partner. Steppe Gold became public as the only mainboard mining IPO in 2018, raising $25M. The Company is headquartered out of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. SUMMARY Flagship project starts commercial production - Steppe Gold's flagship project Altan Tsaagan Ovoo (ATO), is fully constructed and recently begun producing gold and silver. As of Q220, the ATO mine produced 15,300 oz and sold 12,458 gold oz and 3,728 silver oz for revenue of $19.5M. The Company remains on track to produce 60,000 oz of gold annually. ATO property projected to generate positive cash flow - The ATO property is projected to produce strong annual cash flows with 2020 production expected to produce ~60,000 oz of gold per annum from the heap leach operation with cash cost per ounce of ~US$550 over the life of the mine. The Company believes this should equate to $40M+ of EBITDA. ATO expansion project moving forward - Steppe has three diamond core exploration drilling rigs focusing on resource extensions at AT01 and AT04 as well as Mungu, a high grade, near-surface gold and silver potential site located northeast of the current resources at the ATO project. The Company is working to complete a bankable feasibility study into the expansion of the ATO Gold mine to increase gold production to 150,000 oz of gold annually and an estimated 10-year mine life. The Company is expecting to release its bankable feasibility study in Q121. Additional exploration assets - Steppe Gold's Uudam Khundii (UK) property currently encompasses 14,397 hectares located 800km south-west of Ulaanbaatar and holds one exploration license. Steppe Gold has commenced initial exploration activities on the property, including geological mapping, geochemical sampling, geophysical surveys, and trenching. Management team experienced - Management is well established and has a long operating history in Mongolia. The Company's newly appointed CEO, Bataa Tumur-Ochir, has extensive experience operating in Mongolia as CEO of Wolf Petroleum ltd., an oil and gas exploration Company, and Hunnu Coal Limited, a Mongolian Coal Company. Capital raise adds to liquidity and expansion potential - In August 2020, Steppe Gold closed a C$15M investment by Eric Sprott and his investment vehicle. The Company sold 6.68M subscription receipts at C$2.15 per subscription receipt. Each subscription receipt converts into one common share and one warrant, excersiable at C$3.00 per common share within a 24 month period. The Company plans to use the net proceeds to advance its exploration and development projects as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes. Valuation - We use a DCF analysis off our mine models for phase I and phase II at the ATO mine. Combining the separate valuations for phase I and phase II, we arrive at a range of CAD$3.10 to $4.05 with a mid-point of $3.55; see page 7 for further details. Story continues About Stonegate Capital Partners Stonegate Capital Partners is a Dallas-based corporate advisory firm dedicated to serving the specialized needs of small-cap public companies. Since our inception, our mission has been to find innovative, undervalued public companies for our network of leading institutional investors who seek high-quality investment opportunities. CONTACT: Stonegate Capital Partners info@stonegateinc.com (214) 987-4121 SOURCE: Stonegate Capital Partners View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/607665/Stonegate-Capital-Partners-Updates-Coverage-On-Steppe-Gold-Ltd-TSXSTGO For decades now the health of Luxembourg's forests has been deteriorating. The percentage of trees considered "without damage" in Luxembourg has dropped considerably in less than 20 years. According to figures recently published by Statec, the percentage of trees "without damage" has dropped from 43.6% in 2000 to a mere 13.4% in 2019. In 1986, this was as high as 77.1%. In real terms, this means that just over one tree in ten in the Grand Duchy is healthy. But that isn't all. The rate of trees considered "slightly damaged" and "substantially damaged" has considerably risen in recent years. For the former, the rate has increased from 33% to 36.6% over the first period (2000-2019), while the number of "substantially damaged" trees has doubled since the year 2000! Indeed, Statec confirms that these made up 23.4% of trees in 2000, compared to around 50% currently. In other words, every other tree in Luxembourg is in bad health. The overall statewide harvest during the three-day August deer increased by 29 percent as compared to last year. The report was made during the September meeting of the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting which concluded Friday. The totals include Unit CWD. In Unit CWD, the total reported was a 155 percent increase and a jump of 316 percent from 218. The numbers indicate 603 deer harvested in Units A-L, 166 in Unit CWD for a total of 769. Within Unit CWD, 97 deer were tested with six harvests positive in Fayette County and two in Hardeman County. The August deer hunt season was held for three days for archery on private lands only for antlered deer, except in Unit CWD where guns and muzzleloaders were also allowed and select public lands were available. A waterfowl crop update was given for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agencys Region I in West Tennessee. Many places in West Tennessee were approaching 200 percent of the normal rainfall over a 30-day period in July with trend continuing through August into September. The flooding delayed planting on the Kentucky Lake units. There were also levee and pump-out issues. Some crops have been replanted up to four times. Some crops are expected to make it and some moist soil units are reported to be in excellent condition. The Obion River wildlife management areas also have been replanted up to four times with crops now in fair to good condition. The Mississippi River and Reelfoot units had no flood damage and moist soils units are in fair condition. Dr. Bradley Cohen, from Tennessee Tech, provided a review of the first year of research on the mallard habitat study in West Tennessee. The study includes the GPS tagging of juvenile/adult and male/female mallards. Also the study includes-on-the ground assessments of food abundance and quality and real time assessments of habitat. The TWRA recognized the National Wild Turkey Federation Lone Mountain Longbeard Chapter and the Campbell Outdoor Recreation Association in support of the Tennessee Elk Program. Their donation of a reward led to the arrest and prosecution of persons for an illegally taken elk in the area. The TFWC approved the removal of the original wooden structure and the building of a new steel structure at Hatfield Knob Viewing Area. It will more than double the current capacity of the current structure. Other upgrades will also be made to the area. More than 16,000 people annually visit the current structure, primarily to view elk. During the Friday portion of the meeting, a presentation was made on the busy boating season in Tennessee this year. A record number of boaters and anglers used the states waterways. So far in 2020, there have been 26 fatalities in boating-related incidents. Official stats have been kept since 1965. The all-time high in fatalities came in 2004. The TWRA has seen major increase in paddle craft use the past decade. The numbers of users in this group has doubled over the past decade on the states float rivers. Four of this years fatalities involved paddle craft. The Fisheries Division presented its annual awards. Rick Bean was named the Fisheries Technician of the Year. He serves on the Region IV reservoir crew. Jon Ellis, manager of the Tellico Hatchery, was the Fisheries Biologist of the Year. The meeting was held in Clarksville at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott. The October meeting will be held at Buffalo Ridge Refuge. Samuel Adams' Ruth Bader Ginsburg specialty beer will return to shelves in October to raise money for the advancement of women in the beer industry, NBC Boston reports. The brut-style IPA, When There Are Nine was first brewed last year on International Womens Day and released on March 29. The Boston-based brewery is re-releasing the beer following the death of Ginsburg, who passed last week due to complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, The Associated Press reports. We lost a good one, and together will raise a toast to honor the inspiring and powerful womans unwavering commitment to justice and lasting impact on society," Sam Adams stated in a news release, according to NBC. The beers name, When There Are Nine, refers to an answer Ginsburg gave when asked when will there be enough women on the Supreme Court, to which Ginsburg responded, There will be enough women on the Supreme Court when there are nine. The can design features Ginsburgs symbolic dissent collar and glasses. According to NBC, nine dollars from each sale, totaling $10,000, will be donated to the Pink Boots Society, which works to advance women in the beer industry. The beer will be available for pre-order on Oct. 9. Sushant Singh Rajput's family lawyer Vikas Singh claimed on Friday that a doctor, who is part of AIIMS team, had told him "long back" that Rajput's photos sent by the lawyer indicated that it was allegedly death by strangulation, not suicide. The senior advocate took to Twitter saying he was getting "frustrated" by the delay in the Central Bureau of Investigation taking a decision in the case. "Getting frustrated by the delay in CBI taking a decision to convert abetment to suicide to Murder of SSR (Sushant Singh Rajput). "The Doctor who is part of AIIMS team had told me long back that the photos sent by me indicated 200% that it's death by strangulation and not suicide," Singh tweeted. Rajput, 34, was found hanging in his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14 following which the Mumbai Police had lodged an Accidental Death Report. On July 25, Rajput's father K K Singh lodged a complaint in the matter with Patna police against Rhea Chakraborty, her parents Indrajit and Sandhya, her brother Showik, the late actor's then manager Shruti Modi and his house manager Samuel Miranda. He accused them of cheating and abetting his sons suicide. He also claimed that the accused persons had siphoned off Rs 15 crore from his son's bank accounts. Based on this allegation, the Enforcement Directorate is probing money laundering charges. The FIR lodged by Patna police was later transferred to the CBI. The Narcotics Control Bureau is probing drugs angle in the case. Chu Ngoc Anh is at a meeting where he accepts his new position the chairman of Hanoi People's Committee, September 25, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy. Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Chu Ngoc Anh has become the new chairman of Hanoi, replacing Nguyen Duc Chung who is facing a criminal investigation. The 55-year-old Hanoi native takes over following an irregular meeting of the city Peoples Council, the legislature, on Friday morning. Anh, who has a PhD in physics, won a unanimous vote one week after he was appointed deputy Communist Party chief of the capital. Accepting the position, he said he "is deeply aware that this is a great honor but also a heavy responsibility." He said Hanoi has to focus on key tasks and feasible solutions to both achieve comprehensive and sustainable development and promote the cultural values of a city that is 1,010 years old. "I will proactively work closely with all units, listen to the voices of the people as well as the businesses to innovate and complete the mode of leadership, direction and administration," he said. Luu Binh Nhuong, lawmaker and deputy head of the National Assembly's Committee for People's Aspirations, said before the appointment meeting that Hanoi's new chairman has an important role in setting up policies for finding and keeping talented people. "We hope the new chairman could come up with good strategies to find talented people who are capable of planning long-term strategies for development and ensure those with good qualities are not missed or lost," Lao Dong newspaper quoted him as saying. Anh was a lecturer at the Institute of Engineering Physics, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, from 1988 to 1995 before moving to the technology ministrys Research Institute of Posts and Telecommunications and then its State Agency for Technology Innovation. His stint in politics began when he became deputy Party chief of Phu Tho Province near Hanoi and then the province's chairman from May 2013 to September 2015. He then became deputy minister and, in April 2016, Minister of Science and Technology. In the last five years technology has contributed greatly to Vietnam's socio-economic development, demonstrated by improvements in the quality of growth and exports of technology products accounting for nearly half of Vietnam's exports. As a science minister, Anh highly evaluated science and technology achievement of Hanoi, noting that Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park in Thach That District is now the cradle of typical models in the field, leading the country in the science and technology development. The Friday meeting also saw the house dismiss Chung as city chairman. Chung, 53, was suspended last month before being arrested pending investigation into his involvement in three criminal cases. In June 2020, Swiss Re announced that its life capital business unit would be disbanded when ReAssure is sold to Phoenix Group and today, the reinsurer has revealed further changes to the legal entity structure of the group. According to a press release, the next Swiss Re division thats on the restructuring warpath is the corporate solutions business unit. As part of the changes, the group will make Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd the sole direct wholly-owned operating subsidiary of Swiss Re Ltd. Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd would then have separate holding companies for the reinsurance and corporate solutions business units, in addition to the iptiQ division. Under this new structure, these businesses will continue to operate independently, and Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd will assume the debt of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Ltd. The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Oscar Haynes Morris, Jr. and the investment adviser he owned, Lakeside Capital Partners, LP, with misappropriating more than $100,000 from two investment partnerships they managed. According to the SEC's complaint, Morris and Lakeside misappropriated approximately $55,184 from a private oil and gas partnership that was an advisory client of Lakeside, and then used the funds to cover expenses of another entity controlled by Morris. The complaint also alleges that the defendants misappropriated $65,000 in investment returns generated for a second partnership advised by Lakeside, and spent those funds on Morris's personal expenses, including car payments, club dues, and credit card bills. The SEC charged Lakeside and Morris with violating the anti-fraud provisions of Sections 206(1), 206(2), and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, and civil money penalties against the defendants. The investigation was conducted by Senior Counsel Robert C. Hannan and supervised by Assistant Director Timothy S. McCole. Senior Trial Counsel Janie L. Frank is lead counsel for the SEC in the litigation. Ivanka Trump and Mike Pence due to visit Minneapolis on Thursday (REUTERS) Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump will meet with a pro-Trump police association in Minneapolis, where George Floyd died in the custody of police four months ago, sparking nationwide protests against racism and police violence. As well as a community listening session with Cops for Trump on Thursday, the US vice president and daughter of Donald Trump will meet residents who the Trump campaign says have been "negatively impacted by crime and violent extremism". The visit comes about a month after president Trump met with small-business owners whose stores in Minneapolis were damaged in violence that erupted after Floyd's death on 25 May. Mr Trump did not visit protest locations nor the site where police held Floyd, an unarmed black, down until he could no longer breathe. Mr Pence and Ms Trumps schedule on Thursday does not include those places either. The visit comes after judges weighing charges in the death of Breonna Taylor decided against indicting the white officers directly involved in the black womans death, leading to cries of injustice from anti-racism campaigners. Anger over that decision led to two officers being shot on Wednesday night in Louisville, Kentucky, to which the president wrote on Twitter: LAW & ORDER! - For some in Minneapolis, the Trump campaign's law-and-order message is calculated, divisive and damaging, as he attempts to wrestle the state from Democratic control in 2020. "Hate and fear are good for getting votes, but it's not good for governing," said Paul Eaves, a Minneapolis resident, to the Associated Press. The white 72-year-old, who regularly tends to artwork and flowers at the intersection that has become a memorial to Floyd, added that the president was a "vile politician". Following Floyds death and demonstrations over it, City Council members pledged to abolish the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with a new socially-minded agency That vote, which was blocked by a city commission, will not happen until at least 2021, if ever. Story continues Additional reporting by Associated Press. Read more Trump confirms he plans to take election results to the Supreme Court What country are we in?: Biden blasts Trump for refusing to promise peaceful transfer of power Trump says he's 'not a fan' of Meghan's, wishes Harry luck Its a positive thing: Trump supports Kentucky National Guard response to Breonna Taylor protests Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates motion calling for prostate cancer screening tests to always be covered under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan was supported by the Progressive Conservative provincial government, Thursday. Gates introduced a private members motion on OHIP coverage for PSA testing in 2019 and Thursday brought it forward for second reading in the Ontario legislature, where it passed. The issue is now in the hands of the government to act on the direction of the motion. Ontario is currently one of only two Canadian provinces that do not cover the cost of the PSA test for men upon physician referral, said Gates. We have universal health coverage but somehow dont cover this test which can save lives. Now, more than ever, we see the importance of access to health care. When people cant spare the money, they choose not to get tested. We can put an end to that and make sure everyone can get the rest. This will catch more cases of prostate cancer early and save lives. Currently, the province will pay for the test if a doctor suspects prostate cancer or if a patient has been diagnosed with the disease and is receiving treatment. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting Canadian men. In 2020, an estimated 9,800 Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 1,550 will die. On average, a late-stage diagnosis costs $66,000 more than if the prostate cancer was caught early, said Gates. If all men with Stage 4 prostate cancer were diagnosed earlier, it would save more than $60 million every year, he added. Gates motion is supported by the Canadian Cancer Society and was previously supported by Prostate Cancer Canada and Movember. This (COVID-19) pandemic has shown us that hallway medicine can mean our hospitals become overrun in public-health crisis, said Gates. By having OHIP cover this medical procedure, we can reduce the amount of people who will need cancer care and reduce the amount of hallway medicine in our province. Theyve had a year to review this - it is time for the government to ensure this life-saving test is available for everyone. Stuart Edmonds, executive vice president of mission, research and advocacy for Canadian Cancer Society, said for the one in nine men expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, the news can be devastating. Early detection is key to giving the men receiving this news a better chance at survival, yet Ontario forces men to pay out of pocket when they make informed decisions about their health, he said. Weve made tremendous progress over the years and, if detected early, almost 100 per cent of individuals diagnosed with prostate cancer will survive at least five years or more. If detected at a later stage, then the survival rate drops to only 29 per cent. Money simply shouldnt stand in the way of receiving a PSA test. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The Middle East finished lubricants market size is projected to reach USD 2.14 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period, as per a new research report published by Polaris Market Research. The report Middle East Middle East finished lubricants Market Share, Size, Trends, & Industry Analysis Report, [By Type (Metal Working Fluids, Transformer, Gear, Hydraulic & Engine Oils), By Base Oil Source, By Grade, by Application, By End-Use: Segment Forecast, 2018 2026 offers a wide analysis of different types of lubricants in Middle East along with insights related to current and future trends in the market. Growing demand from end-use industries for several wide range of lubricant types for different functionality is the primary factor driving the market. Metal working fluids have experienced the highest demand in the past two years in the region apart from increasing demand for automotive lubricants. Metalworking fluids demand constituted for a substantial share of the industry sales. The metalworking facilities uses lubricants for several different applications, including grinding, stamping and machining. These products also serve as lubricants or coolants, which depends on the application functionality requirement. Get Sample Copy : https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/middle-east-finished-lubricants-market/request-for-sample Middle East is a lucrative market space for the lubricant suppliers. However, due to the market dominance of the leading industry participants in the country it makes it a highly competitive environment for the new and small-scale players in the industry. Strategic distribution and supply systems play the most crucial part for customer retention and also increasing penetration of target markets. The worldwide supply chains have been facing rising product portfolio and customer complexity lately. Heightening and demand for variety of finished lubricants type from several developing industries in the region have forced the industry participants to focus at unique ways to transform the existing ways to drive efficiencies. And also, to offer lower cost products, quality customer service and overall whilst lowering inventory and working capital. Shell Oman Oil Marketing Company has been the leading lubricant brand selling a wide range of finished lubricants in the region in 2017 and till July 2018 as well. The companys demand driven planning helped it remain ahead of the competition not only in the Middle East but also in the global lubricant market. The company revealed that in order to overcome the increasing complexity in consumer demand, it makes use of inventory buffers in order to break the bullwhip effect in the supply chain. Discount Offer : https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/middle-east-finished-lubricants-market/request-for-discount-pricing As per the cross-industry survey from Terra Technologies (E2open), it showed that as the number of finished lubricants sold upsurges, the overall amount sold remains pretty flat in most industries. Hence, as the sales volume of every product goes down, it can be anticipated that forecasting of SKU levels gets more tougher the wider the product portfolio is. Finished lubricants manufacturers in the region have been very much focused on the base oil grades that are used for formulation of lubricants as industrial consumers have been very specific to their demands for their product characteristics. Grade 2 segment is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 3.8% from 2018 to 2026 in terms of revenue generated and account for around 36% of expected demand by 2026. Grade 1 lubricants segment is expected to experience a moderate growth over the forecast period. Middle East finished lubricants market is dominated with sales from the multinational players. To name some of them would include Shell Oman Marketing Company, Al Maha Petroleum Products Marketing Co. S.A.O.C, TOTAL Lubricants, JX Nippon Oil & Energy Middle East & Africa FZE, Oman Oil Marketing Company (Omanoil), ExxonMobil, British Petroleum, and Castrol. Around 1,300 people in Ireland died prematurely last year because of air pollution, while the M50 and Dublin Port Tunnel were highest for harmful vehicle emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. While the quality of the air in Ireland is generally good, the EPA said, some 33 monitoring stations across Ireland exceeded the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for air pollution, mostly due to fossil fuels. The 33 locations exceeded WHO guidelines mostly because of burning of solid fuel in cities, towns and villages, according to the EPA report on air quality. Ireland was above the European Environment Agency reference level for PAH, a toxic chemical, at four monitoring sites due to the burning of solid fuels, the report added. Particulate matter from the burning of solid fuel is estimated to cause 1300 premature deaths per year. Particulate matter is said to be all solid and liquid particles suspended in air, such as dust, pollen, soot, smoke, and liquid droplets. Poor air quality has serious health implications both in the shortterm such as headaches, breathing difficulties eye irritation or cardiac issues; and the longterm, with illnesses like asthma, reduced liver function, and heart disease. Dr Ciara McMahon, director of the EPAs office of radiation protection and environmental monitoring, said: Ireland is renowned for its countryside and clean fresh air, but we can no longer take this for granted. Poor air quality impacts peoples health and quality of life, so it is now time to tackle the two key issues that impact negatively on air quality in Ireland transport emissions in large urban areas and emissions from burning of solid fuels in our cities, towns and villages. One traffic monitoring location in Dublin city exceeded the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) laid down by the EU, the EPA said. Concentrations of NO2 were highest around the M50 motorway in Dublin, certain city centre streets, the entrance/exit of the Dublin Port Tunnel. The EPA said that monitoring has shown that, in urban areas, the impact of traffic-related nitrogen dioxide pollution is increasing. The report said it will continue "unless we curb our reliance on fossil fuel-powered transport, particularly diesel cars". NO2 has been called one of the worst pollutants by health and environmental experts, and a major shift in environmental policy in underway in recent years in the entire EU because of NO2 emissions. The EU diesel emissions scandal in 2015 came about after the German car giant Volkswagen and other firms were found to have inserted so-called "defeat devices" in their vehicles to make it seem like NO2 emissions were lower than what they actually were. Outrage was such that governments moved to eventually ban fossil-fuelled vehicles in the next 20 years. Dr McMahon said: "We need to decarbonise our public transport system and in general reduce our reliance on diesel and petrol-powered vehicles." SACRAMENTO California will create a state consumer financial protection agency to fill a void left by federal regulators, who have pulled back on oversight during the Trump administration. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Friday establishing the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, a restructured Department of Business Oversight that will expand its focus to credit reporting agencies, debt collectors and financial technology companies that have not previously been subject to state regulation. The new state department, Newsom said at an online signing ceremony, will create conditions for innovation to flourish in a way where we can steward that and we can just work against its excesses. So we support risk-taking, not recklessness. AB1864 by Assemblywoman Monique Limon, D-Santa Barbara, gives the state department authority to enforce the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and regulations issued by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency created by that law. The department will also be able to develop its own rules to prevent unlawful, unfair, deceptive or abusive practices, and seek financial penalties against service providers that engage in them. In addition to the banks and credit unions that California already regulates, the state will now oversee services such as debt settlement, credit repair, check cashing, rent-to-own contracts and financing for retail sales. Out-of-state banks and some services, including mortgage lenders, escrow agents and investment advisers, are exempt from the law. For decades California has attempted to do more for consumers, and truthfully, weve fallen short, Limon said. Helping consumers ensure that they have an agency that looks out for them before any other entity is the right thing to do. The federal consumer protection bureau was created to oversee products like credit cards and home mortgages in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Wall Street and Republicans opposed its formation as government overreach. After President Trump took office, employees of the agency battled for control with his administration, which pledged to rein in its operations. A legal challenge over the bureaus scope and independence ended this summer when the Supreme Court ruled it could continue operating, but that its leadership was at the discretion of the president. Supporters said the state financial protection department would serve as a watchdog for low-income communities, seniors and other Californians who have been left economically vulnerable by the coronavirus pandemic. This bill does put California in the forefront of consumer financial protection across the country, said Richard Cordray, the first director of the federal bureau. He said it will influence financial companies that will find it hard to operate differently elsewhere than they operate in California, so theyll have to meet higher standards. Newsom also signed 11 other consumer protection bills, including AB376 by Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, creating a borrower bill of rights for student loans, and SB908 by Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, requiring that debt collectors operating in California be licensed. Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff The U.S. Department of the Interior announced today that it was proposing to reclassify the red-cockaded woodpecker from endangered to threatened status under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates populations of the woodpecker, found only in longleaf pine forests across 11 states including Alabama, has rebounded to nearly 7,800 breeding clusters, from a low of about 1,470 clusters in the late 1970s. As a threatened species, the woodpecker would still be protected by the Act, but U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said the proposal to classify the bird as threatened rather than endangered highlighted the steps made in helping the species recover. Sometimes it seems once an animal gets on the Endangered Species list, you never see them come off that is why it is so important to highlight a success story like this one, Perdue said. The longleaf pine forests where the woodpecker lives once dominated huge portions of the American landscape from Virginia to Texas, covering about 90 million acres and about two-thirds of Alabama, according to Eric Spadgenske, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who oversees efforts to restore the longleaf habitat in the state. Those forests featured widely spaced, old-growth pines where periodic forest fires cleared the underbrush. The forests are home to a number of Alabamas endangered or threatened species, including the red-cockaded woodpecker and the eastern indigo snake. Many of those forests were cleared for development or replaced with faster-growing shortleaf pine species for timber farming operations. Longleaf pines are slow-growers that can live more than 300 years, but take time to rebound after being cleared. The red-cockaded woodpecker nests by carving out holes in mature longleaf pine trees The longleaf pine forest has been reduced to less than 3 percent of its original range, according to the Longleaf Alliance, with most of the remaining stands located in national forests, on military bases or other protected areas. Perdue and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced the proposal to down-list the woodpecker at Fort Benning in Georgia, where longleaf restoration efforts have helped the woodpecker population increase from 153 breeding groups in 1998 to 412 breeding groups today. The Trump Administration continues to engage public and private interests in conserving our most imperiled species through efficient, commonsense regulation that facilitates cooperation and on the ground results rather than conflict, Bernhardt said in a news release announcing the proposal. Alabama Power Company has also worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore longleaf forests and help the woodpeckers rebound in Alabama, including a banding program for red-cockaded woodpecker hatchlings on its land around Lake Mitchell. Environmental group the Center for Biological Diversity said the announcement proves that restoration efforts for the woodpecker, which have been ongoing since the 1990s have been effective. This is just a tremendous victory for the Endangered Species Act, said Noah Greenwald, the Centers endangered species director. It proves how effective the Act really is. However, Greenwald said the Center still has concerns about Bernhardts handling of the Endangered Species Act in general, and that just 23 species had been added to the list over the last four years, the lowest number of new additions since the act became law in 1973. The Southern Environmental Law Center said the administrations decisions to de-list the woodpecker may be premature, and could set a dangerous precedent. SELC staff attorney Ramona McGee said in a news release that the agencys action could derail progress made in helping the woodpecker bounce back. "The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services proposed downlisting announced today could reverse decades of hard work for this iconic and endangered bird, McGee said. Todays announcement is poised to set a dangerous precedent of claiming victory too early and without scientific support, leaving this species without the management it critically needs to succeed. McGee said the agency announced the proposal before the most recent five-year status update was publicly released and that the public has been largely excluded from the agencys decision-making process. The Services proposal seeks to give leeway to military installations to conduct some activities that could kill or harm red-cockaded woodpeckers in populations that have been key to growing the species over the past decades," McGee said. "We have consistently called on the Service to engage in an open and transparent process grounded in the best available science, providing the public and species experts the opportunity to evaluate relevant data and weigh in on the issue. Instead, the Service appears to want to claim another recovered species, but claiming recovery versus actually achieving recovery are two very different things. *Updated at 2:39 p.m. with comments from the Southern Environmental Law Center. - Ekas Technologies Limited was primarily focused on manufacturing of speed governors - The company is now set to start manufacturing smartphones and assembling digital devices - This was after it acquired Surface Mount Technology, which has opened a door for the firm to venture into manufacturing other gadgets - Ekas was started in 2003 following introduction of speed limiting rules by the late Minister for Transport John Michuki PAY ATTENTION: Click 'See First' under 'Follow' Tab to see Tuko.co.ke news on your FB Feed A little known tech company, Ekas Technologies Limited based in Kingongo, Nyeri county, is set to start manufacturing smartphones and assembling digital devices in Kenya. Primarily, Ekas Technologies focused on the manufacturing of speed governors and vehicle security and logistics systems. READ ALSO: Tuskys: Labour court blocks retailer from firing staff The firm was pushed to upgrade its capabilities by the efficient assembly of the current generation of speed governors. Photo: Nation. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Young graduate transforms grandparents' house into amazing home to appreciate them The firm was planning to venture into manufacturing of more gadgets, including digital wristwatches and mobile phones after procuring a new assembly line according to a report by Nation on Thursday, September 25. Ekas owner, Wambugu Nyamu, reportedly bought Surface Mount Technology (SMT), giving the firm a major boost in its production capability. The tech guru said the components in the new line were smaller, enabling the machine to assemble before programming and testing the new devices READ ALSO: Murang'a: Court stops woman from inheriting deceased man's property, says she was home nurse, not wife The firm was pushed to upgrade its capabilities by the demand for efficient assembly of the current generation of speed governors which are based on modern and digital technology. The SMT assembly line, on the plus side, opened a door for the firm to venture into manufacturing of other gadgets, including smartphones. We will begin assembling our own phones and other digital devices very soon. The sky is the limit from there. This will be a new dawn for electronic manufacturing, Nyamu said. READ ALSO: Nice try: Company gives woman who lost job offer over KSh 16k to appreciate her effort Ekas owner Wambugu Nyamu with the new SMT assembly line. Photo: Nation Source: UGC Ekas was started in 2003 following the introduction of speed limiting rules on all public transport vehicles. The speed governor was meant to monitor the speed of Public Service Vehicle (PSVs) and ensure it was limited to 80 kilometres per hour, as per the Kenyan regulations. At the time the new rule was introduced by the then Minister for Transport, the late John Michuki, most fitters ran for gadgets overseas, mostly in China. READ ALSO: Parents say they're not ready for school reopening in 2020: "We don't have money" The need for the new gadgets which were scarce in the market presented an opportunity for the tech engineer to study its technology and dive into the new venture. When the technology came we studied it and discovered that it was not very complex. So we decided to design our own, he said. Nyamu said at the time he started the business, he only had a daring idea, single-roomed makeshift warehouse whose rent was KSh 3,200 per month, a soldering gun and a voltmeter. READ ALSO: Botswana moves to introduce Swahili in local schools months after South Africa The tech company was looking into venturing in the manufacturing of other gadgets. Photo: Nation. Source: UGC With the help of another technician, he designed what would later become one of the first locally assembled speed governors. "I realised that this is a gadget we could make locally and compete with the Chinese imports and in my 17 years in the sector I have never imported a single-speed governor, he said. According to Nyamu, Ekas Technologies initially targeted manufacturing and it was selling five gadgets per week. The workforce at the small business later rose to three after a few months. Help us change more lives, join TUKO.co.kes Patreon programme Source: TUKO.co.ke New York (United Nations) 25 September 2020 (SPS)- The President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, H.E. Dr. Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, called on the UN Security Council to increase efforts towards ending the occupation of Western Sahara, in his speech before the UN General Assembly yesterday. He further stressed that self-determination and independence are intrinsic and fundamental rights that should be enjoyed by all without distinction. In this regards, he recalled that peace, security and stability are a pre-requisite for sustainable development. This can only be achieved in an inclusive process characterized by equally shared commitment and responsibilities. We count on the international community to strengthen its support for AU-led peace efforts. We also look forward to greater collaboration between the AU and the UN in maintaining sustainable international peace and security in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations, more particularly in ensuring the effective implementation of the AU's campaign on Silencing the Guns. (SPS) 090/500/60 (SPS) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Paris, France Fri, September 25, 2020 08:06 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4713ab1 2 Art & Culture Man-Ray,Paris,France,art-and-culture,arts,fashion,united-states Free He is one of the 20th century's most famous artists, but not many people know that Man Ray got his start as a fashion photographer. A new exhibition in Paris sets out to uncover the fashion world roots of the American surrealist, who first made his name taking flattering portraits of the rich and famous. Like many young artists Emmanuel Radnitzky, as Man Ray was then known, had trouble making ends meet when he arrived in Paris in 1920 to plunge himself into the Dadaist movement. But the new show "Man Ray and Fashion" at the Luxembourg museum in the French capital sets out how his time as chronicler of the style stars of the Roaring Twenties shaped his art. Encouraged by the couturier Paul Poiret -- the Karl Lagerfeld of his time -- the artist began to work for magazines like Vogue, Femina and Vanity Fair. Fashion historian Catherine Ormen, who curated the show, said magazines at the time never used photos of clothes for fear that designs would be copied. Instead they printed sketches while Man Ray photographed stylish celebrities for them. But the artist was not content with producing glossy images of Parisian socialites. Read also: Surrealist artist Man Ray's tomb vandalized in Paris Glamour and tears "With Man Ray you start with nothing and end with photographs that are almost abstract and works of art," she told AFP. Indeed one of his masterpieces, "Glass Tears" (1932), came from an advertising campaign for water resistant mascara. He transformed the rather banal image using his trademark photomontage techniques which he later christened "rayographs". The iconic image also spoke of Man Ray's own anger and hurt after his split with the photographer and model, Lee Miller. The following year he became a permanent fixture in the US fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar, where the precursor of the Photoshop generation brought his abstract and surrealist experiments to a still wider public. Among the other well-known images in the show is his famous portrait of the designer Coco Chanel in profile, her hands in her pockets and a cigarette in her mouth. It also shines a light on the style revolution of the 1920s, when women's fashion threw off Victorian restrains to embrace freedom of movement, only to slip back to more formal attire in the 1930s, when fashionistas would change their clothes, hairstyles and even nail colors up to three times a day. The show, which runs until January 17, is the first time the Luxembourg museum -- which is better known for Old Masters shows -- has tackled fashion. An off-the-cuff remark may help solve a diplomatic impasse and leave its mark on the Balkan map. Kosovar Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti has welcomed a suggestion to rename a lake that is in both Kosovo and Serbia after U.S. President Donald Trump. The body of water is known by Serbs as Gazivoda Lake and by Kosovars as Ujman Lake. What to call it was just one of many disagreements Serbian and Kosovar negotiators faced during U.S.-mediated talks that ended with the two sides signing an agreement to normalize economic ties at the White House on September 4. During those negotiations, Richard Grenell, Trump's special envoy for Serbia-Kosovo peace talks, reportedly suggested -- apparently half-jokingly -- that the lake be named after Trump to overcome the impasse. Hoti said he welcomed the idea in a post on Facebook on September 24. I have welcomed Ambassador Grenell's proposal for Ujman Lake to be called President Trump Lake, in a sign of honor for his extraordinary role in reaching a historic agreement on normalizing economic relations between the Republic of Kosovo and Serbia, as a big step towards the final political agreement, which should result with mutual recognition, he wrote. An image of a banner reading Lake Trump at a dam on the lake which provides most of Kosovos drinking water -- was posted to social media on September 24 and shared by Grenell on Twitter. In his Facebook post, Hoti noted that Kosovo has named several squares after American personalities, including Presidents Clinton and Bush, Senator Bob Dole, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in honor of their role in Kosovos freedom and independence from Serbia. Kosovo's war of independence from Serbia left more than 10,000 people dead -- most of them ethnic Albanians from Kosovo. More than 1,600 people remain unaccounted for. The fighting ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign against Serbia. Kosovo, which has a largely ethnic Albanian population, declared its sovereignty in 2008, a move recognized by many Western states but not Serbia or its allies Russia and China. SHAMOKIN An unsuccessful candidate for Shamokin mayor in 2017 is accused of threatening a city council member and her husband following a council meeting earlier this month. Joseph J. Leschinskie, 36, was arraigned Thursday on charges of terroristic threats and disorderly conduct and released on $5,000 bail with the stipulation that he have no contact with the victims. He is accused of threatening councilwoman Jennifer Seidel and her husband Eric immediately after the Sept. 14 council meeting with others in the room. Seidel told Northumberland County chief Detective Degg Stark that Leschinskie approached her while she still was seated at the council table and began questioning her about something that occurred in February. The arrest affidavit gives this account of what happened after she told him she did not know what he was talking about: Leschinskie pointed his finger in her face, said she did not deserve a seat on council, and then made a profane reference to her. Concerned about the exchange escalating into violence, Seidel went to his wifes aid. During a verbal exchange between the two men, Leschinskie repeated it should be his seat and Eric Seidel responded he could not hold it because he is a convicted felon. Police Chief Darwin Tobias III intervened when Leschinskie threatened to punch Eric Seidel in the face but the accused continued screaming that the councilwomans husband was cheating on her. The Seidels were escorted from the building for safety reasons, but Leschinskie continued threatening them from across the street. The affidavit contains similar accounts from others who witnessed the incident. Jennifer Seidel told Stark she is very concerned for the safety of her family, the affidavit states. She added if police were not watching this, I am fearful of what would happen if there is a confrontation with no witnesses. She also told the investigator that last Friday while she was driving on Independence Street a car that matched one belonging to Leschinskie crossed over into her lane, came at her head-on but swerved back to avoid an accident. Leschinskie is awaiting trial on charges that allege in January 2019 he used a cellphone to record a proceeding in county court. Andhra Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the officials to ensure that every crop is being procured through Rythu Bharosa Kendra (RBKs) and to safeguard farmers interests by paying Minimum Support Price (MSP). Andhra Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the officials to ensure that every crop is being procured through Rythu Bharosa Kendra (RBKs) and to safeguard farmers interests by paying Minimum Support Price (MSP). The officials were given a target to procure 62 lakh Metric Tonnes of paddy against the total production of 93.61 lakh metric tonnes in Kharif season. During a review meeting held here on Friday the Chief Minister asserted that RBKs will be serving as paddy procurement centres in near future. The Nellore incident should not replete. He instructed the officials to display the MSP of each crop at RBKs and educate farmers on the crops that need to be avoided and ways to maximise the yield for more profits. The State government procured crops like Maize, Corn, Jowar, Onion, Tomato, Banana, Tobacco during the previous Rabi season by spending Rs 3200 Crore. Similarly, even this year the Chief Minister instructed the officials to purchase Rs 3300 crore of crops in Kharif through the market intervention fund and help the farmers. The Chief Minister asked the Joint Collectors to take responsibility in educating farmers on government initiatives. Also read: Bharat Bandh 2020 live news updates: Farmers protest against new farm bills Also read: Bihar readies for polls amid pandemic; EC announces dates and safety measures The farmers should be told in advance about procurement at RBKs and local MLAs should also be involved. The Chief Minister directed the Marketing Department (markfed) to purchase 30 percent of the crops in the villages and provide marketing facilities for the remaining 70 percent. He directed the officials to prepare crop plans and to focus on e-marketing platforms and to integrate the purchase centres and agents data in the outer market to e-marketing platforms. He told the officials to promote sortex variety of rice and also keep the broken rice for value addition. He directed the officials to increase the CCI purchase centres to ensure proper marketing for the crops and to safeguard the farmers from suffering losses. The officials informed that 10 types of crops are being procured in khariff and also established 3,000 centres for purchasing paddy. With the help of CM-APP, the entire process of crop procurement and marketing is being monitored. Discussing the purchase of cotton, the Chief Minister gave strict orders to avoid scams in the procurement of the crops and make a clear, transparent purchase benefiting the farmers. Minister for Agriculture Kurasala Kannababu, Civil Supplies Minister Kodali Venkateswararao, Special Secretary for Agriculture Poonam Malakondaiah, Commissioner for Marketing Pradhyumna, Commissioner of Civil Supplies Kona Sasidhar and other officials were present at the review meeting. Also read: Legendary singer S P Balasubrahmanyam passes away at 74 Indian Air Force on Friday said it was ready for undertaking operations simultaneously on both China and Pakistan fronts. The strategically located airbase moving through the Khardungla pass along the Shyok river is witnessing the operations of fighter aircraft. At a time when it is suspected that both China and Pakistan may come together against India, the Indian Air Force on Friday said it was ready for undertaking operations simultaneously on both the fronts. The forward airbase which from where Pakistan is around 50 kilometres and the strategic Daulat Beg Oldi is around 80 kilometres, the activity of fighter, transport aircraft and helicopters is going on during both day and night. Team ANI reached the strategically located airbase moving through the Khardungla pass along the Shyok river to witness the operations of fighter aircraft including the Su-30MKI and the transport planes including the C-130J Super Hercules, Ilyushin-76 and the Anton-32. In view of the ongoing conflict with China, the fighter aircraft are operating during both day and night, the transport aircraft are continuously flying in and out of the airbase with troops, rations and ammunition to the troops located in bases on the Line of Actual Control in DBO and other areas in Eastern Ladakh. Asked about the threat from Pakistans Skardu airbase and the possibility of China-Pakistan coming together there, an Indian Air Force pilot of Flight Lieutenant -rank said, Owing to the modern platform, the IAF is fully trained and is ready to undertake any operations on both the fronts. We are fully trained and highly motivated. We live by the IAFs mottoTouch the Sky with Glory. Also Read: Stop Pakistan from treating POK citizens like animals: Activist breaks down at UNHRC Also Read: Hopefully India, China will be able to work out their differences: Trump Speaking about the IAFs capability to undertake night operations in these tough terrains, a fighter pilot said, Today, our warfare capabilities have grown, so much so that we are able to undertake all types of missions even at nights from the forward base. Earlier, the Pakistani airbases in the occupied Kashmir came under a watch after a Chinese refueller aircraft landed in Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan region, in June. The strategic airbase located on the banks of the Shyok river has been upgraded for day and night operations. The Galwan river which saw a violent face-off between India and China and death of several soldiers from both sides, also merges into the Shyok River which flows from Eastern Ladakh to Western Ladakh before crossing over into Pakistan. (ANI) Also Read: China greatest counterintelligence threat to US: FBI Director Sen. Hawley: Conservatives have opportunity to secure 'pro-Constitution' majority on SCOTUS Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Appearing at the 2020 Values Voter Summit Tuesday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., spoke about the Supreme Court vacancy, arguing that conservatives have an opportunity to put a pro-Constitution majority on the court, reversing decades of disappointing rulings. When asked by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins about the vacancy, Hawley described it as a turning point moment. Weve got an opportunity here as conservatives those of us who believe in the right to life, those of us who believe in religious liberty, this is a moment where well be able to shape the future of this court for decades to come, he said. I think this last term on the United States Supreme Court has made maybe all too clear that we do not have a working, pro-Constitution majority. We do not have a working pro-family, pro-life majority on the United States Supreme Court. This is the chance to get one. In the previous term on the Supreme Court, two Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices sided with liberal justices in ruling that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act applies to sexual orientation and gender identity. Therefore, a Christian-owned funeral home in Michigan broke the law by firing an employee who transitioned from male to female. Justice Neil Gorsuch, whom President Donald Trump appointed to the Supreme Court in 2017, authored the opinion while George W. Bush appointee Chief Justice John Roberts also sided with the four liberal justices in the decision. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Public Theology Professor Andrew Walker slammed the decision as devastating for religious liberty. Two weeks later, Roberts sided with the liberal justices in striking down a Louisiana abortion law that required abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. Lila Rose, founder of the pro-life advocacy group Live Action, called the decision truly awful. Perkins brought up a speech Hawley gave on the Senate floor, where he criticized Senate Republicans for their lackluster performance in appointing originalist justices to the bench. The deal is up. Conservatives have bought this kind of a wink and a nod, trust us, and here we are, 47 years after Roe v. Wade and were still fighting the same battles, Perkins paraphrased Hawley as saying. After mentioning that Republican presidents have had the opportunity to appoint over a dozen judges to the Supreme Court in the past several decades, Hawley expressed disappointment that the Republican Party has not done a good job of actually living up to its pledges to our voters to put pro-Constitution, pro-life, pro-family justices on the bench. Its time that the pledge ends and the actual work and the results begin, he said. To get my vote in the United States Senate, this nominee has to be someone who understands that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided, that Roe v. Wade is an act of judicial imperialism, and they have to understand why that is absolutely central to your judicial philosophy. If you think that Roe is OK, if you believe theres no problem with Roe, not only are you wrong on the moral issue that also tells me you dont understand a judges role in our Constitutional structure. Thats why I drew that line in the sand." For decades, conservatives have worked to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide. Perkins discussed how Senate Republicans have embraced a stealth plan to keep judicial nominees explicit positions on Roe v. Wade secret and just hope that theyre right on the issue. We know how thats worked out, Hawley asserted. It hasnt worked out well at all. On multiple occasions throughout the past several decades, Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices have sided with liberals on cases relating to abortion and other social policy issues. Republican-appointed justices William Brennan, Warren Burger, Potter Stewart and Lewis Powell were part of the 7-2 majority ruling that abortion was a constitutional right in Roe v. Wade. In 1992, Republican-appointed justices Sandra Day OConnor, Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, David Souter and Harry Blackmun voted to reaffirm Roe in the Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision. In 2000, OConnor, Stevens and Souter joined with two Democrat-appointed justices to strike down a Nebraska law banning partial-birth abortion. In 2003, OConnor, Kennedy, Stevens and Souter sided with the liberal justices in striking down a Texas law banning sodomy in Lawrence v. Texas. In 2015, Kennedy joined with the four liberal justices to declare same-sex marriage a constitutional right in Obergefell v. Hodges. In a 2005 column, conservative commentator Ann Coulter expressed disappointment with past and present Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices, citing Souter, Brennan, Blackmun, Stevens, OConnor and Kennedy as reasons why Republican presidents have lost the right to say trust me when it comes to Supreme Court nominations. Coulters column was written shortly after then-President George W. Bush nominated Roberts to the court. Hawley offered a similar analysis in his conversation with Perkins. As he explained the need for Supreme Court nominees to acknowledge that Roe was wrongly decided, Hawley recalled, What weve seen for years in the past are these trust us statements that come from usually the establishment, the political establishment." "They say trust us, weve chosen the justice, you just go along with it, conservatives, you go along with it, pro-family, you go along with it, pro-life conservatives,'" Hawley argued. I think were out of the business of trusting. Theyve taken our votes and our support for granted. They depended on us to turn out and win elections and to give electoral support to Republicans but then when push comes to shove, its time to nominate, its time to confirm, were told to just go along with the program. Hawleys promise to only support Supreme Court nominees who explicitly support overturning Roe v. Wade, combined with his membership on the narrowly divided Senate Judiciary Committee, gives him the power to make or break a judicial nomination. Trump is expected to announce a replacement for recently deceased Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg later this week. Painesville voters are being asked to approved a proposed ordinance by petition seeking to, among other things, amend the U.S. Constitution declaring that only people, not corporations, have constitutional rights. The proposed ordinance states: political contributions of corporations, unions, and Super PACs and calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution declaring that only human beings, not corporations, are legal persons with constitutional rights and that money is not the equivalent of speech, and establishing biennial public hearings by City Council, be adopted? David Lima, coordinator of Mentor Move to Amend, said that the petition is part of a nationwide movement looking to differentiate between humans and corporations. This is a grassroots movement that is occurring throughout the country and in the state of Ohio, Lime said. The Supreme Court decisions down through the years and most recently have affirmed the idea that corporations are people with constitutional rights, including first amendment rights to free speech. Lima said that gives big corporations the ability to influence elections. We are concerned about money in politics and the impact of money on the decision-making of our elected officials, Lima said. We would like to see limitations put on that money. John Deane, Painesville Move to Amend board member, agreed. As the law stands now, corporations have the same rights as human beings but they dont have the same limitations as human beings, Deane said. Theyre able to get information out there, whether true or false, on to the people. If corporations are allowed to pool their money into super PACs and provide unlimited resources to said super PACs, theyre able to influence the election. Deane said that local communities that have passed the proposed ordinance are Mentor, Chagrin Falls, Cleveland Heights and Kent. The Kaduna State Government has confirmed receiving a list of nominees for the position of emir of Zazzau which became vacant on Sunday. The throne became vacant following the death of Shehu Idris who was appointed in 1975. Princes from three of the four dynastic lines of the emirate are jostling for the post with four of them believed to be frontrunners. PREMIUM TIMES has early on Friday reported that three names were submitted to Governor Nasir El-Rufai by the kingmakers for his final selection. SSG stated that he can confirm that the report of the kingmakers has now been submitted to the Commissioner of Local Government, a step that will trigger the next sequence of events in the chain of reporting and security vetting, a government statement Friday evening stated. The statement by Muyiwa Adekeye, Mr El-Rufais spokesperson, quoted Balarabe Lawal, the secretary to the state government. The state government said the selection process is proceeding with the careful attention befitting such a momentous decision. Mr El-Rufai had announced mulling the selection scope by reading a book on British colonial administration of Northern Nigeria and government secret files. KADUNA UPDATE: I am on my second book throwing more light on the emergence of the Emir of Zazzau Jafaru in 1937. I have also reviewed the secret files on his selection, & that of Emir Shehu Idris. I await the recommendations of the Commissioner responsible for chieftaincy matters after due security clearance of the aspirants, Mr El-Rufai wrote on his Facebook page. The governor wrote that it was only after those steps that he will be in a position to select the next Emir if Zazzau. Pundits last night fear that the governor may pull a shocker by going for an underdog as it happened in the selection of emirs Jaafaru and Idris in 1937 and 1975, respectively. Both princes were not direct sons of emirs and were, in each case, not favourites of the palace powers. In an earlier Twitter post, Mr El-Rufai said the government had received 11 names of interested applicants. The Commissioner responsible for chieftaincy matters is reviewing the 11 aspirants and the assessment of all of them by the kingmakers, he wrote. How the selection will be done Meanwhile, the statement from the Kaduna government explained that the procedure for picking a new emir is for the kingmakers of Zazzau Emirate to address their recommendations to the Commissioner of Local Government Affairs, who will in turn process the document and forward to the SSG. Upon receipt of the correspondence from the commissioner, the SSG will avail the security agencies of the names on the shortlist for the necessary checks. It is the duty of the SSG to forward the recommendations and the associated security report to the Governor for his consideration, Mr Adekeye said. The governors spokesperson appealed for calm and understanding as the responsible institutions manage a selection process that was last used 45 years ago. In his Friday evening tweet Mr El-Rufai said he will consider the recommendations after the screening in selecting a new emir. When it comes to fashion, we are all inspired by what we see; whether it be a well-dressed celebrity, a blow-your-mind catwalk presentation or even a super stylish every-day passerby. As fashion editors, we're moved by all of the above, and then some. We're exposed to under-the-radar labels; we get a first-hand look at collections months before they hit stores; we're tapped into brands with chic-yet-cheap offerings and we shop a lot. To share our knowledge, FEMAIL brings you Style Swoon, a weekly series of the latest, greatest and on the verge. We hope this Friday series will serve as a buying guide and point of inspiration for the clotheshorses and fashion fanatics alike. MBB x Vogue Eyewear Future's so bright: Millie Bobby Brown's capsule collection with Vogue Eyewear has been released Millie Bobby Brown's capsule collection with Vogue Eyewear has been released. For her second drop, the Stranger Things actress includes feminine pastels on retro metal frames and bold, space-age lens shapes. Each pair of sunglasses features the exclusive MBB x Vogue Eyewear temple inscription and signature M tips. Throughout the campaign, the GenZ star encourages women to be real, to believe in themselves, and show the world who they are with pride. Love Yourself, Be Kind, Stand Out, Keep It Real, Laugh Out Loud and always Chase Your Dreams are Millie's rules to Vogue. The eyewear ranges in price from $111 - $145. Self love: Throughout the campaign, the GenZ star encourages women to be real, to believe in themselves, and show the world who they are with pride DJ Pauly Ds x got2b Get the look: DJ Pauly Ds Limited Edition got2b glued Styling Spiking Glue and Blasting Freeze Spray launched exclusively on Amazon last week and sold out within 24 hours DJ Pauly Ds Limited Edition got2b glued Styling Spiking Glue and Blasting Freeze Spray launched exclusively on Amazon at the end of last week and sold out within 24 hours! Want hair that won't budge? Make sure to pick them up when they are restocked in October. The Styling Spiking Glue is water resistant, and delivers a strong hold that will last until your next shampoo. For rock-hard hair that stands straight up like the Jersey Shore star, try the Limited Edition Blasting Freeze Spray. Just spray heavily and twist tips. Allow to dry and finish with an additional blast. For that messy look, spray hair from root to end and massage with fingertips in a circular motion. Finish with a direct blast to cement your style. The products retail for approximately $5.50. Mark your calendars: Want hair that ain't goin' nowhere? Make sure to pick them up when they are restocked in October Rock hard: Both products deliver a hold so strong that they will last until your next shampoo Veronica Beard's stylish 'I NY' jackets Empire State of mind: In celebration of Veronica Beard's 10-year anniversary in the state they call home, the ready to wear label launched hand painted, limited-edition I NY Miller Dickey Jackets Sentimental style: Available in navy with gold buttons and black with silver buttons, these limited-edition jackets are hand-painted by New York City based artist Carly Beck, and feature the I NY logo originally designed by Milton Glaseron the back In celebration of Veronica Beard's 10-year anniversary in the state they call home, the ready to wear label launched hand painted, limited-edition I NY Miller Dickey Jackets. 'I NY is a badge of love and honor that has been worn by New Yorkers for decades,' said Veronica Miele Beard & Veronica Swanson Beard. 'Now more than ever we need to stand together and rally behind the state we call home. The I NY Veronica Beard jacket is our way of showing support for our industry and NY. Some people wear their heart on their sleeve, we want to wear it on our backs.' The jacket retails for $795. Pride: I NY is a badge of love and honor that has been worn by New Yorkers for decades,' said Veronica Miele Beard & Veronica Swanson Beard These limited-edition jackets are hand-painted by New York City based artist Carly Beck, and feature the I NY logo originally designed by Milton Glaseron the back. They are available in navy with gold buttons and black with silver buttons. As with all Veronica Beard products, a portion of proceeds go back to our #VBGivesBack partner of the quarter. Their current partner through the end of September is Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a nonprofit 501 organization that funds type 1 diabetes research. From October through December, they will be partnering with Lung Cancer Research Foundation, and organization working to put an end to lung cancer for good, by focusing on fundraising, awareness, and education. Joe's x Erin and Sara Foster New release: Premium denim lifestyle brand Joe's launched the 'Favorite Daughter for Joes' collection with writers, actresses, and entrepreneurs, Erin and Sara Foster Muse: Erin and Sara, who were both featured as the faces of the brands SS2020 campaign, have infused their personal styles into the new collaboration Premium denim lifestyle brand Joe's launched the 'Favorite Daughter for Joes' collection with writers, actresses, and entrepreneurs, Erin and Sara Foster. Erin and Sara, who were both featured as the faces of the brands SS2020 campaign, have infused their personal styles into the new collaboration. The collection includes each of the sisters perfect fitting jeans: The Erin, a high-rise straight and The Sara, a super high-rise skinny, that are both available in three washes. In addition to denim, the collection includes their versions of the perfect cargo pant and a cozy cashmere crewneck sweater embroidered with the 'Favorite Daughter' slogan available in nine colors. In addition, Favorite Daughter for Joes will include two election t-shirts, where 25% of proceeds for each shirt sold will support Vote.org. 'Weve been so excited to launch our Favorite Daughter collection with Joes,' said Erin and Sara. ' We worked closely with the brand to make not only the perfect jeans but also closet staples women can wear every day, especially now that so many are working from home.' The collaboration retails from $40-$298. The Favorite Daughter for Joes Cashmere sweaters launched this week, the full collection will be available starting October 1. Everyday wear: In addition to denim, the collection includes their versions of the perfect cargo pant and a cozy cashmere crewneck sweater embroidered with the 'Favorite Daughter' slogan available in nine colors Give back: Favorite Daughter for Joes will include two election t-shirts, where 25% of proceeds for each shirt sold will support Vote.org Maison Margiela x Reebok Hot: On September 23rd, Maison Margiela and Reebok released their first collaborative shoe, the Tabi Instapump Fury Hi and Lo Best of the best: The cool offerings merge the most familiar design elements of the two iconic collaborators, Reeboks trailblazing Instapump Fury from 1994 and Maison Margielas signature Tabi from 1988 On September 23rd, Maison Margiela and Reebok released their first collaborative shoe, the Tabi Instapump Fury Hi and Lo. The cool offerings merge the most familiar design elements of the two iconic collaborators, Reeboks trailblazing Instapump Fury from 1994 and Maison Margielas signature Tabi from 1988. The Tabis split-toed upper morphs with Reeboks pump mechanism. A small pump fills the patch wrapped around the upper, while an adjacent button deflates it. Maison Margielas white stitch logo is featured on the back of the upper, while Reeboks vector logo is embroidered on the heel. The Tabi Instapump Fury launches in four colorways for both the flat and heeled versions. The Lo retails for $1,150, while the Hi will set you back $1,490. Luxury: The Tabi Instapump Fury launches in four colorways for both the flat and heeled versions. The Lo retails for $1,150, while the Hi will set you back $1,490 New Balance X STAUD Athleisure awesomeness: On Thursday, STAUD released their second drop from the New Balance X STAUD collaboration Cool kicks: Anchoring the entire collection is a new co-branded sneakera fresh, feminine, neutral-toned take on the New Balance 327 On Thursday, STAUD released their second drop from the New Balance X STAUD collaboration. 'For Fall 2020, we asked ourselves what the classic, chic version of our playful, rainbow Spring season would be, while keeping the artful, esoteric design details that lie at the heart of our brand,' said STAUD. 'The answer was a version of our signature ponte styles combined with NB Sleek for high-performance wear, made transitional for all aspects of life.' Each garment offers a carefree sophistication and undeniable cool factor allowing you to move from the gym to lunch with comfort and style. Anchoring the entire collection is a new co-branded sneakera fresh, feminine, neutral-toned take on the New Balance 327, and the chicest gym bag you've ever seen. The New Balance x STAUD collection is available on Staud.Clothing and on NewBalance.com. Prices range from $70-$140 for Ready-to-Wear, $195-$295 for bags and $150 for the shoe style. All day wear: Each garment offers a carefree sophistication and undeniable cool factor allowing you to move from the gym to lunch with comfort and style Bag it: The New Balance x STAUD collection is available on Staud.Clothing and on NewBalance.com J.Lo's custom Mini Mini Jewels necklace Saucy: Semi-immersed in water, the superstar donned a colorful Zimmermann bikini with her wet hair pulled up away from her face Jennifer Lopez posted some sultry snaps on Instagram this week, shocker! Semi-immersed in water, the superstar donned a colorful Zimmermann bikini with her wet hair pulled up away from her face. Around her neck were several necklaces including one that featured three Gold Script Initial Halo Dog Tag Pendants from Mini Mini Jewels. The custom necklace was designed by Mimi Mini Jewels and Jennifer's stylist Rob Zangardi. The initials spell JLO, of course! Each diamond pendant retails for $650. Islamabad, Sep 25 : Pakistan has once again made it clear that it will not accept Indias demand of having a foreign lawyer to represent Kulbhushan Jadhav in the review and reconsideration case being heard at the Islamabad High Court (IHC), leaving his fate in the hands of the Pakistani courts. While responding to a query whether Pakistan would be executing Jadhav or not, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, responded at a weekly media briefing: "Pakistan being a responsible member of International community is fully cognizant of its obligation to comply with the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) decision. "I cannot predict what the decision in the matter would be, but effective review and reconsideration in the case can only be provided by Courts in Pakistan." Elaborating more about the details and proceedings of the case, Chaudri said Jadhav confessed to his involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan. "When Commander Jadhav was arrested in Pakistan, he confessed his involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan during the investigation. India took the issue to grant of consular access to Commander Jadhav to the ICJ. "In the judgment, the ICJ asked of four things; to apprise Commander Jadhav of his rights under the Vienna Convention; to provide consular access to him through Indian consular official; to provide for effective review and reconsideration of his conviction and to stay the execution till an effective review and reconsideration was provided. "Pakistan has been complying with all of these," the spokesperson added.. Chaudhri blamed India for opting to create all possible hindrances in its "efforts to frustrate Pakistan's efforts for implementation of the ICJ judgment and use Jadhav's case as propaganda tool against Pakistan". Talking about New Delhi's demand for having an Indian or a foreign lawyer to represent Jadhav, Chaudhri said that it has been communicated to India "repeatedly that only those lawyers can represent Commandar Jadhav in the Court who have the license to practice law in Pakistan". "This is in accordance with legal practice in order jurisdiction as well. Indian Supreme Court, in one of its judgments, has also ruled that foreign lawyers cannot practice law within the country," he said. The spokesperson also called on the Indian government to "come forward and cooperate with the Courts in Pakistan", to give affect to the judgment of ICJ, adding that it is the Pakistan government itself who has approached the Islamabad High Court in Jadhav's case. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir government has signed an MoU with the Centre for the development of two mega solar parks in the rocky mountainous region of Ladakh with a total capacity of 7500 MW. Minister for Science and Technology, Sajjad Gani Lone on Saturday said the government has proposed development of one each Mega Solar Park in the districts of Leh and Kargil. The State Government has signed MoU with the Government of India for the development of two Mega Solar Parks of 5000 MW capacity in Leh district and 2500 MW capacity in Kargil district, Lone informed the House in reply to a Question by Congress Legislative Party Leader Nawang Rigzin Jora. However, he said the work on these projects has not been started as yet in view of non-availability of land and lack of proper infrastructure in Ladakh for transmission of power generated from the proposed parks. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said that they are ready to share experience and continue cooperation with states and international entities to order to supply Covid-19 vaccine to other countries. Terming the country's first Covid-19 vaccine, 'Sputnik V' as reliable, safe ad effective, Putin told the U.N. General Assembly that World Health Organization should be strengthened to coordinate the global response to the coronavirus pandemic and proposed a high-level conference on vaccine cooperation. "We are proposing to hold an online high-level conference shortly for countries interested in cooperation in the development of anti-coronavirus vaccines," Putin said. "Building on the scientific, industrial and clinical experience of its doctors, Russia has promptly developed a range of testing systems and medicines to detect and treat the Coronavirus, as well as registering the world's first vaccine Sputnik V," he added. Speaking on the pandemic, the Russian president also added that coronavirus has struck staff of UN, its Headquarters and regional structures just like everyone else. "Russia ready to provide UN with all necessary qualified assistance. We're offering to provide our vaccine free of charge for voluntary vaccination of staff of UN and its offices," he said. Meanwhile, Indian clinical trials of Russia's potential coronavirus vaccine may begin in the next few weeks, an executive at Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, reported Reuters. The trials are part of a deal between the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Dr Reddy's, in which the Indian firm will conduct Phase III studies in India, pursue local regulatory approvals and, subject to approval, distribute the finished vaccine product in India. RDIF will supply 100 million doses to Dr Reddy's. The UN's first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. Among those speaking Tuesday are U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose countries have reported the highest and second-highest coronavirus death tolls, respectively. Also on deck are President Xi Jinping of China, where the virus originated, and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, which has raised international eyebrows with its rapid vaccine development. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has apologised for the shooting death of a South Korean man to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, the South's national security adviser said, as public and political outrage over the killing grew. The apology came in a letter from the North's United Front Department, which handles cross-border ties, to South Korean President Moon Jae-in a day after South Korean officials said the North's soldiers killed the man, doused his body in fuel and set it on fire. People watch a screen showing a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a news program in Seoul. Credit:AP The rare conciliatory message from the North Korean leader came as Moon faced intense political fallout over the incident, which coincided with a renewed push by him for engagement with North Korea. "Chairman Kim Jong-un asked to convey his feeling that he is greatly sorry that an unexpected unsavoury incident occurred in our waters which hugely disappointed President Moon Jae-in and compatriots in the South," the adviser, Suh Hoon, said. Bihar will elect its 17th assembly in a three-phase election between October 28 and November 7 the first mass poll to be held in the middle of a pandemic. Nitish Kumar, this time leading the National Democratic Alliances fight in the state, will be eyeing a fourth term as the states chief minister. Here are two things which can help understand the forthcoming contest in Bihar: Caste equations will continue to matter, but they could also be changing According to the 2015-16 National Family and Health Survey, almost half of the states population belongs to Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. Scheduled Castes and Muslims are the other major social groups in the state. To be sure, there are layers of stratification, as far as political preferences are concerned, within these broad social groups. In fact, this has been a conscious strategy of Nitish Kumar, who has created and cultivated categories such as Extremely Backward Classes and Mahadalits. It is this vote bank, rather than support from his own sub-caste (Kurmi), which makes Nitish Kumar a valuable ally in Bihar. While this section voted for the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal (United) and Congress alliance in 2015, it supported the NDA in a big way in the 2019 elections. Even the traditional Yadav support base of the RJD might be becoming weaker. Only 55% of Yadavs, once considered staunch loyalists of Lalu Prasad, voted for the RJD-led alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The grand alliance was able to make the 2015 elections into an upper caste versus lower caste issue by using RSS chief Mohan Bhagwats statement asking for review of reservations. No such polarisation seems to be happening as of now. Seat shares as well as strike rates are important This is the first assembly election in Bihar when the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) will also be a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). This has already led to a lot of friction over seat sharing, with the LJP demanding a higher number. The RJD-led opposition is facing a similar crisis, as it has been unable to sort out its alliance with the Congress, Left parties and other smaller players. Both the RJD and Janata Dal (United) have always been senior partners in their alliances in Bihar. But this time, the RJD is having to negotiate the alliance from a position of weakness; it failed to win even one Lok Sabha seat in 2019. The Nitish Kumar-led government, on the other hand, has been facing criticism from its own alliance partner, LJP, giving an impression that it is the JD(U) which shall bear the burden of anti-incumbency. Contesting the most number of seats, however, is no guarantee of getting a larger number of MLAs in Bihar. The RJD and the JD(U) contested equal seats in the 2015 assembly, but the RJD had a better strike rate. Similarly, the BJP ended up with a bigger seat tally in the 2010 elections, despite contesting fewer seats than the JD(U). Both the seat-distribution and strike rates will matter for the individual fortunes of parties this time as well. The strength of major parties in the new assembly will also decide their bargaining power in future political negotiations, not just government formation. NEW HAVEN The president of the city police union is alleging the mayor mocked the criminal justice system in a tweet about the grand jurys decision on Breonna Taylors death. Florencio Cotto, president of Elm City Local, objected in a statement to Mayor Justin Elickers suggestion that officers involved in the shooting of Taylor were not held appropriately accountable, noting the criminal justice system in Kentucky had rendered a decision. Elicker tweeted Wednesday that he was shocked that the grand jury didnt charge any officers for the murder of Breonna Taylor. What happened to Breonna was wrong in so many ways and the officers should be held accountable, said Elicker. Cotto alleged that Elicker had mocked the criminal justice system with his tweet and spread fake news about officers not being held accountable. He described Elickers comments as disgraceful. But in a statement, Elicker said while he recognized that the legal process had concluded, he continues to question the very nature of the decision and if justice was served in this case, as others have and are across the country. To his understanding, he said, the responsibility and duty of elected officials, community leaders, and civically minded citizens is to bear witness to acts of injustice, to call out such injustices, and then to advocate for remedy when one is so deeply moved to do so. The death of Breonna Taylor and the legal outcomes of the case deserves serious attention, he said. Taylor, a Black woman, was shot and killed by police after officers entered her home six months ago on a no-knock warrant, looking for a suspect who did not live at the address. David Cameron, the Kentucky attorney general, has said the investigation into Taylors death showed the officers announced themselves before entering her apartment. He also said that police were justified in firing their weapons because Taylors boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot that hit one of them, Sgt. John Mattingly, in the leg. Walker later told police he did not know who was entering the apartment, and charges against him, for attempted murder of a police officer, were dropped. Mattingly and another officer, Myles Cosgrove, fired 32 shots altogether. Six bullets struck Taylor, according to Cameron, who said the fatal bullet came from Cosgroves gun. The third officer, Brett Hankinson, faces three counts of wanton endangerment for firing into a neighboring apartment that had multiple occupants. He was fired from the Louisville police department in June. Cotto noted that Hankinson had been indicted in the case by the grand jury in Kentucky, while the two other officers, one of whom was wounded, were not. In protests around the country, activists have contended that the incident should have result in charges related to Taylors death, given that she was shot and killed. Perhaps the Mayor should respect the decision of the Grand Jury while still mourning the tragic loss of Breonna Taylor. Perhaps the Mayor should state the truth that the officers were serving a search warrant signed by a judge and during the course of the warrant a police officer was shot, said Cotto. Perhaps the Mayor doesnt know that police officers in New Haven serve search warrants and police officers in New Haven have been shot (while serving a warrant). September 23rd, 2017 was the most recent. Cotto called for Elicker to apologize to New Haven police, saying he had inappropriately framed the narrative around the case. Otherwise, your bias toward the police must be noted so when one of our fine officers is hurt, then they and their family wont be surprised when you engage in harmful, fake news tweeting, said Cotto. Elicker, however, said, in his statement, No statement I made was directed at the members of the New Haven Police Department and to associate statements made about a specific case in Kentucky as a generalized attack on New Haven officers is little less than an attempt to silence the voice of local elected officials in this important and historic national conversation that is happening. Now more than ever, we must stand up and call out injustices, even in the face of adversity, said Elicker. I am proud of the work of the women and men in service to our residents in the New Haven Police Department and support them unapologetically to their critics. We will continue the work in our tireless pursuit of improving policing for all communities and neighborhoods of the city so that incidents such as the one that took place in Kentucky, which took the life of Breonna Taylor and wounded two officers, does not happen here. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com; Reporting from Meghan Friedmann and the Associated Press was included in this story. New Delhi, Sep 25 : The three-phase Bihar Assembly polls will be the first large-scale election in the country amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and as per the IANS C-Voter Bihar opinion poll survey, 30.9 per cent of the people are still backing Nitish Kumar as the most preferable candidate to be the Chief Minister again. Nitish Kumar is followed by Rashtriya Janta Dal leader Tejasvi Yadav, who is the preferred CM candidate of 15.4 per cent people, followed by BJP leader Sushil Modi (9.2 per cent). Surprisingly, RJD supremo and ex-Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad, who is convicted in the fodder scam and is barred from contesting the polls, is considered the most preferable candidate to be the Chief Minister by 8.3 per cent of the voters. Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan has been preferred as a CM candidate by 6.5 per cent of the people. Bihar Congress leader Tariq Anwar has received the approval for the CM's post from 2.1 per cent of the people, the lowest among the prominent leaders in the state. BJP leader Giriraj Singh has been backed as a CM candidate by 6.2 per cent of the people, followed by Lok Samta Party leader Upendra Kushwaha (5.1 per cent). The sample size of the survey is 25,789 and the period of the survey is September 1 to September 25. The survey covers all 243 Assembly segments and the margin of error is +/- 3 per cent at state level and +/-5 per cent at regional level. In the wake of farm protests, industrial activities in the city took a hit as transportation come to a halt on Friday. No dispatch of goods was done, while workers could not reach the factories due to blocking of the roads by farmers, rued city-based industrialists. Some manufacturers even kept their units closed out of fear, while most were operational with closed doors. They said the deliveries have been delayed and if the protests continued in this manner, the industry would suffer losses worth crores of rupees on a daily basis. All Industries and Trade Forum president Badish Jindal said, Daily works were affected due to the protest as no goods were dispatched and a large number of bank transactions could not take place. Factory workers could not reach in time due while many didnt come at all. If the protests go on the industry would suffer daily loss around 1,500 crore. However, few industrial associations also backed the farmers protest stating that they are the backbone of the state and needed support at this time. Janta Nagar small scale manufacturers association head Jaswinder Thukral said, No doubt the industrial activities have been affected by the protests, but we stand by the farmers. The chairman of All India Motor Transport Congress and Ludhiana Goods Transport Association, Charan Singh Lohara, said trucks remained off the road on Friday as the transporters had earlier extended support to the farmers. The services would resume from Saturday. However, Pankaj Sharma, general secretary of Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, said, The administration supported the industry, thus factories were able to operate normally despite the agitation. Though the dispatch of industrial goods could take place due to the suspension of transport, the same would be covered in the coming days. The official says it should be decided by the three parties involved. Head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbas Leonid Kravchuk says Ukraine is not raising the issue of relocating TCG meetings from Minsk to another place, and the venue itself is irrelevant for a videoconferencing format. "We are not yet raising the issue of relocating the meeting or holding it somewhere physically. And for events in a video format it doesn't matter where the participants are located," he told Ukraine 24 TV channel, commenting on journalist Dmitriy Gordon's statement that the TCG talks in Minsk make no sense and would be held in Vienna. "Of course, if we talk about a certain person's opinion yes, now there are no such prerequisites for gathering in Minsk, as both the coronavirus and the political situation there are not conducive to meetings, but this is my personal opinion," he added. Read alsoKravchuk schools Russia's Gryzlov at Minsk talks over Donbas statusAccording to him, the issue is to be decided by the three parties involved. "There is the procedure that must be followed. For example, how is the group called? The Trilateral Contact Group. The leading role is played by the moderator, the OSCE, and 'trilateral' means Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. Thus, a joint solution is needed to decide where the group should meet. Ukraine, as well as Russia alone cannot resolve this issue," he said. Kravchuk reiterated Russia had already attempted to unilaterally appoint a meeting place for the next meeting. "There has already been a case that Russia offered a physical meeting in Minsk, but the moderator made an appropriate statement, saying that under such conditions, given the coronavirus, there were no possibilities. And we accept and adhere to this position," he said. TCG on Donbas in Minsk AI/ML - Machine Learning Engineer, Visual Intelligence Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino) , California , United States Machine Learning and AI Summary Posted: Sep 25, 2020 Role Number: 200195307 Imagine what you could do here. At Apple, great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job and there's no telling what you could accomplish. Do you want to make Siri and Apple products smarter for our users? Do you want to be a part of redefining how people use their computing devices to search and access information? Are you excited by early stage initiatives with potential for huge impact? The Siri Search and Information Intelligence teams are building groundbreaking technology for algorithmic search, machine learning, natural language processing, , computer vision and artificial intelligence. The features we build are redefining how hundreds of millions of people use their computers and mobile devices to search and find what they are looking for. Siri's universal search engine powers search features across a variety of Apple products, including Siri, Spotlight, Safari, Messages and Lookup. Join a new team in Apple AI/ML that is investigating novel visual capabilities of Siri across all Apple products that will transform the way people engage with the world around them! We're looking for strong engineers to work on cutting-edge technology, collaborate with experts across Apple, and deliver new end-to-end experiences that delight customers. Key Qualifications 3+ years of professional experience in machine learning for computer vision applications Excellent knowledge and good practical skills in major machine learning algorithms Proven track record of developing and productionalizing high-quality computer vision algorithms Strong interpersonal skills able to work independently as well as in a team Excellent software design problem solving and debugging skillsFluency in Python and another language (C/C++, Go, Rust) Experience with relevant deep learning software packages (Keras, Tensorflow, PyTorch...) Description As a machine learning engineer you are excited to seek and tackle high impact problems using deep learning and large data sets. You will stay up to date with the latest research in detection, segmentation and metric learning and work with a team of highly qualified computer vision and machine learning specialists to develop innovative computer vision/machine learning systems in the area of visual search. You'll be involved in all phases of model development including data analysis, prototyping, testing, deployment. Based in Cupertino, we work closely with teams across Apple worldwide and are looking for expert Applied ML Engineers to join our Agile development teams. You will have great technical skills, a drive for high quality software and the ability to innovate creative solutions. Communicating clearly and having the flexibility to learn new technologies, while continuously developing your skills will be key to your success. You will fit into our teams, be a fantastic collaborator, comfortable with giving and receiving feedback and able to thrive in a dynamic environment. If this is you, we'd love to hear from you. Education & Experience MS, Ph.D. in a related field , or equivalent experience The Permanent Court of Arbitration, Hague, passed a judgment in favour of Vodafone asking the Indian government not to go ahead with the tax demand of Rs 14,200 crore (excluding the interest and penalty). What recourse does Indian government have now? Can it go for an appeal or can it simply refuse to implement the award? Akhilesh Ranjan, former member of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and an expert in international taxation, says there is no formal appeal channel against this (order). The government can only go back to the Permanent Court of Arbitration on some technical point, but that will not serve any purpose. He further adds that the government may decide not to implement this award altogether. "Of course, under the Indian Arbitration Act, the government is obliged to implement foreign tribunal award, but it's possible that the government may take this view. In such circumstances, the case may go to Indian courts. Vodafone will ask India courts for a decree that the government should implement this award," he says. Although in this case Vodafone has not paid any tax yet and its assets are not in India, the Indian government cannot possibly enforce the tax demand, says Ranjan. ALSO READ: Vodafone Idea share zooms 15% after parent wins arbitration against govt in Rs 20K-crore retro tax case The Vodafone Group on Friday won the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) arbitration against the Indian government in the Rs 14,200 tax dispute case. The arbitral tribunal in Hague today ruled in favour of Vodafone saying that India was in breach of the 'fair and equitable' treatment clause in the India-Netherland BIT. The judgment specifically mentions that the Indian government's decision to impose tax despite Supreme Court's verdict against such an imposition along with interest and penalty was breach of fair and equitable treatment laid down under the bilateral investment treaty. It, therefore, asks the Indian government to 'cease the conduct in question, any failure to comply with which will engage its international responsibility'. The arbitration court also asked the Indian government to reimburse 4.3 million pounds, which comprises 60 per cent of Vodafone's legal cost. The dispute arose when the Indian government, in spite of a favourable Supreme Court judgment in January 2012, amended the law through Finance Act, 2012 whereby power to retrospectively tax any gain on transfer of share was introduced. Consequently, a demand of Rs 14,200 crore was raised on Vodafone. The case pertains to Vodafone buying entire share capital of CGP Investments (Holdings) Ltd, a Cayman Islands company, for about $11 billion (Rs 55,000 crore) from Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd (HTIL) in 2007. CGP controlled 67 per cent of Hutchison Essar Limited, a company based in India. The revenue department had sought to tax the profit from the transaction made by Hutchison. It raised a tax demand of $2.5 billion from Vodafone (buyers of the assets) arguing that the company should have withheld tax. ALSO READ: Retrospective tax case: Vodafone wins arbitration against Indian govt The demand was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2010, but after a retrospective amendment in Income Tax Act in 2012, the demand was reinstated. Arvind Datar, a renowned Supreme Court lawyer, says this is a significant ruling against retrospective laws. He believes the government should have gone for the settlement long back. However, Datar says that there is an appeal provision under the treaty and the Indian government may go for it. Sameer Jain, Founder & Managing Partner, PSL Advocates & Solicitors, says that it remains to be seen if India will implement the award or challenge the same in Netherlands or resist enforcement by Vodafone in India. When asked if not implementing the award would further make a dent on India's image as an investment destination, Ranjan says it may not happen as the government has been contesting that a tax demand cannot be adjudicated by such a tribunal by the investment treaty. "Tax matters are always outside the purview of the investment treaty as taxation is a sovereign function. If the Parliament of India has enacted a law, how can any foreign tribunal say that such a law is wrong? The issue then becomes about sovereignty, and internationally opinion is divided if investment treaty can cover tax matters or not," he says. Meanwhile, the finance ministry has said in a statement that the government will be studying the award and all its aspects carefully in consultation with its counsels. After such consultations, the government will consider all options and take a decision on further course of action including legal remedies before appropriate fora. ALSO READ: Good Friday for market! Investors gain Rs 3.5 lakh crore as Sensex, Nifty manage a strong recovery Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The frozen bakery market is projected to grow at a very healthy CAGR of 7.4% during the forecast period (2019-2029). A significant increase in consumer demand for convenience foods, resulting from hectic lifestyles is a predominant factor driving the sales of frozen bakery products. Emerging players are targeting millennial consumers, who prefer the low-cost frozen bakery items to increase their market share. The rising demand from hotel and catering industries will continue to boost growth of frozen bakery market, reveals Future Market Insights (FMI). The recent surge in catering and tourism has been a key driver to growth across Europe, trends which are not likely to change in the coming years, says the FMI analyst. Request report sample with 250+ pages to gain in-depth market insights at https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-11162 Frozen Bakery Market Key Takeaways Frozen bread will remain a leading product in the market, driven by the demand for convenience foods during the forecast period. Online channels of sales will gain significant CAGR through the forecast period, owing to high penetration of smartphones and the internet. Hypermarkets and supermarkets will account for majority market share, in terms of distribution channels. Europe will hold a leading position in the global market share, while Asia Pacific will display high growth. Frozen Bakery Market Key Driving Factors The prevalence of hectic lifestyles and the resultant consumer preference for convenience foods is a major growth driver. Rising demand from small- and large-scale coffee shops and food chains remains a key influencer. The expansion of the hotel and catering industries in recent years supports overall market growth. Easy year-round availability of frozen bakery goods is also a driver for global market growth. Frozen Bakery Market Key Constraints Volatility in the prices of raw materials will remain a challenge for market players. Higher preference among consumers for freshly baked products will also remain a major restraint for market players. Ask an Analyst @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-11162 Competition Landscape Key players in the frozen bakery market are Arytza AG, Dawn Food Products Inc., Grupo Bimbo, General Mills, Cargill, Lantmannen, Conagra brands, Coles Quality Food Inc., Bridgford Foods Corporation, and Europastry. Majority of these players are investing in expanding their product portfolios and optimizing their sourcing processes. Moreover, mergers, acquisitions, and collaborations with small-scale, local players is a major strategy being adopted by market leaders. More about the Report The FMIs market research report of 300 pages offers comprehensive insights on frozen bakery market. The market is analyzed on the basis of product type (frozen cake and muffins, frozen pastry, frozen bread and biscuits, and frozen pizza crust), distribution channels (hypermarkets and supermarkets, catering and industrial, and online retailing), end user (artisanal bakers, hotels and restaurants, bakery chains, and food processing industries) across seven key regions (North America, Latin America, Europe, East Asia, South Asia, Oceania, and MEA). Explore Extensive Coverage of FMIs Food & Beverages Landscape Coconut Milk Market: Find detailed insights on the global coconut milk market with exhaustive segment-wide analysis, market statistics, key influencing factors, prominent players and critical developmental strategies adopted by them for a 10-year forecast period. Russia was the biggest exporter of crude oil to China last month, for the second month in a row, Reuters reported, citing Chinese customs data. Saudi Arabia came second, but its exports to the worlds top importer fell by 300 percent in August. Russia shipped 1.37 million bpd to China last month, down both on the month and on the year but ahead of Saudi Arabias average of 1.24 million bpd. Russia was also Chinas top oil supplier for the first eight months of the year, according to the customs data. It exported 57.1 million tons of crude to China during that period or an average of 1.72 million bpd. This was 15.6 percent higher than the same period of 2019, while Saudi exports to China during the same period were 6.1 percent higher than a year earlier. Chinas oil imports are one of the most closely watched indicators for oil price movements. After the country ended its lockdowns in the spring, imports began to recover and so did prices. In fact, China ramped up oil imports so strongly, it prompted analysts to make upbeat projections about the recovery of oil demand. And then imports began to slow down as Chinas storage space filled and demand both at home and internationally fell short of expectations. In May and June, China imported record volumes of crude oil, as the import-dependent nation sought to benefit from the low oil prices in April. The record-breaking crude oil imports supported oil prices through the late spring and summer when oil demand recovery in the rest of the world had just started and then wobbled amid concerns of a second COVID-19 wave. Chinas August imports were lower than those in July and expectations are for a further slowdown this month and in the next few amid high inventory levels and weak refining margins. By Tom Kool of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Thor: The Dark World - for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some suggestive content. Director: Alan Taylor Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Christopher Eccleston, Jaimie Alexander, Zachary Levi, Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba, Kat Dennings, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Chris O'Dowd Running Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes Theatrical Release Date: November 7, 2013 Blu-Ray Release Date: February 25, 2014 (Amazon.com) Official Site Plot Summary Marvels Thor: The Dark World continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvels Thor and Marvels The Avengers, Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all. (from MovieWeb.com) Film Review Marvel has been having a real good thing going with their film series these days. Since launching "Phase One" with Iron Man in 2008, the film studio has been building on and developing a really, really impressive series of films that work as individual and crossover stories. "Phase One" was completed with 2012's The Avengers and the film series hasn't even begun to slow down as we see the characters continue to grow and change from film to film. This year's Iron Man 3 was the first post-Avengers film and Thor: The Dark World is the latest entry in "Phase Two," which follows the events of Thor and Avengers as a kind of second-but-actually-third film in the Thor series. One criticism Iron Man 3 widely received was that, if the Avengers had assembled previously to save New York (and the world), why weren't they coming to the aid of Stark when his home was being destroyed on national television by a terrorist? It sounded slightly nitpicky, but at the same time, it's actually a valid question. When the dark elves visit Earth in the climax of Thor: The Dark World (don't worry, that's not a spoiler; it's one of the first shots in the trailer), one might be tempted to wonder the same thing, but it's just not as easy a solution as some might want to believe. Either way, Thor: The Dark World takes place after the events of The Avengers where Loki has been imprisoned and Thor is doing his best to bring peace to the Nine Realms after the destruction of the Bifrost in the first Thor. For The Dark World, TV director Alan Taylor takes the reins from Kenneth Branagh, who brought the character to life on the screen in 2011. Branagh had created an epic feel to Thor that gave it a strong, otherworldly sense. There were lots of fantastical shots and scenery and effects, and it made Asgard feel as tremendous and mystical as it's supposed to. However, Taylor's approach to Thor is actually much different; almost too different, in fact. Thor began on Earth where a group of scientists in New Mexico, lead by Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), literally ran into the god of thunder after he'd been banished to Earth. In Thor: The Dark World, we're given a brief history of the dark elves by voiceover from Odin (Anthony Hopkins) that also introduces a new evil source of power called Aether. But while Taylor's direction is different--he also opts for less grandiose shots and more of a down-to-earth and smaller scale feel for much of the film--all of the main cast return for the next installment of Thor. (The only difference, however, is that Chuck's Zachary Levi replaces Josh Dallas as Fandral... for no real good reason apparently.) This helps make the sequel feel even more so part of the lore, but Taylor's direction disrupts the flow of the series a little bit too much. This is evidenced by how dry the film feels until, quite literally, Loki is brought into the fold. Suddenly, the movie springs to life and feels like an entirely different film. Jokes seem to fly left and right and the spark that had been missing for much of the film seems to have been magically ignited. But it's not just because Loki has appeared; even the approach to humor just seems to bring about the kind of movie fans of Thor and Avengers were most likely expecting. Taylor spends so much time setting up the story--which isn't always a bad thing--but it largely feels lifeless. In Taylor's defense, he's got a great deal riding on his shoulders from scene one. Avengers picked up a lot of new fans for the film series, and few were expecting much when the 2011 film hit screens. But it garnered a lot of praise and Avengers only seemed to add on to that. So Thor: The Dark World is most likely facing the kinds of great expectations that those disappointed in the underrated Iron Man 2 had gone into the theater with. But as a comic book film, Thor: The Dark World delivers. It sets out to be entertaining and move the overall Marvel story forward and it gets the job done nicely (a cameo mid-film is so priceless it's probably going to be the most talked about scene in the film). But those who like a solid, not-too-coincidental story will have lots to gripe about. Where the story would be most appropriate on the paper pages of a comic book, aspects of it seem just a little silly on screen. Things like Thor's earthly love interest being the one to find the hidden and much-sought-after Aether on her own, and be pulled into the troubles of the Asgardians, just seems a bit too contrived for comfort. But the movie explains it well enough to be forgivable (after all, it permits some great sequences), but it still feels a little too convenient for its own good. The content for Thor: The Dark World is mostly of the violent variety. We see some battle footage and scary-looking creatures fighting. Also, two elves are turned into horned, almost demonic, beasts after crushing a firey stone in their palms. One character is stabbed, off screen, and one of these stones is inserted into their wound (only heard as squishy sound effects, not seen). Later, they remove the stone and we see dark blood on their hands, clothed abdomen and on the stone. Another scene involves a character's hand being sliced off. We briefly see the stub looking kind of burned and maybe slightly bloody. (SPOILER: we later find out it wasn't real and was an effect.) There's also mass destruction in Asgard and on Earth with buildings and vehicles being thrown around and demolished, sometimes with fatal results. Language is mostly mild with Darcy saying "Holy S---" emphatically early on in the movie and then her saying it again, but kind of cut off by the sounds of destruction. Jane says "Oh my G-d" a couple times and there are just a couple uses of "h*ll" and "d*mn." The only sensual content is seeing Thor without his shirt (y'know, a gratuitous hunk shot for the ladies) and some passionate kissing between Thor and Jane. And we see footage of a fully naked Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) running around on the news with his privates (and butt) pixelated for TV. It's meant to be funny and it certainly isn't expected. Thor: The Dark World is an entertaining entry into the Marvel saga but certainly not the best one, nor the movie I'm sure diehard fans are expecting. Still, it's got enough fun, excitement, and action to keep audiences satisfied. And be sure to stick around during the credits; there's an additional mid-credits scene that sets up the Marvel franchise to go further (with a celebrated Hollywood actor making a first-time cameo) and then another nugget that's included just after the credits finish (that brings some resolution to the Thor: The Dark World story, as well as adds a great laugh afterward). Blu-Ray Special Features Review FEATURETTES Thor: The Dark World is available in a 2-Disc 3D Blu-Ray and 2D Blu-Ray set (no DVD), on a single disc Blu-Ray and on a single disc DVD. This is a review for the single disc Blu-Ray release. There are quite a few extras on this disc. The most significant is a brand new short story that follows Iron Man 3 as the lastest "Marvel One Shot" and possibly sets things up for a future movie in the franchise.(13:51) - This short film takes place after the events of Iron Man 3. It's a HUGE spoiler if you haven't seen Iron Man 3, so make sure you've seen it first. Don't watch it if you haven't. It really has nothing to do with Thor. This has a particular villainous character from that film locked away in prison but he encounters someone who wants to use him to clear their identity (so to speak). And, best of all, there's a cameo from a villain from Iron Man 2 (although the implications that they're gay is a weird choice). The short is pretty violent, and there is some language, so I'd say it's on par with any of the Iron Man movies (1 "h*ll," 1 "b*tch," 2 "g*dd*mn," 1 "jack*ss").(31:39) - The main behind-the-scenes featurette is split into two parts, but can also be viewed via a Play All option. The first half covers all 3 movies Thor is in: Thor, Avengers and The Dark World. Here, they extensively examine the characters' growth from movie to movie and we hear the actors talk about their respective roles. The real treat for fans here, though, are the screen tests. We get to see Chris trying out for Thor, but more incredibly, is that Tom Hiddelston tried out for Thor before reading for Loki! So you see a long, blonde-haired Tom swinging around a hammer! So while Part 1 is about all three movies, Part 2 is exclusively about the new movie and the progression of getting to it. It all ends with a glimpse at the premiere of the film, too.(3:35) - The Thor: The Dark World preview on the Iron Man 3 disc was pretty lame, but this one is surprisingly in-depth for being just 3 and a half minutes long. It does reveal who The Winter Soldier is (which is a spoiler for anyone who doesn't know the comic book story) and shows some great action footage that hasn't been shown yet, and it features Scarlett Johansson and Robert Redford talking about their characters.(5:21) - I've been largely unimpressed with Tyler's work on Iron Man 3 and Thor 2, but this shows him talking about changing up the music for Thor in a post-Avengers setting, and talks about creating the different themes with similar feel for each character.(7:48) - There are six deleted or extended scenes, the first of which is an extended celebration scene at the beginning. There's a great little callback to the first film where we see how Thor remembers some of the things he learned with Jane (in this instance -- not trashing his cup when he wants another drink). In the next scene, we see Jane and Thor talking in Asgard, then an alternate take of Thor and Loki walking and talking with Loki himself dressed as Captain America. Next, we see a short scene of Thor and his mom talking about Loki and then a very brief scene of Malekith walking and demanding they go to war. Finally, there's a slightly extended version of the opening battle.(3:30) - The gag reel is pretty amusing, mostly consisting of footage of the gang goofing off on set, and some things like Chris forgetting/messing up his lines. One of the more memorable moments is what he does when his hammer breaks, leaving him just holding the handle. There are one or two instances of bleeped language (the worst being a bleeped "F" word from Rene Russo), but it's pretty tame otherwise. - John DiBiase , (reviewed: 2/22/14) Parental Guide: Content Summary Sex/Nudity Vulgarity/Language Alcohol/Drugs Blood/Gore Violence : Richard makes a comment about being with many women; We see Thor shirtless by himself; Jane and Thor kiss passionately a couple of times; In two instances, we see Erik Selvig running around naked on the news on TV with pixelation blurring any explicit nudity.: 2 "S" words (1 sort of incomplete), 3 "h*ll," 2 "d*mn," 1 "Oh G-d," 1 "Oh my G-d": Erik is handed a bag full of prescription medication for being deemed crazy. At one point he takes one of them and then he soon throws the bag of them away.: A dark elf stabs another dark elf (off screen) in the abdomen, and places a stone there. Later, we see the elf pull it out and see dark blood on their hands, clothes and on the stone; Odin uses a beam of energy from his staff to burn a elf's face. We later see half of their face is charred; A character's hand is cut off and we briefly see the stump (SPOILER: We soon find it wasn't real); Thor has some bloody cuts on his face; We see a character get run through the chest with a spike; Thor cuts the arms off a elf and we see them appear on the ground in another dimension.: We see an epic battle between Asgardians and dark elves at the beginning of the film, with many casualties and much violence; We see Erik being chased by the police and forced into a police car; Thor and his team go to a planet where they fight and Thor destroys a stony giant with a blow of his hammer; Large ships attack Asgard and demolish many buildings, killing many Asgardians; A character is stabbed and killed; A few of Thor's team stay behind to fend off Thor's pursuers (they are overcome but survive); A character stabs another in the stomach with a knife and throw them down a hillside. As the victim reaches out, the attacker cuts off their hand. The victim screams in pain. The attacker then attacks another pair of villains and a fight breaks out; A elf beast lets out a burst of energy that kills other prisoners in a cell; Loki throws the items in his cell around in anger; While infected with Aether, when Jane is grabbed by characters a couple times, they are thrown down by a blast of energy; Malekith lifts Jane into the air and extracts a red, airy mist from her; A dark elf ship lands on Earth and destroys a big portion of the ground, throwing cars and people; A huge beast is transported to another dimension and we see it gobble a dark elf; We later see the large beast running around a vacant freight yard; and other action sci-fi violence. Disclaimer: All reviews are based solely on the opinions of the reviewer. Most reviews are rated on how the reviewer enjoyed the film overall, not exclusively on content. However, if the content really affects the reviewer's opinion and experience of the film, it will definitely affect the reviewer's overall rating. To find out why we don't typically review R-rated movies, click here In a speech unveiling his health-care "vision" for America, President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement: that cash cards will soon be sent to millions of seniors using the government health insurance program Medicare. "Under my plan, 33 million Medicare beneficiaries will soon receive a card in the mail containing $200 that they can use to help pay for prescription drugs," Trump said in North Carolina on Thursday evening. But it's unclear how exactly the administration will pay for the cards. A White House official told CNBC in an email that the money for the cash cards would be paid for by "a Medicare 402 demo" and that the costs would be "offset from Most Favored Nation savings." The official did not immediately respond to a request for further details about the 402 demo or how it would supply the funds. Medicare waivers under Section 402 apply to experimental ways to cover costs and provide services. "These will be actual discount cards for prescription drug copays" and will be mailed in the coming weeks, the official wrote. The Wall Street Journal, citing an administration official, reported Friday that the money would come from a Medicare trust fund. According to an application for Medicare 402 waivers, such demonstrations must be "budget neutral," meaning "that the expected costs under the demonstration cannot be more than the expected costs were the demonstration not to occur." The $6.6 billion provision is possible, Trump said Thursday, "partially because of the tremendous money that we're going to be saving with the Favored Nations and various other things that we've done." The president appeared to be referencing an executive order revealed earlier this month, directing his Health and Human Services chief to work to "test a payment model" ensuring that Medicare Part B-covered products will cost "no more than the most-favored nation price." Part B covers crucial medical treatment and preventive services. Medicare Part A covers inpatient care. Here, the term "most-favored nation price" means the lowest price for a product that a drug manufacturer sells to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development members of comparable size. "Favored nations" is a term often seen in health law contracts that requires providers to give one party equal or better rates for services than it gives other parties. (Newser) Ian Fleming apparently forgot to tell us about the time James Bond went behind the Iron Curtain in an attempt to infiltrate Polish military facilities. Poland's Institute of National Remembrance has uncovered the secret mission of James Albert Bond, a British civil servant sent to the Soviet satellite state on Feb. 18, 1964. Officially employed as secretary-archivist for the British Embassy's military attache, the 36-year-old stayed just 11 months, according to the IPN's archive. The Devon native's name was already a famous one: 007 was featured in numerous Fleming novels in the 1950s, to be followed by the first James Bond film in 1962. "As an imperialist diplomat" he was automatically surveilled, explains IPN. "An operational surveillance case code-named 'Samek' was established and he was placed under strict surveillance," researchers say, per the Telegraph. story continues below Bond tried to "penetrate military facilities" in the Bialystok and Olsztyn regions, archive director Marzena Kruk tells Reuters. Kruk found no mention of a martini in the archives, but "there is information that he liked Polish beer" and "women, the same as his literary namesake." Bond died in 2005. However, his widow confirms the British Army officer did act as a spy in Poland, where she and their son accompanied him. "I didn't know he was a spy, otherwise I wouldn't have gone with him," Janette Bond tells the Telegraph. "I didn't know exactly what he was doing, but I knew it was dodgy." She says the family was "followed everywhere" and had to pass notes in their own apartment for fear it was bugged. She says they left Poland so Bond could be made an army captain, not because he was found out. (Read more James Bond stories.) A farmer has urged others to 'stop, think, and never rush any tasks' after a usually docile heifer panicked and cracked three of his ribs earlier this year. Richard Isaac is a third generation beef and sheep farmer who has a 600 acre farm near Ynysybwl in South East Wales. Farming in partnership with his two sons, they have around 50 Welsh Black suckler cattle and a flock of around 1,800 mainly South Wales Mountain and cross Aberfield ewes. At the moment, Mr Isaac, who is also a Farming Connect mentor, is recovering from three cracked ribs, the result of a recent farm accident involving a heifer. It just shows that however experienced you are, you never know when the unexpected is going to happen, especially when you are handling large animals, said Mr Isaac. I always try and adhere to best practice across all areas of farming, but in hindsight, I should have realised that I put myself in a vulnerable position by turning my back on a large animal in such close proximity, even if only for a split second. Mr Isaac, a former agricultural college lecturer, said he always puts farm safety first, but on this occasion, he was taken completely unaware. A normally docile animal decided that she wasnt going to follow the herd, as he and his son moved the cows from the shed towards the cattle crush in readiness for TB testing. We were working next to a large, heavy duty metal gate, which had penned them all in," Mr Isaac recalled. "But in the split second I turned my back to go through the gate, one usually quiet heifer panicked and decided to push her head under it in a bid to take a short cut and join the others. The gate sprang forward against Mr Isaac, throwing him face-down to the floor with significant force. His son was on hand to quickly help him to his feet, but a short while later, struggling to move and still in a lot of pain, a visit to the x-ray unit in his local hospital showed he had three broken ribs. Almost three months later, Mr Isaac is still not up to full strength, but recognises that he had an incredibly lucky escape. The accident could have been so much worse, I could easily have lost the ability to work altogether, but I am confident that in time, I should get back to full strength. Well known in farming circles, Mr Isaac is a former chair of the local Agricultural Training Board and Glamorgan NFU Cymru and is the current NFU Cymru council delegate for Glamorgan. His accident has reminded him of the importance of reducing the risks of farm accidents by taking every possible precaution, and he is keen to warn others of the dangers. Stop, think, and never rush any tasks is my advice having been through this myself," he advised. We should all plan everything we do in advance, ensure we have the right systems or equipment in place to reduce the risk of accidents, stay alert at all times and never rush things. Over the past year, a total of 21 people in Britain were killed in agriculture, consisting of 20 workers and 1 member of the public - a four year old child. This is according to a report by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which was released in July to mark the start of the annual Farm Safety Week campaign. Amid an impasse over disengagement with China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, India has warned China that its soldiers will open fire in self-defence if the People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops come to India's positions at LAC, government sources said on Friday. On the backdrop of the India-China LAC dispute, India has tried to reason with China on the disengagement along the LAC to ease the standoff but China has taken an adamant stand, according to government sources said on September 24. Live TV According to top government sources, after the Galwan Valley incident, India made it clear to China that "if Chinese soldiers come to our positions, we will open fire to defend our soldiers and there positions". Violent clashes in Ladakh's Galwan Valley on June 15 led to both the sides losing soldiers. Recently, warning shots were also fired, after a gap of decades. After the Galwan Valley incident, the tactics of China is to come forward in huge numbers near the patrolling points of India. So to abstain this, India has sent a clear message to China that now we have changed the rule of engagement and now if Chinese soldiers come close to "our positions in huge numbers we will fire". Since the Galwan Valley incident, it has become clear that there is no question of believing China's words of peace and their deeds on the ground has to match the words. On September 25, sources had said that India has conveyed during the talks with People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Maldo, on the Chinese side of the LAC in eastern Ladakh, that disengagement should take place from A to Z area. During the talks with China, India has conveyed that the withdrawal should take place from Daspang plain to southern area of Pangong Tso and it should not be selective. However, China is not ready to accept that PLA first transgressed into the LAC and has asked the Indian Army to withdraw first from southern Pangong Tso. Earlier, in his first comments since the Moscow pact, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday said that India and China need to adjust to each other's rise which has been the dominating factor in "diplomacy of both countries". Speaking at the world economic forum development impact summit, Jaishankar said that India and China need "to accommodate each other's rise". He stated that both the countries will have "some common interest and many interests which are more individual or nationally centred and that process of how to adjust to each other when both are rising, to my mind is one of the big issues in the diplomacy of both the countries". Calling "border issues" as "one part of that problem," he said, "We are going through a very unprecedented situation, and if one looks at in a longer-term, this is one facet of larger phenomenon" for which both "India and China have to sit down and find a solution". Earlier in September, both Indian and Chinese foreign ministers had first in-person physical meeting amidst the more than the four-month-long tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). After the two-hour-long meet, both came out with a five-point joint statement calling for easing the situation at the LAC via dialogue, disengagement and maintaining the distance between the troops of two countries. After the meet, the Corp Commanders of India and China met earlier this week and agreed that build up should be stopped. This was the sixth such meeting and both sides will soon meet for the next round of talks. MEA spokesperson giving an update on the situation on Thursday said, "The two sides have also decided to strengthen the ground communication to avoid any further misunderstandings and misjudgments, stop sending more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground, and avoid taking any actions that may complicate the situation." The next meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination (WMCC) is expected to take place soon. Considered something of a lightweight on foreign policy issues, Japans new prime minister has spent much of his career in the shadows, supporting previous leader Shinzo Abe with backroom bureaucratic maneuvers and in largely scripted, sometimes prickly dealings with the media. That will change Saturday when Yoshihide Suga makes his very public debut, albeit virtually, at the U.N. General Assembly, the worlds premier international gathering of leaders. Dont expect the earth to shake, though, with resounding rhetoric or wildly innovative ideas to improve Japan s rocky ties with the nations it terrorized in WWII or its decades-long economic malaise. Much as hes done domestically in the week and a half that hes been prime minister, Suga is eager to emphasize that hell continue the foreign policy efforts Abe championed in his nearly eight-year rule, the longest of any Japanese prime minister. Continuity wont necessarily thrill Japans Asian neighbors. Many have been hoping that Suga will distance himself from the hawkish Abe, who regularly questioned the narrative of Japan as a war criminal. Sugas cautious approach is largely due to his lack of experience on the world stage, in part because his job as chief cabinet secretary required him to manage disasters and other crises at home. But it also may be linked to his temperament. He is not a visionary, according to Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University Japan. He is a capable lieutenant who will follow Abes foreign policy. Because of the constraints on travel and face-to-face contact caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Suga also wont be able to pursue the personal diplomacy that Abe favored and will muddle along rather than breaking any new ground, Kingston said. Suga maintains that he was involved behind the scenes on big foreign policy issues and in building relationships with foreign leaders. Much as Abe did, Suga will emphasize ties with the United States, Japans top ally. Hes also eyeing several postwar diplomatic goals that have bedeviled a string of prime ministers, including resolving the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea, with which Japan still has no diplomatic ties. Suga has praised Abes skills in forging personal ties with U.S. President Donald Trump, something he said that he might not be able to do as well. Abes close relationship with Trump, much marveled at in the Japanese press, was said to be key to keeping U.S.-Japan ties firm. And Suga may have played a bigger part in building that relationship than is widely known. In recent comments published in Bungei Shunju magazine, Suga said he was the one who insisted on establishing ties with the Trump side when nobody was seriously expecting a Trump victory. Suga has also long worked on issues related to North Korea, as well as the contentious issue of U.S. military bases on Okinawa. Whats important," Suga said, is an eye that can see the big picture. Behind-the-scenes operations are one thing, but questions still abound about whether Suga, who has not served in key diplomatic or defense posts, will be able to navigate the much more visible arena of high-stakes global diplomacy. His lack of foreign policy experience is a worry even among his party colleagues, said Tsuneo Watanabe, a Sasakawa Peace Foundation senior research fellow who is an expert on Japan-U.S. relations. That said, Suga has good contacts with the countrys powerful bureaucrats and with skilled policy advisers in the Foreign Ministry, Watanabe said. His approach will probably be pretty much the same as Abes, focused on a stronger security alliance with the United States while balancing economic ties with China, Watanabe said. Among the other strong pieces of evidence that Suga wants foreign policy continuity with Abe is his appointment of Nobuo Kishi, Abes younger brother and a military hawk, as defense minister. Suga will face perhaps his biggest challenge in trying to settle ties with South Korea. The countries trade and political relations plummeted under Abe after Seoul claimed that Abe was whitewashing Japans historical crimes. If Abes successor intends to serve the long-term interest and avoid further deterioration of the Japan-South Korea relations, now is the time to explore the chance for a reset in relations, Kazuhiko Togo, a former diplomat and a visiting professor at Kyoto Sangyo University, wrote in a recent East Asia Forum article. At the very least, Suga is not as reviled in Seoul as Abe, so that might create an opening, Kingston said, although much will depend on how Seoul handles things, as Tokyo is unlikely to take the initiative. In some ways, the virtual setup of this years U.N. General Assembly might benefit Suga. He has vast experience dealing with scripted media situations, but he is also sullen and prickly with tough questions," Kingston said, and when he eventually travels as prime minister, he, like Abe, could get in trouble with a more assertive foreign press because he will not be able to get away with the evasive tactics he favors." Abe, Kingston said, didnt achieve much in his years in office, and Japan remains at risk in its neighborhood, so Suga cant do much worse on the foreign policy front. ___ Foster Klug, AP s news director for Japan, the Koreas, Australia and the South Pacific, has covered Asia at UNGA since 2005. Follow him at www.twitter.com/apklug. Follow longtime Tokyo correspondent Mari Yamaguchi at www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi The Executive Office is keen to find an outsider to lead the Northern Ireland Civil Service and implement sweeping reforms, according to a senior Stormont source. He was speaking after Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill failed to appoint anyone out of three internal candidates they interviewed for the position. The source said that the salary for the job should be raised to attract the "fresh blood" needed to shake up the civil service. "The salary that was offered simply wasn't high enough," he said. "It's one of the most powerful jobs in Northern Ireland but managing directors in the private sector are paid very significantly more. "A package of 188,000 was being offered for a job with a 20bn budget and 23,000 staff. The director-general of the BBC is paid 525,000 for managing the same number of staff and a 5bn budget." Read More The source said that it was vital to bring in an outsider to reform the system. The civil service was more heavily criticised than politicians in the RHI report, he said. The source questioned its failure to deliver on "big infrastructure projects" when devolution was suspended. Earlier this month, Boris Johnson appointed Simon Case as Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service. The hiring of the 41-year-old - the youngest ever Cabinet Secretary in living memory and relative outsider - raised eyebrows. It is understood that the three candidates interviewed by Mrs Foster and Ms O'Neill on Wednesday were Peter May, the permanent secretary at the Justice Department; Sue Gray, permanent secretary at the Department of Finance, and Richard Pengelly, permanent secretary at the Department of Health. The Stormont source said it was unlikely that any of the three unsuccessful candidates would be appointed interim head of the civil service. A spokesperson for The Executive Office said: "The First Minister and Deputy First Minister have not made an appointment following the recent competition for the head of the civil service. Next steps are currently being considered." The former head of the civil service, David Sterling, announced his plan to retire last December. SDLP MLA Colin McGrath, who is chairman of Mrs Foster and Ms O'Neill's Assembly scrutiny committee, said it was "inconceivable" that the ministers had been unable to identify his replacement in 10 months. "It is incredible, given the extended notice period, that we're now left in a situation where the joint First Ministers have been unable to appoint a replacement and the office of our most senior civil servant is vacant," he said. "This speaks to total dysfunctionality. We're in the middle of a global pandemic, our economy is under severe pressure and we're facing the chaos of Brexit. This is a moment when we need government to operate efficiently and effectively. It is a serious concern that we will not have a head of the civil service to implement executive decisions quickly." UUP leader Steve Aiken described the failure by Mrs Foster and Ms O'Neill to appoint someone to the position was "disquieting". He said: "That they have failed in one of the most important recruitment processes within government at the height of a global pandemic, when resolute and effective leadership is needed at the centre of government, demonstrates again the collective inadequacies of the current system." China's annual production capacity of COVID-19 vaccines is expected to reach 610 million doses by end-2020, the country's National Health Commission said today. Production capacity of the vaccines is forecast to reach 1 billion doses per year by 2021, Zheng Zhongwei, director General of the Development Centre for Medical Science and Technology of the commission, told a news briefing. A Chinese pharmaceutical company on Thursday said the coronavirus vaccine it is developing should be ready by early 2021 for distribution worldwide, including the United States. Yin Weidong, the CEO of SinoVac, vowed to apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell CoronaVac in the United States if it passes its third and final round of testing in humans. Yin said he personally has been given the experimental vaccine. SinoVac is developing one of Chinas top four vaccine candidates along with state-owned SinoPharm, which has two in development, and military-affiliated private firm CanSino. More than 24,000 people are participating in clinical trials of CoronaVac in Brazil, Turkey, and Indonesia, with additional trials scheduled for Bangladesh and possibly Chile, Yin said. SinoVac is also starting to test small doses of CoronaVac on children and the elderly in China after noticing rising numbers of cases globally among those two groups. Yin said the company would prioritize distribution of the vaccine to countries hosting human trials of CoronaVac. While the vaccine has not yet passed the phase 3 clinical trials, a globally accepted standard, SinoVac has already injected thousands of people in China under an emergency use provision. Yin said he was one of the first to receive the experimental vaccine months ago along with researchers after phase one and two of human trials showed no serious adverse effects. He said that self-injecting showed his support for CoronaVac. Earlier this year, China permitted emergency use" of vaccine candidates for at-risk populations like border personnel and medical workers if companies could show good safety and good antibodies" from tests of about 1,000 people, Yin said. SinoVac received that approval in June along with SinoPharm and CanSino, and was able to provide tens of thousands of doses of CoronaVac to Beijing's municipal government, Yin said. SinoVac employees qualified for emergency use of the vaccine because an outbreak inside the company would cripple its ability to develop a vaccine, he said. About 90% of the companys staff have received it. We are confident that our research of the COVI-19 vaccines can meet the standards of the U.S. and EU countries," Yin said. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Four days into a strike by employees at the Stella's restaurant on Sherbrook Street, the company has issued a public statement calling attention to the union's demands, describing them as "completely untenable." Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/9/2020 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Four days into a strike by employees at the Stella's restaurant on Sherbrook Street, the company has issued a public statement calling attention to the union's demands, describing them as "completely untenable." The key demands are wage increases for all 39 unionized employees, a restriction that no table transfers can occur from one server to another during a break, and requirements that certain employees are guaranteed at least 30 hours of work per week, and that employees don't have to work weekends after one year of service. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "The demands above are completely untenable, especially during a pandemic, with countless restaurants struggling," Stella's said. Stella's said it was issuing the statement to clear up "some misinformation" about the labour dispute. UFCW Local 832 President Jeff Traeger said the statement from Stella's, issued Thursday afternoon before the two sides are set to meet for concillation on Monday, is a clear attempt at "spin." He said normally the union doesn't negotiate specific terms in the media, but in response to the company's statement, he said the union wants to see a 25-cents/hour wage increase for all employees in light of the fact minimum wage employees will receive a 25-cent/hour boost when Manitoba's minimum wage goes up Oct. 1. Since a labour-board contract mandated paid breaks for employees starting last September, Traeger said the company has "punished" servers taking breaks by transferring their tables to another employee, leaving them shortchanged on tips. He said the company has forced employees to choose between work, school and child-care by not being flexible about weekend shifts. "These demands are because Stella's is using whatever they can in the collective agreement to create a toxic workplace, to show absolutely no respect and dignity to the people that work for them," Traeger said. In the statement, Stella's said it offered to extend the labour-board-imposed contract for another year. Traeger said that would allow the employer to maintain the status quo. He said after seeing Stella's statement he doesn't have faith that anything meaningful will be accomplished at Monday's concillation meeting, and expects the strike to continue Tuesday. Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, today announced a joint initiative with AfroChampions, a Pan-African nonprofit that aims to promote policies that foster private-public collaboration for Africa's economic transformation. The goal of the initiative is to engage leaders in business, governments, the African Union, and other regional economic communities through dialogue and potential partnership building in applying geospatial technology and solutions. This new partnership with AfroChampions seeks to contribute to sustainable economic development in Africa and promote the benefits of a shared geospatial infrastructure throughout the continent. As a majority of Africans still live in rural areas, geographic information system (GIS) technology can create new opportunities for growth, especially in critical fields such as health and telemedicine, land management, agriculture, and mobility. The powerful mapping and data analytics that GIS provides forms a foundation for some of the most successful economic strategies that nations pursue today. This initiative will offer African governments and other organizations streamlined access to Esri's world-leading GIS technology and expertise, in addition to a broad network of regional partners. "Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related crises, African leaders must fast-track the African Continental Free Trade Area [AfCFTA], which is our own recovery plan," said Dr. Edem Adzogenu, executive director of AfroChampions. "However, we need technologies, such as geospatial solutions, to operationalize the AfCFTA." Over the long term, Esri's solutions will advance projects retained as part of AfroChampions Trillion Dollar Investment Framework, a 360-degree road map officially endorsed by the African Union and in which core enablers of the AfCFTA are transportation and connectivity; the removal of nontariff barriers; low-cost power; and enhanced value and industrialization in a modernized digital economy. "At a time of economic uncertainty, we consider it part of our company's mission to coordinate and collaborate with partners like AfroChampions for initiatives that promote sustainable global development," said Sohail Elabd, general manager of Esri Middle East and Africa. "With the help of a network of action-oriented business and political leaders spreading across the entire continent, these initiatives can be instrumental in advancing the use of geospatial solutions for the public good around the world, from healthcare coverage to infrastructure support." This partnership is part of Esri's ongoing commitment to its users and the broader geospatial community across Africa. It is closely aligned with key continental initiatives such as AfCFTA; the African Development Bank Strategy for 20132022; the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; and the African Union Agenda 2063, which emphasizes the need for global Geospatial Information for Sustainable Development (GI4SD) management. "Esri's support is timely," continued Adzogenu. "It can help us in many practical ways, like compiling data, identifying best practices that can be replicated from one country to another, defining the right locations for strategic infrastructure projects, or launching cross-border renewable projects." Africa Geoportal, the continent's existing geospatial community platform built by Esri, will support the AfroChampions' virtual festival Boma of Africa as well as other ongoing community outreach activities. To learn more about how Esri is partnering with Middle Eastern and African communities to empower them with location-based sustainable solutions to global challenges, visit esri.com/en-us/about/about-esri/mea. About AfroChampions The AfroChampions Initiative is a public-private partnership designed to galvanize African resources and institutions to drive Africa's economic integration and transformation. As a consequence, AfroChampions supports the emergence and success of African economic champions, which have a critical role in integrating African markets and accelerating the transformation of the continent and its global competitiveness. AfroChampions is headquartered in Accra, Ghana, and works with regional and global partners and governments, with the support of other corporate and institutional partners. AfroChampions has defined four pillars of activity, all aimed at supporting Africa's economic integration. These are Policy advocacy: Policy-shaping and advocacy on African integration and inclusive development, with a specific focus on advancing the African Continental Free Trade area, expected to create the largest single market globally in 2021. Mobilizing champions for impact: Building networks and partnerships of African private and public sector champions to collaborate on African transformation projects and initiatives. Facilitating investments: Driving investment in game-changing projects on the continent that accelerate integration and transformation. Building future champions: Building and promoting the next generation of African champion institutions, innovators, and leaders. Learn more at www.afrochampions.com. About Esri Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping helps customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations including 90 of the Fortune 100 companies, all 50 state governments, more than half of all counties (large and small), and 87 of the Forbes Top 100 Colleges in the U.S., as well as all 15 Executive Departments of the U.S. Government and dozens of independent agencies. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial information technology, Esri engineers the most advanced solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. Visit us at esri.com. Copyright 2020 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, the Esri globe logo, ArcGIS, The Science of Where, esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200924005627/en/ Like others in Mr. Carcias circle of extreme hikers, he works all sorts of jobs to fund his hikes. Hes waited tables at a Ruby Tuesday in Worcester, Mass., where he grew up, and has worked at a hostel in Woodstock, N.H. The hikes are what drives him. Last year, Mr. Carcia took on a different challenge, known as the Grid. Every month, he hiked all 48 of New Hampshires mountains taller than 4,000 feet for a total of 576 summits. It took 319 days, and set a record. In the first months of the pandemic early this year, officials worried that serious distance hikers particularly Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trail thru-hikers who spend weeks and even months out at a stretch might travel in and out of small towns to sleep or get supplies and inadvertently spread the virus. Other fears emerged, too: Hikers might cross state lines without following quarantine rules, or get injured and strain medical resources that the virus was already stretching in small, rural communities. But state guidelines loosened over the summer, and some hiking organizations began encouraging people to proceed with hikes but to follow Covid-19 safety guidelines, including social distancing and masks. Some mountain huts were reopened for daytime use. Some trailheads and camping sites that had been shuttered were reopened, and trails grew crowded through the summer. The Appalachian Mountain Clubs stance on hiking during the pandemic, according to Nina Paus-Weiler, digital media and communications manager at the club, is, This is a positive thing you should go do this. But, she added, we are urging people to be prepared and follow state and federal safety guidelines. Mr. Carcia wrestled with what to do. When Covid hit, I like everybody else was forced to stop in my tracks and reconsider, he said. He knew that he would be in the more remote sections of forest, far from tended paths, far from everyone. In the end, that sealed his decision. When Las Vegas nonessential businesses closed their doors in March 2020 to help curb the spread of COVID-19, it was the first time the world-famous, neon-lit Strip had shut down since President John F. Kennedys funeral in 1963. The usual 24-7 tide of tourists and traffic jams was replaced by a smattering of pedestrians and families on bicycles, and LED marquees offered best wishes to the community rather than flashing ads for blockbuster shows and other Sin City excitement. Tourists started returning several months into the pandemic, and by this summer, Vegas had fully reopened, reverting to pre-COVID-19 guidelines, without capacity limits and social distancing requirements. A surge of the highly contagious delta variant led Nevada to reinstate its indoor mask mandate for everyone, vaccinated or not, but it hasnt stopped the tourists from coming in droves. Big crowds are back October marked the strongest visitation month since the pandemic began, with 3,390,200 visitors, up 15.5 percent from September and down just 7.6 percent from 2019 according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The LVCVA also reported that hotel occupancy reached 81.6 percent for October, with room rates approaching $174, up 11.5 percent from September. And the Gaming Control Board reported this month that the September casino winnings report showed gambling at pre-pandemic levels, with casinos throughout Nevada taking in more than $1.158 billion in house winnings, a 41 percent increase from September. While its too soon to tell if the new Omicron variant will affect winter travel, on a recent day the casinos were already crowded with masked gamblers at 6 a.m. and lines for coffee were extraordinarily long at the Venetian and Palazzo resorts. As the holidays approach, the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas has debuted a brand-new, 42-foot Christmas tree alongside its 20-foot menorah. And many resorts are beginning to offer exclusive (and expensive) New Years packages. One, the Upscale Funk experience, includes a three-night stay at a Bellagio Resort or Aria, VIP entry into the Hakkasan Nightclub, a $250 food and beverage credit, and two tickets to see Bruno Mars in the Park Theater at Park MGM (starting at $4,696). Heres a snapshot of what else to expect in Las Vegas this winter. Hotels and Casinos Safety protocols: MGM Grand Resorts became the first hotel-casino company in Las Vegas to mandate vaccines for all new hires and salaried employees. Others, like Golden Entertainments The Strat Hotel, Casino & Skypod, require vaccination or weekly testing for its employees. Though most COVID restrictions have been lifted, hotels and casinos continue to follow state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention masking guidance. Most are also still following the strict sanitation and hygiene measures implemented at the start of the pandemic and offering touchless check-in. Several properties, including MGM Resorts, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas casino and Boyd Gaming Corp.s Main Street Station, continue to offer COVID-19 tests to tourists at MGM properties, theyre offered in-room while many properties also have on-site vaccination clinics for employees. Despite the pandemic, new resort-casino development has continued. Circa, the citys first adults-only luxury casino-resort, opened last October with 777 rooms in vintage style and the worlds largest sports booking stadium. The stylish Virgin Hotels Las Vegas opened off the Strip in March, in place of the old Hard Rock Hotel. The $4.3 billion Resorts World Las Vegas opened this summer with 3,500 rooms, a 24,000-square-foot Asian-themed food hall, nine pool experiences and more. OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued Final Rule to help provide more affordable drugs to American patients as part of the Safe Importation Action Plan. An Executive Order President Donald Trump signed in July allows states to import certain prescription drugs from Canada that can be sold in domestic market at a cheaper price. The final rule implements a provision of federal law that allows FDA-authorized programs to import certain prescription drugs from Canada under specific conditions ensuring no additional risk to the public's health and safety while achieving a significant reduction in the cost of covered products to the American consumer. The final guidance for industry describes procedures drug manufacturers can follow to facilitate importation of prescription drugs, including biological products, that are FDA-approved, manufactured abroad, and authorized for sale in any foreign country. 'Today's action is an important part of FDA's priorities to promote choice and competition. The Safe Importation Action Plan aims to clearly describe procedures to import drugs that would lower prices and improve access while also maintaining the high quality and safety Americans expect and deserve,' said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn. He added that FDA will continue to assess and act on opportunities to increase competition in the prescription drug market and help reduce the cost of medicines. The rule allows U.S. states and Indian tribes to submit importation program proposals to the FDA for review and authorization. In future, this privilege will be applicable to pharmacists and wholesalers in certain circumstances, the federal drug agency said in a press release. Eligible prescription drugs would have to be relabeled with the required U.S. labeling and undergo testing for authenticity, degradation and to ensure that the drugs meet established specifications and standards. These drugs must be sold to the American consumer at a significantly reduced cost. The final guidance describes procedures for a drug manufacturer to obtain a National Drug Code (NDC) for certain FDA-approved prescription drugs. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de The central government is planning to ban mobile app of Islamist preacher Zakir Naik for inciting religious hatred. As per the report submitted by Intelligence Bureau (IB) to the Home Ministry, Naiks app and social media handles are engaged in anti-India activities and are indulged in recruiting and radicalising Muslim youths. The report said that Zakir Naiks organisation has links with Jihadi groups and that it receives funding from Arab countries for furthering the Jihadi propaganda in India. Top officials of the IB and the NIA held a meeting at the Home Ministry office in Delhi in which it was discussed whether hate speech videos posted by Naik posed threat to communal harmony in the country. A fine of Rs 2.75 crore was imposed on Naiks channels Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu in the UK by UK media watchdog Ofcom for broadcasting hate speech and repeatedly inciting violence through his channels. Zakir Naik is wanted in India for money laundering and inciting extremism through hate speeches. His name is included in the NIAs most-wanted list. Last year, he had launched a mobile application called the free Peace TV App that had over 1 lakh downloads on Google Play Store. The app has round the clock telecast in four languages, English, Urdu, Bangla and Chinese. Through this app, Naiks TV channel is broadcast across India despite being banned and has an age rating of 3+. His app is also banned in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Source : OpIndia A prominent lawyer has been shot dead in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Babar Qadri was shot on the evening of September 24 at his home by unidentified assailants, police said on September 25. Two men came to Qadri's home posing as his clients and opened fire when he answered, relatives added. Qadri was rushed to a hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. Police say they have opened an investigation. Qadri, in his late 30s, was an outspoken defender of Kashmir's right to self-determination, appearing often in debates on Indian television news channels. In one recent debate, Qadri shouted, Down with India! in response to a chant of Down with Pakistan! by the news channels anchor. Hundreds have fallen victim to targeted killings in Kashmir after an armed militancy erupted in 1989 against India's rule in the disputed region. Tens of thousands of civilians, militants, and government forces have been killed in the conflict. Human rights groups have blamed both militants and Indian troops for covert killings. The status of Kashmir has been a key dispute between Pakistan and India since the two split in 1947 after British colonial rule. Both claim the region in its entirety. The nuclear-armed rivals each control part of Kashmir and have fought two wars over its status. Most Muslim Kashmiris want the territory to be united under Pakistani rule or to be run as a sovereign country. New Delhi calls the Kashmir militancy Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge. Based on reporting by AP and timesofindia.indiantimes.com BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.25 Trend: Sooner Armenia withdraws its armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, sooner the conflict will be resolved, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Jeyhun Bayramov said, Trend reports referring to the ministry. Bayramov made the statement at an unofficial meeting in the format of a videoconference of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member states to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) held within the framework of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly. Noting in his speech that the ongoing spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic has actualized the issue of cooperation in crisis situations, the minister informed the event participants about Azerbaijan's contribution to international efforts to prevent the pandemic spread, including a number of important initiatives, such as convening a special session of the UN General Assembly and the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in the format of the Contact Group. According to him, although the pandemic has much affected not only health issues but also the economy, Azerbaijan plays an active role in the development of the Caspian-Black Sea cooperation as a country that encourages cross-border trade, communications, and innovations to build a comprehensive and sustainable economy. Pointing out that Azerbaijan believes in the Black Sea regions prosperous future, the minister stressed that the main condition for achieving this goal is the need for mutual respect for the independence, territorial integrity, and sovereignty of states the need. Commenting on allegations of the Armenian foreign minister that Azerbaijan has ignored the call of the UN Secretary-General for a global ceasefire, Bayramov stressed that Armenia, grossly violating the norms and principles of international law, ignoring the resolutions of the UN Security Council, for about 30 years, continues to hold the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan under occupation. He reminded that on July 12-16, 2020, Armenia made attempt to commit a new act of aggression against Azerbaijan, in the direction of the Azerbaijani Tovuz district on the state border between the two countries, but failed to achieve its political and military goals. Bayramov informed the meeting participants about the reasons for the pre-planned military provocation of Armenia in the direction of Tovuz district, including its attempt to involve third parties in the conflict, damage important energy and transport infrastructure in the immediate vicinity of the area, and, finally, to divert the attention of the population from internal problems. The minister noted that Armenian armed forces purposefully targeted the civilian population of Azerbaijan and during the July provocation a 76-year-old elderly man was killed in his house. Noting that the ongoing occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan by Armenia remains a serious threat to international peace and security, the minister stressed that the sooner Armenia withdraws its armed forces from the occupied Nagorno Karabakh and other territories of Azerbaijan, the sooner the conflict will be resolved and the opportunities for large-scale cooperation will be opened in the region. According to the ministry, from 12 countries taking part in the meeting of the foreign ministers of the BSEC member states, 7 were represented at the level of ministers, and five at the level of deputy ministers. One of the meeting speakers was also the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi. 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. The new discoveries bring total confirmed cases to 34 since the first one on Sept. 10, all in wild animals, with no farm pigs affected Another two cases of African swine fever (ASF) have been confirmed in wild boars in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, the state government said on Friday. The new discoveries bring total confirmed cases to 34 since the first one on Sept. 10, all in wild animals, with no farm pigs affected. All have been found in the region of the first discovery in the Brandenburg area. Germany's Friedrich-Loeffler scientific institute had confirmed the latest animals had ASF, the Brandenburg state government said. China and a series of other pork buyers banned imports of German pork this month after the first case was confirmed, causing Chinese pork prices to surge. The disease is not dangerous to humans but it is fatal to pigs and a massive outbreak in China, the world's biggest pork producer, has led to hundreds of millions of pigs being culled. The German government is considering aid to farmers after prices fell following the discovery of ASF in wild animals, federal agriculture minister Julia Kloeckner said on Friday. The Brandenburg state government also said it was relaxing some harvesting and field world restrictions in the affected area, provided fields had been checked for dead wild boars. This included harvesting sugar, potatoes and fruit along with sowing winter grains. Harvesting had been stopped because of fears wild boar hiding in fields would run away from farm vehicles and spread the disease faster. Search Keywords: Short link: Loading "It's a race against time," French Prime Minister Jean Castex told France 2 television this week. "The public must be attentive and prudent. If we don't act, we could find ourselves in a situation similar to [the northern] spring." Hospitals in Paris are set to postpone 20 per cent of surgeries from this weekend, as COVID-19 patients now account for 20 per cent of all patients in intensive care. Whitty knows how quickly the virus can turn deadly from a low base: "A lot of people have said maybe this is a milder virus than it was in April. I'm afraid that although it would be great if that were true, we see no evidence that is the case." In Britain, the 14-day cumulative coronavirus death rate stands at just 0.4 per 100,000 people. It was also 0.4 on March 23 but within 28 days, it had climbed to 19.1. The fate of tens of thousands of people was sealed in just one month. The biggest change for Europe's second wave is that national lockdowns are now about as popular as the virus itself. Johnson says he reserves the right to go further than some of the minor tweaks he made to social-distancing rules this week, but a fresh lockdown seems a political impossibility. Ruling Conservative Party MPs and some of Britain's influential newspapers have already criticised basic changes like closing pubs and restaurants at 10pm, and will not respond kindly to anything tougher. Some are even demanding a vote in Parliament on any changes, something Johnson is so far refusing. There is also growing scepticism towards Whitty and Vallance, who presided over some controversial judgments during the first wave, such as the effective abandonment of mass testing and actively discouraging the public from wearing face masks. During a meeting with restive backbench MPs, Johnson reportedly defended his two top experts by insisting they were "right in the middle" on responding to the virus and "not outliers". Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon doesn't think Johnson has gone far enough. In Scotland, a high 7.8 per cent of all people being tested are getting positive results and people have now been banned from mixing with other households. In England, any household can mix provided the group doesn't exceed six individuals. Johnson's new measures were not modelled by the government's powerful Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies. The well-connected conservative magazine The Spectator which Johnson edited between 1999 and 2005 revealed that British officials had consulted Anders Tegnell, the architect of Sweden's controversial response to the pandemic. "The question is, are these [measures] enough? And in my view, I don't think these are enough to bend down the curve," Professor Susan Michie, a health behavioural science expert who sits on SAGE, warned this week. "The 10pm curfew, for example, for restaurants and pubs ... one really has to think through the implications of that. Is that going to mean that people start drinking an hour earlier? That they maybe drink more and maybe therefore are slightly more disinhibited with social distancing and maybe at 10pm go off somewhere else and drink? "I'd like to see measures that are based on evidence and I would like the government to share the evidence with us so we could evaluate the extent to which the measures which have been suggested are appropriate." Restaurants, pubs and bars in the UK will have to close at 10pm under the new rules. Credit:Getty Asked by radio host Julia Hartley-Brewer whether it was "extraordinary" that SAGE had not considered the new measures before they were announced, Michie replied: "Yes." Michie, who is also a member of a SAGE sub-group which examines how the public will respond to the pandemic, said increased fines for those who tested positive and broke self-isolation rules could discourage people from getting tested. "Obviously, not isolating is a huge problem and one the government absolutely has to address. But the [sub-group] has been saying consistently over the past few months that we should be engaging with communities, explaining, enabling and supporting them to isolate and to adhere to measures, not to give these hefty fines," she said. A major study of more than 30,000 adults in the United Kingdom released this week found about 70 per cent intended to self-isolate if they developed COVID-19 symptoms. But just 18.2 per cent of those who actually did get symptoms ended up self-isolating in line with government rules. In other damning findings, only 50 per cent of people could actually recognise the tell-tale symptoms of coronavirus and barely 11 per cent quarantined for a full two weeks after being informed by the government's contact tracers that they had been in proximity to a confirmed infection. Farmers staged protests in Garhwal and Kumaon regions of Uttarakhand against farm bills recently passed by the Parliament during the Monsoon session. In some areas, they came out on roads with their tractors. In Kumaons US Nagar, farmers held demonstrations across the district and came out on to the roads with their tractors in Rudrapur, Kichha, Kashipur and other places in the district. Congress and Aam Aadmi Party workers and leaders also extended their support to the farmers. US Nagar is considered the grain bowl of Uttarakhand. In Rudrapur, farmers gathered at the old grain market with tractors. Addressing the protesters, farmers leader and organiser of the protest, Tajendra Singh Virk alleged that the Central government wants to sell farmers into the hands of the multi-national corporate sector. Farmers are already suffering due to losses, now these bills will further affect the agriculture sector and hit farmers, he said. In Kashipur, Ravindra Rana, state president of Bhartiya Kisan Union said, the government ought to have consulted the farmers bodies before passing the bills. Government has no right to decide the fate of the farmers like this, he said. In Kichha, Bazpur, Sitarganj and Khatima also, farmers staged sit-in protests against the bills. Also read: UP farmers join nationwide bandh over 3 farm bills in a big way Dehradun: Bhartiya Kissan Union (Tomar) stage a protest against the bills at ISBT, put their tractors on the road. (Paras Negi/HT Photo) The farmers are protesting the three farm bills - Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 - which were passed by both Houses of Parliament during the monsoon session recently and await Presidential assent. In Haridwar district of Garhwal region, farmers staged protests in agriculture-dominated areas like Manglaur, Roorkee, Laksar, Khanpur, Iqbalpur, Narsain, Bhagwanpur, Kaliyar and Laldhang and Shyampur. Bharatiya Kisan Union (Tikait) faction held a protest outside the jaggery agricultural production committee led by Garhwal division president Sanjay Chaudhary and district unit president Vijay Shastri. Other agricultural unions like Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ambawat) and (Tomar) also staged protests and burned effigies of BJP leaders. A major protest was held outside roadways bus transport stand by Uttarakhand Kissan Morcha after which a memorandum was handed out to Roorkee joint magistrate Namami Bansal by Morcha president Chaudhary Gulshan. Superintendent of Police, Haridwar (Rural) Swapan Kishore said that adequate deployment of police personnel was made in the wake of the farmers agitation. In Dehradun also, members of Bhartiya Kissan Union (Tomar) staged protest against the bills at Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT). Many of them had also come on their tractors due to which traffic was affected for some time in the area. Uttarakhand Congress has already announced its calendar of protests against these bills in the state till October 31. According to state Congress president Pritam Singh, they will start an online campaign Speak Up on September 26, followed by protest march from the party office in Dehradun to the Governors house on September 28. State-wide protests at district and assembly segment level will be held on October 2 and a signature campaign against the bills will take place between October 2 to October 31. LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 25, 2020 / Cheapquotesautoinsurance.com (https://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com) has launched a new blog post that explains how car insurance is helping policyholders that got their cars totaled. For more info and free quotes, visit https://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com/what-happens-if-your-car-is-totaled Car accidents can have various consequences to a vehicle, from minor scratches to totaling a vehicle. Nobody wants their vehicle to be declared totaled. However, the task of declaring a vehicle as a total loss is required in order to properly reimburse the owner. Comprehensive and collision car insurance will help the policyholders pay to replace a vehicle after it was declared totaled. A vehicle is considered totaled in the following scenarios: By state's law. A vehicle is considered totaled when the cost to repair it exceeds the value of the vehicle. In some states, there are laws that define when a vehicle is considered totaled by some specific thresholds. For example, in Alabama, the threshold limit is 75%. That means that if the costs to repair the damaged car exceeds 75% of the value, then that car is declared as totaled. By insurers. In most cases, the insurance companies are the ones who are declaring if a car is totaled or not. If they determined that a vehicle is totaled, then the owner will be reimbursed. However, the policyholders will not be reimbursed at the original market value. Even though many believe they will get the money for a brand-new car, this is not true. Insurers take into consideration the car's depreciation and they reimburse the owner at the current market value, which is usually lower than the original price. In both scenarios, the insurers are the ones who evaluate the damages. To find out about the value of a damaged vehicle, they will do the following: determine the condition of the vehicle prior to the accident, find out about the current market value of the vehicle, obtain appraisals from a third party. After they determined the market value of the totaled vehicle, insurers will try to reach an agreement with the policyholder. Story continues For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com Cheapquotesautoinsuracne.com is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Having your car totaled can have a huge impact on your budget. However, if you have full coverage, then you will be properly reimbursed for your loss", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing Company Person for contact Name: Daniel C Phone Number: (818) 359-3898 Email: cgurgu@internetmarketingcompany.biz Website: https://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com SOURCE: Internet Marketing Company View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/607789/How-Car-Insurance-Companies-Handle-Totaled-Vehicles FINANCE Minister Paschal Donohoe is to urge banks to deal with customers hit by the Covid-19 pandemic "sensitively" but he stopped short of committing to tell them to extend payment breaks for mortgages and other loans. Mortgage breaks of up to six months that were brought in to help families whose income has been impacted by the crisis are due to end on after Wednesday September 30. Mr Donohoe is to meet bank bosses to discuss the situation on Monday. He defended the scheduling of the meeting just two days before the deadline insisting that he and his officials had multiple engagements with the banks on the issue. But asked directly if he would tell the banks to extend the mortgage payment breaks he gave no signal that he would. Mr Donohoe said: "I will be asking that they continue o demonstrate sensitivity and understanding to the circumstances of all who are affected by this [the pandemic]." He said the banks will have to be guided by European and national regulations on the issue. Mr Donohoe suggested that the banks should "work hard to deal with this on a case by case basis and give all an opportunity to recover from this pandemic and get their businesses back up and running, get a job back, get their income back to normal." He said he believes the banks know the importance of the issue. He also said: "Ill be continuing to emphasise to them they do all they can to be aware of individual circumstances and to put arrangements in place that are as flexible as possible." But he argued that the "biggest intervention" the Government can make "to support those who are having difficulty in paying loans at the moment is to try to give them the best chance of keeping a job and keeping an income." He said that's why the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme is in place. Asked what he would do if he was running a bank he replied: "I would be looking to treat everybody who is in this situation as sensitively and as fairly possible. "The way in which I think this needs to be done is to recognise, the very different individual circumstances for many whoa re replaying their loan at the moment and to try to treat everybody carefully." Separately, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) has reached out to GOP colleagues to encourage them to hold the line for democracy. Murphy said Republicans are in denial that the president would ever ignore the results of the election. But Democrats, he said, are trying to get them to acknowledge that every absentee ballot should be counted, fearful that the president could try to head off the results by contesting mail-in ballots. New Delhi : A mere 16 per cent of the grant sanctioned by the the Women and Child Development Ministry for womens safety and security under the Nirbhaya Fund has been spent by the implementing agencies. Rs 2,000 crore was transferred to the Public Account for the Nirbhaya Fund till 2015-16. For the year 2016-17, another Rs 500 crore was set aside. The Ministry has approved projects worth nearly Rs 2,200 crore, of which Rs 1,530 crore has been disbursed by it. However, only Rs 400 crore has been spent on the execution of projects under the Nirbhaya Fund by the agencies, like state governments, which were given this money. Eighteen proposals amounting to Rs 2,195.97 crore have been received so far, of which 16 amounting to Rs 2,187.47 crore have been appraised and recommended by the Empowered Committee, a statement issued by the Ministry said. The amount allocated to different projects is approximately Rs 1,530 crore and the expenditure incurred is approximately Rs 400 crore, it said. Though the Nirbhaya Fund was set up in 2013 by the UPA government after the 2012 Delhi gangrape, the statement provided details only of the grant sanctioned and spent in the last two years. This is because the ministry was made the nodal ministry to appraise and monitor the implementation of schemes under the Nirbhaya Fund only in October 2015 after guidelines to this effect were issued. The poor execution on the ground is despite the fact that an Empowered Committee of Officers was constituted under the Chairmanship of Secretary, WCD, for approving and monitoring of various schemes under this special fund and has met seven times since it was set up in November 2015. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Beirut, Lebanon Fri, September 25, 2020 12:15 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c472d310 2 World Lebanon,Beirut-blast,Beirut-explosion,compensation Free Lebanon on Thursday unveiled a compensation program for the thousands of homes and businesses devastated by the August 4 mega-blast at Beirut's port. President Michel Aoun signed a decree allocating 100 billion Lebanese pounds (more than $66 million at the official exchange rate, or $13 million on the black market) to the program, his office said. It added that the army and Beirut municipality would be tasked with setting up a mechanism to distribute the funds. The compensation will go to owners of homes and businesses damaged in the explosion that left more than 190 dead and devastated swathes of the capital, a source at the presidency said. According to an assessment by the army, the blast caused by a consignment of ammonium nitrate damaged almost 61,000 homes and over 19,000 businesses. The explosion compounded Lebanon's worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. On Aug. 9, the international community pledged around $300 million in emergency aid at a conference jointly organized by France and the United Nations. The UN is to coordinate the aid to ensure it reaches those in need directly rather than through Lebanese government bodies, which are widely accused of corruption. MOSCOW President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday proposed a truce with the United States in cyberspace, without acknowledging that his country has repeatedly used cybertechniques to attack elections from the Ukraine to the United States, stolen emails from the Defense Department to the White House, and developed some of the worlds most sophisticated disinformation efforts. Mr. Putin issued an unusual written statement outlining a four-point plan for what he called a reboot in the relationship between the United States and Russia in the field of information security. Moscow and Washington, he wrote, should issue guarantees of nonintervention into the internal affairs of each other, including into electoral processes. He urged a bilateral agreement on preventing incidents in the information space, modeled on Cold War-era arms control treaties. But beyond the conciliatory language, Mr. Putins statement offered no hint that Moscow was prepared to make any specific concessions on its greatly accelerated use of cyberweapons over the past decade sometimes directly, sometimes through proxies. Russia continues to deny interfering in American politics, while insisting that the United States meddles in Russian politics by backing opponents of Mr. Putin. China on Thursday lashed out at the United States at a high-level UN meeting over its criticism on the coronavirus, with its envoy declaring, "Enough is enough!" Two days after President Donald Trump used his annual address to the General Assembly to attack China's record, its ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, strongly criticized the US role in global affairs. "I must say, enough is enough! You have created enough troubles for the world already," he told a Security Council meeting on global governance attended through videoconference by several heads of state. "The US has nearly seven million confirmed cases and over 200,000 deaths by now. With the most advanced medical technologies and system in the world, why has the US turned out to have the most confirmed cases and fatalities?" he asked in English. A woman places a flag at a memorial on the National Mall in Washington fo the more than 200,000 people in the United States who have died of Covid-19. By Alex Edelman (AFP) "If someone should be held accountable, it should be a few US politicians themselves." Using a phrase often told by US leaders to China, Zhang said, "The US should understand that a major power should behave like a major power." The United States "is completely isolated," he said in remarks enthusiastically backed by his Russian counterpart. Speaking earlier in the session, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, voiced anger at the tone. "You know, shame on each of you. I am astonished and I am disgusted by the content of today's discussion," Craft said. "I am actually really quite ashamed of this Council -- members of the Council who took this opportunity to focus on political grudges rather than the critical issue at hand. My goodness." Trump in his speech Tuesday had demanded action against China for spreading the "plague" of Covid-19 to the world. China suppressed news of the respiratory disease when it first emerged last year in Wuhan and initial advice played down the risks of transmission. China's communist leaders have more recently tried to transform the narrative into one of the country's success in stopping the virus. Trump's response to the pandemic -- which he has provocatively called the "China virus" -- has emerged as a major political issue as he seeks a new term in the November 3 election. Africans seek debt relief With concerns over Covid upending global travel, the UN General Assembly went virtual for its annual extravaganza, which usually brings 10,000 people into a congested section of midtown Manhattan. Several African leaders used their virtual addresses to the General Assembly to plead for more international assistance, fearing that Covid will impede development. "Our nations are asking for financial support that rises to the level of the economic crisis they're witnessing," said Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou. Health ministry workers in Bouake, Ivory Coast check passengers' temperatures to prevent Covid in June 2020. By Issouf SANOGO (AFP/File) "Just a debt moratorium will not be enough faced with the challenges that have arisen. We simply have to cancel the debt completely," he said, reiterating a call made Tuesday by his counterpart from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi. The Group of 20 major economies in mid-April suspended debt payments for the poorest nations through the end of the year as they face major budget shortfalls due to the Covid shutdown. The African Union is seeking to extend the moratorium through 2021, warning of dire economic effects from the health crisis. "This pandemic could erase more than a decade of economic growth and social progress achieved by the African continent," Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said. Despite the economic concerns, Africa has been one of the regions least affected in health terms by Covid-19, with the continent reporting 1.8 million cases and 34,500 deaths. A worker gets ready to pass out instructions in how fill out the 2020 census during a town hall meeting in Lithonia, Ga., on Aug. 13, 2019. (John Amis/AP Photo) Federal Judge Suspends Trump Administrations Census Deadlines A federal judge ruled on Thursday that 2020 Census counting can continue through Oct. 31, blocking the Trump administrations end-of-September deadline. Judge Lucy Koh, ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, issued a preliminary injunction in the case, arguing in the decision documentation (pdf) that a shortened schedule would have an adverse impact on political representation and the distribution of federal funding. The once-in-a-decade headcount is used to determine how $1.5 trillion in federal spending is allocated each year and how many congressional seats each state gets. Prior to the outbreak of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, data collection for the 2020 census was scheduled to end on Aug. 15. Due to challenges posed by the pandemic around field operations, it was extended to Oct. 31, but in early August, the Census Bureau announced it would move that deadline up to Sept. 30, arguing that it would otherwise be unable to meet a Dec. 31 statutory deadline for submitting the collected data to Congress. Kohs injunction also suspends the Dec. 31 deadline. Civil rights groups and local governments sued the Census Bureau and the Commerce Department, which oversees the agency, in a bid to halt the 2020 census from stopping at the end of the month. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said the shortened schedule would overlook some residents in minority and hard-to-count communities, leading to an inaccurate count. They argued that an inaccurate apportionment would violate their constitutional rights to representation and that the plaintiffs would incur additional costs to mitigate the undercount. Government attorneys argued that, if field operations for collecting census data are extended by another month, they will be unable to meet the end-of-the-year deadline for turning over the numbers. Koh said in the ruling that, the balance of hardships tips sharply in Plaintiffs favor, and that an injunction is in the public interest. The hardship imposed on Defendants from a staymissing a statutory deadline they had expected to miss anywaywould be significantly less than the hardship on Plaintiffs, who will suffer irreparable harm from an inaccurate census count, Koh noted in the ruling. Attorneys for the Census Bureau and the Commerce Department said during the hearing they would likely lodge an appeal. President Donald Trump, in a presidential memorandum in July, sought to exclude illegal aliens from the apportionment base following the census, but a federal court in New York blocked that initiative. The memorandum did not change who would be counted in the 2020 census, which counts every person regardless of whether they are authorized to be in the United States or not, but it directed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the Census Bureau, to provide Trump with a second tally that excludes aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status. That order followed a decision last year by the Supreme Court to block the administrations plan to include a question about citizenship status on the 2020 census, which now does not inquire about immigration status. Trump has long sought to curb illegal entry into the United States, including by pushing for his signature U.S.-Mexico border wall. Estimates as to the number of people living in the U.S. without legal authorization range from 10.5 million to 12 million, according to the Brookings Institute, with a Dec. 2018 report from the Department of Homeland Security (pdf) estimating that, in January 2015, there were 12 million illegal aliens residing in the country. ALBANY, N.Y. The New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) recognized the continued leadership of governments who have been working toward climate resiliency and collaborating to develop programs for supporting more resilient communities. Governor [Andrew] Cuomo has established New York State as a national leader and the counties across our state are taking up the mantle investing in hundreds of initiatives to combat climate change and promote more climate resilient communities, NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario stated. By thinking globally and acting locally, New Yorks counties are reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting a greener, cleaner state for all. It is the right thing to do for our environment and for our future, Acquario added. This comes as part of the celebration of Climate Week, as NYSAC highlighted those who have been enacting local laws, adopting energy-saving initiatives, taking steps toward climate resiliency. The Association also held a virtual workshop yesterday as part of its 2020 Virtual Fall Seminar addressing issues of climate change and clean energy. The workshop, titled Meeting New York States Climate and Renewable Energy Goals, discussed New Yorks landmark Climate Act that committed to the most ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction and renewable energy targets in the nation. Some people worry that addressing the climate crisis has to wait until the COVID-19 crisis is behind us, Tompkins County Legislator and NYSAC Climate Resiliency Committee Chair Martha Robertson remarked. Counties have figured out that our economic recovery will be faster if we move forward with investments in renewable energy, efficiency measures, and resiliency. Partnering with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), we are creating jobs for New Yorkers, while helping residents and businesses save money, Robertson explained. Through programs such as NYSDECs Climate Smart Communities and NYSERDAs Clean Energy Communities, counties are acting to both mitigate their environmental impact and save taxpayer dollars in the process. They will also be key partners with the state in the implementing the New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. County Climate Action: By the Numbers: * 26 counties are registered NYSDEC Climate Smart Communities, an increase of six from last year * Eight counties (Broome, Dutchess, Erie, Madison, Orange, Schenectady, Sullivan, Schenectady, Warren) are bronze certified, an increase of five from last year. * Three counties (Suffolk, Tompkins, Ulster) are silver certified, an increase of one from last year. * 35 counties are designated or participating NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities. * Counties have completed 117 high impact actions through the CEC program, including clean energy upgrades, installing electric vehicle charging stations or deploying alternative fuel vehicles, and streamlining the approvals process for solar projects. * To date, more than 400 actions have been completed and approved through CSC & CEC * At least 26 counties have adopted a policy to report the energy use of buildings * At least 24 counties have installed electric vehicle charging stations or deployed alternative fuel vehicles, an increase of 7 over last year * At least 20 counties have participated in Solarize, Clean Heating and Cooling, or the Solar for All campaigns to increase access to clean energy, an increase of 3 over last year * At least 18 counties have offered energy upgrade financing to businesses and non-profits An industrial park in Meixian County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on Wednesday, dispatched 40 tonnes of kiwifruit for export to Santiago, capital of Chile. It is the first for China to export kiwifruits to South America, and the shipment is being transported via cold-chain logistics. The province's Baoji customs said it has strictly controlled the monitoring of orchard pests with a full-chain source tracing system and standardized packaging management in accordance with the necessary inspection and quarantine requirements for exports to Chile. Located in the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains, Meixian County is one of the most suitable areas for growing kiwifruit, thus dubbed "Hometown of Chinese Kiwifruit." So far, some 20,000 hectares of kiwifruit have been grown in the county, with its annual output value exceeding 3 billion yuan (about 441 million U.S. dollars) for the past five years. On the face of it, remote working has worked pretty well so far. Technology has made it possible for traders to handle record volumes and generate unprecedented profits from makeshift offices at home. Productive client meetings can be held on Zoom, and dealmaking has continued to happen across capital markets and more recently in M&A. The pandemic seems to have taught businesses that not everybody needs to be in the workplace at all times. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment If theres one thing we can agree on, it is that Breonna Taylors death is a terrible tragedy. No one with a working heart and functioning brain will deny that. But who is to blame for her death? Were the police at fault? Was her boyfriend at fault? Is the legal system at fault? And how should the public respond to the verdict of the grand jury? Reading the various accounts of the shooting, this seems to be the most reliable narrative. 1) Three Louisville, Kentucky policemen were issued a warrant to search an apartment for drugs in the middle of the night. 2) They knocked at the door of Breonna Taylors apartment around 12:40 AM. 3) Kenneth Walker, Breonnas boyfriend, says he heard the knock, asked loudly who was there (as did Taylor), but got no response. 4) The police claim to have identified themselves, but either way, we know they knocked on the door and, when they heard no response, they broke in using a battering ram. 5) As the police broke in, Walker fired once, as Taylor stood next to him. (According to her attorneys, she was shot in the hallway, not asleep in bed.) 6) Walkers shot hit one of the officers. The others responded with a hail of bullets, resulting in Taylors death, with the fatal bullet allegedly killing her within two minutes. 7) Since charges against Walker for attempted murder of a police officer were dropped, we believe his report that he was not aware they were police. 8) The grand jury found none of the officers guilty in the shooting of Taylor but did find one officer (whose bullet did not kill her) guilty of shooting recklessly into neighboring apartments. This officer was subsequently fired. 9) Prior to the grand jurys announcement on Wednesday, the city granted Taylors family 12 million dollars for her wrongful death. How, then, do we sort out this painful, deadly story? First, Breonna Taylor should not be dead. Let us not forget that for one moment. This has been acknowledged by the citys wrongful death settlement. As reported by ABC News, Mayor Greg Fischer said that in addition to the monetary settlement, the largest in a police use-of-force case in Louisville history, the city will implement a series of police department reforms to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again. Second, although the warrant was legally executed, critics have claimed that other factors were involved, including a move towards the gentrification of the neighborhood. According to Appeal.com, Whatever the truth in this case, academic research and historical scholarship show that policing can be particularly intense during the process of gentrification. This research suggests that the continued use of police to pursue economic development will most likely result in more needless stops, arrests, and deaths like Breonna Taylors. This, then, is another question to be sorted out by others with detailed and factual knowledge. But it is understandable that many in the Black community will question the legitimacy of the warrant in the first place. Third, when it comes to Kenneth Walker, what would you expect him to do? He hears a knock at the door in the middle of the night. He has no idea who is there. The next thing he knows, the door has been broken down and armed men burst in. He shoots at them to protect himself and his girlfriend. Again, the fact that all charges against him were dropped indicates that his account was believed: he did not know he was shooting at police officers executing a search warrant. Should he be faulted? No. Fourth, when it comes to the police, what would you expect them to do? They are looking for drugs and might encounter an armed drug dealer. They knock on the door, no one answers, so they break in, as per their warrant. The next thing they know, a shot is fired and one of them is hit. They respond with deadly force and again, this is taking place in the middle of the night. Should they be faulted? Obviously, some fault was found by the grand jury, but not in the killing of Taylor. She was an innocent victim in a case of mistaken identity on both sides, and there is no indication that the police were targeting an unarmed black woman. As for the police, what else are they trained to do when shot at and wounded? Of course they shot back multiple times. Fifth, when it comes to the grand jury, based on the evidence they had, they had no reason to charge the officers in Taylors death. Again, she was the innocent victim caught in a deadly crossfire between mistaken combatants. Sixth, when it comes to the Black community, it is totally understandable that many would say, Here we go again! An unarmed Black person is killed in the middle of the night in the privacy of her own home, a woman with no criminal record. The system has failed us once more. The fact that Louisville already paid out 12 million dollars in a wrongful death suit is bound to raise eyebrows. Why a monetary payment for wrongful death yet no criminal charges for wrongful death? All this being said, violent riots, including shooting of police, are both unjustified and unproductive, even if some of the rage is understandable. But I ask, again, once the warrant was issued, who was at fault? I dont see how Walker can be blamed for firing first. What would all the Second Amendment supporters say? I dont see how the police can be blamed for firing back. And I dont see how the grand jury can be blamed for reaching their verdict, based on the evidence presented, which found only the officer who had already been fired guilty. Yet, before the grand jurys decision was announced, there was little question that no one would be satisfied with the outcome. Whatever the verdict, there would be fierce criticism from one side or the other. Thats why the city braced itself in advance. Unfortunately, nothing can bring back Breonna Taylor, and the monetary payment to the family is a small consolation for her loss. But that doesnt mean there are no flaws in the system and that no deeper questions should be asked. We all agree that drugs and drug dealing are a terrible bane on our society, resulting in countless casualties every year. That means that routing out drug dealers is both necessary and good. And police officers put their own lives at risk in the process. But is there a way to do this that will not put other, innocent lives at risk? Are there police reforms that can be implemented, as per the mayor? Those are the questions we should be asking. Burning down another city or targeting police officers for death or engaging in angry, hate-filled rhetoric are evil themselves and will solve nothing. So, what will it be? Will we continue to collapse into social anarchy? Or will we work together across racial and political lines to build a more perfect union? Hitting out at the Opposition at its attack on his government over the farm bills issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that those who always "lied" to farmers are now "shooting from their shoulders" and misleading them for their own political benefit. Addressing BJP leaders and workers on the birth anniversary of party's ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay, Modi asked them to reach out to farmers on the ground and inform them about details and benefits of the new agriculture reforms and how these will empower them. Our ground connect will finish off the propaganda being spread about the reforms, he said. Modi said small and marginal farmers, who constitute 85 per cent of the peasant community, will benefit the most from these reforms which, he added, give them an option to sell their produce outside agriculture 'mandis' for a better price. Attacking the Congress, which has been trying to mount a nationwide protests against these bills, Modi said hollow slogans were given in favour of farmers and workers for many decades since Independence and governments at the Centre and states were formed in their name. All that farmers and labourers got was a jumbled web of promises and laws, he said. Modi said those who always lied to farmers are now "shooting from their shoulders" and misleading them. "They are spreading rumours. Saving farmers from such rumours and explaining the importance of the agriculture reforms is the responsibility and duty of all BJP workers because we have to make the future of farmers bright," Modi said. The three bills passed by Parliament are the Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The Congress along with many other opposition parties has claimed that the bills will harm the interest of farmers and benefit corporates, a claim denied by the government. The Centre has asserted the proposed laws will be beneficial for farmers and increase their income. The prime minister also lauded the new labour laws passed by Parliament in the Monsoon session, asserting that they will ensure timely salary for over 50 crore organised and unorganised workers. In his address, Modi also said his government has been very clear that it should not excessively interfere in the lives of those who do not need the government. "The government must use its resources more on the deprived and the marginalised," he said. "This birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal ji is even more relevant as the reformist decisions taken by the government in recent times had the imprint of the vision shown by him," he said. "Every BJP government, Central or State, is trying to ensure that every individual feels included in the growth of the nation and doesn't feel ignored," he said, adding that, "this is our motivation moving ahead". It is fitting that faceless assessment of tax filings, one of the biggest reforms in our tax system, comes into effect from today on Deendayal Upadhyay's birth anniversary, he noted "Our mantra and karma is Nation first," he asserted. Women my age remember. We remember the boss paying us less than the man at the next desk. We remember the bank saying no. We remember that prior to 1972, birth control was illegal for unmarried people. We had heroes back then, or some of us did. Brave women who protested, demanding equal rights, despite name-calling and slurs. Some referred to them as feminazis, and that was one of the nicer names. People at social gatherings would ask if a woman considered herself a feminist as if supporting the social, economic and political equality of the sexes was a bad thing. Debates would break out, often pitting women against each other. Gloria Steinem vs. Phyllis Schlafly. The Defence Secretary has claimed illegal wars instigated by Labour contributed to the legal mess faced by British troops. Ben Wallace made the remark during heated Commons exchanges with shadow defence secretary John Healey, who warned the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill fails to protect troops from prosecution on historical matters. Mr Healey added the Government is bringing in a legal presumption against prosecution for torture, war crimes, for crimes against humanity. He told the Commons: This is the Government of Great Britain saying sexual crimes are so serious theyll be excluded from this presumption, but placing crimes outlawed by the Geneva Convention on a less serious (level) and downgrading our unequivocal commitment for upholding international law that we in Britain ourselves after the Second World War helped to establish. His comments were branded embarrassing by veterans minister Johnny Mercer sitting on the frontbench. Some of the veterans Ive talked to about this Bill reckon its more about protecting the MoD than it is about protecting troops. John Healey Mr Wallace then intervened, stating: What is appalling is the straw man being put up time and time again by a Labour Party half-funded by these ambulance-chasing lawyers that is going to damage our reputation. No apology of the money they took from a number of them, no apology whatsoever Much of the mess we are having to come and clean up today is because of your illegal wars, your events in the past and to put up straw men and make wild allegations that are wholly inaccurate and disputed by much more learned people than him, I think it a dis-service to our troops and is all about making an excuse for not supporting this Bill. Afghanistan and Iraq were the major military campaigns in which Tony Blair sent British troops into combat. The latter proved particularly controversial, especially in relation to the level of threat actually posed by Iraqs weapons programme. The Government believes the new legislation will ensure service personnel will be protected from vexatious claims and endless investigations. It seeks to limit false and historical allegations arising from overseas operations by introducing a statutory presumption against prosecution, making it exceptional for personnel to be prosecuted five years or more after an incident. To override the presumption, the consent of the Attorney General will be required, and the prosecutor must weigh up the adverse impact of overseas operations on service personnel and, where there has been no compelling new evidence, the public interest in cases coming to a timely conclusion. But campaigners and some senior military figures have warned that the legislation will create a presumption against prosecution of torture and other serious crimes, except rape and sexual violence. Opening the second reading debate, Mr Wallace rejected claims that the Bill could decriminalise torture and murder. He told the Commons: Weve been told that this Bill is controversial. Some have gone as far to have said it decriminalises torture or prevents veterans from receiving compensation. Both allegations are untrue. I have to question if those making those points have actually read the Bill in full. He continued: It is our intention should new or compelling evidence be brought forward to prosecute for those offences. It is not decriminalising torture, it is not decriminalising murder in any way at all. Mr Wallace added: We want in the future the ability if necessary to allow soldiers to focus on the danger and job in hand when in operations, not on whether they will have a lawsuit slapped on them when they get home. But Mr Healey suggested the Bill is more about protecting the Ministry of Defence (MoD) than protecting British troops. He also said the Bill denies troops who serve overseas the same employer liability rights as the UK civilians they defend, adding Labour wants to make changes to the proposals. Mr Healey told the Commons: Over the last 15 years, there have been 25 cases brought by injured British troops against the MoD for every one case brought by alleged victims against our troops. So, you can see why some of the veterans Ive talked to about this Bill reckon its more about protecting the MoD than it is about protecting troops. He went on: This legislation will have no impact on any past or any continuing cases it offers no hope and no help of faster resolution either for troops or alleged victims who may still be involved in long-running litigation or in repeat investigations. MPs later approved the Bill at second reading by 331 votes to 77, majority 254. The division list showed 18 Labour backbenchers rebelled to oppose the legislation, including former leader Jeremy Corbyn, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and former leadership hopeful Rebecca Long-Bailey. The Bill will undergo further scrutiny at a later date. President Donald Trumps remarks at a campaign event in Ohio this week reverberated all the way to a sparkling waterfront in Florida, where senior citizens parsed his assessment of the coronavirus pandemic Trump said that COVID-19 was seriously affecting virtually nobody under the age of 18 and sought to frame the pandemic as largely impacting older Americans, as he argued for school districts to resume in-person learning. Now we know it affects elderly people with heart problems and other problems, Trump said. If they have other problems, thats what it really affects. Thats it. Florida, where 34 percent of the population is over the age of 55, is a potential swing state for Trumps re-election campaign. Democratic challenger Joe Biden has made some inroads among older voters here, according to recent polls, but the coronavirus could affect the race in profound ways. Trumps recent remarks made Liz Cillo, a 72-year-old retiree from St. Petersburg, laugh bitterly. Were dispensable. Were old. I feel as though hes never showed any empathy or compassion toward us. Unlike in previous years, those who study voting patterns and elderly affairs issues say new trends appear to be unfolding this year. Jeff Johnson, the state director for the Florida AARP, says that among voters who are over 65, this years presidential race seems to be more in play than in years past. The best we can tell, it seems to be driven by coronavirus, he said. Which makes sense, he added. States like Florida have been hit hard by the pandemic, and no other demographic has been affected more than older folks. About 93 percent of Florida's 13,600 deaths from the virus have been people 55 and older. On Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, lifted all restrictions on restaurants and other businesses in Florida in a move to reopen the states economy despite the virus' spread. Cillo, who did not vote for Trump in 2016 and wont in November, feels that the president has thrown seniors under the bus. Were the most vulnerable, she said. She and her friend, 77-year-old Eva Johnson, walk every day along St. Petersburgs pretty downtown, which is dotted with restaurants and shops on one side and Tampa Bay on the other. They keep 6 feet apart and wear masks. Both are extremely worried about catching the virus, and feel lucky that they dont know anyone whos gotten it. I follow the rules, and if everyone else would follow the rules too, wed be much better, Johnson said. Nearby, 67-year-old Raymond Holmes was doing his daily five-mile power walk through downtown. Holmes is a Trump supporter who defends the presidents remarks about older people and the coronavirus. Trump could appear to have been insensitive but you have to understand that he didnt want people to panic and he couldnt necessarily say one group of people needs more than another group of people. He had to placate and he had to handle the entire population, he said. The presidents comments touched a nerve with the family of Celia Yap-Banago, a nurse in Kansas City, Missouri, who died of the coronavirus at the age of 69. She was just a week short of her 40-year anniversary working at the Research Medical Center and was close to retirement when she died. Her son, Jhulan Banago, said the virus' toll clearly extends beyond older Americans like his mother, scarring his family and infecting people he knows. I dont know if I fully agree with that, he said of Trumps comments. I have some doctor friends as well. Unfortunately one has tested positive for it. And I have a lot of nursing friends as well and they see the effects of it. ... I think it affects more than just the elderly. Jay Mangold, a 69-year-old retired business owner in St. Petersburg, said people need to take a degree of personal responsibility, when it comes to the virus. Its unfair to expect everyone else to put their lives on hold, he said, adding that hes taking precautions because of his age, like wearing masks indoors and staying out of crowds. He tries to exercise daily to boost his immune system. He also wonders about the incessant news coverage of the virus, and whether discussion of it will vanish if Biden wins. Its all the TV news people are talking about, he said. Its like force-feeding a goose for foie gras. Michael Carl, who is 55, doesnt think Trump has handled the pandemic well, especially when it comes to older Black people. He cited the Trump administrations suing to overturn the Affordable Care Act, as evidence. And he feels that urging schools to open puts elders at risk. He could make a bigger effort, said Carl, then added with a sigh: Again, if seniors go ahead and die, theres no social security to pay out. Ann Wrigley, a 78-year-old who was walking her Shih Tzu, said shes not sure if the government could have done better when it comes to senior citizens. I think its up to us. Were all individuals, and we need to do what we think is right, said Wrigley, a registered Republican in Ohio before moving to Florida 16 years ago. She says she's undecided on the presidential race. I just make my decision at the end when I walk in to vote, she said. ___ Associated Press Writer Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, contributed to this report. Industry Update Appointment 25 September 2020 Raquel Felix Appointed Area Director of Leisure Sales, West Coast At Auberge Resorts Collection in Mill Valley - CA, USA Auberge Resorts Collection has appointed Raquel Felix as Area Director of Leisure Sales, West Coast. In her new role, Felix will oversee Esperanza, Chileno Bay Resort and Residences, Calistoga Ranch and Solage with a focus on leisure sales in the West Coast and Midwest. Felix joined Auberge Resorts Collection in March 2019, working in leisure sales overseeing the West Coast and East Coast. Prior to joining Auberge Resorts Collection, Felix served as Associate Director of Sales at Las Ventanas al Paraiso in Los Cabos, Mexico. Auberge Resorts Collection Auberge Resorts is a luxury hotel collection of exceptional resorts, residences and private clubs, each with a distinctive personality that assures a memorable guest experience. While Auberge Resorts nurtures the individuality of each establishment, all are characterized by a set of communal elements: intimate, understated elegance; captivating locations that inspire exceptional cuisine and spa experiences; and gracious yet unobtrusive service. more information Recent Appointments at Auberge Resorts Collection Rhoda Magbitang - Executive Chef 30 November 2021 As the new Executive Chef for The Inn at Mattei's Tavern, Rhoda Magbitang has quickly ascended through the ranks of the food & beverage industry, from starting in the Philippines cooking for her five siblings as part of her daily chores, to working for the likes of Jose Andres and Susanne Goin. read more Dave Elcon - General Manager 30 November 2021 With over 15 years of luxury hospitality experience, Dave Elcon's appointment stems from his success within Auberge Resorts Collection over the past three years. He quickly became a key contributor to the leadership of the brand and has been instrumental in the success of the many properties he has overseen during his tenure. read more A County Derry face mask manufacturer has decided to donate 10,000 surgical face masks to a facility in need. Paragon Health, based in Limavady, N. Ireland, currently manufacture millions of masks per week and was established in 2020 to help meet the demands for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Paragon Healths goal is to provide a stable and safe supply of surgical masks to healthcare, industry, hospitality and the general public. We are in unprecedented times and although there are very few certainties, one thing we can be sure of is that there is a need for a reliable source of good quality, surgical face masks said director Martin Tierney. This is why we have also decided to donate 10,000 masks to a facility in need before the end of October. The company are calling out to members of the public to recommend a facility that would benefit from a donation of 10,000 masks to assist with the work they are doing during Covid-19. The masks are Type IIR (ASTM 2). Whether it is a hospital, nursing home or a local hospice, we want to help them with this donation, said Mr Tierney. If you would like to recommend a local facility or business, visit Paragon Health on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook to post your recommendation. London, Sep 25 : A police officer was shot dead by a man who was being detained at the Croydon Custody Centre in London, authorities said on Friday, adding that the perpetrator has been detained. The incident took place at around 2.15 a.m. on Friday when the 23-year-old suspect was taken to the centre, where he was being searched, before producing a weapon and firing it at the officer and himself, the BBC reported. The officer was treated at the scene by paramedics, but succumbed to his injuries in a hospital later. According to the authorities, the gunman was currently in a critical state. While Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick described the loss of her colleague as "truly shocking", Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that "we owe a huge debt to those who risk their own lives to keep us safe". Home Secretary Priti Patel said the incident was "another terrible reminder of how our police officers put themselves in danger each and every day to keep the rest of us safe". The incident has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct which will lead an independent investigation, while the Met continued with its probe. W izz Air today said it was likely to cut the number of flights it runs in October to half of last year's as it battles the raft of travel restrictions and quarantine rules. The European airline said the drop in demand also meant its winter programme would also be cut to similar levels, meaning no pick-up for the key Christmas holiday period. That marked a scaling back of its previous hopes of running at 60 percent capacity announced on 1 September, which was itself a scaling back of its 80% guidance before. Since then, the restrictions and curbs on travel have spread around Europe, with fears of further restrictions in movement now looking more likely as infections spread among students returning to university. All airlines are expected to revise down their capacity forecasts as they adapt to changing guidelines from governments. British Airways is lobbying for an "air bridge" between London and New York, but as Covid spreads it is unclear whether they will be successful. Unlike rivals such as easyJet, Wizz is not a major airline for the ski season, but is expecting winter to be hit by a general lack of demand for travel. In April Wizz laid off about 1000 staff out of its total of 5000 including some at its Luton main hub. Wizz has slots at Gatwick, Doncaster and other regional airports which have also seen sharp cuts in flying as the business scales back its operations to match demand. Aviation workers are set to be the worst hit by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak's refusal yesterday to extend the furlough scheme. Despite its troubles, Wizz repeated its claims that it would emerge from the crisis as a "structural winner" thanks to its strong balance sheet and healthy liquidity position. The airline has previously warned it may have to "park" many of its 132 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft over the winter. It suffered particularly after Hungary closed its borders to all overseas travellers. City Commissioner Al Schmidt during a public hearing on voting machines in January 2019. Read more Clouts election calendar shows a presidential cycle unfolding as anticipated polls are narrowing, rhetoric is heating up, and Philadelphias city commissioners are in a dust-up with vote-fraud conspiracy theorists. Meet J. Christian Adams, a lawyer who specializes in election year alarmism. He penned a screed for the conservative local website Broad & Liberty last week that leaned hard into the notion that the commissioners, who oversee elections, are corrupt. His reason: They accepted a $10 million grant from a Chicago nonprofit to pay for mail-ballot drop boxes, early voting, and raises for poll workers. Adams was light on evidence and heavy on Mafia references. He later tweeted that commissioners took a cash payout from the Chicago family to build structural bias into the election. Clout hears that City Commissioner Al Schmidt, the lone Republican on the three-member board, told people he was exploring options, including a libel suit. And then Adams shifted to an all-too-common partisan tactic playing the provocative victim. It goes like this: Say something outrageous to get attention, then whine about the pushback. Adams deleted his tweet and lamented nobody understood his satire. His screed is tagged on Broad & Liberty under election law. The website does not have a comedy section, though parts of it are unintentionally hilarious. Also funny is the way Schmidts staff went after Adams. JABRONI ALERT! Man upset with voting accessibility spreads LIES about Philadelphia elections officials, one tweeted. Another called his insinuations disgusting and false while suggesting Adams go f himself. That last comment prompted Broad & Liberty cofounder Linda Kerns to contact Clout about the use of profanity in a public forum by a city employee. Kerns also has history with the commissioners. She and Adams filed a federal lawsuit against the election officials before in 2016 that a judge said included an incorrect recitation of federal voting law so problematic that he mulled sanctions. They lost that case and turned to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, where a three-judge panel called their claims a game of statutory Twister" and a blatant misrepresentation. Kerns said Adams' post on her website added a humorous element" that brought to light the absurdity and ridiculousness of the situation. Adams doesnt see the humor now, calling Clout a ridiculous shill for Schmidt. He did not say if he meant it as satire or he just felt salty. READ MORE: The Green Partys presidential candidate is off the ballot in a big win for Pa. Democrats Clout asked questions about a Democrats for Trump billboard in Roxborough. Then it went away Clout spotted complications in the brief life of a Democrats for Trump billboard on Ridge Avenue at the southern end of Roxborough last week. First, the disclaimer required by state and federal law said the local Republican ward put up the money, not Democrats who are fans of President Donald Trump. Second, Walt Vogler, the Republican leader of the 21st Ward, said he had nothing to do with it. Even though the billboard read, Paid for by 21st Ward GOP his wards political action committee. Absolutely not, Vogler said. I know nothing about it. Adding to the mystery, the billboard vanished after Clout starting asking questions. By Saturday, it had been replaced with an ad about blood pressure. Vogler said the billboard was absolutely a violation of state law requiring accurate attribution for political advertising. Clear Channel Outdoor, the billboard owner, did not respond to requests for information. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the ward, 67% to 19%. Trump won 27% of the vote there in 2016. Lou Agre, the Democratic ward leader, smells shenanigans. If there is really a Democrat for Trump in the 21st Ward, hes the only one, Agre said. Maybe someone felt envious of the Republican Voters Against Trump effort, reported recently by Clout: 130 billboards across Pennsylvania with Republicans explaining why they are voting for Joe Biden. READ MORE: Tom Ridge to Trump: Youre wrong about voter fraud 60 Minutes casts shade at State Sen. Jake Corman The CBS News magazine 60 Minutes aired a story Sunday about mail ballot use in Pennsylvania dubbed The Battle for the Ballot. Correspondent Bill Whitaker, while noting false claims Trump makes about mail ballot fraud in the state, also cast shade on State Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, a Centre County Republican, for trying to have it both ways. He showed Corman, speaking before the state Supreme Court ruled last week in favor of the Democratic Party in an elections case, saying mail ballots are secure. Corman called rhetoric to the contrary noise but declined to comment on Trumps rhetoric. Whitaker noted that Republicans like Corman, who had been working with Democrats to improve mail ballot use after the primary, changed course after Trump started attacking it in public and in court. After the ruling, Senate Majority Leader Corman told us hes now concerned about the security of mail-in ballots and that Senate Republicans are preparing to fight the decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court," Whitaker said. A spokesperson for Corman on Thursday said his concern was about the courts decision, not the security of mail ballots. S Lalitha By Express News Service BENGALURU: The ban on export of onions, imposed last week, has left leading exporters of the bulb from the city reeling. They have already lost lakhs by selling it in the domestic market at half the price and are desperate for an immediate solution. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade banned onion export on September 14 following a shortage in the local market which led to price rise after rains played havoc in production areas in Karnataka and Maharashtra. The biggest exporter of onions from Bengaluru, S Anandan of K Venkatesh & Co, says he is under enormous mental and financial stress. A big name across the country, he buys onions daily from farmers of Challakere in Chitradurga and many of its surrounding areas including Hiriyur, Aimangala, Belaghatta, Koverahatti. I have lost over Rs 40 lakh just this week. My shipments got stuck at different ports when the ban was suddenly announced 1,74,000 kg at Chennai port, 2 lakh kg at Kolkata port, 1,50,000 kg at Tuticorin and 98,000 kg at Chennai port. They were intended for Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Malaysia, Vietnam and Hong Kong, he said. Insisting that onions stored in closed containers will perish in a week, Anandan said that he offloaded the stock at Chennai and Tuticorin at half the price locally. Ajit Shah, president of the Horticultural Produce Exporters Association (aka Onion Exporters Assn), Mumbai, said, The Indian onion market exports 17 lakh to 18 lakh tonnes annually. A high-level meeting was held on Monday in this connection and those in the know of things tell me that a positive outcome is expected shortly, he said. Prayagraj : , Sep 25 (IANS) A PIL has been filed before the Allahabad High Court regarding decongestion of the prisons in Uttar Pradesh in the light of growing coronavirus cases in the state. The plea seeks a direction to the Department of Prison Administration, Government of Uttar Pradesh, and the Uttar Pradesh High Powered Committee to consider the release of prisoners who are above the age of 65 years old or suffering from comorbidities. The PIL was filed by Man Mohan Mishra, who is a practising advocate at Allahabad High Court. The petitioner prayed for a direction to the High Court to take effective measures to ensure expeditious disposal of the anticipatory bail applications, parole applications, etc., pending before the courts across the state so as to decongest the overpopulated prisons. The bench comprising Justice Pritinker Diwakar and Justice Subhash Chandra Sharma has issued notice to the government of Uttar Pradesh and asked to submit its written reply in response to the petition. The petition said, "The state of the prisons in the state are dismal. The rate of occupancy of 178 per cent in the state prisons is a matter of concern in view of the communicable pandemic." The petitioner said, "Several applications for bail and appeal are pending before the court for the prisoners who are inhabitants of those high rate occupancy prisons. Due to the limited work flow of the court, the applications for those prisoners cannot be disposed of efficiently in these highly extraordinary conditions." Trump blasted for suggesting he might not honor vote US President Donald Trump sparked outrage after declining to say whether he would accept the results of the November 3 election Top Republicans and Democrats pushed back hard Thursday against President Donald Trump's suggestion he might not accept defeat in the November election, warning him the United States was not "North Korea." A day after the US leader refused to clearly guarantee a peaceful transfer of power, Republican Senate Speaker Mitch McConnell felt it necessary to assure American voters that the winner of the November 3 election would take office as planned in January. The FBI, meanwhile, implicitly rejected Trump's suggestion that massive fraud was in the works with the surge in mailed-in ballots -- while it warned of disinformation about the issue. - 'Ballots are a disaster' - Trump sparked outrage on Wednesday suggesting he might not honor the results of the election or treat mail-in ballots as legitimate. Asked at a White House press conference whether if he is committed to the peaceful handover of power if defeated, Trump replied: "Well, we're going to have to see what happens." "You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster," he said. Trump repeated his claim that mailed ballots cannot be trusted in a radio interview early Thursday. Pressed on his remarks, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters: "The president will accept the results of a free and fair election." - 'It's not North Korea' - Trump's remarks casting doubt on the transfer of power came as he significantly trails Democratic rival Joe Biden in most national polls on the presidential election. McConnell, who wields significant power as the top Republican in Congress, felt it necessary to issue a statement seen as a veiled warning to Trump. "The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th," McConnell tweeted. "There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792." Story continues Other political leaders were more brusque. "Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus," Republican Senator Mitt Romney tweeted. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House Speaker, said it was necessary to remind Trump, "You are not in North Korea, you are not in Turkey, you are not in Russia, Mr. President." Senator Bernie Sanders, who Trump has assailed as an anti-American extreme leftist, excoriated Trump in a speech before the Senate. "Under Donald Trump, we have a president who has little respect for our constitution or the rule of law," said Sanders, who earlier this year failed in a bid to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Trump, he said, is "first president in the history of this country to refuse to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election." "What he is saying is that if he wins the election, that's great. But if he loses, it's rigged, because the only way, the only way, he can lose is if it's rigged." - Vote-by-mail concerns - On the campaign trail Trump has repeatedly made unfounded allegations that the election could be rigged by Democrats taking advantage of a surge in voting by mail due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, he asserted that the mailed-in votes will all be suspiciously cast for Biden, and should not be counted. "The ballots are out of control," he said. "Get rid of the ballots and you will have a very peaceful -- there won't be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation," he said. Election officials have real concerns that there will not be a clear winner on the day after the election, as millions of mailed-in ballots take time to be delivered to local election offices and be tabulated. The FBI and US intelligence have warned that instigators, domestic and foreign, could take advantage of that period to spread fake news about fraud, stirring up doubts about the electoral process. However on Thursday FBI Director Chris Wray told a Senate hearing that they had not seen any coordinated effort to manipulate the election results, "whether it's by mail or otherwise." - Court battles anticipated - Both parties and Trump are focused on the possibility that local and state vote tallies will end up contested in court, in possibly many cases, and that those fights could end up in the Supreme Court, which decided the close November 2000 election for the Republican candidate, George W. Bush. Trump said this week that is one reason why he is rushing to nominate a conservative to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the progressive justice who died last week. If Trump can push his nominee through, conservatives would hold six of the high court's nine seats. pmh/ec Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2020 > Exchanging killers for peace in Afghanistan is wrong and could have (...) by Ben Saul 11 September 2020 An Afghan soldier convicted of murdering three Australian soldiers is among six high-value prisoners who have been flown to Qatar ahead of peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government this weekend. Hekmatullah has spent seven years in jail after killing the three soldiers he worked with in 2012 Lance Corporal Stjepan Milosevic, Sapper James Martin and Private Robert Poate. He is one of the last remaining Taliban prisoners. Both the Taliban and the United States have pressured the Afghan government to release all 5,000 Taliban prisoners it holds as part of their peace deal. In return, the Taliban pledged to release 1,000 members of the Afghan security forces. Hekmatullah has been flown to Qatar ahead of the peace talks. Twitter/AAP The Afghan government was excluded from the original peace deal struck between the US and Taliban in February where the prisoner release was negotiated, but has since agreed to release the prisoners. For a long time, the Afghan government vowed not to free 600 prisoners it considered too dangerous, including murderers and foreign fighters. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called them a danger to the world. But last month, an assembly of Afghan elders, community leaders and politicians called a loya jirga approved the release of the last 400 Taliban captives and hundreds have been set free. Foreign governments objections to prisoner release The release of prisoners who killed Westerners has been among the most contentious parts of the deal. The Australian government, and the families of the three murdered Australian soldiers, have strenuously objected to the release of Hekmatullah. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has raised the issue with US President Donald Trump in recent weeks, and Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds reiterated this position in a statement today: The Australian governments long-standing position is that Hekmatullah should serve a full custodial sentence for the crimes for which he was convicted by an Afghan court, and that he should not be released as part of a prisoner amnesty. France has similarly objected to the release of those prisoners who murdered its aid workers and soldiers. The US has not publicly objected to the release of three prisoners who murdered Americans in so-called insider attacks, although it is reportedly exploring the possibility of release under house arrest. The importance of the rules of war So far, the issue of freeing prisoners in Afghanistan has been largely treated as a political and security issue. There has been less attention given to the equally important question of law, justice and human rights. It follows a regrettably common view that peace is necessary at any price, even if it means letting suspected or convicted war criminals go free, denying justice to their victims and violating international law by enabling killing with impunity. It is no surprise that such a deal has been spruiked by Trump, who has pardoned US soldiers accused or convicted of war crimes, despite protests by US military commanders. Trump also this week imposed sanctions on senior officials of the International Criminal Court for investigating alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan. The rules of war, or international humanitarian law (as it is otherwise known), take a much more balanced and reasonable approach. These rules are also binding on Afghanistan, the US and Taliban alike. Hekmatullahs killing of three Australian soldiers was not a fair fight in the heat of combat between opposing forces under the law of war. It was treacherous and illegal because Hekmatullah was wearing an Afghan army uniform when he killed the Australian soldiers while they were resting at a patrol base in August 2012. Hekmatullah says he was inspired to kill the soldiers after watching a Taliban video purporting to show US soldiers burning a Quran. He was later aided by the Taliban in his escape. Through these actions, Hekmatullah violated the basic rules set forth by the Statute of the International Criminal Court, specifically making improper use of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy resulting in death or serious personal injury The law of war also acknowledges the granting of amnesty to ordinary fighters is an appropriate means to promote peace and reconciliation to end a civil war. But it does not permit amnesty for those who violate its basic rules, including those suspected or convicted of war crimes. All countries have a legal duty to respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law. Releasing prisoners, thus, is not purely a political question for the Afghan government to decide. It is also bound by international law and must respect it. Australia has a right to ensure respect for the law by both Afghanistan and the US. Releasing Hekmatullah would arguably be a violation of international law by Afghanistan, aided by the US. Peace without justice can cause long-term problems The US, Taliban and Afghan government all know this, but are choosing to sacrifice justice for the dream of peace. All sides are exhausted by the two-decade military stalemate and are understandably desperate for a way out. But numerous conflicts in recent decades from Latin American to Africa to the Balkans show that peace without justice is almost always a delusion. Any immediate gains are usually undermined by the mid- to long-term insecurity that results from giving impunity to killers. It contaminates the integrity and stability of political systems. It undermines the legal system and subordinates the rule of law and human rights to raw politics. It also allows victims grievances to fester, which is especially dangerous in places like Afghanistan where blood feuds stoke the desire for vengeance. In the case of Afghanistan, most seasoned observers also know that peace with the Taliban may well be a naive fantasy. Violence has increased, not decreased, since the peace deal. While it has made some tactical concessions for peace, the Talibans ideological commitment to extreme religious rule, and its disdain for democracy and human rights, is unswerving. The Taliban has played the Americans brilliantly, knowing the US no longer has the appetite for war. Releasing murderers could be all for nothing. (Author Ben Saul is Professor of International Law, Sydney Centre for International Law, University of Sydney) (Courtesy: The Conversation) WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 24, 2020, Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS), Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced bipartisan legislation, the Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act (S. 4723) in the U.S. Senate. The bipartisan AQUAA Act, which has companion legislation in the U.S. House, would support development of an offshore aquaculture industry in the U.S. to increase the production of sustainable seafood and establish new economic opportunities in federal waters. "The expansion of domestic offshore aquaculture is a win-win for American communities nationwide," said Bill DiMento, president of SATS and vice president of Corporate Sustainability and Government Affairs at High Liner Foods. "Growth of the American aquaculture industry would create new jobs, provide new business opportunities and grow our economy as our country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the opportunities that aquaculture can provide American communities, there is growing bipartisan support and momentum for federal action on aquaculture." The AQUAA Act would establish National Standards for offshore aquaculture and clarify a regulatory system for the development of aquaculture in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The legislation would also establish a research and technology grant program to fund innovative research and extension services focused on improving and advancing sustainable domestic aquaculture. The expansion of aquaculture, one of the most resource efficient methods of producing animal protein, would complement the wild fish sector to meet growing demand for American seafood while protecting our fisheries and natural resources. In addition to boosting growth for the seafood industry, American aquaculture would provide a new market for U.S. farmers, specifically for crops such soybeans, corn and peas, which can be used to create fish feed and ease pressure on ocean resources. "With our extended coastline, expansive ocean resources, skilled labor force, superior technology, and ample feed sources, the U.S. has the potential to be a global leader for aquaculture production. However, our potential will remain untapped unless and until federal action is taken to clarify the permitting process. SATS applauds Senators Wicker, Schatz and Rubio for working across party lines to bring awareness and encourage debate in Congress on the topic of expanding domestic aquaculture," DiMento concluded. Tony Dal Ponte, vice president of SATS and general counsel at Pacific Seafood, said, "Expanding domestic aquaculture can help give a much needed boost to the American economy. A clear, predictable regulatory framework will benefit not just the seafood industry, but also the coastal communities who rely on it to support their local economies and provide stable, year-round employment opportunities." "Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector, but the U.S. lacks a comprehensive, nationwide system for permitting in federal waters," said Senator Wicker. "This deficiency prevents the development of aquaculture farms, leading to more seafood imports. Our legislation would establish national standards for offshore aquaculture, enabling U.S. producers to create jobs and meet the growing demand for fresh, local seafood." "Hawaii leads the nation in modern and traditional aquaculture practices," said Senator Schatz. "With this bipartisan bill, we can expand aquaculture opportunities, opening suitable federal waters for responsible growers. It will create new jobs, spur economic growth in our coastal communities, and ensure our oceans are managed sustainably now and in the future." "Marine aquaculture presents an enormous opportunity for Florida's economy and for the food security of our nation," said Senator Rubio. "I am proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation, alongside Senators Wicker and Schatz, that would streamline the rules for this important industry and responsibly promote its success." The companion bill for The AQUAA Act in the U.S. House, H.R. 6191, was introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D, MN-7) and Congressman Steven Palazzo (R, MS-4) in March 2020. The AQUAA Act complements the May 2020 Presidential Executive Order on American Seafood Competitiveness, which outlines a process for developing Aquaculture Opportunity Areas in federal waters, a key to supporting a domestic offshore aquaculture industry. Read more about the benefits of offshore aquaculture here: www.strongerthroughseafood.org. About Stronger America Through Seafood Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS) advocates for policies and regulations that help secure a stronger America through increased U.S. production of healthful, sustainable, and affordable seafood. Learn more at www.strongerthroughseafood.org. SOURCE Stronger America Through Seafood Related Links http://www.strongerthroughseafood.org By Trend Azerbaijan tolerates all religions, Eli Nacht, Chairman Israel Empowerment Lobby told Trend. Currently, Israel is building relations with a number of Muslim countries, but many of them are based on mutually beneficial partnerships, which cannot be said about Israel's cooperation with Azerbaijan, noted Nacht. "Azerbaijan and Israel have built centuries-old friendly relations both between our people and in a number of economic and political spheres," he added. Nakht stressed out that the existence of such friendly relations between the two countries also affects economic indicators. In particular, there is a high volume of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Israel in agriculture, energy, and other spheres. "The high level of trade turnover between our countries has already been established and will grow," Naht added. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Photo: (Photo : Follow These 5 Tips to Shield Yourself from Online Privacy Threats ) Your privacy is under threat. From sophisticated crooks to certain world governments, everyone wants a piece of your information. No company is safe. Social media giants such as Facebook, credit reporting agencies such as Equifax, and big banks such as Capital One are all recent victims of data breach attacks. Likewise, email accounts of journalists and activists are targeted by organizations with nefarious intentions. Why Is Your Privacy Important? Your privacy is important for a variety of reasons. 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Use Complex Passwords Experienced hackers use sophisticated techniques such as dictionary and brute force attacks to crack into your important accounts. A complex password can thwart such aggression. Avoid setting passwords with sequential numbers or letters such as "123456" or "qwerty". Likewise, avoid obvious passwords such as "password". Set a long password and mix up upper-case and lower-case letters with numbers and symbols for the best combination. Use a good password manager for extra help. 4. Adjust Your Privacy Settings Be cautious on social media. Never share personal data such as your address or phone number online. This information can be used against you. Adjust your privacy settings so that your information is only visible to your trusted friends. 5. Protect Your Financial Information Don't save your financial data like credit card information or payment addresses on websites. Remove any saved information. If one such website is hacked, your identity will be quickly listed for sale on the Dark Web. Although hackers have developed advanced ways to breach your privacy, you're not defenseless. The best VPN and antivirus software coupled with smart Internet habits can make you nearly impervious online. The Boris Johnson government on Friday called on China to allow the United Nations unfettered access to Xinjiang following what it called grave concerns about Chinas policies against the Uighur Muslims in the region. Tariq Ahmad, foreign office minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth, said in a statement on China at the UN Human Rights Council that there is compelling evidence of systemic human rights violations in Xinjiang. On Hong Kong, Ahmad described the UKs deep concerns about the direct threat that Beijings new National Security Law allegedly represents to rights and freedoms in the Special Administrative Region, the foreign office said. Ahmad said: (Of) grave concern, in Xinjiang, there is compelling evidence including from the Chinese authorities own documents of systematic human rights violations. Culture and religion are severely restricted, and we have seen credible reports of forced labour and forced birth control. Staggeringly, up to 1.8 million people have been detained without trial. He added: Across the country, we also remain seriously concerned about the pressure on media freedom(We) call on China to uphold the rights and freedoms in the Joint Declaration, to respect the independence of the Hong Kong judiciary, allow unfettered access to Xinjiang and to release all those who are arbitrarily detained. Ahmad said Beijings imposition of the National Security Law amounts to a serious breach of the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration, allegedly violating Hong Kongs high degree of autonomy and directly threatens rights and freedoms. The National Security Law is being implemented with the apparent intention to eliminate dissent. It allows prosecution of certain cases in mainland China, a jurisdiction where defendants are often held for long periods without charge or access to legal counsel, and where we have concerns about judicial independence, due process, and reports of torture, he told the council. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON When our moms told us to stop playing in the dirt as kids, maybe we shouldn't have listened -- that's exactly how 33-year-old Kevin Kinard found a 9-carat diamond at an Arkansas state park. Kinard and his friends traveled to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, on Labor Day to enjoy the outdoors. The state park offers 37.5 acres of land for "diamond digging" where park visitors can sift through soil on what is the world's eighth-largest diamond-bearing volcanic crater. PHOTO: The 9 carat diamond was the second largest diamond ever found at Crater of Diamonds State Park. The first was a 16 carat found in 1975. (Kevin Kinard) Park Interpreter Waymon Cox said one or two diamonds are found daily at the park, though they're usually about 20- to 25-point diamonds, or about a fourth of a carat. No matter the size, park rules state that if you find a diamond it's yours to keep. MORE: Are lab-grown diamonds the real deal? Kinard, an Arkansas native, visited Crater of Diamonds State Park for the first time on a field trip in second grade. Since then, he's traveled back once or twice a year to dig for diamonds but had never found one. Because of the pandemic, Kinard said he and his friends have been spending more time in state parks. "I had actually already gone to the park in May, but Arkansas state parks started handing out these state park passports where every time you go to a new park you get a stamp," Kinard said. "So, I went back because we wanted to get our passports stamped." PHOTO: Crater of Diamonds State Park offers 'diamond digging' to their visitors on a 37.5 acre field. (Crater of Diamonds State Park) When digging for diamonds, you'll fill your bag and later give it to a park staffer who helps check whether you've found anything. Kinard said they dug around for about four hours or so and went to get their passports stamped. Since he didn't think he had anything good, he decided to head back to the car without having his bag checked. It was only when his friend decided last minute to get hers checked that he doubled back with her to see if he had anything. MORE: Class ring returned to family more than 50 years after it was lost in Missouri lake Story continues Kinard was pulled into a private room, where the Crater of Diamonds State Park staff told him a 9-carat diamond was in his bag. "I broke down a little and started tearing up," Kinard said. "It was a very humbling experience. I thank God for everything that I have, so I think it was the Lord." The diamond is the second-largest ever found at the park after a 16-carat diamond in 1975. MORE: How to choose the perfect diamond engagement ring "Our staff gets excited, even though we're not finding the diamonds," Cox said. "We get excited from the people and seeing how they're impacted." PHOTO: The 9 carat diamond is currently sitting in a safe deposit box and has yet to be appraised. (Kevin Kinard) Kinard immediately brought the diamond to the bank where he works to place it in a safe deposit box. He has not yet gotten it appraised and said for now he just wants to enjoy the moment. "I'm not sure what it's worth, but I can't do anything with a 9-carat diamond," Kinard said. "My boss said, 'You may be a millionaire. Are you going to quit?' I said, 'Absolutely not.' I'm too young for that. I'd still work. I'm just a regular guy." Man finds 9-carat diamond, 2nd-largest ever at Arkansas state park originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com Jeffrey Cohen, MD, Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Chief Physician Executive for Community Health and Innovation. We believe AHNs partnership with Innovation Works will spur further economic development in this region, and contribute to a stronger investment ecosystem,"Jeffrey Cohen, MD, AHN Chief Physician Executive for Community Health and Innovation Allegheny Health Network (AHN) and Pittsburgh-based technology investor Innovation Works today announced the creation of a health care and life sciences accelerator to be headquartered at the Allegheny General Hospital Suburban campus in Bellevue. The accelerator, AlphaLab Health, will serve as an innovation hub for the regions life sciences sector, cultivating promising medical technologies and making early-stage investments in participating companies. The collaboration between AHN and Innovation Works is also supported by Pittsburgh-area universities, corporations, and foundations. AlphaLab Health builds on the success and reputation of Innovation Works other accelerator programs, AlphaLab and AlphaLab Gear. Like those accelerators, AlphaLab Health will offer its cohort companies early-stage funding, mentorship opportunities from industry experts, clinical resources, and office and lab space when available and as appropriate. AHN is part of one of the nations largest integrated health and wellness organizations, while Innovation Works is one of the nations top 10 most active seed-stage investors. Innovation Works AlphaLab and AlphaLab Gear accelerators are consistently ranked among the worlds top accelerator programs. AlphaLab accelerators specialize in helping great entrepreneurs build great companies, said Innovation Works President and CEO Rich Lunak. Marrying our capabilities to AHNs health care expertise will benefit founders, who can test their concepts with clinicians, researchers, and operational experts on an accelerated timeline. This will result in better health care products and greater capital efficiency as they scale their businesses and find the right product-market fit." By surrounding promising companies with a network of investors, mentors, and other resources, entrepreneurial teams will be able to accelerate their businesses toward a successful launch, and faster customer growth. AlphaLab Health will also help participating companies navigate the regulatory pathway and manage other issues affecting their traction, Lunak said. Initially, the AlphaLab Health collaboration will focus on seeding four business categories diagnostics, therapeutics, medical devices, and health information technology. Companies selected for the formal cohort will receive investment from Innovation Works and AHN. AHN will also pilot some of the technologies that are developed, allowing the health network to act as a living commercialization lab for translational, bench-to-bedside research. In addition to the formal AlphaLab Health cohort, AHN and Innovation Works may also invite other health- and life-science-focused startups to share office space in a co-working environment at AGH Suburban. Those startups will have access to AlphaLab Health programming and resources, and will be able to collaborate side-by-side with other life sciences companies. The application cycle is open now. Entrepreneurs should go to http://www.alphalabhealth.org for more information and to access the application. Six companies are targeted for the first cohort. Over the coming cycles, the investments and AlphaLab Health curriculum are expected to spur the creation of hundreds of regional jobs. Starting a new company can be risky, especially in the life sciences field, Lunak said. By providing seed funding, Innovation Works and AHN are helping to de-risk those businesses in the earliest stages, preparing them to attract talent and secure future investors. When completed, the new AlphaLab Health hub will include wet and dry labs, offices, and shared conference areas for companies participating in the accelerator programs at AGH Suburban, bringing new intellectual resources and economic activity to the Bellevue community, which is 10 minutes from Downtown Pittsburgh. Suburban has been a fixture in Bellevue for more than a century, and we are extremely pleased to be able to creatively reuse this space for the benefit of the community and Western Pennsylvanias life sciences sector, said Jeffrey Cohen, MD, AHNs Chief Physician Executive for Community Health and Innovation. We believe AHNs partnership with Innovation Works will spur further economic development in this region, and contribute to a stronger investment ecosystem for all health care entrepreneurs. AHN is partnering with Innovation Works, Dr. Cohen said, because of the organizations national reputation as a true business accelerator for early-stage companies. Our goal is not to take ownership of the technologies or manage the companies, Dr. Cohen said. We want to provide startups with the tools, resources and space they need to grow and thrive. Suburban General Hospital opened at its current location in 1912. Since 1994, when the hospital affiliated with Allegheny General, the site has been home to an inpatient hospital, administrative offices, an urgent care clinic, outpatient services, and a privately-operated long-term care facility. In 2010, the hospitals inpatient units and emergency department closed, and the private nursing facility closed in June 2019, allowing the facility to be more fully redeveloped. AGH Suburbans urgent care clinic and outpatient clinics continue to operate. Designs for the new lab and office spaces are currently being finalized, with construction to follow. Were excited to see a new use for this regional asset, and we anticipate that the collaboration of AHN and Innovation Works will create a premier accelerator for launching new life science innovations, Dr. Cohen said. AlphaLab Health will be a leading resource for life sciences startups that want to build the next great innovations in our region, improving the quality and efficiency of care for patients. ### About AHN Allegheny Health Network (http://www.AHN.org), a Highmark Health company, is an integrated healthcare delivery system serving the greater Western Pennsylvania region. Among the network's 300 clinical locations are 13 hospitals and five Health + Wellness Pavilions. AHN also is home to a comprehensive research institute; home- and community-based health services; and a group purchasing organization. The network employs more than 20,000 people and has more than 2,400 doctors on its medical staff. Established in 2013, AHN's member hospitals share legacies of charitable care that date back more than 160 years. About Innovation Works Innovation Works is one of the nations top 10 most active investors in seed-stage technology companies and is the leading supporter of the Pittsburgh regions tech startups with investment, business assistance and connections to other resources. Innovation Works is the Ben Franklin Technology Partner (BFTP) of SWPA. The BFTP network of four centers financially and operationally support innovative startup, early-stage, and high-growth companies across the Commonwealth. The BFTP is supported in part by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority and is overseen by the states Department of Community and Economic Development. Contacts Dan Laurent daniel.laurent@highmarkhealth.org 412-807-8103 Terri Glueck tglueck@innovationworks.org 412-818-8191 Tobacco company Philip Morris International Inc's CEO Andre Calantzopoulos has said that cigarette sales could end within a span of 10-15 years in many nations with "right regulatory encouragement and support from civil society". Speaking at the Concordia Annual Summit, which brings together leaders from the world of business, politics, and NGOs, for a dialogue, Calantzopoulos expressed that "a future in which cigarettes are obsolete is within reach" adding that "with right regulatory encouragement and support from civil society, we believe cigarette sales can end within 10 to 15 years in many countries." Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine from tobacco? British cigarette maker to start human trials soon He, however, cautioned that "political agendas and ideology are slowing progress and keeping millions of people uninformed." Calantzopoulos debated that rather than having an "evidence-based conversation" on how to regulate novel products to help people quit smoking cigarettes, "we are often faced with an ideologically driven resistance from some public health organisations and some NGOs". He asserted that over 11.2 million people had already switched to the company's main smoke-free product. "Many more have switched to other smoke-free alternatives that are better than continued smoking. This is a profound public health achievement," Calantzopoulos added. Also Read: US-based Philip Morris urges Indian govt to create regulatory environment for smoke-free alternatives He also cautioned that a smoke-free future is "not yet guaranteed" and will necessitate adherence to science, collaboration, and a "commitment to accelerate information to the people most directly concerned." Philip Morris had also said earlier that it is pushing towards "smoke-free" products that are a far better choice than cigarette smoking. The Marlboro-maker had signaled that cigarettes may start becoming obsolete within a decade in certain markets as smokers replace nicotine with alternative products. Locklan 'Locky' Gilbert chose Irena Srbinovska as his leading lady in Thursday's finale of The Bachelor, after professing his love for her. However, just days before the episode aired on Sunday, Locky could possibly have had an ex-girlfriend on his mind. The 31-year-old's travel company, Four Elements Adventure Bali, shared a throwback photo of Locky with his former flame to Instagram, Love Island's Jordan Cayless. Was Locklan 'Locky' Gilbert (pictured) thinking about his EX just days before the finale? The Bachelor, 31, looked very loved-up with Love Island's Jordan Cayless, 28, in a throwback photo shared to Instagram on Sunday In the photo taken at Diamond Beach, Jordan, 28, revealed her enviable figure in a two-piece ensemble as she sat on the wooden steps of a cabana. She gazed adoringly at Locky, who went shirtless, and placed one affectionate hand by her waist. The post appears to simply be a case of poor timing, with the travel company using the photo alongside another of two friends, to promote a package tour. It's also not known whether Locky uploaded the post, or another member from the Four Elements Adventure Bali team. Odd timing: Locky's travel company, Four Elements Adventure Bali, shared this throwback photo of Locky and Jordan to their Instagram page, to promote one of their tours. It's not known whether Locky uploaded the post, or a member of the team Brutal swipe: Meanwhile, there's no love lost between Locky and Jordan (pictured). The brunette, who starred on Love Island Australia in 2019, told New Idea last month that she believes Locky only signed up to the dating show for publicity Meanwhile, there's no love lost between Locky and Jordan. The brunette, who starred on Love Island Australia in 2019, told New Idea last month that she believes Locky only signed up to the dating show for publicity. Locky and Jordan dated from 2017 to 2019, with Jordan choosing to end the relationship. 'I don't think he will end up married with kids with this person on The Bachelor': Jordan told the publication that she's sceptical Locky has found love with his winner Ouch! 'I saw the ad where he says, "I'm the type of guy to get down on one knee" and I thought, "Yeah, you will for the publicity and the ratings!"' Jordan added Jordan revealed her scepticism that Locky has found love with his winner. 'I don't believe it. Obviously you have genuine feelings and you're in a bubble on the show, but no, I don't think he will end up married with kids with this person on The Bachelor,' she said at the time. 'I saw the ad where he says, "I'm the type of guy to get down on one knee" and I thought, "Yeah, you will for the publicity and the ratings!"' Jordan even claimed that Locky had previously mentioned he wanted to become The Bachelor, and that the attention and following would 'lift up' his business in Bali. The Port Arthur Independent School District is gearing up for another showdown with Motiva over disputed property tax valuations just as the board of trustees votes to make a final payment to the company from a past dispute that began in 2018. It just gets us in preparation for the next lawsuit that is already out there, Phyllis Geans, PAISD assistant superintendent for business & finance and chief financial officer, told The Enterprise. They received this refund from the disputed property in 2018 and in 2019 they didnt get a refund; they just didnt pay the taxes. The payments came after the company appealed its tax valuation to the Jefferson County Appraisal District in fall 2019 arguing it had overpaid taxes that were given to the district to pay down bond debts. To make up for the 2019 losses to the district, the Texas Education Agency adjusted its funding to the tune of $10 million. But the company is disputing the valuation again, setting up for a repeat in coming months. That is how big of an impact it is to us, Geans said. But on the debt service side, we have to eat that. We are getting ready for the next phase so for 2020-21, we dont know what the impact to us is. The Board of Trustees didnt mince words when discussing the second payment agreed to by the district and Motiva for just over $4 million and what the future will look like. Frankly speaking, I think they are stealing from the children, trustee Debra Ambroise said before the board voted on the measure. And I know that this has been an issue that we have faced before, and we will probably face it again, but it is a question of when will it stop or will it stop. When first disputing the payments in July 2019, Motiva said in a statement that the decision was not made lightly. We are committed to paying our fair share in taxes, the company said in the statement. However, we believe the current assessed value is excessive. Simply put, the Port Arthur refinery is overvalued compared to its peers. As Motivas only refinery and largest asset, effective cost management is vital to the companys long-term viability and success. Motiva did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday night. Donald Frank Sr, vice president of the PAISD Board of Trustees, also expressed worry about the ongoing disputes, pointing out that other area refineries were not disputing valuations at the expense of districts in the same way. Why is it only being done in Port Arthur, Texas, in Jefferson County? he asked. We have got to somehow have them to understand what they are doing. Total is not doing it to Port Neches-Groves (ISD), Exxon is not doing it (in Beaumont). In the meantime, the district is looking at other ways to relieve some of its financial pressure including refinancing bonds, a plan that was presented Thursday by Clarence Grier, managing director of RBC Capital Markets, and approved by the board. By refinancing just like you do on your house, it may reduce your payments and ultimately by reducing those payments, then we have less that we have to pay, and our rates will be lower, Geans said, adding that those savings will translate to savings for the taxpayers. The district is aiming to refinance its loans before the election, due to the unpredictable impact it will have on financial markets. Frank and Ambroise contend Motiva and another company that has made similar moves, Valero, are responsible for damage to the district through their actions during these disputes. I dont think they fully understand the damage they are doing to the children of Port Arthur when we are trying to educate children who come to our district not speaking English, when we are talking about children of poverty also, he said. They have to understand. Ambroise said it was past time for the companies to help the district. The refining industry in Port Arthur, (has) lots and lots and lots of money, she said. At some point, the reality is going to set in. You are going to need to help us, help our children. isaac.windes@hearstnp.com twitter.com/isaacdwindes After battle with addiction, Thats So Raven star Orlando Brown is finding hope in Christian fellowship Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment After a tumultuous last few years, actor and rapper Orlando Brown, best known for his role as Eddie Thomas on the Disney Channel series That's So Raven, is getting ready to graduate from a faith-based treatment center in Texas and he's singing high praises about the power of prayer and Christian fellowship. Brown, 32, who has had a very public struggle with drugs and his mental health, told The Christian Post Monday that he is looking forward to graduating from Rise Discipleship, a free 6-month in-patient recovery program for men who struggle with addiction, homelessness and other life-controlling issues run by Rise Church in Abilene, Texas. We help not only those who struggle with drugs and alcohol, but also those who battle depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Every RISE student will be given a biblical foundation that will assist in character building and the leadership development to approach life in a new light, the Rise Discipleship website explains. While he said he wasnt yet ready to do any extended interviews on his journey with the program, Brown told CP that he graduates at the end of November and its definitely been a great process. I can tell you that Im OK. Im alive. I was in an unsafe position and it has been shaky but at the end of the day all I can tell you is Im OK and Im graduating and I will be getting married, he said. At a fundraising event for the home last Thursday, which was broadcast on Facebook Live, Brown also spoke briefly about his battle with addiction and his current journey to recovery. I went through a lot. I experimented with crystal meth, with weed. I didnt know what I was doing. I was addicted to the internet. All kinds of stuff, he said. Browns battle with drugs first made headlines in February 2016 when he was arrested and charged in Torrance, California, with domestic battery, obstruction of justice, drug possession with intent to sell, and possession of contraband following a fight with his then-girlfriend in public. In 2018, he reportedly entered a short-lived attempt at rehab, after an intervention from friends and family. He would endure subsequent arrests for drugs and prostitution. That same year, Brown also appeared on an episode of Dr. Phil with retired psychologist Phil McGraw, where he made claims that pointed to an unhealthy mental state. Earlier this year, Brown also claimed on Instagram that rapper and television host Nick Cannon once performed fellatio on him while dressed as a woman. Cannon denied the claim as hilarious!!!!" and urged better support systems for our youth. I watched various of this young brothers videos and all I see is a cry out for help. So I don't know if there are any real leaders or solid individuals in this young man's life but let's embrace him and tighten him up so he doesn't become another lost victim to these Hollywood circumstances, Cannon wrote on Instagram. In April, Brown claimed actor Will Smith raped him as a child. My student Orlando Brown giving his testimony at Rise Church for the Rise Home rally. Proud of you my bro. pic.twitter.com/PzyNijgTfU Rey Sandoval (@PastorRey1) September 20, 2020 In his testimony Thursday, Brown explained that he learned about Rise Discipleship from his fiancee and he was moved by how he was accepted for who I am. My fiancee told me about this place and when I came it was amazing, he said. I had a blast. These brothers accepted me for who I am. Rise Discipleship explained that while fundraising to support the program normally consists of the men from the home going across Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and other places selling crosses and ministering to those who need prayer and to others struggling with addiction, the coronavirus has limited their efforts. The program, which does not have a waitlist, provides housing, food and basic needs for the men being treated. The men do not work while they are in the program so they can focus on having life change so they can then go out and be the fathers, husbands and sons their family needs them to be, the website explains. Jubal Elrod, whom Brown describes as the home overseer, said at the fundraising event Thursday that Brown has been a leader during his time in the program. Hes completely turned around. He got on this like in his third week, hit it like a man. Now hes leading classes. Hes actually overseeing discipline and teaching other brothers how to get through it. I'm super proud of you man, proud of you Orlando, Elrod said. Rey Sandoval, Rise Church founder and senior pastor, also echoed Elrods pride in Browns recovery in the program so far. My student Orlando Brown giving his testimony at Rise Church for the Rise Home rally. Proud of you my bro, Sandoval said in tweet on Sunday. Brown explained to CP that his main focus right now is getting back to his family and life, and prayer has been really helpful. Prayer is so essential especially in cases like these where we have a whole bunch of men come off the street and they are doing their thing to change, he said. Australian music legend Max Merritt has died in a Los Angeles hospital after being diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease. The musician, of Max Merritt and the Meteors fame, passed away on Thursday, aged 79. He had been battling Goodpasture Syndrome, an auto-immune disease where the body mistakenly makes antibodies that attack the lungs and kidneys. Australian music legend Max Merritt has died in a Los Angeles hospital after being diagnosed with a rare serious auto-immune disease Merritt, of Max Merritt and the Meteors fame, had been battling Goodpasture Syndrome, an auto-immune disease which your body mistakenly makes antibodies that attack the lungs and kidneys His manager and friend Wal Bishop shared the heartbreaking news of his death in a statement on Friday. 'Max had been on dialysis three days every week since he fell ill back in 2007,' he said. 'He really put up a great fight and will be sadly missed by all that knew and loved him. 'Max had been unable to perform live over the past 13 years but, when he felt up to it, would go into the studio to record,' Bishop said. 'He even shot a video to go with the tracks, it's a shame he won't be around to see it.' Merritt is best known for his 1975 hit Slippin' Away. He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2008 alongside Dragon, Russell Morris and The Triffids. His manager Wal Bishop said Merritt had been on a dialysis machine three days a week since 2007 His manager and friend Wal Bishop shared the heartbreaking news of his death in a statement on Friday (Pictured: Australian 60s and 70s rock legend Max Merritt with his long time manager Wal Bishop) The 'King of soul' was born in April, 1941 in Christchurch, New Zealand, but eventually made Australia his home. He moved to the UK in the 1960s before settling in Los Angeles in the 1970s. During this time continue to tour in Australia and New Zealand. His death comes almost two weeks after founding member of Australian rock band Skyhooks Peter Starkie died. Starkey, 72, died on September 13 after falling from a ladder. Skyhooks shot to fame in the mid-70s with hits such as Horror Movie, Ego is Not A Dirty Word, All My Friends Are Getting Married and Women In Uniform. The band stopped regularly playing when lead singer Graeme 'Shirley' Strachan died in a helicopter accident in Queensland in 2001. He had been training for his helicopter licence at the time of the crash. The death of former Skyhooks guitarist Peter Starkie is the latest in a series of tragic events to rock what was one of the biggest Australian bands of the 1970s Former Skyhooks singer Peter Starkie (right) died on Sunday after falling from a ladder at his home. His death is the latest in a string of tragedies to rock the famous 1970s Australian band Baby Found Dead at Strip Mall in Arizona: Officials Arizona authorities said an infant was found deceased behind a strip mall in Phoenix, and they are now asking the public for tips. Officials told FOX10 they received a call in southwestern Phoenix about an injured person. When they arrived, the officers found an infant who was not breathing. The Phoenix Fire Department later declared the child dead at the scene. Sgt. Ann Justus of the Phoenix Police Department told AZFamily that it appears this is a very newborn baby. Justus said that there are few details about the incident, including if it is a case where the mother abandoned the child. There are fire stations and hospitals. There are safe havens where you can drop children off no questions asked. And we ask that if anybody finds themselves in a position where they cant care for their newborn, please drop your baby off at a hospital or fire station or call police, Justus said. There are lots of options. CHILD DEATH INVESTIGATION. 35 Av/Baseline Rd. An infant was found unresponsive behind a business. Phoenix Fire pronounced the infant deceased on scene. If you have any information please call Phoenix Police or @SilentwitnessAZ 480-WITNESS pic.twitter.com/1sCQUzaZHJ Phoenix Police (@PhoenixPolice) September 24, 2020 Patricia Martinez, who runs a business nearby, said, It sent all kinds of emotions. One because I am a brand new grandmother and my daughter just had a baby, according to FOX10. She added: There are so many people that want babies. There are so many people that want babies that they wouldve taken this baby and t his baby was given no opportunity, no chance in life and so innocent. Babies are innocent. Anyone who may have seen anything, the Phoenix Police Department is asking anyone that knows someone who was pregnant, and is no longer pregnant and without a baby to please call 602-262-6151, or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS (480-TESTIGO for Spanish). GABORONE: Toxins in water produced by cyanobacteria killed more than 300 elephants in Botswana this year, officials said on Monday, announcing the result of an investigation into the deaths which had baffled and alarmed conservationists. Cyanobacteria are microscopic organisms common in water and sometimes found in soil. Not all produce toxins but scientists say toxic ones are occurring more frequently as climate change drives up global temperatures. Cyril Taolo, deputy director of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, told a news conference the number of elephant carcasses found since deaths were first reported around early May had risen to 330, from 281 in July. "What we just know at this point is that it`s a toxin caused by cyanobacteria," said Taolo, adding the specific type of neurotoxin had yet to be established. Authorities will monitor the situation during the next rainy season, and Taolo said for now there was no evidence to suggest that Botswana`s wildlife was still under threat as officials were no longer seeing deaths. The department`s principal veterinary officer Mmadi Reuben told the same news conference that questions remained as to why only elephants had been affected. Other animals in the Okavango Panhandle region appeared unharmed. Some cyanobacterial blooms can harm people and animals, and scientists are concerned about their potential impact as climate change leads to warmer water temperatures, which many cyanobacteria prefer. Southern Africa`s temperatures are rising at twice the global average, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "It amounts to having the right conditions, in the right time, in the right place and these species will proliferate," Patricia Glibert, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, who has studied cyanobacteria, told Reuters. "These conditions are coming together more often, in more places, so we are seeing more of these toxic blooms around the world." In neighbouring Zimbabwe, about 25 elephant carcasses were found near the country`s biggest game park and authorities suspect they succumbed to a bacterial infection. The animals were found with tusks intact, ruling out poaching and deliberate poisoning. Parks authorities believe the elephants could have ingested the bacteria while searching for food. The carcasses were found near water sources. "We considered the possibility of cyanobacteria but we have no evidence that this is the case here (in Zimbabwe)," said Chris Foggin, a veterinarian at the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust, which tested samples from dead elephants from Zimbabwe and Botswana. Zimbabwe has sent samples to Britain and is waiting for permits to send samples to two other countries, Foggin said. Africa`s overall elephant population is declining due to poaching but Botswana, home to almost a third of the continent`s elephants, has seen numbers grow to around 130,000. d3sign/Getty Images Real estate agents in California have seen a surge of requests from clients for homes that come with high-quality air filtration, reports The Los Angeles Times' Sean Dean. California has been battling historic wildfires that have severely worsened air quality. The country also continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic, and as people are spending more time in their homes, the wealthy want to ensure that the air inside is as clean as it can be. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Luxury air filtration systems have become the latest must-have amenity among the wealthy, according to the Los Angeles Times' Sam Dean. The surge of interest is especially apparent in California, as the state battles some of the most devastating wildfires in its history. These fires are further polluting an already polluted sky, leading to unhealthy air quality, the Times previously reported. The pandemic, in addition to the polluted air, has led some wealthy homebuyers to begin specifically requesting to view homes that come with "clean air" or "air filtration" as an amenity similar to the way one would previously request a hot tub or an in-home gym. "Suddenly it's a topic of conversation," Carl Gambino, a Los Angeles-based real estate agent, told the Times. Gambino said he recently sold a $14.1 million and a $23.5 million house in the area, each of which had deluxe air filtration as a key selling point. Real-estate developer and investor Gregory Malin told the Times that he'd begun marketing filtered air as a wellness amenity over a decade ago, recently adding a nearly $200,000 ventilation system to a 12,000-square-foot Bay Area home project he worked on. Cleaner, more filtered air isn't just a draw in single-family residences. Luxury apartment buildings are also taking note of the interest and adjusting offerings accordingly. Candace Jackson at Town and Country reported in August that developers, real estate agents, and architects were betting on "hospital-grade HVAC systems and germ-zapping UV filers" to lure in clients as the pandemic continues to take hold. Story continues "Before, these systems were something that was a want," Adam Sires, a Beverly Hills broker, told the publication. "Now they're becoming something that's a need." Eco-friendly and wellness amenities have been among the biggest trends in high-end housing for the last several years, Business Insider's Lina Batarags and Katie Warren each previously reported. But amid the pandemic, high-quality air filtration systems have suddenly become a lot more vital to some buyers than rooftop running tracks and resident-only meditation rooms. Read the original article on Business Insider Hollywood A-Lister Eva Mendes is calling on Australians to dig deep for sick or seriously injured children after being named ambassador for McHappy Day. The 46-year-old's newly elected position was announced by McDonald's Australia on Friday, despite being unable to travel Down Under due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eva joins a long line of celebrities to hold the position for Ronald McDonald House Charities Australia - including Katie Holmes, Naomi Watts and Ricki-Lee Coulter, Ada Nicodemou, Benji and Joel Madden, and Ryan Kwanten. Show stopper: Hollywood A-Lister Eva Mendes (pictured) was named ambassador for McHappy Day by McDonald's Australia on Friday The mother of two shared her excitement with Instagram fans on Friday, stating she was eager to get involved due to a personal connection to the charity. 'I know this charity personally,' Eva wrote. 'My cousin's child had neuroblastoma and the Ronald McDonald House was incredibly instrumental in getting them through the most horrific time.' Neuroblastoma is a type of cancer commonly found in the adrenal glands, which are the small glands on top of the kidneys. 'I wish I could be there in Australia (one of my favorite places in the world!) to be a part of this important fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities, which helps keep families together while their seriously ill or injured child undergoes treatment,' she told her fans. Movement: The 46-year-old (pictured) joins a long line of celebrities who have help the position for Ronald McDonald House Charities Australia - including Katie Holmes, Naomi Watts and Ricki-Lee Coulter, Ada Nicodemou, Benji and Joel Madden, and Ryan Kwanten Helping hand: The mother of two shared her excitement with Instagram fans on Friday and said she was eager to get involved due to a personal connection to the charity. Pictured: McHappy Day donations 'So excited to help raise money so they can continue to do what they do.' McHappy Day is the largest annual fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities Australia, raising vital funds to keep families together when a child is seriously ill or injured. This was specifically important to Eva, who added: 'As a mum, I couldn't imagine being away from my children when they need me most, so I feel so honoured to be involved in such an important initiative.' Hero: Eva (pictured) said it was important to her as Ronald McDonald House Charities Australia raised vital funds to keep families together when a child is seriously ill or injured 'Aussies can get behind the McHappy fundraising efforts by heading to their local McDonald's from the 21st of October and picking up a pair of Silly Socks, a Helping Hand or simply making a donation,' she said. 'And on Saturday 14th of November, McHappy Day, $2 from every Big Mac sold will also go to Ronald McDonald House Charities.' McDonald's Australia marketing director Jo Feeney said the event had raised more than $51million for RRMHC the past three decades. Standing proud: 'As a mum, I couldn't imagine being away from my children when they need me most, so I feel so honoured to be involved in such an important initiative,' Eva said 'These funds have played a vital role in helping the charity keep thousands of families together when they need it most,' she said. RMHC CEO Barbara Ryan added: 'This year has been especially tough for families of seriously ill or injured children, and as a charity we've had to stretch ourselves and adapt the ways we operate to continue to support these families during this challenging time. 'We are so excited that Eva is lending her voice to McHappy Day ... The money raised through McHappy Day is critically important to enabling us to continue to do the work we do.' In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, as many businesses were falling apart, some came together, forming coalitions to serve the greater good. Stop the Spread is a consortium made up of over 300 companies doing their parts to create, source, and distribute PPE, build lifesaving medical equipment, and increase coronavirus testing--basically, anything and everything in their power to end the crisis. According to its own numbers, the organization has raised $350,000. Among its many goals is asking larger companies to pay smaller vendors and partners quickly through a "#payitforward campaign" to help keep them funded and keep their employees paid. Stop the Spread is investing in initiatives to cooperatively procure and make PPE at ethical factories. It began with a March 2020 Medium post (republished by The New York Times) by former CEO and chairman of American Express Ken Chenault and entrepreneur Rachel Romer Carlson calling for businesses to do everything in their power to fight Covid-19. Romer and Chenault were seeing "gaps in how the private sector was harnessing its resources to respond to this public health crisis," according to Christian Peele, Stop the Spread's head of operations. Romer, co-founder and CEO of Guild Education, a company that helps employers cover their employees' education costs, and Chenault, who now serves as chairman and managing director of the VC General Catalyst Partners, put out the urgent call to other CEOs to roll up their sleeves and get to work. "This, put simply, is the moment when American business must step up," Romer and Chenault wrote. "Wherever we can, however we can, we must meet this unprecedented challenge as generations of business leaders have before us--with the drive of innovation, the spirit of endeavor, and a sense of shared sacrifice." One such company was Ventec Life Systems, a Bothell, Washington-based medical technology maker. Ventec, which has about 160 employees, produces the VOCSN, a device that combines a ventilator, an oxygen concentrator, a cough assist, suction, and a nebulizer to assist people unable to breathe on their own, whether due to ALS, MS, a spinal cord injury, or any other reason. As it became clear that hospitals would need ventilators to help Covid patients, Ventec's team knew they had a piece of technology that could help. "Rather than trying to build something from the ground up, we wanted to take a proven technology and scale it," says Chris Brooks, Ventec's chief strategy officer. A representative from Stop the Spread connected with Ventec's CEO over LinkedIn and, as Brooks recalls, "before we knew it, we were on a phone call with General Motors." With Ventec's know-how and GM's mastery of supply chain and scale, the two companies got down to work. Within two days of the first call, GM sent a team to 3-D scan Ventec's factory where the company is able to produce 100 to 200 devices a month. Using the scans, GM reproduced Ventec's facility--at 10 times the size--in Kokomo, Indiana, where they were able to produce 10,000 ventilators a month. As The Wall Street Journal reported last month, GM and Ventec were able to deliver 30,000 ventilators to the U.S. government as part of a $490 million federal contract. Throughout the process, Stop the Spread remained involved. "They were on the ground in D.C., talking with folks at all levels of the administration, helping them to understand what was needed and how best to leverage private companies and other third-party entities who were looking to help out," Brooks says. "They were instrumental." European stocks slipped on Friday, on course for their worst weekly showing in over three months, as fresh restrictions to contain a surge in coronavirus cases in the continent raised concerns about the pace of economic recovery. The pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 0.1%, failing to match Asian and Wall Street gains after a top U.S. lawmaker said Democrats in the House of Representatives were working on a $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package that could be voted on next week. France's CAC 40 fell 0.7% after the country set a new record of daily COVID-19 infections and the country's prime minister warned on Thursday that the government could be forced to reconfine areas. Travel & leisure stocks took a hit, with British Airways-owner IAG, Lufthansa and Air France KLM dropping more than 4%. Automakers fell about 1% after an industry body said British car production fell by an annual 45% in August as the sector continues to suffer due to the fallout from the virus outbreak. "New restrictions in Europe, less fiscal support, fading liquidity impulse and election risk should weigh on activity in Q4," European equity strategists at Barclays wrote in a note. "Economic surprises are starting to roll over from all-time high levels." Earlier this week, surveys of purchasing managers pointed to a slowdown in services sector activity in the United States and Europe, even as the manufacturing sector continued to improve, raising doubts about a steady recovery. Tech stocks slid 0.9%, despite overnight gains for Wall Street peers. Spanish telephone operator MasMovil edged higher after a local newspaper reported that Vodafone has started talks to buy the company. Vodafone gained 1.3%. Nestle gained 1.6% after HSBC upgraded the stock to "buy" on expectations of a boost to revenue from its health science unit. Paris Match publisher Lagardere surged 28.2% after billionaire Bernard Arnault revealed he had built up a direct stake in the firm, which is under siege from several other investors. Swedish home appliance maker Electrolux rose 3.9% after saying that it would propose reinstating dividends after a recovery in earnings and cash flows during the third quarter. Italian bank Banco BPM gained 4.7%, extending this week's rise after talks of takeover interest from Credit Agricole. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie Juan Emilio Ameri appears to commit lewd act on Zoom (Twitter) A lawmaker in Argentina has been suspended after he was spotted kissing a womans breast during a virtual session of congress. Juan Emilio Ameri, who represents the northern province of Salta, was seen by both colleagues and members of the public committing the lewd act as the chamber of deputies held a special meeting broadcast on Zoom. Footage of the incident quickly went viral on social media, sparking outrage and quickly leading to a vote in which the 47-year-old was suspended pending an investigation. In the footage, Mr Ameri, who is in the ruling Frene de Todos coalition, can be seen sitting down in front of a web cam with a woman on his lap. As another politician addresses his colleagues, Mr Ameri puts his face to the womans chest, before pulling down her top and appearing to kiss her breast. Following his suspension, Mr Ameri said the woman was his partner and that he believed at the time he was not connected to the meeting. Im very ashamed, [I feel] very bad, Mr Ameri said, according to the Buenos Aires Times. Here, throughout the interior of the country, the [internet] connection is very bad. Mr Ameri added he gave his partner a kiss because 10 days ago she underwent breast implant surgery. The deputies meeting was immediately interrupted, with speaker Sergio Massa telling colleagues he needed to report a serious offence against the normal decorum and operation of the lower house. Ms Massas proposal to create a commission weighing up Mr Ameris expulsion from the chamber was endorsed, and the father-of-three now faces a wait of up for five days for the decision. It is not the first time a virtual meeting has tripped up a politician since their use became widespread with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. In April, a California state official was forced to resign after he was seen in a Zoom meeting throwing his cat and making derogatory comments about little b******. Weeks later, Irish MEP Luke Flanagan was unwittingly caught trouser-less discussing agriculture policy during a virtual European parliament committee meeting. Story continues Read more Man who threw cat and drank beer on Zoom meeting before shouting about little b****** resigns from California city council Zoom adds new security feature as it continues to fight against Zoombombing and other privacy problems How did Zoom manage to flourish during the pandemic? Zelinsky testified that the U.S. attorneys first assistant, whom he later identified as Alessio Evangelista, and criminal chief, whom he did not identify, were also involved in these discussions to my knowledge, and it was his understanding that one or more of them had talked to Barr, Rosen or Shea. Zelinsky later clarified, though, that he did not have any conversations with Mr. Evangelista following the filing of our memo recommending Stones prison sentence. MUMBAI (Reuters) - Some of Bollywood's biggest actors are being questioned in a widening drug probe by federal agencies that has sent shockwaves through India's beleaguered film industry and dominated prime time news headlines. Officials from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have been investigating alleged drug use in Bollywood for the last month in connection with the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, a popular actor who was found dead at his residence in June. The NCB is scheduled to question actress Deepika Padukone, one of the industry's most well-known names, on Saturday, Indian media reported. Officials at NCB's Mumbai office did not respond to calls from Reuters. Padukone, 34, among the industry's highest paid stars, was seen landing in Mumbai late on Thursday, ahead of her questioning on Saturday, according to local TV news. Padukone or her representatives were not immediately available to comment. The NCB has already questioned several well-known persons connected to the industry this week in Mumbai, including producers, talent managers and a fashion designer. The investigation is aimed at unearthing a possible nexus between the film industry and the drug trade, an Indian law enforcement official told Reuters. "We don't know who is next. It's scary," said a Bollywood producer, who did not want to be named, adding that there were fears that more big names could feature in the probe. The 191 billion rupee ($2.59 billion) Indian film industry, of which Mumbai-based Bollywood forms a major part, has been struggling with a lean year, as theatres continue to remain shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mumbai police initially reported Rajput's death as accidental and local media called it a suicide, but the federal police agency is now investigating if there was any foul play. Earlier this month, the NCB arrested actress Rhea Chakraborty, who had been dating Rajput at the time of his death, for being "active in a drug syndicate connected with drug supplies", according to a copy of her bail order. Chakraborty and her brother Showik are currently in jail in Mumbai. (Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Gareth Jones) On This Day The Day the Leader of a Historic Challenge to British Rule Died Thakin Pho Hla Gyi YANGONOn this day in 1943, Thakin Pho Hla Gyi, who was best known for his leading role in an oil workers strike against British colonial rule, died of stomach cancer aged just 35. At the time of his death, Dr. Ba Than (the father-in-law of future military dictator General Ne Win) was preparing to operate on Thakin Pho Hla Gyi at Yangon (then Rangoon) General Hospital. Thakin Pho Hla Gyi was a tall, well-built, good-looking man. During his three years of military service in the Mesopotamia campaign in World War I, he often challenged British soldiers who discriminated on the grounds of color. Later, he worked as an oil worker at the Chauk oil field in central Myanmar. Seeing the hard lives of the oil workers, he led strikes against the British-owned Burmah Oil Company (BOC), the biggest oil company in Myanmar at the time. He led thousands of workers in a 650-km, 40-day march to Yangon, skipping sleep and meals. The movement was crucial as the first national uprising against colonial rule and became known as the Revolution of 1300, named after the traditional Burmese calendar. It was during the strike that Thakin Pho Hla Gyi first developed the stomach problems that would eventually take his life. The Myanmar Encyclopedia includes an entry on his life, and statues have been erected in Thakin Pho Hla Gyis honor. When it decided to remove independence leader General Aung Sans image from Myanmars banknotes, the military regime replaced it with portraits of Thakin Pho Hla Gyi on 45-kyat banknotes and peasant armed rebellion leader Saya San on 90-kyat notes. Military dictator Ne Win, who vowed to build a socialist Myanmar with farmers and workers as its foundation, named his hall for labor seminars Thakin Pho Hla Gyi Hall. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko You may also like these stories: The Day Myanmar Officially Adopted Its National Anthem The Day Myanmars Daw Aung San Suu Kyi First Met Her Jailer The Day Myanmars Ex-Dictator Began to Engineer a Military Coup After all, how are disappearing body parts and phantom absences any more unlikely than a countryside burning while the prime minister throws a shaka on social media? How is people not noticing as the bodies around them literally fade away any more improbable than seeming mass indifference to human suffering, abuse and institutional failings? Whats the loss of a single finger against the collapse of eco-systems and the daily disappearance of entire species? Because the further it goes on, the clearer it is that this books key concern perhaps even more than the missing and disappeared is wilful obliviousness. This is, at its heart, a story about the Age of Inattention. Between sitting vigil beside hospital beds, and enduring endless loaded conversations about how to face unthinkable logistical choices and practical agonies, Flanagans characters lose themselves in the endless doom-scrolling of the time we live in. Anna and her siblings retreat into their phones, into the relentless white noise of the news cycle to escape having to consider what is in front of them. At times tending to the macabre and gothic (the fate of Annas son Gus in particular manages to be both darkly funny and heart-rending), the horror comes not from the inexplicable nature of the disappearances but in how they go utterly unnoticed by everyone around Anna. In this noisy, indifferent world that Flanagan has captured so well, we dont see one another. We dont pay attention. Were so overwhelmed by our inability to make sense of what we see that we move past it, relentless forward momentum. Loading Flanagans writing is more than equal to unpacking these weighty concerns. Its acuity when it comes to drawing the core relationships, the complex cross-generational patterns of trauma and intolerance, rejection and love, is masterful. Lafayette, LA- Healthcare leaders and community stakeholders from South Louisiana gathered both live and virtually on Thursday to create community conversations on COVID at the South Louisiana Community Health Summit. The global pandemic has significantly affected many parishes across South Louisiana over the past seven months. To date, the Acadiana area has over 25,000 confirmed cases with 667 confirmed deaths according to the Louisiana Department of Health COVID dashboard. Our goal for this years Summit was to have an serious and honest community conversation about COVID, said Dr. Holly Howat, Executive Director of Beacon Community Connections, Better together was the chosen as the theme to really zero in on the fact that we are all fighting this pandemic together. The Summit, hosted by Beacon Community Connections, was an opportunity to pause and reflect and highlight healthcares continued efforts to combat the deadly COVID19 virus. The timing of the Summit could not have been better. Beacon Community Connections gathered the top leaders in our healthcare system who shared their collective wisdom and experience on what is occurring on the front line. said Jan Swift, host of the Summit. To begin the day, Dr Amanda Logue, Dr. Chuck Burnell, and Dr. Henry Kaufman spoke about the challenges healthcare organizations continue to face as they work to quickly learn and implement new knowledge and practice around COVID. All of them agreed that communication was essential to fighting the pandemic. Whatever we are going to do to save our community, we have to be united. Said Dr. Amanda Logue, Chief Medical Officer for Lafayette General Health. State Senator Fred Mills and Dr. Tina Stefanski had a plain-spoken conversation about how state and federal policies are implemented on a local level. Senator Mills spoke about the upcoming special legislative session and how we must balance economic with healthcare. Dr Stefanski praised our community saying, People in this community have remained faithful to masks and being careful in public. We see the benefits of these actions. Dr. Sandra Brown, Dr. Ryan Bosch, and Dr. Iris Malone spoke passionately about the health inequities that are highlighted by this pandemic such as 46.3% of COVID deaths are among Blacks who only make up 32.4% of the populations. Dr. Iris Malone gave the Summit a frontline providers view of the COVID pandemic and highlighted the need for communication and trust between providers and patients. Mr. Cian Robinson closed the Summit with a discussion on future trends in healthcare as a direct result of COVID. While we may be in the midst of a pandemic, the future of healthcare has never looked so bright. said Mr. Robinson, Executive Director of Innovation, Research and Real Estate for Lafayette General Health. Many participants expressed gratitude for conferences like these. Mr. Brandon Williams, a licensed professional counselor and virtual attendee said "I believe attending a conference like this is essential to not only my professional growth, but to our community prosperity. The more I know, the better I can serve." Ms. Anne Pyle, CEO of ADP Solutions and in-person attendee said, The summit clarified what I knew about COVID in a number of ways. As a member of the public, it was good to hear from the three Chief Medical Officers how things really evolved during the peaks and valleys of the crisis for their organizations and how they were constantly trying to correct misconceptions from the media and social media. At the close of the event, Dr. Howat said, I am glad we were able to host these community conversations to highlight the hard work of our healthcare system as well as areas that need continued work. I hope you go and continue to have these conversations. Boden has come under fire from shoppers after unveiling items from its latest autumn collection. Thanks to its colourful peasant dresses and classic styling, founder Johnnie Boden has attained something close to cult status in the homes of middle-class fashionistas. But the quintessentially British brand, worn in the past by the likes of the Duchess of Sussex, Samantha Cameron, Michelle Obama and Susanna Reid, has received a distinctly marmite response to its new catalogue. Long-standing customers took to Facebook to complain about its use of synthetic materials like polyester and viscose as opposed to natural wool and cotton, and many bemoaned the accompanying high price tags. Boden's Elise Pleated Midi Dress, priced at 160, which features a vibrant chevron pattern came in for criticism from loyal customers Boden has come under fire from shoppers after unveiling items from its latest autumn collection. Above is criticism for its Elise Pleated Midi Dress, priced at 160 One shopper moaned about a bright 'migraine inducing' psychedelic print, while another expressed alarm about a neck line that would 'make my bust look like a bag full of fighting cats!' Boden's new 160 Helen Sparkle Dress, described as having a Multi Metallic Stripe, drew ire for its vivid colours and chevron pattern. One Facebook user quipped: 'My grandma had a similar bedspread in the seventies.' Another asked: 'Why is this 160? Is it made of decent material? No. Is it a designer make? No. Is it stylish? No. Can someone please explain why a viscose, oversized, machine woven scarf is 160??' A third said: 'From the comments it seems like this really is a Marmite dress.... Personally I hate it!' Boden's new 160 Helen Sparkle Dress, described as having a Multi Metallic Stripe, drew ire for its vivid colours and chevron pattern - with one Facebook user likening it to a 70s bedspread Long-standing Boden customers were unimpressed by the Helen Sparkle Dress, which is 95 per cent viscose and 5 per cent metallised fibre The dress did attract some fans - however even they had reservations, with one admitting: 'I love this dress.... however... if my bum was in that dress with that chevron pattern... think I might get aeroplanes trying to land on me!!' Boden's 95 Elise Pleated Top, which is described as having an 'Eccentric Chevron', also triggered a strong response. While some likened its design to a piece from the luxury label Missoni, one snapped: 'Enough to give you a migraine!' The 'vintage flavoured print' of the new Nell Pleated Dress, priced at 120, also failed to generate the desired response One customer scathingly remarked: 'That neckline would make my bust look like a bag full of fighting cats!' while another wrote: 'Dearest Boden, you have lost the plot' The Elise Pleated Midi Dress, priced at 160, which features the same pattern also came in for criticism. 'Could not wear this, it looks too much like the visual disturbance I get when a migraine begins,' one customer commented. Another raged: 'Get a grip Boden ! This is horrific, like a dreadful 70s throwback!!' While many customers were fans of this rainbow-striped loungewear, many criticised the 80 price tag of the 'knitted joggers' - which are 33 per cent viscose, 23 per cent polyamide, 20 per cent cotton, 20 per cent wool and four per cent cashmere The 'vintage flavoured print' of the new Nell Pleated Dress, priced at 120, also failed to generate the desired response. One customer scathingly remarked: 'That neckline would make my bust look like a bag full of fighting cats!' while another wrote: 'Dearest Boden, you have lost the plot. 'The latest book is utter garbage. Please, please start asking some people their opinions. So sad to see you get it so wrong.' Former Boden CEO Jill Easterbrook left the fashion house at the end of 2019 after three years in the role, and was effectively replaced by the brand's finance boss Paul O'Leary. Boden's 95 Elise Pleated Top, which is described as having an 'Eccentric Chevron', also triggered a strong response. While some likened its design to a piece from the luxury label Missoni, one snapped: 'Enough to give you a migraine!' One shopper said they hoped Boden was 'taking note' of all the comments on its last few posts, claiming they fear the brand has 'lost its essence' Its founder Johnnie Boden is lauded as one of the UK's most successful retail entrepreneurs with a personal fortune estimated at more than 300m. The brand, which launched in 1991, still sends out 60 million catalogues a year and attracts around two million customers, many of them caricatured as 'yummy mummies' - a phrase Mr Boden is said to hate. While all fashion businesses are now heavily reliant on online sales, Boden, which launched in 1991, built its success as a catalogue business and still sends out around 60m a year. Boden recently reported a drop in profits for 2019, as it invested more in its online offerings and fulfilment capabilities, with a particular focus on the US. Pre-tax profits fell 48.8per cent to 15.4m in the full year to December 31, 2019, as the retailer invested in its website and delivery system. Sales grew 1.4 per cent to 387.9m in the same period, with US sales up just 0.06 per cent to 144.8m, while sales for the UK and the rest of the world increased 2.31 per cent to 243.1m. Boden said it did not wish to comment. Protesters gather in front of a fire near the North police precinct in Portland, Ore. on Sept. 6, 2020. This was the 101st consecutive night of disturbances in the city. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images) A Munster of Our Own Making: Religiosity in Portland Commentary A violent gang of radical Anabaptistsnow thats a phrase one doesnt get to use often, but there it is: In 1534, a violent gang of radical Anabaptists seized control of Munster, the city in northwestern Germany, and announced to all the world the coming of the New Jerusalem. It was there in Westphalia, they said, that they would create heaven on earth, founding the true community of saints. You can probably predict the path the tale takes. This kind of story follows a familiar narrative logic, and it always ends in murder. The great temptation of radicalism is the attempt to immanentize the eschaton (a phrase of Eric Voegelins, much used by conservatives in the 1970s and 1980s). This is the belief that perfected human society is within sight and needs just one little further push. Its the idea that what religions promise for the end time can be brought about in the meantime, with only a little efforta little revolution and revaluation of values. A little spilled blood. You can find that general pattern in the Killing Fields (where the Khmer Rouge executed more than a million Cambodians in the 1970s, in the firm belief they were bringing about a peaceable utopia). Or the Cultural Revolution (where, at the instigation of Mao Zedong, radicalized Red Guards killed as many as 20 million Chinese in the late 1960s, in the name of restoring true communism). Whats fascinating about the Munster Rebellion, however, is that it doesnt follow merely the general history of grand social revolutions that begin in claimed idealism and end in actual slaughter. It also follows a particular pattern familiar to Americans watching the news these days. Find the riots in the big cities a little hard to understand? Theyre reenacting a 16th-century morality play. Portland, Oregon, is our mini-Munster. The members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter are our ersatz Anabaptists. New Jerusalem So, around 1532, a Dutch agitator named Jan Matthys came to Munster and began working tirelessly to rile up the city. His party soon found a local Lutheran pastor named Bernhard Rothmann to promote their cause and a local wool merchant named Bernhard Knipperdolling to finance it. Anabaptists poured into the city from Holland and Germany, with mobs shaming and bullying random citizens into being rebaptized in the new dispensation. Winning the magistracy elections in 1534, the Anabaptists installed Knipperdolling as mayor and deposed the representatives of the prince-bishop who ruled Munster for the Holy Roman Empire. Wild bouts of looting and iconoclasm followed, with the (mostly Lutheran) churches stripped of their art and valuables. Rebaptism into Anabaptism was made mandatory, and property was forcibly seizedwith a declaration that, henceforth, all property would be held in common. The New Jerusalem, the world was told, had arrived. The Westphalian prince-bishop and the Holy Roman Empire didnt share the euphoria, however, and they soon besieged the city. Not to worry, said Matthys, who announced that he was the new Gideon who would conquer for Godon Easter Sunday, no less. He and his indomitable band of 12 followers sallied out to smite the hundreds of professional troops surrounding Munster. They proved not quite up to the task. After the deceased Matthyss head and genitals were nailed to the city gates, a 25-year-old Dutchman named John of Leiden took charge, on the basis of his claim to be receiving visions from God. Proclaiming himself the new David, and Munster the new Zion, John began to dress in royal robes and took several wives. Of course, to have multiple marriages, he needed to enact a law allowing polygamy. When legalized polygamy failed to bring about the perfected kingdom, Johnin a classic example of the escalating logic of radical social transformationpassed another law, making polygamy mandatory. Even that, however, failed to end the starvation of Munsters citizens or shame the Holy Roman Empire into surrender. The city was retaken by the prince-bishop on June 24, 1535. John of Leiden and Knipperdolling were executed, with their bodies displayed in cages that still hang from a Munster church steeple. Using the Radicals Portions of this story have echoes in other rebellions. Looking at the Russian Revolution, Gary Saul Morson has written about the ways in which the liberal party in Russia actually helped the radical Bolsheviks who despised them. Picturing the radicals as merely a useful club with which to terrorize the opponents of reform, the liberals supposed that the Bolsheviks could be reined in once the conservatives were defeated. And so the liberal Kadet party maneuvered to have Bolsheviks released from jail and armed for street protests. Not surprisingly, the Kadet politicians proved less smart than they imagined themselves. The Bolsheviks used the opportunity to seize powerand promptly executed the liberal politicians who had facilitated their rise. The obvious parallel to the Munster Rebellion comes in the early days, when key Lutheran figures aided Matthys and the radical Anabaptists, taking them as tools to use against Catholic opponents. And the parallel to the violence in U.S. cities today comes with the Democratic party figures who pay the bail of radical protesters, the facilitating of violence by liberal mayors, and the notion that agitation makes Antifa and Black Lives Matter useful weapons for defeating Republicansall in the mad belief (so like the insanity of the Munster Lutherans and the Russian liberals) that the radicals can be dealt with easily, once the hated opponent has been eliminated. Anxious Revolutionaries But the Munster Rebellion and the current American agitation share elements not exactly present in the Russian Revolutionfor Westphalia and America were profoundly Protestant territory, with their agitations shaped by that fact. In my 2015 book, An Anxious Age, I argued that current generations of radically tinged Americans are post-Protestants, the children of the people who once filled the dying mainline churches. Certainly, they manifest some of the worst of the old social norms: a conviction of their own moral rectitude and a feeling of superiority to the unenlightened. They have, as well, the same spiritual anxieties, made all the more desperate by their lack of actual religion. They seek constant assurance that they hold the right attitudes and take the right positions. They are, in essence, the heirs of the Social Gospel movement, with all the old religion stripped out: the Church of Christ without Christ. You can find my application of these ideas to contemporary events in a Weekly Standard essay, called The Spiritual Shape of Political Ideas and in Wokeness: Old Religion in a New Bottle, a recent interview in Spiked. In them, I think about white guilt as the idea of Original Sin with God removed, cancel culture as Christian shunning with the church removed, and even radical environmentalism as the Christian Apocalypse with the Second Coming erased. But, more particularly, think about the unendingness of the riots going on right now in Portland, the mad politics of the autonomous zones in Seattle, the bullying of restaurant-goers, the confrontations with passersby, and the rest. The key is discerning the unfocused and unadmitted religiosity in it all. Antifa and Black Lives Matter are filled with spiritually anxious people, desperate to make their lives meaningful. The agitators traveling from protest to protest are Matthys, come to Westphalia to see if that is where the Anabaptist revolution would finally take hold. The mad escalation is religious rebellion against the sinful world, following out its inescapable logic. We are watching a Munster of our own making: a vague and dangerous hunger for the world to be changed, with an anarchist utopia imagined to lie just a little push aheadneeding just a little apocalyptic revolution and social reversal. Needing just a little blood. Joseph Bottum, Ph.D., is director of the Classics Institute at Dakota State University. His most recent book is The Decline of the Novel. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Oregon State Police and the Multnomah County Sheriffs Office will command the law enforcement response this weekend in Portland to stem potential violence between the far-right group Proud Boys and left-wing counter-protesters planning simultaneous demonstrations in the city on Saturday, the governor announced. The joint unified command, with Oregon State Police Supt. Travis Hampton and Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese at the helm for 48 hours this weekend under the governors emergency authority, will enable state, county and Portland officers to bypass Portland Mayor Ted Wheelers ban that restricted local officers from the use of tear gas. We will use it judiciously, Hampton said at a news conference Friday. We hope we will not use it at all. Gov. Kate Brown said she met virtually with Wheeler, Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury, Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek and Portland Commissioner JoAnn Hardesty. The governor said the group came to a collective agreement" that the unusual arrangement was the best approach. The Oregon State Police superintendent earlier in the week had expressed serious reservations about assisting Portland police if his troopers were restricted from using tear gas to disperse crowds after riots or unlawful assemblies were declared. The Multnomah County Sheriffs Office also had indicated it was reluctant to help with crowd control, limiting its offer of help to the city previously to responding to dispatched emergency calls or providing mobile booking for those arrested. I am incredibly concerned about the increased risk of violence in Portland this weekend and for the safety of all Oregonians, Brown said, explaining why she took this unusual action. Seated beside her were Hampton, Reese and Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell. When free expression is fueled by hate and coupled with an intent to incite violence, then I need to do everything I can to ensure the safety of Oregonians." The Proud Boys are planning an End Domestic Terrorism demonstration in North Portlands Delta Park at noon on Saturday, despite the citys denial of a permit for the event. Left-wing counter-protesters are planning a simultaneous demonstration three miles away at North Portlands Peninsula Park. PopMob, short for Popular Mobilization, has circulated a flyer on social media that says, Calling All Everyday Antifascists: Join Us At Bloom - No Proud Boys in the Rose City. Hampton said the law enforcement arrangement this weekend should not be viewed as an indictment of the Portland Police Bureau or its handling of nightly demonstrations, which have occurred in the city for more than 100 days since shortly after the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis man knelt on his neck for several minutes. The state police superintendent promised a massive influx of Oregon state troopers, starting Saturday morning, saturating North Portland, along Interstate 5 and between the two parks Delta and Peninsula where the demonstrations are planned. He said the troopers, sheriffs' deputies and Portland police will work to keep hostile parties apart from one another" through the day and try to interdict any illegal fireworks or explosives, narcotics or firearms ahead of the demonstrations. He said his hope is for officers to make no arrests and use no force. We will bring every resource to bear, Hampton said. We will do this together, in the spirit of having a day absent of criminal conduct and injury." If your intent is to come to Oregon to commit crimes, to provoke, we do not want you to come here, Hampton added. With state police and the sheriff in command, officers will be able to respond to crowd management situations and emergencies with immediacy and consistency," the two agencies said in a joint statement. The governor called it a critical moment," as she signed Executive Order 20-54. It declares a state of emergency to address coordination of resources to control anticipated civil disturbance in Multnomah County, from 12:01 a.m. Saturday through 12:01 a.m. Monday. It allows Hampton and Reese to issue road closures and restrictions, and if needed, a curfew. We have seen what happens when armed vigilantes take matters into their own hands: weve seen it in Charlottesville. Weve seen it in Kenosha. And, unfortunately, we have even seen it here in Portland, she said. The Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer groups have come to Portland time and again, from out of town, looking for a fight, and the results are always tragic. Let me be perfectly clear: We will not tolerate any kind of violence this weekend. Left, right or center, violence is never a path toward meaningful change. Those stoking the flames of violence. Those coming to Portland looking for a fight will be held accountable. Gov. Kate Brown finds a "coordinated law enforcement response" necessary to address "an imminent risk of civil disturbance this weekend," the order says. Portland police have canceled officers' days off and plan to have a large uniformed officer presence while also working to regulate traffic to maintain public safety. About 50 of its specialized crowd control Rapid Response Team officers will be deputized as federal officers for the weekend enforcement, at the request of the state police superintendent. The city of Portlands Parks and Recreation Bureau this week denied a permit to the Proud Boys to hold their gathering at Delta Park, finding that its large crowd estimate violated the governors emergency restrictions barring groups of more than 50 people from gathering to avoid the spread of coronavirus. Enrique Tarrio, international chair of the Proud Boys, said his group sought a permit only as a courtesy and didnt expect to receive one. A trailer with an American flag backdrop will serve as a stage at Delta Park for speeches, followed by a barbecue, according to the groups permit application. Tarrio on Friday said he applauded Browns decision to beef up law enforcement this weekend. I think its great given the fact that Portland has seen over 100 days of non-stop riots, Tarrio said, using a term that police applied to only a subset of nightly protests against police violence and racial injustice. It looks like the governor is finally getting the message. And it excites me that theyre allowing us to practice our freedom of speech unimpeded by the domestic terrorists were coming to protest. Tarrio also said that hes told those who plan to attend the Proud Boys event to follow all local and state laws around firearms. At the end of the day, we support our boys in blue and want to make this event as safe as possible, he said. Portland regulations state that people cannot openly display loaded guns within city limits and cannot carry loaded guns unless they have an Oregon permit to carry a concealed handgun. Also Saturday, a Black-led group called J.U.I.C.E. PDX, standing for Justice, Unity, Integrity, Community, Equality, is planning to gather at the Vanport Historical Marker at 11:30 a.m. Speakers will talk at noon and a car caravan is anticipated to follow at 1 p.m. Andre Miller, an organizer with J.U.I.C.E. PDX, said the groups event would be family-friendly and focus on the history of Vanport City, which was created as temporary housing for World War II shipworkers and ended up as home to a large number of Black residents who were kept out of Portland because of racist real estate practices. Many Black Portlanders, Miller said, are upset that right-wing activists, some of whom espouse racist or bigoted views, have chosen to stage a demonstration in the area. It was kind of slap in the face to us, he said. Miller added that those gathering at the Vanport Historical Marker have no plans to engage with the Proud Boys and their supporters. Were not looking for any confrontation at all, he said. If that happens, well end our program immediately and move to a different location. We want to have a history lesson and to take back the narrative surrounding this weekend. The law enforcement arrangement, reached Thursday night, allows state police to send troopers to Portland, without being restricted in the use of tear gas. On Tuesday, Hampton wrote to Portlands deputy police chief that the state police would only offer uniform patrol coverage to aid Portland police in "interdicting the criminal element'' before they arrive at events and maintain a mobile response for anticipated flash points, but would not engage in crowd control because of the mayors tear gas ban. Enrique Tarrio, international chair of the far-right Proud Boys group, (reading from his phone) says the Saturday rally is to protest against the city of Portland's "negligence" in allowing what he called 120-plus days of anarchy in the city. Reese said the tear gas will be used as a last resort, when lives are at risk. That was the standard governing Portland police use of tear gas before Wheelers Sept. 10 order, banning its use for crowd control. Lovell, placed in the unusual spot of not being in charge of law enforcement this weekend in Portland as the citys chief of police, said Friday that the weekend arrangement allows for additional resources to help Portland police keep the peace in the city. Portlands mayor did not attend Fridays press conference run by the governor. In a statement issued later in the day, Wheeler said he supported the collaborative solution that brings in the necessary resources to help keep the city safe. Yet Wheeler said his directive to Portland police regarding the use of tear gas for crowd control remains unchanged. The mayors stance directly contradicted the statements made by Hampton at the Friday press conference, in which Hampton said the new unified command acting under the governors authority allows for local, state and county officers to use tear gas, if deemed necessary. State police Capt. Timothy Fox, the agencys spokesman, reaffirmed later Friday that Portland police will be directed and authorized by state police under the governors order to use tear gas, if necessary, if life or safety is at stake. Wheeler issued a prepared statement. For Saturday to remain peaceful, we need everyones help the state, the county and the community. We must stand together, and we are. Together, we can prevent white nationalists from achieving their goals of spreading fear and intimidation and of misrepresenting Portland for political gain, it read. This weekend, dont give out of town racists and bullies the satisfaction of distracting us, or slowing us down. Lets keep our focus on whats important and keep pressing forward together. And once again, thanks to our partners for responding to our request for mutual aid under these extraordinary circumstances." The city on Friday began putting up concrete barriers around the perimeter of Delta Park. The city wants to prevent trucks from driving onto the park's turf fields, officials said. Officer Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, called the executive order a good move by the governor, particularly because it allows officers, including Portland police, to have the option of using tear gas and a significant number of extra officers to assist in the citys response. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the Proud Boys a hate group. Cassie Miller, senior research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, issued a statement in response to the Proud Boys' planned rally in Portland: As alarming as the rally will be for the people of Portland, this is also an opportunity for local law enforcement agencies to look out for public safety. The police department must be proactive in managing the situation with adequate capacity to handle the crowds and prevent violence, particularly between Proud Boys and counter-protesters. Kafoury, the county chair, said she supports state, county and local police cooperation for Saturdays anticipated arrival of far-right groups in the city of Portland. We have seen in the recent past that these groups descend on communities in large numbers in order to intimidate community members, provoke reactions and act violently, she said. "The size and intent of this event necessitate the coordinated law enforcement effort that the governor announced this morning. The governors decision to send state police troopers into Portland this weekend follows her earlier move this summer when she worked out an agreement with the federal government to have state troopers take over security outside the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse after the federal courthouse became the focal point of nightly protests. Before the arrival of the state troopers, the protests outside the courthouse often ended with violence when some in the crowd lobbed commercial-grade fireworks, rocks or bottles over a fence in front of the courthouse, and federal officers responded with force, firing tear gas or impact munitions to clear out crowds. Tina Kotek, the House Speaker who lives in North Portland, said her constituents in North Portland have been very concerned about the Proud Boys' planned event at Delta Park. She thanked the governor, Portlands mayor and the county chair for coming up with the coordinated plan. "Our communities are hurting. The lack of justice for Breonna Taylor is yet another wound, especially for our neighbors who have personally experienced systemic racism in their lives. I will continue working to reform unjust systems of power,'' Kotek said in a statement. This year has tested our collective will in unimaginable ways. But injuring others in anger will not bring about change. Nonviolent resistance is essential to bringing our country to a more perfect union. I encourage my fellow Portlanders to stay away from the hate rally on Saturday. Raise your voices elsewhere, speak of love and justice, and dont give them your energy. By Friday afternoon, city workers were putting up concrete barriers at Delta Park to try to prevent trucks from driving onto Delta Parks turf fields, Fox said. Oregonian/OregonLive journalist Shane Dixon Kavanaugh contributed to this story. -- Maxine Bernstein Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212 Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Subscribe to Facebook page Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:12:52|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close -- E-commerce on the African continent has been experiencing exponential growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic. -- Experts and officials believe that COVID-19 can serve as a catalyst for African countries to achieve digital transformation. -- Chinese tech giants including Alibaba and Huawei have devoted efforts and resources to help African countries build IT infrastructure and nurture talents. NAIROBI, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Africa's digital economy has found a silver lining in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as more people opted for online shopping to halt the spread of the virus. The digital transformation on the continent has been further expedited by Chinese players, including e-commerce titan Alibaba and telecom giant Huawei. Before long, African entrepreneurship passion will be lifted to a record high, as the 2020 Africa's Business Heroes prize competition, a program established by the Jack Ma Foundation's Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative, is set to reveal its 10 finalists this fall. A customer receives her order of fresh fruit and vegetable in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, Sept. 16, 2020. (Xinhua/Tafara Mugwara) EXPONENTIAL GROWTH The African people have had their first taste of success in digital transformation as e-commerce on the continent has been experiencing exponential growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Facilitated by Alibaba's Electronic World Trade Platform initiative, an online promotion event for Rwandan coffee via live streaming was held recently to help Rwandan coffee farmers pull through difficulties caused by the pandemic. Some 3,000 bags of coffee beans from Rwanda Farmers Coffee Company were sold out in a second. "Alibaba came at a time when it was needed the most. In a world that runs digitally, we have to adapt ourselves to e-commerce, and thanks to Alibaba Group, we are tapping into the opportunity since it's one of the best platforms in the e-commerce sector," Pie Ntwali, spokesperson of Rwanda's National Agricultural Export Development Board, told Xinhua. To mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19, African e-commerce platforms such as SafeBoda, a motorcycle (bodaboda) taxi hailing app connecting market vendors with customers, are giving a boost. SafeBoda and other e-commerce platforms have seen a triple-digit increase in business following the outbreak of the pandemic, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced in August. Visitors look at coffee products at an exhibition stand during the 17th African Fine Coffee Conference and Exhibition in Kigali, Rwanda, Feb. 14, 2019. (Xinhua/Cyril Ndegeya) Governments in Africa are helping these e-commerce platforms flourish by fostering an enabling environment for e-commerce and the digital economy, in line with recommendations of an UNCTAD eTrade Readiness Assessment. In Kenya, revenue streams generated by music aggregators, such as local platform Mdundo, have helped mitigate pandemic-related losses, through the download of artists' music tunes and ringtones for mobile phones. Mdundo, which is expanding its presence in 15 African countries and featuring more than 60,000 African artists, has more than 5 million active users. "Music downloads have been rising steadily with a 26-percent uptick in 2020's second quarter on the first quarter's 33 million downloads," Mdundo's CEO Wanjiku Koinange said, adding that COVID-19 was also changing the way creative content is being produced. Under lockdown, the power of online technology has prevailed, making life easier for African residents to access essential services and household basic essentials like food, drinks and hygiene products by means of different online platforms, Alex Ntale, ICT chamber CEO of Rwandan Private Sector Federation, told Xinhua. Kauthar D'Souza, a Tanzanian housewife residing in Kariakoo, a major market area in Dar es Salaam, said COVID-19 had doubled her online shopping needs. "Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic I have been buying all my basic needs including food and clothing online," she said. "Online shopping is the best way of avoiding mass gathering as a way to protect ourselves against the COVID-19." "The e-commerce has showed great potential and it will be the best model of business in the future of commerce," said Ntwali. Photo taken on Sept. 7, 2019 shows a logo of Rwanda Digital Trading Hub of Alibaba Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) Yiwu Global Innovation Center at Kigali Logistics Platform in Kigali, Rwanda. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran) HUGE POTENTIAL Bora Chitanda, a Tanzanian salesman working in marketing industry, said the culture of online buying and home delivery in Tanzania that had been accelerated following the outbreak of COVID-19 should be maintained even after the disease was contained. Experts and policymakers have called on African leaders to "think digital" during a virtual session of the African World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) implementation meeting held early this month under the theme of "COVID-19: A Catalyst to Achieving WSIS Outcomes." "This is a great opportunity for the continent to transform itself. The digital economy is an important sector, so we need to embrace technology and leapfrog if we are to survive," Head of the Information Society Division at the AU Commission Moctar Yedaly said, adding the Digital Transformation Strategy developed by the African Union is key to transforming Africa. "Building a digital future is crucial if the continent is to become globally competitive, survive and claim the 21st century," read the outcome statement issued by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) after the meeting. The participants also agreed harnessing digital technologies and innovation to transform Africa's societies and economies as a crucial impetus is "not only to promote Africa's integration but also generate inclusive economic growth, stimulate job creation, bridge the digital divide and eradicate poverty to secure the benefits of the digital revolution for socio-economic development." "The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is an important engine for achieving sustainable development goals," said Jean Paul Adam, director of the Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management Division at the UNECA. "However, our main challenge remains. The digital divide is widespread in Africa with a very low rate of connectivity. We can never meet the 2030 target if we do not urgently address the issue of connectivity across the continent," said Adam. A local student attends the graduation ceremony of Huawei's Seeds for the Future Program in Harare, Zimbabwe, Sept. 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Tafara Mugwara) CHINA'S EFFORTS The good news for Africa is that China is helping the continent to shape the e-commerce ecosystem in a way not seen before, by providing e-commerce platforms, mobile payment technologies and smart phone devices. E-commerce outlets in Africa such as Jumia are already achieving tremendous growth due to its connectivity with Chinese online firms, notably Alibaba and others. "China-Africa e-commerce partnerships are scaling up the digital dream that Africa has had, and helping the continent move towards innovation, technology and competitiveness," Edward Kusewa, economics lecturer at St. Paul University in Nairobi, Kenya, told Xinhua. Chinese smart phones have led to a social media boom especially among the continent's youth and have played a big role in the growth of Africa's e-commerce industry, according to Kusewa. Mobile money tools such as M-pesa have made digital shopping seamless, thanks to mobile devices made in China. On Sept. 24, Joseph U. Ibeh, senior analyst at Space in Africa, made public his latest research report on mobile money, saying that there are currently more than 290 mobile money services deployed across 95 countries, mainly in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Citing the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, Ibeh said "Sub-Saharan Africa is not showing signs of slowing down in mobile money adoption as the GSMA forecasts that the region will surpass the half-billion mark by the end of 2020." Africa's digital footprint has benefited greatly from China's technologies and digital platforms provided by both Chinese startups and the Chinese government, said Kusewa. Satellite communication, cable networks, telecommunications equipment, software development and hardware capabilities are some of the advancements that African technological infrastructure has gained over the past three decades from China. "The presence of Chinese firms like Huawei has assisted African nations scale up their uptake of the digital economy," said Kusewa. Mike Manzi (C), a Rwandan student, bids farewell to his family and friends before departing for China to attend an undergraduate program at the Alibaba Business School, at Kigali International Airport in Kigali, Rwanda, on Sept. 9, 2019. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran) On Sept. 16, Huawei Kenya kicked off this year's Seeds for the Future program, which seeks to develop ICT talent amid growing China-Kenya ties. Will Meng, CEO of Huawei Kenya, said that the program will be held virtually for the first time amid the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a five-day intensive training to 60 participants from around the country. They will study 5G, big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing to empower them to catch up with the latest technology trends. "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," said Meng during the virtual launch. 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. "Prior to the entry of Chinese firms, Africans relied on technology from western nations whose price was beyond the reach of most governments and private sector firms," said Kusewa. "Today, African digitization efforts are growing rapidly and are largely associated with investments from China. Firms such as Huawei, ZTE, and China's Telecom have already started working to build core systems of ICT infrastructure across the continent," said Kusewa. Further, China has called on all states to put equal emphasis on development and security, and take a balanced approach to technological progress, economic development and protection of national security and public interests. "We welcome governments, international organizations, ICT companies, technology communities, civil organizations, individuals and all other actors to make concerted efforts to promote data security under the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits," said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sept. 8 during the International Seminar on Global Digital Governance. "Africa is witnessing a robust digital infrastructure that is helping to spur innovation among small businesses. The continent has also realized that through partnerships with China, it can lower the cost of communication across African countries," said Zambian social economist Kelvin Chisanga. (Video reporters: Yin Xiaosheng, Feng Yiwei, Yang Zhen, Liu Ruijuan, Lyu Tianran; Video editor: Zhao Xiaoqing) A n American woman has issued a plea for her fellow citizens' help after a box contained her mothers ashes went missing in the post. Amy Redford, of La Grange, Kentucky, told The Florida Times-Union newspaper that she had been attempting to send the cremated remains to her sister across the country in Florida. She had posted the ashes in a box on September 9 via the US Postal Service to what she thought was her sister's address in Jacksonville. The box, which bore a bright red label saying "cremated remains", was delivered the next day. But Ms Redford's sister had moved house without notifying her sibling. The box was sent via the US Postal Servie, according to reports / REUTERS The dismayed daughter told the paper that she had since spoken to postal inspectors and people living at the address. She claimed that a tenant at the address had taken the brightly-labelled box when a postal worker knocked on the door, and that when the woman realised the package was not for her, she put it outside so the worker could take it - where it promptly went missing. Ms Redford, who praised the local postal services for having been an "amazing" help, said she hopes someone will see her story and help return her mother's ashes to the family. "Getting the word out as much as possible is my best strategy so that's sort of what I've been hoping for," she said. "Somebody might see something, somebody might know something." Ms Redford's mother, Catherine Elizabeth Mays, died at the age of 77. "I just want to put her in peace," Ms Redford told the newspaper. "I don't want my mother to end up in some landfill somewhere. She has already emailed waste disposal companies in the area and received reassurances employees will look out for the package, the newspaper reported. Agencies contributed to this report Two former administrators of a Massachusetts veterans home, where nearly 80 people sickened by the coronavirus died, have been charged over their handling of the outbreak, the state's attorney general said Friday. Superintendent Bennett Walsh, 50, and medical director Dr David Clinton, 71, were indicted by a grand jury on criminal neglect charges in connection to the outbreak at Holyoke Soldiers' Home. It's believed to be the first criminal case in the country brought against nursing home officials for actions taken during the pandemic, Attorney General Maura Healey said. The charges stem from Walsh and Clinton's decision in March to combine two dementia units, packing residents who were COVID-19 positive into the same space as those with no symptoms. The veterans 'risked their lives from the beaches of Normandy, to some the jungles of Vietnam and to know that they died under the most horrific circumstances is truly shocking,' Healey told reporters. Former superintendent, Bennett Walsh (pictured at a 9/11 ceremony in 2019) and medical director David Clinton were indicted Thursday on charges of mishandling the coronavirus outbreak at the home for aging veterans where more than 70 died The criminal charges stem from Walsh and Clinton's decision in March to combine two dementia units at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home (pictured) and house sick and non-sick patients together, prosecutors allege A phone message was left Friday with a lawyer for Walsh. An email was sent to attorneys for Clinton. They could each face prison time if convicted of charges of causing or permitting serious bodily injury or neglect of an elder, Healey said. The charges come three months after a scathing independent report said 'utterly baffling' decisions made by Walsh and other administrators allowed the virus to spread there unchecked. The 'worst decision' was to combine the two locked dementia units, both of which already housed some residents with the virus, said investigators led by former federal prosecutor Mark Pearlstein. Healey said Walsh and Clinton were the ones ultimately responsible for the decision to combine the two units, which she said led to 'tragic and deadly results.' More than 40 veterans were packed into a single unit that usually had 25 beds, and space was so limited that nine veterans - some with symptoms and some without - were sleeping in the dining room, Healey said. 'This never should have happened. It never should have happened form an infection controls standpoint,' Healey said. Since March 1, 76 veterans who contracted COVID-19 at the home have died, officials said. The first veteran tested positive March 17. Even though he had shown symptoms for weeks, staff 'did nothing to isolate' him until his test came back positive, allowing him to remain with three roommates, wander the unit and spend time in a common room, investigators found. Attorney General Maura Healey said Walsh and Clinton were the ones ultimately responsible for the decision to combine the two units, which she said led to 'tragic and deadly results' When a social worker raised concerns about combining the two dementia units, the chief nursing officer said 'it didn't matter because [the veterans] were all exposed anyway and there was not enough staff to cover both units,' investigators said. One staffer who helped move the dementia patients told investigators she felt like she was 'walking [the veterans] to their death.' A nurse said the packed dementia unit looked 'like a battlefield tent where the cots are all next to each other.' As the virus took hold, leadership shifted from trying to prevent its spread, 'to preparing for the deaths of scores of residents,' the report said. On the day the veterans were moved, more than a dozen additional body bags were sent to the combined dementia unit, investigators said. The next day, a refrigerated truck to hold bodies that wouldn't fit in the home's morgue arrived, the report said. Walsh has defended his response, saying state officials initially refused in March to send National Guard aid even as the home was dealing with dire staffing shortages. He was placed on administrative leave on March 30 and the CEO of Western Massachusetts Hospital, Val Liptak, took over operations. Walsh was fired after the release of the report but a judge invalidated his termination this week after his lawyer argued that only the home's board of trustees can hire and fire the superintendent. The Massachusetts U.S. attorney's office and U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division are also investigating whether officials violated residents' rights by failing to provide them proper medical care. Attorneys general in other states, including Pennsylvania, have also launched investigations into coronavirus deaths at nursing homes. Earlier this month, federal agents searched two nursing homes near Pittsburgh, one of which had the worst coronavirus outbreak of any nursing home in Pennsylvania. Justice Department officials sent letters to the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan last month seeking data on whether they violated federal law by ordering public nursing homes to accept recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals. The letters, sent from the head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said the agency was seeking the information to determine whether the orders 'may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents.' The Justice Department said it was evaluating whether to initiate investigations under a federal law known as the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, which protects the rights of people in nursing homes and other facilities. But the law applies only to nursing homes owned or run by the states. Its been one year since a workplace accident killed Enrico Miranda, and for his family, the pain has yet to dim. But while they grieve, they are also hopeful. Miranda was working through a temporary employment agency at North York industrial bakery Fiera Foods when he was crushed by a machine as he cleaned it in September 2019. Now, Fieras partner company, Upper Crust, is facing prosecution from the Ministry of Labour on five counts of violating provincial health and safety laws, the Star has learned. So too are a supervisor and another individual working at the factory when Miranda died. To mark the year anniversary of his fathers death, Mirandas son Richard is visiting Toronto from Alberta to support his loved ones especially his mother. It is a painful moment, one the family hoped to spend in their native Philippines where Miranda is now buried. While the COVID-19 pandemic made that impossible, the charges, at least, are a very positive development, says Richard. Hopefully it doesnt stop with just the Ministry of Labour, he added. Police, he said, are also currently investigating his fathers death as they are empowered to do under the criminal code. Federal legislation passed in 2010 establishes criminal liability for corporations following workplace fatalities, although few cases have since been pursued under those laws. Miranda was the fifth temp agency worker to die at Fiera or one of its affiliates since 1999. In a statement to the Star, Fiera Foods general counsel and director of human resources David Gelbloom said the company was heartbroken by the loss of Enrico Miranda, who was a grandfather, a friend, and a valued team member. This tragedy has inspired our continued evolution to improve as a healthy and safe employer, said Gelbloom, who is also listed as the director of Upper Crust, the Fiera affiliate where Miranda died. Gelbloom said he could not comment on the health and safety charges or on whether the individuals facing prosecution are still employed by the company, because it is an ongoing legal matter. Although Miranda trained as an engineer in the Philippines and spent years working in his field, he could not afford to convert his credentials when he immigrated to Canada. Instead, he found work through temp agencies to support his family. He had spent five years as a temp at Fiera by the time of his death. Fiera Foods, which describes itself as one of North Americas largest suppliers of baked goods, was the subject of an undercover Toronto Star investigation three years ago, after 23-year-old temp worker Amina Diaby died in a 2016 accident at one of the companys facilities. A Star reporter hired through a temp agency received around five minutes of health and safety training, and was paid minimum wage in cash through a payday lender. Two more workers died at Fieras affiliate plant Upper Crust after the Stars investigation was published, bringing the total number of deaths since 1999 to five. In 2018, a worker was hit by a transport truck at the factory. Then, a year later, Miranda was killed on the job. Charges were laid against Upper Crust in relation to Mirandas death in March. But proceedings were subsequently delayed due to court closures caused by the pandemic, a Ministry of Labour spokesperson said. A court appearance has not yet been set. The company is charged with failing to take all reasonable precautions to protect a worker, and failing to ensure its machinery was well maintained with appropriate lock-out procedures, a ministry spokesperson confirmed. Other charges include interfering with, disturbing, destroying, altering or carrying away any wreckage at the scene of the accident. A supervisor and another individual employed by the company also face prosecution for interfering with the accident scene and hindering, obstructing, molesting or interfering with a ministry officials inspection duties. The maximum possible fine per charge for an individual under the Occupational Health and Safety Act is $100,000 and a year in prison. Corporations can be fined up to $1.5 million per charge. Gelbloom said Fiera workers collectively paused work Friday to commemorate and celebrate Mirandas memory and those of any workers injured or killed in a workplace accident. He said the company has taken rigorous steps to ensure that such an incident will never happen again, including commissioning an external workplace health and safety advice from an expert panel in the year following Mirandas death. According to data obtained by the Star in 2017, temp agency workers in industrial jobs are twice as likely as permanent workers to be injured at work. After the Stars initial investigation, the previous Liberal government enacted legislation to make employers using temp agencies liable at the workers compensation board when temp workers are hurt. But the Progressive Conservatives, who took power shortly after the bill was proclaimed, did not create the regulations necessary to enforce the new law. Mirandas son Richard says he hopes not simply for justice for his father, but for broader action to support temp workers. These temp agencies are just exploiting workers. They just prevent employers (from being) liable for whats happening with the workers, he said. Hopefully the government steps up and protects its workers instead of protecting wealthy businessmen. Trump Tower, New York City Joan Slatkin/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images President Donald Trump has charged his own campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent for offices in Trump Tower for more than five years. But the campaign doesn't always send its rent to Trump Tower. In fact, most of the checks have gone to a post office box in Hicksville, New York, a suburban community on Long Island. It's not clear why, or who is receiving those checks. But experts say that the address may be of interest to Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who in a court filing earlier this week made his clearest statements yet about the scope and focus of his criminal investigation into President Trump's finances. The Trump campaign has rented office space at Trump Tower, off and on, since Donald Trump first announced his candidacy in June 2015. Exactly how much space the campaign actually uses in the landmark Fifth Avenue building is unclear. FEC filings show that the rent started around $35,000 a month, then jumped over the $100,000 mark after Trump won the 2016 Republican nomination, before settling at its current rate of $37,541.67 a month, or about $450,500 a year. Sometimes the rent spikes, for reasons that are difficult to understand. But while the campaign's payments go to Trump Tower Commercial LLC, the business operation behind Trump Tower and ultimately to Trump himself they don't always go to Trump Tower. Federal Election Commission records show that most of those checks have been sent to P.O. Box 1926 in Hicksville, which is a suburban town in central Nassau County, just south of Oyster Bay on the affluent North Shore of Long Island. The Hicksville post office box has been described by Trump money watchers as the "white whale" of Trump's financial dealings. It is, in a word, bizarre even by Trump standards. (The campaign did not reply to multiple specific requests for comment.) It's unclear whether other Trump Tower commercial tenants, such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, for instance, send their rent checks to Hicksville, or if they pay at the building itself as the campaign itself did, for a while. Story continues In the early days of the campaign, however, it wasn't just rent some of the Trump campaign's payroll also went through Trump Tower Commercial LLC, but apparently to a certain type of employee. But even given that confusing history, FEC filings show that 2020 is turning out to be an exceptional year in terms of the destination of the Trump campaign's rent checks to Trump Tower Commercial LLC. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, all rent checks all went to the Hicksville address. The rent payments stopped after September 2017, but resumed in 2018, the year after the Trump tax bill passed, and the same year that the campaign also took up offices in Rosslyn, Virginia. All rent checks in that year, 2018, went upstairs to the accountants in Trump Tower. But in the first half of 2019, the checks went back to Hicksville. Then, in the second half of that year, they once again went to Trump Tower. The pattern grew even more erratic in 2020. This year, public filings show, the campaign has so far sent six of its eight rent checks to Hicksville the two outliers being April and May, when the coronavirus ravaged the city and the checks went to Trump Tower, in Manhattan. Interviews with state income tax and commercial property tax experts familiar with the workings of New York city and state yielded bafflement: Comments included, "Totally bizarre," "No idea," "I've never seen something like that" and "Holy shit, that's absolutely weird." Vance's announcement this week that his office is investigating Trump for criminal tax fraud and misrepresenting business records might throw the Hicksville mystery in a new light. Vance is the district attorney of New York County, which is the same thing as the borough of Manhattan. He has no jurisdiction anywhere else. So if Vance is investigating Trump for tax fraud, he must believe that Trump defrauded Manhattan authorities in a unique way through either school, income or property taxes. While New York state Attorney General Letitia James is also interested in Trump's taxes, she has not announced a similar criminal tax fraud investigation. And there is, as far as public records show, no federal investigation into Trump's taxes. Hicksville is in Nassau County, about 30 miles east of Manhattan. If Trump attached the Nassau County address to Trump Tower payments that should otherwise have qualified for income, payroll or occupancy taxes in Manhattan, and did not make that clear or actively concealed it, possibly with a second bank account that, experts say, could amount to fraud. Another possibility is that Trump is using the Hicksville address to hide portions of rent income, which could give him a property tax advantage in the city, where appraisers tie income to property value and tax. "Given the jurisdiction of the Manhattan D.A., a tax fraud charge makes total sense if manipulated rental income results in a lower real property tax assessment," a New York City tax attorney told Salon. A corporate accountant told Salon that if Trump has expenses "that should be allocated to the Trump Organization, but are paid outside to another entity, like Trump Tower Commercial, less expenses means more income so he could inflate the value to make himself look much wealthier than he is." It turns out that the campaign didn't only expense its rent there. It also spent payroll. In the 2016 election cycle, federal filings show, the Trump campaign paid then-candidate Trump's personal bodyguard Keith Schiller $2,574 a week, occasionally a little more. Trump would make those payments himself, routed through payroll at Trump Tower Commercial LLC in Hicksville, and the campaign would reimburse him. Schiller, however, was unique. Trump had a number of Trump Organization employees on the campaign payroll at one time or another. Hope Hicks, for instance, or the Trump Organization's chief legal officer, Allen Garten. None of those people, however, were ever on the Trump Tower Commercial LLC payroll. Trump routed their campaign salary through Trump Payroll Corp., which he also owned. When Schiller went to work at the White House, he told the U.S. government in his financial disclosures that he had been paid $160,000 a year by the Trump Organization. He also said the campaign had paid him $70,000, when campaign filings indicate he made much more than that. What's more, those filings also indicate that Schiller was not on the Trump Organization payroll, but specifically on the payroll at Trump Tower Commercial LLC. This makes a difference. At the time, Trump Tower Commercial was owned by Donald Trump personally, according to his 2015 and 2016 financial disclosures. This is a unique thing in TrumpWorld: Trump Tower Manhattan (or Hicksville) was all his. (Well, along with any "silent partners" in the four Trump-owned entities between which Trump Tower was split. One of those was an obscure entity called Tipperary Realty Corp., which is owned by Donald Trump but lists his son, Eric, as CEO. Nothing in TrumpWorld is ever simple, an insider told Salon, but if anything is strange, it's intentional.) Schiller wasn't the only person the Trump campaign paid through Trump Tower Commercial payroll. FEC records show that Trump's longtime personal driver Noel Cintron who sued Trump for years of unpaid overtime shortly after he took office in 2017 also at one point took campaign money routed through Hicksville. So did Trump Tower security chief Bert Mentor. Notably, both Cintron and former Trump Tower porter Rakhim Urazov sued Trump Tower Commercial not the Trump Organization for their lost overtime, eventually settling out of court. "It appears that Trump had only certain employees on the Trump Tower Commercial payroll, rather than the Trump Organization's," campaign finance and government ethics law expert Brett Kappel told Salon. "Employees like Keith Schiller, his personal driver, the night security guard at Trump Tower employees in a position to know embarrassing and possibly incriminating information about Trump." It could also be that the story of the wandering rent checks is no big deal. One corporate accountant told Salon that the location of the payments did not raise any flags for him, and that outside of misrepresenting income, the arrangement appears benign. Trump could be actively trying to keep this one entity his flagship building clear of any dirt. If so, that would seem to require a lot of legwork. New York City tax assessors consider income when they calculate the taxable value of commercial properties, making New York property tax filings resemble those of income taxes more than property tax filings typically do in other parts of the country. Trump Tower tax filings reviewed by ProPublica showed small discrepancies in terms of income. "The whole thing is a lie perpetrated by Trump and [Trump Organization CFO] Allen Weisselberg, who concocted a method to defray the salary costs of the Trump Organization and shift them to the campaign, on the backs of donations from unsuspecting supporters," said a source with knowledge of the payment arrangements. It may be worth noting that Trump's infamous checks to former personal attorney and "fixer" Michael Cohen reimbursing the $131,000 in hush money paid out to adult film star Stormy Daniels weren't signed by Trump himself, but by Weisselberg and Donald Trump Jr. The president began writing those checks from his personal account only a few months into his term. Before doing that, however, he quietly gained access to the trust into which he had put all his assets, as a symbolic promise to the American people that he could be trusted. Related Articles (Alliance News) - Switzerland said Friday that mandatory quarantines would be imposed on travellers arriving from 15 more countries, including Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands, due to their coronavirus infection rates. The 10-day quarantine restrictions, aimed at stemming the spread of the novel coronavirus, come into force from Monday. The requirement will also apply to seven other European countries a Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovenia a plus Ecuador, Jamaica, Morocco, Nepal and Oman. Quarantine measures are already imposed on arrivals from 44 other countries, including Argentina, Brazil, India, Spain and the US. Areas of Switzerland's neighbours France, Italy and Austria are also on the list, with Brittany, Liguria and Lower and Upper Austria being added from Monday. "People who have spent time in a country or area with an increased risk of infection and then enter Switzerland must go into quarantine," the health ministry said. Switzerland defines such countries as ones where the infection rate over the last 14 days is more than 60 per 100,000 people. The wealthy Alpine country said Friday that its own rate was 61.7 over the previous fortnight. The restrictions apply to anyone who has set foot in one of the countries or regions on the list during the previous 10 days, other than passengers in transit. Some 10,148 people were in quarantine in Switzerland on Friday after returning from a country deemed to pose an increased risk. Anyone failing to declare their arrival to the authorities or comply with the quarantine can be fined up to CHF10,000, about USD10,770. Switzerland is meanwhile continuing to exempt immediate border regions in neighbouring countries from the quarantine requirements. The government in Bern said earlier this month it was seeking a "pragmatic" approach by exempting areas impacted by heavy cross-border trade, and which are home to many who cross over daily to work in Switzerland. Swiss daily case numbers regularly topped the 1,000 mark in March, but hit a very low and stable level in mid-June. Infections have been steadily on the rise since then. Switzerland, a country of 8.5 million people, has recorded a total of 51,747 positive tests for the new coronavirus, while 1,777 people have lost their lives. source: AFP Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Mumbai, Sep 25 : Reliance Jio has partnered with Panasonic Avionics Corporation's subsidiary, AeroMobile, to launch India's first in-flight services for 'JioPostpaid Plus' users. In a statement, Jio said that its in-flight service will allow every Indian traveller going abroad, to stay connected with voice and data services on a flight, at affordable rates. "The in-flight services will be available to Indians when they travel abroad. Once the services are available in the Indian airspace, all Jio customers will have first access to them, so that they are connected even on flights within India," it said. Akash Ambani, Director, Jio said: "JioPostpaid Plus brings with it industry-defining and highest-quality user experience, and through our partnership with AeroMobile we will now offer in-flight roaming services at an attractive price. We are delighted to bring this new service to our customers, who will be able to enjoy seamless, high-quality and secure roaming at 20,000 feet, keeping every JioPostpaid Plus user connected, always." Kevin Rogers, Sr Director Mobility Panasonic Avionics, CEO AeroMobile said that the company is pleased to partner with Jio, and broaden the reach of its connectivity services across India."With the new in-flight roaming bundle, JioPostpaid Plus customers no longer need to worry about connectivity whilst traveling. This new market-leading proposition shows continued commitment to providing the very best service to customers," Rogers said. Jio's in-flight postpaid plans worth Rs 499, Rs 699 and Rs 999, each with validity of 24 hours, starting with first usage on the flight, come with 100 minute outgoing calls and 100 SMS each and 250 MB, 500 MB and 1GB data respectively. The partner airlines for Jio's in-flight mobile connectivity services include Emirates, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, Aer Lingus, Air Serbia, Alitalia, Cathay Pacific. In the winter of 1925, a small Alaskan town called Nome, situated on the edge of the Arctic circle, found itself on the brink of an unimaginable crisis. An outbreak of diphtheria threatened to wipe out the entire community of 1,400. Nomes lone physician, Curtis Welch, feared that if the infection spread, it could put at risk the surrounding communities totaling more than 10,000 people. A large number of these were natives who had no resistance to the disease. To make matter worse, Dr. Welchs stock of diphtheria toxin had expired several months earlier. Welch had already place an order, but the shipment was delayed and now the winter had set in and closed the port due to ice. This meant that Dr. Welch would have to wait until spring when the ice thawed. Huskies pulling a dog sled. Photo: Angyalosi Beata/Shutterstock.com The outbreak began in December 1924, when Welch saw what he thought were cases of tonsillitis. But when the number of cases grew and children began to drop dead, he feared the worst. Diphtheria is a highly contagious disease caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae. The bacteria attacks the respiratory system, destroying healthy tissues there. The dead tissues build up in the throat and nose to form a thick leathery coating that makes breathing difficult. If not treated, a patient can die of asphyxiation. Diphtheria is usually fatal among children. During the 1920s, between one hundred to two hundred thousand people were infected each year in the United States, with fifteen thousand deaths, most of which were children. Fortunately, a cure was availablean antitoxin, made from the serum of immunized animals containing antibodies that could neutralize the toxin produced by the bacteria. The German doctor, Emil von Behring, who discovered the antitoxin in the late 19th century, won the first Nobel Prize in medicine in 1901 for his work. But Welch had run out of this life-saving medicine. The serum would have to be brought over from mainland US, more than a thousand miles away. The town of Nome in 1916. Welch dispatched an urgent telegram for help to the U.S. Public Health Service in Washington, asking for 1 million units of the antitoxin. The board of health organized an emergency meeting, and discussed possible means of delivering the antitoxin. Flying an aircraft was ruled out, because flights during winter was risky. The US Post Office tried to fly some at 20 C, but the longest they could make was only 260 miles (420 km), and several of them crash landed. Eventually, it was decided that a shipment of 1.1 million units of serum would be sent from Seattle to Seward by sea, a journey that would take 6 to 7 days. From Seward the vials would be sent by rail to Nenana and finally to Nome, a distance of 674 miles (1,085 km), by dogsled. By a happy chance, the Anchorage Railroad Hospital discovered 300,000 units in their stock. This supply was carefully packed into a metallic cylinder and rushed to Nenana. These 300,000 units would hold the epidemic at bay until the larger shipment arrived. The US Post Office recruited their best sled-dog teams, a total of twenty, and positioned them along the route. The entire route ordinarily took the postal service 25 days to cover, but Dr. Welch couldnt wait that long, because the serum lasted only six days. The dogs would have to complete the journey in less than a quarter of the normal time. The 20-pound package of serum arrived at Nenana on the night of January 27, 1925. That same night, the first musher William "Wild Bill" Shannon secured the precious cargo onto his sled, and left with his team of eleven dogs. The winter was unusually harsh that year, with temperatures dropping to nearly 50 C. Shannon led his dogs over the frozen river, while he himself ran alongside to keep his body warm. He still developed hypothermia and by the time he had completed his 52-mile leg, parts of his face was black from frostbite. He lost three dogs on the way. A modern view of Nome . Photo: Joseph/Flickr Edgar Kalland received the package from Shannon in Tolovana, and immediately headed into the forest. He made the 31 miles to Manley Hot Springs without much incident, except that his hands had frozen solid over the sled's handlebar and had to be freed by pouring hot water. From Manley Hot Springs the serum passed through several hands before it reached Bishop Mountain. The next musher Edgar Nollner headed into the icy fog, but in his haste he forgot to cover the vulnerable areas of his two lead dogs. Both dogs collapsed of frostbite, forcing Noller to take their place pulling the sled himself. By the time he arrived, both of his lead dogs were dead. The next driver, Tommy Patsy, ran 36 miles to the town of Kaltag, and handed the antitoxin to driver Jack Nicolai, who carried it with his team over the Kaltag Portage to the shores of Norton Sound, at Unalakleet. The date was January 31. Back in Nome, the number of cases had risen to 27. A local newspaper reported: all hope is in the dogs and their heroic drivers...Nome appears to be a deserted city. Related: Hachiko: The Most Loyal Dog in History Meanwhile seasoned musher Leonhard Seppala set out from Nome and travelled 170 miles (274km) in three days to meet the incoming delivery. Seppala and his dog Togo was chosen for the most dangerous leg of the journeya shortcut across Norton Sound, which could save a full day of travel. The ice on Norton Sound was in constant motion due to currents from the sea and the incessant wind. It ranged from rough hills of smashed-together ice to slippery glare polished by the wind, where it was difficult for the dogs to get a foothold. Small cracks in the ice could suddenly widen, and driver and team could be plunged into the freezing water. Windchill drove the temperature down to 85 F (65 C). Seppala was the most qualified of the relay mushers to attempt this shortcut. Leonhard Seppala with his dogs. Photo: Carrie McLain Museum / AlaskaStock When Seppala picked the serum from Henry Ivanoff, night had begun to fall and a powerful storm was moving towards the Gulf of Alaska. In the dark and high winds, it was suicidal to cross Norton Sound, but Seppala decided to press on. Seppala could hardly see but his lead dog Togo navigated the treacherous breaking ice, and the team made it safely to the coastline. Seppalas dogs then made a grueling 8-mile-climb over the summit of Little McKinley to arrive at Golovin, where Seppala passed the serum to Charlie Olsen on February 1. Seppalas sleep deprived dogs had raced 260 miles (420 km) in 4.5 days. Charlie Olson ran the next 25 miles to hand off the serum to Gunnar Kaasen for the scheduled second-to-last leg of the relay. Meanwhile, the blizzard had worsened and Kaasen, fearing that the trail would soon be completely obscured by snow drifts, headed onto the strong headwind with his lead dog, Balto, up in front. Kaasen traveled through the night and shot past the town of Solomon, where he was supposed to pass the antitoxin on. Kaasen realized his mistake, but decided to go on. Suddenly, a massive gust of wind flipped his sled over and launched the antidote into the snow where it got buried. Kassen had to use his bare hands to dig through the snow so that he could feel the cylinder, acquiring frostbite on his hands in the process. Gunnar Kaasen and Balto. Photo: Brown Brothers/Wikimedia Commons Kaasen reached Point Safety ahead of schedule on February 2, at 3 am. The next musher, Ed Rohn believing that Kaasen and the relay was halted at Solomon, was sleeping. Kaasen decided not to wake Rohn because it would take time to prepare Rohn's team, and Balto and the other dogs were moving well. So Kaasen pressed on the remaining 25 miles (40 km) to Nome, reaching the town at 5:30 am. Not a single ampule was broken, and the antitoxin was thawed and readied by noon. Three weeks after injecting the residents of Nome, cases began to subside. By then, the remaining batch of 1 million units also arrived, by sled again. Many of the original drivers and dogs took part in the second run, facing the same hardships. All the mushers and their dogs received letters of commendation from President Calvin Coolidge. Leonhard Seppala and Gunnar Kaasen became celebrities, so did their dogs Togo and Balto. A statue of Balto was erected in New York City's Central Park in 1925, ten months after Balto's arrival in Nome. Balto himself was present for the monument's unveiling. Meanwhile, Seppala, Togo, and a team of dogs went on a tour from Seattle to California, and then across the Midwest to New England, consistently drawing huge crowds. The statue of Balto in New York City's Central Park. Photo: Pete/Flickr Togo and Balto were both euthanized, and their bodies are now mounted and on display at different locations. Balto is at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Togo is on display at the Iditarod museum in Wasilla, Alaska. To commemorate the heroic serum run, each year the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is organized, which runs more than 1,000 miles from Anchorage to Nome through blizzards, sub-zero temperatures and gale-force winds. The race was originally known as the Iditarod Trail Seppala Memorial Race in honor of Leonhard Seppala, and the first race was held in 1967. The name of the race was changed to the current, and the event was formalized in 1972. References: # http://www.alaskaweb.org/disease/1925serumrun.htm # Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1925_serum_run_to_Nome DSI to investigate Sripanwa land claims PHUKET: The Secretary General of the Peoples Network Against Corruption has filed a request to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to investigate the land ownership of the Sripanwa resort located on Phukets Cape Panwa and to reinvestigate cases related to former Phuket Land Office chief Tawatchai Anukul. landcrimepropertytourism By The Phuket News Friday 25 September 2020, 06:31PM DSI Chief Pol Lt Col Korawat Panprapakorn confirmed the DSI would investigate the Sripanwa resorts claims to the land on Phukets east coast. Photo: DSI Representing the anti-corruption group, Weera Somkhwamkit this morning (Sept 25) filed the request to DSI Chief Pol Lt Col Korawat Panprapakorn. The request formally asked the DSI to accept the case as a special case and to prosecute relevant officers who issued unlawful ownership documents for breaches of the Forest Act, B.E. 2484 (1941) and the Land Title Deed Issuance Act (No. 6), B.E. 2479 (1936), reported Post Today. The formal request included aerial photos of the resort and a 167-page document detailing the legal processes of cases involving Tawatchai Anukul. We want the DSI to investigate how lawful the land ownership of the Sripanwa resort is from the time before the land was registered under a NorSor 3 Kor [land-use document] and sold to the resort owner, Mr Weera said. Mr Weera added that before the land was registered as privately owned, local people called the area Pa Kae, which local people generally used together as it was considered public land. About 10 families lived in the area for 40 years and had already applied to the local Land Department office to issue the land-use documents for them, but officers told them that the area was a national forest area and some parts were reserved for the Royal Thai Navy to use in the future, Mr Weera explained. I was also told by relatives of Mr Tawatchai, who was found hanged in the DSI headquarters on August 30, 2016, that he was examined under Section 157 of the Criminal Code for wrongful exercise of duties, and charged for making fake land documents during the time that he worked at the Phuket office of the Department of Land, from 1998-2001, Mr Weera added. Tawatchai was examined especially about ownership documents for land plots in Rassada and Kathu which were found to be on slopes of more than 35 degrees, just like the area where the Sripanwa resort is now located. I want the DSI to check whether the land title deed issued for the first person is lawful and whether Tawatchai was one of the officers involved in the issuing the land deed, he said. This case is quite complicated and well planned, as some people of influence are involved. I already put some photos of business owners and high-rank officers in the formal request, as they like to empower each other, Mr Weera alleged. Sripanwa resort should have been examined a long time ago. Officers may be afraid of their power, so they did not or could not examine properly, he said. Lt Col Korawat explained that DSI will accept the case and set up a team of officers to investigate the case in accordance with the law.. We have investigated a lot of cases about land in Phuket. After contacting the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division, we were told that no person has filed a request to examine the land ownership of Sripanwa, he noted. We have to wait for the documents from the Department of Land and examine which type of title deed was issued for the land. Even though some documents may be lost or hard to find, we will try our best, Lt Col Korawat said. Asked whether the investigation will be difficult, as the Office of Social Security was a major shareholder of the resort, Lt Col Korawat answered, At this stage, I cannot answer. We have to investigate and examine first. Khwanjai Khumbaan, who has identified herself as the granddaughter of the owner of the land before being sold to the owner of Sripanwa, has publicly revealed that her forefathers owned the land from the area where Sripanwa is located to the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command, located nearby. Ms Khwanjai assured that the land ownership is lawful. She said that back in 1984, she read the land purchase agreement to her father herself because he did not know how to read. The land used to be owned by her relatives, Ms Khwanjai said, but it was divided and donated to government agencies in order to provide land to build government offices and other buildings. The land was not protected national forest, but had been used for agriculture for many years, she said. The move to have the DSI investigate the Sripanwa land follows Vorasit Issara, owner of the five-star resort, posting negative comments about protesters in Bangkok disrespecting the Thai monarchy. The comments prompted a backlash online, and claims that the land the Sripanwa resort is located on was acquired illegally. The Phuket office of the Land Dept, which rarely provides any comment on any land ownership in Phuket, has already gone public to declare that Sripanwas ownership of the land is fuily registered, and fully legal. The Last Story of Mina Lee By Nancy Jooyoun Kim Park Row, 384 pages, $34.99 Margot Lee, born in Los Angeles and of Korean heritage, is envious of the way her white American friends navigate their identities so effortlessly. Her mother, Mina Lee, is no help in Margots drive to feel at home in America. A single parent, Mina is old-school in every sense, a woman born in Korea who speaks little English and is both a mystery and an embarrassment to her daughter. Then, in this first crime novel for Nancy Kim, someone murders Mina, and when the cops dont seem keen enough to solve the crime, Margot takes up the case on her own. The book, delicately understated in style, offers lessons in racism from the viewpoints of both mother and daughter. But the matter of tracking Minas killer provides a steady stream of pure sleuthing that is authentic and persuasive. All the Devils Are Here By Louise Penny Minotaur, 448 pages, $36.99 For fans of Homicide Chief Armand Gamache who are beginning to find Gamaches Quebec stomping grounds of Three Pines and its residents too cute to bear, the new book in the series offers delicious relief. Its plot unfolds almost entirely in Paris in all its glory. Gamache, visiting the Parisian branch of his family, encounters violence that strikes close to home. His godfather, a billionaire nonagenarian, is smacked into a coma, a crime thats followed by the murder of the godfathers business associate. Gamaches sleuthing takes him deep into Pariss most sophisticated and powerful organizations in a storyline packed with more shifts and curves than occur in Louise Pennys previous fifteen novels put together. This one is not for readers with stunted attention spans. Final Cut By SJ Watson Harper, 368 pages, $35.99 A thirtyish woman named Alex or is it Sadie? has vague memories of fearsome things happening in the creepy Yorkshire village where she passed her adolescence. Now, years later, shes back in the village to shoot an online documentary that might clear the fog from her amnesiac perceptions. Did one girl she knew, her body never found, commit suicide? What became of another girl who also did a total vanishing act? And how about Alex herself? Is she really Sadie, and why are there so many episodes in her life she cant account for? The author SJ Watson goes at his story with a pleasingly smooth writing style. Best of all, hes a maestro of plot management, parcelling out details of the creepy villages secrets at a steady pace of revelation that make events seem all so logical. The Darkest Evening By Ann Cleeves Macmillan, 384 pages, $42.99 Vera may be slowing down. Were speaking now of the inimitable DCI Vera Stanhope of the Northumberland coppers, self-described as scruffy and middle-aged. In the previous nine books in the Vera series, she has come across as tough as old boots. But in the new book, one of her junior officers labels her fragile. Maybe its the nature of her new case thats getting to her. The murder victim is a young woman who leaves a baby boy behind. And the investigation of the crime puts Vera unexpectedly in touch with her only known relatives. All of this seems suddenly hard to bear for the single and solitary Vera. Personal woes aside, Vera wades into the usual tangled web of clues, red herrings and lying suspects, and when she solves the murder, she finally allows herself to conclude theres plenty of life in the old dog yet. Black Oakland chefs rarely receive national attention for opening new restaurants, and local barbecue spots seldom steal the gaze of the restaurant industry. Yet Matt Horn, an Oakland pitmaster opening the most high-profile barbecue business in the Bay Area, is standing at this unique intersection. After a few months of delays caused by permitting issues and the coronavirus pandemic, Horn was set to open his eponymous restaurant Horn Barbecue on Saturday in West Oakland at 2534 Mandela Parkway, but ran into another setback related to the buildings indoor smoker. On the restaurants Instagram account, Horn described the delay on Friday evening as a bureaucratic hurdle, and said he will be able to use the smoker next week. He did not provide a more specific opening date. The address was formerly home to the pioneering soul food spot Brown Sugar Kitchen, which closed in 2018. The building is painted black, with a large mural of cow on one side that Horn said reflects the importance of beef in Texas-style barbecue, the main style he cooks. The location will open with takeout and outdoor service for up to 80 diners between some patio space and extra seating behind the restaurant on Campbell Street. The project has been hotly anticipated since Horn announced it last year, after the pitmaster spent three years building a cult following behind his Texas-style barbecue pop-ups throughout Oakland, San Francisco and Wine Country. The events were known for their long lines, sometimes spurring people to bring camping gear, as if they were at a music festival. The new Horn Barbecue menu isnt deviating from the items that made his pop-ups so popular: brisket, spare ribs, house-made sausages, lamb shoulder, pulled pork and smoked turkey, with prices per pound ranging from $22 for turkey to $30 for brisket. All of the sandwiches brisket, tri-tip, pulled pork are $15, and sides like macaroni and cheese, collard greens and potato salad are $6 to $10. Among the occasional specials will be smoked oxtails, and, on Saturdays, Horn plans to smoke whole hogs on his 1,000-gallon smoker. The restaurant will offer craft beer from local breweries. Stephen Lam / Special to The Chronicle 2019 Here are four reasons why Horn Barbecue matters now. It will help define Bay Area barbecue. The Bay Area has never been able to craft an actual barbecue identity, as most businesses use differing techniques. Everett and Jones and KCs BBQ in Oakland have Kansas City barbecue influences through how they use sweet, tangy, tomato-based sauces on their meats. Another popular shop, the Emeryville location of Pig in a Pickle, uses Alabama-style, mayo-based white sauce. Horn cooks Texas-style barbecue, where the meat is cooked slowly over low heat for hours, often over oak wood. Horns style isnt a byproduct of where he grew up. Though he has relatives in Southern states like Louisiana and Texas, Horn spent his childhood in Southern California. It just so happened that while searching for an identity as a pitmaster years ago, the natural flavors and smokiness of Texas-style barbecue appealed to him, and he decided to build a business around it. Horns food isnt covered in sauces, and relies heavily on the natural flavors infused by the cooking process. With all of the attention being heaped on the project, Texas-style barbecue will likely represent the foundation of Bay Area barbecue. Horn Barbecue Black-owned businesses are suffering during the pandemic. Horn Barbecue represents the potential for their future viability. Horns ethnic identity is an inextricable component of his business. He often talks about the importance of acknowledging the influence of Black pitmasters on dining in the U.S., and also how he wants to use his prominence to help guide more young Black people in the restaurant world. But these are Horns future ambitions. Right now, hes opening a restaurant when more than 41% of Black-owned businesses have permanently closed nationally since February, according to research from UC Santa Cruz. This shows how the pandemic has hurt Black businesses more than any other racial and ethnic groups in the country, and it makes Horn Barbecue uniquely positioned to represent the viability, to diners and investors, of Black-owned restaurant post-pandemic. The restaurant continues West Oaklands recent history of being a destination for Black culinary talent. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Before Horn Barbecue, Tanya Hollands soul food restaurant, Brown Sugar Kitchen, served as a beacon for out-of-town diners to come to West Oakland. But the neighborhood has always been a complicated place in terms of food offerings. It has long been considered a food desert because of the lack of grocery stores in the area. Meanwhile, high-wage tech workers have been seeking apartments in West Oakland, driving up the price of housing and compounding gentrification as well as contributing to the flight of Black residents from the area. Horns new restaurant comes at a time when the neighborhood needs Black representation the most. Horn Barbecue If its a success, it will build on the importance of pop-ups to the local dining scene. Horns ascent in the local food scene was fueled by his pop-ups. In the East Bay, especially during the ongoing pandemic, the legality of such ventures has been a hot topic in city politics. Several have been shut down by health officials due to their lack of permits in recent weeks, yet these makeshift food businesses have become important to the local dining culture. They are an affordable way for locals to try new restaurant projects, especially minority business owners whose opportunities are rare in the Bay Area. And, if Horn Barbecue continues to draw crowds as a brick-and-mortar restaurant, the business will highlight the important role pop-ups play in the local industry. Horn Barbecue. 2534 Mandela Parkway, Oakland. Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. until sold out. www.hornbarbecue.com. Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @JustMrPhillips US president Donald Trump declined to commit to peaceful transfer of power after election (AFP via Getty Images) Donald Trump claimed he could hardly hear the "vote him out chant" at the Supreme Court as he visited the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Thursday, a scene the White House called "appalling". The president earlier told Fox News Radio that only a ruling by the court that Joe Biden has won Novembers election will convince him of his defeat, predicting once again that ballot fraud will result in a horror show. Hed especially accept the Supreme Courts rulings if Republicans pack the court, which he threatened to do if they retain power in November in response to Democrats threats of court-packing. I guess we could do that too, right? Trump said. It followed his refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power during a White House press conference on Wednesday, saying: Were going to have to see what happens There won't be a transfer frankly. There'll be a continuation." Bernie Sanders said the president's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power was a "threat to democracy", saying the election wasn't a choice of Trump versus Biden but Trump versus Democracy. Sanders was campaigning while Biden called a "lid" on the day around 9am, meaning he wouldn't be making anymore public campaign appearances. The president didn't hesitate to mock Biden's early end to the day, saying at a campaign rally in Florida that the Democratic candidate was the "lowest energy individual" ever seen. At an earlier event in North Carolina to announce his "America first" healthcare plan, Trump said he was signing executive orders to include pre-existing medical conditions and end surprise medical bills as he called Republicans the "healthcare party". Mary Trump, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit claiming her uncle cheated her out of tens of millions of dollars while pushing her out of the family's real estate business. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-26 00:01:19|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close RAMALLAH, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called on the United Nations to help arrange an international conference for peace in the Middle East. Abbas made this appeal in his online speech from Ramallah to the 75th session of the UN General Assembly. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Abbas hasn't been able to attend the UN annual conference. He called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to coordinate with the Quartet of the UN, the United States, the EU and Russia and the UN Security Council to hold a global peace conference to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Abbas noted the desired peace process should be based on international law, international legitimacy, and specific references that lead to an end to the Israeli occupation. "A conference that helps the Palestinian people gain their freedom and independence in their state with East Jerusalem as its capital on 1967 borders," the Palestinian president said. Abbas renewed his rejection of Israeli normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. "The agreements are a violation of the Arab Peace Initiative and the foundations and pillars of a comprehensive, lasting and just solution under international law," he explained. Enditem Syracuse, N.Y. Not a single one of the 350 Onondaga County students tested for coronavirus at NBT Bank Stadium between Monday and Wednesday tested positive for the virus, according to Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon. He said demand for the new rapid saliva testing program set up by the county and Upstate University Hospital is much higher than expected. Upstate has a mobile van at the stadium where children with symptoms of illness are tested. We got inundated with more kids than anticipated, McMahon said. Many schools have been quick to send kids home with minor symptoms, he said. Children sent home need to test negative before schools allow them to return, he said. The Upstate van is at the stadium 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Nurses collect saliva samples from the students that are processed at Upstate within 24 hours. Parents like the saliva tests because they are less invasive than getting nasal swabs, he said. Some parents encountered delays when they called Upstate for their childrens results. Thats because a parent of a 12- to 17-year-old cannot get results unless their child has given consent, under federal law, McMahon said. The teens must give consent during the registration process. When parents register their child for testing they can set up an account on Upstates web portal so they can get test results online. Families cannot just show up at the stadium for testing. Students or their guardians must make appointments by calling 315-464-2582 and selecting option 4. Any child under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Families are not charged for the test if their health insurance does not cover it. The county reported 23 new positive cases today among 1,862 individuals tested. Six of the cases are school-age children, five of them remote learners not attending class in school buildings. Three of the school kids who tested positive are from the same household. Three of the positive cases are college students. There are 179 active cases in the county. The county also reported 10 people are hospitalized with coronavirus, one in critical condition. James T. Mulder covers health and higher education. Have a news tip? Contact him at (315) 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, September 25, 2020 13:35 484 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4730de3 4 National Makassar,South-Sulawesi,farmers,farmer,farmers-association,Agrarian-Reform-Consortium,agrarian-reform,agrarian-justice,police,protest Free The Makassar Police have arrested 20 people who staged a protest in front of the South Sulawesi Legislative Council building in Makassar to mark 2020 National Farmer's Day on Thursday. Makassar Police chief Sr. Comr. Yudhiawan Wibisono said the protesters were arrested for allegedly attacking police officers during the rally. "Three officers were injured when they dispersed the rally. The 20 protestors we arrested were allegedly involved in the attack," Yudhiawan said on Thursday as reported by kompas.com. He said the protestors were currently being detained at Makassar Police Station. According to the police investigation, the rally did not have a permit. "We don't know where they are from, but they're clearly protestors," Yudhiawan said. Read also: Rally demanding agrarian reform colors celebration of National Farmers Day A group of protestors from the National Committee of Agrarian Reform (KNPA), an alliance of dozens of civil society groups, also staged a rally in in front of the House of Representatives compound in Central Jakarta to mark this year's National Farmers Day. The protestors demanded that the government realize President "Jokowi" Widodo's agrarian reform program and protested against the controversial omnibus bill on job creation. Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) secretary-general Dewi Kartika, who organized the rally, said members also staged similar protests in 60 locations across the country. (nal) New Delhi: India on Thursday (September 24, 2020) said it is necessary to ensure stability on the ground while India and China work towards ensuring complete disengagement of troops in all friction areas in eastern Ladakh. The spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Anurag Srivastava in a virtual press conference said the way ahead will be to refrain from making any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo and that disengagement is a complex process which would require both countries to follow on mutually agreed actions. "The way ahead will be to refrain from making any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo, while the two sides continue their discussions to achieve complete disengagement in all friction areas and to ensure full restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas," he said. Srivastava said the next meeting under the framework of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs is likely to take place "soon". "Even as two sides work towards complete disengagement in all friction areas, it is at the same time also necessary to ensure stability on the ground. The latest senior commanders meeting should be seen in this overall context," he said. India and China held the sixth round of Corps commander-level talks on Monday following which both sides announced a series of decisions including to stop sending more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground and avoid taking any actions that may further complicate matters. The MEA spokesperson referred to the first ever joint press release issued by the two sides on Tuesday after any Corps commander-level meeting during the four-and-a-half-month standoff, adding it reflected their stated commitment to disengage along the Line of Actual Control(LAC). "As we have pointed out earlier, disengagement is a complex process that requires redeployment of troops by each side towards their regular posts on their respective sides of the LAC. This would require mutually agreed reciprocal actions," he said. Srivastava also said the meeting gave the senior commanders an opportunity to have candid and in-depth exchange of views on stabilising the situation along the LAC. Three days ago, the Indian and Chinese sides, in a joint statement, after the 14-hour-long diplomatic-military talks in Moldo said that both have agreed to implement the consensus reached by their leaders over the border issue. On September 21, senior Indian and Chinese commanders held the 6th round of Military Commander-Level Meeting. "The two sides had candid and in-depth exchanges of views on stabilising the situation along the LAC in the India-China border areas," Indian Army had stated. The situation at the LAC escalated after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash in Galwan Valley on June 15. The Chinese side too suffered casualties, but it is yet to divulge the details. The situation further deteriorated following at least three attempts by the soldiers of the Chinese PLA to "intimidate" Indian troops along the northern and southern bank of Pangong lake area in the last three weeks where even shots were fired in the air for the first time at the LAC in 45 years. Fortitude Valley's live music scene is suffering and venues "are in big trouble", an industry expert says, as coronavirus restrictions on socialising are to be eased further across Queensland. The Queensland government announced on Friday that businesses and venues with outdoor areas would from October 1 be allowed to double their maximum number of patrons from one person per four square metres to one per two square metres. The nightlife was returning to Fortitude Valley as people become desperate to connect and get out of their homes. Credit:Cameron Atfield Griffith University urban and environmental planning expert Dr Tony Matthews said the bar and restaurant scene was improving but live music venues were hurting. "Live venues are in big trouble because they rely on large crowds," he said. India has climbed 4 spots and has recently been ranked 48th by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the Global Innovation Index 2020 rankings and now aims to be in the top 25 before the next raking stated Mr. Sanjay Dhotre, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology at the ASSOCHAM Smartech India 2020 event organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) today. The honourable minister stated that the government has come out with several innovations to provide a conducive ecosystem to promote start-ups in the country. We have one of the largest numbers of start-ups in the world. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is working on several initiatives as a part of the Digital India program to expand this eco system, he said. According to Mr Dhotre, all the efforts are taken towards helping the marginalised sections of the society. There is also a monitoring centre which would help incubate all these innovative ideas from start-ups. This is a part of the digital Bharat initiative and the government is ready to offer all the policy support for the same, he said. Rajyasabha MP and former minister of Railways, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Mr Suresh Prabhu stated that new ideas to suit the future would come from start-ups. The larger existing companies will be busy sustaining their business, its the smaller start-ups that will lead the innovations, he said. According to Prabhu, the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) over a period of time will create value for all the stakeholders, create new job opportunities and boost the economy. Take for instance, the launch of new drug trials, the amount of clinical trials, most of the information comes from the use of the ICT. These are the platforms which would drive the new technology of the future, he added. Ms. Swati Rangachari, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer - Sterlite Technologies Limited advocated the setting up of a Broadband Infrastructure Fund to strengthen the existing infrastructure. It is the responsibility of both the industry and the government to provide the quality of broadband for the scale to become important. High speed broadband would help promote start-ups, she explained. Ms. Rangachari explained that similar kinds of initiatives are happening in other countries where the fund is owned by the government but managed by private companies. It is possible to get the scale and quality when you have both the government and the private players operating side by side. This fund would help in strengthening the base for the Start-ups in becoming champions in their particular field, she informed. The 4th ICT start-up awards were also announced on the occasion where four companies were felicitated. Signzy Technologies Pvt. Ltd. for enabling truly digital banking for users for making the digital KYC process much more smoother were given the first award. The second award was given to IBRUM Technologies for their work in improving the quality of life and respiratory ailments. Inntot Technologies Pvt. Ltd. was awarded for their work in the field of digital broadcast through innovation. The fourth award was given to Minion Labs India Private Limited for their efforts to reduce the power cost with the help of smart devices. Others who also spoke during the conference were Ms. Monica Magnusson, Vice President IPR Policy, Ericsson, Dr. Sheetal Chopra, Chair ASSOCHAM IPR Council. EU Antitrust Chief Margrethe Vestager on Friday appealed a court ruling dismissing her order to iPhone maker Apple to pay 13 billion euros in Irish back taxes, a landmark case in the European Commission's crackdown against sweetheart tax deals. The Luxembourg-based General Court in July scrapped the Commission's 2016 ruling, saying that EU competition enforcers had not met the requisite legal standard to show that Apple had enjoyed an unfair advantage. Vestager said the case was important, a sign that her drive to get multinationals pay their fair share of taxes would continue unabated. "The General Court judgment raises important legal issues that are of relevance to the Commission in its application of State aid rules to tax planning cases," she said in a statement. "The Commission also respectfully considers that in its judgment the General Court has made a number of errors of law," Vestager said. She said legislation is required to close the tax loopholes and ensure transparency, in a call to EU countries to revamp rules. Apple said the court judgment proved it has always complied with Irish laws and that the issue was more about where it should pay taxes rather than the amount. Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said Ireland has always been clear that the correct amount of Irish tax was paid and that the country provided no state aid to Apple. The Commission's case centered on two Irish tax rulings that it said artificially reduced Apple's tax burden for over two decades, which in 2014 was as low as 0.005%. Vestager has three ongoing tax cases, Ikea's and Nike's deals with the Netherlands, as well as Huhtamaki's agreement with Luxembourg. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Around the world, people are living with anxiety and depression. Anxiety affects more than 284 million people. Depression affects more than 264 million.1 Half of all mental health conditions start by age 14,2 and with Covid-19, these numbers are rising. As the No. 1 international makeup brand, Maybelline New York has an opportunity to provide the right support to help tackle obstacles that stand in the way of women and young adults making their mark. We are launching the Maybelline Brave Together global cause program to help destigmatize anxiety and depression, provide critical one-on-one support and help everyone, everywhere bravely take on their world. Over the past two years, Maybelline facilitated expert-led research and conducted focus groups to better understand the topic of mental health. Maybelline has also been working with non-profit partners CRISIS TEXT LINE, JED, AND NAMI to have a tangible impact on people struggling with anxiety and depression. In a world where 1 in 5 are estimated to be affected by anxiety and depression,3 women are disproportionately impacted.4 And most mental health conditions are undeterred or untreated.5 "Maybelline has always believed in the power of making things happen in your life. And we know that mental health is critical in feeling ready to do that," says Trisha Ayyagari, Global Brand President, Maybelline New York. "We want to use our global voice to de-stigmatize the conversation around mental health and make support easily accessible. Now, more than ever, we need to be there for those living with anxiety and depression." By partnering with leading non-profit organizations, Maybelline's Brave Together program aims to, break down the stigma around anxiety and depression, provide cross-generational support and resources, and foster a culture that lets those who are struggling and their loved ones know that they are not alone. The specially curated online site will give people around the world access to an online community featuring real-world inspiration and stories from people on their own mental health journey, as well as mental health experts, tips, and resources. "One of the program's key experts is Dr. Kathleen Pike, clinical psychologist and professor at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Pike is a scientific advisor to the Brave Together program and is leading a global study, funded by Maybelline, on the rates and reasons for anxiety and depression specific to Gen Z women. "There is a pressing need for a program like this right now, and I am proud to work with Maybelline on designing a community for those seeking to learn, listen, and inspire open and brave conversations around emotional well-being." To meet our community where they are, Maybelline has partnered with leading non-profit Crisis Text Line to provide increased access to free, 24/7 confidential crisis counseling via text message - those in need can text TOGETHER to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the spirit of togetherness and cultivating a true global culture of support for anxiety and depression, Maybelline is committed to investing $10M over the next five years to mental health organizations worldwide who share our goal of making a real difference. Join the conversation online at www.maybelline.com/bravetogether or on Instagram by tagging @Maybelline and BraveTogether. 1https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#:~:text=Globally%20an%20estimated%20284%20million,experience%20anxiety%20disorders%20than%20men. 2https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health#:~:text=Half%20of%20all%20mental%20health,%2D19%2Dyear%2Dolds. 3https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/13-04-2016-investing-in-treatment-for-depression-and-anxiety-leads-to-fourfold-return 4 https://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/genderwomen/en/ 5https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health Contact: Kristen Tully - KTully@maybelline.com Mollie Michelson - Mollie.Michelson@maybelline.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1281519/Maybelline_Brave_Together_Logo.jpg This year marks the 75th anniversary of the release of Casablanca, which immortalized quiet acts of resistance against fascism at the murky crossroads that was wartime Morocco. The legendary scene at Ricks Cafe where refugees, led by Paul Henreid, drown out Nazi officers by singing La Marseillaise became an instant inspiration to moviegoers as World War II was raging. The location of the film was no accident: Casablanca was a haven for those fleeing for their lives. And it was also the scene of a much greater and real life act of heroism, one far too little known or recognized: the protection of the Jews of Morocco by the young Sultan Mohammed V. At a time when anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are on the rise globally, we should honor this overlooked but remarkable example of enlightened leadership. Born the third son of the reigning sultans younger brother, Mohammed was an unlikely ruler from the start and certainly an unexpected hero. A series of international disputes between France and Germany led to the Treaty of Fez in 1912 and French control of Morocco. Mohammeds father, Moulay Yousef, replaced his older sibling on the throne when his brother abdicated because of the treaty. Fifteen years later, upon his fathers death, 16-year-old Mohammed was named sultan largely because the French viewed him as more docile than his older brothers. This turned out to be one of the great misjudgments in French colonial history. When Paris fell to the Germans in July 1940, the sultan, then 30, was put in a precarious position as Morocco came under the rule of the collaborationist French Vichy regime. Among their first acts, the new overseers sought to impose anti-Semitic laws in Morocco, as per Nazi protocol. Jews had lived in that part of the world since well before Carthage fell, and over a quarter of a million called Morocco their home in 1940. Members of the community had served the sultans court as ministers, diplomats and advisors. Mohammed V took seriously his role as Commander of the Faithful, which he viewed to include all people of the book, meaning everyone belonging to the Abrahamic faiths Jews, Christians and Muslims. He bravely and publicly declined to assist in the persecution of his own Jewish citizens. There are no Jews in Morocco, he declared. There are only Moroccan subjects. Advertisement Jews had lived in that part of the world since well before Carthage fell, and over a quarter of a million called Morocco their home in 1940. Vichy authorities soon forced Mohammed V to promulgate two laws restricting certain professions and schools to Jews and requiring them to live in ghettos. In an act of resistance, the sultan declined to fully enforce the laws. A direct descendant of the original Muhammad, the founder of Islam, through Muhammads daughter Fatimah, the sultan refused to be intimidated. A French government telegram, discovered in Paris archives four decades later, reported that relations between France and Morocco became much more tense since the day the laws went into effect. In 1941, for the first time, Mohammed V made a point of inviting senior representatives of the Jewish community to the annual banquet celebrating the anniversary of his sultanate and placing them in the best seats next to the French officials. I absolutely do not approve of the new anti-Semitic laws and I refuse to associate myself with a measure I disagree with, he told the French officials. I reiterate as I did in the past that the Jews are under my protection and I reject any distinction that should be made amongst my people. Although there were limits to his power, Mohammed V ensured that there were never round-ups of Jews in Morocco; it remained a haven to the extent possible. During Vichy rule which lasted a little more than two years no Moroccan Jews were deported or killed; nor were they forced to wear the yellow star. When Allied troops liberated North Africa in November 1942, the Moroccan Jewish community was essentially intact. The sultans actions offer a contrast with other leaders who rallied to the side of the Axis powers in hopes of driving the Jews from Palestine and the British from the Middle East. The grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Husseini, for example, spent the war years in Berlin, courting Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, plotting the extermination of the Jews and recruiting Eastern European Muslims to fight for the Nazi cause. Mohammed V, on the other hand, was a strong supporter of the Allies and welcomed President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French President Charles de Gaulle for four days in 1943 at the historic Casablanca conference. Throughout the sultans reign, he continued to protect his Jewish subjects. When the Arab world reacted violently to the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948 , the sultan reminded Moroccans that Jews had always been protected in their country and should not be harmed. Mohammed V died suddenly in 1961, just four years after Morocco became an independent constitutional monarchy and he gained the title king. The outpouring of grief was immense. Some 75,000 Jews publicly mourned, the chief rabbi delivered a memorial address by radio, and Jews were prominent participants at the coronation of his son Hassan II and at the new kings initial prayer services. The Moroccan Jewish community has dwindled, but in commemorations to this day, its members declare their eternal gratitude to Mohammed V and recall his heroism. At a time when such selflessness is in short supply, we should do the same. Richard Hurowitz is the publisher of the Octavian Report, a magazine about finance, foreign policy, politics and culture. Until its sale in 2013, he led the investment fund Octavian Advisors, which he founded in 2006. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook Opposing BLM and Pro-Trump Rallies in Louisville, Kentucky Armed pro-trump militia members during a demonstartion on the day of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Ky., September 5, 2020. Credit - Alex LourieRedux By refusing to pledge a peaceful transfer of power if he loses to Joe Biden in November, President Donald Trump is raising the stakes on an already contentious election by signaling how his supporters should respond if the vote doesnt go their way. Well, were going to have to see what happens, he said Wednesday in response to a reporters question about leaving office peaceably if he loses. The norm-breaking statement, which the President has reiterated since, has been dismissed as flippant by Republican allies, rather than threatening. But to many scholars and analysts who follow political violence, the presidents comments sound like a call to arms. American cities are already on edge. Upset protesters have routinely taken to the streets this summer, facing off with police officers, federal agents and counter-protestors. Hours after the president spoke, for instance, there were violent clashes in Louisville, Ky., after a grand jury brought no charges for Breonna Taylors death. Two police officers were shot and wounded, 46 people were taken into custody and groups of right-wing militiamen were seen on the street clad in body armor and carrying assault rifles. President Donald Trump speaks as Dr. Scott Atlas, a White House adviser on the coronavirus, right, and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, far left, listen during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. (Oliver Contreras/The New York Times) OLIVER CONTRERASNew York Times/Redux All political elections are combative, but the 2020 U.S. election has devolved into particularly hostile one. Democrats and Republicans alike have portrayed Americas choice in apocalyptic termsone in which the rise of fascism or communism hangs in the balance for defining the nations future. And while only a fraction of ballots has been cast, each side is already accusing the other of conspiring to rig the outcome. Politics is often said to be a long game. If a party loses an election, they move on and wait until the next one. But that attitude appears to be shifting in 2020, says Seth Jones, a former U.S. counterterrorism official now with Center for Strategic and International Studies. Politicians, like Trump, cast their opponents as radicals who do not have the countrys best interests at heart, rendering them the enemy. Trumps critics level the same accusation at him. Even when a winner is declared, voters pent-up anger for the candidates will not go away, Jones says. Story continues That anger, combined with the rising threat of domestic extremists who are often aligned with the far-right and far-left, is a combustible mix. The threat of political violence after an election has never been higher in modern American history, Jones says. The 79 days between Election Day and Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2021 are the most worrisome, he says, and the highest chance for violence will come in the form of protests and gatherings about the election results. People from all sides are coming to these protests armed. Police departments in cities that have weathered months of protests are talking about what to do if the violence ratchets up after Election Day, particularly if the results are unclear, close or contested on and after Nov. 3. The nations military leaders are worried about being dragged into a post-election dispute by a President who has repeatedly aired his willingness to deploy federal forces to maintain law and order. Members of an all black militia, march during a rally to protest the killing of Breonna Taylor, in Louisville, Kentucky on July 25, 2020. Jeff DeanAFPGetty Images On Aug. 3, an organization called the Transition Integrity Project brought together a group of more than 100 bipartisan experts for a table-top exercise to simulate what might happen after Election Day. The stated goals were to see how far candidates might go to contest negative electoral outcomes or disrupt the normal transition process; and how well would American institutions hold up if one or both candidates refused to play by the rules. The electoral war game, which took place in June, had four scenarios: a clear Biden victory, a narrow Biden win, an unresolved outcome similar to the 2000 presidential election and a clear Trump victory. The results were messy in all scenarios. The project members, who included Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, and John Podesta, chairman of Hillary Clintons 2016 campaign, wrote that the two biggest threats were lies about voter fraud and escalating violence. The potential for violent conflict is high, particularly since Trump encourages his supporters to take up arms, they wrote. The most harmless scenario was a Biden outright win in the Electoral College and the popular vote, though Trump has since suggested he is so convinced voter fraud will be rampant that he thinks the election results will go to the Supreme Court. Michael Caputo, who worked on Trumps 2016 campaign, took a leave of absence from his job this month as public affairs adviser for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), after he said in a Sept. 13 Facebook Live video that violence was coming. 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. 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 and left-wing extremist groups. Militia activity is on the rise and armed pro-Trump patriot groups have appeared at protests across the country, including in Louisville, Gettysburg and Portland. On Wednesday, news outlets The Guardian and Bellingcat published online chat logs of the Patriot Coalition of Oregon, a network of pro-Trump, pro-police activists. The leaked chats show deliberate planning for violence against liberal demonstrators on the streets of Portland. More than anything, the chats catalog the rapid radicalization of Patriot Coalitions membership, many of whom express a willingness to kill their perceived left-wing enemies, according to the Bellingcat report. An associate of the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of engaging in violent street clashes, flashes the once innocuous OK hand signnow co-opted by white supremacistsat counter demonstrators during a rally in Portland, Ore., Aug. 22, 2020. Rian Dundon FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday that racially motivated extremism makes up the largest share of the FBIs domestic terrorism casesmainly inspired by white supremacist ideology. U.S. law enforcement officials have been warning for more than a decade that the threat from white-supremacist terror has grown. Demonstrators calling for racial justice are increasingly being confronted by right-wing Trump supporters. On Aug. 25, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse allegedly shot and killed two protestors in Kenosha, Wis. amid protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man. Four days later, Aaron Jay Danielson, 39, 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 Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48, a left-wing protester and suspect in Danielsons death during the raid to arrest him, President Trump described the suspects death as retribution. As demonstrations continue to rattle Portland on a nightly basis, city officials are also looking ahead to Election Day. Officer Derek Carmon, a Portland Police Bureau spokesman, says preparations for the elections are being made in accordance with other protests. We put in as much planning in advance as we can, based on what we know, he says. Personnel, resources, and requests for assistance will be based on that information and we will manage protests, big or small, in the safest way possible, while allowing free speech to take place. In Minneapolis, where the protests after George Floyds murder raged for weeks, similar preparations are being made. We are aware that this may be a flashpoint and have made appropriate plans, Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder. Remember: Plan for the worst and hope for the best. U.S. Marshals outside the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse, after making arrests at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Portland, Ore., on July 10, 2020. Rian Dundon Trump has repeatedly said hes willing to invoke the 213-year-old Insurrection Act, which could allow him to deploy military forces as he saw fit to put down violent protests, although not specifically for the election. The plain willingness to unleash military power on American citizens marked a provocative shift from the restraint that has characterized most previous American presidents postures toward quelling civil unrest. (The Act was last invoked in 1992 during the Los Angeles riots after Rodney King was beaten at the hands of police.) In response, senior Pentagon officials have insisted the option to use active duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law, U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military. I foresee no role for the U.S. armed forces in this process, wrote General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in response to questions from House lawmakers released last month. The U.S. military typically supports local authorities through the National Guard, which is under the control of state governors. The National Guard is usually called upon by state governors when there is a massive hurricane, earthquake or natural disaster. On occasion, members are sent across state lines to help out a neighbor if special skills or extra help is required. But since late May, thousands of National Guard members have been activated to help state and local law enforcement across the country. Theres no end in sight, as far as we can tell, Lieutenant General Marc Sasseville, vice chief of the National Guard Bureau. Theres nothing in the system or nothing in society will stop any of that. And so, from a prudent planning perspective, were projecting that arc to continue for the foreseeable future. Sasseville says states are now strategizing together weeks and months aheadjust as they do for natural disastersto ensure the National Guard forces will be available to protect people and property. The fact the the U.S. is seriously facing the questions about political violence and military force to deal with fallout of the election is unfathomable, but the threat is real, says Oren Segal, vice president of the Center on Extremism at the AntiDefamation League. Its dystopian, he says. This year has been unrelenting in so many ways and I fear it may even get worse by years end. Theres so much focus and attention on whats going to happen on Nov. 3, Election Day. But to me, its really Nov. 4 that we should all be worried about. With reporting by Brian Bennett In this photo from May 28, processing work on mail-in ballots for the Pennsylvania primary election is being done at the Butler County Bureau of Elections, in Butler, Pa. Read more WASHINGTON The Justice Department alarmed voting-law experts Thursday by announcing an investigation into nine discarded ballots found in northeastern Pennsylvania, a case immediately seized upon by the Trump campaign as evidence of a dark Democratic conspiracy to tamper with the presidential election. President Donald Trump also appeared to cite the case, telling reporters at the White House that ballots had been found in a wastepaper basket in some location. We want to make sure that the election is honest, and Im not sure that it can be. The presidents comments marked his latest attempt to stoke uncertainty and alarm about the legitimacy of the coming election. Trump appeared to be referring to a statement by David Freed, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, saying that he was overseeing an investigation into nine discarded military mail ballots in the Wilkes-Barre area. Freed said the Luzerne County district attorney requested an FBI investigation into reports of problems with a small number of mail ballots. At this point we can confirm that a small number of military ballots were discarded. Of the nine ballots that were discarded and then recovered, seven were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump. Two of the discarded ballots had been resealed inside their appropriate envelopes by Luzerne elections staff prior to recovery by the FBI and the contents of those two ballots are unknown. Before the U.S. attorneys statement, White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that there would be an announcement about the case. I can confirm for you that Trump ballots, ballots for the president, were found in Pennsylvania and I believe you should be getting more information on that shortly, she said. When Freed first announced the case, he had said that all nine were cast for Trump. He said agents are still investigating the circumstances. Later in the day, Freed issued a revised statement lowering the number of Trump ballots recovered and the original was removed from the Justice Departments website. A statement by the local district attorney earlier in the week expressed confidence the investigation would be successfully resolved so it will not have an impact on the integrity of the election process, a degree of assurance absent from the U.S. attorneys announcement. A spokesperson the U.S. attorney declined to comment beyond Freeds written statement. But a letter Freeds office released late Thursday, addressed to Luzerne County officials, offered a more detailed explanation of the FBI investigation and what agents had discovered. The envelopes containing the nine ballots had all been improperly opened by county elections staff, it said. Six of the ballots appear to have been removed and thrown away, where they were later recovered from a dumpster outside the elections office. Three others, recovered by the staff, were linked back to their enclosing envelopes. None of those envelopes should have been opened in the first place, Freed said, citing laws that prohibit the counting of mail ballots until 7 a.m. Election Day. County officials should have stored them securely, unopened, until canvassing began. Instead, Luzerne County elections staff said that they opened nearly all envelopes as soon as they received them, according to Freeds letter. He said they reported having difficulty telling the envelopes for requesting military or absentee ballots apart from those that actually contained filled-out ballots, and opened them both for fear of missing a ballot request. The same problems had plagued the office during the primary election, Freed said. The preliminary findings of this inquiry are troubling and the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections must comply with all applicable state and federal election laws and guidance to ensure that all votes regardless of party are counted to ensure an accurate election count, he wrote. Even though your staff has made some attempts to reconstitute certain of the improperly opened ballots, there is no guarantee that any of these votes will be counted. Still, despite the more complete explanation Freed offered the public by the end of the day, election law experts were stunned that the Justice Department had publicly disclosed the investigation before investigators had come to any firm conclusions. "It's wildly improper, and it's truly unconscionable," said Justin Levitt, a former Justice Department official who is now a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Levitt said that the investigation itself is worthwhile, but that it was a baldly political move to announce the probe with partial facts which officials then had to scramble to correct while describing which candidate was selected on the ballots. "That is the tell, and it says this was not an act of law enforcement, this was a campaign act, and it should mean the end of the career of whoever approved the statement," said Levitt. Richard Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California, Irvine, said he could not recall ever seeing such an announcement. "The Justice Department should not be a political tool, and this is a story that is going to be manipulated by the president to say his votes are being thrown out," Hasen said. Soon after the U.S. attorney's statement was issued, the Trump campaign cited the case as evidence "Democrats are trying to steal the election." Earlier in the day, FBI Director Christopher Wray tried to reassure a Senate committee that while there are occasional instances of small-scale, local ballot fraud, the United States has not experienced an instance of widespread voter fraud by mail. We have not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether its by mail or otherwise, Wray said, though he added fraud has been detected at the local level from time to time. Changing the outcome of a federal election would be a major challenge for an adversary, he said, adding that the FBI would investigate seriously if it saw indications of such an effort. Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this article. Vehicules lead the demonstrators in Hollywood, Calif., on Sept. 24, 2020. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images) Protesters Attack Multiple Drivers in Los Angeles: Police Several drivers were attacked by protesters in Los Angeles late Thursday, police officials said. One of the drivers struck a protester. Just after 7 p.m., a group of over 300 marched through Hollywood, eventually making its way onto Sunset Boulevard. About two hours later, a driver maneuvered a blue pick-up truck through the crowd, which was blocking traffic, and became involved in an altercation, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said in a statement. As the driver attempted to get away from the situation, he struck a protester standing in the street, police officials said. The person who was hit was taken to a nearby hospital with injuries described as minor. Video footage captured the truck hitting the person. Immediately after, the crowd began beating on the truck before the driver sped away. It wasnt clear if the driver was attacked before hitting the person. Just moments later, a white Prius attempted to maneuver through the crowd, and also became involved in an altercation. The driver of a black pickup truck, which was leading the protest, chased down the Prius and pinned it in, forcing the driver to come to a stop. The driver of the Prius then backed up in an attempt to flee and ran into a green mustang, which was also pursuing and part of the protest. The drivers of the truck and mustang attempted to extract the driver of the Prius from his vehicle, police said, adding: However, that driver was able to get away from the scene. A police official told a reporter on the scene that the Prius driver was detained but not arrested. Following his description of what happened during the first altercation, the official said: The white Prius, similarly, was attacked by several protesters who pried his door open and punched him several times while he was inside of his Prius. He stepped on the gas to try to escape from that attack and may or may not have struck several protesters, he added. No injuries have been reported from the second incident. All of the drivers and victims have been identified and the investigation is ongoing. A drugs kingpin behind a vast international drug-smuggling network that trafficked 58million worth of heroin and cocaine into the UK was jailed for 21 years this afternoon. Robert Brooks, 50, was behind the largest-ever drugs conspiracy investigation launched by the Easter Region Special Operations Unit, St Albans Crown Court heard. He tried to conceal the operation with a 15,000 encrypted phone contract, using the name Jaguar Palace. Between 2018 and last summer he had overseen 39 separate deliveries of heroin and cocaine to a rented unit at Little Samuels Farm in Hunsdon, East Hertfordshire. Robert Brooks (pictured), 50, was behind the largest-ever drugs conspiracy investigation launched by the Easter Region Special Operations Unit, St Albans Crown Court heard But in August of last year detectives, having gathered the intelligence they needed, were ready to move against Brooks and his associates. That month the network's last two deliveries were intercepted with 45 kilos of heroin and 70 kilos of cocaine being seized. Taking into account the 39 deliveries detectives knew about, it was assessed that 1,835 kilos of Class A drugs had been imported with a total value was between 42million and 58million. The drugs would come into the country from Europe hidden in lorries hidden under the bottom of consignments of worthless goods. One such load was a shipment of spider catcher devices that were of such little value they were thrown away in a skip. Stephen Capp (left), 56, from Hull who went to the farm 18 times to collect drugs to deliver to the north of England was sentenced to nine years and six months. Right: Richard Campbell, 49, admitted conspiracy to evade the prohibition of Class A drugs and was jailed for 13 and a half years Between 2018 and last summer Brooks had overseen 39 separate deliveries of heroin and cocaine to a rented unit at Little Samuels Farm in Hunsdon, East Hertfordshire. Pictured: Seized drugs On arrival at the farm the drugs would be unloaded by a fork lift truck into sheds and barns that had been rented out at the farm. From there a courier drove with the class A drugs to the north of England. Brooks described as the managing director of the English end of the network wasn't always present, preferring to direct operations from Spain. The court heard the crime network was connected to Europe and much further afield. Brooks pleaded guilty to conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the importation of a Class A drugs and possession of criminal property between November 2018 and August 2019. Tomasz Wozniak (pictured), 28, also from Milton Keynes who was the fork lift truck driver, admitted conspiracy controlled drugs of Class A. He was jailed for six years and three months Last week Richard Campbell, 49, from Milton Keynes who was the 'warehouse manager' at the farm admitted conspiracy to evade the prohibition of Class A drugs and was jailed for 13 and a half years. Tomasz Wozniak, 28, also from Milton Keynes who was the fork lift truck driver, admitted conspiracy controlled drugs of Class A. He was jailed for six years and three months. Stephen Capp, 56, from Hull who went to the farm 18 times to collect drugs to deliver to the north of England was sentenced to nine years and six months. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a drug of Class A on 18 visits to the farm. He also admitted possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply when he was stopped in December 2019 with 5 kilos of Class A drugs. In his car was a 'sophisticated' hiding place for the drugs. Pieter Mannessen received six years in Holland following the seizure of 70kg of cocaine that was due to be delivered to the farm. Sentencing last week Judge Michael Kay QC said: 'Addiction to heroin and cocaine destroys the lives of hundreds of thousand of people. Sentencing last week Judge Michael Kay QC said: 'Addiction to heroin and cocaine destroys the lives of hundreds of thousand of people.' Pictured: Seized drugs He added: 'It causes heartbreak to parents, to children and to those who know addicts.It is also the cause a large element of crime in this country.' Pictured: Seized drugs 'It becomes, at times, all they think about. It destroys them and it destroyed their families. 'It causes heartbreak to parents, to children and to those who know addicts.It is also the cause a large element of crime in this country. 'People who are so badly addicted they can think of nothing else and will rob steal and cheat to obtain money to feed their craving for drugs. It is a scourge on society.' The judge said: 'Those who make money from such misery and degradation of fellow citizen will achieve substantial prison sentence. The business is not just illegal, it is immoral and despicable.' He said the men had been in a 'highly organised and sophisticated operation - at the top level of international drug dealing.' A Brisbane man facing extradition to Samoa, where he is charged with conspiracy to murder that countrys prime minister, has lost a bid to be freed from detention. Talalelei Pauga, 43, was arrested by Australian police on August 20 after Samoa lodged an extradition request with the Australian federal Attorney-Generals office. Talalelei Pauga is accused of plotting to kill Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi (pictured). Credit:Julie Jacobson/AP Since then he has been held at Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre in Brisbane's south-west. His lawyers earlier this week made an administrative argument in the Brisbane Magistrates Court for Mr Paugas release, arguing he had not been physically brought before a magistrate when first arrested and was only represented by a solicitor on the phone. September 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - President Donald Trump used his fourth, and perhaps final, United Nations General Assembly speech to portray himself as a benevolent, responsible world leader and China as the worlds aggressor. America is fulfilling our destiny as peacemaker, he said in a prerecorded address, touting US-brokered normalization-of-relations deals between Israel and two Arab nations, ongoing talks to end the Afghanistan War, and a Serbia and Kosovo pact signed at the White House. As we pursue this bright future, we must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world: China, Trump added, referring to the coronavirus. In many ways, the speech was vintage Trump. He boasted that his America First approach to foreign policy anathema to the UNs multilateral ethos is the best way forward for the US and the world. He beamed about US economic and military strength. And he bragged about his administrations handling of the coronavirus, even though nearly 200,000 Americans have died of the disease, while expressing hopes for a better, pandemic-less world. But the key takeaway is Trumps framing of China as the nation most responsible for the Covid-19 outbreak, and therefore the country most deserving of the worlds scorn. It continues the administrations preference to speak of China as a Cold War-like enemy, with the US leading the way to rid the globe of its evil. The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions, Trump declared. Many expected Trump to say these things , partly because hes been saying them for months. He at first praised Chinas handling of the coronavirus, and only started to speak belligerently about Beijing as his failure to control Americas outbreak became too big to ignore. Now hes taken that message, at first geared toward a domestic audience, to the global stage. Of course, Trump did not vow to distribute a coronavirus vaccine around the world, nor did he swear to tackle key global problems like climate change. Such failures may lead much of the speech to be disregarded. But in terms of getting his main point across US good, China bad the short, virtually delivered speech likely did the trick. Transcript of Trumps UNGA speech is below: It is my profound honor to address the United Nations General Assembly, 75 years after the end of World War II and the founding of the United Nations. We are once again engaged in a great global struggle. We have waged a fierce battle against the invisible enemy the China virus which has claimed countless lives in 188 countries. In the United States, we launched the most aggressive mobilization, since the Second World War. We rapidly produced a record supply of ventilators creating a surplus that allowed us to share them with friends and partners all around the globe. We pioneered lifesaving treatments, reducing our fatality rate 85 percent since April. Thanks to our efforts, three vaccines are in the final stage of clinical trials. We are mass producing them in advance so they can be delivered immediately upon arrival. We will distribute a vaccine. We will defeat the virus. We will end the pandemic. And we will enter a new era of unprecedented prosperity, cooperation, and peace. As we pursue this bright future, we must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world: China. In the earliest days of the virus, China locked down travel domestically while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world. China condemned my travel ban on their country, even as they canceled domestic flights and locked citizens in their homes. The Chinese government and the World Health Organization, which is virtually controlled by China, falsely declared that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission. Later they falsely said people without symptoms would not spread the disease. The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions. In addition, every year China dumps millions and millions of tonnes of plastic and trash into the oceans, overfishes other countries waters, destroys vast swaths of coral reef, and emits more toxic mercury into the atmosphere than any country anywhere in the world. Chinas carbon emissions are nearly twice what the US has, and its rising fast. By contrast, after I withdrew from the one-sided Paris climate accord, last year America reduced its carbon emissions by more than any country in the agreement. Those who attack Americas exceptional environmental record while ignoring Chinas rampant pollution are not interested in the environment. They only want to punish America, and I will not stand for it. If the United Nations is to be an effective organization, it must focus on the real problems of the world. This includes terrorism, the oppression of women, forced labor, drug trafficking, human and sex trafficking, religious persecution, and the ethnic cleansing of religious minorities. America will always be a leader in human rights. My administration is advancing religious liberty, opportunity for women, the decriminalization of homosexuality, combating human trafficking, and protecting unborn children. We also know that American prosperity is the bedrock of freedom and security all over the world. In three short years, we built the greatest economy in history, and we are quickly doing it again. Our military has increased substantially in size: We spent $2.5 trillion over the last four years on our military. We have the most powerful military anywhere in the world and its not even close. We stood up two decades of Chinas trade abuses. We revitalized the NATO alliance, where other countries are now paying a much more fair share. We forged historic partnerships with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to stop human smuggling. We are standing with the people of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, in their righteous struggle for freedom. We withdrew from the terrible Iran nuclear deal and imposed crippling sanctions on the worlds leading state sponsor of terror. We obliterated the ISIS Caliphate 100 percent, killed its founder and leader, al-Baghdadi, and eliminated the worlds top terrorist, Qassem Soleimani. This month, we achieved a peace deal between Serbia and Kosovo. We reached a landmark breakthrough with two peace deals in the Middle East after decades of no progress. Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain all signed a historic peace agreement in the White House with many other Middle Eastern countries to come. They are coming fast, and they know its great for them and its great for the world. These groundbreaking peace deals at the dawn of the new Middle East, by taking a different approach, we have achieved different outcomes far superior outcomes. We took an approach, and the approach worked. We intend to deliver more peace agreements shortly, and I have never been more optimistic for the future of the region. There is no blood in the sand. Those days are hopefully over. As we speak, the United States is also working to end the war in Afghanistan, and we are bringing our troops home. America is fulfilling our destiny as peacemaker, but it is peace through strength. We are stronger now than ever before. Our weapons are at an advanced level, like weve never had before, like, frankly, weve never even thought of having before, and I only pray to God that we never have to use them. For decades, the same tired voices propose the same failed solutions, pursuing global ambitions at the expense of their own people. But only when you take care of your own citizens will you find a true basis for cooperation. As president, I have rejected the failed approaches of the past, and I am proudly putting America first, just as you should be putting your countries first. Thats okay. Thats what you should be doing. I am supremely confident that next year, when we gather in person, we will be in the midst of one of the greatest years in our history. And frankly, hopefully, in the history of the world. Thank you, God bless you all. God bless America. And God bless the United Nations. (Photo : OCM Explains How to Get the Most Out of a Remote College Experience) As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, many colleges are operating remotely. Some colleges have welcomed students back to campus but have taken precautions to keep coursework strictly online. College today is not the same as it was when your parents or older siblings were there. It is unfortunate, but the entire college experience has changed. From infection control protocols to a lack of social interaction, remote learning experiences can be lonely and depressing. Fortunately, it is possible to have an enriching college experience even if you can't take classes in person. OCM offers these tips to help students get the most out of their college experience, even online. Be Sure to Follow All COVID-19 Safety Requirements College students may feel as if they don't need to worry about the COVID-19 pandemic, but in fact, students who are infected with the disease could experience severe repercussions. Even if they are asymptomatic or recover quickly, they may give the disease to people with preexisting conditions. Avoid all parties and large gatherings, especially indoor events. If you go to an outdoor social gathering outdoors, make sure that everyone is wearing a mask and social distancing. It is understandable that there is some social pressure on students when it comes to following COVID rules, but it is better to be on the safe side and help to prevent the disease's transmission in your college community. Remote Learning Tips Remote learning in high school was difficult enough but transitioning to college life may feel almost impossible. College professors have much higher expectations for your work, and there may not be as many opportunities for you to get help with your classes. Even if you are remote learning, it is important to stay in close contact with your professors. In many cases, they are connecting with students virtually offering remote office hours so that you can ask any questions you may have during class or while attending virtual study groups. Take advantage of any TAs or teachers' assistants who are assigned to your class. Connecting with Fellow Students OCM recommends that you get in touch with students from your college, even if you can't see them in person. It is a great idea to find and join social groups at your university before you are allowed back on campus. You may even make friends ahead of time. Colleges have Facebook groups, and some may have their own social networking sites just for students. Creating Your Workspace When you are working at home or in your dorm room, you will need to set up a neat, clean work area with plenty of space for books and papers. If your room doesn't have a desk, you should make space for one. Working on your bed may cause you to become more stressed, as well as not being comfortable for your back. Ideally, it is best to have a room outside your bedroom to study in. Studying too much in your bedroom can lead to a lack of sleep because you will associate your bed with work rather than rest. Understandably, many college students do not have this option, especially when libraries and student centers are not open. Many students find that working outside can be refreshing. Studying in a pretty part of campus or outdoor space at home can be a good way to escape some of your stress. Managing Distractions One of the most important aspects of remote learning is managing distractions. If you are at home with your family, family members and pets can cause distractions. In some cases, having a pet in the room can be calming, but if you have a needy pet, it is better to keep them out of the room while you are doing coursework. Parents and younger siblings can also be distracting. Make sure that your family knows when you will be unavailable. It is hard to know how to tell your family that they need to stay away from you, but it might be helpful to post a sign on your door that you are busy. Social Issues Of course, college students want to socialize and make new friends. This can be challenging during the COVID pandemic. Many of the ready-made ways to make new friends, like new student groups and club meetings, have been canceled. While following social distancing regulations, try to meet people anyway. You can strike up conversations with one person at a time or with a small group. Just be sure that you are following all COVID recommendations since you don't want to get sick and don't want friends or family to become ill. Having a Great College Experience It may seem unfair that college students are experiencing such disruption, but everyone should remember that most if not all college students are in the same boat. Making many friends and going to parties can happen at a later date when it is safe to do so. The two things that you need to concentrate on are your health and your schoolwork. OCM offers a wide range of products meant to help college students settle in. Their products can help to decorate a dorm room or apartment and to help students feel more at home. Allegations mount in 2017 Ravi Zacharias illicit online relationship scandal Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment New information has been publicly released regarding the late apologist Ravi Zacharias and an alleged online sexual relationship that was first reported in 2017. In a three-part installment last week from The Roys Report, the website of independent investigative journalist Julie Roys, new testimonies and emails were released suggesting an alternative version of events than those that were represented nearly three years ago when allegations emerged that Zacharias had been involved in an illicit online sexual relationship with a Canadian woman. Around this same time, the famed apologist's academic credentials and resume were also scrutinized amid questions he had inflated and misrepresented them. Zacharias, who died in May after a battle with cancer, said in a Christianity Today article published in December 2017 that the woman had sent him unwanted, racy photos of herself and that it was part of a plot to extract millions of dollars from him and his ministry. Some have maintained that his words to the magazine were in violation of the settlement agreement he reached with the Canadian woman, Lori Anne, and her husband, Brad Thompson, which included a nondisclosure agreement forbidding both parties from speaking about it. According to Boz Tchividjian, an attorney and founder of Godly Response to Abuse in a Christian Environment (G.R.A.C.E), who represented the Thompsons, his clients "made the very difficult decision to abide by the legally binding agreement even though Zacharias had apparently decided to do otherwise. Christian counselors Jerry and Denise Basel, who helped Thompson in October 2016, spoke to Roys about the emails exchanged between Zacharias and Lori Anne. They believe the online communication reveals an abusive power dynamic given the 30-year age difference between the two and that it was tantamount to grooming. In many ways, she was kind of like a child in regard to him because of his age, Jerry Basel told The Roys Report in part 1 of her series, which was published on Sept. 14. It just followed a pattern that we are familiar with in regard to abuse. Denise Basel added, It was just this slowly drawing Lori into something deeper. It seemed more innocent at the beginning, but it kept increasing. The Christian Post reached out to RZIM on Monday for comment on The Roys Report article, specifically to inquire about Basel's words and other issues raised in Roys' investigative report. In a letter sent to CP Friday night, the RZIM Board of Directors said: "In April 2017, Ravi Zacharias received a letter from an attorney representing Bradley and Lori Anne Thompson of Ontario, Canada, presenting allegations and threatening litigation by the Thompsons against Mr. Zacharias. The letter threatened that litigation was forthcoming, or, 'in the alternative of protracted and public litigation, the Thompsons will sign a release of you and your church and ministry in exchange for a certified check in the amount of $5 million dollars made payable to the Bryant Law Center, Lori Anne Thompson and Bradley Thompson within thirty days of todays date and mailed to the above address.' "In response to this demand letter, Ravi notified the board of the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and personally filed a lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in August 2017. The Thompsons, through their attorneys, then requested to enter into mediation to resolve the matter without going to trial. In November 2017, Ravi consented to resolve his lawsuit and the matter through mediationa process that resulted in a resolution agreed to by both parties. "In addition to these legal proceedings and the investigations underlying them, this matter was independently and rigorously investigated in 2018 at the initiative of the denomination that issued Ravis ministerial credentials, the Christian & Missionary Alliance. That investigation included multiple interviews with the parties and a review of all available documents and records. The denomination concluded, 'the available evidence does not provide a basis for formal discipline' "As is widely known, Ravi Zacharias died May 19, 2020. Subsequently, some have called on his family and/or ministry to release the Thompsons from the confidentiality agreement they entered into with Ravi some two-and-a-half years prior to his death. Since RZIM was not a party to the agreement, it is unable to alter it, and his family does not feel it proper to alter it without Ravis knowledge or consent. Before he died, however, Ravi addressed allegations that he solicited inappropriate photos from Lori Anne Thompson or otherwise engaged in communications of a sexual nature with her in an 800-word public statement in December 2017. In that statement, he denied any sexually or romantically inappropriate conduct. He stood by that statement until his death. His denial is consistent with the character of the man we knew and worked alongside for years. "Also since his death in May, allegations by Mrs. Thompson against Ravi have resurfaced in the public domain. This prompted calls for RZIM and/or the Zacharias family to conduct further investigation into this matter. In light of these developments, we, the Board of RZIM have reviewed the matter again and conclude the following: 1) Ravi Zacharias was never physically alone with Mrs. Thompson nor did he send her photos of himself. 2) There is no evidence that he solicited photos of heran allegation Ravi vehemently denied in his public statement in December 2017. Furthermore, no evidence to the contrary has ever been presented. 3) Ravi addressed his communication with Mrs. Thompson in his December 2017 statement and we agree with him that it was wrong to have engaged in ongoing communication of a personal nature with a woman other than his wife. 4) We believe Ravi should have immediately disclosed the fact that Mrs. Thompson sent inappropriate photographs to him. 5) We have long had policies regarding physical safeguards to protect both our team members and leaders as well as those they come in contact with to prevent interactions that could ever prove harmful to either party. In 2018, we implemented electronic communication safeguards and policies for that purpose as well. We regret not having put the electronic communication safeguards in place sooner. "We respect that there are those who disagree with us about this process and our current disposition. Finally, we reaffirm our commitment to the mission and work of RZIMto reach and challenge those who shape the ideas of culture with the credibility of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." The online relationship began after the Thompsons met Zacharias at a 2014 luncheon in Canada he was speaking at. Brad had been invited to sponsor a table there as he had sponsored the airtime for Zacharias radio program on UCB Canada, according to The Roys Report. According to letters that Lori Anne wrote and sent to third parties before the NDA, Zacharias was the one who suggested that the couple keep in touch with him though the apologist has said that Lori Anne made the suggestion. They began emailing each other and while Brad did not follow through, Lori Anne and Zacharias continued to communicate online. She shared details about her past, including stories about abuse by her father, and grew to trust the apologist as a fatherly figure. Their communication turned sexual in 2016 after Zacharias professed his love to her, Lori Anne wrote. It wasn't until her sister, Tamara Batiste, and later her counselors called the relationship "grooming" that Lori Anne said she realized he engaged in "predatory" behavior. When Thompson told Zacharias that she could no longer continue their relationship as she had come to believe it was a sin against God and told him that she had to tell her husband about their online activities, the apologist implored her not to do so and appeared to threaten suicide. "You promised you wouldnt Lori Anne. If. You betray me here I will have no option but to bid this world goodbye I promise," he wrote. The Basels then sent an email to Zacharias that same evening, informing him that they were counseling Thompson and that she only intended to share what had transpired between them with her husband and no one else. "We need some assurance from you that you will not harm yourself. Otherwise, we will find it necessary to contact 911 in your location. We await your prompt response. Thank you," the counselors wrote to Zacharias. He replied moments later: "I am fine Thank you. I am just concerned about her. Thank you please tell her I am praying for her. She is very much in my prayers." The Roys Report also obtained documents, invoices of gifts from Zacharias to Thompson, and phone records appearing to show their conversations, all of which substantiated Lori Anne's version of events. Roys obtained these from her sister, who had received them before the Thompsons signed the nondisclosure agreement that forbade them from speaking publicly. Batiste shared the documents with Roys because she wanted to see her sister "freed from the shame and the torment of being painted as the perpetrator in this scenario." Lori Anne has maintained that they signed the NDA under great duress and there is nothing she and her husband have that they do not wish to be disclosed. On May 21, she released a video two days after Zacharias died, asking Zacharias' family to release her from the NDA. In 2017 when the allegations first surfaced, the apologist released a statement, saying he did not elicit any photos or messages and "clearly instructed her to stop contacting me in any form; I blocked her messages." He maintained that he never engaged in "any inappropriate behavior of any kind" during his marriage to his wife, Margie. In Zacharias' lawsuit against the Thompsons, he claimed that Lori Anne had coaxed him into an illicit online affair and that the Canadian couple was attempting to extort money. This particular claim was bolstered by a previous lawsuit Brad filed against Maranatha Christian Reformed Church, his former church in Belleville, Ontario, several years earlier, asking for $1 million in damages. Brad alleged in that dispute that Pastor John Visser had abused his position of influence in a counseling relationship in order to advance his and his family's business interests through obtaining loans and investments from him. When reporting on the allegations against Zacharias in 2017, Christianity Today reported that Visser "was temporarily suspended, but his church and denomination ultimately stood by him. While Visser was permitted to return to pastoring after a 90-day suspension, it was only after he agreed to find outside oversight for his counseling ministry. The governing body of the denomination said in its conclusion of an investigation it had conducted in 2012 that Visser was guilty of abuse of the office of a minister and had, regarding the Thompsons, "abused his office for inappropriate ends and/or self-interest by soliciting and/or allowing a counselee ... to invest in companies that (Visser) and his family owned. Brad loaned approximately $355,000 to Vissers two companies over the course of several years and one of those companies reportedly went bankrupt, according to The Roys Report, which verified the financial transactions. Upon realizing he was not going to be paid back, Brad filed a lawsuit against Visser and the church to try and recoup his money, asking for $1 million, at his attorney's suggestion. Contrary to what was alleged in Zacharias' lawsuit, Brad and Visser never arrived at a settlement agreement. Brad told Roys he ultimately scrapped the lawsuit since Visser went bankrupt. In the legal dispute against Zacharias, the Thompsons sent a demand letter convinced that was the only way to be taken seriously for $5 million to RZIM, allegedly at the recommendation of their lawyer. Though Brad is reportedly a successful businessman and had no financial need for the money, his attorneys thought that the higher amount was reasonable since Zacharias' ministry had so much money that he could likely find a donor who could pay $1 million. At the time, the #MeToo movement was exploding and prominent mass media figures and Hollywood moguls were paying out especially large sums to alleged victims. As Lori Anne and I found out more about predation and grooming and the amount of victims that predators have ... we knew we had a moral responsibility, or a godly responsibility, before the Lord, not to do nothing, Brad told Roys, explaining his reasons for sending the letter demanding a $5 million settlement. We both felt a burden. We knew it could possibly kill us to come forward. But it could possibly kill someone else if we stayed silent. In 2018, after reviewing the accusations regarding his credentials and relationship with Lori Anne, the Christian & Missionary Alliance (which ordained Zacharias) decided not to discipline him, saying "available evidence does not provide a basis for formal discipline under the C&MA policy." Facebook; Thumbs Down Getty/Photo Montage by Salon One of the many ways in which President Donald Trump's critics fear he could try to steal the election on November 3 is by claiming victory prematurely before all the votes are counted in key swing states. And journalist Mark Sullivan, in an article for Fast Company, explains why he fears that Trump will use Facebook to claim victory even when the presidential election's outcome remains uncertain. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that during the week prior to the election, it will not accept any new political ads because there won't be enough time left to check them for accuracy. But beginning at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on Election Night that is, right after November 3 turns to November 4 in major East Coast cities like Washington, D.C., New York City, Miami, Philadelphia and Boston it will allow new political ads again, Sullivan notes. And in some of those new ads, the journalist warns, Trump could make a premature claim of victory. For example, let's say that the race is close in Pennsylvania and Florida two key swing states and Trump is ahead in the vote count in those states. Trump might prematurely declare victory in Pennsylvania even though many votes in Democrat-dominated Philadelphia and its suburbs have yet to be counted. Or in Florida, Trump might prematurely declare victory before all of the votes in Miami-Dade County have been counted. Sullivan explains, "12:01 a.m. on November 4 could mark the outset of an extremely sensitive and crucial period when election officials take a week or longer to process and tabulate the mail-in ballots used by millions of voters this year. Election integrity experts have said that the in-person votes will be counted first in many jurisdictions, and that because higher numbers of his base will likely vote in-person, Trump may appear to hold a lead on Election Night. That could change over the coming weeks as mail-in ballots are tabulated." Story continues If Trump prematurely declared victory in Pennsylvania or Florida and it turned out that former Vice President Joe Biden won those states, it's hard to imagine Trump and his MAGA base admitting the president was wrong. "If the Trump campaign uses a mass media channel like Facebook to declare victory in the early hours of November 4," Sullivan notes, "it could send the GOP base into a frenzy of euphoria and it may go on believing Trump won even after the official ballot count later reveals Biden to be the president-elect. Trump might then declare the election 'rigged' like he did in 2016, even after winning! and refuse to leave the White House. The nation would find itself in the teeth of a constitutional crisis." Related Articles OGUK Welcomes Chancellor's Plans This article was first published on Rigzone here Industry body Oil & Gas UK (OGUK) has revealed that it has initially welcomed the winter economy plans announced on Thursday by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer. [Thursdays] announcement will be helpful to our sector and the thousands of people it employs across the country, OGUK Chief Executive Deirdre Michie said in an organization statement. We welcome the principle of support provided by the Chancellor and will be pressing for more detail regarding eligibility for our supply chain, which remains in a fragile condition, Michie added. In a statement posted on the organizations website, the OGUK chief executive noted that to increase activity levels in the industry it needs to be able to get more people working without compromising on the health and safety of its people. We continue to have conversations with government about the best way to do this so that we can quickly accelerate maintenance programs and other activity as soon as possible, Michie stated. Facing a winter of uncertainty, focus must also remain on the prize of securing a green recovery which puts the essential expertise of our industry to work in building the solutions we need to meet our climate ambitions, Michie added. Through a green recovery, a North Sea Transition Deal and continued support for our industry, we can help keep costs low for households and families, retain jobs and create new roles for the future, Michie went on to say. On Thursday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak outlined additional government support for businesses and workers impacted by the coronavirus across the UK. The package includes a new jobs support scheme, an extension to the self-employment income support scheme and help for businesses in repaying government-backed loans. Take control of your future. Search THOUSANDS of Oil & Gas jobs on Rigzone.com Search Now >> Story continues The resurgence of the virus, and the measures we need to take in response, pose a threat to our fragile economic recovery Sunak said in a government statement. The primary goal of our economic policy remains unchanged - to support peoples jobs - but the way we achieve that must evolve, he added. Commenting on Sunaks latest plans, Carolyn Fairbairn, the Confederation of British Industry Director-General, said, these bold steps from the Treasury will save hundreds of thousands of viable jobs this winter. The British Chambers of Commerce Director General, Adam Marshall, said, the measures announced by the Chancellor will give business and the economy an important shot in the arm. Chambers of Commerce have consistently called for a new generation of support to help preserve livelihoods and ease the cash pressures faced by firms as they head into a challenging and uncertain winter, he added. As we look past the immediate challenge, more will need to be done to rebuild and renew our economy. Chambers of Commerce across the UK will continue to work with government to ensure the benefits of these schemes are delivered to firms on the ground, he added. To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com More From Rigzone.com, The Leading Energy Platform: >> Find the latest oil and gas jobs on Rigzone.com << NEW DELHI : The first look of Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut regional rapid transit system (RRTS) was unveiled on Friday by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in the national capital. The 82 km long Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS will be the first of its kind in India with a design speed of 180 kmph. According to reports, the prototype is scheduled to roll off the production line after two years in 2022. Unveiling the first look of Indias first RRTS train today, MoHUA Secretary said that the environment friendly, energy efficient trains will improve the quality of life in and around NCR by accelerating economic growth. The project will also create economic opportunities by reducing air pollution, carbon footprint, congestion, and accidents. Managing Director NCRTC, Vinay Kumar Singh, all the members of Board of Directors of NCRTC and other senior officials of MoHUA, NCRTC and Bombardier India were also present at today's event. RRTS trains will be lightweight, fully air-conditioned With radiating stainless steel outer body, these aerodynamic RRTS trains will be lightweight and fully air-conditioned. Each car will have six automatic plug-in type wide doors, three on each side (Business Class will have four such doors, two on each side) for ease of access and exit. The RRTS trains will have transverse 2x2 seating with adequate legroom, optimised aisle width with grab handles and grab poles for a comfortable journey for standing passengers, overhead luggage rack, mobile/laptop charging sockets and on board Wi-Fi among other commuter-centric features. New Delhis iconic Lotus Temple is an epitome of sustainability as its design allows flow of natural sources of light and air circulation. On the similar lines, RRTS rolling stock will have lighting and temperature control systems to enhance the passenger experience with less energy consumption. Equipped with modern amenities, the RRTS rolling stock will be a unique amalgamation of new-age technology and Indias rich heritage. Speaking at the event, Vinay Kumar Singh said, The rolling stock of Indias first RRTS has been designed with a vision to fulfil the aspirations of the New India. RRTS rolling stock will be energy-efficient with about 30% regeneration during braking. NCRTC has awarded the rolling stock work with an integrated long term comprehensive maintenance by the manufacturer, thus leveraging the benefits of life cycle costing. I am confident that RRTS will prove to be transport backbone for the people of NCR and will define a new benchmark in the transport sector enabling the overall growth of the region". Corridor to bring down travel time between Delhi-Meerut The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor is one of the three prioritised RRTS corridor being implemented in phase-1. The 82 km long DelhiGhaziabadMeerut Corridor is the first RRTS corridor being implemented in India. The corridor will bring down the travel time between Delhi to Meerut by around 1/3rd. The commute time from Delhi to Meerut will be reduced to less than an hour from 3-4 hours by road at present. The priority section of the corridor is targeted to be commissioned in 2023, while the entire corridor will be commissioned in 2025. The other two Phase-I RRTS corridors are Delhi-Gurugram-SNB and Delhi-Panipat. Pre-construction activities are in full swing for Delhi-Gurugram-SNB corridor and its DPR is under active consideration of the Government of India for sanction. The DPR of the Delhi to Panipat RRTS corridor is also under active consideration of the respective State Governments for approval. NCRTC will procure 30 train sets of 6 cars each for operating regional rail services on the entire corridor and 10 train sets of 3 cars each for operating local transit services in Meerut. The entire rolling stock for Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor will be manufactured at Bombardiers Savli plant in Gujarat. An earlier report also said that there could be a change in the alignment of Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS as NCR Transport Corporation, the organisation which is constructing the RRTS, has dropped plans to build its depot at Madhuban-Bapudham after it failed to reach an agreement with the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA). Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics Aaron D. Boeder I am truly honored to be part of this special group, and so grateful for the support I received from numerous attorneys who wrote recommendations on my behalf. Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C. is pleased to announce Partner Aaron D. Boeder has been named one of Law Bulletin Medias Forty Lawyers Under 40 to watch in the state of Illinois for 2020. This years Forty Under 40 honorees were selected from a group of nearly 1,000 nominations. Aaron D. Boeder joined Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. in 2010 and was named Partner in 2019. He focuses his practice in the areas of medical malpractice, catastrophic injury and wrongful death law. During his time with the firm, Mr. Boeder has helped secure a number of noteworthy verdicts and settlements for his clients, including an $11.25 million jury verdict on behalf of a young boy whose mother was killed in a motor vehicle collision and a $15.2 million jury verdict for a client who was struck by a forklift at McCormick Place Convention Center. The case was appealed by defense counsel and subsequently settled for $19.5 million, including interest accrued during the appeal process. In recognition of his outstanding legal work, Mr. Boeder was honored in the 2021 Edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch. In addition, Mr. Boeder has been named a Rising Star by Illinois Super Lawyers and an Emerging Lawyer by Law Bulletin Media every year since 2015. Mr. Boeder graduated from the Ohio State University, cum laude, in 2003. He earned his law degree from the DePaul University College of Law in 2010. During law school, Mr. Boeder gained a great deal of experience while serving as a judicial extern for the Honorable James F. Holderman, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and as a legal extern in the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Illinois. He also practiced with the Cook County States Attorneys Office as an Illinois Supreme Court Rule 711 law clerk. Mr. Boeder served as an officer in the Army National Guard before he attended law school. Over the past 10 years, Aaron has developed into an excellent personal injury attorney working on many large high-profile cases, Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard Founder and Managing Equity Partner Patrick A. Salvi Sr. said. I am truly honored to be part of this special group, and so grateful for the support I received from numerous attorneys who wrote recommendations on my behalf, Aaron D. Boeder said. The 2020 Forty Under 40 class was announced during a virtual happy hour on September 24, 2020. For more information, please contact Marcie Mangan at (312) 372-1227 or mmangan@salvilaw.com . The dean of the Chaldean seminary remembers Fr Ragheed and Archbishop Rahho in relation to his ordination. He repeatedly tells his 15 students to heed Pope John Paul IIs motto Do not be afraid!. Instability and insecurity lead to flight. Parents fear that their sons will be killed if he becomes priests. He urges young people to follow Christ's call. This is the third and last part of the report on vocations in Iraq. Erbil (AsiaNews) I was ordained a month after the martyrdom of Fr Ragheed [Ganni] by then Archbishop Rahho of Mosul who died a year later in the hands of his kidnappers, said Fr Ephrem Gilyana, dean of the St Peters Chaldean Patriarchal Seminary. This is why I repeat the motto of Saint John Paul II, Do not be afraid! to my (future) priests because it is possible to guarantee the future of the Church through vocations. Fr Gilyanas faith is one of total self-dedication, including the ultimate sacrifice if need be, as Christ did. During the ordination Mass, the bishop said: We have just lost a priest, today we find another. I heed those words in order to try to always be optimistic. Fr Ephrem was born on 3 January 1976 in Mosul, northern Iraq, which was a stronghold of the Islamic State (IS) group. Ordained in 2007, he was appointed in 2015 to head Iraqs only seminary, which, since 2007, has been based in Ankawa, the Christian neighbourhood in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, after moving from Baghdad for security reasons. We talked about the issue of vocations in the country with him following a recent appeal by the Chaldean patriarch, Card Louis Raphael Sako, and speaking with one of the 15 young men studying to become a priest. "Patriarch Sako's call for vocations is very important because it is directed at young people, reminding them of their commitment to priestly service and consecrated life. The call, as the passage from Isaiah says, is the starting point because a Church without vocations is sad. Of course, the lack of security and political instability, extremism and violence that grew even more after 2014 have not helped. The lack of vocations has worsened with the Islamic States conquest of the villages in the Nineveh Plain. Extremism is not the only explanation for the decline in vocations because "worrying things have also occurred within the Church which have had an impact. Various factors have contributed, such as more 'persuasive' messages spread by the media stifling the catechesis, and misleading theological, cultural, and pastoral pluralism. As a result, the Chaldean primate addressed young people at the start of the academic year in order to urge them to "be generous and have the courage to follow Jesus into the priesthood, giving life to others. However, for many young people, the problem is the lack of political stability and security, which does not allow them to think about their future and that of their families, Fr Ephrem explained. In fact, Card Sako addressed his appeal precisely to families because the family is the place where vocations are born and parents must be generous in giving their children to the Lord. Yet, when peace and security are lacking, confusion and the desire to flee elsewhere to build the future grow. The Iraqi Church is often called a Church of martyrs, martyrs like Fr Ragheed and Archbishop Rahho; this has had a positive influence on the life of our young people. For the dean of St Peters Seminary, the situation is still difficult; young people are not afraid but their families are, fearful that their children could be killed if they become priests. In the West, the vocation crisis is rooted in secularism, whilst in Iraq the fear of losing children dominates. To have new vocations, it is first of all necessary to guarantee stability and security. In his daily work, Fr Ephrem says he has to cope with the "lack of staff in the seminary. I am the only resident member. Seminarians would like to count on at least two other priests. There is no spiritual dean and this creates major difficulties. Nonetheless, there are some factors to be reasonably optimistic. Since 2014, the Church has done enormous work in terms of reconstruction. Small things give hope in a complex context that has lasted for quite some time: the war with Iran, the Gulf War, the fall of Saddam Hussein, violence, jihadis and now the coronavirus which for many is worse than the Islamic State. Finally, Fr Ephrem notes that the bishops are above all responsible for vocations. Speaking to young people, he urges them to be "more docile to Gods voice, open your spirit to Christ and listen to his voice, thinking about the future of your Church. North Wales Police are appealing for any information regarding the whereabouts of Adele Jones, 14, from Bangor Concerns are growing for a missing teenage girl who hasn't been seen for three days. North Wales Police are appealing for any information regarding the whereabouts of Adele Jones, 14, from Bangor. The teenager was last seen on September 21 in the Bangor and Caernarfon areas. She is described as being 5ft 6in tall and of an average build. When she was last seen she was wearing a black denim jacket with black leggings and light T-shirt with white Nike trainers. She also had her black her tied up in a 'messy bun'. Officers are asking for anyone who might have seen Adele to get in touch by calling 101 quoting iTrace 34266. (TNS) South Carolina soon could have another way to solve the problem of half a million residents without access to high-speed Internet.On Thursday, state lawmakers passed a bill that would allow electric co-ops to lease out space on existing power poles to broadband providers interested in expanding Internet access into communities that need it.The bill is a huge step in the direction of bringing more broadband to more rural areas in our state, and I think every county in our state has a rural area thats underserved so I think it affects us all, said state Rep. Mike Forrester, R-Spartanburg.The bill now heads to S.C. Gov. Henry McMasters desk. McMaster spokesman Brian Symmes said the governor will take a look at the bill which tackles a problem the governor is interested in addressing.This is obviously an important initiative that the governor has been talking about for quite some time, and were extremely happy to see that the General Assembly agrees with him that its an important issue that needs to be addressed in a comprehensive way, Symmes said.Under the legislation, electric co-ops and Santee Cooper, the state-owned electric utility that provides power to co-ops that serve mostly rural communities, can lease out space on existing electric poles, in conduits and easements, to broadband providers for reasonable prices and conditions, for the purpose of running high-speed Internet lines. The legislation also allows the Public Service Commission, the states utility regulator, to hear and settle any disputes.The legislation also sets up a way for electric co-ops to expand broadband themselves.Co-ops are in the business presently in an unregulated fashion and so the (telecommunications companies) across the state, Horry telephone in my area, are obviously concerned that they are going to be competing in an area that it has already served, said State Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Horry.Running lines underground could take longer to achieve and is more expensive for telecom companies, Rankin said.Our goal is to try to incentivize capital investment in the state by defining payment for those who are not in the business, (and) who would want to access poles that are existing to run wire, instead of burying cable as many are doing presently, Rankin said.Both chambers passed the bill unanimously this week.Expanded access equals expanded opportunity something every South Carolinian deserves, House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, said. Today is a good day, and a good start, for South Carolina.The need for broadband, and the lack of high-speed Internet access in certain parts of the state, came to light during the COVID-19 pandemic which led to higher demands for virtual education and telemedicine, as well as more people working from home.The Federal Communications Commission estimates 650,000 South Carolinians dont have access to broadband Internet, including more than 552,000 people who live in rural areas, and more than 97,000 people who live in urban areas. One estimate to connect the the remaining 192,000 households in the state without broadband puts the cost at $800 million The Office of Regulatory Staff, a state agency tasked with providing Internet connections to needy state residents during the pandemic, has approved $50 million worth of broadband construction projects it hopes to be completed by December. Half of the cost of those projects is being paid for by the state with CARES Act dollars. The other half will be paid for by broadband providers. ORS estimates more than 25,000 households and more than 1,000 businesses that dont have access would be able to get service.During debate on Thursday, State Rep. Cezar McKnight, D-Williamsburg, said expanding broadband has the potential to generate business in rural areas, but the issue needs to be revisited regularly by the General Assembly to ensure the entire state has access to broadband.The future economic success of this state is directly linked to how much access to broadband we have in South Carolina, McKnight said.Some lawmakers also have been working on proposals to pump more state money into broadband. One Republican legislator said thats a next, necessary step.State Rep. Brian White, R-Anderson, said next year legislators will try to get a grant program going to help providers expand service to areas where its not financially viable because there arent enough customers.Well, this would bridge that gap and would allow them to run it and provide that access to the areas that arent served, White said. But before you can do a lot of that, you got to have all the providers in the room. And this bill put all the providers in the room and at the table ... We built the car, now we need to go put gasoline in it. Earth movers halted for a few moments in the Bristow Bird Sanctuary and Wildwood Preserve while a group of town officials and employees broke ground on the revitalization of the 16.8-acre nationally renowned park. In preparation for the parks 100th anniversary in 2024, paths are being leveled and widened so all age groups may visit it, fences are being fixed, the pond dredged, more birdhouses hung, and native plants put in the ground to support the food pyramid for birds. Nine people who helped to make this a reality met in an area called the crossroads, where the widened main path turns and goes over a bridge spanning a stream, to launch the revitalization on Tuesday, Sept. 22. I always liked it here. We are out here right now and, unless a train goes by, it is very peaceful, Superintendent of Parks John Howe said of the park that abuts Mead Memorial Park, with one side bordered by train tracks and another by Old Stamford Road. The town has authorized $199,500 for the first, and most expensive, phase of project, and the Friends of Bristow hope to raise additional money by Oct. 15 to qualify for matching funds. Bristow Bird Sanctuary was in desperate need for a lot of work, and for many years we tried to get money, but we were never able to get it until the Conservation Commission took charge of it and spearheaded the project, Recreation Director Steve Benko said. For being right close to the center of town, this is a great hidden asset and we think with this new trail we will help get more visitation and hopefully turn more people on to birding and nature, Conservation Commission Chairman Chris Schipper said. Bristow is a hidden gem in the center of town and I am very thrilled to see it begin to be brought back to life. It is a place people will find respite in nature right downtown, First Selectman Keven Moynihan said of the park, only two blocks from Elm Street. In 1931, as many as 140 different species of birds were spotted in the park that reportedly welcomed 15,000 people in one year. In the last 12 months, 53 different species of birds were spotted in Bristow and it has been documented as a birding hot spot by Cornell ornithology, Schipper said. Once a young child identifies five birds, he or she is on their way to becoming a birder, Schipper, who has spearheaded the revival, said. Schipper wants to encourage learning about nature and birds. We are within access of the schools and we are hoping to be able to put in a small pull-off area, big enough for a school bus to allow a classroom to come in here, Schipper said. Near the crossroad, a small shelter will be constructed with weather-resistant guides that can help identify the birds, Keith Simpson, a landscape architect involved in the project, said. When young kids come here. they see the pictures of the birds, Simpson said. Then, they can see what they would be looking for. Birding in and of itself is already growing, Schipper said. But the park is also for people who just want to enjoy nature. Another open space for New Canaan residents, Parks and Recreation Commission Chairman Rona Siegel said. I dont know what could be better. An emerald necklace Schipper said the path will add another portion of the green link trail, that the town has been working on, which allows for a walkable connection between parks, or an emerald necklace that allows us to tie Waveny Park to Bristow to Mead to the Irwin Park, Schipper explained. I just think it is a great asset. Glad we are finally starting to do something to it. It will be really nice when it is all done, Tiger Mann, Director of Department of Public Works said. Sustainability Projects like the Bristow preserve will also help the town be recognized as a sustainable town, Councilman Robin Bates-Mason said. She is helping obtain a bronze certification for sustainability from Eastern Connecticut State University, called Sustainable Connecticut. Our application is in, the review process is going to be finished in October, she said. Right now it looks like we will get our bronze certification, if not we will reapply for the spring. Darien has the certification and Bates-Mason was told that Realtors and businesses like to say that they are in a sustainable Connecticut town. Members of Bhartiya Kisan Union blocked roads near the Delhi-Noida border on Friday in protest against the contentious farm bills, passed by Parliament during the monsoon session. In a precautionary measure, police are deployed around the border. Traffic was also diverted to prevent any inconvenience to people, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Noida. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana have announced a nationwide bandh on Friday in protest against the farm bills --the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill. Over two dozens farmers organizations from all across the country have joined hands for the nationwide shutdown. Farmers bodies from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have also called for a strike. As many as 18 political parties have extended their support to the protests. The legislations were passed amid staunch criticism from various farmers bodies and Opposition parties. The agitating farmers fear that these reforms will lead to the end of the Mandi system and are only in the interest of big corporates. However, the government has assured that these bills are in favour of farmers and that systems of the minimum selling price (MSP) and government procurement will continue unhindered. The event honored the legacy of late Congressman John Lewis, civil rights champion and voting rights advocate On September 10 and 11, this historic summit, for the first time, brought together over 40 HBCUs from around the country to chart a way forward in preparation for the upcoming election and future elections to come. This virtual event honored the legacy of late Congressman John Lewis, civil rights champion and voting rights advocate. HBCUs are critical anchor institutions for engaging not only Black students, but also the wider communities where they are located. This summit is a critical opportunity to engage a voting bloc that can have an enormous impact on the outcome of the upcoming election. Read More: Trump questions why the hell he passed reform after failing to energize Black voters As we continue to witness more and more schemes aimed at disenfranchising college students, particularly Black students, this summit is focused on informing, preparing, and equipping students with the tools they need to exercise their constitutional right to vote. The summit was hosted by Alabama A&M University and, for the first time, brought together HBCUs from around the country to plan for an election and prepare students to vote in 2020 and in the future. Spelman College (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for 20th Century Fox) Ensuring that young people of color have full and equal access to the ballot box is crucial, especially in light of the widespread voter suppression efforts taking place across the country, said Alexandria Harris, Esq., Executive Director of The Andrew Goodman Foundation. This summit comes at a flashpoint in our history following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. Young Americans, many of whom are college students, are taking to the streets to demand justice and equality. Concurrently, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a disproportionate impact on the Black community exposing the widespread nature of systemic inequality. And within this context, were battling voter suppression efforts aimed at maintaining the status quo. This summit was part of the ongoing fight for racial justice and equity through education, advocacy, and preparing students to vote. Story continues Blatant voter suppression efforts from local and state governments have dramatically increased the past few years and disproportionately targeted people of color and students, who are historically targets of voter suppression. Educating these students on how to navigate these barriers is the most potent way of fighting back. The event was co-hosted by The Andrew Goodman Foundation, Fair Elections Centers Campus Vote Project and Students Learn Students Vote (SLSV) Coalition and by Alabama A&M University. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) The Andrew Goodman Foundations mission is to make young voices and votes a powerful force in democracy by training the next generation of leaders, engaging young voters, and challenging restrictive voter suppression laws. The Foundations Vote Everywhere program partners with Americas colleges and universities to provide resources, visibility, and mentoring to a national network of student leaders who involve their peers in participatory democracy through long-term voter engagement, public policy, and social justice initiatives. AGF has chapters at many HBCUs across the country, and the summit was an extension of their commitment to creating infrastructure to help support HBCUs and their students participate in our democracy. Read More: Bloomberg raises $16 million to help ex-felons to vote in Florida The organization is named after Andrew Goodman, a 20-year-old Freedom Summer volunteer, and champion of equality and voting rights who, along with James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, was murdered by the KKK in 1964 while registering Black Americans to vote in Mississippi. The story of these three young men struck a public chord that galvanized support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. If you would like to get involved, please contact The Andrew Goodman Foundation, Fair Elections Centers Campus Vote Project or the Students Learn Students Vote (SLSV) Coalition. Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University, political editor at The Grio, the author of Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream and the co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC. You can find her at @Dr_CMGreer on Twitter. Have you subscribed to theGrios new podcast Dear Culture? Download our newest episodes now! The post National HBCU voting summit stresses importance of youth turnout appeared first on TheGrio. The pandemic has been a challenge for millions of Americans, and childrens authors and illustrators are no exception. We asked several of them to tell us their noteworthy quarantine stories, and were continuing a series with their responses. Here, Lisa Graff, author of the picture book Wonderful You and more than 10 books for middle grade readers, shares her experience contracting and coping with Covid-19 and taking comfort in family and books. On March 12, I flew to Chicago for a school visit that never happened. One hour after my plane touched down, the district decided the threat of Covid-19 was severe enough to close all schools, effective immediately. I turned around and flew home. Five days later, my symptoms began. My case of the virus (well, presumed casetests were especially scarce back then) wasnt nearly as awful as some, but it wasnt pleasant. Id picked up a swag bag of coronavirus favorites: cough, body aches, fatigue, elephant-on-the-chest pressure, chills, sweats, brain fog, and on and on. I spent days in bed, barely able to lift my head. Still, as many idiot authors are wont to do, I kept trying to work. After all, I had a novel to rewrite! And a picture book to launch! Not to mention two young children to take care of. My husband would come upstairs to bring me soup or ibuprofen, only to find me drooling on my notes. I finally abandoned my efforts altogether after I woke up one afternoon and read the Ultimate Solution Id come up with for my novels biggest plot hole. Eat chicken salad! Thats what Id scribbled in my notebook. (Reader, I do not even like chicken salad.) As it turned out, that was the last bit of writing Id do for several months. My virus developed into pneumonia, and just when it seemed like I was turning a corner, I crashed harder than ever, my exhaustion and headaches gluing me to the bed for weeks at a time. My daughter took to drawing pictures of the Sickness Woman. (The sickness woman has no energy so she just sleeps, she told me, describing one drawing. The three women come and give snail plasma to her.) (Ive been trying not to read too much into this.) (But has anyone looked into this snail plasma thing? Might be something there.) I am, I have since discovered, one of the unfortunate long-haulersoften young, previously healthy patients with mild cases of Covid-19 who mysteriously never quite recover. I have good days and very, very bad ones, and I never know which will be which. My family is adjusting the way families doone day at a time, holding tight to whats important, and letting go of whats not. The kids bedtime ritual shifted to my bed instead of theirs (where theres much more space to snuggle, anyway). And my husband and I were pleased to discover that even when our kids eat cut-up hot dogs for dinner, they go on living just fine. Friends and neighbors, too, have found incredibly touching and meaningful ways to help, even while socially distanced. Meals have been delivered to our door, prescriptions picked up from the pharmacy, jigsaw puzzles and chocolate sent from many states away. As so many families have discovered recently, a pandemic highlights both the resources you lack and those you never thought to reach for. So last month, when my long-anticipated picture book, Wonderful You (illustrated by the incomparable Ramona Kaulitzki) arrived in the world, I was disappointed not to be able to throw a big launch partybut I knew I wouldnt have made it through one anyway. Instead, I did what I suppose any long-hauler in my position would have: I wrote an email to 150 of my closest friends (subject line: I have Covid! Buy my book!). Then I slept for three hours. Not exactly glamorous. But you know what? My book is exactly the same joyful, life-celebrating work of art it wouldve been if Id toasted it with cake and champagne. And nothing beats the replies I got to that email, with photos of my friends kids, all across the country, enjoying the book. Id take those snapshots over champagne any day. (Maybe not over cake, though. I really do love me some cake.) Time and again, whats gotten my family and me through these past difficult six months are books. Books Ive read alone in the bath, while soaking in my Epsom salts. Books weve read together on the couch, inviting intense debates about the strengths and weaknesses of various superheroes. Books snuggled up in bed under the covers, when there was little energy for anything else. If Ive done nothing else as a parent this year, at least Ive taught my kids that, whatever the situation you find yourself in, books can help. And sometimes, I need my kids to remind me of that too. A few months back, when I found myself overwhelmed to the point of sobs, I heard a soft scuffling from the hall. When I looked up, I spotted my sons favorite shark book, slowly sliding itself under my door. Someone, it seemed, knew exactly what I needed. And, Reader? It helped immensely. For more Authors Quarantine Stories click here. When President Sebastian Pinera said Nov. 11 that he was willing to change the constitution, the currency, which had held remarkably firm in the early days of the protests, went into free-fall, depreciating by more than 13% before the central bank intervened. More recently, some investors have said the looming referendum has kept the peso weaker than it should be given recent gains in copper, which is Chiles biggest export, and the countrys balance of trade. Some opponents of the rewrite argue that the length of the process will harm the economy because investors will hold back in the absence of certainty about future investment conditions. Changes to the constitution may unsettle financial markets if they entail more public spending. Advertisement What a difference 15 years makes. Aerial photography specialist Jason Hawkes recently snapped a set of stunning images of London from a helicopter, matching the angles with photographs he took above the capital between 2005 and 2007. His images show that in some areas the city has undergone dramatic changes there's now a rather lofty Shard skyscraper, Canary Wharf is becoming a forest of tall buildings and the King's Cross area has truly flourished. Jason, who takes his pictures from between 750 and 2,450ft up, told MailOnline Travel that his favourite view is 'at dusk looking West through the City cluster with the Thames meandering in the background'. He added: 'My favourite building in the City of London is the Leadenhall, just love it. Around Battersea, Nine Elms and Vauxhall the whole area has completely transformed in the past few years. There the new U.S. Embassy by Kieran Timberlake looks just incredible to my eye. I'd love to visit it on the ground.' Jason's incredible then-and-now pictures of London are below and can also be seen at The Changing Face of London exhibition at the New London Architecture gallery in Bloomsbury. Slide me Views over the Old Royal Naval College to the Isle of Dogs taken in 2006 (left) and 2020 (right) Slide me The image on the left shows the Thames Barrier in 2007, with a matching view showing development at Royal Docks in 2020 Slide me Battersea Power Station, Battersea and Pimlico in 2007, with a matching view taken in 2020 showing how rapidly the areas to the south have developed. The silvery cube building on the right-hand side of the river is the new U.S Embassy Slide me Tower Bridge looking west in 2006, with the picture on the right showing the same view in 2020. Jason said: 'It's a view I shoot more than any, as it changes so much on the tide and with the light off the Thames' Slide me An amazing view of the Greenwich Peninsula in 2007 (left), with the 2020 view to the right Slide me On the left is a 2005 view looking west down South Dock in Canary Wharf, with the 2020 version on the right. Jason said: 'Flying around Canary Wharf can get very busy as you are always subject to the traffic lifting and landing at City Airport right next door. Shooting at dusk, we sometimes get given tiny 30-second windows by air traffic control in which to grab the shots. It's been amazing recently though as there are so few flights. Recently, for instance, we flew there and had a pretty much free-rein to fly as required for the job' Slide me On the left is a 2006 view of the construction of the Olympic site looking south from the A12 down the River Lea. On the right is a matching 2020 image of the site, now known as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Jason said: 'Shooting in the winter like this first image, it can get desperately cold up there. We fly with the doors off and after an hour or so you can't feel your fingers' Slide me A 2006 view east from St Paul's Cathedral to the City of London (left), with the 2020 image on the right showing how rapid development has been in the intervening years Slide me On the left is a 2006 view looking west over Paddington and the A40. The matching view on the right, taken in 2020, shows development around Paddington, Paddington Central and Paddington Basin Slide me An incredible view taken in 2006 over Bankside and Blackfriars, looking west from Tate Modern (left). The 2020 picture on the right shows the development around Blackfriars - which includes the appearance of the lofty One Blackfriars tower and the Blackfriars Railway Bridge becoming Blackfriars station in its entirety Slide me On the left is a mesmerising 2006 view of St Pancras International and King's Cross looking north. The matching 2020 shot shows the huge development around Granary Square and Lewis Cubitt Square. See those cranes between King's Cross station on the right and St Pancras on the left? That's the new 'landscraper' Google HQ Slide me These two images, taken in 2007 and 2020 show London Bridge pre and post-Shard. The 1,017ft-high skyscraper is the sixth highest building in Europe Slide me A 2006 view (left) of the City of London from Finsbury Circus. The matching 2020 view on the right shows the latest skyscrapers in full bloom - 22 Bishopsgate and 100 Bishopsgate, and the newest development, One Crown Place, in the left-hand foreground Slide me The 2006 image on the left captures the City of London, looking west. The photo on the right was taken in 2020. Jason said: 'This is one of my favourite views of the City and also the one that has changed the most, especially over the past five years' Slide me The 2007 view looking south over the River Lea, Canning Town and Leamouth Peninsula. The matching 2020 view is on the right. Leamouth Peninsula is now called London City Island, 'a 12-acre micro-Manhattan', according to its website. It's now the home of the English National Ballet To see more of Jason's incredible work visit his Instagram page and website. BOSTON - Two former administrators of a Massachusetts veterans home where nearly 80 people sickened by the coronavirus died have been charged over their handling of the outbreak, the state attorney general said Friday. Its believed to be the first criminal case in the country brought against nursing home officials for actions during the pandemic, Attorney General Maura Healey said. Former Holyoke Soldiers Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former Medical Director Dr. David Clinton were indicted by a grand jury on charges stemming from their decision in March to combine two dementia units, packing residents who were positive for the coronavirus into the same space as those with no symptoms, Healey said. The veterans risked their lives from the beaches of Normandy, to some the jungles of Vietnam, and to know that they died under the most horrific circumstances is truly shocking, Healey told reporters. A phone message was left Friday with a lawyer for Walsh. An email was sent to attorneys for Clinton. They could each face prison time if convicted of causing or permitting serious bodily injury or neglect of an elder, Healey said. Relatives of veterans who died at the home said they hope justice will prevail. We now want our state to move forward and do the right thing to ensure this never happens again to any other veteran, the family members said in an statement emailed by the Holyoke Soldiers Home Coalition, a group advocating for improvements. The charges come three months after a scathing independent report said utterly baffling decisions made by Walsh and other administrators allowed the virus to spread unchecked. The worst decision was to combine the two locked dementia units, both of which already housed some residents with the virus, said investigators led by former federal prosecutor Mark Pearlstein. Healey said Walsh and Clinton were the ones ultimately responsible for the decision to combine the two units, which she said led to tragic and deadly results. More than 40 veterans were packed into a single unit that usually had 25 beds, and space was so limited that nine veterans some with symptoms and some without were sleeping in the dining room, Healey said. This never should have happened. It never should have happened from an infection controls standpoint, Healey said. Since March 1, 76 veterans who contracted the coronavirus at the home have died, officials said. The first veteran tested positive March 17. Even though he had shown symptoms for weeks, staff did nothing to isolate him until his test came back positive, allowing him to remain with three roommates, wander the unit and spend time in a common room, investigators found. When a social worker raised concerns about combining the two dementia units, the chief nursing officer said that it didnt matter because (the veterans) were all exposed anyway and there was not enough staff to cover both units, investigators said. One staffer who helped move the dementia patients told investigators she felt like she was walking (the veterans) to their death. A nurse said the packed dementia unit looked like a battlefield tent where the cots are all next to each other. As the virus took hold, leadership shifted from trying to prevent its spread to preparing for the deaths of scores of residents, the report said. On the day the veterans were moved, more than a dozen additional body bags were sent to the combined dementia unit, investigators said. The next day, a refrigerated truck to hold bodies that wouldnt fit in the homes morgue arrived, the report said. Walsh has defended his response, saying state officials initially refused in March to send National Guard aid even as the home was dealing with dire staffing shortages. He was placed on administrative leave March 30, and the CEO of Western Massachusetts Hospital, Val Liptak, took over operations. Walsh was fired after the release of the report, but a judge invalidated his termination this week after his lawyer argued that only the board of trustees could hire and fire the superintendent. The Massachusetts U.S. attorneys office and U.S. Department of Justices Civil Rights Division are also investigating whether officials violated residents rights by failing to provide proper medical care. Attorneys general in other states, including Pennsylvania, have also launched investigations into coronavirus deaths at nursing homes. And earlier this month, federal agents searched two nursing homes near Pittsburgh, one of which had the worst outbreak of any nursing home in Pennsylvania. Justice Department officials wrote wrote the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan last month seeking data on whether they violated federal law by ordering public nursing homes to accept recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals. The letters, sent from the head of the civil rights division, said the department hoped to determine whether the orders may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents. The Justice Department said it was evaluating whether to initiate investigations under a federal law known as the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, which protects the rights of people in nursing homes and other facilities. But the law applies only to nursing homes owned or run by the states. ___ Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report. Whether you call it a conspiracy theory or a collective delusion, QAnon now takes up a shocking amount of breathing room in national politics. Q shirts have proliferated at rallies across the country, and Q followers have made life on large chunks of social media unbearable. But the person or persons behind this movementa supposed deep-state mole rallying Americans around Donald Trump as he battles a satanist Democratic cabalhas remained a surprising afterthought. Thanks to recent reporting from ABC News, Reply All, and others, however, theres now more evidence backing one of the more compelling theories explaining who might be behind Q. Its complicatedOK, not as complicated as the yarns Q spins for his followersbut heres what you need to know. Advertisement Remind me: What is QAnon? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement QAnon is a dizzying conspiracy theory positing that there is a vast network of satanic elites within the upper echelons of the Democratic Party, Hollywood, and the deep state who run international child sex-trafficking rings and are working to bring down Donald Trump. Some of them also supposedly engage in cannibalism in an attempt to attain immortality. Adherents of the theory believe that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, the Dalai Lama, and Ellen DeGeneres are major figures perpetrating the conspiracy. Trump, as the story goes, was enlisted by military generals to run for president in 2016 and bring down the pedophilic cabal. Q claims to be a top government intelligence official who is trying to expose the plot against Trump. The QAnon mythology continues to become more intricate and expansive and includes plot points like the JFK assassination, UFOs, and 9/11. Not all followers believe in every aspect of the theory, though most of them adhere to the central claim that a pedophile syndicate controls the worlds major institutions. Advertisement Advertisement QAnon has grown into a massive movement. Facebook conducted an internal investigation last month and uncovered the existence of thousands of QAnon groups and pages with millions of members apiece. Q supporters often show up to the presidents rallies and have staged hundreds of Save the Children events around the country. There have also been a number of dangerous offline incidents involving Q supporters. In 2018, a man toting a large cache of guns and ammunition in an armored truck blocked off a bridge in Arizona in the name of Q. In 2019, a man shot and killed alleged mob boss Francesco Cali believing that he was one of Qs enemies. The FBI has labeled the movement a domestic terrorism threat. Advertisement Advertisement At least 21 candidates for state legislatures this year have signaled their support for QAnon. House of Representatives candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican whos almost certain to win the seat for the states 14th District, is a notorious booster for the movement, though she appears to have distanced herself from it over the past month. Jo Rae Perkins and Lauren Witzke, who won the Republican Senate primaries in Oregon and Delaware respectively, have also aligned themselves with Q, though theyre unlikely to defeat their Democratic opponents.* When asked about QAnon, Trump has declined to condemn the movement. Ive heard these are people that love our country, he said during an August press conference. So I dont know really anything about it other than they do supposedly like me. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement How does Q communicate with followers? A mysterious user known as Q first began posting on the notorious imageboard 4chan in October 2017. The main Q account would eventually jump to 8chan, which was rebranded as 8kun in 2019. (Imageboards like 4chan and 8chan are forums where people can anonymously post images and text and have become hotbeds for violent rhetoric and hate speech.) Q posts cryptic messages known as Q drops containing clues about whats going on in the war between Trump and the pedophiles. Supporters pore over the riddles, obscure references, and numerology within the messages in an attempt to crack their meanings. Heres an example of a Q drop from 2019: [C] BEFORE [D]. [C]oats BEFORE [D]. The month of AUGUST is traditionally very HOT. You have more than you know. The drops are posted to 8kun, though popular websites like QMap aggregate the messages and disseminate them to a wider audience. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Who (might) Q actually be? Frederick Brennan, the creator of 8chan, has been going to news outlets for months claiming that his former business partner Jim Watkins likely currently controls the Q accountclaims that have led to the publication of two major investigations over the last week. In 2014, a year after founding 8chan, Brennan moved to the Philippines to work on the site with Watkins at his pig farm in Manila. Brennan ceded ownership of 8chan to Watkins in 2015. The two had a falling-out after 8chan was linked to several mass shootings, and Brennan tried to get Watkins to take it down. Watkins would eventually invoke a criminal libel law against Brennan, which forced him to flee the Philippines. Advertisement In an interview with the tech podcast Reply All, Brennan says he believes that a longtime conspiracy theorist from Johannesburg named Paul Furber is actually the first person who started posting as Q back in 2017. (Furber has denied this.) Furber publicly acted as Qs interpreter and spokesperson on venues like 8chan and Infowars. According to Brennans telling, Watkins son Ron was able to wrestle control of the Q account away from Furber at the beginning of 2018 using his login privileges as the sites administrator. Advertisement Advertisement Jim and Ron Watkins have denied that theyre behind the account or that they have any direct contact with Q. However, Jim Watkins has been very outwardly supportive of Q; hes founded a QAnon super PAC and wore a Q pin during his testimony before Congress about 8chan in 2019. Advertisement Why do people suspect the Watkins family is behind Q? Nothing has surfaced definitively proving that the two Watkinses currently control the Q account, though Brennan has presented evidence that he says at the very least proves that they have an overwhelming amount of influence over it. Even before Brennan gave his most recent interviews to the media, people began suspecting that the Watkins family was linked to Q. When 8chans service providers forced it to go offline in August 2019, Q didnt post any drops for months, not even on other platforms, seemingly waiting until the message board came back as 8kun in November. Last month, anti-Q activists discovered the fact that 8kun shares an IP address with QMap, the most popular Q drop aggregator, suggesting that the Watkinses were behind both sites. Yet the developer of QMap, a man living in New Jersey, denies any connection to the Watkinses. Brennan has said that the shared IP strongly implies that the Watkinses have control over the two primary platforms through which Q disseminates drops, though again there is no definitive proof. If this were the case, though, the Watkinses could effectively become Q at any time by accessing the account on 8kun and spreading the message on QMap. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brennan also points to the moment when Furber allegedly lost control over Q as further proof of the Watkinses influence. In the early days of QAnon, the main 8chan account wasnt particularly secure, so people would often break in and post as Q. Furber took on the role of verifying who was or wasnt the real Q because he ran the particular forum on 8chan where the drops were posted, and so he could see users IP addresses. In 2018, however, someone began posting as Q who Furber said was a fraud. According to this telling, Ron Watkins stepped in at that point and said that he can also identify who the real Q is because hes 8chans administrator. Watkins ended up claiming that this supposedly fraudulent Q was actually the real deal. He also created a new forum for this Q to post outside of Furbers purview. Watkins is now the only person who can verify who the real Q is, giving him even more control over the movement. (For QAnon followers, identifying whether a Q drop is authentic involves looking at Qs unique tripcode. To understand this aspect of the story, heres a good explanation.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Does it matter who Q is? The identity of the person actually writing as Q might be beside the point. It could be the Watkinses, or one or more people working under them, or someone they have close contact with. It doesnt really matter who is writing the Q drops, QAnon researcher Mike Rains told ABC News. Watkins is the publisher. He is the only source of information that is allowed to get out there. Followers of QAnon also have a deep distrust of the media and similar established institutions, meaning that no matter how much evidence piles up that the Watkinses or one of their associates is Q, it might not make that much of a difference to the deep stateskeptical QAnon faithful. Correction, Sept. 25, 2020: This article originally misspelled Jo Rae Perkins first name. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. When you think of a penthouse in Chicago, your mind wanders to a long elevator ride, at least 30 stories up. We've found a unit, however, that breaks that mold. On the market for $850,000, this two-level penthouse is perched on a building with only eight other units. The listing details aptly describes it as a "house on the roof": a three-bedroom, 2.5-bath home artfully perched on top of a building dating to the 1890s. To access the 2,533-square-foot unit, you take a historic elevator to the eighth floor, followed by a jaunt up a flight of steps. In something of a secret building, its listed with Bohdan Gorczynski of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago. Many people who have lived in the neighborhood for years dont even realize its there, he says. "If you go to the next block," he adds, "youll see glass high-rises. The character of the South Loop is changing. This is a unique time capsule in the citys Printers Row neighborhood, an area within the South Loop developed as residential living in the late 1980s, after the demise of the printing industry. Although the building dates to 1892, this unit was updated in the later part of the last century. An open floor plan means that moving through the living room, dining room, and kitchen is a breeze, while the upstairs features a loft. And its key feature? It's a penthouse and a house. None of the comparables, Gorczynski says, offer anything like it. One reason are the viewsboth inside and out. Whenever I come back to this unit," he says, "the first thing I do is look through the windows. It has great light and views of the citythe urban cityscape and the high-rises. Exterior of Chicago penthouse realtor.com Open layout realtor.com Living and dining rooms realtor.com Kitchen realtor.com Upper-level loft space realtor.com Upper-level loft realtor.com One of the bedrooms realtor.com The seller, whose husband is an architect, bought the property for $875,000 in 2017, when she took a position at the University of Chicagos Smart Museum of Art. The couple recently returned to California and listed the penthouse. They weren't able to complete their renovation plans and had never moved in. The ideal buyer is a creative spirit and someone who will envision this restoration, Gorczynski says. Necessary restorations will include installing new windows and gutting all three bathrooms, which were last updated in the late 1980s. The unit also includes ample storage in the buildings basement and a private terrace. This is a penthouse with lots of privacy, a bonus during the pandemic. Because there are only nine units in the building, potential buyers have been intrigued by the property. This is what appeals to people, says Gorczynski. They dont want to be near too many people. The post Chicago's Fascinating 'House on the Roof' Is a Penthouse Without Parallel appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal in Lucknow on Friday targeted the Centre over the farm Bills and said his government will challenge the legislations in the Supreme Court. IMAGE: Farmers block a railway track during a protest against the farm bills passed in both Houses of Parliament recently, at village Devi Dass Pura near Amritsar on Friday. Photograph: PTI Photo The Congress leader told reporters that the Punjab government is 'preparing to challenge the Bills in the apex court on two counts'. "First, it is a state subject and the Union government has no right to enact a legislation on it. "Besides, the federal government cannot destroy the economy of states. Due to the Bills, losses will be too much for a small state like Punjab," he said. Badal said the legislations will not only result in revenue loss for states but also cause unemployment. He added that the minimum support price (MSP) was the main reason for opposing the Bills. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union agriculture minister have tweeted that the MSP will not be abolished, then why are they not getting this point incorporated in the Bills, he asked. "The reality is that the government wants to get out of the MSP," he claimed, adding that the legislations will be opposed till the 'last breath'. When reminded that Uttar Pradesh farmers are not protesting against the Bills, he said perhaps they are not as aware but their losses will not be any different. "UP farmers may be simple but not so simple that they will not understand their loss and gain; the difference between a 'chor and chaukidar' or 'sharab and sharbat'," he said, adding that the Bills have exposed the 'anti-farmer' face of the Union government. Badal also lashed out at the Union government over the promise of doubling farmers' income and said it has failed in every respect in the past six years of its rule. "The agriculture growth during the BJP rule is 3.1 per cent. It was 4.3 per cent during the UPA government. Agriculture income is at its lowest in 14 years. "Prime Minister had said that the Swaminathan Commission report will be implemented but nothing happened," he told reporters. Parliament recently passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill; Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill; and Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill. The legislations are yet to get the nod of the President. Cash position of 23.8m as of 30 June 2020 strengthened by a 7.7m capital increase led by OrbiMed and Sarepta, extending cash runway to Q4 2021 Follow-up of the 19 patients treated in the LYS-SAF302 phase 2/3 clinical trial (AAVance) in MPS IIIA Lysogene's natural history video study in GM1 gangliosidosis 50% recruited Extended collaboration with Novasep for the development and production of LYS-GM101 for the treatment of GM1 gangliosidosis Research collaboration signed with Yeda/the Weizmann Institute of Science for the development of a novel AAV gene therapy approachfor neuronopathic Gaucher disease and Parkinson's disease Regulatory News: Lysogene (Paris:LYS) (FR0013233475 LYS), a phase 3 gene therapy platform Company targeting central nervous system (CNS) diseases, today announced its 2020 half-year results, approved by the Board of directors on 24 September 2020. The financial statements were subject to a limited review by the Company's statutory auditors. The full interim financial report is available on the Company's website in the Investors' section. Karen Aiach, Founder Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lysogene said: "During the first half of 2020 and despite the challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we continued to execute on our clinical programs by treating 19 patients in our phase 2/3 study in Sanfilippo disease, preparing for the initiation of our clinical trial in GM1 gangliosidosis, and strengthening our early-stage pipeline with a collaborative research agreement signed with the Weizmann Institute of Science. Moreover, we completed a fundraising that allows us to strengthen our balance sheet and welcome leading US Pharma investors." Karen Aiach added: "I want to express my deep thanks to all our employees who continue to deliver high quality work in these challenging times, as well as our loyal shareholders. Selected financial information on 30 June 2020 (IFRS financial statements) in thousand euros 30/06/2020 30/06/2019 Operating Income -Revenues 9,126 6,794 -Other Operating Income 1,516 1,507 Total Operating Income 10,642 8,301 Operating Expenses -Research Development expenses -7,610 -8,648 -General Administrative expenses -2,949 -1,852 Total Operating Expenses -10,559 -10,500 Operating Income (loss) 83 -2,199 Financial Income (loss) 147 293 Net Income (loss) 230 -1,906 Net Income per share () 0.02 -0.14 Net cash as of January 1st 26,467 24,952 Change in net cash -2,657 8,201 Net cash as of June 30th 23,810 33,153 In the first-half 2020, revenues1 reached 9.13m versus 6.79m in the fist-half 2019, resulting from the recognition of the Sarepta payments according to IFRS 15 accounting standards. Other Operating Income consisting mainly of the Research Tax Credit reached 1.52m and was stable versus last year. Research Development expenses amounted to 7.61m compared to 8.65m in the first-half 2019 due to a decrease as planned in the number of production campaigns for the product LYS-GM101 in the first half of 2020. General Administrative expenses amounted to 2.95m compared to 1.85m the previous year. This increase is driven by new recruitments with the reinforcement of the administrative and financial team initiated at the end of 2019, external expenses related to legal and accounting fees as well as the Headquarters' office rental cost. Financial Income reached 0.15m in the first-half 2020 versus 0.29m in the first-half 2019 resulting from net foreign exchange gains over the period. The Net Income for the period amounted to 0.23m, versus a loss of 1.91m in the first-half 2019, mainly due to the acceleration of revenue recognition related to the contract with Sarepta. As of 30 June 2020, the Company had a cash position of 23.81m, including 7.7m from the capital increase in March 2020. Business update LYS-SAF302 program: On 25 February 2020, the Company announced that the program was granted Fast Track Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after having previously received Orphan Drug Designations in the European Union in 2014 and in the US in 2015, as well as Rare Pediatric Disease Designation in the US. In June 2020, following discussions with the FDA, a clinical hold was issued for the LYS-SAF302 AAVance (NCT03612869) phase 2/3 clinical trial in MPS IIIA following MRI observations of localized signals at the intracerebral injection sites. On 2 July 2020, the Company received a letter from the FDA confirming the clinical hold for treatment of new patients. The clinical hold results from a need for additional information to evaluate the MRI findings, and notably that they are not associated with clinical harm. The Company is making encouraging progress in the collection and analysis of the information necessary to respond to the FDA's questions. LYS-GM101 program: The Company is working closely with regulators to obtain the necessary approvals to start its clinical trial, expected before the end of 2020, despite delays observed in the Agencies' regulatory review processes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Lysogene's natural history video study in GM1 gangliosidosis (NCT04310163) has received IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval and has already successfully recruited 50% of participants. Clinical pipeline: Lysogene has entered into a collaborative research agreement with Yeda, the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science, with the aim of developing a novel AAV gene therapy approach for neuronopathic Gaucher disease, Parkinson's disease, and other diseases associated with mutations in the GBA1 gene. Under the terms of the agreement, Lysogene will provide expertise in AAV vector design and production, while Prof. Futerman's lab will provide glucocerebrosidase variants with enhanced biological properties and conduct biological proof and concept studies. Lysogene has an exclusive option to license the program. Financing: On 12 March 2020, Lysogene completed a capital increase for an amount of 7,729,440.33, led by investment firm OrbiMed Advisors LLC and the Company's shareholder and partner, Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. Gross proceeds from the transaction will be used to finance the phase 1/3 clinical trial of LYS-GM101 for the treatment of GM1 gangliosidosis, the commercial launch preparation in Europe of LYS-SAF302 in MPS IIIA, and the Company's overhead costs and expenses. Update on COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 pandemic that appeared in December 2019 in China has gradually spread to a large number of countries around the world, including France, where the Company is located, and countries in which its clinical trials are either planned or underway. The LYS-SAF302 program has been minimally affected as 19 patients have already been treated and the company was able to continue medically necessary study visits for these participants. For the LYS-GM101 program, the Company confirms its expectation to treat the first patient in the second half of 2020 despite delays from Agencies in their regulatory review processes due to the pandemic. Furthermore, since the beginning of the pandemic, the Company has strictly complied with government guidelines and recommendations. It is committed to preserving the integrity and safety of its employees, partners, patients, and their families. About Lysogene Lysogene is a gene therapy Company focused on the treatment of orphan diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). The Company has built a unique capability to enable a safe and effective delivery of gene therapies to the CNS to treat lysosomal diseases and other genetic disorders of the CNS. A phase 2/3 clinical trial in MPS IIIA in partnership with Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. is ongoing and a phase 1/3 clinical trial in GM1 gangliosidosis is in preparation. In accordance with the agreements signed between Lysogene and Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. will hold exclusive commercial rights to LYS-SAF302 in the United States and markets outside Europe; and Lysogene will maintain commercial exclusivity of LYS-SAF302 in Europe. Lysogene is also collaborating with an academic partner to define the strategy of development for the treatment of Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disease related to autism. www.lysogene.com. Forward Looking Statement This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements, especially on the Company's progress of its phase 2-3 clinical trial and cash runway. Although the Company believes its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, all statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release about future events are subject to (i) change without notice, (ii) factors beyond the Company's control, (iii) clinical trial results, (iv) increased manufacturing costs and (v) potential claims on its products. These statements may include, without limitation, any statements preceded by, followed by or including words such as "target," "believe," "expect," "aim," "intend," "may," "anticipate," "estimate," "plan," "objective", "project," "will," "can have," "likely," "should," "would," "could" and other words and terms of similar meaning or the negative thereof. Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control that could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the expected results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other risks can be found in the Company's regulatory filings with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers, including in the 2019 universal registration document, registered with the French Markets Authorities on April 30, 2020, under number D.20-0427, and future filings and reports by the Company. Furthermore, these forward-looking statements are only as of the date of this press release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. If the Company updates one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that it will or will not make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements. This press release has been prepared in both French and English. In the event of any differences between the two texts, the French language version shall supersede. 1 In accordance with the IFRS 15 standard "Revenue from customer contracts", and after analysis with its external auditors, Lysogene is now required to recognize revenues relating to the license agreement signed with Sarepta. Revenues must be spread prorata to the direct internal and external costs associated with the development of the LYS-SAF302 product, from the date of signature of the license agreement on 15 October, 2018 until the end of the phase 2/3 clinical trial for LYS-SAF302 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200924005767/en/ Contacts: Stephane Durant des Aulnois Chief Financial Officer stephane.durant-des-aulnois@lysogene.com + 33 1 41 43 03 99 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 Sushant Singh Rajput case: Family demands 'truth' as lawyer says '200% murder' India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P New Delhi, Sep 25: The family members of Sushant Singh Rajput slammed the investigating agencies and asked how long it will take to find out the 'truth'. Taking to Twitter, Rajput's sister Shweta Singh Kirti said that that the family has been patient for long. "How long will it take to find the truth?" she asked in the same tweet. Sushant Singh Rajput case: Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan arrive in Mumbai ahead of NCB probe Kirti's comments came after Vikas Singh, the family lawyer made a disclosure that All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) doctor had told him that the photos indicated '200 per cent', that the late actor was 'murdered'. "Getting frustrated by the delay in CBI taking a decision to convert abetment to suicide to Murder of SSR. The Doctor who is part of AIIMS team had told me long back that the photos sent by me indicated 200 per cent that it's death by strangulation and not suicide," Singh said in a tweet. PM Modi addresses BJP workers from all over India on Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya's birth anniversary The CBI is investigating the death of the late actor, who was found hanging at his Bandra residence on June 14. While initial reports suggested that he had committed suicide, the family has been alleging that he was 'murdered'. So far, the agency has probed Rhea Chakraborty, the prime accused in the case, and her family members in relation with the matter. Bihar poll dates, Sunil Gavaskar stokes controversy & more news | Oneindia News AIIMS panel chief, which is probing the forensic aspects of the matter said that the panel 'can't make an opinion by seeing marks.' Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy, who was among the first ones to demand a CBI investigation into the case said that it was high time the agency filed a murder case. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Friday, September 25, 2020, 12:15 [IST] Farmers in Maharashtra participated in nationwide protest against the farm bills passed in Parliament early this week. Farmers burnt copies of the bills and demanded them to be withdrawn at the earliest. The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party have extended their support to the protest, which will be spread headed by farmers organisations, including Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha (ABKS) and Lok Sangharsh Morcha among others in Maharashtra. Members of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, led by former MP Raju Shetti, burnt copies of the bills in Kolhapur and have announced they will intensify the protest if the bills are not withdrawn by the Central government. Shetkari Sanghatana has always been against the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs), and our leader late Sharad Joshi used to call these committees abattoirs of the farmers. However, we do not endorse the way the existing system is being thrashed out by the Central government. This is an attempt to make farmers slaves in the hands of industrialists, Shetti said. Also Read: Farm protests may hit transport of essentials: Railways He said that this was the first step towards the privatisation of Food Corporation of India and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed), who purchase about 30% of farm produce in the country. Shetti has announced that the protests will be intensified against corporate companies that are expected to benefit from the bills. ABKS will begin the protest at 1pm Friday. At least four or five organisations that have supported the nationwide protest are participating in them in 21 districts in Maharashtra. We will burn copies of the bills and hand over our memorandums to the district collectors in peaceful manner, said Ajit Nawale, general secretary, ABKS. Also Read: Cong terms farm bills unconstitutional Nawale said that though APMCs have become dens of corruption and monopoly, the bills passed by the Centre are more dangerous for the farmers. At least the farmers have some mechanism in place to market their produce at a reasonable price in the form of APMCs today. The bills passed in Parliament are the first step towards handing over farm marketing to a few industrial houses who will decide the prices of the produce. Though the Centre has been claiming these bills are a way to be free from the clutches of APMC, the government has freed itself from the responsibilities of fair and remunerative prices to the farmers. In Maharashtra, the Fadnavis government had brought bills to regularise APMCs, but it could not set up an alternative mechanism to the APMCs to give farmers remunerative prices for their produce. It was a failed attempt, he said. It is hard not to admire Noel Anaya. The 22-year-old narrator of the short documentary film Unadopted, which was released last week on YouTube, aged out of the foster-care system in California a few years ago. So many of the young adults who are not reunited with their biological parents and are never adopted into a new family have been destroyed by the experience. Of the 22,000 young adults who age out of foster care each year, a fifth will become homeless, only half will be gainfully employed by the age of 24, and less than 3 percent will earn a college degree. Anaya, who decides to go read all of the court records to reconstruct his childhood, notes that there are holes in his family tree. Lots of them. He asks: If you dont have parents, how do you find out how you grew up? Every so often films like Unadopted are released. Last year HBO offered one called Foster. Earlier this year there was a Netflix series called The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. These programs tug at our heartstrings with the tragic details of the child-welfare system they present. But if you watch closely, you see that they also reveal important policy errors in the system and that they give the public a window into just how things have gone so wrong. Anaya, for instance, learns that he was taken into foster care at the age of one as a result of domestic violence, separated from his brother and sister. At one point Anayas biological father got into a fight with his mother and held a gun to his childs head as leverage. He spent most of his childhood with one foster family, people he still keeps in touch with, but they would never adopt him. In what may be the most heartbreaking scene in the movie, Anaya describes how he learned at the same time both that this family was not his flesh and blood and that they had no interest in welcoming him into their home permanently. If there is some explanation for this, Anaya does not share it. One possibility is that they would not have been compensated at the same rate if they adopted him. Many states, including California, now have policies that equalize payments to foster families and families that adopt out of foster care. The truth is that money motivates a surprisingly large number of foster families. Story continues Regardless of the reason, it is distressing to realize that a foster family that had no intention of adopting Anaya were permitted to keep him for long as they did. Especially for children who are placed in the system at a young age, the idea should be that they find a potentially permanent placement as soon as possible. Once Anayas parental rights were terminated, leaving him in this endless state of limbo was unconscionable. Many judges and child-welfare workers assume that everything is basically fine if a child is in a long-term foster home, and they worry about more-urgent matters. But for a child, the knowledge that it is not permanent will continue to haunt them. Anna Palmer, an adoptive mother I interviewed outside New Orleans, described to me how her sons final adoption hearing kept getting put off. The boys attorney told her, Its no big deal. Hes with you all. Hes fine. Hes safe. And Palmer explained, No, hes five years old, and hes known nothing for the last two years but bouncing from home to home, and he thinks hes gonna move at any time. And we cant tell him hes gonna be here forever until we know hes gonna be here forever. Children know the difference between forever and not forever, but our system doesnt seem concerned with that. Anaya has also reconnected with his biological mother in recent years. At the end of the film, through a translator she describes how Anaya and his siblings were taken away. Tearfully she explained that she did everything the caseworker told her that she had to do to regain custody of her children, but it didnt work. She describes attending a year of parenting classes and bringing the social worker a certificate showing her completion of the course. If anything demonstrates the kabuki-like nature of our child-welfare system, it is this anecdote. Whenever we substantiate a report that a child has been abused or neglected, the first reaction is to offer parents services. Even though an astonishingly small percentage of these parenting classes or anger-management classes have been demonstrated to have any effect on families, we continue to prescribe them. In this instance one wonders what Anayas mother was supposed to learn. Does the class teach that you are not supposed to let your husband hold a gun to your childs head? I dont mean to be flip, and surely there are remedies probably legal ones that would help this woman separate herself from this dangerous man. But parenting classes dont really seem like the answer. Noel Anayas story is worth watching his complaints about how he was treated are heart-wrenching. But one hopes Unadopted serves not only as a tragic drama but also as a call to arms. More from National Review Motorists on three Bay Area bridges attempted to block traffic to protest the grand jury's decision in the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville. Traffic on the Bay Bridge was slowed to the point that Muni service was suspended. "Due to heavy traffic on the #BayBridge service on the 25 is being temporarily suspended," the SFMTA tweeted. "Service will resume when traffic conditions permit." On the Golden Gate Bridge, the California Highway Patrol ticketed at least two motorists, according to KPIX. On the Dumbarton Bridge, KTVU video showed a caravan of vehicles slowing traffic. The protests were promoted on Instagram in response to a grand jury's decision Wednesday not to bring homicide charges against the police officers who burst into Taylor's apartment during a drug investigation in March. Taylor, an emergency medical worker, was shot multiple times by white officers after Taylor's boyfriend fired at them, authorities said. He said he didn't know who was coming in and opened fire in self-defense. Police entered on a warrant connected to a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside. State Attorney General Daniel Cameron said the investigation showed officers acted in self-defense; one was wounded. A single officer was charged Wednesday with wanton endangerment for firing into neighboring apartments. The only possibility for criminal charges against the officers for the killing itself seems to rest with the U.S. Justice Department. The FBI is still investigating whether Taylors civil rights were violated. But the burden of proof for such cases is very high, with prosecutors having to prove officers knew they were acting illegally and made a willful decision to cause someones death. The Justice Department has said that a mistake, fear, misperception or even poor judgment does not constitute willful conduct prosecutable under the statute. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Matthew Tom is a Homepage Editor at SFGATE. Email: mtom@sfgate.com. The government has suspended scheduled international flights in India since March 23. However, air passengers can still travel abroad or can come to India via air bubble arrangement. However, there are countries where Indians are not allowed to fly at this moment. What are air bubbles? Air bubbles or transport bubbles are temporary arrangements between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services when regular international flights are suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It must be noted that the civil aviation ministry has entered into an air bubble agreement with 14 countries where Indians can travel. Countries where Indians can fly? Amid the coronavirus pandemic, air travellers can travel to Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Maldives, Nigeria, Qatar, UAE, UK and the US. The Centre is also negotiating these arrangements with other countries like Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Israel, Kenya, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. Where Indians can't fly to and why amid the pandemic? Hong Kong has suspended Air India's flight until October 3 blaming Indian travellers for an uptick in coronavirus cases in Hong Kong. Kuwait has done a blanket ban on travel to and from India. Saudi Arabia had announced a ban on travel to and from India, along with Brazil and Argentina, for high caseloads but it later allowed Vande Bharat repatriation flights. Who can travel under an air bubble? 1. Only Indian citizens can travel to any of the 14 countries which fall under air bubble arrangements. 2. Minor children who hold OCI cards and whose parents are Indian nationals will be allowed to travel. 3. Those who have stranded in close neighbouring countries and permitted to exit through India. 4. Married couples where one spouse is an OCI cardholder and the other is an Indian national. 5. Students who are OCI cardholders and either of their parents is an Indian national or OCI cardholder. 6. Seamen holding Indian passport would be allowed to travel from India subject to clearance from the Ministry of Shipping. 7. Indians holding any kind of Japanese visa can travel to Japan. 8. To travel to UAE, Indian nationals need to bring an original COVID-19 negative certificate of an RT-PCR test done within 96 hours prior to the journey. Also read: Global GDP shrinks 7.2% in Q2CY20; records worst fall since 1997 Also read: Why BPCL share fell over 3% amid a rising market today Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh starrer Ek Villain, which created a storm at the box-office is gearing up for a sequel with a fresh story and new cast. Mohit Suri whos known for his intense romance and musical dramas, spoke to Mumbai Mirror today about his next project. According to the directors interview in the daily, he has started prepping with John Abraham for the film. He's also started planning some never-seen before action sequences with the actor. Speaking about Johns character in this intense drama-thriller, the filmmaker says that the actor will be seen in a different avatar. T he difference between a hero and a villain is that you rarely learn about the latters love story. This time you will, so, hes more of an anti-hero than a villain per se, says the director. The makers are planning to title the film, Do Villain as there will be two men seen with shades of grey. The film also stars Arjun Kapoor and Tara Sutaria and they will start shooting the film probably by January next year. John Abraham meanwhile has several projects to wrap up, He has, Attack and Mumbai Saga. He'll also be seen in YRF film with Shah Rukh Khan. With so many companies seeking to cut costs to survive the Covid-19-induced economic downturn, many corporate executives are now weighing the answer to a simple question: "Does it make sense to take an early retirement?" I work closely with corporate executives from a wide range of Fortune 500 companies. These firms have seen their revenues decline in recent months and many are now changing their business model to reposition themselves. One immediate way to improve their bottom line and navigate today's volatile economic climate is to reduce the compensation and benefits paid out to top-tier executives and managers. Fortunately, many of these companies are providing voluntary exit programs rather than surprising employees with an unexpected large layoff. These early retirement packages can give people more control over the timing of their departure and time to consider whether to participate in the program. If enough people accept the voluntary package, jobs may be spared for those who want or need to keep working. More from Your Money Mindset: What to know about buying life insurance amid pandemic College kids worry about finances amid ongoing pandemic Experts warn against using stimulus money for vacations Over the past few weeks, I have had some conversations with several of my impacted clients and the overall feeling was that, while these executives weren't planning on leaving just yet, they didn't think they would ever see offers this good come along again. To that point, nearly all of my executive clients at the Coca-Cola Co. applied for its "voluntary separation program," which includes some major incentives, including at least a year's pay plus a 20% bump. (The Coca-Cola Co. offered this package to about 4,000 employees working for corporate or Coca-Cola North America in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.) For corporate executives staring at a possible early and unexpected retirement, here are some recommendations to determine if the package you've been offered is the right one for you: Assess the emotional impact of leaving your long-time employer. While the decision to take an early retirement package is primarily a financial decision, there's more to it. When an executive begins diving into what leaving their job means for their family now and into the future, I usually see a raw, emotional response about the loss of a job especially if a person has grown up with their company and given 20 years or more of service. By PTI NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has intensified deployment of its personnel at the border areas in view of a nationwide protest call given by various farmer associations against the agriculture-related bills passed by the Parliament recently, officials said on Friday. They said police personnel have been deployed in Chilla area near Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in the wake of the protest. Police said adequate arrangements have been made to ensure the situation remains peaceful at the border areas. The situation is under control, according to the Delhi Police. "Our personnel have been deployed in Delhi-Uttar Pradesh picket borders as a precautionary measure in the wake of a protest call given by farmers in neighbouring states," said a senior police officer. ALSO READ: Farmers begin protest in Punjab, Haryana over farm bills Police deployed at Delhi-Haryana border have also been alerted, the officer said. Opposition parties and farmers in some states have been protesting the farm bills passed by Parliament recently. The Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, have been passed by both Houses and await presidential assent. The happy hug of a clinic clown As dementia rates rise worldwide, clinic clowns are helping to induce positive emotions and create a sense of well-being among patients It is established that dementia rates are rising worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, 50 million people already suffer from dementia, with 10 million new cases being added every year In Auroville, a few years ago, a bed-ridden woman was watching Fif Fernandes attentively as she sang and pranced around, playing on her ukulele. When the woman, who was living with dementia, finally smiled, Fernandes asked, What did you do as a child? The woman beamed and drifted into a childhood memory, when as a four-year-old she would travel on a bullock cart with her father to get an ice lolly. The lolly melted and dripped down my chin, and then down my clothes, and then it broke and fell, she recalled just before her thoughts meandered elsewhere. advertisement advertisement It is established that dementia rates are rising worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, 50 million people already suffer from dementia, with 10 million new cases being added every year. India itself has about 4.1 million cases, as The World Alzheimers Report 2015 notes. Experts believe this number may be higher, since many cases go undiagnosed, with people ascribing forgetfulness to old age. In such a scenario, clinic clowns, or clowns working in healthcare spaces, can be harbingers of joy to the elderly. Studies show that they induce positive emotions and a sense of well-being among patients. advertisement advertisement Fernandes is one of the handful of trained clinic clowns in India. After practising for over 30 years in Canada, she moved to Auroville and co-founded MeDiClown Academy in 2013 with her husband, Hamish Boyd, also a therapeutic clown. The academys work entails training and conducting workshops for individuals and organizations. The couple also visits people of all ages in hospitals and senior homes across cities. Music is a huge part of what we do, says Fernandes. It brings back beautiful memories for the elderly. Once she is in an elderly persons room, she observes pictures on the wall, a favourite pillow or a dress, which can be used in conversation. Once she has forged a connection, Fernandes recreates stories related to those objects through her clowning skills. advertisement advertisement Once, for instance, an elderly woman with dementia told Fernandes that as a nine-year-old, she would walk to the village school with her four sisters. One day, when we reached school late, we covered up by saying that the milk pot broke at home and that delayed us, recalls Fernandes. The teacher believed the five sisters and gave them a glass of milk each. In the evening, she told their mother, who was angry with the children for lying. Fernandes took cues from the story and enacted it for the lady with her colleagues. The elderly love to go back to their childhood and like the freedom to laugh and be silly with clowns, chimes in Boyd. advertisement advertisement Such exercises are significant for people with dementia; they often feel lost because they cant remember things. Families keep checking about facts and dates, without realizing the trauma and agitation it can cause, explains Fernandes. Role-playing their narratives, under their direction, gives them the power to be in control without being challenged about their memory. We never tell them something could not have happened, however surprising it may appear. Clowning in hospital settings was first started in North America in 1986 by Michael Christensen, co-founder of the New York-based Big Apple Circus. Karen Ridd (Robo the Clown), a child life specialist, simultaneously founded Canadas first therapeutic clown programme at the Winnipeg Childrens Hospital. The practice later spread to Europe. advertisement advertisement Since the 1990s, it has played a particularly significant role in Germany, where one in five citizens is over 65, and almost 10% of the seniors have dementia. Take Arnsberg, a city of 73,000 that is considered a model for inclusion of the elderly. It has nine trained clinic clowns like Julia Wille, who goes by the clown name of Mia Mumpitz and visits senior homes at least once a month. The process has a therapeutic value for clowns too. Wille, 46, found her calling in clowning more than four years ago, during a long spell of clinical depression. I saw a picture of a clinic clown in a newspaper and instantly knew the road ahead for myself, she recalls. She works at an assisted living facility in Arnsberg but has been doing honorary clowning work at elderly care facilities. Clowning has kept me in good mental health without medication, she says. advertisement advertisement One cheerful morning in July, Mia Mumpitz entered Helena Desols room at the St Anna home with a loud and affectionate Hola, a red clown nose covering her own, hair pulled up into ponytails and lips defined with red gloss. Spain-born Desol, who is 80, lost the ability to speak a few years ago but squealed with delight on seeing her. Like a long-lost friend, Mumpitz enclosed her in a hug. Desol wrapped her left arm around Mumpitzits her good side, ever since she suffered a paralytic attack. Mumpitz then broke into a song, placed her hands on her waist and began the footwork. Eyes brimming with joy, Desol swung back and forth in her armchair and hummed along. advertisement advertisement About a third of the 90 residents at St Anna have dementia, and benefit from clown visits, says Dagmar Freimuth, the leader of social service at St Anna. Willes clowning gently persuades elderly people to participate in her activities. Sometimes, though, all it takes is a gentle touch to reduce their agitation and anxiety caused by dementia, Wille says. One of the residents of St Anna stopped talking to everyone after his sisters death but opened up after the clowns cajoled him, recalls Wille. An old lady always shooed me away, however hard I tried talking to her, but one day I happened to sing a song from her childhood and that was it. I am always welcome in her room now, Wille smiles. advertisement advertisement Johannes Foster, who trained to be a clinic clown three years ago at the age of 72 and now volunteers as Clown Berti in Arnsberg, interjects with another story. There is a woman, Foster says, who would never respond to the clowns, but the last time she saw him in the lounge, she said, Have a nice day! Foster smiles, I think she is coming around. Fernandes has seen similar results in India, where medical clowning is still in its infancy. There are only a handful of individuals and groups working in Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. Like Sheetal Agarwal, a former teacher who got into clowning in 2016 and founded Clownselors, now heads a team of 15 regular volunteers in Delhi. Then there is Humanitarian Clowns, which has had 250 volunteers visiting hospitals and old-age homes for the past eight years in Vellore and sometimes Chennai. Generally, however, the absence of training institutes means clinic clowns are untrained and doing voluntary work. Which is why, in August 2019, MeDiClown Academy started its first 600-hour course on medical clowning with 11 students, to educate participants on art, storytelling, yoga, music and improvisation. We want medical clowning to become a respectable profession in the country, says Boyd. Students learn about patient psychology, dealing with care facilities and working in tandem with a medical team. However, emphasizes Fernandes, the most important thing for clowns is to know how to make a connection with their heart. Priti Salian is a freelance journalist who has covered human rights, social justice, development and culture issues in India, Germany and Uganda. Fif Fernandes of MeDiClown Academy. Photo: courtesy MeDiClown Academy Julia Wille (standing, second from left) at work. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning today about people who may be taking high doses of Benadryl as part of a challenge on TikTok. The FDA said that taking higher than recommended doses of the common over-the-counter (OTC) allergy medicine Benadryl (diphenhydramine) can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma, or even death. The agency said it is aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the Benadryl Challenge encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok. The FDA said it is investigation those reports. The Benadryl Challenge is a social media fad where teens on TikTok are encouraged to take as much allergy medicine as it takes to trip out, or hallucinate, usually a dozen or more doses of the pill, according to published reports. Participating in the challenge reportedly lead to the death of a 15-year-old Oklahoma City girl in August. Three teens in Texas were reportedly hospitalized in May after taking high doses of Benadryl. Diphenhydramine is an antihistamine used to temporarily relieve symptoms due to hay fever, upper respiratory allergies, or the common cold, such as runny nose and sneezing. The FDA is encouraging parents and caregivers to keep Benadryl and other over-the-counter medications out of reach of children to prevent misuse by teens, especially when they are home more often due to the COVID-19 pandemic and may be more likely to experiment. READ MORE Trump backs proposed deal to keep TikTok operating in US. Loading Many readers queried the pessimistic tone they detected in the article, saying the forecasts were a potential silver lining to the pandemic. This group was hopeful that under the scenarios outlined Australians would see more affordable housing, and a rethink on how to drive the economy beyond what they saw as an over-reliance on the property industry and immigration. Jay Chan: "The one good thing about coronavirus is that finally our overburdened, overpopulated, polluted, gridlocked capital cities can get a breather from unsustainably being force-fed hundreds of thousands of migrants in the name of 'economic growth' with no change to infrastructure like roads, hospitals and schools. Young Aussies may have a better hope now of owning their own home." Carmine: "So, the Ponzi of bringing in more migrants is finally collapsing. About time." MelbourneGuy: "While some may see this as bad news, many of us, including home owners, see the madness of population growth led housing bubbles as our primary industry stalling as a complete blessing. Hopefully we now learn as a society that there are other ways to run an economy other than the aforementioned... And a stable population spells great news for the environment. An opportunity awaits us to best utilise this new, albeit temporary, reality." Rents are also expected to experience a fall with fewer international students coming to Australia. Credit:Louie Douvis XXI: "Madness to take the lazy path to growing your economy by putting all your eggs in the one basket and relying on high immigration and international students and tourists - its not like we didnt know we were overdue for a pandemic. Time to start a long term massive program of building social housing, schools and hospitals and aged/disability care providing ample and secure work opportunities for the Coalitions beloved tradies." Reflecting on the reader debate, Wright says population growth and housing are contentious areas at the best of times, so it was little surprise there were more than 400 comments. "Overcrowding, congestion and the 'Ponzi scheme' refrain all came through loud and clear from many readers who face the consequences of Australias growing population on a daily basis...," he says. "Those priced out of major population centres also see a chance to own their own home thanks to a reduction in demand for housing." While he wasn't surprised these views dominated the debate, he had expected several other issues to rate a mention. "Surprisingly, government failure to provide adequate services or infrastructure to deal with the congestion issues around a growing population did not get much of a look in," he says. "Few mentioned the benefits of immigration or even a rising fertility rate. "And barely any saw the link between the demand for goods and services that a growing population needs and what that might mean for the jobs and incomes of those already in the country." While some readers sought to inject what they viewed as a dose of realism to the debate they were outnumbered. Loading sunny: "oh lord the anti immigration crowd are being encouraged again. They don't get that immigration is growth for the nation and economy, without it we stagnate and become a banana republic. We have a very small population, we need more people... simple." Mike54: "Back to last century, it is. When I first arrived here Australia was a sleepy village, boring to death. Four decades later, it has become a vibrant society driven by intelligent people from all over the world, slowly but surely replacing the local 'laid-back' larrikins with goal-oriented, hard working migrants. And instead of being grateful to the migrants you spill your vitriol over them? Just proves how desperately we need qualified migrants!" Shirl: "It seems the Property/Population Ponzi Scheme Club is out in force today. Me thinks theyre about to find out how challenging it is to maintain their desired standard of living when the economy starts growing below trend and the population starts ageing faster. Be careful what you wish for." DooneyBoy: "With the obscene amount of debt the government is about to rack up, combined with a fertility rate that is well below 'replacement' levels (<2), we are going to be in a world of hurt without meaningful immigration intake (as a bare minimum at pre-COVID levels). Once the vaccine is here, those immigration 'welcome mats' are coming out in force, whether we like it or not. Someone has to pay off a trillion dollar debt." Speaking ahead of next month's federal budget, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Thursday warned that by the end of the current financial year, the economy would be about 6 per cent smaller than had been forecast in the 2019-2020 mid-year budget update. "The recession places pressure on all three elements of potential growth in the economy - population, participation and productivity," he said. "Australias future population will be smaller, and older, than we previously assumed because of the sharp drop we are seeing in net overseas migration. "This economic scarring, together with lower levels of business investment, is likely to dampen participation and productivity the other two key elements of potential growth." For some readers, the predictions of a property downturn were met with scepticism or a 'she'll be right' attitude. The total number of confirmed cases grew to 191,671. Ukraine said 3,565 new active COVID-19 cases had been confirmed across the country in the past 24 hours as of September 25, 2020. The total number of confirmed cases grew to 191,671, as seen on the interactive map compiled by the National Security and Defense Council. Read alsoUkraine redraws COVID-19 quarantine zones: UpdatesAs many as 85,133 patients, including 1,675 in the past day, have recovered. The death toll is 3,827 with 70 fatalities recorded in the past day. There were 102,711 active cases as of September 25. In total, there have been 256,970 reports on suspected COVID-19 since the beginning of 2020. The highest number of new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours was registered in the city of Kyiv (380 cases), Kharkiv region (297), Ternopil region (245), Dnipropetrovsk region (225), and Lviv region (215). The overall incidence per region is as follows: 21,045 (+380) in the city of Kyiv; 19,465 (+215) cases in Lviv region; 16,490 (+297) in Kharkiv region; 13,736 (+174) in Chernivtsi region; 13,080 (+128) in Ivano-Frankivsk region; 12,579 (+245) in Ternopil region; 12,470 (+161) in Odesa region; 11,774 (+153) in Rivne region; 9,490 (+74) in Zakarpattia region; 8,430 (+144) in Kyiv region; 7,362 (+127) in Volyn region; 5,653 (+97) in Vinnytsia region; 5,403 (+141) in Zhytomyr region; 5,361 (+176) in Khmelnytsky region; 4,917 (+225) in Dnipropetrovsk region; 3,770 (+123) in Chernihiv region; 3,474 (+122) in Sumy region; 3,459 (+104) in Cherkasy region; 3,428 (+140) in Zaporizhia region; 2,851 (+84) in Donetsk region (Ukrainian-controlled districts); 2,782 (+65) in Mykolaiv region; 1,752 (+75) in Poltava region; 1,052 (+13) in Kirovohrad region; 954 (+49) in Kherson region; and 894 (+53) in Luhansk region (Ukrainian-controlled districts). Data from Russia-occupied areas the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is not available. Quarantine in Ukraine: background As it was, Grahams reelection campaign wasnt even the intended topic when he was booked on Fox, according to a network spokesperson. The ostensible reasons for interviewing him were to elicit his comments on a Senate report about former vice president Joe Bidens son, Hunter, and about President Trumps expected Supreme Court nominee. (Graham has said he favors pushing forward with the nomination only days before the election, despite opposing a vote on President Obamas nomination of judge Merrick Garland in 2016 under similar circumstances). The push for a Republic in Spain is gaining momentum and gathering support from senior members of the government, although it threatens to not only split the country but also the left-wing coalition government. Over the past few days, Spains Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the left-wing Unidas Podemos political party Pablo Iglesias said that the current corruption scandal involving the royal family represents a historic moment for Spain to become a republic. According to Iglesias, the monarchy is no longer suitable for the younger generation of Spanish citizens, as less and less people in Spain, especially young people, understand why they cannot choose a head of state and why a head of state can avoid responsibility if commits a crime. However, his boss, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is not in favour of such a move, not right now at least and senior members of the Socialist Party have warned that any such action could destroy Spain. That was what former Socialist Prime Minister and party baron Felipe Gonzalez warned yesterday. He went on the record to state that ditching the monarchy would sow the seed for the self-destruction of Spain as a nation state. And, the 78-year-old vowed to fight tooth and nail to stop Iglesias, who was key to getting Sanchez elected PM, in his tracks. Looks like the coalition could be in for a bumpy ride. Next-generation data center automation at scale - Introducing Nokia Fabric Services Platform Network management inside the data center is becoming increasingly automated. As data center networks become bigger and more complex, organizations need to automate all phases of network management. In this video, Phanidhar Koganti, Senior Director of Product Management at Nokia, discusses Nokias cloud-native fabric services platform that is built from the ground up for automation and operations at scale. YEREVAN. Hraparak daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: An interdepartmental working group, whose head is RA Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, has been set up to coordinate the preparations for organizing and holding the October 9, 2020 session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council to be held in Yerevan. 168 Zham [daily] had written yesterday that RF [Russian Federation] Prime Minister [Mikhail] Mishustin may also be present at the gathering, who has expressed a desire to meet with his longtime friend Gagik Khachatryan [former Minister of Finance and ex-Chairman of the State Revenue Committee], who is in prison, and this was considered the main precondition for Mishustin's attendance [in the aforesaid session]. We tried to get an official comment (). We also contacted MFA spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan, who only said that on September 9, official information was received that all the EEU member states have agreed on the Armenian side's proposal to hold the next session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council this year on October 8-9 in Yerevan. As for Mishustin's attendance [to this session] and the desire to meet with Khachatryan, the MFA spokesperson said: "We do not have such information." London: Britain, Canada and the United States are preparing co-ordinated sanctions against those responsible for cracking down on demonstrators, journalists and opposition politicians in Belarus. The identities of those to be targeted for human rights violations have not yet been revealed but could include President Alexander Lukashenko. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Credit:AP Under the Magnitsky Act, governments can name and sanction those they accuse of human rights abuses, cutting off their access to foreign finance and banking, freezing assets and stopping them from travelling to their countries. Britain's joint action is the latest in a string of coordinated responses to increasing aggression from authoritarian regimes, including Beijing's intervention in Hong Kong. Things have been quiet for Tom Welling for a few years. Except for cameos in the Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earth crossover, his last role was his arc on Lucifer. The good news is Welling has been busy filming a new series called Professionals. Its already ready to air, as soon as a network or streaming service decides to air it. Tom Welling | Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic Welling spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet by phone on Sept. 24 about Professionals. Heres what to expect in Wellings new role, and what needs to happen before it can air. Tom Welling has been waiting to tell fans about Professionals Welling has been itching to talk about Professionals. He said hes tried to let his fans know he was working on something, but now he can make it official. Ive hinted at some things to some fans, because theyre always like, What are you doing next? Welling said. Im like, Ive got this thing. Now theyre like, You said there was this thing, where is it? I think last year there was something that came out about it but nobody really knew what it was. Professionals filmed in 2019, and completed post-production in 2020. Tom Welling | Erika Goldring/Getty Images RELATED: Supergirl: Why Tom Welling Should Have Played Superman With this interview were able to start to kick off this new time of being able to talk about it and have fun and get people excited, Welling said. Hopefully, rather soon, [we can] let people know when they can watch it because we spent a lot of time doing this. I really love it and I want people to see it. So Im glad that were able to talk about it now. Tom Welling IS Vincent Corbo Professionals stars welling as Vincent Corbo, the head of a private security team. The role gives Welling a chance to show a new side of himself. Tom Welling | Leonine Even my wife says that I look different, Welling said. I think thats a compliment. Its a lot of fun in a different environment, a little more grown up with just great people around me that we all just bounce off of. Everybody was really great. Thats the truth. Even when it wasnt great, we were still making it great. Peter Swann (Brendan Fraser) hires Corbo to help him find out who sabotaged a rocket launch. Tom Welling | Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images Vincent Corbo is a bit of a mystery at the beginning, Welling said. You find that hes come from a long career as a well known private security operator. What happens is his past comes back as his ex-fiance is now Brendans characters fiance. So that all kind of happens the first episode and then from there, its about trust and friendship and how do you protect the ones that you love and do your job at the same time? The next step for Professionals Germany-based content house Leonine is taking Professionals to MIPCOM in October in Cannes, France to sell worldwide distribution rights. The show already sold in Germany. Hopefully, after that, there will be news on an air date. Tom Welling | FOX Image Collection via Getty Images When I first sat down with Jeff and Michael, I think at first it was New Zealand that we were going to go to, Welling said. We were going to travel the globe and do a different episode in every country in the world. We were able to narrow that down a little bit but I just thought the adventure of it would be fun. We were there in Ireland for a couple weeks and then we went down to Johannesburg, South Africa to finish it up. I thought this would be a show that I would watch and so I wanted to be a part of it. Would you prefer the next Broncos ownership group include John Elway or Peyton Manning? You voted: Jamie Carragher has warned Liverpool's title rivals that the Reds' 2-0 win against Chelsea provided an indication of how difficult it will be to stop them retaining the trophy. Liverpool won the title at a canter last season as they ended their 30-year wait for the prestigious prize, but there will be much competition for Jurgen Klopp's side this time around, with Manchester City and Chelsea amongst those in contention. Former Liverpool defender Carragher, however, believes that by beating Chelsea Liverpool have already 'sent a message' to their title rivals. Jamie Carragher believes that Liverpool have already sent a warning to their title rivals Carragher was hugely impressed with Liverpool's performance in their victory against Chelsea Carragher told Sky Sports: 'They won't drop off in intensity or attitude or mentality, that won't be allowed to happen with the manager they have got. 'They could drop off with their performance because that can happen sometimes with different players. 'If someone is slightly better than you, you have to hold your hands up.' Carragher added that as Liverpool have already 'climbed the mountain' to win the league, they know what is expected of them if they are to repeat the feat. He said: 'Liverpool have climbed the mountain to win the league and they won't feel like they have done it and don't need to do anything else. Manchester City are also in contention for the title but know they will face a tough challenge Chelsea, with their array of new signings, will also be looking to win the Premier League title 'I think the Chelsea game reaffirmed that. I felt that would always be the case having watched this team and Jurgen Klopp for so long. 'I think it was a performance that sent a little title message from Liverpool to their rivals that they will be there despite not signing too many players before the Leeds game and it not going as well as possible even though they got the result they would have wanted. 'It was a great week for Liverpool.' Liverpool have started the new Premier League season with two victories, with the enthralling 4-3 win against Leeds followed by the 2-0 success against Chelsea, in which Sadio Mane scored both goals. Next up for Liverpool is an intriguing clash at home to Arsenal on Monday, with the Gunners having also taken maximum points so far. Klopp's side also take on rivals Everton next month. Carlo Ancelotti's new look side have started the campaign very well and are currently in second place in the table. A double stabbing outside the former Paris offices of a satirical newspaper where dozens were killed in 2015 is an 'act of Islamist terrorism', France's interior minister has said. Two suspects were arrested separately shortly after the stabbing in which two people were wounded. The main suspect had been arrested a month ago on the steps of the Bastille Opera, not far from the attack site, for carrying a screwdriver but was not on the police radar for Islamic radicalisation. Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the man - named as Ali - arrived in France three years ago as a minor, apparently from Pakistan, but his identity was still being verified. 'But manifestly it's an act of Islamist terrorism,' Mr Darmanin said in an interview with the France 2 television station. 'Obviously, there is little doubt. It's a new bloody attack against our country, against journalists, against this society.' Under arrest: A suspect is detained in Paris today after two people were injured in an attack near the former Charlie Hebdo offices which is being treated as possible terrorism The suspect, pictured in a full Manchester City tracksuit is pictured on his knees in a photo posted on Twitter One of the stabbing victims is treated after the meat cleaver attack near Charlie Hebdo's former offices in Paris today. Both victims are expected to survive French firefighters move an injured person to an ambulance after two people were stabbed close to the former headquarters of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris The meat cleaver used in the attack is left on the ground in Paris after two people were stabbed Forensic experts work at the scene after the rampage which has left two in a criticial condition Two men have been arrested after they were spotted with blood on their clothes near the attack Two of the victims have been confirmed as a man and a woman who are employees of Premieres Lignes, a French news and video agency Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the man - named as Ali - arrived in France three years ago as a minor, apparently from Pakistan, but his identity was still being verified. he added that the attack was 'an act of terrorism' Police arrested two men - a 'main perpetrator' and another suspect - after one was spotted with blood dripping from his clothes near the Opera Bastille and another was stopped at a Metro station. The main suspect is said to be 18-year-old Ali, who is known to the police, while the second man was described as a 33-year-old Algerian. Three others were also later detained in relation to the attack, a judicial source told Reuters. Dramatic pictures showed Ali, who had arrived in France as a minor claiming political asylum, crouching on the floor in a yellow Manchester City top and tracksuit bottoms. Undercover officers, identified by their orange arm bands, stood over the suspect before he was taken to a high security police station in the French capital. Terror police have taken up the case, and French prosecutors suspect an extremist motive because of the place and timing of the stabbings - near the former Charlie Hebdo premises during a trial relating to the 2015 massacre. French firefighters move an injured person to an ambulance after two people were stabbed close to the former headquarters of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris French soldiers rush to the scene after people were injured following the attack by a man wielding a knife Witnesses said two of the victims were having a cigarette break outside their office when the attack took place The victims work for Premieres Lignes, a French news and video agency whose staff rushed to help Charlie Hebdo survivors after the rampage which killed 12 people. Fourteen suspects are currently on trial for allegedly helping to plot the Islamist attack, with proceedings suspended today in the wake of the latest violence. Charlie Hebdo, which now produces its magazine from a secret location, recently re-published the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed which had provoked outrage in the Muslim world. One suspected attacker was arrested on the steps of the Bastille Opera after witnesses spotted blood dripping from his clothes, said an investigating source. 'He was arrested within minutes by police, and then a second man was arrested on a Metro train because of suspicions that he may be connected with the attack,' they said. Paris prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said a 'main perpetrator' had been arrested along with a 'second suspect', adding the main attacker did not know the people who were stabbed. Charlie Hebdo (former offices pictured) now publishes from a secret address in Paris, and many staff members have bodyguards Police said there was 'extreme concern' today that those responsible for the stabbings might strike again Local schools in the 3rd, 4th and 11th arrondissements have been shut down, and people are being advised to stay in their offices and homes One witness at the Bastille Plaza, Kader Alfa, said he 'saw a guy that was in his 30s or 40s with an axe in his hand who was walking behind a victim covered in blood'. Both suspects were taken to a high-security police station in central Paris, where they were being questioned on Friday afternoon. Neither of the men have been identified, but the main perpetrator is said to be 18 years old, a Pakistani national and known to the police for weapons offences. The second suspect was described in French media as a 33-year-old Algerian, but it was unclear whether or how they were connected. The attack is being investigated by specialist anti-terror prosecutors who have opened a probe into charges of 'attempted murder related to terrorism' and 'conspiracy with terrorists.' French PM Jean Castex initially said four people were injured, but the Paris prosecutor later clarified there were two victims. An armed police officer stands at the scene of the horrific stabbings as two fight for their lives after the attack A large police presence was seen immediately after the stabbings as schools and the Metro were shut down Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo visited the knife attack near the former offices of Charlie Hebdo Two of the victims have been confirmed as a man and a women who are employees of Premieres Lignes, a French news and video agency The pair work in the production team for the company which has released a number of documentaries and previously won a Pulitzer Prize for work on the Panama Papers investigation. The prime minister noted the 'symbolic site' of the attack, 'at the very moment where the trial into the atrocious acts against Charlie Hebdo is under way.' The PM, who attended the scene with Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, added the lives of the two victims 'are not in danger, thank God.' One police source said a machete had been found at the scene. Another police source said a meat cleaver had been found there. The two people are in 'an extremely bad way', said an investigating source, although their lives are not thought to be in danger. 'Two colleagues were smoking cigarettes in the street. I heard screams. I went to the window and saw a colleague, bloodied, being chased by a man with a machete,' added another employee, who asked not to be named. 'I saw a second neighbour on the floor and I went to help.' A witness from the production company said she saw the attack being carried out. She said: 'Two colleagues were smoking a cigarette at the bottom of the building. I heard screams and went to the window and saw one of my colleagues stained with blood, being followed by a man with a machete on the street.' Police and emergency vehicles are pictured at the scene after the gun rampage at the Charlie Hebdo offices in 2015 which left 12 people dead Premieres Lignes founder Paul Moreira told BFM television that the attacker fled into the metro, and the company's staff members were evacuated. It is unclear what motivated the attack or whether it had any link to Charlie Hebdo, which moved offices after they were attacked by Islamic extremists in 2015. The trial has heard that the attackers sought to avenge the Prophet Mohammad, nearly a decade after the magazine published cartoons mocking him. In a Twitter post today, Charlie Hebdo expressed its 'support and solidarity with its former neighbours... and the people affected by this odious attack.' Witness Hassani Erwan, 23, told AFP: 'At around midday, we went to have lunch at a restaurant but as we were arriving, the owner started to cry 'leave, leave, there's an attack!' 'We immediately ran away and locked ourselves ourselves inside a shop with four other customers.' A person who lives on the street told Le Parisien: 'It's starting again, the same fear there was five years ago, the same images in the street, it's heart-breaking.' Police earlier warned there was 'extreme concern' that those responsible for the stabbings might strike again before the 'main attacker' was arrested. Local schools in the 3rd, 4th and 11th arrondissements have been shut down, and people are being advised to stay in their offices and homes. The Kouachi brothers, Cherif (left) and Said (right), entered Charlie Hebdo's premises and carried out the brutal attack five years ago Valerie Pecresse, president of the Ile-de-France region of Paris, said: 'Extremely shocked by the murderous attack near the former offices of Charlie Hebdo, in a Paris arrondissement which has already paid a heavy price for violent terrorism. 'I give all my support to the authorities which are now tracking the perpetrator.' Murmurs broke at the terrorism trial as the news of Friday's filtered through to the courtroom. Charlie Hebdo now publishes from a secret address in Paris, and many staff members have bodyguards. Moreira, the production company founder, described today how Premieres Lignes had been on the front line of the 2015 massacre. 'We were there during the Charlie Hebdo attack. We were among the first to enter the room, we had helped the survivors. 'We note that there is now the trial of the January 2015 attacks, and that it is the same building. There are people who think that it is still the premises of Charlie Hebdo.' Following the attacks in 2015, Premieres Lignes staff member Edouard Perrin said they barricaded the entrance to their own offices, and put bulletproof vests on. 'We took refuge on the roof,' said Mr Perrin. 'This is when I start filming on my laptop. There was an exchange of fire between the police and the terrorists coming out of the building. 'Bullets were whistling above our heads. In all, about fifty were shot, and I filmed the last ten shots. 'My fear was that they would see us, come back and finish us. We are journalists and, for them, we are not just civilians.' This court sketch shows the fourteen accused and their lawyers at the opening of the trial of the accomplices in jihadist killings in 2015 It comes as a trial takes place in the French capital concerned with the January 2015 attacks that shocked the world after 12 people died. Their primary targets were staff at the satirical magazine which had published a series of cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed. The principal terrorists who were all known to the French security services were all gunned down by police themselves, but 14 defendants are currently on trial facing life in prison for 'complicity in terrorism'. Friday's attack took place close to the old Charlie Hebdo offices, which were attacked by Paris-born brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi in 2015. It marked the opening of the criminal trial by re-publishing cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed. Critics said the publication had deliberately used blasphemy to stir up hatred against Muslims around the world. The deeply incendiary images originally led to riots across the Muslim world when they were first published in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005. Charlie Hebdo then published them in full in 2006, leading its writers and cartoonists to receive regular death threats. This led up to the atrocities of 2015, when the Kouachis stormed into their offices and opened fire. A message of solidarity with Charlie Hebdo - containing the popular slogan 'je suis Charlie' (meaning 'I am Charlie') - is laid out in Paris after the attack in 2015 Both ISIS and Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the 2015 attacks, which were the beginning of a wave of terrorism across France. Another defendant is Willy Prevost, a close friend of Coulibaly, who is said to have provided vehicles including a car. The others on trial are Nezar Mickael, Pastor Alwatik, Amar Ramdan, Said Makhlouf, Mohamed-Amine Fares, Michel Catino, Abdelaziz Abbad, Miguel Martinez and Metin Karasular. All are accused of providing varying levels of support to the Kouachi brothers and Coulibaly. The trial is being presided over by five specialised terrorism magistrates, headed by Judge Regis de Jorna. The entire process will be filmed so that a record can be placed in France's National Archive, but the images will not be broadcast live. News / Film & TV Reporter James is on the news desk where he focuses on protest reporting. Outside of reporting for the Daily Emerald, he is a former reporter and copy editor at LCC's The Torch, has contributed to KISS vinyl guides as a collector and is a vintage vinyl dealer. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 18:01:54|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MOSCOW, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday hailed the "fruitful" cooperation between his country and South Korea, while expressing his readiness for further interactions. Putin made the remarks in a congratulatory message to South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. "Vladimir Putin emphasized that over the past decades, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Korea have accumulated significant experience of fruitful cooperation in political, trade, economic, scientific and technical, humanitarian and other fields," a Kremlin press release read. The Russian leader also highlighted the nations' dynamically developing inter-parliamentary dialogue and inter-regional cooperation. Putin also expressed regret that the Year of Mutual Exchanges can't be held as planned due to the coronavirus pandemic, adding that he would implement the program when the situation allows. Enditem STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- With schools across New York City reopening their doors to students this month amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the city Department of Education (DOE) has begun providing some school bus service, with reinforcements on the way. This week, the DOE began providing school bus service for preschools, District 75 schools, Catholic schools, private schools and charter schools -- with approximately 2,700 routes for District 75 schools and 1,400 routes for non-public schools, according to the agency. Were happy that were able to offer safe bus service this week for our preschool, District 75, and non-public school students, said DOE spokeswoman Danielle Filson. The 1,400 routes for non-public schools are currently serving approximately 18,000 non-public school students. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** With the rest of the citys public schools slated to reopen next week as part of the citys phased reopening plan, the DOE will have its full fleet of 10,000 school buses running to ensure safe student transportation with appropriate social distancing measures being enforced. While Monday marked the first day of school for NYC public school students for both in-person and remote learners, not all kids returned to campus this week. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week that the city would phase-in the start of the school year for blended learners, with 3-K, pre-K and District 75 students reporting in-person beginning Monday. Students in K-5 and K-8 schools will begin reporting on Tuesday, Sept. 29, and middle and high school students will begin returning on Thursday, Oct. 1, with the citys full fleet of buses prepped to handle all students returning to their school buildings. WILL FULL SERVICE RESUME? Initially, when the DOE submitted its reopening plans to the state in August, the department was unsure if it would be able to provide traditional school bus service for all eligible students, adding that MetroCards and other alternative transportation options may be necessary to supplement school bus service. It is widely recognized that the current pandemic presents unique challenges to providing school bus service, and that it may not be possible to provide service in all cases, the reopening plan said. Because of this unique situation, it may not be possible to provide transportation through a conventional mode such as a bus, and may require other modes to be employed to satisfy transportation needs, such as MetroCard, the plan continued. However, the DOE has since confirmed that the department does have the capacity to provide school bus service to all eligible students participating in blended learning for the 2020-2021 academic year. Parents can visit their NYC Schools Account to view their childs route assignments, which were made available earlier this month, according to the DOE. A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE As a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, riding the school bus will be a much different experience for students than in years past. School bus capacities will be limited to 25%, with the only exceptions being children living in the same household -- who may be seated together, in addition to nurses and paraprofessionals assigned to the student. While on the bus, all students, drivers and attendants will be required to wear a mask or facial covering at all times, with the exception of select students. Only students who are exempted from facial coverings requirements due to their age or medical needs, or whose physical or mental health would be impaired by wearing a face covering, may ride the bus without one, according to the DOE website. Students who enter the bus without a mask or face covering will have one provided to them. School buses will be cleaned and disinfected each night to reduce any potential spread of the virus, with bus windows open, whenever possible, to increase ventilation during trips. When exiting the bus, students will be required to exit one row at a time, as to avoid any crowding and to maintain safe social distance. Parents are expected to conduct health screenings, including temperature checks, on their children each morning before sending them onto the bus. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the DOE is dedicating school bus service this year exclusively to transporting students to and from school on their assigned days, and will no longer provide busing for after-school programs, field trips, Learning Bridges programs or on federal holidays. Additionally, students may be required to share a bus with students from different schools, according to the DOE website. CATHOLIC SCHOOLS Despite the DOE starting to provide school bus service for non-public school students on Monday, some Catholic schools on Staten Island still dont have their bus routes up and running. On Sunday, Blessed Sacrament School, in West Brighton, sent a letter to parents informing them that the school is still in the process of coordinating routes with the city, and that school bus service is not expected to begin until Monday, Sept. 28. On Friday afternoon, we were notified that bus service will now be available, however; buses will only be able to accommodate 25% capacity. Until we can coordinate with the Office of Pupil Transportation to confirm ridership availability and stop locations and times, we cannot comfortably proceed forward until we know our students are safe, wrote principal Joseph Cocozello. We will work this week to input all information to the Office of Pupil Transportation and coordinate with OPT and/or Pioneer Bus Company to have services put in place for Monday, Sept. 28, he added. The DOE said it has been in contact with the citys non-public schools and informed them that bus service would begin on Monday, Sept. 21, but the letter from Blessed Sacrament indicates that the school was not alerted to this until Friday, Sept. 18, giving it just one weekend to coordinate and prepare. Were in close contact with our non-public schools, and made sure they were aware that bus service for their students would begin on September 21, Filson said. For all schools that reopened their doors to students before the city began providing bus service on Monday, MetroCards were distributed to provide a free transportation alternative for students. In the interim, we distributed MetroCards to ensure all students had a free, public transportation option as well," Filson said. Related stories: How to check number of coronavirus cases at your childs school First day of school in NYC: So glad to have our students back NYC schools reopening amid coronavirus: How to care for your childs mask NYC schools reopening: Heres what you need to know Safety protocols in NYC schools: What you need to know NYC to bring in 2,000 more educators for the start of school as de Blasio pushes forward with Sept. 21 reopening 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 Coronavirus: How NYC plans to safely reopen schools in fall Students may be asked to remain on university campuses over the Christmas holidays due to the risk of infecting family members, the health secretary has admitted, following a major coronavirus outbreak in a universitys student halls. Some 600 students at the University of Glasgow have been forced to self-isolate in two of the universitys halls of residence after an outbreak which has seen 124 test positive for the coronavirus. Responding to questions about whether students will be able to spend Christmas with their families, Matt Hancock said on Thursday: I dont want to have a situation like that [students not being able to return home for Christmas due to risk of infection relatives] and I ever much hope we can avoid it. Speaking on Radio 4s Today programme, the health secretary repeatedly underlined that the governments goal was to suppress the virus while protecting the economy and education system. After being pressed on the question of students returning to their family homes during the winter break, Mr Hancock admitted hes "learned not to rule things out, while adding that it wasnt a government goal to have students remain on campus over the festive period. He said: "Ive learned not to rule things out one of the challenges is making sure people are as safe as possible, and that includes not spreading between the generations. "But its not our goal. I dont want to leave you with that expectation, but we have to work on all contingencies at this stage. I know that people understand that its an unprecedented crisis and so we do have to work on contingency plans." The health secretarys comments come after scientific experts in the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) reportedly advised that students should be kept in isolation on campuses during the holiday period. Students returning from halls of residence and campuses to be with family members who may be vulnerable "could pose a risk to both local communities and families, and will require national oversight, monitoring and decision making, Sage warned, according to meeting minutes seen by the i newspaper. Good Morning Britains Dr Hilary Jones agreed with the view, saying on Thursday: "Theres not a lot of good news is there, certainly university campuses [are] likely to be where transmissions are rife." As well as at Glasgow University, outbreaks have been reported in student halls in Dundee, Liverpool and Aberdeen, leading to scores of students being forced to self-isolate. Supermajor Shell has provisionally chartered an oil tanker to load crude from one of Libyas three open ports at the end of next week in what could be the first crude loading at the port since January, Reuters reported on Friday, citing shipping data from Refinitiv Eikon. According to the data, the Amoureux tanker is set to load 1 million barrels of crude oil at the Zueitina port on October 3, after the port was open and force majeure lifted on September 22. The Amoureux crude oil tanker is currently traveling from Algeciras, Spain, to Canakkale in Turkey, according to MarineTraffic. As of Friday, Libyas oil terminals at Hariga, Brega, and Zueitina are open for business and welcoming tankers to ship oil, although the biggest port and the terminal typically exporting the oil from the biggest oilfield in the country are still under force majeure. On Tuesday, Libyas National Oil Corporation (NOC) lifted the force majeure on the Zueitina port after seeing significant improvement in the security situation that allows the National Oil Corporation (NOC) to resume production and exports to global markets. Over the weekend, NOC lifted the force majeure on two other oil terminals it considered safe, and said it would restart production from certain fields and some exports of crude oil. The head of the Libyan National Army (LNA), General Khalifa Haftar, whose troops, with help from affiliated groups, blockaded Libyas oil ports in January, announced the end of the blockade at the end of last week. The tanker booked by Shell and expected at Zueitina next week will be the first loading crude at the port, but it will not be the first loading at Libyas ports since the blockade was lifted a week ago. The Delta Hellas tanker loaded this week crude from the storage tanks at Hariga, for Unipec, the trading arm of Chinas top refiner Sinopec. Unipec has another tanker waiting to load crude at Hariga, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The positive atmosphere engendered by the Fatah-Hamas agreement announced after their Sept. 24 meeting in the Palestinian Embassy in Istanbul is the product of a slow but serious behind-the-scenes effort. But the success ultimately was the result of the political environment and the personal chemistry between two Palestinians. For years, negotiations and agreements between Hamas and Fatah have eventually proven to be futile, but this time there are many signs that we are indeed witnessing a genuine breakthrough. Politically, not only are both sides exhausted and the pressure on them huge, but the Trump administrations unilateral vision plus the Israeli efforts to bypass Palestinians with two Gulf states have jolted the most radical among Palestinians to take a deep look at what is happening. Palestinian leaders met in person and through electronic means Sept. 3 and vowed that the existential threats to the Palestinian national movement can no longer be ignored. It was also clear that the reconciliation train is finally on the right track. The two-day meetings in Istanbul by representatives of the Fatah and Hamas movements signaled that both sides have agreed to try to resolve all internal issues between them through general elections. In addition to the political circumstances, the apparent success of the process has a lot to do with the personal relationship between Jibril Rajoub, the secretary of the Fatah Central committee, and deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri. The two were both fellow prisoners and the level of trust between them appears to have provided the extra push that was needed. The current breakthrough actually began in May when Rajoub, in Ramallah, and Arouri, in Beirut, held a virtual press conference. Both have ambitions to succeed the leaders in their own faction. Hamas is holding new elections for its politburo and Arouri is among the leading contenders to head the movement along with current leader Ismael Haniyeh, former leader Khaled Meshaal, deputy head Mousa Abu Marzouk and the head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar. The breakthrough in Turkey was confirmed with a press release issued Sept. 24 after a meeting held at the Palestinian Embassy in Istanbul. The release said the two delegations are united on a single vision and a mechanism with a timeline. We agree that the vision has matured and we plan to move ahead with a broad national dialogue with the participation of all factions under the patronage of President [Mahmoud] Abbas to take place before Oct. 1. On this announced date, directors general of all Palestinian factions are to meet again under the auspices of Abbas in Ramallah (and other locations virtually) to finalize all details of the reconciliation and to announce the dates of new elections by means of a presidential decree. According to the statement from both sides, Palestine will witness three elections within the coming months. First, legislative elections will take place. The last legislative elections took place in 2006 and resulted in Hamas winning the majority of seats and setting up the short-lived Ismael Haniyeh government. The plan is that after the legislative elections are carried out in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, a new national unity government will be formed. This would be followed by presidential elections. Abbas has repeatedly stated that he has no plans of ever running for office again. Both legislative and presidential elections would involve the more than 5 million Palestinians living in occupied Palestine. But what about the rest of the Palestinian population, which is even greater? The newly elected legislative council would comprise part of the Palestine National Council (PNC). According to the statement given by Jibril Rajoub to Palestine TV, the presidential elections would be followed by elections for the PNC wherever possible. It could be that many Palestinians will be unable to vote. For example, elections involving Palestinians in Jordan would cause political problems since most of the 2 million Palestinian refugees living in Jordan are also Jordanian citizens. In the past all parties have generally agreed on a slate of Palestinian representatives from Jordan without having to have a vote that would create unneeded tensions. (Coincidentally, Jordan holds elections for its parliament Nov. 10.) It is in locations and representations in places such as Jordan that Hamas and Fatah have in the past differed with Hamas leaders' demands for an across-the-board quota of 40% representation in determining the delegates to the PNC. Talal Abu Afifeh, a resident of Jerusalem's Shuafat refugee camp and head of the Jerusalem Intellectuals Forum, told Al-Monitor the elections are the best means to reunite Palestinians and to reply to attempts to liquidate the PLO and the Palestinian national program. "Elections will give the Palestinian leadership the power to stand up to the US deal of the century and the normalization of Arab countries and at at the same time will allow for new faces and new leaders to take a front seat in national decision-making efforts." Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said the Fatah-Hamas meetings in Istanbul confirmed the basis of a new initiative aimed at forging a Palestinian course based on unity and power sharing. Jamal Zakout, a leader of the first intifada and a top aide to Salam Fayyad when Fayyad was Palestinian prime minister, told Al-Monitor that if the current agreement proves real, then it would mean that Fatah and Hamas must have agreed privately on some kind of quota for Hamas in the new PLO. When you hear the words power sharing you need to understand that this means some kind of consensus as to who will get what and at what percentages in the new Palestine National Council." The council elected the PLOs executive committee; both Abbas and before him Yasser Arafat were chairs of the committee. Much still needs to be done to reach the coveted elections and the creation of a new set of legitimate Palestinian leadership. Suheir Ismael the head of the Bethlehem-based TAM womens organization in told Al-Monitor that elections are necessary but they must be done freely and fairly. The elections must take place without the intervention of the government or the security apparatuses whether in Gaza or the West bank. Many more steps are needed to ensure that the current positive signals will translate to the aspired unity of Palestinians along with free and fair elections. Both the political atmosphere as well as the personal bond between two leaders of Hamas and Fatah will make or break the latest effort, which appears to be more serious than all previous efforts KATHMANDU, Nepal Ang Rita Sherpa, who earned global fame by climbing the worlds highest mountain, Mount Everest, 10 times without the use of supplemental oxygen, died on Monday at his daughters house in Kathmandu. He was 72. His death was confirmed by his family and by Nepals mountaineering associations. No cause was specified, but he had been suffering in recent years from multiple lung and brain ailments that colleagues say could have developed from his years of climbing high altitudes without bottled oxygen. Most climbers use supplemental oxygen when ascending peaks higher than 8,000 meters, an altitude mountaineers call the death zone because the air is so thin that the human body begins to shut down. Early in his career as a porter, and later as a mountain guide, Ang Rita noticed that he never felt the need for supplemental oxygen, even as he carried bottles of it for other mountaineers. He didnt use it during his first ascent of Everest in 1983 or on his subsequent nine ascents, the last of which was in 1996. In his only winter expedition on Everest, in 1987-88, he and a Korean climber lost their way just below the summit in bad weather conditions and spent the whole night doing aerobic exercises to stay warm. The other day, I was visiting one of the saints of our church. The doctor had just told her there was nothing more that could be done. Between her cancer and a bad heart, she was just running out of time. She was ready. After a lifetime of serving Jesus, she was ready to meet Him at last. I dont know, however, if she was eager to see Him for worship or if she had a few things she wanted to discuss with Him. I think she had disagreed with the way a few things worked out after she had prayed about them. She was still feisty, and one of the things she was fussing about was how much her Sunday School class was doing for her. They were bringing meals. They were sending flowers and cards. They were, for all I could see, loving her well. But they dont take care of me, she huffed. I take care of them. Now, I said as I called her by name, the ladies in your class have been watching you love them for all of these years. Youve walked with them through the loss of their husbands and every other kind of challenge. They love you and they want to give back. Dont rob them of the blessing of ministering to you. Well, she said. I didnt think of it that way. Few of us do. Most of the time, we are so consumed with what Jesus is doing in us we dont realize Jesus is working in everyone elses life as well. That means, for every opportunity of service, ministry or mission, Jesus is preparing someone to be ready for that moment. In that moment, these individuals will know one of the most important blessings of all -- theyll know who they are. Theyll know why they were born. Several years ago, our church built a facility to support the work of our Deaf Church. The Inman Center for the Deaf is, as far as we know, the only building in the United States uniquely designed to support the needs of the deaf in worship and teaching. For instance, the sound system is designed to pump sound into the floor of the deaf worship center. The deaf feel the vibrations and then join in the worship songs and hymns by signing, and sometimes, singing. The best sound system in our church is in the deaf center. Go figure. As we started making plans to build the facility, we were talking to architects, and in the middle of our conversation, the architects in the room got very quiet -- uncomfortably so. I asked the lead architect if something was wrong. Mike, youre not going to believe this. We had no idea about what you wanted to do, and now, were hearing about a deaf worship center. He sat up as if he was trying to reinforce his own faith in what he was about to say. Mike, we hired a deaf architect last week. Cynthia was indeed deaf, and when we showed her what we wanted to do, she broke down and started crying. This is why God made me an architect. In that moment, Cynthia got her blessing. Jesus did say it was more blessed to give than to receive. He didnt say receiving gifts wasnt blessed. Jesus Himself received gifts from people who loved Him. One of the most famous stories is when the woman broke the alabaster jar of expensive perfume and washed Jesus feet. While the crowd around Him was calling for Jesus to refuse the gift -- after all, the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor -- Jesus received her gift of worship and adoration. As leaders, we need to understand one of our most important roles is calling out the gifts of others and showing them how they can be used by God in some significant way. God told Moses the names of the craftsman who had been prepared to build the tabernacle. God had been working in Davids life long before Samuel anointed him to be king. Samuels role was to call out and confirm Davids destiny. Years before, Eli had done the same thing in Samuels life. Paul wrote several letters encouraging Christ followers to recognize the gifts the Father had given to them, and then, use those gifts to spread the gospel. The letters of 1 and 2 Timothy are prime examples of Pauls encouragement to a young leader to not be afraid to use his gift and seize the moment. As leaders, we will always face the temptation of just doing it ourselves. Its faster. Its easier. Its also self-defeating. Theres no way any one person can accomplish all God desires to do without developing more and more leaders and then releasing those leaders to their calling. Too many of us are wearing ourselves out because we refuse to allow other people to do the ministry for which God has prepared them. They dont get their blessing and we end up worn out. One of the greatest thrills any parent has is watching their children succeed. Its the same in the church. Our greatest moments come not when we as leaders do something for the kingdom, but when one of our students, someone weve poured our lives into, steps into the moment for which they were created and find their blessing. In that moment, we find our own blessing as well, and if we rob them of it, we rob ourselves too. (Newser) Two notable developments Friday in the Breonna Taylor case, including one about an officer involved in her fatal shooting. Meanwhile, Taylor's family held a news conference. Coverage: Officer: The Louisville Courier Journal reports that officer Jonathan Mattingly, who was wounded in that night's shooting, might file civil lawsuits against those calling him a "murderer." The revelation comes from attorney Todd McMurtry, who called such statements "defamatory and actionable." The Louisville Courier Journal reports that officer Jonathan Mattingly, who was wounded in that night's shooting, might file civil lawsuits against those calling him a "murderer." The revelation comes from attorney Todd McMurtry, who called such statements "defamatory and actionable." Video: McMurtry tweeted a video showing Mattingly being placed on the back of a truck after being shot. "They called him a 'murderer,' when all he did was defend himself," McMurtry wrote. It's not clear how he obtained the clip because the Louisville police department has denied the release of video related to the case. story continues below Her mother: At Friday's news conference, Taylor's family criticized state Attorney General Daniel Cameron for his decision not to prosecute the officers who shot Taylor. "I was reassured Wednesday of why I had no faith in the legal system, in the police, in the law," said a statement from Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer. It was read by Taylor's aunt, Bianca Austin, per the Washington Post. "The system as a whole has failed her." At Friday's news conference, Taylor's family criticized state Attorney General Daniel Cameron for his decision not to prosecute the officers who shot Taylor. "I was reassured Wednesday of why I had no faith in the legal system, in the police, in the law," said a statement from Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer. It was read by Taylor's aunt, Bianca Austin, per the Washington Post. "The system as a whole has failed her." A plea: Ben Crump, one of the attorneys for Taylor's family, demanded the release of the grand jury transcript, reports Fox News. "If you want us to accept the results, then release the transcript." Of Cameron, he said: "Did he present any evidence on Breonna Taylors behalf or did he make a unilateral decision to put his thumb on the scales of justice to help try to exonerate and justify the killing of Breonna Taylor?" Ben Crump, one of the attorneys for Taylor's family, demanded the release of the grand jury transcript, reports Fox News. "If you want us to accept the results, then release the transcript." Of Cameron, he said: "Did he present any evidence on Breonna Taylors behalf or did he make a unilateral decision to put his thumb on the scales of justice to help try to exonerate and justify the killing of Breonna Taylor?" Barkley backlash: NBA commenter Charles Barkley said this of the case Thursday night on TNT: "I don't think this one was like George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery and things like that," per the Hollywood Reporter. "I feel sad that this young lady lost her life. I think this one wasthe no-knock warrant is something we need to get rid of ... across the board. But I am worried to lump all these situations in together." Both he and Shaquille O'Neal, who agreed with Barkley, were taking heat on social media from critics who say they were defending the officers involved. (The lone officer charged in the case is accused of firing bullets that went into a neighboring apartment , not with killing Taylor.) "America's Got Talent" Season 15 offered more exciting and bolder surprises in its return -- proving that it can do well even when Simon Cowell is not around. From thousands of hopefuls, only 10 acts made it to the finals of "America's Got Talent" Season 15. The performances which wowed the crowd include Cristina Rae, Daneliya Tuleshova, Alan Silva, Archie Williams, Broken Roots, Roberta Battaglia, BAD Salsa, Bello Sisters, Kenadi Dodds and Brandon Leake. Despite such an unprecedented season, the show dropped surprises which left viewers to ask for more -- from high-energy acts to breathtaking and dangerous talents. Although the final night was full of talent indeed, we listed three of the most surprising things that happened before "America's Got Talent" Season 15 closed its curtains. Brandon Leake Makes History Among all the talented people in the final, Brandon Leake beat them all with poetry. Even Heidi Klum did not expect the turn of events and how the poet triumphed over the musical duo Broken Roots, who fell on the runners-up spot. "You just have to strategically place your poems. That way, you get to the end of the show and you have a chance to win with your best poem," Leake told USA Today. With this feat, he created history for being the first-ever spoken-word artist on the show to win the crown. Meghan Markle on TV ... Again While things were shocking enough, the Duchess of Sussex suddenly appeared. Meghan Markle, who is currently under fire for breaking the royal family's neutrality rule, made her second televised appearance since leaving the monarchy. The duchess dropped in virtually during the "America's Got Talent" Season 15 finale to express her support for Archie Williams, one of the contestants. Before joining the talent show, Williams spent years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. The story touched Meghan, leading her to offer a special message. "So a very special message to you that I'll probably be saying all of my life but on this night, it is specifically for you," Meghan said. "Archie, we are proud of you, and we are rooting for you, and we can't wait to see what you do. We are in your corner. Have a good night." She also assured that she did not cheer him up because his name is Archie, just like her son's. Instead, Meghan shared that his story made her realize that the contestant deserves more. Brandon's Big Way of Giving Back Leake won, and he did not succeed alone. The AGT champ received $1 million following his win in "America's Got Talent" Season 15. However, he said that he is not spending it for himself. Per the spoken-word poet, he wants to "invest back" into his community in South Stockton. He mentioned that he aims to conduct free poetry workshops for the youth and let them write about the traumas they deal with in their hometown. Furthermore, he also plans to open a local grocery store in Southside Stockton to help the food desert in the community. "[I] will be sending a charitable donation out to Louisville and some justice organizations for Breonna Taylor. Got to keep on doing the good fight and receive justice for that scenario!" Brandon went on. With these plans he has for other people, "America's Got Talent" Season 15 truly chose the best winner. READ MORE: Simon Cowell Fail: Music Mogul Loses $1 Million in Shocking Deal Sharjeel Imam The Delhi Police, in its chargesheet filed in the sedition case against JNU Sharjeel Imam, has cited his M.Phil thesis on communal violence during the Partition, books in his possession, and accused him of discriminating between Hindus and Muslims and trying to "draw a wedge between Hindu community by constantly referring to Brahminical conscience". According to a report in The Indian Express, the chargsheet cites Congress Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor's book, Why I am a Hindu and accuses Imam of using it to put up a "secular" front. The report states that the over 600-page chargesheet, filed before Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana at Patiala House court, also affixes Imam's speeches during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests and chats from a WhatsApp group called Muslim students of JNU. According to the Delhi Police, "(Imam) is a highly religious bigoted person who completely lacks faith in the Constitution of India and exhibits complete mistrust in it". About the books in his possession, and particularly Paul R Brass' Forms of Collective violence, Riots, Pogroms, and Genocide in Modern India, the chargesheet states that by "reading only such literature and not researching alternative sources, the accused (Imam) became highly radicalised and religiously bigoted". According to the police, Imam had come across several such books during his research, which "made (up) his mind that Muslims are oppressed since very long and affirmed his religious bigotry (that) lacks faith in democratic and constitutional values". As for the WhatsApp chat, the chargsheet, referring to the Shaheen Bagh protests, states that it "goes to establish the mentality that goes at length to cover the communal contours of the agitation". The chat cited, according to the newspaper, reads, "Cool. Shashi Tharoor should come and go as he wishes. Uski kitab why I am a Hindu ka bookstall bhi laga date hain phir pakka koi anti-Hindu nahi bolega. Sahi hai na (Lets display his book as well. Then no one will call the protest anti-Hindu)". "He through his speeches repeatedly incited the public to commit acts which would jeopardise public tranquillity, attempts to cause disaffection towards the lawfully elected government of the country in the garb of democratically opposing the CAA. His oration and acts are seditious in nature," the chargsheet also goes on to claim, according to the newspaper. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. President Armen Sarkissian visited today the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST), the Presidential Office told Armenpress. Accompanied by Director of the Foundation Armen Orujyan, President Sarkissian toured the Office, talked to the staff, was interested in their activity directions and projects. President Sarkissian was introduced on the Foundations educational and science-technology development programs, some of which are implemented in partnership with the leading foreign scientific-educational centers. Highlighting the ongoing programs and projects, President Sarkissian stated: We are a country with a great potential in the development of technologies, but in order to record serious progress and results we should carry out consistent work. We are at the beginning of a long path. The President touched upon the ATOM presidential initiative on science development in Armenia, within the frames of which cooperation is expected with the worlds largest technological companies. The most important is for these major companies to be represented in Armenia and conduct a research. Some of them even propose to develop the cooperation not only in the scientific-research, but also in the education sector, he said. My idea, goal is the following: to create an environment so that you will not have to go abroad to be informed about innovations, but you will find them here. President Sarkissian and the FAST executives discussed issues relating to the cooperation between ATOM presidential initiative and the foundation. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan The hugely popular Puppy of the Year Competition has been launched for 2020 by Petmania Kilkenny, along with sponsors BETA. The competition will be run entirely online for 2020, with 1,500 worth of prizes to be won by one very lucky puppy. Entries are open from Monday, September 28 online at www.petmania.ie. Adorable pooches have just three weeks to enter the competition to be in with a chance of being named Petmania Kilkenny Puppy of the Year. To enter, simply fill out a short online form about the pet and add a cute puppy pic before midnight on Sunday, October 18. Once all entries have been received and verified, the online voting will begin! Kilkenny pets will battle it out to be named in the Top Five Puppies representing your local Petmania Stores and Grooming Studios. Each of the five puppy finalists for Kilkenny will receive a qualifiers rosette and gift from the competition partner, Beta, and will move forward into round two. Petmania will open a public voting system and the puppy with the most votes will be named Petmania Kilkenny Puppy of the Year and go forward to the grand final. The chosen finalists from across Ireland, will then be invited to submit some additional photos and videos online to the judging panel, who will choose the overall winner. The winner of the Petmania Puppy of the Year 2020 will be announced via Petmanias social media channels on Friday 20th November 2020. We look forward to the Puppy of the Year Competition all year round," said Greg Maternick of Petmania Kilkenny. "We love meeting adorable pets from across the country. This year we are really focused on the safety of our puppies and their owners so the competition will be run completely online. We have some amazing prizes to give away and we would encourage all puppy parents to log on to petmania.ie today and enter their adorable pooch. This year the Petmania Puppy of the Year will be pampered for a whole year with over 1,500 of prizes to be won.The winning puppy will become a model pup and will star in its own professional photoshoot and become the face of a number of Petmanias advertising campaigns for 20/21. The winning dog will enjoy year-round pampering with 12 complimentary visits to their local Petmania Grooming Studio. Petmanias nutrition partners for the Puppy of the Year 2020 will ensure that your puppy dines in style for a whole year. BETA Puppy Food has been created to offer tailored nutrition. The range has been specially formulated with selected natural ingredients and prebiotic to support puppys digestive health. As nutrition partner for the Petmania Puppy of the Year, BETA will present our overall winner with 12 months food. Petmania has teamed up with Irelands Blue Book Hotels to offer the winning puppy the chance to chill out in the comfort of the dog-friendly Enniscoe House in Co. Mayo, along with his/her two favourite humans. This luxury staycation includes two nights accommodation with breakfast and dinner on one night at Enniscoe House, which is situated on the shores of Lough Conn, Mayo. As the Depression waned and World War II loomed, the school atmosphere changed. Students may not have been aware that war was coming, but most adults were. A visibly upset German teacher had her students listen to Hitlers speeches on the radio in the days leading up to the war. Then the entire school listened as the school PA system broadcast President Franklin Roosevelts famous Day of Infamy speech to Congress, on Dec. 8, 1941. News bulletins were broadcast every day during the war. Students held bond rallies, adopted three war orphans and, because gas was rationed, took buses to their senior proms. The rifles used in the cadet program were confiscated for war use, and wooden replicas were substituted. Many students, and some teachers, joined the military, and 67 of them died. One of the young men who served was John Warner (1945), later a U.S. senator from Virginia. As the worlds second most popular beverage (after water), tea has no shortage of devotees. But in the Western world, the way it is marketed often seems intended to target kindly old ladies, taut wellness gurus and well-heeled gourmands (in the market for a coffee substitute, perhaps). The United States has a varied community of tea aficionados, of course, but the nations best known tea magazine, TeaTime, is flush with recipes for lavender scones, advertisements for cosy murder mystery novels and reviews of heavily doilied tearooms. Dominic Alvernaz wants to change all that. His small-batch, sustainably sourced loose leaf tea company, Pitch Black North, was founded in keeping with Satanic values, according to its website, and nurtured with copious doses of Scandinavian black metal, a musical genre. Its dynamic, fair-trade blends have names like Satans Slumber and Throat of Lucifer; there are limited-edition blends with the Cleveland metal punk band Midnight and the British gothic black metal band Cradle of Filth. Im trying to get people interested in tea who normally wouldnt be interested in it, because they have these pre-notions that its only for strict tea ceremonies and pricey hotels and things like that, said Alvernaz, 29, who lives in Canada and has worked as a musician and a kitchen supervisor. Of his own marketing, he added: Im pouring beet tea lattes all over myself like blood and were all half-naked with teacups. Pitch Black Norths Instagram is a riotous potpourri of loose leaf glamour shots, bullet belts, half-naked face-paint-heavy tea parties and snaps of Alvernazs own tattooed torso (he moonlights as a content creator on OnlyFans, a subscription-based website that is popular with sex workers). Alvernaz describes the esthetic as sketchy, sexy vampire vibes. The tea itself comes from Alvernazs wholesaler, Sarjesa, which handles sourcing and packaging. He worked with the company to come up with two blends (a strong, malty classic English Breakfast blend and a delightful Vanilla Blueberry concoction, both composed of a mix of black teas from Kenya, India and Sri Lanka). After reaching out over Instagram and sending over some samples, he got the bands stamp of approval on both blends while Cradle of Filth was recording their new album earlier this year. It was an original avenue for a band to pursue and, on top of all that, being avid tea drinkers, we were totally enamoured with the association and the ready supply, Dani Filth, the bands vocalist, wrote in an email. After a long night of bloodletting and virgin defilement, what better way to perk up ones morning (your dusk) than a really good brew? The end result has been selling like gangbusters on Pitch Black Norths website, according to Alvernaz. (Its also available through one of the bands online merchandise websites.) The initial release, we saw very large sales volume and, since we make it in smaller batches, we have sold out a couple times but have been able to restock fairly quickly, he said. Pitch Black North is not the only boutique tea company to shrug off Victorianesque tearoom etiquette and embrace music and pop cultural esthetics; its not even the only one thats rock-music themed. Brutaliteas, a horror-themed company in New Jersey, uses puns to name its tea blends (flavours include Chai Put a Spell on You and Apricot for Destruction), while vinyl-centric Craft Tea Guy, in Philadelphia, recently created a special Haunted Breakfast blend for the indie musician Sadie Dupuis. Ivys Tea, founded by herbalist Shanae Jones in 2016 in Laurel, Maryland, is also a music-genre-themed tea label, but its focus is hip hop. I am a first-born American to British and Jamaican parents; tea is practically my blood type, Jones, 32, said. People that look like me are not included in tea advertisements, were not the market for tea parties, nothing, so I just decided I was going to change all of that. The most popular blends, including the spicy-sweet cranberry-hibiscus blend Red Bone and the ginger root-heavy Breathe variety, are often sold out, she said, as are her herb-infused honeys and sets of Trap China, teaware that comes emblazoned with hip-hop lyrics and phrases like Bad and Boujee and Money Moves. Subverting tea-drinking stereotypes in the West may come naturally to people like Alvernaz and Jones, but theres more to it than that. When all the black-and-white face paint has been washed off, Alvernaz is a good-natured metalhead who loves tea and wants to share it with those who would otherwise be missing out. Jones is a healer who wants to uplift her community and break down the walls of an industry often associated in the West almost exclusively with white people. The reverence with which tea has long been treated in Japan, China, India and so many other cultures is sorely lacking when it comes to the American palate, which is still barely acclimated to the British hot-tea-with-milk habit (let alone the brutal imperialist power grab that first led to teas proliferation across the globe). But the market for tea here has been growing steadily; wholesale tea sales climbed to about $12 billion (U.S.) in 2019 from less than $2 billion in 1990, according to the Tea Association of the USA, a trade group. Sales remain dominated by mass producers like Lipton and Bigelow, but independent tea brands are making strides, too. Henrietta Lovell, the Rare Tea Co. proprietor and tea evangelist who supplies Claridges in London and other high-end dining rooms, said in an interview that her brands second-largest customer base is the United States. What does the success of these unorthodox spins on an ancient beverage say about the future of the industry? For Jones, its about moving to an inclusive, holistic and welcoming world where differences are celebrated. For those who dont want to see the world change, they better get with it or theyre going to be left behind, she said. Were not waiting for them. Tesla's Elon Musk is oftentimes proud of the company's success and this includes providing a customization option for buyers of the Model S. Tesla has a very unique approach towards manufacturing where they like to focus on creating a smaller quantity of good quality models instead of releasing a new model which they aren't completely sold out for. Customizable Tesla Model S? The Tesla Model S has its own customization option and while sharing it online, Elon Musk stated that the actual only thing that goes beyond ludicrous is having the car designed in Plaid. Wait, is this possible? The new customization feature does not really talk about the exterior design of the car but rather the interior functionality of the car. Although it would be nice if Tesla tailored every single vehicle in order to fit the client's specifications, sadly, it still does not do this. Tesla is still producing the Model S in standard designs and standard color but if you really want to design it yourself, why not? Tesla's approach to manufacturing A known fact about Tesla or Elon Musk in general is that he is oftentimes more concerned with the functionality of the cars as opposed to the designs of them. This is evident in the Tesla Cybertruck which received mixed reviews when it was first shown to the public. Although at first there were a lot of negative comments about the Tesla Cybertruck, later on, people started to realize the wisdom and efficiency of its design. Due to its geometric shape, it will be easier to manufacture and scale resulting in a much cheaper truck. The truck itself also contains a huge loading space which should be useful for those who are into trucks for practical reasons. The Tesla Model S is one of Tesla's models today. A recent tweet even revealed that the Tesla Model S' current specs are actually close to those of the initial plans for the Roadster. Of course, certain alterations will be made to the Roadster making it better than the Model S but currently, it is still in its planning phase. Read Also: Elon Musk Responds to Netizen Asking 'Why Buy a Roadster When It Will Have The Same Specs as Tesla Model S? What Tesla contributed to the electric vehicle industry Although electric cars have existed for quite some time now, it was not until Tesla that they were able to be scaled to such a high quantity even becoming the top-selling car in California! The Tesla Model 3 was easily the best selling car even beating conventional petrol and diesel cars. This was the first time that an electric car was actually able to beat conventional cars! Elon Musk used to be into the regular sportscars before he made Tesla. In fact, he even previously crashed his uninsured Mclaren F1 quite shortly after purchasing it. Although most people would be bummed out, Elon Musk seems to be doing fine driving electric cars as of the moment. Read Also: Look: Elon Musk Flaunts Tesla Cybertruck, Roadster, and Semi in One Picture! This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Urian Buenconsejo 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-25 21:06:32|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chinese Ambassador to Albania Zhou Ding (2nd L), Deputy Mayor of Tirana Municipality for Foreign Relations Anuela Ristani (2nd R) and Head of the Friendship Parliamentary group between Albania and China, Member of Parliament (MP) Bashkim Fino unveil a plaque in memory of a tree-planting activity in the park of the Artificial Lake in Tirana, Albania, Sept. 25, 2020. The Chinese Embassy in Albania has donated on Friday 150 "friendship trees" to Tirana, marking the 100th anniversary of the city becoming Albania's capital. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun) TIRANA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Albania has donated on Friday 150 "friendship trees" to Tirana, marking the 100th anniversary of the city becoming Albania's capital. Chinese Ambassador to Albania Zhou Ding and Deputy Mayor of Tirana Municipality for Foreign Relations Anuela Ristani planted some of the trees in the park of the Artificial Lake in Tirana. Speaking at the ceremony, Zhou said that the trees, donated ahead of the 71st anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which falls on Oct. 1., symbolize the everlasting friendship between the two countries on the occasion of the two anniversaries. Zhou said Tirana is a strong and lively city. "Despite the shocks of several earthquakes and COVID-19 pandemic, residents here always face challenges and difficulties with courage and solidarity." The ambassador recalled that on the onset of COVID-19 outbreaks in China, the Tirana municipality initiated a campaign to support China's fight against the pandemic by rejecting stigmatization and discrimination. "We are very proud of having a real friend like Albania and very proud of China's contribution with medical equipment in Albania's battle against the pandemic," Zhou added. Zhou said that Tirana is moving forward on the path of green and sustainable development, stressing that China is ready to work together with Albania and Tirana on promoting green economic recovery. In her remarks, Ristani praised the donation of the Chinese embassy. "This is absolutely a very special gift for Tirana, more special than in any other year, especially in this difficult time, when it is not easy for our friends to wish or be present during our celebrations," Ristani said. Among those present at the ceremony was Head of the Friendship Parliamentary group between Albania and China, Member of Parliament (MP) Bashkim Fino. Fino thanked the Chinese embassy and the ambassador on behalf of the Albanian Parliament and the Albanian people for the continuous assistance given to the country. Fino called the donation as a "great help and extraordinary care shown by the Chinese Embassy." Tirana was declared the capital of Albania on Feb. 11, 1920. Enditem Famers unions across the nation have called for a Bharat Bandh in view of the passage of contentious farm bills in Parliament. Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal are among the 18 Opposition parties in support of the call for nationwide shutdown. Also read: Nationwide farmers strike today, rail, road transport to be affected. All you need to know Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), All India Farmers Union (AIFU), All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) and All India Kisan Mahasangh (AIKM) are among the ten unions that have called for the shutdown. While Delhi-Haryana border is likely to be sealed, a three-hour road blockade will be observed across Punjab from 11am to 2pm. Here is a look at the list of states that are likely to be affected by the protests: Haryana Punjab Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Karnataka Chhattisgarh West Bengal Uttarakhand Also read: Stir across food bowl today over farm laws Farmers have been protesting for weeks in these states by blocking road and rail traffic and hampering supply of essential goods. Nothing will work in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh on Friday, said Bharatiya Kisan Union president Rakesh Takait. The three farm bills passed by Parliament are: Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance; and Farm Services Bill and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill. Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. Rep. John Katko and Dana Balter have different ideas on how to reform policing and the criminal justice system in the wake of nationwide protests sparked by George Floyds killing in police custody in Minneapolis. Katko, R-Camillus, and Balter, a Syracuse Democrat, back competing bills in Congress that would make a series of reforms to address police brutality and racial inequality. Heres where the 24th Congressional District candidates stand on the issue: Dana Balter Balter supports a sweeping reform bill named for Floyd that passed in the Democratic-controlled House in June. The bill did not advance in the Republican-controlled Senate. The House bill would ban police from using chokeholds, establish a national use of force policy for police departments, require transparency in police union contracts and establish a national database to track officer misconduct. The bill also would take away immunity that protects police officers from lawsuits that could hold them liable for misconduct on the job. Balter said she wants to demilitarize police departments by requiring them to give up military equipment distributed by the federal government. Balter supports legalizing marijuana and expunging the records of those who have previously been convicted of marijuana-related crimes. She said existing laws regulating marijuana disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic people. Balter opposes the idea of fully defunding or abolishing police departments. Instead, she supports reforms that would require police to focus only on law enforcement, not on providing services to homeless people or those who are mentally ill. Balter supports New Yorks bail reform law that took effect in January. The state law requires only those accused of the most violent felonies including murder, illegal weapons charges and forcible rape to be held on bail pending trial. John Katko Katko voted against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The House passed the bill in June by a vote of 236-181 with the support of only three moderate Republicans. Katko co-sponsored a narrower alternative for police reform that was introduced by Republicans in the House as the Justice Act and in the Senate by Tim Scott, R-S.C. Both bills failed to advance this summer. The GOP proposal would incentivize police departments to stop using chokeholds but would not include a federal ban on the practice or other uses of force. The Republican bill would continue to protect police from being held personally liable for misconduct on the job. The bill would expand training to de-escalate confrontations and include incentives for the use of police body cameras. Katko said the GOP bill doesnt go far enough to enforce civil rights protections. He views the bill as a starting point for a compromise with Democrats. Katko is working with a bipartisan group led by Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, to restart negotiations. Katko said he supports a ban on police chokeholds except when an officers life is in danger, bolstering diversity in police departments, and increasing the use of police-worn body cameras. Katko, a former federal prosecutor, opposes New Yorks bail reforms and does not want to institute bail reform on a federal level. He opposes legalizing marijuana or expunging all criminal records of those with marijuana convictions. Katko supports expunging records for those with first-time drug possession offenses committed before age 25. MORE ON THE 2020 ELECTION Where John Katko and Dana Balter stand on health care Katko rebukes Trump for suggesting he might not accept election results Tired of TV ads for Congress? Central New Yorkers see more than anyone in nation Syracuse professor Sean OKeefe, former Navy and NASA chief, endorses Joe Biden Judge blocks Dana Balter from third-party ballot line Biden endorses Balter. Katko tries to use former VP against her Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Mark Weiner anytime by: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 A major Philip Guston retrospective that was set to open at the National Gallery of Art and three other museums starting next year has been postponed until 2024, in part because its images of the Ku Klux Klan and a lynching were deemed too sensitive for audiences and staff at this time. Originally scheduled to open in June at the National Gallery of Art, "Philip Guston Now" was first pushed to next summer because of the museum's pandemic-related shutdown. In a statement posted this week, the directors of the NGA, the Tate Modern in London, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, announced that the exhibition would be delayed "until a time at which we think that the powerful message of social and racial justice that is at the center of Philip Guston's work can be more clearly interpreted." "We recognize that the world we live in is very different from the one in which we first began to collaborate on this project five years ago," the directors wrote. "The racial justice movement that started in the U.S. and radiated to countries around the world, in addition to challenges of a global health crisis, have led us to pause." Guston was a Canadian-born American who is widely considered one of the most influential artistsof the past century. He died in 1980. "Philip Guston Now" would have been his first major retrospective in 15 years. National Gallery of Art Director Kaywin Feldman said last week that the exhibition's works depicting Ku Klux Klan hoods and other racist images - more than two dozen in all - were seen as troubling in light of the country's current racial unrest. A second, more pragmatic reason for the delay is the difficulty moving loaned artwork during the pandemic, Feldman said. Almost all of its nearly 200 pieces are loans from 40 institutions and private collectors. Guston "was a dedicated anti-racist, and they are anti-Ku Klux Klan images used to show evil," Feldman said of the works. Nonetheless, the museums will consider different approaches to the exhibition, she said, including adding "other voices to consider the work. We are very committed to the project, and we want to do it in a way that respects our audience and can best communicate Guston's intentions." The addition of other perspectives suggests that the museums are trying to avoid the controversy at the Whitney Museum of American Art's biennial exhibition in 2017, when protesters tried to block White artist Dana Schutz's painting of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy who was lynched in 1955. Critics decried what they saw as the White artist's appropriation of Black suffering. Schutz said she approached the work as a mother. The Guston postponement was immediately and widely criticized. Mark Godfrey, the curator of the show at the Tate Modern, described the decision as patronizing because it assumes audiences cannot understand difficult work. "As art museums, we are expected to show difficult art and to support artists. By canceling or delaying, we abandon this responsibility to Guston and also to the artists whose voices animate the catalogue such as Glenn Ligon (and) Tacita Dean," Godfrey wrote on social media. The exhibition catalogue was published in June. Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation and one of the National Gallery's nine trustees, said that attitudes about "incendiary and toxic racial imagery in art" have shifted in recent months and that the museums had to respond. "An exhibition organized several years ago, no matter how intelligent, must be reconsidered in light of what has changed to contextualize in real time," he said in a statement Friday. "I agree with the decision to postpone the exhibition so that the museums can ensure that we sensitively and thoughtfully present the works and accompanying public programs. By not taking a step back to address these issues, the four museums would have appeared tone deaf to what is happening in public discourse about art." Other art critics and writers criticized the postponement as cowardly and bleak, and several suggested that political considerations were in play. The federally funded National Gallery of Art is beholden to Congress for three-quarters of its $216 million annual budget. Feldman said there was no pressure from elected officials. Staff attitudes about the show changed in recent months, she said, and those consulted overwhelmingly supported a delay. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - El Salvadors next ambassador to Washington is someone President Donald Trump might remember from his days as a beauty pageant boss. A photo circulating on social media Friday showed a smiling Trump locking arms with Milena Mayorga and two other contestants - Miss USA and Miss Guatemala - on the sidelines of the 1996 Miss Universe pageant, where she was a top 10 finalist. Trump at the time was owner of the pageant. Mayorga, 44, was appointed Thursday night by President Nayib Bukele as El Salvadors next ambassador to the U.S. Shes a political neophyte with no previous diplomatic experience, having been elected to congress for the first time in 2018. But shes well known to Salvadorans for years as a popular TV host. Mayorga garnered the presidents attention after denouncing corruption in her conservative ARENA party, which as the dominant force in congress has blocked Bukeles agenda. She later quit the party. As ambassador, shell face an uphill battle trying to repair deteriorating relations with Republicans and Democrats in Congress who have increasingly voiced concern that Bukele, although highly popular, is overstepping his authority and threatening checks and balances in the small Central American country. While Bukele has endeared himself to Trump by backing his hardline immigration policies, hes faced criticism among human rights and pro-democracy activists for defying El Salvadors supreme court and congress. On Thursday, six Republican congressmen led by David Royce of Ohio and Mario Diaz Balart of Miami wrote a letter to Bukele expressing concern about what they called El Salvadors slow but sure departure from the rule of law and norms of democracy that our hemisphere has fought so hard to preserve. The letter provoked an angry response on national TV from Bukele, who dismissed the letter - which followed similar complaints by Democrats - as the work of a small group of lawmakers that dont represent even 3% of the entire U.S. Congress. Getting congressmen to write a letter is the easiest thing in the world, Bukele said. Criticism of Bukele stems from his repeated defiance of congress and the supreme court. In February, he sent heavily armed soldiers to surround the congress to pressure lawmakers into approving a loan to fund a fight against gangs. Then in April, Bukele ignored several rulings by El Salvadors supreme court striking down strict measures that led to the detention in crowded quarantine centres of hundreds of people accused of breaking the coronavirus lockdown rules. He also recently attacked one of Central Americas most independent investigative news outlets, El Faro, after it uncovered evidence that the government had been secretly negotiating with jailed members of MS-13, which is considered a terrorist group in El Salvador. Throughout the confrontation, hes maintained strong support from the Trump administration and U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson. Bukele last year signed a bilateral agreement that would allow the U.S. to send asylum seekers from other countries to El Salvador. The policy had not been implemented before the pandemic. In August, his government signed a $450,000 contrac t with a well-connected Washington lobbyist, according to U.S. Department of Justice filings. Bukele claims to have annulled the contract with the Sonoran Policy Group without having disbursed any funds. Mayorga has generated controversy inside El Salvador for honouring on social media the deceased military commander behind the 1981 raid on the village of El Mozote, a gruesome low point during the countrys long civil war. Almost 1,000 people, including farmers and children, were killed by U.S.-trained counterinsurgency troops during a hunt for leftist guerrillas. Some people never die, they just convert into myths and legends, she wrote in a 2018 tribute to army Col. Domingo Monterrosa on the anniversary of the commanders birth. Monterrosa was later killed when a guerrilla bomb destroyed the helicopter he was travelling in. Mayorga was a top 10 finalist at the 1996 Miss Universe won by Alicia Machado, a former Miss Venezuela who campaigned against Trump in the 2016 campaign. Machado accused Trump of labeling her with a sexist nickname Miss Piggy that caused her shame and humiliation after she was crowned Miss Universe. Goodman reported from Medellin, Colombia.